I Made N5.6m In Three Years – Donald Duke Tells INEC

In his presidential form submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party and former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, said he earned a combined sum of N5, 618, 419 between 2015 and 2017.


Duke stated this in his tax certificate with serial number 290664. The ex-governor also stated he has paid tax to the tune of N400,000 and that he made all his money from his personal business and investments.

Duke stated in his form that he is not corrupt and has never been indicted for fraud by any judicial panel. The former governor attached his school certificate from the West African Examination Council indicating that he passed all subjects in 1977. However, mathematics was not listed among the subjects he sat for. Duke also stated that he graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University with a Second Class (lower division) in Law.

He declared interest to run for president in June, emerged the SDP presidential candidate in October.

Afenifere Suspends Omisore For Colluding With APC

THE pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday, suspended the Osun State governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Senator Iyiola Omisore, for violating its directive not to team up with the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the Osun re-run governorship election.

But in a swift reaction, Senator Omisore hit back saying SDP members are not affiliates of Afenifere. Afenifere leader, Pa Rueben Fasoranti announced Omisore’s suspension at its monthly meeting held in Akure, Ondo State
After a stormy session on the issue, the group axed the SDP governorship candidate for embarrassing the group by joining forces with the APC in the re-run governorship election in Osun State. Fasoranti said: “We have decided to suspend Iyiola Omisore from the group for one year for violating Afenifere’s directive which affected the outcome of the Osun elections.” The Afenifere leader disowned Omisore’s decision to collude with the APC in the re-run election noting that the group was not part of any of such plan. Recall that the SDP National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae had equally disowned the party’s governorship candidate for not carrying the party along before selling out to the APC in Osun state. Meanwhile, Afenifere in its communiqué entitled: ‘This State of Anomie Can’t Go On’, read by Mr. Korede Duyile condemned “the extreme and barbaric use of force against members of Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, in Abuja in the past few days coming to head with killings of unidentified members of the sect by a combined team of Police and soldiers in the federal capital. On President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate scandal, Afenifere said: “We believe that this controversy touches at the core of the moral fibre of our country not necessarily because the President may not be qualified to contest based on the ridiculous provisions of the Abacha -made constitution of Nigeria which makes leadership the only job for which serious preparation is not required but because a good standard is not set for the society and especially our young people by the following unfortunate developments. “The onus on Mr President is to produce the document he has claimed through the examination body so as to retain his claim to being a man of integrity and being eligible to contest the 2019 elections. Reacting to his suspension, Omisore said SDP members are not affiliates of Afenifere. He said he had not been informed of the decision by Afenifere but maintained that he acted in line with the resolution passed by SDP. His words: “Acting at variance? Osun SDP passed a resolution to coalesce with APC. Osun SDP members are not affiliates of Afenifere. Politics is local, so I acted in consonance with the position and will of Osun SDP. “I’m yet to be informed, if so, Afenifere bypassed principle of fair hearing. “I wasn’t given any directives it might be oversight on Afenifere’s part or assumptions.”

APC Loses 5000 Members To PDP In Ondo

NO fewer than 5000 members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, in Ondo State, yesterday, defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. This development was the fall out of the crisis that characterised the APC primaries in the state.

Leading the 2000 defectors from the APC, the former leader of the House in Idanre area of the state, Mr. Lanre Oluwarakise said that the party in the state had been factionalised into groups. Oluwarakise said: “The present administration has brought untold hardship, hunger and backwardness to all the legacies of the immediate past administration in the state. Nothing can be pointed to as an achievement going to two years of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.”

Also speaking while leading ZLP members to the PDP, Eric Samakin said that they opted out of the party because its impact could only be felt in two out of the 18 council areas of the state. Samakin, who led 3000 members to the PDP added the party remained the only progressive party that can salvage the country from the impending doom. Receiving the defectors in Idanre area of the state, PDP leaders, Dr Tayo Dairo, Dr Kola Ademujimi and Mr. Kayode Akinmade said the PDP in Ondo State is “well organised, has the interest of the people at heart with a robust agenda for the youths and women adding that 98 percent of the votes in the area would be garnered for the party.”

INEC Rejects Ladi Adebutu’s Nomination As Ogun PDP Governorship Candidate

THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, notified the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of its decision to publish the list of candidates submitted by the Adebayo Dayo-led state executive committee of Ogun for the 2019 general elections.

INEC made this known in a letter, with reference number INEC/LEG/DR/197/1/514, dated October 25, 2018, addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus and obtained by Vanguard yesterday.

 In its letter titled: ‘Nomination of candidates for 2019 general elections in Ogun State’, INEC drew the attention of the national leadership of the party to two judgments of the Federal High Court in the following cases: FHC/L/CFS/636/2016- Adebayo Dayo and another Vs INEC and five others and FHC/L/CFS/114/2018-Alhaji Adewole Adeyanju, (member of PDP NWC) and six others Vs INEC and 30 others.

Kashamu lauds INEC

 PDP Reacting to INEC’s decision, Senator Kashamu commended the Commission and the leadership of the party for recognising the Dayo-led Ogun PDP exco. In a reaction to INEC’s decision, Senator Kashamu stated that in a clear obedience to subsisting court judgments, “our candidates’ list has been accepted, processed and certified for the forthcoming elections.”

Kashamu declared that there should be a “No victor, No vanquished disposition amongst Party members”, saying, “we shall all reap from the electoral fortune that will be ours at the 2019 general election.”

Adebutu kicks

Also reacting, a governorship candidate of the PDP, Mr Ladi Adebutu said he remains the authentic PDP candidate for Ogun State.

