PDP REJECTS BY-ELECTION RESULT AS APC WINS IN THREE STATE

                                      

     Prior to the release of by-election results on Sunday by INEC , Kogi and Katsina state chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party have rejected the results of the Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency and Katsina North Senatorial Zone by-elections, which held on Saturday in the states.The Chairman, PDP Kogi State, Mr Sam Ohuetu, made the call on behalf of the party at a news conference in Abuja on Sunday.Ohuetu alleged that the election was neither free nor fair, insisting that it was marred by violence, snatching of ballot boxes and vote-buying.

     He also alleged that appointees and key officials of the Kogi State Government who were not indigenes or voters in the constituency were seen intimidating and harassing the electorate with thugs and personnel of security agencies. The PDP chairman said, “Accredited voters were not allowed to vote as armed thugs shot sporadically into the air after accreditation, forcing the electorate to flee.

Read more:

DAURA DRAG TO COURT OVER FOREIGN ACOUNT

   
       Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance  (CACOBAG), has called for the probe of the sacked Director-General of the Department of State Services, Mr Lawal Daura, for his alleged connection  with two fraudulent foreign bank accounts. The group alleged that part of the over £3m released by the Federal Government to be paid as ransom to Boko Haram for the release of Dapchi schoolgirls was diverted into two foreign accounts operated by a Nigerian security chief under the pseudonym, Auwalu Kallamu.  The group, while welcoming the sacking of Daura by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, said it believed the coast was now clear for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to look into its call to unravel the link between the said Auwalu Kallamu and Daura.

    The group believes that EFCC will take every needful actions to investigate connection between Lawal Daura and fake  Auwalu Kallamu . This is by exposing him of his corrupt act as well as punishing him according to our law. Only this will prove to the world our seriousness in the fight against corruption.  The CSO asserts that “ let us warn, any attempt to sweep this matter under the carpet will be resisted by the mass of our people and CACOBAG will take all legitimate means to compel EFCC to do its work,” 

FRESH PLOT TO ARREST SARAKI AND EKWEREMADU, PDP ALLEGES

         The Peoples Democratic Party claims it has again uncovered a plot by the All Progressives  Congress and a group in the Presidency to use security agencies and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to invite, arrest and detain the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu. It also claimed it had unraveled fresh facts confirming that the pressure by the Presidency for the reconvening of the Senate was out of an alleged sinister motive and not for any emergency in the approval of the budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission for the 2019 elections.The former ruling party said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja on Sunday that the alleged fresh plot to detain the two presiding officers was part of a renewed design to keep them out of circulation, ahead of Senate’s resumption.

     The detention of both, he said,  would enable those  he described  as  “the APC senators,” who he said were  in the minority, to present two of their members as Senate President and Deputy Senate President  on the excuse that Saraki and Ekweremadu failed to show up for proceedings in the Senate on Tuesday.He also alleged that the government was planning to use the EFCC to harass members of the families of the presiding officers of the Senate.

        Ologbondiyan added that the PDP was further informed that contrary to claims by the APC and the Presidency, INEC actually submitted the budget to the Presidency in February 2018, only for the Presidency to submit it to the National Assembly in July when the legislature was already going on recess; with a view to enmesh it in a needless controversy.He called on the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to stop acting righteous as Nigerians were aware that he was part of the actors behind the sordid developments playing out in the National Assembly.

      Ologbondiyan called on Nigerians and the international community to note the alleged activities of the APC and the Buhari Presidency, which he said had continued to put the unity and stability of the nation and democracy under serious tension. Ologbondiyan affirms that the PDP was  informed that contrary to claims by the APC and the Presidency, INEC initailly submitted the budget to the Presidency in February 2018, only for the Presidency to submit it to the National Assembly in July when the legislature was already going on recess; with a view to ensnare it in a needless acrimony.

      The spokesman, Mr.Kola Ologbodiyan called on the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to stop acting as a saint, saying that Nigerians were aware that he was part of the sordid developments playing out in the Upper Chamber. Ologbondiyan called on Nigerians and the international community to notify  the alleged activities of the APC and the Buhari Presidency, which  had continued to put the unity and stability of the nation and democracy under serious tension.

BARCA BEATS SEVILLA 2-1 TO WIN 13TH SUPER CUP TROPHY

      Barcelona battled back to defeat Sevilla 2-1 and win the Spanish Supercup on Sunday with French World Cup winner Ousmane Dembele hitting a sensational winner to help give Lionel Messi a winning start as captain.It was Barcelona's 13th Supercup and sixth in the last nine seasons. However, Sevilla squandered a golden chance to send the match into extra-time when Wissam Ben Yedder missed a last-minute penalty.Pablo Sarabia gave Sevilla the lead after just nine minutes on a counter-attack.Gerard Pique, who announced his international retirement with Spain on Saturday, levelled three minutes before the interval for Barcelona after he was fastest to respond to a loose ball following a Messi free-kick. That set the stage for French star Dembele to take the headlines with a 78th minute screamer from 25 yards and again Messi played a crucial role with the key 

    There was still time for late drama when Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen brought down Aleix Vidal in the area as the Sevilla youngster closed in on an equaliser.But Ben Yedder hit a weak penalty which was easily saved by Ter Stegen. The match had endured a controversial build-up when Sevilla threatened to file a complaint against Barcelona if the La Liga champions fielded more than three non-EU players.The Spanish football federation (RFEF) said on Saturday that there would be no restrictions on players from outside the EU for the Supercup, despite only three being allowed in squads for league matches.Sevilla said they could file a complaint if Barca name an “improper lineup” in Tangier.

