By: Celestine Ukah
Happy birthday to a great Achiever Hon.Chief Dr. Thomas Ereyitomi JP
Hon. Chief Dr. Thomas Ereyitomi JP Member House of Reps/ PDP Candidate Warri Federal Constituency.
Happy birthday to a great Achiever Hon. Chief Dr. Thomas Ereyitomi JP
Over 60 thousand Nigerians to benefit from Rotary family health days free screening
Over Sixty thousand Nigerians across the country are set to benefit from a two-day free health screening exercise tagged ‘Family Health Days’ organised by Rotary Action Group for Family Health Aids Prevention, Rotary International, District 9110 comprising Lagos and Ogun states.
The programme kicks off on Thursday, June 23 and ends on Friday, June 24, 2022.
The two-day event was flagged off by the District Governor, Rotarian Remi Bello at Rotary Centre, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
He said the whole exercise which borders on early detection of ailment thorough medical check-up and screening, had been successfully carried out for the past ten years by the District with adequate follow-up.
“The rate at which people seek early attention and diagnosis these days is better than what it used to be. This is proof that we had successfully created awareness and achieved our objective,” he said.
The National Coordinator, Rotary Family Health Days, Nigeria, Past District Governor, Rotarian Bola Oyebade, said there are 60 centres across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with 36 across Lagos and the Ogun States where simultaneously, health checks and screening of prostate cancer, diabetes and glucose level, hypertension and malaria tests, among others would take place within the two days.A
ccording to Oyebade, more than one million Nigerians had benefitted from the exercise since it started in 2012.
ASUU Strike: FG Denies Planning Different Payment methodology
The Federal Government Wednesday has denied planning different payment methodology platform for all the trade unions in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the weekly federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
He assured that efforts were on to resolving the ongoing face-off between government and ASUU and other university-based unions over payment platform soon.
He said contrary to insinuations that the government was not engaging with Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), there have been series of meetings between all parties with the next one coming up on Thursday, June 23.
Recall that ASUU had insisted on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) it created, claiming that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) was short-changing university teachers.
The Federal Government had in March said UTAS failed three integrity tests.
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) had also Universities Peculiar Personnel Payroll System (UPPPS), as their own payment platform..
10 Reasons Why I Support the Atiku-Okowa Ticket
Dear citizens of Nigeria,
Our party has finally picked an able Vice Presidential candidate in Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. As it stands, we now have the most balanced ticket in Nigeria. It is Muslim-Christian ticket. It is a strong Northern-Southern ticket. We are for secularism, where religion is separate from government. We have a VP with one leg in the Southeast and the other in the South-South. Nigerians, we are ready, and we humbly beg for your votes.
So, why should you vote for Atiku as President on February 25, 2023? I will give you 10 reasons.
1. Support Atiku because he creates jobs. He co-founded INTELS, one of the largest oil and gas/ports logistics firms in Africa, in the 80s. His Priam group employs more people than most state governments. Creating jobs for Nigeria’s youth will end insecurity!
2. Support Atiku because he is a lover of education, who established the American University of Nigeria, Yola. Through that institution, he gave scholarships to indigent students, including #ChibokGirls. What that proves is that he loves education and would fund ASUU and ASUP!
3. Support Atiku because he personifies the brand of politics Nigeria has yearned for since Independence from Great Britain, which can be summarised as secular, free market based, and private sector led. He believes in meritocracy and wants to restructure Nigeria, bringing true federalism
4. Atiku is healthy. He plays football. He works out at the gym. He is social and cosmopolitan. He develops his mind and just finished a Master’s programme from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, The United Kingdom’. His age and health are not suspicious. He is ready to govern!
5. For Nigerian workers, you need to know that not only does Atiku employ more people than most state governments, he also plays them above minimum wage. If he pays his private workers minimum wage, he will look after you and pay minimum wage if you elect him!
