2023: Southern, Middle Belt Leaders Insist On Restructuring, Rotation Of Presidency To South

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March 12, 2022

“The designation of Governor of a State as the Chief Security Officer of the State is a ruse without being in control of the State’s of the State’s Security apparatus.”

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF A MEETING OF THE SOUTHERN AND MIDDLE BELT LEADERS’ FORUM HELD ON THURSDAY, 10TH MARCH 2022

A Meeting of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF), held on Thursday, 10th March 2022, in Abuja under the Chairmanship of the Leader and Elder Statesman, Chief E. K. Clark, OFR, CON.
Delegations of the constituent Organisations of the SMBLF were respectively led by Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Leader of Afenifere (South West); Dr. Pogu Bitrus, President of the Middle Belt Forum ( Middle Belt); Professor George Obiozor, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo represented by the Secretary-General, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, MFR (South East); and Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, FNSE, National Chairman of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF (South South).
The Meeting was also attended by former Governors, Ministers, Federal and state legislators, top politicians and professionals from the Southern and Middle Belt regions, including His Excellency, Senator Jonah Jang, Senator Femi Okurounmu, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike, Professor Charles Nwekeabu, Chief Gary Igwariwey (former PG Ohanaeze), Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw, HRH Eze Cletus Iluomanya, Dr. Solomon Arase, Chief Supo Shonibare, Chief Sola Ebiseni, Chief Edozie Ezeugwa, Eze Dr. Ibe Nwosu, Engr. Bekinbo Dagogo-Jack, Nze Ozichukwu Chukwu, Elder Steven Bangoji, Dr. Akin Fapohunda, Dr. Alabi Femi, Dame Betty Igbeyi, mni, Hon. Dr. Stella Dorgu, Nella Andem-Ewa, SAN, Dr. Ebun Sonaiya, Hon. Edward Pwajok, SAN, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia, Eze Charles Olisakwe, Hon. Keftin Amiga, CP Iorbes Ihagh (Rtd)- PG MUT, Dr. Mrs. Esther Mangzha, Mrs. Beatrice Eze, Elizabeth A. Jibrin, Engr. Bayo Adenekan, Elder Mac Emakpore, Chief Douyi Douglas-Naingba, Akin Osuntokun, Hon. Jonathan Asake (SOKAPU), Comrade Jare Ajayi and Ken Robinson, among others.
The Meeting extensively discussed the State of Affairs in the country, particularly, the security situation, Restructuring and the 2023 General Elections.
Arising therefrom, the meeting resolved as follows:
That the existing Constitution and Structure of Nigeria are grossly flawed, therefore, insists on the fundamental RESTRUCTURING of the country, to reflect true federalism, and enthrone equity, fairness and justice, before the 2023 General Elections;
Notes, in particular, that Local Government affairs are state matters and that the listing of Local Governments in the Constitution is inconsistent with the principle of federalism;

iii. Further notes that the Reports of both the 2014 National Conference and the Governor Nasir El-Rufai – APC Committee on True Federalism of 2018 recommended that the Federation of Nigeria should remain as constituted by the Federal Government and the States, and specifically excluded Local Government from being a Tier of Government in the federation but only subject to the creation and administration of the States;

That the legislations of the National Assembly granting Local Government autonomy are superfluous and exercise in futility;
Declares that State Police is a sine qua non in a Federal System of Government; notes that there is no government, properly so-called, that is without the Instrument and Capacity to enforce its Laws and maintain security within its Territorial Jurisdiction;
Posits that the resultant effect of the monopoly of internal security by the Federal Government is the unprecedented dire state of insecurity in the country;

vii. Emphasizes that the designation of Governor of a State as the Chief Security Officer of the State is a ruse without being in control of the State’s Security Apparatus;

THUS, URGES THAT EVERY STATE IN NIGERIA SHOULD HAVE ITS OWN POLICE, TO COMPLEMENT THE FEDERAL POLICE.

viii. Demands the harmonization and immediate implementation of the Reports of the 2014 National Conference and the 2018 APC Committee on True Federalism aforesaid rather than the current cosmetic Constitutional Amendment, which is a drain on the resources of the country and do not address fundamental issues including fiscal federalism.

