₦airaland Forum

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has won Saturday’s rerun election into the House of Representatives for Magama/Rijau Federal Constituency in Niger state.

The election which was marred by violence saw the APGA defeating the ADC and the People’s Democractic Party (PDP) in the result released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

APGA Candidate, Salihu Salleh polled a total of 22,965 votes to beat his closet Challenger Emmanuel Alamu Endoza of the PDP who polled 22,507 votes and the ADC candidate, Halilu Yussuf who scored 316 votes.

According to the result sheet made available to newsmen, a total votes cast in the election was 46,499, total valid votes was 45808 and the total rejected votes was 691.

There were 169,000 registered voters in the Manama/Rijau federal constituency.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) did not take part in the election having been disqualified by the court.

There were reported cases of violence in some polling units in Ibeto and Rijau towns but the poll was generally peaceful in other polling units.

Three INEC Commissioners including the National Commissioner in Charge of Voters Education Mr Festus Okoye monitored the election

The National Examination Council ( NECO) on Wednesday released the results of its 2020 Senior Secondary School Certificate ( SSCE) examination it conducted throughout the country between October and November .
NECO Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of NECO , Prof . Godswill Obioma announced the results on Wednesday in Abuja .
Obioma said that 1 , 102 , 041 candidates passed at credit and above level .

The result, according to Obioma , showed that 894 , 101 candidates out of the 1 , 209, 992 that sat for the examination scored credit and above in English and Mathematics .
Obioma said 33 , 470 cases of malpractices were recorded during the examination, adding that 12 schools were also involved including 24 supervisors.
He disclosed that schools involved in the malpractices have been derecognised for two years , while 24 supervisors were blacklisted “ for various offences ranging from poor supervision, aiding and abetting , connivance with non candidates to write answer on chalkboard and so on ” .
“ The Council has a long standing tradition for zero tolerance for malpractices . Thus , it can be noticed that the malpractices incidence in 2020 dropped compared to the figure of 2019 , ” Obioma said .
He stated that special arrangements have been made for candidates who missed some of the examinations due to unrest during # EndSARS protest . Such candidates will have the opportunity to write the tests on February 1 , 2021 during the SSCE external examination.

Obioma named some of the states affected as Oyo , Osun , Ekiti , Lagos , Edo, Ondo and some centres in Rivers, Abia , Enugu and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) .
A total of 1 , 221 , 447 candidates registered for the examination out of which 665 , 830 were male and 555 , 617 female .

The Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Oyo State, Alhaji Ibrahim Jiji, on Monday said though it is true that his team planned to raid some forests with the men of Amotekun Corps, they carried out the raid without vigilantes in his association.

He appealed to the Oyo State government to release 46 Fulani in police custody, saying they are members of Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) securing people in Ibarapa land.

Jiji, who stated this at a press conference in Ibadan on Monday, said the arrested vigilantes were among the people invited to rescue some kidnap victims in the area.

SaharaReporters had reported the controversy surrounding the alleged killing of a 70-year-old man and his two sons in the Ibarapa area of the state on Saturday.

Explaining how they were arrested, Jiji said; "They invited us to a meeting in Ibadan where they told us that they needed our support to fight insecurity in Ibarapa area. We told them we were going to give them 50 among our vigilantes who are Fulani.

"They have been doing the vigilante job for a very long time, therefore they know how to arrest criminals. When the Amotekun operatives were about to leave for the operation, we were still in Eruwa with some of our men who were vigilantes when we heard they had attacked the village.

That was when those of us who are leaders went to the village. When we got there, we saw that three people had already been killed. When I saw the incident, I approached the commandant of Amotekun to know his view on the incident.

"I asked why they didn't wait for us but he didn't answer me. We called our men who were waiting for us in Eruwa to leave the venue of our meeting and return to their homes because Amotekun had done something else. Our plan was not to kill anybody.

In the evening of the same day (Saturday), one of the vigilantes called to tell that two people were kidnapped in Igangan area of the state; we called the vigilantes and told them that they should go and search for the criminals that kidnapped those children but that they must inform police before going. While going there, they were arrested in Igangan.

"They called to tell us that some soldiers had arrested them. They told us that the commander of the troop had left for palace of Seriki Igangan. Returning from the palace, the commandant just arrested them and took them to police station. Those who were going to fight criminals are the set of the people they are parading as criminals. Those people are not criminals; they are the people securing us. They are registered vigilantes and they are working with the police and other security agencies.

"The 46 vigilantes that were arrested have been useful for the state for many years. All the 46 vigilantes are not criminals; they are the people arresting criminals. Even those criminals arrested by our men are with police as we speak.
Thief is thief and not Fulani. Tribe is different from criminals. We are ready to work with Oyo State government to stop criminality in the state.

"I am appealing to state government to leave these people (alone). They are not thieves. They are the people who are securing us because we may need them another time. Why we want them to include our members in Amotekun is because of language barrier. We appeal to Oyo State government to include people from other tribes in Amotekun for the job to be efficient.

"I am not happy about the killing of the old man by Amotekun killed. He was over 70 years old when they killed him with his two children. I am not happy about what happened at all. He was an Alfa and had been there for over 45 years before he was killed."

