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US Ambassador Woody Johnson criticises warnings about chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef.

Honourable Israel Sunny-Goli, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker representing Brass Constituency 1, and the Federal House of Representatives member-elect representing Nembe/Brass Constituency, has been arrested by the Police for masterminding the attack on Kola Okunola, a Deputy Commissioner of Police.

The incident took place in Twon, Brass in Bayelsa State last Sunday.

Two other persons were arrested in connection with the incident.

A statement by ACP Frank Mba, the Force Public Relations Officer, issued on Friday on the matter read: “The Police have arrested Hon. Israel Sunny Goli, the mastermind and ringleader of the irresponsible, unprovoked and unwarranted attack on a Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Kola Okunola, in Twon, Brass, Bayelsa State, on Sunday, 24th February, 2019. Two other persons arrested in connection with the incident are Tamarapreye Victor, ‘m’ 34yrs and Azi Newton ‘m’ 34yrs.

“Hon. Israel Sunny Goli, a candidate of one of the major political parties in the House of Representatives elections in Brass Constituency, Bayelsa State, was arrested in his hideout somewhere in Abuja this morning, 1st March, 2019, in a well-coordinated covert operation.

“His arrest is in line with the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Ag. IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni for the immediate arrest, comprehensive investigation and diligent prosecution of all persons involved in the Sunday, 24th February, 2019 attack on the DCP in Twon, Brass, Bayelsa State.

“It would be recalled that while leading the team providing protection for INEC officials, voters and materials, DCP Kola Okunola was brutally attacked and molested by thugs led by Hon. Israel Sunny Goli. Meanwhile, effort is ongoing by the Police to apprehend other members of the gang involved in the unwholesome attack on the officer.

“As we go into the Governorship/House of Assembly Elections slated for Saturday, 9th March, 2019, the IGP reiterates his earlier warning that the Nigeria Police Force under his watch will not condone any act of assault against any member of the public, including the personnel of the Force legitimately assigned to protect the sanctity of the ballot.”

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Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, says his suspension and recommended expulsion can’t stand as it has already been taken care of by law.

He also accused Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), of working for selfish interests to the detriment of the party, stating that the APC Chairman is only “labouring in vain”.

Earlier on Friday, Okorocha and his Ogun State counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun, were suspended from the APC by the National Working Committee. A recommendation for the duo’s suspension was also made to the National Executive Committee (NEC).

However, a statement issued by Sam Onwuemeodo, Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, on the suspension and recommended expulsion, read: “Adams Oshiomhole was determined right from the outset to destroy APC in the Southeast and unknown to party chieftains from the zone who had genuinely supported his chairmanship. He is playing the politics of 2023 in 2019 and in playing it he has thrown caution to the wind.

“In all the Southeast states, there are crises and all arising from the fraudulent manner he conducted the primaries. In 2015, Governor Okorocha had joined the merger that gave birth to APC at the risk of his second tenure and was called all sorts of unprintable names. Yet, he won the governorship election, delivered 24 out of the 27 members of the House of Assembly for APC, two House of Representatives members and one Senator.

“In 2019, Oshiomhole felt that such a man should be treated with disdain. He handed over the governorship ticket of the party to Hope Uzodinma, who has never resigned his membership of the PDP on the floor of the Senate like others did and giving all kinds of flimsy excuses. And if Oshiomhole had meant well for APC and Imo people in particular, would he have given the ticket of the party to a man facing five corruption charges and having travel ban slammed on him, to be the party’s candidate.

“In the February 23, 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections, Governor Okorocha won in ten, out of the twelve Local Government Areas in Orlu zone to emerge winner for Imo West Senatorial District. He also delivered four House of Representatives candidates on the platforms of APC and AA respectively, with one Senate Seat and two House of Representatives Seats outstanding.

“And when the APC members across the nation are still celebrating the success of the party in the presidential and National Assembly elections, Oshiomhole, in his wisdom or lack of it, felt that the best action in the circumstance was to suspend two governors who did well in the election, even when he played safe in 2015 and 2019 in Edo State without any known pressure.

“Again, Oshiomhole coming with the purported expulsion this time, was only acting out of the fear that God in His infinite mercy could give Governor Okorocha a role to play in the Senate, in the overall interest of the nation. The truth is that Oshiomhole is only labouring in vain to play his own part of the deal that warranted his giving out the tickets of the party to non-deserving elements like in the case of Imo.

“Finally, APC especially in the Southeast and in Imo in particular will outlive Oshiomhole. Men like him hardly sleep with their two eyes closed. They always sleep with their eyes open because they have murdered sleep with their actions and inactions. And unfortunately for him the purported expulsion can’t stand because the law has taken care of it even long before now.”

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Apparently in a panic mode ahead of the state House of Assembly election, Rotimi Akeredolu, Governor of Ondo State, is billed to address a state broadcast on Friday.

The broadcast is slated to be aired on the state government-owned media station, the Ondo State Radio-Vision Corporation (OSRC) and Orange Fm 94.5, Akure. The state broacast has been fixed for 7pm, it was gathered.

Top government sources told our reporters that the broadcast was an “arrangement” to convince the electorate in the state, after the fallout of the defeat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the presidential and National Assembly elections.

