Buba Galadima, ex-spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Campaign Council, has alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari has the judiciary and National Assembly, “completely under his armpit and pocket.”
Galadima said this while accusing the Buhari-led administration of intimidating and muzzling the judiciary. Featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Galadima was reacting to claims that some “friends of this government” are trying to manipulate cases in court.
He also berated Buhari for failing to sign the Electoral Amendment Bill despite being passed by the National Assembly weeks to the general election.
Galadima stated that the refusal to append his signature was a deliberate ploy by the presidency to rig the poll, a situation that led to a face-off between the executive and legislature.
According to Galadima: “This government is intimidating the judiciary. You have heard in the social and print media of certain friends of this government visiting judges, trying to mould their opinion on the cases before them.
“We have the head of a government who believes that he will first accuse you and it will be your duty to prove yourself innocent.
“There is no place, no country in the world where you are accused and you prove yourself innocent. The President has consistently stood on this promise and now that he has the complete judiciary under his armpit and the National Assembly inside the pocket, we Nigerians are in trouble.”
MEPs from across the EU are organizing to trigger a formal investigation into the British government for breaching of the rule of law because of Boris Johnson’s “disturbing” move to suspend parliament. The queen approves PM’s request to suspend parliament.
EU parliamentarians are circulating an emergency question to the European Commission calling for action under Article 7 of the EU’s founding treaty, which has been used to censure countries such as Poland and Hungary when their governments have been deemed to be undermining democracy or fundamental rights.
The bid, launched on Wednesday evening, already has the backing of dozens of MEPs from member states including France, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Denmark – and drawn from all of the parliament’s mainstream political groups. MEPs have until next Monday to put their name to the proposal, when it will be sent to the commission, and organizers say new signatories are being added every few minutes.
The emergency call states that the UK government’s suspension of the Commons, described by its own speaker as “an offence against the democratic process” and a “constitutional outrage” – “will have the effect of preventing the parliament from exercising its legislative function, providing checks and balances to the executive and in particular from taking parliamentary action in relation to the Brexit process”.
The MEPs ask whether the commission is aware of “any precedent where a member state has suspended its parliament for such a length of time or at such a moment of importance” and asks how the commission assesses “the compliance of the UK as a current EU member with the EU rule of law standards, in particular with the respect for fundamental values referred to in Article 2” of the bloc’s treaties.
Sophie in ’t Veld, one of the MEPs backing the motion, was among those who led the charge against Viktor Orban’s nationalist government in Hungary, which has been accused of violations of fundamental rights. The European parliament voted by a two-thirds majority last year to force the commission to trigger rule of law proceedings against the central European state.
“If in any EU member state the government would suspend parliament at such a crucial moment, it would be considered a ‘clear risk of a serious breach’ of the values enshrined in the EU treaties, and a sanctions procedure would be initiated,” she told The Independent.
“In 1993 the heads of government decided that EU membership ‘requires that candidate country has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy’. It is obvious that the move of Boris Johnson is contrary to that requirement.”
Antony Hook, a British Liberal Democrat MEP who is coordinating the bid said: “Suspending the UK’s parliament for political convenience is clearly against the fundamental principles of the European Union and the basic principles that any parliamentary democracy should uphold.
The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, refused to grant the motion filed by Mr Omoyele Sowore, Convener, #RevolutionNow protests, challenging his detention for 45 days by the Department of State Security.
Justice Nkeonye Maya, who declined all applications by Counsel to Sowore, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, sent the case back to Justice Taiwo for further hearing.
Falana, who had asked the court to set aside the ex parte order granted by Justice Taiwo, also applied for bail orally when Justice Maha rejected the earlier application.
Sowore, who is presently in detention had, on August 9, approached the court, seeking an order to vacate the ex parte order that gave the DSS the legal backing to detain him for 45 days.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Justice Taiwo Taiwo had, in a ruling on an ex parte application, on August 8 ordered Sowore’s detention for the said period to enable the DSS to carry out and conclude its investigation on allegations levied against him.
