Crime Facts

APC Confident In Its Decision To Name Kabiru Masari As Tinubu’s VP – Adamu

  The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, said on Monday the ruling party had not flouted any laws in naming Kabiru Masari as running mate to its presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. While the APC has not officially announced Masari as its vice-presidency candidate, a chieftain of the party, Kabiru Faskari, confirmed the development to Channels Television on Friday. Masari is widely believed to be a placeholder to beat INEC’s Friday deadline for the submission of Vice-Presidential candidates.   Reacting to fears that the supposed placeholder may be unwilling to step down when the original candidate emerges, Adamu said the APC preferred to stay positive. The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, said on Monday the ruling party had not flouted any laws in naming Kabiru Masari as running mate to its presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. pic.twitter.com/Atu9CGrueu — Channels Television (@channelstv) June 20, 2022   “We are not in a speculative world,” he said. We are governed by the laws of the land. There’s nothing our presidential candidate has done in regards to submitting of forms that is not within the confines of the laws of the land. “Everything we’ve done so far, we’ve done very carefully with legal consultations and we are cocksure we are not going to have the kind of speculations that you are professing at this point in time. “We are very comfortable with what we’ve done. It’s still pessimism and we are not in that school of thought here.”

‘Stingy’ comment: Mbaka remains my priest, says Peter Obi

  The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has said that the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Father Ejike Mbaka, remains his priest and father in faith. Obi said this during an interview on the Voice of the People 90.3 FM on Sunday. Mbaka had said that the former Anambra State governor cannot win next year’s general election because he is “stingy”. While speaking during one of his programmes last Wednesday, the cleric maintained that it would be impossible for Obi to become Nigeria’s president, adding that an old man president is better than a ‘stingy young man’. Speaking on the radio station, Obi said, “For me, Father Mbaka is an ordained priest of God and as a priest, he remains my priest. I will always respect and show my allegiance to the church. “Whatever he says, I will take it because he’s my father in faith. I respect him and he’s my brother.” Mbaka had gone under heavy criticism from the comment, which led to a ban on his ministry from the Enugu Catholic Diocese. Reacting to the comment, Bianca Ojukwu, widow of the Biafran warlord, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, spoke on Obi’s ‘stinginess’ and how families benefited from it.

Buhari Hails Afe Babalola University For Ranking 400th Best Globally

  President Muhammadu Buhari has commended Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), Ado-Ekiti, for ranking as the best in Nigeria. The ranking institution, the Times Higher Education World Rankings, also ranked ABUAD as the 400th best in the world. The president noted the visionary and scholarly leadership style that had continued to shape the curriculum, operations and results of ABUAD, since it was established 12 years ago. In a congratulatory message issued by his spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, on Monday in Abuja, President Buhari lauded the university’s guiding principles of discipline, industry, determination, service, integrity, sound education and quality leadership. According to the president, the Times Higher Education World Rankings further validates the resourcefulness of hardworking academics, particularly in research, and the diligence of students, who continuously stretched their bodies and minds to make history. Buhari noted with interest the fact that the ranking analysed more than 108 million citations across more than 14.4 million research publications in arriving at ABUAD’s placement. He noted that this included responses from about 22,000 scholars, showing the depth, acceptability and influence of ABUAD’s placement as the best out of 197 universities in Nigeria and one of 400 out of 31,097 universities in the world. President Buhari appreciated the honour brought to Nigeria by ABUAD, urging it to explore same focus and doggedness to lift the university to be among the top 50 in the world. President Buhari congratulated the chancellor for facilitating resources and for channelling energies and assembling exemplary staff at ABUAD. (NAN)

Military Personnel Fatally Shoots Fuel Attendant In Minna

  A military personnel has shot to death a fuel attendant of AYM Shafa filling station along Bosso road of Chanchaga local government area in Minna. According to reports, the incident occurred around 1:30 pm on Monday when crisis erupted between the military official who came into the station with a Hilux vehicle to buy fuel after the attendant had stopped selling. It was gathered that Yusuf Sa’ad, the fuel attendant who was killed, confronted the military officers when their manager was being harassed to give them fuel from their military reserve.   It was revealed that the deceased attempted to stop one of the military personnel for harassing the manager hence he was shot and was confirmed dead before reaching the general hospital, Minna. A fuel attendant in the station Aliyu Umar confirmed the incident to Channels Television. When contacted, the Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident on telephone and said investigation into the unfortunate incident has commenced while tactical teams have been deployed to the area to ensure normalcy. Editor’s Note: This photo is for illustrative purpose

Why FG can’t intervene in rising cost of diesel, aviation fuel – Sylva

  The Federal Government is not in a position to intervene in the rising price of diesel and aviation fuel because prices for both products are deregulated, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has said. Chief Sylva who stated this in Abuja yesterday explained that the prices of both products which are imported are being impacted by foreign exchange rate. He said: “So, it is not within the purview of the government to fix the prices at all. And of course, the actual issue is also the foreign exchange. People cannot access foreign exchange to import this. For the time being, NNPC has been the main importer of this product but what we are trying to do is to democratise the importation so that the aviation fuel users themselves should be able to access foreign exchange and be able to import this product. “It’s not a supply issue at all. It’s just a global problem. You know that the problem in Ukraine and Russia has actually exacerbated the rise in prices; it is not in Nigeria alone. The high cost of diesel is also because of the same reason and these are not subsidised commodities, they are deregulated commodities so actually, it is not within the purview of the government to intervene in the price”, he added.

