The Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC) yesterday slated August 31, 2024 for the conduct of local government elections in the state.
Chairman of the commission, Ayuba Wandai Usman, disclosed this at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State.
Wandai maintained that the council elections has become necessary because tenure of the present crop of elected local government officials would expire on October 7, 2024 having spent three years in office as provided by the extant laws governing activities of the NASIEC.
He said: “You will recall that the commission conducted the last Local Government Councils elections on Wednesday 6th October, 2021 and the present executives were sworn-in and inaugurated on Friday 8th October, 2021 for a tenure of three years which will end on Monday 7th October, 2024.
As you are aware, the Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission is a law-abiding institution that has continued to promote adherence to Laws, Rules and Regulations governing the conduct of Local Government Councils Elections in Nasarawa State.”
The NASIEC chairman concluded that based on the extant laws, the commission had on August 31, 2023 given notice that the Local Government Chairmanship and Councillorship Elections would hold on August 31, 2024.
Faced with the prospect of life outside the corridors of power, Nasir El-Rufai, the ex-Governor of Kaduna State, is applying pressure on influential figures in a bid to secure a ministerial position in President Bola Tinubu’s administration. Despite initially signalling a lack of interest in the role, El-Rufai has reportedly sought the advocacy of traditional and religious leaders to facilitate his nomination for ministerial confirmation in the Senate.
Prominent among those El-Rufai is soliciting is the former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II. Last week, Sanusi met with President Tinubu, requesting the resubmission of El-Rufai’s name to the Senate for ministerial confirmation. He urged Tinubu to overlook opposition from certain figures within the Presidency, including the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.El-Rufai’s renewed ambition comes in the wake of the Senate’s previous rejection of his nomination due to security concerns and other allegations.
Before Sanusi agreed to intervene, another source averred, the former Emir cautioned the loquacious ex-governor and advised him to desist from making public comments on controversial issues so as to see if President Tinubu would assist in confirming his ministerial nomination.
“You made a mistake when you rejected the ministerial nomination and made it public that day. You must keep quiet henceforth and allow me to talk to the president on the matter,” Sanusi was quoted to have told remorseful el-Rufai.
The ex-governor, feeling publicly embarrassed, briefly left the country and did not attend his son’s wedding. Sanusi suggested to Tinubu that El-Rufai’s initial rejection of the ministerial nomination was a result of his public humiliation.
El-Rufai’s determination to secure a ministerial position may also be linked to scrutiny over his previous administration’s handling of over 300 abandoned projects in Kaduna State. As Kaduna struggles with financial woes partly attributed to El-Rufai’s tenure, an appointment into power might provide him with a necessary lifeline.
House of Justice, a Kaduna based multi-door justice house has protested the nomination of the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir Ahmad Elrufai, as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, stating as basis for the protest, his abysmal human rights violations and mass atrocities record especially during his 8-year tenure as Governor of Kaduna state.
The Petition which was signed by Gloria Mabeiam Ballason Esq, the Chief Executive Officer and Advocacy Lead of the organization, cited among other reasons for objection, Elrufai’s admission of being an accessory to murder by paying killers, arbitrary demolition of properties of citizens and political opponents, sacking teachers and withholding their salaries, imprisonment of journalists and activists, and sacking of traditional rulers as well as the persecution of the Southern Kaduna people.
The Petition further noted that there was a pending verdict of Nigeria’s parliament that declared Elrufai as not fit and proper to occupy public office and that international reports such as the 2020 and 2023 British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) reports , dishonourably indicted the former Governor.
The Petition which had attached to it evidence of the allegations against the embattled former Governor, also noted that Elrufai has no respect for the Constitution, rule of law or the code of conduct for public officers and could only fit into a dictatorship and not a democracy.
The Petition was signed as received by the office of the Senate President in Abuja.
Recall that during the ministerial screening on the floor of the senate on Tuesday a senator from Kogi West senatorial District, Senator Sunday Karimi informed the senate that he is in possession of a petition against Elrufai over the issue of insecurity in Southern Kaduna.
Karimi said during the screening, “Mr. President, I have a petition written against the nominee over the issue of insecurity in Southern Kaduna when he was governor.
