Contrary to the speculations, propaganda, hatred speeches going from around and far East of the country.

Peaceful atmosphere mood activated, which of the favours of Allah are you denying?

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje has been declared winner of the governorship election in Kano State by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

With the development, Ganduje has won re-election for another four years in office.

INEC’s Returning Officer, Bello Shehu declared that Ganduje, having polled the majority of votes had been declared re-elected.

In the announced by Shehu, Ganduje polled 1,033,695 votes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Abba Yusuf, who polled 1,024,713 votes.

INEC had declared the governorship election held on March 9 inconclusive and a supplementary election fixed for March 23.

In the March 9 election, Yusuf had polled 1,014,474 votes to beat Ganduje who got 987,819 votes, leaving a difference of 26,655, but a rerun was scheduled.

In the supplementary election announced by Shehu earlier, Ganduje polled 45,876 votes to beat Yusuf, who scored 10,239 votes.

DIG Micheal Ogbizi

“In Gama Ward in (Nassarawa LG) there was mass turn out of voters and the Election went on peacefully.”

“In a pockets of places where there were minor attempts to disrupt process were seen, we intervened swiftly. And peace had since returned.”

“THERE WAS NO RECORD OF THUGS IN KANO RERUN ELECTIONS.”

“We have enough police presence in all the polling units.”

“THE RUMORED ARREST OF A COMMISSIONER IN KANO AND THE DEATH OF TWO PEOPLE ARE ALL BLATANT LIES!

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Michael Ogbizi, in an interview with the Channels TV’s Supplementary Elections, between 03:27 to 3:36pm, 23rd March, 2019

Sanata Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso da dan koransa Jaafar Jaafar da Jaridarsu ta Daily Nigeria sun ruwaito cewa ba’ayi zabe a Kano ba, sannan kuma DIG Anthony ya gurbata harkar tsaro.

Menene ra’ayinku akan wannan maganar?

It is evidently to everyone in Nigeria and Kano to be precise that voters are voting peacefully.

Mazugal, is also a voting point in Dala LGA where rerun is taking place and women are all out to vote calmly.

It will be conclusive today for the inconclusive to disappear here in Kano.

Belli in Rogo LGA is another voting unit where mass turnout of voters is obviously peaceful.

It seems all is well and peaceful in GAMA, as voters continue to exercise their right.

Next Level Stated Here

The Police Command in Kano State on Thursday apologised to the state branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) over the alleged attack and maltreatment of some lawyers in the state.

The state police Commissioner, Mr Wakili Muhammad, made the apology when he visited the state headquarters of the NBA located at Farm Centre area in Kano metropolis.

Muhammad said that lawyers were partners in progress hence his decision to apologise to the union in order to forge ahead.

“Lawyers are part of me and part of my job so I hope we will continue to work together and do what is expected of us in accordance with the law,” he said.

Muhammad said he was ready to apologise to the union in whatever way the members of the union wanted it either in a written letter or through the print media.

Responding, the State chairman of the association, Musa Abdullahi-Lawal thanked the Commissioner of Police for the visit.

He expressed the readiness of the union to work with the Police in the state to ensure quick dispensation of Justice.

The State branch of NBA on Wednesday gave the state police command 48 hours within which to tender public apology to the association for allegedly molesting its members while on their lawful duties. (NAN)

he All Progressives Congress (APC) has mocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the claims by Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate, that he defeated President Muhammadu Buhari by 1.6 million votes. 

Sympathising with PDP on its defeat at the presidential poll, APC commended Nigerians for their support. 

A statement by Mallam Lanre Issa Onilu, issued on Wednesday, noted that PDP’s plans to discredit the electoral process as reported before the elections, had been confirmed.

He also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to be on the alert against alleged plans by PDP to “jeopardize” the commission’s database.

The statement read: “Following the outcome of the presidential election, during which a vast majority of Nigerians reaffirmed their unshaken belief in President Muhammadu Buhari to continue to steer the affairs of the country for another four years, we have watched in disbelief and utter amusement how the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have engaged in series of circus shows to cheer up their crestfallen and disillusioned members.

“While the APC is not oblivious of the PDP’s antics to discredit the credible presidential electoral process, acknowledged by local and international observers, we sympathise with Atiku for the crushing defeat handed him by President Buhari through the votes of Nigerians.

“Judging by Atiku and PDP’s recent utterances and actions, it is now clear that they have slipped into severe depression and post-defeat hallucination that have left many Nigerians questioning their current state of mind.

“After weeks of dilly-dallying, the PDP has woken up to the stark reality of its electoral defeat and decided to follow the constitutional path of filing a petition at the Election Tribunal. However, of all the prayers of Atiku before the Election Tribunal, which are at best hollow, the most ridiculous is his claim that the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) indicated he ‘won’ the Presidential Election by 1.6million votes.

“A few questions would suffice: Is this phantom figure of 1.6million votes Dubai-invented? Was the result sold to Atiku by his numerous marabouts, who we understand, had assured him that the last election was a done deal for him?

“Most importantly, we note Atiku’s consistent reference to the ‘INEC server’ as if he is the custodian of that platform. Indeed, Atiku’s constant reference to the INEC server should raise concerns as it is becoming apparent that he and the PDP are up for some dastard activities that are targeted at jeopardizing the INEC database and internal storage system.

“We recall the widespread reported cases of several programmed card readers that were retrieved from some PDP agents and their failed attempt to hack the INEC database in the lead up to the then postponed presidential election. We remind the Atiku and PDP that Nigerians saw through the devious schemes aimed at thwarting their will. Consequently, majority of the voters handed them a harsh verdict — that verdict remains sacrosanct.

“We call on the INEC and the security agencies to be on red alert to ensure that Atiku and the other desperate characters in the PDP are not able to execute their evil plans.”

http://saharareporters.com/2019/03/21/pdp-has-slipped-severe-depression-and-post-defeat-hallucination-says-apc

Kano State APC has submitted an official request to INEC for the list of accredited domestic & foreign observers, as well as the card reader data of LGs in the metropolitan areas of the state were PDP carried out massive rigging and over voting. This is highly crucial as the supplementary election approaches at the end of the week.

Salihu Tanko Yakasai
Special Adviser Media
Government House Kano
Narch 20, 2019.

