₦airaland Forum

By Philip Nyam



As the race for presiding officers within the ranks of members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the National Assembly heightens, members of the opposition parties, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are also neck deep in the campaign to produce their leaders. New Telegraph reliably gathered at the weekend that the competition to succeed the minority leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, has begun in earnest and four front liners have emerged. According to our source, chairman of the House committee on ethics and privileges, Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta); deputy minority leader, Hon. Onyeama Chukwuka (PDP, Anambra); chairman, committee on public petitions, Hon. Uzoma Nkem-Abonta (PDP, Abia) and one-time chairman power committee, Hon. Ndudi Godwin Elumelu (PDP, Delta) are in the race for the minority leader position. A PDP member from Enugu who confided in New Telegraph said some of these candidates have started making contacts with their colleagues to support their ambitions.

“I can confirm to you that there may be many more candidates coming out for minority leader and don’t forget that we are not foreclosing the possibility of producing even the speaker or deputy if the APC does not put its house in order. But for now, I know that Hon. Chuchu (Chukwuka Onyema), Hon. Ossai, Hon. Abonta and Hon. Elumelu are the names on the lips of many of our party members.

They have started the legwork and our colleagues are assessing each of them and we shall do the needful when the House is inaugurated,” the lawmaker told New Telegraph. It is believed that the duo of Ossai and Elumelu is poised for a showdown. Ossai, as chairman of ethics and privileges under Speaker Yakubu Dogara investigated allegations of breach of House rules against erstwhile appropriation committee chairman, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin and recommended his suspension. He is described as “a vocal, hardworking and resilient lawmaker,” by one of his colleagues.

Elumelu, younger brother to billionaire entrepreneur, Mr. Tony Elumelu, is best remembered for chairing the committee on power under Speaker Dimeji Bankole, which indicted former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the $16 billion alleged waste on power. He is coming back after losing out in 2015.

Regarding what becomes of the incumbent minority leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, a PDP lawmaker said: “You know Hon. Ogor is a very competent and effective opposition leader, but his health failed him in the last two years of the outgoing Assembly. Most of us believe he has done his best and even though he has been re-elected, it is time to call it quit. He should give way for another person, but we appreciate him.” When contacted, Hon. Ossai confirmed his interest in the race, explaining that he was “qualified and has what it takes to lead opposition in the House.” Ossai said his interest in being minority leader is anchored on “the issue of capacity and style of leadership, which I feel should be changed in the 9th Assembly.” He told New Telegraph that as minority leader he will work towards “strengthening state caucuses” and “will offer pragmatic opposition.”

“Opposition that will generate solutions and not necessarily criticise; I will introduce opposition that is intellectually based,” he stated. Meanwhile, memberselect from Benue and Plateau states have endorsed the speakership candidature of Hon. John Dyegh (APC, Benue), insisting that the North-Central must produce the speaker for balance, justice and equality. Dyegh, who represents Gboko/Tarka federal constituency, is the only APC and will formally declare his intention to contest for speaker on Wednesday.

The lawmakers, who revealed this at the weekend when they were hosted to a welcome party by Dyegh in his residence in Abuja, argued that since the position of Senate President has been taken to the North- East, the North-Central, which gave the third highest number of votes in the presidential election, should be compensated with speaker. According to them, “The ruling party must take into consideration the diverse ethnic, religious and geopolitical coloration of the country and balance it for equity, fairness and justice.”

Speaking individually on the candidature of Dyegh, the lawmakers maintained that being the only ranking member-elect on the platform of the APC from Benue and the only Christian among the contestants from North-Central, he should be given the nod for “religious balance and unity.” Francis Agbo (PDP, Benue), member-elect for Ado/Ogbadigbo/Okpokwu federal constituency, while supporting Dyegh, said: “I believe strongly that any configuration that did not take the consideration of North-Central is dead on arrival. I believe North- Central should have speaker and a Benue son should be speaker because of our contributions”

In his view, Hon. Richard Gbande (PDP, Benue), representing Katsina Ala/ Ukum Logo federal constituency, submitted that “Dyegh is competent by every standard.” According to Hon. Bob Tyough (PDP, Benue) representing Kwande/Ushongo federal constituency, “we cannot have the president, senate president, Chief justice of the Federation, speaker and deputy speaker of the House and all service chiefs as Muslims. We need to be fair to every faith and group in this country. Dyegh is cosmopolitan and we are not talking about an APC speaker, but a speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives.

He has done well over the years and we will work for him.” Hon. Solomon Maren, representing federal constituency of Plateau, said: “If the North-Central loses number three (Senate President), we should not lose number four. We voted for this president and he must not forsake our contributions to his victory.”

Coming from the background of faith, Hon. Benjamin Mzondu (PDP), representing Makurdi/Guma federal constituency of Benue, encouraged Dyegh not to cave into pressure from any angle and pull out of the race. To member representing Jos South/Jos East, Hon. Dachung Musa Bagos, “the contributions of North-Central should not be downplayed. And I advise Hon. John Dyegh to be prayerful, focused and the result will be positive.” Hon. Kpam Jimin Sokpo (PDP), representing Buruku federal constituency of Benue, said, “the era where those who work were denied their rights has passed.

North-Central is deserving of speaker and no one should nurse the idea of taking the speakership from us.” Earlier, Dyegh, who has been re-elected for the third time, told the members- elect that he decided to join the race because he was competent and has the required experience and know-how to lead the House. He said his ambition was not for pecuniary considerations, but to foster unity, equity and fairness amongst the geopolitical zones that made up Nigeria.

“For fairness and justice, we deserve to be given the position of speaker. Look at the number of votes we gave the president; we are number three and the first two have been adequately compensated: that is North-West and North-East. South-West came fourth but they have the vice president. Therefore, the speaker should be ours,” the lawmaker said. Dyegh will become the fourth contestant to officially declare his ambition out of the 13 candidates in the race.

He is also the third in the race from North- Central after Hon. Umaru Mohammed Bago and Hon. Ahmed Wase. Those who had earlier declared include House leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos), Hon. Umaru Mohammed Bago (APC, Niger) and Hon. Nkeiruika Onyeojocha (APC, Abia). Meanwhile, more facts have emerged why Dyegh who, a few weeks ago, was the director general of Ahmed Wase Campaign Organisation, decided to join the race for speaker.

A member of the APC North-Central caucus told New Telegraph that “Wase betrayed the caucus by secretly accepting to withdraw from the race and run alongside Hon. Gbajabiamila as deputy speaker.” Speaking to our correspondent at the weekend, the lawmaker said: “The North-Central as a caucus had agreed to push for the position of speaker and we were all working for Hon. Wase, but he was called to the Villa for a meeting and he accepted to be deputy speaker.

“He did not tell us; he kept us in the dark and we have to look for an alternative. John Dyegh was offered the position of deputy speaker before him (Wase), but he refused in the interest of the region. For Wase, whom we were working for to go behind us and do that; we can no longer trust him.”

Giving details of the meeting, the lawmaker disclosed that it was two Saturdays ago, at a meeting brokered by Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai and it was attended by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi and Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa where Wase was convinced to withdraw from the Speakership race. “We cannot condone such a betrayal in the North-Central; we worked for the victory of APC and we deserve to be treated fairly with respect and no single individual can use us to achieve personal gains,” he stated.

by Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja



The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has fingered the Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami in an alleged plot to void the March 9 Rivers State governorship election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Governor Nyesom Wike of the PDP winner of the election, after weeks of suspending collation of the results of the governorship election.

But at a media briefing in Abuja on Sunday, spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, raised the alarm, alerting of alleged plots by Amaechi and Malami to trigger constitutional crisis in the state.

According to the PDP, the two Ministers have been allegedly mounting pressure on the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Mohammed to void the election.

The main opposition party alleged the two Ministers are allegedly working on the CJN to reverse the February 12, 2019 final judgment of the Supreme Court upholding the exclusion of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Rivers election.

The trial court had earlier ruled the Rivers APC out of participating in the 2019 National Assembly, governorship and state assembly elections following the nullification of the party’s flawed primaries in the three categories of election.

By implication of the apex court’s ruling, the APC was barred from fielding candidates for the three categories of election in Rivers.

Based on the ruling of the apex court, INEC had excluded the Rivers APC from the ballots in the 2019 federal legislative, governorship and state assembly polls.

The PDP is worried by the prospects of Amaechi and Malami succeeding in having the entire elections in Rivers state voided by the Supreme Court and the possibility of the apex court reversing its earlier judgment and ordering the conduct of fresh elections in the state to accommodate the APC.

It said: “Nigerians can also recall how the APC, having been frustrated by its lawful exclusion, used compromised security agents to violently disrupt the smooth conduct of elections in Rivers State.

“In the course of the elections, the APC however adopted the governorship candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), bankrolled his election and made compromised security agents and thugs available to him, with the view to using them to muscle votes.

“In spite of these conspiracies by the APC, the will of the people of Rivers state prevailed, as they braved the odds, resisted all machinations and voted overwhelmingly for the PDP and all its candidates.

“The spontaneous jubilation in Rivers State and across the country, in addition to the general outpouring of goodwill to Governor Wike and other candidates of the PDP on their victory, clearly demonstrates the PDP popularity and acceptance not only by the people of Rivers, but also by lovers of democracy all over world.

“However, not done with the desperation to cause confusion and crisis in Rivers state, the leader of the APC in the state; Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has engaged in fresh conspiracies to subvert the will of the people as expressed at the polls.

“The PDP has information of how Rotimi Amaechi has been going around in Rivers State, giving assurances that he has the ears of the Supreme Court under the leadership of Acting CJN, Justice Tanko Mohammed, and that the Supreme Court will reverse its final judgment on APC primaries and create the way for fresh elections in Rivers State, in which the APC will be allowed to participate.

“Rotimi Amaechi goes about boasting that the apex court in the land, the Supreme Court, will reverse itself and order for fresh conduct of all the elections in Rivers State”.

The PDP described the alleged scheming by the two cabinet Ministers as completely reprehensible and unthinkable in a democratic process.

By Kazeem Ugbodaga


https://i2.wp.com/www.pmnewsnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Suspect-1.jpg?w=520&ssl=1

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a father and his son for allegedly defiling and impregnating a 13-year old girl (name withheld) at Egbeda area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

The suspects are Kabiru Oke, 44 and Faruq Oke, 19. They were arrested at No 1 Olatikupo Street, Egbeda, where the victim lived with them.

A statement issued by Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Bala Elkana on Sunday said on March 27, 2019, the Command’s Gender Unit received a complaint of defilement of a minor reported by the mother (Name withheld) against the husband of her elder sister Kabiru Oke and his son, Oke Faruq.

“The survivor/victim (which name is withheld) lived with the perpetrators for a couple of years. The unholy affairs between the minor and the first suspect (Kabiru) started on 20th October, 2018 with the suspect having constant sexual intercourse with the survivor.

“The second suspect (Faruq), being the son of the first suspect started having Unlawful carnal knowledge of the same minor on 10th January 2019. The suspects have constantly threatened to kill the victim if she ever tells anybody about the affairs,” he said.

According to Elkana, the girl exposed them when her mother suspected some changes in her and discovered that she was pregnant.

He said the girl was taken to Mirabel Centre by the Gender Unit for medical examination and that the two suspects were arrested and charged to Magistrate Court 2 Ogba for defilement.

The case was adjourned till May 13, 2019 while the suspects were remanded at Kirikiri prison.

Linus Oota, Lafia



It sounds like a tale out of the blues. A strange story only possible in the never- never land. But alas, the story is real as only reality can be.

A man and woman met and fell in love and got married along the line, with a vow never to leave each other until death does them part. But somewhere in the middle of the otherwise happy union, the problem of infertility crept in and, not surprisingly, put a sharp knife on the thread of love and hope that held the couple together as the woman’s best friend became pregnant for her husband in a not-too-pleasant circumstance.

Hell hath no fury like a woman so jilted. In a bid to even the score, the woman poisoned her husband so that both she and her betraying friend could lose the man. “Let it be neither mine nor hers,” one of the harlots involved in child paternity claim with her partner was said to have told King Solomon in the Bible. That appeared to be the philosophy behind the woman’s decision to poison her husband.

But while friends and foes battled to save the man’s life in a hospital, tragedy raised the ante to the second power. Like a bolt from the blue, the woman in the eye of the storm, got involved in a fatal accident, under inexplicable circumstance, while trying to escape for her dear life, after realizing the danger she was in. But tragedy raised the ante to the third power when the following day, her best friend, who was on her way to see the father of her unborn baby, after learning of the evil perpetrated by her aggrieved friend also got involved in a fatal accident.


Making of the tragedy

Tragedy of the Shakespearian proportion and propensity! That’s what everybody is now calling the story of the 47-years-old Titus Akoon, a staff of Lafia Local Government Area, living on Makurdi Road, Lafia, Nasarawa State, his wife, Judith Audu, a native of Igala from Kogi State and her best friend, Doose Tyover, a Tiv from Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State.

December 2018 marked exactly 10 years Titus and Judith were married but without a child to cement the union. All their efforts to get a solution to the problem both medically and spiritually ended up in failures. In walked Judith’s best friend, Doose, into the ugly marital picture. She and Doose had attended the same secondary school. The bond between the two friends was said to have grown stronger when both of them secured admission into the College of Education, Katsina Ala, to read for the National Certificate in Education (NCE).

As a matter of fact, that was where Judith met her husband, Titus. But to her embarrassment and later chagrin, Judith discovered that Doose is pregnant for her husband. This painful discovery made her decide to terminate his life through food poisoning. Afraid that her own life too might go for it, if the man succumbs to death, in the course of treatment, she decided to escape. But she could not go too far with that plan as she, in mysterious circumstance, lost her life in a fatal accident that occurred while she was travelling to Lokoja, on Friday, March 20, 2019, in a bid to run for her dear life.

But as it were, tragedy was not yet done with the family, the following day, March 30, 2019, Doose who was coming to Lafia from Makurdi, to check on the health of the father of her unborn baby, also died in a fatal accident that, altogether, claimed four lives. She had embarked on the trip with her brother and his friend, but the two survived. Surprisingly, before embarking on what later unfortunately turned out to be for her a journey of no return, Judith, her aggrieved friend, spoke with our correspondent in an exclusive chat, in Lafia.


Judith’s sorrowful story

“I have been married for about 10 years now, though I am still praying for a fruit of the womb,” she said with sadness in her voice as she sought to explain why she embarked on the revenge mission as well as how Doose got impregnated by her husband. “I thought I had a happy marriage till I realized that I have been living in a fool’s paradise. The issue now is that my best friend is currently pregnant for my husband,” she announced with a heavy sigh.


