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Category: Politics

  • Seyi Makinde Reveals Cause Of Ibadan Explosion

    Seyi Makinde Reveals Cause Of Ibadan Explosion

    Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, says two people were killed in the explosion which took place in Ibadan, the capital of the state, on Tuesday night.

    Makinde said the explosion, which injured 77 people, was caused by illegal miners who stored explosive devices in one of the buildings in the Bodija area of Ibadan.

    “We visited the scene of the explosion which occurred at about 7.44 pm yesterday, 16 January 2024 in Bodija, Ibadan,” the governor said.

    “This unfortunate incident resulted in death and injury to residents in the vicinity and also affected properties. We have already deployed first responders and all relevant agencies within Oyo State to carry out comprehensive search and rescue operations.”

    He said preliminary investigations by the security agencies revealed that “illegal miners occupying one of the houses in Bodija had stored explosive devices there which caused the blast”.

    Makinde said the investigations are ongoing and all those found culpable for this will be brought to book.

    The governor said the rescue operations will continue throughout the night.

    “Earth-moving equipment, ambulances, emergency lights, and security were deployed to the scene of the incident,” he said.

    “The wounded and injured are being treated and moved to public and private hospitals within Ibadan. Medical personnel are on standby at these hospitals to provide all needed assistance to the injured. We have visited UCH to see some of those injured during the incident.”

    Condoling the families of those who lost lives and properties to the explosion, Makinde said “in total, we have 77 injured victims so far, most of whom were treated and discharged and 2 fatalities. May their souls rest in peace and may God give their loved ones the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss”.

    Makinde assured residents that the state government would take care of the medical bills of all victims of the blast.

    “We will also be providing temporary accommodation for those whose houses were affected and ensuring that they are supported to rebuild their lives,” he said.

    “I urge all residents to please call 615 for any emergencies they may be experiencing at this time and to remain calm and stay away from the immediate scene of the incident to allow rescue operations to be carried out without interference.

    “We are grateful to the first responders, security personnel and all those who are at the scene to assist with the rescue operations as well as the medical personnel taking care of the injured.

    “Please say a prayer for those who have been affected by this disaster as we continue with the rescue operations.”

  • Hoodlums Attack UNILAG Bus During Convocation

    Hoodlums Attack UNILAG Bus During Convocation

    The management of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lagos State, has announced that unidentified miscreants vandalized the school bus.

    The varsity noted that the hoodlums, during the attack, stole gowns intended for its graduates for the 54th convocation ceremony scheduled to hold on Tuesday (today).

    Graduates have been mandated to pay N15,000 to obtain the convocation gowns.

    However, amid preparations, reports emerged that some graduates who made the payment received a notification from the university administration stating that the distribution of the gowns had been halted due to the vandalism committed by the unknown criminals.

    “We regret to inform you that the distribution of SPGS academic gowns is now suspended. Sadly, the remaining gowns were stolen, and our bus vandalised this afternoon,” the university’s email to one of the graduates read.

    Confirming the development, a lawyer who identified himself as Malachy Odo, said he had received the identical notification from the school through text messages subsequent to his payment of the fee designated for the gown collection.

    “I paid 15k for convocation gown yesterday and this is what UNILAG just sent me. This country is not a real place,” he noted.

  • Surge of Kidnappings: FCT Minister Summons Emergency Meeting

    Surge of Kidnappings: FCT Minister Summons Emergency Meeting

    In response to the alarming surge in violent crime within the nation’s capital, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has initiated a crucial emergency security meeting.

    Recent incidents involving brazen bandit operations, including the tragic killing of several residents, including a 13-year-old Secondary School Student, have prompted heightened concerns.

    Addressing the gathering, Minister Wike reassured FCT residents about their safety, emphasizing the government’s commitment to providing security forces with necessary resources to combat the rising insecurity.

    The closed-door summit, presently in session, brings together heads of security agencies in the FCT, key officials from the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), council chairmen, and traditional rulers.

    Stay tuned for more updates on this developing situation.

  • S’Court reserves judgment on Nasarawa guber appeal

    S’Court reserves judgment on Nasarawa guber appeal

    The Supreme Court of Nigeria, Tuesday, reserved judgment in the
    Petition seeking to sack the incumbent governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Hon Emmanuel David Ombugadu, is praying the apex court to set aside the November 23 judgment of the Court of Appeal which upheld Sule as the lawfully elected governor.

