ANALYSIS: All northern affair as race begins for new APC national chairman BySamson Adenekan

All known aspirants so far are from the north, indicating that leaders assume APC will pick its next presidential candidate from the south. In May, Saliu Mustapha declared his intention to run for the national chairmanship of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s forthcoming National Convention slated for this month. It remains uncertain whether the party will keep that schedule as the convention was initially expected to hold last year following the controversial dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. After sacking the NWC, the party appointed a reconciliation and convention planning committee headed by Yobe State governor, Mala Buni, and gave it six months to complete its assignment and hand over to an elected leadership. The committee has not been able to conduct a national convention. And despite its efforts at the settlement of disputes and reconciliation of aggrieved members, many still fear a crisis ahead for the ruling party if the next national chairman does not enjoy the confidence of some of the gladiators in the party. Mr Mustapha has been joined by seven others in the race to take the seat last occupied by former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole. In anticipation that the APC 2023 presidential ticket would be zoned to the south, most of the chairmanship aspirants are from the northern part of the country. Aside Mr Mustapha who is a former deputy national chairman of the party, others jostling for the seat are a former governor of Nasarawa State and serving senator, Tanko Al-Makura; two former governors of Borno State Kashim Shettima and Ali Modu Sheriff; a former governor of Gombe, Danjuma Goje; former governor of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari; a former member of the House of Representatives from Bauchi, Ibrahim Baba; and a former chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Abuja, Sunny Moniedafe from Adamawa State. Aspirants counting on zoning The APC was formed in February 2013 after the merger of three major opposition parties and factions of some other parties. The parties involved in the merger were the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and a faction of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). APC has since had three national chairmen, with the tenures of the last two ending in crises. John Odigie-Oyegun succeeded the interim national chairman, Bisi Akande, as the first elected chairman of the party. But he stepped down under pressure, clearing the path for Mr Oshiomhole to take the saddle at the June 2018 National Convention. Mr Oshiomhole lasted only two years in the position as he was ‘officially’ booted out in June 2020. He is qualified to seek a comeback. Section 17 (i) of the APC constitution states: “Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, all officers of the Party elected or appointed into the Party’s organs shall serve in such organs for a period of four (4) years and shall be eligible for re-election or re-appointment for another period of four (4) years only, provided that an Officer elected or appointed to fill a vacancy arising from death, resignation or otherwise shall notwithstanding be eligible for election to the same Office for two terms.” While the party’s constitution clearly establishes Mr Oshiomhole’s eligibility, however, a convention of Nigerian politics may stop him. If the APC embraces the power rotation principle and zones its next presidential ticket to the south, the north will produce the chairman. The first three chairmen of the party are from the south because President Muhammadu Buhari is from the north. With Mr Buhari’s final term expiring in 2023, there is a reasonable expectation that the party will nominate his successor from the south. PREMIUM TIMES reported a former governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, stating this expectation in an interview. “Part of the understanding in the case of rotation is a conventional understanding that the presidency will move between the North and the South. That was the reason why we now allowed the chairman (of the party to come from the South). I don’t want to use the word zoning because we definitely did not put zoning. We know it may go in conflict with the Nigerian constitution, which says anyone who is a Nigerian, who has read up to school certificate, can contest and at the age of 35, I think can contest for the presidency of the country,” Mr Osoba said. But Mr Buhari, in his recent interview with Arise TV, said party members would determine the direction of the party over his succession, indicating that the party has not yet taken a position on zoning. Aspiring ex-governors, senators Regardless of the president’s statement, the current composition of the field in the national chairmanship race indicates the strength of an expectation of presidential power shift to the south as all of the aspirants known so far are from the northern part of the country. A look at their profiles also indicates the importance attached to the office by members of the party. Most of the aspirants are former state governors and these include three who are currently serving as senators. Al-Makura Mr Al-Makura was a two-term governor of Nasarawa and is currently serving as the senator for Nasarawa South district. He began his campaign for the top party position in March 2021 when his posters first appeared on the streets in his state. These were immediately followed by radio jingles and promotion messages on social platforms. “If they zone the office of the national chairman of our party to the North Central zone, then we will all go out with our might and officially declare our ambition. If they