PDP WORKERS DEMAND RESIGNATION, ARREST OF NWC MEMBERS

Press Briefing by Staff of the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the state of the Party, July 31, 2015, Wadata Plaza, Abuja
Gentlemen of the Press,

We the Staff of the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have invited you here today to intimate you and through you the entire world on the grave state of affairs and the illicit manner in which the party is currently being administered.

It is no longer news that the Political Fortunes of the PDP have continued to dwindle since the coming on board of the present National Working Committee in March 2012. The Party under the current leadership of Prince Uche Secondus as Acting National Chairman and Professor Wale Oladipo as National Secretary has been systematically and deliberately dismembered and is being led to the morgue in preparation for its final burial.

Never in the glorious history of our great party has its fortunes been so hopelessly mismanaged by an inept and dishonest group whose sworn mission is to permanently destroy and liquidate the lofty organization that midwifed the current democratic dispensation.

The current National Working Committee is only hanging on because of the obscene and bizarre bazaar which they have subjected the purse of the party to.

Millions of PDP members are in great pains with the current reality of how the Party which in the recent past paraded the most decent and Nationalistic Nigerians is now being run aground by a patently incompetent and self centered sets of NWC members.

We wonder if this is the same PDP that was once led by the great Dr. Alex Ekwueme, and Chief Solomon Lar. Is it the same PDP that was led by Chief Barnabas Gemade? Is it the same Party that was once led by Audu Ogbeh and Amadu Ali? Is the party still as formidable as when it was led by Prince Vincent Eze Ogbulafor and the erudite Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo? Is it the same Party that was victoriously managed by Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed?

In the last few days, the staff of the Secretariat were confronted by an ill digested and childish If anybody deserves his or her appointment terminated, it is this group of fortune hunters who ruined the electoral fortunes of the party through unprecedented greed marked by extortion, graft and strange avarice.

It is curious to observe that a party which once prided itself as the biggest party in Africa could be so liquidated by such executive recklessness of its NWC members so much so that N12,000,000,000 (Twelve Billion Naira) was squandered in 9 months.

Party members will need to know why delegates were compelled to pay the sum of N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira) each into a private account of a company called MORUFI NIG. LTD. We are aware that over N1,000,000,000 (One Billion Naira) was realized from this fraudulent exercise.

Why did the NWC compel Party members to pay sums into a company account rather than the usual party account in the same Zenith Bank?

As part of their agenda to ridicule and crumble the party, legitimate bills owed to media houses, contractors and even cleaners have not been paid till date. Most Party members who conducted congresses and primaries that generated these huge sums have also not been paid.

Will over twelve million members of PDP believe that even as we address this press conference, the NWC are still using party finances to fund frivolous personal expenses such as weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals etc to the tunes of hundreds of millions naira.

Because of these ceaseless acts of recklessness and palpable fear for their fate, they have refused to summon a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) since the Party lost in the last elections. Shouldn't any organization with a responsible leadership call for a NEC meeting for an appraisal of what transpired months after we lost elections?

Several factors have been adduced as the reasons why the party performed so poorly in the last general elections. We make bold to say that responsibility for the abysmal outing of the party should be located directly at the doorstep of the NWC members due to the following reasons:-

i. Criminal imposition of unpopular candidates;

ii. Mind boggling extortion of aspirants. An example here is the yet to be resolved allegation by
Ndudi Godwin Elumelu who paid whopping N750,000,000 (Seven Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) to the NWC to obtain the gubernatorial ticket of the party in Delta State. There are many other victims.

iii. Appointment of incompetent cronies who were specifically detailed to return unpopular candidates as officers in congresses and primaries. The same scenario is being play out in Kogi while Bayelsa is in the wings.

In Kogi, it is widely alleged that the incumbent Governor was requested to cough out the sum of N1,000,000,000 (One Billion Naira) to the same NWC to retain his ticket.

iv. Non remittance of campaign funds to state chapters

v. Results submitted by Congress Committees were blatantly changed;

vi. Wholesome embezzlement of proceeds of sales of nomination forms;

How on earth will any political party undergo this level of tortuous mismanagement and expect to win elections?

These among others are some of the questions the staff of the PDP National Secretariat are asking for which their heads are being demanded by the NWC.

In view of the incontrovertible fact that the current National Working Committee has lost relevance and direction and has proven grossly incompetent of leading the party out of the present quagmire.

We demand their immediate resignation.

We are surprised that while the former National Chairman, Ahmadu Adamu Muazu resigned, these harbingers of political ill-fate are still hanging on to celebrate over the misfortunes of the Party.

Nigerians will recall that in the United Kingdom, leaders of Labour and Liberal Democrats resigned honourably following the loss of their parties in the 2015 British Parliamentary Elections. What is the PDP NWC still waiting for? To hang on and further scavenge on the party? This must stop.

