Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016—33
Odubu: I never chased away APC delegates at Fugar —Akhigbe By Simon Ebegbulem
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ENIN—A chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, and Senior Special Assistant, Protocol, to Edo State Government, Chief John Akhigbe, has described as untrue, an allegation by the campaign organisation of the deputy governor of the state, Dr Pius Odubu, that he chased away APC delegates who were meant to meet with the deputy governor at Fugar, Etsako Central Local Government Area of the state. Saying that most of the allegations made by Odubu's campaign organisation were fabricated, he said: "God will expose the lies being told about some of us following the Auchi incident,” adding that the police must investigate the allegations made by Odubu’s campaign organisation in the interest of the general public. According to him, “I am not a lunatic that will be chasing people away. I was not even in Fugar when the incident happened as I was in far away Udaba. I was at Udaba attending the burial ceremony of Damien’s grandmother. He is the member representing us in the state House of Assembly.
“In fact, I was at Udaba when the deputy governor and even Samson Osagie came for the burial. I was surprised to see my name in the papers that I prevented them from entering the party’s secretariat when I am not a party executive. I have no access to the delegates, so
I wonder why I will chase away people I have no control over. “The allegation is just a figment of their imagination. I don’t know how somebody who does not have the keys of the secretariat can order the locking up of the secretariat in Fugar. In fact,
I saw the deputy governor at Udaba and we greeted. Samson Osagie who alleged that at his press conference sat with me at Udaba and we exchanged pleasantries, so I wonder why they went back to say things that are false against me. That is unfair fair.”
VISIT: From left: John Stoddart, musical director; Kirk Whalum, gospel artiste; Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Senior Pastor, Trinity House; and Earl Stone, manager, during the recent visit and performance by Whalum at Trinity House in Lagos.
Utomi, others make case for national devt goals By Jimitota Onoyume
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ORT HARCOURT— PROFESSOR Pat Utomi has called for an organised drive towards achieving the nation’s development goals. Utomi, who spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Repositioning Universities as Drivers of National Industrial Development, at an event to mark the retirement of Professor Anthony Arinze from active service at the University of Port Harcourt, said it was time the nation constructed a system to move from the point of misery and underdevelopment. He said that the nation should evolve a clear national strategic plan with appreciable focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
According to him, weak institutions were largely responsible for failures in Africa, noting that sound leadership has the capacity to change the country and the African continent. Utomi who made reference to Singapore, said its development history could also be applied to achieve
similar feat in Nigeria. He said it was sad that a nation that was producing 5,000 megawatts of electricity under the tenure of former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon in the 70s, has suddenly dropped to below 2,000 megawatts about four decades after, noting that the foregoing was a reflection of
A-Ibom govt clamps down on illegal motor parks
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By Tom Moses
YO—AKWA Ibom State Government has frowned at the irresponsible conduct of commercial vehicle touts across the state, stating that it intends to set up the Akwa Ibom State Road Transport Marshall Unit in the state’s Ministry of Transport
to check the activities of touts. Equally, the state government has declared war on illegal motor park operations so as to bring to an end, the activities of hoodlums who use such motor parks as hideouts. The state Commissioner for Transport, Prince Godwin
Delta monarch accused of hindering community's progress
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By Godwin Oghre
WU-OTOR—THE people of Ewu-Otor in Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, have accused their monarch, HRM Jabin Ogaga, of hindering the progress of the community for 49 years, with his alleged refusal to sign and implement the constitution of the community. The people, in a communique at the end of their recent general meeting, by the Chairman of the C M Y K
the inconsistencies in Nigeria’s growth plan. Retiring Professor Arinze in a chat later with newsman enjoined government to effectively fund university education in the country, saying that a situation where science practical’s are taught without the needed tools was unacceptable.
community’s leader and eldersin –council, Chief Andrew Ikrechero, and President General, Etaga Ogaga, said: “Our monarch sat on the first draft of the community's constitutio from 1965 to 1998, and the second draft from 1998 to July 2014, by not signing them, and when he eventually signed the second one, he had expunged two vital clauses affecting him.” They also called on the
monarch to account for some money which accrued to the community from oil related sources within the period, saying, “We do not know what has been happening to our collective wealth from the government and the oil sector. We are sure that the funds are going into private pockets rather than being used to develop the community, and we want to know from our monarch where the funds are going into.”
Ntukudeh, disclosed the government’s decisions, yesterday, while appearing as guest of the Correspondents Chapel Arena, in Uyo, noting that the activities of touts were causing the state government serious concern. Ntukudeh expressed optimism that with the proposed Road Transport Marshall Unit to complement the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, the unwholesome activities of the touts would be checked. The commissioner also disclosed plans by the state government to float a taxi scheme that will be regulated by trusted government agents so as to sanitise the taxi transportation system, just as he said that a special task force would be set up to check overloading of vehicles by taxi and bus drivers.
Ex-militant leaders call for calm over stipends By Innocent Onoja
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OMADI—NIGER Delta ex-militant leaders, under the Federal Government's amnesty programme, have cautioned their followers to ignore the misinformation making the rounds that the Amnesty Office under the leadership of BrigGen. Paul Boroh (retd), has removed some names from the payment list of ex-militants in the programme, describing the rumour as false. The call became necessary, according to the group, as some sections of ex-militants did not receive payment alerts from their banks when the Amnesty Office paid one month stipend out of three months arrears a fortnight ago. Rising from an emergency meeting, the ex-militant leaders under Phase 2 of the amnesty programme, some of whom were also affected by the delayed payment, urged their followers to remain calm and disregard the rumours that their names had been removed from the payment list of the programme, saying the claim was false. The statement by Delta State Chairman, Phase 2 exmilitants, Kingsley Muturu, his Edo State counterpart, Lord Agbuke, Godspower Mabiko (Delta) and Solomon Audu (Provost-Delta), noted that the misinformation was as a result of communication gap between the Amnesty Office and ex-agitators.
Pa Jim Ufuoma passes on
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A Jim Ufuoma, a r e n o w n e d educationist in Delta State, is dead, aged 81. He died on April 28, 2016. He was the proprietor of Our Saviour Group of Schools, Sapele, Delta State. He is survived by a widow, four children and seven grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.
Late Pa Jim Ufuoma