Making his face into a mini-frown, tainted with a dash of mockery, he said: "You're telling me Nigerians are flying past Italy to get British pizza? While you're at it, why not fly past Amsterdam to get weed in Romania? Like what are you doing? This is so extra.
Audu Ogbeh, Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture, has brought the country 'international recognition', after a comment he made during his presentation before the Senate lamenting the rate of importation in the country.
While addressing the Senate Committee on Agriculture on March 27, 2019, Ogbeh said: "Do you know, Sir, that there are Nigerians who use their cell phones to import pizza from London; they buy in London and bring it on British Airways in the morning to pick up at the airport. It is a very annoying situation."
Ogbeh's statement generated a slight buzz on the floor of the Senate. However, reactions have extended far beyond the shores of the country, as Trevor Noah, South African comedian and host of 'The Daily Show', has taken up the matter as a point of reference.
Making Ogbeh's comment the butt of his jokes on his show in the edition published on social media on Thursday, Noah ridiculed the idea of flying across countries to get "British pizza".
Making his face into a mini-frown, tainted with a dash of mockery, he said: "You're telling me Nigerians are flying past Italy to get British pizza? While you're at it, why not fly past Amsterdam to get weed in Romania? Like what are you doing? This is so extra.
“So, the story is rich Nigerians send people to Britain to buy them pizza, which is such a waste of money and time. And also, I can't imagine what the plots in porn movies in Nigeria are like."
Audu Ogheh Mocked On American TV Show Over 'Pizza From Britain' Comment
Mimicking a female porn artiste's voice, Trevor said: "Oh no, it seems like I don't have any money for this pizza. How will I pay?"
And switching to a male voice, he continued: “You don't have money? I just took a $4,000 flight to pick up this, lady. I'm going to need you to put on some clothes and get some cash, eh. Boobs don't pay for pepperoni. Get some money, get some money.”
The video has already generated thousands of reactions in comments across various social media handles.
In his comment on Facebook, Chris Choho wrote: "This isn't true. We have Domino's in Nigeria. The politician who made that comment is a nut head."
However, other Nigerians have countered Chocho's claim, stating that there are people who indeed order pizza from Britain to Nigeria.
DeDoyin Yilu wrote: "Chris Chocho true. That guy is the minister of agriculture. Children of politicians are those involved in such act. He knows what he is saying."
On May 29, President Muhammadu Buhari will begin the Next Level journey which is his second and final tenure as prescribed by the Constitution of the country.
Before the end of the first tenure, it is expected that the President would have carried out an x-ray of his ministers’ performance in the past three years to determine if they have really keyed into his agenda.
For quite some time, President Buhari had been inundated with calls to change his cabinet as some of his ministers were said to have performed below average, but in his characteristic manner, the President kept to his cool, perhaps to avoid creating bad blood as elections were around the corner.
Despite the alleged abysmal performance of some ministers in carrying out their responsibilities, the President retained them. But some have also performed fairly well and could join the Next Level train.
President Buhari is known not to discard his followers, friends and associates very easily and some of the ministers who have followed him for many years may continue in the next administration. However, there are speculations that some of the ministers who though may not have performed below average but were unable to deliver the All Progressives Congress, APC especially during the presidential election could be shown the exit door.
Some of the ministers who may likely be retained in the Next Level include the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Though, he is an associate of the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he contributed immensely to ensuring that Kwara State was ‘captured’ by the APC in the last election.
Besides, Moham-med’s excellent performance especially as the APC publicity secretary when the party was in the opposition has always counted for him. Till date, he enjoys accolades for that. However, there are speculations that the information and culture ministry may be split into two and the current Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Matters, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa may be considered to be in charge of one of the portfolios.
Chief Audu Ogbe
Chief Ogbe has been with President Buhari since he was removed as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. He is said to have convinced the President that he has introduced a lot of reforms in the Agriculture ministry and has contributed in cutting down importation of rice into the country.
The Benue State elder statesman has also told Nigerians that the country now exports yams to other countries, though this claim is being challenged in some quarters. However, many states of the federation have started producing rice. However, some have alleged that the Agriculture minister has not been telling the President the real situation in the ministry while age is no longer on his side for the job.
Mallam Adamu Adamu
Mallam Adamu Adamu, the Education Minister is one of the ministers who may likely be retained in the cabinet. The Bauchi State born politician was a columnist before he joined the cabinet and has been a close associate of the President right from the Petroleum Task Fund, PTF, days when President Buhari was chairman of the Fund. Like earlier pointed out, the President rarely abandons his close friends.
Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu
Dr. Onu who is the current Minister of Science and Technology is one of the ministers not popular but who has 50-50 percent chance of being retained. He is not only seen as a man of integrity like the President, he is also of the President’s generation. Some political analysts say that Dr. Onu has a fifty-fifty chance. But the relationship between the President and the Ebonyi state governor, Engineer Dave Umahi may likely affect the chances of the minister to join the Next Level cabinet.
Ebonyi state is one of the states in the South east where the President got a reasonable number of votes in the zone during the Presidential election.
Babatunde Fashola
Fashola who is a former governor of Lagos State is the Minister of Power, Works and Housing. He has been a backbone of the government. In fact, the President has so much confidence in him and that was why three grade ‘A’ ministries were merged into one and assigned to him. Though there has been lamentation that not much has been done on the power sector of the ministry, the President appears to be at home with the “Lagos home boy”.
However, with the denial of second term ticket to the outgoing governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, there are talks that the President may ask Fashola to split the ministry to accommodate Ambode who was said to be one of the best performing governors in the country and is expected that he would do more at the center.
Rotimi Amaechi
Rotimi Amaechi is the minister of Transportation and Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organi-zation. The former governor of Rivers state is one of the stalwarts of the APC in the South-South. In fact, he is the leader of the party in the zone and played a prominent role in the emergence of President Buhari at the party’s presidential primaries in 2014. He has been having serious battle with the Rivers State governor, Chief Nyesom Wike and leaving him outside the corridors of power might spell doom for APC in Rivers. Besides, he is expected to continue with the rail project of the administration.
Hadi Sarika
Hadi Sirika is the Minister of State for Aviation. He has received commen-dations for some remarkable achieve-ments in the aviation ministry. However, there is the fear that Senator Abu Ibrahim may take his slot in the Next Level government.
Abubakar Malami
Abubakar Malami is the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. He has played significant role in the present administration, but there is the insinuation that President Buhari may drop any cabinet member.
Dr. Ibe Kachikwu
Dr. Kachikwu is the minister of State for Petroleum Resources. The Delta state born politician has done well in the ministry in which President Buhari is the substantive minister. Some analysts have said that he is not in charge of affairs of the ministry. His issues with the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mekanti Baru in 2017 may affect his movement to the Next Level.
Senator Udoma Udo Udoma
Senator Udoma is the minister of Budget and Economic Planning. He has served the government well but there is the insinuation in some quarters that the former governor of the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio may be the possible replacement. However, some circumstances against Akpabio may spoil his chance .
Dambazzau
The Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Danbazzau and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, may be lucky to make the next cabinet. Although some other ministers may scale the hurdle to the Next Level, it is yet unclear whether the Minister of State for Education, Minister of Niger Delta Ministry, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, Minister of State for Agriculture among others will be part of next cabinet.
A housewife, Bilkisu Abubakar slumped and died during a quarrel with her co-wife, Hajara Abubakar.
Both were married to the same husband at Jiramo village in Takai local government area of Kano state.
The Spokesman Kano police command, DSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa who confirmed the report to Daily Trust, said the incident occurred on Wednesday, around 10pm.
He said the case was reported to the police by the Village Head of Fajewa, Alhaji Ya’u Hamza.
He said the Village Head came to the police station with the suspect, Hajara.
According to him the suspect “had a quarrel with her deceased co-wife resulting to a fight, as a result of the fight Bilkisu suddenly collapsed and died.” He said the corpse of the late woman had been deposited in the hospital.
Walter Onnoghen, embattled chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), did not deliver his resignation letter in person, according to NAN.
TheCable had reported that Onnoghen tendered his resignation on Thursday.
Quoting sources, NAN said the letter was submitted to Abba Kyari, chief of staff to the president, by some judges of the supreme court.
The agency said the letter got to Aso Rock at the time the president had departed the country to participate in the World Economic Forum holding in Jordan.
NJC had recommended Onnoghen for compulsory retirement after deliberating on a petition by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which alleged “financial impropriety, infidelity to the constitution and other economic and financial crimes related laws”.
Onnoghen, who denied all allegations, is also undergoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) .
He has closed his defence at the CCT and the tribunal is expected to give its judgment at its next sitting on April 15.
Onnoghen, 69, was born in Kruiku town, Biase local government area of Cross River state.
He got his Law degree from the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1977 before his BL certificate at the Nigerian Law School in 1978.
He started his career as a Pupil State Counsel at the Lagos state ministry of justice in 1979, after which he ventured into private practice.
He was billed to resign on December 22, 2020, upon the attainment of the age of 70.
A CREEPY husband is in the habit of sending nude pictures of himself and his well-endowed girlfriend to his wife, just to spite her.
Canisius Taziveyi and his wife Theresa Mabutho are both police officers but the level of abuse exhibited by Taziveyi is at another level. As such they have since gone on separation but he sends nude pictures of himself and his bootylicious girlfriend to his estranged wife as a form of emotional abuse.
At one point, taking a break from sending nudes, he threatened to burn her alive with a petrol bomb.
Knowing that her husband was a “doer” she applied for a peace order before he petrol bombed her, as he had threatened to.
“I have a problem with my husband whom we are legally married but we are now on separation as he moved to stay with another woman by the name of Massie Dube in Nkulumane.
“He emotionally abuses me by sending naked photos of him and his girlfriend. He is in the habit of insulting and degrading me in front of my neighbours and workmates,” she said in court.
She further revealed that he also threatened to burn her alive using a petrol bomb and has taken all their matrimonial property.
“He took some property saying he was sharing it. He moved away with all his clothes, two motor vehicles, pool table and marriage certificate. He is very violent and damaged my property which includes 18 windows, 42 inch television, plates and pots.
“He takes my phone and starts sending vulgar messages to my friends to tarnish my image. I am a human being and I will end up retaliating so I request the long arm of the law to help. I reported at work since we are both police officers,” she said.
Western Commonage magistrate Urgent Vundla granted the order. The respondent has to stay away from applicant’s place of residence and must not physically, verbally, emotionally abuse and threaten the applicant.
His journey to the Zamfara Government House was tedious. It took the ruling of the Supreme Court to declare his mandate and it must have been an exasperating experience for his supporters, mostly. But for him, it’s a learning curve and this mindset can be attributed to his training. He was a teacher and tutors are usually patient in their dissemination of knowledge.
This trait also played out in his quest for public office. He had his first shot in politics was in 1998 when he ran for a House of Assembly seat and won. He contested under the platform of United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP). But after the death of Sani Abacha, military dictator, Abdulsalami Abubakar, his successor, dissolved the political parties and announced that elections would hold in 1999.
Born in Maradun Local Government Area of the state on December 12, 1969, the Zamfara governor attended Maradun Township Primary School from where he proceeded to the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and Thames Valley University, London.
He was employed by the former Sokoto State Ministry of Health and later taught at Government Girls College, Moriki and Kwatarkoshi. He joined the Federal Ministry of Water Resources where he worked till he ventured into politics in 1998.
Between 1999 and 2003, Matawalle served as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Environment, Rural Development and later youth and Sport in Zamfara.
In 2003, he contested on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) for a House of Representatives seat and won. He represented Bakura/Maradun Federal Constituency in the Green Chamber till 2007.
He was reelected in 2007 and was in the lower legislative chamber till 2011. In the house, he served as chairman committee on ethics and privileges, chairman Ad hoc Committee on Marine Security and Safety Commission.
Matawalle polled 189,452 in the March polls as against the 534,541 votes for Muktar Idris, the APC candidate. The Supreme Court pronounced the votes cast for the APC in the election as wasted and ordered that the candidate with the second highest votes be sworn in today.
He is married to four wives and blessed with children.
Bala Mohammed: A journalist, civil servant becomes governor in Bauchi
Born on October 5, 1958 at Duguri Town in Alkaleri Council, Mohammed attended Duguri Primary School, Bauchi from 1965 to 1971, Government Secondary School, Bauchi, North East College of Art and Science between and 1977 and University of Maiduguri in 1979, graduating a degree in English Language.
