A Nigerian newspaper and Online version of the Vanguard, a daily publication in Nigeria covering Niger delta, general national news, politics, business, energy, sports, entertainment, fashion,lifestyle human interest stories, etc
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho feels there is little chance Lionel Messi will become available in the transfer market and hopes the Argentina international will remain at Barcelona until the end of his career.
Recent reports from Spain suggested Messi is hesitant to renew his contract at Camp Nou – with his current deal due to expire in 2018 – fuelling speculation he could leave Barca.
Manchester City are believed to be keeping a close eye on the 29-year-old's situation, while United could also join the race for his signature, but Mourinho thinks it is unlikely Messi will ever play in the Premier League.
"It is the same story with Messi every season. The papers always claim he is leaving, but it never happens in the end," Mourinho said at a news conference on Wednesday.
"Honestly, I hope he never leaves because he belongs to Barcelona and Barcelona belong to him.
"The natural thing and beautiful thing would be for him to stay and finish his career at Barcelona.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is considering backing a proposal to expand the World Cup to 48 teams.
Infantino, who was elected as Sepp Blatter's successor in February, originally promised to expand the tournament to 40 teams during his campaign for the FIFA presidency.
However, that eight-team expansion would produce a complicated draw and some have now called for a mathematically simpler 48-team tournament.
In the new proposed 48-team format, 32 unseeded teams would be paired off to contest a single play-off match with the winners then advancing to face 16 seeded nations in the tournament proper.
Fifa President, Gianni Infantino
However, this format has also been slated as 16 nations would be eliminated from the World Cup having played just one match at the tournament.
In the new proposed 48-team format, 32 unseeded teams would be paired off to contest a single play-off match with the winners then advancing to face 16 seeded nations in the tournament proper.
However, this format has also been slated as 16 nations would be eliminated from the World Cup having played just one match at the tournament.
Despite that criticism, Infantino admits he is leaning towards the 48-team expansion as he believes it would promote the sport in a greater number of countries.
"I like 48 because it gives a particular flavour, but I'm still really torn," he said at a meeting in Paris on Wednesday.
"Everyone wants an expansion, some favour 40 teams, others 48. Everyone sees that the increase of the participation for the World Cup is really a tool to promote football in more countries."
Infantino hopes to have video technology available to referees by the start of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Rivers State Governor , Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has declared that the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) has handed over original copies of result sheets to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi for the planned rigging of the December 10 rerun elections.
He said, Governor Wike noted that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja during a meeting of Rivers APC leaders.
The governor said that he is in possession of the proceedings of the Abuja illegal meeting of the APC at Abuja .
Governor Wike stated that Amaechi assured the Rivers APC leaders at the Abuja illegal meeting that the original result sheets supplied by INEC would be used for the December 10 rerun elections to facilitate victory for unpopular APC candidates .
He said : “While we are working for the people of Rivers State to convince them to vote for us, the APC is busy working with INEC to rig the rerun elections .
“Amaechi told them at the illegal meeting that Sheriff is working for them (APC ) and that they have finished PDP . Sheriff cannot finish PDP , he can only finish himself .
“On December 10, follow your results bumper to bumper. Don’t allow anyone to swap results . I urge the Etche people to follow their results”.
The governor informed that the Rivers APC members who were arrested printing fake result sheets for INEC were transferred to Zone 6 Police Command headquarters in Calabar where arrangements have been concluded to take them to Abuja for the Director of Public Prosecution at the Federal Ministry of Justice to formally release them in line with the request of APC .
He assured the people of Etche Local Government Area that he will stand with them to resist the rigging of the December 10 rerun elections in the state .
Governor Wike declared : “Tell them, INEC you cannot rig election in Etche . Tell INEC , you cannot support another party to rig the election. ”
He added that APC has concluded plans with the Federal Security agencies to arrest the chairman of Etche Local Government Area , Ikwerre Local Government Area and other leaders of the party to create room for the rigging of the rerun elections .
On the construction of Ulakwo II-Afara-Nihi Road , the governor said it will be completed as scheduled and in line with approved specifications .
He said that the Etche people were abandoned for several years , pointing out that his administration would always execute developmental projects in the area.
Earlier, the State Commissioner of Works, Mr Bathuel Iheanyichukwu said that construction of the road will help in the rebuilding of the economy of the area.
