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Lawmaker Commends Tinubu-led FG For Immortalising King Jaja Of Opobo

Published

3 months ago

August 6, 2024

Gloria Ikibah

…as minister inaugurate technical committee for cultural and historical centre in Opobo

By Gloria Ikibah

Member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Awaji-Inombek Abiante, has commended the Tinubu-led Federal Government for taking concrete steps to immortalise King Jaja of Opobo.

Rep. Abiante who represents Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency of Rivers State, stated this at the official inauguration of the Technical Committee for the Implementation of the King Jaja of Opobo Cultural and Historical Centre, Opobo, Rivers State, by the Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Rivers lawmaker who was the lead lobbyist for the project explaine that it will give exposure to and immortalize the great leader through indept research, letting the world know the heritage of the people.

According to him, the peoplenof Opobo and Nigerians at large stand to gain a lot from the project.

He said, “As a servant of the people, anytime you’re sent to do a job and at a point where there’s success, of course, you should be very happy, you should be elated. That’s exactly how I feel today.

“This is a project that has taken us seven years, when the other people who were there didn’t share the same vision with us, but we’re very happy. I am glad that a Minister came, bought into the vision and today, we’re starting the actual journey to making people know exactly what our intentions were, expanding beyond even what we’ve conceived. We are glad.

“It will lead to the imortalization of the great leader through deeper research, letting the world know who we are, bonding people together. It will also create jobs. Is it in the area of tourism, a lot. It will open that area up, we expect a lot to be achieved, a lot to gained.

“That axis will now become a hub of tourism in Rivers State and even in the South-South, if we harness the things that are there properly.

“We have the aquatic splendour behind the oceans, we have a neighbouring Local Government Area which have elephants, if those elephants are conserved at this period, you can imagine what that could bring to us. There’s the wide beach beside the Atlantic ocean, there’s a lot. What about the blue economy, it’s going to be a part of it”.

The Minister in her address said the project was key in the preservation of Nigeria’s cultural heritage.

“This project signifies a milestone in our collective resolve to take Nigeria’s Art & Culture to enviable heights. Permit me to add that one of the Ministry’s core mandates is immortalizing past heroes by promoting national heritage and values.

“Therefore, today’s event is a testament to our readiness to partner with any State, community, individual or group that desires to immortalize persons of proven capabilities whose immense contributions had helped in shaping and projecting the uniqueness of our cultural values, norms and artifacts as a people,” the Minister stated.

According to her, the project as captured in its concept note, was designed to be a historic tribute to cultural renaissance as well as a clarion call for cultural preservation.

“It is a step to encourage our nation’s quest for cultural tourism and a boost for diplomacy in international affairs. I would like to reiterate that the establishment of the Centre is in tune with Nigeria’s vision of utilizing the Art, Culture and Tourism Sectors to create job opportunities for the teaming youth as well as contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

“ Similarly, establishment of Cultural and Historical Centres engender peace, unity, and national cohesion as well as mutual understanding among Nigerians and the International Community resident in the Country”, she noted.

The minister therefore charged members of the Technical Committee to regard their selection as a clarion call to national assignment.

“Let me remind you that you are expected to play critical roles in the realization of this onerous task at hand. Your assignment will require you to serve as liaison between the Federal Government (represented by the Ministry), the State Government and the Host Community.

“You will also be required to come up with a Work Plan for the project and draft the strategy on the implementation, detailing the timeline as well as suggest other terms of reference that are considered germane to the success of the project”, she said.

Leading the Rivers State delegation was the paramount ruler of Opobo, His Royal Majesty, King, (Dr.) Dandeson Douglas Jaja, Jeki V, Treaty King, Natural Ruler, the Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom.

The monarch also appreciated the federal government.

He said, “This is the time when God decreed that this project will takeoff because we’ve been agitating for the federal government to do something to immortalize King Jaja of Opobo for all his contributions to the emancipation of the blackman, and especially, the independence of this country. Save that in 1955, a merchant ship was named after King Jaja, but that merchant ship has been decommissioned.

