Today, print media and social media was hot because of what Senatorial Abaribe said about the loan which Federal Government intended to obtain for the construction of Lagos-calabar coastal Rail project valued at 11.117 Billion dollars.
Senator threatened fire and what have you, but to me he is seeking cheap popularity. I said so because these senators are not doing anything for the south-east. On issues, they try to let us know that Buhari hate Ndi igbo, but in actual fact, it is these Senators and PDP that hates us so much.
This rail project in question was awarded by Ex-president Goodluck Azikiwe Ebelechukwu. Where were Ike Ekweremmadu, Abaribe actual nd others when Goodluck awarded this contract.
The Federal Government initially awarded this contract to China Civil Engineering Construction Company during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration at the rate of $11.917billion, but was renegotiated to $11.117 billion following the drop in prices of some commodities by President Buhari when he visited China. Thereby saving for Nigerian government the sum of 800 Million Dollars, that is PDP govt style of contract.
In the renegotiated price, the Nigerian government will take care of 15 per cent of the counterpart funding of the entire project that is expected to be completed in two years.
Speaking in Abuja during the signing of the MoU, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said: “This contract was awarded by the President Goodluck Jonathan regime at $11.917 billion and when we took over as the Ministry of Transportation, we negotiated with CCECC and succeeded in reducing the contract sum from $11.917 billion to $11.117 billion.

“We are able to save $800million after negotiation with CCECC and that has to do with the fact that CCECC said prices of commodities like steel and other things have come down and there was need to bring down the prices of those things.
“So, our gathering is to sign same contract but with different price and to make it legal from the initial price to the negotiated price”, he said.
The minister also disclosed that the first segment of the project will commence as soon as discussion is finalised with China Exim Bank.
Now, see the route where this project or rail will cover. From the start, which is the first segment, the Minister said, “The first segment of the project, which is Calabar, Uyo, Abba and Port Harcourt and which would include all the seaports on the route will commence after discussion with China Exim Bank.
“Meanwhile, the entire contract covers Calabar, Uyo, Aba, Port Harcourt, Yenagoa, Otuoke, Ughelli, Warri, Sapele, Benin, Agbor, Asaba, Onitsha, Ore, Ijebu Ode, Sagamu and Lagos, and we believe that it will head to the Lagos Seaport to ensure that all the tracks terminate at the seaports we currently have in Nigeria”.
On when the project will be ready, Amaechi said: “My expectation is that the project can be completed in two years since funding won’t be a problem. We will conclude Lagos to Ibadan in two years and conclude Calabar to Port Harcourt in two years too.

“The project signed is in the budget and we are at the point of execution. We have signed the formal contract with CCECC and once we get the blessing from China Exim Bank, we will commence construction and we are paying 15 per cent of the contract as counterpart funding”.
Commenting on the Abuja- Kaduna railway project, the minister said the government will purchase more coaches in order to accommodate passenger.
He said: “The testrun has commenced but we have to hear from the president to know when the official ceremony will take place. We are not collecting money yet because we said we will collect money from the day the President flags it off.
So Ndi igbo, who is your real enemny. Why should these useless senators continue to make us believe that Buhari hates US. That APC is against ndi igbo. What can PDP tell Ndi igbo that is what they did for US. We are wiser now. Look at the massive work going on at Enugu-onitsha expressway, look at Enugu-port Harcourt road being handled by Setraco. Look at Owerri-Port Harcourt road, the massive work going on, courtesy of President Buhari and APC. Yes, in terms of appointment, it may not have favoured us, but in projects, it has. Check out the new design for second Niger Bridge, this rail that will pass through onitsha has a route route to asaba,agbor and Benin.
We know PDP members agbor dress doing everything possible to discredit APC in south East, we the youths will not agborndrellow them. Never again shall we make that costly mistake of 2015. Below is the design for the rail route.
Paschal Candle writes from Abuja.

Kanu's father should not personalise this struggle. this is not a family struggle. HE should keep quite.

Segun Adeniyi, you were in PDP and APC at the same time. You are one of those that made Goodluck to loose. Also to tell you, Tinubu never granted any interview on this issue. how did you come about it

This National Assembly is a body of rogues. Instead of asking Danjuma Goje what an official document that is supposed to be at His committee office is doing in his house, they are here talking trash. This would have been another means to pad the budget. why should the man take it to his house? he should be sanctioned for that

LEADERSHIP IN A MAN CALLED DR ANTHONY NWOYE
There is an Igbo proverb which says, “All trees grow in the forest, but the OHA tree singles itself out.” From this, It is very clear that Dr Tony Nwoye has distinguished himself among all the Politicians in this State as a Leader who can trusted, who is reliable, who can depended on to drive the change mantra of APC in this State. And from the above, people from different Political parties, diverse opinions and interests have come to agree that Dr Tony Nwoye is Leader we need at this point of our State History. The reasons why people have decided to follow Dr Tony Nwoye as their Leader are; He cares for them even at his discomfort, He is trusted by people from different political background, He always stand for something through his life( from His secondary days, University days and at this very moment)and above all He is a Leader who can be depended on. Also credibility is the foundation of leadership, that is why people demand it. If people don’t believe in the messenger, they won’t believe the message. All these qualities can be seen in this young, energetic and humble young man cum comrade. This is why Dr Tony Nwoye has become a household name Anambra politics and among Ndi Anambra.
In the early hours of 13th September, in the year 1974, there were joy and shout out in the family of Chief Lawrence and Mrs. Christiana Nwoye of Offianta Nsugbe in Anambra East L.G.A of Anambra State. Family and friends gathered in utmost surprises cum enthusiasm, low and behold, a set of Twins visited the humble family of Nwoye. And they were named Okechukwu and Anichebe. Barely weeks after, they were dedicated to God by their parents for greatness. DO THE GODS HAVE TO BE BLAMED? The answer is NO. This is because Okechukwu was named Anthony while Anichebe was named Ernest after being dedicated to the permissible WILL OF GOD. Today, Tony as fondly called is a Medical Doctor while Annie as fondly called is a Legal Practitioner. This is just the beginning of greatness as implored at dedication by their Parents, therefore, THE GODS ARE NOT TO BE BLAMED, that is to say that Tony Okechukwu Nwoye’s rise to the top echelon of the National politics has been nothing short of meteoric and through permissible will of God.
This simple man with a very humble beginning had his early education at Metropolitan Secondary School, Onitsha, from there to prestigious University of Nigeria and finally at Ebonyi State University where he demonstrated outstanding academic excellence. If somebody like Dr tony Nwoye, a son of nobody can make it this far. I can make it if you believe, He believed and today he is a Household name. This is not about Dr Tony Nwoye, it is about you and I. Dr Tony Nwoye has done a lot for His immediate environment and constituency. This is why some forces of darkness do want him around. All the places he has found himself, Dr tony Nwoye has left a very good remarks and inedible History in the Politics of Anambra State and himself. As NANS president, he did marvelously well. As Anambra State PDP Chairman, nobody has ever marched his records and as a Lawmaker, he is a legislator Par Excellence.
Dr Tony Nwoye is a Medical Doctor by professional, naturally an activist, a grass-root mobiliser, a consensus builder and a very consummate political strategist. He is easily at home with both the nobles and the ordinary folks even as he is quick to identify with the later as his primary constituency and, in his own words, ‘the focus of his foray into politics’. His love of people and desire to improve the lives of the down-trodden even at the risk of his personal and political interests marks him out as a politician of a different ilk.
In Dr Tony Nwoye, the Anambra people are being presented a leader with very rare combination of attributes – young but vastly experienced, dynamic, purposeful and a team player. He is result-oriented, an out-and-out grass root person but with very wide vertical reach. But beyond all these, the Anambra people will find in Dr Tony Nwoye that youthful, up-to-date leader who despite of his obvious sophistication in contemporary politics, retains the common touch - the human element. He shares genuine comradeship with the youths and the masses and deeply empathizes with the dispossessed and the down trodden.
He feels their pains, shares their hopes and will address their needs. Little wonder he was nicknamed: “The Voice of the Masses” by the teeming population of Ndi Anambra State.
Hon. Dr. Tony Nwoye represents voice for peace, prosperity and progress. A credible alternative to reckless, myopic and inefficient leadership in our dear state. He has promised to take a new direction with a fresh approach. His government if voted shall be a government by the people for the People. He is an Everyday Man working for Everyday People. He is the change we need. A voice we deserve. His mission is to build our future together: for our Children; our Community; our Future. A Leader who listens.
Hon. Dr. Tony Nwoye has served the nation selflessly and meritoriously in various capacities some of which include:
2004: Member, Presidential Committee Against Illegal Arms and Violent Crimes.
2005: Member, National Political Reform conference, Member Federal Committee on 2006 Census.
2005 - Leader of the Nigerian Delegation to the World Youth Summit in Venezuela.
2006: Non - Executive Director, Hadejiyah Jamaare River Basin, Kano – Federal ministry of Water Resources.
Dr Tony Nwoye is a member of the 8th National Assembly Representing the good people of Anambra East and West Federal Constituency of Anambra State.
Hon. Dr. Nwoye as dogged representative who knows his political onions is currently in the following Committees of the Green Chamber of the National Assembly:
Member House Committee on Works, which he uses his membership to attract a lot of road projects for his constituency and good people of South East. He was with the committee when they visited all the Federal roads in the region. Their visit has been very positive because massive work is on going on all the Federal roads in the region.
Member House Committee on Solid Minerals, which he uses his membership to re-activate coal mining in Enugu State for electricity generation.
Member House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He has done a lot on this committee. He was among members that went to United Arab Emirates.
Member House Committee on Land Transport, through his effort, Federal Government has started re-activation of Onitsha dry sea port.
Member House Committee on FERMA. FERMA has been doing a lot of reconstruction works on the South East roads.
Member House Committee on Federal Character.
Member House Committee on Financial Crimes Commission.
Member House Committee on Nigerian Port Authority.
Member House Committee on Health.
Motions moved, sponsored and Co-Sponsored as Hon. Member are not limited to:
1. The rehabilitation of Enugu/Onitsha Express Way.
2. Dredging of Omombala River.
3. Inclusion of Anambra, Enugu and Kogi States as Oil Producing States.
4. Inclusion of Funds for the rehabilitation of Otuocha-Nzam-Innoma-Iheaka-Ibaji-Kogi Federal Roads in the 2017 Budget. Et al. There are documents to show his active involvmentin all these.
He is also a Trustee of many NGO’s.
He is a devout Catholic and is married to beautiful Mrs Ifenyinwa Nwoye from Obosi, with Children.

It is with utmost humility that I present to you His Youthfulness and His excellency, Hon. Dr. Tony Nwoye for Anambra State Governorship come November 2017. This is as a result of his wealth of experience in administration and human management. His huge wealth of experience and human managerialism is rare to be found. His simplicity is unparalleled. His magnanimity is endless. His boldness is one in a million. His popularity is indomitable. His oratory is superb. His humility is unquestionable. And his GREATNESS becomes unquenchable.
Having posited the above the MAN Called Hon. Dr. Tony Nwoye, I therefore enjoin fellow Ndi Anambra Ndi Nna, Ndi Nne, Ndi Youth na Mmadu n'ile to rally an unflinching support for Hon. Dr. Nwoye, a youth full of dynamism, innovation, mastery in his opportunities and outstanding personality for CORRECTION 2017 under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC)........
I STAND WITH HON. DR. TONY OKECHUKWU NWOYE..... ka chukwu mezie okwu
Long Live APC….. Change
Long Live Ndi Anambra…. Ndi ezigbo Madu
Long Live Anambra State… Light of the Nation
Long Live Nigeria…One people, one Nation.

Otimkpu Paschal writes from Awka, Anambra State Nigeria.
A graduate of International Studies and Diplomacy, University Of Benin.
MA International History and Diplomacy,University of Benin (in view).
E-mail: smile4candlep@gmail.com.

