₦airaland Forum

A Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos on Friday discharged and acquitted a former Governor of the state, Jonah Jang, over the N6.3 billion corruption charges levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

The court presided over by Justice Christy Dabup also discharged and acquitted a former cashier in the office of the Secretary to the Plateau state government, Yusuf Pam, who was accused alongside the former governor.

Ahead of the 2023 Presidential election, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) had said that the North will not support a candidate who seeks to benefit from strategies that exploit the ethnic and religious diversity of the region.

Speaking at a book launch in Kaduna, Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Professor Ango Abdullahi, disclosed the qualities expected of a candidate the North will support come 2023.

He said “the North will participate in all political and electoral activities as equals and with respect to other Nigerians who respect us.The North want leaders who will lead with integrity, competence, compassion and the fear of God.”

“We will not support a candidate that fails to convince that he will radically improve the quality of governance and the integrity of leaders. Second, Northerners will not be intimidated into making choices that do not improve the chances of real changes in their current circumstances.”

“We will participate in all political and electoral activities as equals, and concerning other Nigerians who respect us. In the north, we consider attempts to create divisions and conflicts around religion as hostile acts.”

“We have paid a high price in conflicts around religion in the North, and we do not need to do more. Our insecurity and collapsing economy do not discriminate between Christians and Muslims.”

“We cannot seek solutions from them as Muslims or Christians. I have to state here that we are witnessing some of the crudest and most unproductive campaigns to create divisions between Hausa and Fulani people, and create distances between Christians and Muslims in the North.”

“We warn that these contemptible attempts will fail because they find no support in history going back centuries, or in the recent past. While we differ in faith and ethnicity, history, geography and our experiences in living as Nigerians have created roots and bonds that cannot be destroyed by desperate political gambits”.

“Third, we will be more critical than all others over who wins our support. We bear scars from governance by one we substantially voted into power twice. Northern votes will make a major impact in the 2023 elections as well, but they will be cast by people who are now wiser and more discerning,” he said.

muykem:
I will be objective in answering your questions though I know you will disagree and insult me.
1. There are many factors determine people's vote. Party loyalty, ethnic, religious, popularity and competency of candidate then fairness and justices. Critical assessing all these factors, Tinubu has edge over others. Tinubu will win south and north slightly.

Buckeyemedia1:
If you read what I wrote, Let Sheriff win the election, the Supreme Court of Nigeria will remove him based on this same allegations.

Did the Appeal Court say that there where no discrepancies in sheriff’s results?

Sheriff won on a technicality, not on merit, I am sorry for pdp Delta State, they will fight themselves to a loss.

Delivering judgment in the appeal on Monday, Justice Ige agreed with the appellant that the suit filed by David Edevbie was wrongly initiated because allegations of criminal offences must be proven beyond affidavit evidences.

The court held that failure of Edevbie to call relevant witnesses was fatal to the case.

Buckeyemedia1:
Confused man, Sheriff won his case on a technicality, not based on merit against the facts, let him sail all the way to victory, APC will remove him, they know where them Ibori made their mistake in the filing.

fergie001:
Not a surprising judgement......

UCyril:
omoagege can only win in his LGA . Delta State is PDP

Isokiscool:
It will be easier for a hippopotamus to pass through d eye of a niddle than for Omon Agege to win as governor

No fewer than 10,000 members of All Progressives Congress (APC), African Democratic Congress(ADC) and Allied People’s Movement (APM) in Ogun State, on Friday formally dumped their parties and joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The decampees, who resigned their membership of All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) declared their support for the governorship candidate of PDP, Hon. Ladi Adebutu.

The decampees, led by former Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Tola Banjo from Amosun’s group; Saka Ahmed from Osoba group and Yinka Asaye from Abiodun’s group, were received amid funfair and jubilation at the party secretariat in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital, by the Chairman of PDP, Hon. Sikirulai Ogundele, Adebutu and other leaders of the party in the state.

Other decampees include: the governorship candidate of LP in the 2019 election, Modupe Sanyaolu and former councillors under the Amosun – led administration between 2016 – 2019.

Handling over the party’s flag to the decampees, the party chairman described the gale of defections as symbolic, historical and a partnership that would take PDP to Oke Mosan in 2023.

On his part, Adebutu lamented the spate of insecurity, unemployment, kidnappings, bad roads, and lack of quality healthcare services in the state.

He described the Abiodun-led administration as a failed government and called on the people of the state to vote him out in 2023.

Adebutu urged aggrieved members of the APC and other members of the opposition parties to join the PDP in defeating APC in the next election.

He assured the decampees of fairness, saying “everyone has equal rights in this party and our Permanent Voters Card (PVC) is our way to freedom”.

“We all know that all is not well with governance in Ogun state. Don’t be deceived by this government, we are going to give them the Osun treatment”, Adebutu said.

In his remarks, the deputy governorship candidate of the party, Hon. Abdulkadir Akinlade said PDP will not only defeat APC in 2023, but also send the party into early retirement.

Akinlade said, “there is a lot happening now across the state, what is happening is what they call transfer window in the EPL, but don’t be bothered by their (APC) moves, they are only recruiting expired politicians into their party.

“We are not going to struggle with them (APC), we are going to beat them and ensure that we relegate them come 2023.”

