I have not resigned: Akwa Ibom deputy governor Moses Ekpo
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also read4 akwa ibom deputy governor mr moses ekpo said he has not resigned his position and is not leaving the peoples democratic party for the all progressives congress1 he said that the deputy governor had travelled on official assignment to represent the gov. udom emmanuel at ati annang convention holding in new york1 the cps said the deputy governor in a telephone conversation with him on monday denied the story as groundless1 the attention of the office of the deputy governor of akwa ibom state has been drawn to certain rumours and misrepresentations in a section of the media to the effect that the deputy governor of akwa ibom state mr moses ekpo has resigned from office1 the reports particularly from the online community further make allusions to the effect that the deputy governor has also defected from the peoples democratic party1 umoh said that there was no iota of truth in the story1 that the purported report is therefore nothing but a poorly concocted piece of a malicious hatchet job and a pack of lies and should be appropriately ignored1 it is instructive to note that currently his excellency the deputy governor is representing the state governor mr udom emmanuel as special guest of honour at the 2018 international convention of ati annang holding in new york united states of america and is yet to return to the state1 in his reaction to the rumour from new york on phone today the deputy governor said i have not resigned1 i haveno reason whatsoever to resign or jump ship from a government that is both responsive and performing optimally while giving practical meaning to democratic dividends for the people of akwa ibom. i cannot and will not jump ship1 according to him the 77 year-old deputy governor has called on akwa ibom people both at home and in the diaspora as well as the pdp family in the state to remain resolute and committed to support the gov. udom emmanuel1 given the temperament of the times and the implications of suchinnuendos we are constrained tocategorically state that there is no iota of truth in the story making the rounds1

Political earthquake: Godswill Akpabio set to dump PDP for APC
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also read4 senator godswill akpabio a former governor of akwa ibom state is set to dump the peoples democratic party and dampen the celebration mood in the pdp headquarters over the defection of some senators and three governors from the all progressives congress1 now a reverse switch is about to happen with one of the main pillars of the pdp in the south south crossing to apc1 apc newspaper on its twitter handle announced saturday night we can confirm that he sen dr godswill akpabio is a card carrying member of @officialapcng effective august 4 2018. @officialpdpnig has lost him. official reception in days1 and apc united kingdom in another tweet set the date for the defection acting president @profosinbajo accompanied by senator dr ita enang and leaders of the apc in akwa ibom to formally receive senator dr. godswill akpabio into apc at ikot ekpene stadium on thursday 9 august 2018. all lovers of democracy are cordially invited1 akpabios political movement appears irreversible as he also visitedformer the national leader of the apc asiwaju bola ahmed tinubu in his lagos home to seal things up1 akpabio two-term governor of oil rich akwa ibom state is at present minority leader of the pdp in the senate1 analysts said akpabios crossing over to the apc may flip akwa ibom to apc in next february election and at least assure president buhari of capturing 25 per cent of the vote1

Breaking: Dino Melaye charged with illegal possession of guns
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also read4 according to the gang leader osama he has been working as a political thug for one alhaji mohammed audu a politician in the state2 a case of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms have therefore been filed by the nigeria police force at federal high court lokoja on 16th march 2018 against the two suspects mentioned above senator dino melaye and alh. mohammed audu who is also a suspect in the matter and is now on the run2 the suspect further confessed that sen. dino melaye told him that they should start working for the senator as his political thugs and they should recruit and train more othersic thugs to work for him in preparation toward 2019 general election to enable him sen. dino melaye challenge his political opponents and disorganised kogi state2 he said alhaji mohammed audu invited him to abuja and introduced him to senator dino melaye and they met on airport road abuja inside the senator dino melayes car in the month of december 20172 according to the police the men not only confessed to have been involved in several kidnappings in the state and environs they also claimed to be hired thugs for politicians2 the police said they seized from the thugs and their gang members two ak47 rifles five pump action guns two locally made pistols and heaps of charms1 police spokesman jimoh moshood announced the move today in a statement1 one of the persons arrested was identified as 31 years-old kabiru saidu a.k.a osama. the other was nuhu salisu who is 25 years-old. the third person charged to court was identified as alhaji muhammed audu a politician who is now said to be at large1 the men were arrested on 19 january at ogojueje in dekina local government area of kogi state after a shootout with the police and have confessed being hired by melaye to cause mayhem in the state moshood said1 the police said osama further confessed that melaye handed over a bag containing one ak47 rifle two pump action guns and the n430000.00 to share with his boys1 consequent on the indictments and criminal confessions against senator dino melaye by the principal suspect kabiru saidu a.k.a osama 31 yrs nigeria police force wrote a letter dated 2nd of march 2018 addressed to the senate president federal republic of nigeria informing and requesting him to release senator dino melaye to report to commissioner of police kogi state command on the 7th march 2018 to answer to criminal offences levelled against him to enable the police carry out a discreet inv1 the police took the action following the confession of two dreaded thugs who claimed they were working for melaye who represents kogi west in the senate1 senator dino melaye who is challenging moves to recall him by his constituency is in fresh trouble the police said they have filed a case in a lokoja court accusing him and three other persons of illegal possession of firearms1

