Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yussuff, has alleged that his party, the All Progressives Congress, did not win the 2018 Osun State governorship election, where the incumbent, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, emerged.

The former Deputy Speaker said this on Thursday after purchasing his expression of interest and nomination forms.

Yussuff purchased the forms at the National Secretariat of the APC in Abuja.

Speaking with newsmen, he boasted that nobody born of a woman can repeat what they did to him during the 2018 APC primaries.

READ ALSO: Why We Sealed Office Of Shekarau’s Lawyer — Kano Government

He alleged that the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, was compensated with his current position because of the role he played in rigging him out.

According to Yusuff: “Yes, it was stated in the party constitution that a party can go for direct, indirect or consensus, but what was popular was indirect primary with list of delegates picking the candidate.

“The confusion surrounding the mode of primary in the APC started in Osun with the sole aim to rig Lasun out of the governorship election.

“The former governor of Zamfara State was the chairman of that committee but Senator Yari was not in Osun on the day of the primary.

“I challenge anyone to go and find out.

“Let me give you a glimpse of what happened.

“He (Yari) knew I was popular and when he was instructed to go and do a particular thing, he told them he discovered after investigation that I was popular and the task they were giving him might be difficult.

“The job was undertaken by the current Distinguished Senator, the Deputy Senate President, and (he) became the chairman overnight.

“If he likes, let him controvert this that one of the reasons he is the Deputy Senate President was that he was compensated with that job.

“Omo-Agege was in my hometown for four hours on the day of that primary and he actually conducted three out of the six wards on the day of that election.

“If I had decided to go to court, what happened in Zamfara would have happened in Osun.

“I had warned them on Thursday of the primary that if they rig me out, APC will not win the governorship election.

“They thought I was just blabbing, but we are all witnessed to what happened when the election was eventually held.

“Did they win?

“They didn’t.

“There was no way they can win.

“All that happened will be story for another day.”

Yusuff equally enumerated the roles he played in mediating in the crisis raging between the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and Oyetola, stressing that he was in the race to remedy the collapsing infrastructure in Osun State.

He said: “I want to run for the governorship election in 2022 and nobody born of woman can do what they did to me in 2018 again.

“And I know that I am going to be governor in 2022 and as I said in my closing remarks that nobody born of woman can stop me.

“It is not by violence, don’t misunderstood me.

“I don’t have thugs, don’t do violence.

“I have police escorts but I don’t carry them.

“But whoever tries to repeat what happened in 2018, has his generations to blame for it.”

Asked what Governor Oyetola did not do well that he was aspiring to correct, Yussuff said: “I would rather not criticise the Governor but say my own.

“Where I did my school certificate 42 years ago, the school is no longer presenting candidates for WAEC or NECO.

“I know this as a grassroots man and that is what I am going to change.

“I am a farmer and a big time farmer at that.

“I am going to change the system of farming in Osun State.

“I will also change how the health system is run and finally as a developmental economist, nobody can develop your area more than when you apply your expertise.

“I will create an economy for Osun and I know that I can do that.”

Reacting to the allegation, Omo-Agege said he would not join issues with Yussuff over his claim that he was rewarded with the exalted position for masterminding the rigging against him during the party primary.

His Media Aide, Yomi Odunuga, said: “The former Deputy Speaker is entitled to his opinion on what transpired.

“The Office of the Deputy Senate President will not join issues with him.”

The Kano State Government has revealed why the building housing the chamber of a lawyer of a former Governor of the state, Ibrahim Shekarau, Nuraini Jimoh, was sealed.

The Kano State Bureau for Land Management offered the explanation for the action in a statement it issued on Thursday.

The sealing of the building was effected 24 hours after Shekarau’s All Progressives Congress faction defeated that of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in court.

But the Bureau for Land Management said the target of the action was the owner of the building and not the lawyer.

READ ALSO: Rihanna Breaks Silence On Being Pregnant For ASAP Rocky

Murtala Shehu Umar, spokesperson of the Bureau, said: “The state government sealed property belonging to Isiyaka Rabi’u & Sons at C14/C16 Murtala Muhammad way through its committee on Land Use Charges.

“The committee issued a demand notice to the owner of the said property on the 14th September, 2021 and also served him with warning notice after a month reminding him to come and pay the outstanding ground rent that he did not pay from 2016 to 2021.