Right now, the Nigerian political terrain is temperate. Not too hot, not too cold. I’m just having fun watching as the melodrama of the jostle for power among presidential hopefuls unfolds day by day; before it turns too sour to munch on. All I do now is to enjoy the sweetened comestibles of political campaigns that have not yet begun in full and flying swing. The wind of politics blowing today from the four corners of the Nigerian space is now either BATIFIED, OBIFIED, OR ATIKULATED. BATIFIED Nigerians are the ones in the bathtub of frenzied loyalty to the All Progressives Congress standard-bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. At the turn of specific seasons of life and in set times buried in the exclusive knowledge of Divinity, humanity experiences the birthing of some special breed of beings who have been marked to carry out specific assignments on behalf of specific territories and nations. Bola Tinubu is one. A bawling voice in the wilderness of Nigerian politics. Those who love him are very many. Those who despise him are not few either. Tinubu’s BATIFIED battalion believes this season is the phat phenomenon’s turn to be made king. And it is increasingly becoming obvious that the duel for who wears the beaded crown next year may be between Tinubu and a rising challenger in the former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi.

The OBIDIENT are Nigerian bow-wows, who want to hear nothing about anyone else but Peter OBI. They are fiery and feisty foot soldiers, and they have taken over the media space. The deaf everywhere hears them. In the North, they are knocking on doors. In the South, they shout. They are intentionally loud. They aren’t kidding around. They want power in 2023. Their desideratum is to see authority change hands from the old to the new. They see themselves as the new. As a matter of fact, they make Obi look new, though he has been around for a while, pitched his tents with three political parties for about two decades and is a household nomenclature, especially in the South. But don’t tell them Obi is part of the past. They will eat you up alive. Go and ask Femi Kuti, the Lagos-based Nigerian musician and the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti. Femi’s unpardonable sin was to declare his support for no presidential candidate. OBIDIENTS launched and snarled at him threatening to raze the 60-year-old out of the tracks of history. OBIDIENTS aren’t joking.

While some are threatening fire and brimstones to raze any opposition, others are raising money. Obi is shovelling in cash running into billions of naira to prosecute his cause. A friend organising for Obi invited me to a fundraiser scheduled for Los Angeles soon. Another fund drive is scheduled for the end of the month in Houston. My friends, Obi is no mere noise. He is poised to steal the show from those who have always been showcased on the purlieu of power. His profile is rising in charms and chimes as his followership balloons. New converts drawn to his gospel are swelling in size. His tub-thumpers are from everywhere. They are young and old. Obi is making forays into unexpected cohorts. The cohort we built in support of Yemi Osinbajo during the party primaries now has more than half of the members swinging to Obi. And they are Yoruba, Igbo and all. They seem to have found a home in Obi’s tent. Obi has not changed talking populist economic sense. What he talks about appeals to ordinary Nigerians. How long the talk will sway Nigerians is what we aren’t sure of.

If anyone thinks these OBIDIENTS are only active on social media, and that’s where it will end, you may have another think coming. Some erroneously compare Obi with Omoyele Sowore and other past aspirants, who won Presidential elections on every social media platform, in many focus groups, and in many opinion polls but never won for real. Obi’s present standing army is different. The soldiers see themselves as table-shaking, history-making revolutionaries who cannot be stopped. These people are not building for tomorrow, they are pushing for power today. Will they get it? I don’t know. But this campaign is formidable. And treat them with kid’s gloves only at your perishing peril.

The ATIKULATED. They are bodacious backers of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, whom we heard live in Dubai but wants to rule in Nigeria. Where are they? We hear about a party in disarray and disillusionment. We hear the rancorous katzenjammer coming out of Port Harcourt where the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, beats his drum of dissension against his party establishment. But we are tracking all of these candidates. But Atiku is no small fry. The next Presidential election may be the most expensive in the history of Nigeria. The top three candidates are billionaires, including Peter Obi. A Tinubu supporter who pleaded anonymity told me that the real campaign for the presidential election has not begun. “We are combing villages and hamlets in the North and mobilising everywhere in the South. The months of embers begin in a week. We will shock you,” he said.

Which one of us sees tomorrow? What is going on right now, however, is that there is momentum for one of the candidates. What is momentum? It is a stratospheric movement of the moment. In physics, it is real. In politics, it is a metaphor. Momentum helps win an election. Without it, a candidate is vanquished. Momentum, however, is an unpredictable swinging pendulum. It is an unreliable friend and feisty foe. It may stand with you today and against you tomorrow. The best climatologists of politics cannot accurately predict the momentum. As of today, it factual and for real that Peter Obi is mounting up with wings, with the momentum which is stoutly in his favour. But the election is a long, long time from now, especially when you are in the same ring with a man like Tinubu. And Obi and Atiku know this to be true.

The National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, Victor Oye, has called on all party members in Nigeria and Diaspora to pray fervently for the Anambra State House of Assembly for God’s mercy to stem the hand of death that has struck the House killing two of its members in a space of three months.

The PUNCH had reported on Wednesday that the House Majority Leader, Nnamdi Okafor, died at a legislative retreat in South Africa.

The lawmaker slumped and died in the early hours of Wednesday in a Hotel in Sandton City, Johannesburg, South Africa, and was confirmed dead hours later.

Before his death, Okafor, popularly called Akajiugo Awka, represented the Awka South Constituency 1 in the state Assembly.

In a press statement on Thursday, Dr. Oye urged all members to embark on three-day fasting and prayer for peace, growth and development in the House and in the party ahead of the 2023 elections.

“The times in which we have found ourselves are perilous and call for constant prayer, self-examination and penance”, the statement quoted Oye as saying.

He called on the leadership of the Anambra State House of Assembly to join in the prayer and fasting as “I see God doing something new in the House soon.”

He used the opportunity to commiserate with the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Uche Okafor and the, indeed, all the members of the House on the sudden death of the Majority Leader, Hon. Nnamdi Okafor, in faraway South Africa.

He prayed God to grant the soul of the deceased eternal repose in heaven.

THE political war between Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and his predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, recently entered a new dimension as Amosun stirred the hornet’s nest when he claimed that the 2019 governorship election was rigged in favour of Abiodun, against his anointed candidate, Abdulkabir Akinlade, who contested for the state number one seat in the state on the platform of the Allied People’s Movement, APM.