We demand that the Publicity Secretary who claimed that staff of the PDP have lost touch with the state chapters withdraws the statement unconditionally. We have evidence to show that the same person who made this allegation lost woefully in his ward and polling booth in the November 16, 2013 governorship election in Anambra State where he openly campaigned for and supported the
candidate of APGA against the PDP. He again lost his ward and polling booth in the state Assembly elections of April 11, 2015.

We appeal to the Board of Trustees, the National Caucus and other members of the National Executive Committee to invoke relevant sections of the Party constitution to call for a meeting of NEC since the NWC is reluctant to do so. A stitch in time saves nine.

We also call on the anti-graft agencies such as the EFCC, the Police, and ICPC to beam their searchlight on the nefarious activities of the PDP NWC before they finally take the party to the grave yard.

We demand that the National Secretary and his co-travelers in the NWC unconditionally withdraw their sadistic circular and adhere strictly to the provisions of the establishment manual should they no longer require our services.

Conclusion

Gentlemen of the press, We wish to reiterate that the greater number of members of staff has spent over 16 years working and building the PDP. We therefore remain loyal staff, loyal party members and stakeholders who are committed to retrieve the founding vision of our great party.

Thank you.

Signed:

Ngozi Nzeh, Chairman, PDP Staff Welfare

Dan Ochu-Baiye, Secretary, PDP Staff Welfare

PDP workers carpet Metuh, accuse spokesman of anti-party activities

The Peoples Democratic Party Staff Welfare Association has described as an absolute “bunkum, clumsy and a blundering blackmail”, an allegation by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, that the staff were being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress.

 

The workers said such an accusation from a “mortally crippled arsenal of witch-hunt is incapable of breaking the resolve of the staff to expose the thieving band in the NWC(National Working Committee) and restore the core vision of the party.”

A statement in Abuja on Saturday by the Chairman of the association, Ngozi Nze, and Secretary, Dan Ochu-Baiye, described the allegation as a “wide window into the impressionable ominous signpost into the shallow manner the publicity of the PDP” had been run.

“We are not surprised that the allegation will become the most fashionable means of covering tracks,” the statement said.

The workers stated this in reacting to a statement by Metuh, who said the workers were being used by the APC against the PDP.

The National Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Wale Oladipo, had written to the workers, intimating them of the decision of the party to cut down the staff strength at the national secretariat by 50 per cent while the retained staff should be ready for a 50 per cent pay cut.

The angry workers are asking the NWC members to account for the over N12bn, which they alleged were squandered by the committee in nine months.

Responding to Metuh, the workers in the statement said the way the party was being run in the media was devoid of any professionalism, adding that it was a source of embarrassment to party members.

They said, “We therefore place  on record that the majority of the establishment staff of the PDP are not just unrepentant members of the party, who have spent over 16 years in service; who have assimilated the PDP ethos as a way of political life but are also the repository of the party’s institutional memory whose spirit can hardly succumb to the ephemerality of power loss.”

The workers wondered who should be accused of playing anti-party roles in the once-upon ruling party between them “who are genuinely resisting the morally repugnant and obsessively corrupt NWC so that the PDP will survive or the likes of Metuh, who has a track record of anti-party given his open endorsement of APGA candidate in 2013 Anambra governorship election; the subsequent denigration of PDP candidate and his chances on live television programme less than 24hours after the election, even as the result was being awaited?”

They recalled that in the January 2010 Anambra governorship election, Metuh, as National Vice Chairman, South East abandoned Prof.  Chukwuma Soludo, the PDP candidate, while openly galvanising support for Hope Democratic Party candidate, who they described as his friend and benefactor.

The statement added, “The PDP did not only woefully lose in Otolo Nnewi Ward 1 of the Party’s zonal Vice Chairman but came a distant third in his polling booth!  What a faithful party officer!

“Again, we have incontrovertible evidence that the man, who is PDP Publicity Secretary, worked assiduously against the presidential candidate of the PDP, former President Goodluck Jonathan, in the last election in order to requite the ex-President for rejecting him as Director of Publicity of the Presidential Campaign, which was given to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode.

They alleged that this followed the squandering of a huge sum “approved for the office of PDP Publicity Secretary by President Jonathan.”

The statement added that last week’s controversial congress in Anambra State was another signpost to the “destructive trajectory which the likes of  Metuh is driving the PDP to”.

It added, “The chairman of the congress, Ike Abonyi, is at present in Metuh’s employ as his media adviser.

“Another member of the committee, Collet Odenigbo, is Metuh’s friend and adjutant on special assignments while the man returned as State Organising Secretary, Mr. Sam Ben, is Metuh’s personal assistant.

“The process was so personalised to the chagrin of party members, especially leaders. As we write, the party is still waiting for the result of the congresses a week after they were held, pending when Metuh is done with his conclave of distortion and extortion.”

PDP crisis: Party workers open fresh can of worms

The crisis rocking the opposition party Peoples Democratic Party took a new turn on Friday as its workers further accused the members of the party’s National Working Committee of being “too corrupt.”



