Ondo people suffering under Mimiko - Senator Boroffice.

Prof. Ajayi Boroffice

The senator representing Ondo-North senatorial district, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, says the people of the state are suffering under the government of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

Boroffice said this in a statement issued after touring the 18 local government areas of the state.

He said the Peoples Democratic Party-led government had done nothing worthy of note in the state.

He said, “From Owo to Okitipupa, Odigbo to Ose, Akoko land to Ondo kingdom, Irele to Idanre, Ifedore to Ilaje, Ese-Odo to Oke-Igbo, there exists a large number of low-spirited people who have lost confidence in the irresponsible way they are being governed by the PDP-led government in Ondo State.

“Promises have not been kept. Hopes have been dashed. Most of our people wore faces of agony. As such, it would be wrong to anticipate good governance from the sinking PDP.”

The lawmaker explained that the tour featured consultation with party stakeholders, enlightenment of party members and discussion on how to promote peace and unity within the All Progressives Congress in the state.

During the tour, Boroffice commended the people of Ondo State for voting President Muhammadu Buhari in the last general elections in spite of the money allegedly spent by the PDP government. He urged the electorate to exercise patience as the government implements its reforms and agenda of change.

The senator decried the state of the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission under the current administration.

He said it was unacceptable that the hitherto financially buoyant OSOPADEC could no longer fund developmental projects and was struggling to pay bursaries to indigent students.

Boroffice also assured the people of Ondo State of his readiness to deploy his experience and expertise to “free and salvage the state from the stranglehold of her exploiters by presenting himself for election in order to showcase selfless leadership and good governance.”

Queen Elizabeth,Buhari, Osinbajo,Tinubu, 20 Govs to attend Ooni's coronation.

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II

Her Majesty the Queen of England, Elizabeth Alexandra; President Muhammadu Buhari; Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN); Asiwaju Tinubu and governors from at least 20 states, ministers and other dignitaries are expected to attend the coronation of the new Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II.

The Chairman, Media Committee of the coronation, Mr. Biyi Odunlade, said this at a press conference that started a series of activities lined up for the coronation scheduled to hold on December 7.

Odunlade, however, explained that the queen might be represented at the ceremony. He added that guests from many nations of the world had been invited for the ceremony.

The Ooni also said he was ready to fast-track the development of Ife with a series of policies, which he said, would make the Yoruba people proud anywhere they found themselves.

The monarch, who was represented at the press conference by his elder brother, Prince Adegboyega Ogunwusi, said he would do everything possible to address the problem of youth unemployment in the town.

Ogunwusi, who donated 50 transformers to some communities in Ife before he emerged as the new Ooni, said he would donate additional 50 transformers within the next 30 days to boost electricity supply in the ancient town.

He noted that this gesture would make small scale businesses in the town to thrive because power problem would have been reduced.

He said, “Let me acquaint you with what I have done in less than 70 days. I have given out over 20 electricity transformers worth about N250m.

“I donated 50 transformers when I was a prince. I will buy another 50 transformers within the next 30 days to further enhance electricity distribution. With this, small scale businesses of welders, tailors and others will naturally witness improvement.

“Providentially, I know the core investor and the Chairman, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Tunde Ayeni, personally and very well. I have engaged him and his team to make this a reality and work has commenced in earnest. We will witness this transformation by the very special grace of God.”

“To revamp the stadium, I have already opened discussion with the Osun State Government on this. I will set up a football academy and we will have 16 clubs in Ife.”

The new monarch also promised to establish a football academy.

While the press conference was going on, the new Ooni and other guests were at an inter-religious service held at Enuwa Square.

One of the religious leaders, who spoke at the service, Apostle Joshua Fagbule, urged the people of Ife to rally round Ogunwusi in order for him to bring about meaningful development to the town.

Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar on Ballon d'Or shortlist.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar make up the three-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or – the award given to the world footballer of the year. 

It is the eighth consecutive year that Real Madrid’s Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Messi have been on the shortlist. 

