The president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to travel out of the country once again any moment from now.
Gists9ja gathered that his spokeman, Tunde Rahmon, confirmed the travel plans and said “The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, may travel out. But definitely not tomorrow.”
Tinubu is reportedly running away from all the drama about the zoning of leadership positions of the 10th National Assembly.
This is just as northern youths, under the aegis of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF), have called on Tinubu to probe appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari after his inauguration.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP in Kaduna, the president of AYCF, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, said Tinubu should go ahead and probe some of President Buhari’s appointees if they are found wanting.
AYCF said Tinubu as a democrat should fight corruption, follow due process and strengthen institutions of government for democracy to strive. “We can’t preempt the incoming administration of Tinubu but if the appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari are found wanting the new president can probe them.
The Anambra State Security Forces on Sunday May 7 neutralized a deadly gang of kidnappers terrorizing innocent citizens along the Nkpor-Umuoji-Ideani road. The gang of Kidnappers who had hitherto terrorized innocent citizens along that axis paid dearly with their lives when Security Forces acting on intelligence reports swooped on the areas and after an intense gun battle effectively neutralized four of the deadly criminals.
It will be recalled that Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has repeatedly warned that there is no space for any criminalities in Anambra State. Hence zero tolerance has been declared by the Governor on any form of criminal activities in the state.
Meanwhile those arrested are currently cooling off in detention. They are helping the Security Agencies in their investigation to unravel the whereabout of other kidnappers who are on the run.
After successfully neutralizing the kidnappers, the Security Operatives recovered a Lexus Jeep and some sophisticated weapons including charms tied around their waists.
Court in Abuja hearing on the complaints filed by opposition political parties and their candidates challenging the president-elect, Bola Tinubu’s victory.*
*The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mr Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the 25 February poll.*
*The petitioners include the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party, with its candidate, Peter Obi.*
*The rest are the Action Alliance (AA), the Action Peoples Party (APP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).*
*The petitioners allege INEC’s non-compliance with the Electoral Act as well as other fraudulent practices by Mr Tinubu and his agents during the election.*
*With Mr Tinubu’s victory mired in unprecedented litigation, the election petition court commences sitting today, Monday, to determine the disputes.*
*At today, Monday’s proceedings, the panel was inaugurated while the template for adjudicating on the various petitions was reeled out.*
*Inaugural sitting held between 9.14am and 10.30am.*
*10.30am: Panel went on a break.*
*10:45am: Court resumes sitting.*
*10:46am: Action Alliance’s petition called.*
*10:47am: AA’s national chairman, Adekunle Omo-Aje, announces appearance in court.*
*10:48am: Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, introduces self as Mr Tinubu’s representative.*
*12:45pm: Mr Obi’s lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu, informs the court that he filed answers to questions raised in his client’s petition.*
*12:49pm: INEC lawyer, Mr Mahmoud, informs court that the electoral commission has filed its responses to the pre-hearing questions.*
*12:50pm: Wole Olanipekun, Mr Tinubu’s lawyer, informs court that his client has filed his answers to the pre-hearing questions.*
*12:53pm: APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, says he has filed answers on behalf of his client to the pre-hearing questions of the court.*
*01:00pm: Court adjourns Peter Obi’s petition until Wednesday, 10 May.*
_*Stay tuned as to enjoy a blow by blow account of what look like the most interesting legal fireworks which is about to set a judicial and constitutional precedence in the history of our nation democratic frameworks…..*_
The management of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM) has awarded a N3 million scholarship to Ejikeme Joy, the overall best UTME candidate for the 2023 academic session.
The Head Corporate Communications
IVM Innoson Group, Cornel Osigwe, made this known in a statement on Monday.
According to him, the gesture was a way for the founder of the company, Dr. Innocent Chukwuma to celebrate excellence and to encourage other students to aim for excellence in their academic pursuit.
The statement reads in part; “This gesture by Innoson Vehicles is not only a celebration of academic excellence but also a reflection of the company’s dedication to investing in the education of young Nigerians.
The scholarship will go a long way in providing financial support to Ejikeme Joy, enabling her to pursue her tertiary education with ease in the next five years.
