Crisis as two leaders emerge in Lagos NMA

Two factions have emerged from the annual election conducted by the Nigerian Medical Association, Lagos State chapter. The election, which took place at different venues, was supervised by different national officials of the association. A former President of the Lagos Medical Guild, Dr. Olumuyiwa Odusote, emerged as the Lagos NMA chairman- elect at the election held at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba while Dr. Olubunmi Owojowolo was declared the winner at the election that held at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba. Both parties who spoke to our correspondent on Sunday claimed that they had followed the NMA national constitution by announcing the planned venue of the election. Odusote, the chairman- elect of one of the factions, said the association was committed to reconciling members of the other faction under its umbrella. He said, “The national body of the association was invited into the matter through a petition that was written by four affiliates of the association. The national NMA then set up a two-man committee to investigate. They visited Lagos a week ago and each side presented its positions. “NMA then issued a directive that no election should hold in LUTH or LASUTH and we should look for a neutral venue for the election and we fulfilled this and other criteria for the election to hold.” According to Odusote, the association, over the years had been fragmented as private doctors were being sidelined in many activities carried out by the state NMA. Odusote said, “If we can harmonise the efforts of our private practitioners with that of the government to achieve a robust health sector that Lagos needs, that will be better and we are committed to ensuring that this happens. To achieve this, we need all hands on deck; and our goal is to ensure that we reconcile all practitioners of medicine in Lagos.” Also speaking at the swearing in of the newly- elected officers in LUTH, the other factional leader of the state NMA, Owojowolo, insisted that the association was not divided in the choice of its leadership. Owojowolo said, “We are all doctors united with the aim to provide quality healthcare delivery to the public in general. We will ensure, as officials of the association, to give the sector the best and to run the association according to the set out rules and regulations.”

I regret supporting Sheriff to become PDP chairman – Fayose

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, said he had learnt his lessons from his initial support for the embattled factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. Fayose said this when the ex-chairman of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, took his PDP national chairmanship campaign to Ekiti. He said, “I must tell you that I have learnt my lessons from my past experience. I will not openly identify or campaign for a candidate any longer. As part of our great party in Ekiti, I ‘m assuring you that I do not have a personal candidate and God knows I have not spoken to my people about any candidate. “We will allow God to choose for us this time by ensuring that all aspirants have a level-playing ground. “I have learnt my lessons on Ali Modu Sheriff and I take full responsibility for the consequences. Imagine, if we have allowed him to get there, with the way he is now behaving, it would have been worse than this.” Fayose, while expressing concerns about the crisis rocking the party, lamented that some people were merely paying lip service to reconciliation efforts in the PDP because of selfish interest. Dokpesi pleaded with the delegates to allow him to serve the party and return it to the winning ways. According to him, since the last general elections, the All Progressives Congress has not allowed the PDP leaders to rest, urging members of the party to stand and defend democracy in the country. Dokpesi also denied stepping down for a former National Vice-Chairman of the party, Chief Bode George. He stated, “Some people have alleged that I have surrendered for our elder in the party, Chief Bode George. Let me make it categorically clear that I was born and bred in Ibadan and I do understand and appreciate the Yoruba traditions so much and so I have respect for elders. “But there was no time that Chief Bode George and I met and discuss this issue and I did not in any way surrender the race to him. I have not stepped down for him in any way because this time we need fresh and younger blood that would have the physical and mental alertness for the job. “I have been touring 17 states of the federation for just about a week now and I’m still strong.” Meanwhile, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the PDP, Senator Walid Jibrin, has faulted insinuations that Sheriff was planted by some unseen forces to destroy the party. He said at Sherrif’s age, nobody could have planted him to destroy a party, which was built by great Nigerians, both living and dead. Jibrin, however, noted that God would not forgive anyone who wanted to destroy a party that governed Nigeria for 16 years. The BoT Chairman, who spoke to newsmen in Kaduna on Friday, said in spite of the Thursday’s ruling by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the August 17 National Convention of the PDP in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, would hold as planned. Jibrin, who expressed shock over the judgment, said preparations were in top gear to ensure a hitch-free convention. He noted that the judge had the right to give judgment while the party had the rights to appeal the judgment. SOURCE: PUNCH

