Orji Kalu Pulls Out Of Presidential Race, Declares Support For Nothern Candidate
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the Chief Whip of the 9th Senate and a presidential aspirant in the 2023 election, on Monday afternoon, announced his withdrawal from the race.
In a statement obtained by POLITICS NIGERIA, Kalu said his decision was informed by the fact that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) will not be zoning the presidency to any region.
According to him, if a candidate of southeast extraction doesn’t get the APC ticket, he will support a candidate from the Northeast.
He also announced that he has picked his ticket to run for Abia North Senatorial zone.
“I congratulate my friend, former roommate and boss , Senator Ahmad Lawan as he picks form to run for President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under our great party , All Progressives Congress (APC) . I am most glad because he is from the North East , the only zone alongside South East that is yet to produce President of Nigeria,” Kalu said.
“I have always maintained an unambiguous stand that for justice , equity and fairness in our country, the next president of Nigeria after President Muhammadu Buhari should come from the South East or the North East .
“I have also told Nigerians that I would only run for president if the two major political parties (APC and PDP) zone their tickets to the South East . That is why I was disappointed with our southern brothers who are talking about fairness and equity but has zero tolerance for the same fairness and equity in the South.”
“In the absence of a South Easterner being president of Nigeria in 2023, I have my full support for a North Easterner. This is because it would be the closest to the equity, fairness and Justice everyone is talking about It further means that the justice is on its way to the South East.”
“I thank those who said they have picked presidential form for me because they meant well for Nigerians”
“However, since there is no zoning and the contest is open to all Nigerians , I officially withdraw from presidential contest in 2023. I have also picked ticket to run for Abia North Senatorial zone and to complete the good work I started in Abia North.”
“I urge all my friends, allies and supporters in the APC to toe the line of justice by supporting Senator Ahmad Lawan, a North Easterner for the presidential ticket of the APC.”
Students block Benin Airport gate as ASUP threatens nationwide strike
BENIN CITY – STUDENTS of various tertiary institutions in Edo state on Monday blocked the entrance to the airport and the ever busy Airport road over the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The incident created traffic gridlock along the busy Airport road and the extended into adjoining roads in the GRA of Benin City.
The students were drawn from University of Benin, Ambrose Alli University of Benin, Ekpoma, Auchi Polytechnic and Edo State Polytechnic, Usen.
The students also moved to the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ) Edo State council to register their grievances where the Students Union Government’s (SUG) president of UNIBEN, Foster Amadin, appealed to the media to reach out to those connected with the protracted ASUU strike so that the students can go back to their various classrooms to learn.
“We are lending our voice and we are appealing to whosoever is concerned, we have also come here as students that know the importance of the media to express our displeasure over the lingering ASUU strike.
Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, (ASUP) is to embark on nationwide strike action from 11th of May following the non implementation of the Memorandum of Action it said it reached with the Federal Government in May, 2021
The Zonal Coordinator of Zone D which comprises of South-South and South-East, Mr Precious Nwakodo stated this at a press briefing held in Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo on Monday.
Police Nab Man For Sharing Chrisland Sextape
40-year-old broadcaster, Uche Igwe, on Monday, appeared before the Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, for allegedly sharing on Twitter, a video of a 10-year-old Chrisland student, who engaged in sexual intercourse.
Mr Igwe, a resident of Ikorodu, Lagos, is facing a two-count charge of cyberstalking and breach of peace. He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Prosecution counsel attached to the State Criminal Investigation Department Panti, Augustine Nwabuisi, told the court that the defendant committed the offences on April 18, on microblogging app Twitter.
He said the defendant intentionally sent a video of the 10-year-old female student engaging in sexual intercourse with another student in Dubai, to Twitter.
Mr Nwabuisi said that the defendant used his personal Twitter handle, @uchedark, to share the video on the internet for public viewing without the consent of the student’s parents or the school.
Chief Magistrate Adeola Adedayo admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N10 million with three sureties.
Mrs Adedayo ruled that the sureties must submit their National Identification Numbers and their Lagos State Residents Registration Agency cards.
She also directed that one of the sureties must be a landowner, adding that all the sureties must reside within the court’s jurisdiction.
Mrs Adedayo ordered that the sureties must be gainfully employed and have evidence of three years’ tax payment to the Lagos State government. She adjourned the case until June 13 for mention.
A video clip involving five students of Chrisland School, Lagos, engaging in sexual activities at a World Schools Games in Dubai, went viral sometime in April on a Twitter application
Miyetti Allah Tackles IPOB Over Burnt Truck, Cows In SE
The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, an association of Fulani cattle breeders has accused the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra IPoB of attacking Fulani herdsmen in the Southeast and killing their cattle, vowing to institute legal actions against the secessionist group.
Addressing journalists after an emergency meeting of the herders in Abuja on Monday, Secretary-General of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Engr. Saleh Hassan, also challenged states to account for the money given to them to provide ranches for herdsmen.
He said the group will institute legal actions against some of the states, especially Benue, who have failed in protecting Fulani herdsmen.
Hassan said; “The latest attacks that prompted this emergency press conference just happened yesterday (Sunday) and we have alerted our members, our leadership in the Southeast to take stock of the number of cattle killed and possible lives lost.
“The truck that was set ablaze is all over the social media and we saw a full load of cattle. A truck takes about 30 Cows. This is aside isolated cases of killings of herders going on, particularly in southeastern Nigeria by the terrorist group led by the detained Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB which portends a grave danger, because we will not fold our arms to continue to watch an outlawed organization killing our people in the Southeast. That is why we are calling on the security agencies to urgently take action to arrest the situation because we don’t want people to take laws into their hands.
“The latest attacks were carried out by IPoB because if you watch the videos which I will share with members of the press in case you don’t have it, they were speaking Igbo, they were proclaiming that their organization was behind it. They want to make sure they chase out every Fulani man in the Southeast, destroy their cattle. So it is not debatable.
“Then on the issue of our members being part of the insecurity in the North, let me state it without any doubt. Our members are not part of the bandits. Please take it for the records. We are a herders organization. If you are a bandit, you don’t have herds of cows. You are a bandit who should be treated as a bandit.