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Tag: PDP

  • Presidential campaign: Heavy security as Atiku storms Abakaliki

    Security have been beefed up in some parts of Ebonyi State Capital, Abakaliki following campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that major roads leading to the Pa Ngele Oruta Stadium were blocked to traffic while vehicles were diverted to other convenient routes.

    NAN also reports that all the markets in the city were closed for business as the people trooped in their numbers to the stadium for the rally.

    NAN observed that the10,000 capacity stadium was already filled to the brim as at 8 am by the PDP faithful drawn from the 13 Local government areas of the state.

    Mr Emmanuel Uzor, the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Dave Umahi told NAN that Ebonyi as PDP state is fully `Atikulated’ adding that the state was ready for him.

    “We are ready for the PDP presidential candidate. The turnout is tremendous and unprecedented. Ebonyi will give him 1.4 million votes during the February 16 presidential election.

    “Atiku is our own and the government has made full arrangements for the campaign rally,” he said.

    Uzor announced a total victory for the PDP at the national level.

    A member of `Friends of Atiku’ Ebonyi Chapter, Mr Chijioke Agwu, noted that the people of the state and the nation had confidence in the Atiku/Obi ticket.

    “We have no doubt that when he becomes the president, Nigeria will be a country all of us will be proud of.

    “In Ebonyi State everybody is PDP and Atiku Abubakar is our candidate. Already the Ohaneze Ndigbo the umbrella and apex socion-cultural organization in the South East has endorsed them.

    “We are happy to welcome them to Ebonyi and we use this opportunity to reassure them that the state is totally for them and will cast block vote come February 16,” he said.

  • Enemies of Nigeria behind ‘Occupy Nigeria’ protest to please political losers

    Following the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last presidential and national assembly elections, some persons have concluded plans to stage a protest under the theme Occupy Nigeria.
    According to Coalition for Defence Democracy in Nigeria, the paid miscreants have been mobilized by some politicians who are not pleased with the outcome of the polls to shutdown the nation.
    Addressing newsmen on Sunday, Okpokwu Ogenyi, who spoke on behalf of the BoT, claimed that the planned protest is being championed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.
    His text below.
    Gentlemen of the press, since the announcement of the results for the presidential election held on Saturday February 23, 2019, those that lost in the election have been reacting to their losses. Some of these reactions have been by way of intellectual engagement in which the candidates and their supporters express their improved understanding of how democracy and political dynamics operate in the Nigerian context.
    The more sincere ones among them have admitted the near impossibility of unseating a performing president through the ballot hence the overwhelming win of President Muhammadu Buhari who won on the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket.
    Some losers have, however, been sore in defeat. They denounced the result with the worst choice of words possible. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar are in the forefront of this collection of aggrieved losers.
    What must be given to them however is that they have been creative enough to limit their bellicosity to inciting utterances and body language, which they possibly expect their supporters to decode and descend on the streets with violent protests.
    This development is the reason that the Coalition for Defence Democracy in Nigeria, CDDN, is not aligned with those that have been asking Atiku to call and congratulate President Buhari. There is no basis for that because it will amount to creating a situation where the loser in an election must validate the victor’s win.
    It is enough that the home nations of the international observers once misled by the PDP have sent their congratulatory messages to Nigeria and President Buhari. While Nigeria does not rely on their endorsement to validate its electoral processes, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, the African Union, scores of African countries and other friends of Nigeria have congratulated President Buhari, which they would not have done had the election failed to meet the minimum threshold for acceptability.
    The PDP is being backed by several ethnic jingoist organizations that present as socio-cultural organizations, religious bigots as well as pro-corruption groups and individuals.
    Like their client, these people have limited themselves to threats and incitement without actually backing their threat of violence and destabilization with actions. This restraint on the part of PDP and its supporting organizations has now been found to be a Trojan as they have outsourced their violent protests through a consultancy to “Occupy Nigeria”.
    “Occupy Nigeria”, a misappropriation of the slogan under which Nigerians resisted PDP misrule in 2012, is now being used by these protest consultants to threaten the peace of the country. The group that now goes by the name has threatened to shut down Abuja on Monday and what we have found out is that they plan to spread the protest to other cities if the Abuja legs proves successful.
    CDNN finds this attempt at using the result of the election to cause mayhem when the international community, including countries that were initially apprehensive of the conduct of the election, has accepted the outcome.
     We observed that Occupy Nigeria is now expressing disappointment in the endorsement of the polls by the international community when its clients where euphoric at the time these same foreign countries were harassing the Nigerian government on the basis of lies told against the administration of President.
    It has not been able to been able to present any compelling evidence to support why it is rejecting an election adjudged to be free, fair and credible by all stakeholders except the PDP and its lackey groups.
    We further observed that the demands that Occupy Nigeria is hinging its protests on bear uncanny similarities to the demands that Atiku and PDP allegedly presented to the National Peace Committee, which they have all denied anyway because they have seen that these requests are criminal in nature and intent.
    The protests planned by Occupy Nigeria are therefore provocative, irresponsible and an attempt to create conditions that will degrade security in the country while providing excuses for those earlier mobilized by Atiku to attempt a forceful takeover of the government.
    They represent a stubborn progression of Atiku and the PDP with their original plot to force their way into government even when they know they have been rejected by Nigerians.
    CDNN is therefore warning Occupy Nigeria to behave within acceptable parameters defined by Nigerian laws as any attempt to provoke crisis would be met with disproportionate citizens’ response. Other measures include laying bare the relationship that exists between it and PDP as well as Atiku.

