The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has finally confirmed the arrest of Dubai-based bureau de change operator, Ismaila Mustapha aka Mompha.

In a chat with the Press, it was revealed that Mr Mustapha was arrested in connection to alleged graft and has been moved to Lagos.

Wilson Uwujaren, a spokesperson for the EFCC, confirmed Mr Mustapha had been taken into custody. The arrest was reportedly a joint operation between Interpol and the EFCC.

Umar Garba, Nigeria’s head of Interpol, also confirmed that he had learnt of the arrest and all enquiries should be treated by the EFCC as the primary law enforcement institution in charge of the investigation.

The governor of Kano state, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has celebrated his predecessor, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso on his 63rd birthday anniversary. In a sponsored advertisement on page 41 of Daily Trust on Tuesday, Ganduje prayed that the Almighty Allah grant his predecessor good health and prosperity.

“I, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on behalf of myself, the government and the good people of Kano state, wish to congratulate our former Governor and Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso on his 63rd year anniversary. “While wishing him more returns in future, I pray that Allah Almighty grants him good health and prosperity,” Ganduje prayed.

If there were any doubts as to why Nigeria are so keen on Bournemouth’s Philip Billing, look no further than his highlight reel against Norwich City at the weekend.

While the game at the Vitality Stadium, which ended goalless, wouldn’t live long in the memory given its tepid nature, the midfielder’s display was his best since swapping relegated Huddersfield Town for a Bournemouth side now established in the Premier League.

There were only three shots on target in the entirety of the game on Saturday; a fact which indicates the drabness of the encounter with chances at both ends few and far between. This is emphasised in both side’s expected goals statistic which showed the Cherries had 0.67 to the Canaries’ 0.40.

Games like Saturday’s probably won’t be replayed by many for the foreseeable future, but it also makes people aware and appreciative of performances from players like Billing, whose impact often flies under the radar owing to their unassuming tasks in their teams.

The towering midfielder was dominant in the middle of the park, displaying his really impressive reading of the game as he made several interceptions against Daniel Farke’s troops. His three interceptions, the same as midfield partner Lewis Cook, accounted for 30 percent of Bournemouth’s total on the day (10).

Furthermore, the Denmark U-21 international won a couple of tackles and cleared the ball away from harm’s way when necessary during the encounter. His desire to put his body in the way of shots was admirable too, and the gigantic midfield man ranked highest for shots blocked in the Cherries’ side.

Helped by his languid style, he completed three of his four attempted dribbles, which was the most of any player on Eddie Howe’s side.

Perhaps Billing’s potential to deliver such performances is why Nigeria have been trying for about a year to get the 23-year-old to commit to the Super Eagles, at Denmark’s expense.

They even sent Everton’s Alex Iwobi to do their bidding recently, a fact revealed by the Bournemouth player.

“It wasn’t until when we [Bournemouth] were going to play against Everton a couple of weeks ago when Alex Iwobi asked if I might be interested in coming and playing for Nigeria,” Billing told BT, via Bournemouth Echo. “He said the coach had asked me. It was the first time I heard anything concrete myself.

“It’s a pat on the back that another country would like you to play for them. I just take that as a shrug and proof that you are doing well.”

While the Super Eagles’ interest is well known, the midfielder’s indifference has been evidently stated and ought to put the entire episode to bed.

“It would feel strange to have to play for Nigeria, even though my father is from there,” he continued. “I am half Nigerian and I feel that way too, but I was born and raised in Denmark. My mother is Danish and my sister is Danish, so it would feel strange to have to play for Nigeria.”

The former Terrier had a consistent view in November last year when asked about representing the three-time African champions.

“I know my agents have said that Nigeria has approached them. There’s not much in it … that’s the most if I want to play for the Nigerian national team, so I think it could be possible, but that’s not something I’m thinking about,” Billing told BT. “I see myself as a Dane, and I also play the Danish U-21 national team. So no, I have not thought if I should be honest.”

Those are clearly the words of a player with little or no interest in representing the West African nation, so it’s a bit odd that talk of him playing for Gernot Rohr’s side persists, despite the obvious appeal.

His situation does draw parallels with that of Chelsea‘s Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori. Both, until recent international games, either hadn’t played for England in a while like Abraham or were uncapped and eligible to represent Nigeria and Canada, as well as the Three Lions, in Tomori’s case.

