Election Observer Accuses INEC Of Being Compromised

Ikechukwu Ikeji, a legal practitioner and observer during the 2015 elections, said that the just concluded election was one of the most rigged elections he had ever witnessed in Nigeria.

Speaking on Channels TV on Monday, May 4, Ikeji accused officials of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) of being compromised, stressing that the politicians themselves were rigging and those who won simply outwitted those who lost.

“Just about every politician I came across was in the game of rigging. Nothing can be farther from the truth than that these elections were fair and free.

“In fact I have to be honest; this is one of the most rigged elections I have witnessed. I was in the field and I can tell you that electoral offences were rampant,” Ikeji said.

Speaking about card readers, the election observer expressed dissatisfaction, reminding that the card readers did not work properly in many areas. He said that the voters had agreed not to use the card readers, revealing that he clearly saw people coming back to vote twice or even three times.

READ ALSO: Jega Conspired With Our Enemies To Rob Us Of Victory – Bode George

According to Ikeji, some polling units were dominated by some political parties, as they were able to buy the minds of voters and the electoral officials.

He also strongly criticized some election observers saying many of them were compromised and carried out their duties with bias.

Reacting to the INEC statement that it had begun the compilation of all electoral crimes committed during the 2015 general elections, the legal practitioner said that it was good that the commission would prosecute electoral offenders. However, he further noted that the solution did not just lie in advocacy, pronouncement or trying to put technology in place to obviate the need for politicians to rig.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/432213-election-observer-accuses-inec-of-being-compromised.html

Minister Denies Donating N2bn To GEJ's Campaign

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr Stephen Oru, has dismissed suppositions that he donated N2bn to the presidential campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Oru, in a live radio programme on Monday monitored in Abuja by the News Agency of Nigeria, said those making the allegation were mischievous as they were determined to smear his image and that of the President.

READ ALSO: Ex-Militants Warn Against Scrapping GEJ Programmes 

NAN reports that a group of Niger Delta youths who were sponsored to Israel for training in agriculture, had accused the ministry of not redeeming all the promises made to them.

Their beneficiaries also accused the minister of dismissing their appeals by saying that he had no money as he used N2bn to fund the president’s campaign.

However, the minister said the Niger Delta Ministry, which was allocated N51.6bn in the 2014 appropriation, was yet to receive its third and fourth allocation from the Federal Ministry of Finance.

He explained that it was therefore not possible for the ministry to dole out a non-existent N2bn to the PDP presidential campaign.

The minister, who assumed office in July 2014, described the financial situation in the ministry as precarious, citing huge debts and unpaid salaries.

According to him, since he assumed office in July 2014 as minister, he has received only three months salary.
The minister appealed to Niger Delta youths who participated in the federal government sponsored training programme in Israel on agriculture to exercise patience on the disbursement of their take-off grant.

READ ALSO: Niger Delta Youths Issue Warning To Buhari 

The minister assured the prospective entrepreneurs that the incoming government would not terminate the training programme as it was a laudable initiative domiciled in the ministry.

Meanwhile, Niger Delta Progressives Alliance (NDPA) have told president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, not to test the determination of the youth to violently resist further dominance of the peoples’ interests.

Kashamu Starts Legal Battle Against His Extradition

Buruji Kashamu, the senator-elect in Ogun East Senatorial District, has stated categorically that Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of Nigeria, is head of his political opponents in the country.

Buruji Kashamu is wanted by American justice.

Kashamu said that his political activities have brought him some powerful enemies including his former political leader, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

The senator-elect and the former president were political allies between 2009 and 2012, PM News reports. At that time Kashamu worked for Obasanjo and his candidate for the governorship of Ogun state, General Olurin. However, they fell out because of Obasanjo’s stand for internal democracy in the Peoples Democratic Party. Consequently, Kashamu and his allies resorted to litigation to loosen Obasanjo’s hold on the party.

Kashamu further accused Obasanjo of pressuring Nigeria’s attorney general to have him extradited to the USA.

READ ALSO: Buruji Kashamu: Buhari’s First Litmus Test

According to Sahara Reporters, a lawsuit alleges that Obasanjo had made arrangements with some US officials to have Kashamu arrested and flown to the USA during his swearing in as senator on May 29.

