The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Benue

  • Suspected herdsmen kill four farmers in Benue community

    Suspected herdsmen on Friday killed four farmers in Ayilamo, Tombo ward, Logo local government area in Benue state.

    Ayilamo town is the headquarters of Tombo ward, and is located alongside River Benue and separates Logo and Guma local Government areas.

    It would be recalled that Guma and Logo LGAs have been under massive herdsmen attacked for more than 10 years.

    According to a community leader in Ayilamo Peter Iorbee, who spoke to The Nation via phone said the gunmen who were many in number stormed the town at about 8pm on Thursday night shooting anyone in sight.

    Iorbee said the gunmen operated unchallenged for hours and killed four people including a woman and leaving many others wounded.

    Those who were killed in attack include; Ortyom Ingyutu, Aondo Gbaagaver, Laaga and Wuese Wuakor.

    He said another victim; a lady was shot on the breast and had been transferred to Benue State University Teaching Hospital Makurdi for proper treatment attention.

    A farmer in Dzungwe village, Akosu Uja in an interview with The Nation pleaded with security agencies to protect the people as herdsmen have taken over their lands.

    Efforts to speak with Benue state police spokesman and operation whirl stroke commandant proved abortive at the time of filing this report, as they failed to response to text messages sent to their phones.

  • Our Girls; Success – a girl failed by governors

    Our Chibok girls were kidnapped on April 15, 2014. Leah Sharibu and others are not yet released.

    Study the total votes in Kano, Plateau, Benue and Rivers; where are the voters? They do not exist. Our population is probably around 130-150m as we had under 30million voters. INEC is blameless, not responsible for violence during elections – political parties are. Face the parties, not INEC!

    The Success Adegor story is about a delightful Delta State articulate girl-child sent home for not paying what government quickly labelled an ‘illegal exam levy’.  Her parents, out of penury or protest or pride or ignorance or arrogance or anti-corruption, did not pay.

    Do your research before apportioning blame. Is the acting headteacher an honest soul struggling to educate children with no government grants for running costs? Governments rarely give running cost grants beyond salaries. Parents and governments always misinterpret the slogan ‘free education’ for ‘total free education’. Unfortunately they then refuse to substitute for a negligent government which under-provides equipment and learning environment and is also guilty of lying about its policy desire or ability to provide total education.  This leaves the pupil at an educational disadvantage when compared to pupils in liberal schools and private schools. In the latter, parents are encouraged to add value through donations of funds, magazines, books, sports and other needed equipment, buildings and payment for excursions.

    No school or university anywhere in the world has enough despite fees and good education budgets. It a painful paradox that only Nigerian ‘free education’ schools are not allowed to admit that they need help. Nonsense! Not allowing teachers to request, under supervision, for support is stifling initiative and the quality of education delivery. Allowing them to ask is not an admission of failure of free education policy but a reality check and a required supplement. No budget is ever enough, especially in education. Do not deny parents and PTA their primary responsibility for their children’s education. And stop deceiving teachers. Rather give awards to the best-supporting parents and PTAs and Old Students Associations and corporate bodies. Is the corrupt teacher extorting?

    While we castigate our teachers as the education funds are repeatedly stolen, one Kenyan maths and science teacher Peter Tabichi in a religious brother’s habit has won the Global Teacher Prize of $1m by the Varkey Foundation in Dubai for turning around the fortunes of a similarly neglected school as the one that Success goes to. We saw on TV the accursed pigsty quality of the school facilities making it more dangerous than the private Lagos collapsed school building because it is a government entity, protected from inspection and closure.

    No government has closed its own schools, yet across the country, there are thousands of government schools like the Success school- pigsties. The Delta State school is not ‘Child and Teacher Friendly Learning Environment’. It is a shameful pigsty in a state which is has the 4th highest per capita income in the country and receives 13% derivation and exposes a flaw in governance, repeated nationwide. Shamefully, every state has 500-1000+ such neglected schools. The teacher said the levy was for photocopying etc. The travail of the girl Success is a failure of political and education services.  Free education is often ‘Rubbish Under-funded Education’ with little help beyond delayed salaries provided by government especially at the primary level where there are not even Old Students Associations to help out.

