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The immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Muhammad, is expected to get a N2.5bn severance package from the Federal Government.

Muhammad’s resignation on health grounds was announced on Monday, less than a week after the 14 Supreme Court Justices accused him of financial malfeasance and maladministration.

Following the development, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Monday swore in Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the next most senior Justice as the acting CJN.

As part of the package for the retired chief justice put together by the National Judicial Council, a mansion will be built for him in Abuja or any city of his choosing with a lump sum for furnishing.

This is in addition to a gratuity that is 300 per cent of his annual basic salary of N3.36m as well as a pension for life.

The National Judicial Commission had in 2019 recommended the payment of N2.5bn for Muhammad’s predecessor, Walter Onnoghen.

A former CJN, Alfa Belgore, was also reportedly paid about N2.8b after he retired from service.

Just like state governors, a retired chief justice is entitled to at least four domestic staff and sundry allowances for personal upkeep.

This includes allowances for accommodation, utilities, entertainment, medical, security, furniture, and vehicles.

Though the remuneration and severance package of political, public and judicial officers were published on the website of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the full details of the allowances were not disclosed.

The PUNCH gathered that the former CJN would get the financial package based on the provisions of Section 291 (2) and (3a-c) of the 1999 Constitution as well as Section 2 of the Pensions Rights of Judges Act.

A senior lawyer said Muhammad, being the head of the judiciary, would be well paid so that he would not have to work again for life.

“The severance package is as humongous as the one paid to former Senate President. He would also be a member of the Council of State,” he added.

Corroborating this, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who does not want to be quoted, stated, “His entitlements are enormous. He’s entitled to a house anywhere in Abuja, domestic staff, cars, salaries and allowances for life. Judges are being overworked because, by the time they retire at 70, they are not always looking young.”

A source in the NJC confirmed the severance package. He noted, “Honestly, his gratuity and pension will be intact, what he’s earning will continue. They will give him his official cars. He’s entitled to houses anywhere in the country. This is done by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. All of them are choosing Abuja, but I don’t know the amount he would be paid.”

RMFAC could not be reached for comment. Its outgoing chairman, Elias Mbam did not respond to calls and SMS seeking his comment on the severance package for retired CJN.

This is as the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on Tuesday received a fresh order to probe the newly retired CJN over the allegations of corruption levelled against him by 14 Supreme Court Justices.

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, mandated the Committee led by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele to probe the allegations against the CJN and the crisis presently rocking the judiciary.

Announcing the probe of the former CJN during plenary on Tuesday, Lawan recalled that on June 21, he drew the attention of the Senate to the media reports on the state of affairs in the Supreme Court where Justices of the apex court in a petition raised issues bordering on deplorable welfare conditions and difficult working environment, which was addressed to the CJN and Chairman, National Judicial Council.

He emphasised the need for the Senate to urgently step into the matter as any issue that concerned the judiciary was of urgent national importance that the Senate could not afford to sit idly by and allow it to spiral out of control.

Accordingly, the Senate President directed the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to unravel the root cause of the recent development in the judiciary and how best the upper chamber could address the concerns raised by the Justices.

Lawan said, “The chamber mandates the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to go ahead with its assignment in the quest to find a lasting solution to the matter by interacting with relevant stakeholders to address the complaints raised in the petition by the Justices of the Supreme Court.

“Mandate the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to interface with the relevant stakeholders in the three arms of Government as well as the Bar and the Bench and collate aggregate views and positions on the short-term, medium-term and long-term measures needed to decisively address the crisis facing the judiciary, including the immediate fiscal intervention as well as long-term and sustainable budgetary allocations required for the optimal performance of the judiciary, in line with global best practices; and urge the Senate to wish the Hon. Chief Justice well, following many years of meritorious service to the nation and to pray for his good health.”

Lawan noted that Justices were taciturn and reticent in handling issues outside their judicial domain but resorting to such measures to protect the Judiciary required the Senate to rise to the occasion to ensure that their demands were addressed.

The committee chairman, Senator Bamidele, said his team was taking steps to look into the matter as directed by the President of the Senate by making arrangements to interface with relevant stakeholders both at the Bar and the Bench.

Bamidele said, “The poor welfare of judicial officers would affect the delivery of the judiciary in respect of their output and will prevent them from performing optimally.

“The sacred image of the judiciary, which is the epicentre of the temple of justice, should be preserved by the Senate through appropriate legislative measures to safeguard this highly revered institution and prevent it from being ridiculed.”

Bamidele regretted that though Muhammad voluntarily resigned on Sunday, the development, he said, would not prevent the Committee from going ahead with its assignment in the quest to find a solution to the matter.


Muhammad battling condition before appointment, visits Dubai for treatment – Source

Meanwhile, more facts have emerged on memory disorder, the medical condition which precipitated the resignation of the former CJN.

According to the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, memory disorders are disorders of cognition, the ability to reason, remember, make decisions and communicate.

The illness may include dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, vascular cognitive impairment and hydrocephalus.

Sources disclosed that Muhammad had been battling the disorder long before he was appointed as the CJN.

“He has been travelling abroad, particularly, to Dubai for treatment for the illness. The government is aware of his condition before he was appointed as the CJN after former CJN Walter Onnoghen was booted out,” a source explained.

A Supreme Court official explained that the judicial circles were shocked and worried over Muhammad’s appointment in 2019.

He stated, “When he was appointed, the entire justice system was worried because he has been battling the sickness for long and workers were taking advantage of it because the man was forgetting things.

“Even now in the Supreme Court, there is a serious contest between the workers and the Justices because the workers had written to them for intervention but the Justices only used their complaints as grist for their own matter.

“There were some approvals for the workers which the CJN did not implement. When the workers wrote, they expected the Justices to intervene but they instead converted their protest letter into a source of information to fight for their interests. Though the man has gone, there is still tension in the Supreme Court.”

The PUNCH was further informed that the children of the former Chief Justice once brought a list of applicants to be employed in the apex court.

The director of administration was said to have queried the move but the applicants were reportedly employed, nevertheless.

“The director queried it, but despite that, they still gave them (applicants) employment without following the proper procedure,” the source stated.

The NJC spokesman, Mr Soji Oye, could not be reached for comment on the severance package for retired CJN and issues raised about Muhammad’s tenure as calls to his phone rang out. He had yet to reply to an SMS sent to him as of the time of filing this report.

The Convener, Adopt A Goal Initiative and Coalition in Defence of Nigeria’s Democracy, Dare Ariyo-Atoye, called on the National Assembly to halt the payment of the retirement benefits to the erstwhile CJN pending the outcome of the Senate investigations.

The NJC spokesman, Mr Soji Oye, could not be reached for comment on the severance package for retired CJN and issues raised about Muhammad’s tenure as calls to his phone rang out. He had yet to reply an SMS sent to him as of the time of filing this report.


NJC backs suit

Meanwhile, the National Judicial Council on Tuesday in Abuja threw its weight behind a suit seeking an upward review of salaries and allowances of judges in the country.

NJC through its counsel, Kunle Adegoke (SAN), prayed the National Industrial Court in Abuja, to grant all the reliefs sought by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Sebastine Hon, who instituted the suit.

The organisation informed Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae that the Nigerian government reviewed Judges’ salaries in 2008, a period of 14 years ago adding that the ugly trend had inflicted untold economic hardships on Judicial Officers in the Judiciary arm of government.

The NJC was listed as the 4th defendant in the suit, which was filed by the claimant, Chief Sebastine Hon SAN.

Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has said he is enjoying a much-needed vacation in Turkey.

Wike is in the company of Abia Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.

This is amid speculations that Wike may dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) due to the fallout over the presidential primary of the party and the failure of the party’s presidential standard-bearer, Atiku Abubakar, to pick the Rivers Governor as running mate for the 2023 general elections.


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Ahead of the full implementation of its Refinery Project in Port Harcourt Rivers State, African Refineries Port Harcourt Limited (ARPHL) has announced the award of Phase 1 contract for the colocation of a Greenfield Refinery to Messrs Tecnimont SpA.

Chief Executive Officer, ARPHL, Omotayo Adebajo said the engagement followed the conclusion of negotiations with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to acquire a 10 per cent equity stake in ARPHL’s 100,000 barrel per day refinery at the same location.

The Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Contract is the first step towards implementing a plant for the processing of up to 100,000 barrels per day of crude oil.

The plant will be developed at the Port Harcourt Refinery Battery Limited due to be operational in 2025.

Messrs Tecnimont SpA, a leading global oil and gas refining, chemical and petrochemical, fertiliser and power EPC company will act as the FEED contractor for the refinery.

The 100,000bpd name plate capacity refinery will process crude oil and produce Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), Jet A-1, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO).

Based on the Federal Government’s plan, the NNPC in 2016 advertised a Request for Proposal in major newspapers, seeking bids for private investors to invest in the collocating of crude oil refineries within its refinery sites in Kaduna, Port-Harcourt and Warri, towards increasing Nigeria’s national refining capacity from 445,000bpd to 695,000 bpd in the shortest time.

By a bid conducted by NNPC in-line with the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) guidelines, ARPHL emerged the collocation partner to run and operate a 100,000bpd refinery on 45 hectares within the battery limit of the PHRC in Alesa-Eleme, Rivers State.

In response to the new business reality post-COVID-19, ARPHL and NNPC reviewed the original plan to relocate a brownfield crude oil refinery and will now construct a 100,000 bpd Greenfield refinery to be installed adjacent to the 210,000 bpd Port Harcourt Refinery Complex.

The project is scheduled to be completed within three years.

This project is an integral part of NNPC’s plan to upgrade the network of its mid-stream and downstream assets in South-South and South-East Nigeria, that includes the refurbishment of the Port Harcourt Refineries and the various crude oil/petroleum pipelines, NNPC tank farms and oil depots.

This is a project that would employ at least 15,000 Nigerians during construction and another 2,000-post construction aligning with the local content regulations beneficial to the Nigerian people and the Nigerian economy in general.

Under the terms of the agreement with NNPC, ARPHL will be solely responsible for private sector led efficient and sustainable management, operations, and maintenance of the refinery upon completion. This marks another major step towards fulfilling NNPC’s promise and commitment to support and boost domestic refining capacity required for Nigeria to become a net exporter of petroleum products.

Barring any last-minute change of plans, President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to swear in Justice Olukayode Ariwoola as the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) today.

This follows the resignation of Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad over health challenges.

Justice Ariwoola is currently the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court.

He is expected to be sworn in today by 2 pm, according to sources within the presidency.

Born on 22 August 1958, Justice Ariwoola was formerly a Justice of the Court of Appeal and was elevated to the Supreme Court bench.

Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) at the weekend opened an application list to raise up to N300 billion in medium-term debt funding from the Nigerian capital market.

The money is to finance the Dangote Petroleum Refinery being built in Lagos and due for completion in the first quarter of next year.

The firm, through a special purpose vehicle fund. Dangote Industries is offering two tranches of bonds to raise up to N150 billion, with a provision to scale up to the full size of its N300 billion registered bond issuance programme.

The book building- a register for prospective investors- for the N300 billion bond issuance is scheduled to close Thursday.

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Mustapha Ado Bayero, the young son of Alhaji Abdullahi Ado Bayero, the late Emir of Kano has married two wives on the same day in the ancient city.

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The Nigeria Immigration Service is investigating the authenticity of the passport obtained by Nwamini David, who was alleged to have been trafficked to the United Kingdom for organ harvest by a former Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice.

The service, it was gathered, is probing allegations that the travel document may have been fradulently procured.

The acting Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr Idris Jere, confirmed the investigation to our correspondent on Saturday.

Ekweremadu, the senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District, was arrested by the UK Metropolitan Police on Tuesday with his wife, for conspiracy to harvest the organs of a minor.

Ekweremadu and his wife allegedly facilitated David’s entry into the UK to transplant his kidney into their daughter, Sonia, who is suffering from kidney failure.

