News
Kogi APC Primary: Bello Imposed His Cousin, Says Smart Adeyemi
One of the four aggrieved aspirants at the just concluded governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State, Senator Smart Adeyemi, has accused Governor Yahaya Bello of imposing his cousin on the state.
Adeyemi, who was featured on Channels Television’s popular programme, Politics Today, on Monday, swore that contrary to the alleged forged result sent to the party’s national secretariat, no APC primary election was held in the state.
“The guy (Ododo) who was purported to have won this election is a cousin of Gov Yahaya Bello. There was no election. If we allow this to go on, a time will come when the governor will impose his son, on the state. This is the worst form of nepotism,” he said.
A livid Adeyemi on Monday described the entire process as a ‘rape of democracy.’
Recall that the Secretary of the election committee, Patrick Obahiagbon, had on Friday, announced the former Auditor General of Local Governments in Kogi State, Ahmed Ododo, as the winner of the governorship primary.
Ododo polled 78, 704 votes to beat six other contestants including Adeyemi who came seventh with 311 votes.
But the lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District strongly expressed reservation, saying the entire process was a charade geared toward installing Bello’s anointed candidate as the next governor of the state.
He said, “Let me begin by saying that there was no election conducted at all in the whole state. What they did was a selection and manipulation of the people. What happened was that we were all at home and waiting. None of the INEC and APC officials visited my ward. None of the contestants voted anywhere. For almost six hours, nobody came. Nobody conducted the election. This is a rape of democracy. It is a treasonable offence. No, it is manipulation in the highest order. It is an ungodly act and undemocratic.
“As an aspirant for the state position, you have your coordinators all over the state waiting. No material was given to anybody. What they did was call the chairmen of the local governments’ areas and the chairman of the party and handed over materials to them. They took these materials to their comfort zones, fill up the forms and came back to the APC election committee that came. There was no election anywhere. The question is, why do they allow us to buy form if they have a system that will deny people to be voted for and to vote? Then that is not democracy. It is a betrayal.
“The video you saw was a stage-managed election with some residents and local government secretariats where they took people to. It was to create an impression that the APC primary took place when it didn’t.”
Reacting to the allegation, Kogi State Commissioner of Information And Communications, Hon. Kingsley Fanwo, defended his principal, saying the APC governorship election was not manipulated.
While accusing Adeyemi of being economical with the truth, Fanwo disclosed that all the video clips of the exercise are enough evidence that the election held.
He also admonished the four aggrieved aspirants contesting the outcome of the APC primary to get themselves acquainted with the party Constitution.
“His (Adeyemi) statement is quite unfortunate. Let me compare this issue to a very big balloon. A big balloon is a lie that a small pin is enough to bring down. That’s exactly what has happened because when you lie, there will be some level of inconsistency in what you say. Adeyemi said the election did not take place. But when he was confronted with a video of the election, he said the counting was faulty. I do not understand what he meant by state-managed elections. Those he saw there (in video) were party members of the APC, and they came out to vote.
“Meanwhile, our constitution made it very clear as to who is qualified to cast his vote. The fact that you belong to a party does not make you a full member of that party. You can’t be a nominal member of the party if you’re not taking any responsibility.
“Your membership in any party also comes with responsibilities. You must pay your dues, and when you pay your dues, you are issued with receipts. These are the things that qualify you to exercise your right as a party member. So those who came out and were able to vote were the financial members of the party in accordance with the Constitution of the parties.
“He said the primary didn’t hold anywhere. By showing videos of where the primary actually held, it has shown that all Adeyemi has been saying is not true.
“We are still investigating. There are complaints to the party right now that some fake membership scripts were issued to people that were not even APC members to come out and foment trouble that day.
“So what these people need to do is to go back to the Constitution of the party, get themselves abreast of the provisions. That will help them in their future endeavour,” he said.
The Punch
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.
The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.
Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.
When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.
It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.
In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.
To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.
I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.
Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.
In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.
There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor. Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.
Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.
An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.
In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Eric Elezuo
The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.
The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.
Globacom is welcoming new customers on its network with the introduction of the e-SIM. The e-SIM activated in any Gloworld shop or Dealer outlet comes with an introductory free 5GB data when the customer buys a data plan of N1,500 or more.
Customers already on other networks can now join the Glo network with e-SIM as an additional SIM. Existing Glo customers can also enjoy this “SIM-less” freedom.
With the e-SIM, customers no longer have to worry about space for a physical SIM on their phones. The e-SIM is a software-based digital chip built directly into smartphones or wearable devices, thus eliminating the need for a physical SIM card for customers.
The use of e-SIM enables customers to have seamless switching between phone numbers without a physical SIM. It is ideal for upwardly mobile people who travel frequently. The e-SIM also guarantees security, as unlike physical SIM, it is harder to remove from devices. It is also eco-friendly and reduces plastic waste.
Globacom’s launch of the e-SIM enables enables it to cater to high-net-worth individuals and enterprise customers, and it also reinforces the company’s commitment to providing seamless and future-ready services to its customers.
A customer seeking to activate the Glo e-SIM needs to check the compatibility of the mobile handset by dialling *#06# on his or her phone. If an EID number reflects on the mobile screen, the device is e-SIM compatible.
“The customer can then proceed to the nearest Gloworld shop or Glo Dealer outlet to migrate to e-SIM. The process takes only a few minutes and the customer can thereafter begin to enjoy the use of an e-SIM”, the Marketing Department disclosed.
