BLOODY ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IS COMING TO NORTHERN NIGERIA , SAYS CHRISTIAN ELDERS

The Northern States Elders Christian Forum (NOSCEF), led by Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye, has forecast a bloody Islamic revolution in Northern Nigeria.
It advised, however, that it is not late to contain it if the North would focus on the greatest need of its people and swiftly attend to it.

In a statement in Abuja today, the forum declared that The [Northern Muslim] Elders can see the revolution coming and are talking about it, but that for a long time, they were content to turn the attention of the youth against Christians, using religion.

It suggested that the key issue is economic, not religious, pointing out that the Northern states have so far produced nine Heads of State, only one of whom, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, was a Christian.

"What did these 8 Head of States except Sir Ahmadu Bello do for the people? How come the people are poor when their own people have been in power most of the time?

“Most of the Governors in the North are Muslims. How come their people are so poor? How come they are the ones selling water in jerry cans? How come they are the ones doing shoe shining? How come they are the ones breaking fire woods into pieces? How come they are the ones doing maiguard, night guard work? These Northern leaders have cheated the Northern masses too much.”

It also pointed out that most of the Federal Ministers from the North are Muslims. “What did their people benefit from it? Almost nothing. The Northern States have far more Local Governments. None earns less than N100 million a month from the Federal Government. What did they do with it? The Federal Government pumped billion of Naira into nomadic education. Where is the result?”

Continued the statement, “Most of those who are Ambassadors from the North are Muslims. The Governor of Central Bank is a Muslim from the North. The Minister of Education is a Muslim from the North. The Inspector General of Police is a Muslim from the North. The National Security Adviser is a Muslim from the North. The Chief Justice of the Federation is a Muslim from the North.”

It further pointed out that there are more Northern Muslims Senators; more Muslim Northern House of Representative Members; and more Northern Muslim Commissioners of Police.

“Most of those who own Petrol Stations in the North are Muslims. Most of those who have been Executive Directors from the North are Muslims. Most of the Vice Chancellors of Universities and Rectors of Polytechnics in the North are Muslims. Most of the owners of trailers in the North are Muslims. All who have ever been Vice Presidents of Nigeria from the North are all Muslims.”

With all of this in mind, the statement asked, “What have the Christians done in the North to cause poverty in the North that warrants total annihilation?” adding, “They are attacking the wrong people.”

NOSCEF stated that it is still not too late to contain the revolution if the right attitude was adopted by the North and the right action, taken.

“Find the greatest need of your people,” it advised. “Vocational jobs, training and mass scholarships. Agricultural loans made available to the poor. Build dams and boreholes everywhere. Provide medical clinics that are functioning. Find projects that can touch their lives. Do launching and fund raising.

Let all of the Big Men mentioned earlier come and give away half i.e. 50% of their wealth to help their people. They cannot finish spending the remaining 50% until they die peacefully. If they refuse to do this, the revolution will come and consume them.

It will take away all their wealth. Time is running out. No need to play to the gallery. No need to do escapism. The Boko Haram has almost finished dealing with Christians yet their problems are not solved.

They will descend on their Elders and consume them.

Why turn Muslim areas of the North into Ghost towns? Why destroy the whole place? Why present our youth for slaughter? What percentage of children of the rich is in terrorism?”

SOURCE: SAHARA REPORTERS

PROTESTING JOB SEEKERS ARRESTED IN BAYELSA

The protesters had given prior notice to the Police before their protest.

The Police in Bayelsa on Tuesday arrested 30 unemployed graduates for participating in a mass protest in Yenagoa over lack of job opportunities in the state.

Scores of youths, mostly unemployed graduates, had earlier trooped to the streets in Yenagoa, protesting what they described as the high rate of unemployment in the state.

However, policemen from the Bayelsa State Police Command used tear gas to disperse the protesters.

The protesting youth were arrested at Yenizue-Gene in Yenagoa by teams of policemen and operatives of the state-owned security outfit, ‘Operation Doo Akpo’.

