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  • Mmesoma: CSO urges Nigerians to trust public institutions

    Mmesoma: CSO urges Nigerians to trust public institutions

    The Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI) has urged Nigerians to have faith in public institutions in the country.

    The civil society noted that the forgery case leveled against Anambra State pupil, Ejikeme Mmesoma by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board showed that Nigerian institutions were doing their job.

    It noted that despite public uproar, JAMB was able to show that Mmesoma forged her 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination result slip.

    The organisation noted that JAMB, under the leadership of its Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede had been performing its constitutional mandate “very well without fear or favor and not based on religion or ethnic affiliation but purely on merit and professionalism of the board to give Nigerians a very reliable examination conduct.”

    The Director, Programs, Media and Publicity, TADI, Taiwan Adeniran said this during a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja

    He said: “We want to appreciate the firm position of the Board for its unwavering commitment to upholding the sanctity of the nation’s educational system and its resolve to always deliver credible and fair assessments in a manner that has reinforced the confidence of the people in the credibility of the institution.

    “Also on record is the assurance of the Board to be guided by the principles of inclusiveness and fairness as demonstrated by its seamless and prompt deployment of dedicated software known as the Central Admission Processing System, CAPS, which not only eliminates human interference in the admission process, a very commendable step that had been initiated by the board.

    “We want to express our firm belief as a responsible civil society organisation that JAMB as constituted under the current leadership of Professor Is-haq Oloyede as we pass a vote of confidence on his leadership acumen to have been performing the constitutional mandate very well without fear or favor and not based on religion or ethnic affiliation but purely on merit and professionalism of the board to give Nigerians a very reliable examination conduct.

    Read Also: UTME result forgery: Mmesoma suffering from superiority complex, says psychologist

    “On the strength of the above we once again urged every Nigerian to be supportive of the nation’s institutions at every level for a better system and a culture that promotes National Unity and respect for individual rights.”

    The organisation also urged prospective UTME candidates to shun fraudulent activities that could jeopardise their chances and reputation as JAMB shall continue to improve on the security and sanctity of the Examination and its Results.

    “We also urge the JAMB to engage student leaders, civil society organisations, and professional bodies to interact with them as an advocacy strategy to dispel the issues of manipulation and due process of obtaining JAMB’s authentic results.

    “Furthermore, the Mmesoma Ejikeme’s case unfortunately confirm the great concern over the rising degeneration of morals and overturn of values in our society. Therefore, it is imperative for a symbiotic collaboration amongst the principal stakeholders such as Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and Parents Teachers Association (PTA) in the educational delivery sector of the nation to find a way forward to address the decadence of moral and value upturn at the basic education level,” Adeniran added.

     Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti-Osa I) commended Obasa for resurrecting the issue, saying “we remember you sponsored the bill on Neighbourhood Safety Corps, and we see what it has done for our state and how others are copying it.”

    Noting President Bola Tinubu started well with moves to rejig the economy, Yishawu said security is at the heart of a country’s progress.

    The motion was supported by other lawmakers who lamented inadequate police personnel in Lagos, and suggested police reforms at the national level. The lawmakers argued further the establishment of state police would boost employment.

    The House congratulated President Tinubu for his election as Chairman of Authority of Heads of State and Government of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It said it believes in Tinubu’s capacity to bring the countries under ECOWAS to work together.

    The House resolved a report relating to legislative compliance on appointment of some  nominees without its approval. The lawmakers called on the Executive arm to act in conformity with the law.

  • JAMB is not a court

    JAMB is not a court

    To doubt, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has made giant stride since the era of Prof Ishaq Oloyede, unlike the previous era when snakes munched money that should be in the nation’s coffers as lunch. For many years, JAMB was synonymous with scandal, selling marks while their staff lived large. It was an era when people who wanted to read law, could offer physics, chemistry and mathematics, instead of literature, religious knowledge and history.

    With detachable passport photos on the examination admission cards, dubious JAMB examiners in connivance with criminally-minded candidates easily changed the passport photos of candidates with that of university graduates in the core sciences to sit for the exams. The science of embossed photos and biometrics were still in the womb of scientists. But all that free-for-all banditry seems to have ended, with the coming of Oloyede and advancement in identity security solutions.

