Anambra PPA leader Defect to PDP

One of the outstanding Anambra State leader of Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, who was the party’s governorship candidate in last year’s election in the state, Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, has dumped the party and and join the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Ezeemo however said he gave a conditional nod to join the party when Anambra State officials of PDP led by its state chairman, Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu visited him at Umuchu, his home town.

Ezeemo said he took the decision because he had seen over the years that Nigerian electorate were still moved by big names, instead of political ideology of parties.

According to him, the reason towards joining PDP was conditional because he could not fully go into PDP if his followers in PPA were not taken care of.
He said: “We are only interested in big names here and not in the material that is vying for any post. I have tried for a long time to convince them that coming from a smaller party would even give me better opportunity to work, but they seem not to understand. So, I had to oblige them.”

Speaking on the issue of having to scale the hurdle of primaries in the course of pursuing his gubernatorial ambition under PDP, Ezeemo said: “There must be primary elections in any party if we want internal party democratic process to take its course, so I embrace it.”

INEC extends voters registration exercise by 2 weeks.

…Registers 23 new political parties

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA —Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has extended the ongoing voter registration exercise by two weeks.

This came as the commission said it has registered 23 new political parties, bringing the number of registered political parties in the country to 91.

The commission had sent letters of invitation to the affected chairmen of the new parties to pick their certificates of registration from the commission tomorrow.

The development presents huge logistical challenge for the electoral umpire, with the ballot paper set to be expanded to accommodate more parties.

Among the newly political parties registered by INEC, yesterday, were African Action Congress, AAC; Alliance for a United Nigeria, AUN; Alliance National Party, ANP; Allied Peoples’ Movement, APM, among others.

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/inec-extends-voters-registration-exercise-by-2-weeks/

Dogma of the Assumption, all you need to know.

The Assumption is the oldest feast day of Our Lady, but we don't know how it first came to be celebrated.

Its origin is lost in those days when Jerusalem was restored as a sacred city, at the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337). By then it had been a pagan city for two centuries, ever since Emperor Hadrian (76-138) had leveled it around the year 135 and rebuilt it as Aelia Capitolina in honor of Jupiter.

For 200 years, every memory of Jesus was obliterated from the city, and the sites made holy by His life, death and Resurrection became pagan temples.

After the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 336, the sacred sites began to be restored and memories of the life of Our Lord began to be celebrated by the people of Jerusalem. One of the memories about his mother centered around the "Tomb of Mary," close to Mount Zion, where the early Christian community had lived.
On the hill itself was the "Place of Dormition," the spot of Mary's "falling asleep," where she had died. The "Tomb of Mary" was where she was buried.
At this time, the "Memory of Mary" was being celebrated. Later it was to become our feast of the Assumption.

For a time, the "Memory of Mary" was marked only in Palestine, but then it was extended by the emperor to all the churches of the East. In the seventh century, it began to be celebrated in Rome under the title of the "Falling Asleep" ("Dormitio") of the Mother of God.

Soon the name was changed to the "Assumption of Mary," since there was more to the feast than her dying. It also proclaimed that she had been taken up, body and soul, into heaven.

That belief was ancient, dating back to the apostles themselves. What was clear from the beginning was that there were no relics of Mary to be venerated, and that an empty tomb stood on the edge of Jerusalem near the site of her death. That location also soon became a place of pilgrimage. (Today, the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary stands on the spot.)
At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when bishops from throughout the Mediterranean world gathered in Constantinople, Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined in the capitol. The patriarch explained to the emperor that there were no relics of Mary in Jerusalem, that "Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven."

In the eighth century, St. John Damascene was known for giving sermons at the holy places in Jerusalem. At the Tomb of Mary, he expressed the belief of the Church on the meaning of the feast: "Although the body was duly buried, it did not remain in the state of death, neither was it dissolved by decay. You were transferred to your heavenly home, O Lady, Queen and Mother of God in truth."

