2019: Nsima Ekere emerges APC Governoship Candidate for Akwa-Ibom

Obong Nsima Ekere has expectedly won the APC Gubernatorial ticket for Akwa Ibom State in the coming general election in 2019. 

The primary election, which was free and fair, according to observers, saw Nsima Ekere winning a hundred and sixty thousand, four hundred and fifty-eight (160,458) votes which is a landslide, considering the margin. The gentleman, whose mandate is to bring true and impactful governance into the hospitality friendly state of Akwa Ibom State, defeated Mr. Dan Abia, who got 4,189 votes, Mr. Udoedege, 2,015 votes and Dr. Efretuei, who got just 1,234 votes. 

Obong Nsima Ekere, popularly referred to as ONE, in line with the acronym of his names, in a bold move and display that has continually showed his sterling qualities, is therefore the Akwa Ibom State APC gubernatorial candidate for 2019 election.  The hashtag #NsimaIsHereAlready has been abuzz the social media space and in major streets and iconic places in the state as tremendous support has been rendered to Mr. Nsima Ekere who is poised to wrestle power from the PDP-led incumbent governor, Mr Emmanuel Udom. 

Maverick and illustrious Ekere was born on May 29, 1965 in Ikot Oboroenyin, Edemaya Clan in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. He started his secondary education at Regina Coeli College, Essene, Ikot Abasi, and completed same at Mary Knoll College Ogoja, Cross River State.  


He had a brief but very exciting stint at The Polytechnic, Calabar, between 1981 and 1982 before proceeding to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he graduated with B.Sc. Honours Degree in Estate Management in 1986. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, FNIVS.  He is also a registered member of Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria, ESVRBN, a Senior Certified Valuer of the International Real Estate Institute, IREI, Minnesota, USA, and to boot, an associate member of the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation, IRRV, London.

Breaking: Police arrest suspect who threatens to kill Atiku Abubakar and family

Nigerian police headquaters in abuja have paraded a suspect who threatened and intimidated the family members of one of the country's prominent politicians and a contender in the forthcoming presidential election, Alhaj Atiku Abubakar. 
 

This was disclosed by the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Kyari in his social media account, Facebook on Thursday.

According to the release by the Public Relations Officer, Force Headquaters Ag. DCP Jimoh Moshood, the suspect known by name Augustus Akpan was arrested  by the Intelligence Response Team along Lagos-Ibadan expressway in his bid to leave the country. Investigation was said to be ongoing to determine any culpable collaborators or politically driven motives behind the incidence.

Here is full details of the event and evidences obtained from the suspect as obtained online.

PRESS BRIEFING

PARADE OF NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL WHO THREATENED FMR VICE PRESIDENT, ATIKU ABUBAKAR GCON, TO WITHDRAW FROM PRESIDENTIAL RACE OTHERWISE HE WILL KIDNAP, RAPE AND KILL HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTERS (MENTIONING THEIR NAMES)

Suspect

i.      Augustus Akpan (From Edemaya village, Ikot Abasi LGA, Akwa Ibom State) 43Years

Exhibits

i.      One (1) Samsung (Galaxy S6 Edge +) Mobile Phone and the SIM Card used by the suspect to send the threat messages to Fmr Vice President, Atiku Abubakar GCON, His wife and Daughter.

The Threat Text Messages

i.      Text Message to Fmr Vice President, Alh. Atiku Abubakar GCON

“Turaki Atiku, we are watching you and your family, we ask you right now to withdraw from the race for Presidency, we will kill, rape your wife and daughters. That your ambitious and black daughter Maryam who worked at CBN and left because we were going to mess her up. We will molest, rape, deform her and kill her. Your daughter Fatimah the former Commissioner of Health in Adamawa State, we have a lot of information about her. Also pictures of her naked body, we will mess your overly prostitute wife Jennifer up. We have a lot about. Let Buhari run against your PDP members. We know that you are bigger than all those candidates in PDP. That is why we need you to step down. We will blow your plane off from the sky and we will poison you and your family. Atiku Abubakar, take our words for granted and watch what will happen to your family before you. You are going to see what we will do to you and your family. We know where and where your children travel to. We have watched your daughter who is a strong supporter of her father (your daughter Maryam) at number 5, Buzi close and number 5, Lake Maracaibo close”.

ii.     Text Message to Wife of Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar GCON

