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Photos of the Day

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Ebola: Experimental drug ZMapp is ’100% effective’ in animal

10:01 pm Unknown 0

<div id="nrelate_flyout_placeholder">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">The
 only clinical trial data on the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp shows it 
is 100% effective in monkey studies, even in later stages of the 
infection.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">The researchers, publishing their data in Nature, said it was a “very important step forward”.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">Yet the limited supplies will not help the 20,000 people predicted to be infected during the outbreak in West Africa.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">And two out of seven people given the drug, have later died from the disease.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">ZMapp
 has been dubbed the “secret serum” as it is still in the experimental 
stages of drug development with, until now, no public data on 
effectiveness.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">Doctors have turned to it as there is no cure for Ebola, which has killed more than 1,500 people since it started in Guinea.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">Researchers
 have been investigating different combinations of antibodies, a part of
 the immune system which binds to viruses, as a therapy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">Previous
 combinations have shown some effectiveness in animal studies. ZMapp is 
the latest cocktail and contains three antibodies.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">Trials on 18 rhesus macaques infected with Ebola showed 100% survival.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;">This 
included animals given the drug up to five days after infection. For the
 monkeys this would be a relatively late stage in the infection, around 
three days before it becomes fatal.</span></div>
</div>

Ebola: Experimental drug ZMapp is ’100% effective’ in animal

The only clinical trial data on the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp shows it is 100% effective in monkey studies, even in later stages of ...

Man marries his daughter, 14, and has two children with her after wife died

9:59 pm Unknown 0

A man was arrested after people learned about his incestuous relationship with his young daughter. <br />
<br />
Killion Moyo, 65, of Zimbabwe, is a traditional healer from the Bezha village in the Umzingwane District. <br />
<br />
He is accused of marrying his 14-year-old daughter. The teenager gave birth to 2 kids, who were conceived by her father. <br />
<br />
The man claimed that after his wife, Joyce Mpofu, died, she told him to “take a woman in the family who would take her role.”<br />
<br />
Now, his daughter, who was fed up with her father’s sexual abuse fled 
from her home, leaving the children, aged four and three, behind.<br />
<br />
After Moyo’s abuse became public, two more girls came forward with 
allegations that they were forced to have sex with him. One woman is a 
neighbor’s daughter, now 23. She also gave birth to Moyo’s children, who
 are 5 and 8 years old.<br />
<br />
The 23-year-old woman said that when she was in seventh grade, she was 
sent to live with Moyo. He also gave her parents cattle and other items 
in exchange for their daughter.<br />
<br />
At that time, the young victim was told that Moyo would pay her school 
fees, but he immediately began having sex with her. Investigators said 
that Moyo forced his victims to wear a special bracelet and told them 
that lightning would strike them if they told anyone about their 
relationship, some of which lasted for 10 years.<br />
<br />
Now, Moyo is facing a number of child abuse charges.

Man marries his daughter, 14, and has two children with her after wife died

A man was arrested after people learned about his incestuous relationship with his young daughter. Killion Moyo, 65, of Zimbabwe, is a tra...

Ebola: Number of People Under Surveillance in Rivers Rises to 160

9:55 pm Unknown 0

<div style="text-align: justify;">
 Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Samson Parker, has given an 
insight to how the dreaded Ebola virus crept into the state and claimed 
its first victim, Dr. Iyke Samuel Enemuo, a medical doctor.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
 Giving an update on the ebola virus disease in the state Friday, Parker
 said the late Enemuo treated a Nigerian diplomat attached to the 
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Oluibukun Koye, who 
had evaded the surveillance team in Lagos to travel to Port Harcourt.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
 He declared that Enemuo was aware that Koye had the ebola virus disease
 (EVD) before treating him at a mushroom hotel in Port Harcourt.<br />
 Parker said: “He (Koye) had received the late Dr. Patrick Sawyer in 
Lagos. Upon developing the symptom, he confided in a female colleague, 
called Lillian, who contacted the late Dr. Enemuo. It was after contact 
was established with Dr. Enemuo that Oluibukun Koye flew to Port 
Harcourt to see Dr. Enemuo”.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
 "To conceal his movement, Koye, who had been under surveillance with 
other people for having primary contact with the late Dr. Sawyer, the 
Liberian-American who transmuted the Ebola virus into Nigeria, sneaked 
out of the isolation unit where he was being observed and took a flight 
to Port Harcourt and switched off his phone so that he cannot be reached
 or traced should he answer a call."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
 The Health Commissioner also  disclosed that the number of persons 
under surveillance in the state has increased from 100 to 160.<br />
 "Our contact tracing team is working seriously to make sure we contain the spread of the Ebola virus in Rivers State," he said.<br />
 It was also disclosed that Enemuo’s wife who gave birth only three 
months ago, is ill,  She was said to have developed   symptoms of the 
disease  and currently under   quarantine.<br />
 She  was said to have requested to be taken to Lagos and kept in an isolation unit  for treatment  and observation.<br />
 “She is also a doctor. Her three-month-old baby is alive and well. The 
result of the test conducted on her (for Ebola) is not yet out,” Parker 
said.</div>

Ebola: Number of People Under Surveillance in Rivers Rises to 160

Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Samson Parker, has given an insight to how the dreaded Ebola virus crept into the state and cla...

FIFA threaten to ban Nigeria over disputed elections

9:34 pm Unknown 0

ABUJA: World football governing body FIFA has warned Nigeria could be
 banned by Tuesday if an "elected" executive committee led by Chris Giwa
 does not vacate the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) office by midnight
 Monday.<br />
In a letter dated Friday, August 29 and signed by FIFA 
secretary general Jerome Valke, FIFA warned Giwa and his executives to 
stop parading themselves as NFF officials.<br />
FIFA said they do not 
recognise the executives' election from Tuesday, although the global 
footballing body said that "it appears the ministry of sports has 
recognised them".<br />
"We will not recognise the outcome of the above 
mentioned elections and should there still be persons claiming to have 
been elected and occupying the NFF offices at midnight on Monday 1 
September 2014, we will bring the case to the appropriate FIFA body for 
sanctions, which may include the suspension of the NFF," read the letter
 addressed to NFF secretary general Musa Amadu.<br />
Giwa and his 
executives took office on Wednesday and the following day paid a 
courtesy call to sports minister Tammy Danagogo, who promptly endorsed 
their election.<br />
The immediate consequence of a FIFA ban on Nigeria
 would be the African champions forfeiting two 2015 Africa Cup of 
Nations qualifiers fixed for September 6 against Congo in Calabar and 
September 10 against South Africa in Cape Town.<br />
The crisis caused 
by the purported election has meant league matches will not be played 
across the country as scheduled this weekend after referees, club 
managers and players announced a boycott until the situation is 
resolved.<br />
Two months ago, Nigeria was suspended by FIFA following 
direct government interference in the running of the game in the country
 when a court sacked the elected NFF executive committee led by Aminu 
Maigari and the sports minister appointed a civil servant to head the 
NFF.<br />
In Friday's letter, FIFA accepted the decision of the 
majority congress where 39 of the 44 members resolved at an ad hoc 
general assembly for executive committee elections to now take place on 
September 4.

FIFA threaten to ban Nigeria over disputed elections

ABUJA: World football governing body FIFA has warned Nigeria could be banned by Tuesday if an "elected" executive committee led b...

Scores injured as 2 APC lawmakers clash in Ibadan

9:34 pm Unknown 0

MANY people were, on Wednesday, injured as two serving members of the
 Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Temitope Olatoye (a.k.a Sugar) 
and Honourable Abiodun Adigun-Hammed (a.k.a Murphy), representing Lagelu
 and Akinyele II constituencies, respectively, and their supporters, 
clashed in Ojoo, Akinyele Local Government Area of the state.<br />

Sources informed Nigerian Tribune that the lawmakers had been on each
 other’s throat since both declared their interest to contest the House 
of Representatives ticket on the platform of the party in 2015.<br />

Nigerian Tribune gathered that Honourable Adigun-Hammed had organised
 a programme for the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, to meet 
with some spare parts sellers around the area, who, according to 
sources, had lamented neglect by the state government.<br />

Honourable Adigun-Hammed, it was learnt, was set to receive Governor 
Ajimobi at the area, with the governor’s advance team already on the 
ground.<br />

Eyewitness further informed that Honourable Olatoye and his 
supporters were also on ground since 10.00 a.m. to welcome the governor 
in their branded attires, earlier before Murphy, who is the host, came 
around 3.00 p.m.<br />

It was gathered that the arrival of Honourable Olatoye and his 
supporters almost forced Honourable Adigun-Hammed and the chairman, 
caretaker committee of Akinyele Local Government Area of the state to 
cancel the event, but the chairman warned that it will be suicidal for 
the party to cancel it at the 11th hour, saying their host may find it 
difficult to believe them.<br />

The programme, it was later decided to continue, following the 
assurance from the executive members of the spare parts sellers 
association in the area.<br />

With Ibadan popular fuji musician, Alhaji Rashidi Ayinde, on band 
stand, the pro-APC rally meant to boost the image of the party turned 
sour as lyrics from the musician, hailing Sugar, did not go down well 
with the host lawmaker and his supporters.<br />

At that juncture, eyewitness informed that the two serving lawmakers clashed, leaving room for their supporters to follow suit.<br />

Scores of APC supporters from the two camps were wounded as matchetes
 were freely used during the ensuing melee, while several valuables, 
including cars, were destroyed.<br />

Traders and people nearby scampered for their lives as the politicians ran after themselves.<br />

The news of the development, it was gathered, filtered through into 
the state secretariat through the advance team of the governor, who 
advised him to shun the event.<br />

By Wednesday evening, Honourable Olatoye was around at the governor’s
 office with his cloth stained with blood to formally report the 
incident.<br />

Alhaji Ayinde, the musician, was also at the governor’s office, to sue for peace between the two serving APC lawmakers.

Scores injured as 2 APC lawmakers clash in Ibadan

MANY people were, on Wednesday, injured as two serving members of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Temitope Olatoye (a.k.a Sugar...

