The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned political parties that it will not receive communication from any organ of the party except the chairman and the National Executive Council of the party.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahood Yakubu, said this during a meeting with party chairmen in Abuja on Friday.

He said in the past, state chapters and the national body of parties were sending different names of political candidates for the same office.

Yakubu said the Supreme Court had ruled that the national body of a political party was the one charged with the duty of communicating with INEC.

The INEC boss said, “The supremacy of the National Executive Council to inform the commission of dates, venues and membership of committees to handle the conduct of primaries is key.

“We will not accept nomination or even invitation for the conduct of primaries from the branches. It is only the national executive of political parties that can contact us. It had happened before which led to serious litigations.

“The chairmen should stand firm. Only you can submit the names of candidates for election and only you can advise the commission on when you will conduct primaries. Otherwise, we will end up with conflicting information.”

Yakubu urged the party chairmen to ensure that primaries were free and fair, adding that the number of electoral cases in court were too many.

The INEC boss said some court cases which emanated from the conduct of 2014 primaries were still in court, adding that the many cases in court were draining the resources of the commission.

He said, “Litigation arising from party primaries are of a pre-election nature and are thus not time bound unlike post-election cases which are time bound- 180 days at the tribunal, 60 days at the Appeal Court and 60 days at the Supreme Court.

“Today, we are still grappling with litigation cases that arose from primaries that held in December 2014. Only two months ago, the commission issued a certificate of return to a candidate that was declared winner of a party primary of 2014.”

On the large number of political parties that would participate in the 2019 general elections, the INEC boss said if all the parties fielded candidates for all the positions, at least 144,000 persons would participate in the polls.

He advised parties not to change venues and dates of primaries arbitrarily as this would lead to waste of resources of the commission.

Yakubu added, “We need your support because for the first time, we have 91 political parties contesting in the 2019 elections. What is the implication? We are going to conduct elections into 1, 558 constituencies nationwide.

“That is one Presidential constituency, 29 governorship elections because elections in seven states are now staggered. We have 109 senatorial districts, 360 federal constituencies, 991 state constituencies and 68 area councils in the FCT which translates to 1, 558 offices.

“Assuming that all 91 parties field candidates for all the elections, we will process nomination forms for over 144,000 candidates within a very short period of time. So, we need to work closely with the political parties to meet our deadlines.” he said.

The police in Anambra, South East Nigeria on Friday declared as high mischief, the reported shooting of David Elijah, the pastor in charge of Grace and Power Prophetic Ministry in Awka.

The Anambra Command in a statement signed by DCP Chris Owolabi, wondered why the pastor refused to report the incident to the police station closest to the scene of the incident.

The command wondered why the pastor instead went to his church in Aromma, Awka, to make a public announcement of his miraculous escape.

“The attention of the Anambra State Police Command has been drawn to mischievous publications in some national dailies and the social media that one Pastor (Prophet) David Elijah of Grace and Power Prophetic Ministry, Awka was attacked by unknown gunmen in his church close to Aroma junction.

“It is indisputable that on Sept. 6th between 9am to 10am, the Pastor said that he was attacked by unknown gunmen along Enugu-Udi road in Enugu state and his vehicle was riddled with bullets, but he escaped unhurt.

“However, instead of reporting the incident at the nearest police station where the incident took place, the pastor drove to his church in Awka and attracted the attention of his congregation who were waiting for him at the church premises for a church event,” he said.

However, the command urged members of the public to disregard the report as misleading and assured that Anambra is safe.

“Following the incident, the commissioner of police directed the DPO ‘B’ Division to immediately proceed to the church and ascertain the true situation.

“The DPO visited the pastor at his church and even took photographs with him to clear the ambiguity.

“In view of the foregoing, the command implores members of the public to disregard such misleading reports from mischievous elements who are bent on portraying the state in bad light in order to achieve their selfish goals,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the social media buzzed  with stories of how Pastor David miraculously escaped unhurt following attack on him by unidentified gunmen.

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) is partnering with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, on tree planting in order to tackle the problem of forest degradation in the country.

The NCF President, Izoma Asiodu, at a tree-planting event in Ibadan on Friday, decried what he called the negative attitude of Nigerians toward tree-felling without replacement.

He said that the effects of this were currently responsible for climate change in Nigeria.

Asiodu said that NCF had adopted an immediate priority to help the Nigerian  government on green recovery initiative by planting more indigenous trees.

He said that indigenous trees were more protective of the Nigerian soil, adding that they enrich the soil, unlike most imported trees which come with certain diseases.

Asiodu said that planting of trees would help address forest degradation and the effects of climate change in a few years.

The Deputy Director of  IITA, Mrs Hilde Koper-Limbourg, said she was delighted that NCF had interest in the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife in Nigeria.

She described IITA as a non-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty and natural resource degradation.