He began his career as a journalist when he joined The Democrat as a reporter. He later moved to rose to the Mirage newspaper, Jos where he rose to the position of News Editor between 1982 and 1983. He also had a stint as a News Reporter with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN).
In 1984, he left journalism for civil service when he got employed as an administrative officer in the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs and was promoted and redeployed as principal administrative officer in the Cabinet Secretariat of the Presidency.
He was Chief Supplies officer, Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals from 1995 to 1997, rising to the position of assistant director in the Federal Ministry of Power and Steel in 1997, a position he held until 1999, when he was promoted deputy director/special assistant to the minister of Transport.
He discharged his functions in that capacity from 1999 to 2003 and following his hardwork and innovation, he was promoted as Director of Administration, Nigerian Railway Corporation in 2003. By September that year, he became Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation and became Director of Administration and Supplies, Nigerian Meteorological Agency in 2004.
He was elected senator on April 21, 2007 to represent Bauchi South. The then President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan appointed him as Minister of FCT in 2011.
AbdulRasak: Son of the first SAN in Northern region takes charge
On the surface, his story reads like a folktale, but when digested with undivided attention, it is most compelling and engaging.
After a long run of ambitions, AbdulRahaman AbdulRasak of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be sworn-in today as the sixth executive governor of Kwara State.
AbdulRasak, a son of the first Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) from the defunct Northern region of Nigeria Folorunsho AbdulRasak, made his foray into the nation’s politics some 16 years ago by given his financial backings, under cover, to some political aspirants who are opposed to the recently dethroned political hegemony of the state, led by Dr Bukola Saraki.
Following the footsteps of his father, who is a complete symbol of Nigeria unity as his sojourn in life traversed all geopolitical zones of Nigeria, AbdulRasak, was an oil magnate before his ascension to the Kwara top job.
Notable among his siblings are: Dr Alimi AbdulRasak who once contested for the Governorship of the state in 1999 under the banner of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Senator Khairat Gwadabe, nee AbdulRasak. The senior AbdulRasak eventually lost the elections to late Mohammed Lawal of the defunct All Progressives Congress (APP).
Zullum: Drove Taxi for 16 years, trekked seven kilometers daily
He is today a Professor of Irrigation Engineering from University of Maiduguri and the governor of Borno State, but not many know the humble background of Babagana Zullum before destiny pulled his hand up.
Recalling his humble beginning, he said an interview that: “Every day, I trekked for seven kilometers to reach my father’s farm from our home,” he recalled. He combined farming with his primary and school in Mafa and Monguno from 1975 to 1980 and 1980 to 85, respectively. At “class five” in secondary school in Monguno, he began to fully cater for his education.
“From 1984 to around 1999 (16 years) I became a commercial driver of taxis, particularly Peugeot 404. At some point, I also drove buses carrying passengers to different villages, and neighboring states. At a later time, I drove commercial pickup trucks carrying firewood from forests. While working as commercial driver, I learned how to fix any vehicle I drove,” he recalled.
He added: “I paid my secondary education and National Diploma (ND) fees and also sponsored my education”.
According to him, he secured admission at UniMaid to read for B.Agric and since he couldn’t afford the school fees, feeding and accommodation fees, he worked as a taxi driver for commercial purpose as well as farm produce driver to make ends meet.
Prof. Zulum extended his commercial driving trade to Lagos, precisely at Alaba-Rago to raise his tuition fees for his MSc programme, three weeks after resumption.
Surprisingly he returned to Maiduguri for his PhD programme where, he moved through the ranks and files within the university community until his appointment as Professor in 2014.
Yahaya: An accountant comes to the throne
Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya ran on the platform of the APC, he scored 364,179 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Usman Nafada, who polled 222,868 votes. Yahaya’s victory has ended the 16 years of PDP rule in Gombe State.
A graduate of accounting, he started his career as an Accountant II with the Bauchi State Investment and Property Development Company (BSIPDC) and rose to the rank of Principal Accountant and ventured into active politics in 2003 when he was appointed as Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development during Governor Muhammad Danjuma Goje’s administration, where he served for seven years.
During the years he served as a commissioner and member of the state executive council, he was in-charge of Budgetary Planning and Financial control of the state and chairman of the board of the Gombe State Investment and Property Development Company Limited.
He was a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the party’s flag bearer in the 2015 governorship election in the state, he lost out to the incumbent who ran under the PDP before coming back again to contest for this year’s elections.
Buni: A party man comes to the saddle
Popularly called MMB, , Mai Mala Buni, a former National Secretary of the APC is the new governor of Yobe State. Buni scored 444,013 votes to defeat the candidate of the PDP, Umar Iliya Damagum, who scored 95, 703 votes.
Mai Mala, a thorough party man and a grassroots politician, rose through the ranks to become the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Legislative Matters, was the pioneer Chairman of the APC in Yobe State as well as the National Secretary of the party.
Sule: A corporate sector czar in Nasarawa
Born on December 26, 1959 in Gudi Station, Akwanga-West Development Area of Nasarawa State, Engineer Abdullahi A. Sule was brought up in the small but multi-ethnic and multi-religious village
Come May 29, 2019, new set of leaders will take over the affairs of states across the country while others would renew their oath for another four years.
His father, Alhaji Sule is the current traditional ruler (Hakimi) while his grandfather, Abdullahi Angulu was the first traditional ruler of Gudi Station. His mother, Hajiya Hauwa, was brought up in Bokono and Keffi.
His early schooling was at Roman Catholic Mission (RMC) Primary School, Gudi Station in 1968. He then entered Zang Secondary School in 1974 and later Government Technical College, Bukuru in 1977. After his secondary education, he went to Plateau State Polytechnic, in Birni Ladi in 1980. He then left Nigeria on a scholarship to study at Indiana University, Terre Haute, Indiana, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Technology and a Masters degree in Industrial Technology.
He returned to Nigeria in 2000 and started a company called Sadiq Petroleum Nigeria Limited in Lagos, along with some friends. He was made the pioneer managing director and chief executive officer of the company. That year, Sadiq Petroleum Company participated in the privatisation of African Petroleum Plc and won the bid. Upon acquisition of the 30per cent ownership of AP by Sadiq Petroleum, he was appointed the executive director, operations in November 2000. On April 2, 2001, he was appointed by the board of AP Plc as the fourth managing director and chief executive officer.
Prior to his gubernatorial ambition in 2018, he was the Group Managing Director of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc.
Fintiri: The peoples ATM is back in Adamawa
The new Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, is probably the only State House of Assembly Speaker to have served a record two times as acting governor. His recent victory at the governorship election has returned him to the Adamawa Government House for the third term.
Popularly called ATM because of his generosity, Fintiri, who had been an active grassroots mobiliser and youth leader since 1991, enjoyed patronage of local authorities and politicians in the old Michika Local Government area, comprising Madagali and Michika local areas.
After a couple of failed attempts for a substantive seat in the Adamawa Government House, Fintiri, who didn’t return to the Assembly in 2015, emerged as the governorship candidate of the PDP in the 2019 general elections.
After the March 9 election was declared inconclusive and a supplementary election was conducted in 44 units across 14 local government areas of the state, Fintiri defeated the sitting governor, Muhammadu Bindow of APC to become the governor.
Born on October 27th, 1967 in Gulak Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, he grew up in a world that had become so conscious of the primacy of Western Education and Religious knowledge, both of which he struggled to acquire at an early age.
He had his early primary School in Central Primary School Gulak from 1975-1981, Government Day Secondary School Gulak and Government Secondary School Michika from 1981-1986.
All appears not to be settled in the camp of Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) sitting Senators and Senators-elect.
Feelers indicate as All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators are plotting for position of the Senate President, PDP Senators have launched intense scheming for the slot of Senate minority leader.
It is gathered the intrigue and scheming for leadership positions in the Senate clearly manifested during the issuance of certificate of returns to Senator and members of the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The PDP is expected to produce the minority leader in the ninth Senate with its 42 senators. APC boasts of 65 and YPP has one.
A competent source in the National Assembly told our reporter on Monday the calculation is the South East geo-political zone with its 13 senators, still counting, would produce the Senate minority leader.
He noted the South South geo-political zone is already out of the race for Senate minority leader because the zone occupies the exalted position of PDP Chairman in the person of Prince Uche Secondus.
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and South East caucus leader in the upper chamber, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, are said to be highly favoured to clinch the Senate minority leader.
The source, who said he is aware the PDP leadership would soon come out to declare its position, said: “On who gets what in the Senate and House of Representatives” noted that “the position of Senate minority leader is not elective position.”
He said: “Senate minority leader position is a party affair. The PDP leadership will soon declare its stand about who should occupy the position.
“PDP wants to get it right in order not to make the mistake of Senator Godswill Akpabio who abandoned the position to defect to APC in the build up to the general elections.
“It is incumbent on the party to decide. The position is purely a party affair. It is not elective. Especially now that the momentum seems to be on the side of the PDP with expected more states to its fold, it is for the party to sustain the tempo by installing effective opposition leader.
“The Senator Godswill Akpabio scenario must not be allowed to play out again.”
The source also said that the PDP planned to install “a cohesive opposition leader that would articulate the position of the party in the Senate.”
Asked who is likely to get the slot between Ekweremadu and Abaribe, he hesitated and said: “PDP leaders are weighing options but what I can deduct from the body language of some party leaders is that perhaps they would want Ekweremadu to now play a father-figure role in the Senate which former Senate President, Senator David Mark, effectively played in the Eight Senate.
‘It is on record that Ekweremadu, having served as Deputy Senate President for three consecutive times with active support of the PDP and its Senators, nobody challenged him, it is widely expected that he should now play a father-figure role in the Senate. Senator David Mark, a former Senate President, did it to the admiration of party members. Nobody should be desperate about anything.”
He assured that “PDP will put its house in order and come up with a suitable name.”
A Three-year-old survival of the recent building collapse at Ita Faji on Lagos Island, Kabiru Sasore, Monday said he is afraid of going to school again.
He said he was eating in his class when he suddenly heard a loud sound, thinking it was a bomb.
“I was eating in my class when my school collapsed, I heard a loud sound, and our school shook and all of us fell on each other. I was afraid and I didn’t want to go to school that day, I later saw a caterpillar. Though I am fine but my back is still painting me and my neck.”
He said he is afraid to go to school again because he does not want to experience the similar incident again.
His Aunty, Balikis Muhammed said he was discharged from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH ) on Thursday, adding that he is still in medication and has an appointment in the hospital next Thursday.
“His mother, Idera, is not feeling fine due to the shock from the incident; she is currently on admission in the hospital. When I saw him in the hospital last Thursday, when he woke up in the hospital, what he told us was that they bombed his school, everybody shook and it was not fair. He was shouting the name of his friend from the same school who was by his bed side, that one was asleep but Kabiru continuously shouted his name and was banging on his bed till that one woke up, opened his eyes, shouted Daddy.”
Another survival, Farouk Abimbola, Seven years old, in Primary 3, said he was in his class and lectures were ongoing when the incident happened.
“We were in the class reading with our teacher when the building suddenly started shacking and it collapsed, I heard a loud sound and I saw pillars coming down. I later saw caterpillar then sand was covering my leg and my head; some people carried and removed me from the sand and took me to the hospital. My leg and my hand are still paining me
His Aunty, Titilayo Kowobar, said he has been discharged from the hospital but he is still going for treatment. She said his other is currently undergoing treatment in the hospital.
“She is not in the right frame of mind, because her house has also been demolished. Now the family has no where to live; the father hangs around, the mother and Farouk stays with me, while their other children stays else whee,” she said.
Atiku said it expressly that he couldn’t leave, while Jonathan encouraged him to “reconsider and consult widely” before taking a final position. SaharaReporters confirmed that when Daniel made the decision public on Saturday, Jonathan called again to make a last-ditch attempt to change his mind, saying specifically that “PDP still needs his participation in the party”.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan leads an array of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders to have called Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State, to convince him to rescind his decision to leave the party.
Daniel announced his exit from the PDP and from partisan politics on Saturday, saying he wanted take on “new challenges”, which include rejuvenating his charity-based organisation, the Gateway Front Foundation (GFF), and resuscitating the “non-partisan Political Leadership Academy (POLA)”, which was “established some years ago as a platform of political education to our citizens”.
However, notable PDP leaders, including Jonathan have been calling him to have a rethink.
