Hmmmm

Hmmm!so FG recognizes ASUP Thank God shaaa

Hmmmm is cool ooh,does it has two sims Just asking

Hmmmmm

The National Welfare Officer of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Dr. Ngozi Iloh, is still undergoing surgeries and according to her, going through traumatic pains, at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, Edo State.
This is contrary to reports that she was treated and discharged in Lokoja, Kogi State, shortly after the accident, which was said to have been caused by the convoy of the Kogi State Governor, Mr Idris Wada, on November 12.
The widely condemned accident, which happened while members of the union were on their way to Kano for a meeting, claimed the life of the former National President of ASUU, Prof. Festus Iyayi.
Iloh, who recalled her ordeal during online chats withPUNCH Metro, said she had been traumatised for weeks following the discovery that Iyayi died in the accident.
It was learnt that she had so far undergone two major surgeries, one on her right leg and another on the left hand.
When our correspondent enquired about a deep tear in her left hand, Ilo was not specific if there was any medical report that the injury was a bullet wound.
There had been some speculations as to the cause of Iyayi’s death until a medical examination showed that there was no evidence of bullets.
In the chat, Iloh said, “We travelled in a convoy from ASUU Benin zone. We stopped at a filling station to refuel on the way to Kano. The travelling team was from University of Benin, Delta State University, Abraka, and Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma.
“The UNIBEN bus took off and I asked the driver to slow down so the others could catch up with us. My saving grace was that I kept looking back and the rest is history.”
Iloh added that she was shocked to hear that she was discharged from the hospital in Lokoja after being treated for minor bruises.
I am still in hospital. My injuries are not minor,” she said.

As part of its membership drive, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress has concluded plan to woo former Vice President Atiku Abubakar into its fold.
Atiku, a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, was the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, a party that was among the three political parties that merged to form the APC.
The other two political parties were the Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party.
The former Vice- President however returned to the PDP shortly before the presidential primaries of the PDP in 2010, which he lost to President Gododluck Jonathan.
Atiku was also a member of the aggrieved members of the PDP that walked out of the PDP mini convention in Abuja few months ago to form theNew PDP.
Investigations by our correspondent showed that Atiku would receive the leaders of the APC at his residence in Asokoro, Abuja.
The spokesperson for the former Vice-President, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed the visit in a test message to our correspondent.
He said, “Yes, the leadership of the APC would visit Turaki at his residence in Asokoro tomorrow (today) at 11am.”
If the leadership of the opposition party succeeds in wooing Atiku from the ruling party, he would be joining five other governors from the PDP to have defected to the opposition party.
Governors who have left the party are Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).

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Nigeria may experience nationwide scarcity of petroleum products immediately after the yuletide if the threat to ground operations in the oil and gas sector beginning from January 1, 2014 is carried out by workers in the industry.
The workers, under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Employees, on Tuesday declared that they would embark on strike from next year if the Federal Government fails to retract plans to privatise the nation’s four refineries.
This was disclosed during a peaceful protest held at the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in Abuja on Tuesday.
Speaking on behalf of the workers, the President, PENGASSAN, Mr. Babatunde Ogun, said the union had given the government a one-week ultimatum to halt its plan to sell the refineries to private investors.
He said, “If between now and December 24 we don’t hear anything from the government, we will mobilise, and between that time and the end of the year we will expect a retraction but if they fail to retract, then rest assured that in the first week of January all oil and gas workers in Nigeria will go on a total strike.”
On whether the unions had met with the Federal Government before coming out to make public its threat, he said series of agreements had been signed in the past and stressed that “the government cannot be trusted again with agreements.”
Ogun added, “Instead of selling our national asset, we should implement the Petroleum Industry Bill for it will give us a direction. The PIB has been in the National Assembly for years waiting to be passed, but up till now nothing meaningful has happened.”
He wondered why the minister of petroleum resources was quick to announce that the privatisation process would be completed before the end of the first quarter of next year while “it had taken the PIB six years to be passed.”
He said the Federal Government and the National Assembly was not serious about passing the bill and alleged that they were “systematically looking at the number of years remaining for President Goodluck Jonathan to complete his tenure and sell our national assets.”
He said, “They come out to tell Nigerians that we cannot work and cannot do business. If Nigerians cannot do anything properly, it means the Presidency and others in the Villa cannot govern Nigeria. So let us go and look for people to govern us.

