₦airaland Forum

Commercial motorcycle transportation, popularly known as okada, is once again in the eye of the storm following the brutal murder of singer and student, Damino Damoche, last Thursday in Lagos by gunmen on Okada.
Before Damoche’s murder, okada activities had been restricted inthe state, and now, the state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, is using the Damoche murder as an opportunity to campaign against Okada riding.
Condemning the gruesome killing of the singer cum student, Fashola urged residents to see reason for restriction of commercial Okada operators in the state. He said that the recent murder and previous ones buttressed the state government’s objectives of taming crime through the new road traffic law which restricts the activities of commercial motorcycle popularly called Okada.
“Most dastardly acts are perpetrated with the use of okada so residents have to be security conscious and on their guard all the time. On Thursday, Damino Damoche was shot at the entrance gate of LASU. Those who perpetrated the evil act used Okada.
“Just one month ago, a medical doctor was killed by some armed men who were riding Okada. The doctor would have been of benefit to those in need of medical services. “Some people may be saying that the ban on Okada has rendered them useless.
Is this a suitable business, a business that has led to the death of many who could contribute effectively to the development of the country especially Lagos State?” Lamenting further, he said, “Those who perpetrate these evil acts aren’t spirits.
We (Lagos residents) are the ones offering them shelter when they come to the state.” “Anyone you suspect doesn’t live in your neighbourhood, report such people to the nearest police station, the chairman of their Community Development Area, CDA, and landlords should ensure that they don’t rent their house to criminals.”

Dpeacemaker101: Why them still carry security?

Opposition governors in the All Progressives Congress on Thursday held their third meeting in Maiduguri, Borno State, where they donated N200m to victims of Boko Haram atrocities.
The governors also visited a popular market destroyed by members of the sect.
The meeting, which was attended by Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarwa), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), and deputy Governor of Yobe State, was to fine-tune strategies for a national campaign.
Our correspondent gathered, that the governors resolved to begin a national campaign to sensitise the public about the new party.
They also instructed individual parties to begin the process of ratifying the APC pact in line with the requirements of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
After the meeting, which lasted for a few hours, Aregbesola read their communique to reporters.
He said, “Rising from our meeting held in Maiduguri on February 28, 2013 and attended by Governors of Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun, and Yobe and apologies from Governors of Zamfara and Oyo states,
“The forum reiterated our irrevocable commitment to the emergence of the new party, All Progressive Congress.
“In solidarity with the Government and people of Borno and Yobe states, we are pleased to witness an upsurge of tranquility and happy that the situation has calmed down considerably in Maiduguri.
“Contrary to the image of rampant violence that has been painted to the world, we have discovered the people going abouttheir businesses without let or hindrance.
“We wish to commend the efforts of our brother-governors in the two states and the security agencies for the restoration of peace and stability.
“We also sympathise with the families of those who lost their livesand properties and wish to donate N200m to the two states for emergency relief and support.
“We wish to commend the Central Merger Committee of the APC on the progress so far made in the formation of the new party, particularly the recent inauguration of three major committees on Constitutions, Manifesto and Legal/INEC Compliance.
“Finally, we wish to inform Nigerians that we shall soon embark on a national outreach and sensitisation activities and we call on all Nigerians to support our effort to rescue our country from a visionless leadership.”
Governors entertained reporters by singing solidarity songs to reaffirm their political struggles.
In a brief remark, Oshiomhole explained that they were making individual contributions to assist the government and people of Borno and Yobe states, who have carried the burden of the devastation of the insurgency.
Aregbesola explained that the governors chose Maiduguri for themeeting because they wanted to share in the pains of the people and prove that leadership was about courage and decisiveness.
He stressed that there shouldn’t be a no-go-area for any leader that meant well for his people.
Aregbesola said Maiduguri was described as a no-go-area but that by their visit, the people outside now know that the situation was not as bad as people had painted it

Digriz: exactly my thot,hw did he knw that d guy wl die in few minutes time and decided to take his picture.

Nwa oguta: The were exercising their constitutional right a beg free them.

Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and Nigerian Ambassador to Spain, Mrs Bianca Ojukwu, yesterday in Owerri, the Imo State capital, condemned last week’s demolition of Ojukwu’s Memorial Library and Resource Centre.
The people behind the act are yet to be identified, but the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, described the perpetrators as “anti-Igbo elements.”
Inspecting the damaged Centre, Governor Obi, who was accompanied by former Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili and other senior government officials, said he embarked on the inspection to have a firsthand assessment of the level of damage done to the multi billion naira edifice.
The Ojukwu Memorial Library and Resource Centre was built by Chief Uwazuruike in honour of the late Ikemba Nnewi, the late Chief Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu.
Obi expressed shock when he was conducted round the damaged building.
He said: “I came to sympathise with the leader of MASSOB because this edifice is built in honour of our leader, the late Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu.
“Anybody who decides to erect anything in the memory of Ojukwushould be respected. I assure you the renovation work will commence immediately.”
Also speaking yesterday Bianca Ojukwu said: “I was shocked whenChief Uwazuruike broke the news to me at about midnight on Saturday after we attended a burial ceremony together in Anambra State. It is most sad and shocking”.
She described the demolition as a sheer act of wickedness, sayingmembers of the public would have benefited greatly from the use of the library facilities.
“I am astonished that an Igbo man can be capable of such wickedness; to destroy something built in memory of a man the entire Igbo nation is so proud of,” she said.
Bianca said that the motives behind the dastardly act were still unclear and little could be done to those behind the destruction.
Speaking earlier, the visibly angry Chief Uwazuruike said that the incident was an act of sabotage, conceived and carried out by anti- Igbo elements that were not happy with the prominence and honour accorded the late Ojukwu. Uwazuruike, who declined from mentioning the names of those suspected to be behind the demolition, said: “We have an experienced engineer who is handling the project and I wonder why it should suddenly collapse.

