Headlines
INEC Conducts Lagos Supplementary Poll Saturday
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State on Thursday met with various security agencies in the state to ensure successful supplementary election in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency on Saturday.
INEC Spokesman, Femi Akinbiyi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) that the commission was ready to conclude the exercise.
NAN reports that the meeting, held at the INEC Office, Sabo-Yaba, had representatives of various security outfits including the Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in attendance.
Others at the meeting were representatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Department of State Security (DSS), the Nigerian Army, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Mr Akinbiyi said the security agents had given assurance that there would be safety of men and materials for the election.
He said: “The commission is fully prepared for Saturday April 27 supplementary election in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency.
“Today, we held an Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting on the issue, and at the end of the meeting, they (security agencies) assured the people of the affected area that there is going to be adequate security of men and materials for the elections.
“As such, people in the constituency should come out en masse and vote for the candidate of their choice,” Mr Akinbiyi told NAN.
According to him, the supplementary election becomes imperative due to the margin of lead between the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that of the All Progressives Congress in the February 23 election.
“As a result of the court order that directed the commission to release the result of the election conducted on February 23, the commission declared the result on April 17 and the election was declared inconclusive.
“This was because there were anomalies, over voting and non-compliance to the use of smart card readers in some polling units in the area.
“We have 71 polling units where the elections were cancelled for reason of over voting and violence,” he said.
These, he said, cut across eight registration areas (Wards), with the total registered voters in the affected areas being 43, 660.
According to him, the materials for the poll are in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and will be retrieved on Friday for onward movement to the constituency, then to the Registration Area Centres (RACs).
“We will retrain some of the ad hoc staff that will be engaged for the poll same Friday at the RACs. The smart card readers that will be used for the area have been reconfigured,” the Public Relations Officer said.
According to the commission, the affected areas are: Ward 02, Awodi Ora with three polling units; Ward 03, Wilmer with six polling units; Ward 04, Olodi with one polling unit and Ward 05, Tolu with 27 polling units.
Others are: Ward 07, Ojo Road with two polling units; Ward 09, Alaba-Oro with two polling units, Ward 10, Mosafejo with 18 polling units and Ward 11, Temidire 2 with 12 polling units.
The PDP candidate, Rita Orji polled 31, 982 votes, while Kolawole Taiwo of the APC scored 28, 758 votes in the result declared by the commission for the February 23 election.
The difference between PDP and APC is 3,224.
(NAN)
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Thursday, published a list of 9, 532 alleged land title debtors in Abuja, giving them a two-week ultimatum to settle their outstanding bills.
The list, which includes prominent individuals and government agencies, was published on November 26, with defaulters expected to pay for their certificate of occupancy (C-of- O) within the stipulated timeframe.
Among those listed as defaulters is former Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), who owes N152 million for a plot of land in Asokoro, a highbrow area in the nation’s capital. IBB, who ruled Nigeria from 1985 to 1993, is not the only high-profile individual on the list.
Other notable defaulters include Samuel Ortom, former governor of Benue, who owes N950,000 for a plot of land in Bazango, and Aminu Tambuwal, senator representing Sokoto south, who owes N18 million for a plot of land in Carraway Dallas.
The FCTA has threatened to revoke the land titles of defaulters who fail to settle their bills within the stipulated timeframe. The administration has urged defaulters to settle their bills by e-payment to the “FCT department of land administration” account.
In addition to individual defaulters, some federal agencies, including the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the navy, and police, were also named as defaulters.
The Lagos governor’s lodge in Asokoro, the Kaduna state government, and ‘State House Abuja’ were also listed as land title debtors.
This development is not the first time the FCTA has taken steps to recover outstanding debts from landowners. In June this year, the administration set up a committee to recover over N29 billion owed by property owners.
The committee has since identified 430 individuals and organisations as defaulters, with plans to prosecute them.
The FCTA has also partnered with anti-graft agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to check the activities of land grabbers in the territory.
The Senate has granted approval to the ₦1.77 trillion ($2.2b) loan request of President Bola Tinubu after a voice vote in favor of the request.
The Senate presided by Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, approved the loan after the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts chaired by Senator Wammako Magatarkada (APC, Sokoto North) presented the report of the committee.
The request which was submitted by the President on Tuesday is part of a fresh external borrowing plan to partially finance the N9.7 trillion budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year.
Tinubu had on Tuesday written to the National Assembly, seeking approval of a fresh N1.767 trillion, the equivalent of $2.209 billion as a new external borrowing plan in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
The fresh loan is expected to stretch the amount spent on debt servicing by the Federal Government. The Central Bank of Nigeria recently said that it cost the Federal Government $3.58 billion to service foreign debt in the first nine months of 2024.
The CBN report on international payment statistics showed that the amount represents a 39.77 per cent increase from the $2.56bn spent during the same period in 2023.
According to the report, while the highest monthly debt servicing payment in 2024 occurred in May, amounting to $854.37m, the highest monthly expenditure in 2023 was $641.70m, recorded in July.
The trend in foreign debt servicing by the CBN highlights the rising cost of debt obligations by Nigeria.
Further breakdown of international debt figures showed that in January 2024, debt servicing costs surged by 398.89 per cent, rising to $560.52m from $112.35m in January 2023. February, however, saw a slight decline of 1.84 per cent, with payments reducing from $288.54m in 2023 to $283.22m in 2024.
March recorded a 31.04 per cent drop in payments, falling to $276.17m from $400.47m in the same period last year. April saw a significant rise of 131.77 per cent, with $215.20m paid in 2024 compared to $92.85m in 2023.
The highest debt servicing payment occurred in May 2024, when $854.37m was spent, reflecting a 286.52 per cent increase compared to $221.05m in May 2023. June, on the other hand, saw a 6.51 per cent decline, with $50.82m paid in 2024, down from $54.36m in 2023.
July 2024 recorded a 15.48 per cent reduction, with payments dropping to $542.50m from $641.70m in July 2023. In August, there was another decline of 9.69 per cent, as $279.95m was paid compared to $309.96m in 2023. However, September 2024 saw a 17.49 per cent increase, with payments rising to $515.81m from $439.06m in the same month last year.
Given rising exchange rates, the data raises concerns about the growing pressure of Nigeria’s foreign debt obligations.
Channels TV
Self acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, has been arrested by law enforcement in Finland.
The BBC reports that Ekpa was subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media”.
Ekpa was said to have committed the crime in 2021 in Lahti municipality.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested four other men over alleged terrorist offences.
A citizen of Finland and Nigeria, Ekpa has described himself as leader of the separatist IPOB group since Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration.
Finnish police say Ekpa’s activities and social media rhetoric may have fanned the flames of violence in the south-east of Nigeria.
“He carries out these activities from his social media channels, for example,” said Otto Hiltunen, detective chief inspector of the NBI.
In February 2023, Ekpa was arrested by police at his residence in Lahti but was released after hours of questioning.
Using his social media channels, Ekpa had directed Igbos not to participate in Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
In September 2021, the Biafra agitator and secessionist denounced Nigeria and vowed to return the medal he won for the country at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships.