He called on all university unions to reflect on the time lost due to the strike, and take measures to regain it.
Wike also urged the committee members to ensure the judicious use of the fund.
The committee was divided into two sub-committees –Allocation and Logistics.
The Allocation sub-committee is chaired by a former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. It has the Vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan, representatives of Committee of the Pro-chancellor, Budget office, ASUU and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities as members.
The Logistics committee chaired by the Director of Tertiary Education has as members, representatives of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NAT, ASUU, and the vice-chancellor of Bayero University, Kano.
• UNN Pro-Chancellor suspended
The minister, who gave the sub-committees two days to submit their reports for deliberation, also suspended the Chairman/Pro-Chancellor of the Governing Council of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Dr. Emeka Enejere, with immediate effect.
A statement by Wike’s Special Assistant (Media), Simeon Nwakaudu , gave no reason for the action.
• FG to pay salary arrears
The PUNCHreliably gathered in Abuja that the Federal Government was ready to pay the outstanding salary arrears of ASUU members.
It was learnt that the government also reached an understanding with the union to pay the lecturers ‘salaries as a precondition to suspending the strike.
A source privy to the agreement said, “The Federal Government has agreed to pay the salary arrears. It is part of the understanding we reached.”
When asked by one of our correspondents if the government indeed accepted to pay the salary arrears of the lecturers, Wike replied, “What is your problem? Has ASUU told you they have a problem with that?
“That they have called off the strike is the most important thing. For the other ones, leave the details for us. Any agreement we reached with ASUU must be honoured.”
The National Vice-president of ASUU, Mr. Biodun Ogunyemi, who was sighted at the NUC office in Abuja, refused to comment on the issue.
But The PUNCHgathered that both parties decided to be silent on the issue because of the controversy the decision of the government to withhold the salaries generated.
But our source said, “The Federal Government has agreed to pay the arrears immediately.”
• Agreement’ll be fully implemented –FG
The Federal Government, in a statement, reiterated its commitment to implementing all the items contained in the agreement with ASUU.
In the statement by Nwakaudu, the government said that investing N1.3tn (including the N200bn already released for this year) in infrastructure in the public universities in the next six years would transform them into international centres of excellence.
• Atiku urges education summit
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who also hailed the suspension of the strike, called for a convocation of a summit to chart the way forward for the education sector.
He said, “It has become imperative for ASUU, the Federal Government and other stakeholders to put in place, a mechanism for addressing crisis of this nature so that our students and their parents will not be visited with prolonged closure of our universities in future with its concomitant effects.”
Abubakar added that education remained vital for the nation’s scientific and socio-economic development.

