Igbo Kwenu! Igbo Man In Mayor Contest In Detroit

Igbo Kwenu! Igbo Man In Mayor Contest In Detroit

A young Igbo man, John Olumba, who is currently a member of the State of Michigan House of Representative is contesting for the post of in the City of Detroit, Michigan.
John, 31, is a lawyer and pastor and proudly Nigeria’s first man to be elected into state office since Michigan began to exist.
In an interview, recently he stated that his father hails from Owerri in Imo State and he wants to lead the troubled city into an age of revival.
But he questions the record of some of the candidates. “Are we going to go with someone who’s been a part of the political establishment? Across the United States, part of the slogan was ‘forward.’ It’s time for people to stop looking backward,” he said.
The newcomer to the mayoral race says he’s not worried about the other candidates and says he represents innovation. His plan for the city, he says, is trilateral: a war on poverty, corruption and crime according to him, all go hand in hand.

CBN’s cash-less policy kick-off in six states today

The moderated cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) starts today in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), Abia, Anambra, Kano, Ogun and Rivers states.
Several commercial banks ahead of today’s take-off have been on sensitizing their customers through emails, text messages and formal letters, on the importance of the alternative payment options.
The policy, which was hitherto operational in Lagos State, is aimed at promoting the use of electronic-based transactions instead of cash for the payments for goods, services, transfers, among other services. The implementation of the “Cash-less Lagos”, as it is known, began on January 1, last year. It recorded improvements in the use of Point of Sale (PoS), Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and other e-payment tools.
The service charges/fees did not apply until March 30, last year, to give people time to migrate to electronic channels and experience the infrastructure that has been put in place.
The CBN Deputy Governor, Operations, Mr Tunde Lemo said the policy is expected to drive development and modernise Nigeria’s payment system in these states

wike is Unimportant - Governor Amechi

Wike Is Not Relevant – Amechi

Rivers State governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, in Port Harcourt yesterday, said that Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, who has turned himself to a roadblock in the express of progress and who now leads a faction of the state Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was too small for him (Amaechi) to discuss.

He spoke at the 60th birthday celebration of former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief O. C. J. Okocha, SAN, at the Emmanuel Anglican Church, Okoro-Nu-Odo Deanery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, weekend, Amaechi said he was betrayed by majority of those from his Ikwerre ethnic group, whom he nominated for positions at various levels, including his former Chief of Staff, Nyesom Wike, who has now turned himself to his (Amaechi’s) chief opponent and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Austin Opara.

Responding to questions put to him by the officiating priest, Bishop of the Anglican Communion, Niger Delta Diocese, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, Amaechi said “His grace, this will be the first time I will be talking about my former Chief of Staff in public.

“My former Chief of Staff is too small for me to talk about. I don’t want to discuss him and I have never done that before. Today will be my first and last day.

“You know, there are different types of men. I hope you know that there are men with character and there are men without character.  And you know that I have character.  I don’t believe that money can solve all problems and I don’t worship money, my greatest fear is where am I going to, after here on earth.

“Let me also tell you that I have been betrayed several times in politics and majority of those who betrayed me are from my Ikwerre ethnic group.

“Before I became a Speaker, can we look back at Ikwerre history? We were crying, we wanted governor, we wanted this and that and the last ministerial appointment was  Chief Emmanuel Aguma, a long time ago, and that was the last Ikwerre ministerial appointment. I became Speaker and by the Grace of God I got the Deputy Speaker seat in the House of Representatives to an Ikwerre son(Austin Opara), all with my sweat, I struggled for it.”

Amaechi stated that when it was time for Austin Opara to support him, he, instead betrayed him

He explain further“Again, you can ask Mr. President, I submitted his name(Nyesom Wike) as minister, where is he now?  I, Amaechi submitted his name (Nyesom Wike) as minister to President Goodluck Jonathan, but where is he now?  You must have character, you must be known for something.”

Speaking on the leadership crisis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Amaechi said a credible election was held where the governors exercised their franchise and re-elected him as Chairman of the Forum.

“There was an election.  They are not denying that there was no election, they said before the election, some governors had signed documents for them and that they were 19 in number, and we conducted election, eventually, the 19 governors later changed their minds and voted for me.  As a man of God, (referring to Bishop Kattey) now that you know, please tell the other Bishops and men of God, so that, I don’t have to be responding to these questions in public, if there was election or not?”

Amaechi also warned that nobody should give him conditions on matters relating to the Obio/Akpor Local  Government Area executive suspension. He said he was patiently waiting to hear the final determination of the court on whether the Rivers State House of Assembly should be allowed to perform their legitimate, constitutionally enshrined functions or not.

“It is within the powers of the Rivers State House of Assembly to suspend the Chairman of Obio/Akpor.  The same constitution gave me the powers to dissolve Obio/Akpor, but, I have not done that.  The Rivers State House of Assembly suspended the Obio/Akpor council chairman and the councilors, which is within their lawful functions.

The reason for which they were suspended was corruption, so allow the Assembly to investigate.  If they investigate and the chairman and councilors are not corrupt, they will call them back. And no court can say that the Assembly members have no right to carry out their lawful functions.  However, whatever the court says, the Rivers State Government will obey the court.  But outside that, PDP or anybody cannot give me any condition on Obio/Akpor council,” he said.