Innoson Vehicles’ decision to award the scholarship to the best UTME candidate is a commendable one, as it not only rewards academic excellence but also serves as an inspiration to other students to strive for excellence in their academic pursuits.
The company will continue to demonstrate its commitment to social responsibility through various initiatives, including scholarship awards, job creation, and support for local communities.
“This latest scholarship award is a testament to Innoson Vehicles’ dedication to empowering young Nigerians and investing in the future of the nation.
Ejikeme Joy, An indigene of Enugu State, but resides in Nnewi with his Father who is an Okada rider, thanked the Chairman for the scholarship and promised to make him proud.
Ejikeme Joy, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, Anambra state, emerged as the overall best student in the 2023 UTME with a score of 362 Joy’s scores in English Language, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry were broken down as 98%, 89%, 94%, and 81%, respectively.
The All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State have expressed hope for victory as the Supreme Court today determines the authentic winner of the July 16, 2022 governorship election in the state.
The PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke, was returned elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission, but the APC candidate at the poll, Adegboyega Oyetola, rejected the result and approached the Election Petition Tribunal to challenge it.
The Independent National Electoral Commissionm had declared that Adeleke polled 403,371 votes, to defeat then incumbent governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes.
But Oyetola and the APC rejected the result of the poll and headed for the tribunal.
In its January 27, 2023 majority verdict, the Justice Tertse Kume-led tribunal annulled Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll.
However, a minority judgment by Justice B. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the winner of the poll.
Displeased, Adeleke and the PDP headed for the Court of Appeal, which on March 24 nullified the tribunal judgment and returned Adeleke as winner.
Oyetola and the PDP, who were disastified with the judgment, then headed for the Supreme Court, which held the matter on Monday and fixed judgment for today (Tuesday).
At the sitting of the apex court panel that heard the matter on Monday, the parties adopted their briefs and addressed the court after which the panel announced Tuesday for judgment.
Speaking with The PUNCH on the expectations of the party, Osun APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, said his party was expecting victory, having done well in presenting its case before the panel.
Olabisi said, “We are hoping for the best because of our watertight case. Everybody should go about their business. There should be no room for any form of crisis.”
The Osun PDP Director of Media, Oladele Olabamiji, while speaking on the expectations ahead of the judgment, said the party was expecting the apex court to uphold the verdict of the Court of Appeal that validated Adeleke’s victory in the governorship poll.
“We are positive as usual, we are expecting nothing but justice to uphold the judgment of the appeal court which upheld the election of Governor Ademola Adeleke. We believe and trust in God,” Olabamiji said.
The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, on Monday, held its inaugural session, a legal ritual that precedes the actual hearing of petitions seeking to nullify the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
At the session, a five-member panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal that will hear and determine all the five petitions challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner of the presidential election, were revealed.
Whereas the panel will be headed by the Presiding Justice (PJ) of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, Justice Haruna Tsammani, other members of the panel are; Justice Stephen Adah (PJ Asaba Division), Justice Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf (Asaba Division), Justice Boluokuromo Ugo (Kano Division), as well as Justice Abba Mohammed (Ibadan Division).
In his opening remarks, the Presiding Justice, Tsammani, urged lawyers representing all the petitioners to avoid sensational comments, stressing that the court would not tolerate time-wasting tactics and technicalities.
He said: “As we commence hearing of the petitions, let us avoid making sensational comments. Let us consider the safety and interest of the country, that is paramount.
“We should avoid unnecessary time-wasting applications and objections so that we can look at substance of the case rather than unnecessary technicalities.
“Let us corporate with each other so that everyone will be satisfied that justice has been done”.
Responding, lead counsel to the President-elect, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, assured the court of the maximum corporation of his team, saying there was a need for the matter to be determined without recourse to unnecessary technicalities.
Likewise, the head of the team of lawyers representing the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, said they would do everything possible to assist the court to do justice.
On his part, Dr Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, who is representing the Labour Party and its candidate, Mr Peter Obi, noted that the petitions were of great public interest, saying “At the end of the day, I am very confident that the petitions will impact on Nigeria’s jurisprudence and constitutionalism”.
“We will do everything possible to assist your Lordships,” he added.
