₦airaland Forum

Tolexander: we still gat no absolute reason to challenge the messenger. Vanguard is meant to serve us whatever happened though verified which i think they are guilty of.

Didn't PDP make the release?
Yes, they did! As alleged by the source of this thread, osun defender, 'PDP manipulation of fact'.
Osun defender didn't go on to attack vanguard(messenger), but the news(message) and made us to know that the news is not true. That's what the poster should have done.

Vanguard has been known(to me) as not being one-sided. I see no reason why it should be maligned if it didn't serve us our choice.

I could have attacked Osun defender for this news since it is known to be APC newspaper.

Dapyem: APC, State of Osun.
(Quote) (Report) (Share) (Like)
Re: INEC Suspends 2 Eos Over Alleged Manipulation Of Osun Gov Poll by Ayopercent(m): 8:21pm
SUSPENDED INEC OFFICIALS UNCONNECTED
WITH AREGBESOLA 'S VICTORY
-INEC OFFICE
The release below speaks for itself over their
lies on the suspended INEC officials and
Aregbesola 'svictory.

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL
COMMISSION
OSUN STATE
PRESS RELEASE
It is imperative to comment and correct the
erroneous impression created over the pages
of the newspapers concerning the suspension
of two INEC officers over alleged electoral
fraud during the August 9th Governorship
Election.
it is pertinent to clarify and also set the record
straight that the two Electoral Officers Mr
Funsho Tope Fabunmi (Osogbo Local
Government) and Mr. Anthony Olusegun
Esinoye (Obokun Local Government) were not
suspended based on allegedly colusion with the
All Progressive Congress (APC) to manipulate
electoral process in favour of the party in
Osogbo and Obokun Local Government
Councils respectively.
They were neither culpable of selling ballot
papers to the APC nor manipulation of Form
EC8C to favour the APC and voiding of PDP
votes counted in favour of the APC.
Mr Fabunmi was suspended based on
administrative lapses occasioned in the course
of discharging his duties.
Mr. Esinoye Electoral Officer Obokun Local
Government on 7th August 2014 was alleged
by the People of Obokun Local Government
Area of diverting sensitive election materials
and was arrested by the Police in the area. A
press release was immediately issued to
correct the spurious allegation that non-
sensitive materials which were supposed to be
deployed alongside with the sensitive materials
were erroneously taken to the Registration
Area Centre along with materials meant for the
setting up of the centre by the Assistant
Executive Officer of the Local Government
while the Electoral Officer was at the State
Office of the Commission in Osogbo for the
collection of the sensitive election materials in
the presence of security and political party
agents.
It was at the point of retrieval of the non-
sensitive materials that the residents of the
area accosted him and raised alarm that drew
the attention of the Police.
It is important at this point to emphasis that
INEC Headquarters did not find the Electoral
Officers culpable of working for the APC to rig
the election as purported by the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP).
We strongly believe that the stories in the
Dailies are part of grand design to cast
aspersion on the integrity of INEC, it is our wish
to state unequivocally that INEC will always be
forthright, transparent and alive to her
responsibilities and have zero tolerance for
indiscipline and will bring erring officer to book.
TADESE ADENIKE (MRS)
CHIEF PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER
FOR: HON RESIDENT ELECTORAL
COMMISSIONER

soroptimist: It is called enemy of my enemy is my friend....... Have you also noticed how they have toned down on FFK?

Ali Modu Sheriff is now a Saint

The bolded word is VOLTE

Eneze1: I believe it is PDP vote that is needed to be looked into, how come Omisore had that number of votes? how many local governments did he won convincingly. pdp should just keep quiet jare people are becoming wiser

Tolexander: this is not fair o!

What was very clear from the statis­tics available is that 72 percent of rev­enue we share at Federal Account Al­location Committee on monthly basis comes from oil producing states. The South-west comes next to them with almost 20 percent or thereabout.

dejt4u: ..

Tolexander: Niyi omo Ife!

why you guys no present better candidate?

**The tribunal is getting hot o**
**i just dey whisper am to u ni o. No tell person o**

abdulslutsky: Lol, I'm not an oyo man. I see fatai akinbade being lured to APC so as to be their flag bearer. Because it might possibly favour his region.


The zoning rotation is a conundrum, if I must say.

nwanna89: If GEJ wins in any state, it is because the people want him to win. Elections are now free and fair, and governors have no influence on who their people vote for. Gone are those days...

abdulslutsky: Oga, ife/ijesa zone can't produce the governor in 2018..you should put zoning into consideration.