“We will continue to struggle for our rights, and that includes our oil wells.”

Governor Amaechi also advised the people of the state to choose credible candidates during elections, reminding them of the incidence of 2005 and 2006, where militancy, kidnapping and criminal activities metamorphosed into breakdown of law and order in the state.

“When election time comes, Rivers people will be given a choice to choose whom they want, do you want people that have served you before who will deny you of your resources?  Do you want to go back to 2005 – 2006 when militancy was everywhere?  Do you want to be kidnapped as they have just started again?  It is your choice to make, between good and bad.”

Amaechi  maintained that he would remain committed to the vision of his administration to provide accountable and transparent stewardship anchored on integrity and good governance.

“I have done a road to Opobo and if I drive to Opobo, will the people pursue me?  I have also constructed a road to Andoni, will they pursue me for putting a road to Andoni? What about the road from Port Harcourt to Owerri Road and from Eleme to the boundary between Abia State, will they pursue me?

What about the schools. I met a school with 100 to 200 students in a classroom.  But now, you have standard structures and conducive learning environment with only 30 students per class, and we are still building.  The church owe us a duty to explain the truth to the people.  The truth is that, you will either stand for the truth or not, am ready to stand by the truth,” Amaechi said.

Why Nigeria Is Stagnant And Not Working - Sultan of Sokoto

WHY NIGERIA IS STAGNANT AND NOT WORKING-SULTAN

The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar said on Sunday (yesterday) berated the roles played by the so called Nigeria leaders. He said the country was stagnated because leaders have refused to allow things to work.

The Sultan spoke at a national conference on peace, unity and security organized by JNI in Kaduna said, “so many things have gone wrong in this country and things are still going wrong”.

“As leaders, we are committed in ensuring justice in whatever we do; we are committed in ensuring that those leaders whom Allah placed on us to lead us do what is right. And we must continue to tell them when they do wrong. No leader is ever right.”

While noting that the Muslim world was facing  daunting challenge, the Sultan said  “we are very aware just like any other people across the world of the challenges facing us as Muslims, not only in Nigeria; we believe somebody somewhere is pulling the string”.

The Sultan who is also the Co-Chairman of the Nigeria Inter-religious Council also said “we will not allow anybody to stop us from being Muslims because that is what God brought to us and that is what we chose to be, we will not allow anybody to turn our lives upside down, and whatever anybody does that affects Islam and Muslims.”

He expressed concern over the level of disunity among Muslims saying “if there is unity among Muslims, there will be peace, and if there is peace, there will be development and progress in our country and there will be total security in Nigeria.

“If there is security, definitely, there will be development. What is happening in the Northern part of the country is an unfortunate incident which has been forced on us, may be for so many reasons, may be the Almighty Allah (God) wants to correct our ways.

“I believe it is high time all of us come together and discuss those things that have been pestering our lives as Muslims in this country. I want to state here that our main problems have been lack of unity, lack of consensus in whatever we do, and of course, viz-a-viz so poor in our lives as Muslims in this country.

“We are begging Allah for constant prayers from all of you, you are all distinguished Ulamas, we need constant prayers from the downtrodden to any other person, we shall overcome all these challenges and move to greater heights by the special grace of God.

“We are committed to ensuring justice in whatever we do, we are committed to ensuring that whichever leaders God Almighty blessed on us to do what is right, and we must tell them when they go wrong”.

While lamenting the failure of leadership in the country to provide purposive leadership, he said “as Muslim leaders, we know what the holy Koran said about leadership, we know how our noble leader lived his life which we are all striving to copy in the minutest way, and I believe totally that if we imbibe the virtues of the holy Koran and the virtues of our noble leader, nobody will go wrong.

“I believe it is high time we put aside so many differences in understanding of Islam, put aside so called promise of big manism, put aside hatred that permeated people’s heart, and put aside personal interest. Put Islam above all, and if you do so, we will find the end of all the problems facing us that we will enable all of us to observe our religious obligations and duties in a peaceful manner.

“We refuse to accept time without number whenever any violence take place anywhere in the world, if committed by a Muslim, you will hear Islamic terrorist, or Muslim terrorist or Islamic fundamentalist. But when worst violence is perpetrated by somebody who is not a Muslim, we don’t hear the same coinage, or the same factionalization of the same criminal activity linking it to that particular religion.

“And we believe so many criminal activities have taken place in the name of so many other religion, but Islam has been singled out and it is a challenge for us to wake up, stand together, stretching our hands of unity and face such problem squarely. We can only do that if we put aside our personal differences.

“I don’t want to talk so much, but I really have so much in mind on such issues, but suffice to say, today we have an opportunity to bare our minds to the President, Commander-In- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who set up a committee to look into insurgency activities particularly in the North.

“I believe that committee should also look at other things that are happening in other parts of the country. But this is the first step.  Let us stabilize north in particular, then move to other places, ” the Sultan stated.

Also speaking at the conference was the Kaduna state governor, Mukthar Ramalan Yero admonished Islamic scholars to refrain from using the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to cast aspersions on people without proper investigations.