₦airaland Forum

The Lagos State Police Command has charged three suspects to court for allegedly beating a prostitute, Hannah Saliu, to death and setting her corpse ablaze for keeping the Holy Quran in her room.

PUNCH Metro gathered that one of the suspects patronised Saliu and after having sex with her, he reportedly paid her N1,000 for the service.

The customer was said to have left her room when she suddenly discovered that her N5,000 had gone missing.

She reportedly ran after the customer and accused him of stealing her money.

The accusation, however, degenerated into an argument.

The customer was said to have mobilised his friends to Saliu’s room to search for the missing money.

While searching the place, the friends reportedly found a Quran underneath her pillow.

A source said Saliu was questioned for possessing the Quran with the kind of job she was doing, adding that the customer and his friends, who became infuriated by the discovery, pounced on her, beat her up and set her ablaze.

The source said, “What happened was that the girl was a prostitute and a customer patronised her and after sleeping with her, the customer paid N1,000 for her service.

“But when the customer was leaving, he stole the prostitute’s N5,000 and after discovering that her money had gone missing, the prostitute chased him to ask for her money.

“The Northerners, who were with the customer that the girl accused of stealing her money, asked if she was sure that he stole her money. So, they decided to go and search her room where she attended to her customers.

“While searching the room, they found Quran under her pillow and started asking what she was using the Quran for as a prostitute. So, they started attacking her; they stabbed her, took her out and set her ablaze.

“The incident happened at Alaba Rago, where a lot of Northerners reside. The girl that was killed also came from the North. Their grouse was that she was not supposed to be carrying Quran because of the kind of work she was doing.”

The state Police Public Relations, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident.

He said, “The case is at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, and three suspects have been charged to court. The incident happened in April.”

A source identified the suspects as Abubakar Musa, Sarauta Monsur, and Surajo Yusuf.

PUNCH Metro had reported that a second-year student of Home Economics at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Deborah Samuel, was lynched by fellow students over an allegation of blasphemy.

By Kabir Yusuf


The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has announced that it has issued a ‘Code of Practice’ for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries including online platforms.

The agency stated this in a statement by its spokesperson, Hadiza Umar, on Monday.

“The new global reality is that the activities conducted on these Online Platforms wield enormous influence over our society, social interaction, and economic choices,” Mrs Umar wrote. “Hence, the Code of Practice is an intervention to recalibrate the relationship of Online Platforms with Nigerians in order to maximise mutual benefits for our nation, while promoting a sustainable digital economy.”

The announcement could face criticism from Nigerians who have been sceptical of the Buhari administration since it declared its intention to regulate the media, particularly online media, many of which have helped hold the government accountable.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the information minister, Lai Mohammed, told the National Assembly to amend the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) law to enable the agency to regulate online media.

NBC currently regulates broadcast media and has been criticised for imposing controversial fines on broadcast stations.

As part of its new code, NITDA says online platforms must “Provide a comprehensive compliance mechanism to avoid publication of prohibited contents and unethical behaviour on their platform.”


Read the full NITDA statement below.


Finally, NITDA Issues Code of Practice for Online Platforms Operating in Nigeria

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Issues a Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries and Conditions for Operating in Nigeria

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is mandated by section 6 of the NITDA Act 2007, to standardize, coordinate and develop regulatory frameworks for all Information Technology (IT) practices in Nigeria.

In accordance with its mandates, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, directed the Agency to develop a Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries (Online Platforms), in collaboration with relevant Regulatory Agencies and Stakeholders.

In line with the directive, NITDA wishes to present to the Public a Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries for further review and input.

The Code of Practice is aimed at protecting fundamental human rights of Nigerians and non-Nigerians living in the country as well as define guidelines for interacting on the digital ecosystem. This is in line with international best practices as obtainable in democratic nations such as the United State of America, United Kingdom, European Union, and United Nations.

The Code of Practice was developed in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), as well as input from Interactive Computer Service Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, and Tik Tok amongst others.


Other relevant stakeholders with peculiar knowledge in this area were consulted such as Civil Society Organizations and expert groups. The results of this consultations were duly incorporated into the Draft Code of Practice.

The new global reality is that the activities conducted on these Online Platforms wield enormous influence over our society, social interaction, and economic choices. Hence, the Code of Practice is an intervention to recalibrate the relationship of Online Platforms with Nigerians in order to maximise mutual benefits for our nation, while promoting a sustainable digital economy.

Additionally, the Code of Practice sets out procedures to safeguard the security and welfare of Nigerians while interacting on these Platforms. It aims to demand accountability from Online Platforms regarding unlawful and harmful contents on their Platforms. Furthermore, it establishes a robust framework for collaborative efforts to protect Nigerians against online harms, such as hate speech, cyber-bullying, as well as disinformation and/or misinformation.

Similarly, to ensure compliance with the Code of Practice, NITDA also wishes to notify all Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries operating in Nigeria that the Federal Government of Nigeria has set out conditions for operating in the country. These conditions address issues around legal registration of operations, taxation, and managing prohibited publication in line with Nigerian laws. The conditions are as follows:

Establish a legal entity i.e., register with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC);

Appoint a designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities;

Abide by all regulatory demands after establishing a legal presence;

Comply with all applicable tax obligations on its operations under Nigerian law;

Provide a comprehensive compliance mechanism to avoid publication of prohibited contents and unethical behaviour on their platform; and

Provide information to authorities on harmful accounts, suspected botnets, troll groups, and other coordinated disinformation networks and deleting any information that violates Nigerian law within an agreed time.

The Draft Code of Practice is available on the NITDA website for review and comments from the public.

The Federal Government wishes to reiterate its commitment towards ensuring Nigeria fully harness the potentials of the Digital Economy and safeguard the security and interest of its citizens in the digital ecosystem.

Signed

Mrs Hadiza Umar, mnipr; m.apra; mcipr
Head Corporate Affairs and External Relationship
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

By Clement A. Oloyede


The Coalition for Northern Groups (CNG) has warned that unless urgent measures are taken, there is likelihood of voter apathy in the Northern part of the country in the 2023 general elections.

Addressing journalists in Kano on Monday, the spokesman of the coalition, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said its observations indicated that there is lower participation in the ongoing update of voter registration in the North compared to other parts of the country.

This, the coalition said is not unconnected to the huge disappointment of Northerners in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The coalition also said the outcome of party primaries especially in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had further pushed a huge percentage of northerners to a position of caring little about who emerges winner in the 2023 election with the “monetization” of the process.

The coalition, however, charged northerners not to be discouraged with the turn of events but to massively register for their “Permanent Voter Cards as the only sure way of ensuring leadership that will address our limitations.”

It also “remind the northern voter to be vigilante with the direction of his voting by refusing to be pinned to political party specifics and go for candidates with pronounced credibility, competence, capacity and with the antecedent of expressly identifying with their problems around security, the economy and education.”

The coalition also demanded for a “thorough investigation into whether election funding in recent primary elections by parties followed the prescribed protocols as indicated in the Electoral Act” and also demanded for “an enquiry into the extent to which adherence or otherwise to the electoral guidelines contributed to the monetization of the electoral contests in the various parties and its implication for future electoral integrity.”

By Ismail Mudashir And Clement A. Oloyede


Fresh fact has emerged on how assurances by people around President Muhammadu Buhari gave at least six presidential aspirants in the just concluded primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the confidence that they were the candidates to beat in the race.

Several efforts to trim down the 23 aspirants that picked the forms for the presidential primary of the ruling party at N100million failed like a pack of cards as they insisted on slugging it out at the ballot box.

I’m on a mission to make futuristic collection of NFTs the norm in Nigeria – Timi Nathus
Golden Eaglets kick off WAFU B campaign with emphatic win over Ghana

After efforts by the party leaders at both the national and regional levels yielded no result, the 22 governors of the party devised a means to trim down the number. After meeting with the National Working Committee (NWC), they came up with a list of five aspirants to slug it at the convention ground, Eagle Square, Abuja.

However, immediately after the information filtered around that the governors had submitted the names of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi, to President Buhari, other aspirants kicked.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that like previous efforts, the governors’ moves collapsed, hence the fierce battle by the aspirants at the poll.

The back story to the insistence by most of the aspirants, it was gathered, was the assurance many of them kept getting, even as they were forcing the ballot that they would be endorsed by the president.

All the aspirants who banked on the president’s purported endorsement were defeated. Tinubu, who was the first to make public his intention to contest the presidency, picked the party’s flag with 1,271 votes.


Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan

Senate President Lawan was the last to join the race for the APC presidential ticket. His entry into the race ballooned the quest for the North to retain the presidential ticket of the party. He was regarded as a northern candidate, a claim he punctured during his campaign visit to the president’s home state of Katsina.

Hours before the primary, the national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, named Lawan as the consensus candidate at a meeting of the members of the NWC) of the party. The purported endorsement was, however, rebuffed by northern governors and other pro-southern presidency stakeholders.

Daily Trust on Sunday had exclusively reported that Lawan was the candidate of the president’s nephew, Malam Mamman Daura, a former director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura and Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

Sources in the Villa said the trio had succeeded in securing the buy-in of the president, but the uproar that trailed the national chairman’s endorsement made him make a U-turn.

Daura, in July 2020, while featuring in a BBC Hausa Service interview, said there was no need for zoning the presidential ticket to any part of the country. His statement generated a heated debate in the polity, with many construing it to be the position of the president, a claim that was punctured by the presidency.

With the collapse of the consensus arrangement, Lawan came fourth with 152 votes.


Rotimi Amaechi

Amaechi, a former minister of transportation, started his presidential campaign subtly through projects he sited in Daura, the president’s hometown in Katsina State.

Top on the list are the transportation university and the Kano-Maradi standard gauge railway line that passes through Daura, among others. To lay the foundation for his campaign, Amaechi was turbaned by the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Faruq, as Dan Amanar Daura (the trusted son of Daura).

Through the president’s nephew and personal assistant, Sabiu Yusuf, popularly known as Tunde, Amaechi reached out to many people around the president. Tunde, after Mamman Daura, is the most influential person in Buhari’s kitchen cabinet, according to those familiar with the workings of the Villa.

Banking on the influence of Tunde, promoters of Amaechi, until the collapse of the consensus arrangement, believed he was the candidate to beat. Two influential figures had told this paper that Amaechi was the president’s candidate.

The former Rivers State governor came second at the primary after polling 316 votes.


Yemi Osinbajo

Vice President Osinbajo rebuffed a series of moves to get him to step down for his godfather, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. There were reports that the South West leaders of the party appealed to him to step down for Tinubu 48 hours before the primary. He, however, insisted on trying his luck.

Star-boy, as he is fondly called by his supporters, came third with 235 votes. Until the conclusion of the primary, his supporters packaged him as the president’s anointed candidate, and they remained hopeful that Buhari would put a word for him, which never came.


Senator Godswill Akpabio

The ‘uncommon governor’, turned ‘uncommon senator’, minister and presidential aspirant, relied on people close to the First Lady, Aisha Buhari.

When he discovered the people working for him were unable to turn things around in his favour, he pulled out of the race and supported Tinubu, a development that endeared him to Asiwaju’s supporters.

Following his support for the national leader during the convention, Akpabio has since picked the party’s ticket to represent Akwa Ibom North West at the Senate.


Ibikunle Amosun

Like Akpabio, Amosun, a former governor of Ogun State, stepped down for the former Lagos State governor during the primary. His decision to support Tinubu shocked many as his relationship with him, according to APC chieftains in the South West, was not cordial.

Like the others, Amosun hoped for Buhari’s endorsement, banking on their personal relationship. Amosun, who represents the Ogun Central senatorial district at the National Assembly, has a very close tie with the president and his family.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the Buharis and Amosuns have a personal relationship built on trust and mutual respect over many years, thus the former governor sees himself as the president’s candidate.


Onu, Nwajiuba, Mokelu – South East aspirants who misread Buhari’s body language

The trio of former ministers Ogbonnaya Onu, Emeka Nwajiuba and Ikeobasi Mokelu, were said to have misread the president’s language. They were said to have banked on their closeness to the president to position themselves in the event that he would decide to support power shift to the South East to cool the tempers in the region.

The three South East politicians, therefore, saw themselves as the preferred candidates of the president. Some of them were also said to have gone to the race with the expectation that in the event that a northerner picked the ticket, they would be considered for a running mate.

At the end, however, the trio recorded abysmal performance during the primary. While Onu and Nwajiuba polled one vote each, Mokelu, a former minister during the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha, got no vote.


It’s morally wrong – Prof Fage

Professor Kamilu Sani Fage of the Bayero University, Kano (BUK), said it was more or less a political consideration for the president to give his blessings to everyone that informed him of his/her aspiration, but it would be morally wrong for members of his family or the presidency to ask different people to go into the context with the phantom promise of supporting them.

“Politically and morally, it would be wrong for the president to come out and say he is not going to support you. But if someone has an ambition, the president may not give him a direct commitment and show that he is not an obstacle against his/her ambition.

“Where the problem lies is if it is true that the first family actually instigated and supported different aspirants and later found out that they had supported so many. That is wrong, politically and morally,” Fage said.

On what the position portends for the presidency and the country, the renowned political scientist said it depended on how the presidency could mend fences, adding, “After all, politics should not be a do or die affair.”

“Their focus is to work as a team to ensure that their party succeeds in the general elections. The outcome of everything depends on how they can mend fences and build a team together. But if they still nurse the grudge of defeat or opposition, that will not work well for the system and the party,” he said.

