Governor Bello sacks commissioner, announces appointment of 16 aides

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has sacked Arome Adoji, the commissioner for culture and tourism and approved the appointment of 16 new political office holders.

We gathered that Adoji was first appointed as commissioner for youth and sports and subsequently redeployed to Ministry of Culture and Tourism last year.

However, Adoji's sack is coming few days after his brother, Dr. Victor Adoji who is contesting for the Kogi East senatorial seat under the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) was presented the party’s flag ahead of the 2019 elections.

Bello also appointed Aliyu Salami who is to serve as the new chairman of the Kogi state Internal Revenue Service.

Salami replaces the former chairman, Alhaji Yakubu Oseni, who is now the Kogi Central senatorial flag bearer of the APC for the 2019 election.

Chief Lawrence Gbenga Asagu and Dr Moses Atakpa were appointed to serve as chairmen of Elders Advisory Council for Kogi West and East senatorial districts respectively, amongst others.

In a previous report by us, an aide to the Kogi state governor on new media, Odaudu Joel, on Wednesday, December 5, resigned his position. Joel in a letter to the governor, Yahaya Bello, through the secretary to the state government said he was compelled to tender his resignation following pressing family issues.

According to Joel, his resignation is in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

"Pursuant to Section 306 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), I regret to write and notify you of my decision to resign my position as the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media with immediate effect on personal grounds," Joel said in his letter.

Man allegedly kills, buries girlfriend in his room in Port Harcourt

A middle-aged man, Prince Owabie of Rumueperikom community in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State has been arrested by the police for allegedly killing and burying his pregnant girlfriend in his apartment.

Owabie is believed to have killed the girlfriend identified as Better Nwabueze and buried her inside his one bedroom apartment within Wimpy Junction by Ikweere Road last Sunday.

Owabie, popularly called J-BOY two days after confessed his deed to some of his friends who raised alarm to the police that led to his arrest.

The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the incident.

Spokesman for the Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, told DAILY POST that the suspect has been moved to State Criminal Investigation Department.

DSP Nnamdi added that the Police have been mobilized to scene of the crime to exhume the corpse.

“We have credible information that J-Boy dug a shallow grave in his room where he buried the young girl friend,” he said.

In the meantime, a special squad has been deployed to Rumuepirikom Community to forestall a possible breakdown of order that may arise as a result of the slain girl.

2019 presidency: Political party pulls out of CUPP, denies endorsing Atiku

The Grassroots Development Party of Nigeria, GDPN, has pulled out of Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, that picked the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar as its flag bearer on Wednesday.

This is coming few hours after the CUPP announced the endorsement of Atiku as its consensus candidate,

GDPN distanced itself from such an arrangement.

GDPN’s position was conveyed in a statement signed by the Presidential Candidate of GDPN, Dr. Davidson Isibor Akhimien.

It said the party was neither aware nor in support of the CUPP decision to endorse Atiku.

CUPP is the umbrella body of about 45 major opposition parties in the country.

“For GDPN to abandon the mission of salvaging the country from the hands of old and recycled politicians responsible for the country’s total retrogression and stagnation will be a huge setback for the party.

“We can’t take Nigerians back to the dark ages. I want to state that the time to move Nigerian forward is now. We are a new party on a rescue mission. We can’t mortgage the future of our great Nation.

“We defer to the CUPP endorsement of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. We are on ground in the whole 36 states of the federation, and the FCT,” he said.

2019: Buhari’s record incomparable – Bagudu

Abuja–Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State yesterday stated that there was no basis comparing the achievements recorded by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and what the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is promising Nigerians. Bagudu-Buhari Governor Bagudu stated this while speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting behind closed doors with the chief of staff to the President Abba Kyari at the presidential villa, Abuja. 

In apparent reference to the PDP presidential candidate, the Kebbi state governor said what President Buhari has achieved and what has been outlined for the second term was not comparable. 

Responding to a question on the crowed that attended the campaigns of the PDP presidential candidate in Sokoto on Monday, the Kebbi governor said “I don’t know what you mean when you said you saw crowd there because many people have different interpretations. 

“And like I said, President Buhari is running on his own record. Within the last ten days, the next level agenda was disclosed showing what has been achieved and what the second term will usher and that I believe has resonated with Nigerians and there is no comparison.” 

