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APC Govs Absent At Buhari’s Campaign Council Meeting …Okorocha, Nnamani, Ministers Shun APC Campaign Meeting In Enugu

None of the 24 state governors elected under the platform of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) are present at the ongoing inaugural meeting of the presidential campaign council of the party being chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The governors are part of the council as coordinators for their own states.
The council was inaugurated Monday by President Buhari at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
The meeting is currently holding at the conference hall of State House Presidential Villa Abuja.
It is attended by almost all the other members of the council and is co-chaired by former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu.
It is not clear why the governors are not at the event, but President Buhari recently told Nigerian voters not to re-elect any governor who failed to pay workers salaries after receiving bailout funds from the federal government.
President Buhari had while inaugurating the council announced that Bola Tinubu will take full charge of his re-election campaign.
However, it was gathered that President Buhari will be attending campaign rallies in Kaduna, Bauchi and Gombe states over the weekend.
A source at the presidential villa said President Buhari will travel to Kaduna tomorrow, Bauchi on Saturday and Gombe on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the national chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has said the 24 governors elected under the platform of the party stayed away from the inaugural meeting of the Presidential campaign council simply because “they are governors”.
None of the governors were present yesterday at the inaugural meeting of the council chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Asked why the governors were absent, Oshiomhole said: “because they are governors, they are governing their states.
“Don’t forget that elections are not defined in Abuja, it will take place in the 36 states and I am sure there are APC members who are campaigning for the House of Assembly, various federal house and senate constituencies, governorship constituencies.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign kicked off on a low note in the Southeast yesterday as Owelle Rochas Okorocha, the only South East Governor of All Progressives Congress (APC), failed to attend the first strategy meeting of the zonal campaign council in Enugu.
Others, who were noticeably absent include former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, former Anambra State Governor, Chief Jim Nwobodo, four Ministers from the South East, Chris Ngige (Labour), Geofrey Onyeama (Foreign Affairs), Anthony Anwuka (Education/State Minister) and Okechukwu Enelama (Trade and Investment).
Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology was the only Minister from the South East that attended the closed door strategy meeting, convened by Miss Sharon Ikeazor, the Director of Buhari Campaign Council, South East.
The meeting was earlier scheduled to start by 10.am but it was delayed for several hours, following the absence of some key stakeholders.
It eventually commenced by 1.pm when it was obvious that Okorocha and other key stakeholders were not coming.
Some inside sources who confided in journalists, blamed the absence of notable South East APC leaders on their dissatisfaction with the appointment of Miss Ikeazor, a political rookie without any electoral antecedents as the Director of the Buhari Campaign in the South East.
Most of the APC leaders were said to have seen her appointment as an attempt by President Buhari to add salt to the injury already inflicted on Ndigbo by his administration.
Answering questions from journalists after the first session, Miss Ikeazor played down the absence of Okorocha and others from the meeting, saying that workings of government cannot ground to a halt because of politics.
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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.
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