Category: News

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, has warned Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), against inciting violence over the outcome of the presidential election.

NAN reports that Mohammed spoke in Washington DC during his official engagements with some international media organisations on the just concluded 2023 polls.

The minister accused Obi of inciting people to violence while seeking redress in court over the outcome of the election.

In a recent interview, Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice-presidential candidate of the LP, had said Bola Tinubu did not meet the constitutional requirements to become Nigeria’s president.

Baba-Ahmed said Tinubu failed to fulfil the requirements stipulated in the section of the 1999 constitution (as amended) for election to the office of the president.

The LP vice-presidential candidate had asked the chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) not to swear in Tinubu as president.

His comments had elicited widespread criticism with some stakeholders calling on security agencies to take action.

“Obi and his vice, Datti Ahmed cannot be threatening Nigerians that if the president-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is sworn in on May 29, it will be the end of democracy in Nigeria,” NAN quoted the information minister as saying on Monday.

“This is treason. You cannot be inviting insurrection, and this is what they are doing.

“Obi’s statement is that of a desperate person, he is not a democrat that he claimed to be.

“A democrat should not believe in democracy only when he wins election.”

The minister said there was no possibility of victory for either Obi or Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in their challenge of the election results.

He said they both failed to meet the constitutional requirements to be declared as president.

“The constitution has stringent criteria for anybody who wants to be president of the country,” he said.

“Only the president-elect met the criteria by scoring 8.79 million votes and having one-quarter of all the votes cast in 29 states of the federation.

“You cannot win election in a poll where you came a distant third position and failed to meet constitutional requirements.

“Peter Obi, while complaining of fraud, has not disowned his victory in Lagos.”

Elaborating on his mission to the US, the minister said he was there to correct the negative narratives being promoted by the opposition on the election.

“We have come here to balance that skewed narratives and to tell the world unambiguously that the just concluded general elections in Nigeria is the fairest, most transparent and authentic in the history of Nigeria,” he said.

“The election is the most fair and credible because of the introduction of bimodal voters verification system (BVAS) which I regard as a game changer.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers State on Tuesday requested the cooperation of all political parties seeking the inspection of election materials used in the February 25 and March 18, 2023 polls, saying it will discharge its constitutional and lawful duties “without preferences or bias”.

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Johnson Sinikiem, in a statement, said about 50 applicants were received for inspection of election materials.

For days now, members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have clashed at the INEC office in the state over the inspection of election materials.

However, the INEC commissioner in the state, said although the application of Certified True Copies of documents and access for inspection of election materials are the legitimate entitlement of candidates and parties to Election Petitions, these are however governed by processes and procedures which include payment of requisite fees, making copies/photocopies of relevant documents and certification by the authorised official of the Commission.

“The Commission has received nearly fifty (50) of these applications since the conclusion of the Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly elections Rivers State and a good number of these applications have been processed in accordance with the date of receipt of such applications and payment of certification fees. This process is still on-going,” the statement partly read.

“The Commission have also advised all applicants to visit our Local Government offices where these documents are domiciled for inspection while we work out modalities for inspection of other documents domiciled at the State office in accordance with available spaces but they insisted that the huge volumes of documents like ballot papers be brought to the state office. They are once again reminded to avail themselves of this opportunity at our Local Government offices to inspect these materials as earlier advised.

“The Management of INEC Rivers State therefore wishes to assure all applicants and the general Public that the Commission is committed to discharging its constitutional and lawful duties without preferences or bias, and do request the co-operation and understanding of all Parties and the general public to enable us serve you better.”

(Channels TV)

No fewer than ten students have been kidnapped by bandits in the Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna state.

The State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan confirmed this in a statement on Monday, where he revealed that the students were from the government secondary school Awon (day secondary school).

The Commissioner also explained that the exact location of the incident is yet to be confirmed, but said that detailed reports are being awaited to clarify the abduction of the students occurred within the school premises or elsewhere

A statement confirming their kidnap issued by the Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said the students were kidnapped on Monday.