Return schools to original owners, Ooni tells govt

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has called on the government to return schools to their original owners in order to ensure efficient management of the institutions and improve on the quality of education in the country. He said the sign that public schools, especially those established by missionaries, had lost their sparkle, was evident in the fact that none of those who graduated from those schools, wanted to send their children to those schools today. The Ooni believed the present state of the schools that were taken over by government in the mid-1970s had shown that government lacked the financial capacity to manage the schools and offer quality education. The call is coming at a time when the action by the Oyo State Government to involve private partnership in the management of 31 out of 631 public secondary schools in Oyo State, is generating crisis. Oba Ogunwusi, who spoke during the inauguration of a N1bn Development Fund for his alma mater, Loyola College, Ibadan, in Ibadan on Sunday, lamented the falling standard of education in the South-West, but commended missionaries for establishing the schools. Present at the event were the Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan Arch Diocese, Leke Abegunrin; political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi; Elejesi of Ijesi Ife, Oba Akintunde Awosule; Alayemore of Ido Osun, Oba Aderemi Adedapo, who accompanied Ooni on the visit; and other important dignitaries in education and other sectors. Oba Ogunwusi stated, “I appreciate all the discipline that we received as pupils of Loyola College. God will continue to bless the likes of Ven. Godwin Daramola, our retired principal. “I feel sad when I look at the school today and see its ruins. I visited the school shortly before I was enthroned as the Ooni. We should always strive to nurture our source; without the school, we will not be where we are today. “I will be one of the happiest men in the world on the day the missionary schools are returned to their owners. Today, we cannot send our children to those schools because the values have disappeared. Let us bring back these schools and make them the best again so that once again, we can send our children back there.” The Ooni, who listed his numerous prizes for the school, said there was hope in public schools system if the right management was put in place.

Dogara diverted FG water project to his farm –Jibrin

A former Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, has vowed to continue making fresh allegations against the four principal officers until they were prosecuted. In his latest question, which he numbered 21, Jibrin accused the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, allegedly “diverted” a Federal Government water project to his farm in Nasarawa State. “Allegation no 21 to Mr. Speaker: why did you fraudulently divert a Federal Government water project to your farm in Nasarawa State? How are you funding the farm?” he asked on his twitter handle. Jibrin, who called himself an “accidental activist,” boasted that his dream was to reform the entire National Assembly, starting with the House. He explained, “When a new speaker emerges and the other principal officers replaced, I will write to the presiding officers of both chambers to commence a radical internal reform in the entire National Assembly beyond budget to cover performance assessment, running cost and allowances, investigations, etc. “If the reform so done on the National Assembly is not made public latest by December, I shall take it up and lay before the general public even if I am alone. “The idea is to do a cleanup, flush out corruption and corrupt members so that in 2019, only corrupt-free people, who want to serve, will come in.” Jibrin had alleged on Thursday last week that the four principal officers requested the inclusion of N40bn projects in the 2016 budget, besides sundry projects in sums ranging from N20bn to N30. He claimed that his refusal to oblige the four principal officers and his opposition to several financial infractions, were responsible for his sacking by Dogara on Wednesday, last week. Asked to react to the allegation that the speaker diverted a Federal Government water project to his farm, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, said it served no purpose responding to Jibrin’s allegations any further. Namdas said the House had made enough reactions to his allegations and would wait till resumption on September 13. “We will wait till we resume on September 13. “We won’t reply him again as we made adequate responses,” he told The PUNCH. Meanwhile, members of the Gombe State Caucus of the House of Representatives on Thursday disassociated themselves from the allegations of “budget padding,” Jibrin made against Dogara, and three other principal officers. The other three are the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Yussuff Lasun ; the Chief Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; and the Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor. The caucus said the 2016 Appropriation Act was duly signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, and could no longer be described as padded. It noted that it was “criminal” and “illegal” for anybody to call an existing law a padded law. “Failure to even implement any part of the Act is an illegality. “Mr. President himself, who signed the Act, knows it. The only way anything can be dropped from that Act is by referral to the same National Assembly to make any changes”, one of the members of the caucus, Mr. Yunusa Ahmad-Abubakar, told a news conference in Abuja. Meanwhile, in his response to the Gombe lawmakers, Jibrin said they merely repeated the “lies” Dogara and the three others made his colleagues to believe. The former appropriation chairman, who advised them to read the text of his reply to Dogara, added that two members of the Gombe caucus were on the list he would forward to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for investigation. SOURCE: PUNCH

