| Damilola |
| Dauda |
| Evans |
President Goodluck Jonathan hinted yesterday, the ordeal his late younger sister, Mrs Nancy Jonathan-Olei underwent as a result of a heart-related disease before she died.
Speaking at the funeral service held at the St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Otuoke, Bayelsa State for his late sister, Jonathan said God was kind to his sister during her regular medical sojourns to India from the time he was deputy governor of Bayelsa State.
He said, “Nancy is my immediate younger sister though not of the same mother. I was very sad when she died because I knew she had been passing through pains for a very long time. Sometimes, I felt God had been really kind to her.”
“She started developing problems with her heart when I was deputy governor, then I started asking questions. I asked my personal physician where we could treat her, that she had problems with her aortic valve, the valves circulating blood to the heart. My doctor told me the nearest place to treat her was Ghana.
“So I said we have so many teaching hospitals in Nigeria and none can attempt to work on a human heart? I was worried. But today, I am happy that University of Ibadan is handling open heart surgery.
“We battled with her health and she was taken to India on and on and for over three years, she has been down. When the immediate younger brother died, she could not even attend the burial.”
He added that it was worth celebrating if a Christian attains the age of 70 years before passing on.
The body of the late Nancy was moved from the Otuoke Comprehensive Hospital Mortuary to her residence in Otuoke and thereafter to the Dame Patience Jonathan Square for service of songs before it was interred after the church service.
Despite the recent reduction in the pump price of petrol from N97 to N87 per litre, the Federal Government has said it will still pay subsidy on the product for the next 40 days.
The government explained that fuel consumed in Nigeria was “heavily subsidised” before the global crunch in crude oil prices, adding that it would take some time before subsidy on the product would stop.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, while explaining why the pump price of fuel in Nigeria did not reduce as soon as global crude oil prices plummeted, said Nigeria was importing against the global import prices for crude.
She spoke during a Raypower radio programme monitored by our correspondent in Abuja.
Speaking also on the price of diesel, the minister said the product’s price was been decided by market forces as diesel was not regulated by the Federal Government.
“Bear in mind that we will still be covering subsidy cost for at least 40 days for those marketers who had already brought in stock, there should be no issue with distributing the product at the lower price,” the minister said.
The PUNCH reported on Thursday that despite the recent reduction in the pump price of petrol, the government claimed it still pays N2.84 as subsidy on every litre of the product consumed.
Also, the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, in a statement on Friday, insisted that with the current pump price of N87/litre, the government was still subsidising the pump price of petrol in favour of consumers.
The PPPRA Executive Secretary, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, said the price of crude oil dropped to a point where the open market price of petrol also fell to a level where the government considered it appropriate to relieve some of the burden imposed on Nigerians by the knock-on effect of the dwindling price of crude oil on the economy.
He said the price of crude oil averaged $62 in December, 2014 and dropped to an average of $50 per barrel for the first half of January, 2015.
According to Ahmed, it is after a consistent monitoring of the trend that the government was able to confirm its ability to reduce the pump price of gasoline, commensurate with the amount announced.
He explained that even at the lowest crude oil price of $47.23 recorded on January 16, 2015, the open market price of petrol was about the same as the erstwhile price of N97/litre.
“What this means is that at the new price of N87 per litre, government is still subsidising the pump price of petrol,” Ahmed was quoted in the statement.
On why the price of diesel did not respond to the global crash in crude oil prices considering the fact that the product was not subsidised, Alison-Madueke said diesel was not controlled by the government.
She said, “Therefore you will find that diesel’s response is directly related to the market indices of supply and demand in a free market. It relates directly to whatever cost it is being procured abroad, that is the global prices. So we have no business with that.”
On kerosene and why it was difficult to get the product at the subsidised rate of N50/litre, she said the transportation cost to remote areas coupled with the greed of some marketers were the major reasons why kerosene price was high in many locations.
