The Police Command in Benue has confirmed the killing of Dr Terkula Suswam, an elder brother of the immediate past governor of Benue, Sen. Gabriel Suswam.
The deceased who was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was shot alongside his aide, in Anyiin, Gaambetiev, Logo local Government area in Benue state on Tuesday evening.
A statement signed by the state command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DCP Catherine Anene, on Wednesday in Makurdi confirmed the incident.
”At about 1930hrs information was received that while Dr Terkura Suswam and his aide, Mr Solomon, sat opposite his house at Elohim Plaza, Anyiin,to supervise repairs at the said plaza, yet-to-be identified gunmen, who drove in a Toyota Camry vehicle, attacked and shot him and his aide.
A team of police officers on patrol in the area rushed to the scene and conveyed the victims to NKST Anyiin Hospital where they were eventually confirmed dead.
“Their corpses have been deposited at the hospital for autopsy.
“While commiserating with family members and friends of the deceased, the Commissioner of Police has ordered a discreet investigation to ensure that the perpetrators of this gruesome murder are apprehended and justice is served.
“Anyiin town has been cordoned off by additional police teams deployed to assist the Division to nip this crime in the bud, ” the statement said.
The Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has vowed to punish the killers of Chief Terkura Suswam, elder brother to Senator Gabriel Suswam, representing Benue North East Senatorial District, when apprehended.
In a statement released by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, Ortom said his administration would give maximum support to security operatives to ensure that Suswam’s killers were arrested, and made to the face consequences of their crime.
He maintained that his administration will not surrender Benue to criminals, noting that killers and kidnapers operating in Sankera axis of the state would not go unpunished.
He sympathized with Senator Suswam, the rest of the family, and the entire people of Logo Local Government Area over the painful demise, and prayed that God would grant the deceased eternal rest, and his family the strength to bear the loss.
Ripples Nigeria reports that Terkura Suswam who was the Chief Executive Officer of Ashitech Group of Companies until his demise, was shot dead by gunmen on Tuesday night in Anyiin, Logo.
India’s status as a free country has changed to “partly free”, according to an annual report on global political rights and liberties.
Civil liberties in India have been in decline since PM Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, said Freedom House in its report Democracy under Siege.
It said the change in India’s status is part of a global shift in the balance between democracy and authoritarianism.
There was no immediate response from the Indian government to the report.
US-based Freedom House, a non-profit organisation which conducts research on political freedom and human rights, added that the number of countries designated as “not free” was at its highest level since 2006.
It added that India’s “fall from the upper ranks of free nations” could have a more damaging effect on the world’s democratic standards.
Since 2014, it says, increased pressure on human rights organisations, intimidation of journalists and activists, and a spate of attacks, especially those against Muslims, had led to a deterioration of political and civil liberties in the country.
image captionSeveral minority groups have companied of discrimination in recent years
And this decline only “accelerated” after 2019, it added.
In 2014, India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a landslide general election victory. Mr Modi returned to power with an even greater majority five years later.
“Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all,” the report said.
It said that the crackdown against those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act, a bill which offers amnesty to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from three neighbouring countries had contributed to India’s decline in the ratings.
The government argues that the law will give sanctuary to people fleeing religious persecution. Critics say the bill is part of the BJP’s agenda to marginalise Muslims in Hindu majority India.
The report also noted the government’s response to the pandemic, saying it had exacerbated the global decline in freedom. Last year, in March, India imposed a sudden lockdown which left millions of migrant workers stranded in cities across India without work and money to get home. Many walked hundreds of miles, while some died because of exhaustion or in accidents along the way.
Sowore who spoke to BBC Pidgin said that the man who wore the traditional attire normally associated with ‘Juju men’ is not a herbalist or a ‘Juju man’ as many described. He said the man is an African man who accompanied him to court dressed in what represents his belief.
The human rights activist stated that the reason for the man being there was to discourage people who always look down on African traditions, cultural beliefs, and fashion.