    JAMB not only gained respectability in the quality of examinations they conducted, they became a cash cow for the cash strapped federal government. So, JAMB has been on a cruise as a model agency of government, until one Mmesoma Ejikeme, wanted to shoot it down. While claiming to be intelligent all her life, coming first in class since the beginning of her time in school, Mmesoma was determined to come tops again, with the best JAMB result in 2023.

    When she couldn’t make the top scores perspiring, she invented the means through self-help. After all, in her desperation coming tops is all that matters, damn the procedure. If she had stared down JAMB in the recent crisis, all the great work of Oloyede would have been made a mockery of, by the netizen army, which can wreck any reputation in a matter of hours. But Oloyede had laid traps, akin to the rat gum, to safeguard the reputation of his agency.

    Rat gum as it is called, is an interesting trap to catch rats. When a rat lands on it, it stays entrapped by the gum. Though reasonably unharmed, it awaits slaughter even by the weakest of the children. The more the rat tries to escape, the more the gum entangles it, and the more it gets messier bathing in the gum. Such was the imagery that came to my mind, as Mmesoma tried to wriggle herself out of the self-inflicted mess she landed herself in.

    Of course, this writer is not one of those who are asking what motivated Mmesoma to attempt to steal the thunder from Precious Nkechi Umeh, who scored 360 and came tops in the 2023 JAMB examination. It won’t be far away from jealousy and greed – the twin malady of man from the beginning of time. For Christians, the biblical stories of Cain and Abel, and Esau and Jacob are the commonest. In modern times, it is the fuel of political upheavals that upends tranquillity in our communities, states and the federation.

    It is the reason southeast is in turmoil in the struggle between the different factions of IPOB. While Nnamdi Kanu held sway, Simon Ekpa must have been eying him, and wishing to supplant him. Now that Kanu is entrapped by the federal government, Ekpa is emboldened by Kanu’s helplessness to dish out sit-at-home orders to embarrass his former leader, in the name of helping him. It is the same reason that election petition tribunals are quaking with legal slugfests, even when the combatants know they are wasting precious resources.

    So, when Mmesoma out of greed and/or jealousy wanted to be the number one in JAMB in the country, she cared less whose ox is gored. Whether all by herself or with the help of accomplices, she manufactured success for herself. She declared herself the winner, in the same manner Aisha Dahiru was desperately declared winner of Adamawa State 2023 gubernatorial election, by INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Hudu Ari, when she did not win at the polls.

    Again, in the same manner that important issues in our country that should worry everyone are ethnicized, either to save face or force accommodation for bad behaviour, Mmesoma’s glaring misdemeanour got entangled in ethnic snuggery. On one hand, were some of Mmesoma’s kinsmen and women who drew their swords to battle her imaginary enemies, while on the other hand, were the professional ethnic baiters who saw another opportunity to bath her ethnic group in liquid gum.

    While this column will not waste energy on either of the two sides, who engage in worthless pastimes, it disagrees with the JAMB’s kneejerk reaction to Mmesoma’s misdemeanour. The claim in some quarters that since the girl has subsequently admitted her wrongdoing, whatever JAMB did is right does not hold water. JAMB did not administer the basic principle of fair hearing, which is a fundamental principle of natural justice, before it slammed her with three-year ban from writing future JAMB exams.

    Read Also: Mmesoma: JAMB to sanitise nation’s public examination sector

    While administrative adjudication, which is what JAMB engaged in, in dealing with the Mmesoma’s case, has been recognized in legal theory as a way of dealing with administrative cases, there are fundamental principles that must be observed. Learned author Ese Malami, captured it in his book on Administrative Law. First, the tribunal, officer or authority must observe any rule of procedure or process of adjudication laid down for it by statute or terms of reference.

    Secondly, it must observe the rules of natural justice or fair hearing, that is, the due process of law, for that is the basic requirement incumbent on any person, or body who aspires or undertakes to decide any matter. In Mmesoma’s case, it appears that the brouhaha from especially her netizen sympathizers got the better part of JAMB officials and its sympathizers. After issuing a statement that the result was fake, which it is rightly entitled to do, JAMB subsequently went ahead to sanction her arbitrarily.

