Sunday, March 8, 2015
Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State were shocked Saturday as some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made attempts to test-run cloned Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at various centres where the testing of the PVC readers were carried out by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers State.
The attempt by the PDP members Saturday was a confirmation of the very suspicion by the APC that PDP members were up to some sneaky game when they embarked on massive purchase of PVCs from unsuspecting members of the public throughout Rivers State since 2014. Where they could not out rightly buy off the cards, they copied the serial number/PIN.
However, the insidious schemes of the PDP came to light as they sent out their members to take part during Saturday’s mock accreditation. Each and every of the cloned cards were rejected by the machines. Curiously, it was not clear why the officials of INEC did not order for the arrest of those PDP members.
In view of the disastrous failure of the PDP evil agenda, it is expected that the clamour for jettisoning of the PVC in the forthcoming elections will become more virulent and persistent. We believe that the PDP will intensify its campaign with some mushroom political parties to either scuttle the use of the PVC or the election itself.
We call on the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to investigate rejected cards and their owners to unravel what the APC believes to be part of a larger and more intricate scheme by the PDP in Rivers State to rig and subvert the electoral process in 2015. Those found to be part of the plan and their sponsors must be arrested, questioned and, if found culpable, charged to court immediately.
Chris Finebone
State Publicity Secretary
State Publicity Secretary
2015:APGA BOSS TELLS THOSE THREATENING BOYCOTT OF POLLS TO SHUT UP *says parameters favour Jonathan * warns against subtle moves to shift poll again
2015: SHUT UP, APGA BOSS TO THOSE THREATENING BOYCOTT OF POLLS
*says parameters favour Jonathan
* warns against subtle moves to shift pollagainThe national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA), Chief VictorUmeh haslashed out on those political parties threatening to pull out of the general elections if the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), ProfAttahiruJega was not removed and or if the temporary voters Cards was not allowed, and if the Card readerswere made paramount in the conduct of the coming polls.Umeh, who was reacting on the mood of the nation as the countdown on the March 28,2015 begin, said he sincerely doubt who those people who were talking really are. According to him, "... no one appears to see the possibility that things would go normal. It is inimical tothe credibility of theelection when some named candidates have already been misusing the security agencies; while some other politicians and political parties were busy openly criticizing and demonizingJega for nothing..."He therefore urged all parties and politicians to desist from scandalizing the INEC and it's officials. He also queried the identity of those he described as hirelings trying to browbeat everyone that if they fail to have their wishes the poll would not hold. "Who are their candidates, what are the names of the so-called parties that are threatening everyone?, Umeh queried.Umeh therefore emphasized that it would be suicidal for the election to be postponed again for whatever reason. He cautioned all to eschew making further inflammatory comments and or actions that would render the election's outcome controversial. He charged the hierarchy of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to stop acting or commenting like they have already lost the poll. He said that, "....after all the natural and man-made parameters and credentials favour President Goodluck Jonathan immensely- age, character, simplicity, desire to make the nation a model and level headed approach to issues/individuals", he noted.The APGA boss noted with some chuckles that the All Progressives Congress(APC) has not given the electorate their blueprint on how to move the nation forward. He stated that there was no how the country would start going backwards, especially when APC was vehemently opposed to the recent national conference where all the issues bedeviling the nation's polity were openly and exhaustively discussed tirelessly by about 500 representatives broken down into 20 distinct committee.He denounced the APC and it's supporters to be persons who supported or cared less about the mounting imperfections and injustices pervading the polity today, hence their boycott of the gathering. That the implementation of the more than 600 recommendations of that confab was the strongest reason why Jonathan should be returned in a landslide electoral victory backed by all persons of goodwill.In Umeh's views, the implementation of the confab recommendations would enthrone a better Nigeria that would be the pride of all citizens.
From Chuks Collins, Awka
Jonathan Meets Mbeki, Sultan, Abdulsalami, Onaiyekan, Service Chiefs, Others
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday held closed-door meeting with Nigeria’s former Head of State, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd.) and a former South African president, Thabo Mbeki.
