₦airaland Forum

Now we have another monthly offer from Globacom this time around.

http://simmyideas.com/enjoy-new-glo-new-data-overload/#.V051YkxrjIU

By Ochereome Nnanna

GOVERNOR Yahaya Bello of Kogi State is the most insecure of the 36 state governors right now. The Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal will, any moment from now, pronounce its verdict on the winner of the governorship rerun election that took place on February 28th, 2016.

Or more appropriately, the verdict will pronounce the person who will be governor between Bello, former Governor Idris Wada of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the running mate to Alhaji Abubakar Audu, the late flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the original governorship poll which took place on November 22, 2016, Hon. James Faleke.

All three are tenaciously laying claim to the coveted seat, and there is no clear indicator as to where the “cat” is going to jump until the Tribunal makes its voice heard.

The Kogi governorship poll under contest was one of the most complicated in the seventeen years of our renascent democracy. Kogi is one of the states that fell outside the general electoral calendar as a result of earlier complications. Here is a recap of the story.

The governorship election took place on Saturday, November 22nd 2015. Audu woke up on Election Day and started complaining of stomach pains. He managed to vote and went back to his home for treatment. He remained there while the vote counting went on, and by the end of that Saturday, it was obvious he was in the lead. But by 9.00am the following morning, he died, and the drama of the Kogi polls took on a complicated plot.

Eventually, it turned out he won the majority of votes, according to Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, the Returning Officer of the Kogi governorship poll, with 240,876 compared to Governor Wada’s 199,514.

However, the election was declared inconclusive because, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the 41,353-vote difference between Audu and Wada was less than the 49,953 registered voters who did not vote. At this point there was confusion everywhere.

Many commentators opined that INEC should still have announced the winner since the elections had been concluded before Audu died, meaning that his running mate, Hon. James Faleke, should have been pronounced governor-elect. This is Faleke’s main ground for going to the Tribunal and stubbornly refusing to act as Bello’s Deputy Governor in defiance of his party’s entreaties. But Wada’s camp and independent observers note that Audu’s death before the formal announcement of the results presented a big constitutional lacuna.

It only provides that if the flag bearer dies before an election, his deputy will not automatically step in as flag bearer since he did not participate in the primaries of his political party. Rather, the party will be allowed to produce a new flag bearer. And if the death occurs after the results are announced, the deputy automatically assumes the mandate of the people, having participated in the campaigns.

This difficult situation was further worsened when the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, advised the APC to shop for a replacement for Audu to contest the rescheduled election to give the 49,953 voters on the register the opportunity to play the tie-breaker between APC and PDP candidates. APC found itself in a quandary and went back to the candidate who had come second during its primaries which Audu had won: Yahaya Bello. They ignored Faleke (who argued that Audu’s votes also belonged to him as both of them had worked for them) and asked Bello to stand in the place of Audu.

At the end of the rescheduled election of December 5th 2015, Bello, riding on APC’s victory crest, polled 6,885, while PDP’s Wada got 5,363. The problem here is that Bello was sworn-in as governor based on the “transferred” votes the Kogi electorate gave to the late Audu and Faleke.

The constitution and the electoral law have no provision for the “transfer” of votes from a dead candidate to a living one. Secondly, Bello is carrying the additional burden of going into the rescheduled election without a running mate, as Faleke declined his invitation to join the ticket. The constitution and the electoral law insist that for a governorship ticket to be valid there must be a flag bearer and a running mate.

When you look at this with the eyes of a layman, it seems that Bello might well be on “an excursion” in the Lugard House, as some of his own disgruntled party men have put it. It will be very interesting to see how the Tribunal will deal with this issue. Faleke, on the other hand, will not have it as easy as his camp may wish. He is haunted by the unfortunate albatross of his principal dying before the result was announced.

If Audu had died after the poll was declared inconclusive, Faleke would have taken up the flag for APC in the rescheduled election without stress. We would then not be talking about “inherited” or “transferred” votes. If “transferred” votes are validated, it could open a new, bloody chapter in Nigerian politics where popular candidates will become endangered species and targeted for murder by every conceivable means just before they are officially pronounced winners.

Wada, on the other hand, might well surprise most pundits by finding himself favoured by the complex odds that have bedevilled the APC. It will, however, be surprising if the Tribunal will award victory to a candidate and party that did not win a majority of the Kogi electorate’s mandate.

