Tag: applications

  • 10,000 police job: PSC gets 104,289 applications in 12 days

    •Niger record highest with 7,985 submissions

    HE Police Service Commission (PSC) said it has received 104,289 applications after it announced the recruitment of 10,000 constables.
    It said it recorded the figure 12 days after the recruitment portal was opened on November 30.

    The commission also added that Niger State has the highest number of applicants and Bayelsa State has the lowest.
    Giving an update on the recruitment process, the PSC spokesman, Ikechukwu Ani, in a statement in Abuja, said the application hit 104,388 at 11.30am yesterday.
    On the states and sex with highest and lowest applications, the commission said: “Niger State has the highest number of applicants at 7,985 and Bayelsa State has the least applications of 347. Kano State is second with 7,513, Katsina is third with 6,820, Bauchi is fourth with 6,204 and Kaduna State fifth with 5,729 applicants.

    Read also: PDP accuses EFCC of witch-hunt

    “Following Bayelsa from the rear is Lagos State with only 516 applicants, Ebonyi State is next with 600, Anambra State (605), Abia State (733) and Imo State with 870 applicants.
    “Of the 104,289 applications received so far by the commission, 93,871 were males and 10,418 were females.”
    The commission restated its commitment to ensure a merit-driven and transparent recruitment exercise that will follow due process and abide with the relevant rules and regulations in the public service.
    The commission also noted that applicants are expected to apply on-line to the commission’s portal www.nigeriapolicecareers.net.
    It added that the portal will officially close on January 11, 2019, in compliance with the six weeks requirement by Federal Character Commission (FCC).
    The commission warned applicants not to give money to anybody for assistance as the giver and receiver will face the full weight of the law, if caught.

  • PDP chief’s death: Court hears suspects’ bail applications today

    A Lagos High Court in Igbosere will today hear the bail applications of five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members charged with murder.

    Rotimi Kujore, Ismaila Abiola, Kehinde Fasasi, Fatai Adele and Amos Fawole were accused by the police of involvement in the killing of PDP’s Apapa Local Government Area Chairman Adeniyi Aborishade on July 21.

    Their counsel K.O. Osinowo on August 16 brought the application before vacation judge Justice Emmanuel Ogundare.

    According to him, the defendants were being held for an offence they did not commit.

    “They were in a meeting and one of them got shot,” Osinowo told the judge.

    He drew the court’s attention to the dismissal of the same charge against Lagos State PDP Chairman Moshood Salvador and 10 others, by an Ikeja High Court, based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

    He said: “I believe that the same thing will also happen when the DPP’s advice concerning these defendants is out.”

    The police charged the men before Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe of the Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court on July 25 for alleged conspiracy and unlawful killing.

    Komolafe remanded them for 30 days in prison custody pending DPP’s advice.

  • Delta tribunal quashes Okowa’s, others’ applications

    Delta tribunal quashes Okowa’s, others’ applications

    The Chairman of Delta State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, Justice Nasri Gunmi, yesterday quashed an application by the three respondents opposed to the admissibility of election documents

    tendered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Joined in the suit are: Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa (first respondent); the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) (second respondent); INEC (third respondent); Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC)the fifth respondent and Collation Officer, the fifth respondent.

    At the resumed hearing yesterday, lawyer to the first to fifth respondents, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), Timothy Kehinde (SAN) and Damien Dodo (SAN), objected to the admissibility of two documents (witnesses’ statements on oath) tendered by Head of Information Communication Technology (ICT) at INEC’s office in Abuja.

    The tribunal had issued a subpoena, compelling INEC to tender documents used in the April 11 governorship election in Delta State.

    Okowa’s lawyer, Dr Izinyon (SAN) objected to INEC’s tendering of the witnesses’ statements on oath.

    The eminent lawyer argued that one of the documents (Exhibit P. 1) was different from what was being tendered.

    Dr Izinyon also argued that Section 104(2) of the Evidence Act provides that a witness’s statement on oath should have an engraved stamp, signature and the designation of the officer and his name superimposed on the document.

    The eminent lawyer averred that the document sought to be tendered did not have any of those marks.

