The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Just in: Tribunal strikes out suit against Ebonyi NASS member

    National Assembly election petition tribunal sitting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State Capital, on Thursday, dismissed the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Candidate for Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency in the 2019 general elections, Mr. Uchenna Nshi, against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Sylvester Ogbaga.

    Mr. Nshi had dragged Ogbaga to the tribunal seeking the declaration of the election that produced him invalid by reasons of corrupt practices, intimidation of voters, violence, non-compliance to the electoral Act 2010 (as amended)  and unlawful alterations of results in favour of the Second Respondent, Ogbaga.

    He further urged the court to set aside the results of polling units, wards and Local Governments as declared by the 1st Respondent (INEC) which gave the 2nd Respondent victory based on the above grounds.

    But in about 2 hours unanimous judgement delivered by the three man panel Chaired by Justice Sika Henry Aprioku, the tribunal held that the petition lacked merit as the Petitioner failed to bring preponderance of evidence to prove his case.

    On the allegation of criminal alterations of results in favour of the 2nd Respondent, the tribunal held that the Petitioner was unable to discharge the burden of proves as he failed to bring credible evidence or witnesses to back his claims.

    Read Also: Election Petition Tribunal changes sitting date

    The tribunal also held that the allegations of corrupt practices, noncompliance with Electoral Act 2010 as amended and Guidelines for the election was not substantiated by the Petitioner, even as he did not prove to the court how they affected the outcome of the election.

    He said the testimonies of the petitioner’s witnesses on the alleged corrupt practices and noncompliance to the Electoral Act and Guidelines amounted to hearsay as they confirmed during cross examination that they were not present at the polling units where the infractions took place and accordingly, are unreliable and cannot be attached any probative value.

    The tribunal said the Petitioner dealt a heavy blow on his petition for failing to call any witness who was present at any of the polling units where he alleged malpractices and violence during the election, adding that the testimonies of the witnesses of the Petitioner who were not present in any of the polling units in contention amounted to falsehood.

    The tribunal therefore, ruled that the election of the 2nd Respondent, Hon. Ogbaga, was valid by reason of the failure of the Petitioner to discharge the burden proves of non-compliance to the Electoral Act and Guidelines, malpractices, and criminal alterations of the election results.

    The tribunal added that it couldn’t have embarked on voyage of discovery in order to help the Petitioner prove his allegations.

    Accordingly, the petition was dismissed for lacking in merit.

    The tribunal also awarded the cost of N150, 000 each in favour of the 1st and second Respondents while N20, 000.00 cost was awarded in favour of the 3rd Respondent.

    Reacting to the judgement, Hon. Ogbaga described the judgement as the reaffirmation of the verdict of INEC that conducted the election.

    He urged the petitioner not to see the dismissal of his petition by tribunal as a loss; rather, he should work with him as a younger brother and in-law, for the good of the constituency, as he has the capacity to protect their interests.

    Also reacting, Counsel to the Petitioner, Barrister Mbam Pius, who held brief for the led Counsel, Michael Odoh, said, by the time they get a copy of the judgement, they would decide whether to taste its veracity in the appellate court or not.

  • Tribunal affirms Stella Oduah’s election as Senator

    Anambra state election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Awka, has affirmed the election of Senator Stella Oduah .

    The Judgement, which lasted over four hours, was given in Awka by the Chairman of the election petitions Tribunal, Justice Esther Haruna.

    Senator Oduah, representing Anambra North Senatorial zone was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the National Assembly elections on 23rd February, 2019 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party PDP.

    After the elections, the former Minister of Aviation, was dragged to the tribunal by the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr Chinedu Emeka, who was former Deputy Governor of the state.

    The APGA candidate in his petition at the tribunal, alleged that Oduah was not qualified to contest the election because she did not possess the required academic qualifications.

    Read Also: Tribunal sacks APC Rep in C’ River

    Again, he added that by the time of the election, that Oduah was still a member of APGA.

    The former Deputy Governor also alleged that the election did not comply with the Electoral Act.

