Politics
Senator John Owan Enoh, the Minister of Sports Development, has refuted the bribery accusations made against him by former world boxing champion Bash Ali.
In a letter the minister wrote, he mentioned that Ali’s sudden and unwarranted harsh criticism towards him is actually an attack on basic values like decency, honesty, and integrity.
In a statement titled: ‘BASH ALLI AND HIS SERIAL BLACKMAIL MUST BE CONFRONTED AND DEFEATED’
“Thank you, gentlemen of the press, for responding to this invitation at such short notice. I am constrained to address you today to speak to the trending video and open petition to the President wherein Bash Alli, a former World Boxing Champion threw caution and decency to the wind to allege that I demanded the sum of ‘another ‘1 USD( One million dollars) from him inorder to endorse his plan to stage what he calls the oldest boxers fight in Nigeria. When Bash Alli released his video and open letter to the President,with the sole aim to defame and destroy my reputation and integrity, some friends and associates advised that I totally ignore him and his blackmail gambit. They believe that by responding to Bash Alli and his vile campaign of calumy, I will validate and bring him to the limelight.
“After a deep reflection, I have come to the inevitable conclusion that to ignore him will be a profound mistake. My reason for this is twofold. First, the perception in the public domain is that those in the public service are either thieves or kleptomaniacs who mindlessly pillage our Commonwealth. This assumption, no matter how widely held, is not true. Despite our challenges as a nation, there are men and women who continue to serve our country with honesty, integrity, and patriotism. I AM ONE OF SUCH. Secondly, ignoring Bash Alli and his tradition of deploying blackmail and gutter tactics now,will further embolden and enable him to continue in his usual trajectory even after I have served out my mandate as minister of Sports, without consequences.
“Gentlemen of the press, you are aware that before I was appointed to the office of Minister of Sports Development, Bash Alli had sought to mindlessly impugn the character and reputation of some of my predecessors in office, without any shred of evidence. In my own case, he has exhumed and redeployed this hydra headed monster and gone overboard because past
Ministers perhaps treated him and his wild allegations with kid gloves. To simply walk away from this baloney, for me, is not an option.
“Bash Alli’s allegation that I demanded for “another 1 million dollars”as if I had received a first tranche of one million dollars from him,or perhaps any of my predecessors had done so,is a manufactured lie from the pit of hell. At no point in time did I demand for any form of gratification from Bash Alli. The questions to ask are these: One million dollars from where? If Bash Alli had one million dollars, why has he not staged his fight? His spurious allegation suffers from fatal deformity and is based on the erroneous impression that government in Nigeria is a cash cow at the mercy of public servants to pillage at will.
“Let me be clear. Bash Alli desperately wanted to meet me in my very early days as Minister of Sports Development when I had hardly settled down on the job. In the deluge of his desperate attempts, I decided to meet him against the advice of the staff of the Ministry who were familiar with his character and antics. Against their advice,I decided to meet him out of respect for his age and based on the open door policy with which I am currently leading the Ministry. Conscious of the advice of some key staff of the Ministry,I sought to insulate myself and the office from any blackmail that may emanate from this meeting by making sure that my team was present at the meeting. He presented the issue of his pet project, and I told him to be patient while i get more briefing from the Ministry. All my life, the said meeting is the first and only time I ever met Bash Alli. There were no follow-ups after that one-off meeting, and I did not introduce any of my aides to him. After the said meeting, I politely refused to meet with him to this day in spite of his numerous requests and pressures.His incessant messages to me will speak to his desperation.
“Gentlemen of the press, as you know, Bash Alli’s plan to stage his boxing fight in Nigeria has a long history spanning almost two decades. To achieve this personal aspiration, he has deployed all manner of strategies including naked blackmail and under hand tactics in his desperate effort to arm twist the Federal Government to spend upwards of $50m USD to stage his fight. Successive Ministers of Sports have rightly told him that his plan to stage this fight is not the responsibility of the government but a business that should be executed by the private sector.
“In concluding this statement, gentlemen of the press, I sincerely believe that, in spite of our numerous challenges, our country still has a soul. Our humanity will be irretrievably destroyed the day we lose our soul. Bash Alli’s desperate and unprovoked withering attack on me is an attack on decency, honesty, and integrity. The move to clear my name has just started, and there will be no let up until I achieve this sacred mission. In addition to other remedies under the ambit of the law, I have instructed my lawyer to write Bash Alli demanding an immediate public retraction of his allegations and to render a public apology. He will have just one week to do this; the failure to do this on his part will leave me with no option than to approach the courts to both clear my name and seek damages.”
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Former lawmaker, Dino Melaye Esq, has raised concerns over the Senate’s reported rejection of the electronic transmission of election results.
The move, according to Melaye, is a clear endorsement of election rigging and an indication of a sinister plan to rig the 2027 elections.
