Edo Governor-Elect, Sen. Monday Okpebholo, announced on Monday the appointment of Mr. Fred Odianosen Itua as his Chief Press Secretary.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the appointment,  the first of the incoming administration, would take effect on November 12, 2024, according to a statement signed by Okpebholo.

Itua is a distinguished journalist with a wealth of experience, having previously served as the Assistant Political Editor at The Sun Newspapers.

Ahead of the Ondo State governorship election billed for Saturday, November 16, 2024, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun has warned against violence and political interference.

IGP Egbetokun gave the warning in a statement signed by the spokesman of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi on Sunday morning.

Egbetokun in the statement assured the public of the police’s unwavering readiness to ensure a peaceful and orderly election process across all 18 Local Government Areas (LGA), 203 wards and 3,933 polling units in Ondo State.

The IGP confirmed that comprehensive plans have been set in motion to guarantee a smooth election, including the strategic deployment of adequate personnel, resources, and state-of-the-art equipment.

“The deployment will see officers from various specialised units, including the Special Intervention Squad, Police Mobile Force (PMF), Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU), Special Protection Unit (SPU), Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit, K-9 Unit, Federal Investigation and Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT), and Federal Intelligence and Security Task Force (FID-STS), working in concert with other security agencies,” he assured.

“These agencies will adhere strictly to the guidelines of the Electoral Act, 2022, ensuring that all measures taken align with the principles of fairness, transparency, and order.

“In addition to ground personnel, aerial patrols will be conducted with police helicopters, while gunboats will patrol the state’s waterways and riverine areas to ensure security across all terrains.

“These comprehensive measures will serve as a deterrent to any attempt to disrupt the electoral process and will enhance the overall stability of the elections.

“The IGP has also issued a stern warning to political thugs and any individuals or groups who may contemplate acts of violence or disruption before, during, or after the election: they will face the full force of the law.

“The message is clear: those who attempt to jeopardise the peace and security of the state will not go unpunished.

“Furthermore, the IGP reaffirmed the established guidelines governing election security management in Nigeria, stressing that no quasi-security organisation, including state-backed groups like Vigilante Corps or Amotekun, will be permitted to participate in the election process.

“The security of this election is a responsibility entrusted solely to the Nigeria Police Force and other federal security agencies, along with the broader membership of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

“The Nigeria Police Force, in collaboration with other federal security agencies, remains committed, vigilant, and fully prepared to ensure that the Ondo State Gubernatorial Election proceeds smoothly, without incident, and in accordance with the highest standards of electoral integrity.”

 Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has dissolved his cabinet ahead of the Nov.12  swearing-in of Sen. Monday Okpebholo, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the new governor of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that Obaseki who came into office on November 12, 2016 is expected to end his eight years tenure on November 12, 2024.

Obaseki dissolved the cabinet shortly after a valedictory session held at the Government House on Friday in Benin.

The motion for the dissolution of the State Executive Council for 2020-2024 was moved by his deputy, Godwins Omobayo, and was seconded by the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Osilama Okuofu.

At the valedictory session, the governor commended members of the council for helping him in driving the government’s vision of making Edo great again.

Obaseki also commended citizens of the state for supporting, praying and collaborating with his administration throughout his tenure.

Members of the cabinet  took turns to eulogise the governor and acknowledged his many achievements in various sectors.

They also commended the governor for the opportunity given to them to serve the people of the state in their various capacities.

The outgoing commissioners and Heads of Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) also took turns to present awards and gifts to honour the governor.

The valedictory session for the outgoing state executive council climaxed with a dinner in honour of the state governor.

The Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, has said that 22,239 Police personnel would be deployed to Ondo State for next Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

Egbetokun who disclosed the stakeholders meeting organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Akure on Thursday observed that the success of any important process like the forthcoming Governorship election depends on peace, order, and security.

Stressing that a breach of the peace or security can surely scuttle the success expected in the exercise, the IGP represented by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 7, Abiodun Olabisi called on stakeholders to discharge our various duties with security-conscious approaches.

