Party
Ekiti governor: By-election violence perpetrators to face murder charges
Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti on Sunday said there is no wasting time in prosecuting those responsible for the killings during Saturday’s house of assembly bye-election for murder. He said this while on a sympathy visit to Omuo Ekiti, headquarters of Ekiti East LGA, where the incident occurred, that those arrested would be arraigned not later than Monday for murder. Newsmen report that while in the town, the governor visited the private home of Abiodun Olujimi, a PDP Senator representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, who was one of those who narrowly missed being hit by the bullets. He later held a closed-door meeting with the senator where he reportedly told her, after the latter had narrated her ordeal, that the issue at hand was not a political issue, promising that anyone arrested...
Ekiti by-election: Shot policewoman recuperating – CP
Contrary to the news making the rounds, that a policewoman lost her life during Saturday’s bloody poll, in Ekiti East Constituency 1, the Ekiti State Police Commissioner, Mr Babatunde Mobayo, has clarified that she is alive and responding to treatment. Mobayo said the Policewoman who was shot during Saturday’s House of Assembly bye-election, only sustained gunshot wounds and was immediately rushed to the hospital for medicare. Three persons were on Saturday shot dead by suspected party thugs while five others sustained gunshot wounds during the House of Assembly bye-election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state constituency. Speaking with journalists via telephone in Ado Ekiti, on Sunday, Mobayo, who responded through the Command’s spokesman, ASP S...
Polls open in Congo as main opposition party boycotts election
Polls have opened in the Republic of Congo’s presidential election that is boycotted by the main opposition party and attacked by critics as tilted toward veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso. Voting centres opened at 07:00 (06:00 GMT) and will close at 17:00 (16:00 GMT). More than 2.5 million voters have registered to take part in the election which Nguesso, 77, is widely expected to win against six contenders. The list of contenders is led by economist and 2016 presidential runner-up Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who was hospitalised on Saturday. Kolelas’ campaign did not say what illness had struck the 60-year-old but a family member told the Associated Press he had been diagnosed with coronavirus. Nguesso, a former paratrooper, first rose to power in 1979 and has since accumulated 36 years...
2023: Why South South should produce next president – Edo deputy governor, speaker
Deputy Governor of Edo state, Comrade Philip Shaibu, and Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Marcus Onabun, Saturday said the South-South geo-political zone is ripe to produce the next president of Nigeria and while calling on the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone its presidential candidate slot to the region. The two spoke at an event to celebrate the emergence of Chief Dan Orbih as the South-South national Vice Chairman of the party held at the Benin residence of late Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, Chief Tony Anenih. Shaibu said, “We voted for President Buhari again and he had a second term. South-South must produce the next President of Nigeria. “Chief Dan Orbih being National Vice Chairman South-South of the PDP from our state is not by m...
Justice Onnoghen: How ex-President Obasanjo saved me from conspiracy by some judges
File Photo Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has rated ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as a better listener than President Muhammadu Buhari. Speaking in Abuja at the book launch of Ogwu Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the former CJN said Obasanjo did not act based on falsehood. Buhari had in 2019 removed Onnoghen — weeks to the presidential election — over alleged failure to declare his assets and operating foreign accounts. He was thereafter convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and barred from holding public office for 10 years. At the event, Onnoghen said he was removed from office without being given the chance to defend himself, adding that he was never confronted with the allegations against him. Onnoghen recounted how a similar incid...
Southwest APC governors call for the re-evaluation of party’s constitution
Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has stressed the need for the continuous re-evaluation of the Constitution of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to reflect its democratic tendencies, where members practice and ensure internal democracy. Governor Abiodun, who stated this at the APC Constitution Review (South West Stakeholders Meeting) held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, noted that it was time to tinker with the Constitution to make the party more potent and acceptable to the people. He said, “It is important that we come together to appraise ourselves as members of this great party, and, even look critically at the structure of our party. This will give us the opportunity to evaluate the journey so far. It is a period of self-examination”. “In doing this, the Constitut...