Having earlier reported the real reason's behind his exit, SaharaReporters understands that Daniel informed Atiku Abubakar, whom he served as Director-General of his presidential campaign orgnisation, as well as Jonathan, before publicly announcing his decision.
Atiku said it expressly that he couldn’t leave, while Jonathan encouraged him to “reconsider and consult widely” before taking a final position.
SaharaReporters confirmed that when Daniel made the decision public on Saturday, Jonathan called again to make a last-ditch attempt to change his mind, saying specifically that “PDP still needs his participation in the party”.
SaharaReporters has also been told PDP stakeholders, particularly from the North, have been rejecting Daniel’s resignation from the party.
“Calls across the country have been coming; the major stakeholders in PDP have been telling him not to leave, but he has been insisting he has not taken a position for now,” a source close to Jonathan told SaharaReporters on Tuesday.
“PDP stakeholders across the North, governors and former governors mainly from the North, they’ve all reached out to him.”
Oyo State governor-elect Seyi Makinde, described as Daniel’s “very good friend”, has also reached out.
Also, a Lagos PDP source told SaharaReporters that Daniel’s exit will further deplete a party serious struggling to hold some influence in the South-West.
“If he leaves, the PDP in the South-West will be left without a leader,” he said.
“Fayose has been unable to hold the PDP in the South-West since leaving office as Governor of Ekiti State. Lagos PDP is boiling with issues. You can imagine a party chieftain, Segun Adewale, locking up the PDP secretariat and declaring himself the authentic Lagos PDP chairman in place Adegbola Dominic, who was attending a meeting in Ibadan. There have also been complaints of the siphoning of campaign funds in Lagos.
“So, PDP is in crisis in Lagos. In Ogun, it is non-existent. The only place it exists is Oyo State. Fayose is fighting in Ekiti with Abiodun Olujimi. So, PDP leaders feel they still need Daniel’s leadership to hold the South-West together.”
The PDP has not yet formally taken a stand on Daniel’s resignation; however, this could happen at an emergency meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) scheduled for Tuesday.
Urges President Buhari not to bow to pressure to rig
Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti
Nigerians in the diaspora have alleged that powerful elements in the ruling APC party are planning to rig polls in favour of the party in states where governorship elections were declared inconclusive.
They advised President Muhammadu Buhari not to bow to pressure from such individuals, encouraging him to guarantee that the conduct of the polls are fair.
The group made particular reference to alleged moves by some powerful individuals within the ranks of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the inconclusive governorship election in Kano State.
The group, under the auspices of Concerned Kano Citizens (CKC), said the shocking outcome of the governorship election was caused by Governor Abdullahi Umaru Ganduje’s poor performances and the corruption that had dogged the APC-led government in Kano State.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf, is leading in the yet to be concluded poll with a margin of 26,513 votes.
In a letter dated March 15, 2019 and signed by its Chairperson, Hajia Amina Bambado, and Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq, from Washington DC, and made available to newsmen in Adi Ekiti at the weekend, the group reminded President Buhari that he would continue to wield enormous influences and control in Kano whether or not the APC wins the northern state.
“Our fear had been that President Muhammadu Buhari would lose more supporters in Kano if he deploys federal might to rig the election.
“It baffles us that President Buhari and APC could allow governor Ganduje to seek reelection in spite of that video evidence that confirmed how he had been collecting kickbacks running into several millions of dollars from contractors.
“The leadership of the party in Lagos, led by APC national leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, prevented governor Akinwumi Ambode, who committed lesser offences, from going for second term. Why this disparity?
“Winning election in Kano could have been easy for APC if the right person was fielded. You could see how they supported President Buhari, this was because of his personality and he will continue to enjoy that support.
“We have seen how some governors and APC leaders have been plotting to use Osun strategy in Kano, this will fail. The will of the people should not be allowed to be subverted,” the group insisted.
The concerned citizens added that President Buhari should do all within his powers to ensure that adequate security is provided to thwart vote-buying, voter intimidation or rigging in any guise.
“He should also call the APC national chairman, Com. Adams Oshiomhole, to order and advise him to desist from interfering in Kano’s politics. We cannot be muzzled to follow the script of power play aimed at 2023 elections. Let voters exercise their franchise and vote on the March 23 and whoever wins be declared without delay,” the group advised.
It added that: “As concerned Kano citizens, we felt duty bound to call the attention of Mr President, the International community and all well-meaning Nigerians that any attempt to impose the current government against the wish of the people will not augur well for our democracy and could lead to unwanted development.
“If Mr President could sacrifice his integrity on corruption drive for the sake of Ganduje, instead of strengthening it by punishing him, we don’t believe a single loss of life in Kano because of Ganduje is worth it.
“We humbly demand Mr President to reciprocate our gesture for being his defenders through thick and thin, to save Kano and our politics in the most trying time of our political history and allow us vote freely for whoever we like,” it concluded.
Tanitoluwa Adewumi, an 8-year-old Nigerian whose family reportedly fled Nigeria because of the Boko Haram crisis, is fast becoming a star in the US.
In a piece, Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times’ columnist, dwelt extensively on the exceptional skills that the boy possesses in the game of chess which he started learning over a year ago.
Kristof said Adewumi went undefeated at the state tournament last weekend, outwitting children from elite private schools with private chess tutors.
The prodigy, who just won his category at the New York State chess championship, now has seven trophies.
But sadly his family is homeless in Manhattan, New York.
“His play has skyrocketed month by month, and he now has seven trophies by his bed in the homeless shelter,” Kristof wrote.
“The boy is a Nigerian refugee with an uncertain future, but he is beaming. He can’t stop grinning because the awkward load is a huge trophy, almost as big as he is. This homeless third grader has just won his category at the New York State chess championship.
The boy and his parents and his older brother arrived in New York City a bit more than a year ago, and a pastor helped steer them to a homeless shelter.
He began attending the local elementary school, P.S. 116, which has a part-time chess teacher who taught his class how to play.
Having enjoyed the game, the boy prodded his mother, Oluwatoyin Adewumi, to ask if he could join the chess club.
The woman reportedly sent an email to the chess club, explaining the boy’s interest in the programme and her inability to pay the fees for the programme because the family was living in a shelter.
Kristof said Russell Makofsky, who oversees the P.S. 116 chess programme, waived the fees, and a year ago the boy took part in his first tournament with the lowest rating of any participant, 105.
His rating is now 1587 and rising fast. (By comparison, the world’s best player, Magnus Carlsen, stands at 2845.)
“It’s an inspiring example of how life’s challenges do not define a person,” said Jane Hsu, the principal of P.S. 116, which held a pep rally to celebrate the boy’s victory. Hsu noted that while Tani lacks a home, he has enormously supportive parents dedicated to seeing him succeed.
Although his mother can’t play chess, she takes him every Saturday to a three-hour free practice session in Harlem, and she attends his tournaments.
His father allows him use his laptop each evening to practice. And although religion is extremely important to the family, the parents let him miss church when necessary to attend a tournament.
The father has two jobs: he rents a car that he uses to drive for Uber, and he has also become a licensed real estate salesman.
The boy’s mother has passed a course to become a home health aide.
It is sometimes tough for the young star, according to the writer who narrated how the boy’s parents shared an experience of him crying after classmates teased him for being homeless. And at an immigration hearing last fall, he burst into tears when he misunderstood the judge to say that the family would be deported.
“I feel American,” he explained. In fact, the family’s asylum request is dragging on, with the next hearing scheduled for August.
“He is so driven,” said his school chess teacher, Shawn Martinez. “He does 10 times more chess puzzles than the average kid. He just wants to be better.”
Makofsky shook his head wonderingly. “One year to get to this level, to climb a mountain and be the best of the best, without family resources,” he said. “I’ve never seen it.
There are indications that Saturday’s gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections in Lagos state might be bloody as factional members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state engaged themselves in a free-for-all fight on Thursday evening.
At least two persons were feared killed while over 35 vehicles destroyed and shops looted in a clash between the two warring APC factions at Oto-Awori in Ijanikin area of Lagos.
The clash was between supporters of a candidate of APC from Ojo contesting in Saturday’s Lagos state House of Assembly election and a perceived aggrieved member who felt that he was robbed of victory during the party’s primary elections held last year.
It was learnt that the clash erupted when the APC candidate simply identified as Jafo paid a courtsey call on the palace of the Oloto of Awori.
It was learnt that some youths loyal to a member of the party, one Bibire, attempted to prevent the APC candidate from entering the palace on the ground that he (Jafo) was the reason why their aspirant was denied the party’s ticket.
Prevention is indeed better than cure! A bride who pro-actively realised what her bridesmaid was up to by engaging in a dirty dance with her groom, did not wait for her to take it to the next level and leave her heartbroken. She angrily moved to the scene, pushed her away and rescued her groom from the maid’s ‘yawning jaw’.
A video circulating online shows the indiscreet bridesmaid twisting and turning her waist with her butts rubbing against the groom’s groin area, in the presence of other attendees, the bride and the two families.
Having foreseen danger, the beautiful bride quickly jumped to her groom’s rescue by pushing the bridesmaid away and taking the dancing floor to do a decent dance with her man who was apparently enjoying the raunchy dance with the bridesmaid.
After pushing the bridesmaid away, a group of unhappy men could be seen cautioning the groom who had placed his hands on the hips of the dirty dancing bridesmaid.
The video has triggered reactions from social media users, especially ladies, most of whom believe the bridesmaid had a diabolical intent. Some of them have even indicated how they will draw serious boundary lines when their wedding time is due, in order to safeguard their marriages.
•NNPC recovers N771m from dubious petroleum marketers
Chineme Okafor in Abuja
Nigeria’s attempts at stemming the tides of official corruption for years now have been hampered by the inability of the various government agencies set up for this purpose, to work collectively and in unison, the British Council, which is an agency of the government of the United Kingdom (UK), has said.
According to the British Council, anti-corruption agencies of Nigeria such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB); Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) which recently got independence from the EFCC, have continued to work in silos, thus frustrating the fight against corruption.
The Programme Manager of the Rule of Law and Anti-corruption (RoLAC) Programme of the British Council, Mr. Uche Emmanuel, stated this at a workshop organised for anti-corruption agencies and law enforcement officers by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI); European Union (EU) and the British Council, yesterday in Abuja.
The disclosure equally came at a time the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), stated that it had recovered assets worth over N771 million from some oil marketers who had under-paid it for petroleum products supplied to them from Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) Kaduna Depot.
Speaking at the workshop which was initiated to educate anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies on the need to push further NEITI’s mandate in Nigeria’s extractive sectors, Emmanuel noted that most often the anti-corruption agencies take up isolated and high profile corruption cases without recourse to each other for cooperation.
“The challenge is that most of us continue to work in silos. Most of the agencies that have been instituted to fight corruption, not just work in silos but many of them are working at what I call the micro level.
“They are so fixated on their primary mandate, and I said this to them at the EFCC in-house retreat they had last week, that they are so fixated on their primary mandate and forget the big picture,” said Emmanuel in his assessment of the country’s anti-corruption fight.
He added: “Several times we could get so fixated pursuing one very high level corruption case, pursuing one highly exposed person forever and get all the media attention, but you are set up to impact a country of 200 million people, and so one isolated mega case will not take us to where we are going, and you cannot do it in a silo. Nobody is an island; you definitely need to work with people.”
Also speaking at the meeting, the Executive Secretary of the NEITI, Mr. Waziri Adio, stated that NEITI’s work of identifying revenue leakages in the extractive sector have yielded minimal results as regards stemming the tides because these law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies do not take interest in its periodic reports.
Adio explained that the agencies could for instance take up NEITI’s recent report on monies Nigeria has not been able to gain from its failure to review a 1993 production sharing contract (PSC) regulation despite existing clauses that guarantee such review.
Adio said: “We need to come to the table with knowledge. Our job in NEITI is to produce reports and we have done that and put in the public domain. Where our work stops is where the works of others start, but does that happen all the time? Not necessarily.
“We would love a situation where we can go beyond just the reports, stimulate the debate, implement reforms, investigate and prosecute. We need to put a price on bad behaviour. We need to collaborate to ensure these bad practices stop. And we can look at it from an output-input framework. Our work as important as it is, if you don’t use it, it is then useless.”
Meanwhile, the NNPC said in a statement sent by its Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, that the recovered assets from dubious oil marketers, was done with supports from the Department of State Security Services (DSS); EFCC; and ICPC.
