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  • Appeal Court reverses sack of Niger East Senator, Umaru

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reversed the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja, which sacked Senator David Umaru as the All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) candidate for the Niger East senatorial seat.

    The Federal High Court had, in a February 7, 2019 judgment, declared Muhammed Sani Musa as the validly nominated candidate for the seat, a decision appealed by Umaru, the current Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters Committee.

    In a unanimous judgment of a three-man panel, the Court of Appeal upheld the appeal by Umaru and dismissed the objection filed by Musa.

    In the lead judgment by Justice Stephen Adah, the Court of Appeal voided the certificate of return issued to Musa by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The appellate court, in the judgment given on Monday, agreed with the appellant that the trial court erred in law to have assumed jurisdiction over the suit brought by Musa and granted the reliefs sought.

    READ ALSO: Breaking: Court sacks Sen Committee Chair, Umaru as APC candidate

    The Appeal Court held that the suit filed at the lower court was statute barred and caught up by section 285(9) of the 4th alteration Act of the 1999 constitution, therefore, the trial court lacked the requisite jurisdiction to have entertained it.

    The court also held that the suit was not filed within the mandatory 14 days period after the cause of action, as provided for by section 285 (9) of the 1999 constitution.

    “The suit was caught up by the prescribed constitutional time limit of 14 days having been predicated on the event that took place on the 2nd October, 2018. The originating summons was dated and filed on October 26, 2018 while the subject matter of the suit centred on the event of October 2, 2018,” Justice Adah held.

    Musa had, in his objection, challenged the appeal on the grounds that the appellant had no locus standi to have filed the appeal without the name of his political party, the APC.

    He equally argued that the appeal has become an academic exercise since the election had been conducted and a winner had emerged.

     

     

  • Edo, EU, British Council strategise against gender-based violence

    The Edo State Government, the European Union and the British Council have concluded plans to set-up a Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) response team, which will lead campaigns in dealing with cases relating to violence against children, women, infants and other vulnerable persons.

    Addressing journalists after a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme  of the European Union and the British Council, in Benin City, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Edo State, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, said that through the collaboration, the state government will ensure that justice prevails in cases relating to sexual gender-based violence.

    “This will become possible through the establishment of the SGBV response team, which will end up with a SGBV response centre to deal with different violence cases in the state. The response team will be responsible for sensitization on the dangers of different forms and types of violence,” she said.

    Prof. Omorogbe added that after the response team is set up, Edo State will become the 12th state to have such a team in place, and the 7th to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Act (VAP).

    Noting that the feat is another leap towards ensuring a totally free, safe society for all residents, she explained, “This programme is driven by the rule of law components of the Office of the Vice President, the rule of law and anti-corruption programme of the British Council and funded by the European Union.”

    Read Also: Edo boosts WASH programme in three LGAs

    A representative from the Office of the Vice President, Dr Fatima Waziri-Azi, said the team is in the state to validate a referral guideline that has been developed by the rule of law advisory team in the Office of the Vice President.

    “This team will provide multi-sectoral coordination in terms of responding to sexual gender-based violence. We are here with members of the Edo State team to validate the referral guideline.”

    Anambra State Project Coordinator, RoLAC Programme, Onah Josephine said key objects of RoLAC include supporting good governance in the country, adding, “We are not just supporting the SGBV but to also responding to Violence Against Persons (VAP) law passed in the state. We are advocating for Edo State to set up a dedicated Court to look into sexual offences.”

    In a paper titled, “Combating Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Edo State and the way forward,” Professor of Criminology and Gender Studies in the Department of Sociology, Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Prof. Agatha Eguavoen, said violence is inflicted on women and the girl-child based on stereotype or roles expected of them.

    She averred that most of the violence against women and the girl-child occur in homes, leaving the victims traumatized.

     

  • Pioli quits as Fiorentina coach

    Stefano Pioli has resigned as coach of Fiorentina, the Serie A club said on Tuesday.

    Fiorentina lost 0-1 at home against second-last Frosinone on Sunday and remained in 10th position, 12 points off the UEFA Europa League zone with seven games remaining.

    La Viola have lost three and drawn four of the last seven league games.

    Read Also: Fiorentina, Inter plot bids for Borini

    They are to play the second leg match of the Italian Cup semi-finals away to Atalanta on April 25, after the first leg ended in a 3-3 draw.

    The club said assistant coach Giacomo Murelli was leading the Tuesday training session.

