Fifteen ward chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council of Borno State on Friday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The defectors created confusion when they stormed Government House Maiduguri to declare their support for the ruling party.

Their defection came a day to a crucial election in which two of the PDP’s strongest candidates are vying for senatorial and House of Reps seats in the same constituency.

Maiduguri Metropolitan Council is one of the largest in Borno State. Apart from being the state capital, it is also a federal constituency, as well as the largest voting centre within Borno Central senatorial district.

The outgoing governor, Kashim Shettima, is the APC candidate for Borno Central and faces a former occupant of the seat, Abba Aji, the candidate of the PDP.

The 15 ward chairmen said they left the PDP because the party has not offered them any convincing argument that it would do better than what the ruling APC has done for the state in the past three years and nine months.

Kabiru Babagana, the chairman of Bolori II Ward, spoke on behalf of the defectors.
“We the 15 ward chairmen and our secretaries have decided to leave the PDP because the leadership has always failed us when it comes to times of election,” said Mr Babagana.

“Besides, the ruling APC has done so much for Borno state since 2015. The APC-controlled federal government has not only helped us to decimate Boko Haram but also helped to rebuild our schools, hospitals and markets.

“After a thorough consultation with our supporters in the 15 wards, we concluded that posterity will not judge us kindly if we continue to oppose a government that has done so much for us and brought succour to our people.”

Another speaker, Mukhtar Sheriff, who is the chairman Mafoni Ward, said they left the party because the government in Borno state has left them with no option.

“We are humbled by the achievements of Governor Kashim Shettima, who despite our state of insecurity has done his best to keep our state running,” said Mr Sheriff.

“And we have decided to join him and his governorship candidate so that we can all build a better Borno state.

“It is for that reason that we decided to leave the PDP with its baggage of controversy to join the ruling APC and support all it’s candidates from the president down to House of Assembly here in Maiduguri.”
The defectors were received by the current member of the federal House of Representatives, Kadiri Rahis, who is also a candidate in Saturday’s election.

Mr Rahis said the governor appreciated their decision to join the party. He urged them to come out en masse to vote for the party in the Saturday and subsequent elections.

He also advised them to vote quietly and avoid any act of violence.

Efforts to get a reaction from the PDP state secretary, Baba Ahmed, failed as his phone could not be reached at the time of filing this report.

The race in the North-west

We predict that on Saturday Mr Buhari will again be a titan in that region. But this is not entirely because his challenger this time is from the North-east.

Of the seven states in the North-west, at least four appear to be safely in his column. These are Katsina his home state, Kebbi, Kano and Zamfara.

In 2003, Mr Buhari ran his first electoral race at a time the conservative North was in a rage against President Obasanjo. Many states in the region had adopted the Sharia mainly to spite his leadership.

Coupled with a few other factors, Mr Kwankwaso was trounced in the 2003 governorship poll by Ibrahim Shekarau, whom he had removed as permanent secretary and sent into the classroom as a teacher. Mr Buhari swept Kano that year, and many attributed him as the factor in the comfortable election of Mr Shekarau. But Mr Kwankwaso’s alienation of his allies through his abrasive leadership was also undoubtedly a factor.

Mr Kwankwaso did not run again until the end of Mr Shekarau’s second term in 2011. That year, he returned as governor but won with only a plurality of about 63, 000 votes. That margin was thin in a state of close to two million voters.

But Mr Kwankwaso’s cause was even further helped by the fallout of the presidential election of that year. After the announcement of Mr Jonathan as the winner, supporters of Mr Buhari, especially in Kano, broke out in violent protests. The security crackdown that followed chased many of them underground and ended their interest in the remaining elections of that cycle.

If Mr Kwankwaso has gained the clout to challenge Buhari in Kano, he has yet to prove it. The APC won big with him in 2015 but that was because Kano was also caught in the Buhari hurricane of that year that swept the entire North and threw Mr Jonathan off the saddle. This state will, therefore, go to Mr Buhari again, although Mr Kwankwaso will give Mr Abubakar a foothold.

In Sokoto, Governor Aminu Tambuwal and former governor Attahiru Bafarawa have a considerable following. In 2015 when Mr Bafarawa was the lone general in the PDP, he gave a good fight although the Buhari factor bolstered Aliyu Wamakko and Mr Tambuwal to firmly push the state into the APC column with 671,926 votes to PDP’s 152,199 in the presidential election. When Mr Buhari visited for his campaign this year, the turnout indicated the people are still enamoured with him. But Mr Abubakar also pulled a large crowd to his rally. We will give the state to Mr Buhari, but the margin will be closer this year.

That leaves us with Jigawa in this zone. In 2015, Mr Buhari swept this state even with Mr Lamido as the sitting governor. He garnered 885,988 votes to Mr Jonathan’s 142,904. That situation appears to have altered. But this has more to do with Governor Badaru Abubakar’s stewardship than with Mr Lamido’s resurgence.

