The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has thrown its support behind Mahdi Aliyu Gusau, the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, in his bid to succeed Governor Bello Matawalle.

This followed Matawalle’s defection to the All Progressives Congress on June 29, 2021. (APC).

Matawalle and other elected politicians in the state had defected to the APC in droves. The Deputy Governor remained with the PDP.

The Deputy Governor’s decision to take over the governorship is based on a Supreme Court ruling on May 24, 2019 that declared all APC candidates who ran and won seats in the Zamfara State elections void.

In the said judgment, the apex court declared all of the candidates who ran on the PDP platform as winners in all of the elections.

However, police in Zamfara State are resisting Deputy Governor Gusau’s attempt to take over as governor.

The PDP’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, issued a statement yesterday condemning attempts by the police to undermine the Deputy Governor’s statutory powers.

Governor Matawalle, according to the PDP, lost his seat the day he defected to the APC.

The police were warned by the party not to harass the Deputy Governor.

It also chastised Zamfara police for obstructing a planned rally by the Deputy Governor in a “unlawful and vexatious” manner.

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In accordance with the Supreme Court’s current ruling, the deputy governor was vested with statutory powers to take the governor’s seat “in a situation where the governor has vacated his office.”

“Rather than harassing the Deputy Governor Gusau, the police, as agents of the law, should be providing him with all the protection and privileges he deserves, especially since the formal process for his official declaration given Matawalle’s vacation of office has already begun at the Federal High Court,” the statement said.

“The Police should be aware that the Zamfara governorship mandate belongs to the PDP under section 221 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Supreme Court’s judgment in Falake v. INEC (2016), and that Gusau, not Matawalle, is now the holder of that mandate, given Matawalle’s willful defection to the APC.

“The mandate of the PDP cannot be transferred to the APC, and the police and all security agencies should be guided by this.”

The PDP also warned banks and other financial institutions to be wary of “unapproved” financial transactions with Governor Matawalle’s cronies, especially in light of alleged moves to clean out the state’s coffers ahead of Matawalle’s “inevitable eviction by the court.”

“Such institutions should be very cautious in their dealings with impostors who have since ceased to represent the state, immediately Matawalle defected to the APC,” the party continued.

The party urged the Deputy Governor to remain steadfast and unafraid, noting that the people of Zamfara state are solidly behind him in his fight against imposters and deserters.

The PDP also urged the people of Zamfara state to stay united, saying that the mandate they freely gave to the PDP would never be taken away by “traitors.”

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) demolished over 137 illegal hostel blocks, hotels, and other structures at Iddo Sarki, a community adjacent to the University of Abuja’s main campus, over the weekend. The exercise was carried out by a combined team of the FCT Ministerial Committee on City Sanitation, the Department of Development Control, the Department of Security Services, and other relevant agencies in accordance with the Ministerial directive to remove all contraventions and illegality within the nation’s capital. Ikharo Attah, Chairman of the Ministerial Committee on City Sanitation, said the FCT Minister was enraged by people’s continued disregard for warnings to stay away from local chiefs who, according to the Land Use Act, have no authority to sell lands or transfer any valid title to buyers of such land. That exercise, according to Attah, was a quick intervention to avoid further distorting the city’s development plans and to save desperate businessmen and women from financial ruin. He said it was unfortunate that some people continued to ignore timely warnings and engage in land transactions with local chiefs without the approval of the relevant government. Attah claimed that if the illegal hostel blocks and other development projects on the land had followed official procedures, the millions of Naira invested would have been properly directed. He went on to say that the investors’ hasty process had not only violated existing laws, but had also distorted the Abuja Master Plan, resulting in massive economic waste. According to him, the FCT Minister has stated that he is committed to promoting investment in the city, but that he will not tolerate illegalities or disobedience to the Land Use Act’s provisions. “FCTA is concerned about what is going on here,” he said. The Director of Development Control, security services, and DRTS had been briefed by the FCT Minister, and we had been given a matching order to stop what he called “extreme illegality” here. “These people took advantage of the University of Abuja’s proximity to sell every available piece of land here. You can imagine someone here building a house worth hundreds of millions of Naira without proper approval, but based solely on a simple agreement signed with the Chief on a foolscap sheet. That, to me, is an outlier. “There isn’t a single allocation here. The fact that Abuja is heading in this direction is both sad and concerning. What the locals are telling people here is that if you buy land and build, you will have recouped your investment before Development Control arrives. “As a warning to the public, the Minister has ordered that this area be cleared. Those who want to construct student housing can approach the administration and University management and do so under a building operate and transfer ( BOT ) or build, operate, and own ( BOO ) arrangement with proper government allocation and development approval. “The chiefs have denied selling any land, while the buyers who claim to have purchased it from the chiefs are now complaining. We requested that they produce approval papers, but none of them have done so. They claimed to have paid between N2 million and N7 million for the land.” Acting Director of the Department of Control, Garba Kwakur, also spoke out, revealing that the land where the illegal development was taking place had been given to the Nigerian Navy. Kwakur went on to say that while the developers did not have a valid title to the land, the structures they built on it were not approved.