Comparing Buhari’s family’s role in politicking with previous families, especially that of Olusegun Obasanjo (the only one to complete two terms), Fage said the latter was like a patriarchal family because the former president more or less single-handedly ran it like a military system, but for Buhari’s family he said, “They started with the First Lady in the background when the president said there won’t be an Office of the First Lady. Over time, she became more active, and at a time, she was very vocal in the opposition of the position of the president.”

He added, “Morally, they are the same in a certain respect. There are areas you can say they are below what other first families did, and there are areas you can say they are above; and in other areas, you can say they are the same. But in style, we know that Obasanjo’s style was more militaristic and a dominant male figure that outshined his wife, while Buhari’s style is such that gave room for members of the first family to air their views. That is why they sometimes disagree publicly,” he added.


Buhari was neutral – Presidency

The special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, said President Buhari was neutral during the presidential primary.

Adesina disclosed his view in an article titled, ‘Knock, knock! Who’s there?’ which he shared on his official Facebook page. According to him, Buhari, unlike former President Obasanjo, refused to impose his favourite on his party.

“It was human to have a favourite in such a situation, and the president did no wrong. But would you unduly favour the person? Would you throw your weight around, ride roughshod over the others and impose your favoured one on your political party and the nation? We have seen it before.

“Former President Obasanjo did it with Umaru Yar’adua. He did the same, though to a lesser extent, with Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Can Buhari do it and remain a democrat, fair and impartial? Knock, knock! Who’s there?

“That was the matter of interest in the week before the primary election. There were at least 23 aspirants. Who would the president give the nod? Could he remain neutral, non-aligned? At least, he had confessed he had someone in mind. Would he remain even-handed, detached, non-discriminatory?

“There were at least four consultative meetings towards getting an acceptable candidate for the party. One was with the APC governors, called Progressive Governors Forum, the other was with the presidential aspirants themselves, then with the National Advisory Council (formerly called Board of Trustees), and finally, with the Northern Progressive Governors Forum.”

Ahead of Friday’s deadline for political parties to submit the names of their presidential candidates and running mates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, most of the political parties are making hurried moves to beat the deadline.

The commission had said it would not extend the deadline for the submission of the names of the candidates and their running mates.

In the Peoples Democratic Party, the committee set up by the party to advise it on the most suitable running mate for Atiku Abubakar will hold its final meeting on Tuesday, Sunday PUNCH reliably learnt on Saturday.

The panel, which comprised governors, National Working Committee members, former governors and Board of Trustees members, was given the mandate of recommending to the party the best candidate that would be acceptable to many Nigerians and help the party win the February 25, 2023 election.

In the ruling All Progressives Congress, it was also learnt that the party and its candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, might settle for a Muslim-Muslim ticket, given the party’s difficulty in finding a Christian from the North, who would boost the party’s chances in the election.

A top source in the party told one of our correspondents on Saturday that even though consultation was still ongoing, the idea of picking either Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State or the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who are both northern Christians, was no longer topical due to their limited clout in the region.

The source noted that North-West and North-East had the bloc votes in the region and that if the party could not find a stronger Christian from the two sub-regions, it might settle for a Muslim.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday’s meeting of the PDP panel, a reliable source, who is also a member of the panel, told one of our correspondents that the committee adjourned its previous meeting to enable members to broaden their consultation.

“The deadline for submission is June 17, so the meeting was adjourned till Tuesday, June 14, to give room for more consultation and unification efforts. They will take a final decision on Tuesday,” The source said.

It was gathered from other sources in the party that Atiku, who is a BoT member, would also be part of the meeting, and that the party might take a final decision on the issue.

“Our presidential candidate will be part of the meeting on Tuesday and the major organs of the party are represented as well, so the decision there is as good as final. The announcement may be delayed to ratify the choice and of course we will watch what the other parties will come up with,” one of the sources stated.

Okowa favoured, Wike, Udom make PDP final list

There are strong indications that the Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, is favoured to emerge as Atiku’s running mate as the candidate is said to be favourably disposed to the choice of Okowa, a medical doctor serving his second term as the governor of the oil-bearing state.

Other persons being considered and who are interested in the slot are governors Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State and Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. Wike was the first runner-up during the party’s presidential primary held on May 29, 2022.

A top source in the party, who is also close to the candidate, said, “Atiku will consult very well. He has met with the governors on the platform of the party; he has met with members of the national caucus, the PDP Governors’ Forum, members of the National Executive Committee, and even former presidents and heads of state.

“The leadership of the party asked him to bring three names that he thinks he could work with and he did, which are the names people have been mentioning everywhere; Wike, Okowa and Udom Emmanuel. But I think he prefers Okowa. He (Okowa) is believed to have the support of the majority of the governors, including those from the South-East and South-South, where he hails from.

“The preference for him is also strategic. Following the need to carry along the South-East people, Okowa is Igbo from the Igbo part of Delta State. He is calm, a medical doctor and does not insult or fight people, including his colleagues. Even during campaigns, he’s not the type to speak ill of fellow aspirants or candidates.

“Therefore, it’s not likely that there will be any major opposition to his choice. Like I said, he is Igbo and he will create that needed balance between the South-South and the South-East. The Igbo will support him and people in the South-South will also support him.”

There are also insinuations that some PDP governors were against the choice of Wike as Atiku’s running mate.

On why Wike, who was a major contender for the presidential ticket, was not considered, the source, who was privy to some of the meetings held over the issue, told Sunday PUNCH, “Some governors frustrated the move to make him the running mate. They feel he is too powerful. But in all honesty, you need someone like Wike to win the election.

“He can fight dirty and can pull the crowd. But some of the governors, who form a powerful and influential bloc in the party, feel otherwise and you cannot dismiss their views.”

The source said a new twist to the search was the view of some stakeholders that the running mate should come from the South-West.

He added, “As it is now, it is very likely for Tinubu to pick his running mate from North-West. We must not forget that the majority of the votes are from the North-West and South-West. That is where the bloc votes are.

“What some stakeholders are saying is that if he does, it will be dangerous for the PDP to totally ignore the South-West, because North-West, which has the highest votes, may give Tinubu that advantage.

“Now, people are saying if a Christian from the South-West is Atiku’s running mate, it will affect Tinubu’s votes in the region, because running with a Muslim/Muslim ticket will spark outrage from Pentecostal Christians and that will affect his votes among even the northern Christians. It will also affect him in the South-South. That is the argument. So, the PDP cannot also ignore the South-West.”

To deepen his consultation, Atiku met with former PDP governors on Friday after he had met with former ministers. He wrote on his Facebook page that the responses from all the stakeholders that he had met reinforced his belief that the party would win if the unity was sustained.

APC considers Bagudu, Shettima, Ganduje, El-Rufai

Fresh information emerged on Saturday that the Tinubu camp had ruled out Lalong and Mustapha, who is from Adamawa State, and might settle for a core Muslim northerner, regardless of their advantage of being Christians.

One of those involved in the consultation for Tinubu’s running mate pointed out that the party might settle for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

Reliable sources close to Tinubu also indicated that the former Lagos State governor would rely on the input of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and members of the Progressives Governors’ Forum on who should be his running mate.

The pressure to pick a Muslim as his running mate, it was learnt, was to assuage his many supporters in the North due to indications that there were no popular Christian politicians to sway votes in favour of the APC in the region.

A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the sensitive issue, affirmed that four men were in contest for the position. The source said, “We have Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State; a former governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima; Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State; and Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State.”

It was learnt that the Governor of Borno State, Prof Babagana Zulum, made a case for Shettima when Tinubu visited the state during his consultation with delegates. Shettima is a strong supporter of the APC candidate and he spoke out in Tinubu’s defence after his Abeokuta outburst.

Another source noted, “However, the President and the members of the Progressives Governors’ Forum will play key roles in deciding the running mate. You will be surprised to know that Zulum made a case for Shettima when Asiwaju visited Borno during the campaign. He said, ‘Jagaban, please I am going to ask for two favours from you. I want you to pay attention to my state and also consider my principal, Senator Shettima, as your running mate. He has good things to offer and you will enjoy him’.

“For now, the running mate may have to come from these four men.”

It was gathered that Lalong’s name was dropped because he’s known to be very close to the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who came second during the primary.

The source said, “From fresh considerations, we cannot pick Lalong or Boss Mustapha. Apart from his closeness to Amaechi, a factor we are not very comfortable with, Lalong is from the North-Central, which is not a core northern state. Plateau is also considered not to be strategic enough to win elections in northern Nigeria. Using him will be like alienating the entire northern Nigeria.

“Concerning Boss Mustapha, well, he is not with us. Though he belonged to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria like Tinubu, he does not identify with him. He was not part of our campaign and has yet to visit the aspirant (as of Saturday afternoon) since he won the primary.

“In his home state of Adamawa, it’s known that Mustapha cannot win an election there. So, why will you impose such a man on an aspirant that needs the huge votes from the northern region?”


I’ll work with Tinubu, says Amaechi

Meanwhile, Amaechi has expressed his readiness to work with Tinubu. In his short response to an inquiry on whether he was ready to work with the party’s candidate, the former minister said, “Yes, we met. He came to my house and we discussed and resolved to work together.”

‘Muslim-Muslim ticket debate, conspiracy to distract Tinubu’

The National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the APC, Salihu Lukman, said the debate over a perceived Muslim-Muslim ticket was a ploy to distract Tinubu, adding that he was not surprised to find party members among those second-guessing the outcome.

Lukman in a statement in Abuja on Saturday, stated, “Most of those trying to use religious arguments to influence the choice of running mate for Asiwaju Tinubu are impliedly arguing that a Christian northerner can only win presidential election if his/her running mate is a Muslim from southern Nigeria.

“In the same vein, this will be politically disadvantageous, if not impossible for any Christian from the North or Muslim from the South to win the presidential election. Such a backward national mindset must be changed.”

He said the 2023 presidential campaigns must not be reduced to the level of ethnic and religious sentiments if Nigeria was to move forward.

Allow northern govs decide your running mate, stakeholders urge Tinubu

Some stakeholders and chieftains of the APC, on Saturday, urged the party’s presidential candidate to allow the northern APC governors to choose his running mate.

They argued that since the northern governors suggested that the party should zone its presidential ticket to the South, they were still in a better position to field a running mate.

The Director-General, Voice of Nigeria and foundation member of the APC, Osita Okechukwu, told one of our correspondents, “On the issue of the running mate, I will advise our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to weigh the opinion of the northern governors on this matter. They stand in a better position, better than any other organ of the party, in consultation with Mr President to give us a candidate.”

Also, the Chairman of the APC Rebirth Group, Aliyu Audu, said, “The northern governors sat and decided that the ticket should go to the South. The same set of people should be able to decide who will be the running mate. It is not just up to the candidate. It is up to the party.”

The APC’s first national secretary, Tijjani Tumsah, also stated, “Tinubu’s criteria should be competence, a known value addition to the ticket and someone who can deliver. We should not be limited by religion or some other criteria. His criteria should be a competent person from the North.”

As of the time of filing this report, efforts to reach Tinubu’s spokesperson, Mr Tunde Rahman, proved abortive as he neither responded to calls or an SMS sent to him.

Religion not a problem in choice of running mate – Campaign organisation

Religious affiliation will not be a factor in the choice of a running mate for Tinubu, his campaign organisation said on Saturday.

Responding to the rejection of Muslim-Muslim ticket by the Christian Association of Nigeria and counter-claims by the Muslim Rights Concern, the Director, Legal Directorate, Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Babatunde Ogala (SAN), told Sunday PUNCH that the APC would not pander to such sentiment.

He said, “What is the business of CAN in politics? That is what I don’t understand? Was CAN there when we were doing our convention? Do they know the processes of how our candidate emerged? I think CAN, MURIC and other religious bodies should concentrate on their religion and stop heating up the polity. The party has not come up with any position; so why the issue of threats? What is their own with issuing threats?

“We will pick the best (running mate) for our party who can deliver the election for us; they should allow the people to decide what they want.”


NASS caucus joins APC govs in search for Tinubu’s running mate

The National Assembly Caucus of the APC has joined the search for a running mate for Tinubu, Sunday PUNCH has learnt.

The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, last week hinted that by the current zoning arrangement in the party, the North-East should produce Tinubu’s running mate.

In an interview with our correspondent on Friday, Ado-Doguwa, who is from Kano in the North-West, argued that the APC could win with a Muslim-Muslim ticket, noting that the candidate is a liberal Muslim married to a Christian, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

He added, “The National Assembly Caucus will rather continue to partner with the governors to chart the best way forward for our great party to deliver in the 2023 general elections. We are also adequately represented in virtually all the decision-making and decision-taking horizons of the party.

“On the tentative zoning arrangement, I believe the North-East should be allowed to produce an acceptable running mate. But whether that will be Ahmad Lawan or not, I cannot tell. My candid opinion is that in this 21st Century, Nigeria has passed that stage where religion will play a prominent role in the selection of our vice-president.”

However, the lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District, Senator Ali Ndume, said his involvement in the presidential race ended with the failure of Amaechi to clinch the party’s ticket. He added that Tinubu would determine who would be his running mate.

A member of the National Assembly, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, disclosed that Lawan, Zulum, Shettima and a former Speaker of the House, Yabuku Dogara, were being considered.

“It is very likely that in spite of all the stories going round to be a Muslim-Muslim ticket. It is very likely. But who that person will be, I am not in the position to tell. Lawan is not in the contest because Lawan is seen as someone who betrayed Tinubu,” the lawmaker added.


I’ll pick credible southern Christian – Kwankwaso

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has said the party is currently making consultation to choose a credible southern Christian as his running mate.

