If Nigeria were a different country, a society that draws a moral line no one is allowed to cross, the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, would be out of her job by now. For some unclear reasons, she intervened in the case of the embattled Dean of Law, University of Calabar, Prof. Cyril Osim Ndifo, who is being investigated for cases of sexual assault. Her interference, the subtle threats she made to the young women she called on the phone, and her stunning lack of understanding of what sexual assault entails, jointly disqualify Kennedy-Ohaneye from holding a “Women Affairs” ministerial position. She gave herself away as unworthy of representing women’s interests, and the right thing was for her to be replaced.

Worth comparing to her case is the kissgate scandal that sank the head of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales. Amidst the euphoria of World Cup victory, Rubiales kissed midfielder Jennifer Hermoso on the lips. He said the kiss was consensual, but she insisted it was not. The case outraged many, made headlines internationally, and put Spain under the spotlight. Rubiales swore he would fight to the end but eventually capitulated to the value system of his country and resigned.

Unlike Rubiales, however, Kennedy-Ohaneye’s resignation (or sack) is not imminent for at least two reasons. One is that she was appointed by a leader with zero moral legitimacy. He would look quite hypocritical if he tried to enforce the standards he himself does not embody. Number two is significant because it speaks to the larger context of her survival—our society no longer has abominations. By that, I am not merely asserting that we no longer teach children not to whistle at night or jump over a pregnant woman’s outstretched legs. No, what I mean is that our society has let down moral standards so frequently that there are no longer boundaries. If you have the means, there is simply no border of behaviour you cannot cross. Anyhowness reigns.

One of the reasons I bring this up is connected to the incident with ex-president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and his alleged disrespect for traditional rulers in Oyo State. In a society where public events—including those attended by high-ranking government officials—are hardly ever structured, it is unsurprising that the Obas disregarded the protocol requiring them to stand up to acknowledge the governor’s presence. Meanwhile, should all those norms not be part of the rites of their installation?

Since the video of Obasanjo talking down at the royal fathers over their disrespect for the state governor went viral, I have been almost entertained by how people construed his brashness as disrespectful of “our culture,” “our traditions,” and “our values.” The shock that attended that incident illustrates what I have come to see as the Nollywoodization of public consciousness. Nigerians have been so enamoured with the cinema portrayal of Obas as “kabiyesi” (the one who owes no one accountability) that an encounter with reality shocked them to their bone marrow.

Obas simply do not have much of the ascribed cultural or constitutional consequence under our modern political system. That they are allowed to exist as relics of the past is a political strategy that can be dissipated at any time and without serious repercussions. No traditional ruler in any part of Nigeria is too big to be sacked. In fact, it is easier to sack an Oba than to sack a regular civil servant. A governor can wake up from a drunken stupor, sack an Oba, and nothing will happen. Obasanjo could have handled the situation like an elder, but he was not entirely wrong to remind the Obas where they belong on the political food chain. Any Oba that thinks himself too big for the ìwòsí meted out to them should stay in his palace next time.

Anyway, what is more amusing about the outrage that attended the incident is how people jumped to defend the integrity of “culture” and “traditions” to the extent of questioning Obasanjo’s Yorubaness. Perhaps the most hilarious of all the public statements rashly released in the wake of that incident was the one written by the Oluwo of Iwo, Abdulrosheed Adewale, an Oba that still goes by the clownish title of “His Imperial Majesty.” His statement said Obasanjo should be made to apologise for the “desecration” of traditional institutions to prove he is truly a Yoruba man. His press release is a study in irony because if I stopped ten people on a Yoruba road and asked which so-called traditional ruler has contributed the most to the diminishing of the Obaship institution, nine out of them would mention the Oluwo. His public image is that of a lout, a mere boor who could not be ennobled by his so-called “revered stool.”

Unfortunately, he is not alone in thinking of culture/tradition in such reduced terms. People take the veneration of symbolic items as what is there to “culture,” and begin to demand what is akin to idolatrous reverence for them. Each time the issue of homosexuality arises, it has become customary that someone will justify the criminalisation of sexuality by making the “culture” and “tradition” defence. They will tritely claim that our African culture is somehow superior to that of the West that lets its queer population breathe. Such limited understanding of what constitutes culture is why they prioritise the promotion of provincial (and primordial) identities over its capacity as an ideology that, if appropriately fashioned out, enhances social flourishing.