Buhari set to declare for presidential race

9:24 pm Unknown 0

<br /><div class="itemFullText">
<img alt="" src="http://www.tribune.com.ng/images/buhari-new.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />STRONG
 indication emerged on Wednesday that General Muhammadu Buhari would 
declare for the presidential race within the next few days, as he rounds
 up his nationwide consultations.<br />

One of his political aides disclosed in confidence that the former 
head of state was set to contest the 2015 presidential election on the 
platform of All Progressives Congress (APC).<br />

General Buhari started contesting presidential election in 2003, when
 he ran against the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, under the
 platform of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP).<br />

Buhari also contested in 2007 and in 2011 against the late president,
 Umaru Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan respectively.<br />

With the merger of the leading opposition parties that gave birth to 
APC, Buhari’s camp strongly believed that if he could get 11 million 
votes when he ran under the platform of the defunct Congress for 
Progressive Change (CPC), then winning the next year poll was a forgone 
conclusion.<br />

Speaking with some journalists in Abuja, on Wednesday, an aide of the
 former head of state, who did not want his name in print, disclosed 
that as soon as the ongoing consultations were over, the former military
 top brass would throw his hat into the ring.<br />

“General Muhammadu Buhari has been making consultations with 
stakeholders cutting across all the divides over the next year general 
election.<br />

“We are rounding up with the consultations and within the next few 
days, General Buhari would publicly declare for the race and it is our 
hope that he would not only emerge the presidential candidate of APC, 
but would eventually be elected in February 2015,” he said.<br />

When reminded of some bigwigs of the party like former Vice President
 Atiku Abubakar and Governor Musa Kwankwaso, among others, the source 
dismissed their chances with a wave of hands.<br />
 </div>

Buhari set to declare for presidential race

STRONG indication emerged on Wednesday that General Muhammadu Buhari would declare for the presidential race within the next few days, as...

Osun: Tribunal begins sitting amid tight security

9:22 pm Unknown 0

<br /><div class="itemFullText">
<img alt="" src="http://www.tribune.com.ng/images/aregbesola-omisooore.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />With
 the commencement of legal fireworks over the conduct of August 9, 2014 
governorship poll in Osun, the Election Petition Tribunal, on Wednesday,
 at its inaugural sitting granted both the Peoples Democratic Party 
(PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the leave to inspect 
electoral materials used for the conduct of the exercise.<br />

Amid tight security, the Election Petition Tribunal began its 
proceedings around 9.10 am as journalists, lawyers, members of the APC 
and the PDP were frisked by security agents at the main gate of the 
State High Court, Osogbo, before gaining entry to the venue of the 
tribunal.<br />

The three-man Election Petition Tribunal headed by Justice I. M. 
Bako, during their first sitting, granted the reliefs sought by both 
counsels of the PDP and APC, Mr Kunle Adegoke and Mr Afolabi Fasahanu, 
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) respectively, seeking the approval of 
the tribunal to examine sensitive and non-sensitive materials used for 
the conduct the election exercise.<br />

Adegoke, who is the lead counsel to the APC had prayed the tribunal 
to move outside the pre-hearing session, the election materials used 
during the poll for thorough inspection and examination.<br />

According to Adegoke, the motion was brought in pursuant to Section 
151 of the Electoral Act, paragraph 47 of the first schedule, stressing 
that the action was “intended to move the ambit of justice.”<br />

Similarly, counsel for the PDP, Afolabi Fashanu (SAN), disclosed that
 he had submitted motion for the tribunal to grant the party leave to 
inspect electoral materials, which he said, were in the custody of INEC.<br />

Fashanu said that “PDP has filed a motion seeking some relief, 
praying the tribunal to critically look at the consonance with relevant 
sections of the electoral laws, contending that “we approached the court
 with 18-paragraphs affidavit and filled with written address to support
 the application.<br />

Subsequently, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Bako granted both
 motions of APC and PDP but declined to announce the next date that the 
tribunal is expected to sit.<br />

Meanwhile, the flag bearer of the PDP in the August 9, 2014 
governorship poll, Senator Iyiola Omisore, on Wednesday, in Osogbo 
expressed his confidence in the integrity of the judiciary to retrieve 
what he termed his “stolen mandate” during the election exercise, which 
was won by Governor Rauf Aregbesola.<br />

Speaking with journalists shortly after the inaugural sitting of the 
Election Petition Tribunal at the premises of Osun State High Court, he 
contended that with the avalanche of evidence available to the PDP and 
his legal team, the public would be stunned with facts and figures on 
how the governorship election was massively rigged.<br />

Omisore, who arrived the court premises some minutes before 9.00am in
 company of the state PDP chairman, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa and other 
stalwarts of the party said “I believe in the ability and unshaken 
integrity of the judiciary to retrieve my stolen mandate, which was 
freely and collectively given by the electorate in Osun during the 
August 9 governorship poll”.<br />

According to him, “the PDP is here to challenge the result of the 
rigged election. We have come to expose the massive rigging, electoral 
malpractices, ballot stuffing and other vices that characterised the 
poll. This would further show the people that APC has no place in Osun”.<br />

‘But the acting secretary of the APC in Osun, Mr Gboyega Famodun, 
countered the PDP, affirming that his party was absolutely ready for the
 fireworks at the election petition tribunal and the antics of the PDP.<br />

He stated that “we have gone this lane before, even as an opposition 
party, we challenged the PDP for over three years and won. The facts are
 there that the APC won the August 9 governorship election squarely. 
Whatever they hope to bring to the tribunal, we are ready for them’’.<br />
 </div>

Osun: Tribunal begins sitting amid tight security

With the commencement of legal fireworks over the conduct of August 9, 2014 governorship poll in Osun, the Election Petition Tribunal, on...

Jonathan, OBJ meet in Aso Rock

9:19 pm Unknown 0

<br /><div class="itemFullText">
<img alt="jona-obj3" src="http://www.tribune.com.ng/images/jona-obj3.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday, met with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja over security matters.<br />

Obasanjo stated this to newsmen shortly after he arrived back in 
Abeokuta, saying that the visit was on the invitation of Mr President.<br />

Obasanjo said he insisted that the meeting should hold at the 
Presidential Villa, as a mark of respect for the office of the 
president, adding that it discussed security situations in the country.<br />

Nigerian Tribune recalls that the ex-president, some days back, 
likened the present state of the nation’s economy to the dark days of 
the late General Sani Abacha, and also commended the Federal Government 
on the fight against the Ebola virus disease.<br />

He promised that he would continue to make himself available on any issue concerning the growth of the country.<br />

Obasanjo said: “yes, I can confirm that I met with Mr President on 
his invitation. In fact, he had wanted to come down to Abeokuta, but as a
 sign of respect to the office of the president, I had to go. We had 
discussion on the country’s security issues and that is all.”<br />

The former president also sued for peace between the Eggon (farmers) 
and Fulani herdsmen in Nasarawa State over crisis between the two 
communities.<br />

He called on the government of Benue and Nassarawa states to ensure that peace restored to the warring communities.<br />

Obasanjo said: “Eggon and the Fulani must understand themselves over the differences.<br />

“There is no way such will not happen, but the two state governments 
should come up with lasting solutions. The farmers would want their 
crops to be protected, while the Fulanis will also want their animals to
 feed. So, the government should fashion out peaceful means to end the 
crisis.”<br />
 </div>

Jonathan, OBJ meet in Aso Rock

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday, met with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja over security matters. Obasanjo st...

Nigeria Premier League suspended over referees strike

9:10 pm Unknown 0

<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409285309474_1561">
Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's top 
flight football league was suspended on Wednesday after referees were 
directed not to take charges of matches in protest at a governance 
crisis in the domestic game.</div>
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<div class="yom-remote">
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<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409285309474_1565">
Nigeria 
Premier League organisers the League Management Committee said it was 
"impossible for us to organise games" as a result of the directive from 
the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA).</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409285309474_1567">
The
 NRA earlier ordered that all referees slated to officiate in the 
Premier League should withdraw from matches "until sanity is restored" 
in the national game.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409285309474_1569">
The 
directive, contained in a circular signed by NRA secretary-general 
Moroof Oyekunle Oluwa, also applied to the second-tier National League, 
Nigeria Federation Cup and the women's leagues.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409285309474_1571">
The Premier League and National League are both in their 25th week of action.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409285309474_1573">
Defending champions Kano Pillars currently top the table with 43 points.</div>
League
 Management Committee official Salihu Abubakar said clubs and their 
sponsorship partners have been informed and teams directed not to 
proceed to venues of their scheduled games until further notice.<br />
"We
 are already running a tight fixture schedule and are hoping that this 
crisis is resolved soon so the season can be concluded in time for our 
clubs to prepare for continental registration and participation", the 
statement concluded.<br />
Nigeria's football association the NFF has 
been in crisis since July, when world governing body FIFA suspended the 
country from all international competitions over what it said was 
"government interference" in the running of the game. <br />
The ban was later lifted.<br />
NFF
 president, Aminu Maigari, was dismissed on charges of embezzlement, 
then reinstated because of procedural irregularities before being held 
by the country's secret police for an unspecified reason.<br />
This 
week, a new president was appointed in his place in defiance of a FIFA 
order only to set a date for fresh elections of the association's high 
command, raising the possibility of fresh sanctions.<br />
To top it 
all, the NFF headquarters in Abuja were gutted by fire and national team
 coach Stephen Keshi has been locked in a wrangle over a new contract, 
just weeks before the start of qualification for the 2015 Africa Cup of 
Nations. Nigeria are defending champions.<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409285309474_1832">
Already,
 the country's Coaches Association has distanced itself from the NFF 
while football writers have called on Nigeria President Goodluck 
Jonathan to intervene.</div>

Nigeria Premier League suspended over referees strike

Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's top flight football league was suspended on Wednesday after referees were directed not to take charges of mat...

