POLITICS
Presidency To Atiku: ‘Your Emotional Outbursts to Sway the Judiciary, ‘ll Fail’

By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
The Presidency, Friday, described as laughable efforts by the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, appeal to the emotions of Nigerians, particularly members of the judiciary, thinking it would in any way influence decision in the ongoing legal tussle over the result of the presidential poll.
Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina stated that “first, it was laughable, now it gets progressively pitiable,” to see and hear Alhaji Abubakar making such emotional appeal.
Adesina said that when the Supreme Court recently pronounced the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate as due winner of Osun State gubernatorial contest, Alhaji Abubakar, a former Vice President, had chided the court, saying it should have considered “the pulse of the nation,” and reflected it in the judgment.
According to him, that was when the jigsaw puzzle began to fall in place.
He stated: “Were most of the challenges in the country being orchestrated by hidden hostile hands, who think such would influence the judiciary, which would consider the so-called “pulse of the nation” in arriving at judgment on the presidential poll?
“Before and after the Osun State judgement, the PDP candidate had always been quick to play up negative developments in the country, the latest of which is the tendentious story by Wall Street Journal, alleging that about one thousand Nigerian soldiers had been recently killed by Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa terrorists, and secretly buried by Nigerian military authorities.
“The military has duly countered the story, educating the Wall Street Journal on the hollowness of its publication. But Alhaji Abubakar has quickly weighed in on the matter, as part of his gambit to whip up emotions, and perhaps get the judiciary to reflect the “pulse of the nation” in its judgment.
“According to the PDP candidate, who lost the last February poll by nearly four million votes, as released by the electoral umpire, he could “not fathom that in the space of a year, scores of great patriots were killed and buried secretly without their families being told.”
“In an apparent afterthought and doublespeak, he added that he was hesitant to believe that “such grand scale of deceit is even possible under a democracy, such as Nigeria is expected to be.”
“The above, rather than mitigate Alhaji Abubakar’s position, gives him out as someone who denigrates the country’s democracy, which he was part of building, in his heyday, before unbridled ambition blinded.
“Yes, soldiers fighting insurgency and terrorism are great patriots. But the same can’t be said of anyone quick to believe any negative story about his country, however fictive and lacking in verity as the story could be. Well, except such person had the motive of whipping up negative sentiments and emotions, so that the judiciary could respond to the “pulse of the nation and reflect it.”
“We have told Alhaji Abubakar and his co-travelers that the judiciary would always come to conclusions, drawing from matters of the law placed before it, and not sentiments or so-called “pulse of the nation.”
“Therefore, in vain does anybody labour to devalue the government and its military, thinking it would fall into a grand plan to get into office through artifice. The campaigns and elections for 2019 are long over. The country has moved on. And those who know it actually know it.”
POLITICS
APC Upholds MacDonald’s Exco in Imo

By Jude Opara, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday upheld the MacDonald Ebere led State Executive Committee in Imo state.
Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yakubu Ajaka told newsmen after a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling party.
Recall that on the 15th of June, a letter earlier written by the Deputy Secretary, Festus Fonta recognized the leadership of Hon.
Dan Nwafor.Ajaka said; “The National Working Committee NWC just finished a meeting now and in their decision rescind that letter.
“So the status quo in Imo remains that the MacDonald Ebere led state Committee remains the substantive Chairman of the party in Imo state.
“There is no change of leadership, so what happened was just a mere mistake. The Supreme Court judgement was very clear, the current executive of MacDonald was a product of Congress.
“The Congress that produced Nwafor’s group has just elapsed by decision of NEC in 2022. So the current Exco there now is the only recognized leadership in Imo.
“This is the decision of the NWC today”.
When asked why the National Secretary was not in the meeting, Ajaka said that the Deputy Secretary who signed was present at the NWC meeting.
POLITICS
NPC Commissioner reaffirmed Plans for a Paperless Census in 2023

The federal commissioner representing Nasarawa state at the National Population Commission Abuja, Silas Ali Agara, has reaffirmed the commission’s plans to conduct a paperless population census using tablets during the 2023 census.
He disclosed this while touring the training centers of enumerators of the trial census across the Karu Local government area, Tuesday.
The Federal Commissioner, National Population Commission NPC, representing Nasarawa state, Silas Agara, visited the training centers which include, Karu Local government Secretariat, Government secondary schools Karshi, and that of Pyanko as well as government secondary school Uke among others.
Addressing the enumerators, Silas Agara, said the paperless census is necessary for Nigeria just as other countries like Ghana and South Africa have already adopted it, calling on the trainees to make sure they understand the practical aspect of the training, stressing that at the end of it, some of them would be supervisors and enumerators depending on the recommendations by the facilitators while those with less performance will be on the reserve list.
Agara told them that the paperless work does not matter the qualifications of an individual but how one can handle the machine, urging them to use the opportunity to improve their skills based on the technicality involved in the work and assured them of adequate security and welfare throughout the twelve days training of the enumerators.
He said those that did not receive text messages but their names were captured in the Master list of Five thousand one hundred and ninety-nine names to be reassured that they are part of the program, admonishing them to cooperate with their facilitators to achieve success.
Some facilitators and enumerators interviewed, Amanda Litini Apatak and Felix Ajuda, applauded the National population commission for allowing them to serve, saying that they have learned a lot with two days of their training.
POLITICS
2023: Umahi’s Deputy Governor, Igwe speaks on his Defection from APC to LP

Godwin Okeh, Abakaliki
Ebonyi state deputy governor, Chief Kelechi Eric Igwe has few months to the 2023 general election speaks on his alleged defection from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to the Labour Party, LP.
DAILY ASSET reports that, there are rumours making the rounds in the state, that Igwe allegedly dumped APC to LP, to protest the denial of his senatorial ambition by the leadership of the party in the state.
Igwe, in a statement signed and made available to journalists in Abakaliki through his chief Press Secretary, Mr. Monday Uzor, said he has no intention to dump APC for LP, and that, in no account will he (Igwe) abandon his boss, David Umahi at the pick of the expiration of their 8yrs tenure.
He called on the people of the state to ignore the rumours, and warned his rivals to stay clear from heating up the polity in the state, especially as the gubernatorial candidates of PDP and APC struggles to takeover governance from Umahi.
He said: “The attention of the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Eric Kelechi Igwe has been drawn to a social media post alleging that the Deputy Governor is planning to dump All Progressive Congress APC for Labour party.
“The report is not only false but a deliberate attempt to smear the office and personality of the Deputy Governor. It is a deliberate attempt to heat up the polity through dangerous speculations capable of undermining the peace in the State.
“The deputy governor remains a strong and bonafide member of the All Progressives Congress APC and has no intention of dumping the party whether now or later.
“The Deputy Governor has enormous responsibilities occupying his time especially, how to assist the Governor David Umahi to successfully anchor the transition programme.
“The general public and in particular members of our great party should disregard such unfounded rumour being peddled by those who are envious of the the progress the party is making” he stated.