Maintains that the basis of any viable democracy, especially in a diverse and complex country such as Nigeria, is fair and even sharing of power;
THEREFORE, UNEQUIVOCALLY, AND IN FULL RESOLVE, AGAIN, CALL ON ALL POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE COUNTRY TO ZONE THEIR PRESIDENTIAL TICKETS TO THE SOUTH;
Accordingly, calls on all lovers of peace and equity in Nigeria, particularly our people of Southern Nigeria and Middle Belt region to REJECT any political party that fails to zone its Presidential ticket to the South;

xii. Consequently cautions Political Stakeholders from Southern Nigeria against aspirations or actions that would compromise the shared Resolve of our people.

xiii On the worsening state of insecurity in the country, the Forum, particularly, decries the continued kidnappings and killings of innocent citizens and wanton destruction of livelihoods across the country by terrorists and criminals, especially in the North West, North East and Middle Belt region;

xiv. Condemns, in the strongest terms, the ongoing massacres and decimation of indigenous populations, especially in Zuru, Kebbi State, Southern Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Southern Gombe, where an untold number of citizens have been killed and Communities deliberately displaced, by Islamic Extremists and foreign Fulani Herders, with plausible official complicity.

Urges the Federal Government, especially, to be alive to its primary duty of protecting the lives and property of citizens; safeguard all Communities across Nigeria, and ensure the immediate return of displaced citizens to their ancestral homes.

xvi. Demands, in national interest, the immediate release of Nnamdi Kanu and a stop to any further persecution of Sunday Igboho, who is currently on a conditional release in Benin Republic,

xvii. Warns that the continued detention and trial of Nnamdi Kanu on charges of terrorism and treasonable felony while known Boko Haram terrorists are being given VIP treatments and hosted in Government Houses is not only provocative and perfidious but a bizarre double standard on the part of the Nigerian State.

xviii. More disconcerting is the fact that the women and children rendered widows, orphans, and displaced by the terrorists, now being gratified by the Federal Government and its security agencies, are wallowing in wretched IDP camps.

xix. Warns that the Federal government’s lukewarm attitude in tackling the security challenges in the country lends credence to impressions that this administration is using insecurity to foster certain political agenda.

However, reaffirms commitment to the unity of Nigeria, situated on the tenets of Equity, Fairness, Justice, and the Principle of Federalism.
The meeting was held in an atmosphere of harmony and collective commitment to the decisions.
Done in ABUJA, this 10th Day of March 2022.

Signed:

Chief Dr E. K. Clark, OFR, CON – Leader

Chief Ayo Adebanjo – Leader, Afenifere

Dr. Pogu Bitrus – National President, Middle Belt Forum

Ambassador Okey Emuchay, MFR – Secretary-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo for Professor George Obiozor, the President – General.

Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, FNSE, National Chairman of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF

Osun: More Trouble For Adeleke Ahead July Gov Election

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James Orji

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March 12, 2022

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By James Orji

The coast in not yet clear for Senator Ademola Adeleke as the candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP in the July governorship election in Osun state.

Adeleke’s nephew Dele Adeleke had earlier withdrawn from the race as a PDP aspirant after the family waded in to clear the way for the senator to clinch the ticket.

On Tuesday, the PDP in the state declared the senator as the winner of the governorship primary conducted by the party, despite a parallel election by a faction of the PDP which later declared Dotun Babayemi as their own candidate for the election.

The primary conducted by the Adeleke group was supervised by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the PDP had gone ahead to present a certificate of return to the senator in preparation for the governorship election coming up in four months time.

But four days after Adeleke was declared by PDP as its candidate, an Osun State High Court sitting in Ijebu-Jesa has nullified his candidacy.

The court said it only recognized Babayemi, the candidate elected by the other faction, whose ward executives were elected on September 25, 2021.

The court also granted an interim order affirming 215 delegates elected on September 25, 2021, as the authentic delegates in accordance with a motion ex parte filed on behalf of Adedokun Ademola and 29 others by his counsel, Edmund Biriomoni.

In line with Ademola’s lawyers’ request, the court said an order of “mandatory interim injunction is granted by this court recognising or affirming the Peoples Democratic Party, Osun state governorship primary conducted on the 8th of March, 2022, wherein the ward executive officers elected on the 25th of September, 2021 in the following wards listed as (a) -(y) in the motion paper of the Peoples Democratic Party voted as delegates in full complaint with the judgement of the court delivered on 22nd of November, 2021 and order of the mandatory interim injunction granted on the 3rd of March, 2022, affirming the 215 ward executive officers as the authentic/or authorised elected ward executive officers permitted to vote as delegates at the party governorship primaries.

“An order of mandatory interim injunction of this court is granted restraining the defendants/respondents from recognising any other governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, Osun state conducted on the 8th of March, 2022, apart from the governorship primaries conducted on the 8th of March, 2022 wherein ward executive officers elected on the 25th of September, 2021 in the following wards listed as (a) -(y) in the motion papers, of the Peoples Democratic Party, Osun state voted as delegates at governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Osun state in full compliance with the judgement of the court delivered on the 22nd of November, 2021 and order of mandatory interim injunction granted on the 3rd of March, 2022 affirming the 215 ward executive officers as the authentic/or authorised or elected ward executive officers permitted to vote as delegates at the party governorship primaries”.

