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Tag: KOGI

  • Kogi poll: Tribunal defers verdict in Faleke’s suit

    Kogi poll: Tribunal defers verdict in Faleke’s suit

    The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has reserved judgment in a suit by James Faleke, the petitioner in the disputed Kogi State governorship election, against the declaration of Yahaya Bello as governor.

    The tribunal Chairman, Justice Halima Muhammad, at a sitting in Abuja, over the weekend, said the date would be communicated to parties.

    Bello was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following last December 5 supplementary election.

    Counsel to Faleke at the sitting Wole Olanipekun (SAN) asserted that INEC plotted a coup against the constitution by declaring Bello governor.

    He told the tribunal that his client was the rightful person for the governorship seat.

    “What INEC did in Kogi State on November 22, 2015, by substituting a stranger (Bello) for a substantive candidate (Faleke) in an election already concluded is a coup against the Constitution.”

    The senior lawyer cited sections 179(2) and 181(1) of the constitution to buttress his submission that for INEC to declare the election inconclusive was a coup against the constitution.

    Olanipekun said: “Section179 ( 2a & b ) states that ‘a candidate for an election to the Office of Governor of a state shall be deemed to have been duly elected, where there being two or more candidates(a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and ( b ) he has not less than one quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two thirds of all the local government  areas of the states, while section 181(1) states that ‘if a person duly elected as governor dies before taking and subscribing to the oath of allegiance and oath of office, or is unable for any reason whatsoever to be sworn in, the person elected with him as deputy governor shall be sworn in as governor and he shall nominate a new deputy governor, who shall be appointed by the governor with the approval of a simple majority of the House of Assembly of the state”.

    Olanipekun emphasised the supremacy of the constitution, saying: “My Lord, the spirit and letters of the constitution is self executory and like the rock of Gibraltar that cannot be moved. Indeed no single word in the constitution is a waste. So, INEC has no discretion with regards to sections 179 and 181 at all”.

    On whether the petitioner, Faleke has a locus standi to approach the tribunal, he submitted that the petitioner indeed was a candidate who has the locus in view of Section 187 of the constitution.

    He referred to the case of CPC vs INEC where the then President Umaru Yar’Adua and his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, were sued, adding that if Jonathan as vice president was not a candidate, he would not have been joined in the suit.

    He urged the tribunal to discountenance the argument of the respondents that votes in an election belonged to political parties and not candidates.

    Citing a Supreme Court ruling, the senior lawyer said: “Parties only sponsor candidates but candidates stand for elections.  The law has moved from the era of Amaechi (former Rivers State governor). We are now in a new testament”, he stated.

    He said: “I urged this tribunal to forget about the grammar being spoken by these respondents and face the fact that this petition has not been resisted by the 1st and 2nd respondents, INEC and Bello.

    “The petitioner has a locus standi.

    “I agree that this kind of issue has never happened before, but this is a coup set up by the 1st respondent.

    “This is also the first time in the history of democracy where someone will contest without a running mate.”

    The petitioner’s counsel also told the tribunal that the 2nd respondent, Bello, was not a registered voter in the state, which he said was against the  constitution.

    Alex Izinyon (SAN), counsel to INEC, urged the tribunal to dismiss Faleke’s petition for lacking in merit.

    According to Izinyon, the case of INEC was straightforward and that Section 33 of the Electoral Act brought in the 2nd respondent as governor by circumstances.

    He said one of the substances of the petitioner, which bothers on qualification, “does not even have any meaning when you look at the merit of the matter.

    “The petitioner doesn’t have the right to hinge on qualification being a member of the same party with the 2nd respondent; if an outsider is not saying this, why should he who happened to be in the same party with the respondent say it?

    “The other side where the petitioner said the 2nd respondent does not have deputy does not also make meaning.”

    Joseph Daudu (SAN), Bello’s counsel, told the tribunal that he was surprised that the party was not joined as co-respondent in the suit by the petitioner.

    Daudu told the tribunal that the votes cast during the November 21 election did not belong to the candidate, but to the party.

    He added: “This case is not in any jurisprudence of the Electoral Act because it is happening for the first time where the first runner died before the conclusion of the election.

    “This tribunal will be making history in given direction to the lacuna that has never happened before.

    “Section 188 cited by the petitioner would have come in place if the election has been declared in the first instance. Therefore, we urged the lordship to dismiss this petition for lacking in merit.”

