B’Haram kidnaps 400 women in Damask

Boko Haram militants have kidnapped more than 400 women and children from the northern Nigerian town of Damasak that was freed this month by troops from Niger and Chad, Reuters quoted residents as saying on Tuesday.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the figure, but the Islamist group has previously carried out mass kidnappings. Boko Haram in April 2014 adopted over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok.

“They (insurgents) took 506 young women and children (in Damasak). They killed about 50 of them before leaving. We don’t know if they killed others after leaving, but they took the rest with them,” a trader called Souleymane Ali told Reuters in the town.

Troops of the African joint force last week found the bodies of at least 70 people in an apparent execution site under a bridge leading out of Damasak, where the streets remained strewn with debris and burnt-out cars after the fighting.

Ali said his wife and three of his daughters were among those seized.

“Two of them were supposed to get married this year. (Boko Haram) said ‘They are slaves so we’re taking them because they belong to us,’” he said.

Mohamed Ousmane, another trader, said the militants took his two wives and three of their children.

A 40-year-old resident who gave her name as Fana said fighters had rounded up captives in the main mosque before taking them out of town. She said she saved her two children by hiding them in her house.

Lamido insists Jonathan will defeat Buhari

ay, during the rally of Malam Aminu Ringim, the state Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship candidate, at Garki Local Government Area of the state, said he was too big to be used to campaign against Buhari because when it comes to political game, “I am not afraid of anybody.”
He stressed that if he wanted to say anything about General Buahri, he would say it without fear, adding he had expressed his mind in the past.
“There is no amount of hatred, harassment and intimidation by any political party that will stop the PDP from winning this month general elections in Nigeria.”
He expressed optimism that President Jonathan will win the coming Saturday presidential election, considering the popularity and acceptability of the PDP by Nigerians.
He noted that across the country, the PDP has done well and deserves victory at the polls going by the figures and a careful analysis made of the situation of things in the country.
On the former Vice President, Abubakar and Kano State governor, Kwankwaso, he insisted that they were real enemies of Buhari.
“I have never been an enemy of General Buhari. We don’t share the same political ideology and so I cannot pretend to admire his political beliefs, but Abubakar and Kwankwaso are his greatest antagonists because he scuttled their presidential ambitions when he won their party primaries

Failure to pay five months workers salaries: Aregbesola denies using the money to sponsor Buhari

*praises his godfather, the Lion of Bourdillon who collects taxes for Osun State

Embattled Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola on Wednesday explained that he is owing five months salaries as a result of dwindling allocation and not the sponsorship of APC Presidential candidate as widely believed.

He went further to praise his political godfather, the Lion of Bourdillon, Bola Tinubu “an icon through whom many great leaders had risen".

It is believed that the internally generated revenue meant to augment the dwindling federal allocation are being collected by Tinubu’s company, thereby crippling Osun State's economy.

Aside, owing workers for five months, pensioners are owed several months, while the people are facing severe tax burdens to raise money for the sponsorship of Buhari.

The governor made the open confession at the 7th Bola Tinubu Colloquium organised to mark Tinubu’s 63rd birthday in Lagos.

He said he was deeply pained and unhappy that he had not been able to pay workers salaries.

“I have found it hard to pay the wage bills owing to the declining federal allocation to the state.

“Federal allocation to the state has reduced by 40 per cent since 2013, making it difficult for government to meet up its responsibilities,” he said.

Aregbesola said the situation became so bad at a time that he resorted to the state’s reserves and exhausted it on payment of salaries.

The governor added that the government went ahead to accumulate debt of N12 billion in its bid to ensure that salaries were paid.

He said that he would not mind to borrow more “just to ensure that workers were paid but the “banks would not grant more loans.”

“This reduced the state’s allocation from N4.6 billion with which I was meeting my bills to N2.6 billion.

“Since then, Osun has had to augment salaries by sometimes N1 billion, sometimes N1.6 billion.

“Before the last time I paid salaries in November, 2014, I have had to either spent the state’s reserves on salaries or borrow money.

