The Appeal Court sitting at Ibadan on Monday, November 11, 2019 reserved judgement in its ruling on the petition brought before it by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, ‘Bayo Adelabu, challenging the election results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which returned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Seyi Makinde, as the duly elected governor of the Pace-Setter State.
Although three of the four-man panel resolved all issues in favour of the appellant, they couldn’t order a retrial at the Tribunal because the 180 days stated in the Electoral Act for gubernatorial election Tribunal cases to be resolved has elapsed. The Appeal Court ruled that the appellant’s case ‘subsists’, stating that the Tribunal judgement that upheld the election of Seyi Makinde was ‘perverse’.
Seyi Makinde remains governor, maintaining the status quo. But, the justices of the Appeal Court have created a judicial impasse. The justices based their ‘perverse’ verdict on the Tribunal judgement on the fact that Adelabu wasn’t given a fair hearing. The implication of this judgement can’t be overemphasized and it definitely would form a basis for other rulings; right or wrong.
The Appeal Court is expected to act as the reviewer for the Tribunal verdict and can’t by itself hear election petitions. Was Seyi Makinde duly elected? Could the declaration by INEC be wrong? Going by the judgement of the Appeal Court, none of this can be clearly understood.
The Court held that the best it could do was to withhold judgement, allowing the status quo, since the 180 days provided by the Electoral Act have elapsed. Is the Electoral Act flawed? Why is there no provision in the Electoral Act for cases like this? If Adelabu was indeed duly elected, hasn’t the Electoral Act denied the people from having their duly elected man at the helm of affairs in the State?
I’d like to state here that the fact that the Appeal Court considered the Tribunal unfair to the APC and Adelabu didn’t automatically annul the election of Makinde. But, it definitely created an issue that’d birth other legal issues so long we have this present crop of politicians. Hopefully, these judges aren’t ‘seeing’ these politicians.
The Edo State Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday said its former secretary, Lawrence Okah was removed because a vote of no confidence was passed on him.
The State Executive Committee on Tuesday revealed this after a vote of confidence was passed on the leadership of Barr Anslem Ojezua.
A statement signed and forwarded to DAILY POST said the party chairmen across the 18 local government areas of the state also passed a vote of no confidence on the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting of the party’s State Executive Committee, the Deputy State Chairman of the APC, Engr. Kenneth Asekomhe said, “After the meeting of the State Executive Committee, in pursuant of Article 17, Section 5 of APC constitution of 2014, as amended, we the undersigned members passed a vote of no confidence on the State Secretary of the party, Mr Lawrence Okah. He is hereby removed from office.
“The committee also passed a vote of confidence on the State Chairman of APC, Mr Anselm Ojezua.”
”The APC chairmen in the 18 LGAs of the state also reaffirmed their support for the second term bid of Governor Godwin Obaseki on account of his developmental strides.
”The chairmen passed a vote of no confidence on the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.”
The APC Chairman in Esan Central LGA and Secretary, Edo State APC Chairmen Forum, Hon. Mike Anakaso, said the chairmen passed a vote of no confidence on Oshiomhole for his role in trying to disintegrate the party in Edo State.
He warned that “Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is the one behind the crisis in Edo APC and a vote of no confidence was passed on him.
”We don’t want what happened in Zamfara or other parts of the country to happen in Edo State.”he added.
Meanwhile, the Auditor of the Edo State Chapter of the APC, Comrade Timothy Osadolor and the chapter’s Financial Secretary, Princess Golda Oribhabor-Onwuka have distanced themselves from a document purporting to remove the state chairman, Anselm Ojezua from office.
Speaking at the party’s State Secretariat, the duo explained that they were taken in a commando-style to the residence of the suspended Secretary of the party, Mr. Lawrence Okah and forced to sign the document.
Giving details of the incident, the Auditor, Comrade Osadolor explained that they were invited by a colleague for a meeting, before they were whisked to Okah’s residence.
