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NDDC: THE HYENAS AND JACKALS ONCE MORE GATHER – II

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Dear Aruviere Martin Egharhevwa, BLAME Sen. OVIE OMO-AGEGE FOR HIS UNFORTUNATE ELECTION WOES IN THE JUST CONCLUDED GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION AND NOT LAURETTA ONOCHIE, CAIRO OJOUGBOH, IYKE ODIKPO, AND VICTOR OCHEI.

NDDC: THE HYENAS AND JACKALS ONCE MORE GATHER – II

 

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Dr Uche Diala

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sahara Weekly Reports – Like I noted in part one of this series, when you fight corruption and indiscipline, they both fight back ferociously. This would not be far from what is playing out currently at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and well-meaning Niger Deltans and Nigerians can ill afford to keep quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

NDDC: THE HYENAS AND JACKALS ONCE MORE GATHER - II

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is obvious that certain individuals and vested interests are doing everything to ensure that the commission does not depart from its old ways and that the aims and intentions of the new Chairman of the Governing Board which to enthrone probity, accountability, due process and efficient service delivery to the people of the region are scuttled. To achieve that, these individuals and vested interests within and around the NDDC have orchestrated and deployed all manners of mischief and underhand tactics.

 

In the part one, I wrote about the procured court judgment which among other things purportedly barred the Chairman of the Board from interfering in the legal functions of the Managing Director of the Commission and sacking “18 Aides” allegedly contracted by the Chairman. In this installment, I shall deeply scrutinize that court judgment and expose the folly and mischief it is enabling for Niger Deltans and Nigerians to see.

 

It would be recalled that a certain Dr Mike Oberabor had approached the Federal High Court, Warri, presided over by Hon. Justice Okon E. Abang in a suit marked FHC/WR/CS/14/2023, “on behalf of himself and on behalf of the Oberabor Oreme-Egbede families of Olomoro Community in Isoko South local community of Delta State”,. The suit was “seeking an interpretation of the NDDC Act, 2000 and other relevant statute and documents relating to the running of the commission’’. It had the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Chairman of its Governing Board, Mrs Lauretta Onochie and its Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogboku as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants respectively.

 

From the Certified True Copy of the Judgment delivered on Tuesday, 9th May 2023, Justice Abang while stating that; “having considered the relevant provisions of the NDDC Establishment Act, 2000 ..’’, “the circular issued by the presidency on revised frequency of meeting for part time members of government committees, Boards of Federal Agencies, Statutory Corporations and government owned companies”, “the circular issued by office of the Accountant General of the Federation dated 16/1/23 on the subject matter of dispute between parties,” and “that the unilateral decision of the 2nd Defendant (Mrs. Lauretta Onochie) to appoint 18 aides in her office, the demand for an executive office in the commission are in contravention (of) relevant provisions of NDDC Act, the circulars released by Federal Government on the subject matter of the Plaintiff’s claims,” granted the Plaintiff’s claims and ordered as follows:

 

“It is hereby adjudged, ordered and declared as follows:

 

“1. That the 3rd Defendant as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission is the person statutorily empowered by the NDDC ACT to perform and wield the executive functions, powers and day to day running and management of the Commission to the exclusion of other members of the Board of the NDDC including the 2nd Defendant herein”.

 

“2. That all actions of the 2nd Defendant including but not limited to the appointment of her personal aides carried out in exercise of executive functions and powers in the Niger Delta Development Commission since her assumption of duty on the 4th day of January, 2023 are ultra vires her powers and therefore null and void and of no effect whatsoever”.

 

“3. That the 2nd Defendant (Mrs Lauretta Onochie) is restrained from carrying out and/or exercising any executive functions and powers in the Niger Delta Development Commission, the 1st Defendant (NDDC) herein.

 

“4. The 2nd Defendant is further restrained from interfering with the 3rd Defendant’s (Managing Director’s) executive functions, powers and day to day running and management of Niger Delta Development Commission the 1st Defendant herein.”

 

Firstly, I will not spend precious time dwelling on the person of the plaintiff, Dr Mike Oberabor, his qualification for bringing the suit, his real motive in meddling in what are internal affairs of the Commission as well as whose interest he is actually representing, especially seeing as all the prayers and reliefs sought in the suit and granted in the judgment are skewed in favor of the Managing Director, who is currently battling the chairman of the governing board and who himself was a co-defendant in the suit. Is it a case of the biblical ‘hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob’? Time will tell.

