₦airaland Forum

Inibehe Effiong, a Human Right Activist, has advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on what to do in the face of the recent inconclusive election in Osun State.

Citing closeness in votes margin at cancelled polling units, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the governorship election in the state inconclusive.

Some Nigeria and the PDP are tackling INEC over perceived political partisanship. Among them is, Bukola Saraki, Senate President, who advised the opposition party to seek redress in court.

But commenting on the development, Mr Effiong said though the PDP had the right to challenge the declaration legally, nothing good will come out of it.

“Can PDP challenge the decision of INEC? They can, but nothing will come out of it going by the reasons given by the Commission. PDP should prepare for the rerun and not dissipate energy and resources on fruitless legal niceties,” Mr Effiong advised the party on Sunday.

Effiong advised the 48 political parties involved in the election to beam focus and be ready for the supplementary election because the apex court in the land has never nullified election.

“Rather than dissipate energy on legality of the decision of INEC to declare Osun election inconclusive, the parties should prepare for the re-run. The Supreme Court has never nullified an election. Re-run, though a creation of INEC Guidelines, has been validated by the Courts.

“In terms of Section 179 of the Constitution, Senator Adeleke ought to be declared as the governor of Osun State. But INEC Guidelines empowers the Commission to declare election inconclusive where the margin between the winner and 1st runner-up is lesser than cancelled votes.

“Recent guber elections in Abia, Kogi, Bayelsa, INEC declared the elections inconclusive despite the emergence of a winner. In Abia, the Court of Appeal said INEC cannot do so when a winner has emerged but the Supreme Court gave judicial approval for re-run/inconclusive elections.

“2015 INEC Guidelines, pages 22 – 23, Paragraph 4, Section N issued pursuant to Section 153 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) empowers INEC to declare election inconclusive where the margin of victory is less than the number of registered voters in cancelled Polling Units.

“Under our current electoral jurisprudence, everything is against the Petitioner,” the legal practitioner said on his Facebook Timeline.

THE fear of God guides the operations of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), its acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, has said.

Mr Magu stated this on Monday at an interactive session with stakeholders in Ibadan on Monday.

He said the EFCC has prosecuted all corruption cases, no matter how highly placed the suspect is, while it has secured at least 150 convictions in seven months.

“For us at EFCC, we are driven by courage, integrity, professionalism and commitment to the common task of improving the lots of our people at the grassroots as we promote working partnership with all stakeholders, the anti-graft czar said.

“In all that we do, we are guided first by the fear of God and patriotism to our fatherland and the rule of law.



“I will continue to discharge my duties guided by fear of God, overriding interest of Nigeria and rule of law,” he added.

Magu said the agency would not embark on witch-hunt, maintaining that its operations were in line with international best practices.



“Like we all know, corruption is the number one problem that has militated against the development of Nigeria, especially the very poor at the grassroots.

“The havoc that corrupt practices have wrought on the Nigerian economy is, no doubt, endless.

“This is why fighting it (corruption) to a standstill is not only a must but the only lifesaver for our country.

“We must all join hands to kill corruption. We must fight this menace. There is no better time to prop up the anti-corruption campaign than now,” Magu said.

ROCHAS Okorocha, Imo State Governor. has said it will be hard if not impossible for Igbos to produce a president from their extraction.

Mr Okorocha said this is because of the pull-him-down syndrome the Igbos are naturally made of.

The governor reportedly stated this while fielding questions from newsmen on Sunday at the Government House, Owerri.

According to Punch Newspaper, he regretted that the Igbo failed to honour their leaders unlike what obtained in the other parts of the country.

“The Igbo do not know how to honour their own. They rather like to run down any of their rising leaders. The pull-him-down syndrome is high in Igbo land. And it is very unfortunate. Anytime I come out to run for the Presidency of this country, I will not suffer pull-him-down from the North or from the South-West or South South, it is only in Igbo land that I will suffer it,” Okorocha said.

“And they engage in this pull-him-down practice without knowing the overall implications on the Igbo. So, it will be out of place for an Igbo Presidential aspirant at any given period to think that the Igbo will make him President because the Igbo do not value their own. They don’t value what they have, but value outsiders. It is in their character. It is in their nature.