Koper-Limbourg said though forest conservation work was not IITA ’s main mandate,  it was aware of its importance to the environment.

According to her, IITA recognises the importance of forests and appreciates the support offered by NCF and other partners.

“We promise to keep working on responsible agriculture and conservation,’’ she said.

Prof. Busoye Agbeja, the Chairman of Commonwealth Forestry Association, called on federal and state governments to address the challenges of forest reserves so as to prevent degradation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that also present at the event were the Director-General of  NCF, Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano and  Chief Ede Dafinone, the Chairman of  Green Recovery Nigeria Initiatives.

Sen. Patricia Akwashiki, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has expressed optimism that a female governor would emerge in Nigeria in 2019.

Some scientist have called on regulatory agencies to check the incessant rock blasting in Nigeria in order to prevent recurrence of earth tremors.

By Amos Tauna

A PDP governorship aspirant in Kaduna State, Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi has vowed to reinstate all workers who he said were unconstitutionally sacked by the El- Rufa’i led Administration.

“Every District Head that was sacked by El-rufai will be returned to office in my first week in office.”

The gubernatorial hopeful made the declaration on Friday at a consultative meeting with PDP hierarchy, stakeholders and interest groups in Southern Kaduna.

Senator Hunkuyi lamented that the ordinary citizens in Kaduna State have no other adversary than the Governor.

He urged the people of the state, especially opinion and religious leaders, sacked workers and parents whose children are suffering the ill-informed policies of the Administration, particularly in the educational sub-sector to see the consensus to vote out the Governor.

Hunkuyi lamented the poor state of infrastructures in the state and the staggering debt accrued over the period of 3 years as a result of non-payment of pension to pensioners and entitlements of sacked workers.

“El-rufai has destroyed Kaduna state through unwarranted liabilities, which have piled up over the period of 3 years due to non-payment of pension and entitlements of sacked workers, which is totalling up to N34bn,” he lamented.

If given the mandate, Hunkuyi assured that he would engage Southern Kaduna leaders to come forward with the region’s priorities that will help improve the prosperity of the region.

“No region in Kaduna State, under the current government that is side-lined, mistreated and psychologically injured like Southern Kaduna.

“However, it is disaster to just wish to remove El-rufai without thinking of a good and better replacement. After the PDP primaries, if I eventually picked the party’s ticket, El-rufai will know that he is defeated already.”

He called on Southern Kaduna people to be pragmatic because the region is strategically placed, adding that it would determine who wins the 2019 gubernatorial election.

By Joseph Edegbo

A group, Stakeholders and Aspirants Forum in Kaduna says it has rejected the adoption of the indirect mode of electing candidates for the 2019 general Elections by the State Executive Committee of the party.

The group led by one of the Gubernatorial Aspirants in the State, Jalal Falal told a news conference in Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria on Friday that indirect primaries was prone to manipulate influence of the few and the corruptible practice of vote buying.

It was against this, he said, the forum arrived at the collective decision in favour of Direct Primaries as the ideal mode of nominating the 2019 general election candidates of APC in Kaduna State.

“Already our incorruptible President, Muhammadu Buhari, and the national leadership of the party have, in their wisdom, committed to Direct Primaries. We urge the Kaduna State Governor and the party in the state to be on the same page with them, to have the moral courage not only to do what is right but by taking the path of honour, and shunning such corruptive tendencies of Indirect Primaries in our body polity, but equally important to have the audacity to test their popularity through Direct Primaries.

“Popular candidates need not fear direct engagements with party members and the general electorates,” he said.

According to him, it is an open secret that the APC in Kaduna State has been under the total control of the Governor.

“The bulk of the members of the party including critical stakeholders who have given their all to enthrone APC in Kaduna State have been marginalised and excluded from the mainstream of the affairs of the party.” he said.

Falal stated that if APC would want to retain Kaduna State, it must throw up for election of strong candidates for her Gubernatorial and legislative elections against possibly other strong candidates of the other parties.

“The recent ward, local government and state congresses could rightly be said to be the icing on the cake. Officials of the party were single handedly picked by the Governor and his aides.

“This is the backdrop against which the mass exodus from the Areas to run the affairs of the party by its members has been taking place in the entire 23 Local Government Kaduna State.

“As we speak, the outcome of the so-called congresses is still being contested in the courts of the land. Given these deep rifts in the party, our Forum fails to see how Indirect Primaries can produce candidates with mass-based support.” Jalal, explained.

Jalal added that APC in Kaduna state will be in serious trouble if el-Rufai, is allowed to fly the party’s flag in the next election, saying, “we are not going to allow el-Rufai, to pick the ticket our party, it will mean a serious danger for us. I want to ensure that I take over from the outgoing governor.”

He announced that the stance of the group had already been communicated to the national leadership of the party.