A former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu, yesterday, hailed the verdict of the Supreme Court that gave the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) approval to prosecute him for alleged N2.4billion fraud when he ran the affairs of the state between 1999 and 2007.

Following the decisions of the Federal High Court and Appeal Court, both in Abuja, which refused to quashed the charges bordering on corruption and money laundering against him, the former governor had appealed to the apex court.

But the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal for lacking in merit.

Justice Suleiman Galadima, who wrote the lead judgments in both appeals, upheld the concurrent decisions of the lower courts, in refusing the appeals.

The five-man panel of the apex court, in its unanimous judgments, directed the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to assign the cases to new judges for accelerated hearing.

On Kalu’s case, Justice Galadima, whose judgment was read by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, said: “The appellant had approached the Federal High Court, Abuja to quash the charges made against him by the EFCC.

“The Court dismissed the case. He went to the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division. He lost and approached this court.

“Having considered all issues raised and arguments by parties, I come to the conclusion that I cannot, but help in dismissing this appeal for lacking in merit. It is dismissed.

“I affirm the decision of the court bellow, which rightly affirmed the decision of the Federal High Court, that it was not bound by the ex-parte order of the Abia State High Court as to vitiate the charges preferred against the appellant.

“The learned Chief Judge of the Federal High Court should assign the case to another judge for expeditious trial”, Justice Galadima said.

Other members of the panel: Justice Mahmud Mohammed (the Chief Justice of Nigeria), Bode Rhodes-Vivour, sylvester Nwgwuta and Datijo Mohammed agreed with the lead judgments in both appeals.

Reacting to the Friday’s Supreme Court verdict, Kalu said yesterday that “this is another opportunity to prove my innocence”.

He maintained that all the records and facts of the case are in his possession and he is willing to submit himself for the rule of law to take its course.

“That has always been my passion advocacy, right from the lower courts where the case emanated”, he said from London.

“This clarification has become imperative lest oppositional forces mischievously misinterpret the ruling and mislead the public by injecting their jaundiced opinions into the routine directive as had always been with similar cases where the apex court intervened”, Kalu added.

He assured the EFCC of his “continued support and profound cooperation in any further investigation into this allegation”, even as he claimed it “is part of the price I have to pay for opposing the third-term agenda fiasco of former President Olusegun Obasanjo”.

Governor of Ekiti, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has raised the alarm over the endangered fate of democracy in Nigeria, saying “the open display of contempt for free, fair and transparent election by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Muhammadu Buhari as being witnessed in Rivers State presently is capable of setting Nigeria on the path of anarchy”.
Fayose, who alleged discovery of fake Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) result sheets in some of the Local Government Areas, and accused security agencies of harassing, intimidating and even killing Peoples Democratic Party members, said “Rivers State is 100 percent PDP, and any attempt to subvert the will of the people will be counter-productive”.
In a statement on Saturday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor, said; “Obviously, INEC under President Buhari has destroyed that legacy of free, fair and transparent elections bequeathed on Nigeria by the PDP government of former President Goodluck Jonathan”.
According to him, “it is strange that INEC produced Results Sheets with PDP omitted, and I wonder what is going to happen in 2019 if INEC and security agents are acting in this clear compromised manner in Rivers State”.
“From reports that I have heard, Rivers State is under siege. I have seen pictures of people killed and I have seen pictures of INEC Result Sheets with PDP omitted. Most importantly, I have read reports of top functionaries of PDP and Rivers State government either abducted by unknown gunmen or arrested by the security agents.
“What all these portend for our democracy is danger!
“It is a sign of what APC desperation to take over power in the entire 36 States of Nigeria will cause in Edo and Ondo States this year and in Ekiti State in 2018 as well as the entire country in 2019.
“Curiously, those who went on the rooftops to condemn the involvement of soldiers in the Ekiti governorship election and even went to court to stop soldiers from taking part in elections are silent now.
“They have failed to realise that if all noble men should keep silent and get cowed by this rampaging beast that is ready to consume democracy and rule of law in Nigeria, ordinary Nigerians will sooner than later end up in the belly of the beast”.