However, Wada’s camp appears not to be banking heavily on benefiting from the calamities of the APC. They seem convinced that the forensic examination of ballots which showed that Audu benefited from a lot of electoral irregularities could swing back the majority of valid votes to their candidate, Captain Idris Wada.

Indeed, the next few days to the verdict of the Tribunal will be a period of great tension and expectations among the three contending camps in the Kogi governorship poll. We wait to see how it ends.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/kogi-tribunal-anything-can-happen/

Bello is on his way to embezzling the 50 billion bailout fund that was released by cbn recently. This downsizing is a ploy to ensure that enough money remains for him from the bailout to steal

Mass Sack: Kogi Labour Leaders Back-out of Screening Exercise, Issues Notice of Strike Action

The leaders of organized labour in Kogi state have pulled out their representatives in the workers’ screening committee due to what it described as antics of the state government to massively downsize the workforce.

Arising from a meeting held in Lokoja yesterday, the leaders of NLC, TUC and PSJNC resolved ro embark on strike action if the state government fail to do the right thing.

Labour declared that the purported list of ‘cleared’ Local Government workers sent to the councils are not know to the labour and should be withdrawn within 24 hours.

The labour leaders also demanded that the chairman of them screening committee, Brigadier General Paul Olushola Okuntimo (Rtd.) be removed with immediate effect because he lacks capacity, morality and integrity to deliver on such a sensitive assignment.

Labour queried the integrity of the Yahaya Bello-led government on the recently released bailout fund. The leaders asked why the government is yet to come up with the bailout implementation committee as stipulated by the Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria.

“The state government is deceiving workers and public because of her ulterior motives.

“Labour is not unaware of the deceit of government to massively retrench the state workers, local government workers and primary school teachers and also reduce the numbers of pensioners through the so called ‘first list’.

Labour issued a 7-day ultimatum to the state government to meet stated demands and vowed to embark on strike action if government fails.

While he was doing that- kogi workers are protesting the mass retrenchment gov bello did yesterday. Over 10000 staff sacked yesterday by gov bello

The Chief Executive Officer of Panic Alert Security Systems (PASS), Dr George Uboh has made very serious allegations against the attorney general of the minister of justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN). In a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, May 9, Dr Uboh who made several allegations against the minister stated that after his firm traced huge funds of the federal government trapped in banks, Malami asked his company to recover the funds.
Uboh was reacting to a letter the minister wrote to President Buhari after he was queried by the presidency following Uboh’s petition over Malami’s conduct in the process of recovering the funds.

He wrote: ”Even a lay man knows that a private company like ours cannot recover funds. Funds are recovered through ”bankers order” authorized by a magistrate on behalf of law enforcement agencies – Police, EFCC or ICPC.”

Another part of the letter read: ”Malami grossly compromised his position by succumbing to the pressure and/or inducement from the ”banking sector mafia”. ”There is ample evidence that during the pendency of the engagement, Malami was entertaining the same banks he sent us to go after. ”Access Bank, the most culpable of the banks, was the first to call me on March 3, 2016 to ask if I had heard from the AGF, that senior staff of Access Bank met with the AGF who promised he would call me to soft pedal on Access Bank.” Dr Uboh claimed he reached out to the minister regarding soft pedaling on the issue, but instead he was visited by one Nafiu, an aide to the minister at midnight in order to buy him over. Uboh also dismissed claims that he collected bribe from some of the banks involved, instead he accused the minister of entertaining bank officials officials with compromising promises. ”There was no case of me collecting bribe from any of the banks or visitation beyond official visitations, unlike Malami who entertained them with compromising promises, then manifested the promise by revoking the engagement letter,” Uboh wrote.

Furthermore, Uboh urge the president to do the following regarding the issue: 1. Sack AGF Malami with immediate effect for dereliction of duty, incompetence and betryal of his oath of office/Nigeria in refusing to recover oner $1billion traced 2. Direct the ministry of justice to obtain the details of all the funds traced belonging to the federal government, take the necessary steps in recovering the funds and remit same to the government 3. Direct the ministry of justice to pay PASS 5% of any recovered funds premised by the company’s tracing pursuant to the agreements in the engagement letter 4. Direct the ministry of justice to reinstate PASS engagement letter with immediate effect in order to trace the over $75 billion government funds trapped in financial institutions yet to be traced. Uboh had also accused former EFCC bosses, Mrs Farida Waziri and her successor, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde of hiding funds of the EFCC in one of the new generation banks.