“Read the newspapers and go to the social media, all the insults and attacks you get are all from the Igbo. They go to any length to run you down without caring about your good intentions and all the efforts being made to see that things work out fine for the people of the area. It is a problem. It didn’t start today. Go down the memory lane, you discover that the pull-him-down syndrome in Igbo land didn’t start today,” he said.

The governor also declared a two day holiday in the state for the collection of Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC).

Okorocha declared Wednesday, August 15, and Thursday August 16, 2018 as public holidays, “to enable all Imo people qualified to have the PVC, but do not have them to go and collect theirs for elections in Nigeria.”

A lawmaker who had hinted of his plans to make President Muhammadu Buhari rule the country throughout his life time on earth has won the Senatorial election which he contested for.
https://www.headlineng.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Lawal-Gumau-APC-Bauchi.jpg
Mr Lawal Gumau, who currently represents Toro Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, took part in the bye-election in Bauchi south senatorial district on Saturday as a contestant.

He made the headlines after he said his sole mission at the senate is to make President Buhari head of the country for life.

I want you to know that the mandate that will be given to me on Saturday is to go and protect Buhari’s interest in the Senate,” Gumau was reported as saying at the close of his campaign on Thursday.

The lawmaker said he intends to achieve this by ensuring the constitution is amended to accommodate his aim of being at the upper legislative chamber.

“By God’s grace, we will amend Nigeria’s constitution to allow Buhari to be president for the remaining years of his life. He will only cease to be president when God takes his life,” he added.

Declaring him winner of the election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Gumau, who is candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election emerged victorious with 119,489 votes to defeat eight other contestants, among them, the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Isa Yuguda of the Green Party of Nigeria, who polled 33,079 votes.

The Returning Officer, Prof. Ahmed Sarkin-Pagam, disclosed this on Sunday.

If sworn in when the House reconvenes, Gumau will have at least eight months to convince his colleagues to amend the constitution and make Buhari president for life.

With the outcome of the bye-election, APC in Bauchi now has only one senator because the other two, Isa Misau and Nazif Gamawa, formerly of the APC, have defected to the PDP.

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has denied allegation of acting the script of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in a bid to undermine President Muhammadu Buhari.

HEADLINE had reported how the special adviser to the president on political matters, Babafemi Ojudu, alleged that the anti-graft agency was acting the script of the Senate President.

The presidential aide thereafter asked Nigerians to be on the alert and reject the plot of Buhari’s opponent to make him unpopular.

Mr Ojudu had listed some of the operations of the EFCC as being scripted by Saraki in a bid to subvert the administration of President Buhari.

Denying working for Saraki, the commission in a statement issued by Wilson Uwujaren, its spokesman, said Ojudu was attempting to “impute false motive to its investigative activities.”

“The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been drawn to a widely syndicated article by Senator Babafemi Ojudu, special adviser to the president on political matters entitled, “Fifth Columnists in Our Recent History”, wherein he portrayed the commission as a conscript in the devious plots by Senator Bukola Saraki to undermine the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari,” the statement read.

“According to Ojudu, “From the shenanigans at the Benue house of assembly, to the siege on national assembly, the attack on judges home in the night, the so called barricade of the senate president’s house, the laughable kidnap of boy Dino and “his eleven hours on a tree’, the freezing of Benue and Akwa Ibom accounts all are scripted, produced and acted by Oloye productions.

“The commission takes exception at the attempt to impute false motive to its investigative activities.

“The recent placement of a ‘Post No Debit Order’ on some accounts in Benue and Akwa Ibom states were the culmination of many months of painstaking investigation activities. To reduce such activities to the level of a stunt in a real or imaginary script by any politician is outrageous.

“It is important to state that the EFCC is NOT a party to the so called script by Saraki. Members of the public should disregard the innuendo in Ojudu’s article as it is unfounded.

“The commission calls for circumspection on the part of political leaders, while urging them to seek clarification before making comments on matters they do not know about.”

RENO Omokri, ex-presidential aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has hinted why the country needed incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 general election.

Mr Omokri, a critic of the Buhari-led administration said the country needed the president in other to learn not to elect leaders base on tribe and religion.

According to him, the country deserve the shortcomings that has befallen it.

“Nigeria really needed the suffering Buhari inflicted on us,” he tweeted on Sunday through his Twitter handle.

