Students warn Buhari against fuel subsidy removal

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Monday warned the President elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari against any attempt to remove fuel subsidy, saying such action would be vehemently resisted.

Similarly, it called on the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan not to assent to the budget when it gets to his table, if there was no provision for fuel subsidy in it.

In a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Com. Nwanko Ezekiel, in Abuja, the group said removing fuel subsidy was anti-people.

I won’t discriminate against any tribe —Ambode

Lagos State Governor-elect, Akinwunmi Ambode has declared that he won’t discriminate against any tribe in the course of governing the state.

He made the declaration in his acceptance speech shortly before he received his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for emerging winner in the governorship poll conducted in Lagos, western Nigeria, on Saturday.

Ambode polled 811,994 votes to defeat Agbaje who polled 659,788 votes in a keenly contested governorship election.

Buhari vows to ‘lead from the front’ battle against Boko Haram

Presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday vowed to “lead from the front” in the fight against Boko Haram if elected in the country’s forthcoming election. The former military ruler, who rejected descriptions of him as a “dictator”, also argued against further delays to the election and said a free, fair and peaceful vote would boost democracy in Africa.

The 72-year-old Flag bearer of the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC) has been seen as neck-and-neck with President Goodluck Jonathan in the closely fought election campaign. 

Some have predicted that Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could lose power for the first time since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.

We are already winning war against Boko Haram, says Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said the military was gaining the upper hand against Boko Haram, despite two bombings in the country’s north that killed at least 27.

“The President assures all Nigerians, and the people of the northeastern states in particular, that the days of mourning victims of incessant terrorist attacks in the country will soon be over as the tide has now definitely turned against Boko Haram,” his office said in an emailed statement.

Yuletide: Police restate warning against use of knockouts in Lagos

Firecrackers, also known as firework, banger

The Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday restated its warning against the use of firecrackers during the Yuletide, saying violators would face the wrath of the law.

Firecrackers, also known as 'Banger' or 'Knock-out' are a popular feature in various parts of Nigeria during Christmas and New Year.

Speaking in an interview, the command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Kenneth Nwosu, said the police had already issued a warning to that effect.

``We have issued a press release warning Lagosians against it and we will continue to emphasise that the use of knockouts or fireworks during this Christmas is banned.

2015: Ondo aspirants threaten to work against PDP

The crisis in the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party assumed a new dimension on Sunday with the party aspirants in the state threatening to work against the success of the party in 2015.

The aggrieved Ondo aspirants are those vying for tickets to contest elections into the state House of Assembly, Federal House of Representatives and the Senate.

The Chairman, Ondo PDP Aspirants Forum, Femi Adekanmbi, who is also a contestant for the House of Representatives, told journalists in Abuja that the party should be allowed to conduct its primaries without interference if it must be successful in the forthcoming elections.

Adekanmbi, who spoke for all the aspirants, said some senior party officials had been acting against the dictates of the party’s constitution, warning that the PDP would lose in 2015 if its national body fails to intervene promptly.

He said, “We want the public to be informed of the impending loss of the PDP in Ondo State. When the result will be out on February 15, 2015 showing the loss of the PDP in Ondo, nobody should be surprised.

“The people of Ondo State are ready to take their destiny in their hands; you cannot handpick and impose on us. This is to sensitise Nigerians because there is going to be protest vote against the PDP in the 2015 elections.”

Adekanmbi also alleged that the membership of the party by the Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, was not genuine because he did not register in the party according to the PDP’s constitution.

He said, “Governor Olusegun Mimiko joined the party on October 2, 2014 and that was when the PDP congress was about 29 days away. Under the party’s constitution, Chapter 2, Section 8, subsection 1 to 11, a person that joins PDP within 30 days before congress cannot partake in the congress.

“This is because the party’s register would have been closed a month before congress. The implication is that the people who came to the party with Mimiko are not members of the PDP, including the governor, because they have not been registered according to our constitution.”

He explained that a panel set up by the party’s national body disqualified original members of the Ondo PDP from contesting political positions after the politicians had spent huge sums of money on their campaigns.

The Ondo aspirants’ forum chairman said, “House of Assembly aspirants bought forms for N1.25m; House of Representatives, N2.5m and Senate for N4m. After buying these forms, a screening panel was constituted by the national PDP and was sent to Ondo State. When the panel got to Ondo, it disqualified all the original PDP members and approved people who are just joining the party. Now, that is the problem.

“The panel was hijacked and they took it to Government House instead of the PDP secretariat and wrote disqualification certificates for our members and held a meeting and signed our mandates away.

“We want to totally disagree with the meeting that was chaired by the Senate President, David Mark, with Dr. Mimiko and some of our so-called leaders on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa.”

He argued that nobody had the right to dissolve the party’s executive council in the state, local governments and wards.

“We are pursuing our case in court to get to a logical conclusion. We have notified INEC through the court why they must not recognise the Labour Party aspirants who claim to be PDP members in Ondo,” Adekanmbi said.