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, has expressed belief that the executive arm of government will learn from the mistakes in the 2016 Budget.

According to him, the budget could be laid before the National Assembly on Tuesday and passed next week.

He noted that some of the problems in the budget were understandable because this is the first time Nigeria would have a transition, not only from one President to the other but also from one political party to another.

The Committee Chair commended President Muhammadu Buhari on his role that led to the resolution of the budget crisis.

“I have been the Chair of the House Finance and now Appropriation Committee for almost five years now; so I have been involved in no fewer than five budget cycles. I can tell you straight-away that the 2016 Appropriation Bill has been the most difficult I have had to deal with. I have hardly slept in the last two weeks and I can say the same for the other members of the committee, including that of the Senate,” Jibrin told Vanguard.

“But it is also interesting that the President took direct responsibility and got involved in the process, not only to ensure synergy between the executive and the legislature but also  that we can both arrive at a budget that is implementable for the good of all Nigerians. I don’t want to go into details about the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari but I want to put it on record that he has played the role of a father and he deserves commendation.

“I know there have been reports about errors, padding and all sorts of things in the budget. Most of those reports are true.

“However, Nigerians should also not forget that this is the first time we would have a transition not only from one president to another but from one political party to another, so some of these problems are understandable. I believe the executive will learn from the mistakes of this year, going forward.

“But it has been a very difficult period for the appropriation committees of both chambers though we are working round the clock to ensure that we lay the budget before the National Assembly on Tuesday so that we can get it passed next week,” Jibrin said.

Nigerians in Diaspora Monitoring Group (NDMG) has asked the government of Ekiti State to tender an unreserved apology to the Department of State Services (DSS) for raising a false alarm that a member of the State House of Assembly, Mr Akanni Afolabi has been killed in the custody of the DSS.

In a statement by Comrade Philip Agbese, the NDMG said the campaign of dangerous rumour mongering spearheaded by the state governor, Ayo Fayose marked a new low in political irresponsibility and that politicians who rush to town with such unconfirmed stories are tarnishing Nigeria’s image both at home and abroad.

The DSS had to publicly present Afolabi, who is being detained over alleged breaches bordering on state security, to the media after rumours spread that he died in custody.

“In addition to the DSS, other security and intelligence agencies in the land should review events around this rumour, which was actively and knowingly spread, against earlier threats by Fayose that he can bring down the present federal government at will.

“While the Ekiti State governor enjoys immunity by virtue of his office, the other people that went down this path of infamy with him should be made to account for their action of maliciously trying to bring instability down on Nigeria.

“Even when Fayose cannot be arrested or tried alongside his minions, the government of Ekiti state must apologise to the DSS, Nigerians and the Federal Government for spreading falsehood targeted at diminishing our security agencies that are out to ensure every citizen is protected from bloodthirsty politicians who derive pleasure in abusing their privileges,” it demanded.

The NDMG however, urged the DSS to charge the accused person, Mr Akanni Afolabi, to court as soon as it concludes its investigation, which should be sped up, as human rights abuse is unacceptable.