    “Sadly, I feel forced to resign after my professional and personal capabilities have been called into question,” Pioli told the ANSA news agency.

    The 53-year-old Pioli took over Fiorentina in 2017, leading them to eighth place in the past season

    NAN

     

  • Court discharges bus driver charged with armed robbery

    An Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Tuesday discharged a 36-year-old commercial bus driver, Charles Inibu, charged with robbing a man of two mobile phones while armed with a dangerous weapon.

    The Magistrate, Mrs M. O. Ope-Agbe, discharged the defendant based on  advice by the state Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

    Inibu was arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy  and armed robbery.

    His plea was not taken by the court,  which consequently remanded him pending the advice.

    At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, the magistrate read the DPP’s submission which advised the court to discharge the defendant on the grounds of  insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

    Ope-Agbe, therefore, discharged the defendant.

    Earlier, the prosecutor, Sgt. Cyriacus Nwosu,  told the court that the defendant committed the alleged offences on Feb. 8, at 4.00p.m., on Lekki-Epe Expressway in Eti-Osa LGA of Lagos State.

    Read Also: Court adjourns suit against Enugu North Senator till May 14

    He said that the defendant conspired with one other person still at large and robbed a road user of two mobile phones, worth N55, 000.

    The prosecutor said that the defendant, while driving a commercial bus marked AAA 9324 A, armed himself with a screw driver and robbed one Mr Toki Omotayo of Nokia and Samsung phones.

    The alleged offences contravene Sections 297 (2) and 299 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015

    NAN.

  • ‘I’ll remain grateful to my sureties in my trivials’ – Kanu

    Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has said he will remain eternally grateful to his sureties for standing by him all through his travails, trials and tribulations.

    He described the bench warrant against him by Justice Binta Nyako as “mere academic exercise,” expressing confidence that it would be ignored by the international and diplomatic community.

    In a broadcast monitored by The Nation corespondent in Awka, the IPOB leader insisted that Nigerian government could not by its antics incite the world against him.

    He added that the diplomatic community had since expressed its disapproval of what had befallen IPOB in Nigeria.

    He said, “I remain eternally grateful to my sureties for standing by me all through my travails, trials and tribulations.

    “It smacks of judicial persecution for Justice Binta Nyako handling my case to claim that my sureties had withdrawn their surety.

    “Justice Binta Nyako’s bench warrant against me makes the judiciary complicit in the persecution of innocent people and IPOB since mid 2015.

    “Where a case is for hearing of motion, the trial judge must hear the motion and adjourn for any other process. On no account should he hear a motion and hear the merits of the matter, not to talk about delivering judgment. He may consider doing that in the very rare circumstance of consent by parties.

    READ ALSO: Nnamdi Kanu: Lawyer confirms Jerusalem appearance

    “When a matter has been adjourned for a particular purpose, it is my view that the business of the court on the day the matter is adjourned is the purpose for which it was adjourned.

    ” It is expected that parties have come prepared for that purpose for which the matter was adjourned. If it is expedient to change the purpose, it cannot be done by the court suo motu (on its own)  as the parties must agree.”

    According to Kanu, another disturbing trend was the use of the media to prejudice public opinion against IPOB before and during trial, alleging that examples abound where media houses allowed themselves to be used as “willing agents” of persecution.

    “In March last year, a continental human rights court restrained the Nigerian government from persecution of members of IPOB which the government is yet to obey.

    “The arrest, detention and murder of IPOB family members is illegal, unconstitutional and in breach of the written laws of Nigeria.

    “The fact that judges and supposed legal practitioners allow this travesty to continue is indicative of the level of ignorance that pervades the Nigerian judiciary,” he said.

  • Robbery: Banks shut down in Ondo Communities

    Following Monday bloody bank robbery in Ido-ani, Ose local government area of Ondo state which claimed seven lives, economic activities of the neighbouring Akoko area was on Tuesday grounded.

    All commercial banks in the four local governments especially Ikare-Akoko, the nerve centre,were shut down to customers.

    Many people who came for bank transactions waited endlessly before they returned home with regrets.

    A senior bank official who spoke in confidence recalled Monday’s attack in Idoani where many lives were lost and substantial amount of money carted away.

    Read Also: Ogun APC to banks: don’t approve Amosun’s loan requests

    He noted that security report had not been very favorable for operation of banks in the vicinity, stressing that they would not transact business unless adequate security was guaranteed.

