ADC chairmen condemn NURTW's Sego, demand immediate action against threats - ITREALMS

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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has raised concerns over threats and intimidation by suspected political thugs, particularly targeting its members in Lagos State, reports ITREALMS.

The party's local government chairmen, ITREALMS gathered reported incidents of attacks, threats, and disruptions, which they believe could escalate into violence during the 2027 general elections.

Stakeholders rejects calls for interim government, agitations to sack EFCC boss - ITREALMS

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The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), notable civil society organization dedicated to combating corruption in Nigeria, organized an Anticorruption Stakeholders Summit in Lagos State with the Support of MacArthur Foundation and Open Society Initiative for West Africa. 

The summit brought together various stakeholders including civil society organizations, anti-corruption agencies, and media groups to undertake a comprehensive assessment of Buhari’s anti-corruption record and propose solutions to address the problem of corruption in the country.

Tinubu, Akande condemn court case against Fayemi - ITREALMS Online

ITREALMS:

All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in the South-west have restated their support for the party's gubernatorial candidate in the July 14 Ekiti Governorship election, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and condemned a court case allegedly instituted by one of the defeated aspirants of the party in the state, Chief Segun Oni, reports ITRealms.

They said the decision to support Fayemi was reached through a combination of persuasion, reconciliation, consensus- building and understanding on the part of all the stakeholders, pointing out that they as leaders held several intervention meetings in Abuja, Lagos and Ekiti with all the APC Ekiti gubernatorial aspirants where they resolved to support whoever emerges from the party's primaries.

Condemning the court case which they described as spurious, the leaders asked those behind the court action to withdraw their case immediately "if they are within our party and not agents of PDP".

They also called on Segun Oni to come out publicly to dissociate himself from and condemn the case and play active role in the APC campaign.

The statement was signed by APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Interim Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, the newly-elected APC Deputy National Chairman (South), Otunba Niyi Adebayo and the party's former National Vice Chairman, South-West, Chief Pius Akinyelure. 

Entitled "We Stand Behind Kayode Fayemi," the statement reads: "The Ekiti Governorship Election slated for July 14, 2018 is barely three weeks away and we all are committed to working for the total victory of the APC candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. 

"The decision to support Kayode Fayemi was reached through a combination of persuasion, reconciliation, consensus- building and understanding on the part of all the stakeholders. We led several intervention meetings that held in Abuja, Lagos and Ekiti with all the APC Ekiti gubernatorial aspirants where we resolved to support whoever emerges from the May primaries.

"We have stood behind Kayode Fayemi’s candidacy since he won the governorship primaries and when we all gathered in Ekiti for the Mega Rally on June 19, it was an emphatic declaration of support for his candidacy. Again on the night of June 19, we as leaders met with all stakeholders including all former aspirants and commended them for not defecting from the party. They all emphasized their commitment and suggested that Kayode Fayemi run an effective and inclusive campaign that will ultimately lead to an all-inclusive government."

Ayo Midele/GEE

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APC governors condemn emergence of irredentist movements

ITRealms:

The governors elected under the All Progressive Congress (APC) otherwise known as Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) has condemned the emergence of irredentist movements across the country, reports ITRealms.

The Director-General of PGF, Salihu Mohammed Lukman, told ITRealms in a press statement Friday, urge all decent voices in the country to speak up against these upsurge of desperate irredentist groups.

PGF also urged well-meaning Nigerians to support the emergence of a stronger and virile unified Nigeria for all to thrive.

The Forum insists that, regardless of our diverse identities and whatever differences, Nigeria has to thrive. Hence,‘ there has to be a nation first’.

According to PGF, they are always to promote all-inclusive government, for the development of policies and programmes that improve the life of every Nigerian citizen, regardless of ethnicity and religious orientation.

“It is with this in mind that the Forum condemns in the strongest terms the present secessionist and separatist agitations promoting ethno-regional identity in the country. These sundry factional groups, claiming to represent different ethnic nationalities, sow seeds of disunity and promote secessionist agenda in the nation. We decry and reject their activities in all intents and purposes,” he said.

The group acknowledged the rich diverse heritage of Nigeria as a country, noting particularly that the resurgence of desperate youth groups promoting ethno-regional identities and extremist positions from the different geo-political zones across the nation as currently experienced is a reflection of prevalent weak governance, economy and law enforcement system in Nigeria.

The challenge beforeus as Nigerians therefore is to commit ourselves to theunity of the country. We must create by all means necessary, a country that we can collectively call our home, irrespective of tongues and localities. This is a vision the APC as a party is committed to lead and for which the PGF is unapologetically and intrinsically loyal.These threats to national unity must cease totally and put away into history.

