News
LCDA: Agbo Exposes Aiyedatiwa’ Political Naivety
Our attention has again been drawn to the reaction of the political camp of Governor Luck Ayedatiwa to our last statement in which we firmly established that he is suffering from “poverty of ideas” and mercifully, this reaction further re-pronounced and re-echoed that fact.
The Ayedatiwa administration and Campaign seems not to understand the groundnorm upon which His Excellency, Agboola Ajayi continues to base his criticism of Government on, and it’s vital that we again provide elementary education for them on this score.
That judgement says that because the bill was signed into law in Ibadan, it violates the territorial integrity of the State, therfore null and void.
For the avoidance of doubt, this remains the compelling reason why we say Government must appeal that decision. If it remains instructive tha Governor Lucky Ayedatiwa does not loose his constitutionally dictated immunity each time he steps out of Ondo State, it means his ranking as Governor is not limited to the territorial confines of our State alone.
For the umpteenth time, we must remind the Governor and his team that assignments and official responsibilities dictate that Governors travel outside their States in pursuance of sundry goals, and when they do, the constitutional responsibilities of their office remains intact, resides within them and will thus discharge such, wherever as at when due and that is what late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu did when he gave assent to the LCDA law in Ibadan.
Again we must underscore that the letter that transmitted power to Lucky Ayedatiwa as acting Governor was not written in Akure, but sent from the late Governor’s sick bed in Germany, so why for any insidious reason(s) will Ayedatiwa allow any jejune reason to curtail the constitutional powers of the Governor by not appealing the verdict of that Akure High Court?
For instance, the Council of State meetings, NEC meetings holds in the Presidency, Abuja and even the Governor’s Forum meetings that hold anywhere in the country, Governors enter into commitments on behalf of their States and sign documents in that regard, therefore, such actions by the Ondo State Governor will remain illegal as far as the verdict which nullified the LCDA law is concerned, if not appealed and overturned, this is the simple lesson H E Agboola Ajayi has been trying to teach H E Lucky Ayedatiwa and we hope he learns quickly that what he thinks is a delicious pot of soup today does not become an albatross tomorrow.
Ayedatiwa must also learn from our recent history that Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari signed bills into law on their sick beds abroad and such laws remain in force today because the powers and authority vested in the President remained in force with them while in power, irrespective of wherever they were in the world. This again underscores the institutionality of powers of the office of the Preident and Governors is deeply ingrained in the person holding them.
In Britain for instance, we saw that power of the monarchy was still upon the late Queen Elizabeth up to the point of her internment before it was eventually removed from her corpse.
With our summation so far on the LCDA issue, we are sure we have taught a lesson and will not say additional words any longer.
While we do not begrudge Ayedatiwa and his team over their gloating of creation of new eleven judicial divisions, we need to let them know that the Governor merely assented to a proposal from the Judiciary that desires expansion so as to guarantee the portability of justice delivery, we do not see how a routine discharge of administrative responsibilities can become a solid achievement of an administration that is in office for that purpose.
Obviously, Ondo State is currently at its very low ebb, people who do not possess remote understanding of how government works now parade the corridors of power and invade our space with inanities, imagine Sunday Olugbenga Abire, Special Assistant to the Governor not knowing the difference between an election and a plebiscite, that further confirms that poverty of ideas remains prevalent in this administration.
It is in view of this that we demand from the people of this State to take due cognisance of the cesspool of errors that now characterise governance in our State.
We desire a Government that will work for the people and accentuate their interests, for instance, of the four States under the BEDC, the electricity company serving Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti, Ondo State continues to have lesser allocation of power, with areas of Akure not having light for days, and when they do, for a paltry two or three hours only, yet Government remains unconcerned as it simply does not know what to do.
It might be news to them that Ekiti State enjoys more presence of electricity because its Government took on that Disco company vigorously, while ours merely carouse and dance to “Ma ba ja” chorus endlessly, thereby carelessly abandoning its basic responsibilities endlessly.
We make bold to say that the November 16th election will be a defining moment for this State. It will robustly establish that our people will discard the pettiness associated with the current administration and take a firm leap forward by voting for content and quality, voting PDP is the way to go.
Our desire to rectify these anomalies dictate that the PDP candidate, Agboola Ajayi who possess requisite experience and a vast understanding of political and administrative applications be elected as Governor.
Ayo Fadaka
Head of Media to H E Agboola Ajayi.
The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has announced Senator Ireti Heebah Kingibe as the party’s flag bearer for the Federal Capital Territory senatorial election ahead of the 2027 general polls.
Kingibe secured a landslide victory in the party’s primary election, polling 17,535 votes to defeat her sole challenger, Mubarak Tijjani, who garnered 806 votes.
