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Buhari Extends Medical Trip …Pro-Biafra Protesters Storm London Hospital

President Muhammadu Buhari will not return to Nigeria from London, where he is spending his 10-day medical vacation, until Sunday.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, disclosed this to State House correspondents, yesterday, shortly before the commencement of a meeting of the National Economic Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari’s 10-day vacation expired on Wednesday.
By the time he would be arriving in Nigeria on Sunday, he would have spent 14 days.
He was earlier scheduled to arrive the country, yesterday.
Osinbajo, however, said it was just appropriate for Buhari to take the weekend off and rest very well in London before returning to the country.
He said he had spoken to the President on the telephone and he was in good health condition.
The Vice-President said Buhari would resume in his office on Monday morning.
Osinbajo said, “the President will be back on Sunday. I spoke with him yesterday evening and I think it is just the best that he takes the weekend off. He will certainly be back on Sunday.
“I think the most straightforward thing is when he will be back. He will be back on Sunday. There is no point rushing back on Friday or something like that.
“He will just take the weekend off and be back on Sunday. He is in perfect health and ready to resume work on Monday morning.
“Mr. President is in good condition, he is fine, he is very well. He should take a day or two off in London and rest a bit and come back hale and hearty on Sunday and be ready for work on Monday. So we expect him back on Sunday.”
The President had so far embarked on vacation two times this year.
He had earlier embarked on a six-day vacation between February 5 and 10.
Like the case of the second vacation, he remained in London throughout the first vacation.
He had earlier granted an interview where he said the doctors he had been consulting since the 1970s are based in London.
Buhari had before leaving the country written to the National Assembly to intimate the federal lawmakers of his vacation.
He had indicated in the letter that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo would be performing the duties of the President while he would be away.
In another development, Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday, indefinitely adjourned a suit challenging the academic credentials of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Adeniyi, in his ruling, said that the case was being adjourned indefinitely, following a notice of appeal filed by President Buhari.
It would be recalled that President Buhari had on Wednesday, appealed against a previous ruling of the court dismissing his preliminary objection to the suit filed by Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, an Abuja-based lawyer.
Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had in his suit argued that President Buhari was not qualified to run for President because he did not possess the minimum qualification to run for the office.
He is alleging that Buhari did not sit for the Cambridge West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961.
To, however, argue his case, President Buhari hired 13 senior lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun (SAN).
Others are Lateef O. Fagbemi (SAN), Akin Olujinmi (SAN), Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu (SAN), Kola Awodein (SAN), Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Charles Edosomwan (SAN), Emeka Ngige (SAN), Femi Atoyebi (SAN), Femi Falana (SAN), Funke Aboyade (SAN), H.O. Afolabi and 10 other counsels.
Meanwhile, on Monday, June 13, President Buhari looked very healthy in photographs posted on the Web as he played host to Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury in London.
Welby visited President Buhari in company of Josiah Idowu – Fearov, a Nigerian and Secretary General of the Anglican Communion worldwide.
Meanwhile, members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in United Kingdom stormed the Royal London Hospital White Chapel, where President Buhari was allegedly expected yesterday.
The Protesters who were holding posters and flags believed that Buhari was still receiving treatment in the hospital.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.