Surprise: Governor gifts Corpers N320 million, 600 bags of rice, 20 cows

Niger State Governor Umaru Bago has donated 600 bags of rice and 20 cows to the corps members posted to the state. This donation fulfills the pledge Governor Bago made on Tuesday during the swearing-in ceremony of the 2024 Batch ”B” Stream One orientation course. The Coordinator of the NYSC in Niger State, Olayinka Abdulwahab, confirmed that the items were delivered on Thursday. Additionally, the governor promised N200,000 to each of the 1,600 corps members in this batch, totaling N320 million. According to Bago, this gesture aims to enhance the corps members’ comfort and encourage them to remain in the state after completing their service year. Mr Bago equally promised to sink five boreholes and provide additional toilet facilities at both the male and female hostels. Mrs Abdulwahab noted that she had taken delivery of the 600 bags of rice and 20 cows, adding that the items were received with great elation by both corps members and camp officials. She said the process for the payment of the N200.000 for each of the corps members was ongoing, while the survey for the five boreholes and the toilets had commenced. The coordinator said the donation of the items would help mitigate the challenges faced by corps members during the orientation exercises. 

Rivers Crisis: Appeal Court returns speaker Amaewhule, 24 house members, sacks Oko-Jumbo

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, Thursday, dismissed an order of the Rivers State High Court, which sacked the Martin Amaewhule’s led 24 Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. The lower court had, in its judgement, restricted led the lawmakers from parading themselves as members of the Assembly. The appellate court made the order following an appeal by Amaewhule and the 24 Assembly members, challenging the interlocutory decision of the Rivers State High Court, delivered on May 10, 2024. The 3-man panel member of the court led by Justice Jimi Olukayode-Bada held that Amaewhule’s appeal was “meritorious” and therefore allowed the same. Consequently, the suit by Victor Oko-Jumbo at the Rivers State High Court is hereby struck out. The panel held that Amaewhule and the 24 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly should revert to their positions before the restraining order was made. The Court of Appeal held that the only court vested with jurisdiction to hear the suit filed by Oko-jumbo is the Federal High Court and not the State High Court. Therefore, the panel unanimously reasoned that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit filed by the 1st to 3rd respindents. Consequently, it was the contention of the appellate court that the ex parte order which had restrained Amaewhule and the 24 Assembly members, having been made without jurisdiction, “is null and void and of no effect whatsoever”. “Trial court lacks the jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit of the respindents, the court said. The panel held that in granting an ex parte order, there must be an existence of “real urgency and not self-induced urgency.” More so, the Court of Appeal said the trial court should have heard the position of the appellant in the interest of fair hearing since there was no urgency in making the interlocutory injunction.

Edo Guber: Court nulifies PDP Primary poll

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has declared as invalid the People’s Democratic Party’s Primary election that produced Asue Ighodalo as a governorship candidate. The primary election conducted on February 22, 2024 was voided on the ground that 378 delegates who were supposed to vote at the primary election were unlawfully excluded by PDP. The court invalidated the primary election on Thursday while delivering judgment in a suit instituted by the aggrieved delegates. The suit marked THC/ABJ/CS/165/2024 was instituted by one Hon Kelvin Mohammed in a representative capacity. Justice Ekwo held that both the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and PDP Guidelines were grossly violated in the conduct of the primary election at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin. Details later.