“If I am permitted, I will like to read the petition.”
Senator Karimi was never given the chance to read his petition.
Ironically, the three senators from Kaduna state including that of Kaduna Southern senatorial District where Elrufai is accused of human rights violations, and other related allegations all passed votes of confidence on the former governor.
Whether the senate will act on House of Justice’s petition it has acknowledged receipt of is left to be seen.
3. He made hundreds of thousands of people homeless by demolishing their homes without compensation and devoid of legal cause or court orders and continued the spree until his last days in office.
4. He destroyed the houses of those who held different opinions to his including persons in his own party and outside it. Sen. Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi’s home was demolished and turned into a park. Former Attorney General of Katsina, Alh. Inuwa Abdulkadir, died while waiting for justice for his house which was arbitrarily destroyed by Mallam Nasir Ahmad Elrufai.
5. He sacked thousands of teachers from their jobs and refused to pay teachers their salaries. Some teachers had it worse, they were killed while trying to undergo needless verification exercises he imposed.
6. Traditional Rulers were imprisoned or killed under his watch in questionable circumstances and he decapitated what remained of the traditional institution by proscribing chiefdoms, changing the identity of people and arbitrarily sacking traditional rulers.
7. The Nigeria Labour Congress, led by their national president tried to resolve the crises he had with Kaduna State workers but he turned the NLC’s intervention into a wrestling spree and unleashed security apparatus against them.
8. Journalists and activists who endeavored to report the rape of law and justice carried out by his government were arbitrarily arrested, persecuted and thrown into prisons.
11. The 2020 and 2023 British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Report, Nigeria Unfolding Genocide? Records that Nigeria is the global epicenter of violence against Christians and Mallam Nasir Ahmad Elrufai got a dishonorable mention in the reports.
Attached are evidence of the submissions in this petition. Mallam Nasir Ahmad Elrufai has no respect for the Constitution, rule of law or the code of conduct for public officers. Good performance and compliance with the rule of law are not mutually exclusive. Elrufai fits into a dictatorship where brute force is the hallmark of rulership but poses great danger to fundamental freedoms and the ideals of democracy.
Your Excellency and the Senate may wish to clerk in and reserve his performance to a government of brute force. Nigeria with a population of over 215 million people is not without more capable candidates who would deliver on the demands of ministerial office while upholding the Constitution please.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state, has described the proposed cash transfer policy of the Federal Government as a scam.
Sani stated this while speaking in an interview with Arise Television’s News Night on Friday.
The governor said, “My position has always been that, at this critical time, cash transfer should not be something that we should bring up, completely. I think that cash transfer for me, in my opinion, is a scam. Completely is a scam. I can be very certain about that, because who are you transferring the money to?
“Let me give an example, go and check the current statistics. Like I said, as the Chairman, Committee of Banking for four years in Nigeria, I oversight Central Bank, I oversight all the commercial sector of our economy for the last four years and I look at the statistics, I will be very firm on this issue and you can go and check it.
“Let me give an example, go and check the current statistics. Like I said, as the Chairman, Committee of Banking for four years in Nigeria, I oversight Central Bank, I oversight all the commercial sector of our economy for the last four years and I look at the statistics, I will be very firm on this issue and you can go and check it.
“About 70 to 75 percent of the rural population in North West are financially excluded completely. You will have to go and check, these people we are talking about are important people in the society. They do not even have a bank account so who are you transferring the money to?
“Let’s try and work very hard to make sure that they are financially included, that is the most important thing and I will like to call on our development partners, the World Bank, to put more money towards bringing more people into the financial services and the vulnerable in particular.
“Let’s put more money to ensure that we open accounts for them, get them involved, if we don’t do that, no matter what we do however you do it, money will go to the wrong people, that’s the fact.”
President Bola Tinubu had earlier unveiled his administration’s plan for a monthly N8,000 transfer to 12 million of the poorest households in the country for six months, in a bid to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy.
The plan was contained in a letter read last Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives regarding the $800 million loan request of the previous Muhammadu Buhari administration for a social safety net programme.
