Category: News

The governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Monday appealed to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, to prevail on the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over its planned protest slated for Wednesday.

But at a closed-door meeting which held at the headquarters of Ministry of Labour and Employment in Abuja, Emefiele was quoted as saying the protest would hinder the progress of the apex bank if not averted.

The President of NLC, Joe Ajaero led other Labour leaders while Emefiele led the apex bank officials to the meeting that was later presided over by the Minister.

According to Daily Trust, an official of the ministry, who attended the meeting reported that Emefiele promised to ensure that all commercial banks were given enough cash from the CBN’s vault.

“You would notice that the CBN had since last Friday directed commercial banks to open during weekends so as to ease the issue of cash crunch. The governor (Emefiele) was here to talk to the Minister in order to prevail on the labour leaders.

“He (Emefiele) said the protest will disrupt a lot of things in the bank, hence his reasons to heed the minister’s call who is a Chief conciliator”.

None of the trio spoke to journalists after the closed-door meeting.

A statement is yet to be issued either by the apex bank or the ministry regarding the meeting as at when filing this report last night.

But the NLC President in a formal invitation to our correspondent said he would brief the press on Tuesday regarding the outcome of the meeting.

(Daily Trust)

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Saturday, April 15 for governorship, national and state assembly supplementary elections.

The commission made the disclosure in a tweet on Monday.

“Arising from its meeting held today, the Independent National Electoral Commission has decided that all outstanding Governorship, National and State Assembly supplementary elections will take place on Saturday 15th April 2023.

“A detailed official statement will follow shortly,” the tweet reads.

The announcement comes barely one week after the governorship elections of Kebbi and Adamawa states were declared inconclusive.

As the nation prepares for the population and housing census in May, the Federal Government has assured Nigerians of a credible exercise that will be transparent and acceptable.

Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Garba Abari, who gave the assurance in Abuja, said the three-day exercise would begin May 3 and end on May 5 across the country.

He described the exercise as a significant event that would aid national planning and execution of developmental projects.

Abari said the census exercise would capture every person, household and structure for national planning and project execution purposes.

“The most important thing is to make Nigerians aware that census is about them because they matter; so let them be counted because they count.

“It is all about them, about planning for development, security, and others.

“When you are not actually able to get the correct information about all that we do, or how many we are, how many are male, female, how many are old, young, how many are persons with disabilities, planning will be difficult.

“A reliable census provides an important ingredient that will help national planning. We need a holistic data base that is scientific to guide different levels of government in the provision of services, infrastructure and the way and manner they relate as government to the people,” he said.

While noting the challenges bedevilling the nation, Abari, who is also a member of the National Publicity and Advocacy Committee on Census, emphasised the need for every individual, group and religion to unite towards fostering peace and development in the country.

“Nigerians must have to be aware and every person now has to come and begin to look at the country as one that belongs to us all and not one for only the rich and the poor.

“Of course, we have challenges, but the most important issue is to understand there is no country that has no challenges.

“We have our challenges which are peculiar to us and only we, the citizens and leadership, can sort these problems and get the country moving.

“We must have to begin to look at other ways by which these challenges may be tackled. The onus lies fundamentally on the leadership, then the follower-ship,’’ he said.

The director general described Nigeria as the largest black nation in the world, hence the need for its citizens to manage its diversity and get it right in all areas.

(Sun)

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and all relevant security agencies to investigate and make public their findings on the rumoured visit of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Olukayode Ariwoola, to the United Kingdom for medical reasons and the allegation that it was in disguise to meet with President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in London.

The CNPP in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Willy Ezugwu, said this had become necessary to preserve the integrity of the judiciary.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, was reported to have been sighted in London, United Kingdom, pretending to be a physically-challenged old man, for a secret meeting with the President-elect.

According to the Peoples Gazette, an online news medium, Supreme Court sources said Ariwoola’s disguising was a clandestine preparation for a meeting with Tinubu.

The CNPP noted that despite the denials of the plans to hold such meetings by the two personalities, the integrity of both the chief judicial personality in Nigeria and that of the President-elect had been called to question, especially in view of the widespread criticisms of the Supreme Court’s rulings on political matters since the 2023 general elections.

“The Supreme Court under the current leadership has given several verdicts on political litigations in recent times which put the integrity of the apex court to question before this very damaging report by an online news portal on the alleged planned meeting between the CJN and the President-elect in London.

“Allowing the matter to slide without a public inquiry will be a recipe for breach of national security in the event that the Supreme Court rulings fail to favour some parties in election litigations currently before various election petition tribunals, especially the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal under the direct jurisdiction of the CJN.

“The CNPP therefore calls on President Muhammadu Buhari, security sgencies, and all relevant stakeholders to institute open investigation into the reported planned meeting between CJN Ariwoola and President-elect Tinubu to lay to rest the controversy in the interest of justice and national security.

“This is imperative as the level of distrust, religious and tribal colourations permeating topics among supporters of different political camps in the country, especially now that the most damaging allegation on the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary became a media affair, should be taken very seriously to avoid a national catastrophy.

“It is also of national importance to ensure that the matter is openly investigated and the report made public as most Nigerian politicians and citizens who are aggrieved by the outcome of the 2023 general elections as conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, may resort to self-help in the event of perceived biases in the judicial pronouncements on the outcome by the tribunals.

“The CNPP then urges politicians to caution their supporters on the use of ethnicity and religion as campaign tools. Ethnic profiling is dangerous to peace and unity of the country and must be stopped.

“We, therefore, call on security agencies to ensure that all persons who were involved in inciting comments before, during, and after the 2023 general elections are prosecuted to serve as deterrence to others, otherwise the individuals and groups will remain bad examples and reference cases in the near future,” the CNPP warned.

