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Governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Tuesday, presented a N148.9bn budget to the State House of Assembly for the 2023 fiscal year.
Sule stated that his administration would continue to focus on transparency, accountability, and the rule of law for the overall development of the state while presenting the budget titled ‘Budget of Economic Consolidation and Continuity’.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, has vowed to ‘recharge’ Lake Chad if elected president in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu disclosed this on Tuesday at at the inauguration of the first drilling of crude oil at the Kolmani Oil Field in Bauchi State.
Gunmen have kidnapped Nduka Anyanwu, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for the Ahiazu Mbaise constituency in next year’s election into the Imo State House of Assembly, The Sun reports.
Anyanwu was abducted on Tuesday morning, November 22, 2022 while on his way to finalise arrangements for his booth agents in Ahiazu.
Sources close to the party told the publication that some gunmen waylaid the APGA candidate on his way to see his booth agents.
“We call on security agents to track them. We call on the public who might have any useful information to inform any nearby police station. Just happened around 9.00am today, Tuesday, 22nd November 2022,” the source said.
According to the source, efforts are being made to secure his release.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately resume the continuous Voter Registration (CVR) until 90 days before the 2023 general elections.
The court gave the order while delivering judgment in a suit filed by one Anajat Salmat and three others against INEC.
The plaintiffs argued that INEC cannot stop the CVR contrary to the stipulated provisions of the constitution.
In a judgment delivered today November 22, the judge directed INEC to ensure that eligible Nigerians are not deprived of the opportunity to have the voter’s card for the forthcoming poll.
According to the judge, it was the constitutional responsibility of the electoral umpire to make adequate provision for the exercise in accordance with the Nigerian laws.
“The case of the plaintiffs succeeds on merit.” the judge ruled
The Supreme Court in Abuja has ordered a retrail of the dispute which ensued from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election in Ogun State.
Jimi Lawal, a governorship aspirant had filed a lawsuit challenging the emergence of Oladipupo Adebutu as the governorship candidate of the party.
He had asked the court to cancel the purported primary election of 25 May and also order that another one be conducted with the authentic ad-hoc delegates.
A federal high court had on 29 July, declined to hear Mr Lawal’s case on its merit. The court insisted that PDP’s primary election was a domestic affair.
Mr Lawal approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja with a prayer that the decision of the High Court be nullified, citing miscarriage of justice.
A three-man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal in their judgment delivered on 30 September agreed with Jimi Lawal, set aside judgment of the high court and ordered that the suit be heard on its merit. After the PDP approached the supreme court to uphold the federal high court’s judgement, the apex court agreed with the Court of Appeal in Abuja that the High Court has jurisdiction under section 285 of the 1999 Constitution and section 84 [14) of the Electoral Act 2022 to hear the suit on its merit.
It also ordered that the case be remitted to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja for determination by another judge other than Taiwo Taiwo who declined to entertain the case.
APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said that he doesn’t use social media anymore because users “abuse the hell” of out him.
Tinubu said his children and workers send posts about him on social media once in a while and when he’s had enough, he tells them to stop.
In his words;
”I don’t read social media anymore, they abuse hell out of me. If I read it, I get high blood pressure, I get angry. I don’t read it.
If I want to hear anything, my children or any of my workers will tell me this one said this. If I am tired I say please forget it.”
Former militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) have vowed to stop presidential campaigns of any political party in the Niger Delta region over their unpaid stipends.
The former militants who staged a protest at the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists in Yenagoa over the de-listing of 2,952 beneficiaries and refusal of the amnesty office to pay them the monthly stipends of N65,000 monthly, threatened to lead a protest to occupy PAP office in Abuja and tactical distruption of presidential campaigns of political parties within the nine states in the Niger Delta region.
Daily Trust reported that the former Militants said the refusal of the amnesty office to return the affected 2,952 beneficiaries to the payroll and immediately pay them their stipends will create tension in the region.
National Chairman of phase two beneficiaries of the amnesty programme, Aso Tambo, also gave the amnesty office one week ultimatum to commence immediate payment of those delisted from the payroll of the programme.
