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.

 

Victor Umeh, who was removed Friday as the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has reacted to the judgement, saying he saw it coming.
Umeh was sacked alongside other members of the National Executive Council, NEC, of the party by an Enugu High Court presided over by Justice Innocent Umezulike, Chief Judge of Enugu State.
The court voided the congress which produced Umeh and other national officers of the party in 2011.
Reacting to the judgment, Umeh declared his intention to appeal the verdict, which he said did not come to him as a surprise.
“This conclusion he reached is one he actually reached before he commenced trial in this matter. Going by the orders he made it is very clear that he is confused in his judgment. He voided the convention of APGA that held on February 10, 2011 and sacked the entire executive elected with me because the election was declared a nullity.
“And he turned around to make an order that the NEC of APGA is bound to meet to elect national officers of the party; it shows that he did not read the constitution of APGA. First of all of you remove the entire NEC; he has practically left the party without any leadership; so who is going to convene the meeting that will elect officers of the party.
“There was a prayer in the originating summons which he avoided and went into rhetoric’s; the plaintiff asked for an order that congresses shall commence from the wards, local governments, state and to national convention to elect officers of the party; he did not make any pronouncements on that prayer knowing that there is no way he can validly make such order.
“Also, the national convention which he voided elected 29 national committee members of APGA; the plaintiff sued only me, who was elected national chairman; if he was challenging my election through that convention he was bound to join all those elected by the convention but he didn’t do so; that is why we have said that the suit before him was incompetent; necessary parties were not joined.
“So the orders he made cannot be sustained on appeal; it clearly shows that he is desperately on a manhunt for the national chairman of APGA without thinking of the damage his pronouncements against me will do to the party. We have no confidence in the judgment and we are not moved; we knew that was what he was going to say; in-fact for two weeks now, exactly all he read out were the orders the people at Government House Awka were telling people he was going to make”, he noted.
Continuing, Umeh who had on the course of this matter petitioned the National Judicial Commission, accusing the judge of bias said: “we are very happy to be out of his court; he has finished his business on this matter and the consolation is that there are two higher courts, the Appeal and the Supreme Court; until these courts adjudicate on this matter there is nobody who will step in as chairman of APGA. So nothing has been lost.
“At a point when he started mishandling this matter I petitioned to the National Judicial Council (NJC) who in turn queried him; he replied to the query on November 7, 2012; the CJN sent to me his reply and asked me to make further reaction; and I will tell you that we have comprehensively reviewed his reply; he completely evaded all the allegations against him.
“Remember that we even asked him to re-assign the case and also filed a motion for him to disqualify himself from the matter based on bias; he refused to say things about his actions in the judgment today; why he did not disqualify himself or re-assign the matter. So I don’t see how the matter has closed; the important thing to me is that we are out of Umezuluike’s court.
“So I will go on appeal; put a stay on the execution of this judgment until the court of appeal reviews it; I also have right of further appeal to the Supreme Court. So the sponsors of this have nothing to celebrate. I urge my members to remain calm.”
“By sacking the National Working Committee of APGA that was elected at the National Convention of 10th February 2011 which the court declared null and void, Justice Umezulike has completely decapitated APGA and left it without a leadership. This is like removing the head of a trailer and the body of the trailer can no longer move.
“By this his judgement, there is no organ of the party left to execute the orders he made, therefore the orders are in vain. Nobody including Governor Peter Obi, the sponsor of this suit can derive any benefit from the judgment until the matter is determined at the two levels of appeal available (Court of Appeal and Supreme Court).
“Umezulike’s mishandling of this case is still being handled by the National Judicial Council which forwarded to me Umezulike’s reply to my petition last month for my further reaction, which I submitted to the Chairman of NJC on February 5, 2011″.

‪The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it was not worried about flood, which wrecked havoc in the state during the 2012 rainy season, stating that it had invested money in constructing drainage channels and canals.
It also expressed optimism that no serious case of flooding would be recorded in the state this year.