6. Atiku has good experience. He served Nigeria for 20 years in the Nigerian Customs Service. Upon retirement, he went into private business and flourished. He fought Abacha and was exiled to London. He returned to Nigeria while Abacha was alive to fight for democracy on the home front. He became a democratically elected Vice President. He is tailor made to be President!
7. Support Atiku because he led the Economic Management Team that paid off Nigeria’s debt, and privatised the telecom sector, and cement industry, that exploded our GDP and created jobs. He did it before and he can do it even better again now Nigeria is broke.
8. Vote for Atiku because he brought in effective technocrats into government and led the Obasanjo administration’s efforts to restore peace, and reestablish law and order during the Sharia crisis of 2000. Nigeria needs technocrats and peace. Atiku is your man for the job
9. Choose Atiku because while he was Vice President, Nigeria paid off her foreign debts. Today, Nigeria is a heavily indebted nation, owing ₦46 trillion. We even borrow to pay salaries. We need someone like Atiku, who can create wealth to repay those loans.
10. Finally, Nigeria is a multi ethnic/religious nation. We need someone that understands the complex nature of our diversity and knows how to manage it. That person is Atiku, a Northerner who spent all his professional life in Southern Nigeria and married a Southerner.
My name is Reno Omokri, and I support the Atiku-Okowa ticket, because I know from personal experience that they will provide Jobs, create Opportunities, and Secure Nigeria.
#Reno
2023: Mafiana extols Onyeme’s qualities as Deputy Governorship candidate to Oborevwori, says Delta in prosperous pace
By: Celestine Ukah
The Executive Assistant on Political Matters to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Mafiana has extolled the qualities of the PDP Deputy Governorship Candidate, Sir Monday Onyeme as a thorough breed and good choice by the party for the state.
Dr. Mafiana noted that with the kind of passion and dedication to duty as Chairman Delta State Internal Revenue Board has brought the state to better economic resources prudent management, thereby helping the government to channel resources where necessary for effective development project results.
He described the Delta PDP Deputy Governorship Candidate, Dr. Onyeme as a loyal party man, very dedicated, totally committed, well respected, and truly beloved in the PDP family, hence his emergence not surprising as he will deliver in the time ahead.
The Executive Assistant Political Matters to the Governor stressed that with the combination of Sir Onyeme to the Speaker Delta State House of Assembly and PDP Governorship flagbearer, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori signifies that Delta is in prosperous direction as set by Okowa administration in the state.
Dr. Mafiana congratulated Sir Onyeme and urged all Deltans to rally round PDP as PDP is Delta ruling party and hope for sustained development.
A strong advocate for good governance and social justice, Dr. Peretengboro
A strong advocate for good governance and social justice, Dr. Peretengboro Klintin Bibaikefie has expressed his disappointment over what he termed a recurrence of violence against students by the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
This is coming on the heels of the unwarranted firing of live shots into the air and teargas at students whose only crime was to peacefully protest the extended delay in the disbursement of the 2019 DESOPADEC Bursery.
In his words; “We cannot continue to pay lip services to our love for education when government and her institutions at all levels only responds to education related matters as a last resort.
“One of us was short at and the Itsekiri Students’ President was axed in the head back in 2008, when we embarked on a similar protest over the delay to roll out the maiden version of the DESOPADEC Foreign Scholarship and Bursary Payment.
“We were forced to match to the governor office annex at Edjeba, to call for the desolation of the commission’s board, before the then Chairman, Chief Wellington Okrika budged, after Governor Uduaghan called him and his board to order.
“It is therefore very sad to hear that the same barbarism is still being perpetrated in this age and time.
“The leadership of the board must as a matter of urgency, rise to their responsibilities, apologize to the students for the delayed disbursement of the bursary and rash treatment netted out on them, pay all outstanding bursary and sundry payments, investigate who gave the order for the police to shoot and who was the policeman involved, and take necessary disciplinary actions.
As at today, a public statement on whether or not the commission is owing any such bursaries exists and what transpired on June 15, 2022 at their premises, is still being expected from the commission.