    However, delivering the judgement Thursday, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Esther Haruna, said the petitioner failed to prove his allegations beyond reasonable doubt and therefore, said the PDP candidate was validly elected

    Meanwhile, the tribunal also affirmed the election of Hon Valentine Ayika of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) representing Anaocha, Njikoka and Dunukofia federal Constituency in the state.

    The PDP candidate, who was former House of Assembly member, was dragged to the tribunal by the former member, representing the area, Hon Dozie Nwankwo, who contested on the platform of APGA

  • Police parade 72 suspects in Imo

    The Imo State Police Command Thursday paraded 72 suspects believed to be behind the recent wave of criminalities across the State.

    The Commissioner of Police, Rabiu Ladodo, said that the suspects were picked at different points within the state and beyond within the last six weeks.

    He said that the clampdown on criminal elements in the state is in line with the “Operation Puff Adder” launched by the Inspector General of Police, which he said is still in force.

    According to him, 22 kidnap victims were rescued, while 11 stolen vehicles were recovered within the time under review.

    Read Also: Civil Defence parades suspects

    Among those paraded were members of a notorious kidnap syndicate that specializes in the abduction of under aged children at their homes, often times in the dead of the night.

    The suspects, Chukwuemeka Onyebuchi (43) and Aina Nwachukwu aged 45, were arrested on a tipoff after they stole two minors, Oluwa Chukwu Opanwa (4) and Promise Opanwa (2), both female of the same parents at Umuobum in Ideato South Council Area of the state.

    According to the CP, the Police are on the trail of other fleeing members of the gang; while efforts are on to recover the stolen children.

    Also arrested, was a member of a gang of serial rapists, Stanley Ebere, who participated in the gang rape of an 11-year old girl in the company of the fleeing members of the gang

  • Xenophobia: Security beefed up at South Africa High Commission

    Security has been beefed up at the South African High Commission, Abuja.

    This may not be unconnected to a security report which has suggested a possible attack on the embassy by angry Nigerians over the incessant attacks on Nigerians and their businesses in South Africa.

    This has led to the closing down of the South African Missions in Abuja and Lagos.

    The recent attacks on Nigerians and Foreigners in South Africa had led to a wave of protest and treat of reprisal by Nigerian youth.

    Already some South African investment in Nigeria had come under attacks, including telecommunication giants MTN and super mart, Shoprite.

    When our reporter first visited the High Commission in Abuja, there were only five security men at the gate.

    But ten minutes later, two patrol vehicles of the Police and the Civil Defence Corps arrived.

    The police patrol vehicle was parked directly opposite the High Commission while the Civil Defence Corps patrol vehicle was stationed adjacent to the High Commission.

    Official clarification by the Mission’s Department of International Relation and Cooperation regretted the action.

    Read Also: Xenophobia: FG reads Riot Act, warns against attacks on foreigners

    Though there has been no direct physical threat to any of our diplomats and citizens,  the Minister of International Relation and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, however said the decision was taken as a precautionary measure; stressing that the Mission view their safety as a priority.

    The official statement reads: “The Minister of International Relation and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, has expressed her disappointment at having to take the decision to support the closure of the South African High Commission in Abuja and the Consulate in Lagos.

    “Both offices were closed on Tuesday, following concerns reported to the Minister by officials at both these missions.

    “This followed the receipt of threats against the mission staff as well as the property of South Africa.

    “After extensive consultations with relevant stakeholders as well as a security assessment of threats, the Mission and the Department took the decision to close the offices.

    “At this point, there has been no direct physical threat to any of our diplomats and citizens, however, we view their safety as a priority and have thus taken the precautionary measure of closing, while the situation remains somewhat unpredictable.

    “The Minister expressed displeasure at misleading reports circulating on social media about a direct physical attack on the acting head of mission. These reports are totally false, as are reports of vandalism at the Commission in Abuja and the Consulate in Lagos.

    “Our acting head of mission is in constant communication with the department and with the authorities in Nigeria, who are providing extra security at South African offices.

    “The department has received reports of marches by demonstrators to South African companies as well as attempts to attack them.

    “We are commutating with businesses that have branches in Nigeria and have requested their senior managers to remain in close contact with the department and the ministry.

