₦airaland Forum

Suspected thugs on Saturday set ablaze electoral materials meant for supplementary elections in the entire Azendeshi ward in Chito town of Benue state.

Chito town is the headquarters of Azendeshi ward with 13,000 voting population.

The electoral materials were said to have been kept at a public primary school before thugs belonging to one of the political parties overpowered security men and set them ablaze


There was also reports of a similar situation in part of Kwande local government area as thugs manhandled INEC staff and destroyed electoral materials but the situation was said to have been brought under control.

Apart from these isolated cases the election was generally peaceful in Benue with a large turnout of voters at various polling units as earlier as 8am.

As at press time the process was still ongoing in 22 local government areas out of 23 where the rerun exercise is taking place.

Friday Olokor, Bauchi



Four yet-to-be identified staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Bauchi State have been kidnapped by armed men.

As of the time of this report, the issue has caused tension among INEC staff and residents who were seen discussing the issue in hushed voices.

The incident was said to have taken place at Jamare Local Government Registration Area 02 with Polling Unit Code 010.


A staff of INEC, who escaped said the armed security operatives came in seven Toyota Hilux vans.

According to him, the abducted staff were taken away with voting materials.

He said, “Four of our staff in Jamare LGA Registration Area 02 with Polling Unit Code 010 have been abducted with voting materials. The place was invaded by heavily armed security operatives who came in seven Toyota Hilux Vans, and took the four INEC officials to Jamare LGA to perfect their plots.”


Calls to the Head of Department of Voter Education and Publicity in Bauchi office of INEC, Ahmed Waziri for reaction were not replied.

Calls to the spokesperson for the Bauchi State Police Command, Kamal Datti Abubakar, were also not responded to.

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja


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The family of Ogah Jumbo who was beaten to death by policemen attached to the Nyanya Police Division, walked out the Divisional Police Officer of the station, Igbekele Ogungbemi, when he paid a visit to their home on Thursday.

Our correspondent, who witnessed the drama, learnt that the DPO arrived at the residence of the deceased along with the Head of the police homicide department around 3.30pm.

Mr. Igbekele, while condoling with the family, asked them to keep faith in God as Christians.

Also speaking, the head of the homicide department, said the two policemen who clubbed Mr Jumbo to death were in detention.

However, the family immediately rejected the plea of the DPO, accusing him of having a hand in the death of their son.

A relative of the deceased, Isaac Otokpa, said it was disgusting that the DPO had the effrontery to pay a condolence visit to the family despite contributing to his death.

“The family insists that the DPO must also be detained. When my brother was being beaten to death, they claimed to be following orders. When the matter was taken to the station, the DPO refused to allow my brother to get treatment. He should leave here immediately,” Otokpa said.

As tempers began to flare, the DPO and the head of the homicide department quickly jumped into their patrol vehicles and sped off.

The wife of the deceased, Ada, alleged that when her husband was dragged to the police station after being beaten with batons, he began to show signs of weakness and slumped but the DPO was mocking her husband, insisting that he was only pretending until he died.

The widow said, “At the police station I began calling my husband’s friends, telling them that my husband was lying down lifeless. The DPO said ‘who is lifeless? The man is pretending. Get a syringe and prick him with it’.

“I begged the DPO and his men at the station to please let my husband go to the hospital but they refused. However, one of the traffic warders who got injured was allowed to go get treatment.


“They left my husband to die. When they finally agreed to take him to the hospital, they said there was no fuel in their patrol vehicle. I remained there with my children. It was when I started crying that they agreed to take my husband to the hospital but by then he had died. They killed my husband.”

Tragedy struck in the early hours of Wednesday in Nyanya, Abuja, when a policeman allegedly beat up and killed one Ogar Jombo, a two-star officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), for violating traffic rules.

The incident happened near a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) around Nyanya market, when the deceased was driving his two children and wife. His children were on their way to school. It was gathered that he made a U-turn at the wrong spot, but was flagged by the police officers on duty in the area.

Findings revealed that Ogar pleaded that he was rushing to drop the children in school. Ogar was in uniform and also identified himself as an officer.

However, all entreaties made by the deceased fell on deaf ears, as one of the police officers jumped on the bonnet of the vehicle, while the other one descended on him with a baton. At this point, his wife and children intervened and pleaded on his behalf. He was, however, allegedly beaten to a stupor and died in the process.
One of his children was quoted as saying: "Please, don't kill my father; leave my father alone.”

When SaharaReporters visited the Asokoro General Hospital, the remains of the deceased had been deposited at the morgue, while his wife and some sympathisers were seen weeping profusely.
Efforts to get a word from his wife, identified as Ada, proved futile as she was very emotional.

According to passers-by, the Police had attempted to take the corpse away with a view to dumping him somewhere, but they intervened and followed them to the hospital where the corpse was deposited.

Bala Ciroma, the Commissioner of Police of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who was at the General Hospital to console the family of the deceased, has ordered the arrest of the officers who committed the crime.

There is palpable tension in the area as youth and relatives of the deceased have vowed to burn down Nyanya Police Station if the officers involved in the act are not arrested and prosecuted.

The slain officer hails from Otukpo in Benue State and was recently promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Corps (ASC).

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has given reasons why he would not comment on the outcome of the February 23 presidential election.

Mr Obasanjo backed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, in the election that was won by President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mr Buhari as the winner with 15,191,847 votes. Mr Abubakar garnered 11,262,978 votes.


Mr Abubakar has challenged the result in court. PREMIUM TIMES On Monday reported how he gathered a team of lawyers at the Court of Appeal, who are currently working on the processes of filing the petition.

Mr Obasanjo said speaking about the election would be ”subjudice.”



The former president spoke on Tuesday at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre Abuja, at the launch of a book written by Abdullahi Shehu, titled ”Election in Nigeria: The Long Road To Democracy.”

The event attracted the presence of dignitaries, including a former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon; human right activist, Femi Falana; a former deputy president of the Senate, Ibrahim Mantu; Chido Onumah, author of ‘We Are All Biafrans”, among many others.

”I will not dabble into the details of what I call current aspect of Prof Shehu’s book because since the emphasis was on the national election, particularly the presidential election, and the presidential election is now taken to court,” Mr Obasanjo said.

”I think talking about it would become subjudicive, because it has been taken to court,” he added.

Mr Obasanjo, however, spoke on Mr Shehu’s book.



”The book discusses the election and electoral processes in Nigeria including why there must be a free fair transparent and credible election as predictive autumn of the country.

”It reviews the main factors that led to the defeat of the PDP in 2015, and how the APC mismanaged the victory. The main thrust of the book is a comparative analysis of the APC Next Level and the PDP ” Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again”, he added.

Mr Obasanjo said the author had done justice in reviewing the bedrock of a democratic government.

”I think from the review, you would see that the author had done justice in what he set out to achieve

”In the introduction in which election is the bedrock of a democratic government, all modern democracy and old elections, not all elections are truly democratic. The measure of a democratic election is that it is transparent fair, credible and acceptable

”The problem is who determines these outcomes in the election? And that is where the concerns about a sustainable democracy arises and sustainable democracy, if an election is fundamental and basic to democracy and good governance.”

