‘Fear of competition forced Obasanjo, others out of PDP’

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said stiff competition from formidable opponents was responsible for the exit of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the party.

At a press conference in Abuja, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said the PDP’s loss of the May 29 presidential election also contributed to the exodus of its members.

Some of its foundation members who quit the PDP are Mr. Audu Ogbeh, Senator Barnabas Gemade and Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.

Others who left on grounds of injustice include a former National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Senate President Bukola Saraki; Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal.

Also, five of the party’s former governors left in 2013. They are Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Musa Kwankwaso (Kano); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); and Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara).

Metuh said: “In PDP, no matter where you come from or who you are, you compete. People left because they could not stand competition. Some members felt that they were not well protected when they sought assistance.

“Others left because we lost election, others for individual ambition, while some others left when they honestly felt they were not accommodated in the party.

Insurgency ’ll end soon, says Defence spokesman

The Defence Headquarters said yesterday that the end of insurgency in Nigeria is in sight and that all known camps of insurgents on Nigerian territory have been dislodged.

The Acting Director, Defence Information, Col. Rabe Abubakar, spoke yesterday in Abuja when he visited Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Mr. Ima Niboro.

Abubakar said the military will continue to dominate the insurgents’ hideouts in the North East so that the Boko Haram menace would end soon.

“We, for the past weeks, have been in the North East to ensure that we do all what we can as military personnel to quell the activities of these insurgents.

“So far so good as I’m speaking with you the major hideouts and the major camps of the militants are no more.

“They are in disarray now, the central command of the terrorists, the center of gravity is no more with them so are scattered all over the place.

Anti-graft war: Jonathan’s ministers fight back

After a long while, former President Goodluck Jonathan is set to defend his integrity. He has rallied his troops – members of his cabinet where actions and inactions contributed to the mess the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is cleaning. How will this battle be fought? Ask Bunmi ogunmodede and Oladesu Emmanuel

PINNED against the wall with allegations that they mismanaged public resources and plundered the nation’s wealth, some of the ministers who served in the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan regrouped at the weekend.

But for the fact that they were no longer in government, the gathering, which held on Sunday in Abuja, would have passed for a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, chaired by the former President.

No fewer them 15 of the former FEC members attended what many called ‘the Abuja strategy session”, at the end of which took exception to bashings from the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration that they grounded the economy.

After appraising their performance in government, they scored themselves high and said they were not corrupt as being portrayed by the Buhari adminstration.

Not a few Nigerians have been calling for the probe of those who flattened the nation’s economy. Some even want the probe extended beyond the immediate past administration to serve as a deterrent.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said the looting by public officials under the Jonathan administration was so massive that over-looking it by the Buhari administration will amount to a disservice to Nigerians.

Its spokesman Lai Mohammed said in a statement on August 16 that only the total recovery of every kobo stolen from the public till could placate Nigerians, who have been short-changed by those entrusted with the commonwealth.

Mohammed said that whoever attempts, either by deed or word, to sabotage the recovery efforts of the Buhari administration could not be seen as patriots.

The APC statement reads: “It is absolutely gratifying that Nigerians are vehemently opposed to the few who would rather have the government of the day turn a blind eye to the looted funds and, in their words, carry on with the process of governance.

“Truly, what sort of governance can go on if the billions of naira in a few hands are not recovered? In the first instance, the government needs every kobo of the funds it can muster to bring about the change it has promised Nigerians.

“Secondly, leaving such hair-raising funds in the hands of the few looters is dangerous, because they can use the funds to destabilise any government.

Saraki, Ekweremadu shun suit seeking their sack

•Judge deplores Senate leaders’ conduct
•Returns case file for re-assignment

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and three others yesterday in Abuja shunned the resumed hearing of a suit seeking their sack.

Although it was not mandatory for Saraki, Ekweremadu and the other defendants in the suit to attend proceedings in person, they were required to be represented by their lawyers.

Yesterday, none of the defendants was represented by lawyers when the case was called before Justice Adeniyi Ademola, to whom the case was transferred from Justice Gabriel Kolawole, who ended his sitting as the vacation judge at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Nigeria’s first IVF baby to study medicine abroad

Nigeria’s first test tube baby is heading for Hungary to study medicine.

Hannatu Kupchi, 17,was born at Nisa Premier Hospital in Abuja on February 11, 1998.