Clinton accepts nomination, slams Trump

Hillary Clinton on Thursday claimed her place in history as she became the first woman presidential nominee of a major US party, promising economic opportunity for all and rejecting Donald Trump’s dark picture of America. The former secretary of state, her hand on her heart, received ecstatic cheers from thousands of delegates as she strode into the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and then pledged to be a president for “all Americans.” The 68-year-old Clinton, needing to connect with voters in her biggest moment on the national stage, took aim at her Republican opponent, slamming him as a fear-monger with no policy credibility. Clinton repeated the convention’s theme of “stronger together,” declaring that her lifelong goal has been to ensure that Americans can use their talent and ambition to help make the nation stronger. “And so it is with humility, determination, and boundless confidence in America’s promise, that I accept your nomination for president of the United States,” she said. “Herstory,” read a handwritten sign held up by a delegate. Clinton’s moment in the spotlight came eight years later than she might have hoped — in her first White House campaign, she was defeated in 2008 in her party’s primary race by Barack Obama. In an hour-long primetime address, she laid out plans to improve the US economy, stressing that “my primary mission as president will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages.” Her efforts will focus particularly on places “that for too long have been left out and left behind, from our inner cities to our small towns, Indian Country to Coal Country,” she said. And in a bold admission for a candidate seeking in large part to build on Obama’s policies, she said the economy “is not yet working the way it should.” After a bruising primary campaign against self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, and even as she savaged and mocked Trump, Clinton extended an olive branch of sorts to her skeptics and critics. “I will carry all of your voices and stories with me to the White House,” she said, adding that her administration would incorporate several policies pushed by Sanders. “I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans, and independents,” she added. “For the struggling, the striving and the successful. For those who vote for me and those who don’t. For all Americans.” Throughout Clinton’s speech, pockets of revolt emerged, mainly Sanders supporters who shouted out in protest but were quickly drowned out by Clinton supporters chanting “Hillary! Hillary!” The four-day Democratic convention in Philadelphia has been a parade of party heavyweights — and some independents — who have all stressed that the former first lady and US senator is uniquely qualified to be commander-in-chief. Obama led the charge on Wednesday, stirringly hailing Clinton as his political heir — and tweeting after her Thursday speech that “she’s tested. She’s ready. She never quits.” Clinton spoke of the strains that have been placed on US society during the toxic year-long campaign that has featured heated rhetoric from Trump and other candidates. “Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying,” Clinton said. “We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against. But we are not afraid,” Clinton will add. “We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have.” Clinton also rejected much of the Trump rhetoric that has been a constant on the trail, and his policies that critics warn discriminate against some Americans and would make the country less safe. “He loses his cool at the slightest provocation,” Clinton said. “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.” The pair will face off in their first presidential debate in late September. Clinton faces a major trust deficit among a US public that has followed every Clintonian turn of the past quarter century. Rocked by an email scandal that refuses to die, she is now about as unpopular with voters as her Republican rival. Her remarks signal a plan to focus attention on down-and- out communities that have felt ignored by the slow and erratic economic recovery. After her speech, Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine will seek to carry her momentum straight onto the campaign trail Friday, taking a three-day bus tour into Rust Belt communities in swing states Pennsylvania and Ohio. Helping Clinton with her task of appearing as the steady hand at the tiller were retired US military generals, lawmakers and even Republicans furious over the rise of Trump. While Clinton must play to the party’s base — and seek to soothe bruised Bernie Sanders supporters — a key mission was to appeal to crossover voters and independents wary of Trump. In a moment designed to appeal to both gun control advocates and more conservative voters, Clinton forcefully said: “I’m not here to take away your guns.” “I just don’t want you to be shot by someone who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place.” But she spent considerable energy berating her November election rival, saying no Americans should trust a candidate who pledges that “I alone can fix it,” as Trump said last week in Cleveland. “Enough with the bigotry and bombast. Donald Trump’s not offering real change,” she said. as she suggested that the unprecedented ascent of her rival might be a unique moment in US history. “Here’s the sad truth. There is no other Donald Trump. This is it.” SOURCE: AFP