    He urged the tribunal not to admit the documents.

    PDP’s counsel, Timothy Kehinde (SAN), aligned with DR Izinyon’s submission.

    The lawyer argued that Exhibit P.1 (a) was not listed and could not be tendered at that stage of the proceedings.

    He said the document was not filed with the petition and was not pleaded.

    Kehinde said the documents did not meet the requirements for certification, adding that the tribunal should “discountenance with the documents”.

    INEC’s lawyer, Dodo (SAN), also aligned with the submissions of Dr Izinyon and Kehinde.

    He said: “I wholly adopt the objections as canvassed by the first and second respondents. It is an issue of law and we are bound by the law, especially by the Supreme Court.”

    But APC’s lawyer, Thompson Okpoko (SAN) said the documents by INEC were pleaded, adding that it was stated in Paragraph 4 of the petitioner’s reply to the first respondent’s reply of the petition.

    The eminent lawyer argued that having done these, “I am at a loss as to how the respondents can claim they were taken by surprise. At the onset, we stated that we were going to rely on polling unit by polling units’ reports. We listed those documents. The object of pleadings is hereby satisfied. Both documents comply strictly with Section 104(2) of the Evidence Act.”

    On the contention that the documents ought to be frontloaded, Okpoko said: “That is not necessary, as the documents are in the custody of INEC, and INEC is a party to this suit.

    “Can we now go to our opponent to sign the witnesses’ statements on oath? We should be realistic. When the person you have subpoenaed and is to come to court to present the documents, it needs not be frontloaded or listed. I humbly submit that these documents be admitted.”

    Justice Nasiru Gunmi said: “We have examined this application on the face of the document tendered and we are satisfied that the document satisfies the requirement of Section 104 (2) of the Evidence

    Act to justify the admission of these documents. We, therefore, overrule the objection of the admission of this document.”

     

  • Govt directs mortgage institutions to process 66,400 applications

    Govt directs mortgage institutions to process 66,400 applications

    The Federal Government has instructed primary mortgage inistitutions (PMIs) to process the applications of the over 66,000 Nigerians who applied for the 10,000 Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) housing programme.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said “due to the over subscription (for the scheme) a decision has been taken to give all applicants to the lending members of NMRC to share on a pro-rata basis. Lending members of NMRC are expected to have the refinancing window of up to 20 years.”

    The initial offer of 10,000 mortgage application was over subscribed by 66,402 Nigerians who showed interest in the home ownership programme of the NMRC.

    Okonjo-Iweala directed the 17 PMIs and four commercial banks involved in the mortgage exercise to share the 66,402 applications among themselves and prequalify those who meet the criteria for accessing mortgage facilities under the NMRC initiative and get back to the government in eight weeks.

    According to her, President Goodluck Jonathan is monitoring the implementation process and assured both mortgage institutions and applicants that there is enough money to fund the 66,000 applications for now.

    Applications for the 10,000 housing programme under the NMRC closed on the 5th of this month this year with 66,402 applications received from “exceedingly excited Nigerians with applications coming from the 36 states and the FCT”.

    She said 63 per cent of the applicants were male while 37 per cent were female. She said people “tend to apply individually as 89 per cent applied in their own names while only 11 per cent were joint applicants as couples.”

    Those in the 31-40 years age bracket submitted the highest number of applications suggesting interest among the actively working group of Nigerians.

    Nigerians she said “showed that we prefer three bedroom flats/houses, with 62.7 per cent of applicants applying to acquire this property type. 32 per cent wanted two bed flats and a small percentage applied for one bedroom flats and one bedroom self-contained flats.”

    The programme she noted is for people who do not own a home, and from the information given by the applicants, “96 per cent of applicants are living in rented houses; most people (51 per cent) applied for buildings in Abuja with 18 per cent of applicants opting for Lagos. 92 per cent of the applicants have stable jobs while eight per cent are self employed.”

    Already, mortgage lenders have pre-qualified some people and asked them to look for their houses. She commended mortgage institutions for keeping to the time they said they will need to use to process applications which is eight weeks and also reducing the criteria for accessing the mortgage from 15 pages of information to just two pages.