Culture is powerful, and a society unmindful of its force will find itself weeping over the disgrace of an Oba while leaving aside its far more worthwhile potential to structure a people’s imagination. In primary school, we were given the elementary definition of culture as a people’s way of life. We can look at our society today and understand that culture is also how people make life. Culture matters because it determines thoughts and actions, the spectrum of ideas that people consider good, moral, and worth promoting. That is why what society considers “abominable” matters. They are the standards that condition how far society will go on any issue and how far it also will not.

Look at the whole architecture of governance in Nigeria and you will see that both the Obas that represent the “traditional” institution and the ones of the modern political system symbolise this abject lack of standards. Both join hands to desecrate our democratic potential, enrich themselves at the expense of the people, and have no interest in “culture” unless they can manipulate it to promote our subservience to their politics. So, yes, we know things are bad, but it is not the royal fathers who routinely commit ethical infractions that should school us on the “desecration” of culture/tradition.

That our leaders no longer set a baseline for public officers shows the extent of our cultural degradation. That we too lack the means of making them accountable shows that nothing has meaning anymore. Our culture, no longer retaining what it should ideally consider abominable, has become self-defeating and significantly contributes to our social and economic backwardness.

It says so much about our country that the government as well as our citizens appear oblivious to the monumental human misery in Morocco and Libya. Given the magnitude of the catastrophe in the two North African countries, the federal government should have offered relief measures aside coordinating efforts at the level of individual citizens and corporate bodies to render support to the beleaguered people. Unfortunately, I would not be surprised if Nigerians are too consumed by their own existential challenges to be aware of what happened in Morocco and Libya. For such people, I will attempt to break it down. 

It all started the evening of 8^th September when a powerful earthquake struck a densely populated area near the Moroccan Atlas Mountains. The earthquake struck at 11 PM local time, which explains why in some cases, entire families were wiped out. With communities in the foothills completely flattened by massive boulders loosened from the mountains, no fewer than 2,946 people have reportedly died while the number of injured has been put at 5,674. Since when it rains on the continent, it pours, less than 48 hours after the tragedy in Morocco, ‘Storm Daniel’—regarded as the deadliest and costliest Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone ever recorded in history—landed in Libya after wreaking enormous damage in Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Two dams in the Libyan coastal city of Derna were destroyed, turning streets into rivers, as thousands of desperate people were swept away with their houses and other possessions into the Mediterranean Sea. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) last weekend put the figures of death at 11,300 with 10,100 people declared missing. 

I have read numerous heartrending stories describing these two African tragedies, some of which are almost of apocalyptic proportions. In the Morocco earthquake, for instance, Tayeb ait Ighenbaz was faced with the kind of choice nobody should pray to make: With his parents and his 11-year-old son trapped in the rubble, he had a few seconds to decide who needed his attention first. At the end, he saved his son but lost his parents. “It all happened so quickly. When the earthquake happened, we all ran to the door. My dad was sleeping, and I shouted at my mum to come, but she stayed behind to wait for him,” he lamented while recalling how he had to dig quickly to pull his son out of the rubble. “I couldn’t help my parents because the wall fell over half of their bodies. I saw my parents dying,” Tayeb reportedly said with tears. 

Meanwhile, the situation in Libya has been described as “disastrous beyond comprehension” by an official of the World Health Organization (WHO). When the two dams collapsed in Derna, according to him, “the water was released like an atomic bomb.” In a note of anguish, the Libyan Minister of Civil Aviation, Hichem Chkiouat, lamented on Monday that many of the corpses have remained where the water left them. “Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings. I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared,” Chkiouat told Reuters. A female local blogger, Sondos Shuwaib, recounted her horrifying experience. “There were corpses next to me, and corpses above me, and corpses beneath me…I am not able to comprehend what happened,” she wrote. “Sometimes I thank God for my survival – but when I remember my family…I wish I had died with them.” 

The account of Husam Abdelgawi, a 31-year-old accountant, who spoke to the BBC, is equally gripping. Woken up by a barking dog, he was confronted with what he described as a “ghastly, unimaginable scene, worse than death itself to witness”. When water flooded his house, Husam and his younger brother were lucky to float on power cables still tethered to their poles which helped to ferry them towards a nearby building they entered through a third-floor window. It was from there they made it to a fifth-floor rooftop. “The bodies of women and children were floating past us. Cars and entire houses were caught up in the current. Some of the bodies were swept by the water into our house,” Husam recalled. 

