Oritsejafor not as close to Jonathan as many people think – Helen, wife

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Orits" class="alignright wp-image-471781 size-full" height="400" src="http://dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Orits.gif" width="381" />Another Jubilee Word Festival is around the corner. What shape will this year’s event look like? With eminent speakers like Rev. Felix Omobude, Bishop Mike Okonkwo, Pastor Philip Thomas, Bishop John Francis (UK), Pastor Jonathan Miller (USA), and Bishop Wayne Malcolm (UK), this year’s event, billed for November 9-16, is loaded.</div><a name="more"></a> We also have guest artistes like Frank Edwards (Nigeria), Lara Geaorge (Nigeria), VaShawn Mitchell (USA) and SONNIE BADU (UK) who will be ministering alongside our Milk and Honey Choir. OritsTheme of this year’s programme holding at the Word of Life Bible Church, Ajamimogha, Warri is; ‘Talitha Cumi Arise 2015’. It’s really going to be awesome. At every Jubilee we always have a segment that excites delegates from all parts of the country and several nations of the world: last year for instance, we decided to reach out to the blind in the society. We bought a bus and provided a lot of aids to them. I’m not going to give you what is happening this Jubilee. Every time Jubilee is around the corner, I know it is another forum whereby God is going to use it to elevate certain people by the special grace of God. Your husband, the CAN president, has received a lot of bashing lately. How do you react? For us southerners, we might not really appreciate what Papa Ayo Oritsejafor is doing and the role he is playing in Christianity in Nigeria because we are not directly affected by the activities of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. Christians in the North are the ones experiencing it, they are the ones losing fathers and mothers, children; being dislocated. They are the ones who see people’s throats being cut off as chickens; their houses being burnt by petrol bombs and their young ones both boys and girls being abducted on daily basis. They value him so much. They know that whatever he is going through today is because of them. It was actually them who came to persuade him to run for CAN presidency. The first time they came, he used wisdom for them and said he would think about it. They came back again and kept coming because they know who he is. He is a good man. If there is anything I know my husband to be is that he is a good man to a fault, and sometimes I really feel for him. Unfortunately, the society of nowadays does not value a man like this especially those of us in the South. He is much respected in the North. How did the news of his jet’s involvement in the $9.3m money for arms saga hit you? I was really surprised. I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know our plane was out of the country because we leased it out to a company in Abuja so that we will be able to utilize whatever comes out of the deal for the maintenance of the plane because it is quite expensive. So we didn’t know. We read and heard comments some people made concerning it, unknown to us that our plane was actually involved. We were really surprised just like many other people. In all honesty, by the time we got to know that it was Papa’s plane, we knew that enemies were trying to play some prank. It is natural because he is a symbol of Christianity in Nigeria. If anyone wants to move against Christianity in Nigeria, it would be easier for the one to go after the symbol. The only thing is I wasn’t expecting people to get really dirty as they did. The whole episode appeared as if somebody was out for some sinister joke… It’s quite obvious. Take for instance, why was it that it was Papa’s plane that would be hired? How would it be that it would be his plane of all planes in Nigeria that they needed for that mission? It’s still very baffling. Number two, it became obvious that it was orchestrated and the whole essence of it is to see how they can give him a name God has not given to him, and all because he has been a very outspoken man. I know him too well, he is a very down to earth person, and he doesn’t know how to hide his feelings. He is a very quiet and reserved person. But then when there is a need for him to speak about anything, he would rather confront things the way they are rather than to hide behind his fingers. That is not him. I know quite a number of people have been very uncomfortable with that especially with the Boko Haram situation. Let’s be frank, who would not be affected? You are leading a body and gradually, there seems to be an elimination of this same group of people. You would be a wicked leader not to react. I wouldn’t even call you one not to have reacted towards what was really going on in Nigeria and is still going on by the way. So he made every effort. He noticed that our government wasn’t really upcoming with a lot of things; we seem to try to politicize a lot of things in Nigeria which is quite troubling. He went out of his way to go address the US Congress. It was quite obvious that terrorism was being financed not just from within but from outside as well, whether to destabilize or in a way, indirectly force on Nigeria a particular religion which is quite shameful. And he was not comfortable with that. If you would know, this was injustice. So he is now paying the price for being an outspoken man, defending his people, defending Christianity in Nigeria, and do not want Nigerians having to hide their heads later on in life because whichever way we look at it, history will tell. Why do you think that some people would politicise a purely security issue like that? Well it’s natural. Number one, it is the perception. By the special grace of God, a man who has lived a life that is worthy of note, a man with an integrity that is without blemish, who will never compromise his stand whichever way it is; automatically, that man has added so much value to Christianity and of course the umbrella of Christianity in Nigeria which is Christian Association of Nigeria. So a personality like Papa Ayo Oritsejafor, is a threat to anyone who sees him as one because they believe he has a voice, he has a clout, coupled with the fact that the present president of Nigeria happens to be a Christian who is also from the South-South. So they believe that this man is definitely going to support his brother, he would want him to come back being a Christian as well. Without having to say too much, if I could say this, it is quite shameful. At a point, I was going to actually call some of the wives of these so-called people who were going outside saying a lot of things about my husband, having to engage them as well and see how it looks like, telling them to come out and look at the issue, how would they feel, how would people condescend so low? A lot of things I read in the newspapers, sometimes they amuse me, sometimes I’m a little bit surprised. But when people begin to fabricate stories and they are doing everything in their power to hang a man. It’s quite surprising to me because I would think that what we should be talking about should be the dividends of democracy. We don’t even have what they call political surgery. In developed countries, they have surgery where there’s what we call town house where it is expected at the local government level, state level and at whatever level, where people would be able to ask certain questions to the leadership, and challenge them on how they are piloting the affairs of the nation. With what I have seen, Nigeria is yet to get to that level and that is why we look for every necessary means to pull down people instead of fixing the issues on ground. At least now we all know that it is the National Security Adviser who hired that plane out, who happens to be a relation of the Defence minister and who happens to be an in-law to the Sultan of Sokoto. I had a lot of respect for the Sultan of Sokoto. Before this issue of Boko Haram and so on, himself and my husband used to be very close. I could remember every now and then when he wanted to talk to my husband; he would often ask how is mama? If there were issues in the newspapers and all that, he would call in to find out things and so on and so forth. I so much cherished his relationship with my husband. But I’m a little bit surprised because no matter how it is, you know your friend. We must not allow bigotry to take away our innocence, our integrity, our corner in the name of what we are trying to get. We must not allow that to happen. We must always remember posterity because one way or the other, posterity will always judge. And we must not throw caution to the wind because of whatever we are trying to achieve. We must also remember that Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor is a husband of a woman who has children as well; regardless of whatever we are trying to do. This is a man that I know, and some Nigerians also know that this is a man who is so loving and caring. If there’s anything this man can do to alleviate the downtrodden ones in the society, he would do. He’s done many. Many times over and over again, he goes out of his way to buy brand new cars, tricycles, grinding machines and so on to alleviate poverty in this country. He is a person who decided to start a micro finance bank, not necessarily to make money, but to see how he can help lift someone’s head up; in bridging gap between the poor and the rich. He believes the poor in our midst deserves every right to be somebody in life. This is a man who has sent thousands of people to universities through his Indigent Scholarship Scheme that he has in place over the years. This is a man who actively participated in the peace initiative of Delta State that we are enjoying today. As a matter of fact, but for a man such as this, I do not think that Delta State would have been what it is today. There was nothing he didn’t do. He went out of his way to the creeks to speak to the militants, confronted situations headlong just to make sure he brings about peace. What some people don’t know is that we love the Muslims. We do not have anything against Muslims. A lot of people are sending wrong signals to a lot of people, particularly Muslims, thinking that Pastor Ayo is an enemy of Muslims. It is totally untrue. There is no iota of truth in it. He has a lot of them as friends. Papa Ayo’s relationship with Sultan of Sokoto is still strong as ever. When Islamic fundamentalists were killing his Christian brothers and sisters in the North, he was forced to urge their leaders to speak against the killings. Let us find solution to this, you have a right to practice your religion, I have equal right as well to do same and we must not be at each other’s throats; and somebody being at the receiving end and having to keep quiet, I must speak out because I am the leader. That’s who we are talking about here. When the Niger Delta crisis was so heavy, a lot of Warri were closed down. They took off when the gunshots and so on were such a very messy situation. But he stood his ground. We have all kinds of tribes in Word of Life Bible Church today; there are people from the North, people from all parts of Delta State even at the time of the crisis. During the crisis, the church was functioning normally because he has always been a detribalized man. He is man that deals with people based on who they are, not according to tribe or religion. He engages people based on who they are. He went out of his way to spend tens of million for internally displaced Ijaws at Ogbe Ijoh, shipping bags of rice, bags of clothes and all sorts of things just to bring succor. And naturally, many Itsekiris grumbled saying he did not extend the same gesture to them and he asked them if the Ijaws were not our people too? Whatever is happening, peace will definitely reign, we must not go back at each other. It was later he had to balance the whole thing so that they won’t think he’s one sided. When you look at all these, when you look at a man who can do anything just to make sure that another man is comfortable, why should any man, all because of his disposition towards his people, go after him in this manner? It’s amazing. What that goes to tell you is that they have looked for everything. And I’m so proud of him. I’m proud of my husband. They have looked for every avenue. We have heard of one or two people caught in some unholy alliance and so on, thank God my husband was not involved. They have done everything they could do to try and pull him down. What they finally did was to use a gift that was given to him; he didn’t use his money to buy it. Some people said President Jonathan bought it for him. I wish he did. I have the list of the names of people who masterminded this thing on our record. Hundreds and thousands of people, church folks who said this man served us with every vigor in him, we could see in him a great man and he’s not getting younger anymore. He is ever on the road constantly doing everything he can for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; let us try as much as possible in elongating his life by blessing him with this gift. He didn’t buy it or put down money to say this is what he wants. He didn’t even know anything about it. I was aware of it. What I would have loved for them to tell me is to show me the receipt of the plane that was bought by President Jonathan and the person who said he bought the plane. I have heard all sorts of lies that maybe somebody did it on behalf of somebody. There’s no human being that can stand up to say I bought this plane. It’s a complete lie from the pit of hell. Because of his person, realizing the fact that what should he do with this plane knowing the amount of money that it’s going to cost to maintain it; if he was using church money to maintain it, they would have cried out to say he is using church money. You can see how foolish people can be. If President Jonathan bought him a plane, can’t the same President Jonathan maintain the plane? Why must it be hired out so as to sustain the maintenance of the same plane if indeed it was the president that bought this plane? They politicize a lot of things. It’s really annoying. Is Pastor Ayo really that close to President Jonathan as his accusers allege? It is so amazing. I do not want to be rude or saucy so I’m trying as much as possible to hold my peace. Let me say this, I would love it if people can help me define that word ‘close’. Yes there’s a relationship that has to do with being in his position as the President of CAN and President Jonathan as the President of Nigeria. Automatically, whether he likes it or not, there will be some level of interaction and that is what Nigerians are calling closeness. Maybe they should tell us how President Jonathan gave him one naira to buy a plane. I don’t really think that Pastor Ayo is closer to the president than the Sultan of Sokoto, the co-chair of NIREC. This is not to say that Papa hates Jonathan, no he does not. He is a Christian and so as a Christian father to the nation, he tries his best to provide a guard. He speaks out whenever necessary. He goes in to offer his own advice or suggestion as the case maybe whenever he is asked to. When he wants to see the president, he makes request just like everyone else. And mostly, it is to discuss the issue of the nation. Many times, he goes with his CAN executive council members to sit down with the president and confront him on certain issues all to see how the nation can be well piloted. What I have noticed is that whichever way you see it; if I say this man is not close to the president, they will say it’s because of what happened, if I say he’s close, they will say that is what we are talking about. I don’t even care what people might say concerning that because you can never please human beings. What I am saying is that please before you start giving this man a bad name, find out the true position of things. Do not go out there forgetting that he is a husband to a woman and he is a father as well. Besides that, he is a man who has sacrificed himself. I think Nigerians even have him more than I do. He is a very passionate person. When he believes in something, he’s driven by it. He goes all out to see how he can really push across whatever he is trying to bring in. That’s who he is. When he got the leadership, when he was elected to lead Christians in Nigeria, he made up his mind that he was going to do everything and anything possible to propagate what he has been given. And he sees it as an assignment. Many times, people see leadership just to bear a name and enjoy it. I think if this man had wanted to enjoy the leadership as it were, maybe by now his relationship with the Sultan of Sokoto would be waxing stronger. And maybe he would have been enjoying more from the government as well. But he has decided to sacrifice all that just like Moses. Moses sacrificed and said he was not going to allow the booting in Pharaoh’s house to override his judgment and so he shut himself out completely from the judgment at the palace and made himself a sacrifice for the liberty and freedom of the Israelites. That is what we are seeing now with our father as well. He has truly given himself out to the nation and then of course to the people who we call his constituents. How did he receive the news of the plane saga? He didn’t also know. When everything happened, according to what we heard, the plane was released immediately and it came back to Nigeria. They didn’t even bother to contact us to tell us what happened. No one said anything. Someone called him and asked ‘where is your plane?’ And he said he didn’t know but he would find out from his wife. I have been the one managing it. When everything happened, they put it on him, but I have actually been the one running it. So he called me and asked where the plane was, I said I didn’t know promising to call him back. The person who called him told him the plane was impounded in South Africa. So the gentleman said something happened. It was at that point he said one John came to hire the plane to fly South Africa. The next they heard was they discovered this and that. However, since they knew that the plane and the crew members had nothing to do with the transaction, they let the plane go which is the normal practice. The only thing they do is that once that occurs, the next thing they do is to search whoever that is involved, pick the person and that’s it. No one is now going to start putting it on the plane or the owners or even the crew. The next thing he said was ‘Oh my God’. He said these people are after something. I actually thought it was a joke because I wasn’t expecting anyone to condescend. I expect someone to be able to see between the lines. Please let us not belittle our government. Are you telling me that a whole Federal Government of Nigeria would need a pastor to help him move money to a location to buy arms? That is an insult on this nation. For anyone to even phantom it, it shows how small minded we are really, and that we don’t look at things wholistically. It just does not make any sense at all other than the fact that certain people just said since it is his plane, let us just see how we can rope him with it so that we can malign him at the end of the day since we have been unable to hook him to anything. We were also told that the same people leaked the transaction to the media… That’s the truth. They did.They leaked it. When we now did our own investigation, we discovered that by the time the plane touched ground in South Africa, the picture was already taken. And some people were already having a meeting in London, and coming up with all sorts of stories and so on and so forth about him even before everything finally blew open. So it was all orchestrated right from Nigeria. Whoever such people are, they are not true Muslims or Christians. These are enemies of progress. These are people who are doing their very best in causing unnecessary discord between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria which is very sad. To use an innocent man to throw this sling is very sad. Why is it that Christian leaders did not even see between the lines? I think the greatest challenge in Christianity is that unlike our other side; they have a leader and regardless of how they feel, when that leader speaks, it is final. But in Christianity, everyone is a leader. The unnecessary rancor that actually takes place in our fold is quite sad and shameful. So it’s always very easy for these people to pounce on them and manipulate them against themselves. What they don’t even know is that they are the target. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor is not the target; it’s every Christian in Nigeria. We are all the target. We are the ones they have targeted but of course they can’t get to everyone so they have to look for the person who represents Christianity in Nigeria and that is what we are experiencing. It’s sad to see Christian leaders calling for the resignation of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and so on when some of them don’t even know the details of what happened. It’s manipulation. And some of them too have betrayed themselves. We also know the lives they live. I don’t even see some of those people as Christian leaders. I want to use this opportunity to appreciate our brethren at Catholic, our brethren at Baptist and all of the five blocks of Christian Association of Nigeria who stood their grounds knowing who they have as their leader and of course standing to confront anything negative concerning him. When I read the communiqué after a meeting they had in Abuja, they said this jet wasn’t bought by President Jonathan, but if anyone has evidence to this effect that it was bought by President Jonathan, make it public. Number two, they also said that this particular plane was leased out before now. If anyone has an evidence to show that it was not, make it public. I’m still waiting. I haven’t seen anyone to do that. I think it is at that time they will know that my own is more than my husband. I have just been holding myself because of him. Otherwise I would have loved to scream and shout and show up on television and call out to Nigerians to say that they should not kill my husband. The only thing this man has done is to sacrifice himself for you. So if you do not appreciate him, then what is the need for him making these sacrifices, putting his 42 years in ministry on the line just because of you and I. I think he is a man who is worthy of commendation, who is worthy to be praised amongst men. A lot of people chicken out because they want to appear in the good books of everybody. No one really wants to come out. Everyone tries to shy away from anything that has to do with things like Boko Haram or anything. He is the only one by the special grace of God, and no wonder God decided to put him in this position for such a time like this. If we had had a weakling there, I don’t know what would have happened to this country by now. It would have been a different ball game entirely. <br /><br />