Atiku-Okowa ticket, focused on recovering Nigeria from abyss – Aniagwu
Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa for the 2023 general election were focused on recovering Nigeria from the deep mess created by the seven years of rudderless leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
He said that the Atiku-Okowa ticket is a ticket for recovery aimed at bringing Nigeria back to winning ways, uniting the country and giving jobs back to the youths.
Aniagwu who stated this at a news conference in Asaba on Monday, lauded the media for their contributions to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s emergence as Vice-Presidential flag-bearer of the party.
He stressed that the party was devoted to building infrastructure which had suffered abysmally on account of the APC government not understanding what development was all about.
Flanked by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Olisa Ifeajika, the Information Commissioner remarked that “the honour done to the governor is not for the governor alone but the entire Southern Nigeria and the rest of the country.
“The Atiku-Okowa is a ticket that is going to restore our country to become a much more secured country and to restore the economy of the nation.
“They both understand economic issues and the need to bring in many persons on board irrespective of their political persuasions.
“The Atiku-Okowa ticket is already moving because while they are busy looking for a place holder, the PDP already have its candidate.
“INEC gave the timetable at the same time, while others are still searching for running mates, the PDP has shown that they are ready because they understand the issues,” he said.
Responding to the allegation by the Ovie Omo-Agege campaign organisation in Delta, Aniagwu urged the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege to concentrate on what he intends to do if elected and stop chasing shadows.
“We read in some quarters of the media that he is alleging that Okowa betrayed Southern Nigeria by accepting to be running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“The quest of the Deputy President of the Senate to govern our state is within his constitutional rights to aspire and we do not begrudge him just as it is the right of every other Deltan to want to contribute to the development of the state.
“But you will recall that we told him to tell Deltans what he is going to bring on board. So for Ima Niboro to constantly progress in error is to say the least unbecoming of some persons who think he wants to govern a sate as cosmopolitan and as advanced as Delta State.
“The last time I checked Senator Ovie Omo-Agege belongs to a political party called the APC, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa belongs to the PDP.
“By our constitution for you to aspire to hold any political office, particularly at the elective level you must belong to a political party because our constitution at the moment does not recognise independent candidacy.
“The political parties are governed by both the Constitution, the Electoral Act and the rules of engagement that are very well stated in these political parties.
“Those rules defines how an aspirant can emerge a standard bearer. You cannot be in Leventis and determine how they are paying salaries in UAC. It does not follow the same rule,”
Aniagwu said the Director of Communications of the Ovie Omo-Agege campaign organisation was a failed presidential spokesman hence he was replaced in 2011.
“Our brother, Ima Niboro who couldn’t help his former principal, the former president of Nigeria to canvass what the man was doing between 2010 and 2011 which is why he was replaced when the man won election.
“If he was doing so well am not too sure if he would have been replaced then as presidential spokesman so I wonder why Senator Omo-Agege would want to elevate a man who failed woefully in projecting his boss.
“He is already failing again because I have not read anywhere he has put forward what Senator Omo-Agege intends to do if elected as governor and I think that should have been his responsibility.
“Betrayal of who? The PDP as a political party met at the NEC level and resolved that given the circumstances of the party in opposition that they were going to leave the ticket of the presidency open to everybody to contest.
“Nobody kicked against that as both Northerners and Southerners contested but somebody won in this case Former Vice-President, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar won fair and square creditably.
“Delegates of the party chose him from across the country and by the provisions of our laws once you win and you become a presidential candidate, your candidacy cannot be validated until you nominate a running mate for that ticket to be complete,”
Aniagwu further averred that leaders of the party and the flag-bearer examined a whole number of persons in the southern part of the country and found our governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa very well qualified to be able to bring a whole lot of value to that ticket.
“He is bringing on board values in terms of the developmental initiatives, values in terms of his presidential disposition and his appreciation of the many challenges that confronts us as a country.
“The Vice-Presidential ticket is not a position of contest, Okowa didn’t buy form to contest for Vice President.
