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EBONYI TOPS IN VVF/ VIGINAL FISTULA DISEASE CASES NATIONWIDE - USAID

Abakaliki — The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday said over 12,000 women are afflicted with Vesico Viginal Fistula (VVF) in Nigeria, with[b] Ebonyi State having the highest of over 3,000 cases.

According to the Federal Ministry of Health, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 women/girls are living with VVF, and an estimate of up to 80,000 new cases are recorded annually. The maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria remains unacceptably high; adding that Nigeria contributing about 2.5% of the global population bears 10% of the global burden of maternal mortality and 40% of the global burden of obstetric fistula.
http://sunnewsonline.com/new/vvf-the-silent-scourge-alienating-women-of-reproductive-age/

USAID Deputy Mission Director, Aler Grubbs, who stated this in Abakaliki while handing over hospital equipment worth N47million to the Ebonyi State government, said the disease was ravaging women in Nigeria.

She maintained that VVF is treatable and preventable as over 10,000 victims had been treated in the state and other parts of the country.
She pointed out that over 450 doctors had been trained in the area of VVF surgery, adding that USAID would continue to partner with Ebonyi to eradication the disease.

Vesicovaginal Fistula, or VVF, is an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder (or vesico) and the vagina that allows the continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault, leading to an uncontrollable release of urine

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/ebonyi-tops-in-vvf-cases-usaid/134900.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/201602230271.html

POLICE ESCORT SHOT DEATH IN PORT-HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE . VERY GRAPHIC PHOTOS (Viewer discretion advised)

What is really happening in Rivers state...so much killings in recent times...?

Unknown gunmen yet again went berserk,  as they attacked and killed a policeman in an escort vehicle. This reportedly happened yesterday along Waterline area in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state..

FORMER RIVERS STATE REC, GESILA KHAN MAKES CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT?

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in charge of the 2015 Rivers governorship election, Gesila Khan has reportedly made confessions in custody of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The REC had been arrested by the zonal office of the EFCC alongside four others on Thursday, April 14 and the anti graft agency reports that over N675.1m has been discovered in the bank accounts of different electoral officers in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Delta states.

Reports say the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) received and shared the said amount during the last gubernatorial election.

The Punch reports that Khan had been questioned by the Department of State Security (DSS) in July, 2015, but had no charges against her.

In the recent arrest, however, the residences of all the suspects were searched and incriminating documents were said to have been recovered by the commission.

Khan, who has since been deployed to Cross River state, was reported to have received N185.8m ahead of the March 28 and April 11, 2015, elections.

A reliable source with the EFCC revealed that Khan made confessional statements where it was gathered that she received the money through a special bank account.

“Khan was the REC in Rivers State in 2015 election before she was transferred to Cross River early this year. She was said to have received N185.8m. She has made confessional statements,”the source revealed.

Also, one Edem Okon Essanga, a retired INEC official, was picked up by the anti graft agency alongside his alleged accomplice, Immaculata Asuquo, who is the head, voter education of INEC in Akwa Ibom.

The source at the EFCC added that “Essanga received N241.1m during the general election. He admitted receiving the money and confirmed sharing it with different ad hoc workers during the election. His accomplice Asuquo has also been arrested.”

Fidelia Omoile, who was the INEC electoral officer in Isoko-south local government area of Delta, was also picked up and apart the over N112m traced to her, EFCC also recovered some sensitive electoral materials.

“She received N112.4m during the 2015 general election. A search warrant was executed at her residences in Asaba and Benin.

“Sensitive materials used in the 2015 elections were recovered, including evidence of the suspicious bank transaction and land documents that will assist us in our investigations,” the anonymous EFCC source revealed.

INEC’s administrative secretary in Delta, Oluchi Obi-Brown, was among those picked up and investigations by EFCC showed that she allegedly received over N111m and had about $75,000 in an account in the United States.

The source added that “Oluchi received N111.5m during the general election. Investigations showed that she operates a foreign account with the Bank of America. As of February this year, the account balance was $75,857, (N24, 274,240),” explaining further that the total amount found in the bank accounts of the INEC officials stands at N675.1m.

And according to the anonymous source, the commission was banking on the confessional statements to catch the ‘big fish’.

