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Gboyega Oyetola, Governor of Osun State on Thursday said his electoral victory at the Court of Appeal was an indication that the truth had prevailed.

Oyetola in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Adeniyi Adesina, said in Osogbo that the victory had validated the mandate the people of the state freely gave to him in September 2018.

Oyetola said: “You spoke with conviction; your voice and choice are clear to the world, and the judiciary, the last hope of the people and arbiter of the truth, has proved to the world that it is always on the side of justice.

“After months of uncertainty and waiting in judicial wilderness, truth has finally prevailed over falsehood and the voice of the majority has ultimately gained dominance over the phony attempts to manipulate justice.

“Today’s victory has proved to all and sundry that there is a limit to the extent to which falsehood and propaganda could be used to suppress the truth and the will of the people.

“I would like to thank you all, the good people of The State of Osun, for your robust support and steadfastness throughout the needless periods of political travail and tribulation.

“I am persuaded by your indisputable mandate and the sound judgment of the Court of Appeal that the road to ultimate victory is smooth and unshakable.

“My administration took off on a note of equitable and quality service delivery to the people of our dear state. That resolve is on course.

“I urge you all to be peaceful and to go about your legitimate businesses as we revel in this well-deserved victory.

“I seize this opportunity to once again ask for the cooperation of all the citizens, partners, and friends of the State of Osun as we move forward with the state’s development agenda,” Oyetola said.

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal had nullified the judgment of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

The tribunal had, in its verdict of March 22, declared the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, winner of the September 22, 2018 poll.

Justice Jummai Sankey read the lead judgment of the Court of Appeal on Thursday, while Justices Abubakar Yahaya, Isaiah Akeju and Bitrus Sanga agreed with the lead verdict.

A fifth member of the appellate court, Justice Ita Mbaba, disagreed and upheld the election tribunal’s verdict that gave victory to Adeleke.

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'My Victory Is Unshakable' Says Oyetola

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Judge Abruptly Adjourns TheCable’s FOI Case Against Malami

Justice Inyang Ekwo of Federal High Court, FCT, on Thursday abruptly adjourned proceedings in the case between Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation (CNJF) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, over his failure to respond to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request on the engagement of lawyers for the recovery of Abacha loot.

The case, with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/27/2018, was filed by Kusamotu & Kusamotu law chambers at a Federal High Court in Abuja, on January 10, 2018 to compel the AGF through an order of mandamus to release details of the agreement that led to the recovery and repatriation of $321 million Abacha loot from Luxembourg.

The case has suffered a series of adjournment during which the lawyers newly engaged for the recovery have reportedly been paid another $15 million in legal fees, even though the Swiss lawyer who did the recovery, Mr. Enrico Monfrini, said he had completed the job and had been paid as far back as 2014 and that there was no need to engage any lawyer to repatriate the loot from Switzerland, where it was domiciled.

After the series of adjournments, Justice Ekwo had on April 21, 2019 agreed that the motions filed by both sides would be deemed adopted at the next hearing on May 8 after which he would give his judgment even if the counsel to the sides failed to appear in court.

On May 8, counsel to the Cable Foundation, Mr Ayo Kusamotu, along with Ms Racheal Obong who came all the way from Lagos, were in court but there was no legal representation for the AGF. The applicant’s counsel reminded the judge of the order he made on April 21 to deem the respondent’s processes adopted but the judge declined and instead made an order summoning the Solicitor-General of the Federation to appear in court on May 9 (Thursday) to conduct defence on behalf of the AGF.

However, the applicant’s counsel were in court while the AGF was also represented by a counsel who was ready for the hearing of the case but the judge insisted that no counsel other than the Solicitor-General of the Federation in person would handle defence for the respondent.

On being reminded that the AGF was already represented and no law made it mandatory for the Solicitor-General to represent the AGF in order for the matter to be heard, Justice Ekwo refused to entertain the applicant’s counsel and angrily rose without adjourning the matter to any date.

The FoI request was sent on December 7, 2017 and the AGF’s office acknowledged receipt on December 8, 2017.

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Emir Of Kano Sanusi II Bags UN Appointment

António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General António on Thursday in New York announced the appointment of His Royal Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano, as one of his new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates for 2019-2020.

A statement by UN quoted Guterres as saying that the appointment was sequel to the UN member states’ agreement to accomplish the SDGs by 2030.