throw it open, we will come out in full glare to contest, but if they zone it to either North-east or North-west, then I will not go into the race because I am a loyal member of APC,” he said in May. Mr Al-Makura’s bid is supported by his successor as Nasarawa governor, Abdulahi Sule. This is a strong indication that his ambition is popular in his home state and that the delegates from the state will file behind him at the party’s national convention. If Mr Al-Makura wins, he will become the first member of the CPC, Mr Buhari’s defunct party, to serve as APC chairman. The three to hold that position so far, Messrs Akande, Odigie-Oyegun and Oshiomhole, were all members of the defunct ACN, which also produced the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo. The senator was a founding member of the PDP until he joined the CPC in 2011 after losing the then ruling party’s governorship primary. He won the governorship election on the ticket of his new party and was reelected in 2015 on an APC ticket. Goje Danjuma after meeting with Buhari Goje Mr Goje also served two terms as governor of Gombe and is on his third term as senator. He served his two governorship terms as a member of the PDP until he joined some governors and former governors to cross from the party to the APC prior to the 2015 elections. Although he won his own election as senator on the APC ticket in 2015, the party lost the governorship to the PDP. But it made amends in 2019 when it swept the polls in the state, ending 16 years of PDP rule that began with Mr Goje’s election as governor in 2003. Mr Goje indicated interest in the Senate presidency in 2019 but stepped down for the party’s anointed candidate, Ahmad Lawan. Like Mr Al-Makura, the former Gombe governor also has the backing of his state governor, Muhammad Yahaya. Mr Goje belonged to the old nPDP faction in APC. Many members of the faction, such as former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President Bukola Saraki and Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal, returned to the PDP before the last general election, so it is not certain how that will rub off on Mr Goje’s chances in this race. If the former Gombe governor clinches the party’s top seat, would that encourage the nPDP members to return to the APC, as Mr Buni said they want to? One of the grievances the faction expressed before their mass desertion of the APC was that the party marginalised them in the allocation of political appointments. Ali Modu Sheriff Ali Modu Sheriff Political behaviour in Nigeria will be considered strange by many familiar with politics in other climes. But that of Ali Modu Sheriff is even stranger. He was elected senator in Borno State at the start of the Fourth Republic in 1999 on the ticket of the All Peoples Party (APP). In 2003, he defeated the sitting governor, Mala Kachalla, at the party primaries, and won the general election on the ticket of the party that by that time had changed its name to All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). But after serving two terms, he fell out with his successor, Kashim Shettima, who had become governor after the candidate originally handpicked by Mr Sheriff was assassinated by Boko Haram insurgents. In 2014, Mr Sheriff defected to the PDP and became the national chairman of the party shortly after the party lost the 2015 elections. His leadership was at a time of grave crisis in the PDP when the party splintered into two factions, until the Supreme Court declared the other factional leader, Ahmed Makarfi, as the authentic chairman of the party. In April 2018, Mr Sheriff returned to the APC. His political baggage includes the accusation by an Australian hostage negotiator, Stephen Davies, that Mr Sheriff was a sponsor of the terrorist Boko Haram Islamic sect. However, he does not appear to think all that can stop him from election as the APC national chairman. Instead, what he fears is the party zoning the seat away from his own North-east. While confirming his interest in the office in February, PREMIUM TIMES reported him as saying: “The leadership of the party has not been zoned to any particular zone of the country for now. People have expressed their interests across the country. “But the real thing is that whether I will run for the office or not will be determined by what the caretaker committee takes as a decision on where the leadership of the party will go. Whether it will go to another place or it will remain in our zone. “If it goes to another zone, I will not contest. But if it stays in our zone, I will contest.” Mr Sheriff is a crafty politician and dogged warhorse. He has been seen on many occasions visiting Mr Buni, his friend, who is the APC interim chairman and governor of Yobe State. However, the continued animosity between him and Mr Shettima, his erstwhile political godson and successor who is also aspiring to the office, may deny him home support in Borno and affect his chances at the convention, if he persists to that point in the race. Governor Kashim Shettima Kashim Shettima The former two-term Borno governor and serving senator has not formally declared his bid for the vacant top party office. PREMIUM TIMES, however, gathered from sources in the party that Mr Shettima is very interested. Mr Shettima’s governorship tenure was blighted by the Boko Haram insurgency. At some point, the insurgents had their flag over some local government areas and wreaked severe havoc on many parts of the state. Yet, many extolled Mr Shettima’s ‘relentless’ efforts in combating the insurgency and cleaning up the mess it created in terms of mass displacement of people and wanton destruction of schools, health facilities, government offices and physical infrastructure. Mr Shettima also served as the chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, which may count in his favour in the race for the APC chair. Governors have always played crucial roles in the choice of party leaders at all levels. Mr Shettima maintains a cordial relationship with his successor, Babagana Zulum, which will give him an edge against Mr Sheriff with the state’s delegates to the convention. Zamfara State ex-Governor, Abdul’aziz Yari. [Photo credit: Daily Post] Abdul’aziz Yari Some supporters have been campaigning for the immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Abdul’aziz Yari, to be elected into the APC topmost office. Earlier than most of the aspirants highlighted in this analysis, Mr Yari had in September 2020 registered his interest to contest for the seat, if zoned to his North-west region. “I have said it several times that I know from the grassroots how the chairman is picked, either in the PDP, ANPP, CPC, I know how the chairman is picked. “It is not picked by okay, here I am, Yari, pick me; the party will sit down and critically look at which zone will produce the chairman, which zone will produce the secretary, which zone will produce the deputy. “If they say the zone where I come from is favoured to pick it, of course, whole-heartedly, I will go for it. “So, I know how the game is being played and I am ready to do it if I am trusted. So, there is no issue there,” he declared in the third quarter of 2020. But Mr Yari also carries a heavy baggage. There are serious corruption allegations against him, some of which are being investigated by the anti-corruption agency, EFCC. He also bears responsibility for the disaster that befell the APC in his home Zamfara State at the 2019 general elections. The party had won every seat in the elections, including the governorship, federal and state legislative seats but was made to forfeit all after the Supreme Court upheld a judgment that the APC did not hold valid primaries to nominate its candidates. While a faction loyal to the ex-governor claimed the party held congresses to elect the candidates, the faction loyal to Kabiru Marafa, who was then the senator representing Zamfara Central, successfully challenged that claim in court. It was on this ground that the Supreme Court ordered the votes recorded by the APC to be deducted from the elections and the winner decided from the remaining votes. This led to the PDP, which trailed in second position in all the elections, to produce the governor, Bello Matawalle, and all the federal and state lawmakers from Zamfara. This crisis was one of the reasons Mr Oshiomhole was removed as the APC national chairman. Though the two APC factions in Zamfara recently claimed to have reconciled, it is difficult to see the members uniting behind Mr Yari’s ambition. To complicate matters for him, Governor Bello, who remains Mr Yari’s adversary, has long been speculated to be scheming to join the APC. If he does, it will further whittle down Mr Yari’s influence in the party in Zamfara. The ‘underdogs’ Aside from the former governors and serving senators, some others have also shown interest in the race. However, the underdogs face a herculean task in ending the tradition of APC picking ex-governors as its chairman. To be sure, this trend is not peculiar to the APC. A few ex-governors had also taken the chair at Wadata Plaza, headquarters of the main opposition party, PDP. Salihu Mustapha Mr Mustapha as National Vice-Chairman (North-east) never saw eye to eye with the national chairman, Mr Oshiomhole. Their ‘irreconcilable difference’ was a factor in the turmoil that characterised their NWC. Having contributed to the fall of Mr Oshiomhole, he now wants to take his position. “I’m not new in politics. I have paid my dues in this terrain. I have always tried to build. Maybe that is why we are not recognised because we have always been in the background,” Mr Mustapha recently told journalists. “On being intimidated because of the calibre of aspirants, before some of them became governors, they were also ordinary citizens like you and I. I don’t think anybody was born with the title of governor or senator. They also contested. It was ambition that took them there. So, it is not out of place to say my own ambition today is to be the National Chairman of APC,” he added. Mr Mustapha, a former deputy national chairman of CPC before the 2013 merger, was loudly critical of Mr Oshiomhole’s leadership style and on several occasions called for his resignation. Ibrahim Baba Mr Baba is a former member of the House of Representatives from Bauchi State. He is currently a special adviser to the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila. Sunny Moniedafe Mr Moniedafe is a chieftain of the APC chapter in Adamawa State. In March, he threw his hat into the ring for the party’s national chairmanship office. He belonged to the ACN faction and was in fact the Abuja chairman of the party, a link that could endear him to the Bola Tinubu faction within the APC as the speculations of the latter’s zeal to clinch the party’s 2023 presidential ticket is much in the social media space. Though Mr Tinubu has not declared his interest to join the race for the ticket, there have been reports of supporters setting up campaign offices for him in different parts of the country ahead of the 2023 general elections. However, unlike some of the aspirants in the APC national chairmanship race who are publicly backed by one or more prominent figures in the party, Mr Moniedafe at the moment has only his campaign promises. “If given the opportunity to serve as National Chairman of the APC, my team will, first of all, reaffirm the respect for and supremacy of the party’s constitution, and ensure its effective implementation, whilst maintaining utmost discipline,” he told journalists in Abuja.