N4.7bn fraud: I transported poll funds for Obanikoro, says ex-aide

An officer of the Nigerian Navy, Lt.-Cdr Olumide Adewale,
has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
that he helped his former boss, Senator Musiliu
Obanikoro, to transport money, which was flown to Akure
and later handed over to Abiodun Agbele on the
instructions of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.
Adewale, who was the Aide-de-Camp to Obanikoro when
the latter was the Minister of State for Defence, said this
on Wednesday when he was grilled by detectives of the
EFCC.
According to the anti-graft agency, the money was part of
the N4.7bn that was paid into Obanikoro’s sons’ company
account, Sylvan McNamara, on the instructions of the
embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki (retd.).
Adewale, who was in charge of Obanikoro’s security for
about a year, told the EFCC that everything he did was
under the strict instructions of his boss.
He told investigators that on June 16, 2014, barely a week
to the Ekiti State governorship election, he, alongside
Obanikoro, departed the ex-minister’s Park View home in
Ikoyi, Lagos, and headed for the Murtala Muhammed
Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
The naval officer told detectives that on getting to the
airport, he met Obanikoro’s son, Gbolahan. He said
Gbolahan and the former minister had a brief meeting
after which a bullion van arrived at the private wing of the
airport.
Adewale told the EFCC operatives that Gbolahan then
directed some men at the airport to offload the money
from the bullion van and load it unto the aircraft.
The entire activity was said to have been captured on
CCTV.
A detective of the anti-graft agency quoted Adewale as
saying, “The flight was delayed for about an hour. Later, a
bullion van pulled into the hangar where the chartered
flight was. Shortly after, Gbolahan ensured that some bags
were offloaded unto the plane. I later boarded the flight
with Obanikoro and his friend, Dr. Tunde Oshinowo (a PDP
chieftain and a mutual friend of Obanikoro and Fayose).”
The EFCC detectives told one of our correspondents that
on getting to the Akure airport, Obanikoro was welcomed
by Mr. Abiodun Agbele, Fayose’s ally, who had since been
arrested by the commission.
Adewale confirmed that Obanikoro was welcomed at the
airport by a politician.
He told investigators that he did not know the name of the
person but could recognise the person.
The naval man was further quoted as saying, “On arrival at
Akure, the minister had a discussion with political friends.
A bullion van was driven to the tarmac. The bags were
offloaded unto the bullion van and the minister directed
that we escort the van to a Zenith Bank branch in Akure.
“On arrival, the bags were offloaded by bank workers
under the supervision of a civilian who had come to meet
the minister at the Akure airport. I don’t know the man
facially but I can recognise him.”
Meanwhile, Fayose has said the EFCC is on a wild goose
chase in Ekiti State.
The governor stated that the anti-corruption commission
had shifted attention to the finances of Ekiti State after
what he claimed to be the failure of the commission to link
him with the diversion of arms funds at the NSA’s office
under Dasuki.
Fayose, who spoke on Orange FM station in Akure, Ondo
State, on Thursday, said the EFCC had started harassing
banks in Ekiti State, seeking for records of government
finances, on allegations that the contractors gave him
(governor) kickbacks.
“They are on vendetta mission. They said I collected
money from Dasuki and I have told them that I did not
collect a dime from Dasuki. I have N300m in my fixed
deposit account in Zenith Bank and I declared it in my
Asset Declaration Form.
“I have challenged them to publish the statement made to
the EFCC by Dasuki where he said he gave Senator Musiliu
Obanikoro money to give me or where Obanikoro himself
said he gave me money.’’
Fayose called for proper restructuring of the country in
line with the report of the 2014 National Conference.
“Nigeria has not been properly structured and that’s why
we are facing all these problems. Remember it was those
in power now that clamoured for restructuring when they
were in opposition. Now that they have the federal powers
and they are using the powers to oppress the people, they
are against the restructuring of Nigeria,” he said.

Convoy attack: UN suspends aid to Borno

The United Nations has temporarily suspended aid deliveries in Borno State, after a humanitarian convoy was attacked, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said on Thursday. Reuters reported that UNICEF said in a statement that unknown assailants attacked the convoy on Thursday as it returned to Maiduguri from delivering aid in Bama, injuring a UNICEF employee and an International Organisation for Migration contractor. “The United Nations has temporarily suspended humanitarian assistance missions pending review of the security situation,” it said. Nearly a quarter of a million children in Borno suffer from life-threatening malnourishment and around one in five will die if they do not receive treatment, UNICEF said earlier this month. Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Wednesday that severely malnourished children were dying in large numbers in northeast Nigeria, where food supplies are close to running out. By 2014, Boko Haram controlled territory around the size of Belgium in North-East until most of it was recaptured last year by the Nigerian army and troops from neighbouring countries. More than 15,000 people have been killed and at least two million displaced by Boko Haram’s insurgency in the country. SOURCE : PUNCH

Hard times ahead for Nigerian economy, says Lemo

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Tunde Lemo, has said the country should expect a further shrinkage in economic activities this year. He said the impact of this projected shrinkage would be especially felt across the major sectors of the economy. He, therefore, advised the Federal Government to intensify efforts towards diversifying the economy.

