It seems that North are just waking up to the reality of paternity fraud that has been ravaging the South.

Paternity fraud is a crime not just against men but humanity.

It's so unfortunate that people who do not understand economy in this critical time hijacked governance and enmeshed everyone in this mess. E no go better for INEC, APC and emilokan gangs.

Some people have made themselves enemies of God and masses because of peanuts they collect from politicians. How could someone see truth but prefers to turn a blind eye?

Is there anything wrong in saying the truth in this country? Who has bewitched you oh Nigerians

Have you forgotten that Nigeria is a hypocritical nation? Those whose region is putting Nigeria into this present mess are not complaining even though it's affecting them also. Nigeria is just a case of "my evil is better than your evil".

Sectionalism and tribalism have finished Nigeria irredeemably.

It's the "ruining" mate for me. Sylva out of greed has already RUINED the APC chance of mounting any substantial challenge.

It's really unfortunate that a single individual can hijack a party or institution without any repercussion.

Not being able to meet the December deadline is just a ploy to gulp and embezzle more money. If it costs 1.5 billion dollars to rehabilitate the refinery, how much would it cost to build a new one. We so much like deceiving ourselves in this country.

There was a country!!!

Bobo Chicago is in Chicago hiding his first class records from Atiku

He is starting off with propaganda and blame game. APC is so shameless

Our electoral process must be transparent in order to build trust in any administration that comes onboard. Coup d'ballot must stop to avoid coup d'etat .

Well, military coup might not happen in Nigeria because our military is highly politicised and loyal to who appointed them not the country.

If INEC had done the right thing, most of these issues/cases would not be in the court. If the country or any part of the country is on fire, INEC should be held responsible.

The allegations by the acting PDP chairman is a weighty one and should not be swept under the carpet. DSS, EFCC , ICPC and other related agencies should carry out investigation without delay.

We pray for justice
We pray for transparency
We pray for good governance

Jailed candidate set to win Mali FA elections
By Piers Edwards and Romain Molina
Football writers
Last updated on28 August 202328 August 2023.
From the sectionSport Africa
Malian youth demonstrated against Mamatou 'Bavieux' Toure's possible re-election last week in Bamako
Malian youth demonstrated against Mamatou 'Bavieux' Toure's possible re-election last week in Bamako
On Tuesday, a football election like few others will take place in Mali when the one-and-only candidate, the current president of Mali's football federation (Femafoot), looks set to win a four-year term from a prison cell.

Mamatou Toure, widely known as Bavieux, is currently in jail in the Malian capital Bamako as he awaits trial after being accused of embezzling funds during his time as a financial and administrative director in Mali's National Assembly.

The 66-year-old, who has led Femafoot since 2019, is a member of both the Fifa Council, the board of football's world governing body, and the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (Caf).

He is also the sole candidate for the elections after being the only one of four men to pass an eligibility test, which he managed to do prior to being indicted on 9 August by the Malian state for "attacking public property as well as forgery and use of forgery and complicity". Along with four others, Toure is accused - in charges that all deny - of embezzling a reported US$28 million from the state purse.

Toure is a former tax inspector with a master's degree in auditing. The charges against him cover a period between 2013 and 2019, when the five representatives of the then ruling RPM ('Rassemblement pour le Mali') party were in power, and which largely pre-date Toure's election as Femafoot president in August 2019.

On the eve of Tuesday's elections, BBC Sport Africa can highlight a series of financial gaps that have taken place within Femafoot under the administration of Toure. While hundreds of thousands of dollars remain unaccounted for, so several of Mali's national team trainers have complained about going unpaid for many months.

Financial questions
An audit conducted into Femafoot's finances of 2022, conducted by the Pyramis group and dated March 2023, which has been seen by the BBC, shows that Femafoot did not pay any taxes to the Malian state regarding its employees.

"Femafoot deducted taxes and duties from staff salaries for a total amount of CFA 23,9m [just under $40,000]," the audit stated. "Femafoot did not declare or pay these taxes and duties."

The tax failure was not new, since an audit into Femafoot's financial affairs of 2020 (covering January-September) had also found it did not pay the country's inland revenue 'all the tax deductions it retains on salaries paid to its staff'. That same 2020 audit (conducted by the Cabinet Ficogec group) also stated that key financial and management reports had gone missing.