According to the statement, “the Kaduna State Government has received preliminary reports from security agencies on the kidnapping of about 10 students in Kachia LGA.

“According to the preliminary reports, the students of Government Secondary School, Awon (a day secondary school) were kidnapped on Monday.

“The exact location of the incident is yet to be ascertained but detailed reports being awaited will clarify whether the incident occurred within the school premises or elsewhere.”

He added that the State government will issue a public statement accordingly, when the reports were received.

More to follow…

(Channels TV/Leadership)

Prof. Wole Soyinka has weighed in on the 2023 general elections and the rhetoric of political actors.

The Nobel laureate, who appeared on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Roadmap 2023, described the elections as “not exactly the most edifying exercise that we’ve been through.”

Stating that he was out of the country for some months, Soyinka shared his insight on the politics-speak that took hold while he was away.

“On arriving, I came in for the World Poetry Day, and immediately, I was bombarded by the most horrendous narratives both pre and after the elections,” he said.

“Since then, I’ve also read columns; I’ve seen Nigerian papers for the first time in months and I didn’t like what I read at all.

“My trust has broken down completely and even the minimum restraint that we’ve learnt to expect from seasoned politicians have been jettisoned completely.”

The literary icon noted that he preferred not to make comments on the electoral process as he was away, though he says it does not mean he was ignorant of what was happening on the home front.

In his estimation, the nation was moving towards a situation, which he says was not planned, but one that happened fortuitously where the existing mould was going to be broken.

“And the signs were there that there would be die-hard opposition to the breaking of that mould,” he said. “Elections should be keenly contested. But I still believe very much in what I call the Fashola Dictum.”

Soyinka quoted former Governor Babatunde Fashola, now Minister of Works and Housing, as once saying elections should be like festivals.

“They should be yet another aspect of the festive spirit of humanity – and this was anything but festive,” he said.

Senate Chief Whip Orji Uzor Kalu has lost his wife, Mrs. Ifeoma Ada Kalu.

Ifeoma was said to have died in the United States of America.

Announcing her death on his verified Facebook page, Kalu announced his wife died at 61.

The former Abia Governor described his late wife as a woman of virtues who was committed to the service of God and humanity.

Kalu in the statement, said: “A memorial service in her honour is scheduled to hold in the United States of America (USA).

TRANSITION TO ETERNAL GLORY

“With a heavy heart and pain, we announce the passing on to eternal glory of Mrs Ifeoma Ada Kalu aged 61 years.

“She was a woman of virtue who was committed to the service of God and humanity.

“A memorial service in her honour is scheduled to hold in the United States of America (USA).

“Please remember her and loved ones in prayers at this difficult period.

“May her gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.”

(Vanguard)

29-year-old controversial singer, Habeeb Okikiola, popularly known as Portable, was on Monday granted bail by a State High Court sitting in Ifo, Ogun State.

Recall that the singer was taken into custody earlier on Friday, March 31, 2023 by the State Police Command and consequently arraigned on six-count charge bordering on assault on Monday morning.

After Portable was docked, the court adjourned the matter to April 26, 2023, and ordered that the singer will be kept at Ilaro Correctional Centre till he perfects his N300,000 bail conditions.

Meanwhile, the complainant in the matter and an upcoming artiste, Osimosu Emmanuel, a.k.a Manny Monie told journalists at the premises of the Court on Monday that Portable was the architect of his own predicament.

Manny Monie said the controversial singer had ignored the court on two occasions.

He, however, suggested that before the next adjourned date, both parties might settle the matter out of court.

(Leadership)

The chairman of the Public Affairs Committee of the National Population Commission (NPC), Eyitayo Oyetunji has implored Nigerians not to leave their residence during the population census.

According to the United Nations population agency, UNFPA, Nigeria’s population is estimated to be 216 million and projections, estimate the nation’s population could hit 400 million by the year 2050.

With one month away from the national population census, Mr Oyetunji said the need for accurate information is vital for effective planning and movement will affect this collation.

“We don’t encourage anyone to move anywhere, the census essentially is to collect information for planning purposes and to provide amenities infrastructure you have to have accurate information of the people in an area.