The couple was arraigned at the Uxbridge Magistrate Court in London on charges of conspiracy and organ harvest on Thursday.

The prosecutor disclosed that David is a 15-year-old boy, adding that he was not aware that he was in the UK to donate a kidney until he went for a hospital appointment with the Ekweremadus.

A trending picture of David’s passport, however, indicated that he was born on October 12, 2000. This means he is 21 years old.

The passport with number B00569974 was issued in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on November 5, 2021 and would expire on November 4, 2026.

Responding to inquiries from Sunday PUNCH on the controversy surrounding David’s passport, the CG said the service was probing the passport and would soon come out with its findings.

“We are investigating the passport and the issues surrounding it. We will come out with our findings soon,” Jere stated.

The ruling All Progressives Congress APC is in a quandary over the fate of some of its senatorial candidates for the 2023 general elections.

The names of its high-profile candidates like Senate President Ahmad Lawan and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, were, at the weekend, omitted by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the list of candidates for federal legislative seats that it published across the constituencies.

Felix Morka, spokesman for the APC, was not immediately available for comments and he neither picked calls made to his known telephone line nor replied a text message sent to him by our correspondent

However, Sunday Vanguard gathered that the party, which is currently developing its ‘2023 General Election Plan’, is weighing options on how best to actualize the candidature of Lawan, Akpabio and others in similar capacity.

“The party has come up with a plan on how to prosecute next year’s general election. We did not envisage this challenge, but we are exploring all options to see how we can get the Senate President and others on the ballot.

“The Senate President has been very instrumental to the sustenance of democracy in the country and has helped to smoothen executive-legislature relationship. It will not do us any good not to have him back in the upper chamber”, said a party official who pleaded anonymity.

INEC had, at the weekend, released the list of candidates of political parties for federal legislative seats but omitted certain names especially of the APC extraction.

The commission said it could not publish names of people who emerged from primary elections which its officials did not monitor.

UK tertiary institution Lincoln University has suspended Nigerian lawmaker Ike Ekweremadu from his duties as a visiting professor.

Lincoln University announced the suspension of Ekweremadu following his arrest for human trafficking for organ harvesting in the UK.

The institution appointed Ekweremadu as a visiting professor of Corporate and International Linkages just over a week ago.

Lincoln University said it will not comment further on the matter until the conclusion of UK police investigation on the former Nigerian deputy Senate President and his wife Beatrice.

“Visiting professors are often, as is in this case, non-resident at the university, unpaid and advisory,” a Lincoln University spokesperson said.

“We are deeply concerned about the nature of these allegations, but as this is an active police investigation, we cannot comment further at this stage.

“Whilst this matter is subject to investigation, this person will not be undertaking any duties as visiting professor at Lincoln.”

Ekweremadu, a senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District, was arrested by UK Metropolitan Police on Tuesday with his wife Beatrice for conspiracy to harvest the organs of a minor.

The couple and his wife were arraigned at the Uxbridge Magistrate Court in London where the prosecutor disclosed the minor is a 15-year-old boy named Ukpo Nwamini David.

Reports said Ekweremadu and his wife facilitated David’s entry into the UK to transplant his kidney into their daughter who is suffering from kidney failure.

The prosecutor said David was not aware that he was in the United Kingdom to donate a kidney until he went for a hospital appointment with the Ekweremadus.

A doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in Camden, London, was concerned that David might not be aware he was a kidney donor. The doctor also doubted that the minor was 41 as his passport claimed.

Meanwhile, the copy of a letter supposedly written by Ekweremadu notifying the British High Commission explaining the situation has been in circulation on social media.

The spokesperson of the senator is yet to speak on the issue at the time of filing this report.

As the struggle to get Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol mounts, it has been estimated that Nigerians guzzled 2,020,248,000 litres of the product and spent at least N333.34 billion at official retail pump price on it in one month. Observers have, however, queried the figures.

This week, petrol scarcity was more pronounced across Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country leading to a hike transport fare across states. While some marketers blamed diesel hike on freight cost to lift the product, some others blamed NNPC Limited for cutting the daily quota to marketers from about 103 million to 65m since the last two weeks, after the government agency suspected higher rate of product smuggling.

At the moment, various stations sell the product above the N165 official pump price with the rate reaching N200 in some states. However, at official N165/litre rate, consumers in Nigeria would have paid N333.34bn (N333,340,920,000) for the 28-day supply of petrol to the markets.

This was in just 28 days, between 21st March and 17th April, according to Daily Trust analysis of petrol loading and distribution data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Authority (NMDPRA).

At a standard 33,000-litre capacity per petrol tanker, that would mean 61,220 units of tankers conveyed the product to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The N333bn market earning for the product by the mostly private marketers could have been more if the federal government had stopped the subsidy payment which would gulp N4 trillion from this month till May 2023.

With the subsidy, petrol price ought to be N165/l but the other indices of diesel price hike as well as supply cut has lowered the subsidy impact as stations in most states now brazenly sell petrol above N165/l.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday, defended his decision not to heed the calls by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other leading economists to remove the fuel subsidy.

The President who spoke on the matter in an interview with Bloomberg, said the western allies were now learning the hard way what looked good on paper but with human consequences if implemented.

Buhari said: “Most western countries are today implementing fuel subsidies. Why would we remove ours now? What is good for the goose is good for the gander!”

He said until there is internal production for refined products and boosted capacity which is ongoing, (Dangote Refinery, BUA Group Refinery, Waltersmith Refinery), as well as stable foreign exchange (forex) rate, it would not be appropriate to remove the subsidy.

The analysis indicated that in the first 14 days of the coverage period, oil marketers loaded and distributed 1.003bn litres of the product from mostly private depots at an average of 73.56m litres daily. For the other 14 days which lasted till mid-April 2022, 990.45m litres of petrol was loaded at a daily load average of 70.74m litres.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that this period was when Nigerians experienced protracted petrol queues across major states after NNPCL and its partners withdrew volumes of adulterated petrol from circulation and replaced it with fresh petrol consignment.

The 36 states and FCT which got delivery of petrol during the coverage period for this report were divided into three segments. There were 14 High Demand States (HDS), 11 Medium Demand States (MDS) and 12 Low Demand States (LDS).

The three states (HDS) with the highest daily supply of petrol during the 28-day period were Lagos, Kano and Niger with 45.76m litres of daily supply. Out of this, Lagos had 24.19m daily, Kano had 11.48m daily supply and Niger had 10.1m litres daily supply of petrol.

The trend analysis shows that 14 states got the highest petrol volume of 1.421bn litres worth N234.5bn for the 28 days. Lagos got 338.607m litres, Kano followed with 160.709m and Niger with 141.218m. With these figures, residents of the three states spent N105.8bn on the product in just one month.

Other high demand states sold petrol worth N128.7bn with FCT getting 66.961m litres as nineth on the list and Benue got the lowest of 26.5m litres in this category.

The medium demand states received 476.4m litres of petrol in 28 days resulting in at least N78.6bn sales, Akwa Ibom with 50.1m litres and Kwara followed with 49.8m, Abia received 21.2m litres as the lowest in this rung.

The low demand states received 123.21m litres of the product estimated at N20.3bn at N165/l. Of this, Kebbi received 15.6m litres, Bayelsa got 15.4m and Kogi received 14.788m litres. The least of the product volume of 2.07m litres was delivered to Jigawa.


Doubts trail States’ consumption figures

Residents and experts are beginning to raise eyebrows at the government-owned petroleum agencies for the huge figures being ascribed to petroleum consumption, doubting if residents in some of these states actually consumed the product volume allocated to such states.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that for trucking the 2bn litres of petrol, 61,220 tankers would be required and at 42 feet for a standard tanker length, the petrol tankers will stretch for 2.571m feet or 784 kilometres distance, which is over the estimated 762km for Abuja to Lagos and nearly the 787km from Abuja to Yola.

A socio-economic commentator in Abuja, John Umale, said there could be ghost imports and consumption ongoing, noting that the average 70 million litres of daily petrol consumption being bandied around by the agencies may not be the real.

“I think it was high time for anti-graft and security agencies started genuine probe on these figures because the fact is that, for over 61,000 tankers to truck 2 billion litres of petrol in 28 days, most states will witness traffic congestion at the highways, except these things are conveyed by train which I doubt. Even if fewer tankers are making round tripping, the impact will still be felt,” Umale stated.

Speaking further on domestic petrol consumption, an oil industry official believed there is complicity by various agencies which they justify by blaming smuggling of the product across the borders.

“In what seems like complicity, those who are supervising this monumental heist, quickly blamed it on smugglers.

“Moreover, to smuggle, say, 53 million litres of petrol out of Nigeria everyday, would require 2,121 tankers and they will have to be moving every day for 30 days or so. How can they have free access to the borders every day? The borders will be congested and if they are following illegal routes, the humongous traffic of 63,636 tankers moving out every month will easily give them away to security operatives,” said the official.

The oil and gas official further noted that the major destination would not be more than Cameroon, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin Republic who have fewer populations than some states in Nigeria.


Smuggling: Cameroon, 5 others consume only 10m litres daily

Checks by Daily Trust Saturday showed that the daily consumption of petrol by the six countries bordering Nigeria, which are the possible smuggling destinations, as alleged by the Nigerian petroleum agencies, does not exceed 10m litres per day.

According to the global economy, (globaleconomy.com) You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. You need to enable JavaScript to run this app., a country profiling site, Cameroon as of 2021 is estimated to consume 22,000 barrels (bl) of petrol daily which translates to 3.5m litres/daily (at 159 litres per barrel).

Togo uses 10,100bls or 1.61m litres, Niger uses 8000bl or 1.3m daily, Benin and Burkina Faso use up 7,000bl or 1.1m litres each every day while Chad consumes 6,000bl or 954,000 litres of petrol daily. The daily consumption of petrol combined for the five countries is 8.464 million litres or at most 10m litres daily.

However, Nigeria is estimated to use 180,000bl or 28.6m litres of petrol daily. Daily Trust analysis also found that assuming Nigeria supplies the daily petrol needs of these countries, the estimated daily consumption in Nigeria will be at 37m litres/daily or at most 40m litres. This is however, 30m litres short of the 70m litres of petrol, which the petroleum agencies said Nigerians are using every day.

However, recently, daily load figure was said to have risen to 103m litres, a similar situation in June 2021 when NNPC alleged it rose to 102m, before it cut allocation to 60m.

The attorney general of the England and Wales will decide within 14 days if Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, and his wife, Beatrice, will face trial in the UK over allegations of human trafficking.

The Ekweremadus were charged to the Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Thursday and remanded in custody until July 7 pending further investigation.

Damla Ayas, the crown prosecutor, told on the court that “part of the allegations” against the couple took place in Nigeria.

He said the case was “unique” and would require a decision by Sue-Ellen Braverman (pictured), the attorney general, on where the trial will be held.

On Thursday, the London metropolitan police announced that the Ekweremadus were charged to court over the allegation of bringing a child to the UK for organ harvesting.

The London metropolitan police said they were charged following an investigation by the police’ specialist crime team.

The police added that the investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022.


WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR

Ekweremadu had in December 2021 written a letter to the British high commission in Nigeria backing the visa application of a potential kidney donor to his daughter.

He said the donor and his daughter “will be at the Royal Free Hospital London”, adding that he would “be providing the necessary funding”.

Although the donor is said to be 21 on his international passport, the Met police said he claims to be 15 and is thus regarded as a minor.

The prosecution told the court that an appointment was made for the “teenager” at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead but the consultant refused to proceed because he had concerns “about the 15-year-old boy”.

He returned to the address of the Ekweremadus in London before reporting to a police station.

Because he is now considered a minor, TheCable is withholding his name.

Oil marketers on Thursday said they had escalated their call for an increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to the Federal Government, as the current cost of the commodity was no longer sustainable.

Also, PMS transporters confirmed that they had resumed operations in full following last week’s raise in the freight rate being paid by the Federal Government for the transportation of petrol nationwide.

