The Sokoto State elections petition tribunal today in Sokoto upheld the election of the state governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko.
In his ruling, the tribunal Chairman, Justice Mudassir Nasir said Wamakko was duly elected governor in the pull which held on April 14, 2007.
The tribunal dismissed the petiton of the Alhaji Maigari Dinggadi, candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in the election.
– Leadership
Posted in Breaking News, National News
Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has reiterated his preparedness for the conduct of fresh presidential elections, as he anticipates from the ruling of the election petition tribunal.
Atiku, who returns from a medical trip of his knee injury on Saturday, said he felt justified in his consistent and unbending trust in the country’s judiciary following the Supreme Court ruling that removed Sir Celestine Omehia as Rivers State governor.
Atiku’s position is coming as his party, the Action Congress, yesterday called on President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to immediately reconstitute the Independent National Electoral Commission, preparatory for the conduct of fresh polls.
Speaking through his media consultant, Malam Garba Shehu, Atiku said he expects nothing less from the tribunal than the nullification of the April presidential elections and more of some gubernatorial elections, that were heavily marred by alleged deliberate irregularities and controversies.
He said he has recovered from his knee injury which treatment took place in the United States and Dubai and that since he no longer walks the stick anymore, he is fully back to the trenches.
In a statement, he said, “The court decisions across the country on electoral petitions so far have shown that politicians no longer needed the military to sort out politics when they mess things up. We have gone past that stage.” While praising the judiciary as the last hope of the common man, the former VP said the verdicts are signs of more things to come.
Meanwhile, the Action Congress (AC) has called on President Yar’Adua to act swiftly to rectify the situation that has led to the election petition tribunals and the
Supreme Court nullifying one election after another or reversing illegal decisions.
In a statement issued in Abuja Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the starting point would be the reconstitution of INEC and the sanitisation of the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies, ahead of the by/fresh elections ordered by the tribunals and the local government polls in the country.
AC said it would amount to a disaster – an avoidable one at that — to have the old order in place to conduct the by/fresh elections that will result from the outcome of the various election tribunals sitting across the country as well as the council polls.
It specifically called for the trial of all those who have put Nigeria in the avoidable, shameful situation of having the election of governors as well as lawmakers at state and federal levels nullified in droves, a development it said was unprecedented in the country’s history.
AC listed some of such persons as members of INEC, led by its Chairman, Maurice Iwu; EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu as well as the security agencies, all of whom colluded with former President Olusegun Obasanjo to make a mess of what had been billed as historic polls.
‘’Together, these people played a major role in the monumental disgrace the April elections turned out to be and the process leading to the polls, especially the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party, which seems only democratic in name, to respect its own rules, leading to the shuffling of candidates like a pack of cards and at the whims and caprices of Obasanjo,
‘’We also recollect that the EFCC orchestrated the so-called indictment of Rotimi Amaechi, which led to his illegal substitution as the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate with Celestine Omehia, who never contested the party’s primaries. Thankfully, the injustice done to Amaechi has been redressed by the Supreme Court.
‘’It is pertinent also to remind Nigerians that the same EFCC said Abubakar Audu of Kogi was not qualified to contest for the Kogi state gubernatorial election on the basis of a phantom indictment, even after he has been duly nominated by his party, ANPP.
“Of course the nonsense in Kebbi, where a non-party man was put forward by the PDP as its gubernatorial candidate, has also come to the fore with the decision of the state’s electoral tribunal nullifying the governorship election there.
‘’While the EFCC was weaving its web of lies against select candidates, in the name of fighting corruption, the INEC turned itself to an arm of the PDP and a willing tool in the hands of a vindictive president, who also used the security agencies, to thwart the will of the people at the polls.
‘’Unless the disgusting ‘legacy’ of witch-hunting, brigandage, lawlessness and unconstitutional acts left by Obasanjo is dismantled, all the talk about the supremacy of the rule of law and due process will amount to a mere sloganeering,’’ AC warned.
It said the delay in overhauling INEC, in particular, has continued to embolden its unrepentant, uncouth and shameless Chairman, Maurice Iwu, and his cohorts to continue wasting public funds to place newspaper adverts boasting that the April elections reflected the will of the Nigerian people, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
– Leadership
Posted in National News
Even as the House of Representatives is yet to resolve whether Speaker Patricia Olubunmi Etteh would step aside tomorrow or not, 212 members of the house have signed the impeachment register preparatory to force her out of office.