“If Omo-Agege and his campaign organisation does not have what to tell Deltans as to what they are bringing to the table, they should leave Senator Okowa alone.
“We know they are already intimidated by the rising profile of Senator Okowa. Okowa’s selection as Vice-Presidential candidate is a product of the appreciable progress and the many milestones we have achieved in the last seven years,” he added.
On the alleged N25 billion naira loan, Aniagwu mocked the APC for lacking knowledge of governance, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have assisted a number of persons across sectors.
“The role of the state government is to guarantee the farmers and to assure the CBN that the farmers are credible enough to pay back at the appropriate time.
“To ensure that the individuals the funds would be given to will be able to use it judiciously for the CBN to get back its funds.
“Delta State Government being a responsible government decided to guarantee our farmers so that the CBN can make the funds available for the farmers to increase their yield.
“How does that become a wrong decision of government? The fund is coming from CBN, they only need the state to have a buy-in to agree that once the money gets to the farmers it would be used for the purpose it was meant for.
“Is the APC in Delta expecting that we will keep quiet because they don’t understand governance and allow the funds to go to other states and farmers in those states would be making progress and ours we have to fold their hands?
On the N150bn bridging finance, the Information Commissioner said the state government was yet to access the facility because Federal government was yet to commence the process of repatriation of the funds.
He urged the opposition to stop talking about the N150 billion in isolation and also be concerned about the projects the funds were earmarked for, adding that “until the refunds starts coming in, we will not proceed to approach the bank.”
Report to the nearest police station or risk arrest, police tell ‘Portable’
The Ogun State Police Command has asked the Zazu crooner, Habeeb Okikiola popularly known as Portable to report at the nearest police station over an alleged assault on a young man or risk being arrested.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi said the command is in possession of a video circulating on the social media where the popular hiphop star was seen organising some youths to beat up a young man and inflicted bodily injury on him.
He described the action which was said to have taken place in the state two days ago as barbaric and could send a wrong signal to the youths on violent behaviour.
Portable has thus been advised to report himself at the nearest police station failure of which his arrest will be ordered
Reclaim Delta Coalition: Atiku/Okowa A Ticket Made In Hell
Reclaim Delta Coalition: Atiku/Okowa A Ticket Made In Hell
If it was not already clear that Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar and the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, have absolutely nothing to offer this country, it has certainly become incontestable by his picking Delta State Governor, Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, as running mate.
Okowa stabbed Ndigbo in the back, betrayed Peter Obi and pulled the rug from under Nyesom Wike’s feet.
It is this traitor that Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar, as if to similarly prove himself a traitor, has now picked as running mate in a race they are both clearly destined to run to absolutely nowhere.
Atiku claims he is the messiah destined to save Nigeria but his preferred partner is the very worst state governor in today’s Nigeria.
Within less than half a year, Okowa has borrowed over 300 billion naira in the name of the richest state per capita in Nigeria.
Within under six months, Okowa, in cahoots with the rubber-stamp Delta State House of Assembly, led by his Man Friday of a barely educated governorship candidate, has saddled Deltans with such a humongous debt overhang that the richest state in Nigeria as per oil revenue has now also become the most indebted state in the entire country!
Atiku claims that he wants to unite Nigerians, end nepotism, kill sectionalism and put a stop to divisions amongst Nigerians.
Yet, his perfect partner in his quest to end division in our country is the most divisive and sectionalist governor in the entire country!
Okowa claimed he was working towards Anioma Agenda when he wanted to be Governor but the only place he developed in Delta North was his village, Owa-Alero.
If a man, while being state governor and chief executive, could not develop his senatorial district, is it if he becomes Vice President and a mere spare tyre requiring a president’s approval before making any move, that he should be expected to benefit his supposed constituency?
The only persons Okowa has empowered throughout his governorship are his fellow village people from Owa-Alero and environs.
You cannot be more tribalistic, nepotistic and sectionalist than Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa.
His brothers and sisters execute all the contracts in Delta State.
His younger brother is in charge of sports in the state.
