The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigeria newspaper

  • Atiku condemns shutdown of AIT, says free press in danger

    Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar Friday described the closure of AIT and Raypower FM by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) as a throwback to the era of Decree 4 during the military era.

    The former Vice President warned that the suspension of the licenses of the DAAR Group and shutting down of its stations reveals a dangerous dark anti-media agenda by the Buhari administration to stifle critical voices in the country.

    Reacting to the suspension of AIT licence and the closure of the radio and television station by NBC, the PDP presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election explained that the hostility of the federal government to free press cannot be hidden, despite its pretended commitment to democratic values.

    According to Atiku, any situation where the media cannot freely criticize the government poses a grave danger to our democracy.

    Atiku also explained that you cannot have a vibrant democratic order where the press is under totalitarian threats from a supposed democratic government.

    Read Also: Atiku, Obi seek replacement of Bulkachuwa in tribunal’s panel

    He added that if the press is not free, the situation will inevitably lead to dictatorship and endanger our struggles to entrench democracy in Nigeria.

    The Waziri Adamawa said it is impossible to love democratic values and hate free press at the same time.

    Atiku warned that the war against the media is the first stage to turn our democracy into full blown dictatorship.

  • Borno: Appeal Court dismisses suit challenging Zulum’s election

    The Court of Appeal Jos Division, Friday, dismissed an appeal challenging the nomination of Borno Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    Alhaji Idris Mamman-Gatumbwa had filled a petition before Justice U. Onyemenam-led justices of the Appellate Court, seeking it to upturn the judgment of Federal High Court, which okayed his (Zulum) nomination as Borno APC governorship candidate for the 2019 general elections.

    Justice Onyemenam, while delivering judgment of the appellate court, dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

    “The appeal filed before this appellate by Alhaji Idris Mamman-Gatumbwa, is statute barred and of no effect, as it is lacking in merit.

    “Looking at the nature of the case, the decision of the lower court is therefore upheld and the appeal is hereby dismissed for lack of merit,” Onyemenam declared.

    The judge held that the case was filed before the lower court after the statutory 14 days grace as stipulated by the Electoral Act.

    Read Also:  Court orders INEC to issue certificate of return to Okorocha

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Justice Jude Dakat of Borno Federal High Court had dismissed the petition of the appellant on the basis that it lacked merit.

    Dakat had, in that judgment held that the petitions lacked merit on the grounds that it was filed out of the 14 days grace to challenge any discrepancy during party primaries as stipulated by the electoral act.

    Counsel for the appellant, Mr Ibrahim Bawa, SAN, had approached the Appellate court to upturn the judgment of the Lower Court, praying it to look into the merit of the case and order the party to do the needful in accordance with the law.

    He had prayed the court to upturn the decision of the Lower Court, which failed to look at the merit of case but dismissed it.

    Bawa further stated that the lower court was wrong to declare that “we were out of the 14 days.”

    He also argued that Section 87 of the Electoral Act stipulates that primaries not properly conducted should be nullified.

    He had prayed the appellate court to allow the appeals.

  • Photo: Sanwo-Olu visits Tinubu in Abuja

    Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday visited the National Leader of the All Progressives Party (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Abuja.

    The governor had a meeting earlier with President Muhammadu Buhari and other South West governors in Abuja.

  • Nigerians breathe bad air, say Oxfam, EU

    Oxfam in Nigeria and the European Union have expressed concerns over the quality of air Nigerians breathe.

    According to the organisations, Nigeria lost more than 114,000 people to air pollution in 2017.

    They stated this during a briefing to mark this year’s World Environment Day in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    The briefing was jointly organised with Development Exchange Center and CRUDAN.

    Country Representative, Oxfam in Nigeria, Constant Tchona, who read the text of the briefing, said there was need for government to do something about the poor quality of air Nigerians breathe.

    He said: “The quality of the air we breathe in Nigeria is bad. We need to do something about it. We should do something about it and we must do something about it.”

    Read Also: Facebook suspends pre-installation of WhatsApp, Instagram apps on Huawei phones

    He said Oxfam, with support from the EU, has planted over 400, 000 trees in Kebbi and Adamawa states under its Pro-Resilience Action project.

    “At Oxfam and with EU support, we have planted over 400,000 trees with PROACT in Adamawa and Kebbi states and over seven million trees in Katsina state through the fuelwood balance (FUWOBA).

    “We have produced the clean cookstove known as the Dadinkowa stove that reduces firewood usage by over 50 per cent. Together we can and we do more,” he said.

    The development partners used the occasion to unveil the ‘one person 4 tree campaign’ (OP4T-Campaign).

    This year’s World Environment Day had: ‘We can’t stop breathing but we can do something about the quality of air that we breath,’ as its theme.

  • Updated: Court orders INEC to issue certificate of return to Okorocha

    A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a certificate of return to Rochas Okorocha, as Senator-elect for Imo West Senatorial Constituency.

