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INEC declares APC winner of Katsina by-election

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INEC declares APC winner of Katsina by-election
Abubakar Yahaya Kusada

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Independent National Electoral Commission has declared Alhaji Abubakar Kusada of the All Progressives Congress(APC) as winner of the by-election into the House of Representatives . The election was conducted in the Kankiya/Kusada/Ingawa Federal constituency in Katsina state on Saturday.

Kusada was the speaker of Katsina state House of Assembly before his election today. Prof. Adedayo Hamza, the returning officer who announced the result on Saturday in Kankiya said Kusada scored 48,518 votes to emerge winner.

Alhaji Abdussamad Yusuf of PDP came second with 20,193 votes, while Nasiru Kankiya of the Peoples Redemption Party scored 1,810 votes as second runner-up. Abdullahi Umar of the Yes Electorate Solidarity (YES) got 221 votes.According to Hamza, the total number of registered voters in the constituency is 193,904, while the number of accredited voters was 74,242. The number of valid votes cast was 70,742 and rejected votes 2,331.The total number of votes cast was 73,073.

Mr Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner, advised political parties to intensify voter education and management of polling units. He commended the political parties, security agencies, media men and other stakeholders for the peaceful conduct of the by-election.

APC Candidate wins Kwara House of Representatives By-election

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APC Candidate wins Kwara House of Representatives By-election
Raheem Olawuyi, the APC Candidate in Kwara House of Representatives By-election

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday night confirmed Raheem Olawuyi, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the vacant House of Representatives seat for Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero constituency in Kwara state.

Olawuyi emerged in the by-election held today.

INEC’s Chief Returning Officer for the poll, Prof. Abimbola Adesoji, said Olawuyi got 21,236 votes, followed by PDP with 18,095 votes. The Labour Party had 150 votes, the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) 76 votes and UPN 42 votes.

Professor Adesoji said out of the 40,930 total votes cast, the total number of valid votes was 39,599 while 1,331 votes were rejected.

Wilkey Declares Intention to Vie for LSHA in Kosofe, Promises Quality Representation

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Wilkey Declares Intention to Vie for LSHA in Kosofe, Promises Quality Representation
Hon. Abiodun Francis Wilkey

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]biodun Wilkey has declared his intention to contest for Lagos State House of Assembly, Kosofe Constituency 1, under the platform of Providence People’s Congress (PPC), with a vow to give dynamic and quality representation to the constituents, if elected.

Declaring his intentions in Maryland on Thursday to Youths Association, Wilkey said, “Kosofe Constituency 1 has not been making progress because wrong person the has been in power since,“The Kosofe Constituency 1 people did not have any voice in Lagos State House of Assembly chambers and there is this clamour that there must be change and I have volunteer myself to represent them by giving them the voice through dynamic and quality representation.”

Wilkey said, “Since the inception of the current democratic dispensation, Kosofe Constituency 1 people have not really enjoyed quality democratic dividends and the people are ready to cast their votes for the credibility in which they found in me. We have come out not to be settled out of elections but to win and occupy position to the benefit of the masses in the grass roots.”

“The party, Providence People’s Congress (PPC) is the only party that cares for the need of the masses and it will interest you to note that we will not loss this election because we have great supporters from both the ruling APC and PDP. it is time for us to reclaim the state House of Assembly seat come 2019 and Kosofe people should be among those who will be part of that history in 2019.”

“They should expect much from me if eventually I am elected because the glory of Kosofe Constituency 1 will be restored”. He assured.

Anambra Assembly Complex Sealed by Police

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Anambra Assembly Complex Sealed by Police

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Police Command in Anambra has announced the sealing of Anambra Assembly (ANHA) complex over the impeachment crisis rocking the House. SP Haruna Mohammed, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Anambra disclosed this in a statement in Awka on Friday.

Mohammed said the application to seal off the complex was contained in an official letter to the Commissioner of Police. “The Anambra State Police Command wishes to inform the public that it has sealed off the Assembly Complex with effect from 6:00pm of Thursday 15th November, 2018 as a proactive measure to avert possible breakdown of law and order in the Assembly,” he said.

The command implored members of the public to stay away from the complex until further notice.It also solicited the co-operation of Anambra people in its commitment to provide adequate security in the state.

The Grassroots Publishers reports that there was strong police presence at the complex on Nov. 15 when the House resumed after the impeachment saga that rocked it on Nov. 13.