But leader of the Integrity Group, Hon. Farouk Lawan, yesterday insisted that the court paper served by pro-Etteh members to stop the house from disallowing Etteh from presiding over the Idoko panel report would not deter the group from following the due process that the speaker cannot be a judge in her own case.
This is coming on the heels of the call by Osun Leadership Forum on the speaker to vacate the seat in the interest of her image and democracy.
Records available to LEADERSHIP as at last Friday showed that 212 members have signed the register being coordinated by the Integrity Group.
But Hon. Ita Enang leader of the pro-Etteh group, chairman of the probe panel, Hon. David Idoko, Festus Adegoke, Duro Faseyi, Gbenga Elegbeleye, Friday Itula, Nkiruka Onyechukwu, Memuna Adaji and Gbenga Makonjuola dissociated themselves from the suit file against the house, house leadership, National Assembly clerk, and acting clerk of the house.
On Friday, leader of the Due Process group, Hon. Dino Melaye, went to court to prevent the opposition, including the house, from stopping the speaker from sitting and 58 members were listed as plaintiffs while the house, house leadership, Farouk Lawan and some members of the Integrity Group were listed as defendants.
According to the Integrity Group’s arrow- head, the court case has violated the peaceful resolution being canvassed by the PDP that appointed Alex Ekwueme, Abdullahi Adamu, Bode George and others mandated to resolve the matter.
Lawan said while the meeting was going on last Friday, the Due Process group was busy filing their papers on how to ensure that the speaker sat on the consideration of the Idoko report. He maintained that apart from the fact that the case has no effect of law, the group has contravened the agreement reached with the People Democratic Party, adding that the step has shown that the group has a hidden agenda.
According to him, the house rule is precise over the matter, that any matter that is before the house, it is the prerogative of the speaker but in this case the speaker is involved, therefore, there is no way she could rule on this.
At the reconciliatory meeting with the party, the two groups agreed that a speaker pro-tempore would be appointed when the time comes for the deliberation of the report, but that the speaker will carry on with the business of the day as usual.
LEADERSHIP reliably gathered that where a problem arose was over which group should a produce speaker pro-tempore. When the agreement could not be reached, it was concluded that each group would nominate a candidate that would be voted for as the speaker pro-tempore. The Integrity Group maintained that a speaker could not be trusted with the gavel, therefore, a neutral person should be appointed.
Meanwhile, two former speakers of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba and Aminu Bello Masari, have summoned a meeting of all former lawmakers of the house under the aegis of Former Legislators Forum today at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja.
The meeting, which is scheduled for 7pm, is to enable the former legislators chart a way forward in resolving the current crisis in the house. A close aide of Masari who spoke to LEADERSHIP at the weekend said the meeting is “to discuss how to deepen and strengthen the parliamentary process in Nigeria”. He said the former house leaders were concerned over the protracted impasse in the lower chamber and are looking forward to a quick resolution of the crisis.
In a related development, the President General of the Osun Leadership Forum, Mr Ademola Oladele has called on the speaker to step aside for the deliberation of the report. The forum is calling on Osun indigenes, traditional rulers, party elders, political leaders, youth, students, market women and civil society to prevail on Etteh to step aside.
“We want people to talk to the speaker that she should not be used by retrogressive forces to drag the name of Osun State in the mud.
“To preserve the respect and dignity deserved by our state we advise her to honourably resign her speakership to avail her the opportunity of a better political future, instead of a possible impeachment option. In our own opinion as a broad aggregation of Osun State leaders of thought and socio-cultural organisations, time is overdue for our sister to step aside and allow her colleagues.”
The leadership of the PDP has summoned its members in the House of Representatives in a bid to resolving the lingering crisis rocking the house.
An earlier peace meeting last week involving the two factions which was at the behest of the party leadership ended in a stalemate, as both factions stuck to their guns.
Today’s meeting, which is coming on the eve of the reconvening of the house tomorrow, is expected to address all the grey areas in the resolution of the crisis.
