Jennie002:
Fish them out

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has come under fire from Kogi youths for continuing to retain Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC Dr. Hale Gabriel Longpet. The youths claimed that he may not conduct a credible election while dining with Kogi Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

The youths congregated at INEC headquarters in Lokoja, on Tuesday after demonstrating in Lokoja town in huge numbers and holding banners with various inscriptions. They insisted that information reaching the people of the state had indicated that the state REC was likely compromised.

As the REC slept with the governor of Kogi at Government House Lokoja, they accused him of being inept and corrupt.

Many young people expressed their disappointment that, if allowed to continue, the Kogi state REC might not be able to conduct genuine elections in November 2023.

In spite of the highly militarized and fraudulent actions that characterized the previous exercise, they claimed that being warned is better than being unprepared and pointed out that the same situation occurred in 2019 when the former INEC officials tainted the governorship election.

The different inscriptions say things like, "Give us another REC," and "Longpet is a disgrace to INEC." We want a free and fair election in Kogi, among other things. Other phrases include "Longpet Must Go," "INEC, Kogi is not for sale," "Remove and Replace Longpet Now," and "Longpet Must Go."

Given the recent events in Adamawa and the desperate attempts by Kogi Governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello to impose his successor and kinsman, the reason of the Kogi Youths is clear.

Feelers have shown that the government is harassing innocent voters to prevent a free, fair, and credible election in November of this year by targeting INEC and security forces.

Nigeria is the easiest place for lawbreakers and the toughest place for those who obey law. What makes is sad is that the enablers have the upper hand and the enforcers are abused.

The enablers are mostly the citizens especially any who claim to be journalists, some “bloggers” or so called influencers” who in reality spread influenza not news. They enable to lawbreakers and hail them and they abuse the people who obey the law, they make them feel stupid and abuse the enforcers and make them small.

When a society is like this, what comes out of the society is impunity. We can blame government from here to the end of the world that the country is bad and people act with impunity, but we don’t realize that we as citizens enable them to act like that.

Why am I writing this today? It is about Anu Adepoju who claims to be a doctor. She has become symbol of impunity in Nigeria. She exemplifies everything that is wrong with our dear country. Nobody has been able to stop her or question her. Yet week after week people post how she has damaged many bodies including even killed some. But we enable her on social media. We heap all the blame on the “foolish” women who go to her for body re-styling. How can we keep blaming the victim and allowing evil to continue? Because of this Anu is emboldened, she now comes and makes videos on Instagram blaming the victims too for the damage to their bodies or the the dead. She even said LUTH didn’t have the training and capacity to treat a beauty queen who died because of her mishandling.

She said the doctors there were not specialized enough to save the late beauty queens life. She came out and publicly said that. And she will say she graduated medicine from Unilag- that same LUTH. Let me list the number of government agencies have not been able to hold her accountable for what she has done and how:

Lagos State Government: They have been unable to check her practice, investigate and prosecute her. We hear that DPP told police to charge her with negligence and prosecute in Magistrate Court. Police has not succeed and Magistrate has refused case.

Nigerian Police Command: Not able to arrest detain and investigate because her mother is a senior police officer. A shameful weakness of the police force

Nigerian Medical Association NMA): They shamefully criticized FCCPC for taking action against Anu and sealing Medcontour. And wrote FCCPC to back off. An association of professionals that should be disciplining their own and defending unprofessionalism and fighting off regulatory oversight and endangering the public they swore to protect in their profession. They even took lawyer to defend her in court.

When I think of NMA now, I am so ashamed and sorry for the doctors who have any reputation but are members. Anu by herself says she did one year internship after school with Lagos state and started being a cosmetic surgeon and all those senior fellows, residents, professors and experts in NMA cannot rebuke her for what she is doing. It is a disgrace.

The, NMA are an enabler of bad medicine and behavior that is resulting in injury and death. A doctor who looks like an omo alata, with a butt and boob job, nose ring, tattoos all over who is dancing provocatively and conducting surgery with loud music is medical profession icon and the pride of the NMA. What happened to us in Nigeria? Who cursed us? Who should we beg? How did the NMA leadership become leaders of such a profession?

