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Tag: Oyegun

  • Oyegun on Rivers judgment: there is something wrong with judiciary

    Oyegun on Rivers judgment: there is something wrong with judiciary

    National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun yesterday expressed shock over the Supreme Court judgement in the governorship election in Rivers State. He said there was something fundamentally wrong with the judiciary that needs to be investigated.

    Oyegun spoke just as the Rivers State chapter of the party says they have been abandoned.

    The national chairman said it was unfortunate that all those who worked against the interest of the APC and in support of the PDP government are enjoying plum appointments to the detriment of members of the APC.

    Receiving members of the party from Rivers state led by its governorship candidate Dakuku Peterside at the party’s national secretariat, Oyegun  said it was unfortunate that the APC lost Rivers state to the PDP and assured them that the national leadership will give them necessary support to ensure successes in subsequent elections.

    According to him, the APC National leadership has not neglected party leaders and supporters in Rivers State. The state has always been in the front burner of discussion and decision in the party.There is obviously something fundamentally wrong in Rivers State which needs to be investigated and addressed.

    “Your visit have had a sober effect on me. This meeting will kickstart urgent actions to address what went wrong.

    “As of today, there are attempts being made by INEC to bar us from elections in Anambra and other states. We must address these issues. I still find the judgment on the Rivers State governorship election totally astonishing. There is something fundamentally wrong in the Judiciary.

    “We have lost very important resource-rich states to the PDP. No matter how crude oil prices have fallen, it is still the most important revenue earner for the country.

    “I will take up your request to facilitate a meeting with the President. We will do that as soon as possible and also make it clear that there are problems which as a party, we must address”.

    In his remarks, Peterside said members of the party  are still at a loss to see us work as orphans. We have a herculean task explaining to them that we actually form government at the centre. It is like, we lost the elections.

    “To an overwhelming majority of them, the only indication that we might be part of government at the federal level is because our leader and Director General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign which led to a people’s revolution that defeated the former ruling party, and former Governor of the State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “The concerns of our members are re-enforced by the fact that more than eight months after APC formed government at the Federal Level, notable PDP chieftains and members who spent state resources to work assiduously against us (APC) are still occupying strategic federal government positions, dispensing patronages to PDP members to the disadvantage and chagrin of APC members.

    “We are called all sorts of names including being branded as traitors and almost live like outcast in our communities and environments…Even today, we are not out of danger as we are killed, molested, maimed and insulted”, Adi g that as a result of the unflinching support party leaders and members gave President Buhari and the APC, they have been exposed to undue attacks and hatred and internal discriminations.

    He alleged that security apparatus that were skewed against the APC before and during the 2015 elections are still working against and frustrating APC activities in the state., saying “the partisanship against us was and is still enormous.”

    Peterside maintained that the Independent National Electoral Commission is structured to ‘disfavour’ the APC.

  • Buhari can’t rebuild collapsing economy overnight, says Oyegun

    Buhari can’t rebuild collapsing economy overnight, says Oyegun

    •’Ikeazor is APC’s candidate for Anambra Central poll’
    •’We’re prepared for possible contingency in Kogi’

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said yesterday that the suffering by Nigerians as a result of the economic hardship in the country is not the making of the party.

    Addressing a news conference at the party secretariat in Abuja, he said the Buhari government inherited a collapsed economy, stressing that the corruption investigation is affecting members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) more because they stayed longer in government and mismanaged the economy for 16 years.

    Oyegun said it is not possible to rebuild a collapsed structure overnight without first clearing the debris.

    He noted that while the Buhari administration could feel the hardship Nigerians were passing through, there is not going to be a quick fix for the economy.

    He said: “Our party, the APC, is aware of the hardship that the misgovernment of the last 16 years plunged this country. We are aware of the hard times, the tough times that Nigerians at the margin are going through. Apart from the party, I must also say that it is one of the main concerns of Mr. President.

    “He is fully conscious and aware of the tough times that people are going through. I want to assure the people through you that everything is being done to stabilise the economy and to ameliorate the deprivation that the people are going through.

    “The Buhari administration inherited a prostrate economy. Not just that, nobody envisaged that there will be a near total collapse of the price of crude and when you juxtapose that with our consumption habit – when we tend to import virtually everything from toothpick to choice champagne, which puts pressure on the foreign exchange stock of the nation and as a result, put up a lot of issues that are being dealt with today by the President’s team.