GOODWILL MESSAGE TO OUR DEAR MOTHERS ON THE OCCASION OF 2017 MOTHERS’ DAY CELEBRATION
May I enjoin the entire Christendom, families and friends to celebrate our MOTHERS today in this auspicious occasion of MOTHERS’ DAY.
The Occasion of Mothering Sunday reminds us that Mothers are special gift from God. This occurrence is used to draw attention to the importance of motherhood, capture the essence of who they are; what they do; the difference they make most especially domestically. Mothers do go hungry in the bid to satisfy their children.
However, a day is not satisfactory to celebrate all the above attributes of motherhood; may I unreservedly appreciate their loves, affection, care and gratitude for their inestimable roles in our lives, families and nation building. In deed, motherhood is one of the greatest gifts in life.
To NDI NNE as “ugoegbe Ezi na Ulo”, you must be consciously aware that as a FAMILY MIRROR, the character of a child is modeled in the reflection of the parents especially the mothers; I therefore implore you despite your divine responsibility involving procreation and nurturing of human beings, to equally be mindful of the laborious task of good and responsible parenting which you must take seriously, in view of the fact that children born today will become tomorrow’s representatives of their respective families and leaders. May you avoid the abuse of parenthood remembering this quote: “The society we abuse today will take the revenge on our children tomorrow”….. GOV PETER OBI
Sequel to these entire God-given virtues and salient qualities of motherhood, you are challenged upon by today’s commemoration of motherhood, to start molding a breed of children who are responsible, focused, law abiding, articulate and useful to the society.
Finally, on behalf of the entire Anambrians, I say Happy Mothers’ Day to you all. I wish you many more fruitful years ahead.
Once again, Congratulations
Long Live our Mothers…. Long Live Our Church
Long Live Ndi Anambra East and West.
Long Live Ndi Anambra
Dr and Mrs Tony Nwoye
Member Representing Anambra East and West in the Nigeria House of Representatives

TRUE FACE OF PROGRESSIVE REPRESENTATION BY DR TONY NWOYE
Since the creation of Anambra State, we have had many Legislators who have gone to represent Ndi Igbo, Ndi Anambra and the Good people of Anambra North in particular. We have had the likes of Great Rt Hon. Dr Chuba Okadigbo, A legislator Par Excellence, the man of the people, a great orator and a bridge builder. A man who understand that Politics is meant to serve the interest of the people. Since the demise of Great Oyi of Oyi, the good people of Anambra North have never had it so good until the coming of Dr Tony Nwoye, a Medical Doctor by profession, a legislator representing Anambra East and West Federal Constituency in the Nigeria House of Representatives. Since Dr Tony Nwoye won His hard earned election at the Tribunal and court of Appeal and took that responsibility bestowed on him by the good people of that Constituency. He has made a tremendous progress in representing the people of that constituency and ndi Anambra in General. He took it upon himself to carry the problem of Ndi Anambra North and Anambra State in general at the National Assembly. The Great Oyi of Oyi, I want you to be happy wherever you are because someone else has taken over from where you stopped.
Dr Tony Nwoye has proven himself as a great son of Ndi Anambra and A Legislator Par Excellence. He has proven that He is at the National Assembly for the good of Ndi Anambra and Her people. In less than One year plus some months in Office, Dr Tony Nwoye has sponsored a lot of bills and one of such bills is a Bill to declare Anambra, Kogi, and Enugu states as an Oil Producing states. On Thursday 9th of March, 2017 on the floor of the green chamber, Federal House of Representatives a bill to declare Kogi, Enugu and Anambra states among the oil producing states in the federation was sponsored by Hon Tony Nwoye, Hon Emmanuel Egwu and Hon Patrick Asadu.
The Honourable members believes that the declaration of Anambra, Kogi, and Enugu states as oil producing States will not in anyway jeopardize the ongoing field tracing and provisional boundary demarcation between the states by the National Boundary Commission but will rather help in determining the percentage of derivation accruable to the three states.
The Honourable members urged The House to resolve the following:
1. Urge the Federal Government to direct the ministry of petroleum resources, the department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and NNPC to open up table bids for oil prospecting and mining on the existing discovery.
2. Urge the Federal government to declare Anambra, Kogi and Enugu states as oil producing states since exploration and mining activities have begun in the basin since 2012.
3. Set up an ad-hoc committee to determine the commercial viability of the oil and gas deposits in the Anambra Basin in order to optimize the commercial mining in the Basin where Hydrocarbon activities have been going on since 2012.
The motion was adopted and sent to the appropriate committee for further legislative action. One will recall that Oil was first discovered in Anambra State and the mining has been going on there. There has not been any legislative action or pronouncement about the status of the State as an Oil producing State. Lagos which discovered Oil of recent, but they were denied the status by Goodluck Administration. Until President Buhari came into power. Senators and House members from that State rose in unionism and made Mr President to proclaim Lagos as an Oil producing State. As a result of this, Lagos became the 10th Oil Producing State before Anambra State. And two giant refineries are being built By Alhaji Dangote and Captain iheanacho. This will create Job opportunities and great more revenue for Lagos State. There is no marginalization here. There is no hatred here. This is pure politics at the highest level. Ex-President Goodluck denied Lagos that status not because he hates them, but because Lagos was not a PDP State. But one thing I didn’t understand was why he refused to Proclaim Anambra State even when he visited the site and commissioned the Orient Refinery despite claiming to be our brother and a good friend of Ndi Igbo. Maybe it is because we are not a PDP state. Dr Tony Nwoye was able to succeed so far is because he understands the intrigues of belonging to ruling party at the centre. He has attracted so many projects in the state and championing with other progressive minded legislators from South East who understand the importance of service delivery to the people in making sure South East got its fair share in infrastructural development of the country. I believe proclaiming Anambra State as an Oil producing State will go a long way to boost our revenue. In this regard, the state will be getting 13% derivations and some oil companies will site their offices here and hereby creating employment opportunities and boosting economic activities in the state. I believe before the end of life span of this 8th Assembly of National Assembly, Anambra, Kogi and Enugu will declared 11th, 12th and 13th Oil Producing States with likes of Borno and Benue coming on board with the latest discovery there.
Recently, Dr Tony Nwoye championed for the inclusion of fund for the rehabilitation of Otuocha-Nzam-Innoma-Iheaka-Ibaji-Kogi Federal Roads in the 2017 budget. Not only did he championed for it, he followed it up with actions by writing letters and seeing the Ministers in charge on the need for that road to be completed as to ease pains for our people travelling to Abuja. Today, in 2017 Budget, the funds are included and by the time the budget is passed into law, work will start on the road, thanks to Dr Tony Nwoye. He also sponsored motion on the dredging of Omobala River. Though President Buhari promised to rehabilitate Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Dr Tony Moved a motion to remind Mr President of the need to start work there and we thank President Buhari for listening to the voice of reason. Today, Enugu-Onitsha road is a success story. Massive Work is ongoing. Dr Tony Nwoye is making serious effort for Federal Government to mandate the contractor to start work on Umunya-Igbariam axis of that road because of the Erosion that is taking place on that road while they continue from 9th Mile down to Awka which RCC is currently doing. Attached is the documentary evidence. The essence of this is for people not claim what they did not do when election comes in 2017 or 2019. We need to take a scorecard of those who went to Abuja to represent Ndi Anambra and Ndi Igbo in general irrespective of party affiliations.
Dr Tony Nwoye, you are true son of Ndi Anambra. We are proud of you. We call you a Legislator par excellence. We are not surprise by your achievements so far in the National Assembly. With your background as a Comrade and activist, we expected this from you, but not in this magnitude. You have silence many who doubted your capabilities. You are a true democrat and a silent achiever. May God continue to guide, direct and protect you. I believe if higher responsibility is given to you, you will do more than this. Onyeze, weldone. We are expecting more from you. Thank you, thank you and thank you. We need more people like you. If Ndi igbo will begin to elect vibrant and dynamic people to go and represent us or govern us, I believe we will not be where we are today as a people. It is time to stop money bags that have nothing to offer, only to hold onto a political power just to cover their misdeeds. Dr Tony Nwoye has proven to be a great Ambassador of All progressive Congress (APC). That is where he belongs. In case you do not know.

Paschal Candle, a graduate of International studies and Diplomacy, University of Benin, a Public affair analyst writes from Awka, Nigeria. He can be reached on via his email address: smile4candlep@gmail.com

RE: SELL OUT MISSION OF AGULUERI AND ANAMBRA STATE INHERITANCE BY DR TONY NWOYE
1. One Mr Chidiogo Igwebuike Obiajulu of National Youth Council Of Nigeria, Anambra State (Media) in his baseless article alleged that all the aides of Dr. Tony Nwoye are not from Anambra State talk more of coming from Anambra East and West. This is the greatest lies of all time. It is on record that each House of Representatives Member is entitled to 3 SAs. But Dr tony Nwoye recruited and employed 7 dynamic and resourceful young guys, very intelligent and brilliant from Anambra East and West. They are Obiora Monulu O who is from Umueri, whose House is at the back of St Mary Catholic church; the next person is Ozoemena Dike who is from Agulueri, the same community with Governor Willie Obiano. The third person is Bar Udeanyinya Clement who is from Nando, James Manor from Odekpe and Daniel Okeke from Oroma-Etiti and Emeka Chinwuba also from Agulueri.

2. That Dr. Tony Nwoye wants to deny the people of Agulueri their Inheritance. Young man you lied, this shows your level of illiteracy and ignorance. The Oil deposits did not belong to Agulueri people, point of direction. The oil deposits did not reach Agulueri. The owners of the Oil deposits or the areas which this oil is discovered within Anambra Communities are: Ezi-anam, Ezi-agulu otu, Enugwu-otu, Nzam, Anaku and Omor.
3. After proper consultation, Dr Tony Nwoye and others deemed it fit to include those communities in Kogi and Enugu because it is on record that Oil deposits are within these communities in Anambra Basin areas. Also Dr tony Nwoye deemed it fit to include these states because there has been fighting and killing of innocent and good people of Anambra State in which Kogi and Enugu states have been laying claims to the ownership of these oil deposits. Many Anambra indigenes have been killed and property worth millions of naira destroyed when they (kogi and Enugu people) invaded those communities in Anambra State. It was so rampant during Governor Peter Obi’s tenure. The likes of this Chidiogo Igwebuike were nowhere to be found to come and defend these communities. As result of these killings and burning of properties, The Nigeria Boundary Commission has to intervene. In that motion and Bill seeking to declare Anambra and others as Oil producing States, Dr Tony Nwoye said, the declaration of these states as an oil producing states will not in a way jeopardize the ongoing field tracing and provisional boundary demarcation between the states by the National Boundary Commission but will rather help in determining the percentage of derivation accruable to the three states.
The Honourable members urged The House to resolve the following:
1. Urge the Federal Government to direct the ministry of petroleum resources, the department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and NNPC to open up table bids for oil prospecting and mining on the existing discovery.
2. Urge the Federal government to declare Anambra, Kogi and Enugu states as oil producing states since exploration and mining activities have begun in the basin since 2012.
3. Set up an ad-hoc committee to determine the commercial viability of the oil and gas deposits in the Anambra Basin in order to optimize the commercial mining in the Basin where Hydrocarbon activities have been going on since 2012.
These were the issues raised by Dr Tony Nwoye and others which were graciously accepted by the House. With this motion and bill so moved by Dr Tony Nwoye will bring peace, process and unity of purpose for the people of those communities because all the warring factions were carried along. The motion was adopted and sent to the appropriate committee for further legislative action. One will recall that Oil was first discovered in Anambra State and the mining has been going on there. There has not been any legislative action or pronouncement about the status of the State as an Oil producing State. Lagos which discovered Oil of recent, but they were denied the status by Goodluck Administration.
Until President Buhari came into power. Senators and House members from that State rose in unionism and made Mr President to proclaim Lagos as an Oil producing State. As a result of this, Lagos became the 10th Oil Producing State before Anambra State. And two giant refineries are being built By Alhaji Dangote and Captain iheanacho. This will create Job opportunities and generate more revenue for Lagos State. There is no marginalization here. There is no hatred here. This is pure politics at the highest level. Ex-President Goodluck denied Lagos that status not because he hates them, but because Lagos was not a PDP State. But one thing I didn’t understand was why he refused to Proclaim Anambra State even when he visited the site and commissioned the Orient Refinery despite claiming to be our brother and a good friend of Ndi Igbo. Maybe it is because we are not a PDP state. Dr Tony Nwoye was able to succeed so far is because he understands the intrigues of belonging to ruling party at the centre.
Dr Tony Nwoye has attracted so many projects in the state and championing with other progressive minded legislators from South East who understand the importance of service delivery to the people in making sure South East got its fair share in infrastructural development of the country. I believe proclaiming Anambra State as an Oil producing State will go a long way to boost our revenue. In this regard, the state will be getting 13% derivations and some oil companies will site their offices here and hereby creating employment opportunities and boosting economic activities in the state. I believe before the end of life span of this 8th Assembly of National Assembly, Anambra, Kogi and Enugu will be declared 11th, 12th and 13th Oil Producing States with likes of Borno and Benue coming on board with the latest discovery there.

