President to handover May 28

President Goodluck Jonathan will hand over power to the President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on May 28, about 24 hours before the actual inauguration date.

The Minister of Information, Patricia Akwashiki, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

Akwashiki said Jonathan would perform the ceremony at a dinner on the eve of the May 29 Democracy Day.

She said, “By May 28, the President intends to have the formal handover done at a dinner so that we can reserve May 29 for the incoming government.

“By May 28, we are expected to have concluded our own government and we are welcoming the incoming government.

“Also you know May 29 is our Democracy Day. So, we have activities lined up all through that week, showcasing all what we have achieved and all other things we do normally on our Democracy Day except that this year is special with the inauguration of our new President that is coming up on May 29.”

She added that the President had directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to prepare their handover notes and submit same to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, on or before April 20.

She said it was Anyim’s responsibility to compile the notes, which would form Jonathan’s handover document to Buhari.

She added that while the valedictory FEC meeting would hold on May 20, everything that required the President’s approval must be presented to him latest on May 13 so that the incoming government would not accuse the outgoing government of rushing projects.

The minister said Jonathan had directed the MDAs to brief him on inherited projects and the ones initiated by his administration under their jurisdiction.

She said the briefings were expected to include the status of the projects and their levels of implementation.

The minister added, “The President emphasised on the need for all MDAs to submit their handover notes to the Office of the SGF by the 20th of this month, that is next Monday. So we are going to be very busy this weekend putting our handover notes together.

“The President also emphasised that he would require another little briefing from all MDAs to indicate inherited projects, how far they have been executed and initiated projects by his administration and the level of completion, whether completed, ongoing or abandoned.”

She said the present administration was doing everything possible to ensure a smooth transition, adding that Vice-President Namadi Sambo is heading the government’s transition committee while Anyim is heading the inauguration committee.

Akwashiki however said notwithstanding the transition programme, governance had not stopped in the country.

“That is not to say that governance has stopped. Of course, we are in government until the day he President-elect takes his oath of office,” she explained.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources,   Diezani Alison-Madueke,   and her Finance counterpart, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, were among the few ministers, who did not attend the Wednesday FEC meeting.

The meeting was the first to be held after the March 28 presidential election, which Jonathan lost to Buhari.

Before the President arrived at the venue, some ministers, especially the core politicians among them, used the opportunity to review the polls and their performances in their various states.

They formed small groups to take stock zone by zone.

The Minister of Police Affairs,   Jelili Adesiyan; Minister of State II, Foreign Affairs, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro; Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Olajumoke Akinjide, and the Minister of State, Works, Dayo Adeyeye, were seen engrossed in discussion on the Peoples Democratic Party’s performance in the South-West while they awaited Jonathan’s arrival at the venue.

APC seek fresh governorship election in Taraba

The All Progressives Congress has demanded that the Independent National Electoral Commission should set aside its declaration that the governorship election in Taraba State was inconclusive.
According to the party, what ought to be done is for INEC to cancel the results of  11 local government areas, where large scale electoral fraud allegedly took place, after which, a fresh collation should be done and a winner declared.
National Chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun, made the demand in Abuja on Thursday.
Oyegun spoke during a press briefing by the party’s governorship candidate in the state, Senator Aisha Alhassan, on the botched election.
He explained that after receiving briefings from its candidate in the race, it was convinced that there was a high powered conspiracy by “powers that be” to thwart the will of Taraba people, who voted massively for Alhassan.
In response, the Taraba State Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Emmanuel Bello, dismissed the allegations leveled against the Peoples Democratic Party.
“The APC is only being jittery and desperate because it knows that it can’t win this election in a predominantly PDP state like Taraba,” Bello said in an interview.
Earlier, Alhassan had  said the APC was only demanding justice because it was evident that the outcome of the election in the affected local government areas was fraudulent.
She said, “INEC should set aside the declaration of inconclusive result for Taraba State. The results of all the areas affected by irregularities in the 11 local governments should be cancelled out rightly, after which a fresh collation should be done and a winner declared.
“Alternatively, the result of the entire State should be cancelled and a fresh election conducted. This is in view of the widespread irregularities in most of the Local Government Areas of the State.
“In the event that the overall result is cancelled and a fresh election ordered, such should not be conducted under the supervision of the current INEC officials in Taraba State,  as they have shown sufficient evidence of bias and complicity in the April 11 election. A total overhaul of the INEC in Taraba should be a pre-requisite for any fresh election in the state.
“The national headquarters of  INEC should immediately launch a probe into the conduct of the April 11 governorship election in Taraba to ensure that the rights of the people of Taraba State to choose their leaders are not abridged by conniving INEC officials, security and desperate PDP members.”
The APC candidate said the affected local governments areas are Wukari, Kurmi, Yorro, Karim Lamido, Ardo Kola, Sardauna, Zing, Bali, Lau, Donga and Takum.