NoFucksToGive:
come
Op respect yourself
I plead with you respect yourself!!!

Because I am Nigerian we all speak pidgin across Nigeria doesn't mean Hausa and I are the same

Make we eat in pidgin in Hausa is same in the south

Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company has sealed a deal with the federal government to take-up all automobile Research and Development (R&’s) results at the National Agency for Science & Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and convert them to automobile products for commercialisation.

The agreement was signed in Abuja yesterday by top officials of the company and the agency.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Professor Mohammed Sani Haruna who signed the agreement on behalf of the federal government said the dream of President Muhammadu Buhari to see that NASENI’S designs and technologies are transferable to the private sector has become a reality.

Haruna said: “The partnership between Innoson Motors and NASENI started in 2013 when NASENI produced and launched its first “Made in Nigeria Motorcycle (NASENI M1), but I am happier today that the deal to work together has been sealed”.

The NASENI chief executive officer said it was encouraging and patriotic for the Innoson Motors to believe in Nigeria and Nigerian engineers and their ingenuity.

He said “NASENI’s research outputs are numerous, but most Nigeria entrepreneurs are not interested in working with us, they prefer to bring in finished products from overseas thereby indirectly hampering the endogenous economic development of the country, Nigeria”

The CEO of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Ltd, Chief Innocent Chukwuma said NASENI had been doing a lot of things in the areas of Research and Development, but “Today we have commenced a partnership that will live forever.

“Both NASENI and Innoson Motors are passionate about lifting Nigeria out of economic woods, and with God on our side, we shall succeed together”.

He said with this collaboration, he believed that in no time, Nigeria will have a success story to tell in the production of automobile spares parts locally even to the extent of exports.

PDP should not field ‘tolo tolo’ for Anambra 2021 Governorship election


Professor A.B.C Nwosu, First Class Commonwealth Scholar and academic, joined the political arena with his appointment in 1986 as Commissioner for Health in old Anambra State. He served four military administrations in that capacity including the new Anambra State. At the return to democracy in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him first as his Political Adviser and later as Minister of Health. Professor Nwosu spoke to Global UpFront Newspapers (GUN). Excerpts:

As a major stakeholder in Anambra State, is the State where it is supposed to be today and what is the way forward?

I am very emotionally attached to Anambra State because I was one of the pioneer Commissioners in old Anambra State. When the new Anambra State was created, those of us from the new State had to come back to become the pioneers. There was no point appointing new people since we had about three or four months left to serve and the Governor then, Commodore Joe Abulu, chose to be kind to me and I was his very good special friend.

I know that we came down immediately to start building a dream State and I know I played a role in persuading transporters from my hometown Nnewi, Ekene Dili Chukwu, Eekeson, Izuchukwu, and other transporters from Anambra State like Young Shall Grow so that they would help in lifting civil servants who were living in Enugu and now had to work in Awka at special rates and taking them back.

They did it for free for two weeks and started charging ten per cent of the actual cost.

You could see the spirit of our people because there was nothing. We were the new State. Enugu State is not new as it inherited the old Anambra State infrastructure in the capital. I had to make my office as Commission of Health, new Anambra State at Amaku General Hospital which was built by the Awka community. And we had to start building a place for the House of Assembly who would be at the Enugu-Ukwu town hall. And we relocated to the Lodigiani Nigeria Limited road camp where incidentally the Government House still stays till today. Lodigiani built the road from Awka to Onitsha.

In the spirit, we were offered Zik’s Government House in Enugu to live as the Governor’s befitting house so he would go down to Awka every day and come back. He asked what I thought and I said we cannot govern a people from outside the State. We started looking for a place and I remembered a Sunday, we woke up Honourable Justice Uyanna of blessed memory. That was how the home of the administrative Judge for Awka, who later became Chief Justice Uyanna became the Government House and it is still the Government House till date.

We allowed him (Justice Uyanna) to move away with all his furniture. The Governor said he could not deprive him of his house and furniture. Where to sleep became a problem. We had to buy mattresses. Commodore Joe Abulu and some of us he chose to stay with him, slept on the floor in those mattresses in order to govern Anambra.

We immediately decided to capitalise on the spirit of the people to launch Anambra State Development Fund in the spirit of Governor Emeka Omeruah for old Anambra State, which I had also the privilege of serving continuously. We also launched the Anambra State Education and Technology (ANSET) fund. Professor Chinua Achebe gave that acronym, to bring the people in a composite spirit and we launched the Anambra State Development Fund.

You can see the spirit with which the new Anambra State was accepted and moved with wisdom. The State Hospital Management Board was at Enugu-Ukwu General Hospital. The people didn’t mind. There was no Psychiatric hospital.

The spirit was high. We were expecting to build a Centre for Adaptation for Technology at Awka. We had ordered the foundries, both metallic and non-metallic foundries. But I believe that subsequent governments handed it over to the federal government and nobody has heard anything again about it.

We were thinking of building our own Silicon Valley. We had very lofty dreams. So, I feel very sentimental about Anambra State and am happy it has now been renamed from Home for All to Light of the Nation.

