Month: October 2023

The Federal Government has declared Monday as Public Holiday to mark the 2019 Eid-ul-Mawlud in commemoration of the birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

Mr Mohammed Manga, Director Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Interior, announced this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, congratulated the Muslim faithful on the occasion and enjoined them to live within the virtues and teachings of the Prophet.

He said imbibing the Prophet’s virtues of love, courage and perseverance would guarantee peace and security in the country.

Aregbesola expressed confidence that the challenges confronting Nigeria at the moment would soon be over; and therefore called on Nigerians to remain focused and determined.

He gave the assurance that with the immense potentials the country is endowed with; coupled with its human and natural resources, Nigeria will sooner than later join the league of developed nations.

“With love, commitment, self-sacrifice, patience and patriotism, we will certainly, build a greater Nigeria,” Aregbesola said.

The Minister restated Government’s desire to ensure a peaceful and secure environment for all Nigerians.

NAN

Benin, Nov. 7, 2019 (FLPOWERBUDNEWS) Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has advised members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) deployed to the state to see their posting to the state as a design of Almighty God  and urged them to it seriously.

Obaseki, who was represented by Mr Damian Lawani, the state Commissioner for Youths, gave the advice on Thursday at the swearing-in ceremony of the 2019 “Batch C” stream I corps members  at their orientation camp at Okada, Ovia North East Local Government area of the state.

“The orientation course will certainly prepare you for the onerous challenges ahead of you. So, I urged you to take it seriously and prepare to make sacrifice that national service demands from you.

“This scheme has contributed immensely to the development of rural areas through various community development projects embarked on by your predecessors.

“I expect you to reciprocate these gestures by joining hands with state government in the developmental strides that is on course.

“I want you all to be actively involved in the fight against human trafficking, economic crimes, drugs trafficking and other social vices.

“I urged you to take seriously the different entrepreneurship training, series of lectures, physical exercises and social activities organised by the scheme. I charge you to take these activities seriously in order to equip yourselves.

“I also urged you to use this opportunity to make new friends, have a better understanding of Nigeria and the state, and devote time for self reflection on your plans for the future,” he said.

Earlier, the State Coordinator of NYSC, Mr Adebayo Ojo, while presenting the 1,835  duly registered corps members, said that the corps members would go through physical training, drills and skill acquisition and entrepreneurship training.

Ojo said that the training and other activities were meant to toughen the corps members physically and empower them mentally in preparation for the arduous, but rewarding task of nation building. (NAN)

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) The Appeal Court sitting in Owerri on Thursday affirmed the election of Sen. Orji Kalu, representing Abia North Senatorial District.

In a unanimous decision, the appellate court held that the lower tribunal, which upturned Kalu’s  election, erred on several counts.

Delivering the judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice R. A. Adah, said that the grounds upon which the lower tribunal predicated its verdict were not tenable in law.

He said that the lower tribunal granting the petitioner’s reliefs, which he did not ask for, was unacceptable in law.

Addressing newsmen at the end of the judgment, Counsel for Kalu, Mr Perfect Okorie, said that “the relief the petitioner, Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, asked for was for the nullification of the election in Bende and Isiukwuato.”

Okorie said that the lower tribunal, while embarking on its own expedition, “granted strange reliefs and nullified elections in some polling units in Ohafia and Arochukwu.”

The appellate court further said that Ohuabunwa literally dumped his avalanche of documents on the lower tribunal without calling witnesses to tie the document to his case.

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It said that the lower tribunal erred by allowing the dumping of documents on the tribunal.

It maintained that in law, the petitioner must establish proof by bringing witnesses, who would tie the documents to the substance of the case.

Meanwhile, Mr Maduka Okoro, the Media Aide to Kalu, who is the Senate Chief Whip, has described the judgment of the Appeal Court as “victory for democracy and the people of Abia in general.”

Okoro told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia that the judgment was greeted by wide celebration in all parts of Abia, where Kalu was governor from 1999 to 2007.

He said: “the verdict sparked off jubilation in Igbere, Kalu’s community in Bende Local Government Area, the entire Abia north, including Mao’s Arochukwu and Abia generally.

“It is instructive to note that as former governor, Kalu made positive impact in the lives of the people and every community in Abia.” (NAN)

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) The First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has challenged parents to take charge of their families by ensuring good moral upbringing of children so as to minimise crime in the society.

Mrs Buhari gave the counsel on Monday when she hosted a special prayer session for the nation at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The prayer session had the theme: ”The importance of supplication for the nation’s guidance”.

The First Lady said that the lack of moral upbringing of children and the total collapse of family values was largely responsible for the social crises facing Nigeria.

