Home Blog Page 1771

Murder Allegation: INEC Removes Doguwa’s Name From House Of Reps Elected List; Granted Bail

0
Ado Doguwa Skeptical About APC Winning Kano State

By Akinwale Kasali

Electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has removed the name of Ado Doguwa, the Majority Leader at the House of Representatives from the list of elected Members of  the House of Representatives.

At the February 25th Presidential and National Assembly Elections, Doguwa, a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was declared  winner  in the Doguwa/Tudunwada constituency, having polled 39,732 votes to defeat the candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Yushau Salisu Abdullahi, who polled 34,798 votes.

But due to his alleged involvement in the killing of several persons and burning of the Secretariat of New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP,  in the just concluded Presidential and NationalAssembly elections, his name has been removed by INEC.

INEC’s remark on the election result of Doguwa was “declaration made under duress.”

On Tuesday, a Federal High Court in Kano  granted him a N500m bail, and barred him from his Constituency during the polls.

He is, currently, the Majority Leader of the House.

Ondo: Akoko South East, West Reps Seat; The Waiting Game Continues

0
Independent National Electoral Commission

By Ayodele Oni

People of Akoko south east and south west in Ondo state will still have to wait for a while before their representative at the green chamber emerges.

Though election into the house of representatives had been held 10 days ago with the people voting for the All Progressive Congress (APC) the party had no candidate in the poll.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday published the names of  Rep-Elects in the February 25th general election.

The Rep-Elects, who are seven all from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and One(1) from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), are expected to receive their certificates of return between Tuesday and Wednesday.

They include Tunji-Ojo Olubunmi of APC in Akoko Northeast and Northwest, Adesida Abiodun Cornelius of APC in Akure South and North, Aderin, Ojogo Donald Kimikanboh of APC in Ilaje and Ese-odo, and Akingbaso Festus Olarewaju of PDP in Idanre/ Ifedore,

Others are Adefiranye Ayodele Festus of APC in Ileoluju-Okeigbo and Odigbo, Odimayo Okunjimi John of APC in Okitipupa and Irele, Makinde Abiola Peter, Adelegbe of APC in Ondo east and Ondo west, and Oluwatimehin Emmanuel of APC in Owo and Ose federal Constituencies.

INEC however excluded Akoko Southeast and Southwest Federal constituency in the winners list, with a ‘Court Order’ Remark.

The federal high court sitting in Akure had disqualified the Candidate of the APC for Akoko southeast and southwest federal constituency for the February 25th general election, Mr. Adegboyega Adefarati.

The court, in the February 17th judgement, declared the APC Primary election in the federal constituency null and void.

Mr. Segun Ategbole and Dr. John Adanike, who were aspirants in the primary election had approached the court, alleging infractions and seeking to be declared winner.

The Candidate of the Zenith Labor Party (ZLP) in the federal constituency, Mr. Ogunleye Emmanuel Teloye also approached the court with an originating summons, seeking the disqualification of the APC from participating in the general election, over the Party’s failure to conduct its primary election, before 180 days to the general election.

The court, in the judgement delivered by Justice T.B Adegoke however held that the APC cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand.

Adegoke said APC has no candidate for House of Representatives in 2023 Election, as no valid Primary Election was held by the Party.

She said APC is restrained from conducting any Primary election as the window has closed, having been shorter than 180 days allowed by the Electoral Act 2022.

The judge also said INEC is restrained from accepting the name of the 3rd Defendant(APC), the Plaintiffs(Mr. Segun Ategbole and John Adanike) or any name whatsoever from APC

She added that the 3rd Defendant (Mr. Gboyega Adefarati) is restrained from parading himself as the candidate of APC for the February 25th, 2023 Election.

Presidential Election Fallout: PDP, Atiku Destined To Lose – Fayose

0

By Ayodele Oni

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose has counselled Atiku Abubakar to honourably return to his base in Dubai, rather than continue to heat the polity in Nigeria.

Featuring on a live television programme on Tuesday, Fayose advised the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) Atiku Abubakar to accept defeat and return to Dubai.

According to him, Atiku cannot sacrifice  critical stakeholders  in the PDP like Peter Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso and G-5 governors for Iyorchia Ayu and still expect to win the poll.

“The PDP as a party should not be surprised by the outcome of the Presidential poll because it prepared, designed and worked for its defeat.

“I wont talk about Asiwaju Tinubu because Nigerians have made their President.Tinubu emergence  has  further cemented the North- South dichotomy. And we shall not forget in hurry the noble role played by the North.