• Students, parents express joy
However, as the news of the suspension of the strike spread yesterday, students of the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, University of Calabar, and the Cross River University of Technology jubilated but said they would not return to their campuses until the beginning of next year.
In Akoka where UNILAG is located, some female students living in private hostels,were seen exchanging banter on the streets.
Even parents expressed happiness that the Federal Government and ASUU finally reached an agreement that led to the suspension of the strike.
A final year Law student of the university, who gave her name simply as Ann, said, “Thank God that the strike has ended. I am sure you won’t understand what it means to be at home for almost six months doing nothing and hoping for an end to the strike.
“But now that ASUU has had mercy on us, I feel elated because very soon, I will become a graduate.”
Ann however said she would not rush to the institution because “normal academic activities would not hold until early January when most students would have returned from the Christmas and New Year festivities.”
Mrs. Edna Okonkwo, whose son is an Architecture student in UNILAG, said, “Even though ASUU dragged the strike for too long and lost our sympathy, I am pleased that my boy will soon return to school.”
In Ile-Ife, OAU students, were seen jumping and congratulating one another.
“Thank God that the strike has been suspended,’ they chorused.
Though they were sure that lectures might not hold again this year, the students said suspending the strike was an assurance that academic activities had resumed in OAU.
One of them, who identified herself as Victoria, said suspending the strike was a challenge for her to buckle up.
“I am extremely happy with the development. Though we have missed so much, this is a call for me to sit up so that I can cover up what has been missed,” she said.
Another student, Eludayo Elugoke, noted that suspending the strike would be more commendable if the lecturers began work within 24 hours.
He said, “It is not enough to end the strike but to start lectures. The earlier the better because it is annoying to have gained admission since 2012 and in 2014 you are still at the same level.
“Our lecturers should please hasten their resumption.”
When contacted, the chairman of ASUU, OAU, Prof. Akinola Adegbola, said lectures would commence as soon as possible.
“We have suspended the strike. It is expected that as soon as the branch chairmen get to their institutions, lectures should commence,” he added.
In Nsukka, an elated student, Adanna Nnanna, told theNews Agency of Nigeriathat she was happy that the Federal Government finally acceded to the demands by ASUU.
A parent in Enugu said, “We are happy about the development. I want to thank the Federal Government for this and plead with them not to allow a thing like this(strike) to come up again.”
Also in Calabar, Cross River State, a parent, Etim Usim, described the suspension of the strike as a welcome development. Etim, who has two children in UNICAL, however, said that in order to avoid disruption of academic activities in the future, the Federal Government should ensure that its latest agreement with ASUU was fully implemented.
A final year engineering student of the CRUTECH, Miss Helina Ado, said though students were adversely affected by the strike, they were happy that the strike had finally been suspended.
Also, Mr. Benson Williams, a UNICAL student commended the government for resolving the dispute with ASUU amicably.
• Monitoring committee inaugurated
Shortly after news of the suspension spread, the Federal Government inaugurated a 12-man monitoring committee on the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities.
The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, is the chairman of the committee.
Performing the inauguration in Abuja on Tuesday, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, applauded ASUU for suspending the strike.
Anyim promised that the committee would work to uphold the renewed confidence between ASUU and the Federal Government.
He said, “Notwithstanding the fact that some of the sessions were typically stormy, I am gladdened by the fact that the strike has been called off and we are here to formalise the process that will work to uphold the renewed confidence between ASUU and the government.
“I consider the inauguration of the monitoring committee as strategic and timely, especially in view of its potential to consolidate and add new energy to the speedy and complete implementation of the recommendations of the committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities.”

Students and their parents jubilated on Tuesday over the suspension of the 169-day strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Even though ASUU ordered its members to return to work immediately, students of most public universities might not return to their campuses because of the Yuletide .
The union embarked on the strike on July 1 to demand the implementation of an agreement it reached with the Federal Government in 2009.
ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, who announced the suspension of the strike which started on July 1, said the union had accepted the resolutions it signed with the government on December 11.
The resolutions include immediate commencement of the revitalisation processes as contained in a letter with reference number FME/PS/398/C.1/Vol i.1/110, dated December 12, 2013, titled, “Opening of Dedicated Account for Revitalisation of Nigerian Universities.”
Fagge told journalists at the Bosso Campus of the Federal University of Technology, Minna in Niger State, that the revitalisation funds for five years would be provided by the Federal Government.
He said, “Finally, NEC has resolved to suspend the strike embarked upon on July 1, 2013, with effect from Tuesday, December 17, 2013 and directs its branches to resume work forthwith.
“First we expect that implementation monitoring committee which has already been constituted to the satisfaction of government and ASUU, will work assiduously so that the process of revitalisation of Nigerian universities will receive the much needed boost, and our students and their parents will begin to see the fruits of the ASUU struggles.
“ASUU would have preferred to undertake the re-negotiation of the 2009 agreement in the second quarter of 2014, but we were persuaded to shift the date to the third quarter, and we agreed as a gesture of goodwill.
“It is our hope that government will honour these resolutions as signed. ASUU hopes that the common position between government and ASUU that nobody shall be victimised in any way whatsoever for his or her role in the process leading to these resolutions and agreements will be implemented.”
According to him, ASUU and the government also agreed that an Implementation Monitoring Committee should meet to verify the level of implementation of the Earned Academic Allowances of the union members.
He added that the Federal Government agreed to provide fund for the payment of the outstanding balance.
Fagge said ASUU expected the government to act quickly to engage the services of the universities in special consulting services as contained in the resolutions.
“This is one of the challenges that the universities have been asking the government to throw to Nigerian universities; we are more than ready to meet the challenges,’’ he added.
He therefore urged parents and guardians to demand better funding of the public universities, better living conditions of students, laboratories on campuses, and freedom for their children to enable them to get all round education.
“We appeal to parents to take more interest in the proper education of their children and work with us for the revitalisation of public universities,’’ he said.
Promising that ASUU members would make up for the lost time, Fagge said, “The five months’ sacrifice is worth it. We will engage ourselves in producing quality students through research in various institutions.”
While appraising the strike, Fagge condemned some vice-chancellors, who he alleged tried to sabotage the efforts of the union.
He said, “We condemn, without any reservation, vice-chancellors, who made efforts to undermine and in some cases, attempted to break our strike”.
Earlier, he had apologised to the Nigeria Union of Journalists, especially its members who were reportedly assaulted by some ASUU members during the NEC meeting on Monday.
Fagge said, “I apologise to you for what transpired yesterday (Monday). It is not in our habit to chase away the press. We felt mosquitoes were biting you people and you were outside in the cold.
“Please whatever transpired between you (media) and ASUU was not in our nature. On behalf of the NEC and the whole ASUU, I tender an unreserved apology.”
The National Executive Committee of ASUU had on Monday met for several hours at the FUT, Minna to deliberate on the agreement with the Federal Government.
The union’s leadership had on November 4 met with President Goodluck Jonathan for over 13 hours over the non-implementaion of the controversial 2009 agreement.
At the end of the marathon meeting, the Federal Government agreed that it would inject N1.3tn into public universities beginning from the last quarter of this year.