Yahaya Bello"s 100 days
WHY EXPECT ANYTHING!

The scripture hammers more on foundation, so is growing up as human biengs and even life itself, when compared to a building, the foundation is key and of serious concern. Once its faulty, the structure will be faulty.

If the opening paragraph is anything to reference, then, why expect anything from Yahaya Bello even in a 1000-day! God forbid though...

The way he emerged is clearly unconstitutional and made possible by the type of country we are in, he was not duly nominated and brought in as replacement without constitutional reference, just to say the least amongst negatives around his emergence, hence like SAN Olainipekun said, shouldn't have being "coronated a governor"

However. Following the importation of the US example, Rosevelth did not say "achievement as in projects executed" in 100 days, its about setting your priorities in 100 days, giving a direction of your administration.

When applied to Yahaya Bello, who can not have a cabinet in 100 days, how do you expect him to have an agenda, where is the State Executive Council that sat and delebrated? how much more approve such direction?

For me, its pure jamboree and we are in the middle of a season of assemblage of questionable bankers in 100 days who in thier mind are struggling to re-write history; and whose fault it is not, but a chapter we must pass through in Kogi State.

God bless KOGI STATE.

This morning on channels - respected lawyer Ebun Adegboruwa summed up three months under Governor Bello as a bunch of illegalities- From his inauguration, appointment and swearing in of deputy governor, impeachment of Speaker by 5 out of 25 members and 'election' of new speaker, to budget passage and bailout...

The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) yesterday accused Governor Yahaya Bello of formulating policies that are counter-productive to the progress of Kogi State civil servants.

The state NLC Chairman, Onu Edoka, who spoke at the 2016 Workers Day said since Bello assumed position as governor the civil service had been virtually closed down as a result of unending screening exercises.
In his words: “Top civil servants who should ordinarily provide directions for the public service to operate have been on compulsory leave for over three months, leaving the state government rudderless, with unpaid backlogs of five months salaries and a starving populace.”

Edoka also enumerated other unresolved issues to include harmonisation of pensions and payment of gratuity to retired Kogi workers as well as the reconstitution of Kogi Pensions Board with technocrats on pension issues in place of politicians to manage pensions matters.
He listed the demands of the NLC to include payment of outstanding bonuses for Teaching Service Commission staff and implementation of promotions/annual incremental rate.

Others, he said include the demand for the independence of the judiciary by the staff of Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, the challenge of basic education and welfare of primary school teachers and that of the Parliamentary Staff Union of Nigeria.

Source: https://www.today.ng/news/national/115734/kogi-nlc-accuses-bello-anti-workers-policies

For mysel‎f the answer is easy, WHATSAPP.

I use WHATSAPP for most everything, including messaging, sharing pictures, documents, location, appointments and tasks. Not only with family and friends, work colleagues, clients, but both individually and in groups as well.

WHATSAPP for myself is the most versatile and most used app. Feel free to sound off in the comments below, Thanks.

Read More Here: http://simmyideas.com/one-app-smartphone-use-everyday-not-get-without/#.VxUUOKwb37w

FOR THOSE THAT ARE INTERESTED IN WHAT THE US CONSTITUTION HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE KOGI SCENARIO- Once the electors' votes are cast, the votes are bundled and sent to Congress. It is here, if the candidate dies after the electors vote, that the election can really turn on a dime.

The votes for president are sent to the House to be counted, while the votes for the vice president are sent to the Senate for counting. Any ballot which is invalid would not be counted - and a ballot cast for a person who is dead would not be considered valid. In this case, if the dead person was the winner of the electoral votes cast, and assuming a normal two-party election, the person with the most valid electoral votes would be the person who actually received the lower portion of the electoral votes.

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_pvp.html

JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS- Kogi: Tribunal Admits Wada’s Expert Report, Dismisses APC, INEC’s Objection
YEMI ADEBOWALE on March 4, 2016 at 7:43 pm

The Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Friday dismissed objections by counsels to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello and ordered the defendants to proceed with their defense after counsel to the complainant, Idris Wada tendered a report by forensic experts which established irregularities in the Kogi gubernatorial poll.

According to the report tendered by Idris Wada through his counsel, Chief Chris Uche SAN, four major areas of irregularities provide sufficient grounds to invalidate some of the results of the gubernatorial poll, which saw INEC declaring the APC candidate the winner of the election.
The issues, based on information exclusively obtained by SIGNAL, include ballots papers that were not stamped and dated but still counted for political parties, ballots papers supplied in excess of registered voters that were not returned but entered as valid results, cases of over-voting as well as number of registered voters less than total votes cast.