The Advocates are 17 influential public figures from around the world who are tasked by the secretary-general to promote the goals, raise awareness with new audiences, maintain global commitment and call for greater ambition and scalable action to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

Sanusi is the only Nigerian on the 17-man secretary-general’s list of SDGs Advocates co-chaired by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway.

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Emir Of Kano Sanusi II Bags UN Appointment

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Mark Zukerberg Becoming Too Powerful Co-Founder Warns

Chris Huges, one of the co-founders of Facebook called on Thursday for the social media behemoth to be broken up, warning that the company’s head, Mark Zuckerberg, had become far too powerful.

“It’s time to break up Facebook,” Hugh said, who along with Zuckerberg founded the online network in their dorm room while both were students at Harvard University in 2004.

In an editorial published in The New York Times, Hughes said that Zuckerberg’s “focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks,” and warned that his global influence had become “staggering.”

Zuckerberg not only controls Facebook but also the widely used Instagram and WhatsApp platforms, and Hughes said that “Facebook’s board works more like an advisory committee than an overseer.”

Hughes, who quit Facebook more than a decade ago, was pictured in the newspaper together with Zuckerberg when both were fresh-faced students launching Facebook as a campus networking tool.

He accused Facebook of acquiring or copying all of its competitors to achieve dominance in the social media field, meaning that investors were reluctant to back any rivals because they know they cannot compete for long.

Zuckerberg “has created a leviathan that crowds out entrepreneurship and restricts consumer choice,” wrote Hughes, who is now a member of the Economic Security Project, which is pushing for a universal basic income in the United States.

After buying up its main competitors Instagram, where people can publish photos, and WhatsApp, a secure messaging service, Facebook now has 2.7 billion monthly users across its platforms and made a first-quarter profit of $2.43 billion this year.

“The most problematic aspect of Facebook’s power is Mark’s unilateral control over speech. There is no precedent for his ability to monitor, organize and even censor the conversations of two billion people,” said Hughes.

The company has been rocked by a series of scandals recently, including allowing its users’ data to be harvested by research companies and its slow response to Russia using Facebook as a means to spread disinformation during the 2016 US election campaign.

The company is reportedly expecting to face a fine of $5 billion.

“The American government needs to do two things: break up Facebook’s monopoly and regulate the company to make it more accountable to the American people,” Hughes said, urging the government to break away Instagram and WhatsApp and prevent new acquisitions for several years.

“Even after a breakup, Facebook would be a hugely profitable business with billions to invest in new technologies — and a more competitive market would only encourage those investments,” he said.

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WATCH LIVE: SaharaTV Interviews Nigerian Rap Star Ruggedman, On Burning National Issues

NANS' Account Of Meeting With Akeredolu Untrue-- Ondo State Govt.

The Ondo state government on Thursday dismissed as fictitious the version of the encounter between the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu disclosed to journalist by the NANS president on Wednesday.
Bamidele Akpan, the president of NANS, had on Wednesday recounted the meeting between the representatives of the students' body with the governor which turned out be a fiasco when the governor walked out on the students.
Akpan also claimed that students were tear-gassed, on the order of the governor, by the security operatives at the venue of the meeting.
The Ondo state government has said "Nothing can be farther from the truth" than Akpan's claim.

A statement through Segun Ajiboye,the Chief Press Secretary (CPS), to the governor said "We are compelled to put the records straight because of the attempt of the Akpan leadership of NANS to deceive innocent Nigerians
“It may interest you to know that the NANS leadership was received by the governor in his office despite a very tight schedule of the day, which began with a State Executive Council meeting that lasted till about 7pm.
” When eventually he was ushered in to meet the governor, Akpan used the first 30 minutes to talk about personal matters. He would later plead with the governor to allow other members of his team to join the meeting, a request that the governor also obliged.
“The governor listened to their requests and took his time to explain the situation. He explained that the decision to increase the fee was solely that of the institution, but that as a father, he had intervened and directed that all the students should be allowed to write the tests and examinations.

” Several times during the meeting, even as the governor would be talking, Akpan would interrupt and insist that he be allowed to speak. Then, he threatened that he would make the state ungovernable for the governor with protests.
"At that stage, the governor said it was the right of the students to stage protest to press home their demands, but advised that such protest should be organised peacefully without the destruction of both private and public property.