“It is therapy to teach us not to vote for someone because he is of our tribe and religion.

“We are now the world headquarters for extreme poverty. 4 more Buhari years and it will move from extreme to excruciating poverty!” Omokri added.

Since the inception of the Buhari administration in 2015, Nigerians have been complaining and lamenting of moving backward. The president has in turn commiserated with his country men and women noting that what they were passing through was the price they need to pay in order for him to drive the country in the right direction.

In 2016, 7.9million Nigerians lost their means of livelihood according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, (NBA).

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who admitted the government was aware of the serious hardships being faced by Nigerians assured that the administration would soon address all the problems.

“The federal government knows all the problems affecting the lives of Nigerians and it will soon solve them all. We have identified the problems and we will address them,” Osinbajo said while responding to complaints lodged to him by Sabon-Gari community, when he visited Kano State for project commissioning in 2016.

Presently, there is nothing to show that the welfare of the citizens have fared better than it was when Buhari took over.

THE Presidency is not backing down on it attacks against Bukola Saraki who doubles at Senate President and the leader of the National Assembly.

The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has launched a fresh blistering attack on the top lawmaker listing atrocities which it said was committed by Mr Saraki.

While the presidency is pained on how the top legislator emerged the Senate President it refused to accept the fate and move on with the issue of governance.

The government who has been shifting blames of its failure and refusing to take responsibilities have penned down 6 allegations heaped on the lawmaker as being the arrow head of its plotting.

The latest attack launched by the presidency is from Babafemi Ojudu, the Political Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Listing the allegations, Mr Ojudu, in an article titled: “Fifth Columnists In Our Recent History,” said Saraki, a former governor of Kwara, was responsible for: the failed attempt to oust Benue governor Samuel Ortom; the recently laid siege at the National Assembly; the arrest on Judges home at night; the house arrest of principal officers of the Senate; the alleged kidnap of Senator Dino Melaye and the freezing of bank accounts belonging to two state governments.

Although the presidential aide did not directly mention Saraki’s name, he attributed it to ‘Oloye’, the nickname of the lawmaker’s father, Abubakar Olusola Saraki.

“From the shenanigans at the Benue House of Assembly, to the siege on National Assembly, the attack on judges home in the night, the so called barricade of the Senate President’s house, the laughable kidnap of Boy Dino and “his eleven hours on a tree’, the freezing of Benue and Akwa Ibom accounts all are scripted, produced and acted by Oloye Productions,” Ojudu’s article partly read.

He also said the top legislator was acting the script of former military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida, who toppled Buhari during the military era, using the recent lawmaker’s visit to the military ruler as a point of reference.

“When a couple of days ago Senator Bukola Saraki visited the gap tooted General in Minna, I interpreted as going to ask “Oga I hope I am doing well?” Ojudu said, adding that, “Nigerians should be vigilant. The children of yesterday’s tricksters are adults and are adopting the tricks of their fathers.”

He also said the lawmaker might soon come up with claims of political execution on his life.

“Soon they may come up with a bullet riddled vehicle and claim that the Executive Producer has survived an assassination attempt. After all some of the Offa sharp shooters are still at large.”

Ojudu’s claims political analysts interpreted to mean that either the president is not in charge of his government or the allegations are false.

While 8 lawmakers of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Benue State Assembly with the support of the Police headed by Ibrahim Idris, attempted to impeach Samuel Ortom, the state governor, the recent siege laid at the National Assembly was carried out by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on the orders of Lawal Daura, who was the Director-General of the security outfit until he was sacked while the siege was on.

The DSS had in 2016, in company of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) headed by its acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, raided homes of judges.

Both the EFCC and the DSS had last month laid seige in the homes of the Senate President and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, who belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in a bid to stop the defection of Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) and other lawmakers from the APC to opposition parties.

The bid failed as Saraki outsmarted the two agencies and appeared at the upper legislative chamber presiding over the business of the day with about 14 Senators defecting. Not long, the news of Mr Melaye’s abduction filtered in.

The EFCC, in what is seen as moving against the opposition party, restricted access to the accounts of two state governments governed by the PDP.

For David Ekpenyong, the allegations listed were carried out by political appointees of the president who are known to be at loggerheads with Saraki, wondering how then the lawmaker could use carry out all these levelled against using their various formations.