    We all conduct or have participated in exams and know what they take in terms of material and logistics from time-table to question papers. If government does not give exam grant, do we expect no exam or the teachers to take funds from their tiny salaries for the purpose? I can bet you there is no grant from the Ministry of Education for anything including examinations and sports and co-curricular activities. The abysmal and selfishly myopic or ignorant or misguided refusal of Nigerian parents to provide the missing support to the abysmal free education efforts of governments coupled with the rejection of support from willing parents and the absence of primary school  Old Students Associations and the non-accessing the UBEC counterpart funding and of course the refusal of states to give needed grants to schools for running costs culminate in killing the potential of millions of children like Success and the denting and dampening the dedication of any wonderful Nigerian teacher/education leader.

    Saraki’s and senate’s N30,000 minimum wage is a Greek Gift -the Trojan Horse- and a poisoned chalice and is classic Saraki like the forced 1+ year calamitous delay forced on Nigerians by the slashing and diversion of a budgeted N15b Lagos-Ibadan expressway budget to untraceable corruption-driven National Assembly (NASS) constituency projects. It is a parting present which is a financial burden to his enemies currently in power. Who will face dwindling capital budgets from this rising recurrent wage bill above the N27,000 recommended by the federal government. Governors always manage, like Saraki, to forget that their own huge salaries overburden the budget. The extra money will come from huge funds of governance that would otherwise have been stolen. It is a desired parting gift dangled before workers but undeliverable. Now Saraki is in a win-win situation. He will retire laughing as Buhari may not sign it into law. Saraki will be long gone by the 30 days senate needs to override the president as senate seeks to keep their own fat-fat salaries and constituency projects.

  • State independence

    Despite the bumps, Nigeria’s democracy appears to be maturing. As the supplementary elections in five states have shown, the political elites who were bickering and manipulating the ordering of elections were wasting precious legislative time. The belief across the board that any political party that wins the presidency will sweep the state elections is perhaps erroneous. That fear explains the tug-of-war between the federal and state officials about which election comes first.

    In 2015, the federal legislators forced a three-legged elections on the country with all the debilitating effect on socio-economic activities in the country. The economic and social losses from staggered elections is made worse each time INEC fumbles as happened in 2015 and now 2019. In the current dispensation, after INEC released the guideline for the just concluded elections, putting the presidential and National Assembly elections first, the opposition parties were so afraid of the bandwagon effect that it clamoured for another amendment to the Electoral Act, to strip INEC of the power to order elections.

    But with the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning in Sokoto, Benue and potentially in Bauchi states, despite the triumph of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the presidency, the perception of federal power as a cyclone at elections will begin to wane. Despite this gain, the obtrusive powers of the federal government in our unbalanced federation still leaves the states dependent on the whims and caprices of the federal government. This imbalance, especially in economic and coercive powers of a modern state are made worse by the excessive concentration of power of the state in hand of the state executive at the detriment of state legislature and judiciary.

    The result has been the making of governors as state autocrats. With the resources of state substantially in his control, the governor has overbearing influence on the other arms of government in the state. That explains why aspirants to the federal legislature are mortally afraid of the influence of the governor even as they would do all in their power to ensure the presidential elections don’t checkmate their ambition. So to strengthen our democracy, there is the urgent need to free the states from the vice-grip of governors.

    The fear of governors in the state has been so ingrained that a previous constitutional amendment to grant the state legislators autonomy were rebuffed by the legislators. The state legislators were too afraid to contemplate their freedom such that the amendment was defeated by the state legislators. But the result has been the gross inefficiency that many state governments represent. While the judiciary is relatively insulated from the malicious abuse of power by state executives, most of the state legislatures are mere rubber stamp. With the legislature the engine room of presidential system of government stripped of its powers and influence in the states, what we have is a caricature of democracy at the state level.

    Thankfully President Muhammadu Buhari has set up a committee to implement the autonomy of state judiciary and legislature. As a guide to the committee, the words of Earl Warren CJ of the U.S. Supreme Court in USA v Brown is important. He said: “the separation of powers under the American constitution was obviously not instituted with the idea that it would promote government efficiency. It was on the contrary, looked at as a bulwark against tyranny.” Without doubt many of the states in the federation operate under the tyrannical manipulation of state governors. Because of their misguided influence, the state budgets for instance, become a huge joke instead of a serious matter of statecraft.

    So we need to practice the separation of powers as enunciated by the founding fathers of the presidential system of government. Again in the words of Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis of the U.S. Supreme Court in Myers v USA: “The doctrine of separation of powers was adopted by the Convention of 1787 not to promote efficiency but to preclude the exercise of arbitrary powers. The purpose was not to avoid friction, but, by means of the inevitable friction incident to the distribution of the governmental powers among three departments, to save the people from autocracy.”

