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Tag: SENATOR

  • Our expectations about reschedule polls, by Mamora

    The Deputy Director-General (Operations) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to redeem its image by conducting a free, fair and credible election on Saturday. Mamora,  who described the postponement of the elections by the electoral body as a national embarrassment, said the image of the country is also at stake.

    He said the postponement was unexpected against the backdrop that at every point in time INEC had consistently assured the nation of its readiness to conduct the elections as scheduled. He recalled that when INEC office in Anambra was razed down by fire, the electoral body said there was no cause for alarm and promised that the election would hold as scheduled.  The postponement is very painful, he said.

    He said: “It’s hard to quantify the economic losses and inconveniences that the postponement had caused.. Many people had travelled to where they registered only for them to wake up on Saturday morning and heard that INEC had postponed the election. It had great implications on businesses. Many people had postponed social programmes such as wedding, funerals and house warming to Februry 23 because of the election that didn’t hold, now their plans have been distorted by the new date fixed for the poll”.

    For the political parties, Mamora said the postponement means extra budget for logistics and mobilisation of their members and supporters, adding that they have to seek additional funds to meet up.

    According to him, the trauma would also affect the foreign observers who had planned their programmes based on INEC time table, meaning they would stay longer in the country than what they envisaged.

    Mamora urged INEC to work assiduously to strengthen our democratic process through free, fair and credible election. This, he said, would ameliorate postponement.

    Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) said the Electoral Act permits the Commission to postpone elections in the national interest. He cited Section 26(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended) to back up his argument.  Akintola said: “INEC has powers to postpone. But the sad thing about this postponement is that it waited till very late at night, disrupting the economy, the political lifeline of the country, the social traffic of the country.

    He said the postponement had caused inconveniences to the people. For instance,  The President had travelled to his home town in Daura, the Vice President had travelled, practically everyone that  is somebody had travelled.

    He urged INEC to learn fromits mistakes and redeem its image by making sure it conducts a transparent, free and fair election.

    Lawyer and human rights activist, Mr Monday Ubani agreed that the postponement had implications on the economy. He said many people had travelled far and near to where they registered in order to cast their votes but they were disappointed by the shift.

    Ubani said: “I travelled all the way from Lagos to my village in Abia State for the election. I woke up on Saturday morning to be informed that the election had been postponed. I will still come home because of the election on February 23. But how many Nigerians can afford to travel twice in a week because they want to cast their votes”.

    He said INEC may have good reasons to postpone the election. It is better we endure with the electoral commission to conduct a free, fair and credible election than to rush things and end up with sham election, he added.

    The chairman of the United Peoples Party, (UPP)Chekwas Okorie said: “The postponement of the election came to Nigerians irrespective of parties as a rude shock. We know quite well that there had been postponement in the past, that is in 2011 and 2015. They should have decided on how to avoid this situation. INEC should have been guided by the experience and not allow it to repeat itself. Now, it repeated itself in a manner that causes embarrassment. The cost in term of work not done, sitting at home, and businesses shut down and on the social scale you cannot begin to enumerate the social dislocation as a result of what happened. In another Saturday, the economy will be shut down for another round of election which ought to have taken place.

    He added: “The reason given by INEC may not be enough, we would not cry took much over spilled milk, this matter will continue to gain currency even after the election, so thing ought to be done well.

    “Nigeria is a vast country, we have been clamouring for electronic voting, the clamour started when UPP was registered as a party. We pointed this anomaly as one of the things the electronic voting will help us overcome. But unfortunately even the current President who promised us, when he was first elected, the UPP paid him a visit and advised him on electronic voting. He acknowledged that the card reader largely contributed to his winning the election.

    “Unfortunately for whatever reason, he has not been able to implement it. I understand he refused to sign the amended electoral bill and the aspect of the constitution that would have electronic voting possible, now we are here in this situation.