    “It is established tradition in foreign policy that diplomatic missions should enjoy protection from the host country and while we remain perturbed at the threats directed at our missions, we are grateful to note that the security forces and the government of Nigeria are upholding this long-established practice of foreign policy.

    “The Minister confirmed that her directive to the Mission that links should be encouraged between the youth of SA and Nigeria and that the Nigerian student association should be invited to visit SA has been acted upon.

     

    “Meetings have been held at the mission with the student organisation and a committee was established to continue the dialogue and work on the detail of the proposed visit.

    “The department and the ministry will remain in constant contact with our representatives   and will continue to assess the situation on the ground and provide feedback as new information becomes available.

    “The Minister is planning to meet the African Heads of Mission to South Africa as early as next week.”

  • Dickson, PDP begin post-primary reconciliation

    Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, and the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have commenced a reconciliatory process to resolve grievances arising from the just-concluded governorship primaries.

    A statement by Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary, Fidelis Soriwei, confirmed that some frontline aspirants met with the governor after the internal poll that produced Senator Douye Diri as candidate.

    The governor was also quoted in the statement as saying that the leadership of the party would make deliberate efforts to contact all the other aspirants with a view to bringing them back effectively to the PDP family.

    Some of the aspirants, who met with the governor, are the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (retd), Keniebi Okoko, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Talford Ongolo.

    Dickson commended the 21 contestants, who participated in the gubernatorial primaries for their show of political maturity and sportsmanship.

    Read Also: Poll: Seriake Dickson , APC clash in Bayelsa

    He reappointed Ongolo, who resigned to contest the governorship primaries, as the Chief of Staff.

    The governor recalled that all those who indicated interest to contest the governorship were allowed to go into the race, carry out their campaigns without victimization from the government they were serving.

    Dickson, who spoke during the delayed monthly Praise night for the month of August, advocated tolerance and maturity among the political class in the gubernatorial election scheduled for November 16, 2019 in the state.

    He also called on the Indepedent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant agencies to ensure the conduct of free, fair and credible gubernatorial elections.

    The governor advised those with ambitions to occupy political office to start the process with prayers to seek the face of God before following up with consultations.

    He said that those with the desire to serve the people through public offices should cultivate the habit of serving the people and giving the Almighty God his place in praise as a starting point noting that God is the true source of power.

    He said: “You all have seen what has happened, how once again God pushed back the proud waters and the powerful people who thought that they can get this thing, the governorship, by force.

    “And I will always remind them that power comes from God.

    “If you want power, you go on your knees to pray, to consult and anyone who desires to lead, must first serve and we thank God for what he has done but this us only a first phase”.

    The governor described the primaries conducted by the state chapter of the Opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which produced Chief David Lyon, an oil surveillance security contractor, as a sham.

    He said: “That is an imposition my dear friends. Let’s call it by its proper name – an imposition.

    “What has happened at the other side is an imposition and I want to sympathize with all the very qualified people who offer themselves for service but have been rudely and crudely shut out and down in the most criminal manner and in all of these to produce a small toothless Lion.”

  • Yahoo experiences outage, several users impacted

    Yahoo said it suffered an outage on Thursday across its services, including Yahoo Mail.

    “You may not be able to access some of our services, including email. Our top priority right now is getting this fixed,” Yahoo Customer Care said in a tweet.

    The tweet did not specify the number of users affected by the outage or its cause.

    Outage monitoring website Downdetector.com showed that more than four thousand users had been impacted.

    Yahoo is owned by Verizon Communications Inc. (Reuters/NAN)

  • ‘Professor’, 11 others remanded over alleged fraud

    60-year-old Charles Jide-Oni, who claimed to be a professor and lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State, has been arraigned before a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos state for allegedly obtaining money under false pretences and engaging in Advance Fee Fraud.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibadan zonal office arraigned the ‘Professor’ and 12 other internet fraud suspects before Justice Nicholas Oweibo, the Federal High Court vacation judge for the Southwest zone, on Wednesday.

    Jide-Oni’s arraignment was sequel to the EFCC’s damning findings about the activities of an illegal financial outfit he floated through which he allegedly swindled his victims of several millions.

