A group of professionals under the umbrella of Ekiti Concerned Professionals on Monday presented a cheque of N22.5 million to Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC-Ekiti) ahead of the governorship election. The group led by its Chairman, Mr Lekan Ajisafe, made the presentation at the National Assembly office of the senator in Abuja. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed the governorship election in Ekiti for June 18, 2022. Ajisafe said the amount was raised within a week among Ekiti professionals from home and abroad would cover cost of nomination and expression of…
Author: Ifeanyi Nwagboso
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says fresh registration in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) has hit 4,681,206 as at 7am, Monday, December 13. The commission disclosed this in its Weekly update for Quarter two, Week 10, on the CVR, released on Monday in Abuja. The commission disclosed that 922,188 applications were done online and 1,306,805 were physical registration. The update indicated that 1,124,294 of the persons are male while 1,104,699 are female, adding that 21,910 of the figure are Persons Living With Disability. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the update also shows that INEC has…
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is wondering why Nigerians are still expecting more from a 78-year-old President Muhammadu Buhari–likening it all to “kicking a dead horse.” Speaking as leaders of socio-cultural organisations converged on Abuja for a retreat on inclusive security, Obasanjo was quoted by Punch newspaper as saying that: “The truth is this: President Buhari has done his best; that is what he can do, if you expect anything than what he is doing, you are kicking a dead horse and there is no need. “We must not fold our hands…How do we prepare for post-Buhari era? Buhari has done…
The Social Democratic Party, SDP, through its National Secretary, Alhaji Shehu Gaban, has called for withdrawal of presidential assent to the electoral amendment bill. This is just as the statutory period of one month for President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent to the bill expires on Friday. The party argued that Nigeria democracy wasn’t ripe for direct mode of primary elections, saying that the process is cumbersome and that would generate further controversies. In a statement by the National Secretary, which was made available to Newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, the opposition SDP explained, that if President Buhari bows to pressures and…
The United States will expand its military and economic relationships with partners in Asia to push back against China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday. Blinken said the Biden administration is committed to maintaining peace and prosperity in the region and will do that by boosting US alliances, forging new relationships and ensuring that the US military maintains its competitive edge. Threats are evolving, our security approach has to evolve with them. To do that, we will lean on our greatest strength: our alliances and partnerships, Blinken said in a speech in Indonesia,…
President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Muazu Sambo as a minister-designate from Taraba State to fill one of two vacant ministerial positions. Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, announced the nomination when he read a letter from the president during plenary on Tuesday, December 14, 2021. Buhari, in the letter, urged senators to expeditiously confirm the nominee, who’s a direct state replacement for Sale Mamman who was sacked as Minister of Power in September. Mamman was sacked alongside Sabo Nanono who was the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in what was a rare cabinet rejig by the president. Cabinet member, Mohammad Mahmood,…
The Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF) has cautioned political parties in the country against fielding Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 presidential election. It described the contemplation of fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the presidency in the 2023 general elections, as ‘insensitive and selfish’ saying any attempt to foist a Muslim-Muslim ticket on Nigerians will be highly resisted. In a statement issued by Chairman of NOSCEF, Ejoga Oyinehi Inalegwu in Kaduna, yesterday, it said: “We read with concern, the purported meeting of a frontline politician with some Northern Elders, in which the participants advocated a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Curiously, the report…
Stakeholders of the All Progressives in Enugu State have traced the current crisis rocking the party to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the State. This was contained in a communique issued by the stakeholders after their meeting at the Enugu APC Secretariat. The communique was signed by Vin Martins Ilo, Ozo Joe Mmamel, Hon Okoloagu Ejiofor, Mayor Ugwuoke Joseph, Chief Anike Nwoga and Dr Ben Nwoye. They said PDP agents and disgruntled members of the party were using Barr. Ugo Agballa, a factional chairman, to destabilize the party. The stakeholders, however, urged the national leadership of the APC…
The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said he will not turn down the calls of those asking him to contest for president in 2023. Tinubu stated this after a meeting with leaders of the Northern Alliance Committee in Abuja on Tuesday. Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the former Governor of Lagos said he would, however, make consultations before officially announcing a decision on the matter. “I’m not going to turn them down but I will still effectively and widely consult, particularly brainstorm with my friends and find a date to come out…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss tensions in Europe and “aggressive” US and Nato rhetoric during a video call on Wednesday, the Kremlin said. The conversation will take place at a moment of high tension in both countries’ relations with the West, with Beijing under pressure over human rights and Moscow over its build-up of troops near the border with Ukraine. Russia has cultivated closer ties with China as its relations with the West have worsened.
Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Ekiti has said the state’s incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, deserves a worthy successor like him. Bamidele, a serving senator representing Ekiti Central in the National Assembly, said this on Tuesday in Abuja. He spoke at the APC National Secretariat after picking the party’s Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to contest the Ekiti State governorship election slated for June 18, 2022. The senator who said that he is the right man to succeed Fayemi, promised to build on his legacy if elected as the next governor of the state.…
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, has hinted that the party under his leadership will place more premium on those hungry for results than politicians with big names. Ayu spoke Tuesday in Otukpo during the decamping of a serving House of Assembly member, Baba Odeh and Alex Enokela, aka Ochacho Jnr and thousands of their supporters from APC into the PDP. He said, “under my leadership of the PDP, it will not just be about big men who have no connection with their people. If you are a big…
The National Deputy Organising Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Ighoyota Amori, today said the All Progressives Congress, APC, will remain an opposition in Delta State for many years to come. He said this is because of clueless leadership and anti-people, socioeconomic policies that have ruined the robust economy inherited from the PDP government in 2015. Amori berated the APC for the unjust criticisms of the laudable projects and socioeconomic development so far embarked upon and diligently executed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration. Amori, who was a guest at the Delta Broadcasting Television, Asaba, made the assertion today.…
Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial district, Michael Bamidele Opeyemi, said on Monday that the proposed direct or indirect mode of primary election poses no threat to his governorship ambition. Opeyemi, who currently chairs Southern Governors Forum is a governorship hopeful in Ekiti 2022 election. He expressed confidence that direct or Indirect primary will not stop him from becoming governorship candidate on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC). The lawmaker stated this when the Ekiti Concerned Professionals led by Mr. Lekan Ajisafe presented expression of interest nomination cheque to him in Abuja. He said, “As to my own aspirations in…
The UK high court on Tuesday began hearing the case related to fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s appeal against his extradition to India. Earlier this August, Nirav Modi was granted permission to appeal against his extradition from the UK to India to face fraud charges on the grounds that a return to India would harm his mental health and place him at risk of suicide. Modi’s lawyers had long argued that their client suffered from severe depression and would not receive adequate medical care if he is imprisoned at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai pending his court appearance. They stated…
The chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State, Alphonsus Eba has called on Governor Ben Ayade’s appointees to immediately register with the party or be shown the way out next year. He said the party was abiding with her constitution article 9 subsection 2 and gave a deadline of December 31st 2021 for those that have not yet decamped to do so. Eba said the party constitution cautions them against accepting appointments in opposition parties while non-members of the party are not welcome to hold appointments or engagements. Ebah addressed members of the NUJ at its press…
Some stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Anambra State have cautioned the minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige to desist from attacking members of the party. Secretary, Media and Publicity Committee of the Senator Andy Uba Governorship Campaign Organisation, Mr Obi Trice gave the warning in a press release. Trice alleged that the minister had been in the habit of using his media assistant, Ngige Nwachukwu to disparage members of the party in the state. He said: “The media aide to embattled former leader of the party, Senator Chris Ngige is warned to desist from spreading…
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the onus of having a new electoral framework ahead of the 2023 general elections resides with the National Assembly and the Presidency. Festus Okoye, the INEC’s Commissioner, said this at the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room National Stakeholders’ Forum on Elections on Monday in Abuja. According to him, as far as the electoral management body was concerned, INEC was still operating with the existing electoral legal framework because the new one was not ready. He said that there were some fundamental issues around the new electoral framework. One of the big issues…
The national chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has said that the Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, will soon return to the main opposition party. The PDP Chairman said that Akume, who is the leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the North-Central zone would return to the PDP and would be received as a prodigal son. The PDP boss said this in Gboko when he received a member of the House of Representatives, John Dyeh, who defected from the APC to the PDP. “Your lost son, George Akume, is coming back to…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian held a phone conversation to discuss the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The top diplomats on Monday reaffirmed their common position to restore the nuclear deal in its original balanced text, approved by the United Nations Security Council, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. They stressed that this is the only correct way to ensure the rights and interests of all participants in the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Xinhua news agency reported. Multilateral negotiations to save the Iran nuclear deal resumed…