He took a swipe at the opposition for faulting the outcome of the Presidential poll saying the election was free, fair and credible.

Fayose advised Atiku to stop heating up the polity alleging that his defeat was not unexpected after all.

He used the occasion  to drum support for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu reelection stressing that Lagos is too strategic to be left in the hands of inexperienced candidates.

According to him, “Nobody should expect that the Governorship poll would follow the pattern of the Presidential poll where Labour Party won. He said Obi had a clear statement with his impressive performance in the poll.

Fayose urged Lagos electorate to shun mediocrity but go for excellence and capacity.

The PDP chieftain maintained that the results of the poll as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was a confirmation of the fact insisting that former governor of Lagos State and All Progressives Congress(APC) Presidential candidate won.

Atiku Lost Because He Refused To Beg Wike- Says Fayose

0

In the aftermath of the defeat of the People’s Democratic Party,  PDP, in the just concluded  presidential election, Ayodele Fayose, a former governor of Ekiti State said he warned Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate  that failure to dialogue with Governor Wike of Rivers state will end in a disaster.

Wike, we will recall lost to Abubakar  in the PDP primary election and later worked against his party after his demand that the party’s  charman, Iyorcha Ayu stepped down was rejected.

On February 25, Abubakar, a serial presidential contestant lost the presidential election to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who has been declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Tinubu won the election after beating close rivals Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP by scoring close to 9 million votes to win the critical election.

Not a few have blamed the crisis between Abubakar and five governors of the PDP, now known as G5 Governors for the party’s loss at the polls.

The G5 Governors had refused to support the candidate of their party after their demand that Iyorcha Ayu, the National Chairman of the PDP, step down was not met.

The ‘rebel’ governors are Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers; Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Samuel Ortom of Benue, and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.

Even though the G5 governors led by Governor Wike insisted that they had no problem with Atiku his strong support for Ayu, many insist, polarised the party to the extent that the crisis dovetailed into the election which it eventually lost to the APC.

Speaking on TVC on Tuesday, Fayose blamed Abubakar for mismanaging the crisis, blaming him for not maximising the opportunity do dialogue with the aggrieved governors.

Fayose said he told Abubakar that the only way to end the crisis is to go to Port Harcourt to beg Wike, but that close associates of the PDP candidate told him to do otherwise.

He said, “His excellency Atiku Abubakar called me, and I went to his hotel room…….where I told him to go to Port Harcourt with some people. I told him not to announce his coming that when he gets to Port Harcourt he should go with a few convoy of cars and park at Wike’s gate. I told him we will join him there,” and the matter will be resolved.

The former governor who, few days ago, ‘stepped aside’ from the PDP said Tinubu won the election to on ‘fare and square’, appealing to Abu and Obi to accept the results for the continue to move forward.
He, however, denied plan to join the ruling party, saying “he will never join the APC”.

Lagos: Sanwo-Olu Leads ‘Jandor’, Rhodes-Vivour In New Polls

0

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state will win the governorship election on March 11, according to the Anap Foundation.

The non- profit organisation made the prediction on Monday citing opinion poll it conducted in 5h4 state.
It said Governor Sanwo-Olu is ahead of two other top candidates Abdul-Azeez Jide Adediran and Gbadebo Rhodes- Vivuor of the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP and Labour Party, respectively.

The report comes after the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, was trounced by the LP in the presidential and National Assembly elections conducted two weeks ago by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The Anap report, therefore, will come as a relief to Governor Sanwo-Olu and his party ahead the election in few days, watchers of politics in the state said.

The poll conducted in February, Anap said put the incumbent ahead with 31 percent, eight percent for Rhodes-Vivor and seven percent for the PDP candidate, Adediran.

Anap said: “The results showed a significant lead for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu with 31% of voters proposing to vote for him if the governorship election were to be conducted today; 8% proposing to vote for Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (LP) who fell in second place and Azeez Olajide Adediran ‘Jandor’ (PDP) was third with 7% of voters proposing to vote for him,” the poll reads.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu’s 23%-point lead at this stage is significant, as the opposition voters are fragmented and shared between 2 main challengers in the ratio 31:8:7.”

If any of the opposition party goes ahead to win the governorship election, it will not only be a shock to the ruling class in the state led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has been declared winner of the presidential elevtion, it will also be a watershed in the history of the aquatic state which has remained in the grip of one party since the return to democratic rule in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, not a few analysts also insist that opinion  polls are not watertight considering that many of such  predictions that some candidates will win in the past failed to materialised.