     

  • 300 ghost workers on Kogi payroll, alleges governor

    300 ghost workers on Kogi payroll, alleges governor

    Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has decried civil servants, who constitute a cog in the wheel of the state’s progress.

    He alleged that a committee handling  screening at the state and local government levels discovered fraud by civil servants.

    Addressing a crowd in Okene, headquarters of Kogi Central, at the weekend during a reception for him, the governor decried the ghost workers’ syndrome, saying the committee uncovered how a person “injected as much as 300 ghost workers into the payroll of a local government”.

    He said his administration would not spare the perpetrators.

    Bello said: “It is surprising that a person without the fear of God placed 300 ghost workers on the payroll of a local government.”

    He said after the screening,  only bonafide workers will receive salary.

    The governor said workers’ welfare was his priority, adding that the government paid two-month salary arrears in less than two months in office.

    His words: “The temptation to use the money for other things was great. But we prioritised workers’ welfare. We paid two-month salary arrears in less than two months in office.

    “We paid the first batch of salary across board without asking questions, although we knew the nominal rolls were compromised. This was to help the bonafide workers, who needed money to meet their responsibilities.

    “The second batch we paid with the guarantee of the head of each Ministry Department and Agency (MDA) because we reasoned that change begins with each of us, and a leader should know those working under his supervision.”

    The Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Dr. Ado Ibrahim, solicited cooperation and support for the governor to enable him deliver dividends of democracy.

    He stressed the need for peaceful co-existence, irrespective of tribe or religion.

  • Kogi Assembly: A divided House

    Kogi Assembly: A divided House

    The Kogi State House of Assembly has been embroiled in a crisis. Two factions are laying claim to its leadership, as the National Assembly hammer dangles on the state legislative chambers. JAMES AZANIA reports.

    A faction of the Kogi State House of Assembly, otherwise known as the G-5, has, for the second time, defied the resolution of the House of Representatives that the House should be sealed off. Ten members of the House under the leadership of Hon. Umar Imam have resumed sitting.

    When the Senate endorsed the House of Representatives’ order, seven members of the faction sat in the Kogi House to demonstrate their defiance. The sitting was, however, adjourned by Imam, following their inability to form a quorum. The other faction, the G-15 members loyal to Momoh Jimoh-Lawal, who had taken its case to the National Assembly, stayed away from the chambers.

    The House of Representatives had ordered the closure of the Kogi Assembly, following the protracted leadership battle.  Two lawmakers have been parading themselves as Speakers. The crisis has continued to defy solution. The Senate followed, by endorsing the resolution and calling on the Inspector General of Police (IG) to enforce the closure.

    The battle for the slot has defied solution. The issue arose when former Governor Idris Wada was winding up last year. It has been a major challenge for his successor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello. Little did the stakeholders guess that the next governor would emerge from the same senatorial zone as Jimoh-Lawal, who held sway during the build-up to the November 21, last year election.

    The arithmetic changed when the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, suddenly died after winning the election. Bello, who inherited Audu’s victory, and Jimoh-Lawal, are from the same district.

    The permutations began. After the poll, the APC, could not  muster a majority in the House. Thus, the governor could not exert much influence during the choice of the principal officers of the House. Since then, three lawmakers have been parading themselves as Speakers.

    The crisis escalated last week. The Kogi House was on a collision course with the National Assembly when seven members loyal to the factional Speaker, Umar Imam, sat on Tuesday, against the directive of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. During that show of bravado, he adjourned the sitting till Thursday. He said: “We have waited for our members who have been travelling around Abuja to come. Kogi State was greater than any individual and should not be dragged into unnecessary political quagmire.”

    The disputed Speaker said he was relying on the House Rules in his decisions. He said: “ Since December, last year, the House has been transacting business, even at the committee level, and should be left alone to do the needful for the advancement of the state.”

    There was uproar in the House when Jimoh-Lawal was purportedly removed by his former supporters.

    Hon. Friday Sani, who emerged as the new Majority Leader, announced that Imam from Lokoja 1 Constituency, was elected in replacement by ’15 members’ of the House. But, his claim was disputed because only four lawmakers attended the session where the decision was made. During the controversial sitting, Hon. John Abba was elected as the Chief Whip while the position of the Deputy Speaker was left vacant.

    Sani has maintained that the laid down procedure was followed in electing the principal officers. He alleged that the impeached Speaker has not demonstrated the capacity to lead the House. He said the House has followed the due process to remove the him, adding that 15 members signed the impeachment notice, although only seven was required to form a quorum to remove the principal officers.

