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Minister says no automatic ticket for APC defectors

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Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, has advised intending defectors to the All Progressives Congress, Enugu State, to perish the thought of automatic ticket or hijacking the party structure.

Nnaji stated that the party will welcome intending defectors, but there won’t be an automatic ticket for anybody, no matter how highly placed.

Nnaji, who spoke in Enugu during an expanded stakeholders meeting of the party, Saturday, revealed that some persons, who he described as politically displaced politicians, have been running from pillar to post in Abuja with a view to defecting to Enugu APC and hijacking the party through the back door.

In what could be interpreted as a veiled reference to Governor Peter Mbah’s rumoured interest in joining the party, which has got many members apprehensive for fear of losing their positions or aspirations, the Minister counselled intending defectors to perish the thought of automatic ticket, insisting that the party would receive them but subject everybody to party primaries.

He said, “APC has come to stay; that is why from every nook and cranny, people want to join APC. And as we said earlier, we want people to come in, but we will not give them a free ticket; they must go to the contest.

“Anybody who wants to run for the governorship of Enugu State, let him come to the APC, we will go to contest, we are waiting for them.

“We want to populate the party, provided the person is going to look after the party when he gets in, we don’t have a problem.”

He added, “So, if the President of Nigeria wants to come and run for the governor of Enugu State, let him come, we will support him.

“If the former governor of anywhere wants to join us, let him come; we will run the primaries. It will make it even easier, the primary will be the main election. So that when we finish with the primary, we know we have finished.

“But let me tell you, he will not enter, he is afraid, because there are too many IDPs in Enugu, Internally Displaced Politicians, many of them, they are partyless, they don’t have a party.

“That’s why we are urging him to come, but he will not come. He is an internally displaced politician, he doesn’t have party, he is partyless, we want him to come, he will be running from pillar to post, until it is too late.

“But the good thing is that this our mission is being supported by the good Lord who created us, so we are heading to the government house.

“This is part of the confusion that they will be seeing, that they will be meeting until it becomes too late for them. So, we have a focus, we know where we are going and we will keep going there,” he said.

The Minister praised the state chairman of the party, Ugochukwu Agballah and executives of the party from Ward to State level for their hard work and steadfastness; and other stakeholders for their support, saying that they will be rewarded for their efforts.

Three members of the House of Representatives, who recently defected from Labour Party, LP, to APC, including Hon Sunday Umeha (Udi/Ezeagu), Hon Chimobi Atu (Enugu North/Enugu South) and Prof. Paul Nnamchi in their message pledged their support to ensure that APC wins all the political positions in the state in 2027, including the governorship seat.

Umeha stated that he overcame all manner of discouragement to be the first elected official to defect to APC Enugu State, and was shortly followed by Hon Atu and Hon. Prof Nnamchi, revealing that many more lawmakers, including a senator will soon join APC in the state.

The State Chairman, Agballah stated that APC Enugu State has been growing in leaps and bounds courtesy of Minister Nnaji who has borne the burden of sponsoring the party for more than one year now.

He informed party members to participate actively in the coming continuous voter registration, CVR, exercise by the Independent National Electoral the, INEC, noting that from the end of August, anybody attending a Ward meeting must go with his or her voter card.

He said, “There will be a primary in APC, there will be proper nomination in APC”.

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Over 6.2 million Nigerians complete online voter pre-registration – INEC

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More than 6.2 million Nigerians completed their online pre-registration for the Continuous Voter Registration during week six of the exercise, according to data released by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday.

The figures, published on INEC’s official X handle and website, showed that a total of 6,232,673 pre-registrants were recorded between September 22 and 28, 2025.

Of this number, 3,250,338 were female, representing 52.15 percent, while 2,982,335 were male, accounting for 47.85 percent . Youths aged 18 to 34 continued to dominate the process, with 4,230,715 registering within the period. Students made up a significant portion with 1,565,824 entries, while persons with disabilities totaled 137,865.

INEC also reported that 1,004,132 Nigerians completed both online and physical registrations in Week five, covering the period from September 22 to 26, 2025.

This figure includes 537,743 who finalized their registration online and 466,389 who completed the process physically.

Demographic data for the completed registrations in week five showed that 555,077 were female (55.28 percent) and 449,055 were male (44.72 percent). Youths made up 742,379 of the total, while students were 354,406. The number of registered PWDs during the week stood at 13,987.

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Osun PDP, APC clash as FG releases LG allocations

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The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, on Sunday, confirmed that the Federal Government had released the withheld six-month allocations for the state’s local government areas.

The APC, however, denied that the funds were paid into the private accounts of council chairmen elected on the platform of the APC in October 2022.

It said the funds were paid “into the local government councils’ accounts.”

However, the ruling PDP, which said it was not aware of the payment, demanded that the APC disclose the details of the accounts the funds were paid into.

The PDP wondered how the Federal Government would release the funds into bank accounts unknown to the state’s accountant general, auditor-general for local governments and the ministry of local governments.

The clash between the two parties comes after the National Union of Local Government Employees accused the Federal Government of illegally releasing the withheld six-month allocation to the APC.

Speaking on behalf of the union on Sunday, NULGE Chairman, Dr Nathaniel Ogungbangbe,  said the union had confirmed that the Federal Government paid the March–August 2025 allocations into accounts illegally opened by the APC chairmen and councillors despite pending court cases.

He specifically accused the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; the Accountant-General of the Federation, Babatunde Ogunjimi; and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), of abusing their offices by facilitating the release.