There Are Plans To Kill Rhodes-Vivour, LP Lagos Governorship Candidate”  – Bode George; Reveals PDP, LP, Talking

0
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Bode George

By Gideon Njoku

There are, alleged, plans to murder the Labour Party, LP, Governorship Candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

This was, to the shock of many, disclosed at a Press Conference on Monday by a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

According to George, a Leader of a pro-Lagos  Group, “Omo Eko Pataki”, the threat is real, and if Security Agencies do not watch out, the Candidate is about to be given the Funsho Williams treatment.

Williams, a Lagos State Governorship Aspirant in 1999 was gruesomely murdered in his Dolphin, Ikoyi, home. Nobody has been charged in connection with the murder till date.

At the Press Conference, George said there is a serious threat to Rhodes-Vivours life, especially, since after the Candidate of his Labour Party, Peter Obi, defeated the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, to win the Presidential Election in the State.

Said George: “We wish to inform Nigerians about the heinous plan to secretly eliminate the Labour Party Governorship Candidate, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the latest move by the take Lagos occupiers, to take him out of circulation before the election on Saturday.

“It’s not a matter of Party, the essence of life is to protect others. And, I told you that Funso Williams was my younger brother. I was in the Villa when the President, then, called me that ‘I am just getting a report that they have killed Funsho Williams’.

They gave me a Presidential Plane to come down, and I saw his corpse. So, we don’t  want it to repeat.

“We, hereby, warn that should anything happen to this vibrant bonafide Lagosian, who fate has thrown up to free our dear State from the strangle hold of marauders, Nigerians should know who to hold.”

George, also, revealed that there is a grand design to provoke Nigerians into big crisis.

He said: “As we speak, there are grand designs to provoke the peace-loving Nigerians, whose resolve is to effect, through the ballot box on Saturday, as threats are being issued against voters suspected to be willing to vote against incumbency.

“To this disposition, we the Omo Eko Pataki, say it is the most heinous crime against humanity in this 21st century, and condemn such in all its entirety.

“We reject this politics of annihilation of innocent Nigerians, which seek to create anarchy and provoke the anger of the citizenry. We wish to remind all non-Lagosians agents of Lagos State Government, that Nigerians have lived together in peace, irrespective of any political party in power.”

Appealing to Lagosians to troop out en masse and vote, and to the Independent National Electoral Commission to be transparent, George, a retired Naval Commodore said: “We equally  urge the electorate in Lagos to go out in their numbers on Saturday, to vote against the plundering that has bedeviled our prosperous State for over two decades as adequate security is assured to everyone out to exercise their civic responsibility.

“We, also, call on INEC  to ensure the use of a transformational BVAS regime, for the transparency  of the exercise, a departure from the February 25 archaic system, where result sheets were moved manually from Polling Units.”

Bode George’s Group has been in the vanguard of those alleging that the State  has been in the stranglehold of, mostly, non-Lagosians. They hold the now President- elect, Bola Tinubu, responsible. Every election year, the Group tries, but has never been successful.

February 25, 2023, was the first time Tinubu’s Party lost Lagos. It is left to see if the Labour Party which Candidate defeated Tinubu will be able to perform the same feat on Saturday, March 11, 2023, in the Governorship election.

Many people think the only way to that may be a merger between George’s PDP and LP against Saturday.  He said there have been discussions, but was not specific.

He, however, submitted; “24 hours in politics is a very long time. People are discussing at various levels from Abuja to Local Government because everybody has realized that the electorate is bigger than card-carrying members of your Party.”

Months ago, Bode  George said he would go on exile if Tinubu wins the Presidential  Election. INEC has just declared him winner. So, is George leaving or staying, especially, if Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour does not win the Governorship election? Time will tell.

I Predicted Peter Obi’s Victory In Anambra – Governor Soludo

0

By Akinwale Kasali

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has said he predicted the victory in Anambra of the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi in the Election held on Saturday 25th February, 2023. He, also expressed his happiness over Obi’s victory in the State.

He said this as he denied a report that he is planning an attack on the Labour Party, LP, Presidential Candidate.

The report stated that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, had been contracted to eliminate Obi.

Debunking the report, Soludo said, as the Governor, he remains the father of Anambra by his position and will not plot or collude to harm any lawful citizen of the State, including Obi.

His Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, who spoke to journalists in Awka, on Monday, while reacting to a viral message on social media which alleged that Soludo had been contracted to eliminate Obi for a fee, distanced himself.

The report, which circulated  online, titled, ‘Hold Soludo responsible if anything happens to Peter Obi’, said that Soludo’s hatred for Obi and everything he stands for is becoming glaring as things unfold.