In addition to the tax issue, the March 2023 audit showed that nearly $50,000 were awarded to unspecified 'other parties' without any reason given nor any approval agreed by Femafoot's board for the payments - in direct contradiction of the body's statutes. When sports equipment was sold for just over US$300,000, US$138.5k was registered in Femafoot's account and US$144k was paid - in cash - to MK Productions, the company reported as providing the sports kit, so leaving US$22k unaccounted for.

Without receiving documents relating to the sales, with the auditors citing no inventory not itemised sales, Pyramis declared themselves 'unable to comment on the correct valuation of the sports equipment sales'. The BBC can find no record for a sports company called MK Productions within Mali - where the only-registered company with that name works in media, not sportswear.

The questions raised in the 2023 audit follow a theme from 2022, when a document signed by 44 Malian football officials - nearly all of whom were presidents of clubs, including some of the country's top sides - also raised several financial concerns.

One of these was how Femafoot spent nearly US$1.25m in the final quarter of 2020, despite none of this being presented to the federation's executive committee for approval (while also questioning why this quarter was not covered by Cabinet Ficogec's 2020 audit).

Addressed to Mali's then political rulers, the document also queried what Femafoot had done with the $790,000 it received from Caf regarding the country's participation at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, money that should have been refunded to the Malian government since the latter finances the country's national football teams.

Finally, no financial report has been presented to Femafoot's general assembly, where all its members gather, for the past three years, which contravenes Fifa statutes. The BBC has sent questions regarding all the financial issues outlined above to Femafoot but has yet to receive a response.

Mamatou 'Bavieux' Toure is set to win a second term as Mali FA president despite being jailed for corruption
Mamatou 'Bavieux' Toure is set to win a second term as Mali FA president despite being jailed for corruption
Sole Candidate
Despite the serious pending charges against him, Toure is the sole candidate for Tuesday's Femafoot presidential election - after three others failed to pass the eligibility test. One candidate, former Femafoot media spokesperson Salaha Baby, did initially pass, but Toure successfully appealed his eligibility to rule him out of the race.

"The disqualifications of our candidacies follow a multitude of fanciful procedures by the armed arms of the Femafoot president," Sekou Diogo Keita, a former vice-president of Femafoot, told BBC Sport Africa.

"Why is no one taking any action? The only candidacy validated is the one of someone actually jailed."

Keita, who has written to Fifa to complain about the ongoing process as well as Femafoot's financial affairs, is currently serving a five-year ban issued by the Malian football body in 2022 on charges he describes as politically-charged. Meanwhile, Femafoot has failed to answer a question about showing bias towards its current president when asked by the BBC.

Toure's would-be rivals have appealed his eligibility - arguing, among other matters, that he should have declared the pending state investigation into him when filling out his eligibility form for the Femafoot post.

"Are you currently the subject of a disciplinary, criminal or civil procedure or investigation?" asks one of the questions on the Femafoot eligibility form.

Toure's rivals believe he either failed to accurately answer the above question or simply did not fill in any form.

On 15 August, Baby formally wrote to sport's highest court, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, to appeal against Toure's candidacy and request the reinstatement of his own.

"Being a member of the Fifa Council cannot spare Mamoutou Touré from the good governance protocol established by your body," wrote Keita to Fifa Secretary General Fatma Samoura.

In response, Fifa - which is sending emissaries to oversee Tuesday's vote, as are Caf - said it "has been closely following the electoral process".

"Any dispute concerning the electoral process should follow the established legal procedures," the governing body added. "Please note that all Fifa Forward projects undergo an annual central review by Fifa."

Further Fifa ban feared
Keita was the second Malian to write to Samoura on 15 August, after Mali's Sports Minister Abdoul Kassim Ibrahim Fomba also wrote to the Senegalese to ask for help overseeing the elections, citing a "real urgence".

"The candidates have identified specific points of violations of the texts, which, according to our reading, are likely to call into question the whole process and make us relive a new crisis in football," Fomba wrote.

Fomba was mindful not to be seen as interfering in the federation's affairs, given that Fifa set up a Normalisation Committee to run Femafoot in 2017 to revise statutes and conduct elections after it banned Mali following government interference in the running of its football.

Mali national men's team
Mali have qualified for next year's Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast
The threat of a further Fifa ban for governmental interference has also prevented Keita from filing a lawsuit against those running Femafoot - and how they have used funds, including those received in annual grants from Fifa - in the Malian courts.

"We did not go to the civil court because Femafoot always tells everyone that as this is money from Fifa, no one can interfere with how it is spent - even the state," he told BBC Sport Africa. "They use this argument every time."

In response to the indictment against Toure, a Femafoot statement on 10 August said his arrest was 'fuelled by Toure's opponents' while stressing the 'presumption of innocence'.