“Today, I have a loan of N12 billion that we spent on salaries and I could not go to the banks anymore.”

The governor said that his administration remained pro-workers in spite of the tight corner it had found itself, pledging to pay the salary arrears as soon as the means was available.

Already, traditional rulers and Osun State civil servants have endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term. The civil servants protested the siphoning of the state's resources to the sponsorship of Buhari and the enrichment of the Lion of Bourdillon, Aregbesola' s godfather.

President Jonathan Commissions Phase 1, 504MW Simple Cycle Gas Alaoji Power Plant

.Says it will boost trade, commerce in Aba and environs

President Goodluck Jonathan has commissioned the Phase 1, 504WM simple cycle gas Alaoji power station Abia State with a promise to commission the second phase in no distant time.
Speaking during the commissioning ceremony of the project, President Jonathan said that power is key to development especially to the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
He stated that the focus of his administration is to support and encourage MSMEs, adding that for them to thrive they need constant power supply.
President Jonathan thanked Abia State government for working in partnership with the federal government and the Rockson engineering company to realize the project.
Governor Theodore Orji in his speech thanked the President for putting in his vigour to realize the project,especially assisting the state overcome the menace of kidnapping which at a time stalled the project.
He told President Jonathan that the state has made available land for the erection of an estate for the staff of the power plant and urged him to assist in erecting the structure.
Governor Orji assured the president that Abia will show him gratitude by voting en- masse for him in Saturday’s election.
In his speech, the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo who disclosed that the Alaoji power plant is the 4th out of the 10 plants being built across the country to be commissioned, expressed optimism that the rest will be commissioned before the end of the year.
According to him, the country currently generates 5500 MW of power from the initial 3000 in addition to 300 power projects completed by the Rural Electricity Agency which are ready for commissioning and pointed out that the Alaoji power project will ginger up industrialization as well as create job and wealth.
Also, the Managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company Ltd., Mr. James Olotu said that the Alaoji power plant on completion will provide 1074 MW of power, adding that the balance of equipment needed for the job will soon be ready.

Just Vote PDP

— with Lawrence Ehilegbu.

President Jonathan urges Abians to Vote Okezie Ikpeazu for Governor, Other PDP candidates

President Goodluck Jonathan has called on Abians especially Aba people to vote for the governorship candidate of the PDP in the State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and other candidates of the party in the coming elections whom he will work with in Abuja to better the lots of Abia people and Nigerians.
According to him, Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State is a key city and industrial hub which needs the support of the federal government to grow, adding that the job will be made easier when proven candidates are given to him to work with.
Speaking at a town hall meeting with the Aba business community at the Aba Sports Club, the President stated that Aba needs a lot of federal government presence.
He noted that no State government alone can improve infrastructure and made it clear that Aba needs a lot of federal government presence.
According to the President, he owes a lot for the people of the South East who he said have supported him fully, pointing out that he is stronger politically in the South East than in any other part of the country.
He promised to do his best to uplift the South East zone and to address the issue of power in Aba and other matters affecting the city which he said had been brought to his attention by the State Governor including converting the Abia Polytechnic, Aba to a federal institution.
The President assured that he will quickly wade into the problem hindering the take off of the Geometrics power company with a view to resolving it.
In his speech, Governor Theodore Orji thanked the President for finding time to visit Aba before the election, at least to give confidence to Aba people that he cares for them and reassured him that Abia vote will be intact for him.

Also, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu expressed confidence that Abia people will vote for President Jonathan and the Party and promised that greater attention will be paid to Aba during the second tenure of President Jonathan.
In their separate speeches, representatives of the various business bodies including the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture ACCIMA, Medical Doctors and the traders union among others pleaded with the President to address the issue of power and other infrastructural challenges in Aba and pledged to vote overwhelmingly for PDP.

— with Lawrence Ehilegbu.