Sowore and the man in traditional attire
According to Sowore, another reason for the man’s presence was to change the belief that European cultures are better than those of Africans.
He dished that the statement he was trying to make while making his court appearance was “Pan Africanism”; breaking the stereotype that African traditions, cultural beliefs, and fashion are inferior to those of the white man.
Speaking further, Sowore added that the man appeared in court to show him solidarity, the same way Christians and Muslims follow him to courtrooms to show him support.
Pictures of Sowore and the man in the traditional attire had gone viral, with many calling him names like ‘Sowore’s herbalist’, ‘Ifa Priest’, ‘Bodyguard’, etc.
While some had hailed the man, saying that he was promoting his African heritage, others had said that Sowore had resorted to fighting the federal government through traditional means.
The US will have enough coronavirus vaccines for every adult by the end of May, President Joe Biden has said.
This will be two months earlier than previously expected, but Mr Biden said the vaccination drive must be extended, too, and people convinced to take it.
And he warned people to “stay vigilant” because “this fight is far from over”, with new variants a major concern.
His caution is at odds with some states, which are relaxing restrictions in order to boost their economies.
Although there has been a sharp fall in confirmed cases since the start of the year – the figure of 68,000 a day now is well down on the 8 January peak of 300,000 – that drop has levelled off over the past week, fuelling fears of another wave.
More than 76 million vaccination doses have been administered – covering 15.3% of the population and the US remains on track to meet Mr Biden’s pledge of delivering 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office.
Some 1.74 million doses are being administered every day.
“We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May,” he said, adding it was “the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War Two”.
But the president acknowledged that supply was only one issue, with the nation needing to extend its vaccination drive and convince people to take the shots.
“We need vaccinators, people who put the shots in people’s arms, millions of Americans’ arms,” he said.
“Great news, but stay vigilant,” Mr Biden said. “It’s not over yet.”
Another key announcement was the pledge to give every teacher at least one shot by the end of March, and speed up the reopening of schools.
But on a general reopening, President Biden was more cautious, saying he was unsure when a return to normal would be possible, although he did then say before “this time next year”.
What are the states doing on reopenings?
Some are now relaxing rules, despite a warning from top federal health officials last week not to ease up.
Mr Biden repeated that, saying: “We cannot let our guard down now or assure that victory is inevitable. We can’t assume that.”
Individual states are in charge of public health policy in the US. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, most introduced restrictions on businesses and travel.
About 35 required face coverings to be worn in public places, although enforcement of these mask mandates has been patchy.
image captionDrive-through vaccination in Texas. The governor says it is time to open the state “100%”
The governor of Texas on Tuesday issued an executive order, effective from 10 March, that rescinds most of the coronavirus measures he imposed.
“It is now time to open Texas 100%,” the Republican said. “Too many small business owners have struggled to pay their bills. This must end.”
He said that with increased vaccinations and improved treatment for Covid-19, the state was “in a far better position now”.
The Democratic party in the state said the “crazy” move would throw away all of the gains.
Mississippi has followed Texas in removing the order on mask wearing, but it will come into effect even earlier – from Wednesday.
Other states have also announced a relaxation of some rules.
Michigan, which has a Democratic governor, is to ease capacity limits on restaurants, and on public and residential gatherings.
South Carolina has removed limits on large gatherings, while capacity limits on restaurants in Massachusetts were removed.
Some cities have also acted. Chicago has reopened public schools and San Francisco announced the easing of rules on museums, cinemas, gyms and indoor dining.media captionThe ‘colourful’ lives lost to Covid – how obituaries are helping us all mourn
Health officials have warned that the pandemic is far from over and cases could pick up if curbs are lifted too soon.
On Monday the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of a “potential fourth surge of cases” if the country lapsed into complacency.
Covid-19 data shows that, while infections and deaths have declined in recent weeks, they are still at high levels relative to other countries.