NDDC BOARD: APC leaders battle for control By Emma Amaize

*Omo-Agege, Akpabio, Sylva, Amaechi may find middle ground *Stakeholders adamant on Odubu board STAKEHOLDERS of the Niger Delta are enthusiastically awaiting the end of this month (June) or latest July 5, which the Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, under pressure, promised ethnic nationalities of the region and ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, that the long-expected Board of the Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC, would be inaugurated, when he visited the creek of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State, early this month. What the people want Consensus of opinions among concerned parties appears to be that the Governing Board with a former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr. Pius Odubu, as Chairman and a former Commissioner for Finance, Delta State, Mr. Bernard Okumagba, as Managing Director, screened and approved by the Senate since November 2019, be sworn- in by President Muhammadu Buhari. But, it is not as straightforward as that as top officials, including Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Akpabio, Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, and Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi, are said to have delegated interests in who runs the interventionist agency fashioned to boost development in nine oil states crisscrossing the South-South, South-East and South-West regions. A rights group under the auspices of the Niger Delta Movement for Peace and Justice, NDMPJ, accentuating the contemplations of a cross-section of Niger-Deltans, in a statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Etifit Nkereuwem, last week, said: “Niger Delta Movement for Peace and Justice aligns itself with the people of the Niger Delta region to call on Mr. President to inaugurate the Governing Board of NDDC without further delay. “However it is sad to hear that the Senate is currently contemplating screening of fresh nominees for the NDDC Governing Board. “It appears that you (the President) have bowed to pressure from some selfish individuals in the Niger Delta to ignore members of the Board that have already been constituted, awaiting swearing-in. “This has never happened in the history of democracy in Nigeria. No President of this country has had his screened and confirmed nominees replaced even before they were sworn-in. “We, therefore, demand Mr. President to demonstrate that he is a true democrat, principled politician and a man of proven integrity by going ahead to inaugurate the 15 nominees already screened and confirmed by the Senate in November 2019 for the NDDC Governing Board”. Before Akpabio took over as Minister in 2019, Amaechi swayed prominent appointments in NDDC, but Omo-Agege exerted the power of the Senate with the support of former National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshimohole, to vet the substantive Board headed by his erstwhile deputy, Odubu, of course with the imprimatur of Mr. President. Akpabio stamps authority In some way, Amaechi lost grip, but Akpabio, armed with the authority of supervising minister of the NDDC, threw down the gauntlet over the inauguration of the Board for almost two years, until last month, when a leader of the Niger-Delta struggle, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, joined forces with the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, and other stakeholders, including South-South governors, to demand the inauguration of the Board in a jiffy. The body language of Akpabio, who was said to have already made recommendations to Buhari on the Board inauguration, even before his visit to Tompolo, appears to be that he wants an outright new Board with the Managing Director coming from Bayelsa instead of Delta State and taking into account the wide-ranging designs of APC leaders. Hardly had Akpabio sent his recommendations to the President than tales sprung up that he and Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum, were at daggers drawn over the reconstitution of the Board. In fact, a group of monarchs from Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa State, comprising HRH Perekebina Alfred, paramount ruler of Koromotoru Kingdom, and Chief Alexander Daunemighan, paramount ruler of Peretorugbene Federated Communities, petitioned Buhari, claiming that Sylva was meddling with Akpabio’s nominee as substantive Managing Director from Peretorugbene in Ekeremor, Bayelsa West. No rift with Akpabio – Sylva News was everywhere that Akpabio nominated Elder Denyanbofa Dimaro, an illustrious son of Peretorugbene community as Managing Director, while Sylva was allegedly promoting Maxwell Okoh from Bayelsa East to become NDDC Managing Director, but Sylva in a retort, June 8, entitled, ‘No rift between Sylva and Akpabio,’ signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Julius Bokoru, denied any disagreement with Akpabio over the reconstitution of the substantive Board. The statement read in part, “The story is false and nothing more than a string of poorly thought-out and poorly crafted lies that should be totally disregarded and discarded. “Sylva has maintained excellent relations with Senator Akpabio through the years. The duo considers themselves brothers and comrades in the quest of building a more prosperous Niger Delta and a stronger Nigeria”. High wired machinations With Sylva’s confirmation that there was no crack, sources