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Former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan Told to Bury 2027 Yobe Gubernatorial Ambition
Former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan Told to Bury 2027 Yobe Gubernatorial Ambition
By: Michael Mike
The immediate past Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan has been told to bury any ambition of becoming the governor of Yobe State in 2027.
A group of youth under the auspices of Vanguard for Better Governance in Yobe State 2027 said it is not the turn of Lawan’s senatorial district to present the next governor of the state.
The group in the statement said: “Against the backdrop of the call by phantom groups such as ‘The Coalition of Yobe East Progressive Youths’ led by one Dr Yarma Goni, begging the Senator of Yobe East Senatorial District and immediate past Senate President, published in many news platforms locally and internationally for Senator (Dr) Ahmed Lawan to heed the call of duty and offer himself as a candidate for Yobe Governor in 2027.
“We, the Yobe in the youth of Yobe State see this as a mischievous attempt of the Dr Yarima Goni’s political jobbers to sell a kite that would never fly in our dear state, Yobe.”
They added that: “While one may not be too sure of the news report, it believed to be a clandestine and surreptitious move at the instance of the distinguished Senator Lawan; but the senator does not need a soothsayer nor an Imam to enlighten him that the Governorship of Yobe in 2027 is a Yobe South affair.
“Yobe Zone B, having lost the only governor from the zone in 2009, the late distinguished Senator Mamman Ali, could not complete Governor Mamman Ali’s first term owing to his untimely death. Two governors from other zones have ruled Yobe State, leaving Zone B in a somewhat perpetual waiting game!
“The very mention of Yobe East person as the Governor of Yobe State in 2027 smacks brazen injustice, and lopsidedness as evidenced in the various federal employment slots allegedly coveted with the use of fake degrees, diplomas and certificates from degree mills traced to Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and other fictitious places to fix Yobe East people at top places and positions at the federal level.
“The same goes for federal projects “cornered from above” to the zone via the instrumentality of top politicians from the zone in Abuja. A case in point is the painful approval of a Federal University of Medical Sciences for the Gashua zone or Yobe East and a federal conventional university already operating in the area.
“The jaundiced socio-political distribution of federal and state projects in Yobe State has seen the trio of state university in Damaturu, two federal universities at Gashua Area, Airport in Damaturu and other key projects, yet nothing for Yobe Zone B reputed for having a large enlightened population and historical relevance.
“Politicians who have served the federal legislature for more than two decades are hardly rewarded with the governorship of their states; as a few of them have done daylight robbery of political mandates of their kith and kin even when they never contested party primaries for a failed quest for white elephant national pole office of Mr President of Nigeria with an evidential failure.
“The planned strangulation of the Governorship of Yobe in 2027 from Yobe Zone B would sow deep seeds of state discord if allowed. For God’s sake, Yobe East’s top politicians should look elsewhere and allow Yobe Zone B to breathe. Yobe East should rather hibernate from the self-inflicted wounds of rivalling President Bola Tinubu when northern governors had endorsed a southern candidate for the 2023 presidential elections.”
The group further said: “The quest for Yobe East Governorship of Yobe State would be akin to the same strategy of their kith and kith who sought to succeed former President Muhammadu Buhari after a northern presidency of eight years with another strange eight years of northern presidency meant for southern Nigeria. If it had happened; Nigeria would have been torn into shreds of Banana Republics.
“The coalition of Yobe East politicians appears as recent students of Nigerian history. Posterity has recorded in its annals that some of their kith and kin at key federal tiers of government misled the immediate past President Buhari into a regime of uncommon loan burden, ill-fated currency change regime prosecuted in grand corruption; in addition to the sleaze of the century in the oil and gas industry at the behest and heavy cooperation resulting in the current travails of Nigerians and the current government.
“We are forced, therefore, to assume the affliction of dementia or hallucination on the part of the ‘Coalition of Yobe East Progressive Youths’ to dream Yobe Governorship in 2027 for their zone and clan’s man as this amounts to standing common sense on its very head which shall not stand!”
Former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan Told to Bury 2027 Yobe Gubernatorial Ambition
Nine PAP Foreign Scholarship Beneficiaries Bag Master’s Degrees From UK Varsities
•••771 to Graduate in Nigeria in 2025
•••Otuaro Hails Scholars’ Performances
By: Michael Mike
Nine students awarded foreign post-graduate scholarships by the Presidential Amnesty Programme have graduated from their master’s degree rprogrammes in universities in the United Kingdom.
The successful scholars are the first graduates in the offshore post-graduate scholarship deployment to UK institutions by the PAP Administrator, Dr Dennis Otuaro, for the 2024-2025 academic session.
They graduated from the Anglia Ruskin University, University of Dundee and The University of Law with master’s degrees in cyber security, data science and engineering, law, construction and civil engineering management, project management, and ICT.