    Without checks and balance, we had a governor dedicating state resources to moulding meaningless statutes. Without checks and balance another state executive drove a bulldozer to pull down the house of his opponents. Because of the absence of checks and balance, a governor built a poultry without chicks, while another prefer to build flyover in unlived part of the state while ignoring the more essential needs of the state like salaries. Because of the absence of checks and balance, a governor went to upturn files and desks in the high court without consequences.

    Indeed, because of the absence of checks and balance, many government houses in the states have become mere cash centres for sharing of monthly allocations, instead of nerve centre for policies and programmes to free citizens from poverty and ignorance. We need to make changes at the state level, if we hope to make progress as a nation-state. That is why I commend the committee raised by President Buhari to take the assignment as an important national assignment. We need to free the states from the vice-grip of governors. That dream will be impossible if the judiciary and the legislature in the state are not granted their financial autonomy.

    The importance of the autonomy of the legislature cannot be overemphasised. Theirs is to lay down the rules of engagement, and without independence in this onerous assignment, governance will become autocratic. In Yakus v USA, the Supreme Court of United States describe legislative powers thus: “The essentials of the legislative function are the determination of the legislative policy and its formulation and promulgation as a defined and binding rule of conduct.” Without independence in making the rule of conduct, what we will have is chaos.

    Also important is the work of the judiciary as the organ imbued with power to interpret the rules made by the legislature. Considering its powers as arbiter between citizens and states, the need for its independence cannot be over emphasised.  Section 6(6)(b) of the 1999 constitution as amended captures it. It provides: “The judicial powers vested in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section – shall extend to all matters between persons, or between government or authority and to any person in Nigeria, and to all actions and proceedings relating thereto, for the determination of any question as to the civil rights and obligation of that person.”

    In granting the state judiciary and legislature autonomy, the federal government must also consider giving the states greater economic power by amending the exclusive legislative list. To even successfully implement the new minimum wage, there is the urgent need to amend the revenue sharing formula.

  • Gov Ortom re-elected in Benue

    Gov. Samuel Ortom of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has won the keenly contested Benue Governorship election held on March 23.
    Ortom polled 434,473 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mr Emmanuel Jime of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 345,155 votes.

    The INEC Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Sabastine Maimako, declared the result on Sunday in Makurdi.

    Read Also: Ortom will lose supplementary poll, Akume vows

    He said that Ortom “having polled the highest number of votes at this election is hereby declared winner”.

    Maimako said the total registered votes were 2,471,894, total accredited voters were 858,947 while total valid votes stood at 830,954.

    He sad total rejected votes were 15,268 while the margin of lead between the winner and his closest rival was 89,318 votes. (NAN)

  • Thugs set ablaze election materials in Benue

    Election materials meant for the supplementary elections in the entire Azendeshi ward, Ukum local government area of Benue State were set ablaze by suspected party thugs in Chito town. Chito is the headquarters of Azendeshi ward with 13,000/voting population.

    The electoral materials were kept at a public primary school before thugs belonging to one of the political parties overpowered security men and set them ablaze.

    Read also: Lalong seeks support to deliver dividends of democracy in Plateau

    There were also reports of a similar situation in parts of Kwande local government area, as thugs manhandled Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff and destroyed electoral materials but the situation was said to have been brought under control by security operatives.

    Apart from these isolated cases, the election was generally peaceful in Benue with a large turnout of voters at various polling units as earlier as 8am. As at press time, the process was still going on in 22 local government areas out of 23.

  • Rerun polls: Tambuwal, Aliyu, Ganduje,Yusuf, others locked in fierce battle

    After the March 9 governorship elections across the country, the polls in six states – Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto – were declared inconclusive. In this analysis, Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI who has been monitoring the situation writes on how the elections in five states will be fought and won. In Adamawa, the governorship rerun is on hold following a court order; the supplementary poll holds today only in two constituencies for state assembly.

    THE two major parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) resorted to a war of words when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the recent governorship elections in six states inconclusive and announced later that it would conduct supplementary polls in five of the affected states today. The governorship rerun will not hold today in Adamawa because of a court order barring INEC. It will, however, hold in two constituencies for the state assembly.

    Both conventional and social media are awash with last ditch efforts by the affected parties to get an upper hand in today’s supplementary elections. The two parties have been busy with fresh campaigns, establishing alliances and heading to the courts, to secure injunctions to stop the election.

    Curiously, it is first-term governors from either the APC or the PDP that are facing serious challenge in the states where elections are scheduled to hold. The following is how the supplementary election battle in each of the states would be fought and won.