“Jennifer. Tell your husband to step down. We will blow up his plane and kill all of you his family. We will rape you and all his daughters and also kill all of you out there. Do not underestimate us. We know your office at 13 Danube Street Maitama. We will blow up the place and rape all your step daughters that we know you don’t like already. Tell him to step down now and forget about running for the presidency’’

iii.    Text Message to Daughter of Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar GCON, Rukaiya Atiku

“Tell your dad to step down. He should forget about the Presidency. If he refuses, we will blow up his plane the Gulf Stream from the sky and also rape you and kill of his daughters. No amount of Police or protection will stop us. We know where all of you live in. We know number 5 Buzi close and number 5, Lake Maracaibo close. Try us and blood shall spread’’

 On the receipt of complaint of THREAT AND INTIMIDATION from fmr Vice President, Alh. Atiku Abubakar, GCON, the Forty Three (43) years old Augustus Akpan (From Edemaya village, Ikot Abasi LGA, Akwa Ibom State) was trailed and eventually arrested by the IGP Intelligence Response Team.

2.     The suspect, Augustus Akpan was arrested at toll-gate along Lagos-Ibadan express way, Lagos State by IGP Intelligence Response team IRT Operatives led by DCP Abba Kyari, while on the run to escape arrest by leaving the Country. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime and admitted that he resorted to the threat and intimidation when all efforts to extort money from the former vice president were unsuccessful.

3.    The suspect, Augustus Akpan also admitted in his confessional statement that he is a professional fraudster and not working for any political party, that his mention that ‘Let Buhari run against  your other PDP members’ in his threat message to the former vice president was merely to divert attention.

4.     The suspect is fluent in English, Ibibio, Russian and Portuguese languages respectively. The Phone and the SIM card he used for the threat and intimidation were recovered from him and were discovered to have been robbed by him from a lady (name withheld) who identified him as the person that robbed her few months back.

5.  The suspect, Augustus Akpan further confessed that he had threatened, defrauded and extorted huge sum of money in Naira and foreign currency from so many prominent personalities and their family members while posing as an Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent.

6.     Investigation is being concluded and suspect will be arraigned in court on completion of investigation.

Ag. DCP JIMOH MOSHOOD
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
FORCE HEADQUARTERS
ABUJA

Source: ACP Abba Kyari

How Anthony Joshua knocked out Alexander Povetkin to retain world titles

As it happened
Anthony Joshua stopped Alexander Povetkin in seven rounds to defend his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles after a bruising battle.

So Anthony Joshua has made it 22 fights undefeated and and reaffirmed his status as the world’s leading heavyweight. It wasn’t easy, some might even say he made hard work of it, but Povetkin was tough and talented and took some stopping. When Joshua did stop him, it was brutally clean and clinical. The champion marches on.

Anthony Joshua knocks out Alexander Povetkin to retain world titles

Was Joshua hampered by being unwell tonight? Amid all the euphoria about the emphatic finish, it has to be said that Povetkin seriously ruffled the champion. Joshua looked hurt and even weak at times during the opening rounds, but after the fight he offered TalkSport a reason why that might have been …

"I have always said to myself, Povetkin has been a gold medallist, he fought for the world title when I turned pro and he has stayed at the top of his game since then. You have to give him credit. If that was in tennis, football, basketball you’d say this was a serious challenger. We’re against serious competitors for this championship belt. I’ve got to keep my feet firmly on the ground. They’re not only going to be great fights but very tough. I’ve suffered with a flu. This camp has been difficult. I knew I just had to stay in there”

As predicted, Povetkin was always going to be dangerous but Joshua grew in confidence and finished in style. Heavyweight boxing is about knockouts and he was brutal in delivering it.

Joshua had emerged into the stadium in that white robe, aping Muhammad Ali, looking so relaxed. He raised a white-gloved hand to friends and family sitting ringside, shadowboxed his way to the ring on a hydraulic lift, the biggest commercial commodity in the sport. The big roar went up. Spumes of fire exploded around him but this is now a familiar walk, soundtracked to the chant of ‘O, Anthon-eeee Joshu-ua’.

It was a cagey start as they felt each other out, a phoney war until Povetkin exploded with a three-punch combination which clearly buckled the Briton. It felt a little like Russian roulette at times. There was more animated talk in the corner between rounds than we have ever witnessed from trainer Rob McCracken. Joshua needed it. He needed acuity here. 