He said in an interview with one of our correspondents, “A committee will be constituted to help get the best Nigerian, who will be a Christian from the southern part of the country, as the running mate. The Kwankwasiyya National Movement is already in the southern part of the country and we will get someone who is widely accepted in the southern part of the country as my running mate.

“I am sure they will come with their own benefits to be added to the NNPP for the success of the party. When we come together, no candidate of the APC or the PDP will be able to defeat us.”

Asked how he planned to defeat the two major parties, the former Defence Minister said, “The Kwankwasiyya movement is very popular, and we will even win in the North-East.

“I’m happy that the Electoral Bill was signed into law, and that will make it difficult for anyone to rig us as they’ve always done in the past.”

Indications have emerged on the role played by some critical party and state officials in the emergence of the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as the party’s presidential candidate.

This is coming amid hints that indecision and serious infighting on the part of President Muhammadu Buhari and the shadowy Aso Villa cabal played a vital role in Tinubu’s eventual emergence on Tuesday. Various sources who spoke with Saturday Telegraph exclusively during the week stated that but for the role and last minute deft moves of Tinubu, the ticket would have been won by someone else apart from him.

The sources fingered the National Secretary of the APC, Senator Iyiola Omisore and the immediate past Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, as pivotal and key to Tinubu’s emergence as APC’s flag bearer. According to the sources who pleaded not to be named, while Omisore became the eye, ears of Tinubu in the National Working Committee of the party, Amosun served the interest of the former Lagos State governor at the Presidential Villa.

“I can confidently tell you that for the roles played by Omisore and Amosun, Tinubu would have kissed the presidential ticket of the APC goodbye,” one of the sources said. He (the source) further stated that unknown to many, Omisore did not only fill Tinubu in on happenings within the national secretariat of the party, he also ensured that he helped him largely in playing the right politics that further served the interest of the Lagos State-born politician.

“You know that Omisore is a very experienced politician and he brought that to bear at the national secretariat so well. He even went further to brief Tinubu on happenings in the party preparatory to the last special national convention,” the source added.

On the role played by Amosun, another source close to the top echelon of the APC told our correspondent that the former governor of Ogun State drew closer to Tinubu when it became clear that his successor, Mr. Dapo Abiodun, had drifted towards Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. ”It was more of a game of survival for Amosun who had fallen out with Tinubu in the build up to the 2019 general election and he never wasted time before he seized the opportunity by moving closer to Asiwaju.

He utilised his closeness to the President and the Presidency to Tinubu’s advantage,” the source stated. Indications also emerged to suggest that the inability of the shadowy cabal to reach a consensus on its preferred candidate also went a long way to strengthening the hand of the former Lagos State governor.

“Up to the time of the National Convention, members of the inner core of the Buhari Presidency failed to come up with their choice aspirants and they also worked at cross purposes undermining one another in the process,” a source said. Another important factor was the efforts of Governors Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano) and Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna) in persuading their counterpart in Jigawa, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru, to come on board the Bola Tinubu train. Sources added that it was easy to persuade Badaru, who hitherto was working for the emergence of former President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s consensus candidate.

“When Ganduje and el-Rufai realised that the Jonathan-for-President project that Badaru was pushing had hit the rocks they moved in to persuade him to join the train,” the source said. Asked to comment on why and how el-Rufai opted to join the Tinubu train, the source said, “What I can tell you is that the decision by Tinubu to cancel his birthday colloquium did the magic. His decision to visit the governor and the donation he made following the Abuja-Kaduna train attack forced the Kaduna governor’s hands.”

El-Rufai was subsequently to lead Northern state governors to Buhari in the wake of the announcement of the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, to President Buhari to state the resolve of governors elected on the ticket of the APC in the North on the need to shift the Presidency to the South.

Anozie Egole


Eighteen months after the Federal Government announced the reopening of the Seme border following a 14-month closure, smuggling is once more thriving there, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.

When the Federal Government announced the closure of the Seme border in August 2019, the intention was to curb the smuggling of goods and weapons.

A tour of the border by our correspondent showed that there was a lull in commercial activities in the community, while smuggling continued to boom.

The once busy J4 and J5 motor parks located at the border community, where commuters board vehicles to different parts of Lagos State, have long been demolished with little or no space left for vehicles again.

A motorcyclist, Mr Orji Ike, who specialises in conveying passengers across the border, said, “The business of smuggling is booming now unlike before. During the border closure, it was moving very slowly as people were being careful not to be caught. Now, people freely go to Cotonou to buy second-hand clothing and come in and nobody disturbs anybody.

“Even if you want to buy cannabis sativa, I will take you across and when you are done, call me I will come and pick you and nobody will disturb you, but that one comes with extra charges”

Corroborating the motorcyclist, a trucker, who gave his name simply as Babafryo, added that smuggling of all types of contraband was booming at the border.

He said, “There is no type of goods that we can’t carry across or bring in here; at worst, we go through the waterside. Many people, especially those crossing with contraband, go through the waterside to avoid disturbance even though there is little or no disturbance on the normal route.

“If you are coming in with large quantities of contraband, we have the type of cars we use to bring such goods in and the time so that nobody will disturb the cars. Though business is still very dull now compared to before the closure, we are very hopeful it will pick up. In case you have any thing that you want us to help you take across to either Seme or to bring to Nigeria, let us know; that is what we do.”

A resident of the area, Blessing Adejo, lamented that there had been a massive drop in activities at the border following the closure and eventual reopening, even as he blamed the Monday sit-at-home by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra in the South-East as the reason the border was dry when our correspondent visited the community on Monday.

“The truth is that since the closure and reopening of the border, activities have been very slow here; you can see how we are just standing with no work. People are not travelling; I believe another reason why the border is so dry today is because of the Monday sit-at-home in the South-East,” Adejo stated.

When queried on why he blamed the sit-at-home as the reason why activities at the border remained low, he said, “We all know that the Igbo travel a lot; they make use of this border more. So, since the sit-at-home started, most of them coming from the South-East cannot come on Mondays, but other days are better.”

A food vendor, Ijeoma Onye, said activities in the area had been paralysed due to the closure and eventual reopening of the border.

Adejo also said a lot of people had relocated out of the area adding, “Some of the people who are doing business in the area have travelled due to low patronage. The area is no longer the way it used to be before the border closure. We are, however, hopeful that business will soon pick up again.”

The Seme chapter Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Lasisi Fanu, said it was now more expensive to bring in goods through the border than through the seaports.

He said members of the association spent a minimum of N1.8m to clear a 40-foot container and N1.3m to clear a 20-foot container, adding that the government had stopped informal trade, which was affecting their businesses drastically.

Fanu stated, “There has not been any change since they reopened the border; the border was reopened in 2020 and nothing drastically has changed. The clearing procedure in Cotonou still remains the same; it has been N1.8m for 40-foot and N1.3m for 20-foot containers.

“Before now, we used trucks to load goods from Cotonou directly, so you can combine more than one container in a truck and move it as one, because it was an informal trade then. But before they reopen the border, they said the informal trade must stop and it has stopped. They said the goods must move into Nigeria in the original form, which is containerised, and it must be received by the Nigeria Customs Service before you can think of opening the container.”

He also said that most of the trucks with goods going to Cotonou were under the Economic Community of West African Trade Liberalisation Scheme.

Fanu added, “So with that in Nigeria now, we work with the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report. Though we worked with the PAAR before, we paid in bulk as informal trade, but now, you open PAAR with the container number and you pay the same amount and still pay in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

“So, that extra amount we pay in Cotonou stands to be something extraordinary, because it is not applicable for people that import through Lagos. If, for instance, you spend N2.5m as the landing cost from Cotonou, Lagos will spend N1.5m because of the extra cost of clearing in the Cotonou port.”

Fanu said life in the border community had been tough since the reopening because the government had failed to show its presence in the community.

He advised the government to establish a truck park at the border, adding that the facility would generate revenue for the government.

Fanu added, “Life has been tough here since the reopening of the border. If the government of Nigeria can provide some services at the border post like trailer parks, they will be generating revenue for the government. But the government doesn’t want to do that; how do you think people living in the border community will survive? They will have to involve themselves in one illegal trade or the other.

“So, life here is very tough because the government has failed to show its presence in the community. We have been asking to be given facilities, but they have refused. Seme border happens to be the only industry in this area, likewise Idiroko and Owode. Since the reopening, nothing has been given to the border community.”

Also speaking, the Seme border Chairman of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Ekene Onyeebuchi, said, “There is not much change at the border; presently we don’t have enough work here as business no longer come. Imported goods are very scanty here; once in a while you will see one or two containers. Before the closure, business was booming, but now, to clear goods here is more expensive because the government of Benin Republic has added some charges to what we pay.

“They now take a high transit charge; we spend CFA1.4m in Cotonou, which is almost the same thing with the naira and you need to carry it by truck to the border where you will spend almost CFA500,000. And they have a container deposit of about CFA3m. So, these are some of the challenges and the government will take some percentage out as tax.”

Speaking on the issue of smuggling, the Customs Public Relations Officer in charge of the command, Husseni Abdullahi, said, “There is no country in the world where there is no smuggling, the countries only fight to reduce it to the barest minimum.

“There is no country in the world where smuggling has been stopped completely; we only try to suppress smuggling to the barest minimum and to the best of our ability. I know that officers and men of my command are doing their best to ensure that we suppress smuggling to the barest minimum.”

He said the commonest products smuggled through the route were petroleum products and so far, the command had seized over 300,000 litres

Abdullahi stated, “And to tell you the fact that we are doing that, the common smuggling activity in this terrain is smuggling of petroleum products and as far as I am concerned, the command is doing wonderfully well on that aspect. I can tell you that between January and now, we have over 327,000 litres of petroleum products seized by the officers.

“We are still on that even as I am talking to you, we still have seizures of petroleum products. We have measures to suppress smuggling in this axis aside from the Customs Area Controller patrol team, we have other patrol teams; we have the anti-bunkering unit that has to do with that one.

“And to God be the glory, we are achieving success in that regard. You will never see second-hand clothing in our domain because we don’t allow that; we have two approved checkpoints by the government.”

By Emmanuel Aziken


At the beginning of the final full year of his administration, President Muhammadu Buhari had in one of the interviews he granted Channels Television in January 2022 said that he had a preferred successor whose identity he would safeguard to protect such from political or physical harm.

Buhari with the air of an authoritative leader who knew where he was going had said he had a potential successor whose identity would remain a secret.

“No, I wouldn’t say because he may be eliminated if I mention. I better keep it,” the President stated in the interview aired on January 5, 2022.

However, as the nation progressed, the president appeared to demur in May when after the Eid-el-fitr prayers he told reporters that he had no preferred successor.

His assertion of a lack of a succession agenda in the consideration of many was in keeping with diplomatic and political culture. After all, no leader would be expected to show forth his hand even before the beginning of the game.

Whatever, the general inclination was that the president and those who form the powerful cabal around him were not inclined to some particular persons as a successor.

Among those severally mentioned were Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his protegee, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Multiple reasons were speculated for the opposition to Tinubu. However, no evidence was produced by his opponents to back their claims against the former Lagos State governor.


Indeed, a powerful cabinet member from the Northwest was known to have for about two years up till recently held monthly meetings with selected powerful political actors with a representative from each state of the country with the single aim to stop Tinubu.

Vice-President Osinbajo was also not reckoned with essentially because of actions he took as acting president in 2018 which the cabal felt undermined it.

As the reality of the transition dawned, Tinubu was about the first to make an open declaration for the succession when he visited the president to inform him of his intentions in January.

Expectations from the Tinubu camp that Buhari would pay back the favour that the former Lagos State governor gave when he backed Buhari in 2014 were far-fetched.

The most that Tinubu asked for was for a level playing ground from the president. That too was apparently not forthcoming.

In the days following Tinubu’s consultation with the president several others also approached the president for the same deed with all going about with the claim that they were encouraged.

An indication that Buhari was determined to have his way in the succession came when the president threw up Abdullahi Adamu as the national chairman of the party.

It was a last minute move that seemed to cause dread in the Tinubu camp. Before Adamu emerged, Senator Tanko Al-Makura had appeared the major candidate for the chairmanship of the party. His bid was pushed by elements in the old Congress for Progressive Change, CPC who thought that with him as national chairman that the Buharists would have a sort of refuge in the post-Buhari years.

Saturday Vanguard learnt that the Tinubu camp was also quick to seize the initiative, with the permutation that a national chairman from the old CPC would help to push the argument for the presidential candidate to come from the old Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN from where Tinubu came.

There were allegations that Tinubu quickly moved in to support al-Makura even while still subtly supporting his old friend, George Akume for the same position. However, as the election approached, word apparently leaked to the presidency that Tinubu was quietly in bed with al-Makura and the chairmanship project became doomed despite the huge investment already made.

Meanwhile, the powerful club of governors who were mostly from outside the old CPC bloc were also trying to get their foothold on the party ahead of the national convention. So, away from the popular campaigns done by al-Makura, Akume, Senator Ali Sheriff among others, they quietly zeroed in on Alhaji Bawa Bwari, former minister of solid minerals.

Bwari, a former chief whip of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2007 was popular among all the different tendencies. And that actually appeared to be a problem too because he related well with Osinbajo and Tinubu, two men who had been zeroed in not to get the APC presidential ticket by the cabal.

However, as the final days of the National Convention approached last March, the governors appeared for once to put aside their differences and worked out a unity list for the offices available at the national convention. They shared it among themselves and out of courtesy left the position of national chairman for the president who threw in Senator Abdullahi Adamu, a former prominent stalwart of the PDP.