"Don't mind the white-bearded man. The idea was given to him by some persons in our government and I pity the Governor, because he doesn't know anything about politics," a source in his government said.

"You cannot have your cake and eat it. It is obvious that Akeredolu has lost grip on the people. He worked against the party in the last poll by asking people to vote for AA. So, I am sure he would lose the state."

A copy of the broadcast speech seen by our correspondent revealed the Governor's plans to appeal to the people to “see the state House of Assembly election as a family affair and vote for the candidates whose campaign promises are in line with his vision”.

Already, Akeredolu has been meeting with the people, pleading with them to vote his candidates in the APC. The Governor is also billed to meet with all cadres of state government workers on Monday at Adegbemile Cultural Centre in Akure.

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the All Progressives Congress (APC) “robbed” them in broad daylight by conducting a “body bag election” that saw President Muhammadu Buhari emerge winner.

This was contained in the statement of Uche Secondus, the PDP Chairman, in a press conference he addressed on Friday.

In early February, Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, had warned any “foreign power” that interferes with Nigeria's 2019 general election that they would return to their country in “body bags”.

On Friday, Secondus said the APC “appears comfortable with blood”, just as he accused the Nigerian Army of working with the APC to rig the elections.

The statement read: “Our presidential flag bearer in the election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, spoke with you on Wednesday and the National Publicity Secretary of our party has been interacting with you on daily basis. I have therefore come to you again today in continuation of our unearthing the brigandage of last Saturday which I have tagged 'body bag election'

“When All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders were threatening foreign election monitors with returning to their country in body bags, we didn't know that they had designed the same thing for Nigerians. As at the last count, over 50 Nigerians have lost their lives last Saturday, witn most of them from the South South region, where a division of the army, with their commander, were turned on the people on Election Day.

“For a regime that appears comfortable with blood, the deaths they recorded during their campaigns were not enough as after their contrived ballot box victory and stolen mandate, they still hired some hoodlums and sent them to the streets to go and kill themselves and further inconvenience the grieving Nigerians while celebrating their electoral robbery.”

The party observed a one-minute silence for those who lost their lives to violence during the elections and continued, saying: “You can see that the nation has been in a sorrow mood for our democracy that was dragged down last Saturday, four years after the world stood up for Nigeria, for not only conducting a flawless election, but for going ahead in addition to have a seamless transition to an opposition party. But we all are seeing the direct beneficiary of that rare democratic disposition, General Muhammadu Buhari, using the military to rob Nigerians of their right to choose leaders of their choice.

“The clear effect of militarizing the election, particularly in the South South and South East, in addition to the killing of innocent electorates, was the obvious suppression of voters who were either scared out or chased away. Even by INEC’s own records, voter turnout in last Saturday's election fell to about 36% from 44% it was in 2015.

“Gentlemen of the press, you were on the field and witnessed the large turnout of Nigerian electorate in comparison to that of 2015. The military were dragged into the election to suppress and scare away voters and facilitate rigging. That is how you hear ridiculously that war-torn Borno and Yobe states recorded higher percentage in voter turnout than some states in the South South geopolitical zone. Shamelessly, they have again started mobilizing to use the same military to forcefully take over for APC two PDP states in the South South and one state in the South East. Credible intelligence available to the party showed that the ruling party's main link in INEC met with party's leadership as well as the military to review the planned strategy to take over these states.

“While the military was suppressing voters in PDP stronghold areas in the South, a different abracadabra was going on in some northern states particularly in Kano, Yobe, Borno and Zamfara states, where numbers refuse to add up. In Borno, Yobe and Zamfara states, confirmed report shows that there was non-compliance in the use of Smart Card Reader as approved by INEC rules. The backend report from the card readers for the various Local Government Areas in these states will show this further.

“In these states as in others, the data is inconsistent with the accreditation of registered voters in the Local Government Areas and voting patterns witnessed in 2015. The same applies to cancelled votes in Nasarawa State with over 115,000 votes cancelled, Kogi – 79,000 votes, Plateau – 30,000 votes, indicating that these high incidence of vote cancellation were designed to suppress the margin of victory in PDP strongholds.”

He also accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of “strangulating the opposition”.

“As part of their strategy to ensure that PDP is distracted from pursuing its stolen mandate, General Buhari's regime has decided to intensify their intimidation and strangulation of the opposition. Some prominent members of the opposition have been put on surveillance and their names listed to be stopped from travelling out of the country.

“Gentlemen of the press, you can all see that we have arrived at the place we never bargained for: full blown dictatorship. And this is where I urge you members of the press to stand up as you have always done against this emerging despotism in our land, before we become a laughing stock in the global democracy family again,” he added.

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Segun Showunmi, spokesman of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, says Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a “maladjusted individual”.

He also referred to Oshiomhole as a “recruiting error of the janjaweed contraption called APC”.

He stated this in a post he made on Friday, in response to the statement by Oshiomhole against Atiku’s rejection of the outcome of the presidential election.

Atiku, who polled 11,262,978 votes, was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, who secured 15,191,847 votes.

Oshiomhole had addressed a post-election conference on Thursday, during which he berated Atiku for rejecting the result of the presidential election held on February 23, 2019.

