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It looks like
Senator George Akume may emerge the preferred candidate for the office
of Senate President ahead of Senator Bukola Saraki.
As the leadership of the APC continues to brainstorm on the zoning of
offices in the executive and legislative arms of government, top
contender for the senate presidency, Senator Akume, at the weekend
intensified his consultations.
The Senator, who has adopted a quiet, discreet and unobtrusive approach
in his quest for the exalted position since he was listed as a potential
holder, hit the road on what a close confidant described as a
‘strategic cross-country diplomatic shuttle.’
Akume, who was in the South-West last week, met prominent national figures and respected political bulwarks. Notable among them were Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu and former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
The former Benue
State governor who is returning to the Senate for the third time, met
the leaders in their respective domains in Abeokuta, Lagos and Okuku,
respectively.
Akume served as Benue State Governor, concurrently when Obasanjo was
President and both men maintained a good relationship until the end of
their tenures in 2007, despite Obasanjo’s brushes with Akume’s kinsmen
like Dr Iyorchia Ayu, who was Minister in the Obasanjo government and
Senator Barnabas Gemade, who succeeded the late Chief Solomon Lar as PDP
National Chairman.
While Akume served in Benue, Tinubu was Governor of Lagos, both of them belonging to the ‘Governors’ Class of 1999 to 2007.’
Oyinlola succeeded Chief Bisi Akande, former Interim Chairman of the APC
as Osun State governor on the platform of the PDP in 2003, but all
three men have since found common grounds in the progressives’ camp.
While there was no official communication after each of the meetings,
the interactions may not be unconnected with the topical issue of the
Senate Presidency.
Akume has also had several engagements with former Vice-President, Atiku
Abubakar, who may likely emerge as Chairman of the APC Board of
Trustees. Akume was governor when the highest Tiv honorary traditional
title, ‘Zege Mule U’Tiv’ was conferred on Atiku.
Akume’s backstage consultations have also taken him to see Kano State
Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who has also been elected Senator to
represent Kano State, Prof Ango Abdullahi, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of
the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, former Inspector-General of Police,
Ibrahim Coomasie and former Kogi State Governor, Abubakar Audu.
Sources in Akume’s camp will not readily draw a link between his recent
travels and the issue of the Senate Presidency. As one of his aides
volunteered, however, ”Senator Akume is a very highly regarded statesman
in his own right. Consultations with like-minded leaders on issues
bothering on our socio-politics should be a routine affair.”
Pressed further, the source said: ‘If the APC is truly about change,
that change should reflect in the way we do things, so we send a very
strong message to all Nigerians that they can be assured of a sense of
belonging irrespective of where they come from. We have produced a
President-Elect from a majority ethnicity, we have produced a
Vice-President-Elect from another majority ethnic group, APC must be
sensitive to the sensitivities of the minorities, across both divides of
the Niger.’
South Africa to Pay HIV Positive People who Tattoo Status on their Private Parts
What's your thought on this? Reportedly, confirmed HIV positive South Africans that volunteer to be marked near their genital area with a tatoo depicting their status, will in addition to free counselling and medication. be paid an equivalent of N840, 000 (50 000 Rands) each, according to a bill newly signed by President Jacob Zuma.
The bill, according to a report by Radio City, a local South African radio station, is widely regarded as one of the greatest steps in the history of combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country which
has the highest HIV prevalence in Africa.
Zuma who is reported to to have volunteered to be the first South African citizen to get his HIV status tatted near his genitals, however announced that only the first 10 million people (who already tested positive) to volunteer to have their HIV statuses tatted on their genitals would be given the money in form of a funeral expense voucher.
After signing the bill, Zuma was quoted as saying:
“The mark is to protect those who can’t say no to sex. I mean if you can’t read between the lines you should read between the legs because that’s where the status would be tatted.
The choice to be HIV positive is now in your hands or your genitals for that matter…. We also encourage those who had been living with the virus to go to the nearest public hospitals to get their status tatted in,” he noted.South Africa has the world’s highest HIV caseload and premature deaths of 300,000 people. The government is distributing life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs to people infected with the virus.
Vanguard adds that in 2006, Zuma faced charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend, and was ridiculed for testifying that he took a shower after sex to lower the risk of infection with HIV. His determination to help millions South Africans infected with HIV and around 60,000 babies born HIV infected each year.
“Let there be no more shame, no more blame, no more discrimination and no more stigm. Let the politicisation and endless debates about HIV and AIDS stop,” Zuma noted.
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