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A Former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede, on Monday won the Primaries to bear the Peoples Democratic Party’s flag in the forthcoming governorship election in the state. The Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, scored 760 votes to beat Saka Lawal, his only rival, who scored only 22 votes. Jegede, who has been tagged governor Olusegun Mimiko’s anointed candidate has generated a lot of controversies since declaring to run for the state’s number one seat. Both Mimiko and Jegede are from Ondo Central senatorial district, Akure.

The Former President, Goodluck Jonathan has again denied allegations that he is sponsoring the Niger Delta Avengers. The former President said this in a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, yesterday. Some national newspapers had quoted a presidency source stating that a new report had linked Jonathan to the militant group and that the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government had begun probing the former president. In his response however, Jonathan said that reports in the media against him are being sponsored by those who feel intimidated by his rising profile in Nigeria and abroad. The ex-President said, "It is sad that the two publications wore the cloak of deceit from the same misguided characters that are hell-bent on pulling down the former President, despite his clear record of diligent service to his country and long standing commitment to the good of society. "There is no doubt that there exists such people who may have scores to settle with th...

Over 4000 PDP members have defected to APC in Egor local government area in Edo state. At the defection ceremony which happened yesterday, leader of the defectors, Promise Igbinevbo, said they were tired of PDP's deceptive ways. “We are here to bury PDP today. We were deceived by some political leaders of the PDP all these years. Today, they call them new PDP but I realized that old PDP remains. I later realized that they are like the leopard which doesn’t change its skin. PDP leaders are conservatives. PDP leaders cry for their parochial interest alone to the detriment of their followers. I have wiped off my tears because of the belief that I have in democracy. In democracy, it is said that the minority will have their say while the majority will have their way. Today, the majority are having their way from the PDP to APC. I want to let you know that I, my chairmen here, women leaders and all executives are members of PDP across Egor Local Government Area that we are here t...

This is a post by Mr. Femi Fani Kayode. Please read on… When I warned the Nigerian people about what the APC represented and that, if given power, they would be the most reactionary, repressive, vindictive, insensitive, vicious, thin-skinned, paranoid, divisive and, worse of all, incompetent government in the history of Nigeria no-one listened. When I told the people that the leaders of the APC were not only unfit to hold power but  that they were also Nigeria’s local equivalent to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood no-one listened. When I warned the people that their initial plan was to field a Muslim/Muslim ticket for the 2015 presidential election (until public outrage killed the idea) no-one listened. When I warned our people about the limitations of President Muhammadu Buhari and what he would do if trusted with power no-one listened. When I warned the PDP leadership and particularly our PDP governors and Board of Trustee members about the dangers of making Ali Modu Sheriff...

Two cabinet members of the Ondo state government have defected to the All Progressive Congress, The Nation reports. The state's Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperative Services Mrs Yetunde Adeyanju on Tuesday resigned her appointment and announced her defection. Giwa Rasheed, a special assistant to Governor Olusegun Mimiko, also resigned and defected to APC. Following the defection Adeyanju said a great weight has been lifted off her shoulder as she's left a party where impunity reigns. "In the last seven years, I have served in various executive capacities in the state. I started as executive chairman of Ondo State Waste Management Board, moved to head Ondo State Development Company Limited as executive chairman and finally, as commissioner in the Ministry of Community Development and Cooperative Services. Wherever I served, I discharged my duties with utmost dedication and unassailable integrity; notwithstanding the culture of greed, avarice and ...

Against the background of allegations of budget padding and abuse of public trust by the leadership of the House of Representatives, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has told the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara that, “There is absolutely no constitutional provisions that grant to members or leaders of the House of Representatives the power to insert projects in the budget.” The organization said “the idea of members of the National Assembly allocating projects to their constituencies and then approving such projects is a grave and direct affront to basic constitutional principles of equity, fairness, transparency, accountability and separation of powers.” SERAP’s statement, signed by its executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, was in response to Mr Dogara’s defence of the decision of the lower chamber to unilaterally insert 2,000 items into the 2016 budget. A former Chairman of Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibril has a...

Sacked Chairman, Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives, Abdumumin Jibrin, at the weekend alleged that a former deputy governor of Osun State, Iyiola Omisore, is the ‘godfather’ of Speaker Yakubu Dogara. In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the APC, John Oyegun, Jibrin said he made “an error of judgement’ in supporting Dogara to be the Speaker.” Insisting that Dogara was corrupt, Jibrin said “his godfather is Sen Iyiola Omisore. Speaker Dogara is of the habit of taking standing committee chairmen to swear oath of allegiance before Omisore. “During the build up to the appointment of committee chairmen, I had a terrible disagreement with him. I stayed far away from him. “Who will I tell or run to having played such a leading role in bringing him on board? He operates alone, keep weird relationships with top politicians.” “I was in London when he insisted that he wanted to see me. He came to my hotel room and we talked for hours. I gave him a lot of ad...