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     If they persist on trying to destabilize the country we will expose to Nigerians the specific associates of Atiku that contacted them, phone calls and SMS logs, and details of financial transactions of the payment made to procure Occupy Nigeria’s services.
    Occupy Nigeria must take note that nobody has the monopoly of mischief and violence. It is receiving money to hold its protests but there are millions of Nigerians that will counter those violent outings on the streets out of patriotism and their love and appreciation for the leadership he is providing to the country.
    Any attempt to destabilize the peace of the nation will therefore be decisively rejected by Nigerians. Occupy Nigeria will fail worse that Boko Haram and other defunct terrorist groups that had attempted to destroy Nigeria.
    The practice in Nigeria is for anyone aggrieved by the outcome of elections should approach the Election Tribunals up to the Supreme Court to seek redress. If Occupy Nigeria is eager to be of use to the PDP they should then encourage Atiku to go to court and fight his case there especially now that the Judiciary is being purged of corrupt judges.
    Instead of holding questionable protests, Nigerians should task the organizers of this charade to come forward with workable initiatives to help President Buhari deliver on his promises to Nigerians. Part of the progress we should make as a nation is for the youths not to be misled by agents of destabilization that are bent on triggering copy-cat revolution in a country where it is least needed.

     

     

  • 2019 polls: HURIWA acting politicians’ script to incite violence in Nigeria, Coalition discloses

    The Coalition of Civil Society Groups on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution said it has unraveled a plot by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) to incite violence in Nigeria over the outcome of the 2019 general election.

    The coalition said HURIWA was only being used by some selfish politicians to cause anarchy in the country.

    The group made this revelation in a supplementary report on the February 23, 2019 presidential/national assembly elections.

    The Executive Director of the group, Maxwell Gowon, who presented the report on behalf of the group, said HURIWA, was attempting to use the outcome of the poll to reopen old ethnic crises that have no bearing with the matter under

    The report below:

    The Coalition of Civil Society Groups on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution had in the aftermath of the February 23, 2019 Presidential and National Assembly (Senatorial/House of Representatives) Elections issued a report on the security situation during the elections. That report found that the security and military did a good job in ensuring that security situation did not significantly degenerate in spite of the threat of violence that preceded the election.

    The Coalition has further reviewed the prevailing situation in the aftermath of the declaration of the results for the elections. The findings are alarming as there are indications that some candidates that lost have been inciting their supporters to cause security breaches in their respective constituencies.

    Below are the findings from a Post-Result Announcement Assessment carried out by the Coalition:

    Candidates that lost in the elections have been publishing audio, pictures and videos to prove that there were incidences of vote tampering, intimidation of voters, destruction of ballot and other incidents that could be interpreted as capable of undermining the integrity of the polls. However, when extrapolated for geo-tagging it was found that these incidences were not localized to a specific part of the country. Further analysis of the multimedia content showed an even spread between the APC and PDP in terms of what political is being accused of responsibility for the infractions, which implies that neither party gained any advantage above the other from engaging in these acts.

    Several groups have issued statements that are aimed at undermining the credibility of the elections. These groups are affiliated with the PDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Their statement or stated position on the election results are exact replicas of PDP’s and Atiku’s statements rejecting the Presidential Election Results. This aligns with the warning earlier issued by some groups that people are being mobilized to reject and discredit the election results irrespective of the degree of transparency attained by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

    There has been several pockets of violence in several parts of the country. Like the multimedia detailing infractions, these were also spread across geo-political zones and involved supporters across political lines.

