The Nation Newspaper

Tag: declares

  • Anxiety as INEC declares Imo rerun inconclusive

    There was tension yesterday in Imo State as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the House of Assembly rerun election for Oguta Constituency inconclusive.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Selina Oko, cited discrepancies in some of the polling units where ballot boxes were snatched by thugs as reasons for withholding the result, pending elections in the affected areas.

    But Governor Rochas Okorocha has congratulated the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Walter Uzonwanne, for emerging victorious in the election which was said to be fraught with violence.

    The governor, however, condemned the anti-democratic activities of some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains, who he claimed had disenfranchised the people by writing election results in their homes.

    He described the outcome of the election as a clear indication that the people are embracing the change being championed by his administration, adding that the APGA-led state government would continue to embark on programmes that would impact positively on the lives of Oguta people.

    In a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Chinedu Offor, the APGA candidate maintained a clear lead in the 11 wards where results were collated.

    “As INEC prepares to officially announce the result of the rerun, the results so far collated in 11 wards show that the APGA candidate is maintaining a comfortable lead over the PDP candidate, Eugene Dibiagwu.

    “The APGA candidate scored 9,595, his PDP counterpart has 7,584 from the 18,634 number of votes cast during the election,” he insisted.

    The state Chairman of APGA, Okoroafor Anyanwu, called on INEC to declare the results of the election, stating that: “The APGA candidate got the required number of votes to be declared winner, so the issue of declaring the election inconclusive is misleading.”

    According to him, “the total number of registered voters in Oguta Council Area is 61,830. The number accredited for the election was 19,528, the valid votes cast were 17,488 and 1,146 votes were rejected. With the above record it is surprising that INEC could not declare the result of the election.”

  • Mba declares war against Uruguay

    Mba declares war against Uruguay

    Super Eagles midfielder, Sunday Mba has declared war against Uruguay in the second group B match of the ongoing 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.

    Mba, who was Nigeria’s revelation at the last African Cup of Nations in South Africa, believes that Nigeria will go all the way to ensure victory against Copa American Champions as they seek to consolidate on their current position at the top of the group.

    “We all know how important the game is to us. It is going to be war against Uruguay,” said Mba.

    “We might be considered underdogs, but that is good for us until we defeat them. Only victory will be good for us if we intend to book a semi-final spot, so we need to make it happen on the pitch.”

    Mba who has also promise to up his game after missing some chances against Tahiti on Monday said further: “I was sad missing such chances. I don’t really know how it happened because on a good day, I would have converted those chances. I have put that behind me now and I am ready for the challenges ahead,” Mba concluded

  • Ekiti declares Friday work-free for Deputy Governor

    Ekiti declares Friday work-free for Deputy Governor

    The Ekiti State Government has declared Friday work-free. This is to honour the late Deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, who will be buried on that day.

    Mrs. Olayinka died on April 6 at St. Nicholas Hospital in Lagos after a protracted battle with cancer.

    She was 52.

    The Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Tayo Ekundayo, told reporters yesterday that all government offices, including public schools, will be closed on Friday.

    The remains of the late Mrs. Olayinka may be interred at a location close to the Enterprise Bank in Fajuyi, Ado-Ekiti.

    Her body will arrive at Ado-Ekiti from Lagos on Wednesday for the funeral rites, which will last three days.

  • NEWCASTLE VS BENFICA: Pardew declares operation slow and steady

    NEWCASTLE VS BENFICA: Pardew declares operation slow and steady

    Ahead of their must win in the 2nd leg, quarter final clash against visiting Benfica today, Newcastle coach Alan Pandew says maximum concentration and precision will be useful if the side is to overcome Benfica at the St James Park.

    The magpies failed in their attemp to walk out of lisbon with a respectable result crashing to Benfica 3-1 in the first leg.

    The hommers will require at least two goals to progress hoping to make the best of a partisan crowd at St James’ Park.

    Pardew is confident the Tyneside outfit can pull it off should they keep themselves in the tie until the final 20 minutes.

    He told The Press Association: “We just need to get ourselves in a good position. If we can get a goal within 20 minutes to go, we can do it – that’s the agenda for me.

    “Our fans need to understand on Thursday, in the quarter-final of the Europa League, that if we go looking for two quick goals, we are just going to get killed.

    “They [Benfica] have got real quality on the break. We have got to be very intelligent and we have got to be patient.”

    Shola Ameobi who realised his dream of 50 continental competition appearances for the Magpies in the Lisbon outing in which he played for 10 minutes, had his celebration over shadowed by the defeat.

    Ameobi had come in as replacement for frenchman Slyvan Marveaux in the 80th minute in the Lisbon tie and looks good to be part of the salvage mission.

  • Senate declares border agency a failure

    Senate declares border agency a failure

    Senate President David Mark yesterday passed a damning verdict on the Border Communities Development Agency: they are a monumental failure.