Medical and Dental Council (MDCN): They are the ones who are suppose to regulate the medical profession and discipline erring doctors. They are watching all of this silently without finding anything wrong. Their silence is louder than Thunder. Or so we thought until a letter form MDCN came out turning away the grieving family of the late beauty queen. MDCN said they were only complaining of a crime so MDCN could not do anything, they could not investigate Anu’s conduct since it was criminal. SO because it is a crime, it is not unprofessional? What a shame. The regulator became an enabler by allowing this impunity and encouraging this quack to continue her quackery and hurt more people.

NASPRAS: ALSO NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF PASTIC SURGEONS: Helpless they are too. They wrote and recorded a speech disowning Anu. That she is not their member and not qualified yet they could not do anything to stop her.

How can any country progress like this? When one single unprofessional and dangerous doctor can destroy all these major institutions, 5 of them?

Finally, in came the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission. They had the courage to take a stance for consumers by sealing the facility and starting investigation. Even after that, no difference. Anu continued with her impunity on social media calling the FCCPC and its executives all kinds of names and even continuing her business and making offers to celebrate her own birthday. She did not even behave as if a govt or agency was involved in her business. The society was losing hope that she could be restrained.

What she was doing wans encouraging others to openly disregard the law and not comply. Somehow FCCPC succeeded where almost all other major agencies and associations failed. They were able to bring Anu before a court to answer for why she was breaking the law and not providing the information FCCPC demanded to do their investigation. The law is clear. When you ignore summons or fail to produce evidence, it is crime.

Instead of feeling the relief that finally, there is one government agency that can restore sanity and order, bloggers and influenzas are high on steroids and over-drive criticizing the FCCPC and its CEO Babatunde Irukera. An agency that proceeded to court without noise is now using “gutter tactics” as the mindless and senseless influenza faceless blogger wrote and the Arise Television that has not even started but is already showing how not to do journalism. TV and Influenza and journalists for sale. Stories for cash. Servants to brown envelopes. Spoilers of the the country.

Everything must be political, minister, VP, President should come and interfere with the due process of law. Someone has been charged to court you ask for interference? Isn’t that in itself the problem? And product of senselessness? Are we not supposed to wait and see what the court will say?

As for the court, Nigerians are waiting to know whether it is really the help of the common man or not. The Judiciary has disappointed the common man so many times and seems to hae been bought in some cases but we know the facts here. We are following the case and Honourable Justice Liman of Court 2, FHC Lagos and time will tell if our nation has a hope of reform and progress or if everything has truly gone to the dogs.

Build up to November Governorship election in Kogi,the state government has converted the services of revenue officers deployed to kogi East, to mop up Permanent Voters Card(PVC), of unsuspecting prospective electorates from the area for N5,000.

The exercise that has commenced in earnest using the staff of the state Board of Internal revenue is been carried out under the guise of Revenue collection.

Reports also revealed that large sums of money running into millions were availed through agents of the state, who doubled as staff of KBRIS to negotiate upward in the event of any resistance and unforseen circumstances.

This anti popular and illegal activities is been coordinated by some disgruntled elements and paid agents of the state government and some political office holders from the area.

This situation was enabled by the refusal of the state government to pay workers at the state and local government levels, there by exposing them to poverty, hunger, diseases and outright difficulties of life.

Reports reaching us has it that, the delegates are selling their votes to gov bello.

In collaboration with the security agents, there's operation "show your card and collect money" going on.

Condition for collection of money is that the card must carry the name "Yahaya Bello" on it.

See pictures below.

Hon. Hassan Beiwa Abdullahi storms out of APC guber primary ground.

In what appears to be day light robbery. Information reaching us has it that Hon. Hassan Beiwa Abdullahi Walked out of the APC primary ground.

The lawmaker was angered by too much irregularities that marred the APC guber primary.

It was revealed that most of the delegates are claiming not to be conversant with spelling names of their preferred aspirants.

Hence the arranged helpers by the state governor bello would write out bello's name on the provided piece of paper and hand over to the delegates, thereby robbing the other aspirants of their votes.