Tolexander: the politics of the senatorial zone is just that Ijesha zone is very united and compact. Ife Zone is just scattered and no unity. Ife is on it's own, Oyo-Modakeke is on it's own, Oyo- Origbo are on their own, Oyo-Ifetedo is on its own.

Ife zone has the higher numbers of electorates than Ijesha zone but not united.

Chaleeee: As faulty as your calculation is, @ te crux here is about Rotimi Makinde. If he can't deliver his ward for his party, how is he going to retain his seat? We all know Modakeke's are warming up Mannaseh for Makinde's seat.

He who stand take heed lest he falls

Chaleeee: You don't understand the politics of Ife and Modakeke. Modakeke does not like any Ife man. Makinde is an Ife man. The votes APC got in Modakeke is because the APC flagbearer is contesting against an Ife man.

So on the home front, Makinde does not have a grip and in Modakeke he doesn't command much follower-ship. Attached below is the result of the polling unit in front of Makinde father's house

26. Osogbo:- APC = 39,983 | PDP = 11,513

27. Olorunda:- APC = 26,551 | PDP = 8,483

eunisam: So Nigerians still exist in that country?

Students on FG scholarship begging for food in Russia.
8 hours ago

Failure by the Federal Government to pay allowances of 322 Nigerian students on scholarship in Russia forces them into begging and illegal jobs, TEMITAYO FAMUTIMI reports

When Moyosore Ojuri lost her father at age 11, her world practically came crashing. Her father had promised to give her the best of education. Although he was not a millionaire, the man had struggled to enrol her in one of the top private secondary schools in Lagos.

But with the death, her mother, a retired civil servant, could not pay her tuition when due. Luckily, the authorities of her school recognised the young lady’s academic exploits and gave her family the concession to pay her tuition in installments. Even with that, her mother had difficulty doing so as she occasionally ran into debts.

However, on completion of her secondary education in 2010, Ojuri passed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, obtaining six distinctions and two credits. But accessing university education did not come that easy, due to lack of funds. Fortunately for her, in 2012 she came across the Bilateral Education Agreement Scholarship Awards advertised by the Federal Scholarship Board through the Federal Ministry of Education and grabbed the opportunity.

Ojuri passed the series of tests and interviews and was given admission to study Metallurgical Engineering at the Volgograd State Technical University, Russia. On touching down at the Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia on September 22, 2012, Ojuri concluded that her pains and frustration had come to an end.

Nigeria has BEA for undergraduate and post-graduate studies with Russia, Cuba, Morocco, Algeria, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, Japan, Serbia, Macedonia, China, and Mexico. Under the arrangement, the Federal Government pays for the upkeep of the students, while the countries where the scholarship award is tenable provides the tuition.

Two years after, Ojuri has a different story to share. Speaking with our correspondent on the telephone from Volgograd, she says that the Federal Government has since abandoned the BEA scholars to starve to death.

According to her, for eight months running now, the over 322 promising Nigerian students on the BEA initiative in the former Soviet Union have not been paid a dime by the government. Each of the beneficiaries’ monthly stipends for feeding is $500, while their annual allowance for medicals and clothing is $450 each.

But from January till date, none of these allowances have been paid by the Nigerian government, despite repeated appeals and other forms of representations to the Nigerian Embassy in Moscow and the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja.

Following the non-remittance of funds, Ojuri and her Nigerian colleagues, of late, have no choice but to borrow money as a survival strategy from their fellow African students enjoying similar BEA.

The 20-year-old asks rhetorically, “We are not private students. We came to Russia on the bill of the Federal Government. Why haven’t the authorities paid our stipends and other allowances for eight months now? For how long shall we continue to borrow money?”

The youngster, who says she has a huge debt on her neck at present, notes that their colleagues from other countries are no longer comfortable lending them money.

She adds, “On many occasions, I have had cause to go to class on an empty stomach. Getting money for transportation from my hostel to school has become very problematic. More worrisome is the fact that I will soon be homeless as my hostel fees will expire at the end of August. We are grateful to the Federal Government for the scholarship opportunity, but there is no sense in leaving us here to starve to death in a foreign land.”

Findings by our correspondent reveal that the inability to get work permit by foreign students in Russia is further compounding their problems. So, how do they survive the starvation and hard times in the Eurasian country?

Another Nigerian, Akinola Akindamola, pursuing his Master’s degree at the Volgograd State Technical University, explains that they engage in all kinds of oddities to survive. According to him, the pressure is even more on his female colleagues.

