Collapse Your Structure, Join Me To Save Lagos’, Rhodes-Vivour Tells PDP

 Ahead of the March 18th governorship election in Lagos, Labour Party’s governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour says he is expecting the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the state to collapse its structure and join to save Lagos.

The LP candidate, popularly known as GRV, said this in an exclusive interview with Politics Hub, a Vanguard online TV’s political show on Tuesday. 

GRV also expressed hope that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC will oversee a transparent electoral process, while stating that he is “prepared for the worse”. 

He said, “I have a relationship with the PDP, I came from the PDP. I was in the PDP for six years. I was the senatorial candidate for PDP in 2019. I had the most votes in the party.

I know the leaders in the party. We understand that at a practical level, we need to have as many people working together, especially because this election process is not free and fair. 

They promised us electronic transmission of votes, that did not happen. We saw the intimidation and harassment, and manipulations at the ward collation, LG collation. So we need everybody to work together to save and rescue Lagos. 

We are in talks with several parties, a few parties have collapsed their structures for us, I expect that the PDP would do the same very soon.”

On INEC, he remarked, “We have gotten an injunction and a court order to mandate the INEC to follow its rules that it has set out and failure to do that, the entire election is null and void. So they must do the election transmission of voting from the polling units. 

"That is on one hand, on the other hand; we know that a lot of these people might be compromised. Just like the last election, it was very shameful, to say the least."

"So we are hoping for the best but we are prepared for the worst, and we are moving into this election with the idea that what happened previously will repeat itself again. So we are ready for any outcome.”

GRV also called out the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for evading public debates, saying it is ‘disrespectful’ of a governor who ‘owes it to the people’ to ‘account for his stewardship’.

He dismissed rumours questioning his ethnic heritage to Lagos, describing it as an insult to a Rhodes-Vivour.

“I mean it’s an insult, it’s a big insult first of all. The Governor is actually extremely disrespectful; he is extremely disrespectful to Lagosians because after they gave him the position for four years; you owe it to them to come and account for your stewardship. Be it a debate or whatever."

“To add to that is that a man from Ijebu is questioning a Rhodes-Vivour. I mean my Great-great Grandfather was the first Nigerian-Lagosian that was admitted into government in this country under Governor Bourdilion’s government; after which was Adeyemo Alakija, you then have Doherty."

"So when you see me and Funsho Doherty, it’s almost like history repeating itself. These are old Lagos families."

"To bring this kind of disrespect because you are desperate, if you had done the job well, you wouldn’t need to intimidate or suppress people’s votes.”

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Ogun Landlord Dies After Tenant Grabbed Manhood Over Bill Disagreement

 A 33-year-old woman, Ifeoma Ossai, killed her 50-year-old landlord, Monday Oladele, during a disagreement after grabbing his manhood and dragging him till he died.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

Oyeyemi said men of the State Police Command arrested the suspect following a report lodged at Sango-Ota divisional headquarters.

Oyeyemi said the police were hinted by one Olaleye Taiwo, who reported that his brother, Oladele, had a disagreement with his tenant over the payment of electricity bill.

According to Oyeyemi in the process of disagreement, the tenant grabbed the manhood of the deceased and dragged him with it.

“Consequently, the landlord fell unconscious on the ground and he was rushed to the General Hospital, Ota, where the doctor on duty confirmed him dead.

“Upon the report, the DPO Sango Ota division, CSP Saleh Dahiru, quickly led his detectives to the scene where the suspect was promptly arrested and taken to custody for investigation.

“On interrogation, the suspect claimed that the deceased asked her to pay for the electricity bill, but she insisted that until water is directly connected to her apartment as promised by the landlord before she packed in, she will not pay the electricity or any other utility bill.

“This led to a scuffle between them consequent upon which the suspect grabbed the manhood of the deceased and dragged him with it.

“The deceased subsequently slumped, and he was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead by doctor on duty.

“The corpse has been deposited at the hospital mortuary for postmortem examination.”

The PPRO, however, said the Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the Homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and diligent prosecution.

Governor Sanwo-Olu Visits Bishop Oyedepo

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday, revealed that he paid a visit to the bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, on Monday.

The governor, who shared a picture of both of them on his Instagram page wrote, 

Yesterday, was indeed a memorable day as I met with a man after God’s own heart, a man who has dedicated his life to the service of God and mankind, Bishop David Oyedepo founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide and presiding Bishop of the Faith Tabernacle in Ota, Ogun State.