Meanwhile, it is unknown how long Toure will be in jail pending trial, with one Malian journalist telling L'Equipe this month that "pre-trial detentions in Mali can last a long time - there are cases of people suspected of corruption who have been in prison for two-three years as they await trail".

On the pitch, Mali are preparing for January's Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast while its Under-23 team will contest the Paris Olympics this time next year.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/66638502

We are enjoying Mr Tinubu track records just as we enjoyed buhari's body (odour)language.
He is an accountant per excellent cum economic guru.

May this increase favour me and my family.

This is a damage control by the midget after several protests against him by the good people of Kaduna state. He is proposing his protege as his replacement.

Most of the nominees are simply political rewards for civilian/electoral coup on the good people of Nigeria.

Wishing him quick recovery and grace to triumph over it.

Soon they will tag it IPOB and OBIdient protest in Niamey. There must be a reason why Nigeriens are happy about the coup, I think that should be the first that ecowas should find out.

Welcome to the renewed hopelessness.

However, this bicycle transportation and trekking will favour me and my family.

Please how much is the whole Senate building if a new one is to be constructed? Did the 9th national assembly cart away and destroyed the furniture and offices?

Meanwhile, the 70b naira furniture and office repair will favour me and my family.

ubaobi:
Biko I have a question, in Adeleke vs APC and INEC , the supreme Court ruled that BVAS is the primary source of accreditation data and form EC8A is the primary source of election results, so I am wondering why the petitioners are still attaching IREV results as exhibits, shouldn't the time spent on irev be saved and spent on the EC forms and BVAS reports?

They are attaching IREC results as exhibit to show the discrepancy between what is obtainable in the IREV portal and what INEC announced as results.

It seems that this Hadi Sirika was the most corrupt minister of the immediate past administration. He needs to be behind bar and give us the accountability of his stewardship.

This is the right step in the right direction.

Revenue collectors need to be sanitized with immediate effect.

That's the type of "honour" he deserves. No one trusts a betrayal. After all, what makes him different from the masses?

Is it good enough for transportation?

Pls if there's any issue let us know and what's your last price?

All we want in this country is very simple: fairness, equity, justice, peaceful co-existence, no thuggery, no intimidation, credible and transparent election, security and robust economy. Anyone who acts otherwise should face the full weight of the law.

ICC Accepts Petition against Onanuga, Others over Alleged Incitement
thisdaylive.comMar 28, 2023 3:55 AM

•Says acknowledgement means nothing yet

Wale Igbintade

The International Criminal Court (ICC), yesterday, formally acknowledged receipt of a petition written by Prof. Gideon Christian to investigate election and post-election violence in Nigeria as well as alleged incitement to ethnic hate by Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Media Director of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

The ICC, in its acknowledgments letter dated March 27, 2023, with reference number OTP-CR-109/23, was signed by Mark P. Dillon, Head of Information & Evidence Unit, Office of The Prosecutor.


The letter read: “The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court acknowledges receipt of your documents/letter.

“This communication has been duly entered in the Communications Register of the Office. We will give consideration to this communication, as appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

“Please note this acknowledgement letter does not mean an investigation has been opened, or that an investigation will be opened by the Office of the Prosecutor. As soon as a decision is reached, we will inform you, in writing, and provide you with reasons for this decision.”

The petitioner, Christian, had in his petition titled: “Request to Investigate the Election and Post-Election Violence in Nigeria as Well as Incitement to Ethnic Hate by Mr. Bayo Onanuga” invited the Office of the prosecutor to conduct an investigation into series of ethnically motivated violence resulting in injuries and death during the just concluded presidential and governorship elections in Nigeria.

He alleged that Onanuga issued a threat on Twitter warning individuals from the Igbo ethnic group that 2023 should be the last time they would be interfering in Lagos politics.


According to him, promoting attacks against individuals from a particular ethnic group residing in a particular area was a clear violation of international law, adding that the international community must not only take action to prevent such acts from reoccurring but should also hold to account individuals involved in such international wrongdoing.

The petition was brought Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute and read: “Pursuant to art.15 of the Rome Statute, please accept this communication to the International Criminal Court (the Court) requesting the Office of the Prosecutor to conduct an investigation into series of ethnically motivated violence resulting in injuries and death during the just concluded Presidential and Governorship elections in Nigeria.

“The European Union Election Observer Mission in Nigeria which observed both elections, in their interim report on 20th March 2023 noted multiple incidents of ‘organised violent attacks’ which resulted in ‘many casualties and fatalities.