Meanwhile, watchers of events in the state insist that the PDP must put its house in order to be able to stand a chance against Governor Gboyega Oyetola, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the upcoming election. Oyetola narrowly defeated Senator Adeleke four year ago.

FG Shuts ‘Chinese’ Money Lenders Offices In Lagos

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Tosin Olatokunbo

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March 12, 2022

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By Tosin Olatokunbo

The federal government has shut the businesses of some illegal money lender in the country. The Source magazine had earlier reported that most of the illegal online financial institutions are mostly owned by foreigners, particularly the Chinese.

Last month, the Director General of the Federal Competition Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC Babatunde Irukera had warned that the agency may be forced to move against the businesses of the illegal money lender following complaints of harassment by many Nigerians.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Godwin Emefiele had also lamented that the money lenders have become problems for many Nigerians who are unsuspecting of their dubious activities.

On Friday, the FCCPC alongside the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA and the Nigerian Police Force, NPF raided some illegal financial institutions operating in Lagos.

The money lenders offices raided by security agents include GoCash, Okash, EasyCredit, Kashkash, Speedy Choice, Easy Moni, among others.

Irukera, said the agency had to wade in after series of complaints from customers. He explained that the money lenders become popular during the covid 19 lock down two years ago, but have since a problem.

According to him, “some time ago, when the country was on lockdown in 2020 due to the pandemic, we started seeing the rise in money lenders.

“Because there was lockdown due to the pandemic, people needed small easy loan which is understandable. But over a period of time, people started complaining about the malpractices of the lenders, so we started tracking it”

“Towards the end of last year, we gathered quite a lot of information. We started working with some other key agencies and the FCCPC led the meeting where we all agreed there would be a joint effort to look into these businesses”.

He explained that one of the reasons why the agency decided to act was the complaints that the lenders charge exorbitant interest from customers who find it to pay back the loan.

When this happened, the agency said such customers are subjected to unwarranted embarrassment forbidden by law.

“The key two things that were subject of concern were what seems to be the naming and shaming violation of people’s privacy with respect to how these lenders recover their loans.

“Secondly, the interest rate seems to be a violation of the ethics on how lending is done. So, those were the two things that we set out to look for,” Irukera said.

He stated further that “so, we started an investigation trying to determine the location of these firms. That has been a very difficult thing. We did that for several months and some of them have moved from one place to the another and we have been visiting these places for months”.

He said the agency had to intervene to save Nigerians.

He said, “we found out that most of these companies operate from the same place. We also found out that many of them are actually operated by the same person. They are not Nigerian companies, they don’t have an address in Nigeria and they are not registered in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission and they do not have any license to do their business”

Having found out that many illegal money lenders operate online, the agency has now written to global applications operators with the possibility of closing some online financial applications operating in the country.

Irukera said “in addition to what you are seeing here today, the FCCPC has also issued multiple orders today. Two of them are going to vendors: Apple and Google stores where some of these apps are available.

“We have asked them to shut these companies’ apps down so that people will not be victimised anymore. Secondly, some of them (the orders) have gone to the bank, asking them to freeze the accounts used by these people.”

The FCCPC boss however stated that not all money lenders are operating illegally.

Buhari Commissions Integrated Livestock Farm At Emekuku, Imo State

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The Source

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March 12, 2022

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President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday commissioned the Imo State integrated livestock farm at Achara-Ubo at Emekuku in Owerri North Council of Imo State with a call on the people to assist in protecting the farm.

Represented by Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, the President said the renovation and rehabilitation of Achara Ubo Farm Estate as a Training Centre for the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) is also meant to provide sufficient protein through livestock and ensure food security and sufficiency for Imo people in particular and the South East in general.

Addressing the large crowd of citizens and stakeholders that turned out to grace the occasion at the farm site, the Governor said “it takes a leader with the fear of God to achieve positive programmes and policies for his people,” noting that “the renovation and activation of the farm project is a hope come through and a hope for Imo youths and Imo people.”

He explained that by the magnitude and level of activities that will take place at the farm, “several Imo youths will be engaged and removed from crime and criminality with the provision of several jobs.”

He thanked President Buhari whom he described as “a man whose mind is always about the well-being of the people,” for acceeding to his request to have the farm revived.

