Group mobilises 10m votes for Jonathan:

A pro-Jonathan campaign, The Jonathanians has announced the preliminary results of a text message polls for the 2015 election in which 10 million Nigerians voted ‘yes’ in support of President Goodluck Jonathan to be re-elected.

In a statement by its Director of Campaign, Prince Charles Jiduwah, the Jonathanians said the polls result “further attests to the wide popularity and acceptance of the President to be given a second term of four years in office post 2015.”

The Jonathanians said the poll was deployed in 10 days via sms to phones with the poser “ we Jonathanians say YES to four more yes for President Goodluck Jonathan. If you agree text YES to 08096439111”.

The statement said of a targeted 30 million lines across the country, the ‘YES’ votes received was 9,994,978 while a total of 378,987 replied ‘NO’ and another 6,896,008 did not respond or replied ‘indifferent’.

According to The Jonathanians, the  preliminary findings from the poll was subjected to vigorous statistical review by a commissioned consortium of experts “who are putting finishing touches to the final results that will be released soon”

Bayelsa farmers decry detention of firm boss by SSS: Alleges plot to derail Federal govt agricultural policies in the state.

Reports from Daily Independent States that farmers in Bayelsa State operating
under the aegis of The Lord’s Vineyard
(Agricultural) Company have decried
the continued detention of its
chairman, Orusademe Fouyouowei, by
the State Security Service (SSS).
It was gathered that the SSS operatives
arrested him last Wednesday while he
was attempting to access the Federal
Government’s agricultural loan
scheme.

Fouyouowei was said to have been
arrested and detained along side six of
his staff and some farmers, including
men and women, registered with the
company.

Some of the aggrieved farmers said in
Yenagoa that the SSS had released
others but had refused to let go the
chairman, keeping him
incommunicado and denying him food
and water.

They alleged that a police officer
dressed in mufti was also assaulted,
handcuffed and taken away while on
duty on the premises of the company at
Ayeni Street, Yenizue-Epie, Yenagoa,
by the armed SSS officials.
According to them, several files
containing the details of farmers
registered with the company were also
reportedly removed.

Fouyouowei was seeking a loan facility
from Mainstreet Bank for
disbursement to farmers registered
with the company who had raised
eyebrows as his arrest coincided with
the time for disbursement of the funds.
He had received money from some
farmers promising to help them access
the agricultural loans and issued them
post-dated cheques based on
assurances from the bank which
reneged on its assurances.

Some of the farmers threatened to take
to the streets to demand his release as
they never complained to the SSS.
They maintained that there was no
basis for the SSS to detain Fouyouowei
as the matter had no connection with
security, alleging it was a ploy to derail
government policies on agricultural
development.

But in his reaction, the state Director
of SSS, Dawa, who confirmed the
arrests, said they received complaints
that Fouyouowei, who had been
operating since 2010, collected money
from farmers but had been postponing
the date of accessing the loan.

“We are trying to determine how many
farmers are registered with him and if
it is true about the bank”, said Dawa,
who added that they did not know how
much he collected from the farmers.

He also debunked claims that
Fouyouowei was being kept
incommunicado and denied food and
water, saying, “I have been feeding
him since”.
“
It’s just today that I told him to ask
someone to bring him food. How can I
do a thing like that?”

EBOLA: Governor’s aides, Lawmakers and others face screening in Bayelsa

As the Rivers government and health workers battle the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, Neighboring Bayelsa has taken preventive measures to forestall a possible outbreak.

The reality of the Ebola scare was brought home to Bayelsans Monday when everyone entering the venue of the monthly Transparency briefing by the state governor were subjected to compulsory screening exercise at the venue of the event, according to report from ThisDay Health workers and security personnel were stationed at the entrance of the Banquet hall to screen and apply hand sanitizers, including the Speaker and members of the State House of Assembly, Commissioners and other aides of the Governor.

Also business premises, including Banks and Cyber cafés in the state capital Monday also adopted the compulsory screening methods and application of sanitizers before admitting customers for business transactions.
Credit: today.ng

US federal air marshal attacked with syringe in Lagos airport

The FBI and CDC are investigating an attack on a federal air marshal who was injected with a syringe full of an unknown substance inside the Lagos, Nigeria airport on Sunday, according to a Situational Awareness notice obtained by FoxNews.com.

A federal air marshal reported being attacked by a subject
while on the public side of the Lagos Airport on Sunday, according to an alert from TSA’s Transportation Security Operations Center distributed throughout the agency on Monday afternoon.
The incident, first reported by FoxNews.com, appeared to be isolated, the alert says.

“The [air marshal] reported that the subject stuck him with a syringe and it is believed he was injected with an unknown substance,” the alert says.
The State Department responded to the airport to assist the air marshal and his team.

“After consultation with the consulate and physicians, the [federal air marshal] was given precautionary medication,” according to the alert.

The air marshal and the rest of his team–along with the syringe used in the attack– were immediately flown out of Nigeria and back to the U.S.

The syringe also was transported back to the U.S. for testing.

An FBI spokesman said Monday night, “out of an abundance of caution, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted an on-scene screening of the victim when United Flight 143 landed in Houston early Monday morning. The victim did not exhibit any signs of illness during the flight and was transported to a hospital upon landing for further testing. None of the testing conducted has indicated a danger to other passengers.”
The CDC and the FBI are involved and have opened investigations, the alert states.

“This investigation is still in the preliminary stage and early indications are limited to a criminal nexus.”

Credit: FoxNews.com

Despite claims by the Bayelsa state government, pensioners in the state lament non-payment of retirement benefits.

Pensioners in Bayelsa State evoked a stream of pity on Monday at the monthly transparency briefing of the state government when they cried to Governor Seriake Dickson, saying: “your parents are
suffering”.

The Bayelsa income and expenditure
briefing for the months of July and
August, the third in the year, was held
at the Banquet Hall, Government
House, Yenagoa. The pensioners
lamented that they had not been paid
their retirement benefits and
entitlements.

Investigation showed that the
pensioners had embarked on a couple
of protests to draw attention to their
plight to no avail.

Chairman of the state chapter of
Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP),
Emmanuel Namatebe, who led the
pensioners, disclosed that, “a lot of us
have died within this period”.

Credit: daily independent