    The mortgage lenders are expected to sift through the applications and analyse and pre-qualify all applicants culminating in the amounts each lender is willing to advance to the applicant.

  • Offa stool: Ruling house wants applications transferred to Supreme Court

    THE Olugbense ruling house in Offa, Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, is asking for the transfer of all applications pending before the Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin, the state capital to the Supreme Court.

    It will be recalled that the appellate court had in July last year declared the selection and installation of of the candidate of Anilelerin ruling house, Alhaji Mohammed Mufutau Gbadamosi as the Olofa of Offa as illegal.

    Olugbense and Anilelerin are the two ruling houses in the ancient town.

    But the monarch immediately appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court and filed a motion at the Appeal Court for a stay of execution order pending the outcome of the judgment of the apex court.

    Olugbense ruling house, in a motion on notice filed before the apex court by its lead counsel, John Baiyeshea (SAN) is also seeking the court’s order to compel the Court of Appeal to stay further proceedings in the application for injunction/ stay of execution of the judgment of the appellate court in Appeal No. CA/IL/71/2012 delivered on 9th July, 2013.

    Baiyeshea, in his argument through the 27 paragraph affidavit deposed to by prince Saka Keji on behalf of the ruling house, added that this became necessary considering the fact that, “the present applicants had written a petition to the Chief Justice of Nigeria alleging bias against the panel of justices, praying that another panel be constituted to hear the two motions for injunction/ stay of execution and the pending cross-appeal filed on behalf of Prince Abdulrauf Keji and Alhaji Mufutau Gbadamosi.”

    He added that, “upon being informed of the petition, the lower court on 14th October 2013 adjourned the 1st-4th appellants’ motion filed on 25th July, 2013 sine die pending response of the CJN. Under the circumstances and

    facts stated above, the lower court is functus officio and cannot entertain the motion.

    “On 13th January 2014, when applicants’ counsel, Toyin Oladipo, attempted to inform the court that all the records had been transmitted to the Supreme Court and the appeals entered at this court, the Presiding Justice threatened him with contempt and ordered him to sit down.”

    Baiyeshea in his 22 grounds of the application further maintained that “the applicants, having raised the issue of bias against the Justices in their petition to the CJN and the President of the Court of Appeal respectively, did not expect that the justices would go on with the matter having regard to the general circumstances of the case.”

    He lamented that “the justices overruled Toyin Oladipo and heard the application in which only one of the counsel to the respondents addressed the court, while the other informed the court that he could not go on with the

    application.”

    The lawyer added that: “On a cursory look at the rules of this court, it was discovered by applicants’ counsel that by Order 8 rule 11, this application can be made to this court irrespective of the applications before the lower

    court,” adding that a motion dated and filed on 5, January 2014 had to be filed at the lower court to ask the court to declare that it is functus officio and cannot even deliver the ruling, having regard to the fact that the appeal is already before this court.”

  • ‘Frivolous applications hamper administration of justice’

    ‘Frivolous applications hamper administration of justice’

    The Acting Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta, yesterday said trivial interlocutory injunctions debar speedy administration of justice.

    He urged lawyers to desist from filing what she called frivolous interlocutory appeals before judges.

    The ICPC chairman noted that such actions do not only damage cases before the court but also run down the integrity of the Judiciary.

    The ICPC chair spoke in Lagos at a media roundtable with the theme: Promoting ethics and integrity within the courts system – Towards citizens access to justice, organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Embassy.

    Nta, who was represented by the Director of Legal Services of the commission, Mrs Christiana Onuogu, described the court as a major stakeholder in the fight against corruption.

    He urged lawyers to always advise their clients to tell the truth in court to ensure easy and quick dispensation of justice.

    The ICPC chief averred that delay tactics by lawyers in cases before the court should not be encouraged.

    Nta said: “Let me use this medium to charge all Nigerians to join in the moves to fight corruption head-on. I also want to call on the authorities concerned for the appointment of assistant judges in the Nigerian judicial system to help substantive judges in the dispensation of justice.”