“The President was passionate about the plight of Imo youths to be engaged in meaningful ventures and that is why he approved my request for the rehabilitation of Achara-Ubo, Sunghai farm, Avutu poultry and Adapalm.”

The Governor seized the opportunity to thank the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne for following up on the President’s directive and ensured that the renovation of Achara-Ubo comes through.

Governor Uzodimma informed that the first 200 trainees that will work in the farm were selected from Owerri Federal Constituency and promised to give them start-up capital as graduates to engage in the various sectors of farming.

The Governor however urged them to ensure they exhibit “the highest sense of responsibility and discipline and avoid sharp practices that may land them into trouble.”

He challenged the graduates to be ready to develop themselves and bring their knowledge with additional value chain that will attract the government to arrange for off-takers of their products.

He commended the Member representing Owerri North in the Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. (Dr.) Philip Ejiogu who, though belongs to an opposition Party, but was present at the commissioning “because he cares about development projects in his constituency.”

He specifically thanked Ejiogu for promising to collaborate with the Traditional Rulers and people of his Constituency to provide local security and hospitality that will protect the farm Estate.

“This is very necessary because external security though advantageous has some attendant problems,” Uzodimma said.

On the capacity of the farm, the Governor informed that the Estate is meant to house thousands of birds in six poultry houses, a reasonable number of goats, pigs, and other similar livestock which is expected to multiply with time.

The Governor also regretted that the good intention of government was initially misconstrued when enemies of the people insinuated that the farm was for RUGA settlement, saying those who biased the minds of the people were their enemies.

On this, he also thanked the NALDA Chief Executive for his promise to soon bring in another 13,000 broiler birds to maximize the capacity of the farm estate.

In his address, the Imo State Commissioner for Livestock, Dr. Anthony Mgbeahuruike thanked Mr. President and Governor Uzodimma for jointly putting resources together to bring back Achara Ubo to life after 40 years of abandonment.

He noted that the NALDA project at Achara Ubo is solely to create jobs and empower the youths of Imo State through agricultural revolution as well as serve as a source of food security to the people.

He thanked the people of the area for providing conducive environment for the resuscitation of the landmark project.

He also informed that the farm currently has six poultry houses that contain about 11,000 birds, three brooding houses, three goateires with 192 goats, three piggeries containing 107 pigs, three solar bore holes, access roads to drainage system and solar powered street lights, among others.

Also in his address at the occasion, the Executive secretary/ CEO National Agricultural Land Developmental Authority, Prince Paul Ikonne told the audience that “the reactivation of the farm estate is a prove that President Muhammadu Buhari means well for Imo people” and that “through NALDA 5,000 Imo indigenes will benefit from Central Bank of Nigeria NALDA programme.”

He charged the trainees to take the programme seriously as the President has given them all it takes to carry on with the project. ‘’This project belongs to the people.”

Ikonne thanked the Governor of Imo State for giving them the needed support that enabled them to realise the project.

He equally thanked the host Community for their cooperation that made the realisation of the project possible and hinted that 1000 women from Imo State are to benefit from a cassava farming programme that would be sited in three locations in the State.

The member representing Owerri North, Hon. Philip Ejiogu poured encomia on Governor Uzodimma for his capacity in attracting and realizing the project, noting that it is a pet project that was dear to his heart.

He therefore promised to provide local security and hospitality to guide and protect activities of the farm estate.

In their goodwill messages, the APC Chairman in Imo State, Macdonald Ebere, the IMC Chairman of Owerri North, Engr. Lams Ibe, an APC Apex Leader, Prince Lemmy Akakem and the Secretary General of Ubowalla Community, Mr. Zeph Ovuoh, thanked the Governor and the President for their love for Owerri North and for bringing in such a giant project that will absorb most of their unemployed youths and remove them from crime and criminality.

The event attracted key traditional rulers from Imo State, top government officials and appointees, elder statesmen and stakeholders from Imo State and Party faithful across demography.

Imo: Again, Fresh Human Head Dumped In Orlu Road

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The Source

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March 12, 2022

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By Charles Igbo

The sacrilege in Imo State continued on Friday, March 11, 2022, when a male, fresh, human head was conspicuously dumped at the popular Banana Junction, Orlu.

Residents woke up Friday morning, only to be assaulted by the sacrilegious sight.

Nobody knows who were behind the horrendous act, or the point they wanted to make. But the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, visited the area on Thursday during an inspection of the huge first class road his Government is constructing, and stopped at the same spot where the fresh human head was dumped.

Said a sad indigene of the area to this magazine: “Those who did this wanted to tell the State that: “We are still here because there has been peace in the State for sometime.”

