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Kogi, Bayelsa Gov Primaries: INEC Tasks Parties On Guidelines
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked political parties wishing to participate in the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi and Bayelsa states to adhere strictly to its guidelines and timetable as there will be no extension of time for latecomers.
The National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education and Publicity, Barrister Festus Okoye, who gave the charge in a statement yesterday recalled that on May 16, 2019, INEC released the revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the November 16, 2019 Governorship Elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states.
“We wish to remind all political parties that conducted party primaries to choose their governorship candidates that September 5, 2019, is the last day for the conduct of party primaries while September 9, 2019, is the last day for the submission of the list of nominated candidates.
“The commission will receive all nominations at its Media Centre, INEC Headquarters, Maitama, Abuja and all nominations must be received latest 6 pm on Monday, September 9, 2019.
“Political parties that conducted party primaries shall submit to the commission on or before September 8, 2019, the name of their Liaison Officers and who must be introduced through a letter jointly signed by the national chairman and national secretary of the party.
“The commission shall publish the names and votes scored by all the candidates that participated in the primaries monitored by our officials in the two states.
“We enjoin all the political parties participating in the election to strictly comply with the timelines earlier released by the commission and will not entertain any late submission under any circumstances”, he declared.
However, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has named three-member Appeal Committees for the recently conducted primaries for the Kogi and Bayelsa Governorship elections.
A statement, yesterday, by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, disclosed the appeal committee for the Kogi indirect primary consists of Senator Abdulahi Umar Yandoma (chairman), Hajia Amina Muhammed (secretary) and Tony McFoy (member).
For Bayelsa, it said the membership of the committee includes: Barrister Shuaibu Aruwa (chairman), Edith Newman Amadi (secretary) and Hon. Abdul Malik El-Yakub (member).
However, the Bayelsa State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described Diri as the only candidate with the capacity and competence to succeed Governor Seriake Dickson.
The party, while congratulating Diri on his emergence as the PDP candidate, further referred to him as a committed public official with years of exemplary service to the development of Bayelsa, the Ijaw Nation and the country.
The State Secretary of the party, Chief Godspower Keku, said in a statement on the PDP was happy with the emergence of Diri as its flag bearer after the keenly contested transparent and credible party primaries.
The party’s secretary noted that Bayelsa was in need of a leader with vast experience in public service explaining that Diri had been a commissioner, a principal executive secretary to the governor and a member of the House of Representatives, and currently a senator, among others.
The PDP scribe commended the other 20 aspirants of the party who contested the election with Diri for their display of maturity and respect for the overall interest of the party.
Keku called on the aspirants to support the candidate of the party stressing that the primaries could only produce one candidate out of the 21 aspirants, who indicated interest in the governorship of the state.
He flayed the APC over the emergence of Chief David Lyon as its candidate describing him as a pipeline security surveillance contractor.
Keku alleged that the leader of the APC in the state and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, schemed out all the qualified contestants from the APC to impose Lyon on them.
He said that Lyon lacked the requisite credentials, experience and pedigree to become governor of Bayelsa State.
Keku, who described the APC primaries which produced Lyon as a sham, noted that Lyon was Sylva’s personal imposition.
He condemned the calculated humiliation of Lokpobiri, who was made prominent by the PDP, and urged those humiliated by Sylva to rethink their political future.
Similarly, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Bayelsa State, Preye Aganaba, has described the party’s primary election in the state as a mockery of the democratic process.
Aganaba rejected the outcome of the party’s direct primaries and referred to the primaries that produced David Lyon as the candidate of the party as a political hoax and lacking any semblance of credibility.
He further alleged that the results were written in a hotel in Yenagoa, the state capital.
“The process leading to the direct primary election was rife with irregularities and has set a bad precedent for a political party that prides itself as a progressive which is supposed to lead by example.
“Engr. Preye Aganaba did not partake in the September 4th APC governorship primary election because there was no election. The degrading votes allotted to him is a complete fabrication and designed to ridicule him and his supporters,” he told reporters, yesterday.
The politician further recalled that few issues were raised by the aspirants to ensure a credible process during a stakeholders’ meeting with the Returning Officer and Chairman of the state Primary Election Committee, Mai-Mala Buni, the Governor of Yobe state.
According to him, the stakeholders had agreed that the names of returning officers should be published at ward levels; result sheets should be available in the various local government areas and also that tags should be provided for the eight local government agents and 105 ward agents.
Aganaba lamented that though the chairman and secretary of the committee agreed to the demands, they failed to honour them during the process that led to the primaries.
He added, “The Returning Officer, Mai-Mala Buni was not present during the primary election, having travelled back to Abuja the same night after the meeting, never to return.
“In the morning, the secretary disappeared and his phones switched off, thus thwarting any effort by the aspirants to address these discrepancies.
“The above actions clearly cast a huge doubt on the neutrality of the election committee members and its commitment towards conducting a free and fair election as they have breached every trust reposed on them.
