Author: nationalpoint

All eyes will be on Nigeria on Saturday, 25th February, when the people go to the polls to elect a new President and 469 members of the country’s National Assembly, and two weeks later they will return to the ballot to elect new governors and members of the 36 State Houses of Assembly. It will be the seventh general elections, since the country returned to democratic rule in 1999 after the military government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar inaugurated Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former Military Head of State and winner of the 1999 presidential election as the new civilian President. The…

The cashless system is driving so many Nigerians crazy as life has become tougher, with people unable to feed and cater for their families anymore. Businesses are collapsing as it gets harder by the day to access cash. Faces wear clear signs of despair, confusion as hunger swells, following the inability of banks and mobile banking operators to dispense cash to customers. For many in Rivers State, the new banking policy is a heavy knock coming on the heels of last year’s flooding which swept away most of what the people had. In most communities in the Niger Delta, a…

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has appealed to citizens of the state and Nigerians in general, to remain calm amidst scarcity of the new naira notes in the country. The governor’s appeal is coming on the heels of violent protests by some citizens of the state at Orhuwhorun Community in Udu Local Government Area of the state where a bank’s ATM gallery was reportedly torched. Okowa’s appeal was contained in a statement by the State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu in Asaba. He called on the people to remain calm while also appealing to the Central Bank of…

As the hardship occasioned by the unavailability of new Naira notes continues, youths in Warri and environs have embarked on demonstration which have resulted in the vandalism and setting ablaze of banks. The violent protest broke out in Orhuwhorum junction and spread to Express junction axis of the metropolis in protest of the shortage of Naira notes as well as hike in fuel pump price. The protesters vandalized automated teller machines of Access Bank at Orhuwhorum Junction as well as First Bank ATM in Udu road. Part of the bank buildings were also vandalized by mobs who hauled stones at…

The situation in Nigeria is unfolding into very ominous signs of a possible “melt down” of state institutions under President Muhammadu Buhari. We are tempted to ask: Can the centre hold as Things Fall Apart? 1) The health institution suffered a virus attack and haemorrhage, by the mass “exodus” of Nigerian doctors and medical personnel. Armed with their certificates which Nigeria seems to have little regard for since 1999, such health personnel grab their rubber slippers as economic refugees and leave to anywhere but home. Dr Chris Ngige as minister of Labour was reported as saying that Nigeria could do…

Tonye Cole, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC has been on a tightly packed campaign to communities in the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State. He stopped for a moment to respond to questions put to him by National Point Managing Director, Ibiba DonPedro, on the trending Kalabari governorship issue and other matters. Your campaign team has faced attacks in Port Harcourt during your campaign at Ojukwu field, as well as in Opobo. What is your party doing about these attacks? APC is a law-abiding party, and we have over the months, tried to keep all…

4.3 We are not asking for favour by heralding our yearnings for environmental justice; we are only asking that our rights, as enshrined in the laws of the land and in the various Treaties the State is signatory to, be effectuated in a manner that is manifestly seen to have been done. That is true justice! Justice is giving the people what is due to them, and injustice is depriving them of what is due to them. Our environment is in this horrendous state not for want of adequate laws; it is as a result of failure on the part…

I’ve always looked forward to an opportunity to rub minds with Rivers people while placing my grand plans for the prosperity of Rivers State on a weighing scale of ideas in a debate with other governorship candidates. By God’s special grace, today availed me that chance. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond my control took me out of Rivers State, thus making it difficult for me to attend today’s debate despite my overwhelming desire to be there. I take full responsibility for the inconveniences that may have been caused by my inevitable absence, and deeply look forward to a future chance at rubbing…

The Leadership and members of Tonye Cole/Barikor Campaign Organization (TCCO), Akuku-Toru LGA, received with utter displeasure, the unwarranted attack by members of the PDP/GDI group on the campaign train and materials/ equipment of the APC Rivers State Governorship Candidate, Pastor Tonye Patrick Cole, MNI, in a deliberate attempt to prevent the APC from campaigning in Opobo/Nkoro LGA, home town of the Gubernatorial Candidate of PDP, Siminalayi Fubara; in collaboration with some officers of the security agencies in the State. It should be on record that the APC in Rivers State has suffered so much losses within the short period of…

Defence for Human Rights and Democracy DHRD is concerned about the series of attacks on the All Progressive Congress APC, Social Democratic Party SDP, Accord and Labour Party as they go about in Rivers State campaigning to get citizens to vote for them. It is the right of all registered political parties to engage the people through campaigns to sell their manifestos within the provision of the1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act. Rivers State in every electioneering cycle has been noted to be a theatre of war, where people are killed and properties worth…