    Mark made the declaration as a Bill, which seeks an Act to amend the Border Communities Development Agency Act scaled second reading in the upper chamber.

    The Bill, sponsored by Senator Olufemi Lanlehin (Oyo South), received unanimous support of other Senators.

    Mark noted that the failure of the agency has made the country to abandon its border communities to other countries.

    He said: “The summary is that the agency has failed and in a plain language, it has failed and woefully too.

    “If this amendment can make it become active, that is what we deserve because we have abandoned and neglected our border communities to other countries for so long.

    “They (communities) have very good reasons to go and take facilities from where they are available.

    “Looking at the agency, everybody there is on part time basis and that makes them not to perform effectively.

    The money voted for them what have they done with it.?”

    Lanlehin said the agency was established to improve the social and economic lives of and bring succour to neglected Nigerians living in various settlements, villages and towns spread across 96 local governments in the 21 states on Nigeria’s international borders.

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) lawmaker noted that the condition of the country’s border communities has not improved, neither has the presence of the Border Communities Development Agency been felt in any life impacting way, since President Goodluck Jonathan described the situation in the communities as embarrassing in 2007.

    He said the situation in the border communities could rightly be said to have deteriorated with the current security challenges in some parts of the northern states, which is being fuelled by influx of mercenaries, foreigners and arms smuggling through the border communities.

    Lanlehin said an enduring concern of ordinary Nigerian in the border communities is the neglect and lack of basic infrastructure in them, when compared with border communities of neighbouring purportedly poorer countries.

    He noted that the fear being expressed in some quarters is that, should the ordinary impoverished Nigerians in those communities have the choice as to their citizenship they might opt to be nationals of poorer neighbours.

    He added: “Governance is a social contract between the ordinary citizens who constitute the electorate and the government.

    “In this particular case, Nigerians, especially those at the border communities are not asking for too much.

    “Their clamour is for the basics of life such as good motorable roads, schools, hospitals and potable drinking water.

    The lawmaker said that the current security challenge facing the country is partly being orchestrated and driven by influx of mercenaries, terrorists and other armed groups who gain entry into the country through porous borders.

    He added that needless to state that the abject poverty and lack of government presence in the border communities has created a veritable ground for unscrupulous elements.

    Among other proposals, the Bill seeks in addition to the financial provision as contained in the Principal Act as amended, 1 per cent of the Ecological Fund accrual to the border states and 0.5 per cent statutory allocation of the border states be dedicated to development of the border communities.

    Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe, Mohammed Ali Ndume, Ganiyu Solomon, Solomon Adokwe and others supported the Bill.

    The Lagos State Special Economic Assistance Bill 2013, sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) was read by the Clerk of the Senate and Senate President.

    Apart from the Special Economic Assistance Bill, a Bill for an Act to repeal the National Assembly Service Commission Act Cap N7 2004 and enact a new National Assembly Service Act, 2013 scaled second reading.

    The Bill seeks to reorganise the management and administrative structure of the National Assembly for improved service delivery.

    It was sponsored by Senator Ita Enang, (Akwa Ibom North East).

  • Ogun virginity test: Medical report declares principal sane

    Ogun virginity test: Medical report declares principal sane

    The result of the medical test conducted to determine the mental state of Rev. Olufunke Aladeojebi, former Principal of Ajuwon High School, Iju Ajuwon, who was indicted for conducting virginity test on some female students has confirmed that the woman is sane and suffers no serious mental ailment.

    According to a statement signed by Barrister John Olusegun Odubela, Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology in Ogun State, the four-page report prepared and signed by Dr. Timothy Olaolu Adebowale, a Consultant Psychiatrist Special Grade 1 with Nuero Psychiatrist Hospital, Aro, described Mrs. Aladeojebi, who was assessed on January 29, 2013 as a woman “who was well-orientated in time, place and person, with good attention and concentration.”

    The report described her “short and long term memories” as “intact”. “She also demonstrated an appropriate assertiveness in declining to pay for the registration fee for her assessment, pointing out that this ought to be paid by the referring body.

    “There was no evidence of impairment of reality testing, or gross personality defect, as she currently expresses realistic views on issues regarding the whole incident in her school and her referral for this assessment,” states the report.

    The psychiatrist attributed the former principal’s mistake to “lack of restraint” as “she does not appear to have feelings of personal insecurity, self doubts and incompleteness which could have in addition to her desire for perfection in her work, qualified her for a label of obsessional personality that may explain a proneness to such situational reaction.”

    The report blamed the nurses attached to the school for not playing the expected professional role and providing ethical voice of reason against the perceived ‘order’ by the principal.