Based on investigations conducted by a team of electoral forensic experts, Wada submitted that a total of 172,426 votes were invalidated by the said irregularities. 119,062 of the invalidated votes were recorded in favour of APC while 53,364 of such votes were recorded in favour of the PDP.

The invalid 119,062 votes, when subtracted from the total figure of 247,752 polled by the APC in the gubernatorial elections leaves the APC with 128,690 votes. On its part, when the invalid 53,364 votes recorded for PDP is subtracted from its total figure of 204, 877, the PDP would be left with 151,513 votes making Wada the rightful winner.

It was based on the foregoing that Wada went before the tribunal to protest what he termed, “gross irregularities” during the polls.
Counsels to APC, INEC and Yahaya Bello objected to the submission of the forensic report but the Tribunal Judge Justice Halima Mohammed overruled and set aside the objections, ordering the defendants to prepare their defence as hearing commences proper at the Tribunal’s next sitting.

1. Meeting commenced with the observation of a minute’s silence in memory of Barr. James Ocholi, SAN, who passed on the 6th day of March, 2016 and thereafter deliberated on the state of affairs in Kogi with particular regards to the A.P.C led administration of His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

2. Meeting noted with dissatisfaction the sorry state of affairs of the A.P.C in Kogi State House of Assembly which reached a crescendo due to the meddlesomeness of the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

3. Meeting also notes with concern the opaque nature of financial transactions of government and its penchant for reckless borrowing from financial institutions.

4. Meeting notes the total neglect of our great party in every facet of governance in the state under the present administration.

5. Meeting also reflected on the growing insecurity of lives and properties particularly the level of intolerance of the governor to dissenting views in the state and resolved as follows;
(A) Commend the National Assembly for their prompt intervention in the Kogi Assembly crisis geared towards saving the state from anarchy and hereby call on parties to exercise restraint and tow the part of constitutionality and the rule of law.

(B) Meeting calls on the National leadership of the A.P.C to urgently intervene by calling the governor to order if the entire gains of the party in the last general election in the state is not to be frittered away.

(C) Meeting condemns the gestapo style attack on perceived enemies of the governor by hired thugs and police at the sitting of the Kogi Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on the 7th and 22nd days of March, 2016 also at the residence of Hon. Funsho Olumoko, former chairman, Ijumu L.G.A in Ekinrin Adde in the early hour of 22nd of March 2016 respectively and call on the Inspector-General of Police to investigate all incidences.

(D) Meeting condemns in strong terms, every act of unappropriated expenditure by the present administration which has compounded the financial hemorrhage in the state and call for strict adherence to due process in all financial transactions.

(E) Meeting condemns in unequivocal terms the destruction of historical monument in the state capital on fetish grounds at this period of economic downturn and call on the governor to re-order his priorities.

(F) Meeting calls on Kogites, particularly the state workforce to remain calm and law abiding as succour is in sight.

Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria,

Long live Kogi State,

Long live A.P.C

He should have mobilized for people to be killed like in bayelsa isn't it. No voter lost their live during kogi election. That was an achievement in itself.

Tinubutoto:
I am a pdp man, but Wada should go n die, he was too lazy to have allowed Audu to rig him out

This Kogi case is very interesting. A clear case of God fighting for the underdog.

The Kogi never ending drama has taken another twist as the group of 5 state assembly members loyal to the executive governor of kogi state- Alhaji Yahaya Bello have secured a court injunction restraining the fact finding committee raised by the national assembly to resolve the crisis surrounding the failed attempt to impeach the speaker - Rt Hon Momoh Jimoh Lawal.

This was made known by Hon Friday Makama the leader of the integrity group who addressed the press outside the court premises in Lokoja after securing the injunction.

'Under no circumstances will the so called committee be allowed to interfere in the affairs of Kogi State Assembly. They should stay in Abuja and face their business while we face ours here. We have a right to choose our leader and we have done so by electing Rt Hon Alfa Imam as our speaker' Hon Makama added.