Akindamola, a first class Mechanical Engineering graduate, says, “It is unfortunate that girls with exceptional academic brilliance are now forced to indulge in all manner of indecent lifestyles. These girls now go to clubs and dance semi nude for a fee that could be as low as $20. For the boys, employers use us for odd jobs, such as clearing of snow and as labourers on construction sites. Even as we do that, there is this perpetual fear that the police will arrest us.”

A final year Medicine and Surgery student of the Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, David Ikenna, also admits that the failure of the Federal Government to remit their allowances exposes them to risks in the country.

Ikenna states, “We have been finding a way to survive by circumventing the laws, but it is at great risk to our personal safety and academic pursuits in Russia. Our situation is frustrating. My brother, we are suffering. How I wish I could bring you here to see how miserable our conditions are. The Nigerian government has failed us miserably.

“Even with the illegal jobs we do, we still find it hard to make ends meet. It is shameful that we have got no alternatives but to beg for food and money from Ghanaians, Namibians, Ugandans and Sierra Leoneans who are on the same bilateral educational scholarships like us.”

Besides welfare, some of the students who are to return to Nigeria for their mandatory internship programmes are also stuck in Russia, due to lack of funds.

Julfa Timkuk, a student of International Law at the Southern Western University, Rostov, Russia, wonders if they were indeed on a scholarship. The 25-year-old, who hails from the Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State, says he now lives on cheap white bread.

“My colleagues and I are tired of clearing snow, working at warehouses or helping to lift heavy equipment at night. Our suffering is no longer bearable. Please do us a favour and beg them to free us from this slavery in a foreign land,” he appeals.

But appraising the situation, a Professor of Microbiology, University of Ilorin, Poju Akinyanju, chides the Federal Government for sending the students overseas on scholarship without making proper funding arrangement for them. The experience, he says, is not only traumatising to the scholars but also a dent on Nigeria’s image.

He states, “It is unfortunate that they do not care about these youngsters. Are you telling me that the authorities cannot pay for the students’ stipends? There must have been some budgetary provisions for them. How can these traumatised students be loyal and patriotic to their fatherland when they eventually return home?”

Also, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, Prof. Alani Ramoni, describes the condition of the students as unfortunate. According to him, even under the military regime he enjoyed his scholarship offer without any hindrance.

When contacted, the Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Olu Lipede, confirmed that there were challenges remitting the money to the students. He nonetheless blamed their travails on the “budgeting process” and problems associated with “banking transfers.”

Prodded to be specific on when the students will be paid, Lipede states, “That I cannot say because I am not the Central Bank of Nigeria. There are processes between the Federal Ministry of Education and the CBN as well as between the CBN and Nigeria’s foreign missions.”

Lipede adds, “We do care about their welfare. Last year (2013), we went to visit them in Russia and we inspected where they sleep and we made known to the Russian Government those things we were not satisfied with. These students have been told that their money will be remitted to them. If there is any delay it should not be blamed on the ministry.”

But a source familiar with the administration of the scholarship scheme says the matter is beyond the Federal Ministry of Education.

According to the source, the students have yet to get their allowance because there has not been a release for their payments.

The source adds, “It is beyond us in the Ministry of Education. Their money is in capital allocation. How do we go ahead and circumvent the rules? Their stipends should be extricated from the regular budget. Unless this is done, they would continue to experience this problem every year.”

Copyright PUNCH.

thewarrior72: Says the incompetent onyebuchi chukwu....mitcheeuuu

*Five Nigerian Ebola victims almost fully fit
*Another patient discharged

Five of the Nigerian patients being treated for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) have almost fully recovered, Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu said in a press statement today.

In addition, a female nurse was discharged this evening.

Professor Onyebuchi confirmed that nano silver, an experimental drug he had announced on Thursday would be deployed in treatment if cleared by the National Health Research Ethics Committee had failed to meet the required standards and would not be put into use.

Giving the statistics as of yesterday, August 16, he said the total number of confirmed cases in the country was 12, of which four have died. The number of persons under surveillance in Lagos is 189, and six in Enugu.

He also announced that the patients under treatment have been moved to a new 40 bed capacity isolation ward provided by the Lagos State Government, and that the federal government has provided additional equipment for facility.

With reference to nano silver, he said that other candidate drugs are now being evaluated by the Treatment Research Group for treatment of the disease.

“As soon as any of the experimental drugs is cleared by the National Health Research Ethics Committee and is made available, we shall include it in the treatment regimen subject to the informed consent of the patient,” the Minister said.

emiye: That is a lie. No one from PDP apart from Omisore had much electoral value. Omisore is an Ife man, a section of the state that had high number of voters. A better candidate does not necessarily translate to high electoral value.