Amosun, at one of the programmes put together to mark the 50th anniversary of Abeokuta Club on Friday 5th August 2022, claimed that Abiodun was rigged into office during the 2019 governorship election.

He vowed that the governor would not return to power in 2023.

It would be recalled that Abiodun defeated Amosun’s anointed candidate, Akinlade with a margin of 19,517 votes. Abiodun polled 241,670 votes to defeat Akinlade who had 222,153 votes.

He added that he had moved on because those who orchestrated the rigging had apologised to him.

His words: “During the last election, thank God, Chief Osoba is here, I have said it; we won convincingly. They rigged, rigged, and ended up with 19,000.

“Some of them came to apologise to me. I can’t be mentioning names. We won that election. But I have moved on. We did our work; we will continue to do what we have to do. God will be with all of us.”

Speaking later on the sideline with journalists, Amosun declared that he was not in support of Abiodun’s administration, saying he must be removed.

He also assured his supporters that the next line of action would soon be made public.

“Just wait; very soon, you will hear where we are going next. You know my stand, and my stand is my stand. I am not supporting this administration that is there now. He must be removed,” he said.

Abiodun fires back

Reacting to Amosun’s claim, Abiodun, who spoke with journalists at the grand finale of the 50th anniversary of the Abeokuta Club, said he would not be distracted by any person who has a problem with self-delusion, assuring that he would rather focus on his mandate and not join issues with anyone who wants to play God.

“I will not be distracted by any person or persons who have a problem with self-delusion. I will not be distracted by any person who does not appreciate that Ogun State is not anybody’s father’s inheritance. We are all stakeholders in this commonwealth called Ogun State.

“I am not going to join issues with anyone that wants to play God; I will leave them to God. God can deal with whoever is challenging His authority and wanting to play God.

All I can say is that what we stand for in Ogun State is an administration that is committed to providing purposeful leadership and purposeful infrastructural development across the length and breadth of the state.

“How can we on the outside take on an incumbent and then be accused of rigging out an incumbent in the same party? Anyone can explain their failure whichever way they like. Anyone can also begin to pant and threaten that they will do whatever,” he added.

Amosun suffering from “political amnesia—Ogun APC

Equally responding to Amosun’s claim, the APC in Ogun State, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, said the former governor is suffering from “political amnesia and out-of-office loneliness”, thereby calling on the people of the state to pray for him.

Oladunjoye described Amosun’s claim as “an after-lunch belching of a man suffering from political amnesia and loneliness.”

He said: “The quoted statement was not only an insult to the psyche of the people of Ogun State but also a sad indication that the former governor is yet to purge himself of extreme arrogance and intolerance that were his trademarks, which earned him a suspension from our party, even as a sitting governor.

“The APC, therefore, calls on the public, and particularly our esteemed members, to pity and pray for the former governor as he suffers from political amnesia, loneliness and absolute lack of touch with reality.

“There is absolutely no truth in the specious utterance of the former governor who is still sulking from the electoral defeat of his surrogate party in 2019. Our party and candidate not only won fair and square but the victory of Prince Dapo Abiodun was also attested to by his co-contestants, many of whom later joined APC and are still in APC.

“Having been witnessing the frustrating exodus of his former political allies who openly said they were tired of endemic lies; and his failure to wrest the party structures from the incumbent governor, the recourse by Senator Amosun to “elated” after-lunch belching is understandable and pitiable.”

The State Chairman of the party, Chief Yemi Sanusi said Amosun’s claim was unbecoming of a supposed statesman.

Sanusi, who spoke after a closed-door meeting with leaders of the party in the 20 local government areas of the state, called for disciplinary measures against such anti-party acts.

Sanusi, who was the acting chairman of the party in 2019, declared that the election that produced Governor Abiodun was the most credible in the history of the state.

He said, the electorate overwhelmingly voted for Governor Abiodun and stood against any move to overturn their will.

He added that all subterranean schemes evolved by the then governor to ensure that his candidate won were thwarted by the vigilant and repressible people of Ogun State.

He said the party in the state might probe the rigging allegation raised by Amosun, noting that it was high time the anti-party activities of the senator were investigated.

Also, reacting to Amosun’s allegation, a former Minister of Communication and a chieftain of the APC, Mr Adebayo Shittu, called on the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party to sanction Amosun for anti-party activities.

Kyase:
I don’t hate obi
I just don’t like the set of people supporting him

Benue is for Atiku

Peacemaker5129:
APGA should better speak louder now

TayoT:
Wonder where you are getting your own fact from though.

https://leadership.ng/the-5-biggest-economies-in-africa/

Kyase:
Which kaduna?
Only plateau one month ago
Even there now he may likely get just 20%, but he will definitely get 25% In Benue as things stands now

Former minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has confessed that the supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi, are everywhere.

He stated that the ‘Obidients’ have ideas and vision. While cautioning the big political parties, (PDP, APC), Fani-Kayode advised them to play their cards very well.

In his article titled ‘Who are these Obidients’?, Fani-Kayode instructed his party members to humble themselves and embrace Obidients with a view to solving their respective problems.

Recall that many political parties have asked about Obi’s political structure. Some have said that Obi has presence only on social media.

But countering their hypothetical submission, Fani-Kayode averred that “I see them amongst my staff and amongst those that regard themselves as being amongst the oppressed and downtrodden. I see them amongst the professionals and those that are bankers, lawyers, doctors and artists.

“I see them in the North, West, East and South. I see them everywhere and not only on social media.

“I see them as being a very powerful and potent rising force which, if properly managed, will develop into a major political power over the next few years with a strong ideological and electoral foundation and massive structures.