Uche Secondus
Acting National Chairman, PDP

The angry workers also accused the NWC members of demanding N1bn bribe from the Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada, before giving him the party’s governorship ticket.

Governorship election will hold in Kogi State in the last quarter of the year.

The workers also alleged further that the NWC members demanded and received N750m bribe from Mr. Ndudi Elumelu with a promise to give him the PDP governorship ticket in Delta State early in the year.

Our correspondent learnt that the money was returned to Elumelu after ex-President Goodluck Jonathan got wind of the incident.

These and other allegations were made at a press briefing organised by the workers at Wadata Plaza headquarters of the PDP in Abuja.

The PUNCH had, in two exclusive stories, revealed the plan by the NWC to sack 50 per cent of its workers and also cut the salaries of those to be retained by the same percentage. In response, the workers accused members of the NWC of squandering N12bn in nine months.

The money was said to have been realised from the sales of nomination forms during the contest for elective offices in the party in 2014.

The workers said this in their response to the letter sent to them by the party’s National Secretary, Prof. Wake Oladipo, on Wednesday.

Oladipo had, in the letter, informed the workers about the decision of the NWC to cut cost and that even those to be retained must also bring a letter of certification from their state chapters of the party before they could be absorbed.

Asking how a buoyant party with more than N12bn could become beggary in just nine months, the workers said all the members of the NWC, led by its Acting National Chairman, Mr. Uche Secondus, must either resign or be sacked.

They said the political fortunes of the party under the current leadership of the NWC had dwindled and that in order to save the party, Secondus and other NWC members must resign. The workers, who were led by their leaders, Ngozi Ezeh (chairman), and Dan Ochu-Baiye (secretary), said at the press conference that the members of the NWC were in a mission to kill the once buoyant and popular party.

Ochu-Baiye said, “It is no longer news that the political fortunes of the PDP have continued to dwindle since the coming on board of the present NWC in March 2012.

“The party under the current leadership of Secondus as Acting National Chairman and Prof. Wale Oladipo as National Secretary has been systematically and deliberately dismembered and it is being led to the morgue in preparation for its final burial.

“Never in the glorious history of our great party has its fortunes been so hopelessly mismanaged by an inept and dishonest group whose sworn mission is to permanently destroy and liquidate the lofty organisation that facilitate the current democratic dispensation.

“The current NWC members are only hanging on because of the obscene and bizarre bazaar which they have subjected the purse of the party to.”

The workers alleged that the many atrocities committed by the NWC members were responsible for the abysmal performance of the party during the last general elections.

They said, “We make bold to say that responsibility for the abysmal outing of the party should be located directly at the doorstep of the NWC members due to the following reasons: Criminal imposition of unpopular candidates and mind boggling extortion of aspirants.

“An example here is the yet to be resolved allegation by Ndudi Godwin Elumelu, who paid whopping N750m to the NWC to obtain the governorship ticket of the party in Delta State. There are many other victims.

“The same scenario is being played out in Kogi State while Bayelsa State is in the wings. In Kogi, it is widely alleged that the incumbent governor was requested to cough out the sum of N1bn to the same NWC to retain his ticket.”

The workers also accused the NWC of non-release of campaign funds to state chapters and embezzlement of proceeds of sales of nomination forms. They said there was no way any political party could undergo a high level of tortuous mismanagement and would still win elections.

The workers said the NWC members must tell members of the party why they compelled delegates to pay the sum of N10, 000 each into a private account of a company called Morufi Nigeria Limited.

“We are aware that over N1bn was realised from this fraudulent exercise,” they added, calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest and investigate the NWC members for the alleged fraud.

They asked if it was the same PDP that was once led by Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Chief Solomon Lar, Chief Barnabas Gemade, Chief Audu Ogbeh and Dr. Amadu Ali.

“Is the party still as formidable as when it was led by Prince Vincent Eze Ogbulafor and the erudite Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo? Is it the same Party that was victoriously managed by Dr. Haliru Mohammed?” the workers asked.

They also accused the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, of engaging in anti-party activities.

They alleged that when Metuh lost in his ward and polling booth in the November 16, 2013 governorship election in Anambra State, he openly campaigned for and supported the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance against the PDP.

“He again lost his ward and polling booth in the state Assembly elections of April 11, 2015,” the workers said.

But Metuh dismissed workers’ allegations and described them as baseless. He said the PDP workers were being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress.

Metuh said, “Their (the workers) call is baseless, falsehood and contrived. They are only playing out the script they were handed by the opposition, the APC.

“Our party is aware of plots by the APC to infiltrate our members and create confusion within the party and that is what these aggrieved staffers are doing.

“How come it is now that the PDP has become a thorn in the flesh of the ruling APC and its government at the centre that these kind of internal protest are sprouting.

“The real issue is for the Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, to resign and also for the acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Amina Zakari, to quit.”