“I have been friends with Doose from childhood in Makurdi and we were

so close that people thought we were actually sisters, though she is Tiv while I am Igala by tribe. We went to the same secondary school and graduated from the same College of Education in Katsina Ala. Our friendship was such that after we finished our wedding and relocated to Lafia, she kept visiting us regularly. But one thing with Doose is that she finds it very difficult to keep a steady relationship. I believe this is why she has not gotten a husband till now.

“Late last year, she got a private job offer as a desk officer with one of the NGOs in the state and naturally, she had to stay with us before she could get her own accommodation. I was so happy to have her live with us. I was even happier when she and my husband hit it off right away. Little did I know there was something else brewing between them.”

Judith who is a private secondary schoolteacher in Lafia said the closeness between Doose and her husband grew and at a point, “I became suspicious and told my husband I was no longer comfortable with it. But he swore that he was only being nice to her. Three or four months later, I noticed that Doose was becoming fatter, lazy and throwing up all the time.

But when I expressed my concern, she assured me that she was only suffering from malaria bouts and would soon be okay. She later got a better offer in Makurdi and went back. But while there, she told her close friend about her pregnancy for my husband. I confronted my husband with the hint, but he vehemently denied it.

But the cover was blown when I read a text message sent into his phone by Doose demanding money from him to go for a medical checkup as well as to register for antenatal care. This time around I confronted him with the iron-cast evidence and he confessed that actually Doose was pregnant for him and that he intended for her to have the baby since I am yet to bear a child for him. He said was he was beginning to lose patience. When I protested the cheating on me, he said if I was not comfortable with that, I should excuse him.”

Looking into the reporter’s eyes, she said: “I felt betrayed by my friend and my husband. I could not control my emotions. Quickly, the devil began to suggest in my mind to eliminate him through food poisoning. So I bought local insecticide, otapiapia, and mixed it with his food. I reasoned that since he wants me to excuse him, he should be the one to excuse himself from this planet. He did not want my happiness and he was also not polite about it. I felt that he should also not live to see his baby from Doose. If it were another lady, I would not have felt as angry. But I don’t think I should fold my hands and see Doose take over my home. But since my husband allowed it, I felt that the unexpected should happen: I would be a widow but her child will have no father.”


Doose’s ill-fated ‘rescue mission’

Interestingly too, before Doose embarked on the ill-fated journey, our correspondent got her to tell her own side of the sordid story through her phone number supplied by Titus. “Yes, I am pregnant for Mr. Titus,” she said in confirmation of Judith’s allegation against her. “He asked me for it and considering the fact that he is the only surviving son of his late parents, I gave in to his demand.

More so, I am no longer getting younger without a husband. It is quite unfortunate but that is the position. I don’t have any intention of hijacking her husband from her as she was thinking. I only intend to deliver the baby for him and go my way. I pray that nothing happens to him in the hospital. I will find time to come over.”


Titus curses wife, wishes for death

At the hospital where doctors were battling to save the man’s life, he regrets that the woman could not fulfill that last wish of hers and he puts the blame squarely on his wife whom he now regards as the very embodiment of everything evil. “I did that to have a child,” he said while trying to explain how the so-called infidelity and betrayal of trust he is now being accused of came about.

“Ten solid years of marriage without a child is not an easy task. I want the doctors to allow me to die so that I can join my unborn child. I don’t deserve to live again,” he sobbed on learning about the two tragic deaths.

But of the two women in his life involved in such tragic death, it is the wife that he has the harshest words for, noting that she will not find peace in her grave. “I may not be right but that was the only available option to test my virility as a man, to know where the problem lies.

It was easy for me to ask her to abort it, but looking at my condition, I couldn’t gamble with such as it may be the last opportunity for me to have a child.” Looking up, he said: “May God forgive my sins and grant my unborn child and the mother eternal rest.”

Lagos, ABUJA- Impeccable sources within the National Judicial Council (NJC) have revealed to Saturday INDEPENDENT that suspended Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen was forced to resign his appointment.

According to the sources, the failure of the NJC to reach an agreement on the fate of Justice Onnoghen and the acting CJN Justice Tanko Muhammad, as exclusively reported on Wednesday by Daily INDEPENDENT, necessitated his eventual resignation.

Another source within NJC told Saturday INDEPENDENT that persuading him to resign was in national interest. He said that if the Federal Government wants to retire him, it would require two-thirds of the Senate to achieve that which he said would be very difficult as the Senate is presently constituted, even if it wants to wait for the 9th Senate to retire him.

Similarly, following Friday’s resignation of Justice Onnoghen, some lawyers and the House of Representatives have wished the former CJN well, saying that the decision is in the best interest of the nation.

The position of the House was communicated by its spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa) on Friday via a telephone conversation with our correspondent in Abuja.

Namdas said: “Justice Onnoghen is a Nigerian who reserves the constitutional right to decide any course of action regarding his personal life and career.

“As a result, we can only support him in his decision and wish him well as a Nigerian who has served his fatherland at the highest level of his profession,” Namdas said.

He added that the House cannot at this point go into the circumstances of his resignation as there are still pending issues of litigation at the tribunal which may become subjudice.

Some lawyers on Friday, in an exclusive interview with our correspondents, lauded the embattled Justice Onnoghen for mustering the courage to tender his resignation from office as Chief Justice of Nigeria.

They said the beleaguered jurist toed the path of honour by his gesture, arguing, however, that the action was neither an admission of guilt or self-indictment.

Raji Ahmed, SAN, commended Onnoghen for his bold decision, saying it is a welcome development which will save the image of the judiciary and indeed the whole country in the comity of nations.

“While I commend the former CJN for the bold decision, I most sincerely plead with the president to accept the resignation in the interest of all. My humble appeal also goes to the amiable vice president in this regard being highest political office holder with a sound legal mind.

“All pending cases before any court or tribunal in connection with the ex-CJN should abate as well,” Raji said.

According to Chief Emeka Ngige, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), not only did Onnoghen by the move save himself the continued embarrassment occasioned by his trial, he saved the judiciary and indeed the legal profession same.

He said, “What Honorable Justice Walter Onnoghen did was for the interest of the legal profession.

“The truth is that having a serving CJN in the dock is an anathema, a great embarrassment not just to the holder of the office, but the judiciary and indeed the legal profession as a whole.


“The legal profession came under serious attack the moment the CJN was dragged and docked before such lowly court as the CCT. So his resignation was the best thing he could have done in the circumstances.

“When the government is fighting you, as they did to Onnoghen, you need to be an angel to survive. And angels are scarce on earth.

“It is a matter of great distress that this is how it all ended for a fearless jurist and a fine gentleman as Honourable Justice Onnoghen. He did the right thing.”

Speaking to Saturday INDEPENDENT in a similar vein, Mr. Adesina Adegbite, the immediate past Welfare Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), hailed Onnoghen for throwing in the towel, saying he acted like a nobleman, as no guilt has yet to be established against him.

He said, “I think before now the charges leveled against him were still in realms of allegation.

“It stands to reason that he took the decision in light of NJC’s recommendation for his immediate retirement. It is the most honourable thing to do. Fact is that his continued trial was a huge embarrassment to the judiciary as it was bringing negative publicity to the institution.

“So, he has done what a noble person should do. I believe he tried as much as possible to establish his innocence, but at what cost? He has acted wisely. It is the proper thing a person in his shoes will do.”

Also speaking, Samuel Ikon, a House of Representatives lawmaker and former Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, has accused the Presidency of weakening the institution of the National Judicial Council, (NJC), as well as the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), which he alleged was being used for hatchet jobs.

The lawmaker attributed the travail that has finally forced Justice Walter Onnoghen, to resign his office as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), to a weak National Judicial Council (NJC), as presently constituted.

Hon Ikon, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker, reacting to his Onnoghen’s eventual resignation on Friday, told our correspondent that his travail was strengthened by the NJC, which could not summon the courage to insist that known rules and precedencies must apply in this case.

The lawmaker said that the country’s institutions have suffered more under this government as previous NJC compositions were able to resist such muzzling by the executive.

“What we have just witnessed in this case is the function of a weak institution. We have to build strong institutions. If the institutions are strong, we will not see what we are seeing today. The NJC is not strong. The NJC failed to make its report public because it said it was subjudist. Today, people are suspecting that the CJN was being hunted. If the institutions are strong we would not have suspected that the CJN was being hunted.”

Ikon said while the NJC was reported to have claimed that Onnoghen’s continuous stay as CJN was not good for the image of the judiciary, the President was shielding Danladi Umar from justice given the corruption allegations preferred against him.

He alleged that he was being protected to execute hatchet jobs against perceived opponents of the government of the day, worrying also that the CCT should have been removed from the executive to face its judicial functions in the judiciary.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the resignation of Onnoghen has vindicated President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling party, underscoring the need for all to rise above sentiment if the country is to make progress.

Reacting to the resignation of the former judicial boss, the party said the decision by Onnoghen to throw in the towel is also a call for the opposition and a section of the civil society groups to be circumspect and shun the rush to read political motives in every action of government.

Spokesman of party, Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC National Publicity Secretary, who commended President, said the party has always known that Buhari would not act in the manner he did without facts.

He said the president did thorough background checks on the CJN, adding that the party saw that the allegations against the former judicial henchman were too weighty to be ignored.

“We knew right from the beginning that what the immediate past CJN (that is if his resignation letter is accepted)… the allegations were too serious and we know that the president does not act on frivolities, he must have done his background checks, he must have gotten good information to have taken the action he took and not just taking that action, that there was basis for the action that can be legally proven, and those lawyers, so-called Senior Advocates of Nigeria who had over the years dipped their hands along with some of these judicial officers, in detaining this country, continued to lampoon the president, lampoon the APC and blaming this government that is doing its best to right several of the wrongs that we have been used to.

“We all can only be hiding behind one finger, otherwise we knew Nigerians, reasonable Nigerians knew from the word ‘cooked’ that those allegations were not cooked up and if they were real, the next thing for the CJN to have done was to have stepped aside and the question of, he wouldn’t be the only one, why him? There is nowhere in the world where judgment is passed on every sinner at once.

“The issue we have in this country is that, many people, especially those who have been part of the impunity of the past who are struggling badly to adjust to the reality of rule of law. That is the major issue we are facing in this country. There is so much struggle to allow the past that is not good enough for us as a country to allow it go and for all of us to rise and face the future, future of promise, future of change, so that we can move to the ‘Next Level’.”

Onilu expressed hope that with the unexpected arraignment, in the life of present administration, of the Heads of the legislative and judicial arms of government, it may not be long before a Nigerian President is made to face the long arms of the law, maintaining that all are equal before the law.

Onilu said: “Now, you have seen the head of National Assembly, Senate President, you have seen him in the dock. Now, you have seen the CJN in the dock. So, one day, we will see a President that will also misbehave in the dock which now shows that nobody is above the law of this country that we are all equal before the law.”

Reacting, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), on Friday, said he is not impressed by the resignation adding that it came too late.

Sagay, who said there is no value in the resignation, argued that Onnoghen should have resigned in January when the charges were made against him and he admitted that he erred.

“The resignation has come too late. It was a face-saving resignation because if he had not resigned, he would have been sacked. There is no question about that. At the very best, he would have been retired if not actually dismissed.

“There is no value in the resignation anymore. It lacks the honour and dignity that would have accompanied it if he had done it since January when the charges were made,” he said.

The resignation of the suspended CJN was confirmed to newsmen by a senior lawyer in Onnoghen’s legal team on Friday.

“I have just spoken with him. He confirmed to me that he resigned voluntarily yesterday,” said the senior advocate, who stated that he did not have Onnoghen’s authorisation to speak on the issue.

Onnoghen had reportedly sent his resignation letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, barely 24 hours after the National Judicial Council concluded investigating him for various allegations of misconduct.

There has not been an official confirmation of Onnoghen’s resignation from his spokesperson, Mr. Awassam Bassey, who did not respond to telephone calls from our correspondents as at the time of filing this report.

Similarly, Dr Festus Aweneri, Director of Information, Supreme Court, said the apex court is yet to receive an official correspondence from the embattled former CJN.

Onnoghen is billed to know the judgment date in his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal on April 15.

Onnoghen is being prosecuted by the Federal Government on a six-count charge of false and non-declaration of assets.

The National Judicial Council had decided on the report of the five-man committee it set up to investigate petitions against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, and the acting CJN Justice Tanko Muhammad.

The NJC took the decisions in an emergency meeting, last Wednesday.

A statement by Soji Oye Esq, Director, Information, NJC, said “Council decided that the allegations relating to assets declaration that were levelled against Hon. Mr. Justice W. S. N. Onnoghen, GCON were subjudice and therefore abstained from considering them.

“Council reached a decision on the petitions written by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and others and conveyed its decision to President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Council also resolved that, by the nature of the decision reached, it would be inappropriate to publicise it before conveying it to Mr. President,” Oye stated.

The National Judicial Council had on February 13, raised a five-man panel to investigate the petitions against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria and acting CJN Tanko Mohammed.

Godwin Obode, former Special Assistant on Youth and Student Matters to Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Oyo State, has been arrested.

SaharaReporters learnt that Obode was picked up by men of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS) some days ago following his refusal to return the N18.5million he received from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State for the general election but did not spend.

https://secure.saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/styles/normal_medium/public/Godwin%20Obode%202.jpg?itok=Y0hz1bKS


Obode worked for Ajimobi during his first term as Governor but subsequently resigned with the explanation that he wanted to relocate abroad.

He later went to work for Teslim Folarin, a two-term Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator who contested (and lost) the 2015 Oyo State governorship election on PDP’s platform before joining the APC in 2017.

However, towards the 2019 election when APC was fearing a bad performance, the party engaged Obode to ruin the election in Okeogun and Oyo town.

“Ajimobi gave him money to mobilise students as security cover for the election,” a senior party figure who asked not to be named, told SaharaReporters.

“They gave him N18.5million for the election, but they later found out that he didn’t do anything; he was just having fun, drinking, on election day. They were even calling him to get field reports on election day, but they couldn’t get him.

"The problem now is that despite the best efforts of the Governor to recoup the money, Obode doesn’t want to return it.”

When SARS officials searched his house last week, they found the bag with which the N18.5million was delivered to him. The bag still contained a leftover sum of N9million.

Obodo was then arrested but later released, though he still has to report at the F-SARS office regularly.

SaharaReporters understands the “security cover” in the brief to Obode was actually “election violence”. According to a party source, it was “to disrupt voting at polling units where the process doesn’t favour the APC”.

by Omobola Tolu-Kusimo



A federal lawmaker and Pension Ad Hoc Committee Chairman’s daughter, Deborah Ighiwiyisi Agbonayinma has been working with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) with fake foreign and local university degree certificates, The Nation has learnt.

Deborah’s father is Ehionzuwa Johnson Agbonayinma, the member representing Egor/Ikpoba-Okha of Edo State in the House of Representatives.

A source at the National Assembly, who pleaded anonymity, said Deborah Agbonayinma was sacked about four weeks ago. She worked at the commission for three years.