Among those arrested were five leaders of the protesting youths. Those arrested were detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department and underwent interrogation for their roles in the protest.

Numbering over 150, the unemployed graduates staged a peaceful protest in the state capital over the State Government’s alleged neglect and insensitivity to their plights. They had earlier given a 30-day ultimatum to Governor Seriake Dickson to lift the embargo on employment into the civil service to absorb them.

The protesters, under the aegis of Unemployed Graduates Forum of Bayelsa, claimed they had made efforts to meet with some top government officials to resolve the crisis. They said their efforts were fruitless as the one-month ultimatum given to the government to create 20,000 jobs for jobless graduates had lapsed without a shift in position by the government.

There was stampede at the Yenizue-Gene area of Yenagoa as the police sent reenforcements to the area with about 10 vans and arrested over 30 persons while the rest fled.

The protesters, who were dressed in white T-shirts with inscriptions, “We need jobs”, “Give us jobs”, said they would not be intimidated by the arrest of their members.

The spokesperson of protesters, Anthony Joseph, a mechanical engineering graduate, said that they had notified the Bayelsa State Police Command Command of the protest three weeks earlier.

“We are fighting a just cause, most of our graduates have been unemployed for between five, seven years and 10 years. We have met the Commissioner for Science and Technology and other top government functionaries in the state on the need to create jobs for us but all efforts proved abortive. Government should come and ameliorate our plight. We are pleading with government to create jobs for us. They should release our detained members,” Mr. Joseph said.

The Public Relations Officer of the Bayelsa State Police Command,Alex Akhigbe, confirmed the arrest of the protesters, saying they were being interrogated. Mr. Akhigbe recalled that the group had informed the Police Command of their protest but said that the permit was not granted.

SOURCE: PREMIUM TIMES

SECONDARY SCHOOL DROP OUT CONSULTS FOR TEACHING HOSPITAL

The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has arrested a 25-year-old man, Usen Effiong, for posing as a medical doctor and consulting for the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital for more than two months.

The State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mr. Etim Dickson, said Effiong, an indigene of Ukot Usung Itam, in Itu Local Government Area was caught based on intelligence report from the UUTH.

He said, “The police arrested Effiong in the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital impersonating a medical doctor.

“The Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Akwa Ibom State branch, Dr. John Udobang denied ever knowing the young man. He is not a member of the association.”

He said the police had investigated Effiong and found out that he was actually impersonating a medical doctor, adding that the law would take its course.

Udobang told PUNCH Metro that he received a call from the Dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, UUTH, Dr. Sunday Udo on the activities of Effiong.

He said, “Udo told me that they caught someone who has not finished secondary school parading himself as a consultant in the teaching hospital as a medical doctor.”

Udobang explained that he went to the teaching hospital where he interviewed the suspect and found him with stethoscope and sphygmomanometer (blood pressure apparatus).

He said, “We also found some prescriptions and forms that he wanted to fill to become a member of the association of resident doctors”

“Later, when they went to look for him, he was found in the doctor’s consulting room eating.

“He has confessed that he is not a doctor, and has not finished his school certificate, and has been coming there to consult in the last two months.”

Asked how it was possible for an SS II dropout to be consulting in a teaching hospital, Udobang replied that people used to see him but did not know his intention.

He said, “The Dean whose table he was sitting on used to see him and thought he was a medical student or a newly employed doctor that he has not known.

“It was after one of the younger doctors saw him and asked the Dean who he was that they started investigating him.”

 

SOURCE: PUNCH NEWSPAPER

FOUR PHONES RECOVERED FROM FRAUDSTER'S KIRIKIRI CELL

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday at a Lagos High Court alleged that four mobile phones were recovered from the cell occupied by a convicted fraudster, Ikechukwu Ogbu, at Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos.