    The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) is one of the groups that has openly identified as a recruit in the plot to use the election result to incite violence. HURIWA issued a statement with which it intended to create the impression of ethnic persecution with the election result. While it is on record that the main contenders in the presidential election are of the same ethnic stock, HURIWA is attempting to use the outcome of the poll to reopen old ethnic crises that have no bearing with the matter under discuss.

    Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP has reportedly made demands on the National Peace Committee (NPC). He is yet to deny or refute reports that he made these demands. What is worrisome about these demands is that they are underpinned by an inferred threat of violence, which his supporters are already mobilizing for. It is noteworthy that one of the demands is for the military not to have any role in the states’ elections due on March 9, which is an invitation to anarchy because the military played a critical role in discouraging intending ballot box snatchers.

    The threats of violence by PDP members are getting validation from some of their foreign partners that are issuing compromised reports about the elections. Atiku and the PDP are citing these questionable reports as basis for their supporters to reject the results, which these supporters have interpreted as a call to violent protests, even though Atiku had sought to insulate himself from liability by tepidly asking them to remain calm while stoking negative emotions in them with his assertions.

    The conduct of the elections might have been largely peaceful but a combined interplay of the situations we have identified present a tense outlook for security in the country especially since states’ elections are holding in a matter of days. There is credible threat of violence arising from PDP supporters who are being primed to attack others by a group like HURIWA.

    It is imperative that necessary actions are taken to identify areas where party supporters are likely to attempt unleashing violence and necessary steps taken to prevent this from happening since it will compromise March 9 elections.

    Politicians, especially Atiku Abubakar and his party should be prevailed upon to desist from making utterances that could be interpreted by their supporters to imply a directive for them to attack those in other political parties.

    The National Peace Committee must rise up to the task of holding signatories to the peace accord accountable to maintaining the peace while also cautioning groups that may be acting as proxies to incite or carry out violence on behalf of signatories.

  • Over 3,500 PDP members defect to APC in Delta

    …as Ogboru storms Udu/Ughelli South

     

    No fewer than 3,500 members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Thursday, defected to the All Progressive Congress, APC, during Chief Great Ogboru campaign train to Udu and Ughelli South local government areas.

    Ogboru and the senator representing Delta Central senatorial District at the National Assembly, Ovie Omo-Agege also said that the party will not be intimidated in the forthcoming elections by the PDP rigging tactics.

    Speaking at Ughelli south stadium in Otu-Jeremi and Otor-Udu while on governorship campaigns they said, “Members of the APC and Deltans will resist any intimidation from the PDP because APC is poise to liberate Delta State from the hand of PDP monopolistic rule.

    According to Ogboru, “The PDP is a party of darkness and it is only in APC Deltans can see light and development and he appealed to those who have sold the Permanent Voters Card to go and retrieve them back because votes will count in the coming elections.

    “Deltans should give the same support to President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC administration as they are supporting us because if he fails we fail.

    “Do not worry about Delta liberation because if you vote me and APC, Delta state will move forward”.

    Also, Senator Agege said, “Buhari sent us message and we are speaking under his authority because we have his mandate.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari has done well for the Urhobos and Deltans in general and the only way to pay him back is to vote for him for the second tenure.

    “Almost every road in Delta State are been constructed by the NDDC under Buhari administration and the APC”.

    At Otu-Jerem and Udu, over 3,500 former PDP faithful and leaders led by Chief Freeborn Ayoma and Hon Alfred Urhukpe defected to the APC.

  • Osun tribunal: INEC is allowed to rectify errors in result sheets, by witnesses‎

    *Tribunal asks PDP, Adeleke’s lawyer to be organised

    The Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal has been told that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is allowed to rectify discrepancies in entries in election result sheets.

    Three witnesses called by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, at the resumed sitting of the tribunal on Thursday in Abuja, said they were trained on the operation of INEC’s Manual and Electoral Guidelines before they were engaged as agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the election.

    The witnesses – Bello Mukaila, Olatitoye Sodeeq, Iyiola Ismail – (who served as APC polling agent in Osogbo and Ikire) said they learnt, at the training, that INEC reserve the right to correct errors in result sheets.

    They also identified some of the result sheets where such discrepancies were corrected.