According to Ajiboye The NANS president would not allow the governor to talk, as he continued to speak and shout obscenities and threats of war, all these happened right inside the office of the governor.
The CPS also claimed that Akpan urged the governor to come downstairs to see the bus he came with, which he said was given to him by the governor of Abia State. He boasted about the many governors that have given him with gifts
Among the claims made by NANS on Wednesday was that the Akeredolu-led administration has increased school fees of the four state-owned University in the state indiscriminately making it unaffordable to most of the students.

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NANS' Account Of Meeting With Akeredolu Untrue-- Ondo State Govt.

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'Angel' Jailed For Internet Fraud In Ibadan

Justice P.I. Ajoku of the Federal High Court, Ibadan Judicial Division, has convicted an internet fraudster, Adebimpe Babajide Quadri, a.k.a Angel and sentenced him to four months in prison.

The conviction was communicated in a statement signed by Tony Orilade, ag. media and publicity for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday.

The statement reads: "Quadri, who hides under the name ‘Angel’ to dupe his victims online, was, on Wednesday, May 8, found guilty of criminal impersonation in a one-count amended charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office.

"The offence, according to the charge sheet, was contrary to section 22 (4)(b) and punishable under Section 22(4) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention e.t.c) Act, 2015.

"The convict was originally arraigned on April 15, 2019 on a four-count charge bordering on possession of documents containing false pretence, contrary to Section 6 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related (offences) Act, 2006 and obtaining money by false pretence contrary to Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related (Offences) Act, 2006.

"He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

"He was, however, re-arraigned on May 8, 2019 on a lone-count charge after entering into a plea bargain agreement with the Commission. He pleaded guilty to the amended charge.

"In view of his plea, prosecuting counsel, Oluwatoyin Owodunni, urged the court to convict him accordingly.

"The presiding judge then convicted and jailed him for four months. The four-month term, the judge ordered, will run from the date of his arrest – February 13, 2019".

According to the judge, Quadri will also forfeit a sum of $400 USD (Four Hundred United States of American Dollars), one Samsung phone and one black Tecno k7 phone to the Federal Government.

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'It Hurts, It's Extremely Painful But There Is One Last And Important Lap' Says Davido On Appeal Court Verdict

Davido, the Ede-born hip-pop maestro, has expressed his dismay at the verdict of the Court of Appeal which declared Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress as the elected governor of Osun State

The artiste took to his instagram page some hours after the ruling became public knowledge to express his displeasure.

The court ruling was not in favour of Senator Ademola Adeleke, his uncle, the the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Davido, however, believes all hope is not lost as according to him "there is one last and important lap."

He urged his supporters and that of his uncle to keep hope alive as the case moves to the Supreme Court where the definitive verdict will be pronounced.

“My people, we cannot hide our disappointment. This judgment of the Court of the Appeal. It hurts, it’s extremely painful, but guess what? It is not the end. Far from it.

“Everyone, remain calm. I want to urge all our supporters to remain calm at this time. As you all know,there is one last and important lap.

“It is time for the last lap and the God I know and serve is in control,“ he said.

David continued by saying: “We have won the first leg. We have lost the second leg but I am certain that the highest court in the land will rectify and restore all that has been stolen from us with this judgment.

“Everyone stay calm and stay safe! See you at the Supreme court,“ he wrote.

The court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had on Thursday overturned the judgement of the election tribunal that decleared Adeleke as the winner of the Osun governorship election which was conducted last year.

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Reps Halt Ogoni Clean Up, Order Freezing Of Account

Ogoni land polluted by oil spillage

Lawmakers at the House of Representatives have ordered Stanbic Bank to immediately freeze the account of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), the company in charge of the Ogoni clean-up.

The lawmakers also demanded that a full investigation be conducted into the activities of HYPREP and all payment made by the agency.

The decision was made at plenary on Thursday after it considered a report investigating the implementation of the treasury single account (TSA) policy.

The House also resolved that, “all government ministries, departments and agencies who violated the TSA policy should be sanctioned accordingly and payments outside the TSA policy should be suspended as it is seen as an attempt to circumvent the policy.”

The lawmakers at the Lower Chamber also resolved that the Ministry of Finance and office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) publish and sanction all MDAs, private organizations and banks where federal government’s funds are hidden with immediate effect.