His daughter is a Special Assistant with a budget that is not available to any commissioner and would make any Secretary to the State Government green with envy.
The same daughter was returned unopposed as a candidate for the Delta State House of Assembly in a disgusting process in which Governor Okowa frustrated Governor Ibori’s daughter and completely humiliated Governor Uduaghan’s daughter.
If anybody thinks President Muhammadu Buhari has been sectionalist, they should just wait for someone like Okowa and see sectionalism, nepotism and favouritism unleashed as full-blown pandemics in this country!
The Atiku/Okowa ticket is a tasteless joke taken way too far.
It does not just leave a sour taste in the mouth or even merely make one sick to the stomach; it brings up torrents of vomit gushing out of the mouths of those who really know the two worthless articles that make up the unmarketable presidential ticket of the PDP.
If there were still any illusions that Atiku might have something to offer this country, the serial failure, himself, has generously dispelled them by picking this monumental mistake of a “one chance Governor” as running mate.
At least Deltans now know where all the gargantuan loans Okowa and Sheriff Oborevwori, or, is it Francis Oborevwori, have been hanging on their necks with heartless recklessness, have been going to.
Okowa collected a loan of 150 billion naira in the name of Delta State and used the money to buy a presidential ticket for Atiku and a vice presidential ticket for himself.
If Deltans want to know why their pensioners have not been paid and are dying, standing on the que, while waiting for their entitlements; if Deltans want to know why each and every road constructed by the Okowa administration fails miserably within just three months of commissioning; and, if Deltans want to know why their state remains an embarrassment and an eyesore even though it is the richest amongst all the states of the country by 13 percent derivation, all they need to do is search for their money in the bulge of Atiku’s greedy pockets.
If Nigerians are still wondering where all the patently illegal and atrociously irregular loans Okowa and Oborevwori have been taking went to, they should ask Atiku Abubarkar how he was able to outspend everyone else, including governors of oil rich states during PDP’s presidential primary.
It is simply most wicked that a Niger Deltan governor would borrow huge sums of money in the name of the poverty stricken people of his state, only to then divert the money to purchasing a presidential ticket that is supposed to come to Southern Nigeria for a desperado from Adamawa and then stupidly settle for a vice presidential slot having stabbed his fellow Southern governors in the back.
Atiku is clearly so desperate to be President that he would sell even his Cameroonian father and mother if he had the chance.
Who would have believed he would so heartlessly stab James Ibori, his longtime friend, in the back?
Yet for money, someone who wants us to vote him as Nigeria’s President would team up with Okowa, of all people, to further humiliate his longstanding comrade in politics, James Ibori!
Who would have believed that Atiku would deny Nyesom Wike the vice presidential slot as compensation for his loss at the primary and in order to heal the wounds brought about by putrid optics of a perceived gang-up by the North against the South during the primary and a resulting North/South divide still rocking the PDP?
Atiku is clearly not presidential material; he is just another cash and carry clown who wants to be President, forgetting that Nigeria has left him and his likes behind.
Atiku/Okowa is a ticket made from betrayal.
Atiku/Okowa is a ticket made from treachery.
Atiku/Okowa is a ticket made from bribery and corruption.
It is a combination made in Hell and it can only take Nigeria further down the abyss.
It is clear that God is determined to punish the PDP for its atrocities in sixteen wasted years in power.
Atiku stole the turn of the South and Okowa was his willing accomplice and financier all along.
Indeed, with an Atiku, it was already going to be quite difficult for the party to win the ever elusive Presidency.
With an Okowa added to the mix, it has become an absolute impossibility.
In short, with a presidential ticket printed in Hell, the PDP now looks more like a secret society than a political party.
Atiku has made many mistakes throughout his mistake-filled political career.
Picking Okowa as running mate is the biggest mistake of all.
If anyone was still confused about the star Atiku brought with himself when he came to this world, then it should be crystal clear to all by now that becoming President is most certainly not his destiny at all!