Imo rerun: REC under fire for secretly distributing PVC

There was renewed call Thursday for the immediate redeployment of the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Dr. Gabriel Ada by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other stakeholders in the state before the governorship rerun election scheduled for April 25.
The REC has also come under fire for insisting that registered voters who have not collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) in the areas where the governorship rerun election will hold in the state, despite the expiration of the deadline for the collection of PVC nationwide. Ada had during a press briefing with journalists, refused to disclose the number of PVC distributed in the 200 Polling Units where the rescheduled election will hold, as well as the number of registered voters in the area. Reacting to the REC’s alleged partisan role, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Rochas Campaign Organization, called for his immediate redeployment ahead of the rerun election to ensure a free and fair polls. The Director General of the Campaign Organization, Barr Ihekwumere Alaribe, said that “we were shocked to learn that the REC had announced that the collection of PVC is still ongoing in the state, even after the expiration of the exercise nationwide. This will amount to shifting the goal post in the middle of the game.” According to him, “we have applied for the number of registered voters and the list of the distribution of PVC in the affected areas but the REC had refused to disclose the documents because of his partisan stand”.
 Justifying the call for Ada’s immediate redeployment, Alaribe, alleged that he was selective in the cancellation of the results of the governorship election in the favour of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), adding that the APC and the entire people of the state do no longer have confidence in him to supervise the rerun election.
 He said, “we have discovered that the REC inflated the number of voters in the areas where election did not hold, to justify the rerun election. He is an interested party and should not be allowed to supervise the election. As a former Speaker of the Cross River House of Assembly under the PDP we doubt his integrity and neutrality in this matter. “We are calling on the Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega to immediately recall Ada from Imo State before the scheduled rerun to ensure a free and fair election.
Because if not for his partisan role, we won’t be talking about rerun in an election we clearly won. We have discovered that he is a card carrying member of the PDP and must to not be allowed to preside over the election”. Also knocking the REC for his controversial positions, an APC Chieftain, Chief Romanus Egbuladike, blamed him for the massive rigging and other irregularities that marred the governorship election. Egbuladike, who is from Oru East Local Government Area, which has the highest number of areas where the rerun election will hold, said that elections were held in the six wards where INEC cancelled to pave way for a supplementary election.
In his words, “we were shocked that INEC said that election did not hold in six wards in Oru East because we have the results from the booth. I think what happened was because did people did not allow INEC to execute their plan of rigging the election in Oru East in favour of the PDP so they decided to cancel six wards to declare the election inconclusive but whatever they are planning will be resisted.”