It said its anti-corruption committee, led by Mr. Mike Balami, brought in forensic experts to uncover the shady deals by some of the marketers affected.
The statement quoted Balami to have stated that some of the assets recovered included filling stations; water factories and six sports utility vehicles. Balami added that the forensic investigation would be extended to other petroleum products depots across the country.
According to him, it was established that the affected marketers lifted petroleum products from the PPMC Kaduna depot without evidence of payment and when confronted with the evidence they admitted to the offence and failed to pay their liabilities.
He equally explained that NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, was passionate about stopping all the leakages in the corporation, stressing that the forfeited assets would be handed over to NNPC Corporate Asset Boarding and Disposal Committee (CABDC) for immediate disposal.
Balami noted that investigations into lifting of petroleum products without evidence of payment would continue. He thus urged all relevant stakeholders to support the anti-corruption committee to recover such monies outside NNPC’s system. He claimed this was the first time the NNPC would be taking over assets forfeited by marketers who defaulted in their terms of engagement.
Abiola Ajimobi, the outgoing Governor of Oyo State, was the target of an All Progressives Congress (APC) jingle made in a last-ditch effort to win Saturday’s governorship election.
Since faring poorly at the February 23 presidential and national assembly election, APC has been jittery, fearing that its governorship candidate Bayo Adelabu could fall to Seye Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if the people are not placated before Saturday.
In parts of the APC jingle, Yoruba poet Ologundudu can be heard begging Oyo State people and criticising Ajimobi in caustic Yoruba, loosely translated as: “I know the people of Oyo State are angry with Ajimobi. The heartrending developments that happened during Ajimobi’s tenure are the reason you’re angry: To be dismissive of other people, to say a King amounts to nothing, to be so arrogant to the point of smashing one’s head against a tree. Acts of rudeness and the nasty things Abiola said to you still anger you.
“Please, all the people of Oyo State, I want you to accept that Ajimobi is the one who wronged you — not APC — but all of us have accepted that we will come back home to beg you. The party knows you love me, that is why they sent me to beg you. People of Oyo, please, Buhari-Osinbajo sent me to come and beg.
“I warned repeatedly back then when Ajimobi was rude to Olubadan, giving the crown to people who weren't fit to wear it. We warned Ajimobi to go beg Olubadan for his mistake, but pride goes before a fall and a dog that will get lost won’t hear the whistle.
APC Jingle Chastises ‘Proud’ Ajimobi… Begs Oyo People For Forgiveness
“Sorry, Ajimobi; can you now see that the rain can drench you not once but twice? You who won the governorship can now not win a senatorial election? Now, you’ve been put to shame.”
Among the many tipping points of Ajimobi with the people of the state, he clashed with Oba Saliu Adetunji, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, after reviewing the Ibadan Chieftaincy Law, consequently elevating some high chiefs to kingship status.
This infuriated the Olubadan, who thought the move was a plan to whittle down his authority. It was also widely believed that the Governor took the step for the political reason of using the new kings to his advantage rather than having to rely on just the Olubadan.
However, the Governor’s explanation is that that other crown-wearing chiefs act superior to their Ibadan counterparts simply because they’re high chiefs.
On Monday, SaharaReporters reported how Bola Tinubu, National leader of the APC, is now personally overseeing the Oyo governorship campaign in a desperate bid to prevent a potential surrendering of the governorship to the PDP. One of Tinubu's recent steps, apart from buying off Adebayo Alao-Akala’s candidature, is to ban Ajimobi from showing up at APC governorship campaign meetings involving Bayo Adelabu, the party’s candidate.
Even though the Tinubu camp has denied the story, Ajimobi has not been seen at any of Adelabu's campaign events since losing the senatorial election.
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kano State, Abba Yusuf, has been barred from standing for Saturday’s election.
The PDP candidate, who is anointed for the race by a former Governor of the State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, was barred by a Federal High Court. This is coming a few days after Kwankwaso lost all the senatorial seats to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
Rather, the Court endorsed the candidacy of another aspirant on the platform of the party, Alhaji Ibrahim Al-Amin Little, whose candidacy is opposed by Kwankwaso, the leader of the PDP in Kano State.
Responding to the ruling, Kano PDP in a press statement said: “The PDP Kano State wishes to draw the attention of the general public that the High Court judgement concerns only our party and not our candidate.
“The party has already appealed the judgement while our candidate continues with preparations for the upcoming governorship election.”
in this report, takes a look at how President Muhammadu Buhari was able to wriggle out of the gang up by some ex-Generals against his re-election bid. Despite series of attacks, name calling, intrigues and steps taken to frustrate his second term bid by some ex-Generals, President Muhammadu Buhari, on February 27th, 2019, was declared winner of the presidential election held on Saturday February 23.
He defeated his main rival, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with a margin of nearly four million votes.
Announcing the results of the poll, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said President Buhari, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) got 15.2 million votes while Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the PDP received 11.3 million. The analysis of the result clearly showed that the president swept the north, while his rival, Atiku Abubakar, did better in the South and Eastern parts of the country.
Since 1999, when the country ended decades of military rule that began in 1966 and had been interrupted only by a brief period of democracy from 1979 to 1983, the ex-Generals being seen as those determining who becomes what in the country’s political space. But, by scaling the hurdles placed on the way to his re-election, the president is seen as a special being by some political observers. They are of the opinion that “hardly can we find anybody, no matter how influential he may be, surviving the kind of the gang up against the president”.
According to analysts, these ex-Generals, led by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is fond of writing letters, are like a cabal that always dictate directions for the country. Pointedly, they are of the opinion that Obasanjo always takes the lead and is never afraid to operate even where the devil fear to tread.
Analysts believe that whenever Obasanjo speaks against a particular government, he has conveyed the mind of some of his colleagues to the public, like the way they ended the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Owu born retired soldier always attacks every successive administration after him that may be perceived as not dancing to the instructions and interest of the ex-Generals.
For instance, in December 2013, few years after influencing Jonathan’s political rise as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, through Governor, Vice President, Acting President, substantive President and his election as president in the 2011 elections, Obasanjo wrote a letter to the then President Goodluck Jonathan, expressing concerns about the direction of the latter’s administration. In the 18-page letter, Obasanjo expressed irritation at the way the Jonathan-led administration was handling the affairs of the Nigerian state.
He even spoke of an alleged threat to national unity and complained about his alleged reneging on a promise he made in 2011, that he would spend only one term of four years in office. He lambasted the then administration over what he described as the increasing cases of corruption in government and the alleged training of snipers ahead of the 2015 general elections, among others and further rated Jonathan’s performance as “below average.”
Obasanjo, however, warned Jonathan not to run for re-election in 2015, a warning he ignored. He fought Jonathan and PDP to a standstill at that time and he openly declared his support for Buhari. After the election, Jonathan was defeated by Buhari with about three million votes. Some analysts posited that the former president was not left out among eminent Nigerians that congratulated President Buhari and set agenda for him. But the relationship between the two leaders began to turn sour shortly after Buhari announced his cabinet.
According to some political observers, Obasanjo parted ways with Buhari having understood that Buhari would be a hard nut to crack for him to achieve some of his personal gains. Precisely, in January 2018, Obasanjo, as usual, shook the whole country with another letter to President Muhammadu Buhari entitled: “The way out: A clarion call for the coalition for Nigeria movement.” Obasanjo, in the letter, condemned the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari by passing a damning vote of no confidence on him and equally advised him not to seek re-election in the just concluded presidential election.
Obasanjo listed what he termed result of Buhari’s poor performance to include poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condoning and encouraging misdeeds, lack of progress and hope for the future, as well as running the country without national cohesion. He said Buhari had surprised many that knew him in three areas.
He criticized him for “nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant members of his nepotic court, which has grave consequences on the performance of his government to the detriment of the nation. It would appear that national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotic interest…
” He also accused Buhari of “poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics, which has led to wittingly or unwittingly making the nation more divided, while inequality has widened and become more pronounced. It also has an effect on general national security. “The third is passing the buck. For instance, blaming the Governor of Central Bank for the devaluation of the naira by 70 percent or so and blaming past governments for it…
Obasanjo ended his epistle by advocating a coalition movement because according to him, both the APC and PDP had failed the nation. Few weeks to the election, like the way he handled Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015, Obasanjo issued another statement that portrayed Buhari as a desperate politician.
While likening the president to the late General Sani Abacha, the former president also accused Buhari of putting into practice the things he learned from the late former military head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha, by “attacking the National Assembly and now unconstitutionally and recklessly attacking and intimidating the judiciary to cow them to submission”. “Criticism, choice and being different are an inherent trademark of democracy. If democracy is derailed or aborted, anarchy and authoritarianism will automatically follow, he stated.”
However, rather than being discouraged about the letters unlike Jonathan, President Buhari and his party continued mapping out various strategies to ensure the success of his campaign and the election.
When he got to know that President Buhari was not perturbed with all the measures he put in place as an obstacle to his re-election and the threat of forming and adoption of a political party, Obasanjo hurriedly adopted Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who he had a frosty relationship with. Again, President Buhari remained unperturbed. He carried on with the task of repositioning the nation including the diversification of the economy, fighting corruption, terrorism and other threats to national security; improving education, health, and providing infrastructure – roads, rail, airports and so forth.
President Buhari remained focus and proud of his record because his achievements are verifiable. His spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said at the heat of what looked like a distraction from Obasanjo, that the President will not relent in the war against corruption because the ordinary people are the ultimate victims “if we surrender to corruption and let its perpetrators go unpunished.”
According to Shehu, “abandoning the war against corruption is not an option. President Buhari is in this battle against graft because he cannot allow a few, rapacious, and selfish class of the elite to divert the resources meant for the well-being of the ordinary people to their private pockets.
“Nigerians trust President Buhari in this effort because they are convinced he is not in government for personal financial benefits, or for an ego trip. It is just eleven years ago that the former President and Vice President in their ugly fight for power accused each other of corruption. Nigerians are yet to forget all that.” Former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) was reported to have denied ganging up against President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid.
Babangida was said to have queried: “Gang up? What gang-up? That is a media creation. It is media perception. It is easier for the media to add things up and conclude. I think what has happened is that after General Danjuma said what he said [about the alleged genocide in his home state of Taraba and the need for his people to defend themselves because the military had failed to protect them], after President Obasanjo released his letter, and perhaps, after my release too, the media simply added things up and came to the conclusion that there is a gang-up.
There is no gang-up. It is media perception.” But some people insist there is a gang up against the president and believed that the battle was between those who have the interest of the masses at heart and those who want to keep the wealth of the nation for themselves.
Some of them believed that among the past leaders of the country, President Buhari remained the most honest man. Some said, “It was a battle between those who want our country’s resources to be used for our country and her people and hose who want to privatise the commonwealth.”
A pundit who spoke to LEADERSHIP, on why they voted for the president said, ‘these retired Military Generals always think they own Nigeria, but the country is for all of us and we have to work towards our commonwealth. The president appears to be the only one at the top fighting corruption, instead of his military men supporting him, they are fighting him and this is why somebody like me voted for him. Nigerians are happy that we, the masses, are with him.”
Corroborating the development, Director (mobilisation), of the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO), Johnson Podar ,said that Nigeria’s masses were “crazy’’ about President Muhammadu Buhari because he was laying a solid foundation toward a glorious future for their children. Podar said, “So much propaganda has been packaged by the nation’s elites to make people hate Buhari. He has been vilified by people seeking to pit the masses against him.
But, the more they try to demonise him, the more he is loved by the poor and the oppressed, because they know that he is their servant and hero.” According to him, the masses like Buhari because he is a sincere leader that has shown absolute contentment. “As a leader, once you are contented, you can pass on that attribute to your followers which will ward off desperation that is usually responsible for most human vices,’’ he said.
Podar said that Nigerians were “impressed’’ that Buhari was still a poor man after serving as governor, minister, military head of state, PTF Chairman, and even now that he is President. “From what we have found out, the elites are jealous of Buhari because he has remained incorruptible.
They are jittery because he has remained on the side of the masses and has consistently identified with their yearnings.’’ “The masses are still ready for Buhari. The elites are fighting against that, but the masses have made up their minds because they know he cares for them.’’ The director said that Buhari had delivered on his three-point agenda of ensuring security, fighting corruption and improving the economy.
“On security, we have not attained 100 per cent, but Nigeria is far better off than when Buhari came in. “When we took over, Nigeria was like a country at war. Bomb blasts were common in markets, streets, Mosques and Churches. That situation has changed. In areas hit by violence, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), are returning to their homes. Buhari will do even more in his second term,’’ he said.