“That is the potential that they have and that is how dangerous they can be. The sooner those of us that are in the larger political parties get off our high horses, display a little humility, try and understand their mindset, reach out to them, take them more seriously, appreciate their anger, restore their hope, make the necessary concessions and try and abate their rage and rising angst the better it will be for us all.

“They may not have today but if we do not play our cards right they may end up having tomorrow.

The Borno South senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Kudla Satumari tells TOPE OMOGBOLAGUN about his political experience and other issues

You contested the Senate seat in Borno South in 2019 but didn’t win. You alleged that the results were manipulated. Can you explain what happened then?

In 2019, I contested the Senate seat and the final outcome of that election was not a true reflection of the people’s choice. There was evidence and also stories thereafter, including the admission by the candidate that eventually won that the outcome probably would have been different, but for the circumstances that we found ourselves. So, that is why people came this time around to say, ‘look, you have to go back and re-contest’. I believe this time around, it is ours for the taking.

Don’t you think you lost that election because you were relatively unknown at that time?

I wouldn’t say I was relatively unknown. I have been contesting elections for long. In 2015, I actually ran for the House of Reps. What happened in 2019 was a situation that… maybe this bimodal verification and accreditation system would help us as opposed to what we saw in the previous system. I give you an instance, in a particular local government, where my opponent came from, I knew this after the election while I was gathering data and evidence for the case, and I took it to the tribunal; I discovered that the Independent National Electoral Commission actually provided us, on demand, Certified True Copies of the ballot paper allocated to every local government area in Southern Borno. We discovered and it was confirmed via the certified copies that the local government area, where my opponent hails from, was given only 55,000 ballot papers. By the time the election result was declared, we had 113,853 votes.

If you analyse the election results carefully, it is not possible that you gave a ballot paper of 55,000 and 113, 853 votes came back. The irony is that the returning officer is a Ph.D holder. A lot of these things happened. It happened in Damboa, Gwoza, and other places. Even beyond Borno South, it was the same incident in Borno North. Yes, the election was held, it was not a matter of being known or popular.

As a matter of fact, with all sense of modesty, if you go to Southern Borno and most recently, former states that made up Borno State, my name is a household name. So, I’m very confident that this time around, with the election that took place in Osun State, I think things will be different. I reviewed the Osun State experience based on four major elements that could have been responsible for the transparent and acceptable results.

I looked at the electoral process; we saw a great improvement in the electoral process. We saw that the bimodal verification and accreditation system was able to filter and present probably, reasonably the number of accredited voters, which tallied with the number of those who voted. So, the incidence of having overvoting was reduced because incident forms were not used, as was the case in the past. The integrity of the electoral process has improved, our elections can now be clear, fair, credible, and most importantly, conclusive.

Secondly, the candidate himself seemed to have been a candidate that is accepted by his people, and I see that people are beginning to gravitate towards looking at individuals, not necessarily the political party. The third influence that played out is the people, the electorate themselves. The level of awareness of our people is beginning to improve to the level that they want to hold candidates accountable. They want to choose candidates and they want to take ownership of the process of electing those who will represent them. I think that played out as well.

Finally, the political structure and the political party also played very great roles in the sense that there was the involvement of party structures to make sure that results were collected and transmitted to the situation room, to the extent that we were following the election results, unit by unit, ward by ward, local government, by local government. So, we already had an idea of the total votes cast even before the results were announced, and how many votes were going to this party or that party. It was easy to keep abreast of what is happened.

If you look at it, it then gives credence to the fact that even though people say political party structure does not matter, it really matters. This is because if the party is not on the ground, then you will not be able to monitor all the polling units with your agent, supervisors and people that monitor the election, even though it is too early to judge some political parties, by their performance in Osun State, you can see the reflection of what we see on social media regarding certain political parties and the outcome of what we saw in Osun State. This is an area that they really need to focus on to see that they have that strong structure for them to be present in all the other places.

You want the North-East to vote for a northern president rather than a northern vice president. Why is it so?

I’m a very realistic person. Even you, if you are given number one and number two for you to choose one, which one will you prefer? I will definitely prefer number one. We see how our system operates, the democratic system and the presidential system. A vice president will only function at the discretion of the president. Knowing Nigeria for how almost absolute executive power is in the hands of the president, anyone will naturally prefer to be the president than to be the vice president.

You see, what has caused a lot of this hullabaloo about the Muslim-Muslim ticket is not that we can’t have Christian-Christian ticket or Muslim-Muslim ticket . Our constitution does not stipulate that it must be balanced. However, in politics, every sentiment matters. You need to balance the sentiments. Anybody who says that religion and tribal affiliation does not play a role in Nigerian politics is deceiving himself or herself. We know that the sentiment is very strong. So, we see a candidate who has looked at the Nigerian situation, and he wants these sentiments to be accommodated. He chooses a Muslim or a Christian to run with him. He has satisfied significant population and their sentiment; he is going for the president, not vice president. So, we in the North-East, I’m a minority from the North-East. I’m a Christian from the North-East. I know what my people feel, and how they approach me with some of their feelings about the issue of religion. I am from Borno State. I know how the insurgency and other things have affected our area deeply. Even though I know the effects of the insurgency is not only on the Christians, Muslims are also affected. But I know we suffered and bore the brunt more than any other community. So, these people are telling me everyday that they will vote for someone who has provided them some sense of belonging and accommodation.

I know how much votes come from my area. For instance, in the last election when I ran in only nine local government areas of Southern Borno, I got more votes than the presidential candidate in 27 local government areas, and this people are telling me that this is how they feel.

What will you say about Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu’s presidential bids?