Mark Sampson is in contention for Fifa’s women’s football world coach of the year after guiding England to third place at the World Cup. 

The winners will be announced at a gala in Zurich on 11 January. 

Ronaldo has been named the world’s best footballer for the past two years, ending Messi’s four-year hold on an award regarded as the game’s most prestigious individual accolade. 

The three contenders were chosen from a 23-man list that also included Wales and Real Madrid attacker Gareth Bale. 

It is the first time 23-year-old Brazilian Neymar, who along with Messi has helped Barcelona to the top of La Liga, has made the final three. 

“Neymar is still only 23, yet he has 252 career goals: 136 for Santos, 70 for Barcelona and 46 for Brazil.

“To put those figures into context, by the time Messi and Ronaldo reached the age Neymar is now (23 years and nine months), they had ‘only’ registered respective career goal tallies of 186 and 127.”

All three candidates are among the 50 players to make the team of the year shortlist, while 28-year-old Messi is also nominated for the Puskas Award for the year’s best goal. 

Messi has scored 48 goals so far in 2015, despite being injured for two months. 

Portugal captain Ronaldo, 30, has also scored 48 times for club and country, but Real are six points adrift of Barca in La Liga.

$16bn refineries to be built in Lagos, Ondo.

Two refineries estimated to cost about $16 billion with a combined refining capacity of 290,000 barrels per day are to be built in Ondo and Lagos States respectively.

Director of Ode Oya Refineries Ltd, Prince Bayo Otulana, who disclosed this to Inner room at the weekend, said the licence for the two refineries were obtained in 2005 but modalities were only recently finalised with the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

Otulana, who was in company with two foreign technical partners of the refineries, Mr. Felix Kadam and Hugh Neto, director and vice president technical respectively of Cospower Engineering Pvt Ltd, as well Mr Saviour Inyang of Savjane World Trade Ltd, financial guarantors of the project, explained that the refineries would come in two types; modular and greenfield.

According to him, the modular, which would come in three units, is semi-prefabricated version of the refinery which installation would be completed within a year for it to start operation by December 2017; while the greenfield version, expected to be built from the scratch on site would be completed within three years for operation to start in 2020.

He allayed fears that the regulated downstream sector of the Nigerian oil business could be harmful to private refinery operation in the country.

Similarly, Neto said the two refineries would employ cutting edge hi-tech to ensure products command high patronage within and outside Nigeria.

False Asset declaration: Supreme Court to hear Saraki's appeal on Thursday.

The Supreme Court has scheduled Thursday for hearing of the appeal by Senate President Bukola saraki.

The court’s decision to hear the appeal this week was contained in hearing notices sent to parties in the case, a copy of which The Inner room  sighted yesterday.

Saraki is, with the appeal, challenging the decision of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to assume jurisdiction over the charge of false asset declaration brought against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

The Court of Appeal, in a split decision of two-to-one upheld the CCT’s jurisdiction to hear the charge, a decision Saraki appealed to the Supreme Court.

The apex court had on November 12 directed the CCT to suspend proceedings in the trial pending determination of the appeal.

A five-man bench of the court, led by Justice John Fabiyi, gave the directive for a halt in the proceedings before the CCT following an undertaking by respondents’ lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), to the effect that since the court has granted accelerated hearing in the appeal, he will prevail on the CCT not to proceed with trial until the apex court pronounce on Saraki’s appeal.

It is, however, expected that a new head would be chosen for the panel hearing the appeal because Justice Fabiyi retired last Wednesday.

Buhari, Osinbajo, Saraki,Tinubu , Dogara, others for Ooni's coronation.

Ooni

president Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Asiwaju Tinubu,Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara are expected at the coronation and presentation of staff of office to the 51st Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi.

The over one week event will climax next Monday with the presentation of staff of office  by Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

Addressing a pre-coronation briefing at the palace yesterday, the monarch’s elder brother, Prince Adegboyega, said invites have been sent to 27 governors, members of the National Assembly and other dignitaries.

