A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo as the governor-elect of Anambra State.
Justice Taiwo Oladipupo Taiwo, in a judgment, described the suit as frivolous, irritating, and lacking in merit.
The judge awarded a punitive cost of N2 million against the two plaintiffs to be paid to Soludo and his deputy, Ibezim.
Details shortly…
(Daily post)
PRESS STATEMENT
NINAS ALLIANCE IS INTACT AND FOCUSED ON ITS STATED MISSION DESPITE THE RESIGNATION OF ITS ERSTWHILE CHAIRMAN, PROF BANJI AKINTOYE AND THE EXIT OF HIS FACTION OF ILANA OMO OODUA.
(Being a Statement by NINAS Board of Conveners issued December 1, 2021)
Gentlemen of the Press,
An Emergency Conclave of the Board of the Conveners of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) was held today December 1, 2021 to review amongst other things, recent developments in one of our Alliance Organizations, Ilana Omo Oodua; the resignation of Professor Banji Akintoye from the Chairmanship of NINAS and the exit of his faction of Ilana Omo Oodua from the NINAS Alliance.
This Statement is to address the deluge of enquiries that has poured into the NINAS Secretariat from Concerned Members of Public regarding these developments:
(1) Let us recall that the Secretariat of NINAS, while reaching out to all sides involved, had on the 18th of November 2021, issued a Statement to calm altercations arising from an Ilana Omo Oodua Press Conference addressed November 18, 2021 by the Deputy Chairman of Ilana Omo Oodua, Otunba Shade Olukoya concerning months of lingering difficulties within Ilana Omo Oodua, bordering on certain actions and liaisons of the Leader of Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof Banji Akintoye that could imperil the Self-Determination Campaign of Ilana Omo Oodua, inviting Prof Akintoye therefore to step back from his role as Ilana Leader in order to abate the many conflicts and controversies emanating from the aforementioned actions and liaisons.
(2) While frantic mediation efforts were still being made by the Secretariat to douse tension, Maxwell Adeleye who described himself as “Communications Director” of Ilana Omo Oodua, issued and massively circulated in the Media, outlandish falsehoods in which he avoided the well-known issues rocking Ilana Omo Oodua and claimed amongst other things, that the sum of N350 Million was disbursed by Abuja to procure the Ilana Press Conference of November 18, 2021. Adeleye also deliberately created the impression that NINAS was somehow behind the Ilana Press Conference of November 18, 2021.
(3) Unfortunately and to our utter shock, Prof Banji Akintoye who knew for certain that these claims of Maxwell Adeleye were just fabrications, went on to corroborate the fabrications in a virtual Meeting of a Yoruba Global Audience the next day, putting names and motives to Maxwell’s falsehoods. (In that virtual Meeting, Prof Akintoye said that the money from Abuja came from Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and given to Otunba Shade Olukoya, for the purpose of dragging him (Akintoye) off the stage. To compound matters, Prof Akintoye went on to allege that Otunba Olukoya had been pressuring them in Ilana to help work Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo into becoming the next President of Nigeria. We do hope that Professor Yemi Osinbajo will take up this matter with those who crafted and circulated this tale.
(4) The Statement issued by Maxwell Adeleye on behalf of Prof Akintoye and 43 others, November 30, 2021, conveying the resignation of Prof Banji Akintoye from the Chairmanship of NINAS as well as the exit of his faction of Ilana Omo Oodua from the NINAS Alliance, contained even more egregious falsehoods.
The false impression was deliberately created by the said November 30, 2021 Statement that there was a type of Self-Determination being pursued by NINAS and LNC that was different from the type that Ilana Omo Oodua was pursuing.
This is strange because the Objectives, RoadMap and Strategy Outlines of NINAS are very clearly stated in all of NINAS’ Public Communications over the years particularly the December 16, 2020 NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure Proclamation.
Combined with the earlier falsehood that Abuja had procured the November 18, 2021 Press Conference, it is clear that the orchestrations of the departed faction of Ilana were targeted at deceiving the Public into believing that NINAS was somehow working for other Objectives apart from its Clear-Cut and Unwavering Pursuit of Self-Determination for all the Indigenous Nationalities of the Alliance Territories being the South and Middle/Belt of Nigeria.