Yekini Nabena, a spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate in the just concluded general election, Atiku Abubakar, of hacking into the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Nabena made the allegation on Wednesday in reaction to the claim by the PDP that Atiku Abubakar actually won the 2019 election from what the INEC server showed.
He wondered how the opposition political party could have gotten the figure without hacking into it.
Nabena wrote on his Twitter handle: “Just tell me how Atiku and the PDP would bring out figures from INEC server without having access to it.
“Atiku recruited RUSSIAN HACKERS for #NigeriaDecides2019. But, GOD pass them.”
Recall that the PDP national legal adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, had in a petition to the election tribunal requested that Atiku be declared the winner of last month’s presidential poll.
He stated in the party’s 139-page petition that, “From the data in the 1st respondent’s (INEC’s) server the true, actual and correct results from state to state computation, showed that Atiku polled a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari whom they said scored 16,741,430 votes.”

https://www.criticaltimesnews.com/2019/03/pdp-atiku-hacked-inec-server-says-apc.html?fbclid=IwAR2KYz_coHZwTGk0pzzW1bV-oSzJYW7wp7MK20MLzamJd3dZhf_QwxgiU0w

Former Governor of Kano State Ibrahim Shekarau is going into the 9th National Assembly as the senator elected with the highest number of votes, Daily Trust reports.

Shekarau, according to the results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was elected to represent Kano Central Senatorial District, with 506, 271 votes.

His closest challenger, Aliyu Madaki (PDP), polled 267, 778 votes, few thousands shy of the 273,404 Emeka Ihedioha got to emerge Imo State governor-elect.

Kano Central District has 15 local governments namely: Dala, Gwale, Dawakin Kudu, Gezawa, Tarauni, Fagge, Garun Malam, Kano Municipal, Kumbotso, Kura, Madobi, Minjibir, Nasarawa, Ungoggo, and Warawa.

The zone also produced the highest scoring senator in the 2015 elections with Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, then of the APC recording 758, 383 votes, over 200, 000 more votes than Shekarau scored.

The result may not be a surprise, analysts say, with Kano having a total of 4, 696, 474 PVCs collected, being the second highest in the country behind Lagos.

Findings by Daily Trust showed that 358, 024 fewer voters turned out as opposed to the previous elections in 2015 recorded in the state.

However, the drop in the votes scored may be due to several factors, one is the general drop in voter turnout in the country as a whole for the February 23 elections with data released by INEC showing that only 34. 75 percent of eligible voters turned out.

The second highest grossing senator is Bello Mandiya (APC), with 433,139, to beat his opponent Imam Shehu Inuwa (PDP) who scored 158, 081 to represent Katsina South in the Senate.

While Katsina State also produced the third highest scoring senator with Kabir Barkiya also of the APC winning the Katsina Central senatorial seat with 340,800 votes, while his challenger Mani Nasarawa of PDP got 127,520 votes.

Traditionally, Katsina is one of the states with the highest number of registered voters. With 98 percent of PVC collection in the state amounting to 3, 187, 988 eligible voters, the state is the third highest in the country.

This is carrying on from 2015 when Umar Ibrahim Kurfi of the APC scored 375, 360 votes to clinch the seat for Katsina Central while Abu Ibrahim scored 409, 624 to clinch the seat for Katsina South.

Katsina State recorded an improved voter turnout by 50, 219 voters compared to 2015.

However, analysts have tried to explain Ali Ndume’s score of 301, 312 votes, against his challenger who scored 84, 692 votes, to retain the Borno South Senatorial seat.

This is despite the district being one of the worse hit by Boko Haram insurgency.

However, 409, 813 of the registered voters from eight local governments were cleared to vote in displaced person camps in and around the state, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the state Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim told journalists in Maiduguri just before the elections.

‘Why votes differ’

The executive director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said this development is occasioned by the fact that the northwest and northeast voters were swayed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s popularity.

He said the senators from these regions got higher votes because “voters were looking for Buhari’s party, not any competent candidate. It was a ‘sak’ matter. He said in the northwest and northeast, winning the party’s primaries is more difficult than winning the general elections.”

He said, on the other hand, during the governorship elections (since Buhari was not on the ballot) there was a semblance of stiff competition and balance of power. “The difference between Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of APC and Abba Yusuf of PDP is not staggering. This is because people voted for candidates based on merit, not on bandwagon effect,” the CISLAC chief said.

He said the refusal of President Buhari to sign the amended Electoral Act that changed the elections sequence (separating the day of presidential from National Assembly elections) might have fueled this bandwagon effect in the north.

Rafsanjani said this bandwagon effect has catapulted rogue politicians into the National Assembly. “What we have today is that competent and responsible lawmakers were edged out because they couldn’t afford the huge amount of money needed to buy tickets during the primaries. This is because getting the party’s ticket, with Buhari on the ballot is the surest way to victory. And the voters don’t care who the candidate is provided he is in Buhari’s party,” he said.

He said the larger number of registered voters also factored. “The voting strength of Kano, Katsina and Kebbi is higher than the total number of the southwest.

Low scoring senator

While some senators were turning in huge numbers, Senator Uche Ekwunife of the PDP needed only 18, 412 votes to reclaim her senatorial seat of Anambra central, beating her closest challenger with a margin of 4, 009 votes.

It is the lowest number of votes recorded by any senator-elect in the 2019 elections, according to INEC results anlaysed by this newspaper.

The result is a staggering drop from her score of 101, 548 votes with which she beat notable candidates like then APGA Chairman Victor Umeh and Chris Ngige of the APC.

What happened in the last four years to bring her votes down is baffling analysts.

Speaking to Daily Trust, a former executive director of Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), and head of Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, the lower votes in the southeast is due to the region’s attitude to politics.

“Elections is one issue the southeast people don’t take very seriously,” he said. He said he was in Anambra in 2013 during the governorship elections between Chris Ngige and Peter Obi.

“There was a stalemate and the elections were declared inconclusive. Surprisingly, on the day of the rerun, all shops were opened. People went about their businesses as if nothing was happening. That is their attitude to elections,” Zikirullahi said.

On his part, Rafsanjani said the low votes for senators from the southeast may also be the result of stiff competition by many parties. “In the southeast, there were so many candidates. And they might have eaten away from the shares of the winning senators. This is unlike in the northwest and northeast, where it was one-way traffic. Buhari’s party candidate got everything. Leaving very dismal figures for the opposition candidate, which usually not more than one,” he said.

Ekwunife is only bested by Solomon Olamilekan (APC) who polled 23, 189 votes to beat his PDP rival to the Lagos west senatorial seat.

However, in Lagos West, Senator Solomon Adeola recorded 323, 817 votes to beat PDPs Gbadebo Rhodes who scored 243, 516 votes.

While Senator Remi Tinubu (APC) managed 131, 735 votes to beat PDP’s Onitiri David who polled 89, 107 votes.