A former Governor of Edo State, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor, has said some people were using the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to tarnish his image, in response to his inclusion in the “poll offenders’ list” unveiled by the commission yesterday. The NHRC released a report Thursday under its “Electoral Accountability Project/End Electoral Impunity Project” in which it indicted Mr. Osunbor, a Professor of Law and 65 others, including organisations and security personnel as having committed electoral crimes in 2007 and 2011 general elections. Osunbor, who won the Edo governorship election in 2007 before he was sacked from office and Adams Oshiomhole declared the rightful winner of that election, challenged the NHRC to state which electoral violence he committed. He said the commission replied that it based its decision on the tribunal ruling that sacked him as governor. Osunbor is named in the case of Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole & Action Congress (AC) vs. INE...

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said it would not sanction House of Representatives Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, or Rep. Abdulmumuni Jibrin over allegations of budget padding in the lower chamber. Deputy National Chairman of the party, Mr Lawal Shuaibu, said this while briefing newsmen at the National Secretariat of the party on Thursday in Abuja. Quoting Article 7, sub-section 5 of APC Constitution, Shuaibu said that the party had the power to do certain things but that whatever was going to be done would not be revealed to the public. He said, “what is padding? The party does not sanction anybody on that. “What concerns us is where any member contravenes the party’s Constitution by his conduct. That is why I refer you to Article 7 sub-section 5 of our party constitution. “We are not a law enforcement organisation; we don’t enforce laws. We only ensure that the Constitution is complied with. “Any member of the party is answerable to the party and answerable to its ...

Alhaji Jazuli Liman, the PDP candidate for Tureta state Constituency in the August 20 bye-election in Sokoto State, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Liman announced his defection in Tsamiya village at the inauguration of the campaigns for the poll to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He said: “I left my former party to the APC because of its remarkable achievements, at all levels. “I have wholeheartedly joined the APC and I will honestly work for its success at the forthcoming poll.” Also speaking, Sen. Aliyu Wamakko (APC-Sokoto State), commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his tireless efforts to better the lives of Nigerians. Wamakko also noted with happiness how Buhari had tremendously improved the security situation in the country. He urged Nigerians to exercise more patience and offer prayers for the sustenance of peace and unity in the country. “We should all be patient as Nigeria will soon be better for ...

The Sokoto State Government has moved to ban street begging in the state, saying the practice, common in the North, reduces the individual’s self-worth and runs against the tenets of Islam. The State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, made this known yesterday at the distribution of allowances and other forms of assistance to the needy under the State Zakkat and Endowment Committee. Tambuwal said the state government would meet with the various Islamic clerics in the state to find ways of putting a permanent end to street begging even as he reiterated government’s commitment to improving the lives of the people despite the prevailing financial difficulties. In a remark, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, lauded the state government for sustaining the funding of the committee, which was started by the immediate past administration. Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Lawal Maidoki, disclosed that the Zakkat and Endowment disbursed N76.5million month...

Nigerians on Tuesday tackled members of President Muhammadu Buhari's cabinet about poverty and rot in the country at a dramatic town hall meeting in Abuja. The Sultan of Sokoto and Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar, set the tone for the interactions between Buhari's nine ministers and members of the public when he said in his opening remarks that government policies should be reviewed if they were not working. He said, "If policies don't work, there is nothing wrong in reviewing them. The government must be open to suggestions. "If the people say they are hungry, the government should listen to them." The Sultan said there were 11 ministers in the hall even though they were nine. He was jokingly referring to the multiple portfolios occupied by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN). In his speech, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said, "There is a cry in the air that Nigeria...

The Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has urged security agencies to probe reports that Boko Haram members are recruiting young Nigerians in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps. Saraki, who made the call in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by his spokesman, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said it was important for Nigeria’s intelligence apparatus not to treat such rumours with kid-gloves. “Seeing that ISIS has been recruiting members from European refugee camps, and the Kenyan government recently had to shut down the world’s largest refugee camp because Al-Shaabab was using the place to train and recruit young people as extremists, it is important that we take the rumours about Boko Haram recruiting from IDP camps seriously”, he said. The Senate president also called for a comprehensive probe of the diversion of relief materials meant for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-east. He applauded the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ...

