NEWS
Obaseki Declares Work-free Day as All is Set for Tomorrow’s Poll
All is now set for the Edo State gubernatorial election tomorrow. The off-cycle election will take place across all the local government areas. There are 17 political parties on the ballot.
The people of Edo State will decide on the ballot who will be Governor Godwin Obaseki’s successor.
The winner of the election replaces Obaseki in the Dennis Osadebe House on Nov. 11.The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is set for the election.
According to the electoral umpire, 2,249,780 registered voters, representing 85.57 percent of the 2,629,025 total registered voters have collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) across 4,519 polling units in the state’s 18 local government areas.Out of the 17 candidates in the race, three are in focus: Asuerinme Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.
Ighodalo is a 64-year-old economist, lawyer, and politician from Okaigben, Ewohimi, in Esan South East local government. He is former chairman of Sterling Bank. He served on the economic teams of both former Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the outgoing governor, Obaseki.
Okpebholo is a 54-year-old businessman and politician from the Udomi-Uwessan community in Irrua. He has a background in Business Administration and a Master’s in Policy and Leadership Studies.
Akpata is a 51-year-old lawyer from Edo South Senatorial District. As the first non-Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 28 years to be elected president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Akpata offers an alternative to the APC and PDP political dominance.
One thing that has trailed preparations for the election is fear of security breaches.
Last week, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun announced the deployment of 35,000 police personnel to the state for the election.
However, major political parties and actors in the election have been engaging in inflammatory rhetoric, with the PDP refusing to sign the peace accord initiated by the National Peace Committee (NPC).
Yesterday, a civil society organisation called YIAGA Africa identified eight local government areas that could potentially become hotspots during the election.
The local government areas are Ikpoba/Okha, Oredo, Egor, Ovia South West, Ovia North East, Esan South East, Etsako West, and Etsako East.
The civil society warned of a high likelihood that politicians might resort to violence to manipulate the election.
Yesterday, Edo State Government declared today work-free to enable workers and electorate travel to their voting areas ahead of the election.
A statement by Joseph Eboigbe, Secretary to the Edo State Government (SSG), reassured that security measures had been provided to ensure a free, fair, and credible election.
NEWS
Police Detain Man over Alleged Murder of Business Partner in Yobe
The Police Command in Yobe, says it has detained a man, Yunus Isa, in connection with alleged murder of his business partner, Lawan Adamu.
This is contained in a statement by the Spokesman of the command, DSP Dungus Abdulkarim, in Damaturu on Thursday.
Report says that Adamu’s body was found on Sept.
15, with deep throat cut and stab wounds at Nayinawa area of Damaturu.Abdulkarim said credible intelligence led to the arrest of a prime suspect in the case, Isa, at Shago Tara near Nayinawa.
“Investigation revealed that Lawan Adamu was his employer and business partner in the engine oil trade.
“He (the suspect) borrowed N500,000 from Adamu last year with a profit-sharing agreement.
“However, when he failed to meet the agreement terms, the deceased demanded repayment.
“Isa callously murdered Adamu to avoid repaying the debt, killing him in cold blood,” he said.
The spokesman noted that the swift resolution of the case demonstrated the command’s commitment towards ensuring justice and public safety.
He said the suspect would soon be charged to court. (NAN)
NEWS
Maiduguri Flood: Over N12b Support Generated for Victims
Borno Government says it has realized over N12b cash and material donations for victims of Alau Dam flood disaster in Maiduguri.
Abdurrahman Bundi, the Senior Special Adviser on New Media to Borno Governor, gave the update on the donations for the Maiduguri Relief Fund on Thursday in Maiduguri.
Bundi said the donations came from corporate entities, state governments, State and National Assembly members, individuals, and Non-Governmental Organisations.
List of donors showed that the North East Development Commission (NEDC) donated N3b and food stuff, Aliko Dangote N2b, Aminu Dantata N1.5b, and Mohammed Indimi N1b.
Other donors were Borno LGAs; N1.
2b, Oluremi Tinubu; N500m, Bauchi and Niger states; N250m each while the people of Southern Borno donated N200m.Dahiru Mangal, Atiku Abubakar, Rep. Mukhtar Betara, Ali Modu Sheriff, House of Representatives, Abdulsalam Kachala, and JAIZ Bank states comprising Kebbi, Yobe, Kano, Taraba, katsina, Kaduna and Zamfara gave N100 each.
The Director General of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), Buba Marwa and Matrix Energy donated 10 trucks of fertiliser and foodstuff worth over N120m each.
Those who gave N50m include Adamawa state, Mr Peter Obi, Rabiu kwakwanso, Ahmed Lawan, Mohammad Maifata, Ibrahim Umar, Mohammad Imam, Ali Dalori, Bauchi APC chapter, Sen. Tahir Monguno, and Sen. Kaka Kaka Shehu and I8th Engineering Company, while the State Assembly donated N60m.
The Nasarawa Government also presented six trucks of rice, spaghetti and sugar.
Many other people donated between N1m and N30m respectively. (NAN)
NEWS
Jigawa Reviews mid-year Performance of MDAs
The Performance Delivery and Coordination Unit (PDCU), says it has concluded mid-year performance review of Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs), to enhance good governance in the state.
The PDCU being supervised by the office of Gov. Umar Namadi, conducted a three-day retreat on the review mid-year performance of the MDAs.
This is contained in a statement by Hashim Hashim, the unit’s Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Facilitator, in Dutse on Thursday.
He said the unit interfaced with representatives of the MDAs to verify submitted data on the progress recorded against set targets in the performance bond earlier signed in January.
According to him, the workshop is pivotal in streamlining government achievements into one single scorecard and finalising the mid-year performance reports for the attention of the governor.
The statement quoted the PDCU Coordinator, Adamu Muhammad, who doubles as Public Private Secretary to the governor, as stressing the importance of the exercise in driving the manifested 12-Point Agenda of the governor.
Muhammad was quoted as emphasising the need for the members of the unit to scrutinise and fine tune all the submitted evidence for accuracy, relevance and completeness.
The coordinator lauded the FCDO-PERL programme for the support to the state government in actualising the PDCU and supporting the review process.
“The PDCU comprises of professional technocrats selected based on merit and specialisation to support the delivery of the Governor’s 12-Point Agenda”. (NAN)