The governor noted that Kebbi State remains one area to showcase the achievement of the President Buhari Government in the last three and a half years. 

“We believe that President Muhammadu Buhari is running on his record and Kebbi state is one of those states that is very proud of the policies that had been put in place. It has helped the state to achieve gross in output, gross in income, better security and more transparency in the management of our revenue. 

“So all the three elements that President Muhammadu Buhari promised in his campaign, we have seen the benefits in Kebbi State. So as a result, we are a welfare and transparent State.

 “The generality of the people of Kebbi State are united under one party and we are determined to lead all other states to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo are re-elected,” he said. 

On preparation of the Kebbi to make rice available during the Yuletide season, the governor said “Few days ago the President was quoted at a farmers day by the oil company, Agip. 

“I think I read the press statement by Femi Adesina, where President said he is working on with the National Food Security Council on ensuring that farmers, Fishermen and all those that are in the livestock sector are supported particularly on the devastation caused by the flood so that the festive season will be a better one and they can replant and compensate. 

“Secondly, last year, Mr. President graciously approved an intervention where rice was sold in many markets, Onitsha, Lagos, Abeokuta, Kano for N12,000 and I am confident that the President is looking forward to making Nigerians happy.” 

2019: Atiku takes campaign to North-Central, South-West

The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, will on Wednesday (today) take his campaign to the North-Central.

Our correspondent learnt on Tuesday that the North-Central rally would hold in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Recall that Atiku started his campaign with the North- West rally which was held in Sokoto on Monday.

It was further learnt that the South-West rally would hold in Ibadan, Oyo State capital on Thursday after the North Central rally.

The Director, Media and  Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan; and the Kwara State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Tunde Ashaolu, confirmed the development to our correspondent.

Ashaolu said the Ilorin rally would hold at the Metropolitan Square.

He urged all PDP members and supporters to come out en masse to show support for the party and its candidate.

Meanwhile, Ashaolu in a statement made available to journalists welcomed Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to the state for the inauguration of one of the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programmes, TraderMoni.

He, however, claimed that the event slated for Friday is a vote-buying gimmick.

The statement read, “The party notes that the scheme was launched in 2015 and in the past three years, the Vice-President did not visit any state for ‘TraderMoni,’ but few months to the general election, he has been going round markets in different states of the country to distribute money to traders and artisans.

“We want to believe this is not a ploy by the APC to induce them ahead of the elections.

“Nevertheless, the Kwara PDP warns against the partisanship of the initiative and advises that there should be no discrimination in the selection of beneficiaries in the state.

“The Vice-President and his team must ensure that beneficiaries are selected without recourse to political affiliations. Since this is a government scheme and not a party affair, beneficiaries must cut across political divides.”

Ekiti govt speaks on banning Okada operations

The Ekiti State Government has said it has no intention to proscribe commercial motorcycle operation popularly known as Okada riders in the State.

The Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi explained that the intention of the state government was to promote peace and unity among transport associations.

Egbeyemi, who disclosed this while receiving in audience the state executives of Okada Riders Association in his office, Ado Ekiti, assured that government will create any enabling environment needed for the flourish of their business.

A statement on Wednesday signed by the Special Assistant (Media) to the Deputy Governor, Odunayo Ogunmola, quoted Egbeyemi as warning Okada riders against being used to perpetrate crime in the state.

According to him, government would not tolerate any act of indiscipline or lawlessness among transport associations.

The deputy governor observed that some of their (Okada riders) members have been accused of engaging in unholy acts like bag snatching, pick pocketing, wailing on banks customers after withdrawing money from the bank and other nefarious acts.

Egbeyemi encouraged the leadership of the association to device measures of addressing the problems in the interest of the peace.

He said: “We want peace to reign in your association, we don’t want factions among you. We want you to be under one umbrella, to allow the government to stand by you.

“I pray that God will give your association the ability to maintain peace and to achieve success. We need your support and government will also support you.

“Once you are united you become formidable for anyone to destabilize your association.

“Against the rumour that we will bar you if we get elected into office, have we barred your association since we assumed office? Our government had no intention of barring Okada riders from working in the State. All we want is peace.

“You have to checkmate those that are found of engaging in criminal activities across the State under the guise of being Okada riders.

