Ekiti 2014: Will Gov Fayemi break four-year jinx?

When it comes to high rate of churning out governors, no state can be compared to Ekiti  in Nigeria. Within the last eight years, Ekiti has produced  seven governors after the exit of the Second Civilian Governor of the State,Mr Ayo Fayose in October 2006.
Among the seven people, who have ruled the state since 1999,  Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo,the first civilian governor of the state is the luckiest. So far, he is the only one who has completed a tenure in the Government House even though he failed to secure a second term.
No other governor of the state since then had recorded such a feat, to make the matter worse, the people of Ekiti State had  witnessed tenure of a governor as short as two days, 79 days, three months and three and- half years.
All things being equal, Governor Kayode Fayemi, the current governor of the state is  expected to also complete  his four-year first term but whether or not he will be handed a second term mandate is  contentious given unfolding events in the state christened the Fountain of Knowledge.
With the fixing of the governorship election for June by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the leading political parties and aspirants are currently engaged in a flurry of activities to claim the Ekit Government House.

Brush twice daily, oral hygiene is important

Bad breath is not the only reason why you should take care of your teeth. According to experts, tooth and gum decay does not only affect your dentition, it could also lead to some serious health problems like cancer of the mouth.

Physicians have linked poor dental hygiene to other health problems which include heart attack, diabetes and dementia. In fact, they say, poor oral hygiene can even jeopardise your overall health!

Many studies have found a link between periodontal disease and heart disease, with people who have gum disease more likely to also have poor heart health, including heart attacks.

How possible is it be that poor oral care leads to heart attack or cancer? Consultant Dental Surgeon, Dr. Olurotimi Olojede, says because 50 per cent of the bacteria in the body are in the mouth, they often escape into the bloodstream and injure major organs when neglected.

Olojede says the symptoms of many life-threatening diseases such as diabetes and cancer often start in the mouth, and they could have been prevented with good oral hygiene practices.

According to him, poor oral health can lead to low sperm count in men and also increase the chances of a woman having a premature baby or low birth weight babies.

Reps reject bid to simplify impeachment of President

Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a proposal to simplify the process of removing the President and Vice-President from office.

The proposal was contained in a bill seeking to amend Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution by deleting it and replacing with an entirely new section 143.

The bill, which was sponsored by a lawmaker from Bauchi State, Yakubu Dogara, sought to remove the “ambiguity” in the procedure for impeaching the two highest political office holders with a notice of impeachment initiated by the House of Representatives and terminating in the Senate.

However, the amendment proposal failed to secure the mandatory two-third majority support as members voted on it and 18 other proposed amendment clauses on Thursday.

Out of the 297 lawmakers, who registered to vote on the amendment, 172, supported it, 122 opposed it, while three abstained.

The Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, who presided over the session, therefore, ruled that the amendment had “failed.”

Why I declined to run against Obasanjo – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday adduced reasons he refused to run against former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003.

He said he declined the invitation, which would have made him to contest for the presidential ticket of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, on moral grounds.

Atiku, who was responding to a remark from one of the participants in his South-West consultative meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State on Thursday,  noted that contrary to the notion that his best chance to have become the president of the country was in 2003-when stakeholders in the PDP offered him the opportunity to contest against Obasanjo – he still found it difficult to accept the offer because doing so would be going against the position the PDP had earlier taken at a caucus meeting to retain the presidency in the South.

A statement issued by Atiku’s media office in Abuja said the former vice president noted that his ambition and indeed that of any politician could not be realised in negation to party decisions.

Mark’s absence stalls formal defection of Saraki, others

The absence of Senate President David Mark  from Thursday’s Senate plenary, stalled the defection of  11 aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party senators to the All Progressives Congress.

The aggrieved senators had written to Mark informing him about their decision to leave the PDP for the APC.

But during Wednesday’s plenary, neither the Senate President nor the 11 senators made reference to the letter, which  ought to have been read  on the floor of the Senate.

But during plenary on Thursday, the  Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over session, did not  read the  letter.

He said Mark had told him that he had scheduled a meeting with the aggrieved senators whenever he returned from his official trip to Jigawa State.

However, the APC said this development was a pointer to the fact that the Senate leadership wanted to stall the defection. This attempt, the APC said, would fail.

Interim National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents.

CHAN: Ghana stop Nigeria

Nigeria on Wednesday lost to eternal West African rivals, Ghana in a semi-final match of the African Nations Championship holding in South Africa.

The Super Eagles, who started the match as favourites following their dramatic quarter-finals win, lost to a 10-man Black Stars 4-1 in the penalty shootout. Both sides had played 0-0 at full time and the extra 30 minutes at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein. The penalty kicks finally separated both sides from the final and third place matches.

Ghana will face Libya in the final match on Saturday while the Eagles will play Zimbabwe in the third-place match. Libya had also defeated Zimbabwe 5-4 earlier via penalty shootout after both sides settled for a goalless match.

The tension soaked match saw the Eagles showing their intention to progress to the final from the first blast of the whistle. The Ghanaians were also no lay backs as they matched the Nigerians man for man but they hardly threatened Chigozie Agbim in the Nigerian goal.

Senators accuse Okonjo-Iweala of imposing W’Bank/IMF policies

The debate on the 2014 Appropriation bill entered the  second day in the Senate on Wednesday with some Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress senators describing the document as anti-people.

 They chided the  Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the way the bill was packaged and therefore called for its review.

But others  like Senators Odion Ugbesia and Ayogu Eze argued  that  the bill  was  merely only a working document, which could be subjected to alterations in the interest of the masses.