Oritsejafor not as close to Jonathan as many people think – Helen, wife

Another Jubilee Word Festival is around the corner. What shape will this year’s event look like? With eminent speakers like Rev. Felix Om...

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Crises mar PDP Ward Congress

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="PDP-CARTOON" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-415793" src="http://dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PDP-CARTOON.jpg" />In Rivers State, the congress was boycotted by 16 gubernatorial aspirants on the grounds that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, was interfering in the affairs of the PDP in the state. </div><a name="more"></a>Reports from Benue State said Governor Gabriel Suswan and Senator Barnabas Gemade were battling for the soul of the PDP in the state. There was controversy in Ogun as party chieftains accused each other of plans to hijack the exercise. In Bayelsa State, four persons were reported dead on their way to the venue of the congress. Rivers boycott In Rivers State, 16 governorship aspirants on the platform of the party boycotted the ward congress with their supporters, accusing Mrs Patience Jonathan of unwholesome interference in the affairs of the party in the state. The aspirants, who spoke through Mr Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo, called for the postponement of the congress, saying Mrs Jonathan had endorsed one of the aspirants. “We want to put it on record that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has publicity (not in her house but in the house of one of the aspirants) endorsed an aspirant. The First Lady has also approached some of the aspirants to step down and even invited them to a dinner/meeting in the Presidential Villa,” Ijaye-Dagogo said. The governorship aspirants said the leadership of the party in the state had failed to exhaust the processes that should lead to a credible ward congress, adding that they include “open registration of members, authentication of the party registers at ward levels and display of party register as enshrined in the party’s constitution.” “ We note that the process leading up to the ward delegate elections, which is the foundation of all subsequent primaries, is clearly convoluted and flawed and cannot therefore produce an acceptable outcome.” Battle for Benue In Benue, the face off between Governor Suswam and Senator Gemade got to a head when the governor alleged that Gemade had procured fake delegates forms which he distributed to his candidates for the delegates’ election. PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN AND THE FIRST LADY DR(DAME) PATIENCE JONATHAN DISPLAY THEIR NEW PDP MEMBERSHIP CARD AT THE OTUABULA 11, WARD 13 PDP WARD CONTRESS IN OGBIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF BAYELSA STATE PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN AND THE FIRST LADY DR(DAME) PATIENCE JONATHAN DISPLAY THEIR NEW PDP MEMBERSHIP CARD AT THE OTUABULA 11, WARD 13 PDP WARD CONTRESS IN OGBIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF BAYELSA STATE On his part, Gemade, in a Radio Nigeria Makurdi live phone-in programme, “Democracy and the People”, accused Suswam of purchasing all the Benue PDP delegates forms for his personal advantage. In a statement on behalf of the governor, his Director of Media Affairs, Mr. James Uloko, described Gemade’s allegation as baseless and unfounded. Large turnout in Ondo Reports from Ondo State said members of the PDP turned out in large numbers for the congress. The exercise was supervised by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and national officers of the party including Senator Lekan Mustapha who described it as peaceful and a clear departure from the past editions of the exercise. Speaking in the same vein, the Ondo Caretaker Chairman, Hon. Dare Adeleke, expressed happiness at what he called the open display of understanding and love among members of the party. Controversy in Ogun In Ogun State, there was controversy following the alleged plan to hijack the ward congress by some party chieftains. The PDP Chairman in the state, Bayo Dayo, raised the alarm that some chieftains who just returned to the PDP wanted to hijack the party. Dayo raised the alarm while speaking with journalists to review the congress across the state’s 236 wards. But the Jubril Martins-Kuye group, led by Chief Kola Bajomo, alleged deliberate refusal by the party leadership to collect delegate forms,as a ploy to deny them relevance in the scheme of things. The group, which protested the refusal to collect their forms, blamed the state executive of planning to manipulate the congress. It was gathered that, following the group’s protest,the party congress committee chairman,Saka Balogun, collected the forms from them, with the assurance that the committee will look into their case. Peaceful conduct in Lagos The Lagos State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Tunji Shelle, commended members of the party for the peaceful way they conducted themselves during the ward congress. The congress was held in the 245 wards of the party in the state. Shelle, who spoke with newsmen at the party’s secretariat n Ikeja, said the party leadership was elated to have a hitch-free congress. Manipulation allegation in Kwara Reports from Kwara State said Kwara Democratic Assembly uncovered a conspiracy to hijack the congress. “We are worried that by this action, some people in Abuja and Ilorin have deliberately compromised the entire congress in Kwara State. It is more worrisome because this similar trend preceded the gubernatorial primaries in Osun State which laid the foundation for the failure of PDP at the polls. We reject this portion in Kwara, hence this alert,”a statement by the group said. “It is clear to us that there is a grand plan to manipulate the outcome of the delegates’ congress in all the 193 wards in Kwara in favour of this aspirant. “Unless the National Working Committee intervenes immediately, we are afraid that there is no way Kwarans can have a fair deal with a committee that is clearly partisan. Confusion in Imo Confusion reigned in Imo State over the PDP ward congress. As at 2pm when Sunday Vanguard filed the situation report from Lowa, Ihite Uboma local government area of Ihite Uboma local council area of the state, nobody could explain why voting had not commenced. At Amata Secondary School, Amata, Ikeduru local government area, there was nothing to show that any official of the PDP would be there to attend to the teeming party faithful. N287m raked in, in Bayelsa In Bayelsa State, the exercise recorded large turnout for the procurement of expression of interest and nomination forms by over 175 aspirants and valued at N287million for the party. Information from the organising secretary office of the party showed that the number of aspirants for the 24 party tickets for the state House of Assembly had increased to 144. While the number of aspirants for the House of Representatives ticket of the party was put at 17, the number of aspirants for the senatorial ticket is now 14. Accordingly, the party raked in over N178million from sale of forms to House Assembly aspirants, N42.5million from House of Representative aspirants and N63million from senatorial aspirants. It was learnt that out of the 175 aspirants that procured forms, only 10 are women. Meanwhile, the former President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and House of Assembly aspirant, Comrade Oyinfie Jonjon, dismissed the claim by some aspirants that they borrowed money and forms procured for them by supporters, declaring that it was mere campaign gimmick. President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson participated in the congress, preaching peace ahead of political activities in the state. Enugu congress peaceful The exercise in Enugu State was hitch-free as party members trooped out en masse to elect their delegates. Party members converged at the designated centres where they elected the delegates who would participate in the state House of Assembly, National Assembly and governorship primaries to be held later in month. The Acting State Chairman, Elder David Aja, told reporters after the exercise that field reports indicated that the congresses were successfully conducted across the state. Claims, counter – claims in Oyo SOME governorship aspirants of the PDP in Oyo State who felt the results of the ward congress held across the 33 local government council areas of the state may not favour them tried to disrupt the voting process. Though the state Publicity Secretary of the party, Kehinde Salawu, avoided blaming any of the aspirants, he confirmed that some of the aspirants tried to create problems. While assuring that the leadership of the party would ensure that things went well, Sunday Vanguard gathered that the ward congress was dogged by controversy with the three leading governorship aspirants claiming victory. They are Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, a former governor of the state, Senator Teslim Folarin and Seyi Makinde. The trio were accusing one another of disrupting the process. At the time of filling this report, results of the congress from across the wards were yet to be released. Other governorship aspirants, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, Azeem Gbolarumi, Prof. Soji Adejumo, Mr. Kehinde Olaosebikan, said the exercise was peaceful in their respective wards.<br /><br />

Crises mar PDP Ward Congress

In Rivers State, the congress was boycotted by 16 gubernatorial aspirants on the grounds that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, was in...