The numbers are nowhere near as impressive as the numbers recorded in the likes of Kano and Katsina despite Lagos being the state with the highest number of eligible voters in the country with 5, 531, 389 PVCs collected. However, the state also recorded a decrease of 482, 034 people turning out to vote compared to 2015 figures.

Zikirullahi said voter apathy is a common denominator in southwest politics. “Majority of voters in Lagos stayed at home on the day of elections. We have seen on television stations people holding parties on the streets at the same the voting was taking place,” he said.

Another factor responsible for the apathy, according to Zikirullahi, is the fact that “elections have become mere periodic rituals. People don’t bother again. The people they voted for didn’t leave up to expectation. So why worry themselves to vote for another set of characters again?”

Another low-scoring senator is former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu (APC) who needed only 30, 580 votes to beat his PDP rival who scored 8, 640 fewer votes to clinch the Abia North senatorial seat.

It is not surprising though that the two lowest scoring senators are from the Southeast, which recorded a drop in the voter turnout in all the states in the region and has a total number of eligible voters (with PVCs) at 8,293,093.

This figure is at least 10 million lower than the Northwest region which comprises states like Kano and Katsina.

The voter apathy in the region, coupled with the call by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for a boycott of the election as well as collection of PVCs, might also be another factor as a total of 1,466,710 uncollected PVCs are still in possession of INEC. This is slightly lower than the total number of PVC carrying voters in all of Abia state at 1.7 million.

Ekwunife’s Anambra, on the other hand, has only 2 million PVCs collected.

Despite the disparity in the number of votes recorded and the sizes of the various constituencies, as well the numbers of the electorate each senator is representing, the senators have equal rights on the floors of the red chamber and will receive the same allowances for constituency projects.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/shekarau-mandiya-ndume-top-lawmakers-with-highest-votes.html

Be informed that the Kano Central Senator elect Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau CON Sardaunan Kano will be on air scheduled as follows;

1. Arewa Radio – 10pm.-11
2. Guarantee Radio- 11pm.-12
3. Express Radio – 11pm.
4. Dala Radio – 8pm.-9
5. Rahama Radio – 10pm.-11
6. Freedom Radio – 11pm.-12

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, has said that the Federal Government was considering increasing Value Added Tax, to enable it fund the new national minimum wage.

Udoma stated this on Tuesday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance.

The Minister also told the panel headed by Senator John Owan-Enoh, that the Technical Advisory Committee on the minimum wage, will submit its report to President Muhammadu Buhari this week.

He said, “The current minimum wage of N18,000 is really too low. It is difficult for workers to manage on that amount.

“The President supported a review, but it is important that as we are revising it, we should be able to fund it.

“It is in the light of this that we would be coming to you (Senate) because there may be the need to make some changes, especially the VAT, in order to fund the minimum wage once it is announced.”

The Senate on the same day, approved N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

This decision was reached after the upper chamber’s ad-hoc committee on new minimum wage headed by Senator Francis Alimikhena, submitted its report.

New Minimum Wage: FG gives condition for payment of N30,000 as Senate approves figure

The Army said on Tuesday that troops of 115 Task Force Battalion and 143 Battalion in two front coordinated attacks have successfully repelled Boko Haram terrorists in Michika, Adamawa State.

According to the Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Sagir Musa, scores of Boko Haram terrorists were neutralised during the encounter, with some of them fleeing with gunshot wounds.

Colonel Musa said in a statement issued in Abuja that the terrorists attacked Michika late night on Monday, but were dealt with severely by troops who organized blocking positions against them.

He said the terrorists also hurriedly made away with dead bodies of some of their fighters.

Colonel Musa said: “Boko Haram terrorists met their Waterloo and suffered heavy casualties yesterday evening the 18th of March 2019 when they attempted to infiltrate Michika in Adamawa State.

“At about 7.20 pm, gallant troops of 115 Task Force Battalion deployed at Lassa in Borno State received a distress call from vigilantes at Maikadiri village on movement of suspected Boko Haram terrorists along Road Maikadiri – Shuwari enroute Michika.

“The troops immediately organized blocking positions and swooped on the terrorists which led to an exchange of fire. The terrorists attempted to escape but were intercepted and suppressed with heavy volume of fire.

“Consequently, the troops with reinforcement from 143 Battalion Gulak engaged the terrorists on Two Front Coordinated Attacks.

“The BHTs were completely routed by the troops, neutralizing many of them, while others fled in disarray due to superior firepower.

“As a result, they hastily evacuated most of their corpses under the cover of darkness. The entire area has been dominated by own troops and the situation is completely under control. Items captured from the terrorists include One Ford vehicle, two Toyota Starlet vehicles loaded with foodstuffs, one motorcycle and one tyre inflating machine.

“Further exploitation is to be conducted this morning. Calm has since returned to the city and inhabitants of the town are hereby enjoined to report the presence of strange faces in their localities and go about their normal businesses. “

http://thenationonlineng.net/troops-neutralise-boko-haram-terrorists-in-michika-adamawa/

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been stopped from proceeding with the collation, or announcement of the result of the governorship election in Bauchi State.

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday gave the order stopping the announcement of result of the governorship election held in the state on March 9 by the electoral body.

The order which was issued on the strength of an ex parte application filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the incumbent governor of Bauchi State, Mohamed Abubakar, shall however last till the determination of the suit brought before the court by the two plaintiffs.

In the ex parte motion, the APC and Abubakar had prayed the court for an order of Interim Injunction restraining INEC from resuming, concluding or announcing the result of the Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State in respect of the election to the office of Governor of Bauchi State.

Recall that the governor Mohammed Abubakar, on Monday, briefed President Muhammadu Buhari who paid a working visit to Bauchi about the inconclusive elections in the state.

Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting with Buhari, the governor said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced procedures not known to the laws of the land during the March 9th elections in the state.
INEC was to resume the announcement of the results of the elections from Tafawa Balewa Lg today (Tuesday) and stakeholders, including journalists had gathered before the court order came.

INEC is yet to react to the development.

Court halts announcement of guber results in Bauchi

The Senate approved N30,000 as the new national minimum wage. This decision was reached on Tuesday after the upper chamber’s ad-hoc committee on new minimum wage headed by Senator Francis Alimikhena submitted its report. The Senate then went on to request the Federal Government to submit a supplementary budget to cover the new wage structure for consideration and approval.