In the fourth, a brilliant uppercut from Joshua bust the eyelid above Povetkin’s left eye, and clearly it lifted the defending champion. As the fight played out through the fifth and sixth rounds, Povetkin was made to miss more, and when shots did land, the champion simply nodded and waved his rival in. His confidence was growing, and as the older man by 11 years began to tire, Joshua finished emphatically.

Alexander Povetkin crumples into the ropes CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES

When the referee Steve Gray stepped in between them to rescue Povetkin, after the sensational finish, the 80,000 crowd here erupted. Such relief. Joshua had been 4-2 down on this card.

There is so much at stake every time he fights. Millions watched at home in the UK and in the United States, where the Briton with the Adonis-like physique was making his first appearance on the streaming network DAZN in the US, and four other territories, the platform a part of the network owned by British billionaire Sir Len Blavatnik.

Joshua earned £20 million for his night’s work – the Russian heads back east with £6m in his bank account. Joshua knew that he had to be at his best against the shorter, powerful, tank-like build of the man known as ‘the White Lion’, who wanted to get in close, on to Joshua’s chest, and explode with his dangerous arcing left hooks, and an overhand right which had put 70 per cent of his previous opponents to sleep.

In Povetkin, the developing British fighter met a fellow Olympic gold medallist, a boxer with Russian state backing who had admitted leading up to the fight that this was his “last chance at heavyweight glory” at the age of 39, having been defeated just once in a 13-year career of 35 fights, that solitary imperfection to the Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko.

How £100m Nigerian twins from south London created cryptocurrency in mum's kitchen

Identical twins who grew up in a tough south London neighbourhood became multi-millionaires by designing one of the world’s leading cryptocurrencies in their mother’s kitchen.

Steve Williams (left) and brother Sam have become multi-millionaires 


Steve and Sam Williams, 39, whose parents emigrated from Nigeria in the early Seventies, spent four years working on the software behind their Populous PPT currency in the family home in Brockley.


It helps small and medium-sized businesses with cash flow. Within the first five days of launching in June last year, demand was so strong that the initial batch of tokens was worth more than £8 million.

Populous is now rated as the 51st most valuable cryptocurrency in the world out of about 2,000, with a market value of about £100 million. 

What is Bitcoin? Everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency

They own 16 million Populous “tokens” worth a total of $55.3 million (£42.3 million) at today’s price of 3.46 cents per token. At the peak of the Bitcoin frenzy at the start of the year their holding was valued at close to £1 billion.

The success means that Sam now lives in a Knightsbridge apartment and Steve, who lives in Essex with his wife and two young children, sends his six-year-old to private school. Their offices are in Mayfair and they have become friends with stars, such as rapper 50 Cent and boxer Floyd Mayweather. 

Steve Williams (right) and brother Sam with rapper 50 Cent

In the brothers’ first newspaper interview, they told the Evening Standard that the outcome could have been very different as they were “always in trouble” as schoolboys.

Steve, who is older by one minute, said: “It was very tough in terms of gang violence. You had no choice: you either got bullied or you pretended to be part of one of the gangs to safeguard yourself.” 

This gallery is selling its entire collection for cryptocurrency

The three-bedroom terrace where they grew up with their mother, a chef, accountant father and sister, was so cramped that Sam sometimes had to sleep on the sofa.

Steve studied advanced business in sixth form in Lewisham, while Sam took a course in computer programming.

In 2008 Steve was charged and convicted of obtaining money transfers by deception and served 18 months of a three-and-a-half-year jail term.

He said the experience “made me learn a lot about what it means to be a victim of crime and how it impacts on them. It filled in some elements that were missing in me and opened my eyes to what could happen to me.”

Sam has since launched two other crypto coins called Zloadr and DocTailor, aimed at legal professionals. Steve added: “We have gone through a lot together as brothers and it is great that all our hard work has paid off.”

Culled from The Evening Standard

Akpabio leads party stakeholders to meet Buhari, optimistic of APC’s victory in 2019

Senator Godswill Akpabio blows hot: ‘I’ll walk in the rain with my people’ …Assures of APC’s victory in 2019

The ever unrepentant and blunt former Governor of Akwa Ibom state, and now Senator, Godswill Akpabio, is in his element again.