Amidst the call for petrol price hike and the full resumption of operations by transporters, the queues by motorists for PMS in Abuja and neighbouring states grew longer on Thursday.

The Deputy National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Zarma Mustapha, told our correspondent that the Federal Government had been put on notice concerning marketers’ intentions to increase petrol price.

“The current pump price is no longer sustainable and we have made this know to the government. However, we must acknowledge the efforts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in ensuring product availability,” he stated.

Also, the National President, Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association, Bennett Korie, said Nigerians would have to adjust to the current reality, as it was no more feasible to dispense petrol at the approved rate of N165/litre in filling stations after purchasing the product for about N170/litre in some private depots.

“So everybody is suffering and the only way out is for Nigerians to take or accept a little increase in petrol price. This will also ensure that the foreign exchange spent on petrol subsidy is reduced for us to have forex for diesel imports too.

“If not our construction companies, industries, hotels, etc, will all come to a stand still because they will not be able to buy diesel. You use diesel to get fuel to fillings stations, you use it to run the generators of various businesses in Nigeria because there is no light across the country. So this is the only way out.”

Asked whether marketers had informed the government about these concerns, Korie replied, “Of course, we’ve reached out to them about this. And the response is still the same problem that we are facing – petrol.

“You can’t buy petrol at a high price and sell this low. Crude oil is about $130/barrel, the cost of fuel, if you hear it, you will run away; but you are selling at N165/litre. So definitely you don’t expect money to remain for government to run other activities when it spends heavily on subsidy.”

Efforts to get the official position of the Federal Government did not yield the desired result, as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the regulator, stayed mute when contacted.

NMDPRA’s spokesperson, Kimchi Apollo, did not answer several calls to his mobile phone and stayed mum when he was sent messages on the matter.

This came as the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners confirmed that its members had resumed operations fully with respect to the transportation of petrol, following the increase in freight rate by the government.

The National President, NARTO, Yusuf Othman, told our correspondent that the association was optimistic that the petrol queues caused by the earlier suspension of operations by some members, particularly in Abuja, would clear fast.

Last week, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), approved an increase in the freight rate being paid to transporters of petroleum products in a bid to clear the persistent fuel queues by motorists in parts of the country.

Oil marketers had repeatedly complained that the lingering fuel queues in Abuja and neighbouring Nasarawa and Niger states, among others, were due to the inability of petroleum product transporters to purchase the diesel required to run their trucks.

This, they said, was due to the hike in the pump price of diesel, which was currently dispensed at about N850/litre.

To address this concern, the NMDPRA announced last week that Buhari had considered the issue and had approved an upward review of the freight rate.

Reacting to the development, Othman said, “This is good for the sector because in the last few months, due to the high cost of diesel we have more or less been operating at a loss.

“But with the increase of the freight rate, most transporters who have hitherto parked their trucks due to no gain in the business, have now come out and continue their business.

“At the same time, there will be some new investments, those who are in the system and are willing to put more money will now put more trucks into the business. So this will gradually reduce all the queues that you are seeing.”

When asked specifically whether transporters who parked their trucks had resumed operations, Othman replied, “Yes, of course, with this development those transporters are now back on stream.

“This is because there is now a guaranteed increase in the freight rate.”

Senators who dumped their party for others because they lost in their bid for nomination risk losing their seats.

This is because the Constitution provides a strict basis for defection, outside which the defecting lawmaker loses his seat.

For such lawmakers to retain their seats, they must prove that the constitutional stipulation for defection was met.

Eighteen senators in the All Progressives Congress (APC) are said to be making moves to join opposition parties after losing the primaries.

Already, the party has lost seven senators to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

The PDP also had no fewer than four senators leave for other parties.

The Supreme Court had held that a lawmaker who defects to another party would lose his seat.

In 2015, after almost four years of dumping the Labour Party (LP), the Supreme Court ordered a member of the House of Representatives representing Akure South/North Federal Constituency of Ondo State, Ifedayo Abegunde, to give up his seat.

It was on account of his defection from the party that sponsored his election.

Abegunde defected from the LP to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011.

In a unanimous decision by the seven-man panel led by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed, the apex court held that a legislator’s defection to another party can only be justified if there is a division in the national structures that incapacitated the party.

The Supreme Court held that Abegunde’s defection could not be justified since his excuse of purported division in LP was not in existence at the national level.

The court noted that the “division” or “factionalisation” of LP cited by Abegunde as his excuse for abandoning the party was only at the state level.

The judgment affirmed the concurrent decisions of the Akure divisions of the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, both of which had earlier ruled that Abegunde’s defection was unjustifiable.

More recently, the lower courts, relying on the Supreme Court judgment, have maintained that lawmakers cannot defect where there is no division in their party.

On March 21, Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High in Abuja declared the seats of 20 Cross River lawmakers vacant over their defection from the PDP to the APC.

He ruled that their claim of rancour in the PDP, which necessitated their defection to APC, was a ploy to mislead the court.

The judge, who granted all the reliefs sought by the PDP, held that it was disheartening that politicians treat citizens as if they do not matter once they get into office.

“We cannot continue in sin and expect grace to abound,” the judge held.

On March 8, Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered 16 lawmakers in the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, who defected from the PDP to the APC, to vacate their seats.

The judge declared that by Section 221 of the Constitution and the democratic system of governance operated in Nigeria, votes are won by political parties and not candidates.

He declared that the votes won at an election are retained by the party irrespective of the death or exit of the candidate.

Also on April 22, Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, to vacate his seat as the member representing Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Federal Constituency of Bauchi State.

The judge declared that having defected from PDP to the APC, Dogara was no longer qualified to occupy the seat by virtue of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution.

Justice Okorowo aligned with the argument of the PDP that by defecting from the party that sponsored him to the ninth National Assembly before the expiration of his tenure, Dogara ought to vacate the seat.

The judge, who held that the action of the lawmaker is prohibited by law, noted that the aim of Section 68(1)(g) was to check political prostitution by legislators.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former Ekiti State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), told The Nation that the law is settled on how a lawmaker can lose his seat.

He referred to Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which provides: “(1) A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if- (g) being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which the House was elected, provided that his membership of the latter party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”

Oyewole also referred to the Supreme Court judgment which affirmed Section 68 (1) in Abegunde vs. Ondo State House of Assembly & Ors (2015) LPELR-24588(SC) at PP 33 – 33 Paras C – E.

Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad of the Supreme Court held: “The principles enunciated by this court in the two cases, Fedeco v. Goni supra and AG Federation v. Abubakar supra, is to the effect that only such factionalisation, fragmentation, splintering or ‘division’ that makes it impossible or impracticable for a political party to function as such will, by virtue of the proviso to Section 68(1) (g), justify a person’s defection to another party and the retention of his seat for the unexpired term in the house in spite of the defection.

“Otherwise, as rightly held by the courts below, the defector automatically loses his seat.”

Oyewole added: “In view of the unambiguous provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the well-considered judgment of the apex court in Ifedayo Abegunde v. Ondo State House of Assembly (Supra), any lawmaker who defects from the APC to another political party before the expiration of the tenure of the present National Assembly is deemed to have vacated his seat.

“The presiding officer of that House i.e. Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives is duly empowered to declare the seat of such lawmaker vacant.”

A constitutional lawyer Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), agreed with Oyewole and added that the Senators must be able to prove that there is a major crisis in the APC on whose platform they were elected.

He said they must show there also exists a division within the party or that the party has merged with another one such as to have lost its original identity.

“They are subject to losing their seats if they cannot show these factors,” he said, adding, however, that they cannot be replaced without a by-election.

The Senators who left APC are Yahaya Abdullahi (to the PDP), Adamu Aliero (to PDP), Ahmad Baba-Kaita (to PDP), Haliru Jika (to NNPP), Francis Alimikhena (to PDP), Ibrahim Shekarau (to NNPP) and Lawal Yahaya Gumau (to NNPP).

PDP senators who recently defected are Albert Bassey Akpan (to Young Progressives Party (YPP), Kola Balogun (to APC), Ezenwa Onyewuchi (to Labour Party (LP) and Enyinnaya Abaribe (to All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

APC National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu led Deputy National Chairman Abubakar Kyari and National Secretary Iyiola Omisore – all of them former senators – to a two-hour meeting with the APC caucus in the Senate on Wednesday.

Adamu pleaded with the senators, many of who are displeased with the outcome of the primaries, to have a rethink and allow the party to address their grievances.

Luck has eluded a 21-year-old Ghanaian man who has been sleeping with the wife of his cousin who pays his tertiary school fees, as the woman now carries his pregnancy and refuses to abort it.

According to the young man, he was living with his 35-year-old cousin and wife when he (cousin) had an opportunity to travel abroad last year, with the intention of making the woman join him later.

In his cousin’s absence, the young man who now lives in the house alone with the married woman claims to have had sex with her twice.

The woman is now pregnant and is not buying into the idea of aborting it. She plans to go and hide in the village and give birth secretly.

The troubled man’s fear is that family members might get wind of the scandal, and it might be deadly if his cousin finds out about the betrayal.

In a letter posted on a Facebook page, the Anonymous Confessions of Ghanaian Women, he revealed that he is contemplating committing suicide to escape the consequences of the sacrilegious act.

"Please I need advice. I have gone to impregnate my cousin's wife and she says she cannot do abortion.

"I was staying with them like a help to them and my cousin is paying my fees. I am doing diploma. My cousin had an opportunity to travel outside so he went last year and left his wife. The plan is to make her join him soon.

"So we were the only two people in the house. Their marriage is only like two years.

"Please I am just 21 years and my cousin is 35. He will kill me if he finds out.

"His wife too just wants to go and hide in her village and give birth and come back but I am afraid someone in my family will find out. As at now, no one knows only me and her. Please I need help. I have learnt a great lesson from this because we only had sex twice," he wrote.

Aliyu Giwa, a police officer in the Force Public Relations Office (FPRO), has said Nigerian law prohibits anyone from carrying out abortion either on themselves or on others.

He said this is in a Twitter post on Tuesday where he cited sections of the constitution that prohibit such abortion and other related offences.

According to him, anyone directly or indirectly involved in the process that leads to miscarriage is liable to imprisonment.

He wrote: "If you already know this! Then this is a reminder. And if you don’t know, then know it now! The criminal code Act, section 228 - 230 says:

"228. ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE ABORTION - Any person who, with intent to procure miscarriage of a woman whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.

"229. Attempts To Procure Own Miscarriage: Any woman who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever, or permits any such thing or means to be administered or used to her, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.

"230. supplying drugs or instruments to procure abortion. Any person who unlawfully supplies to or procures for any person anything whatever, knowing that it is intended to be unlawfully used to procure the miscarriage of a woman, whether she is or is not with child, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for three years.

"If you already know this and you still don’t care. My brother and sister God will surely expose you."

SaharaReporters could not find recent statistics on abortion rates in Nigeria.
However, according to Guttmacher Institute, an estimated 1.25 million induced abortions occurred in Nigeria in 2012, “equivalent to a rate of 33 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–49”.

The study said, “Fifty-six percent of unintended pregnancies were resolved by abortion. About 212,000 women were treated for complications of unsafe abortion, representing a treatment rate of 5.6 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, and an additional 285,000 experienced serious health consequences but did not receive the treatment they needed.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has responded to the alleged discriminatory stance against the candidates nominated by some political parties for the 2023 general elections.

At the close of the submission of the list of candidates by political parties on June 17, the ruling APC forwarded the names of some of its candidates who reportedly did not participate in its primaries and were therefore ineligible to be on the ballot in the general elections.

The names of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and a former minister of Niger Delta affair, Godswill Akpabio, who did not participate in the party’s senatorial primaries, reportedly made the list submitted to the INEC by the party.

While Messrs Lawan and Akpabio were pursuing their presidential ambitions, Bashir Machina and Udom Ekpoudom had participated in Yobe North and Akwa-Ibom Northwest senatorial primaries supervised by INEC and emerged winners.