NITEL/MTEL handed over to NATCOM by FG

The federal government on Thursday approved the handover of Nitel/Mtel facilities to NATCOM. Deputy Chairman, National Council on Privatization (NCP) Technical Committee, Haruna Sambo, made the disclosure after the NCP meeting chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa.
 According to him, the consortium have completed the payment of $252.251m cost of acquisition. He said: “You recall that at the last NCP meeting, approval was made for the financial bid for NITEL/MTEL by the bidder, NATCOM consortium at the cost of $ 252.251M. Today, at the council meeting, the council approved the hand over to NATCOM consortium having paid the cost of acquisition. “By this approval, the process has come to a closure and the council has mandated the BPE to hand over the two companies to the preferred winner of course after all other outstanding issues are taken care of.
 “With this, the transaction has come to an end and Council asks BPP to hand over the two companies to the bid winner, NATCOM consortium,” he said Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali, told State House correspondents that government had settled about 98 per cent of ex-PHCN workers including their pensions and gratuities. He said that NCP has directed that any other remaining cases should be referred to the BPE for settlements. Mines and Steel minister, Engr. Musa Sada, said the council also discussed reforms of the National Parks as well as the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) with the aim of restructuring the sector and bridge the 17 million housing deficit in the country.
 He said: “Another area was that of the Federal Housing Authority. Everybody knows that we have about 17 million housing deficit in the sector. For us to be able to build and recover this deficit, we must be ingenious in the way we handle the deficit in the country.” “There is no country that succeeds without the involvement of the private sector. So the policies must be right first. The committee presented reports on how to restructure the housing policy to meet the housing needs,” he stated.

Court re‎fuses to stop impeachment move against Fayose

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja Thursday rejected an oral application by lawyer to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State for an order stopping the on-going move to impeach the governor. Fayose’s lawyer, Ahmed Raji (SAN) had shortly before the end of proceedings in the case seeking to stop the on-going impeachment move, applied orally for an order directing parties to maintain status quo ante bellum “to stop things from degenerating further.”
Justice Mohammed, in a ruling, rejected Raji’s prayer and upheld the argument by Terence Vembe, lawyer to Ekiti State Speaker, Adewale Omirin, to the effect that granting such prayer will amount to the court amending its earlier ruling that the defendants were still within time show cause, as earlier ordered by the court. The judge had, last Wednesday, refused Fayose’s ex-parte prayers for interim injunctions restraining Omirin and other defendants in the case from proceeding with the impeachment move. Instead, Justice Mohammed ordered the defendants to show cause why the orders of interim injunction sought by the plaintiffs should not be granted. Plaintiffs in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/302/2015 include Olugbemi Joseph Dele (who claimed to be Speaker of the State Assembly), Ekiti State House of Assembly, Fayose and his deputy, Olusola Kolapo. Listed as defendants are Omirin, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Chief Judge, Ekiti State.
At the commencement of proceedings Thursday, Raji urged the court to grant the order of interim injunction on the ground that none of the defendants complied with the court’s order of April 8 directing them to show cause. “None of the defendants has filed any paper and already a life has been lost on the account of trying to carry out the illegal act (impeachment). To save more life, I urge my Lord to grant the reliefs 5, 6, 7 and 8 on our motion paper.” Vembe objected and told the court that his client were contesting the mode of service of the court processes on him, which he said, was done through a newspaper publication on April 11 which was a public holiday.
 He further faulted the service effected by the plaintiffs via a publication in the Nigerian Tribune newspaper on April 11 on the ground that movements were restricted on that day owing to the governorship and House of Assembly elections held nationwide. In a brief ruling, Justice Mohammed upheld Raji’s argument that Vembe‎ could not canvass any argument on the issue of service orally without putting it in writing as required under the court’s rules.
Vembe proceeded to argue that his client was still within time to obey the court’s order directing him and other defendants to show cause. Although Raji objected to Vembe’s further argument that his client was still within time, Justice Mohammed, in yet another brief ruling, upheld Vembe’s argument.
 The judge noted that the publication ought not to have been done on a public holiday. He held that the three days within which the defendants were required to comply with the court’s order began to run on Tuesday, April 14 and will end on Friday‎, April 17.
 “As of today, the 1st defendant is still within time as provided by Order 36 Rule 13 of the Federal High Court Rules,” the judge said. Further hearing in the case has been fixed for April 29.
The plaintiffs are, in the substantive suit, seeking nine prayers among which is “an order setting aside the purported notice of impeachment and all steps taken by the 1st defendant (Omirin) with other errant members of the 2nd plaintiff (Ekiti State House of Assembly) in relation to the purported issuance and service of the said notice of impeachment for the purpose of commencing and concluding the impeachment proceedings against Peter Ayodele Fayose and Dr. Olusola Kolapo, except and until there is absolute compliance with provisions of section 36(1) and section 188(1), (2), (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).” Other prayers being sought by the plaintiffs include, “An order prohibiting the 1st defendant (Omirin) and other errant members of the 2nd plaintiff (Ekiti State House of Assembly) from further taking any step, or engaging in unlawful activities relating to the impeachment of Peter Ayodele Fayose and Dr. Olusola Kolapo, except and until there is absolute compliance with provisions of section 36(1) and section 188(1), (2), (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
 “An order prohibiting the Chief Judge of Ekiti State from taking any step or action in relation to the request of the 1st defendant (Omirin) for the purpose of appointing a panel of seven persons to investigate and purported allegations of gros misconduct against Peter Ayodele Fayose and Dr. Olusola Kolapo, except and until there is absolute compliance with provisions of section 36(1) and section 188(1), (2), (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).‎”

