Groups begin Recall procedure against Ebonyi Legislators

Groups begin recall procedure against Ebonyi legislators
A non governmental organization in Ebonyi state, Ochoudo Youth League has vowed to ensure the recalling of five legislators of the state legislature whom they say have abandoned their legislative duties. According to the leader of the group, Comrade Godwin Nwogha, the legislators ‘instead of working for the good of their people, have constituted themselves into willing tools in the hands of haters of the state who want to rule the state by all means’ noting that the youths of the state cannot allow the current state of affairs to continue.
Nwogha, who addressed newsmen in his Abakaliki office at the weekend said they already have over half of the required number of the signatures in five state constituencies and will soon be ready for the Independent National Electoral Commission.
‘We have been busy these past weeks and I can authoritatively tell you that five state constituencies are almost ready with their recall documents. In Ebonyi LGA, Ohaozara LGA, Onicha LGA, Ikwo LGA and Ishielu LGA, the documents are almost ready with more than half the required signatures already in place’ he said.
Going further, Nwogha revealed they were working in concert with several other organizations to ensure that the recall move succeeds.
Concurring, James Agbo of Network for Democratic Vanguard noted that the lawmakers were a disgrace to the electorates that elected them. ‘They make incoherent pronouncements on issues that does not warrant their interference, contradict themselves, and often display glaring ignorance in the handling of legislative assignments. It very clear they are not acting on their own and that we can no longer condone’.

Courtesy: Chooks Oko

Write, Draw or Paint and Win Big as #Choice4Life Advocates Announce Online Contest

#Choice4Life Advocates – a group of 54 young Nigerians from diverse backgrounds that promote Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, have opened an online contest today. The contest which is expected to run between today, February 7^th and February 28^th, 2015, accepts entries from the public in the forms of short essays, videos and drawings/paintings, which in a way, will be a messaging medium to the Senators urging them to pass the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill (VAPPbill), a proposed legislation which seeks to eliminate all forms of violence irrespective of gender from the society, and also provides compensation and rehabilitation to victims and survivors.

Themed “Citizen’s Rights and the #VAPPBill”, the contest will award prizes to top three winners and consolation prizes to 3 others.

The prizes to be won are;

1^st Prize – iPad Air

2^nd Prize – Dell Notebook PC

3^rd Prize – Samsung S5 mini handheld

Consolation prize –   N10, 000 each for 3 persons

Entries are accepted via email: vappbillcontest@gmail.com.

 

Eligibility Criteria:

1. Entrants should be resident in Nigeria and aged between 18 years and 35 years old.
2. Entrants can be male or female.

• #Choice4Life Advocates are NOT eligible to participate.

Essay entries should be in MS Word format; not more than 200 words; Arial font type; size 12; 1.5 spacing; 0.8 margins on all sides; all references should be footnoted; and your entry should have a cover page stating your name, phone number, location and date of birth.

–          Video/Photovoice entries should be not more than 60 seconds long, in mobile friendly format, preferably MP4

– Drawings/Paintings – should be one pager, not less than the size of A4 paper. A clear snapshot of the art work should be sent via email. Original copies shall be required to be sebt to an address to be provided.

NB: Direct the message in your entry to the senator representing your constituency at the National Assembly.

What is #VAPPbill? To find out, Visit – https://bit.ly/vappbill

[Laz Ude Eze] Postponement of 2015 Election: 11 Questions on my Mind

Dr Laz Ude Eze

After weeks of debates, speculations and peaceful protests, the Nigeria’s national electoral body (INEC) has formally announced the postponement of the nationwide elections from Feb 14/28 to March 28/April 11. Let me share some questions on my mind;

1. Why did the NSA who hardly speaks on national issues choose to make call for election shift in London without previous official correspondence with INEC on the issue?

2. Was it a mere coincidence that groups and persons sympathetic to the PDP started voicing out in support of poll shift as suggested by the NSA?

3. Why would security agents chose to begin “final onslaught” against insurgents from the week an election scheduled one year ago is set to hold.

4. If our security agents believe they could rout BH in 6 weeks to allow for peaceful election, why did they wait this long and allowed BH to continue its carnage against the Nigerian people? Will they also #BringBackOurGirls within this period?

5. With many Nigerians yet to collect their PVCs and prospective INEC ad hoc staff yet to be trained on the use of Card Readers 1 week to the election, why was the INEC insisting on going ahead with the election as previously scheduled for Feb 14?

6. Why did INEC choose to make the official announcement of the postponement late at night?

7. Why are the APC and its supporters vehemently opposed to the postponement of elections?

8. Why did some people who hailed Jega – the INEC Boss in recent past for conducting credible polls turn round to lead calls for his resignation?

9. Given the poll shift, will the Senate to resume and complete their good work by passing the Violence Against Persons Prohibition #VAPP Bill in addition to the budget?

10. Will government institutions be able to function normally between now and March 28?

11. What happens to the new words and hashtags like -> FeBuhari, #FailBuhari, #GEJmyVal

Let peace reign in #Nigeria! #SenatePassVAPPbill!! #Choice4Life !!!