Election Group Expose INEC’s Plot to Smuggle Simon Achuba’s Name as Running Mate for Yahaya Bello

A leading Civil Society Organization and Election Monitoring Group, Conscience Nigeria, has raised the alarm over a Surreptitious plan by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to assist Alhaji Yahaya Bello, the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate in the December 5, 2015 Supplementary Governorship election in Kogi Sate smuggle  in the name of a running mate.

Hon. James Faleke, who is Deputy Governorship Candidate to the late APC Candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, had since declined been a running mate to Yahaya Bello during the December 5th supplementary election.

But the electoral umpire is under a strong allegation of smuggling in another politician from the eastern part of Kogi state, into INEC official documents and backdate same in order prove to the Election Petition Tribunal Sitting in Lokoja that Bello actually fulfilled constitutional provisions by running the Supplementary election with a deputy.

However, Section 187 sub-section 1 of the Nigerian Constitution is very emphatic and states in unequivocal terms that any Governorship candidate for an election will not be deemed to be duly elected if he fails to run the election with a Deputy. With Hon. Faleke’s letter to APC and INEC refusing to be Bello’s Deputy and opting out of the Supplementary election, political observers and legal pundits had wondered how Bello would beat the trap of section 187 of the constitution since he actually ran the election without a Deputy.

In a statement, the Executive Director of Conscience Nigeria, Tosin Adeyanju said his group is disturbed with reports from very credible sources establishing the fact that a former member of Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon. Simon Achuba from the Igala speaking part of the state (Kogi East) has been picked as the Deputy Governorship Candidate who purportedly ran the supplementary election of December 5, 2015 with Bello!

“We are terribly shocked with this development. This is corruption of the highest order and must not be allowed to stand”, Adeyanju said.

According to him, the confusing signal emanating from INEC’s position at the Tribunal point irresistibly to the fact that the commission is up to something sinister in its quest to rationalize the inclusion of Yahaya Bello as replacement for the deceased APC candidate, Prince Audu in the 2015 election. “Even legal pundits are at loss as to the evasive and inherently conflicting averments in the processes so far filed on INEC’s behalf before the Tribunal especially as it has to do with the deputy governorship candidate of the APC that ran with Yahaya Bello in the Supplementary election of December 5, 2015.”

While INEC had maintained prior to the Supplementary election that Hon. Faleke was Bello’s Deputy, a position disputed by Faleke, facts distilled from INEC’s response to the petitions filed by the PDP and Faleke suggest rather curiously that APC and Bello had nominated another Deputy Governorship Candidate in the Supplementary election without naming who that candidate is.

Impeccable sources within Yahaya Bello’s camp confirm that INEC’s position at the Tribunal was indeed a smokescreen or a scaffolding upon which a new name could be smuggled in, aided by backdated documents to support the case of Yahaya Bello.

Adeyanju illustrated his group’s stance with the scenario that occurred during the collation of the December 5, 2015 Supplementary Election at the State collation centre, Lokoja when an agent of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) challenged the nomination of Bello as Governorship candidate by the APC since he had no deputy as Faleke had withdrawn but the INEC National Commissioner from North Central, Amina Zakari responded that Faleke remained Bello’s deputy because his party, APC, had not withdrawn his nomination despite the fact that he had written to the electoral umpire informing it of his intention to pull out of the race.

“Unless the Party withdraws a candidate, his letter is not enough, and unless the proper channel is followed, which is through the party, he remains the running mate”, she said. So from where did a running mate suddenly emerge from when Bello had not been sworn in?

Section 187 sub-section 1 of the Nigerian Constitution states interalia.

“In any election to which the foregoing provisions of this part of this chapter relate, a candidate for the office of Governor of a state shall not be deemed to have been validly nominated for such office unless he nominates another candidate as his associate for his running for the office of Governor, who is to occupy the office of Deputy Governor.” Adeyanju added.

Adeyanju called on the leadership of INEC to as a matter of urgency investigate this corrupt plan within its fold with a view to bringing culprits to book.

According to him, the whole world is watching the political scenario in Kogi with keen interest and that nothing short of fairness and justice by the electoral agency would be acceptable.

My YBNL First Lady Should Be A Combination Of Àsà and Dejloaf’ – Olamide

Virtually all the top record labels in the country have their own first lady. From Mavin’s with Tiwa Savage, to EME’s Niyola. Now, YBNL boss, Olamide, has finally revealed that his label is out scouting for their own first lady.

The singer not only made this known, he also revealed the qualities he will be looking out for in the lucky lady.

Some hours ago, a fan of the ‘Shakiti bobo’ crooner tweeted saying:

I see you don’t have a First Lady of YBNL…I am here for you oga.

A tweet to which Olamide replied:

We are searching.

See tweets below:

 

 A combo of Asa and DejLoaf, can’t wait to see who the lady will be.

RMD shares cute photo with daughters on Instagram

The proud father shared the photo of himself and his two beautiful girls on Instagram. He caption on the photo "My tag team #daddy'sgirl# proud dad#

TRASH Nigerian women rated as the most bleached women in Africa

Nigeria has been recorded as the highest country with the most bleached women in the world pulling a whopping of 77% this is reported by World Health Organisation (WHO). They ia also another report according to MediaTalkOut,naming Togo as the second most bleached country in Africa,with the total of 55%.