With heavy rainfall accompanied by storms increasingly becoming a problem in a desert country, we need to learn the lessons of Climate Change we are yet to imbibe in Nigeria. But those are issues for another day. Video reports of what happened in Morocco and Libya resemble scenes from horror movies. But while people all over the world are showing solidarity to the traumatised survivors in both countries, Nigerians are moving on as if nothing happened. It is true we have our own challenges, but I have also heard that the worst kind of poverty is when you believe you have nothing to give, especially to others in distress. As it is with individuals, so it is for nations.  

With almost a million people affected by the tragedy in a country of 6.88 million people, where there are already more than 300,000 displaced people because of war, Libya faces a very difficult future. Morocco is also challenged but it has enough capacity to pull through. Climate change, according to President Bola Tinubu in his maiden address at the United Nations General Assembly, “severely impacts Nigeria and Africa. Northern Nigeria is hounded by desert encroachment on once arable land. Our south is pounded by the rising tide of coastal flooding and erosion. In the middle, the rainy season brings floods that kill and displace multitudes.” But he also did not forget to highlight the tragedies in Morocco and Libya, with a pledge: “The Nigerian people are with you.”  

The president must match his word with action. The federal government, corporate bodies, and our citizens must rise for the people of Morocco and Libya in the spirit of African brotherhood and human solidarity.     

Endorsing The ‘Dave Umahi Protocol’ 

Concrete roads require significant technical expertise, whereas laying bitumen roads is simple. This has resulted in all manner of people with political connections, including certified crooks, being in the business of road construction in Nigeria. It is therefore little wonder that many of the expensive asphalt roads across the country hardly survive beyond two rainy seasons before they collapse. Apparently determined to change that narrative, the Minister of Works, Mr Dave Umari has decided to go for concrete roads. And not surprisingly, the contractors are fighting back.  

I have never met Umahi, but it is difficult to fault his argument that concrete roads are better suited for our environment. “We’ll redesign our roads in reinforced concrete pavement…I know that there are a lot of fights from contractors, but I am David, I am known for fight, and I will fight this because I have reported myself to Mr President” said Umahi last weekend at the State House. The former Governor of Ebonyi may be a David but if he imagines the only Goliath before him are the contractors then, he needs to be schooled in Abujapolitics. The real fightback will come from the National Assembly where budgets are usually cannibalized to take care of ‘constituency projects’, including perishable roads without designs—the kind of thing that Umahi wants to fight. 

Arguments for concrete roads are quite compelling and I will rehash some that I once highlighted on this page. One, concrete roads have a long lifespan of between 25 and 50 years and do not require frequent repair or patching, unlike asphalt roads. Two, concrete roads can support trucks and articulated vehicles carrying heavy loads with less impact than asphalt roads. Three, concrete roads do not get damaged by such things as leaking oil from vehicles or by weather conditions like excess rain or extreme heat. Four, it is now empirically proven that a vehicle, when run over a concrete road, consumes between 15 to 20 percent less fuel than when on asphalt roads. Five, concrete roads are more environmentally friendly since asphalt (bitumen) produces highly polluting gases at the time of melting. Six, asphalt (bitumen which we import) is produced from petroleum, a wasting asset, whereas concrete (cement) is produced from limestone that is available in abundance, especially in Nigeria. 

However, a major concern about concrete roads is that of safety. In rainy seasons, vehicles tend to slide on concrete roads, making them easily susceptible to accidents. In our kind of environment where motorists hardly obey traffic rules, that is a serious issue that we should not gloss over. There is also the challenge of maintenance. Since repairing concrete roads means replacing damaged slabs, that may also make its maintenance cost higher than that of asphalt. Notwithstanding, my vote is for concrete roads.  

We can learn from India, which has the second largest network of the roads in the world (6,331,791 kilometres as of December 2022) after the United States. In India, the first concrete road was built in 1914 and because it remained pot-hole free for about 60 years, that has continued to encourage the trend in the country. If insanity means doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different outcomes, there is no reason we should continue to build asphalt roads that are often washed away after heavy rainfall when we have the option to build concrete roads that are more durable.  