Ogbu, who is currently serving a 15-year jail term at the prison, is standing trial for allegedly swindling a bank manager, Mr. Pat Enechukwu, of N12.3m from the prison custody in May 2009.

Enechukwu was a branch manager with one of the first generation banks in Abuja.

At the ongoing trial of the convict on Tuesday, EFCC’s investigator, Mr. Daniel Danladi, told Justice Lateefat Okunnu of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, that he visited the prison after the fraud was reported by the complainant.

Danladi said, “The prison officials conducted a search in the cell occupied by the first defendant (Ogbu) and two other inmates and four mobile phones were recovered.

“Analysis were conducted on the phones by the forensic unit of the EFCC.”

The prosecuting counsel, Mr. Kayode Oni, who led the witness in evidence tendered the four mobile phones and Ogbu’s statements to the EFCC as Exhibits P8 to P13.

Ogbu, who had earlier been convicted of fraud in 2008, is standing the fresh trial alongside John Chinonso,and Chuks Ibebagwu, into whose accounts the proceeds of the alleged crime were paid.

Earlier on March 21, 2013, a witness, Emike Ukhuedobah, had narrated how Ogbu had used her to defraud, Enechukwu, who happened to be husband to one of her aunts.

Ukhuedobah claimed she knew Ogbu through an advertorial the latter placed on love links page of the Vanguard Newspapers of March 7, 2009.

Ogbu, already in prison then, had portrayed himself in the advertorial as Prince Eze, who was seeking a woman aged between 34 and 45 to marry.

Following this, 43-year-old Ukhuedobah travelled from Abuja to Lagos to meet Ogbu, who told her he was temporarily detained in Kirikiri Prison for an alleged money laundering offence.

The duo’s relationship had continued with the hope that it could end up in marriage.

Ogbu, in the process, got to know Enechukwu.

“I wanted to go out of my domain and I was looking for friendship.

She said her aunt had been supporting her in the relationship with Ogbu, only for her to realise later that the woman’s husband had paid N12.3m into Ogbu’s account.

The money was allegdely paid into the accounts of Ogbu’s co-accused, to enable him to bribe EFCC officials to let him off the hook.

Ogbu was said to have told Enechukwu that his foreign partners were going to invest in the bank manager’s branch once  he (Ogbu) was released from the prison.

The matter was adjourned till March 27 for continuation of trial.

 

SOURCE: PUNCH NEWSPAPER

BREAKING: MEND LEADER,HENRY OKAH JAILED 24 YEARS

Henry Okah, leader of Nigeria’s militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, was jailed Tuesday by South African court for 24 years after he was convicted of 13 terrorism charges over twin bombings in Abuja in 2010.
“Effectively, the accused Okah is therefore sentenced to 24 years imprisonment,” said Judge Neels Claassen.
Twelve people were killed in the bomb attacks in the Nigerian capital as the country was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence.

The state argued that Okah showed little remorse during the trial, and that his intentions in the bombings were to “obtain maximum casualties.”
SOURCE: DAILYPOST  

LAZ UDE EZE : THE RETURN OF THE NATIONAL HEALTH BILL

The Return of the National Health Bill

When the National Health Bill 2008 was passed in May 2011, it appeared its seven year sojourn in the National Assembly had come to an end. That was not to be. The bill was not given assent by the president and it was returned to the National Assembly last year for further legislative action. My disappointment with the lack of urgency in the passage of the bill was exacerbated by the presidential inaction. I used my blog and the social media channel to lead advocacy for a presidential assent but that appeared to be an exercise in futility.  