Mr Lamido lost two elections in 1999 and 2003 to Saminu Turaki of the APP. He needed the support of the latter to win at the third attempt in 2007. By then, Mr Turaki had become a PDP sympathiser and one of the governors who bankrolled the failed Third Term Agenda of Mr Obasanjo. But now out of power, Mr Lamido has been putting the heat on the sitting governor who he and his supporters have branded as corrupt and underperforming.

The Adamawa-born PDP flag bearer, Mr Abubakar, has traced his ancestral roots to the state and expects to be welcomed back home with votes. These are the reasons why this is considered a battleground state. If it is so, it is leaning towards Mr Buhari more than Mr Abubakar.

North-East

This is Mr Abubakar’s zone. In the parlance of Nigerian politics, he is supposed to be at home with the voters here. But that does not appear to be the case. Two of the six states in this zone can be written off for him. These are Borno and Yobe which Mr Buhari won handily in 2015. He appears set to repeat the feat on Saturday.

Mr Buhari won two of the other states here, Bauchi and Gombe. Governor Ibrahim Dankwabo sneaked into reelection in Gombe even after Mr Buhari had beaten Mr Jonathan decisively with 361,245 to 96,873 votes. It was considered a measure of the voters’ love for their governor. The president is expected to retain the state, more so that a lot of the political figures, including some officials of Mr Dankwambo’s government, have crossed the bridge into the APC.

Bauchi’s scenario is slightly different. Mr Buhari mauled Mr Jonathan here in 2015 with 931,598 votes to the latter’s paltry 86,085. And he again pulled a large crowd this year when he campaigned there. Last year, the APC won all the bye-elections held in the state. But local politics surrounding Governor Mohammed Abubakar appears to have helped the PDP back into reckoning in the state.

The governor has alienated many of the political and traditional rulers in the state, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara. It was this local issue that finally pushed a hesitant Mr Dogara back to the PDP last year. A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, is the PDP governorship candidate and he is using his deep pocket to run a serious campaign. On the positive side for the APC, many bigwigs, including two former governors of the state, Adamu Muazu (he was the PDP national chairman at the time of the last election) and Isa Yuguda have moved over to the APC. Mr Buhari looks set to win the state. But Mr Abubakar will fare better here than Mr Jonathan did the last time around. Governor Abubakar on his part may need to hang on to the hems of Mr Buhari’s flowing gown to stay afloat on March 2.

Adamawa promises the most exciting spectacle on Saturday. This is the home state of Mr Abubakar. He is married to the family of the paramount traditional ruler in the state, the Lamido of Adamawa. He also holds one of the most prestigious traditional titles in the emirate, the Waziri. He has so much business investment here, including the prestigious ABTI American University in Yola, that he is said to be the biggest employer of labour in Adamawa after the state government.

Mr Abubakar started his political career in 1989 and made a beeline for the governorship seat. He finally got it at the third attempt in 1999 only to be drafted to Abuja as running mate to Mr Obasanjo. But Adamawa is one of the states in the North with a broad elite base, most of them the lords of their manors.

In 2015, Mr Buhari edged Mr Jonathan 374,701 votes to 251,664. It was the first time a presidential candidate not running on the PDP ticket would pick the state. Local opinions suggest Mr Buhari maintains the lead here. But it will be dicey, especially given also the storm surrounding Governor Jibrilla Bindow. From a minority ethnic group, the governor is at odds with his old allies. Adamawa is a battleground state if there is one in this zone.

That leaves us with Taraba. The home state of Theophilus Danjuma, former defence minister. It has the only other PDP governor in the zone. And like his Gombe counterpart, Governor Darius Ishaku had a close shave with defeat in 2015 even though Mr Jonathan won here emphatically with 310,800 votes to Mr Buhari’s 261,326. The courts eventually gave him reprieve from the stiff challenge of the woman they call Mama Taraba, Aisha Alhassan then of the APC.


North-Central

Regardless of what you may have read elsewhere, this zone has something for the two presidential candidates. Against the popular perception, only Benue and Plateau of the six states in the zone have a Christian majority population. Kogi is probably evenly split between Christians and Muslims; Nasarawa and Kwara have sizeable Christian minority groups. But Niger has a large Muslim majority. In 2015, Mr Buhari had a good showing in this zone, losing only in Nasarawa with 236,838 votes to Mr Jonathan’s 273,460 and Plateau with 429,140 to 549,615.

All the six states in the zone also elected APC governors. But Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and Samuel Ortom of Benue returned to the PDP last year in the exodus orchestrated by Senate President Bukola Saraki who is Mr Ahmed’s political godfather in Kwara.

As things stand, four of the six states are firm battlegrounds. Niger is in the APC column just as Benue appears to be fully under the PDP umbrella.

Nasarawa has an APC governor, but the state always gives the plurality of its votes to PDP presidential candidates. In 2015, Mr Buhari had 236,838 to Mr Jonathan’s 273,460 even though the state reelected Governor Umaru Al-Makura on the APC platform.