www.punchng.com/news/parents-students-jubilate-as-ASUU-ends-169-day-strike/

Doctors under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, yesterday, withdraw their services from public hospitals across the federation.
The phased warning strike, which is to protest failure of Federal Government to implement a mutual agreement to meet demands for impro-ved welfare and other emolu-ments, will be called off in the first instance after five days.
It is expected to continue after the yuletide season in the second phase, barring any progressive development on the crisis.
In a telephone interview, the NMA President, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, said the association was making good its threat, following the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum issued weeks ago.
Enabulele, who told Van-guard that the planned action for withdrawal of services was going on as planned, urged Nigerians to disregard information to the contrary.
He said: “We had a meeting called by the Minister of Labour and this meeting lasted from 3.30p.m. on Monday till 5a.m. on Tuesday.
“The meeting had in attendance, ministers of Labour and Health; Chairman, House Committee on Health, and a delegation of the NMA.
“Others included the Permanent Secretary, Labour and Health, representatives of Salaries & Wages, the Head of Service and Budgets Office.
“The meeting raised a memorandum of understanding, MoU, where the government side signed a promissory note that they will attend to the demands by January 6, 2014.
“It was also agreed that if government could meet the minimum demand of the issues at stake in terms of income, wages and discrepancies in our salaries and lastly funding of healthcare, we would reconsider.
“If they can reach at least one of the demands, we will reconsider our stand. But they only came up with the MoU, which was not part of our agreement with doctors.”
Enabulele pointed out that NMA cannot on basis of the MoU decide whether or not to continue with the strike.
“Only members can take decision because they have once been and deceived by an MoU,” he added.

I made sure i read this letter over and over again to the end!Thank God that at last the truth is coming out,how can OBJ be writing againist GEJ when he (OBJ)was the only president who had enough time to re-write the future of this nation into progress as the longest serving head of state(military and civilian rule)
i pray this country gets to where God intends it to get to!

I think i tried!

I think polygamy is coming back soonest....remember what the bible says :-P :-P
Isaiah 4:1