Court verdict: We may have 50% invalid registrants for 2023 polls, says INEC

  The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) cannot continue forever. Festus Okoye, INEC commissioner for information and voter education, spoke on Monday in an interview with Channels Television, while reacting to a recent court verdict on the CVR exercise. Earlier on Monday, a federal high court in Abuja granted an order of interim injunction stopping INEC from ending voter registration on June 30. The commission had fixed June 30 as the deadline to suspend the CVR exercise across the country ahead of the 2023 general election. Owing to the deadline, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 185 Nigerians filed a lawsuit against INEC. Speaking on the court verdict, Okoye said the date fixed for the suspension of the exercise is to give the commission enough time to ensure a “clean” voter register for the 2023 polls. “We recognise it as a constitutional and legal right of people to register. We also recognise the fact that it will add value to our electoral process if we get as many Nigerians as possible to register,” he said. “But we cannot do CVR ad infinitum and be registering people who have registered before. I think Nigerians should exercise patience and be calm. “At the end of the day, the commission will do all it takes to improve the registration process.” Speaking further, Okoye said ending the CVR exercise 90 days to the general election has heavy implications on the preparations of the commission for the elections. “The implication is that we will not be in a position to display the voter register for claims and objections. The second implication is that we will not have an opportunity to clean up the voter register — to remove double registrants,” he said. “When we cleaned up the voter register for those who registered between 28th June, 2021 and 14th June, 2022, we found out 46 percent of those who registered were invalid registrants and we have to remove them. “The implication is that if we go on as you have presumed (90 days before the general election), we may go into the 2023 general election with 50 percent of invalid registrants on the voter register. “This registration started in June 2021. During this particular time, sometimes a registration officer registers one individual a day. It is only in the last two weeks that voter registration is about to end that we have this surge. “The commission is a constitutional body and we are under a constitutional obligation to give effect to judgments and orders of properly constituted courts of law and we are going to give effect to the order made by the federal high court.” Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022 stipulates that “the registration of voters, updating and revision of register of voters shall stop not later than 90 days before any election covered by the Act.” Meanwhile, the suit has been adjourned till June 29 for the hearing of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

EXTRA: 150 widows beg Anambra Reps candidate to ‘marry’ them

  No fewer than 150 widows in Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State have begged a House of Representatives candidate, Edward Ibuzo, to “marry” them. They made the plea when the candidate, who is currently a member of the state House of Assembly, representing the Onitsha North II, came for Thanksgiving at the Saint Jude Catholic Church, Woliwo, Onitsha. Ibuzo said he came to thank God for being an unopposed Reps candidate under the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance. The President of the widows association, Ego Augustina, said, “Ibuzo is a man of the people, he has been taking good care of the widows in the area and he gives us free loans. “When we heard he is here to give thanks to God for being elected unopposed to represent APGA in the Federal House of Representatives, we rushed to also honour him with this ‘winning award’. “We are pleading with him to marry us. We are not too much for him. We need protection and care and he has been doing it before now, so he should marry us. “He will perform more than he has done at the state level because he has the heart to deliver and that is why they call him, ‘Liver to Deliver’. “Some of us are being intimidated by brothers and relations to our late husbands and nobody comes to our rescue. Ibuzo has a listening ear and has done a lot for his constituents.” Earlier in his speech, Ibuzo said, “I am here in the church to thank God for being unopposed to be the APGA candidate for the House of Representatives.” Ibuzo, who is optimistic that his achievements in the State House of Assembly will speak for him, reiterated that he is going to the Green chambers to better the lots of the people, especially the downtrodden. “I believe that if elected I will achieve more than what I have achieved in the State House of Assembly. The achievements are there for all to see and I believe God that I will be there,” he said. He commended the widows and pledged not to relent in fighting for their welfare adding that his mother was a widow and as such, he knows what they have been going through. Speaking, the National Vice Chairman of APGA, South-South zone, Chief Ogbueshi Eboka, said, “Ibuzo has done wonderfully well to his people and I am sure he will be at the Green house. He doesn’t play with his constituents.” Also Mrs Juliet Ezenwosu, Anambra State leader of National Women Artisan Association of Nigeria, who was flanked by Onitsha South branch leader, Mrs Ijeoma Okafor, said Ibuzo has done a lot to the people and women in general. She urged all and sundry to support his ambition for more dividends of democracy adding that he never fails in any election because of his achievements and kindness.