(5) For the Records and for the avoidance of doubt, Prof Banji Akintoye was first introduced sometime in 2018 to NINAS by Otunba Shade Olukoya who had been involved with the Processes for many years.
While our initial discussions were going on, the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the Presidential Candidate with “Restructuring Credentials”, sucked in a great number of People towards the 2019 Election in what became known as “ATIKULATION” at the time, and so it was that our new Associate, Prof Banji Akintoye went off with his other Associates in the “Atikulation” gambit.
We moved on to the historic NINAS Joint Multi-Regional FREEDOM PARK PROCLAMATION of December 11, 2018 which firmly set the basis for the CONSTITUTIONAL FORCE MAJEURE of December 16, 2020. The Engagements with the Policy Beltways of Washington DC took the whole of January to July 2019 and was followed by the August 2019 Visitation of the UN Special Rapporteur on Nigeria to investigate widespread Extrajudicial Killings.
It was only in the last Quarter of 2019 that Prof Akintoye contacted Otunba Shade Olukoya to fully join the NINAS fold. The Chairmanship of NINAS fell on him on account of the Zeal, Clarity and Commitment he displayed towards the NINAS Propositions. It is therefore not true that Prof Akintoye provided Leadership for NINAS since inception as claimed by Maxwell in his November 30, 2021 Statement. Prof Akintoye came 2 years ago into a Process that took over 22 years to get to where it is now.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Prof Banji Akintoye meritoriously advanced the NINAS Campaign, particularly in Yorubaland, reaching out to his Associates across the Country and substantially shattering the long-standing jinx around the Igbo-Yoruba Collaboration which he said was Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Solemn prescription in the last days of the sage – who was Prof Akintoye’s Political Mentor. Credit for this feat will forever go to Prof Akintoye and we wish him Good Health and Longevity even as he veers off in another direction in search of the Destination we all identified in NINAS.
(6) In closing, the NINAS Board of Conveners is pleased to announce to all the Organizations across the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria which have been clamoring to join the NINAS Alliance, that Modalities have been emplaced to admit all Organizations that Publicly and Fully Subscribe to the Propositions and Prescriptions of the December 16, 2020 NINAS Constitutional Force Majeure Proclamation, into Regional Delegations to NINAS. These Modalities will be made Public in the second week of December 2021 by the NINAS Secretariat
Signed for :
NINAS BOARD OF CONVENERS,
Tony Nnadi, Convening Secretary.
December 1, 2021.
Canadian authorities have issued a travel ban on Nigeria in a bid to curb the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The announcement was made on Tuesday December 30. Other countries affected by the travel ban include South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt.
Canadian Transport Minister, Omar Alghabra, has said foreign nationals who had been to these countries in the previous 14 days would be temporarily banned from entering Canada.
Alghabra added that Canadians and permanent residents who have been in the 10 countries, even those who are fully vaccinated, must also be tested before entering Canada.
This is coming as the Nigeria Center for Disease and Control (NCDC) announced that two cases of Omicron variant had been detected in the country.
(igboranthq)
Separatist leader, Professor Banji Akintoye has resigned as the Chairman of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS).
NINAS is the umbrella body of self-determination groups in the South and Middle Belt Regions of Nigeria with Prof. Akintoye’s Ilana Omo Oodua representing the Yoruba bloc; Lower Niger Congress representing the South East and South South; and the Middle-Belt Rennaissance Movement acting for the Middle-Belt Region.
Akintoye, who accused some leaders of NINAS of having objectives which contradicts self-determination, said his resignation is “with immediate effect”.
In a statement on Tuesday, obtained by POLITICS NIGERIA, Akintoye and 44 other leaders said it is very important for the Yoruba bloc to quit the alliance in order to preserve its integrity.
The statement reads in part, “In the light of the current development in the Yoruba Self-Determination struggle, especially, in Ilana Omo Oodua, it has become very necessary for the Yoruba people to dissociate themselves from the Alliance known as NINAS with immediate effect.