    The Petitioners, through Kanu Agabi SAN submitted that the October 2, 2023 judgment of the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in favour of PDP and Ombugadu be restored.

    According to him, the Court of Appeal unjustly nullified the Tribunal’s judgment and unjustly declared Sule as winner of the March 18 gubernatorial election.

    Agabi specifically called that the Supreme Court should allow the votes of Nasarawa state people to count and be meaningful be declaring PDP and Ombugadu as winners as rightly done by the Tribunal.

    However, Sule and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and APC, prayed court to dismiss the appeal for want of merit.

    APC lawyers, led by Akin Olujinmi SAN while adopting his brief of arguments asked the apex court to carefully looked into the cited authorities to back up their request for dismissal of the case.

    After taking arguments from lawyers, Justice Kekere-Ekun announced that judgment has been reserved and that the date for its delivery would be communicated to parties involved.

    The Appeal Court had on November 23 last year reversed the sack of Gov Sule by the State Election Petitions Tribunal in its judgment delivered on October 2.

    The Appellate Court held that the Tribunal headed by Ezekiel Ajayi acted in grave error in using witness statements on oath, not front-loaded as required by law to arrive at the unjust conclusion of nullifying the election of the governor.

    In a judgment delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, the Court of Appeal had said the Tribunal was legally bound to act on witness statements filed along with the petition or front-loaded within 21 days stipulated by law.

    The Court held that no petition can lawfully be amended outside the 21 days allowed by law as wrongly done by the Tribunal.

    “Since the statements used by the Tribunal to sack the Governor were not front-loaded in compliance with the law, the statements were a product of illegality with no probate value for a law Court to act upon”.

    The Court also dismissed the over-voting issues used to annul the election, adding that the allegations were not established by law.

    Justice Onyemenam held that the petition by the Governorship candidate of the PDP was a nullity and invalid on the grounds that the jurisdictional issues raised by the governor were unlawfully ignored by the Tribunal.

    The Court of Appeal ruled that the Tribunal denied the Governor a fair hearing by not considering and making findings on the issues of jurisdiction raised at the hearing of the petition.

    Justice Onyemenam agreed that the denial of a fair hearing against the governor was fatal and tendered all decisions of the Tribunal invalid.

    In all, the Court of Appeal reversed all orders made against the governor and INEC and affirmed Sule as the lawfully elected governor of the state.

    INEC had declared Sule the winner of the governorship election on the grounds that he polled a total of 347,209 votes to defeat his closest opponent David Emmanuel Ombugadu who secured 283,016 votes.

  • Why Aiyedatiwa is yet to move into Ondo Govt House 

    Three weeks into his tenure as the Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been working from his former Deputy Governor’s office, delaying his transition to the Governor’s Office at the Government House in Alagbaka, Akure, Starnews NG report. 

    Despite being sworn in on December 27, 2023, following the passing of former governor Rotimi Akeredolu, Aiyedatiwa is gradually settling into his role. 

    In his inaugural address, he pledged to continue his predecessor’s work and ensure collaboration with all stakeholders. 

    However, the governor, after meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos, is reportedly focused on reorganizing the All Progressives Congress in the state before selecting a deputy governor. 

    Sources told Starnews that ongoing consultations to choose a deputy from either the central or northern senatorial districts, while Aiyedatiwa continues to operate from his former office, delaying his move to the main governor’s office at the Government House.

    The source said, “The governor has been coming to the office, but he has been using his old deputy governor office to operate and receive visitors. He has yet to occupy the state Government House too. The only place he uses in the Government House is the Presidential Lodge where he receives visitors. The governor’s residential lodge too has not been used by the governor.”

    When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ebenezer Adeniyan, confirmed that the presidential lodge was being used by the governor to receive visitors while some other areas were under renovation, adding that the Governor’s Office was under renovation.

    “The governor has been using the Government House; he receives visitors at the presidential lodge. Others are undergoing renovation. Very soon, everything will be alright. The new building in the Government House is nearing completion and he might be using there.

    “The main governor’s office too is under renovation; after the renovation, the governor will move in,” the CPS stated

  • BREAKING: Supreme Court Affirms Lawal’s Election As Zamfara Governor 

    BREAKING: Supreme Court Affirms Lawal’s Election As Zamfara Governor 

    The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Dauda Lawal as the duly elected Governor of Zamfara state.