Tinubu, apart from being the governor of Lagos State, and a short stint as a senator of the Federal Republic, he built his career mostly as a party leader, who has supported the evolvement of some of his mentees to occupy positions. So, you will give it to Tinubu. But Atiku has been contesting election; he has been involved in politics for a very long time. I grew up to know Atiku as a politician. Remember, he contested against Moshood Abiola in 1992/93. Ever since then, Atiku has been involved in one form of contest or the other. He became the Vice President of Nigeria for eight years. Whatever anybody says, he was instrumental to bringing some of the best hands to Nigeria. At least, from what I read, he (Atiku) was instrumental to bringing people like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Oby Ezekwesili, El-Rufai, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the rest. We saw what they did with the economy. Atiku is known to attract best hands to work with him. He is someone that I believe has the experience that he can bring from politics and economy.

Also, Atiku has a network of followers all across the country. He has a network of global influences that he can bring to bear. I’m not saying that Tinubu does not have, but I want to believe a team that has more of those experiences than Tinubu. The fact that he (Atiku) has Okowa as a vice-presidential candidate is also an addition. Okowa is a brilliant governor. He was a senator; he also has experience from the legislature and executive. Atiku is contesting on the platform of a political party that is one of the most nationalistic in spread across Nigeria, because the national spread is deep.

The experience that we have in democracy is deeper. I believe the structure of the political party and its composition also matter because if you look at the other political parties, with all due respect, the PDP seems to be the one that does not have absolute owners. If you go to other political parties, they can decide it must be this or not. But in the PDP, it is difficult to claim that we are the only people that own the party. That is good for our democracy.

Do you think people want another northerner as president at the end of the current President’s eight-year term?

If you look at the PDP as a political party, it is actually the turn of the North. Take a look at the 16 years that the PDP was in power, a northerner has only been in power for about two and half years or thereabout. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo took eight years, Jonathan took about five, six years after Umaru Yar’Adua’s reign. God bless his soul. I believe he was one of the best presidents, but God did not allow him to complete his term.

We cannot say effectively that the North has been ruling on the platform of the PDP. If Atiku had won in 2019, it’s likely that he would have performed better than what we have now. People would have given the PDP another term, which means that the North will relinquish power in 2027. So, if you look at it from the point of the PDP, actually, if we’re going by zoning, it is not the time to zone it completely. However, I agree with you in the context of a northerner from the APC is ruling, and it is now time for a southerner to come.

I agree with you if it is with regards to an individual who happens to be a northerner. However, that is why in the wisdom of our party leaders, they threw it open. But it is a northern candidate that has been there for the past eight years. So, what do we do? Let’s throw it open. Whoever God gives becomes the candidate and all the political intrigues that played out thereafter manifested.

Looking at what Borno State and the entire North-East was before Buhari came into power and what the state and region are now, we will say that there is relative peace compared to what it was back then. Don’t you think that the North-East can vote for the APC based on this factor?

I wish I can answer you in the affirmative. But the truth of the matter is that President Buhari came in and multiplied the types of insecurity we were experiencing. There have been more people killed in this period that Buhari is the President than were killed from the days Boko Haram began as far back as 2009 to date.

We were only dealing with Boko Haram around the confines of the North-East around Sambisa, Lake Chad area and their fringes. Today, we are dealing with kidnapping, Fulani herdsmen and the rest of them. We are dealing with other splinter groups from ISWAP and other different groups of terrorists that have taken over our country.

Yes, the notoriety of Boko Haram reduced because they are sharing their publicity with other splinter groups. Before Buhari came, nobody talked about having issues with travelling from Kaduna to Abuja. The bombings, the terrorism were alien to Nigerians when it first started. At that time, wherever it happened, it became instant news. It became something the opposition began to emphasise and why they should kick out former President Goodluck Jonathan. If the same vigour and the same exaggeration of the situations that they were using during the Jonathan era were what we put on every incident that happened with kidnapping banditry, terrorist activities in Buhari’s administration, you will not even bother to compare the level of improvement.

In terms of local government areas that have been reclaimed from total or partial control of Boko Haram in Borno State, I will say yes, there has been improvement. But have they fared better in terms of constant recurrence of one form of criminality or terrorist activity or the other? I will say I don’t have the complete statistics. But I hear more of these incidents happening than it used to occur in the past.

ogatboy:
Atiku cannot rule Nigeria. Go write it down. He can and will never rule Nigeria. He won't win in the south and no one wins election with only one region.

Ahead of the 2023 general election, no fewer than 27,000 registered members of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in Nasarawa State have declared their support for the Labour Party.

The Labour Party said plans were on top gear to receive the defectors into its fold in the first week of September, 2022.

The state Chairman of the party, Alexander Emmanuel, made the disclosure on Saturday while inaugurating a new LP office donated to the party by youth and women groups in Agyaragu community, Obi Local Government Area of the state.

He said the 27,000 defectors from the APC and PDP were in addition to the party’s one million supporters drawn from 56 support groups across the 13 LGAs of the state.

He said, “These 27,000 defectors are those who indicated interest to join our party within the last two weeks. It was after the one-million-man march that was held in Lafia LGA for our presidential candidate, Peter Obi, that they came to declare support for our party and preparation is on top gear to receive them by the first week of September.

“Today, we are in Agyaragu to inaugurate this party office which was donated by the youth and women in the community through the Crowd Power support group for Peter Obi.

“You can see the turn-out of people in a short notice. In fact, we are happy with the level of support that we are getting on a daily basis. I am confident that the Labour Party will win the 2023 presidential, governorship and other elections.”

Also speaking, the 2023 Labour Party candidate for the Lafia/Obi federal constituency, Agum Akpandam, said the failure of the ruling party to provide good governance for the people, was what prompted his decision to join the contest to challenge the incumbent House of Representatives member.

He said if he was given the mandate, he would sponsor bills that would improve the living conditions of his constituents.