Earlier, the State Chairman of the Association, Mr Kunle Asaolu and the Chairman Board of Trustee of the Association in the State, Chief Akorede Adegboyega, pledged the support of commercial bike riders to the success of the Fayemi administration.

Ashaolu expressed confidence in the leadership of Governor Kayode Fayemi-led
administration and promised to maintain peace in the State.

Adegboyega demanded that the modality adopted by the association in generating internal revenue for the government should be allowed to remain.

He expressed concern that some individuals are portraying themselves as government representatives in the interest of causing a divide-and-rule among the association.

2019: APC, PDP, ANRP announce security plans

The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) on Tuesday reeled out their security plans to Nigerians ahead of the 2019 elections.

The parties disclosed the plans at the Nigerian Political Parties Discussions Series organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) supported by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Abuja.

Osita Chidoka, one of the spokespersons of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, said that the biggest security threat facing Nigeria today was lack of identity.

According to Mr Chidoka, the biggest security threat facing Nigeria is lack of identity. He explained that there is no record available on criminal activities of mischievous people.

“The PDP will change the security sector first by moving from a state centric security architecture to people centric architecture; our focus is to move away from guns to public safety.

“We must begin to measure our output in security in terms of how secure Nigerians are by delivering public safety across all parameters.

“That is why the PDP’s plan is focused on reducing the over centralisation of the Nigerian security force.

“PDP’s second plan is to widen the concept of policing starting from the intelligence arm which is from the DSS arm to the enforcement arm it the Police, Civil Defence, Road Safety, NAFDAC to the courts who adjudicate on matters of criminality then to the corrective side which is the prisons.’’

Mr Chidoka said that there would be no bottlenecks in delivering security because if the outcome on the enforcement side was improved, ”it would impact on the adjudication side which would in turn impact on the correction side”.

He said that PDP’s security plan was a holistic one with the goal to make sure that all the bottlenecks which posed problems would be removed.

Lanre Isah-Oniru, National Publicity Secretary, APC, said that the party had three plans to revamp the security sector in the next phase of its leadership, one by increasing the number of the policemen.

Mr Isah-Oniru said that this was because the number of Nigerian policemen had always been inadequate.

He also said that the APC would train security agents on all the details of policing and intelligence gathering.

He added that the welfare of security personnel would be looked into to ensure good salaries and other welfare packages.

“This government is focused on addressing those three issues, it is not a promise but it is what is already going on because the salaries of the police had just been increased,” he said

Mr Isah-Oniru said that APC would mop up all revenue for the benefit of all citizens.

He said that Nigeria in the next few years under the APC would be secured with a conducive environment for business and stability.

Tope Fasua, presidential candidate of ANRP said a lot of security problems arose from poverty and hunger in the society.

He said his party would tackle insecurity through economic stability.

Mr Fasua said that to achieve this, the party would work hard to double Nigeria’s national budget and grow her economy targeting a budget of N15 trillion in order to take people out of poverty.

“A hungry man is an angry man, so, if you put money in people’s hands and put food on their tables they will be less likely to cause security issues.

“So, our plan is a sound and equal economic sector free of corruption for the benefit of all.’’

Armsfree Ajanaku, senior communications officer, CDD said that the event was organised to enable people to interface with political parties.

Mr Ajanaku said the topic of the debate which was security, brought out other critical issues concerning the parties.

He said the discussions would afford citizens the opportunity to make up their minds on who to vote for in 2019. (NAN)

No rift between Agbaje and I — Bode George

Chief Olabode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party,  on Monday said there was no rift between him and Mr Jimi Agbaje, the party’s governorship candidate in Lagos.

Speaking at a colloquium titled: “2019: South West speaks” in Lagos, George said the belief in some quarters that he and Agbaje were not in good terms was untrue.

He, however, admitted that they had differences in the past on certain political issues, but that they had since risen above that and made up.

George said he had since forgotten whatever happened between the two of them as an elder in the party and in the interest of PDP.

The former PDP Deputy Chairman said Agbaje and his running mate, Mrs Haleemat Busari, had visited him in his residence where he particularly advised Busari on how to navigate the murky waters of politics successfully.

“There is no rift between Agbaje and me. All that happened in the past is gone. The Yorubas say if you continue to nurse grudges with people, you will not have anybody to call your friend. The issues of the past belong to the past, there is no rift between us,” he said.