Podar said that fighting insecurity had been made even more by difficult by those benefiting from the conflicts. “There are conflict merchants who reap from the violence. There are contractors that supply food to IDPs camps. There are also people who sell arms to fighting groups.
“We also have people that reap bountifully from hate, rumour and fear mongering. A peaceful society will throw them out of business. So, you can see the dynamics and social contradictions in this fight.’’ On corruption, he said that the menace had never been confronted so aggressively. “Buhari has been very hard on all corrupt tendencies and elements. These days, people are afraid to collect bribes because there are consequences.
We have also had situations where people denied monies and properties acquired illegally. “It is also good to note that Buhari is being frustrated in the fight against corruption. You recall that his bid for a law to establish a special tribunal to handle corruption cases was frustrated by the National Assembly.
“He (Buhari), appears to be alone in the fight. The Legislature and Judiciary do not seem to support him. Even members of the executive arm do not seem to be comfortable with the anti-graft war. “The soothing truth, however, is that Buhari has remained committed to ridding Nigeria of corruption in spite of all odds. That is why the masses are behind him. That is why they are ready to make all necessary sacrifices to keep him in power.
“Worldwide, Buhari has stood out as a man respected for his integrity. He is recognised and adored as a credible leader. The only snag here is that many people are feeding fat on that good name and do not share his ideals. But time is running out on such elements.’’
On the economy, Podar said that Buhari had improved the agriculture and mining sectors and reduced the over-dependence on crude oil. “He has also entrenched a culture where Nigerians consume only the things they produce locally. That trend has minimised the tendency to import even tooth picks, as was the case in the past.
“Again, in the past, people used our taxes to service themselves. No more. Now, our resources are being sunk into positive projects like the Railways and the textile industries,’’ he said. On alleged nepotism in appointments, Podar blamed such allegations on mutual distrust among Nigerians.
“In leadership, you bring in people that will contribute to your ideology. People that are assets. Nigeria comes first, not where the appointee comes from. “As a nation seeking to grow, we must emphasise merit and avoid discrimination on the grounds of tribe, religion or other mundane considerations.
“Credibility and competence should be the priority. If one can deliver, where he or she comes from is immaterial. Generally, such sentiments are whipped up by elites to divide Nigerians. The masses must reject attempts to pit them against each other,’’ Podar said.
Thugs have attacked the convoy of the Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, and set two cars among the entourage ablaze.
The Director of Media of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council in the state, Mr. Dahiru Kera, confirmed this to journalists yesterday.
According to him, the thugs attacked the governor’s convoy on his way from the airport, adding that two cars in the entourage were burnt.
Meanwhile, the thugs also attacked a Lafiyawo community in the state, destroying a private radio station, Progress FM, located along Gombe Airport Road.
Eight shops were burnt down in the community.
Two vehicles were also set ablaze in Jekadafari Quarters of the state capital.
Gombe State Police Commissioner (CP), Mr. Bello Makwashi, yesterday in Gombe confirmed the incident to journalists.
The CP who confirmed this through the command’s spokesperson, Mary Malum, said investigation into the attack which occurred on Saturday evening was still ongoing.
A resident of the community, Malam Nuhu Usman said that the attackers started stoning them on their way back from airport before setting eight shops on fire.
According to him, many people sustained various degrees of injuries, while one was hospitalised.
Meanwhile, Managing Director of the radio station, Alhaji Ibrahim Biu, has alleged that the attack was caused by some thugs attached to Dankwambo.
“Yesterday evening, thugs following the governor’s convoy from the airport attacked our office with weapons.
“They were throwing stones and making attempts to gain entrance into the compound.
“So, I quickly called the commissioner of police and the director of State Security Service who responded swiftly.
“In the attack, one of our security men was wounded. It was very scary but we thank the security for their swift response,” he said.
However, Director of Media of PDP Campaign Council in the state, Mr. Dahiru Kera, said the thugs that attacked the community and the radio station were not from PDP.
Kera said the thugs had initially attacked the governor’s convoy on his way from the airport, adding that two cars in the entourage were burnt.
.....Protest INEC’s double standard, mobilise soldiers, police and thugs for final onslaught
By Iyobosa Uwugiaren and Akinwale Adedayo in Abuja
As the nation prepares for next Saturday’s state governorship and Houses of Assembly elections, a major crisis is brewing as some candidates for the contests, particularly from the Southern part of the country, have vowed to stop the use of Smart Card Reader (SCR) during the polls.
THISDAY learnt that the candidates are miffed by what they call the selective application of Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) regulation on the use of the electronic device that was introduced in 2015 to make the accreditation process more transparent.
However, there have been allegations that the device is prone to manipulation even as it is further alleged that while the electoral body rigidly enforces its use in the South of the country, it is loosely applied in the North, enabling the upper part of the River Niger to return massive votes to the disadvantage of the lower part of the river where votes are suppressed.
Some of the candidates, who expressed their misgivings to THISDAY, therefore, said they were already mobilising their arsenal to fight the use of the device to a standstill in the election coming up this weekend.
“You would recall that in 2015, there was manipulation of the card reader. Whereas it was not sensitive in the North, it was ultrasensitive in the South, so much so that even Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was the sitting president, had to try about six times before his finger print was authenticated,” one of the aggrieved candidates, who would not want to be mentioned said, adding: “You have seen how, again the device has been manipulated in 2019 with its virtual non-application in the North and strict use in the South.”
Claiming that despite their protest of the discrepancy, INEC did nothing about it, he said they are ready to use all means possible to stop the use of card reader on Saturday in the South.
“We cannot operate the same regulation in different ways in the same country. We have seen that the commission is not ready to enforce uniformity of the regulation on the card reader and we are no longer going to allow it,” he said.
For accreditation of voters on election day, INEC states in clause 8(b) of its regulations: “No person shall be allowed to vote at any Polling Unit/Voting Point Settlement/ Voting Point other than the one at which he/her name appears in the Register of Voters and he/she presents his/her permanent voter card to be verified by the Smart Card Reader, or as otherwise determined by the commission.
It stated further in clause 10(a): “In accordance with Section 49 (2) of the Electoral Act, a person intending to vote shall be verified to be the same person on the Register of Voters by use of the Smart Card Reader (SCR) in the manner prescribed in these regulations and guidelines.”
It prescribed the manner in clause 10 (d): “The accreditation process shall comprise reading of the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) and authentication of the voter’s fingerprint using the SCR; checking of the Register of Voters and inking of the cuticle of the specified finger of the voter”
It warned: “Any poll official who violates the provision of Clause 10 (a) shall be deemed to be guilty of an offense and shall be liable to prosecution.”
However, INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzi, told THISDAY that INEC was not aware of any move to set aside the use of card reader in the governorship election over alleged none use of card reader in some states during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
He said: “We are not aware of any move to jettison the use of card reader during the governorship election. It is not factually correct that card reader was not used during the presidential election.
“Nobody complained that card reader was not used during the presidential election. Yes, some people complained that card reader was not used in some polling units but not in the entire state.”
Actually the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had complained about the selective application of the regulation on card reader, saying while it was strictly enforced in South as a strategy to supress votes in its stronghold, the device was sparingly deployed in the North, where the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) returned jumbo votes.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had declared President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC as the winner of the presidential election conducted last Saturday.
Declaring the results on Wednesday morning, he said Buhari won with 15,191,847 votes to PDP’s Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s 11,262,978.
Out of the president’s haul, 9,234,434 came from the far North zones.
Overall, Buhari put up a good showing, winning 19 states across four of the nation’s six geo-political zones. In his kitty were North-west, North-east, North-central and South-west, conceding 17 states and only South-east and South-south to Atiku.
The states that gave victory to the president are Bauchi, Borno, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.
His main challenger picked majority votes from Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Delta, Imo, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba and FCT.
The closeness in the number of states won did not help Atiku as unlike Buhari he was unable to poll the big numbers from his South-east and South-south strongholds.
Suffering severe cancellation of polls and results due to violence and Smart Card Reader (SCR) failures, Atiku could only poll 3,926,717 votes from his base. The rest of his ballots that came from Buhari’s comfort zones were too meager to help him carry the day.
Related Post Ogun PDP Guber Candidate has Not Stepped down, Says Campaign Organisation Dogara: Speakership of Ninth N’Assembly not on my Mind For instance, in Atiku’s stronghold of Rivers State, election could not hold in six of its 23 local government areas due a lock down by the military, leaving him with a mere 473, 971 votes.
In the end, Buhari’s margin of win was 3, 928, 869 votes.
Pained by the emerging outcome of the contest, the Deputy Director-General (Administration), PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and former Minister of Special Duties, Mr. Tanimu Turaki (SAN), had at noon called on INEC to abort collation of result and address concerns of his party.
He demanded that results from Yobe, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Borno States should be cancelled.
He said the electoral umpire should stop the announcement of results until data from the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units are made available to all the parties in the election.
Arguing that in line with his party’s commitment to a transparent, free and fair election, it demands for an immediate halt to the on-going collation of results by INEC.
Turaki said: “The PDP predicates its demand on available evidence to the effect that data from the card readers are being reconfigured to suit the manipulations, rigging and over-voting already carried out during the election in some states by the APC.”
According to him, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus has communicated the PDP position to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, saying “We have evidence from the smart card reader accreditation data that what is being announced by INEC has been seriously tampered with and manipulated. In the meantime, we demand the immediate and outright cancellation of presidential election results in Yobe, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Borno States as submitted by INEC presiding officers and ask for the conduct of fresh elections in these states.”
The PDP chieftain pointed out that in Yobe, the total number of votes submitted as cast was more than the number of accredited voters, noting that “Whereas the number of accredited voters was 601, 056, the total votes cast was 775, 449.”
According to him, “This is a clear case of over-voting which, by the provisions of the Electoral Act, renders the election null and void. In such instance, the law provides for another election on a day to be fixed by INEC.
“In Zamfara State, no actual voting took place and there was no single result sheet in any polling unit in the entire state. There was an arrest in Shinkafi local government, where an APC member was caught thumb-printing ballot papers inside his house.
“Results from the presiding officer from Zamfara were concocted and allocated according to the wishes of the leadership of the APC and INEC,” he alleged.
Emphasising the opposition’s position, Turaki said: “The PDP therefore demands the outright deletion of the results from Zamfara from INEC records and a conduct of free, fair and credible presidential election in Zamfara State.
“Also in Borno State, there was no election but a figure writing exercise and allocation of results according to the whims and caprices of the APC leaders. We also demand the outright deletion of the results from Borno from INEC records and a conduct of free, fair and credible presidential election in Borno State.
“In Nasarawa, the PDP demands the immediate restoration of our over 157,000 lawful and valid votes which were unlawfully and arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and the announcement of the actual results from the field.
“Similarly, the PDP demands an immediate restoration of our over 79,000 valid votes which were unlawfully cancelled by INEC in Kogi State and the announcement of the authentic results inclusive of the restored 79,000 votes.”
Turaki stated further that “In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the PDP demands the restoration of 27,000 valid votes unlawfully and arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and a declaration of the authentic result, inclusive of our restored 27,000 votes.
“In Plateau, the PDP demands the immediate restoration of our over 30,000 lawful and valid votes, which were unlawfully cancelled, particularly in Jos North and the declaration of the genuine results as delivered at the polling units, inclusive of our 30,000 restored votes.”
Turaki said his party is therefore calling on Nigerians to disregard the results until INEC provides the data from the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units, conducts fresh election in Borno, Yobe and Zamfara States as well as restore PDP votes in Plateau, FCT, Kogi and Nasarawa States.
“The PDP maintains that from the actual votes delivered at the polling units, which we all have, Nigerians clearly and unequivocally gave their mandate to Atiku Abubakar,” Turaki maintained.
He was ignored as the electoral body proceeded with the exercise and concluded it this morning with the declaration of Buhari as the winner.
Shortly before Yakubu made his return on Wednesday morning, the PDP’s chief agents at the collation centre, former minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, vehemently protested what it called selective use of the smart card reader (SCR) in a significant part of Northern states, saying since it was a breach of INEC’s guideline, the results of the presidential election ought to be reviewed.
Raising other sundry concerns about the conduct of the election, including the deprivation of about 5.1 million voters from participation due to cancellation of votes arising from card reader infractions and violence, the party called for the suspension of declaration of returns until its concerns are addressed.