The meeting was held inside the president’s official residence inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Although none of the participants spoke to journalists on the subject of the meeting, our correspondent gathered that it had to do with how to ensure peace and success in the forthcoming general elections rescheduled for March 28 and April 11 this year.
LEADERSHIP recalls that Abdusalami Abubakar is the chairman of the National Peace Committee for 2015 general polls.
The former military leader had on Saturday met with the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, over the elections.
Also in attendance at the meeting were service chiefs, including the chief of defence staff, Air Vice Marshal Alex Badeh; the inspector-general of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, as well as the leadership of the major political parties.
Others who attended the meeting were the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III; Catholic archbishop of Abuja, John cardinal Onaiyekan ; Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah; former chief of general staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe; special adviser to the president on inter-party relations, Senator Ben Obi.
Mother and Daughter Give Birth 34 Minutes Apart at Florida Hospital
Florida mom Angela Patram, 37, and daughter Teranish Billups, 20, recently gave birth just minutes apart.
TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
A 37-year-old Florida nurse gave birth to her fifth child 34 minutes before her 20-year-old daughter gave birth to her first grandchild at the same hospital.
In a story that will be told for generations, a mother and daughter recently gave birth just 34 minutes apart at the same hospital, according to a release from Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Fla.
Angela Patram, 37, and Teranish Billups, 20, both gave birth on Feb. 19 at the hospital. Patram’s fifth child, Rayna Simone Patram, was born at 6:29 p.m., weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces. And Billups delivered Jerry Michaud, Jr., via Caesarean section 34 minutes later, weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces, the news release says.
“They’re almost twins,” joked Patram, a surgical oncology nurse at Tampa General, said in the statement. She was scheduled to be induced on February 19, while her daughter was due to have her first baby on March 6. But the night before Patram’s induction, Billups went into labor. By Feb. 19, mother and daughter were in neibhboring rooms at the hospital.
“I’ve been in this field for 29 years…I’ve seen maybe 14,000 deliveries,” Dr. Atef Zakhary, who practices at Tampa General, said in the statement. “I’ve never seen a mom and daughter deliver on the same day. And this is as close as you could get.”
Billups is a biology major at Florida A&M University and plans to transfer schools to enroll in a physician assistant program. She and the baby’s father, Jerry Michaud, Sr., plan to move to be near her family.
“I guess we have special babies,” Billups said. “We’ll be celebrating birthdays together for the rest of their lives. They’ll be very close.”
Read more at Tampa General Hospital.
Jonathan Was Never Ready, I Singlehandedly Called War On Boko Haram – Idris Deby, Chadian President
Idriss Deby, Chadian President has claimed that he single handedly called war on the extremist group, Boko Haram. The President slammed President Goodluck Jonathan, saying nothing would have been done if the war was left to him as Chad was never authorized the decision.
Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan had claimed that after five years of tolerating the sect that killed thousands, he finally this January embarked on the serious effort to defeat Boko Haram to increase his dwindling approval ratings and also to allow voting in occupied territory, which was cited as a reason for the postponement of the first election dates; however the Chadians have said that this real war against the terrorists was decided upon unilaterally by Deby in reaction to Boko Haram obstructing Chad’s trade routes with Nigeria and the economy of the landlocked nation.
He made quotes from Reuters saying: Officials from Chad, Niger and Cameroon say lack of cooperation from Nigeria has for months hampered efforts to put together a regional taskforce against Boko Haram. Chad was compelled to take unilateral action in January, under a deal that allows it to pursue terrorists into Nigeria, after Boko Haram violence started to choke off imports to its economy.
But for a country proud to be a major African power, it would be an embarrassment to President Goodluck Jonathan as he seeks reelection for a smaller nation to tackle Nigeria’s
security problems, diplomats say.
But for a country proud to be a major African power, it would be an embarrassment to President Goodluck Jonathan as he seeks reelection for a smaller nation to tackle Nigeria’s
security problems, diplomats say.
Chad has been ready to press deep into territory controlled by the Islamist group but Nigeria refused to let them.
We turned back because Nigeria did not authorise us to go any further,” army spokesman Colonel Azem Bermandoa said.