With this sentiment, are you fulfilled with the level of governance in the State?

Anambra has had a checkered history in terms of governance. In 1999, the Appeal Panel of PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), before the elections, changed my name and it was handed over to Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju. I didn’t mind. It was an Appeal Panel. My views were not heard in taking this decision. It was on a petition and because Dr Alex Ekwueme came from my State, I didn’t think I had to make a mountain out of it because Dr Ekwueme was still contesting for President. From there, Chinwoke Mbadinuju became the only Governor of the PDP that was not allowed a second tenure as children didn’t go to school and people who had to take School Certificate exams did so from other States. That did not go down well with the dreams of Silicone Valley and excellence in education.

When we came to Dr Chris Ngige, Chris Ubah will tell you that I refused to be recalled back even in the election. How can I ask to be the Governor? I could not be running against Ngige except I am one of those who says this and turns back and say another thing.

Peter Obi was alright in everything and was ready to work. So, why should I, an older man, enter a masquerade when a younger man who can dance better, except it is to discredit him.

PDP brought Ngige and Ngige sprang a surprise in infrastructure. With all the problems he had, he was not bad. He came a long way. But the person who pushed the dream to where we were going was Peter Obi. He came and did the one thing that we would have done before, handing over schools to the Missions with money to run them. And Anambra State, within a space of one or two years, came from the bottom to the top. For me that is how governance should be measured.

It was terrific. It was the dream of the founders of Anambra. Peter Obi started this but where Peter Obi excelled also was in prudent management of the lean resources. But Peter Obi, being a businessman, made sure the resources were there and made sure that he didn’t borrow. He also saved a lot of money especially foreign exchange and got us to invest in new things like the brewery at Onitsha.

Where I would have differed is that I am not a realist, much like Peter Obi. I am more of a dreamer. I would have bought the Machine tools and Centre on Adaptation of Technology, coupling engineering which our people excel in. You will get a machine to use their work, you pieces it and reproduce it. That’s why Innosson, who didn’t go through secondary education, can produce cars of the highest quality.

If Anambra people make tiles or marbles for you, you can’t get it better. Before Peter Obi left, I had convinced him to make me chairman of Anambra Education Board. He agreed. We would have got 210 persons who have Masters degrees and above from the different Local Government Areas and we will send them to some of the best institutions in China, Japan, Germany, United States and Britain. If you fail you will come back, we will do a repeat so that we can be leaders of tomorrow’s technology and creativity.

We still need a dreamer who would look at that dream and not go away from that dream because of the cost. If you have to give your people the skills they require that are not available locally, you have to pay foreign exchange to India to learn software engineering, or to America to learn cutting edge technology; Britain for anthropology from Cambridge, etc. That 210, by now, they would have been out. It is also part of the dream that anybody who must teach in the university in Anambra State must not only have a doctorate degree from a reputable university, but should also have something they have accomplished.

Yes, I am a dreamer. I accomplished guinea worm eradication. My PhD is from University of London. I attended Imperial College Science and Technology from University of London. But that’s not my major achievement. It was my prayers to God when I came back to Nigeria that the people sentenced every year for punishment and imprisonment of guinea worm disease become a thing of the past. Not that it was globally, but Nigeria became guinea worm free and I don’t think anyone in good conscience can mention guinea worm eradication without my name.

So, back to Anambra State, I am very pleased at the infrastructure revolution that Chris Ngige began. I am especially proud of Peter Obi for this humility in high places, frugal management and building up of resources especially opening up of education to the highest level and for laying the foundations for industrial development and investment of Anambra’s resources.

Peter Obi’s frugality and ability to manage resource is legendary. Some say he is annoyingly stingy. I would not have matched him in frugality but I would have beaten him in dreaming and actualising the dreams. We need someone who will close his eyes and imagine a smart city that we can build this, have a Silicon Valley. Our people can never match others in farming, but give them computers and software, they will develop softwares and crafts that will become worldwide. We can’t do all these machine tools without all these things, these plastics that we throw away. You recycle them and all you need is appropriate modes.

My town Nnewi, at some point, were producing most of the items used by Peugeot Automobiles in Kaduna. It pains me that factories like Ibeto Industries are not working now and Ibeto, who was famous for his batteries that were outlasting those that we were importing. He is now selling cement. Awka is known for blacksmiths and there’s a saying that the Buckingham Palace gate had some Awka smiths involved. One of the most important statue of the Queen of England is by late Ben Enweonwu from Onitsha.

In the past seven years, we have a Governor but you hardly mentioned what he has done.

I don’t know the present Governor. I don’t feel him. How can I comment on what I don’t know, don’t feel, don’t see. It would be unfair for me to give comments on him. Of course, Peter Obi introduced him to me when he was trying for him to be Governor. But he had been Governor for seven years. Fashola was Governor. I didn’t see him in person but I knew him. I could pass by the Lekki bridge.

I was in class four when Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Am not a young man. Why should I not praise a young person if that person has done well? Do I belong to same political party? If we have elections tomorrow, I will not be found anywhere near Chris Ngige. But you are asking me about what he did and he did well. If I give him good, I will give Peter Obi excellent.