A former Senior Special Assistant to immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the “undisputed and authentic” leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Southwest region of the country.
Okupe, who stated this in a Facebook post on Friday, carpeted the senator representing Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu, saying he cannot be described as a leader of the party merely because he runs a local non-governmental organisation in Ogun State.
It would be recalled that last Thursday, some leaders of the party from the zone visited the national chairman of PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff in Abuja, where they unanimously endorsed Kashamu as the Southwest leader of the party.
Mr. Obasanjo, who last year February publicly ordered his ward chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Usman Oladunjoye, to tear his membership card of the party to pieces, was until his resignation from partisan politics, the highest ranking member of the party from the Southwest zone.
But Dr. Okupe said despite the action, which he attributed to Mr. Obasanjo’s frustration with the intolerable happenings within the party at the time, the ex-president did not resign from the PDP.
He said: “Senator Buruji Kashamu is not the leader of the PDP in the southwest. He is not even the leader of the party in Ogun state. He leads an NGO called Omo Ilu which engages in empowerment programmes in the state, mainly in the Ogun East Senatorial district.
“Baba Obasanjo still remains the undisputed and authentic leader of the PDP in the South-West. The fact that he tore his membership card is not tantamount to resignation from the party. An action he has not undertaken to date.
“Tearing of the membership card though a very negative action is undoubtedly a knee-jerk reaction to certain unacceptable or intolerable happenings within the party which can and will be redressed.
“In his temporary absence, we have a collegiate or con-federal leadership of eminent and distinguished elders including Chief Bode George, Chief Ogunlewe, Aare Jubril Martins Kuye, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Chief Mrs Apampa, Dr. Lekan Balogun, Baba Richard Akinjide, Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Shuabu Oyedokun, Iyiola Omisore, Prof Adeniran, Governor Fayose, Governor Mimiko, Senator Bode Olajumoke amongst others.
“We are a proud and a foremost race in Nigeria. We have enviable political antecedents and capable of presenting nationally credible and acceptable leadership at any and all time”.

The Rivers State Government has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the Secretary to the State Government, Kenneth Kobani, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, Cyril Wite.
There were reports that Kobani was arrested by soldiers for allegedly stalling the distribution of election materials while Wite was nabbed moving with three fake soldiers, some cash running into millions of naira and some army uniforms at Khana on Saturday during the re-run elections in the state.
But the state government described the role of the military in the election as “shameful, embarrassing, and a kick in the face of constitutional democracy”.
“Never in the history of Rivers State have we witnessed such a blatant deployment of maximum violence against unarmed voters”, the government said on Sunday, in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Austin Tam-George.
The government alleged that the SSG, Mr. Kobani, was chained to a chair overnight, and denied his medication, despite his failing health.

Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State, Umar Haruna Doguwa and the Organizing Secretary, Sanusi Suraju Kwankwaso have been suspended by the party on allegations of misconduct and anti-party activities.

Their sack was not unconnected to the face-off between Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso.

Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas Sanusi, former Commissioner of Environment and currently Special Adviser to Governor Ganduje on Political Affairs has been appointed as the Acting Chairman.

Briefing reporters at the Maiduguri Road headquarters of the state chapter of the APC, yesterday, Secretary of the party, Abbas Sani Abbas, also said that already, a seven-man Committee has been constituted to investigate the activities of the duo.

He named chairman of the Committee as Alhaji Haruna Ahmadu Danzago, Secretary, Alhaji Nuraddeen Zubair and five others who were given one week to investigate and submit their findings and as well recommend appropriate action against Doguwa and Kwankwaso.

“Having received complaints and petitions from card-carrying members of our great party, the APC, about the case of misconduct and abuse of office by the state party chairman, Haruna Umar Doguwa and the state Organizing Secretary, Sanusi Suraju Kwankwaso of which the former, after issuing out a press conference duly agreed upon by the party Working Committee and Elders Committee respectively, and he later betrayed the trust by making a unilateral statement that refuted the party’s position on the subject matter,” the party secretary said.

“In the same respect, the Organizing Secretary made various radio programmes which are injurious to the party, without seeking the permission of the party. Based on the above action, we therefore, suspend the party chairman, Haruna Umar and the Organizing Secretary, Sanusi Suraju Kwankwaso, from their various position and we hereby constitute a seven-disciplinary committee which was set up to investigate the matter and take proper disciplinary measure and we urge them to discharge their duty without hindrance.”