The Igbo World Assembly (IWA), the umbrella body of Ndiigbo in Diaspora, has warned Nigeria’s Federal Government against using force to quell ethnic groups’ calls for self-determination.

During an emergency meeting of its country leaders yesterday, the group, after reviewing the kidnapping of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in a foreign land and his detention in Nigeria, demanded unconditional release of Kanu and other political prisoners in the country.

It advised the government to let Nigerians decide their fate while focusing on massive insecurity, unemployment, hunger, poverty, and other issues.

As a result, the group stated in a communique signed by its Chairman, Dr. Nwachukwu Anakwenze, that Nigeria can only be saved through negotiations that allow Nigerians to express their will and discuss their peaceful coexistence based on equity, respect, and fairness, as well as discuss their peaceful coexistence based on justice.

After carefully considering the high rate of insecurity in Nigeria, massive agitation from all parts of Nigeria, ongoing killing, raping, and destruction of farms and property by Fulani herdsmen/Miyetti Allah, among other issues, the group stated in the communique that there was a need for dialogue and negotiation, adding: “We need a serious dialogue among all ethnic nationalities for Nigeria to succeed.”

Anakwenze stated in the communique that Kanu’s continued detention is unacceptable and that he must be released immediately and unconditionally.

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“The current situation, in which southern Nigerians fighting for a free homeland are killed, arrested, and detained while herdsmen/Miyetti Allah members who kill our people and rape our women are protected, cannot be tolerated.

That the kidnapping of Kanu cannot silence or end the agitation because the root cause of the agitation remains unaddressed, allowing Nigerians to choose their fate or live in freedom,” he stated.

In the communique, IWA stated that: “The existence of the IPOB, Sunday Igboho’s group, and many other such groups is a response to the current Nigerian administration’s treatment of Nigerian indigenous ethnic enclaves.”

“The federal government can use brutal force to arrest individuals, but it cannot arrest the people’s agitation, and the people’s will cannot be arrested and suppressed by force; however, negotiation could bring about a long-term solution to the country’s problems.”

The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeri­an Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Se­gun Awolowo, has hailed the tremendous roles of Nigerian Missions abroad, describing them as key export enablers for the achievement of the Ze­ro-oil plan.

He disclosed this at the weekend when he hosted the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, on a cour­tesy visit to the NEPC Head­quarters, Export House, Abuja.

The Zero Oil Plan is a blue­print for a strategic non-oil ex­port led economic diversifica­tion agenda with an ambitious agenda that targets 20% of Ni­geria’s GDP to be attributed to non-oil exports and aimed at the realisation of at least $30 bil­lion in non-oil exports by 2025 and creating 500,000 additional jobs annually.

While presenting the Outstanding Export En­abler Award to the Minister, Awolowo stated that the award was in recognition of the col­laboration between NEPC and the ministry in driving the diversification of Nigeria’s export portfolio by deepening the ability of Nigeria’s foreign missions to facilitate export commercial diplomacy, collab­orate on opening up foreign markets for Nigerian products, providing international trade administration to support Ni­gerian companies get into tar­get markets and collaborating on setting up the Commercial Service Partner Programme.

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The export boss commend­ed the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ achievements, stating that missions abroad have been instrumental to driving the penetration of Nigerian non-oil products in their respective countries of assignment.

According to Awolowo, some of the success stories included the drive for Nigeri­an Cuisine Beyond Borders, a book by Ambassador Eniola Ajayi and the display of Cas­sanova Chips at the Nigerian embassy in Germany, among other promotion activities be­ing facilitated by foreign mis­sions abroad.

In his remarks, the minister praised Awolowo, saying he has made has made NEPC one of the most successful agencies in the country.

His words” :The NEPC re­mains a valued partner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and together, we are transform­ing Nigeria in a very concrete and sustainable way. The future of Nigeria lies in trade and NEPC is strategically placed to help Nigeria trade its way from pandemic to prosperity.”