He said: “There will be a coronation carnival round the town today.  Tomorrow, there will be artistes’ coronation day.

“On Thursday, there will be traditional worshippers’ day. A Jumat service will hold on Friday. Also on that day, there will be a youth carnival and fashion parade.

“A football match between Ajiroba FC and Shooting Stars of Ibadan is scheduled for Saturday.

“On Sunday, there will be an interdenominational service at Enuwa Square and inauguration of Ife Resorts.

“The grand finale is on Monday with the presentation of staff of office.

“The programme will be rounded off on December 13 with a thanksgiving service at St. Saviour Anglican Church, Ayegbaju, Ile-Ife.”

The Chairman, Publicity Committee, Biyi Odunlade, said December 7 has been declared a public holiday to allow residents participate in the programme.

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Kogi: Court opens hearing today in Wada's, PDP's case against INEC.

The Federal High Court, Abuja will today open hearing in the suit filed last Thursday by Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State and his party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in which they seek to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare Wada winner of the inconclusive governorship election held in the state on November 21.

The nation learnt yesterday that the suit now before justice Gabriel Kolawole has been scheduled for today for mention. It is however not clear if further steps would be taken in the case today because the defendants were yet to file any process as at yesterday.

INEC, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) are listed as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants.

It is Wada’s contention that in view of the death of the candidate of the APC, Abubkar Audu it was incumbent on INEC to declare him winner of the election, which INEC declared inconclusive.

He hinged his argument on the ground that he was the only surviving candidate with the majority of lawful votes cast in election held on 21st November 2015.

He also asked the court to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue him with a Certificate of Return.

Wada and the PDP also filed another application praying the court to restrain INEC from conducting the December 5th supplementary election.

The governor is seeking an order of injunction restraining APC from organizing or holding a fresh primary election for the purpose of any ýsupplementary or other election for the Kogi State governorship election 2015.

He also asked the courtý to declare that APC cannot organize and hold a fresh primary election for the purpose of the supplementary election, having regard to the immutable statutory timeliness provided by enabling sections of the Electoral Act 2010 and the INEC timetable for Kogi Governorship election.

The plaintiffs asked the court to declare that the AGF was not competent to issue directives to INEC to allow APC to substitute its candidate for the Kogi governorship election after the commencement of the election, and that such directives are null and void for inconsistency with the provisions of the consitituion.

They urged the court to hold that APC could not lawfully nominate a candidate for the supplementary governorship election slated for the 5th day of December 2015, without a valid and legally cognizable primary election of the APC conducted within the mandatory timeliness specified by the Electroal Act.

Wada and PDP further asked the court to declare that, “having regards to the provisions of Section 141 of the Electoral Act, 2010, voted scored by a candidate who died during an election cannot be inherited by or transferred to a person who was not a candidate at the said election and who did not participate in all stages of such election, for the purpose of concluding such election.

The plaintiffs, in a 36-ýparagraph supporting affidavit deposed to by the PDP State Collation Agent for the election, Joe Agada, it was stated that with the demise of APC’s candidate, the two leading candidates became Wada with 199,514 votes and and that of the Labour Party with 8, 756 votes.

“That I know as a fact that INEC on this basis ought to declare the ýWada the winner of the governorship election of 21st November 2015, being the only surviving candidate with the highest number of votes and scoring 25 per cent of the votes in all the Local Government Areas of the State.”

Faleke's Bello's supporters clash at APC secretariat.

Supporters of Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who was chosen to replace the late Prince Abubakar Audu in this weekend’s supplementary election in Kogi State and those of James Abiodun Falake clashed yesterday at the APC National Secretariat.

The supporters, carrying sticks and stones, tore at one another as policemen looked helpless and unable to curtail them.

Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who arrived at the secretariat at about the time the supporters were beginning to go violent, abandoned his car at the gate and walked into the secretariat.

A few seconds later, Faleke arrived the scene, sparking off the fight between the supporters who started throwing stones.

Some carrying sticks started chasing one another.