“These incidents where the results of incitement to ethnic hatred by Nigerian politicians and their agents, who actively (directly and indirectly) incited groups of individuals to inflict harm on other individuals from a targeted ethnic group (the Igbo) as well as individuals who ‘look like’ people from that ethnic group.

“It is on record that prior to the elections, very influential individuals and politicians especially in Lagos, had publicly warned members of the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria not to show up to exercise their constitutional rights to vote.

“While this complaint is not strictly about the deprivation of that right (which admittedly this Court has no jurisdiction), it is evident that in an effort to deprive members of this ethnic group of their right to vote, these politicians and influential individuals incited ethnic hate that resulted in ‘many casualties and fatalities’ to individual from the Igbo ethnic group including those who ‘looked like them. Mr. Bayo Onanuga was clearly one of such persons.


“Following the completion of the governorship election Nigeria in which individuals from the Igbo ethnic group and others who ‘looked like them’ suffered ‘many casualties and fatalities’ especially in Lagos, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, a very influential journalist turned politician and now Director of Media and Publicity in ruling political party’s presidential campaign organisation issued a threat on Twitter warning individuals from the Igbo ethnic group that 2023 should be the last time they will be interfering in Lagos politics.

“Mr. Onanuga’s concept of interference arose from the legitimate act by individuals from the Igbo ethnic group in Lagos in exercising their constitutional right to vote anywhere in Nigeria. This statement was issued after individuals from this ethnic group have been attacked and killed in Lagos during the governorship election. The attacks continued after Mr. Onanuga’s tweet.


“What is more disturbing about Mr. Onanuga’s tweet is the threat of future harm to individuals from the Igbo ethnic group in future elections in 2027,” the petitioner said, and also attached a copy of Onanuga’s alleged tweet which he claimed has been viewed over 5.5 million times.

He added: “Mr. Onanuga is a well-educated journalist and a prominent member of the ruling political party. His conduct in inciting ethnic hate, which fuelled election and post-election violence against individuals from the specific ethnic group, who were the target of his incitement needs to be investigated to prevent a repeat of what happened in Rwanda and Burundi in the 90s.

“Promoting attacks against individuals from a particular ethnic group residing in a particular area is a clear violation of international law. That violation falls within the jurisdiction of this Court, and the international community must not only take action to prevent such acts from reoccurring but should also hold to account individuals involved in such international wrongdoing.

“I, therefore, request this Court to investigate the conduct of Mr. Onanuga and other individuals in Nigeria, who directly and indirectly organised, incited, aided and abated the ethnically motivated election and post-election violence in Nigeria and take appropriate action to hold them responsible for their actions. This will prevent future conducts that will breach rules of international law.”


https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023/03/28/icc-accepts-petition-against-onanuga-others-over-alleged-incitement/amp/

INEC has shamelessly murdered our democracy. The only way out is revolution.

Never you underestimate the power of social media. Integrity is one of Obi's major selling point. Cherish your integrity despite your environment.

It's no longer news that Nigerians will be trooping out en masse to cast their votes for their preferred presidential candidates. The frontline presidential candidates are Bola Tinubu of APC, Atiku Abubakar of PDP, Peter Obi of Labour Party and Rabiu Kwankwaso of NNPP.

It's expected that all the candidates would do well especially in the areas of their strong bases and they are all capable of pulling surprises. They all have potential to win their states and/or few other states from their regions.

However, my main focus of discussion is who would become the main opposition party if a new party clinches power, say Labour party or NNPP. Presently, PDP is the supposed main opposition party but they are not equal to the task. They are very docile.

Will the APC be the main opposition party because they just lost (if it happens) or will the PDP maintain their status as the main opposition party?.

Who would you like to be the main opposition party in order to keep the new ruling party on their toes? Would you suggest the outright collapse of any of the main parties if a new party clinches power tomorrow?

Pls your opinion is needed. Let's chart a new course for our country. This write up is not predicting victory or defeat for any party but just to discuss the "IFs".

We all know that Orji Uzo kanu is an enemy of Nigeria and a sellout

I'm unapologetically OBIdient but if this video is real, it's very appalling, unprofessional, shameful and disgraceful from the Nigerian army. They should maintain non-partisanship

APC is a good for nothing party.
Can any truth come out of APC? No!!!!
Can anything good come out of APC? No!!!

We totally reject APC, their works of iniquity, their candidates, their supporters, their propaganda and everything associated with APC. Vote wisely.