But days after the announcement, the Federal Government said it will review the move following the public outcry it generated among Nigerians.
Recall that following the removal of the petrol subsidy and the recent hike in petrol prices to up to N617/litre, the National Executive Council (NEC) agreed on palliative measures for Nigerians.
NEC also considered integrity tests on state social registers, cash transfers would be done via state social registers subject to state peculiarities.
The Federal Government also initiated a six-month cash award policy for public servants.
According to the Federal Government, food items grains and fertilizers are to be distributed by state governments at the rate acquired from National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), while states were asked to double down on energy transition plans in the transport sector.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State Tuesday objected to the admissibility of documents from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presented by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Kaduna.
The governor also requested the dismissal of the petition brought by the opposition party and its candidate, Hon Mohammed Isah Ashiru, saying it lacked merit.
Governor Sani’s counsel, Chief Duro Adeyele (SAN), did not disclose the grounds for the objection to the admissibility of the documents.
He stated that their valid objection would be presented in written addresses filed before the tribunal.
In compliance with a subpoena issued by the tribunal, INEC tendered documents, including forms EC8A, EC8B, and EC8C, from polling units in nine local government areas: Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Zaria, Sabon Gari, Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Kubau, Lere, and Kudan.
Adeyele and INEC’s counsel, A.M. Aliyu (SAN), argued that the original election documents in INEC’s custody should not have been brought to court.
He stated that the original documents were supposed to remain in the commission’s custody and that any party other than the PDP could request certified true copies of the documents.
In an interview with journalists, PDP’s counsel, Giovanni Laah, stated that they wanted the original documents to remain before the tribunal until they called witnesses.
The tribunal adjourned the sitting to today for the continuation of the hearing.
APC presents witnesses against Kaduna PDP senator
Meanwhile, APC’s senatorial candidate, Muhammed Sani Abdullahi (Dattijo), presented three additional witnesses, who provided documents regarding the educational background of Senator Lawal Usman, the representative of Kaduna Central at the Senate.
The witnesses appeared before a three-man panel, headed by Justice H.H Kereng, at the tribunal on Tuesday. They were cross-examined by M.A. Magaji SAN, the counsel for the PDP.
Mr. Johnson Usman, the counsel to Dattijo, informed journalists after the tribunal’s sitting that the witnesses included those from Aminu Shehu College of Advanced Studies and the principal of Great Diamond School.
He stated that “Aminu Shehu College of Education said his name was not there at all, and the first petitioner himself has testified and tendered documents. Particularly, the letter was written by Demonstration Primary School, Gwagwalada, as well as Government Day Secondary School, Gwagwalada, stating that Lawal Adamu Usman was never a student there.”
He declined further comment, saying it’s left for the court to determine.
In response, M.A. Magaji (SAN), the counsel to the PDP senator, expressed unfamiliarity with the name of the school presented as witnesses.
He asserted their confidence in their mandate and their intention to prove in court that Senator Usman won the election.
The asset recovery committee set up by Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, on Tuesday, stormed the automobile workshop owned by former governor Samuel Ortom with towing vehicles and removed some vehicles.
Alia, through his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, recently disclosed that government vehicles, numbering 29, were allegedly looted by the past governor.
Tersoo had said in a statement that “the case of the Goverment House is particularly pitiable with vandalised furniture, window blinds, electronics and other household appliances.
“This is besides the carting away of all vehicles, including an ambulance and A press crew bus, attached to the office of the governor.
“At the last count, 29 vehicles, attached to the governor’s office, are still no where to be found.”
A source told our correspondent on Tuesday that the asset recovery committee stormed Ortom’s automobile workshop on Tuesday afternoon but were resisted by the workers there.
When contacted, the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bemgba Iortyom, confirmed that indeed state agents went to Ortom’s automobile workshop.
Iortyom said, “Governor Alia has now sent towing trucks to ex-Governor Ortom’s automobile workshop to cart away vehicles, after attempts to drive them away failed.”
It will be recalled that Ortom and his deputy, Benson Abounu, secured a court order restraining the asset recovery committee from coming after them.