Likewise, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, through its lawyer, Mr A. B. Mahmood, SAN, expressed confidence in the electoral body on the ability of the court to do justice on all the petitions before it.
“My lords, we are confident that at the end of the day, justice will be done,” Mahmood, SAN, stated.
Meanwhile, the court said it would only conduct pre-hearing session on three of the petition, while the remaining two petitions would be heard on Tuesday.
The three petitions the court said it would hear, were the ones the Action Alliance, AA, filed against INEC, that of the All Peoples Party, APP, as well as the petition by Obi and the LP.
While the remaining petitions are the ones filed by the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, and Atiku of the PDP.
The presidential election petitions tribunal has postponed the Atiku Abubakar and Allied Peoples Movement petitions hearing.
On Monday, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammni, the presiding judge representing the tribunal panel members, postponed the hearing of their petitions to Tuesday.
As the Presidential election Tribunal pre-hearing commences tomorrow, it’s pertinent for Nigerians to be reminded of what the constitution of Nigeria says about who would be declared the President-elect of Nigeria.
Former INEC REC of Akwa Ibom, Mr. Mike Igini earlier warned that no one would be declared a winner without satisfying the requirements of getting 25% in FCT.
It’s different from Winning or losing in FCT, it’s mandatory that the President-elect must have 25% in Abuja.
Peter Obi’s emergence has made majority of Nigerians to become lawyers without necessarily going to the laws school. Yes, most Nigerians now have THE CONSTITUTION OF Nigeria downloaded and reading it daily like a Bible.
Fortunately enough, it was written in English not French.
Section 134 is that favorite verse that’s the crux of the whole case.
25% in FCT.
APC government who obviously selected A Bola Ahmed Tinubu via Mahmood Yakubu might be feigning Ignorance of the law but cannot fool Nigerians.
They know already that going ahead to swear in Tinubu without concluding with the Tribunal is total disregard to the constitution of Nigeria.
Mahmood Yakubu already violated so many Electoral laws which is also a part of the Constitution of Nigeria.
Charles III on Saturday finally met his date with destiny after a lifetime as heir to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, as he was officially crowned king in the first coronation in Britain since 1953.
At 12:02 pm, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby placed the solid gold St Edward’s Crown on Charles’s head as a sacred and ancient symbol of the monarch’s authority.
Cries of “God Save the King” rang out from the 2,300-strong congregation at Westminster Abbey and trumpet fanfares sounded at the climax of the solemn religious confirmation of his accession.
Outside, ceremonial gun salutes blasted out across land and sea while bells pealed in celebration at churches across the country.
The build-up to the Christian ceremony of prayer and praise — steeped in 1,000 years of British history and tradition, with sumptuous robes and priceless regalia — has been mostly celebratory.
But even before Charles, 74, and Queen Camilla, 75, left Buckingham Palace for a rainy procession to the abbey, police arrested dozens of protesters using new powers rushed onto the statute book to crack down on direct action groups.
The anti-monarchy movement Republic — which wants an elected head of state — said six of its organisers were detained, while climate activists Just Stop Oil said 19 of its number were held.
Nevertheless, dozens of Republic activists held aloft banners on the route of the procession route, declaring: “Not My King.”
Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International voiced concern at the arrests. “This is something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London,” HRW said.
London’s Metropolitan Police has some 11,500 officers on the streets in one of its biggest ever security operations. It has warned that it has an “extremely low threshold” for protests.
As well as being the first coronation in 70 years, it was the first of a king since 1937. It was only the second to be televised and the first in colour and streamed online.
Much of the two-hour Anglican service, in which Charles pledged “I come not to be served but to serve”, would have been recognisable to the 39 other monarchs crowned at Westminster Abbey since 1066.
But while many of the intricate rituals and ceremony to recognise Charles as his people’s “undoubted king” remained, the king sought to bring other aspects of the service up to date.
Women bishops participated for the first time, as did leaders of Britain’s non-Christian faiths while its Celtic languages — Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic — featured prominently.
A gospel choir sang for the first time at a coronation while a Greek choir intoned a psalm in tribute to Charles’s late father, Prince Philip, who was born on the island of Corfu.
As king, Charles is supreme governor of the Church of England and has described himself as a “committed Anglican Christian”.