INEC’s Power To Return Candidate Dangerous — Wole Olanipekun

 Former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, has criticised Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 on Wednesday, which empowered the returning officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission to return a candidate and also review his decision.

Olanipekun, who said that the act is dangerous to the polity and democracy, said[b] “the returning officer is not a court of law, not a tribunal, and is not vested with jurisdiction to exercise quasi-decision or to assume jurisdiction over any matter that is judicial in nature.”[/b]

Section 65(1) of the Electoral Act states, “The decision of the returning officer shall be final on any question arising from or relating to (a) unmarked ballot paper; (b) rejected ballot paper; and (c) the declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate: 

Provided that the commission shall have the power within seven days to review the declaration and return where the commission determines that the said declaration and return was not made voluntarily or was made contrary to the provisions of the law, regulations, guidelines, and manual for the election.”

However, the legal luminary, who spoke in a chat with journalists in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, after a visit to Governor Biodun Oyebanji, said, “The Chief Returning Officer is the Chairman of INEC, meaning he can return someone as President today and tomorrow when there are agitations here and there, he may withdraw his decision, saying, ‘I am revising myself, and I am now returning somebody else’.

“To me, it is a very dangerous section, so novel in the sense that it empowers a returning officer after returning to review his decision within seven days.”

According to him, with that section of the Electoral Act, “You are giving a returning officer and, by extension, INEC, the power to do and undo. When you now invest in an INEC returning officer, the ability to do and undo, to return and review his decision, is dangerous to the polity.”

Olanipekun, who said he was not aware of any similar section in any previous Electoral Act or any similar section in any of the electoral acts of any country in the world, expressed surprise that the National Assembly allowed that section to creep into the Electoral Act, which they submitted to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), for signing.

The legal luminary, who said the National Assembly could still remove the provision, called on all stakeholders, particularly the political parties, to monitor INEC and the returning officers so that nothing untoward happens to any party or candidate returning to be revised.

2023: Pro-Tinubu Group Stages Protest In Abuja, Warns Atiku, Obi

 A group of protesters on Monday staged a demonstration in the federal capital territory (FCT), warning Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP), against intimidating the judiciary.

The group known as The Natives said both candidates should allow the courts to address their grievances without intimidating them.

Speaking with reporters, Smart Edwards, leader of the group, said Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the election because he was better prepared.

Edwards said it is time for the PDP candidate to retire from politics.

“The Obidients should understand that Asiwaju is a political juggernaut and election strategist. They were all part of the plan because the candidature of Peter Obi was an asset to the APC,” he said.

“The Obidients made Tinubu’s victory easy, they all made it possible. Ordinarily, it should have been Obi or Tinubu. Tinubu was not in the best position to steal the election but he planned well and worked vigorously for victory.

“We also have a message for the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Your Excellency, it is your time to test the court and not to intimidate the court. It is your time to retreat and retire or reset and re-contest again if your party is not tired of you.

“Your inability to be consistent in a party like Bola Ahmed Tinubu shows it is all about you alone. No sir, the Supreme court is not about you, the Appeal court is not about you, and even the Tribunal is not about you, it is about rule of law.

[b]“So, today we are putting the nation on notice that no one will be allowed to intimidate the Nigerian judiciary any longer, we will not entertain it. These judges and the judiciary are the most crucial party of the hope that democracy holds.

“We want to say categorically that Bola Ahmed Tinubu of APC won the election. The Lagos state he lost should have been a taboo but the Democrat in him publicly accepted the outcome without calling for anybody’s head.”

Falana: 2023 Presidential Election Marred By Manipulation Of Results

 A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has said that the 2023 presidential election was marred by result manipulations. 

Falana stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today.

Other factors, according to the lawyer, that marred the elections included insecurity, late arrival of materials, violence and thuggary.

Recall INEC has declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the presidential election, but the two other leading political parties in the election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), have since rejected the results.

Falana said, “The presidential and National Assembly elections were marred by insecurity in many places, late arrival of materials, violence and thuggary and manipulation of the results.

“INEC has admitted that there were logistic and technological challenges. Nobody is saying that the election was perfectly conducted. There are challenges.

“INEC should go back to the drawing table and fine-tune its strategy. They said they painstakingly made plans to conduct elections, but the implementation had some challenges. To me, this is an admission on the part of INEC.”