In a statement on Friday, the former lawmaker criticized the Senate’s decision, stating that it undermines the credibility of the electoral process.
The African Democratic Congress, ADC chieftain, also stated that the move opens the door for electoral manipulation and fraud.
He further warned that the rejection of electronic transmission of results is a step backwards for democracy in Nigeria.
Melaye called on lawmakers and citizens to stand up against “this blatant attempt to undermine the will of the people and ensure that future elections are free, fair, and transparent”.
Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has said Nigerians have every reason to be mad at the Senate over the ongoing debate on e-transmission of election results.
Ezekwesili made this known on Friday when she featured in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’ monitored by DAILY POST.
DAILY POST reports that the Senate on Wednesday turned down a proposed change to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the Electoral Amendment Bill that aimed to compel the electronic transmission of election results.
Reacting to the matter, Ezekwesili said, “The fundamental issue with the review of the Electoral Act is that the Senate retained the INEC 2022 Act, Section 60 Sub 5.
“This section became infamous for the loophole it provided INEC, causing Nigerians to lose trust. Since the law established that it wasn’t mandatory for INEC to transmit electoral results in real-time, there wasn’t much anyone could say.
“Citizens embraced the opportunity to reform the INEC Act, aiming to address ambiguity and discretionary opportunities for INEC. Yet, the Senate handled it with a “let sleeping dogs lie” approach. The citizens have every reason to be as outraged as they currently are.”
Politics
Electoral act: Senate’s action confirms Nigeria ‘fantastically corrupt’, ‘disgraced’ – Peter Obi
Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has condemned the Senate’s refusal to make electronic transmission of election results mandatory, saying the move further exposes Nigeria as a fantastically corrupt and disgraced country.
Obi expressed his views in a statement shared on X on Friday, where he accused lawmakers of deliberately weakening Nigeria’s democratic process ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He explained that his reaction came after a brief pause to mourn victims of a deadly tragedy in Kwara State, where over 150 people reportedly lost their lives.
“Let us first pray for the souls of the innocent Nigerians lost in Kwara. That painful incident is why I delayed responding to the shameful development surrounding our electoral system,” he wrote.
Describing the Senate’s decision as intentional and dangerous, Obi said rejecting mandatory electronic transmission was not a simple oversight but a calculated attempt to block transparency.
“The Senate’s open rejection of electronic transmission of results is an unforgivable act of electoral manipulation ahead of 2027,” he said.
According to him, the action strikes at the heart of democracy and raises serious questions about the true purpose of governance in Nigeria.
“This failure to pass a clear safeguard is a direct attack on our democracy. By refusing these transparency measures, the foundation of credible elections is being destroyed. One must ask whether government exists to ensure justice and order or to deliberately create chaos for the benefit of a few.”
The former Anambra State governor linked the post-election controversies of the 2023 general elections to the failure to fully deploy electronic transmission of results, insisting that Nigerians were misled with claims of technical failures.
“
The confusion, disputes and manipulation that followed the 2023 elections were largely due to the refusal to fully implement electronic transmission,” he said.
He added that the so-called system glitch never truly existed.
Obi compared Nigeria’s electoral process with those of other African countries that have embraced technology to improve credibility, lamenting that Nigeria continues to fall behind.
“Many African nations now use electronic transmission to strengthen their democracy. Yet Nigeria, which calls itself the giant of Africa, is moving backwards and dragging the continent along.”
He criticised Nigeria’s leadership class, saying the country’s problems persist not because of a lack of ideas but because of deliberate resistance to meaningful reform.
“We keep organising conferences and writing policy papers about Nigeria’s challenges. But the truth is that the leaders and elite are the real problem. Our refusal to change is pushing the nation backwards into a primitive system of governance.”
Warning of the dangers ahead, Obi said rejecting electronic transmission creates room for confusion and disorder that only serves the interests of a small group.
He also recalled past remarks by foreign leaders who described Nigeria as corrupt, arguing that actions like this continue to justify those statements.
“When a former UK Prime Minister described Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt,’ we were offended. When former US President Donald Trump called us a ‘disgraced nation,’ we were angry. But our continued resistance to transparency keeps proving them right.”
Obi warned that Nigerians should not accept a repeat of the electoral irregularities witnessed in 2023.
“Let there be no mistake. The criminality seen in 2023 must not be tolerated in 2027.”
He urged citizens to be ready to defend democracy through lawful and decisive means, while also calling on the international community to closely monitor developments in Nigeria’s electoral process.
“The international community must pay attention to the groundwork being laid for future electoral manipulation, which threatens our democracy and development,” Obi stated.
He concluded by expressing hope that change is still possible if Nigerians take collective responsibility.
“A new Nigeria is possible but only if we all rise and fight for it.”
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