Reps to investigate civil service promotion stagnation

Following a motion moved by Rep. Salman Idris, the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Agric Colleges and Institutions in Abuja, the House of Representatives has resolved to investigate promotion stagnation in the Federal Civil Service from 2013 to 2023. According to Idris, promotion remained the progression of civil servants, as well as a motivational incentive for productivity, decrying the incessant stagnation in promotions across Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government. He said this had resulted in loss of service delivery, decline in highly specialized skills, low levels of productivity and performance, employee unrest, corruption and dampened morale. “The menace of promotion stagnation in the civil service calls for urgent attention and intervention of this hallowed chamber if the policies and programmes of government must be achieved,” he said. He said that the civil service remained the engine room of government, adding that it required a holistic reform that could promote global best practices. He added that the issues of promotions and recommendations as and when due was imperative and should not be overlooked. Idis said some civil servants who eventually got promoted after mandatory examination as required by civil service rules were promoted notionally but not financially. He added that MDAs often made provision for such recurrent expenditure in the yearly appropriation. He said that every promotion stagnation would have an effect on the career of the officer. He added that every civil servant was expected to rise to the pinnacle of their career within 35 years in active service or by the retirement age of 60 year. The house ruled that the committee on public sector and institutional reforms should investigate promotion stagnation in the Federal Civil Service from 2013 –2023.

Nnamdi Kanu’s Legal Team Reacts As Court Dismisses IPOB Leader’s Suit Against FG, DSS

The legal counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, the embattled leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Aloy Ejimakor, has rubbished the recent ruling by the Federal High Court in Abuja, which dismissed his client’s case against the federal government. Ejimakor said, contrary to the court’s ruling, the IPOB leader’s legal team had presented a legion of evidence to back their claims. Recall that Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the fundamental human rights suit filed by the detained IPOB leader against the Federal Government. Kanu had sued the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Department of State Service (DSS) for N1 billion in damages for alleged rights violations. The IPOB leader, in the suit marked FHC/CS/1633/2023, claimed that the DSS and its Director General violated his right to a fair hearing by allegedly preventing his lawyers from having unhindered interactions with him while he was being detained in preparation for his defence in his criminal trial. However, Justice Omotosho, while delivering judgment on the suit on Monday, held that Kanu failed to provide credible evidence to sustain his claims that his interactions with his lawyers were interfered with. The judge also said there was no evidence that Kanu was denied unhindered access to his lawyers or that the DSS officials had eavesdropped his conversations with his lawyers, which constituted a breach of his right to a fair hearing. Reacting, however, to the court’s ruling, Ejimakor vowed to appeal Justice Omotosho’s ruling. According to him, some of the shreds of evidence presented before the court are even in the public domain. “I am already preparing the notice of appeal. The evidence submitted before the court was legion. Some of it is even in the public domain,” Ejimakor told Daily Post on Tuesday

Why I Turned Down ₦250 Million Bribe For Third Term Agenda – Ex-Senate President, Wabara

A former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, in an interview released on Monday on the YouTube series, Untold Stories with Adesuwa, reiterated his previous claims of rejecting a ₦250 million bribe intended to secure his support for the controversial third-term agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. During the interview, Wabara emphatically confirmed the bribe offer, stating, “That’s very correct,” when asked about the authenticity of his claims. He recalled the political atmosphere at the time, noting disbelief at rumours that senators were being offered ₦50 million each to back the agenda. Wabara’s rejection of the bribe was part of broader resistance within the Senate against extending Obasanjo’s tenure beyond the constitutionally allowed terms. He underscored the gravity of the situation by suggesting that accepting the bribe could have led to a prolonged dictatorship in Nigeria. “Without people like us, there wouldn’t be democracy now,” Wabara asserted, implying that figures like former President Muhammadu Buhari and incumbent President Bola Tinubu might never have risen to prominence if the third-term bid had succeeded. Addressing misconceptions about his departure from office, Wabara clarified, “First of all, I was not removed by Obasanjo, I resigned,” countering the interviewer’s suggestion about potential pressures leading to his resignation. Wabara also touched on the lingering ethnic tensions affecting the Igbo people, stemming from historical grievances and misunderstandings related to the Biafra War. He lamented, “We have not been forgiven for what we did not cause, the Biafra War. It wasn’t our fault, but the propaganda is that the Igbos can not be trusted.”