As at the time of filling this report, there was claim that all the security officials on duty are harassing delegates who are not for bello. They are have been stopping them from exercising their civic right.




Details shortly.

omaigala:


Truly sorry people my dear.

Ejaculating disease filled, stinking, greasy, slimy nonsense into meats for innocent people to buy.

Some be suffering from diseases they know nothing about. Shioor

A video has emerged of a Fulani Herdsman vigorously making love to a cow in the bush.

It is unclear whether the cow was meant to be sold for human consumption purposes.

The cow seemed to either be enjoying the romp or it was sedated.

See video below.

The Kogi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has refuted the news making rounds that the deputy governor, Elder Simon Achuba has been suspended from the party.

In a statement issued and signed by the State Chairman of the party, Alhaji Shaibu Osune and the State Secretary of the party, Mr. Tom Adejoh which was made available to journalists in Lokoja, the party chairman described the action of the Abdullahi Bello-led Exco as “an unfortunate error by partisan factional party members who have do not possess comprehensive knowledge of the party’s constitution.”

He further asserted that the Abdullahi-led faction are impostors working for the Governor and their suspension of the Deputy Governor is an exercise in futility and does not hold water because the faction do not have the authority to suspend the a party member in the first place.

The Osun-led EXCOs explained that according to the constitution of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the suspension of a member as highly placed as Governor or Deputy Governor – who are National Executive Council (NEC) Members of the APC – is initiated from the Ward level up to the Local Government and State levels. It goes as far as the National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja.

By implication, only the NEC in Abuja has the powers to suspend the Deputy Governor; by virtue of his position and status in the party. They further emphasized that when it comes to making important decisions that will be binding on all party members in the state, the faction led Abdullahi Bello does not have such authority as it has not been determined yet as to which camp is the genuine party EXCOs. The case to determine that fact is still in court. As far as the Osun-led EXCOs are concerned, the Deputy Governor is still very much a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Members of the State House Assembly engaged in the impeachment process of Kogi deputy governor Elder Simon Achuba were bribed by the state government.


Since the outbursts of the deputy governor against the administration of Yahaya Bello, over corrupt and financial misappropriations, nocturnal meetings was held between the governor and the 21 members of the state Assembly to perfect ways of commencing the impeachment process in a location in Abuja.


It was reliably gathered that chunk of Kogi funds were voted through the SA to the governor on legislative matters, the governor and Speaker of the state assembly to perfect the process to fruition.

The state government who could not contend with the embarrassment of the outbursts of Kogi deputy, had caused to the governor and it's officials, insisted that there is no going back in the move to remove the deputy governor.

The state deputy governor revealed the plans of the governor to remove him and replace him with his chief of Staff to the governor, Edward Onoja who are partners in the myriads of problems bedeviling the state in the last three and half years.

It is also in the plans of the governor to protect the Chief of Staff from public resistance through immunity after installing him as the deputy governor, to force himself on the people of the state in November governorship election, a member of the state assembly from Kogi west  who spoke to us on condition of anonymity said the move for impeachment process become necessary after the leaders meeting with the governor saying "he knew the impeachment may not be easy but he has to sign after receiving his own share of motivation".

For two years, the state deputy governor was denied access to his salaries and allowances, along with all his domestic and political aides under the guise of the deputy governor's resistance on the style of leadership, operated in kogi state by Governor Yahaya Bello.


The state lawmakers were not also left out in the wrath of the governors bad governance, as salaries and constituency allowances were not promptly paid as at when due to the members of the Assembly.


It was revealed that the new lawmakers got a paltry 3 million Naira against 37 million naira Constituency project, under the guise of the bid of the governor to return to Lugard house.


The state deputy governor had announced his determination to continue to reel out the governor's anti government policies and programs, geared towards driving the state into financial problems and indebtedness without commensurate services to the people.

Operatives of the Special Anti Robbery squad SARS this morning invaded the resident of the APC zonal Chairman, Ahmedi Attah in Lokoja.