    He said the citizens consumed heavily in the past because oil was sold at over $100 a barrel, stressing that situation had changed.

    Oyegun urged Nigerians to adjust to the new reality.

    “The President inherited a collapsed economy. The economy was in a state of collapse. You cannot just start rebuilding a collapsed nation without clearing the debris and what we are doing today is to clear the debris. People talk about war against corruption and imply that nothing is going on. The reality is that at the same time the work of planning for the reconstruction of the Nigerian economy is rapidly in progress and I want to assure you that there will be plenty of good news in the next few months.

    “But there is no quick fix, there is no automatic solution. But the projects are being concluded and things will start rolling in another few months. Mr. President himself will, as time goes on, brief the nation on what to expect in the next few months.

    “I have read few comments from well-meaning people. Let me say this clearly. If we want to clean out this country, if we want to save this country, we must be serious about it and wherever the train goes, there we will also go. There is no two ways about it.

    “All these attempts to divert attention from the reality will just not succeed.”

    The APC national chairman told those joining the party to take up leadership position to wait for their turn as there have been people waiting on the queue before their arrival.

    Oyegun noted that they must first prove their loyalty to the party before being given any leadership role.

    He dismissed insinuations that those joining APC were doing so to hijack the party’s machinery, saying: “There is freedom of association, which is guaranteed in the constitution so, if they want to join us, they are free. I think that the essential fabric of the APC is strong enough to withstand any attempt to undermine it from within.”

    He added that the party had settled the issue of who represents it in the forthcoming senatorial election in Anambra State.

    Oyegun said: “Anambra has ceased to be an issue. The party, after due process of constitutional requirements, went through the process, which threw up Sharon Ikeazor as the candidate of the party in that senatorial election and that is an issue that has since been decided.”

    “All I can say about Kogi is that as a party, we have prepared for every possible contingency and so, whatever happens in the next few hours, we are ready. There is no doubt about that. But I don’t want to go into the details about what is likely to happen. That is still between INEC and our legal authority.”

    On the funding of the party, Oyegun said the party was not drawing funds from the Buhari administration as there was no budgetary provision for funding political parties.

  • Kaduna APC to Oyegun: Sani’s suspension stands

    Kaduna APC to Oyegun: Sani’s suspension stands

    The Acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC in Kaduna State, Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, has written to the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to call the Northwest National Vice Chairman, Inuwa Abdulkadir, to order, over his provocative statement against state officials.

    He said the lifting of the suspension on Senator Shehu Sani was invalid.

    In a letter dated January 12, signed by Idris and addressed to the APC national chairman, he said the party’s Northwest vice chairman held a meeting with an illegal group and declared Senator Shehu Sani’s suspension done in line with the party’s constitution as illegal and void.

    A copy of the Kaduna APC letter reads: “We are baffled because for one, the national vice chairman did not contact the party executive, the highest leadership organ in the state that suspended Senator Sani. We were not aware of his visit, nor were we invited to the so-called reconciliatory meeting.

    “It is rather confusing for us that a national vice chairman would come to a state for an official party function and would choose not to contact the party secretariat. But would rather choose to organise an illegal meeting and make provocative statements against the state officials.”

    The letter added: “It is even more worrying for us when we recall the sad memories of the roles Inuwa Abdulkadir played in the presidential primary election of 2015, when he tried to change the list of the delegates from Kaduna State in favour of a presidential aspirant, instead of Buhari. This was after he had unsuccessfully tried to influence the governorship primaries, using the same method against Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

    “So, with a history of compromises, we are afraid that he is also now being compromised to once again favour an illegal group against the party.

    “Otherwise, why should he ignore the APC Kaduna State branch and convene his own meeting with an illegal group?”

    The leadership of the APC in Kaduna State has alleged that it was summoned by the Kaduna State Police Command over the suspension of the lawmaker representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani.

    The party’s Assistant Publicity Secretary, Salisu Tanko Wusono, in a statement yesterday said the party satisfied the police regarding Sani’s suspension.

    The statement said: “On Wednesday, we got invitation from the police following our reaffirmation of Senator Shehu Sani’s suspension after the so-called reconciliation he spearheaded. As leaders of a disciplined party and law-abiding citizens, we honoured the invitation and the police were satisfied with our presentation.

