POLITICAL REALIGNMENTS:CCU leader and Machakos gubernatorial aspirant Nzioka Waita addressing faithful at Salvation Army church, Nguluni in Matungulu, Machakos county on Sunday, February 27. Image:GEORGE OWITI
Former State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita has rubbished reports that he has pulled out of the Machakos gubernatorial race.
In a statement on Sunday, Waita insisted that he is firmly in the race to succeed Governor Alfred Mutua.
He noted that the report aired on NTV that he could deputise former Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju were the works of his competitors who had been cowed by polls showing that he is leading.
"It appears that my opponents are in a full panic mode having seen the latest Machakos Gubernatorial race polls for themselves and how their candidate’s lead has been decimated by a first-timer," Waita said in a tweet.
Reports indicated that the two have been proposed by leaders allied to the Azimio la Umoja coalition.
Speaking in February when he officially announced his bid for the county's top job, Waita said that his plan was to serve the people of Machakos, as he outlined his larger dream of making the county a metropolis for Nairobi.
"Machakos, Kiambu, Murang’a and Kajiado counties are within the Nairobi ecosystem. I want to make sure the county of Machakos benefits from the growth of the Nairobi metropolitan and the metropolitan infrastructure," he said on Citizen TV.
"Nairobi can only expand in the direction of Machakos and when the expressway is done Machakos’s role as the bedroom of the city will be reinforced."
Waita said he aspires to create wealth for the county and use the revenue from Nairobi to develop infrastructure in the other areas where it is needed.
He insisted that he will make Machakos a city in five years if elected governor.
He will battle out with Wavinya Ndeti (Wiper Party), Johnson Muthama (UDA), among others for the seat. By Brian Aruta, The Star
South Africa’s aviation authority suspended low-cost carrier Comair Ltd. from flying indefinitely pending a review of concerns raised about safety.
A response presented by the operator of IAG SA-owned British Airways flights in the country and the domestic Kulula carrier is being reviewed, the Civil Aviation Authority said Sunday. The suspension follows a spate of incidents “affecting a concerning number of flights,” the regulator said.
Kulula is one of the biggest local airlines in South Africa. Owner Comair went into administration during the Covid-19 crisis, which grounded much of the world’s aircraft fleet. The company was later revived by private investors. Source: Bloomberg L.P.
Some Nigerians evacuated from Ukraine at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. PHOTO | COURTESY | NIGERIANS IN THE DIASPORA COMMISSION (NIDCOM)
Summary
The latest 301 returnees were received by top officials of the Federal Government led by the Director of Legal and Consular Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Bolaji Akinremi.
Nigerians have so far been repatriated from Poland, Romania and Hungary, countries they had fled to when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Abuja,
Nigeria has successfully evacuated another 301 of its citizens from Ukraine following the outbreak of war, bringing the total number of evacuations to 1,800.
However, many more are still stranded in Ukraine and have called for help to return home.
The 301, mainly students stranded in Sumy in Ukraine, were brought home on board Air Azman from Budapest, Hungary. They arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Saturday night.
This is the sixth batch of returnees in the ongoing evacuation approved by President Muhammadu Buhari since war broke out between Ukraine and Russia on February 23, 2022.
The latest returnees were received by top officials of the Federal Government led by the Director of Legal and Consular Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Bolaji Akinremi.
According to the ministry, a corridor was created for them to leave the city after negotiations between the Nigerian government and the Government of Ukraine.
Earlier on March 11, 2022, about 123 evacuees who had made their way to Poland were brought back home.
The Nigerians have so far been repatriated from Poland, Romania and Hungary, countries they had fled to when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Mr AbdurRahman Terab, head of Technology Transfer Innovation at the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), reported that $100 was given to each returnee in addition to N5000 airtime for them to contact their families.
The returnees were also undergoing screening, documentation, and Covid-19 tests.
A group of 23 students at Kherson State Maritime Academy are pleading for help to leave Ukraine. Russian forces seized Ukraine’s port city of Kherson, which has a population of 290,000 people, on March 3 following a three-day siege.
It was the first major city to fall following Moscow’s invasion.
The students want the government to urge Russian authorities to declare a ceasefire so they can be safely evacuated from the city.
They said they have spent about 15 days sleeping in basements as Russia’s offensive intensifies.
“Please we want to go home. Everybody is cold. In a normal life, we have heaters in our home. But in case of war, we are stuck underground where there is no heater.
“Please, talk to the mayor of Kherson, talk to the people of Russia. Let them come in agreement, so there will be ceasefire for us to get a green corridor. Please, I plead with you, we don’t have provisions anymore.”
Another student said about six Nigerians have fallen ill because of the weather and the current conditions.
“There is no food to eat. We are in a critical condition,” he said. By MOHAMMED MOMOH, The East African
Yesterday, Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka signed a pact to join Azimio. This came in shock to some as wiper leader was heard saying in a clip that he had to be “the most stupid fellow to support Raila for the third time without reciprocity.
images courtesy
Kalonzo told the media that he had felt cheated by the ODM leader Raila Odinga.
Raila has now been endorsed as Azimio flag bearer. Kalonzo might be his most favourite running mate since he had deputised him in 2013 and 2017.
Why did he join Raila Despite all this?
However, they did not manage to be victorious but they were close to triumph.
image courtesy
This gives Raila reason to welcome Kalonzo in his team. Getting close to triumph. They solved all their differences amicably and now Kalonzo and Raila are together.
The duo have been through a lot together. They were still together during the times of ODM, LDP, NARC and NASA. They have tirelessly worked together for long and breaking up at this moment will not make any much sense.
Courtesy
The two had previously had tense talk and it has finally bore them fruit and they are together. Kalonzo will now give Raila more votes. They are better together than being independent.
LUBUMBASHI, DR CONGO — A train crash in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 60 people, the state rail company and local sources said on Saturday.
"(Currently) the toll is 61 dead, men, women and children (and) 52 injured who have been evacuated," Marc Manyonga Ndambo, director of infrastructure at the SNCC train operator, told AFP.
Local media quoted the provincial governor Fifi Masuka as saying 60 people had been killed.
The train was a freight service which had been carrying "several hundred stowaways," said Manyonga said even though this was prohibited.
"Some of the bodies were still trapped in the wagons that had fallen into the ravines," he added.
Manyonga said the train was made up of 15 wagons, 12 of which were empty, and was coming from Luen in a neighboring province destined for the mining town of Tenke, close to Kolwezi.
It derailed at 11:50 p.m. (2150 GMT) on Thursday at the village of Buyofwe, about 200 kilometers from Kolwezi, "at a place where there are ravines," into which seven of the 15 wagons fell, he said.
"My team is working hard to clear the track by Monday," Manyonga added. He did not say how the crash had happened.
Train derailments are common in the DRC, as are shipwrecks of overloaded boats on the country's lakes and rivers.
Due to the lack of passenger trains or passable roads, people use goods trains to travel long distances. Source: VOA
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