Responding to Oshiomhole’s “rant”, as he called it, Showunmi said: “Atiku has no business responding to APC’s Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, a maladjusted individual who is clearly a recruiting error of the janjaweed contraption called APC. A party that claims to be progressive but clearly do not understand the meaning of the word.

“That Atiku Abubakar can meet his obligations is worthy of commendation, not the snide comment attributed to the lackwit Adam Oshiomhole who seeks to play to the gallery. Rather than gloat on the obvious mistake of reactionary elements which has pushed Nigeria into a dictatorship under the guise of change, Oshiomhole should have informed the public that in 2014, Atiku funded the campaign of General Buhari. Yet, four years after, the only achievements the APC could serve Nigerians was misery, heightened insecurity, extreme poverty, joblessness and a sham of an election – the worse Nigeria has ever had.

“On our good people of Nigeria, Adams needs to know that the charade of the recently concluded presidential elections will not stand and Nigeria will be great again under the leadership of a progressive Atiku Abubakar.”

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A request has been submitted to extradite the Briton, convicted of the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown.

A trigger-happy police officer has just shot a bus driver dead in Mosan, Ayobo area of Lagos State.

According to an eyewitness, the police officer shot the driver because he refused to give the police money.

Narrating the incident to SaharaReporters, Sodimu Johnson, one of the eyewitnesses, said: “The officers were trying to collect money from the driver, but he did not give them. One of them shot the driver and when they saw that he was dead, they tried to run away.

“The bus conductor and other passers-by chased them and were able to catch two of the officers. We held them and were trying to force them to carry the corpse to their station.”

Another eyewitness stated that one of the officers shot at people to clear the way so they could escape, but the people stood their ground.

“One of the officers shot sporadically into the air to disperse the crowd and clear way for themselves to escape from the scene of the incident, but we stood our ground and did not allow them to leave. We were able to disarm the two of the officers.”

Johnson said the police stormed the area with reinforcement and left with the officers involved in the act.

“Presently, some police officers have come to the area and have taken the body, conductor and the two officers away.

“They reinforced and came with some officials of the NSCDC to rescue the two officers. They harassed those who were recording the incident, seized their phones and also arrested them. They were taken to Area P Police station at Ayobo.”

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The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has queried Rotimi Akeredolu, Governor of Ondo State, over his “glaring anti-party activities, which greatly affected the fortunes of our candidates in the recently-conducted Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state”.

The party took the decision on Friday at a meeting of its NWC, presided over by Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman, at the APC national secretariat.

The ruling party stated this on Friday in a statement by Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, its National Publicity Secretary.

The APC NWC also confirmed the suspension of Ibikunle Amosun, Governor of Ogun State, and Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, for anti-party activities.

Also suspended are the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani and the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu.

THE FULL STATEMENT

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has suspended the Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun and the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha for anti-party activities.

Also suspended by the APC NWC over anti-party activities are the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani and the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu.

This decision was reached on Friday at a meeting of the Party's NWC, presided by the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole at the APC National Secretariat.

The NWC has also taken a decision to recommend the expulsion of the suspended individuals to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

The NWC has also issued a query to the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu over his glaring anti-party activities, which greatly affected the fortunes of our candidates in the recently-conducted Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

Recall that the NWC had earlier written to the suspended governors on their anti-party activities, and several other steps were taken to ensure they desist from taking actions that are inimical to the interests of our party and candidates. Notably, these individuals have not shown any remorse and have actually stepped up their actions.

The party reviewed the serial anti-party activities of the concerned individuals before and during the last Presidential and National Assembly elections in their respective states and resolved to enforce party discipline in line with our constitution.

The NWC noted how the suspended members have continued to campaign openly for other parties and candidates that are unknown to our great party, even while they have constituted themselves to opposition to APC candidates in their respective states.

Importantly, the NWC is closely monitoring the activities of our members across the country, and particularly, in the states these suspended members belong to. We wish to reiterate that any member of our party who takes any action solely or in line with the directives of the suspended members to undermine our party's candidates in the coming governorship and House of Assembly elections would face disciplinary actions. 

We wish to congratulate our members nationwide for the victories we recorded across the country in the last elections and particularly, the renewal of our party's mandate to pilot the affairs of this country for the next four years. This could not have happened if not for the hardwork and commitment of our members. We therefore urge all our members to unite and work ever harder  to ensure victory for our candidates across the states in the coming governorship and House of Assembly elections.  

Consequently, the NWC calls on our members to disregard directives and actions of the suspended individuals as APC would continue to live by the dictate of our constitution. 

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Mohammed Adamu, the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), has approved and ordered the immediate reversal of the name of the Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU) of the Nigeria Police Force.

The unit has now reverted to its founding name, Complaint Response Unit (CRU).

According to a statement by the unit issued on Friday, “The decision was taken as a result of the recommendation made by the pioneer Head of the Unit, ACP Abayomi Sogunle, following feedback from the public and stakeholders working with the Unit on police accountability in Nigeria.”

The CRU is an internal police oversight unit if the NPF established in November 2015 and tasked to run a community-oriented complaint management system through which citizens’ complaint against police officers are addressed in real time.

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Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in last Saturday's presidential election, has been urged to toe the path of former President Goodluck Jonathan and congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari on winning the election.

