Politics
Alleged ₦3.51bn Travel Expenditure: Ignore PDP’s Claim On Okpebholo, Edo APC Tells Residents

Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged residents of the state to ignore PDP’s allegation that governor of the state, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has spent a whopping ₦3.51bn on travels in the last eight months.
In a statement signed by
Emperor Jarrett Tenebe,
State Chairman of the party, and made available to INFO DAILY in Benin on Monday, the APC said such claims were imagination of the PDP, adding that it “exposed their poor and lack of understanding of broader key economic indicators—which reflected in their negative impact on Edo State people throughout their disastrous eight years administration.”
Tenebe, who said the state governor has not embarked on any foreign trip since he assumed office on November 12, 2024, stressed that Okpebholo has demonstrated prudence since taking over from the opposition party.
READ ALSO: Enabulele Lauds Okpehbolo For Creating Enabling Environment For Football To Thrive
He said: “For the records, the APC administration led by His Excellency Senator Monday Okpebholo has demonstrated financial prudence since taking over from the PDP abstracted-MOU ‘419’ government on November 12, 2024.
“Accusing the present administration of wasting ₦3.51bn on imaginable ‘travels’ when the governor has not embarked on any foreign trip since November 12, 2024, shows that the half a dozen PDP renegades are obviously suffering from an acute form of hallucination which is associated with neurological disorders, due to the effects of overdose of substances and post election defeat syndrome.
“Our party, the APC wishes to place on record that Senator Okpebholo is a grassroots leader who is interested in finding home grown solutions to reposition the various sectors for measurable growth in the shortest possible time.”
READ ALSO: Opposition Will Collapse In Edo Before 2027, Says Okpebholo
The APC State Chairman, who noted that the current admission is interested in development across the state and nothing else, Okpebholo will never siphon resources meant for the development of the state.
He added: “The APC government in Edo State is only interested in all round development of the 18 local government areas in line with global best practices.
“Governor Okpebholo will not continue in the habit of siphoning the state’s resources through fictitious globe trotting as witnessed in the last PDP administration.”
Politics
Edo: Chief Ben Bowei Sworn In As Vice Chairman, Ovia South-West

An Activist and politician, High Chief Ben Bowei has been sworn in as Vice Chairman, Ovia South-West Local Government Council of Edo State.
Bowei, chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), deputises Hon. Nosakhare Edobor who happens to be the Chairman of the council.
The Vice Chairman, a committed member of the APC in the local government and state, is expected to bring his wealth of experience to bear on the local government council being a former National Treasurer of the most respected youth body in west Africa — Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide.
READ ALSO:Edo To Immortalise Late IGP Solomon Arase
Bowei, an advocate and promoter of governance, is the founder of Niger Delta Volunteer for Good Governance, said he’s poised in promoting good governance and taking the dividends of democracy to the most interior part of the local government.
The Vice Chairman urged sons and daughters of the local government to cooperate with the council’s leadership in their bid to extend the dividends of democracy to them.
Bowei, while appreciating governor Monday Okpebholo and his deputy, Hon. Dennis Idahosa, for the good work the current administration has been doing in the state, expressed optimism that the current state government would perform beyond expectations.
Politics
90% Of Nigeria’s Elections Since Independence Rigged — Ex-lawmaker

A lawyer and former member of the National Assembly, Senator Ikechukwu Obiorah, has said that over ninety per cent of all elections so far held in Nigeria, from independence to date, have been brazenly rigged or perverted, thus causing the mass poverty and underdevelopment being experienced in the country.
Senator Obiorah, who represented Anambra South Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011 in the National Assembly, blamed the non-existence of honest, transparent, free and fair elections in Nigeria for the mass poverty and gross underdevelopment in the nation presently.
The lawyer and author stated this in his treatise on “The Philosophy of Elections and Nigeria’s Fake Democracy”, made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.
