SEGUN ADENIYI: Jonathan, PDP and 2015…(1)

THE VERDICT  By OLUSEGUN ADENIYI  Email: olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

"…The National Working Committee (NWC) members of PDP had held an elaborate meeting at the party’s Wadata House national secretariat in Abuja with the aim of adopting a common position. At the session were Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, Hajiya Inna Ciroma, Dr. Musa Babayo, Dr. Sam Ortom, Chief Uche Secondus, Mr. Olusola Oke, Mr. Tukur Mani, and the late Muyiwa Collins. At the end of their discussion, they had all accompanied Ogbulafor to the meeting with the PDP governors. So, it was evident the position that he canvassed—that zoning would remain an article of faith within the PDP for the 2011 presidential elections—was not his personal opinion. The implication—even if it was not expressly stated—was that it foreclosed the possibility of Dr Goodluck Jonathan emerging the PDP presidential flag-bearer for the 2011 general elections. But that was all that the governors wanted to hear. That was also the highlight of the meeting.

Maku: FG Did Not Place Order for Gold-plated iPhones

  Labaran Maku,  Information Minister

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, has denied the allegation that the federal government ordered 53 customised gold iPhones ahead of the country’s 53rd independence anniversary on October 1.

Maku, in a statement signed by his Press Secretary, Joseph Mutah, denied the report credited to the founder of Gold and Co., Amjad Ali, who claimed  that the Nigerian government had ordered the iPhones, which would be engraved with Nigeria's coat of arm, a shield and two horses.

Police Bar Amaechi from Entering Govt House

Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi 

Following the closure of the premises of Rivers State chapter of the New PDP, a faction of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, was  Thursday barred from accessing the Government House, Port Harcourt.

The governor was returning from an inspection tour of some projects and had wanted to access the Government House through his private gate at Forces Avenue at 7.05 pm. But on getting to the Port Harcourt Club end of the road, about six police patrol vans had barricaded the road, and even when his security detail approached the policemen to tell them that it was the governor of the state that wanted to gain access to his house, they refused.

A MUST READ: An Unusual Soldier

Obi Abel Umahi 

Adeola Akinremi unveils the unusual soldier whose raid on suspected Boko Haram members in Lagos and Ogun States recently saved the cities

Just over six weeks after, I finally met him. The road to his office was familiar. I knew the houses and the adjoining streets. The landmarks too had not been removed, so it was easy. But I had no idea what he looked like. After the news broke in the morning of July 30, 2013, that his division, the 81 Division of Nigerian Army (comprising Lagos and Ogun States) arrested some 42 suspected members of the outlawed Boko Haram terrorist group, I did not sleep well that night. I tossed from 

one corner of the bed to the other. My mind had become enveloped with several thoughts; the chief of which was death in the neigbourhood. I thought of several families that could have been wiped out 
and the number of widows, widowers and orphans that could have been added to the statistics.  So the next day, I requested to meet with the man who saved the cities.