On Monday, I received a mail from a reader who wrote “with a sense of despair on how far things have degenerated in our dear country”, as he related his experience last Sunday on the road from Lagos to Auchi, Edo State. He left Lagos at 9am but ‘was fortunate’ to have arrived his destination by 8.30pm (11 and a half hour for a journey that ordinarily should take no more than four hours) whereas many other travellers spent the night on the road. Around Sabongida-Ora, according to him, two trailers got stuck and blocked the road. “Communities along the road had erected barriers, but the tragedy of Nigeria was such that it became an avenue for youths to collect money from truck drivers before opening the barriers. Now this was where my luck came. I saw people going and coming by Okada and immediately hired one to take me to Afuze, a distance of about five kilometres”. He eventually continued his journey from Afuze to Auchi on another stretch of terrible road. “Next day I left for Abuja and that road is another sad story of where we are as a country.” 

Why must we continue to waste money on building seasonal roads? Yes, I am following the debate. The contractors are protesting because they consider what I now describe as ‘The Umahi Protocol’ abrupt. I believe the Minister should dialogue with them on a transition plan. I also believe there should be a national policy on this issue. Unlike concrete roads that require specifications, asphalt roads, especially the kind being built by most contractors in Nigeria, are easily washed away after a heavy downpour. That explains why as many as five contracts can be awarded on the same road within a decade. According to Umahi, the president has already bought into his idea to change from asphalt to concrete for road construction in Nigeria. He can also count on my support.  

Bangladesh has successfully implemented various mechanisms to promote and support Small, Micro, and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which have played a significant role in the country's economic growth and poverty reduction, which Nigeria could mimic and adapt to our peculiar economic situation.

Let me start by presenting an in-depth overview of the Bangladeshi SME model and the lessons that Nigeria can learn from the Bangladeshi initiatives, for consideration and implementation

Specialized Financial Institutions:
Bangladesh has established specialized financial institutions dedicated to SME financing. Which is similar to the defunct People’s Bank of Nigeria that was established by the Ibrahim Babangida regime, which was headed by the late Maria Shokenu as the Managing Director and the late Dr Tai Solarin as Chairman. The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) and the SME Foundation are two prominent institutions that provide financial assistance, training, and technical support to SMEs. These institutions offer collateral-free loans, credit guarantees, and venture capital to address the funding gap that many SMEs in Nigeria face. Nigeria can learn from this approach by establishing similar institutions that focus on providing accessible and affordable financing options for SMEs.

Simplified Business Registration: Bangladesh has implemented policy reforms to simplify business registration processes and reduce bureaucratic hurdles for SMEs. The country introduced a "One-Stop Service" system, where entrepreneurs can complete all necessary registration procedures in a single location. This streamlined process has made it easier for SMEs to start and operate businesses. Nigeria can adopt a similar approach by simplifying its business registration procedures and reducing administrative burdens for SMEs. In order to achieve this, some of us analysts have advocated for the decentralization of the Corporate Affairs Commission to enable the 36 State governments to be able to register SMEs, with an integrated ICT with the Abuja central system.

Access to Credit: Bangladesh has taken steps to improve SMEs' access to credit by establishing credit information bureaus and promoting credit scoring systems. These initiatives have helped financial institutions assess the creditworthiness of SMEs more accurately, leading to increased lending to the sector. Nigeria can learn from this by implementing credit information systems and encouraging the use of credit scoring mechanisms to enhance SMEs' access to finance.

Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Training: Bangladesh has prioritized skills development and entrepreneurship training for SMEs. The country has established numerous training centers and vocational institutes that offer specialized courses and workshops to equip entrepreneurs with the necessary skills and knowledge to run successful businesses. Nigeria can replicate this approach by investing in vocational training programs and entrepreneurship development initiatives to enhance the capacity and competitiveness of its SME sector.

Export-Oriented Industrialization: Bangladesh has focused on developing specific sectors, such as garments and textiles, through export-oriented industrialization. The government has provided various incentives and support to SMEs operating in these sectors, leading to significant growth in export earnings. Nigeria can learn from this by identifying key sectors with export potential and providing targeted support to SMEs operating in those sectors to enhance their global competitiveness.