    BAUCHI

    The back and forth movement over today’s supplementary election in some polling units Bauchi State was eventually settled on Thursday, with INEC saying it will go ahead with the exercise.

    The Bauchi State governorship election was declared inconclusive, follow ing irregularities in some polling units across 15 local government areas.

    The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said today’s supplementary elections are due to be held in 36 polling units in 15 local government areas. There are 22,759 registered voters in the affected 36 polling units where the supplementary elections will be taking place today.

    In the results released so far, the PDP candidate, Bala Mohammed, is leading with 4,059 votes; having scored 469,512 votes, against 465,453 votes polled by the incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the APC.

    Results from Tafawa Balewa local government are also in dispute, after thugs attacked the local government collation centre and disrupted the collation of results.

    INEC had decided to resume the collation of results in the council, but a court ruling has  suspended the exercise in the local government, which is regarded as a stronghold of the PDP. So, the local government is not part of today’s supplementary elections.

    INEC had indicated that it would resume the collation of results of the disputed Tafawa Balewa Local Government after considering a report submitted by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi. But it had to stay action on the matter, following the court injunction. The PDP insists that the initial cancellation of the result from the local government was illegal because the returning officer did not have the power to cancel the results already collated. The party said since there were no reports of violent clashes and disruptions of voting at the polling units,  which was the only ground for the cancellation of results, the returning officer acted outside his power by rejecting the result from the council. The PDP on Thursday threatened to boycott today’s supplementary elections on the grounds that INEC has allegedly compromised the process by acceding to the demands of the ruling APC.

    It had also appointed a new collation/returning officer to conclude the collation process, after Mrs Dominion Anosike withdrew over alleged threats to her life and her family. But the decision of the electoral body was rejected by the APC.

    PDP chairman, Hamza Akuyam, said no supplementary elections should take place until the full governorship election results collation, which ended with Tafawa Balewa local government, are announced.

    He said: “Doing otherwise will be synonymous with writing a reseat examination while the main examination has not been marked.” He accused the REC in Bauchi of deliberately keeping everybody waiting at the collation centre until around 2pm when he abruptly surfaced with a court injunction halting the collation exercise.

    With the current state of affairs, the PDP is in pole position to win the election. Apart from the fact that it is leading with 4,059 votes, the results from Tafawa Balewa Local Government, which is a stronghold of the party is still outstanding. At the end of the day, the opposition party is likely to carry the day.

    BENUE

    In Benue State, with the margin between Governor Samuel Ortom of the PDP and his APC counterpart, Emmanuel Jime, INEC is conducting today’s election to fulfill all righteousness, because it is obvious that PDP has an unassailable lead.

    The supplementary election will be conducted in almost all the 23 local government areas with about 121,091 votes at stake. After the March 9 election, the PDP was leading 81,554 votes. The party polled 420,576 votes, while its closest challenger, the APC, scored 329,022. INEC had to declare the election inconclusive, because cancelled votes -121,091 — were higher than the margin between the two top candidates.

    Governor Ortom is likely to emerge victorious at the end of today’s exercise, because it will be difficult to have a 100 per cent turnout and the APC getting enough votes to cancel the PDP’s lead. The two leading political parties have been wooing voters ahead of today’s election.

    The PDP had insisted that Ortom won the election and that he should be declared winner of the election.

    KANO

    Today’s supplementary election in Kano State is a battle between former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje. The election is likely to determine the political future of the two gladiators. The two politicians were allies from 1999 when they were elected as governor and deputy governor respectively, up to 2015 when the former nominated the latter to succeed him as the state governor.

    But, less than two years after the election that brought Ganduje to power, his relationship with his former boss became sour and this finally led to the defection of Kwankwaso to the PDP.

    Ganduje is seeking re-election to complete a second tenure as governor, while the ‘PDP candidate, Abba Kabir Yusuf, is contesting governorship for the first time.

    This is where the real contest is. Although the PDP occupies the high ground in this contest, its lead is not enough to guarantee that it would triumph at the end of the day. The final outcome would be determined by the electors who will come out to cast their ballot today.  In the results declared so far, the PDP flag bearer leads the incumbent governor with 26,000 votes, while the votes at stake in the 172 polling units where the supplementary election is taking place are 128,572.

    The March 9 governorship election was cancelled in the affected units due to disturbances over voting and nonusage of the Card Reader machines.