In Kwara, however, we may have a situation close to that of 1983. That year, the kingmaker of the state, the late Olusola Saraki, who was a chieftain of the then ruling National Party of Nigeria and Senate Leader, had fallen out with the governor he helped into office, the late Adamu Attah. After the NPN ignored his protest and renominated Mr Attah, Mr Saraki hooked up a curious alliance with the opposition Unity Party of Nigeria. The UPN candidate, Cornelius Adebayo, defeated Mr Attah in the governorship election of 1983.

This time, a Saraki is again at the centre of the drama in the state. But he appears to be the one feeling the heat now. The Senate President’s 16-year hold on the state is facing its biggest threat yet from a resurgent opposition gathered in the APC and rousing the streets with the battle cry, Oto Ge! Enough is enough in Yoruba, the slogan is resonating across the state. This is a battleground state. It appears too close to call.

South-West

With over 16 million registered voters, this zone is always going to have a say in who emerges president on Saturday. The two candidates are expecting an open game in all the six states here because of the open-mindedness of the largely Yoruba voters. In 2015, Mr Buhari edged Mr Jonathan in the zone and he appears poised to do the same to Mr Abubakar on Saturday.

In the last cycle of the general election, the PDP had two governors in Ekiti and Ondo states. But APC has since annexed those seats in the offseason governorship elections and now makes the South-west the only zone in Nigeria under a single party flag.
However, this constitutes both advantages and disadvantages for Mr Buhari’s party. It means this election is a referendum on the stewardship of the party in the zone.

Last year, it took both luck and shenanigans to keep Osun in the party’s column as what was a straightforward contest in 2014 controversially went into a supplementary poll. Governor Gboyega Oyetola eventually emerged in a photo finish with about five hundred votes superiority to Ademola Adeleke of the PDP.

But that election was determined by local factors, especially a labour backlash against former governor Rauf Aregbesola. Although he started well, changed the physical landscape of the urban side of the state and introduced many bold policies in the education sector that will long impact the state, the difficulty he had in paying workers became his albatross. It eroded his popularity and unfairly caricatured him as a ghastly leadership accident.

But the APC can expect a more decent victory this time, mainly because of the alliance it forged with Iyiola Omisore in the heat of that supplementary governorship poll. The Ife prince started the Fourth Republic in the same company as deputy to Governor Bisi Akande.

But he swiftly fell out with his boss and was peremptorily impeached and driven into the waiting hands of the PDP. That time, President Obasanjo was plotting a brutal takeover of his home region from the AD. Mr Omisore’s ordeal in the AD solidified his base in Ife around him. That electoral asset earned him the warm embrace of the same people who long and stridently accused him of every crime in the book, including murder, when they were adversaries. He again will be instrumental.

Of the remaining states in the zone, Ogun seems the most fluid. This is due primarily to the crisis Governor Ibikunle Amosun has foisted on the APC through his strange power transition designs. The party split down the middle after a section rebelled against him. It managed to get the backing of the national leadership of the party. But a stubborn Mr Amosun would not yield and has herded his loyalists into the Allied Peoples Movement for the state elections while he remains a senatorial candidate of the APC. If its messy civil war does not draw the APC the whirlwind in the presidential poll, it is sure to take a heavy toll on it in the state elections.

In spite of all the usual excitement, the votes-rich Lagos will rest firmly in the APC column. The opposition PDP is weak as many of the leaders have exchanged their umbrellas for brooms. Those who remain are bickering as usual and critically do not have the war chest, structure or strategy to take the battle to Mr Tinubu who at some point appeared vulnerable after his men picked a curious fight with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. But the governor seems to have taken his harsh chastisement on the chin and, at least overtly, is placidly tagging along with his estranged friends rather than dash to the other side.

In Ondo, there is also infighting in the APC. Here too, all the factions seem to have a common ground in Mr Buhari and will work for him. The PDP in 2015 had a sitting governor working for it, but Mr Jonathan still lost the state 251,368 to 299,889 votes to Mr Buhari.

Now, the former governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has left the PDP and is fending for himself in the Zenith Labour Party where he is running for the Senate on Saturday.

In Ekiti, Ayo Fayose has served his term as governor. He painfully failed to install a PDP successor and now contends with a civil war in the state chapter of the party where, until recently, he was he who must be obeyed.
In contrast, Governor Kayode Fayemi is still enjoying a honeymoon and drawing new adherents into the APC from the PDP. This state is notorious for flipping and is poised to flip once again. Mr Buhari lost here 120,331 to 176,466 the last time around.

In summary, the APC remains the top dog in this region and will again offer Mr Buhari a significant help on Saturday. It is a bonus that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is from the zone. No wonder the whisper that APC may back the South-west for the presidency in 2023.


South-east

This is assumed a PDP territory, even though the party has only three of its five state governors. Since 1999 when the presidential bid of Alex Ekwueme attracted the zone into the PDP, the mainstream Igbo political leaders have made themselves at home in the party.