    A customer who came from Akunu-Akoko, Micheal Bello and another one from Irun-Akoko, Mrs Ronke Ademulegun said they were not aware of the robbery at Idoani before coming to the banks, stressing that they would remain stranded in Ikare-Akoko, since they could not get the means of returning to their respective towns because of closure of banks.

    Efforts to speak with Ikare Akoko Police Area Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Razak Rauf on this development failed.

  • Oyetola promises to make mining benefit host communities

    The Osun State governor, Mr.  Gboyega Oyetola, has promised to make mining of mineral resources found in the state work for the development of the people and the host communities.

    He made the promise while declaring open a 5-day training programme tagged extension services to artisanal and small scale miners sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in Osogbo, the state capital.

    Governor Oyetola said rejuvenation of the mining sector of the state economy is a major cardinal programme of his administration.

    Represented by the Executive Secretary, Office of the Forestry and Natural Resources, Mr. Simeon Lanlehin, the governor said his interest in mining sector is based on its pontentials for a great prosperity multiplier and huge labour employer.

    Read Also: Oyetola seeks establishment of Court of Appeal in Osun

    Stressing that the training programme will ginger the participants to be more active on the field, Oyetola said mining could create employment opportunities for teeming young population in the state.

    The governor, who said the objective of the workshop is to provide to technical competence for stakeholders in the mining sector of the state economy, lamented that illegal activities of some miners are undertaking in a manner that damages the environment and exposes the people in “our communities to serious health hazards.”

    Oyetola disclosed that gold is the most mined in the state by artisanal and small scale miners, whose activities are majorly unprofessional, unregulated, unsafe and unprofitable to government.

    He, therefore, pledged support for the federal government to make mining take the nation to the next level, saying Osun like many states are blessed with abundant mineral resources, including gold.

    In his welcome address, the leader of the team of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel for the workshop, Engr. Olabisi Mojoyinola, said the Federal Government has recognized the importance of mining to national economy.

    Mojoyinola, who represented the ministry’s Director of Artisanal and Small Scale Mining, Mr. Patrick Ojeka, said the FG has adopted aadoptedgy termed formalization through “Cooperatization” to address the artisanal mining issues and using it as an instrument to alleviate poverty.

    No fewer than 150 participants drawn from Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states attended the workshop.

  • Navy takes war to kidnappers, others

    In its quest to ensure that kidnapping and hostage taking do not reign in riverine areas, the Nigerian Navy (NN) on Tuesday said it was taking the battle to the enclaves of the criminals.

    Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command (WNC) Rear Admiral Oladele Daji stated this in an  interview shortly after assuming headship of the command.

    Daji, who took over the mantle of leadership as the 39th FOC from Rear Admiral Obed Ngalabak, said the NN had already identified the hideouts of these criminals and was battle ready to smoke them out.

    He was reacting to a question on the seeming resurge of kidnapping and armed banditry in the southwest especially in riverine areas of Ikorodu, Epe, Ogun and Ondo which fall within the command’s area of responsibility.

    Although the admiral denied there was spate in these vices, he however assured that steps were already on to flush out the criminals from their hideouts.

    “We are so lucky in the military because our roles and tasks have been defined and cut out for us. For the navy, we are guided by the vision and mission of the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) as well as the Strategic Directives.

    “Just as the outgone FOC mentioned, the command has strived over the years to deliver on its mandate. What we are only coming to do is build upon, bring fresh ideas into some of the challenges we have in the maritime expanse.

    READ ALSO: Court bonds make fight against oil theft difficult – Nigerian Navy

    “Luckily for us, the federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has been able to acquire more boats for us to patrol. This is not to say we have enough to cover our vast maritime space but with what we have and the strategy of using the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), we will ensure the assets provided for us are effectively used to accomplish the tasks ahead.

    “The data we have at the Naval Headquarters show that kidnapping is on the decline. Perhaps, there are one or two cases with prominence which make it seem as though it is on the increase. It is actually on the decline.

    “That notwithstanding, the FOC briefed me in his handing over. We are going to the source to rout them out. These people do not leave perpetually at sea, they have where they operate from. That is one of our strategy and I won’t say more than that.”

    In his valedictory remark, Ngalabak appealed to other security agencies, personnel to collaborate with his successor, who he said, would improve on existing foundations.

    He noted that under his watch, the command arrested about 26 vessels, 70 suspects and rescued a vessel hijacked by pirates.