val_dubem: My question is this: is it wise to invest soo much time on Social Network where U gain little or nothing (financial wise) or better still, invest soo much time on social network acquiring knowledge with little/nothing to show for it?

Chima_Adeoye: It was wrong and unwise for Oshiomhole to have declined receiving this body.Yes,you can decide not to pay for their visit,which is a sound argument, but making it impossible to inspect state projects is wrong.
We all have our opinions how Nigeria should be run, but if this tour have been going round the country to identify what the other governors are doing as well as federal projects in the states, Oshiomhole was wrong to have become so uncooperative and denied the people of Edo State the opportunity to ask questions and find out what was happening in the state.It all smacks of someone with skeletons in his cupboard desperately trying to hide something.Anyhow, the deed is done.

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has criticised the good governance tour of the Federal Government, saying it is ill-conceived.
Fashola spoke on Tuesday at the celebration of his 2,100 days in office in Ikeja.
He said the arguments advanced for the tour by the Federal Government, which could not point to a good 100-kilometre road that connects two states in the country, was not tenable.
The governor said, “They have embarked on an ill-conceived good governance tour in Lagos in an attempt to appear busy. They have no project to inspect. The question to ask is whether Nigerians need a tour of good governance to know that they are well governed?
“We do not need good governance tour in Lagos before citizens know that their lives are improving. Completed projects such as the Ibeshe Road in Ikorodu, the mother and child care centre in Amuwo Odofin and Alimosho, the completed School of Nursing are examples of good governance.
“The road projects from Mile 12 to Ikorodu, Yaya Abatan/College Road, Okota Ago Palace Way, Ejigbo Ajao Link Bridge and other road networks are examples of good governance.”
The governor also frowned on the Peoples Democratic Party’s opposition to the involvement of the former President of United States, Bill Clinton, in the development of Eko Atlantic City.
He said the party was averse to the development of the country.
He said, “The criticism trailing the recent visit of former US President Clinton, to the dedication of the Eko Atlantic City project has shown that the opposition in Lagos is behind global trends.”
Fashola explained that Clinton begain an initiative after he left office to tackle environmental issues, saying the project won an award in New York in 2009.
He added that the visit was a confirmation that Clinton was in touch with global projects across the world.
Fashola said the performance of the state government had shown the inefficiency in the way “that our national economy has been managed by their party.”
He said, “It is understandable that our success will embarrass their party. We implemented 89 per cent of a budget that had 53 capital content and 47 recurrent content. They have been unableat the national level, where their party is in control, to implement a budget that has over 70 per cent recurrent provision.”
Fashola told the residents of state that the impending rainy season was expected to be heavy. He assured them that the government had started cleaning drainage and accelerating the completion of those under construction.

News
…Buhari was misquoted on merger talk —Akpabio
ABUJA — THE National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Tuesday, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur boasted that the election of Chief Anthony Anenih as chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT and Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State as the chairman of PDP governors will reposition the party to challenge the opposition political parties.
According to him, with Anenih and Akpabio on board, the PDP has nothing to fear with regard to 2015 presidential election.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, yesterday, on the chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, and Anenih as BoT Chairman, Tukur said, “It then means that the PDP is a repackaged political party, ready to face all the challenges ahead of the party in 2015.”
PDP Chairman, Bamanga Tukur .
Meanwhile, governor Godswill Akpabio has stressed that former Head of State and 2011 presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, General Muhammadu Buhari was misquoted on statements regarding the merger.
Buhari, had on Monday at an interactive session with CPC members alluded that there was no need for PDP to merge as it had already merged with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Police, Judiciary and others.
Akpabio told journalists that he could not understand why a former head of state would choose to pretend that he does not know that INEC, Police, Judiciary and others were all independent institutions constitutionally empowered to have separate functions.
According to him, it was wrong for Buhari to play dumb to such functions for the sake of politics.
Speaking further on what the repackaged PDP will mean for the opposition political parties, Bamanga Tukur said, “It is only a strong party that is a challenge to an opposition party. PDP is now repackaged and is back to assume its rightful position. With what is gradually taken place in the country”.
According to Tukur, with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the APC, “it means that we are drifting towards a two party system, the PDP and the APC.”
On the reconciliatory moves in the PDP, Tukur said, “Most of the people in APC now are original members of the PDP and I can assure that we have commenced talks to bring them backto where they originally belong, which is the PDP. They are coming back, because some of them have told me that their aspirations may not be met in the APC because of the burningambitions of some individual members.
“They don’t want a party that is being run like a cult. They are gradually commencing a return to the PDP, because the PDP is the only national party in Nigeria. Three of us (Tukur, Akpabio and Anenih) will put our heads together and make PDP move ahead and remain formidable to face the opposition party called the APC.”

