Headlines
Submit Your Illegally Acquired Weapons or Get Killed, COAS Warns Mangu Residents
The Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, has warned residents of troubled Mangu Local Government of Plateau State to submit all illegally acquired weapons or risk being killed.
The army chief warned on Saturday during a meeting with representatives of ethnic and other groups held at Pilot Primary School in Mangu town.
More than 300 persons have been reportedly killed, and about 80,000 persons were displaced from 11 communities in the area since clashes between farming communities and pastoralists in the area started in late April.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the major interest groups in the area, including the Mwaghavul Development Association (MDA) and Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Jama’atu Nasril Islam from the area.
The meeting, according to the Nigerian army, was part of the continued efforts to find a lasting solution to the crisis that had engulfed the town and surrounding communities.
During the meeting, the army chief advised residents of the area to submit all illegally acquired weapons or risk being killed.
“We have youth carrying illicit small arms and light weapons all over the place, here in Mangu and the entire state. If you have your children carrying weapons. Call them to order as quickly as possible. Collect those weapons from them and submit them to the military. If you don’t do that, they will get killed, and they get killed, there would be no compensation,” Mr Lagbaja, a major general, said.
“So, collect the arms from them and warn them. The government has the charge, the responsibility to organise, train and equip and maintain the military, which is in the hands of the government. And the government has done that. The law does not allow you to hold military weapons. Report your problem to the appropriate channel, ” he added.
Mr Lagbaja further drew the attention of the residents to the effects of violence on the children’s future, adding that with crisis, their children will not have the opportunity to become leaders of tomorrow.
Representatives of the Mwaghavul and Fulani communities explained some of their differences.
“If they agree that we are peaceful people, they must be responsible that there must be some outsiders. Because so long as we don’t tell each other the truth, this will continue. If my dear brother, the chairman of Miyetti Allah, is telling the truth, he must reflect that in action,” Joseph Gwankat, National President of MDA, said.
“All Fulani herders in the area of Ampan and Mongul district have been chased away. I don’t know where they are at the moment. If what we are saying is true, what have the Fulanis in these areas done to deserve what they have witnessed? I am the leader of Fulani in the LGA; if something happens in some of the areas where Fulanis were chased away, who should I call to investigate? We have to stop this. It wouldn’t take us anywhere,” Bellow Shanono, MACBAN chairman, Mangu, said.
Premium Times
By Eric Elezuo
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been declared winner of the presidential primary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The declaration was made at the Trascorp Hilton Hotel, where the final collation of results was made.
The former Vice President polled a total of 1, 846, 370 votes to defeat his closest rival, former Governor of Rivers State, Hon Rotimi Amaechi, who scored just over 500 thousand votes. Alhaji Muhammed Hayatu-Deen came third.
Headlines
ADC Presidential Primary: Hayatu-Deen Alleges Rigging, Withdraws from Results Announcement
One of the presidential aspirants of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, says he will not attend the announcement of the party’s presidential primary election results, citing allegations of widespread vote rigging.
In a statement on his X handle on Tuesday, Hayatu-Deen expressed concern over reports of electoral irregularities from across the country.
The ADC aspirant noted that he witnessed some of the incidents.
“I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC Presidential Election Results today. I am concerned by reports from across the country of widespread vote rigging, some of which I myself observed, and will therefore be taking advice on my next steps,” the statement read.
The development comes amid keen competition for the ADC presidential ticket involving former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Minister of Transportation and former Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and Hayatu-Deen.
The ADC presidential primary election collation exercise will take place in Abuja. Results are expected from across the nation.
Ahead of the nationwide presidential primary held on Monday, the ADC had urged aspirants, party leaders, delegates, and members to conduct themselves peacefully and uphold party unity.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, described the exercise as a defining moment for both the ADC and Nigerians seeking a credible political alternative.
According to him, the party remained committed to internal democracy and a transparent leadership selection process.
“The ADC remains proud to stand today as the only truly democratic party in Nigeria because it is the only political party whose choice of presidential candidate is determined through open primaries,” Abdullahi stated.
The party also stressed that the conduct of aspirants and party members during the exercise would reflect the leadership culture the ADC seeks to promote.
Headlines
You’re Not Different from APC, INEC, Amaechi Slams ADC, Rejects Presidential Primary Results
A former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has rejected the results of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primaries, alleging widespread voter disenfranchisement and electoral malpractice.
Amaechi, in a statement posted on his X handle on Tuesday, described the outcome of the exercise as “concocted results.”
He said he had earlier made it clear that he would only accept the outcome of the primaries if the process was free, fair and transparent.
“I will not accept results from a process that does not reflect the values that the ADC had pledged to uphold,” he said.
Amaechi alleged that about 80 percent of party members across the country were prevented from voting during the exercise.
“There’s no way that about eighty percent of members of the party were not allowed to vote, and you expect me to accept such results,” he stated.
The former Governor of Rivers State accused the party of engaging in practices it had previously condemned in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to him, the ADC cannot criticize vote buying, rigging and manipulation of election results by others while allegedly engaging in similar acts during its own primary.
Amaechi added that the development was unacceptable and contrary to the ideals upon which the party was founded.