It may be recalled the earlier passage was preceded by a massive protest by Nigerian women at the National Assembly. Why would they do so? About 55,000 women die annually from pregnancy-related causes in Nigeria every year. As if that is not enough, up to one million Nigerian children under the age of 5years are also victims of preventable death. This has made pregnancy and infancy that should be a period of joy to the family to become a nightmare. For me, it’s personal. In June last year, Mrs Ngozi Nwozor-Agbo, my former editor in Campus Life of The Nation newspaper died after child birth. She was one of the greatest supporters of my health advocacy activities before her regrettable demise.  More so, as a medical practitioner, I was always frustrated by situations where many of my patients could not afford payment for the treatment of minor health conditions. Why can’t they pay? The explanation is very simple; about 70% of the total health expenditure in Nigeria is out-of-pocket in a country where 72% live in poverty. So the system expects folks who can’t afford three-square meal to pay for their medical bills which is not plausible. Regrettably, our health system has lacked an integrated regulatory framework for years, thereby making it an all comers affair with rising prevalence of quackery.

The good news is that the National Health Bill has returned to the Senate. The public hearing conducted provided an opportunity for skeptics to be educated and grey areas hopefully addressed. At the moment, there is every indication that the bill will be passed to law within the next few weeks. The bill will provide a regulatory framework for the Nigerian health system which will result in standardization and improved quality of health services. It will revitalize primary health care, the cornerstone of our health system which has been in shambles for years due to lack of funding. This level of care serves majority of Nigerians at the grassroots and its chronic weakness has accounted for the unacceptably high maternal and child deaths in the country.  It will improve access to health care to millions of Nigerians and also make treatment more affordable.

Meanwhile, I’m not unaware of the controversial provision of the bill which provided for harvest and possible transfer of embryonic stem cell outside the shores of Nigeria with the approval of the health minister. I have concern about making such provisions in this bill. Embryonic research and organ donation are highly sensitive areas that in my opinion deserve a separate legislation and proper enlightenment. Medical anthropological ethnographers have documented unethical research practices by foreign companies in clinical trials involving human subjects particularly in low income countries. It will be catastrophic for unsuspecting Nigerians if any legislation inadvertently makes the country a safe haven for multinational pharmaceutical companies to carry out such unethical practices.   

With the impending passage of the National Health Bill 2012 and ongoing legislative action on the proposed amendment to the National Health Insurance Scheme Act, one would expect a significant improvement in the strength of the Nigeria’s health system. Our mothers and children deserve life. 

 FOLLOW ON TWITTER @DONLAZ4U

Laz Ude Eze, MB,BS (Ibadan) CBHE (World Bank Institute)

MPH/CGH Candidate 2013

University of Kentucky, USA 

Director of Commuinications & Advocacy, HAPPYNigeria 

www.happynigeria.org 

www.donlaz.blogspot.com

  

INEC REJECTS AFRICAN PEOPLES CONGRESS REGISTRATION

The Independent National Electoral Commission has refused to register the African Peoples Congress (APC) on the grounds that the political group has  breached a constitutional provision in its application process.
The apex electoral body, in a letter dated March 21 2013 and addressed to the chairman of the group, threw out the application because the group did not include the names and addresses of its national officers in its application form, thereby breaching section 222(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The letter,  which was written and signed by the secretary of INEC, Abdullahi Kaugama, and entitled “Re-Application for registration as a political party” was in response to the application of the political group dated February 28, 2013.
The letter reads in part, “The Commission has observed that your Association is in breach of Section 222 (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which stipulates as follows:  ‘No association by whatever name called shall function as a political party unless: (a) the names and addresses of its national officers are registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission’.
“A close observation of your submitted form PA I established that it does not contain the addresses of your national officers as stipulated in the provision above. Consequently, the commission shall not register the proposed African Peoples Congress (APC) as a political party.”
The African Peoples Congress and All Patriotic Citizens are  jostling for the APC acronym while the merging All Progressive Congress had insisted that it owns the intellectual property to the APC.
The merging APC, comprising the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has maintained that the APC acronym remains its identity, since they announced their acronym on February 6 this year.

