UPDATED: Reps pass electoral bill amidst protest by Leke Baiyewu

The House of Representatives has passed the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, maintaining the controversial Clause 52(2) as presented. The clause allows the Independent National Electoral Commission to determine when, where and how voting and transmission of results will be done. Clause 52(2) reads, “Voting at an election and transmission of result under this bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the commission.” Earlier, there was a rowdy session in the House as the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, skipped Section 52 where consideration of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill was suspended on Thursday. After asking officials of the Nigerian Communications Commission a series of questions, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the information from the agency would guide the lawmakers on the controversial Clause 52(2) which is about voting and transmission of election results. The House reverted to Committee of the Whole, which was presided over by Wase, to continue with the consideration. Wase, however, called for a vote from Clause 54, which generated protests. The Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, raised a point of order to recall that the session on Thursday was halted when the consideration got to Clause 52. He also recalled that several members called for division of the House, which Wase overruled. The Deputy Speaker, however, denied blocking division of the House, adding that Clause 52 had already been voted on and passed. Recall that Wase had ruled that the nays had it even when the ayes were louder than the nays, a development that ended normalcy in the chamber. The PUNCH had reported that there was tight security at the National Assembly especially around the House of Representatives chambers on Friday morning. The House is currently making inquiries from top officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission, who are addressing the lawmakers in plenary, on the possibility of transmitting election results electronically from every part of the country. Passage of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill at the House was stalled on Thursday, forcing the chamber to continue consideration of its clauses today. The National Assembly does not hold plenary on Friday and the House was to begin the two-month annual recess on Thursday, but for the development. The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, had to adjourn plenary till Friday when Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu; and Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof Umar Danbatta, are to brief the chamber on the implication of having election results transmitted electronically. The House spent about two hours on clause 52(2) of the bill as several attempts to have it amended were overruled by the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, who presided over the Committee of the Whole to consider the clauses of the bill. The clause caused a division in the House, with the lawmakers polarised along regional lines, causing rowdiness in the chamber for several hours, during which several lawmakers engaged themselves in shouting matches.

Anambra poll: INEC excludes PDP, Soludo, clears Andy Uba for APC Friday Olokor

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared a member of the House of Representatives, Chukwuma Michael Umeoji as the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance in the Anambra State governorship election scheduled for November 6. The commission also named Andy Uba, who won the controversial primaries of All progressives Congress, as the candidate of the party. The decisions were contained in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman (Information and Voter Education Committee), Festus Okoye, after its meeting held in Abuja on Thursday. The commission in the decision published on Friday also dropped the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Valentine Ozigbo. Okoye said the decisions were based on obedience to court orders served on INEC in relation to the primaries of the political parties and other processes leading to the election. THE PUNCH reported that prior to the primary elections, APGA had been locked in a leadership crisis with two factions claiming supremacy. While the Victor Oye-led faction conducted the primaries that produced a former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, the Jude Okeke faction conducted the primary poll that declared Umeoji as the party’s candidate. Also, a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja had on Thursday ordered INEC to suspend the moves to publish any name as the governorship candidate. Delivering his ruling on an ex parte application filed by one of the aspirants laying claim to the PDP’s ticket, Justice Yusuf Halilu, directed INEC to maintain the status quo by not publishing any name as the party’s candidate in deference to ongoing proceedings. “Order that all parties to this suit be put on notice, and I also further order that status quo shall be maintained by INEC by not publishing the name of any candidate as governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice,” the enrolled order of the court read in part. Valentine Ozibo and Ugochukwu Uba had emerged as the PDP’s governorship candidates from parallel primary elections. Both are laying claim to the party’s ticket ahead of November 6, 2021 governorship election in Anambra State. But Okoye said the commission would continue to act in consonance with the constitution and the law and will continue to obey the judgments and orders of courts served on it. According to the list, 18 political parties and candidates would participate in the November poll. Okoye added that the personal particulars of the candidates would be published in the Commissions Notice Board in Awka, Anambra State.