“One wonders how a Returning Officer and chairman of a Governorship Primary Election Committee can endorse a process he never witnessed and since when did a Collation Officer substitute the powers of the chairman of a Governorship Primary Election Committee and declare a winner?
“It is shocking and impossible to believe the election results can be announced from a hotel without evidence of elections having held; a simple process which is validated by the presence of election results sheets signed by ward returning officers as well as ward agents to the aspirants.
“This single-minded desperation is inimical to the doctrines of the APC. The All Progressives Congress is being inexorably drawn towards an absolutism system, where complete power is held by one man who has no qualms to claiming rights over virtually everything.
“This political fraud perpetrated in the name of direct primaries is a vindication of the earlier assertion of Engr Preye Aganaba at the September 3 stakeholders meeting, about the path the party is being driven by some politicians.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should distance themselves from this scam and reject the result completely. This sham with fake results written in hotel rooms cannot stand.
“The collation officer is not the chairman of the Election Committee to declare a winner. This rape on democracy will be contested in a competent court of law, if the party fails to look into our appeal.
“True progressives and lovers of a free, fair, credible process should be reassured that appropriate steps are being taken to seek redress.
“Finally, it is clear that the disposition of those who wrote this shameful result in a hotel room is not about winning the general elections, sadly it’s about ridiculing other stakeholders in the party who don’t align with them, in preparation of a possible governorship run in 2023.
“It is clear that this is all about settling old political scores and disagreements that have bedevilled the Bayelsa State chapter since 2013. We will approach the arena for settling disputes, knowing that justice will be done at the end of the day”.
Similarly, the lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye and Abubakar Ibrahim, son of former Kogi State governor, Ibrahim Idris, yesterday, kicked against the emergence of Engineer Musa Wada as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), governorship election in Kogi State slated for November 16.
The duo stormed the party’s national secretariat, Wadata Plaza, yesterday, where they met with the National Working Committee behind closed doors.
While Abubakar polled a total of 710 votes to finish as runner up, Senator Dino garnered a total of 70 votes to finish fourth on the log in the primary election which held in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, last Wednesday.
The lawmaker confided in Vanguard that his rejection of the outcome of the exercise was because the entire votes cast in his favour were not counted before gunmen disrupted the exercise.
He submitted his petition to the National Secretary of the party, Senator Ibrahim Tsauri questioning why only votes from two (2) out of ten (10) ballot boxes were counted for him in the just concluded primaries.
Abubakar on the other hand is questioning the credibility of the process and was still in a meeting with the party’s leadership at the time of filing this report.
Wada, who clinched the ticket after garnering a total of 748 votes, made a surprise appearance at the party’s secretariat, accompanied by a mammoth crowd of supporters and political associates.
The Transmission Commission of Nigeria has announced electricity disruption in parts of Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Bauchi, and Yobe States, as well as Gazaoua in the Niger Republic.
The spokesperson of TCN, Ndidi Mbah, disclosed this in a statement yesterday
The outage is due to planned maintenance at Kumbotos’ 330 kilovolt transmission substation on Sunday.
Consequently, electricity customers served by Kano Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, and Yola Electricity Distribution Company will experience power disruption.
“The scheduled maintenance is to enable the TCN contractor to continue the ongoing upgrade of 330kV bus II jumpers and replace the existing 350mm² conductors with 800mm² conductors in order to strengthen the transmission network and improve power reliability.
“As a result, Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) and some part of Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) and Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) will be unable to off-take power for distribution to their customers in Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa States, as well as Azare in Bauchi State, Nguru in Yobe State, and also Gazaoua in the Niger Republic,” TCN stated.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to refer allegations of the diversion or non-accounting of over ?6.3 billion in constituency project funds to anti-corruption agencies for investigation and possible prosecution.
The group also urged the National Assembly leadership to ensure that anyone found culpable is prosecuted where sufficient admissible evidence exists, while all diverted or unaccounted public funds are recovered and paid into the treasury.
In a letter dated June 27, 2026, and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said the allegations were contained in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2022 Annual Report, published on September 9, 2025.
The organisation disclosed this in a statement signed and released by Oluwadare, yesterday.
SERAP also asked Akpabio and Abbas to disclose the identities of contractors and companies, including their shareholders and beneficial owners, that allegedly received constituency project funds but failed to execute the projects.
It gave the National Assembly seven days to act on its recommendations, warning that it would institute legal proceedings should the legislature fail to respond.
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the National Assembly to comply with our request in the public interest,” the letter stated.
It said, “The allegations involve several federal ministries, departments and agencies, including the Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON); the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Volm; the Federal Polytechnic, Udana; the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP); and the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).
“The Auditor-General identified numerous cases of payments into private bank accounts, contracts awarded without due process, payments for contracts not executed or services not rendered, undocumented expenditures, inflated contracts, procurement irregularities and failures to account for public funds, recommending in each case that the funds be recovered and remitted to the treasury.
“According to the 2022 audited report, contained in pages 367 to 396, the Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON or Council) Abuja paid over ‘N22 million [N22,944,565.16] into the private account of some members of staff of the Council from the Constituency Projects Fund Account.
