By Emmanuel Oloniruha

Sen. Kabiru Gaya (APC-Kano), says he has yet to take a decision on the clamour for him to run for Kano State governorship in 2023.

Gaya, a former governor of the state, who featured at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in Abuja on Sunday, thanked those beckoning on him to return to the Kano State Government House in 2023.

The lawmaker, who has been at the National Assembly for 13 years, said that while it was the wish of many people within and outside state for him to return to Government House, he would need to consult further before taking a decision.

Gaya, also Chairman, Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said that although he was only at the helm of affairs in the state for two years, his achievements were still being appreciated by the people.

He said that as a senator he also facilitated the execution of constituency projects across the 44 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state including the construction of over 220 classroom blocks, 18 skills acquisition centres and 18 healthcare centres.

“I have done road networks and a lot of projects running into billions of naira which lots of people in Kano are happy about. I have done projects in each of the 44 LGAs of the state.

“My constituency has 16 LGAs but I extended my projects and programmes to the remaining 28 LGAs.

“So people are saying that if you are able to do these as a senator, and as a former governor you also did well, why don’t you come back and run for governor in 2023.

“Well, the decision has not been taken by my group. We are listening to them. You don’t take such a decision without going into consultation with elders, friends, and well-wishers even religious leaders as well as other stakeholders in the state.

“We need to do consultations with them before taking a decision, but that is the wish of many people from Kano and we are looking at that. When the time comes, we will take the decision,’’ he said.

Assessing the performance of Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, the lawmaker said that so far, the present administration had done well in projects and programmes execution and should be commended.

“As a former governor of Kano State I should be in the right position to assess him. I know how the state is and know the heat of that seat. I was there for two years and I know what it takes to make decision in Kano State.

“So far, he is doing his best. His second term is better than his first term.’’

Gaya lauded Ganduje for executing projects, including flyovers, roads liking villages as well as his poverty alleviation programme.

“I think he is doing very well and he has a pass mark from me and I believe many others will give him pass mark.’’ (NAN)

By Ismaila Chafe

The Presidency has frowned at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) attack on President Muhammadu Buhari over the widely praised nomination of the former service chiefs and the head of Military Intelligence to the Senate for confirmation as non-career ambassadors.

According to a statement by Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in Abuja on Saturday, the transition of the former heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Military Intelligence is normal in decent democratic societies.

President Buhari had on Feb. 4 forwarded the names of the immediate past Service Chiefs to the Senate as non-career Ambassadors-Designate.

He said: “In accordance with Section 171 (1), (2) (c) & sub-section (4) of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, I have the honour to forward for confirmation by the Senate, the under-listed five (5) names of nominees as Non-Career Ambassadors-Designate.”

The nominees are: retired Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin, retired Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, retired Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, and retired AVM Mohammed Usman.

The presidential aide, however, dismissed the position of the opposition party, PDP, on the nominations, wondering how decent people could run down hardworking professionals who served their father land with the best of their abilities just to score cheap political goal.

The statement read in part: “But the newspapers and online media are full of pages of laughable criticisms of the President and former Service Chiefs by the party, the latest of which was the false claim that they were nominated as ambassadors so as to shield them from trial by the International Criminal Court, ICC.

“How on earth can decent people run down hardworking professionals who have put in their best to defend their country? How can you run down your country and equate that with normal political dialogue and opposition?

“What is baffling about this false and baseless assertion is that this is coming, not from Boko Haram terrorists who the military kept largely in check and confined to a known section of the country, Sambisa, but from a so-called leading opposition party that fraudulently kept power for 16 years and is nursing the hope of one day returning to office as an elected government.

“What is more, under these corrupt politicians the insurgency conquered large swathes of territory-18 Local Government Areas.

“Pray, if a political party, in a blind search for power can spurn the interest of the nation, embrace the language of hate campaign against the country’s military as enunciated by the terrorists, as the PDP does, what will be left for the Boko Haram to do?  PDP is doing Boko Haram’s work!

“We live in an evidence-based era for arguments. If the PDP has evidence of rights abuse against the military in the war against terrorists, wouldn’t it be beneficial to the nation that they publish such evidence instead of levying grave accusations without proves?