In the suit, marked MHC/199/2023, filed through their lawyer, Douglas Pepe (SAN), Ortom and Abounu asked the court to determine “whether property legitimately allocated to them as entitlements and remuneration can be considered as state government assets.”
They are seeking “a determination of court whether or not by the combined effect of sections 5(2), 44, 318(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the executive actions and decisions of the Governor and Government of Benue State taken by Ortom and Abounu and the State Executive Council, in good faith before May 29th, 2023, were valid.”
The ex-governor and his deputy also want the court to determine “whether or not the Governor of Benue State is not bound by the constitutional approvals made by his predecessor.”
They are contending that the asset recovery committee set up by Alia has no power to interfere with their rights to own property “vested in them by the Benue State Government at all material times or without following due process.”
Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has announced that his administration inherited a debt burden of N307 billion from the immediate past administration in the state.
The governor announced this shortly after receiving the reports of the committees on the Transition and Strategic Development Framework for Plateau State on Monday in Jos.
Prof. Ganyir Lombin headed the two committees.
The governor voiced his determination to take the state to greater heights despite its huge debt profile.
Mutfwang particularly expressed his readiness to tackle the current security challenges in the state.
“Throughout the campaign season, we were under the mistaken belief that our debt burden was around N200 billion; to hear that it is N307 billion is quite intimidating and worrisome,” he said.
The governor pledged to meticulously study the document presented to him, adding that further investigation would also be conducted with appropriate action taken after that.
Earlier, Lombin explained that some operational challenges prevented the two committees, which had appointees of the past administration as members, from jointly presenting their report.
He noted that the handover notes presented to the governor on May 29 differed from the agreed template developed by the joint committee.
Nasir El Rufai, the immediate former governor of Kaduna State, said elders from the southern part of the state humiliated his deputies who were from the zone.
Mr El Rufai also explained how he decided to pick a Muslim woman from the zone as his running mate.
Mr El Rufai made the statement while delivering a keynote address during the book launch and retirement event in honour of Ishaq Akintola, the founder of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) on Saturday.
Kaduna is divided into three senatorial zones. While residents of Kaduna North and Central are predominantly Muslim, residents of Southern Kaduna are mainly Christians.
Muslim governors of the state traditionally have Christian deputies from Southern Kaduna.
Humiliated deputies
Mr El Rufai, who served for two terms from 2015 to 2023, said in the first tenure, he picked his long-term friend, Barbanas Bala, a southern Kaduna Christian, ”but was almost frustrated out of office in the first two years”.
He said some unamed southern Kaduna elders were angry with him for not accepting a list of prospective deputy governor candidates from people he called “self-appointed, so-called Southern Kaduna Christian elders”.
He also said Mr Bala was hated for coming from a minority ethnic group, Moroa, and not the Atyap, Bajju, Jaba or Kagoro which led to some of them calling Mr Bala a “sellout”.
“Nothing prepared either Bantex or I for the viciousness with which he was treated by the constituency he was meant to be represented by his presence on the governorship ticket. He offered thrice to resign from office within our first two years in office. Bantex therefore barely made it to the end of our first term, psychologically battered by the hostility and hobbled by a resurgence of ill-health… Bantex lost his bid to represent the Kaduna South Senatorial District in the 2019 election. We lost him a year or so later,” he said.
The former federal capital territory minister said what happened to Mr Bala made him change his mind in selecting a running mate in 2019.
He said the decision to have a southern Kaduna Christian as a deputy governor in the state has not led to the desired unity and progress.
He said he decided to settle for a Muslim Southern Kaduna woman, Hadiza Balarabe, but the hostilities didn’t cease.
“For the 2019 election, my choice of running mate followed the established pattern, except in two particulars: gender and religion. Dr Hadiza Balarabe is from a minority ethnic group (Gwantu) in southern Kaduna, but she is a woman and a Muslim.
“Her choice met with the usual hostility from the same persons that had so battered and demoralised Bantex, my first deputy. But it demonstrated that not everyone who mouths diversity and inclusion is actually interested in those values. The first woman to be elected as deputy governor from the far north of Nigeria was not seen as a pathfinder, a breakthrough for gender and a reaffirmation of the possibility of democracy to elect persons from minority and excluded groups. Only one marker of identity seemed to matter in such quarters. But the fact that Bantex had that marker – religion – had saved neither him nor I from opprobrium,” he said.