4.The said Chidiogo Igwebuike said that Dr. Tony Nwoye never attracted any single project to his constituency and Anambra State in general. Here he has exposed his ignorance and lack of being updated of what is going on in the House of Representatives. Dr Tony Nwoye has been described as one of the vibrant Legislators in this 8th Assembly. Recently, Dr Tony Nwoye championed for the inclusion of fund for the rehabilitation of Otuocha-Nzam-Innoma-Iheaka-Ibaji-Kogi Federal Roads in the 2017 budget. This was a contract awarded in 2012, but no single appropriation was made for it. It has been like that with little work done on the road until now. Not only did he championed for it, he followed it up with actions by writing letters and seeing the Ministers in charge on the need for that road to be completed as to ease pains for our people travelling to Abuja. Today, in 2017 Budget, the funds are included and by the time the budget is passed into law, work will start on the road, thanks to Dr Tony Nwoye.
He also sponsored motion on the dredging of Omobala River. Work is about to start there, once 2017 budget is passed into law. Dr Tony Nwoye was not there when 2016 budget was passed into law. Mr Chidiogo Igwebuike, I urge you to look for the Budget provisions of 2016 and 2017. You can forward your email to me through my mail; let me update you with the 2016 budget and 2017 Appropriation Bill. Though President Buhari promised to rehabilitate Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Dr Tony Nwoye and other progressive minded Lawmakers from South East remind Mr President of the need to start work there and we thank President Buhari for listening to the voice of reason. For you information, it was Honourable Tony Nwoye in a town Hall meeting with members of His All Progressive Congress that informed us that Work will start at Enugu axis of Enugu-onitsha Express road from 9th Mile corner. Today, RCC started from that exact point. At the time of this reply, work has reached towards Oji-River axis and it is coming down to Amansea border.
Today, Enugu-Onitsha road is a success story. Massive Work is ongoing. Dr Tony Nwoye is making serious effort for Federal Government to mandate the contractor to start work on Umunya-Igbariam axis of that road because of the Erosion that is taking place on that road while they continue from 9th Mile down to Awka which RCC is currently doing. Attached is the documentary evidence. The essence of this is for people not claim what they did not do when election comes in 2017 or 2019. We need to take a scorecard of those who went to Abuja to represent Ndi Anambra and Ndi Igbo in general irrespective of party affiliations.
5. Finally, he said that Dr Tony Nwoye stole the mandate he is using today to represent the good people of Anambra East and West in the Federal House of Representatives. It was on record that Dr. Tony Nwoye won the election in the first instance. In that Election out of the three wards in Agulueri, Dr. Tony won in one ward and all the wards in umueri and Nsugbe. When it was dawn on Chief Willie Obiano that it is political blunder for him to loose his constituency to a man from another Party, he consulted Chief Obi Igbeke to doctored the result in which the man in question with agreement with some INEC officials decided to cancel the results from Nsugbe ward in order to return the APGA candidate as the rightful candidate. I oblige you to read the Court of Appeal judgement and the Tribunal Judgement for Anambra East and West federal Constituency and let us know who the Judges of those courts called thieves. I leave you at that. I would have not joined issues with you, but for the purposes of setting the records straight and for us to be feeding the people out there with the truth.
In conclusion, it is very laughable is the vain invention of this obiajulu Igwebuike and his futile attempt to disparage the personality of Dr tony Nwoye with spurious allegations and unfounded insinuations. Having gone through his article, I then understand that the problem with the young man is that he does not suffer from ignorance, which is curable, but greatly infected with the illusion of knowledge which is hard to cure. The foundation of Dr Tony Nwoye’s action and genuine association of the two other members is to see Anambra become an Oil producing State. Today in Enugu State, the Lawmaker who is from Enugu a co-sponsor of that Motion is being celebrated for this singular act. A lot of awards have been given to him. We should emulate Enugu State and recognize our own that has done a tremendous job for Ndi Anambra so far.

Paschal Candle, a graduate of International studies and Diplomacy, University of Benin, a Public affair analyst writes from Awka, Nigeria. He can be reached via his email address: smile4candlep@gmail.com

TRUE FACE OF PROGRESSIVE REPRESENTATION BY DR TONY NWOYE
Since the creation of Anambra State, we have had many Legislators who have gone to represent Ndi Igbo, Ndi Anambra and the Good people of Anambra North in particular. We have had the likes of Great Rt Hon. Dr Chuba Okadigbo, A legislator Par Excellence, the man of the people, a great orator and a bridge builder. A man who understand that Politics is meant to serve the interest of the people. Since the demise of Great Oyi of Oyi, the good people of Anambra North have never had it so good until the coming of Dr Tony Nwoye, a Medical Doctor by profession, a legislator representing Anambra East and West Federal Constituency in the Nigeria House of Representatives. Since Dr Tony Nwoye won His hard earned election at the Tribunal and court of Appeal and took that responsibility bestowed on him by the good people of that Constituency. He has made a tremendous progress in representing the people of that constituency and ndi Anambra in General. He took it upon himself to carry the problem of Ndi Anambra North and Anambra State in general at the National Assembly. The Only legislator that was making a great impact in the National assembly before some cabals conspired to remove her through a dubious Court Judgement was Senator Hon. Dr Mrs. Uche Ekwunife (IYIOM), a great woman, a woman of substance . A woman that put Anambra and her people first at the National Assembly. Lady Ekwunife, your achievements are there for people to see. I want you to be happy wherever you are because someone else has taken over from where you stopped.
Dr Tony Nwoye has proven himself as a great son of Ndi Anambra and A Legislator Par Excellence. He has proven that He is at the National Assembly for the good of Ndi Anambra and Her people. In less than One year plus some months in Office, Dr Tony Nwoye has sponsored a lot of bills and one of such bills is a Bill to declare Anambra, Kogi, and Enugu states as an Oil Producing states. On Thursday 9th of March, 2017 on the floor of the green chamber, Federal House of Representatives a bill to declare Kogi, Enugu and Anambra states among the oil producing states in the federation was sponsored by Hon Tony Nwoye, Hon Emmanuel Egwu and Hon Patrick Asadu.
The Honourable members believes that the declaration of Anambra, Kogi, and Enugu states as oil producing States will not in anyway jeopardize the ongoing field tracing and provisional boundary demarcation between the states by the National Boundary Commission but will rather help in determining the percentage of derivation accruable to the three states.
The Honourable members urged The House to resolve the following:
1. Urge the Federal Government to direct the ministry of petroleum resources, the department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and NNPC to open up table bids for oil prospecting and mining on the existing discovery.
2. Urge the Federal government to declare Anambra, Kogi and Enugu states as oil producing states since exploration and mining activities have begun in the basin since 2012.
3. Set up an ad-hoc committee to determine the commercial viability of the oil and gas deposits in the Anambra Basin in order to optimize the commercial mining in the Basin where Hydrocarbon activities have been going on since 2012.
The motion was adopted and sent to the appropriate committee for further legislative action. One will recall that Oil was first discovered in Anambra State and the mining has been going on there. There has not been any legislative action or pronouncement about the status of the State as an Oil producing State. Lagos which discovered Oil of recent, but they were denied the status by Goodluck Administration. Until President Buhari came into power. Senators and House members from that State rose in unionism and made Mr President to proclaim Lagos as an Oil producing State. As a result of this, Lagos became the 10th Oil Producing State before Anambra State. And two giant refineries are being built By Alhaji Dangote and Captain iheanacho. This will create Job opportunities and great more revenue for Lagos State. There is no marginalization here. There is no hatred here. This is pure politics at the highest level. Ex-President Goodluck denied Lagos that status not because he hates them, but because Lagos was not a PDP State. But one thing I didn’t understand was why he refused to Proclaim Anambra State even when he visited the site and commissioned the Orient Refinery despite claiming to be our brother and a good friend of Ndi Igbo. Maybe it is because we are not a PDP state. Dr Tony Nwoye was able to succeed so far is because he understands the intrigues of belonging to ruling party at the centre. He has attracted so many projects in the state and championing with other progressive minded legislators from South East who understand the importance of service delivery to the people in making sure South East got its fair share in infrastructural development of the country. I believe proclaiming Anambra State as an Oil producing State will go a long way to boost our revenue. In this regard, the state will be getting 13% derivations and some oil companies will site their offices here and hereby creating employment opportunities and boosting economic activities in the state. I believe before the end of life span of this 8th Assembly of National Assembly, Anambra, Kogi and Enugu will declared 11th, 12th and 13th Oil Producing States with likes of Borno and Benue coming on board with the latest discovery there.
Recently, Dr Tony Nwoye championed for the inclusion of fund for the rehabilitation of Otuocha-Nzam-Innoma-Iheaka-Ibaji-Kogi Federal Roads in the 2017 budget. Not only did he championed for it, he followed it up with actions by writing letters and seeing the Ministers in charge on the need for that road to be completed as to ease pains for our people travelling to Abuja. Today, in 2017 Budget, the funds are included and by the time the budget is passed into law, work will start on the road, thanks to Dr Tony Nwoye. He also sponsored motion on the dredging of Omobala River. Though President Buhari promised to rehabilitate Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Dr Tony Moved a motion to remind Mr President of the need to start work there and we thank President Buhari for listening to the voice of reason. Today, Enugu-Onitsha road is a success story. Massive Work is ongoing. Dr Tony Nwoye is making serious effort for Federal Government to mandate the contractor to start work on Umunya-Igbariam axis of that road because of the Erosion that is taking place on that road while they continue from 9th Mile down to Awka which RCC is currently doing. Attached is the documentary evidence. The essence of this is for people not claim what they did not do when election comes in 2017 or 2019. We need to take a scorecard of those who went to Abuja to represent Ndi Anambra and Ndi Igbo in general irrespective of party affiliations.
Dr Tony Nwoye, you are true son of Ndi Anambra. We are proud of you. We call you a Legislator par excellence. We are not surprise by your achievements so far in the National Assembly. With your background as a Comrade and activist, we expected this from you, but not in this magnitude. You have silence many who doubted your capabilities. You are a true democrat and a silent achiever. May God continue to guide, direct and protect you. I believe if higher responsibility is given to you, you will do more than this. Onyeze, weldone. We are expecting more from you. Thank you, thank you and thank you. We need more people like you. If Ndi igbo will begin to elect vibrant and dynamic people to go and represent us or govern us, I believe we will not be where we are today as a people. It is time to stop money bags that have nothing to offer, only to hold onto a political power just to cover their misdeeds. Dr Tony Nwoye has proven to be a great Ambassador of All progressive Congress (APC). That is where he belongs. In case you do not know.

