News
PDP Concludes Campaign in the South West with Promises of Restructuring and Industrialisation
The People’s Democratic Party concluded the campaign in the South West region today, Thursday, 19th January 2023, with an astounding turnout of party supporters in Ibadan, the third most populous city in the country. The venue, Mapo Hall on Bere road has over the better part of the last century, hosted major political and social events. Indeed, it was on the very spot where Nnamdi Azikiwe delivered his presidential address and Chief Obafemi Awolowo held his campaign rally several decades ago, that the PDP presidential candidate made yet another contribution to history when he addressed the teeming crowd of Oyo indigenes who turned up for the rally.
After receiving a certificate of endorsement presented by the National Coordinator of Nigerian students on behalf of the students of South West Nigeria, HE Atiku Abubakar thanked all present at the rally for their support and loyalty. He also expressed his gratitude to Governor Seyi Makinde for ensuring that the rally was well organised and orchestrated. In his speech, he noted that the South West has always agitated for restructuring which is one of the five pillars of the PDP agenda. Granting them fiscal autonomy, he explained, would ensure that states and local governments develop their infrastructure more rapidly.
Furthermore, he promised an end to student strikes as lecturers would be paid promptly. The Presidential Candidate stated that the South West is a renowned business centre and consequently the PDP’s economic programme is committed to ensuring that the industrialisation of the South West is achieved. The incoming government, he said, will also promote unity by ensuring the inclusion of every part of the country, unlike the current APC government. He reiterated his commitment to take control of the security situation so that law and order will prevail in every geo-political zone. Finally, he assured his supporters that his promises will be kept unlike the present government that made several promises which they failed to honour.
Other speakers like Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Iyorchia Ayu, Chairman of the PDP party also commended Governor Seyi Makinde for creating an enabling environment for the campaign to take place. According to Senator Dino, the participation of all the stakeholders in Oyo, including the voters, was clear proof that indeed HE Atiku Abubakar will become the next president. Senator Adeleke, Governor of Osun state also exhibited similar confidence of certain victory when he assured the crowd that once the formula with which he defeated APC in the gubernatorial election is applied, they would stand no chance in the presidential election.
The Director General of the campaign, Honorable Tambuwal, expressed his delight at being present in Mapo Hall “at the beginning of a new dawn of the history of Nigeria.” He also commended Governor Makinde for his democratic spirit. “This is the last state in the South West. PDP has a great presence here and is determined to win. Unlike another candidate that went to Kano with absolutely no message offered other than dancing, the Unifier has a strong message for all Nigerians from the vintage position of the historic Mapo Hall,” he said.
Governor Emmanuel Udom, Chairman of the Campaign Council directed his main message to the youths and students. “It is one of the largest turnouts and shows that Ibadan is still the largest city. Amongst all the candidates that want to be president, there is only one candidate who is talking about restructuring. The implication of that to Oyo state is that it will be given an opportunity to regain its pride of place. The only candidate that understands industrialisation and appreciates the fact that Oyo deserves an inland port, is PDP’s candidate. A viable port in Oyo state will ensure rapid development. People from all over Nigeria will no longer need to go to Lagos as they can clear their goods in Oyo state. This will empower the youth, students and women. Under his industrialisation policy, he has promised to establish an inland port in Oyo state,” he said.
Speaking on the division in the party, the Chairman of the Party, Senator Iyochia Ayu pledged his commitment to reunite all members of the PDP. “Sometimes in a family, you have people who are unhappy but as the father of the party, I will bring all aggrieved members back home.”
- Interracial Relationship: Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Shots Back at Haters - March 8, 2023
- 6 Nigerian states drop suit to void presidential vote result - March 8, 2023
- Nigerian senator tells UK organ harvesting trial of scam fears - March 8, 2023
Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Says ‘I’m Done Being Memed For Being In An Interracial Relationship’ In Response To Hate Comments
Phoebe Gates is shutting down racist comments about her relationship.
The daughter of billionaire tech giant Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda Gates is experiencing backlash on social media.
The 20-year-old went public with her boyfriend, Robert Ross, in May 2022. The two Stanford students appear throughout each other’s social media, and the comments get ugly. Most of the online trolls fixate on the fact that Ross is Black. They even allude to the fact that he is dating Gates for her money and status.