    He added: “With the Court of Appeal ruling, which sacked five of our members, reducing it to 20, only seven members are required to form a quorum and we have more than that.”

    However, Jimoh-Lawal disagreed, saying that he is still in charge. He said the impeachment null and void.

    The embattled Speaker said that 15 of the 20 members of the Hsouse passed a vote of confidence on him.

    He said the House can only reconvene from recess, if he issues a notice. He maintained that no one can issue the proclamation apart from him.

    When the debacle was brought to the notice of the House of Representatives by the G-15, a10-member fact finding committee on the Kogi House crisis was dispatched to the state. But, the crisis has persisted as solution to it was elusive.

    During the first visit of the committee to Kogi, its Chairman, Hon. Pally Iriase, who is the Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, disclosed in Lokoja, after a meeting with Governor Bello, that their mission was to look into the crisis and resolve it. He urged the warring factions parties to allow the constitution to prevail.

    The G-5, which boycotted the meeting oraganised by the Iriase team, was adamant. It claimed that it has secured a restraining order from the court against the committee from interfering in the crisis. The committee said it was not aware of the court order.

    Receiving the committee members, Governor Bello described the crisis as a minor misunderstanding. He expressed optimism that it will soon be a thing of the past. He said the lawmakers were quarreling over the House leadership, which was a mere nomenclature, stressing that all members were equal.

    Members of the G-15 have pointed accusing fingers at the governor for allegedly fuelling the crisis and attempting to impose a leadership on the legislative arm, of government in the state. But, Bello explained that the leadership crisis preceded his inauguration as the governor on January 27, adding that it would be wrong for anybody to say that he was behind it. Thanking the House of Representatives for its timely intervention, he promised to invite the two factions for the amicable resolution of the misunderstanding.

    The Imam faction, however, shunned the House of Representatives fact-finding committee on the crisis. While the committee held meetings with the various stakeholders, including the Department of State Security Service (DSS), the Imam group was conspicuously absent at the House of Assembly venue of the parley.

    On March 10, in apparent defiance of the House of Representatives’ order, the Imam group held a valedictory session in honour of the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi (SAN), inside the chambers. It also directed the legal department to file contempt proceedings against the House of Representatives. The faction also set-up a committee to investigate those who are behind the continuous “blackmailing of Kogi State House of Assembly,” and urged members to remain “focused in the deliberations for the cause of the people and the state”.

    Imam said: “This Assembly is in session, transacting its legislative business at both plenary sitting and at committee meeting”.

    Prior to the Imam Group’s offensive, Jimoh-Lawal’s position had been threatened by another faction, led by Hon. Godwin Osuyi, who was purportedly elected Speaker, shortly before Bello’s inauguration. The battle degenerated into mayhem as the lawmakers’ supporters unleashed terror on themselves.

    While the noise from the Osuyi faction has faded, the Jimoh-Lawal and Imam camps are not in a hurry to sheath their swords for peace to reign.

  • Staff included 300 ‘ghost workers’ in Kogi salary payroll

    Kogi State Govermor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has decried the role of some officials of the state civil service who he said are constituting a cog in the wheel of the development of the state.

    The governor said that the committee handling the ongoing workers screening at both state and local government levels discovered mind-boggling acts perpetrated by civil servants.

    Addressing a crowd in Okene, headquarters of the central senatorial district of Kogi State on Saturday during a reception organized for him, he decried the ghost workers’ syndrome.
    He said the screening committee uncovered how a single person included “as many as 300 ghost workers in the payroll of a local government” at the detriment of development of the council area.

    He said his administration will not spare the perpetrators after the ongoing screening exercise.

    According to him: “It is ridicule to discover that a single person without an iota of fear of God placed as much as 300 ghost workers on the payroll of a local government”.

    He added that after the screening exercise, it is only the actual workers that will receive salaries from the state and local governments.

    “This one person is just one of many in the business of siphoning public funds into their private pockets. We will ensure that the law take its course with those suspected of putting ghosts into the system so that it will serve as a deterrent to others,”said the governor.

    He stated that workers’ welfare was his priority, noting that the state government has paid two salaries in less than two months of the present administration.

    He said, “The temptation to use the money available for other things was great, but we have chosen to prioritise the welfare of our workers. In that regard, we have paid two salaries in less than two months.