It will be recalled that a 10 man fact finding committee headed by the deputy whip- Hon Pally Iriase was set up yesterday by the house to resolve the kogi assembly crisis and report back within a week.

cc: Lalasticlala

Today, for the second time in about nine years, Palladium is donating his column to
an ardent reader who feels distraught about the desecration of the fine arts of
politics in Kogi State. The youthful Governor Yahaya Bello is busy upending common
sense in the state, lawmakers are divided in two, with one part, the majority, fleeing
to Abuja with the mace, and another, just five of them, turning arithmetic on its head.
The ordinary Kogite watches in great perplexity, unable to comprehend how the
simple act of voting peacefully for the late Abubakar Audu/Abiodun ticket has turned
into a farce orchestrated by both the ruling APC and INEC.

Kogi State has been in the news for the wrong reasons of late. The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) dealt a devastating blow to the state when on
22nd November 2015, it announced the result of the governorship election held on
21st November 2015 as inconclusive. On Sunday, 22nd November 2015, Kogites
had stayed glued to their televisions to watch how the elections results from the
local government areas were trickling in one after the other. Many Christians
amongst them missed Sunday church services as they stayed back home to monitor
the results of the election. The Returning Officer of the election, Professor Emmanuel
Kucha, Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, finally announced
the scores of the candidates in all the 21 local government areas of the state after
the collation of the figures. Kogites became agitated when Professor Kucha
announced that the collation officers were proceeding on a short break. Little did
anyone know then that something miserable was afoot.

On his return from break, the professor announced that Prince Abubakar Audu (now
deceased) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 240,514 votes, while
Capt. Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) garnered 199,514 votes.
He said that the margin of votes between Messrs Audu and Wada was 41,353. He,
therefore, further announced that the election was inconclusive because the total
number of registered voters in 91 polling units in 19 local government areas where
election was cancelled was 49,953, which according to him was higher than 41,353
votes with which Audu led Wada. The returning officer added that, by INEC
guidelines, no return could be made for the election until a supplementary election
was held. The supplementary election held on 5th December 2015 at the end of
which Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who never participated in the main election, was declared
the winner by “supplementary votes” of 6,000. It was not until 24th November 2015
that INEC owned up to the demise of Prince Audu.

The conduct and announcements of INEC on Kogi polls have since set Kogi State on
the path of absurdities, legal and political. The Kogi state Governorship Election
Petition Tribunal, now sitting in Abuja, is being called upon to resolve the legal
absurdities. These include: (a) The declaration by INEC that the election of
21st November 2015 was inconclusive after it had announced the results of all the
local government areas; (b) The choice of INEC to use its guidelines as against
applying the provisions of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria to declare the election inconclusive; (c) The propriety or
otherwise of INEC conducting a supplementary election on an election that had been
won and lost going by the figures INEC itself announced; (d) The constitutional basis
or otherwise of INEC allowing Alhaji Yahaya Bello to contest an election without a
running mate; (e) The propriety or otherwise of INEC merging the votes scored by
the late Abubakar Audu/Hon. James Abiodun Faleke with the supplementary votes
of Alhaji Yahaya Bello and the law that permits such a merger.

There are many other issues that the Tribunal will be called upon to determine. All
Kogites and the whole world are anxiously waiting for the decision of the learned
Tribunal.

Alhaji Bello was inaugurated as the fourth civilian governor of Kogi State on
27th January 2016. He was sworn in without a deputy. This act is unprecedented in
Nigeria. Kogi State is fast becoming notorious for earning the first position in every
bad political occurrence in Nigeria. In 2007, it became the first state to have the
election of its governor upturned by an election tribunal. In 2011, it became the first
state to have three governors in one day: the then outgoing governor, Alhaji Ibrahim
Idris; Capt. Idris Wada sworn-in by the President of the State Customary Court of
Appeal; and the Speaker of the then State House of Assembly, sworn in by the Chief
Judge of the State. The state is also now on record as the first state in which the
candidate who won an election died before being sworn in, calling for the application
of section 181 of the Constitution.

Alhaji Bello has spent three weeks as the governor of Kogi State. A period of three
weeks may be considered too short to assess the performance of a governor. It is,
however, sufficient to come to a decision on what type of governor he would make.
A careful study of the actions and utterances of Alhaji Bello, as governor of Kogi
State, clearly shows that he is an intemperate and sometimes unpredictable person,
imbued with extraordinary energy and youthful exuberance, almost bordering on the
bizarre. He has sufficiently demonstrated that he is someone who would take an
action first before thinking over it. The consequence of this is that he has had to
reverse himself on several issues relating to the policies he announced within the
first few days of his tenure. He lacks the experience, maturity, insight, shrewdness
and astuteness required to govern a state like Kogi or any state for that matter. He
is naturally self-conceited and not reflective.