Saraki’s aide did not return request for comment on this story as at the time of publication.

ADAMS Oshiomhole, National Chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC) has ordered Senators of the party to impeach Bukola Saraki, the President of the Senate.

Mr Oshiomhole who gave the order on Friday during a press briefing at the party’s headquarters in Abuja said the party will work for the impeachment of Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki in accordance with the law.

He accused Saraki of betraying the party to clinch the senate Presidency by entering into an alliance with the opposition party and offering them the position of the deputy Senate President.

“We decided to call for this press conference basically to respond to issues raised by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki during his press conference,” the former Edo governor said.

“It is important that we respond to some of the issues he canvassed so that the public is not misled into turning villains into heroes and twisting the facts that are not hidden to the Nigerian public. It is important that we help the Nigerian public by refreshing their memories.



“The senate President raised the issues of the fact that he has always acted not on the basis of his own personal interest, but that he has always acted on the basis of national interest. The truth is that it is doubtful if the senate president has ever acted either in the National, interest or in t interest of his own political party before his defection recently.

“Without going back to ancient history, it is important to look at how Senator Bukola Saraki became the President of the Senate. He decided, clearly, against the party position to enter into a deal with the opposition PDP and got a faction of the PDP, taking advantage of the provisions of the provision while majority of the APC senators were holding a meeting at the International conference Centre to resolve the issue of leadership of the senate and other principal officers that are expected to be produced by the ruling party with majority senators.

“By putting his personal interest over and above the interest of the party, he went into alliance with PDP and conceded the position of the position of deputy senate president to the opposition in other to obtain the support of the opposition for him to become the senate President.

“So, for the first time in our democratic history in Nigeria, we had a situation whereby, whereas the APC had majority of senators, it went on to elect a PDP person as deputy senate President. This action alone portray Senator Saraki for who he is and that his personal interest come before an6 other interest, including the National, interest and that of his politics party.

“Having went into this unholy alliance with the opposition and mortgage the rights of the ruling party, he appointed opposition senators to Head strategic committees whose activities can affect either for good or for bad, the working of government and the relationship between the government and the legislature by grading away those strategic and sensitive positions.

“Senator Saraki did that in other to continue to protect himself against the wishes of his party as senate President. That showed that the only thing that was constant in his mind was to cling on to the position of senate president even if it is at the expense of his own party and the country.

“Even the media has consistently draw attention to how Saraki is managing the senate to the extent that questions have been raised as to whose interest the senate was serving.

“You do not have a partisan politician appreciate that in an election year, every democratic government around the world would do everything possible to ensure that it is seen to be working for the people of the country.



“Like any other political party in government, Nigerians expected the APC government under President Buhari to do everything possible this year to make up for lost time in terms of budget implementation and addressing critical infrastructures without which sustainable development is impossible.

“The senate under senator Saraki chose to delay the budget up to the end of the first half of the year and to coincide with the period of the rainy season such that those aspect of infrastructure such as roads cannot be constructed during the rainy season.

“These were not errors of the Head under his leadership, but clearly designed to frustrate the capacity of the government to address critical infrastructural deficit without which the ordinary man cannot feel the impact of governance.

“Again on receipt of the budget, the President cried out that it was a clear distortion from the well thought proposal that he submitted to them. He appreciated that while they can make alteration to the budget, he did not expect that it will be completely rewritten as to make far more provisions for recurrent expenditure with very little for capital projects. He said this budget will be difficult to implement.

“So, when I said he has never put the interest of Nigeria first, I support this statement by reference to the deliberate delay of the budget and deliberate manipulation of the provisions in the budget in a way that will compromise the capacity of the government to address critical infrastructures.

“It is no longer a secret that as senate President, he tried to conspire with others to create a semblance of division within the ruling party having failed to truncate the convention, when they assembled a handful of people who were neither delegates nor contest for any office at the convention to purport to have formed a political party.

“There is nothing for me to add to the illegality of this action and the false foundation that Senator Saraki tried to leave than to adopt the well thought out presentation of Femi Falana,” he added.

Home National News
If PMB Critics Are Thieves, Is Aisha Buhari A Thief? Omokri Asks Oshiomhole
By Razak Olayinka - August 10, 20180


Reno Omokri ©thecable.ng
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APPARENTLY angered by unscrupulous remarks of Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), on those criticising the administration President Muhammadu Buhari, former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has thrown an ignominious question to the former Edo State governor.