The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said this during an inspection of ongoing drainage projects as part of the state’s preparedness for the 2013 rainy season.
Places visited are Ekoro, Ajasa, Ipaja, Orile and Arigbanla roads. The commissioner also visited Owo Street, Isale Oja Capitol Road Collector, Guiness-Idi-Mangoro Collector Drain and Elere Drain on Alfa Nla Road.

Bello assured that most of projects would be completed before the rain started.

He said, “In the places where work will still be on during the rains, we have designed a system whereby construction will still be going on, while water will also be allowed to flow to avoid flooding.“The construction, rehabilitation and the clearing of drains and canals were to combat flooding in Lagos and the government is assuring Lagosians that soon this state will be free of flooding.“All the places visited are in our 2013 budget and as you can see, work has commenced in some of them. In the few places that we did not see contractors, we are confident that they will soon appear.”

The commissioner, who also spoke with residents of the places visited, assured them of government’s commitment in making Lagos a-flood free state.

The Director, Construction, Drainage and Dredging, Mr. Dayo Erinle, explained that many of the drainage channels in the state interlinked and were constructed to move water into the ocean.

He said the contractors had been directed to complete the projects before the rains.At Odo-Iya Alaro in Ilo-Awela Channel, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Muyideen Akinsanya, said though the stream fell within the jurisdiction of both Lagos and Ogun state governments, the Lagos government decided to dredge it to make life comfortable for residents of both states.

 

FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, has called for teams whose fans racially abuse players, to be relegated as punishment.

The issue of racism in football, has come to the frontburner again, since AC Milan’s midfielder, Kevin-Prince Boateng, walked off thee pitch in a friendly against Pro Patria.

Blatter praises Boateng for his decision, but called for points deduction and relegation, as consequences for clubs that cannot controlo the behaviour of their fans.

“I agree with and support the movement of Boateng – as I have said – as it was a strong warning. It is now up to us to take the adequate steps,” he told Fifa.com.

“What I feel we should do is give instructions to our national associations and the confederations – specifically to the disciplinary committees – to be very strong. It is not enough to give a fine. Playing a game without spectators is one of the possible sanctions, but the best would be the deduction of points and the relegation of a team, because finally the club is responsible for their spectators.

“It [racism] is a phenomena where football is a victim of our society. Discrimination and racism is everywhere in our society. We in football cannot be made responsible for what happens in our society. But nowhere in the world – regarding all the problems you can have in your private life, in business, in politics – can you solve a problem by running away.”

 

First lady of Lagos state, Mrs Abimbola Fashola, ace music producer JMartins, Highlife music star, Sunny Nneji and a few others have been listed among those that would be honoured as Peace Ambassadors by the United Nations on the January 20.

This was disclosed in a statement released Friday by the Universal Peace Federation and Youth Federation for World Peace.
Other Celebrities on the list include: Nollywood actress, HalimaAbubakar, Zaaki Azzay, Osuji Emelda Ahunna( MadamModesty), Dr. Sunny Obazu Ojeagbase Publisher Success Digest/Complete Sport), Publisher of CityPeople Magazine, Seyi Kehinde and Stanley Okoronkwo.
According to the statement: “This event will unfold in 3different categories; Lecture,Awards & Gala Nite in Lagos State and the theme for this year’sevent is Quest for Sustainable Peace In Nigeria. It will hold at 7, Olufunmilola Okikiolu Street, OffToyin Street, Ikeja – Lagos.”

Reports say there was a heavy gun duel between the Nigerian Army officers and suspected armed robbers wearing military camouflage in Okene, Kogi State today.

An Eyewitness who sustained various degrees of injuries said the incident happened between 3am and 12pm.

As at the time of filing this report, a convoy of the Operation Rapid Response Squad and the NPF ambulance were seen conveying the corpses of the dead victims and those injured to the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.

It was gathered the Nigerian Army and men of the JTF had since cordoned off the hospital.

The eyewitness, who wouldn’t want his name mentioned said the residents of Awoniyi in Osara, the area where one of the Nigerian Army officers was killed did not help the situation.

“Okene will be blood-red”, one of the security officers said, as the robbers are suspected to be natives of Okene.

Details later..