    A simple procedure of writing her and requesting her to defend the allegation of forgery would have sufficed, to satisfy the requirement of fair hearing. Again, it is important that the punishment which JAMB meted out is known and provided for in advance, before the misdemeanour allegedly committed by Mmesoma. That is the import of section 36(8) of the 1999 constitution (as amended). If the three year-ban came from the whiff of Oloyede’s angst against the temerity of Mmesoma to mess up his reputation, then the court would most likely shoot it down.        

    Since this column is about law and public power, it may not be fair to use the Jesus standard of asking only those who have never forged documents to cast the first stone on the lying Mmesoma. Of course, the Anambra State government after confirming the forgery, through a panel of enquiry, has asked that she be treated by a psychologist.

  • Attacks on Saraki: Kwara youths demand suspension of PDP leader

    Attacks on Saraki: Kwara youths demand suspension of PDP leader

    The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a new twist with some youths of the party demanding suspension of its Youth Leader Prince Haliru D Mahmud.

    The youth accused Mahmud of outrageous alleged claims and incessant verbal attacks on former Senate President Bukola Saraki and other party leaders.

    The party was reported to have suspended its leader in the State and former Senate President Bukola Saraki for being responsible for the party’s awful outing in the 2023 governorship and House of Assembly election.

    But PDP’s Spokesperson Prince Tunji Moronfoye dismissed the report.

    The youth leader blamed Prince Moronfoye for been economical with the truth.

    Mahmud said: “My attention has been drawn to a press release by Prince Moronfoye, debunking the rift between Bukola Saraki and state Working Committee of PDP.

    “I’m not only disheartened by the response of the publicity secretary but also disappointed by his pretence not to be one of the aggrieved persons.

    Read Also: House halts proposed increase in fees of federal varsities, unity schools

    “The reward for hypocrisy and betrayal is temporary. There’s no gainsaying there is a rift between the leader and the SWC.

    “We are all aware of how the SWC members were ridiculed and excluded in the affairs of the party before, during, and after the elections and our functions usurped by Saraki’s favourites.

    “Kwarans are all aware that candidates to various elective offices in the 2023 elections were single-handedly picked by Saraki without consultation and input from the party.

    “The world is also not unaware of how the party has been underfunded since 2018 and how the 2023 Presidential Campaign funds were concealed from the state working committee and scientifically syphoned.

    “These unpatriotic and non transparent attitudes resulted in our total failure, and that’s we struggled to win only one House of Assembly seat out of 24, lost 6 House of Representatives and senatorial seats in Kwara state respectively.”

    Carpeting Mahmud, youth leaders from Kwara Central, South and North districts Mallam AbdulHamid Issa, Mallam Sulyman Kehinde and Mallam Jibril Audu, in a statement, said that Mahmud also known as Dan Iya’s antic against his “all-time benefactor” is a new turn of events, alleging that “state actors and his newly-found paymaster” behind his over-bloated claims and verbal attacks against the former President of the Senate Bukola Saraki.

    The statement reads: “We, the Kwara PDP Youth Leaders across the sixteen LGAs and three senatorial districts have monitored with utmost dismay the countless outrageous claims and unruly attacks by a roundly-failed marauder like one Haliru Dantsoho against the leader of our great party in Kwara Senator Bukola Saraki and by extension the major financier of the party in the state.

    “We daresay it is not surprising that a renowned character like ‘Dan Iya’ who is always found wanting in several frauds and scandals of all sorts could once again attempt to cause disharmony within the party ranks and soil the untainted pedigree of our distinguished leader.

    “Likewise, in 2018, We are not unaware of his antics against the instructions of the state chapter at the venue of our great party’s Port Harcourt presidential primaries when he sold off his vote and also tried to influence other persons to jeopardize the hope of a distinguished Kwaran to clinch the presidential ticket at the National Convention.

    “How laughable could such an act by this unfaithful character claim to seek accountability and transparency from the party he once sold out? Again, we are in awe of his recent ‘strict instructions’ said to have been given to his family members by voting against the emergence of all PDP candidates at the 2023 general elections in Kwara state. What can be more unpatriotic than this?

    “We are saying unequivocally that his act is an affront and debasement to the sacred office he is presently occupying.”