Read More at: https://leadership.ng/2019/03/19/just-in-senate-okays-n30000-minimum-wage/?fbclid=IwAR3iGFgPiF9bOniQ9_oRysXDkQaMeSm9OLeUz9i84SxlPaUEN3W-PHZ5Rjg

Citing security and logistics reasons, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has foreclosed the immediate release of the materials used for the February 23, 2019, presidential election to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for inspection. In an apparent reaction to the PDP’s allegation that INEC was frustrating Atiku from accessing and inspecting the poll materials, the commission explained yesterday that the materials in question were not available for Atiku to inspect because they were still at the local government offices nationwide. The commission further said that it cannot rush to allow Atiku, the PDP and any other political party that requested to inspect the materials because some of them are very sensitive and could be tampered with. Like Atiku and the PDP, President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have secured the nod of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to access and inspect the election materials. With the dust over the inspection of the poll materials yet to settle, Atiku yesterday went ahead to file his petition challenging Buhari’s victory at the tribunal. Atiku and his PDP are challenging the victory of Buhari and APC on the grounds of alleged massive riggings, irregularities and non-compliance substantially with the electoral laws. Before this development, the tribunal granted Buhari and Atiku the permission to inspect the materials after entertaining the ex-parte applications they filed to that effect. INEC officials told LEADERSHIP yesterday that the commission was not in a position to immediately release the election materials to Atiku and the PDP because the sensitive ones cannot be issued to a political party until certain payments were made to the electoral umpire. It was learnt that most of the sensitive materials which are still at INEC offices at the local government areas across the country may be transported in trucks to its headquarters in Abuja or photocopied, which will take some time. It is after these processes have been completed that the inspection can be done by Atiku or any candidate and party that so wish, INEC said. President Buhari of the APC was on February 27, 2019, declared the winner of the presidential election by INEC haven polled 15,191,847 votes to defeat Atiku who garnered 11,262,978 votes. Before INEC completed the collation of the results, Atiku and the PDP rejected them and later headed to the tribunal to seek the cancellation of the results in some states of the federation over alleged irregularities. The tribunal granted some of Atiku’s prayers, among which, was that INEC should allow him and the PDP to inspect the election materials. And last week, Buhari also stormed the tribunal, sitting at the Appeal Court, Abuja, requesting that he be allowed to inspect the materials, which the court granted. Before INEC clarified its position yesterday, the PDP had accused the commission of frustrating its efforts to inspect the materials. INEC argued yesterday that it has the responsibility to ensure that in all its dealings with aggrieved and other interested parties, the security of the sensitive documents is guaranteed. The commission denied the allegation that it had refused the PDP access to the election materials. INEC national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr Festus Okoye, declared yesterday that, “I am not aware that the commission has refused to grant any political party access to election materials,” Okoye said that there are procedures every party must follow when it comes to the inspection of sensitive materials, adding that the political party and its candidate must make some payments while INEC must ensure that it follows due process to prevent the materials from being tampered with. He said: “There are procedures for harvesting documents in the commission and there are payments to be made before documents are released. “Moreover, elections are conducted at the polling units and materials are kept in the various local government offices of the commission. “There are a few documents in the headquarters of the commission. Most of the documents must be trucked from the local governments and or photocopied at the local governments. We will check at the state and ensure compliance with the requests,” Okoye said. Finally, Atiku Files Petition At Tribunal About 20 days after INEC declared Buhari the, winner of the presidential election, Atiku and the PDP last night filed their petition before the tribunal,  praying that they be declared the winners of the presidential election instead Buhari and the APC. In the alternative, the two petitioners prayed the tribunal to nullify the poll and ordered for a fresh election that will be conducted in line with provisions of the electoral laws. The respondents in the suit are the APC, President Buhari, and INEC. Under section 134 of the Electoral Act, 2010, any candidate that is not satisfied with the outcome of the presidential contest, is mandated to approach the tribunal with a petition, not later than 21 days after the result was announced. The tribunal is also expected to deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date the petition was filed. At about 8pm last night, Atiku’s team of lawyers led by Mr. Chukwuma Machukwu Ume (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), and Mr. Emeka Etiaba (SAN) were perfecting the filing process at the Central Registry of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT). The tribunal will conduct its proceedings at the Court of Appeal headquarters in Abuja. Though Atiku was yet to arrive at the tribunal where he was expected to personally depose to an affidavit, some PDP chieftains, including its spokesman, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan and Alhaji Buba Galadima, accompanied the lawyers to the tribunal. Addressing newsmen, PDP national legal adviser, Mr. Emmanuel Enoidem, said that Atiku would seek for two principal reliefs at the tribunal. He said the first relief was for an order declaring him as the bonafide winner of the 2019 presidential election. In the alternative, Atiku and the PDP want the tribunal to nullify the presidential election on the premise that it was marred by irregularities. “We asked that our candidate who won the election massively across the country be declared the winner. In the alternative, we also asked that the election be set aside on the ground of irregularities which were apparent across the country. “We have a pool of 20 SANs who are tested in election petition matters and other senior lawyers who are working with them. We have also lined up more than 400 witnesses that are going to testify in this petition. Nigerians are at home with what happened on February 23, the sham they called an election. We are going to re-present those facts to Nigerians, we are not going to manufacture facts,” he said. Also speaking, Mike Ozekhome told journalists that the petitioners encountered serious challenges in the hands of INEC which was reluctant to grant them access to the electoral materials. “Our petition is quite solid, very strong and unassailable. We believe that by the grace of God, the original winner will regain his mandate”, Ozekhome added. The tribunal had on March 6 ordered INEC to grant Atiku and the PDP access to all the electoral materials that were used for the presidential poll. The tribunal, however, declined to allow Atiku and PDP to conduct forensic analysis on any of the electoral materials on the premise that such request was outside the scope of the Electoral Act, as amended. In a counter-move, President Buhari and the APC, on March 14, also approached the tribunal and secured an order for INEC to grant them access to all the electoral materials. The tribunal, in two separate rulings, ordered the electoral body to forthwith, make available to President Buhari and the APC, both used and unused ballot papers it deployed across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for the purpose of the presidential poll. Among other documents the tribunal granted the applicants leave to inspect included all the voters’ registers. It held that the applicants should also be allowed to obtain Certified True Copies of all the documents that were used at the polling units, wards, local governments, and state levels. PMB Meets Bauchi, Plateau Govs Ahead Of Reruns Meanwhile, President Buhari