The flag-off of the construction Ulakwo II-Afara -Nihi road was witnessed by elder statesmen , State and National Assembly members , Commissioners , women and youth groups .
FOLLOWING high number of women dying due to various illnesses as a result ignorance, poverty, neglect and other societal challenges in the country, particularly among the poor, a civil society organisation, Voice of the Less Privileged Organisation, VOLPO, has advocated the legislation that would cater for women's health.
This was stated by the Founder, VOLPO, Bar. Ego-Queen Ezuma, who said women's health, should be paramount to all tiers of government as they remain the engine-room of growth, development and peace in the country.
Ezuma who has been in the vanguard of the fight for better health for women said VOLPO has ensured that the rights of women are protected and exercised at any given time as it concerns their health.
She said: "The Voice for the Less Privileged Organisation, VOLPO, has been doing well in accordance with its mission, motive and mandate, and it is a self-sponsored organisation, and I founded it in 2006 with passion to add value to lives of the neglected and frustrated we have been doing what we can to turn around lives.
"We have been on sensitisation, teaching women about their health because health is wealth to every human being particularly the women. That has been a continued exercise and as long as a woman is alive the nation is alive.
"Many women in the country are ignorant about what transpires in their health because they thought that eating alone is important in life but it is more than that. We emphasise on physical exercise for different ages.
"Now, the rate of diabetes related death is higher than HIV/AIDS in this country and it is more among the women. For instance a disease like cancer is high among women but it can be detected early to tackle it and that makes her safe.
"It is unfortunate that virtually everything in the country is politicised including the health of the people. We have seen several wives of state governors who have initiated various pet projects and programmes for women's health but at the end of the day it becomes a white elephant project, while others who succeed them jettison those programmes.
"I will like our women who are in the National Assembly as elected lawmakers to look into the health of women and enact laws that will protect the lives of women. Politicians should be concerned and considerate about women's health so they can live longer to continue to vote for them and not just the peanut they give them in form of rice, sugar, seasoning, wrappers and others.
"Government should take the health of women seriously and it is very simple to make women understand how to live and many lives will be saved. It should start in their dieting and meal preparation recipes."
She also urged government to collaborate with civil society organisations that are relevant and reliable to sensitise and create awareness among women about their health.
The minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi has blasted Rivers state Governor, Wike, for linking him with the recently discovered illegal INEC result sheets printing press in the state.
Amechi who, through a statement by his Media Office, Wednesday, reacted to a video of Governor Wike where the Governor accused INEC of giving original result sheets to him.
Amaechi said, Wike is rather afraid of losing the re-run poll in the state hence, his resort to lies.
Former governor of Rivers State and Ministerial nominee Rotimi Amaechi
"This new wild, baseless allegations by Governor Wike is a cheap ploy by a failing garrulous talkative to intimidate and harass INEC into doing his bidding and wipe up public sentiment against APC, its candidates for the elections and the President Buhari administration ahead of the December10 re-run elections in Rivers state."
"We know his game. This is an old worn-out trick that will certainly fail."
"Wike is scared, profoundly afraid, this is why he is telling these spurious lies. He knows he will lose at the polls if the election is free and fair."
"Amaechi has no business with any result sheets for the coming elections and has nothing to do with Sheriff or the self-imposed woes and travails of PDP. Honestly, Wike is a pathetic fellow who needs help, psychiatric help."
Rivers State Governor , Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has declared that the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) has handed over original copies of result sheets to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi for the planned rigging of the December 10 rerun elections.
The Managing Director of UAC foods Ltd, Mr. Chidi Okoro, has tasked Mbaise Community in Imo state to consider setting up a world class entrepreneurship academy, like Skills Acquisition Center, a Film Academy as the biggest stars in Nollywood in Nigeria are from Mbaise, adding that if Mbaise Community can consider that, it can change the community for good.
The UAC boss while speaking on the theme: Entrepreneurship, during the 2016 Annual Get-Together of Mbaise People's Congress, (MPC), at Colonades Hotel, Ikoyi Lagos, challenged Mbaise people to make judicious use of its population which he said is over one million to harness the potentials of the youths.
Managing Director of UAC foods Ltd, Mr. Chidi Okoro
He tasked the community to Partner with both public and private institutions, stating that they should consider setting up entrepreneurship in a technical area, adding that most of the guys doing plumbing jobs in the state are not even from Imo state as most of them are riding bikes.