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom state has explained that his visit to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday was to brief President Muhammadu Buhari on the security situation in Akwa Ibom state. Speaking with State House Correspondents after the meeting, he stressed that the President is father to all irrespective of party affiliations. “I am still serving a state and the state is within the country and the president is the father of the whole country. I think it is part of my responsibility to let the president know from time to time how things are being done and how we are faring. We discussed some issues bothering on security,” he said. When asked if he had any request to make of the president, Emmanuel said, “Not really a request, but feedback. At times, feedback could be even very effective than request. Because feedback is necessary for further actions and the rest of things you want to do.” He continued that, “We are all running one project which is pr...

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Enugu State has assured that President Muhammadu Buhari will not disappoint Nigerians in the task of fixing the country. The party gave the assurance in a statement signed and issued to journalists on Tuesday by its spokesperson, Kate Offor. The Enugu APC was reacting to recent remarks about the president by a Catholic Priest and Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka. Mr. Mbaka, who predicted Mr. Buhari’s victory in the March 2015 presidential election, had said life was no longer easy for Nigerians and the president should know that there is trouble. But he followed up in a statement through his spokesman, Maximus Ugwuoke, expressing concern in some sections of the media that he “attacked” the president, saying it was far from the truth. The Cleric insisted that he didn’t attack Buhari but told him the situation of things in the country and also suggested ways out. “The news headline is not on...

While fielding questions from newsmen in Imo State, the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), stated Osita Okechukwu, stated that President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerians in general will eventually be the greatest beneficiaries of the budget padding scandal currently rocking the House of Representatives. The chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who spoke at the burial of late Comrade Chuks Ehirim, the former chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja council, argued that if the allegations of budget padding against the Speaker by the former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations were properly handled, it would end many years of such criminal acts.  “Let me start by saying that on the budget padding allegation, it is the Nigerian people, the president, Muhammadu Buhari and our party at the national level that would be the greatest beneficiaries of the row,” he said. The former spokesman of the South-East APC however, c...

Former Senate President, David Mark, has warned leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, against impunity or imposition of candidates ahead of the August 17 national convention of the party in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He reminded the party leaders that the defeat suffered in the last general election was self-inflicted as a result of non-adherence to democratic ideals. A statement by Senator Mark’s media assistant, Paul Mumeh, quoted him as saying this when members of the Benue State chapter of the PDP paid him a visit at his country home in Otukpo. It said the former Senate president noted that “it is incumbent on our leaders and members to allow the popular will of the people prevail at the congresses and convention”. It also quoted him as calling on PDP members to remain steadfast, just as he frowned against defections at will because of the present challenges facing the party. Mark stressed that such inconsistencies neither enhances the democratic culture nor the ...

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has called on Governor Rauf Aregbesola to explain how the state’s foreign debt rose from zero in 2010 to N70 billion in April this year. The party in a statement issued in Osogbo by its spokesman, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said the latest report released by the National Bureau of Statistics which covered finances of states till April this year, showed that the governor and his cabinet members had milked the state’s treasury dry. The PDP said the NBS in its latest report placed Osun on the 7th position, with Lagos taking the lead with N377.216 billion. The party spokesman stated that, “From findings, Osun had fully paid up the loan obtained from the Paris Club to finance Ede, Ejigbo and Ilesa water projects by late Chief Bola Ige of the old Oyo State as at end of Chief Bisi Akande’s tenure. “Also, the Debt Management Office throughout the tenure of a PDP government between 2003 and 2010, had continued to deduct the loan from mon...

The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, has advised the Federal Government not only to recover looted funds from individuals and groups, but should also prosecute culprits to serve as a deterrent to others. He gave the advice in a lecture he delivered on the deregulation of the downstream oil sector and Nigeria's economic development at the National Defence College, Abuja on Wednesday. He called on the Federal Government to ensure that those who looted the nation's treasury were punished for their actions. Sanusi said that it was not enough for those who diverted huge amounts of money from the nation's treasury to be made to return what they stole. The emir said that the right thing to do was to recover the stolen funds and imprison the culprits to serve as a deterrent to others. He said that the ongoing campaign against corruption and the intensified onslaught on insurgency demonstrated the government's commitment to economic development. The emir stated ...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has quizzed the Director of Finance of the Goodluck Jonathan Organisation, Senator Nenadi Usman, for her alleged role in the N23bn ($115m) allegedly shared by the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election. The commission also traced the payment of N1.85bn to two former governors and three senators from the Diezani funds. According to the EFCC, Usman was quizzed at the Gombe zonal office on August 1, 2016, over the billions of naira that was shared in all the states across the North-East through her for the re-election of former President Jonathan. Usman was quoted as telling the EFCC during interrogation that she met Diezani shortly before the election and the ex-minister gave her a paper containing a specific amount of money to be given to each states of the federation and directed her as the director of finance to contact and send all the representatives of...