₦airaland Forum

The Anglican Church in Lagos has warned that the security challenges in the country may be compounded if the strike by university lecturers persists.

The Bishop of Diocese of Lagos West, the Rt. Revd. James Odedeji, said this on Thursday while addressing a one-day synod of the church at Archbishop Vinning Memorial Church Cathedral in Ikeja, Lagos.

The Bishop said there could be an explosion of sophisticated crimes as the students could become idle hands hired or enlisted by criminals for nefarious activities that could worsen the country’s security challenges.

He wondered what had happened to the soul of the country with frequent attacks of innocent people by the Boko Haram sect in the North, the rising wave of kidnap and rape.

While calling for a stiffer punishment for those involved in the crimes, Odedeji called on the politicians to be faithful to the mandates they obtained from the electorate.

He said, “It is only in a country like this that teachers in our universities will embark on strike for as long as three months without a solution to the problem which led to the face-off.”

The bishop berated politicians who had turned electioneering to permanent vocation, rather than service to the people who elected them.

“A lot of events are now being revealed to convince Nigerians that our elected office holders have abandoned us to struggle for positions in far away 2015,” he said.

Adedeji called on the Peoples Democratic Party that controls the Federal Government to shun undue bickering and face the task of developing the nation.

On the Judiciary, Odedeji, who was addressing the first synod after he was enthroned in April, said the third arm of government had failed to play its part as the last hope of the common man.

He hinged this on his observation that “the penalty for the big thief is light punishment, while the one for a pick-pocket is life punishment often times, depending on how the prosecutor is treated by the people concerned.”


SOURCE: www.punchng.com/news/ASUU-strike-may-inflame-insecurity-anglican-church-warns/

Two gubernatorial aspirants of the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) in Anambra have called on the party to begin reconciliation with aggrieved members to enhance the chances of its victory in the Nov. 16 governorship election.

They made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

According to them, APGA needs to reconcile the aspirants with the party's candidate to chart the way forward for the party.

One of the aspirants, Chief Paul Odenigbo, alleged that the party’s primaries were not transparent and demanded for an apology from the party chieftains before their support could be guaranteed.

“The major cause of our grievances is the way Willie Obiano emerged, the primary was not transparent, and delegates’ names were not displayed because it had been manipulated so people who were supposed to be there could not make it.

“Party primaries is a duty of the party but the government hijacked it. How do we reconcile that the man who emerged winner of that election was before then relatively unknown but he went ahead to score 817 votes out 1,072 ? How come people voted whom they did not know?

“The party leadership must call us, admit that something went wrong and apologise to us, so that APGA can make progress. If not the party may fail. We wish it does not get to the point when we display our anger”, he said.

Also speaking, Mr Emma Nweke said some of the former aspirants had resolved that they needed to be convinced on why they should continue to support the party.

Nweke said that he was not satisfied with the way the screening exercise was carried out.

“Some of us APGA aspirants are not happy; we met and came up with a resolution that the government and the party leadership within a reasonable time to see the reason to call the aggrieved aspirants about how we can be persuaded to forgive.

“This will go a long way in ensuring victory for the party and if this not done soon, we shall meet again to take a collective decision regarding the upcoming elections and we have communicated our position to them”, he said.

Reacting, the Anambra chairman of APGA, Chief Mike Kwentoh, said the process of the party’s primary was transparent and in line with its constitution, adding that he had not received any complaint on its conduct.

Kwentoh appealed to the aggrieved members of the party to remain in APGA, assuring that the party is ready to talk with them.

NAN recalled that on Aug.26, Obiano became APGA governorship candidate for the Nov. 16 elections after he won the primaries in Awka. (NAN)


SOURCE: http://www.leadership.ng/news/031013/anambra-guber-aggrieved-former-apga-aspirants-threaten-showdown

I nominate Donphilopus, he's good to go

yes