The DSS had also, on August 20, challenged the court order, allowing it to detain Sowore for 45 days against its request of 90 days pending investigation.
The Lagos State House Assembly on Tuesday set up a committee to investigate the purchase of 820 buses by the administration of former governor Akinwunmi Ambode in the state.
The House said it was important to investigate the purchase of the 820 buses out of the 5,000 buses proposed by Mr Ambode for mass transit in the state, but which was purchased despite objection by the House of Assembly.
In a motion, Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti Osa 2), noted that at an Executive/Legislative parley at Golden Tulip in FESTAC in September 2017, Mr Ambode informed the lawmakers that 5,000 buses would be bought by the state government.
The lawmaker stated that the executive proposed to spend N17 billion to purchase the buses in the 2017 budget, but that this was not approved by the Assembly.
“In the 2018 and 2019 budgets, the state government proposed N24 billion and N7 billion respectively, but these were not approved.
“The state government still went ahead to import 820 buses at N7 billion, and out of that, 520 are still awaiting clearance at the ports,” he said.
The move by the lawmakers to probe Mr Ambode is likely to complicate matters for the former governor who is facing another probe.
Last week, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission searched his residences in Ikoyi and Epe as part of an ongoing corruption investigation.
Three weeks ago, a federal judge froze bank accounts containing N9.9 billion allegedly linked to the former governor.
Mr Ambode denied links to the bank accounts.
Inflated project
During Tuesday’s plenary, Mr Yishawu said the House was worried that 520 buses were still awaiting clearance from the bonded warehouse and the Port, waiting to be cleared and that they were purchased with taxpayers’ money without approval.
He urged the House to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate all the issues relating to the purchase of the buses.
He also asked that the House should investigate the cost of the purchase of the buses and other issues surrounding it to prevent a reoccurrence.
“The state government requested waivers for the importation of the buses and it was not granted.
“The value of the buses were overrated. Some of the buses are still in the ports and they are attracting demurrage.
“N45 billion would be spent on the total purchase of the buses and we need to prevent such an occurrence in the future,” he added.
In his submission, the speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, said the House needed to prevent waste because the expenditure had been done.
According to him, “the vehicles are in the ports and they have been there for almost a year.
“The state will continue to suffer if we allow the buses to stay in the ports.
“We should be the regulators of transporters, the state should not operate the buses.
“How much are we giving the buses out should be addressed. We should get the buses to the roads and save the state from further wastes.”
The House subsequently set up a committee headed by Fatai Mojeed (Ibeju Lekki 1) to look into the matter and report to the House in due course.
Members of the committee, according to the Speaker include Mr Yishawu, Bisi Yusuff (Alimosho 1), Olanrewaju Afinni (Lagos Island 2), Rasheed Makinde (Ifako Ijaiye 2), Yinka Ogundimu (Agege 2), Mojisola Miranda (Apapa 1) and others.
The speaker directed the committee to invite the Accountant General of the state, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, and others that were involved in the purchase to state what they knew about it.
He also told them to invite the current Commissioner for Finance, the Managing Director of LAMATA and others.
In his contribution earlier, Yinka Ogundimu (Agege 2) stated that the House needed to investigate every transaction that had to do with the procurement of the buses.
He added that It would become a bad precedent if the House didn’t do anything about the matter.
“A huge amount of money still needed to be paid on the purchase of these buses. Whoever has erred should be brought to book,” he said.
In his part, Rasheed Makinde stated that it was obvious that the last administration did many things wrong in awarding contracts.
Mr Makinde stressed that some of these included Visionscape and the proposed fourth mainland bridge.
“The House rejected the proposal on the buses, yet they went on to spend N45 billion on the project.
“Since we did not approve the contract expenditure is null and void, so the money should be refunded.
“The Account General of the State, Procurement Officer and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation must be called to speak on the matter,” he said.
In his view, Rotimi Olowo (Shomolu 1), stressed that the provision of the 1999 Constitution in Section 120 has been flouted with the purchase.