PDP fault Oshiomole claim that 140,000 votes of APC voided

The Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State has picked holes in claims by Governor Adams Oshiomhole that 140,000 votes of the All Progressive Congress were voided during the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
 It said it symphatised with Governor Oshiomhole for his inability to accept defeat adding that the Governor was looking for excuses to make up for the defeat of the APC at the polls. The PDP said 97,414 votes were cancelled and not voided as claimed by the Governor. State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, in a press statement said the cancelled votes was in respect of the cancelled votes in Orhiomwon Local Government Area where no vote was recorded.
Chief Orbih noted that votes from Orhiomwon Local Government were not captured in the March 28 election and that the entire people who collected PVCs in the council were disenfranchised. Orbih said the PDP would have swept the polls “if the forces of darkness had not prevailed on INEC to cancel the election going by what we recorded in other local government in the Edo South senatorial zone. “When did Governor Oshiomhole become a Returning Officer in INEC that he now apportions electoral figures? We had expected Governor Oshiomhole to have learnt some lessons in the resounding victory of the PDP in the election but we have again seen that the Governor has not desisted from his old ways of playing on the intelligence of Edo people.
“After winning five out of the nine House of Representatives seats and two out of the three Senate positions in Edo State, we are glad to declare that come the governorship election next year, Edo people will have the final opportunity to put this sad chapter of the APC’s misadventure behind them.”

PDP was killed by injustice

Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant in Niger State, Alhaji Sale Sahabi Danrangi said injustice was responsible for the abysmal performance of the ruling party at the just concluded general elections.
Darangi who decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) few days to the April 11 gubernatorial election said he along with many others were victims of the injustice of the ruling party during last December governorship primary of the party in the state.
The former governorship aspirant told Journalists Thursday in Minna that the injustice meted to him and the inability of the party to attend to his protest informed his decision to dump his former party along with his supporters.
He then advised the APC to keep to its policy of giving every member, be it old or new a level playing ground to achieve their political aspirations. Darangi stated that the call became necessary in view of the contribution of those whose defection toward the success of the party at the just concluded general elections.
He said “people like me who was a gubernatorial aspirant have structures already on ground therefore after our defection we moved with all our people and that helped in winning the election particularly at gubernatorial election.” Darangi argued that their contribution assisted in no small measure in the gubernatorial election saying despite the fact that Rijau LGA where he hailed from is a stronghold of PDP the APC won flawlessly. He therefore advice the governor elect, Abubakar Sani Bello to remain focus and resolute in ensuring that he delivered the people of Niger State as contained in his campaign template.