Australian Stephen Davis risked life in attempt to rescue kidnapped Nigerian girls

6:02 am Unknown 0

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A Perth-based international adviser has 
survived months of extreme danger to try to rescue more than 270 
schoolgirls kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria.</div>
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          <img alt="" class="imagecache imagecache-ra_article_feature" height="294" src="http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/sites/default/files/imagecache/ra_article_feature/images/2014/08/27/5699712-3x2-700x467.jpg" title="" width="440" />     <div class="node-caption caption-below">
Stephen Davis spent months in Nigeria attempting to rescue the schoolgirls from Boko Haram. (Credit:  ABC) </div>
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<div class="content">
Stephen Davis, 63, has returned from a four-month sojourn 
with rare footage of the intense fighting in Nigeria's north-east, as 
Boko Haram stepped up efforts to establish an Islamic state.<br />
Dr Davis, who has a PhD in political geography, has worked as an adviser to the past two presidents of Nigeria.<br />
He
 established extensive contacts with tribes and terrorist groups in 
Africa, including three small cells of Al Qaeda, while working as a 
trouble-shooter for oil and gas company Shell in the Niger delta.<br />
When
 news broke in April about the girls' kidnapping from a school in the 
village of Chibok, near the Cameroon border, Dr Davis, who had recently 
moved to Perth from London, decided he could not sit on his hands.<br />
During the journey his life was threatened more than once, but his Australian passport saved him.<br />
 
         <br />
"When confronted by groups with an AK-47 in my face they'd say, 'you are American, we have to kill you'," Dr Davis said.<br />
"When
 you say, no I'm not American, they think you are British, and say you 
will still die, but when I said I'm Australian, they said that's all 
right.<br />
"I have no idea why but it's certainly been helpful."<br />
The devout Christian managed to smuggle out of the country footage of a handful of schoolgirls who escaped from Boko Haram. <br />
They detail the atrocities they endured, including being raped almost on a daily basis.<br />
<h4>
Release agreed as 'goodwill' gesture</h4>
Following media reports that nobody knew where the girls were, he decided to reach out to his contacts.<br />
"I made a few phone calls to the Boko Haram commanders and they confirmed they were in possession of the girls," he said.<br />
"They
 told me they'd be prepared to release some as a goodwill gesture 
towards a peace deal with the government, so I went to Nigeria on the 
basis of being able to secure their release."<br />
Arriving in Nigeria, Dr Davis quickly set up talks with commanders and he believed he had brokered a deal.<br />
 
         <br />
Fearing being arrested, the Boko Haram commanders - holding the girls across the border in Cameroon - had a list of conditions.<br />
They wanted the military stood down and promised to drop the girls in a village before phoning to give their exact location.<br />
Dr Davis said they lived up to their promise, but in a country ravaged by war and corruption, the rescue was sabotaged.<br />
"The girls were there, 60 girls, there were 20 vehicles with girls," he said. <br />
"We
 travelled for four-and-a-half hours to reach them, but 15 minutes 
before we arrived they were kidnapped again by another group who wanted 
to cash in on a reward.<br />
"The police had offered a reward of several million Naira just 24 hours before we went to pick them up.<br />
"I understand, from the Boko Haram commanders I spoke to, the girls eventually ended up back with them.<br />
"I don't know what happened to the group that took them but I suspect it wasn't good."<br />
<h4>
Four girls escaped by heading west</h4>
Dr Davis said a young man kidnapped by Boko Haram and used as a driver later helped a handful of girls escape.<br />
 
         <br />
One kidnapped girl, who managed to avoid having
 her mobile phone confiscated by turning it off and hiding it in her 
bra, managed to call her family while hiding in bushes, but had no idea 
where she was or which direction she should be heading. <br />
After
 being told to walk west by following the sunset each evening the four 
girls managed to cross the border from Cameroon and into Nigeria before 
being reunited with their families.<br />
So far they are the only girls to have escaped from a Boko Haram camp.<br />
When Dr Davis later tried to contact, via text, the young man who helped them, he received a sobering reply.<br />
"The person you are trying to contact has gone on a journey from which there is no return," the reply read.<br />
"He was an infidel." <br />
Dr Davis said the longer he stayed in Nigeria the more it dawned on him the kidnappings would not end.<br />
"It became very clear that if I was able to get 50 girls released then another group would kidnap 70 or 80 more," he said.<br />
"So by freeing 50 you were consigning 70 or 80 more to the same fate."<br />
<h4>
Atrocities going unreported</h4>
Dr
 Davis said initially journalists from around the world including CNN, 
the ABC and the BBC flooded into the country, but they concluded it was 
far too dangerous to send any crews into the north-east of the country.<br />
He
 said since then, the violence in north-east Nigeria and the threat of 
foreign journalists being kidnapped and beheaded meant there had been 
limited coverage of the crimes being committed by Boko Haram.<br />
"Boko Haram used to telephone Nigerian journalists and give them a story, but that doesn't happen anymore," he said.<br />
 
         <br />
"They go straight to social media. They post 
their own material and they've learnt to become very savvy on social 
media and use it as an instrument to terrorise."<br />
Dr Davis said he had realised the only way to stop the kidnappings was to stop the sponsors of Boko Haram. <br />
While
 Al Qaeda was involved in training Boko Haram recruits, Dr Davis said 
one of their major sources of funding - aside from raiding banks - was 
Nigerian politicians.<br />
"That makes it easier in some ways 
as they can be arrested, but of course the onus of proof is high and 
many are in opposition, so if the president moves against them, he would
 be accused of trying to rig the elections due early next year," he 
said.<br />
"So I think this will run through to the election unabated.<br />
"These politicians think that if they win power they can turn these terrorists off, but this has mutated. <br />
"It's
 no longer a case of Muslims purifying by killing off Christians. They 
are just killing indiscriminately, beheading, disembowelling people - 
men, women and children and whole villages.<br />
"I would say it's almost beyond the control of the political sponsors now.<br />
"Terror
 groups are linking up in Somalia, southern Sudan, Egypt and we have 
fairly strong evidence they are talking with ISIS members.<br />
"They
 will link up with ISIS and Al Shabaab and I think that what we are 
seeing in that region is the new homeland of radical Islam in the 
world."<br />
    </div>

Australian Stephen Davis risked life in attempt to rescue kidnapped Nigerian girls

A Perth-based international adviser has survived months of extreme danger to try to rescue more than 270 schoolgirls kidnapped by terrori...

Anxiety In Ondo PDP And LP Over Mimiko’s Defection Plans

5:56 am Unknown 0

<div class="story-content">
<div class="first">
<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Members
 of the Labor Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State 
remain gripped by uncertainty and anxiety over the reported plans by the
 state governor, Olusegun Mimiko, to defect to the PDP.<span id="goog_1327770860"></span><span id="goog_1327770861"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></span></div>
<span class="ds-1col file file-image file-image-jpeg view-mode-embedded  pull-left clearfix block-story-object block-story-object-resource block-story-object-resource-image">
 
  
 <span class="block-story-object-asset"></span><span class="block-story-object-content"><span class="block-story-object-content-header"><span class="block-story-object-content-header-description">Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

</span></span><span class="block-story-object-content-footer"><span class="block-story-object-content-footer-item block-story-object-content-footer-item-attribution">AGRON Nigeria

</span></span></span> 
</span>

The governor’s defection saga has already created a split between some 
key leaders of the PDP in the state. Many party members suspect that the
 governor, who is seen as a “lone ranger” and “control freak”, may have 
his eyes on seizing control of the state chapter of the PDP.<br />

Several sources within the PDP said members have held a series of 
meetings since Saturday to strategize about ways of resisting Mr. 
Mimiko’s dominance over them. A source told SaharaReporters that one of 
the meetings was held on Sunday at a hotel in the Alagbaka area 
of Akure. “Some of those at the meeting resolved to welcome Mimiko back 
to the PDP camp, but some disagreed totally with the idea,” said the 
source. He explained that those opposed to Mr. Mimiko’s impending 
defection feared that the governor might victimize some of his perceived
 enemies in the PDP.<br />

“Our fear is that, if Mimiko finally decamps officially to the party,
 he might take absolute control of its running while many of his critics
 when he was in the Labor Party might be victimized,” said a 
source who attended the meeting.<br />

The source added: “We are still consulting and have reached out to 
our members at the ward and local levels to call for an emergency 
meeting over the issue. We must definitely consider their 
opinions [about Mimiko’s defection] before reaching a logical 
conclusion.” <br />

Another key figure of the PDP in Ondo State said that some members 
were concerned that Governor Mimiko was arranging his defection at the 
“national level, without officially notifying us at the state level.”<br />

Even so, the source declared the defection drama as “a game of 
politics”, adding, “Mimiko is not a stranger to us. In politics you 
should be expecting the sudden and prepared for the unexpected. Only 
those who do not know the music of politics are crying foul.”<br />

According to the source, “Mimiko is free to come back into his old house and no one has the right to block him.”<br />

Despite the misgivings of some members, most party leaders stated 
that Mr. Mimiko’s defection to the PDP would be a big win, with one 
figure declaring the governor “a big catch any day.”<br />

Another party figure said the governor’s imminent defection was 
fitting since the PDP had offered him solid support during his run 
for re-election. “It’s more of a long overdue move,” said the source.<br />

“There was an agreement reached between the governor and the PDP that
 we would work for his second term only if he would decamp in [a] few 
months,” said the source. He added: “He has been working for PDP and 
representing its interest at the national level. It’s no more in doubt 
that he is fully back where he belongs. He just has to join the group of
 canvassers for President Jonathan’s re-election campaign ahead of the 
2015 elections.”<br />

Meanwhile, many state officials of the Labor Party appear left out in
 the cold as a result of the governor’s all but certain defection. A 
long-time party loyalist told SaharaReporters that Mr. Mimiko’s 
defection would be an act of betrayal, recalling that PDP members had 
waged a relentless political battle against the governor.<br />

With the 2015 general elections drawing closer, many candidates vying
 for various positions under the platform of the LP have already printed
 and pasted their posters in different parts of the state. Some of them 
even included the image of the governor on their campaign posters, an 
action that would leave them in a bind once the governor defects.<br />

Several LP members of the State House of Assembly reportedly 
intend to follow the governor’s example by defecting to the PDP as well.
 However, a source in the state told SaharaReporters that officials 
of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were working hard to woo some of 
the state legislators to their fold.<br />

“Some of the [law makers] have agreed to meet at a secret venue to 
make their personal and final decision known before the end of this 
month,” one source among the legislators stated.<br />

“Some of us [legislators] might change our minds and declare for APC.
 Our main problem is the governor. Since he has concluded 
arrangements to decamp to his old party, he might give us a tough 
time,” said one of the lawmakers.<br />

A press release issued on Sunday by the state chapter of 
the APC stated that Mr. Mimiko’s defection to PDP was not a surprise. 
The APC declared that the governor’s defection would not help the PDP 
to win any elections.<br />

The release, signed by the APC’s publicity 
secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, also stated that Mr. Mimiko was only 
joining the PDP to help President Goodluck Jonathan win the PDP 
presidential primaries, stressing that the APC was willing to open its 
door to any credible individuals.<br />

“Our doors are open for credible individuals that are still in the 
Labor Party especially the House of Assembly members to join. Our doors 
are also open to the serving commissioners and also PDP members 
that would not be comfortable with Mimiko joining the PDP because of his
 political antecedents,” the APC stated.<br />

</div>

Anxiety In Ondo PDP And LP Over Mimiko’s Defection Plans

Members of the Labor Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State remain gripped by uncertainty and anxiety over the reported p...