     

     

     

  • Group urges INEC to complete collation of results in Imo North Senatorial District

    The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), a civil society organisation, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do the right thing by completing the collation of results and make a declaration and return a winner in Imo North Senatorial District.

    The Returning Officer on 23rd February declared the senatorial election in the zone inconclusive.

    The group urged INEC to conduct elections in the two local government areas out of the six in the district.

    It knocked Senator Benjamin Uwajimogu, for parading himself as winner of the elections, alleging that he printed his own result sheets, entered figures into the result sheets and parades those figures as having returned him as elected.

    The Legal and Communications Director of CTA, Mr. Ohazuruike Tochukwu, disclosed this during a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

    He said that the Returning Officer, Prof. Donatus Ohajianya, was conscripted by Senator Uwajimogu to announce the results entered in the fake sheets and declare him winner.

    He said: “Senator Uwajimogu claims he won an election yet neither he nor his agent is in possession of the result sheet upon which he claims victory.

    Read Also: INEC releases timetable for Bayelsa, Kogi gov polls this week

    “He only got the Returning Officer to join him in making the claim that there was a return. No other political party has a result. No security agency has the result.

    “Indeed, Nigerians must know that while the duplicate result sheets INEC used in the National Legislative elections were blue in colour, the fake one printed by Senator Uwajimogu were pink in colour.

    “How could it only be the Imo North Senatorial District that would have a different colour of duplicate copies?

    “When the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner summoned stakeholders in the Senatorial District to a meeting to probe into these allegations, the Senator got faceless groups to threaten the security of the lives and property of the Commission and its staff.

    “He tried to blackmail the REC to overlook the electoral crime committed and forward his name to Abuja for presentation of his Certificate of Return.

    “A Senator that should be under Police investigations for forging INEC result sheets and presenting same as genuine when he knew they were obviously fake is now the one sponsoring faceless groups to put pressure and malign INEC to present him with a Certificate of Return.”

    CTA called on the INEC to make an official report to the Inspector General of Police calling for criminal investigation and prosecution of Senator Uwajimogu and Prof. Donatus O. Ohajianya.

    It asked the accused Senator to: Show Nigerians a copy of the Result with which he says he won the Imo North Senatorial District election; show Nigerians a video of the Returning Officer declaring him as the winner of the election as he claims even if from a phone; he should disclose to Nigerians why the official result sheet for the election does not contain any entries made for Ehime Mbano and Isiala Mbano Local Government Areas as the Returning Officer was yet to make the entries into them.

    “INEC should in this circumstance do the only right thing which is to complete the collation of results and make a declaration and return a winner.

    “INEC should know that where this type of criminal act is allowed to go unpunished, that politicians will in subsequent elections print their own result sheets and then struggle for who the Returning Officer will declare his own.

    “It will permanently destroy the credibility and sanctity of our elections. This evil introduced by this Senator must be nipped in the bud,” he said.

    CTA urged INEC to make the findings of the Committee set up to look into the matter with a view to ascertaining the veracity or otherwise of allegations of misconduct in the election public so that Nigerians will understand and appreciate what it has done.

  • 2019 ITTF African Junior and Cadet Championships: Nigeria qualifies for World Junior Championships

    Despite two years absence from the ITTF African Junior and Cadet Championships, Nigeria boys’ team yesterday in Accra, Ghana,  regained its place among the superpowers at junior level after securing its place at the 2019 ITTF World Junior Championships holding in Thailand.

    Apart from the first group match against Tunisia in which the team recorded a 3-1 win, every other match ended 3-0 in their favour.

    The team led by Azeez Solanke, Augustine Emmanuel, Abayomi Animashaun and Jamiu Ayanwale were unbeaten from the first match to the semifinal stage where they walloped Togo 3-0.

    Read also: 2019 ITTF African Junior and Cadet Championships: Nigeria hits semifinal

    From 2016 when Nigeria featured at the World Junior Championships held in Cape Town, South Africa, the team has not competed at the global championship and this qualification meant a lot to the players who told NationSport that they are happy returning to the big stage in the world.

    “We are happy that we qualified and I must tell you that we are hoping to do well this time in Thailand.

    Generally to quality as one of the best teams in Africa was a bit easy for us because the only tough match we played was against Tunisia in the opening match of the group. We are excited on this and we hope we can get the needed support from government to attend this tournament later in the year,” Animashaun said.