 

However, as erudite lawyer and anti-corruption activist, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla put it: “He (the plaintiff) is not qualified to bring a suit against the defendants. He has no locus standi because his community whom he is purporting to represent in Delta State is not the only community in the nine Niger Delta States of Delta, Imo, Abia, Akwa, Ibom, Ondo, Rivers, Cross River and Bayelsa States.”

 

Chief Obon-Obla goes further to say that; “The reliefs granted by the Court are unobtainable because by section 24 (1) of the NDDC Act, the honorable Chairman and Board members are public officers protected by the provisions of the Public Officers Protection Act”.

Furthermore, he opined that “the suit (by Dr Oberabor) by section 24 (2) (a) & (b) of the NDCC Act was time barred. Indeed, Section 24 (1) – (2) (a) & (b) of Niger-Delta Development Commission (Establishment etc) Act state as follows:

24. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the provisions of the Public Officers Protection Act shall apply in relation to any suit instituted against any officer or employee of the Commission.

 

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law or enactment, no suit shall lie against any member of the Board, the Managing Director or any other officer or employee of the Commission for any act done in pursuance or execution of this Act or any other law or enactment, or of any public duty or authority or in respect of any alleged neglect or default in the execution of this Act or such law or enactment, duty or authority, shall lie or be instituted in any court unless:

 

(a) it is commenced within three months next after the act, neglect or default complained of; or

 

(b) in the case of a continuation of damage or injury, within six months next after the ceasing thereof.

 

It is curious to note that the presiding judge did not take the above facts contained in the same NDDC Act into consideration.

 

Secondly, I will not dwell anymore on the allegation of appointment of “18 personal aides” by the Chairman of the Board which I debunked in part one as that has been proven to be false and malicious. Even the NDDC Board has strongly and officially debunked that claim. Therefore, the court could not have nullified or voided something that never existed. I still wonder why and how the Court accepted that as true without verified evidence or proof of such.

 

Thirdly, it is very important to state here that there is no arguing the fact that the Managing Director is statutorily empowered by the NDDC Act to perform and wield the executive functions, powers and day to day to running and management of the NDDC as stated in the court judgment.

 

Indeed, Section 12 (1) (b) of the NDDC Act states that “the Managing Director shall be the chief executive and accounting officer of the Commission”. However those powers are neither absolute nor without oversight, checks and balances. Those powers are “… subject to the general direction of the Board …” as stipulated by the NDDC Act, Section 12 (2).

 

Section 12 (2) states that: The Managing Director shall, subject to the general direction of the Board, be responsible:-

 

(a) For the day to day administration of the Commission;

(b) For keeping the books and Proper records of the proceedings of the Board, and

(c) For –

 

(i) The administration of the secretariat of the Board, and

(ii) The general direction and control of all other employees of the Commission.

 

It is therefore as curious as it is disappointing to read the Judge reduce the position and duties of the Chairman of the board of the NDDC to merely overseeing and presiding over meetings of the board thus: “The court having considered the relevant provisions of the NDDC ACT to the effect that appointment as the Chairman of the board of the 1st Defendant on part time basis is to oversee and preside over the meetings of the board,”.

 

Indeed this brings to fore the questions I asked in part one of this series as to what exact executive functions or powers of the Managing Director have been usurped by the Chairman Governing Board since January 4, 2023 when they all assumed office?

 

Does the Chairman insisting that due processes must be followed in the running of the affairs of the Commission, that transparency, probity and accountability must be the watch words, that multiple accounts maintained in the name of the Commission, some shrouded in secrecy must be accounted for and that the NDDC must be made to work for the common good of the generality of the people of the Niger Delta and Nigerians at large constitute interference or usurpation of the powers of the Managing Director to oversee day to day running of the Commission?

 

If anyone, it is the management led by the Managing Director that usurped the powers of the Governing board by reportedly signing a $15b Memorandum of Understanding on a rail project with neither the knowledge of the Chairman nor the consent and approval of the board.

 

For avoidance of doubt and for proper information of Niger Deltans and Nigerians, Section 8 of the NDDC Act expressly states that: (Please pay attention to 8 (e)).

 

8. The Board shall have power to:-

(a) Manage and supervise affairs of the Commission.

(b) Make rules and regulations for carrying out the functions of the Commission.

(c) Enter and inspect premises, projects and such places as may be necessary for the purposes of carrying out its functions under this Act.

(d) Pay the staff of the Commission such remuneration and allowances as appropriate.

(e) Enter into such contracts as may be necessary or expedient for the discharge of its functions and ensure the efficient performance of the functions of the Commission.

(f) Do such other things as are necessary and expedient for the efficient performance of the functions of the Commission.

