Headlines

Oni vows to challenge outcome, governor-elect seeks truce

Published

3 years ago

June 20, 2022

With the outcome of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) made history as the first party in the Southwest state to win a governorship poll back to back, since the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999. Before now, it had been a rotation between the ruling party and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

At the end of the exercise, the State Returning Officer and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof Kayode Adebowale, declared Biodun Oyebanji of the APC winner of the election with 187,057 votes, while Chief Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), came a distant second, polling 82,209 votes and Bisi Kolawole, the governorship candidate of the PDP coming third with 67,457 votes.

While Oyebanji trounced his co-contestants in 15 out of 16 councils, Kolawole led only in his Efon council. In fact, Oni was humbled in his Ido/Osi council, where APC got 10,321 and SDP 9,321.

Although many in the state have described the resounding victory as a referendum on Governor Kayode Fayemi’s success in managing the resources of the state and integrating Ekiti into national politics, others attribute it to the outcome of the unresolved crisis in the PDP after its governorship primary that forced Oni and his supporters to quit the party and join SDP, a relatively unknown party in Ekiti.

Besides, some analysts said the monetary inducement of voters played a significant role in determining the result. Though, they acknowledged that all the major political parties engaged in vote-buying but ‘the highest bidder’ laughed last. Indeed, they dismissed the whole process as a “caricature of democracy.”

Unknown to many, the Ekiti election had been won and lost on the day Oni left PDP and the choice of Fayemi to support the aspiration of his former Secretary to the State Government, Oyebanji in his quest to succeed him.

Also for the first time, APC had a landslide victory in Ado Ekiti and Ikere, the two major towns that control over 30 per cent of voters in the state. It was a surprise to many that in Ado Ekiti, the party polled 23,831 votes while PDP got 7,575 and SDP won 15,214 votes. In Ikere, where PDP had been a party to beat, APC trounced it by polling 12,086 votes, SDP 1,943 and PDP 3,789.

For many who thought the election would be a three-horse race, they were disappointed with the sudden cold feet developed by Fayose, who some PDP members said needed to explain the dismal performance of the party at the election. It was strange that PDP was not visible in the state before the election.

Despite the fact that the party did not hold a rally to galvanise support from the electorate, its candidate was also off the radar. And few days to the election, what was expected to be a stiff contest among three parties had become a two-horse race between APC and SDP.

Speaking to The Guardian on how APC got its landslide victory, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Funminiyi Afuye, said: “Ekiti people wanted continuity of the government of Fayemi. Since Fayemi took the oath of office, he has done creditably well and kept faith with its five-pillar development agenda – good governance, agriculture and rural development; social investments, knowledge economy, and infrastructure and industrial development.”

MEANWHILE, Oni has rejected the results of the election, saying the outcome would be challenged in the court. Oni, who spoke through his state collation agent and former Attorney-General of the state, Owoseni Ajayi, noted that the results as declared by INEC did not reflect the true decision of the people, lamenting that the process was marred by financial inducement.

Ajayi, who refused to sign the election results, said, “we are rejecting the results because the election was characterised by violence and intimidation of voters and as a result, we will definitely challenge the outcome in court.”

Also, the Segun Oni Campaign Organisaton, on Sunday, rejected the outcome of Saturday’s election, saying it is unacceptable. Spokesman of the campaign organisation, Mr Moses Jolayemi, accused APC of engaging in vote-buying. He also accused security agencies of compromising during the election.

Besides, he said the SDP candidate will not concede defeat, saying the party will meet to take necessary steps.

Jolayemi said: “The outcome is unacceptable by us as a party because it is a travesty of democracy, it is a rape on democracy and clear daylight robbery, the APC has taken advantage of the peoples’ pathetic state of poverty and that is why you see that the APC refused to campaign. They were not going round doing rallies; we were the ones campaigning because they knew what they wanted to do.

When asked whether the SDP will be approaching the tribunal to seek redress, he said: “The decision will be taken in the next few hours. We are going to meet but the central message here is that this election is rejected. Segun Oni is not accepting the results, he is not conceding and he is not congratulating anybody because this is not an election.”

HOWEVER, the PDP candidate, Bisi Kolawole, has congratulated the governor-elect. Kolawole stated this in a congratulatory message he personally signed and made available to newsmen, yesterday, in Ado Ekiti.
THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has warned INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to prosecute vote-buyers or face legal action.

The body also gave INEC seven days to gather information about reports of vote-buying, undue influence, intimidation, ballot box snatching, and other electoral offences by the three leading political parties in the just-concluded Ekiti governorship election.

In the letter dated June 18, and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “Corruption of the ballot box intrudes on the freedom of Nigerian voters to make up their own minds. Vote-buying and other forms of electoral corruption freeze out the less wealthy candidates and parties.

“Wealthy candidates and their sponsors ought not to be allowed to profit from their crimes. We are concerned that impunity for vote-buying and electoral bribery is widely prevalent in Nigeria, as perpetrators are rarely brought to justice.”

According to SERAP, if voting is as important as INEC always claims it is, now is the time to end the buying of democracy by wealthy politicians and their sponsors.

