By William Oyo-Ita 24/3/2015 8:36am
Ghanaian actress and mother of one, Nadia Buari shared a post-baby photo of herself and captioned it with“Dear diary, This part of my life is called being fulfilled. The spirit of this gift is beyond price and leaves me blessed and in debt. God has certainly got me cheesing from cheek to cheek all day everyday. #AmazingGrace.”
However, Nadia is yet to reveal the father of her new born baby. Reports have it that Jim Iyke is not the father of the child
AHEAD Saturday’s presidential election holding throughout the country, the United States president, Barack Obama, has called on Nigerians to ensure they keep the country as an entity.
In a message to the country, made available by the Public Affairs Section, United States Consulate General, Lagos, the US president said “Nigeria is indeed a great nation and Nigerians could be proud of the progress in the country.
“Hello. Today, I want to speak directly to you — the people of Nigeria.
“Nigeria is a great nation and you can be proud of the progress you’ve made. Together, you won your independence, emerged from military rule and strengthened democratic institutions.
“You’ve strived to overcome division and to turn Nigeria’s diversity into a source of strength. You’ve worked hard to improve the lives of your families and to build the largest economy in Africa.
“Now you have a historic opportunity to help write the next chapter of Nigeria’s progress — by voting in the upcoming elections. For elections to be credible, they must be free, fair and peaceful. All Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear.
“So I call on all leaders and candidates to make it clear to their supporters that violence has no place in democratic elections — and that they will not incite, support or engage in any kind of violence—before, during, or after the votes are counted.
“I call on all Nigerians to peacefully express your views and to reject the voices of those who call for violence. And when elections are free and fair, it is the responsibility of all citizens to help keep the peace, no matter who wins.
“Successful elections and democratic progress will help Nigeria meet the urgent challenges you face today.
“Boko Haram — a brutal terrorist group that kills innocent men, women and children — must be stopped. Hundreds of kidnapped children deserve to be returned to their families. Nigerians who have been forced to flee deserve to return to their homes.
“Boko Haram wants to destroy Nigeria and all that you have worked to build. By casting your ballot, you can help secure your nation’s progress.
“I’m told that there is a saying in your country: ‘to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done.’ Today, I urge all Nigerians—from all religions, all ethnic groups, and all regions—to come together and keep Nigeria one.
“And in this task of advancing the security, prosperity, and human rights of all Nigerians, you will continue to have a friend and partner in the United States of America,” Obama said in the message.
By Efio-Ita Nyok| 24 March 2015| 5:48 am
Prophets are such people who have the rear ability to call to walk into the yet-to-be-manifested future in the present. They can as well project into the already-manifested-past in the present. My conception of 'prophet' here is all encompassing, and not restricted to religion.
Human society, Nigeria inclusive, could be said to have three basic dimensions, and they are: culture, politics and economy; Such that writers are wont to always use the phrase -'socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and sociocultural.' I call them the three dimensions (3D) of society.
When prophets prophecy, they do so in respect of these 3D of society. And when Abraham Lincoln, America's 16th president foremost statesman did that, he did it in view of Nigeria's sociopolitical stratum. When, where and what did he really say concerning Nigeria?
In 19 November 1863 in Gettysburg precisely, during the dedication of a plot of land as a cemetery for burying America's fallen heroes, this is what this globocentric sociopolitical prophet had to say:
'…and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth'.
For Lincoln, government was all about the people. The masses determine the legitimacy of any government. The masses are the yardstick of any government. He was right!
Nigeria has gone through four republics: First Republic (1963-67), Second Republic (1979-83), Third Republic (1993), and Fourth Republic (1999- present). The present republic is my preoccupation. The fourth republic is about sixteen years young. We have had three presidents, namely, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Musa Yar' Adua, and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. We have also had four general elections in 1999, 2004, 2007, 2011; and are about to have the fifth in 2015 come 28 March & 11 April 2015. In the former, the freedom, fairness and credibility of the general elections have come under profound doubt so much so that late President Yar' Adua was compelled to admit that the election that brought him to power was blatantly rigged! The government was not of, for and by the Nigerian people. In other words, Lincoln's prophecy failed in these.
However, Lincoln's prophecy seem to be fulfilling itself in the 2015 general elections. Never in the sociopolitical history of Nigeria has the ruling political party been so routed by the opposition as this year's election. This is owing to the fact that the government is to be determined by the people. Professor Attahiru Jega should be commended for introducing the Card Reader and Private Voting Cards(PVCs) in this years election. The chances of rigging and rigging with impunity are very slim.
In previous years, because electoral malpractices were the order of the day, campaigns were not so much as intense. Then thuggery was the in thing. But today, the votes of the ordinary man/woman in the street would count at least for the first time.