However, in what many considered a double standard, the Akwa-Ibom INEC REC, Mike Igini, declared the inclusion of Mr Akpabio on the list as null and void while Mr Lawan’s ‘emergence’ remains valid despite the continuous resistance of the actual winner, Mr Machina.


INEC has no power to reject any name – Commissioner

In response to the widely discussed controversy which was recently taken further in writing by a lecturer, Farooq Kperogi, an INEC commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, argued that the electoral body has no power to reject the names of candidates sent by political parties.

He said the parties have the rights to hold primaries while INEC is empowered to monitor them to ensure full compliance with the rules and regulations of the land and party.

“INEC has no powers to reject names sent by political parties. Primaries are the sole prerogatives of parties. INEC’s responsibility is merely to monitor the primaries and make sure they abide by their own regulations, the Electoral Act & the Constitution.

“Our power in that regard rests on the fact that our reports are admissible as evidence whenever an aggrieved candidate petitions his party or the courts. It is therefore up to an aggrieved candidate to apply for the Certified True Copy (CTC) of our reports for presentation as evidence that his party did not abide by any or all of the three sets of regulations I mentioned,” the national commissioner noted.

Mr Haruna stated further that INEC has only accepted the names of the candidates as mandated by the 2022 Electoral Act but has yet to make its decision known.

He defended the commission’s acceptance of the names submitted by the APC quoting Section 29 (1).

A part of the section however shows a breach in the same act.

The sub-section states that the lists of the candidates the party proposed to sponsor at the election “must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party.”

Neither Mr Akpabio nor Mr Lawan participated in the primaries conducted by their party.

INEC spokesperson, Festus Okoye, did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him by PREMIUM TIMES on Monday to comment on the matter.

By John Akubo, Abuja

The apprehension among lawmakers in the 9th National Assembly over the enormous powers at the disposal of executive governors of the 36 States of the federation influenced the amendment of the 2022 Electoral Act.

The just-concluded primary elections by political parties, especially the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have further shown that governors own delegates.

Despite efforts by the legislature to whittle down that power through the amendment, the governors still had the final say.

The lawmakers had slammed the mandatory use of direct primaries on all political parties in the electoral amended bill, however, President Muhammadu Buhari declined to sign the bill until it was amended to include, indirect and consensus modes.

The lawmakers inserted Section 84(12) in the Act to reduce the influence of the executive during primary elections and party conventions.

The section provides thus: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.” This was also the subject of controversy after President Buhari had asserted the electoral act 2022.

The President specifically asked the lawmakers to expunge the section outright, which they refused till it became a subject of litigation.

Also, the lawmakers in what seemed like oversight left out the provision for statutory delegates to participate in the primary elections, only to realise they had shut the doors against their own participation. Then they began to struggle to correct the error in a fresh amendment to include statutory delegates. But it was too late.

After declining the request by the President to expunge section 84(12), the lawmakers discovered their error, which shut out statutory delegates including the president, Vice President, governors and their deputies, former and current members of the National Assembly as well as state and national officers of the party from voting as automatic delegates.

The parliament immediately reconvened and passed the amendment bill in one day, however, President Buhari also refused to assent to the bill.

As the primaries are over, the lawmakers would have discovered that it was foolhardy on their part to battle for control of delegates with governors, who still hold the aces, as leaders of their parties at the state level, hence they play the piper and dictate its tune.

After all, many lawmakers got elected because their governors wanted them at the time.

So far, more than 70 per cent of the 469 members of the National Assembly will not return, if the outcome of the primaries of parties is anything to go by, not to talk about the general election that promises to throw up more surprises.

A number of the lawmakers lost out in the power game for the control of states with governors, who have always determined who emerges as standard-bearers at all levels in the country.

Even at the national level, Ahmad Lawan who chairs the National Assembly picked the APC Presidential nomination forms to contest for president in 2023, after some individuals in Aso Rock had persuaded and assured him.

He fell victim to the governors’ power play and influence.

The National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu had announced the Senate President’s name Ahmad Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate, but 10 Northern governors stood against him that it was the turn of the South.

Hence, the party was forced into a primary election where the national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu won by a landslide.

With the outcome of the primaries, the 10th National Assembly is going to be dominated by fresh legislators, which could have the attendant adverse effect of lack of institutional memory, which is supposed to aid legislation.

However, some lawmakers made it to the primary stage. Some senators, of their own volition, decided not to pick forms to return. Some decided to go for the presidency or governorship.

These have to a greater extent exposed the flaws in the 1999 Constitution as amended, which many stakeholders have always faulted.

In many states, lawmakers who would have loved to return to the National Assembly could not secure their party’s ticket because of the interest of their governors.

Senator representing Enugu North, Chukwuma Utazi at a Policy Dialogue, on “Constituency projects in the 2023 electioneering campaigns,”organised by OrderPaper in partnership with Budget and MacArthur Foundation in Abuja, spoke his mind on the matter saying, he was not returning to the National Assembly as he did not go for the primary.

“Does it mean I don’t want to come back to the parliament? The answer is no. What is on the ground cannot permit me to return. I can’t return because my governor wants to be here so I have to go.

“That is just the issue. Am I done with this place? No. You know the longer you stay in the parliament the more experience you get because you will develop institutional memory.

“You will use that institutional memory to help and better the lots of your people but in our clime, it is a status symbol. People want to answer the name senator, everybody wants to be here, so to be a senator is an important position.”

When asked about the solution since the governors are still in charge, he said,

“The solution is for Nigeria to come to a point where the major traditional political parties will no longer be the issue. I have been a major proponent of independent candidacy.

“In the last constitutional amendment I fought for it but we couldn’t get through. That is the only way we can have a semblance of democracy but once you have these two traditional parties putting people there, it becomes very difficult.

“The consciousness is already building up. The status quo may no longer stand. So it has started, we have to build on it and keep the momentum so that you continue getting the type of people you want in the parliament.

“Parliament is a different ball game, it is not executive. There are lots of things required to have an effective representation in the parliament.”

Consequently, when lawmakers resumed their recess last week, it was lamentation galore, from the President of the Senate Ahmed Lawan to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila.

The two principal officers bemoaned lawmakers’ loss of return tickets, even as they faulted the nation’s electoral system. Unfortunately, they had enough time to make necessary amendments, but they were in blind pursuit of governors.

Speaking during the resumption of legislative business, which was suspended to allow lawmakers to fight the battle for return tickets ahead of the 2023 general elections, Gbajabiamila blamed the delegates system for the rejection of his colleagues in the recent primaries held across the country.

He said: “It is rather unfortunate that the process went the way it went. I make bold to say, here, that the legislature has, once again, suffered losses. The loss really is not for members who lost; it is a loss to democracy, the institution and to the country.

“If it means anything, I know and I am aware that many of our members did not lose their primaries because they were rejected by their constituents. Many of our members lost because of the process, which we foresaw in the House of Representatives – the delegates system, which, unfortunately, is not what a delegates system is supposed to be.”

He added: “Many of our members lost because they were not even given a fair shot. We have good legislators, both here in the chambers and back home, who are probably not coming back because of this same process.

“When we fought for direct primaries in this House, we knew exactly what we were saying. It pains me very deeply that the process has gone the way it has. We will continue to push and continue to fight for our members, for democracy, for the institution and this country.”

Lawan on his part admitted the electoral process threw up new issues that may need to be addressed by the parliament. He gave assurance that the National Assembly would look at the issues, with a view to addressing them and making the electoral process better.

According to him, “the Electoral Act itself, even though a good document, is not a perfect one. So, it needs some refinement from time to time to improve our electoral process.” He expressed sympathy for colleagues that lost out at primaries, even as he congratulated winners.

BY now, National Assembly members should have known better not to go into a chase of delegates with governors. The main issue at stake is the enormous power and resources at the disposal of the governors to do and undo.

A former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido while reacting to section 84(12) of the Electoral Act in an interview with The Guardian recently asked National Assembly members to bury their heads in shame over the controversial section.

He blamed the lawmakers and their selfish interests for bringing in the section, which Buhari asked them to delete.

According to him: “Historically, since our days in the National Assembly, way back in 1979, there has been this contest between the National Assembly members and governors, even though members get elected through the influence of their governors.

“By the time they converge at the National Assembly they begin to find power in their associations and groups as an institution and begin to see how they can best promote their interests rather than making the right laws to govern Nigeria in the most effective way.

“They begin to bring in their interests and use their positions in the National Assembly to address issues, which can’t assure them of their security.

“Anybody who dares to confront a governor by engaging in power contest simply because they are in the National Assembly, by the time they are through with their tenure they are going back home.

“I think the President is right. It is Buhari who is telling them their law is defective, in contrast with the Nigerian Constitution. I just can’t believe that, it is laughable and very embarrassing. Most of them are old civil servants, professors and lawyers. But they are blinded by their ambition and begin to address issues, which are even illegal and against the Constitution.

“I see what they have done as a huge embarrassment to their individual personalities and to the institution of lawmaking because of their desperation to cling to power.”

Despite the submission of the name of former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswin Akpabio to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the national leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC), DIG Udom Ekpoudom (rtd) is still optimistic of flying the party flag for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial district election come 2023.

This was just as Akpabio has appealed to Ekpoudom to accept the turn of event if he has the interest of the party at heart.

The DIG Udom Ekpoudom Senatorial Campaign Organisation in a statement issued weekend said there was no cause for alarm and urged his supporters to remain calm as, “no man should play God with the people’s mandate.”

“While the submission of ‘candidates’ names to beat INEC’s deadline was expected, the Commission (INEC) as regulator shall at the appropriate time, in line with the law, publish the name and particulars of the rightful flagbearer who won the senatorial primary and who shall lawfully be on the ballot for the 2023 general elections and that name, unarguably, shall be DIG Udom Ekpoudom (rtd).”, it stressed.

The statement signed by the chairman, Ekpoudom Senatorial Campaign Organisation, Rt Hon Uwem Udoma recalled that, INEC had publicly acknowledged that it never monitored, the primary that allegedly produced Senator Akpabio after he lost the APC presidential primary.

He reiterated that the senatorial primary for the senatorial district was lawfully held on May 27, 2022, where Ekpoudom emerged winner and was at no time canceled, nullified, or declared inconclusive to warrant a “rescheduled election”?

Meanwhile, the Senator Godswill Akpabio Senatorial Campaign Organisation in a statement weekend expressed shocked at the position of Ekpoudom to the decision of the national leadership of the APC.

“It is time therefore to sheathe the sword and look at the bigger picture in the interest of the party and the state.

“This continuous exchange of recriminations can never forge the needed unity the party so badly needs to win the upcoming election.

“We appeal to DIG Udom Ekpoudom as an Elder of the party and his supporters to close ranks and embrace the olive branch that shall come with inclusiveness and benefits for all,” it added.

Akpabio regretted that Ekpoudom had made serial but hollow claims that he won the ticket of APC to be on the ballot for the election of North West Senatorial District.

The statement added, “it is on record that Rt Hon Ekperikpe Ekpo contested and won the nomination which took place on May 28, 2022 at Ikot Ekpene Township in accordance with the timetable published by the party with necessary notifications served relevant agencies of government preceding the primaries as required by law.

“However the leadership of the party citing infractions ordered for a rerun via a letter signed by the National Secretary of APC and Ekperikpe willingly withdrew from that rerun primary urging his teeming supporters to nominate Senator Akpabio as the flagbearer of the party for North West Senatorial District

“DIG Ekpoudom’s claim that he is the rightful holder of the ticket of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District is patently against the grain of reality and truth and contemptuous to the wellbeing of the party.

“DIG Ekpoudom knows that the primary that purportedly produced him was not ordered by an EXCO that is known to the national body of the party and Law and therefore lacks legitimacy.