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2015 and 30,000 PUs: Plans to rig presidential poll exposed!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Jega...INEC boss" class="size-full wp-image-146740" height="270" src="http://dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/JEGA4003.jpg" width="400" />In what now appears to be an ego problem for Professor Atahiru Jega, National Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, his messianic pursuit of the lopsided allocation of 30,000 Polling Units, PUs, fresh strong signals suggest that his ability to deliver on successful general elections next year may be suffering a massive discount on account of the many deceptive postulations that he recently made on the matter. </div><a name="more"></a>This report will show clearly that but for an agenda that is at best confusing as well as suspect, it should be clear to all lovers of democracy that Jega may have concluded plans to deliver elections molded in a furnace and shrouded in secrecy. The inherent danger in this fools’ errand is that just as the INEC boss went into the April 2, 2011, elections with misplaced optimism, so is he going into the 2015 general elections with deceptive assurances on a grander scale based on the advantage he has already handed his northern region. 2011: AN EMBARRASSMENT FORETOLD Jega...INEC boss Jega…INEC boss Just after voting on April 2, 2011, journalists asked President Goodluck Jonathan for his thoughts about the process. An anxious Jonathan expressed joy that “so far, everything is going smoothly”. But had Jonathan chosen to cross-check from the man in whose hands the destiny of a guesstimated 73.5million voters laid, Professor Attahiru Jega, the INEC Chairman, Nigeria’s President would have discovered, rather embarrassingly, that Jega had failed the nation. Before that fateful day, Sunday Vanguard had made some revelations about the contract award for voting materials in context, content and volume per figures, the profits therefrom and why Nigerians needed to pay more attention to Jega’s inclination, especially in the light of the tens of billions of tax payers’ money involved – N30,000 (that figure of 30,000), for instance, was paid to each of the about 360,000 registration agents, 8,000 of whom were INEC staff. It was a flustered Jonathan who was to hear on the airwaves like other Nigerians that Jega had canceled the elections and postponed them. Jega’s statement read in part that morning: “As you know, the National Assembly (House of Representatives and Senate) elections are supposed to be taking place as I speak. You would also have noticed that things have not proceeded smoothly as expected with the elections. The reason for this is the unanticipated emergency we have experienced with late arrival of result sheets in many parts of the country. The result sheets are central to the elections and their integrity. Accordingly, in many places, our officials have not reported at the polling units, making it now difficult to implement the Modified Open Ballot Procedure that we have adopted”. For a man who just less than 24hours earlier assured Nigerians and the international community that all materials were on ground and were ready, Jega’s trust quotient suffered a battering. For whatever reason best known to him, the INEC boss has embarked on another voyage; but, this time, presenting Nigerians a Greek gift. L’INEC C’EST MOI – I AM INEC Just as Louis XIV declared that he was the state, Jega’s serial quest for total domination, as against his status as first among equals, at INEC reflects a certain desperation to achieve a goal. From his attempt to grab the powers of an Accounting Officer of INEC, to his failed attempt to carry out manual, house-to-house registration of voters, which could have again seen camels, cows, sheep and under-aged people, as well as birds and dogs populating the Voter Register, Jega’s approach to running INEC sends the wrong signal. That elections appear to be heading in the right direction is also partly a function of the elements and the growing awareness of Nigerians. Last week, while fielding questions, the INEC Chairman elevated the art of half-truths and manipulative postulations to another height. Rather than answer the real questions thrown at him, he chose to triangulate. What he did was to present the need for credible elections as a front, ease of access to PUs, instead of providing reasons why less populated areas of the North would have more PUs than densely populated areas of the South. Jega, it was discovered, through investigations at the INEC headquarters in Abuja, did not consult with key stakeholders like National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, and INEC Operation Directors in the 36 states on the allocation of the 30,000 Pus. He also flagrantly refused to appreciate security agencies’ negative report, via a letter on the potential dangers of his actions regarding the allocation. There is a litigation regarding the allocation which he has refused to address. And to demonstrate that the electoral boss has a hidden agenda, his refusal to honour the counsel of the Senate Committee on INEC, which insisted that he should stop, speaks volume. As if possessed by an uncommon spirit, Jega’s manifestly warped position that only a resolution of the National Assembly can stop him is not, as INEC would have put it, cogent and verifiable because when INEC wants to defend its budget or submit itself to oversight, it is to the Committee it goes and not the whole house. Whereas he lied that there was nothing like the execution of the lopsided allocation, he issued a directive to state offices to carry on. A WEB OF DECEPTION: DAYLIGHT IN JEGA’S MAGIC Jega was categorical in telling his audience that no “Post-Business Rule Register” exists in INEC. That was a lie! In past reports, and even admittedly by his own presentations, it had always been the selfsame INEC boss who told Nigerians about ‘’Post Business Rule Register”. Until daylight appeared in his magic because of the voodoo in the allocation of the 30,000 PUs, he had never denied the existence of a ‘’Post Business Rule Register”. In any case, the question to ask him regarding this is: Which register is INEC using to print and distribute its Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs? If Jega insists that it is AFIS (Automated Finger Identification System), what is the essence of the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, an exercise designed to ensure that all the cobwebs associated with AFIS are removed and a smooth transition made to the “Post-Business Rule”? The ‘’Post AFIS Register” contains the electorate who do not have complete finger thumb-prints or the minimum two finger print as well as those with no photo or faded photo. That is why the AFIS register is neither used for the conduct of elections nor for the printing of PVCs. But the Post Business Rule Register is the register of the highest clean up stage that contains names of voters with complete required minimum fingers thumbprints, an opposite of the AFIS register that is deficient in integrity and completeness. It is important to note here that, that is why INEC used it for elections like those of Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun States, and would be used for the 2015 elections. In fact, Jega himself, in his public address at stakeholder briefings before recent elections, had repeatedly said the ‘’Post-Business Rule Register’’ was the most credible and was the basis for the production of the distributed PVCs in over 24 states and the proposed PVC distribution exercise commencing in Lagos and 11 other states on the 7th November. Insisting on nationalism and altruism as the basis for his allocation, Jega has never been able to address the basis for allocating to 11 states in the North at over 1,000 PUs each while only Lagos State in the South got same. Interestingly, Jega’s allocation got to war-ravaged states like Yobe and Borno even in the face of fleeing residents. CARD READERS AND INNOVATION IN CROOKEDNESS Another truth that Jega is not telling Nigerians is the confusion that is about to blow up in his face. Then, should the ultimate agenda of availing the North the expected advantage from the lopsided allocation be the driving force, this would see crookedness at its best. It has to do with the card readers for the election. The card readers that INEC has opted for are going to be PU-specific (that is each card reader to each PU). However, because of the time factor and the reality that the prospective voters whose PVC cannot be configured to these new 30,000 PUs, because they require names and codes just like the existing 120,000 PUs, INEC, Sunday Vanguard learnt, would be going for card readers that would not be PU-specific; that is, 30,000 card readers would freelance. Going by the over 21,000 PUs already allocated to the North, the dangerous reality of this is that 21,000 freelancing card readers, in a total of 150,000 PUs, constitute about 14% of the total. This is significant. That is just one leg of Jega’s magic. The most dangerous part of it is that of the 30,000, only one zone in the North, the North-West, got 7,906 PUs; and when you add the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja’s 1,167, you get a total of 9,073; whereas the entire southern Nigeria got just about 8,414. At the rate of 500 voters to each PU, an allocation of extra over 1,000 to those 11 states in the North is a guarantee for no fewer than over 5,500,000 voters more than the entire southern Nigeria – mind you, the North West and the FCT match the whole of southern Nigeria in this Jega-inspired magic. By the time you add the allocation to North-East and North-Central zones, daylight would enter the crookedness of the whole engagement. Yet, the INEC Chairman wants Nigerians to believe that he is doing all a favour by making PUs closer to the people. Going beyond the surface, the freelancing card readers to be used for the new 30,000 PUs would have the capability to read just about any PVC, which means votes could be freeloaded, depending on the inclination that holds sway. INEC’s DATA SHOWS JEGA IS WRONG Chief among the reasons that have been given for condemning INEC’s skewed creation of new PUs, was that they were created from the whims of its regionally dominated decision-makers and their paternalistic subjectivity, without reference to actual reality from field data. Hence it was asked how INEC arrived at its proportions while it was still collecting data in the field regarding actual figures of voters in each jurisdiction? An outcome that should inform voter logistics, one of which is the number of polling units required for each jurisdiction. As the emergent figures from INEC’s authentication of eligible voters and the continuous registration of voters in different jurisdictions show below, INEC was only throwing bones to decide how to create its new PUs, and did worse than an Ifa priest, in its allocation. At least the Ifa priest relies on the gods, but in the case of INEC, its operatives were playing God. Like Obatala, the proverbial Yoruba deity, they were creating PUs at the pleasure of their whim, hence they created 1,200 additional polling units in Abuja, and 1,167 new polling units for the whole of the South-East, whereas extant data, and now emergent data from INEC’s own field reports, as shown below, indicate again that not only does just four states in the South-East far exceeds the voting strength in Abuja, the number of newly registered voters in the zone is 919,097/37,235 or about 25 times more. From the emerging data below even though the full national data has not emerged, the clear deduction can be made that INEC’s decision-makers who created the new PUs which gave 21,000 to the North and 8,000 to the South, were only playing a regional card instead of doing a professional electoral management job. Even if the final data results in a double voter strength between the North-West and the South-East, which is unlikely given the estimated voting population of the states yet to be accounted for in both zones from the data above, it cannot justify the 8 to 1 disparity in the allocation of new PUs to both zones. PU Allocation: Twice as bad (a history) The brief history of PU allocation is necessary for the reader so as to understand the systematic approach that the North had always used to gain political power. Just as it has become near impossible except the North agrees, the 774 LGAs in the country and the 36 state-structure (with the South having five and the North-West having seven) may never be altered using the 1999 Constitution. Regarding the allocation of PUs, the only southern INEC Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu, who attempted to alter it did the wise thing when one of his colleagues, Muhammed Jumare, objected, thereby shattering INEC’s consensus approach to tackling issues. But in Jega’s case, despite the massive outcry of foul, he insists on going ahead. Sunday Vanguard learnt that during Iwu’s tenure, the Commission agreed to do an increase based on some criteria and the only states that were supposed to benefit were Ondo, Cross River and Taraba. But because of Jumare’s objection, that INEC Board dropped the idea. Dr. Lisa Handley, a renowned consultant on delimitation, advised that INEC required a minimum of three years in-between general elections to commence and conclude a review including managing the challenges and securing National Assembly’s approval. For the delimitation, whatever you do would require Senate’s approval; just as the ward review and then the creation of Pus. Jega only abandoned the delimitation and ward review exercise two months ago. So, why prepare an answer in the mold of PUs when the delimitation and ward review exercise are yet to be done? Sunday Vanguard has been made to understand that it is part of a grand plan to influence the coming census exercise. Jega’s planned delimitation and ward review is to be based on the unreliable 2006 census figures. Worse still, what was his hurry when, in just under two years, fresh census would be conducted? At an INEC retreat held at Nike Lake, Handley and some consultants from Liberia and Kenya expressed doubts about the process. The Kenyan, not mindful of our sensitivity in Nigeria, noted that in the northern part of Kenya, they do not have more people unlike in the coastal areas where the population is more. In fact, the Kenyan pooh-poohed Nigeria’s population configuration as an anomaly. But he did not know that a chunk of his audience were from Nigeria’s North.<br /><br />

2015 and 30,000 PUs: Plans to rig presidential poll exposed!