‘We’ll challenge INEC’s decision’
But the chairman of the African Peoples Congress , Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu, at a press conference in Abuja  yesterday,  said his group would contest the attempt by INEC to halt the group’s  registration as a political party.
Ikeagwuonu, who alleged that the plot to deny his political group party registration had long been hatched,  also described as flimsy the reason offered by INEC for rejecting their application.
In his statement entitled “A brewing storm” Ikeagwonu said, “Our attention has just been drawn to a desperate effort by some paid INEC officials to conclusively consummate the black market transaction we warned about last Thursday, to deny the African Peoples Congress registration citing purported irregularities in the addresses of our national officers while the INEC documents required either residential address or phone number.

No going back on merger - ANPP
Meanwhile, the leadership of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has assured that there is no going back on the opposition merger.
Rising from a meeting between the Board of Trustees and the merger committee of the party which held in Abuja yesterday,  the BOT chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, dispelled rumours that the party might pull out of the merger, saying that  “this meeting basically was to discuss the merger talk and to resolve issues with the committee and we all agreed that there is no going back on merger”.
Sheriff also said the controversy over the registration of the APC was between the INEC and APC, adding that the ANPP was yet to be formally briefed on the matter.
“As a party, when we submit registration request, anything INEC tells us is what we will take. I will like you to know that it is just the way you have been reading in the newspapers that we also read. So the issue still depends on the outcome at INEC,” he said.
Former governor of Kano State Ibrahim Shekarau, governor of Borno State Kashim Shettima, senators, party state chairmen and other members of the party attended the meeting.
 
SOURCE: LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER

TINUBU IS A BETRAYER-ATIKU

B*O*M*B*S*H*E*L*L!
Tinubu betrayed me in 2007 – Atiku. **he supported and funded the campaign of late Yar’adua against his party's candidate.
**count me out of this APC Merger.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has ruled out joining the merger of opposition parties (APC) being clobbered together by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. He lamented his betrayal by the Asiwaju of Lagos when he flew the Action Congress (AC) flag during the 2007 presidential election. According to the Turaki of Adamawa, Tinubu supported and funded the campaign of late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua while the AC had a presidential candidate.

A similar accusation was leveled against Bola Tinubu and the Executives of ACN in the 2011 Presidential Election, where they abandoned their party's candidate, Nuhu Ribadu to support the PDP candidate.

A source close to Turaki disclosed that he has concluded consultations with segments of the political class in his quest to actualize his aspiration.

“You know that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is strong willed, democratic and not one to be brushed aside by threat of the
overbearing powers of the incumbency. You can trust him to see the campaign to its logical conclusion once he publicly
declares his ambition.” Our source said.

Political observers are however wondering on the game plan the former Vice President will deploy to achieve his
ambition. They attribute platform as one of the greatest obstacles to his success.

“PDP ticket will be difficult for him to secure considering the unstable nature of the governors. He will be naive to rely on them during the run up to 2015 polls. They disappointed him in 2011 and there is no guarantee they will not do so now. ”

A member of his inner caucus said. He is said to have consulted and secured the support of the northern elders forum in his quest. The problem however is that this same group supported him in 2011 when he squared up against President Goodluck Jonathan and lost!


VIA HOPEFORNIGERIAONLINE

PA EDWIN CLARK REMARRY AT 86

Ijaw leader and former Information Minister Chief Edwin Clark remarries at 86 to Dr Bisola Sodipo

Ijaw Leader and former Information Minister, Chief Edwin Clark remarried last week Sunday March 17th at the age of 86. Today is actually is 86th birthday. Happy birthday, sir! Back to the story. Chief Clark married well known medical doctor, Dr Abisola Sodipe Akindeko. The wedding ceremony took place at his home in Apapa and another one at the bride’shome at Okupe Estate in Maryland.

Dr Abisola Akindeko is the former best friend of Iyabo Obasanjo who lost two of her childrenin an assassination attempt on Iyabo Obasanjo’s life.

Dr Abisola’s children were riding in Iyabo’s car when it was attacked by hired assassins in 2003. The gunmen, thinking Iyabo was in the car, shot into the carkilling the two children instantly. Iyabo and DrAbisola had been riding in the doctors car, while the children rode in Iyabo’s car. It was a huge story back then. Glad to know she’s doing well now!