All the feast days of Mary mark the great mysteries of her life and her part in the work of redemption. The central mystery of her life and person is her divine motherhood, celebrated both at Christmas and a week later (Jan. 1) on the feast of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8) marks the preparation for that motherhood, so that she had the fullness of grace from the first moment of her existence, completely untouched by sin. Her whole being throbbed with divine life from the very beginning, readying her for the exalted role of mother of the Savior.

The Assumption completes God's work in her since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God himself should ever undergo corruption. The Assumption is God's crowning of His work as Mary ends her earthly life and enters eternity. The feast turns our eyes in that direction, where we will follow when our earthly life is over.

The feast days of the Church are not just the commemoration of historical events; they do not look only to the past. They look to the present and to the future and give us an insight into our own relationship with God. The Assumption looks to eternity and gives us hope that we, too, will follow Our Lady when our life is ended.

In 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution
Munificentissimus Deus , Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church in these words: "The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven."

With that, an ancient belief became Catholic doctrine and the Assumption was declared a truth revealed by God.

Odili finds new love at 70

For Peter Otunuya Odili, it is remarkable that the day he was born, August 15, was the same day the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ was assumed into Heaven, body and soul. As an ardent Catholic, for whom that day is a holy day of obligation, just like a Sunday, the significance of the coincidental event is not lost on him as it actually reinforces his faith which was given a shine at two Catholic schoaols- Sacred Heart School, Odoakpu, Onitsha and later at the famous Christ the King College, (CKC) Onitsha both in the present day Anambra State. It was at CKC that his leadership qualities manifested that early in life.
Peter Odili
He was the Senior Prefect and College Captain of the school. In his own words, Odili said, “From cradle, through primary school, and admission into one of the best secondary schools of our time, I can say without any shred of doubt that the foundational impact of secondary school education is the fulcrum of anyone’s life later.
That’s what CKC did for me. I won’t be who I am if I did not pass through the walls of CKC.” It is in recognition of his religious piety that the Pope recognised and honoured him with the prestigious title of Knight Commander of the Order of St Sylvester which made him a member of the Front Row in the Order of Catholic Knights. For those who know, that was a rare and hugely sought after recognition by the Vatican.
Search of the proverbial fleece
Like most adventurous and ambitious young men of his age, he was about to move on to a tertiary institution in search of the proverbial fleece when the civil war broke out and temporarily truncated that ambition. He was, first, a refugee as the war progressed with its tendency to dislocate and disjoint life and living. That brought its difficulties and challenges which compelled him to submit to being recruited as a soldier. Here, again, his brilliance shone through. As in CKC where leadership position was on merit, his performance in the army course during which he took top position, guaranteed for the young man assignment that put him in a place where characters are moulded and minds trained. The young Peter was deployed as an instructor in the school of infantry instead of being sent to the warfront. The life of discipline that military training imbues smoothened the diamond in the rough that he was seen to be by his mentors and set him on an upward leadership trajectory that he sustained till date.
The war over, his academic zeal was reignited and he began schoolwork as an indigent medical student at the country’s foremost tertiary institution, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He later embarked on the holiday trade of travelling abroad to earn some money which immediately turned him into a campus big boy. On graduation from the Medical School of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he pursued a post-graduate work in Tropical Medicine at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
Like one with the fabled Midas’ touch, Peter Odili has proved to be a quintessential family man who has tenaciously clung to his first love and charming campus ‘bus’, Mary Ukaego, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria with whom he has sired children and grandchildren. As a titled chief, it is an abomination to count the products of his fertile and productive loins. In appreciation for the role Mary had played and is still playing in his life, he is, till date, still paying her bride price to her people of Mbaise clan in Imo State. He said so himself.
Mary is his first love. I stand to be corrected. And Medicine follows in that order. He put into practice his training as a medical doctor and won his spurs in that field. Regardless, he is determined to leave a more enduring legacy for posterity. He may have scaled down his practice, still he has found new love and is striving to give something back to that profession that made him what he is as well as to society for its benevolence. The establishment of PAMO University of Medical Sciences in Port Harcourt, the first privately owned university of Medical Sciences, not only in Nigeria but in West Africa as a whole, is part of a heartfelt desire in that direction. It is an institution designed strictly for the training of professionals in the field of medicine. It is a place he set up to mentor the younger generation who will raise the banner further aloft when he must have played his part and moved on. The University is starting with five faculties – Allied and Health Sciences, Basic Medical Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical sciences. The university will strive to achieve global excellence in terms of teaching, research and community services. It is set to produce graduates in different fields of medicine who are not only competent in their profession but also entrepreneurial, ICT driven and that are worthy in character and learning. He has vowed to leave it as an enduring testimony to the humanity in appreciation for the benefits he derived from serving mankind and a worthy one at that.
It is not possible to discuss the nation’s democratic resurgence after years of military interregnum without reserving a place of honour for the man Peter Odili. For him, participation in politics was more of a call to service as he can be rightly said to be an accomplished man while functioning as a medical doctor in the state of his birth. He was elected and sworn in as the third Governor of Rivers State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on May 29, 1999. He served two terms which terminated on May 29, 2007. Years after, his developmental strides have remained a measuring rod for those who took over the mantle of leadership from him in that state that is, to all intents, Nigeria’s treasure trove.
Odili has packed much action into his life in 70 years to actually influence the course of history. My family, therefore, join his family in wishing him a resounding happy birthday and many more years of fruitful and enduring service to Nigeria in particular and mankind in general.

