Ondo Guber: Appeal court nullifies Jimoh Ibrahim candidature

The Court of Appeal, Abuja on Wednesday removed Jimoh Ibrahim as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 26 November election  in Ondo State.

Eyitayo Jegede, candidate of the Makarfi faction of the party was relisted to face other governorship hopeful, Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress and Olusola Oke of the Alliance for Democracy.

Justice Ibrahim Saulaawa, who led two other Justices in a unanimous decision held that the Federal High Court erred in its  14 October  ruling.

jimoh-ibrahim

Jimoh Ibrahim

Justice Okon Abang had in that ruling substituted Jegede’s name with Jimoh Ibrahim as the governorship candidate of the party.

Saulaawa said the law forbade the trial court or any other court from denying interested parties  fair hearing.

He also held that the court equally erred when it ordered INEC to remove the name of the appellant from its nomination register.

The Judge said, Ibrahim who benefited from that `strange order’ was never a party in the suit.

“Justice Okon Abang should know that the Constitution and the Electoral Act empower only the national leadership of political parties to nominate political candidates.

“The trial judge on his own, without allowing parties to present their arguments went ahead to deliver that ruling.

“There is no gainsaying that the extant appeal is meritorious and therefore allowed,” he said

The judge said: “consequently, the Oct. 14 judgment ruling of the trial court is hereby set aside and the appellant”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the appellate court on Nov.10 granted Jegede leave to appeal the decision of the Federal High Court Abuja.

On which group is the authentic leader of the party, Justice George Mbaba described the process that led to the June 29 judgment as a `fraud’.

Mbaba said the trial court breached Section 36(1) of the Constitution by denying the Ahmed Makarfi Caretaker committee right of fair hearing.

The judge therefore held that the judgment of the lower court delivered on June 29 remained void and a nullity.

NAN reports that judgment had affirmed the Sheriff-faction of the PDP as the authentic leadership of the party.

“With this development, all actions taken by the Sheriff-faction, including the selection of Jimoh Ibrahim as candidate of the party remain illegal and with no effect,” he said.

In his earlier submission, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), counsel to Jegede and the Ahmed Makarfi-faction had prayed the court to set aside the ruling of the lower court, adding that it was given in bad light.

Olanipekun had also said the court should order the reinstatement of his client as the authentic candidate of the party to contest the election.

According to him, Jegede is the candidate that emerged from the party’s primary conducted in Akure.

He had argued further that Ibrahim’s name was submitted and immediately recognised by INEC following the ruling of the lower court.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Life is not worth living for me, even if am killed I have two kids – Patience Jonathan

The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, on Wednesday appealed to Nigerian youths to always put the nation first and embrace peace to foster development in the country.
Jonathan said this while receiving various youth leaders who visited the State House in Abuja as part of activities ahead of the National Youth Peace Concert.
The concert is scheduled for Saturday, March 8 in Abuja.
The youth leaders, who were led by three personalities, said they were at the Villa to chart a course for the concert.

The three personalities included Mike Omeri, Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), and Onyeka Onwenu, Director-General, National Women Development Centre (NWDC).
The other one is Jude Imagwe, the Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Youth and Student Affairs.
“I invited you here today for two reasons. One of them is to work with you to make Nigeria a better place for us to live in, and the other one is to ensure our states, local government areas, regions and zones are peaceful.
“No one can do it all, we need collective efforts to make Nigeria a better place to live in. Please, put the nation first, because no other country is better than ours,’’ the First Lady said.
She said the concert would be a turnaround for youths as it would enlighten them on peaceful ways to co-habit with their neighbours and thereby shun violence.
Dame Patience Jonathan decried the ongoing killings in Borno, saying the killing of students and other Nigerians was a dastard act as the youths are the nation’s future hope.
“Today, I have two children. If they get killed, life is not worth living for me. Why will anyone therefore want to kill people’s children? No mother will like to suffer in vain.
“Our joy is in the youths. You are the hope of Nigeria, the hope of tomorrow. I don’t want to lose any of you.
“Please, be co-ordinated, and also be good ambassadors at the concert so that the foreigners can take good news back home about us,’’ she said.
While responding individually, Yinka Gbadebo, Usman Ibrahim, Amina Abdulone and Dauda Abduljelil who were among speakers, spoke for the youths and also proffered solutions to the country’s insecurity problems.
“I appeal that your peace initiative should extend to the campuses which are the intellectual community of the nation.
“Also, our campuses in the North should be more secured so that our brothers and sisters can be safe.
“I also appeal that as you have successfully advocated for 35 per cent for women, advocate for 20 per cent for the youths so that we can be involved in governance and drastically reduce unemployment among us,’’ Gbadebo said.
Ibrahim, on his part, said: “I lost a namesake the oldest son of my sister and a friend in the Buni Yadi killings.
“The situation is pathetic. Satanic people are killing our brothers and sisters every day, and we need solutions fast.’’
Also, Abdulone said: “This concert is coming at a very crucial time for the nation. I grew up and schooled in Yobe, but when I went back there two weeks ago, I wept. We need to help the women who bear the brunt of any conflict’’.
On his part, Abduljelil said: “Our lives are at stake. No one understands what’s happening. It’s not about the North East but about Nigeria. The elite have created this monster eating deep into us.
“These were youths who were dedicated to working for this country but someone has polluted their minds and turned them against the system.
“We need to reach out to our brothers and bring them back to the path of peace. I’ll also laud the activities of the civilian JTF who are unarmed and unpaid, and yet risk their lives daily in the quest for peace.’’