 Among the  senators  that picked holes in  the Appropriation bill were Smart  Adeyemi, Abdul Ningi, Olusola Adeyeye,  Ganiyu Solomon, Kabiru Gaya and  Gbenga Ashafa.

Adeyemi and Ningi,who lamented the high recurrent expenditure as contained in the budget   and the continued depletion of the foreign reserves,    accused Okonjo-Iweala of imposing economic policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Nigeria.

Defection: Saraki, 10 other PDP senators write Mark

There was confusion on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, following unconfirmed reports that 11 Senators defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to join the opposition All Progressives Congress.

A statement earlier issued by the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had said that the 11 Senators had defected.

In the statement, Mohammed claimed that the affected Senators had written a formal letter informing the Senate leadership of their decision and that the said letter would be read during Wednesday’s plenary.

However, neither the Senators concerned nor the Senate President, David Mark, made any reference to the issue during the day’s sitting.

Mark did not read the letters, which some claimed were submitted to him by the individual Senators late on Tuesday.

10 APC Reps disown Shekarau over defection

Ten All Progressives Congress members of the House of Representatives from Kano State have disowned a former Governor of the state, Ibrahim Shekarau, for defecting to the People Democratic Party.

 The lawmakers, who were Shekarau’s loyalists before the latest development, said they did not support his defection.

 The lawmakers vowed to remain in the APC and resist any pressure on them to follow Shekarau to the PDP.

 The Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Sumaila Kawu, who spoke on behalf of the lawmakers, said they were disappointed with their leader’s decision.

 APC to any political party, we will not be part of the political realignment going on at home where our leader, Shekarau, has defected to the PDP today,” he said.

What Happened between Me and Prophet Ajanaku ––Tope Alabi

The controversy between gospel singer Tope Alabi and her late "Spiritual Father" Pastor Ajanaku is one that a lot of people want to know the truth about. Tope Alabi shares some with The Punch in this chat:

Your husband has been supportive; he is even your manager...

He is no longer my manager. I have a new manager. He is the marketer now. He is my boyfriend and the father of my children. He is the small boy in the house that must eat first even if no other person has eaten.

But most men don’t want their wives to be in the spotlight, how come he supports you like this?

I just thank God for his life. You can imagine, when we go for programmes, I would be given a seat in the front row while my husband would be given a seat at the back. Imagine! I would always tell him to come and sit in front so I can go to the back but he would never agree. He would ask me if he was Tope Alabi. God has been guiding us. How would I have managed without a husband like this?

Atiku: Dilemma of a political strategist in 2015

PUNCH NG - The invitation extended to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, by the All Progressives  Congress and the appointment of Adamu Mu’azu as national chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, appears to have put the famed political strategist in a fix,  writes OLUSOLA FABIYI.

A former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, is not a new swimmer in the Nigeria’s murky political waters. He has been in politics for long enough to know how unpredictable Nigerian politicians could be.

Followers of history would recall how Atiku was forced out of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party by his former boss, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, prior to the 2007 presidential election. Desirous of a shot at the Presidency, Atiku teamed up with politicians in the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, where he was handed the party’s ticket.

He lost the final contest to late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who was the candidate of the PDP.

Martins gives up on World Cup

Estranged Super Eagles striker Obafemi Martins has resigned to fate on his inability to get coach Stephen Keshi’s attention over his recall to the national team as they prepare for the World Cup in Brazil.

Martins has only featured once under Keshi during a World Cup qualifier in 2012 but has not been able to keep his role in the team since then.

The former Levante forward was asked by the Seattle Times if he knew what to do to convince Keshi in order to rejoin the Super Eagles, he said, “I think there is nothing to say. He’s the head coach, so he knows the players that he wants. There is nothing I can talk about, (nothing) like calling him.”

Martins was recently linked with a loan move to Rizespor and West Ham during the MLS break but none of the move was possible despite his visit to England for the transfer talks.

“I think right now I’m not going to talk about anything right now because I’m back in Seattle. I want to start with the team and we’ll see where it goes from there,” he said.

 “I think it’s good to have a break, because playing in Spain, coming back here, coming to Seattle, starting right away, I think I’ve been playing for like a year, a year and a month or so. But it’s good to have an offseason, to have rest, and then come in today (Saturday).

“I don’t really think about last season. This is a new season now. We just have to continue and try to do better than we did last season.”

El-Rufai, Amaechi visit SSS office

After evading arrest for three days, a former FCT minister, Nasir El-Rufai on Monday visited the State Security Service Headquarters, Maitama, Abuja around 9.20am.
El-Rufai was accompanied by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Senator Chris Ngige.
Amaechi said  he was mandated by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to accompany the ex-minister.
Journalists who were waiting for the return of the two men a few metres from an SSS checkpoint  were chased away by two operatives who asked them to leave “in your own interest.”
As at 10.25am when this report was filed, El-Rufai, Amaechi and Ngige were yet to come out of the SSS headquarters.
The SSS had invited El-Rufai last Thursday over a statement credited to him that there would be violence in the 2015 elections.
He however refused to honour the summons and the security agency stormed his two homes in Maitama on Friday in a bid to arrest him.

PUNCH NG

Rivers police claim arrest of 320 B’Haram suspects

THE police command in Rivers State on Sunday said its men had arrested 320 persons suspected to be members of the violent Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

The suspects were said to have been in a convoy of 17 buses when they were nabbed at about 5am on Sunday between the border of Imo and Rivers states. Young women were said to be among the arrested suspects.

The convoy of the suspected insurgents was said to have been led by a man identified as Bala Dambam and they were said to be coming from Jigawa State, in buses belonging to a transport firm owned by a former Inspector General of Police.

Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, who confirmed the arrest of the suspects, said he would not make any comment until the end of police investigation into the matter.