Court FaultscINEC, Clears Natasha Akpoti, SDP Candidate, To Contest Nov 16 Kogi Guber Poll

November 7, 2019

Abuja division of the Federal High Court has cleared the coast for the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Natasha Akpoti to participate in the November 16 governorship election in Kogi State after holding that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks the constitutional powers to disqualify her from contesting the election.
In her judgment today, November 7, Justice Ogunbiyi-Giwa held that INEC has no power to disqualify any candidate for an election as it is the exclusive preserve of a competent court of law.
She relied on the provisions of sections 31(1) and 83 of the Electoral Act which says that INEC cannot disqualify or reject candidate nominated by a political party for an election is aimed at ensuring that it does not lie within the executive realm of INEC to determine who participates in an election, adding that the intention of the law is to make INEC a truly unbiased umpire.
She, therefore, ordered the electoral body to include her name and that of her running mate, Adams Khalid on the ballot paper for the November 16 polls.
The judge further granted reliefs 1-7 of the plaintiffs and ordered INEC to include the names of the governorship and deputy governorship candidate of the SDP as well and the party’s logo on the ballot in the November 16 governorship polls in Kogi State.
Akpoti, his deputy, Adams Khalid, and the SDP had approached the court to challenge their exclusion from the 2019 Kogi State governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The commission had refused to accept the candidature of Khalid in replacement of the earlier nominated deputy governor, Mohammed Yakubu, on the grounds that Yakubu was not qualified in the first place to be fielded as a deputy governorship candidate in the election on account of his age.
But in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1129/2019 and filed on October 3 by their lawyer, Ola Olanipekun SAN, the plaintiffs sought a declaration of the court that INEC’s declaration vide a letter with reference number: LEG/PP/23/T/107 that the nomination of Mohammed Yakubu as the deputy governor of the SDP in the November 16 gubernatorial election was “invalid” on the grounds of qualification was ultra vires and therefore null and void.

Presidency Apologizes To Journalist Assaulted By Security Aide

Editorial staff

November 7, 2019

The Presidency has apologized to the photo journalist, Abayomi Adesida who was physically assaulted today, November 7 by security aide attached to the office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

On his twitter handle today, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on media and publicity, Laolu Akande wrote “the needless scuffle btw a villa accredited photographer, Mr. Adeshida & one of our security aides earlier today has since been resolved. Incident is regretted & I have apologized to him for any embarrassment caused.”

Presidency’s Security Details Go Berserk, Physically Attack Journalist

Greenbarge Reporters

November 7, 2019

Security aides attached to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo went berserk today, November 7, physically attacking a photojournalist with the Vanguard Newspapers, attached to the Aso Rock Villa, Mr. Abayomi Adeshida.

The incident took place at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja during the opening session of the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission NiDCOM, chaired by Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

Narrating his experience to journalists, Adeshida said he was taking photograph of the Vice President taking a tour of the exhibition stands at the event, when five personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS) suddenly pounced on him as Osinbajo was being presented a copy of magazine as souvenir at a particular stand.

Adeshida said he was not told his supposed infraction as he was not in any way obstructing the event or doing anything out of the ordinary before the security details started hitting him, dragged him over the floor and damaged his professional camera, right in the presence of the Vice President.

“I was shocked when these DSS started beating me for no apparent reason. They tore off my Presidential Villa accreditation tag on the shirt and dragged me on the floor while hitting me and kicking me.

“I believe they would have done much worse if not for the intervention of the Vice-President’s Aide-de-Camp (ADC), who I noticed was making hand movements for them to leave me alone.

“I am feeling pains all over my body and a particular sever pain on my right leg on which I don’t even know what they hit me with”, the Adeshida before he headed for the hospital for treatment.

No other aides of the Vice-President made efforts to stop the humiliation of the journalist in the presence of Osibanjo, who may have been embarrassed by the situation.

The incident happened a day after 35 aides of the Vice-President wer bye reported sacked on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is away on a private visit to the United Kingdom.