Additionally, the Chelsea pair largely remained coy on their international futures without explicitly stating their positions in the months leading to October’s call-up against Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

While Tomori is still eligible to represent Rohr’s men or Canada in theory, both countries’ chances seemingly evaporated as soon as Gareth Southgate invited him to the national side. Well, for now at least, the examples of Wilfried Zaha or Saido Berahino, who represented the Ivory Coast and Burundi respectively after receiving senior England call-ups, offer hope.

Perhaps this is why the Super Eagles appear keen on trying to sway someone who’s received regular invites to Age Hareide’s squads since March, albeit without making his debut.

Billing has pointed out, not once but twice, that his heart is set on representing the Red and White, and it’s highly unlikely that position changes for the foreseeable future.

Chasing the Bournemouth midfielder is seemingly a lost cause, but as long as he remains uncapped for Denmark in a competitive fixture, the door technically remains open for Nigeria.

His performance against Norwich City demonstrated why Rohr desires this midfielder in his Eagles set-up.

Super Eagles youngster  and Villarreal winger, Samuel Chukwueze has been nominated for for the second edition of the Kopa Trophee.

The 20-year-old was named by France Football on Monday night (Oct.21) in a shortlist of 10 players contending for the award.

The award named after former French footballer Raymond Kopa is presented to the best performing player under the age of 21. France supersar, Kylian Mbappe won the maiden edition last year.

See complete list of nominees below:

João Félix

Atletico Madrid

Jadon Sancho

Borussia Dortmund

Moise Kean

Everton

Samuel Chukwueze

Villarreal

Kang-in Lee

Valencia

Matthijs de Ligt

Juventus

Vinicius Jr

Real Madrid

Kai Havertz

Bayer Leverkusen

Mattéo Guendouzi

Arsenal

Andreï Lounine

Real Valladolid

The Nigerian Air Force has reacted to the death of two residents of Mabera area of Sokoto metropolis, during a fight allegedly spearheaded by one of its officers whose girlfriend was taunted by youths in the beighbourhood.

Daily Nigerian reported that a truckload of airmen were deployed to the community after the lady reported the incident to her boyfriend. A student identified as Abdulsalam Lawan was killed after he fled to a nearby house alongside a 40-year-old mother of seven, Maryam Abdulrahman.

“They often come and brutalise us in this area. We were at a tea joint when they came last night around 8:30pm. They started by shooting sporadically and then asked the soldier’s girlfriend to point at those who taunted her.

“When she failed to identify the real culprits, they meted out frog jump punishment on us. Those who ran away were shot.

“At least five people sustained gunshot injuries while two people died,” an eyewitness, Sani Mabera said.

Reacting to the incident, NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information Ibikunle Daramola said they are currently investigating the clash between Nigerian Air Force (NAF) personnel and suspected Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) youths.

“NAF is investigating the matter with a view to ascertaining the facts as well as establishing the degree of involvement of its personnel”.

An online report alleged the unfortunate killing of 2 persons at Mabera Area of Sokoto Metropolis yesterday, 20 October 2019, as a result of a fracas between Nigerian Air Force (NAF) personnel and suspected Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) youths within the Community.

“However, details regarding the unfortunate incident, which also led to some NAF personnel sustaining serious injuries, are still sketchy.

“Consequently, the NAF is investigating the matter with a view to ascertaining the facts as well as establishing the degree of involvement of its personnel.

“It is pertinent to reiterate that the NAF is a highly disciplined and professional force that does not tolerate or condone acts of indiscipline or violations of human rights of citizens.

“Therefore, every NAF personnel found guilty of misdemeanor, in the past, had always been dealt with in accordance extant laws and the general public duly informed.

“We wish to assure the general public that, in line with the NAF’s usual practice, this case will be investigated thoroughly and appropriate action taken,” the statement read.

Photos of the arrival of President Buhari at Sochi, Russia ahead of the Russia-Africa Economic Forum. He was welcomed by Mayor of Sochi Anatoly Pakhomov and other Russian Government officials. President Buhari was accompanied by the governors of Ekiti, Gombe and Zamfara States including other personalities.

President Buhari is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin of Russia to further strengthen relationship between Nigeria and Russia.