Tambo added that despite the achievements recorded by the Interim Administrator, Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.) in the area of security commitment from the head of service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the area of employment for beneficiaries, the refusal to pay the 2,952 beneficiaries will provoke tension and destroy the existing fragile peace in the region.
He said;
“We have all met and adopted our strategy against the refusal of the amnesty office to pay 2,952 beneficiaries.
We want them to pay those affected within one week or else we will mobilise and occupy the presidential amnesty office in a strategic manner.
If it is not still paid, we will not allow a peaceful conduct of presidential campaigns within the nine states of the Niger Delta region.
“If they feel we are dogs that bark and can not bite, they should dare us and see the consequence. They should consider the monthly stipends important and know that such payment will lead to an unimaginable crises of not paid immediately.”
The All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, has said those criticizing him for choosing Kashim Shettima as his running mate are doing so because they wanted that position but he denied them the opportunity.
Tinubu said some of those criticizing his choice of Shettima as running mate were his close friends whom he turned down.
He disclosed this during an interactive session with the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Abuja, led by Archbishop Daniel Ukoh.
Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and close ally of Tinubu, had condemned the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket.
He described it as “a disastrous error.” Also, an erstwhile Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, urged Christians to vote against the APC following Tinubu’s decision to settle for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Speaking during the session, Tinubu said:
“People have reacted harshly to my selection. They are my friends, they lobbied me and wanted to be my running mate but I bluntly rejected them.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Imo State has said that over 300,000 permanent voter cards (PVCs) are yet to be uncollected in the 27 local governments of the state.
INEC’s spokesperson in the state, Dr. Chinenye Chijioke-Osuji who confirmed this, urged residents of the state to pick their PVCs in other to participate in 2023 general election.
She also appealed to the citizens to take advantage of the ongoing display of the preliminary register of voters to cross-check the register and put in their claims and objections where necessary.
The INEC spokesperson added that this would enable INEC come up with a clean register for the elections.
The statement added;
“INEC in Imo State craves the indulgence of the citizens, please, as this is a civic responsibility we owe ourselves.”
Gospel singer, Frank Edwards has fired back at a Troll who attacked him for tweeting about politics.
Frank has been very vocal about Nigerians participating in the 2023 elections.
A Twitter user felt politics is not Frank’s ”calling” and took to his comment section to berate the gospel singer who wasted no time to respond.
Following his arraignment over alleged misappropriation of N2.4m belonging to the state assembly, Ondo State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr Bamidele Oloyeloogun, has told the state High Court, sitting in Akure, the state capital, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission cannot prosecute him for alleged corrupt practices.
Oloyeloogun is facing trial alongside another lawmaker, Mr Bankole Felemu-Gudu, and a staffer of the Assembly, Mr Olusegun Kayode.
The speaker is accused of signing off the money for a seminar which the lawmaker and the civil servant were supposed to attend but allegedly did not.
Kicking against his prosecution, Oloyeloogun’s lawyer, Mr Femi Emodamori told the court that his client can’t be tried for fraud by the EFCC as the state already had its own Public Complaint Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption Commission Law passed into law and signed by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu in January this year.
Emodamori noted that the charge against his clients was that they committed financial crimes involving the finances and assets of the state, and since the state had its own version of the law, the EFCC should leave the prosecution of the case.
Counsel for the EFCC, Mr Fredrick Dibang, objected to this, saying the court had jurisdiction because the law enacted by the state assembly was contrary to the acts of the National Assembly that established the EFCC.
Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye fixed the hearing for the objection and counter-objection to November 25, 2022, after listening to the arguments.
National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke has lashed out at the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, over his alleged authorization of the part-payment of salaries to members of the union, following the suspension of its eight-month strike in October.
Osodeke who spoke in a Channels Television program on Tuesday, November 15, said Ngige lost his right as a conciliator after taking the case to the Industrial Court.
He further described the Minister as an “interloper” who wrote to the Minister of Finance personally, asking them to stop payment of salaries to lecturers who were on strike.