Speaking audaciously last Monday when he led a delegation of leaders and stakeholders in the state to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa, Senator Godswill Akpabio expressed optimism that President Muhammadu Buhari will record massive victory in Akwa Ibom State in the 2019 presidential election. Akpabio, alongside Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), said the feelers he and his like-minds are getting from all nooks and crannies of the state are very indicative of a landslide victory in his state and by extension, the entire nation come 2019 general elections. He was so emphatic that Akwa Ibom State would be the first state to fall for the All Progressives Congress in 2019. In another development, Senator Akpabio spoke extempore on the developments in his state when political stakeholders from Itu Local Government Area paid him a solidarity visit in Ukana.




Akpabio frantically said, ‘You want me to be covered by an umbrella when my people are in the rain? Some people are attempting to mock me because of my entry into APC today. Some call it the movement of Baal because I walked in the rain, but there were women in the rain, there were children in the rain, there were politicians in the rain. They defied the rain and stayed in the rain and what were they doing, supporting me, supporting the in-coming government of Akwa Ibom state and supporting President Muhammadu Buhari. So you want me to be a leader that the umbrella will cover when my people are in the rain? I want to stay with you come rain, come sunshine. Leadership is all about feeling the pain of the people.

" You travel on the same road I travel, you enter the same pothole that I enter, and if I cannot as your leader fill that pothole it means that I don't care for your well-being. You use the same hospital that I use and if I cannot equip that hospital it means that I don't give a damn even about my own health.

"Some people don't have roads to their houses and yet they are Governors in some states of the federation. I don't want to name names but I know people that the road to their place is not up to 20km they refused to do it with the excuse that the votes they got from their hometown was not much. And therefore they deny themselves the road to even drive home after they have left office. 

"So, let me be that leader that feels your pains when you are in pain. Let me be that leader that smiles with you when you are smiling, let me be that leader that rejoices with you when you are rejoicing. And let me be that leader that provides for you when you are in need. Above all, let me provide my shoulders for you to lean on whenever you have the need. I have nothing against the government of Akwa Ibom State. I have nothing against those who are paid to abuse me. I am in sympathy with them, because I believe strongly that a government that is looking for a second term must campaign on the basis of its performance not on the basis of denigration of his predecessor. Young boys that did NYSC in my office whom I made Personal Assistants will call Godswill Akpabio and President Muhammadu Buhari drowning men, a former head of state of Nigeria, a General in the Army and an elected president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Just because you are looking for a second term, a young man who says he's an aide to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State will call the president of your country a drowning person. Because we are in a democracy, there is freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom to insult, freedom to denigrate, freedom to besmirch, freedom to smear. I have only one answer to the insults and that answer is what you have provided today. This is the answer to their insults. We are the ones who make things to happen.

"Democracy means that power is given to the people. You didn't come as a Member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to join the APC. You came as a movement; it is what they call movement of the people. I suspected that this was what was going to happen in this state. On the day that I joined the APC, in the presence of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the National chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. 39 senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, many Ministers and many people from across 59 countries of the world who watches it live, I told them that I was not decamping, that I had moved, I had moved, I had moved. The reason I said so was because I knew it was going to be a movement. When we finished the celebration by the Christian youths in the Uyo Township Stadium, I could not get to my house because the youths of Uyo senatorial district lined up behind me and moved along with me. At a point I couldn't help I had to get down from the car, join them in the rain and we walked for over one kilometer. And we entered into one primary school to go and sing and dance together. And I asked them to tell me exactly what they want and they said, Sir, we want the elections to be held in October. And I said I don't know how I will tell the president to bring the elections forward. They said that they want to vote for APC. They said Sir, we want to the broom to sweep out unemployment, we want to use the broom to sweep out the potholes that have returned to the state, above all to sweep out lies, deceit, blackmail, abuses and insults.’

Akpabio exposes APC defectors

Senator Godswill Akpabio has stated that the recent defections in the All Progressives Congress (APC) was an attempt to frustrate the efforts of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The lawmaker took a swipe at those who defected from the party during an interview on Channels Television’s Roadmap 2019.

“For me, I saw a situation where the ruling party was not only being distracted, but the movements were capable of bringing down the government,” he said on the special political programme which aired on Monday.

“We need to have Nigeria before we can have the election. These things are as a result of continuous conspiracies against government and all sorts of things.”

Several top members of the APC, including Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the governors of Benue, Kwara, and Sokoto (Samuel Ortom, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Aminu Tambuwal respectively) defected from the party recently.

All of them, interestingly, accused the APC of failing to keep its promises to the nation and attributed their defection to national interest.

But Akpabio faulted their motives, insisting they had nothing to do with national interest.

