I was once suicidal, says Kano student who stepped up, studied Law

I was once suicidal, says Kano student who stepped up, studied Law

For eleven years, Hauwa Yusuf has been battling with an ailment which makes her unable to walk, or stand for more than five minutes. It was detected when she was 14, she said. “I was in SS1 at the former Al-Ansar Girls College now Zara Nanono Memorial College when my parents observed that I was having problems with my legs.”
Hauwa was first taken to Dala National Orthopedic Hospital, but her parents were told that the disease has nothing to do with bones and therefore they were referred to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. She told Daily Trust Saturday that she underwent series of tests before the disease was finally detected. Hauwa is suffering from Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD). It is a progressive sickness because it is increasing, she said.

Despite her condition, Hauwa managed to complete her secondary school education and even preceded to Bayero University Kano (BUK) where she graduated last year with LLB certificate. “Although the sickness started when I was in secondary school, it didn’t discourage me from pursuing my education. Despite my condition, I managed to complete secondary school and went on to BUK, where I read law, thanks to encouragement of my family, friends and classmates,” she said.  

Hauwa narrated that it was a very difficult experience, but as fate would have it today she is a graduate. “I faced serious difficulty and pain attending lectures because I was unable to lift up my legs, even to climb stairs,” she said. “But because lecturers and classmates were always willing to help me, I managed to complete my studies last year.”
Hauwa said she could not stop thanking her family. “No-one’s ever abandoned me, even for a moment because of my condition,” she said, smiling and full of life. She added that before her diagnosis, she suffered from depression. “At a point, I resolved to commit suicide. At that time, I could not sleep because of my condition. But with the help of my parents, I’ve made it.”
Hauwa also told Daily Trust about a kind benefactor: “When the Chairman of Ibrahim Magnet Foundation indicated interest to help me, I could not sleep that day. And God in his infinite mercy, after the MRI and CT scans, showed many things were related my sickness, the foundation declared that they would shoulder my treatment. I don’t know how to thank Alhaji Ibrahim Magnet for what he did. All I can say is that may God the Almighty reward him.
Asked about her future plans, Hauwa told Daily Trust that she wants to be a politician, precisely a Member of House of Reps, at the National Assembly.
Her mother, Hajiya Hadiza Yusuf, said the family has gone through difficulties. “We took her to so many hospitals, but all in vain. We later switched over to herbal medicine, but nothing changed. Till the Magnet Foundation came to the rescue, we had lost hope.”
Hauwa’s mother added that the MRI and CT scan results have raised the family’s hopes. “And the chairman of the foundation has told us that they will help even if she is going to be flown abroad for treatment. He said no matter what it will cost him, he will help her regain her legs.”

Daily post.

Tinubu may be suspended for anti-party.

Ondo gov poll:  Tinubu may be suspended for anti-party.

It appears the All Progressives Congress may have initiated moves to investigate allegations of anti-party activities against the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and some of the party members believed to be loyal to him.

This is happening as the party appears to be in a dilemma over how to deal with the party leader over suspicion that he is backing the Alliance for Democracy in the forthcoming Ondo State governorship election.

Tinubu is believed to be supporting Chief Olusola Oke, one of the governorship aspirants in the party’s primary in Ondo State who had recently defected to the Alliance for Democracy, along with his supporters.

The leadership of the APC, according to impeccable sources who spoke to Saturday PUNCH, considered the purported support for an opposition party by a leader of the APC ahead of the coming Ondo governorship election as constituting anti-party infractions that should not be overlooked.

Tinubu’s godson, Dr. Olusegun Abraham, was edged out in the primary won by Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), who is believed to have enjoyed the backing of the party’s national leadership.

The delegates’ list for the Ondo APC primary was said to have been doctored to favour Akeredolu and this allegedly infuriated Tinubu.

As such, Tinubu asked the APC’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to resign over his alleged role in the primary in which his (Tinubu’s) candidate had come second.

In the statement in which the party’s national leader made the allegations, Tinubu said Odigie-Oyegun had “dealt a heavy blow to the very party he professes to lead” by derailing from the path of progressives.

The post-primary election crisis of the Ondo APC took a different dimension when Oke defected to AD in a move believed to have been instructed by Tinubu.

Party sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Saturday PUNCH that they had proofs that Tinubu was backing the AD governorship candidate. They added that the party leader had released funds for Oke’s campaign.

The Ondo State chapter of the APC confirmed that some members of the party were under investigation over alleged anti-party activities.

The Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Abayomi Adesanya, said specifically that some members loyal to Tinubu had been found to be involved in some activities against the party in the recent time.

Abayomi, who said expulsion from the party was the penalty for any anti-party activity, said the national body of the party would investigate and later come out with an action against any national leader involved in such activity.

He said, “We have yet to confirm if our National Leader is involved in anti-party activities but we will investigate; we are very sure that some of his boys here are involved in anti-party activities but when it is time, appropriate action would be meted to them.”

“Anti-party action is a serious offence in any political party and in our own party, total expulsion is the penalty.”