“And to ask, in whose interest are they making these accusations that lack any depth?

“To add, we don’t think the ICC, which these childish calls are being made needs to be lectured on democratic values and human rights by the PDP.

“Who are they, and what is their record in office to lecture anyone? Zaki Biam and Odi where thousands of citizens were on record, the genocide operation comes to mind. Did they report themselves to the ICC?’’

Shehu added that PDP’s attacks on the ambassadorial nominations should be seen in the context of the “opposition party’s track record as a university of liars, whose modus operandi is to propagate lies.’’

According him, the president is rewarding hard work and exceptional sacrifice by a set of military leaders who gave their best to the nation and will be remembered, sooner than later, for their contributions to the security and survival of Nigeria as one nation.

“They should be allowed to move to the next level.

“This is so that their examples will help to inspire others if given the opportunity to serve,’’ he said. (NAN)

By Ahmed Abba

Senate President Ahmed Lawan on Saturday revalidated his All Progressives Congress (APC) membership at his Gashua constituency in Yobe.

Speaking shortly, Lawan described the exercise as essential, saying the first APC membership registration took place 2014.

“Since then, we have so many Nigerians who have come of age and wishing to join political parties of their choice and majority of them decided to join APC but they hare not been registered.

“This is an opportunity for them to be registered as bonafide members of the party,” he said.

Lawan also said the party needed to wipe out names of people who were no longer members of from the party register.

“This is because we have names of people who have defected to other political parties and yet their names are in the register of APC.

“We cannot continue to carry names of people who have shifted ground,” he said.

Lawan said that the registration would be a continuous exercise as the party had targeted more than 100 million members.

“This exercise by the way of registration and revalidation, will not terminate at the end of this month or in the first week of March.

“This period is only given to provide a symbolic environment for registration and revalidation.

“We should not register nothing less than a 100 million Nigerians.

“We have every chance and indeed every reason to register more than 100 million Nigerians in this exercise,” Lawan said.

He appealed to all members of the party to conduct themselves in a decent manner towards ensuring success of the exercise.

“I want to appeal to my party men across the country not in any way try to stop the registration of any Nigerian who wants to be a member of our party.

“The party has enough space, enough room to accommodate everyone,” he said. (NAN)

The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Felix Tshisekedi, on Saturday assumed the rotational Chairmanship of the African Union at the opening of its 34th ordinary session of the Heads of State and Government Summit.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa symbolically handed over the instruments of power to President Tshisekedi during the virtual Summit underway in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

The AU Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, who addressed the African leaders, identified Africa’s top political challenges, including terrorism, political intolerance and electoral violence in his opening speech.

He also spoke about the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in Africa and thanked the African leaders for working with him during his first term as Commission Chairperson over the past four years.

President Ramaphosa told the Summit the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic was a nagging reminder to the African and the global community of the vulnerability faced by humankind.

The South African leader said his leadership of the AU saw the continent rise up to confront the pandemic as a united team.

“We stepped up to the challenge,” President Ramaphosa said, referring to the nomination of prominent African Special Envoys to lead the fight against the coronavirus pandemic by carrying out campaigns to secure funds for the African response to COVID-19.

President Ramaphosa recalled the successes recorded during his tenure as the AU Chairman, saying the engagements carried out by the special envoys led several countries in Africa to access funds.

He singled out engagements with the International Monetary Fund which unlocked economic stimulus packages to help battle the economic impact of the pandemic.

“We have reaffirmed that indeed Africa works as one in the international community,” Ramaphosa said.

The South African leader said the period of his Chairmanship also saw the successful launch of the African continental free trade area (AfCFTA), which will consolidate the African market.

He said the launching of the AfCFTA would also catalyse the effects required by the women in business to accelerate trade and industrialisation. (PANA/NAN)

By Bolaji Buhari

The Speaker, House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has urged Nigerians to use the opportunity of the ongoing All Progressives Congress (APC) registration and re-validation exercise to join the party.