But he heads a more religiously and ethnically diverse country than the one his mother inherited in the shadow of World War II.
As such, he sought to make the congregation more reflective of British society, inviting ordinary members of the public to sit alongside heads of state and global royalty.
In another change, the coronation themes mirrored his lifelong interest in biodiversity and sustainability.
Seasonal flowers and foliage were brought, from the wind-battered Isle of Skye in northwest Scotland to Cornwall at the tip of England’s southwest coast, to fill the abbey.
Ceremonial vestments from previous coronations were reused, and the anointing oil — created from olives on groves on the Mount of Olives and perfumed with essential oils — was vegan.
Charles was anointed out of sight of the congregation behind a three-sided screen in front of the High Altar to the strains of Handel’s soaring anthem “Zadok the Priest”, sung at every coronation since 1727.
Opposition
Rishi Sunak — Britain’s first prime minister of colour, who gave a reading from the Bible at the service — has described the coronation as “a proud expression of our history, culture and traditions”.
But not everyone is convinced: polling indicates waning support for the monarchy, particularly among younger people.
Charles’s eldest brother Prince Andrew — sidelined due to his friendship with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein — was booed as he headed to the abbey.
Another royal exile Prince Harry, who has criticised the family since leaving for the United States in 2020, attended the coronation on his own.
Overseas, Charles’s position as the hereditary monarch and head of state of 14 Commonwealth countries looks increasingly fragile.
Jamaica and Belize both signalled this week that they are moving toward becoming republics, while Australia, Canada and others may eventually follow suit.
Britons struggling with the soaring cost of living have meanwhile questioned why taxpayers should stump up for the coronation, with the bill estimated to be over £100 million ($126 million).
Support
Yet the huge crowds of royal fans that have been building all week on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace indicate that the royals still have a central role in British culture and history.
Many of those camping out to watch have flown in from abroad, underlining the royal family’s untouched position as Britain’s leading global brand.
Christine Wilen travelled from Niagara Falls in Canada for the event.
“I’m very excited to be here, to be part of this history,” said Wilen, wearing a visor and sweatshirt in Canadian colours.
“It’s just too good an opportunity to miss,” said Nick Demont, 60, outside the abbey. “There’s a good chance I won’t see another one.”
A former three-term Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, 60, was on Friday jailed in the United Kingdom for nine years and eight months for an organ trafficking plot.
His wife, Beatrice, 56, was also jailed for four years and six months due to her “more limited involvement” in the plot, as the court described Ekweremadu as the “driving force throughout” the process.
A medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, 56, also bagged 10 years after the judge found that he had “targeted the potential donor, who was young, poor and vulnerable”.
Meanwhile, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has berated the Federal Government for not helping the embattled senator.
The prosecutor, Hugh Davies KC, said the three defendants were guilty of trafficking with ‘the highest level of culpability’.
Saturday PUNCH reported how Ekweremadu, who served as the Deputy Speaker and Speaker of the Economic Community of West African State Parliament, was arrested on June 23, 2022, by the London Metropolitan Police for reportedly ‘conspiring to bring a child to the UK for organ harvesting’.
The police said investigation into the matter was launched after detectives were alerted to ‘potential offenses under the modern slavery legislation in May 2022’. It said the child had been safeguarded and it was working closely with partners on continued support
His case was scheduled for further hearing on July 7, 2022, after which he was said to have been found guilty of the allegations and remanded in prison, awaiting sentencing.
Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor and National Modern Slavery Lead at the Crown Prosecution Service, Lynette Woodrow, said it had been “our first conviction for trafficking for the purposes of organ removal in England and Wales”.
“With all trafficking offenses, the consent of the person trafficked is no defense. The law is clear; you cannot consent to your own exploitation,” Woodrow said.
The court said the doctor lied to doctors and falsely claimed the young potential donor was a cousin of the senator’s daughter, Sonia, who urgently needed a transplant.
The judge said the three left the potential donor facing a “substantial and long-term impact on his daily life”.
“People trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery,” the judge added.
In a victim’s personal statement, the 21-year-old Nigerian market trader, who was not named, told the court he used to pray every day to be given the opportunity to come to the UK to work or study.