“A census is not a census except everyone is counted and that is our cardinal objective, to ensure that everyone is counted once and in the right place, a census must have universality for it to be a census, every part of the country must be covered and that is our intention,” he said this during a live appearance at Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily on Monday.

The chairman also noted that the transparency of this exercise would be able to counter misconceptions and distrust adding that it would foster the development of the government for the people.

“The census is not how many we are, the census primary is to give the basis that will help any administration to provide a better quality of life for the people and to do that, a government requires information, not just about how many persons they are, what are their needs, what is their present status.”

“A new administration requires data to plan, to succeed, to start. You need a blueprint of what people ought to administer, where they are, how many they are, and what they require. Ideally, that is what we should start with.

He also stated that the act of citizens deserting their residence to elsewhere would defeat the census process.

“It is counterproductive to leave your place and go to your village, it won’t help because the appropriate development planning that should be made for you where you are would not then be made.”

Eyitayo also noted that the census process was not aimed at distorting the election outcomes but at achieving its objective.

“Because of our circumstances, it’s not too surprising that people would want to read the meaning. We ensured that we insulated the census process from the election process.

“That is why we had to wait until after the last elections just to ensure that nobody says that the plan is to use the outcome of the census to influence the outcome of the elections. The elections have been conducted and concluded and then the census is coming.”

He enjoined Nigerians not to distort the process through travel, adding that it would curb the criminalization of census.

“Don’t make effort to go elsewhere, you go to school where you are, you use water where you are, you use water where you are, you go to school where you are, you participate in the economic activity where you are and all that is the information we want to collect during the census so that it can enable the administration.”

(Channels TV)

Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika has reiterated his determination to demolish two private terminal facilities – Evergreen Apple Nigeria and Dominion Hangar – in the next few weeks to create space for the expansion of the apron of the new international terminal at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

The state-of-the-art terminal was unveiled early last year, but since then it has not been fully utilised due to limited aircraft maneuvering space because of the small apron that cannot accommodate wide-body aircraft like Boeing B777 and others.

The minister made this known in Lagos at the weekend at the unveiling of new fire fighting vehicles, adding that it was necessary that the apron of the new terminal was expanded so that the facility would be fully utilised.

He noted that the practice of moving passengers to the old terminal after checking them in at the new facility was cumbersome and time consuming.

“We are not operating Lagos airport at full capacity. We have some obstructions that will be removed within the next one or two weeks to expand the apron so that Lagos will have full use 100 per cent of the new terminal.

“We are going to demolish Dominion Hangar and Evergreen Apple Nigeria hangar to make way for the new apron and that would be in a few weeks,” he said.

On the acquisition of new fire tenders, Sirika said the absence of fire cover at any aerod airport or inadequate fire cover was enough to either shutdown or downgrade the facility.

He recalled that the Sosoliso crash, which took place at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa on December 10, 2005, and killed 108 out of 110 on board, was tragically devastating because the fire could have been put off if there were adequate fire-fighting vehicles.

He remembered the Loyola Jesuit students who died in the crash and said lack of fire cover guaranteed the death of the children who even survived the crash because they were later roasted alive by the fire.

The federal government acquired 10 Volkan Lion 6×6 fire fighting vehicles, which were delivered to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Aeronautical Rescue and Fire Fighting Services (ARFFS) worth over N12 billion.

According to the Minister, the importance of the safety equipment could not be emphasised enough because they were key to safety, security and efficient take off and landinging of flights.

“To non- aviators and onlookers, you see fire-fighting equipment, but the importance and relevance is not brought onto focus, especially for people watching from afar whose only concern is to board aircraft and use air conditioned terminals.

“Well for us, that is important too, but most important is to keep you safe. You all remember our children that left Abuja for Port Harcourt in the Sosoliso crash? We couldn’t save those children because even though the plane landed, crashed; they were still alive but the airport did not have adequate fire cover to save those ones and parents were seeing their children burnt alive, children they sent to school. That is so sad.