    Some of the victims had earlier written a petition to the Commission which led to the investigations that indicted him in the alleged fraudulent act.

    Among other 12 suspects equally arraigned are: Olaleye Kolapo, Madukife Ifeanyi Azuka, Fatanmi Yinka Sunday, Adebayo Bolaji Adeyinka, Adeleke Peter and Adebowale Fadairo.

    Others are: Oyewunmi Tolulope Michael, Bello Ayoade Jalal Arikalam, Owolabi Toheeb Tolulope, Abdullahi Abdulazeez Oluwatobi, Temitope Fatolu and Adesina Adewale.

    Read Also: Three rape suspects remanded

    Fatolu (aka Gold Crumb), however, opted for a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to a one-count amended charge of fraudulent impersonation when he was presented before the court.

    He was subsequently sentenced to one year imprisonment with effect from June 20, 2019 when he was arrested.Gold Crumb was also to restitute the sum of $500 through the Federal Republic of Nigeria to his victim and to equally forfeit his iPhone 6, Nokia 103 and Hp Laptop to the Federal government of Nigeria, being part of the benefit he derived from his fraudulent act.Due to the bail application filed and argued by his lawyer on his behalf, Justice Oweibo granted Jide-Oni bail to the tune of N10 million and two sureties in like sum.

    The sureties, the court held, must be of Grade Level 10 in the civil service and must be resident in Osogbo, the Osun state capital.

    The judge also ordered that the accused person be remanded in Ilesha prison pending the time he is able to fulfill his bail conditions as he adjourned substantive hearing to October 14.

    Unlike Fatolu, other 11 suspects, who were charged with sundry internet-related offences including obtaining money by false pretence, impersonation, being in possession of forged and fraudulent documents to defraud people, pleaded not guilty to the respective charges preferred against them.Consequent upon their not-guilty plea, EFCC counsel, Dr. Ben Ubi, crave the court for an order to remand them in prison and fix dates for the hearing of their cases.

    The court granted the remand prayer and also fixed different dates for the hearings.

    He fixed October 7 for the hearing of Fatami’s, Adeleke’s, and Fadairo’s cases as he ordered that they are remanded in the Ilesa prison.Olaleye and Azkuka are to be remanded in Ado-Ekiti prison till October 9 when their cases will be opened for hearing.

    For Abdullahi, Oyewunmi and Bello, the hearings would hold on October 14. They are ordered to take shelter in Ilesa prison till then.The judge equally fixed October 15 and 21 for hearing of Adesina’s and Owolabi respective cases while both will be housed in Ilesa prison pending the adjourned date.Adebayo was, however, returned to the EFCC’s custody.

  • 40 percent of power generators shutdown for low demand

    Over 40 percent of the power generation plants in the Nigeria Supply Industry (NESI) have been shut down because of low demand for electricity by the distribution companies.

    There are 28 power generating plants in the nation’s electricity market. 85 percent of the power generated in Nigeria is from gas fired plants.

    Three are hydros (Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro).

    Seven of the plants are the legacy power stations that were privatised of which eight are thermal and gas, while the three tiers of government own 10 Independent Power Power Plants.

    General Manager, System Operator (SO), Mr. Emmanuel Umoh, broke the news to reporters during a training workshop in Shiroro Hydroelectric Power Plant, Shiroro in Niger State.

    According to him, the NESI allocates about 260mw to 300mw daily to Republic of Benin and 120mw to 130mw to Niger Republic.

    Read Also: Ex-govs, former ministers to be grilled over $16b power projects

    The load rejection of load, according to him, is responsible for instability of the grid as the SO of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) always compels the generating firms to shutdown operations for unutilised load to avoid high voltage and damage to transmission transformers and system collapse.

    The SO, operating from the National Control Center in Oshogbo, Osun State usually directs the switch off further generation once the frequency is out of the range of 49.75 to 50.05Hz.

    Umoh also noted that although the transmission capacity is now over 9,000mw, the DisCos are not ready to pick the load.

    He said the TCN now relies of whatever load the DisCos demand to direct generation companies’ production to avoid waste since Nigeria cannot store electricity.

