INEC declares Osun governorship election inconclusive (PremiumTimes)
The electoral commission, INEC, has declared the Osun State governorship election “inconclusive.” The declaration was made by Joseph Fuwape, the presiding officer of the election at the INEC headquarters in Osun. At the end of the collation of votes, the PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke, won majority votes of about 254,698 votes while Gboyega Oyetola of the APC came a close second with 254,345 votes. Both leading candidates had a difference of about 354 votes. Read more
Osun gov rerun to hold September 27, says INEC (Punch)
The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed September 27th for Osun State governorship rerun.The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke, had polled 254,698 votes to defeat that of the All Progressives Congress, Gboyega Oyetola, who polled 254,345 votes. Read more
Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat as qualified as Ambode to be gov – Lagos APC Chair (Punch)
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, Mr. Tunde Balogun, speaks with SUNDAY ABORISADE on the rift between Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the party’s primaries.What are you doing to ensure that the APC win the next elections without any problem in Lagos? We are putting the right things in the right place by setting up the processes that will lead to the victory of the party. The national leadership of the party has given us guidelines to follow in the conduct of our primaries. We have made up our minds to follow the guidelines by conducting a direct primary. We started the registration of our members few weeks back. We actually continued from where we stopped in 2014. At the moment, we have an up-to-date record of our members. We have the register of all APC members in Lagos State. Read more
Buhari under fire over ‘astronomic’ fuel subsidy bill (Guardian)
It’s only September but Nigerians are already dreading Christmas. For years, the holiday season has been marred by paralysing fuel shortages, grinding business to a halt. “Every December, I guarantee you, fuel scarcity will happen,” said a barber in the prosperous Ikoyi district in Lagos, the country’s commercial hub. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Read more
Bad Leadership: Tambuwal blasts Buhari (Vanguard)
A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential aspirant, and governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has lamented the pathetic state of affairs in the country under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Tambuwal, who was in Benin, yesterday, to woo the party’s delegates ahead of its presidential convention, said the ship of state was drifting aimlessly and insisted that the country was more polarized than ever as a result of the bad policies of the ruling APC. Tambuwal was accompanied by Prince Kaseem Afegbua, a former Commissioner of Information in Edo State and spokesman to former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Read more
Restructuring: Osinbajo a beneficiary of corrupt system (Sun)
Former National Secretary of the Labour Party (LP) and legal scholar, Dr Kayode Ajulo, has insisted that corruption could only be eradicated if the country is restructured. Contributing to the restructuring debate, the human rights activist and Board Chairman, Egalitarian Mission for Africa, said he was not surprised with the position of Prof Yemi Osinbajo on restructuring, saying that the vice president is a beneficiary of the current skewed and jaundiced Federal system. He also spoke on other issues. Read more
Ras Kimono’s wife, Efemena Okedi, is dead (PremiumTimes)
Efemena Okedi, wife of late reggae legend, Ras Kimono is dead. She died in the early hours of Sunday in her Magodo-Isheri home in Lagos. Her death comes three months after Ras Kimono passed on. She was Ras Kimono’s third and closest wife. Indeed when Kimono passed on in June, many feared she might be unable to bear the loss. Read more
Ogun 2019: Opposition to consensus is rebellion against lopsided development under Amosun (Guardian)
The inability of the Ogun State Governor Senator Ibikunke Amosun to foist a governorship candidate on All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, through the consensus option, did not surprise many that are conversant with the intricacies and complexities of politics in the state. Amosun was in the lead of governors that forced the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to make a U-turn on its decision to adopt direct primaries to elect all candidates after the party had successfully employed direct primary option to elect a flag bearer for Osun governorship.But back home, Amosun met with a stiff opposition from members of his party, especially those from Ogun East Senatorial District who rejected his consensus list and picked nomination forms. Read more
Why National Theatre should not be privatised – GM (PremiumTimes)
The incumbent General Manager (GM) of the National Theatre Complex, Stella Oyedepo, has allayed the fears of Nigerians that the edifice will neither be privatised nor concessioned. Mr Oyedepo said there was no move or plan by the federal government to privatise the complex or hand its affairs over to the Lagos State Government to manage. Read more
Shittu, Adeosun and the NYSC, By Festus Adedayo (PremiumTimes)
From the look of things, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) may kick-start the redemption in public service integrity that Nigerians have always craved for. Beginning with the whistle blown by the highly-respected news media, PREMIUM TIMES, on the dud NYSC certificate of former minister of finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and the latest revelation about the failure to undergo the compulsory one-year national service by the minister of communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, a purifying revolution may have begun with the NYSC certificate as a flag-off. Read more
Atiku to Obasanjo: It’s your business if you’ve problem with me (Sun)
Nigeria’s former vice president and 2019 presidential aspirant under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP ), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has denied having any rift with his former boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The former vice president stated this, at the weekend in Lafia , Nasarawa State capital, when he visited the state PDP chapter to solicite support for the party’s presidential ticket. Read more
Kogi second most peaceful state in Nigeria – Gov. Bello (Nation)
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has described the state as the second most peaceful state in the country. Bello disclosed this during a peaceful rally organised in partnership with ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) and Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID) to commemorate International Peace Day in Lokoja. He said Kogi which was known for armed robbery and communal clashes emerged the second position from 36. Read more
Iran’s president blames US after attack on military parade (FoxNews)
Iran’s president on Sunday accused an unnamed U.S.-allied country in the Persian Gulf of being behind a terror attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded 60, further raising regional tensions. Hassan Rouhani’s comments came as Iran’s Foreign Ministry also summoned Western diplomats over them allegedly providing havens for the Arab separatists who claimed Saturday’s attacks in the southwestern city of Ahvaz. Read more
Strike: NNPC begs oil workers to exercise restrain (nation)
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has urged oil workers under the auspices of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), to halt their planned industrial action over a labour dispute involving the Management of Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), a Multi-national Oil Company operating in Nigeria, and its staff. NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in a release on Sunday in Abuja, said the corporation’s GMD had directed its Management to work with other stakeholders to resolve the issue raised by the leadership of the Oil Industry unions. Read more
Joshua retains titles, knocks out Povetkin after seven rounds (Sun)
British-born Nigerian heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua on Saturday night retained his IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA titles after a seventh round stoppage of Russian WBA mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin at the Wembley Stadium in London. The champion, whose both parents come from Sagamu in Ogun State, dropped Povetkin with a brutal assault in the seventh round and then floored the WBA mandatory challenger again to signal a sudden and dramatic ending to his title defence. Read more
Pogba not as selfish as people think –Deschamps (Punch)
France manager Didier Deschamps believes the outside world has the wrong image of Paul Pogba, who played a key role in leading Les Bleus to winning the World Cup. At club level the Manchester United midfielder hasn’t lived up to expectations since his then world record £89 million ($116 million) move from Juventus in 2016, although his performances have picked up in recent weeks. Read more