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APC Lists Plots To Scuttle Feb Polls
Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Hajiya Inna Maryam Ciroma making an address during NIWA Safety Awareness Campaign in Port Harcourt, recently. With her are NIWA board members, Mr Admiral Mike (right) and Madam Nike Jones.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), has listed desperate plots by alleged agents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Presidency, to force the postponement of the elections slated for February 14 and 28, 2015.
In a press conference in Lagos, yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that these plots include street protests, the procurement of illegal court judgements against the conduct of the elections on the excuse that many Nigerians have not collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), as well as desperate attempts to use corrupt judges loyal to the party to obtain judgement in against the eligibility of the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, Gen Muhammadu Buhari to contest the elections on the basis of the academic certificate furnished appropriate authorities and Nigerians.
Mohammed noted that, “During my last press conference on January 29th, I alerted the nation to the fact that the advocates of the postponement of this month’s general elections have resorted to using the courts to disqualify our presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and scuttle the polls.
“This followed the obvious failure of their clandestine campaign to have the elections postponed ostensibly because of the poor distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Despite sponsoring pseudo-experts and cash-and-carry analysts to make the television rounds to canvass for the postponement of the election, in addition to instigating protests against INEC, Nigerians have rejected the call for election shift, which is a big blow to those who want the elections postponed to give the Goodluck Jonathan Administration time to recover lost ground.
“The advocates of election shift may have retreated, but they have not given up their push to scuttle the elections. In fact, a conference organized on Monday to consider the effects of the National Conference on the 2015 elections was turned into a campaign for election postponement by the usual culprits.
“Despite their defeat in the court of public of opinion, the no-election proponents are now working hard on their back-up plan, which is to force a constitutional crisis that will ultimately lead to their goal: Interim Government!
“They have re-strategised to procure ‘pliant judges’ to give outrageous and unpopular judgement at election tribunals and courts, judgement that are capable of destabilising the polity
“Their hope is that such outrageous and unpopular judgement will help trigger massive violence across the country, which they will then leverage as an excuse to scuttle the elections and form an Interim Government.
“At the last count, six cases have been filed by the agents of those working to scuttle the elections, and we expect more. In one of the cases, Justice Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday gave the order for a substituted service in the case instituted by Max Uzoaka against our candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
“Make no mistake about it, the Jonathan Administration and the PDP do not want elections, this is why they have not been asking Nigerians to go and collect their PVCs, even when INEC has said the cards for all registered voters are now ready for collection.
“That is why they have refused hordes of foreign journalists visas to come to Nigeria. As we said earlier, the denial of visas to foreign journalists is systemic, aimed at preventing the international community from seeing or watching the desperate plots to scuttle the elections. An Administration that has nothing to hide will not embark on a deliberate move to shut foreign journalists out of what is definitely one of the most important elections in the world this year.
He called on local and international observers to take note of the scheming by the election-postponement campaigners, and urged them to note that since election is a process, and not restricted to election day alone, all the steps leading to the elections are as important as the actual voting. itself.
The APC also implored Nigerians and the international community to take note of the systemic shutout of foreign journalists from the forthcoming polls, which is a ploy to shut out the international community from the elections..
The party also urged “the Council of State not to allow itself to be used to scuttle the forthcoming elections, because it is in the interest of Nigeria and her people that the elections proceed as scheduled.
“We call on Nigerians to remain vigilant, especially in the days ahead, and to continue to reject all attempts by anti-democratic forces to cling to or get power through means that are not democratic. We urge our members and supporters in particular to eschew violence under any guise, even in the face of the most egregious provocations, so as not to play into the hands of those working to scuttle the elections.
The APC appealed to the judiciary to act as a bulwark against any attempt to truncate the nation’s hard-earned democracy by refusing to be used to scuttle the elections, pledging not to relent in speaking out against ongoing efforts to scuttle the elections.
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
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