In 2015, Mr Buhari harvested a paltry 198,000 votes from the five states in the region. That tally pales against the 323,653 that Mr Jonathan drew from Ebonyi, his least from a state in the zone. The streets of the South-east remain hostile to Mr Buhari. But the political elite seems to be less so now.
Ebonyi’s Governor David Umahi is unabashed in praising and welcoming and fawning over the president publicly. When Mr Buhari stopped over for his campaign, the governor hosted him at Government House. The state’s traditional rulers also endorsed the visitor’s ambition. A few days later, the governor turned up to receive Mr Abubakar but offered no apologies for his strange cavorting with the “enemy.” Mr Umahi is not alone in the zone in this ambivalence to the PDP.
Governor Willie Obiano is in the All Progressives Grand Alliance. In 2015, he worked furiously for Mr Jonathan who showed Mr Buhari a clean pair of his heels by trouncing him 660,762 to a ridiculous 17,926 votes in the state. Now, Mr Obiano’s vigorous campaign is for Mr Buhari. It is not entirely out of love for the president. It has also to do with his dislike for Peter Obi, Mr Obiano’s predecessor and estranged friend who is now running on the PDP presidential ticket with Mr Abubakar.

Mr Obi installed Mr Obiano in 2014. But the pair quickly quarrelled and has refused to make up. When the governor ran for reelection in 2018, Mr Obi had crossed over to the PDP and vowed to throw his successor out of office. He tried but failed. Now, Mr Obiano wants to return the favour. He will do all he can to embarrass Mr Abubakar in the home state of his running mate.

Although the PDP South-east heartily welcomed Mr Obi into its fold from APGA, the leaders seem to think his nomination by Mr Abubakar was a gift too generous and too early. They have no choice but to work for the PDP since they are all seeking reelection. But the passion of 2015 is now flickering and may affect the quantum of votes for the PDP on Saturday.

Imo State gave Mr Buhari 133,253 votes in 2015, about a third of his tally in the entire zone. This is the result of Governor Rochas Okorocha’s valiant efforts. He remains the only APC governor in the South-east. He took a wing of APGA into the merger that became the party. But like Mr Amosun of Ogun in the South-west, his insistence on choosing who would be what has shaken the house that he built to its foundation.

Mr Okorocha is running for the Senate as an APC candidate but has sent his in-law to another party to run for governor after the APC declined to issue him its ticket. The factions may all work for Mr Buhari on Saturday. But their disunity may cost them direly on March 2. This, however, is not to say Mr Buhari will win the state. But as in elsewhere in the zone, he is entitled to expect an improvement in his harvest from this state.

Figures like former Abia State Governor Orji Kalu, former Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime and former Senate President Ken Nnamani are in the APC and will help Mr Buhari draw more votes than ever before.
All the ministers from the zone too will also like to demonstrate their political clouts. All of these will help the president avoid the embarrassment he was subjected to at the poll in the zone in 2015.
Mr Abubakar will win this zone but not with the margin with which Mr Jonathan did in 2015.


South-South

This is another PDP territory. Every projection of a Mr Abubakar victory rests on the foundation that he will pick almost every vote in this zone and in the South-east. PDP runs every state in the zone apart from Edo, which Adams Oshiomhole snatched from the party in 2008 and kept in the APC at the end of his governorship tenure.
This zone has 12, 841,279 registered voters. Most of them will look for the umbrella symbol when handed their ballot papers. In 2015, homeboy Mr Jonathan won all the six states decisively, garnering a few votes short of five million. He did to Mr Buhari what the latter did to him in the North-west as the APC candidate tallied only about 400,000 votes.
This time, the PDP will not have it that easy. There has been a massive incursion of the APC into states such as Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers and Delta that the party can reasonably fancy its chances to pick at least one of these states.

Aside from the fact that incumbency is now in APC hands, both parties now have strong enough representation on the ground to thwart the shenanigans of the other. What should be the most concern is keeping the combatants from deploying violence in their desperation or frustration.

Mr Abubakar will count on every vote he can get in the South-south, and he will get most of the votes. But the battle on this turf will be less lopsided than it has been since 2003 when the PDP started its bullying of the opposition on the Niger Delta electoral canvass.

The prosecution in the charge against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Wlater Onnoghen before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has applied for the issuance of a warrant of arrest on him (Onnoghen).

Lead prosecution lawyer, Aliyu Umar (SAN) made the application at the resumption of proceedings on Wednesday morning.

Umar noted that Onnoghen has consistently absented himself from the tribunal since proceedings commenced on the charge in January this year.

He said both the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) and the Practice Direction of the CCT provides that a defendant must be present in court before any proceedings can be conducted in respect of a pending charge.

Lawyer to the defendant, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) is currently making a counter-argument, urging the court to, among others reject the prayer for the issuance of an arrest warrant against Onnoghen.

Ex-armed men, once notorious for the long-run militancy in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, are set to endorse President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

The endorsement is to come at a press conference scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt today, Wednesday. The conference is to be addressed by Victor Ebikabowei, also known as General Boyloaf, a source close to Boyloaf told PREMIUM TIMES.