The former president further reviewed the part highlighted in the book, as ”Election Integrity.”

He described an election without integrity as a ”farce”

”Then we go to the other part and very important part in which Prof Shehu highlighted very much in this book, and that is election integrity. Without integrity, any election is a farce.

”In this regard, an election can futher enhance democracy, security, human right and freedom,” he said.

Nigeria’s electoral authority Monday said it will take a decision on what to do next about the Imo West Senatorial District controversies.

Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission, told The Guardian that the Commission have not issued the district Certificate of Return to any candidate but “will take a decision on what to do next. That decision will be made public when it is taken.”

The senatorial district poll conducted alongside the presidential election on February 23, was contested among 37 candidates including Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha.


Okorocha was declared the winner of the poll by INEC Returning Officer, Professor Ibeawuchi Innocent. He polled 97,762 votes to beat his closest rival Hon Jones Onyereri of PDP who polled 63,117 votes.

Innocent, however, said that he declared Okorocha the winner under duress.

“I declared this thing before under duress; I’m still under duress declaring this one,” Professor Innocent had said said before reading out the results at the collation centre in February.


“I have been held hostage here for days so I’m trying to ease off and take my life home back to my children and for the sake of that I am calling these results under duress,” he added.

The governor faulted the allegations and accused the returning officer of acting a script.

However, Okorocha’s name was not on the list of those to be given a certificate of return and despite his protests against the decision, he wasn’t given a certificate when other senator-elects got theirs last week.

Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), has been tipped to retain his seat in Buhari's second term cabinet, SaharaReporters can report.

Abubakar Malami, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), tops the list of a few returning ministers, with Hadi Sirika, Minister of State Aviation, also making the list.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, after securing his reelection, declared publicly that "only people of proven integrity will make the next cabinet".

Accordingly, the President’s inner clique, Abba Kyari, Mohammed Babagana Monguno, Mamman Daura, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and Babagana Kingibe, are said to have taken a firm stand, to ensure that many members of the present cabinet are weeded out.

For the SGF, the clique refers to him as a level-headed and a tall, standing stabilizer, especially within Adamawa politics. Other reasons include the expectation that he would play a significant role in the legal battle by Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to challenge the outcome of the presidential election, especially as the SGF has been a long-standing associate of Atiku.

However, Mustapha may face stiff opposition from the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, for his role in scuttling the chances of her younger brother, Mahmood Halilu Ahmed, during the APC governorship nomination.

For daring to oppose her in that humiliating manner, SaharaReporters gathered that Aisha Buhari has also shopped for Mustapha's replacement. Mohammed Buba Marwa, who hails from the same Adamawa State as Mustapha, is being positioned from Mrs. Buhari's camp to take over the SGF job in the new cabinet.

However, Aisha's move may be contained by the cabal, since, over time, Buhari has been swayed against her where conflicts of interest arose.

Mrs. Buhari has had cause to repeatedly cry out and openly allege that her husband's government is 'cabal-driven', an allegation the President has openly denied.

But much of the drama that would characterise Buhari’s second term may be staged in the South-West, as sources are predicting that Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), may eventually pull out of the party.

This is because the cabal is weaving a strategic plan to checkmate his overbearing influence within APC politics. Part of the plan is to inject a new breed of politicians from the South-West against Tinubu's interest.

Akinwumi Ambode, outgoing Governor of Lagos State, may top the array of those disgruntled by Tinubu's control style. If the plan succeeds, all presidential appointees from the South-West may be selected from Tinubu's bitter rivals. This way, he (Tinubu) would have been cut to size ahead of 2023.

As to why the cabal would turn its back on Tinubu, the answer lies in Buhari's ready-made 12 million votes in the north, at least, going by the permutation of the cabal. The position of the cabal is that owing to the North's capacity to produce over 12 million votes, which was the case in the February 23 presidential election, rotational presidency is no longer tenable.

It is, therefore, most likely that the cabal is zeroing in on either Mallam Nuhu Ribadu or Nasir el-Rufai to succeed Buhari in 2023.

For the rest of the south, the cabal has no soft spot for anybody, except that Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology, and few others are still considered dependable allies.

Somehow, as the theatre of activities would be unveiled with Buhari's inauguration on May 29, Boss Mustapha is believed by the cabal to possess certain indispensable qualities for the battle ahead.

But as to whether things will work out eventually as planned, only time shall tell.

Akabuking:
PDP really scatter their plans.

Ibadan – The Oyo State chapter of the Providence People’s Congress (PPC) has submitted its petitions to the National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal, asking for the cancelation of results of the elections in eight ( federal constituencies over missing of its logo in the ballot papers.

Mr. Taiwo Oduola, state Chairman of the party, revealed this in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, the state capital, over the weekend.

The PPC Chairman said that the party decided to file the petition before the tribunal due to the exclusion of the PPC’s logo in the ballot papers used for the election held on Saturday February 23 in the eight constituencies.

The affected constituencies, according to him, are: Akinyele/Lagelu, Ibadan North, Ibadan South West/Ibadan North West, Saki West/Saki East/ATISBO, Oluyole, Surulere/Ogo Oluwa, Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Iwajowa/Kajola and Ido/Ibarapa East.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had already declared and presented certificates of return to the winners of the elections in the aforementioned areas.

The winners of the elections declared by INEC are; Hon. Akintola Oluokun George, Akinyele/Lagelu (APC), Hon. Musliudeen Olaide Akinremi, Ibadan North (APC), Hon. Stanley Olajide, Ibadan South West/North West (PDP), Hon. Olatubosun Olajide Boladale, Saki East/Saki West/Atisbo (APC), Hon. Tolulope Akande-Sadipe Oluyole, (APC), Hon. Odebunmi Olusegun, Ogo Oluwa/Surulere (APC), Hon. Shina Abiola Peller, Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/ Iwajowa (APC) and Hon. Yemi Taiwo Ido/Ibarapa East (PDP).

But, the PPC said that it has dragged INEC, winners of the elections, their political parties and the returning officers in the constituencies to the tribunal due to the failure of INEC to include the party’s logo on the ballot papers.

Oduola said, “The Providence People’s Congress, Oyo state has filled its petition to the Electoral Tribunal on the Exclusion of the Party Logo on the Ballot papers of the election held on the 23rd of February, 2019 for the Federal House of Representatives election in Eight federal constituencies in Oyo state.

“The filing of the petitions for the eight constituencies came on Thursday 14th of March, 2019.

“The constituencies affected are Akinyele/Lagelu Federal constituency; Ibadan North Federal constituency; Ibadan South West/Ibadan North West constituency; Saki west/Shaki East/ATISBO constituency; Oluyole Federal constituency; Surulere/Ogo Oluwa Federal constituency; Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Iwajowa/Kajola Federal constituency and Ido/Ibarapa east Federal constituency.

“All the winners of the Reps election in the aforementioned constituencies and INEC are joined in the petition”.

Oduola while calling for cancelation the results of the elections, cited the omission of his party’s logo on the ballot paper used for the election as ground for the petition.