    “We told them that the 11-month suspension stands and was done in line with the party’s constitution. There is no individual, no matter his or her status that is above the party. The 11-month suspension stands and it was done in accordance with our constitution and the power vested in the leadership.”

    The senator had reportedly complained to the police about the party’s insistence on his suspension after the intervention of the Deputy National Chairman (NorthWest), Alhaji Abdulkadir.

  • Oyegun: PDP, agents of corruption blackmailing Buhari’s govt

    Oyegun: PDP, agents of corruption blackmailing Buhari’s govt

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday asked Nigerians, who see merit in the war against corruption by the Buhari government not to be distracted by the PDP and their agents of corruption, who are bent on blackmailing the anti-graft crusade.

    The party asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be free to approach any of the anti-graft agencies constitutionally mandated to handle corruption cases with proof of corruption against any APC member or serving minister under the Buhari government rather than making unsubstantiated allegations.

    In a statement issued by the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the APC condemned the unprovoked insults and unguarded statements by PDP on President Muhammadu Buhari and other members of the APC.

    Oyegun said: “The APC is worried by PDP’s inciting statements. Respect for the office of the President or heads of government in any clime is not a matter of choice, but a civic obligation sanctioned by laws. Being an opposition party or critic is no licence to issue abusive, intemperate and slanderous statements on government officials; most especially the President of the country.

    “The PDP has proven that it is not a party to be trusted or taken seriously. Only recently, the PDP said in a December 24, 2015 statement: ‘we urge that Nigerians should not recourse to hauling insults on the President’.

    “For the umpteenth time, the APC urges Nigerians, who see merit in the war that the President Buhari-led administration is waging against corruption, not to be distracted by the PDP and their agents of corruption to discredit the war. For the records, the ongoing war against corruption is not selective. Anybody guilty of corrupt practices will face the law.

    “If the PDP has any proof of corruption against any APC member or minister as alleged, we advise that they approach any of the anti-graft agencies constitutionally mandated to handle such cases.

    “PDP’s rant suggesting a selective anti-corruption fight by the present administration should be seen as a plot meant to distract the citizenry from the successful ongoing war against graft.

    “The PDP does not have the luxury of dictating how the present administration carries out its legitimate duty of catching looters, as long as it conforms to the rule of law.”

  • Oyegun urges Nigerians to reflect on Jesus’ virtues

    Oyegun urges Nigerians to reflect on Jesus’ virtues

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has called on Nigerians to reflect deeply on the virtues of love, tolerance, Godliness, honesty, fairness, selflessness and peaceful co-existence, which Jesus espoused during his earthly mission.

    In his goodwill message to Nigeria Christian on the occasion of the Messiah’s birth, he enjoined Nigerians to offer special prayers for peace, unity and development in the country.

    He urged them to shun hatred, divisiveness and promote national unity.

    He also asked Nigerians to pray for the military and other security agents fighting to overcome terrorism and violent extremism as well as prayers for victims and displaced persons in the Northeast.

    Oyegun urged religious leaders to pray for the nation and its leaders continuously, as the prevailing situation in the country called for wise counsel and divine intervention.

  • Oyegun, labour differ on fuel subsidy removal

    Oyegun, labour differ on fuel subsidy removal

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said yesterday that gradual removal of subsidy on petroleum is necessary following emerging realities.

    But the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) differed, insisting that it was against the interest of the Nigerians to remove subsidy on petroleum products.

    Rather than removing subsidy, NLC said the government should consider reducing the prices of petroleum products.Oyegun, who spoke when he received a delegation of the APC National Coalition for Peace and Mobilisation (NACOPEAM) at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, said a situation where government spent almost a trillion naira yearly on the subsidy regime was unacceptable and could no longer be sustained.

    The APC chairman said the Buhari government inherited an “infected system of subsidy” run by corrupt cartels, adding that “in one way or the other, subsidy must go”.

    He stressed that oil cartels and their cronies, who were resistant to change have continued to blackmail and sabotage government’s efforts on the issue of subsidy, resulting in the lingering nationwide fuel scarcity.

    Describing the fuel scarcity as a “national disgrace”, the APC chairman said there was need to restructure the country’s oil and gas sector, which, he said, had been marred by corruption and inefficiencies.

