Political Briefs

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FORMER Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and Abdul Aziz Murtala Nyako, his son, have been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for offences on economic crimes. Wilson Uwujaren, head of media and publicity, EFCC, in a statement issued on Wednesday, February 4, said both the father and son were being declared wanted on a case of “criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and money laundering.”

The EFCC, had in July last year, said that it was most likely to declare Nyako wanted because he failed to honour the commission’s invitation to answer questions on how monies meant for the running of the state were spent. According to Uwujaren, since Nyako was removed from office in July last year, he had refused to honour the commission’s invitation.

Reacting to the development, Nyako said he was not surprised by the EFCC action because the present administration had shown a disdain for honest people. Ahmed Sajoh, director of press affairs to the former governor, said in an interview that declaring Nyako wanted had shown that, “This administration does not spare good people. Show me any of the vile and corrupt people who have been declared wanted or convicted. Then show me the good people it has not hounded.”

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Thugs Attack Convoy of Ahmed

THUGS suspected to be members of the opposition in the state attacked the convoy of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State and that of Bukola Saraki, former governor and a serving senator, on Wednesday, February 4. The attack took place at Isapa, Ekiti Local Government and home town of Simeon Ajibola, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The thugs were said to have shot two members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and injured several other persons. It was learnt that one of the victims of the attack was shot on his left leg and the other had his ear lobe chopped off with a machete. The situation caused panic. People ran for safety.

The hoodlums, it was gathered, had ambushed the advance team of the APC members going to Isapa. But this did not distract Ahmed and Saraki who still went ahead of to address a large crowd of supporters in the community.

The governor described the incident as unfortunate, adding that he was committed to peace. Ahmed said: “We have remained committed to a peaceful campaign everywhere we have gone to and we have been to virtually all the communities in this state without any problem.

“However, it’s quite unfortunate that as we were coming here, our advance team was met with resistance by some misguided youths. Some of our people were shot at; they have been rushed to the hospital. One of them was very critical. We don’t know what will happen to him. But we are praying that he survives it.

“It is very unfortunate. It was not expected, because we have been carrying out our campaigns peacefully and we intend to continue to do so. We would not allow any misguided group to truncate our record of peace in the state.”

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Beware of Wrath of God – Adeboye

ENOCH Adeboye, pastor and general overseer, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has warned that pastors collecting bribes from politicians risk the wrath of God. Adeboye who was reacting to allegations by Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had bribed some pastors with N6bn to work against the All Progressives Congress and General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) its presidential candidate.

But Adeboye said: “I read in the newspaper this morning that one of the serving governors in Nigeria said that some pastors in Nigeria collected N6bn from politicians for the purpose of influencing their members to vote a certain candidate in the coming elections. May I humbly request that if there be any pastor or pastors who collected such money, they should please return such as quickly as possible before the fire of the Almighty consumes you.”

Amaechi, had on Tuesday, February 3, told his supporters not to be deceived by pastors, whom he said, were campaigning against Buhari because he was a Muslim. Amaechi said: “Some pastors collected N6billion and they are circulating document and telling you not to vote for an Hausa man; not to vote for a Muslim; that they want to Islamise Nigeria. Tell them to return our N6billion. They gave them N6bn; they should return it to the Federal Government coffers. They will tell you that Buhari wants to Islamise Nigeria; tell them we are too educated.

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Why 2015 Elections Must Succeed – Uduaghan

AS the country gradually moves towards the general elections slated for February 14 and 28, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State said peaceful elections in Nigeria must not be compromised as the nation could not afford to fail because of its implications for the unity of the country.

Speaking in Asaba at a Voters Education meeting with traditional rulers on Monday, February 2, Uduaghan stated that all hands must be on deck to ensure that the nation got it right as the consequences of failure would be too disastrous.

He said that the government, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, security agencies and stakeholders were working together to ensure that the forthcoming elections would be free and fair as well as devoid of any form of violence.

“As much as possible we want to totally remove violence during elections and one way of achieving this is through proper voter education. You know ignorance can lead to violence and there are so many people out there that are not well informed about issues surrounding the temporary voters’ card, permanent voters’ card, the voting process etc,” the governor said.

Uduaghan assured that everything would be done to ensure that there was no violence during and after the elections stressing. “We are determined to have peaceful elections in Nigeria and Delta State in particular. It is important and very critical that we have peaceful elections,” he said.

The governor disclosed that there were still about 600,000 permanent voter cards’, PVC, that were yet to be collected and urged traditional rulers to inform their subjects to endeavour to collect their voters’ cards before the deadline.

Uduaghan observed that Delta State had recorded peaceful electioneering campaigns. “The beauty of our primaries was that they were all peaceful, candidates emerged, nothing unusual happened as it concerns security issues, we thank God for that because we had some other states in the country where there was violence after their primaries,” he said.

Aniedi Ikoiwak, resident electoral commissioner, REC, in Delta State, said the commission was prepared for peaceful, free, fair and credible elections, disclosing that logistics had been put in place for accreditation of voters to commence at exactly 8.00 am on the day of elections.

He emphasised that voting could only be done with the PVC and by the owners of such cards as electronic card readers have been procured to ensure that voting cannot be done by proxy.

Traditional rulers who spoke at the occasion promised to enlighten their subjects on the need to collect their PVCs while heads of security agencies assured Deltans that no stone would be left unturned to ensure peaceful and successful elections.

They warned trouble makers to desist from entering the election venues as they were prepared to prosecute anybody caught engaging in actions that are detrimental to the electioneering process.

— Feb. 16, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT

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Tags: 2015 elections Abdul Aziz Murtala Nyako Abdulfatah Ahmed Ahmed Sajoh All Progressives Congress Aniedi Ikoiwak APC Bukola Saraki Catholic Church Chibuike Amaechi Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC Emmanuel Uduaghan Enoch Adeboye February 14 federal government Independent National Electoral Commission INEC Muhammadu Buhari Murtala Nyako PDP Peoples Democratic Party Permanent Voter Cards PVC Redeemed Christian Church of God Simeon Ajibola Voters Education Wilson Uwujaren