A statement by the national secretary of the party, Chief Bernard Ezeh, said that today’s meeting will hold at 2 pm at the party’s national secretariat.
“The leadership of the party have been engaging the factions in the unfortunate impasse in the House of Representatives and we are happy to note that both camps have expressed a desire for an amicable resolution of the crisis.
“Toward this end, all PDP members in the House of Representatives are to last meet with the NWC on Monday, October 29, 2007 at 2pm as a follow-up to the last meeting,” the statement said.
– Leadership Newspaper
Posted in National News
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the weekend joined his kinsmen from Owu Kingdom in Egbaland, Ogun State to mark this year’s Owu Day.
But President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who was expected as the guest of honour, shunned the Saturday event and no explanation was offered on his absence.
Most of Obasanjo’s associates such as Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President Dangote Group of Companies and Zenon Oil boss, Femi Otedola, who often attend the yearly event and who donated huge sums of money, were absent.
None of the governors, including the immediate past, attended the eighth Owu Day celebration. Notable indigenes of Owu, including Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Osi of Owu Kingdom, Chief Doja Adewolu Obasanjo also shunned the event.
The venue of the Owu Day, noted for its boisterous activities, witnessed its lowest attendance as the celebration was barely attended compared to the past when the former president was in power.
Among the few dignitaries present were former Communications Minister, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, ex-Lagos State Deputy Governor, Femi Pedro, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Ishola, ex-Chairman, Odu’a Group of Companies, Mrs. Iyabode Apampa, the ex-president’s daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, traditional rulers from Owu towns and villages and some chairmen of caretaker committees in the state.
Obasanjo said success often draws envy, hence the need to pray to God to ensure the Almighty “put us above our enemies”.
The former President, who referred to journalists as “awon saboteurs ti de” (saboteurs have come), told his fellow Owu kinsmen to be proud of their culture and tradition, saying “those who failed to do so need to be educated”.
– The Nation
Posted in National News
By Akanimo Sampson, Port Harcourt
Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, one of the key oil-producing states in Nigeria, and leaders of the opposition Action Congress, AC, are locked in a backstage political talks to hammer out a generally acceptable formula for the Unity Government proposed by the governor who took over from the largely illegitimate Celestine Omehia’s administration on Friday night.
Since the flawed April 14 governorship polls in the oil state that was rocked by a cult crisis, AC has remained a thorn in the flesh of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. AC is still insisting that it press ahead with its legal battle with the ruling party at the elction tribunal.
Apparently not comfortable with the seeming uncompromising stance of the opposition party, there was a high wire talks between the kingpins of the new regime and those of the AC. As at Monday afternoon, Amaechi was sealthily exploiting his robust relationship with the AC governorship candidate in the April 14 election, Tonye Princewill, to ensure that they join hands together to move the state forward.
Given the decay of the past eight years in a state that is generally believed to be hauling some monthly revenue of around N20billion, insiders say the new administration is desperate to turn around the state’s ”embarrassing” socio-economic condition.
In a tactical move to assist the administration reinvent ”a liberal, democratic, and pluralistic Rivers state, where social justice, fairplay, and equity reigns”, AC says they have submitted what approximates to a peoples chater of development to the Amaechi administration.
Exerpts from that document which was made available to this reporter on Monday, by Princewill’s Media Consultant, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, shows:
* Amaechi should by Monday, October 29, freeze all the accounts of the State Government if he has not done so to stop further looting of our common patrimony.
* The State Independent Electoral Commission as presently illegally constituted should be dissolved and more credible Commission constituted to organize a free and fair Local Government polls in the State.
*The Committee set-up by the villainous administration of Sir Celestine Omehia out of malice to demolish the water fronts should be dissolved pending the time when the Government will take a holistic approach in solving the neglect, embarrassment and menace the water fronts have constituted to the general psych of our people as a State. An approach that will give governance in the State a human face should be adopted to assuage the traumatic experience our people have being foisted with these past eight and half years of mal-administration.