“This set of leaders has failed us. My people are suffering and that is why I have come to change the narrative. If I am voted into office in 2023, I will sponsor bills that will cushion the effect of the harsh economic realities on my constituents,” Akpandam said.

naijapips04:
Same as over 80% of governors who have never been invited by EFCC before. Infact Peter obi has been invited by EFCC unlike Fashola and Donald Duke

4. Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom
The first hint of graft allegations against the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio was in 2015.

After served as governor from May 29, 2007, to May 29, 2015, Mr Akpabio was accused of abusing his position and later entered the anti-corruption authority’s records of corrupt persons.

In less than six months after completing his second term, the EFCC arrested the former Governor in October 2015 following a petition by an Abuja-based lawyer and activist, Leo Ekpenyong, accusing Mr Akpabio of looting the Akwa Ibom state treasury.

Mr Akpabio, who served as governor at a time the nation enjoyed robust oil revenue, was accused of diverting over N100 billion from the oil-rich state, an allegation which he has denied.

The allegations include that Mr Akpabio awarded bogus contracts to cronies who used the proceeds to buy several properties for him in Lagos and Abuja.

The allegations include that he acquired some multi-billion assets through surrogates and withdrew about N18 billion from the state’s Federal Accounts Allocation Committee in tranches of N10 million and above, and spent over N50 billion state funds during the 2015 general elections.

Mr Akpabio later defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic party to the ruling All Progressive Party (APC) in August 2018. But in April 2021, he was taken into custody again and held at the EFCC headquarters for nearly two hours with five of his aides.

According to Sahara Reporters, Mr Akpabio was alleged to have offered $350,000 as a bribe to Abdulrasheed Bawa, the head of the anti-graft agency. The former minister later denied the allegations.

The corruption allegations that he faced did not discourage Mr Akpabio from contesting the last presidential primaries of the APC in June this year. But he stepped aside for Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos governor who had also been investigated by the EFCC for alleged financial crimes.

5. Abdulfatah Ahmed – Kwara
EFCC arrested the immediate past Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, for alleged diversion of N9 billion from the coffers of the Kwara State government while in office between 2011 and 2019.

He was grilled by operatives at the Abuja headquarters of the EFCC in May but released on administrative bail after spending two nights in the custody of the financial crimes agency.

But the EFCC has not put up the case for prosecution.

6. Aliyu Wamakko – Sokoto
After years of back-and-forth allegations of a N15 billion fund between two political allies and former governors of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa and his successor, Aliyu Wamakko, the former dragged Mr Wamakko, who was his deputy for eight years, to the anti-corruption agency for alleged mismanagement and abuse of office.

Mr Bafarawa’s allegations against Mr Wamakko, the sitting senator for Sokoto-North, in a petition of 2019 was over misappropriation during their time in office.

In the petition to the then EFCC zonal head, Ahmed Lateef, at the agency’s Zonal Office in Sokoto, Mr Bafarawa asked the EFCC to investigate Mr Wamakko over the N15 billion Mr Bafarawa allegedly left behind in the government’s coffers.

In his reaction, Mr Wamakko described the petition as “non-existent” and said it came from “faceless persons”.

He said that the allegation was targeted at tarnishing his image, challenging those involved to publish his bank accounts and other details to back their claims.

Mr Wamakko also noted that “the fake and debilitating report was circulated by the same deluded agents of doom and merchants of falsehood in April 2018, but their heinous efforts failed woefully.”

Messrs Wamakko and Bafarawa who had both spent eight years together—quarrelled after the state assembly initiated a process to impeach Mr Wamakko for alleged theft.

In 2007, Mr Wamakko ran for governorship position and won after parting ways with Mr Bafarawa and joining the PDP from their All People’s Party (APP). He moved to the Senate after serving two-term of eight years as governor.

7. Ali Modu Sheriff – Borno
PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported in 2015 how the EFCC invited the former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff. He was later granted an administrative bail

Although the anti-graft agency did not disclose why he was arrested, sources had informed this medium that it was related to an allegation that he misappropriated N300 billion his administration received from the Federation Account between 2003 and 2011.

The former governor was again invited in 2018 to the EFCC’s head office in Abuja to answer to an allegation of abuse of public office to the tune of $200 million under the guise of enforcing a dubious Boko Haram ceasefire in a neighbouring country in 2014, according to Vanguard newspaper

No charges have been pressed against the former governor in court.

8. Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano
After shunning multiple invitations, Rabiu Kwankwaso, the immediate past Governor of Kano State, appeared at the EFCC office last October to respond to allegations of fraud against him.

Vanguard reported that Mr Kwankwaso’s invitation was connected to a petition by some retired employees of the Kano State Government to the EFCC that the former governor mismanaged pension remittances to the tune of N10 billion between 2011 and 2015, which he diverted to fund a housing project for his cronies.

Sources in the EFCC also told PREMIUM TIMES that the investigation is still on and the possibility of initiating a court action in 2022 cannot be ruled out.

Mr Kwankwaso, a former Minister of Defence, is currently running for president under the New Nigeria People’s Party.

9. Willie Obiano
Although the details of the EFCC’s allegations against Mr Obiano are not yet in the public domain, the commission had last year placed the former governor on its watch list.

According to sources, Mr Obiano was quizzed by EFCC detectives while in custody in March over alleged misappropriation of public funds, including N5 billion Sure-P and N37 billion security vote which was withdrawn in cash.

Part of the money is also said to have been diverted to fund political activities in the state.

A 12-second video clip that has gone viral across social media platforms, had shown Mr Obiano, who was dressed in shorts and a white shirt, drinking water from a bottle in a closed room presumed to be in EFCC custody.

The video has since elicited a wide range of opinions with many Nigerians denouncing it, and demanding an investigation into how it was leaked.