While acknowledging that as a nation, we do have challenges, PGF believe that the resolution of those challenges rest with the development of our democracy and with it, the ascendency of structured processes of national consultations, negotiations and invariably agreements. Some of the challenges are highlighted in the accompanied PGF Position – There has to be a nation first.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE 

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Nigerian Editors condemn EFCC raid on Sun Newspapers

ITRealms:

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has received with shock news of the invasion of the premises of the SUN Publishing Limited by heavily armed operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in the early hours of June 12, 2017, reports ITRealms.

Condemning the raid, the Guild of Editors through its President, Mrs. Funke Egbèmode, lamented that the fierce looking operatives prevented staff of the organisation from either entering or leaving the premises of the company and disrupted the circulation processes.

“The unwarranted siege to the company subjected staff of the organisation to crude intimidation, psychological and emotional trauma,” she said.

The EFCC, she said, had accused The SUN of publishing pro-Biafra, Boko Haram and Niger Delta militant stories.

Also, she said, the latest action of the EFCC on a newspaper house is a sad reminder of the dark years of military dictatorship and a deliberate effort to muzzle the press.

As a statutory agency birthed by an Act of Parliament in a democracy, we had expected the EFCC to explore civil means of addressing perceived infraction by a critical stakeholder in the Nigerian democratic project.

Rather than see the Fourth Estate of the Realm as an opposition, the Commission should realise that the media is an indispensable partner in its fight against corruption.

The Guild noted that the latest affront on The SUN by operatives of the EFCC is one in a number of targeted attempts by a section of the nation’s security agency to gag free press.

“We recall the recent expulsion of Mr. Olalekan Adetayo, the State House correspondent of Punch Newspapers from Aso Rock by Bashir Abubakar, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Muhammadu Buhari.

NGE said, the alleged forfeiture order the EFCC brandished this morning was 10 years old and a matter still before the Court of Appeal.

“The Guild wonders why the Commission felt it had to act ahead of a case before a court of competent jurisdiction. It bears restating that such an attempt to intimidate the media does incalculable damage to the image of the EFCC and indeed the Nigerian government. Besides, it does not only undermine the foundation of our young democracy, it is a major threat to its sustenance and existence,” she said.

Further, the Guild condemned the EFCC action in its entirety and calls on the Commission to purge itself of all anti-democratic tendencies in order to foster mutual cooperation with the media and other stakeholders in its crusade against graft.

And called on EFCC to put an end to its current attempts to gag the Press and also demands an unreserved apology from the Commission to the SUN Publishing Limited.

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AOU, Nigerians in diaspora reject transfer of Boko Haram convicts to Ekwulobia

ITRealms:

 

Members of the Aguata-Orumba indigenes in diaspora under the aegis of Aguata-Orumba in the United States of America (AOU) have condemned the recent relocation of 47 Boko Haram convicts to a sleeping town of Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, ITRealms reports.

Reacting to the ugly development, a member of AOU resident in California, Mr.  Ikedinobi Onunkwo called on the leaders of AOU to stand tall at this time and vehemently reject the transfer of terrorist scumbags to Ekwulobia.

Onunkwo wondered “where are the availability of security infrastructures in our small state and small towns to host these dangerous dregs of society? Is this a brazen exercise of federal executive fiat or couldn't this have been seriously negotiated with our state's leadership before any attempt to effect this potentially insidious transfer?”

Suspected terrorists, he said, belong in the holding cells of maximum security prisons such as the Kirikiri prisons in Lagos, “not a rickety and inefficiently maintained minimum prison in the small and vulnerable town of Ekwulobia!”

According to him, whether or not this is a cynical political payback for Anambra people, “we must stand tall and reject, denounce, and condemn it without equivocation.”

He decried that whomever conceived this seemingly mischievous move to continually subject Anambra people to a perennial nervous security edge.

“They would readily sidetrack our region when it comes to citing meaningful infrastructures for economic and civic development, and will now quickly remember our geographic space in the deployment of society's ‘toxic nuisance’ and ‘human wastes’, Onunkwo lamented.

He, therefore beckon on leadership of AOU-USA to swing into action by collaboratively harnessing the political capital and goodwill of folks like  Chief Andy Uba, Ide of Oko, Dr. Raymond Obieri,  Chief Anigbogu and others in the community.

Onunkwo insisted that AOU-USA should use all stripes to vehemently reject this transfer of terrorist scumbags to Ekwulobia.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)
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