After multiple failed bids to rejoin, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan participated in Tuesday’s Senate proceedings, ending her six-month exclusion.

Her suspension in March stemmed from claims of breaching Senate protocols, drawing varied responses.

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Advocacy groups and rival politicians decried the move, while the Senate upheld it.

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The PDP member sought judicial review in July and tried resuming without success.

With the case ongoing, she completed her penalty in September and signaled her plan to resume duties.

She notified the Senate of her intent, but officials noted they would wait for court resolution before acting.

On September 23, after half a year sealed, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s workspace was unlocked, allowing her entry.

She accessed Suite 2.05 in the Senate Wing, opened by Deputy Director Alabi Adedeji of the Sergeant-at-Arms.

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“For me, I am glad to be here,” she said in her office for the first time in six months.

“Even though we had been illegally suspended, no day have I hesitated in effectively carrying out my duties as the senator of Kogi Central to the very best of my capacity,” she said.

Benjamin Kalu, the Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, asserted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) aims to oust the Labour Party’s control in Abia State by the 2027 elections.

Kalu shared this prediction while addressing more than 27 supporter organizations linked to his Ben Kalu Foundation, such as the President’s Renewed Hope Initiative, Renewed Hope Partners, and the Ben Kalu Movement.

He explained that the APC is gaining significant traction to regain the state from Governor Alex Otti’s Labour Party administration.

READ ALSO: Relief as Otti predicts Kanu’s imminent release! 

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“We have come to take over, and there is no going back because we want to work with the President to move our state forward,” Kalu said.

Kalu commended President Bola Tinubu’s policy changes, especially the elimination of the fuel subsidy, calling it a “miracle decision” that has boosted funding for state-level governments. “The miracle worker is the President who releases money to the states… He did not keep it in his pocket but released it to the states,” the lawmaker added.

As the representative for Bende Federal Constituency, Kalu faulted Governor Otti’s governance, noting that Abia’s current allocations surpass those handled by previous leaders.

“You cannot be getting the kind of money you are getting and be doing the job that former governors did with less. Former governors got about N4 billion to N5 billion, and today Tinubu has released N38 billion to N40 billion,” he said.

Kalu promised that the APC would secure the state via electoral processes, without any forceful methods. “We are not going to take over this state by force. We are going to use the vote of the masses,” he stated.

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He also revealed that President Tinubu committed to developing a seaport initiative for Abia and would make a visit upon request.

Additionally, Kalu encouraged his backers to obtain their voter registration cards and APC membership documents ahead of the 2027 polls.

For the umpteenth time, John Chuma Nwosu, governorship candidate of the African Development Congress (ADC) for the November 8 election, made a solemn pledge again, declaring on Saturday, to end the activities of state-sponsored henchmen labelled in several quarters as “street terrorists” – most popular among them – ndi aka-odo, from the first minute of his inauguration.

A palpably disturbed Nwosu, a global player in the Information Communication Technology (ICT), told a group of Anambra State citizens living abroad, during an online interaction that the street terror, which apart from becoming the major imprimatur of the present government of the state, has brought a lot of tears to the people, would have no place in his government.

He cited the case of Okechukwu Akaname, former President of the Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (OCCIMA), who died recently after living in a vegetative state for several months following an attack on him by men of the Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWMA), describing it as a sad commentary on the government of Charles Chukwuma Soludo and the state as a whole, vowing that such an incident would never happen under his nose.

Nwosu, had been confronted on the issue by an Ebonyi-born medical doctor practicing in Anambra State, who told him that presently there were about nine different groups unleashed into the streets and businesses for the purposes of taxation under different guises, demanding to know his position on the situation.

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To this, the ADC candidate, said he would order immediate end to the aspect that concerned the state directly, while collaborating with fellow South East governors, to deal with those relating to inter-state, especially dealing with transporters, who had faced various forms of harassments in the hands of various groups acting as enforcers.

Hear him: “Multiple taxation is a problem that is common, more especially in Anambra State. I will end it in Anambra. But in the areas that go beyond Anambra, I’ll ensure that we deal with it under the South East Governors Forum. I’m aware that in the area of public transport, where operators are required to obtain stickers that they paste on their vehicles that covered them. Once you had that sticker, nobody will disturb you.

“I will ensure that the process is computerised. It will be done in such a way that if you registered in Anambra State, 50 per cent of the tariff will be remitted to the state, while 50 per cent will be shared among the other states. We make in such a way that once you obtain that sticker, nobody will disturb you. It will have features that would enable a smart phone to authenticate its genuineness. This is what operates in states of the South West, where you hardly hear of the problem of multiple taxation because of computerisation.

“But coming to those in Anambra, that is where I’m directly involved. Under our E-Transport system, whoever registers will be free of any sort of harassment. Our government will run on 100 per cent full E-government system. You don’t disturb anybody on the road and you’re not supposed to be seen on the road harassing anybody as you like. We’ll remove them 100 per cent from the streets.

“Not only will it solve the immediate problem of this street terrorism, it will also deal with the issue of corruption and transparency in government. If it requires that we engage consultants, which I know we have many of our people abroad people who cand do it, we’ll not hesitate. Everyone will be involved in this.”

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