Gates recently sat down with The Information, and the outlet asked her about going public with her relationship as an influencer. Her response was heavier than simply dealing with her 200,000 Instagram and 64,000 TikTok followers.
“It’s 2023. I’m done being memed for being in an interracial relationship,” she said.
Their first post dates back to October 2022, with the two pictured at a friend’s wedding. The second post is a moment in front of a fireplace during New Year’s Eve.
Bill Gates and Phoebe Gates
Further within the interview, Gates says “the misconceptions and conspiracy theories about my family and my relationship with my boyfriend” is the worst part of her social media popularity.
The post Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Says ‘I’m Done Being Memed For Being In An Interracial Relationship’ In Response To Hate Comments appeared first on Blavity.
Gates also reveled she is aware that most of the attention she is getting, whatever negative or positive, is because of her last name.
“I’m pretty realistic that people start following me because of my family name,” she said. “And people probably find it funny to see my dad being a goof and playing.”
She continued, “People have a lot of preconceptions about me, so TikTok has been a chance for me to tell my own story and also use the attention my family name might bring to spotlight issues that are important to me, like women’s health and sustainable fashion.”
The Seattle, Washington native noted she wasn’t even allowed to have a cell phone until she was 14 years old.
Gates welcomes the onlookers, no matter what made them follow her; she just hopes they stick around.
“But once they follow me, they stick around, and I think some of that is because of the issues that I post about, like women’s health. I like to bring audiences along to the events I go to, my life at college, what’s front of mind for me, that kind of stuff.”
- Interracial Relationship: Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Shots Back at Haters - March 8, 2023
- 6 Nigerian states drop suit to void presidential vote result - March 8, 2023
- Nigerian senator tells UK organ harvesting trial of scam fears - March 8, 2023
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Six states in Nigeria on Friday night withdrew a suit asking the Supreme Court to void the result of the just-concluded presidential election, the latest twist in several challenges facing the ruling party’s victory in the vote.
The states — led by governors in the main opposition party, which finished second in last weekend’s election — had accused Nigeria’s electoral commission of failing to follow its own rules and election laws in conducting the vote and announcing a winner, according to court documents.
Election results from the 176,000 polling units are required to be transmitted to the commission’s portal, which the opposition says didn’t happen.
But the states withdrew the suit from the court in a joint notice of discontinuance filed on Friday night. They did not give a reason for withdrawing the challenge.
Bola Tinubu of the ruling party received 37% of the vote to win the election, which other candidates, including second-place candidate Atiku Abubakar and third-place finisher Peter Obi, say they will challenge in court.
The states — Sokoto, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Edo — had said they wanted the Supreme Court to declare that the results of the presidential election “were invalid, null and void, and of no effect whatsoever.”
Nigeria’s electoral law says an election can be invalidated only if it’s proven that the Independent National Electoral Commission largely didn’t follow the law and acted in ways that could have changed the result. None of Nigeria’s presidential election results has ever been overturned by the Supreme Court.
However, the latest court challenge was unique, lawyers said, citing the legal provision that voting results must be transmitted to the electoral body’s portal.
“Having not complied with that requirement, I believe the integrity of the entire process is questionable,” said Inibehe Effiong, a lawyer in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja. No matter what the precedent shows, the court does not have other options, he added.
Separately, the Supreme Court extended the deadline until the end of the year for the government to finish switching out old currency for new bank notes. The swap has created a cash shortage because there aren’t enough redesigned notes to go around in the cash-reliant country. The crisis has stirred violence, daylong lines at banks and business closures.
A seven-member justice panel said Friday that the program’s implementation broke the law and directed the old banknotes of 200 naira (43 U.S. cents), 500 naira ($1.08) and 1,000 naira ($2.16) to stay legal tender until Dec. 31 before being replaced with the redesigned cash.
The central bank did not immediately comment on the directive from the court. In the past, it has been accused of disobeying court orders.
- Interracial Relationship: Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Shots Back at Haters - March 8, 2023
- 6 Nigerian states drop suit to void presidential vote result - March 8, 2023
- Nigerian senator tells UK organ harvesting trial of scam fears - March 8, 2023
Nigeria’s former deputy senate president on trial in London for allegedly plotting to harvest a street trader’s kidney for his sick daughter told the court on Tuesday he feared he was being “scammed”.
Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, daughter Sonia, 25, and a doctor, Obinna Obeta, 50, are accused of conspiring to exploit the man for his body part.
Lawyers for the four previously told the trial at London’s central criminal court, also known as the Old Bailey, the alleged victim was acting “altruistically”.
The kidney was allegedly intended for Sonia, who remains on dialysis with a renal condition, in return for up to £7,000 ($8,430) and the promise of a new life in Britain for the 21-year-old trader.
Giving evidence in his defence, Ike Ekweremadu was asked about an invoice for £8,000 he received via his brother Diwe from a consultant doctor.
Defence lawyer Martin Hicks asked: “Why not at this stage say we are being scammed Dr Obeta, end of, stop?”
“My daughter’s life was on the line so if we stop we will be putting my daughter’s life in danger. So we just keep moving,” Ekweremadu replied.
“Everybody was obviously taking advantage of my daughter’s ill health,” he added.
Ike Ekweremadu is a senator for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party for Enugu state in southeast Nigeria. He has been held in custody in the UK since his arrest. His wife and daughter are on conditional bail.
In Britain, it is legal to donate a kidney, but not for reward. Prosecutors say regardless of whether the Lagos street trader gave his consent, a crime was committed by the wealthy Nigerians.
The accuser — who cannot be named — is said to have gone to UK police after finally refusing to consent to the procedure, following preliminary tests at a north London hospital in February 2022.
– ‘Scary’ condition –
A consultant doctor at the London hospital said the young man had “limited understanding” of why he was there and was “visibly relieved” on being told the transplant would not go ahead, prosecutor Hugh Davies said.
Ike Ekweremadu told the court on Monday Sonia was doing a masters degree at Newcastle University when she started experiencing “swollen limbs” in December 2019.
She was later diagnosed with a “kidney issue”, which caused her “distress”, and withdrew from her studies after she “collapsed” in class.
Ekweremadu said his daughter’s deteriorating condition was “scary”, adding: “Medicines she was getting (were) not essentially working, so her situation was getting worse.”
The prosecutor earlier said the young man had been coached to give false answers to doctors at the British hospital, and Sonia was “singing from the same hymn sheet” to create a fake family history linking the pair as cousins.
The Ekweremadus and the doctor are accused of conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, under UK legislation on modern slavery.
Obeta allegedly managed the process in Nigeria, having himself undergone a kidney transplant in Britain with an organ donated by a “cousin” in 2021, the court was previously told.
- Interracial Relationship: Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Shots Back at Haters - March 8, 2023
- 6 Nigerian states drop suit to void presidential vote result - March 8, 2023
- Nigerian senator tells UK organ harvesting trial of scam fears - March 8, 2023
Interracial Relationship: Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Shots Back at Haters
6 Nigerian states drop suit to void presidential vote result
Nigerian senator tells UK organ harvesting trial of scam fears
Corruption at the Nigerian Consulate Atlanta – A Victim’s Nightmarish Experience
Video of Murdered Nigerian Billionaire Michael Usifo Ataga Released —Viewer Discretion Advised
Peter Obi: Between the Politics of a Delegate and the Downing Street Photoshoot
Enough is Enough! O’Rourke Confronts Gov. Abbott during the Uvalde Press Conference
Fans are outraged as acclaimed Nigerian sex therapist unveils baby bump
Video of Murdered Nigerian Billionaire Michael Usifo Ataga Released —Viewer Discretion Advised
-
Lifestyle2 weeks agoInterracial Relationship: Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Shots Back at Haters
-
Houston2 weeks agoJohn Whitmire Endorsed for Houston Mayor By Building Owners and Managers Association
-
News2 weeks ago6 Nigerian states drop suit to void presidential vote result
-
Africa2 weeks agoThe Cameroonian migrants stranded on a strange island
-
News2 weeks ago2023 Gubernatorial/HoA Elections : Police ban use of pets, dogs, others at polling units
-
News2 weeks agoGOP senators rebuke Tucker Carlson for downplaying Jan. 6 as ‘mostly peaceful’
-
News2 weeks agoNigerian senator tells UK organ harvesting trial of scam fears
-
Houston2 weeks agoVideo captures dramatic moment SUV slams into Houston café