Declaring the results at the ADC secretariat in Abuja, the chairman and returning officer for the senatorial and House of Representatives primaries, Abubakar Adamu, confirmed Kingibe as the winner of the exercise.
The primary election also produced candidates for the two House of Representatives seats in the FCT.
In the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency, Bala Iyah emerged victorious with 4,937 votes, defeating Yahaya Fatima Goya, who polled 2,015 votes, while Ma’aji Johnson Bello secured 1,546 votes. Ismaila Ishak Ozigi received 105 votes.
For the Abaji/Gwagwalada/Kwali/Kuje Federal Constituency, Alhassan Salihu clinched the party’s ticket with 9,016 votes, defeating Khalid A. Haruna, who polled 2,955 votes.
Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission monitored the conduct of the primaries.
Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State has expressed confidence that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will secure victory in the 2027 presidential election, stating that no opposition candidate, including former President Goodluck Jonathan, can prevent the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from retaining power.
Namadi made the remarks after casting his vote during the APC presidential primary election held at his polling unit in Kafin Hausa Local Government Area of Jigawa State.
The governor reiterated his commitment to delivering more than one million votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the next general election, saying the target was realistic given the widespread support the APC enjoys across Jigawa State.
He noted that the large turnout witnessed during the primary election demonstrated the confidence party members and residents have in both President Tinubu and the APC-led administration.
According to Namadi, the peaceful and transparent conduct of the exercise also reflected the President’s respect for democratic values and internal party democracy.
The governor further stated that the outcome of the APC primary election signalled what to expect in the 2027 polls, predicting an overwhelming victory for the ruling party nationwide.
Namadi described Jigawa as one of the APC’s strongest support bases, pointing out that the state ranks among those with the highest number of registered voters in the country.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 63-year-old Chinese woman for allegedly attempting to smuggle a large consignment of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, into Nigeria.
The suspect, described as Ting Hung Kiong who naturalised in Malaysia, was arrested on Sunday, May 17, 2026, upon arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, from Thailand via Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.
This was contained in a statement made available to the column.ng on (today) Sunday by NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.
According to the agency, NDLEA operatives attached to the Terminal 2 Arrival Hall intercepted her after she was found to have two large travel boxes containing 31.0 kilograms of the illicit substance.
“During an interview, the 63-year-old suspect who claims she works as a caregiver in Malaysia stated that her daughter sponsored her trip from Malaysia to Thailand and subsequently to Nigeria.
“She further disclosed that she spent two weeks in Thailand, before she was handed the illicit consignment at the Thailand airport to deliver in Nigeria,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA also announced the interception of another major drug shipment at the Lagos airport import shed.
“Following close monitoring of the consignment by NDLEA operatives since its arrival from India aboard an Emirates Cargo flight, the 29 large cartons containing One Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ten (1,825,710) tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, worth Two Billion, One Hundred and Ninety Million, Eight Hundred and Fifty-Two Thousand Naira (N2,190,852,000) were eventually handed over to the NDLEA by the Customs Service on Friday 22nd May 2026,” it said.
In another operation at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, NDLEA operatives on May 20 arrested a suspect, Onyeka Valentine Emeka, during inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sierra Leone via Addis Ababa.
The suspect, according to the agency, excreted 185.36 grams of cocaine while under observation.
Babafemi added that “at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a 29-year-old building engineer, Babatunde Prosper Afekhide was on Wednesday 21st May arrested by NDLEA operatives while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Abuja via Addis Ababa to Milan Malpensa, Italy.
“A search conducted on his luggage led to the recovery of 10,280 pills of Tramaking 225mg; Tramadol 200mg and Tapentadol 250mg. The opioids were concealed using foil paper and hidden inside a carton, in a suitcase, obviously to evade detection.
“In yet another operation at a courier company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted 1,174 pills of MDMA (Ecstasy) concealed in bicycle luggage carrier heading to Netherlands; 66 pills of tramadol 225mg hidden in soap container going to the United States and 18 tablets of tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream container heading to the United Kingdom,” the agency said.
In Edo State, operatives acting on intelligence raided Igwe community in Owan East Local Government Area, where 59 jumbo bags of skunk weighing 489kg and 9kg of cannabis seeds were recovered.
The agency also said a 30-year-old suspect, Isah Sani, was arrested with 196,000 pills of Exol-5 along the Zaria–Kano road in Kano State on May 20, while operatives at the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, recovered 59kg of skunk from a warehouse in Mowo on May 19.
In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives on May 23 raided a warehouse in Ikole-Ekiti and recovered 1,116 kilograms of skunk, arresting a 54-year-old suspect, Ogundana Adebayo Julius, in connection with the seizure.
The agency also disclosed continued nationwide War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres and communities across several states.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended officers involved in the operations and charged them to sustain the agency’s drug supply reduction and sensitisation efforts.
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