    “We paid the first batch of salaries across board and without asking too many questions even though we knew the nominal rolls were compromised. This was to help actual workers who needed money to handle their responsibilities.

    “The second batch we paid with the personal guarantee of the Head of each Ministry Department and Agency (MDA) because we reasoned that change begins with each of us, and a leader should know those working under his immediate supervision”.

    The Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Dr. Ado Ibrahim solicited cooperation and support for the governor to enable him deliver the dividend of democracy.

    He emphasised the need for peaceful co-existance irrespective of tribe or religion.

    “I am appealing to my people and indeed the entire people of the state to let peace prevail among ourselves. It is only in the atmosphere of peace that we can see and enjoy more dividend of democracy,” he said.

  • Photo: Ocholi, wife and son go home

    Photo: Ocholi, wife and son go home

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  • Rampage over stabbing of female student

    Students of the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja on Tuesday went on the rampage over the alleged killing of a female student by a commercial motor cyclist popularly called okada rider.

    Motorists traveling along the Okene-Abuja road were trapped for several hours, while properties worth millions of Naira were destroyed as the students in their hundreds took over the road, burning tyres, in protest of the death of their colleague.

    Law enforcement agents had a hectic time before they could disperse the protesting students and force them back into the campus.

    Our correspondent reliably gathered that what led to the incident happened in the town in Adankolo on Monday morning when the said female student had a misunderstanding with the okada rider over fares.

    The okada rider was said to have brought out his knife and stabbed the hapless student on the stomach which later led to her death on Tuesday.

    According to the source, when the death of the female student was announced, her colleagues went on the rampage and blocked the  highway.

    They also commandeered a trailer belonging to Dangote group, beat up the driver and later set the vehicle ablaze.

    Motorists, passers-by and commercial motorcyclists were molested by the students as they brought vehicular  movement along the corridor to a standstill.

    It took the intervention of armed mobile policemen to bring situation under control, as the students were already marching towards NATACO around the International market.

    Meanwhile, the Rector of the institution, Alhaji Isah Muhammed while addressing the students urged them to maintain peace and allow the law enforcement agents to investigate the case.

  • ‘National Assembly has powers to legislate for Kogi’

    ‘National Assembly has powers to legislate for Kogi’

    A member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Zakari Mohammed, in this interview with ADEKUNLE JIMOH, says the National Assembly has the constitutional right to take over the functions of the Kogi State House of Assembly, pending the resolution of the crisis.

    How is the House of Representatives handling the crisis over the crude oil swap?

    In the month of January, this year a colleague of ours brought up a motion on the alleged misconduct in the handling of the crude oil swap. At some point, Nigeria had issues with the provision of fuel for its citizenry and became cash-trapped. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), according to the narrative we got, was owing marketers and it must provide premium motor spirit (PMS) and other related products for the usage of Nigerians. That was when the swap arrangement came. The crude oil swap is like trade by barter arrangement. We have crude and give it to marketers; they take it outside Nigeria and return it as a refined product.

    Worldwide, it is not a misnormer. Countries do it when there are issues. The other alternative is what they call crude in exchange of refined products. At any rate they adopted the oil swap and there was a lot of anomalies. One of the companies called Duke Oil, a subsidiary of NNPC got the contract to do swap and it used to collect 445,000 barrels of crude oil daily. The company believed that it did not have the technical capacity to handle such a transaction and it decided to involve some other marketers. At some point, it was going on very well. Between 2012 and 2014, the agreement expired; and when the agreement expired, the sane thing to do it to renew it. We discovered that, between that period, the crude of Nigeria was taken away without a valid agreement. Even though they said that they had written to the then petroleum minister for the approval of either president or federal executive council, but unilaterally, she approved an extension.

    For now, we have interrogated former GMDs, the former petroleum minister, former PPMC’s heads, former MDs of Duke Oil, oil marketers and the only people we have yet to take on are customs, ports authorities and Prince Haruna Mommoh, who was in charge of PPMC between the time Dizeani Alison-Madueke was the petroleum minister.

    We are expecting them, at least, we have dispatched letters to them. With that, we will be winding down so that we can compile our report. The committee has set out that it will not witch-hunt anybody, but where we find out that there are infractions, we will definitely make sure that we recommend appropriately. So far so go we have been getting on well. We have seen the reactions of Nigerians on what we will do with that. The assurances I have for them is that we have a mandate by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to investigate and expose corruption.