familiar with the ongoing intrigues said the way forward was for the “big men” to find the middle ground. Sunday Vanguard learned that Akpabio, indeed, tipped a Bayelsan as Managing Director in the new arrangement with his associate, Mr. Effiong Akwa, currently the Interim Administrator, programmed for Executive Director, Finance and Administration. Whether Akpabio and Sylva, in the light of their new understanding, have brokered a pact on Managing Director since Sylva hails from Bayelsa is unclear. As undistinguishable as it is, there is report making the round that the Managing Director-designate in the substantive Board, Bernard Okumagba, powerfully supported by Omo-Agege, is the Chairman in the new Board, while Transportation Minister, Amaechi, is to produce Executive Director, Projects. Our source said Omo-Agege is disposed to the substantive Board, not a new Board. A Niger-Delta leader, Chief Tom Ofosu, meanwhile, said: “What you are talking about is the scheming of the officeholders you mentioned, but what the stakeholders want is inauguration of the Odubu Board with Bernard Okumagba as Managing Director. “But, it is true that since Oshiomhole, who nominated Odubu, has lost power, his voice no longer counts. “What matters now are the interests of Senator Omo-Agege, Akpabio, Sylva and Amaechi. “Once these four agree and confirm their pact to President Buhari, they think they are good to go, but that is not what the people want.” Militants warn leaders Corroborating Ofosu’s standpoint, a militant group, Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders, NDRC, in a statement, Thursday, by its spokesman, W. O.I Izon-Ebi, said: “It has come to our attention that leaders of the region are fighting over who produces the MD of NDDC, thereby diverting attention away from the main issues of injustice, marginalization, underdevelopment and deprivation of the people of the region. “It is sad that leaders of the region are themselves the problems of the region. “They are playing politics with the destiny of the people for personal and selfish interest without the region at heart. “We will not sit back and watch them destroy the future of the people of the region. “We are sternly warning those who dare to fiddle with the future of the people of the region that they should be ready for hostilities taken to their door steps. “The people of the region do not expect anything short of credible, competent, vast, and experienced with maturity and the stint as well as who truly understands the yearnings and aspirations of the people of the region to drive the Commission. “With the current state of affairs in the region, the NDDC needs such maturity and strong hand grounded with the issues of the Niger Delta to lead the Commission if the Federal Government means well for the region. “Therefore, the Buhari government and the National Assembly should be cautious in the appointment of the MD and do the right thing, else be ready to receive a gift from us. “It will be a huge joke and we will resist the appointment of any charlatan that is a puppet to a politician who will turn the Commission into a conduit pipe. “The Presidency has ignored the genuine cry of people and has continued to asphyxiate and stifle the growth of the Niger Delta while hobnobbing and satisfying the interests of this set of leaders to the detriment and progress of the region. “We view the NDDC and the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, that are in their current state of comatose, as the handiwork of selfish individuals from the region and the cabal in the Presidency to undermine the people of the Niger Delta. “We will not hesitate to speak the language the Federal Government understands”. Vanguard

EFCC invites former Abia Finance Commissioners for questioning By Sunny Nwankwo

Enugu zonal headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited two former Abia Commissioners of Finance for questioning. In a letter dated May 25th, 2021 by Oshodi Johnson, the agency said Mr. Philip Nto and Mr. Obinna Oriaku, who served as Commissioners of Finance and Economic Development in 2014 and 2016 respectively were needed for questioning. The letter with serial No. CR.3000/EFCC/ENZ/CMIP/TA/352-2021/VOL.15/94, which was addressed to Abia Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Barr. Chris Ezem said it has become imperative the two former commissioners make certain clarifications regarding some financial transactions in the state within the period of their stay in office. Johnson, in the statement, said the request to have the ex-commissioners in their office was in pursuant to section 38(1) and 2 of the EFCC (establishment) Act, 2004. The statement has it they would upon arrival meet with Head Capital Market and Insurance Fraud Section. It was however, gathered the invitation of the two former commissioners may not be unconnected with the mismanagement of the Abia N22 billion Paris Club Refund. When contacted, Oriaku confirmed he was invited, promising to honour it. He said: “I want to make it clear that EFCC invitation is not a crime and cannot be misconstrued as a sentence for crime. “As commissioner for Finance for four years, it is necessary that I will be invited from time to time to shed light on what happened while I served as commissioner.” Oriaku said the invitation was sequel to a petition by one Dr. Murice Walton of Mauritz Walton Nigeria Limited on how the state government allegedly held back their payment since 2017.

Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed Gets 2nd Term As UN Deputy Secretary-General by Sodiq Lawal

Secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres yesterday appointed Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed to serve as Deputy Secretary-general for a second term, shortly after the UN General Assembly re-appointed him for a second term. Guterres’s second term starts on January 1, 2022, and will run for a period of five years. He succeeded Ban Ki-moon in January 2017 as the ninth secretary-general. Speaking with journalists after taking the oath of office for a second term, Guterres said he had extended an offer to Mohammed to continue in office. “After being elected, I have the pleasure to invite the deputy secretary-general to remain in my second mandate and I hope she will accept,” Guterres said. Mohammed, who was standing behind Guterres at the press briefing, responded with the comment: “absolute honour”. She had also served as the special adviser to Ban Ki-moon on post-2015 development planning, which focused on the 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals. Mohammed is a diplomat and politician who is serving as the fifth Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, she was Nigeria’s Minister of Environment from 2015 to 2016 and was a key player in the Post-2015 Development Agenda process. Mohammed was born in Liverpool, UK to a Fulani Nigerian veterinarian-officer and a British nurse. She is the eldest of five daughters. She attended a primary school in Kaduna and Maiduguri, and Buchan School in Isle of Man. She further attended Henley Management College in 1989. After she finished her studies her father demanded she return to Nigeria. Between 1981 and 1991, Mohammed worked with Archcon Nigeria, an architectural design firm in association with Norman and Dawbarn United Kingdom. In 1991, she founded Afri-Projects Consortium, and from 1991 to 2001 she was its Executive Director. From 2002 until 2005, Mohammed coordinated the Task Force on Gender and Education for the United Nations Millennium Project. Mohammed later acted as the Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2005, she was charged with the coordination of Nigeria’s debt relief funds toward the achievement of the MDGs. Her mandate included designing a Virtual Poverty Fund with innovative approaches to poverty reduction, budget coordination and monitoring, as well as providing advice on pertinent issues regarding poverty, public sector reform and sustainable development. Mohammed later became the Founder and CEO of the Center for Development Policy Solutions and as an Adjunct Professor for the Master’s in Development Practice program at Columbia University. During that time, she served on numerous international advisory boards and panels, including the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development. She also chaired the Advisory Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Monitoring Report on Education (GME). From 2012, Mohammed was a key player in the Post-2015 Development Agenda process, serving as the Special Adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Post-2015 development planning. In this role, she acted as the link between the Secretary-General, his High Level Panel of Eminent Persons (HLP), and the General Assembly’s Open Working Group (OWG), among other stakeholders. From 2014, she also served on the Secretary-General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development. Mohammed served as Federal Minister of Environment in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari from November 2015 to February 2017. During that time, she was Nigeria’s representative in the African Union (AU) Reform Steering Committee, chaired by Paul Kagame. She resigned from the Nigerian Federal Executive Council on 24 February 2017. In January 2017, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced his intention to appoint Mohammed Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. In this capacity, she is a member of the UN Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG). Thisday)

Ekiti APC suspends two members allegedly over ties with pro-Tinubu group by Clement Afolab