The operation was carried out early this morning 27th July 2019 with motive behind the operation yet to be ascertained as at press time.

But a family source who spoke on the condition of anonymity revealed that the SARS officials told him that they were there after receiving a tip off the movement of guns into the compound.

Another source disclosed that a SARS operative had earlier tipped the suspect off on their proposed mission to the house even before the arrival of the men of SARS and the exhibits were already moved out of the targeted location before the raid.

Attempts to reach Ahmedi Attah by THE OBSERVERS TIMES wasn’t successful as the mobile phone was switched off.

Details shortly

38 months workers salary: I know I’ve goofed –Gov. Bello



Kogi state governor, Yahaya Bello for the first time publicly admitted that his administration has committed blunder by owing workers between eight and 38 months due to the over two years staff screening exercise he initiated.

Governor Bello who spoke through his Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja at the 7th NLC quadrennial congress on Thursday in Lokoja said “when a child made mistakes he should admit he made mistakes, we have made mistakes and we are correcting it”.

Onoja who was unusually sober at the ceremony was reacting to NLC chairman’s speech , Comrade Onuh Edoka who said workers were dying in dozens due to the non payment of salaries as government was owing them between eight and 38 months.

Edoka had said workers in the state have been reduced to beggars as they could not meet their domestic responsibilities while their children are driven out of school due to non payment of school fees while the condition of pensioners and local government workers some of who he said are being paid “miserable percentages of their salaries” are most precarious.

Responding, Onoja who said the prolonged staff screening exercise was inevitable as it has brought some kind of sanity to the civil service system in the state, however said government was looking into where it has goofed with a view to correcting it.

On the percentage payment of local government workers, Onoja said this phenomenon has been existing before the advent of the current administration, a claim which the workers at the occasion responded to by shouting “ no, no ,no, you are lying” Beating a retreat, Onoja appealed to the workers to exercise patience with the government as efforts would now be geared towards paying their salaries as and when due pleading with the workers to support the re election bid of Governor Yahaya Bello.

He however said if by November this year, Governor Bello was not re elected the incoming government will build on the legacy they would leave behind.

Kogi govt owing workers 38 months salaries – NLC

Nigeria Labour Congress on Thursday said it was sad that in spite of the over N200 billion so far collected as monthly allocations and several bailouts and loan collected, Kogi State government is still owing workers between 8 – 38 months salary arrears.

NLC said owing to this development, workers in the state had been acutely battered and reduced to mere skeleton walking the street without hope or succour.
The NLC chairman made this declaration in Lokoja during the 7thQuadrennial State Congress held at the Kafas Multipurpose hall.

The oganised labour said due to the non-payment of salaries, the workers had been turned to beggars with some suffering from various ailments which had resulted in several deaths.

The worst hit among the workers, NLC said was the local government staff some of who were owed over 52 months salaries arrears while those paid were paid in miserable percentages while some pensioners were also dying in hunger and starvation.

The organised labour pleaded with the state government to make a monthly payment of salaries a priority.

It appealed to President Muhammad Buhari to intervene in the release of the second batch of the N30. 8 billion bailout fund to the state government to enable payment of salary arrears.

It was observed that all the union leaders were returned unopposed for the second term with the state chairman Onu Edoka retaining his position

Conflicting directives from Abuja municipal agencies and an unyielding minister may have cost Nigeria an opportunity to set a global record with the construction of what would have been the world’s biggest billboard in the country’s capital, Abuja.

The shoddy handling of the approval for the construction of the billboard by Abuja city officials has also cost Lona Global Resources Limited, an indigenous outdoor advertising company building the billboard, at least N800 million in wasted investment and a debt lawsuit to boot.

In 2017, when Idoko Ilonah, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Lona Global Resources, broached the idea of erecting the biggest billboard in the world, he was trying to outdo his other records in the outdoor advertising business.

In 2011, his company built the biggest billboard (20mx40m) in Nigeria – an LED digital billboard installed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. Similarly, in 2016, it made another record by installing the biggest billboard in Africa (20mx80m) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Road by Lugbe Interchange, Abuja.

