The Nation Newspaper

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  • Democracy Day: Tinubu, Ooni of Ife, Dangote arrive Eagles Square

    The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was among Nigerian leaders that have arrived at the Eagles Square venue of the 2019 National Democracy Day celebration.

    He arrived at the venue around 9.22a.m.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had shifted annual celebration of Democracy Day from May 29th to June 12th in honour of the self-acclaimed President, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (GCFR).

    Abiola had run for the presidency in 1993, but the election results were annulled by former military President, Ibrahim Babangida.

    Buhari, on the 6th of June 2018 had also awarded Abiola posthumously with Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), meant only for Presidents.

    Those already at the Eagles Square venue are the Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwosi II, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, Jim Ovia.

    Read Also; Osinbajo: why we’re celebrating Democracy Day on June 12

    State governors at the event included those of Osun, Kogi, Kano, Yobe, Kwara, Ekiti, Lagos, Oyo, Anambra.

    Former ministers including Lai Mohammed, Solomon Dalung, Mansur Dan-Ali, Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, members of the diplomatic corps, and service chiefs were also at the venue.

    Other world leaders have also arrived Abuja for the democracy day celebration and expected to be received at the Eagles Square venue by President Muhammadu Buhari by 9.57 a.m

    Security was beefed up round the Eagles Square to ensure protection of invited guests and all those attending the event.

    There is thorough screening at all entry points while seats have been well labelled and reserved for guests.

  • Reps Inauguration: How members, guests prayed

    Some members-elect and guests of the Muslim faith at the inauguration and election of presiding officers of the 9th House of Representatives observed their prayer sessions on the floor of the green chambers.

    The faithful on Tuesday in Abuja took turns to offer prayers between 2.pm and 3.50pm at the passage behind the chairs in the chambers.

    While members-elect cast their votes to decide who becomes the presiding officer of the 9th Assembly, the guests, made up of family, friends, party members and well-wishers observed the process.

    Read Also: APC excited as Lawan, Gbajabiamila triumph

    The contest for the office of the Speaker was between Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC-Lagos) and Rep. Umar Bago (APC-Niger).

    A total of 358 members-elect cast their votes to decide the leadership of the house while two were absent.

    Gbajabiamila emerged winner of the contest after pulling a total of 281 votes to beat Bago who pulled 76 votes.

     

    NAN

  • 50-yr-old woman stabs boyfriend for tampering with her clothes

    A 50-year-old woman Lesley Bradbury has stabbed her boyfriend after he told her she had packed too many clothes for their holiday.

    Bradbury descended into a “pathological” rage when she found out her boyfriend Gary Moore had taken some of the items she had packed out of the car for their New Year’s Eve getaway.

    Minshull Street Crown Court heard Bradbury suffered from a mental health condition which causes her to hoard goods and protect them.

    Police had rushed to the Middleton home in Greater Manchester to find Moore bleeding from his bicep while Bradbury was heard shouting “he deserved it”.

    Moore refused to give a statement to police and it is thought the couple are still together. No details of his treatment were given to the court and few details of the stabbing were given at the hearing.

    Read Also: Troops kill Boko Haram terrorist

    Prosecutor Jonathan Turner said: “Police attended the home Bradbury shared with her partner and he was outside he had a two-inch stab wound to his left bicep.”

    “The defendant had stabbed him with a knife after he moved some of her belongings out of the car they were packing for a holiday. She said to police he deserved it and she wanted to kill herself.

    “Inside the house he had thrown some of her possessions and she had stabbed him in order to stop him. There is no complaint from the complainant – he is hopeful for a renewal in the relationship.”

    She was initially charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm but prosecutors accepted her guilty plea to unlawful wounding.

  • 34-year-old ex-varsity staff emerges Kwara Speaker

    FORMER staff of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, Yakubu Saliu Danladi, has been elected the Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly.

    Danladi, who is 34-year-old and first time member of the Assembly, is representing Ilesha/Gwanara constituency.

    He won the assembly seat under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Danladi, who emerged unanimously, was nominated by member representing Balogun-Ojomu constituency of Offa Local Government, Saheed Popoola. Popoola was seconded by Haliru Danbaba.