The appeal was made by women under the auspices of the ‘Two Million Women Rally for Democracy’ held on Friday in Abuja.

Mary Onuche, Convener of the ‘Two Million Women Rally for Democracy’, noted that although the PDP candidate is within his constitutional right to seek redress, such disruptive and frightful atmosphere could lead to anarchy.

She said: “Fortunately for Nigeria, our democracy, though still young, has continued to evolve in ways that reassure us that things can only get better. One such leap is the development in 2015 when the then President Goodluck Jonathan called to congratulate the then winner of the presidential election, incumbent President Buhari, even before the votes’ tally was completed. That singular act of patriotism is today hailed as the benchmark of the level of statesmanship befitting of candidates in our elections. May God bless President Goodluck Jonathan, the hero of our modern democracy.

“This has become a modern democratic culture in Nigeria for which former President Jonathan will continue to receive accolades. Had he acted contrary at that time, perhaps democratic growth in Nigeria might have been stunted or even truncated.

“But thankfully he set the benchmark, a standard that we today expect from anyone that takes part in the presidential election. We therefore call on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to emulate the statesmanship of President Jonathan and quit his ongoing disruptive stance on the election.

"There have been series of calls on him to call and congratulate President Buhari as the winner of the election, which would infer that he would by consequence give up any legal challenge of the election result. We are tempted to align with the first half of this demand that Atiku calls President Buhari to offer his congratulations, but we will not suggest that he forfeits his right to seeking judicial redress. He is very free to approach the courts to ventilate his grievances.”

The group, however, urged him to take a position that would ensure peace in the post-election process, noting that his utterances against the election outcome were capable of causing crisis in the country.

She continued: “What is unacceptable, however, is the adoption of positions and making of utterances that are being interpreted by his supporters and party members as a call to violence. We have become aware that his supporters are strategizing for violent protests that they are targeting to cause chaos nationwide and bring down the government. Some of Atiku’s lieutenants and political associates are subtly encouraging such protests through comments they have been making in the mainstream media and their social media accounts.

“The hostile environment being created by Atiku’s stance has been made even tenser by his reported demands on President Buhari, made through the National Peace Committee. Such behaviour suggests an opposition that has transmuted into a dictatorship, one that is hell-bent on blackmailing the country to impose itself on the people when it has been clearly rejected at the polls. This is not acceptable at a time when Nigerians expect that anyone that aspired to govern the country would at the very least imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship championed by former President Jonathan.

“Our democracy comes first before the personal fixations of any politician. We insist that the peace accord signed by political parties and their candidates, including Atiku, must be respected. Nigeria truly deserves peace and stability at this point in time, which is why we are holding this ‘Two Million Women Rally for Democracy in Nigeria’ to demand for national stability and peace in Nigeria.

“While we remain apolitical, we are encouraged by the assessment of international election observation missions, which in spite of their earlier tilt in favour of Atiku prior to the election, have come out to declare that the conduct and the outcome of the poll was satisfactory to them. We suggest that Atiku takes time to slow down and listen to his foreign allies who have now concluded that even the Parallel Vote Tabulation they used as control showed that the PDP candidate was fairly defeated.”

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The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has suspended Ibikunle Amosun, Governor of Ogun State, and Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, from the party.

They were also recommended for expulsion from the party.

The decision to expel the duo has been recommended to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC.

The governors, who were both recently elected as senators on the APC platform, were accused of anti-party activities.

Both governors have been openly supportive of prospective successors who are not members of the party. For Amosun, he has publicly shown support for Adekunle Akinlade, Ogun governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), while Okorocha has thrown his weight behind Uche Nwosu, his in-law and Imo governorship candidate contesting on the platform of the Action Alliance (AA).

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Exactly one week after 164 Nigerians were repatriated from Libya for illegal entry, another batch of Nigerians has been deported for the same offence.

The latest returnees were received by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on Thursday night and early Friday morning.

They were brought into the country in two batches.

Alhaji Idris Muhammed, Coordinator of the Lagos NEMA Territorial Office, received the returnees on arrival with different flights at the Cargo Wing of MMIA, Ikeja.

The first flight arrived Nigeria with 143 returnees aboard Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800 with flight number UZ189 and registration number 5A-DMG, which landed at 10:20pm, while the second flight arrived with Nouvelair Air flight UZ 175 and registration number TS-INA with 183 returnees aboard, and landed early Friday morning.

The repatriated Nigerians were brought back by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in its Assisted Voluntary Returnees (AVR) initiative with funding from the European Union for reintegration of the returnees back into their community.

At the end of profiling, the breakdown of returnees showed that 291 adults were brought back with eight children and 27 infants.

Addressing the returnees, the NEMA coordinator said: "The country of our dream is unfolding. As you are struggling to travel outside country, many foreign nationals are also struggling to come into Nigeria as well. Movement of people is naturally divine and no one is saying you should not travel, but travelling across the desert is not worth it.

"The Federal Government is desirous of making every Nigerian to make his quota in developing the country to the level we want it to be. Let us all stay back and support the government in its efforts at refocusing the country.”

He urged the returnees to have trust and confidence in the government, assuring that the government was on the right track, just as he admonished them to stay back and build a virile and developed nation.

