By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Movement for Credible Elections (MCE), a coalition of distinguished national leaders, has submitted a petition to the House of Representatives urging immediate and comprehensive electoral reforms ahead of the 2027 general elections. The group emphasizes the critical need to restore public trust, which it warns has deteriorated to a historic low.

The petition, addressed to the Speaker of the House, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, was presented by a delegation of MCE’s leadership. The coalition’s prominent members include:

Pat Utomi – Chairman, Interim Steering Council

Dr. Usman Bugaje – Deputy Chairman (North)

Femi Falana, SAN – Legal Counsel

Oby Ezekwesili – Former Minister of Education

Ayuba Wabba – Former NLC President & Co-Chair

Bilikisu Magoro – Member

Nkoyo Toyo – Deputy Chairman (South)

In their submission, the MCE leaders stated that confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system is at its lowest ebb, necessitating swift and decisive legislative action to ensure the integrity and credibility of future polls.

The Movement calls on the House of Representatives to prioritize this matter as an issue of urgent national importance.

They cited persistent insecurity, vote buying, voter intimidation, logistical breakdowns and irregular deployment of technology as key factors undermining credible elections.

According to the movement, only firm legislative action can prevent a repeat of the widespread dissatisfaction recorded in recent electoral cycles.

They said the stakes are too high to ignore as the country approaches another critical national vote.

The coalition listed priority reforms that lawmakers must address immediately to include strengthening the Electoral Act, enforcing electronic transmission of polling unit results, tightening penalties for election offences and bolstering the independence of the electoral commission through predictable funding and improved capacity building.

It also called for an independent audit of all election technologies, including BVAS and IREV, and demanded more opportunities for women, youth, persons with disabilities and Nigerians in the diaspora.

The group further urged the National Assembly to ensure that all election disputes were resolved before inauguration and to end pre-election judicial interventions that distort the process.

The petition pressed lawmakers to make party defections by elected officials a direct ground for loss of office and fresh elections.

It argued that such a measure would strengthen accountability and stabilise the party system.

The coalition said Nigeria has reached a critical turning point that requires courage from the legislature.

It warned that the credibility of the 2027 elections depends on reforms that must be enacted without delay.

MCE leaders, through its media coordinator, Comrade James Zena I, pledged to support the National Assembly through technical input and public engagements to ensure the proposals are fully considered.

But they added that the movement will not hesitate to mobilise citizens nationwide if lawmakers fail to act on what they described as the clear demands of Nigerians.

“We are ready to work with the National Assembly to deliver credible reforms. But if these demands are not acted upon, we will have no choice but to mobilise citizens across the country in defence of their democratic rights.”

At the time of filing this report, the request has formally been submitted at the National Assembly for consideration already.

Kano State Roads Traffic Agency KAROTA today handed over three trucks of Liquor(beer) worth millions of naira to Kano State Hisba Command for onward destruction.

This was contained in a press statement signed by Abubakar Ibrahim Sharada Anipr
PRO KAROTA Kano State and made available to in Kano.

The trailers containing Four Hundred and Ten Cartons of Beer were impounded by the KAROTA Personnel on night patrol along major streets in Kano Metropolis.

Handing over the Bear trucks to the Commander General of Hisba, the Managing Director of KAROTA Hon Faisal Mahmud Kabir said the vehicles contained 4,920 bottles of beer meant to be off-loaded at different locations in Kano Metropolis.

The Managing Director represented by the KAROTA Director Administration and General Services, Alh Mahmud Haido said impounding the trucks was part of KAROTA’s responsibilities to arrest any suspicious goods playing the streets in Kano and reporting the suspected culprits to appreciate security agencies.

Alh Mahmud Haido assured that KAROTA would continue to remain vigilant in checking all intoxicants that could be harmful to the health of the citizens.

Receiving the impounded Bear trucks, the Commander General of Kano State Hiba Command, Sheik Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa commended KAROTA personnel for their vigilance and promised that due process would be followed before the final destruction of the impounded Bear Cartons.

