Thunder kills three teenagers in Ogun

ABEOKUTA—Tragedy struck yesterday, at Ijale Ijaka Street in Ijoun, Ayetoro area in Yewa South local government area of Ogun state when thunder struck and killed three teenagers. The tragic incident, which occurred during a heavy rainfall reportedly killed Sunday Mulero,13, Dare Olaifa,15 and Sodiq Segun, 15. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi confirmed the incident. Adejobi in a statement said , the information made available to the Police Public Relations Officer of the command by the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ayetoro Division revealed that the young boys were “playing “outside their house when the thunder struck and killed them instantly. “The Divisional Police Officer with his police operatives,who responded to distress calls put to them,rushed down to the scene to possibly rescue the teenagers but were confirmed dead immediately on arrival at the hospital.The corpses were kept in the mortuary for necessary actions. “The Commissioner of Police Ogun State CP Ikemefuna Okoye has described the incident as unfortunate. He then sympathized with the families of the deceased and prayed for God’s mercies and protection over other members of the affected families. “The Police boss therefore seizes this opportunity to advise the general public to learn from the past so as to adjust our futures,and warn our children to desist from playing under heavy rainfall or engage themselves in any “dangerous” activities that could make their lives precarious to them,for this particular incident had occurred on many occasions in Ogun State and in many other states. “CP Ikemefuna Okoye reassures the good people of Ogun State the command’s readiness to harness all available resources to achieve effective policing of the state”, he said Source: vanguard

Wenger apologises for ‘regrettable’ touchline clash with Mourinho

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has apologised for his touchline clash with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho during the 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge. Wenger and Mourinho were involved in a touchline spat during the London derby which saw the Frenchman shove the Portuguese, as well as the pair exchange choice words. The 64-year-old Frenchman initially defended his actions in the aftermath of the game and claimed he had ‘nothing to apologise for’, but he has taken to French TV to reveal he ‘regrets’ the incident. Wenger, speaking to Telefoot yesterday, said: ‘They gave too much importance to this story. In hindsight I think I should not have reacted at all, it’s not a way to behave on a football field. ‘I always regret any signs of violence and I apologise, but that’s part of games where everything is manic – and then we have quite a substantial past. ‘Did Mourinho provoke me? That is how I felt. I did not enter Chelsea’s technical area.’ Interestingly, Mourinho also spoke to the same French TV station about the already infamous incident. But the Chelsea boss refused to add further fuel to the fire by giving his opinion on the clash. ‘Wenger will explain what he wants to explain,’ Mourinho said. ‘I will not say more. I have no words to explain what everybody else saw in those images.’ The apology from Arsenal boss Wenger comes despite his insistence he had done nothing wrong on the touchline at Stamford Bridge. Speaking immediately after the game, Wenger said: ‘I don’t regret it, what is there to regret? ‘I want to go from A to B and someone (Mourinho) confronted me before I got to B without any sign of a welcome.’

Buhari visits Fashola, seeks support for 2015 Presidential bid

BUHARI DECLARES: General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) declaring his intention to seek the All Progressives Congress, APC, nomination to contest next year’s presidential election yesterday. By Olasunkanmi Akoni The former Head of State, Major-General Mahammadu Buhari (retd), Sunday, paid a visit to Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State to deliver a special invitation to the formal declaration of his intention to contest the nation’s 2015 Presidential Election. Gen. Buhari, who was the national leader and Presidential Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011, arrived the Lagos House, Marina, in company with members of his Team, saying he decided to convey the invitation personally because Lagos is the biggest and most viable constituency of the APC adding that he would also do same to all the other governors in the Southwest. According to him, he would also visit Oyo and Kwara States and go round to the other States before Wednesday, which is the “D-Day.” In his terse remarks, Fashola thanked the retired General for the honour of delivering the invitation himself. He prayed that God would honour the APC Chieftain in his bid and grant him the grace to realize his ambition. Fashola said, “Let me say that we are pleased to receive you. We feel honoured by your presence and God will honour you and His grace will continuously be sufficient for you in the undertaking that you are about to commit to”. Also present at the occasion were Lagos State Commissioners for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal; Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Ademorin Kuye; Rural Development, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi and Special Adviser, Youth, Sports and Social development, Dr. Dolapo Badru. On the team of Maj-General Buhari were former Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Timipre Silva and former Minister of the Federal Capital territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai among others.

Delta ready for female governor

Now that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has released its timetable and the primaries for governorship set for November 29, pundits are scrutinising the aspirants. Assuming Delta State jettisons godfatherism and the ills of imposition of candidates, then every aspirant will be examined under a microscope to determine, who is the best suited candidate to govern the state and take over from Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. The governor says he will not choose his successor. Additionally, foremost Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin K. Clark, has warned party leaders that there must be no imposition and that politics in Delta has matured beyond such practice. We will take both men at their words because they are both cognizant of the danger facing PDP, should some aggrieved aspirants take their structures and resources to the opposition party. There are currently over 30 candidates jostling to occupy Dennis Osadebey House in less than nine months. In Delta North, where the governorship appears headed, there are over 20 candidates in the race. The issue of zoning or equity/power shift appears to have been resolved, although there is still opposition in some quarters. Nonetheless, zoning or no zoning, some of us are agitating for the best qualified person to take over the mantle of leadership and take Delta State to a higher level. In examining the aspirants, one who clearly stands out is Dr. Mrs. Esther Uduehi, who hails from Obiaruku in Ukwuani Local Government Area of Delta North.. A knight of St. Gregory with her husband, she is not even asking to be considered on the basis of being from Delta North, which is her paternal hometown. Nonetheless, it is worth knowing that her mother is from Orogun (Delta Central), while she grew up and spent a significant amount of time in Delta South, making her a complete and detribalized Deltan. What is also peculiar about Uduehi is her academic qualifications, professional experience and political acumen. The aspirant, who holds a doctorate degree in public administration, is of amazing pedigree. Once you get past her humility and eloquence, you will see a seasoned administrator and technocrat, who was a graduate teacher and principal and eventually retired as a Permanent Secretary in the defunct Bendel State. While in the civil service, she was the Chief Executive Officer of one of the largest local government areas and sole administrator of Bendel Broadcasting Service (Radio and Television). She was a Presidential Adviser and is now the Chairman, Governing Board, National Commission For Mass Literacy, Adult And Non-Formal Education. Alex O. Atawa Akpodiete , a public affairs analyst, is based in Asaba