A spokesperson for Mr Obiano described the video footage, showing his principal in his “underpants” in detention, as a witch hunt.’

Since the release of the former governor, there has not been much information on his case.

10. Bukola Saraki
A former Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, had said the Commission was investigating Bukola Saraki, a former Senate President, for alleged financial crimes.

The two-term former governor of Kwara State had questioned the motive of the former EFCC boss for opening an investigation into his stint as governor, saying it was a ‘witch-hunt’ against him.

Like for his successor, Mr Ahmed, the EFCC investigated Mr Saraki for an alleged conspiracy, abuse of office, misappropriation of public funds, theft, and money-laundering.

The EFCC also marked some properties at 15a, 15b and 17 MacDonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos allegedly belonging to Mr Saraki.

Reacting through his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Mr Saraki said the agency was only investigating what it had once probed and tagged the agency as ‘mischievous.’

The probe started when the agency wrote a letter to the Kwara State Government for a breakdown of Mr Saraki’s income and entitlements as governor of the state.

The anti-graft agency advised Mr Saraki not to be shaken “so long as he has no skeletons in his cupboard”.

11. Bola Tinubu
The EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, in an interview with This Day newspaper last June said the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, is under investigation over assets declaration.

Mr Tinubu’s source of wealth has been the subject of controversies with many Nigerians calling for his investigation.

Although the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, denied any plan to investigate Mr Tinubu, a copy of a letter from the EFCC to the Code of Conduct Bureau demanding copies of Mr Tinubu’s asset disclosure form had circulated on social media.

According to The Peoples Gazette, an online news medium that broke the news, the letter dated 6 November, 2020, was signed by the then Lagos zonal head, Mr Bawa, who is now the Chairman of the EFCC.

Mr Tinubu has been accused of having interest in Alpha Beta Consulting and diverting Lagos State cash through the company.

In a 40-page document submitted to a Lagos high court in 2020, Dapo Apara, a former managing director of the company, accused Mr Tinubu and Akin Doherty, a former commissioner in Lagos, of money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, and several other corrupt practices.

Deji Adeyanju, the convener of Concerned Nigerians, on 25 October, 2019, had also petitioned the EFCC to probe Mr Tinubu about the source of money delivered in bullion vans to his Ikoyi home on the eve of the 2019 presidential election.

The EFCC had over the years dismissed media questioning regarding Mr Adeyanju’s petition against Mr Tinubu’s

Lawyer, CSO react
One of the difficulties in the fight against corruption, according to the Country Director CDD, Idayat Hassan, is the amount
of effort done by the defence to undermine the anti-corruption body’s investigation.

“I think most times, we seem not to talk about it. It is like there has been a perception of the strategy of the defence in most instances to delay cases to choose different routes. And it has often been perfected,” Ms Hassan said.

She stated that while the country must maintain its commitment to the battle against corruption, prevention should also be a top priority.

Ms Hassan also demanded that the immunity clause for public officials be repealed, and also, ensure increased financing for anti-corruption authorities.

“I think there is a need to look at challenges and what can actually be done, particularly from the side of the defence. And also the kind of evidence; what kind of evidence is needed to prosecute people, and who are the people?

“Also, for political office holders, because of the immunity clause, it makes it very difficult to get them to the court during their time in office. The removal of the immunity clause is important and it is also a way of addressing this. And the readily available resources allocated to the anti-corruption agencies.

“And moving into the future, our emphasis should be more on prevention. How don’t prevent corruption from happening in the first place, and how we can block all those loopholes that have allowed for corruption is important,” Mrs Hassan said.

Eluma Asuguwa, a lawyer, said conducting investigations for years without proper prosecution demonstrates that the country is not serious about combating corruption.

Citing the case involving the former Abia governor, Mr Orji, he said the former governor “left power if I am not mistaken in 2016, and this is 2022, seven years later, there is no sign of seriousness on the part of our anti-corruption institutions that investigations would take years.

“And there are plenty of such cases. Also, the slowness of our legal system. If it is taking seven years to conduct an investigation, then we can have in mind that when it gets to court eventually, it will take another 10 years at the high court before you can secure a conviction, such as the case of former governor Uzor Kalu of Abia State after all the years of prosecution he was just convicted two years ago which was later squashed.

“With all these, what it means in Nigeria is that it takes about 20 years to get an alleged culprit to answer for the crime. That does not tell the good of a system that is serious,” the lawyer submitted.

On 16 March, barely hours after handing over power to his successor, Charles Soludo, former Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano, was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Mr Obiano, who had been under the radar of the anti-graft agency, was on his way to Houston, Texas in the United States when he was nabbed by EFCC operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Hours after his arrest, the former governor was flown to the EFCC’s Abuja headquarters but was released a few days later.

Although the reason for his detention was never announced, reports said Mr Obiano was invited by the commission to explain his alleged involvement in a suspected N42 billion fraud case and misuse of public funds.

The incident made newspaper headlines and elicited a variety of reactions, with many Nigerians and anti-corruption advocates applauding the EFCC for acting swiftly and proactively in the case.

Mr Obiano’s arrest was the most recent case of former state governors being detained for alleged graft immediately after leaving office. He was the 31st former governor to be detained by the anti-graft agency soon after leaving office.

However, according to data sourced by Dataphyte, a research and data news platform, only seven of the governors have so far been convicted by the courts from charges bordering on money laundering, fraud, embezzlement, corruption; while one was acquitted.

Despite the low chance of conviction for politically exposed persons (PEP), the Council of State on the recommendation of President Muhammadu Buhari recently pardoned and release two of the convicted former governors from prison – Jolly Nyame of Taraba and Joshua Dariye of Plateau, whose prison terms were upheld by the Supreme Court.

The development enraged anti-corruption activists who had been accusing the Buhari administration of lacking sincerity in its fight against corruption.