PREMIUM TIMES has previewed the text of Boyloaf’s address, which notes the tension between the ex-militant leaders, now cooperating under the aegis of Peace Ambassadors of the Niger Delta, and the Buhari government at its inception.

It reads: “In spite of the tense beginning and moments we have had with the current administration following his defeat of our brother Goodluck Jonathan, we have formed a new partnership for the Niger Delta and have seen a deep-seated commitment to addressing the issues that we in the region are facing.

“We have to give special credit to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for painstakingly leading the engagements in the Niger Delta and assuring us of his plans.”

Apart from Boyloaf, other ex-warriors believed to be at the vanguard of the move are Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over allegations of money laundering; Ateke Tom, now a traditional ruler; Bibrope Ajube, also known as General Shoot-at-Sight; and Farah Dagogo, who is the Peoples Democratic Party candidate for the Bonny/Degema federal constituency election.

“In the Niger Delta, these are people who matter,” said our source, playing down the influence of Edwin Clark, respected Niger Delta leader who is supporting PDP’s Atiku Abubakar. “Edwin Clark is well respected but he’s old.”

On Mr Dagogo, a PDP member currently in the Rivers State House of Assembly, our source said: “this is not about a political party. It is not about endorsing APC. It is about Buhari.”

The Niger Delta is a region where Mr Abubakar is expected to record a clear win. Apart from being traditionally a “PDP home,” Mr Abubakar’s core campaign vow to restructure the country to allow states have greater responsibilities and control of resources appeals to the region, long drawn in agitations for resource control and more development.

However, the endorsement of Mr Buhari by the ex-warriors who wield some influence in the region may swing some votes across the states in the region to APC.

According to our source, the endorsement would be a part of a “peace workshop” promoted by the ex-militant leaders.

They were high-ranking commanders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, and also ran, separately, camps of guerrilla fighters spending years in violent protest of the environmental degradation and socio-economic underdevelopment of the Niger Delta.

But in 2009, they accepted the amnesty programme initiated by late President Umaru Yar’Adua.



They enjoyed generous government patronage during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, who offered them contracts to safeguard oil and gas infrastructure. They then supported Mr Jonathan’s re-election bid, which failed in 2015.

The amnesty programme led to relative peace in the region but attacks on oil and gas installations were renewed by a group Niger Delta Avengers following Mr Jonathan’s loss.

The Avengers were condemned by Boyloaf and Tompolo in separate reactions. MEND also described the group as a bunch of criminals at the height of their violent campaign which affected Nigeria’s crude production.

The Niger Delta is volatile and has remained largely impoverished, despite decades of oil production that has provided much of the cash Nigeria uses. Trillions of naira in federal allocations to the region have not changed much.

But the endorsement of Mr Buhari by the “big five” ex-militant leaders, according to our source, follows his “government’s efforts on Niger Delta’s environmental and development concerns, including Ogoni cleanup and infrastructure.”

ddjay:

Choi see grammer, guy l its like you have spent decades teaching English in a primary school

Following the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as its flag bearer, the party’s state and local government executives in Sokoto state on Thursday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with no fewer than 25, 000 other members.

Addressing a press conference in Sokoto, the former acting State Chairman of the SDP, Alhaji Malami Alhaji Kyahe and the former Chairman of the Forum of Local Governments Chairmen of the party, Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed, said that, they defected to the APC without any strings attached .

They said, “We ditched our former party because of its lack of justice, equity, direction and commitment to Nigeria’s even socioeconomic development.

“We are extremely satisfied with the indelible and invaluable achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari, while we are truly determined to ensure his re-election for a second term.

“This is to ensure the consolidation of these tangible achievements like bolstering security, doggedly fighting corruption, improving the economy, while Boko Haram has been totally decimated, among others.”

The duo further described President Buhari as incorruptible, pious and strongly patriotic, as well as religiously committed to the Nigerian project.

They also recalled the two tenures of Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko as Governor of Sokoto state between 2007 and 2015, saying, “He had delivered the dividends of democracy across the twenty three local governments of the state.

“Even now as a Senator, he is living above board and he considers the entire state as his single constituency.

“We are also totally optimistic that, the APC Gubernatorial Candidate, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto and his running mate, Alhaji Faruk Malami Yabo, are qualified enough to be elected , while we are of the strong belief that , they will emulate Senator Wamakko, if elected .”

Also speaking, the former Chairman of the SDP in Yabo Local Government, Alhaji Zayyanu Umar, described APC as the party to beat in Nigeria and promised all the defectors will work assiduously and selflessly to ensure the success of the candidates of the party, at all levels.

In her remarks, the former Woman Leader of the SDP, Hajiya Rabi’atu Alhaji Yaro said that, women in the state are totally behind APC and all its candidates, at all levels.

She averred that women in the state have since armed themselves with their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), saying, “we will use them to massively vote in the candidates of APC, at all levels, during the forthcoming general elections.”

