Read This Story About The Woman In-between Jang And His Dreams

All attention has been on the fierce battle between the incumbent president of the Federal republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan and his toughest opponent, General Muhammadu Buhari going into the March 28 elections.

However, what many Nigerians are probably guilty of, is failing to realize that March 28 will not only see a clash of two strong political leaders in President Jonathan and General Buhari, but will also witness more intense battles across the nation as the House of Representatives and Senate election take centre stage that same day.

With this, one area that has caught my attention will be the Plateau North senatorial battle which sees the incumbent Governor of the state, Jonah Jang and Mrs Eunice Ayisa Sambo at loggerheads for the ultimate prize (a ticket to the senate).

One key thing in this battle is that, history beckons both the 71-year old incumbent Governor of Plateau state, Jonah Jang and Mrs Eunice Ayisa Sambo, come March 28, 2015.

If Jonah Jang who is contesting under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wins, he would be making history as the first governor from the zone to represent his people at the Senate while on the other hand if Mrs Eunice Sambo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) wins, she would not only have the record as the first female senator from the state but also the first lady to beat an incumbent governor to the seat.

Interesting right? But that’s not all! What is even more intriguing is that, both are vying for the position for the first time.

But come to think of it, Governor Jang is 71 and yet Governor Ayo Fayose believes that the APC presidential candidate, General Buhari (72) is too old to rule this nation. However, this is a topic for another day.

Going back to the main focus, Plateau North senatorial election is one race that needs to be monitored because whichever way the pendulum swings at the poll, any of the two candidates can have their names written in the history books at the end of the elections.

APC Plateau north senatorial candidate, Mrs Eunice Ayisa Sambo looking positive going into the election with a ravishing smile.

However many have played down the APC candidate, Mrs Sambo chances of winning as she goes into the tie as the underdog.

READ ALSO: Amaechi And Patience Jonathan: How It All Began

Comparing Mrs Sambo to Governor Jang is like comparing a David to a Goliath (but we all know the outcome of this battle).

Again, comparing both candidates is like comparing an Elephant to an Ant. This is owing to the fact that very little is known of the APC candidate, who is barely a few months in politics unlike Governor Jang whose name rings a bell both within and outside the state.

However, this isn’t going to stop the APC candidate as she has continued to express full confidence of victory come March 28. The APC candidate may cause a major upset during the poll, despite the odds against her but how this will play out, eventually remains to be seen.

With 16-years difference in-between the ages of Governor Jang of Plateau (71years) and Mrs Eunice Sambo (55years) and 30years difference in-between the political background of both candidates (Jonah Jang occupied his 1^st governmental position during the General Ibrahim Babaginda’s regime in 1985 when he became the Military governor of Benue state while Mrs Sambo is running for her 1^stgovernmental position in 2015 as a senator), it is pretty much an onerous task that lies ahead of the APC candidate.

Sambo, from Jos East Local Government Area, emerged as the APC candidate during the party primaries after an aspirant withdrew from the race leaving her and former member of the House of Representatives, Hon.Lumumba Da Adeh, to slug it out.

With her victory at the primaries, Sambo is going into the main election with 30 years’ experience as a social worker and a community developer, part of which she spent over ten years in the United Kingdom before she finally returned to the country in 2010

Also with two diploma certificates in Social Work for Development and Social Planning and Development, from the University of Jos and London School of Economics respectively, Mrs Sambo, who also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social and Professional Studies from Humberside University, London, is optimistic that she will emerge victorious at the poll any time it is conducted.

Excerpts from a recent interview granted by Mrs Sambo to the press, solidifies the fact that optimism is written all over her, heading to the election.

READ ALSO: FOCUS: Remi Shonaiya

She said: “I know this is a David and Goliath battle. Yes, I may be small but we know that David won the battle, and I know that I, Eunice Ayisa Sambo, will defeat the Goliath during the forthcoming Plateau North senatorial election”.

