Nigerian News Beat

Twenty-four hours after the arrest of kano state house of assembly legislatures, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has granted administrative bail to the speaker of Kano State House of Assembly, Gambo Sallau and other principal officers of the Assembly who were arrested over the review of the state’s 2013 supplementary budget in December to N28 billion.

According to a dependable source at the commission, the legislators were released at about 5:30pm yesterday, but investigation is ongoing and they will be asked to return whenever the need arises.

Those arrested along with the speaker were the deputy speaker, the chief whip, deputy chief whip, majority leader, deputy majority leader, minority leader, deputy minority leader, and chairmen of House Committee on Appropriation and Finance and the clerk of the House.

The state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, had earlier in the month sent a budget review request of about N24bn to the State Assembly, but later replaced it with a request of N28bn.

However, EFCC claimed that a stakeholder in the state petitioned the commission over the suspicious nature of the request, since the financial year was almost winding up.

Meanwhile, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has described their arrest as an undisguised case of political vendetta by a hurting presidency, whose target is actually the state governor.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said since the arrest of the lawmakers for carrying out their statutory duty of approving a budget cannot be justified by any law, it is clear to all discerning Nigerians that the only motive is to harass and intimidate the lawmakers for their recent defection from the PDP to the APC.

It said the politically-motivated arrest also undoubtedly marked the beginning of the long-expected series of persecution by a desperate federal government against APC states, in particular those states that have recently left the unsettled PDP.

The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a civil society organisation has said the flaws which  happened in the November 16 Anambra State gubernatorial election would reduce public confidence in the nation’s electoral process, if not addressed.

TMG in a statement Tuesday by its Chairman, Ibrahim  Zikirullahi noted that the shortcomings must be addressed ahead of the 2015 general election.

According to him, for 2015 elections to be credible, Independent National Electoral Commission INEC must work in partnership with political parties, civic organisations and government bodies to find practical solutions to the problems.

Zikirullahi who expressed confidence in the collation process by INEC in the election, maintained that the INEC collation was done properly and that the official results as announced by INEC on Monday 18th November accurately reflected the votes cast.

According to him, TMG, through the Quick Count methodology allows for the independent verification of the official results as announced by INEC.

"Based on the Quick Count methodology, the TMG can confidently verify that the collation process was done properly and the official results as announced by INEC on November 18, accurately reflect the votes cast on the Election Day at the polling stations which held elections," he said.
TMG however did not ascertain whether the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chris Ngige or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Tony Nwoye, came second in the election.

"The official result for Labour Party's is 8.7 per cent which falls within the TMG estimated range. TMG cannot definitely indicate if APC or PDP is currently second in place. The lowest statistically possible percentage of the vote for APC is 21.4 per cent, while the highest statistically possible percentage of the vote for the PDP is 23.6 per cent. These values overlap statistically, APC and PDP are currently in a tie for second place," he added.

But yet peeved by the dismal performance of the INEC at the exercise, former Lagos State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav rtd, stated that the avalanche of complaints  that trailed the conduct of the   governorship election, further dimed the hope of credible elections in the country.    

Tsav who spoke to journalists in Makurdi, Benue State  capital, stated  that the Professor Attahiru Jega-led INEC is a shame to the nation for its inability to conduct free and fair election in a state and wondered what Nigerians would pass through in 2015 with the type of people in the commission.

The retired Police Commissioner said the nation would continue to drift backward as long as greed and corruption hold sway just as he slammed President Goodluck Jonathan for aiding and encouraging corruption all facets of governance.

Speaking on the attitude of Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr Joseph Mbu, Tsav described it as unprofessional stating that the primary responsibility of a police boss in a state is to join hands with the state governor to maintain peace and order.

A civil rights advocacy group, the Forum for Positive Change has slammed Senator Chris Ngige, the APC candidate in the Anambra poll as well as the APC for what it described as a “calculated effort to arm-twist the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in order to gain a backdoor entry into the Amawbia Governor’s Lodge for the second time in ten years.”

Addressing a section of the media in Awka early today, the President of the group, Barrister Okechukwu Chinweze warned that the people of Anambra State would not live to see a brazen supplanting of their collective will as reflected in the voting patterns that emerged from the polls last Saturday.

He said the forum for Positive Change has followed developments in the Anambra election for years and sees the avoidable gaps that led to the suspension of polling in the Idemili area of Anambra State as part of a larger ploy by the APC candidate to create doubts about the electoral process and discredit INEC.

“We are familiar with Senator Ngige and the sad history he has established in Idemili. He has always used Idemili to cast doubts on any electoral exercise in Anambra State. You may recall that Uke town, where a stampede claimed 26 lives last week is located in Idemili.

So, it is not a coincidence that Idemili is in the news again for the wrong reasons. Everyone knows that what is behind it all is the influence of the APC candidate. But we shall resist him with the last drop of blood in our veins,” Barrister Chinweze warned.

According to Barrister Chinweze, the Forum for Positive Change had prior to the election, warned of a plan by the APC elements in the state to create credibility problems for INEC. “My men picked up information that there was a plan by APC to impugn the electoral process days before the election. We picked up intelligence report that some of the NYSC members who conducted the polls yesterday were approached with large sums of money by APC agents to slow down the electoral process by making sure that electoral materials were not delivered to the polling units on time. They figured that if the materials were not received on time, APC would have established a case against INEC.”

The Ogbunike born Lagos-based civil rights advocate wondered why Senator Ngige should turn his Idemili zone into a flashpoint of electoral malcontent in Anambra State querying, “Is there something peculiar about Idemili beyond the fact that Senator Ngige is from Alor in Idemili? We monitored this election and I can assure you that INEC has done a fairly good job. There may have been delays in some places in terms of the arrival of logistics but overall, the process has been largely peaceful and free and fair from the point of view of the Forum for Positive Change,” he observed.

“The question that Ndi Anambra should ask is; why is Idemili the only place with all these complaints? It is on receord that 23 candidates contested this election. These 23 candidates have places they come from and demographics that they control. How come it is only in Ngige’s place that INEC could not conduct an election? Is there something else that APC wants us to know about this election?” the civil rights advocate queried.

Barrister Chinweze  warned that his group would mobilize all progressive-minded people of Anambra State to resist any attempt by APC to supplant the will of the people in the poll. “Thank God for social media, most results of this election are in the public domain already. We shall not accept any attempt to change the story of this election from what actually happened on the field. We are watching. The world is watching too”, he declared.

Frowning at what he described as the “wholesale importation of the culture of irrational dissent and violence that have characterised APC” into Anambra State, barrister Chinweze advised that “Somebody should please tell Senator Ngige and his APC backers that we do things differently in Anambra State. We shall not accept any attempts to impose a candidate or any alien cultures of violence on Anambra State. We shall resist it,” he warned.