Gbajabiamila made the call on Saturday in Lagos shortly after he re-registered to revalidate his membership of the party in Surulere Constituency, Lagos.

According to him, APC is the only party committed to the delivery of democratic dividends, urging Nigerians to “join the party of progress”.

He also urged the existing members of the party to participate, and take advantage of the exercise to bring more people into the party.

“I want to urge Nigerians to use the opportunity of the registration/re-validation exercise to join the party; APC is the number one party, APC is the party of progressive.

“I also urge all our party members to participate in the exercise to update their membership and take ownership of the party.

“You need to take ownership of the party, and until you have registered or have been revalidated, you are obviously not yet an authentic member of the APC.

”It was when members updated their membership of the party that they could make complaints and contribute their quotas to the progress of the party,” Gbajabiamila said.

The speaker said the party was operating an open house policy and would admit all Nigerians, irrespective of their backgrounds.

He urged the party members in his constituency to move from communities to communities to mobilise new members to register into the party.

“My charge to you today is to go and look for those who have not registered before, those who were not members of APC.

“Those who are 15, 16, 17 years of age and not eligible to vote the time we had the last election. So, we want youths, everybody to be registered with the party,” he said.

The speaker said he was happy to be part of the exercise, adding that validating his membership meant that he had accepted the terms, conditions and policies of the party.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that scores of party members across different wards in Surulere I Federal Constituency witnessed the revalidation of speaker’s membership of the party.

Many members of APC in the constituency also registered at the Elizabeth Fowler Primary School, Surulere, where of the Gbajabiamila revalidated his membership of the party.

Rita Iliya
Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger and Chairman North Central Governors Forum, has began the All Progressives Congress (APC) Registration and Revalidation Exercise for the North Central Zone.

A statement by Bello’s Chief Press Secretary, Mrs Mary Noel-Berje, said the governor revalidated his membership at the Alkali Mustapha Unit, Central Ward Kontagora, Niger to signify the commencement of the exercise.

Bello is also the Chairman of the National Registration and Revalidation Committee (NRRC) of the Party.

He said the mandate he received from President Muhammadu Buhari was to ensure that the exercise is entrenched at the grassroots, hence all registration would be done at the unit level of the wards.

The governor stressed that there are teeming youths who had turned 18 years and are willing to join the party.

“The last time the exercise took place was in 2014 and since then we have a few people that left the party and we have so many more that have joined the party,” he stated.

Bello said that the exercise has the blessings of the National Caretaker Executive Committee of the Party, adding that it was being carried out under a democratic process and in accordance to the Party’s Constitution.

The Chairman NRRC said that the exercise would be monitored across the country to ensure it is carried out justly, devoid of favouritism to any individual or group of persons.

“In any case, registration is a continuous exercise. Normally registration should stop a month before the primaries. It should be open and no one should be left behind, everybody will be carried along,” he said.

Earlier, Sen. Osita Izunaso, North Central Coordinator of the exercise, who along with the state supervisory chairman, Sen. Domingo Obende officiated the process and confirmed the revalidation of the governor.

He promised that more materials would be provided for all intending members to get registered while old members will revalidate their membership.

The Coordinator disclosed that his team would go round the North Central States to ensure compliance with the laid down rules and regulations guiding the exercise.

By Abiodun Esan
Hon. Bashir Bolarinwa, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Kwara, has visited members of the party who sustained injuries in Wednesday’s attack by thugs at a stakeholders meeting in Ilorin.

The chairman, who spoke with newsmen on the sidelines of the visit, urged the victims to see their travails as the price to pay in ensuring a thriving democracy.

He said the victims were in an upbeat mood and responding to treatment.

” I led members of the Kwara APC Caretaker Committee to the residences of some of our members who were assaulted by hoodlums at Kwara State Banquet Hall, venue of the APC stakeholders parley organised by the Sen. John Danboyi-led APC Membership Registration/Revalidation Committee.

” Among those visited were Alhaji Dantala Yaro, the State Treasurer and Wahab Adeshina, a member of the board of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).

” Others are Mallam Lai Karatu, a Youth Leader; Alhaja Sidi Gidado, biological mother of our State Women Leader and Mr Salihu Elepo, Ilorin East LGA Secretary.