    Justice Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the lead judgment, criticized the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision, describing it as “perverse.”

    Justice Agim emphasized that the allegations of over-voting failed to stand as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not provide essential documents such as the voter register, polling unit officer report, and eyewitness testimony.

    The judge highlighted that BVAS machines alone could not establish electoral malpractices, and the petitioner, Mr Matawalle, did not provide sufficient evidence to support his claims.

    “The court is of the view that the tribunal was right. The judgment of the Court of Appeal was perverse because the petitioner failed woefully to prove his allegations,” declared Justice Agim.

  • Kano Guber: Supreme Court Affirms Abba Yusuf Victory

    Kano Guber: Supreme Court Affirms Abba Yusuf Victory

    The Supreme court has upheld the election of the Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as the governor of the state.

    The five-man panel of the court lead by John Inyang Okoro, held that the 165, 616 votes complied with the provisions of Section 71 of the Electoral Act have been signed and stamped by the election agents.

    The court held that the All Progressive Congress (APC) and it’s flagbearer, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, failed to prove that the votes were unlawful.

    Therefore, the court ordered that the signed and stamped 165, 616 votes be returned to the appallant.

    With the verdict, the court thereby set aside the judgement of the lower court and declared that the Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf won the 2023 governorship election in Kano State with the majority votes.

    The Independent National Electronic Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Yusuf as the winner of the March 18, 2023 election, saying he garnered 1,019,602 votes to defeat Gawuna who got 890,705 of the votes cast.

    Consequently, the APC headed the Tribunal, citing alleged electoral malpractice.

    The Tribunal in its ruling nullified Yusuf’s election, adding that over 160,000 ballot papers “were not signed or stamped by INEC”.

    The three-man panel of the Tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023, after deducting 165,663 of his votes.

    Yusuf’s votes were subsequently reduced to 853,939 while Ganuwa’s 890,705 votes were not affected.

    Not satisfied, Yusuf proceeded to the Appeal court which held that it can be seen that the Tribunal acted in the overall interest of justice when it allowed APC’s tendering of documents during trial.

    The court held that INEC released documents to the APC piecemeal in order to defeat the petition of the petitioner.

    The judgement further posited
    the the Petitioner’s insistence that APC ought to have joined its candidate, Ganuwa, as a party at the Tribunal proceedings, was not backed by the 1999 Constitution.

    It maintained that a candidate is entitled to be represented by his political party during litigation, adding that every political party shall maintain the register of its voters.

    The court said the appellant to his own detriment did not submit his NNPP membership registrar or even tendered his statement on oath regarding his membership of the party.

    The court added that the name of Abba is not the NNPP membership registrar.

    “As rightfully found, Yusuf Abba was not a member of the NNPP at the time he was purportedly sponsored by his party and he was not qualified to contest the March Governorship Election,” the court while affirming the judgment of the Tribunal.

    “If you claim to be a member of a political party, is it not logical for you to say so by yourself and not by proxy?

    “Even though membership of a political party is an internal affair, a political party cannot be permitted to circumvent or breach the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

    “The Tribunal was wrong not to have disqualified the appellant.

    “Therefore the failure of the appellant and the NNPP to comply with the 1999 Constitution is fatal to their election.

    “All issues in this appeal are dismissed and the judgment of the Tribunal is affirmed,” the court held.

  • Akwa ibom: Umo Eno remains Gov as S/Court dismisses APC, YPP, NNPP’s petitions

    Akwa ibom: Umo Eno remains Gov as S/Court dismisses APC, YPP, NNPP’s petitions

    The Supreme Court, Thursday, affirmed the election of Umo Eno as the governor of Akwa Ibom State, in the March 18, governorship election in the state

    The seven-man panel of the Apex court, lead by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, dismissed the petition following the withdrawal of three separate appeals brought before it by the petitioners alleging certificate forgery.

    They failed to convinced the panel that Emo Eno Bassey and Bassey Eno Emo were not the same and as such that the governor allegedly forged his Secondary School Certificate.

    Consequently, the lead counsel to the respective parties withdrew their separate appeals as the apex court panel of Justices hinted that they have no merit.

    The Petitioners in the matter are All Progressive Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Akanimo Udofia, Young Progressive Party(YPP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Akpan Albert Bassey as well as that of New Nigeria People’s Party(NNPP)and its governorship candidate, John James Akpan Udoedehe.