Adebutu said: “My attention has been drawn to the INEC’s letter being circulated in the media by Sen. Kashamu, to the effect that it is stated therein that based on the court order given two and half years ago by Justice Buba, INEC is constrained to use the candidates’ list submitted by Eng Bayo Dayo led Exco for the 2019 elections.

 “I want to reassure members of the PDP and our supporters in Ogun State that Kashamu is on his last legal train ride to political oblivion and irrelevance in Ogun State.

“We have absolute confidence in the Chief Secondus-led National Excos and we trust that they will leave no stone unturned to protect the interest of our members and candidates in Ogun state.

For a fact the Bayo Dayo led execo did not conduct any primary that conforms to the provisions of the PDP constitution and electoral guide lines.

 “We are already completing the process if approaching the Supreme Court on this obnoxious and destructive legal strangle hold by a non member of our party.

“We are sure that we will get justice by the Grace of God as it is a known fact of life that good will always triumph over evil.”

INEC’s letter signed by its acting Secretary, Mr. Okechukwu Ndeche reads: “The Federal High Court in the matters ordered the commission to recognize Adebayo Dayo-led state executive committee of PDP in Ogun State and receive list of candidates for the 2019 Governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly election from the said committee.

“Consequently, INEC, hereby, notes the decision of the Federal High Court in the above referred cases and will publish the lists of candidates submitted by the Adebayo Dayo-led state executive committee of Ogun State pursuant to the orders of the Federal High Court until they are set aside.”

Hillary Clinton Leaves Door Open For 2020 Run: ‘I’d Like To Be President’

Hillary Clinton gave mixed signals on whether she’s considering another presidential run, telling a New York City audience on Friday that she would be well suited to the office.

During a far-ranging interview with Kara Swisher of the technology website Recode(Ms. Swisher is also a contributor to The Times’s Opinion section), Mrs. Clinton initially said “no” when asked whether she wanted to run for president again. She then paused and repeated “no.”

But after Ms. Swisher noted the slight hesitation, Mrs. Clinton seemed to reconsider her response, saying that a major task of the next Democratic president will be improving the international standing of the United States.

“Well, I’d like to be president,” she said, at the public taping of Ms. Swisher’s podcast. “The work would be work that I feel very well prepared for having been at the Senate for eight years, having been a diplomat in the State Department, and it’s just going to be a lot of heavy lifting.”

But after the remarks were widely reported — and dissected on social media — Ms. Swisher tweeted Monday that the reaction seemed to be out of proportion to what Mrs. Clinton had said.

“Tweeps, simmer down!” Ms. Swisher wrote on Twitter. “While it perhaps sounded like @HillaryClinton refused to rule it out, my take is she was basically implying she wishes she were president but doesn’t relish running again.”

Mrs. Clinton has become a more visible presence in recent weeks, increasing the number of her public appearances and raising money for Democrats across the country. Last week, she spoke at a fund-raiser for Donna Shalala, a former Clinton administration official, who is running for a House seat in Florida.

“She will always be a winner and I’ll always be with her,” said Ms. Shalala, introducing Mrs. Clinton to a room full of 200 Democratic donors in Miami.

While Mrs. Clinton has a base of support among Democrats, many in the party would prefer she keep a lower profile, pointing to her low approval rating and arguing she’s a distraction to the party’s midterm messaging. Like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Mrs. Clinton has been depicted as a villain in Republican campaign ads that attack Democratic candidates.

Mrs. Clinton dismissed some of the calls for her to retreat from public life as sexist.

“There were no articles telling Al Gore to go away or John Kerry to go away or John McCain or Mitt Romney to go away,” she said. “Mitt Romney is going to the Senate, that’s where he’s going.”

Mrs. Clinton said she wouldn’t consider a possible run in 2020 until after the midterm elections next week.

“I’m not even going to even think about it until we get through this Nov. 6 election,” she said. “But I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure we have a Democrat in the White House come January of 2021.”

Should she mount a third presidential bid, Mrs. Clinton would be entering a Democratic field crowded with potential contenders, a major shift from 2016, when nearly no Democrats were eager to challenge her.

Mrs. Clinton said she expects a crowded field of as many as 20 Democrats.

“I think we’d have a number of excellent candidates who would be really formidable on the campaign trail, but let’s wait and see who it is,” she said. “I’m just going to wait and watch what happens.”

TY Danjuma Dissociates Self From Divisive Statement

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Former minister of Defence, Lieutenant General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), yesterday disassociated himself from a news report suggesting that he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of planning to accommodate all West African Fulanis in the entire Southern and Middle Belt regions of Nigeria.

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Danjuma was in the statement which went viral in the social media yesterday alleged to have said that the people of Middle Belt, South West, South South and South East should forget about 2019 elections and first fight back the Fulani murderous invaders and reclaim their lands, which are now under herdsmen.

But in a statement issued on his behalf by former minister of Water Resources, Chief Obadiah Ando, Danjuma said the divisive statement did not emanate from him or from anybody authorised by him.

Ando regretted that such derogatory statement entitled “Choose your own Fulani with care” was mischievously and falsely attributed to him.

He urged Nigerians to dissociate TY Danjuma from the contents of the post and ignore the statement.

The statement reads in part: “My attention has been drawn to posts making social media rounds, relaying statement allegedly made by Lt. Gen T.Y Danjuma, among which is one titled “Choose your own Fulani with care”, purportedly directed at people of South-West, South-Central, South-South and South-East.

“It is important to set records straight by making it clear to all citizens that these statements did not emanate from Lt. Gen. Danjuma or from persons authorized by him, but have been mischievously and falsely attributed to him.

“Lt. Gen Danjuma dissociates himself from the contents of these posts and urges Nigerians to ignore them.