He said he was threatened and asked to sign the document if he wanted to leave the residence alive, noting that he had to append a fake signature against his name to regain freedom.
According to him, “What happened, to the best of my knowledge, is an act of desperation taken too far. We were taken in a commando-style to the house of the State Secretary, where I was forced to sign the documents purportedly removing Anslem Ojezua. There were just eight or nine signatures on the document. My name was badly spelt. I didn’t draw their attention to it but had to play along by signing the document with a fake signature.
The Financial Secretary, Princess Golda Oribhabor-Onwuka emphasised that she signed the document under duress.
Big Brother Naija 2018 power couple, Bamike aka Bambam and Tope Adenibuyan, popularly known as TeddyA have released a very cute photo ahead of their white wedding in Dubai.
The couple who announced their engagement on Instagram on August 4, got married traditionally on the 7th of September, looked really charming as they rocked stunning white coloured outfits.
Celebrity fashion designer, Toyin Lawani, revealed on Friday in a post on Instagram that she had begun plans for the wedding and it would be held in Dubai
American media house, Washington Post, releases scathing print on President Buhari over the arrest of Sowore.
Political strongmen would have you believe they’re tough as nails, but they always turn out to have very thin skin.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari likes to call himself a “converted democrat.” At least that’s what he said during his 2015 presidential run, when he was attempting to re-brand himself as a reformer after a long career built on repression.
Yet dictatorial habits have proved hard to give up. When Buhari ran for president in 2015, it was with the promise of a Nigeria free from the political repression and silencing of dissent that were hallmarks of his tenure as head of state from 1983 to 1985.
Since his reelection earlier this year, matters have only gotten worse for journalists in Nigeria. Perhaps the most outrageous case involves Omoyele Sowore, a prominent journalist and political activist who remains in prison in Abuja, the Nigerian capital — even after a judge last week ordered that he be released on bail. He is being cited, among other things, for “cyberstalking” the president — a bizarre accusation, unless you consider reporting and political commentary a form of predatory behavior. It would seem that Buhari does.
“Across the board, journalists were worried about an escalation of anti-press patterns in a possible second Buhari term,” says Jonathan Rozen, senior Africa researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Unfortunately, they’ve been proven right.”
In a Nov. 7 statement, Femi Felana, Sowore’s lawyer, said that, although bail conditions were “stringent,” his client had met them all. “But in utter contempt of the orders of Justice Ojukwu, the State Security Service has refused to release Sowore.”
Sowore, the founder of the New York-based website Sahara Reporters, is being charged with seven felony counts, including treason and the “cyberstalking” of Buhari. Whatever that means. “In Nigeria, we see repeated attacks against journalists and the use of alleged cyber crimes to silence them,” Rozen told me.
Sowore created Sahara Reporters — which is devoted to political coverage of Nigeria — in 2006. His aim was to bring greater transparency to Nigerian politics. The website is credited with breaking many stories of financial corruption by the state, which is what landed Sowore behind bars this time around. In a media landscape known for being vibrant if heavily influenced by political elites, Sahara Reporters has become one of the key sources for news that exposes official wrongdoing.
Sowore came to the United States in the late 1990s. Before leaving Nigeria, he’d been detained on eight separate occasions for his political activities. After arriving here, he completed a graduate program at Columbia University.
“It is not so much a problem of freedom of speech,” Sowore told the New York Times in 2011, “but freedom after speech. You can say a lot of things in Nigeria, but the question is: Will you still be a free person? Will you still be alive after you freely express yourself?”
This year he returned to run against Buhari in the election. He did not win and instead ended up in prison for being a vocal critic of the state and its policies.
“My husband is not the only journalist in this situation. It’s always the same thing. They’ve taken others for speaking out against corruption,” Opeyemi Sowore, the jailed journalist’s wife, told me. “It’s a disturbing trend when journalists and others who are trying to make the country better are silenced through detention.”