The Nigerian people are about to determine the government. Politicians are going hysterical in their politicking. Propaganda and counter propaganda rents the air. Legal tenders of varied denominations exchange hands. Many other shady dealings have so characterised this year's election. Be that as it may, I wish to charge the Nigerian electorates to be poised to determine the government. They should not be intimidated neither should they be hoodwinked into taking an erroneous decision. They should remember that with the PVCs in their hands, they have the more power. The politician canvassing for his or her votes does in view of the fact you are the sole determinant of his or her fate. The Nigerian electorate should understand that they are the boss: Jonathan, Buhari, Tinubu, Amaechi, Akpabio, Obasanjo, IBB, etc, they don't pull the shot again at least until after the elections.
I reiterate that, 'that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish' from Nigeria!
“Nobody should sponsor or perpetrate violence as the country belongs to all of us. Politicians in the country should strive hard for a united Nigeria and refrain from doing anything that will destroy the country.” he said
A governorship aspirant of All Progressive Congress, APC, in the recent party’s gubernatorial primary election and 17 other members of the party have decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Taraba State.
The aspirant, Yususfu Akirikwen recently staged a walk out of the recent APC gubernatorial nomination alongside two other aspirants at Jolly Nyame Stadium the venue of the APC primary election.
Announcing his defection at a rally of the governorship candidate of PDP, Dickson Ishaku in Jalingo, Taraba State capital, Akirikwen said him and the 17, 000 APC supporters had taken the decision out of lack of internal democracy in APC.
He announce the names of the defected APC members across the 16 local government areas of the state and displayed their membership cards to the public.
“Four of us contested to be the flag bearer of the party in the state, one person out of us hijacked the whole process, we complain to the national secretariat of the party and nobody has ever call us.
Speaking at the PDP women rally in Onitsha, Anambra state today March 23rd, First Lady Patience Jonathan said APC will be buried on March 28th. According to Mrs Jonathan, the defection of Rivers state Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru from to PDP is an indication that the opposition party is dead.
“Imagine the deputy of a whole director-general of the APC presidential campaign decamping, does that not show that the party is dead? The party is dead and buried and March 28 is its burial. The party will not live again. When you start answering old drugs, expired drugs, then you know that your death is coming closer. The way things are going, APC will soon bear Ebola.
Is Mbakwe [former Imo state governor] corrupt? Yet you jailed him. What of Jim Nwobodo [former Anambra state governor]? Yet you jailed him. Don’t support a man that would imprison your mother and father. Jonathan is our messiah. He made Ihejiriaka the chief of army staff and has helped many of our people. Igbos are not fools. We know whom to support. PDP has come to stay.”she said
By Nelson Amaobi Osuala |23 March 2015 |3:39 pm
A countdown to the forthcoming general elections, reveals that there are only five days left for the fate on Nigeria to be decided with regards to the general elections. And It was on the foregoing that the wife of the incumbent president of Nigeria , in person of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had informed in a statement made yesterday Sunday, during a lecture delivered at the National Muslim Women Town Hall Meeting which was organised by the office of the special assistant to the president on Islamic Affairs and State House Mosque on “Violence free election: the role of Muslim women”.
To paraphrase her words ” the wife of the APC presidential flag bearer, Haija Aisha Buhari, is my sister and will remain so even after the election. She further argued that ” voting is not by force, I can only appeal that my husband be voted for based on people’s volition rather than compulsion. She further informed that politics come and go but Nigeria will remain an indivisible entity which no one can play politics with.
Reflecting on the above, we can not stop asking that in what sense is the first lady employing the word “sister?” Is It not the case that when two individuals are political rivals vying for the same office they seek for destabilising information that is capable of character assassination, which on the long run may result in a permanent damage of one or both parties reputation?
It is also no mincing words that in today’s Nigerian political climate, there is a conscious demonstration of the machiavellian spirit of “The end justifying the means” which is reflected in the do or die instinct of our self interest as we selfishly seek to clinge to power in the corridors of power.
What we are arguing is that the first lady’s alleged assertion that the outcome of the presidential elections, will not hamper her personal relationship with the wife of her husband’s political antagonist is some what of a lips service, this we are inclined to toe premised upon the fact that there is actually no art of finding the minds construction on the face.
By Dickson Blessing
4:37pm
23/3/2015
The All Progressive Congress(APC) youth leader in Gboko, Benue State lost his right palm in an explosion just six days to election.
Mr Dekera had lost his right palm while trying to send back an explosive that was thrown into the house of Hon. John Dyegh, the explosives went off just as he picked it up and damaged the whole of his right arm.
An eyewitness who spoke to the press expressed with a heavy heart the turn of politics in the state and asked God to open the eyes of the youths to understand that politics is not all about violence.
Some others complained that politics in Benue State and Tiv land had taken a violent dimension.