Muhammed also urged them to be ready for the reintegration process that would follow the arrival stage that had just been completed.

Daniel Atokolo, the Zonal Commander of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), also assured Nigerians that volunteering information that could lead to identification and arrest of traffickers would be treated with utmost secrecy, with the protection of the source of information as priority.

He insisted that trafficking was evil, stressing that it must be rooted out of the country in order to ensure better living for all.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has warned Nigerians that his second tenure "is going to be tough".

He stated this on Friday when members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) paid him a congratulatory visit.

“My last lap of four years, I think is going to be tough. People are very forgetful and that’s why during the campaign I spoke about our cardinal agenda,” he said.

Details later...

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In the end, we will remember not the word of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate Buhari on his way back to Aso Rock Villa. It is such a worthy thing to talk about. Nevertheless, the hiccups and the abnormalities that followed the elections must as well be considered.

Whether or not we like it, the three ‘Kardashians’ (Kano, Katsina, Kaduna) gave Buhari another four years to rule this country. These three ‘Kardashians’ have been the base where people cast their votes the most. Aside the North, the total votes cast in other regions show the level of apathy in these regions.

Many were complaining of disenfranchisement, intimidation and other related issues that marred the just concluded general elections. Even as at that, one would wonder for instance, in Lagos State, five million people collected PVCs, while those who voted were not up to one million. How does one explain such apathy among people who want good governance? What a 21st century joke! What a fatuous sardony!

The moment I saw this political apathy that characterised both the easterners and those in the south, I began to wonder if they knew the implications of what they had done to themselves. This I-don't-care attitude is, and has always been the problem of an average Yoruba man and an Igbo man. It is not about Buhari anymore. It is about the difference between those in the north and other regions.

An average northerner prefers to suffer and at the same time show his loyalty to his or her fellow Northerner. What more could that be other than the true definition of patriotism. That is missing in other regions. Upon their state of living and other terrible things they've witnessed in the past, they still went out to vote en masse for their choice of candidates. But the reason why those in other regions could not go out en masse to vote after they had collected their PVCs still remains a thing of concern to me. Yet, these are people who claim to have solutions to the problems bedevilling the Nigerian state. But to make things happen, they are always invisible, forgetting the fact that no one can run away from his or her shadows. Even before the commencement of the elections, our hope of having a good leader had been tied around two northerners.

It is only in this part of the world you see a sane person claiming not to ever have anything to do with politics, be it local or international. One would wonder if he or she is affected by the state policies or not? People in this category are those who can barely afford three-square meals a day. So where does the hope lie if I may ask?

In the south, we always see ourselves as the most intelligent set of people in Nigeria. We believe we have remedies to the malady of this country. We believe we can change things by ranting online through the use of big grammars. The easterners as well believe they are the reason why this country is still in existence. They want to secede but can't face their leaders who have been the bane of their progress all this while. We abuse the northerners for everything we claim to have, but they keep ruling us. I must say with all honesty and modesty that I am happy that Buhari won the just concluded general election. The reason is because we will learn our lessons. Next time, we will vote based on merit, and not Baba So’pe.

Both Atiku and Buhari were never an option for me. But we keep allowing this set of analogue thinking dudes (as we called them) to continue presiding over the affairs of this country. The lack of truthfulness, unwholesomeness, impiousness, dubiousness, and other ungodly acts that have characterised both the Igbo and the Yoruba, is the main reason these people will continue to rule us till thy kingdom come. If we are to go back to history as it would interest my readers that the northerners have ruled this country for over 30 years, to what extent did that enhance the welfare of the ‘Aminukanosalakawas’, not to talk of the Ndigbo as well as the Oduduwa? When Obasanjo was the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to what extent did that enhance the welfare of the hoi polloi in the Oduduwa Republic? So what are we talking about?

The truth of the matter is that Nigeria can never work as a nation. Nigeria never existed in the first place. The amalgamation of 1914 was nothing but a pure scam. The independence we got in 1960 was nothing but a pure scam. Those in the state houses of power know most of these things; many wrong things at the right time; many right things at the wrong time. This is why there is need for restructuring, or we go our separate ways. Otherwise, Nigeria can, and will never work as a nation. My fellow Nigerians, that's the bitter truth.

I am not being vulgar as some of my readers would think, as I am also in the system but this should be seen as didactic as possible. It is a call to sober reflection. Time to wake up is now! 50 years after independence, wetin we gain? All na story! Let's make Nigeria great by taking the necessary decisions, not the palliative ones we've been taking.

Egbeolowo Ridwan Olaitan, a writer, political scientist, and a student of Rosicrucian Mysticism, sent this through smartwayne645@gmail.com

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The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has declared as illegal and unconstitutional, the deportation of 47 Cameroonians from Nigeria on January 26, 2018. 

A key Cameroonian separatist leader, Julius Ayuk Tabe, and 46 others were deported from Nigeria after their arrest in Abuja.

Ayuk President of a self-declared breakaway state made up of the Anglophone regions of majority-Francophone Cameroon, was one of 15 people whom Cameroon issued an international arrest warrant for in November 2017.