The judge in the case this month set bail at more than $550,000, with additional conditions, barring Omoyele Sowore from speaking to the press, participating in rallies at other political events and barring him from leaving the capital, Abuja.
Sowore was originally set to be released last Wednesday, but his website reported that agents of Nigeria’s secret police blocked court bailiffs from following through on the judge’s order.
His wife and their two children, a 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, who live in the New York area and are all U.S.-born citizens, have not heard from the journalist since August when Opeyemi Sowore did a radio interview here in the United States.
All indications are that Sowore has been held in solitary confinement during the entire period of his detention, which has now passed the three-month mark.
“Since the State Security Service is not above the law of the land, we shall embark on appropriate legal measures to ensure compliance with the court orders,” Falana said.
Nigerian authorities should immediately release Sowore.
However, the court stopped short of declaring Adelabu winner.
Today’s appeal court judgment in Oyo state should be understood as it is before people come on here to confuse you guys. The Judges ruled on a technicality, didn’t order a re-run or state that Seyi Makinde should vacate office. The court DID NOT Sack @seyiamakinde
The court also did not order for fresh elections to be held. The development has led to varying interpretations of what really happened on social media.
The court reversed the judgement of governorship election petition tribunal, which declared Mr Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, winner of the election.
However, the appellate court did not give order for a fresh election.
It was a sad day for many residents of Damaturu, Yobe State capital, after a military truck driving at a high speed crushed a taxi tricycle killing two passengers on Sunday.
One of the victims was Hussaina Baffa-Bello, 19-year-old female student of Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu.
Witnesses said the armored gun truck driver did not obey the red traffic light when the Keke-Napep rider was crossing the highway.
“The army truck did not stop at the traffic light-controlled junction while the Keke-Napep rider who had a right of way was crossing, and that was how the truck ran over them,” said a witness who identified himself as Muhammed.
Multiple residents told PREMIUM TIMES in Damaturu that since the installation of the traffic lights last year, most military and police vehicles usually disobey them.
“Even if they met other civilian vehicle waiting and obeying the traffic light, they would be blaring their horns and causing confusion,” said Bashir Sani, a civil servant said.
The Sunday crash occurred at a spot called Gwange Junction along Damaturu-Gashua Road.
Witnesses said the Keke-Napep, coming from the Gwange axis, was attempting to cross over to use the right lane of the highway going to the city center, while the truck which was coming from an opposite left lane caught the Keke-Napep midway.
The ghastly crash generated angry reactions from residents of Damaturu.
The executive director of the umbrella Civil Society Organisations in Yobe State, Abubakar Shehu, said the CSO will make an official statement in due course.
Yobe Government responds
Amidst rising anger over the sad incident, the state governor visited the scene of the accident and went to condole the bereaved families of the victims.
Though the military has not issued any statement to that effect, a statement issued by the governor’s spokesman, Abdullah Bego, indicated that top officers of the military command in Damaturu had gone to commiserate with the families of the victims.
Mr. Bego said, “Governor Mai Mala Buni has been briefed about an incident in Damaturu yesterday in which a KEKE NAPEP rider with passengers was crushed by a military vehicle in an accident which claimed the lives of two persons.”
“Already, the Brigade Commander 27 Task Force Brigade, the Commanding Officer 233 Tank Battalion and officials of the State Government have visited and commiserated with the families of the victims,” the statement said.
“His Excellency has learned that one of the victims, Hussaina Baffa Bello was a pre-ND student of the Federal polytechnic Damaturu while the other fatality was a toddler.
“Governor Buni’s thoughts, sympathies, and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives and with the victims who sustained injuries.
“The governor prays Almighty Allah (SWT) to grant repose to the souls of those who died, fast recovery to those who sustained injuries and fortitude to bear the loss for families of the victims.”
Mr. Bego said the governor had directed the office of the acting Secretary to the State Government to liaise with the military in order “to have a full investigation and ascertain how the accident happened and how much could be avoided in the future.”