In April, the Chairman of Ward 8, Ado Ekiti Local Government Area was suspended over a similar offence. Ekiti APC suspends two members allegedly over ties with pro-Tinubu group June 19, 2021 2 min read For the second time, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has suspended two leaders of the party, allegedly for hobnobbing with the South West Agenda for 2023 (SWAGA), a political platform campaigning for a national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, to be Nigeria’s president. Kayode Adetifa and Jide Oso, who were slammed with the suspension, are members of the party in Ward 9, Owaye quarters in Ayede Ekiti, Oye Local Government Area of the state. In April, the Chairman of Ward 8, Ado Ekiti Local Government Area, Clement Afolabi, was suspended over a similar offence. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the larger number of the leadership of the party is averse to the activities of SWAGA, viewing it as contradicting the agreements of the party not to encourage groups that appear to be dividing the party. Like Mr Tinubu, the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, is believed to be nursing the ambition to become president. The suspension of Messrs Adetifa and Oso was communicated in two separate letters signed by the ward Chairman, Abejide Sola; Women Leader, Bamisayo Abigeal; Youth Leader, Oladipo Adekunle; Secretary, Fayemi Apeke, and Treasurer, Oloruntoba Bosede. “We noted from your activities in the party in the recent past that you have been working against the unity of the party even to the extent of creating a parallel ward that you named ‘SWAGA’ within the ward,” the letters dated May 31, 2021, stated. “You sent in confirmation of your action through Mr. Jide Oso, a former ward chairman on 16th May, 2021 to the ward that you have created another venue for this purpose. “You as well was invited to the general Executive and leaders’ meeting on 20th May, 2021 to explain your action and you confirmed that the message of Mr Jide Oso was sent by you as his principal and that you would not stop your parallel meeting for any reason. “In view of the above reasons the general executive of the ward met 27th May, 2021 and decided to suspend you for running against the party (APC) Constitution till further notice.” The Ekiti APC Publicity Secretary, Ade Ajayi, however, denied that the suspension had anything to do with their association with SWAGA. He said the report from the ward indicated that the two were defying the party’s orders and dividing the party through their actions “They were not suspended because of SWAGA. But they have been dividing the party and all efforts to rein them in failed,” he said on Friday. “They were invited to defend themselves; they confirmed it and party supremacy had to come to play. Nobody is bigger than the party.” The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, had earlier reacted to the action of the party, saying the suspension of party members for their association with the group was draconian and devoid of the tenets of democracy. A former senator, Dayo Adeyeye, is a major leader of the SWAGA group and is backed by a retinue of former members of the National Assembly and top politicians in the South-west zone. His campaign across the country is to sell the candidature of Mr Tinubu, detailing the reasons why the former Lagos governor should run for president in 2023. While Mr Adeyeye has continued his campaign unhindered, his activities have been irksome to the party leadership in Ekiti State.

Court rejects EFCC’s request in ex-NNPC GMD Yakubu’s $9.8, £74,000 fraud trial By Eric Ikhilae

A Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to amend its charge in the $9.8 million, £74,000 fraud trial of a former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu. Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a ruling yesterday, held that granting the EFCC’s application would amount to varying a subsisting judgment given by the Court of Appeal, Abuja, on April 24, 2020. In the verdict, the court, among others, ordered Yakubu to enter defence in relation to counts three and four of the six counts originally contained in the charge on which he was arraigned. Justice Mohammed was emphatic that allowing the prosecution (the EFCC) to amend the charge was tantamount to disobeying the subsisting order by the Court of Appeal in its judgment of April 24, 2020. The EFCC claimed that its operatives, acting on a tip-off, raided Yakubu’s house on Chikun Road, Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna South Local Government Area of Kaduna State on February 3, 2017 and recovered the $9,772,800 and £74,000 cash kept in a fire-proof safe. The commission arraigned Yakubu on March 16, 2017, on a six-count charge bordering on money laundering offences. He was, among others, accused of failing to make full disclosure of assets, receiving cash without going through a financial institution, which borders on money laundering and intent to avoid a lawful transaction under the law, transported at various times to Kaduna, the aggregate sum of $9,772,800 and £74,000. The prosecution closed its case on October 17, 2018, after calling seven witnesses. The seventh prosecution witness, an operative of the EFCC, Suleiman Mohammed, spoke about how his team recovered the $9,772,000 and £74,000 cash in Yabubu’s house in Kaduna, which was later deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Kano. At the closure of the prosecution’s case, Yakubu made a no-case submission, which Justice Mohammed, in a ruling on May 16, 2019, partially upheld by striking