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I Would Have Fired Wike From PDP Long Ago If I Had The Power — Dele Momodu

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Dele Momodu, the Director of Strategic Communications for the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, stated that if he had the power, he would have dismissed the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Speaking on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm program on Tuesday, Momodu accused Wike of trying to destroy the party, saying, “I don’t have the power, if I had the power I would have fired him (Wike) long ago.”

However, the PDP chieftain stated that he did not object to Wike’s appointment as a minister by President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Asked why he would fire the former Rivers State governor from the party, Momodu replied, “Such an unruly person who wants to destroy our party? One individual cannot hold everybody to ransom. If we fought the military, we fought the military in this country, Tinubu was part of those who fought the military in this country, and then you will now allow a civilian dictatorship?”

Ahead of the 2023 elections, Wike and the other four then governors that made up the G-5 in the PDP withdrew their support for the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar over a disagreement concerning power sharing within PDP.

The ex-Rivers governor supported the eventual winner of the election, Tinubu, who rewarded him with an appointment as FCT Minister.

Some members of the PDP just like Momodu have been calling for Wike’s expulsion from the party but the minister in a recent appearance on Channels TV’s Politics Today dared the leadership of the party to suspend or discipline him.

“Who will discipline me? I should be the one calling for the discipline of these people who violated the party’s constitution, in the way that the party supported rotation.

“Who will suspend me? I want to dare anybody,” Wike said.

He said he informed PDP leadership before he took the ministerial offer of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Wike said he remained a PDP chieftain despite working for the APC government. “I want to support Asiwaju (Tinubu) to finish well,” he said.

He insisted that he owed no one an apology for supporting the power shift to southern Nigeria.

BIG STORY

BREAKING: Court Finds Natasha Guilty Of Contempt, Fines Her N5 million

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The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday convicted the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, for contempt over a satirical apology she posted on her Facebook page on April 27.

Justice Binta Nyako, delivering judgment in the suit filed by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan challenging her suspension, began with the contempt application submitted by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

Akpabio, in his application, argued that the senator’s social media post breached an earlier court order that restrained all parties from speaking to the press or posting on social media about the matter.

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s counsel contended that the post was unrelated to the court’s order on her suspension but was about a separate matter involving sexual harassment claims against the third respondent (Akpabio).

However, Justice Nyako ruled that after reviewing the post and the application before her filed by the third respondent, she was convinced it was connected to the suspension case before the court and therefore declared the plaintiff guilty of contempt.

The judge directed Akpoti-Uduaghan to publish an apology in two national newspapers and on her Facebook page within seven days. She also imposed a fine of N5 million.

 

More to come…

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BIG STORY

BREAKING: Court Orders Senate To Recall Suspended Natasha Akpoti

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A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday ruled that the Nigerian Senate exceeded its powers by suspending Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, ordering her to be immediately recalled to the Red Chamber.

Justice Binta Nyako, delivering the judgment, described the suspension period as “excessive” and lacking a solid legal basis.

The court stated that both Chapter 8 of the Senate Standing Orders and Section 14 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, which the Senate relied on, do not specify a maximum suspension length. Therefore, their application in this situation was considered overreaching.

The judge noted that since the National Assembly is only mandated to sit for 181 days in a legislative year, suspending a lawmaker for about the same length of time effectively silences an entire constituency, calling it unconstitutional.

“While the Senate has the authority to discipline its members, such sanctions must not go so far as to deny constituents their right to representation,” Nyako ruled.

However, the court agreed with Senate President Godswill Akpabio on a different issue, ruling that his decision to prevent Akpoti-Uduaghan from speaking during a plenary—because she was not in her designated seat—did not violate her rights.

Nyako also dismissed Akpabio’s argument that the judiciary should not interfere in what he described as an “internal affair” of the legislature, saying fundamental rights and representation fall squarely within the court’s jurisdiction.

In a separate twist, the court imposed a monetary penalty on Akpoti-Uduaghan for violating an earlier court directive that barred both parties from making public comments about the ongoing legal proceedings.

The fine amounts to millions of naira.

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COALITION: We’ll Register New Party As Backup To ADC — El-Rufai

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A leader of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and an important figure in the opposition coalition, Nasir El-Rufai, stated that a new political party would be registered as a backup for the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

El-Rufai explained that the new party would serve as an alternative option to guard against potential infiltration by the All Progressives Congress, APC, into the ADC.

The opposition coalition had chosen the ADC as its platform on Wednesday.

However, El-Rufai noted that there is a possibility the APC could spark a crisis within the ADC by turning old members against the new leadership.

He revealed this during an interview with Radio France International (RFI) Hausa Service on Wednesday night.

“Those who refuse to join the APC face threats of investigations by agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), or Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

“The opposition parties’ alliance in the ADC is temporary, and we may register a new party as a second option, which we will move to should the ADC be instigated into crisis by the government,” the former Kaduna governor stated.

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