News

2023: PDP has valid candidates to be on ballot – Plateau Legal team

Published

4 years ago

September 5, 2022

Preport

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the legal team of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State, in a press statement signed by Sunday G. Odey, Esq on Monday said the party has valid and competent candidates elected in line with the 2022 Electoral Act and will be on the ballot.

Stating that the recent Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency judgment at the election tribunal has no effect whatsoever on the 2023 PDP candidates.

The statement was made available to journalists in Jos, the state capital.

Odey described as mischief and falsehood the rumor peddled around by the opponents that PDP and its candidates may not be on the ballot for the 2023 election based on the said judgment.

He dismissed the rumor and urged PDP members to remain committed and focused as it is only the party that has valid, credible, and competent candidates for the 2023 elections.

“The legal team of the Peoples Democratic Party, Plateau State Chapter, has observed that opponents and some mischief makers are peddling the falsehood that PDP and its candidates may not be on the ballot for the 2023 general elections as a fallout of the recent Tribunal decision delivered on Friday, 2nd September 2022 in respect of the Jos North/Bassa House of Representatives bye-election.

“We hasten to clarify that the decision of the Election Tribunal relates only to the primaries conducted for the Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency bye-election, which the tribunal erroneously nullified by relying on the Justice Kunda judgment which purported to justify the unprecedented exclusion of PDP from participating in the 2021 Local Government Council elections.

“Please note that the Justice Kunda Judgment is now on Appeal before the Supreme Court,” he maintained.

“We wish to state without doubt or equivocation that even though the judgment of the Election Tribunal is being appealed with very meritorious Grounds of Appeal, it has no bearing whatsoever on the nomination and qualification of candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party Plateau State for the 2023 governorship and legislative assembly elections.”

He explained further that the primaries that produced Hon. Musa Agah as the PDP candidate was conducted under the 2010 Electoral Act, while the primaries that produced candidates for the 2023 elections were conducted under the 2022 Electoral Act.

Odey said the 2022 Electoral Act excluded all statutory delegates, mainly EXCO members of any party, from being delegates during the Congresses that produced candidates for the 2023 elections.

“The Chris Hassan-led EXCO, which is mischievously rumored to be illegal, emerged through a democratic and transparent process, and there are no known legal impediments (except self-serving extrapolations by merchants of fortune) hindering them from performing their constitutional duties.

“The PDP and its legal team have always been proactive and had envisaged the possibility of using underhand tactics to stop the obviously preferred PDP candidates from winning the 2023 elections, and took steps to forestall such.

“Knowing the capacity of the opponents of the PDP for mischief, impunity, and deliberate misinformation, the National Secretariat of the party pleaded with the Chris Hassan EXCO to step aside for the period of the Congresses and allow a Local Organising Committee it constituted to oversee the process.

“The congress which produced the ad hoc delegates of the PDP during the ward congresses (unlike the other party which did not conduct any congress to elect delegates) were duly organised and supervised by the Ward Congress Committee appointed by the National Secretariat of the party and went smoothly in over 95% of the Wards.

“The few complaints that arose from the Ward Congresses have been largely resolved through the Party’s robust dispute resolution mechanism.

“The 2022 Electoral Act, PDP Constitution, and Guidelines for the Congresses clearly indicate the time allowed for appeals and those entitled to file such appeals. It is gratifying and reassuring to note that since the governorship primaries were concluded in May 2022, there has not been a single administrative or legal complaint by any of the noble aspirants. They contested with the candidate of the party Barr. Caleb Mutfwang.

“The Election Tribunal did not make any pronouncement as to the status and legitimacy of the Party’s State leadership as presently constituted as being mischievously circulated.

“The party has taken a decision to file an appeal against the judgment to remedy the monumental travesty of justice, and we believe that the Court of Appeal will do a better job than what the Tribunal came up with.

“We trust that the judgment of the Tribunal will be set aside with victory restored to PDP,” he stated.

Related Topics:2023 election PDP politics

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Business

EFCC Hands Over Recovered N140m to Loan Firm in Lagos

Published

4 hours ago

September 18, 2026

Preport

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Okotie-Eboh, Ikoyi, Lagos, have handed over the sum of N140million to an investment and money-lending company, B4 Sail Limited.