By SaharaReporters, New York
Femi Falana, the well-known human rights lawyer, has called on the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to release the names of 197 persons convicted of drug trafficking by the Federal High Court but who have never served prison terms, or be dragged to court under the Freedom of Information Act..
In a letter to the chairman, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, Mr. Falana recalled the establishment of the National Committee for the Reform of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in 2006.
Among other things, the Committee’s 2007 report as submitted to the government found and confirmed that several offenders who were convicted and sentenced to prison terms by several courts were illegally freed by a criminal syndicate of public prosecutors, defence counsel and prison officials.
“Thus, the Committee found that “out of the 143 drug convicts for the year 2006, 96 of them were never brought to prison,” Mr. Falana said. “Similarly, another 101 drug convicts for the year 2005 were never brought to the prison, bringing the total convicts evading jail to 197 within this period."
Mr. Falana recalled that in response to a previous petition he sent to the Attorney-General of the Federation demanding the implementation of the report of the Committee, the chairman claimed, among others, that the prison officers implicated in the scandalous prison evasion had been prosecuted by the police, but that he has been unable to confirm that assertion.
“Having not succeeded in confirming your assertion I am compelled to request for information on the identities of the indicted prison officers,” Mr. Falana said.
He said he also wants the names of the 197 convicts involved in the prison evasion since they were never declared wanted by the NDLEA which successfully prosecuted them but turned round to assist them in making a mockery of the criminal justice system.
“As many of the convicted drug traffickers who never served their prison terms are said to have returned to the nefarious drug trafficking business I intend to embark on concrete measures to have them rounded up and imprisoned in line with the valid and subsisting orders of the Federal High Court,” he said, adding that ifthey cannot be found by the NDLEA and other law enforcement agencies in the country, he would seek an order of mandamus in court to compel the Federal Government to declare them wanted.
Under the FOI law, the NDLEA has seven days to provide the requested information. If it fails to do so, Mr. Falana said he wouldbe initiating civil and criminal proceedings against the chairman.

Tayo114: Nigeria is moving forwad

The Ojukwu Memorial Library building in Owerri, the Imo State capital, was yesterday night reduced to rubble by unknown persons.
The building, located at 2 Ralph Uwazuruike Street, Area G, New Owerri was being built by the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Ezeigbo, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, in honour of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
The building, when completed, would have also served as a research centre on Igbo studies.
The MASSOB leader, who was not around at the time of the incident, said he had gone to Oraifite for the burial ceremony of Mr. Emeka Okwuosa’s father in company of Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu.
According to him, it was on his way back that he received a call from one of his members informing him that the building had been pulled down by unknown persons.
“I had gone to Oraifite in Anambra State with her Excellency, IyomBianca Ojukwu, for the burial ceremony of the late father of Mr. Emeka Okwuosa; on my way back to Owerri, I received a call from one of my members that some people had demolished the Ojukwu Memorial Library in Owerri. He said those who carried out the act were seen escaping in a 406 Peugeot car.
“But I don’t know those who are responsible for this dastardly act but we intend to find out,” Chief Uwazuruike said.
He further disclosed that in the past two weeks his security personnel had reported seeing some strange faces surveying the site but that he had told them not to challenge them to avoid clashes.
However, one of the MASSOB members, Sunday Peters, narrating his experience, said that when they heard a loud explosion, they immediately rushed to the site only to see about four men scaling the fence to the back street where they parked their 406 Peugeot car with which they made their escape.

For_Now: For listening to the voice of the people? Common, I think you really have to pity for yourself, seriously.

miqos02: jerry Gana again? this man no dey tire?

Maduale: Common will you s,hut up! You have eyes? Oya tell me the projects you know about in Delta state and Kebbi state! Also tell me the cost of the projects.
The level of foolishness that some of you exhibit here is worrisome.
instead of you to be grateful and happy that we now have a minister of information who is keen to go the extra mile to undertake a physical inspection of projects across the federation.

If you could take a little leave from your insanity and follow the tour, you would understand that it goes beyond mere showcasing of projects.
Minister Maku always makes sure the projects costs are disclosed to the public.
For non performing contractors, he chides them and gives them ultimatum to deliver or face revocation.
That is the much needed feedback mechanism that FG needs. Is not just enough to award contracts in Abuja without periodic monitoring of the projects.

Gana who hailed President Jonathan for retaining the name ofthe institution. said the president had upheld the Constitution by reversing the change of name of the university.