Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM) on Thursday warn those who carted away electronic voting machines in the state to return them in their own interest or face the full weight of the when caught. Chairman of KADSIECOM, Dr. Saratu Binta Dikko-Audu gave the warning in her office on Thursday while presenting the certificates of return to winners of council election in Chikun and Kajuru. She also presented a certificate of return to winners of the rerun election in three other local government areas at the commission’s head office in Kaduna Recall that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were carted…
Author: Ifeanyi N.
There is a controversy within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the zone to pick the party’s next National Chairman. The PDP Governors Forum had voted for the North to produce the party’s next National Chairman. The forum led by Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State, voted in favour of the North producing Uche Secondus’ successor. The governors who voted in favour of the Northern chairmanship are Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), and Douye Diri (Bayelsa). The meeting resolved to pass the…
Nicolas Sarkozy became France’s first ex-head of state to be convicted of a crime twice in one year after he was found guilty of deliberately breaking campaign-finance rules in his failed 2012 re-election bid. The Paris criminal court ruled Thursday that Sarkozy brushed aside accountants’ warnings and knowingly exceeded spending limits in a bid to win over voters. Judge Caroline Viguier handed him a one-year sentence but his lawyer said he would appeal, which suspends its entry into force. Sarkozy “had been warned in writing” by accountants yet “continued to host rallies,” allowing spending to spiral out of control, Viguier…
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party in Plateau State has vowed to appeal the judgment of a state high court barring the party from participating in the forthcoming local government elections in the state. The PDP said it was optimistic that the higher courts will uphold the inalienable right of the disenfranchised voters in the state. Adding that there were so many contradictions and issues of summersaults in the judgment. Speaking through its Counsel, Edward Pwajok (SAN), the party said, “Let’s say it loud and clear that we are going to file an appeal against the judgment. “All the issues…
The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has backed the position taken by the southern governors for power to shift to the south to ensure justice, fairness and equity in the democratic development of the country. “We wish to categorically declare that we align with the position taken by the Southern Governors for power to shift to the Southern part of Nigeria after the eight years of President Buhari in 2023. Thereafter, power should then rotate among the North, South, and Middle Belt zones to ensure justice, fairness, and equity,” SOKAPU President, Comrade Jonathan Asake, said in a statement. The union…
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed its readiness to consolidate its cooperation with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) towards ensuring the peaceful and orderly conduct of elections in the state. This was made known on Wednesday by the new INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Osun State, Professor Abdulganiyu Olayinka Raji, during a visit to the Osun State Command of the NSCDC in Osogbo, the state capital. During the visit, Raji commended the Osun NSCDC Commandant, Emmanuel Ocheja, for deploying officers to provide security at INEC offices throughout the state. The INEC REC, who revealed…
Eleven Anambra State lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA), have shifted their loyalty to the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC). The defectors include five serving and four former House of Representatives members, as well as, two members of the Anambra State House of Assembly. They were all received by the Chairman, APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni on Thursday. Mamman Mohammed, Director General Press and Media Affairs to Governor Buni disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen. In the statement, Gov. Buni congratulated the new entrants saying, they…
The U.K. oil industry said the fuel crisis is easing after the government deployed additional tankers and put the army on standby to drive trucks. There are “signs that the situation at the pumps has begun to improve,” fuel suppliers including BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. said in a joint statement on Wednesday. “We remain confident that the situation will stabilize further in the coming days.” Earlier in the day, the U.K. government said it is deploying its reserve tanker fleet to ease the crisis that’s brought chaos to the nation’s gas stations. Army drivers…
Media personnel from Igede land under the auspices of Igede Independent Media Practitioners have identified with the gubernatorial ambition of Terver Akase, Chief Press Secretary to Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom. Speaking during a courtesy call on Mr Akase by the group, its Chairman, comrade Henry Ipole said they had decided to support Mr Akase’s aspiration owing to his refined nature as cool headed, but dogged in the discharge of his duties. He stated that Mr Akase has made the youth proud by his professionalism in the management of the image of his boss, Governor Samuel Ortom where he disagrees…
The legislative assembly of the Andoni local government area of Rivers State has repealed a bye-law allowing the payment of pension and allowances for life for former council chairmen and other appointees. The bye-law was enacted in 2013. Leader of the legislative assembly, Chila Nte made this known shortly after the Assembly’s seating on Tuesday. Nte said the law mandates the council to pay former council chairmen and other political appointees until their death which the legislative assembly “finds “absurd”. According to her, the local government does not need such a burden. “We don’t want the council to be saddled…
Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has advised Nigerians to collaborate in securing the country against terrorists and bandits. Jonathan delivered a lecture at the inauguration ceremony of National Defence College (NDC) Course 30, in Abuja on Wednesday. He insisted security is the business of every citizen and must not be left in the hands of the government. The ex-Bayelsa Governor lamented that people no longer go to farms and some other places because of fear. “Everybody should be involved in securing the country. Yes, the government will do its part but we as individuals should also do our own part. “My humble…
Okpokwu Ogenyi, a former governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State, has explained why the party chairmanship seat should remain in Benue South Senatorial District. Okpokwu believes that it will be a plus for the Idoma/Igede nation to produce state chairman of all political parties. The renowned activist said producing the chairmanship of political parties in the state would help Benue South achieve the dream of producing a governor of the Idoma/Igede extraction in the nearest future. He was reacting to the decision of some APC members who opposed the micro-zoning of the party’s chairmanship seat…
China UN ambassador expressed hope Tuesday that President Joe Biden will translate his statement that the United States has no intention of starting a new Cold War with China into actions, saying he should avoid a confrontational approach and provocative attacks against China.” We sincerely hope the US will walk the walk by truly abandoning the Cold War mentality, Zhang Jun said in a virtual press conference following the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly, which ended Monday. “I believe that if both sides walked towards each other, they will be able to see a healthy…
The Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro faction of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said the Federal Government may declare a state of emergency in Anambra State soon. Reacting to the killing of Chike Akunyili and others in the Southeast, The Ohanaeze factional scribe said the Federal Government was using the killings as a plot to install an All Progressives Congress, APC, governor in Anambra State. Chike, who is the husband of the former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, was killed on Tuesday on his way from Onitsha to Umuoji at Eke Nkpor. Reacting, Isiguzoro said “The…
Venatius Ikem, who was on Wednesday sworn-in as Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River State, has revealed that he had only N20,000 in all his bank accounts. He said this at the PDP new secretariat in Calabar where he was sworn in, adding that he merely started the campaign from his Facebook page. Ikem added that any time he had much money to delve into a political campaign, he lost, but each time he had little or no money and expressed his desire for political office, it comes effortlessly. The former national publicity secretary of the…
The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to take over the conduct of elections at the third tier of government across Nigeria. President of the union, Ambali Olatunji, who disclosed this in a press conference in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, on Wednesday as part of activities marking the first NULGE National women conference, attributed the near-collapse state of local governments in Nigeria on the mode of the emergence of council chairmen, whom he said emerge through coronation, appointment and promotion, devoid of any form of credibility. He insisted…
Garus Gololo, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Tuesday, said the Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu failed to deliver the party at the presidential election in 2019 and as such, lacked the moral justification to clamour for power shift to the South in 2023. This was, even as, Gololo threw his weight behind the resolution of the Northern Governors’ Forum, which insists that power should remain in the north. While speaking to the newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, Gololo, a former Coordinator of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, said Akeredolu, as a legal icon should…
Japan’s governing party will vote to pick its new leader Wednesday, with the presumed next prime minister facing imminent, crucial tasks such as addressing a pandemic-hit economy and ensuring strong alliance with Washington amid growing regional security risks. The new leader also needs to change the party’s high-handed reputation, worsened by the outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga who angered the public over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and insistence on holding the Olympics in Tokyo this past summer. The long-ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party desperately needs to quickly turn around plunging public support ahead of lower house elections coming…
The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization has reacted angrily to the Northern governors rejection of power shift to Southern Nigeria in 2023. InfoStride News had reported that the governors during their meeting in Kaduna said the demand for a power shift to the South was unconstitutional and would not fly. The development has since attracted wild condemnations from their Southern counterparts and various groups. In a written statement disclosed to newsmen by the President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, he said Nigeria may cease to exist in 2023 if the Northern governors…
At last, the federal high court sitting in Jalingo, the capital of Taraba State, has finally put to rest the lingering crisis between the member representing Bali/Gassol at the House of Representatives, Mubarak Gambo and Garba Chede. The duo who are of the All Progressives Congress (APC) extraction, have been at each others neck on who deserves to represent the constituency at the National Assembly. Chede who was earlier declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the last election was sacked by the court, leaving the incumbent to manage the position. Garba Chede who was reinstated…