The Police boss said: “The Nigeria Police and other supporting security agencies responsible for providing security in the forthcoming election have a responsibility to solidly synergize and work as a formidable team to identify and nip in the bud, all security threats, provide water-tight security at the polling stations as well as all the public spaces within the state.

“Security of the voters the electoral officials, the electoral materials and the general public will have to be effectively provided before, during and after the election. This can be efficiently achieved by concerted covert and overt operations by the synergized security agencies assigned for the election duties.

“In order to deliver adequate election security, the Nigeria Police, apart from additional manpower from sister agencies, is going to deploy a total of 22,239 officers for the exercise.”

Egbetokun urged political parties, contesting candidates and their agents to conduct themselves peacefully and lawfully, in line with global best practices of democracy.

“All stakeholders should eschew violence, avoid the do-or-die approach, should not employ thuggery, and play the game according to the rules in the spirit of sportsmanship that will enable the loser to lose gallantly and the winner to be magnanimous in victory,” he said.

“It should be stated that violators of electoral laws run the risk of diligent prosecution. He that loses today may win tomorrow- there is always hope for the future.”

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who noted that the 2024 Ondo State Governorship election is of global interest, disclosed that sensitive election materials will arrive in the state next week Tuesday.

Disclosing that the mock accreditation in 12 polling units across six Local Government Areas in the three Senatorial Districts of the State was successful, Yakubu clarified that machines used for the mock accreditation and the training of officials will not be used on Election Day.

He said the commission possesses sufficient machines for the election which have been configured for voter accreditation and the upload of results distinct from those used for mock accreditation and training.

“We have made arrangements for land and maritime transportation of personnel and materials. We have arranged for the delivery of sensitive materials for the election to arrive as early as Tuesday next week.

“We will invite political parties and other stakeholders for the usual inspection of the materials at the Central Bank here in Akure and throughout the movement of sensitive materials to the Local Governments and the ward centres.

“We have warned our staff that there will be consequences for dereliction of duty in any way or form. Tomorrow afternoon, I am going to address the staff, including the Electoral Officers from the 18 Local Government Areas.”

For the second day running, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has taunted the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, describing him as Africa’s most infamous election loser.

APC in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Mr Felix Morka claimed that Atiku’s long record of electoral defeat was serially certified by Nigeria’s highest courts, sealing his rejection by the electorate with judicial and constitutional finality.

APC noted that it is surprising that an unabashed Atiku has continued to lay what it termed as “a bogus claim” that he did not lose the 2023 presidential election.  

APC contended that Atiku’s desperation to be president can only be understood in the context of his determination to complete what it termed “the full subversion of Nigeria’s economic life from where he left off as Vice President.”

APC stressed that Nigerians will not entrust their country to someone who, allegedly puts his selfish interest, and the interest of his cronies over and above the national interest. 

APC observed that Atiku’s inability to come to terms with the reality of his rejection cuts an ominous portrait of extreme and disturbing political desperation. 

APC thereby urged Nigerians to stand fast in support of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-administration of President Bola Tinubu and valiant effort to restore vitality to our economy for the good of all Nigerians.

“Make no mistake. Atiku is Africa’s most infamous presidential election loser. Since serving as vice president, he has lost election to every single president that has been elected to office in Nigeria,” he said.

“Six times in the last 17 years, Nigerians have declared their verdict of untrustworthiness, incompetence, chronic corruption, visionlessness, uncanny desperation, and lack of sportsmanship on Atiku’s presidential candidacy, and roundly rejected him at the polls.”

Nigeria’s intelligent and discerning electorate will not act against their own best interest by electing into office a man with some of the most obscene record of breach of public trust, so odious that, former President Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly stated that “if I support Atiku for anything, God will not forgive me.”

Atiku is a central and recurrent player in some of our country’s most vile roll call of corruption scandals perpetrated PDP administrations.

 “Atiku was the Vice President in the government that created crooked and viscerally corrupt petrol subsidy hydra-headed dragon that has crippled our country’s economy, and laid the foundation for the endemic corruption and inefficiency that have undermined our power sector through the years.

