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Ekiti 2022 – Biodun Oyebanji Wins APC Governorship Primary

Biodun Oyebanji apc primariy

Biodun Oyebanji has beat 7 other aspirants to emerge as the flagbearer of the All Progressive Congress at the party’s governorship primary ahead of the June polls.

Oyebanji who is the immediate outgoing Secretary to the State government of Ekiti State polled 101,703 votes out of the total 104,983 votes which were counted.

Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Badaru who is the Chairman of the APC Governorship Primary Electoral Committee for Ekiti declared Oyebanji the winner. He announced the first runner-up to be Kayode Ojo who received 767 votes.

Also vying for the opportunity to fly the APC flag were National Assembly member, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele who got 760 votes; former Minister of Works, Senator Dayo Adeyeye who scored 691 votes; as well as House of Representatives member, Femi Bamisile who accrued 400 votes.

Abubakar Badaru declared that the primary was free and fair and that he had not received any complaints from any other aspirant.

On the contrary, all of the 7 other aspirants, earlier in the day, decried the mode with which the primaries were conducted. They noted that the names of presiding and returning officers appointed by the Local Government Electoral Committee were those of loyal supporters of Biodun Oyebanji.

The aggrieved aspirants called for the cancellation of the primaries and pulled out of the race before lodging their complaints at the Independent National Electoral Commission, the state headquarters of the Nigeria Police, and the Department of State Services.

One of the aspirants Senator Bamidele while speaking to the press alleged that the results of the primary were predetermined and as such was detrimental to the success of the APC at the imminent gubernatorial polls.

“They shouldn’t embarrass APC with this conduct. We want the Committee to stop the process. They have made the result sheets available to Biodun Oyebanji’s supporters to write the results,” the Senator said.

“The outcome of this election is predetermined. We want the process canceled because we don’t want the committee to embarrass our party by forcing us to confront them in the court.”

Read Also: Bola Tinubu Informs Buhari of Presidential Ambition

Regardless of the complaints, the primary held with Oyebanji who is perceived as the preferred candidate of the current governor, Fayemi emerging as the winner.

Oyebanji would later say that the primary was conducted in a free and fair manner and that pulling out of the race was not the smart option for his fellow contestants as there is an appeal panel in place to handle any possible griaveances that could arise.

At the June 18 polls, Oyebanji, should his win not be successfully contested, would be facing PDP’s Olabisi Kolawole the immediate past State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

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Gunmen abduct Kwara APC chairman’s wife, daughter in midnight raid

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted the wife and daughter of Alhaji Muhammad Swasun, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The victims, identified as Hajiya Fatima and her daughter Amina, were seized on Sunday, September 7, at night when a five-man armed gang stormed the party chairman’s residence in Sakpefu.

Eyewitness accounts revealed that the attackers scaled the compound fence and opened fire indiscriminately to terrify residents before breaking into one of the rooms.

“They entered into one of the rooms where they found his wife and daughter and took them away, shooting into the air,” a party executive told reporters, adding that the chairman narrowly escaped being kidnapped himself.

Another APC member confirmed that the gunmen operated for several minutes before whisking the women to an undisclosed location.

“The bandits abducted his wife, Hajiya Fatima, and his daughter, Amina, and took them to an unknown destination,” the source explained, according to Vanguard.

The latest abduction has heightened anxiety in Patigi, a region already grappling with recurring cases of kidnapping.

Residents have repeatedly urged the government and security operatives in recent months to intensify efforts to curb the menace.

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Ace Comedian Ali Baba evicted from Victoria Island property over legal dispute

Veteran Nigerian comedian Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, popularly known as Ali Baba, has been evicted from his luxurious, multi-million-naira property located in Victoria Island due to a court dispute.

The property, which was purchased for ₦220 million by Ali Baba, is the subject of an ownership dispute at the Federal High Court.

Amid the legal dispute, Ali Baba and his company, XQZMOI TV, were evicted from the property located at 324A Akin Ogunlewe Street.

The eviction was carried out by bailiffs of the Federal High Court following a writ of possession signed on August 15, 2025.

The property in question was initially sold to Ali Baba by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in 2021 for ₦220 million.

At the time, AMCON claimed it was recovering debts allegedly owed by Harold Expansion Industries Nigeria Limited.

But Harold Expansion disputed the debt and counterclaimed that they had already made repayments. Their lawyer, Benjamin Olayiwola Sadibo, insisted that the property was sold wrongfully.

On July 31, 2025, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court delivered a verdict that changed everything as he dismissed AMCON’s case, ruling that the corporation had failed to provide convincing evidence of the alleged debt.

The Justice stressed that AMCON did not even present a statement of account to back its claims a fatal omission for a creditor. Worse still, AMCON did not file a defence against Harold Expansion’s counterclaim, leaving the court with no choice but to side with the company.

In addition to ordering the property to be returned to the family of its original owner, the judge also imposed ₦500 million in damages on AMCON.

Ali Baba’s culpability in the case came as a result of the timing of the purchase. Records show that he purchased the property while the case was still in court, despite an existing preservation order.

He was said to have been a tenant of the property’s original owner before AMCON evicted the family and sold it.

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Police summon El-Rufai, other Kaduna ADC chieftains over alleged criminal conspiracy

Anti-Open Grazing

The Kaduna Command of the Nigerian Police has summoned former Governor of the state, Malam Nasiru El-Rufai, and other top chieftains of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In the summons letter dated September 4, 2025, the ADC members were invited for questioning over alleged incitement of public disturbance, criminal conspiracy, mischief, and causing grievous hurt.

Signed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Uzainu Abdullahi, the letter said the invited individuals are required to come and clarify the allegations against them.

“This Department is currently investigating the above-mentioned case involving the following members of your party. You are requested to come along with them to SCID to clarify allegations reported against them by the complainants on 8th September, 2025.

“Mal. Nasir El-Rufa’i, Bashir Sa’idu, Jafaru Sani, Ubaidullah Mohammed, aka 30, Nasiru Maikano, Aminu Abita, and Ahmed Rufa’i Hussaini, aka Mikiya,” the letter reads.

Sani, one of the invited members and ADC North-West Vice Chairman, told Daily Trust that he learned of the invitation through social media.

“Yes, most of us only saw the statement on social media,” he said, declining further comments.

The development followed the heated exchanges between the Kaduna State government and El-Rufai over the violence that rocked an ADC meeting in the state last week.

The government accused the former Governor of plotting to cause destabilisation in the state through provocative actions and inflammatory statements.

In a statement signed by Dr. Suleiman Shuaibu, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, the government said it wouldn’t sit idle and watch El-Rufai plunge the state back into violence, division, and insecurity.

“This Government will not fold its arms and allow a discredited former leader, who left the state in ruins, to ignite chaos and plunge the state into another era of ethno-religious tension, insecurity, and economic stagnation,” the statement read.

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