Peter Obi May Be President In 2027 Or 2031, But 2023 ‘Too Early’ – Ex-Niger Gov, Babangida

  Former Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu believes Nigerians may not be ready to elect Peter Obi as President in 2023. He made the remarks on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm. Aliyu also noted that many people in the Peoples Democratic Party had been rooting for Obi to be the Vice President to Atiku Abubakar. Obi is the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party for the 2023 elections. “Peter Obi is my good friend and a former member of my former Governors forum,” Aliyu said. “A very excellent person. His candidature, in terms of the Presidency, – I think he will make some name now. But he may be able to make it only in 2027, 2031. But 2023? Too early. “Even though the young people might go for him, the name is not dropping everywhere else. I doubt if Nigerians are ready for him now as a presidential person. “I would have loved him as a Vice President. Many of us were rooting for him to be Vice President to Atiku again.”

Train attack: Victims threatened by snakes, illness, negotiator says

  The remaining 50 abducted passengers of the AK-9 Abuja-Kaduna train are being threatened by snake bites and sicknesses. Mallam Tukur Mamu, who is the negotiator and media consultant to Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, raised the alarm on Monday. The PUNCH reported that the bandits had earlier released 11 out of the 61 victims of the abducted train passengers after almost three months in their custody. Mamu urged the Federal Government to hasten up the release of the remaining 50 passengers still in the terrorists’ den before it would get too late. However, he announced his withdrawal from being part of the negotiation team. No reason was given other than “for personal reasons.” According to him, the health status of the remaining hostages is fast deteriorating owing to the fact that they are being exposed to dangerous conditions. He warned that they might not come out alive unless urgent measures were taken by the government geared towards the release of the rest of the abducted passengers languishing in the bandits’ den. “This is no time to politicise issues. The lives of very promising, innocent Nigerians are involved in this. Their health condition is deteriorating by the day. Even animals without proper care will hardly survive in the environment they are forced to leave for nearly three months now. “I believe the government is aware and has taken note of the testimony of the 11 victims that were secured. It makes me sad when issues like this should not be treated with dispatch, with the seriousness and speed it requires. “Government must activate all avenues of diplomacy. It must be a top of its priority now. We must not be distracted by prioritising 2023 as I am sadly seeing now, while there are visible and glaring threats of losing the remaining victims. “There has been no major pronouncement lately by all the major political gladiators. All the major political parties have expectedly kept mute. Is it because none of them or their family members are involved?”, He added. Mamu, who is also Publisher of the Kaduna-based newspaper, Desert Herald, said apart from lack of diagnosis and treatment coupled with poor nutrition, and poor sanitary condition, the hostages were being exposed to “unbearable forest life, most of the innocent hostages have lately developed series of life-threatening complications with some vomiting even blood.” He also disclosed that the condition of the hostages underlining illnesses was fast deteriorating while urging the Federal Government to act fast. He added, “I can confirm to you that snakes are many in that forest. Some of them are victims of snake bites as they appear frequently at the night. They only depend on the local solution to treat it. “The bites as we know can be life-threatening. Government is the only authority with the means and powers to end this crisis as soon as possible. And with the right approach, I can assure you it can be achieved within days or weeks. We have proven that in the release of the 11 victims. “I keep repeating that in circumstances like this, particularly a bargain that will secure the lives of innocent people from dreaded killers, the government must be prepared to make compromises and to take painful decisions. ‘If we can tolerate corrupt officials that are stealing billions every day as a result of which poverty and insecurity increase, for me it is not out of place to use a negligible part of such stolen resources to secure such victims whenever the need arises. And since the government has been alerted, they must be prepared to take full responsibility.”

Sanusi Denies Viral Statement On Atiku, Tinubu, Obi

  The 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi ll, has denied a viral statement attributed to him on social media, endorsing the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi. The post, which has been shared on different social media platforms, claimed Sanusi chided presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Candidate, Atiku Abubakar. But in a statement on Monday, the Chief of Staff to the deposed Emir of Kano, Munir Sunusi Bayero, said the article was not written Sanusi. “Our attention has been drawn to an article circulating the online media space analysing the motives of the three presidential candidates in the 2023 elections. “We would like to emphatically state that this was not authored by His Highness, Khalifa Muhammad Sanusi II as is being widely attributed. Bayero further clarified that the former CBN governor does not bear Sanusi Lamido Sanusi any longer. “Consequently, given the need to set the records straight, we hereby state for the benefit of those unaware that the Khalifa is not officially referred to as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, but as HH Muhammad Sanusi II.” According to him, readers need to scrutinise any information critically to avoid consuming false and misleading information. “We also take this opportunity to encourage readers to scrutinize the information they find online to identify false and misleading information purported to have come from eminent personalities and thought leaders.” “While we restate that we have no affiliation to the article itself in any way, we staunchly continue to place our faith and trust in Allah ( Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala) to continue guiding His Highness as an elder statesman in his socio-economic Advocacy for all Nigerians, Africans and humanity in general,” he stated.