The United Kingdom has said the mission is working on the list of those it will slam with visa ban.

It also said the mission had between five and 10 names on its list already, adding that more would still be added.

The Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, spoke on a current affairs programme on Nigerian Info on Sunday.

He said the names of defaulters would not be published as expected in some quarters.

The British High Commission had last week said the UK Minister of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell MP, was prepared to take action against those who engaged in or incited electoral violence during the just-concluded general elections.

The high commission said the UK was already collating names of perpetrators and would impose sanctions “including preventing people from obtaining UK visas or imposing sanctions under our human rights sanctions regime.”

Speaking on Sunday, Llewellyn-Jones said, “We’re working through a list and we don’t publish those names. I know people say we should but you know we have laws that protect. But we do have a list. We said that we would do this and we will do this. And, you know, we’re gathering the kind of information that would enable us to do this around specific individuals.

“You know, we watched very closely. I was in Lagos the whole time. We had people on the ground in key places. We won’t publish the names. We don’t do that. We can’t do that. We have between five and 10  names on its list already, it is a growing list. “

Responding to a question on if there were triggers for violence leading up from the campaign to the election,  Llewellyn-Jones decried the controversial statement attributed to a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Femi Fani-Kayode.

He also lamented that the ruling APC had yet to distance itself from some comments made by Fani-Kayode.

He said, “There were some people in the news, like Fani-Kayode. What is he saying? Why is he saying it? I don’t understand. I mean, I do understand but it’s wrong. And it’s wrong from my perspective that he would speak on behalf of a party and that party doesn’t just distance themselves but says stop doing that.”

Llewellyn-Jones also condemned the divisive politics that played out during the election in Lagos, adding, ”And if Lagos can’t be that kind of cosmopolitan melting pot of culture and language and all the things that should be, really how’s Lagos going to succeed?”

Reacting on his Twitter handle at @realFFK, Fani-Kayode urged the British envoy to steer clear Nigeria’s issue.

He said, “I would advise this Ben, who I am told is the Deputy High Commissioner of the UK to Nigeria, to keep his dirty nose out of our internal affairs.

“Nigeria stopped being a British colony 63 years ago and we need no lessons from him on how to run our affairs or conduct our politics.”

He also accused the envoy of supporting an undisclosed candidate in the just concluded presidential election.

“I know that his preferred candidate did not win the presidential election but that does not mean he should cross the line and take liberties with us here. I wonder who the hell he thinks he is?

“I am not one of those Nigerians that bow, shake, shiver and tremble before the British or indeed any other foreigner.”

A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, on Saturday, congratulated the Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, over the reinstatement of his mandate by the Appeal Court.

Frank in a statement in Abuja, also lauded the Justices of the Appeal Court that courageously decided the case and upheld the victory of Senator Adeleke as the duly elected Governor of Osun state, despite attempt by the tribunal to fraudulently upturn the mandate.

He however called on Adeleke to be focused on his development strides by wiping the tears of the people and delivering the state from backwardness now that distraction of the court case has been put to rest by the judgement of the court.

He thanked the Appeal Court justices and by extension the Nigerian judiciary for mustering the courage to uphold the Truth and Justice, saying, “We want to see this in them in other election’s petition cases.”

Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Ambassador to East Africa and Middle East, urged the Judiciary to know that in areas where they have done well, Nigerians and the world will hail them but when they do wrong, Nigerians will call them out.

He said: “We hope the Judiciary will bring this courage to bare in doing the needful in deciding the Presidential election petition cases now before them.

“The Judiciary must realise that the only hope Nigerians have today is in them. We hope they will not dash that hope.

“We know there will be pressure on them by the powers that be to do the wrong thing, but they must be guided by the bigger picture which is to free the people from exploitation and slavery in taking their final decision.

“History will not forget the Justices that decided the Adeleke Versus Gbeyega Oyetola Appeal for sticking to the truth.

“Despite the oppression, they remained courageous. However, this is not the end of their task. A greater task beckons and that task is to redeem the damaged image and lost glory of the judiciary.

“We believe there still exist some incorruptible judges with good conscience. This is not the time for the judiciary to sell justice. It is time to give justice back to the people.

“Nigerians and the world look forward to the Judiciary to restore the presidential mandate which has once again been stolen from the people the same way they upheld Adeleke’s victory and restored his mandate

“It is an open secret that the Independent National Electoral Commission totally disregarded their own guidelines and did not follow the rule of law during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

“The Justices of the Appeal Court now have the opportunity to write their name in gold by restoring the lost confidence to the judiciary again.

“Majority of Nigerians have in recent time lost hope and confidence in the judiciary but with this judgement the hope and confidence of the people has been rekindled.

“We hope the Judiciary keeps and sustains this renewed confidence now rejuvenated through this courageous judgement.”

The Osun State chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress have expressed hope for victory, as the Court of Appeal in Abuja, today, delivers judgment to determine the winner of the July 16 governorship election in Osun State.

Also, the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps said it had deployed personnel to critical infrastructure in the state ahead of the judgment.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had returned Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP as the winner of the poll.

INEC said Adeleke polled 403,371 votes, to defeat then incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes.

But Oyetola and the APC rejected the result of the poll and headed for the tribunal.

In its January 27, 2023 majority verdict, the Justice Tertse Kume-led tribunal annulled Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll.

However, a minority judgment by Justice B. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the winner of the poll.

Displeased, Adeleke and the PDP headed for the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal heard the appeal on March 13 and reserved its judgment.

A member of Oyetola and APC legal team, Mr. Muhydeen Adeoye, told The Punch on Thursday that the Court of Appeal had notified the parties that the judgment would be delivered today.

Speaking on the expectations of the party, Osun PDP Director of Media, Oladele Olabamiji, said his party was hopeful that the Court of Appeal would restore Adeleke’s victory.

He said, “We are expecting justice for the electorate in Osun, who collectively voted for the state governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke. We expect justice in line with the weight of evidence presented before the court.”

Also, the spokesperson for the Osun APC, Mr. Kola Olabisi, also expressed optimism that the party would come out in flying colours.

“We are optimistic that we are going to come out in flying colours because of our iron-cast evidence before the court,” Olabisi said.

Meanwhile, a statement by the acting Public Relations Officer of the Command, Kehinde Adeleke, said, “Ahead of Friday’s Appeal Court judgment on the matter between Governor Ademola Adeleke and Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola; there is strategic deployment of personnel around critical infrastructure in the state.

“There will also be patrol by armed detachment of the corps in readiness for emergency response. The command is ready to prevent any breakdown of law and order arising from possible protests by aggrieved parties.”