News
Rigging: PDP Carpets AC
The rulling Peoples Democracatic Party (PDP) has condemned leaders of Action Congress (AC), including ex-vice President Atiku Abubakar for describing PDP as a ‘rigging machine’ in a recent event and instead accused the AC of ‘elevating the art of rigging to new heights’.
I n a statement issued Monday in Abuja and signed by the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Rufai Ahmed –Alkali, the party described as ‘hypocritical’ the accusation that the PDP is a rigging machine and absolved itself of the accusation, wondering why some senior citizens would hide under the cloak of a political party to attempt to heat up the polity.
The statement , which copy was made available to The Tide Monday in Abuja, reads in part:
“The Peoples Democratic Party is once more constrained to bring to the notice of Nigerians the opportunistic antics devised by some politicians in their quest to remain relevant.
“The latest of such vain shouts in the wilderness came from a gathering in Lagos at the weekends called the “National Convention” of the Action Congress where speaker after speaker took turns to preach hypocritical sermons on the state of the nation.
“ It is a big irony to note that some of these later day democrats are persons with known track records of dictatorship and chronic intolerance to opposing views when they held sway in government.
“It is particularly curious for instance to hear former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who was in Government for 8 years limiting his assessment of Nigeria’s democracy to the last 2 to 1/2 years thus conveniently isolating himself and his tenure from scrutiny. This is yet another attempt at self-glorification and buck passing which Nigerians have come to know the opposition for.
“The unwarranted and foul mouthed condemnation of our Party by leaders of the AC especially the recurrent reference to the PDP as a “rigging machine” is hypocritical because available evidence have it that the AC has elevated the art of rigging to new heights.
“A ready example here is the blatant forgery of a Police report by the candidate of the AC in the last gubernatorial election in Osun State for which he is currently standing trial.
“It is also a known fact that most leading members of the AC are the architects and masterminds of the latest attempt to rig the call for the resignation of the president by falsely including names of credible Nigerians in their letter. It is disgraceful that virtually all those whose names were fraudulently included in this letter have publicly denounced the inclusion of their names for an unholy project without their knowledge or consent.
“Another glaring act of rigging and barefaced violation of the constitution is the insistence of the AC government in Lagos State on conducting sham elections in non-existent local government areas. This unconstitutional act makes nonsense of their lip service to adherence to the rule of law.
“Another issue that featured prominently at the rally is the agitation by the AC for a wholesale implementation of the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Report. It is indeed an irony that the same people who vehemently opposed the setting up of the Electoral Reform Committee are those now attempting to privatise and claim ownership of the outcome as if they had an idea of how the decisions were arrived at.
“The Peoples Democratic Party wishes to state that the PDP-led Federal Government shall not be blackmailed or stampeded into short circuiting the process of electoral reforms. Like all other programmes of this Government, the electoral reform programme shall undergo due process and scale through all the legislative proceeding before it is finally adopted. We are in a democracy and therefore issues cannot be decreed into existence by fiat.
“At the risk of sounding repetitive and immodest, our democratic credentials are miles away from the AC and all the other parties in Nigeria. The mere fact that Nigerians from all walks of life actively contest in our primaries to fly our party’s flag in all elections go a long way in demonstrating again and again our acceptability. The same cannot be said of the AC where an arrogant cabal sits and anoint candidates for elections without recourse to due process. This was the case in the last sham and illegal local government elections in Lagos where bonafide members of the AC were shoved aside in preference for a hand picked few by the emperor of the party.
“Nigerians are getting tired of this baseless argument where a group of people constantly explain their failure to organise and attract people into their fold on the PDP.
“Nigerians are getting increasingly aware that the failure of the opposition is due to the lack of a principled and dedicated leadership who have no defined agenda for Nigeria.
“We are not opposed to individuals or groups coming together to form an alliance but we certainly do not accept blame for their impotence in making a mark in the Nigerian political space.”
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
-
Sports1 day ago
FIFA rankings: S’Eagles drop Position, remain sixth in Africa
-
Sports1 day ago
NNL abolishes playoffs for NPFL promotion
-
Sports1 day ago
CAFCL : Rivers United Arrives DR Congo
-
Sports1 day ago
NPFL club name Iorfa new GM
-
Sports1 day ago
Kwara Hopeful To Host Confed Cup in Ilorin
-
Sports1 day ago
NSF: Early preparations begin for 2026 National Sports Festival
-
Sports1 day ago
RSG Award Renovation Work At Yakubu Gowon Stadium
-
Sports1 day ago
RSG Pledges To Develop Baseball