Also, 711 undergraduate and post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries are expected to graduate from universities within Nigeria this year.
The PAP, on Wednesday, 3 December, 2025, organised a graduation reception for the scholars in London.
Otuaro has congratulated them on their successful graduation, stressing that they completed their programmes in record time which shows the seriousness they had put into their studies.
He said they have justified the Federal Government’s investment in their education with their successful graduation, and urged other beneficiaries not to be distracted in their academic pursuits.
“We congratulate these scholars on their successful graduation. It shows that they took their studies seriously. That is what we demand of every scholarship beneficiary, whether at the undergraduate or post-graduate level”, Otuaro said.
He reiterated his unwavering commitment to expanding the scholarship scheme to create more opportunities for indigent students of Niger Delta extraction to access higher education with a view to closing the human capital development gap in the region.
Otuaro said it was for this reason he deployed 3800 beneficiaries in-country in the 2024-2025 academic year, and increased the figure to 3900 in the 2025-2026 academic session with 200 for foreign scholarships.
Otuaro has so far deployed 7700 students for the PAP scholarship scheme within Nigeria in less than two years.
Within this period, also, he has also deployed 162 students from the region for post-graduate programmes in targeted disciplines in the UK universities.
According to him, this is in conformity with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu for the Niger Delta, who has given unprecedented support to the PAP because of his sincere love for the area.
The PAP boss said, “Our decision aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR for the Niger Delta. We will continue to create more higher educational opportunities for students from indigent backgrounds in our region.
“We are also deepening the implementation of the programme’s mandate in informal education and other areas for the sustainable peace and socio-economic advancement of the region.”
Nine PAP Foreign Scholarship Beneficiaries Bag Master’s Degrees From UK Varsities
Sunshine Joint Venture Infrastructure Limited Established for Realization of Ondo Project
By: Michael Mike
Sunshine Joint Venture Infrastructure Limited has been incorporated to seamlessly allowed for the Refinery and Free Trade Zone in Ondo State.
A press statement on Thursday read that: “In furtherance of our commitment to the execution of these two major projects – Refinery and Free Trade Zone in conjunction with the Ondo State Government, the joint partners have taken another giant step by incorporating a joint company, namely – SUNSHINE JOINT VENTURE INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED – as the vehicle to be used in executing these projects. A move that further reinforces the sincerity of purpose and total commitment of the funding partners to move ahead together as a united front.
According to the release by Wale Adekola on behalf of the JV, the Sunshine Joint Venture Infrastructure Limitedwill, going forward serve as the vehicle to work with the Ondo State Government through the Ondo State Investment Promotion Agency (ONDIPA) in the implementation of the executed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).
The statement added that: “In moving the projects forward for implementation, the JV team met in Dubai to finalize the funding modalities and put in place structures and plans for the commencement of activities for ground breaking and community engagements. These initial activities are aimed at complementing the 50th Anniversary of the creation of Ondo State and the one year anniversary of the election of the Executive Governor of the Sunshine State, His Excellency, Chief Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa CFR.
At the Dubai meeting were key officers of the JV Company, including: Messrs SALEHI FARHAD; ZAHERI NAVID; EGHBAL KORDJAMSHIDI; SAHEED ZAHERI; DR. STEPHEN DIKE; HENRY OWONKA AND MRS. NAMVAR MARYAM.
The statement further informed that, plans have been concluded to mobilize the relevant contractors working with the locals and host communities to put up structures that will host the information center, architectural models to showcase the projects on offer and facilities that will serve the team. All these are being planned with ONDIPA to execute the relocation and accommodation of the host communities that are likely to be affected by the projects and create a seamless transition that will engender peaceful co-existence and harmonious relationship with our host communities.
The JV company further reiterated its commitment to work with Ondo State Government (through ONDIPA) to change the infrastructural landscape of the Sunshine State and for mutual benefits.
Sunshine Joint Venture Infrastructure Limited Established for Realization of Ondo Project
Edo: Seven suspected bandits arrested along Benin-Agbor Road
By: Zagazola Makama
Seven suspected bandits were arrested along the Benin–Agbor Road in Edo State during stop-and-search operations, security sources confirmed.
Sources told Zagazola Makama that the suspects, all Fulani youths, were intercepted after being offloaded from a truck at about 1800 hours on 2 December 2025. A search revealed pictures of assault rifles, including AK-47s, on their mobile phones.
Upon interrogation, the suspects claimed to have travelled from Adamawa State. Investigations are ongoing for the possible recovery of actual firearms and to determine their involvement in criminal activities.
Security agencies have urged members of the public to report any suspicious movements to help prevent criminal acts in the area.
Edo: Seven suspected bandits arrested along Benin-Agbor Road
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