Kogi Crisis: Only Convention Can Expel Party Members – APC

The crisis in the Kogi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to be worsening as the national leadership of the party calls for calm among members.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi on Saturday, the party noted that no organ of the APC can expel any member except the convention.

The federal government of Nigeria has expended $105 million as community levy on Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) in the last two years. The outgoing president of ECOWAS Commission, Marcel Allen de Souza, disclosed this in a farewell speech at the hand-over ceremony at the main hall of ECOWAS Secretariat, Abuja.

de Souza said, “I want to thank Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari for its commitment to ECOWAS cause. In 2016, Nigeria contributed 54 million dollars and, 2017, it contributed 51 million dollars, making a total of 105 million dollars. Nigeria has been so supportive of the commission. de Souza, who succeeded Kadre Desire Quaraogo of Burkinafo in April, 2015.

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration remains committed to ensuring that Nigeria does not depend on other countries for food supply.

The President said this on Friday when he met with members of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) and the Fertilisers Supplier Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) at the State House in Abuja.

“Nigeria’s journey to self-sufficiency and food security is not negotiable,” he said.

INEC says it will enter into strategic partnership with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to ensure an effective distribution of materials and personnel ahead of the 2019 elections.

Prof Godswill Obioma, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ebonyi, said this at a meeting attended by representatives of the 29 branches of the NURTW and INEC officials on Saturday in Abakaliki.

Obioma commended the union for the previous partnership with the commission in the area of transport arrangements.

The REC said that transportation was a critical component of election involving timely movement of INEC personnel and electoral materials.

The Federal Government on Friday said it has extended the search for the 110 girls who were abducted from the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State to the neighbouring countries.

Top military and security officials on Thursday traveled to the North-east to add more urgency to the search, which has now been extended beyond the North-east region.

As the Nigerian government extended to neighbouring countries, the search for the 110 schoolgirls abducted last week in Dapchi, Yobe State, a human rights activist, Mrs Aisha Wakil, claimed a Boko Haram faction had contacted her to confirm it has the girls.

Aisha Wakil, who is also known as Mama Boko Haram, was a member of the Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges Committee in the northern region, set up during the President Goodluck Jonathan era.

In an interview with The News Agency of Nigeria, the activist said the Barnawi faction of Boko Haram contacted her on Thursday.

She added that the abductors confirmed to her that the girls were safe, healthy and in good condition.