Worried by this development, the erstwhile federal lawmaker has proposed a constitutional amendment that will ensure the power to appoint electoral bodies – Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) – is taken away from both the President and Governors and vested in a neutral body which would set in motion processes to lift Nigeria out of poverty.
READ ALSO:INEC Promotes 471 Junior Staff, Begins Senior Staff Assessment
He stated that a proposed bill to that effect had already been sent to both the Senate and the House of Representatives for prompt legislative action.
He pointed out that had the people been allowed to exercise the power to freely elect their leaders since 1960, Nigeria would by now be a fully developed nation by first-world standards and in all ramifications.
According to him, “Since independence, 90 per cent of all elections – Parliamentary, Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship, House of Assembly, Local Government Council elections – have been brazenly stolen or rigged or perverted or altogether thwarted or nullified.
“Nigerians have never really and voluntarily chosen their leaders, nor have Nigerians ever been governed with their proper consent and participation. The absence of honest elections makes ours a fake democracy, period. In Nigeria, the simple but painful cause of stealing and rigging of elections is that those vested with power to appoint the electoral bodies and personnel were themselves or their political parties or their preferred candidates, contestants in the same elections. It is just like making a person a judge in his own case.
READ ALSO:INEC Shortlists 14 Associations For Political Party Registration
“Right from independence, the then Prime Minister, and later the President, was always cloaked with the power to appoint the commissioners and senior officers of the electoral bodies responsible for the conduct of all elections in Nigeria.
“However, by virtue of the 1999 Constitution, the power of appointing the state electoral bodies responsible for conducting local government elections was transferred to the State Governors. Consequently, the world has been witnessing the Soviet Union-style results declared from Nigeria’s local government elections, where the Governor’s political party, in most cases, scores a 100 per cent victory.
“The world has also been hearing loud cries and protestations against rigging and seeing the avalanche of court cases that attend all other elections in Nigeria for which the President appoints the electoral bodies and officers,” he noted.
He added that “it is very important to make the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and electronic transmission of results via INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) legally mandatory in the conduct of Nigerian elections.”
Senator Obiorah pointed out that “these systems cannot solve the problem of election rigging without the electoral bodies’ neutrality and integrity because BVAS and IReV are vulnerable to manipulation.”
READ ALSO:Anambra Guber: INEC Releases Total Number Of Registered Voters Ahead Election
As a way out of this problem, Senator Obiorah is proposing that the power for the appointment of electoral bodies be taken away from both the Governors and the President and vested in a neutral body which would set in motion processes to lift Nigeria out of poverty.
According to him, “I do, most humbly, propose a constitutional amendment to provide for the establishment of a new, truly and literally Independent National Electoral Commission (new INEC), charged with the responsibility of conducting all elections for all elected offices in the three tiers of government – the Federal, State and Local Government.
“I do, also, propose that the new INEC be composed and constituted by thirteen commissioners, six of whom would be elected by the underlisted six Nigerian labour and professional organisations, and six commissioners nominated by the United Nations, and one commissioner-observer nominated by Transparency International, totalling thirteen commissioners.
“The new INEC would have the power to elect and remove its Chairman and hire and fire all staff, including the Chief Executive Officer.
“The election of six commissioners by the underlisted Nigerian labour and professional organisations is arranged in a corresponding alphabetical order as follows:
READ ALS:
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics would elect one commissioner out of its members from the North Central geopolitical zone;
The Academic Staff Union of Universities would elect one commissioner out of its members from the North East geopolitical zone;
The Institute of Chartered Accountants would elect one commissioner out of its members from the North West geopolitical zone;
The Nigerian Bar Association would elect one commissioner out of its members from the South East geopolitical zone;
The Nigerian Medical Association would elect one commissioner out of its members from the South South geopolitical zone;
The Nigerian Union of Journalists would elect one commissioner out of its members from the South West geopolitical zone.
READ ALSO:Navy Opens Recruitment For Basic Training School Batch 38
He clarified that nominations from the United Nations and Transparency International would definitely not violate Nigeria’s sovereignty, because those nominations would not be imposed by any sort of force; rather, it is Nigeria as a sovereign nation that would voluntarily request these nominations.