The AGF was also asked to “carry out a quaterly appraisal and reconciliation of the TSA/CFR account and publish reports on the performance of the TSA” and that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should “make full disclosures on the natures and status of the fund in the NNPC Pension Fund Ltd domiciled in Aso Savings and Loans Plc.”

HYPREP is an agency of the Ministry of Environment tasked with the cleaning of communities affected by oil spillage in Ogoni, Niger Delta region.

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Appeal Court To Deliver Judgment On Onnoghen, Friday

The appeal court has said it will deliver judgment on the appeal filed by Walter Onnoghen, suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), on Friday.

The announcement was contained in a short statement issued by Sa’adatu Musa Kachalla, spokesperson of the court, on Thursday.

The brief statement reads: "Notice is hereby given. That the appeal filed by Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen is ripe for judgement, tomorrow morning in Abuja Division. Thank you for your usual cooperation."

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) had convicted Onnoghen on six counts bordering on false assets declaration.

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'We Told Buhari Kidnappings Have Dropped' Says Chief Of Naval Staff

Ibok-Ete Ibas, the Chief of Naval Staff has revealed the content of the closed door conversation with President Muhammadu Buhari today at the Aso Villa.

The President on Thursday met with all security chiefs in the country to discuss the rising insecurity in the country.

Mr. Ibas said: “The security agencies briefed him on what has been happening with particular emphasis on the proliferation of small arms and what the various agencies are doing to curtail the consequences of this proliferation".

He said Buhari directed that “the agencies should do much more to ensure that Nigerians go to bed and wake up feeling healthy and confident that their security is guaranteed.”

“With the set up of the operations, there has been a remarkable drop in the number of kidnappings. What normally would attract attention is when a key person in government perhaps is kidnapped.

“On the whole, the number of kidnappings has dropped and generally I think the security situation is improving,” he added.

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BREAKING: Kano Govt. Grills Emir Sanusi's Aide Over 'Financial Misappropriation'

The Kano state government's anti-graft agency has grilled an aide to the Muhammad Sanusi II over allegations of financial misappropriation.

Isa Bayero, who also served as chief aide to Ado Bayero, Sanusi’s predecessor, told reporters on Thursday that about his appearance before the Kano Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission.

He said: “When I appeared before the investigating panel, I was presented with some documents which I went through and I requested for more time to study and return them.”

The Kano state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje yesterday signed a bill into law breaking up the Kano emirate into five, a move seen as a the execution of a political vandetta against HRH Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II.

More to follow...

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Insecurity And Poverty – Nigeria’s Siamese Twins Of Trouble By Wole Olubanji

Karl Marx can be praised or pilloried, but his ideas have never been easily dismissed. He established the dialectical relationship between economic production and social institutions. For Marx, it is how men produce the materials to preserve their lives (sustenance) that determine the nature of their social relationship, political or juridical institutions and even religious practices – and despite that laws or norms may later formalise the way man produces his sustenance, it is yet how he produces his sustenance (preserves his life generally) that is fundamental to all else.

The gory pictures painted in the media reports of insecurity in the country is a testament to the role that economics plays in defining human relationship between one and another. Social relationship is at its basest level in the country, indicated by the spate of banditry and the daredevil incidences of extortionate terror.

Coincidentally the heightening rate of insecurity is occurring about the time we are getting used to our latest designation as the poverty capital of the world. Our deepening poverty is responsible for the widespread disregard for civilized conducts; we don’t need a Karl Marx to tell us that. But perhaps we need a Karl Marx to guide us on what to do.

Muhammad Bafa Sani, writing in DailyTrust of 24th January of this year, made the following salient points about Poverty in Northern Nigeria: Causes and Remedy: “…the menace of (poverty) is most critical in (Nigeria’s) northern part, despite bestowed unquantifiable human and natural resources in the region. For example, according to statistics, in Kano and Zamfara States, three out of every four persons and over 91 percent of the population live in extreme poverty respectively… As a result, part of the worst human development indicators – unemployment, widened inequality, hunger, ignorance, diseases, violence, youth restiveness, to mention but few – bedevil the youth, and in effect, posing great threat to security and stability.”