The source said Miss Agbonayinma worked in other government agency with the fake certificates before joining PenCom.

PenCom confirmed that she was sacked on February 27.

In a telephone conversation with The Nation, Agbonayinma who spoke on his Committee’s probe of Pension Fund Administrators, declined comment on the allegations against his daughter.

Miss Agbonayinma’s curriculum vitae with which she was employed in PenCom stated that she obtained a B.Sc degree in Accountancy with certificate number 12129 on August 8, 2012 from Irish University Business School located on 219 Bow Road, London E3 2SJ.

A verification committee at PenCom, however, found that no such university existed as a valid UK degree-awarding institution.

Having learnt that her foreign degree was ‘fake’, Miss Agbonayinma brought another degree in Accountancy to the Commission as a replacement from Olabisi Onabanjo University, which the university also disclaimed as fake.

A probe of the documents showed that the Accountancy degree with 09083854 as a matriculation number was not listed as part of her academic qualifications in the original curriculum vitae submitted to PenCom, when she was employed.

The Olabisi Olabanjo University (OOU), in Ogun State, in a letter dated February 6, 2019 and signed by the University’s Principal Assistant Registrar in charge of Exams and Records, Mrs O. L. Kaka, told PenCom that Miss Agbonayinma’s academic records and transcripts were fake.

Her CV showed she was mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from 2014 to 2015, but details are still sketchy on the certificate she presented to the NYSC for the mobilisation.

The CV also showed that she served as an Accountant in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Development in Edo State during her Student’s Industrial Work Experience Scheme (Scheme) from June 2008 to November 2008 one year after she was enrolled to study Accountancy in London in 2007.

PenCom said: ’’We confirmed through the UK government’s site that the university is not recognised as a valid degree-awarding body.”

Temidayo Akinsuyi, samuel ogidan



Lagos / abuja – Concerted efforts being made by the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to pacify some senators who are against its zoning formula in the selection of the leadership of the National Assembly failed to yield its desired result as Senators Danjuma Goje and Ali Ndume insisted on vying for Senate presidency in the 9th National Assembly.

While Ndume has insisted that he will not step down for the party’s anointed candidate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, Goje, who is believed to enjoy the support of senators elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even though he has not formally declared his intention, is believed to be working underground to subvert APC leadership decision.


It is widely believed that the leadership of the APC which is working tirelessly to avoid the coup plot of 2015 is in talk with Goje to withdraw from the race and support Lawan, who will in turn compensate him with a juicy committee headship.

However, on Thursday, Goje was openly called upon by a group of Amalgamated Youths from the North-East to declare his ambition without any further delay. A move political analysts said was one of Goje’s schemes.

In making the call at the entrance to the National Assembly, the group led by one Bello Ambo from Bauchi State, said neither the endorsement of Lawan by the national leadership of APC nor expression of interest by Senator Ndume should prevent Goje from throwing his hat into the ring now.

According to him, as far as public service experience is concerned, Goje stands far above the other two having controlled a whole state for eight years between 2003 and 2011 and being in the Senate since then with required parliamentary experience.

“Position of Senate president requires administrative and parliamentary knowledge enormously possessed by Goje as against the two other contenders from the zone”, he said.

When reminded that the ruling party has taken a final decision on who should occupy the position with the endorsement of Lawan last week Monday, the coordinator of the group said senators-elect are mature people who can decide who their leader should be and should be allowed to do so.

“Our party (APC) is a party of the people and not few leaders. The party should allow the people in this case, senators-elect, to decide whoever they want as their leader in whatever capacity.

“For us the Goje Support Groups from the North East for the presidency of the 9th Senate (GSGNE), Senator Danjuma Goje is the right man for the job. He has the required experience as tested administrator and high ranking lawmaker.

“He is a man of the people and a senator with all what it takes, in carrying others along across party lines and most importantly, a party man to the core who will fit perfectly into the next level agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari”, he said.

Speaking on the development on Channels Television programme, ‘Politics Today’ on Thursday, Opeyemi Bamidele, senator-elect for Ekiti Central, said they are concerned that events of 2015 does not repeat itself again, especially the needless confrontation between the executive and legislative arms of government.

“It’s not about Lawan. The concern we have is that it must not be the same old story. We all saw what happened in 2015. When there is confrontation with executive and legislative arms of government, it is the country that suffers.

“From all who have come out to contest as Senate president, I have not seen anyone who is not eminently qualified but there are global parliamentary best practices that must be followed.

“This is about democracy and definitely you cannot stop people who feel strongly about contesting from contesting but we need a leadership that is not only experienced but that can relate with people across party lines.


“Senator Lawan is the most experienced. By the time we will be inaugurated, he would have spent 20 years in the National Assembly”, he said.

Also speaking on the same programme, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, the Minority Leader of the Senate, said while the PDP will not field any candidate for the position of Senate president, the ruling APC will play into their hands.

Olujimi said anyone contesting for the position of Senate presidency and thinks 44 PDP senators out of 109 senators are not needed will be making the greatest mistake of his life.

“The controversy is unnecessary because the dynamics of the Senate is different from what is outside. What will happen is that whoever will be the Senate president will have to network between APC and PDP lawmakers.

“Anyone who thinks 44 members out of 109 senators are not important will have another thing coming. Anyone who ignored that will suffer just like it happened when we resumed in 2015.

“No. We are not going to field a candidate but they are going to play into our hands”, she said.

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) plans to poach 13 All Progressives Congress (APC) returning and new Senators to forestall the emergence of Senator Ahmad Lawan as the President of the 9th Senate President, APC sources have said.

A source said two Senators approached to be arrow heads of the plans alerted the party hierarchy and Lawan’s campaign team.

The two senators, one a returning and the other just elected, said a source, were expected to lead PDP to their colleagues from Adamawa, Taraba, Ekiti, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano and Kebbi states.

The PDP, said our sources, are working for an APC Senator from Gombe.

A ranking Senator said: “At the moment, Lawan is the candidate to beat, using well known international parliamentary best practices and parameters.

“All odds are in his favour in terms of experience in the administration of the legislature. He has been in the National Assembly in the last 20 solid years. His achievements at the Committee level are unassailable. Remember the engine room of legislation is the Committee stage. Don’t forget he has a Phd.”

A senator-elect, who turned down the PDP offer, said: “In all parliaments, be it in the Presidential System or Parliamentary System the world over, leadership or presiding officers emerge based on their experiences as leaders of the caucuses. Thus, when a party gains a majority after a general election into Parliament, the leader of the caucus of such a party in the legislature transforms to be the President or Speaker of such parliament in a seamless process. It is an established practice and all stakeholders should make sure we act in conformity with the international standard in this respect.

“They also discussed with us the revival of the ‘Like Minds Group’ of 2015 and their various social media campaign of calumny, most especially their deliberate attempt to link a National Leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, to the emergence of Senator Ahmad.”

Meanwhile, the Initiative for Demonstrating Change in Nigeria (IDCN), a pro Buhari group, backed Lawan’s aspiration.

The, group, therefore, urged members-elect of the National Assembly to support the decision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to elect Lawan as Senate President and Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker of the Federal House Representatives.

Mr Chinedu Ogah, the National Coordinator of the group, who spoke to reporters in Abakaliki, said the contributions of Lawan as the Majority Leader of the 8th Senate were far reaching as they boosted the unity of the country.

Ogah said: “Ahmed Lawan has displayed maturity as the true leader that will unite the national assembly.

” He is a lover of democracy, intelligent, humble and believer in one Nigeria. We should elect him as the Senate President because he has displayed that he does not put party interest above national interest.”

By Sunday Ojeme





Following the failure of governors to fully implement the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and as well remit workers’ pension contributions to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), at least 10 newly elected governors would have to battle huge pension liabilities when they assume office on May 29.

Although majority of the states appear to be showing interest in the scheme, albeit slowly, findings by New Telegraph revealed that till date, 12 years after the scheme was unveiled, only 24 states have enacted laws on the scheme, which are substantially in tandem with the provisions of the PRA 2014, while six other states, including Kwara, Benue, Plateau, Cross River, Borno and Akwa Ibom have drafted bills and are currently undergoing the legislative processes towards their passage into laws.

The states are, however, yet to remit a dime to PFAs on behalf of the civil servants, contrary to full scale implementation by only five states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The 10 new governors that are joining the fray to battle the process as they assume office in May include, Babagana Zulum (Borno); Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe); Emeka Ihedioha (Imo); Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq (Kwara), and Abdulahi Sule (Nasarawa).
Others are Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Mai Mala Buni (Yobe); Muktar Idris (Zamfara), and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi).

A document obtained from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) by New Telegraph revealed that out of the 24 states with pension laws on the CPS, only five states, Lagos, Kaduna, Ondo, Edo, Ekiti, Anambra local government and the FCT are currently remitting both the employer and employee pension contributions of their employees while four states, namely Zamfara, Kebbi, Rivers and Anambra, remit only employee portions of pension contributions of either the state or local government employees.

The CPS is pursuant to the enactment of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, which mandated the participation of employees of the public service of the FCT, states and local governments as well as the private sector in CPS.

To ensure full participation, PenCom had consistently been engaging various state governments, trade unions, relevant stakeholders and the general public on the full benefits of the CPS with a view to bringing them to full implementation of the scheme.

Following the commission’s drive, as many as 24 states have so far enacted laws on the CPS in tandem with the provisions of the PRA 2014 while six other states are currently undergoing the legislative processes.

On the other hand, three states – Jigawa, Kano and Adamawa – have embarked on the Contributory Defined Benefits Scheme, while Bauchi and Katsina states have also drafted pension reform bills on the CDBS. Yobe State has, however, decided to continue with the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS).

According to PenCom, “On the determination and funding of the past service benefits of the employees (accrued rights) in states that have adopted the CPS, seven states and the FCT have conducted Actuarial Valuation while Kaduna, Osun, Delta, and Lagos states, Anambra local government and the FCT are funding their Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund Accounts (RBBRFA).

“However, only Delta, Kaduna, Osun states, Anambra local government and the FCT have opened RBBRFAs for domiciliation of their employees’ accrued rights. On compliance with the requirement for the procurement of a Group Life Insurance Policy for workers under the CPS, only Kaduna State and the FCT currently have valid Group Life Insurance policies for their employees. Similarly, Lagos, Kaduna, Delta, and Osun states and the FCT have commenced a hitch-free and timeously payment of pension contributions under the CPS.

“On the requirement for setting up a proper administrative structure to drive implementation of the CPS in states, in line with their respective state pension laws, only 14 states have established the Pension Board/Bureau/Commission to implement their pension reforms. The reluctance to establish the necessary structures to drive implementation of the reform in many states has, however, contributed to the poor compliance status among states in the country.”
The commission noted that the implementation of the CPS had, indeed, been quite challenging for the states and local governments amidst the tough financial constraints occasioned by low internally generated revenues and dwindling crude oil receipts into the Federation Account.

“Other key challenges militating against the implementation of the CPS, as observed in various states, have been the lack of political will on the part of the state governments and the inordinate allocation of scarce resources to less impactful projects. Many state executives would rather invest in infrastructure that could be visible and, therefore, serve as a means for gaining political capital than settle pension obligations to retirees.

“Furthermore, history has shown that accruing pension liabilities under the Defined Benefits Scheme carries very little, if any, repercussions as some state executives had served their full terms (four years) without paying gratuity or pension and nothing happens. This contrasts with the CPS, which, to some extent, has measures to guide against defaults in contributions and/or remittance by government (the employer).

“Other than lack of political will on the part of many state governors, the Nigerian workers are generally apprehensive towards the CPS due to ignorance of the workings of the scheme,” the commission noted.
PenCom also pointed out that the modest achievements made by some states, despite the daunting economic challenges, was a clear pointer to the fact that the scheme is highly sustainable, but requires the political will and conviction of the state executives to succeed

By Sodiq Oyeleke



Mr Yekini Nabena, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that the party’s decision on the selection and zoning of principal officers for the incoming 9th National Assembly is supreme.

Nabena stated this while speaking with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said that the party’s decision must be respected by its legislative caucus and opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly.


He, therefore, cautioned the outgoing President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara to steer clear of the leadership in both legislative chambers.

“The APC has learnt its lesson from the outgoing National Assembly when impostors masquerading as party men sabotaged our party and hijacked our mandate; affliction shall not rise up the second time.

The National Population Commission (NPC) has said that the current overall life expectancy of Nigeria stands at 52.2 years.

The Acting Chairman of NPC, Alhaji Hassan Bashir, stated this in New York while delivering Nigeria’s statement at the 52nd Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development.

According to the World Health Organisation, life expectancy refers to the average number of years that a newborn is expected to live if current mortality rates continue to apply.

The population chief said Nigerians “60 years and over currently represents less than five per cent of the entire population, while overall life expectancy is 55.2 years”.

Bashir added: “As you may be aware, Nigeria estimated population is currently at over 198 million with an annual growth rate of 3.2 per cent.

“The total Fertility Rate remains at 5.5 per woman; 63 per cent of the entire population is under the age of 25; 42 per cent is under the age of 15 years.

“Fifty per cent of the female population is in the reproductive years, while 54.8 per cent of the population constitutes the working age,” the Nigerian population chief said.

According to him, Nigeria recently concluded the field work of its national demography and health survey in 2018 and while it awaits the outcome of that survey, early and child marriage still persists.

He said data available indicated that unintended and unwanted pregnancies were common as 23 per cent of the adolescent girl age 15 to 19 years have commenced reproduction.

Bashir said the situation had put women, especially young girls, at risk of maternal death which stands at 576 deaths per 100,000 live births.

He added that 61 per cent of women of reproductive age who had live births within this period received antenatal care from skilled providers.

However, only 36 per cent of them had their deliveries in health facilities and 38 percent of the deliveries were attended to by skilled birth assistants, he said.

He explained that the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) had been conducted regularly with plans to conduct a census during the 2020 round of census.

Bashir, however, bemoaned the major challenge of unavailability of timely information and robust disaggregated data for tracking progress aimed at achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“Some of our critical concerns include addressing the needs of over 66 million adolescents and young people, aged 10 to 24 years (half of whom are girls) to gain access to comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health information and age-appropriate services.

“There is also the need to address the contraceptive needs of 14 million internally displaced persons affected by increasing insecurity, as well as the needs of over 13.2 million out-of-school children including school-drop-outs due to unintended pregnancies.”

Nigeria’s Ambassador to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, while delivering a statement on behalf of African Group, said Africa recognised the urgent need to unleash the creative initiative and energy of its large youth population.

Bande, Chairman, African Group, UN, said Africa remained committed to cooperating internationally to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration involving full respect for human rights and the humane treatment of all migrants.

“To this effect, the African Group supports the free movement of people and goods within countries as it foster rural-urban inter-linkages, and regional integration,” he said.