The 2019 general elections, according to political pundits, have once again brought to the fore the political consciousness of the people of the South-West region. But some analysts linked the causal effects of that consciousness to the centrifugal fallouts of ill-handled party primaries, the dictatorial tendencies of certain party leaders and the dangers inherent in taking the electorate for granted.

The 2019 general elections, according to political pundits, have once again brought to the fore the political consciousness of the people of the South-West region. But some analysts linked the causal effects of that consciousness to the centrifugal fallouts of ill-handled party primaries, the dictatorial tendencies of certain party leaders and the dangers inherent in taking the electorate for granted.

Until the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 23 and the March 9, 2019 governorship and state assembly elections, the South-West was wholly the stronghold of the All Progressives Congress (APC), with the party in firm control of all the six states in the geo-political zone. The factor of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, as the ‘son of the soil’ had been deemed a plus in 2015 for the APC to maintain that stranglehold in subsequent elections.

Signs there was likely to be a realignment of forces that could enable the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) encroach into APC’s South-West territory if the latter wouldn’t shrug off its complacency actually began manifesting in April 2017 after the death of Senator Isiaka Adeleke, the APC senator representing Osun West in Osun State.

Attempt by the late senator’s junior brother, Ademola Adeleke, to succeed his brother in the Senate was rebuffed by the APC. An angry Ademola moved to the PDP to contest the July 2017 by-election and easily won the ticket by 97,480 votes, defeating a former senator, Mudashiru Hussein of the APC, who had 66,116 votes.

That was no surprise. The Adeleke family from the town of Ede, which occupies a large part of the Osun West senatorial district, boasted (and still boasts) extensive influence in the state.

The governorship election in September 2018 would further underline the diminishing strength of the APC in Osun State. It took a re-run election and a measly advantage of 482 votes for the APC’s Gboyega Oyetola (255,505 votes) to defeat PDP’s Ademola Adeleke (255,023 votes).

A Lagos-based civil rights activist and social affairs commentator, Raji Cardoso, was quick to point to the Osun State governorship election as the harbinger of the election direction in the South-West in 2019.

“Notwithstanding the fact that the Vice President came from the region and that all the sitting governors are of the same party, the people had their independent-mindedness. This would be the second time they would be demonstrating that unequivocally in the last four months.

“It surprised me that the ruling APC seemed to take the people for granted in the general elections even after the pattern of voting that came out of Osun State in September 2018.”

Aside the bad blood in the ruling APC, many commentators also argued that the long-running battle between the immediate past governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and the labour unions in the state all contributed to the party’s near-loss in the September 2018 governorship and March 9, 2019 Presidential/National Assembly elections.

The APC primaries to pick its candidates for the governorship, National Assembly and state Assembly in the South-West would further corrode whatever cohesion had existed in the state chapters.

In Oyo State, what many people in the state regarded as the dictatorial proclivities of the governor, Abiola Ajimobi, coupled with the irreconcilable differences he had with the Minister of Communication, Bayo Shittu, on who controls the soul of the party in the state to set the stage for an easy electoral pick for PDP’s Oluwaseyi Makinde.

Shittu had set his sight on succeeding Ajimobi, but the governor would not budge on his preference for a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Bayo Adelabu, who eventually secured the party’s ticket.

During the screening of the APC governorship candidates for Oyo State, Shittu was disqualified in what would appear an ignominious defeat for him in a show of superiority between rivals. The two men consequently went into the March 9 governorship election ostensibly working for the same party, but at cross-purposes.

The governor had incurred the wrath of protesting students of the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, when he showed what some analysts considered as “lack of empathy” in describing himself as the “Constituted Authority” in Oyo State, rather than address the students’ grouse about paucity of funds for the institution’s lecturers and the school.

“That was a faux pas,” said Cardoso, who also faulted the governor for “disrespecting the Olubadan over arrogant balkanisation of the Ibadan royal order, the fight with the butchers in Bodija over relocation of the abattoir and the demolition of Yinka Ayefele’s radio station, among others.”

The social critic said these were reasons enough for the Oyo State populace to harden against Ajimobi. “They were necessarily not against the party. You can see that the people elected two APC senators, while Ajimobi lost his. They completed his routing from the state’s political space by ensuring that his protégé, Adelabu, lost scandalously in the gubernatorial election,” Cardoso said.

In Ondo State, the intra-party crisis between forces loyal to Gov Rotimi Akeredolu and the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which began in 2016 by the primary that produced Akeredolu as the APC candidate for governorship election in Ondo State, never abated.

The primary produced Akeredolu against Segun Abraham, whom Asiwaju Tinubu supported. It was the rancour that the primary elicited, party insiders told Daily Trust on Sunday, that cost Chief John Oyegun his position as Chairman of the APC as the strong Tinubu camp considered him as rebellious against its interest and worked to replace him with Adam Oshiomhole.

The Tinubu and Akeredolu’s camps have not been able to mend fences since then and, as in Oyo State, worked one against the other in the February 23 Presidential/National Assembly and March 9 governorship/state Assembly elections. It wasn’t a shock, therefore, that the APC won only one senatorial seat in Ondo State, through Senator Ajayi Borofice.

Akeredolu, like governors Ibikunle Amosun and Rochas Okorocha, his counterparts in Ogun and Imo states, respectively, was said to have supported his loyalists who left the APC to contest election on the platform of the Action Alliance (AA) after losing in the APC National Assembly primaries, while candidates loyal to Tinubu secured the APC tickets to contest. Observers said it was the divided house that resulted in the APC’s woeful outing in Ondo State.

In Ekiti State, the disagreement between Gov Kayode Fayemi and his hitherto main challenger, Segun Oni, during the 2018 gubernatorial primary in the state appeared to have been better managed, such that the state was the only one in the South-West region where the APC was able to win convincingly in both the February and March 2019 elections.

Ogun State is another case study of how intra-party factionalisation can lead to destructive results. Although the APC won substantially in the Presidential and National Assembly elections, it was because Gov Amosun flew his senatorial ambition on the APC wing, as he also committed himself to supporting President Muhammadu Buhari for reelection.



It was, however, war for the APC to retain the state on governorship.

Amosun just wouldn’t take the loss of his preferred candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, in the APC primary lightly. He swore to ensure the victorious Dapo Abiodun didn’t win the governorship office for the APC and, therefore, floated and supported Akinlade as governorship candidate on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM). So it was an election rarity of a governor contesting for the Senate in one political party while massively funding and actively campaigning for the governorship candidate of another party.

Massed against Amosun was the combination of Vice President Osinbajo, Tinubu and former Ogun State governor Chief Olusegun Osoba, who had to work off their feet campaigning to ensure victory for Abiodun. The APC did win the governorship, but only just, with Abiodun polling 241,670 votes to Akinlade’s 222,153 votes. The APC could also only win 15 of the 26 House of Assembly seats, not enough to form a clear two-third majority.