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Education

NELFUND Urges Institutions to Upload Student Data for Loan Processing

Published

3 hours ago

June 18, 2025

Matthew Eloyi

NELFUND Disburses Over N20bn in Student Loans, Assures Transparency

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has issued a directive to all accredited tertiary institutions to verify and upload their students’ data on the newly digitised Student Loan Application System (SLAS).

This was disclosed in a statement released in Abuja on Wednesday by the Director of Strategic Communications at NELFUND, Mrs Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.

According to Oluwatuyi, the SLAS platform has been fully digitised to streamline and accelerate the student loan processing experience for both institutions and applicants.

“With this upgrade, all accredited institutions are now required to request access to SLAS to verify and upload student data related to loan applications,” she said.

She described the move as “a critical step that ensures the timely processing and disbursement of approved student loans.”

Institutions that have not yet been onboarded onto the system, she said, are advised to send an access request to registration@nelf.gov.ng without delay.

“Once granted access, institutions will be able to view a real-time dashboard of their students’ loan applications, verify submitted data, and track the status of each application,” Oluwatuyi explained.

She called on all institutions to take immediate action in the interest of their students, stressing that verification and data upload by institutions are mandatory steps before final approval and disbursement of loans can be completed.

On the students’ side, Oluwatuyi noted that if an application status currently shows “Verified,” it means the application has passed initial checks. However, final approval and disbursement depend on the institutions’ confirmation and data upload.

“Once this process is completed, your status will be updated to ‘Disbursed’ when the payment of your fees has been processed,” she added.

She also encouraged students to reach out to the fund for assistance via email at info@nelf.gov.ng.

Other official communication channels include:

X (formerly Twitter): @nelfund
Instagram: @nelfund
Facebook & LinkedIn: Nigerian Education Loan Fund – NELFUND

Crime

Police Foil Cult Initiation in Anambra, Arrest Six Suspects

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2025

Matthew Eloyi

The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.

Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.

According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.

Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.

“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.

The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.

Headlines

Tinubu Urges United Front on Development as Africa’s Sovereign Wealth Funds Gather in Abuja

Published

2 days ago

June 16, 2025

Matthew Eloyi

President Bola Tinubu on Monday called for greater regional cooperation and coordinated action among African countries to unlock transformative development across the continent.

Speaking through Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Africa Sovereign Investors Forum (ASIF) in Abuja, the President said sovereign wealth funds must evolve from passive fiscal buffers into proactive tools for continental transformation.

“Our future lies not in working in silos but in pursuing regional cooperation and collective ambition,” Tinubu said while declaring the forum open. “Our sovereign wealth funds must become the anchors for pan-African investment platforms that de-risk projects, standardise processes and deliver sustainable outcomes at scale. This is not just a strategy. This is a necessity.”

The forum, hosted by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), had the theme: “Leveraging African Sovereign Wealth Funds to Mobilise Global Capital for Transformative Development in Africa.”

President Tinubu emphasized the need for Africa to adapt to a rapidly transforming global economy by rethinking investment strategies to close infrastructure gaps, build climate resilience, and create jobs for the continent’s fast-growing youth population.

“Africa faces a development dilemma: limited fiscal space, growing expectations, and urgent demands for long-term capital,” the President noted. “There can be no greater inspiration to re-imagine how we invest in setting up critical infrastructure, strengthening our climate resilience, promoting food security, supporting MSMEs, or embracing digital economy to create jobs and expand opportunity.”

He lauded NSIA as a model institution, describing it as “a catalyst in our national quest” to unlock growth in renewable energy, healthcare, agriculture, and more.

Tinubu added that ASIF provided a much-needed pan-African mechanism for sovereign funds to “share knowledge, co-invest across borders and speak with a unified voice in the global financial ecosystem.”

Also speaking at the event, Managing Director of NSIA, Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said the forum was expected to lay the groundwork for African sovereign funds to co-create sustainable investment vehicles capable of attracting global capital.

“We want to strike the right balance between risk-taking and conservative wealth management,” he said. “And we aim to position ourselves as preferred strategic partners for global investors looking for credible exposure in Africa.”

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, highlighted capital mobilisation, cross-border collaboration, and policy alignment as key priorities for driving long-term development across the continent.

President of AfreximBank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, underscored the importance of investing Africa’s sovereign wealth within the continent, stressing that domestic markets must be strengthened to shape Africa’s developmental future.

Chairman of ASIF, Mr. Obaid Amrane, said the forum had made significant strides in its three years of existence and would continue to champion Africa’s global investment positioning.

Delivering a rousing address, renowned Pan-African scholar Prof. P.L.O. Lumumba called on African leaders to prioritise investments for future generations.

“It is an intergenerational duty for political and economic leaders on the continent to cater for unborn generations,” Lumumba said. “Africa’s resources are inexhaustible. The time to invest in our future is now.”

With a convergence of policymakers, development financiers, and investment leaders, the ASIF meeting in Abuja signalled a united determination to rethink Africa’s path to development—driven not by aid, but by African capital working for African progress.