The Kogi State Governor, Capt Idris Wada, told one of our correspondents that it was untrue that members of the NWC of the PDP demanded a bribe of N1bn from him so that they would facilitate or give him ticket as the party’s candidate for the forthcoming election in the state.

In a response by his spokesperson, Mr. Eddy Jacob, the governor advised those making such allegations to find a way to address their problem and stop dragging his name in their internal problem.

Jacob said, “The allegation is false. If the workers of PDP have issues, they should find a way of addressing them and should not drag the person of Capt Idris Wada into what is an internal crisis in the party.

“It is unconceivable that they will make such allegation against Wada. Wada is prepared to face the election and would not accept victory other than through voting process. So I do not know where they are coming from. I advise them not to drag Wada’s name into what I think is an internal party issue”

Elumelu, when contacted over the telephone, declined to comment on the issue, saying he would only entertain questions in a face-to-face discussion.

He said, “I usually don’t talk to the press on phone; I prefer face-to-face communication. I picked the call because I always give people respect by picking their calls”.

Nigeria assumes UN Security Council Presidency

Nigeria at midnight assumed the one-month rotational presidency of the United Nations Security Council.

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations took over from Ambassador Gerald Bohemen, the Permanent Representative of New Zealand, who held the presidency for the month of July 2015. Nigeria will occupy the position of UN Security Council Presidency throughout August 2015.

This is the first time in the history of the United Nations that an elected member of the Security Council would assume presidency for the fourth time in two separate tenures.

Nigeria was elected a non-permanent member of the Security Council on October 17, 2013.

With this feat, Nigeria is serving for the fifth time since independence of the most powerful decision-making organ of the United Nations.

A statement signed by Dr. Tope Elias-Fatile says that Nigeria’s return to the council, after having left in December 2012, represents one of the shortest periods in the anals of the United Nations that a member state has served two terms in the council.

According to Dr. Elias-Fatile, “This is even more remarkable, as it is occurring under institutional memory of the same Permanent Representative, Joy Ogwu, who chairs the two Security Council committees, the first, Security Council Committee, and Iraq Sanctions Committee.”

Nigeria is also one of the three vice chairs of the Security Council Committee, established on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and also one of the vice chairs of the Security Council Committee on Sudan.

Boko Haram converts abandoned school lab into bomb-making factory

Boko Haram terrorists have converted the abandoned Chemistry laboratory of Dikwa College of Education in Borno State, North-East Nigeria, into a factory for the manufacture of bombs.

The discovery was made today by troops conducting mop up operations to clear Dikwa and environs of terrorists, Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, said.

He wrote minutes ago in a Facebook update: “Troops of 7 Division Nigerian Army conducting mop up operations to clear Dikwa and environs of Boko Haram terrorists recovered 4 Toyota Hilux vehicles today.

They also discovered that the terrorists have converted the abandoned Chemistry laboratory of Dikwa College of Education into an Improvised Explosives Devices making factory. Some of the equipment recovered from the laboratory include a welding machine and mine detector.”

Col. Usman said that “the gallant troops are in a very high spirit and more determined to further pursue the fleeing terrorists to all known enclaves and sanctuaries.”

Frederick Forsyth 'set to reveal he was an MI6 spy'

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

 

Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth is expected to reveal in his forthcoming autobiography that he was an agent of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6



Frederick Forsyth lived like James Bond

He has long been lauded for the uncanny realism of his spy thrillers, and now Frederick Forsyth is set to reveal the secret of his insider knowledge: he was himself an agent for MI6.

Fans of the 76-year-old author had suspected he may have had brushes with the Secret Intelligence Service, as MI6 is formally known, and Forsyth is expected to confirm they were right when his autobiography is published in September.

As a journalist for the BBC and Reuters, Forsyth spent time based in Communist East Germany and in Africa, where he became close to key figures including Odumegwu Ojukwu, leader of the Nigerian breakaway state of Biafra.

He has admitted in the past that he often draws on his real-life experiences for the plots and action in his books; his experience of reporting on an attempt to assassinate the French president Charles de Gaulle gave him the idea for his first novel, The Day of the Jackal.

He has also admitted having friends in MI6. In his newspaper column Forsyth has referred to “taking lunch with a senior officer of from the Secret Intelligence Service” though he did not explain how they knew each other and he has never gone as far as revealing that he was recruited by them.

The title of his new book, The Outsider: My Life In Intrigue, provides a huge hint that he will use it to blow his own cover as a former spy, and it has become an open secret in the publishing world that he is about to do just that.

Spies play a major part in Forsyth’s books written in the mid-70s onwards – including The Fourth Protocol and The Devil’s Alternative - suggesting he may already have had some experience of the world of espionage by then.

As a former RAF jet fighter pilot who spoke German and French like a local, and whose job took him behind the Iron Curtain and behind enemy lines in Africa, Forsyth would have been a natural choice for an approach by MI6.

He also lived like James Bond even without the help of Britain’s overseas spying agency.