  • UTME result forgery: Mmesoma suffering from superiority complex, says psychologist

    UTME result forgery: Mmesoma suffering from superiority complex, says psychologist

    • Give offender second chance, NAPTAN chief urges JAMB

    A clinical psychologist at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Dr. Fisayo Adebimpe, has said the 19-year-old student who forged her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, Mmesoma Ejikeme, suffered from “inbuilt superiority complex” and “conduct disorder tendency”.

    Adebimpe said a personality assessment procedure should be done to ascertain the abnormal personality traits in Mmesoma, adding that a “Cognitive Behaviour Therapy” should also be considered to dissect her behaviour.

    She said: “The girl has always been the best, hence she doesn’t want anyone to be above her. She has inbuilt superiority complex. With that mindset, there is no way she would allow anyone be ahead of her. She expected more when she saw her result, but life is not like that.

    “Parents should tell children that they can’t be the best all the time. She has ‘conduct disorder tendency’ for her to manipulate her result. There is something within her that prompted her to do such. She is obsessed with being the best. This is a lesson. Some kids have a sense of entitlement that they must be on top of their class.”

    Also, the Deputy National President of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, said it was unfortunate Mmesoma was desperate for sponsorship and scholarships.

    “The faking would attractive a lot of grants and scholarships. That was her target. She wanted sponsorship and all that. Unfortunately, she missed it. As a penalty, she should miss this year’s admission.

    “It is very unfortunate that even the father insisted that her daughter didn’t forge the results, that she had been topping her class. But now that the truth is out, they have admitted the offence and are seeking pardon. It is unfortunate this is happening.

    “Since she is a teenager, one is moved to say Mmesoma should be forgiven. But what about serving as deterrent to others that engage in such? The penalty for this should be missing admission for this year…

    “We also appreciate JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, for his efforts at repositioning the organisation and making its examinations credible.”

    Also, the Coordinator of the Lagos State chapter of Child Protection Network (CPN), Mrs. Ronke Oyelakin, called for psychosocial support for Mmesoma and her family.

    “She needs psychosocial support. Her name is everywhere. It is a national issue and it is not so good. Parents have a lot to do. The girl was even bold enough to challenge JAMB. What parents do also rub off on their children. The entire Mmesoma family needs psychosocial support.

    “I don’t know if she has younger ones. The girl also needs to retrace her step because she is still very young. Every other child also needs the right values.

    “Our leaders too are at fault. The society has a lot to do also. Parents and leaders should come out clean and be role models to our children. It is so terrible we don’t even know who has the right certificate anymore. Maybe JAMB would still help to find a way around that.

    “Her records show she is brilliant. It is shocking where she learnt that behaviour from. Above all, she needs proper rehabilitation because she has made a major mistake that put her in the limelight for the wrong reason,” she said.

    President of the Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Mr. Emmanuel Orji said it was imperative to stop prioritising certificates, but promote skills acquisition.

    He said: “This is a clarion call to everyone. We cannot continue like this. If a child of 19 years can do that, it shows corruption has eaten deep into the nation’s fabric. This is not the kind of country we want to leave for our children.

    “We should stop prioritising certificates. That is why everyone wants to do and undo. If we begin to prioritise skills, it is better.”

  • PDP governors meet today over party’s crisis

    PDP governors meet today over party’s crisis

    Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will meet today to deliberate on the state of affairs in the main opposition party.

    The meeting is being convened by the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed.

    All the party’s 13 governors are expected to attend the meeting at the Akwa Ibom Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.

    A statement by the Director General of the PDP Governors’ Forum, C. I. D. Maduabum, said the meeting will also discuss recent developments in the nation’s political, social, and economic spheres.

    “The meeting will also discuss the state of the forum, the party, PDP and the role of the PDP governors in stabilising the PDP and the nation.

    “In addition, the new leadership of the forum may likely unfold their unity and progressive agenda during the meeting,” the statement added.

    Today’s meeting will be forum’s first since Governor Mohammed became its chairman and Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara was elected as its vice chairman.

  • APC state chairmen pass vote of confidence in Adamu, NWC

    APC state chairmen pass vote of confidence in Adamu, NWC

    • Your loyalty shall be rewarded, says party chair

    Chairmen of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) across the states yesterday passed a vote of confidence in the party’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).

    The state chairmen spoke at the party’s NWC meeting at the party’s national secretariat yesterday in Abuja.