    The declaration of the election as inconclusive is in accordance with section 26 of the INEC Act, because the number of cancelled votes is beyond the margin between the candidate with the highest votes and the one that came second.

    In the results released so far, the PDP candidate scored 1,014,474, while the APC had 987,819 votes.

    There is no telling who will emerge victorious at the end of the day, given the number of registered voters in the area where results were cancelled.

    Nevertheless, the PDP candidate appears to have an upper hand, with the 26,000 votes advantage he enjoys going into today’s supplementary election.

    PLATEAU

    In the case of Plateau State, today’s supplementary election may turn out to be a mere formality. Incumbent Governor Simon Lalong, who is the APC candidate, is in pole position to secure his re-election.

    While the supplementary elections in Adamawa, Bauchi and Benue seem set to go PDP way, the APC has similarly secured acomfortable lead in Plateau State.

    Other things being equal, the incumbent, Simon Lalong, seems ready to clinch a second term in office.

    So far, in the declared election result, Lalong polled 583,255 votes, while Jeremiah Useni of the PDP secured 538,326 votes. With a margin 44,929 between the two contestants and 49,377 cancelled votes, today’s election is a mere formality.

    Observers say the supplementary election is needless and a mere waste of time and resources because it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Useni to come from far behind to level up the margin and beat Lalong. They say the odds weigh heavily to the point of impossibility against the PDP candidate, for him to defeat the APC candidate.

     

    SOKOTO

    In Sokoto, the PDP candidate, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is clinging to a narrow lead ahead of his APC counterpart, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto. Tambuwal leads with 3,413 votes, having scored 489,558 votes, against his APC counterparts 486,090 votes.

    A winner could not be declared since the cancelled votes were more than the margin between the winner and the runner off. The number of registered voters in the area where results were cancelled are 75, 403, whereas Tambuwal is leading his APC counterpart with 3, 413 votes.

    Sokoto is another electoral contest that is too close to call. After defecting to the PDP to pursue his presidential ambition, Tambuwal lost some of his local support, especially that of the defacto godfather of Sokoto politics and a former governor of the state, Aliyu Wamakko.

    The APC draws most of its support from the influential Wamakko and many analysts did not give the PDP a chance until it managed to secure a respectable portion of the votes during the presidential election.

    The supplementary election may, however, offer the APC an opportunity to rouse itself from slumber and restrategise for a better outing.

  • Anxiety in Kano, Sokoto, Plateau, Bauchi, Benue

    Voters in parts of Kano, Sokoto, Plateau, Benue and Bauchi are heading back to the polling centres today eager to end days of apprehension caused by the March 9 inconclusive governorship and state assembly elections.

    Although, the elections will take place in only a few parts of the affected states, the security agencies are leaving nothing to chances.

    The Police yesterday announced a total restriction of vehicular and human movement in Kano and Plateau states.

    Security is also being beefed up at flashpoints in Benue State with a view to protecting lives property and electoral materials.

    Soldiers in Sokoto State extended their “Show of Force Exercise” to six violence-prone local government areas of the state ahead of the supplementary election.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State, which had threatened to boycott the election, announced that it was now ready for the election while the All Progressives Congress (APC) strongman in Benue State, Senator George Akume, boasted that nothing would save Governor Samuel Ortom from losing the election.

    In Kano State, 128,324 voters will decide the fate of the incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of the APC and Abba Kabir Yusuf of the PDP in the supplementary polls in the state.

    They will vote at 207 polling units spread across 28 local government areas.

    Tension remained thick in the air last night as residents prayed for the election to come and go peacefully.

    Governor Ganduje urged residents to remain calm and expect nothing short of victory for his party.

    He said the PDP candidate and his supporters would be shocked today by the turn of events against them.

    Ganduje further warned that the state government would not tolerate any breach of peace under whatever guise, assuring that his government would not fold its arms and watch people instigate instability.

    According to him, “as the governor of Kano State and the chief security officer of the state, I cannot sleep if any drop of blood is wasted. Brandishing of harmful objects is also abhorred by my administration.

    The PDP governorship candidate, Abba Kabir Yusuf was equally optimistic of carrying the day. His spokesperson, Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa said: “We are known to be peace lovers and so we shall remain, as we are very sure of victory during the rerun.

    “Our supporters should not forget that PDP is already leading in the last count of the election and interestingly, the rerun would take place in the strongest areas of our party.

    “We urge everyone to keep hope alive in our quest to rescue Kano from the hands of corrupt leaders and agents of distraction.”

