I can’t be poor again, poverty is like HIV —Okorocha

 

Governor Rochas Okorocha
| credits: File copy

The Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has described poverty as worse than the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, adding that nothing would make him, his family and generation return to poverty.

He said this at the fourth Nigeria Governors’ Forum retreat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday.

Okorocha stated that it was not necessary for governors and other political office holders to pretend they were poor, adding that paraphernalia of political offices had nothing to do with poverty.

“I was poor and I decided to fight against poverty and nothing will make me, my family and my generation to go back to poverty again. Poverty is worse than HIV. You can’t pretend to be poor.

Jonathan’s war against media enters second day

CLAMPDOWN: An empty newsstand
| credits: Olanrewaju Smart

The President Goodluck Jonathan regime on Saturday continued its onslaught on the media by impounding packs of major newspapers, their circulation vehicles and arresting drivers.

The clampdown, which began on Friday, entered its second day on Saturday with greater ferocity. Our correspondents, who monitored developments round the country, report that early on Saturday morning, soldiers stormed newspaper distribution centres in the Federal Capital Territory and other parts of Nigeria.

In Abuja, Saturday Punch could not distribute early because soldiers barricaded the newspaper distribution centre at Garki, ‘Area One’, marching out newspaper marketers, distributors and vendors around 2am.

This was similar to what happened on Friday when soldiers and officials of the State Security Service tore wrappers of The Punch at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, damaging copies of the newspaper in the process.

On Saturday, the armed soldiers prevented marketers from offloading newspapers from distribution vans that brought the papers to the centre.

The military men searched each of the marketers, distributors and vendors, before allowing them to enter the centre.

I’m contented— Dora Akunyili

Prof. Dora Akunyili
| credits: File copy

For one who was a former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and former Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili was always on the move.

You wonder how a pharmacist, who has gained international recognition and won hundreds of awards for her work in pharmacology, public health and human rights, was able to take care of her family then.

“I must give much of the credit to my husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili, for being very supportive and understanding,” she says. A mother of six children, Akunyili would make some women go green with envy when she adds: “If all husbands could be like him, I am sure married women who wish to pursue careers or engage in politics would be able to soar to greater heights.”

Also attributing her success at the home front to hard work, the Anambra-born academic-turned-politician states: “I am spending more time with my family now. I’m trying to make up for all the years I’ve been largely kept away from them by one appointment or the other. I have also worked hard to maintain my home, fully aware that being a successful wife and mother is the greatest appointment any married woman can get. Life goes on after public office; so if you destroy your home due to political or professional appointment, where do you return to at the end of the day? It’s surely not worth it for a woman not to pay attention to her home which is her primary constituency.

“It is all about getting your priorities right. I believe that a woman’s husband is her crowning glory, so whatever a woman achieves should never get into her head because her husband remains her husband and the head of the family. I always tell people that I wouldn’t have been serving my husband the way I do if I were to be less successful than I am by the grace of God. Just as women need constant reassurance of our husbands’ love, our husbands also need constant reassurance of our respect and submissiveness. A happy home makes a woman emotionally stable for greater achievements.”

Nigerians mourn Dora Akunyili

Dora Akunyili

Professor Dora Akunyili, a delegate at the ongoing National Conference and former Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control is dead.

She died at 10:00am in a specialist cancer hospital in India on Saturday. Before her death, she had been battling with cancer for two years.

Since the news of her death broke, many Nigerians have expressed their sadness and paid tributes to a woman many considered as brave, incorruptible and an amazon.

Among those that have paid glowing tributes to her are President Goodluck Jonathan; a former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, who officially announced her death; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu; and Chris Ngige, Paul Ohii.

Akunyili was forthright — Jonathan

President Jonathan on Saturday said he received with shock and sadness the news of the sudden and untimely death of Akunyili, who was a former Minister of Information and Communications.

Swiss defender Senderos agrees deal to join 

Villa

By Brian Doogan

Philippe Senderos, who will fly to Brazil tomorrow with the Swiss national team to take part in his third World Cup finals, has agreed to join Aston Villa on a two-year deal beginning July 1.

The 29-year-old former Arsenal and Fulham defender becomes the first signing by Villa manager Paul Lambert this summer.

Jonathan orders total war against Boko Haram

President Goodluck Jonathan
| credits: Reuters

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the armed forces   to launch a full-scale military operation against Boko Haram and other violent organisations to put an end to their impunity   in the country.

“I am determined to protect our democracy, our national unity and our political stability by waging a total war against terrorism,” he said in his nationwide Democracy Day broadcast in Abuja on Thursday.

It was not immediately known what such an offensive could entail given that the North-East where most of the activities of terrorists take place   has been   under   emergency rule and a full-scale military operation for a year now.

But a top Defence Headquarters official toldThe PUNCH shortly after the broadcast that the Special Forces and other security operatives involved in the prosecution of the anti-terrorism campaign would have a near unlimited space to operate.

The phrase “total war”, however, was used by Chad’s President Idriss Deby following a meeting of Nigeria’s neighbours in Paris in mid-May, in which they sought a common strategy to fight the militants.

“I assure you … that these thugs will be driven away. It will not happen overnight, but we will spare no effort to achieve this goal,” Jonathan said.

UPDATE: Boko Haram kills Gwoza emir, attacks others in Borno

Suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect on Thursday ambushed three traditional rulers between the Biu –Azare-Garkida Road in Borno State.

The royal fathers are the Emir of Gwoza, Idrisa Timta, and his counterparts from Askira Abdullahi Askirama, and the Emir of Uba, Ismaila Manza.

A security source said on Friday that the Gwoza Emir was killed by the attackers while the Emirs of Askira and Uba were missing as at the time of filing the reports.

The Defence Headquarters however said the Emirs of Askira and Uba were rescued by Special Forces who were deployed in Garkida.