Supporting T. A. Orji For Senate

In a few weeks hence, on May 29, 2015; the curtain will be drawn on the administration of His Excellency, Chief T. A. Orji, Ochendo, as the governor of Abia State when his successor willbe simultaneously sworn-in. It is, therefore, time to stop short, take stock and undertake a critical look at the eight-year rule of the Third Executive Governor of Abia State.
OrjiThe foray of this thorough-bred public servant, Theodore Ahamefule Orji, into politics in 2006 when he exchanged the starchy formal attire of the civil servant for the flowing garb of the politicos to contest for governorship of the state was perhaps in response to the exhortation of France’s foremost military and political leader of the last century, Charles de Gaulle, that “Politics is too serious a matter to be left to politicians.” And against the odds and even whilst in incarceration, he emerged as the state governor in 2007. And in the three years that followed, Theodore Orji, went through the crucible of interminable litigation and the unconscionable vice-like grip of a grasping god-father whose appetite for rent seeking needed to be curbed for the state to make any meaningful headway.
Posterity will caste His Excellency in the mould of a giant of mammoth achievements in terms of his politics and social and economic policies and programmes. Shaking off the shackles that hitherto held him and his state in virtual bondage, Governor T. A. Orji moved swiftly to re-draw the political map of Abia State and weave such an all-embracing coalition that accommodated all shades of political opinion and had more or less banished political opposition in the state.
Having liberated his state and re-engineered its polity, T. A. Orji next turned his attention to the vexed question of insecurity, rightly realizing that economic development will hardly take place without adequate security for lives and properties. That was at a time the state had gained national notoriety as a bastion of kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes. But, in a deft move that has continued to elicit interest and studies from crime control experts around the globe, His Excellency was able to wipe out these crimes as if with a magic wand.
There is no doubt that just as fire tests and purifies gold has Ochendo’s heart of gold as governor been forged in the furnace presented by his fiery trial and tribulation in those turbulent early years of his mounting of the saddle. That experience, more than anything else, went a long way to refine his persona,broaden his horizon and shape his leadership precepts. It is also responsible for his bridge-building politics and compassionate governance that have injected new meanings to the science and art of politics in the state; which no doubt will remain a subject of study by students of politics for years to come.
Whilst unlike what was obtainable in the past, it is perhaps, no longer fashionable for politicians of this era to coin slogans with an -ISM suffix as the mantra to define and explain their social, political and economic credo or doctrine; it would nevertheless be perfectly in order, and indeed, needful to correctly define and situate OCHENDOISM in its proper context. Indeed, Ochendoism may be described as the brand of politics which is defined not by the standard creed of “live and let live” but by the higher canon of “live and help live”. For, Ochendo’s politics is a study in the politics of the engendering of a political amity that has created socio-economic room for his peers, contemporaries and even rivals as well as the uplift of the middle class and the empowerment of the less privileged.
Ochendoism was at work in the inclusionary politics which ensured that almost every politician of note in the state is accommodated under the same umbrella, Ochedoism is alive and well in the delivery of standard government structures and facilities for the enhanced service delivery such as the new secretariat and other public buildings for civil servants, the courts, ASEPA, new Governor’s Lodge etc. Ochedoism is no mere sloganeering when we see first class health facilities including cutting-edge equipment for dialysis, eye services and reference diagnostic laboratories in the specialist hospitals in Umuahia and Aba or the fully equipped and functional general hospitals in the urban centres or the innumerable primary health care centres that dot the length and breadth of the state. The several kilometres of completed and ongoing network of urban and rural roads bears no less a testimony, amid a host of other interventions, projects and programmes such as the airport and seaport projects that are geared to explode commerce and industry and generate thousands of jobs in the state. It is now the historic responsibility of his successor and his in-coming team to continue from where Ochendo will drop the baton come May 29th.
Indeed, the close examination of the politics and policies of Ochendo will show a deliberate political goal that has dovetailed with an articulate economic development programme, and which in turn has laid a solid groundwork for the sustainable development of the State and deliver a massive socio-economic impetus. Surely and steadily, the social and physical infrastructure put in place by the Ochendo administration has vastly unshackled the state’s economy and opened it up for the private sector to more robustly play its critical role of employment generation and wealth creation.