“They told us that they wanted to start a pilot project, yet they went ahead with the project.
“Can we still wait for the vehicles to be in the port and attract demurrage.
“The incumbent governor of the state should ask for waivers from the Federal Government so that we could retrieve the vehicles from the ports,” he said.
Liam Boyce’s hat-trick sent last season’s semi-finalists Burton into the third round of this season’s EFL Cup courtesy of a comfortable 4-0 victory over League Two side Morecambe.
The Brewers could have been behind inside a minute but Kieran O’Hara did well to deny Shrimps forward Lewis Alessandra at close range before Albion’s attack put some serious pressure on the Morecambe goal.
Mark Halstead made a number of good saves to keep them out until the 34th minute, when he was unable to prevent Boyce from powerfully heading home a Scott Fraser corner.
Both Boyce and Lucas Akins were denied by Morecambe keeper Halstead before Boyce struck again on the stroke of half-time steering Oliver Sarkic’s cross home.
A blistering start to the second half saw the busy Halstead deny Akins once again before Ryan Edwards scored his first goal in a Burton shirt finishing off John Brayford’s low cross.
Kevin Ellison and Alessandra went close to getting Jim Bentley’s side back in the contest before Boyce completed his hat-trick to put the game to bed in the 74th minute
Halstead saved Akins’ header, before the Northern Ireland striker hooked in the rebound from close range to send last season’s semi-finalists into the next round.
…Rape Allegation: Police release COZA Pastor Fatoyinbo on Bail following arrival of Key witness from Port Harcourt. Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo Following the late arrival of the witness of Pastor Biodun Fatoyibo from Port Harcourt on Tuesday night, the Police authorities at Force Criminal Investigations Department have granted him bail and released. It was gathered last night that the expected arrival of the witness, which Fatoyinbo said is very important to the case, was responsible for the delay in releasing the Pastor on bail.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday approved the immediate termination of the appointment of the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, NCPC, Rev. Tor Ujah.
This was contained in a statement by the Director (Information) at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey on Tuesday.
The statement which was made available to reporters in Abuja, said the termination was in line with the provision of Section 4, Sub-Section 3 of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission Act.
It added that, “Ujah has been directed to hand over to Mrs. Esther Kwaghe, Director of Administration in the Commission, who is to oversee the Office, pending the appointment of a Substantive Executive Secretary.”
Nigeria marked three years free of endemic wild polio on Wednesday with health officials saying the nation’s progress in fighting the crippling viral disease could result in the whole of Africa being declared polio-free early next year.
The three-year milestone sets in motion a continent-wide process to ensure that all 47 countries of the World Health Organization’s African region have eradicated the virus, health officials said.
Africa’s last case of wild polio was recorded in Nigeria’s Borno State in August 2016.
“We are confident that soon we will be trumpeting the certification that countries have, once and for all, kicked polio out of Africa,” the WHO’s regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters in a telebriefing.
Polio is a viral infection that attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours. Children under five are the most vulnerable, but people can be fully protected with preventative vaccines.
Wild polio remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but case numbers worldwide have been reduced largely because of intense national and regional immunisation for babies and children.
Latest Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) figures show that there have been a total of 65 cases of wild polio worldwide so far in 2019 – 53 in Pakistan and 12 in Afghanistan.
The GPEI, which is backed by the WHO, Rotary International and others, began its push to wipe out polio in 1988, when the disease was endemic in 125 countries and was paralysing almost 1,000 children a day globally. Since then, there has been at least a 99 percent reduction in cases.
At a briefing in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, Clement Peter, the WHO’s country representative, said the next six months would be “most critical” to whether Africa can be declared polio-free.
“Nigeria will submit its final country data for evaluation in March 2020, provided there are no new wild polio cases,” Peter said.
“If the data confirms zero cases, the entire WHO (Africa) region could receive wild polio-free certification as soon as mid-2020.” (Reporting by Kate Kelland in London and Abraham Achirga and Camillus Eboh in Abuja.
Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) founder, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo is currently being interrogated by detectives at the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) in Abuja over alleged rape of Busola Dakolo.