The general elections in Lagos State also came with intricacies in the ruling APC. They were preceded by a threatening possibility of protest votes against the APC governorship candidate, Babatunde Sanwo-Olu, who the party leaders had picked against another term for Gov Akinwunmi Ambode, who the party leadership had jettisoned citing, among numerous sins, disrespect for them.

PDP leaders were actually salivating to benefit from the rift that ensued, with expectations Ambode would dump the APC and afford the PDP and its governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje, thousands of sympathy and loyalty votes, especially in the governorship.

The APC was able to keep its house in order eventually. But what Ambode’s non-defection from the APC couldn’t achieve for the PDP, voter apathy almost did. The APC won the Presidential election with a slim margin, although it cleared the National Assembly slots. In the governorship election, Agbaje lost by a wide margin of over 500,000 votes.

A number of factors have been identified as responsible for the anti-climax, top of which was the fact that the huge votes expected from the Igbo, the second largest voting bloc in the state after the Yoruba, were not delivered for Agbaje in the March 9 election.

To the Lagos State APC Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, the outcome was not surprising “as it was apparent that many Igbo in Lagos were not at home with the candidacy of President Buhari but were willing to vote for the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.”

Although Igbokwe said the party was not in support of the violent attacks launched on some voters in Igbo-dominated areas of the state during and after the Presidential election, not a few analysts attributed the widespread Igbo apathy that attended the gubernatorial and state assembly elections to the attacks and threats of further attacks on Igbo communities if they dare vote any other party other than the APC.

The PDP was not without its own internal problems. In Ogun State, the party organs did not support the governorship candidate, Buruji Kashamu, who challenged up to the Supreme Court the nomination of Ladi Adebutu by the party’s national leadership, and eventually got favourable judgment. The snub for Kashamu was so obvious that the party’s leaders did not bother to visit Ogun State to campaign for its candidate.

And in Ekiti, the crisis of confidence between the immediate past governor, Ayodele Fayose, and the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abiodun Olujimi polarized the party so much so that the APC took advantage of the situation to take full control of the state.

The PDP National Vice-Chairman (South-West), Dr Eddy Olafeso, in a chat with Daily Trust on Sunday, confirmed that the internecine crises in some states terribly set the party back in the elections.

Olafeso said the party, however, had every cause to celebrate its victory in Oyo and Ondo states; while the party lost in Ekiti, winning Oyo was seen as a big victory.

He added that the party’s standing in the South-West had been further strengthened and it can no longer be relegated to the background. “No doubt, the South-West is one of the most enlightened zones and people voted on the basis of issues,” he said.

A PDP chieftain and former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, argued that the “militarization of the election” contributed to the voter apathy witnessed in the South-West, especially in Lagos.

Ogunlewe said, “It is a terrible situation and it is food for thought for all of us in the South-West. It is only 18 per cent of registered voters that voted in the South-West, whereas in the North, we had close to 56 per cent. Something is wrong in the system of election we are practising because in the South-West, they have introduced thuggery.

“Our people don’t come out to vote in large numbers any more. Our voting system in the South-West has been taken over by hoodlums and that is not good for us. That could affect us in national decisions.

“The first election was better and so we were able to capture some House of Representatives seats. But in the governorship election, only 18 per cent of registered voters voted. We had over 6.5m voters but the entire votes were not up to one million. That was because of fear of violence. All these must be addressed.”

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Saturday ransacked the farm of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, seizing sales books, receipt booklets, its members of staff list and other documents.

Findings revealed that about nine EFCC operatives, a cameraman and policemen in a Nissan bus marked Abuja BWR 627AT searched the premises of Wanogan Farms Limited located in the Masaka area of Nasarawa State around 3pm.

A relative of the CJN confirmed that the EFCC operatives seized all the phones of the workers to prevent them from taking photographs of the operation.

The relative said, “We were at the farm on Saturday afternoon when operatives of the EFCC arrived in a white Nissan bus marked Abuja BWR627AT. They forced their way into the premises, harassing everyone.

“No document was presented to the manager under the claims that the EFCC doesn’t need a search warrant. They searched his office and made away with a list of staff members from around February last year.

“The manager was then made to write and sign a document that nowhere was broken into, and nothing was taken. The supervisor was made to countersign. Both were made to do this under duress.

“The cashier was then harassed and made to turn over the sales record and all receipts and invoices in his keeping. He was also made to write an undertaking releasing the sales book to them under duress and made to write his name and designation.”

He added that the EFCC men harassed the human resources director over the phone and requested that the company’s invoices be turned over to the EFCC.

It will be recalled that the suspended CJN had written a petition to the Inspector-General of Police, alleging that some men posing as herdsmen invaded his farm on February 1, 2019, asking residents if they had witnessed any suspicious activities.

In response to the petition, security officials who had been carrying out surveillance on the property, decided to formally search the farm.

According to the relative, “These people alleged that Onnoghen had 55 houses but when they realised that he had only one house; they decided to start looking for evidence.

“They claimed he had foreign accounts but when it was time to provide evidence to the NJC, they realised that it was only domiciliary accounts he had which is not the same as foreign accounts. Now, they are looking for evidence when the matter is already in court.”

However, the EFCC spokesman, Mr Tony Orilade, said he was not aware of the raid on Onnoghen’s farm.

“Sincerely, I am not aware,” Orilade said.

It was gathered that the EFCC raid may not be unconnected to the claims by the embattled CJN that most of the monies that passed through his accounts were from his farm business.

Okey Sampson, Aba


Unidentified couples have reportedly lost their lives 24 hours after attending a wedding ceremony in Aba, Abia State.

The death of the couple was said to have happened at Umuozu, Uratta community in Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area.

A source disclosed that only the maid of the couple who hails from Anambra State survived and is receiving medical attention in an undisclosed private hospital in the city.

According to the source, “the couple was childless. The man has a three-storey building at Umudim in Osisioma LGA. He is from Anambra State and the secretary of timber dealer’s association.

“From what we learnt, the man and the wife chaired a wedding event in Aba and when they were going, they were handed a take away pack. We learnt that they went home and ate the food with their maid.

“The maid is in the hospital as we speak and has started talking. We hope to hear exactly what happened to the couple when the maid is fit enough to speak.

“The neighbours got to know about the death of the man and woman when their neighbours in the market complained that they have been calling them while their phones rang without any response. It was at that point that some of the neigbhours used ladder to climb into the flat of their landlord only to behold their bodies and that of their maid who was eventually taken to the hospital for treatment.

“We learnt that the bodies of the couple have been deposited in a mortuary pending an autopsy that would be carried on them to determine whether their death was as a result of food poison as being speculated,” the source narrated.

Former governors who are ranking senators in the incoming 9th Session of the National Assembly are resolved to ensure that one of them emerges the next Senate president.

Some of the ex-governors said to be eyeing the Senate top job include Danjuma Goje (Gombe) and Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa), while Senators Ahmed Lawan (Yobe), Aliyu Ndume (Borno) and Benjamin Uwajumogu (Imo) are also in the race. Expectedly, the delay by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to initiate a power sharing formula among the geopolitical regions has led to all manner of groupings and re-groupings in the race for the seat of president of the 9th Senate.

