Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Rivers State chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) says it is planning to produce 600 000 votes.
State Chairman of the Fellowship, Rev. Minaibi Dagogo-Jack, who said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt also said the group will look at the activities of the various political parties and their candidates with a view to directing its members on whom to vote for.
“We will critically look at the candidates we have time to discuss with and we shall decide, as leaders, on who to direct our members to vote”, he said.
The state PFN chairman also stressed the need for the Christian community to rise up and enthrone good governance in the country.
He said Christians cannot continue to stay away from politics and allow undeserving men take control of the country, adding that time had come for the church to rise up and enthrone righteous governance in the country.
Speaking on the just concluded June 12 Democracy Day celebration, the PFN chairman said the the celebration meant nothing as far of Nigerians are concerned.
He particularly said the insecurity in the country had defeated the very essence of the celebration.
According to him, “I say so because June 12 represents quite a lot of things for us as a people and as a church.
“You would recall that June 12 is a public holiday and the activities that led and influenced the government to declare public holiday today we are all aware.
“June 12, ordinarily, should represent political freedom, freedom for the oppressed, freedom for Nigeria as a people.
“But from a close look at the political activities in Nigeria and particularly River State, it is not in doubt that the essence of June 12, the reason for which the government declared public holiday for June 12, is defeated”, he said.
Rev. Dagogo-Jack decried the lack of internal party democracy in the country, while also condemning the alleged infiltration into the opposition political parties by some agents of the state.
“We are in a situation where Internal democracy is no longer practiced.
We are in a situation where opposition political parties allege that those politicians in government are (filtrating) in their internal part affairs.
“A situation where opposition political parties will produce two, three, four candidates, representing one political party, this is not democracy, it is confusion; a situation where politicians will jump from one political party to another just because they are being forced to do so, so as to win or to be declared candidates of winning parties; a situation where common political ideals are being thrown out into the trash bin just because people want to identify themselves with the bourgeois…It’s really dark for us as a people. It’s a dark day for us. A day that should represent freedom”, he said.
He also said the PFN also concluded a three day seminar for members in the state, to sensitise the youth against involvevment in violence during the elections.
“And this seminar was to teach those youths that they were created by God as change agents and to reset their minds towards growth in business.
“This seminar handled the very many issues concerning the politics of Nigeria, particularly Rivers State and the call of God in the lives of our people.
“We, the Pentecostals in River State, are not joking. We decided to hold this program to create awareness, to seek the face of God, in order to chat the way forward through a peaceful electioneering process and also to tell our people to prepare the minds of our people that we are looking at producing more than sixty thousand votes to cut across twenty one local government areas and three thousand votes for the remaining two local government areas because River State has twenty three local government areas.
“We are mobilizing in order to have more than six hundred thousand votes because having taken critical look at the last results, River State was able to produce about two hundred thousand votes for the present president. That to us is not enough.
“The Pentecostal churches in particular are large enough. We have the numerical strength, to tell these politicians that there is balm in Gilead, to tell these politicians who could ordinarily give two hundred thousand plus votes alone out of 3.5 plus million registered voters in River State.
“The church cannot continue to sleep and allow our children to die.
May I use this opportunity to appreciate our gallant soldiers, the police and the DSS, recently that they freed some children and captives from the hands of terrorists”
Rev. Dagogo-Jack further said the PFN in Rivers State is also in support of state police and commended the National Assembly for passing a bill for the creation of state police.