In what now appears to be an ego problem for Professor Atahiru Jega, National Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, his...

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New polling units: How policy pits Jega against South

<div class="post-content description " itemprop="articleBody"> <img alt="Attahiru_Jega_375793870" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="336" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Attahiru_Jega_375793870-600x336.jpg" title="New polling units: How policy pits Jega against South" width="600" />Pan Yoruba socio-polit­ical group, Afenifere, has a grouse to grind with the Chairman of Independent National Elec­toral Commission (INEC) Professor Attahiru Jega. The revered body is demanding his immediate resignation. <br /><a name="more"></a>The reason for that has to do with the insistence of the INEC boss on going ahead with the allocation of the con­troversial 30, 000 new polling units in the country.<br /> Ohanaeze Ndigbo, scores of other associations and Nigerians have also tackled Jega over the project. But, so far the man ap­pears not ready to backpedal on it.<br /> It was based on his insistence to allocate the new polling units that Afenifere stepped out on Wednesday to demand his res­ignation. As far as the body is concerned Jega’s arrangements for the 2015 general election are suspect.<br /> Speaking after the group’s meeting held at the residence of its national leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, the Ondo State chair­man of Afenifere, Chief Korede Duyile, said the Federal Govern­ment should alternatively relieve Jega of the appointment as the electoral boss before next year’s election.<br /> Afenifere said it was disturbed by the INEC boss’ body lan­guage predicting that the result of the election may turn out not to be acceptable to majority of Nigerians .<br /> His words: “You will recall that the Southern leader’s forum met in Abuja and decried the attempt to create the 30,000 polling cen­tres whereby over 21,000 was allocated to the North and just above 8,000 was allocated to the South. We feel that this will fur­ther worsen the dichotomy be­tween the North and the South.<br /> “The meeting reiterated its last decision, calling on Profes­sor Jega to resign his position, as most voters in Yorubaland and, indeed, most parts of Nigeria, especially the South, have lost confidence in him. It is clear that Jega will be a curse that will af­fect the integrity of the election and consequently cause crisis in Nigeria. If he insists on creating the 30,000 polling centres as be­ing presently pursued by him.”<br /> Pre-empting what some peo­ple might say about the timing of the call for the INEC boss re­moval , he argued that removing Jega four months to the election would not have any effect on the peaceful conduct of the 2015 elections in the state.<br /> Duyile said, “There is already a structure on ground in INEC. So it does not mean that a par­ticular person should be there. I admit that a person can make changes and have effect on it but even if a new person is cho­sen today since the structure is there, all the directors are there and all other commissioners are there so once the people lose confidence in INEC, then they will lose confidence in the whole electoral process.<br /> “At the end of the day the re­sult will be un acceptable no matter how good it is. We feel that Jega’s action is based on cer­tain unclear issues.<br /> “We do not want to fall into a situation that we had when local government were created under military and the South was con­strained particularly Yoruba land and now during consideration of the new constitution it was said that we should go into govern­ment first, let us take over from the military we will be tidying up all others.<br /> “But up till today, 14years after ,we are still using that consti­tution. So we have to be care­ful we do not go into bondage again. There are lots of issues, because Jega’s actions is against our interest and this organisation is to fight for the interest of our people”<br /> He insisted that “Jega is pursu­ing a course that will affect the credibility of the next general election if he insists on going ahead with the creation of the additional polling units”.<br /> “We believe that Jega is acting on this based on uninformed is­sues. His actions are against the interest of the south of this coun­try,” Duyile said.<br /> Jega is aware that several Ni­gerians especially from the South are not at home with the project. Internally, he is also facing huge battle with some National Com­missioners who have openly op­posed the proposal. But the man has adduced his own reason for insisting on the policy.<br /> He submitted that the “policy is driven by collective aspirations of Nigerians to improve electoral process beyond 2015”.<br /> This claim has since been punctured by some Nigerians. At the recent Southern leaders con­ference held in Lagos , speaker after speaker flayed the policy and argued that it will further widen political cleavages be­tween the South and the North.<br /> Some people have picked holes in Jega’s recent claim that the polling units have not yet been created. “Dr Ambrose Umoh, a political analyst argued that the claim was meant to di­vert the attention of the public from the reality.<br /> He submitted that the INEC leadership was deceiving the public it claims to serve by in­sisting in public that the Poll­ing Units have not been created while at the same time Jega was issuing official memos and cir­culars giving deadlines of on or before Thursday October 30th 2014 to all INEC state of­fices to implement the allocation of 30,000 new Polling units?<br /> “This matter is straightforward , we are not fools , we have been following what have been hap­pening in INEC in recent times. The Chairman has already issued memo to his men across the country to implement the new policy. “<br /> Very well Jega has devoted much time and energy to exon­erate himself of any blame in the policy. But he is yet to con­firm or disprove claims that he did not consult with stakehold­ers before firming up the policy. There are claims that even when key stakeholders like National Commissioners, Resident Com­missioners, INEC Operation Directors of 36 states, Security agencies’ negative report and letter to Jega, Chairmen of po­litical parties, UPN court action – all advised against the proposed creation of these 30,000 polling units he ignored the advice.<br /> He only put up an argument that the policy was not designed to benefit only the north.<br /> He said “No sectional or paro­chial, agenda,it is only meant to decongest overcrowding in poll­ing units and new settlements”<br /> But Umoh does not consider the argument of addressing sa­lient issues. He noted that if no sectional agenda is involved in the policy how come out of 12 states which got 1000 new PUs 11 are all in one section of the country while many states with more voters strength in the oth­er section got less than 300 new polling units?<br /> He asked “Is decongestion more valuable in only one sec­tion of the country? What evi­dence of new settlements was used to give more new polling units to Yobe than Osun State or Cross River ? Is this from GIS ca­dastral mapping or field reports from INEC corroborated by re­gional planners?”<br /> He also dismissed claims that “INEC has no Post-Busi­ness Rule register”. As far as he is concerned this is a contradic­tion. He hinged his argument on the ground that it is a common knowledge that INEC is the only body in Nigeria that has been using the phrase ‘’Post Business Rule Register” in relation to its electoral activities.<br /> He said “The ‘’Post Afis Regis­ter” contains electorate who do not have complete finger thumb-prints or the minimum two finger print threshold, those with no photo or faded photo.<br /> That is why the AFIS register is not used for the conduct of election nor printing of perma­nent voters card (PVC). But the post business rule is the register of the highest clean up stage that contains names of voters with complete required minimum fin­gers thumbprints, an opposite of the Afis register that is deficient in integrity and completeness.”<br /> The views of a source in INEC corroborated the posi­tion of Umoh. The source who pleaded for anonymity explained it is for the reason given above that INEC used it in the conduct of elections in states like Anam­bra, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun. He said that it will be used for the 2015 election.<br /> Not long ago, in his public ad­dress in the stakeholder briefings in recent elections, Jega repeat­edly said the ‘’Post-Business Rule Register’’ was the most credible and was the basis for the produc­tion of the distributed PVCs in over 24 states and the proposed PVC distribution exercise that is meant to go on in another 12 states including Lagos and Kano . There were all based on this same post-business-rule.<br /> Umoh argued that if the INEC boss is now retreating from his earlier stance and wants invali­date the register , the only expla­nation that would suffice is sim­ply that it does not “serve his purpose of sectional allocation “<br /> To be fair to the electoral body , it has been making known some of its programmes and challeng­es . For instance ,after Initial reg­istration the unscanned voters register had 73.5million eligible voters. but after AFIS the figure came to 70,383.427 registered voters. But Umoh is faulting the INEC chairman on this.<br /> Hear him “ ls he saying that the only valid register of voters in the country as at the moment is 70,383.427 voters? Is that the figure that was used to produce the PVCs and register used for all the elections he has conducted recently and perhaps plans to use for the 2015 election?<br /> “What is the value of eligible voters after recent clean up through AFIS was done and PVCs distributed?”<br /> He insisted that It is a statu­tory right of contesting parties to be given a clean copy of the extant voters register in each jurisdiction. Umoh who is also a university lecturer in the depart­ment of political science further asked “Has Prof. Jega forgotten that in the elections conducted in Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and several by-elections, his INEC gave political parties the ‘’Post Business Rule’’ register figures that are different from his cur­rent claim of existence of only Afis ?<br /> Some people are not pointing fingers at Jega only on the issue of new polling units and AFIS, they are also concerned about the INEC Chairman’s stand on the matter concerning security.<br /> The INEC boss had recently pledged that security arrange­ments will be better than in 2011. But a group, Youth for Democ­racy led by Adamu Shuibu was at the National Assembly and expressed fears that the 2015 elections might be compromised if the issue of security of votes is taking lightly by the lawmakers. For the security of electoral pro­cess should be considered more paramount than any other thing.<br /> Shuibu who spoke on behalf of others contended that securi­ty of personnel and materials on election day lies on security per­sonnel but security of the elec­toral process is the responsibility of INEC . According to him one if such electoral processes is a reliable voter register. He insist­ed that a credible voter register will be the basis for all logistics including ballot paper printing and the evaluation of materials and voting spaces that will be required.<br /> Umoh is afraid that the cur­rent INEC may not achieve it . He argued this may be a tall or­der especially in view of the fact that at three months to election, INEC chairman is ,arguably, try­ing to “make the electorate buy into his claims on a post-AFIS register instead of the ‘’post busi­ness rule’’ that has been com­pleted and used with fidelity in recent elections. How does the Post-AFIS register of 2011 take account of people who have been 18years since 2012 on­wards and those who registered in the continuous voter registra­tion exercise? What is the status of the new PUs in the light of these fluid figures 3 months to the General Election? Is INEC not creating uncertainties for a deliberate purpose?”<br /> No doubt Jega is aware of the growing criticism of some of his policies especially his insistence on executing the 30,000new poll­ing units project . He is also in the know that he is likely to court more enemies if he insist on hav­ing his way in all of them. What, probably, he may not be aware of now is the consequence (s) of ignoring the the advice and feel­ings of the multitude of people kicking against his plans .<br /> </div>

New polling units: How policy pits Jega against South

Pan Yoruba socio-polit­ical group, Afenifere, has a grouse to grind with the Chairman of Independent National Elec­to...

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My vision is to build Akwa Ibom’s private sector –Nsima Ekere