When the seat of Senate president was zoned to the South East and North Central geopolitical zones during the Obasanjo and Yar’Adua presidency respectively, only senators from those regions stepped forward to contest the leadership of the Third Arm of government. But at the moment, it is a free for all.

The campaign is chaotic and multi-pronged in nature, a situation that may be difficult for the APC leadership to manage. A senator who does not want to be named said some members may feel dissatisfied with APC’s late hour settlement and decide to negotiate with the opposition senators the way outgoing Senate president Bukola Saraki did four years ago.

While senators from the North East, North Central and the South West are flexing their political muscles based on how APC fared in the last elections in their zones, the South East is calling for an all-inclusive APC government. LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that former governors newly elected as senators want one of them to be elected the next Senate president.

However, some high ranking senators who have been re-elected have published their curriculum vitae to let Nigerians know how prepared they are to provide good leadership at the Senate. According to the senator, the only possibility for the APC to avoid the manner Saraki, Ike Ekweremadu and Yakubu Dogara emerged as National Assembly leaders on June 9, 2015 against the wishes of the ruling party is for the governing party to come up with a power sharing framework as a matter of urgency.

He said such framework must be all-inclusive and devoid of sentiment against regions that voted for the party or not. “Exclusion and non-appreciation of the Nigerian diversity stood firmly as some of the major faults of the Buhari administration between 2015 and 2019.

‘’I have no doubt that President Buhari can put an end to the continued alienation of South East, for instance, by being the statesman we all want him to be. This he can do using his powers as national leader of APC to ensure that the South East, the third leg of the nation’s tripod, is brought within leadership circles by making sure the president of the 9th Senate is selected from the South East’’, the senator said.

The former governors and deputy governors in the Senate have vowed that one of them will become the Senate president in the 9th Senate, LEADERSHIP Sunday learnt from trusted sources. The governors-turned-senators say it would be wrong for them to come to the Senate and be subservient to their former subjects who used to prostrate before ‘His Excellency’’.

The 15 former governors coming to the 9th Senate include Orji Kalu (Abia North), Theodore Orji (Abia Central), Kashim Shettima (Borno Central), Sam Egwu (Ebonyi North), Gabriel Suswan (Benue East), Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central), Ibikunle Amosu (Ogun Central), Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu East), Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano Central), Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa South), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa North), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto North), Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe East), Abdul’Aziz Yari (Zamfara West) and Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central).

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the ex-governors had collectively resolved that, irrespective of party affiliation and their individual ranking, they will rally round one of them to be elected as the next Senate president. It is also believed that the current Senate leadership is chairing this group and rooting for a high ranking senator who is an ex-governor.

It was learnt that the ex-governor is being favoured because he was rather non-aligned or did at no time work against the interest of the Senate leadership all the while it was facing pressure from the APC and the presidency. The senator was said to have been tutored not to talk to the press about his aspiration, and not to discuss it with anybody except highly trusted APC senators. A senator from the North Central is said to be coordinating the campaign for the emergence of the ex-governor as the Senate president.

According to a senator who is in the know of the plot, after their inauguration on Monday, June 10, 2019, a member of their group would get up to nominate him irrespective of APC’s choice candidate. He said, ‘’The block vote of opposition senators which would not be fewer than 40 will be given to him; and with pliable APC senators we shall mobilise, he would certainly emerge. One of us shall emerge, by the Grace of God, as his deputy. ‘

’You know, President Buhari does not usually care about the fate that befalls his supporters; hence by the time we promise some APC senators juicy committee chairmanship, they would readily prefer it to the so-called adherence to APC party directives.” He remarked that the former state governors of those in the forefront for the Senate presidency were elected senators on February 23. They are Ibrahim Geidam who comes from the same state as Senate leader, Ahmed Lawan (Yobe), and Kashmir Shettima, from Senator Mohammed Ndume’s Borno State. ‘

’Do you expect them to come here and be answering ‘Yes sir, Your Excellency’ to these senators in case one of them emerges as Senate president? That is why all the governors have agreed to team up for one of them to emerge,’’ he said. Meanwhile, LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that Senators Ahmed Lawan, Aliyu Ndume, Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta), Abdullahi Adamu, Benjamin Uwajumogu (APC, Imo North) are vigorously campaigning for the number three position in the country.

Over a week ago, a group known as ‘’National Committee for Legislative Development and Good Governance’’ has published the curriculum vitae of Senator Ahmed Lawan under the banner of ‘’The Senate Leadership Question: Why Senator Ahmad Lawan is the option’’. The group, which is being coordinated by one Iniobong Ukeme John, stated that the last four years had been the worst years of executive/legislative relationship since the return of democracy due to unnecessary bickering, power struggle and selfish agenda to the detriment of national unity and development. ‘

’We must not allow enemies of Nigeria’s progress block and sabotage President Buhari from fighting corruption, developing the economy and providing security to lives and property of Nigerians. ‘’It is time to search, sieve, support and encourage capable hands to lead the National Assembly for a purposeful and robust executive/legislative relationship. ‘’Senator Lawan possesses unequal qualification and is most qualified to lead the 9th Senate in the interest of a robust and purposeful executive/legislative relationship to build an enduring democracy that will effectively and efficiently deliver democratic dividends to Nigerians’’, the group stated.

It is widely speculated that the APC would like to have Ahmed Lawan as the Senate president and Femi Gbajabiamila as the Speaker of the House of Representatives as the party had planned, and failed, in 2015. It would be recalled that the party’s decision to throw up Lawan and Gbajabiamila then led to a schism among APC lawmakers, enabling the PDP to capitalise on the division and determine the outcome of the June 9, 2015 elections in the National Assembly.

In what could be described as a parliamentary coup d’etat, Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara defied their then party, APC, by emerging Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives in a contest that was characterised by subterfuge and guile. That set the tone for the cancerous executive-legislative bickering that slowed down governance in the last four years. But the party is said to be dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s to forestall a repeat of such outcome. Despite his purported interest, Senator Ndume has not publicly declared his ambition to be Senate president and no group has backed him in the media, but he is said to be fraternising with the henchmen in the presidency and believes he would be compensated for his role in the high turnover of votes cast for the president in the North East on February 23, 2019.

He was the APC Presidential Campaign Council North East zonal director. Curiously, Senator Omo-Agege, who said last week that President Buhari would give direction to APC on the subject of Senate leadership, has suddenly declared support for Senator Ahmed Lawan’s quest for the job. One would have expected that he would be pairing with Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

Two of them and eight other senators staged a walk-out on their Senate on February 14, 2018 in protest against the adoption of the report by the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on the Amendment to the Electoral Act The ten pro-Buhari senators led by Senator Abdullahi had kicked against the new sequence of elections adopted by the apex legislative chamber following the amendment of the 2010 Electoral Act. The provision in the bill that irked them was the proposal for the presidential election to come last, rather than first.