She continued: “His incumbency doesn’t intimidate me. I am a Nigerian, it is our constitutional right to contest and I am exercising my constitutional right. I feel very optimistic, very positive that this election is winnable, we can win this election because we are going round and we are listening to what people are saying. Not only that, we see what is happening on the Plateau; the injustice, the impunity. That is what is driving our passion to run this race, because people have been badly treated on the Plateau. Is it the lack of salary, the lack of employment, the impunity is just so enormous. This is a democratic system of government, not a dictatorship. You are not allowed to express your wish, there hasn’t been fairness in the way government has run office, the nepotism is chronic. These are all the things that we are fighting. The fact that he is an incumbent doesn’t mean that we can’t stand up to him and I am excited about this journey because his right will speak for him, his wrong will speak for him. I am new in the race but I am not intimidated by his incumbency. Everybody started at different points and I am happy to start from where I am but you know what? I am an underdog in politics, if you go through history, it is the underdogs that make a difference and we don’t have any doubt that we will win this election. Bauchi State has set precedence, the senator in Bauchi State contested against an incumbent, and he was an underdog. He won the election against an incumbent so i think that such history will repeat itself on the Plateau very easily”.

Will it be Jonah Jang or Eunice Ayisa Sambo for senate 2015 Plateau north? Time will certainly!

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Police Kill Notorious Ekiti Armed Robber

Gbenga Mattews popularly known as Orimeji (two heads),  a notorious robber in Ekiti State was yesterday, killed during an early morning robbery incident in Akodi-Edemo community in Odo-Ado area of Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.

Police officials paroling

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Alberto Adeyemi said Orimeji met his waterloo when he and his gang of five robbers dared the officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and shot sporadically at them, Daily Times reports.

Adeyemi said: “Early this morning (Thursday. March 12 ) the Officer in Charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) got a tip that some robbers were robbing in Akodi Edemo community, so he swung into action with his men and got to the area and met about five robbers in operation and the robbers opened fire on the SARS team but the team did their best to arrest them alive. 

“Two of the officials of our SARS team were wounded in the gun battle. Orimeji jumped down from the house and was trying to reload his raffle and shoot the SARS men, it was at that point that our men were left with no choice than to shoot him.

” The other members of the robbery gang had escaped with bullet wounds. We are appealing to members of the public and the hospitals, if they see anybody with bullet wounds, they should not move close to them but call the nearest police station. So that we can come and arrest them.

READ ALSO: Reigning NPL Champions Attacked By Robbers

“The leader of the gang that was shot dead is Gbenga Mattew, alias Orimeji, he is a very notorious armed robber with a track record of armed robbery of about 12 years. We have arrested him on many occasions and charged him to court. He was among the escapees in the last prison break in Ekiti, they call him Orimeji Omo Bose.

” We understand that Ekiti has three notoriuos armed robbery gangs, so we have smashed one by the killing of Orimeji. We have intensified efforts to get the other two. We have already mapped out strategies to get them and I cannot disclose such strategies to you here. But I can tell you that in the next two days, we will have another breakthrough that would be bigger than this. 

“About N120,000 and three U.S Dollars were recovered from him. His raffle, a locally made one, is also there with him. 

“I am sure the residents of the Akodi edemo area would tell you that they have never seen the kind of massive gun fight between the police and the robbers that occurred around 3:15am early this morning in the area. “

 It will be recalled that police in Lagos State arrested an armed robbery suspect whose gang has been noted as being notorious  and operating in Lagos State,. The robber claims that the police used Juju to apprehend him.

Oshiomhole Sacks Perm Sec Over Patience Use Of Stadium

Information just reaching us revealed that Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has sacked the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. Samuel Obaze Uhunmwangho.    

Nigeria’s First Lady, Patience Jonathan

Nigerian Pilot gathered on Thursday that Uhunmwangho was “retired” from the state Civil Service with immediate effect for allowing the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan use the Ogbe Stadium in Benin City for her husband’s second term campaign rally.

READ ALSO: Angry Youths Storm Benin City PDP Secretariat Over Owed Money

However, the state government alleged that the permanent secretary was removed for withholding information crucial to its interest and the general public, but the information was discovered to be the approval he gave to the First Lady for the use of the stadium on March 14.

It was further learnt that Uhunmwangho’s trouble started after granting permit to the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to use the Ogbe Stadium to host Patience Jonathan while the country’s major opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had earlier indicated interest to use the same facility on that same day.

The state PDP chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, who spoke on the issue at a press briefing on Wednesday, said they had earlier told the state government of their intention to use the stadium.