The governorship candidate of the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) in last year’s general election, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, and some leaders of the party yesterday escaped death in the hands of suspected assassins in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

Peterside, who was recently appointed the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), was riding in a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) with his former deputy, Asita Honourable and the Rivers APC Chairman, Davies Ikanya, when they reportedly came under fire.

The NIMASA DG’s Special Assistant (Media) Sylvester Asoya, in a statement last night, said Peterside and the other APC leaders escaped assassins’ bullets by a close shave.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Staff to Governor Nyesom Wike, Emeka Woke, was arrested over the attack.

Peterside said his vehicle was attacked by gunmen in two SUVs as they approached the city from the Port Harcourt International Airport.

His orderly Emma Esi, was said to have been hit by the suspected assassins’ bullet in the leg.

The statement said: “Two jeeps belonging to Emeka Woke, Nyesom Wike’s Chief of Staff, carrying two unknown gunmen, trailed us to UTC Junction (near Government House, Port Harcourt) and opened fire on my car. Our car, however, did a detour to the DSS (Department of State Services) office gate, where we drove to seek refuge, but the unknown gunmen opened fire again at the DSS men on guard.

“The exchange of fire between the DSS men and the assailants lasted for more than 30 minutes. This is a very ugly experience, but I thank God that my colleagues and I escaped unhurt”.

“Today’s (yesterday’s) experience is not only terrifying, but also shows the parlous state of security in Rivers State. If I can be engaged openly by gunmen for nearly an hour in the heart of Port Harcourt, only God knows the fate that will befall members of our party and those sympathetic to our predicament. What is happening today in our dear state is not only horrible, but also constitutes serious national security risk”.

The NIMASA boss, who contested and lost the April 11 governorship poll to Wike, also stated that it was now evident that the governor wanted to kill him and was prepared to do everything possible to make sure it happens.

Woke was last night arrested to explain his role in the alleged assassination attempt on Peterside in front of the DSS office on Forces Avenue, Old GRA, Port Harcourt.

The Rivers State Government and All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday traded accusations over the conduct of rerun elections in Port Harcourt Ward 10 as the political battle for the soul of the state intensifies.

While the APC in the state led by former Governor of Rivers and Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi accused the Peoples Democratic Party-led state government of abducting the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) Collation Officer for the ward, Mrs. Ekwi Adebisa, the governor, Nyesom Wike, alleged that she was abducted by the minister with a view to doctoring election results.

Amaechi, who led a group of Rivers APC chieftains that included the governorship candidate of the party in the 2015 election, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside; the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari; and the party Chairman, Dr. Davies Ikanya; among others, on a rescue mission, alleged that PDP chieftains snatched results from Mrs. Adebisa and kept her at the Divisional Police Headquarters in Mile One, Diobu, Port Harcourt, the state capital.

The atmosphere at the divisional police headquarters was tensed as Governor Wike and his allies as well as Amaechi and other APC leaders stormed the headquarters in the presence of soldiers, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and riot policemen, who saved the situation from further degenerating.

Semenitari, in a statement by her Special Assistant (Media), Bekee Anyalewechi, said: “We have received with bemusement, the attempt by the Rivers State Government and its image managers to retell the facts of the incident of Sunday, March 20, 2016, which occurred at the Mile One Police Divisional Headquarters in Port Harcourt.

“Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, in company with a retinue of aides, invaded the police station, held the INEC Collation Officer for Port Harcourt Ward 10, Mrs. Ekwi Adebisa, hostage.

“It is not in our style to take issues with any tier of government, it is imperative that we state the facts, because of the need to safeguard our electoral process and strengthen the confidence of our people in their leaders.

“Mrs Ekwi Adebisa, the Port Harcourt City Ward 10 Collation Officer, for the March 19 rerun legislative election in Rivers State, was moved by force to the police station. The result she had collated was separated from her.

“While at the police station, agents of the Rivers State Government brought her under duress to write a statement that she had been abducted and made to falsify the ward result by agents of APC.