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ekere nsima" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="191" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ekere-nsima-702x336.jpg" title="My vision is to build Akwa Ibom’s private sector –Nsima Ekere" width="400" />Immediate past Deputy Gov­ernor of Akwa Ibom State Nsima Ekere, is one of many political heavyweights jostling for the ticket of the ruling Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of next year’s governor­ship election.</div><a name="more"></a> In this interview with <em>Sunday Sun</em>, Ekere ex­plains why he’s the candidate to beat, his relationship with Governor Godswill Akpabio, as well as the driving force of his ambition to succeed his former principal. Excerpts:<br /><br /><div class="post-content description " itemprop="articleBody"> <strong><em>It’s almost two years since you left govern­ment as deputy governor of Akwa Ibom state. Peo­ple are still wondering why you left. The story is that you would have been impeached if you did not resign. Why, real­ly, did you leave office? </em></strong><br /> You rightly stated it well that it will be two years in a couple of days since I left office. I will be 50 years on my next birthday. I do not know if my brain is beginning to fail me. I cannot even recall what the circumstances were. The truth of the matter is that, at a time I had to leave for some very personal reasons. I want to ex­press thanks and appreciation to the media. They have been very understanding and have granted my privacy on those issues.<br /> <strong><em>…You just needed to go and take care of some things? </em></strong><br /> I needed to go. I have spent the last two years trying to take care of some personal family issues and pay some attention to my business interest. More impor­tantly, I have been reflecting on the issues and challenges facing Nigeria and Akwa Ibom state. I have been trying to articulate some responses and action plans which, I believe, if followed, will cause some positive changes in the nation and in Akwa Ibom state. That is why I am running for office.<br /> <strong><em>You have been out of government and now try­ing to get back in. What have you seen different­ly? What do you think can be done better? </em></strong><br /> A lot of people, before they get into government, sit back and make beautiful speeches on what the issues facing Nigeria are. Now, when you now get into govern­ment, you discover that it is a dif­ferent ball game. The bureaucracy and the system itself are so com­plex and complicated that they need proper management if you must get the expectations that you desire. What I mean is this. If you take a white serviette and throw it into the government bureau­cracy, if you are not very careful, it will come out yellow or brown. So, you need to follow through to ensure that it comes out the way you expect it to be. You need the experience to deal with the civil servants, the political class and your aides. That is what stands me out from the rest. I like to tell this story. My first experience in gov­ernment was as executive chair­man of Akwa Ibom Investment and Industrial Promotion Council. It is the private sector arm of the government. That was very good for me, considering the fact that I was coming from the private sec­tor. I needed that kind of experi­ence. We sat down and articulated beautiful plans for the state. Some­how, I saw the things that hindered some of those memos that we made from being executed. That was why I said, with the kind of experience that I have, I can only add value.<br /> <strong><em>One of the planks upon which you are contesting is industrialisation and entrepreneurial growth of the state. I read some­where that, as deputy gov­ernor, you were entrusted with the industrialisa­tion aspect of the work to you, while the governor faced the infrastructural development of the state. It was alleged that you fell flat and did not deliv­er. How would you react to that? </em></strong><br /> That is not true. The government never said that. I recall that some miscreants and mischief makers posted some stories online to that effect, but promptly, the governor had to issue a statement and fault­ed the claims. He said the govern­ment was not behind it and that it was the handiwork of mischief makers who were bent on causing disaffection. There is no way as deputy governor you could be said to have been entrusted with the re­sponsibility of running industriali­sation. There are organs of govern­ment that had that mandate. The former office I occupied before is there and you have the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. None of those departments of government reported to me as deputy gover­nor. They were all reporting to the governor. I was not part and par­cel of their work. I was not even a board member in any of those agencies and my inputs would not have mattered. I could not have been part of the implementation of anything that fell under the man­date of those agencies. They were not reporting to me. Anyway, like I said, the governor had already is­sued a statement and had faulted the whole claim in its entirety.<br /> <strong><em>Today, we are seeing massive construction of roads and bridges etc. There is so much govern­ment presence. But you said your focus is mainly going to be on the human capital development as­pect. How are you going to go about it? </em></strong><br /> Unfortunately, most of the cam­paigns that have taken place in my state have not been issue-based. Now, I am aware that about 16 as­pirants have collected nomination forms. If you go back and look at it, nobody is coming to say why they want to be governor and what they intend to do for the people. It is only my campaign that has been able to spell out clearly what our focus is. I have spent the greater part of the last two years articulat­ing what my response would be to the problems facing my state and the country. I have a ready answer in my palms. We will hit the ground running. I have been an acting governor before. I think in this country, I am one of the few deputy governors who had the privilege of being gazetted as acting governor when their gov­ernors had to leave the country. I have done this work before and I know what the challenges are.<br /> Now, Governor Godswill Akpa­bio like you said, has built mas­sive infrastructure all over the place. He has created that name for himself. I want to come in and create a name for myself as the governor that succeeded in put­ting in place a solid base for sus­tainable economic development. I want to come in and deliber­ately build the private sector. We will make the private sector very vibrant in Akwa Ibom state. It is the private sector that will build industries, create jobs, grow the economy and create wealth for the people. Ultimately, it is the pri­vate sector that will lift the people out of poverty. We will make very deliberate policies and put in place programmes that will give the required incentives to the pri­vate sector to operate. I know the kind of incentives needed to at­tract investors to the state. I know what has been done and what is remaining. I interacted first hand with the business community. I have spoken with a range of busi­nessmen and I know what it is they want. I am committed to en­suring that I put those things in place and set up incentives that will give them the confidence to operate in the state.<br /> <strong><em>Out of 36 states in Nige­ria, Akwa Ibom is 22nd on the favourable places to do business. Despite the fact that there is so much money in Akwa Ibom, there is so much poverty going alongside. How much of the pri­vate sector will be home­grown? </em></strong><br /> Like I explained to you, there must a reason why you think Akwa Ibom people cannot oper­ate in that sector we expect them to operate or they cannot do what is required of them. Now, the point I am making is that, because I know what those impediments are, government can be an enabler of the dream. Akwa Ibom people are very resourceful and industri­ous. They may not have the kind of economic might that other parts of the country have. They may not have access to the kind of credit people from other states have. That is what my government will do differently. I will give you some examples. You can partner with some of these development banks and set up an industrial fund. Start with maybe N10 billion. If you go to the Bank of Industry for exam­ple and tell them to set up a spe­cial fund for Akwa Ibom people with N10 billion and tell them that government is willing to give them half of that money as our contribu­tion. If for instance their interest rate is 18 or 15 per cent, govern­ment brings half of that money. So, you tell them to crash their inter­est rate from 15 per cent to half of that which is 7.5 per cent. That means Akwa Ibom people will be able to access a special fund they need for businesses within the state. By the time that happens, that fear you are expressing now will not be there.<br /> There are a whole lot of other ideas. Let me not discuss more so that other people will not steal the ideas. But you will agree with me that if you do that for a start, you get people to access funds at a single digit interest rate. It will be cheaper for businessmen. Apart from that, we will go a step further and attract major players like the Dangotes of this world. We already have Jim Ovia who is putting up a plant. Oba Otudeko has expressed interest to build something in the state. TY Danjuma has expressed interest to build a ceramics factory in the state. Once they know that there is a friendly government in place that will help them take care of issues that are of concerns to any genuine investor, why won’t they come? We will be able to en­courage our people and give them support to operate in the local economy. We will also attract ma­jor players to come and operate in the state.<br /> <strong><em>If you’re elected gover­nor, are we going to see a continuation or consoli­dation of Akpabio? If you are ready to go with some things the governor has started, how come you could not stay and exe­cute everything together? </em></strong><br /> You see, government is a con­tinuous thing. Since the creation of Akwa Ibom state, there have been successive governments and every government is expected to come in and build on the successes of the previous administration. By the grace of God, once I become governor, we will consolidate on whatever the gains of the current administration are. I am someone who has always advocated that we should not bring in politics into development. I do not play politics with the development of my peo­ple. I keep politics out of it. The present administration has done well in the areas it has concen­trated on. We can only use that to boost us to the next level. It would not have been possible to talk about going to the next level if the required infrastructure was not on ground. So, the present adminis­tration has done well in putting in place the right infrastructure that will enable the next administra­tion focus on the economy of the  state.<br /> <strong><em>Are you thinking of spread­ing this gospel of development outside of Uyo? It appears Akwa Ibom begins and ends in Uyo… </em></strong><br /> One of the four cardinal focuses of the administration is rural development. Major­ity of our people still live in the rural areas. Like you rightly said, Uyo is just one out of the 31 local government areas we have in the state. We intend to aggressively pursue rural development. It will stem rural-urban drift. We will give them some rural econom­ic base. We want to use agriculture as a ma­jor tool to tackle rural development. By the time we set up large mechanised farms that will produce and look at the value chain, by the time you harvest the products, they will have to be processed and stored. So, we have small aggro-allied industries we can set up along that line so that the entire process will be integrated and sustained. That will create jobs for people and grow the local economy at the rural areas. Once you put money in their hands, their wealth will increase and the purchasing power will be there. A whole lot of things will change.<br /> By the time we tackle rural development and focus on agriculture, a lot to people will not want to live in Uyo anymore. They will go back to their villages. We already have 85 per cent of electricity coverage in the rural areas right now. The present administration has vowed to complete that so that every part of the state will have electricity by May next year. That will be fantastic and if it does not happen, we will complete it. Then, we will provide other basic amenities of life. We have the AfDB-sponsored water projects in the state which have not been completed. We will ensure that we complete that. We will provide primary healthcare facilities in those rural areas. We do not want people to walk long distances before they can have access to basic health facilities.<br /> <strong><em>What about the Independent Power Plants (IPP) projects? </em></strong><br /> The IPP is an enabler. It is one of the things the state government has done that will make it possible for us to say the things we say today. We all know that one of the things that make industries to fold up and move over to Ghana was power. Now, we have a power plant in Akwa Ibom state that has the capacity to generate 190 megawatts of electricity. Currently, the state is one of the major shareholders in four electricity distribution companies in that part of the country. It means the state government is in some level of control over the power situation in Akwa Ibom state. We will look at whatever is left to be done in that area and strengthen it. One of my dreams is that Akwa Ibom will be one of the first states in Nigeria where you can have uninterrupted power supply all through. If I want to build the private sector that I want, I want to be able to give the industrialists a reason to leave other parts of the country and come to Akwa Ibom once they know that we have uninterrupted power.<br /> <strong><em>From what I have gathered, the incumbent governor has his own candidate he is supporting. You are not that candidate. It is like the proverbial camel going through the eye of a needle for you to get the PDP ticket without the endorsement of the incum­bent. How do you weigh your chances? </em></strong><br /> Well, the governor issued a statement recently, saying he had no anointed candi­date and that there would be a level-playing field for all aspirants. Ultimately, the PDP as a political party has its own constitu­tion. It has gone ahead to issue guidelines that will direct the conduct of the forth­coming primaries. I believe that the PDP under Ahmed Muazu as the national chair­man has strength of character to abide by the provisions of the guidelines. I want to very specially commend the national chair­man and members of the national working committee for their tenacity and adherence to the constitution of the party as far as the primaries are concerned. We are aware that in the last couple of days, there have been all kinds of meetings gong on with the party leaders, the governors and the presidency on this issue.<br /> The party has maintained its ground that primaries must be done transparently. With this kind of commitment from the national leadership of the party and from President Goodluck Jonathan, I am very confident that the primaries will be held in line with the guidelines of the constitution of the par­ty. That means that Akwa Ibom people will have the last say. They will decide who they want as governor and in all other offices that are going to be contested for. It will not be totally left to what Mr A or Mr B wants, but left to Akwa Ibom people and members of the PDP in the state to decide who gets the ticket of the party in the next general elections. I have spent the last couple of months, consulting members of PDP in the state. Everywhere I go, the kind of reactions I get from party members in the state are the things that have helped me to forge ahead. They know me and have worked with me. They know that I have what it takes to give the state what it needs at this level and for the next administration. That is what gives me the confidence that I will win the prima­ries.<br /> <strong><em>How far are you willing to go if you do not win? Will you de­camp to APC? </em></strong><br /> I am a foundation member of PDP. When in 1998 some people came together and brought PDP to Akwa Ibom state, I am one of the few people who made financial con­tributions for this party to be entrenched and established in Akwa Ibom state. I am a loyal party man. I have every convic­tion that if the PDP conducts its primaries in line with the guidelines that have been published, I will emerge victorious. I do not have to go to APC or anywhere else. I am a PDP man and I believe in party supremacy. At the end of the day, PDP will have the last say. My fate is tied to PDP and not to any other political party.<br /> <strong><em>Recall that in 2011, the opposi­tion gave the PDP a tough battle. With the likelihood of some aspi­rants kicking against the out­come of the yet to be conducted primaries, do you foresee a mass exodus to the APC in Akwa Ibom state? </em></strong><br /> In 2011, the opposition did not almost take over the state. The results of the elec­tions are there for the whole world to see. Even when the opposition went to court to challenge the outcome of the election, it was judicially pronounced that we won. You can check the result. PDP had well over 85 per cent of the votes. We did not have any challenge. I do not think it is true that the opposition almost took over. It was the me­dia that created that situation. I remember when I used to read analysis about the elec­tions, they would say Akwa Ibom too close to call. There was nothing like too close to call in Akwa Ibom. The results of the elec­tions will show you that. Now, to the other issue, the only thing that makes politicians angry and move to another party is where they feel that the processes leading to the primaries were not transparent. Which is why it is very important that the national working committee of the PDP took the decision they took today. If any aspirant feels that the process was manipulated by anybody both at the national or state, they will go away. Then you have no control over what people will do in such a compromising situation. My take on this is that, it is very important that the PDP ensures there is a transparent and fair primaries conducted in Akwa Ibom state. They must ensure that the process is not hijacked to favour anybody. Once that happens, I can assure you that there will be no issue about anybody leav­ing the party. Having said that, I would not say that I am not unaware that the APC is already counting Akwa Ibom as one of the states they will win in the forthcoming elec­tions. They believe that the PDP will not have the capacity and the will to enforce a transparent process during the prima­ries. They believe that the PDP will allow the governor to have his way. Once that happens, the people will be so angry and they now want to move to the opposition. I have news for them. They need to think of other strategies. The PDP under Muazu is not going to do that. It is committed to a transparent and credible primaries. I can as­sure you that members of the party will not be aggrieved enough to want to leave the party. Once the thing is done and you can see that you have failed, there is no prob­lem. You congratulate the winner. Politics is not a do-or-die affair thing. You can only lead a people if they want you to lead them. In a free and transparent process, whoever emerges is who the people want.<br /> <strong><em>What do you think the Jona­than administration has done to warrant a second term? Akwa Ibom runs some kind of free ed­ucation. I do not believe educa­tion can be free. Going into the future, can Akwa Ibom afford to pay and sustain that policy? </em></strong><br /> First of all, I believe education is key to development. At the level that we are as a country and as a people, government must continue to invest massively in the educa­tion of its people. The world is changing. We must also understand that it is time to mod­ify and adjust the curriculum to meet with the changing needs of the emerging new world. Our children must be given the kind of education that they need in order to com­pete in this modern world. Coming from that premise, I believe the next administra­tion in Akwa Ibom state must sustain the free education policy. As a matter of fact, they should go a step further to rejuvenate it in line with the new realities. It is a social responsibility of government to educate its citizens. We will continue to make that sac­rifice so that we can train and educate our children.<br /> On President Goodluck Jonathan, I thank the PDP national working committee for adopting the president as the sole candidate in the forthcoming presidential election. This shows to me that our democracy is evolving. It shows that our democracy is be­ginning to come of age. In other advanced countries of the world, you know that when you have an incumbent who is still eligible to go for reelection, they usually get auto­matic ticket. For Nigeria to begin to import that into our political system, it is a togo development. I applaud the party. Mr Presi­dent has put in a place a very robust trans­formation programme for the country. I tell people that the problems of Nigeria did not happen over night. These are problems that had arisen out of years of several neglects and failure to plan. The transformation pro­gramme the president has put in place has the capacity to change things for this coun­try positively. Nigerians must learn to be pa­tient for the results of this efforts to begin to manifest. It will not happen over night. There are several sectors this administra­tion has addressed. We talked about power few minutes ago. Power is one of the issues Mr President is working on. Today, we now have a private sector that is involved in the generation and distribution of electricity. I have a personal conviction that the private sector will be involved in the transmission of power very soon. Just like GSM revolu­tion that happened during Obasanjo! I have this strong conviction that before the end of this administration after the next four years, our power sector would have been totally transformed. Nigeria would have been able to generate, transmit and distribute enough electricity to meet our needs. There are other areas. Look at agriculture. You could see that these things that have got to be sustained. That is why we do not need to change a winning team. What Nigerians need to do is to give them support. Be pa­tient do that we can collectively reap the good works of Mr President.<br /> <strong><em>If elected today, what would be the most pressing thing you will do within the first two weeks? </em></strong><br /> I believe in a comprehensive approach to tackling issues. I do not believe in a fire brigade approach. I am determined to lead Akwa Ibom state to run a very transpar­ent and efficient government and involve professionals. Let government be run like a business. You run a lean and efficient ad­ministration. I will tackle the issue of cor­ruption and block waste in governance so that we can deliver on the mandate given to us by the people.<br /> </div>