    Delivering his ruling, Justice Okon Abang, held that the having been declared by the Returning Officer as the winner of the Feb. 23 Imo West Senatorial, INEC had no reason not to issue him certificate of return.

    The Judge, however, overruled the submission by candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Jones Onyeriri and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Osita Izunaso that the matter ought to be taken to the election petitions tribunal since it was a post-election matter.

    The judge held that petitions to the election tribunal under Section 133 of the Electoral Act should be made by the losers, and not the person declared winner and not a person that was declared winner whether under duress or not.

    “The reliefs sought by the plaintiff (Okorocha) does not relate to the validity of the election to warrant him filing petitions at the election tribunal.

    “The tribunal has no jurisdiction to answer questions as to the validity of INEC’s action, the action by INEC not to issue certificate of return is unknown to the Constitution and the Electoral Act,” the Judge said.

    The Judge also awarded the cost of N100, 000 each against all the respondents in the suit.

    Meanwhile, candidate of the PDP, Mr Onyeriri said he had already filed a petition relating to this matter before the election petitions tribunal.

    According Onyeriri, he is confident of victory at the tribunal.

    Read Also: Imo Assembly mandates Ihedioha to probe Okorocha

    Speaking outside the court, Mr Kingdom Okere, Counsel to the candidate of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Mr Precious Nwadike, vowed to appeal against the judgment of Justice Abang.

    He described the judgment as ”empowerment of illegality to recognise candidates who uses thugs during elections.

    According to Okere, such a judgment is capable of holding electoral officials to ransom to win election.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that respondents queried the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit filed by Okorocha on the ground that it was a post election matter.

    They maintained that it was a post-election matter and it robbed the court of jurisdiction under sections 285, 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

  • Facebook suspends pre-installation of WhatsApp, Instagram apps on Huawei phones

    Facebook Inc. said on Friday it would no longer allow pre-installation of its WhatsApp, Instagram and other apps on new Huawei phones.

    Facebook told Reuters in San Francisco that customers who already had Huawei phones would still be able to use its apps and receive updates.

    “But new Huawei phones will no longer be able to have Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram apps pre-installed,” Facebook Inc said.

    Smartphone vendors often enter business deals to pre-install popular apps such as Facebook, including Twitter and Booking.com also come pre-installed on Huawei phones in many markets.

    Twitter Inc declined to comment and Booking Holdings did not respond to a request on the matter.

    The latest blow is a hurdle for the Chinese tech giant as it struggles to keep its business afloat in the face of a U.S. ban on its purchase of American parts and software.

    The move by Facebook dampens the sales outlook for Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, whose smartphone business became its biggest revenue generator last year, powered by strong growth in Europe and Asia.

    Huawei declined to comment on the issue.

    Read Also: Facebook says it disabled 3bn fake accounts in 6 months

    Alphabet Inc’s Google said earlier that it would no longer provide Android software for Huawei phones after a 90-day reprieve granted by the U.S. government expires in August.

    But Google’s Playstore and all Google apps will still be available for current models of Huawei phones, including those which have not yet shipped or even been built.

    The Facebook ban, by contrast, applies to any Huawei phone that has not yet left the factory, according to a person familiar with the matter.

    Facebook declined to comment on when the suspension took place.

    In May, Washington banned U.S. companies from supplying technology to Huawei, part of a long-running campaign against the company.

    The U.S. alleges that Huawei is too close to the Chinese government and that its telecom network gear and other products could be a conduit for espionage, which Huawei denies.

    Buyers of current Huawei phone models that do not have Facebook pre-installed would still be able to download it from the Google Playstore.

    Future versions of Huawei phones, however, will not have access to the Google Playstore and its apps unless the U.S. government changes course.

    Huawei has said it was prepared for the U.S. action and vowed to work around any disruptions.

    But some customers at stores in Europe and Asia have told Reuters that they are reluctant to buy Huawei phones in the face of uncertainties, and analysts expect a dramatic drop in Huawei smartphone sales.

    NAN

  • Breaking: Kidnapped Nation driver regains freedom

    Dispatch driver of The Nation Newspaper in Port- Harcourt zonal office in Rivers state, Godknows Longjohn, who was kidnapped by gunmen early this week, has regained freedom.

    Longjohn was abducted early hours of Tuesday at Umuagwo in Ohaji local government area of Imo state about 4 am on his way to Awka in Anambra state to deliver the day’s edition of the publication and taken to unknown destination.

    He was however freed by his abductors on Thursday.

    Read Also: The Nation driver abducted in Rivers

    Longjohn was also going to deliver copies of the edition to Owerri in Imo state, Onitsha, Anambra and Asaba in Delta state among others in the trip.

    His kidnappers had earlier demanded N1.5 million to secure his release. They reportedly reduced the amount to N300,000 and N150,000 but was later let go, unhurt and unconditionally.