“For the Resident Electoral Commissioner to claim that he monitored the illegality rather than the approved primary which was widely publicised smack of a conspiracy deliberately arrayed against a section of the party.

“Steven Leo Ntukekpo led State EXCO of the party is the one recognised by the national hierarchy of the party and known to Law.

“So all authorisations pertaining to Congress should emanate from him and his EXCO otherwise the outcome would be deemed to be illegal, illegitimate and a mere bogus claim.”

In an apparent mockery of some other frontline contestants in the 2023 presidential election who were unable to choose their vice presidential running mates before the deadline given by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said the first and most important decision that any candidate for an executive position in a democracy must make is the choice of a running mate.

The APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu and his labour counterpart, Peter Obi had chosen ‘place holders’ because of their inability to choose their preferred presidential running mate.

While Tinubu picked Usman Masari and Obi chose Doyin. They have a 30-day window to replace them.

But in a statement, he signed, Atiku said: “The office of the president in particular requires that the holder of that office must have clarity of the mind on decision-making.

“That is why in countries that have acquired more experiences in democratic acculturation, the choice that a presidential candidate makes about their running mates, and how they make the decision, provides a window of assessing their preparedness for the job that potentially waits ahead of them.”

According to Atiku, “In meeting up with this expectation, and more importantly to ensure that I make a pick of a running mate that you shall be proud of, it became necessary for me to be introspective about my choice.”

He continued, “Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa and I share a lot of personality attributes in common. He is a fine gentleman, but tenacious. His experience as a Senator will come in handy in some of the legislative reforms that are urgently needed to reformat our governmental processes.

“Ifeanyi and I are incurable optimists in the future of Nigeria and the promises it holds as one united, peaceful and prosperous country.

“Having him on the ticket brings a lot of asset to our campaign. In the months ahead to the general election, together with other great leaders of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party and, with your esteemed support, we shall work very hard to ensure convincing victory for our party.

“A victory for the PDP in the general election is a victory for Nigeria. When we win, Nigeria wins. The stakes in the election are very high, and it gives me tremendous joy that I can count on your support to win the election and get to work in earnest.”, Atiku stated.

By Seun Adeuyi

Abiodun Oyebanji, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, was on Sunday declared winner of the exercise.

Oyebanji, who secured victory in 15 of the 16 Local Government Areas of the State, polled a total of 187,057 votes.

Segun Oni, his closest rival polled 82,211 votes while Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), trailed with 67,457 votes.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer for the election, Professor Kayode Oyebode, declared Oyebanji winner at 3:04am on Sunday.

A total of 16 candidates took part in the election. The total valid votes in the election were 351,865, void votes, 8,888 and total votes cast, 360,753.

However, PDP’s victory might not have been possible if not for some reasons. Some of the reasons are as follows:

BISI KOLAWOLE A ‘WEAK CANDIDATE’

When Bisi Kolawole clinched Ekiti Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket in January, some political analysts considered him as a weak candidate. However, many felt the Efon-Alaaye born politician might spring a surprise being an anointed candidate of former Governor, Ayo Fayose.

In the PDP primary, Kolawole, former chairman of the PDP in Ekiti, edged out Segun Oni, an ex-governor, and Kolapo Olusola, a former deputy governor of the state.

Biodun Olujimi, the senator representing Ekiti south, had earlier in the day of the primary, pulled out of the race, accusing the party of disenfranchising her.

Out of these aspirants, Kolawole was considered the “weakest”, but he rode on the influence of Fayose to clinch the ticket.

He was a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly in the year 2007 to 2011. From 2015 to 2018, he served as the Commissioner for Environment under the tenure of Governor Ayodele Fayose. In the year 2020, he contested for Ekiti, PDP chairperson, and he won. He resigned in September 2021 and joined the 2022 gubernatorial primary race on January 26th. Analysts believe a stronger candidate could have brightened the chances of PDP.

THE EMEGENCE OF SDP FROM PDP

One of the biggest gains for the ruling APC was the balkanisation of the opposition PDP. After former Fayose insisted on his own candidate as the flag bearer, Oni left the party to realise his second term ambition on the platform of the SDP. Had PDP fielded Oni as its candidate, the opposition party, according to political pundits, he would have given the APC and Governor Kayode Fayemi, a tough battle at the poll.

The current division and crisis within the ranks of the PDP not just in Ekiti, but the South West is another factor that led to APC’s victory. Ekiti PDP is presently divided against itself. The battle for the soul of the party in Ekiti State between ex-governor Ayodele Fayose and Senator Biodun Olujimi has continued to linger, without amicable settlement from both ends. Also, in the south-west, the party lacks a unified front.

POWER OF INCUMBENCY

Just like PDP’s Kolawole, APC candidate, Oyebanji, is equally not a formidable candidate, but thanks to the “power of incumbency.”

Being the incumbent governor, Fayemi was instrumental in the victory of the APC in this election. Oyebanji being his candidate, Fayemi backed him up to win the election. And Fayemi has set a record of being the first governor to install a successor in Ekiti State.

The APC had held its mega rally with leaders of the party, including 14 governors and the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Ado-Ekiti. This served as a boost to the chances of Oyebanji.

MASSIVE VOTE BUYING

Another deciding factor was the use of vote-buying. Politicians tried to outspend one another in the election. Daily Trust observers witnessed different instances of vote buying and inducement of security operatives and some INEC officials across the state.

The election started on a peaceful note across many polling units and voters trooped out en masse. However, no sooner than accreditation commenced did politicians start reaching out to voters through party agents.

THE TINUBU FACTOR

The election was a battle for the control of the South-West between Bola Tinubu and PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The PDP controls only one of the six states in the region, Oyo.

For Tinubu, his effort to reconcile aggrieved chieftains ahead of the election showed that he was leaving nothing to chance to retain the state despite the APC controlling five states in the region. The APC presidential candidate was in the state to campaign for Oyebanji ahead of Saturday’s election. He also appealed to party chieftains to close ranks and work for victory.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates said that cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are “100 percent based on greater fool theory.”

The theory means that people can make money by purchasing assets that are overvalued and later selling them at a profit.

Gates spoke at the Tech Crunch conference during the week.



He said that he is not involved in cryptocurrency as he is used to asset classes such as “a farm, where they have output, or a company, where they make products.”

He said that NFTs and cryptocurrencies are 100 percent based on “sort of greater fool theory that somebody’s going to pay more for it than I do.”

According to Gates, at the heart of the crypto and NFT movement is an anonymity allowing buyers to avoid taxation or government rules about “kidnapping fees or things.”

The billionaire also took aim at the “Bored Apes” collection of ethereum NFTs, jokingly adding that “digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world immensely.”

In the aftermath of major political parties concluding their presidential primaries and presenting their candidates for the top job, Daily Trust on Sunday takes a look at how the epic battle between a former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, vying on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and a leader of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will be won come 2023, especially with two political juggernauts in the persons of Rabiu Kwankwaso and Peter Obi also in reckoning for the presidency.

With a former governor, Kano State, Engr Rabiu Kwankwaso flying the ticket of the presumed ‘beautiful bride,’ the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi that of the Labour Party (LP), it is believed that the 2023 presidential contest would not just be the fiercest, it would be the most unpredictable and intriguing election in the democratic history of Nigeria.


Kwankwaso, the game changer in North

As a two term governor of the populous Kano State, former minister of defence and a senator, Kwankwaso, who will be counting on his massive, cult-like followership in Kano, parts of Jigawa and Katsina, will be a deciding factor in who wins the 2023 presidential election.

Barring any future alliance with any of the main contestants for the presidency, Kwankwaso will be polling most of the Kano votes, especially as Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, himself a former governor of Kano, has pitched tent with him.

Also, the gale of defections of key politicians, mainly from the ruling APC, to Kwankwaso’s NNPP, will greatly impact on the fortunes of both Atiku and Tinubu in the northwestern states, which are famed to churn out the highest votes in national elections.

As it stands, the fate of the PDP and APC is not certain in Kano due to the nerve- wrecking incursions the NNPP has made in the political landscape of the state.

The ranks of the ‘new bride’ were bolstered over a month ago when crisis hit the APC following the alleged marginalisation of some members, whose disgruntlement eventually made them dump the ruling party for the new one.

The crisis split the party into two factions after it conducted parallel congresses for the officials at the ward, local government and state levels.

While one of the factions was loyal to the state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, the other was led by a former governor of the state, now a senator representing Kano Central, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.

The lawmakers that defected to the NNPP were Abdullahi Iliyasu Yaryasa, member, representing Tudun Wada constituency; Muhd Bello Butu Butu, member representing Tofa/Rimin Gado constituency and Kabiru Yusuf Ismail, member representing Madobi constituency.

A week earlier, 10 lawmakers of the PDP in the same state House of Assembly had defected to the NNPP.

The lawmakers were Isyaku Ali Danja of Gezawa constituency; Umar Musa Gama of Nassarawa constituency; Aminu Sa’adu Ungogo of Ungogo constituency; Lawan Hussain Chediyar ‘Yan Gurasa of Dala constituency and Tukur Muhammad of Fagge constituency.

Analysts believe that though Kwankwaso’s party does not have the national spread and political structure to clinch the presidency, it will give the APC and the PDP a run for their money, at least in some parts of the North West. So it is believed that whoever he decides to pull his weight behind, between Atiku and Tinubu, he would carry the day.


Will Obi’s social media rave have impact?

Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) candidate who left the PDP few days to the party’s presidential primary in which Atiku emerged the candidate, is currently a social media sensation. The youth in their thousands are raving about his candidature on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms, but there are concerns that that may not translate into votes during the 2023 elections as most of them do not have voter’s cards.

Though Obi is a former two term governor of Anambra State and was the vice presidential candidate for Atiku in 2019, it is believed that his lack of political influence beyond his home state would be his greatest undoing in the election. Besides, his party platform, the LP, being devoid of national presence, will be an anathema to many voters willing to help his ambition to become the first Igbo man to ascend the presidency of the country.

But for his eloquence and ability to communicate explicitly, his plans on how to tackle insecurity, the economy and youth unemployment, as well as his relatively ‘young age’, largely regarded as representing the new order, compared to Atiku and Tinubu, who are perceived as belonging to the old political stock, Obi is bound to get swing votes from citizens who are shorn of religious, regional and ethnic sentiments that becloud Nigerian politics and define voting patterns.

Buttressing this point of view, the director-general of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr Doyin Okupe, in interviews to media houses, stressed that his team would raise about 30 million voters for Obi to emerge victorious at the presidential poll.

Okupe, who ditched his presidential ambition for Obi, was dispelling assertions in some quarters that the former Anambra governor does not have the political structure to win a presidential election.

The former special assistant on media and publicity to President Olusegun Obasanjo was full of optimism that the LP candidate would become the next president of Nigeria because he was the best and brightest among the quartet vying for the top job.

“We have a saleable candidate. We have a candidate that is adjudged to be the best in Nigeria currently. We have a currency that is comparable to none. Peter Obi, in terms of currency, is the sure bet that’s available politically in Nigeria today. It is impossible for any political party to produce any candidate that can match him in terms of performance and integrity. He has over-proven that he is a man that has integrity. In terms of antecedents, what he did in Anambra State is classic and exemplary,” he added.


Analysts give damning verdict

A political analyst, Mr Jackson Lekan Ojo, says the contest for the presidency is between Atiku and Tinubu. He, however, said that the Kwankwaso and Obi candidacies would have tremendous impact on who comes out top of the 2023 presidential election.

He said the North’s unifying factor, religion and ethnicity would be decisive in the historical contest.

“People from the North are always united by religion and ethnicity, and their voting pattern will be along those lines. So, I strongly believe that at the end of the day, Kwankwaso will be donating his votes to Atiku,” he said.

He said the monolithic North, defined by Islam and Hausa/Fulani ethnicity, do not see Tinubu as a pure Muslim, so they would be voting massively for Atiku.