An elderly man wearing a blue brocade with a cap to match was seen calling some of the protesters who were running away from the scene to return.

Some policemen took cover to avoid being hit by stones.

One of the vehicles on Faleke’s convoy was hit on the bonnet by a stone.

Mobile policemen were drafted to the secretariat.

Bello arrived the APC secretariat with his supporters at about 2.45pm and immediately went into the office of the National Secretary. His supporters practically blocked the gate, chanting Sai Yahaya Bello.

They carried placard.

As early as 9.00, security had been strengthened at the secretariat.

Visitors were restricted. Journalists were subjected to heavy security checks before being allowed into the secretariat.

The meeting of the party leadership with stakeholders of the party in Kogi State, which was earlier scheduled to begin at about 10.00a.m., did not start until about 4.00pm.

At the meeting were Bello, Faleke, El-Rufai, who was chairman of the panel that conducted the Kogi governorship primary of the party, Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Mohammed Okhiare, among other APC leaders from the state.

Arms purchase: EFCC arrests ex-minister, Dasuki's ex finance chief, others.

Ex-Governor Bafarawa’s son, ex-PDP chairman’s aide, 18 others also held

SOME OF THE ALLEGATIONS

• Ex-Minister Bashir Yuguda collected N1.5b from NSA’s office
• Yuguda obtained   N1.275b from Stallion Group for 2015 campaign
• Ex-Minister got N775m from the Office of the Accountant-General
• Finance chief Shaibu Salisu allegedly furnished a kitchen with N28m
• Sagir Bafarawa got $4.6billion from the NSA’s office
• Abbah Mohammed and Haliru Mohammed got N600million 
• Ex-Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa and ex-PDP National 

  Chairman Haliru Mohammed under EFCC’s watch

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) detectives yesterday arrested former Minister of State (Finance) Bashir Yuguda for allegedly receiving N1.5billion from the National Security Adviser’s (NSA’s) office for unclear reasons.

Yuguda is also being interrogated for allegedly collecting N1.275billion from the Stallion Group during the campaign for the last general election and N775million from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Also arrested yesterday were Shaibu Salisu, a former Director of Finance and Administration  in the NSA’s office during the tenure of Mr. Sambo Dasuki, Sagir Bafarawa, Abbah Mohammed and Haliru Mohammed who are both the sons of ex-Governor Attahiru Bafarawa and ex-National Chairman of PDP, Mohammed Bello Haliru.

Their fathers had been put on EFCC radar as at press time yesterday.

Sagir Bafarawa, allegedly acting as front for his father, was said to have received $4.6b from the NSA’s office.  Abbah Mohammed reportedly got N600m in the name of Bam Properties.

About 18 others were also under investigation last night, but the EFCC gave no details.

It was learnt that among the 18 suspects were top military chiefs connected with the “armsgate”.

A sources, who pleaded not to be named because of the “sensitivity” of the matter, said: “The EFCC  stepped up its investigation into the controversial arms deal by Dasuki, with the arrest of a former Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda. He was arrested in Abuja and brought to the Head Office of the commission at about 4pm.

“He is being grilled for his alleged complicity in the armsgate. He allegedly received N1.5billion from the NSA’s office through an unnamed company for unclear reasons.

“The ex-minister is alleged to have received N1.275billion from the Stallion Group during the campaign for the last general election. He also allegedly received N775million from the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation. All monies were paid to him between December 2014 and May 2015.

“Also, a former National Chairman of PDP, Mohammed Bello Haliru and former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa are on the radar of the EFCC for alleged complicity in the dubious arms deals.

“Their sons, Sagir Bafarawa and Abbah Mohammed Haliru Mohammed, have been arrested by the EFCC.

“Another prime player in the arms deal , who is currently bring detained on court order by the EFCC is Shaibu Salisu.

“Salisu, former Director of Finance and Admin in the NSA’s office and a member of the staff of the National Intelligence Agency(NIA) was joint signatory to the NSA’s account alongside Sambo Dasuki.  He is believed to be a major figure in the questionable disbursement of funds from the office.”

EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said: “The ex-minister, the former Director of Finance, and other suspects are with us.

“We have arrested them and investigation is ongoing.”

There  were indications that some suspects had volunteered to refund some of the money paid to them for equipment, which were undelivered.

The EFCC was last night awaiting a decision of the Federal High Court in Abuja on December 3 before arresting Dasuki, who has been under house arrest in the past few weeks.

Another source in the anti-graft commission said:”Some of the suspects have indicated interest in refunding the illicit funds.

”We are awaiting the decision of a Federal High Court on December 3, 2015 before arresting Dasuki for interrogation. We have tried as much as possible to be civil and respect the judiciary.

“We have invited Dasuki for interaction, we are still waiting for him – in line with our determination to employ international best practices and the rule of law. But there is a limit to which a suspect under investigation can take this commission for granted.”

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, on November 17, 2015 said the interim report uncovered fraudulent financial transactions.

Adesina said in part: “”Further findings revealed that between March 2012 and March 2015, the erstwhile NSA, Lt.-Col. MS Dasuki (rtd) awarded fictitious and phantom contracts to the tune of N2,219,188,609.50,  $1,671,742,613.58 and €9,905,477.00.

“The contracts, which were said to be for the purchase of four Alpha Jets, 12 helicopters, bombs and ammunition, which were not executed and the equipment were never supplied to the Nigerian Air Force, neither are they in its inventory.

“Even more disturbing was the discovery that out of these figures, two companies were awarded contracts to the tune of N350,000,000.00, $1,661,670,469.71 and €9,905,477.00 alone. This was without prejudice to the consistent non-performance of the companies in the previous contracts awarded.

“Additionally, it was discovered that the former NSA directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to transfer the sum of $132,050,486.97 and €9,905,473.55 to the accounts of Societe D’equipmente Internationaux in West Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America for un-ascertained purposes, without any contract documents to explain the transactions.

“As part of the findings, the committee has analysed interventions from some organisations that provided funds to the Office of the National Security Adviser, Defence Headquarters, Army Headquarters, Navy Headquarters and Nigerian Air Force Headquarters, both in local and foreign currencies.

“So far, the total extra budgetary interventions articulated by the committee is N643,817,955,885.18 while the foreign currency component is to the tune of $2,193,815,000.83.

“It was observed that in spite of this huge financial intervention, very little was expended to support defence procurement.

“The  committee also observed that of 513 contracts awarded at $8,356,525,184.32, N2,189,265,724,404.55 and €54,000.00, 53 were failed contracts amounting to $2,378,939,066.27 and N13,729,342,329.87 respectively.

He said the committee said the amount of foreign currency spent on failed contracts was more than double the $1 billion loan that the National Assembly approved to buy equipment to curtail insurgency in the North-East,

“The committee also discovered that payments to the tune of N3,850,000,000.00 were made to a single company by the former NSA without documented evidence of contractual agreements or fulfillment of tax obligations to the Federal Government of Nigeria” , Adesina added.

Kogi supplementary poll: Confusion in APC over choice of Bello,party leaders reject him.

Faleke insists he’s governor-elect as party picks Bello for supplementary poll

Rival claimants’ supporters clash at secretariat

Wada to court: give me victory

Kogi State All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders yesterday remained firm in their support for Abiodun Faleke, the late Prince Abubakar Audu’s running mate in the November 21 governorship election. Faleke is battling for recognition as his principal’s replacement and governor-elect.

News of Audu’s death was broken barely 24 hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  announced his unassailable victory in 16 of the 21 local government areas. The commission declared the exercise inconclusive, fixing next Saturday for supplementary elections in 91 units across 19 local government areas.

There was confusion over the party’s stand on the matter as Yahaya Bello was picked to fly its flag on Saturday. Faleke told INEC that he would not be Bello’s running mate.

Addressing hundreds of party supporters in the late Audu’s Government Reservation Area (GRA) Lokoja home, the APC leaders, led by former Minister of Police Affairs Mr. Humphrey Abah, denounced members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), over what they described as their attempt to bring in a candidate through the back door.