Thankfully, many Abians at home and in the Diaspora as well as other Nigerians are now giving Ochendo the credit he deserves for his carefully designed and diligently pursued social agenda and economic policies, which fruits are evident in every sector and strata of Abia State. In fact, many discerning observers including those who do not necessarily share the same political tent with the governor admit that his administration, despite grave challenges, has largely succeeded in the process of laying a solid foundation for the emergence of a strong and vibrant Abia State.

It is perhaps in recognition of the aphorism which states that “the reward for good service is higher service” or as succinctly put by Jonas Edward Saik, the great American Medical Researcher and Scientist who gave the world the Polio Vaccine,when he remarked that “The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more” that his people prevailed upon T. A. Orji, Ochendo, to offer himself to continue to serve them in the next dispensation on a higher national pedestal as a Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It will therefore be a thing of great joy that the electorate of AbiaCentral Senatorial Zone, would turn out en masse and vote massively for this favourite son of the zone in the forthcoming general election of April 28, 2015.

THINGS TO REMEMBER AS CHIEF T.A. ORJI GOES TO SENATE.

The creature called man is endowed with many gifts and qualities. This is why he is the most developed and sophisticated amongst Gods creation. His level of attainment in different areas of development notwithstanding, he has continuously manifested signs of imperfection. Man is not and can not be God and, so, can not be infallible.