He, however, said Tinubu would win Kano and Borno because of his formidable alliances with the Kano State governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and a former Borno governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima.

Speaking further, he said the choice of Tinubu’s running mate might give him more votes in the North.

Lekan-Ojo also said Tinubu would find it difficult to get block votes from his turf, the South West, because of his long standing disagreement with the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere and some Yoruba elders.

On the part of Obi, he said categorically that he would struggle to win a local government in the South East, claiming that Igbo politicians will channel their votes to where they will bargain for political positions and leave Obi in limbo.

Also speaking, an analyst and Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences at the Kogi State-owned Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Prof John Alabi, said the emergence of Obi and Kwakwanso would encourage a healthy competition.

He however argued that notwithstanding the influence of the duo of Kwankwaso and Obi, they lack the spread and all it takes to spring any surprise in the 2023 election.

He said: “The two major political parties are entrenched and have larger political followers which are along ethnic and religious lines, and it is so because we don’t have ideologies.

“However, can they (Obi and Kwankwaso) spring any surprise? I don’t think so; they are local champions in these areas; they don’t have the spread that these other traditional parties have, particularly the duo of Atiku and Tinubu. They (Tinubu and Atiku) are both strategists; they have been long in this trade; they have followers across the 36 states of this federation.

“In terms of structure and resources, they have them; they are heavily loaded and they are ready to spend. Obi and Kwankwaso will only bring to the fore, the dilution of the votes in the North West and South East but I don’t see them springing any surprise. Nigeria politics has not grown beyond the primordial sentiments of money, ethnicity and religion.”

On his part, a Professor of Economic History, Yakubu Ochefu said of the duo, he sees Obi as having the competitive edge in terms of reach to the Nigerian electorates especially the youths’ population.

Ahead of the deadline for candidates to submit their running mates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday, Tinubu dropped the name of Alhaji Kabir Ibrahim Masari. Daily Trust on Sunday understands that Tinubu dropped his name as a place holder ahead of INEC’s deadline for parties to submit the names of their candidates for the 2023 elections.

Sources in the camp of Tinubu and Masari confirmed this to Daily Trust on Sunday Thursday evening.

Alhaji Kabir hails from Masari, a village in Kafur Local Government Area of Katsina State

The kinsman of Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State served as national welfare secretary of the ruling party during the tenure of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman.

With the different permutations heralding the emergence of Atiku, Tinubu, Kwankwaso and Obi as prominent presidential candidates in the 2023 elections, it is a long shot from now to say with any iota of certainty, who would emerge victorious in the contest. Perhaps what is certain is that it will be the most fascinating presidential election in Nigeria’s wobbling democracy.

Serving and former state governors seem to have found the Senate a comfortable retirement haven. Ahead of the 2023 general election, many of them have secured the tickets of political parties in their bid to represent various constituencies. Checks by The Nation revealed that not less than 30 serving and past governors will be contesting for seats in the National Assembly next year. TONY AKOWE reports


Since the return to democracy in 1999, several former governors have passed through the National Assembly, especially the Senate and many are still seeking to be there. Among those who have passed through the Senate are former Kaduna state governor, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, former Kano state governor, Rabiu Musa Kwakwaso, former Plateau state governors, Joshua Dariye and David Jonah Jang and former Ogun state governor, Ibikunle Amosun.

Others are former Akwa Ibom state governor an immediate past Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, former Nasarawa state governor and current National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, former Anambra state governor and Minister of Labour and Employment, Chirs Ngige, former Kwara state governor and immediate past Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki and former Zamfara state governor, Sani Ahmed Yerima, among many other.

Ahead of the 2023 general election, serving and former governor are as usual, angling to proceed to the Senate chamber. The past and serving governors interested in either going to, or returning to the Senate are:

Adams Oshiomhole

The former Edo state governor has secured the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to fly the flag of the party for Edo North Senatorial District. Many believe that Oshiomhole has all it takes to lead the party to victory in the election. He served as National Chairman of the APC for two years, overseeing the 2019 election. He is very versed in the politics of the state.

Oshiomhole, who is the leader of the APC in Edo state, has an edge over his opponents and many pundits are giving him victory at the poll. But he will have to first stave off the stiff opposition planned against him by the governor of the state, his erstwhile political son, Godwin Obaseki and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

Aliyu Wammako

Wammako has been in the Senate since leaving office as the governor of Sokoto state in 2015. A grassroots politician and a man regarded by many has being in control of Sokoto politics. Wamakko currently seats at the head of two major committees in the Senate; he’s chairman of the committee on Defence and deputy chairman of committee on Anti-Corruption.

Wammakko is perhaps one of very few Nigerians to have resigned as deputy governor. He left the position in 2006 due to what many regarded as irreconcilable differences between him and then Governor Attahiru Bafarawa. He is a founding member of the APC after joining the party along with some other PDP governors in the build up to the 2015 elections. he looks good to retain his seat.

Abdulaziz Yari

Yari is a former chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Zamfara state. He later served as National Financial Secretary of the party before being elected as a member of the House of Representatives to represent Anka/Talata Mafara Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. From the House, he was elected governor in 2011, succeeding Mahmud Shinkafi who defected from the ANPP on whose platform he was elected governor to the PDP.

His insistence in anointing his successor in 2019 led to the unending fight between him and Senator Kabiru Marafa, which cost the APC the elections they fought so hard to win as the Supreme Court nullified their participation, paving the way for Bello Matawalle of the PDP to become governor. Yari’s ambition was to become the National Chairman of the APC. But that was not to be as the position was zoned by the party to the north central and way from his reach.

With Matawalle now a member of the APC, Yari felt that his political future was threatened and held several discussions with the PDP with the view to teaming up with them. The APC has however offered him the Senatorial ticket in a deft political move by Governor Matawalle. Pundits say with his feud with Marafa now over, and Governor Mattawale willing to support him, Yari looks pretty good to win the election and join other former governors at the senate in 2023.

Kabiru Gaya

Gaya is one of the oldest serving members of the Senate having been elected into the red chamber in 2007. He was elected governor of Kano state under the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the ill-fated third republic. He currently occupies the position of the chairman, Senate Committee on Electoral Matters and helped midwife what is regarded as the best electoral law in the country so far.

Gaya’s tenure as governor of Kano state was short lived by the military, but he has been an integral part of the legislature since he was elected in 2007. He remained one of those that the APC looked up to in the state and is likely to have an easy ride back to the Senate, especially with Governor Abdullahi Ganduje solidly behind him in his quest to remain in the red chamber.

Atiku Bagudu

The Kebbi state governor left the Senate to become governor of his home state in 2015 and wants to return to the red chamber in 2023. He is currently the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum comprising all elected APC governors. Bagudu was succeeded in the Senate by former governor, Adamu Aliero whom he has had a running battle with for a while because of his ambition to return to the Senate.

The capacity to buy into the Anchor Borrowers programme of the Federal government which has turned the state into one of the major rice producing state in the country is one thing that he has going for him. Aliero pulled out of the Senatorial contest of the APC to pick the ticket of the PDP. The contest between the duo promises to be a very interestingly fierce one as both are well grounded grassroots politicians.

Chimaroke Nnamani

The former Enugu state was first elected to the Senate in 2007 immediately after his eight year tenure as governor. He was re-elected in 2019 and is seeking a third term in the red chamber. Popularly known as Ebaeno by his supporters, Nnamani will be banking on the popularity of the PDP in Enugu state to return to the Senate.

But it is left to be seen whether the people of the senatorial district will stick with him amidst the ongoing clamour for zoning from a section of the district. Another issue of concern is the general disenchantment with the PDP in the southeast for not considering the region for its presidential ticket. But be that as it may, Nnamani remain one of the numerous ex-governors seeking to be part of the lawmaking process in the country from 2023.

Tanko Almakura

Since leaving office as governor in 2015, Al-Makura has been a member of the red chamber. For eight years, he was the only governor elected on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) established by President Muhammadu Buhari. He contested for the National Chairmanship position of the APC at its national convention, but failed to get the seat.

Many had believed that because of his closeness to the President as the only CPC governor to join the merger that gave birth to the APC, President Buhari will back him for the chairmanship position. But they were wrong as the President choose Abdullahi Adamu instead. He got an automatic return ticket to the Senate instead, probably as a compensation for stepping down for Adamu at the convention. But whether he will surmount the challenges ahead is the big question begging for answer.

Danjuma Goje

Goje is a former Minister and two time governor of Gombe state. He was one of those who contested the position of the Senate President in 2019, stepping down for current Senate President, Ahmed Lawan. During the party primaries, his name appeared on the PDP list of aspirants, but he promptly denied the link, insisting that he was not a member of the PDP. He also wrote to the PDP National Chairman threatening legal action.

Serving as Minister, then governor and now Senator, gives Goje an edge over his opponents. But there are those who believe he has a tough battle to fight to return to the Senate following the face-off between him and the Governor Inuwa Yahaya, which lingered for years and polarized the APC in Gombe state until the resolution of the crisis a couple of months ago by the national leadership of the party as part of effort to ensure the party wins the 2023 elections.

Simon Lalong

Simon Lalong is currently the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and he is completing his second term as governor of Plateau state. A former Speaker of the Plateau state House of Assembly, Lalong has the legislative experience needed to be a member of the red chamber. As governor, many have often accused him of not doing enough to halt the killings on the Plateau.

Interestingly, it was his supporters led by a member of the House of Representatives, Adamu Yusuf Gagdi, who once served as his deputy that bought his nomination form to run for the Senate seat. His predecessors in office, Joshua Dariye and David Jonah Jang, have also served in the Senate at one time or the other.

Orji Kalu

Orji Uzor Kalu is another former governor seeking a return to the Senate to represent Abia North. He was first elected to the Senate in 2019, taking over from Mao Ohuabuwa. Orji won the Senate seat at a time when the APC was not popular in Abia state. He was elected governor on the platform of the PDP, before forming the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA).

He was the first to back out of the APC presidential race when it became clear that the southeast will not be getting the opportunity to pick the party’s presidential ticket. He opted to support Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, for the presidential ticket. But whether that will give him the opportunity of returning to the national assembly in 2023 is left to be seen.

Gbenga Daniel


Between 2003 and 2011, Gbenga Daniel served as governor of Ogun state on the platform of the PDP. Since leaving office in 2011, not much has been heard of him. His emergence as the APC senatorial candidate for Ogun East makes him one of the ex-governors that may be part of the red chamber in 2023 considering the popularity of the APC in gun state.

Sani Bello

The Niger state governor has secured the ticket of the APC to contest the senatorial seat, displacing Senator Sahabi Abdullahi, who currently occupies the seat. He was a member of the Caretaker and Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC and was rumoured to have attempted to take over the committee when the Buni led leadership was dragging foot about the convention until the Independent National Electoral Commission intervened.

Kashim Shettima

Kashim Shettima was elected Senator in 2019 after competing his two terms as governor of Borno state. Between 2015 and 2019, he was the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum. A strong supporter of power shift to the south, Shettima may have smooth sail back to the Senate due to his popularity among the people and as a result of the strong hold of the APC in Borno state.

Samuel Ortom

Ortom was elected governor of Benue state in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He however decamped to the PDP midway into his first tenure as governor. He is the third Benue state governor to seek a senatorial ticket. The first governor in the 4th republic, George Akume and his immediate predecessor, Gabriel Suswam have all been elected to the Senate after serving their eight years as governor. Ortom wants to follow suit and has already secured the ticket of the PDP to run for the senate.

Theodore Orji

Orji succeeded Orji Ozor Kalu as governor of Abia state, winning his election while in EFCC custody. He was elected Senator immediately he completed his second tenure a governor. He is popularly known as Uchendo worldwide. He is seeking to return to the Senate in 2023 for the third time running, having being elected for the first time in 2015. The popularity of the PDP in Abia state is a plus for him. He is the second former governor of Abia state seeking a seat in the Senate.