At the time of writing this, Friday, the identity of the beheaded male, whose head was still at the spot it was dumped, was yet to be known. His body has, also, not been found, nor has the Police issued a statement.

This strange and abominable incident is not unprecedented in the Orlu area of the State. For over a year, the Orlu area of Imo State has been facing serious security challenges. Kidnappings are taken for granted, and so are killings and arson, especially, of Policemen and Police facilities.

On about three other occasions, human beings had been beheaded, and their heads hung in public places like trophies.

The insecurity in the area has brought to a halt, almost, social and commercial activities. Not a few indigenes of Orlu, especially, those with recognizable names, and those who leave outside it, have abandoned the Zone. They have relocated to other areas, including, Owerri and Anambra State.

Incidentally, the Governor is from Orlu zone of the State. And so are his two predecessors, Achike Udenwa and Rochas Okorocha.

Gradually, but steadily, the Zone, lmolites say, is destroying itself.

Nnamdi Kanu’s Continuous Detention, Provocative – Southern/Middle Belt Forum; Demands Freedom For Him, Igboho

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Adesina Soyooye

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March 12, 2022

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By Adesina Soyooye

A meeting of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum has demanded the immediate release of the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from the custody of the Federal Government.

The meeting, also, demanded for the discontinuation of the prosecution of Sunday Igboho, a Yoruba Nation agitator, who is on temporary release in the Republic of Benin.

The Forum made the demands in a Communique it issued after a meeting members held in Abuja on Thursday, March 10, 2022, under the Chairmanship of Chief Edwin K. Clark.

Kanu has been in the custody of the Federal Government since 2021 when he was re-arrested in Nairobi, Kenya and brought back to Nigeria.

He is being prosecuted by the Federal Government at a Federal High Court over sundry allegations including terrorism and treasonable felony.

He was on bail granted him by the trial Judge, the Honourable Justice Binta Nyako, but was forced to flee Nigeria when soldiers, inexplicably, invaded his father’s Palace in his community, Afara, Umuahia, in 2017.

In the case of Igboho, he fled the country when the Federal Government declared him wanted. He was on his way to Germany, through the Republic of Benin, in company of his wife, Ropo, a German citizen, when they were arrested at an airport in Cotonou by that country’s security agents.

While his wife was released on their first appearance in Court, Igboho was clamped into prison, and being prosecuted for sundry allegations. The Nigerian Government wants him extradited to Nigeria to face charges.

Last week, after 231 days in detention, he was released on bail to take care of his failing health. He was, however, restricted to Cotonou.

At the well attended meeting, the Forum demanded: “In national interest, the immediate release of Nnamdi Kanu and a stop to any further persecution of Sunday Igboho, who is currently on a conditional release in Benin Republic.”

It also warned that the continued detention of Kanu is, at once, provocative and perfidious while known terrorists are being given VIP treatments.

Said the Communique: ” The continued detention and trial of Nnamdi Kanu on charges of terrorism and treasonable felony while known Boko Haram terrorists are being given VIP treatments and hosted in Government Houses is not only provocative and perfidious but a bizarre double standard on the part of the Nigerian State.”

The Leaders, also, condemned a situation where widows and orphans of the atrocious activities of Boko Haram terrorists are suffering in IDP Camps, while those responsible for their situation are being pampered by the Federal Government.

Said the Communique: “More disconcerting is the fact that the women and children rendered widows, orphans and displaced by the terrorists, now being gratified by the Federal Government and its security agencies, are wallowing in wretched IDP camps.”

Stanford Onyirimba, Former Majority Leader, IMHA, Dies

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The Source

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March 12, 2022

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By Charles Igbo

Imo State has just lost one of its prominent sons.

Honourable Stanford Ezenwa Onyirimba is dead.

His death was made public in the evening of Friday, March 11, 2022 by shocked and devastated political associates

Born on May 22, 1959, Onyirimba was an Economist, Politician and Administrator. He was the Majority Leader of the Imo State House Of Assembly, from 1999 to 2007.

A former member of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Onyirimba and 22 other prominent PDP politicians from Okigwe zone, on May 11, 2021, defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, and were received by the State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma.

He was, also, at a time, a Commissioner on the Imo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission, ISOPADEC.

Married to Chinyere, with whom he had kids, Onyirimba was the Managing Director of Willoughby Nig. Ltd.

A grassroots politician, he had, a couple of times, harbored an aspiration to be the Governor of the State.

Umahi: How Presidential Ambition Ignited His Woes

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The Source

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March 11, 2022

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By Chidi Levi

March 8,2022 was a bad day for Engr Dave Umahi. On that day, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sacked him as Governor of Ebonyi State for defecting from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

This Magazine can authoritatively report that the Governor did not see his ouster coming. He didn’t take the Court case which was instituted by the PDP seriously. Afterall, he was not the first Governor to have switched party.