    Addressing reporters after the meeting, acting Secretary of the Forum of APC State Chairmen and Cross River State Chairman Alphonsus Ogar said the forum was impressed by Adamu’s report and pledged to support him and the NWC.

    Dispelling rumours of dissension between the party’s NWC and the forum, Ogar said: “There’s only one APC, and we came again in solidarity to say we are strongly behind our national chairman and the NWC.”

    The forum’s scribe also debunked reports of a frosty relationship with their governors, especially over the compilation of names for consideration for federal appointments.

    He said: “Those letters were addressed to state chairmen and every state chairman is loyal to his governor. Where there’s no governor, they are loyal to the stakeholders. There’s no such crack. We must commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for keeping to his promise that state chairmen should be captains of these ships. I can assure you that the letters were addressed to us.”

    Adamu had assured the state chairmen that President Tinubu would patronise and reward the party at the state and national levels for contributing tom its victory in this year’s general election.

    The national chairman told the state chieftains that the President had begun extensive consultations, assuring them that various appointments would be released in the next two months.

    He said: “It is our hope and prayers that the President will come along with us in that regard and strengthen the relationship of the party in the states and at the national levels. You will enjoy some level of patronage in the new government. Those are the key issues that we do hope to share with you in the course of this meeting.

    “The President has just started. He is doing his extensive consultation before coming up with his nominees for ministers. The nomination of the ministers will come first. They will go through their screening until they are pronounced after they have been submitted by the President, and Mr. President will formally appoint his ministers and swear them in.

    “These are some of the exercises that will take place in the next two months. It cannot happen by next week, but certainly that is what we should be expecting.”

    Adamu urged the state chairmen to manage the party well to ensure its victory in the off-session elections in three states in November.

  • Bayelsa governorship poll: Court to determine Sylva’s fate September 28

    Bayelsa governorship poll: Court to determine Sylva’s fate September 28

    The immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, will, on September 28, know whether or not he is qualified to contest the next governorship election in Bayelsa State scheduled for November 11.

    Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday fixed the date to deliver judgment in a suit filed by an aggrieved member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Demesuoyefa Kolomo.

    Kolomo, in the suit in which APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are defendants, prayed the court to, among others, disqualify Sylva as the party’s candidate for the election.

    He urged the court to determine whether Sylva is qualified to contest in the election, having allegedly occupied the office of governor of Bayelsa May 29, 2007 to April 15, 2008 and May 27, 2008 to January 27, 2012, in view of the provision Sections 180 (2)(a) and 182(1)b) of 1999 Constitution.

    Before fixing the date for judgment, Justice Okorowo took arguments from lawyers to the parties.

    Arguing the plaintiff’s case, Prof. Abiodun Amuda-Kannike (SAN) faulted the arguments by lawyers to Sylva and the APC – Babayemi Olaniyan and Denis Otiotio – urging the court to hold that the suit was properly filed, that his client has the locus standi, that the suit was not statute barred and that the court has jurisdiction to hear and determine it.

    Amuda-Kannike urged the court to grant his client’s prayers and, among others, order INEC to delete Sylva’s name from the list of candidates for the election.

    Olaniyan had contended that Sylva was never elected as Bayelsa State governor on two occasions.

    He averred that the Appeal Court had, in an earlier judgment, nullified the election that produced Sylva as Bayelsa governor in 2007 and ordered INEC to conduct a fresh election within 90 days.

    The lawyer agreed that his client is a former governor of Bayelsa State but insisted that Sylva had only been elected governor just once.

    He prayed the court to dismiss the suit.

    Otiotio also urged the court to dismiss the suit with substantial cost.

  • Tinubu’s election as ECOWAS chair excites governors, others

    Tinubu’s election as ECOWAS chair excites governors, others

    Governors, House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, and many other Nigerians have expressed confidence that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will turn around the fortunes of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as its chairman.

    President Tinubu was ratified on Sunday as the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government at the 63rd Ordinary Session of the authority in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau.

    In a tweet, Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun said: “We are definitely certain that Your Excellency will perform creditably well in your new capacity as the leader of the West African sub-region, thereby leading us to a more prosperous and sustainable socio-economic and political development.”

