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Reps Demand End to Inhuman Treatment of Nigerians in China

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House of Rep Speaker-Femi Gbajabiamila
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By Orkula Shaagee, Abuja

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed displeasure over the inhuman treatment meted out on some Nigerians by the Chinese authorities in Beijing.

He said at a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, that the inhuman treatment on Nigerians in China must be addressed forthwith.

 

The Speaker went ahead to confront the Ambassador with the protest video of an incidence, where a Nigerian was seen challenging Chinese officials over the maltreatment.

 

At the meeting, which had in attendance the Minority Leader, Rep. Ndudi Elumelu and Deputy Minority Leader, Rep.

Toby Okechukwu, the Speaker said viral media reports and videos from Beijing showed Nigerians being forced out of their houses and hotels, rounded up and their passports seized by the Chinese police.

The viral videos also showed that some Nigerians were being forced into another 14-day quarantine after the initial 14 days they spent for same purpose over the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

The Speaker said there should be an official explanation for treating Nigerians in such a manner.

While asking the Chinese Ambassador if he has taken up the issue with his home country, the Speaker said: “If the diplomatic relationships between our two countries are for the mutual benefits of our citizens, then there must be respect for our citizens, and we should not compromise it.

“As a government, we will not allow Chinese or other nationals to be maltreated just as we will not allow Nigerians to be maltreated in other countries.”The way you treat your citizens, we expect that’s how you’ll treat others. We will not tolerate our citizens breaking your laws, but the crime of one citizen cannot be used to stigmatize the whole country.

“It appears that’s what happened in this case. You can’t use one brush to smear the whole wall. Whatever the reason, it cannot be used and taken out on the entire community in China”.

In his response, Ambassador Pingjian said though he has not been officially informed about the details of the incidence but that he would take it up with the home government.”We take our relationship with Nigeria very seriously. Until we receive a full report from back home, I cannot act, but I can assure you it is not a policy issue.

“We treat everyone equally, but during the implementation of the COVID-19 measures in China, it is possible for some incidents; all I do is to take it back home, today I will,” he said.

The Speaker said the House will expect a feedback from the Ambassador as soon as possible, saying “we are glad you are looking into it but we are hoping to have it at least by Tuesday.

“It is better we nip it in the bud so that it doesn’t escalate to another level. So, by Tuesday, if you have the information to give us, if steps have been taken, let’s talk about it and let’s see the way forward.

The Speaker also sought to understand the specific mandate of the Chinese medical team that arrived Nigeria on Wednesday, and if they are on quarantine.

The Ambassador said the Chinese medical personnel were in full quarantine and ready to observe all protocols as stipulated by Nigeria.”They are on 100 percent quarantine. The NCDC has been there twice; they have to follow the protocol. They are here to deliver medical supplies and on advisory role only, that is a prevention working group on COVID-19. They will do nothing like practicing as doctors,” he said. 

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INEC Staff Welfare Association Warns Members Against Manipulating Election Results

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The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.

The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.

Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.

He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.

“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.

“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.

“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”

He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.

Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.

He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.

He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.

According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.

Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)

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Be Thankful APC Didn’t Probe Your Administrations, Okechukwu Tells PDP

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A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.

Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.
This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)

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LG Administration Central to Democracy in Nigeria -Nwoko

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Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).

He was represented by his Chief of Staff.
He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.
“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)

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