    “Again, the international community and people at home have to understand that our democracy is still developing. But INEC should ensure that it does not repeat itself and the new date is not shifted. Everybody is disappointed including the international community.

    “INEC should give the election the attention it deserved, so that it may end up being the most credible election Nigeria ever had. That is the only way Prof. Mamood Yakubu can justify the shift, otherwise I will recommend they should prepare their resignation letter and hand it over.”

  • Senator hails Ahmed for stepping down for him

    The senator representing Kwara South, Dr Rafiu Ibrahim, has hailed the decision of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed to cede the senatorial ticket to him.

    This, he said, affirmed Ahmed’s reputation as an advocate of fairness, equity and inclusion.

    He also praised Senate President Bukola Saraki for granting the request by Ibolo leaders to cede the party’s Kwara South senatorial ticket to the zone.

    In a statement, Ibrahim expressed special gratitude to Saraki and Ahmed for granting the request of the leadership of Ibolo Division of Kwara South that the senatorial ticket be retained in the zone.

    The senator noted that Ekiti and Igbomina divisions of the senatorial district had produced senators who served two terms.

    He said: “The decision of Governor Ahmed to cede the senatorial ticket, following the pleas by Ibolo elders, is highly commendable; it has further affirmed his reputation as an advocate of fairness, equity and inclusion. This is indeed leadership by example.

    “I think it is also important I clarify that Governor Ahmed’s decision to relinquish the ticket has nothing to do with the November 17 by-election in Ekiti/Oke Ero/Isin/Irepodun Federal Constituency. The outcome of an election that was characterised by rigging, harassment and intimidation of voters could not have led the governor to withdraw from the senatorial race.

    “You will recall that last week, on the floor of the Senate, I raised concerns about the conduct of the poll and the use of security operatives by the Federal Government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to intimidate voters as well as harass members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    “It was on this basis the Senate directed its Committee on Police and National Intelligence to investigate the matter. I have no doubt that the PDP would have won the election, if it was conducted in a free, fair and credible manner.

     

     

     

     

  • Constituency projects: Senator fires back at Edo PDP chair

    Senate Deputy Whip, Senator Francis Alimikhena, yesterday asked Edo State chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Dan Orbih and the party’s senatorial candidate for Edo North, Abubakar Momoh, to wake up from “developmental blindness”

    Alimikhena who represents Edo North Senatorial District, said he was at a loss why Orbih and Momoh had been “in mental coma for the past three years.”

    He said the situation of the duo required an “urgent medical and spiritual attention for them to be delivered from developmental blindness.”

    Alimikhena stated this in reaction to the allegation of non performance leveled against him by Orbih and Momoh.

    The PDP chieftains specifically claimed that Alimikhena failed to execute any meaningful constituency projects in Edo North in the last three years has been in the Senate.

    Personal Assistant to Senator Alimikhena, Benjamin Atu, quoted the Edo lawmaker to have said that it was obvious that “Orbih and Momoh have not recovered from the shock of my achievements in just three years in office as Edo North Senator.”

    Alimikhena reminded the PDP chairman that he was “elected to serve and not to enrich himself as Orbih and Momoh have been doing.”

    The Senator assured that he will continue to “do the bidding of Edo North people in order to deepen the state of coma that Engineer Momoh and Dan Orbih have voluntarily found themselves.”

    He said that it was not surprising that the PDP chieftains were the only persons that have no eyes to see his “massive developmental projects across Edo North.”

    He appealed to Momoh to stop parading the list of dead people as those who he offered employment in his sixteen years in office without one standing project to his credit.

    Alimikhena said “I cannot stand to debate with Engineer Momoh. Momoh should go and face my projects and debate with my visible achievement and not me. I am concern about how to bring more development to Edo North and not to debate with those who have under developed our Afemai people. I have exceeded the expectations of PDP and my achievements have given them sleepless nights hence their public outcry.”