My vision is to build Akwa Ibom’s private sector –Nsima Ekere

Immediate past Deputy Gov­ernor of Akwa Ibom State Nsima Ekere, is one of many political heavyweights jostling for the ticket of the rulin...

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2015: Ekweremadu and Enugu West senatorial return ticket

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ekweremadu-senate" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="336" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ekweremadu-senate.jpg" title="2015: Ekweremadu and Enugu West senatorial return ticket" width="537" />The Enugu West senatorial position is one sure battle ground ahead of the 2015 general elections especially in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP where the incumbent senator Ike Ekweremadu will go head-to-head against Governor Sul­livan Chime for the party ticket.</div><a name="more"></a><br /><br /><div class="post-content description " itemprop="articleBody"> The governor who had before now told his close associates that he was retiring from active politics after his eight years in office suddenly made a u-turn declaring his intention to go to the senate. The action is viewed in some quarters as being targeted at the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who had overnight turned a po­litical foe.<br /> The governor also zoned the governorship po­sition to Enugu North Zone and at the same time declaring that all the members of the National As­sembly from the state who have served up to two tenures should step aside.<br /> By the zoning Ekweremadu had been fore­closed from contesting the governorship position and at the same time stopped from returning to the senate. Thus, former Governor of old Anam­bra State Senator Jim Nwobodo and former Sen­ate President Ken Nnamani reportedly told the governor at a peace meeting in Abuja that it will not be fair to stop the vibrant senator from con­testing for governor and at the same time fore­closing his return to the senate.<br /> Ekweremadu had challenged the governor’s pronouncements arguing that he lacks the pow­ers to take such unilateral decision without con­sulting major stakeholders of the party in the state. All efforts to reconcile the two leaders have so far failed setting the stage for one of the biggest clashes in the history of Enugu politics.<br /> While not underrating the powers of the gov­ernor as the leader of the party in the state and the advantage of controlling the party machinery in the state it is worth highlighting what Governor Chime will be coming up against in the contest with Ekweremadu.<br /> The deputy president of the senate has set a record which will be difficult to match and which no other legislator in the South East has ever at­tempted. He has touched the lives of his people through his Ikeoha foundation, he has provided affordable education to his people and above all he has transformed the entire Enugu West Zone which he represents with good roads, water and electricity.<br /> Beyond his zone Ekweremadeu extended his scholarships, bursary and even infrastructural de­velopment to other zones of the state creating ini­tial fears that he was angling for the governorship position. His goodwill has thus become a threat to his political adversaries as we march towards the 2015 elections.<br /> The first asphalted road and erosion control site from Nkwoagu to Uwani Amokwe in Udi Lo­cal Government Area home of Governor Chime was attracted by Ekweremadu in 2010. The solar plant and street light at Udi station, the exit water scheme project at Udi, Enugwu Obinagu road and erosion control site, Umuavulu Abor Erosion control project, Oji/Udi 33kv feeder, the construc­tion of classroom blocks with furniture and VIP toilet at Community High School, Amokwe , were done by Ekweremadu.<br /> The construction and equipping of library cen­tre at Community High School, Ukana; supply of basic drugs to Udi Health Center; the Umuabi bye pass road, which is ongoing; the Enugu Umuabi water project; multi million Naira National Youth Development Center at Ngwo Asaa are all projects attracted by Senator Ekweremadu to the governors’ Udi Local Government alone.<br /> Before he came on board, it was repotrted that there was no single kilometer of asphalt road in Aninri LGA but today, all major roads within Aninri and environ and other LGAs in Enugu West have either been asphalted or being asphalted. Among these roads is the hitherto dreaded N12 billion Nenwe-Oduma-Uburu Road project for which the people gave him a chieftaincy title.<br /> Also, there was no water scheme in Enugu until the deputy senate president attracted the N12 billion Ivo multipurpose Dam Project, which will take water to every nook and cranny of Aninri/ Awgu and environ and service year-round agri­culture and power supply to Enugu.<br /> Although water servicing Enugu city comes from Oji River, Oji River itself has no water scheme. The Senator attracted the multibillion naira Greater Oji-River Water Project to supply water to Oji River, Udi and environ. Feasibility studies have been concluded and it will soon be awarded.<br /> The governor’s kinsmen themselves stirred the hornets’ nest when recently they adopted the senator as their candidate for the Enugu West senatorial position.<br /> The people under the Umuneke Progressive Front, the premier socio-political body comprising all the communities in the Governor’s clan said Ekweremadu is the better candidate for the zone.<br /> President of the group Hon. Emeka Aneke told newsmen in an interview that his people only ex­ercised their democratic right by endorsing the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu for Enugu West senatorial seat come 2015.<br /> According to him, “the central issue here is about service delivery to the people by Enugu State Government under Sullivan Chime and the performance of Senator Ike Ekweremadu within the context of the hopes and expectations of the people of Udi Local Government Area and Enugu West Senatorial District.<br /> “Let us address the issues of service delivery, good governance and social justice for the people without playing politics of bitterness, rancor and character assassination. But if denying the people their rights of electoral choices, free assembly and speech, is the purpose, and how they want to push their candidature through, then it is unfortu­nate because the masses will refuse to be intimi­dated or taken for a ride.<br /> “The issue here is not about fraternity with Chime, but about social justice. And we are poised to subordinate these pretenses to demo­cratic imperatives in 2015.”<br /> He noted that “Chime’s administration has completed 596.6 kilometers of roads since 2007, some with the support of international develop­ment agencies. Out of this, only 132.4 kilometers of roads were constructed or resurfaced in Enugu West Senatorial district while 464.2 km of roads were constructed at Enugu North and Enugu East senatorial districts.”<br /> Through his Ikeoha Foundation Ekweremadu has established and operating 24 Adult Literacy Centres, providing basic education to over 5, 000 adult learners in his constituency. The Adult Liter­acy Programme is one of the cardinal approaches through which Ikeoha Foundation fulfills its mis­sion of Building People and Empowering Com­munities by reintegrating adult women and men who before now did not have the opportunity of formal education into mainstream social and po­litical activities of their communities by providing them the platform for formal education.<br /> Also, the Ikeoha Foundation Scholarship/Bur­sary Scheme, has been designed as a lifeline, by way of cash and material awards to brilliant, well behaved indigent students in Enugu West Sena­torial Zone as well as Igboeze North and Enugu North LGAs, to enable them graduate in their cho­sen courses of study.<br /> The Ikeoha Scholarship and Award has also gone a step higher in 2014 by commencing full scholarship, starting from 2012/2013 academic session, in addition to its annual bursary awards of N30, 000 each.<br /> While some State Governments were offering their qualified students scholarship in the range of 60,000 each, Ikeoha Foundation awards deserv­ing students the whooping sum of N500, 000 each to help see them through in their educational pursuits.<br /> A breakdown of the N22.350 million disbursed this year as scholarship and bursary grants to 525 students from the five LGAs that make up the Enugu West Senatorial District as well as Igboeze North and Enugu North LGAs, shows that 25 students got N500, 000 as Scholarship awards, while 83 students each from the five LGA’s in Enugu West Senatorial District as well as 80 stu­dents from Enugu North and Igboeze North got N30.000 each as bursary awards.<br /> At the last count Ekweremadu has attracted 39 projects to Aninri local government, 36 proj­ects in Awgu, 21 in Ezeagu, 34 projects in Oji- River L.G.A, and 24 projects in the governor’s Udi council area. He further attracted 31 projects to the South East as a zone.<br /> A breakdown of the projects which was re­cently made public was challenged from some quarters prompting an investigation into the au­thenticity of the claims.<br /> For instance, an inquiry into the allegation that a library project in Ugbo, Awgu LGA was fake, showed that what was proposed for the commu­nity was a Library/ICT Centre project. However, the community was said to have preferred an ICT Centre during final consultations. This was reflect­ed in the revised edition of the booklet cataloguing Ekweremadu’s projects.<br /> “You could only have alleged phantom project or fraud if the projects both ICT Centre and Li­brary project were listed as different items in the first version of the booklet”, Engr. Bethel Onyenyiri, Special Adviser on Projects to the Deputy Presi­dent of the Senate on Public Affairs stated.<br /> “And if out of 168 projects, some detractors are contesting about 1%, which your investiga­tions will portray the true picture, it is left for the public to judge whether we have done well or not”, Onyenyiri added.<br /> At Ugbo the projects found to have been at­tracted by Ekweremadu include as­phalt roads, rural electrification, PHCN Service Station, solar street lighting, Ugbo dam project and water scheme.<br /> At Awene Olo -Mgbagbuowa (Ero­sion control/Road construction proj­ect) Ezeagu L.G.A it was discovered that contrary to claims by a report, the road leading to the present Chairman of Enugu State council of Traditional rulers H.R.H Igwe (Amb) Agubuzor was funded in 2013 and the contrac­tor, DODOCANAL ASSOCIATE LIMITED was working. The community also said they had since visited Ekwer­emadu to thank him.<br /> It was also Ekweremadu who way back in August 2011 raised the alarm that the Niger Bridge was at the brink of collapse.<br /> Senator Ekweremadu said this dur­ing a visit to the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Works in Abuja where he was received by the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen; the Minister of State, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda and the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Tukur Ingawa.<br /> Senator Ekweremadu who also called for the rehabilitation of roads in the zone reiterated that the Niger Bridge had become a great challenge to the people of the South-east and the entire Nigerians due to its strategic place in the nation’s life. He therefore stressed the need to, not only fix it immediately, but also to take steps to urgently get the second Niger Bridge in place as promised by the president during the electioneering campaign.<br /> Furthermore the actualisation of the Enugu Airport dream has been described as a testimony of the qual­ity leadership, synergy, and legislative masterstroke on the part of Sena­tor Ekweremadu and the South East Caucus of the 6th National Assembly, NASS, which opened the request with a letter to President Yar’Adua signed by Senator Ekweremadu on behalf of the rest. Thus, the Caucus, with the Deputy President of Senate in the driver’s seat, began the legislative diplomatic rounds to the Villa to drive the dream. The meetings were fruitful from the outset as President Yar’Adua was said to be seriously touched over the absence of an international airport in the South East.<br /> A first class traditional ruler from the Enugu North Zone Igwe Spencer Ug­woke had this to say about the Deputy president of the senate; “Yes, it is a fact. Senator Ike Ekweremadu has laid a very good foundation for others to em­ulate. He has not been to my palace. I learnt he has been to my community five or six times. He is constructing a road, a very big road. He is drilling a borehole in a village in my domain and he is from Enugu West doing such things in my domain. We need to clap for him because I have also a Senator who is not doing the same. He hasn’t done so for Enugu North, let alone go­ing outside the senatorial zone. I was reading newspaper yesterday that he is to construct a road in Igboeze North to Odoro, from Odoro to Kogi.<br /> Have you finished the one in your lo­cal government where you come from?<br /> “I praise Ekweremadu for that. In fact, I am looking for an opportunity to see him face to face as the scriptures say “show forth thy blessings, not only in your lips but in your lives. In fact, there is need for the community to show that what he is doing here is sincerely and earnestly appreciated.<br /> Just as I mentioned Ekweremadu, people will say he is my man. But ev­erybody is my man. Go and see what Ekweremadu is doing in his zone. I tell you that I and my cabinet will be going there. I have not told him that I will be coming because I am equal to the task of doing that myself. I and my cabinet will go there and worship at the Angli­can Church he built. That is a legacy that will last forever. We are very proud of Ekweremadu. We are proud of what he is doing at the National Assembly.”<br /> From the foregoing, coupled with his relevance to the presidency and better acceptance in the party at the national level it is evident that Ekweremadu will not be easily overrun no matter who is involved.<br /> He rather appears to have an edge going into the primary having proved to be a better and more loyal party man than his opponent. Also while Chime is elitist in nature, Ekweremadu is a proven grassroots operator who can come down to meet the people at the base.<br /> Ekweremadu must also have started earlier to prepare for the battle ahead reaching out and touching the lives of so many while the governor is just beginning to reach out to the people; Ekweremadu has been into it since 1997 when he founded the Ikeoha Foundation.<br /> More so, while Chime has not done any State government project in Aninri LGA where Ekweremadu hails from, Ekweremadu has attracted over 22 de­velopment projects to Udi LGA, includ­ing the governor’s hometown.<br /> Decrying what he described as the ‘perilous political times in Enugu,’ Ekweremadu recently remarked; “I know the time we have found our­selves in. We know all the intimidation and harassment going on, but I would like to assure you that as it is written in the book of Psalm, ‘a thousand will fall by your left and ten thousand at your right hand, but they will never come near you. Only with your eyes will you see the fall of the wicked.’ As I keep say­ing, in matters of right and wrong, good will never be neutral. So, God is with us in this journey.”<br /> </div>