The skin bleaching trend is seriously getting out of control among our African women.-"Especially in Africa" MediaTalkOut reports,even outside the country,in far places like Dubai,business is booming for people who are selling.,, among other cosmetics ,skin lightening product. The said

"In our world ,one in every 10 dark skinned person is now patron to bleaching products,wheather consciously or not . Most of us have come across at least one lady who attempt to whiten her skin.  They are easily identifiable by uneven patched of dark skin fading away and the dark skin still retained by the joints,the elbows and knuckles. Those who successfully bleached lost mostly ghostly ,because even with the new skin tone on top. The is an underlying layer of dark skin that makes them look slightly off- colour.

Kogi APC in tight spot over Faleke’s rejection of deputy governorship

Political kingpins in Kogi State have gone back to the drawing board to reconfigure the state’s political positions following the final decision of the state’s Deputy Governor-elect, Hon. James Faleke to absent himself at next week’s inauguration ceremony.

The governor-elect, Alhaji Yahaya Bello and chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Vanguard learned are at a cross roads over the push by stakeholders from the Igala speaking Kogi East district for the office of deputy governor to be zoned to them on the grounds that as the largest senatorial district they cannot be left out of the first two positions in the state.

Bello is from Kogi Central while Faleke is from Kogi Central.

My source was reliably informed by sources close to Faleke on the final decision not to partake in the inauguration ceremony scheduled for January 27.
“As far as we are concerned, Faleke is not the Deputy Governor-Elect to Alh. Bello, but the late Prince Abubakar Audu who won the governorship election before he died. Faleke is the only person who is qualified to inherit Audu’s votes because the ticket was a joint property.

“We are not bothered about plans for inauguration because it has no impact on us. Let them do their inauguration while we pursue our case in court. At the end of the day, the law will determine the rightful occupant of Lugard House,” they said.

The sources also informed that Faleke has no plans of disrupting the inauguration, saying, “as a man of peace, our principal has confidence in the judiciary to resolve the Kogi impasse.”

Given the determination of Faleke to abstain himself, the party it was gathered has commenced the search for a replacement for the office of deputy governor.

AD hails Buhari's anti graft war

The Alliance for Democracy, AD, has commended the anti-corruption programme of  President Muhammadu Buhari noting that the pervasive influence of corruption has affected the political and economic development of the nation.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary,  Ms. Olayinka Nola, the party expressed satisfaction at the manner in which corruption cases are being pursued but urged that it should not be selective.

It also noted that rights of the accused should be respected with strict adherence to the rule of law.

The party, however, expressed dismay at the news of the alleged missing budget document.

It noted that a budget is a critical tool of any administration and as such, if it is truly missing, it is an embarrassment to the nation locally and internationally and should be investigated.

The statement reads in parts: “We in Alliance for Democracy, the most vibrant and people oriented political opposition party wish to commend President Muhammadu Buhari in his determined effort to purge the nation of its endemic corruptive tendencies and recover stolen funds.

”It is a step in the right direction because there will be no meaningful development if cankerous corruption is allowed to thrive. However, this crusade should not be selective but should cut across all political and governmental entities and agencies including the private sector for it to be credible.”

“We shall continue to laud the good programmes of this administration but will criticise it constructively when necessary. We are also appalled at hearing that the budget document is missing. It is embarrassing if it is true but if it is not, we advise that the rumour mongers peddling this shameful lie should be investigated and brought to book”, it stated.

Shiites give condition for appearance before commission of inquiry

As the Kaduna State Government finally established the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that it promised would look into the clash between the Nigerian Army and adherents of the Shiite Islamic movement in Zaria in 2015, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, has given conditions to appear before the commission.

While noting that the Movement believes in the justness of its cause and the fact that the events that led to the setting up of the Judicial Commission were premeditated, they said they will only appear before the commission if its leader is released unconditionally, and the Nigerian Military and the Nigerian Police make full disclosure of the number of persons in their various detention centers and those they took to the various hospitals and the location of the hospitals to enable their lawyers have access to them.

A statement spelling out the conditions signed by the President, Media Forum of the Islamic movement, Ibrahim Musa, said while the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, has called for the setting up of an impartial and independent Judicial Commission of Inquiry made up of independent persons and members of the international human rights community to unravel the circumstances that led to the pogrom in Zaria and its environs, it believes that the events of December 12, 2015 that led to the massacre of its members, the maiming of hundreds, the detention of its cadres and destruction of its properties are premeditated.

The movement added that the Federal and Kaduna State Governments are in face saving mode regarding the gross human rights violations that it deliberately perpetrated.

“The Movement will appear before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry only on the following conditions: That the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria should be released unconditionally. The Nigerian Government is holding the leader of the Movement incommunicado knowing that he is the custodian of the documents of the Movement and has to give direction to the Movement in the preparation of its Memorandum and the assembling of its witnesses.

“The Nigerian Military and the Nigerian Police must make a full disclosure of the number of persons in their various detention centers and grant lawyers of the Movement access to most of them. This is because the Movement has credible evidence that a large number of its members are still in detention in military facilities and detention centers,” the statement asserted.

The statement added that the Kaduna State Government and the Kaduna State Police Command must disclose the number of persons it has charged to court and the number of persons it has in prison custody