He said to make it happen, he agreed to medical tests in Lagos and meetings with doctors in London, believing that they were required for his UK visa during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 21-year-old said he only realised what was planned when he met doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in London who began discussing a kidney transplant.
He told the court he would not have agreed to it, adding that his body was ‘not for sale’.
The victim is now being helped by a charity in the UK, according to his lawyer in Nigeria.
In his statement, he said he couldn’t think of going back to Nigeria because the people for which he was being prosecuted were powerful people and that he was worried for his safety.
He refused to apply for financial compensation from the Ekweremadu family, telling a detective he did not need anything from them.
During the court proceedings, former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote to the UK court, begging for leniency.
Also, the House of Representatives appealed to the court to “temper justice with mercy”, while urging the Federal Government to take diplomatic steps to intervene in his trial. It cited “the predicaments of Ekweremadu’s ailing daughter, who needs financial support and parental love of her parents to scale through her dire health challenge, noting that the Ekweremadus must have learnt their lessons.”
Similarly, the Economic Community of West African States Parliament, where Ekweremadu once served, in a letter by the Speaker of the ECOWAS parliament, Dr Sidie Mohamed Tunis, appealed for leniency, saying it believed lessons had been learnt by everybody.
FG did nothing – Ohanaeze
Reacting to the UK court’s judgment, the spokesperson for Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, said the Federal Government did nothing to help Ekweremadu.
In an interview with one of our correspondents, he stated, “They did not treat him like someone who has served meritoriously in this country. Rather, while he was facing the travails, the Federal Government came out with charges and allegations of corruption and seized his properties.
“This is a man who has been around you, walked with you for years and when he needed your help, there were busy talking about auctioning his properties. All those things indicated that it was not only the UK court that was after him, but the FG was also after him.”
Describing the judgment as ‘shocking’ and ‘painful’, the spokesman said Igbo leaders would pay Ekweremadu a visit soon, adding that the former lawmaker would come out of the experience ‘stronger and better’.
He added, “Before now, although not as Ohanaeze, we have visited him in prison. We still intend to do so even as he begins his sentence. It is shocking and painful that an illustrious Igbo man of that calibre will be involved in this kind of sentencing. However, there is nothing we can do about it for now.
But I believe Ekweremadu will come out stronger and better. He has always been a strong and courageous man. Ohanaeze prays he comes out healthy to face the world again.”
Reps advise Ekweremadu
The House of Representatives has urged a former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, to appeal the sentencing.
Reacting to the judgment on Friday, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, urged Ekweremadu to file an appeal, describing the sentencing as “sad and unfortunate.”
Kalu said, “He should exercise his right of appeal and appeal against the judgment. He has always been a man of dignity. What happened was unfortunate in his effort to be a great father to his sick child.
“I am not sure he hid his intentions for medical tourism to the UK to help his child. What I equally wonder is why the British Embassy failed to deny him a travel visa, knowing that the expressed intention was against their law. The investment of the institution in this man is huge and Nigeria will miss his contributions to the parliament.”
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, could not be reached on the telephone and he had yet to reply to a message from our correspondent as of press time.
SANs react
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, speaking on suggestions on whether an arrangement could be made with the UK for the senator to serve his sentence in Nigeria, stated, “In terms of exchange of ideas and programmes, arresting a person who is trying to escape justice from one place to another and the like; there is mutual legal assistance in that regard to going through the extradition process or proceedings.
Besides, each country is independent in its judicial and legal system. For a Nigerian jailed in the UK, for instance, Nigeria cannot interfere. This is the same case even if a British citizen is jailed in Nigeria. The UK cannot interfere nor can Nigeria be forced to release such a person or commute the terms of imprisonment.
“All that can be done is what I have seen going on, with the appeals by the National Assembly, ECOWAS Parliament, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other great Nigerians.”
Another senior lawyer, Mr Yusuf Ali (SAN), said Nigerians should borrow a leaf from the UK justice system.
He said, “The lesson for all of us is that we must also make our judicial system work. That starts from the point of investigation. Ekeremadu’s matter is a classical case of a working justice system. Before he was even taken to court, proper investigation had already been done.
“In Nigeria, people will first be taken to court before they will start looking for evidence. We should not put the cart before the horse.”