The emergence of new variants could also require booster shots for those already vaccinated.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai has described the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KDSIEC) as the best state electoral management body in the country.
According to the governor, the Kaduna Commission conducted the cleanest and best local government elections in the nation’s history.
The governor made this known while swearing in members of the State Independent Electoral Commission on Tuesday, March 2.
El-Rufai also disclosed that the commission is the first to use Electronic Voting Machines to conduct the local government election.
The governor noted that the State Electoral Commission conducted the local government election where the sitting government lost some local governments, adding that this is unprecedented.
Usually, in the history of this state and many other states, the ruling party wins every local government; or may be loses one or two wards. But because of the integrity and commitment of the members and Chairman of the state electoral commission in our first term in office, our commission conducted perhaps, the cleanest and best election at the state level in Nigeria’s history,’’ he added.
El Rufai, who said that he is very proud to have re-nominated virtually all the members of the commission back to the office, implored the commissioners to ‘’continue to set the best example of conducting elections at the state level in Nigeria.”
The governor charged them ‘’to build on the foundations you laid and conduct the next local government elections in the cleanest and most transparent manner possible.
‘’This state government does not want to appoint interim administrators or Interim Management Committee or any sort of unelected leaders in any local government because it is against the provisions of the constitution.
We want the commission to ensure that elections are conducted before the expiration of the term of office of the current local government chairmen which ends sometime in June. This is why it is necessary to announce the timetable, to give the notice for election.”
The Lagos State Government has revealed that it will embark on weeklong monitoring and enforcement against the conversion of government residential buildings to commercial purposes.
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, made this known on Tuesday, March 2, in a statement by Mr Mukaila Sanusi, spokesman for the ministry.
Salako said that there had been an indiscriminate conversion of government buildings from residential to commercial purposes by some of the residents.
He said that the affected housing schemes include Lekki Peninsula Scheme I and Magodo Residential Scheme I and II.
The commissioner said the focus would be on those who had indiscriminately converted their buildings from residential to commercial purposes.
He said that government housing schemes ought to remain residential with provision for services as planned.
According to him, the schemes had been bastardised by indiscriminate conversion of buildings from residential to commercial by some of the residents.
Salako said that a team from the ministry would soon begin the monitoring and enforcement for the return of the state residential estates to their original plans.
He said if the lawlessness in those estates were not checked, “the future would spell doom for the carefully designed upper-income residential schemes”.
Salako said residents in the affected estates had complained to the state government, seeking redress.
He said that the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development had met with residents of the estates severally in order to restore sanity.
“It is noteworthy that engagements with Magodo Phases I and II Residents Association produced the Revised Magodo Scheme I and II, which has since become effective,” he said.
The commissioner said the state government would not tolerate indiscriminate conversion, urging those liable for such infractions to brace up for the ministry’s enforcement.
“Our Monitoring and Enforcement Team will be visiting all other government schemes for similar action in due course.
“I hereby urge that every part of the state should take a cue from this by desisting from the undue conversion of properties without the approval of the appropriate authorities,” he said.
The Nigeria Labour Congress has pronounced its scheduled strike action for March 10, 2021, over an imminent mandate by the Senate to remove the national minimum wage from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.
According to the NLC, the protest would be held in the 36 states Houses of Assembly in reaction to the plans by the House of Representatives to alter the present wage structure.
This decision granted the Federal Government the autonomy to negotiate minimum wage for workers in the country.
In his remarks after an emergency National Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, March 2, the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, vowed that the NLC would resist “any attempt to exterminate Nigeria’s working class.’’
Ripples Nigeria gathered last week that the Reps debated a bill to remove the powers to negotiate wage matters from the exclusive to the concurrent list.
According to the lawmakers, this is due to the inability of state governors to pay the N30,000 minimum wage for the move.
However, Wabba stated that the workers would not watch “hard-fought rights which are global standards bastardised by opportunistic and narrow-thinking politicians.”