2015: Ekweremadu and Enugu West senatorial return ticket

The Enugu West senatorial position is one sure battle ground ahead of the 2015 general elections especially in the Peoples Democratic Part...

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2015: Jonathan can’t win North –Junaid Mohammed

<img alt="junaid" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="300" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/junaid.jpg" title="2015: Jonathan can’t win North –Junaid Mohammed" width="612" />Second Republic federal law­maker and a Kano State dele­gate to the just-concluded Na­tional Conference, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has declared that there was nothing on ground to show that President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the PDP, could win the North, in next year’s presidential contest.<br /><a name="more"></a><br /> This is just as he declared that should the President and his party decide to rig the election, there would be violence of greater magnitude than what was wit­nessed after the 2011 presidential contest, in some parts of the North.<br /> He made the declarations in a chat with Sunday Sun, last Thursday, from his Kano base.<br /> Even though he restated that Sheikh Abubakar Gumi’s warning to Jonathan was not new, since he (Mohammed) and other Nigerians had given similar warn­ings in the past, the Russian-trained medi­cal doctor, however, believed that the cleric, was too “loud mouthed” to have dabbled into political issues, an area the Kano-born politician believed, he (Gumi) was not sufficiently schooled.<br /> Hitting hard on Gumi, for daring to write an open letter to General Buhari (retd), not to run, the former federal law­maker said: “I don’t know what his basis was for that, because here is a man, who was outstanding in his military career, un­like Gumi, who joined the army and de­serted. If not in Nigeria, the likes of Gumi, should have been tied to the stake and shot dead, for deserting the army. I think he should keep his mouth shut. It was ir­responsible of him to have done that.<br /> “Let me also warn that some of these big mouth clerics, like Gumi, should be wary of going into the field of politicians. I say so because sometimes, they tend to speak on behalf of the enemies of Nige­ria, who are outside the country. We do know some of them have links with the Wahabis in Kuwait and the Saudi Arabia government. And we know the sinister motives of the Saudi in financing some Islamic groups in the country. There is also the tendency for the Christian com­munity in Nigeria to read meanings into some of their utterances. Therefore, they must learn how to shut up their big mouths. Who is Gumi, apart from be­ing the son of his late father? Everybody is the son of his father after all? What is his pedigree? He is not a politician, he does not know politics, and therefore, he should keep his big mouth shut. Except if they are working for external forces, who are enemies of Nigeria. Otherwise, he has no business in politics, because he does not know it.”<br /> He also described Tambu­wal’s defection as a clear signal that the North was not with Jonathan and the PDP. He also spoke on other issues of na­tional interest.<br /> Excerpts:<br /> <strong><em>What do you make of the warning to Jona­than by Sheikh Gumi not to run for the Pres­idency next year? </em></strong><br /> I think it is important to learn how to identify and isolate the messenger from the message. Gumi is merely repeating what Nigerians, who are interested in the unity of this country, have been warning against. It is what everybody knows. There­fore, it is incumbent upon us to separate the message from the messenger.<br /> The crux of his letter to Jon­athan is not new. Recall that I said it last year, in my interview with you. With the way the man (Jonathan) is going, if he insists on running, he would just throw the country into avoidable mayhem.<br /> Mark my words, it is not because there is anything to fear about Jonathan run­ning, but because there is everything to fear about his act of willful irresponsibil­ity. He cannot win a free and fair election. And to that extent, he is likely to impose himself on the country. And once that happens, then, you cannot wish away the specter of violence.<br /> <strong><em>Why in your own view do you think there will be violence in the country, if Jonathan runs?</em></strong><br /> A man that has not performed well in office, but who is insisting he must con­tinue in office, simply because he feels he can circumvent whatever law that may pose obstacle to his running, is calling for nothing else but mayhem and violence. I repeat, if the PDP and Jonathan impose themselves on Nigerians, there will be bloodshed. I have said it before last year, and I am repeating it.<br /> <strong><em>But the same Gumi has also advised Buhari not to run. What do you make of that?</em></strong><br /> I don’t know what his basis was for that, because here is a man, who was outstand­ing in his military career, unlike Gumi, who joined the army and deserted. If not in Nigeria, the likes of Gumi, should have been tied to the stake and shot dead, for deserting the army. I think he should keep his mouth shut. It was irresponsible of him to have done that.<br /> Let me also warn that some of these big mouth clerics, like Gumi, should be wary of going into the field of politicians. I say so because sometimes, they tend to speak on behalf of the enemies of Nigeria, who are outside the country. We do know some of them have links with the Wahabis in Kuwait and the Saudi Arabia government. And we know the sinister motives of the Saudi in financing some Islamic groups in the country. There is also the tendency for the Christian community in Nigeria to read meanings into some of their utter­ances. Therefore, they must learn how to shut up their big mouths. Who is Gumi, apart from being the son of his late fa­ther? Everybody is the son of his father after all? What is his pedigree? He is not a politician, he does not know politics, and therefore, he should keep his big mouth shut. Except if they are working for ex­ternal forces, who are enemies of Nigeria. Otherwise, he has no business in politics, because he does not know it.<br /> <strong><em>If we take to Gumi’s advice, who should then run?</em></strong><br /> Well, I think, that question should be reserved for Gumi. He should tell us who and why. The question should be for him really.<br /> <strong><em>Well, he suggested Akpabio and another governor. What is your take on that?</em></strong><br /> There you go again! I am aware some of them have been giving gifts to people in the North, including clerics. I am sure Gumi, is one of those benefitting from such largesse. Otherwise, what will be his basis for such a suggestion? It is not the business of Gumi to do that.<br /> <strong><em>In that case, why are you in­sisting that Jonathan should not run?</em></strong><br /> Mind you, it is not about me, but about Nigerians. I am not the only Nigerian, say­ing he should not run, in the interest of Ni­geria. From the South-South, South-East, South-West and the North, the message is loud and clear.<br /> In the case of Jonathan, he and his party have a pact with Nigeria, on the issue of power sharing. But that pact has been vio­lated. Apart from that there are other legal encumbrances, surrounding his candida­ture. Once he declares, people will go to court and raise the issues. And where they manipulate the Judiciary again to get what they want and force their way, then the specter of violence is very much around.<br /> <strong><em>This violence you are talking about, who will precipitate it?</em></strong><br /> In our interview last year, you know I said it. It could be spontaneous. And it could also be by those who feel aggrieved and shortchanged, and see the Judiciary as corrupt and one incapable of delivering justice and fairness.<br /> Recall what happened in Kaduna in 2011, it was spontaneous. And I see one, worse than that in 2015, should Jonathan and his party impose themselves on Nige­rians and Nigeria.<br /> <strong><em>But TankoYakassai, thinks otherwise about Jonathan’s candidacy….</em></strong><br /> (Cuts in) I have nothing, other than contempt for Tanko Yakassai. He is an op­portunist and mercenary per excellence. All he brings to whatever party he belongs to, is crisis. In the 60’s when I was in court with my uncle, Yakassai burnt down the headquarters of the NEPU he belonged to. He has nothing to offer. He can’t win anywhere in Kano. He can’t even speak for Kano, because he is not a Kano man.<br /> <strong><em>Are you sure of your facts?</em></strong><br /> Let him challenge me. He is a Chamba from north Cameroon. He is not even a Jukun, Kano is populated by Hausa and Fulani. He is neither Hausa, nor Fulani. So how can he claim to come from Kano? At any rate, he is of no political value, anywhere in the North, not even in Kano, where he is claiming. So any one relying on him is just wasting his time. He is a per­petual mercenary.<br /> <strong><em>The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tambuwal, was formally welcomed to the opposition party, the APC, last Wednesday. What does it por­tend for the country’s politics?</em></strong><br /> Well, it merely confirms the trend we all know.<br /> <strong><em>And what is that trend?</em></strong><br /> That the North is not with Jonathan, he can’t win election in Kano, Sokoto, Kadu­na or anywhere in the North for that mat­ter. He can’t win the election. So the best thing is to avoid him and his party. The PDP can’t win the North. And if they rig, there will be violence.<br /> <strong><em>So what is your advice to Nigerians, as the country ap­proaches another round of general election?</em></strong><br /> They must tell the PDP and Jonathan in no uncertain terms the consequences that will befall Nigeria, if he (Jonathan) insists on running.<br /> <strong><em>And if he (Jonathan) fails to heed the call, what happens?</em></strong><br /> Anything can happen. And when the time comes, let’s see the role characters like Tanko, would play. But there must be a price to pay for plunging the country into avoidable bloodshed.