“That they forced her to the police station and kept under traumatic condition was in itself criminal, but that they had forced the result she had lawfully collated out of her custody was more criminal.

“Governor Wike had arrived the police station, accompanied by Senator George Sekibo (sacked from Rivers East), Mr. Austin Opara (former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives) and Azubuike Nmerukini, as well as other aides to the governor.

“As a leader in APC, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, being in attendance at the meeting, was among those delegated to go see what the actual development was. When Mrs. Semenitari and others arrived at the police facility, they confirmed the report. .

“It was shocking to read a statement issued by Simeon Nwakudu, Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, linking Mrs. Semenitari to facts contrary to the truth stated. As a responsible citizen and public officer, Mrs. Semenitari could not have engaged in any conduct unbecoming of her status.

“As a Nigerian and Rivers daughter (from coastal Opobo, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro LGA of Rivers State, but married to an Okrika man, Henry Semenitari), she would always and at all times, protect and defend what promotes good governance. May God keep us all safe in these curious times that try our people’s souls”.

Mrs. Adebisa was eventually released to the minister and other leaders of the APC.

However, Wike, through Nwakaudu, claimed that it was Mr. Amaechi, accompanied by no fewer than 100 soldiers that abducted Mrs. Adebisa on Saturday night, adding that the INEC official was later found at Mile One Police Station in Port Harcourt.

The Rivers governor alleged that the abduction of Mrs. Adebisa led to the suspension of collation of results in the constituency.

Nwakaudu alleged that “She (Mrs. Adebisa) was first taken to Novotel Hotel (on Stadium Road, Port Harcourt) where Amaechi and Dakuku Peterside lodged and the results doctored.

“In the morning of Sunday, March 20, 2016, she (Mrs. Adebisa) was placed on (sic) protective custody by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Dakuku Peterside and the Acting Managing Director of NDDC, Ibim Semenitari.

“PDP leaders, including Governor Wike, got wind of the fact that she (Mrs. Adebisa) had been placed on protective custody at the Mile One Police Station and he (Wike) visited the station for explanation.

“Immediately Governor Wike and the PDP leaders arrived the police station, more than 400 soldiers stormed the station, along with the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the NIMASSA’s Director-General, Dakuku Peterside and directed that Mrs Ekwi Adebisa be released to them.

“Amaechi, Dakuku Peterside, Ibim Semenitari and the AIG left with the Ward Collation Officer, Mrs. Ekwi Adebisa”.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Yobe State at the weekend said that the destruction caused by what it termed misrule in the state in the last 17 years was worse than the harm caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Yobe is one of the Northeast states affected by insurgency.

A former Minister of Police Affairs and PDP candidate in the April 11 governorship election in the state, Adamu Maina Waziri, who led a delegation of party chieftains from Yobe on a courtesy visit on the party’s national chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff, in Abuja said, “We have two insurgency in Yobe; we have the Boko Haram insurgency, which is criminal, but we have political insurgency of misrule of Gov. Ibrahim Geidam of APC.

“If Nigerians are blaming PDP for 16 years of misrule, we PDP of Yobe are blaming ANPP/APC for 16 years of misrule. If there is change, we will start the change from Yobe”.

Mr. Waziri noted that PDP was on a journey to redeem itself so that it can reclaim its lost glory, saying “If we do the right thing just as we have started, I assure you that the seat we won 1999, we can still win it back”.

Earlier, Sheriff gave assurance that he would be in Yobe to ensure all aggrieved members of the party are appeased and brought back to the PDP fold.

The immediate past Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has accused his successor, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar of running a tyrannical government in the state.

The former governor, who made the allegation yesterday at his Bamaina country home, said Gov. Abubakar was terrorising and victimising political opponents that refused to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).

It would be recalled that the Jigawa chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in January this year witnessed a mother-of-all-defections as 370,000 of its members dumped the umbrella for the broom – the symbols of the PDP and APC respectively.