The communique jointly signed by Wabba and the acting General Secretary of the NLC, Ismail Bello, further noted that this is an attempt to undermine Nigeria’s working class.
He said, “The NEC decided that there will be a national protest action commencing from March 10, 2021, in the Federal Capital Territory and especially to the National Assembly.
The NEC decided that should the need arise, it has empowered the National Administrative Council of the NLC to declare and enforce a national strike action, especially if the legislators continue on the ruinous path of moving the national minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list.”
Abia State Governor, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, has taken a swipe at Senator Smart Adeyemi who described him as a “champagne drinking man”.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that Senator Adeyemi had last week during a Senate Plenary, said leaders in Abia State are governed by a drunkard while contributing on a motion, ‘Urgent need for the Revalidation of the Safe School Initiative in Nigeria,” sponsored by Senator representing Cross Rivers North, Odey Stephen.
The governor had hit back at the Senator in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Onyebuchi Ememanka, by saying that the lawmakers requires ‘urgent psychiatric evaluation for acute dementia’s.
Responding again to Adeyemi’s outburst, Ikpeazu speaking at a book presentation in Abuja on Monday titled: “Made in Aba”, written by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, noted that there was no need to begrudge a madman. Ikpeazu said: “I want to end my speech by volunteering for the first time, for those who would think that the man coming behind the microphone to speak as Governor of Abia State is a drunkard, permit me to say that I don’t drink at all and I don’t begrudge those who drink.
In other places, even countries that have less problems, they discuss big issues of security, economy and infrastructure development.
“They don’t talk about what people do and what they do not do. For us leaders, it is a calling.
“If you are called to lead you are also called to be a mentor to young ones and what you say, how you carry yourself and the things you say and the times you say them speaks a lot about how serious you are as a person.
“And that would be the size of my response and I would end by borrowing what Chinua Achebe said in his book: ‘If a mad man picks your clothes while you are in the bathroom and takes off and you go after him naked, nobody would know who is mad after all.
The Yoruba Council of Youths Worldwide (YCYW), the apex umbrella body of youths in Yoruba land, on Monday, condemned the recent move by the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) to block cattle and other foodstuff going to the South West, describing it as an act of war.
According to the group, the blockade was a move to sabotage the efforts of the government, knowing that past and present administrations have heavily invested taxpayers monies into the agricultural sector starting from the Olusegun Obasanjo’s and Goodluck Jonathan’s era.
President, YCYW, Aare Oladotun Hassan, said the South-West youths would not fold their hands and watch the “unscrupulous elements” under the guise of an association or trade union, sabotage efforts of the government.
With the level of commitments and investments in the agricultural sector over the years, he said there was a need at this point in time to separate national business from private business.
He said as a private business, if the cattle breeders association believes that it controls the food commodities that come from the north, the youths of the south-west states are not lazy, and are prepared for the task ahead.
In a counteraction to AUFCDN, Hassan told Ripples Nigeria that YCYW had made a resolution to put an embargo on further trading of all commodities coming from the northern part of Nigeria, and not only on agricultural produce, noting that the ban would get dipper than they thought.
He said: “We have put an embargo on all items coming from the north too. Anything that is coming from the north should just stay there. They should buy and consume all the commodities themselves.
“We voted for a president and not a northern president. If they believe they have a northern president, then we will all go regional and if they are crossing our boundaries then they would pay all our immigration rights and dues before we would permit them to trade or work.
“They have taken us for granted for too long. The worst of this nomadic idea is the fact that over billions worth of staple food are wasted because it is not the farmers that sell the products but private investors. If they had wanted to stop the farmers, they would have done that from the farm, but the investors who have invested heavily are the ones they are diverting their economic interests.”
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order a thorough investigation on the issue to be headed by the Inspector General of Police, and to ensure that anyone found culpable is ruthlessly dealt with and prosecuted accordingly.