  • Gov Bello declines assent to two bills

    As the 8th Assembly round up in Niger state, The Nation learnt that two bills passed by the House of Assembly and sent to the Governor for assertion were rejected.

    The two bills are, ‘A law to provide for continuation and completion of projects stated by the proceeding administration in Niger state and for connected purposes 2019’ and ‘A law to provide for retirement age of academic and non academic staff of tertiary institutions and connected purposes 2019’.

    The reasons were given in a letter written by the Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello to the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

    Giving reasons why he refused to assent the first bill into law, the Governor said every government got elected based on certain promises made during the election campaign and party manifestoes stating that he cannot jettison his programmes and projects to focus on the project of his predecessors.

    “These promises and manifestos form the bulk of the priorities of any government. It is therefore inadvisable to insist or compel any government to abadon, forgo or delay its own priorities for those of preceding government as this bill seek to achieve.

    “As good as the idea may sound, there is no such thing anywhere in the world and this is certainly not the way to go. ”

    He then called on the legislators to jettison the bill, “I implore you in the interest of the state, to consider my observation and jettison the bill in its entirety.”

    The Governor while giving reason for his refusal to assent to the second bill said there is no precedent anywhere in Nigeria for rising the retirement age of non-academic staff adding that the state does not have the requisite financial strength to accommodate the non-academic staff.

    “I, however, regret to inform you that I am unable to assent to the bill. The bill as passed into law by the Niger state House of Assembly is radically different from the version we proposed.

    Read Also: Court acquits wife charged with murder of husband

    “The objective of the bill is to address the manpower concern of academic staff of our tertiary institutions arising from the depleting number of experienced academic staff due to retirement.

    “There is no precedent anywhere in Nigeria for rising the retirement of non-academic staff. Also including non-academic staff will create serious labor crisis for the government. In addition, the government does not have the requisite financial strength to accommodate non-academic staff.

    The Governor then urged the House to revert to the original idea of the Bill, “I am therefore referring the Bill to the House to consider my observations and revert to the original idea of the Bill.”

  • Court acquits wife charged with murder of husband

    An FCT High Court, Maitama on Friday discharged and acquitted a housewife, Amina Dauda, accused of killing her husband, Mohammed Matazu, a former reporter with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), in Kaduna State.

    Dauda, 28, was arraigned before Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, on May 22, 2013, on a one count of culpable homicide which violated Section 221 punishable with death.

    NAN reports that the prosecutor alleged that Dauda, sprayed Matazu with petrol in their residence at Gwarinpa, Abuja,and set him ablaze.

    Delivering Judgment, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, held that the police did not carry out their investigations very well.

    ” They did not show true professionalism in the conduct of their investigation, all they did was take the defendant’s statement and visit to the scene and did not gather any other evidence.

    ” Though, there is evidence of death before the court but all the five witnesses called by the police are not eye witnesses to the incident .

    Baba-Yusuf held that in a case of culpable homicide, the prosecution must prove that there was a death of human; that it was caused by a human being with the intention of killing.

    He held that there was no doubt that there was the death of a human being in the instance case.

    He, however, held that of all the five witnesses called by the police, none of them was an eye witness who witnessed the incident leading to the death of the deceased.

    The judge noted that the burden of proof was on the prosecution to discharged, adding that the defendant had no burden to prove until when the prosecution discharged its burden that she could be called upon to give explanation.

    Read Also: 7 reasons you should keep your marriage private

    He stated that going by the three extra-judicial statements made by the defendant, tendered and admitted as exhibits by the court, Dauda did not admit the offence she was charged with.

    The judge held that the police investigating officer charged with the responsibility of investigating the case did a mockery of investigation as he failed to verify the story told by the defendant in her extra-judicial statements.

    ”The attitude of the investigating police officer shows a crass ignorance of his duty.”

    ”The police did not make genuine efforts to gather evidence with which to convict the defendant.

    ”The defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted, he held.”

  • FAAN closes MMIA apron gate 1 for 6 weeks

    The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has announced the closure of Apron Gate 1 and some sections of Taxiway F of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, with effect from Friday (June 7).

    FAAN’s General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, said in a statement on Friday in Lagos, that the apron would be closed to human and vehicular traffic for six weeks.

    “This closure is to enable the contractor handling the construction of the new terminal to link the apron under construction to the existing one.

    Read Also; Senate Presidency: Lawan unveils legislative agenda

    “To maintain orderliness and ensure safety of operators while the project would last, the authority has developed and deployed specific procedures for vehicular movements,’’ she said.

    She said that officers of Aviation Security Department had been mobilised to ensure compliance.

    Yakubu said that FAAN solicited the understanding and cooperation of all concerned towards ensuring a safe airside for aircraft movement and personnel safety while the construction would last. (NAN)