Nigeria continued to experience massive infrastructural decay; as indeed the massive hemorrhaging of public funds in the energy or power projects that did not come to stream. Political violence was at its deadliest. The assassination of the likes of Harry, Dikibo, Bola Ige, Chimere Ikoku, and so many whose unexplained and unsolved deaths still haunt the nation happened under Obasanjo’s watch. The manipulation of elections and the distortion of the public mandate was a key feature of Nigeria under Obasanjo. The Third term project, and the corrupt sale of Nigeria’s public investment to friends, concubines, and cronies happened under Obasanjo. Basically, General Obasanjo stripped Nigeria to the bones, was unable to solve the massive unemployment situation which is the nuclear-bomb waiting to explode in Nigeria, and the introduction of vigilante justice, kidnapping and assassinations was at its peak under Obasanjo. Perhaps he has forgotten, or perhaps, he was far too occluded and far too secure in the reinforced walls of Aso Rock to take note.
What Obasanjo’s letter in sum does is to really indicate that the aphrodisiac of power wears off very quickly when you leave the enclosure of power. And so, Obasanjo, who had more than a hand in the emergence in power of his acolyte, the president, who is following in his exact policy footsteps: his economic, political, and security policies which basically mirror Obasanjo’s to the detail, is like a wasted mea culpa. In his letter last week, Obasanjo may just have been writing to himself. He has touched upon key truths which the current incumbent must note, because, though Obasanjo is as guilty of the things he has written against President Jonathan, they are issues which this president must quickly resolve and contain: the question of public accountability; of the lack of transparency in the oil revenue accounts; the deadly national security situation; his narrow and diminishing political base; the very fact that he was elected president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and not an “Ijaw president.” All are sound political advice.
One advise that the president must however not feel obligated to is the question of his choice and rights to seek re-election. It is his political right, and the decision on whether he remains president or not should be left to the courts and the electoral choice and decisions of Nigerians in an open and transparent ballot. That said, it is clear that Obasanjo’s letter, dripping with frustration and his growing impatience with the president signals a critical open shot in the drama leading to 2015. But it should do more: it should lead to the airing of all our national dirty linen; the hidden and unresolved secrets that have remained a millstone on the neck of Nigerians. Obasanjo is not one of my favorite people in the world, but the president must certainly not discard the message in spite of the messenger. Interesting times are upon us.

www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/aremu-writes-goodluck/

Now, you can’t touch: Mathew Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, General and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, former President of the Republic, ex-this and that, felt the pull in his patriotic heartstrings last week, and he penned a most acerbic letter to his “acolyte” – President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. General Obasanjo is known to rise to the occasion with his letters. He wrote Shagari, he wrote Buhari; he wrote the famous letter urging Babangida to “put a human face to SAP;” heck, he wrote to himself! Now, he has written Jonathan.
There are those who have come to compare Obasanjo’s public letters to sitting heads of state to the proverbial dark shrieks of the owl, which presages some ominous event, namely, a coup. But we must not be superstitious. We must regard the letters for what they intend to be: the clarions to public duty. But the remarkable thing about Obasanjo is that he has all the answers when he is not in government. General Obasanjo is the greatest beneficiary in his generation of all that a nation can bestow on an individual. He has attained the highest power and authority in the land, both as military dictator and an elected president. The problem is Obasanjo’s legacy in power. Among his legacies is the election of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Maybe we should refresh the memories of Nigerians at this point: in 1999, Obasanjo was backed by a powerful alliance of the Nigerian elite and some of their international sponsors who had sold the fiction that only Obasanjo was created by God to keep Nigeria from breaking apart at the end of the military era. The soldiers had acquired extraordinary power at the expense of the nation – great personal wealth; great capacity for violence; suffuse and blanket power that alienated the citizens, and a corrupt machinery that gave them the resource to determine the will of the nation without recourse to law.
Nigerians had fought this clique and by 1998, tried to restore the republic. But the Generals knew that they could not withdraw in disarray, and that they needed to protect their already entrenched interests, and so they took Obasanjo from jail and made him president. Nigerians could live with that. Of course, a wide swath of the citizenry felt that the nation should make a clean break from military rule, and understood that Obasanjo was merely the proverbial Greek gift to a wracked nation desirous of change and an end to military tyranny by all means. Nigerians nonetheless thought Obasanjo had learned some lessons from his humiliating time in jail and that he was reformed from his past. His first four years in office was a disaster – wasted years that saw neither the expected transformation in the lives of Nigerians nor in the democratic change that was anticipated. Obasanjo ceded the secular authority of the state by allowing the legal secession of Zamfara and the rest of the Sharia states, and in doing that failed to uphold the constitution which he swore to defend and live by. The Sharia movement exploded into what we now call Boko Haram, the current albatross of the Jonathan administration. Between 1999 and 2007 when Obasanjo was president, real income declined; there was a massive level of corruption which led to the establishment of the EFCC, based on a most flawed legislation which gave the president the instrument to harass his opponents rather than prosecute real corruption.
Indeed, in the eight years of Obasanjo’s presidency, oil proceeds were not accounted; Obasanjo took the portfolio of oil minister and there is no Nigerian alive who knows exactly the true quantum of revenue accruing to Nigeria in those years. President Obasanjo operated the oil ministry like his private estate, and there is still, no visible trail of the revenue; no visible impact in its use to elevate the quality of lives of the Nigerian.