The chairman at the conference displayed the cheque and bank tellers used in making payment of the sum of N1.2million to the state government for the use of the said facility as well as another letter from the ministry approving the party’s use of the venue.

Orbih said when he was told that the stadium was also booked to host APC presidential candidate’s wife, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, he said the PDP was also scheduled to use the venue on that date.

Meanwhile, the Information Commissioner, Louis Odion, who blamed the mix-up on the negligence of the officials of the Ministry of Sports, criticized them for given approval without consulting their supervisors, instead went ahead to collect money and issued receipt to the PDP to use of the stadium.

Odion alleged that despite the fact that the officials knew “full well that APC had last week applied and received approval for the use of same facility on Saturday (March 14, 2015). In fact, jingles were already running on local television and radio stations announcing that the wife of APC’s presidential candidate would be in Benin that day to deliver the message of change to Edo women.”

He said for the avoidance of doubt, Edo State Government, which is the owner of the said facility, reserves the right to insist that the party that got approval first would use the stadium.

READ ALSO: Patience’s Hate Speeches: Fashola Advises Jonathan

“In the circumstance, we imagine the idle denizens of Edo PDP must by now be salivating at the prospects of having an opportunity to unleash mayhem on peace-loving people of Edo State with the excuse that money was collected from them. In deference to the office of the First Lady of Nigeria, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has graciously directed that Mrs. Patience Jonathan have her day on Saturday while the wife of the APC presidential candidate will have her turn another day,” he said.

Recall that the governor of Edo state averted what could have turned out to be a nasty spat on Wednesday when he intervened in the matter of which of the wives of the two major presidential candidates should be given access to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium this Saturday.

INEC WILL SUCCEED-JEGA

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, has promised that the commission will meet Nigerians’ aspiration for free, fair and credible elections in the March 28 and April 11 polls.

According to Punch, Jega gave the assurance yesterday, March 12, at a meeting with the 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja, where he promised that the commission would examine every gap in its preparations for the elections in the next few weeks.

READ ALSO: Card Readers: Youths Storm INEC, Call For Jega’s Sack

The INEC chairman however lamented that that the commission was battling forces designed to distract INEC from making the general elections a success.

Speaking before the meeting went into closed-door session, he said: “This meeting is very important because it is an opportunity for us to   have a final review and updating of the extent of our preparations for the elections.

“It is important that we also remain focused in terms of delivering the best elections for our country. There are a lot of things to distract us but we need to remain focused and resilient.”

Jega also called on all Nigerians to be ready to contribute their quota in ensuring that the elections were a success. He pleaded with political parties and their candidates to abide by the peace accord they entered into, which is meant to avoid violence by their supporters.

He said: “We all need to ensure that the elections are peaceful, because peaceful elections are what will promote the stability of our country and what will lay a solid foundation that is required for development.”

READ ALSO: Why Emirs Supported The Use Of Card Readers

Jega’s comments come a day after the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDPGF) passed a vote of no confidence on the preparedness of the commission for the general elections. The governors faulted the electoral body for its stance on the use of card readers for the coming polls.

Nigeria's Women Private Jet Owners

unconfirmed sources said that four Nigerian women are among the many businessmen, clergy men and politicians that own private jets in the country.

These sources listed the women who have private jets to include Folorunsho Alakija, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Daisy Danjuma and Hajia Bola Muinat Shagaya:



Folorunso Alakija

She is one of Nigeria’s first female billionaire and the founder of Famfa Oil, a Nigerian company that owns a substantial interest in OML 127, a lucrative oil block on the Agbami deep water oilfield in Nigeria. She is said to be worth at least $3.2 billion and also said to own at least $100 million in real estate and a private jet worth $46 million.

Diezani Alison-Madueke
The first female President of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and she is still the current Minister of Petroleum Resources, and also the first woman to hold that position in Nigeria. Alison-Madueke was elected President of OPEC at the 166th General Meeting of the body in Vienna, Austria. She has held three significant positions in the Nigerian Federal Government. Alison-Madueke was appointed Transport Minister in July 2007. On December 23, 2008, she was named as Minister of Mines and Steel Development.

In 2013, the Federal legislators accused Alison-Madueke of wasting N10 billion to charter and maintain private jet solely for her personal needs and those of her immediate family.