met yesterday separately with Bauchi State governor, Mohammad Abubakar and his Plateau State counterpart, Simon Lalong at the presidential villa ahead of the supplementary elections holding on Saturday. The visit was the second by Governor Abubakar to the State House in a week since INEC resolved to continue the collation and conclusion of the governorship election which it earlier declared inconclusive. INEC had declared the governorship elections in Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau, Sokoto, Benue, and Kano States inconclusive and kept mum on Rivers State where the entire exercise was suspended. But after receiving the reports of its fact-finding team to Bauchi and Rivers States, INEC announced that it would complete the collation of the results from the outstanding Tafewa Balewa local government area in Bauchi State today and resume the suspended Rivers exercise. Since INEC took the decision, the ruling APC and Governor Abubakar had kicked against it. Last week, Abubakar and the Adamawa State governor, Jibrilla Bindow, stormed Aso Rock to seek the president’s intervention in the matter. The two governors were unable to meet the president but conferred with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. However, on Sunday, the presidency said that Buhari would not wade into the rerun because it would be an abuse of the constitution.  Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said that Buhari, unlike past presidents, would not interfere in the rerun because he is a different leader. Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting with Buhari yesterday, Governor Abubakar said that he came to brief the president about the situation in his state. Abubakar also dismissed insinuations that he came to ask the president to intervene in the election, stating that he was at the State House to brief the president on “what is happening” and the actions he had taken. The governor expressed the confidence that he would emerge victorious in the supplementary election on Saturday. Abubakar said: “I briefed him on the issues surrounding the inconclusive election, the returning officer for Bauchi State at the end of collation, rejected the result of Tafawa Balewa local government area and then 36 other units spread across 15 local government areas of Bauchi State and ordered a rerun. “Surprisingly, we woke up one morning and INEC came up with a procedure that is not known to law. Because, where a returning officer has declared the result, only an election petition tribunal can reverse the result. But INEC is attempting to reverse itself in the case of Bauchi. “And when one juxtaposes that of Bauchi and other states with inconclusive elections, one wonders why that is happening only in Bauchi State. “So, for that reason, there is a need for me to come and brief Mr. President because it has the potential of touching on the security of the state,” he said. The governor also faulted the decision of the returning officer to reverse himself on the cancelled votes. “Of course it is definitely extra illegal. It is a straight forward matter. The returning officer is the final arbiter even with respect to scores and declaration of result. And once he makes a declaration, no power can reverse that declaration except a duly constituted court of the land,” he stated. On how prepared is he for the rerun election,, he said “If they are going to do it now, we are ready. I don’t know who is afraid of anyone in Tafawa Balewa. On his part, Lalong said that he also came to brief the president on the rerun election and the security situation in Plateau State. Lalong said: “My meeting with the president is the usual briefing; I call it usual because of my passion for peace in the state. It is not about the election, it is about peace, how to ensure we have very peaceful elections. So far so good, we have had very good peaceful elections. “We are going back for a supplementary election, I will like INEC to conduct a peaceful election and we want the security apparatus to be on ground in the state. That was my briefing to Mr. President.” When asked if he was panicky about the supplementary elections, Lalong replied: “How can I when all the votes that were cancelled were my votes? These were areas that I won. There was no need for any cancellation but then as a lawyer, I still want to comply with the rules. I don’t want to be talking about infringing on the rules when the election result is very clear.” According to him, “they (INEC) said that registered voters were 49,000 but the votes were not up to 20,000, but the people were still saying we need 49,000 and I was already on top with 45,000 votes. So we are going to get the 49,000. “How can you imagine that a sitting governor cannot get 3,000 votes out of 49,000 in an area that I have well dominated for a long time? So for me, the election is as good as concluded in Plateau State. I see it as an opportunity for the people whose votes were cancelled for them to vote,” he said. PDP Faults INEC’s Claim On Election Materials Also yesterday, the PDP faulted claims by INEC that it didn’t meet the condition required to inspect materials used for the presidential election materials as ordered by the tribunal. PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, told LEADERSHIP that the electoral commission did everything possible to frustrate them. While accusing the commission of working for the ruling APC, he alleged that INEC was hiding under due process to deny the PDP access to the documents. He said: “We applied for the inspection on Monday. We cannot pay the money until they accept the application. They have not accepted, so who do we pay the money to? And if they are talking about due process, they should define what they mean by it in clear terms. We wrote them the letter on Monday. We didn’t write them the letter on Friday. So they should tell us in definite terms what they mean by due process.” …Soldiers Should Steer Clear of Reruns To ensure hitch-free rerun in the affected states, the PDP said that soldiers should be kept out of the exercise. The party, however, alleged that President Buhari’s posture that he would not interfere in the March 23 governorship supplementary elections amounted to a direct confession that the presidency used its overbearing influence to rig the February 23 presidential election. The opposition party claimed that it was also a fresh subterfuge to divert public attention from the APC’s rigging plots ahead of the supplementary elections. Ologbondiyan said that the presidency’s confession that APC members were mounting pressure on Buhari to help them to rig the supplementary elections had confirmed the Buhari presidency’s manipulative and rigging capacity, including the militarisation of the electoral process, instigating of violence and alteration of results, as were freely used by the APC in the presidential election. In a statement he issued in Abuja, Ologbondiyan said that “Nigerians, especially those in states where the supplementary elections have been scheduled to hold,should  be wary of the antics of the Buhari presidency, as it has never been committed to free, fair and credible elections. “Nigerians can recall that ahead of the presidential and National Assembly elections, President Buhari had promised to allow for a free, fair, transparent and credible process, only for his presidency and party, the APC, to engage in downright manipulations at INEC, deployment of military and thugs to intimidate and suppress voters, as well as outright alteration of results delivered from the polling units. “President Buhari cannot exonerate himself of the harm inflicted on our polity by the deployment of soldiers in the 2019 general elections as nobody deploys the military except the president and commander-in-chief. “Now that President Buhari, in his official capacity, has come out to state that he will not intervene in the March 23 supplementary election; we ask, is Mr. President assuring Nigerians that any ‘soldier’ seen directly involving in the rerun election is fake and should be treated as such? “The PDP charges the military to note the import of the statement by the presidency and steer clear of the supplementary elections. “The PDP also cautions INEC officials to note that Nigerians are very eager about the outcome of the governorship supplementary elections, given that the PDP is already leading in these states. Nigerians are not ready to accept any results that do not reflect the reality of our victory, which is already known to all,” he said.

