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ATIKU SEEKS REMOVAL OF LAGOS REC OVER ALLEGED PARTISANSHIP

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The presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to remove the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Olusegun Agbaje, for his partisanship and compromise.

His Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday. said it was curious that Agbaje had insisted on using the Lagos State Park and Garage Management Committee, led by transport kingpin, Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo, who is a member of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council.

Shaibu dismissed Agbaje’s excuse that INEC would not be able to use the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, and the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, because they had been barred in Lagos State.“

He said:  “The law is clear that only a court has the power to proscribe an organisation. That was why the Federal Government had to go to court to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN.

“What Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu did in Lagos State was to arbitrarily announce a ban on the activities of the NURTW because the organisation suspended MC Oluomo, the APC’s henchman.

“INEC must not promote illegality by working with a partisan organisation which is filled with APC members that are working for Bola Tinubu.

“How could such people be given sensitive materials to be distributed across Lagos on election day?

“This has already undermined the possibility of a free and fair election. INEC must sanction Mr. Agbaje for insisting on using MC Oluomo’s committee despite protests from members of the public.”

Shaibu recalled that Agbaje was the REC who superintended over the fraudulent 2018 governorship election rerun in Osun State which even the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union discredited.

He further said:  “Recall that it was Mr. Agbaje who superintended over the fraudulent and violent Osun governorship rerun which produced Gboyega Oyetola as governor. US Consul General, John Bray was spot on when he stated, ‘We witnessed what appeared to be incidents of interference and intimidation of voters and heard reports of harassment or party monitors, journalists and domestic observers.

Shaibu also noted that even election monitoring groups, such as the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, dismissed the Osun rerun as “fraudulent and anti-democratic”.

He maintained:  “Unfortunately, it is the same Agbaje who could not effectively supervise a rerun in a few polling units that has been given the task of superintending the election in Nigeria’s largest state with over seven million registered voters. The election is doomed to fail if INEC doesn’t do the right thing by removing him.

“We remind the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, that this will be his last general election before the end of his tenure. We ask him to protect his legacy by removing Mr. Segun Agbaje if he insists that MC Oluomo must be the one to handle sensitive INEC materials. This election must not only be fair but it must be seen to be fair as well.

“Shaibu explained  that “as of Wednesday morning (yesterday), over 17,000 Nigerians had signed a petition on Change.Org, titled ‘Remove Olusegun Agbaje as the Lagos INEC Commissioner for Incompetence and Bigotry’.“The Atiku media aide said Agbaje had been under fire for the last week, following his comments over the inability of a large number of non-indigenes in Lagos to vote. 

‘While explaining the development on Channels TV, Agbaje stated that people of the southeast migrated to Lagos and engaged in double registration, hence their inability to get their Permanent Voters’ Cards, PVC.’

Responding to thIs development, Shaibu said:  “It is disheartening that the Lagos REC, Mr Segun Agbaje, had begun to show open partisanship. We find it curious that it is the local governments considered opposition strongholds that were unable to get their PVCs.

“Historians and analysts have described this 2023 general election as a watershed. The destiny of over 200 million people is at stake. INEC says it is ready to deliver a credible and free election but one weak link in the chain of command can undermine the entire process.

“We call on Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu to remove the Lagos REC, Mr. Agbaje, as his credibility is seriously in doubt. Again, we call on INEC not to use the MC Oluomo-led partisan organisation to distribute ballot papers on election day.”

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SENIOR JOURNALIST ACCUSES ONANUGA OF INSURRECTION AGAINST INDEPENDENT MEDIA

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Says it’s a reminder of Abacha’s dictatorship

A veteran journalist and rights activist, Mr. Richard Akinnola, has raised the alarm that the incoming government of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be intolerant of the free press.
Akinnola vowed that Nigerians would resist any planned “insurrection” against the independent media the way they fought Abacha’s dictatorship against the media.


Akinnola in an open letter dated April 1, 2023, written to the Director of Media of the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Bayo Onanuga, expressed dismay that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) slammed Channels Television with a N5 million fine, following a petition allegedly written by Onanuga over an interview by the vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.


NBC had last week slammed a fine of N5 million on Channels Television for allegedly breaking the broadcasting code in a programme with Baba-Ahmed.
The sanction came a few hours after Tinubu petitioned the station over its interview with the LP vice presidential candidate.
While fielding questions on a Channels Television programme, Baba-Ahmed asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, not to swear in Bola Tinubu as president.


The LP vice-presidential candidate said there is no president-elect because Tinubu did not allegedly meet the requirements of the constitution.
However, Akinnola, who in his letter reminded Onanuga of their long-time friendship, accused him of violating all the principles they both fought for under the military, particularly against the military onslaught on the free press.


He warned that Nigerians would resist any planned “insurrection” against the independent media the way they fought Abacha’s dictatorship against the media.
The letter read: “I hope you are now happy and satisfied that NBC has sanctioned Channels with a N5 million fine, following your petition over Datti Ahmed’s interview on Channels Television.


“Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Dr. Olu Onagoruwa (both of blessed memories) were the best of friends for several years but that friendship was truncated when the latter decided to join the Abacha junta as the Attorney-General, churning out despicable Decrees. Their relationship ended and Gani publicly upbraided his erstwhile friend.


“You and I have been friends for several years, fought many battles together against the military, particularly against their onslaught on the free press. I, therefore, feel pained that l have to publicly upbraid you for your recent public statements, particularly your petition against Channels Television, to NBC.
“Et tu, Bayo? I’m still trying to wrap my head around your sudden 360 degrees against all you fought for under the military. You are yet to be in government and you have started exhibiting intolerance against the independent media, the same thing you fought for all your years like Dr Onagoruwa did. I’m sure your principal, who has been a lover of a free press, would be embarrassed by your position.


“I watched the interview under reference and I must say, you are very unfair to Seun Okinbaloye, the anchor man who repeatedly cautioned Datti Ahmed for making some seemingly inciting comments, to the anger and discomfiture of Datti-Ahmed. So, in all conscience, what then is the basis of your petition to NBC? Can you compare that to your recent incendiary post against an ethnic group? Why are you making enemies for your principal, instead of friends, in a country so polarised? While your principal is preaching unity and healing, you are busy trying to make more enemies for him. Yesterday, it was ARISE NEWS Channel; today, it is Channels. Is that a foretaste of what to experience in the incoming government? So, we should be fixated on NTA and TVC? Isn’t that what you are trying to say proverbially? To say that I’m totally embarrassed by your silly conduct would be stating it mildly.


“For eight years, despite all vitriolic attacks on the president, Femi Adesina, as Special Adviser, Media to the president, did not petition against any medium but you wey never enter, don dey censor the media. What a shame! I can expect the disaster that awaits us if you become the presidential spokesperson. Do l subscribe to unfettered press freedom? No. I believe every freedom comes with responsibility. However, when you create a perception that the incoming government would be intolerant of the free press, we need to sound the alarm bell.


“My dear Bayo, it is often said that until a man tastes power or has access to money, you can’t judge his character. That may not be true because one of our mutual friends, Tunji Bello, has tasted both but has been the normal self that l have known for over three decades. His decent character has not changed, in and out of government. So, could it be that your real character is just unfolding? Just because you are now at the periphery of power, you are ready to obliterate all the values and principles you held all these years. What a shame!
“Take notice that we would fight this your planned “insurrection” against the independent media the way we, including you, fought Abacha’s dictatorship against the media.”

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NBC SLAMS N5M PENALTY ON CHANNELS TELEVISION FOR BREAKING BROADCAST CODE

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The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has slammed a fine of N5 million on Channels Television for breaking the broadcasting law in a programme with Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed, Labour Party Vice Presidential candidate.

This is contained in a letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of the television station and dated March 27.

The letter was exclusively obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

The letter, with the title: “Broadcast of an Inciting Interview, A Sanction”, was signed by Balarabe Ilelah, the commission’s Director-General.

It read in part:” The NBC monitored the broadcast of a live interview of the running mate of the Labour Party Vice presidential candidate, Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed, by the anchor of Politics Today, Seun Okibaloye, on Wednesday, March 22.

“Dr Baba-Ahmed said it will be unconstitutional to swear in an elected president on May 29, 2023, because of election irregularities,” Ilelah said in the letter.

He noted that the broadcast was volatile and capable of inciting public disorder and therefore violated some sections of the broadcasting code.

This, according to him, includes the section that said no broadcast shall encourage, or incite, be repugnant to public feelings or contain offensive reference to any person or organisation, alive or dead or generally be disrespectful to human dignity.

Ilelah added that according to the broadcasting code, broadcasters shall ensure that no programme contained anything which amounted to subversion of constituted authority.

He recalled that the NBC had engaged Channels Television severally to consider public interest before any programme is broadcast.

This, he said, was to ensure that the country was not plunged into anarchy.

“Consequently, on the following infractions, Channels Television is hereby sanctioned and shall pay a penalty of N5,000,000 (five million naira) only in the first instance,” he said.

He added that any further infraction by the television station would attract higher sanctions.

“You are advised to pay within two weeks from the day of receipt of this letter or the penalty will be graduated,” the NBC Director-General said

(NAN) 

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JUST IN : IMO LABOUR PARTY GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANT FOUND DEAD

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Labour Dead

A governorship aspirant under the platform of the Labour Party in Imo state, Chief Humphrey Anumudu, has been found dead in his house.

WITHIN NIGERIA reports that his death comes after his return from a meeting at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja on Friday.

He died in his Lagos house in what family sources described as a “spiritual attack.”

A close friend of the deceased said he died around 5:30 pm on Friday.

Neither his family, nor party has made official statement on the development.

This is a developing story…

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