Mr El Rufai said that despite being of the same faith as Mrs Balarabe, their administration was dedicated to the equality of all people of the state.
“Dr Hadiza Balarabe and I ran a government dedicated to the equality of persons, resolutely pursuing the policy of common citizenship. Despite sharing the same faith, we were bound by the injunctions of our Islamic faith, our oaths of office and our societal values to exercise our duties with fairness and justice. Electing persons of the same faith is neither a threat to the rights of others nor a blow to inclusion: it may only have highlighted other identities that tend to be excluded, as we did in Kaduna State.
“If we want our citizens to invest in common causes, to work in mutual endeavours for progress, to build a society of merit, hard work and fairness, we must deemphasise religion and region, and their vicious twin ethnicity, in making political decisions and choices. Let us build a society centred around citizens, who can live and pursue livelihoods everywhere, with constitutional rights that apply to all,” he added.
Mr El Rufai faced criticism, especially from the southern Kaduna part when he settled for Mrs Balarabe as his running mate in 2019.
The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, has said that Nigeria witnessed the worst phase of corruption during the last administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Kukah stated this while delivering a keynote speech at the 60th call to bar anniversary celebration of legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, in Ado Ekiti on Monday.
The cleric noted that corruption did not start under Buhari, but that his administration amplified it morally and financially.
He said, “We have seen the worst phase of corruption in Nigeria. Femi Falana, my friend here, will speak about that because he has published a series of articles talking about what happened under the Buhari administration.
“They were not the ones who caused corruption but I think in the last administration, we saw the ugliest phase of corruption whether in moral terms, financial terms and other terms,” he said.
Kukah lamented that Nigeria is sharing its sovereignty which is guaranteed in the constitution with bandits and other terrorists.
The clergyman expressed worry that Nigerian is literally being held hostage by people who threaten the very existence of our democracy and country.
According to him, a lot of Nigerians have lost faith in the judiciary.
He described the judiciary as a victim the same way every other institution in Nigeria is suffering a crisis.
According to him, Nigeria should not yet assume that it is a democracy but instead assume that it is matching towards democracy, which means rebuilding Nigeria “after the kind of mess the last administration has left the country.”
The Bishop, however, said it is time to rebuild the country, adding that Nigerians have put the “ugly past” behind them, following the outcome of the 2023 general elections.
Senator Shehu Sani, a former lawmaker has described the situation of the people of Southern Kaduna under the leadership of APC in the state in the last eight years as that of “blacks in South Africa during the apartheid regime”.
He congratulated the people of Southern Kaduna for surviving the most difficult period of their existence in the hands of the APC-led administration of Nasir El-Rufai in the state, describing it as the hardest moment in the history of the people under any leader in the state.
Speaking as the chairman of a party organised by supporters of Senator Sunday Katung Marshal in Kaduna on Saturday, Sani said, “I am always so passionate about the people of Southern Kaduna because the area occupies a special place not only in Kaduna state but in Nigeria as a whole.”
He hailed the efforts of the people for standing their ground irrespective of any difficult situation to defend their ancestral land at all cost and their resolution to support PDP and its candidates in every election.
He enjoined the people to pray and support Senator Sunday Katung Marshal and other representatives from the area to succeed in their official assignments and ensure that they deliver their people from Egypt to the promised land.
The PDP gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 election in the state, Isa Ashiru, enjoined Senator Sunday Katung Marshal and other representatives from the zone to remain focused and deliver the people by doing all that is necessary to restore the good fortune of the area.
Senator Sunday Katung Marshal while responding, thanked the organisers of the programme, saying it was a challenge to him and other representatives from the area to deliver on their mandate and make life more meaningful to the people of the zone.
According to him, “I decided that I was going to commune with my brothers from the House of Representatives and State House of Assembly to ensure that we do an assessment of the Senatorial District to actually understand what the people really expect. That we have done, we have articulated it and all about security, with security, people will be able to carry out their businesses, go to farm and children go to school without any problem.”