“We sealed about 30 properties yesterday 1/12/2021 in different parts of the state such as properties at Zoo road, Zaria road and Ibrahim Taiwo road.

“Also seven properties were sealed at Murtala Muhammad way who were served with demand and warning notice and are yet to respond. Therefore, the committee will continue to seal any property that his owner refuses to comply with the Land use act.

“As Land custodian our record shows that property in plot C14/C16 belongs to Isiyaka Rabi’u & Sons not Barrister Nuraini Jimo. Our concern is the owner of the property not who is renting the property.”

The Osun State Government has warned residents to take personal responsibility for their safety as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus pandemic becomes a source of concern for health bodies globally.

This warning became necessary in the light of the revelation that Nigeria now has three reported cases of the Omicron variant of the deadly coronavirus.

Warning the residents not to let down their guards yet, the state government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs Funke Egbemode reiterated its readiness to compliment the efforts of the federal government to ensure the safety and well being of Nigerians.

Citing the World Health Organization statistics, Egbemode disclosed that the new variant has a large number of mutations, and early evidences suggested an increased reinfection risk.

Egbemode explained that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, through genomic surveillance has identified and confirmed Nigeria’s first cases of the B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, now known as the Omicron variant.

READ ALSO: Weakness Of Government Causing Security Conflicts – Goodluck Jonathan

In her words, “Samples obtained for the stipulated day-two test for all travelers to Nigeria were positive for this variant in three persons with a history of travel to South Africa.

“By implication, a new brand of risk has been unleashed, demanding every citizen to review his commitment to the safety protocols against Covid-19.

“To give an idea of the severity, countries like Canada and even Indonesia are beginning to take stringent measures, which also include imposition of travel ban on a number of other countries including Nigeria.”

The Information Commissioner, who stated that the state government understood the implications of another lockdown now that the state has not recovered from the effects of the last action, stated that it is counting on residents to take personal responsibility for their safety in manners that afforded them the freedom to conduct their businesses within safe boundaries.

Relating to individuals who have taken the full doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, she urged them to still protect themselves at all times by putting on a face mask in public places, avoiding crowded spaces and disinfecting hands and surfaces with alcohol-based sanitizers.

She added that being fully vaccinated with the two jabs of the vaccine only reduces their susceptibility to COVID-19 but does not rule out their chances of contracting and infecting others who have not been vaccinated.

Egbemode maintained that since the government places high premium on the safety and security of citizens, it will continue to take critical steps that would protect citizens from actual or potential threats.

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan has said that security conflicts are happening in the country due to weakness of the lower tiers of government

Jonathan, who spoke while delivering a graduation lecture at the National Institute for Security Studies in Abuja on Thursday, lamented that the local government system in the country was dead.

He, however, urged all the states to take deliberate steps to revive the local government system.

READ ALSO: Germany Donates 5.16m COVID-19 Vaccine Doses To Nigeria

“Most of these security conflicts are happening because of the weakness of the lower tiers of government. The local government system that is supposed to interphase with communities directly and prevent this is dead in this country.

“Since the local governments are mainly managed by the states now because we are told that some states even take their money. I think the states must have strong departments that will coordinate the affairs of local governments.

“And these departments must have regular meetings with traditional rulers and community development committees,” he said.

Germany has donated a total of 5,164,643 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria over the past seven weeks.

The most recent badge arrived in Nigeria on 29 November 2021, containing 2,240,243 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

The German Ambassador to Nigeria, Birgitt Ory on Friday said “Nobody is safe until everybody is safe. We must continue to work together to ensure access to vaccines.

“Therefore, Germany is a strong supporter of COVAX as well as the co-founder and second-largest donor of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator),” he said.

READ ALSO: 124 Persons Sentenced To Community Service Over Open Defecation In Ogun

According to him, the German Government is working to ensure the fair and efficient distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.

He said Germany will pass on 100 million doses, primarily to developing countries, the majority of which will be distributed through the COVAX vaccine platform.

“The pandemic can only be overcome if it is brought under control all over the world.

“Germany, therefore, opted at an early stage to focus on finding joint responses to the pandemic in a spirit of solidarity.

“Germany co-founded the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator) last year. ACT-A promotes equitable access for all to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics and aims to strengthen health systems throughout the world,” he said.

In addition to donating vaccines, Germany is the second-largest donor to the ACT Accelerator at present and has provided 2.2 billion euros to date. Most of this support is going to the international vaccine platform COVAX.