    He noted that there is a new technology for Energy Storage System (ESS) that is yet to take effective useage globally. Umoh said that the ESS may not be useful in the Nigeria situation because there is no idea of when the demand would increase.

    He disclosed that the DisCos have the propensity of supplying their customers from the 33Kv lines that are 800 in the country.

    The lines, he said, “are not healthy enough,” for such usage.

    He also revealed that the power allocated to the eligible customers is an  “exempted load” which is not fixed but a percentage of the generated power.

    In terms of load rejection, he said that Enugu, Port Harcourt and Benin distribution companies, are worst off in term of load rejection.

    He added that the “DisCos have the capacity to take more load but for commercial reasons they don’t do so.”

    Umoh said that the TCN compiles DisCos load rejection data and sends it to the Federal Ministry of Power and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for action.

  • Appoint substantive National Secretary now, aspirant tells APC

    One of the aspirants for the position of National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Barrister Muhammad Bello Mustapha wants the leadership of the party to act fast in appointing a substantive National Secretary for the party.

    Mustapha said in a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja that it was not healthy for the party to leave the position vacant for too long adding that the position has been vacant for more than six months, a development which he claimed is alien to the party constitution.

    He therefore wants the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee to ensure fairness and follow due process in appointing a national scribe to fill the vacant position.

    According to him, the party needs to appoint a capable person to man the position to ensure wider acceptability of the APC across board, “It is more than six months that he won the election and there is no law in the country that says the position can be manned by his former deputy in an acting capacity. So, it is high time the party, particularly the NWC do the right thing to allow the party move forward and get wide range acceptability among Nigerians. That is my appeal to all and sundry.”

    Read Also: Tribunal sacks APC Rep in C’ River

    When asked on what he will do differently if appointed as the National Secretary of the party, he said: “I can assure you that the party and the people of this country will witness tremendous success. The records are there. In 2003, I was appointed by the Presidential Campaign Council of ANPP as the returning officer in Adamawa State and Adamu Modibbo was there and also Hon. Tony Nwoye can attest to it. When I was appointed the Returning Officer, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, was the sitting VP then and Adamu Muazu Modibbo was the party gubernatorial candidate in Adamawa. We won the elections but we were denied victory, the records are there. And there was nothing the PDP did not engage in to buy our conscience, myself and the gubernatorial candidate but they failed to achieve that.

    “We stood our ground, we even defeated the sitting Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in his own polling unit in Adamawa and President Buhari defeated the then President Olusegun Obasanjo in Adamawa in a landslide victory.

    “After the elections, I was detained more than twenty times by the then IGP Tafa Balogun. There was nothing the security agencies, particularly the police did not do to subvert the interest of the people and cajoled me into leaving what is right but I refused, I remained myself and until today, I remained myself.

    “So, with these little facts I have given you, the party can be rest assured that if given this appointment as the national secretary, which I fully deserved in the first place, because by the laws and regulations of the party, I am still the runner up with the requirement to be appointed. I will ensure everybody are carried along and try to mend fences in bringing back aggrieved members of the party and unite everyone to forge an unbreakable bond in elevating the party to enviable status.”

  • MFM relocates power must change hands to Yaba church

    The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) has temporarily relocated its monthly Power Must Change Hands programme from the Prayer City on Lagos-Ibadan expressway to her International Headquarters at Onike in Yaba, Lagos.

    The power-packed programme holds in the morning hours of the first Saturday of every month.

    According to the Assistant General Overseer in charge of Administration, Pastor Gbesan Adebambo, the relocation, approved by the General Overseer of MFM Worldwide, Dr. Daniel Olukoya, is an interim arrangement informed by the on-going road reconstruction works and the partial closure of the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway.

    Read Also: Olukoya hands over new medical centre to MTU

    “Consequently, all MFM Lagos Regional Headquarters are directed to hook up to International Headquarters for live streaming of the programme by 7:00am prompt,” the memo directed.

    It added: “Accordingly, you are required to disseminate this information adequately at the regional headquarters, zones and branches in the region under your supervision.”

    The memo, addressed to the ministry’s pastorate leaders, also noted that only the regional headquarters is authorised to beam the programme live to worshippers.