Mrs. Dakolo in June accused the pastor in a bare-it-all interview of allegedly raping her when she was a teenager inside her family’s sitting room one early morning he came visiting.
She gave horrid details of the encounter and explained how the pastor went on to exploit her vulnerability from that day, adding that a few pastors were aware and tried to assuage her family after her siblings took the war to Fatoyinbo back then.
Although Fatoyinbo denied the allegation claiming it was a calculated attempt to rubbish him, Dakolo’s case saw many other victims of the pastor’s alleged sexual assault speaking out on social media.
Efforts by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to wade into the matter was said to have been frustrated following the refusal of the pastor to honour their invitation.
Already, The Nation gathered that the police have located Mrs. Dakolo’s siblings including the sister she alleged was upstairs the day Fatoyinbo allegedly raped her at her family’s residence.
It was gathered that detectives chose to invite the pastor after following other clues to verify certain claims.
The pastor whose team was said to have been sent out of the department, was interrogated for several hours by a team specifically tasked to handle the case by the Inspector General of Police (IG) Mohammed Adamu through the DIG Investigation.
It was gathered that the detectives may detain the pastor unless there were guarantees he would not jump administrative bail by the police.
Confirming the development, Police spokesman Frank Mba, a Deputy Commissioner (DCP) said It was too early to say if Fatoyinbo would be detained, adding that only the investigators can arrive at that decision based on their findings.
He said: “Yes, he is currently at FCIID undergoing interrogation. We have been conducting discreet investigation. We are making efforts to reach one or two other pastors she alleged intervened then.
“It was a deliberate investigative strategy to bring Fatoyinbo much later after we must have gotten other things. Some Nigerians were thinking we did not want to talk to him but that is not so.
“He is with us now and I cannot say if he will be detained nor not. Investigators will have to determine that. They might choose to detain him or grant him bail while investigation continues.
“We have the statement of Busola Dakolo already. She earlier made a statement to the police. Nigerians are assured that we will diligently investigate and conclude this case.”
Juices made from some fruits may do wonders to keep hypertension in check.
Unhealthy eating habits, long working hours, and stress are some of the factors that have led to a number of lifestyle diseases; hypertension being the most common one. Hypertension develops when blood imposes a greater force on the walls of the arteries, which leads to rise in the blood pressure level that crosses the top borderline range of 140/90 mmHg. Blood pressure is basically the pressure that is levied on blood vessels as the result of blood flow and contraction and relaxation of the heart. Hypertension, in its early stage, does not pose any serious threat. However, if it is not treated in time, it can lead to cardiovascular problems like heart attack and heart stroke. That’s why a high blood pressure patient is advised to follow a healthy diet and include foods that are known to curb hypertension.
A balanced diet consisting of a mix of nutrient-rich foods can help a great deal in managing hypertension. Doctors advise consuming more foods with potassium and avoid foods with high sodium content. Apart from healthy meals, salads and fruits, juices made from some fruits may do wonders to keep hypertension in check.
Here are some fruit juices that may help regulate blood pressure levels
Pomegranate Juice
Pomegranate (anar) juice comes packed with essential vitamins and potassium that helps in smooth circulation of blood. Pomegranate juice is also known to fight and eliminate ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) – an enzyme that stiffens the blood vessels that leads to a rise in blood pressure.
Cranberry Juice
Cranberry is a nutrient-dense fruit but its high content of Vitamin C is what makes it a great food for hypertension. Low-calorie cranberry juice helps in dilating blood vessels and proper circulation of blood.
Orange Juice
This refreshing juice made using Vitamin C-rich fruit – orange – contains potassium, folate and natural citrus bioflavonoids, which help keep blood pressure levels low, improve metabolism and help in maintaining sound heart health.
These fruit juices are not just delicious but also help you deal with high blood pressure. Balance is the key to maintain good health. Never overdo when it comes to diet. One must practice moderation. If your problem is severe, do consult your dietitian or nutritionist before making drastic changes in your diet.
