Social Media Award : Bishop Ezeokafor Congratulates Aide Charges Journalists to Discharge Their Duty Without Fear Or Favour

   

BY ABUCHI IFESINACHI, AWKA

The Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, His Lordship Most Paulinus Ezeokafor has charged journalists to discharge their responsibilities effectively without fear or favour.

Bishop Ezeokafor who gave the charge at St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral, Awka while congratulating his media Aide, Mr. Abuchi Onwumelu who was recently honoured by social media journalists for his creative ingenuity and also for creating a Social media forum where media Practitioners interact and socialise, said journalists as purveyors of information occupy an important position in society and held the key to projecting rightful information that would enable the people to see things in the right perspective.

He said the Church would continue to support media practitioners with prayers stressing that the job of the media was to disseminate accurate information while calling on government at all levels to allow the media to practice their profession without any form of molestation, inducement or even threat to life. 

According to Bishop Ezeokafor, ' Media practitioners should be given a free hand to operate; people should stop harassing them. They  should be encouraged. Truly, journalists are endangered species. I want those in political positions to understand that they cannot do without the media. Even the Church cannot function properly without the media, that's why we are here praying for them,' Bishop Ezeokafor said.

ANAMBRA’s ROADS, POLITICS AND STATESMANSHIP

By Ifeanyi Afuba

The shrill claim by Mr Valentine Obienyem in several weekend newspapers [June 13 – 14, 2015] that the Nkpor – Amawbia old road recently commissioned by Governor Willie Obiano was started and completed by Mr Peter Obi is incorrect and an unnecessary venture in controversy.  Obi’s credentials as a former governor of Anambra State are not under any danger of assault. His report card is out in the public domain and as a public figure, no one individual or institution has copyright on his record of service.  On the basis of verifiable accounts of his stewardship, leadership, social and philosophical leanings, varying perceptions of his reputation have [naturally] emerged.

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Delta State university Bans In-descent Dressing on Campus

The authorities of the Delta State University, Abraka on Saturday banned the wearing of miniskirts by female students.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Vincent Peretemode, in a statement made available to our correspondent, also ordered the reduction of fellowship centres in the school from over 80 to four.
The VC in the statement stated that the number of fellowships in the varsity’s three campuses portended crisis.
He said in the statement, “I have observed in the recent times that over 80 fellowship centres are on the three campuses. We cannot allow such. Fellowship centres have in recent time portended crisis that was almost unabated.”
He added that the school authorities also banned the wearing of miniskirts by female students.
The statement listed the four approved religious bodies to include Catholic, Anglican, Joint Christian Campus Fellowship and Our Saviours Chapel, as it indicated that there could be crisis among the students if the fellowship centres were not reduced.
The vice-chancellor said the number of religious centres in the institution was alarming, especially in Asaba campus totaling over 20. He stated that the figure tripled when added with that of Asaba campus.

TRAGEDY STRUCT ONDO :As Embattled Regent Found Dead

Tragedy struck in Akure, Ondo state as the queen  of Oba LuMure Ayelomi of Ayeka in Okitipupa
area of the state, Olori Dupe, was found dead after she was kidnapped ten days after, even when her abductors had collected N2m.
The kidnappers had requested  for N30m  from the traditional ruler who pleaded that they should consider the harsh economic realities in the country.
The queen’s  corpse was dumped at the outskirts of   Ode Aye along Ore Road.
Meanwhile, the Akungba-Akoko regent, Omosowon, and some of her aides were kidnapped along Ose- Owo expressway on their way from a public function in Akure.
The regent was held for two weeks because her kidnappers refused to reduce the N20m ransom they requested from her family and her community.
The intervention of the state government and security operatives, from within and outside the state, later paid off as the kidnappers den was invaded.
Omosowon, narrating her  in the hands of her captors, said she was chained, blindfolded for two weeks under a  cocoa tree.
She has since returned home but still visits the Trauma Centre in Ondo town for treatment following the injuries inflicted on her head by her abductors.

APC & NPC Condemned Traders Protest in Anambra

Following the complete shutdown of Major markets across  major cities of Onistha. Ekwulobia, Nnewi and Awka over alleged plans by Federal Government to relocate Prison inmates in the north eastern part of Nigeria, being a Boko Haram ravaged zone of the country to Anambra state, 

The secretary of the All Progressive Congress in the state, Mr. Chukwuma Agufufo has described the entire exercise as false and a  disconnect between the state and federal government to know plans of government for the state.
He blamed the state government of not been in-tune with the federal policy and the exclusive preserve character of the constitution on f the position of prison inmates and relocation that is preserve under the exclusive domain of the federal government through the Nigeria prison service as their caretaker
Agufugo condemned the action of the state governor, Chief Willie Obiano and based it on the premise to discredit the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration  before the people of the zone as a government that does not care for the people of the zone.

