APC members in Bayelsa set to defect to PDP

Bayelsa State chapter of the Peoples
Democratic Party on Wednesday commenced the process to integrate into its fold some staunch members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) who recently defected to the party. It was gathered that a meeting was convened in Yenagoa by the State Executive Council of the PDP headed by the chairman, Sam Inokoba, where the defecting APC members were formally received.

An impeccable party source revealed
that a former national youth leader of
the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN), Ebikibina Miriki, who later served as ex-national officio of the APC, and former state chairman, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Sunday Frank-Oputu, led other defecting members to attend the meeting.

Other defecting members of the APC at
the meeting were one-time Board of
Trustees member of the All Nigerian Peoples Party and a former Treasurer of the APC, Harold Zuokumor, women leader of the APC in Brass Local Government Area, Rena Adejo, former member of the APC in the state, Osobere Inegite and former state chairman of the defunct ANPP, Abule Suomor. Miriki was among APC bigwigs who publicly defected to the PDP at a South-South rally in Benin, the Edo State capital, penultimate week.

The PDP promised to provide level
playing field for the members of the
party ahead of the 2015 general elections in the state. The state publicity secretary of the PDP, Osom Macbere, confirmed the development, saying the meeting with the defecting APC members was an in-house arrangement.

“The coming of the group did not follow proper protocol and we have given them a proper date and time. “The chairman met with them at the level in which their members were introduced.

“Former state Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, who was at the meeting as a defecting APC member, confirmed the meeting”, he said. Osom said it was held for them to formally inform the PDP of their decision to move into the party and work for the progress of the present administration at the state and the national levels.

The former state chairman of CNPP,
Frank-Oputu, lauded the PDP for the
warm reception extended to them by
the PDP. He said, “We commend the
PDP for the warm reception shown to
us and we believe in the development strides of the present administration in

Daily Independent

PETER ODILI ROAD & TRANS-AMADI ENJOYS TREMENDOUS IMPROVEMENT IN POWER SUPPLY

The residents of Peter Odili Road and environs and the entire Trans-Amadi Area of Port Harcourt now enjoy at least 18 hours of power supply daily.

Those interviewed by Sayelba said they have not witnessed power outtage in the last 24 hours.

This development started since the Sallah celebrations when they had power for 48 hours straight, uninterupted.

According to those who spoke to ST the improvements are due to the fact that they have now been connected to a Gas Turbine. This is a claim we have been unable to verify at the time of writing.

In all, it is good to know that improvements have been recorded, even if minor, in that area.

FG to stop the importation of petroleum products by 2018 — Aganga

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, gave this hint in Ilorin, Kwara State, when he paid a pre-commissioning visit to the Steel Cold Rolling Complex of Kam Industries Limited.

According to him, a minimum of about $14 billion has been committed to the petrochemical sector by foreign and local investors the like of Indorama and Dangote, adding that hopefully by 2017/2018 the country would be self-sufficient and would no longer need to import petroleum products.

“We have close to at least two million metric tonnes of reserve of iron ore; we are the 12thlargest in the world and the 2ndlargest in Africa and all these steel you see here today, they come from iron ore. So we have no business importing steel into the country,” he said.

Aganga disclosed that his ministry is working with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development on a joint memorandum to the Federal Executive Council on policies and measures that would help to develop the steel sector.

“We want to create an industrial zone around Kamwire Industries, so that there will be other industries around this area feeding it and getting things around it. We will make sure that for those industrial zones, you get all you need; you will get electricity, water supply and all the things you’ll need to function and be competitive,” he assured.

He said that the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, had taken care of most of the concerns of operators, noting that positive results were already being recorded, especially in terms of enhanced capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector.

”We are almost there. We have consulted with you and other stakeholders in the industry. You have all contributed to the new measures and we are working on that already. The NIRP focuses on the enablers. One of the enablers, of course, is to make sure that we have affordable finance to support the industries.

Earlier in her welcome address, the company’s Deputy Managing Director, Bolanle Yusuf, disclosed that the production of hot rolled steel coils which is 100 per cent imported into the country was the company’s next phase of backward integration.

Death of Alamieyeseigha’s son: Keyamo accuses FG of double standard

A Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, yesterday accused the Federal Government of double standard in its prompt intervention in the death of Mr. Oyamuyefa Alamieyeseigha, son of former governor of Bayelsa State, DSP Alamieyeseigha, in Dubai.

In a statement yesterday commiserating with the Alamieyeseigha family, Keyamo said the swiftness with which the Federal Government responded with a call on the UAE authorities to fish out the killers of Oyamuyefa Alamieyeseigha, was commendable. He, however, expressed shock that the Federal Government has refused to intervene in the death of another Nigerian, Toba Falode, who died in similar circumstances in Dubai on 15th February, this year.

He said: ‘’The Federal Government has not issued a single statement calling on the U.A.E authorities to fish out the killers of Toba Falode. The Federal Government has played the ostrich in the case of Toba, leaving the mother and family grieving alone. The question is, with the swift response in the case of Oyamuyefa Alamieyeseigha, does the Federal Government value the lives of some of its citizens more than others?’’

Vanguard