Hajia Bola Muinat Shagaya

She is the Managing Director of Practoil Limited, one of the largest importers and distributors of base oil in Nigeria, serving local lubricant blending plants. Unconfirmed sources said she has acquired a Gulfstream G650 aircraft made in the United States.

Shagaya is said to be the closest ally to the first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and she is one of the richest women in Africa.



Daisy Danjuma

She is the wife of one of Nigeria’s richest men, General Theophilus Danjuma(rtd). Elected in 2003, she has served on numerous committees, among them are the Chairman of the ECOWAS Parliament’s Women and Children’s Rights Committee and Senate Committee Chairman on Women Affairs and Youth Development.


http://dailyindependentnig.com/2015/03/women-private-jet-owners/

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Pastor Snatch Another Pastors Wife - Family

Pastor, John Ajayi, on Tuesday pleaded with an Orile Agege Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve his marriage over his wife’s alleged adultery and desertion.

Ajayi, 49, who lives at 22, Erinle Street, Iju Ishaga, near Lagos told the court that his wife, Christiana, left their matrimonial home since 2011.

They had been married for 16 years.

Ajayi, a father of three, aged between seven and 14 years, told the court that his wife had an affair with his pastor-friend whom he invited for a church programme.

“When my pastor-friend came to Lagos on my invitation for our church programme, I noticed how my wife was admiring him which made me to suspect a foul play.

“After the pastor had returned to his base in Ibadan, my wife was nowhere to be found in Lagos, so I traced her to Ibadan and met her with the pastor.

Ajayi also alleged that Christiana was not taking care of her family.

“Before she left finally in 2011, whenever she left the house in the morning, she would only return late in the night, she was not taking care of me and my family.

“She would not welcome my family members anytime they come to our house, she did not take care of my mother when she was sick for four years until the woman died.

“The worst of it is that she denied me sex before she left but I maintained my integrity not to commit adultery.

“I reported her to her mother but instead for my wife to heed the counsel of her mother, she chose to fight me,” he said.

Christiana has refused to show up in court for the fifth hearing.

The President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, told the petitioner to maintain the peace, directing the court bailiff to serve the respondent the court order again.

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2015/03/pastor-pleads-court-dissolve-marriage/

Patience Jonathan Won’t Appear Before ICC – PDP(PUNCH NEWSPAPER)

The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation has said that wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, will not appear before the International Criminal Court.

It said there was no basis for her to be reported to the international court in the first place.

The Director of Media and Publicity of the organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, stated this at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.

Fani-Kayode was reacting to the claim by the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, that it had reported the President’s wife to the ICC.

Patience was reported to have told supporters of the PDP at its rally in Cross River State to stone anyone canvassing for change in the state.

“Change” is the slogan of the APC.

In its complaint to the ICC, the APC through its Director-General, Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, who is also the Governor of Rivers State, said the wife of the President was calling on the supporters of the ruling party to attack those of the APC.

But Fani-Kayode described Patience as a woman of peace, adding that her speech didn’t propel anyone to take to violence.

The former Minister of Aviation added that those that dragged the wife of the President to ICC were not educated on issue of international law.

He said if they were, they would have known that individuals were not taken to the court on the basis of their speech.

He said, “It is pertinent to note that, first of all, if they were a little better educated and had a better understanding of international law and how the ICC works, they would appreciate the fact that no individual is ever taken to the ICC based on what he or she has said unless and until people act on those words and massacre others.

“It is only if that speech is followed by violence and mayhem or if it incites people to commit violence, which results in death, mass murder and crimes against humanity, that the person who indulged in such hate speech becomes an eligible candidate for the ICC.

“Dame Patience Jonathan is a woman of peace. She did not threaten anyone with violence; she did not incite anyone to commit violence or to kill others and her words have not resulted in death, mass murder or any crimes against humanity.

“We therefore completely reject the baseless charge and assertion that she has called for the killing or slaughter of anyone at any point in time.”

Fani-Kayode described the threat to take Patience to the ICC as not only absurd but also nothing more than an empty and boastful “ranting of a perfidious, desperate, decaying and dying political party and such threat will amount to nothing.”

He said that if anyone was to be taken to the court, it must be the presidential candidate of the APC, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.).

Fani-Kayode also alleged that the APC was planning hate documentary on the private lives of the President, his wife and that of the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.