He stated further that the UN and Transparency International would be positively disposed to acceding to Nigeria’s request because, like other development institutions, they rightly regard stealing or rigging of elections as the worst and most destructive kind of all corrupt practices. He noted that the UN, having directly organised the establishment, manning and management of some anti-corruption programmes and institutions in various countries such as Guatemala and El Salvador, would be pleased to participate in such a liberating effort in Nigeria.
Senator Obiorah also recalled that the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, not long ago, dispatched a letter to the United Nations requesting the UN’s establishment and management of an International Commission against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras, for which a memorandum of understanding has been signed by both parties in furtherance of that cooperation.
He added that the United Nations and Transparency International would not nominate any Nigerian citizen or any person indigenous to Nigeria, saying that “It would be the job of the President to receive and collate the names and curriculum vitae of the nominees for transmission to the Senate and House of Representatives for confirmation.
According to him, “No nominee or nominee-elect would be rejected or impeached by the National Assembly except by concurrent resolutions supported by at least two-thirds majority of all Senators and Honourable Members of the House of Representatives, respectively, voting individually in person by a secret ballot and televised in real time. Voice vote for this exercise would be prohibited.
“The tenure of office of a commissioner would not exceed four years. It must be made clear that the establishment of the new INEC would not be a setback in the strides for devolution of powers to the States.”
Politics
Probe Natasha’s Allegations Against Akpabio, Afenifere Urges FG

The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has urged the Federal Government to investigate sexual harassment allegations levelled by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The call followed the Senate’s decision to lift Akpoti-Uduaghan’s six-month suspension.
This, Afenifere said should not overshadow the need to establish the truth of her claims.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Afenifere’s National Organising Secretary, Kole Omololu, said the senator’s recall reflected commitment to the rule of law.
“We commend the Senate President, His Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Senate leadership for taking a decision that further reinforces the country’s rule of law,” Omololu said.
READ ALSO:Natasha Resumes At Senate, Calls Akpabio Dictator
The group, however, insisted that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegations must not be ignored.
“For over six months, where are the facts and evidence of her grave allegations?” Afenifere asked.
It called on the “Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to carry out a full investigation into the matter.”
Afenifere also recalled Akpoti-Uduaghan’s past false sexual harassment claims against former presidential aide Reno Omokri, which ended in an out-of-court settlement.
“Does this not suggest that, without proof, her allegations against Akpabio are suspicious?” Omololu asked.
READ ALSO:UK Regulator Reports Air Peace Over Alleged Safety Violation
The group further criticised Akpoti-Uduaghan for taking her claims to international media, including BBC, CNN, Sky News and Deutsche Welle, saying the move portrayed Nigeria negatively abroad.
It also queried her participation in a session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in New York.
“If Natasha truly participated in the IPU meeting without due nomination, then it simply revealed her compromise or manipulation of our public institutions for pecuniary ends,” the group said.
In March 2025, Natasha was suspended for six months after a row in plenary and her petition accusing Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment.
READ ALSO:Naira Appreciates Massively Against US Dollar In The Black Market, Highest In 15 Months
She claimed the incident happened in December 2023, but the Senate’s Ethics Committee dismissed her petition on procedural grounds. Despite a court order halting disciplinary action, the Senate went ahead with her suspension, which also froze her pay and barred her from official duties.
Akpoti-Uduaghan challenged the suspension in court, insisting it was tied to her allegations. While the Senate said it acted over misconduct, the case attracted global attention after she granted interviews to international media. The matter remains unsettled, with Afenifere now urging federal authorities to investigate her claims.
Meanwhile, Natasha formally resumed her duties at the National Assembly on October 7, 2025, after her six-month suspension ended – and immediately claimed that Akpabio is a dictator.
And almost immediately, Akpabio’s media aide Kenny Okolugbo debunked the claim.
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