Public-Private Partnerships: Bangladesh has fostered strong public-private partnerships to support SME development. The government collaborates with industry associations, chambers of commerce, and private sector entities to design and implement policies and programs that benefit SMEs. Nigeria can adopt a similar approach by fostering collaboration between the government, private sector, and industry associations to create an enabling environment for SME successful development in Nigeria

Nigeria can look to Bangladesh as a model for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) development. Bangladesh has made significant strides in promoting and supporting SMEs, which has contributed to its economic growth and poverty reduction.

Lastly, Nigeria can learn from Bangladesh's success in promoting SMEs through export-oriented industrialization. Bangladesh has focused on developing specific sectors, such as, shoe and leather ; while Nigeria should encourage and support shoe and leather products manufacturers in Aba, and other manufacturing hubs, exporters of sesame seeds, gum Arabic from the Western and Northern states of the country. By identifying and supporting key sectors with export potential, Nigeria can boost its SME sector and enhance its global competitiveness.

In conclusion, Bangladesh's SME model provides valuable lessons for Nigeria. By establishing specialized financial institutions, simplifying business registration processes, improving access to credit, investing in skills development, promoting export-oriented industrialization, and fostering public-private partnerships, Nigeria can create a conducive environment for SMEs to thrive, driving economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he will run for a fourth term in 2024 — a move that could extend his hold on power to nearly three decades.

The attention of the Shareholders of Arik Air Limited has been drawn to press statements attributed to Alhaji Ahmed Kuru, the Managing Director of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON.

It is unfortunate that a senior government official, Alhaji Kuru, entrusted with the vital responsibility in the economic affairs of Nigeria will publicly make false and misleading statements in order to justify the monumental damage he led against Arik Air. This is a private airline that has proudly flown Nigeria’s flag around the world, while conducting its business constructively and contributing to the economic growth and development of Nigeria.

While we wish to refrain from media assaults and trials of persons as Alhaji Kuru/AMCON has done repeatedly in the past 6 years, we are beholden with the moral duty to set the records straight, in order to expose the desperate attempt to misinform Nigerians and distort the facts of the monumental destruction of Arik by AMCON and its receiver Manager(s). We wish to state as follows;

The Forceful Takeover of Arik

We state unequivocally that as at 9thFebruary 2017 when AMCON forced Arik Air into the receivership management of Mr. Oluseye Opasanya (SAN),the airline was not in default of any of its financial lease and operating loan obligations to any Bank, including the European Credit Agency(ECA)/HSBC facility. Suffice it to state that  with the 2010 banking reforms, the CBN directed the conversion of  all local bank guarantees of foreign loans from off-balance sheet  to on-balance sheet. Thus, with this CBN directive, AMCON took over the European Credit Agency(ECA)/HSBC finance facility supported by the local guarantee of Union Bank plc. AMCON renegotiated the facility with Union Bank from single digit to double digit interest rate without involving Arik Air management. 

This is a shareholder statement

President Bola Tinubu says investors can now confidently invest their funds in Nigeria without “fear”.

Tinubu spoke on Tuesday at the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) where he rang the closing bell.

On September 11, the president was invited by the United States Chamber of Commerce to perform the act at the stock exchange market, based in New York.

Speaking at the event, Tinubu said critical decisions and steps have been taken to ensure that foreign investors get their returns. 

The president also asked investors to put their fears aside, assuring them that they are “free to take in your money and bring out your money”.

“It’s a great honour for me to be here. I am happy to bring Nigeria to your doorsteps and honoured that we’re here today with a bubbly market that will evolve [in] the West Africa sub-region,” he said.

“The greatest economy is Nigeria, there is an immense opportunity in Nigeria that you can invest your money without fear. 

“We’ve removed a lot of bottlenecks and we’ve cleared subsidy that are corrupt. And we have also retooled the exchange rate to a reliable, dependable figure, floating up the exchange naira.

“You’re free to take in your money and bring out your money. I count on you to invest in Nigeria.”

On his part, Scott Eisner, president of the U.S-Africa Business Center, expressed confidence in the new trading links and partners at the chambers.

Eisner said the chambers look forward to the opportunity to share in the future of the US-Nigeria relationship. 

“At the chamber, we stand for small and medium-sized enterprises, the actual pillar of what Nigeria is built on,” he said.

“With the president’s vision and his compassion for those that are investing in his community, I think we share in a very bright future to achieve everything that he and our country have in the future.” 

Recently, the Nigerian president has made efforts to improve the investment climate for investors, sending a strong message to the global investing community that the country is open for business.

