Nobody can push me out of PDP, says Amaechi

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State yesterday said he is remaining in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP affirming that purveyors of his desperation for higher office had no right to bring down the country because of their assumptions.
Speaking on a BBC television interview, Hardtalk, Amaechi asserted that problems between him and the president were essentially fanned by those in the presidency bent on profiting from a crisis.
In the 25-minute interview anchored by Shaun Ley, Amaechi painted a triangle of insecurity, poverty and unemployment as the major problems of the country which the political class must address. He said the qualification of leadership must not be ethnicised as he called for a visionary leader.
While pleading for the speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB as a way of addressing decreasing investment by multinational oil corporations, Amaechi nevertheless called for the abrogation of the office of minister of petroleum or reduction of the powers of the minister under the PIB.

Tears as Army buries 14 Boko Haram victims, 1 other

Tears flew freely at the Military burial ground, Abuja, on Thursday, when the remains of two officers and 13 soldiers who paid the supreme price in the ongoing prosecution of the state of emergency in the Northern-eastern part of the country and the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in Dafur, Sudan, were laid to rest.
Families and friends of the deceased, including those present, could not hold back tears as the fallen heroes were given full military and national honour for their sacrifices to ensure that peace reigns in Nigeria and the African Region.
The two officers are; Major A.T. Fambiya and Major Abdullahi Kanoma while the soldiers include; SSGT Keku Adebayo, CPL Ahmed Usman, CPL Mathew Ade, LCPL Adamu Ibrahim, LCPL Suleiman Gimba, LCPL Salisu Sadauki, LBDR Usman David, LCPL Ajani Olosola, PTE Zakariya Dauda, PTE Daniel Kantoma, PTE Nya Bassey, PTE Bassey Emmanuel, and PTE Enyenihi Effiong.

Rivers Crisis: Senate Indicts Jonathan, Wife

The crisis at the Rivers State House of Assembly on July 9, 2013, was the expression of deep-rooted political crisis occasioned by the alleged highhandedness of Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi and the perceived undue interference with the political and security structure of the state by President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife Patience and the national hierarchy of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a Senate report considered and adopted at plenary declared yesterday.
The Senate in its report also called on the inspector-general of police, Mohammed Abubakar, to “immediately” redeploy the commissioner of police, Rivers State command, Mr Joseph Mbu, since, according to the federal lawmakers, “his relationship with the governor has broken down irretrievably”.
Mbu has been fingered severally by the Amaechi camp as a hatchet man in the lingering Rivers crisis.
“Mbu has refused to cooperate with the governor, Chibuike Amaechi, on matters of security even though the governor is the chief security officer of the state,” the report observed.
Again, the upper house in the report of the Senator Kabiru Gaya-led Senate Committee on States and Local Government Administration concurred with the resolutions of the House of Representatives and resolved to take over legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Teacher impersonates Fashola, Aregbesola’s wives, dupes govt

A 53-year-old primary school teacher, Mrs. Asogbon Abosede, has been arraigned at the Ikeja Magistrate’s Court for allegedly impersonating the wives of Lagos and Osun states governors and defrauding officials of the Lagos State Government.
Abosede, a Grade 10 teacher, was said to have committed the crime between June and July 2013 through text messages in which she claimed to be Mrs. Abimbola Fashola and Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola.
The accused allegedly influenced her redeployment from a primary school in Alimosho area of the state to the Lagos State Basic Education Board by sending text messages to the Chairman of SUBEB, presenting herself as Fashola and later as Aregbesola.
The request was said to have been granted as she was redeployed soon afterwards.

Nigeria on speed to economic recovery — Jonathan

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday, said that in spite of the security challenges confronting the nation and the global economic crises, Nigeria’s economy is currently witnessing the fastest growth rate in the world.
He said: “At a time many advanced and emerging markets are being downgraded, our sovereign credit ratings have been steadily upgraded,” Jonathan said in Abuja while declaring open the sixth Diaspora Day celebration.
He noted that his administration was working hard to strengthen the nation’s democratic institutions and confronting, with great determination and firmness, the challenges of insecurity in some parts of the country, adding that issues of governance and corruption were also being vigorously tackled on all fronts.
According to him, the country has been able to further reduce the fiscal deficit in 2013 Budget to 1.81 per cent of GDP, and significantly cut domestic borrowing.

Yobe Governor Shuns Minister Over Al-Mustapha

Yobe State Governor Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, Tuesday, refused to grant audience to the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama,  following the  minister’s rally with the recently released Major Hamza Al-Mustapha in Nguru last week.
The minister was in Damaturu to give the state government 222 trailer loads of grains and N150 million being the Federal Government’s assistance to Yobe as one of the three states affected by emergency rule.
But the governor, who was at the Government House but refused to see the minister, was, according to an aide who does not want his name in print, annoyed that the minister drove in the same car with Al-Mustapha to the Nguru rally despite the emergecy rule in the state.

Nigeria needs re-incarnation of Awolowo —HID

THE matriarch of the Awolowo dynasty, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, has said that Nigeria needs politicians like her husband to make the country great.
She said although there were people in the current political class who were trying to be like the sage, “if it pleases God, He will re-incarnate Chief Obafemi Awolowo among the politicians in the country today.”
Chief (Mrs) Awolowo spoke in Ikenne Remo, Ogun State, during a visit to her by the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Alhaja Monsurat Sunmonu and her children.
She described the conspiracy against the presidential bid of the sage as shameful, adding that the country would have benefitted immensely from her husband’s wealth of experience in public policy and administration, had he been allowed to lead the country.