    Their arguments especially forgery allegations did not go down well with the Apex Court Justices who queried the lawyers on whether the West African Examinations Council WAEC gave evidence to establish the criminal allegations.

    Upon admission that WAEC did not testify in the matter, the lawyers opted and separately withdrew the appeal.

    This prompted Justice Abba-Aji to dismiss them following no objections from lawyers to the various respondents.

    The Court did not award cost against any of the lawyers to the appellants having voluntarily withdrew their cases on ground of want of merit.

    The Court of Appeal in Lagos had in November last year affirmed the election of Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State in the governorship election held on March 18, 2023.

    The appellate court in its judgment dismissed three separate appeals, filed against the governor’s election.

    While affirming the September 28, 2023 judgments of the election petition tribunal, the three-member panel of Justices headed by Festus Obande dismissed the appeal brought by the governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party, Bassey Akpan, and his party against the Independent National Electoral Commission, Eno, and the Peoples Democratic Party.

    Justice Obande also granted judgments in favour of the governor against the appeals of the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, John Udoedehe, as well as Akanimo Udofia, of the All Progressives Congress.

    The appellate court declared in the unanimous judgments that all three appeals lacked merit.

  • Ogun Guber: Supreme Court reserves judgment seeking Abiodun’s removal

    Ogun Guber: Supreme Court reserves judgment seeking Abiodun’s removal

    The Supreme Court has reserved judgment on the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it’s candidate, Ladi Adebutu, in the March 18, governorship election.

    Adebutu’s appeal is seeking the nullification of the declaration of Dapo Abiodun as winner of the election.

    Specifically, he is challenging Abiodun’s re-election on the ground that the Electoral Act, 2022, was not adhered to, citing corrupt practices and issues of non-qualification.

    Specifically, PDP and Adebutu want the Supreme Court to set aside and dismiss the judgement of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which had on November 23, affirmed the decision of the Tribunal in upholding Adiodun’s victory.

    Recall that two Judges of the court below had dismissed the appeal filed by Adebutu for lacking in merit, while Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang saw merit in the petition and thereby ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return presented to Abiodun and conduct another election in 99 polling units where elections were disrupted.

    In adopting his brief of arguments, Chris Uche SAN, counsel for the appellants said INEC ought to have conducted fresh elections in 99 polling units where elections were cancelled and not declared a winner.

    He said the return of the governor by INEC was unlawful and the election was wrongly concluded because corrupt practices were allegedly manifest during the March 18, governorship poll.

    Abiodun Owonikoko, counsel for the first respondent(INEC), asked the apex court to dismiss the appeal.

    He maintained that governorship and presidential election is not determined by margin of lead but by spread of votes, according to Section 179 of the 1999 Constitution.

    Wole Olanipekun, counsel for second respondent, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal which challenges concurrent decisions of the two lower courts.

    INEC had declared Abiodun winner of the governorship election after polling 276,298 votes to defeat his closest rival Adebutu, who polled 262,383 votes.

  • Adamawa Guber: S/Court affirms Gov Fintiri’s election

    Adamawa Guber: S/Court affirms Gov Fintiri’s election

    The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Ahmed Fintiri as the authentic governor of Adamawa State.

    This is following the withdrawal of an appeal brought before it by the Social Democratic Party(SDP) and its governorship candidate, Dr Umar Ardo, challenging Fintiri’s victory for want of merit.

    SDP and its candidate had scored 6,000 votes and challenged the declaration of Fintiri and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who polled over 430,000 votes at the March 18, 2023 election.

    Specifically, Ardo and his party argued that the election was not conducted in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

    The appellants in their submissions through Sylvester Imhanobe, upon discovering the hint of the apex court, the appellants withdrew their appeal, having been found unmeritorious.

    Justice John Inyang Okoro, who led a 5-man panel of Justices of the Court, dismissed the appeal without any cost against the appellants, thereby, affirmed the election of Fintiri as being validly elected and lawfully declared as the Governor of Adamawa State.

    Ardo and his party had filed a petition at the Adamawa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal after Fintiri, the candidate of PDP, was declared the winner of the poll.

    The petitioners had sought the nullification of Fintiri’s election on the grounds that there was substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act, corrupt practices, threats, and violence during the voting exercise.

    However, the tribunal, led by Theodora Uloho, dismissed the petition for being incompetent and not properly filed.

    They, however, headed to the Supreme Court for further interpretation.