They called on the national leadership of the party to name Faleke the Kogi APC candidate and the eldest son of the late Audu, Mohammed, his deputy.

They said that any attempt to pick a candidate who was not part of the party’s victory was unacceptable.

Faleke and Mohammed Audu were surrounded on  the podium by party leaders, including former Acting Governor and APC Board of Trustees (BoT) member Chief Clarence Olafemi, the state deputy chairman of the party, Shaibu Osune, Hon. Enah Oseni, Alhaji Jibrin Isah (Echocho), Daniel Isa (Prof.), Alhaji Ibrahim Atodo and Mrs Folashade Joseph, chairperson, Women Mobilisation, Audu/Faleke campaign team. They said they would move to Abuja to push their stand.

Amid shouts of “we no go gree, we no go gree, Kogi INEC we no go gree”, Yahaya Bello anti-party, we no want Judas, we no go gree”, Abah called on Kogi people to reject Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the APC national chairman and his choice, Yahaya Bello.

His words: “From here, we are accompanying our leaders to Abuja. When people choose their leaders, a clique of others cannot now decide to impose anybody on them. Kogi is not a lawless state. Kogi has leaders.

You cannot choose for us who will lead us; you cannot bring someone through the back door.

“The man they want to bring, he worked for the PDP. We were in Ajaokuta on campaign; was he there? We were in Anyingba; did he come? The vice president came to Okene; was he there? We were in Ajaka, twice, was he there? Did he win in his unit? Did he win in his ward?

Did he win in his local government?

“Do you know what killed PDP? Dictatorship, impunity and corruption. If the National Working Committee of the APC led by Chief John Oyegun, decides … from Yahaya Bello, he is on his own.

“We stand by President Buhari’s anti-corruption. We reject PDP sickness. We stand on the President’s mantra that he will not allow corruption, he will not allow wuruwuru. We stand on the mandate of our late father, Prince Abubakar Audu. We are all his children. He has children and we are all his political children.”

Echocho said: “The happiness we have today is that our leader will continue to live with us. Our leader fought to liberate Kogi and we are assuring him that we will continue to fight for our liberation.

Mohammed and Faleke are properly grounded to liberate Kogi State and nobody can steal our mandate.”

Reading from a prepared text, Faleke said Audu’s demise has created a huge vacuum that will be difficult to fill.

He described the circumstances that brought about the present logjam in the state as unfortunate.

He said: “As if waiting for the demise of this great and illustrious son of this land, the reactionaries pounced in on the situation and made fruitless attempts at truncating the process that ordinarily should have led to a smooth transition of power from the visionless handlers of our state to a new path of rescuing the state.

“As part of their devilish agenda, they tried unsuccessfully to push for the suspension of the declaration of our party as winner of the election which to all intent and purpose is adjudged to be free, fair and best election held in recent times in our state.”

Quoting from portions of the 1999 Constitution, Faleke said: “As it stands today, I remain the only person holding on to those votes cast for our party and no other person, going back to the primary election conducted on the 28th of August 2015, whose life span expired immediately Prince Abubakar Audu emerged the candidate and the party requested him to nominate a deputy in accordance to the constitutional provisions in Section 187.

“Our late leader duly exercised this (Section 187) right by nominating my humble self and the party therefore handed over to us the INEC nomination form as its flag bearers. The party primary process therefore remains an ad hoc tool mainly for the purpose of producing a candidate for the party.

“Without me as a deputy governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu would not have been qualified to run for the election.”

He continued: “Did Alhaji Yahaya Bello participate fully in all the stages of the election? The answer is capital no. While his participation in the pary primaries is not in doubt, he did not participate in campaigns, meetings, neither did he mobilise voters to vote for our party. Instead, we have it on record that he lost not only his polling unit, but his ward. This presupposes that he worked against our party at the elections. For emphasis, the results from his polling unit is APC 88- PDP 119, his ward result is APC 1,146 to PDP 2,058.