Buhari has blatantly pursued nepotistic agenda, Nigeria invaded by bandits – Kukah tells US Congress

July 15, 2021 Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has told the United States Congress Commission that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to pursue nepotistic agenda, showing his preference for men and women of his faith. Bishop Kukah who virtually addressed the congress over the rising insecurity in the country, said the current administration has been unable to tackle the security challenges like it promised to do before taking power in 2015, noting that the whole country has been invaded by bandits. According to him, “The North, even the whole country, is invaded by armed bandits. The fact that the government seems to be either helpless or uninterested in dealing decisively with these people has added more confusion. “The contradiction here is that the President has blatantly pursued nepotistic agenda and policies that show very clearly his preference for men and women of his faith.” The Bishop accused the President Muhammadu Buhari of appointing more people of his ethnicity and religion into political office, which according to him, has heightened religious rivalry in the country. “For the first time in Nigeria, the people heading the three arms of government – President, Senate President, Speaker and Chief Justice – are all Muslims. These are all fine gentlemen, but that is not the point,” he said. “The level of rivalry between Christians and Muslims has worsened. This kind of situation has never happened before.” The Bishop explained that the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, which has been going on for a long time, has risen in the past 10 years. Kukah said Christian schools are attacked in the North by extremists who convert the girls to wives, sex slaves and spies. “The story of Leah Sharibu suggests very clearly that there is, in many instances, a relationship between the conditions in which people find themselves and their faith. “In 2020, some of our priests in the North were killed. The extremists kidnapped our children and forcefully converted them to Muslims. What is significant here is that we are in a democracy; with weak structures and institutions. These are existential issues. So, we require practical assistance that can help us and our children,” he said.

Why I don't Want To Contest Election As Nigeria's President Again — El-Rufai BY SAHARAREPORTERS

El-Rufai said his age is already telling on him as Kaduna governor, noting that he cannot afford to worsen the situation by vying for the presidency. Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said he is not considering running for the 2023 presidency because he will be too old for a president at 62. The governor disclosed this during an interview with BBC in Kaduna. El-Rufai said his age is already telling on him as Kaduna governor, noting that he cannot afford to worsen the situation by vying for the presidency. He explained that he had suffered presidential ambition suspicion for 15 years now, a situation that made some people see him in a bad light. He said some had called him Jihadist so as to keep him out of the presidential race. He said: “Governing Nigeria is a serious job, which is obviously too much for a 62-year-old man. Look at me, look at my grey hair. If you see my picture when I was sworn in, my hair was very black but look at how it has become. This is a very difficult job and that is just state governor, one state out of 36, a big one, yes; a difficult one, yes, but it is not the same as Nigeria. “Presidency of Nigeria is a very serious job, it is too much for a 62-year-old." On vying to be the Vice-President, he said: “I have not thought about it at all. I have said it that in the political system we have, after eight years of President Buhari, the presidency should go to the south.” “I have been suffering this presidential ambition suspicion since 2006, I have suffered it for 15 years today, and I am sick and tired of it. There are people that are out to paint me in a particular picture so that I will be out of the presidential race, but they don’t know that I am not in any race anywhere. “They have called me all sort of names; they said I am a Hausa-Fulani irredentist, I am Jihadist and all that, Jihadist when? Where? I am not even an active member of any Islamic organization. ”I am Muslim, yes, a devote one but, I believe religion is private. Even here in this office, when it is time for prayer, I just excuse myself as if I am going to the restroom, I don’t ask anyone to come and pray with me, because we will all go to our graves separately. “Look around me and see, I am not surrounded only by Muslims, this government is the only state government in this country that has at least people from 13 other states of the Federation as cabinet members. “One of the most influential persons in my life, one of my closest political associates is Pastor Tunde Bakare. It was Pastor Tunde Bakare that actually introduced me to Buhari and CPC (Congress for Progressive Change). I didn’t join the CPC because Buhari lives in Kaduna or he is a northerner. So, if I am an Islamic Jihadist, why will Pastor Tunde Bakare be speaking to me?”