Between January 24 and now, the situation in Northern Nigeria, the capital city of the poverty-capital of the world, has aggravated. Politicians, despite their escorts, are patronizing rail transport to avoid being kidnapped – do not mistake this turn of event for humility on their part; it was only an attempt at self preservation.

Nigeria’s population today, put at 200 million people estimatedly, is larger than it ever was at any point in our 105 year old history as a corporate state. The population surge equally means an unprecedented competition for available resources, including land, food, shelter, transportation among others. Unfortunately the productive capacity of Nigeria has progressed backwardly, and despite a youth bulge and the restlessness that comes with that demographic distinction. (Above 60% of Nigeria's population are below age 35.) It is easier in Nigeria to gain employment as a secondary school leaver than as a university graduate, why? – because the country is at a backward level of technically-aided production. More factories have shut down in the last ten years than constructed; and few public corporations have been rendered less efficient by a poorly considered policy of privatization. We therefore have on our hand a situation where the country is producing far less than required by its large population for sustenance – a situation compounded by our antediluvian manner of production.

Embarrassingly, the Buhari regime has chosen to confront the problem of youth unemployment in Nigeria, for example, with a two-prong policy of encouraging youths to participate in agriculture and Npower. These policies are embarrassing because the world is presently at a stage where you do not need millions of unemployed workforce on farmlands, nor do you need them to whirl away time in poorly equipped classrooms doing nothing particularly productive. Agriculture particularly has reached a technical stage where machines and chemistry combined do more work than a million men put together can ever achieved with our traditional tools.

If we manufacture, or master the sciences to improve our production, it would tell on our capacity to be self sufficient rather than lamenting our addiction to importation. Our injury could have been soothed if Npower teachers were employed to prepare a generation of science-inclined or arts-oriented students; most public schools in Nigeria are in states that count as part of our national disgraces, with no chalks, speak less of laboratory materials, in majority of the rural schools.

The inability to be technically advanced; to employ the sciences for production; to gain mastery of nature; to ease processes of production; to expand local productivity – it is this inability to domesticate in Nigeria the present level of global technical capacity that is fueling the cut-throat competition for scarce, tediously produced resources. It is for this reason that hungry people are arming themselves to dispossess others. Our backward technical capacity is hardly a product of lack of human resources that can apply technical knowledge – Nigerian-trained doctors are leaving this country to become superstars abroad, that much is a globally reckoned fact. But our political leadership does not prioritise the long-term planning and discipline required for the desired technical growth of this country.

Oil is not a curse, it is indeed a blessing to us for the moment; but it is has become a psychoactive drug, a sort of addictive narcotic, to our political leaders. The crude oil, requiring limited technical capacity for drilling than refining, promises stack of hard currencies still. Soft work, hard pay. Just like a man deriving his life’s satisfaction from daily dosage of tramadol, our politicians have little motivation to inspire or incite progress in technical or creative areas. Therefore, rather than spending the returns on oil exports on developing our capacity to even refine that oil, create demands for engineers, and spur technical creativity; our leaders view the return as a national cake that is cut to chunks at every FAAC meeting. Unfortunately for us commoners, this money is not spent on productive ventures that would impact us in the long or short term – they are spent on security votes, provocative allowances of political office holders, and even workers at state levels still go hungry. Politics has failed to inspire science, to inspire human creativity – it has become the greatest singular threat to the security of this country, because by greed and avarice, politics creates poverty.

Countries like China are benefitting from their vast human capital, and this is because they have placed high technical capacity at the disposal of their vast population. In a market economy dominated by national interests, it would be unfathomable to expect productive nations to encourage us to be technically productive, and hence lose us as customers. And at the bottom of being productive is the question of technical capacity, and the political will to direct resources to grow technical capacity – even if that means offending the powerful people who are gentrified by the backwardness pervading the Nigerian society. This was part of the ideas of Marx in his popular German Ideology, and what we should learn from him: that civilization is equivalent to mastery over science and application of such for a productive economy.

The insecurity in the country, if we agree that it is traceable to poverty at its root, then can only be resolved by concretely removing poverty. It is a task that is enormous considering the sheerness of our population, but not impossible. We can expand our police force or their capacity to tackle crime, but we must remove the material basis of crime. And this is a task that must start now, and begin with our politicians who draw too much of our national wealth that prevents any long term investment in technical production. It is our tasks as citizens to call them to order, shame those worthy of shame, and firmly demand willful and visionary leadership. Nigeria cannot afford to be run the same old way, because it is not again the same old Nigeria that these leaders know.