The former Senate Minority Leader who had recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC himself, however, attributed his own decision to national interest.

He said, “I don’t think that the movements that we saw from the APC to my then party were prompted by national interest; I think most of those things were based on the personal interest of individuals.

“I just assessed the situation and I said I needed to contribute my quota towards stabilising the situation; towards ensuring that people realise that it wasn’t all about a conspiracy to bring down a government, but to conspire to resolve the security situation.”

Ahead of the 2019 elections, Senator Akpabio urged leaders in the country to shift their attention from political interest and work for the good of the people.

He also advised the critics of President Buhari’s administration to support the government to tackle insecurity and other challenges of the nation rather than coming together to take over power at the centre.

Akpabio said, “We need to have Nigeria before we can have an election. We should conspire to provide employment opportunities.

“We should conspire to stabilise the government, to ensure that we leave a better future for our children. We should conspire to bring food to the table of Nigerians; not to conspire to just take government for the sake of taking government.”

Nsima Ekere: The Rise and untainted profile of a rare breed

Nsima Ekere: The Rise and untainted profile of a rare breed

Since Obong Nsima Ekere launched into the political landscape, his profile has continued to be on an upswing, with very unprecedented landmark achievements on all fronts.
Ekere’s present ambition to become the next Governor of Akwa Ibom, on the platform of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC, come 2019, has been dubbed another feather on his cap of achievements.
An astute politician, Ekere’s profile has become so intimidating and very impressive that it will take the uninitiated in the polity to know exactly where he is coming from. 
Little wonder, the entire political circuit in his state have been rooting for this man of cool mien and silent achievements, much to the amazements and endorsement of all stakeholders in the state and even beyond. 
Even the opposition side have suddenly become jittery and apprehensive over Ekere’s ambition because to them, it’s no longer fear of the unknown rather fear of the very known, given his antecedents in the public and private spaces. 
Today, the fear of Nsima Ekere becoming the next Governor of the state has rapidly become the beginning of wisdom for every other contestant, including the incumbent. It is common knowledge that despite all the shenanigans and grandstanding to ruffle Ekere, the man seems not bothered and focus on the task ahead. 
But, does Ekere entertain any fear about all these? No, as all arithmetic, math and permutations are pointing in one positive direction for the undisputable wide-acclaimed man of the moment in the entire South-South geographical region of the country. 
Many of the big wigs of the party have come to a consensus about his candidacy and eventual support for him to become the next occupant of the Government House in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State. 

Educational Background
Maverick and illustrious, Nsima Ekere was born on May 29, 1965 in Ikot Oboroenyin, Edemaya Clan in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. 
He started his secondary education at Regina Coeli College, Essene, Ikot Abasi, and completed same at Mary Knoll College Ogoja, Cross River State. 
He had a brief but very exciting stint at The Polytechnic, Calabar, between 1981 and 1982 before proceeding to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he graduated with B.Sc. Honours Degree in Estate Management in 1986. 
He is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, FNIVS. He is also a registered member of Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria, ESVRBN, a Senior Certified Valuer of the International Real Estate Institute, IREI, Minnesota, USA, and to boot, an associate member of the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation, IRRV, London. 

Impressive Career
In 1989, the enterprising Ekere set up Gassons Nigeria Limited, an indigenous anti-corrosion, environmental, fabrication/maintenance engineering company. 
Before joining politics, Ekere was the Principal Partner at Ekere and Associates, a firm of estate valuers and real estate development consultants with offices in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and Uyo, which he started in 1993. 
He had sat on the board of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and also served in various entities like Universal Energy Resources Limited, Anchor Insurance before emerging deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State. 

Nsima’s political history
Nsima Ekere’s active and very impressive political career began in December 1997, when he contested and won election into the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly during the Abacha Transition, on the platform of the then fledgling Grassroots’ Democratic Movement, GDM. 
He wasn’t however inaugurated before Abacha died in June 1998 and that transition was truncated. 
He then joined the PDP at the start of the General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s transition regime in 1998, and played a very active part in the politics of the state till he emerged deputy governor on May 29, 2011. 
In March 2008, Ekere was appointed Executive Chairman of Akwa Ibom Investment & Industrial Promotion council (AKIIPOC), the investments and industrial promotions’ arm of the Akwa Ibom State Government. 
He also served simultaneously and very meritoriously too as the Chairman of Ibom Power Company, the independent power generating company owned by Akwa Ibom State. 
He was the leader of the G22, a group of 22 PDP governorship aspirants that protested the manner of conduct of the December 2014 PDP primaries. 
He subsequently defected to the APC after some internal wrangling that bared its face in his gubernatorial ambition, a decision he took with an unusual calm and philosophical stead, even in the face of outright condemnation by his assumed cronies in the PDP fold of the state. 