Some of the candidates for next Saturday’s elections told THISDAY yesterday that they would rather prevent than seek cure for “an injury certain from the selective use of the card reader
President Muhammadu Buhari is off to Akwa Ibom, Delta and Imo states today— to boost his party’s battle for governor.
Political parties are stepping up their campaigns for the elections in 29 states on Saturday.
But a group has said it is curious that the President chose Akwa Ibom as the first state to visit after his re-election instead of those that gave him overwhelming support. Besides, it “reminded” Buhari that Akwa Ibom “is a PDP state”.
The Akwa Ibom Youth Coalition Network, in an advertorial in this newspaper today, asks: “Why is the APC so interested in winning our state?”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the presidential and National Assembly elections. Senator Godswill Akpabio lost his seat in controversial circumstances.
Here is a report of the situation in some states:
LAGOS
The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos has urged Igbo residents to put the events of February 23 behind them and support the governorship candidate of the APC, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The apex Igbo cultural group backed the APC candidate at a town hall meeting held yesterday at MUSON Centre in Onikan, Lagos Island. Igbo residents gathered to discuss the outcome of the presidential election in which some members were allegedly prevented from voting.
Igbo leaders noted that the APC candidate stood by the Igbo during the event that trailed the presidential election.
Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, were invited to the meeting.
President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos, Chief Solomon Ogbonna, said the Igbo and Yoruba were brothers, stressing that politics would not strain the relationship between the two ethnic groups.
Ogbonna dissociated Igbo residents from a divisive campaign being spearheaded by the PDP, which is playing up an ethnic card to sway voting on Saturday.
He said the Igbo apex cultural group did not share the sentiment that Lagos had been in bondage. He observed that Ohanaeze Ndigbo would always subscribe to a healthy debate that would address the wellbeing of the people.
He said: “The event of the February 23 was regrettable but we have put that behind us. We don’t want the issue to define the template of our relationship with our Yoruba brothers. Our relationship is beyond politics and differences of political opinions cannot separate the two ethnic groups.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos represents the best interest of Igbo residents in the state and going forward, we have resolved to support the candidacy of Mr Sanwo-Olu, because we are convinced he is the best for the interest of our people in Lagos. Election of Mr Sanwo-Olu is tied to healing the wound and the future of our people living in Lagos. We are not part of an agenda playing the card of ethnicity to win election. We are convinced Sanwo-Olu will be a governor for all.”
The group’s deputy president, Vitus Uzoh, promised the APC candidate that what happened in the presidential election would not repeat itself in the coming governorship election, describing Sanwo-Olu as “a detribalised technocrat”.
Sanwo-Olu said he was contesting to make the state habitable for all residents and not to become a tribal leader. He said those whipping up ethnic sentiments to win election did not consider the resultant effect of their action, adding that it was unfair for politicians to divide the people they wanted to lead.
He said: “The coming governorship election is not about me, but about the collective wellbeing of our people and the development of the state. We must not allow those exploiting our ethnic fault line to divide us and derail our future. I have consulted widely among all ethnic groups living in Lagos. I am not aspiring to become a tribal leader. I will be the governor for all residents, irrespective of language, religion or cultural background.
“I am in the governorship race to bring more development to all Lagosians. A vote for APC is a vote for unity and shared prosperity. I will run an all-inclusive government that will not discriminate against any person, whether Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa or Ijaw.”
An Igbo leader, Joe Igbokwe, reminded the Igbo residents that the APC government in the state had protected their rights to live in the state and created a platform to succeed in their chosen businesses.
In the communiqué issued at the end of meeting, the leadership of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo endorsed Sanwo-Olu and called on their members to vote for APC in the Saturday governorship poll.
Some of the Igbo leaders at the event included Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, Eze H.N. Ohazurike, chairman of Council of Ndieze, Eze C.U. Nwachukwu, and Eze Ndigbo of Ikeja axis, Eze Uche Dimgba, and Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos, Chief Ernest Ozonneke, among others.
OYO
In Oyo State, the ambition of APC candidate Adebayo Adelabu, fondly called Penkelemesi, at the weekend received a boost as the leadership of the Yoruba Patriotic Movement (YPM) vowed to ensure that he becomes the next governor.
YPM President Chief Oladosu Oladipo assured Adelabu of the group’s backing while welcoming him to his Bodija home, with over 3,000 members in attendance.
Oladipo said: “Politics in Yoruba land has gone beyond allowing mediocres to be in government. In Yoruba land, we have brilliant people, holders of doctorate degrees and professors virtually in every home. So, we have no choice than to support Chief Adelabu that has an intimidating profile.
“We have done our investigation among all the contestants for the seat of governor and Adelabu Penkelemesi is the best for this state in the current political dispensation.
”This is not our first time that YPM, a movement that has it members in rural areas across Yorubaland, is declaring our support for a candidate that is credible.
”As you can see, our members here present are over 3,000 and we have resolved to mobilise our people from the grassroots for your success.
”We agreed and work for the success of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo because of our faith in them and now, we are transferring the same for Adelabu and we are sure he is the next governor of Oyo State by God’s grace.”
The APC candidate thanked the leadership and members of YPM for their trust in his pedigree to move the state to its next level.
As part of plans to ensure Adelabu’s victory, the candidate of the Zenith Labour Party for Ibadan North West/South West Federal Constituency in the just concluded National Assembly election, Dr. Rotimi Ajanaku, returned to the APC.
Ajanaku, accompanied by thousands of his supports at his Oke-Ado base, noted that although he did not win the election, his absence and that of his supporters was felt in the APC camp.
RIVERS
The members of the Coalition of Governorship Candidates and Party Chairmen (CGCPC) in Rivers State have accused Governor Nyesom Wike of acquiring and distributing illegal arms and ammunition in the 23 local government areas to rig the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
On Saturday night in Abonnema, the headquarters of Akuku-Toru Local Government, Rivers State, hoodlums killed two soldiers, exactly a week after a Lieutenant was killed in a gun duel with thugs during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
The two soldiers, who were part of the troops stationed to maintain peace in Abonnema, according to sources, were gunned down at the Obonoma-Abonnema Junction.
The 6 Division’s Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Aminu Iliyasu, was yet to react to the killing of the two soldiers as at press time.
During the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections, voting could not hold in Abonnema and the entire Akuku-Toru Local Government, following the outbreak of violence, which led to the death of many persons. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rescheduled the polls till March 9.
Reacting yesterday his Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, who doubles as the Director of Information and Communications of the PDP’s Campaign Council in the state, stated that he was not stockpiling arms and ammunition.
BENUE
The APC in Benue State yesterday said it had uncovered plans by Governor Samuel Ortom to rig.
According to the plan, said the APC, INEC ad-hoc staff in the 5,102 Polling Units and Voting Points will be given N75,000 for refreshment amounting to N382,650,000.00. In a similar manner, Ward Collation Officers in the 276 local government wards in Benue State are to go home with N150,000 each. Each of the 23 Local Government Electoral Officers (EOs) will get N1,500,000 as “understanding” fee. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Benue State is not left out in the largesse as N500m has been earmarked for him to be paid through a royal father in the state.
The party said: “Votes are to be bought in all the polling units with N300,000.00 (1,530,600,000 for 5,102 PUs) set aside per polling unit for that purpose. In view of where we are in Benue State where salaries are not paid for over 12 months as well as Gratuities and Pensions, these monies earmarked for the election by the Governor are ridiculous, to say the least. The Benue State Governor has not initiated and completed any project in the last four years and setting aside these huge amounts of money to buy votes would amount to playing on the sensibilities of the Benue electorates, especially those who are vulnerable.”
It went on: “While the emerging Entrepreneurial spirit of Benue sons and daughters has been exterminated by the Governor in the last four years, his personal enterprises have blossomed. Something as common as water taken at all government functions must be the Governor’s Goshen water just as printing of all documents by the Benue State Government is done by Oracle Printing Press, owned by the governor and now managed by his younger brother and his in-law.
The APC said it was presenting “a credible candidate”, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Jime, who is described as “a patriotic Nigerian who does not own conglomerates and, as such, will not have any conflict of interest between his own enterprises and governance. He is not a businessman and would not attract foreign investors to his farm/business…
“Rt. Hon. Jime is not a farmer as such his administration will develop agricultural land schemes, buy tractors, fertilizers and other critical inputs for farmers in the state and not what is obtainable now … The Benue State Tractor Hiring Agency (BENTHA) has folded up … Publishers in the state would enjoy patronage under Jime who like his in-laws does not have a printing press.”
The APC urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as other security agencies to arrest vote buyers and probe INEC officials who participated in the February 23 elections.
The APC said it read from the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Terver Akase, of alleged plans by the APC leader in Benue State, Senator George Akume to invite the military to disrupt voting on Saturday. “May we for the umpteenth time request Governor Ortom to refrain from peddling false rumours as Benue people are ready to vote him out in a fair and free election without the use of the military. However, the law allows the use of the military and other security agencies to maintain peace and order during elections. Senator George Akume does not deploy soldiers.
The APC will not tolerate any attempts by Governor Ortom to disrupt the voting process with the use of Livestock Guards. It has become the trademark of the Governor that anytime he is planning evil, he turns around to accuse his opponents,” the party said in a statement signed by its Chairman, Comrade Abba Yaro.
KWARA
In Kwara State, hundreds of members of the ruling PDP yesterday defected to the rival APC, The defection, led by a former state lawmaker, Bamidele Aluko, was the second of such major exodus from the PDP in a week.
Until his defection, Aluko was a strong supporter of Senate President Bukola Saraki, who vowed at the weekend that the PDP would spring surprise on Saturday.
Also yesterday, over 500 PDP members from Asa Local Government Area joined the APC.
EDO
In Edo State, the PDP has accused Governor Godwin Obaseki of resorting to blackmail, intimidation and harassment of traders in the state with a view to forcing them to vote for the APC in Saturday’s House of Assembly elections. There is no governorship election in the state.
The PDP said the state government financially induced various market leaders at New Benin, Oba Market, Etinosa Market and Ekiuwa market to force traders to join an “Apology March” to Government House scheduled for tomorrow to beg APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole and Obaseki for forgiveness.
Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Chris Nehikhare, in a statement, said the traders were to pledge their loyalty to APC or lose their stalls.
Nehikhare urged the traders to resist the threat.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, described the allegation as a creation of the PDP.
Osagie said it would take someone suffering from horrific hallucination to imagine that Obaseki would hurt interest of the traders after prioritising their wellbeing through several reforms of trade practices.
He noted that some of the traders might not have obtained degrees from universities but they were more intelligent than Nehikhare.
BAYELSA
In Bayelsa, an APC chieftain Yekini Nabena, alerted of an arms build-up in the state ahead of State Assembly election.
Nabena accused the government of plotting to use armed thugs to rig the election in favour of the PDP.
According to him, the alarm being raised by Governor Seriake Dickson was diversionary.
Nabena, who is the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, cited a security report which uncovered the arms build-up in the state.
He said: “The Seriake Dickson-led PDP administration has become very unpopular and stands rejected in Bayelsa State. The governor, in desperation has turned to violence and manipulation of the elections to suppress the people and keep PDP in power in the state.”
Nabena called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu to urgently probe the illegal activities of the state security outfit, Operation Doo Akpo, which he said was used by the governor and other chieftains of the PDP to aid rigging during the Presidential and National Assembly election in Bayelsa State.
But the State Chairman of the PDP, Moses Cleopas, raised the alarm that over 2000 members of the party who fled Nembe Bassambiri on the eve of the Presidential/National Assembly elections, were being prevented from returning to their homes.
Cleopas urge the Federal Government and the relevant security agencies to intervene in the tense security situation in Nembe Bassambiri, where thugs alleged backed by soldiers attacked PDP members.
The PDP chair also called on the Nigerian Army High Command to deploy a fresh set of soldiers to Nembe and Brass local government areas, alleging that the troops earlier deployed in the areas had been compromised.
Rescheduled Elections Could Encounter Setback In 13 States Due To INEC Staff Shortage
Our checks show that 205 staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), all playing crucial roles, have been interdicted by the commission for the past 22 months. The affected officials are either Electoral Officers (EOs) or Heads of Department (HoDs) saddled with logistics and operational duties at all levels. One source expressed certainty that INEC Electoral Officers and other critical field officials from 13 states, all numbering 205, will not be participating in the exercise.
