DELSUTH makes history, performs first kidney transplant

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Another kidney transplant would be done on Tuesday

THE Delta State University Teaching Hospital, DELSUTH, Oghara has achieved a medical feat with a successful kidney transplant.

The state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, who disclosed this on Monday, expressed joy at the development, which he described as another medical breakthrough for the hospital.

The governor, a medical doctor, had assured last year that the hospital located in the home town of his predecessor, James Ibori, would achieve the feat.

The hospital had earlier carried out hip-bone and knee cap replacement surgeries.

“This is a happy day for me as we are able to provide this service,” Mr. Uduaghan, who was among the medical team in the theatre when the operation was done, said.

“I know we were well prepared for this surgery and we also have a good post-surgery team.”

The governor said DELSUTH was overflowing with patients and so the government was planning to expand bed facilities by putting up a 300-bed ward for this hospital.

He said the hospital had gone into a five year partnership with UT South-Western Medical Centre, Dallas, United States.

Mr. Udughan said, “We have a five-year training agreement with them to build infrastructure and human capacity.

“What they will be charging here will be far lower than what obtains anywhere else in the world.

“About two years ago, we started subsidizing dialysis in this hospital and brought it down from N22,000.00 to N5,000.00 . The subsidy is mainly for Deltans.”

The Chief Medical Director of DELSUTH, Leslie Akporiaye, said the kidney transplant was a new innovation in the hospital and that the operation lasted just a few hours.

“A lot of preparation has been on with the provision of necessary facilities, training and observation in Dallas and here in Oghara by staff of DELSUTH,” he said.

Mr. Akporiaye stated that the feat was the beginning of more of such surgeries that would take place in the hospital.

He also said that a second kidney transplant would be performed at the hospital on Tuesday.

Amaechi invites Jang to NGF meeting

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi

The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, who is also the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has summoned the meeting of the forum.

The notice of the meeting, which holds in Abuja on Wednesday, was also sent to the factional Chairman of the NGF, who is also the Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Jonah Jang.

The agenda of the meeting, shows that Amaechi will brief his colleagues on the letter  the governors wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan on the sharing of revenue accruing to the states from the Federation Account.

At their last meeting, which was held in Abuja on December 12, 2013, the governors said they were going to confront President  Jonathan on the alleged refusal of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to remit $49.8bn to the Federation Account.

The governors based their decision on the revelation  made by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,  Mallam  Lamido Sanusi, in a letter issued by him that the NNPC had failed to remit the money, which was said to be the proceeds of crude sales between January 2012 and July 2013.

The said amount was said to have represented 76 per cent of the value of crude oil lifted during the period, in which the NNPC was said to have remitted  $15.5bn, representing a paltry 24 per cent of the total value of $65.3bn.

It was also gathered that Wednesday meeting would also deliberate on funding challenges at the state level, how to move  the NGF forward, adoption  of the NGF Strategic Plan and Action Plans for 2014

The notice of the meeting was signed by the NGF Director-General, Mr. Asisha Okauru.

Meanwhile, the political crisis in Rivers State took another shape on Monday when the State Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Marshal Uwom, announced the resignation of his appointment.

Uwom, who spoke with newsmen shortly after submitting his resignation letter at the Government House in Port Harcourt, said he was not comfortable with the defection of Amaechi to the All Progressives Congress.

He said, “Series of recent developments, especially the decision of my boss, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, to dump the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress informed my decision to leave the cabinet.”

Sack Me If You Can, PDP Chairman Bamanga Tukur Dares President Jonathan

PDP Chair, Bamanga Tukur

By SaharaReporters, New York

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to remove him from office if he can.
Tukur's outburst followed the refusal of members of the party's National Working Committee to attend a meeting he called at the party's secretariat in Abuja last Wednesday.
The Adamawa State born politician, who is growing isolated at the top levels of the party where he is being held responsible for its dwindling influence and the defection of members, was infuriated by the attitude of his fellow national officers.  He told reporters that he can only be removed from office through a properly conducted National Convention and that unless and until that takes place, nobody, including President Jonathan can remove him.
The National Chairman also dismissed the allegation that he has been asked to resign by the President, and accused the opposition of planting the story to create disharmony in the party.
"I am an elected National Chairman, I have my certificate of return, I cannot resign,” he bragged.  “The convention brought me, so it has to take the convention that brought me for me to resign. So, not even the President can ask me to resign. Remember, some members of the NWC were asked to go recently because the election that brought them was flawed, so Mr. President cannot tread that route again."

Ronaldo defeats Messi, Ribery to emerge world best for 2013

The Portuguese defeated Messi and Ribery

Real Madrid and Portugal forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, has emerged the winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or for 2013.

Ronaldo defeated four-time winner, Messi (Barcelona and Argentina), and Frank Ribery (Bayern Munich and France) to win the highly coveted trophy and emerge the world’s best player for 2013.

“All I can say is thank you to everybody that has been involved,” Ronaldo said as he shed tears while receiving the award.

This is the second time the Portuguese is emerging world best player after his first win in 2008.

Other award recipients at the ceremony were German goalkeeper, Nadine Angerer, who emerged the FIFA best female footballer for 2013. Jupp Heynckes, the former coach of Bayern Munich, and Germany’s women’s national team coach, Silvia Neid, won the FIFA World Coach of the Year awards for men’s and women’s football respectively.