Why I Dropped My Preisdential Ambition For Buhari -------Saraki

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has denied reports that he is nursing the ambition for presidency in 2019, saying he actually quit his presidential bid in the 2015 election for President Muhammadu Buhari.

Saraki stated that he contributed immensely to the emergence of Buhari as President and contributed greatly to his victory in the presidential election held on March 28, 2015.
The Senate President, who spoke to select journalists in an exclusive interview in Abuja on Saturday, also denied having plans to dump the All Progressives Congress due to the ongoing crisis in the party over his leadership of the Senate.
Rather, he said what remained paramount in his mind at the moment was how to support the Buhari-led administration to tackle the various social and economic problems confronting the country.
Saraki said, “I was the first person that stepped down his political ambition, once General Buhari announced that he was going to contest the presidential election. And since then, prior to the period of election, I worked tirelessly to support his emergence.

Anambra Traders Oppose FG Allege Plans To Transfer Boko Haram Prisoners To The State

Commercial activities were paralysed on Saturday in Anambra State following protests by traders across the state.
The traders, who closed their shops as early as 9am in major cities of Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi, Ekwulobia and Agulu, took to the streets protesting what they termed plan by the Federal Government to transfer Boko Haram detainees to prisons in the state.
At Tarzan junction, Nkpor in Idemili North Local Government Area of the state, traders and other residents blocked the Enugu – Onitsha Expressway chanting songs suggesting they would be forced to revive the clamour for Biafran Republic if pushed to the wall.
The traders carried placards bearing inscriptions like ‘Buhari should not destroy the peace in Anambra State,’ ‘Biafra kanyi choro’ (We want Biafra), ‘Buhari, Igbos cannot accept your prisoners, ‘We do not want Boko Haram in Anambra,’ ‘Federal Government, why extend Boko Haram to Anambra?’ and ‘Boko Haram prisoners are not allowed here.’
Speaking with journalists during the protests, the Secretary-General, Anambra State Amalgamated Traders Association, Chief Chuma Elucharu, stated that traders in the state decided to shut markets to protest the rumoured relocation of Boko Haram detainees to the state.
Eluchraru said the protests would be continuous until the Federal Government assured that there was no such plan.

Read Desperate Letter of Dele Momodu To President Buhari

Your Excellency, I write to you today with a heavy heart. The reason should be obvious. I was one of those latter day converts to Buharism, a political philosophy that believes in the reincarnation of former leaders in the days of tribulation. You were never the first man to resurrect from retirement and near political oblivion. General Olusegun Obasanjo bounced back from prison to Aso Rock Villa. In nearby Benin Republic, former military dictator and strongman, Mathieu Kerekou who had served as maximum ruler for about 17 incredible years, came back to defeat incumbent President , Nicephore Soglo in a 1990 election. He led his country for another ten years and almost got another five-year term but for the age barrier that disqualified him.

It is normal for Africans to run towards the wise elders of the village when trouble comes knocking. That is one of the major reasons Nigerians in their millions voted with their feet and thumbs to elect you President. Many of those who supported you did so for several other reasons and you must understand that they were mainly not members of your political party, APC. So, apart from your age, they backed you because they believed in your impeccable pedigree as an incorruptible and honourable man, a strict disciplinarian, a Scrooge who would not fritter away our meagre resources, a scourge of rogues and prodigal sons, a metamorphosed tyrant now a born-again democrat, and so on and so forth. Nigerians ardently placed their hopes in you and fervently prayed you won’t disappoint them. This is the principal reason I have decided to send you this desperate memo today before some despicable politicians tarnish your hard-earned reputation and truncate this beautiful chance again.

TRUCK CRUSHES BUS CONVEYING 18 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

More than 12 students of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago -Iwoye, Ogun State were crushed to death yesterday when a container fell on the passenger bus conveying them.
Many others were seriously injured in the mishap, which occurred at the Shagamu section of the Lagos/Benin Expressway.
Our correspondent gathered that the unlatched 20-feet container fell off a moving truck as the driver tried to avoid an obstruction while driving against the direction of traffic.
The container with a Lagos registration number BDG 779 XE was said to have fallen on the roof of the Toyota Hiace bus also with a Lagos registration number XV 311 MUS a few metres away from the gate of a plastic manufacturing company near Ilisha Remo junction.
It was learnt that the OOU students were travelling to Lagos State for the weekend when they met their untimely death.
The Ijebu-Ode Commander of Ogun State Traffic Management and Compliance Agency (TRACE), Tommy Hamzat, told reporters that the driver of the container laden truck drove against the traffic.
Hamzat added that the fact that the truck was driving on the wrong side of the road made it difficult for the driver of the passenger bus to notice it, hence the two vehicles collided.
He said: “I was coming from the Sagamu end when I saw the accident and hurriedly parked my car. I ran there to see if the passengers but, unfortunately, all the occupants, were dead, including the driver,.