Because of his natural imperfection, man, atimes, suffers, deliberately or unwilfully, from amnesia. Amnesia which, literally translated, is forgetfulness may not necessarily be associated with senility, which is a state of the mind in which forgetfulness becomes a near-permanent feature as a result of old age or ill-health. A healthy young man, full of blood and vitality, could also forget either in parts or even details, of developments in his most recent past. It is only God that is perfect and, therefore, does not suffer any flaw, including amnesia.
As the first the round of the 2015 general election approaches, it has become necessary that the good people of Abia State, especially the electorate in Abia-Central senatorial district, made up of Ikwuano, Isialangwa-North, Isialangwa-South, Osisioma, Umuahia-North and Umuahia-South, should have an ex-ray of political developments in the state in the past four years. Their appreciation of the period under review should not be limited to issues of politics but should serve as veritable indices in evaluating an administration.
Growth of any society has always been synonymous with the society’s ability to effectively assess and evaluate her enterprise, engagements and leadership. For any measurement and evaluation to be accurate and rewarding, the evaluators must be dispassionate and unbiased.
Arising from the above premise, it becomes useful for Abians to count the achievements of Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji as Executive Governor of Abia State and, without mincing words, name them one by one.
In the first instance, it has to be established that any man that is worth his salt definitely has a constituency he naturally or socially belongs to. Chief T.A. Orji, by social cum administrative integration, has his constituency within the ambits of the civil cum public service.
By dent of hard work and prudence, he rose to the apex of the Abia civil service and meritoriously retired as a Permanent Secretary. Knowing that he is a product of the public service, the first thing he did on assumption of the office of the Governor of the state was to give a command promotion to every public servant in Abia State. This command elevation did not inhibit the Abia Public servant from observing and enjoying his routine promotion as and when due.
It is on record that the Abia State government was the first in the Nigerian Federation to, not only accept paying a minimum wage of eighteen thousand naira but announce a minimum wage of twenty thousand naira per staff per month. Let it also be stated that Abia State government, under Chief T.A. Orji, is among the very few states in the Nigerian State that have removed the barrier that painfully made teachers to stagnate frustratingly on level Sixteen. Today a teacher can hilariously ascend to level seventeen; a salary position that places him on the same salary grade with a Permanent – Secretary.
Before the arrival of Chief Orji as the governor, the working environment of the Abia worker was everything but conducive. Staff offices were unevenly scattered in different directions within the state capital, in rented antiquated buildings. Inter-ministerial co-ordination was made extremely difficult while cost of doing government business in the state was really on the high side due to lack of contiguity and geographical proximity. But the environmental condition of the Abia worker has tremendously changed for good as the state government has put up edifices that can stand the taste of any architectural comparison anywhere in the globe as workers’ secretariat. This makes government transaction in the state a one-stop shop.
The Abia Judiciary, Primary and Secondary Schools have, under the administration of Chief T.A. Orji, witnessed an explosion in infrastructural re-engineering within their sectors. Judiciary officials, including Judges, Registrars, Lawyers and even those desirous of justice, teachers and their pupils and students now discharge their duties in environments deliberately tailored to boost their psychological affectation and, therefore, enhance optimum performance and result.
In the health sector, the administration of Governor T.A. Orji initiated innovations that made it possible that no Abian would exceed five kilometres before accessing a health facility. There is hardly any electoral ward in the state that has no medical centre. Apart from investment in the grass-roots, the administration of Chief T.A. Orji built a modern diagnostic and dialysis centre at Umuahia and transformed the Amachara Hospital into a modern medical outfit.
As many would acknowledge, Abia State’s Government House, Since creation in August 1991, has been squatting on a building rented from the late Sampson Omeruah. Five military and two civilian governors had been tenants in the building before the emergence of Chief T.A. Orji as governor. To the glory of God and credit of Chief T.A. Orji, a new government house has sprung up in an entirely new development area in Umuahia. A project of an extra ordinary magnitude that has attained sixty percent completion, can not be said to be non-existent or not to have commenced.
The Michael Okpara Auditorium in Umuahia, which was built by the military, has a capacity of not more than six hundred seats. With growth in activities in Umuahia, it became necessary that a better designed and more spacious infrastructure had to be put up. Today, the administration of Chief T.A. Orji has begun the construction of an ultra-modern conference centre that is capable of hosting more than five different workshops or seminars at the same time, with a sitting capacity of not less than five thousand. The building aspect of the centre has been completed and is currently being furnished in line with its desired taste.
In terms of physical urban renewal, any one that is fairly-minded would attest to the fact that Umuahia, before the election of Governor T.A. Orji, was in the infrastructural category of Ohafia, Mbawsi, Omoba or Obehie. Indeed, Umuahia could then pass as a glorified village. But today, the difference is clear. Governor T.A. Orji has successfully engineered an infrastructural development and expansion of Umuahia.
It should also be mentioned that no society thrives in the absence of state guaranteed security. To this effect, Kudos must be given to Chief T.A. Orji’s administration for being relentless in providing security for the people of Abia State and their property.
The exploits of Governor T.A. Orji’s administration in agriculture should not pass without being mentioned. His plantain plantations in the state and his recovery, re-organization and re-evaluation of the Ulonna Farm settlement are bold efforts aimed at placing Abia State on a strong financial footing and independence.
Abians may not forget in a jiffy that schools owned by churches and other organisations in defuct East Central State were forcefully taken over by the administration of Mr Ukpabi Asika in 1970. The churches suffered from this deprivation for more that forty years before Chief T.A. Orji emerged as governor and, being a man that has respect for the church and people’s fundamental right, returned the schools to their former owners.
The administration of Chief T.A. Orji must be remembered for reconnecting the state to Nigeria’s mainstream politics. Many may have forgotten that there was hardly any love lost between Abia State Government and the Federal government before Chief T.A. Orji arrived at the gubernatorial scene. Through discipline, diligence and respect for superior authority, Governor T.A. Orji has made Abia State become one of the most reliable and friendly allies of the federal government.
The government of Chief T.A. Orji definitely stands as a trail blazer in the area of youth empowerment. There was a time in Abia State when her youths were given wheelbarrows and over-used motor-cycles as objects of empowerment. But Chief T.A. Orji came in and revolutionized the scheme, to the extent that many youths, in their hundreds, are proud owners of their own cars and buses. This development has helped reduce youth restiveness as the youths that benefitted from this act of benevolence are now enjoying useful existence on their own.
The legacies of Chief T.A. Orji’s administration are so many that no five pages of any newspaper can contain them exhaustively. It would, therefore, be unrealistic for any reader to expect to read in a single stretch, all the achievements of the governor T.A. Orji’s government; a government that was courageous enough to relocate the Ugwumabiri market from the centre of the state capital to a conductively distant Ubani-Ibeku, built a new timber market, motor spare parts’ market and dutifully relocated motor-park’s from the main township to its peripheral edges.
In rounding off this commentary, one achievement that must not fail to be mentioned is Governor T.A. Orji’s commitment to practical application of equity in the state, with particular emphasis on rotation of the seat of the governor. The governor has carved a niche for himself for being the first Abia helmsman to insist that power must shift to the Ukwa and Ngwa area of the state.
Sequel to his adherence to the Abia chapter of equity, the governor led the People’s Democratic Party in the state to arrive at the choice of a quintessential academic and consummate administrator; Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, as the governorship candidate of the Party in the state. This is the healthiest development that has taken place in Abia State’s near twenty-four years of existence. No matter what cynics say is the under-current behind Dr Ikpeazu’s emergence, it is obvious that the people of Ukwa and Ngwa will, for the first time, be happy in a state they call their own.
With the volume of achievements recorded by Chief T.A. Orji as governor of Abia State, it is hoped and wished that his election into the senate would yield maximum result not only for his Abia-Central but the entire state of Abia.

