President Jonathan picks PDP re-election form

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday picked the Peoples
Democratic Party nomination form to contest the 2015 presidential
election on the PDP platform even as the party offered automatic
second term tickets to all its incumbent governors.

The President, who spoke while picking his nomination form at the
party’s national headquarters in Abuja, said he would still have
bought the nomination form without the endorsement given to him
by the national leadership of the PDP.

President Jonathan was endorsed as the sole presidential
candidate of the party by the NEC and other organs of the party.
When two other presidential aspirants stormed the party with their
supporters on Tuesday with their bank tellers and receipts from
the party, the leadership of the ruling party refused to sell the
nomination forms to them.

The two aspirants are, Dr. Abdul-Jhalil Tafawa-Balewa and Prof.
Akasoba Duke-Abiola.

However, the President said that he remained grateful for the
gesture, which he said, was the first in the history of the party.

President Jonathan said, “I could have still picked the form if they
did not give me. But giving me the right of first refusal has
attracted more people than ordinarily it would have had.
“Your Excellency, our chairman, thank you and extend our
appreciation to other great members of our party, especially
members of the NEC who unanimously endorsed that decision.”

President Jonathan returns Keshi as Eagles coach

Stephen Keshi is set to return as the coach of Nigeria barely two
weeks after he was relieved of his position by the Nigeria Football
Federation. The PUNCH learnt on authority that Keshi is returning
on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan.

A person with detailed information of happenings at the NFF
Secretariat told our correspondent on Thursday that it was only a
matter of time before the official announcement would be made by
the Federation.

He said, “It is not a question of if he is truly coming back to the
Eagles but a matter of when he is resuming and how much he is
going to earn.

“This is not an FA decision; this was passed down directly to them
from far above and the message was not passed through a third
party in the name of special adviser but a direct mouth to ear
briefing.”

It was learnt that the NFF was told what to do when the President
met with the Federation president Amaju Pinnick and Chris Giwa
who was in court against the election of Pinnick. Giwa had to
discontinue with the case at the Jos court on Thursday as part of
the agreement/decisions reached at the Presidential Villa.

The court case and the protracted wrangling had set Nigeria before
the world football ruling body with FIFA threatening to suspend the
country. Friday (today) was set as deadline before the President
who also received the Super Falcons on Wednesday intervened.

Keshi was dodgy with reporters when asked about his possible
return. “Well I am just hearing it from you.
But if the President of my country asked me to return, who am I to
refuse,” he told Africanfootball.com.

Even though he refused to confirm or deny, he was at the sports
ministry on Thursday where he held a lengthy meeting with the
sports minister, Dr. Tammy Danagogo. Details of the meeting were
not immediately obtained but it was learnt that it was the first
move towards returning Keshi to the position.

The NFF also sent a confusing press release on Thursday
explaining that caretaker coach Shaibu Amodu was pleading with
the NFF to take back Keshi.

The release claimed Amodu wrote a letter dated October 27 to that
effect. The letter was however not made available to the media.

Keshi was asked to move on by the NFF two weeks ago following a
string of poor results with the national team. The Eagles are on the
brink of missing Morocco 2015 African Nations Cup unless they
are able to beat Congo in Pointe Noire and also beat South Africa
in Uyo, Nigeria to create a possibility of scaling through to the
finals.

Source: punchng.com

Malala pleads to President Jonathan to intensify efforts to rescue Chibok girls

Malala Yousafzai has called on Nigeria to intensify efforts to free
219 schoolgirls who were abducted by Islamist militants six
months ago.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner said campaigners needed to raise
their voices “louder than ever” to demand the freedom of the girls.
The Boko Haram group sparked global outrage when it seized the
girls.

Foreign governments including the US and China, have sent experts
to Nigeria to help track them down.
Boko Haram fighters abducted the girls during a raid on their
boarding school in Chibok town in north-eastern Nigeria in April.

(Source: bbcnews.com)