  
SOURCE: NAIRALAND
 

FG DECLARES MARCH 29,APRIL FIRST AS PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FOR EASTER

The Federal Government has declared Friday, March 29 and Monday, April 1, 2013, as public holidays to mark the celebration of Good Friday and Easter respectively.

Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, who made the declaration on behalf of the government, congratulated all Christians on the occasion and enjoined them to remain committed to the exemplary attributes of love, tolerance and peaceful co-existence which Jesus Christ exhibited during his time on earth.
 
SOURCE: VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS

SOYINKA ACCUSES LEADERS OF PATRONISING MARABOUTS,PROPHETS.

NOBEL Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has decried the rate at which Nigerian leaders consult marabouts and prophets in a bid to hold onto political power.

Nigerian leaders, he said, were in the habit of sacrificing animals in order to remain in power.

Soyinka spoke in Port Harcourt on Monday at a two-day education summit.

He observed that the situation was encouraging students to join cultism, adding that the rot in the nation’s education system was trickling down to secondary and primary schools.

The renowned author, who chaired the occasion, noted that normal university cultures like fraternities had been misconstrued to mean cultism.

He said, “Give me the name of any head of state who has not been consulting marabouts and prophets and so on, sacrificing goats, animals in the dead of night to receive a third term in office and so on and then you start blaming students, they are imitating the same thing the infirmity society itself has become.

“So, they can no longer distinguish between a genuine fraternity and a secret cult of which society is riddled all the way from the top.

“The rot in our education system is trickling all the way down to secondary schools, into some primary schools. Normal university cultures like fraternities have been misconstrued.”

On the activities of Boko Haram in the North, Soyinka explained that members of the sect were not sufficiently educated about their religion.

Soyinka, who noted that Islamic fundamentalist needed to be re-educated about their history and culture, also canvassed support for the creation of almajiri schools.

He added, “Those who call themselves Boko Haram, for instance, claim to be educated; educated to mean books. But they are not sufficiently educated, even about their religion to know that some of the greatest philosophers came from that religion, some of the greatest mathematicians were the pioneers.

“So, these killers roaming around, saying that they hate western education; they are uneducated; but they think they are educated.

“They (Boko Haram members) have been taught on a monorail, one-track lane. They need to be re-educated, even about their own history, their own culture.”

Soyinka described the situation as desperate and called for a proper supervision of the content and method of teaching in almajiri schools.

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, decried the attitude of school heads and teachers, who collect illegal levies from their pupils and students against his administration’s free education policy.

Amaechi also ordered the issuance of employment letters to 13,000 teachers to make up for the shortage of personnel in the state’s model schools.


SOURCE: THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER

NCC BEGINS NUMBER PORTABILITY

Amid poor service quality that has continued to bedevil the telecoms sector, the federal government has backed the initiative of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to commence number porting across the GSM networks today.

The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, told THISDAY that Mobile Number Portability (MNP) would give subscribers the choice to select networks that offer best telecoms services, insisting that Nigerians have to embrace it, since it was the best option in a bad situation.

“We are going ahead with MNP because it will increase competition in the industry. It, however, does not stop the service quality issue because we have a nationwide service quality issue, which cuts across networks. We are doing a lot of other things to improve telecoms service, by creating an enabling environment for network operators to rollout infrastructure, and reduce bottlenecks on right of ways, wilful destruction of telecoms facilities, among other measures,” Johnson said.

Confirming that it would commence the exercise today, the Head, Public Relations at NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, told THISDAY that all was set for full implementation of MNP across GSM networks.

According to him, “all the GSM operators are ready and NCC is set to rollout the service, which is long overdue.”

He, however, said operators of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), like Visafone, Capcom, and Intercellular, would not be part of the exercise at the moment, because of the different technology that they operate.