An incident in Hamburg in 1974 was a case in point. Having found success with his first two novels, The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File, Forsyth was researching his next book, The Dogs of War, about a mining millionaire hiring mercenaries to topple the leader of an African republic.

Forsyth’s experiences in Biafra had brought him into close contact with mercenaries, but he needed to know how the soldiers of fortune in his novel could acquire an arsenal of military hardware on the black market.

Told by his contacts that the centre of the underworld arms trade was in Hamburg, Forsyth posed as a South African on a buying mission for a wealthy patron using a false identity, and essentially played out the plot of his book.

“I managed to penetrate their world and was feeling rather proud of myself actually,” he later said. “What I didn’t know was that the arms dealer had passed a bookshop shortly after our meeting. And there, in the window, was The Day of the Jackal. With a great big picture of me – the man he thought was a South African arms buyer – on the back cover.”

Forsyth was in his hotel room when a call came through from an “insider friend” telling him: “Grab your passport and money and run like hell!”

He did not need to be told twice.

“I left all my clothes, grabbed my money and passport and ran across the square to the train station,” Forsyth recalled. “There was a train pulling out so I vaulted the ticket barrier and did a parachute roll through the window, landing on a bewildered businessman. The ticket conductor asked me where I was going. I asked him where the train was going and he said Amsterdam. ‘So am I,’ I said.”

Exactly who the “friend” was who warned him of the arms dealer’s henchmen coming to exact their revenge, he has never said, though one possibility must surely be that it was an MI6 agent who had infiltrated the arms dealer’s inner circle, thus knowing that Forsyth was in imminent danger.

Forsyth, now 76, cut his teeth as a foreign correspondent in East Berlin at the height of the Cold War, where he was routinely bugged and tailed by the Stasi, the Communist state’s infamous secret police. He quickly found himself sleeping with the enemy.

During one excursion to Czechoslovakia, where he was used to being followed by the StB, their version of the Stasi, 25-year-old Forsyth made eye contact with a beautiful young girl called Jana in a bar.

They had a drink together, then dinner, and Forsyth suggested a night-time drive on what was a hot August night.

“I suggested we go out to some lakes north of the city and have a swim,” he said. “So we did. We parked the car, walked down the meadow to the lake, stripped off and had a swim. Then I spread a blanket out and we made love. Afterwards, I was lying down staring up at the stars, and I just murmured - I wondered what happened to my StB escort tonight? And she said: ‘You've just made love to it’.”

Another romantic liaison led to Forsyth’s swift retreat from East Germany a few months later.

“I had been having a torrid affair with a stunning East German girl,” he later said. “She explained she was the wife of a People’s Army corporal, based in the garrison at faraway Cottbus on the Czech border. She was an amazing lover and rather mysterious.

“She was immaculately dressed and after our almost-all-night love sessions at my place refused to be driven home, insisting on a taxi from the railway station. I wondered about the clothes, and the money for taxis. One day I spotted one of the drivers at the station whom I had seen at my door picking up Siggi. He said he had taken her to Pankow. That was a very upscale address, the Belgravia of East Berlin. On a corporal’s salary?

“It was in a bar in West Berlin that two buzz-cut Americans who screamed CIA slid over to offer me a drink. As we clinked they murmured that I had a certain nerve to be sleeping with the mistress of the East German Defence Minister.”

Realising how much trouble he was in, a week later, having made excuses to his employers at Reuters, he walked through Checkpoint Charlie with a single holdall and flew back to London.

His next posting was to Biafra, where he reported from the Biafran side, highlighting the growing humanitarian crisis as hundreds of thousands of children died from malnutrition.

Whilst there he was strafed by a MiG fighter jet, leaving a dent from a bullet in his typewriter.

Even in his 70s he refused to allow danger to get in the way of his research. For his 2010 novel, The Cobra, he needed to find out about drugs cartels, and flew to Guineau-Bissau in West Africa.

While he was flying into the country, the army’s chief of staff was assassinated, then he was woken in his hotel room by the army’s revenge, a bomb exploding at the nearby presidential villa. The president was then shot and finally hacked to death with machetes.

“I spent the night hanging out of my hotel window watching the military avenge their leader, with rocket-propelled grenades going off everywhere,” he said. For his trouble, he developed cellulitis and almost lost his leg.

“It is a bit drug-like, journalism,” he once said. “Even in your seventies, I don’t think that instinct ever dies. But my wife worries all the time. She rails at me.”

Sandy Forsyth might now rail at him even more if, as expected, he reveals that for years he was also risking his life by spying for MI6.