One of Nigeria’s leading pro-democracy groups, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), said in a report last year that what can be considered a ‘major win’ is when more high-ranking officials accused of graft are prosecuted.

Wilson Uwujaren, the spokesperson for the EFCC, declined to comment when asked about investigations involving previous governors the commission had been investigating over the years without charges and trial.

Mr Uwujaren said he was not in a position to predict or determine when a matter would be heard in court.

“These are matters that are still under investigation and I cannot tell you when a case would be taken to court,” he told our reporter in a phone interview.

Rare convictions
Since its establishment, the EFCC has had run-ins with state governors over cases of alleged misappropriation of state funds.

But because the Nigerian constitution confers immunity from any form of trial and conviction on state governors while in office, the anti-graft agency will have to wait until such a state executive leaves office before they can swing into action.

Mr Obiano’s arrest came months after a former Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, was arrested by the EFCC in a similar fashion.

However, despite the constant media attention given to these arrests, trials frequently go poorly, and convictions have been rare even in egregious cases.

Meanwhile, the graft cases of the others are either ongoing or stalled with many of the accused still holding or seeking election to public offices.

Last year, the EFCC boss, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said 978 corrupt Nigerians were convicted between January and September 2021, insisting that the agency was winning the war on corruption.

While anti-corruption advocates and activists commended this, they urged the agency to do more against top corrupt politicians and other high-ranking officials.

Only two high-profiled public office holders were in the list of nearly the 978 convictions that Mr Bawa cited.

They are Abdulrasheed Maina, the former head of the Pension Task Force, and Farouq Lawan, a former federal senator, who were sentenced to prison over varying degrees of money laundering and bribery, respectively.

PREMIUM TIMES examines some of the stalled cases involving former governors.

1. Former Zamfara Governor Abdulaziz Yari
The former Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Abdulaziz Yari, was on several occasions grilled by the EFCC for alleged illegal financial dealings and misappropriation of funds. But he has never been taken to court.

PREMIUM TIMES reported in February last year that Mr Yari faced a long interrogation session with detectives at the Lagos office of the EFCC over an alleged attempt to illegally move N300 billion from a corporate account in a new generation bank.

Although details of the transaction were sketchy, sources told this newspaper that Mr Yari gave a lengthy statement to the commission’s operatives before he was released late in the evening of 3 February.

PREMIUM TIMES also exclusively reported how the commission again invited Mr Yari to appear for interrogation at its Sokoto office on 8 April.

Similarly, this newspaper reported how Mr Yari allegedly conspired with the embattled Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, in an alleged N84 billion fraud currently being investigated by the EFCC.

Those familiar with the matter at the EFCC told this medium that Mr Yari spent at least $700,000 on a trip to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj.

It was said the money came from a N20 billion he received from the suspended AGF as a portion of the 13 per cent derivation funds designated for payments to eight oil-producing states.

Earlier on January 26, 2021, a judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Ijeoma Ojukwu, ordered the final forfeiture of some funds suspected to be proceeds of corruption found in bank accounts linked to Mr Yari.

ordered the final forfeiture of some funds suspected to be proceeds of corruption found in bank accounts linked to Mr Yari.

2. Theodore Orji of Abia
Theodore Orji, a serving senator and former governor of Abia State who has been under the radar of the anti-corruption agency, was arrested in August 2021 at the Nnamdi International Airport, Abuja alongside his son.

He was granted an administrative bail after hours of interrogation at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, sources familiar with the case told this newspaper.

He was, however, released and asked to return to the EFCC office for further interrogation.

Mr Orji and his sons, Chinedu and Ogbonna, are under EFCC investigation for alleged misappropriation of public funds and money laundering.

The ex-governor was alleged to have received N500 million monthly as security vote for eight years as governor of Abia between 2007 and 2015.

Other allegations against him include alleged mismanagement of a N2 billion Ecological Fund and mismanagement of Sure-P Funds.

The investigation followed a petition dated March 17, 2017, filed by the Fight Corruption: Save Nigeria Group.

The petitioners had accused Mr Orji of diverting ”N383 billion revenue from the Federation Account, N55 billion Excess Crude revenue, N2.3 billion Sure-P revenue, N1.8 billion ecological funds, N10.5 billion loan, N12 billion Paris Club refund, N2 billion agricultural loan, and N55 billion ASOPADEC money while in office.”

According to the petition, the N500 million the former governor allegedly withdrew monthly was “not part of the security funds expended on the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Army, DSS, Navy anti-Kidnapping Squad, anti-robbery Squad, purchase of security equipment and vehicles for the security agencies.”

The petitioners also accused Mr Orji’s son, Chinedu, of owning about 100 accounts in different banks.

3. Tanko Al-Makura Nasarawa
The EFCC had arrested the former governor of Nasarawa State and serving senator and his wife in July.

The couple was grilled by operatives at the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Abuja.

Mr Al-Makura served as governor between 2011 and 2019 before he was elected into the Senate for Nasarawa South district. He was also a top contender in the APC national chairmanship race earlier this year, which he lost to his predecessor in Nasarawa, Adamu Abdullahi.

Sources who confided in PREMIUM TIMES said a worrying pattern of suspicious structured transactions that suggest money laundering may have caused troubles for Mr Al-Makura.

The EFCC arrested he and his wife on suspicion of involvement in dirty money flow.

PREMIUM TIMES learned that about 55 accounts controlled by the couple and their companies were involved in the suspicious transactions, amounting to billions of naira, when Mr Al-Makura was governor.

Sources said less than $250 was lodged in one of the accounts in the two years preceding his assumption of office, but soon after he became governor, huge deposits started flowing in an apparently structured pattern.

Many deposits into this domiciliary account and others were made by businesses alleged to have carried out contracts for the state government.