₦airaland Forum

A former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, Chief Dele Momodu, has said that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State deserves to be the running mate of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Commenting on the candidature of a former Attorney-General of Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Ovation Magazine publisher argued that the emergence of the academic would not "guarantee victory for the APC in 2015."

Momodu, who claimed to be a staunch supporter of Buhari's presidential ambition, stated that his preference for the South-South over other geo-political zones to produce the next Vice President was to give the people a "sense of belonging and compensation for oil," with a view to securing more votes from the region.

He said Amaechi's experience, as a two-term Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and his seven-and-half-year tenure as the governor of the state, had singled him out as the most qualified from the region.

"Normally the right to pick a vice-presidential candidate belongs to the principal (presidential candidate) and/or party, which may recommend names for one to be approved.

"Even in America, no one ever ignores state governors or members of the Congress in picking presidential or vice-presidential candidates! Both Yar'Adua and Jonathan were governors.

"Obasanjo picked Atiku as running mate when he was Governor of Adamawa! Governors are the most powerful blocks of any party.

"My choice remains Amaechi because of his unmatched profile as two-term Speaker and two-term governor of Rivers State plus his uncommon courage! He is a dogged fighter and the most experienced in both legislative and executive matters.

A 27-year-old woman, Lucy Gbagyo, has died after jumping from a speeding commercial bus in the Shogunle area of Lagos State.

According to PUNCH, the Benue State indigene was on her way to see her fiance, Philip Nguhwa, on Sunday evening for preparations for their wedding when the incident happened.

Our correspondent gathered that Gbagyo and Nguhwa were to have their wedding on February 27, 2015, having courted for four years.

It was learnt that on the fateful day, the deceased had boarded a vehicle from the Toll Gate end of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway en route to Ilori Street in the Shogunle area where Nguhwa lives.

The bus driver was said to have sped past her destination and she began to shout for him to stop.

The driver allegedly ignored her and continued with the journey.

When her cries fell on deaf ears, she reportedly forced the door open and jumped out.

Her fiance, Nguhwa, a trader, said the driver immediately stopped the vehicle as other passengers and sympathisers in the area rushed to save the victim.

He said, "One of them picked her phone and checked the last dialled number. He saw my number and called me. He said I should rush down to the bus stop.

"When I got there, I called her name and she opened her eyes faintly and shut them again. We all carried her into the bus and rushed her to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.

"We had not gone too far when she died in the vehicle. When we got to the hospital, she was confirmed dead on arrival."

PUNCH also learnt that the victim, who was into the business of buying clothes in Lagos and selling them in Benue, had lost her father in a motor accident in January.

Our correspondent learnt that the police arrested both the driver and the conductor of the vehicle.

But a relative, Felix Agu, told our correspondent the family was not interested in pursuing the case.

Agu said, "We have written a letter to withdraw the matter. All we want is for her corpse to be released to us for burial. The family stays in Benue and everybody wants her buried in her home town."

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said he would get back to our correspondent on the matter but had yet to do so as of press time.