*We did advise from the beginning that Sir Celestine Omehia’s administration will be short-lived but only few people believed us until we were vindicated by the Supreme Court famous ruling of 25 th October, 2007 nullifying his illegal imposition on our people. We have as a concerned people that loved Omehia more than the glutton and gastronome cronies that held him hostage advised that he should for his own good not change any curtain in the Government House, sadly we learnt that he has not only changed the curtains but even removes some doors. In this regard, Governor Amaechi must set-up a Probe Panel to unearth the fraud committed in most of the over bloated contracts so far awarded with the intention of recovery back to the purse of the State funds illegally misappropriated into private purses these past eight and half years. The alleged N2 billion houses being constructed by Sir Celestine Omehia both in Port Harcourt at Ubima must be investigated and the findings made public. The billions of Naira which Omehia was duped in pursuing this particular case at the Supreme Court alleged by the Beam Newspapers in its 24 th October edition must be investigated to let the public know the source of such huge amount of money. The N50 billion Naira Hotel being constructed by Sir Peter Odili alleged by the National Daily Newspaper must be investigated and such a property restored back to the State. Every level or promotion of corruption in any standard must be stopped in order to restore the evasive glorious state of our State.
*State of Emergency should be declared in all facets of governance in the State to address the deplorable and state of despair of our educational, Health, Security sectors; our unmotorable roads, lack of basic amenities in our communities and the unacceptable unemployment level of our Youths.
*Amaechi’s Government must cultivate and inculcate the spirit of comradeship, give and take and unity among our people in order to restore their faith and hope in government. Urgent steps must be taken to woo the Stake-holders, the elders, traditional, religious Leaders, politicians, and militants to collaborate and work with the government into building a virile and egalitarian State of our dream. Apology must be rendered to all our elders abused by the unafrican out-gone administration that lacks respect for our culture, tradition and constituted institutions. In carrying out this; a government of Unity should be constituted involving all and sundry without any political party affliction or sundry considerations.
We hereby urge all our members in short all Rivers State people to collaborate and assist this government within the short period at its disposal before the Election Tribunal decides its fate to bring back sanity into governance in the State. Our Youths must give this administration a chance to succeed by disconnecting with all acts that are avarice to peace and unity of our people including all forms of kidnapping, abduction and hostage-taking. Our battered image before our country men and the International Community must be repainted positively henceforth. The greatness and future of our State is ours to build. In this regard we will appeal to the Rivers State of House of Assembly to put aside partisan politics and collaborate with the new Governor into turning around the fortunes of the State. There are by the virtue of their positions the representatives of our people and should be expected to respect the views of constituted institutions and disregard any step to lure them into contemplating of any unwise impeachment act against the new administration as we will not tolerate any act of sabotage in any form. Every patriotic sons and daughters of Rivers State should rally round our son Amaechi for the rebuilding of the wasted eight years in our life as a State pending when we take over the reins of governance.
We as a party and Organization have no other State than Rivers State and because of that we are ready to collaborate and assist the Amaechi’s administration so far he toes the paths of honour, democratic principles, righteousness, respect for rule of law, emancipation of our people, respect for our elders and culture, prudent management of our resources and evolving of policies and programmes geared towards restoring the lost glory of our dear State and should he for any reason whatsoever divert from these paths; he will not only lose our support but respect. We expect him to accord us the same support when the Election Tribunal may have overturned his administration very soon.
Meanwhile, the AC has commended the sacked Omehia regime for coming to terms quickly with the fact that the Supreme Court judgment was an act of God and that there was nothing he could do to change the verdict.
Posted in National News
Four Indian oil workers kidnapped by a prominent rebel group in Nigeria are safe, an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday.
The Indians were among six foreign workers abducted last week from an Italian oil facility in the Niger Delta, Africa’s biggest oil-producing region.
“As per the latest information received, all the hostages are safe and unharmed,” Navtej Sarna told reporters.
He said no ransom demand had been made and the Indian mission in Lagos had appealed to all its nationals to be “extra vigilant.”
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings from the Mystras oil production vessel, 53 miles offshore and operated by ENI unit Saipem and SBM Offshore.
Attacks by MEND since early last year have cut Nigerian oil output by a fifth and forced thousands of foreigners to flee the vast wetlands region in southern Nigeria.
Indian authorities in Nigeria were in touch with senior managers of the Italian oil company, Sarna added.
– Wire Report
Posted in National News
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