 

I have heard talk from some people of the Chairman demanding that she be made a signatory to the NDDC account, suggesting that such is wrong and the cause of the ‘rofo rofo’ fight. While I do not hold brief for the chairman and cannot speak to the veracity or otherwise of that claim, I do not see anything in the NDDC Act that prohibits such or makes it illegal and why the Managing Director or anyone should have a problem with that, except some person(s) has something to hide. Indeed, in my humble and objective view, that would be in line with the spirit and letter of the Act establishing the NDDC.

 

Section 14, (3) (a) and (b) (pay particular attention to 14(3a) of the NDDC Act 2000 under “Financial Provisions”, dealing with funds accruable to the commission provides thus:

 

14 (3) The fund shall be managed in accordance with the rules made by the Board, and without prejudice to the generality of the power to make rules under this subsection, the rules shall in particular contain provisions –

 

(a) Specifying the manner in which the assets or the fund of the Commission are to be held, and regulating the making of payments into and out of the fund; and

 

(b) Requiring the keeping of proper accounts and records for the purpose of the fund in such form as may be specified in the rules.

 

Therefore, if the Chairman of the Board for reasons we all know are altruistic decides that she should also be a signatory to the account(s) of the Commission, there is absolutely nothing wrong or illegal about that in my view. Indeed the NDDC Act supports that as I have shown above. The fact that past Chairmen of the Governing Board may have been less than interested or thorough should not make that an acceptable norm.

 

I have taken the pain to go through this in detail to help fellow Nigerians to see the facts and separate them from fiction. What is going on at the NDDC is nothing but trying to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it with some people trying to emotionally blackmail, intimidate and malign the Chairman of the Governing board who from the get go has left no one in doubt as to her intention and her determination that the NDDC is made to work for the generality of the good people of Niger Delta and Nigeria at large.

 

As I wrote in part one, part of their gimmick is to present the Chairman before her employer, Niger Deltans and Nigerians as the agent provocateur and a disagreeable person who does not want the Agency to function and as someone who is equally tainted and hopefully by so doing mobilize public sentiments and opinion against her, using the media and their well-oiled and financed propaganda machinery. That must not be allowed to happen.

 

In closing, I reiterate my call for the Presidency and the National Assembly to stand resolutely behind the Chairman of the Governing board, Mrs Lauretta Onochie.

 

I equally expect the governors and indigenes of NDDC member states to rise up in defense of this woman who is determined to fight for them. It is our interest that is at stake.

 

Finally, I respectfully call on the entire Board and management of the Commission to realize that it is the lives and welfare of the long suffering people of the Niger Delta that they represent that are at stake. It is time to bury the ego alongside the hatchet and cooperate with the Chairman of the Governing board for the good of the commission, the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large.

 

©️ Uche Diala

 

druchediala@gmail.com

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Nigeria: The Changing Governance Story

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Nigeria: The Changing Governance Story

Today, however, Nigeria is home to the largest single-train refinery in the world, with the capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude per day

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Nigeria: The Changing Governance Story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Temitope Ajayi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sahara Weekly Reports That Tracking many stories of remarkable progress currently taking place in Nigeria can be a challenging task. This is so because these important stories are lost to some who daily indulge in the cacophony of adverse reports. These negative news often dominates the headlines.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: The Changing Governance Story

 

 

 

 

 

With a 24-hour news cycle that tends to focus mainly on distasteful narratives, several Nigerians have been made to accept the view that nothing good is happening in their country.

Those who rely on the mainstream media and social media as the only sources of news and information they consume are the worst hit by the cycle of misinformation that portrays our country as descending rapidly to the edge of the precipice. However, the reality is different: the country is making progress in leaps and bounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Late Swedish physician and Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute, Hans Rosling, his son, Ola Rosling, and daughter-in-law, Anna Rosling, extensively dwell on this subject in “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think,” a book published in 2018. In the book, the authors demonstrate that most people are made to hold the wrong notion about the state of the world because the media project data, analyse trends and select stories to make people assume that things are getting worse around them. The authors assert that a majority of people view the world as poorer, less healthy, and a more dangerous place to live in than it actually is. In other words, many people believe they are living in a worse period in the history of mankind because of misinformation.

 

The same situation the Roslings describe in their book is at play in Nigeria, where individuals, interest groups, activists, analysts, self-serving politicians, and opposition elements constantly project and amplify negative stories.

It is as if we are in a race with those who can say the most horrible things about our country. Yet, we have an abundance of good stories to tell the world. We seem so numb to the good news that we are dismissive of breakthroughs and innovative trends. For instance, we downplay the significance of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and its possibilities to reflate the economy.

 

Many people forgot so soon that we had been importing petroleum products for over three decades because the state-owned refineries are moribund. Our national economy bled, and the country was in a fiscal cul-de-sac for those years as a result of subsidy payments on petroleum products.