Nigerian Pastor,23 Others, On Trial For Allegedly Running Sex Trade In France

Editorial staff

November 6, 2019

A Nigerian pastor identified as Stanley Omoregie and 23 other suspected members of a sex trafficking ring accused of forcing Nigerian women into prostitution are on trial in Lyon, France in the latest case of growing use of Nigerian migrants as sex slaves in Europe.
The arrest of the suspects was triggered by an investigation by police in Lyon, where an estimate showed that half the city’s sex workers are Nigerians. Police authorities received a tip about the Nigerian pastor accused of exploiting several sex workers who lived in apartments he owned.
Omoregie denied the charge, which include aggravated pimping and slavery. But in the transcript of a conversation submitted to the court, he is heard saying he wanted “those with beautiful bodies, who can be controlled, not those that cause problems.”
The prosecution has presented him as the kingpin of a family-based syndicate made up of 10 women and 14 men, including one of Europe’s most wanted women, Jessica Edosomwan, accused of recruiting destitute women in Nigeria for the sex trade in Lyon, Nimes and Montpellier.
Edosomwan, who is believed to be on the run in the Benelux countries, Italy or Germany, will be tried in absentia. Among the accused is a 28-year-old former prostitute who was herself released from sex slavery after paying off her debts and who in turn brought over another young woman from Nigeria.
Months of police wiretaps and surveillance led to the arrest of the suspects between September 2017 and January 2018. They risk 10 years in jail if convicted. The UN has estimated that 80 percent of young Nigerian women arriving in Italy their first port of call in Europe are already in the clutches of prostitution networks, or quickly fall under their control.
The accused in Lyon cover the entire gamut of sex trafficking activities, from iron-fisted “madams” and violent pimps as well as drivers of the vans in which the women perform sexual acts, and those tasked with laundering the proceeds of the trafficking. Prosecutors estimate that 17 alleged victims, aged 17 to 38, made up to 150,000 euros ($166,000) a month for the syndicate, selling sex for as little as 10 euros.
Most of the women come from Benin City, capital of Edo State, a human trafficking hotbed with a long history of dispatching women and men to Europe to earn money to send back home.
Many of them told investigators they had taken part in “juju” or black magic rituals before leaving Nigeria, during which they promised to repay the money they owed for their passage to Europe.
Many of the women took the perilous migrant trail across the Sahara Desert to Libya and then across the Mediterranean to Italy before winding up in Lyon.

University Lecturers Risk 14 Year Imprisonment Over Sexual Harassment, Senate Debates It

Editorial staff

November 6, 2019

The Senate has started debate on Sexual Harassment Bill which scaled second reading on the floor of the Senate.
The bill, titled: “A Bill for an Act to Prevent, Prohibit and Redress Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Educational Institutions and for other matters connected therewith 2019” with 27 clauses, was sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege
According to a statement signed by the Special Assistant (Press) to President of the Senate, Ezrel Tabiowo, the bill proposes up to 14 years jail term, with a minimum of five years, without an option of fine for any educator who commits sexual offences in tertiary institutions.
It defines sexual offences as including: sexual intercourse with a student or demands for sex from a student or a prospective student or intimidating or creating a hostile or offensive environment for the student by soliciting for sex or making sexual advances.
Other forms of sexual harassment identified in the bill are grabbing, hugging, kissing, rubbing, stroking, touching, pinching the breasts or hair or lips or hips or buttocks or any other sensual part of the body of a student; or sending by hand or courier or electronic or any other means naked or sexually explicit pictures or videos or sex related objects to a student, and whistling or winking at a student or screaming, exclaiming, joking or making sexually complimentary or uncomplimentary remarks about a student’s physique or stalking a student.
Senator Omo-Agege, in his lead debate, said: “the most effective way to deal with the offence of sexual harassment in our tertiary institutions is to penalise the very impropriety of the act, with or without consent.”
According to him, sexual harassment must be defined in tertiary educational institutions as statutory rape with strict liability for offenders to be prosecuted easily.
On the extension of the bill to primary, secondary schools, worship centres and work place, Omo-Agege said doing so will not be necessary because the Criminal and Penal codes already adequately deals with these categories with sufficient clarity.
He, however, stressed that the bill prescribes expulsion for students who falsely accuse educators of sexual harassment.