“For 15 years, no fire tender has been supplied to us, we just cannibalise two or three to make one. And the absence of fire cover is the number one reason to shut down airports and even if you dont have enough, you downgrade the airport to a lower category,” he said

Speaking earlier, in his opening remark, the Managing Director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Hamisu Yadudu, said the 10 super-structure, ultra-modern major firefighting vehicles were to be deployed to MMA Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano (MAKIA); disclosing that FAAN was processing additional vehicles for Port-Harcourt and Enugu airports.

Giving a breakdown of the capabilities of the equipment, Yadudu said,” Each vehicle not only carries 14,000 litres of water; 1,700 litres of foam and 250kg powder capacity; it also monitors the discharge rate of between 6,000Litres to 10,000 Litres per minute. Acceleration rate is from 0 to 80km/hr in 30 seconds.

“The truck can discharge while in motion (professional pump and roll operation) and is equipped with under chassis nozzles to tackle running fuel fire. These vehicles would be deployed to MMA Lagos, NAIA Abuja and MAKIA Kano while we are also processing for additional vehicles for Port-Harcourt and Enugu.”

(Arise News)

The governors of the 36 states of the federation will on Tuesday meet with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the security votes in their respective domains.

Also expected at the meeting are the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), spokesman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, said in a statement.

The planned meeting, which will be virtual, is to ensure full attendance by all the relevant officers in the matter.

Bello-Barkindo stated that the governors as well as the economic and financial agencies in the country will use the opportunity to iron out thorny issues surrounding their states’ security votes, towards establishing a better option for managing the funds.

“Furthermore, the meeting will also consider deepening the management and expansion of the cashless policy which took effect from the time of the redesigning of the national currency, the Nigerian Naira, last year, to further the financial inclusion of all citizens in the ensuing scheme of things, going forward,” the statement read.

“This meeting is called at the instance of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, in its letter of 30th March, which was addressed to the Chairman of the NGF and signed by the NFIU Director, Modibbo Hamman Tukur.”

Apart from the facilities for national financial inclusion, the governors will propose uniform development and cooperation on the national addressing and postcode project, which will put Nigeria on the same pedestal as all advanced countries across the globe.

Also on the agenda is a consensus on harmonizing and updating the national tax collection and business entry standards and their requirements to help respond to the FATF and the EU grey listing in which Nigeria appeared.

All governors are advised to prioritise the meeting as its contents had been discussed at the NGF emergency meeting on Thursday 30th March, where it was unanimously agreed that a meeting with the agencies was imperative.

(Channels TV)

Samson Abanni, Abuja

The Labour Party has cautioned the All Progressives Congress, APC, to desist from spreading propaganda against her presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.

This was made known in a press release titled ‘APC’s Endless Subterfuge Must Stop’, and signed by Diran Onifade, Head, Obi-Datti Media.

Onifade wondered why the APC seemed desperate “to grab and retain power by foul means”.

The press release reads in full:

“It appears the All Progressives Congress’ desperation to grab and retain power by foul means has refused to go away more than a month after they have grabbed the election as they planned.

“While we are toeing the constitutional path to retrieve our mandate, those who have truncated the wishes of the majority of Nigerians have resorted to mischief and endless subterfuge to continue to hold on to what they know does not belong to them.

“From the show of shame in Port Harcourt to the drama in the Ibom Air aircraft, both of which they contrived, they have now moved to the circulation of a deep fake audio file aimed at promoting religious tension in the country.

“All these are meant to serve no other purpose than egregious mischief aimed at de-marketing Peter Obi. If the goal is to create a credibility problem, the ploy has failed woefully. Peter Obi has long been on record as the only presidential candidate who has urged the Nigerian electorate not to vote for him on the basis of religion or tribe.

“We will therefore like to advice our beloved Nigerian people to remain focused on the task to take back the mandate we know was freely given to Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed through legitimate means.

“That is more important than to expect those who ran elections on forged credentials and even fake Bishops to stop faking. They cannot stop being fraudulent because that is who they are”.