Notable among the defectors were former members of the national assembly, commissioners and 15 serving local government council chairmen.

Lamido, who was publicly reacting to the mass defection for the first time, alleged that the present administration in the state was employing the tactics of intimidation and victimization on all the council chairmen to either abandon the PDP for the APC or to be subjected to various forms of harassment.

The former governor spoke during an occasion organised to honour 12 local government chairmen said to have refused to join the APC despite alleged threats.

“They (council chairmen) were terrorised and blackmailed and their official vehicles were seized by Badaru. They put a kangaroo kind of thing and sacked the chairmen of Jahun, Birniwa and Gumel local government areas, simply because they refused to join the APC.

“I think those that refused to join the APC should be celebrated because, despite coercion, compulsion, blackmail and victimisation by the APC, they still remained with us”.

However, in a swift reaction, Bello Zaki, the spokesperson to Governor Badaru, dismissed the allegation as untrue.

He said if the council chairmen were compelled to defect to the APC, the present government wouldn’t have allowed those that refused to decamp to remain at the helm of affairs of their councils up to the end of their tenure.

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, on Monday, dared President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State over the bloody election re-run that took place over the weekend.

“You want to declare state of emergency, declare it and we will tell you that the state of emergency will not work too. This country belongs to all of us,” the Ekiti governor said shortly after the economic retreat organised by the National Economic Council inside the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Fayose said he was aware of the president’s ‘state of emergency’ plan for Rivers and a similar plan for Ekiti State.

“They have been insinuating that (state of emergency) too in Ekiti. We have been waiting for them. Power has gone beyond the leaders; power has gone back to the people,” he said.

“If you watch the trend, PDP has always won all the elections after the annulment. Which means what happened in Rivers is just a service of ego of some individuals who believe they have Nigeria in their pockets and they can call the President at will to deploy the military.

“It is unfortunate that somebody would allow the military to kill his own people.

“I strongly condemn the elections in Rivers and charge that we sustain the legacy of transparent elections.

“For me in Ekiti, we learned from that and we are prepared. We prepare for election every day and we are fully prepared,” he added.

Fayose urged Buhari to sustain the legacy of free and fair elections which his administration inherited.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said his administration has tasked itself on delivering 10,000 megawatts of electricity generation in the next three years.
Speaking at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, while addressing a two-day National Economic Council (NEC) retreat titled: “Nigerian State: Multi-centres of Prosperity”, the president said this year alone the administration would add 2,000 megawatts to the national grid.
He said, “Nigerians’ favourite talking point and b*tt of jokes is the power situation in our country. But, ladies and gentlemen, it is no longer a laughing matter. We must and by the grace of God we will put things right.
“In the three years left for this administration we have given ourselves the target of ten thousand megawatts distributable power. In 2016 alone, we intend to add two thousand megawatts to the national grid”.
President Buhari said the power sector had been privatized but admitted that that it had yet to show any signs of improvement in the quality of service.
He listed the common public complaints with the sector as constant power cuts destroying economic activity and affecting quality of life; high electricity bills despite power cuts; low supply of gas to power plants due to vandalization by terrorists; and obsolete power distribution equipment such as transformers.
Other complaints, he stated, are power fluctuations, which damage manufacturing equipment and household appliances; and low voltage which cannot run industrial machinery.
He said while the National Electricity Regulatory Commission has a vital job to ensure consumers get value for money and over-all public interest is safe-guarded; government has to fast-track completion of pipelines from gas points to power stations and provide more security to protect gas and oil pipelines.

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has dared President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the state if he can.
Fayose was addressing State House correspondents on Monday shortly after stepping out of the ongoing National Economic Council (NEC) retreat earlier declared open by the president.
According to the governor, plans to declare emergency rule in the state was being mooted, but that it would not work.
It would be recalled that in his first tenure as governor, Fayose was impeached by the House of Assembly allegedly on the orders of then President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006 but following a “constitutional crisis”, the president declared a state of emergency and appointed Brig.-Gen. Tunji Olurin (retd.) as sole administrator of the state for six months.
Fielding a question on the possible declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers following the violence that marred Saturday’s legislative elections there, Fayose said: “They’ve been insinuating that too in Ekiti. We’ve been waiting for them. Power has gone beyond the leaders, power has gone back to the people.