WIKE’S RESPONSE TO RADIO BIAFRA

By Solomon Nmam Okocha

Since it appears that the present government in Rivers State is too engrossed in bitter politics to ensure the physical as well as the psychological security of Rivers people, the onus is now on well meaning citizens, to rise up against the circulation of false ideologies that have no bearing whatsoever with our dear state, and country at large.



businessman in the midst of ragtag misguided youths...with only one disused AK 47

It is insanity for anybody to stay in the comfort of a hotel room in London and draw up a stupid map that picturises the annexation of Rivers State, and her formidable ethnic nationalities to the defunct Biafra. It is not only an insult on the warrior spirit of the Rivers man, it is also an affront on our right to freedom of association as enshrined in the Supreme document of Nigeria. If it were just the caricature capture of our dear state on the social media et al, then maybe I would not have bothered myself in writing this piece; but these psychopaths have gone a step higher by transmitting hate messages and a call for war on Nigeria via a pirate station called Radio Biafra.

The most annoying part of this rebellious attack, is that they now have a conspicuous interest in the administration of Barr. Nyesom Wike. For a long while now, the infamous presenter of this rebel radio station has been inciting the people of Rivers State through hate speeches against Nigeria and a declaration of his unflinching support for the Nyesom Wike's led government in Rivers State.

 

In one of his recent broadcast, the self imposed rebel leader, Nnamdi Kalu or whatever his name is, made a statement that should receive the urgent attention of the Department of State Security (DSS), as well as other security agencies in Nigeria. The statement reads; "If we don't secure Wike, the Hausa/Fulani people will take over Igwuocha(Port Harcourt) through Peterside and Amaechi. We will do everything possible to protect Wike. The Tribunal cannot remove Wike. We will resist them. There are two governors I respect, they are Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Willie Obiano of Anambra State," he said.

Like every other patriotic Nigerian, I expect the Governor of Rivers State to set aside his penchant for sentiments and immediately distance himself and our dear state from this megalomaniac and his psychopathic war chants, in the same vein that the five governors of the South-Eastern States of Nigeria have done.

As the days go by, the good people of Rivers State will begin a critical examination of Governor Nyesom Wike's reaction to this unacceptable assault on our existence as an integral part of Nigeria.  

Solomon Okocha

Solomon Okocha writes in from Abuja, Nigeria.

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF APPLE

Delicious and crunchy, apple fruit is one of the most popular and favorite fruits among the health conscious, fitness lovers who firmly believe in the concept of “health is wealth.” This wonderful fruit is packed with rich phyto-nutrients that, in the true sense, indispensable for optimal health.

Certain antioxidants in apple have several health promoting and disease prevention properties, and thereby, truly justifying the adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Apples are obtained from medium-sized tree belonging to the Rosaceae family. The apple tree is thought to have originated in nutrient-rich mountain ranges of Kazakhstan. Today, it is being cultivated in many parts of the world including the US as an important commercial crop.

Apple fruit features oval or pear shape. Its outer peel comes in different hues and colors depending upon the cultivar type. Internally, its crispy, juicy pulp is off-white to cream in color, and has a mix of mild sweet and tart flavor. Its seeds are bitter in taste, and therefore, inedible.

Hundreds of varieties of apples that are meant to be used either as table fruits or dessert and cooking apples grown inside the US and worldwide. Cooking apples tend to be larger in size, crispier, and tarter than dessert types.

Health benefits of apple

Delicious and crunchy apple fruit is notable for its impressive list of phtyto-nutrients, and anti-oxidants. Studies suggest that its components are essential for optimal growth, development, and overall wellness.

Apples are low in calories; 100 g of fresh fruit slices provide just 50 calories. They, however, contain no saturated fats or cholesterol. Nonetheless, the fruit is rich in dietary fiber, which helps prevent absorption of dietary-LDL or bad cholesterol in the gut. The fiber also saves the colon mucous membrane from exposure to toxic substances by binding to cancer-causing chemicals inside the colon.

Apples are rich in antioxidant phyto-nutrients flavonoids and polyphenolics. The total measured anti-oxidant strength (ORAC value) of 100 g apple fruit is 5900 TE. Some of the important flavonoids in apples are quercetin, epicatechin, and procyanidin B2. Additionally, they are also good in tartaric acid that gives tart flavor to them. Altogether, these compounds help the body protect from deleterious effects of free radicals.

Apple fruit contains good quantities of vitamin-C and beta-carotene. Vitamin C is a powerful natural antioxidant. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the body.

Further, apple fruit is a good source of B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin, thiamin, and pyridoxine (vitamin B-6). Together, these vitamins help as co-factors for enzymes in metabolism as well as in various synthetic functions inside the human body.

Apples also carry a small amount of minerals like potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure; thus, counters the bad influences of sodium.

Selection and Storage

Fresh apples can be readily available in the stores all around the season. Choose fresh, bright, firm textured apples with rich flavor. Avoid fruits with pressure marks over their surface as they indicate underlying mottled pulp.

Fresh apples can be kept at room temperature for few days and stored inside the refrigerator for upto two to three weeks. Wash them in clean running cold water before use.

Preparation and Serving tips

Wash apples thoroughly in the running water to remove any surface dust, insecticide/fungicide sprays. Trim off its top end using a paring knife, and cut the fruit into two equal halves. Take out tiny, centrally placed, bitter seeds. Slice the fruit into desirable cubes or slices.