PDP Officials Ask Ribadu To Provide Further Evidence To Earn Waiver

5:44 am Unknown 0

<div class="page-header-lead lead flush-bottom">
        
        After two contentious meetings over the last two days, national 
officials the PDP were unable to decide whether to grant waivers to Mr. 
Ribadu, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (ret.), and Marcus Gundiri to 
participate in the primary process. All three governorship aspirants had
 requested the waivers to enable them to vie in the primaries after they
 recently defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP.
        
       </div>
<br /><div id="page-header-feed-icons">
     
          
    </div>
<div id="page-header-message">
     
          
    </div>
<div id="page-header-tabs">
     
          
    </div>
<div class="first">
<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">The
 governorship dreams of a former chairman of the Economic and Financial 
Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, appears to have hit a bump as the
 Peoples Democratic Party is demanding more information from him before 
deciding whether to grant him and two other aspirants waivers to take 
part in primaries scheduled for September 6 to pick the party’s 
candidate for the Adamawa State governorship election.</span></div>
<span class="ds-1col file file-image file-image-jpeg view-mode-embedded  centered clearfix block-story-object block-story-object-resource block-story-object-resource-image">
 
  
 <span class="block-story-object-asset"><img alt="" class="media-element file-embedded" src="http://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/styles/normal_medium/public/page_images/press_releases/2013/Nuhu-Ribadu.jpeg?itok=lZ2iAEzi" /></span><span class="block-story-object-content"><span class="block-story-object-content-header"><span class="block-story-object-content-header-description"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="ds-1col file file-image file-image-jpeg view-mode-embedded  centered clearfix block-story-object block-story-object-resource block-story-object-resource-image"><span class="block-story-object-content"><span class="block-story-object-content-header"><span class="block-story-object-content-header-description">Nuhu Ribadu

</span></span><span class="block-story-object-content-footer">

</span></span> 
</span>

<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">After two contentious meetings over 
the last two days, national officials the PDP were unable to decide 
whether to grant waivers to Mr. Ribadu, Brigadier General Buba Marwa 
(ret.), and Marcus Gundiri to participate in the primary process. All 
three governorship aspirants had requested the waivers to enable them to
 vie in the primaries after they recently defected from the All 
Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP.</span><br />

<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">But after two marathon meetings 
that took place at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja and 
the Presidential Villa, the members of the National Working Committee of
 the party were unable to agree on whether or not to grant the waivers.</span><br />

<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Owing to the serious 
disagreements among the NWC members, the screening of the aspirants, 
which scheduled to take place in Abuja on Thursday, has been moved to 
Saturday, August 30.</span><br />

<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">The PDP’s NWC set up a 
subcommittee that includes the party’s national legal adviser, national 
publicity secretary and national financial secretary to demand more 
documentation from the PDP’s vice chairman for the northeast zone. The 
subcommittee was mandated to request more information from Mr. Ribadu 
and other recent defectors to demonstrate that they truly qualify for 
waivers.</span><br />

<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">A source from the NWC told 
SaharaReporters that the party must proceed cautiously on the issue of 
extending waivers to the defectors in order not to leave longtime and 
loyal members of the party disaffected.</span><br />

<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Last week, Mr. Ribadu created a 
media splash when he announced his resignation from APC and defection to
 the PDP as well as his desire to seek his new party's nomination as the
 governorship candidate. </span><br />

<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Meanwhile, the PDP has yet to release the names of members of its screening panel for the Adamawa governorship.</span><br />

<span style="line-height: 1.538em;">The party’s national organizing 
secretary, Abubakar Mustapha, defended the party's position, telling 
reporters in Abuja that the screening would now take place on Saturday 
while the names of the screening panel members will   be released on 
Friday.</span>

PDP Officials Ask Ribadu To Provide Further Evidence To Earn Waiver

After two contentious meetings over the last two days, national officials the PDP were unable to decide whether to grant ...

Hey guys what do you think this bride is going to do if were you?

11:07 pm Unknown 0

Hey guys what do you think this bride is going to do if were you?

Jonathan administration has destroyed Nigeria’s economy – Obasanjo

10:59 pm Unknown 0

ABEOKUTA – Former president, Chief 
Olusegun Obasanjo has taken a swipe on the economic situation in the 
country under President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, declaring 
that Nigerians are back to the late dictator, General Sani Abacha where 
the middle class was non-existent .<br />
Obasanjo said the prevailing economic situation in the country has shown clearly that the middle-class had been destroyed .<br />
The former President stand this over the weekend when a group of traders visited him at his Hilltop home in Abeokuta .<br />
Obasanjo
 who disclosed that he received a text message which he said shocked him
 , saying, a middle class Nigerian requesting for financial assistance 
from him.<br />
According to 
him, ” We will keep going and we will survive this though Time . I told 
him we have experience this period in time of Abacha, all the middle 
class were completely destroyed .<br />
“I was surprised the day a colonel in the Army came to me complaining that he and his family could not afford to buy a car.<br />
A
 friend of mine, Dr. Okoro, a Medical Doctor, his wife, also a Medical 
Doctor and theirdaughter, who is also a Medical Doctor, between the 
three of them, they could not afford a new car, they had to go to Saudi 
Arabia, but, I pray we will not have such a time in Nigeria.<br />
“We
 have to be at alert, to be forewarned is to be forearmed, if we will 
get ourselves out of the immorals we find ourselves in, it has to be 
done by each and everyone of us. We all have contribution to make and 
should not leave our responsibility on other for us to do. If we fail to
 participate in things that are meaningfully positive for this country, 
you will be a victim and we all become victims.<br />
“As
 for me, we don’t know where we are going yet, may God Show us the way, 
the way that will take this country and make it a great country, and 
when, for me ooo, I understand and I see the way, I will tell you, I 
pray that God will show me the way, may God show you the way”, Obasanjo 
said .<br />
The National President of
 the NigerianMarket/Traders Council, Osho, said the visit was meant to 
get the direction of the former president on the 2015<br />
 election.<br />
She
 said the council had tremendous support of the former President during 
his eight year rule “as such, we deem it necessary and as a mark of 
respect to come and find out on which direction we are going.”

Jonathan administration has destroyed Nigeria’s economy – Obasanjo

ABEOKUTA – Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has taken a swipe on the economic situation in the country under President Goodluck ...

Nigeria contains Ebola, shuts schools till Oct 13

10:58 pm Unknown 0

•  Suspends summer classes 
<br />

<br />
 •  Two more discharged, last case stable
<br />

<br />
 •  Dead health workers are heroes, says Chukwu
<br />

<br />
 •  Rep moves motion to immortalise Adedavoh
<br />

<br />
 •  Doctor's sister's tests negative
<br />

<br />
 •  Co-discoverer of virus decries slow response
<br />

<br />
WITH the survival of seven out 
of the 13 confirmed cases of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the 
country, including the index case, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, Nigeria has 
contained the virus with 61.5 per cent survival rate.
<br />

<br />
The Minister of Health, Prof. 
Onyebuchi Chukwu, at a press conference in Abuja Tuesday disclosed that 
the country had contained the EVD with two more patients discharged and 
the last one stable.
<br />

<br />
    According to Chukwu,  
Nigeria has only one confirmed case of EVD, a secondary contact of Mr. 
Patrick Sawyer's and spouse of one of the physicians who participated in
 the management of the index case. But he said that she was stable and  
on treatment at the isolation ward in Lagos.
<br />

<br />
   Taking further precautions 
against the spread of the disease, the Federal Government yesterday 
announced a new resumption date for public and private primary and 
secondary schools across the country.
<br />

<br />
   The Minister of Education, 
Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, who made the announcement, declared that all the
 schools must remain closed until  October 13, 2014. 
<br />

<br />
   The minister directed that 
all summer classes  being conducted by some private schools across the 
country should be suspended with immediate effect until October 13.
<br />

<br />
  At a press briefing in Abuja 
after a meeting with all the Commissioners of Education of the 36 states
 of the federation and  the Federal Capital Territory, he stated that 
the new date became imperative to allow the Federal Government take 
adequate preventive measures against the spread of Ebola  before the 
students resume.
<br />

<br />
   He instructed all state 
Ministries of Education to immediately organise and ensure that at least
 two officials in each school, both public and  private, are trained by 
appropriate health workers on how to handle any suspected case of Ebola.
<br />

<br />
  All schools, he said, must 
also embark on immediate sensitisation of all teaching and non-teaching 
staff on preventive measures, adding that the training must be concluded
 not later than September 15, 2014.
<br />

<br />
   Shekarau said that each 
state Ministry of Education should appoint a designated desk officer not
 later than September 1 who he explained should also receive appropriate
 training and must report on daily basis to the commissioner of 
education on situation in  the schools.
<br />

<br />
  "The names of such desk 
officers, their phone numbers and e-mail addresses should be 
communicated to the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Education 
not later than September 1," he said.
<br />

<br />
  In appreciation for Dr Ameyo 
Stella Adadevoh in containing the spread of the disease, a member of the
 House of Representatives,  Nnaji Uzoamaka Peace,   yesterday supported 
 calls to immortalise the late doctor. 
<br />

<br />
  The lawmaker who represents 
Nkanu East/Nkanu West Federal Constituency of Enugu State expressed 
readiness to sponsor a motion aimed at urging the Federal Government to 
immortalise the late physician.
<br />

<br />
  She said that but for the 
courageous role played by the late physician who stopped Sawyer from 
spreading it to the wider population, the death toll from the deadly 
Ebola virus in the country would have assumed a frightening dimension by
 now.
<br />