A statement released by the presidency says that the summit would focus on exploring and expanding opportunities in security, trade and investment, science and technology, and gas production

The elections are in the category of end-of-tenure off season elections conducted by the commission. From this year until very close to the next general elections, there will be governorship elections every year in Nigeria. In 2019, we have Kogi and Bayelsa; next year 2020, we have Edo and Ondo governorship elections. Thereafter in 2021, we have the Anambra governorship elections and in 2022, we have Ekiti and Osun governorship elections. So, this is the first in the major off-season governorship elections that the commission is going to conduct.

Electoral Data for Bayelsa and Kogi States

What are the specific details of the electoral data for these two states? In terms of the number of local governments, Bayelsa has eight local government areas. Kogi has 21. Bayelsa has 105 electoral wards, Kogi has 239. For the Polling Units including the Voting Points, Bayelsa has 2,244 polling units and voting points while Kogi has 3508. In terms of the registered voters, Bayelsa has 923,182 registered voters, whereas Kogi has 1,646,350 registered voters. Since 2015, it has been the practice that where citizens have no PVCs (permanent Voters’ Cards) they can’t vote. What is the rate of collection of PVCs in the two states?

Permanent Voters’ Cards

In Bayelsa, 889,308 PVCs have been collected, representing 96.3 percent of the total number of registered voters. In Kogi, 1, 485,828 PVCs have been collected representing 90.2 percent. What about the uncollected PVCs? In Bayelsa it is 33, 874, representing 3.7 percent of the total number of registered voters. Whereas in Kogi it is 160, 522, representing 9.8 percent of the total number of registered voters.

Ad-Hoc Staff

INEC requires lot of ad-hoc staff to conduct the elections in the two states. In Bayelsa, the requirement is 9,945 ad-hoc staff. While Kogi will accommodate 15,868 ad-hoc staff. In all, for the two states, the commission will require about 26,000 ad-hoc staff to conduct the elections. But in addition to the governorship elections, there are other elections, essentially bye-elections. Since the 2019 general elections, INEC has conducted one bye-election into the Pengana State Constituency in Plateau State, caused by the death of the member representing that constituency. In addition, the commission has another bye-election pending in Katsina, in the Sabwa State constituency. The Speaker of the (Katsina) State Assembly has already declared a vacancy. Preparations are now in top gear.

In addition to the governorship election in Bayelsa state, there is also the pending supplementary election into the Brass II State Constituency in six Polling Units. The commission was planned and prepared to conduct the election shortly after the general elections, but for the protracted legal battle that went up to the Supreme Court. It is only recently that the Supreme Court determined the case. INEC is now going back to conduct that election in six Polling Units and make a declaration for the Brass II State Constituency. This will be combined with the Governorship election.

Party primaries and nomination of candidates.

Nigeria has 92 political parties. There are 91 political parties going into the 2019 general elections but since the general elections, the courts have ordered the commission to register another political party. Some of the (existing) parties were actually registered by court order. The constitutional provision for registration of parties is very clear. But in addition, the Electoral Act 2010 says that if an association doesn’t hear from INEC within one month, it is deemed to be registered. INEC has a record of obeying court orders.

For the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections, parties conducted their primaries and these were monitored by INEC. But only 52 parties nominated candidates for the Bayelsa governorship election, while 49 did in Kogi, making a total of 101 parties for the two elections. However out of the 101 parties, only 46 in Bayelsa and 41 in Kogi, making a total of 87 made valid nominations. In other words, the nominations complied with the constitutional requirements for qualification for election into the office of governor. These requirements include: The candidate has to be a Nigerian citizen by birth; he or she has to be 35 years of age minimal; he or she must be sponsored by a political party,; and then the candidate must be educated to school certificate level.

They completed the Form 001 and prima facie, on the documents that they submitted on oath that some of them did not meet the constitutional requirements for contesting for election into the office of governor. Some were 30 years, 31, 34 and in one exceptional case, even a 27-year-old was nominated by one of the political parties. Therefore, INEC declared the nominations invalid. The commission did not reject or disqualify (any candidate) because there is nothing to reject or disqualify. Once the constitutional requirement is not met, the individual can not contest.

For this category of invalid nominations, six parties were involved in Bayelsa, and eight in Kogi, making a total of 14 parties. Out 101 parties, 87 have made valid nominations. But 14 parties submitted invalid nominations and they have been informed accordingly. Out of the 87 parties that made valid nominations, one party in Bayelsa withdrew from the election during the period for withdrawal and substitution of candidates and in Kogi, 18 political parties withdrew, making a total of 19 for the two states.

