These are the stories that drove the conversation today:

Speaker of the House of Representatives,  Yakubu Dogara, has condemned the implementation of the tradermoni scheme by the Federal Government, explaining that distribution of cash to the public very close to general elections by public officials, no matter how noble the intent may be, amount to vote buying and inducement, which is a clear case of corruption.

Dogara who made the remarks at a public hearing organised by the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC and Political Parties Matters on Vote-buying and Improving the Electoral Processes in Nigeria, said the act of inducing the public with cash in exchange for their votes is a fraud that is covered within section 124 (1)(a);(b);(c); Section(124)(2)(4)(5) and Section 130 of the Electoral Act.

“Undue influence of voters has always existed in different forms all over the world, however, the recent phenomenon of direct pricing and buying of votes as if in a market square is very disturbing. It is one of the highest forms of corruption,” he added.

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Legislative aides to members of the National Assembly have sent a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate an alleged criminal diversion of their budgeted legitimate entitlements, prosecute the culprits and ensure prompt payment of their allowances.

The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) on Monday suspended its plans to commence shutdown of depots across the country from loading petroleum products.

According to a statement by the Executive Secretary of the association, Olufemi Adewole, who issued the suspension directive, the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians including the Senate Committee of Petroleum (Downstream) and constructive engagement of the Federal Government team by the labour unions most affected by the disengagement of our personnel led it to recall its disengaged personnel for 5-days to give the FG’s team the opportunity to conclude its process of paying marketers the full outstanding of N800 billion with the first trench being the amount already approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

“The association has acted in good faith to avoid unnecessary hardship which could befall Nigerians during the yuletide season and we hope that government would make good its promise to see that those issues are resolved by Friday, December 14, 2018, as promised,” the statement read.

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The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said that the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar will lose the February 16 Presidential election despite the open endorsement he received from former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Speaking with the media on current developments in the polity, Mohammed stressed that while the former President was entitled to support Atiku or any other candidate of his choice, President Buhari had done enough to garner the overwhelming support of Nigerians to roundly defeat Atiku at the polls.

“With due respect to Obasanjo, it is his fundamental right to support any candidate of his choice and we hereby encourage and urge him to go all out and campaign vigorously for Atiku Abubakar and we wish him the best of luck in his choice and political pursuit. But we assure him that his candidate will be roundly and comprehensively defeated by Buhari,”  he said.

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The Federal Government on Monday says it would no longer tolerate excuses from Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) in the country for failure to distribute power to consumers.

Minister of State I for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Shehuri, who issued the warning in Uyo, during an inspection of a 132 KVA Transmission Substation, expressed dissatisfaction over the inability of DisCos to distribute available power to consumers, adding that the federal government had succeeded in improving power generation and transmission but lamented that distribution was the weak link in the system.

“Generation capacity has improved, transmission has improved but the distribution companies are not taking power from the transmission company. “Their excuses of not taking power from transmission stations will no longer be acceptable. “It is either they sit up or they pave way for more competent investors to take over,” he said.

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