Family Man
Nsima is married to Ese and has four children, who are doing greatly in life. Ese, Nsima’s beloved remains one of his pillar of support and he consistently dotes on his wife saying she’s the woman behind his achievements.

Immense Portfolios
Until he threw his hat in the ring as an aspirant for the governorship of the Land of Promise state, Nsima Udo Ekere was and is the current Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State. 
Without any ambiguity, Nsima Ekere is believed to be the APC's preferred Akwa Ibom State Governorship candidate for the 2019 Governorship elections. 

Ahead of 2019
The momentum has grown since his much-talked-about defection to the APC of the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and former Minority Leader of the 8th Senate, Elder Obong Godswill Akpabio. 
For the record, Ekere’s big come back when he was appointed as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, was seen as being more than just a ‘job for the boys’, and he has since his coming on board performed creditably well, to further boost his governorship bid, which is fast becoming a sure bet, despite a stiff opposition from the incumbent governor. 
Unapologetic and a loyal party man Ekere, is a political warrior, who was once at loggerheads with his principal, former Governor Godswill Akpabio over who would succeed him, has now closed ranks with Akpabio, when the Senator openly admitted of his mistake in settling for the incumbent governor, and the two have since been on a roller-coaster campaign to restore the lost glory of the state. 
These and many more virtues are why Obon Nsima Ekere’s name is now on the lips of many genuine and thoughtful Akwa Ibomites who earnestly seek a better and more pro-active replacement for the incumbent governor, whose development and performance sheets are only on the pages of newspapers, Radio and TV stations and of course the social media. 
With the full backing of Senator Akpabio and other principal stakeholders in the politics of Akwa Ibom state, Nsima Ekere appears bound for the Government House of the state, come 2019.

How British MP Tom Brake takes solo protest to Nigerian High Commission in UK for release of Leah Sharibu

Nigerian High Commission in the UK on Tuesday witnessed a solo protest by member of Parliament of the United Kingdom, Tom Brake who protested against the illegal detention of Leah Sharibu who is being held in Boko Haram captivity for 199 days today and counting, for refusing to recant her Christian faith

NUJ Europe learnt that Brake held the solo protest in front of the Nigerian High Commission in the UK to bring attention of the embassy to the #FreeLeah campaign. Brake is calling on the Nigerian government to as a matter of immediacy see to it that Leah is released.

“Outside the Nigerian High Commission launching the #freeleah campaign. Leah, who is still held captive by Boko Haram, because she refused to recant her Christian faith, has been held for 198 days,” he tweeted.

Last week, Leah Sharibu, the only Christian among the abducted 119 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe state, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to save her from captivity. Leah, who was kidnapped in February, also appealed that her family members be assisted.

CNN also reported rbat kidnapped Dapchi schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, who has been held by the Boko Haram terror group since February, has pleaded for her freedom in newly-released audio.

Sharibu, 15, is being held by a faction of Boko Haram after she reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith.

Most of the students abducted from their boarding school in Dapchi village, Yobe State, February 19, were released after four weeks.

'She refused to convert to Islam,' 85 days on, kidnapped schoolgirl Leah Sharibu remains in captivity

"I am Leah Sharibu, the girl that was abducted from Government Girls Science Technical College, Dapchi. I am calling on government and people of goodwill to get me out of this problem," she says in the audio in her native Hausa language.

"I am begging you to treat me with compassion, I am calling on the government, particularly, the president, to pity me and get me out of this serious situation."

Her father, Sharibu Nathan confirmed to CNN that it was his daughter speaking on the audio. He added that he was happy to hear her voice.

"I thought she might have been killed since we were told by those released that Boko Haram kept her because she is a Christian. I can only imagine the way they would have treated her," Nathan said.

Nathan said he is hopeful that the recording, obtained by a local journalist, will redouble efforts to free her.

All the girls who were captured were subsequently released, except five who reportedly died in detention, but Sharibu was held back for “refusing to renounce her faith”.

The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, has kept her in captivity for seven months, sparking public outrage.