Paschal Candle, a graduate of International studies and Diplomacy, University of Benin, a Public affair analyst writes from Awka, Nigeria. He can be reached on via his email address: smile4candlep@gmail.com

When our colonial Master ( The British) built the first railway in Nigeria in 1898 linking Lagos and Abeokuta in Old Western region today South-west Nigeria, it was only Britain, The United States of America and few other countries had such facilities then. Naturally, anyone would expect almost 119 years down the line, Nigeria should have built an excellent National Rail Network with latest models of fast moving trains seen in the developed economies, but that is not the actual case here.
Paradoxically, while many countries that started train services long after Nigeria have perfected that mode of Transportation by using it for efficient human transportation and bulk cargo haulage, ours system remains in near comatose state. In countries like Germany, France, United Kingdom even in South Africa and Egypt, for instance, underground and surface rail tracks are linked to the seaports, airports and land borders. This ensures efficient movement of people and facilitates quick distribution of needed goods like machinery, bulk cargo like cements, wheat, fertilizers, precious stones, perishable and non-perishable food items like tomatoes, cows and medicals among others.
In South Africa, the metrorail operates commuter rail services in the major urban areas. The metrorail system consists of over 470 stations, over 2,220km of tracks and carries over 1.7 million passengers daily. In the United Kingdom, trains are preferred to buses and in some cases flights due to efficiency. If you want to travel to France from UK, many preferred trains to flight on daily basis. In all these countries, modern light rail, monorail and latest electric trains are rapidly replacing the old locomotives. According to global records, Europeans and Asians operates the fastest high speed trains in the world as seen in Shanghai maglev, Harmony CRH 380A and Targo Avril. Some go as fast as 360km/hr, making them excellent alternatives to air transportation.
But unfortunately today, Nigeria still rely heavily on the slower locomotive trains (some as slow as 35km/hr) that pollute the atmosphere. Worse still, the country is yet to develop hubs and spokes system for the trains to ensure total coverage of Nigeria. The railways remain a major revenue earner for operators and government alike. It is also a major employer of labour, which inform why developed nations seek to sustain and improve the sub-sector. Some transport analyst has described our railway services as a monumental disgrace, attributing its perennial wobbly and sorry state to blind politics, corruption, unchecked graft, ethnic differences and other challenges. They insist the railway sector should be well developed as Nigeria roads are death traps, while air travel remains elusive to the masses due to their weak purchasing power.
A retired Director of the Transport ministry once said that some haulage cabals who, in their selfish bid to take over the lucrative inter-state transport/haulage business, masterminded the systematic killing of the NRC so that their businesses could thrive. They did not want to compete with the railway especially for the haulage of heavy goods. Trains will definitely be more efficient and cheaper. They bribed their way to ensure that successive Transport Ministers and Managing Directors of the Nigerian Railways Corporations (NRC) were their anointed candidates. So the transport cabals worked hand in hand with these political appointees to make the railway sub-sector moribund. This is so because every year funds earmarked for rail track mordernization through the budget were squandered. Rail tracks were never maintained while some of the tracks have been washed off by erosion and all that. The trains were in a comatose state. Many of the coaches have been abandoned for decades to rot away. Yet if you go to the NRC office at Ebutte Meta, you will see activities, but no productivity. They languish there doing nothing, but feeding fat from the perennial system rot.
For many decades, the nation’s rail system has been starved of the political will to move it to the next level. The last administration of President Goodluck did some work to revitalize our rail system. Some experts noted that the revamping of the sector by the last administration was more of a political campaign strategy than a long time repositioning effort. They alleged that the quality of the rail tracks and coaches deployed were not top of the range as the lion share of the NRC funds were diverted to finance campaigns. With the waned political will to sincerely revamp the sector, massive graft was allegedly uncovered.
But in recent times, it has not been business as usual. With what the current minister is doing there and his appointments in railway sub-sector, things are taking shapes and our railway sector is coming back to life. This is why most of these cabals are not happy with the Current Transport Minister Chief Rotimi Amaechi. They were most unhappy with President Buhari because of this appointment. President Buhari has vowed to clean the rot in the NRC as his administration intended to use train services to open up businesses at various agrarian towns and villages that have been denied access to modern transportation. With the construction of Lagos-Ibadan rail project and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano that will eventually terminate in Lagos and that of Lagos to Kano. Then with Calabar-Port Harcourt-Aba-Onitsha-Benin-Lagos rail project being undertaken by the Chinese Government, I believe for the first time we have seen a political leader who has the political will to do the needful in this sector. I believe this sector will create over 1 million jobs both formal and informal jobs.
Consequently, transformation of the NRC eventually consumed the then Managing Director of NRC, Engr Adeseyi Sijuwade, who was sacked by President Buhari. But to me his sack appeared not to has addressed the underlying political manoeuvrings and corruption that have kept the nation’s rail system from becoming world class. Most of the staffs at the coporations are not ready to move along with the change mantra of this present administration. With reference to the specific Lagos-Kano and Calabar to lagos Rail projects, I will like to state that the two projects are very important projects to Nigeria masses and I believe that is why this present government included them in 2016 and 2017 budgets. We in the South- east who travel almost every day through roads will like these projects to be completed. We will be very grateful if President Buhari completes Calabar-Port Harcourt-Aba-Onitsha-Benin-Lagos. I believe when it completed, these routes will be the busiest of all. If Lagos-Ibadan rail project is completed, I believe it will reduce the populations in Lagos and the cost of housing will come down. This is because if I am from Ondo, I do not have any business living in Lagos when I knew with the fast train I can be in Lagos in the next 30 minutes, why paying heavily for rent in Lagos. It can equally help to reduce accidents on our roads and save our environment from pollution.
Paschal candle a graduate of International studies and Diplomacy, University of Benin, a Public affair analyst writes from Awka, Nigeria. He can be reached via his email address: smile4candlep@gmail.com

The beauty of any vibrant political system lies in the ability of the system to be fair to all and sundry regardless of any primordial mindset. Since the advent of Nigeria’s democratic rule in 1999, the rule has seemingly shifted to favour only those with godfathers or have the financial muscle to bankroll their nomination. The development has brought so much tension within the country’s political party structures. The scenario has become so perverse that the foundation of democracy came under intense threat of annihilation. The lack of internal party democracy is no doubt one of the major problems facing the current democratic dispensation. It has been used as a campaign weapon by political parties. It was a sing song of the All Progressive Congress (APC) during campaigns for the 2015 General Election and the party has continuously insisted that it is the only major party in the country that practices internal democracy. Many believe that the crisis rocking the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today is the absence of internal democracy which led the party to impose candidates on the people for elective positions in the past.
During the build-up to APC presidential election, the party released its guidelines for the primaries. One of the issues on the guidelines is direct primaries adopted by the Party for its Presidential primaries. Many have praised the national leaders of APC for endorsing modified direct primaries for producing the party's presidential candidate. Many who didn’t have interest in APC started developing keen interest. Many were of the opinion that with this development the APC has now fully democratized and boosted its democratic credentials and credibility. Describing the move as a victory for democracy, political analysts praised the APC leaders for responding to the aspirations and wishes of the people. According to them, internal democracy is essential to the entrenchment of democracy. It said the APC has set a standard, which all political parties should emulate. It explained that this move would go a long way to reinforce people's confidence in the APC as the alternative platform for better change in Nigeria. They said internal democracy is about respecting all diverse interests within a political party to ensure fairness and transparency, which are necessary conditions for unity, harmony and internal cohesion. Before this very time, APC as a party adopted the same measure in 2013 Anambra Governorship election primaries, where Governor Chris Ngige defeated Chief Ezemo during the primaries. Many hailed the process as being transparent and fair.
Political parties are traditionally blamed for overt injustice in denying other candidates the opportunity to test their strength in states, where the incumbent governor will be seeking to renew his mandate or where a candidate has been anointed by some forces outside the state. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for instance, had said before the 2015 general elections that it only printed one form for the presidential post, meant for the then incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan. Expectedly, some members of the party, who also wanted to contest the presidential election, threatened to head to court to challenge the party's stance. On the other hand, though the APC also tried to reward its members, especially the defecting members of the National Assembly, who, alongside their governors, crossed over from the PDP, the APC was quick in understanding that a level playing field was necessary for a healthy competition.
In the build-up to the last general elections, pundits believe that flagrant abuse of internal democracy was responsible for the dismal outing of the PDP. In many states, members of the PDP were barred from contesting in elections to appease some people. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) repeatedly lamented how political parties breach and disrespect their constitutional provisions and mistreat their members. INEC said most of the election-related petitions were products of the near absence of internal democracy in the parties, which largely paved the way for the myriad of litigation after the 2015 general elections. This was evident in the House of Representatives election of Ado/Ogbadibo/Okupokwu constituency of Benue, where a PDP sole candidate was declared winner by INEC, but was later disqualified by court, soon after the inauguration of the National Assembly, and returned Rep Hassan Saleh Anthony, as the substantive member representing the constituency.
During Governorship election in Bayelsa State, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, the sole aspirant challenging Governor Seriake Dickson for the PDP governorship ticket in Bayelsa State, was disqualified by the party's screening panel. Paulker, who is a serving senator representing Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, was the only aspirant to head for a primary election with Dickson, after the withdrawal of the other aspirant, Chief Ebikintin Diongoli, the former local government chairman of Kolokuma/Opokuma in the state, from the race. Although reasons for his disqualification were yet to be ascertained, there are indications that the panel took the decision over alleged "inconsistent tax clearances." Director-Deneral of the campaign organisation of Senator Emmanuel Paulker, Ayakeme Whisky, described the decision as "unbelievable and laughable".
Pundits believe that the APC, which started the process of the 2015 general elections with an interim leadership, was cautious in its approach to issues ahead of the elections held early this year. According to them, the party, under the Bisi Akande interim leadership laboured to organise congresses at wards levels which produced states' delegates. There were little or no reports of any disaffection. Even where there is disaffection, the Party nullified the congresses in those states and re-organize another one like the case of Edo State. The APC organised two national conventions, including the one that produced the incumbent national chairman of the party, John Oyegun, who was elected at a rain-soaked convention in Abuja. Though the outcome of the convention led to the defection of Ali Modo Sheriff, the former governor of Borno State, and Tom Ikimi, the APC quickly picked its pieces and strategised for the last general elections. Today, APC is a success story as a political party. Another convention headed by Zamfara State Governor Abdul'aziz Yari in October 2014 was called by APC to amend its constitution, where it inserted a sub-section that allows new entrants to contest elections under the party's platform.
Political watchers believe that the successes of the party within a short period may not be unconnected with spirit of team work among those at the helm of its affairs. "The secret of the APC is teamwork," an insider said. "We have national, zonal and state officials and nobody feels that his arguments are sacrosanct. Whenever there is an issue, it is adequately debated by key stakeholders to ensure that the best decision is taken." The success of our party revolves around adequate planning," said a senior official of the party. "At our national headquarters in Abuja, we have an office that organises the party's primaries and other activities since the inception of the party. And that is why most of our conventions and primary elections are adjudged to be credible." He said what transpired in Kogi recently was a good example, adding: "All the aspirants who lost out were appreciative of the process and even congratulated the winner, Late Prince Abubakar Audu.
"It was a simple arithmetic for us to conduct the primary election in Kogi. We said Governor Nasir el-Rufa'i should go and do the primary because we believe in his credibility. The tendency is that nobody can bribe a governor." Another APC official said: "Our style is different from that of the PDP where someone will keep all the membership cards of the party in his house and distribute them to the delegates that he feels will favour him. "For example, in the case of Kogi, we went ahead and said we are going to do accreditation of delegates by using PVC (Permanent Voters Card) or international passports or national identity cards or the national driver's license. "With these ID cards, the real delegates entered the stadium. We didn't even say our own membership card because somebody can go and fabricate the card. Dr Ismaila Ali, a political analyst, said it is wrong for political parties to always blame INEC for one wrong doing or the other, adding: "You cannot expect INEC to do magic when most political parties lack internal mechanism that will ensure a level playing ground for its members." He notes that handlers of the APC have enshrined discipline in their party. Barrister Yunus, a legal practitioner, said: "When you look at most of the election tribunals across the country, you rarely see problem within the APC family and we believe this is due to the transparent manner candidates for various positions were produced." He says that other political parties need to entrench internal democracy if they want to make impact in subsequent elections.
Moving down to Anambra APC primaries, many politicians in the state are embracing the party in order to slug it out with Dr Willie obiano of APGA. INEC has fixed November 2017 as an initial date for the election. Onething that has remained in the lips of People mostly APC faithful is how will APC conduct its primaries? Will the party stick to its old tradition of direct primaries (internal democracy) which has made the party a beautiful bride among youths and people with sound political understanding? Or will the party reverse to old PDP way of doing things, where they party will be bought over and new executives and delegates will emerge to participate in primaries where a particular candidate will emerge? Information has been going on that National working committee of the party wants to dissolve all the ward and state executive members and conduct a fresh congress, where loyalists of a particular candidate will emerge as executives both at the State, Local and Ward levels. Among the aspirants in the APC, many of them did not believe in Grassroot politics. They believe in taking it from the up. Onething APC must not do as it plans to conduct its primaries in Anambra State is to give anybody ticket from the above. We are not Ondo people. They may try it in other places and succeed. Anambra is a different ball game. They should be transparent and allow the original delegates to nominate a candidate for us. APC is like a forbidden fruit in this State, but today it is people on ground that has been working around the clock to market the party. The success of these efforts can be seen from the registration the Party did in the State. Why many people still believe in the party in this state is because of the discipline in the party. They should try to maintain it. Any aspirant that wants to contest should visit all the Wards, Local Governments and State. Let him have an interaction with party faithful.
As a country and party, we should have a truly transformed heart of genuine and dedicated service instead of focusing on the things of the world and political power that will not last forever. Our Leaders should not see elections as their ultimate destines and then become desperate. Rather focus should be what will truly be financial to the people and the nation. At this, many Nigerians are looking back on their lives and sensitizing that many years of opportunities has been stolen from us through our land that was divinely assigned with grand economy and greatest Nigerians. Those with right mind can recount panorama of leadership errors, self centeredness, incompetence, besetting transgression, corruption, fraud and untrustworthiness had outsized administrative impact in many years of the country’s independence. We do not need such in APC Anambra State. Anambra Election is for the party. Actions and inactions of the party today will determine the success story of the party in November 2017 election. There is no better time to take over the Leadership of this state than this time. The party Leadership at the National level should not succumb to money bags who never believe in internal democracy, who wants to hijack everything from the top. They should allow the old executives who are the original delegates to participate in the process. The rumuor is everywhere that they want to change them in order to accommodate an interest of a particular aspirant. What APC as a party should do is to organize a special congress and replace those ward executives who might have died or have left the party instead of doing a wholesale change or better still stick with those already with the party. Then at the end of the whole electioneering, they can change those people at the appropriate time.
Paschal Candle, a graduate of International studies and Diplomacy, University of Benin, a Public affair analyst writes from Awka, Nigeria.