According to him, African Group emphasised the need for developed countries to promote policies that foster the integration and reintegration of migrants and returning migrants. (NAN)

Two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the house of representatives have endorsed Femi Gbajabiamila, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker, for speaker in the 9th assembly.

Wole Oke and Jerry Alagbaso from Osun and Imo states respectively endorsed Gbajabiamila when the lawmaker declared interest in the position in Abuja on Sunday.

The APC, which is clearly ahead of PDP by 100 seats in the green chamber, is expected to produce the next speaker.

Oke said Gbajabiamila has years of experience and understands the workings of the house of representatives.

“Femi Gbajabiamila and my good self came to the house in 2003. We have worked together and I know him in and out,” he said.

“I can’t see anybody that is more qualified than him. He understands the house rules and constitution. Aside that, he is a very fair-minded person. A networker.

“We from the south-west are giving you one of our best. Honestly I will be with him all through.”

Alagbaso said there is no doubt Gbajabiamila is the most qualified to replace Yakubu Dogara, current speaker of the house.

He said: “All of us know Femi Gbajabiamila but let me say, to all of you vying for speaker, I want to warn that some of you are behaving like some people promised police uniform but have started making arrests.

“My brother Femi, there is no doubt you are the most qualified to lead us, but it requires consultation. You need to see elders like us. You need to do the needful. Meet us so that all of us can work together.

“For me, I am going to support you provided, when you kill a cow, threw certain things you need to remove before sharing so that it will not cause trouble. So we need to see after this declaration.”

Abdulmumin Jibrin, lawmaker from Kano state and director-general of Gbajabiamila campaign organisation, said the lawmaker is in the race for the interest of Nigerians.

He said: “The candidacy of Femi is not about he himself but about our democracy; it is about sanitising and strengthening our democracy and bringing about global best practices.

“Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila stands out as the best candidate we can offer for this position; experience, brilliance, ability to relate with people.”

The leadership of the PDP has said its members will contest key positions in the national assembly.

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja



As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) prepares to complete the Rivers State governorship and state House of Assembly elections, which was suspended on March 10, following violence at some collation centres, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), of plotting to scuttle the process.

INEC said on Saturday in Port Harcourt that no fresh elections would be held in the state, saying there would be a process to complete the election, which was suspended on March 10 following violence at some collation centres.

INEC National Commissioner supervising Bayelsa, Edo and Rivers states, Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, made the clarification while addressing stakeholders as part of the process for the completion of the election.

Agbamuche-Mbu said results of the governorship election in 17 of the 23 local government areas of the state were safe in the strong room of the commission in Abuja.

Addressing the stakeholders, Agbamuche-Mbu said the commission would conclude the collation of the Rivers State governorship election between April 2 and 5, adding that the process will be transparent.

“All the results are with us in our strong room. They have not been tampered with. We are going to conduct the collation transparently. INEC is here to complete this process and we shall complete the process successfully,” she stated.

The INEC National Commissioner said though the commission did not know the winners of the elections, all the results were intact in INEC’s custody, adding that the electoral commission would religiously follow the timelines outlined by it for the collation of the governorship election results.

However, PDP in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has been boastfully claiming that the AGF was working on a script whereupon he would write to the Chairman of the INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to direct him to stop the collation of results.

The PDP cautioned Malami to restrain himself from being used to commit unconstitutional act in the collation of results already scheduled to begin in the state on Tuesday.

He said it is imperative for the AGF to note that Amaechi, in his desperation, would want to rope him in and use him to cause a constitutional crisis that has the capacity to derail the nation’s democracy.

Ologbondiyan noted: “Our party urges the AGF to note that there is no provision of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) or any part of the Electoral Act 2010 (as Amended) that in anyway, empowers the AGF to interfere or stop the process of election, until declaration of result is made.

“The constitution and laws of our nation are clear on the powers and statutory functions of the Attorney General and that he has no powers to interfere in the conduct of elections or direct the stoppage of an electoral process.

“The AGF should therefore distance himself from the ignoble scheme by Rotimi Amaechi to cause trouble in Rivers State by attempting to scuttle the collation of results in the Rivers governorship election, which has been clearly won by the PDP and Governor Nyesom Wike.”

The PDP urged INEC to save the nation a serious crisis by asserting its independence in concluding the collation process as well as respecting the will of the people, as expressed at the polls on March 9, by declaring Wike as rightful winner of the election without further delay.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State chapter of the PDP has described the accusation by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state that INEC is favouring Governor Wike, as unfounded.

In a statement signed on its behalf by the Director of Information of the PDP Campaign Council, Emma Okah, the party stated that the allegation doesn’t hold water and that it is the same old song; empty, meaningless and senseless.

“Majority of Rivers people don’t take the APC in the state serious. They blame everybody apart from themselves for every problem. When they had internal problems that cost them their place in the ballot, they blamed others. When their adopted puppet in AAC could not win one unit in the state because he was unknown and never campaigned, the APC blamed others,” the statement said.

Likening APC to a bad workman, who is always quarrelling with his tools, PDP frowned at the way and manner in which APC teaches INEC, soldiers and police how to do their job.

The party also warned APC to stop resorting to blackmail whenever they meet disapproval.

While stating that it was not in position to speak for INEC, PDP said it was in doubt that APC’s subtle threat would be noted and handled appropriately.

By Taiwo Adisa, Abuja



Further details have emerged as to the last-minute strategies employed by some pro-Buhari grassroots campaigners to turn the minds of Northern voters against the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 presidential election.

Investigations by Sunday Tribune confirmed that some strategists from the camp of President Muhammadu Buhari got worried about the growing popularity of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar especially following the massive crowds that greeted his campaigns in most capitals of the Northern states.

It was gathered that the thinking within the president’s camp initially was that Atiku could not shake Buhari’s vote bank in the North but that intelligence reports later indicated to the contrary and that leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were forced to agree with the projections about Atiku’s growing popularity following PDP’s campaigns in the North.

In view of the belief that the bounce in Atiku’s campaigns could upstage the president in the North, especially following the shutdown of Kano city when the former vice-president campaigned in the state, the Buhari strategists were said to have reached to the depth of their wits.

They were said to have designed some messages meant to circulate in the grassroots to ensure the Northern grassroots voters were weaned from Atiku.

One of the messages was that President Buhari had reached a pact with former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, that the former governor would allow his crowd to vote for Buhari in the presidential election, while the president would in turn enable a free and fair contest in the state for the governorship election.

It was also gathered that the grassroots campaigners went into the hinterlands of the North and told stories that the people should be wary of Atiku in view of the fact that he was said to have reached a pact with some pro-Biafran personalities, whom they said he planned to hand over the running of the affairs of his administration to.

It was gathered that the campaigners reminded the Northern voters that they should recall that the man who drove Nnamdi Kanu out of Kuje Prisons was Osita Chidoka, whom they said was playing critical roles in the Atiku campaign.

“The level of disinformation was massive against Atiku in the run-up to the presidential election. The people were simply told that a vote for Atiku would be a vote for the Biafran takeover of Nigeria and that the key leaders of the Atiku campaign were Biafran leaders.


‘Why Atiku’ll lose at election tribunal’

“They also spread the story that even Atiku’s running mate, Peter Obi also had a beer company, which they claimed had the Biafran flag on its logo,” a source said.

Besides the activities of some double agents who were in the Atiku campaign and who were also said to have orchestrated the disinformation activities, sources said that the strategists also turned the restructuring campaign by Atiku as a pact to hand over power to the South-East in 2023.

They even claimed that even before 2023, Atiku’s government would be largely run by alleged “pro-Biafran” elements.

Sources also said that the grassroots Northern voters were further told that as a mark of his faithfulness to the planned hand over of the government to “Biafra faithful,” Atiku had also planned to make his wife from the South-East the First lady.

“They went about claiming that even the Yoruba were no longer supporting Atiku, because the information had reached them that Jenifer Atiku would be the First Lady in the Atiku presidency. They Yoruba were said to be distraught with this and that they have vowed not to vote for the former vice-president,” the sources said.

By Lanre Adewole


LARGELY excoriated for his alleged lack of acceptable human relations, the ambition of the House of Representatives speakership hopeful, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, may be deeply under the waters, judging by feelers from his colleagues in the South-West and particularly in Lagos State, where he hails.

Representing Surulere 1 Federal Constituency, the lawmaker, who is the current Majority Leader of the Lower chamber, is believed to be the anointed of Senator Bola Tinubu, his political godfather and the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the party with the majority in the chamber.

Tinubu pushed him for the same seat in 2015, but the fourth-term lawmaker, lost to the incumbent Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2003.

Sunday Tribune gathered from APC inner circle Saturday night that Tinubu had been having a hard time selling the speakership candidature of Gbajabiamila to many Reps-elect from Lagos, who are expected to help in pulling their colleagues, both of APC and of other opposition parties, from the South-West, into the agenda.

Apparently aware of the poorly-guarded animosity towards the Gbaja agenda from many of the elected lawmakers from Lagos and the unfavourable feelers from the rest of the South-Western states, the unveiled threat of expulsion made by Tinubu on Friday, was said to be largely meant to douse the growing mutiny at home.

Speaking at an event of Friday, Tinubu vowed that elected parliamentarians from APC, who refused to vote those picked by the party for the Senate presidency and House of Representatives speakership, would be sent packing from the party.

The statement had generated a lot of negative reactions across political divides, with many describing it as unguarded, with the potential to hurt the Gbaja agenda.

Senators and House of Representatives of the PDP hue voted against Tinubu’s candidates for the two top jobs in the National Assembly in 2015 and feelers from the present crop of the minority party parliamentarians suggest a possible repeat, though the leading opposition party is also rumoured to be considering fielding candidates for the two major seats.

The national leadership of the party is, however, yet to make an official statement on how the party lawmakers would likely vote on the day of the inauguration of the Ninth assembly.

A senior APC member in Lagos told Sunday Tribune that the personality of Tinubu’s choice was more of the problem and not whether South-West should have the speaker’s slot, despite having the VP slot, currently filled by Pastor Yemi Osinbajo.

“Gbaja o niwa (Femi Gbajabiamila is not of qualitative personality),” the senior party member told Sunday Tribune, adding that “this (pushing his candidacy through) will be difficult. Even our people (Lagos Reps-elect) are not buying into the agenda.

“Everybody knows he can’t relate well, so how is this (his speakership agenda) going to be possible? Our people (Lagos Reps-elect) are already shifting loyalty to (Ahmed Idris) Wase, the fellow from Plateau (State),” he said.

It was learnt that in order to mask their preference, majority of the elected lawmakers from Lagos and South-West at large would likely join forces with lawmakers from other geo-political zones, who are also seeking to disobey the party’s position on the two seats, to demand secret balloting in electing the next speaker.


In 2015, secret balloting was also adopted, with Dogara dusting Gbajabiamila.

Tambuwal received INEC certificate of return as 16 APC members elect boycott
The party is yet to make a formal pronouncement on the zone to produce the speaker and the lawmaker being chosen to have it.

The national leadership of the party had claimed it was doing personality zoning by locking definite names, to available parliamentary top positions.

Considering the chummy working relationship between Tinubu and the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, the position is expected to be zoned to the South-West and Gbajabiamila, in particular.

Wase has been representing Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State since 2007.


He is a Muslim like Gbajabiamila.

The religious factor may work against Wase, among those pushing for a speaker from the North-Central, who expected a Christian like Dogara, to emerge as a balance to the power equation.

Except Orji Uzor Kalu, who threatened to join the senate presidency race if not given the deputy senate president slot, the remaining top contenders for the number three seat are Muslims, with one of them expected to emerge.

Senator Ahmed Lawan is the party’s choice.

MUDIAGE AFFE and FEMI MAKINDE



A crisis is brewing in the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress over the role the immediate past Osun State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregebsola, is playing in the compilation of names of political appointees that will form the cabinet of the Governor-elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The crisis, according to sources, is between two main groups within the ruling APC, in the state, the Mandate Group and the Governor’s Advisory Council.

Sources told one of our correspondents that the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had delegated Aregbesola to compile the list of politicians, who would work as Sanwo-Olu’s aides.

It was learnt that the former Osun State governor had, as a first step, asked Sanwo-Olu to disband his campaign team and await the list of members of the transition committee.

The Director-General of Sanwo-Olu Campaign Team, Mr Tayo Ayinde, was said to have immediately complied with the directive on behalf of the governor-elect.

The transition committee will interface with the incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s transition team.

Sanwo-Olu will be inaugurated as the new Lagos State Governor on May 29.

Aregbesola has reportedly compiled 40 names of those that would be the new governor’s aides from the Mandate Group alone.

Members of the GAC are said to be displeased with this development and had reportedly challenged the former Osun State governor.

The GAC, sources said, directed a leader of the party, Mr Tajudeen Olusi, to compile another list which would accommodate the aggrieved members of the group who they claimed played the lead role in the emergence of Sanwo-Olu.

Another source within the GAC feared that the group might be the victims of the power play if the former governor was not challenged.

The source said, “Asiwaju (Bola Tinubu) has directed Aregbesola to take control of the party in Lagos because he is now in Abuja.

“So, Aregbesola, who was in Osun State, has now returned to Lagos and has compiled the list of Sanwo-Olu’s cabinet members without considering the role played by the GAC before Ambode was stopped. We will not allow this to go unchallenged. We have to do something about it and the time to act is now.”

The Media Adviser to the former Osun State Governor, Mr Sola Fasure, when contacted on the telephone by one of our correspondents on Friday, said he would get in touch with his principal and give his reaction to the allegations.

Fasure, when contacted again on Saturday evening, said Aregbesola had yet to respond to the inquiry. He promised to remind him and get back to the correspondent but he had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report on Saturday night.

But the Publicity Secretary of Lagos State chapter of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, when contacted, neither confirmed nor denied the development.

He said, “I do not know about that; those are speculations. But you know that our National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is stepping aside from Lagos to higher level and he needs someone; naturally, it can be anyone.

“There are people who are around him and could hold position of trust for him;, so, he will need to delegate some duties. People are just speculating for now.

Rapheal



HOURS after Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri of the opposition PDP was declared winner of Adamawa governorship election, facts have emerged that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC actually sacrificed Governor Jibrilla Bindow for allegedly working against the re-election of President Buhari in the February 23 presidential election.

Saturday Sun gathered that APC leaders in the state including wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha; Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Elimination of Drug Abuse, PACEDA, Gen. Buba Marwa; former EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu and a host of others had raised eyebrows before and after the presidential election about alleged secret working relationship between Governor Bindow and his benefactor,

Atiku Abubakar who was the PDP candidate in the February 23 election.

As a result, the governor was further alleged to have been responsible for the victory of Atiku over Buhari in the state. A member of the national caucus of the APC told Saturday Sun in Abuja on Friday that “because of this betrayal by the governor, the APC leaders both at the national and state levels decided to pay the governor back in his own coin and that was why Bindow found it difficult to win at the first ballot on March 9 and woefully lost the supplementary election of Thursday March 28. In fact, after the presidential election, the First Lady had to go to Adamawa State where she refused to campaign for Bindow but instead told the people to vote for any governorship candidate of their choice. That statement went viral in Adamawa and the people got the message.”