It read: “Yesterday, a Helicopter entered Awka by 1:30 am and took Soludo to a secret meeting at Government House,  Owerri. The agenda of the meeting is Peter Obi and how to stop him physically, politically and otherwise.

“Soludo was given Five Million Dollars in 100 dollar bills for the hatchet job and Soludo promised to eliminate Peter Obi…,” it said.

But Aburime, dismissed the report as infantile, nauseating, mischievous, unnecessarily inflammatory and a figment of the imagination of the authors.

He said, “None of the allegations is true. The governor has been in Anambra State engaging stakeholders for the Saturday election.

“The general public is advised to disregard the allegations as falsehoods. Ndi Anambra should also disregard all the insinuations in the write-up as mere falsehoods, they should come out massively and vote APGA this Saturday for the state House of Assembly election in order to sustain the developmental strides of the present administration of governor Soludo.

“If certain people could sit somewhere and cook up a story of this nature, it becomes highly reprehensible and certainly deserved to be condemned by every right-thinking person.

“I want to state categorically that there is no iota of truth in that write up, he did not go to Owerri and he was not offered any sum of money to harm anyone, not even his brother, Mr Peter Obi, an illustrious son of Anambra.

“Soludo wishes Obi well, he appreciates Anambra voters for supporting him massively, of course, he predicted his victory in Anambra and remember, there was no form of violence or electoral malfeasance in Anambra Anambra, that speaks a lot about the peaceful nature of Soludo.”

Aburime urged the Anambra people and Ndigbo home and abroad to disregard the information, noting that it is a plot to cause chaos in the forthcoming State Assembly election in the southeast geopolitical zone of the country.

He called on the Inspector general of police, Usman Alkali Baba, to immediately commence an investigation on the alleged report with a view to fishing out the perpetrators.

Enugu: Why PDP Governorship Candidate, Mba, Was Chased Out Of Campaign Rally

0
Peter Mba

By Charles Igbo

Peter Mba, the cerebral Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has had a rough time given to him on his Campaign Train.

Mba, who is on the final rounds of his campaign for the Governorship Election against 11th March, 2023, was given a hostile welcome at the Ugiri Isieke Community, Enugu State, on Monday.

On arrival to address the gathered audience, Mba and company were chased away by scores of youths who said they didn’t want to see him, and that he should go back with whatever he brought for them.

They were singing praises of the Labour Party and its Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, as they embarked on the destruction of the drinks brought for the Rally.

An eye witness said Mba had to quickly dash into the Parish Priest’s House within the venue of the Rally to escape further embarrassments.

Until now, Enugu State, since Democracy in 1999, has been a PDP State. All its Governors, since then – Chimaroke Nnamani, Sullivan Chime, and the incumbent Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi – have been PDP.

But the PDP is fast losing grip on the State.

In the 25th February 2023, Presidential and National Assembly elections, the PDP lost the State in a landslide to the Labour Party, LP, which won in all the Local Government Areas. It was so bad that Governor Ugwuanyi lost his Senatorial  bid to the LP Candidate.

Not a few people have attributed the poor performance of the PDP to four factors.

The first is the Peter Obi- effect.

The second is  Governor Ugwuanyi’s membership of  Governor Nyesom Wike’s G5. His membership of the Group which is against the Leadership of the PDP and its Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, affected the Party in Enugu. Not a few people watched in dismay, as Ugwuanyi tagged along Wike like his Aide, junketting within and outside Nigeria.

The third is the public support of Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, a two- term Governor of the State, for the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, now declared President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Not a few people were shocked that Nnamani abandoned the Party which gave him prominence in Nigeria for Tinubu. They were also unhappy that he ran down Obi, at least, on one occasion.

Finally, the brutal murder of Barrister Oyibo Chukwu, the LP Senatorial Candidate, a few days the the Senatorial Election, angered most people, and attracted sympathy for the LP. Chukwu’s opponent is Chimaroke Nnamani who has been expelled by the PDP, but, according to INEC, remains a candidate.

The late Candidate’s brother, Kevin Chukwu,  has been chosen as a replacement for his brother. He will, among other candidates, face Chimaroke.

Mba, a Chimaroke “boy”, will, among others, face LP’s  Chijioke Edoga and Frank Nweke, another Chimaroke “boy” of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. They are the three front runners.

“Today, I Visited Jennifer, Stabbed Victim Of February 25 Violence” – Peter Obi

0
Jennifer and Peter Obi

The Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, LP, in the contentious 25th February, 2023, Presidential Election, Peter Obi, has visited Jennifer Efedi.