“An educator whose character is maligned is at liberty to sue for defamation under the law of defamation which is well-settled in our jurisprudence and needs no duplication in this bill.”

Forgive Us If We’ve Offended You, Rivers Gov Begs Federal Government

Editorial staff

November 6, 2019

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has begged Federal Government to forgive Rivers state people for any wrong they did to warrant perceived federal neglect currently being suffered by the state.
The Governor, who spoke in Port Harcourt during the maiden delivery of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to downstream investor, Stockgap Terminal by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Bonny, hghlighted some of the vexed issues of federal neglect.
“Because it’s Rivers, Federal Government has refused funding the Bodo-Bonny Highway even when NLNG has agreed to borne 50% of the (N120Billion) project cost.
“Even if Rivers has done anything wrong, please we are begging, forgive us, but I don’t think we have done anything wrong as Rivers people. Rivers is the better place to invest.
“We continue to support every investment brought here and the gratitude we get is that key investors are embracing our confidence to invest here while some people are de-marketing the state.”

Ex President Jonathan Avoids PDP Mega Rally In His Bayelsa State

Editorial staff

November 6, 2019

Former President Goodluck Jonathan was conspicuously absent at the grand finale of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship campaign in his own Bayelsa State today, November 6, hightening fears in political circle of breakdown in relationship between him and the state governor, Seriake Dickson.
Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, whose state shares border with Bayelsa, was also missing in action at the mega rally that was held at the Ox-Bow Lake Pavilion, Yenagoa, the state capital.
How ever, the party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus, other national executive members of the party, Governors of Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwa; Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, who is the Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council; Imo, Emeka Ihediogha and Delta states, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, graced the occasion. Also present were some of the PDP National Assembly members, various youth and women groups.
Secondus, who presented the flag of the PDP to the party’s Governorship Candidate, Senator Douye Diri, described Bayelsa as a PDP state and warned security agencies against compromising the election.
He said that the PDP is on ground in the state even as he claimed that there was no federal presence of the APC in Bayelsa.
He appealed to voters to shun the APC.

We’ll Provide Adequate Funds For Humanitarian Crisis, Disaster Management In Nigeria – Minister

Editorial staff

November 6, 2019

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, has given assurance that the ministry will promptly intervene in humanitarian crises and disaster issues across the country, even as he promised to ensure that adequate funds are earmarked for all such critical interventions in the annual budget.
Speaking today, November 6, at the international workshop on “Improving Civil-Security Cooperation (CISEC) in Humanitarian Interventions in the North East” in Maiduguri, organised by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Agba said that at the level of inter-ministerial collaboration, the Ministry of Budget and National Planning would ensure that adequate funds are provided to the ministry to deliver on its mandates.
He commended the wisdom in the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to carve out a full-fledged Ministry that is hoisted on the tripod of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development amid public misconception of the philosophy and strategy of the federal government.
“For those who had hitherto accused the administration of insensitivity and irresponsibility, it is now very clear that they misconceived, misperceived and misconstrued the essential philosophy and strategy of the administration in responding to the rash of insurgents’ attacks on soft civilian targets after they (Boko Haram insurgents) had been technically degraded.
“To be sure, the new omnibus Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, which will, in particular, drive the humanitarian interventions in the North East, represents a clear and articulate government’s response.
“The minister in charge, who is a Business Administrator and a round peg in a round hole, is trusted to run the affairs of the ministry as a ‘profitable business’ that will benefit the victims of crises and disasters in the context of keeping fidelity to the Social Contract between the government and the people.”
“We will henceforth build on the foundation of the administrative infrastructure that had been set up to respond appropriately and expeditiously to crises and disasters.”