The house was divided between former Speaker Rita Mmaduagwu who was purportedly impeached and Mr Ikem Uzoezie who was installed as new speaker

Appeal Court Upholds Conviction Of Ex- Govs.Dariye,Nyame Commutes Jail Term to 10, 12, Fines Nyame

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Appeal Court Upholds Conviction Of Ex- Govs.Dariye,Nyame Commutes Jail Term to 10, 12, Fines Nyame

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Court of Appeal, Abuja Division upheld the conviction of Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye, handed down on them by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of a Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court, Gudu but commuted their sentences from 14 years, 12 and 10 respectively for being “first-time offenders”.

Justice Banjoko had on May 30, 2018 found Nyame, a former Taraba State governor guilty and sentenced him to 14 years for criminal breach of trust, two for criminal misappropriation, seven for gratification, and five for obtaining by dishonesty to run concurrently.

The trial judge on June 12, 2018 also found Dariye, a former Plateau State governor guilty of 15 out of the 23-count amended charge brought against him by the EFCC bordering on criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds, and sentenced him to 14 years in prison for criminal breach of trust and two years for misappropriation of public funds, to run concurrently.

The two former governors, who are currently serving their jail terms at Kuje Prison, had approached the Court of Appeal seeking to have their convictions and sentencing set aside.

The three-man panel comprising of Justices Abdul Aboki, Stephen Adah and Atinuke Komolafe-Wilson, which sat on the Dariye appeal, gave its verdict on November 16, 2018.

Reading the lead judgement on behalf of the panel, Adah, stressed that it was a unanimous decision. The Panel upheld the conviction of Dariye based on counts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 13, 17, 21 and 22.

Adah, however, stressed that the lower court ought to have given consideration to the fact that Dariye was a “first-time” offender, and also set aside his conviction based on count 12, while quashing his conviction based on count 23.

In view of being a first-time offender, their lordship reduced his sentencing of 14 years for criminal breach of trust to 10 years on each count, reduced his two years sentence to one for misappropriation of funds, all to run concurrently.

“The forfeiture order of the lower court is also upheld,” Justice Adah added.

Meanwhile, Nyame was not so lucky as the Panel that sat on his appeal, comprising of Justices Aboki and Emmanuel Agim, not only upheld his conviction, but also fined him N495 million.

Reducing the sentencing of the lower court “in conformity with Section 315 of the Penal Code and Section 416 of the ACJA 2015”, Justice Agim who read the judgement, commuted Nyame’s jail term to 12 years and fined him N100 million each on counts one, two and six; N50 million on count eight; N20 million on counts 10, 12, and 14; N10 million on counts 16, 18, 20, 27, 29, 30, 31, and 32; and N5 million on count 36, totalling N495 million.

Nyame also had his sentence reduced from 14 years to 12 for criminal breach of trust, from seven years to five years for gratification and five years to four, for obtaining by dishonesty.

PDP and the plea for forgiveness

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PDP and the plea for forgiveness

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he top policy-makers of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) think, in self-delusion, that they can take for a fool’s ride the swarming number of Nigerian workers, tax-payers and voters whenever they so desire. That, truly, was the attitude that they betrayed when, in what was an after-thought or shallow show of remorse, for nearly two decades of maladministration, by the PDP, they unsealed their beaks and begged Nigerians to forgive them.

Since Nigerian voters are no fools, it’s doubtful whether they will hearken to the plea of the PDP for a long time to come. Recall that the sixteen years of the PDP administration, which featured President Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, was the longest by any democratically-elected political party in the history of this country.

Recall, also, that out of a misplaced sense of security and invincibility or an exaggerated sense of privilege, the same top-policy makers of the PDP, parroted, for a fairly long time – in a show of arrogance – that their party would “govern or rule Nigeria for sixty years”. The party succeeded in governing for only a quarter of its leader’s projection.

By the PDP’s plea to Nigerians for forgiveness, the party’s chairman, Uche Secundus, who made the plea did so from the mistaken belief that Nigerians have no sense of history. And even if Nigerians were to give a nod to that plea, the PDP leaders should not delude themselves that they would be brought back to power in 2019. Is it that the PDP wants to come back to power to continue with crass leadership, especially gargantuan corruption for which it was – and still is – famous?

The PDP does not deserve to be forgiven by Nigerian voters who it has hurt so badly. If it were, indeed, remorseful – that it had sloughed its ugly wasteful financial habit, it should not have dollarized its recent Port Harcourt convention.

