By Mike Odiakose, Abuja

A former Minister of Women Affairs, Iyom Josephine Anenih, has tasked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Anambra State Congress Committee to ensure fair and credible election during the congress.

Speaking in Awka after the State Congress was postponed over a logistics problem, the former Minister lamented that Anambra PDP members have experienced painful imposition of executives in the past that were orchestrated by some Abuja-based politicians.

According to her, these politicians capitalize their proximity to Wadata House national secretariat of PDP in Abuja to peddle false stories about the security situation in Anambra and at the same time tamper with the list of delegates that are supposed to participate in PDP congresses in the state.

While assuring the State Congress Committee that Anambra State is “peaceful and secured,” Anenih, who is a former National Woman Leader of the PDP, stressed that members of the party are eager to participate in the Congress that will see the emergence of true representatives if the party members

Her words: “I want to thank God for granting the Anambra State Congress Committee led by His Excellency Ifeanyi Ossai a safe journey to Anambra. I thank the Committee members who disregarded the negative news about Anambra that are being spread by detractors to demarket Anambra, and came to Anambra to see a peaceful and hospitable State.

“I urge this Committee to be steadfast in discharging their mandate of conducting a free and fair election to elect a State Executive Committee.

“In the past, elements who are hell bent on distabilising the Party and making sure there is no elected executive structure in the State, would take advantage of their proximity to Wadata Plaza because they live in Abuja, go to Wadata Plaza and tell all sorts of lies about Anambra PDP, and influence the people in Wadata Plaza to take decisions that are detrimental to our progress here.

Iyom Anenih, who is also a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) added, “This time around it will not happen because the Executive at Wadata Plaza have known the truth and are determined to do the right thing.

“I thanked the National Auditor who is one of us for speaking up for us and letting his colleagues at the NWC know the truth about the situation on ground.

“I asked the Congress Committee to write their names in gold as a Committee that no one is able to manipulate as they used to do in the past.

“I pledged full cooperation of authentic and dedicated Anambra State PDP members in Anambra with the Committee to make their job of conducting a free and fair election easy and seamless.

“I prayed for their safe travels as they return and come back on a new agreed date.”

From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja

Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo has sworn in newly elected chairmen and vice chairmen of the 21 local government areas in Kogi State with a charge to be dedicated in serving the people they represent.

At a ceremony held at the Banquet Hall in Government House Lokoja, the elected chairmen and vice chairmen from the 21 local government areas were seated as early as 8.

Ododo who presided over the swearing-in ceremony urged the new chairmen to sustain the tempo of development at the grassroots level by embarking on projects and programmes that will improve the lives of the people.

He charged the new local government chairmen to ensure security of lives and property and key into signature programmes of the administration in the areas of health, agriculture, social welfare and empowerment initiatives to transform the lives of the people in their respective local government areas.

The Governor who described the local government as the most important tier of government and the closest to the people also enjoined the new council chairmen to ensure that the people are carried along in all their activities and to promote inclusion of all stakeholders in the decision making process.

He noted that the local government administration should not only be seen but must be felt by the people in line with the policy of his administration to bring governance closer to the people.

Ododo also called on the new local government chairmen to be transparent and accountable in running the affairs of the local government, stressing that they must see their election as an opportunity to justify the autonomy of the local government administration by according priorities to matters that have direct positive impact on the lives of the people at the grassroots.

In response, the chairman of Yagba West local government area, Tosin Olokun, who spoke on behalf of the 21 local government chairmen assured of their commitment to complement the efforts of the state government by embarking on projects and programmes that will transform the lives of the people at the grassroots.

He also promised to unite the people irrespective of political differences in line with the agenda of the state government under Governor Ododo to unite the people of the state and focus more on development.

By Eze Okechukwu, Abuja

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) yesterday clarified that the recent attack on its image by Senator Oyelola Yisa Ashiru (Kwara South) was borne out of vendetta rather on any altruistic motive or national interest.

The Agency stated this at its National Headquarters in Abuja during a press briefing in response to a statement made by Senator Ashiru that “the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is corrupt and compromised”, during his contribution to the debate on a new bill for an Act to establish the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.

According to Femi Babafemi, the Agency’s Media and Advocacy Director, ” we waited for a whole week hoping the lawmaker will clarify his position on such a weighty allegation against it but failing to do that, it is left with no option than to come out and set the record straight for the benefit of other distinguished members of the Senate, our local and international partners as well as the general public.

 “There is no doubt that setting up another agency is within the power of the Senate and if we are invited to contribute to the debate we will be willing to offer our opinion. While we cannot fault the power of the senate on that, yet for a member of the upper chamber to have made such an unfounded and unwarranted categorical statement against the Agency led us to look inward to see what could have been responsible for such a carpeting general statement. What we found was shocking, and we concluded that his statement came from a place of vendetta and certainly not out of public interest or any altruistic motive.

“The personal house of the senator in GRA Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, had been raided in the recent past; where drugs and illicit substances were recovered while two of his aides: Ibrahim Mohammed and Muhammed Yahaya were arrested. Based on credible intelligence and surveillance which confirmed that the senator’s house was being used as a drug joint for drug dealers and users, the house was raided by our operatives at 1:30pm on February 4, 2024 during which the two aides were arrested, while a third suspect escaped arrest.

“In another encounter with the senator, the Agency also received intelligence that some of his boys popularly known as “Omo Senator” operating from his hometown, Offa, were equally dealing in illicit drugs. A raid was subsequently carried out on their joint in Offa where one of them, Oluwatosin Odepidan was arrested and illicit drugs such as methamphetamine and cannabis recovered from him on June 11, 2023. The bid to get the Agency drop the case against Odepidan including a visit to the Kwara State Command headquarters of the Agency in Ilorin by the Personal Assistant to the senator, one Omoluabi, was rebuffed as Odepidan was promptly charged to court and prosecuted. Though the culprit jumped court bail in 2023, he was rearrested in 2024 after the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest. He was eventually convicted and sentenced in June 2024.

“So, going by this backstory, it is deductible that these encounters that the Agency has had with the senator, must have been responsible for his outburst, and unfortunately, false allegation, the type that nobody within and outside of government has ever levelled against NDLEA before.”

The Agency said despite the impression Senator Ashiru was trying to create about its image, the NDLEA has continued to receive accolades from local and international bodies for its successes in the fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.

The NDLEA vowed it will remain undeterred by Senator Ashiru’s attack but will be relentless in the ongoing effort to dismantle all illicit drug networks across the country including the one operating in the lawmaker’s house.