out two of the six counts contained in the charge and ordered the ex-NNPC boss to enter defence over the remaining four counts. The judge held that the prosecution failed to prove counts five and six of the charge, which related to allegation of unlawful transportation of the money. “Even though I am tempted to discharge the defendant on counts one to four, I am, however, constrained to ask the defendant to explain how he came about the money recovered from his house. “Fortified with my position, the defendant is hereby ordered to enter his defence in respect of counts one to four,” Justice Mohammed said in the May 16, 2019 ruling. The defence prayed the court to refuse the prosecution’s application for an amendment of the charge and allow the defendant to continue with his defence, a prayer Justice Mohammed granted in his ruling yesterday. When the judge ended the ruling yesterday, the defence indicated its intention to proceed with its case. But the court adjourned till June 30, following a plea by the prosecution for an adjournment on the grounds that the lead prosecuting lawyer was not immediately available.

Hundreds of aggrieved Kwara APC members dump party, form Kwara ‘Third Force By Demola Akinyemi

Following years of irreconcilable crisis in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in kwara state, after “O to ge” victory,some aggrieved members of the party weekend dumped the party and teamed up to form a new political association described as the “Third Force” in changing political equation of the state. Recall that the faction of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq had been at loggerhead with that of the minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed,Minister of state for transportation Senator Gbemisola Saraki and other splinter groups, over the control of the party which saw Hon Bashir Bolarinwa replaced by Alh Sanmari Abdullahi as the chairman of the party. The aggrieved APC members, who included senatorial chairman, ward chairmen, local government chairmen, women leaders, youth leaders, as well as APC party stalwarts across all the 16 local government areas, among others, in IIorin indicted the national leadership of the party of supporting the political agenda of the governor. They also accused the state governor and his loyalists in the party of alleged disenfranchisement in the recent membership registration and revalidation exercise. Speaking on behalf of the decampees, the former state APC senatorial chairman for Kwara Central, Mallam Abdulfatai Abdulrahman, said that, “It is impossible to achieve the developmental goals we are aiming for KWARANS in the midst of chaotic situation we found ourselves in Kwara APC”, adding that their new party would be unveiled in due course. The people, who tore their APC membership cards and burnt the party symbol of brooms, said that the plot to allegedly marginalize them was all about 2023 political permutations. He said,”As you are all aware, Kwara APC has been enmeshed in one crisis or the other almost immediately after the party’s primary, stretching into the campaign period and lingering up to date. “The crisis has gotten to its peak with the recent concluded APC membership revalidation and registration exercise in the state that was flawed with deliberate policies and grand orchestration to deregister and disenfranchise selected members of the party. “The success of a political party is anchored on its popularity, intra party membership cohesion, integrity and sincere commitment to the service of the masses. All these are glaringly diminishing in Kwara APC as it is now. “A grand design that denied majority of party members the opportunity to register and revalidate their membership across the state is a 2023 permutation agenda. We can never cross our fingers and watch the game from the sideline. “The deliberate inaction to address the lingering crisis in Kwara APC has become obvious to all discerning minds that the agenda to deregister and refusal to revalidate thousands of members across the state was a grand plot that has the backing of the National Caretaker Committee of the party. “From the highlighted points above, we the over twenty thousand card- carrying members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which includes Senatorial chairman Kwara Central, local government party chairmen, local government women leaders, youth leaders, ward chairmen, as well as APC party stalwarts across all the sixteen local government areas in the state hereby denounce APC and form a KWARA THIRD FORCE for the yearning and betterment of Kwarans at large “We are, therefore, calling on all well-meaning Kwarans to shun violence, unnecessary struggle and agitation on account of desperation to belong to a party that has thrown away a large chunk of its members”, he said. Mallam Abdulrahman also said that the new party would be unveiled in due course as soon as possible.