The rescheduled 2019 elections may suffer yet another setback as no fewer than 13 states are battling with a shortfall of critical field staff, SaharaReporters can report.
Adamawa, Anambra, Cross Rivers, Delta, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Osun and Taraba are some of the states already on the red alert, according to investigations.
Our checks show that 205 staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), all playing crucial roles, have been interdicted by the commission for the past 22 months. The affected officials are either Electoral Officers (EOs) or Heads of Department (HoDs) saddled with logistics and operational duties at all levels.
Sources within the commission have raised the alarm about another possible flop, saying, "Saturday's rescheduled presidential and National Assembly elections may still suffer another setback, due to the huge gap of experience created by the interdiction.”
One source expressed certainty that INEC Electoral Officers and other critical field officials from 13 states, all numbering 205, will not be participating in the exercise.
Worse still, the commission has not competently replaced the loss of manpower, thereby exposing the process to a plethora of problems as witnessed last week.
It was gathered that Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) from the affected 13 states have made several appeals about shortfall of staff, but to no avail.
For instance, Kashim Gaidam, REC of Adamawa State, was said to have cried out the loudest about "manpower shortfall". SaharaReporters gathered that majority of those currently handling both professional and technical roles were drawn from menial staff, like security and cleaners.
In Jada Local Government Area of Adamawa, the current Electoral Officer was recruited as a guard by the commission. The situation is virtually the same in a good number of other places. Jada is both hometown and local government origin of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
As to how and why the 205 were interdicted, SaharaReporters further learnt that about 1,000 INEC staff across the country were implicated in the alleged Diezani Alison-Madueke $90 billion loot.
One of the interdicted staff told SaharaReporters: "For us, the hullabaloo about INEC staff accepting gratification from the alleged Diezani loot was the Chairman's invented way of conducting the elections with incompetent hands.
"The allegation is that we accepted gratification from proceeds of Diezani's loot through West Africa Network on Observer (WANO), an accredited election monitoring organisation.
"Yes, WANO partnered INEC in 2015 and they were domiciled right within INEC office, where they gave all of us cash grants for logistics support. This was done in the open, there was nothing hidden about it.
"Later, we were summoned to Abuja and asked to refund the money, that it was from the Diezani loot, and we did. Afterwards, we received letters of interdiction from INEC headquarters that we had been found guilty of an offence we were neither investigated nor queried about.”
It is curious, however, that the interdiction has now lasted for 22 months. What is more disturbing is that the commission is faced with acute manpower needs at this critical time. Also, some staff of the commission, who are currently standing trial, in connection to various scandals have not been interdicted.
This, SaharaReporters can report based on facts available, seeing the Admin Secretary in Bauchi and Anambra have both been indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the Diezani saga but have not been interdicted.
Another interdicted staff member said: "Also curious is how the staff remained suspended despite confirmation by EFCC, that the 205 staff were not liable to prosecution regarding the matter at hand.”
When contacted to react on the matter, Gaidam admitted to having made spirited efforts for the reinstatement of the interdicted staff from his Adamawa office. However, he refuted claims that the interdiction could jeopardise the polls. "If Gaidam falls down right now elections will go on hitch-free," he maintained.
Asked for how long the staff would remain suspended, Gaidam said: "The issue is before the National Chairman, please direct the question to him.”
He also alluded to the fact that justice needed to be done on the matter, saying: “Without justice any system of government will collapse."
The All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Kwara South yesterday escaped assassination attempt by some political thugs, as two supporters died instantly from the shooting.
The APC in Kwara state had on Tuesday alleged that two of its members were shot dead by political thugs allegedly from the PDP during a senatorial campaign tour in Ojoku, Oyun local government area of the state.
Oyun is the home town of Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, who is also the PDP senatorial candidate of the Kwara South in this Saturday’s National Assembly election.
The attackers were also said to have injured about eight APC members and vandalized about twenty vehicles belonging to the APC Kwara South senatorial candidate, Lola Ashiru during his campaign tour of Ojoku on Tuesday evening.
However, the PDP claimed that the APC thugs were the first to attack its members with no fewer than six persons sustaining bullet wounds while the shooting lasted.
Addressing reporters in Ilorin on Wednesday, the state APC chairman, Hon Bashir Bolarinwa, confirmed the attack on Hon. Ashiru.
“We are using this occasion to call on the security agencies to immediately arrest all the perpetrators of yesterday’s violence at Ojoku and bring them to justice.
“We are also reiterating our earlier call on the security agencies to immediately arrest all known thugs and other criminals across our state so that they will not disrupt Saturday’s elections and the subsequent ones,” he said.
Also speaking, the Director General of Lola Ashiru Campaign Organisation, Femi Whyte, told reporters in Offa, Offa local government area of the state, that “Three persons reported to be missing have been found, but not in stable condition, probably due to the psychological effect of the attack.”
Mr. Whyte gave the name of one of the dead as Samson Adeosun, whom he said died on reaching the General Hospital Offa.
Sensitive electoral material belonging to Kano lands in Oyo
Afeez Hanafi, Ibadan
There was a mild drama on Wednesday at the Central Bank of Nigeria branch in Dugbe, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, after the Form EC8B of the Independent National Electoral Commission meant for Kano State was found in the election material deliveries meant for Oyo.
The form, which is one of the sensitive election materials, is the result sheet for a particular ward within a state.
While our correspondent was moving round the CBN premises around 5.30pm to monitor the sorting of the materials, a group of INEC officials, including ad hoc ones, suddenly raised an alarm.
“Eh! For Kano… Noted,” they exclaimed, as a woman raised up the form.
One of them subsequently took the form to a superior INEC official, who documented it in a register.
Our correspondent met with a senior official of the Commission supervising the sorting to ask how the discovery would be handled.
“We will give it to the CBN to return it to Kano State as soon as possible,” the official, who did not disclose his name, said.
Asked if there were other discoveries of such, he said, “For now, that is the only one we have found.”
The official added that the sensitive materials would be dispatched to different local government areas of the state as soon as the sorting ends.
Efforts to get the comment of the INEC Head of Publicity in the state, Mr. Olayiwola Arowolo, on the development proved abortive as calls made to his line were not answered.
The Resident Electoral Commission in the state, Mr. Mutiu Agboke, had also yet to reply to a text message sent to his line as of the time of filing this report.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Nigerian Presidency of arm-twisting security agencies and plotting to replace Electoral Officers (EOs) in “some critical states” with APC agents to allegedly rig this Saturday’s presidential election.
The Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, told newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had allegedly succumbed to pressure to replace Electoral Officers in PDP strongholds in order to rig the election in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari.
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The states, according to Ologbondiyan, are Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Bauchi, Akwa-Ibom, Zamfara, Benue, Sokoto, Lagos, Plateau, Taraba, Borno, Adamawa, Kogi, Delta and Ebonyi.
“At a meeting held in Buhari Presidency/APC situation room in the Presidential Villa last night (Tuesday) where Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, the Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mustapha Boss, among others, were in attendance, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) were directed to issue out result sheets to APC agents to falsify and declare results in favour of the APC.
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“Also, our party has full details of how the Department of State Services (DSS) has been interfering with operations of critical departments of INEC, including the ICT department, to do APC bidding.
“The PDP also has details of the meeting last night (Tuesday) by President Buhari, some APC northern governor and Service Chiefs last night, whereupon pressure was mounted on the Service Chiefs in connection with the APC rigging plans.
“However, the PDP, in clear terms, assures INEC, compromised security agents and President Buhari that their evil plans will definitely come to naught.
“Nigerians are now, more than ever before, determined in rallying with our party, to confront, resist and stop President Buhari and the APC on their trail to rig the February 23 election.
“These APC EOs have been briefed to ensure the diversion of sensitive electoral materials from designated polling centres, delay the accreditation process, so as to frustrate voters’ enthusiasm, compromise the collation process to allocate and announce fictitious results for President Buhari and muddle up the process to pave way for result cancellation where it becomes impossible to rig for President Buhari.
“It is now clearer that the Election Day killing order issued by President Buhari is designed to clamp-down and even kill patriotic Nigerians who will want to confront and stop the APC from executing their rigging plots on the day of election,” the PDP said.
Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi west at the national assembly, says President Muhammadu Buhari needs to revisit London, suggesting a need for a medical checkup.
He said the president spoke with the anointing of Idi Amin, late Ugandan dictator on Monday.
On Monday President Muhammadu Buhari said he has given the military and the police the order to be ruthless, stating that those who snatch ballot boxes will pay with their lives.
“I really gave the military and police order to be ruthless,” Buhari had said.
“Anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs to snatch ballot boxes or disturbs the voting system, will do so at the expense of his own life.”
But speaking on Channels TV on Tuesday, Melaye said he was disappointed in the president’s utterances about ballot snatching.
“I want to start by saying I am utterly disappointed in my president, I am completely in shock that in a democratic setting, the president will speak with the anointing of Idi Amin Dada of Uganda,” Melaye said.
“The president will use the word ruthless, the president will order killings of Nigerians without going through legal procedures, that is totally unacceptable.
“The statement just reminds me of the part of the Bible that says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.”
Melaye said he expected that the president should have apologised and withdrawn the statement, and apologise to Nigerians.
“That statement is very unpresidential, and I expected that by now, the president should have apologised to Nigerians and withdraw that statement, but instead, there has been a lot of efforts, boxing the wind by chieftains of the APC trying to defend what is undefendable,” Melaye said.
Melaye said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not in support of ballot box snatching, but in a sane clime, the laws should be adhered to strictly.
The lawmaker took it a step further to say the president needs to visit London again, suggesting the number one citizen of the nation is in need of medical attention.
“That statement from Mr President actually, for me, is a serious confirmation that the president has to visit London again because it is not expected for any rational thinking, intellectually mobile leader to make such statement.
When told to temper his words, Melaye insisted that he has not been “insolent at all,” but simply advising the president.
Festus Keyamo, Buhari’s campaign spokesman, said the robbery and firearms act prescribes death for anyone involved in armed robbery, adding that snatching ballot box is armed robbery.
To say that the All Progressive Congress’s Presidential rally in Ogun State was a disaster would be over flogging the issue. It was a complete national embarrassment. The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was almost pelted with missiles at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, the venue of the event at Abeokuta.
As expected, immediately after the event, the national leadership of the All Progressive Congress blamed the whole show of shame on the amiable governor of Ogun State, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun.
The governor was accused of organising thugs to disrupt and embarrass the president when he rallied in the state.
But if my memory of the event would serve me right, I found this accusations ridiculous! How can the organiser of an event while planning for it, plan also how to embarrass his guests? As a well brought up Yoruba man, Amosun would never do that.
Aside from sharing the same political ideology and colour with President Mohammadu Buhari, Amosun has came a long way with the sitting president before now.
The relationship the pair shared is beyond politics. According to the governor in an interview, he claimed to have known the president before venturing into politics and described him as a family friend.
Whatever happened at the rally was a premediated attempt by those trying to drive a wedge between him and President Buhari. It was callous and unacceptable by all standards.
I followed the rally from beginning to the end and after reviewing other pundits’ comments on the event, I came into the conclusion that nobody was to be blamed for the national embarrassment but the former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, the national chairman of All Progressive Congress, Adams Oshiomhole and the national leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The event which was smoothly anchored with supporters to loyal to the APC’s gubernatorial candidate, Dapo Abiodun, and his Allied Peoples Movement’s counterpart, Abiodun Akinlade, on the rally ground with each bearing placrads of their principals in peace took a sharp turn when Aregbesola took the microphone to address the crowd.
Recall that there is no love lost between the two gubernatorial candidates, Amosun during his address ensured he made it clear that the gathering was meant to honour the Nigerian president and whatever grudges being nursed by the two parties should be buried for the sake of that.
There is a proverb that says you can’t beat a child and expect him not to cry. The peace gained by Amosun’s admonition was disrupted by one of the leaders of the APC, Aregbesola, when he claimed that anyone bearing the identities of any other party but APC were hypocrites and such were not recognised.
These statement and more he made were unnecessary and Aregbesola’s countenance that fateful day showed that of man on a mission to destroy and embarrass the Nigerian president and his VP, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, both present at the event.
One would have expected for a leader of his stand to campaign for the president, but alas no. He insulted the crowd while Asiwaju Tinubu looked on and proudly took his seat. And ofcourse the crowd reacted, called him thief and threw missiles at him.