However, unknown to Umahi, through the Court case, PDP had just armed and powered a powerful anti-South-east force in his party, the APC.

This forces, funded and promoted by a wealthy South west APC element with eyes on contesting next year’s Presidential election, the magazine was informed, is primed at ensuring that no South-east politician in the party, with a reasonable political and financial clout makes a real bid for the APC Presidential ticket.

Thus, when Umahi dramatically declared his interest for the Presidency, and his possible preference by President Muhammadu Bubari began to gain currency in the media, the said APC chieftain reportedly became exasperated.

His next move was to launch a deadly plot to stop the Ebonyi Governor in his tracks with the PDP suit as a handy, potent weapon.The rest, as the cliché goes, is now history.

This magazine can comfirm that though he has appealed the Abuja High Court sack and has obtained a stay of execution from a State High court in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, Governor Umahi is indeed extricably embattled and his battle to retain his seat is not likely to end in his favour if what this magazine has been able to scrap from a reliable source within the APC is anything to go by.

It was gathered that the Abuja High Court ruling became a fait accompli through the instrumentality of the said South west APC godfather.

He has, also, allegedly vowed to follow the case through to the apex court.

The idea here, The source was informed, is to either completely wear Umahi out, distract him from further pursuing his Presidential ambition, or outrightly remove him as Governor thus eroding any advantage he has of securing the APC Presidential ticket as a sitting Governor with a considerable warchest.

Umahi won election as Governor on the platform of the PDP in 2015 and was relected to the same position in 2019. However, while he held office as a PDP Governor, he never hid the fact that he fancied President Buhari and the APC.

His romance with the Party and President was to the knowledge of his then Party, PDP, which pretended as if all was well.

In one of his brazen anti- PDP postures, Umahi gathered stakeholders of the party in Ebonyi and told them he was in both PDP and APC, declaring that he was the only person who could engage in such anti-party activity and get away with it.

In the run up to the 2019 Presidential election, the embattled Ebonyi State Governor practically querried the rationale for Atiku Abubakar and PDP’s choice of a fellow Igbo and former Anambra state Governor, Peter Obi as Vice Presidential candidate.Dave Umahi

He, allegedly, did little to promote or campaign for the Atiku/Obi ticket but did everything to sell the Dave UmahiBuhari’s candidacy.

However, despite Umahi’s perceived transgressions, a broad spectrum of the Igbo political elites and intelligentsia see him as face of the Igbo in the APC who stands a good chance of securing the party’s Presidential ticket.

They have, therefore, condemned the alleged forces working to undo him.

Said one of them: “External forces, political buccaneer outside Igboland are primmed at suffocating the Southeast out of the political space as far the 2023 presidential election is concerned.

“Yes, the external conspirators behind the court case and the court ruling targeted Umahi’s rising political profile. They targeted his bright chance at picking the APC presidential ticket in June.

**Peter Obi: Umahi queried his choice as VP candidate.**

“It is true that Umahi has a window of appeal up to the Supreme Court but the main idea is to distract him and take some steams off his presidential campaign”

Another asked rhetorically: “Ask yourself, why the attention on Umahi; is he the only PDP Governor who defected to the APC?”A

He then answers: “It is all part of the orchestrated external plot, intra-APC plot to stop him from runing for the presidency.

“These anti-South east forces are not in the PDP, it is firmly embedded in the APC ,security forces and the judiciary. Yes, in the APC, the very party Umahi joined in November 2020!

“The same anti- Igbo forces in the APC that are seeking to undo Umahi were also responsible for the persecution and prosecution of Senators Rochas Okorocha and Orji Uzor Kalu.They were the ones that lunged at PDP’s best presidential material and former Anambra state Governor, Peter Obi with Pandora’s papers.

Their intention was to smear Obi and leave him smelling rotten with a baggage but when it dawned on them that their own godfather and some other members were also not spared in the pandora paper controversial, they beat a quick retreat and the scandal died”

According to yet another Igbo political elite who pleaded anonymity, “the hawks hurting South-east political interest are equally the troublers of PDP Presidential material and former Senate President, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.They are tugging at him with an EFCC case.

“The reactionary forces are indeed assiduously seeking to undermine and weaken Ndi Igbo politically.

“They were also responsible for the rise of Hope Uzodinma as Governor of Imo state; they equally tried, albeit, unsuccessfully to instal Senator Andy Ubah as Anambra state Governor last year.

