Southern Leaders Hold Summit Ahead Of National Conference
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Southern Leaders Hold Summit Ahead Of National Conference
This forms the common thread in the various comments by speakers at the Southern Leaders’ Conference in Calabar, southern Nigeria.
The speakers which include the host governor, Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, governors of other southern states, elder statesmen, traditional and religious leaders all agreed that the conference would present a great opportunity to discuss the collective future of Nigeria.
While looking at coming up with a mutually agreeable position that they would take to the National Conference when it is convened, it was also agreed that the South must come together to speak in one voice on issues of national importance.
The main speakers of the day gave key points on what the delegates would be looking at, ahead of the discourse.
Governors in the region were also not quiet about the issues, as they took the lead at the Southern Leaders’ Summit meant to concretise the position of the region ahead of the National Conference.
Governor Imoke, spoke with Channels Television on what he expects to be brought to the table at the summit.
“We must acknowledge the issues of justice and equity, once everyone feels that they have their rights and their rights are not being trampled upon, then you don’t have to look at issues from that perspective, and that’s what our focus should be.
“One of the key things is (that) in defining our position; we must understand the economic impact that this would have on development. So it’s not about South-South, it’s not about ethnic groups, it’s about equity,” he said.
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No World Cup for Ike Uche – Keshi
Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi , has closed the World Cup door on Ikechukwu Uche, saying he lacks tactical discipline.
Uche is one of Nigeria’s reliable goal scorers and has scored 12 goals this season for Villarreal, MTNFootball.com reports.
On Monday night, the striker returned to action after he was sidelined by injury for two weeks.
He last featured for Nigeria in the final of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations against Burkina Faso.
Keshi speaking to MTNFootball.com from his base in the United States said, “Ikechukwu Uche is not a player I have not seen play. Ike Uche problem is not knowing how to play football.
“His problem is that he wants to dictate how we play in Super Eagles, he wants to tell us the system we’re playing is not good.
“Uche has a very bad habit, that if you put him in the game he is not playing to instructions and he did that in the final of AFCON against Burkina Faso, he almost cost us.
“Again he did that against Zambia, in the second match when (Efe) Ambrose was given a red card. What we told him to do, he was doing the opposite.”
Keshi added:”And if you don’t respect your team mates and you don’t respect the team, then there is no point. I know he cannot do that in his club, then why do it in the national team?
“I don’t think I need a player like that in the team.”
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Ukraine to appoint unity government
Ukraine’s interim President, Olexander Turchynov, is due to form a unity government, days after the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych.
Senior Western diplomats are continuing talks in Kiev with the interim leadership, while the United States and United Kingdom are to discuss emergency financial assistance.
The US has yet to endorse the new leader, but says “Mr. Yanukovych is no longer actively leading the country.”
An arrest warrant has been issued for Mr. Yanukovych, who has disappeared.
Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said a criminal case had been opened against the ousted president and other officials over “mass murder of peaceful citizens.”
Mr. Yanukovych was last reported seen on Sunday in Balaklava on the Crimean peninsula – an autonomous region where the majority of the population is ethnically Russian.
Dozens of people were killed in clashes between anti-Yanukovych protesters and riot police last week.
British investigators have told the BBC they are operating on the ground in Ukraine to help establish who was responsible for the most deadly day of violence last Thursday.
They say they are gathering evidence which could be used to prosecute suspects.
They refused to reveal their identities or who had tasked them with the investigation, saying it was a politically sensitive issue.
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Nigeria re-elected chair UN special committee on peacekeeping operations
Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amb. Joy Ogwu, was on Monday re-elected for the 5th consecutive time as the Chair of UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.
Her re-election, which took place place at the 234th session of the committee, signalled the recognition accorded Nigeria’s peacekeeping efforts by the UN.
Argentina, Canada, Japan and Poland were re-elected to serve as Vice Chair of the committee and Egypt as Rapporteur.
The committee is the UN flagship for peacekeeping operation with the mandate to review all aspects of UN peacekeeping operations.
It has a membership of 148 countries.
In her remarks at the occasion, Ogwu said the committee was strategic in assisting the UN peacekeeping stakeholders in the efficient and effective delivery of peacekeeping mandates.
She said the committee should also serve as a hub to facilitate the triangular relationship between the UN Security Council, General Assembly and the Secretariat.
It would be recalled that Nigeria was elected into the non-permanent category of the UN Security Council in October 2013 and would preside over the council’s affairs in March.
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Muazu Has The Chance To Reconcile Warring PDP Members- Former Minister
He said: “It is about you listening; it is about you being amiable and being reconciliatory,” urging the new chairman “to let people to talk to him” in order to be able to harmonise them. “You don’t need to fight them”.
He further warned that “when you (Muazu) fight within the party and you take sides, then there will be a counter force against you.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s flagship political programme, Politics Today, the former Senator from Lagos, noted that “happily, the PDP was able to ask Bamanga Tukur, who was a controversial person at that time, to step aside” adding that “it has brought a little bit of relief of the tension within the party”.
He urged the new chairman and former governor of Bauchi state to “go round each state, ask questions on what is happening and what we need to do, to at least salvage the already bad situation” insisting that “he is capable of doing so”.
He however noted that in “any big political party, there will be rancour; there will be partition because of ambition”, noting that “it is not unusual at all”.
Mr Ogunlewe also berated the “controversial personality” of the former chairman, Mr Bamanga Tukur, blaming “people surrounding him (Tukur)” for his woes in the party.
He also noted that the PDP needëd someone “who should be flexible; who should listen to people and try to bring them together.” He pointed out that “everyone seems to be in a hurry because politics seems to be the most lucrative profession. That is where the money is”.
Mr Ogunlewe remained adamant over the gains of the PDP recently, noting that the action of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to allow defecting governors take over the structure of the party from its founding members in their respective states, has augured well for the PDP.
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