But a chieftain of the APC loyal to Tinubu, Mr. Bola Ilori,  said APC members who supported Rotimi Akeredolu’s emergence as the party’s candidate were those involved in anti-party activities.

Ilori, who is a loyalist to Dr. Segun Abraham, alleged that the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was also involved in anti-party activities by allegedly using veto power to over-rule the recommendation of the Electoral Appeal Committee and submitted Akeredolu’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

He said, “ Whoever is promoting or supporting Akeredolu to be the candidate of the APC is involving in anti-party (activities) because the NWC voted five to six not to submit the name of Akeredolu, and the National Chairman went ahead and submitted his (Akeredolu) name. So, what they have done is anti-party (action) itself.

“What they have done is anti-party (action) that has never happened in the history of the party.”

Saturday PUNCH also learnt that the APC national leadership is aware of Tinubu’s alleged anti-party moves in Ondo State but is very reluctant to sanction him.

This, according to party sources, has to do with Tinubu’s influence in the party and his tight grip on the party structure in the South-West.

Meanwhile, APC members, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH, have explained that the ruling party’s constitution prescribes sanctions against anyone found to be engaged in anti-party misdemeanor.

The Publicity Secretary of the Kwara State chapter of the APC, Mr. Sulaiman Buhari, said “A panel will be set up to investigate the matter. After the investigation, it is the panel that will recommend the punishment but it is stipulated in the Constitution. The person can be suspended or expelled from the party, given the (nature of the) offence. The situation also applies to chieftains of the party.”

The Cross River State Chairman of the APC, Mr. John Ochala, simply said, “Suspension,” when asked the specific sanction the party had reserved for those engaged in anti-party activities.

In Rivers State, the Publicity Sectary of the APC, Mr. Chris Finebone, said any political party that is worth its salt must sanction any action by any member that is detrimental to it.

The Edo State chairman of the APC, Anselm Ojezua, said, “It (anti-party activity) can range from suspension to expulsion, depending on the circumstances of the case. There are no party chieftains; in the APC, everybody is a member.”

Meanwhile, Oke has said that he defected from the APC to the AD because he failed to get justice after he challenged the result of the primary of the party held on September 3. 2016 and the national leadership refused to act on the recommendation of the appeal committee.

The former National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party, who spoke through his media aide, Mr. Rotimi Ogunleye, said he made a wide consultation with people across the 18 local government areas of the state before taking the decision to leave the APC, stressing that it was on the advice of the people that he took the decision.

He also declared that since he had the support of the people, many members of the APC, PDP and many other political parties in the state would soon join him in the AD.

On whether he had the support of Tinubu,  Oke said he had sold his credentials to Tinubu and national leaders of other political parties.

“Because of the status and personality  of  Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, we are duty bound as politicians to sell the dossier and credentials of capacity and experience to him  and all the leaders of political parties and hope that they would give support to progressive ideas that can develop the people and lead to the growth of our state when they see these ideas,”  Oke added.

Repeated calls to the mobile telephone of the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun were neither picked nor returned.

A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report.

Similar efforts made to get a reaction from Tinubu were equally unsuccessful. Calls to the mobile telephone number of his spokesman, Mr. Tunde Rahman, were neither picked nor returned.

 A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report.

Copyright PUNCH.  

Ondo crisis: Nobody’s money can buy my conscience, Oyegun tells Tinubu

Ondo crisis: Nobody’s money can buy my conscience, Oyegun tells Tinubu 

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Friday responded to allegations levelled against him by the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

 Odigie-Oyegun, who, in a statement issued in Abuja, said all members of the party must respect its constitution, stated that nobody had the money to buy his conscience.

The media office of Tinubu, had in a statement issued few weeks ago, accused Odigie-Oyegun of derailing from the party’s ethos and faulted his role in the APC governorship primary in Ondo State, which was won by Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).

 The statement had said, “(Odigie-) Oyegun has dealt a heavy blow to the very party he professes to lead. It is an awful parent who suffocates his own child for the sake of a few naira.”

But the national chairman in his first comprehensive response to Tinubu’s allegations, described the allegations as reckless and baseless, adding that it was an insult on his person and hard-earned reputation.

He stated, “Nobody has the kind of money that can buy my conscience or make me do injury to an innocent man. In all the primaries conducted under my watch as national chairman, I have strived to ensure a free, fair, transparent and credible process. The 2016 Ondo State APC governorship primary was not an exception. There must be internal democracy in the party and our constitution must be respected by all.”

Odigie-Oyegun also responded to an allegation that he overruled the decision of APC’s National Working Committee, which reportedly had majority of its members present voting in favour of cancellation of the result of the primary.

He said that the minutes of the NWC meetings, which were held from September 19 to September 22, showed that the committee did not vote in favour of cancellation of the primary as claimed by Tinubu.

Odigie-Oyegun said the allegation made by Tinubu’s media office “was a figment of someone’s wild imagination.”