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25 FACTS I BET YOU  NEVER KNEW ABOUT AFRICA!

1. Gambia has only one university.
2. Equatorial Guinea is Africa’s only Spanish-speaking country.
3. South Africa is the most visited African country.
4. Nigeria has the richest Black people in Africa.
5. Samuel Eto’o is the highest paid Footballer of all time, he received about £350,000 weekly in Russia in 2011.
6. A person from Botswana is called a
Motswana, the plural is Batswana.
7. A person from Lesotho is called a Mosotho.
8. A person from Niger is called a Nigerien. A person from Burkina Faso is called a Burkinabe.
9. Nigeria has won more football cups than England.
10. Zimbabwe’s President, Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the world’s most educated President with 7 degrees, two of them are Masters.
11. Al-Ahly of Egypt is the richest club in
Africa.
12. Didier Drogba is Chelsea’s highest goal scorer in European competition.
13. Johannesburg, South Africa is the most visited city in Africa.
14. Zinedine Zidane wanted to play for
Algeria, but the selector rejected him, saying they are already many players like him in the team.
15. President Jacob Zuma was once a referee
in prison.
16. President Robert Mugabe was jailed for 11 years for fighting for freedom.
17. President Robert Mugabe is Africa’s oldest Head of State and the world’s second oldest Head of State. He was born 1924.
18. The Seychellois are the most educated Africans. Seychelles’ literacy rates (Adult: 92%, Youth: 99%)
Zimbabwe is 2nd (Adult: 91.2%, Youth: 99%).
19. Rwanda is a better country for gender equality than England and USA.
20. Somalia got its first ATM on October 7,2014.
21. South Africa has the most Grammy Award winners in Africa.
22. Ethiopia has the most airports in Africa.
23. Ethiopia’s economy is growing faster than China's.
24. Eritrea’s President, Isaiah Afwerki is the least richest President in Africa.
25. Ethiopia is Africa’s oldest independent country.
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SARAKI WRITES RESIGNATION LETTER

Sources from the National Assembly have revealed that Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is considering tendering his resignation letter as Majority of the senators have resolved to toe the line of party supremacy, the Nation confirmed.

This came few days after the Federal High Court Abuja, refused to stop his on-going trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, over a 13-count charge of false declaration of assets.

Reliable National Assembly sources allegedly told The journalists that at the wake of the judgment delivered by Justice Abdul Kafarati, on Friday, some front line supporters of the embattled Senate President have resolved to withdraw their support for Saraki in his bid to remain in office as Senate President, while his trial at the CCT lasts.

In the meantime, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, John Oyegun, has ruled out the possibility of the party losing the senate presidency to the opposition.

In a recent interview with Premium Times, Oyegun insisted that the party is not likely to lose the position to the opposition, but noted that should this happen, it will have to be the price for the desired ‘change’.

It was also, learnt that some members of the Senate President’s camp in the National Assembly are now of the view that the incessant face-off between the legislature and the presidency allegedly being generated by Saraki’s trial at the CCT, is needless and avoidable.

“Hence, some of them are ready to support a change in the leadership of the senate to save the ruling party from further crisis and at the same time represent the yearnings of their ‎constituents for good governance by ensuring strict adherence to the provisions of the laws of the country.”

Another source, a Senator from Lagos State, said, “Mr. Senate President is currently facing charges that borders on false declaration of assets.…

“The issue has gone beyond mere accusations as he has already gone down in history as the first serving Senate President in the country to be docked in a competent court.

“Sadly, one recalls that there is a way these things have been handled in the past to save the National Assembly, and by extension, the government, from unnecessary embarrassment.

All former presiding officers of the National Assembly, who were faced with similar charges, first resigned their positions in order to protect the integrity and sanctity of the country’s hallowed chambers.”

The senator regrets that what has been happening in the last few months, “were blatant display of disregard for the sanctity of the senate by some misled and confused senators whose loyalty is not to the country, but to an individual or group.”

The senator added, “But one is happy today, to tell you that things are changing for better. For one, I can tell you the APC caucus in the senate is working towards uniting all. We are healing the divide imposed on us by self serving individuals. We are all returning our loyalty to the party and the government.”