  • Senator alleges Yari plotting to destabilise polls in Zamfara

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum, Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa, yesterday said that Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari was plotting to use  armed youths to destabilise the 2019 elections in Zamfara State.

    Gov Yari last week announced the recruitment of 8,500 civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) members to checkmate killings and banditry  in Zamfara State.

    Marafa in a statement said that the recruitment of the members of the JTF was an after thought, after Yari’s inability to force his preferred governorship candidate on the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

    Marafa who represents Zamfara Central Senatorial District.

    He expressed shock that “Yari who had (allegedly) deliberately allowed banditry in the state to fester, and banned the activities of self-help groups (local vigilante), despite all pleas and suggestions from all well meaning people across the state, will come out to announce the recruitment of  8,500 youth at the twilight of his administration.”

    Marafa said, “From our finding around his political circle, Yari resorted to recruit the 8,500 youths solely to execute his plot to destabilise the 2019 elections in Zamfara State like he (allegedly) did during the aborted October 3rd primary election where six people were killed and many more wounded.

    “The recruitment is to cause mayhem, terrorise innocent voters and snatch election materials to actualise his desperate desire to hold unto power beyond 2019 by proxy.

    “Because of his abysmal performance in the state, initially Yari thought he would use federal might including security agencies to manipulate next year’s elections. However, with the decision of INEC not to receive any list from APC for Zamfara State, (following its inability to conduct primaries and agree on consensus) all  orchestrated by him, Yari has decided to arm innocent youth in the state to upturn people’s will come 2019, since his popularity cannot win him a ward in the state.”

    The lawmaker recalled that at the height of the killings and kidnappings in the state, “Yari abandoned the people and the state for Abuja in the name of national assignment, junketing from one hotel to the other, while our people are being killed and maimed mercilessly.”

    He urged President Muhammadu Buhari and security agencies to intervene and stop Yari from arming innocent youth in the state to advance his dead political ambition.

    He noted that the recruitment of the civilian JTF is Yari’s sole  idea and not the resolution of the state security council as he alleged.

    He said, “It’s the continuation of his idea to illegally create State Police.

    “He wants to turn our state into theatre of war as other politicians in the state will be forced to recruit theirs to defend themselves, their supporters and their votes. The Federal Government and all well meaning Nigerians should stop this now and call him to order.”

     

  • Court okays suit seeking trial of Senator, Fani-Kayode, over Kanu’s disappearance

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has given permission for the commencement of a suit seeking to compel the State Security Service (SSS) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to investigate and prosecute former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe and others over their alleged involvement in how Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) escaped from the country.

    Justice John Tsoho gave the permission yesterday after listening to applicant’s lawyer, Oghenovo Otemu, who moved a motion ex-parte for leave to commence an action for order of mandamus.

    The judge said he was convinced that the applicant, Isaiah Ayugu, could proceed to properly apply for the order sought.

    Justice Tsoho ordered Ayugu to file a motion on notice to that effect and serve the respondents before the next date of November 22 this year.

    Ayugu, in the ex-parte motion, said he was concerned about the turn of event and the damage the scandal about Kanu’s disappearance and the claim that the Nigerian sate was responsible have had on the nation’s image both at home and abroad.

    He listed the Director General of the SSS, the SSS, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the NPF as respondents in suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1254/18.

    Ayugu argued that by recent revelation that Kanu was in Israel, it was evident that Fani-Kayode, Abaribe, Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor and others, who had accused the Nigerian Army of being behind Kanu’s disappearance, knew about the IPOB leader’s escape from Nigeria.

    The plaintiff stated, in a supporting affidavit, “that the said Nnamdi Kanu, the so called self-acclaimed leader of IPOB, the group that has long been proscribed and designated a terrorist group, is alive and was seen in Israel from where he called a world press conference and made a live broadcast of his new and renewed agenda for his group.

