=~dTO ACN Insists On Opposition Role From a1IIIes 0gugIJuaja. Owerri Tfwas a solemn occasion yesterJday as the remains of a corps member, Ikechukwu Chibuzo Ukeoma, who was murdered in Bauchi State during the recently concluded general elections, were given a state burial in his ancestral home in Umuchima, Awoamama, Oru East Local Council oflmo State, amid tears from relations, friends and·sympathizers. He was the second victim. Few weeks ago, the first victim, AnslemNkwazema,anElecrrical ElectTonics Engineer,andgraduate of Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, was buried in his hometown in Obibiezena, Owerri West Local Council. While serving in the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC), he also', was killed in Bauchi. Ukeoma graduated from University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with a Bachelorsdegree in Micro Biology and had gone to Bauchi to serve. ReceivingthecorpseattheMulti Purpose Hall, Owerri, the State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, represented by his deputy, Chief Jude Agbaso, regretted that the deceased who had gone to Bauchi in good health to serve his fatherland, was brought back in coffin. Okorocha called on relevant authorities to ensure safety of corps members wherever they were in the country. He said that the state government was deeply toudied by the demise, stressing the need to forestall a recurrence. The governor commended the FederalGovernmentforinstitutinga panel to look into the postelection crisis. In his reaction, the Director General of NYSc, Brig. Gen. Mai Tsiga, represented by the zonal CO<)rdinator of the scheme in the Southeast, Anthony Ani regretted thederiliseofhiscorps member, stating that it had placed the scheme personnel in a moody and sorry state. He called on relevant authorities to pu t in place measures to prevent future rerurrence.
By Ifedayu Sayo '1"1-IE Action Congress of .1Nigeria (ACN) has denied reports in a section of the · media yesterday that it had the decided to join Government of National Unity (GNU) being planned by President GoOdluck Jonathan. "We hereby state, for the umpteenth time, that we will not participate in any GNU,m the party said in statement issued in Accra, Ghana yesterday by its National PubliCity Secretary, Lai Mohammed. The ACN scribe wrote: "Reports that we have embraced the GNU and adopteda 'guarded participation policy'amounttosheerfallacy.and sliould be treated as such by all our members and supporters." The party said: "It is a curious stretch to conclude that by participating in a m eeting convened by President Jonathan in Abuja, the ACN has automatically reneged on its earlierdecision notto join the GNU. "Indeed,wewere represented at that meeting by a powerful delegation red by our Chainnan. Chief Bisi Akande, simply because it will amount to sheer arrogance to shun a meeting convened by the President to discuss nothing more than the issue of Nigeria, in which we are all stakeholders.
Nigerians see us as such and a1soexpectmuchfromourparty in aeepening democracy and ensuring better life for our long-suffering people. We vvill notsacrificetnatresponsibility on thealtarof short-term political gains."
Denies Joining Unity Govt "However, when we received the letter of invitation; we immediately wrote bacl<to the Presidency asking to be Intimated with the agenda of the meeting. When no response was forthCOming, we went to the meeting with a letter in which we reiterated our decision not to participate in any GNU,forthesimplereasonthat a unity government in peace time can only stifle democracy and facilitate the emergence of a one-party state, which will in tum breed unbriclled corruption. . "We also used the letterto conveyouragendatothePresident, which includes robust democratic reforms, fiscal federalism, security, especially the issue of community poliCing, and the fight against corruption. We also used the meeting to reiterate these issues as weD as our decision notto be a party to any GNU. How this translates to making a U-turn beats our imagination." The {'arty repeated its earlier warrung that any of its members "WllO decide to join the GNU does so in his personal capacity and automatically ceases to be a member of the ACN." The ACN said "it is satisfied vvith its role as the leading
opposition party in the country. and would continue to play that role and meet the yearnings of all democracy-foving Nigerians." Mohammed said the party ._ ~
would "practice - as always responsible opposition, which isnotthesameashostilitytothe Federal Government. He stressed:"Weare a government-in-waiting, and we know rn .>:"",,~="' ----:;:::---
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Zarnfara House Elects New Speaker From Isah Ibrahim (Gusau) and tf)8dvara Musa (Maiduguri) '1"1-IE member representing 1 Gusau I in the ZariUara State House of Assembljl Sanusi Garba Ril<ijl, was yesterday unanimously electedasnewSpeal<erofthefounn Assembly by the 24-member House. Amotion forthenominationof Rikiji as the Speaker was moved by the member representing Tsafe East State Constituency. Salisu Musa Tsafe and was seconded by the member representing Zurmi West, Ahmad Ibrahim Dole. The house also elected Mohammed Garba Gumml (Gummi East) as the deputy speaker;SalisuMusaTsafe(Tsafe East), majority leader; and Ahmad Ibrahim Dole (Zurmi West), minolity leader. Isa Abdulinumin (Talata Mafar North)waselected the Majority Chief Whip while Faruk Musa Dosara (Maradun 1) was elected