He said NCC would begin with GSM operators, and later include the CDMA operators, if that of the GSM operators became successful.

The Corporate Services Executive at MTN, Mr. Wale Goodluck, told THISDAY that MTN was fully ready for MNP, owing to its nationwide modernisation exercise, which he said, had improved service quality to some extent, even though the project is ongoing.

He was optimistic that MTN, just like other GSM operators would not experience any hitch in the takeoff of the exercise.

Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat, Mr. Steve Evans, had initially stated that Etisalat, which is the latest entrant into the GSM market space, was ready for the rollout of MNP in Nigeria.


SOURCE: THISDAY

BREAKING: PROF. CHINUA ACHEBE IS DEAD

Nigeria’s literary icon and publisher of several novels, Chinua Achebe, is dead.
Mr. Achebe, 82, died in the United States where he was said to have suffered from an undisclosed ailment.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt he died last night in a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
A source close to the family said the professor had been ill for a while and was hospitalised in an undisclosed hospital in Boston. The source declined to be named because he was not authorised by the family to speak on the matter.
He also declined to provide further details, saying the family would issue a statement on the development later today.
Contacted, spokesperson for Brown University, where Mr. Achebe worked until he took ill, Darlene Trewcrist, is yet to respond to our enquiries on the professor’s condition.
Until his death, the renowned author of Things Fall Apart was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown.
The University described him as “known the world over for having played a seminal role in the founding and development of African literature.”
“Achebe’s global significance lies not only in his talent and recognition as a writer, but also as a critical thinker and essayist who has written extensively on questions of the role of culture in Africa and the social and political significance of aesthetics and analysis of the postcolonial state in Africa,” Brown University writes of the literary icon.
Mr. Achebe was the author of Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, and considered the most widely read book in modern African Literature. The book sold over 12 million copies and has been translated to over 50 languages worldwide.
Many of his other novels, including Arrow of God, No Longer at Ease, Anthills of the Savannah, and A man of the People, were equally influential as well.
Prof Achebe was born in Ogidi, Anambra State, on November 16, 1930 and attended St Philips’ Central School at the age of six. He moved away from his family to Nekede, four kilometres from Owerri, the capital of Imo State, at the age of 12 and registered at the Central School there.
He attended Government College Umuahia for his secondary school education. He was a pioneer student of the University College, now University of Ibadan in 1948. He was first admitted to study medicine but changed to English, history and theology after his first year.
While studying at Ibadan, Mr. Achebe began to become critical of European literature about Africa.  He eventually wrote his final papers in the University in 1953 and emerged with a second-class degree.
Prof Achebe taught for a while after graduation before joining the Nigeria Broadcasting Service in 1954 in Lagos.
While in Lagos with the Broadcast ing Service, Mr. Achebe met Christie Okoli, who later became his wife; they got married in 1961. The couple had four children.
He also played a major role during the Nigeria Civil War where he joined the Biafran Government as an ambassador.
His latest book, There Was a Country, was an autobiography on his experiences and views of the civil war. The book was probably the most criticised of his writings especially by Nigerians, with many arguing that the professor did not write a balanced account and wrote more as a Biafran than as a Nigerian.
Mr. Achebe was a consistent critic of various military dictators that ruled Nigeria and was a loud voice in denouncing the failure of governance in the country.
Twice, he rejected offers by the Nigerian government to grant him a national honour, citing the deplorable political situations in the country, particularly in his home state of Anambra, as reason.
Below is how Brown University profiled him on its website.
———————————————————————————————————————————-
“Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe is known the world over for having played a seminal role in the founding and development of African literature. He continues to be considered among the most significant world writers. He is most well known for the groundbreaking 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, a novel still considered to be required reading the world over. It has sold over twelve million copies and has been translated into more than fifty languages.
“Achebe’s global significance lies not only in his talent and recognition as a writer, but also as a critical thinker and essayist who has written extensively on questions of the role of culture in Africa and the social and political significance of aesthetics and analysis of the postcolonial state in Africa. He is renowned, for example, for “An Image of Africa,” his trenchant and famous critique of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Today, this critique is recognized as one of the most generative interventions on Conrad; and one that opened the social study of literary texts, particularly the impact of power relations on 20th century literary imagination.
“In addition, Achebe is distinguished in his substantial and weighty investment in the building of literary arts institutions. His work as the founding editor of the Heinemann African Writers Series led to his editing over one hundred titles in it. Achebe also edited the University of Nsukka journal Nsukkascope, founded Okike: A Nigerian Journal of New Writing and assisted in the founding of a publishing house, Nwamife Books–an organization responsible for publishing other groundbreaking work by award-winning writers. He continues his long-standing work on the development of institutional spaces where writers can be published and develop creative and intellectual community.”