    He dismissed reports of an imminent increase in pump price of petroleum products, adding that the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to adjust its pricing template to reflect competitive and market-driven components might not necessarily result in increase in the pump price of petrol.

    He said the presidential directive would rather result in a more efficient and realistic pricing system for petroleum products and also result in constant availability of fuel.

    NACOPEAM National President Comrade Ahmed Saleh said the fuel scarcity impacts negatively on the party, adding that “the unbearable fuel queues along filling stations were avoidable. The situation is impacting negatively on the integrity of the party and this noble administration of positive change”.

    Saleh called for the “total overhauling” of heads of Federal Government commissions, parastatals and agencies, saying “during electioneering campaign, the APC went around the length and breadth of Nigeria informing the citizen on the ills and mal-administration of the past regime”.

    “However, there is need for total overhauling and new trusted heads of commissions, paratatals and agencies to be appointed for effective, efficient and result-oriented service to the Nigerian citizens.”

    However, rising from an emergency meeting of its Central Working Committee, the NLC said its position on the removal of fuel subsidy had not changed, stressing that Nigerians were not responsible for the challenges the nation was passing through.

    Addressing reporters at the end of the meeting, NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the government should rather concentrate on making local refineries work rather than importing refined products from outside the country.

    He added that the congress would not accept any situation where the Nigerian worker would be made to pay for the decay in the system, pointing out that the removal of subsidy on petroleum products was not the solution to the challenges facing the country.

  • APC hails 2016 Budget

    APC hails 2016 Budget

    … Buhari will fulfill campaign promises – Party

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has ‎assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari will fulfill his campaign promises to the Nigerians, beginning with the 2016 budget.

    Reacting to the 2016 budget presentation by the President, the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun said the present administration’s pro-people policies will be implemented full blast in 2016.

    He said: “In fulfillment of APC’s election promises to the Nigerian electorate, the party welcomes the proposed Social Welfare Programmes contained in the proposed 2016 National Budget submitted to the National Assembly. President Buhari has proposed N500 billion to pay unemployed Nigerian graduates (post-NYSC grant) and feed school children, amongst other social welfare programmes in 2016.

    “A phased Social Welfare Programme created to cater for a larger population of the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians upon the evidence of children’s enrolment in school and evidence of immunization has also been proposed to the National Assembly.

    “President Buhari has also promised that 500,000 new teachers would be recruited. Compared to the last 16 years of locust, Nigerians are getting a much better deal from the seven-month old APC-led administration. On the strength of these proposals, the future holds more dividends of democracy for Nigerians.

    “It is reassuring that the federal government has recovered huge sums from looters of our common wealth, which will be injected into the 2016 National Budget.”

    While calling for the speedy passage of the budget, the APC said “as the National Assembly considers the proposed 2016 National Budget, the APC calls on members of the Senate and House of Representatives to rise above political, regional and ethnic sentiments and pass the proposed 2016 budget which is pro-people and in the overall best interest on Nigeria.

    ‎”The APC hails the very cordial working relationship between the 8th National Assembly and the executive arm of government, specifically the President.”

    Oyegun said by personally presenting the budget, President Buhari has demonstrated his commitment to Nigeria’s constitutional democracy and the dictate of the rule of law and also highlighted the importance of building a smooth working relationship with the National Assembly.

  • Oyegun alleges plot to discredit Buhari’s anti-corruption war

    Oyegun alleges plot to discredit Buhari’s anti-corruption war

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun yesterday spoke of  efforts to discredit  President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-corruption war through sponsored interviews by those who have looted the nation’s treasury.

    Reacting to a publication in a national daily quoting the Head of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, as saying the corruption fight was selective and cosmetic, Oyegun said the report was an indication that corruption was actually fighting back.

    Sagay, a professor of law and constitutional lawyer, has denied granting the interview and challenged the reporter and newspaper’s editors to provide the public with a tape recording of the so-called interview.

    Oyegun urged Nigerians, “who see merit in the war that the Buhari-led administration is waging against corruption, not to be distracted by this ploy of agents of corruption to discredit the war”.

    The APC chairman reminded the citizenry of the President’s May 29 inaugural speech, where he said “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”, stressing that the position of Buhari remained unchanged.

    He added that “the syndicated and sponsored campaign suggesting a “selective” and “cosmetic” anti-corruption fight by the administration should be seen as a ploy meant to distract the citizenry from the successful ongoing war to arrest looters and recover Nigeria’s stolen common wealth.

