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Police Invitation: Saraki Assembles SANs

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The Senator representing Kwara South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Rafiu Ibrahim, has said a team of senior legal experts will handle the allegation of complicity in the Offa robbery saga levelled against the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, by the police.

The police have insisted that Saraki is needed to make certain clarifications on the statement of the suspects arrested in connection with the robbery despite the legal advice from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, which absolved the Senate President of any complicity in the act.

But Ibrahim, who is among the 14 senators, who defected from the All Progressives Congress on Tuesday, told our correspondent in a telephone interview that Saraki’s lawyers, who are mainly Senior Advocates of Nigeria, were already brainstorming on the case.

The Senator’s clarification appears to be an indication that the Senate President may not honour the police invitation and would rather ask his lawyers to handle the matter.

His declaration came on the heels of the insistence of the Force PRO, Moshood Jimoh, that Saraki still had a case to answer notwithstanding the fact that a team of investigators grilled the Senate President last week in his office.

Ibrahim said, “The Senate President has a very strong legal team of many senior advocates of Nigeria who are already working on the issue. He has a legal issue with the police and he will take the case up legally.”

He explained that the executive arm of government bungled a fresh strategy that was being coordinated by Saraki aimed at reconciling aggrieved federal lawmakers with the APC leadership when the police reportedly barricaded the Senate principal officers’ homes in Abuja.

He said, “As we were strategising on how to convince our members to let us reconsider our stand and shelve our plans to defect, the police brought a letter by 8pm on Monday, asking the Senate President to appear before them by 8am on Tuesday.

“The following day, very early in the morning, the EFCC went to the house of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, blocked his house and successfully ensured that he did not go out.

“Simultaneously, some policemen were also at the home of the Senate President with a specific instruction to prevent him from leaving his house. Those who could carry out such actions could as well kill the principal officers or bomb their houses.

“My concern at the moment is to ensure that the Senate President is alive. The agents of government are getting desperate just to actualise their plans.”

Ibrahim added, “Their plan was to ensure that the two of them were not available for plenary on Tuesday so that some senators could remove Saraki and Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Senate President, respectively.

“However, God, in his infinite mercies and powers, used some people to disorganise their plans by helping Saraki to preside over plenary on Tuesday. It was God, nothing else.

“We adjourned abruptly on Tuesday because the federal authorities deployed armed policemen who laid siege to the residences of our presiding officers.

“If they can put the SP and the DSP under house arrest, what stopped them from arresting senators on the streets of Abuja and institute frivolous litigation against them?”

The senator added that members’ defection on the floor of the National Assembly chambers would be in phases.”

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Breaking: Wike Plans to Attend Thursday’s PDP NEC Meeting

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By Eric Elezuo

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NECeeting on Thursday is not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party  state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

Political stakeholders have concluded that the outcome of Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan.

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Bribery, Corruption: APC Suspends National Chairman, Ganduje

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The All Progressives Congress ward in Ganduje, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, has suspended the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

The party ward legal adviser, Halliru Gwanzo, announced the suspension while addressing newsmen in Kano State on Monday.

Gwanzo cited allegations of bribery against Ganduje levelled by the Kano State Government as the reason for the suspension.

“We decided to suspend Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje from the party due to the seriousness of the allegations against him,” Gwanzo said.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact the Chief Press Secretary to the APC National Chairman, Mr Edwin Olufo, failed as his mobile phone was unreachable.

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Akpabio Commits to Collaboration with Tinubu, Governor Umo Eno

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The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has stated his commitment to working closely with Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Governor Umo Eno to ensure the delivery of democratic benefits to the people of Akwa Ibom State.

Akpabio stated this in his country home, Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, while briefing his constituents on the journey so far as their representative in the red chamber.

He assured the people of Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District of his commitment to their welfare in appreciation of their total support for him, President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in last year’s election.

The Highpoint of the constituency briefing was the distribution of over 10,000 bags of rice and other essentials for his constituents from the wards, to the local governments.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, quoted Akpabio as saying, “I am here once again, to thank you for standing by me, our President and the party, before, during and even after last year’s elections. I have come to say thank you and also bring Renewed Hope to you all.

“As the President is doing his own, the Senate President is also doing his bit and being complemented by the state governor, Akwa Ibom would be the better for it. We have finished elections and politics, we are now into governance. The governor of the state must touch you, because he is the governor of all the people in the state irrespective of political affiliation.

” As I am touching you now from the political angle, I will also touch the state without any political party affiliation. Most of the projects we are putting in place would be used by people resident in the state. Relax, things are getting better.”

The former Governor of the state, assured his constituents that his current position as the Senate President would be used for the development of the state in collaboration with the President and the Akwa Ibom State Governor.

Hear him: This Senate President is not the one that would be fighting the state government. I will collaborate with , I will collaborate with , to make the state better for us all. We cannot be out of government for a long time. You have to go to a government that carries you along”

Akpabio promised to work for his constituents and Nigeria with all his strength, noting that, “as the President of the Senate, I am for the Southern region and the entire country. I may not come here regularly to tell you what I have been doing for you, but you will be feeling the impact on way or the other. Our unemployed youths would be gainfully employed. I will construct a mini stadium in all the local governments in the district, for our youths to develop their sporting potentials. ”

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