The APC candidate of the just concluded Etsako Federal Constituency House of Representatives bye election, Hon Johnny Oghuma has been declared winner of the election.
The election was contested by Com Jude Imagwe of PDP from Etsako East.
Total results collected and declared by INEC is as follows.....
Etsako West
APC : 17446, PDP : 4886
Etsako Central
APC : 9,823, PDP : 5364
Etsako East
APC ; 12610, PDP : 4672
Grand total
APC 39,879
PDP 14922
Diff 24957 votes.....
APC still getting stronger, while haters still mourning their loss

As a graduate of international studies and diplomacy, i will take this issue bit by bit so that we do not get issues twisted. Secondly, I am not President M Buhari spokesperson, but this opinion is entirely mine. To address this issue, let me take a recourse to section 5 sub section 4 of 1999 constitution as amended, it states that,' (a) the president shall not declare a state of war between the federation and other country except with the sanction of a resolution of both Houses of National Assembly sitting in a joint session, and (b) except with the prior approval of the senate, no member of the Nigeria armed forces should be deployed outside the country for a combat mission. from the above, the president is under obligation to seek approval before the deployment of Nigeria Armed men for internal or external armed combat, war or conflict as the case maybe.
However, there is a a rider to section 5 which read thus, notwithstanding the provision of section 5 subsection 4 of this section, the president in consultation with the National Defence Council , may deploy members of the armed forces of the country on a limited combat duty outside Nigeria if he is satisfied that the National security is under threat or danger: provided that the President shall within 7 days of actual combat engagement, seek the consent of the senate and the senate shall within 14 days thereafter give or refuse the consent.
Now, from the community reading of the above provisions, it is also clear that the approval of the National Assembly may be sought proactively or retroactively. In other words, the president is at liberty to seek such approval before or after deployment of army, provided he suspects that there is a threat to national security. obviously, that is the question of fact.
Another angle to the issue is to examine the rationale or reason for the deployment of the army inside or outside the country. is the deployment for "combat", "war" or "peace keeping"? if the rationale for deployment is for war or combat, then the above provisions will always apply. No doubt about that. if it is for "peace keeping", then it does not seem the President would need the approval of the National Assembly. it can be argued therefore that the president may only need the approval of the National Assembly where He has declared a combat mission or war internally or externally. In that case, it would seem that any deployment for peace keeping such as under the ECOMOG, UN or AU mandate may not require the approval of National Assembly. This is more so there are an extant bilateral or multi lateral agreements, ratified by Nigeria for such joint military action either at regional or global level. By such extant bilateral and multi lateral agreements, there are a number of them such as the ECOMOG Army under the ECOWAS Treaty Of 1975, it would seem that the President already has a blank cheque for deployment from time to time. The only exception here may be where such foreign intervention is a sole Nigeria Expedition.
Finally, the President Buhari is under every obligation to respect any treaty, bilateral or multilateral, to which Nigeria is a signatory. ECOWAS Treaty, AU Charter and UN Charter are few examples of such agreements. Nigeria is going to Gambia under ECOMOG which is a creation of ECOWAS treaty. Its goal is purely for peace keeping not for combat. To Me, President Buhari should be encourage to restore Nigeria to continue to play its role as a Big Brother in Africa Politics.

As a graduate of international studies and diplomacy, i will take this issue bit by bit so that we do not get issues twisted. Secondly, I am not President M Buhari spokesperson, but this opinion is entirely mine. To address this issue, let me take a recourse to section 5 sub section 4 of 1999 constitution as amended, it states that,' (a) the president shall not declare a state of war between the federation and other country except with the sanction of a resolution of both Houses of National Assembly sitting in a joint session, and (b) except with the prior approval of the senate, no member of the Nigeria armed forces should be deployed outside the country for a combat mission. from the above, the president is under obligation to seek approval before the deployment of Nigeria Armed men for internal or external armed combat, war or conflict as the case maybe.
However, there is a a rider to section 5 which read thus, notwithstanding the provision of section 5 subsection 4 of this section, the president in consultation with the National Defence Council , may deploy members of the armed forces of the country on a limited combat duty outside Nigeria if he is satisfied that the National security is under threat or danger: provided that the President shall within 7 days of actual combat engagement, seek the consent of the senate and the senate shall within 14 days thereafter give or refuse the consent.
Now, from the community reading of the above provisions, it is also clear that the approval of the National Assembly may be sought proactively or retroactively. In other words, the president is at liberty to seek such approval before or after deployment of army, provided he suspects that there is a threat to national security. obviously, that is the question of fact.
Another angle to the issue is to examine the rationale or reason for the deployment of the army inside or outside the country. is the deployment for "combat", "war" or "peace keeping"? if the rationale for deployment is for war or combat, then the above provisions will always apply. No doubt about that. if it is for "peace keeping", then it does not seem the President would need the approval of the National Assembly. it can be argued therefore that the president may only need the approval of the National Assembly where He has declared a combat mission or war internally or externally. In that case, it would seem that any deployment for peace keeping such as under the ECOMOG, UN or AU mandate may not require the approval of National Assembly. This is more so there are an extant bilateral or multi lateral agreements, ratified by Nigeria for such joint military action either at regional or global level. By such extant bilateral and multi lateral agreements, there are a number of them such as the ECOMOG Army under the ECOWAS Treaty Of 1975, it would seem that the President already has a blank cheque for deployment from time to time. The only exception here may be where such foreign intervention is a sole Nigeria Expedition.
Finally, the President Buhari is under every obligation to respect any treaty, bilateral or multilateral, to which Nigeria is a signatory. ECOWAS Treaty, AU Charter and UN Charter are few examples of such agreements. Nigeria is going to Gambia under ECOMOG which is a creation of ECOWAS treaty. Its goal is purely for peace keeping not for combat. To Me, President Buhari should be encourage to restore Nigeria to continue to play its role as a Big Brother in Africa Politics.
Paschal Candle, a graduate of International Studies and Diplomacy and Public affairs analyst writes from Awka Anambra State Nigeria.

REALITY OF OUR TIME: Never apologize for being correct, or being years ahead of your time. If you are right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you a minority of one, the truth is still the truth. truth sounds hate to anyone who hates truth. Also no one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.For freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

at freeze or whatever you call yourself. All i can see you do on nairaland is to attack the messenger not the message. i want you all to dissect the message and prove me wrong. if you have seen this piece anywhere,just tell me. then i will know i copied it somewhere. stop fooling your self. for record purposes,you freeze cannot stand me when it comes to grammatical expression. i will lecture you well.