INEC is a fraud, says Pastor Paul Adefarasin By Oluwatomisin Amokeoja

Nigeria not a scam Senior Pastor of the House on The Rock Church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin. has described the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a fraud. The clergyman disclosed this during a sermon in his church. The cleric noted the numbers obtained during census and elections in the country are all lies. Adefarasin also described Lord Lugard, who amalgamated the Northern and Southern regions, as a devil’s incarnate. Read Also: Why I didn’t honour House invitation, by suspended Kano anti-graft chief He said: “You have got to go into politics and government deliberately. “By the way, if we don’t fix this Nigeria’s problem… by that I mean Independent National Electoral Commission… I am saying it plainly “Put me in trouble if you like, INEC is a fraud. Numbers in Nigeria as far as census is concerned, as far as election is concerned are a lie. “And if nobody will speak about it, the righteous will speak about it. Our righteousness is not of ourselves but it is of him and he will protect. “Where the numbers are not properly reflected in our voting, this is the only country in West Africa, when you move to the ocean through the desert and the numbers decrease or rather the only country in the world that you move a large number of water or little or no water and the numbers increase it was not Nigerians that started it. “It was the parents of Nigeria, who were not good parents. The man, Lord Lugard was a devil incarnate. What he did to this country, we have been suffering it since many years and it is time that we must tell the truth. “And those of you, who benefit from the system, when the judgement comes unless you extricate yourself in the righteousness of God that’s your own problem. “And if you are in the system, you should behave like Robin Hood, take from them and give it to the poor. “You should have less so that they can have more. I have that sword in my office. “The sword of Lord of Luxury, Robin Hood, why? Because part of my job is to make sure that the wealth of Nigeria is redistributed with an evenness. “How do I do it, it is no by giving the poor, rice, oil at election time. Give them an education. And education in today’s age does not have to be formal. We have tablets we can do research and development.”

ALGON seeks four years tenure for council Chairmen By Dennis Agbo

BAN ON OPEN GRAZING: ALGON backs Southern govs' The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, has disclosed that top of its submission at the recently concluded national assembly zonal public hearings on the amendment of the 1999 constitution was its quest to extend the tenure of local government chairmen to statutory four years. ALGON, therefore, asked its members and affiliates to pursue the matter through persistent engagement with both National and States legislators to ensure that the amendment is enacted in the process of the constitution amendment. ALGON also said that it is asking for an increment of the federal allocation to the councils from its present 20.60 to 35.5 percent, so as to make the local government system more effective in its grassroots development. Furthermore, the association wants the state and local government joint accounts to be scrapped in order to free the councils from the stranglehold and domination of the state governments. ALGON made the disclosures at its third rotational National Executive Council meeting, just concluded in Enugu, where its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Solomon Onah disclosed that other resolutions reached at the meeting included ALGON’s support to the issue of State Police so as to curtail the rising insecurity challenges. On the issue of the ALGON Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Centres, the NEC expressed its dissatisfaction and displeasure with the Contractor over the limited and poor number of projects executed across the country. NEC directed that the Contractor should move back to the site within one week and that an additional 300 PHCs should be completed, fully equipped, and delivered to ALGON on or before the end of August 2021. The association threatened to take necessary steps to enforce compliance by the Contractor. Onah said that ALGON has taken the initiative of bringing to an end ‘Multiple Taxation of goods and services, and illegal roadblocks across the country with National Anti Multiple Taxation Scheme, NAMTAXS, and National Transit Insurance Scheme, NATIS. “This will optimally address food security challenges, reduce the cost of goods and inflation in the country and strengthen the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the Local Governments and Area Councils in collaboration with the States, Federal Government, and their stakeholders. NEC is happy that the projects will seek to assemble all the road users and capture them into its tax net. NEC equally set up a five (5) man committee to properly harmonize all modalities for their take-off and report back in two weeks for implementation,” Onah said. On the sustainable paradigm shift to develop the capacity of members and collaborate with Local and International Agencies, NEC approved continuous engagement with key stakeholders. They also passed a vote Of Confidence on the National President, Hon Kolade David Alabi, for his inclusive leadership. Vanguard

Four arrested over online abuse of England players Agency Report

Four people have so far been arrested in connection with online abuse directed at England players, the UK Football Policing Unit said on Thursday. Investigations continue into abusive posts targeting Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after England’s defeat on penalty kicks to Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday. A statement issued on Thursday read, “Following England’s defeat against Italy on Sunday a torrent of racist comments aimed at some of the team’s black players appeared on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. “A hate crime investigation is under way by the UKFPU, with a dedicated team of investigators working their way through a large number of reports from across the country. “So far, dozens of data applications have been submitted to social media companies and four people have been arrested by local police forces.” Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs’ Council football policing lead, said, “The racial abuse aimed at our own players following Sunday night’s game is utterly vile. “It has quite rightly shocked and appalled people across the country.” On Wednesday Greater Manchester Police confirmed a 37-year-old man from Ashton-upon-Mersey had been arrested after social media posts were directed towards England players following Sunday’s match. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the Government was extending the scope of football banning orders to include online abuse. Banning orders exclude people from attending matches for between a three and 10-year period. (dpa/NAN)