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...as Secondus alleges opposition clampdown, human rights abuses The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alerted the international community, particularly the President of the United States of America, President Donald Trump, alleging that Nigeria is on the brink due to the undemocratic policies and actions of President Muhammadu Buhari. In an agenda setting move ahead of tomorrow’s crucial meeting between the Trump and Buhari, the PDP said the Nigerian leader should be made to explain actions of his administration, which it said had eroded constitutionally guaranteed rights of citizens while foisting a siege mentality on the people. Addressing a press conference Saturday in Abuja, the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that Nigeria was on the brink as a result of undemocratic actions of the Buhari administration of the All Progressives Congress. “We have called you here to alert the entire world, particularly the United States that our n...

Following the advice of a very senior aide to President Muhammadu Buhari that it would be impolitic to oppose the choice of the president in the impending contest for the national chairmanship of All Progressives Congress (APC), the incumbent National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, may have decided to step down. APC is scheduled to elect new national officers at its national convention, expected to hold in June. The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party had earlier fixed the convention for May 14, but the date was shifted indefinitely on Friday even as the ward, local government and state congresses were rescheduled for May 5, 12 and 19, respectively. They had been scheduled for May 2, 5 and 9, respectively. A web of controversy had engulfed Odigie-Oyegun’s political future since the president torpedoed an earlier attempt to elongate his tenure by one year, effective from its June 13 terminal date. Although the president had met the national ...

The Coalition for Nigeria Movement led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari for campaigning in different parts of the country despite the killings in the North-Central particularly in Benue State. The spokesman for the CNM, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, said in a statement on Sunday that Buhari’s visit to Bauchi State to campaign less than 24 hours after several persons were slaughtered in Benue State was the height of insensitivity. In the statement titled, ‘Fiddling while Nigeria is burning,’ the CNM urged the President to put the security of Nigerians’ ahead of his political ambition. The statement read in part, “Mid last week, the regime of massacres in Benue State attained another height in the invasion of a church where two Catholic priests and indeterminate number of the congregation were butchered. “This tragedy was casually reinforced by the decision of President Buhari to proceed on a campaign tour to Bauchi in careless and i...

The Oba of Benin, Omo N’oba N’edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II has called on the federal government to stop the incessant killings by suspected herdsmen in the country. He also urged the Presidency to take necessary steps that would strengthen security in every part of the country. The Oba made the call, weekend, during a courtesy visit to Governor Aregbesola of Osun State at the Government House, Osogbo. He spoke as Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, expressed joy with the visit of Oba Ewuare II, saying it was an affirmation that Yoruba people were united. Oba Ewuare II said: “I want you to mobilise your colleagues in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to address the issue of insecurity in the country and do something to stop the unwarranted killings by herdsmen in Benue, Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Edo and other parts of the country. “It is unfortunate that this is going on in our land, we want something to be quickly done as soon as possible so that Nigerians ...

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reported President Muhammadu Buhari to US President, Donald Trump. Buhari jetted out of the country in an official visit to the United States of America, USA, where he is expected to discuss Nigeria’s economy and security with the US President. However, the PDP has drawn Trump’s attention to alleged constitutional and human rights violations in the country under his administration. The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, while addressing a press conference on the state of the nation in Abuja, yesterday, urged President Trump to stand up for democracy and take President Buhari to task on alleged constitutional and human rights violations in Nigeria. The PDP lamented that Buhari in the past three years as president has destroyed the nation’s democratic order and eroded the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the citizens. He said, “Nigeria is facing a perilous time; our constitution has been tech...

A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bolaji Ahmed Tinubu, has identified what is dividing the country. He said lack of understanding of the difficult situation Nigeria is going through is the major cause of division among the people. Tinubu spoke at a book launch in honour of the Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Muhammadu Illiasu Bashar held at the Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin-Kebbi. He served as the chief launcher of the book, where he harped on sustaining the unity of Nigeria. The former Lagos governor insisted that those who don’t want any region should remember that after the expiration of any government, citizens must continue to live together in peace. He said, “What is dividing us is lack of understanding of history. Whether you are from West, South or North, nobody has control over what God has for his life. “Who I am, where I am coming from and where I am going; my destiny it is in the hand of God. “Our problem in Nigeria is...

The Senator Representing Kogi West at the National Assembly, Dino Melaye, has reacted to the failed attempt to recall him from the Nigerian Senate. The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared the process failed after the verified signatories to the petition for Melaye’s recall fell short of requirements. Melaye, who is currently in the Intensive Care Unit after a face-off with security agencies last week, thanked Nigerians, especially his constituents for standing by him. Gideon Ayodele, Media Aide to the embattled senator in a statement on Sunday, called on Nigerians to continue to pray for the lawmaker, who is currently bedridden. His statement reads below… “The chain of events from last Monday to this day are enough for one to be grateful to God Almighty and all Kogi people both at home and in the Diaspora, including friends of Senator Dino Melaye outside the Confluence State and all over the world, for standing behind the Senator in this t...