By James Ume
Ume wrote in from Abuja.

4 Students Dead, Others Injured at University of Agriculture, Makurdi

It has been a sorrowful day in the Federal University Of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, as four students have been reported dead following an accident that occurred this morning involving the School's shuttle bus and a Motorcycle.

Two students allegedly died on the spot, while another two died at the sick bay as others are struggling for survival.

There is tension in the School and it's Environs as the students have embark on a massive protest following the incidence.

Source: https://myschool.ng/news/accident-kills-students-of-university-of-agriculture-makurdi

FUTO Post-UTME Results, 2018/2019 Released

FUTO Post-UTME Result for the 2018/2019 academic session is out. Candidates who particpated in the Post-UTME screening can proceed to check their result.

The online portal for checking of the Post-UTME result has been enabled. Candidates are to follow the procedure as stated below to check their results.

How To Check FUTO Post-UTME Result
Visit: http://portal.futo.edu.ng/CheckPostUTMEResults.aspx
Enter your JAMB Registration Number in the space provided and click "Submit"
Generate an invoice and make payment of N1000 for result checking using a Credit/Debit card.
After payment, revisit the link above
Enter you JAMB Registration Number in the space provided
Click "Submit" and proceed to check your result.

Senior Lecturer, son rape 13-year-old maid

A 51-year-old Senior Lecturer in the Department of Catering and Hotel Management, Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, Andrew Ogbuja, has been nabbed and dragged to court for allegedly raping his 13 years old housemaid.

Mr. Ogbuja’s teenage son, Victor, was also alleged to have been part of the sexual molestation of the victim, but is now at large.

Andrew Ogbuja, who was arraigned before a Makurdi Upper Area Court on Monday, was arrested last Friday after the victim’s family raised the alarm.
When the case came up, the accused pleaded with the judge to temper justice with mercy, asking to be granted bail so he can go back home to have the matter resolved amicably, considering his status, especially as he was caught in the act.

The accused, who spoke through his counsel, David Ojile, equally promised to take full responsibility for the treatment of the victim, saying it was a family matter.

His plea was, however, rejected by the trial judge, Mr. Sam Kwen, who ordered the lecturer remanded at Makurdi Federal Prisons.

The case
Earlier the Police prosecutor, Inspector Patrick Sunday, told the court that on August 8, at about 12 noon, the International Federation of Women Lawyers, Benue State chapter, in company of one Rose Abah of Ogene Amadu Edumoga, Okpokwu Local Government Area of the state, reported the matter at the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, CIID, of the state police command.