I see.... B-)

MTHATHAA – A military aircraft carrying Nelson Mandela’s remains arrived Saturday in Mthatha in his native Eastern Cape province ahead of his burial Sunday.
A C-130 Hercules carrying Mandela’s flag-draped casket — earlier escorted by two fighter jets — was greeted by awaiting mourners including his widow Graca Machel.
Nelson Mandela
Readers Tribute
As Nelson Mandela body is committed to mother earth, do write your tributes to the world statesman.

Coach Stephen Keshi believes the Super Eagles will show their true class at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The Nigerians are in Group F, comprising two-time champions Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran, who they open their campaign against on June 16 in Curitiba.
Set to feature in their fifth World Cup finals since making their debut at the 1994 edition in the United States of America, where they played what is still regarded as their best football, the Eagles go into next year’s showpiece event as African champions, same as in 1994 when they went to USA as African kings.
At that time, Keshi was the captain of a team dubbed the “African Brazilians” because of their fluid-passing style of attacking football and as he prepares to lead a relatively younger side to the Mundial, the former Togo and Mali gaffer feels that his charges can hold their own against the best teams in the world.
“We are going to Brazil to compete for honours. We are not going there to make the numbers. Our objective remains to post an impressive performance in Brazil and the boys share this same objective and are willing to do everything possible to achieve this aim”, said Keshi, shortly after the draw ceremony in the Brazilian state of Bahia.
He said that his troops were keen to show the world that they can play fantastic football, adding that they were not afraid of any of the 31 other finalists.
“My joy is that my boys have been telling me they want to show the world what they are capable of doing at the finals next year summer. We respect all the teams but do not fear any.” said Keshi.

I think GIONEE although am a tecno user!porting very soon till tecno comes with OTA

well am glad i made front page :-P :-P

Third to comment shaaa

Brb

Popular music producer, OJB Jezreel , who just returned to the country after a successful kidney transplant surgery in India, is showering praises on his first wife, Mama J, for being there for him and donating one of her kidneys to save his life. While speaking recently after his arrival, OJB revealed that despite discouragement from family and friends, his wife still made the crucial donation to save him, even at the risk of her life.
While describing his wife for the voluntary donation, OJB had this to say; “She is a wonderful person because it is one thing if God is telling you to do something but another to do it. It takes a lot of courage to actually do it. Just as Jesus had made the water for Peter to walk on, Peter needed a lot of courage to take that step and that was what she did at that dying minute. Even when the doctors came to tell her that they would have to cut her all the way to the back and would have to remove a rib so they could have access to the kidney, she still agreed to go through it. It takes courage to go through with it, so, I will say she is a courageous woman.”
D’Banj, Tuface, others to hold concert for Mandela
Come Wednesday, December 18, 2013, some celebrities in Nigeria will gather for ‘Legacy Concert’ in honour of late anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday, December 5, 2013 at the age of 95. Top Nigerian musical artistes D’Banj, 2Face Idibia, Darey Art-Alade, Burna Boy, Ikechukwu, Eldee the Don, Zaina, Mo Easy, Engage and Chioma have been pencilled down to perform at the tribute concert.
Others are DJ Babus, Timi Dakolo, Waje, Julius Agwu, Mike Aremu, J-Martins, Niyola, Omawumi, Tiwa Savage, Rocksteady, amongst others.
The event holds at The Oceanview Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos. Going by what the organisers of the event said, it promises to be a very befitting and groundbreaking honour in memory of the extraordinary life and unselfish contributions of one of the greatest beacons of hope, inspiration and freedom to ever walk the surface of this earth

www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/wife-wonderful-person-ojb/