    “In the broadcast, Kanu boasted that he will bring ‘hell to Nigeria.’ It is therefore clear that whilst Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, Femi Fani-Kayode, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Tochukwu Uchendu, Emmanuel Shallow Ben, Emmanuel Kanu, Uchechi Kanu, leaders of Afaraukwu community in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, the different civil liberty organisations and media practitioners and so many others too numerous to mention were making several dangerous claims that Nnamdi Kanu has been killed, abducted or being held by the Army, they were aware that he was actually out of the country, by their collective or respective assistance, from where he resurfaced in video clips of him praying in Israel and subsequent video broadcast.

    “Because Senator Abaribe took Nnamdi Kanu on bail, the case against Nnamdi Kanu has not seen the light of the day as Nnamdi Kanu has now jumped bail.”

    The plaintiff said he intended to apply for an order of mandamus mandating the respondents “to immediately investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Nnamdi Kanu from Nigeria when, in fact, the Nigerian Army was accused of abducting, arresting, kidnapping, killing and assassinating him.

    “An order mandating the respondents to prosecute all persons suspected or indicted of involvement in aiding Nnamdi Kanu to evade justice.

    “An order mandating the respondents to investigate and prosecute Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, Femi Fani-Kayode, Tochukwu Uchendu, Emmanuel Shallow Ben, Emmanuel Kanu, Ifeanyi Ejiofor and all those who worked together to propagate and spread the inciting lies and falsehood that Nnamdi Kanu was abducted, arrested, kidnapped, detained, killed and assassinated by the Nigerian military, when indeed they were well aware of Nnamdi Kanu’s whereabouts, because they played roles in helping Nnamdi Kanu disappear from Nigeria.”

     

  • Senator under fire for ‘saying Buhari’ll lose in Northeast’

    Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim came under fire yesterday for predicting a loss for President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progresives Congress (APC) in the Northeast in next year’s elections.

    His comment does not reflect the reality on ground and he is not speaking for Yobe State and the North east, a member of the House of Representatives, Goni Bukar Lawan, said.

    But Senator Ibrahim  denied the statements he reportedly made during the public presentation of his book as part of activities to mark his 70th birthday in Abuja at the weekend.

    A statement by his media aide Yusuf Ali, quoted Senator Ibrahim, a three-time Yobe State Goveror and three-time senator as saying: “The senator remains a progressive politician who does not encourage rigging and would never have made such a statement like ‘massive rigging will not save APC/Buhari, APC is worse than PDP etc’, after fighting so hard to save Nigeria from the PDP.”

    Rep. Lawan, chairman of the House Committee on Sports, told reporters after attending a meeting of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) in Lagos yesterday said:

    “I feel bad that I am constrained to react to the disturbing  comment of one of our leaders in Yobe State, His Excellency, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, who  is probably still unhappy with the outcome of the APC primaries because he lost the APC senatorial ticket to outgoing Governor Ibrahim Gaidam. I also didn’t get a ticket like the Senator but we all must make sacrifice for the APC; after all, the party has given us chances to be at the National Assembly. Senator Ibrahim’s wife, who is a minister, is the only member of the Federal Executive Council that succeeded in getting the APC’s ticket to contest election in 2019.

    “All other ministers failed in their bids for tickets. I think the Senator is one of the major beneficiaries of the APC. We must know that other people also need opportunities to serve our people. Senator Ibrahim saying that APC will lose in Yobe and the northeast is a joke.

    “Any  grassroots politician who is very conversant with political feelers in Yobe and neighboring Borno State can tell anyone that come 2019, the APC is coasting to overwhelming victory in these two states and insha’Allah, the whole of Northeast. The PDP is divided in both Borno and Yobe states while the APC is clearly the beautiful bride. So, how can anyone in all honesty raise doubts about the chances of APC in Yobe, Borno and the rest of the Northeast? “Our people are fully with President Muhammadu Buhari; no one can doubt this. Yobe and Borno are among the greatest beneficiaries of the APC because under the PDP, our major problem was the overwhelming attacks of Boko Haram.