    For the purposes of investigation, the dramatis personae must make themselves available for us to interact with them to know the rationale behind certain decisions they took while in office.  As we saw so far the crude oil agreement was skewed more in favour of the marketers as against Nigerians. Any how we will not say anything that is judgmental now.

    Why the shortfall in the allocation to the education sector in the 2016 budget?

    There are certain sub-heads such as the Unity Schools that the meal subsidy was slashed down. We have 104 Unity Schools and of the number, we have a population of 19,000 students. The meal subsidy’s proposal should be N450 daily- that means N150 per meal amounting to over N11 billion but it was reduced to about eight billion Naira. The implication is that their food might be reduced to about N80 per meal. How much will N80 do with what we have today? We at the level on the committee on basic education in the House of Representatives have approached the appropriation committee to make provisions for that shortfall.

    Why these misconceptions about the budget?

    I think some people are not doing their jobs very well. I cannot explain for them as I am not a member of the executive. But the story we heard is that civil servants were already working on the budget before ministers were appointed. When the ministers came in they brought some version and consultants engaged at some levels.

    The President has started taking steps to ensure that he goes into the crux of the matter. Budget is not a day’s job. It is there you will know whether certain heads are implementable or not. Padding is a relative term. For us in the parliament if a budget is brought to us we should be able to detect all these infractions. If it were the case of garbage in garbage out we wouldn’t have detected that. We want to bequeath an implementable document to Nigerians beyond our long grammar. Because a lot of things are calling for attention; the roads are in very terrible state; power supply shaky; education sector is in shambles. We definitely must make hay while the sun shines.

    Our case in Nigeria is like a patient in the emergency ward. He needs all the consultants available to revive him.

    What gave the NASS the effrontery to expose this anomaly in the budget based on the fact that the ruling party also has the majority in the assembly?

    Our parties are vehicles for us to get to the National Assembly. When you get into the National Assembly your people are more paramount than the parties and there is a country called Nigeria. For us we believe that we are a separate arm of government. When we see things that are not right we point them out, because keeping quiet would be a conspiracy of silence that would not help anybody. For instance, I don’t think the president will be happy if he eventually knows that certain things have taken place and we allowed them to go without raising eyebrows. It is not an effrontery we are just doing our jobs. NASS has three responsibilities of representation, over sight and the budget and of course the budget is our core responsibility. If we fail to do that we will be failing in one of our responsibilities. I can tell that the NASS is a very liberalized body. Unlike what people think, we have people who had paid their dues in their different endeavours before going to the National Assembly.

    Recalling each time there is interruption of the democratic setting it is the legislature that is the whipping boy. The judiciary will be there; the powers of the executive and the legislature would be fused together by the military heads. The only representation that you have is the legislature. In the executive the people only elect the president and vice president, others are appointees, who owe no allegiance to the people.

    What is the position of the House of Representatives on the Kogi State House of Assembly crisis?

    Kogi Assembly is a-25 member House. Five members have gone to revalidate their terms as they have issues in the court. So we have 20 members; five members sat and said they have sacked the speaker. Fifteen others are in the same place. I don’t want to dwell on technicalities. I am a member of the committee of the House of Assembly that went to Kogi State recently. We met with the Governor, Commissioner of police, director of DSS and the 15 members, but of course the other five refused to meet with us.

    But, the Nigerian Constitution is very clear, Section 11 (4) says when a state House of Assembly cannot sit for whatsoever reasons, the House of Representatives is empowered to take over the responsibilities pending the time the house can sit and make laws. Kogi state House of Assembly has not sat for three or four weeks and it is very obvious from our interaction that they are not ready to sit. And we cannot keep governance static.

    I heard some people went to court. I think some lawyers too, I sorry to say, don’t understand the provisions of the Constitutions. I watched one of their lawyers on television and I am totally disappointed. The lawyer even went further to say they stop the House of Reps from exercising their constitutional responsibility. I see that as a huge joke.

    One thing that is clear without any iota of ambiguity is that the NASS has the powers to take over the functions of the state house of assembly. We did that in the seventh assembly by taking over the Rivers state House of Assembly when a similar scenario happened.

    I appeal to elected representatives to be accountable to our people. Like I told them that we should leave the election mood and face governance. The fact that APC has not issued a statement should not be mistaken that the party is not ready for governance. May be the party wants the forces to play themselves our naturally. We are running fiscal federalism and Kogi state is an integral part of the country.