Out of the six names put forward by the cabal, only that of the national chairman was approved in the unity list, a reason for which many claimed delayed the president’s appearance at the convention ground last March. The cabal it was said wanted to call off the bluff of the governors by aborting the convention by the president’s absence. However, the president insisted and went for the convention.

The bounce from the convention appeared to strengthen the governors who now felt that they had the momentum leading to the presidential primary. Having given the president the national chairman, the long quest of the governors to provide the presidential candidate and running mate from their midst seemed about a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile, the emergence of Adamu as a national chairman was received as a big blow by the Tinubu camp which saw him as a mortal foe.

“Asiwaju and this man (Abdullahi Adamu) have never crossed paths, they are not friends,” a source within the Tinubu camp disclosed. For them, the emergence of Adamu was a calculated move by the presidency to shoot Tinubu down.

Adamu did not hide his inclinations in any way. First, he appeared to demur on the issue of rotation of the presidency to the South and when he saw an opportunity for the kill after the Tinubu Abeokuta verbal missile, he threatened Tinubu with sanctions.

Meanwhile, the president despite the claim earlier in May of not having a preferred successor on the last day of the month opened up in a meeting with the governors to allow him choose a successor.

In a meeting with the governors on May 31 Buhari said, “In keeping with the established internal policies of the Party and as we approach the Convention in a few days, therefore, I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the Governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.

“We gave governors re-election tickets or opportunity to pick their successors; allow me pick my successor.”

The basis of the plea was also primed on the fact that the governors had the delegates, having supervised the emergence of the three ad-hoc delegates per state for the presidential primary.

Meanwhile, the presidency continued to dilly-dally on the issue of the ticket apparently wanting to pounce on the last minute against the governors as it did in the case of the national chairman.

The presidency also saw the division in the camp of the governors as some of them were with Fayemi, others with Tinubu. Governors Yahaya Bello, Ben Ayade, and Dave Umahi were on their own.

Unlike the last national convention when the governors were able to share different offices among themselves, there was not much to share this time. It was just one ticket and this made it possible for there to be division not to go as a united front against the president.

However, for many of the Northern governors, personal interest and political expediency also appeared to favour a push to the South. The only serious candidate from the region was Senator Ahmad Lawan. Lawan initially was believed to be a prop for Tinubu, a move that made the Fayemi camp to urge Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa to also pick up the form. It was only later that they would learn that Lawan was on his own mission.

For some geopolitical reasons, the Hausa Fulani oligarchy could also not contemplate, Lawan, who is Bade, a minority of minorities arising to empower Northern minorities as president. Even more, many of the governors were also fixed on becoming vice president to a Christian president who they were priming to be Fayemi.

What appeared to be the first punch against the presidency from the camp of the governors was the communique issued by the Northern Governors last Saturday in which they resolved that power should shift to the south.

“After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria.

“It is a question of honour for the APC, an obligation that is not in anyway affected by the decisions taken by another political party. We affirm that upholding this principle is in the interest of building a stronger, more united and more progressive country,” the governors submitted.

Following that communique the governors also met with the president during which he asked for five names. After receiving the list of five names which included Osinbajo, Tinubu, Fayemi, Amaechi, and Governor Dave Umahi, the president still did not act on it prompting suspicion in the camp of the governors who now started preparing a Plan B.

It was while they were considering this that on Monday the national chairman told members of the NWC that he had received the name of Senator Ahmad Lawan from the president as the consensus candidate.

Outraged members of the NWC hit back at the chairman, immediately leaked it to the governors who rallied together to confront the president who promptly denied Adamu.

It was at this point that the governors reportedly triggered their plan B for a powerful individual to fight off Lawan.

While Osinbajo had appeared as the most likely beneficiary of the revolt, the fact that he was part of the Buhari government appeared not to favour him as the fighter needed.

At that point too, Southwest political leaders who had been in constant meetings with their northern colleagues also brought pressure on aspirants from the region to step down. There were reports of deals made at the last minute and on the convention ground that involved governors North and south which appeared to have also helped the Tinubu campaign. Saturday Vanguard does not have evidence of the nature of the deals whether financial or political that was made to swing loyalties.

The reality of Lawan becoming the candidate appeared to have been the momentum that stirred the rebellion on the convention ground.

Meanwhile, besides the deals that the Tinubu camp worked out, the camp also had a strong relationship with a key player within the inner circle of the president. That person was said to have also played a key role in keeping the president away while the governors fought off Adamu and allowed for Tinubu to gain the momentum.

So, the president even if he had sent Adamu or not to sell Lawan had to watch agape, sitting down as a duck as the momentum went the way of Tinubu. It is no wonder that as the convention finished that Buhari is this weekend being described as the lame duck president.

Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has directed the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zaccheaus Adangor to commence immediate prosecution of his predecessor and former Transport Minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, over alleged fraudulent sale of state assets and diversion of $50m.

The Governor named those to be included in the prosecution as Rivers All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Tonye Cole and his company Sahara Energy.

The Governor said there was a need for Rivers people and the rest of the world to know what actually happened to the $50 million that disappeared from state’s account without a proof of business where it was deployed.

Wike said: “Attorney General, you’re at a critical period where people want to know what the State is going to do with the Judiciary Panel of Inquiry after the Supreme Court judgement on it.

“Luckily, you came at the right time when we have preferred criminal charges against the former governor (Amaechi), Sahara Energy, Tonye Cole and the rest of them.

“So, you are coming at the right time to take over the matter and to make sure it is prosecuted diligently. I don’t want to hear excuses. Let the people see what happened to our money.

“The world will see how $50 million from our account was moved to a company without nothing to show whether there was a business.”

Wike further directed Adangor to send a protest letter to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) following the harassment of Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Siminalaye Fubara.

Wike gave the directives on Friday at the Executive Chamber of Government House, Port Harcourt, during the inauguration of three new commissioners.

Those sworn-in by the Governor and their portfolios are Prof. Adangor, Isaac Kamalu, Commissioner of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning and Dr. George-Kelly, Dakorinama Alabo, Commissioner for Works and Special Projects.

The Governor recalled that the EFCC and its officers attempted to harass and intimidate Fubara, who before his emergence as the PDP governorship candidate, had served as the Accountant-General of Rivers State.

Wike said EFCC should know that the era of impunity and flagrant disobedience to the rule of law was gone and that his administration would not accept such behaviour.

He threatened that the State Government would charge the EFCC for contempt if it failed to retrace its steps.

Wike explained that hitherto, the Rivers State government had secured a subsisting court judgment against the EFCC stopping the commission from investigating the state finances or its officers.

He said there was also another subsisting judgment against EFCC by the PDP governorship candidate on the enforcement of his fundamental rights.

He said: “Rivers State government had judgment against EFCC since 2007. The court said you (EFCC) has no business in the financial transactions of the (Rivers) State. EFCC has been struggling to set aside that judgement until now. They have not even appealed it.”

Wike noted that nobody would accept the use of EFCC at such political period to intimidate persons in order to achieve their skewed goals.

He said: “We are in a political period. People should not think that they will use EFCC to intimidate or manipulate him (Fubara). Nobody will accept that. So you (Attorney General) have to attach the judgment of the candidate against EFCC and send the right signal to them that we are not people that can be cowed.”

The governor commended the newly sworn-in commissioners for showing capacity, loyalty and commitment in previous assignments without excuses.

Wike informed that he would be careful in constituting his cabinet to full capacity because at such twilight of his administration, only people with undivided loyalty were needed to ensure good ending.

“I want to commend three you that you have shown commitment, you have shown hard work, you have shown loyalty. And for me, that is the only way to pay back the people who have shown in spite of all odds, they are still there with you”, he said.

Some of the longestserving members of the House of Representatives were successful in the recently concluded party primaries to contest in the 2023 general election. PHILIP NYAM reviews their stewardship

Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila

Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila is among the longest-serving members in the lower chamber. He was first elected in 2003, meaning he is spending his 19th year in the parliament. Representing Surulere I Federal Constituency of Lagos state, Gbajabiamila came to the House on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 2003; he was reelected in 2007 under the umbrella of Action Congress (AC) and in 2011 was elected for the third time on the ticket of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

In 2015 and 2019, Gbajabiamila was elected for the 4th and 5th time on the platform of the APC. He contested for the position of the speaker but lost to Hon. Yakubu Dogara. He was however lucky in 2019 when he defeated Hon. Mohammed Bago from Niger state emerged as the speaker. The speaker is one of the few legislators who had the privilege of serving both as minority and majority leaders in the same dispensation.

He was the leader of the AC and minority whip. He became minority leader between 2011 and 2015 and later majority leader from 2015 to 2019 Before then, he had served as chairman of the House committee on FAAN. He will be seeking election to the House for the 6th time in February 2023.


Hon. Nicholas Mutu

Hon. Nicholas Mutu representing the Patani/Bomadi Federal Constituency of Delta State is the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives having been first elected in 1999. He has been a legislator consecutively for 23 years. He will be seeking elections for the 7th time having again, emerged the winner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded party primaries in the state. Announcing the election results at St. Brendan College, Bomadi, venue of the party primaries, Sunday, the Returning Officer, Mr Okemo Tilije, said that the total accredited voters were sixty and the total votes cast were fifty-nine while one vote was not cast. He said: “I announce the results as follows: sixty votes were accredited with one void vote, Hon. Basil Ganagana got twentythree votes and Hon. Nicholas Mutu scored thirty-six votes. “I hereby declare Hon. Nicholas Mutu winner of the party primaries in Patani/ Bomadi Federal Constituency.” Mutu, who is the chairman of the House committee on gas, was the chairman of the committee on NDDC in the 8th Assembly. There is no other member of the lower chamber who has spent 23 years in the parliament. The lawmaker has also never changed political party as has been consistently elected on the platform of the PDP.


Hon. Ahmed Idris

Wase Ahmed Idris Wase, the deputy speaker of the 9th Nigerian House of Representatives represents Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State. Like Speaker Gbajabiamila, he was first elected to the House in 2003 and has since been re-elected four times. He was successful at the just concluded primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and will be seeking election for the 6th time to the lower chamber.

Since coming to the House in the last 19 years, he has served as a member of the Federal Government Delegation to the 89th Session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York, United States, 2016. He has also been a Governing Council Member of the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), 2015. Before becoming deputy speaker in 2019, he had served as the chairman of the House committee on federal character and deputy leader of the House in the 8th assembly. He also worked on different committees. He is one of the longest-serving Reps and would try his popularity again in February 2023 general elections.


Hon. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa

Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa represents Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency of Kano State. He is one of the only two lawmakers who had a stint with the aborted Third Republic that are still in the National Assembly. He has so far spent 16 years in the lower chamber. Doguwa was first elected to the House under the defunct SDP in 1992 and a little over one year before late Gen. Sani Abacha took over power. He was one of the frontline Members that supported the election of Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to become the deputy speaker of the 3rd Republic, House of Representatives. In 2000, Doguwa was appointed as Special Adviser to the Kano state governor on the environment.

He later worked as a special adviser on governmental affairs and political party affairs to Senate Presidents Adolphus Wabara and Senator Ken Nnamani respectively. The lawmaker succeeded in returning to the House of Representatives in 2007 where he became the deputy chairman of the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Since returning to the House in 2007, he has been consistently re-elected and would put in a total of 17 years by 2023. He was also successful at the just concluded primaries and would be contesting again in 2023. He has held several positions in the House including chief Whip between 2015 and 2019 and is presently the majority leader. He had initially indicated his intention to vie for the position of the speaker in 2019 but later dropped the ambition when the APC zoned the position to the southwest. Before now, he had served as the chairman of the House Committee on MDGs. He also served as the African Network of Parliamentarians on MDGs chairman. In 2015, he campaigned vigorously for Gbajabiamila for the position of the speaker but was made chief Whip after switching his allegiance to Hon. Yakubu Dogara eventually emerged as a speaker.


Hon. Mohammed Tahir Monguno

Hon. Mohammed Tahir Monguno who represents Monguno/Marte/Nganzai Federal Constituency of Borno State is the current chief Whip of the House. He is the second Rep after Doguwa to have been part of the truncated Third Republic under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida administration. He was first elected to the House in 1992 but after the military takeover, he went to his state. Monguno would later serve as Attorney General and commissioner for justice, commissioner for education and commissioner for water resources at different times until he returned to the House in 2007 on the platform of the ANPP. In the 8th Assembly, he was the chairman of the House committee on agricultural production and services. In his 16 years in the parliament, he has served on different committees including chairman of the committee on foreign affairs subcommittee on America and Caribbean Affairs. Although Monguno will be contesting elections in 2023, he will be seeking to move over to the Senate having won the APC primary elections for Borno north senatorial zone.


Hon. Beni Lar

Daughter of the late former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Solomon Lar, Hon. Beni Lar is one of the two longestserving women legislators in the House. Beni, who represents Langtang North/Langtang South Federal Constituency of Plateau State was first elected to the House in 2007 on the platform of the PDP, after serving as special assistant on women affairs to President Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2008, she served as the House of Representatives chair on Women’s affairs. Between 2011 and 2015, she served as chairperson of the House committee on human rights. She is currently the chairman of the House committee on science and technology, a position she has been occupying since 2015. Beni Lar is known for leading a group of protesters in May 2014 from Nigerians Unite Against Terrorism, wearing T-shirts “with the inscription “#ReleaseOurGirls.”, showing solidarity with the Nigerian military in its efforts to rescue the victims of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping. She will be seeking election for the 5th time to the House.


Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha

Honourable Nkeiruka is the chief whip of the House of Representatives and represents Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State. She is one of the longest-serving female lawmakers having been first elected a member of the lower chamber in 2007 and later re-elected in 2011 and 2015, both under the umbrella of the PDP. In 2019, she defected to the APC and was elected again. She is noted for the bill she sponsored in 2017 seeking to make emergency treatment of victims of gunshot obligatory and compulsory for hospitals without demanding or delaying treatment to first obtain police reports before commencing treatment in emergency situations. In 2019, Onyejeocha had indicated her intention to contest for the position of the speaker and her major campaign message was for the speakership position to be zoned to south-east for a balanced distribution of key federal powers among the six geopolitical zones of the country. However, the lawmaker submitted to the decision of the party to endorse Gbajabiamila from Lagos State as the consensus candidate. She served as the chairman of the House committee on women in parliament from 2007 to 2011 and was chairman of the House committee on aviation from 2011 to 2015. She was reappointed as chairman of the committee of aviation in 2015 and served until 2019. In the ongoing amendment of the 1999 constitution, Onyejeocha sponsored a bill to give women special seats in the state and National Assembly. Unfortunately, the bill did not see the light of the day. She emerged as the flag bearer of the APC in the just concluded primaries and will be seeking to return to the House for the fifth time in February 2023.


Hon. Oluwole Oke

The member of the House of Representatives representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, Busayo Oluwole-Oke (BOO) of Osun State is the chairman of the public accounts committee of the House. He is the longest-serving lawmaker from Osun State in the House and one of the longest in the House as a whole. He was first elected in 2003 and was re-elected in 2007 but failed to return in 2011. Oke, however, made a comeback in 2011 and has since won elections in 2015 and 2019. He was the chairman of the House Committee on defence between 2003 and 2011. He is seen by many as a strong pillar of PDP in Osun state as he has been winning elections in the APC controlled state since 2011. He has never defected to any party since 2003. Last month, he was returned unopposed in the primary election for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held in Osun state for his constituency. Oke, who is serving his fourth term will be contesting to come back to the Huse for the fifth time in February 2023.


Hon Muktar Aliyu Betara

Hon Muktar Aliyu Betara is the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on appropriation and is representing Biu, Bayo, Kwaya Kusara and Shani Federal Constituency of Borno State under the platform of the All Progressives Congress. He is among the longest-serving in the House having been first elected in 2007 under the platform of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). Since then, he has been re-elected three times, emerging as one of the few members to have served in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth assemblies with the current and immediate past tenures secured on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Between 2007 and 2011, Betara acted as chairman of the sub-committee on NDIC, banking and currency. He also served as a member of the House committee on interior and was subsequently appointed as chairman of the sub-committee on Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office (CIPPO). In the seventh assembly (2011 to 2015), he served as the chairman of the House Committee on the army, directly making recommendations to empower and sustain the activities of the army against the rising insurgency in the Northern region of Nigeria. From 2015 to 2019,

Betara served as chairman of the House Committee on defence. As chairman of the committee on appropriation, the House has succeeded in restoring the January to December budget cycle. Consequently, the Appropriation Act, 2022 and the Finance Act, 2021 have been passed and enacted respectively for the third consecutive year without fail, enabling all stakeholders to prepare adequately for any fiscal changes.

He emerged unopposed as the candidate of the APC for Biu, Bayo, Kwaya/ Kusar and Shani federal constituency of Borno state. Betara recently received overwhelming support from the people of his constituency, who had contributed money to purchase the nomination and expression of interest form for him, to return to the House for the fifth term.

President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday night received the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the State House, Abuja.

Tinubu was accompanied on a thank-you visit to the president by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and MD/CEO Oando Plc, Wale Tinubu.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Tinubu lauded President Buhari for providing a level playing field for the process of selecting the party’s presidential candidate.

He recounted that the president had promised many times that he would support the democratic process and he had proven that with the party’s presidential primary, which he won.

“He promised the whole country and the world that he will build a legacy of transparency and consistency; legacy of a level playing ground for all the aspirants. He will be committed to democratic principles and values and he did so.

“He didn’t endorse anybody, he didn’t impose anybody, and he did not at any time attempt to tinker with the process of this election to favour one tribe or the other. He was steadfast, he was trustworthy, and he was dependable…

“If he had to give it to anybody yesterday, it is not my victory that is important, it is the process and the management of that election that gave it to President Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.

Asked what his selling point would be on the campaign for the 2023 election, he said; “I am brilliant, I am experienced from the private sector to public sector and ready to hit the ground running same day and not mess up the legacy of progress and honesty that is left behind for me and handed over to me by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“All APC family members should celebrate in a limited manner, we just begin the hard work ahead to win the victory for our party is a hard one and we will win”, he said.

Asked also of the choice of his running mate, he said “I won’t tell you that. That is my right; it is in my pocket book.”


Buhari to APC govs: I’ll work for Tinubu’s victory

Earlier yesterday, President Buhari promised to work closely with governors of the ruling APC for the victory of Tinubu.

In a letter addressed to Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State and Chairman, Progressives Governor Forum, Buhari described the just-concluded presidential primary of the APC as one the most competitive and peaceful in the history of Nigeria’s democracy.

Part of the letter released yesterday by a presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, read: “The party primaries were peacefully conducted and the delegates have selected the candidate to carry the APC flag in the 2023 Presidential Primaries.

“Today, as a patriotic APC member and stakeholder, I trust that you will come together to work with our candidate to win the 2023 elections.

“In the past 7 years in government, we have achieved a lot. However, we have a lot more to do. The APC project is far from over and we need all of you to come together to ensure our progressive journey to peace and prosperity is sustained.

“Our candidate, His Excellency, Sen. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is no stranger to you. He is our friend and brother. We know his commitment, his track record and his capacity to lead our party to success. So, now is the time for all of us to come together and march forward as we did in 2015 to a convincing APC victory.

“I look forward to working closely with APC Governors to support Sen. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all our APC candidates to success in 2023.”

Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former President Goodluck Jonathan have congratulated Tinubu on his emergence as APC presidential candidate.

Osinbajo, in a congratulatory message which he signed personally, said the party’s flag bearer had for many decades shown passion, patriotism, courage and determination in the cause of nation-building.

“To all members of our great party, regardless of who you voted for at the primaries, we must now unite behind our presidential candidate and flagbearer to ensure victory for our party in the 2023 elections,” he said.

Also, former President Goodluck Jonathan urged the candidates of all political parties to run a campaign devoid of rancour and divisiveness and utilise the opportunity to promote peace and unity.

Jonathan, in a statement yesterday by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, also advised them to eschew violence and acts that could encourage any form of bloodletting or exacerbate the national fault lines.

The Director-General of Rotimi Amaechi Campaign Organisation, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, has urged Tinubu to be magnanimous in victory and carry every member of the party along.

Ndume said as an advocate of power shift to the South, he was satisfied with the outcome of the primary, though his candidate, Amaechi, didn’t clinch the ticket.

Ndume further urged aggrieved members of the APC to put the past behind them and collectively ensure that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) doesn’t return to power next year.

“As a faithful party man, I’ll work assiduously to ensure that the APC wins in all elections next year. There is a lot of work to be done and we need to start doing that right now,” he said.

The Chairman of Yoruba Council of Obas in FCT, Abuja, Dr. Olusegun Salau, urged Tinubu to forgive those that competed with him at the APC convention.

Oba Salau made the call yesterday in Abuja when some Yoruba residents in FCT visited him in his palace in Kado Life Camp, Abuja.

Idowu Abdullahi



The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has released his economic agenda guiding principle, with a vow to break government monopoly in all infrastructural sectors.

The former Vice President stated this in his agenda released on his Twitter page on Thursday titled, ‘The three guiding principles of my economic agenda’.

According to him, our economic agenda has a comprehensive objective of providing a more hospitable environment for businesses to thrive.

With thriving businesses, Atiku said, his administration would create jobs and wealth for Nigerian citizens.

The main opposition presidential candidate said, “And to achieve these, I have three guiding principles to go by:

“Reaffirm the criticality of private-sector leadership and greater private sector participation in development; while repositioning the public sector to focus on its core responsibility of facilitation and enabling the appropriate legal and regulatory framework for rapid economic and social development.

“Break government monopoly in all infrastructural sectors, including the refineries, rail transportation and power transmission and give private investors a larger role in funding and managing the sectors, thus emulating the benefits accrued in the oil and gas and telecom sectors.

“Allow the market greater leverage in determining prices. This way we shall eliminate the persistent price distortions occasioned by current interventionist exchange rate management policy. Government intervention, where absolutely necessary, will be done responsibily and judiciously.”

The PUNCH reports that Atiku won the party’s presidential ticket during a special national convention held in Abuja on May 28 and 29, 2022, after scoring 371 votes to beat 11 other aspirants.

During the PDP presidential primary held at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Atiku polled 371 votes to defeat Wike, who got 237 votes; a former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, 70 votes; the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom, 38 votes; the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, 20 votes; a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, 14 votes and an ex-President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa, one vote.

Deji Lambo



The Police Special Fraud Unit in Lagos State on Wednesday said it arrested three suspects for allegedly attempting cyberattacks on 10 banks in the state.

The spokesperson for the unit, SP Eyitayo Johnson, in a statement, said the Commissioner of Police, PSFU, Nneka Anyasinti, while acting on intelligence received from a leading new generation bank, on March 30, 2022, arrested the suspects.

Johnson said the suspects were in the final stages of recruiting a worker from the information and technology department of one of the banks in order to perfect the hacking of the banks’ network/posting application with the intent to pull out huge sums of money.

He noted that the suspects were arrested with incriminating exhibits during a meeting held with the bank worker they attempted to recruit, adding that the fourth suspect, Chibuzor Holland, who flew into the country from France specifically for the operation, escaped.

He said, “The arrested members of the syndicate include Kehinde Oladimeji, 52, the mastermind; Olanrewaju Adeshina, 47; and Kolapo Abiodun, 42. Kolapo Abiodun is an ex-staff of the bank attached to the infotech department. He contacted and attempted to recruit a current worker of the bank’s infotech department with an offer of N200m and a visa out of Nigeria.

“The worker was asked to leave critical gateways open on the bank’s server for the syndicate to gain unauthorised access into the network and move money out using Python application and Zoom. After the arrests, forensic analysis of phones and electronic devices found in their possession disclosed a list of 10 other banks already earmarked to be hacked using a similar method once the first attack is successful.

“Operatives also discovered personal and corporate bank account details in the possession of the syndicate which they ought not to have. The case, charge no. FHC/L/238C/2022, is currently being prosecuted before Honourable Justice P.O. Lifu of the Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division, while effort is in top gear to apprehend Chibuzor Holland.”

In a related development, the police unit confirmed the arrest of the Managing Director of Beedel Strategic Investment Co. Nigeria Limited, Moses Odeleye, over a fraud of N816m.

The PSFU spokesperson, Johnson, said discrete investigation by the unit’s operatives led to Odeleye’s arrest on May 24, 2022.

He noted that Odeleye was arrested in connection with the forgery of 11 local purchase orders of five multinational companies operating in Nigeria and one agency of the Federal Government.

Johnson stated that the suspect (Odeleye) paraded himself on social media as a successful contractor with interest in civil engineering, construction, real estate and supply, and importation of heavy engineering equipment.

He said, “Beedel (Odeleye), as the suspect is popularly known, operates in connivance with former and current procurement staff of the companies whose LPOs were used to perpetrate the fraud.

“He forged the LPOs of these companies/government agencies and approached numerous banks and investment companies with proposals to finance the LPOs, which he cleverly tenured to be paid between 30 and 60 days so as to make the LPO financing appear juicy.

“The suspect, using this modus operandi, was able to fraudulently obtain the sum of N816m from two finance companies and diverted same to fund extravagant lifestyles, which includes building a mansion, office complex and purchase of exotic automobiles.

“Investigation revealed that for over eight years, Beedel mastered the art of using cloned LPOs to consecutively secure huge sums via LPO financing from different banks/finance companies, while using monies from one bank/finance company to settle his commitments to another bank/finance company, to maintain the fraudulent cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

“Beedel circumvented due diligence done by some of the banks/finance companies with the inputs of procurement staff of the companies whose LPOs were forged. These procurement staff conspired with the suspect to confirm invalid LPOs to third parties. The suspect will be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.”

Meanwhile, Johnson said on April 15, 2022, the police unit was alerted to the risk and possible hack of the server of a non-interest financial institution located in Lagos State.

He said investigation by operatives attached to the Banking and Informal Financial Fraud Section of the PSFU revealed that between 3.45am and 4.55am on March 9, 2022, there was unauthorised modification of the profile of certain key staffers of the bank, which was done remotely.

“Investigation is ongoing to identify the persons responsible for the hack, while some of the staff initially alleged, have been exonerated,” he added.

The police command in Edo says it has arrested eight suspects for attempting to defraud President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime of $2 billion.

The suspects, according to spokesman for the command SP Chidi Nwabuzor, while briefing journalists on Tuesday, were arrested for attempting to defraud Mr Buhari’s regime to the tune of $2 billion.

The police officer also revealed that the arrest was sequel to a complaint received by the crack team of the command on April 25, via a petition from Richard David, a representative of Okpella community, in Etsako Central local government area of Edo.

The cop explained that the suspects had on July 14, 2021, appeared before the complainant and his kinsmen and told them, that they had secured an approval from the federal government, through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), to evacuate scrap borehole pipes equipment worth $2 billion.

“The said equipment was meant for the Okpella water project by the federal government under the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF). The community people who were apprehensive wisely disallowed the evacuation of the items,” the police officer explained. “This action by the Okpella people, however, prompted one of the suspects to go to the Okpella police station to report that the community refused them evacuating the items.”