    Some of the result sheets were from polling units won by both APC and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    The tribunal is hearing the petition by the PDP and its candidate in the last governorship election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke.

    Adeleke witnessed the tribunal’s proceedings on Thursday. He sat from beginning of proceedings (10am) to around 12noon.

    The legal team of the PDP and Adeleke got an additional hand on Thursday with the attendance of proceedings by former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Kanu Agabi (SAN).

    Agabi only announced his appearance but allowed Onyechi Ikpeazu to conduct the case of the petitioners.

    Wole Olanipekun (who led Oyetola’s legal team) also allowed Abiodun Owonikoko (SSAN) to conduct his client’s proceedings. He only intervened when necessary.

    Olanipekun contributed to argument, in favour of the 3rd respondent (APC) when Ikpeazu objected to the move by APC’s lawyer, Lasun Sanusi (SAN) to tender a copy of INEC’s Manual and Electoral Guideline through Mukaila.

    In a ruling, the tribunal, led by Justice Ibrahim Sirajo upheld the argument by Olanipekun and Sanusi and admitted the document in evidence.

    At the commencement of proceedings, Justice Sirajo advised Ikpeazu to be organised. The judge’s advice was informed by the discrepancies noted in the list of lawyers he submitted to court and the one with him.

    Read Also: Osun gov election dispute: Oyetola opens defence

    Ikpeazu announced the names of some lawyers in his team and left some out, an omission the judge noted from the list submitted to the tribunal.

    The tribunal Chairman later called out the names of about five lawyers, who were omitted by Ikpeazu, following which the petitioners’ lawyer apologised.

    Justice Sirajo then said: “Get more organised please, get more organised. That is all I have to say for today, get more organised.”

    The tribunal rose at about 12.30pm, after Olanipekun announced that the 2nd defendants were done for the day.

    Proceedings resume on Friday at 10am.

  • APC to Atiku/Obi: You told Nigerians bare faced lies

    The APC Presidential Campaign Council said on Thursday that the PDP Presidential, Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi were engaged in what it described as bare face lies and dishonest claims when they appeared on a national television programme, “The Candidate” on Wednesday night.

    Spokesman of the Campaign, Barrister Festus Keyamo said in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja that simple fact checks revealed that several claims by the PDP candidate and his running mate were nothing but a tissue of lies.

    Keyamo said Nigerians should take note of “Alhaji Atiku Abubakar defined Corruption as “the use of your privileged position to either enrich yourself or enrich your relatives or even your friends”, adding that “when this is juxtaposed with his earlier statement in Lagos, that he will enrich his friends if he becomes President, we can safely conclude that he will be fully in the business of corruption if he becomes President.

    “Atiku/Obi made it clear to Nigerians that conflict of interests as a public servant should be the norm as, during their tenures, they found absolutely nothing wrong then and today, with investing public funds in enterprises they own or their families own. For instance, Kadaria ran Peter Obi into a ditch when she asked him if his family was not enriched as a result of using public funds for his family business ‘NEXT’.

    “Their claim on experience in running anything public or private cannot stand any act of scrutiny. The Presidential candidate, who is easily a major contributor to our huge unemployment problem today as a result of his corrupt privatisation programme, counts this failure as a huge experience and wants to repeat same if elected.

    “Their proposed Agriculture Programme which they claim to have put together to lift majority of the people out of poverty is a version of what is already being implemented by the present government under the Anchors Borrowers Programme and the Government Enterprises and Empowerment Programmes.

    “After watching Atiku/Obi on that programme, it has become clear to all Nigerians that our public institutions and commonwealth would be in grave danger if left in the hands of these dodgy and questionable characters who have no morals and no scruples about using and misusing public funds for private gains.”

    Keyamo listed some of the lies he claimed were told by the PDP candidate and his running mate to include:

    *Lie Number 1: Alhaji Atiku Abubakar claimed that at handover in May 2019, our GDP growth rate was 6%. Fact Checked Truth: It is a well-documented fact that at handover, the GDP growth rate was 2.35%. The economy was on a free fall as the GDP growth rate had dropped for three consecutive quarters.

    *Lie Number 2: Alhaji Atiku Abubakar claims recession was caused by the APC Government. Fact Checked Truth: With a consistent and rapid drop of our GDP, their Coordinating Minister of the Economy at that time, Okonjo Iweala, former Central Bank Governor Prof. Charles Soludo and the Central Bank Governor at the time, now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, warned the PDP Government and Nigerians that we were headed for a recession.