 “Having now demystified himself with the release, last Sunday, of “What I Would Do Differently”, it is now settled that Atiku has nothing to offer Nigerians but his stale, tired, tested, and failed economic ideas that are at polar relevance to the current existential economic challenges facing our country. 

“Atiku had a chance to execute whatever economic ideas he may have ever had. He failed fantastically to do so as vice president and also failed to get his forlorn PDP to do so in all of their 16 profligate years.

Atiku thinks himself capable of fixing Nigeria but cannot fix the rot and hopeless dysfunction in his PDP.”

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has labeled the All Progressives Congress (APC) a party of vampires while condemning the attack on Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.

The PDP hit out at the ruling APC on Monday night in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba.

Ologunagba described the APC as a party of “political vampires” who thrive and relish in “sucking the blood” of the citizens and foisting excruciating pain and hardship on Nigerians.

The PDP further described the APC as a haven of power-grabbers, treasury looters and manipulators who are only out to “grab, snatch and run” with Nigeria’s national patrimony at the expense of millions of the citizens.

The PDP said it strongly condemns the APC’s attack on Governor Makinde for speaking out for the Nigerian masses who have been subjected to untold hardship by the APC administration.

The opposition party further described the attack as reckless, insensitive and a reprehensible display of arrogance in failure.

“The attack on Governor Makinde also confirms that the APC is jittery that its days are numbered as Nigerians have seen through its lies, subterfuge, falsehood, suppressive policies and crass incompetence in governance,” Ologunagba said.

“Governor Makinde remains a credible and effective leader with astonishing record of performances not only in prioritizing the needs of the people of Oyo as evident in the numerous development projects in the state but also working with other governors elected on the platform of the PDP in the quest for development, sustenance of democracy and resistance to APC’s scheme to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.

“It is indeed an assault on the sensibility of Nigerians that in the midst of worsening insecurity, biting economic hardship, widespread hunger and starvation, comatose infrastructure, crippled productive sector, weakened currency, closure of millions of businesses with over 36% unemployment rate, hopelessness and general despondency all occasioned by the irresponsible anti-people policies of the APC administration, the party is living in alternate reality, arrogantly claiming that Nigeria is “on the cusp of prosperity”.

“Our party finds it preposterous that the APC thinks that it can continue to hoodwink citizens with lies and harvest of false performance claims when it has failed on all fronts, reversed all the gains made in the 16 years of the PDP in governance and turned our once economically thriving nation into the poverty capital of the world where over 100 million Nigerians are no longer able to afford their daily meals and other basic necessities of life.”

Ologunagba lamented that today, under the APC voodoo economy, the naira which exchanged for N168 to the follar under the PDP now exchanges for almost N2,000 per dollar and petrol which sold for N87 per liter now sells for over N1,500 in various parts of the country.

He also lamented that a bag of rice which sold for N8,000 now sells for over N100,000, a measure of beans which sold for N250 now sells for N3,800 while a measure of garri which sold for N100 now sells for N1,500.

Ologunagba added that more distressing is that while Nigerians are experiencing harrowing hardship, corrupt APC leaders are busy looting the nation’s treasury to fund their luxury appetite and consumption.

He said it is, therefore, not surprising that as the day progresses towards 2027, the APC is resorting to manipulation of data, politicization of issues and personal attacks on outspoken Nigerians as being witnessed in its outburst against Governor Makinde.

“Such attacks by the APC cannot fly as Governor Makinde and indeed other PDP governors are massively delivering on their mandates as being witnessed in the astounding infrastructural, human capital and citizen empowerment projects going on in PDP states to the admiration of Nigerians,” Ologunagba said. 

“Indeed, the PDP-governed states continue to be the oasis of development compared to the APC-controlled states. 

“The APC should end its shenanigans, accept failure and come to terms with the fact that its lifespan in the face of abysmal failure in governance cannot last beyond February 2027 when the PDP and Nigerians will send it to political oblivion where its contraption truly belongs,” he concluded.