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The President-elect of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Saturday, gave the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State, Usman Ododo, his blessings, ahead of the November 2023 elections in the state.  Ododo, who emerged the Kogi APC governorship candidate through a direct primary election on April 14 and was ratified through a special Congress of the party on April 15, was presented to Tinubu by Governor Yahaya Bello in Abuja.  The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Chairman, Kogi APC, Abdullahi Bello; were among the party stakeholders who interracted with Ododo, the party's flagbearer in Kogi State, during his visit to the President-elect.  Tinubu, while congratulating the candidate, lifted his hand up as a show of acceptance and affirmation of his candidacy and expressed absolute confidence in the capacity of APC to win the November governorship election, landslide, in Kogi State. Recall that Ododo had, on Friday, also received Pr

A Kogi State High Court sitting in Lokoja, the state capital, has ordered the Federal Government to desist from proceeding with the concession of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) at Itakpe.  The court also barred the government from conducting its planned virtual pre-qualification conference interview slated for May 4, 2023, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.  The Federal Government had commenced concession process for the two companies which are located in Kogi State, and had placed an advertisement to that effect.  However, the Attorney General of Kogi State, on behalf of the government and people of the state, approached the court with a suit marked HCL/211M/2023 and sought for enrolment order of the court stopping the government from continuing with the concession process.  While the Attorney General of Kogi State is the Claimant/Applicant, the Attorney General of the Federation, Ministry of Mine

The Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State, Usman Ododo, on Friday, received President Muhammadu Buhari's blessings as the party's flagbearer in the November election.  Ododo, while briefing State House Correspondents after he was presented to the President by Governor Yahaya Bello, said he was committed to building on the unparalleled developmental strides of the Governor, which were achieved through inclusive governance, if elected in the forthcoming polls.  He said, with his wealth of experience in the private and public financial sectors, as well as the opportunity of learning from Bello, who he described as a great leader to Kogites, he was well equipped to steer the ship of the confluence state in the desired direction.  The APC candidate said specifically that he was confident of APC's victory in the November governorship election.  Ododo emerged the Kogi APC governorship candidate through a direct primary election on April 14 and was r

A Federal High Court in Lagos, on Wednesday, struck out an interim order of forfeiture obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, seeking to seize 14 properties allegedly linked to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.  Justice Nicholas Oweibo struck out the suit on the ground that Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution prevents the institution of any criminal or civil case against a sitting governor or the President.  The judge had, on February 22, granted the temporary forfeiture order, following an exparte motion filed by the anti-graft agency seeking to seize 14 properties located in Lagos, Abuja and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  The Court also directed EFCC to make publication in two national dailies for any interested parties to show cause why the order should not be made absolute.  However, consequent upon the publication of the preservative order, Governor Bello had filed Notice of Intention to oppose, and an application seeking the vacation of the interim

 Obidients’ post-truth fantasies By: Sanya Oni  If there is anything that the camp of Obidients in their curated world of alternative reality has achieved somewhat, it is how their inelegantly constructed universe of a ‘stolen presidency’ has continued to hold the imagination of their deluded members. Even when the raw facts tell a different story, it seems to me a measure of their relative success that their narratives of ‘flawed’ election have remained the talking point in a segment of the mainstream media and among their allies.  That what I observed on this page last week, as a deliberate mischaracterisation of the February/March polls has gone unchallenged for so long, has remained a mystery! Now, they appear unstoppable. They have largely succeded in drowning alternative voices, attacking just about everyone and every institution in sight. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, they have attacked for being an unworthy electoral body, with its chairman, Mahmood Yakub

 Competitiveness, credibility of 2023 polls By: Segun Ayobolu  It would appear from all indications that one of the key participants in Nigeria’s 2023 presidential elections, the Labour Party (LP), and its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, had a clear-cut and straightforward agenda to dictate the dominant narrative on the polls before and after the exercise. Before the elections, a number of sponsored and obviously flawed opinion polls had predicted an outright victory for Obi on February 25. In a worst-case scenario, they projected that the election would head for a run-off with Obi being one of the candidates that would qualify to participate in the supplementary poll.  Although many influential foreign media houses apparently accorded utmost seriousness to these polls, their empirical basis was largely entirely unreliable as succinctly explained by renowned senior lawyer and Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay, in a r