''There is nothing wrong with transportation but consider setting up a world class Entrepreneurship Academy focusing on technical skills. Nigerians need about 3 million plumbers, but we don't have them because no one is training them. If we can set up that in Mbaise, it can change the community for good. Biggest stars in Nollywood are from Mbaise, what is stopping you from setting up a film academy?''.
According to him, there are too numerous areas to leverage on, adding that there are more hotels in Owerri than anywhere in the country but no one is training anybody in Hospitality Industry, noting that Entrepreneurship is seeing g an opportunity and going through the pain and risk to tap the opportunity.
Okoro said referring to Mbaise youths as unemployed, underemployed or underprivileged is derogatory, negative and it kills the creativity of the youth.
''The moment you start looking at them as unemployed and underprivileged, they become beggars and you give them handouts. 96 percent of Imo people are literates and Mbaise constitutes 97 percent of that literate population.
''One of the biggest problem we have is blaming finance for not succeeding in entrepreneurship, in fact, we blame everything but ourselves. We need to get prepared for the challenge of entrepreneurship. 93 percent of our ventures fail globally. People living in Mbaise are well positioned to thrive with proximity to major cities. You are close to Owerri, you have Airport around you. You have a large number of Diaspora inhabitants who remain very close to home, your people are very patriotic and still think home, leverage on that''.
Chairman of the Occasion, General Manager, Financial Control and Strategic Planning, Zenith Bank Plc, Sir Stanley Amuchie said MPC wants to use the platform to discuss how to come out of the difficult situation we are in as a country through entrepreneurship.
''There are lots of opportunities that we can tap from to get ourselves out of the situation that we are in now. With proper guidance, we can make it. Let's discuss and know how we can access the Central Bank opportunities through Bank of Industry on Small and Medium Enterprises''
Lending his voice to the topic, Lawmaker representing Ahiazu /Ezinihitte Mbaise Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Raphael Nnanna Igbokwe urged Ndi Mbaise to think outside the box through entrepreneurship, stating that it is one of the solutions to the recession the country has found itself in.
Igbokwe said Mbaise people are naturally known to be industrious and therefore, should look inwards and be more creative, noting that this is where MPC comes in.
''I want to commend members of MPC for this vision of annually getting their sons and daughters together to exchange ideas, that help to develop us as a people and also develop as a society. It creates room for people to have better networking. I know what I have benefited coming here today. I have gotten one or two information which I believe will help people back home. With this, we will see how we can come in, in the development of projects back home, so that they will be more visible in the minds of the people'', he stated.
The President General, Ezuruezu Mbaise, Barrister Cyril Anyanwu, who handled the breaking of kolanut said Ezuruezu have been supported by all the affiliate organizations, and regrettably announced the passing away of some Trustee members of the organization whom he mentioned as Sir Bon Nwakanma and Ferdinand Ukaoha.
He said the association is set to honour late Chrisaugunus Ezewuiro Obinna (Dr. Sir Warrior) and Dr. James Umunna who is an American trained medical Doctor, but resident in Mbaise.
He however, tasked Mbaise people on the completion of Mbaise Civic Center, which when completed will remain a legacy of Mbaise nation.
In his welcome address, Chairman Mbaise People's Congress, Ochiagha Anogwi Anyanwu, welcomed the audience as he applauded them for turning up in their numbers, without minding the state of the economy. He stated that their presence is an indication of the people's readiness to embrace entrepreneurship which MPC is championing.
Anyanwu stated that the annual get together was introduced in 2010, to create an opportunity to create an opportunity for Mbaise professional in Lagos and environs to interact and network, as it is also provides an intellectual feast from the excerpts of the speech presented by a carefully selected guest speaker, as can be testified from Chidi Okoro's presentation on Entrepreneurship.
He said the MPC in 2014 introduced the distinguished Achievement Award for deserving Mbaise Sons and Daughters who have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields of endeavor, listing those who have received the Award so far as: Coach Eucharia Uche, Mr. Kelechi Nwaosu, Mr. Emeka Opara, Sir. Stanley Amuchie, Mrs. Carol Anyanwu, Mr. Frank Nneji, Mr. Ken Opara, Chief Felix Chukwu and Professor (Mrs) Carol Opara.