“It is our well-considered opinion that some of those we align with in NINAS do not want the kind of self-determination that we the Yoruba people want.
“Therefore, we the leadership of Ilana Omo Oodua, wish to inform the general public that the Yoruba Bloc under the leadership of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide has moved out of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination with immediate effect in order to safeguard the integrity and honour of our agitation for Self-Determination.
“We thank the Leader of LNC, Mr. Tony Nnadi, for his inputs to the NINAS struggle since inception. However, it is now obvious to most people in the Yoruba Self-Determination struggle that the LNC is not working in tandem with our objective in Ilana Omo Oodua.
“The implication of this development is that the prestigious leadership that Professor Adebanji Stephen Akintoye, has provided for NINAS as Chairman since inception has now come to an end from today Tuesday 30th November, 2021.
“Furthermore, Ilana Omo Oodua hereby withdraw its membership of NINAS with immediate effect. All the Yoruba People Worldwide that believe in the agitation for Yoruba Nation Self-Determination at home and abroad are, by this statement, notified to comply.
“We are, however, pleased to inform you that a more productive Wide-Alliance to be known as the South and Middle-Belt People’s Sovereign Movement will be officially inaugurated after the completion of the ongoing consultations with likeminds across the South and Middle-Belt Regions.”
Judgment in a suit seeking disqualification of the governor-elect and deputy governor-elect for Anambra State in the November 6 governorship election, Prof Charles Soludo and Onyeka Ibezim has been shifted by 24 hours.
The judgment was initially fixed for today, November 30, by Justice Taiwo Oladipupo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
A notice just sighted in the court room showed that the Judge will not sit today as earlier scheduled, hence, the 24 hours adjustment of the court verdict.
No reason was adduced for shifting of the judgment in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/711/2021, but the notice apologized to lawyers involved in the legal battle and urged them to bear with the court.
Plaintiffs in the suit, Adindu Valentine and Egwudike Chukwuebuk are claiming that Soludo provided false information in the affidavit (Form EC9) he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and thus should be deemed unqualified to stand for the election.
In the suit, the applicants contended that Soludo indicated in the affidavit that he was contesting the Aguata 2 Constituency seat when in fact, he was contesting the Anambra governorship seat.
Defendants in the suit are the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Soludo and Ibezim.
Muhammadu Buhari signed the Petroleum Industry Bill 2021 into law.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has signed the Petroleum Industry Bill 2021 into law.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has written a letter to the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, seeking comments from INEC over the Electoral Act amendment bill which was passed by the National Assembly on November 9, 2021.
Buhari, who received the bill on November 19, has until December 19 to sign it or communicate to the National Assembly his feelings and comments about the bill.
But if after 30 days, the President refuses to sign the bill and the National Assembly is not in support of the President’s amendments, the Senate and the House of Representatives can recall the bill and pass it. If the bill is passed in the form it was sent to the President by two-thirds majority votes in both chambers, the bill automatically becomes a law even without the signature of the President.
However, top sources told The PUNCH on Monday that so far, the President saw no problem with the bill but was seeking advice from INEC and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
A top INEC source said, “We received a letter from the President last week regarding INEC’s position on the Electoral Act amendment especially as regards the controversial direct primaries which many governors have kicked against. We are supposed to respond within seven days. I know that a response will be sent to the President anytime from now.”
When asked if INEC would endorse the direct primaries, the source said the commission would only indicate its position on the merits and demerits of the bill and let the President decide.
Another INEC official told The PUNCH that the National Assembly never discussed the issue of direct primaries with the commission but only electronic transmission of results and other issues.
“During the amendment of the Electoral Act, we met with the National Assembly but the issue of direct primary was never discussed. We discussed electronic transmission of results, electronic voting, Diaspora voting and other issues. It was at the point of the adoption of the report that the direct primary was added to the bill.
“So, INEC was never given a chance to present its position. What the President has done now is to get our position on the matter. The truth is that if INEC cannot undertake the direct primaries, it will make the law useless,” he said.