NIGERIA ECONOMY AND THE REST OF US
Before going into the details of this article, let me just give out some drama that has played out over the years.
ACT 1, SCENE 1:
THESE NIGERIANS PREDICTED TODAY'S ECONOMIC SITUATION OF THE COUNTRY today. THEY WERE CALLED NAMES...
Over 20 billion dollars unremitted to federation account. Nigeria economy will crumble if nothing is done ...........HRH Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi .
Bingos: He is an alarmist.
Whoever wins 2015 will never find it easy. Over 30 trillion is mismanaged, unaccounted for or missing under Jonathan. ...... Prof Charles Soludo.
Bingo's : He is desperate .
Our reserve is depleted and our savings squandered. Our nation is in trouble. ... Dr Oby Ezekwesili.
Bingo's : She is an alarmist looking for appointment.
For seven months, NNPC did not remit any money into federation account. When I called as a sitting governor and major oil producing state, Deziani Alison Madueke refused to take my call....... Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Bingo's : He is trying to please Buhari.
I wanted to save but Jonathan have no political will. That is why we are in crisis because we squandered our boom. .... Okonjo Iweala. ...
Bingo's : She doesn't want to be arrested
Dear Noisy Bingo's,
Whatever is the state of economy today was prophesied by our own Nigerians long time ago. The only problem is that your memory capacity is less than 1 milibyte. Prof. Soludo wrote to Nigerians what they will suffer irrespective of the party that will win. Why then are you celebrating IMF recession? You ignored Emir Sanusi warning. You ignored Oby Ezekwesili warning. You ignored Prof Soludo warning. You ignored Akpabio confession. You ignored Okonjo Iweala testimony. You are now celebrating IMF diarrhea. Your idiocy is amazing! !!!
Before this very time, when Ex-president Olusegun handed over power to Late President Shehu Musa Yar’dua. Chief Olusgun Obasanjo left for the in-coming Government almost 50 Million Dollars in Foreign Reserve and over 30 Million Dollars in Excess Crude Account. This was at a time when the price of crude oil was at 50 Dollars per Barrel. When Late Yar’dua took over it increased to 60 dollars then, 70 dollars per barrel. By the time Ex-president Goodluck took over a president in 2010 and his election in 2011, the price of oil in the international market was 90 dollars per barrel, then by 2011 it increased to 120 dollars and later on to 140 dollars per barrel. During this time in question, our official bench mark for oil in the budget was 60 dollars per barrel. The out put which we sell in the international Market is 2.2 MILLION BARRELS PER DAY, though you and I knew there back door sells in NNPC over the years. From the budget proposals of oil Bench mark, we are having an access of 60 dollars per barrel. As at the time Goodluck took over, there is over 42 Billion dollars in foreign reserve and over 31.1 Billion Dollars in Excess Crude account. From the output of 2.2 Million Dollars per day, Nigeria have extra 60 dollars per day average. When you multiply, 60 dollars by 2.2 Million barrels per day. Tell me the figure. That is what is supposed to enter into Excess Crude Account per pay. Then multiply it by 5 years plus when Ex-president Goodluck was there. Tell me what is supposed to be in that account. But instead of this account to be appreciating, it was depreciating. In less than 9 months, we squandered over 10 Billion on no capital projects.
In one of Prof. Soludo’s letter to Former Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga in 2010, he told the minister that He assumed office when oil price was about $75 per barrel and external reserves stood at about $42 Billion: within 9 months you (Chief Aganga) have earned a world record as the Head of an Economic Management Team (EMT) that lost $10 billion in Foreign reserves at a time of unprecedented export boom, with oil price now above $100 per barrel; (2) While the Economic team I (Prof. Soludo) belonged to got Nigeria debt relief, you get the world record as a Finance Minister who had the fastest rate of debt accumulation in Nigeria’s History, even at a ime of oil boom and presented a budget where not a kobo of oil revenue is spent on infrastructure, power etc, but 114% of revenue spent on consumption; and (3) as head of economic team when literally all international ratings for Nigeria worsened even worse than during the global crisis of 2008 and 2009, and for the first time in several years, the outlook for the economy adjudged NEGATIVE, with FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) collapsing ( a clear indication of loss of confidence by international investors), etc. Prof. soludo went ahead to congratulate the Minister on these records.
Also when the signs were visible that the economy was going down. The next Finance Minister after Chief Aganga was Dr. Okonji-iweala kept lying to us that all is well with the economy. It was at this point that Prof. soludo strike again. He challenged the Minister to debate. Let me tell all Nigerians the truth.
Prof. Soludo then challenged claims by Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who is also the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, that the Nigerian economy is doing well. He accused Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala of running the country’s economy aground. “You are brilliant Madam, but you need serious help,” he said while reeling our data to show the porous state of the Nigerian economy. “Having spent all your life in the World Bank bureaucracy largely in administration/operations, no one will blame you if your economics has become a bit rusty. There are firebrands Nigerians all over the world to draft to service. It is certainly embarrassing to Nigeria for you to be bothering World Bank economists to help you with most basic economic analysis.” He also accused her of forging Nigeria’s national economics statistics. Mr. Soludo said, “What worries me is that this government ( Dr Ebele Jonathan’s government) is the first in our history to attempt to manipulate our national statistics under Dr Okonjo-Iweala. When NBS published the poverty figures in 2011, she felt indicted and incensed. She called upon the World Bank to come and examine the ‘methodology’ and get NBS to ‘review’ its numbers. Dr Oby Ezekwesili (as VP Africa Region rejected the call to try to tamper with a country’s statistics). Once Dr Oby left, the ‘World Bank’ started talking about ‘new figures’, without conducting any new surveys.
I was told about it by a World Bank economist, and I cautioned that it was a dangerous gamble that would damage the credibility of the NBS. If you want to ‘review methodology’, you conduct another survey but you can’t change ‘methodology’ because you don’t like the published figures. No government in our history has tried it: even Sani Abacha allowed a poverty survey that put poverty at 67% under his regime. At this rate, who will believe statistics coming from the Nigerian government again? Is it now the World Bank that sits in Washington and allocates poverty numbers to Nigeria? Something smells here. When prof. Soludo raised these issues. He was attacked as usual by Government officials.
In His response, He said I read some of the responses to my article, “Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election”, and I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate. I am glad that the debate has finally taken off. I have decided, for the record, to re-enter the debate if only to set some records straight and hopefully elevate the debate further. Whom do I respond to? First, let me thank Ex-Gov Kayode Fayemi for his very mature and professional response on behalf of the APC. It forms a great basis for deepening the conversation. Pat Utomi, Oby Ezekwesili, Iyabo Obasanjo, and thousands of other patriotic Nigerians have raised the content of the debate. Femi Fani-Kayode made me laugh, as usual. The Gov. Jang faction of the Governors’ Forum played the usual politics, although I know what most of them think privately. Who else? Oh, Peter Obi. Well, since he can’t write and designated Valentine as usual to write for him (who never disputed the NBS statistics that Obi broke world record in the pauperization of Anambra people but instead focused on lies and abuses) I won’t dignify him with a response here. His third class performance in Anambra will be the subject of a comprehensive article later.
Prof. Soludo challenged Dr Okonji-iweala’s attempt to blame others for not saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going well, but shift the blame when they go wrong. You blame the state governors— who, according to you, have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court—not that a Supreme Court judgment forced your hands. For your information, the governors have never agreed to savings and always threatened court action even under Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings. So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money? Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors—who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money!
Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop!
Prof. Soludo also told Dr Okonji-iweala that He felt embarrassed for him to read that one of the reasons for declining forex reserves is ‘oil theft’. Under you as Minister of Finance and coordinator of the economy, the basket of our national treasury is leaking profusely from all sides. Just a few illustrations! First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced oil output from the average 2.3 – 2.4 million barrels per day (mpd) to 1.95mpd (meaning that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are being ‘stolen’. On the average of 400,000 per day and the oil prices over the past four years, it comes to about $60 billion ‘stolen’ in just four years. In today’s exchange rate, that is about N12.6 trillion. This is at a time of cessation of crisis in the Niger Delta and amnesty programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much the amnesty programme costs, and also the annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are spirits? Come on, Madam! Second, my earlier article stated that the minimum forex reserves should have been at least $90 billion by now and you did not challenge it. Rather it is about $30 billion, meaning that gross mismanagement has denied the country some $60 billion or another N12.6 trillion.
Now add the ‘missing’ $20 billion from the NNPC. You promised a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than a year later the Report itself is still ‘missing’. This is over N4 trillion, and we don’t know how much more has ‘missed’ since Sanusi cried out. How many trillions of naira were paid for oil subsidy (unappropriated?). How many trillions (in actual fact) have been ‘lost’ through customs duty waivers over the last four years?
As coordinator of the economy, can you tell Nigerians why the price of automotive gas oil (AGO), popularly called diesel, has still not come down despite the crash in global crude oil prices, and how much is being appropriated by friends in the process? Be honest: do you really know (as coordinator and minister of finance) how many trillions of Naira, self- financing government agencies earn and spend? I have a long list but let me wait for now. I do not want to talk about other ‘black pots’ that impinge on national security. My estimate, Madam, is that probably more than N30 trillion has either been stolen or lost or unaccounted for or simply mismanaged under your watchful eyes in the past four years. Since you claim to be in charge, Nigerians are right to ask you to account. Think about what this amount could mean for the 112 million poor Nigerians or for our schools, hospitals, roads, etc. Soon, you will start asking the citizens to pay this or that tax, while some faceless “thieves” were pocketing over $40 million per day from oil alone.
Your response on the poverty issue is deeply troubling. You accuse me of using “2011 statistics on poverty by the NBS to support his argument, while ignoring more recent figures”. At least you did not refute the NBS figure as valid. In the next sentence, Madam went ahead to note that “as stated in the Nigeria Economic Report 2014 by the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 percent of population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 percent in 2012/2013”. Did you notice that you have quoted two figures for poverty for the same year as being equally correct? So, for 2011, was poverty 71% (according to NBS) or 35% according to the World Bank? To the best of my knowledge, the last published household survey by NBS was in 2011. The World Bank does not conduct household surveys in member states to determine poverty incidence. So, when and by whom was the survey that gave the World Bank figures?
Madam alleges that the NBS—as a parastatal under the National Planning Commission (under me) departed from the ‘international standard method of poverty measurement’. How and when, Madam? I was in office at National Planning for 11 months from July 2003 to May 2004. A poverty survey was conducted in 2004 and the results computed and published in 2005/2006— more than a year after I had gone to the Central Bank. Or perhaps, it was a clever way to divert attention from your manipulation of published economic statistics. The NBS published its poverty data in 2006 when you were Minister of Finance, and you did not question the ‘methodology’ because the figures looked good. In 2011, the poverty numbers (using the same methodology as in 2005/2006) indicted the government and suddenly, the ‘methodology’ is wrong. Interesting times!
Now that you decide which economic statistics published by NBS to accept and which ones to ‘change the methodology’ to give favourable figures, you can keep feeding your manipulated figures to your international media circus for the vain glorious awards to sustain an empty hype, while Nigerians groan under hardship. We can actually ask Nigerians whether they are getting better off now contrary to your bogus figures. This is the kind of lies Nigerians want to hear from a woman that does not understand practical economics. Today, some so called Economist and Elites who are no longer benefitting from the system are blaming President Buhari while they are celebrating people who ruin this country.
Paschal Candle, a public affairs analyst and a graduate of international studies and diplomacy University of Benin, writes from Abuja Nigeria.

also reno, do not cry for us in south east. our christmas was very peaceful and calm. many accidents were not recorded unline before. there was security everywhere. no kidnapping.no bank robbery. so where did you get your facts. before military launch the finalbattle at sambisa,they knew boko haram members will escape. and south east might be the possible destination and south south. the essence is to checkmate the inlow of them. we are happy with what they did. the regret there was traffic they cause in some strategic places.

reno, you are not ashamed of yourself. did you read newspapers today? did you see what court told 3 banks about alison money? you cannot fool us again. you are working for your pocket not for nigeria people. I stand with Buhari. You should go and stand with dangote

I have watched and read all the comments. It is clear that many people in this country are not well informed. everybody just pen laptops and talk anyhow. I am not suprised at the action of these men dismissed from Nigeria Police. I might not have been there to know what actually happened. But one man in the midst of these men actually proved that all these men are guilty of the offence. The man on white kaftan, who has been a notious Police officer in Fegge Police Onitsha. He committed a lot that we thought he has been dismissed long ago. His name is iv. F/No. 385870 EX. Sgt. Orji Nwoke. I am not suprised by the actions of these police men. In fact, Nigeria Police Force should check the records of those Officers with some notorious Governors in this country. They are security threat in those states. If you want to know about these Officer in question, I want you all to visit Fegge Police Station in Onitsha and asked them about this young man when he was in Fegge between 2000 and 2009 when he was not even a sergeant. how did he reach that rank. may God have mercy on this country. I wish I am still in Anambra and Onitsha to be precise, I would called party to celebrate it. The souls this man wasted wil never allow him to have peace.