IMOGBEMI:
Are you saying that the non academics have concluded theirs?

Virus99:
Good pm guys...

If by now you haven't receive a call, pls forget it. Move on.
The well connected ones are being called already.

Better luck next time guys.
This is Nigeria !

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has traced a deposit of $30,000 by Joe Agi, a senior advocate, into the bank account of Walter Onnoghen, the embattled chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), TheCable understands.

It has emerged that Onnoghen also failed to disclose that he has an account at Heritage Bank in his asset declaration form — another violation of the code of conduct law.

Agi is one of the senior advocates defending Onnoghen in his asset declaration case before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

TheCable was informed that Agi was also the guarantor when the justice opened the account at Standard Chartered Bank.

The fresh allegations form part of the report sent by the EFCC to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for disciplinary action to be taken against Onnoghen, who has been suspended as CJN by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Buhari said he was acting based on an order issued by the CCT, although observers have accused him of not following due process in his action.

Onnoghen is currently being tried by the CCT over allegations of non-declaration of some of his assets, although he said it was an oversight.

He also said he made money from agriculture and forex investments.

NJC sources told TheCable that the $30,000 deposit was made sometime in 2009 while a series of “suspicious payments” were also traced to Onnoghen’s accounts between 2011 and 2013 during elections petition cases.

In a previous case, which was eventually dismissed, Agi’s firm, Messrs Joe Odey Agi, reportedly paid a total of N160 million to the account of Adeniyi Adetokunbo Ademola, a justice of the federal high court.

The case filed against him for “gratification” was dismissed on technical grounds, although many lawyers argued that it was a professional misconduct which should have been punished by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee.

Efforts by TheCable to reach Agi were unsuccessful as his phone rang out. he has also not responded to text messages.

Omololu001:
only God knows how such a man became a Governor, cross river that does not even get up to #50b from the federal government, and their IGR is not up to #100b, where did he wanna get more than #900b from ?

The ultra-modern Aper Aku Stadium in Makurdi was on Wednesday filled to capacity as thousands of supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) turned up to receive President Muhammadu Buhari and his entourage at a campaign rally.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stadium, named after the first civilian governor of the state, is the biggest event centre in the state.

NAN also reports the stadium was filled to capacity as early as 9 a.m on Wednesday.
Traffic officials and police personnel were seen making frantic efforts to redirect traffic flow to ease congestion around the stadium area.

Commuters were stopped at the Police headquarters situated close to the stadium and redirected to alternative routes to allow free flow of traffic.

Commercial vehicle operators conveying people to the venue were seen conveying supporters in the boots of their cars while motorcycle operators carried up to three people on one bike.

Speaking to the NAN on the sidelines of the event, a university lecturer and convener, Benue Alliance for Good Governance (BAGG), Aondokaa Asambe, commended the president for working hard to regain the country’s lost glory.
He, therefore, called on Benue electorate to vote for the president and all APC candidates at the polls.

Mr Asambe said that the resilience shown by the president since assumption of office in 2015 was unequalled by any Nigerian leader and urged the Benue people to massively vote for him for on Feb. 16.

“Today we are in a joyous mood that things are fast changing and positively too. The ordinary Nigerians in the remote villages can also attest to your leadership qualities having felt the positive impact of governance and government; having impacted their lives through the various social investment programmes.

“BAGG salutes the resilience and sagacity with which you are fighting corruption since you assumed the mantle of leadership of this country in 2015.
” We equally salute your people’s oriented leadership, which is fast manifesting in your infrastructure development in all nooks and crannies of this country”.

Also speaking, an ex-speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Stephen Tsav, said the crowd at the stadium showed that the Benue people were satisfied with the policies of President Buhari.

Mr Tsav said that Benue people would show their appreciation to the president on February16 and appealed to him to redouble his efforts at repositioning the socio-economic fortunes of Nigeria. (NAN)

Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari government has “strong plans” for the creation of an additional state in the South-East.

Obiano stated this when the Ohaneze Ndigbo, Lagos branch, paid him a visit at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, Anambra State, on Wednesday.

The governor said, “I’m in good terms with the President. He has good plans for the South-East, contrary to the perception of some people. He has emotional feeling that the South-East ought to have an additional state.

“I’m also hopeful that the Federal Government would set aside November 16 as a national day in memory of the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first president of this great country.”

Obiano condemned the decision of the Ohaneze to fix a meeting on a day President Buhari was in the state to commission a mausoleum in honour of the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who, the governor said, “remains a world hero of the Igbo.”

He counseled the Igbo socio-cultural body to maintain the objective for its creation as a nonpartisan organisation with the principal aim of pushing Igbo agenda.

Speaking, the Ohanaeze delegation led by its branch president, Nnamdi Nwigwe, said they were in the state to show solidarity to the Obiano-led government.

The group extolled what it called “Obiano’s negotiating power and think-home philosophy,” among other initiatives.

