President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio has congratulated Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state on the rough road he trode to victory in the election conducted yesterday, November 11.
In a letter to the reelected Governor, the Senate President recalled the many obstacles Uzodinma passed through to victory.
According to Akpabio, “despite threats, attempted strikes and manipulated blackmail from enemies of your people, God took control.”
He commended the resilience and commitment of the Governor to genuine democratic practices.
“Good governance has triumphed over propaganda.

“Your Excellency, I wish to heartily congratulate and rejoice with you and the people of Imo State on your well-deserved re-election as the Executive Governor of Imo state. Your victory is a testimony of your excellent performance in office in the last four years.
“I must say, this victory is an affirmation by the Ndi Imo of your sterling leadership qualities and confirmation of your outstanding performance and delivery of the dividends of democracy to the people.
“It is also an indication that our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is firmly established in the South East and accepted by the good people of the region.
“On behalf of the APC family in the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I congratulate you on this resounding 2nd term victory and pray for God’s wisdom to translate this victory into more tangible dividends of democracy for the good people of Imo state.”
Senator Akpabio also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for refusing to give into blackmail and conducting a free and fair elections.
“I commend INEC for providing a level playing field for all the candidates and for conducting a transparent elections. I also commend the security agencies for keeping the trouble makers at bay and ensuring a peaceful conduct during the polls.
“I urge you to be magnanimous in victory by extending your hands of fellowship to your fellow contestants and see this re-election as a renewed mandate to build on the foundations that you have already laid towards improving the lives of the people of Imo State.”

Governor Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declared as the winner of the yesterday’s November 11, 2023 governorship election in the state.
Professor Abayomi Fashina, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, who was the state Returning Officer declared Uzodimma re-elected on today at about 10 am, after over eight hours of collation of local government results.
“That you Hope Uzodimma of APC having satisfied the law is hereby returned elected,” Professor Fashina declared.
Uzodimma was first declared as Imo State governor through the Supreme Court in January 2020 after the nullification of the election of Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a situation that made him attract more political enemies.
Uzodimma sought re-election in yesterday’s poll and cleared all the 27 local government areas in the state.
Uzodimma beat PDP’s Samuel Anyanwu, Labour Party (LP)’s Nneji Achonu, Jack Ogunewe of the Action Alliance (AA) and 14 other opponents.
The APC candidate polled 540, 308 votes to defeat his closest rivals, PDP’s Anyanwu, who polled 71,503 votes and LP’s Achonu who got 64,081.
The eight-hour marathon collation of results from 2:30am to 8:30am today was fraught with drama and protest from opposition party agents who complained that the results brought before the state collation centre were at variance with what was uploaded on the Result Viewing Portal of the commission.
Labour Party agents and others vehemently demanded the suspension of the collation but the returning officer insisted that the collation be concluded.
According to INEC, the number of registered voters in the state for the poll was 2, 419,922 with 2,318,919 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected.
Observers said that the governorship poll in the South-East state was marred by vote buying, voter intimidation, violence and other electoral malpractices with antigraft agencies arresting party agents with stashed cash.
Governorship elections were also held in Kogi and Bayelsa yesterday, though the collation of results in the two states has been adjourned to Sunday morning. – Source: CHANNELS TV.

A retired Nigerian soldier and renown Hausa comedian, Usman Baba Pategi, with stage name as Samanja is dead.
The veteran comedian died at the age of 81, in the early hours of today, November 12, at Garden City Hospital in Kaduna after prolonged illness.
He worked with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Kaduna broadcasting station before joining the Army during the Nigerian civil war.
Pategi was born on May 20, 1942, into the royal house of Pategi Emirate in Pategi, in the present day Niger State of Nigeria.
He is the son of Etsu Usman Patako, the late King of Pategi.
He started his early education in Pategi primary school and went to Ilorin Middle School. Then later, he went to Kaduna to live with his uncle, Alhaji Audu Bida where he became his assistant at home.
He also worked with public works department in the mechanical store, before joining Northern Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in Kaduna.
He joined the Nigeria Army in the 60s where an Army captain during the Nigerian civil war came looking for youth in Northern Nigeria to volunteer. He left the Broadcasting cooperation to join the army and trained at the Signal Training School, Apapa.
He served under General Sani Abacha and General Sani Sami. Later he retired in 1985 and went on for acting career drama at the FRCN Kaduna which he also direct and writes movies, mostly he was known as Samanja Maza Fama, the word meaning Sergeant-Major (SerMajor) due to the experience he got in his army career.
In 2010, he was in India for a surgery of a heart illness which later N1.5 million was given by the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, as was reported by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
Pategi was one among the notable Nigerian actors known as (Samanja) and Chika Apala known as (Zebrudaya) mostly in the movies industries and were guest of honours at the dinner of art theatre in the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP).

Former Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has expressed the fear that if Off-Season Governship and other elections are not stopped, time may come when the country will be confronted with the Off-Season Presidential election
“If we continue with this, there will be a time the Nigerian presidential election will be off-season…
“When I say Nigeria presidential election maybe off-season, they may say how and why, but it almost happened in 2007 when I was the running mate to late Umaru Musa Yaradua.
“In that election, seven Justices presided over the case, and three of them said the process be annulled while four of them sustained it.
“If one had crossed over by now the Nigerian election would have been off-season.”
Jonathan, who spoke to newsmen shortly after casting his vote in the ongoing governorship election in Bayelsa State, called on the National Assembly to take appropriate legislative measures to stop off-cycle elections in the country.
He stressed the importance of finding ways and means to unify Nigeria’s electoral calendar.
The former President, who voted at polling unit 39 in Otazi Ward 13, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa, advised the National Assembly to block the off-season election, because it is neither the best for the country nor a globally acceptable practice.
“Basically this is an off-season election; I get worried about off-season elections and will use this opportunity to plead with the National Assembly to block it.
“This is not the best practice. The country can elect their people at the same time like the Americans that elect everybody at the same time.”
Source: NAN