I have heard people refer to this Great country in many terms, some remarkable and good while others are depending on the feelings of those passing the judgement/verdict,very disparaging. Passionately, I have heard people call Nigeria our little Jerusalem, a place of sanctuary, one that stands taller than its every challenge each and everytime. Yet, at other times, it is not uncommon to hear those at the wrong end of the country’s shortcoming refer to it as a geographical expression that parades nothing good but a collection of incongruent nationalities.
But of the many descriptions, one that tends to sit well in my heart always despite its tendency for misinterpretation is the assertion that Nigeria is barrack of some sorts. Don’t be in a haste to kill me for daring to say/admit that the barrack moniker thrills me. I am making the appeal here given the mental picture of depravity which we all have of the average Nigerian Barrack as made possible by those give the responsibility to keep our uniformed men and women well quartered. For their roles, our barracks tend to be citadels of the absurd, places fit only for animals of lower intelligence. Whereas our dear Country is, in more ways than one, similar to this barrack, it certainly not the one I have in mind. For all intents and purposes, my barracks is the one that is an eternal edifice; one that will outlive every uniform men and women. Indeed, the barrack I mean is the one every average soldier sums up as “soja comes, soja goes, and Barrack remains”. In this Nigerian Barrack, you and I live in and leave behind very intact or as Governor Wike puts it, Nigeria is a country whose unity is non-negotiable. We need every part of the country to succeed. Count Niger delta out of the plans of those who want to divide the Country.
Despite the debilitating odd that appears to push nay Sayers into venting their anger with calls for the fragmentation of Nigeria, the country will remain one barrack that will outlive all of us. Amalgamation of Nigeria is never in any way a mistake no matter how you are offended or thought of it. This is the point we must appreciate even as those that ought to know better are stoking the flames of discord just to heat up the polity. We must realize quickly that we have many things to loose in the event of break up. If nothing else, history is replete with examples. The case with South Sudan is very instructive. Evolving development in South Sudan, the world’s newest country, lai bare the fact that those who masterminded its birth were motivated more by selfish interest than patriotic fervor. The reasons are not far to seek because the actors are today, battling the same ghosts they fought against in the name of self-realization. Let me point out quickly here that this opinion of mine is not against those fighting for equity or fair play. It is about the need for all of us to be wary of politicians who disguise their selfish interests in patriotic colours while making calls that are motivated more by inordinate ambition.
Since this Great Country came into existence as one decades ago, history has it on records that genuine patriots have, in their numbers (and for infallible reasoning) harped on the need for all of us to continue working for the Country’s unity. In the First instance, they make the call convinced that God did not make any mistake in pulling together the different ethnic divides that make it up as one. To that extent, they were not and still not wrong in asking that we pull more the strings of unity than those that divide us. Therefore, it is not asking too much to expect that every well-meaning Nigerian and the country’s well wishers, politicians in particular, must think more of building on the beauty of those things that unite us rather than fan the embers of discord which tend to magnify and aggravate the discontent inherent in our divide. This is the point Governor Wike made in Sokoto when he recently reminded Nigerians most especially my brothers from South East that as part of the well deserved honour accorded those who paid the ultimate price for the unity of this Great Country, all of us must learn to understand that its unity is non-negotiable despite all the odds.
The import of the statement by Governor Wike is better appreciated when juxtaposed against recent statements and happenings coming from My South East especially from IPOB, MASSOB and other elites. In the past few months alone, a number of them are associated with comments which seem to suggest that they are working earnestly for the fragmentation of the country, sadly, for selfish reasons. For instance, before 2015 election a good for nothing politician from South East, in one of the interviews granted to one of the country’s leading tabloid was unequivocal in stating that Nigeria may collapse if Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan is allowed to contest the 2015 election or he didn’t not complete his term. Put differently, he is telling us that the continuous existence of this great country hinged on the ambition of one individual or ethnic region. To me, in actual fact, he was not speaking the minds of Nigeria. He is speaking because something has entered his pocket. This is a man who was on verge of joining his ancestors before Ex-President revive him with appointment and Federal Contracts.
If the truth must be told, he needs to be reminded that though every individual is entitled to his or her opinion, he or she must be mindful of the fact that no opinion should underscore the supremacy of the country over and above ambition of one individual or region. This is the point he must remember at all times because forgetting this point will undermine the sacrifices of people who paid the supreme price that the country may be one, it will equally amount to a disservice to their sacrifices. This is the point Governor Wike made clear in his statement at Sokoto. Onething Nigerians should know is that president and Governors will come and go, Nigeria remain because we will fare better as one.
Indeed, the need for all of us to work for the country’s continuous existence cannot be over-emphasized. First, we must not loose sight of the fact God himself did not make mistake in allowing the conglomerate called Nigeria. More fundamentally, we must be mindful of the lessons history has taught us. As much as we can recall, records of fragmented entities have no pages dedicated to the fulfillment of dreams. If evidences of history are anything to go by, the most obvious signs of fragmentation are stories of failed dreams and hopes. As it was in many of the continents so-called independent nations, so it is already manifesting in its newest nation. As it is the case with South Sudan, those that engineered its emergence are already at each other’s throat, fighting the same monster they wasted their time fighting to bring into existence. I see this scenario playing out in South East if Biafra comes. This is because an average anambrian does not see Ebonyi man as an Igbo man but as ‘onye Abakiliki’, even a man from Enugu as ‘onye Nsukka’, ‘onye wawa’. That oneness and love as one people is not there. How possible is it then for them to live as one people when the Biafra comes. Even in today’s Anambra State, if you are not from that state despite being an Igbo man, you are not allowed to contest for any elective post even in market politics.
Rather unconsciously in the case of South Sudan, they have made it abundantly clear that their reasons for fighting its creation have nothing to do with the collective aspiration of its people. It is clearer still that they were guided more by selfish interests rather than sincere nationalistic urge. In our case, are there signs that what we are fighting at the federal level are not replete in our different regions? The answer is clearly ‘no’.Even among IPOB and MASSOB and other groups fighting for the so called Biafra, have shared positions among themselves. Some called themselves GOVERNORs, Chief of Army Staff and what have you.
Clearly, we can tell from events unfolding right now in South Sudan that the people are being taken for a ride because they failed to be discerning. For that reason, they were not able to differentiate between the seeming patriotic fervor of the present political protagonists and their selfish interests. For that same reason, they succumbed to the actors’ guile manipulations. These realities are clearer now because as the saying goes, you can fool some people some time but you cannot full all the people all the time.

Paschal Candle, a public affairs analyst and a graduate of international studies and diplomacy University of Benin, writes from Abuja Nigeria.

[quote author=edebemba post=52511670]Rubbish post! If you have nothing to write, why don't you read other people's post and learn something.
If PDP said Book Haram's flag is fake, does that make it fake if in fact it is authentic? During the 2015 election campaign, Buhari said that there was nothing like oil subsidy payment by the Jonathan administration. Did that comment make oil subsidy payments by Jonathan fake? Did Buhari not make some oil subsidy payment himself? [
did you just go through your post before posting. PDP said that the flag is fake. at least they know the original. they would have shown us the orginal. Buhari said he didnt understand oil subsidy payment? has he not shown nigerians that the subsidy is a scam. so PDP should show us the original flag and Koran. It takes a person who uses dollar to know which one is fake and original.

It has been proved. PDP said that the flag presented to President as Boko Haram flag is fake. I begin to wonder. if anyone says around you that the Boko Haram flag presented to PMB is fake, never you look at the person face for second time before you Ben Johnson.
.Na only thief fit sabi the foot part of another thief on the rock oo. President Buhari should not look further.
.
E fit be Boko Haram member ooooooo. Nigeria should watch out for PDP members. They may attack you any moment. These people are bunch of fools. They thought we will buy their bad market. Just passing by..

This Niger delta Militants are taking more than they chew. Enough of this rubbish. Mr President, this is an open declaration of war against Nigeria state. This is an act of terrorism. They must be dealt wiith.

If there was ever a time I felt very proud and content with my ignorance, it was last on Friday 4th April, 2014. I felt so proud I knew next to nothing in economics. That was the only way I could stomach what was happening that day, as I sat glued to the TV.
Speaker after speaker praised Nigerian Economy. Yes, this same economy the rest of us cannot differentiate its head from tail. They even clapped for themselves. But looking round the hall that fateful day, I could see the ‘why’ of the plaudits. Both the Speakers and their audience were witches from the same coven- Harvard Business School, Breton-wood Institutions, London school of Economics etc.
They said they had ‘rebased’ the GDP. And suddenly we moved from less than $350 Billion to $510 billion GDP. Hard as I tried to listen, all I kept hearing was ‘rebasing the economy’. I consulted my favourite Dictionary (MICHAEL WEST), but there was nothing like ‘rebasing’ there. The only other book I ever read that had such ‘big’ English was ‘Veronica My Daughter’- from Onitsha Main Market Literature Series. But I lost my copy of that great book in 1999 and have never seen another copy anywhere else. So I was left with only my Laptop, which was an American product, is not a great teacher of Queen’s English. But I still typed in ‘rebase’ and, lo and behold, it threw back ‘debase’ at me as the proper word.
I refuse to accept that all these people gathered to debase our GDP. In fact, I suspect that there must be something good about this rebasing, especially if it gives all these our ‘book people’ so much feeling good feeling. Yes, this thing that didn’t seems to make sense to me, they all seemed to agree, is what Nigeria needs to be done to be taken seriously by the rest of the statistics-crazy world. Our partner agencies and donor countries are always asking for facts and figures, now they have it. Even Dr Oby Ezekwesili, whom I expected to tear it apart then, threw her weight behind it. But then I remembered they are worshipped at the same cathedral.
So, I was then also celebrating this ‘rebasing’ feat, even when I feel it is merely using statistics to rub insult into the injury inflicted by our prostrate economy. So I was rolling out the drums then to celebrate. Nigeria is then better than Austria and South Africa. Shame on the people who, only in the month of March 2014 ranked Nigeria among the poorest countries in the world. One good way to prove our new status is to offer free Austrian and South African Visas to Nigeria and see if 100 million Nigerians, living below poverty line will not jump at it… Mtcheew.
It appears this our economy is becoming an Ali Baba economy, whereby only good people (by that, we mean people in government or those enjoying government patronage) can see all the positive signs. Then in 2014, there are the only ones who see that the economy is growing, inflation is coming down, jobs were being created at the rate of 1.6 million a year etc. Suddenly a country that does not who is going to school and who is not or which school are graduating students or which school is on strike, has suddenly come up with figures of those entering job market every year. Rebasing, indeed!
Let them change the marking scheme as much as the like. Let then doctor it to suit our poor performance, we were still where we were. It is just like establishing NECO when it dawned on us that our children could no longer pass WAEC. Yes, our children now have better As and Bs- but have standards not continued to go down? It’s like doubling the width of the goalpost in a football match so that we can score more goals but even if we score more goals eventually, does it still make us a better footballers?
They can rebase or debase like I said then in 2014 as many times as they like. They ( Dr. Ngozi Okonji-iweala and her team) can even take a futuristic base year of 2017, it is all good if it makes them feel to be performing better then. But the bottom line remains: we are still hungry. We still do not have electric light. The fuel that our land is drowned in by providence is still scare at the gas stations. And, by the way, we still cannot trace the NNPC money, the pension funds and the larger chunk of our EXCESS CRUDE ACCURALS. Our treasury is getting leaner and leaner, as we make more and more money then through our crude oil sales. That for me to borrow D’ Banj’s words, is the koko of the matter. Anything else, including rebasing this reality, amounts to debasing our collective intelligence. It would, as Yorubas would say, amount to telling us that this dog we are all seeing clearly today is a monkey. It is economic masturbation.
As for me, I am currently out of my Eastern Base, I rebased to Benin City to witness my good friend and fellow comrade swearing-in as Deputy Governor of Edo State. In fact, I suspect we just want to make this 2020:20 target of government by hook or crook. I am sure by the time we rebase in another five years, and bring in new sectors like kidnapping, pipeline vandalisation, armed robbery, pen robbery, political robbery, 419, MMM, drug trafficking and baby factories, which were not captured in the last rebase, we would move from 26th to 20th or even 10th displacing countries like France, Sweden, Belgium etc. it makes some people feel good. And there is no law that says we cannot feel happy on empty stomach, especially on the eve of general election. That is why when we are placed on oath in court, they ask us to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. This rebasing idea then is the truth, but, I dare say, it is not the whole truth. Since Dr. Okonji-iweala was made a minister, a lot of statistics have been forged just to please our donor countries and agencies. I believe we should take a critical look at our economy and plan on how to move it forward. They should re-visit this rebase idea of 2014 and know the true position of things. I rest my case
Otimkpu Paschal C, a public affairs analyst and a graduate of international studies and diplomacy University of Benin.