MPC a Non-Governmental Organization found in 1994 by a group of Mbaise young graduates and professionals has been in the forefront for the Mbaise Awareness Programme. It has in the past years organized the Mbaise annual colloquium that precedes iri Ji Mbaise every August 14, it organizes training for teachers in Mbaise Primary and Secondary School and the Okada back to school programme.
Jimoh Ibrahim has reacted to the verdict of the Appeal court on Wednesday in Abuja, saying that he remains the Peoples Democratic Party Candidate for Saturday’s election.
Jimoh Ibrahim who described the ruling as ”one day ruling” , insisted, that he remains the PDP candidate until the Supreme Court, which will sit Friday rules otherwise.Jimoh Ibrahim
"I have read the decision of the Court of Appeal delivered today but we have nothing to lose as the Supreme Court sits on same case Friday," an unruffled Ibrahim said.
"We shall get justice at the Supreme Court and if PDP wins Saturday's election, we shall have our four-year mandate to rule Ondo State.
"Let me advise the good people of Ondo State and my supporters nationwide not to abuse anyone or fight over this one day ruling which was paid for… Mimiko will not succeed himself with Jegede. This is too sure as we continue with our work and remain in our great part, PDP. I love the great people of Ondo State and I thank you all for continuous support."
By Mohammed Adamu AS I was on that jaggedly potholed Abuja-Minna road last Sunday driving home and musing over what subject next to write on, I received a text message from a fellow Nigerlite and erstwhile Newsline colleague of mine, Khadijah Umar Mashegu. And although we hadn't seen or spoken to each other in a long time, it appeared my sister was still her usual 'cut-the-crap-and-get-straight-to-the-point kind of communicator' I had always known her to be: "Salam" she said, "Do you have any thoughts on what can help Niger State move forward?" Hhhmmm! Who would not heave a sigh? By the way, aside the media matters, Khadija I understand is now involved in development issues, especially at the grassroots.
And for a moment my ordeal with potholes -some, the sizes of craters and mini gorges- almost got me into soliloquized road-rage as I said aloud to myself 'what else do you need to move Niger State forward Khadijah than fix this tragedy of a road that is the gateway to the so called 'Power State'?' Yes, I was virtually taking it personal. In truth there is more to moving Niger State forward than merely fixing her potholed gateway road to Minna. Maybe we should even start by fixing this terribly masochismic mentality of Nigerlites –who are always ready to take the short end of the stick from our selfish politicians. We have continued, it seems, to be left more abjectly poor with every passing government.
Former Governor Abdulkadir Kure and his immediate successor Babangida Aliyu both had humongous amounts of State funds at their disposal, but they were either bereft of the ideas to move the State forward or their severely itchy fingers simply would not let them. Even when we thought that no government could ever be as bad as Kure's, Babangida Aliyu still came to angelise Kure by taking governance to the lowliest low. And now our current APC government, like a happy-go-lucky moth-butterfly, borne cheaply on the wings of populist Buharism, is presently caught in the wax and flux either of paucity of funds or of ideas; or of both.
One term only governor
•Gov.Abubakar Sani Bello
In fact, it is unfortunate that already a three-word sobriquet 'One Term Only' is now snidely hauled at the new Government by impatient youths who see it as the proverbial 'kyanwan lami' which, as the saying goes, 'ba ki cizo, ba kya yaqushi' –meaning 'the ineffectual cat that neither paws nor catches any mouse at all'. This certainly is a cause for worry for our princely Governor Abu Lolo, pampered son of one-time Military Governor of Kano State, Col. Sani Bello and the doted son-in-law of the Abdulsalamis.
By the way even if he desires to probe his immediate predecessor Aliyu to raise the crucial funds needed to buoy his insolvent government, Abu may be constrained by both filial consanguinity and affinity not be able to do so. Because his mother-in-law Fati Abdussalam herself is a blood niece to Aliyu who is thus a grand-uncle-in-law to the new Governor. In the sixteen years that PDP had conquered and despoiled my beloved Niger State, I had written one too many titles either passionately importuning good governance, or in moments of personal outrage, reprimanding the brazen lack of it. And until Khadijah's last Sunday's text I had thought that I am done with the goings-on in Niger. But you just never say never!
First, we may ask: 'is Niger State viable?' That I had answered in a piece I once wrote, titled 'Niger: Cry the beloved power State'.