Cameroonian Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary liked the move, saying "a group of 47 terrorists, among them Mr. Ayuk Tabe, has for some hours been in the hands of Cameroonian justice, before which they will answer for their crimes", and praising Nigeria for joining Camerron in “never tolerating their respective territories serving as a base for activities that destabilise one or the other".

However, in her judgment on Friday morning, Justice Anwuli Chikere, the presiding judge, agreed with Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) that the Nigerian government lacks the power to deport refugees and asylum seekers from the country. 

Apart from awarding N5 million in damages to each applicant, the trial judge ordered the Federal Government to ensure that the deportees are brought back to Nigeria forthwith. 

Details later.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will conduct supplementary presidential elections in places where elections were cancelled, or where elections could not hold.

This was contained in a statement issued by Festus Okoye, Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, on Friday.

The decision was taken after an earlier meeting between the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to review the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 23, 2019, as well as to assess preparations for the governorship, state Houses of Assembly and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections slated for March 9, 2019.

The commission noted the delays and cancellations in some areas, and restated its commitment to rectifying the challenges before the next election date.

The statement read: “The meeting acknowledged the delays in the commencement of elections in a number of polling units which necessitated the extension of the closing of polls in the affected areas. The Commission is determined to rectify the identified challenges before the elections on 9th March.

“The meeting noted a number of cancellations in certain areas due to violence, which prevented the Commission from deploying personnel and materials for the elections due to disruptions and deliberate non-compliance with the use of the Smart Card Reader (SCR), contrary to the INEC regulations and guidelines for the conduct of elections.

“Consequently, the meeting decided that supplementary elections will be conducted in all areas where elections did not take place and/or where returns could not be made on Saturday, 9th March, 2019 alongside the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.”

The commission also decried the “high level of violence in a few places” and condoled with the families of its ad hoc staff and other Nigerians who lost their lives during the elections.

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“Good morning everyone, we are sorry to announce that Dana flight 9J-351 Lagos to Abuja has been cancelled,” an assistant manager of the Airline who didn’t bother to look back after dropping the bombshell on our laps told us in the early hour of November 8th, 2018. It was 6:15am and that was the first flight out of Lagos.

AA (Atiku Abubakar) was billed to arrive back to Abuja from Dubai that day and this was going to be the first official meeting after the keenly contested presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party and while several others were later held, including the now famous Dubai strategy parley, all members of the campaign team were summoned to Abuja to attend this one.

My worries about my cancelled flight wasn’t just because the Airline refused to give appropriate notice of the cancellation and only gave the disturbing news right at the boarding hour but mainly because AA always keeps to time. When he gives you an appointment for 8am, he would have arrived by 7:50am, seated, waiting for you.

I got to Abuja two-hour behind schedule only to get notified that Waziri couldn’t make the trip back to Nigeria that day, as I later learnt, he was on his way back when some businessmen from the Gulf States visited him to discuss a $45billion investment in the Nigerian Agricultural sector.

The meeting was presided over by the Director General of the campaign organization and the man who led Atiku to his first ever true presidential ticket, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the story of how that singular feat was achieved in the midst of the intrigue and suspense is a different tale best reserved for another day. It was a strategic session and the discussions bothered around voters mobilization, information dissemination, strategic communication and public engagement using the demography provided by the electoral commission, regional voters and psychological analyses and evaluation of different sections and segment of voters. The Atiku Plan was in formation and would be ready in two weeks time. All areas known to modern and sane politics were covered including the peculiarity of the electoral commission’s distribution of permanent voters card in the North, were distributions are made to a designated community leader rather than the one-on-one basis in the south.

To get the votes of the North, the language has to be different. While the South places premium on infrastructural development, policy and perception, the North care less about these things. And even though a robust system to drag the region out of its dependency state has been captured by the Atiku Plan, the mode to communicate this will be different. To get to the North, you have to create a formidable structure of Chinese whispers and local boots on ground. And because of its heavy religious bias and regional sentiment, it is more effective to talk to community, religion and tribal leaders than even the voters themselves. Afterall, it is these individuals who are holding the permanent voters’ cards in trust for them.  

To sell Atiku in the Southwest was easy. Even though the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) controls all the States in the region, the people are to a large extent independent minded and more than often, it takes a great deal of convincing to win their votes, this we were prepared for. We realized that there were two classes of people supporting Buhari in the region: those who are members of the ruling party or benefiting one way or the other either directly or indirectly from the party and those who believed the Vice-Presidency of Professor Yemi Osinbajo will miraculously transform to having a full Presidential power in the very nearest future. How they hope to achieve this, given that an Abiku hardly dies when you expect, beats me. Southwest was to a great extent developed, with potential for more with the right policies. What the region needs is a more relax system that will allow it exhibit its full potentials without other parts of the country dragging it back. The Atiku Plan covered that.

For the North Central, except for Niger, the unrest caused by activities of the Herdsmen has dented to a great extent any goodwill left of President Buhari. What we needed to do then was to ensure that we reassured the people of a better community, safety and security when Atiku becomes the President, including a robust agricultural revolution plan covered by the Atiku Plan. That was the message.

The problem with the Southeast and Southsouth was voting. They were already sold on the ideas and capacity of AA to bring good business and investment to Nigeria which they will benefit greatly from. A committee was set up to liaise with Governors and leaders in the region and work out a plan to ensure at least 95% voters turn out. That committee later came up with a blueprint that was foolproof or so we thought.