<br />
  She noted: "My heart goes to 
all those affected by the deadly Ebola virus that was forced on us by 
this fellow called Sawyer. I am deeply concerned that we have to grapple
 with the reality of tackling a disease without a cure threatening our 
population that is the envy of other nations of the world.
<br />

<br />
  "I have been imagining what 
would have become of our population by now without the heroic deeds of 
Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, the physician who brought her expertise to bear 
to curtail the disaster that could have befallen our dear nation.
<br />

<br />
   "As a Nigerian, I feel 
pained that we have lost a rare gem alongside two of our promising 
nurses. She belonged to the rare breed of heroines who paid the supreme 
price to keep Nigerians alive today. She single-handedly stamped her 
foot on the ground to stop the devil incarnate from decimating our 
population.
<br />

<br />
  "She belongs to the class of 
the late Funmilayo Anikulapo Ransome Kuti, Queen Amina, Margareth Ekpo, 
Gambo Sawaba and Prof. Dora Akunyili who put aside their self-interests 
to preserve their respective societies. Dr Adadevoh deserves to be 
immortalised. This explains my resolve to sponsor a motion to 
immortalise her. We need to keep her name evergreen in our memory so 
that future generation of Nigerians would be reminded of the essence of 
selfless service and a deep sense of patriotism that is fast-eluding our
 society today."
<br />

<br />
  The Lagos State government 
yesterday said no fewer than 331 persons had been screened for Ebola.  
He warned residents against hiding their relatives with suspected 
symptoms of the deadly disease.
<br />

<br />
  Among the 159 discharged with a clean bill of health is the late Adedavoh's sister, who was rumoured to have been infected.
<br />

<br />
  The government, at a  
briefing on EVD  yesterday,  said the earlier suspected cases were 
reported, the better the chance of survival.
<br />

<br />
  Out of the five deaths 
recorded in the state so far, three bodies were cremated while two were 
properly buried in line with global best practice,  the state government
  said.
<br />

<br />
  The state Commissioner for 
Health, Dr Jide Idris, told reporters that out of the 331 contacts so 
far screened since the  Sawyer episode, 159 contacts had been cleared 
and discharged on completion of their 21-day surveillance. 
<br />

<br />
    In Rivers,  the Oduoha 
community has fined the state Ministry of Health N300,000 for siting an 
Ebola quarantine centre there without their prior knowledge. Some irate 
youths and women have vowed to resist their elders' consent to grant  
the  state government permission to locate an Ebola quarantine center in
 the community.
<br />

<br />
   Following Monday's protest 
by scores of Oduoha youths against the location of an Ebola  quarantine 
centre in the community, the  state Commissioner of Health, Sampson 
Parker, yesterday led a delegation of officials of his ministry to meet 
with elders and chiefs of  the community, primarily  to explain 
government's decision to site the centre there.
<br />

<br />

<br />
    Chukwu  said yesterday that
 only 128 persons were now under surveillance, while others had been 
cleared after staying the mandatory 21 days under surveillance.
<br />

<br />
    He insisted that all the 
reported cases of the EVD in Nigeria had their root in the index case, 
the late Sawyer. This, he said, was an indication that, thus far, 
Nigeria had contained the disease outbreak.
<br />

<br />
    He reassured Nigerians and 
indeed the global community that the government would remain vigilant 
and would not relent as it continued to work with her partners to ensure
 that the disease was kept out of the country.
<br />

<br />
    In a statement yesterday by
 his Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Mr. Dan Nwomeh,  
Chukwu said: "Today is the 38th day since the Ebola Virus Disease was 
imported into Nigeria by a Liberian-American.
<br />

<br />
   "As of today, 26th August, 2014, Nigeria has had 13 cases of EVD including the index case.
<br />

<br />
   "Of these 13, five, including the index case unfortunately did not survive the disease and are now late.
<br />

<br />
   "However, seven of the 
infected persons were successfully managed at the isolation ward in 
Lagos and have been discharged home.
<br />

<br />
    "Two of treated patients, a
 male doctor and a female nurse were discharged yesterday evening, 25th 
August, 2014 having satisfied the criteria for discharge."
<br />

<br />
    The minister described 
those who died while attending to Sawyer as heroes and heroines,  
promising that they would not die in vain.
<br />

<br />
    He also dispelled rumours 
that the sister of the late senior consultant at First Consultants 
Hospital was positive, stressing there was no truth in it.
<br />

<br />
  He explained that the N1.9 
billion announced by the president was not an Ebola fund, stressing that
 the approval was secured after the Ministry of Health prepared a budget
 to the Presidency.
<br />

<br />
  Meanwhile, the Publicity 
Secretary of the People's Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh,  yesterday 
donated N1 million to the efforts to tackle the disease and called on 
corporate bodies and individuals to support measures to contain the 
disease.
<br />

<br />
     Also, the Minister of 
Information, Labaran Maku  stressed  the need for the country not to 
relax yet on the Ebola prevention efforts.
<br />

<br />
    He said: "We should not 
relax because the disease is going down. Let us use this opportunity to 
promote public health. We should defeat the virus. We must work harder 
and keep on our eyes on the ball."
<br />

<br />
   According to a draft 
document laying out the World Health Organisation's (WHO's) battle 
strategy, more than N73.1 billion ($430) million will be needed to bring
 the worst Ebola outbreak on record under control. 
<br />

<br />
   The WHO, in statement, 
yesterday, said the plan sets a goal of reversing the trend in new cases
 within two months, and stopping all transmission in six to nine months.
 
<br />

<br />
   According to the document 
obtained by Bloomberg News, it requires funding by governments, 
development banks and  the private sector .
<br />

<br />
   The current outbreak, which 
has killed 1,427 people in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, 
may soon exceed all previous Ebola outbreaks combined. The sum now being
 sought is six times more than the N12 billion ($71 million) the WHO 
suggested was needed in a plan published less than a month ago.
<br />

<br />
    There is reason to be 
concerned "about whether the proposed resources would be adequate," said
 Barry Bloom, a public health professor at Harvard University who also 
questioned whether the funds would be made available fast enough, and 
whether the organisation's latest plan "would ensure the expertise from 
WHO that is needed."
<br />

<br />
   The WHO plans to publish the
 plan by the end of this week at the earliest and details may change, 
said Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based agency. United 
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon this month appointed health crisis
 expert David Nabarro to coordinate the UN response.
<br />

<br />
   The Belgian scientist who 
co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976, Peter Piot, yesterday  castigated
 "the extraordinary slowness" of international organisations in 
responding to the outbreak.
<br />

<br />
   Piot in an interview with 
French daily Liberation said: "The WHO only woke up in July, whereas the
 epidemic began in December last year and health experts sounded the 
alarm in early March. There is now leadership but it is late." 
<br />

<br />
   "We have never seen an 
(Ebola) epidemic on this scale," Piot was quoted by the French daily  as
 saying. "In the last six months, we have been witnessing what can be 
described as a 'perfect storm' - everything is there for it to snowball.
<br />

<br />
   "The epidemic is exploding 
in countries where health services are not functioning, ravaged by 
decades of civil war. In addition, the public is deeply suspicious of 
the authorities. Trust must be restored. Nothing can be done in an 
epidemic like Ebola if there is no trust."
<br />

<br />
   Piot is former chief of the 
UN agency Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) and now 
director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, one of 
the world's foremost centres of expertise on tropical disease.
<br />

<br />
  Also, the European Commission
 and aid groups including Doctors Without Borders have criticised the 
WHO for a lack of leadership in coordinating the fight against the 
outbreak.
<br />

<br />
    "Clearly WHO didn't foresee
 this outbreak and while the Ebola crisis was clear in March, it didn't 
act until August to declare an emergency," Bloom said in an e-mail.
<br />

<br />
   J. Stephen Morrison, 
director of the global health policy centre at the Centre for Strategic 
and International Studies in Washington, had a different view. The scale
 of the disease's devastation goes far beyond what health officials had 
seen previously, he said in a telephone interview.
<br />

<br />
   It's not "a question of 
incompetence or complacency," according to Morrison, who said the WHO 
should be able to raise the money needed. "It's the fact we're catching 
up with the unknown, and it's way ahead of us."
<br />

<br />
    Meanwhile, the United 
Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has deployed its largest emergency supply
 operation ever in a single month delivered to children caught in record
 number of crises including EVD.
<br />

<br />
    According to a  statement 
released yesterday by UNICEF, Liberia's effort to contain the Ebola 
outbreak has been strengthened by 248 MT of supplies from UNICEF such as
 latex gloves, safety goggles, and overalls to protect health workers, 
concentrated chlorine disinfectant and a range of essential medicines. 
UNICEF is also helping the government assess the country's supply chain 
capacity, which is strained by the crisis.

Nigeria contains Ebola, shuts schools till Oct 13

• Suspends summer classes • Two more discharged, last case stable • Dead health workers are heroes, says Chukwu • Rep m...

FG Warns Nigerians Over Ebola

6:51 pm Unknown 0

<b>Following the announcement on Tuesday, 26 August, 2014 that 
only one patient is remaining with the Ebola virus in Nigeria, the 
Federal Government has warned against complacency in the fight against 
the dreaded disease. </b><br />
Nigeria’s Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu,  had announced on Tuesday that two more people had been released from isolation, taking the total number of patients to have been successfully treated to seven.<br />
No fewer that five people have died in Nigeria since 20 July, 2014, when a Liberian businessman, Patrick Sawyer imported the Ebola virus into Nigeria.<br />
Sawyer later died from the disease on 25 July in a Lagos hospital.<br />
Speaking on the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Nigeria on Wednesday, 
27 August, 2014, the health minister cautioned against congratulatory 
headlines that suggested the virus had been eradicated in Africa’s most 
populous nation.<br />
According to Chukwu, instead,  the country was “doing well on containment”, likening the situation to trapping a wild animal in a cage.<br />
“Nigeria has been successful at containment. But have we eliminated the disease? No,” he told reporters in Abuja.<br />
It would be recalled that the World Health Organisation, WHO, 
recently released a report where it said it was encouraged by the fact 
that all confirmed cases of Ebola in Nigeria had come from a single 
chain of transmission and there had been no incidences of the virus 
outside Lagos.<br />
<div class="wp-caption-text">
Chukwu, however, said that “nothing stops someone coming with a fresh case” and that the patient currently in hospital needed to be managed and any contacts they may have had kept under surveillance.</div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
 The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said Nigeria has only one active case of the Ebola virus.</div>
“Until we give a clean bill of health to every contact, we cannot
 say we have eliminated the disease,” he added, warning that it was 
“still possible” to have several more confirmed cases.<br />
“Even if… we have been able to discharge all contacts, as long 
there is one case of Ebola Virus Disease anywhere in the world and 
people are allowed to travel, every country in the world remains at 
risk.<br />
“We only stop being at risk when the very last case of Ebola Virus Disease under this current epidemic has gone,” Chukwu said.<br />
Nigeria’s Education Minister Ibrahim Shekarau announced on Tuesday 
that both public and private schools would remain closed until October 
13 as a precaution against Ebola.<br />
Students had been due to resume classes on September 15.<br />
President Goodluck Jonathan had previously announced an extension to 
the summer break and Chukwu said he saw no contradiction in the measure 
as having large groups of children together could cause “problems”.<br />
Apart from Nigeria, other West African countries fighting against the Ebola virus are Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.<br />
Over 1350 people have died from Ebola virus while 2473 new cases of 
the disease have been confirmed in West Africa since February, 2014, 
this is according to the WHO.