I cannot share centenary awards with Abacha – Soyinka

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, said, yesterday, he rejected his nomination for centenary award by the Federal Government because he could not share the award with the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who he described as a “murderer and thief of no redeeming quality”.
“I can’t think of nothing more grotesque and derisive of the lifetime struggle of several of this (Honours) List and their selfless services to humanity”, Soyinka said in a statement entitled, `The Canonisation of Terror’.
“I reject my share of this national insult”,

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Soyinka

                                                                             Soyinka
Listing some of the atrocities that took place under Abacha that made the late Nigerian leader of undeserving of the centenary award, the Nobel Laureate said: “It is a confidence trick that speaks volumes of the perpetrators of such a fraud. We shall pass over – for instance – the slave mentality that concocts loose formulas for an Honours List that automatically elevate any violent bird of passage to the status of nation builders who may, or may not be demonstrably motivated by genuine love of nation.
Accordingly,  generalized but false attributes to known killers and treasury robbers is a disservice to history and a desecration of memory.  It also compromises the future. This failure to discriminate, to assess, and thereby make it possible to grudgingly concede that even out of a ‘doctrine of necessity’ – such as military dictatorship –  some demonstrable governance virtue may emerge, reveals nothing but national self-glorification in a moral void, the breeding grounds of future cankerworm in the nation’s edifice.
”Such abandonment of moral rigour comes full circle sooner or later. The survivors of a plague known as Boko Haram, students in a place of enlightenment and moral instruction, are taken to a place of healing dedicated to an individual contagion – a murderer and thief of no redeeming quality known as Sani Abacha, one whose plunder is still being pursued all over the world and recovered piecemeal by international consortiums – at the behest of this same government which sees fit to place him on the nation’s Roll of Honour!

EPL wrap

Jonathan Walters scored from the penalty spot to put more pressure on Arsene Wenger and his boys as they are now four points behind Chelsea, who won at Fulham on Saturday . The game ended 1-0 in favour of Stoke City.
After a poor first 45 minutes, Chelsea came out in the second half looking like a completely different side and dominated from then onwards. A nervy-looking Fulham defence had no idea how to deal with Hazard, who twisted and turned his way through the Cottagers’ defence on numerous occasions, and Schurrle was on hand to wrap up the win that keeps Chelsea right where they want to be: at the top of the Premier League table.
The full result
Everton 1- 0 West Ham
Fulham 1-3 Chelsea
Hull City 1-4 Newscastle
Stoke City 1- 0 Arsenal
The match between Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion was postponed.

PDP WILL LEAD NIGERIA TO GREATNESS – PRES. JONATHAN

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that PDP will work to lead Nigeria to greatness.

Jonathan spoke in Sokoto on Saturday at a grand reception organised for a former governor of the state, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, who defected to PDP with his supporters from APC.
“The PDP is the only party that is stable and it will continue to uphold the tenets of democracy.

“The PDP respects the rule of law at all levels and we respect the constitution,” he said.

Jonathan said PDP was the number one party in Nigeria and would continue to be so.

He further said that the Federal Government under the party would continue to deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.

Jonathan commended the people of the state for their sustained support for PDP and urged them not to relent.

He commiserated with the people and government of the state over the recent fire disaster at Kara Market in Sokoto.Also, Vice-President Namadi Sambo and Senate President David Mark expressed happiness with the defection of Bafarawa to the party. ” The PDP umbrella is getting filled up and the PDP will sustain the provision of the dividends of democracy to Nigerians,” Sambo promised.

The National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, described PDP as the winning party.

“The achievements of the PDP are tangible all over the nation and this would be sustained,” Mu’azu said.

The Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, Gov. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, said that no /amount of conspiracy would stop PDP from winning the elections at all levels in 2015.

The Sokoto State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Mukhtari Shagari, said PDP was the most organised, disciplined and resourceful party in Nigeria.

The achievements of the PDP in the state and Nigeria generally speak for themselves.

“The president loves Nigeria and he has demonstrated this love in many ways,” Shagari said.

Bafarawa said that he defected to PDP, following the decision of his supporters and promised that Sokoto State would be delivered to PDP at all levels in 2015.