The eight other aggrieved APC senators at the time included Binta Garba (Adamawa), the late Ali Wakili (Bauchi), Kurfi Umaru (Katsina), Andrew Uchendu (Rivers), Abdullahi Danbaba (Sokoto), Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi), Abu Ibrahim (Katsina), and Benjamin Uwajumogu (Imo). Some groups from the North Central where Senator Abdullahi comes from insist that the zone should be allowed to retain the position of the Senate president since the North West and South West are retaining the positions of president and vice president respectively.

And despite being the zone that gave the APC the least votes in the general elections, the South East is also angling for the Senate top job. In a statement released to newsmen by a socio-political group known as South East Youths and Elders’ Forum to congratulate President Buhari on February 28, the group urged the president and the APC to zone the post of the Senate president to South East geo-political zone since the president and vice president came from the North and South West regions.

The group also noted that since the party maintained its early zoning arrangements, which zoned the post of president to the North, the vice president to the South West and Senate president to the South East, before the party could not produce any senator from the region in 2015 presidential and National Assembly elections, the party should therefore make a categorical statement reaffirming its commitment to the zoning of the Senate presidency to the South East region since the party now has two APC senators from the zone.

It is on this premise that the likes of Benjamin Uwajumogu, who was formerly Imo State Assembly speaker, is latching on to canvass for the seat. Orji Kalu is also said to be arguing that he is also a ranking senator by virtue of his three-month sojourn at the National Assembly during the ill-fated Third Republic during General Babangida’s era. LEADERSHIP Sunday learnt that the APC leadership is expected to meet in Abuja next week to agree on a zoning formula for the six presiding and principal officers of the Senate ahead of its inauguration on June 10. The APC won 65 senatorial seats as against 40 seats secured by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 National Assembly polls.

Apart from the post of Senate president and deputy Senate president, the other offices include Senate leader, deputy Senate leader, Senate chief whip and Senate deputy whip. In line with tradition, the clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Muhammed Sani-Omolori, would on June 10, 2019, read the proclamation letter of President Buhari at the plenary to order the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly.

After the inauguration, which also signifies the end of the 8th National Assembly, the clerk will call for nominations from senators. By the senate rules, only 38 senators need to be present to form a quorum. The newly elected senators will then elect both the Senate president and the deputy Senate president. At the same time, the House of Representatives members will elect the Speaker and the deputy Speaker.

Spaxon:
U don't sound cool to me

Addressing the Press Conference, the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Uba Ahmed Nana said the position taken by INEC contravened the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

“Considering the letters and spirit of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended), and the INEC Guidelines for 2019 General Elections, INEC is not empowered to reverse any decision taken at the Collation Center by the Returning Officer appointed for that purpose.

By Saawua Terzungwe



The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has refused to obey the March 6, 2019 ruling of the Appeal Court, directing it to allow the party’s presidential candidate for the February 23 poll, Atiku Abubakar, to inspect the documents and materials used during the election.

Atiku and his party were in court, challenging INEC’s declaration that candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari won the election.

The PDP, in a statement Saturday night by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said INEC had a deliberate and wicked agenda to frustrate Atiku’s bid to reclaim his “stolen” mandate.

The party however, appealed to INEC and APC to obey the court order by allowing Atiku to inspect the electoral materials and documents used in the elections.

“It is imperative to inform Nigerians that upon obtaining the lawful order of the Court, directing INEC to forthwith, avail Atiku Abubakar and the PDP copies of all the documents and other materials used for the Presidential election, our legal team wrote to the INEC Chairman on the 11th and 12th of March 2019 respectively, causing the Order to be served on INEC and requesting access to the said documents and materials.

“Despite being served with the Order and several follow-ups, the leadership of INEC has refused to grant the PDP and Atiku Abubakar access to the materials and documents, notwithstanding the urgency of the matter.

“This action by the leadership of INEC has further exposed that it has been heavily compromised by the Buhari Presidency to rig the February 23, 2019 Presidential election and to frustrate the quest by Nigerians to reclaim the mandate from President Muhammadu Buhari and save the nation from the crisis of an illegitimate government.

“The leadership of INEC and the APC are seeking to frustrate our court option, seeing that the documents and materials will expressly show that Atiku Abubakar clearly won the election by the votes directly delivered at the polling units across the country as well as expose how the commission and the Buhari Presidency manipulated the results for President Buhari.

“The PDP cautions the INEC to note that Nigerians are now aware of its manipulative tendencies and that any further delay in granting access to the materials might attract public odium.

“INEC should therefore, end its unpatriotic partisan shenanigans with the APC and immediately obey the Court of Appeal and grant the PDP and Atiku Abubakar access to the documents and materials and free itself from unholy entanglement with the APC against Nigerians,” the PDP said.

Mr Adelani Baderinwa, the immediate past Osun Commissioner for Information and Strategy, who is the current supervisor of same ministry, says the state government was not intending to return to the era of modulated salary, also known as half salaries.

In a press statement released by Baderinwa on Saturday, he said it had come to the notice of the state government that some individuals and members of the opposition party were trying to incite the civil servants against the state government on payment of salary.

“The government is not unaware of the rumour being spread by the lazy opposition members on the false and imaginary return of modulated salary payment to the workers of the state.

“The rumoured return of modulated salary remains a rumour and there is no iota of truth in it.

“Gov. Gboyega Oyetola had, during the presentation of 2019 budget, declared that the era of modulated salary payment was gone, and we are happy to reaffirm that the governor is still more committed to his statement of striving to pay full salary to civil servants.

“We would also like to state that Gov. Oyetola would not in anyway take any arbitrary decision on matters affecting the civil servants,” he said. (NAN)

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the redeployment of his Chief Security Officer (CSO) and accepted a replacement.

Bashir Abubakar was Mr Buhari’s CSO until this week when he was ordered to proceed on an immediate “strategic course” at a university in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He was promptly replaced by Idris Kassim Ahmed, top sources at the Presidential Villa told PREMIUM TIMES.

Whenever Mr Ahmed is not in the villa, he is to be assisted by another State Security Service (SSS) official, Abubakar Maikano.

Mr Buhari had two months into his administration in July 2015 replaced his erstwhile CSO, Abdulrahman Mani, and requested the SSS to redeploy him out of the Presidential Villa.




The president thereafter appointed Mr Abubakar to replace Mr Mani.

Until his appointment as CSO, Mr Abubakar was an assistant director in the Bayelsa State command of the SSS.

Mr Ahmed, the new CSO, was deployed from the headquarters of the SSS.

Our sources, who are familiar with the development, said the removal of Mr Abubakar was at the instance of the Director General of the SSS, Yusuf Bichi.

“The DG wrote and informed Mr President of the plans by the service to send the former CSO for further training at Argentina and it appears that request was granted because a replacement has already been named,” a source said.




Another source who asked not to be named because of the “sensitive nature of the matter” said those around the president have never been happy with the way the former CSO operated.

A source said those around Mr Buhari do not like the “independent method of operation” of Mr Abubakar.

“They may not have approached the president to complain officially but most of them do by their body language and they did so because they know the president easily knows everything going on around him even if he never showed it,” the source said.

For instance, we gathered that Mr Buhari’s media team were not happy with the way Mr Abubakar expelled the State House correspondent of Punch Newspaper, Olalekan Adetayo, without recourse to the media team.