After all the expenditure and monitoring of the party primaries and based on the provisions of the law, they then decided to withdraw from the elections. It’s entirely legitimate for them to withdraw. And they gave quite a number of reasons, ranging from lack of financial capacity to prosecute the election. Some said family advice on the fear of violence; one said ill-health, another said travel arrangements and another said there is a slim chance that his party will win the election.

In all, INEC has 45 parties contesting in Bayelsa and 23 in Kogi, making a total of 68. But three of the 14 parties that made invalid nominations have dragged the commission to court.

Budget

Does the commission have the resources for the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa? Provision was made in the 2019 regular budget for the two governorship elections. Provision was also made for some unforeseen off-season elections, like the Pengana State Constituency election caused by death and the pending bye-election in Katsina, again, caused by death. There is also provision for recall and referendum. Recently, the commission received a letter from one of the states asking for the register of voters to initiate a recall of one of the members of the National Assembly. So, there is already a request for initiating recall. Provision was made in the regular 2019 budget for this kind of situation.

Implementation of Scheduled Activities

For the two elections, there are 14 activities that the commission has to implement, from the publication of the Notice of Election to the election day proper. So far, INEC has successfully accomplished 10 out of the 14 activities, including the presentation of the register of voters to political parties. The remaining four activities will be accomplished from the 2nd of November.

Logistics

The commission is aware that the two states are difficult in terms of terrain. Arrangements are being concluded with the National Union of Road Transport Workers for land transport based on the existing Memorandum of Understanding between the commission and the NURTW. In Bayelsa, because five out of the eight local governments are riverine, INEC has also made arrangements with boat owners.

All non-sensitive materials for the elections for the two states have been delivered and staff of the commission are batching the materials by local governments, by RAs (Registration Areas) and ultimately down to the level of Polling Units. As always, the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) will be deployed for the election for the purpose of voter accreditation and arrangements have been made for the configuration and deployment of the SCRs. The Manual Register will be printed. One will be pasted at the Polling Units, the other one will be held by the Presiding Officer and that is the one that will be ticked off on election day.

INEC has a responsibility to train the 26,000 ad-hoc staff. The process for recruitment of ad-hoc staff and training them – those that are going to perform the tasks at the polling units, mainly drawn from the NYSC has commenced. Already, the master training has been concluded, the train-the-trainer programme for security personnel and the refresher training for electoral officers and assistant electoral officers for the two states have been concluded, as well.

Security Situation

Both Kogi and Bayelsa are politically volatile. INEC has observed the kind of situation that arose during the conduct of primaries by political parties and one or two incidents in Kogi with the commencement of campaigns by political parties. The commission has engaged the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) which is co-chaired by INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu with the National Security Adviser (NSA). The Police is the lead agency but all other security agencies are also involved. The Inspector General of Police is working on the deployment jointly with the security agencies for the security personnel needed for the two elections.

INEC has conducted its risk assessment for the two states and this information is available to other security agencies that also conduct their own risk assessment on the basis of which the security agencies will be guided in their deployment. INEC is ready to finalise on the deployment plan jointly with the security agencies, including the escort of personnel and materials as well as the protection of the processes throughout the period of the elections. In a place like Bayelsa, the commission not only hires boats, it also works with the security agencies – the Marine Police, the Navy and the Army to have gun-boats to escort the boats carrying personnel and materials for the election.

Stakeholder Engagements

Given the security situation in the two states, INEC realized that it has to be more proactive in its engagements with all the stakeholders at state level since this is the first major election after the 2019 general elections and learning lessons from what happened in the 2019 general elections. The commission has taken the extra-ordinary step to start engaging with the stakeholders long before the elections.

QUOTE:

The commission is aware that the two states are difficult in terms of terrain. Arrangements are being concluded with the National Union of Road Transport Workers for land transport based on the existing Memorandum of Understanding between the commission and the NURTW. In Bayelsa, because five out of the eight local governments are riverine, INEC has also made arrangements with boat owners

Former Governor of Kano State, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, yesterday inaugurated Nafisatu College of Nursing and Midwifery in his hometown, Kwankwaso village in Madobi Local Government Area of the state.