That dollar jamboree was an indication that the PDP leaders would rather the Naira sinks in exchange to the dollar. Besides, Nigerian voters are waiting anxiously for the PDP leaders to convince them that their presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is not being economical with the truth concerning his tax declaration.

That’s the same Atiku who was, for eight years, Nigeria’s vice-president. He is a nomadic politician who has flirted with diverse political parties in his bid to become president. He should tell Nigerian voters his role in the poor performance of the PDP up to the period when the recent recession set in.

Given the harrowing experience of bad leadership, under the PDP, Nigerians – especially voters – have come to the conclusion that there is a grave danger in forgiveness. They have resolved never again to trust the PDP, rather so naively as they did to have allowed it to misdirect the affairs of the country for nearly two decades.

And if the leaders of the PDP were, indeed, contrite for their maladministration between 1999 and 2015, they should realize that Nigerians now have a renewed sense of history. Therefore, Nigerians would rather the Buhari administration be given a second chance so that he would remain in power until 2024.

Hopefully, within the distance, Boko Haram would have been history, that it rightly deserves, and the economy back firmly on its feet based, primarily, on a robust contest between agriculture and crude oil.

Nigerian tax-payers, whose tax money was squandered, and voters, whose invested trust and confidence in the party were shattered, have resolved that the PDP as a party and its leaders should be denied further role in the politics of the Fourth Republic; into the political Siberia should they all be sent. That was the ringing statement that they made in 2015, when the voted massively for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

And yet, as most Nigerians who cast their vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Muhammadu Buhari – its presidential candidate in the 2014 elections, would honesty attest, the unusually long years of the PDP dominance of the Nigerian political firmament was an agonizing period of the locusts. And the ugly effects are still being felt today: if, it’s not the recession that the PDP bequeathed the Buhari administration, it was the culture of mindless and flagitious looting of the country’s treasury by its members at all three tiers of government.

If it was not Dasukigate – a corrupt and treacherous betrayal of public trust, in which more than two billion dollars meant for the motivation of the Nigerian military and purchase of top-class materiel for its operatives was shared amongst a handful of top PDP officials, it’s the ongoing insurgency by the Boko Haram terrorists group, the attendant destruction of life and property in mainly the North-East geo-political zone and the kidnap of Chibok and Dapchi school girls in the region.

Time there was, during the sixteen years of the PDP administration, when Nigeria was so buoyant that crude oil – upon which her economy was heavily dependent – sold for nearly $150. Whatever happened to all that huge funds? The PDP leaders should explain in detail to the Nigerian tax payers and voters that they expect to vote for them in 2019 general elections.

Sixteen years of PDP administration was, therefore, a grossly mismanaged opportunity for political advancement and sustainable economic opulence. With such an egregious record of criminal profligacy in the management of the economic fortunes of the country, why should the PDP, however deep its contrition, be ambitious to govern this country again? With the PDP’s poor performance, Nigerians were bitten by a venomous snake and they have always been suspicious, since then, each time they saw a rope.

Whichever way you look at it, the PDP would go down in the history of political development in Nigeria – for as long as the Fourth Republic lasts, say – as the party to have proudly invented or invited terrorism of a monstrous proportion – a la the Boko Haram group – to the country.

Left to the PDP, amidst Dasukigate, Boko Haram would have been a way of life: let there be countless camps of internally displaced persons; let villages be torched or flattened by impoverished explosive devices (IEDS) and let there be an open field of deserted villages and towns.

But it’s on record that for his gallant fight against Boko Haram, Dasukigate and ocean-deep corruption, and that very well explains why at, Buhari was crowned as the continent’s foremost fighter of corruption a recent summit of the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The PDP should be thanked for its gargantuan corruption which not only made that unique crown possible, but also sharpened Buhari’s integrity profile!

On account of the huge corruption perpetrated by the PDP, it’s been argued that Nigeria’s economic development has been set back by nearly 30 years. Indeed, the World Bank and some development economists figure that given the depth to which the PDP has drawn the Nigerian economy, it would require nearly $280 billion, in the next twenty years, to rebuild the devastated parts of the North-East geo-political zone, re-tool the country’s four refineries so that they could be efficient to purify crude oil for local consumption in place of wasteful importation of the product, improve upon security, roads, health centres, education and reactivate such ports of Warri, Onne, Koko, Port Harcourt, so as to ease the huge burden on the Lagos ports.