Wole Olubanji
Writes from Oko-Oba, Agege

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BREAKING: Imo State House Of Assembly Suspends All 27 LGA Chairmen

The Imo State House of Assembly has suspended all the Chairmen in the 27 Local Government Areas of the State.

The Lawmakers unanimously took the decision at the Thursday plenary.

Chika Madumere (Nkwerre) moved the motion for the immediate suspension of the chairmen and the motion was unanimously endorsed.

Madumere attributed his decision to move the motion to the contempt shown by the chairmen to the legislature by failing to appear before the house to give account on the fiscal states of the LGA's.

The lawmaker said the chairmen's refusal to honour the legislature's invitation should be seen as a collective and deliberate decision to undermine the legislative arm of the state.

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BREAKING: Jigawa State House Of Assembly Impeaches Speaker

Mr Isah Idris, the speaker of Jigawa State House of Assembly, has just been impeached.

The speaker was impeached on Thursday in a hasty manner with just 20 out of 30 lawmakers present.

Idris Garba, aka Kareka, a former speaker, was unanimously voted in as the newly elected speaker of the House immediately after the impeachment of Isah Idris.

More to follow…

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Buhari Meets With Security Chiefs Over Rising Insecurity

President Muhammadu Buhari has met with Security Chiefs over the state of insecurity in the country.

The meeting was held at the Presidential Villa, State House, Abuja.

Among those present at the meeting are Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, Chief of Defence Staff; Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas, Chief of Naval Staff; Air Marshall Abubakar Sadique, Chief of Air Staff; and Mohammed Adamu, Acting Inspector-General of Police.

The service chiefs briefed the President on efforts they are employing in to tackling insecurity in the country.

Bandits and insurgent groups have been operating unchecked in the country for months now adding to the problem of Boko Haram insurgency.

Four staff of National Emergency Management Agency; Olayinka Adegbehingbe, a professor at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU); Alhaji Musa Uba, District Head of Daura and an in-law to President Muhammadu Buhari are all among a growing list of people recently kidnapped in different parts of the country.

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Court Grants 'Prime Suspect' In Sugar's Murder Bail

An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan has granted bail to the alleged prime suspect in the March 9 murder of Temitope Olatoye ( aka Sugar).

The court took the decision on Thursday.

Sugar, defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Action Democratic Party(ADP) in the build-up to the 2019 general election.

He was a member of theFederal House of Representatives legislating on behalf of Lagelu/Akinyele constituency.

He was cut down in a hail of bullets in one of the polling units in his consistuency during the governorship and house of assembly elections

His body was committed to Mother earth on Friday in Ibadan, the state capital.

It was gathered that about five suspects, including a serving member of the state House of Assembly from Akinyele, Olafisoye Akinmoyede were arrested in connection with his murder.

The suspects were taken to Abuja and kept 'under protective custody'

But Akinmoyede through his counsel, Michael Lana approached Justice Moshood Abass and sought to enforce the fundamental human rights of the house whip, over prolonged detention.

Akinmoyede, through his counsel, urged the court to grant him bail as his continued detention is a unlawful and gross violation of his fundmental human rights.

Lana urged the court to grant bail to his client pending the arraignment of his client at the court of law.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the respondent, the Commissioner of Police, was absent at the hearing.

The presiding judge, Justice Abass, said that he considered the action of the police as arrogant, unlawful and unconstitutional.

Abass said that all actions of the police must be seen to have justification in law and the fundamental right of the applicant must not be restrained by any technicality.

The judge said that the practice of the police making an arrest before an investigation was not proper.

“The power of the police to arrest and detain is not in doubt but the constitution stipulates that any person detained must be arraigned within 24hours.

“The remand order obtained by the police from an Iyaganku Magistrate court had expired since April 4 and detaining the applicant beyond this period is flagrant disobedient to the

constitution.

“Obedient to court order should be the responsibility of all who believe in the stability of Nigeria,” the judge said.

The judge faulted the police on their inability to provide justification to deny the applicant bail.

In his ruling, the judge held that the applicant should be granted bail with a surety who is blood relation with landed property worth N50 million among others.