Osinbajo: Buhari does not teleguide Magu
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also read4 secondly previous government merely talk about the second niger bridge. we have moved to site we are working on the second niger bridge. weve provided for the second niger bridge in our budget we have also provided infrastructure fund for the second niger bridge. also we are doing the lagos-calabar rail. the lagos-calabar rail goes through the south east region thats one of the very important thing we are doing and we put money behind it. the president himself negotiated the loan from the chines1 i dont know whether you are familiar with the maritime university. the maritime university has taken off you know. only a few days ago the announcement was made that they are eligible for jamb the university was recently granted approval by the national universities commission nuc to commence undergraduate degree programmes effective from the 20172018 academic session. interviews are taking place for the maritime university forms have been provided and we are talking to all of the principal part1 also look at modular refineries 38 licensed modular refineries investors have indicated interests 10 of the licensed refineries are at an advanced stage of development. one of course has started in bayelsa another is being shipped in at the moment. there are about three or four different engagements with modular refineries operators. so we are putting that together and one of the critical things with modular refineries is that we are trying to ensure that first of all it is private-sector driven1 vice president of course our health system has long suffered. that is one of the chief concerns that we have been focusing on getting the diaspora to work with us to improve our health system. we are also looking at how healthcare insurance can improve it. i agree that if all of us put our resources and our time in local medical care we will improve it. i have no doubt in my mind that our local healthcare system is what most of us subscribe to at least and our doctors are some of the best in the1 i dont know when chief clark made that statement. i think that by and large all of what im saying is being done. it is obvious for everyone to see. ive no real problem demonstrating this but as a matter of fact if you look on our website www.ndnewvision.gov.ng on the all of the niger delta issues we have almost a blow-by-blow account of what we are doing including the ogoni clean up1 i think there is a lot going on. you cant address all of the problems at once. we have provided plenty of information. we have inter-ministerial meetings where the different stakeholders meet constantly with leaders of the niger delta. i think you can imagine development is something that no one can be completely satisfied with at any point in time thats why its called development1 i think it was for those people that we designed our visa-on-arrival policy. it is for people who are bringing in their resources and money1 not necessary. let me explain what we are trying to do with visa-on-arrival you apply online so you get a visa and this is where we are issuing the i-step so that there is passenger information ahead of your arriving in nigeria. that is one of the infrastructure we are putting at the airport now. you arrive at our port we can give you a visa right there that is what singapore and other countries do irrespective of where you are coming from you can get the visa there. when you arrive in nigeria w1 let me just say that the president has pointed out that the south east wasnt the region that voted heavily for the apc but that is not in any way stopping the president from appointing four senior ministers from that part of the country. he could have appointed junior ministers. by appointing four senior ministers i think that it shows that he is interested in the south east region of nigeria1 first of all the dialogue started in 2016 and it continues. we began to dialogue with all the groups in the niger delta and we hold very regular meetings with pandef which is the umbrella body. we also hold regular meetings with many of the groups in the niger delta and they are all actively involved with us1 ariaria market today is possibly the largest msme hub in the whole of west africa. the federal government with the private sector is powering ariaria market so that every of the 21000 shops in ariaria market has power. the roads to the market are in the budget. lets bring it down to what we are doing the first of our msme clinics was in aba and we are committed to ensuring aba is a hub that it ought to be1 this is where we spend a lot of time and energy to move regulatory agencies so that they actually have a one-stop centre there so that nafdac son can move into that place. there is a lot of work thats going on. the truth is that we do what needs to be done. we were elected to do the right thing by everyone and we are doing it. ive gone to the south east several times. ive visited nnewi and many parts of anambra as well where we look around and look at ways of supporting industries there and we a1 let me say that one of the very important things for me i think we could have done far more in terms of jobs direct jobs now because weve done enough. we first created jobs in agriculture. perhaps we are hoping we would be able to provide by now 500000 of our n-power jobs but because of the income we are able to provide 200000. we have another 300000 waiting to be employed. so maybe a year into our government we could have done 500000. so for me i think if we have the kind of resources that peo1 i also think that perhaps in the area of power especially trying to do much more but power is privatized. a lot of the power companies a lot of the gencos the discos in particular simply dont have the resources to replace assets so they slow down. how i wish they have more funds to pump into assets and we hope they have more resources to do so. weve put in place the over n700 billion payment assurance scheme but that is insufficient1 thats not true. let me put it this way first lets take the magu example. one of the things that the president decided to do is to ensure that every agency does its work without direct interference from the president. so the president does not call the efcc and say go and arrest mr ekpeyong no. and thats one of the most important things about the style of this government and we want the agencies to do their work. no one has showed up and called magu and say look go and arrest. thats what it is1 while you will find for example that the dg sss upon the request by the senate wrote a security report and sent it yet it is up to the president to decide whether hes going to present this candidate. interfering with the process of a security report is not leadership thats obstructing. he is not supposed to interfere. if you say send your report whatever report you want to send the man defends himself and we still believe he is the right person for the job. that is the position that we took when1 of course the senate has had their own say on that and they are entitled to take some of the positions they are taking. but the president believes that this is the right man for the job so he presented him the second time1 with respect to the arrest of dg nia and some of what took place i think the fair thing to say is that the president has said that the efcc has the absolute right to go ahead and do whatever it needs to do to ensure that anybody who has committed a crime or who is suspected to having committed a crime is brought to justice and thats the position that the efcc has taken. you know the efcc has issued a notice for the dg nia and sgf to attend interview with the efcc but we are sure that that proces1 to ensure that you allow government agency do their business thats very important thats institution building. look at what is happening in the us today the president is sometimes angry with the fbi because the fbi is doing its independent work and thats what we hope to achieve when you see countries where agencies are doing their work the way they are supposed to do it1