“It is a criminal offence for them to sabotage a private individual’s investment. It is not the farmers that are bringing their produce to the south-west but the investors. They are now taking cattle breeding as a northern agenda. At the moment we are embarking on agricultural development zone,” he added.
Meanwhile, he said the silence on the part of the government towards the issue shows a high level of connivance; however, he called on President Buhari to act within 48 hours, nothing that failure to act means that he has already stepped in for a division.
The US has announced sanctions on Russians over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The measures target a number of Russian government officials and entities and are being co-ordinated with similar moves by the EU, US officials said.
They said US intelligence had concluded that the Russian government was behind the near-fatal nerve agent attack on Navalny in Siberia last year.
He is the most high-profile critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow denies involvement in his poisoning and disputes the conclusion, by Western weapons experts, that the nerve agent Novichok was used.
What did the US officials say?
Speaking to reporters during a conference call, they said seven senior Russian officials and 14 entities involved in chemical and biological production were being targeted by sanctions. They gave no further details.
“Russia’s attempt to kill Mr Navalny follows an alarming pattern of chemical weapons use by Russia,” one of the administration officials said.
They are the first sanctions imposed on Russia by the administration of President Joe Biden.
He has taken a tougher stance than his predecessor Donald Trump towards President Putin.
After phoning his Russian counterpart last month, Mr Biden said he had made it clear the days of the US “rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyber-attacks, poisoning citizens are over”.
What about the European Union?
In a co-ordinated move, the EU announced on Tuesday that it had targeted four Russian government officials.
They are Alexandr Kalashnikov, the head of the Russian prison system, Alexandr Bastrykin, chairman of the Investigative Committee, Chief Prosecutor Igor Krasnov, and Viktor Zolotov, who heads of the National Guard.
The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.
image captionNavalny is seving his sentence at a Soviet-era penal colony
The BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Brussels says they are a compromise between the Baltic states, which see Russia as a dangerous neighbour, and countries – notably Germany – which rely on Russian gas imports.
The move follows an earlier series of EU sanctions. In October the bloc targeted six Russian officials and a chemical weapons research centre accused of direct involvement in the poisoning. Russia responded with tit-for-tat sanctions.
The Nigerian Army has reported a fire outbreak at its Headquarters in Abuja.
This was disclosed in a statement, released Tuesday morning by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, attributing the cause of the inferno to faulty electrical installations.
The Army Headquarters complex is currently undergoing some renovation involving electrical rework.
The incident which happened at about 10.15am was as a result of a minor electrical fault in one of the offices.
“The Nigerian Army Fire Service Department has since put out the fire. No casualty was recorded during the incident and normalcy has since returned to the complex,” the statement read.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency has disclosed that key strategic leaders would be vaccinated firstly in order to entrench the confidence of Nigerians in the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, at the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 briefing on Monday, March 1, in Abuja.
“On Saturday, March 6th, Key Strategic leaders will receive the first dose of the vaccine.
On Monday, March 8th, 2021, more vaccination sites would have been set up at designated locations such as National Assembly clinic, State House clinic and Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, where strategic leaders such as the SGF, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Attorney General of the Federation, Inspector General of Police, the Ministers and Ministers of States, Senators, House of Representatives, traditional leaders and religious leaders would be vaccinated.
“After this launch and initial roll-out phase, Vaccine distribution to the States for the first phase vaccination process will begin. This phase is the vaccination of all frontline health workers, their supporting staff, and strategic leaders,” Shuaib stated.
Furthermore, Shuaib said that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, would liaise with other key strategic persons to fix the date for the public vaccination aimed at protecting Nigerians against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shuaib said: “I once again assure Nigerians that all necessary safety and quality control measures have been put in place for the arrival, storage, and successful administration of the vaccine in the country.
There is going to be a small ceremony, chaired by the Chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, to receive the vaccine at the VIP Protocol section, General Aviation Terminal of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
“At the end of the ceremonies to mark the arrival of the vaccines, a few vials of the vaccines would be handed over to the NAFDAC team for analysis over a period of two days (Wednesday, March 3rd and Thursday, March 4th).”