The ASUU President said;
“He (Ngige) has gone to court, which means he has lost his right as a conciliator. Once he has taken this case to the Industrial Court, he has lost that right as a conciliator; he has no say again, but he’s still interloping.
“He has nothing. He’s an interloper. If we’re calling him a conciliator, it has gone beyond him.
“And we have found that it was he who actually wrote to the Minister of Finance personally, not directed, that they should stop our salary. It’s just personal. We are surprised because, having taken the case to court, by all rights, he has hands are tied. He has no business with what we do.”
While onfirming that the part payment was the first salary paid to union members since the strike was called off, Osodeke also expressed confidence that the agitations of the union would be resolved in the interest of students, parents, and the country.
The ASUU President added;
“But to our surprise, the Accountant General Office decided to pay what some people have referred to as half. It’s very sad because professors who are on the same salary scale got varying amounts, N200,000, N180,000, N90,000 and what have you.
“The question we need to ask ourselves is, can a Minister of Labour direct the Minister of Finance on what to do? The answer is no. We are under the Ministry of Education, and we thought that anybody that can give such a directive who monitors what we do through the NUC is the Minister of Education.
“It is the Minister of Education, who we are under, and the Speaker on whose intervention we called off the strike because of the issue we said that, one, they are going to pay us backlog of our salaries because ASUU is different from another union.”
Media personality, Frank Edoho has reacted to the criticism Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi has faced from some South-East politicians.
In the tweet he shared, Frank stated that Igbo politicians will never stop baffling him.
He further averred that instead of supporting their kinsman who has been presented a rare opportunity to become President of the country like Yoruba and Hausa people do with their candidates, Igbo are looking for ways to disrupt and thwart him.
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has claimed that Nigeria is better than many countries including developed ones under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking at the flag-off of the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign at Rwang Pam township stadium in Jos, the capital city of Plateau, on Tuesday, November 15, Yahaya Bello stated that President Buhari has done so well with the economy and infrastructure.
He said;
“You have done so well in terms of infrastructure and our economy. You inherited it when there were recessions and challenges across the world.
“Today in Nigeria, we are better than so many countries, including developed ones. It is under this wonderful APC, that you gave women, people and youth living with disabilities a chance to have a voice and belong.
“Your Excellency, you have done it from 2015 to 2019, from 2019 till date – you are going to handover Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu so he can continue to replicate what he did in Lagos and what Alhaji Shettima did in Borno state across this country.”
Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike, has signed Executive Order RVSG – 22 prohibiting the use of premises, buildings, and structures in residential areas in urban and non-urban areas as campaign offices by political parties.
According to a press statement issued by the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Alagbo Chris Finebone, today November 15, the Executive Order also prohibits the posting of bills or posters, or any other material in unauthorized places.
The statement said Governor Wike while signing the Order condemned the incessant defacement of expensive public properties particularly in Port Harcourt through posting of handbills, banners, posters and all sorts of unauthorized materials.
The Executive Order 22 also prescribes that “any political party or association or body of persons however called or described that wishes to use any premises, building or structure situate in a residential area in any urban area of Rivers State as campaign office must obtain permission from the Rivers State Commissioner for Urban and Physical Planning.”
The Commissioner added that Executive Order RVSG – 22 came into effect on Friday. A legal instrument that forces political parties to fulfill certain conditions before embarking on campaign in various parts of the state.
The Governor had earlier prohibited political parties from using public schools for political campaigns without the approval of the state Ministry of Education, saying the ministry must be notified at least two weeks before the date of any campaign in a school.
“Applicants will also deposit the sum of five million caution fees in case attendees destroy the facilities in the schools.” he said
He stated that a local council chairman has the right to stop any rally if approval is not sought.
The governor warned that the state government will not allow political parties and their supporters to disturb the peace in the state, as the campaigns begin.
Ekiti State House of Assembly has elected a new Speaker.
The new Speaker, Rt Hon Gboyega Aribisogan, who represents Ikole constituency, was elected at plenary on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Aribisogan, from Ijesha-Isu in Ikole Local Government Area, was sworn in by the clerk of the House, Mr. Tola Esan.