Sixteen opposition governors under the aegis of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), have unanimously elected the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, as their chairman.
The 16 state governors who are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), picked Okorocha to pilot the affairs of the forum at a recent meeting.
A statement by the Director General of the PGF, Salihu Lukman, said Okorocha’s election was in furtherance of the commitment of the 16 Progressive Governors to strengthen democratic governance structures in the country with the overriding goal of rescuing Nigeria and facilitating the emergence of accountable leadership at all levels led by APC.
“Okorocha will provide leadership to PGF to realise the collective vision of the Progressive Governors to engender expeditiously exemplary human development Programmes and policies in all APC states.
“Considering how consistently the PDP has attacked the foundations of our democracy, and the subsequent erosion of Nigerians’ hard-won freedoms, the PGF under HE Okorocha’s leadership pledges to mobilize citizens towards expanding and deepening democratic structures.
“This, Owelle will do by focusing on initiatives to guarantee the development of participatory governance structures as well as the guarantee of transparent, credibthee elections and the results reflect the votes of Nigerian people, Lukman explained in the document made available to Vanguard on Friday.
The forum urged Nigerians to support the initiatives of the Progressive Governors under the leadership of Okorocha to make Nigeria great again.
Source ==> www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/okorocha-elected-progresive-govs-chairman/

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BENIN- A former Commissioner of Agriculture in the late Prof. Ambrose Alli government in the Second Republic, Mr. Eddy Osifo has called on the government to transform the beliefs and attitudes of the people as a first step towards eliminating corruption in the country.
He said the government has the power to change the attitude of Nigerians towards ill-gotten wealth, corruption and corrupt practices, saying that this was what the short lived regime of late General Murtala Muhammed wanted to achieve.
Osifo , who in a speech at the 2013 Obafemi Awolowo University Alumni Association Annual Dinner held weekend in Benin said that President Goodluck Jonathan should convey a meeting of the Federal Executive Council to discuss the problem of corruption in the country and compel Ministers who would not renounce corruption and corrupt practices to resign from office.
He also want the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to renounced corruption in its entirety , adding that once this was done, it would become a party policy as it was with the Communist Party in China and Russia.
The former defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) stalwart said that the issue of corruption in the country should be made an election issue in the 2015 general elections in the country, adding that, “any party that refuses or neglects to do so must be rejected at the polls”.
“It is not enough to declare war on corruption in television screen, or pages of newspapers. We must take positive to renounce it”
“What we have observed since the establishment of anti-corruption agencies is that many high profile corruption cases are not prosecuted to its logical end and authorities seem to beam the search light more, and at times, on their intra-party and inter-party opponents. This makes nonsense of the whole institution on which huge public money is being spent”, he said.
He called on the government to be hasher, draconic, sterner, more resilience and persistent in the prosecution of offences of corruption than they were doing now, saying that, “their general attitude towards corruption cases would appear to be that of aiding, abetting and encouraging it”

Despite the outcry by opposition political parties against the electoral register that was used during the recently concluded Anambra State governorship election, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega yesterday rose in defence of the document insisting that it was credible.
Although, Jega acknowledged that the register was not yet the ideal, he explained that the commission offered the people of Anambra state the opportunity to make the register work, but they refused to make use of the opportunity offered by the commission.
Speaking at the Fourth quarterly meeting with registered political parties yesterday in Abuja, the INEC chairman said that the voters register was “not as bad as some people are strenuously trying to make it appear.”
According to Prof Jega: “As we are all aware, complaints were made about the Register of Voters in the aftermath of the Anambra Governorship election, with at least one political party/candidate alleging that the Register is lacking in integrity and calling for the cancellation of the election essentially on account of this. Let me use this opportunity to categorically affirm that while our Register of Voters is not perfect, it has requisite integrity and it compares favourably with any Register of Voters on our continent.”
“It is certainly not as bad as some are strenuously trying to make it appear. Nonetheless, we have to keep on improving upon it and we have planned to keep doing so through the continuous voter registration processes. Our CVR programme provides opportunity for registering all those who have become 18 years old since the last registration exercise; and it also provides an opportunity for all those with missing essential biometric details on the electronic register to be recaptured.
“INEC offered these opportunities to the people in Anambra state last August, before the governorship election; regrettably many did not utilize it. As we move towards 2015, all stakeholders, have a joint obligation to ensure that the CVR is utilized maximally to update and improve upon our Register of Voters.
The chairman told the political parties that the quarterly meeting with them through the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has been affording the commission vital ideas towards strengthening mutual trust ahead of the 2015 elections.
In his own remarks at the occasion, the IPAC chairman, Yunusa Tanko said political parties were alarmed over the magnitude of complaints from discrepancies in the Anambra state governorship election as regards the voters register and public enlightenment in the recent poll.
He said these complaints, informed the visit of IPAC to the INEC chairman.
Tanko observed that registered political parties in the country are ready to work and abide by the relevant laws in the conduct of their activities and expressed hope that INEC would also stick to its electoral rules guiding its affairs.
Nevertheless, all political parties at the meeting applauded INEC over the permanent voters register and its handling of the Anambra state governorship election, except the All Progressive Congress (APC), which described the governorship election as a ‘travesty of justice’.
Almost all the registered political parties attended the meeting with INEC, except the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP

Port Elizabeth - South African traditional leaders are calling on the government to allow adequate space for customary burial rites whenNelson Mandela is finally laid to rest on Sunday.
"On Sunday next week, when we put him in his grave, all the rituals will be conducted by the Royal House," Xhosa traditional leader Nokuzola Mndende told AFP.
"It will be a traditional ritual and the government should take a back seat and not interfere," she added.
Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family, the leaders of a Xhosa-speaking people.
"An ox will be slaughtered to accompany him. It is only the Mandela clan which will conduct the rituals on burial day to prepare him for a safe journey."
"All the talking at the grave will be done by the Mandela clan elders," Mndende explained.
"If government intervenes, the ancestors will not accept and welcome him, and this will have a detrimental effect on the family members left behind as his spirit will come back to haunt them."
Mandela is due to be buried at his childhood home of Qunu on Sunday, part of a week-long celebration of his life.
In contrast to a stadium memorial in Soweto and a laying in state in Pretoria, Mandela's hometown burial will be more traditional, a mixture of Christian and traditional Xhosa rites.

m.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/Politics/State-shouldnt-interfere-in-Mandela-burial-chief-20131209

CAPE TOWN - Nelson Mandela’s former jailers and fellow prisoners united in his memory Tuesday across the water from Robben Island where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.
Ex-prison guard Christo Brand was among some 200 people packed into an auditorium at the ferry departure point — known as “Nelson Mandela Gateway” — to the island off Cape Town which is now a museum and top tourist site.
Mandela had been the same person as president as he was in prison, said Brand, who struck up an unlikely and enduring friendship with the icon he met as a teenage guard when Mandela was 60.
While saddened by Mandela’s death, Brand said, he also felt relief “because I know that he died in peace and that is what he was fighting for”.
Nelson Mandela
A single candle flickered and images of Mandela were displayed on a big screen at the departure point, where long queues of tourists waited to board a ferry to the island.
“He’s touched us all. He meets hate with love,” said tearful Norwegian tourist Lars Dahl, 62, who attended the memorial with his children after visiting the island.
“We’re here in Cape Town and we felt it was important to honour him and his memory and thank him.”
Outside the building, people left messages in a book of condolences, placing wreathes and had their photographs taken with a bust of Madiba, the clan name by which the ex-president was fondly known.
Visitors joined in struggle-era songs and chants of “Nelson Mandela”.
Former Robben Island inmate Lionel Davis hailed Mandela’s contribution to reconciliation among South Africa’s former political enemies.
Even in prison, Mandela had started reaching out to the Afrikaner nation which jailed him under its harsh apartheid racial laws.
“With his death, we have reconciled again as South Africans. We have reconciled as a world community. It is up to us to make that legacy a reality,” said Davis.
“It is our duty that we as South Africa fulfil that legacy of Mandela from today onwards, that we endeavour to break down the barriers that still keep us apart.”
Lorraine Steenkamp, a black South African, said visiting Mandela’s former prison was “the greatest gift”, just days before he was to be laid to rest.
“If it wasn’t for Nelson Mandela fighting for our freedom, I wouldn’t have married my husband or had these two beautiful kids. He’s an Afrikaner.”
Tens of thousands of mourners, meanwhile, were gathering in Soweto’s massive Soccer City stadium for an official memorial service.

SOWETO (AFP) – Nelson Mandela’s widow Graca Machel on Tuesday made her first public appearance since his death as she arrived helped along by friends at the Soweto stadium for his memorial.
Wearing a black coat and dress, the Mozambican human rights campaigner linked arms as she made her way slowly into the bowels of the building.
Machel barely left her husband’s bedside in the final six months of his life.
She maintained a near round-the-clock bedside vigil during the 84 days Mandela spent in a Pretoria hospital and the subsequent three months he spent at home before he died on December 5.
One of her rare public appearances came a month ago, when she was spotted at the premiere of the movie “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” tracing her husband’s journey from prisoner to president.

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