Upon his inauguration, the first thing he did was to abandon Kogites and proceed to
attend the meeting of the Northern Governor’s Forum. The meeting was more
important to him than the plight of his people, particularly the workers of the state
civil service who had been on strike for non-payment of salaries that had
accumulated for four months. Alhaji Yahaya Bello returned from the meeting and
announced that the hungry workers would have to undertake an elaborate screening
exercise before they were paid October 2015 salaries. The exercise would have
taken another one month or more to conclude. Kogi State chapter of the Nigerian
Labour Congress rose up to the occasion and alleged that he acted mala fide and
betrayed the trust reposed in him. The Congress reminded him that it was to honour
him that they agreed to call off the strike. It threatened to resume the strike within
seven days if the governor failed to reverse his decision on the screening exercise.
The Congress had wondered how the workers would cope with hunger for another
one month. The governor immediately reversed his decision.

Alhaji Bello promised to pay one month salary arrears to the workers. As at the time
he announced this decision, he did not know the amount of money in the coffers of
the government to determine whether or not the money would be sufficient to cover
the wage bill. He was not even sure what the wage bill was when he made the
announcement. It was a whimsical decision to score political points. He was later
faced with the stark reality as he met only N2.5 billion in the government’s account,
whereas the wage bill was N3.5 billion. But he went ahead to deplete the N2.5
billion he met by first taking care of his security vote and awarding a contract of
N100million for the renovation of his office, amongst other huge sums of money he
had withdrawn for some other so-called state reasons. The resultant effect of all this
was that almost half of the number of the workers have yet to receive their October
2015 salaries as at the time of writing this piece. And, there is no hope of them
receiving their pay as no arrangements are being made in that regard. Meanwhile, he
is said to have incurred some huge hotel bills at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, and another
whopping sum at Reverton Hotel, Lokoja.

Alhaji Bello knew that he needed the cooperation of the members of the State House
of Assembly. He, however, approached the matter in an arrogant manner. He
demonstrated his lack of skill, finesse and diplomacy on the issue. After securing
the approval of the lawmakers for his nominee for the office of the Deputy Governor,
Hon. Simon Achuba, in a subterranean manner, he invited them into his private
residence and addressed them roughly. He did not leave any of them in doubt that
he had become the Governor of Kogi State and would remain so for the next eight
years. His coarse language angered the members, majority of whom are of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His immodesty made him lose control over the
Kogi State House of Assembly, notwithstanding the unlawful manner he wooed
them. By the time he attempted to impose his stooge as the Speaker, the exercise
ended in fiasco as only five of the twenty members were available to do his bidding.

They, nevertheless, went ahead with their unconstitutional acts with the strong
backing of the military and police who were deployed that day to give the five
members protection. One really wonders the business of soldiers from the Army
Records in Lokoja over a legislative matter that is purely civil. Perhaps the
commander of the unit or the Chief of Army Staff would be in a better position to
explain this. Meanwhile the governor is yet to explain to Kogites why he had to
conduct the swearing-in ceremony of the Deputy Governor under a secret cover in
his sitting room rather than the Confluence Stadium or any other open place. The
arrogance of Alhaji Bello has also been visibly demonstrated by his decision to block
the road that passes by his personal residence beside the Government House,
Lokoja, thereby causing pains and inconveniences and logjam for road users.

The governor has exhibited ignorance of the clear provisions of the constitution. This
has led him to commit unconstitutional acts and impeachable offences. He does not
appear to have knowledge of the limits of his powers as a governor. He imagines
that he has absolute and unfettered powers to do anything he wants. He has
dissolved the Local Government commission without regard to the fact that it is
unconstitutional to do so except at the expiration of its stated term. He abrogated
the joint account of Local Government Councils and the State without repealing the
law establishing it. He has issued directives to Universal Basic Education and
Pension Bureau contrary to the extant laws and rules guiding them.

