Category: Politics

The All progressive Congress chairmanship candidate, Kelechi Okorie, in the last Ebonyi local council polls conducted on Saturday has rejected the result of the polls for Ivo Local government area.

Okorie alleged that the poll was marred by massive electoral fraud in the place.

A statement by his Personal Assistant on Media and Publicity, Prince Williams Ajah, alleged that during the polls an attempt was made on his life at Akaeze community by hoodlums numbering about 15.

It said the attack was carried out when Okorie resisted the stuffing of an electoral box with over 200 hundred thumb-printed ballot papers by a member of the PDP.

“This led to a violent confrontation between the two political parties loyalists; and the hoodlums who were already stationed close by immediately descended on me.

“They attacked me with all kinds of weapons including machetes, clubs, rods, stones etc. I narrowly escaped being killed in my Toyota Camry car which was smashed and shattered beyond recognition.

“As long as we are concerned the election was fraught with so many irregularities despite the assurances and directives of the state Governor, Chief David Umahi, that all political parties and candidates in the election be given a level playing ground.

“However, we wish to use this medium to call on our teeming supporters in Ivo LGA to sheath their swords and remain calm as we are exploring every avenue within the ambit of the law to ensure justice is done.

“Our legal team has also been mobilised, and appropriate legal actions are being taken to redress the matter,” he said.

According to the statement, Okorie is recuperating from the trauma at an undisclosed hospital outside the state.

In a reaction, Mr Onyekachi Nwebonyi, Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Ebonyi, described the allegations as baseless and unfounded.

He said, “PDP in the state is a peaceful party and could not have indulged in such act.

“The local government election was free, fair and credible. The candidate in question should re-examine the situation and stop blaming anyone for his failure.”

(NAN)

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari, to reveal his health status to Nigerians.

Soyinka said this while speaking to journalists in Lagos on Friday.

The renowned author and public speaker, also stated that the current speculations about the president’s health is, “unnecessary.”

“Why is the president hiding his state of health? He’s supposed to understand he’s public property, me I’m still private property, that’s why I’m not in Aso Rock.

“Once you are in Aso Rock, or you occupy a similar position, you have a responsibility to come out frankly to your citizens.

“Guarding your state of health like Donald Trump is guarding his tax returns is not what we expect from a Nigerian president.

“Let him address the nation and stop all these speculations which creates unnecessary political manipulations among other things,” he said.

Buhari on Friday, failed to attend the Jummat prayer in Aso Villa, after failing to convene the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting for the third consecutive week .

President Muhammadu Buhari was on Friday absent at the Juma’at service held inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The President has been joining Muslim faithful for the prayers inside a mosque near his office since he stopped attending the service at the National Mosque, Abuja.

Three state governors who apparently planned to join Buhari for the prayers were however present.

The governors who attended the prayer session included Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara); and Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano).

The governors had on Thursday joined their colleagues for a meeting of the National Economic Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

No official reason has been given for Buhari’s absence at the prayer session at the time of filing this report.

It will, however, be recalled that the Presidency had on Thursday said as eager as the President wanted to be up and about, his doctors have advised him to take things slowly.

In the statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency, however, assured Nigerians that there is no need for apprehension over the state of health of the President.

While saying that the President himself on his return to the country made Nigerians aware of the state of his health while he was in London, Shehu said full recovery is sometimes a slow process, requiring periods of rest and relaxation, as the Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, intimated in his press briefing after the FEC meeting on Wednesday.

He added, “Despite his lack of visibility, Nigerians should rest assured that President Buhari has not abdicated his role as Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria. He receives daily briefings on the activities of government and confers regularly with his Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

“His private residence, in which he has been spending the majority of his time recently, also has a fully equipped office.

“God is the giver of life and health. We are grateful that He has seen our President through the worst period of his convalescence in London.

“We are thankful that the President has passed a number of benchmarks already. We pray that God continues to see him through this period of recuperation.”

The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, on Thursday revealed that the agency has recovered about N17bn through the instrumentality of the whistle blowing policy.

Magu made the disclosure during a paper presentation titled “Before Corruption Kills Nigeria,” at the 62nd Award Night of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, held at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotels, Abuja.

Presenting the paper on his behalf by Dr A. Bello, the anti-graft agency Czar said, “Apart from several other recoveries running into several billions of naira, the recent whistle-blower policy, has led to the recovery of N521,815,000, $53,272,747, £122,890, and €547,730 by the EFCC.”

He further reiterated the Commission’s commitment to combating corruption, stressing that the battle against corruption can only be won through the help of the media.

“The EFCC is committed to pursuing its statutory mandate and to rescue the Nigerian state and its people from being killed by corruption. We call on the Media and well meaning Nigerians to join us in this crusade. With the government and people of Nigeria behind the EFCC, we shall surely be victorious,” he added

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima,in a book titled, ‘Against the Run of Play,’ written by the Chairman, Editorial Board of ThisDay, Olusegun Adeniyi,  lamented that Jonathan was not committed to the efforts to fight Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.

Shettima said out of the 13 meetings he had with Jonathan on the Boko Haram terrorism, only one was initiated by the latter.

“All the others were at my seeking appointments to see him and on some occasions, it took several weeks for such requests to be granted. There was a belief around President Jonathan that the whole Boko Haram crisis was orchestrated to undermine him and his administration and because of that, there was no interest in resolving the problem,” he added.

The governor alleged that Jonathan ‘marked’ him for pushing for the meetings and allegedly planned to remove him and the two other governors in the North-East.

Shettima said, “He particularly wanted to remove me….I heard that his Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, said there was nowhere in the constitution where the President had the power to remove a governor. In fact, I was told that President Jonathan reportedly interjected by asking, ‘How come President Obasanjo removed Governor Joshua Dariye?’ to which he was reminded that the Dariye aberration had been declared illegal by the Supreme Court.”

Ex President Goodluck Jonathan has said there is no bone of contention between him and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaehi.

Rather, Jonathan stated that Amaechi had a problem with his wife, Patience, which he (Jonathan) tried in vain to resolve.

Jonathan disclosed this in a book titled, ‘Against the Run of Play,’ written by the Chairman, Editorial Board of ThisDay, Olusegun Adeniyi.

“Jonathan told me that Amaechi’s problem was not with him but rather with his wife and that, at a point, he tried to reconcile them,” the book stated.

While Amaechi admitted that he was at loggerheads with Patience, he said Jonathan was not saying the whole truth, noting that there were also disagreements between him and Jonathan, during the latter’s era as the President.

The ex-Rivers State governor attributed the cause of his grudge with Jonathan to illegal and excess deduction from the federation account by the former president.

He said, “I could not surrender my mandate to a woman (Patience) in Abuja, even if such a person was the wife of the President…that basically was my sin with Dame Patience Jonathan.

“If in one year, you took about N300bn from the federation account to pay for subsidy and the next year, you are taking almost N2tn for the same thing when fundamentals had not changed, then serious questions should be asked.

“And as NGF (Nigerian Governors Forum) chairman, it was my responsibility to ask those questions and Jonathan took them personal.”