Chief (Sir) Don Ubani; KSC, JP

Alex Otti and the shooting of Frank Dickson By Madubuko Hart

Today, Abia State is suffering the greatest deception in the hands of Alex Otti. As if referring to Otti, Xun Zi had said that the petty man is eager to make boasts, yet desires that others should believe in him. He enthusiastically engages in deception, yet wants others to have affection for him. He conducts himself like an animal, yet wants others to think well of him.
This is the archetypal Otti, who regardless-of the peace accord signed by the representatives of the various political parties in Umuahia and Aba, Abia State continues to lead his political campaigns with destruction and open deceit.
Recently at Ikwuano area of the state, it was noted that Otti attacked some Abia indigenes with his thugs and was quick to rush to the press that it was the government of Governor T.A. Orji that attacked. Sources in the Government House, Umuahia had said that Otti stage managed the attack that left human lives destroyed and property worth millions destroyed.
Because Ikwuano is the country-home of the former vice chairman of PDP (South-East) and ministerial nominee, Col. Austin Akobundu, Otti who had gone there to present his manifesto, was into the act to tarnish the image of the Akobundu, who the likes of Ebere Wabara had written a lot of garbage against, in order to stop his ministerial nomination.
Good that in a press briefing titled, “Abia Govt Condemns Violent Attacks Unleashed on Abians by Otti's Thugs” the Abia State government had called on security agencies to look into the alleged shooting of an innocent Abian, Frank Dickson by the armed guards of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Alex Otti at Umuojiocha village square, Oboro in Ikwuano Local Government Area.
According to a source, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, Dr. ACB Agbazuere, in a press briefing with newsmen at the Government House on the incident, condemned the attack which shattered the legs of the victim who is now receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia.
The government through its commissioner uttered disenchantment at the attitude of Dr. Alex Oti who has been trying to disrupt the peace of the state and recalled that recently, Otti’s camp shot the PDP House of Representatives candidate for Isiala Ngwa, Chief Darlinton Nwokocha in Isiala Ngwa South, attacked and destroyed campaign vehicles of the PDP governorship candidate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, in Uturu, pointing out that nobody has monopoly of violence.
While Dr. Agbazuere had warned those instigating violence in the state to not take the humaneness of the governor for granted, it could be recalled that Otti recently also stage-managed his attack with some soldiers at his residence in Ngwa and was also quick to shout that the government wanted to kill him.
Let’s advise Otti with the words of David A. Bednar: Obedience opens the door to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. And the spiritual gifts and abilities activated by the power of the Holy Ghost enable us to avoid deception - and to see, to feel, to know, to understand, and to remember things as they really are.
.Hart writes from Lagos