The 2023 general election, especially the February 25 presidential poll, has attracted much attention and generated more heat and controversy than the March 18 exercise for obvious reasons.  The February 25 poll was a keen and close race between three main political gladiators with an army of cult supporters who strongly believe that their candidate must win the election. They are Bola Tinubu of APC, Atiku Abubakar of PDP and Peter Obi of LP.  However, the 4th contender in the poll is the former governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).  In a close race like this where the All Progressives Congress (APC) won 12 states, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 12 states and the Labour Party (LP) won 11 states plus the Federal Capital Territory which makes its win to be 12 states, and NNPP won only one state, there is bound to be disputations over the election results. Disputation of election result has become part of our electoral system and d

Former Presidential candidate and Restructuring exponent,Rev Chris Okotie, has broken his silence after a brief hiatus following the general election. Speaking through his media adviser, Ladi Ayodeji in Lagos yesterday, Okotie said the fierce contests and contentions between politicians before, during and after the polls, justify his call for a new constitution. He is canvassing what he calls TOKO (The Okotie Option) as a template that could bring about the Nigerian Reformation.  The Reformation is anchored on four major components: Reconciliation, Reconstruction, Solidarity and a new foundation for development.  He explained this proposition in greater detail in a tweet:'It is time for Reconciliation;it is time for Reconstruction,it is time to join hands in solidarity,it is time to lay the foundation for posterity,it is time for TOKO. The Reformation of Nigeria is now!' Okotie insists that adhoc amendments of the constitution as being proposed by some would not lead to any ser

The candidature of Ahmed Usman Ododo as the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress in the Kogi State governorship election, scheduled for November 11, has been ratified by a special Congress of the party, as stipulated in the guidelines for the primary election, which held on Friday.  The special congress, presided over by the Chairman of the Kogi APC Primary Election Committee, Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, was held on Saturday at the Muhammadu Buhari Civic Centre, in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.  The crowd at the centre was unprecedented as APC members vowed to mobilise for Ododo during the November election and ensure he succeeds Governor Yahaya Bello. The  congress follows the emergence of Ododo, a former Auditor-General for Local Governments, as the APC candidate at the party's governorship direct primaries held across all the 239 wards of the state.  Announcing the results for ratification, the Secretary to the committee, who represented the Zamfara Gove

The All Progressives Congress has adopted the direct mode of primaries for the conduct of the Governorship Primary Election in Kogi State.  The party informed the Independent National Electoral Commission as well as aspirants of its decision to adopt the direct mode, in a letter dated 6th April, 2023, and signed by the Acting National Chairman, Senator Abubakar Kyari.  The letter reads in part: "We refer to our earlier letter dated 25th January, 2023, with reference no: APC/NHDQ/INEC/19/023/191 wherein we notified the Commission of the mode of primary election for the conduct of the Gubernatorial Primary Election in Kogi State.  "However, our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has reviewed the modalities for the conduct of the Gubernatorial Primary Election in Kogi State and has therefore resorted to adopt the DIRECT mode of primary election instead of the Indirect Mode as earlier communicated.  "The date for the conduct of the primary election still remain

A former Vice President (VP)  of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Zone D, Comrade Tims Ejigah, has described the lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Smart Adeyemi, as a politician with a character baggage who lacks capacity to win election for any political party.  Ejigah, one of Adeyemi's closest allies during his days as NUJ President and all through the time he began his journey into national politics, disclosed that the Senator had the habit of using and dumping those who assist him. The veteran journalist, who spoke to Kogi journalists at the NUJ secretariat in Lokoja, expressed surprise that Adeyemi had joined the Kogi Governorship race, stressing that if elections were to be conducted today, and only journalists were to vote, over 80 per cent would vote against the senator.  According to him, he will only be wasting the ticket of any political party that makes the mistake of making him their candidate.  "Whichever

 UNCONDITIONAL LOVE: JESUS CHRIST WILLINGLY SACRIFICED HIMSELF ON THE CROSS FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. It's good Friday Good Friday is a solemn and reflective day for Christians, reminding them of Jesus' sacrifice and the price he paid for their salvation. It is a time for prayer, fasting, and repentance, as well as a time to express gratitude for God's love and mercy. Good Friday known as Holy Friday, Great Friday or Easter Friday—is observed on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday. This day commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Chris. The history of Good Friday is known to all. The story of this holy day originates from Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. According to the Gospels, Judas Iscariot, who was one of the disciples of Lord Jesus, betrayed him and helped a few temple guides to arrest Jesus Christ in exchange of a few silver coins. There were many charges against Lord Jesus, who was arrested for allegedly misleading the masses, claiming to be God’s son and provo