By Morenike Taire
All States Women Association of Nigeria,  an all women political pressure group, has called on the former Imo State Governor Chief Ikedi Ohakim to desist from distracting the serving governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha with ceaseless petitions.

The call was made on behalf of the organization by its President General Barrister Temple Nnedum. Addressing the media at its Lagos office, she said All States Women support political candidates not according to party affiliations but according to the merits of the individual candidate.

“We supported Rochas because we saw him as an adorable son of the soil and we are proud he got the mandate”

She stressed that going  to court  and appealing after Chief Ikedi had already congratulated the sitting governor constituted an unnecessary distraction to a governor who, as far as they were concerned, “was transforming IMO without stress to citizens while bringing himself low and roundly engaging in dialog”.

“We want to encourage Rochas to remain firm. We stand by him as women and mothers”. In addition, barrister Nnedum called on Chief Ikedi Ohakim to accept the Supreme Court ruling which, according to her, was doubtless going to be in favour of Owelle Okorocha.

It will be recalled that Owelle Rochas Okorocha was declared winner of the 2011 Governorship polls in IMO state after he polled 336,809 votes against Chief Ikedi Ohakim’s  290,496. The total votes polled represent the cumulative votes cast in the first poll which held on April 26 and the supplementary election on May 6, 2011. Dissatisfied with these results the PDP filed an election petition at the Imo State Governorship Election Tribunal headed by the Hon Justice E.N. Kpojime.

The main grounds for the PDP’s petition were 1). That the PDP Candidate scored the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and 2). That the supplementary election held on the 6th of May 2011 was invalid being in breach of the provisions of both the Electoral ACT 2010 and the 1999 Constitution.

The tribunal had, on November 12 2011, held that the Supplementary Election held on the 6th of May 2011 was held in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Electoral Act 2010 and had on this grounds, accordingly dismissed the petition.

Also, the court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on January 6, 2012 had dismissed the appeal brought by the People’s Democratic Party, where the PDP was challenging the declaration of Owelle Rochas Okorocha as the winner of the 2011 Governorship poll in IMO state.

5 Beauty Myths

Women Deliver, 2013
Organizers of the Women Deliver  Conference have announced the availability of scholarships for participants of its 2013 Conference to hold in Malaysia next year.

The Women Deliver conferences bring together people, ideas, and commitments to mobilize action to improve the health and well-being of girls and women everywhere. The groundbreaking conferences in 2007 and 2010 in the UK and USA respectively were the largest of the decade to focus on the health and empowerment of girls and women.

The  first global conference in 2007 put maternal health on the map and brought together nearly 2,000 participants. In 2010, the conference convened more than 3,400 people from 146 countries in Washington, DC, including 75 parliamentarians and government ministers, five UN agency heads, the UN Secretary-General and more than 250 global media outlets. The third global conference– May 28 to 30, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia– promises to be even bigger and better, with more than 5,000 participants from around the world.