Nwigwe said, “We are particularly happy with your position on appreciating President Mohammadu Buhari-led administration’s good gestures to the people of the South-East region and Anambra State in particular.

“The completion of Zik Mausoleum, which is a national monument, the ongoing Second Niger Bridge, road projects and other infrastructures lay credence to the fact that the Buhari administration has not forgotten the region,” the Igbo group stated.

Mk17:

you think he should just resign because he is being accused? the blackmailing will not work. why are they offering the so-called corrupt CJN a deal? if he is guilty, let him go to jail

Omololu001:
where did you hear it from?

The firm resolve of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, to see his judicial ordeal through has led to the collapse of the political solution worked out by certain interests in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and the judiciary, to save him the embarrassment of being arraigned tomorrow at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Sunday Tribune has reliably learnt.

The political deal offered him by Presidency elements required him to resign voluntarily to have the criminal charge of alleged non-declaration of assets preferred against him completely withdrawn.

If he didn’t feel like walking away by himself, there was also a proposal to have him prematurely retired with full benefits, including the retention of his membership of the Council of State.

The deal proposed by some elements in the Federal Government was packaged by a security agency and offered to him last week.

Again, on Friday, the same deal was offered him after the Presidency made it clear to certain go-between persons that he had violated the agreement entered into with him, on the need to cleanse the judiciary, before he was appointed in substantive capacity.


He flatly rejected the deal on all the occasions it was presented to him.

According to a very close source to him, “Oga (Onnoghen) is not going to resign. Take that from me. He has resolved to clear his name by seeing this trial through to the end. Yes, they asked him to resign, but if they are very sure he had committed any offence, why asking him to resign when they were the one that took him to court in the first place? With all they have done, and all the lies told the world against him, they expect him not to defend himself and just resign and walk away? No, he is not resigning.”

When asked why he isn’t defending himself in the face of the damaging allegations against him, the source said the suspended CJN had decided against getting into public domain with his accusers, but waiting for the court proceedings to begin fully, for him to say all that is to be said in his defence.

The offer from the prosecuting government is reportedly polarizing the CJN’s legal team, as some senior lawyers on the defence team are reportedly considering the terms of the deal and without being direct, are subtly encouraging Onnoghen to consider certain parts of it.

As of Friday, the government peace offer still dominated discourse within the defence team. For senior lawyers asking Onnoghen to have a second look, the wider implications of outright rejection are said to be their main consideration.

Their most-profound fear is said to be the high possibility of the tribunal, under Danladi Umar, to give a bench warrant when the trial resumes tomorrow, ordering the arrest of the CJN for appearance before it (the tribunal).

Umar is also believed to have made up his mind to convict the suspended jurist, a development that would ultimately rob him of his status as a member of the Council of State.
With the way government agencies have handled his case so far, those egging him to consider the deal fear that he might be completely humiliated tomorrow by the police, if a bench warrant is eventually issued by Umar.

“Who will stop the police from arresting him, if they could lock his office up? Imagine how bad it will look if he is arrested and brought to the tribunal. We are talking about the Chief Justice of Nigeria. His case is very painful, but the situation doesn’t look good at all and this is beyond his name and integrity now,” a pro-deal source in his camp told Sunday Tribune at the weekend.

The same source was also knowledgable of the meeting with top presidency officials where the deal was unveiled.

He told Sunday Tribune that support was gradually ebbing for Onnoghen because many political structures that should support him in the fight to regain his seat and credibility are gradually backing off in order to be “politically-correct.”

With his resolve to see the case against him to a logical conclusion, Onnoghen, according to checks with his camp, will be challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to try him when the case resumes tomorrow.

He will not be making an appearance still, making the planned arraignment almost impossible.

The propriety of Umar, leading a tribunal to try him, will also come up, as the defence, according to a source, will be asking him to recuse himself, having allegedly shown bias against the CJN.

The alleged corruption case against Umar, for which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is seeking his prosecution, may come in handy in pushing the recusal case.

The controversial order which the tribunal granted in-chamber will also be debated at the Court of Appeal tomorrow.

Onnoghen is challenging the order which Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana, described as suspicious and full of contradictions.

If Umar assumed jurisdiction tomorrow, he may insist of the arraignment of the CJN since the Court of Appeal had ruled last week that trial proceedings could not be halted because of the pendency of appeal.

Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, says the directive of the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for lawyers to boycott courts for two days in protest against the suspension of Walter Onnoghen as chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) is a mockery of the legal profession.

NBA had on Monday announced this decision at its emergency national executive committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja.

Lawyers were, however, divided over this directive, and while proceedings went on in some courts, others were empty.

But speaking on Thursday at an interactive session organised by Citizen Forum in Lagos, Falana said the body of lawyers gave a wrong impression.

“So much for the law, we also must proceed to challenge the legal profession. I am talking of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Nigerian Bar Association, for pretending that there was no problem,” he said.