“Since then, the federal government has not done anything to immortalize King Jaja, so this is the first time the federal government is taking steps to do something concrete in his name; build a centre where people will come, read about his contributions to commerce, his contributions to the defence of his kingdom, and the impact on Nigeria’s history.

“This is the fist time the government is doing this, and we’re thrilled”.

On acceptability of the project by the people, he said “this is a project we’ve wished for, for over seven years, and it is a project that we really called attention of government to, and luckily, we’ve seen also the concurrence of our own state government, prepared for the imortalization of King Jaja”.

News

Bury the thought, it’s not your destiny to be president – Wike’s Aide carpets Atiku

Published

43 minutes ago

November 15, 2024

Naijablitznews

Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister, Lere Olayinka, has told former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to jettison his ambition to govern the country in 2027, saying the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party PDP presidential candidate was not destined to rule the country.

Olayinka in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said “The PDP presidential ticket will no longer be available to be wasted by serial betrayals of the party, who are obviously suffering the consequences of their past sins against the party and its members”.

Insisting that Atiku should perish the thought of contesting the 2027 presidential election as candidate of the PDP, Olayinka said “Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and those egging him on for their benefits should let the PDP breathe.”

FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike had said during a live media parley in his office in Abuja on Wednesday that there would be no chance for Atiku, who was the 2023 Presidential candidate of the PDP to secure the party’s ticket in 2027.

Reacting through his Media Aide, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku had alluded to his defeat of Wike to pick the 2023 PDP presidential ticket as well as the former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, to emerge as the candidate in 2019.

However, in a statement yesterday, Olayinka, said Atiku’s “celebration of his narrow and fraudulent defeat of Wike in the 2022 PDP primary was funny and childish”, adding that “it is like Arsenal fans jumping to the rooftops to celebrate the club’s narrow defeat of Super Falcons.”

He said: “That Atiku is venerating himself for contesting PDP ticket with Wike and Tambuwal, people who were just a little above 25 as of 1993, when he contested the Social Democratic Party SDP presidential primary and came third, is the more reason he needs to go home and rest and stop acting like the proverbial cock that failed to realize that it is now elderly.”

Describing Atiku as someone not destined to be president of Nigeria, Olayinka said; “It is obvious that he (Atiku) is paying the price of betraying the PDP in 2003, 2007 and 2014. If not, the same presidency he has contested twice and lost, could have been his to just pick if he had avoided being inordinately ambitious while he was Vice President.”

“It was this desperation that made him to contest for president as candidate of Action Congress in 2007, while still serving as Vice President, elected under the platform of the PDP. A serving Vice President joining others to form another party and contesting as candidate of the new party against his own party.

That’s Alhaji Atiku Abubakar!

“Most importantly, Atiku’s conscience will continue to prick him on his roles in Lagos in 2023, and I am sure that even his apology to PDP members in 2018 can never remove from his body, that garment of betrayal.
“Therefore, it is again being sounded to his ears and those of the people lying to him that he is the only one who can win the presidency for the PDP that the ticket of the party will not be for someone like him, who will lose election and run to Dubai, only to come back two years to another election”, Olayinka added

CityNews

News

Confusion As ‘Baltasar Engonga’ was cornered and fl0gged by husbands of the women he sl3eps with

Published

50 minutes ago

November 15, 2024

Naijablitznews

A man dubbed Zimbabwe’s own “Baltasar” faced violent retribution from a group of enraged husbands after being accused of having affairs with their wives.

In a video shared by Crimewatch Zimbabwe on X (formerly Twitter), several men from the Mapostori sect were seen beating the man, holding him down while others struck him with what appeared to be rubber sticks.

The video, recorded by a witness and later posted on social media, shows the men interrogating him. At one point, one of the attackers questions, “How many women have you slept with, and why did you do it?” Reports indicate that the man allegedly engaged in these relationships after some women claimed their husbands were not satisfying them.

Social media reactions were swift, with users tagging the police to intervene and arrest the men involved in the assault. Many viewers expressed shock, noting a recent rise in arrests related to assaults on cheating partners and their spouses.