A ceremony was organised by the hospital on Sunday in Abuja to mark her departure. Medical Director Dr. Ibrahim Wada said Kupchi’s birthday marked the fulfillment of his medical career.

“It is very difficult to make a statement on a day like this. When I was out of this country, I knew there were people who wanted babies. I made the decision to come back to Nigeria to help people. It happened on February 11, 1998 when this historic event occurred at this hospital.

“The baby of that historic day is going to become a doctor. Because the parents stood firm, we were able to help others. You gave us government recognition and that was important. It was the first time that a minister came to receive a baby in Nigeria.

Akpabio’s convoy, U.S. embassy’s car collide in Abuja

Former Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio yesterday spent hours at the National Hospital in Abuja after a car accident . He was discharged at about 5.10pm, accompanied out of the hospital by Governor Udom Emmanuel and Senator Theodore Orji.
They left in the governor’s official car.
Akpabio, who is also Senate Minority Leader, was said to be on his way to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, to catch a flight when the accident occurred.
He was rushed to the National Hospital in the city, where doctors described his condition as stable.
Akpabio’s car ran into a convoy of a U.S. diplomat.
A Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) personnel, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Akpabio may have suffered some injuries in the chest region “due to the way he held his chest after the incident”.
The FRSC operatives also said “from the look of things other occupants of the vehicles in the convoy and Akpabio’s driver did not seem to have sustained any injury”.
The officer said he was at the scene of the accident around 7.30 am near Bolingo Hotels on the Abuja Airport Road in the Central Business District of the Federal Capital territory (FCT).

APC, governors, others join row over Buhari’s choices

SGF, Oshiomhole, Okorocha, Oyegun: they’re on merit

Ohanaeze urges Igbo to be calm

CRITICS of President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments yesterday got a reply  – they are based on merit.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and some governors defended the appointments which have been criticised as sectional.

The President’s men also denied that they were appointed based on sentiment, after three of them took the oath of office yesterday in Abuja.

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Southeast’s leading socio-cultural group, urged the Igbo to remain calm. Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo) and Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) said the appointments came strictly on merit.

President Buhari swore in Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr. Babachir David Lawal, National Security Adviser (NSA) Gen. Babagana Monguno and Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Mr. Femi Adesina.

Adesina was appointed on May 31.  Monguno was appointed on July 13 and Lawal was appointed August 27.

At the brief ceremony, Lawal, who spoke on behalf of others, said: “We want to thank God for granting President the vision, wisdom, kindness and boldness to consider us worthy for positions of responsibilities.

“We got appointed into these positions, not because of our tribes or our faiths or our political groups.

Buhari’s appointment based on merit – Oshiomhole

ABUJA—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has urged Nigerians to encourage the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to confront the problems militating against the nation by appointing persons based on merit and not ethnicity.

Gov Oshiomhole

Oshiomhole stated this while commending the President on the appointments of the Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and others made so far, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Peter Okhiria.

According to Oshiomhole, “The Nigerian nation has come to a point where we have to use the best hands to confront the peculiarity of our problems. It is not all the time we descend to the level of geopolitical balancing; we need to employ unusual methods to solve an unusual problem. The level of decay in the country at present requires very seasoned hands and incorruptible Nigerians that will help translate the APC agenda of change for the benefit of all Nigerians.

“We must not reduce governance to political patronage of bread and butter. The governor congratulates the Chief of Staff, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Comptroller General of Customs, all of who he had very close relationship with and whose credentials stand tall among their compeers. He wishes them well in their new jobs of helping to sanitize a system that has become so rotten and corrupt as a result of manifest incompetence and mismanagement.”

Lawyer accused of abusing 9-yr-old-girl re-arraigned

Lagos —The 40-year-old lawyer, Chika Uzoamaka, who was alleged to have sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl (names withheld) was yesterday re-arraigned before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court.

The defendant is facing a four-count charge bordering on sexual assault and an indecent act preferred against him by the police.

The prosecutor, Sergeant Aondohemba Koti, told the court that the defendant committed the alleged offence on August 12, at about 12:45p.m. at the magistrate’s courtroom 4, Tinubu, on Lagos Island.

He said that the defendant sexually assaulted the little girl by penetrating her anus and virginal without her consent, adding that he wilfully and without an excuse perpetrated an indecent act in a public place.

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.