    The Speaker was born on May 31, 1985, in Gwanara, Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State.

    He attended BLGEA Primary School, Gwanara from 1988 to 1993.

    Read Also; Ex-governor’s son is Abia Speaker

    Danladi had his post primary education at St Anthony Secondary School Ilorin and obtained his SSCE in 2001.

    He attended Kaduna Polytechnic between 2003 and 2008 for his national diploma and higher national diploma in electrical/electrical engineering..

    In 2016, the speaker earned a degree in electrical/electronic engineering from the Federal University of Technology Minna.

    He served at National Water Resources Institute Kaduna for his one-year mandatory NYSC programme.

    He was a staff of FUT Minna, Niger State between 2010 and 2018.

    In 2011, he was Kwara North Youth Coordinator of Buhari Campaign Organisation in the defunct Congress Progressives Change (CPC).

  • INEC issues Okorocha Certificate of Return

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday issued a Certificate of Return to former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha as winner of the Imo West Senatorial District election.

    Last Friday, a Federal High Court in Abuja, the nation’s capital, directed the commission to issue the former governor the certificate.

    The commission promised to take decision on the matter and other issues at a meeting yesterday.

    Okorocha got the certificate hours after the inauguration of the ninth National Assembly.

    In a statement announcing the issuance of the certificate to the former governor, the commission’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC) Mr. Festus Okoye said INEC did so to show its commitment to rule of law, despite its reservations.

    But the commission raised serious concerns about the likely consequences of the court judgment on the country’s electoral process.

    “In obeying the judgment, the commission is demonstrating once again its long-standing commitment of complying with all orders of court, including those with which it may have reservations.

    “However, the commission must put on record its very profound concerns about the likely consequences of this judgment for our electoral process in particular and our democracy in general. Obviously, persons who seek elective offices could perceive in this judgment an irrelevance of due process and acting within the law.

    “It is not farfetched that some of them could in future disregard laid-down processes, including voting, arm themselves and mobilise thugs and compel Returning Officers to declare them elected, irrespective of the true outcomes of the elections.

    “Moreover, it may become increasingly difficult for the commission to convince its officials that they are safe to carry out their legitimate functions without fear of being harassed, held to ransom or visited with bodily harm,” the statement said.

    INEC stressed that “in arriving at this decision, the commission also took into consideration the orders issued by two High Courts in the Owerri Judicial Division in suits HOW/596/2019 issued on May 23 and another, dated June 11, issued in suit HOW/663/2019 restraining the commission from issuing Certificate of Return in respect of the said senatorial dstrict. It is noted that both are interim orders issued ex parte and not final orders of court.

    “The commission would like to seize this opportunity to restate its commitment to due process and obedience to the Rule of Law in its dealings with all parties and candidates. We assure Nigerians that we will not waiver in our determination to enthrone a credible electoral process in Nigeria.”

    Okorocha, who was earlier denied the opportunity to be inaugurated with his colleagues, said he was only called upon by the commission at exactly 6.14 p.m that his certificate was ready.

    “At exactly 6.14 p.m, this evening (last night) after the inauguration of the ninth National Assembly, I was invited that my certificate was ready, and I have just come to collect it.

    “I take it to be God’s time. I have always believed that justice delayed is justice denied. But all this is for the sake of our nation. I accepted it.”

  • Buhari mourns Energy expert, Prof Layi Fagbenle

    President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with the family, friends, and loved ones of Professor Richard Olayiwola Fagbenle, who passed on this week.

    He was 76.

    The Professor of Mechanical Engineering was also an energy expert, who made Nigeria proud in many countries across the world and got hired by the United Nations (UN) in the 1990s as Director of Energy for Botswana.

    The late Fagbenle also served on the Energy Board for Southern Africa for about four years.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser (SA) on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President said the deceased exemplified some of the very best Nigeria can offer.

    The President prayed God to give his soul eternal rest.

    Read Also; Buhari, APC caucus meet in Abuja

    He added that his footprints would remain indelible in the sands of time.

    The late academic and first-class scholar pioneered three higher institutions as Director, Provost and Governing Council Chairman.