    On allegations of corruption against members of the APC, Oyegun said the burden of proof was on the sponsors.

    He said: “Nigerians and the international community are still reeling in shock over the looting and diversion of public funds meant to purchase badly needed arms and ammunition for Nigeria’s Armed Forces to fight insurgents and protect the country’s territorial integrity.

    “The President’s assurance that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will be encouraged to publish details of voluntary return of looted funds to the Federal Government’s coffers is evidently causing panic in the camp of looters.

    “Whether by planted media reports, interviews or whatever form of syndicated proxy campaign, the looters of our common wealth do not have the luxury of dictating how the present administration carries out its legitimate duty of catching looters, as long as it conforms to the rule of law.

    “The looted arms purchase funds could have saved the lives of innocent Nigerians, particularly ill-equipped soldiers who became easy preys to insurgents.

    “In this light, the concocted interview is the height of callous insensitivity. Indeed, corruption is fighting back, but the will of Nigerians and the noble efforts of the present administration will prevail.”

     

  • Court restrains APC, Oyegun, others from dissolving Delta exco

    Court restrains APC, Oyegun, others from dissolving Delta exco

    The Federal High Court in Warri has restrained the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, its National Legal Adviser, Mr Muiz Banire (SAN) as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from taking steps to dissolve the executive council of the party in Delta state.

    The chairman of the party in the state, Prophet Jones Erue, along with two other persons, had filed a motion ex-parte on Friday, November 27, 2015, seeking an order to restrain the national body and its executive members from dissolving the executive council of the party in the state.

    The motion, with suit number FHC/WR/CS/165/2015, before Justice M. Shitu Abubakar, had requested the court to give “an order of interim injunction restraining the 1st – 3rd Defendants/Respondent’s from taking step or any other step of dissolution of the Delta state executive committee of the All Progressives’ Congress, headed by 1st Plaintiff and the setting up of an interim executive committee, pending determination of the motion on notice.”

    However, after hearing the motion, as put together by counsel to the plaintiffs, J.A. Otorudo, the court ordered that the national body of the party stayed action on any planned dissolution of the subsisting executive body in the Delta state branch of the party.

    “It is hereby ordered that the respondents are ordered and show why the application should not be granted as prayed or couched by the Plaintiffs/Applicants. However, since the matter is now subjudiced, the respondents are ordered to suspend their action for a while and or maintain the status quo ante bellum, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice, which is already filed before this court,” the order read.

    The hearing of the motion on notice has, however been slated to Monday, December 7.

     

  • Kogi: Faleke rejects Bello in fresh letter to Oyegun

    Kogi: Faleke rejects Bello in fresh letter to Oyegun

    •Wants APC to apply ‘Doctrine of Necessity’
    •Audu supporters launch protests, block roads

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) running mate in the stalemated governorship election in Kogi State, Mr. Abiodun Faleke, is not disposed to the party’s choice of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as replacement for the late Prince Abubakar Audu.

    Faleke yesterday wrote a second letter to the party’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun in apparent reaction to the APC decision to pick Bello to replace Audu ahead of the supplementary election scheduled for this weekend. He insisted that he is not prepared to give up his ‘mandate’ for any reason whatsoever.

    He said he is the rightful person to step into the late Audu’s shoes, and pleaded the application of the ‘doctrine of necessity’ used in the crisis that trailed the demise of President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2010.

    The letter came on a day supporters of the late Audu took to the streets at Itobe in Ajaokuta Local Government area of the state protesting against Bello’s choice.

    The protesters blocked the bridge across River Niger which connects areas in Kogi Central, including Anyingba and Dekina.

    Faleke in the four page letter written by his counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun and entitled RE: JUST CONCLUDED GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION IN KOGI STATE -APC SHOULD NOT SIDETRACK JAMES ABIODUN FALEKE OR SUPER IMPOSE ON HIM ANY OTHER PERSON OR CANDIDATE, said:

    “While reiterating and adopting the position of our client as highlighted, expressed and conveyed in our first letter, permit us, most humbly, but frankly to add the following points on behalf  and instruction of our client, that is to say:

    (i)The Issue involved is that of constitutional, formal and legal imperatives, rather than political expediency. In the eyes of the Constitution and the law, our client is the governor-elect of Kogi State. There is no gainsaying this fact. It is a truism that cannot be discounted.