The lawsuit also disclosed that Kashamu was concerned that the incoming administration of president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, could be used to perpetrate illegality and subvert the Nigerian judicial system.

The suit is seeking nine declarative orders from the court among which are:

– An order restraining the defendants and their agents from arresting, detaining, or otherwise effecting his abduction upon spurious allegations.

-An order directing the clerk of the National Assembly to accord him every facility and privileges due to him as a senator-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Tinubu Rejects Kashamu

-A declaration that arrangements being made by the defendants, in collusion with United States of America security operatives in West Africa and his political opponents led General Olusegun Obasanjo, to abduct him and forcibly transport him to the United States of America, on the basis of allegations which have been the subject of investigation by Interpol and litigation in a competent court in the United Kingdom, and of which he has been exonerated, are illegal, unlawful, ultra vires and constitute a breach of his fundamental right to freedom of movement as enshrined in Section 41 of constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.

Meanwile, US officials have insisted on starting fresh moves for Kashamu’s extradition to face drug trafficking charges on American soil.

Buruji, in his turn, has stated that he is not evading trial for drug related offences in the USA but noted  that the American authorities only needed to follow due process and not abuse his human rights if a trial were to be held.

Prisoner In Benin Escapes Custody

An inmate has escaped from the custody of the Benin Central Prison operatives on Monday morning while working his menial fatigue job. 

PM News reports that the inmate while working at the prisons headquarters noticed that the supervising prison warden was inattentive and saw to opportunity to escape as he ran through Reservation Road, in GRA.

It was reported that the inmate pulled off his prison uniform in front of the NUJ Press Centre as he continued running away in his shorts, through the famous Benin Moat at the back of the prison headquarters.

Unofficial sources at the prison headquarters however said the prison official that was supposed to be guarding the inmate while he was working claimed to have gone to eat when the incident occurred.

READ ALSO: SENSATIONAL Court Verdict: Eatery Worker Sentenced To 266 Years Of Imprisonment

Officials of the Edo Prison Service were seen combing bushes in adjoining streets and the Benin moat searching for the runaway inmate while at the prison headquarters there was a search party being organised to assist in arresting the fleeing inmate.

A top official said an official report was yet to be made on the matter.

According to him, “The official that took him out has not report any incidence to us but he does we will be able to say anything.”

He said this after the State Comptroller of Benin Prisons, Mr. Effiom Etowa, could not be reached for comments.

Prison break in Nigeria may be attributed to corruption, poor funding of the prison services, poor prison facilities, inadequate security features such as CCTV, Motion sensors, high wall made up of barbed wire and sometimes electric fencing of the walls.

Money Laundering: Fani-kayode Knows Fate June 18

A Federal High Court, Lagos, on Monday fixed June 18 for judgment in the alleged money laundering case filed against a former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Justice Rita Ofile-Ajumogobia adjourned for judgment after parties in the suit adopted their final written addresses.
She also granted Fani-Kayode’s prayer to substitute one of his sureties, Wale Ajisebutu with one Ogbor Elliot, following Ajisebutu’s request to withdraw his suretiship for the accused.

At the resumed hearing on Monday, counsel to Fani-Kayode led by Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN) urged the court to dismiss the two- count charge against the accused as well as discharge and acquit him.

Adedipe told the court that the defense relied and adopted its final written address filed April 7, and its reply on point of law to the prosecution’s written address, dated April 27.

He argued that the prosecution’s submission in the case were misplaced and misguided, accusing the EFCC of trying to show to the world that they have a “big fish” but “there’s no fish here.”

According to Fani-Kayode’s lawyers, the prosecution has failed woefully to prove that the accused received the alleged N1 million, adding that no witness was brought by the EFCC to substantiate its claim.

He said: “It is now an accepted principle of law that the prosecution in all criminal cases must prove its case.
“Nobody gave evidence that he gave or saw the accused collecting money (N1 millon). The only evidence was that of prosecution witness Supo Agbaje, whom the prosecution had declared wanted.

“In his statement, the witness said he deposited N1 million in the accussed’s account but never said he saw the accused collecting money.
“What happened after the receipt of money is not the case but receiving the money. The accused never confessed to receiving money from anybody and there is no such evidence before the court.”