    In a statement by the state’s Director General of Press Affairs, Mr. Ismaila Uba-Misilli, Gombe State Governor Inuwa Yahaya said: “Your chairmanship of ECOWAS is a testament to your visionary leadership and your unwavering commitment to the promotion of peace, security, and economic prosperity in the region.”

    In a statement by his media aide, Sir Tersoo Kulas, Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia said President Tinubu would use his experience in leadership to help tackle the challenges of unity and progress in the sub-region.

    Speaker Abbas said: “It is an affirmation of President Tinubu’s popularity beyond Nigeria and among his colleagues in West Africa. There are no doubts that the African sub-region will witness exemplary leadership with the Nigerian President as ECOWAS chairman.

    In a congratulatory message yesterday, Gombe State Governor Dikko Umaru Radda said: “The Nigerian President’s expertise will undoubtedly contribute significantly to the challenges of fostering unity and progress within the West African region.”

  • Isese: Protect us from harassment, traditionalists beg AbdulRazaq

    Isese: Protect us from harassment, traditionalists beg AbdulRazaq

    • Emir sues for peace

    The Ancient Religion Societies of African Descendants International Council (ARSADIC) has called on Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to protect its members from harassment in practicing their faith.

    It said religious fundamentalism must not be encouraged in any form and in any part of the country.

    A statement yesterday in Osogbo, by ARSADIC President, Dr Ifagbenusola Atanda, said the Council has been monitoring developments in Ilorin, where one of its members, Ajesekemi, an Osun devotee and priestess, was harassed and intimidated over her faith.

    Atanda said it was wrong for any group or individual to threaten Yeye Ajesekemi and stop her from holding Isese festival in Ilorin, Kwara State.

    The statement reads: “As long as we, the traditional religion adherents, know our boundary not to throw offensives at other faiths, we will resist any attempt to trample on our rights to freedom of religion and association as spelt out in the Constitution.

    “We will not allow extremists in any guise deny us our God-given rights and supported by the laws of Nigeria as a secular state. We are quite aware that Ilorin, Kwara State, is an integral part of Nigeria and we ready to defend our faith. Yeye Omolara Ajesekemi has our support at all times to practice her faith, the traditional religion, which bonds all of us together.

    “I, therefore, call for prompt intervention of the Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and security agencies in the state.”

    The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, has appealed to indigenes of Ilorin Emirate to close communication in the ongoing controversies following Prof. WOle Soyinka’s letter on the Isese festival.

    A statement by his spokesman, Abdulazeez Arowona, noted that peace and tranquillity are the major recipes required for the promotion of harmony in the state.

    It reads: “Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari has ordered that nobody should further express their anger on the Isese festival and Prof. Wole Soyinka’s saga under any guise. This is in the interest of peaceful co-existence and harmonious working environment in Nigeria.”

    The monarch appealed to residents to continue to live together in peace, and restrain from temptations that may arise from cancellation of the Isese festival.

    He also thanked sons and daughters, as well as friends of the Emirate, for the show of love and concern towards the preservation of the rich tradition and cultural heritage of Ilorin.

  • EFCC to arraign Stella Oduah for alleged perjury, documents falsification

    EFCC to arraign Stella Oduah for alleged perjury, documents falsification

    Barring last minute hitches, a former Aviation Minister, Senator Stella Oduah, will be arraigned today before a Federal High Court in Abuja on an eight-count charge filed against her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The Nation learnt yesterday that the court has served notices to the parties about the planned arraignment.

    In the charge now before Justice James Omotosho, the former minister is, among others, accused of misrepresenting facts about whether or not she participated in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and was issued a certificate to that effect.

    Oduah, who is listed as the sole defendant in the case, was also alleged to have falsified documents with which she got into public offices, including being a minister and a senator.

    The senator representing Anambra North was alleged to have been aided by D. A. O. Oshinowo, said to be on the run.

    This is the second criminal case involving Oduah at the Federal High Court in Abuja: the earlier one over alleged money laundering is pending before Justice Inyang Ekwo.

    One of the counts in the charge reads: “That you, Senator Stella Oduah and D. A. O. Oshinowo (at large), sometime in 2017 at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, did fabricate an incorrect document with intend to cause… to wit: titled: Re: Request for National Youth Service Confirmation, with the intent that it may be acted upon as genuine, the representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence, contrary to Section 156 of the Penal Code Act and punishable under section 158(1) of the same Act.”