“There (are) certain things leaders will do today, you will hate it tomorrow. You want to declare state of emergency, declare it and we will tell you that the state of emergency will not work too. This country belongs to all of us”.

The governor also condemned what he called “the militarisation” of the re-run elections in Rivers State.

He said: “If in Ekiti election, nobody was slapped, nobody died, the person defeated congratulated the winner; do we now call this Rivers election rivers of bloodgate? Because, for a peaceful election in Ekiti and this in Rivers, the military has got no business in our elections.

“PDP has always won all the elections after annulment; which means what happened in Rivers is just a service of ego of some individuals who believe they have Nigeria in their pockets. They can call the president at will to deploy the military, and it’s unfortunate that somebody would allow the military to kill his own people. I strongly condemn the elections in Rivers and charge that we sustain the legacy of transparent elections. For me in Ekiti, we learnt from that and we’re prepared. We prepare for election everyday and we’re fully prepared”.

The governor also accused the federal government of allowing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to detain “innocent” Nigerians in the name of fighting corruption.

He also stated that the detentions showed the rascality of the anti-corruption agency.
“And for the people detained in EFCC, it shows the rascality of the agency of government. To the federal government to look away and allow innocent Nigerians’ rights to be taken away, I condemn it”, he said.

The Ekiti State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government of plotting to kill a member of the State House of Assembly, Afolabi Akanni, while in the custody of the Department of State Services.
Mr. Akanni, the member representing Efon-Alaaye state constituency, has been in custody of the DSS since March 4, over unspecified weighty “security” issues.
Reacting to the lawmaker’s detention in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, on Sunday in Ado-Ekiti, the PDP said that by not releasing Mr. Akanni from detention despite his failing health, there was a deliberate attempt to kill him.
The party further stated that the refusal of the federal government to release him in the face of his health and despite the state government’s outcry against the violation of his human rights, there was reason to believe that the aim of his arrest was to ensure he died in detention.
Mr. Adebayo noted that the APC-led federal government had exposed itself to ridicule by not disclosing the reason for the lawmaker’s arrest, while citing security breach, which was unknown to anybody.
“The DSS itself failed to explain what the breach was, whether it was something in the make of the Boko Haram insurgency in some parts of the country or the agitation by Biafran people”, the party said.
“The DSS or any other agent of the government owed a lot of explanations on the matter because the arrest of Akanni and his continued detention despite his failing health is wicked.
“Then we want to ask when and where did he commit the security breach and of what injury does it have on the nation that the Federal Government should arrest and detain him without trial for several weeks and many other questions are crying for urgent and accurate answers”.
The PDP, therefore, urged the federal government to charge the lawmaker to court if it seeks to be responsible.

A governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state, Senator Ehigie Uzamere on Monday resigned his membership of the PDP less than a fortnight after the state congresses of the party were held.
Uzamere who was in the Senate between 2007-2015, is the only senator from Edo South senatorial district to have spent two terms in the upper legislative chamber since the creation of the state.
Although a statement he personally signed and sent to the national leadership of the PDP did not state the reason for his resignation, it was learnt that the former senator was unhappy with the way and manner the PDP was being run in the state particularly with the recent congresses of the party in the state.
He, however, stated that “after due consultation with my family and political associates, I have withdrawn my membership of the PDP”.
The resignation letter reads in part: “I wish to thank the leaders of the PDP at the national, state and local government levels for their unflinching support and provision of platform for my first term as senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing Edo South senatorial district between 2007-2011.
“I also wish to thank the leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as it were then, for their unflinching support and provision of the platform for my second term 2011-2015. My heartfelt appreciation goes to the general electorate of Edo South senatorial district for giving me their mandate for eight years, the first of its kind in Edo South senatorial district”.