Pro-Jonathan Group, TAN, Hit By Fraud Allegations Over Rented Crowd Payments

The Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, TAN, a group passionately campaigning for a second term for Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, has been hit by allegation of fraud, with some members of the group accusing it of staging a crowd in support of the president and refusing to pay them as agreed. Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria rally in Port Harcourt TAN has conducted regional rallies in support of Mr. Jonathan since August, with the last of its six conventions held in Kano, for the northwest, which comprises Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, and Kaduna States. The Kano event held Saturday, September 27. As with the previous five regional rallies, the event was attended by senior officials of the federal government, and thousands of supporters. Much of the crowd at the event was rented, some aggrieved members of the group have told PREMIUM TIMES. The politicians, who are members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kano State, and were drafted to be part of the TAN rally, have narrated how they were asked to rent a crowd for the president for an agreed fee, only to be left stranded without money to compensate hundreds of youth and women hired for the rally. The matter is threatening to tear the support organization apart with the aggrieved members threatening to seek redress and to expose the sham they claim was on parade at the event. The aggrieved agents now have a pile of debt to settle and some of them who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES say they do not know who to talk to about the money they spent in bringing in supporters. One of the agents, Ibrahim Lawan, who said he is the Secretary of the PDP Youth Awareness Initiative, Kano, told PREMIUM TIMES that he was instructed to bring in 500 youth and women and to hire buses that will transport them to the venue of the rally in Kano city. The arrangement, according to Mr. Lawan, was that each participant would be paid N500 on arrival, and N2, 000 for each bus. Those contracted to rent the crowd hired at least 50 busloads of supporters, he said. The story changed once they arrived at the venue, he told PREMIUM TIMES. “But to my utmost surprise and confusion, as we entered the venue we tried to locate the organizers but we could not see them. When I called them they said I should be patient as they would settle everything after the event. But almost immediately, we realized that the whole thing is a scam because nobody was talking to us again,” Mr. Lawan said. He said they were left to source money and settle some of the youth who became restive and attacked them and their personal vehicles, and seized their belongings, including phones. “This left us in rancour with over 600 angry youths who went wild due to frustrations of spending lots of hours, no food or water and also no available transportation back to their various destinations,” he said. Mr. Lawan said he managed to escape while two of his guards were injured in the fray that followed. Students in the state, who were also asked to put up a showing at the event, were treated the same way, he said. Another agent, Bello Dan Alkarya, also told PREMIUM TIMES that he was asked to bring in women and youth to the venue and would be given N500 naira for each of them. Mr. Alkarya said he did, but unlike Mr. Lawan, he was short-changed as only N300 was paid for each person transported to the rally venue. TAN has no official representation in Kano, PREMIUM TIMES understands. Our correspondent, who made findings in Kano, was told the group has only two resource persons who are responsible for the entire northwest. One of the officials, who agreed to speak, but on the condition his identity be protected, said he had received several complaints of people short-changed by the group after the event. “I simply told them I am not an insider into the activities of TAN because I don’t know much about them. We are only two of us in the whole of North West Region and we don’t have any office. The only way I get to them is when they call me, I don’t know anything about them,” he said. “In fact, the only person who holds everything is the owner of the group, Ifeanyi Uba. He is the one who directed one Jibrin to make sure that they get some people to bring in women and youth. Now you can see that there is a problem in the whole thing,” the man said. TAN’s Director of Communication and Strategy, Udenta Udenta, told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview on Saturday that the association was not aware of the issue and could not have been involved in such an arrangement. “Kano rally was our last rally. The response of Nigerians to our objective and rallies was spontaneous and they are full of passion and conviction. From the South East rally to the North West, that has been the trend. “However, stakeholders, including those contesting elections, can mobilize people to come to the rallies. It is not like TAN is doing the entire mobilization. It is like a market place. TAN only set up a platform to accommodate various interests. Therefore, whoever made the accusation (you are talking about) should be clear on it; he should state clearly who is responsible, when the agreement was reached, date and if not, such a story should be dismissed.” Mr. Lawan said he and others affected have decided to reach out to the media, the PDP leadership and the police. “Till now those in charge of the mobilisation and payment of transport fares and feeding stipends are nowhere to be found or contacted,” he said. “It’s indeed a pity to see how things are being organised by TAN Northwest (Kano). Please PDP, GDG and TAN members, come to my aid, I am currently under pressure and threatened by angry PDP youths to pay them their stipends.” TAN has been at the centre of controversy before. During its earlier rallies, the group staged the events at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria defying complaints and warnings from Nigerians about the possibility of helping to spread the deadly virus. SOURCE: MUHAMMAD AHMAD saharareporters.com