FG Warns Nigerians Over Ebola

Following the announcement on Tuesday, 26 August, 2014 that only one patient is remaining with the Ebola virus in Nigeria, the Federal Gov...

Angel Di Maria: Man Utd pay British record £59.7m for winger

5:42 pm Unknown 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRjNtwHjtNYPT9vtlnmKJ_wj0fLQDrECQgs0pqNe_EoxcSquaLXLgpMxmEPsCO3lKwvDkybyPFuApf3AoC2gHjvcgqO0OcuObj4bMg0Gk4lhIpkJlxvBdE2rx3sDkM_Cb5E1L5yLYgmE/s1600/_77183181_454212566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRjNtwHjtNYPT9vtlnmKJ_wj0fLQDrECQgs0pqNe_EoxcSquaLXLgpMxmEPsCO3lKwvDkybyPFuApf3AoC2gHjvcgqO0OcuObj4bMg0Gk4lhIpkJlxvBdE2rx3sDkM_Cb5E1L5yLYgmE/s1600/_77183181_454212566.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" itemprop="description">
    Manchester United have signed winger Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid for a British record transfer fee of £59.7m.
</div>
The Argentine winger had a medical in Manchester on Tuesday and has signed a five-year deal.
<br />

Di Maria - described as "world-class" by United boss 
Louis van Gaal - is likely to make his debut on Saturday against Burnley
 in the Premier League.
<br />

The 26-year-old said United were "the only club that I would have left Real Madrid for".
<br />

The fee eclipses the £50m 
    
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/9380389.stm">Chelsea paid Liverpool for striker Fernando Torres</a>

in 2011.
<br />

Di Maria added: "Louis van Gaal is a fantastic coach 
with a proven track record of success and I am impressed by the vision 
and determination everyone has to get this club back to the top - where 
it belongs. I now just cannot wait to get started."
<br />

<thead>
<tr class="heading">
 
  
   <th class="left first" colspan="4">
   <h2>
Biggest transfer fees paid by a British club
       </h2>
</th>
  </tr>
</thead>
      
      
  <tbody>
<tr>
 
  
   <td class="left first">
         £59.7m<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Angel Di Maria<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Real Madrid to Manchester Utd<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         2014<br />

</td>
  </tr>
<tr class="row2">
 
  
   <td class="left first">
         £50m<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Fernando Torres<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Liverpool to Chelsea<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         2011<br />

</td>
  </tr>
<tr>
 
  
   <td class="left first">
         £42.4m<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Mesut Ozil<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Real Madrid to Arsenal<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         2013<br />

</td>
  </tr>
<tr class="row2">
 
  
   <td class="left first">
         £38m<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Sergio Aguero<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Atletico Madrid to Manchester City<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         2011<br />

</td>
  </tr>
<tr>
 
  
   <td class="left first">
         £37.1m<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Juan Mata<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Chelsea to Manchester Utd<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         2014<br />

</td>
  </tr>
<tr class="row2">
 
  
   <td class="left first">
         £35m<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Andy Carroll<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Newcastle to Liverpool<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         2011<br />

</td>
  </tr>
<tr>
 
  
   <td class="left first">
         £35m<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Alexis Sanchez<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         Barcelona to Arsenal<br />

</td>
   <td class="left ">
         2014<br />

</td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
United manager Van Gaal praised Di Maria as "a world-class midfielder" but added "most importantly he is a team player". 
<br />

"There is no doubting his immense natural talent," continued the Dutchman.
<br />

<div class="caption" style="width: 210px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
"He is a tremendously fast and incisive left-footed 
player who puts fear into the most accomplished defence. His dribbling 
skills and his ability to take on and beat opponents are a joy to watch.
 He is an excellent addition to the team."
<br />

Di Maria is the sixth most expensive global signing 
ever, topped only by the big money paid out by Spanish giants Real and 
Barcelona.
<br />

Real signed Gareth Bale for £85m, Cristiano Ronaldo for £80m and James Rodriguez for £63m, while Barcelona paid 
    
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28852919">between £65m and £75m for Luis Suarez,</a>

and £71m for Neymar.
<br />

United last broke the British transfer record when they paid Leeds £29.1m for former England defender Rio Ferdinand in 2002.
<br />

The Old Trafford club have spent £131.7m since last season, having bought left-back 
    
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28048866">Luke Shaw,</a>

midfielder 
    
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27993874">Ander Herrera</a>

and Di Maria's Argentina team-mate 
    
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28858116">Marcos Rojo</a>

for a combined £72m this summer.
<br />

Di Maria was one of Real's most prominent players as they 
    
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27383593">were crowned champions of Europe for the 10th time</a>

last season.
<br />

But his future in Madrid became increasingly uncertain as the club brought in 
    
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28418131">James Rodriguez from Monaco</a>

and 
    
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28342137">Toni Kroos from Bayern Munich.</a>

<br />

Di Maria injured a thigh in 
    
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28069209">Argentina's World Cup quarter-final win over Belgium,</a>

but was still named on the 10-man shortlist for the Fifa player of the tournament award.
<br />

He joined Real from Benfica for £36m in 2010, and won La Liga in 2012 and the Champions League last season.
<br />

Former Real president Ramon Calderon said on Sunday 
that he did "not like" the idea of Di Maria leaving, adding: "Normally a
 club who owns the very good players don't like to sell them."
<br />

However, in an open letter to Real fans published in 
Spanish newspaper Marca, Di Maria claimed that he did not want to leave 
the club.
<br />

"I want to make it clear that this was never my 
desire," he wrote, before claiming that "many lies" were spoken about 
his departure and admitting that he was saddened not to be offered a new
 contract.
<br />

"The only thing I asked for is something that would be fair," he added.
<br />
<br />

Angel Di Maria: Man Utd pay British record £59.7m for winger

Manchester United have signed winger Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid for a British record transfer fee of £59.7m. The Argentine wing...

Photos of the Day

5:36 pm Unknown 0

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZA9iNKqTuXZd_3Pp4zhY5QZcQh05TewWlDs1jpxRBwv8iNYkaofOgD4B6GpktIf0tcMpRh4VCErFpKHo9KqPungKsw7oJeP2zOmCXd3pMVNOjBoqNHiCspmk9HJdHlxPFCD1Ed1sJeuY/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Funny or Not, what do you think?</a></div>
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Photos of the Day

Funny or Not, what do you think?

PDP governors plot against Ribadu

5:03 pm Unknown 0

<div id="print-page-link" style="margin: 10px 0px;">
</div>
<br /><br /><div class="story-featured-image" style="width: 368px;">
<img alt="Mallam Nuhu Ribadu" class="attachment-bigstoryimage" height="229" src="http://www.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Mallam-Nuhu-Ribadu-360x229.jpg" width="360" /><div class="featured-image-caption">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="story-featured-image" style="width: 368px;">
<div class="featured-image-caption">
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some
 governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have 
begun moves to stop a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial 
Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, from emerging as the party’s 
governorship candidate in Adamawa State.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The governors, who were part of a 
meeting in the Akwa Ibom State Governor’s Lodge   in Abuja on Monday 
night, believed that it would be dangerous to allow Ribadu to get near 
the Presidency and the PDP.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The former EFCC chairman defected   from
 the All Progressives Congress to the ruling party on August 16 and a 
few days after, he   picked the PDP nomination form for Adamawa State 
governorship election scheduled for October 12.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He thereafter applied for a waiver     to enable him take part in the primaries which will hold on September 6.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was also gathered that the governors 
used the opportunity of their meeting to discuss other issues, 
including   President Goodluck Jonathan’s chances in 2015.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of the governors, who was at the 
meeting but asked not to be named, told two journalists, including our 
correspondent, that some of them also agreed that it   would be 
dangerous for the PDP to field Ribadu as the party’s governorship 
candidate for the   Adamawa State election .</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He said they   were also not sure if 
Ribadu, who was the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria presidential 
candidate in 2011, was not being planted in the ruling party with the 
aim of spying on the Federal Government.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
‘‘He can be uncontrollable and can 
explode anytime,” the governor   said, adding that some of his 
colleagues were of the opinion that it was wrong for Jonathan’s 
Principal Secretary, Alhaji Hassan Tukur, to impose Ribadu on the   
party and the people of the state.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Tukur and a woman minister in charge of 
one of the key ministries are believed to be instrumental in the former 
EFCC chairman’s decision to dump the APC for the PDP.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The PDP governors were said to have 
insisted that if Tukur was passionate about Adamawa State, he could as 
well obtain a nomination form to contest the position either now or in 
2015.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Our source vowed   on Monday that he and some of his colleagues had resolved not to support Ribadu for the position.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He said they believed that it would be 
difficult for Ribadu to be allowed to come closer to the seat of power 
because of his antecedents.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Asked if it would be better for him to 
be given a ministerial position since he has joined the ruling party, 
the governor answered in the negative.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He said, “It is not ideal for the man 
(Ribadu) to come close to us at all. We still don’t know why Hassan 
Tukur is insisting on the man.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“We can’t trust him for anything. Look 
at the auditing job given to him concerning the Nigerian National 
Petroleum Corporation? Do you know the problem that report caused this 
government?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Before Ribadu submitted the report, he 
had leaked it to all the embassies in the country. Will it therefore not
 be wrong to have such a man close to the government he had denounced 
and condemned in the past?”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He said the position of the governors 
was capable of affecting the waiver that Ribadu was seeking from the 
leadership of the PDP to enable him to take part in the   governorship 
primaries in his state.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Under the constitution of the party, new
 members and returnees are not qualified to seek elective positions 
until after two years ─ except they get a waiver.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Section 50 (9) of the PDP constitution 
says, “There shall be a minimum of two year membership span for a member
 to be eligible to stand for election into any public office, unless the
 appropriate executive committee gives a waiver or rules to the 
contrary.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Our correspondent gathered that the 
members of the National Working Committee of the PDP were sharply 
divided on whether to grant him waiver or not.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While some NWC members were said to have
 favoured that he (Ribadu), Buba Marwa and Marcus Gundiri be granted   
waivers, others were said to have rejected the move.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But the PDP said it had not foreclosed the issue of waiver for Ribadu and others.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The members of the NWC are expected to 
meet in Abuja on Wednesday (today) and there were speculations that the 
matter would come up.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The National Publicity Secretary of the 
party, Chief Olisa Metuh, who spoke with our correspondent on   Tuesday,
 said , “The issue of waiver is not a problem.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“We the members of the NWC are meeting 
tomorrow (Wednesday) and if the matter comes up as part of the agenda, 
we will discuss it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Waiver is not a problem at all. So, 
wait until after the meeting on Wednesday. Like I said, if it comes up, 
we will discuss it.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, a source close to the former 
EFCC chairman said he might use his contacts among some of the governors
 to reach out to others.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He said Ribadu was a close friend of at least three of the PDP governors</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He listed the governors as Ibrahim Shema
 (Katsina), Seriake   Dickson (Bayelsa) and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa 
Ibom). Ironically, Akpabio is the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“These are his friends among the PDP governors and they will definitely try to speak for him,” the source added.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Meanwhile, a leader of the All 
Progressives Congress, Chief Bola Tinubu, has said he does not bear any 
grudge against Ribadu for defecting to PDP.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He tweeted, “Ribadu remains a friend and
 brother. He is mature. He remains one who believes in liberty, justice 
and service. I wish him luck with GOODLUCK.’’</div>