President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the President-elect of Benin Republic, Mr Patrice Talon, on his electoral victory in the presidential run-off on Sunday, March 20.

President Buhari also commended the Government and people of Benin Republic on the peaceful and orderly conduct of the presidential election.

“The successful conclusion of the electoral process marks an important step in consolidating democracy in the sub-region and a beacon for other African countries to emulate,” President Buhari stated.

The Nigerian leader saluted the courage and statesmanship of Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou and presidential candidate of the ruling coalition in upholding the democratic process by promptly congratulating his main challenger, Mr Talon, on his electoral victory.

President Buhari also commended President Boni Yayi for his leadership throughout the electoral process and for his invaluable contribution to democratic governance in the sub-region, evidently demonstrated in the successful conduct of the presidential elections.

He said he was encouraged by the determination and exemplary conduct demonstrated by Beninese in coming out en masse to perform their civic duties.

The Code of Conduct Tribunal has dismissed as untrue, reports that the corruption case against a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, had been withdrawn by the Federal Government.

Mr. Orubebe was arraigned before the tribunal on November 9, 2015 over alleged four count charge of false declaration of assets and acceptance of about N70million bribe.

However, some national dailies yesterday reported that the charges against the ex-minister were withdrawn based on a purported legal advice from the Federal Ministry of Justice, which argued that the case against Orubebe as presently constructed and filed, was fundamentally defective.

The reports further state that the purported legal advice from the Ministry was to the effect that since the ex-minister was not invited to make a statement on the allegations against him, the process of arraignment was fundamentally flawed.

Reacting to the reports, spokesperson for the tribunal, Ibrahim Al-hassan, said in a statement Monday that the case was ongoing and that new charges were substituted with the initial ones filed against Mr. Orubebe.

Hearing in the case, Mr. Al-hassan said, will resume on April 7.

The statement reads, “Our attention at the Code of Conduct Tribunal has been drawn to recent publications from some section of mass media, indicating that the Federal Government has withdrawn charges against former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Godsday Peter Orubebe.

“The Tribunal is compelled to refute the said publications, particularly those contained in ThisDay Newspaper, Leadership and some online media, dated March 21st, 2016. The purported withdrawal of the case was quoted to be based on the case being fundamentally defective.

“Pursuant to the above, CCT advices that, to the best of our knowledge based on available records, as at the time of this report, the information is misleading, distortive and as such it should be ignored.

“The case of Mr Godsday Peter Orubebe before CCT in Charge NO: CCT/ABJ/02/15 is ongoing. What transpired in court in the last session held on 8th March, 2016 was a substitution of the initial charge with a newly filed charge by the prosecution, of which leave was sought from, and granted by the Tribunal.

“The case had been adjourned to 7th April, 2016. Thus; there is no withdrawal of the case by the prosecution”.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Osun State yesterday urged the federal government to open up on the financial status of the state and why it has been getting least allocation in the last six months.

In a statement issued yesterday by its publicity secretary, Prince Diran Odeyemi, the Osun PDP said “Rather than keep on shielding Governor [Rauf] Aregbesola, the Ministry of Finance and Debt Management Office (DMO) and other relevant agencies of government must explain to Nigerians why Osun got a paltry N6.2 million out of N2.4 billion due to the state”.

It would be recalled that Osun got N6.2 million as federal allocation for the month of February, which led to speculations that workers’ March salaries may not be paid.

However, the state government allayed fears over the development on Sunday, saying despite the paltry allocation, it would still fulfil its financial obligations to civil servants in the state.

Mr. Odeyemi said the actual debt status of the state should be publicly displayed and the terms of repayment must also be disclosed to lay to rest the growing apprehension among the people of Osun state at home and abroad.