The minister descbibed the theme and focus of the workshop as very germane and clear, saying that they are very apt for responding to the post-insurgency era “in which we have found ourselves as a nation.
“The exigencies of responding to the humanitarian crises in the North East zone of the country through strategic policy initiatives and coordinated administrative measures were, no doubt, largely instrumental to the idea of creating the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.”
He said that the setting up of the ministry was indicative of the President’s concern for the plight of Nigerians, “more especially those who are here in the North East zone, who have been very largely affected by the humanitarian crises occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency.”
The minister said that as a measure of the President’s pan-Nigeria disposition, the Ministry has been structured and hoisted on a tripod of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development all of which are targeted at every nook and cranny of the country to cater to our national diversity.
“Just as Boko Haram-induced humanitarian crises are within the purview of the schedules of the Ministry; so also are the issues of disaster management and social development, which have positive ramifications for every part of the country.”
He tasked the workshop participants to come up with workable ideas and recommendations on improving civil-security cooperation in humanitarian interventions that would assist the minister to drive the necessary implementation of the Ministry’s overarching mandates in the interest of the nation.

Lagos Governor Describes “Your Excellency” Concept As Undemocratic, Un-Godly

Editorial staff

November 6, 2019

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has described the concept such as “Your Excellency” used in addressing President, governors and other executives as not only Undemocratic but symbolises authoritarianism and that it is only God that has the attribute of Excellence.
In a statement today, November 6, which he personally signed, Governor Sanwo-Olu said: “the office of the Governor has been celebrated as the paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity.
“This demi-god mystique spreads over the entire machinery of the executive arm of the government, symbolising an authoritarian disposition on the governed. “It has deformed the orientation of elected and appointed persons who are paid from the taxes of the people to see themselves as oppressors who can do no wrong and must be served, rather than serve the people.”
The governor, who also regards the concept as impeding the genuine expression of the democratic spirit of the society and the meaningful exercise of the sovereignty of the people, said: “whatever might have been the reason for this myth, let us be honest, the office is occupied by a mortal who has been called upon to serve the electorate with humility – and sincerity. The office of Governor is a public trust that calls for sacrifice, modesty and willingness to add value to the lives of the people.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu said that he had come to the conclusion that to change the narrative of governance, “we have to strike down this seeming symbol of executive arrogance that commands popular obeisance and undermines the democratic role of citizens as the masters of those they have elected and appointed to serve.
“It is a conviction that I believe will send the right signals to all politicians and civil servants that service to the people has brought us here. It is the duty we are obliged to do. It is the responsibility that we bear wherever we find ourselves; whenever we are called to serve.
“Only God, the Almighty, the Creator, the Protector is the Most Excellent. No man can share His eternal qualities.
“Thenceforth, I wish to be addressed simply as Mr. Governor, a title that will constantly remind me that I have been chosen out of so many fellow compatriots to lead a collective salvage of our political economy.
“A salutation that sanitises the paraphernalia of office and reminds us all of our imperfections and mortality. To give official effect to this announcement, I shall issue tomorrow an executive order that will formally ensure full compliance with this new policy.”

Air Peace Plane With 96 On Board Escapes Crash In Lagos

Editorial staff

November 5, 2019

A Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, carrying 90 passengers and six crew members narrowly escaped crash as a result of an engine failure few minutes after departing Lagos.
It was gathered that the aircraft, a Boeing B737-500 with the registration number 5N-BUJ, departed the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos for Owerri, Imo State today, November 5, but had to make an air return to base following the incident that led to the collapse of one of its two engines.
A statement by the General Manager, Public Affairs, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), confirmed the incident, saying that it had commenced investigation into the incident.
The AIB explained that the incident occurred at 07:47 local time while the aircraft had departed Lagos at 07:35 local time.
According to him, information provided by the Air Traffic Control revealed that the incident made the crew to immediately make an air return back to base.
He said that the aircraft landed safely at 08:06 local time, adding that all occupants disembarked with no injury.
The statement reads: “The AIB team of safety investigators has commenced investigation.
“As the sole agency mandated to undertake the investigation of aircraft accidents and serious incidents, the bureau wants the public to know that it would be open to receiving any video clip, relevant evidence or information that may assist in this investigation.”

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