    (ii) It is the duty of the APC to champion the actualization of its mandate, as well as that of our client. In this wise, we most humbly advise  and caution that the party should be minded of the Ides of November, because  the idea being sold to the APC by the INEC to go and hold a supplementary primary election for the purpose  of bringing forth a governorship  candidate to contest a supplementary  election in 91 polling units is saturated with deleterious legal and constitutional landmines. We posit without any hesitation that at this stage, INEC and all the political parties that took part in the concluded election have reached a point of no return. Thus our client can neither be jettisoned by the APC, nor can a new or fresh candidate be imposed on him as his Principal. The law also does not  recognize  this type of supplementary  election in 91 polling units, with total number  of eligible voters with PVCs not more than 25,000 or thereabout. Otherwise, if the law and Constitution allow it, Kogi State would end up holding a supplementary election, which would also produce a supplementary governor. Put bluntly, there cannot be any legitimate Governor of Kogi State who would emerge from the supplementary election (outside our client) with a maximum of 25,000 votes, assuming all the registered voters with PVCs cast their votes for the anticipatory supplementary governor will also be likened to a Governor of 91 polling units. May we quickly draw your attention to Section 179 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution which states:

    “(2) A candidate of 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-

    (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 in the state.”

    He recalled how the PDP ,in 1999, “called off the bluff of INEC when it ordered a re-run in Adamawa State to elect a fresh or new Governor in place of the then Governor-elect, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who had already transmuted  to be Vice President elect.”

    Continuing, he said: “It was the contention of PDP that the then Deputy Governor-elect, Boni Haruna automatically became and assumed the position of governor-elect. The PDP took the matter to court and, at the end of the legal pilgrimage, the Supreme Court agreed with the PDP. Then the Deputy Governor-elect, Boni Haruna, not only assumed position as Governor, but spent two terms in office. With very high respect, we do not expect the APC to do less.

    “When the late Umaru Yar’Adua was terminally sick, some leading members of your party in coalition with some decent forces in the country, bandying the ‘doctrine of necessity’ championed the cause of the then Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan to be appointed President. At the end of it all, the National Assembly acceded to this clarion call and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan metamorphosed to acting President. Thereafter, he became substantive President for six years. The point being made by us is that if we could rely on the doctrine of necessity and maximally utilize same to make Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, the sitting President, it then goes without saying that both INEC and the APC must submit themselves to the doctrine of constitutional imperative and/or necessity to allow our client to be Governor -elect of Kogi State.

    Faleke said he is not “ready or prepared to trade off or compromise his mandate as the Governor-elect of Kogi State” and does “not want to believe that he is being discriminated against for whatever reason.”

    The Itobe protest forced motorists off the roads in the area.

    Some travellers had to continue their journey using the waterways at Shintako.

    The protesters who were mainly  Igala-speaking said it would be unfair to have an Ebira as governor of the state when the Chief Judge and the Speaker of the state assembly are also Ebira.

    A lawyer who was travelling to Odu in Dekina Local Government area said he had to make a detour to avoid running into the protesters.

    He said, “I did not envisage this, but I had no option than to turn round and continue on my journey through Shintako. I had paid N2, 500 to put my vehicle on the ferry across the water to Bassa, from where I continued”.

    Efforts made to get response from the police on what it is doing to forestall the protest spreading to other areas of the state was unsuccessful as at the time of sending this report.

    The Head of Media, Prince Abubakar Audu/Faleke campaign organization, Dr Tom Ohikere at a press conference in Lokoja warned the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to avoid any act capable of setting Kogi State on fire.

    According to Ohikere, the presidency and APC leadership cannot pretend to be unaware of the provisions of the law, where a running mate to a deceased candidate in an ongoing election steps in as the party’s flag bearer.

    “Let me open up to you now. Our political mentor and father, the late Prince Audu on his dying bed, gave instruction to us (his followers), that should he not make it, the baton must be passed to his running mate, Faleke, who he said is capable of carrying on with his vision.

    “I want to categorically tell you that the party/executive’s conspiracy started when they heard that Prince Audu was dead, and in an ulterior move to avoid a non-Muslim from stepping in, the INEC returning officer was quickly directed to declare the result inconclusive.”