The Returning Officer of the governorship election, Prof. Andrew Haru- na, who declared the result

late Thursday in Yola after the supplementary election in 44 units across 14 local government areas of the state, said Fintiri polled 376,552 votes to beat his closest rival, Gov. Muhammadu Bindow of APC, who scored 336,386 votes.

He said that Sen. Abdul- Azeez Nyako of the ADC scored 113,237 votes to place third, followed by Chief Emmanuel Bello of the SDP, who garnered 29,792 votes.

Haruna said total votes cast was 899,097, out of which 871,307 votes were valid and 27,790 votes, invalid.

Fintiri was the Speaker of Adamawa House of Assembly in 2014,and also served as Acting Governor in July 2014, following the impeachment of the then Gov. Murtala Nyako.

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An unidentified female student reportedly stripped herself of her clothes in the public Saturday morning in Lagos, thus raising suspicion of mental derangement .

According to a report by SaharaReporters, the fair-skinned lady is a student of a polytechnic in Nasarawa State.

According to eyewitnesses, the lady emerged from the Country Club area in Ikeja GRA, Lagos, and started talking to herself.

“Nobody suspected anything at first as she was merely just loafing about,” said one witness.

“However, as she walked down Joel Ogunnaike Street, she started dancing. Then she went to the refuse bin and started picking stuff from there and putting them into her bag. “At that point, a few of us started approaching her to see if all was well with her. The next thing we saw was that she started removing her clothes, beginning with her trousers. And that’s when we knew all was not well and we immediately surrounded her.

“Someone laid hands on her and started praying for her and she calmed down and we encouraged her to put on her clothes. We asked her a few questions, which she attempted to answer, but after a few minutes, it seemed she was starting to lose it again. So, we took her phone, which wasn’t locked, and went through it; one of us called the number identified as that of her brother.

“From what I gathered after the call was made, it was confirmed that she is a student of a polytechnic in Nasarawa

“He (the brother) also said we should please make sure she doesn’t get lost as he would start his journey to Lagos immediately.

“Afterwards, she was taken to a Police Station by some people.” ; recounted the eyewitness.

By Shola Oyeyipo in Abuja




A coalition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) youth groups under the umbrella of North-Central APC Young Patriots has vowed to resist any attempt by the leadership of the party to zone the speakership of the House of Representatives to the South-west region.

Addressing journalists Saturday at the Stone Edge Hotel, Abuja, the coalition’s leader and convener, APC Young Patriot, Mr. Dominic Alancha, said though the party is yet to officially announce the zoning to the South-west, it should not take such decision to avoid a situation where the anointed candidates of the party lose key leadership positions in the 8th assembly.

According to him, “If the party goes ahead to zone the position of the Speaker to the South-west because it wants to foist a particular candidate on lawmakers disregarding popular support and equitable zoning formula, it will be shortchanging the North-central of its hard-earned right and this will be resisted by this group.”

Stressing that the motto of APC is justice, peace and unity, Alancha said: “One would expect that since the Senate Presidency was zoned to the North-east being the zone that contributed the highest number of votes after the North-west (3,238,783), the Speakership position will naturally go to the next in line-the North-central zone who produced the second largest vote after the North-east (2,465,599). So, why is the party suddenly shifting the goalpost when it comes to zoning the Speakership position by considering the South-west that performed less than the North-central and even already has the number two position of a vice-president? ls this an equitable thing to do?”

Querying how the party hopes to engender party loyalty and supremacy without an equitable zoning arrangement, the APC loyalist insisted that the North-central parades qualified lawmakers who can effectively lead the green chamber.

“One of such persons is the current Deputy Majority Leader, Hon Ahmed ldris Wase, who is the most ranking North-central member having returned to the House for the fourth term,” stressing that: “Hon Wase is a true leader who has the unique ability to carry his colleagues along, protect the interest of the party, and possess the political sagacity to build bi-partisan consensus when needed. He is very much popular and loved by his colleagues who rally around him for true leadership.”

Asked how the group intends to ‘resist’ the party in case the position is zoned to the South-west, he said: “We hope to do that through advocacy. We are going to meet members-elect. We are going to reach out to party leaders to ensure that this crisis is not created by zoning it (Speakership) away from us.

Olusola Fabiyi, Sunday Aborisade and Leke Baiyewu



Members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Senate may have dumped their plan to adopt and support any “friendly” member of the All Progressives Congress that is interested in contesting the position of the senate president in the 9th National Assembly.

Investigations by one of our correspondents at the upper legislative chamber on Thursday revealed that the PDP senators, numbering 41 at the moment, were determined to present a candidate that would contest against the candidate of the 65-member APC caucus in the red chamber.

A senator from the South -East geopolitical zone, told one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity on Thursday, that his colleagues were considering taking the advantage of the crack in the APC Senate caucus to present a candidate.

The ranking senator said, “It is glaring that Senator Ali Ndume will contest the Senate president seat on the day of inauguration because he is obviously dissatisfied with the position of the party.

“Rather than pacify him, the APC leadership seems not to care about the trauma and emotional pains they have subjected Ndume to by saying that the decision to pick Ahmad lawan was final.”

The senator hinted the leaders of the PDP might soon come up with a decision to adopt one of their ranking senators that would contest the Senate president position on June 9 that the 9th Senate would be inaugurated.

But another senator from the South-South geopolitical zone told one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity on Thursday that the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu (Enugu); Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia); and Senator James Manager (Delta) were being considered as the PDP candidate for the Senate president position.

He said, “We already have ranking senators who have shown capacity to lead the Senate. Senator Ekweremadu has been Deputy Senate President on three occasions while Abaribe and Manager have been in the Senate since 2003.”


Not all senators-elect are happy with Lawan’s choice by APC leaders – Kalu


However, indications that the PDP may spring up a surprise on the day of inauguration, however, manifested on Thursday when an APC senator-elect, Orji Uzor Kalu, said he might be forced to contest against Lawan.

He told one of our correspondents on the telephone that the decision of the APC to deny the South-East of producing the deputy senate president could force him to challenge Lawan.

He said, “It is not all the senators-elect that are happy with what they (APC leaders) did (by endorsing Lawan). As it stands now, Ndume and Goje are still insisting that they will contest and if I also contest, that means we have denied our party the right to produce the Senate President.”

When contacted, Senator Abaribe said the PDP members would vote as a group on the day of inauguration.

He said, “The PDP leadership had not met yet to decide our position. We are simply watching the APC as they continue to make a fool of themselves. We still have enough time to reach a consensus on what to do.

“However, what we have agreed to do in the PDP is that we are going to keep all our votes intact.”

Attempts to speak with Ekweremadu through his media aide, Uche Anichukwu, failed on Thursday as he did not pick calls put across to him neither did he respond to the text message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.

Similarly, Manager could not be reached as calls made to his phone indicated that it had been switched off.


We’ll produce next Senate president, APC caucus insists


However, the spokesperson for the APC caucus in the Senate, Sabi Abdullahi, has reiterated that the party will produce the Senate President, no matter scheming.

He said, “We are engaging our colleagues in the PDP and the majority of them are actually working for us to see that we have a harmonious, rancour-free, non-tumultuous Senate.

“They are right by doing so because they are mandated by their people to come and represent them and to take dividend of democracy home not to take victories of fight on the floor home.”


Aggrieved APC senators, Reps reach out to PDP lawmakers


However, there were indications on Thursday that aggrieved senators-elect and newly-elected members of the House of Representatives from the APC had reached out to their counterparts in the PDP in their quest to clinch the leadership positions in the ninth National Assembly.

The PUNCH gathered that some national officers of the PDP had been contacted secretly by agents of those who had signified interest in the ninth National Assembly positions.

A national officer of the former ruling party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told one of our correspondents that he had been approached by agents of some of those campaigning to lead both chambers of the National Assembly.

He noted that if the PDP members cooperated they would be able to overwhelm the APC with a few aggrieved members of the ruling party.

Though he said the PDP might not negotiate for any particular position, including the deputy senate presidency, the party would “have a say in who will lead the two chambers, especially the Senate.”

The PDP national officer, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said the party and the nation would not want the 9th National Assembly to be a rubber stamp for the actions of the executive.

He said, “We are watching them from afar. Some of those planning to lead the National Assembly have started reaching out to us. We are being careful because we know some may want to know our minds.

“The day we sealed our support for Saraki was just a few hours to his election. This time round, we are watching. You know the APC has less than two-thirds in the Senate. Out of this number, about 15 of them have disagreed with their party. So, you can see that those who were running their mouths that we have no role to play are not politicians. They do not know what they are saying.

“Senators are not men and women you can bully. Some of them had been two-time governors, ministers and so forth. So, for someone to be talking to them as if he is addressing schoolboys and girls, that shows political naivity on the part of the person.”


It’s difficult running a parliament without opposition – Secondus


Speaking on the move to woo members of the PDP, the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, said it would be difficult to have a smooth legislature if the views of the opposition were discarded.

Secondus told one of our correspondents that anywhere in the world, the views of opposition were needed and important for the growth of democracy.

Though he would neither deny nor confirm that members of his party were being wooed by their counterparts in both Senate and the House of Representatives, Secondus said that the two parties needed to work together for the progress of the country.

He said, “Yes, the APC members in the Senate and the House of Representatives are free to talk to us and their counterparts on the need to work together for a smooth 9th National Assembly.

“Some have said it informally while lobbying in another level is ongoing. That is politics. All those who are going to be in the two chambers are Nigerians after all.

“It is wrong to assume that about more than one-third of the legislature will not be asked to support the emergence of its leadership. Yes, majority will win and have their way, but the views of the minority are also needed to be heard. That is the beauty of democracy.”

On those the party was considering for roles in the Assembly as officers, Secondus said, “That is for the party and the lawmakers to decide. It is not for outsiders to look into for now.”



Egwu, Abaribe, Manager eye Senate Minority position


Meanwhile, three members of the PDP in the Senate are eyeing the position of the Minority Leader.

Investigations by one of our correspondents showed that the three men had started reaching out to their colleagues.

They are a former governor of Ebonyi State, Sam Egwu; a former deputy governor of Abia State, Eyinaya Abaribe; and a fourth-time member of the Senate, James Manager.

Manager, who is from Delta State, was meant to occupy the position in the 8th Senate, but the leadership of the PDP appealed to him and other members of the party caucus to allow a first-time member, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to occupy the position.

The former governor of Akwa Ibom State later betrayed the party by his defection to the APC and subsequent resignation as the minority leader.

Akpabio, who currently represents Akwa Ibom North-West in the Senate, lost in his bid to return to the Senate during the last election.

Romanus Okoye



“My father used his manhood and finger to test if I was a virgin.” That was the shocking statement by a 12-year-old girl allegedly defiled by her father. She was speaking with a forensic expert, Dr. Oyedeji Alagbe, a consultant with the Mirabel Centre, LASUTH, Ikeja, who conducted a medical examination on her.

The Mirabel Centre is an organisation that has for long mounted a sustained campaign against sexual violence. The organisation also counsels and rehabilitates victims, while seeking justice for them, among other volunteer activities.

The girl said that her 35-year-old father, Mr. Emmanuel Idoko, a commercial motorcyclist, returned from work one day and told her that people said she was no longer a virgin and he needed to confirm the truth with his finger and manhood.

The girl said she resisted him but he persisted and even gave her drinks, which made her sleepy. It was while dozing in class one day that her teacher noticed the abnormal sleep and, after much persuasion, the minor opened up to the teacher. A report was made at the Ketu Police Station in Lagos, and the father was arrested.

Incest, the act of having sexual intimacy with blood relatives, is considered a crime and attracts a 10 years’ imprisonment. Yet people engage in it for different reasons.

A 46-year-old fashion designer, Wale Akanusi, who impregnated his daughter twice and aborted the pregnancies, said, after the atrocities were discovered: “It is not a new thing that a man had sex with his daughter. I did that to appease the gods.

“You see, when her mother was six months pregnant, we made love. She later told me that it was a taboo for a man to sleep with a pregnant woman in her place. She said the only remedy was for the man to be the first person to sleep with the child.

“I went to fulfil the oath. That was why I took her to the herbalist when she was pregnant, so as to appease the gods of her mother’s land. You will not understand. It is not a new thing that a man had sex with his daughter and even if I am jailed at the end, I will surely come out after serving my jail term.

“I initially did not want to do it. But, along the line, I discovered that things were not going well with me financially. And, when I made inquiries, I was made to understand that I had to appease the gods of her mother’s land, so that I would be able to make a success of my life.”

A 16-year-old girl that was allegedly impregnated by her father also narrated how the randy man administered an oath of secrecy on her before he deflowered her. She added that the suspect, Sunday Olanrele, used payment of her school fees as a bait to turn her to a sex object.

She said: “I thought he was a good father. He gave me kolanut to eat and said I would die if I revealed the secret. He started kissing and caressing me and later deflowered me. When blood started gushing out from my private part, he used diapers to cover it. I did not tell anyone because of fear.”

A few weeks later, the girl started showing symptoms of pregnancy.

“I took her to the hospital for pregnancy test and it indicated that she was four months pregnant. I requested to know who was responsible and she refused to tell me,” the mother said.

She then took her to a pastor, where she opened up. The angry mother said she was faced with the shame associated with the stigma on the family: “I am confused. I am ashamed of the stigma. The pregnancy is over five months now. So, abortion is out of it. I am in a dilemma now. I can’t procure abortion when she is already five months gone.”

The suspect, who admitted committing the crime, said he did not know what came over him that made him to deflower his daughter.

“I think it is the Devil’s plan to destroy me. I know it is an abominable act. I am sorry, I regret my action. Nigeria Police Force and my estranged wife should forgive me,” he said.

Sometime in 2017, Adoka, a district in Otukpo, Benue State, was thrown into confusion following the death of a young man identified as Inalegwu. The deceased reportedly drank a poisonous substance suspected to be insecticide after he allegedly put his younger sister, Ene, in the family way.

“He was accused of impregnating his own blood sister. People had been mocking him since the incident and he had been crying,” a source said.

A child rights expert, Mrs. Kim Adeogun, once said that most incest and child abuse cases were the aftermath of absence of a bond between mothers and their daughters. She added that families also contributed to it when they covered up such cases without informing the authorities.

“I have seen a case of a senior nephew sleeping with his younger cousin but, when the parents of the little girl discovered it, they swiftly sent the man to his family and the matter ended right there, to avoid family disunity,” Adeogun said.

Sociologists have observed that, among human practices, incest is the one most enveloped in myth and mystery. Thus the incestuous father is generally described as a degenerate, intellectually inferior individual, living in poverty, or an alcoholic with a low standard of morals and marked sexual pathology.