“Now, who was sent to Anambra to conduct the kangaroo primary election that handed Ubah the APC guber ticket and divested Senator Chris Ngige and Chief George Moughalu of Anambra APC structures? His name is Dapo Abiodun, he is the Governor of Ogun state! And who is his godfather? Your guess is as good as mine.

“This is an all-out political onslaught against Ndi Igbo to weaken them and render them politically prostrate and castrated in 2023”

A Professor of Political Science in one of the State- owned Universities in the region told the magazine that the plot to stop the South-east in 2023 actually started in 2019. His words: “It started just before the 2019 elections; the plot to deny the Southeast any meaningful political input and participation in the 2023 presidential race started in the run-up to the 2019 elections.

“First, to render him a king without a crown, Governor Rochas Okorocha was denied the APC structures and the same were handed over to Uzodinma who would later be made Governor by a Supreme court ruling.

Secondly, to make him smell bad for the office of the president in 2023, EFCC charges have now been slammed on Rochas.

“Is it not also curious that another of our presidential material, Senator Kalu is equally facing the same legal distractions from the EFCC? Of all the class of 1999-2007 governors, is it not unsettling that Kalu is the only one that has gone to jail?

“Ndi Igbo, from all ramifications, are endangered species, politically speaking. The external forces arrayed against us are in control of the security forces and the judiciary as well as in the ruling party; they call the shots, they have the yam and the knife.

“It is quite possible they are the unseen hands behind the maddening security situation in the Southeast just to paint the region as unstable and therefore not suitable to be entrusted with power at the centre”

In his view, “our enemies can do and undo, they have a free reign; in 2019, erroneously taking Governor Nyesom Wike to be Igbo, they were on the verge of illegally rigging him out of office but later backtracked when it dawned on their godfather that doing so would hand Rivers to Rotimi Amaechi who is not in the APC faction with him.

“The godfather also realised that uprooting Wike would plunge the Niger Delta and by extension oil production there into unimaginable disruption which has the potential of affecting his easy lucre”

Appealing for South-east unity ahead 2023 Presidential election, the University don said: “This is time for pragmatic politics. Lets put party affiliations aside and fight for Igboland.Umahi is our poster boy for good governance, for development, he must not be allowed to go down. Let’s rise to confront these forces, Ndi Igbo must rally around Umahi now. He is one of our best”

PDP Mocks APC, Says INEC’s Non-Recognition Confirms Its Ineligibility For 2023 Elections

By

The Source

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March 11, 2022

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Debo Ologunagba - PDP Publicity Secretary

By Gideon Njoku

The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has said that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is not eligible to contest in the 2023 General Election.

The PDP, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has more or less confirmed this by the non-recognition of the letter sent to it by APC, intimating and inviting the Commission to its scheduled Emergecy National Executive Council, NEC, meeting.

Responding to the letter, INEC said it does not recognise those who signed the letter. The letter was signed by the newly controversially appointed Acting Chairman of the APC, Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello.

The APC has, for days, been embroiled in a leadership crisis. President Muhammadu Buhari had, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, suddenly given an order for the sack of the Interim National Chairman, Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni for, allegedly, working to sabotage the National Convention of the Party, scheduled for March 26, 2022. The Secretary, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, has also been rendered ineffective and done away with.

With the non-recognition of the letter to INEC, the APC National Convention is in jeopardy. More so, there are over 200 cases against the Party all emanating from disgruntled Party members.

If the Emergency NEC meeting does not hold in the presence of INEC officials, it becomes illegal, and consequently affects the March 26 scheduled National Convention.

Without the Convention, APC will not be qualified to take part in the 2023 General election.

Meanwhile, Buni is still in Dubai where he went for Medicals. His supporters, including the embattled Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. Dave Umahi says he remains the Chairman, and so does Buni’s spokesman, Yusuf Ali.

But Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, insists Buni has been sacked, and will never go back to the office of the Chairman. Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, described the Governors in support of Buni as “yahoo-yahoo Governors.”

Following is the PDP’s statement.

INEC’s Non-recognition Confirms APC’s Ineligibility For 2023 Elections – PDP

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alerts that the non-recognition of the activities of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) further confirms PDP’s position that APC lacks the legitimacy and statutory requisites to participate in the 2023 general elections.

“The PDP emphasizes that INEC’s refusal to honour APC’s invitation to attend its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting as well as the Commission’s disapproval of APC’s National Convention scheduled for March 26, 2022 further authenticates PDP’s stand that the APC is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in liquidation, preparatory to winding up, that cannot legally produce candidates for the elections.