The inauguration of the college was part of the ceremony to mark Kwakwaso’s 63rd birthday, who is the former senator representing Kano Central senatorial district.

Speaking at the occasion, Kwankwaso said the establishment of the college, named after his mother, Nafisatu, was borne out of his desire for the people of the local government area to be involved in education, which according to him, is key to development.

The former governor recalled that he developed the interest to establish the school back in 1992 when, as a Deputy Speaker, Federal House of Representatives, he visited the then Chief Whip, Wole Osun, in his hometown in Ogun State.

Kwankwaso explained that the college, which is under the Kano State Ministry of Health, requires a lot of infrastructure.

He also stated that the school is currently restricted to admitting a maximum of only 50 students, expressing hope that the institution would soon attain the level to admit 100 students each for nursing and midwifery.

The former lawmaker also disclosed that the college is established under Kwankwasiyya Foundation and is not a profit-making institution, adding that “even if the profit comes, we are going to channel it to the foundation in order to
uplift the life of the needy and downtrodden in this village, state and Nigeria as a
whole.”

Kwankwaso noted that the college would be used to support local midwives, also known as Ungozoma in Hausa parlance, as well as health workers in the local government, who would go to every nook and cranny to render medical services to all and sundry.

“Today is a historic day for me to witness my 63rd birthday and inaugurate this project which had been planned since 1992. I am sure this institution will benefit not only people of this village or local government area, but Nigeria,” Kwankwaso said.

Earlier in his remarks, the Provost of the college, Abdullahi Isma’il, said the institution has been well furnished and equipped.

He noted that conducive atmosphere of learning had been provided in the college, adding that it would help a lot in addressing the problem of maternal and infant mortality in the state.

The provost also states that efficient teachers had been provided, coupled with state-of-the-art equipment to give room for good practical aspects of learning in the school.

Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon. Olakunle Oluomo, has been dragged before an Appeal Court in Ibadan, Oyo State by his closest rival in the March 9 House of Assembly election, Mr Wemimo Owolabi.

Owolabi, EQUITY NEWS learnt, is asking the tribunal to invalidate Oluomo’s election and declare him winner of same.

Owolabi, candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) had earlier approached the election petition tribunal, asking it to nullify Oluomo’s election for alleged misconduct and overvoting.

EQUITY NEWS, however, recalled that the election petition tribunal, headed by Justice Adenike Coker, on September 20, upheld the election of speaker oluomo as the lawmaker representing Ifo Constituency 1.

Sitting in Abeokuta, the three-member tribunal held that the evidence submitted by Owolabi, of the APM was insufficient to nullify the election of Oluomo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Not satisfied with the decision of the tribunal, Owolabi, it was learnt, had filed his petitions at the Appeal Court, asking it to upturn the judgement of the lower tribunal.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed the dates for
conducting rerun elections for the Sabuwa State Constituency, Katsina
State and Kogi West Senatorial District.

Dino Melaye and Smart Adeyemi will slug it out in the rerun on November 16.

According to a communique from INEC, the commission met on Monday to
consider the timetable for the elections.

The electoral body fixed the 30 November 2019 for the conduct of a
Katsina by-election, while the 16 November has been scheduled for the
rerun of the Kogi-West senatorial election.

According to INEC, the Kogi rerun election will take place
simultaneously with the Kogi governorship election fixed for November
16 as that of Bayelsa State.

Adeyemi, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the Kogi
West senatorial district election, last August said his party was not
afraid of a rerun.

He said this while commending the judgment of the election petitions
tribunal that sacked the lawmaker representing Kogi West, Senator Dino
Melaye.

Justice Anthony Chijioke-led panel of the Kogi State election
petitions tribunal had ordered a fresh election in the senatorial
district.

In his reaction, Senator Adeyemi noted that as a student of law, he
had always believed that the court is where those who have been
cheated get justice.

He insisted that he would reclaim his mandate in the rerun ordered by
the tribunal, stressing that he has built the image to win the
election over the years.

The two-time senator compared himself to Melaye who contested the
election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said, “We are not afraid to go for a rerun because the people can
assess the two personalities. They know our antecedents, they know our
track records, they know who we are and what we stand for.

However, Melaye, in a comment that generated heated debates online,
considered Adeyemi as his ‘political wife’ that he would beat in the
forthcoming election.