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...100 D AYS TO GO DA
•INEC: 52.2m get PVCs•Mark dispels interim govt fear MORE ON •Jega to brief Senate today on elections plan •AND PAGES 2-9&51 •Don’t blackmail Obasanjo, Buhari Campaign tells PDP •Tambuwal: polls shift dents integrity of electoral process
•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper
VOL. 10, NO. 3129 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015
•www.thenationonlineng.net
TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH
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•INSIDE: NIGERIA’S LOCAL DEBT TO GO UP P4 P477 EQUITIES RALLY N241B GAINS P46
APC: Obanikoro, General, others must be punished Party seeks sanctions against Ekiti election scandal actors Military ‘should not be used for polls’ Card reader ‘must’ From Yusuf Alli and Tony Akowe, Abuja
A
LL those involved in the Ekiti State election rigging plot should be punished, the All Progressives Congress (APC) demanded yesterday. Police Affairs Minister Jelili Adesiyan, ministerial nominee Musliu Obanikoro and 32 Artillery Brigade Commander General Aliyu Momoh, among others, are allegedly involved in the poll rigging plot exposed in an audio recording. The party also asked the Senate not to confirm Obanikoro, who has been re-nominated. It insisted on the use of card readers for the general elections on March 28 and April 11, saying the military should have no role in the polls. The party made the demands in a communiqué signed by National Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed at the end of a Joint Leadership Meeting in Abuja. The communiqué reads: ”At the end of its Joint Leadership Meeting held on the 17th of February 2015 at the Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua Continued on page 4
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WILL THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15, LAST YEAR EVER RETURN?
INSIDE •Be vigilant, Tinubu urges party chiefs •Buhari: don’t drag military into politics •’Jonathan plunging Nigeria into crises’ •AND MORE ON PAGES 4&51
•The scene of the rally after the violence...yesterday.
•JUST BEFORE THE ST ORM: Part of the crowd at the rally...yesterday STORM:
•Television reporter Eruka taking cover...yesterday.
Explosions, gunshots disrupt rally at First Lady’s hometown •PAGE 4
Policeman dies Reporter stabbed PDP: we’re not to blame
•SPORTS P19 •MONEY P22 •INVESTORS P24 •POLITICS P39 •LIFE P41 •FOREIGN P52