“Whereever we went for campaigns in villages and towns, all the promises we jointly made to our people are known by me as a close companion and confidant of our late leader and I wish to assure all Kogites that those promises will be fulfilled and therefore urge our people to remain peaceful and law abiding and that no matter how long it takes, the mandate will be defended, sustained and maintained.

“Mohammed Audu, the first son of Prince Abubakar Audu, and myself are on the same page on this matter and are both resolved to do right by the law.”

APC finally unveils Yahaya Bello as Audu's replacement.

… Forwards request to INEC

…  Commission confirms receipt of party’s communication

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed receiving a request by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to replace the late Abubakar Audu’s name with that of Alhaji Yahaya Bello for the supplementary governorship election in Kogi State.

The confirmation by INEC showed that the APC has settled for Bello as late Audu’s replacement for Saturday’s poll.

The receipt of the request was confirmed by INEC’s Deputy Director in charge of Publicity, Mr. Nick Dazang.

He said, “They have sent the name of their replacement candidate, the second runner-up in their primaries, that is Yahaya Bello, to the commission.”

He, however, failed to disclose when the request was made.

Dazang assured the people of Kogi that the commission was fully prepared to conduct the Kogi supplementary and Bayelsa governorship elections on Saturday.

He added, “The commission is committed to conduct the two elections, that is why in respect of kogi, despite what happened, we came out with public notice inviting the APC to submit its replacement candidate for the election.”

You're our "incoming gov", Jonathan's kinsmen tell Sylva.

Timipre Sylva

Traditional rulers and chiefs from former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Saturday referred to Chief Timipre Sylva as the “governor-elect and the incoming governor.”

Sylva, a former governor and the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the Saturday’s election, had taken his campaign train to Jonathan’s LGA to canvass support for his governorship ambition ahead of the poll in the state.

His campaign train moved from Otuokpoti, Anyama, Otuogiri and finally stopped at Ogbia town, where the governorship candidate and his entourage, including the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, met with the traditional rulers and chiefs.

Sylva and his entourage were received by the monarchs of the four clans – Anyama, Abureni, Emeyal and Oloibiri – and chiefs that make up Ogbia at the Ogbia Brotherhood house, the first time to receive any candidate there.

His Royal Majesty, King George Lawson, led other traditional rulers such as King Madock Ogbogi, King Omie Theophilus, King Ebi Daniel and the chiefs, who defied the downpour and trooped out to give Sylva a rousing reception at Ogbia Brotherhood.

The traditional rulers blessed and endorsed the candidacy of Sylva, referring to him as the “governor-elect and incoming governor of Bayelsa.”

In their speech read by King George Lawson, the traditional rulers assured the governorship candidate of the APC their total support to actualise his dream.

They said, “We, the entire people of Ogbia, are solidly behind you. We want to assure you that the four clans in Ogbia are with you.

“The Ogbia people are united in ensuring that we give you 100 per cent support. We want to assure you that your victory is foreclosed.

“Ogbia people have resolved that you were doing enough for the people before you were denied your second chance to be governor. We will give you full support to actualise your mandate by mobilising our people to vote en masss for you on December 5, 2015.”

The monarchs, who described Sylva as their son, recalled that four Ogbia sons were commissioners aside from other key appointments while Sylva as the governor.

How N65bn Abacha loot was spent - Ngozi Okonjo iweala.

* Say it was spent on roads, electricity, others

Former Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the World Bank that about $500 million (N65bn) recovered from the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha in Switzerland was spent in the 2004 and 2005 budgets on roads, electricity, education, water and health across all six geo-political zones of Nigeria.

This was contained in the documents the World Bank sent to Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, following enquiries made by SERAP on how the money, tagged Abacha loot was spent.

A statement issued yesterday by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni, said the organization has “received several documents from the World Bank totalling over 700 pages on information on the spending of recovered assets stolen by the late General Abacha, with some of the documents suggesting that the Abacha loot was spent on roads, electricity, education, health and water.”