The Nigerian police said they have arrested one of their officers who was caught on camera collecting bribe from a motorist.
PREMIUM TIMES published a story, Saturday, on the bribe-taking officer based on the video which was shared on Facebook and Twitter.
The officer has been identified as Onuh Makedomu, a non-commissioned officer, with Force No.431625, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
The statement, signed by the force spokesperson, Frank Mba, said Mr Makedomu, a sergeant, was attached to 49 PMF but was on special duty with the Safer Highways Patrol, Lagos, during the incident.
As seen in the four-minute video, Mr Makedomu, apart from demanding and collecting the bribe from the motorist, went on to lie to his colleagues that he collected N5,000. He pocketed N10,000 out of the N15,000 he got from the motorist.
“This one, it is a secret I am trying to tell you,” the officer who was on the passenger’s seat, besides the driver, said to the motorist as he began negotiating how to outsmart his fellow cops who were apparently expecting the bribe.
“You will bring N10,000 out of this money, give to that guy. You hear me? For there, you go tell them say na N5,000 you give me.”
The motorist counted N10,000 from a wad of N1,000 notes, gave it to the officer who went on to make a call, apparently to his superior and pleaded on behalf of the motorist. He lied in the phone conversation that the motorist gave him N5,000.
“How we go do for this guy, e no even get money!” he said on the phone.
Mr Makedomu wore a police uniform and was holding a rifle during the incident.
Mr Mba, a deputy commissioner of police, said in the statement that the bribe-taking officer has “since been identified and arrested” and that he was “undergoing Orderly Room trial on a two-count charge of Discreditable Conduct and Corrupt Practices at the Provost department of the Lagos State Police Command”.
The statement described the motorist as a “good citizen who courageously brought the inglorious act of the officer to the public domain.”
Mr Mba said the Inspector General of Police has asked the motorist to meet with the police public relations officer, Lagos State Command, to get back his money.
The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has said he is ready to pay the ultimate price in the service of the people of the state.
He said as long as the mandate of the governor was given to him by God for the service of the people, the state was worth dying for.
The governor said this at an interdenominational church service organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria as part of activities to celebrate Alaghodaro (Progress) 2019, which marks the governor’s third year in office.
Obaseki said, “People ask, is Edo worth dying for? I say yes, Edo is worth dying for. And if we have to die for the service of Edo State, so be it. But I am sure God will not let it happen that way.”
He thanked members of the All Progressives Congress for their support through his three years in office.”
The governor commended the APC leaders from the 18 local government areas for supporting his second term bid, noting, “They have thrown their weight behind me and urged me to continue the good works in the state, assuring me of their commitment and support.”
He attributed the success recorded by his administration in the past three years to God, adding that the strides recorded are clear for all to see, as they are evident in the developments across the state.
Obaseki said, “My first challenge as a governor was to correct the image of Edo State in terms of human trafficking.
“Our women had lost their pride and respect globally. We didn’t live in denial but agreed to tackle the scourge and fought it headlong. Today, we have a good story to tell.
“As a government, we showed our commitment to God and the people and it made Edo people trust our administration.”
The governor commended the first civilian governor of the state, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, for speaking truth to power and not supporting injustice.
He expressed appreciation to the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, for the fatherly role he played in helping his administration achieve many feats in the state.
Twitter user, Kevin Odanz revealed a pastor in Kubwa, Abuja who built a swimming pool in church called ‘pool of bethsheba’.
The pool allegedly has healing powers and once you enter, your problems would disappear.
However, they charge the congregation per swim. For full swim, the pastor charges N50,000. For people who can’t afford this, they are offered a bottle of water from the pool which goes for N10,000.
Also, on some days, they offer free swim for the congregation.
Kevin Odanz also mentioned that the pastor has a lot of scandals trailing him and allegedly divorced his wife to marry a South African lady he impregnated while he was married.
See full thread:
A Twitter user under the thread revealed the said pastor to be Joshua Iginla and was backed up by Kevin Odanz.
