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A leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress and former Chief Whip of the Senate, Sir. Rowland Owie, has expressed dissatisfaction over the change of the name of the party’s candidate for the Edo South senatorial district in the 2027 general election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission portal had the picture of Sunny Aguebor as the senatorial candidate while it had the name Epelle-Asemota Bridgitte Osayuki as the candidate.

Reacting to the development in a telephone interview, Owie said Aguebor emerged as the candidate of the party in a primary election monitored by the INEC and alleged that a national officer of the party may be responsible for the current development.

Owie declared the development as fraud that would not stand, noting that Aguebor is the Edo South Senatorial candidate.

He said, “The truth is fraud cannot stand. The duly nominated candidate for Edo South NDC is Sunny Aguebor.

His primary election was monitored by the INEC and we have the CTC of his nomination from INEC.

“The party uploaded the information to INEC portal. What they were trying to do is to put that lady’s name but they couldn’t remove Aguebor’s picture.

“Whoever did it is a criminal, it is because we want peace in the party otherwise such a person should have been arrested. It is a criminal act. The NDC is a corrective party, we can’t be part of fraud.

“We have written to the INEC to make the necessary corrections. The person behind the fraud is a leader in the South South and we can get him arrested for forgery.”

When contacted, the state chairman of the party, David Olukoga said the party was still working with the INEC over the issue.

“Those are social media issues, when we are ready, we will publish our lists, we are not done with INEC, when we are done, they will give us our list and we will publish them,” he added.

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Kebbi State Governor, Dr Nasir Idris, on Wednesday convened an emergency security meeting to review the security situation in the state and strengthen measures aimed at addressing emerging security challenges in some communities.

The meeting, which brought together key security stakeholders, focused on reviewing and reinforcing existing security strategies to ensure a more coordinated and effective response to threats across the state.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Internal Security, Haliru Wasagu, said the governor called the meeting as part of his administration’s commitment to protecting lives and property and sustaining peace across Kebbi State.

According to Wasagu, the discussions centred on fine-tuning the state’s security architecture and enhancing collaboration among security agencies to improve operational effectiveness.

“Our governor is fully committed to flushing out criminal elements and dismantling their hideouts. Anyone found engaging in criminal activities will face the full weight of the law,” the commissioner said.

He added that Idris had continued to intensify efforts to maintain peace, law and order, assuring residents that the government would not relent in confronting all forms of criminality.

Wasagu also appealed to residents to support security agencies by providing timely and credible intelligence capable of aiding the identification, arrest and prosecution of criminal elements.

“If members of the public remain vigilant and work closely with security agencies, the fight against crime will be more effective,” he said.

The commissioner further commended security personnel operating in the state for their dedication, professionalism and sacrifices in ensuring peace, stability and public safety, assuring that the state government would continue to support their operations.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has explained why it froze the bank accounts of the Osun State Government, saying the action was taken to prevent the alleged diversion of public funds despite the state’s August 15 governorship election.

The anti-graft agency disclosed this in a statement posted on its official X account on Wednesday, saying it had been investigating the Osun State Government since March 2026 over the alleged fraudulent handling of about N11bn in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee.

According to the commission, some officials of the state government, including the Accountant General, had already been questioned as part of the ongoing investigation.

The EFCC said the investigation alone would not have warranted freezing the accounts, but claimed it detected suspicious movement of funds from the government’s accounts beginning August 2.

“These ongoing investigations of the state government would not have warranted any placement of Post No Debit order on its account but for the precipitate and unwarranted movement of funds from the accounts to different suspicious accounts since August 2, 2026.

“The Commission noticed huge transfers of funds into different corporate entities and had to swiftly halt the trend by freezing the accounts from which such heavy funds are being moved,” the statement read.

Defending its decision, the commission said it had a legal responsibility to protect public funds and could not ignore suspicious financial transactions because of the forthcoming governorship poll.

“The Commission’s preventive mandate is a public-inclined framework of safeguarding public funds, assets and resources.

“The Commission cannot watch idly while a state government’s account is being pillaged. While the Commission is fully aware of the impending governorship election in Osun State, it has a responsibility to act in defence of the sanctity of the funds of the state.

“It will be uncharitable for the Commission to allow an excuse of an upcoming election to fold its arms to perform its legally-assigned functions,” it stated.

The EFCC further disclosed that Osun was not the only state under investigation, saying it was monitoring the finances of several state governments.

“It is equally needful to state that the Commission is keeping watch over the finances of other states like Osun State. Many of these states are on the investigative radar of the Commission to ensure accountability and probity.

“The Commission has always pointed out that it is non-partisan and non-sectarian but always working in the overall interests of Nigerians. The Osun State government account was frozen to save public funds from being looted,” the statement added.

The commission urged Nigerians to ignore what it described as false narratives surrounding the action.

“The public is enjoined to ignore false narratives and deliberate demonization of the works of the EFCC. The interests of all Nigerians are greater and will always be protected by the Commission,” it said.

The explanation came hours after Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, challenged EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede to publicly justify the freezing of the state’s accounts.

Speaking with journalists at the Government House in Osogbo on Wednesday, Adeleke described the action as illegal, insisting that it was carried out without a court order.

“All I ask is for the EFCC chairman to explain to the good people of Osun State and to Nigerians in general why he froze Osun State Government Account, and show proof to support whatever reason he presents,” the governor said.

He also directed the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada (SAN), to challenge the action at the Federal High Court in Osogbo.

Jimi-Bada argued that while the EFCC had the power to investigate government accounts, it lacked the authority to freeze them without first obtaining a court order. He said the state government would seek judicial redress.