At several other meetings, various party strategies were implemented, including ensuring only members who are political capitals are given the ticket of the party to aid mass mobilization and grass-root support.

I remember in one of meetings at the residence of Otunba Daniel in Maitama, Abuja, a security consultant raised an observation about the jungle tactics used in Osun Gubernatorial election but was quickly countered by another consultant on security who analysed that it was going to be statistically impossible for the combined team of the Nigerian Police Force, Department of States Security, Civil Defence and even similar paramilitary agencies to successfully implement that system of suppression and oppression across the country as they simply do not have one-third of the numbers required for that. The only cruel possibility would be to engage the service of the full force of the Nigerian Military, a strategy that would threaten our democratic system given how such ended in the then Western region and claim lots of casualties if we as an opposition were to plan on countering that. The conclusion then was that given the President’s service record to the country and the assumed demand of patriotism on his part, he wouldn't take such route. We thought wrong!

If elections were to held on February 16, President Buhari would not have just lost the election, he would have been disgraced with the figure. Apart from feasibility study reports, members of the ruling All Progressive Congress including notable and highly placed leaders of the party across the country were already working against him. Many of them stood aloof refusing to give orders to their footsoldiers and made no mobilization plan even as at 7pm on February 15. Southwest was the worst hit. After the fracas that occurred in Ogun State, the region became sharply divided along the line of the Abuja Boys and the Tiwa n Tiwa men. In fact, the numbers from Lagos were so good that it would have sent Aso Rock into shock. The President relied on his footsoldiers and party members and at that crucial time, they failed him. Suddenly, the election was postponed.

A new tactics was developed by the Presidency. That tactics was to later ruined the 20-year sanity of Nigeria’s democracy.

In the early hours of February 23, calls started coming in across the country. Most leaders and supporters of AA were either being picked up or placed under house arrest. This didn’t seem surprising as the government controlled financial crimes commission already picked Waziri’s lawyer, Uyi, a week earlier in Lagos, his only crime was that he was associated with Atiku. We were actually prepared for the onslaught against us with many of the leaders having packed a handy bag for the unceremonious vacation but not without activating the strategy under their care a night before. All seems usual within the now Nigerian political context especially as several leaders of the campaign organization have had their Bank accounts illegally frozen, in fact, as at one week before the election eighty nine accounts belonging to various leaders of the party and campaign team were inaccessible.  

It was the call from Rivers that first came in around 8am on February 23, men and officers of the Nigerian Armed forces have taken over the State. Voting areas were cordoned off and voters were being turned back. Then Delta called, followed by Abia then before we knew what was happening, the entire Southeast and Southsouth were under siege. In some cases, the soldiers were alleged to have personally engaged in snatching the ballot boxes while in others they were alleged to have provided security for thugs who arrest non-cooperating electoral officers and force them to either change or write results. It was a coup!

While that was ongoing, leaders from the North complained of getting to the polling units and not meeting any electoral activities. After investigation, we discovered that election materials were being diverted and massive thumb printing were going on across Yobe, Borno, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina amongst others. In most places were elections were held, result papers were missing. These papers later resurfaced after 6pm with mutilated figures which the coalition offices allowed albeit against electoral law.

Lagos was already boiling with politically motivated attacks and the entire collation centre in Osun was set ablaze. In Delta, Akwa Ibom and Edo, it was alleged that electoral officers had to write results at gunpoint while others had their family members kidnapped with the only required ransom being changing the election figures.

Only those who stood their ground, men for men, craze man for man were able to bring out something significant from the disguised poll.

When many talk about knowledge being a sibling of power, look them in the face and spit on them. In this new country that we are in, there is no room for wisdom, knowledge or strategic thinking.

This is a Wild Wild West, brain has no place here. If you are smart, be careful of those that are armed. This is no longer a country for intellectuals. Here, knowledge is not power, power is power!

 

Boladale is a member of the strategy and communication team of the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organization. He is on social media as @adekoyabee

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If there is anything the results of the Ondo central senatorial district election depict, it is the power of the people over the popularity of the candidate. Truly, the power of the people is much stronger than the people in power. The power of the people is hinged upon the reputation, performance, antecedence and impact of the candidate to a large section of the people. The election was about what has been done, presenting your score-cards to the people and not a promise of what to do. 

Despite the fact that he voted in support of child marriage in 2013 and has been away from mainstream politics, having been voted out in 2015, Senator Ayo Patrick Akinyelure has emerged the senator-elect to represent Ondo Central senatorial district at the ninth national assembly. 

The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Senator Ayo Akinyelure scored 66,978 to defeat the incumbent senator Tayo Alasoadura of the All Progressives Congress, who scored 57,828 and the former governor, Olusegun Mimiko of the Zenith Labour Party with 56,624 votes in a keenly contested election. It is interesting to note that Akinyelure rode on the popularity of Mimiko to win the seat in 2011 and lost it to Alasoadura in 2015.

The result of the Ondo state presidential and national assembly elections is a lesson for all politicians, especially those from the South west region. It is a clear message that the works of the people in power will continue to live after them, especially when they need the people for further support. 