Abba Yusuf, the governor of Kano, says he has instructed his legal team to file an appeal against the ruling of the election petition tribunal that nullified his electoral victory.

In a message posted on the platform X on Wednesday night, Yusuf described the tribunal ruling as a “temporary setback “.

In a judgment delivered on Wednesday via Zoom, the tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Yusuf.

The tribunal also affirmed Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of the state. 

Following the judgement, the Kano police command declared a 24-hour curfew in the state to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

However, the governor called on the residents to remain “calm and be law-abiding”, adding that people should not take the law into their hands.

He added that security agents have already been directed to ensure the full protection of “lives and property of innocent citizens across the state”. 

“You would recall that on March 18, 2023, you came out en mass and voted for me as your Governor with a total votes of 1,019,602 and a margin of 128,897 votes between my humble self and second place,” he wrote.

“Subsequently, I was duly sworn in as your elected Governor on May 29, 2023. You may also recall that the party that lost the election took us to court.

“However, after almost six months of proceedings at the governorship election petition tribunal, today Wednesday, September 20, 2023, the judges of the tribunal have in their own wisdom delivered their ruling.

“As human beings, their judgement may not be absolutely perfect, there are errors and misapplication of the law as pointed out by our legal team. 

“That is why our constitution provides for other stages to go on with such as the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

“On this note, we have already instructed our legal team to appeal this judgement as soon as possible to ensure that justice is done.

“I therefore call on all the good people of Kano State to be calm and remain law-abiding. People should not take the law into their hands, and security agents have already been directed to ensure the full protection of lives and property of innocent citizens across the State.

“We want to assure you that this will neither dampen our spirit nor slow us down, as this is a temporary setback for our State which we will overcome by the grace of Almighty Allah (SWT).”

The Ondo State House of Assembly has begun the process of removing the deputy governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

The House accused the embattled deputy governor of being involved in some acts of gross misconduct while in office as the acting governor.

To this end, at the plenary session on Wednesday, the directed the Clerk of the House, Mr Benjamin Jaiyeola, to communicate to Aiyedatiwa the allegations levelled against him.

The petition which has been signed by Nine out of 26 Members of the House was read during the plenary presided over by the Speaker, Mr Olamide Oladiji.

The Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has disclosed its plans to expel former Governor, Ayodele Fayose from the party.

The party stated that its resolutions and decisions, seeking Fayose’s expulsion, have been forwarded to the National Working Committee, NWC.

Chief Olalekan Amerijoye, the Publicity Secretary of the Caretaker Transition Committee, who disclosed this to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, on Tuesday, said the party would no longer put up with the unwholesome and anti party activities of Fayose and other leaders of the PDP in the state.

“Admittedly, challenges have emerged, as is commonplace within any substantial political entity, occasionally leading to momentary setbacks.

“Disagreements are a natural facet of political growth, yet it would have been incumbent upon us to realize that the greater good should forever eclipse our differences.

“We are expecting the response of the National Working Committee to the majority decision of stakeholders in Ekiti towards the suspension of former governor, Ayodele Fayose from the party.

“The genuine members of Ekiti PDP have resolved from our recent meeting on what should be the punitive measures for people that have turned the party into a commercial venture.

“ These resolutions have been communicated to headquarters in Abuja by some individuals who are ‘PDAPC’ and we are patiently waiting for their response in the interest of the PDP in Ekiti.”

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kano has declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress, APC, winner of the Kano governorship election.

The tribunal gave the final judgement after cancelling some votes recorded by the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, candidate and Kano Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf.

The Presiding Judge, Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadabey said the margin of votes scored by the NNPP was not enough to give Governor Yusuf victory.

It said some of the votes credited to Yusus were invalid.

APC’s Gawuna won all the three grounds presented before the tribunal which include over voting, invalid votes and not being a member of the party as at the time of the NNPP primary election.

The Tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to retrieve the Certificate of Return issued to Yusuf and give same to Gawuna as the original winner of the election.

She declared that the position of the law states that one most be a bonafide member of a political party before he was allowed to contest an elections, while in the case of Abba Kabir Yusuf he wasn’t a member of NNPP 30 stipulated dates before the conduct of the general elections.

After the deduction of votes, Gawuna was declared winner with 897,000 votes, while Abba got 850,000 votes.