Maybe you are not in nigeria. read 2016 budget and you will the contract there. also google money released so far for capital projects and you will the amount released for this road. enugu-onitsha road is on going. go and call GEj

i want you guys to googgle miss anambra and that chidimma okeke video. these are two different individuals. i took time to do some investigation into this matter. that girl is innocent. although the damages have been done,but the truth is that it is not the same person. i am not her spokesman. i am not from her state,but the person that did these thing to this girl will never know peace. i have not watched porn before,but her story made me to go into details of this matter. i learnt Obiano's wife has collected the girl's official car. how can a mother if truly you are one do such thing without getting your facts well. you can assemble a team of detectives and video experts to analyse the video for you before rushing to take decisions just because someone wants to pull her down. google her pictures and the video. then i leave you to judge yourself.

ozoemenaca:
We must note the fact that these highly placed Judges cannot be telling lies against Amaechi. At their levels they stand to gain nothing by mentioning him trying to bribe them. So Nigerians should wise up. APC fighting corruption is mere witch haunt of the opposition and that is basic

.
you are wrong. see ICPC ACT.
The Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act states in

Section 23 (1) Any Public officer to whom any gratification is given, promised, or offered, in contravention of any provision of this Act shall report such gift, promise or offer together with the name, if known, of the person who gave, promised or offered such gratification to him to the nearest officer of the Commission or Police Officer.

(3) Any person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with subsections (I) and (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand naira or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both fine and imprisonment.

Why are they saying this things now....are they not Judges of the Apex Court in Nigeria, if the people charged with upholding Justice and Sanctity in Nigeria can't pursue the prosecution of a crime that they claimed took place in front of them... then they are infidels undeserving of the position they currently hold.

These Supreme Court Judges are fools. I do not blame them. In case you are wondering,this is what the Law says and these useless judges cannot interpret our laws very well and do the needful here. The Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act states in

Section 23 (1) Any Public officer to whom any gratification is given, promised, or offered, in contravention of any provision of this Act shall report such gift, promise or offer together with the name, if known, of the person who gave, promised or offered such gratification to him to the nearest officer of the Commission or Police Officer.

(3) Any person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with subsections (I) and (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand naira or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both fine and imprisonment.

Why are they saying this things now....are they not Judges of the Apex Court in Nigeria, if the people charged with upholding Justice and Sanctity in Nigeria can't pursue the prosecution of a crime that they claimed took place in front of them... then they are infidels undeserving of the position they currently hold. ICPC should arrest these judges and fine and imprison them without delay

Weldone Mr President. We need you to take more serious actions against these bad elements in our Nation Judiciary. I stand with you. It is now that we have a Leader who is capable of taking decisions,critical ones. This might not go down well with some people, but do you people know that I have been a victim here. There is a case that is pending in Supreme Court for the past 2 years now. A pre-election matter betweeen Hon. Barr Anthonia Tabansi-okye vs Lynda Ikpeazu in the last national Assembly elections. what is holding that case,we do not know. May God bless President M. Buhari

PASTOR IZE-IYEAMU, LUCKY IGBINEDION AND EDO ELECTION 2016
As a Country, we should have a truly transformed heart for genuine and dedicated service instead of focusing on the things of the world and political power that will not last forever. Our Leaders should not see elections as their ultimate destines and then become desperate. Rather focus should be what will truly be beneficial to the people and the nation. At this ,many Nigerians are looking back on their lives and sensitizing that many years of opportunities had been stolen from us through our land that was divinely assigned with grand economy and greatest of Nigerians. Those with right mind can recount panorama of leadership errors, self centredness, incompetence, besetting transgression, corruption, fraud and untrustworthiness had outsized administrative impact in many years of the country’s independence.
As Edo State prepares to go to Poll to elect who will continue from where Comrade Governor stopped or who will take Edo State backward to where it was 8 years ago. Onething has been running through my mind. Where is Chief Sir Lucky Igbinedion, the Former Governor of Edo State, One time Chairman of Oredo Local Government, whose His former PA and SSG to The Edo state Government is contesting for the Governorship Slot under once almighty Peoples Democratic Party. I believe that these two individuals are like Rice and stew. One cannot do without the other. Why hiding the influence of Chief Lucky in scheme of things. Is it because he is a bad market? That the Our Pastor Governor does not want him to spoil his market for him. It is clear fact that whatever Our Pastor Governor was, is and will be, Chief Lucky hands are in it. I expected Chief Lucky to lead the campaign instead of leaving it for old Generals whoever want to leave the stage for the younger generations. Even at over 70s, 80s and close to 90s years of old, these Old Generals of looting still want to lead the campaign for Our Pastor Governor to be. Why castigating Chief Lucky in the morning and dinning with him in the night updating him on the Journey so far and how the campaign is unfolding. Finally, on Thursday 15TH SEPTMBER 2016 WHILE ADDRESSING THE PRESS DURING HIS FATHER’S BIRTHDAY, Chief Lucky has come out to say that the Next Governor of Edo State MUST come from their Political family and this leaves us with no other person, Pastor Barr. IZE-IYAMU.
Even in the context of constant flux and the implication that everything is perpetually evolving, the latest contribution by Chief Lucky Igbinedion, a former Governor of Edo State, to the business of image laundering,or more precisely, reputation laundering, stretches imaginative elastic to yield a point. Ahead of 57th Birthday on May 13th 2014, I could vividly recalled what Chief Lucky declared in an interview he granted with Journalists in His Abuja Residence, where he said and I quote:” in the darkest of days when I was the governor and the state was broke and could not pay salaries, I would run to these two individuals and they would borrow me money. They borrowed the state money”. Then the lenders in question, excuse Igbinedion illiterate usuage, were his father and Esama of Benin Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion and the Chairman Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees then, Chief Anthony Anenih. In case anyone needed corroboration, Chief Lucky said,” Chief Anenih is around here, you can go and ask him whether I borrowed money from him or not”. What about his father? Should not he also be asked whether he actually lent money to Edo state through his son?
His claims prompt disturbing dimensions, including reflections on the riches of the named individuals, their motives, their possible gains from such deals, especially in economic terms as well as in relation to manipulative influence in the corridors of power. It stand to reason that Chief Lucky Igbinedion may have unwittingly provided insights into the phenomenon of political godfatherism, long identified as a major drawback of the country’s politics, with negatively weighty implications for socio-economic development. It also stands to reason that Chief Lucky and His team of Administrators then led by the SSG to Edo State Government, Pastor Ize-iyamu were colossal failures. In issues of Governance, states in Nigeria now need a man with innovations, visions and creativity to govern states now. It is very clear that what is coming from Abuja is not enough to pay salaries talk more of providing basic infrastructure for the people. Today in Edo State, comrade Adams Oshimole does not owe salaries to state Government workers, he is not borrowing from individuals to pay salaries. Rather most of the borrowing of the Comrade Governor is for infrastructural Development. Any government that wants to succeed must not borrow to pay salary. Not only is Comrade Governor not borrowing when other states are doing so, He has set a standard in the country for being the only Governor that is paying N25,000.00 as a minimum wage, when most Governors in Oil Rich Niger Delta Region are owing salaries ranging from 5, 6, 8, 10, 13 months respectively. What this has shown is that Oshimole is a blessing to the people of Edo State. This is because He was not elected by the people to lament, but to provide the leadership which the state has lacked over the years. It stands to reason that the Comrade Governor and His team of administrators led by the past and current SSG and His economic adviser led by Dr Godwin Obaseki were genius in management of the affairs of Edo people. They will not satisfy everybody, but with continuation of those agenda by someone who is inside the government is a very big advantage.
Back to the issue of discussion, from a more perspective, Chief Lucky’s revelations, hint at illegalities, particularly on account of the implied non-official nature of the process, which is why they have the character of disclosure. Apparently, the stated deals were known only to a closed ring of collaborators ( Chief Luck, Pastor SSG, Esama and Chief Anenih), outside the view of lawful institutional structures that should otherwise be aware of, if not endorse such course of action. Some people were wondering what these old generals were doing at Our Pastor Campaign flag off. They are the one to coordinate the campaigns, so that they may likely get the monies they borrowed Chief Lucky back since Comrade Governor has refused to dance to their tones.
From the look of things, Chief Igbinedion manifested not only social anxiety, but perhaps also a sense of guilt. Seven years after he left office following two four-year terms from 1999-2007, he seems to have suddenly awakened to the fact that his track record needed clarification, especially in the light of superlatively superior governmental performance by Comrade Adams Oshimole, who is on the final stage of his government, with an agenda: FINISHING WELL. Indeed, Chief Luck’s power years pale into insignificance, expect as a model of ineptitude when compared with Oshimole’s tenure, which is widely acclaimed as demonstrative of good governance and an example of competent administration. Moreover against this background, it is possible that Chief Luck may have a guilty conscience for frittering away his time in power, which is general acknowledged as an era of wastefulness and wasted opportunities of Edo State. Sadly, he cannot turn the hands of clock, but he believes he can use our Pastor to get what is left for them in Edo State or if possible recover those monies they borrowed without following the due process.
Chief Lucky’s defensiveness mirrored a subconscious burden conveyed by his words. “for you to loot, he declared,” there must be something. Edo state had no money”. This latter logic is contradicted by the fact that in January 2008, he was declared wanted by EFCC concerning 142 counts of financial fraud. Specifically, he was alleged to have embezzled 24 MILLION DOLLARS using front companies and he gave himself up in the same month. Furthermore, in December 2008 he was convicted by the Federal High Court, Enugu, on corruption related charges. He was actually fined 3.5 MILLION NAIRA after peading guilty to a one-count charge of neglecting to make a declaration of his interest in account in a new generation bank. So Edo people, hope you are reading this, if all I stated here were not facts, I want somebody to counter me. Astoundingly, Chief Lucky said,” if anything, it is EDO State that owes me money and not me owing EDO State”. Wonders shall never cease. If the borrowing and the lending were open only to him and his collaborators, as the picture he painted suggested, it is intriguing that he has an obviously misplaced sense of the state government’s financial indebtedness to him. It is unclear whether he implied that he also lent money to the state, which he did not recover before he left office. If he did lend the money on his path at that time, what his occupation and monthly salary income before he became a Governor.
This character took hyperbole to a new heights with his claims that somewhere along the line, he got tired of the office of the Governor and desired to quit before the end of his tenure, which would have been unprecedented in the country’s political history and earned him a place in the pantheon of frustrated patriots, if he could be dignified by such description. Then he somersaulted, uttering words that expressed absolute nonsense. :first and foremost, ”he began,” you do not have the money to do some projects you want to do even though there was no way I would have completed the projects with the whole money in the whole world”. Tragically, this declaration unveiled his unpreparedness for helmsmanship as well as fundamental visionlessness. Without intending to do so, he also betrayed the fact that he ran a government of uncompleted projects, meaning that he left a legacy, if it could be so called, of inchoateness, which amounts to nothing.
This article is not a propaganda issue; I want you to look for his interview on the Nation newspaper 12th and 13th May, 2014. I leave you to judge more from that side. Onething that is very clear in this Election, the two major candidates has been in power before now. One served as SSG to Chief Lucky and the other as Chief Economic Adviser to Comrade Governor. It is also on records that the Chief Economic Adviser to the Comrade Governor never collected a salary for those eight years. What a man of impeccable integrity. Putting Edo State first, before his personal gains. I have not seen a leader like this. The good people of Edo state, I am leaving you to make your choice. Are you to move forward or backward? Your vote will determine that. This is another challenge to you. I was in University of benin during 2007 and 2012 elections. I saw the true spirit of Edo people. Now that Chief lucky has made this point that the next Governor must come from their Political family. What were his reason? Is it to recover what was left? I rest my case.
PaschalCandle, a graduate of International studies and Diplomacy, University of Benin, a public affairs analyst writes from Abuja.