According to the prosecutor, “from the First Information Report, FIR, before the court, Mrs. Abah claimed that sometime in February, when her 13-year-old daughter was sick and admitted at Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, she told her that when she was staying with her cousin-sister, Felicia Ogbuja in Ugbokolo town between 2013 and 2015, her son, Victor Ogbuja, raped her.

“She further said that her cousin’s husband, Andrew Ogbuja, also had canal knowledge of her.”
He said during police investigation, the said Andrew Ogbuja was arrested, while the said Victor Ogbuja was at large, noting that “the offence is punishable under Sections 97 and 284 of the Penal Code of Benue State 2004.”
However, no plea was taken because the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case, while the judge, Mr. Kwen, adjourned the case to September 24.

Sodomised, too
Speaking to newsmen after the court sitting, a caregiver and Founder of Restorer of PathCare Foundation, Evangelist Enewa Soo, stated that sometime in June, the case was reported to her through the International Federation of Women Lawyers and she has since been making sure that the victim’s health was restored.

Soo said: “At the time they brought the girl, she was very sick and when we began to make our findings, we discovered that she was actually raped and the doctors confirmed that she was allegedly sexually abused through the virgina and the anus by one Victor Ogbuja, her guardian’s son.

“Since then we have been trying to see how we can restore her health. We took her to a teaching hospital where series of tests were carried out and she has also been booked for Vesicovaginal Fistula, VVF, operation in Jos, Plateau State, from September 16 to 17.”

Soo lamented that the girl had been emotionally and mentally depressed as a result of her situation and called on parents to beware of who they leave their children with.

The son started in 2013, says victim
Narrating her ordeal, the victim, a JSS 1 student of Federal Government College, Gboko, said her guardian’s son first raped her in 2013 and warned her never to disclose it to anyone.

Her story: “It all started in 2013 when I came to live with my mother’s sister in Ugbokolo because there was no school in my village.

“When I was eight years old, the son started sleeping with me and when his sister caught him, she reported him to their father and the father scolded him.

“From there, the father also started sleeping with me and I told my mother. My mother told my elder sister, who later took me to Makurdi for check up. Last year September, when I went to school and started feeling sick, I was taken to Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, where I spent two months and five days before I was discharged.

“In the hospital, they discovered that what my aunty’ son and his father did to me was responsible for my condition. My mother went to confront my aunty and the husband, but they did not take the matter serious, that is why we brought the case here. I want my health back.”

FUT Minna
Meanwhile, the management of Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, has sacked one of its lecturers, Omananyi Yunusa, over his involvement in sexual harassment of a female student of the institution.

The university’s Deputy Director, Information and Publications, Lydia Legbo, said the dismissal of Mr. Yunusa, a lecturer in the Department of Geology, followed the outcome of investigation into alleged sexual assault of a female student in the department over marks.

The dismissal was approved during the University Council’s 131st meeting after an investigative panel constituted by Vice Chancellor, Abdullahi Bala, found Yunusa guilty of inappropriate relationship with the student.

Students react
According to a student of the institution, “the news was kept away from media to avoid distraction. In fact, most other departments were not aware.”
A colleague of the victim, who does not want his name mentioned for fear of victimisation, claimed that Yunusa’s dismissal would “bring peace to the department. My Class Governor is a lady, but feels very reluctant when we want to have anything to do with Mr. Yunusa.

“It got to a time, we felt like impeaching her, only to realise that she was avoiding the lecturer because of harassment. We all got the notice about his dismissal; he disappointed himself.”

The institution’s Vice Chancellor said the dismissal of the lecturer would serve as lesson to others to ensure total elimination of sexual harassment in the university community.
The lecturer’s dismissal follows a similar one in another university.

…other institutions
On June 20, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, dismissed a lecturer, Richard Akindele, after he was found guilty of misconduct with a female student of the school.

Also, on July 12, Lagos State University, LASU, issued a query to Sunkanmi Odubunmi, another lecturer involved in a scandal with a student. The case is before a Joint Action Disciplinary Committee.

By Peter Duru

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/senior-lecturer-son-rape-13-year-old-maid/