Alhaji Bello also announced that he had granted autonomy to the local government
councils, apparently, without any understanding of the implications of such a
fundamental policy decision. He places no structure on the ground either by
legislation or guidelines upon which such autonomy can operate. It is a blanket
power conferred on the local government council chairmen to conduct the affairs of
their councils as they desire. Finances and the staff salaries and welfare of the local
government councils are now at the whims of the council chairmen. Indeed, the
crucial question agitating the minds of right-thinking Kogites is whether or not local
government autonomy can be granted by mere irrational verbal pronouncement of a
governor without any legislative or constitutional backing. Given the penchant of the
governor at reversing himself, it will not be surprising to hear, in the next few days,
that he has reversed the decision again. One interesting aspect of the autonomy
granted the council chairman is the fact that few days after the announcement of the
granting of the so-called autonomy, the Governor himself proceeded to suspend all
the Directors of Local Governments (DLGS) and cashiers for one month without
consulting the chairmen. Right now, all permanent secretaries in the state civil
service, directors of finance, deputy accountant-general and staff of accounts
sections of all ministries and parastatals are being placed on one-month compulsory
leave.

His hatred for the Okuns is brewing and manifesting. He ensured that his cronies
who impeached the Speaker did not give the slot to an Okun man even when it was
zoned to the western Senatorial District. He also ensured that a Lokoja man got it.
Furthermore, he ensured that an Okun man who was the deputy accountant general
did not act for the accountant-general when the latter was sacked. He is said to be
planning to bring an Ebira from Lagos to be the accountant-general of the state, a
civil service position.

Right now, Kogi State is in the hands of two amateurs and inexperienced
administrators. Yahaya Bello, the Governor, and Edward Onoja, the Chief of Staff,
who have demonstrated lack of capacity in governance and administration. Both of
them have no political or administrative pedigree and acumen. Alhaji Bello served as
civil servant at the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission for only
twelve years. He never became a director to direct any affair. He is today a multi-
billionaire. Edward Onoja worked in the banking system for few years before he was
eased out. Both of them, regrettably, are calling the shots in Kogi courtesy of INEC’s
manipulations against the will of the people of Kogi State, freely expressed at a
peacefully conducted election of 21st November 2015 where nobody complained of
any malpractice. Until the Tribunal rules, the absurdities in Kogi are bound to
continue. Hopefully, this won’t be long.

Adeola writes from Lokoja
http://thenationonlineng.net/kogis-many-absurdities/

Kogi assembly faction relocates to Abuja, summons gov •Serves impeachment notice on dep Governor.

•Suspends 5 members

The crisis of confidence rocking the Kogi State House of Assembly took a new dimension on Thursday, as the faction loyal to the impeached Speaker, Honourable Momoh Lawal, relocated to Abuja, where they held a sitting of the assembly.

The lawmakers, who held their first sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, issued a summon to the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to appear before the assembly’s faction.

The faction also served impeachment notice on the state deputy governor, while also suspending the five members who impeached the speaker last week.

The governor is to explain reasons permanent secretaries, directors, accountants, cashiers of parastatals, agencies, ministries and councils areas have to be sent on compulsory leave.

Also, the five members, who sat and impeached the former Speaker, Hon Momoh Lawal, were suspended for acting contrary to the rules of the assembly and by “claiming to have sat without a quorum and forgery of signatures of 10 members in the purported impeachment.”

The suspended are : Honourables Friday Sani; Umar Imam; John Abah; Lawi A.T. Ahmed and Bello Abdullahi.

The Kogi State House of Assembly is made up of 25 members, five of them are taking part in the rerun election which takes place this Saturday. The rerun will take place in Ofu, Dekina 1&2, Idah and Ofu Constituencies. The rerun is a fallout of the outcome of the election petition tribunal set up to hear complaints emanating from the last year election.

Presently, however, 20 are authentic members of the state House of Assembly and five members out of them sat and reportedly impeached the Speaker, Lawal, last week.

A member, Honourable Omiata Jimoh (PDP Yagba East) had moved a motion, urging the assembly to summon the governor and begin the impeachment process on the deputy governor.

The motion, was seconded by Aliu Akuh (PDP Omala) during their sitting in Abuja, which was presided over by the embattled Speaker Lawal. The sitting had the Maze, the symbol of authority of the assembly strategically positioned.

Honourable Omiata, in a motion, stated that the dissolution of the Local Government Service Commission, which, he said, was a statutory body created by law, was illegal and should be reverted, adding that “abolishment of one per cent from the joint account of state and local government without repeal of the law be disregarded and the status quo be maintained within.”

He added that all “institutions or directives of the state government with respect to Local Government Service Commission, State joint Local Government Account, Universal Basic Education, Pension Bureau, contrary to the extant law establishing them, be disregarded.”