Amosun, despite not his turn to address the crowd, came back to calm them and pleaded with them to ignore the jabs for the sake of Buhari and Osinbajo present, stressing that all were in an attempt to embarrass him.
After which Adam Oshimhole came up and tow Aregbesola’s line; he insulted the already aggrieved crowd and insisted on focusing on the APC’s gubernatorial candidate regardless of whatever happened. To him, the crowd responded again and stoned him.
Throughout the event, Governor Ibikunle Amosun was seen appealing to the crowd to remain calm but the deed had been done. The evil plans of the Lagos warlord and APC national chairman had been achieved as the crowd became uncontrollable, tearing down each other’s placards, throwing missiles at the podium and exchanging fisticuffs.
Amosun and President Muhammadu Buhari were embarrassed while the actors strolled away unconcerned.
It was so clear that the target of the evil campaign was the president and Asiwaju, who already nursed hatred for the governor way back but made worse by his recent attempt of the former to foster his stooge, Olamilekan Adeola popularly called Yayi, as governor on the people of Ogun but was roundly rejected before Yayi ran back to Lagos, didn’t not mask his pleasure at what happened.
It may spell doom for the party if it doesn’t desist from trying to put the blame on Amosun and start putting its house in order as presidential election draws close.
The free train ride announced last Friday by the minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on the Lagos-Abeokuta section of the Lagos Ibadan standard gauge rail being test-run is yet to commence, Daily Trust checks revealed.
The free service to be run by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) were to commence on Saturday, a day after a ceremonial train ride by Amaechi and other dignitaries including the Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo.
The section being test-run is 62 kilometres beginning from Iju in Lagos which is Kilometre 21 to Kilometre 82 at Laderin, Abeokuta in Ogun state.
Many residents had looked forward to the free service as from Saturday.
But checks by our correspondent showed that the service is yet to commence as at Monday.
Sources disclosed that the NRC management today decided to print tickets for the services with a view to control the crowd of people that are likely to turn up for the free service.
One of the sources said, “We are envisaging that many people would turn up for the free service and to control the crowd, the management met today (Monday) and decided that large amount of tickets should be printed for the service.
“The ticket would be ready today or latest tomorrow (Tuesday). With the tickets available, we can manage the crowd that would show up for the free ride. Once the coaches are filled, we will stop issuing tickets until another train comes”.
When contacted, spokesman of the NRC, Mahmood Yakubu confirmed that the free services would commence this week unfailingly, saying tickets were being printed for the services.
*Says visit to Nigeria has the potential to be politicised
Former United States President Bill Clinton has turned down an invitation by the National Peace Committee to visit Nigeria from February 12 to 13 to deliver a goodwill message at the signing ceremony of the “National Peace Accord in Abuja, hinging his decision on the fact that a visit to Nigeria at this time has the potential to be politicised.
A statement by his Spokesman, Angel Ureña, said former President Clinton however looked towards talking to both candidates and former Head of State General Abdulsami Abubakar this week.
The peace committee had invited Clinton and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Baroness Patricia Scotland, to visit Nigeria from February 12 to 13, ahead of the Nigerian presidential election. Both were billed to deliver goodwill messages at the signing ceremony of the “National Peace Accord” on 13 February.
A statement sent to THISDAY on Monday by the spokesman of the former US president said: “President Clinton appreciates General Abdulsalami Abubakar and the Nigerian National Peace Committee’s invitation to travel to Nigeria. He is incredibly supportive and respectful of the Committee’s efforts, of the election process, and of the work being done to try to ensure a peaceful, free, fair, and transparent outcome. This is a crucial time in Nigeria, and President Clinton is hopeful that the election’s outcome reflects the will of the Nigerian people.
“Over the course of the last several days, and after various conversations with the different stakeholders, it’s become apparent that President Clinton’s visit to Nigeria has the potential to be politicized in a way that is not in line with the goals of the Committee. Therefore, he will not be traveling to Abuja.
“He looks forward to talking to both candidates and General Abubakar this week.”
The National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress has fixed a special meeting for Sunday (today) ahead of the general elections.
The special meeting is between the NWC and state chairmen, secretaries, governorship and senatorial candidates.
A press notice sent out by the APC Deputy Director, Press and Information, Edegbe Odemwingie, reads, “A special meeting between the National Working Committee and State Chairmen, Secretaries, Governorship and Senatorial Candidates, will hold today (Sunday 10/2/19). Venue: APC National Secretariat. Time: 7pm.”
The agenda of the meeting was unknown as of the time of filing this report.
The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, says he is not a judicial officer and is therefore not answerable to any institution but the Presidency.
He, therefore, rejected the authority of the National Judicial Council and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.
Umar said this while responding to a petition against him by an organisation, the Incorporated Trustees of the Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative.
In a petition signed by Grace Wogor, the group asked the commission to sanction Umar for abusing court processes and granting an ex parte order removing the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, when the CJN had not yet been convicted.
The FJSC subsequently issued a query to the CCT boss, asking him to respond to the allegations against him.
In his response, dated February 6, 2019, and marked CCT/HQ/FJSC/S/01 and addressed to the acting Chairman of the FJSC, Umar said he was not answerable to any institution but the Presidency.
He said, “With regard to the prayer of the petitioner for an appropriate sanction against the chairman, it is important to note that the chairman and members of the tribunal, not being judicial officers, are not constitutionally subject to any disciplinary proceedings by either the National Judicial Council or the Federal Judicial Service Commission but the Presidency.”
Umar explained that at the time of inauguration, members of the CCT only take official oaths and not judicial oaths.
He said, “The petitioner alleged that judicial oaths were breached and that the National Judicial Council should consider appropriate sanctions. It is to be noted that the chairman and members of the Code of Conduct Tribunal are not judicial officers.
“This is predicated on the fact that the chairman and members of the tribunal, during swearing-in, only subscribe to official oaths and not judicial oaths. Therefore, not being a judicial officer, I did not subscribe to judicial oaths as alleged.”
On why he granted the ex parte order, Umar said he did so because it was within his power but added that he could not speak further since the matter was before the Court of Appeal and commenting on it would be subjudice.
The CCT boss also attached a letter dated May 18, 2015, which was signed by the then CJN and Chairman of the NJC, Justice Mahmud Mohammed.
In the letter with reference number NJC/CIR/HOC/1/74, the then CJN asked members of the CCT to stop referring to themselves as justices as they were not judges.
The decision was made pursuant to Paragraph 15 (1 and 2) of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The letter read in part, “From the foregoing provisions, no member, including the chairman of the CCT on appointment, is a judicial officer as defined in Section 318 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended unless he or she has held office as a judge of the superior court of record in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, Onnoghen’s defence team has raised the alarm over what they described as lies contained in the records of proceedings of the CCT dated January 23, 2019.
It was the day the CCT chairman granted an ex parte order for the removal of the CJN.
The record of proceedings, which was made available to our correspondent, read, ‘complainant/applicant respondent (Onnoghen) in court’.
However, the defence maintained that the CJN was not in court when the ex parte order was granted by the CCT chairman; rather, only the prosecution was present.
“We have filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal.
Obviously, there is some hanky panky going on; otherwise, they would not have done that.
Everyone knows that neither the CJN nor his lawyers were in court when that ex parte order was granted,” one of Onnoghen’s lawyers said on Saturday.
The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, will virtually shut down on Wednesday as both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have scheduled their mega rallies for the day.
While the PDP rescheduled its presidential mega rally to that day after it was denied approval to use the Old Parade Ground, Abuja, on Saturday, the APC has also booked the same day for its presidential mega rally.
The PDP had called off its rally earlier billed for Saturday after it alleged that the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) denied it approval to use the Old Parade Ground (OPG) in Abuja.
The Director, Administration and Finance, Social Development Secretariat (SDS), the agency that manages the OPG, Hajia Safiya Umar, exclusively confirmed to THISDAY Saturday morning that PDP had agreed to shift its rally to Wednesday at the same venue.
On the same day, however, APC loyalists are billed to gather for the campaign rally in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection bid at the National Stadium, Abuja. The stadium has a capacity to hold 60,000 spectators.
But the PDP is yet to confirm when its rally would hold after issuing a statement on Friday announcing its suspension.
Spokesman of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, had on Friday, described the refusal of access to the OPG by FCDA as a provocative action against the party after it had made payments to the authorities and obtained official approval.
He stated, “For us in the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, this is part of the last kicks of a dying horse, which the Buhari Presidency now represents.
“We invite the world to note that this latest assault against the people’s candidate is also borne out of direct ill-will and hatred against him by President Muhammadu Buhari as well as his handlers, who have sought all ways to drag him down, since they realised that Nigerians have reached a consensus on Atiku Abubakar, as the next President of our country.
“In any case, let it be known to President Buhari and the APC that the PDP and the people’s candidate will definitely hold our Presidential mega rally in Abuja irrespective of any further encumbrance they may attempt to foist. Nigeria belongs to all of us and nobody can stop us from exercising our constitutionally guaranteed right of holding our rally in the FCT or any other part of our country for that matter,” he added.
The PDP therefore cautioned Buhari and the APC to note that with the level of consensus its presidential candidate enjoys throughout the country, noting that any assault on him is a direct assault on the overall aspiration and sensibilities of Nigerians as a whole.
The main opposition party restated that the more the presidency attacks the people’s candidate, the more his support base among Nigerians expands.
“However, any further attack on our campaign will therefore attract very dire response from Nigerians who look up to Atiku Abubakar to salvage our dear nation from the social, economic and political despondency, which President Buhari has plunged it into,” Ologbondiyan warned.
The party’s spokesman said that from reports reaching the party, it is not also out of place for the Buhari Presidency and the APC to use this measure to test the will of Nigerians as precursor to their rigging plots.
He said, “We want to place on record, once again that any attempt to rig the February 16 election will be vehemently resisted by Nigerians, across board, who have reached a consensus to rescue their nation from the stranglehold of the Buhari Presidency.”
On federal government’s decision to replace national monument like Unity Fountain and City Gate with Broom statue, which is a symbol of the APC, Ologbondiyan stressed that all that Buhari can deliver to Nigerians apart from posters is the statue of a broom.
But Umar told THISDAY that the withdrawal of access to the OPG for the party was made to forestall bloodshed as an FCT APC faction was also due to assemble for a rally at the venue on the same day (Saturday). She also confirmed that the PDP held a rally at the same OPG last week without any issue. She however validated APC’s right to use the contentious venue, insisting that the ruling party was the first to book the ground before PDP.
Umar also plainly refuted the insinuation that the SDS yielded to pressure from high quarters in making the decision, insisting that SDS is a revenue generating agency.
The DAF further clarified that when the controversy over access to the venue unfolded, they offered PDP alternative venues in the city, but in spite of all entreaties, PDP stuck to its gun, insisting it must be granted access to the OPG.
“When the matter came up, we offered PDP alternative use of the field facing the Fire Service, but they declined the offer,” Umar said.
She further clarified that when FCTA intervened, PDP was presented with several options, including to move their rally to Zone 3 or to shift the campaign to either Sunday or Monday, after APC might have concluded their own rally.
“But they (PDP) categorically rejected our offers, in addition to offer for them to use the Pavilion close to the International Conference Centre. They rejected the offer on the grounds that the pavilion is too small,” she declared.
But after much persuasion, the opposition party initially agreed to hold its rally at the Area 3 Sports Centre before it later said it was suspending it indefinitely.
“We gave them that venue at Area 3, after the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Chinyeka Ohaa stepped in and ordered the athletic team that was training there in preparation for a sporting programme to suspend its training, ” Umar said.
Bashir Ahmad, personal assistant on new media to President Muhammadu Buhari, used a picture from the campaign rally of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Taraba state to campaign for his principal.
Atiku and his team visited Taraba on Tuesday. A newspaper advertorial placed the picture from the campaign on its front page, with a message thanking the people of the state for coming out to receive Buhari.
The picture was also captioned: “A section of the crowd at the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign flag-off in Jalingo, Taraba state, on Tuesday, February 5, 2019.”
However, Ahmad uploaded a picture of the advertorial on his Twitter handle, portraying it as taken at Buhari’s rally in the state.
The picture Ahmad tweeted
Buhari held his re-election campaign in Taraba on Thursday.
“Thank you, Tarabans! #PMBInTarabaa,” Ahmad wrote.
Politics › Audu Ogheh Mocked On 'The Daily Show' Over Pizza From Britain by 2mercy(op): 6:27pm On Apr 06, 2019