    “The APC government of President Buhari is squarely fighting the Boko Haram. We are fully with our governors of Borno and Yobe and we are fully behind our governorship candidates Mala Mai Buni (Yobe) and Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum (Borno). We are behind all our national and state assembly candidates and by the grace of God, the APC will record resounding victory in the Northeast.

    “I think Senator Ibrahim needs to remember that he is an elder statesman and elders don’t just say anything in public.

    “Elders either speak wisely in public or they keep quiet” he said.

    The Statement by Senator Ibrahim reads:    ”The distinguished Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim has reacted to newspapers reports published and making the rounds in the social media sites that he is a loyal APC party member, a chieftain and an elder statesman. President Muhammadu Buhari is his president, he supported him as he will continue to support Buhari 2019 and even beyond.

    ”He mean no harm or to disparage the party which he fought so hard to build with other progressives element in 2015 to save Nigeria from drift and the decadence of the PDP.

    ”Many have given it different interpretations as it suit them, some quoted him out of context for political reasons. What he said is a wake up call for his party to work harder towards the next general elections to win overwhelmingly.

    ”I want to make it categorically clear that Sen Bukar did not say and will never say, “Mass rigging will not save APC/Buhari, APC is worse than PDP, PMB should not expect Votes from N/East, 2019 Dicey for PMB in N/East, etc as it’s been circulated in the media”.

     

  • Senator hails Buhari for road contract award

    Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West) has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for the approval of award of contract for the construction and rehabilitation of Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

    Reacting to the outcome of the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC’s) deliberation on Wednesday, where the council approved the award of N63.023billion contract for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Lagos-Badagry- Seme Border Expressway, Sen. Adeola said it was a commendable action on the part of the Federal Government, adding that it was determined to ameliorate the suffering of his constituents and other Nigerians.

    He said collapse of major roads over the years had caused commuters hardship and crippled businesses along the international land gateway to Nigeria.

    “Millions of my constituents, other Nigerians and foreigners plying this important international highway in Lagos spend gruelling hours in gridlock occasioned by the deplorable state of vast sections of the roads leading to Seme international border with Benin Republic.

    “Last year, I took my town hall meeting and empowerment programme to Badagry and we spent four and a half hours to reach Badagry from Ikeja for a journey of less than one and a half hours. I spent a night and a day to conclude what should ordinarily be a programme of less than three hours,” the senator said.

    He said the approval of the 46- kilometre road contract as announced by Minister of Works, Power and Housing Babatunde Fashola to include a 24- kilometre six lanes and 22- kilometre retaining the old four lanes would impact on the welfare of the people and business growth along the corridor.

    Adeola, the chairman of Senate Committee on Local Content,  added that with the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration undertaking the construction and rehabilitation under contract from the Eric Moore to Okokomaiko section, Nigeria, at the completion of the contract, would have fulfilled its part of the Lagos-Abidjan Highway project as agreed by the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS’) heads of state since 2013.

    He promised to keep a track on the progress of the contract for its complete execution, noting that in a bid to ameliorate people’s suffering on that axis of his humongous senatorial district, he facilitated the rehabilitation of Baale-Olodi Apapa Road (Boundary-Berger-Suya -Kirikiri Bridge) in the 2017 budget by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), as well as inclusion of rehabilitation of Gbagi-Owode Road in Badagry in the 2018 budget of FERMA.

     

  • Power Outrage: Discos worse than NEPA – Senator

  • Senator faults alleged asset declaration charge

    THE Senator representing Akwa Ibom, Bassey Albert Akpan, yesterday faulted the alleged refusal and neglect to declare assets charges filed against him by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property (SPIP).

    Akpan, in a statement, described the charges as “malicious and trump-up” and another political ploy by his detractors aimed at misleading the courts and Nigerians.

    He said the charges were fabricated to dent his name in the face of the present political realities.