”Today, many of the nation’s woes are usually attributed to collapse of family values which are primarily in the custody of parents because they are responsible for love, care and mutual respect.

“A family that is loved, cared for, and provided for stands a better chance of transferring these attributes horizontally across the society and vertically to the next generation to avoid cases like corruption, drug abuse, internet theft, kidnapping, robbery, among others.

“I, therefore, call on the heads of families to wake up to their responsibilities by providing enabling environment for our children to tackle the multitude of societal ills that are manifesting on daily basis,” she said.

She expressed the need for Nigerians to always seek for divine intervention in the affairs of their country.

“It is important that at regular intervals, we, as a nation, should remember our purpose in life, which is to worship our creator and open our communication with God Almighty.

“We need to do much better in terms of the welfare of our family, especially as government is increasingly providing outlets, enabling environment and platforms that can be tapped into.

“The economy of the nation is being diversified into agriculture and other non-oil sectors; there are various welfare programmes and loan schemes that can be accessed by citizens to improve their lives,” she said.

The First Lady urged the participants to emulate the teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in promoting peace, tolerance, love and harmony among people of different faiths in the country.

She stressed the need for Nigerians to always seek God’s intervention to address some of the socio-economic and security challenges facing the country.

The prayer session was attended by renowned Islamic scholars.

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Monday reserved judgment in the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate Great Ogboru against the election of Ifeanyi Okowa as Governor of Delta.

A five-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Uzo Ndukwe-Anyanwu, reserved judgment to a date that would be communicated to parties shortly after all counsel adopted and argued their brief of argument in the appeal.

Respondents in the appeal are Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Ogboru and his party, APC are seeking to upturn the decision of the Delta State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which returned Okowa for a second term as governor of Delta State.

INEC had declared Okowa and PDP winner of the March 9 governorship election in Delta State, haven garnered majority of the lawful votes cast in the election.

But the appellants in a 37 grounds of appeal filed by their counsel, Nicholson Ichekor, asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the entire judgment of the tribunal on the grounds that the tribunal erred in law when it dismissed their appeal for lacking in merit.

The three man panel of the governorship election panel led by Justice Suleiman Belgore, had in September dismissed Ogboru and APC’s petition against the return of Governor Okowa on grounds that the petitioners failed to prove the cases of irregularities and malpractices claimed in their petition.

However in the appeal against the the decision of the tribunal, Ogboru and APC argued that the lower court erred in law when it relied on the issue of over voting instead of allocation of votes as canvassed in their petition to dismiss their petition.

The appellants in urging the court to nullify okowa’s election claimed that in some polling units, the total number of votes cast at the election exceeded the total number of voters who were accredited to vote, adding that there was non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in relation to accreditation of voters.

However, in response to the appeal, Okowa and the PDP urged the Court of Appeal to dismiss Ogboru and APC’s appeal for being incompetent and unmeritorious.

In their brief of argument by Mr Damien Dodo ,SAN and Mr Akinlolu Kehinde , SAN for Okowa and PDP respectively, the respondents submitted that the appellants failed to prove their allegations of over voting and non compliance with the Electoral Act.

The respondents claimed that they have led cogent, credible and reliable evidence to show that they won the governorship election held on March 9 in Delta.

They submitted that the appellants on the other hand failed to prove how their claims of over voting and non compliance substantially affected the results of the election.

In adopting his brief of arguments, PDP’s lawyer, Kehinde SAN, faulted the claim of the appellants which they said was based on the smart card reader report.

“Regardless of the fact that the total number of accredited voters recorded on the smart card reader report is less than the total number of votes cast on the election day, the appellants have failed to prove their allegations of over-voting.

“The reliance of the appellants on the smart card reader report is fatal to their case and this Honourable Court is humbly urged to so hold and resolve this issue in favour of the 2nd respondent” Kehinde submitted.

In addition, the senior lawyer argued that appellants’ case at the tribunal was one of over-voting and noncompliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act on accreditation.

PDP further claimed that appellants failed to prove their allegations of over-voting and noncompliance with the Electoral Act polling unit by polling unit.

“The appellants failed to prove that the allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act substantially affected the result of the election”.

In an attempt to prove their case, the appellants called a total of twenty (20) witnesses and tendered a total of 4, 523 documents in evidence during the trial.

In defence of the petition, the 1st respondent called seven witnesses and tendered 94 Exhibits, while the 2nd respondent called three witnesses and tendered six Exhibits.

The 3rd respondent did not call any witness, but tendered two Exhibits.

But the tribunal in a unanimous judgment, dismissed the petition for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

According to the panel, the petitioners failed to prove any of the grounds upon which the petition was brought against Governor Okowa.