Incest is likewise described as occurring mainly in remote rural areas, among backward, primitive people. Though it has been recognised that statistics on incest are unreliable, and the practice is more prevalent than would appear, from police records, the feeling persists that incest is confined to the most debased, perverted elements in society, or the relics of more archaic, primitive modes of behaviour.

Dr. S.K. Weinberg, a sociologist, differentiates male incest into three main types: one, an indiscriminate promiscuity, where the incest is part of a pattern of sexual psychopathology; two, intense craving for young children, paedophilia, which also includes the daughter as a sexual object; and, three, the endogamic or intra-familial-oriented incest. An incestuous participant of this type is defined by Weinberg as “the adult … who confines his sexual objects to family members, resorts to incest with a daughter or sister because he does not cultivate and does not crave social or sexual contacts with women outside the family.”

Efforts to conceptualise incest before 1980 led to it being described as a sub-category of paedophilia. Some researchers believe that incest does not have a single cause, rather, it develops from a combination of influences.

Researchers agree that perpetrators of incest are more likely to be males than females, although a lot of evidence has emerged since the 1980s that some mothers sexually abuse their children. Fewer female offenders are willing to admit to committing incest and society may consider women to be sexually harmless. But it is important to recognise the increased opportunity that women have to perpetrate incest as primary caretakers of children.

Women in all societies are given a great deal of responsibility of raising children. With that comes control over their dependents. They are more often in charge of many intimate activities surrounding the care of the child, including things such as breastfeeding, putting to bed and bathing. Some cultures, where mother-son closeness is the norm, may have more occurrences of incest. For example, it is said some Japanese mothers initiate sexual acts with their sons after witnessing their sons masturbate for the first time in order to teach him about sex.

An Australian study of a clinical sample of male incest survivors found a number of factors most likely to influence the occurrence of sexual abuse of young males. They include living in a single-parent family headed by a woman of low socio-economic status, where the mother suffers from a schizophrenic illness and/or abuses drugs or alcohol, and where there is a history of violent parental behaviour. The study stated that women may commit incest for different reasons more than males.

Gender expectations and socialisations may vary for males and for female perpetrators, but this does not mean that one form of incest is less harmful to the victim than the other. Regardless of the type of perpetrator, incest perpetrators commit the crime for a variety of reasons. They often have poor skills in dealing with their emotions, demonstrate poor empathy skills, and display a marked inability to observe the behaviour of others. These perpetrators are often emotionally in a developmental stage equivalent to that of the child they are assaulting.

In a study of 75 male and 65 female sexual abuse perpetrators, the men and women showed no difference in educational levels, both reported their marriages as less stable than their parents’, and both reported their need for emotional fulfilment as being greater than their need for sexual fulfilment. Both offenders reported the least intrusive form of offending (exhibitionism, voyeurism, touching) to be more frequent than oral, vaginal, or anal intercourse.

Men as incest perpetrators are not a homogeneous group. In a study funded by a grant from the National Centre on Child Abuse and Neglect, researchers identified five distinct types of incestuous fathers: sexually preoccupied, adolescent regressive, instrumental sexual gratifiers, emotionally dependent offenders, and angry retaliators (Williams and Finkelhor 1992). This typology helps to foster better understanding of the motivations for abuse and may enable better treatment for incest perpetrators. It should be kept in mind that an offender may not fit perfectly into one type; most offenders are a combination of one or more types.

A group of genetic counsellors reviewed the research on the biological consequences of sex between relatives. They found a surprisingly small increase, about 4 per cent, in birth defects among children of married cousins. Incest between first degree relatives, however, was a different story. The researchers examined four studies on the effects of first degree incest on the health of the offspring. Forty per cent of the children were born with autosomal recessive disorders, congenital physical malformations, or severe intellectual deficits. And another 14 per cent of them had mild mental disabilities.

Hal Herzog, professor emeritus of psychology at Western Carolina University, said there were odds that a newborn child who is the product of brother-sister or fathered aughter incest will suffer an early death, a severe birth defect or some mental deficiency.

By Luminous Jannamike


Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has alleged that some influential people working closely with the Federal Government are mounting serious pressure on its leadership to pay a congratulatory visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, following the outcome of the last month’s presidential election.

A source in CAN’s national executive body, who confided in Vanguard, said the pressure had now assumed the form of subtle blackmail against its leaders. He said: “We have seen how they are polarising the church so that it cannot act as a body. The Bible says the house divided against itself cannot stand.

This is where we find ourselves today. If there’s no unity among us, who says the enemy cannot attack and go away? It’s very unfortunate. “If you know the pressure mounted on CAN leadership that we, as a body, have to go and congratulate the president.

However, the church is saying this election is controversial and we see what is happening. But, they are still mounting pressure seriously. “They are telling us if we don’t congratulate him, it means we are against him and that we are partisan.

However, we are saying let them resolve the issues (in court) before we go and congratulate whoever wins. That’s the situation we find ourselves as the Church of God.” In another development, CAN President, Rev Samson Ayokunle, has condemned the recent abduction of a Catholic Priest, Fr. John Shekwolo, in Kaduna State.

He said it was shameful that “gunmen,” have continued to kidnap and sometimes murder innocent citizens in cold blood without being apprehended and prosecuted.” He reiterated the need to restructure Nigeria’s security architecture and rejig the service chiefs to ameliorate the country’s deplorable situation

A plot that would extend the stay of the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, and other top officials, is breeding disquiet within the ranks of staff of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC).

The extension plan is also causing murmur among civil servants who say the proposed changes have far-reaching implications on the wider civil service regulations and laws guiding employment and pensions in Nigeria.

The planned extension of stay for the top officials is being considered among the proposed condition of service of National Assembly staff which has been laid before two chambers of the National Assembly for approval.

The proposal, which an official said is being promoted through the backdoor, would enable Mr Sani-Omolori and others to retire only on attaining 65 years or after 40 years of service.

Some senior civil servants express fears over the legality of the new proposal as retirement is not determined by staff condition of service, which only clarifies agency-specific mundane issues.

The key Nigerian civil service laws peg retirement age at 60 years of age or 35 years in service, with the exception of judges and professors.

“The exception for judges and professors was only in relations to the expected wisdom that comes with age in those professions. Even in the judiciary, it is only the judges that have that special condition. But normal civil service is nothing that requires those exceptions,” said a director in the office of the Head of Service who pleaded not to be named as he is not authorised to speak on the matter.

Aside from Mr Sani-Omolori, other officials who could benefit from the proposed plan are the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Giwa Anonkhai, and Secretary of the NASC, Olusanya Ajakaiye.

The three officials have between four to 21 months to retire.

Though the trio would not be the only beneficiaries of the new proposal, they are alleged to be in the forefront of pushing for the new service terms which could see them stay longer in their plump posts.

Mr Ajakaiye is due to proceed on terminal leave in May, as he is set to retire in August. He was born on August 19, 1959.

Mr Sani-Omolori, who was born on May 7, 1961 started work on February 6, 1985. He is therefore expected to retire in February next year when he attains 35 years in service.

The House or Representatives Clerk, Mr Anonkhai, is due to attain the mandatory retirement age of 60 next year. He was born on November 25, 1960.


Smuggled resolution

Insiders accused the three senior officials of smuggling the proposal into the condition of service tabled before the House of Representatives on December 12, 2018.

Section 8 of the proposed conditions of service which deals with the subhead, Leaving the Service, as published by the House’s votes and proceedings, contains the controversial clause.

“The compulsory retirement age for all officers of all grades in the service shall be 65 years of age or 40 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier,” the first clause of the section reads.

This is however in contravention of the original position of the National Assembly Service Commission which was transmitted to the Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara, earlier in the year.

The NASC had in May written to the two National Assembly leaders forwarding the draft condition of service for their approval.

Senior workers say the decision to write to the lawmakers was out of courtesy and for notification, as the commission is empowered to work on those regulations.

But in a letter dated May 23, 2018, the then Executive Chairman of the NASC, Adamu Fika, wrote to the two leaders forwarding the condition of service “for consideration by the National Assembly” before bringing it into effect.

Relying on Section 61(a) of the National Assembly Service Act 2014, which empowers the commission “to formulate and implement guidelines functions” and Section 19Ii) which empowers it to issue regulations on conditions of service, Mr Fika informed the two leaders about the changes his commission was bringing.

“The Commission has reviewed all the areas of the Conditions of Service for the National Assembly Service as required. In carrying out the review, the Commission considered the provisions in the Conditions of Service in the wider Public Service and the allowances that are applicable in the Public Sector in the Federation,” Mr Fika wrote.

The letter went on to explain the key highlights of the review.

“We have recommended the retention of the retirement age to be 35 years of service or attainment of 60 years of age in view of widespread unemployment in the country,” the commission explained.

Two other highlights stated in the communication are additional retirement benefits “to mitigate the long delays in accessing Pencom’s retirement benefit,” and pegging of leave allowance at 10 per cent of consolidated salary.

Based on the submission, the Senate, on December 6, 2018, approved the new condition of service maintaining the recommended retirement age as contained in the communication by the commission.

Curiously, however, different figures emerged for the retirement age a week later in what the House of Representatives approved as the new condition of service on December 12.


Battle Shifts to Harmonisation Committee

With the two chambers passing different versions of the document, the two have formed a harmonisation committee consisting of six members from the Senate and seven from the lower chamber.

On January 17, 2019, the Senate announced the chairperson of its Committee on Establishment, Emmanuel Paulker, to lead the harmonisation of the two positions.

Other senators to work with Mr Paulker were Binta Garba, Ahmed Ogembe, Stella Oduah, Abdulfatai Buhari and Ibrahim Gobir.

The House of Representatives, on the other hand, appointed Simon Arabo, Chika Adamu, Mohammed Abdu, Daniel Reyerieja, Uzoma Ahuta, Sunday Adepoju and Bashir Baballe.

Pressure is said to be mounting on members of the committee, with interested parties lobbying for and against the proposed regulation.

A member of the committee who pleaded not to be named in order not to annoy his colleagues told PREMIUM TIMES that already a draft harmonised document containing the altered retirement age is being circulated by two members of the committee for the rest to sign.

“Some of us have decided not to endorse the illegality. How can you even begin to circulate document for assent when there was never a meeting to discuss the grey areas?” he said.

Meetings called to harmonise the two positions are yet to hold as members were yet to form a quorum.

On Monday, the committee again failed to meet following the quorum failure. The sitting was then shifted to April 2.


Clerk, Others Ignore Inquiries

PREMIUM TIMES spent days trying to get the response of Mr Sani-Omolori and other principal actors on their alleged roles in the saga.

Calls placed to known telephone lines of both Messrs Sani-Omolori and Ajakaiye were not answered.

The spokesperson of the National Assembly Service Commission, Janet Mambula, did not also answer repeated calls placed by our reporter.

The three officials have also not responded to text messages sent to them.

Many Hospitalized as Ajimobi’s aides suffer from food poisoning during inauguration

Some governor aides in Oyo State have had to be rushed to the hospital as a result of food poisoning. This occurred during an inauguration ceremony for the newly acquired excavators in the state.

As the event progressed, the aides were served snacks and drinks which were said to have been prepared by a Lagos based catering company.

Soon enough they began to make complains about their health and were all later taken to the hospital.

According to The Nation, other attendants such as Royal fathers, APC Deputy governorship candidate, Samuel Eegunjobi, council chairmen, and APC supporters, were equally affected.

Many Hospitalized as Ajimobi’s aides suffer from food poisoning during inauguration

While speaking with newsmen, one of the victims stated, “I saw hell shortly after eating. I visited the toilet more than 15 times ‎and vomited about six times between Friday evening and Saturday morning.

“I was later admitted at a hospital where I was given some pints of drips. My survival is by the Special grace of God.”

Equally, the council chairman from Oke-Ogun zone of Oyo state explained that he had initially thought it was a minor ache when his stomach began to rumble after eating the meal. However, things swiftly became bigger than he thought when he began to vomit and had to defecate consistently.

By AHURUKA ISAH, AND SUNDAY ISUWA Abuja, ANDREW ESSIEN, Kauthar Anumba-Khaleel




To avoid a repeat of the 2015 mistakes when some All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers connived with their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterparts to hijack the leadership of the 8th Assembly, the national leadership of the ruling party has stepped into the ongoing leadership race.

The APC National Working Committee (NWC) yesterday met with new and returning members of the House of Representatives to forge a common front on the emergence of the Green Chamber’s principal officers.

In the same manner, President Muhammadu Buhari also held a meeting with APC governors and senators-elect to ensure a strong bond between the Executive and Legislative arms of government in the next dispensation.

In the unfolding scenario, the APC leadership is favoulably disposed to the current House leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, as the Speaker of the Lower House, LEADERSHIP has learnt

Gbajabiamila was the preferred candidate of the APC for the office in 2015 before it was clinched by the incumbent Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who rode on the support of PDP lawmakers to outwit Gbajiabiamila.

In the same way, Senator Ahmed Lawan was the anointed candidate of the APC for the Senate Presidency but he lost the office to Senator Bukola Saraki in the power game that produced the outgoing NASS leadership.


Dogara defeated Gbajabiamila with 182 votes to 174.

A competent source confirmed to LEADERSHIP that at a meeting which journalists were not allowed to cover, the party presented Gbajabiamila as its candidate for the speakership to the new lawmakers-elect.

It was learned that some members were not comfortable with the party’s choice of Gbajabiamila as they alleged that he may be difficult for them to work with.

The source, who craved anonymity, stated that the meeting wanted the matter properly handled so as not to disenfranchise other eminent and qualified persons who have indicated interest in the office.

Earlier, APC national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who led the NWC members to meet the lawmakers yesterday, had declared that the party would not allow the mistakes of 2015 to recur when the new National Assembly is inaugurated in June.

Oshiomhole said that Nigerians had reposed confidence in the party by giving it an overwhelming majority in the House assuring that the party would use the numerical strength to its advantage.

He, therefore, sought the collaboration of the APC legislators to enable President Muhammadu Buhari to execute the party’s programmes during his second term.

Addressing the newly-elected members of the House of Representatives at the Shehu Yar’adua Centre in Abuja, Oshiomhole said that the APC was not prepared to share the principal offices of the House and headship of critical committees with the opposition PDP, except for positions reserved for minority members.

He said: “The first is the challenge of ensuring that this time around we will ensure that we have the leadership of the National Assembly that shares the vision of the executive. Although we speak of separation of powers, there is only one government and unless the various arms pursue the same agenda it is difficult for the executive to realise it purpose because legislative backing is often required for most executive actions.

“So I will expect that you bear in mind that we are one family joined together as shown in our broom, with a shared commitment to bail Nigeria out of the condition in which we found it in 2015.