Shuaib further disclosed that plans are on ground for a cargo plane provided by the CAVOVID to transport the vaccines to the States by air.
“States without a functional airport will have their vaccines transported by road using vans with fitted Cold Cabins, from the nearest airport.
The vaccines will be stored at the State Cold Stores, from where they will be transported by road to LGA Cold Stores,” he stated.
According to him, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, launched “our indigenous T.E.A.C.H strategy for COVID-19 vaccination and Electronic Management of Immunization Data system on Monday. This is to ensure safe and effective vaccination of prioritized and eligible Nigerians against COVID-19.
He, however, urged all eligible Nigerians aged 18 years and above to be patient as they would eventually vaccinate them. As the vaccines arrive in batches due to limited supply, they would also inform Nigerians about who and where to receive the vaccine.
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Senate to confirm the appointment of Dr Halilu Shaba Ahmad as the new Director-General of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).
Ahmad has been in acting capacity following the expiration of the two-term tenure of Professor Seidu Mohammed in June 2020.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Tuesday made this known while urging the lawmakers to give it swift consideration.
Ahmad previously served as a Deputy Director at the National Emergency Management Agency between 2006 and 2009, before joining NASRDA.
Former Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) Omoyele Sowore, shocked some people on Monday when he appeared in court with a man in ‘juju’ attire by his side.
He was in court to contest his unlawful detention by the Department of State Services (DSS) in 2020.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in February adjourned the fundamental rights enforcement suits filed by the human rights activists, Sowore and Olawale Bakare, against the Department of State Services and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Federation, Abubakar Malami, over their unlawful detention.
The matter has been fraught with several adjournments since November 2019.
However, during his appearance on Tuesday, a man clad in an attire worn by adherents of the African traditional religion (juju) accompanied Sowore to his court hearing.
This elicited various hilarious opinions from observers on Twitter.
“Why the juju man come dey humble, may be him know say this APC administration no get joy at all. Prison is just a stone throw from the courtroom if the gods misbehave, ” @AustineElectt said.
“Judge go fear to give judgement against Sowore to avoid getting craze as palliative,” @GbasGbos9ja stated.
@ayoolaamao said, “This is no news….. There are three major religions here I presume; would you have found faults in what a Christian Clergy man or an Islamic Cleric wore were they to be the ones that went with him to the court?”
The Yobe State government has ordered an immediate closure of all boarding schools in the state to stem kidnapping and safeguard the lives of students in its domain.
This was contained in a statement issued to newsmen on Monday by the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Muhammed.
He said the students from JSS I to SSS II have been ordered to vacate their schools immediately.
“The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education has ordered the immediate closure of all boarding schools in the state.
Students from JSS I to SSS II should vacate their schools immediately.
“The closure of the boarding schools is informed by the security concern and the urgent need for government to be proactive in safeguarding the lives of the children.
“All day schools are to continue with the normal academic activities,” Dr Muhammed said.
“This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts,” he added. “I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe.”
The authorities said 279 girls had been freed, adding that a figure given last week by police that 317 had been kidnapped was no longer accurate.
One official told Reuters news agency that the discrepancy was due to the fact that some girls had fled shortly after being abducted.
The group’s release was secured through negotiations between government officials and the abductors, authorities in Zamfara state told the BBC.
Mr Matawalle has denied paying for the girls to be released, but last week President Muhammadu Buhari admitted state governments had paid kidnappers “with money and vehicles” in the past and urged them to review the policy.
President Buhari said he felt “overwhelming joy” at the news of the girls’ release. “[I am] pleased that their ordeal has come to a happy end without any incident,” he said.
The dismissed local government chairmen in Oyo State under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) have kicked against the state government’s decision to conduct the council polls ahead of the May 7 Supreme Court judgment.
