NEWS
Doguwa, Two Other Withdraw From Speakership Race For Abbas
Three aspirants for the position of Speaker in the upcoming 10th House of Representatives – Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Abdulraheem Olawuyi, and Abubakar Makki Yelleman – have withdrawn from the race.
They announced their decision during the Joint Task-10th Assembly meeting held in Abuja on Wednesday evening.
The meeting was graced by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and Senator Godswill Akpabio, the consensus candidate for the 10th Senate President.
Speaking on behalf of the other two candidates, Doguwa expressed their collective choice to step aside in favor of Tajuddeen Abbas, the preferred candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). This decision reflects their respect for the party and their alignment with the APC’s chosen nominee for the Speakership position.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am here to put it on the records that, not just from today, that, right from day one, when the NWC, the National Working Committee of my party put it on the table that, they have come up with a zoning arrangement and after zoning, with all sense of morality, micro-zoned it to the North West and Micro-micro zoned it to my brother, Right Honourable Tajuddeen Abbas representing Zaria federal constituency from North Western Nigeria, as from that date and day, I therefore called my bid to contest for the Speakership of the 10th House of Representatives off.
“I had to to that because I am a man of establishment, I had to do that because I am also a beneficiary of same kind of arrangement then, and today, I have benefited from party arrangements, I have personally benefited from this kind of zoning arrangement, that was what gave me the position of the Chief Whip of the 8th House of Representatives even when there were issues, the zoning held away. Today, I am the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives courtesy of the National Working Committee of my party.
“My great brothers and sisters, courtesy demands that, it is only fair. I also stand by the position of the National Working Committee and the leaders of my great party. It’s not like the table is turning against me, no. The fact is that, time has come for me to also pay back and I think paying back in these circumstances means a great responsibility that I must have to honour and oblige.
“I rise before you today this good evening Mr Speaker, my boss, Right Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila and around me, is Right Honourable Abdulraheem Olawuyi and my other friend here, Honourable Makki Yelleman. We are here individually and collectively stepping into the shoes of this great campaign.
“We all wanted to be Speakers not because we knew that, you can have several Speakers. At every there only can be one Speaker. And in the light of this disposition, I want to say, on behalf of my great men here around me, that we have individually and collectively decided to come and surrender our bids to become Speaker this time around to the great party, the APC and we also defer, on record to our great gentleman that was picked by the party to ran for the Speakership officially on behalf of our great party, Right Honourable Tajuddeen Abbas.
“We are also of the opinion that, the selection process of Right Honourable Tajuddeen Abbas was not in anyway biased. We are also quite aware that, the person of Tajuddeen Abbas and of course his running mate, the Deputy Speakership candidate, they are qualified to hold their respective offices”.
Earlier, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila said even in advanced democracies, one can disagree with his party, but at the end of the day, the party which is an organised entity survives.
He reminded that members of the party and other parties have treaded the same path in the past and had seen the effects, so the decision was to avoid the mistakes of the past.
The APC made a painful decision to choose a consensus candidate. Considerations were taken to make the best choice for the party and the country. Doguwa and six other aspirants rejected the chosen candidate.
This led to the formation of the G7, who aimed to select their own candidate for the Speaker position.
Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has dismissed all transition committee chairmen in the state’s 21 local government areas.
This decision was detailed in a letter titled “Expiration of Tenure and Handover to Heads of Local Government Administrations (HLGAs),” dated May 17, 2024, and signed by Collins Nwabunwanne, the state Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Community Affairs.
According to the letter, the directive will be effective starting Monday, May 20, 2024.
The letter read, “Following the expiration of your tenure as Transition Committee Chairman, you are hereby directed to handover the affairs of your Local Government Council to the Head of Local Government Administration (HLGA), in your respective Local Government Councils.
“This directive takes effect from Monday, 20th day of May, 2024. Thank you for your service to the state. All replies to be addressed to the Honourable Commissioner.”
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe was on Wednesday inducted into the Fellowship of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).
Biztellers reports that the investiture was performed by the President/Chair-in-Council of the NSE, Engr. Margaret Aina Oguntala, FNSE at a ceremony in Abuja.
Oguntala congratulated the 63 new inductees and urged them to uphold the values of their new position in their field of engineering. She highlighted that engineers have been at the forefront of driving progress and development across various sectors of the economy, notably in the oil and gas industry.
She particularly lauded the ES of NCDMB for his excellent leadership and expertise through the strategic development of local content and in-country value retention, which is a testament to his brilliance in the field of engineering.
Oguntala also applauded the strategic partnership between the NSE, the NCDMB and other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.
Similarly, the chairman Board of Fellows/College of Fellows, Engr. Kamila Maliki, FNSE, commended the new inductees for their resilience, dedication, and contribution to the field of engineering.
He added that it was not a small feat to be chosen for the investiture due to the rigorous and thorough nature of the selection process.
The ES later was joined by the Managing Director of Setraco Nigeria Limited, Engr. Ziad Mouannes and Senator Patrick Ndubueze for the unveiling of the very first edition of the 2024 NSE Quarterly Magazine.
Some senior officials of the Board who accompanied the ES to the event included the Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, Abdulmalik Halilu, Director, Project Certification and Authorization, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele, and the General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, Esueme Dan Kikile, Esq.
Before he was appointed the ES of NCDMB, Engr. Ogbe had nearly 30 years top-level career in the field of engineering in the employment of Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), before retiring voluntarily to set up his private firm.
His last position at Chevron Nigeria was Construction Services Group Superintendent, and he oversaw 200 personnel, including Nigerian nationals and expatriates.
Other notable positions he held at the company included Offshore Projects Manager, Construction Manager (Lagos, Escravos -Warri), Construction Engineer (San Ramon) in California, United States of America.
On Saturday evening, armed soldiers shut down the popular Banex Plaza in the Wuse 2 district of Abuja after a clash between traders and three soldiers over a phone sale dispute.
According to eyewitness Okechukwu Daniel, the incident began on Saturday afternoon when a young military man returned to a phone shop, claiming a phone he bought about a month ago was faulty.
Daniel, also a trader at Banex Plaza, stated that the seller refused to accept the phone back due to the lengthy period that had passed since the sale.
He said “When the phone seller refused to collect the phone back, the young guy threatened him that he will shut down his shop for refusing to collect the phone, and the seller told him to do his worse.
“That was when he got angry and went to one of the barracks close by and brought two soldiers to come and harass the phone seller for him to collect the phone back.
“When the two soldiers got to the phone shop to threaten the seller, he still refused to collect the phone. The soldiers got angry and wanted to use force on him, that was when other traders came to the rescue of the phone seller and beat up the two soldiers.”
Daniel added that after the soldiers were assaulted, they went back to the barracks to gather reinforcements.
When they returned to Banex Plaza to confront the phone seller and other traders, the traders had already fled from their shops.
He added “When over 50 soldiers who were visibly angry got to the plaza, they could not find the traders that beat up their colleagues, so they decided to shut down the plaza by asking everyone to leave. Anyone found around the plaza was asked to do frog jump and other punishment,”
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NCDMB’s Exec Sec, Ogbe Bags NSE’s Fellowship
Soldiers Shut Down Banex Plaza After Clash With Traders [Video]
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