Running into Troubled Waters

Banking on how hitch-free the process of the installations of its two previous recording-setting billboards was, the company had already concluded an arrangement with the management of Guinness World Records and had made the necessary financial commitment for the endorsement of the planned world’s biggest billboard.

“We opted for the location to complement the aesthetic ambience and beauty of the proposed New City Gate, and for technical feasibility and projected profitability,” the company said.

When on April 24, 2017, Lona Global Resources got approval from the Department of Outdoor Advertising and Signage (DOAS) to install the billboard near the New City Gate along Airport Road, Mr Ilonah thought nothing was going to stop his company.

But he should not have been too optimistic.

Trouble started three days later when the executive secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Umar Jibrin, visited the site proposed for the installation of the billboard and faulted DOAS decision to allocate the plot for the installation of the billboard.

Mr Jibrin said the plot was within the area marked for the new Abuja City Gate and he ordered a review of the approval for the location. He also set up an interdepartmental committee comprising the directors of DOAS, departments of urban and regional planning, engineering services, public building, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), among others.

The committee, during its meeting of June 6, 2017, recommended a new plot along the Airport Expressway/Wawa (Centenary) district.

After its meeting, via a memo addressed to the FCDA executive secretary, and dated June 19, 2017, the Director of Engineering Services, M.S. Audu, an engineer, informed of the interdepartmental committee’s new location suggested for the billboard construction.

The memo read in part; “The recommended adjustment is to restrict the billboard within the airport expressway/Wawa (Centenary) district/New City Gate plot buffer, thereby eliminating the likelihood of encroachment into private committed plots within Wawa (Centenary) district. The Department of Public Building has been duly consulted in arriving at the above proposed mega billboard centre line alignment adjusted coordinates.”

The GPS coordinates for the location of the billboard it gave was 310413.213E/989441.997N and 310322.213E/989314.997N.

In a similar development, the Director of the Urban and Regional Planning Department, Zaliha’u Ahmed, in another memo addressed to the FCDA executive secretary, confirmed that the new site provided was arrived at after inputs from other relevant departments.

The memo read in part, “It was determined that the site (new site) is unencumbered and located about 150m away from the new city gate within the 60m wide buffer of the Musa Yar’Adua Airport Expressway.

“The proposed billboard does not encumber the adjacent Wawa District design. The site is expected to cover not more than 5,000m square bordering the present centenary city project.

“The proposed site is oriented ‘linear wise’. Site terrain has been established as suitable for locating the billboard structure.

“No obstruction posed by the erection of the billboard on site as there are no front-facing developments earmarked on the adjoining area. The hill and open space/green area behind the billboard will still be visible as a background.”

Centenary City Plc Kicks

Mr Ilonah said after securing the new approval, work on installing the billboard commenced almost immediately. He said his company spent N800 million on the design and fabrication of steel and other items. He said he was, however, shocked when the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello, ordered the work to stop.

The order was informed by a letter of complaint to the minister from the management of Centenary City Plc, promoters of the Centenary City project, objecting to the new location of the billboard.

The company argued that the erection of the billboard would obstruct the view of the city.


The letter, which was signed by the company’s managing director, Odenigwe Michaels, sought the minister’s intervention, suggesting the approval for the billboard’s location must have been given in error.

“The Honourable Minister may wish to recall that the Centenary City Project is an investment-driven project. As a result, an act that creates panic in the minds of the investors will not be good for the project. Let me also note that the claim that the location of the massive billboard is on a ‘Wayleave’ is not founded as wayleave is not intended for activities that will affect the adjoining developments,” he wrote.

Mr Ilonah told OBSERVERS TIMES that his company wrote a series of letters to the minister explaining its position and predicament. He said his company was not even interested in insisting on its rights only appealed for understanding from stakeholders on why the installation of the billboard should not be stopped.

He said he even promised to remove the billboard whenever the government was ready to construct the new city gate. He said none of the stakeholders responded to his pleas.

“We took N300 million loan from a financial institution at five per cent interest rate and had already secured advertorial from the Globalcom Communications running to about N300 million as the first user of the board when completed,” he said.

