Michael Ojuroye Initiative (Ngo)

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  30th September 2013 David Moyes. Replacing Ferguson always looked like being a tough task for the former Everton manager, especially when all the main title challengers invested heavily in new players during the off-season while United stood still. In terms of managing expectations, David Moyes has done a splendid job so far at Manchester United. Raising them might prove tougher though as United's worst start to a season since the early days of his predecessor Alex Ferguson in 1989 has left them down in 12th place in the Premier League after six games. Replacing Ferguson always looked like being a tough task for the former Everton manager, especially when all the main title challengers invested heavily in new players during the off-season while United stood still. The Reds made only one addition for the new season and Marouane Fellaini, whom Moyes signed from Everton on deadline day, did not even start in the 2-1 defeat by West Bromwich Albion on Saturday...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  30th September 2013 President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed to check crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the nation’s oil and gas sector, noting that if past administrations had taken decisive actions against the crime, it would have been checked. The president, who made the claim during the presidential media chat on Sunday in Abuja, also said the issue of corruption in Nigeria is exaggerated. Jonathan said: “The problem of oil theft has started long ago, if governments at that time had done something to check it, it wouldn’t have developed into the level it is now. Today, people within and outside the country are involved in the crime. Crude oil stealing is not done by the poor because you need a vessel to do it and to sell outside the country, you need connections. So, it is not done by the poor. But I assure Nigerians that we are doing everything to check it.” Reacting to question on allegation of massive corruption in the country, Jonathan ...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  30th Sept. 2013 The All Progressives Congress says it has uncovered a ‘grand and serpentine’ plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Presidency to rig the 2015 general elections, especially the presidential poll, and to destabilize Nigeria. In a statement issued in Lagos today by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the multi-faceted strategy includes suppression of votes in areas where the President's chances are slim, using the police and the military. According to APC, the PDP and the Presidency also plan to use what they have tagged a ‘Third Force’ to:     •    Bamboozle Nigerians and project the image of a performing Presidency, even when they admit that the current public perception of the government is less than salutary because of its weakness and lack of vision;       •    Engage in the destabilization of the APC using moles and fift...

  By: Funmi Ojuroye  29th Sept, 2013 The eerie calm in  the security and sociopolitical space of Kaduna State, on Monday, burst into cataclysmic political excitement never seen since the death of its former governor,  Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, and the swearing-in of his deputy, Alh. Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, last December, to succeed him. Three closely linked events took place. And they may well set the agenda that would profoundly determine the fortunes or otherwise of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the state and that of the characters that ride on it. First, like bad dream turn real, Vice President Namadi Sambo, whose outings in the last three polls in the state showed that he could not win even his own street and ward, woke up to find that the  party had developed a very bitter faction that announced its loyalty  to the Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led “New” PDP’. This would make his political relevance both in the state, the No...

By: Funmi Ojuroye  29th Sept, 2013 No fewer than 11 people were on Saturday killed in a renewed attack in Zangang village in Attakar Chiefdom, Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The gunmen attacked the village early in the morning, leaving several houses completely burnt. A resident of the village, Isuwa Jiga, said more corpses were likely to be discovered as many residents were still missing. “We have not seen some of our family members yet,’’ Jiga said. When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP. Aminu Lawal, confirmed the incident. Lawal said that a combined team of security operatives had been deployed to the area. Zangang village had witnessed three consecutive attacks since the beginning of this year, while several lives and property were lost in the attacks.

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  28th Sept. 2013 UNITED NATIONS, – The UN Security Council unanimously passed a landmark resolution Friday ordering the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons and condemning a murderous poison gas attack in Damascus. The major powers overcame a prolonged deadlock to approve the first council resolution on the conflict, which is now 30 months old with more than 100,000 dead. UN leader Ban Ki-moon, who called the resolution “the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time,” said he hopes to convene a peace conference in mid-November. Resolution 2118, the result of bruising negotiations between the United States and Russia, gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical arms. The plan calls for Syria’s estimated 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons to be put under international control by mid-2014. International experts are expected to start work in Syria to meet the tight deadline nex...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  28th Sept. 2013 President Goodluck Jonathan will tomorrow speak on current national issues during a Presidential Media Chat to be broadcast live at 7pm, local time. In a release by Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, said, President Jonathan will in the course of the programme, answer questions from a panel of journalists on current national issues and events, as well as policies and actions of his administration. He further asked members  of the public who have  questions for President to respond to on the programme  to send via Twitter to @mediachatng1.  According to Abati, the  programme will be broadcast live on the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Voice of Nigeria (VON). What are your expectations on the President’s chat? What are your questions?  Do write your expectations and questions on ...