Aribisogan replaced the late Rt Hon Funminyi Afuye, who died in October 2022 after a brief illness.
The late Afuye was aged 66 when he died.
Gunmen have killed the wife of a former Chairman of Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Council in Nasarawa State, Hon. Akolo Ahmed Success.
It was gathered that Mrs Astira Akolo Success was on her way to Assakio market when she was shot dead by the gunmen suspected to be armed robbers.
The incident occurred at about 9 am on Monday, November 14, 2022, along Lafia-Shendam road in Nasarawa State.
According to reports, the deceased was sitting at the passenger’s side of the car when gunmen opened fire on the vehicle, apparently targeting the driver when a stray bullet hit her.
Until her death, Mrs Astira was a businesswoman with two children.
Meanwhile, her body has been deposited at a mortuary.
A Federal High Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has nullified the All Progressives Congress governorship primary conducted on May 26, 2022.
The judge, Agatha Okeke, ordered the APC to conduct a fresh governorship primary within 14 days.
The case was instituted by a former senator, Ita Enang, who claimed that he was the validly elected candidate of the APC in Akwa Ibom.
Delivering judgment on Monday, Nov. 14, Justice Okeke agreed with Mr Enang’s argument and ruled that the governorship candidate of the party, Akanimo Udofia, was not a member of the APC, having not participated in all the stages of the process of electing a governorship candidate of the party.
Justice Agatha Okeke also disqualified Udofia from participating in the primary. The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission not to recognise Udofia nor accept him as a candidate according to section 77 sub-section 3 of the Electoral Act.
Mr Udofia was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and had bought the PDP nomination forms to contest the party governorship primary in Akwa Ibom before he defected to the APC.
Former US Vice President, Mike Pence said former President Donald Trump’s words on social media during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol were “reckless” criticizing Trump for being “part of the problem” that day.
Pence was fiercely loyal in public through the constant controversies that defined the Trump administration, but in the wake of the January 6 riot during which Trump supporters chanted to hang Pence, and he has occasionally criticized his former boss, most notably in February, when he publicly denounced Trump’s election ‘lies.
Trump said Pence in his capacity as vice president, had the authority to unilaterally reject Electoral College votes.
But Pence said he had no right to overturn the election and despite being threatened by the Trump supporters who mobbed the capitol building still certified the eltion results alongside the House of Representatives.
Pence was asked on ABC News about Trump’s tweet during the attack that said Pence didn’t have the “courage” to unilaterally overturn the results.
“It angered me,” Pence told ABC’s David Muir after a long pause. “But I turned to my daughter, who was standing nearby. And I said, ‘It doesn’t take courage to break the law, it takes courage to uphold the law.’
The president’s words were reckless. It was clear he decided to be part of the problem,” the former vice president continued in one of his strongest rebukes of his former boss to date.
Trump, for his part, has said Pence “very greatly disappointed me” on the day the electoral votes were certified.
The former vice president has been coy about his plans for 2024. He has long been viewed as a potential aspirant for the Republican presidential nomination, but has not formally declared a bid and would almost certainly face strong opposition from Trump, whose supporters he would need in a primary fight.
Trump is set to announce his 2024 campaign on Tuesday November 15, former adviser Jason Miller said in a podcast appearance.
The three suspects who were arrested in connection with the abduction of a former military administrator’s wife, Mrs Jumoke Bamigboye, also hacked a boy to death and kidnapped two members of his family in Kwara State.
Recall that the suspects, Babangida Ibrahim, 18; Abubakar Ibrahim, 19; and Sulaiman Kire, 20, were arrested alongside a female suspect.
Spokesperson of the Kwara State Police Command, SP Ajayi Okasanmi, said the father of the deceased, Madaki Saidu, was in his residence with his family members when some armed men stormed his house and hacked his son, Musa to death.
“Then they kidnapped the father and one of his granddaughters named Cumattu,” the PPRO noted. He added that the suspects would soon be charged in court.