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PDP Senators To Meet With Govs, Makarfi, Sheriff

Senators of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have resolved to meet with governors elected on the platform of the party to find political solution to the lingering crisis in its fold. The senators, who met, yesterday, at Hearing Room 1, Senate Wing, also discussed the letter they received from the National Chairman of PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, intimating them of the need for him to meet with the lawmakers.
The PDP Senate Caucus considered it imperative to meet, yesterday, to brainstorm on the letter and the need to meet with governors of the party before honouring the invitation extended to them by Ali Modu Sheriff.
Addressing journalists after the meeting, Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who confirmed receipt of a letter from Sheriff inviting the caucus to a meeting with him at the party headquarters, said the letter was dated March 6, 2017.
Akpabio noted that they were looking for a political solution to solving the problem the party was confronted with, adding that the senators would first meet with the governors, intimate them with the invitation and to know if it was desirable to meet with Sheriff and forum of PDP Governors .
According to him, the caucus will also meet with other organs of the party as well as the Ahmed Markafi-led Caretaker Committee of the party before honouring the invitation from the national chairman.
Sheriff and Makarfi, Akpabio added that the caucus would then meet with the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the party, former governors and National Assembly members. It was, however, not clear when the meeting between Sheriff and the lawmakers will take place.
Akpabio said: “We held this meeting because there was a letter from Senator Sheriff to the caucus and so we had to meet first to know whether this is the right time, whether the meeting is right or not.” and what we agreed is that let the leadership first meet with the Sheriff group, the Makarfi group, then the BOT and see whether we can come to a consensus.
He said: “We discussed about the overall wel lbeing of the nation, we also discussed about the ongoing issues in our party and then we discussed the way forward. ‘’We also used that opportunity to pray and wish the President quick recovery and quick return to the country.
“As a caucus, we believe strongly in peace and we believe in Peoples Democratic Party so that Nigeria can have a robust democracy. We believe that without the PDP being strong and united, Nigeria may slide into a one party state and democracy may be in peril.
“We also said if it is possible that while the judicial processes are on, that as a caucus, we should also pursue the alternative platform of having out-of-court settlement and this can only start with us meeting with our governors and, thereafter, meet with the leadership of the party, the two groups and all the other strata of the party, that is the Board of Trustees, former governors, National Assembly members and, of course, the National Caretaker Committee, the recently pronounced chairman by the Court of Appeal so that we can spearhead a major political turnaround that will involve the whole stakeholders and bring holistic peace to the party
“If we succeed in doing so, this could even be a major way out, instead of continuous processes in court.
We will pursue that option without prejudice to the ongoing court processes until we can arrive at a solution where we could at the end of the day use what we have, with the totality of all agreeing as consent judgment.”
Asked to react to cases of defection, Akpabio, who noted that there was no such case but interest playing out, said: ’I don’t see any “defection” happening, I only see interest playing out. PDP in the Senate is still very strong and very robust.
We started with 49 senators and we are still well over 44 and we are still going to get more. “So how can you say defection of two or three senators who have interest outside the chambers will affect the unity and strength of the caucus.
That is not true. Please ignore some of those things because every politics is local.
“There are local circumstances that may make everybody to decide the party to go. Even if there were no wranglings in PDP, there will still be defections. If you assess your chances of a re-election in 2019 in your locality and then you see that a would-be opponent is five times your size, what do you do? You have to start looking for an alternative platform so that you don’t lose out in 2019 and would that mean that it is PDP issue, no, it means personal issue. “So, anything that has to do with the strength of the PDP dwindling is propaganda and I don’t want you to engage in that.
“Let me use this opportunity to assure our teeming supporters across the nation that the party is still very strong and as you know, every politics is local.
So the struggle for chairmanship at the party secretariat does not in any way diminish the strength of the party in all the wards of the nation , in the 774 local governments.
News
FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

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.
News
FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

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.
News
KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus
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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