Company Writes Vice President
After hitting a brick wall with the minister and other stakeholders, Lona Global Resources took its case to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was the acting president at the time.

In a letter to Mr Osinbajo, in August 2017, the company argued that Mr Bello’s order stopping the installation of the billboard was not in consonant with the government’s avowed policy to better the ease of doing business and support for local content in public procurement.

The vice president, through a letter signed by the deputy chief of staff at the presidency, Ade Ipaye, wrote Lona Global Resources Limited, notifying it that Lona’s complaints had been forwarded to the minister concerned for “review and necessary action.”

OBSERVERS TIMES cannot confirm if the minister responded to the letter from the acting president or not. But when reached for comment, Mr Osinbajo’s spokesperson, Laolu Akande, replied with a terse SMS: “Please ask the Minister.”

The company wrote another letter of appeal to the president in November 2018, but it seemed to have encountered a similar fate as that written to the acting president in 2017.

More than four months after the letter was successfully received, which was signed for by one M. Saminu on November 27, 2018, the president has failed to either acknowledge the letter or take any action.

When reached for comment, the president’s media aide, Garba Shehu, said enquiries on the matter should be directed to the FCT minister.

The FCT minister did not respond to multiple calls and SMS sent to his mobile phone requesting comment.

However, the minister’s media aide, at a meeting with Lona’s management on February 12, said the minister must be acting on the advice of relevant government departments including the security agencies. He added that the FCT administration was only concerned about the safety of the capital city and the protection of its laid down rules and regulations.

“The truth is that we are partners in progress because if investors are not in the FCT and Nigeria by extension, what would the government achieve? But while we are partnering, we need to recognise the fact that the Minister is only an appointee of the President and the security operatives usually give advice based on their observations on major developments including a project as big as this,” he said.

When reached for comment, Mr Odenigwe said the DOAS erred in approving the installation of the billboard at the location.

“No development on a road Wayleave should ever negatively affect the development adjacent to it. So the Department of Outdoor Advertising and Signage (DOAS) is not allowed to indiscriminately allocate sites without consideration of the effects on adjacent developments! That is due process.”

Debt Lawsuit

Meanwhile, Lona Global Resources said due to the failure to install the billboard, it has been unable to meet its financial obligations to the financial institution that loaned it N300 million. Also, the company is in trouble with Globacom over its failure to deliver services paid for.

“We, therefore, appeal to Nigerians to help us beg the FCT authorities before our business investments are finally ruined,” Mr Ilonah, the firm’s CEO, said.

Mr. Austin Usman Okai yesterday 14th March 2019, was granted bail from DSS custody in Lokoja the Kogi state capital.

Recall that Comrade Austin Usman Okai was abducted by the DSS on the eve of presidential election 21 days ago.
He was whisked away to an unknown location which would later be discovered that it was DSS custody Lokoja the Kogi state capital.

According to the information made available to journalist in Abuja yesterday, the Kogi state Governor, Alh. Yahaya Bello accused Mr. Austin Okai inciting the state people against him and his government.

Mr. Austin thanked those who fought for his release.

He called on Kogites to reject Bello in the forth coming gubernatorial election scheduled for November this year.

The sins of the Governor include non payment of salary, embezzlement of the state's resources, little or no infrastructural development, promotion of thuggery and many more.

Recall that Mr. Austin Usman Okai, Atiku's Presidential Spokes Person Kogi state chapter was abducted by unknown gun men on the eve of the presidential and national assembly elections.

It is more than a week and the where about of the man is yet unknown.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, his wife lamented about the nonchalance of elders in state to intervene and help to find her husband and probably rescue him.

Up until now, no group has come out to claim responsibility.

The unknown gun men trailed him to his house in Abuja, flashed identity cards believed to be of the DSS. They would later tell his wife that they were acting on the Kogi state government's order and whisked him away in a van.

All efforts to locate the him have been fruitless so far.

Although his friend and family members and a lot of Kogites have launched a #FreeAustinOkai campaign on social media.

I am so scared and worried about the safety of my husband - Mrs. Bridget Austin Okai