Speaking at a media parley held on Monday at their Ibadan Secretariat, the ALGON members, led by Prince Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, alleged that Governor Seyi Makinde made a surreptitious move of “perfecting ways to buy off the judgment.”
Aleshinloye said the scheduled council election billed for May 15, was a premeditated fraud targeted at forcing the ALGON and other political parties in the state to participate in the poll if the Supreme Court judgment does not favour it.
He said if the group wins in court, it would boycott any election conducted by the government, as its affected members would move straight into office if the judgment favours them.
He maintained that three main reasons could be adduced for Governor Makinde’s jumping the gun, by releasing the election time table and proceeding to implement it before the Supreme Court judgment.
His words: “Governor Makinde may have perfected a way to buy off the judgment as being boasted by his political acolytes. But this may be very difficult for him to achieve because of the integrity of the bench and their precedent judgments on similar cases like ours.
“It may be an organised OYSIEC ‘come and contest’ election scam, an election advance fee fraud where many unsuspecting candidates will be encouraged to invest in an election that may never hold. But like in yahoo yahoo deals, many would have been fleeced of their hard-earned monies.
Speaking further, he alleged plans by the governor to carry out an executive coup against the Supreme Court judgment if it does not favour him, by going ahead with the election after the judgment even if it does not favour him and his government.
“He will encourage his handpicked elected chairmen and councillors to go to court and obtain an injunction to challenge returned elected Chairmen based on lapsed tenure in case Supreme Court does not make a declaratory judgment on the continuation of tenure.
Nobody is going to participate in any kangaroo election. None of my colleagues is going to be part of it. The party (APC) is also not going to be part of it. Our three-year tenure ordinarily expires on May 14, 2021, but it is not impossible that the Supreme Court will elongate our tenure so that we can complete our remaining two years of which we were sacked from office,” he added.
He, therefore, advised political parties and candidates “not to invest in OYSIEC electoral market process which will lead to nowhere if ALGON wins at the Supreme Court on May 7.
However, the PDP in its reaction to ALGON’s allegations, said the group was trying to build upon nothing, noting that the election of May 2018 that brought them into office was illegal.
The Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Akeem Olatunji, said, “What the government is doing is in order but it seems that they are ignorant of what the law says. An election is a process on its own. You don’t wait till the end of tenure before you conduct an election. The tenure of the sacked council chairmen would end by May 12 as the court would decide on May 7 and the election would hold on May 15. Where is the illegality there?
“By now they should have started the process of producing candidates. Being that their party is in disarray and they are not popular, they are looking for ways of evading the election.
Had it been they won at the Supreme Court they would not have proceeded to Supreme Court. The law is on our side. When they were conducting the election that produced them we were telling them that they flouted the constitution. Instead of conducting election into the 33 local government areas recognised by the constitution, they conducted election into 58 councils and LCDA. You can’t build something on nothing.”
Elder statesman and top Northern politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, has cried out over the detention of his first son, Salisu Yakasai, aka Dawusi, by the Directorate of State Services (DSS).
Dawusi was picked up following his criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of insecurity situation in the country.
Dawusi was also sacked by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State as his Special Adviser on Media shortly after the tweet where he also criticised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), of not doing enough to fight insecurity and terrorism in Nigeria, went viral.
Yakassai, in a statement on Sunday, said Dawusi who was arrested on Saturday by the DSS after he tweeted that Buhari should resign following the abduction of schoolgirls from the Government Girl’s Secondary School in Jangebe, in Zamfara State, has been denied access to his lawyer and family members.
The elder statesman added that Dawusi’s lawyer and his younger brother had visited Abuja on Saturday and applied for permission at the DSS office to talk to him, but they were denied access.
In the statement, Yakassai said:
“They were advised to call on Sunday and we are still waiting for an update from the security operatives, who have yet to contact us.
“I appeal to the authorities to grant him (Salihu) access to his lawyer; he is protected by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in freedom of expression.”
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