A statement made available to our correspondent on Thursday quoted Lemo as saying this at the 61st Annual National Convention of the Foursquare Gospel Church.

The event, which held at the Foursquare National Headquarters in Lagos, had as its theme, ‘The Nigerian Economy: The past, present and the future’. Lemo, according to the statement, said it was regrettable that despite the progress made by the country on the political front, available indices “have unveiled the painful lop-sidedness of Nigeria’s economic prosperity.” He was quoted as saying, “Nigeria economic activities are expected to shrink by 1.8 per cent in 2016 in a bid to adjust to foreign currency shortages as a result of lower oil receipts, low power generation and weak investors’ confidence.

These will affect the major sectors of the economy. “We need to key into ways to reform the economy and drive toward diversification.” The ex-CBN deputy governor noted that the country’s Gross Domestic Product had contracted by -0.36 per cent in the first quarter of this year, which he said was “a likely indication that the economy would record another negative growth in the second quarter.” “The country has been badly hit by unemployment rate at 12.1 per cent with exports dropping by 34.6 per cent, while imports declined by 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2016,” Lemo observed. He said Nigerians needed to demand from the President Muhammadu Buhari administration an urgent diversification of the economy. Lemo explained, “The present administration advocated for anti-corruption and economic reform during the past election, but it has not succeeded in proving to Nigerians and the world its capacity to bring about economic reformation. Its major headache lies in how to rejig the Nigerian economy and set it back on a growth trajectory. “We have to insist on economic reform and diversification to revamp the economy, because it can help to deliver inclusive growth in the system,” Lemo called. He declared that Nigeria had slid into an economic recession, pointing out that a country would be in a recession when it records two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by its GDP. “The country is economic is in recession. What we need now is massive fiscal policy to help revive the economy. Government has to pump more money into the economy and not just on capital projects,” Lemo said. Also speaking at the event, the General Overseer, Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Rev. Felix Meduoye, said the theme was relevant to the realities of the situation in the country, noting that the public lecture was a build- up to the church’s 61st convention, which will hold between November 14 and 20 this year at its campground near Ajebo in Ogun State. The event was chaired by a former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Great Britain, Dr. Christopher Kolade.

Late Bukky Ajayi, an iconic thespian, says Lai Mohammed

                                                        Late Bukky Ajayi




The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has described Bukola Ajayi who died on Wednesday as an “iconic thespian”.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Minister said Ajayi was a “colossus of her time who has left an indelible footprint in the country’s creative landscape”.
The statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Minister, Mr Segun Adeyemi, was made available to newsmen in Abuja
In the statement, the minister said that in spite of Ajayi’s old age, he still received the news of the death of the veteran actress and broadcaster with shock, sense of sadness and great loss.He described the late stage and screen actress as a multi-talented creative person.
The minister recalled that Ajayi started off her career as a television presenter and news reader before taking to acting, where she excelled.
”Her journey in the Nigerian creative industry spans decades of amazing performances in classic productions
“Among the productions are the unforgettable Village Headmaster and a number of critically acclaimed stage and screen productions like ThunderBolt, Oduduwa, Women’s Cot, Mother of George and The Sisters.
”Her name will be etched in the mind of her colleagues and fans in Nollywood because of the memories she gave all of us to cherish.
“There is no doubt that she will forever be an inspiration to generations of people in the creative industry.”
The minister prayed for the repose of the soul of the deceased and succour for those she left behind.

Policeman killed in Bangladesh Eid prayer attack

At least one policeman was killed and five others wounded on Thursday following an explosion and a gunbattle near a mass prayer gathering to celebrate Eid in northern Bangladesh, police said.
Only days after 20 hostages were murdered by suspected Islamists in Dhaka, police and local media reported a new attack by jihadists near a prayer ground where at least 200,000 people were marking the end of Ramadan in the northern Kishoreganj district.
“One police constable is dead and at least five others were injured,” Mahbub, a police officer in the district control room, told AFP, without giving details of how the policeman had died.
The private Somoy TV station broadcast footage of a gunfight between police and a group of attackers and reported the policeman had been hacked to death.