The police spokesman added, “During investigation, the police uncovered the fact of the matter through the confession of one of the suspects, who is a staff of the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Abuja. The said suspect also agreed to have forged the presidency approval for auctioneer documents for the operation. Investigation has been concluded and the suspects would soon be charged to court.”

Mr Nwabuzor, however, noted that the successful arrest of the suspects was due the operational input of police commissioner in Edo, Abutu Yaro, who had created operations department annexes to bring police visibility to communities and grassroots.

Meanwhile, one of the suspects, a staff of the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, and a principal administrative officer, told journalists that he was the sole originator of the fake document.

“I am the sole originator of the fake document that was claimed to have originated from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). The plan was a collaborative job between myself and staff of IREK Engineering LTD, a company based here in Benin,” he stated. “I personally got the letter from the wrong side as the documents which were addressed to the Edo governor, the commissioner of police in Edo as well as all relevant security agencies were forged.”

He further disclosed that he had received N500,000 for the forgery.

(NAN)

Ekiti Governor Kayode Fayemi has said he has not withdrawn from the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress(APC).

There have been reports making the round in Abuja that Fayemi has withdrawn from the race and accepted the pruning down of the list of aspirants by his colleagues.

However responding to enquires, Special Adviser for the Governor, Yinka Oyebode said Fayemi remains the leading aspirant in the race.

He said: “That is a fake news. Nothing like that. Dr Kayode Fayemi is a leading aspirant in the race and looks good to win the contest.”

By Faruk Shuaibu


As the Nigerian flag and that of the All Progressive Congress (APC) waver on their fastened polls at the Eagle Square in Abuja, the venue of the APC presidential primary, campaign posters of aspirants are at all nooks and crannies of the venue.

From the paper size posters to inflated balloons, hung to sit well on the middle of the road as well as others left to fly on a predetermined trajectory and all sought to announce to the world the intention of each aspirant to be the flag bearer of the party come 2023.

As Nigerians await the final decisions of the delegates or presidency on who to represent the party during the next presidential election, the towering posters compete to drag the attention of passers-by even though they are not the ones that would decide their fate.

The efficacy of the posters can be felt as passers-by take long gazes at them as if to decipher any cryptic message while those who hurriedly walk to their place of work take a peek at the contestants while mindful of their pace so as not to miss their steps and get injured.

But as the poster war currently stands, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, is winning as his face adorned the skyline with the inflated balloons used to pronounce his candidacy at the domineering federal secretariat buildings in Abuja.

While the National leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu trails behind with one showing him giving a knock ut punch to a smiling PDP’s Presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar.

See posters below:

https://cms.dailytrust.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WhatsApp-Image-2022-06-06-at-9.58.13-AM-2-768x576.jpeg

https://cms.dailytrust.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WhatsApp-Image-2022-06-06-at-9.45.19-AM-2-768x576.jpeg

https://cms.dailytrust.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WhatsApp-Image-2022-06-06-at-9.45.18-AM-768x576.jpeg

https://cms.dailytrust.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WhatsApp-Image-2022-06-06-at-9.45.19-AM-768x576.jpeg

https://cms.dailytrust.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WhatsApp-Image-2022-06-06-at-9.45.22-AM-768x576.jpeg

https://cms.dailytrust.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WhatsApp-Image-2022-06-06-at-9.45.20-AM-768x1024.jpeg

A former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani Monday stated that five terrorists group are now competing with one another for the blood of innocent Nigerians.

Sani said the terrorist groups are fighting for space in Nigeria.

In a post on his Twitter handle on Monday, Sani wrote, "We have reached a point where five terror groups; Iswap, Ansaru, Darusalam, Boko Haram and Bandits are freely competing with each other for space and for the blood of the innocent."

Sani earlier via his Twitter handle warned against the molestation of Northerners living in the South following a terrorist attack on a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.

According to Sani, the intent of the terrorists is to trigger vendetta and national strife.

“They spare neither worshipers in the mosques nor in the churches. The North is a daily victim of their violence,” he tweeted.

He condemned the attack on the Ondo Catholic Church, describing it as a horrible, barbaric and condemnable act of terror.

“All Nigerians must be united in denouncing the perpetrators of this heinous infamy. Everything must be done to bring the assailants to book. Enough of this bloodshed,” he wrote.

The Owo Church incident has continued to attract condemnations from within and outside the country, with repeated calls on the authorities to do the needful by protecting the sanctity of lives.

By Ismail Mudashir And Saawua Terzungwe


Ahead of Monday’s presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a clique around President Muhammadu Buhari has succeeded in selling the candidature of Senate President Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan to the president, Daily Trust Saturday has reliably gathered.

Barring any last-minute change, the president, who returned to the country on Friday from Madrid, Spain, where he attended the Nigerian-Spanish Business Forum, will present Lawan to the critical stakeholders of the party as his preferred candidate for the plum job.

Buhari had on Tuesday told governors who are members of the APC to support his candidate. He, however, did not mention who the person is. The president’s statement has raised dust in the ruling party.

Multiple sources told this paper that the clique, popularly known as the Villa Cabal, has secured the buy-in of the president for Lawan.

One of the sources, a former governor, said Lawan was being forced on the president by the cabal.

“Buhari’s nephew, Malam Mamman Daura, a former director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, and the national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, have succeeded in ramming Lawan down the throat of the president,” he said.

He, however, said if the Senate president was forced on the party, it would be a recipe for disaster and implosion.

“Atiku Abubakar will be declared the president-elect by noon on the election day,” he said.

Recall that Atiku had last Saturday emerged as the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 general elections.

Corroborating the former governor’s claims, an ally of the president expressed shock over the development, saying it would polarise the country.

“I just discussed the issue with one of the president’s aides. We should not allow this to happen. It is not good that after eight years, the president will be bringing another northerner as his successor. This is not good for us and the country.

“In 2007, Obasanjo brought a northerner when he was leaving because of the power-sharing formula between North and South. Anyone that is supporting the North to retain power beyond 2023 is an enemy of the country,” he said.

Daily Trust Saturday had on May 17 reported that the promoters of Lawan’s candidature had reached out to Buhari’s nephew, Malam Mamman Daura and the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babagana Kingibe.

Daura, in July 2020, while featuring in a BBC Hausa Service interview, said there was no need for zoning the presidential ticket to any part of the country. His statement generated heated debate in the polity, with many construing it to be the position of the president, a claim that was punctured by the presidency.

After two postponements, the ruling party had fixed its presidential primary for June 6, 7 and 8.

Twenty-three aspirants were screened by the party’s screening committee headed by a former governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

The pendulum has been swinging towards the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.


Tinubu on the edge

Daily Trust Saturday gathered that the public outburst of Tinubu in Ogun State on Thursday was as a result of the feelers from the presidency that Buhari was backing a northern candidate.

Tinubu, at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, while addressing APC delegates, said, “If not for me that stood behind Buhari, he wouldn’t have become the president.”

But one of the leaders of the Tinubu’s camp said the former Lagos State governor would not defect from the APC no matter the outcome of the primary.

He said the national leader of the APC was not looking for anything from the president other than to allow a free, fair and transparent primary.

“Asiwaju is going to emerge as the APC flag-bearer. He was a fulcrum for the formation of the APC and has no intention to abandon the party to political contractors. He has a tremendous goodwill and empathy across the length and breadth of the country,” he said.


The Osinbajo option

Amid the intrigues to retain power in the North by edging out some contenders, credible sources told this newspaper that the thought of supporting Vice President Osinbajo was also gaining traction, with a view to resolving the impasse.

One of the sources said the presidency had received a security report stating that the polity would be charged should the party’s ticket be retained in the North.

“There is security report that the polity would be charged and the 2023 general elections obstructed if Asiwaju and some of the prominent aspirants are forced out of the race.

“The idea is that by the time Osinbajo is chosen, the South in general will have no reason to protest or do anything funny. Also, the decision will reduce religious and regional tension in the country, including a section of the North.

“So, if by the end of the day he wins, so be it, and if he loses, nobody will complain because the whole idea is to deny Tinubu the presidency,” the source said.

Another source said Tinubu’s outburst on Thursday was not unconnected with the fact that he was aware of this plan.

“It is obvious that he knows he is out of the calculation at present; that is why he started talking openly, not minding the implication. I know that while they are working hard to ensure that Lawan gets the ticket, they would support Osinbajo at the end of the day, even if he would be defeated. In fact, some of them wouldn’t mind if Atiku wins,” he said.


North shouldn’t be ungrateful – Sen Shettima

When contacted, a former governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, who is at the forefront of Tinubu’s campaign, said the claims that the APC is weighing the options of a northerner as its presidential candidate were projections of selfish interests of persons other than members and stakeholders of the party.

Shettima told Daily Trust Saturday that the speculation emanated from an assorted crop of opportunistic charlatans, political contractors and merchants of mischief.

“Anybody with a basic knowledge of the history of the formation of our great party, the APC, knows that it is a coalition of like-minds with protected interests.

“The alliance thrives on the acknowledgment of the interests of all groups and sensitivity to the diversity of the country. Any attempt to renege on our pledge to build an all-encompassing party is one danger no stakeholder would wish upon the party, especially in a country characterised by clamour for inclusion and pacification of all groups across ethnicities, regions and religions.

“The North shouldn’t be this ungrateful or power-hungry entity being portrayed by advocates of northern presidency in 2023. What has set the APC apart from other parties is the promise to adhere to progressive values. And there’s no way to earn the trust of Nigerians if we fail to demonstrate this fundamental principle,” he said.

By Mohammed Babangida


The member representing Sandamu/Daura/Maiadua Federal Constituency in Katsina, Fatuhu Muhammad, has threatened to destroy the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and then join the New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP as a protest against the “injustice” meted out to him during the just concluded primary elections of his party.

Mr Muhammad, a nephew to President Muhammadu Buhari, was defeated by Aminu Jamo. Mr Jamo got 117 while Mr Muhammadu got 30 votes.

In a phone conversation that has now gone viral, Mr Muhammad threatened to reclaim his “stolen” ticket or leave the party.

In the six minutes, twenty-two seconds audio reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES, the lawmaker was heard telling someone he referred to as Ranka ya dade, (meaning: Sir) that he would destroy APC in Katsina State.

He said he was not going to participate in a fresh election if the party decides to do one as he is the rightful winner of the primary election held last week.

“They can’t do any election (primary) because I won this one while they broke the law. They should just give me back my ticket, or we meet in court or else I destroy the party and bring a new one (party),” he said.

“I can even go and bring the party with fruits (NNPP) and they will just see Kwankwaso party in Daura. Yes, I can do it because everyone is fighting for himself. They should come and tell the poor people what they have done for them. I’ll also say what I’ve done for the poor people and we’ll see who the (poor) will go for,” he said.

Mr Muhammad said he would destroy the party not only in the president’s home town, Daura but the state in general.

“I swear, I’ll destroy the APC in Katsina state because as it’s now, in Funtua and other places, Nura Khalil (NNPP governorship aspirant) and his people are waiting for me but I asked them to wait for a little. Why then should I allow anyone to frustrate me in my ancestral home? If it’s a monarchy system, who would take over from the president if not me because I’m from the father’s side.

Some of them that are not even related to him (President Buhari) in the real sense can’t come and be claiming they are the real Buhari people here just because we’re shying away from addressing them as who they are,” he said.

While assuring the other speaker at the other end that he (Mr Muhammad) would not be violent in reclaiming his ticket, he said he is nobody’s “political boy” and therefore can’t be coerced into abandoning his ticket.

He, however, didn’t explain how he was robbed of the ticket by those he described as his “enemies” in the phone conversation.

By Bisi Abidoye
At least nine northern state governors are urging their colleagues to support the All Progressives Congress (APC) to pick its presidential candidate for the 2023 election from the southern part of Nigeria.

The party will nominate its presidential candidate at its National Convention in Abuja next week. Twenty-three (23) aspirants have been screened to participate in the primary, 19 of whom are from across the three geopolitical zones in the South.

But a push has intensified for the party to look north in its choice since the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday picked former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its own candidate for the poll.

On Tuesday, President Buhari met with the 22 APC state governors and urged them to support him in picking his preferred successor.

Following the president’s statement, the state government met twice on Tuesday but could not agree on who to recommend to the president for consideration and whether the party should consider nominating a candidate from the North.

The APC has 14 governors in the North and eight in the South. While there is a consensus among the southern state governors that their region should produce President Buhari’s successor, five of their colleagues in the North think only a northern candidate can defeat the PDP candidate, Mr Abubakar.

However, in previous discussions among the governors and in other fora, nine northern governors had argued that it is not in the interests of national cohesion and social justice for the presidency to remain in the north in 2023, after eight years of the Buhari presidency.

These governors also dismissed the view held by some of their northern colleagues that only a northern candidate can win the presidential poll for the APC.

The nine governors rooting for a power shift to the South are Babagana Zulum of Borno, Simeon Lalong of Plateau, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano. Others are Aminu Masari of Katsina, Abubakar Bello of Niger, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara.

“Kwara, Kano and Katsina are less vocal but they all support the view that as Northerners, we should honour the unwritten agreement (power rotation between North and South). Governors El-Rufai, Zulum and Lalong are more vocal,” a governor said.

However, the nine governors do not agree on who the choice from the South should be because “there are many contending aspirations. What unites us is that they all believe in southern presidency at this time,” said the source.

“We have our various preferences we are keeping to ourselves,” the source said. “But Ganduje clearly prefers Tinubu while Lalong prefers Amaechi. The Niger governor too is following Tinubu but the Nasarawa governor prefers the VP (Yemi Osinbajo) or Tinubu.”