    The President urged academics to strive to approximate the late Prof Fagbenle’s giant strides and use their God-given intellect for the benefit of the country and humanity.

    He prayed God to comfort all those who mourn the departed, and take solace in the fact that the late Fagbenle lived a worthy life and left enduring legacies behind.

  • UPDATED: Police arrest one suspect as Ondo Monarch escapes abduction

    Traditional ruler in Akure north local Government Area of Ondo State, the Iresi of Osi, Oba David Olajide on Tuesday afternoon escaped from suspected Fulani herdsmen who attempted to kidnap him along Akure-Owo highway near Akure Airport, enroute his community.

    Osi community is less than two kilometres to Akure airport and the same tactics used to abduct a mother and her step-son on Sunday’s evening by suspected Kidnappers.

    The Ondo State Police Command on Tuesday however arrested a Fulani herdsman, who was allegedly among a team of kidnappers that attempted to abduct the monarch of Osi town.

    Read Also: Police parade medical student for cultism

    However, it was learnt that the alleged attempt to abduct the monarch was unsuccessful as Oba Olajide was said to have escaped from the scene by confronting the abductors.

    The monarch explained that the kidnap victims (Mrs Olawumi and her stepson) were released on Tuesday’s morning and he took them to the police headquarters in Akure and on his way back to the Osi community, the kidnappers attacked him but he escaped.

    Oba Olajide said, “after the release of the woman, I took her and her son to the police headquarters to hand them over to the police, so on my way coming back home, the herdsmen blocked the road with their cows, the same way they kidnapped the woman and her son on Sunday when they were returning from church.”

    “As I got to the place, I slowed down my car and I saw them coming to attack me but I managed to escape, they hit and damaged my car but through the grace of God I escaped.”

    Oba Olajide further stated that the one of the suspected Fulani herdsmen was later arrested shortly after the attack, saying the suspect had been handed over to the police.

    Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Femi Joseph, said the suspect was in the police custody for investigation.

    The PPRO said, “we have the suspect with us, we are already making efforts to arrest the fleeing members of the gang and investigation has also commenced.”

     

  • Breaking: Gbajamiamila appoints Chief of Staff

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajamiamila has made his first appointment a few minutes after taking oath of office.

    He appointed Honorable Sanusi Rickiji, former Speaker of Zamfara State as his Chief of staff

    He thanked former Speaker Yakubu Dogara for his role in the emergence of Hon Ahmed Idris Wase (unopposed) as the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives.

     

  • Buhari congratulates new National Assembly Presiding officers

    President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated heartily the newly elected presiding officers of the Ninth National Assembly.

    The President, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, also saluted all the national legislators and their political parties for their display of patriotism and non-partisanship before and during the election.

    He commended the transparent and fair nature of the voting process, adjudging it as a plus for the democracy in the country.

    President Buhari described the emergence of the new leaders of the legislative branch of government as “a new dawn, different from duplicity and perfidy of the immediate past.”

    The President charged the winners to use their exalted positions for the higher interest of the country, her people, and for the growth of democracy.

    Read Also : Photos: Buhari, Kagame attend anti-graft summit in Abuja

    According to him, “The Executive does not desire a rubber stamp Legislature. While separation of powers is essential, collaboration among all Arms of Government should be the name of the game. Opposition need not be virulent.”

    President Buhari notes that, “Stepping into the Next Level, the legislature has a big role to play for the goals of the administration to be achieved,” stressing that, “This is for the ultimate good of the nation.”

    The President urges contestants who lost out to be gallant in defeat, and join hands with the victors who should exhibit magnanimity and eschew vindictiveness.

    “At the end of the day, we, the people, who elected our representatives at the national level, are the winners,” President Buhari notes.

    While Senator Ahmed Lawan is the new Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege emerged the Deputy Senate President.

    In the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila is the Speaker while the Ahmed Wase is the Deputy Speaker.

  • Photos: Buhari, Kagame attend anti-graft summit in Abuja

    President Muhammadu Buhari and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, on Tuesday, attended the Anti-corruption Summit organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which held in Abuja.