(NAN)

2019 presidency: Your governors stealing public funds for campaigns – Sowore attacks APC, PDP

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has accused governors serving under the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of stealing money from their states to fund 2019 campaigns.

Sowore also alleged that the main political parties have already spent beyond the threshold for presidential election during primaries.

Sowore made the allegation during his appearance on Channels Television political programme on Sunday.

“They have already spent a billion naira during primaries, or more.

“What they spent in Port Harcourt alone was $25 million in one day. All the Bureau de Change operators in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja all relocated to Port Harcourt.

“I am an investigative reporter before I came into this job of running for office and I can tell you that they are not allegations. They are proven, we have evidence of them doing it (and) they haven’t disputed them by the way.”

“You know that governors are stealing from their states to buy campaign vehicles; otherwise, let them tell us – the APC and PDP how they are raising funds for the election because none of them has done any funder raiser known to anybody since we started the election circle,” Sowore said.

He, thereafter, called for transparency on the part of the political parties and asked Nigerians to hold them to account.

On the other hand, Sowore explained that his campaign group was raising funds to finance his ambition of becoming president in 2019.

He further challenged other presidential candidates to come forward and explain to Nigerians how they have been raising funds for their campaigns.

2019: APC will win PDP-controlled states - Ohikere

Dr Tom Ohikere, the national coordinator, APC Broom Platform has predicted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would have strong a showing in the states controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He identified the states as: Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi in the 2019 general elections; all in south-east and south-south region of the country, NAN reports.

We gathered that Ohikere, who made the prediction in a statement he signed in Abuja on Tuesday, December 4, attributed his calculation to the personality of President Muhammadu Buhari, who he described as a blessing and an asset to the APC.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has successfully been able to keep himself above the fray of corrosive internal politics in his party, serving as a rallying point and guiding the party toward unity and fidelity to its laws.

“This has helped to strengthen cohesion and confidence in the party and puts it in a strong position as a united front as the election approaches.

“Also counting in favour of APC are the gains made in curbing insurgency in the north-east, especially recovering of 18 local government areas in that region from insurgents, minimising terrorists’ bombing and destroying many terrorists’ camps.

“The milestones recorded in the anti-graft war, through blockage of financial leakages, complete automation of the financial system of government, prosecution and convictions of corrupt persons and recovery of huge sums by EFCC are also noteworthy achievements.

“Stabilisation of the economy by pulling it out of recession and the social programmes with direct connection and benefit to the poor all put the party on a strong platform toward an expected landslide in the forthcoming elections,“ he said

He added that APC had all the potential to convincingly win the 2019 presidential election with its credibility, unifying leadership and tangible records of performance, in addition to nationwide acceptability and spread.

He said: “However, the party must shed off complacency, buckle up its managerial and organisational capacity, generate an inclusive campaign and promote with vigour, its programme to take Nigeria to the next level.

“History of elections and competitive endeavors show that a very interesting and promising campaign can be ruined by complacency and lack of proper appreciation of the magnitude of internal challenges."

Ohikere noted that APC might also face a herculean task in surmounting its challenges, and called on it to overcome “serious antiparty activities” in its ranks and focus on public interest rather than the wishes of members.

He said: “Meeting these challenges, however, requires that the National Working Committee (NWC) would have to work really fast to conclude its reconciliation efforts.

“It must fill up the vacuum existing in the heart of its organization, position itself quickly for the busy campaigns for which available time is fast diminishing.

“The NWC must appoint a substantive secretary as a matter of urgent importance; improve its organisational and managerial capacity as well as work to boost its public communication and response machinery in the media.”

According to Ohikere, the absence of a substantive and capable secretary, which may deprive the party of the needed administrative backbone, should be quickly filled by one of the capable hands.

He noted that some members were screened and found capable for elections in the last APC National Convention in June 2018, adding that one of them could be appointed for such an important position.

Ohikere, a two-time commissioner for information in Kogi, who suggested Waziri Bulama for the position, described him as a politician with a wide reach of professional disposition, deep knowledge of party management and a very engaging personality.

Meanwhile, We previously reported that ahead of the 2019 general election, a Facebook page associated with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) released its prediction for the election.

In its prediction, the APC newspaper predicted that the ruling party will win in 30 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will win only in 4 states.