Mr Abubakar thereafter defended his decision to expel the reporter, saying journalists have a responsibility to be patriotic in reporting matters of national importance.

In an internal memo he distributed in April 2017, to several presidency officials, including Femi Adesina, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Mr. Abubakar detailed alleged transgressions and ethical concerns observed in Mr Adetayo’s reporting of activities of the State House, and pronounced him unfit to continue on the beat.

“You may wish to advise the Punch Newspaper that it reserves the right to send a more matured, professional and patriotic representative that will work in the overall interest of the nation rather than self-serving and parochial interests,” Mr. Abubakar, said in the April 25, 2017 memo, which was also copied to the President and the then Director-General of SSS, Lawal Daura.

Although Punch newspaper demanded an apology from Mr Abubakar and vowed not to name a replacement for Mr Adetayo, we gathered that the newspaper had sent in a replacement to the State House beat but the former CSO failed to grant approval for the new reporter’s credentials.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the spokesperson of Mr Buhari, Garba Shehu, Friday evening, he denied knowledge of the new security officer.

He said he has not yet been briefed on the matter and will revert whenever he receives any information.

Chidi Lloyd, an ally of Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of turning against the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had suspended the governorship and state house of assembly elections indefinitely, citing “widespread disruption”.

But Lloyd, director-general of the campaign organisation of Tonye Cole, governorship candidate of the Amaechi faction of the party, accused Buhari of abandoning APC party members in the state “when they needed him the most.”

Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, he alleged that the state’s election results were doctored till the exercise was suspended because Buhari turned his back on party members in the state.

“The party is being treated like this in the state because of our support for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and unfortunately for those who supported the president, he has turned his back on us,” he said.

“We are in the pains, we are in pains to watch President Buhari do this to us… President Buhari should open up a probe into the activities of INEC.”

The APC chieftain also accused the electoral body of using “well known PDP fellows as collation officers in the state.”

A Lagos trader and mother of three, Rafiat Okunola, on Wednesday told an Ile-Tuntun Customary Court in Ibadan, that her ex-husband, Kasali Adeleke, allegedly killed her daughter for ritual.

President of the Court, Henry Agbaje, had in 2016 dissolved the union between Rafiat and Adeleke on grounds of battery, attempted sale of child and lack of care.

The court in that judgment awarded custody of the three children to the husband because they were already grown-up and directed the wife to approach the court anytime she desired seeing the children.

Testifying in the Court, Rafiat, prayed the court to give her custody of the two children left with her ex-husband because she was scared that Adeleke might expose their lives to danger

“I was shocked when our first child informed me that their father, Adeleke buried his younger sister after she died in 2018.

“After our separation, I went to work in Lagos State and when I returned to Ibadan in December 2018, I went to visit my children.

‘My first child told me that his younger sister had died and had been buried by his father.

“Then, I asked my relatives who also live in Ibadan whether Adeleke carried them along concerning how the girl died or not.

“They informed me that they were not aware of anything.”

“I suspected that he may have used her for ritual,” Rofiat said.

Denying the allegation, the defendant, who is a trader, accused his ex-wife, Rafiat, of being a child trafficker.

He prayed the court to dismiss Rafiat’s request to take custody of the remaining two children based on her insincerity and dubious character.

“My lord, there is nothing strange about the circumstances that led to our daughter’s death.

“When I was burying the girl, Rafiat’s mother, three sisters and a man married to one of the sisters were present.

“Before Rafiat and I separated, the girl had been nursing a leg injury which she also took care.

“The leg injury developed some complications and she was hospitalised, where she later died.

“Rafiat is in fact responsible for the girl’s death through her misbehaviour which the daughter was unhappy about.

“One of the reasons why I called it quits with Rafiat then was due to her dubious character and the attempt she made at selling our last child.

“I was called from Ibadan while on a business trip to Abeokuta that Rafiat had concluded plans to sell our last child at a camp,”Adeleke stated.

The court’s president, however, requested them to provide more evidence to substantiate their arguments, asking them to bring along their family members.

He adjourned the case until April 4, for judgment.

(NAN)

Aliyu Madaki, a member of the house of representatives from Kano state, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s integrity should be questioned over the inconclusive governorship elections in some states.

Madaki said the president’s integrity should be “seriously questioned” over his inaction and silence on the manner the elections ended in the states.

The lawmaker representing Dala constituency spoke while contributing to a motion introduced during plenary on Wednesday.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared elections in six states inconclusive following cancellation of results in some polling units in the states.

The commission subsequently fixed March 23 for a supplementary elections in the states: Benue, Sokoto, Plateau, Adamawa, Kano and Bauchi.

In his contribution, Madaki who is of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused the president of not acting in the face of “irregularities” carried out by INEC.

“If he (the president) has any integrity, it should be questioned seriously. We will not take it; we will not allow it. It will not happen.”

He said while he will not rig elections or support electoral violence, “nobody will rig us out” in Kano.

“Nobody will come to Kano and say this must be done. Kano is not Lagos,” he added.

Also speaking, Muhammad Soba from Kaduna state, said INEC has no powers to declare elections inconclusive after results have been collated at the poll.

“Regarding any result announced at the polling unit, nobody has the power to cancel such results. Once the result has been declared at the polling unit, no one can interfere at even the ward level let alone the state collation centre,” he said.

Femi Gbajabiamila, majority leader of the house, however, suggested an electoral amendment to address the issue.

According to him, “inconclusiveness should be something of the past but how do we get there? Amending the electoral law to limit the powers of INEC. The supreme court already ruled on this and said INEC has such powers; so the only way to change the supreme court ruling is to amend our law.”

Oyo State Governor-elect, Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday accused the outgoing administration of embarking on hasty payment for contracts and projects.

But the government described the accusation as a deliberate ploy to heat up the polity and whip up sentiments.

In a statement by his spokesman, Prince Dotun Oyelade, Makinde alleged that hush money was being ferried from government coffers at an alarming rate since the election result was announced.

He said credible sources within government revealed that non-visible contracts were being used as a guise to cart away millions of Naira from government account with the connivance of a few civil servants.

Makinde said that while he does not want a time-wasting holistic probe as he had promised during his campaign, he will set a dateline upon all contracts awarded and payments made under suspicious circumstances in the dying days of the current administration.

According to the statement, he may be forced to open the books if the aim is to rush money out through foul means before May 29 and leave the state in further financial crisis.

“Cases of unscheduled recruitments and appointments including back-dated once have also been brought before him. Government will be fair but reverse any such move without hesitation but with consequences on those found to have committed infractions of the civil service guidelines.” The statement read in part.

Makinde said that while it was true that the out-going Governor Ajimobi wrote to banks in 2011 to stop honouring cheques from Akala’s out-going administration, he would not tow that line.

But he warned the govt not to exhaust his patience on an issue that bothers on the livelihood of the people of the state.

But reacting, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism Mr Toye Arulogun, insisted that financial transactions have always been transparent.

Arulogun described the accusation as the latest in a series of propaganda by the incoming governor, stressing that it was false.