On Wednesday, Mr Ganduje was in the entourage of Mr Tinubu as the former Lagos Governor continued his campaign tour of the country.

A former governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura, was also in the delegation. Mr Al-Makura was the choice of APC leaders in Nasarawa for the position of national chairman of the party until another former governor of the state, Abdullahi Adamu, made a late entrance into the race and was named as the consensus candidate with the approval of Mr Buhari.

Southern governors united
On their part, the eight southern governors are united in their demand for a southern candidate.

However, the governors could not agree on an aspirant for recommendation to the president for consideration as his preferred candidate.

Three of the governors are among the 19 presidential aspirants of the party. These are Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Ben Ayade of Cross River and David Umahi of Ebonyi.

The Texas Department of Public Safety on Wednesday issued an Amber Alert for Mansa Igbokwe, a three-month-old baby allegedly abducted by Obinna Igbokwe, accused of shooting and killing a woman during a child custody dispute.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Obinna shot the baby’s mother and grandmother at about 7:30 p.m. in the 30100 block of Aldine Westfield Road in Spring, Texas, KBTX reports.

According to deputies, Igbokwe and his wife, Tangela Igbokwe, were having an argument over custody of their son, Mansa, which led up to the shooting.

Reports say the baby’s mother, Tangela and grandmother, Linda Larkins, were shot in the head.

Tangela was taken to a local emergency room where she is listed in critical condition. The grandmother, Linda Larkins, succumbed to her wounds at the scene, deputies said.

The baby was last seen wearing a white onesie with pictures. He has long, curly hair, investigators said.

The 41-year-old suspect is possibly wearing a tan shirt and brown pants. He is about six feet tall and weighs about 190 pounds. Obinna Igbokwe has black hair and brown eyes.

He was last seen driving a 2008 model Honda Accord with Texas license plate KMY0702 in the area of Interstate 45 and Highway 105.

Investigators believe he is armed and dangerous. “Do not approach him. Please call police if you see him or the white car,” deputies said.

If you have information on the baby’s whereabouts, call 911 immediately or the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at (936) 760-5800.

A 39-year-old man, Niyi Adeyemo, has accused his wife, Jumoke Bamgbola, 38, of beating him to a pulp during a disagreement at their residence on Love-All Street, Ikosi-Ketu, Lagos State.

Adeyemo, who was said to be suffering from arthritis, was admitted to a hospital after the alleged assault which happened on Monday.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the marriage, which was consummated in 2018, hit the rocks in 2019.

Adeyemo, who spoke to our correspondent from a hospital bed where he was receiving treatment, said his marriage crashed after his mother visited their home and his wife objected to it because she did not like his family visiting him.

This, he claimed, led to their separation.

He said his wife’s demand for a divorce became intense when she returned from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in January 2022.

He said, “Bamgbola stormed my house on May 30, 2022, around 11am and asked me why I had not been picking up her lawyer’s phone calls. I refused to respond and she said that I must talk to her because she came prepared for me.

“I tried walking away, but she dragged me back and tore my native attire specially sown for my late mum’s burial and became violent.

“She started throwing punches at me all over my body, especially on my legs because she is aware of my health condition. She tossed me around the house and kept saying that she would make sure I was admitted to a hospital.

“She also dragged my private parts and bit my hands as I tried to prevent her from biting my manhood. I deliberately stopped myself from hitting her like I was advised. So, I telephoned her dad and put it on phone speaker; her dad called out her name, but she refused to respond or listen to him.

“Her dad asked me to leave the house, but I couldn’t, as she locked my neck with my torn clothes and said that I must give her a divorce. I passed out as a result of the severe pain and later found myself in a hospital.

“My wife’s demand for a divorce became intense when she arrived from Dubai early this year. While she was in Dubai, we resolved our differences through video calls and made plans to relocate from where I stayed. But she suddenly changed and began comparing me with another man she met over there.

“She came back in January 2022 and requested to lodge at a hotel in the Lekki area of Lagos so as to self isolate because of Covid-19 to avoid virus infection on our son. Apparently, she came back to Nigeria with a boyfriend with whom she had arranged to spend the night in the hotel.

“I telephoned her several times, but she refused to receive my calls and when I used other people’s mobile phones to call, she cut off the calls after she heard my voice.

“She once telephoned me and said that only our child bound us together and I would be powerless after she took away our child. She later threatened to kill me with her bare hands if I didn’t give her a divorce because her boyfriend said that he could not marry someone who was married with a child.

“The matter has been reported at the Ketu Police Station, but she is yet to be arrested as she has gone into hiding.”

Reacting, Bamgbola said she filed for a divorce and her husband was served, but he refused to honour the court invite.

She said, “I went to the court on Monday to see the lawyer and he complained that my husband had not been picking up his calls or from my mum as well and I telephoned him, but he kept pleading with me that he did not want a divorce and that he had been suffering from anger disorder.

“He admitted that he allowed a third party in our marriage and that he was sorry. The lawyer told me that I had to see my husband and make him understand what I wanted because of our only child.

“So, I went to his place and met another lady with him in the kitchen. I asked for us to talk and asked why he refused to receive the lawyer’s calls and why he was telling people that he gave me N1.5m to rent an apartment, but he denied it.

“I actually visited to inform him that the court had fixed June 28, 2022, for our divorce case and discuss the matter with him if we could settle the dispute amicably. He usually beat me, but I always tried not to hit him back because he is a sickle cell patient.

“Apparently, it resulted in a fight, as I was also admitted to a hospital at the Ijoko area because I had a swollen face and bruises all over my body and could hardly talk. I visited the same Ketu Police Station to report a missing Samsung flip Z3 phone that I lost in his house and paid N2,000 at the station for the report.

“Ketu Police Station later reached out to me yesterday (Tuesday) that my husband filed a case of assault against me and I replied that I would visit the station on Sunday when I get better.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, promised to call back our correspondent after confirming the incident.

He had yet to do so as of press time.

By Saawua Terzungwe

Supporters of National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under the aegis of Northern Young Professionals for Tinubu (NYPT) and Tinubu Support Organisation (TSO), have kicked against consensus for the APC nomination for the 2023 elections.

The groups said Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, has great vision for Nigeria and should be compensated for the role he played for the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

Reading a text of the press conference signed by the National Coordinators of the NYPT and TSO, Abdullahi Tanko Yakasai and Aminu Suleiman, Yakasai asked the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) to provide a level-playing field for all the presidential aspirants to slug it out.

Yakasai said for the party to retain power in 2023 and deliver dividend of democracy to the people, it must conduct a free, fair, credible and transparent presidential primary and pick the right candidate.

He also asked delegates not to sell their conscience by receiving money and other forms of gratifications from aspirants for the purpose of voting them.

“The party cannot afford at this time to play to allow some few selfish individuals circumvent the universal practice of due process and the laid down rules as contained in our party’s constitution for picking candidates for various elective positions to contest election on the party’s platform.”

“We see such machinations being orchestrated by enemies within the party to undermine the ambition of our principal, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) President Muhammadu Buhari during his speech made it clear that we need someone who is strong enough to deliver the party in the general election. But some people have decided to twist the statement of Mr. President that he was calling for consensus,” he said.

Stephen Angbulu


The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Tuesday, embarked on a two-day state visit to Madrid, the capital city of Spain.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President’s visit is in response to an invitation by his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez.

While there, he would meet Head of State of the Spanish nation, King Felipe VI, and discuss issues of mutual interest to both countries, which will expectedly result in the signing of agreements and Memoranda of Understanding on a wide range of areas such as the extradition and transfer of convicted persons, mutual legal assistance, cultural matters, cooperation towards fighting crime and enhancing security, as well as issues affecting dependants of diplomatic staff.

“Also on the agenda are cooperation on energy, trade and investment, transportation, public health and sports development,” Adesina said.

The President is expected back in the country on Friday, days before the presidential primary elections of the All Progressives Congress.

With the trip, Buhari would have visited eight countries in the last five months.

He had in May visited the United Arabs Emirate where he paid a condolence visit to the country over the loss of its immediate past leader, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nayan; Equatorial Guinea, where he attended the Extraordinary Summit of the African Union; and the Ivory Coast, where he attended the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Buhari also visited Brussels, Belgium in February when he joined other world leaders for the 6th European Union-African Union Summit; Nairobi Kenya in March, where he attended the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February for the 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Africa Union Heads of State and Government; and London, the United Kingdom in March, for a two-week medical check-up.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, however told our correspondents that there are many benefits inherent in all the trips.

“There are several takeaways from the President’s visits to these countries,” Shehu said.

On Buhari’s condolence visit to Abu Dhabi, he said “Nigeria has very strong economic and defence ties with the UAE.

“Flowing from this, they have helped us to curb illicit financial flows to the Boko Haram terrorist organisation. We have ongoing, a lot of military procurement, supplying our armed forces with seriously needed hardware.

“A few weeks ago, a brand-new warship for the Nigerian Navy was commissioned in Dubai and set sail to Nigeria. The Nigerian Army just procured 100 Mine Resistant Armoured Personnel Carriers from the UAE. I am confident this visit will boost the friendship between Nigeria and the UAE.”

On the Brussels trip in February on which he accompanied the President, Shehu said, “The meeting in Belgium was a show of friendship, camaraderie and equality between the two continents and with what we have seen from its outcomes, the EU-Africa Summit will be gaining gravitas.”

The presidential spokesman also highlighted the gains from the just-concluded AU summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

The spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Debo Ologunagba, could not be reached for comment as of the time of filing this report as he did not take the calls made to his telephone line.

The number of big shots in the current administration that may be consumed by the ongoing probe of the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, are increasing on a daily basis as the investigation proceeds.

A highly placed source in the anti-corruption circle has informed Economic Confidential, that the total sum in the series of coordinated scams traced to the AGF is up to 200 billion naira, adding that too many people in the President Muhammadu Buhari cabinet, elected office holders at national and state levels, heads of agencies and parastatals and senior civil servants are neck-deep in the scam.

It would be recalled that Idris was nabbed by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on May 16 in connection with a series of fraud that was initially thought to be in the region of 80 billion naira. He has been held by the Commission for weeks and he is said to be volunteering a lot of information regarding the dramatis personae involved in the alleged sleaze.

Three days later, Idris was suspended by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Idris, to enable him face his probe. An overseeing AGF, one Mr Anamekwe Nwabuoku, was named in his place on May 22.

In a twist of fate, it became clear hours after that announcement that the new overseeing AGF has also had a scandal-ridden career in the civil service.

According to credible sources familiar with his antecedents, the EFCC is also investigating him for a series of graft allegations and Nwabuoku is known to visit the headquarters on a regular basis as part of the investigation routine.

Some of the allegations against him include overpayment to himself in previous MDAs he served.

Some of the properties he acquired fraudulently and being recovered by anti-corruption agencies.

One of the sources informed Economic Confidential that perhaps his major financial crime was allegedly committed while he was the Director of Finance and Accounts at the Ministry of Defense where he was said to have enriched himself with internal security funds.

He was allegedly involved in other fraudulent activities and using the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) to steal the salaries of federal government staff.

Our source has now told us that what has been unearthed and made public in the AGF Idris whole scandal is infinitesimal compared to what is coming.

According to the source, since the commencement of the entire investigations, Idris’ confessional statements, traces of the funds, withdrawals and deposits in local and foreign currencies, have reportedly led to the arrest of former governor of Zamfara state, Abdulaziz Yari, who like Idris, is still in EFCC custody at the time of filing this report.

Also arrested on Sunday in connection with the investigation was the Chairman and Managing Director of Finex Professional, Anthony Yaro.

The findings so far, the source said, will lead to more arrests.

Economic Confidential, a sister publication of PRNigeria gathered from the source that as the investigation progresses, a lot of powerful and influential figures in this administration have been fingered to have benefitted from the diversion of 200 billion naira, adding that the EFCC would soon swoop on those suspects for interrogation and prosecution.

Former Imo governor, Rochas Okorocha, has sued the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over an alleged breach of his fundamental human rights.

Operatives of the EFCC had arrested Okorocha last Tuesday, after over six hours of laying siege to his Maitama Abuja home. Dozens of protesters had stormed his Abuja home to protest against the siege to arrest him.

The arrest followed an alleged refusal by the former governor to make himself available for trial.

EFCC said it needed to forcibly arrest Okorocha after he jumped an administrative bail granted to him by the commission.

It also said he evaded service of court papers in his trial at an Abuja court on charges of conspiracy, stealing, and laundering N2.9 billion of Imo State funds.

Okorocha, in a suit filed through his counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) told the court that on May 24, the respondents invaded his home in Abuja, depriving him and members of his family access to their private and family life while surrounding his apartment with heavy armed men.

He prayed the court to declare the action as “illegal, null and void”.

Okorocha also prayed the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from arresting, detaining or keeping him in custody.

The senator asked the court to order the respondents to pay him N1 billion as general damages and apologise to him publicly.


The court document read, “A DECLARATION that the siege over the house of the Applicant, at No. 3 Nyasa Close Mississippi, Of Ontario Crescent Abuja, by the officers and men of the 1st Respondentson 24th May, 2022, without any legal justification whatsoever, thereby denying the Application his Constitutional rights to private family life is unconstitutional, illegal, wrongful and a flagrant abuse of the fundamental rights of the Applicant contrary to Section 33, 35, 37,38 and 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended).


“2. A DECLARATION that the seige over the house of the Applicant at No. 3 Nyasa Close, Mississippi, Off Ontario Crescent, Abuja, by the officers and men of the 1st Respondent on the the 24th May, 2022, without any legal justification whatsoever, thereby depriving the Applicant, freedom of movement and also denying the Applicant’s family members, political colleagues, friends and well wishers access to the Applicant, is illegal, wrongful, unconstitutional and amounts to an abuse of the fundamental rights of the Applicant as provided for under Section 34 and 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Article II of the African Charter on Human and People’s Right (Ratification and Enforcement) Acts, Cap 10, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.


