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Christmas: Imbibe spirit of nation-building – Ododo urges citizens
The Governor-Elect of Kogi, Alhaji Usman Ododo has urged residents and Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of nation building and sacrifice for the nation’s greatness as they celebrate Christmas.
In a Christmas message by his Media Office, Ododo said “The commemoration of the birth of Christ is a period for deep reflection on the need to think and act in manners that bring glory to our nation.’
The governor-elect noted that Christmas and its significance to Christians remained so immense, hence his rejoicing with Christians and Nigerians on the auspicious period.
“This is a period for sober reflection and commitment to practices and attitudes that can help build our nation. Christ was selfless and completely committed to the service and redemption of humanity.
“As leaders and citizens, we must constantly remind ourselves of the need to support the weak and provide for the needy in the society. We must promote our nation with the right policies and patriotic zeal.
“It is heartwarming that our party and our leader, President Bola Tinubu, has shown immense and an unimpeachable commitment to humanitarian activities by putting in place, deliberate policies to stamp out poverty and give the people meaningful livelihood.
“In line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of our President and leader, Gov. Yahaya Bello also worked with policies that has drastically reduced poverty in Kogi.”
Ododo promised to build on the legacies of Bello on assumption of the leadership of the state in January.
He added: “For eight years, we have watched at close quarters, an administration that has redefined the place of Kogi in the national polity and which has been fair to all religions and ethnic divides.
“When we step into the big shoes in January, we shall build on these legacies. I have been hired by the people of Kogi to be their servant. My team and I will serve with every sense of responsibility and iron-cast commitment to the development of the state.
“We will defend the interest of all ethnic and religious persuasions and foster an unbreakable bond among the people as a platform for prosperity and development,” he said. (NAN)(www.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has denied being partisan in handling the failed recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Rotimi Oyekanmi, who was on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, explained how the Commission handled the process.
“In the case of the Kogi Central District, we received a petition and a cover letter and of course what Nigerians were saying was that we were taking sides,” Oyekanmi said on the programme.
“But what happened was that in the covering letter, the representatives of the petitioners did not include their address as required in our regulations and guidelines and what we just did was to ask them to supply their address, it has nothing to do with the petition.
“And of course, there is nowhere in the law where INEC is asked to reject a petition just because the cover letter did not contain the address. So, there was no hanky-panky in what we did.”
Earlier on Thursday, INEC rejected the petition to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, saying that it has not met the requirements.
The electoral commission said the petition to recall Senator Natasha did not meet constitutional requirements.
Senator Natasha was suspended for breaching Senate rules, prompting some of her constituents to initiate her recall. They claimed the move was to ensure their constituency did not lack representation following the suspension of the 45-year-old senator.
Asked whether there could be a repeat of the recall process, the INEC spokesperson said the law did not specify if the process could be repeated and how many times.
“The law just talks about the threshold, the threshold meaning that if you want to recall, you must have, in addition to your petition, 50 per cent plus one signatures. The law did not specify how many times you can undertake that,” he said.
The lawmaker has made headlines in recent months after she accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment, a claim the Akwa Ibom lawmaker has equally denied.
She was thereafter suspended by the Red Chamber for violation of its rule of conduct.
The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has handed over 19 kidnapped victims rescued by the security agencies to the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa.
The brief ceremony took place on Thursday at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Office of the National Security Adviser in Abuja.
The victims included Ambassador Gideon Yohanna, the former Director-General of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Maharazu Tsiga (retired) who had spent 56 days in captivity and 17 others, including a child.
Both Ribadu and Musa pledged to remain relentless until the criminals are wiped out and normalcy restored in the country.
“As a result of the work of our armed forces and other security services, we are able to rescue and bring back our own people,” he said.
“This time, it involves important personalities who served this country. We thank God for their lives, we are grateful to those who made it possible.
“This is an ongoing operation and we are doing it quite silently, we will go after the bad ones.”
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Thursday applauded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for rejecting a petition to recall her as the lawmaker representing Kogi Central Senatorial District.
The female lawmaker, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said the electoral umpire should have thrown out the petition long before it did on April 3, 2025.
“I’m a lawyer. I’m a senator and I understand how Nigeria works. For me, the most important thing is this recall process has been stalled.
“I give kudos and credit to INEC even though I believe they should have thrown it away from the get-go.
“I think it was void ab initio because there is no law in the Electoral Act that says a petition should be discarded just because there is no address but again, what if the address is false?”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain argued that most of the addresses provided in the petition for her recall were false because most houses in her district weren’t labelled.
“Even though INEC did count 208,000 signatures, I bet you if they had gone into the verification stage, they would have struggled to even have 500 people come out to attest to signing that,” she added.
She accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Governor Usman Ododo and ex-governor Yahaya Bello of sponsoring her failed recall.
In a much-awaited statement on Thursday, INEC said the petition for the recall of the lawmaker did not met the requirement of Section 69(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“Therefore, no further action shall be taken on the recall of the Senator,” INEC declared.