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Ekweremadu Wins Fifth Senate Seat

Published

5 years ago

February 25, 2019

Eric

The deputy president of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has been declared the winner of his Enugu West Senatorial District for the fifth consecutive time.

Mr Ekweremadu’s political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also won the two House of Representatives seats in the district.

The district has five local governments’ areas of Oji River, Aninri, Ezeagu, Awgu, and Udi.

Announcing the result at about 12:10 a.m. on Monday, the Returning Officer for the senatorial district, Douglas Nwagbo, a professor, said Mr Ekweremadu polled 86,088 ahead of his closest rival, Juliet Ibekaku-Nwaugwu of the APC who polled 15,187.

Other political parties that presented candidates in the senatorial election included APGA, ADC, UPP, PPN, among others.

While APGA scored 6,881, ADC polled 838; UPP scored 202 with MMPN scoring 127.

According to the returning officer, the district has a total of 461,517 registered voters; 118,023 accredited voters while 109,929 votes were recorded as valid votes.

Mr Nwagbo said; “I must add that a total of 4,960 votes were rejected, making the total votes cast in the senatorial district to equal 114,889.”

Shortly after the announcement of the result, Mr Ekweremadu thanked the people of his district, his political party and his family, including friends and well-wishers.

He said the circumstances leading to his election makes it unique, being the first man to be elected five consecutive times in the entire South East.

“I am not taking this election for granted, especially by the unprecedented nature of my election,” said Mr Ekweremadu.

“This is the first time within this part of Nigeria that someone would be elected consecutively for five times into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It has never happened and I am not taking it for granted. I indeed feel very humbled and I give all the glory and thanks to the Almighty God who has made it possible.

“Recall that about a year ago, we went through a lot of storm for the major part of 2018 so nobody believed that a day like this will come where I will stand for an election and be declared winner. So, only God can make that possible.

“I must also thank my friends and associates, the great people of Enugu West, very industrious people, highly civilized people, highly accomplished people, very educated people, who in spite of the fact that I am just a little boy from Mpu, have given me this unprecedented opportunity.

“I would like to thank my family members for supporting me all the time and if you look at the last 48 hours, a lot of people have made a lot of commitment to ensure that this process is accomplished. So, I would like to thank the INEC officials for their commitment to our democracy, the security agents for their patience and professionalism.

“I would like to thank members of the press who have stood behind us to ensure that there is reportage for all that is going on in different parts of the country, it is not a small investment in our democracy.

“I believe that what is expected of us this time is to give back to the society that has given us this opportunity and those that have given us this confidence to ensure that this confidence is not misplaced. So a lot is lying on our shoulders. I would like to say clearly that we will not disappoint you.”

Mr Ekweremadu also spoke about the general elections across the country, saying the challenges within the last few hours are avoidable.

“We have had challenges in different parts of the country but we thank God that Enugu State is different because the governor has built a peaceful atmosphere over the past three and half years and this has manifested in the peaceful conduct of the elections in the State. So I can say that elections in the state were quite successful.

“We didn’t have many challenges as such, in terms of security or casualties. I am not sure we witnessed any casualty in any part of Enugu State. This is exactly what we looked for, what we prayed for, what we expected and this is what democracy should look like. I believe that other states should come to Enugu State and learn how to conduct themselves in elections.”

Premium Times

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We’ve Become Embarrassment to the World, TY Danjuma Laments

Published

32 mins ago

April 20, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

A former Minister of Defence, and Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), has lamented that Nigeria is a war front, and has become an embarrassment to the world, while appealing to all and sundry to be their brother’s keeper and cease killing one another, in order to attract foreign investors from across the world.

Danjuma, who spoke Friday at the opening ceremony of the Nwonyo International Fishing and Cultural Festival in Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba State, said Nigeria has devolved into a war zone where citizens are killing one another.

He said: “There is no sane foreign person that will come to our country to celebrate with us if we continue to kill each other and make our roads unsafe for people to move around.

“As we are today as Nigeria we are a disgrace to the whole world. The country is a war front where our people are against our own people.

“We must put our house in order because right now we are a laughing stock to the whole world.

“We must stop killing each other. We must make our roads safe. We must stop kidnappings.

“If we are expecting this festival to be truly international, we must have peace in our State and throughout the country.”

It would be recalled that the former Minister, in rare fit of outburst, while speaking at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University, called out the military, accusing them of colluding with terrorists in an attempt to indulge in ethnic cleansing.

Born about 86 years ago, Danjuma was the Chief of Army Staff from July 1975 to October 1978. He was also Minister of Defence under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

According to Wikipedia, Danjuma was born in Takum, Taraba State (formally Gongola), Nigeria, to Kuru Danjuma and Rufkatu Asibi. Takum was mainly a farming community when Danjuma was young, and yams, rice, cassava, and beniseed were largely cultivated by families and clans. His father was a hardworking peasant whose ancestors were all highly respected members of the community. Kuru Danjuma was a farmer who traded metal parts for farming implements and tools.

He started his education at St Bartholomew’s Primary School in Wusasa and moved on to the Benue Provincial Secondary School in Katsina-Ala where he was the captain of the school cricket 1st XI team; he received his Higher School Certificate in 1958. In 1959, Danjuma enrolled at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria (Ahmadu Bello University) to study History on a Northern Nigeria Scholarship.

However, by the end of 1960, Danjuma had left the university to enroll in the Nigerian Army.

Danjuma’s military sojourn will be incomplete without a recount of the role he played on the July 29, 1966, when he, alongside other officers of northern extraction, stage a retaliation coup, killing the Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi, and his host, Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The operation, code named July Rematch, also had Murtala Mohammed, Buka Suka Dimka, Muhammadu Buhari, Sani Abacha, Musa Usman, Ibrahim Taiwo, Ibrahim Bako, Ibrahim Babangida, and others as participants.

Though Danjuma had denied the roles he supposedly played in the coup and killings of the two ranking officers, reports detail as follows: “Danjuma picked up Nigeria’s first military Head of State General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and first military Governor of the former Western Region Lt Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi (who was hosting Aguiyi-Ironsi at his residence in Ibadan) from the side of the road, as there were escaping an ambush orchestrated by Danjuma, Mohammed, Dimka, Buhari and others.

“Danjuma held them captive in the back of his car and drove off to an isolated area in Oyo state, where he ordered them to get out and shot them in cold blood.”

The events of that day turned out to be the harbinger of a 30 months catastrophic war, which claimed millions of lives, especially from the South East region of the country.

Today, Danjuma is in the habit of giving back to the society, using his TY Danjuma Foundation. The foundation has continued to take care of persons and institutions the distinguished soldier come across with.

“To show my gratitude to my country and to the Almighty God, I give,” he said

Headline

Breaking: Wike Plans to Attend Thursday’s PDP NEC Meeting

Published

3 days ago

April 17, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NECeeting on Thursday is not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

Political stakeholders have concluded that the outcome of Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan.

Headline

Bribery, Corruption: APC Suspends National Chairman, Ganduje

Published

5 days ago

April 15, 2024

Eric

The All Progressives Congress ward in Ganduje, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, has suspended the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

The party ward legal adviser, Halliru Gwanzo, announced the suspension while addressing newsmen in Kano State on Monday.

Gwanzo cited allegations of bribery against Ganduje levelled by the Kano State Government as the reason for the suspension.

“We decided to suspend Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje from the party due to the seriousness of the allegations against him,” Gwanzo said.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact the Chief Press Secretary to the APC National Chairman, Mr Edwin Olufo, failed as his mobile phone was unreachable.