Borno Lawmakers Pass 41 Bills, Others Minority Chief Whip. Thenewstateassemblyconsists of members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party IANPPI who constitute majolity 1131 and members of the Peoples Democratic Party IPDPI who constitute 11 members making a total of 24 members for the assembly. Governor Abdul'Azeez Abubakar Yari and Deputy Governor Ibrahim Wakala Mohammed were among dignitaries who attended the swearing-in of the new House officials. Meanwhile, the out-gOing Borno State House of Assembly passed a total of 41 bills and 145 resolutions duling its legislativesessions between June 2007 and 2011. This was disclosed by the Speaker of the House, Goni Ali Modu in a valedictoryspeech he delivered to the 28-member Assembly in Maiduguri, the
state capital. He said out.of the 145 received bills, three were from private citizens and corporate organisations in the state. At the session, a member, Ibrahim Audu Miringa, faulted the former Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, over the latter's alleged retention of N63 billion in the and Local Joint State GovemmentAccounts. He said although the Assembly was not aware of such huge savings in the coffers of the state government, keeping such public fundsattheexpenseoffinancing people-oriented projects to improve living conditions had deprived the people of the dividends of democracy for eight years. Miringa said: "What justification has the former governor in keelT ing the entire members of the Assembly in the dark, while the 34 General
'We Need Mechanised Fanning To Defeat Hunger' From Ablodun Fagbeml, 1I0rin A UNIVERSITY of 1I0no Don, £\Prof. Kayode Oni, has canvassed the adoption of mechanised farmingto save Nigelians from imminent threat to hunger. Oni, a professor of Agricultural and Bio-system Engineering, expressed his worries over the high rate of decline in modem agricultural practices in the country, warning that if the trend remained unchanged, the nation might perpetually depend on food importation to feed its teeming population. The varsity don made this submission yesterday in his inaugural lecture titied, "Man, Machine and Food Inseculity." Ruing the fact that despite the nation's crude oil revenue, majority of Nigelians still go to bedhungrydailjlOnisaid:'1ne decadence of ancient civilization was largely due to inade-quat)' of man's tools to supply man 5 needs. Food was never available without work nor abundant food without machine." Quoting the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Kimoon, the don traced the dismal state of agricultural development in many sub-Saharan Africa countries, Nigeria inclusive, to "crudity of agricultural mechanisation" on the subcon!inent
r.n',~"'n. ·"'~n"n •• ni ...·
of Abia State and former na~onal chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Dkwesilieze Nwodo at the International Conference Center, Abuja for the PDP Retreat
Rule With Fear of God,' Muslims Tell Amosun
Fr~m Saxona Akhaine (Kaduna)
Seye OIumldeand CharlesCoffie Gyamfl, Abeokuta
Kaduna Gets SSG, others
Abeokuta. ~ h ed I Manager ort eStateown te ~E Muslim Community in "We pledge that on our own evision, Ogun State Television 10gun State yesterday urged part, we shall stand byyou,sup- Service, (OGIV), Abeokuta. He is GovemorlbU<UI1leAmosunto ruIe port you morally all the way, Alhaji Abdul-Hakeem Ayinde the state with the fear of God and and back it with spilitual sup- Soaga. pledged their spiritual and moral port, praying for you at all A statement from Amasun's support for his success. times. Today's event marks the Senior Special Assistant (Media TheyalsoappealedtoAmosun beginning of a series of prayers and Communication), Funmi to "hasten slowly" In his efforts for you. May Allah accept our Wakama, yesterday indicated to correct the wtOngs of the supplications; Adegbitesaid. that the appointment takes Adegblte,whoreadanine--page immediate effect immediate past The Muslims spoke through address to the conl;fregation Soaga, 51, joined the services of Nigerian Television the Secretary -General, of the advisedthegovernor tol'lasten the Nigeria Supreme Council for slowly, reviewing each case one AutlJority,Abeokutain1987and Islamic Affairs, Dr Lateef by one on merits and doing later moved to the NTA Adegbite at a thanks-giving" what you think is the best for Headquarters in Lagos. He is Jurnat" prayerto mark the start generality of the people." eresentlytheAsSlStantDirector ofAmos un s tenure held at the Meanwhile, Amosun has (Training) NTA, headquarters, Central Mosque, Kobiti, . , al!poi[lt~d ,,~ __ne.w...~~l!e!aL , &uja._
Also, Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa has approved tfie appointment of Alhaji lawai Samaila Abdullahi Yakawada as the new Secretary to the State Government (SSG). Similarly, the governor approved the appointment of Mr. Abokie Galadima as the new Chief Of . Staff to his government Special Adviser, Media and l'ublicity to the Governor, Reuben Buhali, who disclosed this yesterday,addedthatAmbassador Sule Buba is now the new Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare
Board. And in Lagos, the Diocesan Bishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Ephraim Ademowo, has called on the Federal Government to give Lagos State a special status and allocation because the state "is first among equals and second to none." Speaking at the Thanksgiving Service organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in honour of Governor Babatunde Fashola, to mark his second seconnd term in office. Ademowosaiditwasnecessary for President Goodluck Jonathan and the new National AssemblytoendorsespecialstarusforLagos.