“There ‘was no evidence of the utilization of the funds and no explanations on the purpose for the payment of such amount into the individual accounts.”
SERAP added, “The Council (EHORECON) also in 2021 ‘awarded suspicious consultancy contracts of over N12 million [N12,030,818.29] for the development of Modern Abattoirs in Kebbi State and the supervision of 7 projects in Kebbi, Jigawa, and Headquarters Abuja.
“The money was to ‘produce bills of quantity, architectural design, structural design, mechanical design, and electrical designs for the contracts and supervision.’ But ‘the ‘items could not be found.’”
Altogether, SERAP said the Auditor-General’s 2022 report alleged EHORECON paid more than ?1.8 billion in constituency project funds through questionable transactions.
For the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Vom, SERAP said the institution “in 2022 reportedly ‘paid over N279 million [N279,700,500.00] to 3 contractors to empower and train youths in selected vocational areas in Borgu and Kontagora, Niger State, train women and youths in entrepreneurship in Niger East Senatorial District and to train youths and women in agro production and self-reliance in Barki Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency, Plateau State.
“But the money was paid to the contractors without any document.’”
Other irregularities involving the college include another ?279.7 million in mobilisation fees allegedly paid without documentation, and more than ?629.4 million paid to unqualified contractors for various constituency projects without evidence of due process, contract advertisements or details of the contractors.
SERAP further alleged that the Auditor-General’s report identified multiple financial irregularities involving the Federal Polytechnic, Ukana, Akwa Ibom State, including over ?407 million allegedly paid as mobilisation fees without supporting documents, more than ?399 million paid to unqualified contractors, contracts allegedly inflated by over ?192 million, over ?279 million paid for projects not fully executed, ?50 million allegedly paid for an unexecuted borehole project, and more than ?83 million disbursed without the required documentation or approvals.
It also alleged that NAPTIP reportedly irregularly awarded contracts worth over ?21.8 million, paid more than ?176.8 million for logistics and consultancy services without supporting documents, and disbursed over ?89.6 million and ?4.4 million for projects that were allegedly not executed.
The report also alleged that NILDS failed to submit audited financial statements for 2012 to 2022, did not remit over ?15 million in stamp duties, and spent ?1.6 million without authorisation from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
SERAP said the report recommended the recovery of the affected funds and their remittance to the treasury.
It argued that corruption in constituency projects disproportionately affects poor and vulnerable Nigerians by diverting resources meant for public services and development.
It added that the National Assembly, in exercising its oversight responsibilities, should demonstrate leadership by ensuring accountability in the management of constituency project funds.
The organisation further argued that the allegations, if established, would amount to breaches of the Constitution, the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the Public Procurement Act 2007, which require transparency, accountability and due process in the management of public resources.
The Rivers State Government has assured the timely completion of all ongoing projects in the State.
The State Commissioner for Works, Professor (Engr) Temple Nwofor, gave the assurance in an interview with newsmen during the June induction ceremony of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Port Harcourt branch, at the weekend in Port Harcourt.
He said most ongoing projects have their timeline and will be completed as scheduled.
“All our ongoing projects are doing well. They are doing well.
” I don’t think there are any issues with them, they are progressing very well .
“They all have their timeline, those that have their timeline will definitely finish, most of the signature projects,” he said.
Nwofor who was the Guest of Honour at the induction ceremony, also called for continuous professional development among Engineers to keep them abreast with modern trends in the profession.
He also urged them to acquire other skills that will make them useful in their careers.
Speaking on “Engineering Beyond the Drawing Board Through Ethical Leadership and Service To Society,” the guest lecturer, Dr Ibiye Amafabia called for continuous professional development.
“Ethical leadership demands that we stay current through continuous professional development.
“Leverage on trainings, workshops, seminars and conferences organised by NSE and your various divisions to keep yourselves abreast of new development.”
Amafabia further said engineers must be accountable for any projects, and and warned against shifting of blame especially when projects fail.
She also urged engineers to be good citizens of their communities by helping their xommunities overcome challenges of flooding, building collapse and oil spills, among others.
“In Port Harcourt, the capital of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, the ethical challenges are immense.
“We see the environmental impact of decades of extraction, we see the tension between industrial profit and community well-being.
“The ethical engineer is a mediator, a steward of the environment and an advocate for the vulnerable,” she said.
In his welcome address, Chairman, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Port Harcourt branch, Engr. Belema Ekine, said the society has a rich legacy of excellence, innovation and service spanning decades.
Ekine said engineers hold the key to solving complex challenges, shaping the infrastructure of communities and drive technological advancement that benefits society at large.
He charged the new inductees to see themselves as torchbearers of the society future, saying “it is upon your shoulders that the responsibility rests to uphold the highest standard of professionalism, ethics and integrity.
“Embrace the principles of lifelong learning, for the field of engineering is ever evolving.
“Seek opportunities for continuous growth, nurture your skills and stay at the forefront of emerging technologies.” he charged.
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