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Prof. Riskuwa Shehu Arabi, said three additional RECs from Zamfara, Kebbi and Ogun states had been deployed to Kano to ensure a successful exercise.

    He said: “We are working to make sure that we don’t have any distraction. We have held series of meetings with stakeholders to review our strategies.

    “We have also held meetings with leaders of both political parties, and we have made them to understand that the election is not a war.

    “They have also promised to talk to their supporters to conduct themselves in peaceful manner. Securities agencies have assured us of adequate security.

    “I am sure the Commissioner of Police has been talking to different groups of people, particularly the youths. I am very confident we will have a peaceful election on Saturday.”

    Police Commissioner Mohammed Wakili warned trouble makers to steer clear of the polling centres.

    “I warn that no one should test our might because we would not hesitate to clampdown on anyone who tries to disturb the peace enjoyed in the state,” he said.

    He asked parents, traditional leaders as well as political leaders to ensure that their wards and supporters conduct themselves in a responsible manner during the supplementary elections.

    The Police Command warned that there would be no vehicular or human movement in all the 44 local government areas of the state from 6am to 6pm today.

    It said: “No vehicle, motorcycle or tricycle will be allowed to move between 0600hrs and 1800hrs on that day. Eligible voters are advised to take a walk to their polling stations. Inconvenience regretted, please.”

     

    Restrictions in Plateau too

    The Plateau State Police Command also imposed total restriction of movement of persons and vehicles in all parts of the state from 6:00am to 6:00pm today during the supplementary elections.

    The Command said in a statement that it was committed to ensuring that the people of the state exercise their franchise without fear of molestation.

    It said the restriction was aimed at preventing the movement of people from local governments where elections will not be held into areas where election would be taking place to ferment trouble.

    It stated that security personnel will be deployed to enforce the restriction order and urged the people of the state to be law abiding and cooperate with security personnel to ensure the success of the electoral process.

    Read also: Rerun polls: Tambuwal, Aliyu, Ganduje,Yusuf, others locked in fierce battle

    Army extends show of force to six violence-prone LGAs in Sokoto

    The Nigeria Army yesterday extended its “Show of Force Exercise” to six violence-prone local government areas in Sokoto State ahead of the supplementary elections.

    The affected local government areas are Raba, Kebbe, Gada, Goronyo, Sabon Birni and Isa.

    Addressing the motorcade before taking off from Sokoto, Maj.-Gen. Hakeem Otiki, General Officer Commanding (GOC), 8 Division of the Army, said the exercise was to arouse public attention to the presence of the military.

    Otiki explained that the exercise was not meant to intimidate the public, but to express army readiness to curtail any form of public disturbance.

    He said further that the exercise would also serve as warning to hoodlums and other disgruntled elements that might plan or intend to disrupt the upcoming supplementary elections.

    The GOC added that similar exercise was conducted for hours in Sokoto metropolis on Thursday and urged the people to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in ensuring peaceful coexistence in the country.

    Bauchi PDP backpedals, to participate in supplementary polls

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State, which had threatened to boycott the supplementary polls, said yesterday that it was ready for the election.

    The party says it is well prepared as it urged voters to come out en masse to exercise their civic right.

    Addressing reporters in Bauchi, the Chairman of the party, Alhaji Hamza Koshe Akuyam said: “You know we are leading. As it is now, what we want to do now is to cap it up. Insha Allah, by tomorrow (today), even if the Inspector General of Police comes to Bauchi, the people of Bauchi will still decide who they want.

    “We are good to go. PDP is not afraid of election, and more so, we have won this election and we will continue to win”

    Alhaji Akuyam said the party remained committed to the peaceful conduct of the re-run elections.

    They had threatened not to participate in the supplementary election after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, released the date for the rerun.

    Akuyam had told reporters: “The supplementary election is a sham. INEC wants to conduct rerun because 22, 759 people were disenfranchised in 15 LGAs. Meanwhile 139,240 were disenfranchised in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area.

    “I don’t know what INEC is up to. Maybe they are reading somebody’s script. We are not going to participate in this election.

    “Our legal team will look at this matter, though it is not just about going to court.”

    INEC on why there will be no election in Tafawa Balewa LGA

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said yesterday that supplementary election would not take place in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State today owning to an ongoing court case.

    Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said on Channels Television that the commission would conduct the poll in other affected areas of the state.

    “We are going to conduct an election in Bauchi tomorrow (today) except in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area because of the court action instituted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate,” he said.