Here are some serving tips:

Eat apple fruit "as it is" along with its peel in order to get maximum health-benefits.

Sliced apple turns brown (enzymatic brownish discoloration) on exposure to air due to conversion in iron form from ferrous oxide to ferric oxide. If you have to serve them sliced, rinse slices in water added with few drops of fresh lemon.

Cloudy as well as clear apple juice is a healthy alternative drink with dinner.

Apple fruit is also used in the preparation of fruit jam, pie, and fruit salads.

Safety profile

Good yield demands close attention and supervision of apple fruit crop. According to the environmental-working group reports, apple fruit is one of the heavily pesticide-contaminated produce. The most common pesticides found on apple are organo-phosphorous and organo-chloride pesticides like Permethrin and DDT. Therefore, it is recommended to wash the fruit thoroughly before use. If possible, use organic certified apples.

Gov. Wike in hot soup as FG probes 28 Ministries’ N4trn debts under GEJ .

..Education Ministry tops with N1.2 trillion

The All Progressives Congress, APC, Rivers State Chapter is congratulating the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari [GCON] for ordering the comprehensive probe of the N4trillion debt by 28 Ministries and their departments and agencies handed over by the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

We are deeply sad and embarrassed that the highest culprit among the 28 Federal Ministries was the one headed by a Rivers son, Barr. Nyesom Wike as Minister of State and later as substantive Minister.

Out of the total sum of N4 trillion debts accumulated largely through unconscionable and reckless contract awards and graft, the Federal Ministry of Education under Nyesom Wike came out tops with a total debt of N1.2 trillion or 30 percent of the total indebtedness by the 28 Ministries.

For the APC, judgment time has come for the former Minister now Governor of Rivers State given that a number of sordid things were perpetrated in the Ministry while under his watch.

The then Minister of Education, Barr. Nyesom Wike got audit queries in his Ministry for 3 years which he blatantly refused to respond to. And each time he was reported to the then President Jonthan, the President did nothing but rather shielded him from responding to queries in line with civil service rules.

At some point, the matter was reported to the National Assembly Committees on Public Accounts who invited the then Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike for clarifications. Again, he blatantly refused to comply with the invitations with the active protection of former President Jonathan.

The APC recalls that sometime ago, a mysterious fire broke out at the Federal Ministry of Education Headquarters, Abuja in what was allegedly a deliberate arson to destroy vital evidence on corruption in the Ministry with fingers pointing at some highly placed persons.

The APC has earlier drawn attention to an allegation that N20bn was released for the purchase of books for Federal Government institutions, adding that such books were never provided. We also drew attention to the Almajiri School Scheme, the Universal Basic Education, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and the N87bn approved for the ministry but not utilised. Another is the N180bn UBEC funds allegedly looted by Chief Wike and Dame Patience Jonathan, through fraudulent contracts for the supply of textbooks to higher institutions but the textbooks were never supplied.

When the special task force to conduct the probe of the Ministries is raised by the Federal Government, The APC would like it to be meticulous with its assignment especially with the Federal Ministry of Education that was headed by an artful dodger and master of underhand deal-making.

Chief (Dr.) Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, JP
State Publicity Secretary
Friday, July 31, 2015

PROBE: EFCC GOES AFTER EX-ENUGU STATE GOV, CHIME

FORMER Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, is next on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as it has begun investigation of alleged financial impropriety levelled against his administration.

Sullivan Chime
former Governor, Enugu State

A reliable source at the commission, who craved anonymity, told Enigma Reports on Thursday that the anti-graft agency was responding to several petitions written to it by some indigenes of Enugu State over the financial dealings of the Chime-led administration for eight years.

 

One of the petitioners is a onetime Commissioner for Youth and Sports in the State as well as National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barr. Ray Nnaji.

 

The source at the EFCC said arrangements are being made to bring in the ex-Governor questioning, disclosing that already his former Chief of Staff, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, was recently invited by the agency for interrogation.



Ifeoma Nwobodo
former Chief of Staff to Chime

EX-NIMASA BOSS, AKPOBOLOKEMI IN EFCC NET

The gale of arrests as part of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination to probe the administration of his predecessor, former President Goodluck Jonathan caught up with the immediate past Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi, today.

Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi
former Director General, NIMASA

He was picked up by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Lagos this morning and is currently being detained at the Lagos office of the commission in Ikoyi. This is coming exactly two weeks after he was fired from his post.

A source in NIMASA revealed that “he was taken in this morning around 10am,” adding that “some of our other officials have also been summoned while EFCC operatives have been conducting discreet investigation here. There is tension everywhere. One of our people just returned from EFCC and he told me the former DG is still there, sweating profusely as he was being questioned by investigators.”

The source said the EFCC operatives who visited at NIMASA headquarters queried some curious multibillion naira transactions approved by Akpobolokemi, especially during the dying days of the last administration.