If Akinyelure had any chance of taking his pound of flesh at Alasoadura who had defeated him in 2015, Mimiko’s entry had changed the narrative. His last minute to join the league of former governors in the senate was seen as an act to silence other contestants.  In fact, some analysts had said; “It is all over for AllOver”, AllOver, being the nomenclature with which Akinyelure is addressed by his teeming supporters. 

The former governor, Olusegun Rahman Mimiko was tipped to defeat the incumbent senator, Alasoadura, whose party had become unattractive to populace across the state.  No doubt, Mimiko is the most popular of all the candidates running for the office, having served in the capacity of the governor for eight straight years after a legal battle with his predecessor, late Olusegun Agagu who had initially claimed his mandate.

Some analysts are still shocked at Mimiko’s defeat. The former was just paid back in his own coin. In a culture where we celebrate non-performers and looters of treasury, Mimiko must have felt eulogised with the cheers of “Iroko” and waves from the crowds that attended his campaign venues. Like Atiku Abubakar, he must have also learnt that the crowd does not make the votes. If Ondo East and West make up Ondo Central senatorial district, by now, the self styled Iroko would have cruised to victory. After all, his major projects while in office were situated there. But no, the senatorial district is made up of four other local governments. 

Mimiko’s story is similar to that of Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state. He won his mandate at the court with a less popular party at the time, All Progressives Grand Alliance, when it was stolen by the PDP. Iroko had the prospect to build Labour party into a national party, but he bungled that opportunity for his inordinate ambition until the party was relegated into oblivion. He was in Labour Party at home, but PDP at the centre. When he decided to remove his chameleon skin and decide for PDP, the LP was no longer the same; the party had been relegated into nothingness which it may never recover from. His open declaration for PDP was the puncture that rendered the umbrella in shambles and eventually crushed the hope of her governorship candidate, Eyitayo Jegede. Till tomorrow, the people of Akure South still believe that, the defeat in 2016 of their son, Eyitayo, who incidentally is the leader of PDP in the state, was caused by Iroko.

During his tenure from 2011 to 2015, Akinyelure’s impact was spread across the six local governments which he represented. He is credited with landmark achievements. He boasts of reducing unemployment in his senatorial district by assisting 348 graduates to secure employment at the federal civil service, in addition to employing some in his established AllOver polytechnic which recently established a campus in Akure, among others. No doubt, Akinyelure, an indigene of Idanre, also rode on the popularity of other PDP candidates who are grassroot politicians in their own right and locality to win en mass the votes from Akure South and Ifedore local governments. Not even the result of Akura North, Alasoadura’s root could stop All Over.

Donald Omotayo Alasoadura was sent packing just as his beloved colleague, Saraki was dethroned from Kwara political dynasty; for it was Alasoadura and his ilks like Dino Melaye, who against their party’s wish queued behind Bukola Saraki as the President of the eighth senate. 

The result of the president and national assembly elections is a strong message to the ruling APC in the state. The lacklustre performance of the bearded governor, Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, his uninspiring approach to governance and the falling popularity of the APC-led government may not be given a second chance. He will soon be shown the way out if there is no strategy to redeem his divided and crumbling empire.

 

Adeosun writes from Akure, Ondo state

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A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the arrest of four officials of the Akwa Ibom State government.

Giving the ruling, Justice Rilwan Aikawa granted a bench warrant for the arrest of Uwemedimo Nwoko, the Akwa Ibom Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice; Nsikan Nkan, the state Commissioner of Finance; Mfon Udomah, the state Accountant General and Margaret Ukpe, a cashier of the state government.

The order for the arrest was moved by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on the premise that the defendants are at large.

The arrest order was, therefore, granted and they are expected to be present in court on March 18 and 19, 2019.

The government officials are charged alongside Paul Usoro, President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), on a 10-count charge bothering on alleged conspiracy and conversion of N1.4billion said to be property of the Akwa Ibom State government, in May 2016.

EFCC’s allegations against Usoro relate to converting to personal use, concealing the source of, disguising the origin of and retaining in his account sums of money to the tune of billions of naira belonging to the Akwa Ibom State government.

Usoro has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The NBA President was granted bail in the sum of N250million with one surety in like sum.

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At least four persons, including soldiers, have been killed while dozens sustained various degrees of injury when Boko Haram insurgents attacked Jere Local Government Area of Borno State on Thursday, local and security sources have said.

Riding utility vehicles, the terrorists stormed Kardamari, headquarters of Jere Local Government, some of 10km from Maiduguri, killing three soldiers and a civilian.

A security source told SaharaReporters that the attackers came at exactly 5:30pm and engaged the soldiers for about an hour and 30 minutes before the Special Forces came from Maiduguri to repel the attack.

"They came precisely 5:30pm and started shooting sporadically. Troops responded to them gallantly but, unfortunately, we lost soldiers and an unverified number of people were injured.

"The reinforcement came from Maiduguri, both Air Task Force and Special Force that provided air power to support ground troop to give the insurgents a hot pursuit, of course many of them were killed.”

Resident Hassan Kaka said on Friday: "We lost our Chairman of Civilian JTF; he was killed by terrorists yesterday, many fled to Maiduguri and dozens hit by bullets but they didn’t burn a single house in Kardamari.”

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