According to the FIFA website, the award winners “were voted for by national team coaches and captains as well as by the international media representatives selected by FIFA and French football magazine France Football.”

The World football governing body also said, “The entire voting process was supervised and monitored by PricewaterhouseCoopers Switzerland (PwC).”

The FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony was held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland.

The world best eleven players in various positions, FIFA FIFPro World XI, was also named, as selected by 52,000 professional footballers. No African player made the list.

Manuel Neuer (Germany) as goalkeeper; Dani Alves (Brazil), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Sergio Ramos (Spain) and Thiago Silva (Brazil) in defence; Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Franck Ribéry (France) and Xavi (Spain) in midfield; and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden) and Lionel Messi (Argentina) up front, made the FIFA 11.

Brazilian football legend, Pelé, was awarded the FIFA Ballon d’Or Prix d’Honneur for his lifetime achievement in football; while the Afghanistan national team got the FIFA Fair Play Award.

Defection: Senate postpones resumption to avert crisis

President of the Senate, David Mark

Strong indications emerged on Monday that the leadership of the Senate decided to postpone the resumption of plenary to next week Tuesday in order to avert possible clash among members.

Our correspondent learnt that the spontaneous reactions of some senators to the personal opinion expressed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, on the status of defecting lawmakers in the National Assembly had generated serious tension.

Specifically,  Enang had asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct fresh polls to fill vacant seats left by the lawmakers who had defected to the All Progressives Congress since they became members of the National Assembly through the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party they were abandoning.

The development forced the Senate leadership to direct the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, to issue a statement,  dissociating the Upper legislative chamber from the personal opinion expressed by Enang.

A source close to the leadership of the Senate told our correspondent on Monday that the postponement was necessary in order to curb the impending clash among members over the tension generated by the various positions of some senators on the current gale of  defections.

As at now,  close to 20 aggrieved senators were said to be preparing to dump the PDP for the APC whenever they resumed  from their Christmas/New Year break.

The position of Enang according to one of the aggrieved senators, was seen as a kite being flown by the Senate leadership in collaboration with the PDP and the Presidency, to threaten their proposed action to join the APC.

The Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Benedict Efeturi, was immediately directed to issue a public notice directing senators to resume on January 21 against the earlier resumption date of January 14, citing the Eid – Maulud holiday and the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, as reasons.

Further investigations also revealed that the postponement would allow the Senate leadership meet with other PDP senators on how to tackle the threats of defection by their aggrieved colleagues.

The senate’s spokesperson said the postponement of the resumption was at the instance of the Senate leadership but he did not give specific reasons for it.

He said, “I don’t other reasons that led to the postponement other than the reasons given by the senate leadership through the public announcement that had been published.”

Don’t remove Tukur as PDP Chairman, Adamawa group tells Jonathan

PDP Chairman, Bamanga Tukur

The politicians said removing Mr. Tukur could spell doom for the PDP.

A group of leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Adamawa State, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ignore calls for the removal of the party’s National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur.

The group in a statement made available on Monday in Abuja and signed by Umar Ardo, its coordinator, also condemned reports of a vote of no-confidence purportedly passed on Mr. Tukur, by some members of the National Working Committee, NWC of the party.

The group said it disagreed with the reasons given by the people calling for the ouster of Mr. Tukur.

“We recall with grave concern the same antics employed by the same members of the NWC, then led by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, to reverse the dissolution of the Pro-Nyako Kugama-led EXCO in Adamawa State in January last year, thereby undermining the very authority of the NWC itself and creating the basis for the current distrust between them and the National Chairman,” they said.

They also said they viewed the current act as another attempt by the same reactionary forces that then tried to undermine the political standing of the National Chairman and in the process almost wrecked constitutionalism in the party’s affairs.

The same forces, they said, were at it again; this time, trying to foster needless constitutional crises on the party in an election year on the altar of personal animosity and ego-driven avowed opponents of the National Chairman.

“It is a well-known prophetic saying that a house divided against itself will surely fall,” they added.

The Adamawa PDP pleaded with the President to see the current action of the members of the NWC as an act principally aimed at dividing the house and not uniting it.

“They failed then on Adamawa; they will fail now too, on Nigeria,” they said.

They also called on the president to take note of the fact that opposition to the PDP was mainly coming from the Hausa-Fulani core North, to which Mr. Tukur belonged, adding that many of them were still holding on to the PDP on account of Mr. Tukur’s leadership.

“The removal of the Chairman and the politics of his replacement will indeed unlock several chains of events the final outcome of which no one can fathom for the party,” they warned.

Defection not due to Tukur

The Adamawa PDP said those who left the party did not do so on account of the National Chairman but on account of the peculiar irreconcilable local politics in their constituencies.

“The chairman is merely a convenient excuse,” they said.

They said Mr. Tukur was duly elected in the party’s national convention and his removal will only further denigrate the party’s standing on the sanctity of elections and constitutionalism as the basis of holding elective public office in Nigeria.

Such denigration, they said, would create in the populace a rejectionist tendency towards the party that could adversely affect its electoral fortunes in 2015.

“We therefore appeal to the president not only to prevail on all the key national organs of the party to see reason and protect the National Chairman’s Office, but he should also call to immediate order these reactionary members of the PDP’s NWC to henceforth put the interest of the party above all other considerations. Their accusations against the National Chairman are lame and deceitful, and the dose of medicine they prescribed is far more deadly than the ailment being suffered,” they said.