    He expressed displeasure at the rate at which politicians were filing litigations in court, and appealed to them to accept the outcome of election whether they lose or win in the contest.

    Oyekanmi said: “As a law-abiding agency, we have to comply with the order. But we are challenging that order. People will be confused as to what is going on.”

     

    Bauchi Finance Commissioner resigns hours to supplementary poll

    The Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Hon. Garba Sarki Mohammed Akuyam, resigned unexpectedly yesterday, 24 hours to the supplementary election.

    He said he was leaving on account of “recent developments and political realities of present day Bauchi State.”

    He added: “”During my stay in office as Commissioner for Rural Development and thereafter Commissioner for Finance for a period of almost two and half years, I in all honesty enjoyed working with your Excellency, who has always given me regard, respect and fatherly advice. Indeed, the gesture is of course reciprocal.

    “Therefore it is my privilege and singular honour to most sincerely register my appreciation for the recognition accorded me by his Excellency, Governor Mohammed Abubakar, to serve his government and the good people of Bauchi State as a commissioner, promising to answer another call to serve my dear state ever when called upon to do that in another capacity as the need may perhaps arise.”

    Garba Sarki, who was the Director General of the campaign team of Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar in 2015, added that he remains in the ruling APC.

    Ortom will lose, Akume vows

    The APC leader in Benue State, Senator George Akume, was confident that Governor Samuel Ortom would lose today.

    Speaking with our correspondent, Akume, a former governor of the state said: “Find out from this man (Ortom) precisely what are your achievements? Sometimes I look at this and laugh because one of the achievements he claims is a private initiative in my village, a privately-owned soya processing factory.

    “Those who go to Benue will weep for that state. This is a state that has all the potentials of feeding the entire West Africa sub region.

    “Recently I heard that he bought 50 tractors to distribute to farmers and what is 50 tractors?

    “When I went to Government House during President Buhari’s visit, I saw ten tractors and I don’t know whether it is just for show man ship but when Sokoto bought 2000 tractors over two years ago, Kebbi got 1,500.

    “The Benue farmer is very hard working, the Benue man is an intelligent person but they also need an enabling environment to enable them express themselves maximally and efficiently in agricultural sector in particular, but it is not happening.

    “The schools in Benue state, if not because of school feeding, primary schools would have been dead; the teachers go there, they don’t teach because they are not being paid.”

    ‘We’ve won already – Ortom

    However, Ortom’s representative at the INEC Collation Centre, Mr. Alex Ter Adum, told The Nation that the supplementary election is just a formality for the governor.

    “It is no supplementary election; it is only complementary election for our victory,” Adum said.

    He added: “As I stated earlier, I am saying that the returns by the Returning Officer for the election were not in accordance with the requirements of Section 179, sub-section 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “It is also not in conformity with requirements of Section 26 of the Electoral Act; neither does it comply with the provisions of Regulation 47 of the Guidelines for the Conduct of this election; they ought to have isolated this issues in the ways specified in the Guidelines.

    “In places where elections were held and result s were mutilated thereafter when results have been declared at the polling units, they ought to have entered zero scores for all the political parties and voided all the results.

    “In areas where the Smart Card Readers was deployed and resisted by voters, and where manual accreditation was done, they ought to have voided those votes and declared zero for all the political parties.”

    “So, if you take the deductions from all these areas which occurred in Ukum, Guma, Gwer East, Okpokwu and Konshisha local government areas, the margin of lead for my candidate which is 81, 000 votes ought to be more and above the margin of places where elections were cancelled or did not hold.

  • Ortom will lose supplementary poll, Akume vows

    Despite loud boasts and expression of confidence, Governor Samuel Ortom and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are bound to lose Saturday’s supplementary election to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator George Akume has declared.

    Speaking with our correspondent, Akume, a former governor of Benue state pointedly asserted his former political associate Ortom has no record of achievement to genuinely woo citizens for votes.

    “Find out from this man: precisely what are your achievements? Sometimes I look at this and laugh because one of the achievements he claims is a private initiative in my village, a privately-owned soya processing factory.

    “Those who go to Benue will weep for that state. This is a state that has all the potentials of feeding the entire West Africa sub region.

    “I know the type of industries i tried to set up, agro -based, cassava processing plant, fertiliser plants, the special project in Makurdi which was expected to produce plastic.

    “But since he (Ortom ) came in, what has happened? Recently I heard that he bought 50 tractors to distribute to farmers and what is 50 tractors?