It read: “It is a hoax intended to heat up the polity and whip up sentiments.

“Governor Abiola Ajimobi who will be in the saddle of the state till the expiration of his tenure on May 28 2019 has been running the affairs of the State including fiscal transactions in the last eight years in a transparent manner in accordance with good governance and best practices.

“The Oyo State Government will continue to operate in line with its constitutional and statutory responsibilities.

“At the appropriate time, the necessary machinery will be instituted for the outgoing and incoming administration to meet and establish the desirable transition obligations.”

Spaxon:
wadup

Spaxon:
Same have u gone

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Imo State, has sacked all its trained collation and returning officers and has replaced them with fresh hands.

But the INEC officials in the state including the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Chukwuemeka Ezeonu, and the body’s spokesperson, Emannuella Opara, have refused to either confirm nor deny the development.

The ad-hoc staff, who were recruited across the higher institutions in the state, were accused of compromising the electoral process during the presidential and National Assembly elections two weeks ago.

The INEC did not announce their sack until this morning when fresh hands were brought into the state from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.

However, due to a shortage of the required number needed, INEC is currently sieving its earlier lists to recruit those found worthy.

PREMIUM TIMES reported on Friday that the commission had complained that many of its ad-hoc staff colluded with politicians to frustrate the last elections.

When PREMIUM TIMES visited the INEC office on Saturday, the affected returning and collation officers gathered in their hundreds, blaming the electoral body for delaying the announcement of their sack till the last minute.

One of the affected officers, who asked not to be named, said they were shocked to be told to go home on the day of the election at about the time they were supposed to leave for their various duty posts.

The source said; “Normally as collation officers or returning officers, our duty starts between 3 and 4 p.m.; but we received instructions in the morning at the state INEC office.

“Unfortunately we resumed here this morning and found out that the list had been changed and that new people from Anambra State have been engaged. We protested but we were teargassed.

“Since then we have been waiting here to really know what our fate would be. But it is almost 7 p.m. and they are just very few among us to join those from Anambra.”

When Premium Times tried to speak to INEC Commissioner, he said he was busy and did not pick his phone. He did not also reply to a message sent to the phone, ditto the spokesperson.

As at the time of filing this report, the sacked officers are seated in their hundreds on the main road in front of INEC office along Port Harcourt Road in Owerri, the state capital.

By Adeola Badru


IBADAN- TWO persons have been reported shot dead during the ongoing Governorship and House of Assembly elections at Ibadan South West, ward 6, unit 4.

According to the information at the disposal of Vanguard, the incident that led to the alleged death of the two unidentified persons, when speaking with a female voter who pleaded to be anonymous, was a result of an altercation that ensued between the supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) over sharing of money to their voters.

She said: ” As the voters have assembled to vote, all of sudden we just heard gun shots from different locations, as people began to scamper for safety.”

“There was no armed security men at hand to douse the tension as the ones available are not armed.

After then, we just heard people talking in groups that they have killed two people,” she narrated. She disclosed that voters were yet to return to the polling unit over their fear that more trouble might still loom.

Meanwhile, efforts to speak with the new Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO), DSP Olugbenga Fadeyi proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.

More details in subsequent reports.

Two cars conveying ballot papers have been impounded at Magwan Primary School, Nassarawa Local Government Area of Kano State.

According to an eyewitness identified as Shazal, the cars were impounded and taken to the Kano State police headquarters in Bompai.

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES in a phone interview, Mr Shazal said, “Two cars drove to the back of the polling unit with ballot papers in their booths and two corp members entered the car. When people noticed their movements, they asked who they were, and the people claimed to be INEC officials.

“But the people did not believe them, and other people’s attention was called. After seeing the ballot papers, the police arrested the cars and towed them to the Kano state police headquarters in Bompai,” he said.

Today, Nigerians vote in their sixth general governorship and state assemblies elections since the country’s return to democracy in 1999.

Voters in 29 states would elect governors while new state assemblies will be elected in the 36 states.

There are no governorship elections in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Kogi, Anambra and Osun because the tenures of their governors are yet to expire.

However, the governorship polls in Kano could determine the political careers of a former governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and the incumbent governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.

Although there are 54 governorship candidates in Kano, the contest is really between Mr Ganduje of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Mr Kwankwaso’s anointed candidate, Abba Yusuf, contesting under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The PDP lost the presidential and all senatorial seats in Kano during the February 23 elections. So, the opposition party must give all it has to today’s election.

Ademola Babalola, Ibadan



Armed thugs invaded Ogbomoso polling unit at Oke Ola Farm Settlement, Unit Four of Ogbomoso South Local Government Area of Oyo State, and carted away thumb-printed ballot papers in all the units in the area.

Olamide Adewale, who made a distress call to The PUNCH, said, “Hoodlums armed to the teeth just invaded unit 4A in Oke Ola farm settlement here in Ogbomoso South local government and forcefully ferried away all the ballot boxes en route Ogbomoso/Oyo road. They went in Oyo direction,” he said.

Reports also revealed that the ballot boxes at Ward 3 Unit 3 in Ibadan Northwest were snatched in the presence of security agents around 2pm.

Also, some members of the driver’s union allegedly chased away PDP, ZLP and ADC agents at Cooperative poling units, housing four poling booths in Ward 7, Oluyole local government.

Paul Ogwuma, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and his wife have acquired property worth £33 million (N15.6 billion), a UK investigative journalism magazine has revealed.

According to the magazine, Private Eye, Ogwuma, who served as CBN governor for six years has “amassed a £33m British property empire”.

In its report titled “Abuja on Thames” the paper said it “has identified a network of 15 British companies owned or controlled by Anna Ogwuma,” wife of the governor, adding that her husband “looted his country under 1990s military dictatorship”.

“Paul Ogwuma, 86, was governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria during the brutal and kleptocratic rule of General Sani Abacha, when the bank was the latter’s personal piggy-bank. Some estimates suggest looting under Abacha ran to billions of dollars,” the report read.

“Under his successor for one year, retired general Abdulsalami Abubakar, Ogwuma oversaw a depletion in Nigeria’s foreign currency reserves of around $3bn, or 40%”.

“Between 2002 and 2017, her companies were used for 20 separate property purchases. They ranged from commercial sites in the north of England to luxury apartments in west London.

“Among them are townhouses in Kensington and Paddington, a couple of apartments in Mayfair, and premises in Bishop’s Stortford town centre that currently house a branch of Greggs.”

The report added that “although the Abacha era and its excesses are receding into history, banks that were often complicit at the time might be expected to know some of this history.

“Yet Mrs Ogwuma’s most valuable properties were either bought or remortgaged with loans from Barclays Bank (which handled $170m of Abacha’s ill-gotten wealth) and Lloyds Bank in the years after 2015.

“While times have moved on, so has the law on money laundering, and Mrs Ogwuma’s lavish property buying should have prompted questions about the origin of her money. The looting of Africa has a long legacy on the streets of Britain”.

Ogwuma served as the managing director/CEO of Union Bank of Nigeria prior to his appointment as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria in September, 1993.