BREAKING: Edo Govt To Retrieve Toyota Armored Jeep, 21 Other Vehicles From Ex-Deputy Gov, Philip Shaibu

The Godwin Obaseki-led Edo State Government has announced plans to retrieve over 20 vehicles still in the possession of erstwhile Deputy Governor, Comrade Phillip Shaibu. This was made known in a public notice signed by the State Commissioner of Information and Orientation, Chris Osa Nehikhare, on Tuesday. In the notice titled ‘Publich Notice On Retrieval Of 22 Official Government Vehicles’, the Commissioner disclosed that Philip Shaibu has been given seven days to return the vehicles. He stated that should the former Deputy Governor fail to obey the directive, security agencies have been put on alert to retrieve the vehicles. The notice read: “The Edo State Government hereby issues this notice directing the retrieval of official government vehicles allocated to the Office of the Deputy Governor, Edo State, which are currently in the custody of the former Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu. “The former Deputy Governor is by this notice given a seven-day ultimatum from the date of this publication to return the vehicles, as relevant security agencies have been put on alert to retrieve the vehicles after the expiration of the notice.”

Shehu Sani Speaks On El-Rufai Working With Atiku In 2027

The former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central senatorial district, Shehu Sani, in a recent interview, spoke on ex-vice president, Atiku Abubakar working with ex-governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai in the 2027 presidential election. Sani, in an interview with Sunday Sun, said he does not know if the duo will work together, but he is sure there will be a realignment of forces. He claimed that the North would play a card that would bring northerners together and also work on getting an alliance with a section of the country. Speaking on the possibilities of the 2027 presidential election, Sani said, “Well, I don’t know whether they are working together or not, but I know that there will be a lot of realignment of forces and the ace, the card that will be played by the North is that of bringing all northerners together and then, getting an alliance with a section of the country other than the Southwest and then, see how that can garner votes to remove Tinubu out of power because in the equation of the North, out of the eight million votes which Tinubu has gotten, five million comes from Northern Nigeria. “So, they want to see how they can pull off these votes from him and there are a lot of issues which they are going to put forward in the build-up to the 2027 campaign. “And they are going to use so many issues like the shifting of the CBN offices to Lagos; like the issues of appointments of many people from the South-western part of Nigeria; like the issue of insecurity which has not been solved in Northern part of Nigeria; these are all fundamental issues which they are going to take very seriously.”