    The psychiatrist further noted that “I am also of the opinion that redeployment from her present place of assignment will provide some face-saving relief, and will give her the opportunity to work through her acknowledged mistakes during the crisis.”

    The psychiatrist, Dr. Adebowale also interviewed the school nurse, Mrs. Makinde and Mrs. F.A. Lapite, who is head of department of science to get further information on the character traits of the former principal and her role in the virginity test.

     

  • Liverpool Coach declares : We are not interested in Emenike

    Liverpool Coach declares : We are not interested in Emenike

    Russian website championat.com quoting the coach of Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers has denied media reports linking the Nigeria international Emmanuel Emenike with a transfer to the club this summer.

    Earlier reports had claimed Emenike, top scorer at the African Nations Cup with four strikes, was on the radar of Reading, Arsenal and Liverpool.

    ”We have no interest in the acquisition of this player,” said Rodgers to Igor Rabiner of championat.com.

    Emmanuel Emenike pulled a hamstring in the Super Eagles semi -final victory over Mali. His duration on the sidelines is unknown.

    This season, the 25- year – old forward has scored 5 goals in 15 games in the Russian Premier League.

  • Audu kicks as EFCC declares him wanted

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared former Kogi State Governor Abubakar Audu wanted over offences bordering on conspiracy, stealing and misappropriation of public fund.

    Yesterday, Audu prayed a Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the EFCC from launching a fresh legal offensive against him.

    He said any move to arrest him would amount to “an abuse of court process.”

    Audu also asked the court for N100million, representing damages for the unlawful, illegal, wrongful and unconstitutional invasion of his privacy, home and family life.

    The EFCC said it declared Audu wanted following his failure to respond to the invitation by the anti-graft agency.

    A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said: “Attempt by the EFCC to arrest Audu at his 32, Sulaiman Barau Street, Asokoro, Abuja, home on December 11 failed as he allegedly evaded arrest.

    “The former governor is alleged to have fraudulently enriched himself to the tune of over N4 billion when he was the Kogi State Governor between 1999 and 2003.

    “The move to arrest him followed a Supreme Court ruling of November 23, which dismissed the ex-governor’s appeal to continue to protract his corruption trial by the EFCC.

    “The commission implores any one having useful information about the whereabouts of the suspect to notify its offices in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Kano and Enugu or report at the nearest police station.”

    But Audu has urged the Federal High Court to restrain the EFCC from arresting him.

    In an originating summons filed by Mike Ozekhome (SAN) on behalf of Audu, he asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to put an end to “an abuse of court process” by stopping EFCC from beginning any fresh process of investigation and or prosecution against him in respect of his tenure as Governor of Kogi State between May 1999 and May 2002.

    He asked the court to declare the EFCC’s letter (No: CR: 3000/EFCC/ABJ/ISOS/ TM.11/VOL.7/37 dated December 11, 2012) inviting him for an interview with Kabiru A. Shehu on an undisclosed ongoing investigation activities as a “gross abuse of the process of the court.”

    He said plans by the EFCC to arraign him afresh before a court in Abuja is also illegal.

    He said the respondent (EFCC) had arraigned him at the Kogi State High Court of Justice presided over by Justice S. T. Hussaini with respect to the same offences allegedly committed during his tenure as the Kogi State Governor.

    He is seeking the following relief:

    ·A declaration that the plaintiff cannot legally be arraigned and/or prosecuted by the respondent or any other person or authority within the Federal Republic of Nigeria in respect of offences allegedly committed during his tenure as Kogi State Governor between May 1999 and May 2003 when there is a subsisting charge pending before the High Court of Justice, Lokoja presided over by Justice S.T. Hussaini and the Court of Appeal, Abuja in Appeal No: CA/A/ 381c/2011, alleging the same offences committed during the same period and arising from same facts as the pending and extant charges.

    ·A declaration that the unlawful invasion of the residence of the plaintiff in the early hours of December 11, 2012 without any prior invitation and without a valid search warrant or warrant of arrest, under the pretext of arresting the plaintiff and the subsequent wide publicity accorded the invasion by the respondent in the print, electronic and Internet media without any prior invitation to the effect that amounts to undue sensationalism, humiliation, intimidation and invasion of the plaintiff’s right to privacy and family life contrary to the provisions of Section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as altered and is therefore illegal, wrongful, irregular, null and void.”

    Audu also wants the court to hold that the Supreme Court’s decision delivered on November 23, 2012 overruling his appeal “did not effectively and finally terminate his trial on the – 80-count charge at the High Court of Justice, Lokoja.