 

Today, however, Nigeria is home to the largest single-train refinery in the world, with the capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude per day. Cynics do not see this as a breakthrough.

 

Nigerians who are 60 years old and below started seeing modern rail infrastructure in 2016 when the All Progressives Congress-led administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the standard gauge rail system, beginning with the Abuja-Kaduna route, later Lagos-Ibadan and then the Warri-Itakpe.

 

The national rail modernisation project is progressing with Kano-Katsina-Maradi and Kano-Kaduna standard gauge rail projects at different stages of completion. The contractor working on the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge recently announced the completion of the Port Harcourt-Aba section. While the Federal Government is rallying stakeholders to promote economic integration across the country, the Lagos State Government recently launched two metro rail lines -Blue and Red Rail lines – as part of the state’s elaborate master plan to build a modern and efficient megacity. Like Lagos State, there are visible signs of remarkable, quantifiable progress in several other states, including Kaduna, Kano, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Kebbi, Borno, Gombe, Oyo, Ekiti and Ogun, among others.

 

A few weeks ago, the President Bola Tinubu-led administration embarked on the construction of the 700 kilometres Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway that will connect nine coastal states in another bold move to bolster economic growth further and open up the country to productive economic activities.

 

While it may be very easy for critics and other armchair analysts to ignore these developments and their significance to remaking Nigeria, there is no gainsaying that these projects and many more that are ongoing or about to be instituted across critical sectors are the core of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. Indeed, it is hard to process why the so-called critics and cynics can not see the Lagos-Calabar Highway project as a clear demonstration of the President’s commitment to harnessing the potential of our renascent Blue Economy.

 

Despite what is bandied by the most vociferous critics

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PDP: How Primate Ayodele’s Prophecy Exposed Ex-Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike (VIDEO)

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Primate Ayodele’s Fulfilled Prophecies On Venezuela, Naira Fall, Plane Crash, Others

*PDP: How Primate Ayodele’s Prophecy Exposed Ex-Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike (VIDEO)

 

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The national executive council (NEC) meeting of the People Democratic Party (PDP) that held yesterday further cemented the strength of the former governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike and his G-5 group in the party despite the fact that they all worked against the candidate of the party during the 2023 presidential election.

Before the NEC meeting, many political analyst and commentators had predicted that Nyesom Wike, who is a serving minister under the current APC administration will not be admitted into the meeting because of his political affiliations and support for an opposition party but they were all caught by surprise yesterday when the former Rivers state governor was graciously admitted into the meeting.

It became more surprising that Wike’s ally, Umar Damagum was allowed to continue his rule as the acting national chairman of the party despite calls from different sections of the party that he had to step down. All of these only indicate that Nyesom Wike, in spite of his moves against PDP, still has so many grips on the party.

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Interestingly, the actions of Nyesom Wike have all been foretold by Nigerian prophet, Primate Elijah Ayodele who has been warning PDP stakeholders to put their house in order. In 2023, the man of God warned that the party will be destroyed by a force and that the party will be separated. He mentioned that Wike has a strategy and he will try his best to install the next chairman of the party because he has an ambition to become the president of Nigeria.

These were his words:

‘’There is a force ready to destroy PDP, if the party doesn’t rise to these big challenges, the party will be separated. One party will go to another party and that will be very tough. PDP should put their house together. Wike has a strategy because he still aims to become a president in Nigeria and is still willing to take over the party. He has not relent in his efforts of becoming president and is ready to hold PDP…..He will want to install the next chairman of PDP and this will begin to cause friction in the party. PDP must watch this’’

@primateayodele

#pdp #wike #nyesomwike #saraki #seyimakinde #pdp #umarilliyea #bukolasaraki #okowa #atiku #atikuabubakar #bala #governorsforum #ngf #primateayodele #iescworldwide

♬ original sound – Primate Ayodele

It is worthy of note that Primate Ayodele has been warning PDP to be wary of Wike’s grievances since 2022. Long before the formation of G-5 governors, Primate Ayodele warned that five governors including Nyesom Wike will work against PDP in the presidential election. He advised the party’s candidate and leadership to ensure the former governor doesn’t leave the party because it will cause jeopardy.

‘’PDP should not allow Wike to leave because if he leaves, the chances of the party in the presidential election will be jeopardized. What Wike is dragging can cause PDP so much that Atiku should try to adjust, and this is not about dominating.

‘’If PDP does not settle its crisis, the party will go into oblivion after 2023; Atiku should consult God, technocrats, and those that love him; otherwise, this Wike’s crisis can sink PDP.’’