Read More at: https://leadership.ng/2019/03/19/why-atiku-cannot-inspect-election-materials-now-inec/

There is tension in Bauchi State, as residents are jittery over the killing of Colonel Mohammed Barack, the Garrison Commander, 33 Artillery Brigade of Nigerian Army in Shadawanka Barracks.

He was shot dead by yet-to-be-identified gunmen in Bauchi on Sunday.

The incident, which happened along the Bauchi-Jos road when the deceased was riding a power bike from Kaduna, was confirmed by Major Yahaya Nasir Kabara, the spokesperson of 33 Artillery Brigade.

Kabara said it is, however, unclear if the incident was a robbery or an assassination but noted that “investigations are ongoing at the Brigade”.

SaharaReporters can confirm that preparations are ongoing to convey the corpse of the Colonel to Kano, his state of origin, for burial according to Islamic rights.

http://saharareporters.com/2019/03/18/just-tension-bauchi-garrison-commander-shot-dead

A leading human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has said the Independent National Electoral Commission has the power to de-register political parties that failed to scale some minimum electoral tests.

Speaking in relation to the 2019 presidential elections where there were over 70 political parties contesting, Falana stated that following the 2017 constitutional amendment, INEC had the power to cut down number of parties drastically.

In a statement on Sunday, Falana said the application of the rules will see the number of political parties cut from 91 to fewer than 10.

He recalled how some political parties successfully challenged INEC’s power after the amendment of the Electoral Act in 2010. He said the National Assembly bolstered the commission via the constitutional amendment.

“Disturbed by the mockery of multi-party democracy in the country through the unprincipled proliferation of political parties the National Assembly amended the Electoral Act 2010 to empower INEC to de-register political parties that failed to win any election.

“Since political parties were registered pursuant to section 222 of the Constitution the suits filed by the affected political parties succeeded as the Federal High Court declared the amendment unconstitutional and set it aside.

“However, the National Assembly took advantage of the 2017 constitutional review to reduce the number of registered political parties in the country. Thus, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No 9) Act, 2017 enacted on May 4, 2017 has amended section 225 of the 1999 Constitution to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission to de-register political parties,” Falana wrote.

“Among the grounds are that a party can be de-registered if it breaches any of the requirements for registration and fails to win at least twenty-five percent of votes cast in one State of the Federation in a Presidential election; or one Local Government of the State in a Governorship election.

“A party can also be de-registered if it fails to win at least one ward in the Chairmanship election; one seat in the National or State House of Assembly election; or one seat in the Councillorship election.

“From the foregoing, it is indubitably clear that INEC has been conferred with enormous powers to de-register political parties that fail to meet the fresh constitutional prerequisites.

“Going by the results of the 2019 general elections the 91 registered political parties may have been reduced to less than 10 that may have scaled the constitutional hurdle.

Falana, who deplored the opportunism of some political parties, as demonstrated in the last general election, urged INEC to sanitise the democratic space by applying the rules and enforcing relevant provisions of the constitution and the electoral act.

“INEC is called upon to formulate new guidelines for the registration political parties within the ambit of the Constitution.

“This should be done in view of the fact that not less than 100 political associations are said to have submitted applications for the registration of new political parties. With respect to registered political parties INEC must fully comply with section 225(2) of the Constitution by sanctioning them if they fail to submit a detailed annual statement and analysis of their sources of funds and assets.

INEC is empowered by law to reduce number of political parties- Falana

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Bauchi State chapter has rejected the decision taken by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the governorship election results from Tafawa Balewa local government area.

The party, at a Press Conference in Bauchi on Saturday, stated that the action taken by the electoral body was null and void.

Addressing the Press Conference, the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Uba Ahmed Nana said the position taken by INEC contravened the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

“Considering the letters and spirit of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended), and the INEC Guidelines for 2019 General Elections, INEC is not empowered to reverse any decision taken at the Collation Center by the Returning Officer appointed for that purpose.

“Such decisions can only be reversed by a Court of law, especially when INEC cannot Approbate and Reprobate,”the party stated.

The party also accused the Festus Okoye-led committee of denying it fair hearing as its agent were not invited during the hearing to ascertain the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the Tafawa Balewa local government election result.

“The composition of the committee is also questionable as the Committee chairman, Festus Okoye Esq, is a close ally of and ex-personal Solicitor of Hon. Yakubu Dogara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“No justice can be done by the committee chairman who is interested in the whole issues and the instant circumstances.,” it said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/breaking-apc-rejects-inecs-decision-on-bauchi-governorship-election.html

Robert Clarke is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who is very outspoken and vast in knowledge about happenings in the country. The octogenarian in this interview said that tribe, ethnicity and religion are the dominant factors in Nigeria’s politics.

He also spoke about the recent presidential election and way forward. Excerpts:

What is your take on the Presidential election in which President Buhari was declared the winner?

Well, prior to the holding of the election because of the hype and campaign gimmicks many people believed that Atiku was going to win the elections. But this is an idea being carried by many of the younger people who had never had the privilege of passing through Nigerian elections. For those of us who have known the patterns of elections in Nigeria, one thing was quite clear, ethnicity and religion still play a dominant part in the lives of Nigerians in the way and manner they vote. No matter what a political leader does, no matter how much money he steals, if he is from a particular ethnic group, they will never criticize him openly. They may see it as a bad thing that he has done, but they will continue to vote for him. Therefore, it is quite easy to predict what an election outcome will be in Nigeria. First, where you have two of the three dominant tribes in Nigeria: Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, where you have two of those three aligning together, they can never lose elections in Nigeria. In 1999, the Yoruba never represented Obasanjo, they never voted for Obasanjo, but because the Hausa and the Igbo supported him, he won the election. In 2004, Obasanjo in his second term also won the election because the Igbo and the Hausa were behind him. In 2015, my advice was sought by a top Nigerian, if you are going to rate his nearness to governance, he was about number 10. He asked, who do I think would win the election? I told him that Jonathan would fail. I told him this theory of when two out of the three tribes vote together, I said, now that the North and the Yoruba are in one party, they would win. I said, the Igbo will continue to lose election in Nigeria if they are not the dominant partner in any coalition. I told him, from what I know in Nigeria and from what I see in Nigeria. It will be very hard for the Igbo and the Yoruba to be in one coalition. So, Buhari and Atiku contest was even made simpler. There was no intrusion of the presidency by any other ethnic group outside the North. The presidential candidates were both northerners. If Atiku had won in the North, plus the Igbo and South-south votes, he would have been president. But, from history that I know, since Buhari has been contesting and this is the fourth time, no candidate has ever beaten Buhari in the North. When Buhari and Obasanjo contested in 2007, he defeated Obasanjo in the North by plurality of votes. When he and Yar’Adua contested in the North, he defeated Yar’Adua by plurality of votes. When he and Jonathan contested for the first time of Jonathan, he beat Jonathan by plurality of votes and when he now contested now, he still beat Atiku by plurality of votes. So, he is what is called the silver bullet. Whichever party Buhari belongs, he will always win in the North. Many of you don’t know that the northerners take Buhari like a demi-god. I tell people that they don’t know the politics of the North. When you look at all his four elections in the North, he has maintained a constant level of number of votes in 2019, 2015, 2007, 2004. He has consistently maintained 11million, 10 million, 12 million votes from the North. If people tell you that they rigged the votes in 2019 in the North, I asked them, what about 2004, what about 2007 and what about and 2015? There has been consistency in Buhari votes in the North. Look at the South. The only area I was surprised was in Ondo State and Oyo State, where PDP won. PDP won all the Igbo votes. If Buhari had won any Igbo state, I would have said the election was rigged. But look at APC, they lost two states. Did PDP rig those two? No, that was how the election went. Look at Kwara. Kwara politics has always been dominated by one family. Now, the people themselves said they are tired and they reflected it in all their votes. The man who is involved has seen it in the writing on the wall, he’s not contesting it. He has accepted the results and I thank him for that and for that, history will record him properly. As far as I’m concerned, the votes in Nigeria in 2019 reflects the pattern of voting since 1999. If anybody wants to prove me wrong let him show me facts and figures.