2023: PDP panel throws presidential tickets open
File Photo Amidst thinking from many stakeholders that North-East and South-East geo-political zones that have had the shortest stints at the Presidency, should be given special consideration, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) panel has thrown open the 2023 presidential ticket. The governor of Bauchi state and Chairman, PDP 2019 election review committee, Bala Mohammed, gave this recommendation on Wednesday while submitting the report of the committee to the party leadership. The Governor said: “In line with certain unwritten conventions of the nation’s history, many people think that, for fairness and equity, the North East and South East geo-political zones that have had the shortest stints at the Presidency, should be given special consideration, in choosing the presidential flagbearer...
Grammy: Young Nigerians redefining global music space – APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated Nigerian Afrobeat star, Damini Ogulu popularly known as Burna Boy, and hip hop artist, Ayodeji Balogun musically known as Wizkid, for winning awards at the 63rd 2021 Grammys held in Los Angeles, United States of America. The National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, in a statement issued yesterday, said the awards crowned the efforts of Nigerian superstars such as Fela Anikulakpo Kuti and others, who were the main progenitors of Afrobeat/Afropop that has become the mainstream music all over the world. According to Akpanudoedehe, “As a party, we are immensely proud that the country’s musical stars are leading the pack of young Africans who are redefining the global music ...
Reps deputy speaker: Nigerians living abroad can’t submit petitions
The deputy speaker of the house of representatives, Idris Wase, has questioned the eligibility of Nigerians living abroad to submit petitions. Wase, who presided over plenary on Thursday, rejected a petition from “Mutual Union of the Tiv in America,” saying Nigerians in the diaspora do not “really know” the situation in Nigeria and thus are not eligible to file petitions. The petition, presented by Mark Terseer Gbillah, lawmaker representing Benue Gwer east/Gwer west federal constituency, accused the federal government of not resettling the Tiv people displaced from their ancestral land through various attacks. Thousands of Nigerians were reportedly displaced in the north-central region as a result of the farmer-herders crises. “I have a petition from the mutual union of the Tiv in America...
Chad president kicks off campaign for sixth term
President Idriss Deby of Chad kicked off his campaign for a sixth term on Saturday, calling for unity after rival protests were banned. The first rally since the start of the official election period on Thursday was held by Deby’s Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) at a packed stadium in the capital, N’Djamena. Deby, who has ruled for 30 years and is widely deemed a shoo-in for another term, said he had fought for national unity, while also drawing a line in the sand for his opponents. “People must know that democracy is not synonymous with disorder,” the incumbent warned. “Those who believe that should go elsewhere.” On Thursday, three opposition candidates quit the race ahead of the April 11 ballot with one of them — Mahamat Yosko Brahim — saying the climate was “not favourable for fair ...
PDP advises federal government against increasing pump price of petrol
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday advised the Federal Government against increasing pump price of petrol. The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja said any contemplation to increase pump price of petrol to N212 would worsen the economic and social situations of Nigerians. This was in reaction to a debunk report that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulation Agency (PPPRA) on Thursday night released a template that a litre of fuel would now be sold for prices ranging from N209 to N212 per litre for March. Ologbondiyan said that the N212 per liter reportedly contemplated in the March pricing template was not in the best interest of Nigerians. “It is a barefaced fact that there is no way that Nigerians can survive such hike in fue...
Rumble in Edo as governor runs government without cabinet
Precisely 129 days into his second tenure as governor of Edo State after his election on September 20, 2020 and inauguration on November 12, 2020, Godwin Obaseki, has not formed his cabinet. This has generated some flaks from different quarters, including the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), constitutional lawyers, political analysts, public commentators, residents among others. While others feel that Obaseki has not committed any crime or breached any law, others believe that he is running a one-man administration and must go ahead to form his cabinet. They argued that going by Section 192 of the 1999 Constitution, the governor is obliged to form a cabinet, saying this is a circumvention, which the state House of Assembly should take action on. Obaseki had said that his ...