He said, “On Thursday, September 22, 2016, being the final day for submission of candidate by political parties, the NWC discussed the possibility of voting having finished deliberation on the 2016 Ondo State APC Governorship Primary  Appeal Committee Report because members in support of cancelling the primary results were still strident in their position.

“A member of the NWC, however, drew the attention of the meeting to its previous decision in which the report of the primary election committee was adopted while the appeal committee’s was set aside. The implication of this decision, he reasoned, was that a decision to submit the name of the winner of the primary election was already taken unless the NWC would now wish to reconsider its earlier decision.”

Odigie-Oyegun said he agreed with the submission of the member and ruled that the previous decision of the NWC be upheld.

He also faulted an allegation that the names of “over 150 valid delegates were excised to make room for an equal number of impostors.”

He stated that the Ondo State delegates’ list was compiled in strict compliance with the party’s constitution. Odigie-Oyegun said that only qualified delegates were included on the list.

He further said that none of the aspirants or the appeal committee had submitted to the NWC, names of delegates who were not qualified to be on   the list, but were included.

The national chairman also stated that the NWC had not received names of presumed qualified delegates, who were not included on the list used for the primary.

Odigie-Oyegun recalled that Tinubu’s media office alleged that he used a “prayer interlude”, which he initiated, to “secretly excuse” himself from the NWC meeting.

According to the allegation, it was during the interlude that he submitted Akeredolu’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission as the candidate of the party.

Odigie-Oyegun said, “The allegation is high fiction and an insult to the intelligence and sensibility of the respected NWC members present at the meeting. We do not and have never engaged in prayer interludes/sessions outside the usual opening and closing prayers. The prayer being referred to must be the closing prayer for the meeting.

“The party’s NWC’s decision to reject the 2016 Ondo State APC Governorship Primary Appeal Committee Report was taken on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 in an executive session after careful and exhaustive deliberations. The minutes and rejection were confirmed by the NWC on Thursday, September 22, 2016.

“The NWC, in its four-point resolution, rejected the appeal committee’s recommendation on the grounds that the report was fundamentally and fatally flawed. The NWC observed that the appeal committee contradicted itself when it admitted in its report, ‘In making the above recommendations, one is not unmindful of the fact that there may have been substantial compliance in the conduct of the exercise,’ but still proceeded to recommend the nullification of the primary election.”

According to him, the NWC, in its four-point resolution, also faulted the failure of the appeal committee to invite the national secretariat as the custodian, to authenticate or otherwise, the source of the disputed delegates’ list.

He also noted that the appeal committee did not invite the Chairman or members of the Ondo State Governorship Primary Committee to clarify issues relating to the allegation of manipulation of the accreditation process.

Odigie-Oyegun said that the appeal committee relied totally on unsubstantiated evidence in the petitions it received to recommend the nullification of the primary.

“This is against the principle of natural justice and fair hearing,” he added.

He further said, “The NWC observed a serious contradiction in the appeal committee’s report in respect of the number of the accredited delegates. Whereas the primary election committee’s report indicated that 2,774 delegates were accredited, the appeal committee’s report erroneously recorded it as those who voted in the election, thereby acting under the false impression that there was over-voting in the exercise. The actual total number of votes cast was 2,754, as clearly recorded in the primary election committee’s report.

“The issue of fresh primary did not arise as the NWC had already rejected the appeal committee’s report in view of the stated flaws and upheld the election. In any case, any fresh primary was already time barred. By the timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, all governorship primaries and issues related ended on September 19, 2016.”

He said that at the meeting, voting on a fresh primary was unnecessary and never took place in view of the NWC’s rejection of the appeal committee’s report.

Odigie-Oyegun stated, “The foregoing are facts backed by the minutes approved by all NWC members that attended the meetings held in respect of 2016 Ondo State APC Governorship Primary Election Appeal Committee Report.”

The national chairman added that the NWC was confident that the Chairman of the Ondo State APC Governorship Primary Election Committee and Governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru, conducted a credible and exemplary exercise.

He said that he was setting the records straight “in view of the misinformation and false reports that have been fed to the media and that have pervaded the public space.”

The national chairman appealed to leaders and members of the party at all levels to explore internal dispute resolution mechanism in addressing their perceived grievances “instead of resorting to the media to vent their spleen.

“There are enormous challenges in delivering the party’s 2015 election promises to Nigerians. On the immediate horizon is the task of winning the governorship election in Ondo State. We cannot afford to be distracted by the present contentions.”

Odigie-Oyegun said that despite the media attention that had been generated by the disagreements in the aftermath of the Ondo State governorship primary, the party had already commenced wide consultations with stakeholders, with a view to resolving the political differences.

“The APC national leadership remains united and solidly committed to the task of winning the Ondo State governorship election to save the people of the state from the misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party,” he stated.

Attempts to get the spokesman for Tinubu, Mr. Tunde Rahman, did not succeed as he did not pick calls to his mobile telephone nor respond to a text message sent to the phone.

Copyright PUNCH.