    *Lie Number 3: Alhaji Atiku Abubakar claimed that security challenges were restricted to the North East during their time. Truth: Nigerians will recall that the Boko Haram activities had spread all over the North East, North West and North Central. For instance, UN Headquarters, Police Headquarters, a Bus stop in Nyanya, a prominent Plaza in Wuse II were all bombed during the era of the last government in Abuja. A church or Mosque was bombed every week in 2013/2014. The herders-farmers’ clashes were the deadliest in 2014, claiming over 1,300 lives in a short period across the North. Boko Haram occupied over 17 Local Government Areas and hoisted their flags, effectively establishing a caliphate in the North East. All these happened before the coming of this administration.

    *Lie Number 4: Peter Obi claimed that out-of-school children grew to 13.5 million under this administration. Truth: The figure of 13.2 million out-of-school children was a 2015 survey by UNICEF. An alarm was raised by several global bodies then because the figure had grown from 10.5 million in 2010 to 13.2 million in 2015, despite record earnings of the Government at that time. In other words, Peter Obi’s claim is self-indicting.

    *Lie Number 5: That Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as a Customs officer, said there was nothing wrong at that time with setting up a company that had dealings in the Ports that were under customs supervision.
    Truth: The Code of Conduct for Public Officers was first enshrined in the 1979 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Atiku Abubakar co-founded the company, as a serving customs officer, three years after the 1979 constitution came into operation. According to Section 1 of the 5th Schedule to the 1979 Constitution, a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities. By establishing a company involved in Port-related business at a time when he was an officer in the Nigeria Customs Service charge with managing the Ports, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar definitely put himself in a position where his personal (business) interest conflicted with his duties as a public officer.

    *Lie Number 6: Peter Obi claims Nigeria has record poverty now. Truth: Despite high oil revenue, according to the World Bank, extreme poverty under PDP grew to 112 million in 2013 through 2014, compared to 86 million today. India pulled their citizens out of poverty for over two decades by using the same methods Nigeria is now using today.

    He said further that “In summary one would have thought that in the course of the programme, ‘The Candidates’, Atiku/Obi would have modified the lies they told earlier in their campaigns and make it consistent with reality as most of them were already fact-checked by independent bodies and proven to be lies. Alas, they have continued on the same path, believing that ‘If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed”.

  • NBC berates APC, PDP for using hate speeches during campaigns

    THE Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has come hard on the country’s two major political parties for breaching broadcasting rules on election.

    NBC Director-General Modibbo Kawu accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of spreading hate speeches and using abusive languages during their political rallies and campaigns.

    Kawu equally urged the stations to abide by the code guiding political broadcasting.

    He warned that NBC would not hesitate to shutdown national television stations that breach its codes.

    Section 525 of the code states that “political broadcast shall be in decent languages”. Also, Section 533 states that “a live coverage shall be truthful, decent, fair and balanced”.

    The NBC boss, who briefed reporters on the 2019 general elections and update on the digital switchover, said the commission had monitored the rallies aired by some television stations and found the comments made by some officials of the two parties of capable of causing crisis.

    He said the commission has noticed some infraction on its codes during campaigns of the two major political parties as aired live on some major channels.

    Kawu said: “With the commencement of electioneering campaigns for the 2019 general elections on November 18 based on INEC’s guidelines, the national stations have become agog with sponsored rallies by political parties, particularly the two main political parties – the PDP and the APC. We have observed again, through monitoring of the stations that politicians have refused to learn from the mistakes of the past, despite efforts by the commission to sensitise and remind them of their responsibilities.

    “We monitor live rallies and campaigns of the parties and in recent times, live political rallies of the two parties have been laced with indecent and abusive languages, name calling, allegations and use of hate speech.”

    He cited instances of the chairmen of the two political parties engaging in hate speech, abusive language and name calling.

    “The expressions and languages from the excerpt captured can be seen to be abusive and not decent for broadcast, contrary to certain sections of the Nigeria Broadcasting Codes – 525, 533. Section 525 says ‘political broadcast shall be in decent languages and 533 says ‘a live coverage shall be truthful, decent, fair and balanced’.

    “We are not getting that and we told our licensees that it is very good to make a lot of money during this period but you will be liable if you allow your medium to be used to broadcast material that is contrary to the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

    “Based on the foregoing, the four major channels that have been broadcasting were culpable and contravening the provisions of the code on political broadcasting in line with the provisions of Section 524 of the code,” he added.