“And that you have the numbers and we will use those numbers to ensure that we have a leadership that commands the trust and the respect of all the members of the House of Representatives. There will be contestation, that is why we are in a democracy but after the contestation and debate we have to agree, and once you have agreed you move forward.

“We have the numbers to produce the Speaker and we will produce the Speaker, who must be a member of the APC. We have the numbers to produce the Deputy Speaker and we will use the numbers to produce the occupant of the office, who must be a member of the APC. We have the number and we must use the numbers to elect the House Leader who must be a member of our party.

“We have the numbers and we will use the numbers to produce a Chief Whip and a Deputy Whip who must be members of the APC. I think the only position that we are not interested in is the Minority Leader. Let it remain minor in the hands of the minors in the opposition.

“We will not share power in the House of the Representatives and the leadership must ensure that critical committees that drive government are chaired by APC members. If the Nigerian people wanted them to be chairmen of the committees they would have voted for them.

“So all the chairmen of committees, except one that is statutorily reserved for the opposition, which is Public Accounts, they can have that. So, we would not do the kind of thing that happened the last time in which some APC members became distant spectators in the management of committees, when the PDP had the majority of the strategic committees in the House, that will not happen in the next Assembly,” he said.

While calling on the new federal lawmakers not to allow anybody to break their rank, Oshiomhole said that his leadership would carry out extensive consultations with President Buhari and all the leaders of the APC on the leadership matter.

“We will work out a sensible zoning formula that carries everybody along and gives people chances to demonstrate their capacities and capabilities.

He congratulated them for their success, adding that “we are proud that Nigerians in your various constituencies have reposed confidence in the APC. I was looking at the number this morning and I realised that at the level of the House of Representatives, Nigerians gave the APC a resounding vote of confidence.

Oshomhole said that before the election, the APC had 190 members, noting that Nigerians elected and re-elected 223 members of the House on the platform of the APC in the 2019 general elections.

To the new lawmakers, Oshiomhole said: “You have been elected at a very challenging time to provide legislative backing for APC agenda and manifesto. Our president who has been re-elected reminded us that the three critical issues on which we canvassed for votes in 2015 are still valid even now in 2019. The president is doing everything possible to turn the economy around and to ensure that we work and create job-led growth and not jobless growth where we celebrate abstract statistics that do not reflect the quality of life of the Nigerian people.”

At a dinner hosted by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa for APC governors, serving senators and senators-elect, Oshiomhole maintained that in the 9th Assembly, the APC is far ahead of the opposition in both parliaments.

He said that “we are far ahead of the main opposition in the parliament. With 223 of 360 lawmakers, we have all the numbers required to make all the laws in the National Assembly.

“The purpose of the dinner is to congratulate you and to provide a platform for the senators-elect to interact with you. We want to produce a leadership that is purely APC and the one that will cooperate with the executive.

The senator-elect on the platform of Young Progressives Party (YPP), Ifeanyi Uba, attended the meeting even though he has not officially defected to the ruling APC.


North Central Insists On Speakership

Meanwhile, the clamour for APC to zone the office of the Speaker of the Lower House to the North Central has gathered momentum.

The proponents based their demand on the fact that the North Central produced the third highest votes for the ruling APC in the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections.

The Northeast, which produced the second highest votes for the APC after the Northwest, is being considered for the position of the Senate President.

In their defence of the zoning of speaker’s seat to the North Central, the agitators argued that both the Northwest and the Southwest have produced the president and the vice president-elect in the person of Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo.

Besides, they asserted that the North Central is the only zone that is yet to produce the speaker of the Green Chamber since the current democratic dispensation.

The chief campaigners under the aegis of the Coalition of North Central Groups said that for equity, justice and fairness to reign, the region should be considered for the Number Four seat in the country.

They said Section 14 (1c, 3 and 4) and Article 7 (i, ii and ix) of the APC Constitution should be the guiding principles of the party in zoning the speaker’s position.

The coalition further said that the APC has ranking and experienced returning lawmakers from the North Central to man the office and support the party in executing its programmes and policies, especially those that require legislative backing.

Also, some stakeholders noted that the North Central is best suited for the position of the speaker at this time.


Reps’ Spokesman Joins Speakership Race

Meanwhile, the incumbent chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, has concluded plans to declare his intention to run for the office of the Speaker of the 9th House.

LEADERSHIP learned that the House spokesman would announce his ambition ahead of the APC s decision on the zoning of the principal offices of the incoming Assembly tomorrow.

Namdas, who is a returning member, represents Jada/Ganye/Mayo Belwa/Toungo federal constituency of Adamawa State.

Elected on the platform of the ruling APC in 2015, Namdas’ declaration will bring the number of top contenders for the post to six.

Other lawmakers who have indicated interest on the position are Gbajabiamila from Lagos, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase (Plateau), Hon. Muhammad Umar Bago (Niger), Hon. Babangida Ibrahim (Katsina), and Hon. Aminu Sulaiman (Kano).


Imposition Of Candidates, Undemocratic – APC Lawmakers

As the race for the Speaker heats up, members of the House on APC platform have kicked against purported plans by the party leadership to impose some candidates, especially for the Speakership on them.

The members-elect who were at the meeting with Oshiomhole yesterday, condemned the plot, describing it as “meddlesome and undemocratic.”

The member-elect, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that while it was the party’s responsibility to zone NASS leadership positions to geopolitical zones it deems fit, it was unbecoming for it to insist on a particular candidate for the House.

He noted that in the event the party insists on the candidate, it would only show that it didn’t learn from the mistakes in 2015.

Another lawmaker, who has indicated interest in the race and pleads anonymity, asserted that the members would not support any candidate imposed on them by the party.

He said: “We won’t allow the party to dictate to us who will be our leader. We are an arm of government just as the executive is. If we allow this to happen, it means we are not independent.”

An aspiring speaker, however, noted that the party was yet to declare its stand and cautioned that members wait for the announcement of the zoning formula.


S’East APC Group Want Speaker Zoned To Region

Also yesterday, a group under the aegis of South East All Progressives Congress (APC) Youths Consultative Forum has called on the leadership of the party to zone the position of the speaker to the zone.

The national coordinator of the forum, Sir Romanus Oguleme, told journalists in Abuja that the zone has credible and ranking members in the National Assembly to head any of the two chambers.

Oguleme pleaded that the zone should not be schemed out of the National Assembly leadership like in 2015, adding that zoning the speakership to South East was in line with President Buhari’s promise of an inclusive government.


Ndume Declares For Senate Presidency

Relatedly, former Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, has asked the APC to allow him to become the Senate President because he is the most suitable for the office.

Ndume said that he had decided to step forward with the hoping that the Senate president’s position would be zoned to the Northeast zone where he hails from.

In a letter of intent dated March 25, 2019, and addressed to Oshiomhole, he said that his decision to seek for office was borne out of his desire to help accelerate the socioeconomic development of the country.

He said: “Following the successful conduct of the 2019 general elections and the overwhelming victory of our great party, the APC at all levels, I hereby forward my letter of intent to contest for the office of the president of the Senate in the 9th National Assembly.

“I wish to emphasise that my decision to contest for the Senate presidency is informed by my conviction to contribute my quota to nation building,” he stated.

SaharaReporters confirmed from two separate sources that Jumoke Ologbenla, one of the aides of Florence Ajimobi, the Oyo State First Lady, was the one detailed to oversee the relocation of the money from the State House in Agodi to the private residence of the Ajimobis in Oluyole. The money, it was gathered, was moved in a bus with detachable seats, with Ologbenla seated at the back to monitor the relocation.


There is rumpus in the Oyo State Government House following the diversion of part of over N1billion moved out of the State House by Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of the state, between Friday night and Saturday morning.

SaharaReporters confirmed from two separate sources that Jumoke Ologbenla, one of the aides of Florence Ajimobi, the Oyo State First Lady, was the one detailed to oversee the relocation of the money from the State House in Agodi to the private residence of the Ajimobis in Oluyole.

The money, it was gathered, was moved in a bus with detachable seats, with Ologbenla seated at the back to monitor the relocation.

It was subsequently discovered, on arrival at the destination, that the money was incomplete.

“There are several young women like Ologbenla in the Oyo Government House,” a source told SaharaReporters. "And lately they’ve been very desperate to make quick money. You know, they don’t know the plans of the Ajimobis for them as their tenure expires in May, so they feel the remaining eight weeks in government is their opportunity, and they have to use it.”

SaharaReporters was made to understand that many young women like Ologbenla were appointed as aides to the Oyo State Government from Grandex, a company widely known to be owned by the Ajimobis.

“The strategy is to appoint them as special assistants or special advisers, but their real job is to launder money for the Governor and his wife,” the second source said. “In fact, you see that Grandex, their buses are fueled at the Government House every day. If you come to the State House very early, like 6am, you will see those buses coming out. After being filled with petrol.”

It was said that Ologbenla probably thought the money was not counted; however, when the amount was verified, it was found out to be incomplete.

She has been threatened to go look for the money.

Ajimobi at the commissioning of the excavators
When SaharaReporters called Ologbenla, whose husband, Soji Olgbenla is a former SSA on Special Duties to the Governor and a native of Ile-Ife who contested for the Ooni of Ife’s throne with Adeyeye, she sounded jittery.

She abruptly ended the call when the money was mentioned, only to call back a few minutes later to say: “You were speaking, I couldn’t hear you. Who is this? How can I help you?”

When the money was mentioned, she replied: “Then your sources must be stupid and I don’t know… Your sources must be wrong. I think you should go back to your sources. I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know anything about that and I think you guys should stop peddling rumours and what is not, so I think you should confirm from your sources again.”

SaharaReporters understands that the money in question is part of the largesse from the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Oyo State Governor to deliver the state for the party in the last general election, but it was not spent.

Part of it was also said to be from the state’s Internally Generated revenue (IGR) for the month of February, which was not remitted to the state purse, and also money made by Ajimobi from the “overrated” 33 excavators disbursed to local governments by the Governor on Friday.

Aisha Buhari, the wife of the president, says she wishes her husband cabinet will have as many women — in percentage — as the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) has in 2019.

Speaking at the unveiling event for the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) entrepreneurs for 2019, the wife of the president said she appreciates the drive of the foundation to ensure more female participation.

“The strategy vision behind the engagement of the office of the wife of the president is to contribute to the acceleration of efforts to end preventable maternal, newborn and child death through advocacy and strengthening of accountability mechanism in order to maintain the peace and development of Nigeria,” Aisha Buhari said.

“The steady advancement of women in contributing to the country’s social-economic development and their progressive prominence in the national scheme of affairs have in a large extent impacted on the federal government and the government has responded positively in many ways.

“In a bid to continue to advocate for the well-being of women, children and adolescent in Nigeria.”

Speaking about the advancement of women in the national scheme of things has helped the nation, wishing her husband will get more women into the cabinet.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeFRDkhI6Hw&feature=youtu.be

“The Future Assured Programme of the Aisha Buhari Foundation, share the same vision with the Tony Elumelu Foundation to emphasise true intervention in health, education and economic development,” she added.

“It is worthy to note that there has been a progressive increase in female participation in the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme over the years, with a 41.6 percent female representation in 2019. I wish the cabinet will have the same percentage.

“Women have continued to prove their strength and competence in our society in all spheres, even in male-dominated — not in politics.”

Aisha said she “will like to take this opportunity to encourage Nigerian women, especially from the north to apply for the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme”.

She said leadership matters, and the leadership Elumelu has provided has affected his businesses and the nation, adding that “the soul of the leader always determines the political health of the state”.

by Malik Abdulganiy


The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has traced a car owned by Walter Onnoghen, the embattled chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), to Joe Agi, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

The anti-graft agency believes the car is a gift from the lawyer, who had cases before Onnoghen at the time of purchase.

But Agi has told the EFCC that aside being a senior lawyer, he is also a car dealer and Onnoghen bought the Mercedes GL 450 series from him for N7 million in 2010, sources told TheCable.

However, when he was asked to produce receipts of purchase and other documentation relating to the transaction, he could not do so, TheCable understands.

Previously, the EFCC traced a deposit of $30,000 by Agi into Onnoghen’s bank account dating back to 2009.

He was also said to have had cases before the judge when he made the deposits.

Agi has since denied the allegation that the $30,000 was a bribe.

In a press statement, he said the money was from allowances paid to Onnoghen on seminars, holidays, conferences or medical trips abroad.

Agi said: “I have been acquainted with Justice Onnoghen, JSC in our days as Lawyers in Calabar, Cross Rivers State from the 1980s before he was appointed a High Court Judge.

“My Lord Justice Onnoghen said he had no idea since opening of foreign account was forbidden for Public Officers. I informed him that domiciliary account is not a foreign bank account as it is opened and operated within the local banks in Nigeria.

“It was on this note that I went to my banker Standard Chartered Bank and obtained Account Opening Forms for him as a friend and Senior Brother. He completed the Forms and I refereed him. He gave me $30,000 being left over of his allowances for overseas seminars, holidays, conferences or medical trips to deposit for him as the first deposit. This I did in 2009 i.e 10 years ago. After that, he operated the account himself without me paying even a cent into that account till date.

“Now 10 years after, I am again being vilified and accused of giving Justice Onnoghen bribe. If I may ask; bribe for which case? In the Supreme Court panel they sit in 5 or 7 persons, was the $30,000 for the 5 or 7 Justices? And for which case? This is another huge joke aimed at vilifying my person by the same cabal who are hell bent on tarnishing my image as an aftermath of the exposure of the Paris Club fraud.”

Agi is one of the lawyers defending Onnoghen in his asset declaration case before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

Onnoghen is currently being tried by the CCT over allegations of non-declaration of some of his assets, although he said it was an oversight.

In a previous case, which was eventually dismissed, a foreign firm owned by Agi’s friend paid N30 million into the account of the wife of Adeniyi Adetokunbo Ademola, a justice of the federal high court, for their daughter’s wedding.

He was also said to have bought a car for Ademola’s son.

The case filed against him for “gratification” was dismissed on technical grounds, although many lawyers argued that it was a professional misconduct which should have been punished by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee.

When contacted on Sunday morning, Agi told TheCable that he was in church and he would react later.

Bimbola Oyesola (Lagos) and Uche Usim (Abuja)


When President Muhammadu Buhari recently urged Nigerians to fasten their belt in readiness for a bumpy ride in his second tenure, grappling with the concomitant effects of a 35-50 per cent review of the Value Added Tax (VAT), in an economy that is still nursing the aches of recession, was never envisaged.

It was the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma and the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Tunde Fowler that dropped the bombshell last week when they appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance.

The proposal, which increases VAT from the current five per cent to either 6.75 per cent (35%) or 7.25 per cent (50%) according to them, is to enable the Federal Government pay the newly-approved N30,000 minimum wage. Their proposal has elicited divergent reactions from the organized private sector, the labour unions and economic experts.