    What is your reaction to the alleged  question mark on card readers

    What we are going to do is to amend the Electoral Act to include card readers? I think that is what the Supreme Court is saying. They are talking law but you and I know that card reader was able to curb election violence in a greater deal. The Evidence Law we are using in Nigeria till about three years ago was the one of 1930s. Until we amended it in the last Assembly; the law is saying electronic evidences are not admissible in court. But we changed that in the last assembly saying that electronic evidences are admissible.

    Card readers for me, that is where the world is going. It is an issue for academic exercise. I think the judges want it in black and white that for the purposes of elections in Nigeria card readers should be used.

  • Reps take over Kogi House of Assembly

    The House of Representatives has taken over the legislative functions of the Kogi State House of Assembly until the political crisis is resolved.

    The Federal lawmakers have also declared as null and void, the impeachment of the Speaker,  Momoh Lawal by five lawmakers , while describing the action of the five  as embarrassing to the institution of legislature.

    The Federal lawmakers have also asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase to seal the Assembly complex.

    This is in addition to the condemnation of the roles played by the Nigeria Police for providing cover for the five lawmakers against 15 to commit the illegality of impeaching the Speaker.

    The decision of the House followed the adoption of the report of Pally Iriase-led ad hoc Committee that was mandated to investigate the matter today at Committee of the Whole House chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun.

  • Kogi: Hearing begins Monday in Faleke’s petition

    The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will commence hearing in the petitions challenging the election of Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as governor of the state.

    Six petitions were filed before the tribunal now sitting in Abuja following fear of insecurity in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.

    On Tuesday, tribunal Chairman, Justice Halima Muhammed announced that parties would adopt reports of their pre-hearing sessions beginning from Monday (March 14), following which trial will commence.

    The chairman said the tribunal will take the objections to the petition along with the substantive petition.

    Parties in the petitions told the Tribunal that they will be calling two witnesses each to prove their cases in the petition challenging Governor Bello’s election.

    On February 23, 2016, the Tribunal fixed dates for pre-hearing sessions in the six petitions filed by different parties challenging the outcome of the last governorship election held in the state.

    Upon agreements by lawyers in the petitions, including Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), (Alex Iziyon –SAN), (for the Independent National Electoral Commission), Mahmud Magaji (SAN), (for Yahaya Bello), Chris Uche  (SAN), (Idris Wada and Peoples Democratic Party), among others agreed to ensure that all the necessary processes were filed before the next dates.

    The first petition mentioned was the one by James Faleke against INEC and Bello. Faleke who ran as running mate to the late governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar Audu, is seeking to be declared winner of the election on among other grounds, that his joint ticket with the late Audu won the election.

    The second petition was the one filed by Idris Wada (immediate past governor of the state), his deputy, Yomi Awoniyi and their party, the PDP against Bello, APC and INEC.

    Pre-hearing session will be held on Wednesday in the third and fourth by Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and Labour Party (LP), while those by Usman Zainab and her party, the African Development Party (ADP), and Akwu Umar Goodman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have been fixed for March 11, 2016.

  • Kogi prepares for census

    In preparation for the 2017 population census, the National Population Commission (NPC) has begun the second phase of the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) exercise in Ogori-Magongo Local Government Area of Kogi State.

    Addressing reporters on the exercise in the capital, Lokoja, the NPC Federal Commissioner in-charge of the state, Alhaji Mohammed Akubo Aikoye explained that the EAD forms the foundation on which the entire 2017 census will stand.

    He said that the exercise will run till March 14, and solicited the support of the media, traditional rulers, religious leaders and other stakeholders to help drive it.

    He assured that the exercise will be professionally handled to avoid lapping EADs, oversized or under-sized enumeration areas and nonexistent enumeration areas in the 2017 census exercise.

    The commissioner said that the ongoing EAD will be the last that the NPC will embark on a full scale, noting that further censuses would only require updating of the EADs.

    He made it clear that the EAD was not an exercise to determine the population of any community but efforts to divide the country into smaller geographical areas to facilitate enumeration.

    The commissioner said that the NPC will also use the opportunity of the enumeration exercise to carry out registration of birth and death in Ogori-Magongo council.

    According to him, the efforts which will be done in partnership with the UNICEF is to boost birth registration in Nigeria.

    He added: “Exploring all opportunities to boost registration of births and deaths is paramount. Registration officials will visit all households and mop up the registration of all unregistered births. This will also create more awareness on the importance of vital registration exercise.”