“Today, we have it on good authority that these three principal officers of the Federal Government have released the Osun State Local Government Councils’ allocations for the month of March 2025 to August 2025 to the illegal bank accounts opened by court-sacked APC chairmen and councillors,” Ogungbangbe said.

“We find this development very scary and alarming.

Paying Local Government allocations into privately opened and illegal bank accounts of politicians is unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented in the history of public administration in Nigeria.”

Ogungbangbe recalled that a Federal High Court had on May 15, 2025, ordered parties to maintain the status quo, an order he said was acknowledged by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which initially withheld payment.

“The Attorney-General cannot assume the role of the Supreme Court by setting aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the sacking of the APC politicians by the Federal High Court. The Attorney-General is not above the law,” he declared.

He also accused the APC of trying to destabilise the state.

“Their ultimate goal is to cause anarchy and use it to call on the President to declare a State of Emergency in the state so that they could loot our resources,” he alleged, adding that council workers would not return to duty posts until the issue was resolved.

But the Osun APC dismissed the allegations, describing them as lies designed to favour the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, the APC said: “It is not true that the said federal allocations are paid into the account of any of our local government council chairmen or any of the APC members or chieftain but into the local government councils’ accounts.”

Olabisi further argued that NULGE had no authority to interpret court rulings.

“We want to, as a party which believes in the rule of law, make it abundantly clear that it is not the duty of the NULGE to interpret any court judgment. The Court of Appeal judgement of the 10th of February, 2025, which reinstated the APC local government council chairmen and their councillors, is still in force as there is no record anywhere that it was appealed against.”

He accused the NULGE leadership of pursuing selfish interests and acting as an appendage of Governor Ademola Adeleke.

“The NULGE needs not weave up a series of lies in respect of the payment of the federal allocations… The sing-song of the NULGE before now was that some agencies of the Federal Government were withholding the accumulated federal allocations. Now that the logjam has been laid to rest, what would be their next excuse?” he asked.

The party also urged security agencies to remain on alert.

“We plead with the NULGE to shun brigandage, as Osun, being a subset of the country, is being governed by the rule of law,” the statement read.

Reacting to the revelation and the admission by the APC, Osun PDP called on the APC to disclose the accounts into which the allocations were paid and the signatories of the accounts.

In a statement on Sunday by its Chairman,  Sunday Bisi, the PDP described the release of funds to the APC as a crime against the people of Osun State.

The PDP said rather than attacking NULGE, the APC should “come clean before the people of Osun State by publicly disclosing the exact bank accounts into which the local government allocations were paid and the signatories to those accounts. The APC should also disclose the amount in each of the accounts.”

The PDP said, “We demand these details because all the statutory officers of all the 30 local governments who should be aware of the payment are not aware of it. These officers manage all the accounts of the local governments. They have not seen a dime in any of their local government accounts. Also, none of the state accountant general, the auditor-general for local governments and the ministry of local governments is aware of the payments or where they were paid into.

“The Osun PDP wishes to remind the APC that hurling insults at labour unions cannot change the reality that the people of Osun are demanding answers. The questions are simple: into which accounts were the allocations paid, and who are the signatories?”

The PDP said the APC must urgently provide answers, “or we will conclude that the APC and its leaders have staged the greatest heist in the history of Nigeria by diverting over six months of allocations of all local governments in Osun State.”

“The PDP assures the people of Osun State that under Governor Ademola Adeleke, transparency and accountability will continue to be the guiding principles in the management of public funds. No amount of intimidation or blackmail by the APC will derail this resolve,” Bisi added.

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Adamawa ADC gives Atiku ultimatum to pick membership card

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The African Democratic Congress has issued an ultimatum to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and other prominent figures in the party to register at their respective wards before the end of the year or risk losing recognition as members.

Speaking exclusively to The PUNCH in Yola, the Adamawa State Chairman of the ADC, Shehu Yohanna, said the party had unveiled its membership register, stressing that only those with valid membership cards would be acknowledged.

“Atiku Abubakar should go to his ward in Jada Local Government and register, Babachir should go to his ward in Hong Local Government and register. That is the only way they can be treated as legitimate members of the party,” Yohanna said.

“You cannot be taking decisions for a party you are not constitutionally a member of. All of you should register for the greatness of our party.

“It is illegal for someone to hold a leadership position in the party at the national level without being a registered member. That makes a caricature of the party,” he declared.

Last Thursday, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, reaffirmed the caucus’ resolution that all coalition members resign from their current parties and register fully with the ADC—a directive dismissed as inconsequential by both the APC and PDP.

Atiku’s much-publicised membership registration, initially scheduled for August in his hometown of Jada, was suspended indefinitely last month without explanation.

The PUNCH gathered that the former Vice President is weighing his chances of clinching the ADC’s presidential ticket, particularly in light of the growing influence of Peter Obi’s political movement within the party.

Yohanna dismissed the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party as incapable of defeating the ADC in the 2027 general elections.

He added that the ADC boasts politically influential figures and is prepared to wrest power from the APC administration.

“The unfriendly policies of the present government have paved the way for our party to take over and reposition the country for authentic democracy,” he said.

On the reported crisis in the party’s Adamawa chapter, Yohanna maintained that he remained the legitimate chairman.

“My tenure expires in 2026 based on the constitution of the party, so nobody can remove me from office. The ADC is not the estate of anyone; it is a political party registered by former President Olusegun Obasanjo,” he said.

He further claimed that the credentials of ADC governorship aspirants are among the best in Adamawa and indeed across Nigeria.

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