According to the Director-General of the National Bureau of Statistics, Yemi Kale, Nigeria earned N3.67 trillion from VAT between 2015 and 2018. The breakdown shows that N767 billion was collected in 2015; N828 billion in 2016; N972 billion in 2017 and N1.1 trillion in 2018. In 2018, total tax collected stood at a record breaking N5.3 trillion without recourse to hiking any class of tax.

Workers and Nigerians in general have vehemently condemned the decision to increase VAT, as there are insufficient infrastructure and social services to show for taxes collected in the country. From bad roads, epileptic power supply to lack of good public medical services, Nigerians have had to endure these blights or seek alternative arrangements at their own expenses, despite paying taxes.

Although the FIRS chairman has quickly denied plans to increase VAT following public outrage, economic experts doubt the sincerity of the government to truly jettison the plan because there seems to be no clear-cut alternative arrangement to pool funds to pay the new minimum wage; other than increasing the tax rates or resorting to borrowing.

Already the euphoria among workers over the passage of the N30,000 minimum wage by the Senate last week may have been muffled by the proposal for the Federal Government to increase VAT to enable it implement the new wage.

The news has angered the Organised Labour and the Organised Private Sector (OPS), who warned of the dire consequences that may result from the action should the government go ahead with it.

The Organised Labour sees it as insincerity on the part of the government to pay the new wage by using VAT as a trump card, pointing out that the hike in VAT would further impoverish the workers as they would have to pay more for goods and services without a commensurable income.

Therefore, labour has vowed to resist the implementation of the proposal, while members of the OPS warned that it would further compound the problem of the fragile economy.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) pointed out that the increase in VAT would be counter-productive, arguing that the proposed new wage is quite minimal to have warranted any tax increase.

The Vice President of the NLC, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, warned that government should not contemplate increasing VAT or else it would meet with the wrath of the workers.

Adeyemi, who said no sensible labour leader would support the government plan warned that it is something that should not happen as it would rubbish the gesture of the minimum wage.

“Government cannot increase VAT, this is because it is the workers that will suffer and what is the percentage increase on the wage anyway compared to the inflation in the country. Government should not contemplate it at all,” he said.

Sharing the same view with the NLC, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) said that it would not support the government plan to increase VAT to pay the new wage as it has no bearing with workers’ demands.

The President of TUC, Bobboi Bala Kaigama, said that the government should rather put on its caps and think of other ways of raising funds for the payment of the new minimum wage of N30,000.

“Less than 50 per cent of the corporate organisations are paying tax. FIRS should go out and tax the rich and ensure that all are paying tax.

“VAT is all about everybody, OPS just have to collect and pay to government, which doesn’t add more to them. People bearing the brunt are the lower class, which are the workers.

“We believe that all companies, most especially those who are not captured presently should be put in the tax net to pay appropriately. Mind you, this minimum wage we are talking about only involves workers in the public sector, as private sector are already paying more. So, we wondered why government is making so much noise about payment.

“Right now, we don’t want to doubt government sincerity, we will wait for the National Assembly to harmonise the bill, the president to sign it into law, after that if there is any delay in payment, when we get to that river, we will cross it,” he said.

The United Labour Congress (ULC) President, Joe Ajaero also warned that the government cannot use the VAT excuse to implement the new minimum wage as it was never raised nor given as a condition at the Tripartite Committee where the new wage of N30,000 was recommended.

He reasoned that as workers would not be exempted from paying the proposed increased VAT, it would amount to giving them the money with a right hand and taking it back with the left through VAT.

“It will also be detrimental to the employers, which would be double payments, paying workers increased salary and paying government exorbitant amount in VAT. It is not going to augur well for the workers and neither the economy”, he said.

The President of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye, also expressed that there was no correlation between implementing the new minimum wage and the proposed increase in VAT.

She stated that government must have been planning the VAT increase and now hiding under the new minimum wage to carry out its plan.

“Increasing the VAT should not and must never be condition to implement the new wage. The only thing we can deduce from this is that government doesn’t want to pay the new wage and now using the VAT as an excuse”, she said.


Organised Private Sector

For the members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) said that the move would put more burden on businesses in the country.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said that the recent proposal by the Federal Ministry of Finance to hike VAT rate was not manufacturing friendly as the proposed VAT increase appears not to have taken into cognizance the prevailing times and the ongoing government efforts to re-invigorate the economy.

The Director General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, recalled that the recommendation was ventilated through pronouncement and commentary made on the floor of the Senate by key officials of the government while defending the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

He, however, noted that although the commentary has been denied in a signed statement by Wahab Gbadamosi, Director Communication and Servicom as published in some national dallies, MAN still believes that as plausible as the recommendation to increase VAT may look, implementing it at this time would boomerang because the timing is inappropriate, especially at a time when the minimum wage of N30,000 was just agreed upon.

According to the Director General, this could send a wrong signal that the government is not sensitive to the plight of the low- and middle-income earners, who are clearly in the majority, stating that it would be a typical case of government simply taking back what was given with the right hand through the national minimum wage with the left hand through increase in VAT.

On the economic implications, Ajayi-Kadir explained that in terms of misery index rating, low per capita income, heavily lopsided income distribution pattern, the Nigerian economy will be in a more vulnerable state if VAT is increased.

“No controversy, the burden of the tax would be shifted to the Nigerian consumers that are already struggling, the economy would certainly experience demand crunch, inventory of unsold items would soar, profitability of manufacturing concerns would be negatively impacted, many factories will witness serious downturn or wind down operations.

“This would also worsen the already high unemployment position of the country which is above 23 per cent as Nigerians currently employed by manufacturing concerns and other businesses may join the reserved army of unemployed and further bloat the unemployment rate in the country,” he said.

Also, the Director General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Muda Yusuf, said that such plan would not be good for business as investors presently are operating in a very difficult environment with high cost of production.

“This is coupled with the fact that the purchasing power of consumers has further been worsened”, he said.

According to Yusuf, the entrepreneurs operating at the Medium and Small Scale levels may not be able to survive the onslaught.

In the same vein, the Director General of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Mr Timothy Olawale, lamented that multiple taxation is already killing businesses in the country, adding that increasing the VAT would amount to compounding the problem of the OPS members.

“Businesses in Nigeria are encumbered with the payment of over 55 different taxes at the three levels of government. The incidence of double taxation, particularly consumption tax, has assumed a very dangerous dimension. We expect the government to rein in through an appropriate statutory or policy declaration.

“Government should not make mistakes of generating revenue through tax increase. We know that government will want to meet up with its revenue requirement. If you increase tax, it will increase cost of goods and services and it is the consumers that will suffer for it. You don’t make people poorer by adding to their burden. So government must be very careful when it says that it want to generate more revenue internally.

“Rather than increase the tax, I think what government should do is to widen the tax gap between the rich and the poor or average Nigerian. Some companies and well-to-do individuals are not paying tax. Government should also focus on luxurious goods, most especially foreign goods that we can do away with. But government should not tax those goods that has direct effect on the common man,” he suggested.

However, the NECA Director General promised that all members of the organized private sector would implement the new N30,000 minimum wage.

“There is no reason all members of the organized private sector should not be able to pay N30,000 minimum wage. This is because they (Organised Private sector) all agreed after due consultation”, he said.

He noted that over 70 per cent of the OPS members are already paying way above N30,000 as minimum wage, adding that the consequential impact is very minimal, if not nil, because it is supposed to affect the chain or review, where the benchmark is below N30,000.

Looking at other options open to pay the new minimum wage, finance analysts ruled out the borrowing option on grounds that Nigeria’s current debt profile stands at over N22.7 trillion, saying adding to that staggering figure would likely box the country into a debt trap.

“The country is broke. Where else will government get money to run the country other than raising taxes? That is the only way to raise money to pay the N30,000 minimum wage even it is coming with scathing consequences. We’ve not expanded our tax base well enough.

“So, we’re broke and that’s the truth. For every 100 kobo Nigeria makes, 68 kobo is used in paying back our loans. Should we then borrow more?

“All the real revenue we generate, 68 per cent of it goes into loan repayment”, an Economic Analyst and Coordinator, Centre for Social Justice, Mr Eze Onyekpere, told Sunday Sun.

Commenting on the development, Nigeria’s first Professor of Capital Market and Head, Banking & Finance department, Nasarawa State University Keffi, Prof Uche Uwaleke told Sunday Sun that the idea of increasing VAT to fund the new minimum wage remains a counter-productive move.

According to him, past experience has shown that a new minimum wage will not necessarily lead to higher inflation as being suggested in some quarters.

He buttressed his assertion with a 2011 scenario, when the wage floor was increased from N7,500 to N18,000 and average inflation rate actually dropped from 13.7 per cent the previous year to 10.8 per cent.

Uwaleke said if a new minimum wage can only be implemented by increasing taxes, then it simply amounts to digging a hole to fill a new one; as the associated hike in the cost of goods and services will erode the purchasing power of any increase in wages.

“There is no doubt that the current VAT rate of five per cent is among the least in the world. However, it is equally true that many countries with a higher VAT rate have lower corporation tax. Ghana, for example, has a higher VAT rate of 12.5 per cent, but a lower Company Income Tax (CIT) of 25 per cent compared to Nigeria’s 30 per cent. Ditto for Egypt with a lower CIT of 24 per cent. “Therefore, any increase in VAT can be productive only if it is part of a broad fiscal strategy of rebalancing the tax mix in favour of consumption tax which will entail also lowering the company income tax.

“Doing otherwise in an economy that is grappling with double-digit inflation, weak growth and high unemployment rate will cause more distortions and jeopardize government’s efforts at revamping the economy”, Uwaleke explained.

He added that various reports by the National Bureau of Statistics have shown that inflation in the country is driven more by cost-push factors than demand-pull against the backdrop of weak aggregate demand.

“Therefore, if the VAT rate is increased without a corresponding reduction in CIT, it will further increase the cost of goods and services and worsen inflationary pressure.

“The CBN will be compelled to further tighten monetary policy resulting in high cost of funds for businesses. Many firms, especially those producing items with elastic demand, will experience reduced sales as they may not be able to easily transfer it to their customers. “This will lead to inventory accumulation, low capacity utilization, lower profits and downsizing of workers thereby complicating the unemployment challenge in the country. Moreover, reduced profits for companies quoted on the stock exchange will bring about reduced investments by these firms and depressed stock prices. In fact, an increase in VAT will lead to an increase in the cost of transactions in the capital market making it less attractive to investors”, he noted.

Rather than hike VAT, the don urged the government to address the perennial systemic challenge of low and inefficient tax collection.

According to him, a good number of taxpayers who are supposed to be remitting VAT to the government do not do so.

While throwing his weight behind the new minimum wage without recourse to borrowing, he implored the government to devise means of improving the collection efficiency as well as widening the tax base as many eligible taxpayers are still outside the tax net.

Data from the Finance Ministry indicates that Nigeria with a population of over 180 million people has 120 million adults.

Out of that figure, only 10 million Nigerians were paying taxes as at 2015. The number has grown to 14 million today, a figure that is still a far cry from about 60 million adults that are taxable.

The Ministry has also identified over 80,000 high net worth Nigerians that are either outside the tax net or paying inappropriate taxes.

More so, data from Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment shows there are 37.7 million Micro Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria as at 2016.

Out of that figure, which has grown to about N40 million in 2019, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has captured 17.5 million of them in its National Collateral Registry (NCR).

However, experts say most of the players in the MSME space do not pay the right taxes. This is aside the fact that the bulk of them do not pay taxes at all because they are in the informal sector (unregistered) and operating in the hinterlands where tax officials cannot easily access.

A Chartered Accountant, Ifeanyi Martins Onubah has urged the government to go after this category of tax evaders, while working assiduously at broadening the tax base in the formal sector.

“We are talking about 40 million MSMEs. Why can’t the government work hard and identify them and levy them at flat rate? I mean those retailers selling various wares in the open section of the markets, along the streets and all that. They do not have shops. They sell daily. You can levy them N200 monthly flat rate. Multiply that by say 20 million of them. That’s N4 billion monthly. It is something we’re losing currently on a conservative estimate by not capturing them at all,” he said.

Jaye Gaskiya, the Convener, Take Back Nigeria Movement picked holes in government’s argument that VAT in Nigeria is the lowest compared to other African nations.

“Saying VAT in Nigeria is the lowest isn’t the issue. The fact is that we have a struggling and recovering economy and Nigerians have low disposable income. That needs to be addressed.

“States have to work out how to raise their IGR. Let them invest in productive ventures and from there boost their revenue generation”, he said.

The Head of Tax and Corporate Advisory Services at PwC Nigeria, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, lamented that governments sometimes have a lazy approach to tackling problems without caring to know the impact on the citizenry.

Oyedele said increasing VAT to enable government pay the N30,000 minimum wage in face of unemployment, fragile economic growth and low purchasing would be counter-productive. He maintained that, if the government is compelled to increase the minimum wage, then it should be looking at ways of improving efficiency and productivity.

The tax expert warned that increasing VAT could lead to a decline in collection rate because the majority of the people that are meant to be paying the current VAT rate are not even paying, adding that a further hike will discourage them further.

On how to arrive at a sustainable model of paying the minimum wage, Oyedele advocated streamlining of job roles and a performance measurement framework across all MDAs appraisal model that would help shrink job roles.

By Ibrahim Sha'ban


The governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has ordered speedy allocation of lands to officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Kano State ahead of the March 9 governorship election, DAILY NIGERIAN can report.

Credible sources told this newspaper that the governor granted the approval to “some top officials” of INEC on the eve of the general election.

Weeks to the general election, leaked copies of the application forms obtained by DAILY NIGERIAN revealed that Mr Ganduje, on February 5 directed the Permanent Secretary of the Kano State Bureau for Land Management, Muhammad Yusuf-Danduwa to process the allocation.

The governor is the de facto commissioner of Land since the integration of the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning with Kano Geographic Information System, KANGIS, in June 2007, which gave birth to the Kano State Bureau for Land Management.

But most of the allocation forms seen by DAILY NIGERIAN contained minutes of the governor giving directive to the permanent secretary to “process early”.

Already, sources said, the allocations for the plots at at Umarawa, Bandirawo and other places have been approved by the governor.

When contacted for comment, Mr Yusuf-Danduwa neither picked our reporter’s call nor responded to a text message seeking his reaction to the last-minute allocations to the electoral officials.


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INEC spokesman in Kano, Garba Lawan, said he would direct DAILY NIGERIAN inquiry to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Riskuwa Shehu, “in a short while”.

But several calls to the INEC spokesman two hours after the first inquiry have not been responded to.

Mr Ganduje is facing a supplementary election tomorrow (Saturday) with his major contender, Abba Kabir-Yusuf of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The re-run election would take place in 28 local government areas, with 75 registration points in 207 polling units whose results were all cancelled.

A total of 128,324 registered voters are expected to participate in the rerun elections in all the affected areas.