(Vanguard)

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Adamawa State, Aishatu Ahmed, popularly known as Binani, has expressed support for the declaration of the governorship election in the state as inconclusive.

The state collation officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Muhammadu Mele of the University of Maiduguri, had declared the election inconclusive due to the margin of votes.

The incumbent Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who is seeking re-election under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled 421,524, while Ahmed scored 390,275.

He said, “Elections were not held in 47 wards, affecting 69 polling units. So, this gives us a margin of 31,249. The total number of PVCs collected in places where elections were not held amounted to 37,016.”

Ahmed while welcoming the decision alleged that violence and irregularities were recorded in 16 of the 21 local government areas (LGAs) in the state.

“My position is that the INEC REC did very well by declaring the result inconclusive and my reasons are simple,” she said on Friday during a monitored programme on Channels Television .

“Whoever saw or monitored the election of Adamawa State knows that the election was marred with violence, rigging, over-voting and all manner of irregularities.

“The figures that were deposed was really, as far as I’m concerned, concocted figures.”

According to her, several of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices were bypassed, allowing for over-voting and intimidation of electoral staff in a number of locations.

“[For instance] if the BVAS accredited only 10 people, you’ll find out that over 30 people must have voted. That is part of irregularities,” she added.

In Ahmed’s view, the only way for the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) to “come out clean” was to declare that result inconclusive.

Citing the Electoral Act, she argued that INEC has the powers to review the results within seven days to determine whether any declaration was made under duress or where it failed to comply with the electoral laws and regulations.

Asked if she was fearful about returning to the state for a supplementary election, she answered in the negative.

“I’m never afraid, but all I’m asking is that let INEC please conduct a review on this said local governments so that it will bring out the real figures for all the candidates,” the APC candidate said.

“That is all I am asking, and as soon as that is done, we would be home and dry, and then we would be confident to go back to the field.”

On the possibility of becoming the first elected female governor, Ahmed said she feels great and happy.

“I’m not doing this for Binani; I’m not doing this for myself. I’m doing it for every girl child in this country. It’s for all the women in Nigeria,” she added.

(Vanguard)

The Presidency on Friday debunked the report that President Muhammadu Buhari said he will not hand over to the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The Presidency described the said report as fake, adding that all preparations are in top gear for the handover activities and that the committee in charge of the handover is made up of the representatives of the government and that of the President-elect.

It said already, President Buhari’s Daura community has started preparations to receive their son back after the successful administration of the country for two terms of eight years.

A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, stated: “The Presidency wishes to denounce as outrageous and fake, and condemns the fake news brigade for attributing a false quote to President Muhammadu Buhari and circulating it.

“How can you vigorously campaign for somebody, vote for him and then say you won’t hand over to him? This beggars belief.

“The situation of the Sahara Reporters is pretty pathetic since their ownership is politically partisan in today’s politics, in fact, a loser in the presidential election. Instead of talking about issues, they repeatedly sell lies in the hope that people believe them as truth.

“The government is already in a transition phase. The Transition Committee made up of representatives of the outgoing administration and the incoming one is meeting on an almost daily basis to plan the handover to the Tinubu/Shettima administration.

“Thirteen committees as offshoots of the main committee, some, to arrange military drills and pulling out of President Buhari, are either all at work or soon to be. So far, everything is going very well and there is no indication of any hitches.

“As for the President, the Daura community has begun their preparations to receive their son back after the successful administration of the country for two terms of eight years. He, for his part, is eager to return home to enjoy his retirement.”

(Vanguard)

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has granted an application by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi to serve the petition and other processes on the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

A three-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsamani on Friday granted the permission to allow the service on the Legal Adviser or any other officer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) national Secretariat at No 40 Blantyre Street off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja.

The application, which was filed by counsel for Obi, Audu Anuga (SAN), had informed the tribunal that they had earlier culled the addresses of Tinubu and the vice president-elect, Kashim Shettima from their EC9 forms, which deal with their personal particulars.

According to Obi, Tinubu gave his address as No 29 Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, while Shettima gave his address as 2 Kashim Shettima Close, off Alhaji Buka Kwaya Street, New GRA, Maiduguri, Borno State.

Obi had informed the tribunal that “following the declaration of the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Tinubu and Shettima) as the winners of the presidential election, it was reported/represented that the 2nd Respondent ‘relocated to the Defence Guest House in the Maitama District, Abuja from where he will function until he is sworn in as president on May 29, 2023. The 2nd Respondent as the vice-president elect has also relocated to Abuja.”

Obi had on March 20 filed a five-ground petition, challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election wherein Tinubu emerged winner.

(Daily Trust)

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has set aside the decision of the Osun State Governorship Tribunal and has upheld the election of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the governor of the state.

Following the governorship polls in the state, an Election Petition Tribunal had sacked Adeleke from office, saying that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate did not score majority of lawful votes during the July 16 governorship polls.

However, in a unanimous agreement by a three-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, the Court of Appeal quashed the tribunal’s judgement and gave its verdict to uphold Adeleke as rightful governor of Osun State.

The Appeal Court Panel revoked the tribunal’s order which directed that a Certificate of Return be withdrawn from Adeleke and issued to his predecessor and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

The panel held that the Osun State Tribunal was wrong to have said that there was over voting, a claim that only relied on the evidence by Oyetola and the APC, and as such, doesn’t prove their case in any way.

The judge faulted Oyetola and APC, that they only relied on the data from the back end server and failed to look at the voters register which forms the foundation of the whole electoral process and as such, cannot strengthen their allegations of over voting.

On the issue of jurisdiction, the court resolved in favour of Adeleke stating that section 285(8) of the constitution.as amended, the court has every right to entertain the appeal.

More details later…

(Channels TV)