When contacted on Monday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the President would continue to consult with relevant stakeholders on the matter before the bill is signed.
On whom the President would meet as part of consultations on the bill, Shehu said, “The President will consult with those who he believes are important to his decision and who can advise him on the Electoral Act. And he will meet them. But I cannot draw boundaries or name specifics and say this is who the President might meet. He ultimately decides.”
INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, did not respond to calls on Monday.
However, Okoye had said earlier in the month that the direct primary method would be far more expensive because of the huge personnel that would be needed to undertake the primaries.
Okoye had said the commission would also need about two officials to supervise the poll in each of the 8,809 wards in the country, bringing the total number of staff to 17, 600. He further told The PUNCH that the commission may need to use National Youth Service Corps members to undertake the direct primaries because INEC doesn’t have the manpower.
The PUNCH had also reported that going by the rate of inflation, exchange rate and the need to buy more equipment in the wake of the burning of INEC offices especially in the South-East, the 2023 elections may cost over N350bn.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had also stated that the President would take cost and security into consideration before signing or rejecting the bill. The PUNCH had reported that some of the governors who are members of the All Progressives Congress had begun lobbying Malami to advise the President against signing the bill.
When asked if the President had also written to Malami, the AGF’s Spokesman, Umar Gwandu, said, “I am not aware.”
However, the National Assembly had said no amount of money was too much in the quest for credible and fair elections.
Many of the governors have rejected the compulsory adoption of the direct primary. Some even argued that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be inappropriate to encourage mass gatherings in the name of direct primaries.
Although many civil society organisations have endorsed the direct primary method based on the argument that it would deepen democracy, the Inter-Party Advisory Council which comprises all political parties in the country have kicked against it, saying many smaller parties do not have the funds to carry out direct primaries.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress has called on the President, Major to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill passed by the National Assembly.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in a letter to the President, described the bill as one of the most progressive bills and a product of thoughtfulness from the National Assembly in recent times.
He urged Buhari not to yield to the pressure from state governors and other groups, describing their opposition to the mode of primary contained in the bill as ‘a classic case of greed for political power, inordinate ambition, a ruthless quest for command and control in a democracy and mindless expansionist tendencies’.
The letter dated November 23, 2021, titled ‘Please assent the Electoral Bill’, reads, “We are not unaware of the tremendous pressure being brought to bear on you by state governors across party lines and other selfish interest groups and individuals to do otherwise.
“This pressure, we are afraid to say, represents a classic case of greed for political power, inordinate ambition, a ruthless quest for command and control in a democracy, mindless expansionist tendencies and further proof of the iron cast will of a few persons among us to erode time-tested democratic values and to subvert our democratic institutions.
“At the moment, it is trite knowledge that governors, against all decent norms, control the state legislatures, judiciary, SIEC (State Independent Electoral Commission) and local governments; in spite of your heroic effort to free them.
“Given their stranglehold on SIEC and their intolerance for the opposition, bestowing upon them the power to determine who goes to the National Assembly will amount to taking undue chances with our democracy.”
The congress called on Buhari to demonstrate courage, leadership as well as protect our democracy.
Source : Punch
Nigerian billionaire businesswoman, Folorunso Alakija, has narrated how God stopped her from using jewelry.
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Speaking on Sunday, November 28, during a church service in Lagos, the Founder of Rose of Sharon Group, said it took ten days for God to stop her from using jewellery.
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According to Church Times, she said, “I used to love jewellery. I had all kinds and the jewellery had to match every cloth I wore. In those days I used to tell God not to take jewellery from me. If anybody had come to me and told me not to wear jewellery, I would not have listened to the person. I would have wondered where that person is coming from. But by the time God started dealing with me on it, I had no option but to do away with it.” �.
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The clergywoman, who is one of the richest women in Africa, said the turning point began when she started bleeding from her ear lobe while she was sleeping.�.
.�“That night I just suddenly found I was bleeding from my ear lobe. I did not sleep with earrings that night so I wondered what could have caused the bleeding. My ear lobe became sticky. When soap touched it while I was having my bath, it was hurting,” she said.