    Akpan noted that the same panel had initially filed an application ex-parte to “forfeit my properties before Hon. Justice Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja and abandoned same after my lawyers filed a counter-affidavit deposing to the true state of facts”.

    He added that his lawyers filed that the properties sought to be forfeited were duly declared in June 2015, “when I assumed office as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

    He noted that it was curious that the same panel turned round to file “these malicious and non-existent charges before Hon. Justice Tsoho of the same Federal High Court as a face-saving measure/defence to my libel and defamation of character suit against the panel chairman, Okoi Obono-Obla.

    His case against Obono-Obla, he said, is pending before Justice Adeniyi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

    Apkan said the Constitution (as amended) mandates every public officer to declare his/her assets once within a period of four years, “which I have duly complied with as a law-abiding citizen since 2007, when I became a public officer”.

    He said SPIP had applied and obtained his assets declaration form from the Code of Conduct Bureau for their records.

    Apkan assured his supporters that he would never be detracted “by these desperate and panic measures aimed at intimidating and coercing me”.

  • Bamidele warns senator against using court to stop primary

    •Raji Rasaki’s wife threatens court action

    AN alleged plan by the Senator representing Ekiti Central in the National Assembly, Mrs. Fatimat Raji Rasaki, to use a court action stop the primary in the zone is causing tension in the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Mrs. Rasaki speaking during a radio programme in Ado-Ekiti threatened to drag the party to court on grounds that she was promised the party’s automatic ticket for the senatorial district.

     

    The senator accused the APC leadership of working against the alleged agreement she had with the national leadership before she defected five days before the July 14 governorship poll in the state.

    Mrs. Rasaki also alleged that the 2014 membership register would be used to conduct the National Assembly primaries.

    Mrs. Rasaki’s opponent in the primary, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, refuted her claim that she has been anointed to contest for the Ekiti Central seat unopposed maintaining that the senator is not a bona fide APC member.

    The former House of Representatives member said Mrs. Rasaki cannot lay claim to being an APC member since her letter informing the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki of her defection has not been officially read on the floor of the Senate.

    Addressing reporters yesterday at his Iyin-Ekiti country home while awaiting the APC Collation Officer to conduct the National Assembly primary, Bamidele warned Mrs. Raji Rasaki against desperation in the pursuit of her ambition.

    Bamidele said: “She started by saying that the leadership of the party promised her automatic ticket. In Ekiti APC, the only aspirant that will emerge by consensus is Prince Dayo Adeyeye in Ekiti South senatorial district.

    “If truly she has been adopted as the sole candidate, the party would not have cleared me for this primary. I procured the nomination form and I was duly screened by the party in Abuja, so this had clearly reduced her claim to a mere fallacy.

    “What is her relevance in APC? She joined this party on July 9 and in the July 14 governorship election, which Dr Kayode Fayemi won, she lost  her unit, ward and local government in Ado Ekiti while I was in contact with my people  from London hospital where I was hospitalized and won my unit, ward and local government for APC.

    “I was deprived of this ticket eight years ago and I was shot on June 1, 2018 while fighting for our party to win the governorship election.

    If there is anyone that deserved automatic ticket, I am the most qualified.

    “I am a candidate to beat any day, because I started this senatorial race eight years ago. Why would she be interested in automatic ticket?

    “Let Senator Rasaki subject herself to a primary for the first time. I have never heard of any ticket she won through credible process, either the one that took her to the House of Representatives or Senate.

    “But let me emphasize that she can only do this in PDP, but this is APC, a party that has respect for participatory democracy.

    “If everybody is being given automatic ticket, where would the people we are questing to represent stand in this matter?

    “Instead of coming to campaign in Ekiti to win the primary, she was busy pursuing automatic ticket around. Was this in line with the tenet of democracy?” Bamidele asked.

    Bamidele added that he was confident of getting the party’s ticket in the primary and go ahead to defeat the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti Central, Barrister Obafemi Adewale, in the 2019 general election.