Enugu residents who waited anxiously Thursday for the return of Governor Sullivan Chime were disappointed as he failed to return to the State.

Also, journalists and government loyalists who had kept vigil at the Enugu International Airport left disappointed after waiting till 6 p.m in vain.

An airport source who spoke under anonymity said no other flight was being expected for the day.

Earlier in the day, it was celebration galore at many parts of the state, especially at Udi, hometown of the Governor.

However, both the Save Enugu Group, SEG, and the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, have issued statements thanking God for the Governor’s return.

The SEG said it was happy that Chime finally returned to the country after it issued ultimatum. The group said it was still demanding apology from government over the manner Chime’s absence was handled.

Chime reportedly arrived Abuja on Thursday morning after spending more than four months abroad.

 

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has lambasted governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha for participating in the merger talks that produced the All Progressives Congress (APC), it described his involvement in the alliance as ‘ridiculous and unfortunate’.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Friday, the party said Governor Okorocha acted alone because “APGA is not in the merger. We were never consulted by anybody before such statement of our involvement was issued.”

A member of APGA’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and former Minister of Health, Dr. Tim Menakaya, while addressing the media, said, “The merger of political parties, where the parties are expected to lose their identities, cannot be an ad-hoc arrangement or decision of one person,” adding, “We have nothing against the formation of any mega opposition party.”

Menekaya said that the decision to initiate such a discussion was vested in the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the merging parties “and shall be ratified by their national conventions and communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through a letter jointly signed by the national chairman, national secretary and the national treasurer of each of the merging parties.”

“The issue of merger with other political parties is not on the agenda of APGA for now. Our concern at the moment is to restructure, nurture and build a strong party capable of winning elections across the states of Nigeria.”

While calling on all party members and the general public to disregard the misleading inclusion, the party chieftain said: “of our party in the ongoing merger talks of opposition parties. It is not on the agenda of the party for now.”

Okorocha, who was elected on the platform of APGA, was at the 10 opposition governors’ who met in Lagos Tuesday to form the APC.

 

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) had declared on Tuesday that it would confer Citizens Responsibility Recognition (CRR) award on Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada for his preference of local treatment after he sustained a thigh fracture in a fatal accident last month.

Wada’s decision is a total contrast of the decisions of other leaders who were involved in a similar accident.

In a statement signed by NOA Director-General, Mike Omeri, the agency said the award was in line with the agency’s campaign to encourage Nigerians to patronise the country’s local health facilities.

Omeri appealed to all Nigerians to imbibe the culture of receiving treatments locally.

He noted that Wada’s action, which is worthy of emulation, was a vote of confidence on the capability of the country’s medical sector.

“We are delighted by your action, which will encourage more Nigerians to patronise our local health facilities.”

“l urge Nigerians to pray for the governor’s quick recovery after his surgery.”

The D-G also sympathized with the families of those who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate accident.

 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has opposed the request by former Gombe State governor, Danjuma Goje to transfer his trial for conspiracy and money laundering from the Federal High Court Gombe to Abuja. Goje and five others (Aliyu El-Nafaty, Sambo Tumu, S.M. Dokoro and S.M. Dokoro Gombe) are standing trial before Justice Babatunde O. Quadri. At today sitting, the defence team led by Chris Uche, SAN drew the court’s attention to the letter written to the Chief Justice of the Federation for change of venue and transfer of the case from the present court in Gombe to Abuja or any other jurisdiction outside Gombe state for security reasons. He urged the court to suspend proceedings while awaiting the directive from the CJN, before hearing of the pending application. But prosecution Counsel, Wahab Shittu objected, saying the court can continue with the matter pending any response from the CJN.

Justice Quadri upheld the prosecution’s argument and urged both counsel to consider the stress of coming from outside Gombe and seize the opportunity of time.

Arguing his motion for transfer before the court, Chris Uche, SAN quoted sections of the Federal High Court Act 2004 and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to support his motion. He predicated his request on the grounds that the matter is a high profile one and that the security situation in the North East zone with regularly reported incidents of killings, kidnappings, bomb blasts and assassinations underline the need to protect the lives of the accused persons and their lawyers.

In his response, Shittu, called the court’s attention to the fact that in all the proceedings prior to the application, there had been no incident in court to warrant the request for transfer. According to Wahab, “this application lacks merit and only determined to delay the wheel of justice and your lordship is entitled to resist it”. He further queried the intention of the defence: “What is the application saying, that your lordship should transfer this case to Abuja? The presumption is that Abuja is safe to hear this case. Do we believe them? Or is the applicant saying that the case should be transferred to the Villa since they deposed in paragraph 13 of their affidavit that the last Independence Day was moved out of its traditional place – the Eagle Square -to the villa for security reasons?”

Shittu urged the court to throw out the application as acceding to it would be tantamount to setting a precedence which may encourage other persons with cases before the court to seek transfer of their cases to choice places.

Justice Quadri has fixed ruling on the matter for today, January 23, 2013.

 


Governor of Yobe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, had assured the people of the volatile Yobe state that the Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed many lives and property in 2011 and 2012 will become history.

He said it would end like the Maitatsine of 1980’s in Kano and Maiduguri and the Nigerian Civil War that lasted for three years.

According him, with the fizzling out of Boko Haram insurgency in Yobe State, business activities have been restored through prayers in Mosques by the Muslim communities, as well as the support and commitments of the Joint Task Force (JTF).

Gaidam who made the assertion at the swearing–in of local government chairmen in Government House, Damaturu, the state capital, noted that the Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges in the state had made it difficult to conduct elections by the Yobe State Independent Electoral Commission (YOSIEC).

He added that as the Boko Haram insurgency persists in the state, YOSIEC has commenced preparations for the conduct of elections into the 17 councils by May/June 2013.

He said that with the Joint Task Force (JTF) and Police’s support and commitments in protecting people’s lives and property in the state, residents are returning to their respective houses and communities to continue with their daily businesses and other social activities in Damaturu, the state capital as well Potiskum, Gashua, Gujba and Geidam that were affected by the insurgency since November 14, 2011.