2015: Jonathan can’t win North –Junaid Mohammed

Second Republic federal law­maker and a Kano State dele­gate to the just-concluded Na­tional Conference, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has declared ...

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South Africa mourns Meyiwa

<div class="post-content description " itemprop="articleBody"> <img alt="meyiwa" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="336" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/meyiwa-526x336.jpg" title="South Africa mourns Meyiwa" width="526" />Tens of thousands of people have at­tended the funeral of South African football captain Senzo Meyiwa in Durban. Meyiwa, 27, was shot on Sunday, apparently after burglars entered his girlfriend’s house near Johannesburg.<br /><a name="more"></a><br /> A suspect appeared in court on Friday and was charged with the murder of the popular goalkeeper. Meyiwa’s death shocked South Africa and has highlighted the high rates of violent crime in the country.<br /> The funeral took place at the Moses Mabhida Sta­dium in Meyiwa’s home­  town of Durban. Many of the mourners were wearing T-shirts with a picture of Meyiwa, who was widely seen as an inspiring figure.<br /> Others wore red or black replica football shirts in the colours of Meyiwa’s team, Orlando Pirates. Meyiwa’s coffin was driven into the stadium, followed by Orlando Pirates players and of­ficials. Mourners cried as vid­eos were played showing Meyiwa training and playing football.<br /> Following Meyiwa’s death, South Africa’s domestic football league postponed this week­end’s scheduled Johan­nesburg derby between Orlando Pirates and rivals Kaiser Chiefs.<br /> The Durban stadium was also named as the venue for host South Africa’s next Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.<br /> </div>

South Africa mourns Meyiwa

Tens of thousands of people have at­tended the funeral of South African football captain Senzo Meyiwa in Durban. Meyi...

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Peter Okoye supports entertainers going intopolitics

<center><img border="0" height="300" src=" https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin_7VUS093Bb9aXAqJNJcynWbYkEgwjsAQKgFTUMagxJTOAuXAdamRGl_BOjQVp7SJDOJUt5edulfgXYWchQUAaNjCjad1ynwoDkyYsox-7PR9FjtBw3hPeNnz0-WMGaotOVdUMp9Ex8tg/s280/1.png " width="250"> </a></center><br/><center><img border="0" height="60" src=" https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1f-rvxIZHkYzatVWjYBr2VHCOfPM2_R3sgnHR8C5IDAyXAJtR-W8yM8hAqA1SZ455jdL-NjNnyiwyx2r5nzMnWmUfVLu5noum1asTJmn3cdLgaAdmGt9r-rokVi6IICWSL_iY4QXJAP42/s1600/0.png " width="250"> </a></center>

Peter Okoye supports entertainers going intopolitics

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Kalu commends return of Keshi, Ike Uche

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="orji-kalu2" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="191" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/orji-kalu2-702x336.jpg" title="Kalu commends return of Keshi, Ike Uche" width="400" />Pillar of Sports and former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu has applaud­ed President Jonathan and other well meaning Nigerians who ensured the return of Stephen Keshi as Super Eagles Coach. In the past few days, there had been controver­sies over Keshi’s sack by Nigeria Football Federation.</div><a name="more"></a><br /><br /><div class="post-content description " itemprop="articleBody"> Kalu who made the remarks stated that in the interest of Nigeria football, it is just right for Keshi to manage and see the Super Eagles team through the remaining two qualifying matches.<br /> He said,” I salute Mr. President and NFF’s decision to return Keshi. It is timely considering the on go­ing African Nations Cup qualifying matches.” The return of Ike Uche by Keshi shows that the national team is set for business.<br /> Keshi has been able to forget the past and he is now focusing on the future. I am indeed glad that Ike Uche is back on the field.” The for­mer governor admonished Keshi to remain friendly with his players as the team will go places if there is peace among the players...post by expdonaloaded<br /> </div>

Kalu commends return of Keshi, Ike Uche

Pillar of Sports and former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu has applaud­ed President Jonathan and other well meaning Nigerians who e...

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Le Roy to Eagles: Forget AFCON 2015

<img alt="Stephen-Keshi" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="336" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Stephen-Keshi-580x336.jpg" title="Le Roy to Eagles: Forget AFCON 2015" width="580" />Congo Brazzaville Chief Coach, Claude Le Roy has a message for returnee Super Eagles Manager, Stephen Keshi , and that is, that the Big Boss should forget the Morocco 2015 Cup of Nations.<br /><a name="more"></a><br /> It is recalled that Le Roy, led the Red Devils as the Congolese national team is known to beat the Eagles in the first leg of the AFCON qualifiers at the UJ Esuene Stadium Calabar in September, a victory that has put his team in good stead to pick one of the group’ s ticket ahead of Nigeria.<br /> Le Roy, is confident that his team will not lose to Nigeria when they host the Super Eagles November15 in Pointe Noire .<br /> Nigeria had a poor start to the qualifi­ers and only recorded their first win after three matches ( a loss at home, a draw with South Africa and an away loss to Sudan) beating the Falcons of Sudan 3-1 in Abuja, the Eagles are now in a must win situation to stand a chance of defend­ing the tittle they won in 2013 but Claude Le Roy has said he’ll complete a double over. Nigeria.<br /> The Red Devils coach, Le Roy told Radio France International that Congo will beat Nigeria and qualify the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco...post by expdonaloaded

Le Roy to Eagles: Forget AFCON 2015

Congo Brazzaville Chief Coach, Claude Le Roy has a message for returnee Super Eagles Manager, Stephen Keshi , and that is, that the Big Bo...

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Photos: Check out Adaeze Yobo's sexy Halloween outfit

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGuwoUuwtBQq8hrRRDQkK9jdO__jtUjL-vx19fgJM9iZ8C6nbwBvHKA2Nqk74lzD9TckWvR5zEMd6Xt6o6ZzUCcADehZ6drmA3zw_VIvfwuSq3AB05oxjP4hX6U1KfT5NJIw5XwizcXJtJ/s1600/unnamed.png" /><a name="more"></a></div>Sexy mama!

Photos: Check out Adaeze Yobo's sexy Halloween outfit

Sexy mama!

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Photos: What Uche Jombo & Ruth Kadiri wore to movie premiere in NYC

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vRiMsqn0mWHs7JxeBj_eKUuRXe_8i1OcLBLGcHrhg-uhLlykv6jCHvePikrFxTpdcA-EVpOCPb0mvzZ0Jce5lNs1t5eLt0Rpa-YfhvunBlB9gML2fhH5Eh7yMytgE8Hs1tTCJthCCtCx/s1600/0.jpg" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXB92CNUEayNw8cGAGRWbgsH46mmSz-iqu7TXwbtPyDndJBbXZISG11N2lrqpfrUp4YXytN8y87oKggGZTNl8drZkIW01z9970D4T-V7jH8BUfS8z4uXO5HEZfgqwrbro4SR-Hv9beruoC/s1600/1.jpg" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirjjLSQel9-xacpSimbJ31Ro026V7MBf7OfdJcf1ovzLYQjvkNW7EQL_z6gxqwCN4ffK-a3Oo0mHV5QrXSZQZTLicIAwkeIzBxbyZfSlMisqO7BYG1AsolfYbhfX2erRELcYDotieUUBt8/s1600/4.jpg" /><a name="more"></a></div>This is what actresses Uche Jombo Rodriquez and Ruth Kadiri wore to the premiere of Folly in New York City last night. See more photos after the cut...<br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vRiMsqn0mWHs7JxeBj_eKUuRXe_8i1OcLBLGcHrhg-uhLlykv6jCHvePikrFxTpdcA-EVpOCPb0mvzZ0Jce5lNs1t5eLt0Rpa-YfhvunBlB9gML2fhH5Eh7yMytgE8Hs1tTCJthCCtCx/s1600/0.jpg" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRgduKI8Fx_Qr0XavXbUTNDMl0ayxEOkJr7gt8KS6kmD-JITWFtI1fKVHvyUBVreFXp29Yd5YDfdpAE42dxo_zN5cLlVwU5yLF6yyp7c4o_uR7VpzwCqk-fKQfGMSDrAbYtd0tAnPZJ_J/s1600/5.jpg" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjro2d3sfH4ziWMM54AM0SBxosyMOoKw4Q0DX9zfhfAzcZ9iC-LAi0NV2cHYsz-qv7JnlFt10O85SVjemBcpXpfN-BWpbxz9OJgDB-Eu75L_kCMSlGtSdT98vBXqKeUw1GD15MES23uCIye/s1600/3.jpg" /></div>post by expdonaloaded

Photos: What Uche Jombo & Ruth Kadiri wore to movie premiere in NYC

This is what actresses Uche Jombo Rodriquez and Ruth Kadiri wore to the premiere of Folly in New York City last night. See more photos afte...

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Chris Brown and Karrueche expecting a child?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGu0mf3Ao4wiN7GSYu74-fPlGm-f50VFwonc8Mg1I_kCEL0bMecFlq4A7ykuWt1zhf5lQDL-363vRc03s6S44SKxJ2Nucb0MCsOe8Y1DxucuGStpcStW8eHRQKdk4Vk5A2Z83B4XE3Y8eb/s1600/2.png" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiap81zXkAwD2jmwSlV_LX7PDq2v8rz4IVhOeRLuBqchyphenhyphenjQ9E82zsuCMtDOgmgIXjZtNoOleuMzhMoCWTn1u2guUAx9g9saJcvzAaDvJR8jXHLICA5nf7vI0ExoWlWa57e2BwlwC1tUGSpL/s1600/0.png" /><a name="more"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgg48ELR5dSjpqGdlILIaI3U4lXzKAELS7oqzv0A8CKFh75iLpfmxHJTeHgSZQ9Q6PZ6MNEqlskKRASOM9vAzbB9BKQTPzL8iBQ6NNLAlqPegtS2JnSyOvJV1aLIdvBhpr2z-EJRDNV4G/s1600/3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgg48ELR5dSjpqGdlILIaI3U4lXzKAELS7oqzv0A8CKFh75iLpfmxHJTeHgSZQ9Q6PZ6MNEqlskKRASOM9vAzbB9BKQTPzL8iBQ6NNLAlqPegtS2JnSyOvJV1aLIdvBhpr2z-EJRDNV4G/s1600/3.png" /></a></div>There have been rumours since September that Karrueche and Chris Brown are expecting a baby, and the rumour went into overdrive last night after Chris Brown's friend 'Wack$tar' posted the pic above on instagram with his hands on Karrueche's stomach and said he hoped it was a boy. Time will tell if she's truly pregnant. I doubt this is the way they'd want to announce it though...<br /><br />Meanwhile, check out Chris and Karrueche's funny Halloween costume after the cut..<br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGu0mf3Ao4wiN7GSYu74-fPlGm-f50VFwonc8Mg1I_kCEL0bMecFlq4A7ykuWt1zhf5lQDL-363vRc03s6S44SKxJ2Nucb0MCsOe8Y1DxucuGStpcStW8eHRQKdk4Vk5A2Z83B4XE3Y8eb/s1600/2.png" /></div>post by expdonaloaded

Chris Brown and Karrueche expecting a child?

There have been rumours since September that Karrueche and Chris Brown are expecting a baby, and the rumour went into overdrive last night ...

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