We had soldiers all over the places during the presidential election, is this suppose to be so?

When people say this statement you are making now, I laugh. Have you seen elections in India? The greatest democracy in the world? Do you know that every election in India, over 100 people are killed because of election? In the third world, every election is characterized by mayhem. Nigeria is not different. What has happened during this last election is not different from what has been happening before. I will even say election is better in Nigeria now from what it was because of the advent of card readers. I have been a lawyer to politicians for over 40 years. Ballot box snatching, writing results in the houses of politicians has always been the main thing. They call some wet rigging, they call some dry rigging. It got reduced when the issue of the new IT connections came up. Do you know that these last America elections there were petitions? Even in America, these last national elections to the senate and the congress, there were riggings there. So, it’s not unusual to find a third world country like Nigeria doing the same. We just have to pray and make sure in the future we get rid of these things.

Atiku has gone to court, claiming irregularities in the election, what is your take on that?

One of the greatest bad thing that social media has created – let me show you a funny one – recently, the media showed Obasanjo in the social media running at the airport, thereby creating an impression that Obasanjo is running after Buhari’s election. Social media can create anything. When you follow social media, you will go wrong. The electoral law is so clear. Malpractices will occur, every law must know such things would happen, but what the law says is that, if you feel that an election has not been conducted, the word used in the law is substantially in compliance. It does not say everything must be in compliance, it says substantial compliance. So, if you have 700 polling booths and in three polling booths you have malpractices, the law recognizes that such will happen. So, if you go to court to challenge an election results, you must not only show that the election was marred with irregularities, you must also show that those irregularities are so substantial that they have affected the results. When you take a constituency for a presidential candidate, which is Nigeria as a whole, these instances you are talking about when you count them, all those things you saw about under-aged pictures are not more than in three or four states and you have 36 states in Nigeria. The law says if such things happen, they will be identified, when you identify, then you will subtract them from the votes cast. If they substantially affect the majority of votes, then they redo it. That is why the election tribunal is there.

Then what advice do you have for Atiku in this election?

Not only to Atiku. But to great politicians like him, who are both in APC and PDP to step aside. They have been the problem in this country. Rigging of elections has consistently been done by them. My advice to Atiku’s clique, Buhari’s clique, Tinubu’s clique and all those top politicians is to step aside for younger generation to come in because if they continue to permeate the political scene, they are going to create a situation where the young ones under them now will follow up what they are doing. My advice to all of them is, let them retire from active politics. Let them change the constitution of this country so that no individual governor will be stealing money under the guise of security votes; also, no parliamentarian. Speakers will be chopping money under the disguise of allowances. Nigeria will be free for the younger ones to start a new life for Nigeria. So, I advice that they should kick themselves out. If the young politicians of today are not removed from the top, the ones who have been entrenched in election rigging, there will be problem in future. The problem about Nigeria is that we don’t learn about elections. When the ‘Oyinbos’ are leaving us in the 60s they taught the northerners what they call bureaucracy as the fountain of power.

When the colonialists are going, the Saduana said I don’t want self-government when they wanted to start regional government because the southerners are too far ahead of us. They complained they have no doctors, no lawyers etc; the ‘Oyibo’ sat Saduana down. “Forget about that, call your children at the end of their leaving school to go to immigration; police, and army, by the time the children from the South are going to England to read medicine, law, and your boys are already holding power of the bureaucracy. They are already in government’. The northerners understand politics more than the southerners. They are more politically conscious in the North more than the southerners. If we are not careful, the northerners will continue to hold the whole political sphere. I’m sorry to say, until tribal sentiments are re-oriented in Nigeria, Ao le ba Igbo se po o… (No Yoruba man will follow an Igbo man) that means the Igbo man can only align with the North. And it’s only when they align with the North that they gain something. Go and check Nigerian history. The only time the South-south and Southeast (Jonathan) had opportunity to rule Nigeria was because he aligned with the North. The only time Obasanjo could be a president by election was only when he aligned with the North, the Yoruba never wanted him and Obasanjo could never have won by the Yoruba votes. So, when two tribes of the three tribes in Nigeria come together, they will win election. That should be your guideline.

Why north ’ll remain deciding factor in Nigeria’s politics – Clarke

The Federal Government of Nigeria has condemned the terrorist attack on two places of worship in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said this in a statement by the Ministry’s Spokesperson, George Edokpa, on Friday in Abuja.

Mr Onyeama condemned the attacks which took place during Jumaat Prayers on Friday killing 49 Muslim worshippers and injured many others.

The minister who regretted the barbaric and vicious acts unleashed against innocent worshippers expressed Nigeria’s sympathies to New Zealand.

“Nigeria stands in solidarity with New Zealand in their time of grief and fully supports the prosecution of the perpetrators of this heinous crime to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.

He condoled with the government and the people of New Zealand and prayed for God to grant the families of the victims the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss and wished the injured speedy recovery.

(NAN)

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is probably poorer now than when he became President of Nigeria in 2015.

The Vice President stated this on Thursday night when he hosted a dinner in honour of volunteers who canvassed for votes for the All Progressives Congress, APC during the campaigns in the general election, at the Old Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. According to him, “When I looked at his assets declaration form, I was checking it in 2015, I said to him, “Mr President, I am so much richer than you, it is an embarrassment.”

He further said, “I am only a soldier, you are a big lawyer so you should have more money than me.” I can tell you that he is perhaps; even poorer than he was in 2015 when I saw his declaration of assets form.” Osinbajo urged Nigerians to vote for the APC in the March 23 supplementary elections in the six states the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared elections inconclusive.