The judge said that the other surety should be a civil servant with grade level 14 or member of the state House of Assembly or Federal.

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President Buhari Nominates Godwin Emefiele For Second Term

President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Godwin Emefiele for a second term as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Emefiele was first appointed in 2014 by former president Goodluck Jonathan and was retained when Buhari came to office in 2015.

The letter for his tenure elongation was sent to the senate on Wednesday.

By the CBN Act, the senate must confirm the nomination before it can take effect.

This is the first time since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy, that anyone would be nominated to serve two terms as CBN governor.

Before assuming the office of the CBN governor, the 57-year-old banker was the group managing director of Zenith Bank Plc.

Emefiele was at the helm of affairs when the country slipped into its worse recession in 29 years.

In 2015 when global oil prices began to decline, there had been calls for the devaluation of the naira.

However, Buhari opposed the idea.

As CBN governor, Emefiele introduced various interventions to ensure that the naira was kept stable.

These interventions included introducing a list of items for whose import foreign exchange was made unavailable.

That initial list of 41 items now contains 43 items.

He also introduced an investors and exporters window while directing banks to sell forex to customers over the counter for basic travel allowance (BTA), medical and education bills.

With help from the Bankers Committee, the apex bank also introduced financing initiatives for farmers and small and medium enterprises.

If his nomination is approved by the senate, Emefiele’s five-year tenure will end in 2024 after a new president is elected in 2023.

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BBC Fires Presenter Who Compared New Royal Baby To Chimpanzee

The BBC has fired a presenter who tweeted an image of a chimpanzee dressed in clothes with the caption “Royal Baby leaves hospital’’.

Meghan, wife of Prince Harry, gave birth, in the early hours of Monday, to a baby boy, Archie, the first mixed-race child to be born into the top hierarchy of British royalty in recent history.

“Just got fired,” Danny Baker, the broadcaster with BBC Radio 5Live, said on Twitter.

The BBC also reported the news, though a spokesman for the BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 61 year-old 5Live presenter was accused of mocking the duchess’ racial heritage.

A BBC spokesperson said: “This was a serious error of judgment.”

The corporation added that Baker’s tweet “goes against the values we as a station aim to embody.

“Danny is a brilliant broadcaster, but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us.”

After an initial backlash on social media, Baker said: “Sorry my gag pic of the little fella in the posh outfit has whipped some up. Never occurred to me because, well, mind not diseased.

“Soon as those good enough to point out its possible connotations got in touch, down it came; and that’s it.’’

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan showed their son to the public for the first time on Wednesday.

Harry and Meghan, whose mother Doria Ragland is African American, revealed on Wednesday their new son was named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

Archie, who is seventh in line to the British throne, is expected to hold dual citizenship of Britain and the U.S

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Court Hears Suit Querying Atiku's Citizenship Today

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja will on Thursday open hearing into a suit before Justice Inyang Ekwo, questioning former vice president Atiku Abubakar’s claim to being a citizen of Nigeria by birth.

This is coming few weeks after the All Progressives Congress, APC urged the tribunal to dismiss PDP's petition for incompetence, arguing that Section 131(a) of the Constitution stipulates that a person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth to be qualified to contest for the office of the President.

The suit pursues a proclamation to the effect that Atiku was not qualified to contest the 2019 presidential election as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to Mr. Kayode Ajulo, the spokesperson who filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiff; incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa, wants the court to disqualify Atiku over alleged circumstances surrounding his citizenship.

The group wants the court to interpret the provision of Sections 25(1) & (2) and 131(a) of the 1999 Constitution.

The Mission named the PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice as defendants in the suit.

In a supporting affidavit, deposed to by one Michael Okejimi, a legal practitioner in the law firm of Ajulo, the deponent averred that Atiku was born on November 25, 1946 in Cameroon.

“That from Atiku’s own testimony that is gazetted and published in most national dailies in circulation, he is from Jada town in Adamawa and Jada used to be in Ganye Local Government Area in Adamawa.

“That Ganye is regarded as the mother of the whole Chamba tribe and was never part of Nigeria legally as at the date of birth of Atiku.”

The plaintiff also wants the court to determine;

Whether Section 25 of the Constitution is the sole authority that spells out ways by which a person can become a Nigerian citizen by birth.