It was gathered that attendance at the regular and emergency meetings of the ‘Like Minds Senators’, the group of senators loyal to the President of Senate, have plummeted in recent times, giving credence to talks about‎ serious cracks in the ranks of Saraki loyalists.

According to reliable sources, the committee that has core Saraki allies in the likes of Senators Aliyu Wammako, Danjuma Goje, Kabiru Gaya, Ahmed Yerima and Adam Aliero, as members, is championing a united APC caucus that is loyal to the party and government, as against the current arrangement of a divided caucus.‎

The Nation also gathered that the dwindling fortunes of the Saraki camp is responsible for its inability to push through the suspension plot allegedly instituted against the Senator representing Zamfara Central, Kabir Marafa, an unrepentant critic of the Senate President.

Weeks after the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, submitted its report on its investigation on Marafa, the Senate has failed to deliberate on the panel’s recommendations.

Following the Supreme Court’s verdict on the appeal of Saraki on his CCT trial, Marafa had demanded for the resignation of Saraki.

He had said, “What is happening in the CCT is personal to Saraki and has nothing to do with his position as the Senate President. It has now reached the time when Saraki should take a bow to enable him concentrate on his case at the CCT. I don’t have anything against him as a person.”

Oyegun has declared that a political solution may not be in sight for the ongoing Senate President’s trial at the CCT.

2015 POLLS: EFCC ARRESTS INEC's REC, (Gesila Khan), 4 OTHERS OVER N650m SCAM

•Anti-graft agency probes large scale bribery

Alleged corruption in the 2015 general elections is back in the news following the  arrest   of the   Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC) in Cross River State, Gesila Khan and four others  by the  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC).

The suspects are being held for a N650.9million 2015 poll bribery scandal, EFCC sources said last night.

Sensitive election materials for the 2015 presidential and senatorial polls were also retrieved from the residences of some of the suspects as were many documents on financial and landed properties.

Some of the documents are receipts of payments made into their accounts.

The suspects allegedly committed the poll bribery fraud in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.

There were indications that many INEC staff and Ad hoc workers benefitted from the bribe-for-poll results scandal.

Khan, who was the REC in Rivers State during the last general election, allegedly pocked N185, 842,000 out of the bribe sum under probe by the EFCC.

The other suspects  and the bribe cash against their names are Fidelia Omoile (Electoral Officer in Isoko-South Local Government Area of Delta State)–N112,480,000; Uluochi Obi Brown ( INEC’s Administrative Secretary in Delta State)–N111,500,000; a former Deputy Director  of INEC in Cross River state, Edem Okon Effanga—N241,127,000 and the Head of Voter Education in INEC in Akwa Ibom, Immaculata Asuquo–N214,127,000.

According to investigation by our correspondent, all the suspects and their accomplices have made useful statements to EFCC.

A top source said: ” During the preliminary grilling of Khan, she admitted that she went to a bank to identify one Peter Popnen (who is on the run) to collect N185, 842,000.

“We have launched a manhunt for Popnen to ascertain how the deal was struck. As far Fideli Omoile, we discovered that her signature and driver’s license were allegedly used for some of the N112.48m transactions.

“Regarding Uluochi, investigation confirmed that she had $75, 857 in her account with the Bank of America as at February. This indicated that she laundered some of the N111.5m poll bribery cash abroad.

“In any case, EFCC is quizzing her on why she is operating a foreign account in violation of the Code of Conduct Act.”

Another source in the commission said those who benefitted from the scandal appeared to be many.

The source gave more details on the confessions of some of the suspects.

“On his part, Effanga told interrogators that although he cashed the N241,127,000 at a branch of Fidelity Bank in Calabar, he only got $290,000 as his share.

“But from his testimony, many INEC staff and Ad hoc workers benefitted from the loot. We are probing the sources of these slush funds which were deployed in some of these states to bribe INEC staff. Certainly, we are looking into many accounts which were used by some INEC staff.”

Asked about Immaculata Asuquo, the source added: “She said she was directed by the REC in Akwa Ibom to go and identify Effanga in order to cash the N241,127,000.”

As at press time, it was gathered that all the suspects had been granted bail but they could not fulfil the conditions.

“EFCC may have no choice than to approach a court for a warrant to detain them.

However, I “I think we may go to court on Monday accordingly” said the source.