He said “We are still not done with the elections. On the 23rd of March, we still have some outstanding states and as you know we are re-running in about six states. “And all of the efforts we need to put into those six states, we still need to do. “We can’t afford to slack off and say the job is done; we still have some things to do.”

Recalling the experiences he had during this year’s electioneering, Professor Osinbajo said his encounter with Nigerians as he crisscrossed the country, campaigning for votes, showed that Nigerians are so trusting and supportive of their leaders.

He said, “I think that one of the main characteristics of the Nigerian is how so supportive and trusting many of our people are and they don’t ask us for too much. “They never really ask for anything that is impossible to do. “And that’s why, for many of us that went around this country, we realized the tremendous amount of work that there is to do and our capacity to do so much work.

“What our people need, as we discovered, isn’t that much. “As a matter of fact, I do not know any nation where the people are so generous no matter how poor they are.”

Vice President Osinbajo said there was need for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to connect more with the people. “It just struck me that what we really need to do a lot more is to connect with the people. “All the people need is opportunity for us to interact with them. “We should have a way by which everybody is involved one way or the other.

“One of the complaints that people made about our government is that we were not communicating enough and that people did not know what had done.”

The vice president acknowledged that the diligent communication carried out to put across the APC message in 2015 was not sustained, making the administration lose some ground to the opposition, especially in the social media. He said the new administration would ensure that it makes change in that regard.

Osinbajo said that he would take up everyone who has challenged the administration on the issue with a view to getting its communication of programmes and policies better. Earlier, the Deputy Chief of Staff in the State House, Ade Ipaye, said the volunteers worked during the campaigns to demonstrate the integrity and capability of the candidates of the APC.

He said the event was organized to appreciate them for the work they did in selling the policies and programmes of the administration to the Nigerian electorate.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/03/buhari-poorer-than-in-2015-says-osinbajo/

Kano State Police Command on Friday said it has found the remains of an expatriate engineer who was kidnapped while working at a construction site in Kano State three days ago.

While the man, said to be a Lebanese national, was kidnapped, his driver was shot dead during the incident.

Police said the expatriate’s body was found on Thursday.

The Lebanese engineer, who was an employee of Triacta Construction Company, was working on the underpass bridge at Dengi Roundabout by Zoo Road when he was kidnapped on Tuesday at about 7:00am.

The Command’s spokesman, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, disclosed to newsmen that the body of the Lebanese, which was found under the Zaria Road Bridge, has since been deposited at the Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano.

According to Haruna, investigation has commenced to unravel how he was abducted and killed, adding that his immediate family members have been contacted, while arrangements are ongoing to convey his body to his home country for burial.

It should be recalled that four unknown gunmen at about 7:40am on Tuesday stormed Dangi roundabout, and abducted an expatriate engineer and killed his driver.

An eyewitness account told our Correspondent that moments after the incident, policemen arrived and took the remains of the driver to a nearby morgue.

When contacted, the Kano Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, who confirmed the incident, said crack detectives have visited the scene, and that efforts were ongoing to arrest suspects.

Kano Police find body of kidnapped expatriate engineer

A former Governor of Kano State and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, has said the incoming administration in the state will not be able to pay N30, 000 minimum wage.

Kwankwaso, who said his party was sure of victory in the supplementary election, added that the new administration was anticipating to inherit an empty treasury from Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje-led administration.

Kwankwaso made the claim when he addressed a group of Kwankwassiyya supporters in Kaduna, yesterday.

He said the PDP will not continue with the payment of N30, 000 minimum wage as promised workers by Ganduje.

Kwankwaso said, “As the leader of the party in Kano, I have directed our Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, not to pay the minimum wage because that is the APC manifesto and we will not take it.

“Anyway, we will ensure that workers get their salaries on or before the 25th of every month, but what we will not do is to pay the minimum wage.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared the Kano governorship election inconclusive.

This was after the candidate of PDP, Abba Kabir Yusuf had polled 1,014,474 votes while APC’s Ganduje had 987,819.

The margin of 26,655 votes between the two top candidates, however, meant it was impossible for electoral umpire to declare a winner.

The Senate has approved the thirty thousand Naira (N30,000) national minimum wage.

The lawmakers also approved Seventy-five thousand naira(N75,000) as penalty for non-compliance.

This agreement was reached by the Senate Committee on New Minimum Wage, according to Senator Shehu Sani(Kaduna Central).

In a tweet on Thursday, the lawmaker said, “The Senate Committee on New National Minimum wage met yesterday and approved the new national minimum wage bill; 30k as minimum wage and 75k as penalty for non-compliance.”

The Senate on Tuesday appointed Senate Deputy Majority Whip, Sen. Francis Alimikhena, as acting chairman of the ad-hoc Committee on Minimum Wage.

The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, who made the announcement at plenary on Tuesday, said Alimikhena would work in an acting capacity while the Chairman, Sen. Olusola Adeyeye, was away on health grounds.

Saraki charged the committee to expedite action on the matter to enable the Senate catch up with the House of Representatives which had already passed the bill.

N30,000 minimum wage: Senate reaches final decision

President Muhammadu Buhari has given the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) up till April 30, 2019 to take over the operatorship of the entire Oil Mining Lease (OML)11 from Shell Petroleum Development Company.

This directive was contained in a letter from the State House signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari and addressed to the Group Managing Director of NNPC.

The letter dated March 1, 2019, with reference number SH/COS/24/A/8540 stated that NNPC and its flagship oil exploration and production subsidiary, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) confirm the assumption by May 2, 2019.

The letter titled, ‘Operatorship of Entire Oil Mining Lease 11,’ read in part, “Kindly note that the President has directed NNPC/NPDC to take over the operatorship, from Shell Petroleum Development Company, of the entire OML 11 not later than 30 April 2019, and ensure smooth re-entry given the delicate situation in Ogoniland.”

It noted that the President has “directed NNPC/NPDC to confirm by 2 May 2019, of the assumption of the operatorship.”

Located in the southeastern part of the Niger/Delta region, the OML 11 contains 33 oil and gas fields out of which eight are producing as per 2017.

Buhari orders NNPC to take over operatorship of OML 11 from Shell

Today, March 14, 2019 the Kano Central Senator Elect, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau CON Sardaunan Kano, was presented with the certificate of return for the upper chamber.

The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC certified that, he was duly elected as the Senator Kano Central.

On behalf of the entire Sardaunawa and that of the mouthpiece media teams that, tirelessly promoted the campaign, especially the #S4S2019 team, I here by congratulate him on the achievements well deserved.

Signed

The able #S4S2019 State Chairman Hon. Abdullahi Ahmad Tadada