The lawmaker insisted that the House of Assembly, being an institution created by law, “whose operations are guided by prescribed laws and rules, have no reference to recognise any person or group of persons as the leadership of the assembly other than Honourable Momoh Jimoh Lawal , the Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly.”

He explained that the governor of the State, Mr Yahaya Bello, should, by no means and in whatever guise, communicate, receive or recognise anything from the group of five led by Honourable Ahmed Umar and that any transactions from the executive to or from the group of five shall be considered as fraudulent and met with legal resistance.

Omiata, however, informed that the council chairmen embarking on exercises that were capable of breaching the peace of their council areas should desist and return to status quo and the back-up vehicle forcefully towed out of the official residence of Momoh Jimoh “ should be returned as a matter of urgency within the next 24 hours.”

The 14 members that sat and presided over by the Speaker, Lawal, adopted all the motions and adjourned till March 8.

Source: Punch

House is on recess. Jimoh Lawal turned down bello's 50 million bribe so he can repeal laws that ensure financial accountability.

Kogi Charade Continues: Deputy Governor Took Oath Of Office At Governor's Private Home

Kogi state has totally downgraded to the state of lawlessness under the APC. The fourth democratic dispensation in kogi state kick-started on a wrong note, with the historical substitution of Yahaya Bello, his controversial inheritance of late Abubakar Audu's votes leading to his swearing in without a deputy.

History was made again yesterday but in a negative style as the deputy governor of Kogi state, Simon Achuba took his oath of office at the private resident of the governor, Yahaya Bello.

Immediately after the confirmation of Achuba by the state assembly, the media ran down to the private resident of the governor where they were told to proceed to the government house while perpetuating this illegality in the dark. On getting to the gate of the government house, armed policemen prevented the journalist from going into the government house premises while security operatives at the resident of the governor kept the media at bay. As the media were locked outside, our eagle eye cameraman got the picture of the swearing to us which took place at the sitting room of Yahaya Bello.
Since his swearing in, Bello has refused to operate from Lugard house - the official seat of Government in Kogi.
This charade has gone too far, we call on all Kogites to rise up in defence of our dear state before it totally collapse.

LOKOJA – Practicing journalists in Kogi state Tuesday received the shock of their lives as armed security men attached to the government house in Lokoja prevented them from covering the inauguration of the Deputy Governor, Mr. Simeon Achuba.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/bello-bars-journalists-from-covering-activities/

What started as a rumour became reality yesterday when news reports confirmed
that the Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Lokoja has been
relocated to Abuja for further sittings.

The Tribunal will now operate from the Court of Appeal complex, Area 11, Garki –
Abuja.

According to reports, the sudden decision to relocate the Tribunal was based on the
directive of the President of the Appeal Court, Justice Zainab Bulkashua for security
reasons. Though they failed to explain the ‘security reasons’, we suspect that the All
Progressives Congress (APC) is manipulating this decision for nefarious reasons.

Same way the rumour on relocation became a reality, we as patriotic stakeholders,
must raise our voices now that rumours are rife that some of the ruling party
stalwarts are part of a plot to influence the election petition tribunals by relocating to
Abuja to reach a verdict in favour of APC.

The APC is afraid of her shadows. They have made repeated constitutional errors in
the Kogi Governorship election saga and are desperate to cover up their electoral
frauds and shenanigans. From invalid nomination of running mate to Late Prince
Audu to invalid replacement of governorship candidate, APC in Kogi enmeshed in
controversies resulting from undemocratic actions.

So far, the Tribunal has granted petitioners leave to inspect the ballot papers and
result sheets used in the elections. A bigger burden is now on the Tribunal to review
the cases before her and strive not to bring the judiciary into ridicule by delivering a
landmark judgement that will deepen democracy in Nigeria.

We as a people are not comfortable with the relocation as we see it as a ploy to
arm-twist the honourable Justices and manipulate judgement in favour of the APC.

The ‘security reasons’ on which the relocation is premised upon is mild compared
the ‘security reasons’ that will emanate from a possible manipulated judgement on
our growing democracy.

We demand further explanation to this curious relocation and re-assurances that the
honourable Justices will be fair in their hearings and judgement.

– Adamu Ojonugwa writes from Lokoja.

Rivers, Akwa Ibom and taraba loading. GOD SAVE THE JUDICIARY FROM APC MANIPULATION!!!