Whether by the provisions of Section 131 (a) of the constitution, only a Nigerian citizen by birth can contest for the office of president.

Whether by the combined interpretation of Sections 25 (1) & (2) and 131 (a) of the constitution and given the circumstances surrounding the birth of Alhaji Atiku, he can be cleared by PDP and INEC to contest for office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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Man Jailed For Touching Girl's Breast In Lagos

Ilias Mudashiru, an unemployed man, was yesterday jailed by an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court for touching a girl’s breasts indecently and stabbing her relatives.

The sentence will run for six months.

Magistrate F. O. Sasanya convicted Mudashiru, 29, after he pleaded guilty to the three-count charge of conspiracy, indecent assault and assault occasioning harm against him.

The verdict followed a review of the case by prosecuting Sergeant Godspower Ehizoba.

The magistrate held: “The defendant is hereby sentenced to three months in prison on count one (conspiracy), three months on count two (indecent assault) and six months on count three (assault occasioning harm).

“The sentence will run concurrently.”

Mudashiru was arraigned on April 26.

Reviewing the case, Ehizoba said the convict committed the offence on April 21, at about 8:20am, at Bombata Market, Oroyinyin Street, Adeniji Adele, Lagos Island.

He said Mudashiru conspired with others at large and indecently assaulted the girl by touching her breasts while she was on her way to a clinic.

Ehizoba said Mudashiru stabbed two of the girls who came to her rescue in the head, neck and arm with a broken bottle.

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Ronaldo And Messi To Miss Out On UCL Finals After Six Years Appearance

Cristiano Ronaldo, a former Real Madrid legend and Lionel Messi, Barcelona’s super hero, will miss the 2019 champions league finals.

Records show that either of these football heroes have been appearing in the UEFA Champion’s League since 2013, which makes it a total of six years.

In 2013/ 14, 2015/16, 2016/17, and 2017/18 Real Madrid won the UCL Finals against Atletico twice, Juventus and Liverpool with 4-1, 1-1 (5-3 penalties), 1-4, and 3-1 respectively.

While Barcelona won 1-3 in 2014/ 15 against Juventus in Olympiastadion, Berlin.

The Juventus 1- 4 (3-5) loss against Ajax in the 2018/2019 UCL Quarter-final, denied Christiano Ronaldo the passage into his first UCL finals with Juventus.

However, the 4-0 (4-3) loss against Liverpool in the 2018/2019 UCL also denied Lionel Messi the passage into the UCL 2018/2019 finals.

Their absence has sprung a surprise for fans who will miss them at the show of glory while looking out for the crowing of a new 'world best player' when the league winds up in June.

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Where Are The 15 You Detained Illegally Since 2018? Falana Asks Navy

Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, has called out the Nigerian navy over its claim that it does not know the whereabouts of 15 citizens who have been detained for seven months without trial.

The detainees, including Dada Labinjo, a navy captain, and Sherifat Ibe Lambert (also known as Mrs Bola Labinjo), a lt. commander, have been in detention since September 2018 for an undisclosed offence.

Suleman Dahun, navy’s director of information, on Monday had said that the detainees disappeared from custody.

In a statement on Wednesday, Falana said: “My attention has been drawn to the sadistic denial of the whereabouts of the 15 military and civilian personnel who have been held incommunicado by the Nigerian Navy since September 2018,” Falana said.

“As their whereabouts are unknown why did the navy apply to the chief magistrate’s court in Apapa, Lagos for an order to detain them? Why did the navy not deny the whereabouts of the detainees when the magistrate ordered their immediate and unconditional release from custody on January 7, 2019? Since the whereabouts of the detainees are not known, why did the navy file counter-affidavits in opposition to the application for the release of Captain Dada Labinjo and Lt. Commander Bola Labinjo from further detention?

“Why has the navy filed a motion for stay of execution of the order of the federal high court for the immediate release of Lt. Commander Bola Banjo? Why did the Navy apply for an adjournment to react to the application for the enforcement of the fundamental right of Mr. Benjamin Gold? For goodness sake, at what stage did the detainees disappear from the custody of the Navy?”

The senior lawyer also shared copies of the court documents ordering the release of the detainees.

Earlier, the lawyer had raised the alarm over their detention, calling on Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), to take action against the naval authorities over the “violations of the fundamental rights of the detainees”.

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