Andrew Ossai Eke
Tiomemena Mukoro
Sugarboy Debekeme
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa,brand new Vice presidential candidate of the PDP may have jolted many with his punch line “I am an Igbo man”
By Norbert Chiazor
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa,brand new Vice presidential candidate of the PDP may have jolted many with his punch line “I am an Igbo man”
Facing the nation live, Okowa a man known for his taciturnity went
point blank to declare his “Igboness”,wide eyed,unapologetically.
It took ARISE TV, a funky electronic medium,with chatty youthful presenters to break the news.
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Quite symbolic for those perceptive enough to read between the lines.
ARISE TV is powered by Nduka,Obaigbena.A Deltan from Okowa’s hood. The interview- unmistakable exclusive. Okowa wanted to be exact, deliberate and quotable.No ambivalence.No ambiguity.He owned it up,clear and clean!
Two strands are in Okowa’s revelation.
One,it is a soothing balm for those who have been singing ,even to the decibel of coarse rhetorics that the name “Ifeanyi” is Igbo by tag and identity, no matter the location.
A vivid vindication of the shrill cry of Delta Ibos for understanding, caught in the web of identity crisis.They clamour for integration among hesitant South East Igbos while craving sovereign survival as distinct settlers of independent Anioma world.A complex scenario dramatized by Kenyan folklorist Jerald Angira in his post colonial treatise titled “A Child of no World”
Two, Okowa’s telling epiphany will turn heads here and there. For the ones who had profiled the 4th elected governor of Delta,an Igbo man, Okowa’s disclosure has given them closure for their somewhat tribal or xenophobic suspicion. Now ,they can pine in malevolent Euraka.It is their point so free!
Far from varied sentiments, there is nobler tone to Okowa’s truth.The redeeming rhythm hypes beautifully, the urgency and necessity of one Nigeria, tolerance for peace,inclusiveness for progress and forgiveness for healing under the hubris of a divided and rudderless era.
Call Okowa uncomplimentary names under free speech, the man who spoke on Television did not just coo softly by nature, like the twittering Turtle Dove. He spoke like the Vice President Nigeria compellingly needs in a bleeding land of fear and hopelessness. He was humble in body language, pacifying in eloquence and remorseful in imperfections.
He answered the disapproval of E.K.Clark,some Southern and Middle Belt leaders against his Vice Presidential ticket, not with wanton selfish insolence but appealing respectful accommodation to Elder’s rage.That is not the trait of a traitor. Prodigal sons do not genuflect or curry the understanding of their fathers.Okowa,a mortal man has his faults, yet he is anything but rebellious.
Fair that Delta North Traditional Rulers and Ohaneze Ndigbo had reportedly came up with pro Okowa statements
supporting his position amid circumstances.
How plausible could one governor stand against the power of a party to make its ticket an open option? With the dogmatic climate of the North where monolithic religion and ethnicity had radicalized a people to unquestionable bandwagon in voting, can a Southern ticket holder win the presidency 2023? With the disunity and divisive voices among the three geo political zones in the South, how far can a home grown candidate go?
How come South East,touted as preferred destination for Nigeria’s next leadership made abysmal outing in the primaries of the two dominant political parties? Who and what pushed Igbo delegates from the South East to give zero votes to their brothers at the last presidential primaries?
Soon or late ,the day is coming .A Southern president would emerge. Okowa is not an obstacle but precursor. In key quarters ,the earnest expectation is that he wins along with Atiku Abubakar come 2023.
Atiku/Okowa presidency could be the elixir for future southern President of Nigeria.
Atiku is from North East with no history of Presidential seat since Nigeria’s independence,
whether under civilian or military. Okowa shares affinity with marginalized South East and also aligned with Southern Nigeria, brooding to rule again.
The time appears not in it’s apogee now with current realities. But full moon would birth inexorably tomorrow in the south.Just time! The delay is certainly not Okowa”s duplicity.
Okowa!
This Igbo man has good results in school and service. He will rescue Nigeria.