It’s to the credit of the Buhari administration that it unearthed the Dasukigate. Otherwise, what the PDP meant by Dasukigate was that it could plunder the Nigerian treasury at will and go almost unscathed. And, so, let the country’s military be starved of sorely-need funds and the Nigerian economy should, naturally, collapse.

If Nigeria was going to be a failed state – a country in which insecurity reigns supreme and teeming graduates of tertiary institutions roam the streets, in search of non-existent jobs, so be it.

  • Uzuakpundu, a former senior editorial staff with the Daily Times, writes from Lagos.

Oshiomhole Mocks PDP Over His Alleged Arrest, Detention By Security Agency

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Oshiomhole Mocks PDP Over His Alleged Arrest, Detention By Security Agency

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has mocked the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over his alleged arrest and detention by the Department of State Services (DSS). He said that if it was their (PDP) chairman that was rumoured to have been so invited and detained by the security agency, they would have cried to high heaven about democracy being under threat.

“If it was the PDP chairman that was invited by DSS, for instance over the dollar bazaar at their Port Harcourt primary, they would have said democracy is under threat and would have fired a letter to the UN as they often ridicule themselves.”

Oshimhole, who denied that he was arrested, detained and granted administrative bail by the DSS after nine hours of interrogation, said: “it was not an arrest or detention.”

He told a group of media editors in Lagos today, Saturday that he saw DSS once and had conversation with them.

“The conversation centered around APC primaries. The question now is whether or not it is the DSS job to interfere in a political party’s issues. And if there’s an allegation of corruption, it is the responsibility of EFCC and ICPC.”

Oshiomhole dismissed the rumour that DSS rescheduled another meeting with him even as he said that he was not released on administrative bail. He said that it was him that invited the Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello and that he did not come to pick him up from the DSS office.

“I was the one who called Yahaya Bello and he came but I drove home in my own car.”

On the call by the PDP for his arrest, Oshiomhole said: “what would they have said if it was the PDP chairman that was invited by DSS, for instance over the dollar bazaar at their Port Harcourt primary?

“They would have said democracy is under threat and would have fired a letter to the UN as they often ridicule themselves.”

Burhari Awards N206 Contract For Second Niger Bridge, To Be Completed In 36 Months

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Burhari Awards N206 Contract For Second Niger Bridge, To Be Completed In 36 Months
2nd-Niger bridge

[dropcap]M[/dropcap]inister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has announced that the Federal Government has awarded N206 billion contract for the main work on the Second Niger Bridge. He said that the job is expected to be completed in 36 months.

Babatunde Fashola who spoke in Abuja in an interactive session with newsmen, said that the contract was awarded to Julius Berger Construction Company and that it would be funded under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF). According to him, funding the project under PIDF means that work will no longer stop on account of lack of funding.

The minister said that the contract for the main work on the Second Niger Bridge was awarded after the completion of the four phases of the project.

He said that the early works were preliminary projects to be completed before the main work, adding that all the early works were done in the river and not visible from the existing bridge.

According to him, with the award of the main work, there will be a lot of piling works in the water and that is what people will see. He said that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road projects would also be funded under PIDF.

Hon. Abiodun Francis Wilkey finally bows to pressure from his Constituency as he inaugurates his campaign team

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Hon. Abiodun Francis Wilkey finally bows to pressure from his Constituency as he inaugurates his campaign team

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]on. Abiodun Francis Wilkey has finally succumbed to pressure from the people of Kosofe Constituency 1 to contest for the 2019 Lagos State House of Assembly . Infact, it was not just a political gathering but a carnival so to say. What a Youth Leader and mobilizer! Hon. Abiodun Francis Wilkey has gotten the blessings of all the party stalwarts, the incumbent political office holders and the leaders of other political parties in Kosofe Local Government Area to represent the constituency at the State Assembly come 2019.

Hon. Abiodun Francis Wilkey simply has no rival within and outside as his humanitarian lifestyle spells doom for all his rivals’ desperation. Perhaps, a man’s hunger and thirst for making a difference or adding value to the lives of people is not largely measured on the basis of his privileges and access to power, control, possession or linkage to governmental finance base, but his actions with the little he has.