    “When I went to Government House during President Buhari’s visit, I saw ten tractors and i don’t know whether it is just for show man ship but when Sokoto bought two thousand tractors over two years ago, Kebbi got 1,500.

    “The Benue farmer is very hard working, the Benue man is an intelligent person but they also need an enabling environment to enable them express themselves maximally and efficiently in agricultural sector in particular, but it is not happening.

    Read Also; Ortom edges towards victory in Benue

    “The schools in Benue state, if not because of school feeding, primary schools would have been dead; the teachers go there, they don’t teach because they are not being paid,” Akume said.

    The former governor stated that his former political associates whom he helped to uplift will suffer divine retribution for their betrayals.

    According to him: “As a Christian and God-fearing person, I believe in doing good to people. We are enjoined to forgive. In whatever I do, I lay down every consideration.

    “That is part of my philosophy of life, in the political arena and in Benue state in particular.

    “I know and people know what I have done but today fighting Akume, ganging up against Akume is their way to deconstruct but they know very well, my contribution to their political uplift.”

  • PDP accuses soldiers of brutality, electoral violence in Benue

    Leaders of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP ) in Apa Ward, Ado Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State have appealed to the State Police Commissioner over the alleged assault and intimidation of their members during the March 9 governorship election by soldiers on the orders of one Agbese Philip.

    It alleged that Nelson Ogbu, Comrade James Oche, Emmanuel Aboh, Ogbu Ogaba, Innocent Egegwu, Susan Onmonya, Kingsley Onmonya, Otse Unazi, Udah Okibe and the entire PDP Ward executives in the ward were harassed, intimidated by the soldiers led by one Corporal Echo Omerigwe alias Tension.

    According to the petition signed by their lawyer M.S. Agaku, the soldiers also intimidated innocent voters who were sympathetic to the PDP, adding that Agbese who brought them, bragged publicly that they were assigned to him by the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai.

    “Agbese Philip also boasted that as a consultant to the Nigerian Army, he has the capacity and the authority to commit any crime,” it stated.

    Read Also: PDP threatens to boycott Bauchi gov rerun

    The petitioners alleged that Agbese led suspected thugs identified as Attah Adadu, Mike Omerigwe and a corps member serving in Bayelsa State Otse Unazi, among others to New Site Polling Unit where notable members of the PDP were beaten up including the Senior Special Assistant to Benue State Governor on Media Nelson Ogbu and Senior Special Assistant to the former President of the Senate James Oche.

    They said that those assaulted were forced to abandon their Polling Unit for their safety.

    “These assault, threats, intimidation continued in other Polling Units of Azegbilede, RCM Primary School, Austine Chemist, Apa Ugbozu, Methodist Primary school ll, Uwezekoka and many others wherein the Special Adviser to the Governor of Benue State Joseph Ogezi and his fellow voters were brutalized.

    “Ballot Boxes and other electoral materials were forcefully snatched, later thump printed and returned back to INEC office leading to the cancellation of election in 10 affected Polling Units.

    “Agbese Philip, the soldiers and thugs publicly embarked on more terrible acts including but not limited to burning of electoral materials in areas where the APC performed abysmally. These acts affected the outcome of the election in the ward where results of 10 polling units were cancelled,” the petition stated.

    According to the lawyer, the PDP was concerned that in the scheduled rerun, Agbese might exhibit similar attacks, alleging that he was already bragging about the assignment of more soldiers and thugs to him.

    He said if allowed unchecked, could cause grievous body harm to members of the Apa Ward; destroy electoral materials and other conducts capable of causing breach of public peace.
    Calling on the police to investigate those involved with a view to bringing them to justice, the lawyer said actions should also be taken to safeguard life and property in the scheduled rerun.

  • FEC okays N27.4b for states affected by flooding, conflicts

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday approved N27.4 billion for intervention in states ravaged by flooding and conflicts.

    This was disclosed by the Kebbi State Governor and Vice Chairman of the National Food Security Council, Atiku Bagudu.

    He briefed State House correspondents after about seven hours FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He said that the FEC approved N18.9 billion for intervention in 14 states ravaged by flooding.

    Noting that the list of the states is not exhaustive, he said that the intervention will take the form of seedlings, fertilizers among other items.

    According to him, 163,117 beneficiaries will be covered in 14 states.

    He said that FEC approved N8.5 billion for intervention in states ravaged by conflicts.

    Among the beneficiary states, he said, included Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara.

    While 69,872 people will benefit from the intervention, he said that it will take the form of fertilizers, seedlings, feeding and accommodation.