Court Sentences LP Candidate to Seven Years Imprisonment 

An Enugu South Magistrate Court presided over by Justice E D Onwu, has sentenced the Labour Party candidate for Enugu South Urban state Constituency, Hon Bright Ngene, to 7 years’ imprisonment. The Magistrate, who handed the verdict on Friday had on Thursday, said that he was under instruction to deal with a matter involving the LP candidate who won the Enugu South Urban state Constituency, during the March 18, 2023, general elections. Ngene and two others were arraigned in court since 2017 by the Nigeria Police Force, Enugu command in a matter involving himself and his community worth about N15million. After he won the 2023 general elections against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, who also challenged the victory of Ngene and sought for the election to be declared inconclusive, which the election petition tribunal agreed and ordered rerun election in eight polling units, the ruling government resurrected the matter involving his community development fund. The matter was abandoned since 2017 when he was lawyer for his community, Akwuke, Enugu State. SaharaReporters reported on June 25, that Bright Ngene had raised the alarm over an alleged conspiracy between the executive and judiciary arms of the state government to imprison him.  Ngene, who spoke to journalists in Enugu, had claimed that the plot was aimed at punishing him for insisting on the mandate he won in the March 18, 2023 House of Assembly Election.  He had noted that the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice A. R Ozoemena, the Deputy Chief Registrar, Chijioke Agbo, and Magistrate E. D Onwu colluded to disregard the petition pending before the National Judicial Council which seized the case.  Ngene is seeking for an urgent intervention to prevent what he sees as a gross miscarriage of justice aimed at terminating his political and legal careers. Ngene of the Labour Party was declared the winner of last year’s Enugu South Rural Constituency election and was sworn into the House of Assembly but was aborted by the court in a petition by his rival, Sam Ngene of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.   Re-run elections for the disputed eight polling units in the Constituency have been held twice but were inconclusive, while the scheduled third-time re-run of June 8 was cancelled without notice to the LP candidate. In his petition to the NJC, Ngene alleged that “there is corruptive agreement between the Honourable Chief Judge of Enugu State, His Lordship A. R Ozoemena, the Deputy Chief Registrar N.L Chijioke Agbo, His Worship E. D Onwu, Esq and the Enugu State government to at all cost or willy nilly put me behind bars before a re-run is conducted over my seat in the Enugu State House of Assembly. “Otherwise, why are these parties applying impunity in continuing with the trial when the NJC has accepted custody of the matter? The ideal thing is that parties in this matter should relax for NJC to decide but they are rushing the matter to put me behind bars and go ahead to conduct the re-run election. “I seek the NJC to save me from oppression, persecution, and impeding wrongful conviction bathed by corruption and obvious abuse of judicial office and power. “Unless the National Judicial Council intervenes, the Honourable Chief Judge of Enugu State, the Deputy Chief Registrar, and His Worship E. D Onwu will wrongfully and corruptly destroy my ambition to continue to be in the House of Assembly of Enugu State and dent my political and legal career with conviction,” Ngene petitioned. But when the matter came up for adoption of written addresses, on Thursday, there was an uproar in court room as three lawyers fought fruitlessly to dissuade the magistrate to give a long adjournment date in a matter against Ngene and two others. While the defence counsels, Messrs CJ S Okereke, Benjamin C. Nwobodo and Frabel Awgu asked the trial Magistrate to adjourn the matter till next week to enable them study and reply to application filed by the prosecuting counsel, His Worship E D Ownu insisted that c

BREAKING! CJ transfers Amaewhule’s defection case

The cases challenging the defection of the 25 State lawmakers in Rivers State from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC, have been transferred. The case was transferred from Federal High Court 4, Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Steven Dalyop Pam, to court two controlled by Justice E. O. Obele. However, there was confusion yesterday among journalists covering the court proceedings and some of the lawyers in the matter as they got to the court, Friday morning, to discover that the cases have been transferred to a different court. The lawyers and journalists who were stocked at court four could only realise that the matters have been moved when the notable Senior Advocates of Nigeria in the matter who had arrived the court premises could not be found in court four. On approaching the court clerk after over an hour of resumption of court sitting, it was discovered that the matter was transferred Thursday to the new court. This transfer came following a petition by a defendant in matter, Hon. Martins Amaewhule, to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Tsoho, demanding that the cases against him be transferred to another court. The cases are one instituted by BOOT Party and others as plaintiffs in suit number FHC/PHC/269/2024 and another by Civil Society Organsiation in the state against Amaewhule and other, all on the defection of the defendants to the APC. When the court had resumed on Monday for hearing, the court was confronted with a petition signed by Martin Amaewhule addressed to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Tsoho, seeking the case to be reassigned to another court. The Presiding Judge, Justice Steven Dalyop Pam, who read the petition in the open court, had noted that the petitioner, Amaewhule, was praying the CJ of the High Court, to stop the hearing process following the petition. When the petition was read, Counsel for the plaintiff, BOOT Party, Mr. Reuben Wanogho, had informed the court that the petition was aimed at arresting the ongoing case and urged the court to discountenance it. But, Counsel for the 1st to 25th Defendants in the suit, Ferdinand Orbi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, denied knowledge of the petition by his client, prayed the court to adhere to the petition and stop further proceeding if the letter was addressed to the CJ of the court. However, the presiding judge, Pam, noted that in the first instance the petitioner (Amaewhule) has no motion, counter affidavit before him and that he is not yet known in the case. Pam in his ruling had noted that the petitioner has not copied his petition on the plaintiffs, noting the court would have no other option than discountenance the petition and move on with hearing of motions for joinder.