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Wike can’t ask for my liver and kidney for assisting me – Dino

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“I want to tell you that, that you supported me, does not mean that you’ll ask for my liver and kidney. I’ll not give it. Let me say it that Wike himself, had always been supported and and he owes PDP a lot and anything he’s doing for any individual in PDP is like giving back to what the PDP did for him.”

Those were the exact words of Dino Melaya, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming election in Kogi State, as he explained why he would rail against Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, even after admitting having being a beneficiary of his kindness.

Dino, Senator, formerlly representing Kogi West at the National Assembly, was speaking against the backdrop of the altercation he had been having with the governor, in the last two weeks, which had led to some revelations about past happening in their relationships, including how Wike bankrolled his last effort to be governor.

A guest on The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on Arise Television, Dino who was asked by his host why he would accept assistance from Wike, a man he called unprintable names, said it was the governor that started the bitter encounter, because of his anger for not being supported in his last presidential bid.

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Also describing Wike as an attention seeker, who would do anything to secure public attention, he said the support the governor gave to him in the past, was because he was convinced that he would perform in office.

“That’s why he invested his money in me and that’s why he gave me his private jet. So, what now happened that the same person you saw quality in him, is the same person – you would not put your money where you have no faith. Nobody will do that. Only a mad man will do that. So, he was invested because at that time he saw quality in me. He saw me that I was qualified to be governor of Kogi State. But because I refused to do his bidding, because I refused to support his failed presidential ambition, you now want to take on me,” he said.

Blaming the governor for the war of words, the Senator, added: “Throughout the campaign, you would never find a place where I spoke derogatorily about Governor Wike, because I respect him as somebody who had assisted me in the past. There was no time I spoke in low terms or low tunes about him. This should not be about Wike, because this is what Wike is looking for. He’s an attention seeker.

“He wants to be talked about. He wants to be in the news at all times. He has granted live coverages more than any other public officer in the world. You want to do ground-breaking of a project, you go live, you want to do foundation, you go live, you want to cast a foundation, you go live. One single project, five, six people will come, you create ceremonies and waste tax-payers money of Rivers State.

“So I want to talk about the development of Kogi State and how we’re going to make life meaningful for the the people, how we’re going to assist the youths, how we’re going to ensure that women are empowered, how we’re going to improve education in the state through ICT. Those are the issues that I’d really want to talk about and not about Oluwa Wike, who sees himself as a demi-god.”

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BREAKING: Death penalty for fake drugs! *NAFDAC to push new law at NASS

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Those peddling fake and substandard drugs in Nigeria should be ready for the hangman’s noose, if the thinking of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), becomes the new law.

Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of the body, who said on Friday that no other form of punishment is fitting enough, gave instances of where the application of such dangerous substances in form of health drugs, had led to fatalities.

Advocating that only stiff penalties would deter peddlers especially when deaths of children became involved, the NAFDAC boss, who appeared as a guest on The Morning Brief, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, said: “Somebody bought children’s medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall. 

“That raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty. Because you don’t need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine.”

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Advocating that the National Assembly and the judiciary to make the proposal a reality, adding that the agency was open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter, she added: “You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, there’s going to be a problem.

“Somebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesn’t know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000? That is part of our problem.

“There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, we’re going to have a problem.

“So, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff.  But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die. We have a lot on our plate in stemming drug peddling.

“Withe about 2,000 staff members nationwide and limited funding, NAFDAC is constrained in carrying out its activities. So, when it comes to staffing, you’re right on the point. We are short-staffed and I am hoping things will be better.”

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Give us electoral offences tribunal to take care of heist – INEC  

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Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, made a fresh push for the creation of an electoral offences tribunal, to curb the cases of attacks on the Nigerian democratic system.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman, told reporters at the commission’s first regular quarterly consultative meeting with the media that the tribunal had become important owing to the backlog of electoral offence cases.

He said: “A major obstacle to the speedy dispensation of justice in this regard is that electoral offences are not time-bound as is the case with post-election offences through the tribunals. Furthermore, they are solely prosecuted by the Magistrate and State High Courts in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences are committed,” the INEC chief told the gathering.

“No priority attention is given to such cases as the courts deal with a variety of other cases. Consequently, electoral offences are carried over from one General Election to another which may sometimes affect the diligent prosecution of the cases. It is therefore imperative to renew our call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal that have a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases.”

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Bemoaning the delay in the justice delivery system, citing the conviction of a returning officer in Akwa Ibom after six years in court, the INEC boss, said: “The recent successful prosecution of a Returning Officer in Akwa Ibom State is a case in point.

“The Commission has been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 General Election. In this particular case, it took nearly six years to achieve the successful prosecution at the trial court.

“Through our collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) cases involving 774 alleged offenders from the 2023 General Election are being prosecuted. So far, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi States while our collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara, and Gombe States. Yet, many cases are still pending.”

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Again, terrorists attack Sokoto, kidnap 10 worshippers at a mosque

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A mosque in Bushe community, Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, fell into the hands of bandits on Friday, after which 10 worshippers including the Imam were spirited away, adding to growing cases of terrorist attacks.

Channels Television reports that the gunmen invaded the mosque on Thursday while worshippers were performing their early morning Subhi prayer, quoting residents as saying that the gunmen had been molesting the people of the community for some time now, even with the presence of security agents.

Ahmed Rufai, spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, who confirmed the attack on Friday, said the police authorities were working with other security agencies to rescue the abducted victims.

A member of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, representing the Sabon Birni B state Constituency who also confirmed the attack, commended the security agencies for their timely intervention.

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