Beside the pressure from his people to join the 2019 Kosofe Constituency 1 House of Assembly contest and to rescue the good people of Kosofe Constituency 1 from bad representation, the name Hon. Abiodun Francis Wilkey rings bell in the light of well doing, hence, to very many, “Hon.Wilkey” is synonymous with kindness, humility and good doing. To others, he is a symbol of love, affection and kindness. From the growing mass support he enjoys from the day of his call by his people, his acceptance and up till now, is a conviction that, no man forces himself to be loved or wins his way into the hearts of men.

The stage is now set as Hon.Wilkey today before the Kosofe Constituency 1 Political leaders officially inaugurates his campaign team at Ogudu. He has been described as a man of service and generosity, whose motivating interest is to improve the lives and welfare of his people always.His party stalwarts and friends gave the description in their message, congratulating Hon.Wilkey for succumbing to the peoples’ pressure to rescue Kosofe Constituency 1 from bad representation.

According to one of the party leader in Kosofe Constituency 1, who was present at the campaign inauguration today, he said that Hon. Wilkey has used the major part of his life to impact positively on the lives of the people,adding that as a blessed man, the people have continued to feel his generosity and influence.He congratulated him and prayed that God will take him to a greater height where he will continue to make a positive effect on the society.

Grassroots Publishers further reiterated their resolve in joining well-meaning people of Kosofe Constituency 1 to support the clarion call for Hon Wilkey to intensify his moves towards representing them in 2019, as this would ensure the restoration of the voice of the people, which according to the group, has diminished and become muffled in the green chambers.“It is our believe that he will give the people of Kosofe Constituency 1 a resounding voice again in the Lagos State House of Assembly, where for now their voice has been lost due to ineffective representation.

Meanwhile, congratulatory messages have been pouring in from far and wide for Hon. Wilkey on the auspicious occasion of his campaign inauguration to give Kosofe Constituency 1 voice as a true son of the soil.

Speaking with reporters, Hon. Wilkey said that he will continue to be grateful to God for the grace and mercy that he has continued to shower on him, even as he attributed the achievements and successes garnered over the years to the love and goodness of the Lord in his life. He said that he has since dedicated his life to the service of God and humanity and that he has been enjoying the benefits of the service to God and man, even as he stated that his steps are being ordered by God and he also use the opportunity to thank his wife,friends and brothers who have continued to stand by him on this journey and promised that he will not fail them.

Hon.Wilkey also expressed his appreciation to the people of Kosofe Constituency 1 for felicitating with him on his campaign inauguration and vowed that he will always strive to be with them and bring Joy, comfort and service to his people.

By Grassroots Publishers

Grassroots Publishers donates relief materials to IDPs in Asaba

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Grassroots Publishers donates relief materials to IDPs in Asaba

[dropcap]G[/dropcap]rassroots Newspaper Publishers Network(GNPN) has donated relief materials to more than 200 internally displaced persons in Oshimili South Local Government Areas of Delta State. Mr Austin Ukah, The Publisher of Airviews News led members of the Media advocacy group on behalf of the National chairman during the weekend to present the relief materials to the more than 300 affected households. He explained that the relief materials were part of the social responsibility of the group to ameliorate the sufferings of Internally Displaced Persons across Anioma nation. Austin Ukah, during the exercise, revealed that the forum had been donating such items for a very long time, most especially during the 2012 flood that was massive. “We have been trying to put smile on the faces of the less privileged people especially those living in IDP camps,” he said. Also speaking on the development, The National Image maker,Ike Abiagom, said; “The flag off is taking place here but the distribution is done simultaneously in the 6 camps across the state. We are reaching out to about 700 families; most vulnerable, most affected of all the IDPs that is what we are doing.” Adding, “We are asking for support from private bodies and others for we to continue our support for the IDPs,as we are open for donations and direct support is also welcome. We are here to flag off the distribution and we are doing this not only in this camp but in six different camps in the state, which we have three in Asaba.

“We have bags of rice, clothing materials, blankets, mosquitoes nets, cooking oils, sanitary pads, water cans and other items. My advice to the benefitting families in this camp is that, they should use whatever that has been given them judiciously and to the glory of God because it is people that had donated these products to them.”Abiagom stressed.

One of the beneficiaries of the robust relief package, Mrs Nkechi Okolo who was displaced from Oko-Obiokpo and a mother of Nine, thanked the Grassroots Newspaper Publishers Network(GNPN) for the love shown them and prayed God to reward them. “I don’t know what to say. I greet the Grassroots Newspaper Publishers Network(GNPN) , any place they bring these things to benefit us, I tell Jesus to help them, to give them long life and prosperity.

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