The organisation said: “SERAP can confirm that last week we received several documents from Ann May of the Access to Information Team of the World Bank following our Access to Information Request to the Bank. We also received a letter dated 24 November 2015 from Mr Rachid Benmessaoud, Director of the World Bank in Africa.”

“In total, SERAP has received over 700 pages of documents, which we are now closely studying and scrutinising with a view to discovering whether the documents contain details that Nigerians would like to see and whether the information correspond to the facts on the ground. After this analysis, we will respond to the Bank and consider our options, including filing an appeal before the Bank’s Access to Information Appeals Board and taking other appropriate legal actions nationally and internationally to discover what exactly happened to Abacha recovered loot,” the organisation said.

The organisation said that “In the meantime our preliminary review of some of the documents and the letter from Mr Rachid Benmessaoud have revealed certain facts which raise more questions about what exactly happened to Abacha loot: First, that Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Minister of Finance in a letter dated 9 January 2005 explained to the Bank that around $500m (N65bn) of Abacha loot received from Switzerland was programmed into and spent in the 2004 and 2005 budgets on roads, electricity, education, water and health across all six geo-political zones of Nigeria.”

“Second, Mrs Iweala explained to the Bank that N18.60bn was spent on roads; N10.83bn spent on health; N7bn spent on education; N6.20bn spent on water; and N21.70bn spent on electricity. She also said that part of the funds were spent on new and ongoing investment projects. Mrs Iweala said that relevant federal ministries have the full details on the spending of repatriated Abacha loot. The Bank noted that there was no funds monitoring and tracking mechanism in place to trace the spending of Abacha loot,” the organisation also disclosed.

“Third, Mr Rachid Benmessaoud confirmed that the World Bank played a monitoring role in a return of assets by Switzerland but that the Bank is not currently involved in the monitoring of spending of Abacha loot that have been returned to Nigeria in recent years. He said that the Bank would be prepared to set up a mechanism to monitor the use of Abacha loot if the Nigerian government request the Bank’s assistance in this respect.”

SERAP then argued that “given Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s involvement in the spending of Abacha loot, President Muhammadu Buhari should urgently probe the role of the Ministry of Finance and relevant federal ministries at the time in the spending of Abacha loot particularly given the strong allegations of mismanagement that characterised the use of the funds”

According to the group, “Although Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said that Abacha loot was spent in the 2004 and 2005 budgets on roads, electricity, education, water and health across all six geo-political zones of Nigeria, there is no evidence of such projects as millions of Nigerians continue to travel on dead roads, while they continue to lack access to adequate electricity supply, water, health and quality education. Therefore, President Buhari can no longer continue to remain silent on this issue of public interest if Nigerians are to continue to trust him in his fight against corruption,” the organisation also said.

It will be recalled that in a letter dated 15 October 2015 and signed by Ann May of the Access to Information Team, the Bank said that “In response to your request under AI3982, we would like to inform you that we are still considering your request and need additional time to provide you with a more comprehensive response.”

The letter reads in part “In most cases, we will be able to respond within twenty (20) working days from receipt of a request for information. However, we may need additional time in special circumstances, for example, if the request is complex or voluminous or if it requires further review by or consultation with internal World Bank units, external parties, the Access to Information Committee, or the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors.”

Earlier, SERAP had on 21 September 2015 sent an access to information request to Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group urging him to “exercise the Bank’s prerogative to release documents relating to spending of recovered assets stolen by Late General Sani Abacha”.

The group also asked Mr Yong Kim to “disclose information about the Bank’s role in the implementation of any projects funded by the recovered assets and any other on-going repatriation initiatives on Nigeria with which the Bank is engaged.”

The request was “pursuant to the World Bank’s Access to Information Policy (The Policy), approved by the Board on June 30 205. SERAP notes that one of the Policy’s guiding principles is to maximize access to information. There is also clear public interest in Nigerians knowing about the Bank’s supervisory role and specifically its involvement in the implementation of projects on which repatriated funds were spent.”