Ifeanyi Ugwuayi

Ugwuayi is the current governor of Enugu state and will complete his tenure in 2023. He has already secured the ticket of the PDP to contest the Enugu North senatorial seat. He was elected governor in 2015, winning a re-election in 2019. If Ugwuayi win the Senatorial election, he will be the second governor of Enugu state to be elected into the Senate after Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani.

Dairus Ishaku

Dairus Ishaku is one of the four PDP governors in the North and is a former Minister of state for Niger Delta Affairs. He was elected governor of the state of Taraba state in 2015. Along with his Deputy, Ishaku has secured the PDP ticket to go to the Senate. He secured his ticket to contest the Taraba South senatorial election as the sole candidate of the PDP, an indication that he is acceptable among his people and may have an easy ride to the legislature.

Ibrahim Gaidam

Gaidam served as governor of Yobe state for ten years. He was first sworn in as governor on January 27, 2009 following the death of the then governor, Mamman Bello Ali. He was then deputy governor to the late Ali. He contested and won election his first election as governor in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. He was elected Senator to represent Yobe East in 2019 and has secured the ticket of his party, the APC to seek re-election in 2023.

Seriake Dickson

Dickson was first elected as a legislator representing Sagbama-Ekeremor Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives before winning election as governor of Bayelsa state. He was elected Senator representing Bayelsa West in December 2020 after a bye-election. He has won the ticket to contest the seat on the platform of the PDP. He joins the list of former governors seeking a seat in the upper legislative chamber.

Okezie Ikpeazu

Okezie Ikpeazu took over from Theodore Orji as Governor of Abia state in 2015. He is the third former governor of Abia state seeking a seat in the Senate and was elected unopposed s the PDP candidate for Abia South. He will however have a herculean task in his ambition as he will be up against the immediate past Minority Leader of the Senate, Eyinnaya Abaribe. Abaribe who is seeking to return to the Senate on the APGA platform.

Saminu Turaki

Turaki served as governor of Jigawa state between 1999 and 2007 and was generally regarded as the internet governor. He was elected on the platform of the PDP, but later joined the APC. He recently decamped back to the PDP and won the ticket of the party to contest for the Jigawa North West Senatorial seat.

Gabriel Suswan

Suswam was member of the House of Representatives before winning election as governor of Benue state in 2007. He served as governor till 2015 and won election to the Senate in 2015. He is also one of the former governors being investigated by the EFCC. He is seeking a second term in the Senate and is armed with lots of legislative experiences.

Ibrahim Shekarau

Ibrahim Shekarau was Permanent Secretary in the Kano state Ministry of Education before he was sacked by Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, signaling a rift between the two. He joined the ANPP and defeated Kwankaso in the 2003 governorship elections, serving out his two terms before Kwankwaso returned to government House in 2011.

He was the ANPP presidential candidate in 2011 and later served as a member of the merger committee that gave birth to the APC. He however left the party because of differences with Kwankwaso but returned again in 2018. He won election to the Senate in 2019 and is seeking re-election as Senator on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Dave Umahi

Umahi is the current governor of Ebonyi state. He contested for the APC presidential ticket, scoring 38 votes. He has however taken over the senatorial ticket earlier won by his brother. The governor, who won his elections on the platform of the PDP, joined the APC to actualize his presidential ambition. He is seeking to join another former Governor of the state, Sam Egwu in the red chamber.

Adamu Aliero

Elected as governor in 1999, Aliero took over from Atiku Bagudu as Senator in 2015 when the later contested for the governorship ticket of the state. The interest of Bagudu to return to the Senate after completing his tenure as governor has suddenly put Aliero’s ambition on line, forcing the former governor to dump the APC for the PDP. He has since been handled the PDP ticket and he will contesting against the governor in 2023.

Aminu Tambuwal

The former Speaker of the House of Representatives contested the PDP presidential primary, but stepped down for the eventual winner on the day of the convention. Many believe that while contesting the elections, he had a plan B like he did in 2019. He has since secured the ticket of the PDP to contest the senatorial election. Many believe that in stepping down from the Presidential race, he was negotiating for the position of Senate President in the event that the PDP form majority in the Senate. Tambuwal was elected governor of Sokoto state on the platform of the APC but joined Bukola Saraki and Samuel Ortom in dumping the APC for the PDP in 2018.

Sam Egwu

Sam Egwu was elected governor of Ebonyi state in 1999 was elected senator in 2015. He joined Dave Umahi as the second governor from the state seeking a senatorial seat.

Hassan Dankwambo

Dankwambo took over from Danjuma Goje as governor of Gombe state, completing his tenure in 2019. Before being elected governor, he had served as Accountant General of the Federation. He has won the PDP ticket to join his colleagues seeking a seat in the red chamber.

A 25 year old factory worker in Aba, Abia State, has committed suicide after being dumped by a female colleague he was in love with for five years.

The deceased, whose name was not immediately known, was said to have taken a poisonous substance on Wednesday night, leaving a suicide note on why had to take his own life after her lover, who incidentally worked in the same manufacturing plant with him, in Okpu Umuobo area of Osisioma Council Area of Aba metropolis, cut off their five year old relationship to marry another man.

Eyewitness said parents of the deceased had, on discovering what happened and the suicide note left by their son, reported the matter to the Osisioma Police station, and had invited the former girlfriend to their house after informing her that their son was sick and had requested to see her.

Saturday Sun gathered that the girl who said she was no longer in love with the deceased and wondered why she was being invited, was later on arrival, arrested by the police and accused of involve in the sudden death of his colleague.

However, a senior police source in the area, said the lover girl was later released on bail, after spending the night in custody, while investigation on the real reason for the jilted lover’s death has commenced.

Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta State and vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has vowed not to join issues with the Southern and Middle Belt leaders who expressed disapproval with his acceptance to be PDP’s presidential running mate for Atiku Abubakar.

Speaking on Arise TV on Friday, the former Senator said while he respects those leaders and their opinions, they should understand that he is a politician who belongs to a political party, and that he is bound to respect the decisions of that party.

This came shorty after a group of southern and Middle Belt leaders including the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF), the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF); Afenifere; the Middle Belt Forum and the Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, described his acceptance of the vice-presidential candidacy as “treacherous and despicable.”

The demand of Southern governors of power shift was held at a meeting which Okowa hosted in Asaba, capital of Delta.

In theor criticism of Okowa, the Southern leaders said Okowa would not have teamed up with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar if truly he was committed to power shift.

While responding, Okowa said since the party had already elected Atiku from North as the presidential flag bearer, the right thing is for the emergence of a southern running mate to avoid situations that could “lead us further into divisions in this country.”

He said, “I want to respect our leaders, I believe that they have their opinions, and I also believe that they are well-meaning leaders. So, I won’t join issues with them. But the important thing is that I belong to a political party and I was part of the decisions of that political party, and we did agree that the best pathway to rescue this nation was to throw the presidential race open in our party.

“And having agreed upon Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president, the honour is now for us to support him since we can’t have a president from the North and also a vice president from the North. That would lead us further into divisions in this country, and we are talking about rebuilding this nation, and to a very large extent, we have to take the right decisions. And within our party, I think that having submitted myself to be a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, I will have to submit myself to the decisions of the party and that’s what has happened.

“That doesn’t mean it’s a disrespect for the views of those leaders. They are leaders I respect so much, but under this condition, they have to understand that I have committed myself to the PDP. I am a politician. If I were not a politician, it might be different. I am a politician and I am entitled to my views.

“I want to appeal to them that they need to actually look at this issues as it’s, that while we are making our comment as it concerns Nigeria at this time that we have crises within the nation, the rebuilding process is that we need to rebuild confidence. And in rebuilding confidence, we have to be very cautious about the stance that the take. We have to be cautious about what we do. We need to understand that the unity of this nation is important and we need to move forward from wherever we are at the moment.”

By Seun Adeuyi


ISIS has released a list of the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) commanders that were gunned down by soldiers.

Nigerian troops in collaboration with Multinational Joint Task Force operatives had outclassed the terrorists in an encounter which happened some weeks ago.

Daily Trust had reported how the troops launched a major onslaught against ISWAP fighters in the Lake Chad and fringes of Sambisa forest.

Soldiers had stormed the camp of the terrorists, which harboured more than 3,000 fighters of the Abubakar Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram.

The fighters had joined ISWAP after the terrorist sect killed Shekau last year.

According to an intelligence report, the troops and the terrorists were locked in a gun battle which lasted for more than three hours.

Two terrorist commanders were reportedly arrested by the troops.

“Two terrorists were captured alive. During their testimonies, they confessed that the camp was led by top commanders led by one Abu Ikilima. Three Khayds (governors), three Munzul (commanding officers), 1 Nakib (commander) of the Boko Haram as well as several other fighters were neutralised,” the source said.

In a video released by ISIS, the names of the murdered ISWAP commanders were released.

They are:

Abu Musab al-Yobawi
Abu Nu’man al-Amni
Abu Abdullah al-Barnawi
Abu ‘Ammara al-Barnawi
Abu Anas al-I’alami
Abdul Malik al-Barnawi
Abu Sufyan al-I’alami
Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Da’wi
Abu Usama Goneri
Abu Sa’d al-Ansari
Abu Jabbar al-Barnawi
Abu Anas al-Barnawi
Abu Abdul Rahman al-Katsanawi
Abu Maryam al-Gaidami
Abu Salman al-Ansari
Baka Goneiri
Abu Mustafa al-‘Askari
Farooq al-Barnawi
Abu Ahmad al-I’alami
Al-Qassim Al-Barnawi
Mustafa al-Barnawi
Abbas al-Ansari
Musa al-Ansari
The news of the commanders’ death was broken days after the group was blamed for carrying out an attack that led to the death of dozens of worshippers at a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.

By Nosike Ogbuenyi


The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, Thursday afternoon, announced Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate for the 2023 election, thus bringing a climax to the suspense and speculations that had attended the choice for weeks.

Mr Abubakar, a former vice president of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007, made the
announcement during a meeting attended by PDP executives and top stakeholders, including the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, at the Wadata House, Wuse headquarters of the party in Abuja.

Implications of Okowa’s choice

The choice of Mr Okowa as the vice-presidential candidate throws up various implications, which may make or mar Mr Abubakar’s presidential quest, depending on how the ensuing contours are managed or navigated.

First, many analysts and PDP stakeholders see the choice as wise, considering Mr Okowa’s calm mien and political savvy nature which are a polar opposite of the abrasive and combative approach of his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, who was Mr Okowa’s main rival for the number two slot.

In Delta State, Mr Okowa’s choice and possible emergence as the nation’s vice president, if the PDP wins the coming presidential election, is bound to alter the political power equation in the state.

Since his election as governor in 1999, the Oghara, Delta Central-born James Ibori, has been calling the shots, determining who gets what as far as the governorship seat in the state was concerned.

In fact, Mr Okowa was seen by many as a product of the Ibori political dynasty in the state. He was first appointed commissioner by Mr Ibori in 1999 and later became Secretary to the State Government under Mr Ibori’s successor, Emmanuel Uduiaghan, before his election to the Senate to represent Delta North district in 2011.

In the build-up to the governorship primary of the PDP in Delta State last month, Mr Okowa clashed with his erstwhile godfather, Mr Ibori, over the choice of the party’s flagbearer. While Mr Ibori was rooting for his trusted former Commissioner of Finance, David Edevbie, Mr Okowa backed the incumbent Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Sherriff Oborevwori. Both aspirants are Urhobo from Mr Ibori’s Delta Central Senatorial District.

In the end, Mr Ibori’s candidate, Mr Edevbie, was floored by Mr Sherriff to the dissatisfaction of Mr Ibori. Sources close to the PDP in the state alleged that Mr Ibori had vowed to extract a pound of flesh from Mr Okowa for jettisoning his anointed candidate, Mr Edevbie.