“3. A Declaration that the attempt on the life of the Applicant, by the 1st Respondent through the officers working under them, who shot sporadically at the Applicant’s compound broke into the Applicant’s home through the roof top all the way into his bedroom and immediately apprehended the Applicant’s family members phones, including that of the Applicant on the 24th May, 2022, is illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconscionable, unconstitutional and constitute a flagrant and reckless violation and or threat to violate the Applicant’s right to life, as provided for under, Section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as altered).”

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for next year’s election, Atiku Abubakar, is considering choosing one of two South-South governors – Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State – as his running mate.

Party sources said Atiku began consultation with the leadership of the party shortly after he won the primary of the party held in Abuja Saturday night.

Atiku, in his previous outing as the candidate of the party at the 2019 election, picked former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, as his running mate.

At the time, Mr Obi’s choice annoyed many party leaders, especially those from the South-East, who complained that he was a new entrant to the party and was neither familiar with leaders of the party in the region nor enjoyed their trust.

Mr Obi served two terms as governor on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He retrieved his first electoral victory in court from the PDP, whose candidate, Chris Ngige, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the winner of the 2003 governorship election in Anambra.

To avoid ruffling feathers again with his vice presidential pick, party sources said Mr Abubakar is working closely with Iyorchia Ayu, a long-time ally, and other top leaders of the party on the nomination of his running mate.

According to our sources, the discussions so far have focused on Mr Okowa and Mr Emmanuel, but the Delta governor is said to be the favourite.

Delta State delegates to the PDP National Convention on Saturday voted for Atiku, ignoring the two aspirants from their region, Rivers State Governor Wike and Mr Emmanuel.

This choice was despite Mr Okowa hosting a meeting of southern governors in May 2021 in Asaba at which they demanded in a 12-point resolution that the two major parties pick their presidential aspirants from the south of Nigeria.

Although other key PDP leaders like former governor James Ibori were also believed to have determined the voting pattern of Delta State delegates, the party is giving the credit for the delegates backing Atiku to the governor who they said has been strategic in his management of the party in the state.

Another factor said to favour Mr Okowa in the consideration is his close linguistic and cultural affinity with the South-East, as the Igbo language is spoken in the governor’s senatorial district in Delta State.

Atiku courted Igbo affection in the last election but will be overlooking the area in his choice of running mate this time due to a number of reasons, party sources said.

The immediate reason is that the two governors of the party from the zone – Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu – led their delegates to vote for Mr Wike at the convention. Atiku was however able to pick votes from Imo and Anambra delegates. Ebonyi State’s delegates voted for former Senate, Anyim Pius Anyim.

Party leaders are also said to be concerned about the threat of the socio-political association, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, to disown any governor or politician who accepts nomination as a running mate for next year’s presidential poll.

Ohanaeze and other southern socio-political groups, such as Afenifere of the South-West and PANDEF of the South-South, have been vociferous in demanding that presidential power shift to the South after eight years of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency.

Mr Emmanuel, who was a candidate in the PDP presidential primary like Atiku and won the votes of the 31 delegates from his state and those of seven others from Benue, is said to be in contention for the nomination because the candidate and party leaders see him and Mr Okowa as possessing the characters of their ideal vice president. Although Mr Udom’s refusal to step down for a more viable candidate even when he knew that he had less than 50 delegates in his bag may count against him.

However, party leaders believe the two governors would be loyal to their principal, while also having the capacity to perform the constitutional and other roles that may be assigned to them.

Atiku has a few more days to consider his options before he and other parties submit lists of their candidates to INEC from June 9.

“But these are current permutations and we cannot say for sure who will make it into the ticket until the candidate make up his mind and we forward his name to INEC,” a party leader said.


The man Ifeanyi Okowa

Mr Okowa, 62, is a medical doctor born in Owa-Alero in Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State.He was the chairman of the local government council from1991–1993 and joined the PDP upon its formation in 1998.

He served as a commissioner in many ministries under the government of Mr Ibori between 1999 and 2007 when he resigned to contest for the PDP governorship ticket in 2007 but lost. In June 2007, Mr Okowa was appointed Secretary to the Delta State Government, a position he held until his election as senator for Delta North district in 2011.

He was elected governor in 2015 and reelected in 2019.


Udom Emmanuel

Mr Emmanuel, 55, is a chartered accountant and former bank executive, was born in Awa Iman in Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. He was an executive director in Zenith Bank before he joined politics.

He was appointed by then Governor Godswill Akpabio as the Secretary to the State Government in 2013 and was elected governor of the state in 2015.

Mr Emmanuel was reelected four years later in 2019 and will complete his second term next year.

https://cdn.vanguardngr.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/YYYYY-1.jpg?width=284&auto_optimize=medium

By Esther Onyegbula


A 47-year-old accountant, identified as Afolake Abiola has committed suicide by drinking ‘Sniper’, a popular pesticide.

The incident occurred on Friday, May 27, 2022, at her residence, at number 1 Abayomi Kukomi close in Osapa London, Lekki.

Vanguard gathered that Afolake who is single, and childless had suffered depression for a while before she took her life.

According to a family member, name withheld, “she has been battling depression for a while on account of no husband and no child.”

Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of Lagos state police command SP Benjamin Hundeyin said the incident happened on May 27, 2022.

When the policemen got to the scene, her family members were there and they official requested that the corpse be released to them to enable them to bury her according to Islamic rites.

Based on compassionate grounds her corpse was released to her family for burial.”

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is in the throes of a crisis, two months into the tenure of the party’s current hierarchy.

The APC National Vice Chairman, North West, Salihu Mohd Lukman, is accusing the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, of running the party as a sole administrator, taking decisions without reckoning with other party officials.

Lukman, in a May 27, 2022 letter to Adamu sighted by The Nation yesterday, urged caution to save the party from crashing.

“Under your leadership, the current NWC is gradually snowballing into similar circumstances whereby decisions taken are allowed to lay bare and, in some instances, changed without necessarily taking needed steps to carry members along,” Lukman said.

He also said Adamu had been dropping President Muhammadu Buhari’s name as the sole determinant of crucial activities in the party.

This approach, he said, is only unfair to the President.

Lukman said: “I find it necessary to send this letter to further appeal to you to review our approaches under the current National Working Committee (NWC) under your leadership.

“It is now two months since we came into office and you have so far raised a lot of expectations given that some of the problems, which undermined the support base of previous leadership, would appear to have been minimised.

“For instance, meetings of the NWC are now held almost every week. Members participate actively and where necessary engage and contest issues.

“It is to your credit that you accept the positions of members even when you disagree. This is a remarkable departure from what obtained in the past where the National Chairman conducts meetings of party organs as Chief Executive and to that extent, therefore, exercises prerogatives and overrules members.

“The big challenge is ensuring that decisions taken are faithfully implemented. The inability of previous leaderships under His Excellency Adams Oshiomhole and His Excellency Mai Mala Buni to implement decisions taken were partly responsible for the leadership crisis that confronted the party.

“Under your leadership, the current NWC is gradually snowballing into similar circumstances whereby decisions taken are allowed to lay bare and, in some instances, changed without necessarily taking needed steps to carry members along.

“No doubt, given all the challenges inherited and coming at a time when it’s extremely difficult to control events and almost everything would appear to have been set against the party and its leadership, we need to take every measure to avoid past pitfalls.”

Cautioning the National Chairman to avoid taking unilateral decisions, Lukman referred to the setting up of the transition committee to take stock of what the NWC inherited as a singular initiative.

His words: “Perhaps it is important to acknowledge that, as National Chairman, you have raised the expectations of many of us in the NWC, and by extension many party leaders.

“For instance, the whole idea of setting up a transition committee, which took stock of what we have inherited, was your singular initiative.

“The report of the committee was, to say the least, very shocking. Apart from the fact that there were more than 200 employees in the party’s National Secretariat, most of who (were) without valid letters of employment, there were no standardized conditions of service.

“Statutory requirements for taxations, pensions and insurance benefits as provided by relevant labour laws are not being respected. There were claims by legal firms about liability owed for legal cases handled without valid contracts.

“All these were partly responsible for why many of the party’s bank accounts were blocked by subsisting court judgments, most of which copies are not available at the National Secretariat, which with your guidance the Party’s Legal Department can resolve.

“Partly based on your recommendations and insistence to reform the Secretariat, the NWC decided to send all the Directors on leave pending the outcome of our investigation.

“It is clear to every discerning member of the NWC that many of the Directors, if not all, would have to go. It is also clear that apart from the Directors, many workers in the Secretariat should go.


“However, important and laudable as these decisions would appear to be, is inadequate if it is not matched with initiatives to standardise operational practices in the National Secretariat, especially in terms of ensuring that employment requirement conforms with extant labour laws.

“As the ruling party, this must be guaranteed.”

The National Vice-Chairman expressed disappointment that decision on the reform of the Secretariat has been suspended, saying: “As things are, we have suspended every initiative to reform the Secretariat, understandably so given all the challenges of meeting deadlines for electing party candidates for 2023 general elections.

“The danger is that what we inherited will soon become the accepted practice and new Directors and workers would be employed without any commitment to meeting provisions of the law concerning employment standards.”

He also frowned at the casual approach of the NWC in handling critical affairs of the party.

“The case of appointing Screening, Primary and Convention Committees is a good example,” he said.

“Again, although with your prompting a committee was set up under the leadership of Deputy National Chairman (North), Sen. Abubakar Kyari, with the task of managing all the processes, eventually the committee was unable to discharge its function.

“Partly because of that, for instance, although the National Convention to elect the party’s Presidential Candidate is scheduled for May 29 and 30, less than 48 hours, we are yet to have a Convention Committee in place.

“The Presidential aspirants are yet to be screened. The official explanation is that you are awaiting final consultation with President Buhari.

“At the risk of sounding agitated, this is unfair to President Buhari because, to the best of my understanding, it is an attempt to use the President’s name to give excuses for failure if it happens, which should not be the case.

“As NWC and as our leader being the National Chairman, I want to appeal to you on the need for new initiatives in managing the party.

“At the rate we are going, we are walking back to the old spot of over-centralised implementation of party decisions around the National Chairman.

“Increasingly, critical challenges of managing important tasks, such as organising the National Convention to produce the Presidential Candidate of the party, are being handled informally. This should not be so, and everything must be done to correct that.

“Finally, the issue of conditions of party leaders, including the NWC members is completely left unattended. The official excuse is that you requested a budget.

“Consequently, after two months now in office, no decision has been taken to pay members of the NWC. The specific details of entitlements of NWC members are being reduced to speculations. This is very unhealthy and should be corrected.

“Partly this is giving legitimacy to many unethical practices, which would appear to be influencing some members of the NWC.

“Your Excellency, I wanted to meet you to discuss these matters. Unfortunately, it has proved difficult, and I feel very strongly about these matters.

“I hope that you will be able to prioritise developing good relationships with individual members of the NWC to accommodate our perspectives in handling the task of rebuilding our party, APC.

“I am confident that Your Excellency will be able to provide the needed leadership to rebuild our party, APC.”

Copies of the three page letter entitled “Rebuilding APC: Need For New Initiatives” were sent to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Speaker House of Representatives, Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, Chief Ogbonaya Onu and all the NWC members.

Lukman was until recently the Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF).

The primary elections conducted on Friday by the Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, were characterized by controversies and violence in some wards.

DAILY POST gathered that the state Chairman of the APC, Austin Agada, narrowly escaped being lynched as aggrieved members of the party protesting over irregularities descended on him.

Eyewitness accounts revealed that the incident happened in Otukpa, the headquarters of the Ogbadibo Local Government Area where the irate members of the APC vented their anger on Agada to send a message to the leadership of the party.

Agada is from Ogbadibo LGA where the angry APC members in a mob-style manhandled him for claiming that there was an election in any part of the Benue South Senatorial District of the state.

In a video, which has gone viral, fisticuffs ensued as the state APC Chairman tried to convince the members that the primaries took place.

The APC members were heard shouting at Agada to produce evidence of result sheets and election materials to show where the primaries took place. While attempting to explain, the angry members pounced on him as gunshots could be heard while people scampered for safety.

An eye-witness at the bloody incident, who pleaded anonymity, narrated that it took the swift intervention of security agents who whisked Agada away from being lynched as he was heard shouting for help.

The suspended priest of the Catholic Church Diocese of Gboko, Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, has defeated his closest contender, Barnabas Gemade, to clinch the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket in the state.

Alia, who was suspended by the church after his declaration of interest to run for the post in the 2023 general elections, contested against the former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mike Aondoakaa, and the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barnabas Gemade.

Alia was relieved of his priestly duties temporarily on the grounds of the canon laws of the Catholic Church.
The suspended priest polled over 7,000 votes, representing the highest number of votes cast at the primary election on Friday to win the party’s ticket.

Recall that the APC in Benue opted for direct primary to pick its governorship candidate. This therefore means that members of the party in the state voted for their preferred aspirant.

Alia’s opponents, Gemade and Aondoakaa, reportedly did not get any vote in some of the local government areas.
The suspended priest when he declared to run for the post had said he joined the governorship race to rescue Benue people from the “shackles of maladministration.”

He added that “From the day I took the decision to answer the overwhelming calls of my people to contest the governorship of Benue with the aim to rescue our people from the shackles of maladministration, I was fully aware of the sacrifice I was going to make.”