Mr Oshiomhole had on Thursday described Buhari’s critics of being thieves and saboteurs.


Adams Oshiomhole
The former governor made the description while speaking at the party’s mega rally at Kangiwa Square, in Daura, the hometown of President Buhari on Thursday.

He said saboteurs where bent on promoting lies to resist the change being introduced by the Buhari-led administration aimed at alleviating the plights of Nigerians.

For critics the APC leader said their handiwork was to misguide Nigerians so that things would continue the way they were during the previous administration when “looting was in vogue in Nigeria.”



“Buhari’s critics are saboteurs and thieves of a government that is working hard to clean the Augean stable of the mess created by the previous administration in Nigeria,” Oshiomhole said.

His description did not go down well with Mr Omokri who served as a presidential aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

While attacking the former governor the ex-presidential aide named two people who have criticised the president asking if they also fit into Oshiomhole’s description.


Aisha Buhari, wife of the president.
First to be named is Aisha Buhari, the president’s wife who criticized her husband saying his government has deviated from the promises it made to Nigerians.


President Muhammadu Buhari and Cardinal John Onaiyekan ©vanguardngr.com


Second is the Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, who asked the president not to seek a second term in office since Nigerians have lost confidence in him.

“How can Oshiomhole say “@MBuhari’s critics are saboteurs and thieves”? Omokri queried in a tweet on Friday.

“What type of sycophancy is this?@aishambuhari criticised her husband. Is she a thief? Cardinal Onaiyekan criticised Buhari is he a thief?

“Those who tell you your mouth stinks are true friends, not enemies!” he said

ITSE Sagay, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), says two-third majority of one-third out of overall Senators can impeach the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

Mr Sagay stated while delivering his address on Thursday at the workshop on the United Kingdom Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO), organised by PACAC, UK National Crime Agency and the Department for International Development (DfID).

Since his defection from the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) calls for Saraki’s resignation has intensified on the basis that the party he defected to does not possess the numeric strength to claim majority at the upper legislative chamber.

According to the constitution, members of the red chamber at to pick their leaders devoid of political affiliation and it was on this note that Saraki emerged the president of the 8th senate.

He led members of the APC at the Senate to strike a deal with PDP members of the chamber promising that if voted for, he must ensure the deputy Senate President goes to the opposition party.



On the day scheduled for the Senate election he outsmarted his party members at the Senate – who were waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari to address them before they headed for the red chamber – to emerge the leader of the National Assembly. Same fate played out at the House of Representatives with Yakubu Dogara, emerging speaker of the house.

Messrs Saraki and Dogara emerged against the wish of their party, the APC.

For Sagay, the Senate president should step down honourably even if he is not bound by law to do so.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said once lawmakers can form a quorum – the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group – two-third of lawmakers can oust their principal officers. He did not quote any section of the constitution to back up his claim.

“He should relinquish his position as a matter of honour. He’s not compelled by law to do so. He needs to be removed by two-thirds majority,” Sagay said.



“He got there because he was in APC even though he got there by subterfuge, which is typical of him. He got there in a cheeky, fraudulent manner.

“Nevertheless, for him to be removed, they need two-thirds, not of the Senate, but of those present and voting at a meeting.

“It doesn’t have to be everybody. It’s those who happen to be there. Once they meet the quorum of one-third, and he is there, he can be removed by two-thirds of that one-third,” the PACAC chairman said.

To form a quorum, Senators of the All Progressive Congress (APC) must have atleast over 36 lawmakers from the upper legislative chamber out of the present 107 occupied at the Senate.

Already, lawmakers of the ruling party are claiming to have the numeric strength to oust Mr Saraki.

buhariguy:
standard or golden law or rules is like common law, it is universal,
Can thief saraki tried this in American or in England?

Is not necessarily to be in constitution, but is a golden rule or law governing the world.

buhariguy:
thief saraki can not preside over majority,
that has be the standard rule or the golden rule.

buhariguy:
nysc is not compulsory, so is not a crime if you failed to present it.
And that cannot disqualified her .

But if forged, she should pay a fine of 5000 naira only.