Whether that is true or not, the reality is that the political scale in Delta State has profoundly tilted with the emergence of Mr Okowa as the vice-presidential candidate of PDP. By that turn of events, he has become the undisputed leader of PDP in the state, ahead of Mr Ibori, his erstwhile godfather.

Okowa: Bridge between South-South and South East?

Mr Okowa’s emergence as Mr Abubakar’s running mate also means that one of the most formidable strongholds of PDP, the South-east geo-political zone, has become potentially sidelined as far as the party is concerned. The zone, which has consistently voted PDP overwhelmingly since 1999, now stands the risk of being excluded from the top echelons of leadership if the PDP wins the coming presidential election.

The South-east had hitherto pushed for the zoning of the party’s presidential ticket to the South and possibly micro-zoned further to it. However, such appeals and pressure failed as the party threw its presidential ticket open with Mr Abubakar clinching it at the convention of the party held on May 29. The unveiling of Mr Okowa as the running mate might therefore be counted by some as the second successive loss for the South-east in PDP.

Nonetheless, if there is only a thin line between the clamour for Igbo inclusion and that of the South-east, then Mr Okowa’s choice may assuage Nigeria’s third-largest ethnic group.

To many Nigerians, including some Igbos in the South-east and elsewhere, the Delta State Governor is an Igbo man, at least linguistically. Mr Okowa may thus serve as a bridge between the South-south and the South-east zones in the coming election.

Unlike Mr Wike who had consistently denied his Igbo link, Mr Okowa has consistently refrained from such comments while at the same time maintaining an affinity with the diverse groups that make up Delta State and the complex South-south, thus making himself relatively more acceptable across the two zones.

In the aftermath of the social disturbance in Obigbo, a border community in Rivers State, Mr Wike in a viral video vehemently denied being an Igbo man.

Also, when he met PDP delegates in Anambra State early this year, he bluntly told the people that any vote they cast for their former governor, Peter Obi, (who was then a presidential aspirant under the PDP) would be tantamount to a waste of efforts.

He was alleged to have taken further swipes at Mr Obi and harangued him to the extent that the latter decided to quit the PDP and pitch his tent with the Labour Party. Mr Obi is today the presidential candidate of his new party and is touted in some quarters as a potential third force in the 2023 presidential bout.

Mr Okowa carries none of such baggage as Mr Wike who once publicly declared Rivers a Christian State. The Delta governor is a nimble politician who speaks softly and carefully chooses his words. But beneath his quiet demeanour, he is said to be a steely and dogged operator who does more work underground than on the surface.

Mr Okowa has a tough task of galvanising PDP in the three southern zones: South-south, South-east and South-west. He has the advantage of being relatively acceptable in the region as a politician that is not used to stepping on powerful toes openly.

Okowa’s road to the top
A cursory review of Mr Okowa’s profile reveals a man who did not stumble on power by accident but intricately sketched his way to the top. Born July 1959 at Owa-Alero, Ika Northeast Local Government Area in Delta North Senatorial District, Mr Okowa attended Edo College, Benin City (1970–1976), before proceeding to the premier university in Nigeria, the University of Ibadan, where he studied Medicine and Surgery.

Upon completion of his national service (NYSC), he worked with the defunct Bendel State Hospitals Management Board (HMB) as a Medical Officer. In 1986, he resigned from the services of the Board and began private
practice as the Medical Director, Victory Medical Centre, Igbanke, Edo State.

He began his political career when he served as the Chairman of Ika North-East Local Government Area between 1991 and1993.

As the Delta North Senatorial district coordinator of the defunct Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), he worked closely with the likes of Borno-born Gambo Lawan (National Chairman), Festus Okubor (National Publicity Secretary) and Mr Ibori, another member of the GDM.

Mr Okowa was a founding member of the PDP in 1998 and played a pivotal role in the victory of Mr Ibori in the governorship election of 1999. He was first appointed as the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources from July 1999 to April 2001 before he was redeployed to the Water Resources Ministry between April 2001 and May 2003.

In September 2003, he was appointed the Commissioner for Health and held the portfolio till October 2006 when he resigned to seek nomination as the PDP governorship candidate. He lost the primary contest to Mr Ibori’s anointed candidate and nephew, Mr Uduaghan.

In June 2007, the newly inaugurated Mr Uduaghan appointed Mr Okowa as
Secretary to the Delta State Government. He resigned the position to vie for the position of the senator representing Delta North Senatorial candidate in 2011. In the election, he defeated the incumbent senator, late Patrick Osakwe, and others to clinch the seat.

Okowa as Delta Governor

As a senator, Mr Okowa was the surprise winner of the PDP governorship primary in December 2014. In an intriguing and pulsating contest for the ticket ahead of the 2015 gubernatorial contest, Mr Okowa achieved victory through some deft moves that perplexed his opponents and many stakeholders in the state.

For instance, he was able to forge an alliance with the acclaimed Ijaw ethnic leader, Edwin Clark, Government Tompolo and some Delta Central leaders like former Information Minister Sam Oyovbaire.

Mr Okowa went ahead to win the April 11, 2015 governorship election. With that victory, he made history as the first person to be elected governor of the multi-ethnic state from the Igbo-speaking Delta North Senatorial district. In victory, he remained humble and unassuming while describing the outcome as an act ordained by Almighty God.

As governor of Delta, Mr Okowa has been able to blend the multi-ethnic state as one organic body. From Burutu to Okpanam, Sapele to Aboh and Jesse to Emevor, he is at home with the reality of the people and the affairs on the ground. That explains why he was able to garner crosscutting support in the complex state during his first election as governor in 2015 and reelection in 2019.

The concordance of his sweeping victory in 2015, at a time the influential ex-governor and acclaimed godfather of PDP in the state, Mr Ibori, was in jail in the United Kingdom, speaks volumes about Mr Okowa’s sagacity.

In the absence of Mr Ibori, the outgoing administration of Governor
Uduaghan propped up and massively supported David Edevbie who Mr Okowa beat in 2015.

In the coming election of 2023, Mr Okowa has his task cut out for him as the running mate of the PDP’s presidential flagbearer, Mr Abubakar. He brings to the table vast experience that cuts across different aspects of leadership and governance. With a sound educational background, he started from the grassroots as a public servant, entrepreneur and local councilman. His experience as a grassroots mobiliser will be an added advantage for Mr Abubakar and the PDP.

Furthermore, his experience as a party administrator, state commissioner (across many ministries) and secretary to the state government will count. He served a tenure in the Senate before assuming office as governor of Delta State in May 2015, thereby affording him some insight into the working of governance at the centre.

Some analysts perceive Mr Okowa as not strong enough for a potentially
domineering Mr Abubakar if they win the presidency. Despite former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tough demeanour, he found it exerting to contain Atiku Abubakar’s alleged overarching influence as the vice president. For instance, the manner Mr Abubakar supervised the sale of some signature national assets such as NITEL left many tongues wagging at the time.

By Biodun Busari


A subtle campaign carried out by a petroleum economist, Dr Ahmed Adamu to portray former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar as a simple man to teeming Nigerian youths has received backlash on Twitter.

Adamu had posted on Twitter in the early hours of Wednesday that he booked a VIP room for him to watch a football match, but he (Atiku) declined the offer and preferred to watch the soccer match at the common section.

Adamu, thereby, described Atiku as “a very simple man” in a bid to appeal to the emotions of Nigerian populace and electorate ahead of 2023 general elections where he will be slugging it out with Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso among others.

The tactic, however, was dragged by tweeps describing it as a common strategy by politicians to deceive Nigerians before elections.

Adamu tweeted, “I took @atiku to a public Cafe to watch a soccer match, and I booked a VIP room for him. When he came he said, “Dr Ahmed, this is so elitist. Take me to a common section where everyone goes.” Then, I took him to a general viewing hall, and joined other people. A very simple man.”

He also posted pictures of Atiku, himself in a Manchester United away jersey and some other men in a football viewing center.



Reactions


A tweep, Peter Obi… We are the Structure! @Oserume1 tagging both Adamu and Atiku reacted, “Una don start again ooh. That’s how during 2015 campaign season, Buhari and Osinbajo used picture of them drinking tea with sachet Milo to form simple people. They got into government and the price of Milo was above the reach of simple people…”


Nefertiti’s boyfriend @iamstevemario tweeted a reaction as, “Wait you took him to the general viewing hall and am seeing just 2 abi 3 people in general viewing hall? Una no get customers ooo, Now everyone Dey copy Obi, very soon Atiku go begin fly economy, we are gradually building the bridge, thank you Peter Obi”

“Your Generation Put Us In This Big Problem… Rest! And Allow The Youths & Your Children Inclusive Take Back Our Country Out Of The Hands Of These Men You Keep Campaigning For,” Cobi @Sir_Chubsy said on Twitter.

Daddy Gaga�� @DaddyGaga10 reacted, “You guys just started, very soon you’ll take him to the market place to assist one market woman do some sales, Dr Ahmed there’s God o, but dis format dun cast sha.”

Olorì Ókó Shooter @ajiroba_abayomi just tweeted a simple reaction, “Old format,” and Joey @joeydave24 said, “Come of it man. This man is never and will never be simple. It’s because election is fast approaching. I met him in Asokoro some years back for few questions and he snubbed and told me to go to hell that was when he lost election in 2019.”

Me @xkalibaer reacted, “Oga Nigeria don pass this nonsense strategy. We all know that is some arranged stuff. Event that the same two faces kept appearing in all the pictures is that interaction with the common man? If he hasn’t been going to the general public previously it is hypocritical. Focus…”

By Godwin Isenyo


A member of the All Progressives Congress’ Election Management Committee at the just-concluded Special National Convention of the party, Senator Abubakar Girei, has claimed that the actual winner of the contest is Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Girei also said those propagating the Muslim-Muslim ticket as running mate to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the party were propagandists for their selfish interests.

According to him, the Vice President never encouraged vote-buying during the just-concluded presidential primary of the party won by the APC’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, with 1,271 votes.

However, the former lawmaker, who contested the position of the National Deputy Chairman (North) but stepped down to respect the consensus arrangement that brought in Senator Abdullahi Adamu, noted that the presidential primary was free, fair, and credible.

Girei, while speaking to newsmen in Kaduna on Monday, said, “But I can tell you that the Vice President won the special convention without fear of contradiction.

“As the Vice President, he is an heir to the throne, a crown prince, who should have been given the right of first refusal in the contest in which he offered himself to serve the nation, and in which he had national acceptability.

“He had the best speech and his manifesto at the convention was the best. He identified problems and proffered solutions to them more than all other aspirants. For someone who had never contested any election before and with no politicking knowledge, to emerge third at the convention, I consider him the greatest winner of the convention.

“I have no doubt in my mind that Nigeria has lost the best presidential candidate that would have been produced.”

He added that in the “politics of today, it is very clear that the highest bidders always have their way and the election goes to not necessarily the best, but those who could buy their way in a cash-and-carry manner.”

While congratulating the former Lagos State Governor as the standard-bearer of the APC in the 2023 general election, Girei
promised to work for the overall victory of the APC from bottom to top.

“As a loyal member of the APC, I will work for the total victory of my party’s candidates from bottom to top and I’m confident that our party will emerge victorious in the general election,” he said.

Noting that the Vice President was against vote-buying, Girei said “even his friends and associates who tried to help him could only do so without his knowledge or consent.”

“His teeming supporters are those of us who are committed to his ideals out of the convictions that he has the knowledge, experience, capacity, capability, mental and physical fitness, and all that is required to transform our dear nation to greatness.

“It may also interest Nigerians to know that PYO is opposed to monetisation of our democracy and politics, and has refused to encourage delegate or vote-buying.”

On the rumoured Muslim-Muslim ticket, the APC chieftain noted that it was an issue being championed by propagandists for selfish political interest, apparently by those who were neither good Muslims nor Christians.

“Politics, however, is all about winning strategy, so in my opinion, whatever strategy can be employed to win elections, that is within the confines of the constitution, to me, it is okay,” Girei added.