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Yes! I’m Wike’s cousin, but I’ll conduct clean election – Edo REC  

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Regardless being a cousin to Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and one of the key persons of interest fingered in the exercise, Anugbum Onuoha, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Edo State, has vowed to prove to the world that he does not have any personal interest in who emerges the winner of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had in the past weeks, called for his redeployment from the state on account of the filial relationship with the FCT Minister, who in fact appointed him as one of his aides, as Governor of Rivers State.

PDP, Godwin Obaseki, incumbent governor of the state and other stakeholders, had insisted that such family ties, indicated that the election would be skewed in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party that Wike is currently working for and which he is believed to favour in the election.

But Onuoha, a guest of Sunrise Daily, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, on Friday, dared anyone with evidence of where he had shown bias in the process of conducting the election so far to come forward with it or indicate any other incriminating evidence against his competence in conducting a free and fair poll.

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Tony Aziegbemi, Chairman of PDP in the state, had asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to redeploy Onuoha over ties with Wike, adding that his party had no confidence in the REC’s ability to conduct a free and fair election in the state, a request which the commission rebuffed, saying the party should focus on the election process rather than on Onuoha, as the exercise would be conducted transparently.

Stressing the argument, the REC, told his host: “It is a fact that I am a cousin to the minister. Before my appointment, I was invited by the Senate. It screened me, and I was confirmed. I was sworn in by Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, and posted to Edo.

“Since last year, nobody complained that I am a cousin to the minister. Of course, I am a cousin to the Minister. What we should be talking about at this time is the capacity to conduct the election. From my background, I am an Associate Professor of Law. People should now ask if I have done this job before. Yes, I was an electoral commissioner in Rivers State. Nobody has complained. I am coming from the university. I am not a politician. The mere fact that I am a cousin to Wike does not preclude me from being appointed. I’m I not a Nigerian? Nigerians should have gone beyond this level.”

Joining INEC in urging political parties to come forward with evidence they had against him that could have warranted their attacks, he added: “I challenge all the political parties in Edo State to tell me what I have done wrong so far. I am ready for the Edo election, and I will not favour any political party. At the end of the day, the people of Edo will have an election that is free from pity.”

Onuoha, who spoke on the preparations for the exercise, said all is set, and sensitive materials had been deployed to their respective local government areas, adding: “The campaign for political parties ended yesterday at midnight. We have only one activity left, and that is the election for tomorrow. The INEC is prepared for this election. Yesterday, we distributed sensitive materials.

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“And before we did that; we invited all the stakeholders, and 18 political parties and their agents were on ground to inspect the sensitive materials before the deployment to their respective local governments. We asked if they had any reservations, and they said they were satisfied with everything they saw.”

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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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