These include a whooping N13 billion allegedly spent on the acquisition of land for the permanent site of the Nigerian Maritime University in Delta State, and other transactions they believed were fraudulent, such as transfers of millions of dollars from NIMASA accounts to other accounts”.

Though spokesperson of the EFCC could not be reached for comments as he did not answer multiple calls as well as a text message to his telephone, an official in the prosecution unit of the EFCC in Lagos confirmed that Akpobolokemi’s arrest.

CONTROVERSY AS WIKE APPOINTS PDP LOYALIST ACTING VC, RSUST

Controversy has surrounded the appointment today of Professor Blessing Didia as the acting Vice Chancellor of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Nkpolu Oroworukwo. This is owing to the fact that DIdia is a card Carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party in the State.



Prof. Blessing Didia

Announcing the appointment in a statement he issued today, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Nyesom Wike, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, stated that the Governor, in exercise of his powers as Visitor to the university, approved Prof. Didia’s appointment as acting Vice -Chancellor of the University.

Wike also approved the appointment of Professor Boma Oruwari as acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University. Both appointments take effect after tomorrow, July 31, 2015, being the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent VC, Prof. Barineme Fakae as Vice Chancellor and are with effect from Friday, July 31, 2015.

However, many believe that appointing a member of the PDP to superintend over an academic institution like the RSUST runs against the ethics of corporate governance as he would be perceived to be biased against other staff of the institution who hold contrary political persuasions.  

RIVERS PDP IN DISARRAY AS GDI IMPLODES

The Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State seems to be falling apart with the resentment and anger boiling over the alleged hijacking by the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI) of the chairmanship and all other slots in the recently constituted caretaker committees across the 22 local government areas.  

Chieftains of the party are angry that even though every member of the party fought for the emergence of Nyesom Wike as Governor of the State, the GDi has practically hijacked the party structure in the State and all the goodies emanating after the elections.

Enigma Reports learnt from a very senior official of the party in the State, who prefers to be anonymous, that the 22 CTC Chairmen are the GDI LGA coordinators, noting that this decision didn’t go down well with stakeholders of the party as their choices were sidelined.

The GDI is the political group set up by Wike to actualize his gubernatorial ambition. However, political watchers believe it is the violent arm of the PDP in the State given the alleged role of its President General, Samuel Nwanosike, also known as “Ishi”, who doubles as the Assistant Publicity Secretary of PDP in the State. Allegations were rife of his alleged escapades with thugs who allegedly harass, intimidate and maim perceived political opponents.

This angst within the party is said to be responsible for the deteriorating security situation in the State. Already the crisis has claimed several lives. First, was the Secretary of the GDI in the State, Olala Osondu, who is also a PDP chieftain in Ahoada West LGArea. He was shot and killed by yet-to-be identified gunmen suspected to be assassins who were said to have trailed him to his house located off Ada-George in Port Harcourt around 12.30am on his way back from a meeting.

In Eleme local government area some weeks back, gunmen on a motorbike were said to have driven to the Eleme Ultra-Modern Market and shot sporadically into the crowd killing about six persons. In Bonny local government area, two rival cults, Icelanders and Greenlanders engaged themselves in reprisal attacks resulting in the death of about ten persons. Ahoada East also witnessed its own share of violence with a yet-to-be ascertained number of casualties. A man was beheaded in Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government.

Unconfirmed sources disclosed to Enigma Reports that many of these incidents involved GDI “boys” who are reportedly displacing their rivals in order to properly position themselves in the emerging equation in the party. These in-fighting is said to be sponsored by party leaders who are bent on asserting themselves in the political configuration in the State.

In Obio/Akpor local government area, where the Secretary General of the GDI, Bright Amaewhule is the CTC Chairman, it is alleged that so far all his appointments, approvals and other acts of patronage are skewed to favour only GDI members.

A PDP stalwart, who prefers not to be named, confided in Enigma Reports that “the CTC Chairman has been appointing only members of GDI while the real PDP members are left out in the scheme of things, pointing out that, for instance, the list submitted by Ward 7 in the LGA was rejected because it did not include GDI members. He said “the unfortunate situation at hand is that most PDP members are not members of GDI”.

To confirm this ugly development within the PDP is the recent protest by youth bodies in the PDP in Ahoada East LGA calling for the immediate sack of the CTC Chairman of the council. The youths, who protested from Hospital Road to the Council Secretariat in Ahoada, carried placards inscriptions such as “GDI is not a political party”, “We fought for this together”, “GDI can’t hijack these appointments”, among others, accused the CTC Chairman of bias in his appointments.

A reliable source in Government House, Port Harcourt, revealed to Enigma Reports that Governor Wike has not been able to appoint Commissioners into the various ministries in the State due to the inability of stakeholder sin the party to harmonise the various interests in the party due to the in-fighting between chieftains of the party and those of the GDI over who is to be given what appointment.