SOURCE: PREMIUM TIMES

WEST AFRICAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL VACANCIES

Job Title
Job positions for the above job vacancies
1)Assistant Examinations Officer III (General Duties) 2)Assistant Examination Officer III (Accounts) 3) Assistant Examinations Officer III (Computer Services)
Qualifications for the above job vacancies
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FALAE, SULEIMAN RALLY SUPPORT FOR OPPOSITION

Politicians in the progressive fold including  former leader of National  Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Commodore Dan Suleiman, former Secretary of the  Government of the Federation Chief Olu Falae, leader of South-east Forum,  Ezekeil Izuogu, yesterday urged  all progressives in the country to identify with one strong party that will champion their cause.

At a  meeting summoned on the auspices of Progressive Movement of Nigeria, the politician said there was the need for all the progressives to close ranks if they intend to make any reasonable impact in the 2015 general election.

Speaking during the meeting, the convener of the group, Izuogu, who was a former PDP governorship aspirant in Imo State, said  all attempts by some  progressive elements in the country to win power including the late MKO Abiola and Falae were frustrated by the combined forces of corrupt and reactionary elements.

He lamented that their action has denied the nation the opportunity to be transformed.
“One day the progressive in this country will take power. We are not going to give up the struggle, just like the former South African President, Nelson Mandela, fought till power was restored to the people. Our efforts is for all progressive to stay together and fight the reactionary government of the PDP. We believe that the best thing that can happen to Nigeria is for all progressives to stay together.”

Also speaking at the forum, Falae said change was inevitable and until  Nigeria achieves that change, things will continue to get worse.
“When you want change, you are stepping on very powerful toes and usually there is always a price to pay for it. Therefore, it is dangerous to be a  progressive.”

Falae who once contested for presidency of the country cautioned the proponents of the on going merger arrangement under the umbrella of the All Progressives  Congress (APC) to avoid  the pitfalls that truncated the progressives alliance  in 2011 particularly the infiltration of the PDP agents in the exercise.

Falae said though he has sympathy for the merger,  any political group that  lacks a clear cut ideology will likely achieve no success in a merger.
He therefore called on the leaders of  the APC to make public their agenda.

“A progressive is someone who for reasons either for his background or ideology feels concern about the welfare of the poor, someone who believes in change. He knows that every change may not be an improvement but every  improvement starts with a change.

“The progressive are those who said that the military must go under the military regime. When you want change, you are stepping on dangerous toes as   people like MKO and some of us found out. Those who said Abacha must go were  progressives but those who supported the administration were not progressives. PDP is an opportunist gang of power. Their ideology is looting.”

They have
also jailed their own leaders. I can never, never join what is not a party because PDP is not one.”

Air Commodore  Suleiman said he had progressive ideas while in the military “so it was not surprising that when I join politics, I found myself in the  same camp. Today, we are in at crossroads and we are not united and that is why  the country is having problem today.

“Today, there is no doubt that the best political system is a little bit to the left and a little bit to the right. There is no extremists again anywhere in the world. We have two clear ideology what the progressives want is a common agenda, “ he said.

 

OLU FALAE

SOURCE : THISDAY