Alison-Madueke said, “There are unscrupulous marketers everywhere who just put more on top of their products than the actual transportation cost. We have come down hard on them so many times and have sealed some of them. But as you do one, another one comes behind and that is why I appeal to marketers because it is greed and avaricious behaviour that causes this.”
Meanwhile, the government officially commenced its Kero-Correct Scheme on Friday in Abuja. The scheme, according to the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Joseph Dawha, would ensure the sale of kerosene at the regulated price of N50/litre in filling stations across the country.
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Two friends threw decorum to the wind at Old Ojo Road in Agboju area of Lagos State on Thursday when they fought over who becomes the winner of the 2015 presidential election.
A man identified as Chukwuemeka was said to have boasted that come rain or shine, Muhammadu Buhari would win the election, a statement opposed by his friend, Akpan who insisted that President Goodluck Jonathan remains the best material for the plum job.
Chukwuemeka who was said to have attended the All Progressives Congress (APC) rally in Ajeromi/Ifelodun local government area the fateful day tried in vain to convince Akpan to support the APC.
What was said to be a friendly discussion degenerated into a fight as Akpan allegedly hit Chukwuemeka in the chest.
LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered that Chukwuemeka’s retaliation nearly turned fatal as he gave his opponent a punch across the lips causing his teeth to fall off and a direct punch on the nose, causing him to fall.
An eyewitness, Etim disclosed that, “Akpan fainted and those in the area had to use cold water to revive him. We have been friends for many years and I don’t know why the two friends who knew each other about a decade before I knew them would fight over election that they will not gain much from. As for me, I am not a fanatical supporter of any candidate so I will not fight because of any candidate.’
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A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in
President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state, Bayelsa,
and former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Venezuela,
Ecuador and Colombia, Senator Felix Oboro, on Friday,
officially dumped the PDP for APC.
He was received by the leader of APC and former
governor of the state, Timipre Sylva; state chairman of
the party, Tiwei Orunimighe, and BoT member, Perez
Peretu, among other party stalwarts at a ceremony in
Yenagoa.
Oboro, a founding member of PDP, was also the
Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in the
administration of the first civilian governor of the state,
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, under which Jonathan
served as deputy governor.
Giving reasons for his defection to APC, Oboro accused
Jonathan of destroying internal democracy in PDP.
“Since Dr. Jonathan became President and leader of
PDP nationwide, there has never been any genuine
congress in any part of the PDP states to elect
candidates to represent the party in any election,” he
said.
He described the Jonathan-led Federal Government as
inept, stressing that it had enthroned “corruption,
insecurity and economic downturn” in Nigeria.
He said: “Under President Jonathan, even a simple
thing like internal democracy in his party has been
destroyed because he ascended the governorship
position through unholy harmonisation and not
democracy.
“As for corruption, insecurity and economic downturn,
Jonathan’s six years as President is now the cause of
these problems the country is talking about.”
He said APC presidential candidate, General
Muhammadu Buhari, has over 90 per cent chances
more than the President across the states in next
month’s elections, stressing that Nigerians see in
Buhari a disciplined leader who would fix the nation’s
problems.
“Our people must join the mainstream and we should
not allow our state to be ostracised. Dr. Jonathan has
no regard for Ijaw people. He has not shown any pride
of being an Ijaw man. The little dividend of democracy
he has brought to the state is for his community,
Otuoke”, said Oboro, who thanked the leaders and
members of APC for accepting him.
In his remarks, Sylva berated the PDP-controlled
Federal Government for its failure to provide stable
power supply and other social amenities it promised
Nigerians, adding that “there is poverty and insecurity
everywhere.”
He said Buhari was in the presidential race “to give
service, fix and clean up the country for us” if elected
on February 14.
The former governor described Oboro as “a major
pillar of PDP,” pointing out that with his defection to
APC, the ruling party “has been unhinged and it is
going to collapse.”
Receiving Oboro into the party, the state chairman,
Tiwei Orunimighe, who handed him a broom, the
party’s symbol, expressed the hope that he would bring
his wealth of political experience to bear on the party.
