OBJ pleads for Daniel

It was a bad outing for Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, yesterday, during the President Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Rally at the Gateway Stadium, Abeokuta, as he was booed by the crowd three times as his name was mentioned during the ceremony.

The ugly development is on the heels of a peace meeting between Governor Daniel and former President Olusegun Obasanjo brokered last Friday by eminent lawyer, Chief Afe Babalola, and others at Obasanjo’s Hill Top private residence in the state capital.

Until the peace meeting, there had been supremacy battle between Daniel and the former President over the soul of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. At the heat of the feud, supporters of the governor had called Obasanjo unprintable names at a rally in the state.

The bad moment started for the governor when the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prof Ahmed Alkali, was reeling out names of some great men of the state and he mentioned the governor’s name, which prompted loud jeers from the PDP supporters and others at the venue. The governor also incurred the wrath of the party’s supporters when the state PDP chairman, Chief Dayo Soremi, acknowledged Daniel’s contribution to development of the state.

16 dead, 6 injured in Edo, P/H accidents

No fewer that 14 persons lost their lives on Tuesday night along the Benin-Ore federal highway. Five others who sustained serious injuries are in hospital.

In another accident, a car knocked down three primary school children yesterday in Port Harcourt. Two of the children-a boy and a girl- died on the spot while the third was seriously wounded.
Daily Sun was told that the 14 persons died when Eastern-bound commercial bus ran into a truck along kilometre 18 close to Ugbogui in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State.

The driver of the ill-fated bus with registration number XY 234 FST was said to be travelling from Lagos to Anambra State when he ran into the on-coming truck marked XE 887 AWK at about 7:20pm.
Among the dead were six females and eight males whose corpses have been deposited at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in the state capital.
Actual cause of the accident could not be immediately ascertained as at the time of filing this report but it was learnt that the driver of the commercial bus was about to overtake another vehicle when he collided head-on with the trailer.

It was further gathered that but for the swift intervention of good Samaritans and policemen on routine check close to the area who pulled out some of those trapped, the death toll would have risen. Confirming the accident, the state commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Olatunji Henry Sunday in a telephone interview attributed the accident to either overspeeding or dangerous overtaking on the part of the driver of the bus. Already, the driver of the SUV, with registration number FW 97 LND which knocked down the school kids has been arrested.

Adeyemi paints Nigeria’s history in Sweden

Last October in Sweden, Nigerian artist, Kunle Adeyemi staged his exhibition, Beauty in Freedom which coincided with Nigeria’s 50 Independence anniversary. The show having chronicled the country’s five decades of social, political and economic lives.

The exhibition was equally significant as it records all what the artist has gone through since he was born 51 years ago. Below is the artist’s statement during the show. Excerpts:

As an artist, I enjoy the beauty in my freedom of expression having learnt the language of visual arts, I can at least objectify and subjectify my imagination and thoughts. Each time I think of God’s endowment or investment in me for being counted worthy to speak a universal language of visual arts for which everybody on the surface of the earth understand, I feel elated and on top of the world. Images in my mind congeal together and form a tangible object through line, form, tone, texture, colour and composition.

I was rather too young as a child of 14 months old when my country, Nigeria became an independent nation on October 1, 1960. To be an independent nation means to be free from colonisation of any form, particularly human impostors. The credit for this goes to the collective efforts of our heroes, heroines, political juggernuts, professionals, students (home and abroad) other peace-loving independent nations etc. Nigerians of my contemporary read in history books how long and fierce the battle for political freedom was won. This effort, sacrifice and struggle of our forerunners gave way to self-rule and liberation from the British, unfortunately, the fruits of this struggle is still having its bitter taste 50 years after.

Eagles must qualify for Nations Cup –Enyeama

Nigeria’s Footballer of the Year, Vincent Enyeama, is already looking forward to the Super Eagles qualification for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations championship to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea after receiving his AIT Award on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.

Elated Enyeama who, arrived late to the venue, Hotel Presidential, for the award ceremony, said he’s determined to see Nigeria qualify for the Nations Cup and the award he just received would ginger him to put up his best for the nation.
“I never expected this award but I thank God I’m honoured.

It’s a morale booster to my career because I always give out my best. I tried all I could for Nigeria during the last World Cup in South Africa but it wasn’t enough to take us beyond the first round. The whole world watched all our matches. We all tried our best. Everybody in the team contributed to this award,”Enyeama said shortly after receiving the award.

The Israel-based goaltender, however revealed why he cried in one of Nigeria’s group matches at the World Cup: I knew that we were almost out of the competition and I was receiving awards in our matches. I just thought there was no justification for that because I’m at the World Cup to see my country play up to the finals of the competition”.

NFF begs Rivers, Taraba govts to fund F/Eagles’ camping

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is relying on state governors to bankroll the extended camping for the Flying Eagles players and officials, following the indefinite extension of the African Youth Championship (AYC) formerly billed to hold in the crisis-hit Libya.

Disclosing this to Daily Sunsports in Abuja, the chief media official of the FA, Ademola Olajire, said that they had already reached out to the governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Ameachi, and his counterpart in Taraba state, Governor Danbaba Suntai, stressing that they the Federation is getting positive responses from them.

Asked about the weather hostility camping in the northern part of the country, the media officer noted that they are, however, hoping that the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) must have announced the venue to avoid camping in a state where weather may not be favourable to the players.

FOI: Jonathan’s adviser, Abba-Aji under fire over comments

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday dissociated himself from a statement made by his Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji, on the Freedom of Information Bill.

The President reacted on the heels of the barrage of criticisms the statement attracted.

Abba-Aji had on Monday in Maiduguri, Borno State, said he was disappointed in the House of Representatives which passed the bill last week and expressed the hope that the Senate would throw out the bill.

He threatened that in case the Senate passed the bill he would ensure that Jonathan did not give its assent to turn the bill into a law. He also boasted that he worked against the bill when he was a Senator.

Obasanjo re-echoes do-or-die politics at Jonathan’s Lagos rally

The ‘do-or-die’ electoral philosophy espoused by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the build-up to the 2007 elections resonated on Tuesday as the former president again said in Lagos that he would never allow the Peoples Democratic Party to lose the April elections.

Though he did not clarify how he would do it this time around, Obasanjo, at the party’s presidential rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, sang in Yoruba, “Lau erebe, erebe lau; Obasanjo oni gba kadibo kama wole o, lau erebe, erebe lau.”

Literally translated, the song means, “Bravo is the song of the day, Obasanjo cannot condone, Obasanjo would resist if we vote and we dont win.”

In Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on February 10, 2007 during a meeting of the PDP members and stakeholders, Obasanjo had reportedly said that the elections were a do-or-die affair for his party.

Obasanjo had said then, “It is left to you to ensure that we elect credible and committed leaders. I commend those of you in the PDP for your efforts so far. I will campaign. This election is a do-or-die affair for me and the PDP. This coming election is a matter of life and death for PDP and Nigeria.”