“This decision by INEC is, therefore, another unmistaken ‘red flag’ to intending aspirants on the platform of the APC in the 2023 general elections that the APC has become defunct and cannot validly, legally and constitutionally field candidates in the 2023 general elections.

“Our Party draws attention to the grave import of INEC’s letter to the APC, dated March 9, 2022 to the effect that APC’s NEC meeting scheduled for Thursday March 17, 2022 will not be recognized by the Commission due to invalid notice; a development that will invalidate any decision reached at such meeting.

“Furthermore, INEC’s reference to the failure of the APC to give the required 21-day notice for its National Convention confirms the invalidity and unconstitutionality of any National Convention conducted by the APC’s illegal Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

“As it stands today, regardless of the boldface escapist excuses, the Sword of Damocles hangs precariously on the status of the contraption called CECPC and the APC itself. This signals an existential threat to the soulless, precipice-bound bunch of pretenders masquerading as a political party.

“The PDP had earlier informed Nigerians, especially intending aspirants on the platform of the APC that the APC became legally non-operational when in December 8, 2020 it dissolved its National, State as well as Local Government structures and handed its affairs over to an illegal body.

“Moreover, the PDP informs such aspirants that the widespread intractable infighting for the soul of the defunct APC by ferocious ‘political warlords’ is not for election purposes but in desperation for the control of APC structures as pedestals to further pillage public fund before and during the elections.

“The PDP calls on Nigerians to note that the APC by its actions has commenced an inevitable descent into self-inflicted political extinction.

“We call on Nigerians to remain at alert and hopeful as our Party takes decisive steps to democratically take over governance in 2023 in our mission to Rescue and Rebuild our nation from the rudderless, vicious, clueless and visionless APC.”

The APC insists that it would go on with its scheduled National Convention.

Ekiti Gov Election: Group Accuses INEC Of Selective Voters Registration

By

Ayodele Oni

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March 11, 2022

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By Ayodele Oni

A group loyal to the Governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party, (SDP) Segun Oni in the June 18 election in Ekiti state, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) of selective registration of some people perceived to be loyal to the candidate of All Progressive Congress, (APC), Biodun Oyebanji in the ongoing voters registration exercise.

The Group, also, accused the APC of importing people from neighbouring states and get them registered as voters in the state.

All these, according to Ekiti Bring Back Better, (EBBB), amount to compromising the standard in the ongoing registration for Permanent Voter Cards(PVCs) in Ekiti.

EBBB warned INEC staff against compromising the integrity of the commission, by engaging in what it called “selective registration.”

Spokesman of the Group, Idowu Adelusi, averred that it would be counter-productive for INEC to be capturing supporters of a particular candidate at the expense of others, saying such rumour was rife and it has to be guarded against to infuse sanity and save the commission’s image from being tainted.

Adelusi said on Friday that the group found the rumour that only perceived supporters of a candidate were being registered by INEC in the last minute voters’ capturing so rattling and disturbing.

The EBBB spokesman urged INEC to be vigilant and look out for cases of double registration.

Adelusi said all eligible voters in Ekiti must be registered in the last minute rush by INEC , regardless of their political beliefs and leanings.

He pointed out that voters registration is a strategic and pivotal aspect of election process that guarantees participatory democracy, wipes out apathy and boosts universal suffrage of citizens within any democratic system that should be prosecuted with utmost honesty and sincerity.

Adelusi warned that nothing should be done by the commission or those he described as “desperate politicians” to sabotage the process and abridge the rights of citizens to vote during elections.

“The EBBB as a political pressure group is not by this statement casting aspersion or impugning on the integrity of the electoral commission.

“We have implicit confidence in the leadership of Prof Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC to give us the best election in June 18 in Ekiti State, nothing short of this is acceptable.

“But we are abashed and ditto alarmed that politicians could be plotting to take over the primary and statutory function of INEC, by allegedly sieving voters and determining who should be registered and those not to be registered.

“Though we are not oblivious of the fact that voters mobilisation is part of the duties of parties, but this should not dovetail to parties taking over the functions of INEC, by dictating who to be registered or rejected.

“We owe that belief that INEC will rise above pedestrianism in the coming election, by allowing the votes of Ekiti people to count, because its verdicts is necessary to validate who occupies the governorship seat. This is the statutory duty and no one should strip them of this power.

“We call on INEC chairman and Ekiti Resident Electoral Commissioner , Dr Adeniran Tella, to be watchful and warn their staff against serving as fifth columnists, or act in any shady manner that can smear their images, or put them to ridicule in this impending poll.”

Investigation revealed that the candidate of APC, Oyebanji, has been touring various registration centres in the state capital in what is termed mobilization of eligible voters to come out to register.

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