But the Chadians say there have been no joint operations between the two forces. Nigeria has for months hampered efforts to put together a regional taskforce against Boko
Haram.
Haram.
Nigeria’s military spokesperson, General Chris Olukolade Wednesday denied the Chadian claims of Nigeria stalling Chadian aggression against the terrorists, stating that the Nigerian side has no qualms with the Chadians but leads the mission to liberate the nation.
The revelations from Chad appear to be fueling distrust, suspicion and tensions between Nigeria and its neighbors and dis-credits the leader of Africa’s most populous nation and a nation that was prior credited as having one of the best armies in Africa.
President Jonathan is yet to react to Chad’s claims of the small country having been unilaterally behind the the drive to liberate Nigeria from the grasp of Boko Haram.
After Chad engaged Boko Haram in Dikwa, Nigeria chased Chad out with the excuse that the Nigerian side planned to drop bombs on Boko Haram in Dikwa. Chad later claimed Boko Haram leader, “Abubakar Shekau” escaped at Dikwa with the Nigerian intervention, and Chad’s president personally warned Shekau that the Chadians knew where he went to and will soon get him.
At 44, She Suffered 2 Heart Attacks and Joined a Club She Didn’t Want to Belong To
Julia Allen and her husband, Troy
COURTESY OF JULIA ALLEN
I
Named a 2015 national American Heart Association spokeswoman, Julia Allen is using her incredible survival story to educate other African-American women.
it was a wake-up call when Julia Allen, then only 44, sat in a hospital realizing that she had just survived, not one, but two heart attacks on the same day: April 15, 2013.
“[During the ordeal] I was thinking about all the other things that were going on. Who was going to cook dinner tonight? The boys won’t have anyone to help them with their homework,” Allen tells The Root, ticking off the thoughts she had even as she was in pain. “I got this conference call at work; who’s going to do that? I hadn’t gone to the grocery store ... all that stuff was going through my mind. If I have to go sit in the hospital for four hours and they tell me nothing’s wrong, I just wasted so much time. I just need to go home and lay down for about an hour, take some ibuprofen and I’ll be fine ... that is honestly what I was thinking.”
It was that day when she vowed to change her life—out of necessity, admittedly, more than anything. But since recovering, she has also made it her mission to educate as many women as possible—especially African-American women—so that they will not make the same mistakes she made and suffer unnecessarily.
Allen, who was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, and now lives in Charlotte, N.C., was recentlychosen as one of nine 2015 national American Heart Association spokeswomen from across the country and is letting her story be heard. “Unfortunately it’s not a group that you want to be selected for because you have to have a heart problem to get into it,” she jokes. “[Each of us has] different heart abnormalities, from heart attacks to stroke to congenital heart defects ... [but] I’m excited to use this opportunity to help other women.”
The Allen family
COURTESY OF JULIA ALLEN
The stats are clear. According to Million Hearts, a government website managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the leading cause of death for American women, killing more than 400,000 each year. African-American adults of both genders are 40 percent more likely than their white counterparts to have high blood pressure and 10 percent less likely to have this condition under control.
It’s safe to say that if you’re an African-American woman, the odds are usually stacked against you.
According to Allen, there are factors you can and cannot change. Some of those you can’t change are, obviously, your age, race and family history.
Even though she is relatively young, Allen’s family history was one that should have given her pause. Her two parents had heart disease; one of them also had diabetes, which increased the risk even further. In addition, three of her four grandparents suffered from heart disease.
Case in point: Tests on her children after her heart attack showed that her eldest son, then only 12, had high cholesterol—the same child whom she called a “picture of health,” who competed in track and field and football, among other sports. Luckily, it is something that the family is now managing through healthy eating, but still, Allen sometimes wonders ...
“Having high cholesterol at this young age, you’re going to start getting some buildup in those arteries. My son could have had a heart attack at 20. Who knows? Gone unwatched, who knows what might have happened to him?” she asks.
Julia Allen’s sons: Bryce, 11; Brock, 14; and Miles, 7
COURTESY OF JULIA ALLEN
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