“These are known and respected stakeholders of the party in Kwara State.

“They were at the event on the formal invitation of the Registration Committee. Unfortunately, all these did not prevent the attacks against them.

“I implored the victims to see their travails as their sacrifices for democracy.

“I charged them to remain law abiding despite the unprovoked attacks. I extended the sympathies of the party to them all,” Bolarinwa said.

He assured the affected party members that their efforts would not be in vain, adding that they should keep hope alive.

Also speaking during the visit to him, Adesina said he was invited to the venue by Danboyi, the chairman of the membership registration committee sent to the state.

He said that on getting to the venue, he and others were not allowed in until the party’s chairman, Bolarinwa, called Danboyi.

On eventually entering the hall, he said a woman confronted Bolarinwa and held his clothes while trying to tear it before he was rescued by some party members.

Adesina said he was also thoroughly beaten and his clothes torn by thugs who accused him of being loyal to the Minister of State for Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki.

Adesina said he sustained a dislocation on his shoulder bone while his phone and other items were stolen.

Yaro, while narrating his ordeal, said he lost a tooth and sustained bruises during the attack on him.

Karatu, on his part, said he lost three pre-molar teeth as a result of the beating he sustained during the attack.

By Naomi Sharang

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that the planned establishment of additional polling units across the country would not be treated as constituency projects, an authoritative source in the commission said.

The source, who said this while speaking to news men, in Abuja, on Thursday, noted that the establishment of the units would be based on the need to serve Nigerians and not particular interests.

He said that the creation of the polling units had become necessary because the available ones were inadequate.

“For instance in the whole of Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja, we have just four polling units, how do you expect the mass population in Gwarimpa to vote in just four polling units.

“Even the actual number and exact locations of Polling Units in the country were unknown for a long time. The Jega Commission (2010 – 2015) had to embark on a verification exercise to enumerate and locate the Polling Units.

“In fact, it was only after this verification that the number of Polling Units was established as 119, 973, instead of the round figure of 120, 000 that was assumed for many years.

“Over the years, several challenges have confronted INEC with Polling Units; there is the problem of inadequate number of Polling Units available to voters.

“As a result of population growth, demographic shifts and establishment of new settlements and residential areas, existing Polling Units have become inadequate.”

According to the INEC source, inadequacy of the units implied that many of them were overcrowded during elections, providing a recipe for delays, disruptions, violence and apathy.

While noting previous efforts at establishing the units, the source said: “In 2016 before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Councils election, in response to the need to create polling units, we established the voting point settlements in the FCT.

“This is because of the new settlements that had emerged, and the increase in population everywhere. In 2018, we tried to create additional polling units and then it was very close to the 2019 elections we didn’t quite succeed,” he said.

The INEC source said that this time around, the commission was ready to engage relevant stakeholders in pushing for the establishment.

“We have issued a statement to say we will start the process of consultation. We are going to start with the political parties, CSOs, media, security; we want to expand the consultation this time around.”

By Douglas Okoro

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it plans to commence its membership registration/revalidation exercise in Ebonyi on Tuesday, Feb 9.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Stanley Okoro-Emegha, the state APC Caretaker Chairman on Thursday in Abakaliki.

According to him, distribution of registration materials across the 13 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state will take place on Monday, Feb. 8, while the actual exercise would begin on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

“The training for LGA committees has been scheduled to hold in Abakaliki at the Ecumenical Centre and will last from Feb. 3 to Feb. 5.

“To ensure compliance with COVID – 19 protocols, the training has been decentralised to avoid crowding.

“The LGAs in Ebonyi South were trained on Wednesday, Feb. 3 while those from Ebonyi Central and Ebonyi North will be trained on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5 respectively,” Okoro-Emegha said.

He urged all members of the party to ensure that they revalidate their membership cards to continue to enjoy rights and privileges accruing to members of the party.

The APC chairman also called on members of the public wishing to join the league of progressives to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the exercise to register saying that the party would open its arms to receive them into its fold.(NAN)