By: John Bibor

There may likely be another controversy involving the Senate as the spokesperson of the Red Chamber, Yemi Adaramodu, has disclosed that the upper legislative chamber will review recent comments by Senator Adams Oshiomhole on the suspension of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi Central.
Speaking in a telephone conversation with The Tide source yesterday, Senator Adaramodu, however, dismissed Senator Oshiomhole’s claim that some senators’ signatures were forged or improperly included in the report that recommended Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension.
“That is not true. Signatures forged, over what?” he queried.
Recall that Senator Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo North, had alleged in an interview on AIT that some lawmakers whose names appeared on the report did not append their signatures to the document.
The former Edo governor cited Ireti Kingibe, senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), whom he claimed told him that she only signed the attendance register of the committee meeting and not the suspension report.
“If Senator Kingibe had anything against any procedure, she would report it on the floor of the senate, not to an individual.
“But it is not even true, because I was part of the ethics and public petitions committee that listened to the matter.
“Nobody will say that he or she was coerced or somebody’s signature was forged; that has never happened in the senate and it cannot happen. It has never happened.
“Senators are independent-minded people. We are mature men and women. And if you have any infraction against anybody, that person can, without any advocate from anywhere, that person will show it. So there’s nothing like that. I’m just hearing it for the first time. That’s very strange.
“We are going to review any statements made by him. The senate will take a cursory look at either extraneous, spontaneous or intentional comments from any senator appropriately.
“We are going to look into it. We will take a stand and everyone will know where we stand. But we can say no senator has reported that his or her senator was forged during the Natasha matter.
“It was debated on the floor of the senate openly at the plenary in the full glare of every Nigerian and even the international audience, and so nothing to hide.
“All Nigerians knew where we stood then on the issue of Natasha… that she ran foul of the senate’s orders. And we are orderly because we are bound by orders of the senate,” he pointed out.

Senate has again approved a three-month extension implementation period for capital component of the 2025 Appropriation Act from June 30 to Sept 30.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Senate Chief Whip, Mohammed Monguno (APC- Borno) at plenary yesterday.

Monguno, moving the motion, said the extension became necessary given the unutilsed substantial funds released to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for implementation of projects under the 2025 budget.

According to him, delays caused by procurement processes, project implementation challenges and administrative procedures had slowed the execution of several critical government projects.

Monguno said many strategic projects across key sectors of the economy were already at advanced stages of completion and required additional time for execution, certification and payment.

“Failure to extend the implementation period of the 2025 Appropriation Act may result in the abandonment of critical projects, the wastage of already committed public resources and the disruption of ongoing government interventions,” he said.

He argued that some allocations contained in the budget might not be accommodated in subsequent appropriation cycles if the implementation window expired.

This, he said would create funding gaps and ultimately undermine development objectives.

He said that extending the validity period of the budget would improve budget performance, facilitate the efficient utilisation of released funds and support economic growth.

“Granting a further extension of the implementation period is in the national interest and will ensure value for money in public expenditure,” he said.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Sen. Solomon Adeola (APC-Ogun), supporting the motion, explained that the extension was specifically targeted at the capital component of the budget.

According to him, when President Bola Tinubu presented the 2025 budget to the National Assembly, there is an understanding that 30 per cent of the budget implementation will be completed by March 31, while the remaining 70 per cent will be rolled into the 2026 budget.

Adeola said that the implementation timeline was not fully achieved, prompting the National Assembly to earlier extend the budget’s lifespan to June 30.

“While we were passing the 2026 budget, due to the non-implementation of that promise, we were forced to extend the budget to June 30,” he said.

He said although payments had commenced, significant obligations remained outstanding.

“There is a need to extend this budget beyond June 30 to September 30, by then, we are hopeful that the outstanding 30 per cent will have been paid in full, while implementation of the components transferred to the 2026 budget can commence.”

Adeola urged senators to support the extension to ensure proper implementation of projects and prevent disruptions to government programmes.

Sen.Victor Umeh  (NDC-Anambra), who seconded the motion cited the need to sustain the execution of projects captured under the 2025 Appropriation Act.

“In view of the need to sustain the continued execution of the projects covered in the 2025 Appropriation Act, as amended, I hereby second the motion,” Umeh said.

Following deliberations, Senate President Akpabio put the proposal to a voice vote and it was overwhelmingly adopted by the lawmakers..

Akpabio in his remarks said the decision was necessary to prevent interruptions in payments and project execution.

“The payment would have stopped halfway if this was not done,” he said.

The Senate President commended the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and other lawmakers involved in handling the matter.

He directed that the Senate’s resolution be transmitted to the executive for implementation.

“Accordingly, the resolution of the Senate is being communicated to the Executive that the 2025 Appropriation Act has been extended to Sept 30.

The National Assembly had earlier extended the implementation period of the 2025 budget to June 30, following delays in the release and utilisation of capital funds.

Senate, thereafter, adjourned plenary to July 7.