PDP governors plot against Ribadu

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu Some governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have begun moves to stop a former C...

Ladoja receives Lanlehin, Babalola, Arisekola-Alao’s son, others into Accord Party

6:24 am Unknown 0

The former governor of Oyo State and national leader of the Accord Party, Senator Rashidi 
Ladoja, has said with the quality of politicians, who have joined the 
party from all the zones, his victory as the next governor of the state 
in 2015 is a fait accompli.
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Ladoja,
 who expressed the assurance that he will be sworn in on May 29, 2015, 
said he would conduct council election within four months of the 
inauguration of his government.<br />
He spoke on  the Mapo Hill, Ibadan, on Tuesday, while formally 
welcoming new members into the Accord Party from the All Progressives 
Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party 
(LP), at a well-attended event that literally locked down the state 
capital for five hours.<br />
Those welcomed into the party were Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, who 
currently represents Oyo South Senatorial District in the Senate; a 
former Oyo North senator, Gbenga Babalola; one of the sons of the late 
Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao, Semiu; 
one of the sons of former Alaafin of Oyo, Prince Kabiru Gbadegesin and 
Dr Fola Akinosun.<br />
Othere were Honourable Demola Ojo, who served as chairman on Oyo 
State Local Government Association of Nigeria (ALGON)  in Chief Adebayo 
Alao-Akala’s government; Honourable Yemi Aderibigbe, who resigned from 
Governor Ajimobi’s government as Special Adviser on Transport.<br />
The lists also included Mr Timothy Ogunkunle, who was sacked by  
Ajimobi as Atisbo Local Government caretaker chairman; Chief Gbademosi 
Lakunle; Alhaji Olaide Mohammedan; Honourable Olayinka OMikunle; Alhaja 
Haolat Olasunkanmi; Chief Akeem Isekolowo; among many others.<br />
Ladoja said  Accord, which started as a mustard seed, had germinated 
and grown into a mighty oak, providing political sanctuary to 
politicians from all the other parties in the state, particularly those 
interested in the welfare of the citizenry.<br />
The Asipa of Ibadanland used the occasion to assure members of the 
party and the people of the state in general, especially those who were 
yet to get their permanent voter cards or register to be rest assured 
that they would not be disenfranchised.<br />
Ladoja, who said  he was yet to receive his own  PVC, promised to 
personal lead a protest march to the headquarters of the Independent 
National  Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja, if the commission did 
not correct the shortcoming before the elections.<br />
While presenting the party’s flag to the new comers, he disclosed 
that more politicians from the other parties had indicated interest in 
Accord membership and would soon join.<br />
Speaking amidst deafening cheers from the mammoth crowd at the rally,
 Senator Lanlehin said he joined the Accord Party because he could not 
stand the anti-people policies of the current government, adding that 
Ladoja, as the Accord Party leader, outweighed the leader of the APC in 
moral index.<br />
“What more should I say? Accord Party will win all the Senatorial, 
House of Representatives, House of Assembly seat and Senator Ladoja, on 
May, 29, 2015, will be sowrn in as the governor of Oyo State,” he said.<br />
In his own remark, Semiu Arisekola-Alao, who eulogised Ladoja’s 
qualities as the masses’ leader, said the huge crowd at the occasion had
 indicated that Accord Party was the only party in Ibadan and Oyo State 
in general.<br />
“There is no doubt that the Accord Party is the only party in Oyo 
State. We will sweep those in government out with their brooms. Accord 
Party will usher in peace, progress and development in the state,” he 
said.<br />
The state chairman of the party, Alhaji Bashir Lawal, while welcoming
 the new members, assured them of equal treatment and opportunity with 
those who had been in the party since 2010.<br />
He, however, told the new entrants that they were free to aspire for 
the ticket of the party to any position, except the governorship ticket,
 which he said, had been reserved exclusively for Ladoja.<br />
Others, who spoke on the occasion, expressed similar optimism as to 
the victory of  the Accord Party in 2015, predicating their hope on the 
perceived shattered image of the current government and the ruling APC.

Ladoja receives Lanlehin, Babalola, Arisekola-Alao’s son, others into Accord Party

The former governor of Oyo State and national leader of the Accord Party, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has said with the quality of politicians,...

Adamawa gov election: Uncertainty over waiver for Marwa, Ribadu, others •Screening of PDP aspirants holds tomorrow

5:55 am Unknown 0

Barely 24 hours to the screening of the 14 governorship aspirants of 
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the forthcoming Adamawa State 
governorship by-election, the leadership of the party is yet to address 
the applications for waiver submitted to it by some of the aspirants. 
Those who applied for the party’s waiver already, are the former 
chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and 
former presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria 
(ACN), in the 2011 presidential election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; the former
 Military Administrator of Lagos and Borno states, General Buba Marwa 
and the former governorship candidate of the defunct ACN  in the 2011 
election, Marcus Gundiri and others.<br />

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It
 was speculated that the National Working Committee (NWC), of the party 
would deliberate on the matter at its weekly meeting  last week 
Wednesday but could not do so due to what sources close to the meeting 
described as “due to the need to iron out certain grey areas before 
deliberating on such a  sensitive matter.”<br />

However, the Nigerian Tribune, learnt that the party’s NWC would have
 no option than to take a final stand on the issue today  at its weekly 
meeting ,being the last meeting of the week. The Nigerian Tribune 
gathered that the continued silence on the issue by the leadership of 
the party was already creating anxiety in the camps of the governorship 
aspirants concerning their eligibility to partake in the screening of 
the aspirants ahead of the party’s primaries for the selection of its 
flagbearer in the governorship by-election.<br />

However, some of the aspirants, including Umar Ado and Gulak, had 
kicked against indiscriminate issuance of waiver to aspirants without 
following due process as stipulated in the constitution of the party.<br />

But one of the aspirants seeking for the waiver, Marcus Gundiri, had 
cautioned the party against yielding to the pressure of those kicking 
against the issuance of waiver to new entrants to the PDP, saying those 
of them that defected from the APC to the  PDP, were seasoned and 
grassroot politicians needed by the party for its victory at the poll.<br />

Also, General  Buba Marwa, declared that the issue of waiver should 
not be a stumbling block for any aspirant as the national party 
leadership had earlier dissolved all the party executives at all levels 
in the state and carried out a fresh membership registration from which 
the current executive members at all levels contested for their current 
positions without the party demanding waiver.<br />

This is coming just as the screening of the 14 aspirants, who 
obtained and submitted their expression of interest and nomination forms
 for the governorship race would hold at the National Secretariat of the
 Party in Abuja, tomorrow (Thursday).

Adamawa gov election: Uncertainty over waiver for Marwa, Ribadu, others •Screening of PDP aspirants holds tomorrow

Barely 24 hours to the screening of the 14 governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the forthcoming Adamawa State ...

Tom Ikimi quits APC

5:53 am Unknown 0

One of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Tom Ikimi, has quit the party.<br />

Ikimi, former national chairman of the defunct National Republican 
Convention (NRC), announced his decision to quit the APC, on Tuesday.<br />

<img alt="" src="http://www.tribune.com.ng/images/tom-ikimi.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />He was one of the chairmanship aspirants of the APC when the party held its national convention in June.<br />

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Ikimi
 was reportedly forced to step down for a former governor of Edo State, 
Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who eventually emerged the national chairman 
of the party.<br />

He had last week complained that he had been sidelined in the scheme of things in the party.<br />

He announced his resignation on Tuesday, in Abuja via a statement.<br />

He said: “I have made the decision to withdraw my membership from the
 All Progressives Congress from today, August 27, 2014,” he said.<br />

However, he did not say if he would join the Peoples Democratic Party
 (PDP), but merely said he was studying the other political parties in 
the country.<br />

He said, “I am at the stage of currently critically re-examining the 
two dominant political parties in our country, which are the APC and the
 PDP, in both of which I have had close working knowledge.<br />

“I have not ignored the other political parties, but in the light of 
the foregoing, I must now search to really ascertain where indeed, my 
true political friends exist. I need to be, at this time of my life, 
where I have friends who share a common vision with me and where my 
freedom, respect, honour and dignity would be guaranteed.<br />

“Notwithstanding my enormous contributions over the past 12 years or 
so, to building the alternative platform, after very deep thought and 
the widest consultations, I have made the decision to withdraw my 
membership from the APC from today, August 27, 2014,” he said.<br />

Tom Ikimi quits APC

One of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Tom Ikimi, has quit the party. Ikimi, former national chairman of the defunct N...