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced new dates for its congresses. This was contained in a statement released on Friday by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi. Abdullahi had earlier explained that some APC Governors asked for a review of the timetable because of Ramadan, which commences in May. In the timetable earlier released, the party scheduled ward congresses for May 2; local government congresses, May 5; and state congresses, May 9, respectively. The national convention was scheduled for May 14. According to the new timetable, the ward congresses will now hold May 5; LGA May 12; and state May 19. Abdullahi added that the date for the National Convention, rescheduled to hold in June, will be announced later

The ongoing process to recall Senator Dino Melaye has commenced with electorates showing reluctance to appear for verification. As at 11:00am, DAILY POST correspondent, who visited some polling units in Lokoja, especially in Mopa, and Yagba East LGAs, reports that residents stayed away from the exercise. At Amorley frontage, no electorate had appeared to be verified as of the time of this report. Also at St Mary’s, Crowther, Lokoja club, and Nepa Frontage in Lokoja, it was same situation. As at 11:01 a.m. in Lokoja club, out of 875 persons that reportedly signed the recall form, only two electorate had showed up to verify their signature. This was greeted with controversy as they both claimed that they were not part of those making effort to recall the embattled senator. In the list posted in the above polling units, our correspondent observed duplication of signatures. A resident of the area Samuel Olukotun told our correspondent that his wife’s...

A former member of the Nigerian senate Sen. Wilson Asinobi Ake has said that the people of Orashi region will give Sen. Magnus Abe huge support in his bid to be governor of Rivers state come 2019. Sen. Asinobi made this known when he spoke to newsmen who sought his comment on the decision of Sen. Magnus Abe to declare for the governorship position under the platform of the All Progressives Congress. Sen. Ake who represented Rivers West senatorial district from 2007 to 2015 said Sen. Abe remains the best candidate to fly the flag of APC in Rivers state ahead of the coming elections. He said the APC hierarchy in Rivers state are all disposed to a Magnus Abe candidature when the time for the primaries comes. He said it is wrong to say that the Senator representing Rivers East was heating up the polity through his declaration stressing that the Senator does not need to get clearance from anybody to enforce his fundamental right of seeking for the office of the governor of Rivers ...

Operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad Tuesday morning arrested embattled lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West senatorial district. The lawmaker, according to reliable sources, was arrested by the SARS and subsequently detained in a facility located opposite the old CBN junction along the Area 1 Expressway. The SARS detention facility is known for imprisoning hardened criminals arrested for theft, murder, cultism and other criminal acts. When the fiery lawmaker was contacted on phone by DAILY POST, he sounded rattled, as background conversation suggested a struggle between himself and some of the operatives, after which his mobile lines were switched off. It would be recalled that initial attempts were made by the police to arrest Senator Melaye after immigration officials disembarked him from a flight to Morocco on Monday morning. Following his release after three hours detention at the immigration office at the airport, the lawmaker’s...

...As Secondus slams defendants N1.5Billion libel suit RIVERS State High Court Holden in Port Harcourt, Monday restrained Alhaji Lai Mohammed from further mention of Prince Uche Secondus, National Chairman, People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the Minster of Information’s recently released looters list. Lai Mohammad and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus Trial Judge and Chief Judge of River state, Justice I. A. Iyayi-Lamikanta, granted the order for one of two prayers in a motion by Prince Secondus seeking interlocutory injunction in restraining the defendants from further publishing the libelous content. Secondus, in Suit PHC/1013/2018, is suing Lai Mohammed along with Federal Government and Vintage Press, for N1.5Billion, as damages for alleged libel of the PDP chairman when his name was listed as a looter to the extent that he collected N200Million on 19 February 2015 from the office of then National Security Advicer. Neither the defendants nor their couns...

How thugs stole Senate maze during plenary The theft of the Senate mace by suspected thugs was, at best, carried out with the connivance of security agencies, and likely sponsored and carried out by security agents, PREMIUM TIMES can reveal. The robbery, executed in the full glare of lawmakers, journalists and other observers in the Senate Chamber of the National Assembly bore the imprints of a security operation with at least two of the 10 attackers identifying themselves as police officers. The attackers, suspected to be thugs working for a suspended senator, Ovie Omo-Agege, invaded the chamber few minutes after 11 a.m. on Wednesday They walked behind the senator, as his guests, to gain entrance into the Senate chamber, and stole the mace, the symbol of authority of the parliament without which decisions made by the lawmakers are invalid. The daring act has kept Nigerians shocked with a former senate president, Ken Nnamani, not only condemning the act but ...

The Niger Delta Renaissance Organisation NDRO has described the Senator representing Delta South as a disgrace to the people of the Niger Delta region. The group in a press statement signed by its National Coordinator Comrade Nwokoma Messiah said the conduct of the Senator on Wednesday 18 th of April is condemnable. Recall that the Senator was alleged to have invaded the red chambers of the National Assembly with thugs who carted away the mace of the Senate. The action has continued to elicit condemnations all over the country with the NDRO joining the fray. “The Niger Delta Renaissance Organisation NDRO wish to condemn the resort to self-help which the   Senator from Delta State attempted to do at the Senate by bringing in hoodlums to cart away the mace which is the symbol of the authourity of the legislature. We are calling on the relevant security apparatus to investigate those behind this irresponsible act and bring them to justice though we doubt the commitment of...

A former governor of Kaduna State in the Second Republic, Balarabe Musa, says nobody can become the President of Nigeria without first being a thief or supported by thieves. According to him, there is hardly how anyone can legitimately raise the kind of money required for presidential campaign in the country. He blamed the socio-economic woes of the country on the political structure, where, according to him, 99 per cent of the people in the corridors of power were thieves. Musa was captured as saying this in a video clip circulating on the Facebook. He was captured as playing host to the publisher of an online news medium, Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, a presidential hopeful. Sowore, in the clip, said he visited the Kaduna politician to seek his counsel on how to go about his presidential ambition in 2019. He asked the 81-year-old politician for his view on why the older generation of leaders had failed the country. Responding, Musa said the p...