The recovery of the funds, handed over in bank drafts by the Acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE I Bawa Usman Kaltungo, followed investigations into an alleged case of obtaining money by false pretence and diversion of funds involving one Jacob Oyebola Esan and companies linked to him.

In a petition submitted on April 20, 2026, B4 Sail Limited alleged that Esan, on behalf of his company, Geo Fields Plc, had approached the company in August 2025 for a N500 Million Naira loan facility to boost his business.

The loan facility, according to the petitioner, attracted an interest rate of 15 per cent per month and had a tenor of one month.
Investigation revealed that Esan, who is the first suspect, had previously obtained other loan facilities from the company, bringing his total loan exposure to N1,065,000,000.00 (One Billion, Sixty-Five Million Naira).
It was also revealed that Esan pledged shares held by him as collateral for the facilities through Calyx Securities Limited, the clearing house for the stocks, with the understanding that the shares would be subject to a lien in favour of B4 Sail Limited and that the company would have the first right of payment upon the sale of the shares.

The lien, investigation revealed, was communicated to B4 Sail Limited through a letter signed by the second suspect, Gbolahan Azeez Bello, Managing Director, Calyx Securities Limited.

Further investigation, however, revealed that the shares pledged as collateral had been sold without the knowledge of the petitioner, resulting in the suspect’s alleged default in repaying the facilities.
Consequently, the outstanding loan and accrued interest had risen to N2,250,500,000.00 (Two Billion, Two Hundred and Fifty Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira).

Speaking during the handover ceremony, Kaltungo stated that the recovery “represents a further step in the Commission’s efforts to ensure that funds and assets recovered in the course of its investigations are appropriately returned to legitimate owners and victims in accordance with due process.

The post EFCC Hands Over Recovered N140m to Loan Firm in Lagos appeared first on Business Today NG.

News

A startup that builds other startups raised $100M, and is all-in on physical AI

Published

4 hours ago

September 18, 2026

Preport

Four years ago, a startup lab launched that wasn’t quite an incubator, accelerator program, or venture firm. UP.Labs, as it was called then, built startups designed to solve problems for corporate customers such as Alaska Airlines and Porsche, as well as for the outside world.

The firm still has the same mission — albeit with a critical addition to its approach, a new name, and a $100 million investment from Silversmith Capital Partners. Vantora, as the firm is now called, continues to work with its corporate customers, including some new ones in industrial manufacturing that it declined to name, and in the oil and gas sector.

But now, it’s more focused on building startups solely for its corporate customers, and not for the broader market.

Founder and CEO John Kuolt told TechCrunch that Vantora is moving toward a “proprietary M&A pipeline.” This means Vantora will still build startups for its corporate partners, which invest in the ventures and serve as their first customers. But those corporate partners now have the option to fold the startups into their core businesses — and essentially keep them to themselves.

That shift has influenced Vantora’s increased focus on physical AI startups, according to Kuolt.

In the past, Vantora would end up spiking ideas that were strategic to its corporate partners, but too sensitive to bring to the outside world.

“We were missing on the biggest value problems, which had the biggest upside because of that,” Kuolt said in a recent interview. “Imagine you’re a Fortune 100 industrial company and you need to retrofit all of your hardware and machines for autonomy. You need to own that, it needs to be sovereign, and you can’t rely on a third party to go do that for you. You need to own that intelligence layer. They’re never going to let us go sell that to their competitors.”

This change has allowed Vantora to “unlock big physical AI use cases,” according to Kuolt, including with its existing customers.

For example, the firm came up with an idea to use AI to advance the business of its partner J.B. Hunt. “They said there is no way you can take this out to the world, and so we passed on it,” he said, adding that this proprietary model now allows Vantora to pursue it.

The firm launched in 2022 with Porsche as its first corporate partner. Since then, Vantora has launched several startups for Porsche and struck deals with Alaska Airlines, J.B. Hunt, Wabash, and TDG, the parent of Ashley Furniture.

In its early days, UP.Labs was tied — although never financially — to venture firm Up.Partners. While Vantora still shares office space with the California-based VC, it is its own entity, Kuolt explained, noting that the $100 million from Silversmith is the company’s first outside investment.

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