“Nigerians have to be very mindful of this dangerous precedent, dangerous phenomenon whereby people are charged with very grave offenses pertaining to corruption and lawyers are mobilizing, Nigerian Bar Association is mobilizing lawyers and giving the dangerous impression that the person being tried is a freedom fighter.

“That is what is going on. Dancing and singing the praise of highly placed criminal elements in the society, this has to stop.

“You must challenge lawyers who go around making a mockery of our legal system, of our morality as a people. In this part of the world, in many parts of the world, if you were charged with stealing, your parents will ask you to go and defend yourself, you will almost be disowned. But when you now mobilise 50 lawyers, 90 lawyers, 150 senior advocates to defend somebody who has been charged with unlawful enrichment, you send a wrong message to Nigerians.

“In our condemning the removal of the chief justice, and the appointment of an acting chief justice contrary to the provisions of the constitution, we also must call on all those who judge other people who cannot explain the sources of their wealth to call it quit. That’s what is done in all civilised society, including Nigeria. So that we do not give the impression that we are behaving like Nigerians lawyers by simply condemning the procedure without also addressing the moral implications of the allegations.”

The senior advocate of Nigeria, who had argued that no court can stop a trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) also said Nigerians must rise up against the hypocrisy of those who laid the foundation for dictatorial rule in the country.

Accused of false assets declaration, Onnoghen is currently standing trial at the CCT.

MrPRevailer:


Dondi, 80% of the PDP people who ruled Nigeria for 16 years are currently in APC. (Oshiomole, Rochas, Buhari, Tinubu etc)

Now you've been enlightened, tell others like you.

The Nigerian government has filed criminal charges against the former head of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke, and his wife, Folashade.

The defendants are facing a four-count charge of money laundering amounting to millions of dollars.

Mr Oke was removed from office in October 2017 after millions of dollars belonging to the NIA were found in an apartment in Lagos.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt Mr Oke and his wife will be arraigned on February 1 before Chukwujekwu Aneke, a judge of the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court.

In count one, the couple were accused of hiding $43 million belonging to the federal government in an apartment in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The second count stated that the couple indirectly used $1.6 million of government money to acquire an apartment in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi.


The government listed 13 witnesses including those who would give evidence of how they received almost $300 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria and delivered to Mr Oke.

Read charges below:

Ibrahim Lamorde, a police commissioner and former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was dropped from consideration as a deputy inspector-general of police amidst concerns his elevation over four superiors could unleash internal bad blood, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

PREMIUM TIMES reported on Monday that Mr Lamorde, currently the most-senior of the 95 police commissioners in Nigeria as of January 8, was amongst those pegged for elevation to DIGs where they would serve as members of the police management team.

But when the official list was released by the Police Service Commission on Tuesday, Mr Lamorde did not make it.

Multiple sources at the commission told PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday afternoon that Mr Lamorde was dropped because there were four assistant inspectors-general from his North-East zone, even though he was highly recommended by Acting-Inspector-General Mohammed Adamu.

The PSC settled on Aminchi Samaila Baraya, from Taraba State, as the North-East slot on the management team. Other three AIGs from the North-East are: Usman Alkali Baba, Yobe State; Karma Hosea Hassan, Taraba State; and Tijani Baba, Yobe State.

“What was eventually decided was that Mr Lamorde had four AIGs ahead of him from the North-East, and it would be unfair with high risks of animosity if he is promoted ahead of them, especially since they have no pending disciplinary matters,” a commission source said. “Mr Lamorde was highly favoured, but it is better not to risk creating a bad atmosphere because of his promotion.”

“He would soon be promoted to AIG,” the source added.

A spokesperson for the commission did not return requests seeking comments about the botched promotion of Mr Lamorde, who was born in 1962.

About 16 new AIGs are expected to be announced this week, eight of whom would replace those promoted as DIG on Tuesday. This would take the number of AIGs to 28. There were 20 substantive AIGs before eight were promoted this week.

There are usually seven DIGs serving simultaneously under an inspector-general, and six of them are selected from each of the six geopolitical zones, while the IG chooses whomever he likes from any zone to be the seventh. There are also seven portfolios to be assigned to each of the DIGs, including finance and administration, criminal investigation and operations departments.

The remaining DIGs named yesterday are Usman Abubakar, North-west; Abdulmajid Ali, North-central, Frederick Lakanu, South-west; Godwin Nwobodo, South-east; Anthony Michael, South-south; and Yakubu Jibrin, North-central. The new DIGs were yet to be assigned a portfolio as of Wednesday afternoon, but this may be done any moment.

The PSC also promoted Usman Yakubu, the AIG Zone 10, Sokoto, as a DIG, but he would not be sitting on the management board because he would shortly proceed on terminal leave.

Mr Adamu has been preoccupied with constituting the crucial team since he was appointed on January 15. He met seven DIGs who worked with former IGP Ibrahim Idris on the police management board.

Since the police are the primary security agency in charge of elections, Mr Adamu has to structure to impose his own vision of effective policing before February 16.