Efedi was attacked by Political thugs who viciously stabbed her while she was voting at her Polling Unit in Lagos.

Suspecting that she came to vote for the LP, she was stabbed on the face -two places.

She was rushed to a hospital where she was treated and her face largely plastered and swollen.

With her blood spluttered on her dress, she courageously went back to her Polling Unit  to vote.

On Monday, Obi made out time to visit Jennifer in her house. Announcing his visit to her, Obi twitted:

“Today, I visited Mrs Jennifer Efedi.  She was attacked on 25 February in an attempt to stop her from voting. She stood her ground.  Jennifer is one of the great icons of Nigeria’s democracy. She is my point of contact with every Nigerian who  suffered similar fate in their bid to exercise their voting rights, & contribute to a new Nigeria. Like many Nigerians , I acknowledge her bravery & resoluteness. Jennifer is a true  manifestation of Profile in Courage for a new Nigeria. -PO.”

Ohaneze Says Peter Obi Won Presidential Election, Debunks Claim Igbo Not Destined For Presidency

0
Peter Obi in Lagos

By Akinwale Kasali

The Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, the Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has debunked the claim that it said Labour Party, LP, Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, is not destined to be President of the country.

The Group stressed that the former Anambra State Governor  won the February 25 Presidential Poll.

Tony Obizoba, the Director-General, Implementation and Strategic Planning, Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide, had said that Peter Obi’s Presidency was not destined to happen in 2023.

But reacting to the report, Ohanaeze, in a rebuttal, issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, described the report as “most reckless, irresponsible and mischievous.”

Ohanaeze stated that it would have ignored the publication to avoid dignifying such “maladjusted, impish scaremongers,” but noted that silence “in this circumstance would mean giving validity to such fallacy by the unsuspecting gullible public.

“For the purpose of clarity, Ohanaeze Ndigbo vehemently dissociates itself from any remark that suggests that Peter Obi is not destined to rule Nigeria.”

The apex Igbo body unequivocally stated that it had “sufficient evidence and empirical records to show that Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed won the Presidential election held on Saturday, February 25, 2023.”

The statement partly reads:

“Ohanaeze Nidigbo is impressed, thrilled and fascinated by the groundswell and intimidating mass movement, which has come to signify the consciousness of the paradigm shift from a consumption economy to a production economy, which the Obi-Datti movement symbolises in the present day Nigeria.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo is proud to state that Peter Obi is a man whose track record of accomplishments has countervailed the regrettable and despicable tailspin of Nigerian bourgeois cash and carry democracy.

“Thus, Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora have, through the Obi phenomenon, demonstrated a loud irrepressible and indelible landmark; an irrevocable corroboration that evil men thrive because good men go to sleep.”

Ohanaeze stated that Nigerians and world leaders would continue to celebrate Obi for over one thousand years to come, adding that he would be remembered as a man who with a mere force of “morals, uprightness, persuasions and goodwill has changed the political narratives of the most populous and backward African country.”

The statement added, “One major challenge that has afflicted the Igbo for some decades now is the adulteration of the communal sensibility, the Igbo sense of originality. This is one of the harsh realities of the Nigerian civil war where Nigerian soldiers comprising diverse ethnics including mercenaries from Niger, Chad Republics, etc occupied the Igbo land.

“As happens in such military occupations, some Igbo women who went astray from the Igbo enclaves were assaulted, debauched and adulterated. These women later came back with pregnancies to give births to monstrous hybrids.

“Some of these rabble-rousing products of adultery who, given the openness of the Igbo society, have gained access to Igbo red caps have become the mischief-makers, charlatans, social climbers and media navigators who leech on the invaluable footprints of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to issue press releases for narrow, perverse and illicit pecuniary interests.

“And, these characters have been reminded to no avail that Ohanaeze represents the Igbo totem, emotions, collective consciousness, politicality and social solidarity.

“The Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, MFR, expressed deep shock that a faceless meddlesome interloper such as Tony Chiemelu Obizoba could be taken seriously by the media. Of course, it is highly inconceivable that at a point the Nigerian collective aspiration has gained an irresistible momentum, a true Igbo will make such reckless, shameless, embarrassing and demoralising statements using the hallowed name of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

“We wish to use this opportunity to point out that the social media revolution has inadvertently thrown up an entirely new generation of half-baked, insidious ‘journalists’ who do not place value on the ethics and codes of the profession, chief of which is investigative journalism. Otherwise, there is hardly any Nigerian journalist who cannot distinguish between those who speak for Ohanaeze on the one hand and the spies and charlatans on the other.”