APC WINS KOGI/LOKOJA BY-ELECTION

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of Saturday’s bye-election for the Lokoja/Kogi Federal constituency. The Returning Officer, Prof. Rotimi Ajayi of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL), who announced the outcome of the exercise in the early hours of Sunday, at the LG INEC Headquarter Lokoja, declared the APC candidate, Haruna Isah winner, “haven satisfied the requirements of the Electoral Act”.

Read More:

SAUDI-UAE COALITION, 50 PEOPLE BURIED.

Grieving parents are among those burying loved ones in Yemen on Sunday after an air strike killed dozens of people, including at least 29 children. On Thursday a school bus in the Dahyan area of Houthi rebel-controlled Saada province in the north of the country was hit by the Saudi-UAE military alliance.Days later, body parts remain unidentified and some families are desperately searching for the remains of their children. Abdelhakim Amir searched the wreckage of the burned-out bus in the hope of finding some sign of his son, Ahmed."I just found some of what the child was wearing," he said. "I didn't find any of his remains, not his finger, not his bone, not his skull, nothing. I looked through all the remains in the hospital and I didn't see anything."

   Twenty-nine small graves were dug at a cemetery in Saada where the children will be buried. The funerals were to take place on Saturday but were delayed because of security concerns. Houthi fighters said such gatherings could be targeted by more coalition air strikes.

Read More;

.

Bauchi Senatorial By-Election, PDP leading as rain delay collation of results

   Residents of Bauchi South Senatorial District filed out in their thousands to vote for their preferred candidates in a by-election organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday, August 11th 2018.The election was held to fill the vacancy created by the death of the last occupant, Ali Wakili.

Late.Ali Wakili

    Candidates of nine political parties participated in the election. The parties in the contest are All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Kowa Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), People for Democratic Change (PDC), African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The All Progressives Congress has claimed victories in the two senatorial bye elections held in Bauchi and Katsina states on Saturday.  Gumau, the winner, was a two-time member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly and current member of the House of Representatives.

Lawal Yahaya Gumau

Read more;

NEW DSS BOOS, MAGU TO RECOVER MISSING 80 BILLION NAIRA

   IT will be recalled that the former Director General of Department of State Services Lawal Daura was sacked in the early hours of August 7th, 2018,following the locked down of the upper chamber, National House of Assembly. The Acting President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo appointed former EFCC chairman Ibrahim Magu has the new DSS Director General. Prof. Yemi Osibanjo,in

his war against corruption reconciled the rift between EFCC and Department of State which has under Lawal Daura unable to arrest and Investigate top personnel and security chiefs

suspected 

involving in large scale cash movement

VP- Professor Yemi Osibanjo

Apart from standing against the confirmation of Magu as the substantive chairman of the EFCC, Daura also discredited the EFCC boss and blocked his agency from arresting former heads of the DSS and the National Intelligence Agency,NIA, in November lasts year. According to Daura, no other  agency had any right to probe into the expenditure of the DSS, NIA and other security outfits, as doing so, was against the law establishing them. But Osinbajo on Tuesday cleared the way for all the officials of security agencies who had been fingered in the disappearance of about N80 billion last year, to be investigated and possibly charged to court

.

Foremer DSS Director General - Lawal Daura

       A top source close to the Presidency confirmed(undisclose) that Osinbajo had given full support to the EFCC and the DSS to trace the whereabouts of the cash and retrieve it without further delay. “It is in connection with the recovery of the huge cash that the Acting President met twice with the acting heads of DSS and EFCC for two consecutive days and ordered them to work together in order to trace and recover the money from whoever might have taken a penny out of it. “You can see that the two heads are actually moving to actualise the directive of the presidency and Nigerians will soon hear of the outcome of the synergy between the two agencies headed by Magu and Seifeya,” the source explained yesterday. 

New DSS Director General- IBRAHIM MAGU

    Top on the list of cash to be investigated by the DSS in conjunction with the EFCC is  $289,202,382 (N57.8bn) given to the National Intelligence Agency and another N20 billion, which was reportedly handed over to the DSS prior to the 2015 election. However, while part of the  $289 million given to the NIA was later found in an Ikoyi apartment in Lagos, nothing has been heard of the cash given to the DSS, which prompted the EFCC to launch a probe last November but was stalled when Daura unleashed his men to chase away the EFCC operatives. 

Ikoyi Cash 

      A top source close to the Presidency confirmed(undisclosed) learnt that Thursday’s invitation of the former head of the DSS, Mr. Ita Ekpenyong, by the EFCC was not an indictment on him but to enable him to share with EFCC vital information relating to cash left behind by him. It was gathered that Daura never wanted the information to be released to the EFCC while he was in charge given the fact that the cash reportedly left behind by Ekpenyong disappeared within a week of his departure from the agency. On the other hand, the NIA cash, which the former head of the agency claimed was ‘given to him to carry out some unspecified security assignments’, is to be pursued to a logical conclusion and all those found culpable to face trial to serve as a deterrent.