  • Why we endorsed Atiku, by Ohanaeze

    Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has explained it endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar because Ndigbo were completely down.

    President General of the organization, John Nnia Nwodo who made the clarification in a Solid FM radio station programme monitored by our correspondent, said he who is on ground fears no fall hence the decision.

    “We are completely down, he who is on ground fears no fall; they cannot treat us worse than they are treating us now. Ohanaeze cannot be on the sideline,” he stated.

    Nwodo said he sees the forthcoming election as a war to change the status of Ndigbo in Nigeria, banish unemployment among youths in Igboland.

    His words: “It is a war to banish unemployment among youths in

    Igboland, it is a war to have sovereignty on our natural resources, it is a war to be recognized as equal partners”.

    Reacting to arguments the organisation should have applied diplomacy in endorsing a candidate, Nwodo said Ndigbo was completely down.

    Further explaining why the organization took the action, Nwodo said the PDP has given an avowed commitment to restructuring not only in its manifesto but by its presidential candidate.

    The Ohanaeze President General said the PDP Presidential candidate has given his commitment to restructuring not just in his campaigns but also in his speeches in Nigeria and abroad.

    Nwodo further pointed Atiku also chose one of their sons in

    the person of former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, whom he said is not a bench warmer as his running mate.

    Read Also: I will restore investor confidence in economy — Atiku

    Recalling Obi’s achievement as governor of Anambra State, Nwodo said: “He has husbanded the resources of Anambra State so creditably that no governor in Nigeria left the amount of savings he left for his state”.

    The former minister therefore said he does not think that if Obi chairs the National Economic Council of Nigeria, he will be quiet on the economic neglect of the South east.

    “I don’t think Peter Obi is someone who can chair the National

    Executive Council Meeting of Nigeria and be quiet on the neglect of the South east”.

    On the allegations some people were excluded when the decision to endorse Atiku was taken, Nwodo said they sent out circulars to everybody, adding that out of the 24 members of NEC, 22 attended while 21 voted in favour of the decision.

  • UPDATED: Senate cancels emergency plenary session

    The Senate on Monday called off its planned resumption of plenary for Tuesday.

    The leadership of the Senate at the weekend summoned emergency session of the upper chamber to consider the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria(CJN) Justice Walter Onnoghen.

    Immediately the emergency plenary session was announced, tension began to build as All Progressives Congress (APC) senators and their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterparts started mobilising members for what was described as a “make- or- mar session.”

    The Senate leadership also held a series of meetings said to have been necessitated by the need to weigh options.

    Late Monday, feelers filtered that the leadership of the Senate was considering calling off the emergency session.

    It was alleged that some senators concluded arrangements to perpetrate mayhem in the chamber during the session.

    Read Also: Onnoghen’s suspension: Senate calls emergency session

    The cancellation of the planned session may not be unconnected with the fear that “things might get out of hand” a senator told our reporter.

    There was also rumour flying around that some senators planned to move impeachment notice against the Senate leadership at the emergency session.

    The Clerk to the Senate, Nelson Ayewor in a statement entitled “Cancellation of Senate resumption in plenary” informed “all Distinguished senators of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the resumption in plenary scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday 29th January, 2019 has been cancelled.”

    The statement said that the scheduled date of resumption in plenary earlier fixed for Tuesday, 19th February, 2019 remains.

  • I’m not surprised with Ekiti tribunal judgement- Fayose

    Former Governor of Ekiti state Ayodele Fayose has declared that he was not surprised by today’s verdict of the tribunal on the petition filed by the PDP and its candidate, Prof Kolapo Olusola.

    “The judgement was already in the public domain and celebrated by the APC more than a week before today,” he said.

    Reacting to the tribunal judgement, dismissing the PDP petition, Fayose said he would have been surprised if it had been otherwise because the judiciary was already coerced by the All Progressives Congress (APC) – led federal government.

    In a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, the former governor said the judgement will be appealed and pursued to the Supreme court.

    He expressed optimism justice will prevail ultimately.

    Read Also: Ekiti tribunal upholds Fayemi’s election

    He enjoined Nigerians and Ekiti people to keep hope alive against what he called perversion, suppression and gagging of judges and by extension the judiciary.

    His words: “In fact, the judgement was in public domain and celebrated by APC since the last few days.

    “In the face of all these shenanigans, I still want to congratulate our candidate, my beloved Deputy Governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola. Be assured victory is ahead.“