Enugu lawmakers impeach deputy gov for rearing chickens

5:40 am Unknown 0

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Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly on Tuesday impeached the deputy governor of the state, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi.</div>
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Onyebuchi’s impeachment followed his 
indictment by a seven-man panel of enquiry, which investigated 
allegations levelled against him by members of the Enugu State House of 
Assembly.</div>
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The panel, in its report, held that Onyebuchi was guilty of the allegations brought against him.</div>
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“The allegations of gross misconduct 
levelled against the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sunday 
Onyebuchi, by the Enugu State House of Assembly have been proved,” the 
panel, headed by Mr. Franklin Oraekeyi, stated in the report.</div>
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The members of the House adopted the 
report of the panel after the House Leader, Hon. S.K.E. Udeh-Okoye, 
moved a motion for its adoption.</div>
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Ude-Okoye, who sponsored the Motion on 
Notice alongside 21 other members of the legislature, noted that the 
motion was in line with the provisions of section 188 (9) of the 1999 
Constitution, as amended, which provides for the removal of members of 
the executive arm of government.</div>
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The motion called for a resolution of the
 House to consider the report of the investigative panel on the 
allegations against the deputy governor, and that the House, having 
carefully considered the report of the investigative panel, “do adopt 
it.”</div>
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Onyebuchi was accused of running an 
illegal poultry in his official residence, thus constituting an offence 
according to a resolution of the House, and also refusing to represent 
Governor Sullivan Chime at official functions, in spite of a directive 
from the governor.</div>
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The lawmakers, in the impeachment notice, held that the said actions amounted to gross misconduct on the part of Onyebuchi.</div>
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The deputy governor had denied the 
allegations, alleging being witch-hunting for expressing an intention to
 contest the seat of the Enugu East Senatorial Zone, which is said to 
have been reserved for the governor’s Chief of Staff, Mrs. Ifeoma 
Nwobodo.</div>
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Onyebuchi’s position became shaky after the lawmakers commenced impeachment proceedings against him on July 23.</div>
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The impeachment saga was eventually 
tagged ‘Enugu chicken impeachment’ by the citizens of the state as most 
of the testimonies presented before the impeachment panel centred on the
 poultry operated by Onyebuchi in his official residence.</div>
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The panel was told that the stench from 
the poultry was an embarrassment to the state government, which had to 
relocate the chickens.</div>
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It was also alleged that the poultry constituted severe health hazards to residents, staff and visitors in the Government House.</div>
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But Onyebuchi, who claimed that he was 
not aware of the whereabouts of the chickens since they were moved, 
retaliated by alleging that the governor also operated an official 
poultry and piggery in the Government House.</div>
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He pointed to sums allocated to the said poultry and piggery in the state’s budget to justify his claim.</div>
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But in a statement by Chime’s Chief Press
 Secretary, Mr. Chukwudi Achife, the governor denied Onyebuchi’s 
allegation, explaining that the poultry mentioned by the deputy governor
 was part of the ‘Agric Unit’ in the Government House, which served both
 the governor’s and deputy governor’s official residences, as well as 
the needs of the staff.</div>
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He said that staff of the agric unit 
slaughtered a cow at the request of the deputy governor on August 4, 
2014, when Onyebuchi was already facing impeachment proceddings.</div>
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The deputy governor would have been 
removed before Tuesday had the panel not adjourned   for a few days 
after Onyebuchi slumped while testifying in his own defence on August 
18.</div>
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Onyebuchi’s lawyers and aides blamed the development on the stress occasioned by the impeachment proceedings.</div>
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It is expected that Onyebuchi’s replacement as the deputy governor will be announced very soon.</div>

Enugu lawmakers impeach deputy gov for rearing chickens

Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly on Tuesday impeached the deputy governor of the state, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi. Onyebuchi’s im...

5:24 am Unknown 0

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<br /></div>
<h1 class="entry-title">
Can APC win the 2015 presidential election?</h1>
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<br /></div>
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Almost six months ago, I wrote an 
article, entitled, “Probability of APC winning the 2015 presidential 
election”, and got more than 200 comments, several emails and even phone
 calls. This was despite the fact that I do not encourage feedback on 
phone. The volume of responses demonstrated many things to me. The first
 is that it re-echoed the growing dissatisfaction that many Nigerians 
have about the government of President Goodluck Jonathan. Many citizens 
seem fed up with the fact that the government has yet to deliver on its 
many promises on critical sectors like security and power, while petty 
and grand corruption continue erupting from many corners of the polity.</div>
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The second is the tangible enthusiasm 
with which the citizens are awaiting an alternative choice offered by 
the All Progressives Congress, which will expand the options of the 
electorate and further widen the democratic space.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I had highlighted a few apprehensions in 
the said article about some of the factors which could enhance or 
inhibit the chances for the defeat of incumbent Jonathan by an APC 
presidential candidate. I had pointed to the founders of the party that 
they needed to beat a tactical retreat at some point, in order to give 
their party a new face with less political baggage. I also stressed the 
need for the party to assemble enabling structures that will help 
neutralise the regional foundations of some of the parties that came 
together for the merger in order to improve its national outlook. I was 
worried (I am still) about the accusations of religious insensitivity 
being levelled against the party and the consequences such an image 
could have on its fortunes in a country that is apparently divided on 
such issues. I submitted that the APC should desist from attacking the 
personality of President Jonathan but rather concentrate on exposing the
 inadequacies of his leadership style by offering an alternative 
programme. I was particular about the character of the person that the 
APC would feature as the presidential candidate and how this would be 
the game changer for the party. I will return to the last point in 
greater detail later.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Six months after that article, I must say
 that only a few things have changed. The first is that the APC has 
managed to hold a successful convention that produced a crop of 
leadership that is apparently more diverse. But the emergence of the new
 Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was not without controversies. Many
 of the critics of the 75-year-old former Edo State Governor, insist 
that his victory was a coronation and not an election, which might have 
contributed to the exit of some members who had reservations with the 
process. Some pundits argued that the age of the Edo-born politician may
 hinder his performance on his new rigorous office as the head of an 
opposition party preparing for election. Many key members of the new 
executive except a few fall into the same age bracket. It means that the
 APC might have failed to deploy the abundant youthful resources in its 
midst to strategic uses. It will be recalled that the former Interim 
National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bisi Akande, is also 75 years 
old. There are a few others who have even raised questions about the 
real age of the party’s National Youth Leader, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki 
Jalo, but let us leave that for another day.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now that the dust of the convention has 
started settling, many Nigerians have started asking about the 
alternative programmes that the opposition party has to offer. Although 
the elections are barely six months away, I guess that there is still an
 opportunity for the APC to aggressively market her programmes to 
Nigerians especially in areas where the PDP-led Federal Government has 
performed woefully. It is unsettling however that the APC has yet to 
show the Nigerian public that it is any different from the PDP. With the
 current movements and cross-carpeting of politicians between the PDP 
and the APC, it will take the Nigerian public eye sometime to spot the 
difference when they start showing them. Besides, some of the states 
under the control of the APC are said to be performing well, but the 
party has yet to showcase them appropriately and convincingly. For 
instance, many observers continue to applaud the Governors of Lagos, 
Rivers and Oyo states in terms of infrastructure, but the APC has yet to
 take ownership and derive electoral mileage from these positive 
examples. There is still a lot of work to be done on the party’s image. 
Elements within the PDP have intensified a campaign to demonise the 
party by linking it with the Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
My final and probably most important 
point is the issue of who emerges as the Presidential flag bearer of the
 party. Out of the many people who may be interested in the contest, it 
seems that Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) is the leading contender. 
Those who support him argue that he has a broad following among a 
spectrum of citizens especially the talakawas (peasants and the poor) in
 the North, which contributed largely to the millions of votes he 
gathered in past elections. His promoters try to present him as a strict
 disciplinarian, especially looking at the programmes implemented under 
his administration as a military head of state. However, his popularity 
outside the North has been negatively affected by his portrayal in the 
media as a violent extremist and religious bigot. Although many of his 
supporters continuously dismiss this as untrue, that image has stuck to 
the Nigerian public and may be the greatest obstacle to the emergence of
 the slim General. Furthermore, Buhari’s leadership credentials do not 
resonate eloquently with young voters who were born after August 1985 
and who may be in the majority today. Other contenders like former 
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar have confirmed that they are also in the 
race. For the former VP, the political network he built across the 
country during his tenure in office will come handy but he is said to be
 unpopular within the party, especially among the powerbrokers. Governor
 Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State is another aspirant for the presidential 
ticket. His popularity beyond his state is not so high. However, he is 
said to be relying on his former colleagues among the G5 governors to 
gather support of delegates to clinch the ticket. Other people to watch 
closely are Governor Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto State and Senator Bukola 
Saraki who are reportedly “dark horse” options for the top position on 
the platform of the party.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As Nigerians await the outcome of the APC
 primaries, a group of young political leaders has started visible 
mobilisation of support nationwide to persuade the APC leaders to 
consider zoning the presidential slot to the South-South region, with a 
caveat that the candidate will only serve one term. Those who are 
encouraging this option suggest that it is a middle ground and the 
easiest way to match and possibly neutralise the power of incumbency of 
Jonathan by taking the battle to his home front. Others insist that 
there are strong indications that the ruling party may be preparing to 
exploit tribal and religious sentiments in 2015 elections and that the 
APC could counterbalance this strategy by fielding a Christian candidate
 who has a broad support base among both Christians and Muslims 
nationwide. Who such a candidate will be remains a matter of conjecture.
 Regardless of where the pendulum swings, the personality and character 
of the presidential candidate will provide an insight into the kind of 
contest Nigerians should expect in the forthcoming elections.</div>

Can APC win the 2015 presidential election? Almost six months ago, I wrote an article, entitled, “Probability of APC winning the 201...

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