Headline

LP Lagos factionlises as new exco emerges

Published

2 months ago

July 30, 2023

LP Lagos factionlises as new exco emerges

The crisis rocking the Labour Party (LP) has continued unabated as a new LP faction led by Mr Olumide Adesoyin emerged in Lagos State.

The Adesoyin-led faction disowned Mrs Dayo Ekong-led Executive Committee (Exco) which led the party into the 2023 General Elections in the state.

Speaking, Adesoyin said that a competence court had warned the general public to desist from dealing with Ekong-led faction anymore in the state.

Adesoyin said the Ekong-led exco was no longer recognised by law, following the sack of the Mr Julius Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, which appointed Ekong-led excos into office.

“It is in the public knowledge that Abure was suspended by members of his ward in Edo State in April 2023, the reason Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa was called upon to take over the leadership, being the next in line, to rescue the party.

“It would be recalled quickly that the embattled Abure appealed his suspension at the Appeal Court but lost and the case is now listed in the Supreme Court awaiting proceedings and judgment,” he said.

Adesoyin said that it was based on the court judgement that he and his team were given a letter by Apapa in April to act and perform as the executive committee of the Labour Party in Lagos State for three months period.

He said that this was in consonance with the party’s constitution, noting that the three months period would expire by the end of July.

Adesoyin said that the tenure of his own exco had since been renewed by the party’s national body.

He said that notwithstanding the party’s laid down rules and regulations, the Ekong-led exco had been “going about parading themselves as the state executives of the party in manners that is rather alien to our party’s constitution.”

He explained that the need to maintain Labour Party’s respectable name made his exco-led to approach an Ikeja High Court to put Ekong-led exco in check.

Adesoyin urged members of the public to be wary of their dealings with the Abure-led body, saying that courts of competent jurisdiction in both Benin and Abuja had cautioned Nigerians against such.

“The court has warned that anyone still having any dealings with them, does so at his or her own peril,” he added.

Adesoyin also debunked claims in some quarters that Apapa and his group were working for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), even as he insisted that there was no faction in Lagos LP.

According to him, his exco remained the authentic one that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will deal with.

Adesoyin also assured that the LP would win the forthcoming House of Representatives bye-election in Surulere Federal Constituency I of the state.

In a swift reaction, Ekong-led State Working Committee had described the group as impostors, who interpret court orders to suit their selfish interest.

Ekong in a statement urged the general public to disregard Adesoyin’s claim, saying the party’s constitution did not recognise faction.

She urged Nigerians to know that there is no faction in the party, the Labour Party either at the National or State level.

Ekong said there was only one legally constitutional and recognised national chairman and secretary of the party in the persons of Mr Julius Abure and Mr Umar Farouk respectively.

She noted that the Constitution of the party did not know any position of “acting national chairman.

According to her, Apapa is not the national chairman neither are his cohorts, members of the national working committee of the Labour Party.

Ekong said: “For sake of clarity, Mr Apapa and his cohorts are suspended members of a national working committee of the party.

“They were suspended via a resolution made at the INEC meeting of the Party held at Asaba Delta State on April 18, 2023.

“A certified true copy of the INEC report of the said meeting is available for anyone to inspect and verify.

“In view of the above, Mr Lamidi Apapa and his co-travellers do not have any power or locus to carry out any function as officers of a party both at national and state level.”

She said the order of Hon. Justice D.O. Osiager in suit No: FHC/L/CS/1277/2023 made on July 17 ordered the Apapa group to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice already filed in the suit.

According to her, the implication of the order is that the Apapa group cannot do anything whatsoever in the capacity of the officers of the party until the matter is disposed off and suit is adjourned to the Oct. 9, 2023.

Headline

Diphtheria: Children at risk as 7,202 cases are confirmed in Nigeria

Published

52 mins ago

September 30, 2023

Ifunaya Emeka

A staggering 7,202 cases of diphtheria, a highly contagious bacterial infection that can be fatal without treatment, were confirmed in Nigeria last week.

The outbreak has been particularly severe among children under 14, with three-quarters of cases (73.6%) in this age group.

Most cases have been recorded in Kano state, Nigeria’s second most populous state. In the past three months, there have been 453 deaths from diphtheria in Nigeria.

Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease, but low vaccination rates in Nigeria have made the outbreak possible. Only 42% of children under 15 in Nigeria are fully protected from diphtheria.

Diphtheria symptoms begin with a sore throat and fever. In severe cases, the bacteria produce a toxin that can block the airway, causing difficulty breathing and swallowing. The toxin can also spread to other body parts, causing heart kidney problems and nerve damage.

Save the Children is launching a wide-scale health response in the three most impacted states of Kano, Yobe, and Katsina. The organization is deploying expert health and supply chain staff to help overstretched clinics detect and treat diphtheria cases and to support mass vaccination campaigns.

However, Save the Children warns that a mass vaccination campaign will only be successful if the vaccine shortage is urgently addressed.

Severe shortages in Nigeria of the required vaccine and the antitoxin needed to treat the disease mean that the situation could continue to escalate, placing many children at risk of severe illness and death.

Headline

WHO releases $16m to tackle cholera, says Director-General

Published

1 day ago

September 29, 2023

Ifunaya Emeka

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released 16 million dollars from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies to tackle cholera.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said this during an online news conference.

Ghebreyesus said that the organisation was providing essential supplies, coordinating the on the ground response with partners, supporting countries to detect, prevent and treat cholera, and informing people how to protect themselves.

“To support this work, we have appealed for 160 million dollars, and we have released more than 16 million dollars from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies.

“But the real solution to cholera lies in ensuring everyone has access to safe water and sanitation, which is an internationally recognized human right,” he said.

According to him, in the previous week, WHO published new data showing that cases reported in 2022 were more than double those in 2021.

He said that the preliminary data for 2023 suggested was likely to be even worse.

“So far, 28 countries have reported cases in 2023 compared with 16 during the same period in 2022.

“The countries with the most concerning outbreaks right now are Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq and Sudan.

“Significant progress has been made in countries in Southern Africa, including Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, but these countries remain at risk as the rainy season approaches,” Ghebreyesus said.

According to him, the worst affected countries and communities are poor, without access to safe drinking water or toilets.

He said that they also face shortages of oral cholera vaccine and other supplies, as well as overstretched health workers, who are dealing with multiple disease outbreaks and other health emergencies.

On COVID-19, Ghebreyesus said that as the northern hemisphere winter approaches, the organisation continued to see concerning trends.

He said that among the relatively few countries that report them, both hospitalisations and ICU admissions have increased in the past 28 days, particularly in the Americas and Europe.

WHO boss said that meanwhile, vaccination levels among the most at-risk groups remained worryingly low.

“Two-thirds of the world’s population has received a complete primary series, but only one-third has received an additional, or “booster” dose.

“COVID-19 may no longer be the acute crisis it was two years ago, but that does not mean we can ignore it,” he said.

According to him, countries invested so much in building their systems to respond to COVID-19.

He urged countries to sustain those systems, to ensure people can be protected, tested and treated for COVID-19 and other infectious threats.

“That means sustaining systems for collaborative surveillance, community protection, safe and scalable care, access to countermeasures and coordination,” he said.