Sheik Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa represented by the Head of the Intoxicants Unit of Hisba Command, CSH Sani Nasidi Uba Rimo pledged that the Command would continue to collaborate with KAROTA in checking of such prohibited goods being snuggled into the state capital.

He then prayed Almighty Allah to reward the management of KAROTA and its personnel who impounded the Bear trucks.

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The fight against corruption in Nigeria is as dangerous as fighting armed Colombian drug cartels, former Chairman of Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), Muhyi Magaji Rimin Gado, has said.

The Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel dominated cocaine trafficking, leading Colombia to vast illicit wealth for the few whose crimes promoted corruption, violence, mass public revenge, and prolonged bloody gunfights with the authorities. The PCACC was established in April 2005 to fight corruption in Kano State.

Mr. Magaji also warned that the increase in violence and banditry in the North is partly linked to the naked abuse and stealing of public funds by corrupt officials whose self-serving policies create a stagnant pool of poverty and human misery from which criminals find many potential recruits.

He said it was when he started investigating corruption petitions, doing his statutory duties, that he discovered the suspect companies were linked to his former Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, discovering that a lot of Public-Private Partnership Initiatives were actually linked to the former Governor. He said he also discovered billions of illicit funds relating to the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), especially concerning fraudulent land rents.

The anti-corruption crusader said his experience while investigating an avalanche of corruption cases in Kano indicated that corrupt politicians are like cancerous ailments that should be removed through a painful but necessary surgical operation before Nigeria can reclaim her pride in the comity of nations.

He said Nigerians should explore democratic opportunities to the brim by casting their votes against a league of corrupt elites that have sold the birthrights of the people.

He said his decision to investigate the looting of billions of public funds in Kano State under former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje spurred ceaseless threats to his life and that of his family, culminating in his arrest last week Friday by tens of armed security guards who drove him from Kano to Abuja in the night where he was locked up. He said for 17 hours he and his family were subjected to harrowing experiences. He said the armed men bundled him into a vehicle where he was sandwiched between armed policemen who drove in the night from Kano to Abuja in order to gag him. He said if armed bandits had attacked the convoy, there was only a slim chance that any of them would escape.

“The cases I started investigating in Kano involved billions of public funds diverted by public officials. They are desperate to kill in order to sit on stolen funds. They are as dangerous as drug cartels in Colombia. Fighting them is like fighting drug lords.”

He said corruption cannot be fought effectively when law enforcement agents are compromised by the same corrupt politicians who have no respect for accountability.

Rimin Gado said some policemen are currently being used against him by powerful but stupendously corrupt politicians who feed on the misery of the toiling masses. He said he was deeply concerned that the Police initiated criminal investigation into a judicial process, duly initiated under Section 211 of the Nigerian Constitution, and that it is prejudicial for the police to hunt and malign someone who has filed corruption charges on behalf of the State against politicians that consistently ruin the frontiers of democracy and human prosperity.

“I was given fiat by the Attorney General to prosecute allegations of offenses against the laws of Kano State. Why arrest me for doing what I have a legal duty to do? Why not arrest the State if they can?

“The police have no legal or moral reasons to enquire about what is already before the Court of Law, especially a criminal matter which the court had already taken cognizance of,” he said.

He spoke as a Keynote Speaker on the topic Youth as Catalyst of Integrity: Building a Corruption-Free Future for Nigeria, at the Public Presentation of the 19th Edition of the Compendium on 100 Profile Corruption Cases in Nigeria held in Lagos on Tuesday. The event was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) in partnership with local and international groups to mark this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day celebration. The theme of the conference was Uniting with Youth Against Corruption: Shaping Tomorrow’s Integrity.

Rimin Gado said from his experience in Kano, corrupt politicians are as vicious as the world’s most violent drug lords who are prepared to kill and burn the country down rather than face justice or give up their crimes. He said prosperity and development in Nigeria would remain stunted as long as corrupt actors dominate the political economy.