“We will work to ensure the success of the party. We joined the PDP based on principle, to build democracy and Nigeria,” Bafarawa, said. (NAN)

ASUU accuse F.G of reneging N20 billion

ACADEMIC Staff Union of Universities, ASUU,  has accused  the Federal government of reneging on some of the agreements that led to the suspension of a six-month strike that ground the university system last year.
Specifically, the academic union, through its National Treasurer, Dr. Ademola Aremu, lamented that the Federal Government was yet to honour the agreement that N20 billion would be released at the beginning of each quarter to meet identified needs  in the universities.
Aremu, during a chat with newsmen at the Post Graduate Hall, University of Ibadan,  weekend, said:  “This is February and the government is yet to release the money for the quarter.”
He stressed that the call was necessary  to avoid the embarrassment that the last strike caused the nation.
His words: “All the strike ASUU had embarked upon in this country were basically because the Federal Government  failed to honour agreements freely entered with us.
“It is also sad that each time before we begin the strike, we would give the government enough warnings and grace to make them retrace their steps. But they always fail.
“We don’t know why the government is always unwilling to implement the documents signed by their representatives. However, we will continue to fight for the system because if the system collapses, we will collapse with it.”
In his own comments,  ASUU chairman, UI chapter, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, said it was unfortunate that successive governments in Nigeria failed to learn from history as they always wait till major standoff with their members before doing the needful.
He expressed appreciation to the Nigerian media for standing by ASUU during the struggle, adding that the support was not really for the members, but for a better Nigeria.

FG gets 7 days ultimatum to trial Boko haram suspect Dr. Mohammed Nazeef Yunus

A federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, gave the Federal Government, seven
days to arraign in court, Dr. Mohammed Nazeef Yunus, a lecturer at the Kogi State University,
Ayingba, and five others arrested by the Department of State Service, DSS, following their alleged
involvement with the Boko Haram sect.
Trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, held that since October 30, 2013, when the suspects were
arrested, the government ought to have concluded its investigation on the matter and charge
them to court, saying it would be unconstitutional to perpetually keep the accused person in
detention.
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                                            Dr. Muhammed Nazeef Yunus

The other suspects the court said should be arraigned within seven days are Umar Musa (a.k.a
Abubakar), Mustapha Yusuf (a.k.a Habib), Ismaila Abdulazeez, Ibrahim Isa Hayafu and Salami
Abdullahi.
It will be recalled that Dr Nazeef who was hitherto a lecturer in the Department for Islamic
Studies was said to be the spiritual leader of a Boko Haram cell situated in Igala land in Kogi
State. The DSS had maintained that the 44-year old lecturer, who hails from Idah, Kogi State and
a graduate of Islamic University of Medina, Saudi Arabia, confessed that he had conducted
several preaching sessions every last Saturday and Sunday of the month at Ethosho secondary
school Ojiolo, Dekina, Kogi, where he had about 80 adherents.
He was also said to have confessed to teaching his adherents the virtues of Jihad (Holy war) and
the sanctity of the Sharia system as an alternative form of governance.
While parading the suspects, Deputy Director of Information at the DSS, Ms. Marylyn Ogar further
told newsmen that Dr Nazeef, aside having an extensive nexus with Boko Haram cells in
Maiduguri, also facilitated the trip of two of his adherents to Boko Haram’s Sambisa camp in
Maiduguri for training in weapon handling, allegations that were vehemently denied by the
suspect who insisted that he was being framed up.
Meanwhile, the DSS had on November 25, 2013, obtained an ex-parte order from the court to
hold the accused persons for 25 days to enable it conclude investigations on the matter, a period
that has since elapsed. Consequently, the suspects, through their team of lawyers led by Mr
Hassan Liman, SAN, and Mr James Ocholi, SAN, approached the court, asking it to set aside the
ex-parte order, alleging that it was obtained surreptitiously by the respondent.

Car dealer shot in ondo state

A 47-year-old car dealer, Yusuf Wole Brown, has been shot
dead by unknown gunmen in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Vanguard gathered that the deceased was found dead inside a pick-up
car around Agbogbo area of the state, last weekend, by a passer-by who
later informed the police.
His corpse has been moved to the Akure Specialist Hospital morgue.
Police source hinted that the deceased was shot severally by his killers.
It was, however, not clear if his killers were robbers or assassins but
Vanguard learnt that they did not remove anything from the car.
Ondo Police image maker, Wole Ogodo, confirmed the death of the car
dealer but denied that he was shot by assassins. He said the deceased
died as a result of a heart disease.
He told Vanguard that the family of the deceased confirmed that he had
been battling with the problem of heart enlargement for a while.
But a police officer in Ijapo police division who also confirmed the
incident described the killing of the car dealer as inhuman.
He said detectives had commenced a thorough investigation into the
killing. Vangaurd.