    ·An order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondent whether by itself, servant, agents, employees, privies and or persons working for and on its behalf howsoever from inviting, arresting, detaining or arraigning and or taking any step thereto against the plaintiff on a charge or charges alleging offences purportedly committed by the plaintiff during his tenure as Kogi State Governor between May 1999 and May 2003 in the face of Charge No: EFCC/1/2006, FRN v Abubakar Audu, pending and extant before the Kogi State High Court, Lokoja presided over by Justice S. T. Hussaini and also pending and extant before the Court of Appeal, Abuja in Appeal No: CA/A/ 381c/2011 over which the trial court has since July 12, 2012 granted a stay of proceedings.”

    In a 31-paragraph affidavit by Mr. Dominic Ezerioha, he averred that “it will amount to usurpation of the judicial functions of the Court of Appeal for the respondent (EFCC) to arraign the plaintiff (Audu) on the same alleged offences that are currently the subject matter before the Court of Appeal, Abuja.”

  • EKO 2012… EKO 2012… EKO 2012…: Jonathan declares Games closed

    EKO 2012… EKO 2012… EKO 2012…: Jonathan declares Games closed

    The 18th National Sports Festival, tagged Eko 2012 ended yesterday with a remarkable closing ceremony and a presentation of trophies, as the President Goodluck Jonathan declared the Games closed.

    The 12-day event came to a close after 8,095 athletes competed in 25 sports and 450 events. Out of 22,893 persons registered, only 11,549 were authenticated for the Games.

    Representing the president at the occasion, the Minister for Youth, Sports and Social Development, Bolaji Abdullahi said the nation has witnessed a transformation of the festival from one edition to the other.

    “We have witnessed spectacular performances from athletes from different states and they have demonstrated the spirit of sportsmanship, and a show of determination and tenacity as they involved in the activities of the National Sports Festival, the 18th edition.

    “This festival has witnessed a tremendous transformation both in participation and organisation. This can be seen in both the opening and the closing ceremony of Eko 2012. I want to commend the Governor of Lagos State, Raji Fashola for accepting to host the festival, especially with the excellent facilities on ground.

    “All the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory deserve our commendation for effectively participating in this festival and promoting the bond of friendship and unity. I urge you all to make the festival part of your calendar and to prepare well for the next festival coming up in Calarbar in 2014. Let me congratulate all our medal winners because soon some of you will be called to represent this country in future international competitions. “

    In his speech, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola said in spite of all the challenges faced in organising the festival, the state was able to live up to expectation.

    “The unusual responsibility that the National Sports Festival brought and for an event that had to be organised in one year instead of the traditional two years, this has never been done before. Above all, despite all the challenges, we did not fail. This shows that as a people if we are committed to anything we can achieve it, hosting our brothers and sister all over the country and showing them our traditional hospitality.

    “I want to thank the presidency under the leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, ably represented here today by the Hon. Minister for Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi for their support. To Delta State who won the overall position on the medals table, I want to say a big congratulations.

    Meanwhile, Cross River have received the flag for the hosting of the next edition of the National Sports Festival, tagged Calarbar 2014.

    Receiving the flag, Commissioner for Sports in Cross River State, Patrick Ugbe said it is a privilege to host the games in Calarbar, which incidentally is the first national capital of the country in a significant year 2014.

    “We receive this flag as host of the next sports festival in 2014. It is the remarkable because it is the year of Nigeria’s hundred years of amalgamation. We can’t wait to host a spectacular festival of all times.”

  • Okorocha declares war on kidnappers, criminals

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday declared war on kidnappers and other criminals in the state.

    The governor allayed the fears of the residents on the kidnapped Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Deputy Governor, who was abducted about three months ago.

    He promised that the permanent secretary would be rescued unhurt becuase security agents are closing in on the kidnappers.

    Okorocha described the abduction as worrisome.

    He said: “We are doing all we can to make sure that he is rescued as soon as possible.

    “When there is a kidnap of such nature, which takes this long time, there are always issues of close friends or relations involved. We are out to fish out the people responsible for this and we have got genuine information on where he is being kept. We will definitely get those behind this act.

    “We are aware of the legal constraints in taking a kidnapper to court. The person gets a bail and gets freed because witnesses are afraid to testify against him in the court. We have taken that into consideration and have come up with a better way to handle the situation. This should be justice for all.

    “Let me say that any premise that is used for kidnappings or where kidnap victims are kept, must be pulled down.”

    He warned that farmlands used as kidnappers’ operational base would be taken over by the government, no matter the size of the land.

    Okorocha said: “Let me state clearly that death penalty awaits kidnappers in the state, as stipulated in the Imo State Law on Kidnapping.”

    The governor urged the residents to cooperate with the government and security agencies and give useful information that would lead to the arrest of kidnappers and criminals.

    He has ordered the closure of nude clubs in the state capital to curb immorality.

    Okorocha said: “Let me also warn that anyone who is operating a strip club in Imo State is hereby advised to close down immediately or the state government will have it closed down forever. This government will not tolerate any act of indiscipline and immorality that tends to expose our little girls and boys to danger.”