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She said a week before that experience, her younger sister had a dream that she saw that her ear lobe had cut.
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“That dream was almost becoming a reality. At a particular time when we were praying, a nephew of mine asked if I put lipstick on my earlobe because it had become red. The experience was not funny. But to cut a long story short, it took ten days for God to deal with me. Finally, I gave it up. Now I am free,” she added.
(IgboRantHQ)
The South-East Amalgamated Markets Traders Association, on Monday, rejected the recent increase in the import duty on cargoes charged by Nigeria Customs Service.
SEAMATA is the umbrella union of traders in all the markets in the South-East geopolitical zone and traders of South-East extraction across the states in the federation and in the diaspora.
It said the increment was not calculated based on invoice value of consignments and were targeted at crushing Igbo businesses.
SEAMATA, in a statement signed by its President-General and Secretary-General, Chief Gozie Akudolu, and Mr Alex Okwudiri, respectively, said the Customs had introduced a method of working out import duty payment on goods and set out a particular minimum amount payable for each 40ft container but had jettisoned it.
It said, “Between 2020 and now, the amount charged on cargoes as import duties have risen in geometric proportion from N750,000 to N2m, again to N3m and presently, to N3.3m for 40ft containers; while 20ft containers jumped to N1.8m.
“The Nigerian Customs, on their own, work out payable import duty now, based on ‘estimated’ invoice value of consignment as against the actual invoice value of goods from the country of origin.
“This development is not only bringing untold hardships to importers but also compounding the pains of the citizens as it dovetailed to astronomical increase in prices of imported goods as the Nigerian Customs estimated invoice value is always far above the actual cost of the imports.”
It added, “The indiscriminate estimate of value of goods by Nigerian Customs is adversely affecting the prices of goods in the markets today.
“We are appealing to the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to prevail on the Nigerian Customs to, as a matter of urgency, suspend the exercise.
“This is to save the Nigerian citizens from further economic hardships as further economic pains that follow such situations could lead to social unrest, which our nation doesn’t need now.
(punch)
Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina forward Lionel Messi has won the Men’s Ballon d’Or for the seventh time.
The 34-year-old striker defeated Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho to be crowned winner.
Messi, attended the ceremony in Chatelet Theatre in Paris with his wife and children.
He won the Copa del Rey with his former club, FC Barcelona and he led Argentina to their first silverware since 1993, winning the Copa America, where he was also named Player of the Tournament and won the Golden Boot.
Bayern Munich and Poland striker Lewandowski won the striker of the year award.
He has scored 73 goals in 60 games for Bayern Munich since the start of last season, and won FIFA’s and UEFA’s men’s player of the year awards in 2020.
The Ballon d’Or award ceremony is one of the most anticipated events in the football world. The award, first given out in 1956, is presented by the French weekly magazine, France Football, to the best footballer of the year.
The Northern Elders Forum, NEF has advised President Muhammadu Buhari not to release Nnamdi Kanu from custody.
Recall that Buhari after a meeting with the Southeast elders promised to consider a lighter resolution but worried that such would interfere with the principles of separation of power between the Executive and Judiciary.
The forum in a statement signed by the Director of Publicity, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed said there are no safe grounds for president Buhari to grant the request.
”Nnamdi Kanu’s release will do serious injury to Nigeria which is already threatened by security and other challenges, the statement said.
The Northern elders advised Buhari to follow a judicial process and allow Kanu’s trial run its course.
Part of the statement read, ” We have carefully studied the request of Igbo Elders for President Muhammadu Buhari to terminate the trial of Nnamdi Kanu and release him unconditionally. It has also noted President Buhari’s response which both raised very weighty issues related to the request and his commitment to consider it.
“The Forum notes that there are no safe, constructive or informed grounds for granting the request, and advised that President Buhari will do serious injury to a country already threatened by multiple challenges to its security and territorial integrity if he delays announcing the only responsible response, which is that the judicial process in the case of Kanu must be allowed to run its course.”