Atiku vs Wike: PDP’ll lose presidency, sink into oblivion if Rivers gov leaves – Primate Ayodele

Till today, the crisis the party is experiencing is basically because of the withdrawal of support by Nyesom Wike. The party is currently going into oblivion due to the grievances of Nyesom Wike and the G-5 group. Primate Ayodele’s prophecies already exposed these plans but sadly, the party’s leadership didn’t listen.

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Don’t desecrate the courts while fighting corruption, anti-graft CSOs caution EFCC, others

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Don’t desecrate the courts while fighting corruption, anti-graft CSOs caution EFCC, others

. Say ‘rush to arrest ex-Kogi Gov despite pending Appeal Court hearing suggests political persecution’

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. Warn against ‘breaking a law to enforce another’

 

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Anti-Corruption Civil Society Organisations have advised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission not to desecrate the courts in the course of carrying out its constitutional role of fighting corruption.

The CSOs and human rights crusaders cautioned the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies against trampling on the rights of supposed suspects of corruption in order to avoid breaking a law to enforce another law.

The activists, who spoke at an emergency press briefing in Lagos on Thursday, noted specifically that the recent public face-off between the EFCC and a former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello in Abuja, was “both unnecessary and unfortunate.”

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The Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), who addressed the press, suggested that the rush
by the EFCC to make an arrest, when the Court of Appeal hearing on its application to vacate the restraining order was just in a few days, might give credence to allegations of political persecution.

“Mr. Olukoyede is my friend. But if he begins to trample on the rule of law, then that’s the terminal point of our friendship,” Adeniran said.

The CSOs noted that the EFCC’s action on Wednesday was “tantamount to the agency preempting the outcome of its appeal and also violating a subsisting and valid court order to pause action pending the determination of the case before it.”

“Our layman’s understanding is that a Court of coordinate jurisdiction cannot assume superiority over another,” they noted.

Gbenga Soloki of the Centre Against Injustice and Domestic Violence, who also spoke, said civil societies in Nigeria would protest vehemently against any attempt to use the military to arrest an individual who had not been accused of treason.

“It is extremely disappointing to hear this afternoon that EFCC is threatening to involve the military in their desperation to forcefully or violently arrest an individual who has not been alleged of treason.

“Should that happen, we will be a laughing stock globally. Civil society will be active in protesting against such unforgivable infraction on our democracy should it happen as threatened. It should better not happen,” he said.

Adeniran stated, “We do not consider Yahaya Bello a saint, but even the devil deserves his rights under the law. Court documents at our disposal show that the former Governor had obtained a High Court restraining order on the EFCC not to arrest or prosecute him pending the determination of a case of the enforcement of his fundamental human rights, which the Commission has rightfully appealed with the intention of vacating.

“The Commission has done very well up to this point following the due processes of law because without vacating that order, it cannot proceed with arresting the suspect.

“According to available court documents, hearing on the appeal has been slated to come up on Monday April 22nd in Abuja. However, suddenly yesterday (Wednesday) the news of the foiled arrest of the former Governor by the Commission went viral. One would have expected the Commission to wait for the determination of its own appeal before going after the suspect.

“We think it is an abuse of court processes to ignore a court order still on appeal at the instance of the Commission and to obtain a warrant of arrest from another court on the same suspect.”

The CSOs urged the EFCC to fight, prevent and prosecute corruption cases strictly within the ambit of the law set up to regulate the interaction between them and corruption suspects.

They noted that laws, including the Nigerian criminal justice system regulations and court processes, were meant to be obeyed non-selectively by both state and non-state actors.

The CSOs recalled that when the current Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, came on board last year, one of his promises was to operate strictly within the rule of law.

“For those who are likely to misinterpret this intervention as it is their regular trademark, this goes beyond Yahaya Bello. Injustice to anyone should not be allowed to stand because it may be your turn tomorrow,” they noted.

The activists therefore urged the EFCC to revert to status quo antebellum pending the determination of its appeal and a vacation of the restraining order placed on it, saying “that is the way and dictate of the law.”

The press conference was attended by Comrades Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership CACOL); Sina Loremikan, (Campaign Against Impunity); Declan Ihekhaire, (Activists for Good Governance); Gbenga Soloki, CADOV; Ochiaga Ohaneze, (Ohaneze Youth Council); Funmi Jolade, (Women Democratic Vanguard); Kola Abe, (Centre for Socioeconomic Rights); Ologun Ayodeji, (Transparency and Accountability Group); Femi Lawson, (Centre for Public Accountability) and Gbenga Ganzallo (Media Rights Campaign), among others.

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