Niger State is famed for 'Power' on account of two inherently contradistinctive sources of 'power'. And she is noted also for 'history' on account of two mutually opposing causes of 'history'. As a 'Power State', Niger is both the metaphorical and the existential source of two high voltages, one 'political' –being the birth place of two former Military heads of State, Generals Babangida and Abdussalami; and the other 'hydro-electrical' -being home to the nation's two major hydro dams, Kainji and Shiroro.
And of 'history' Niger State is noted for an interesting dual apposite: namely being home to Nigeria's first colonial seat of Power, Zungeru; -and which town was itself also the birth-place of two Eastern great personages: one, Nigeria's foremost nationalists and her first President, Nnamdi Azikiwe and the other, the very agent provocateur of Nigeria's Civil war himself, Odumegwu Ojukwu. Thus, Zungeru alone is quite a piece of tourist laboratory for any serious minded governor with the gift of fertile imagination. But Niger State is all these and even more.
Of note also are the State's enormous agricultural potentials in virtually all of the sectors of it; the 'expanse' and the 'fecundity' of her soil types; the multi variegation of her crop and plant varieties; the wide range of her irrigable land locations; the existence of largely untapped ecosystems; her numerous fish sources and diverse species; a plenitude of an immensely provident graze-able plains for animal husbandry and an agriculturally clement weather conducive for a variety of all-year farming systems, Niger State is preeminently nonpareil – except perhaps for a contentious Benue State that also lays claim to being the 'food basket of the nation'.
Untapped treasures
Nor is the State any less endowed in other exploitable but regrettably untapped treasures such as her huge deposits of gold and other precious metals; or yet her many tourist destinations like the Shiroro and Kainji dams, the waterfalls of Gurara, the Borgu Games Reserve; the first colonial Capital and Zik's cum Ojukwu's birth place Zungeru; the famous Ladi Kwali Pottery; the potentially exploitable Zuma Rock, -which is a natural landmark-mystic of national significance both in its touristic value and its symbolic uniting force. Neither Kure nor Aliyu could discern the potentials of this landmark.
Once, Governor Aliyu in his typical, do-nothing populist stunts, had arranged to be physically launched on top of Zuma Rock for the titillation of his own ego and for the amusement of political hangers-on. In fact, typically for Aliyu this Zuma-climbing event would've been enough to form the fulcrum of governance discourse with himself as the trail-blazing star who had done what no governor had ever done. Ironically right beneath the Zuma Rock itself was a 30-year-old abandoned and uncompleted State-owned five-star hotel. Talba the star-Rock-climber took the shine off of this derelict five-star metaphor of waste and misplaced priority.
In fact, it was to the credit of the 'heroics' of another do-nothing Governor, Kure that the battle to get the Federal Government remove Zuma Rock from the five naira note was won, because Niger State had insisted that the landmark exclusively belonged to it and that the Federal Government's use of it on our national currency was tantamount to a violation of landmark rights. Interestingly since then apart from the historic landing of Governor Aliyu on it, the State has done nothing to exploit the tourist potentials of Zuma Rock other than lend the use of 'Zuma' ironically to a federal agency, the Nigeria Police on its State crime patrol vehicles. 'ba cinyar ba' the Hausas would say, 'kafar baya!' –'not the hind but the foreleg'.
Again to Niger State belongs a strategically positioned Suleja (originally Abuja) town that is a virtual entrepot to the Federal Capital and an ancient city readily exploit-able in its Real-estate potentials both on account of its Gateway location to the nation's capital and its enviable history as the baptismal precursor to the present day 'Abuja'. By the way, Suleja as the veritable historical surrogate mother to Abuja, is a national monument of some sort deserving of special funding by the federal government. No governor had ever put forth this legitimate claim; the same way neither has fought for HYPERDEC to cushion the effect of perennial flooding of the major dams suffered by various communities.
To any discerning Governor, Suleja by now should've been a veritable alter-ego of Abuja with choice property and especially star-studded hotels that operate low-flying helicopters offering customised shuttle services daily to and from Abuja's Central Business District for those who may want to stay on the outskirts as they deal with the bureaucracy in Abuja. Or maybe even a little less 'crazier', an FCT-Niger State owned light-rail by now could daily be ferrying passengers who work in Abuja but live in Suleja or any of the numerous connected settlements through which the rail would traverse. In Suleja alone a veritable potpourri of investables abide and from which a world of infinite commercial possibilities lie. But where is the Governor?
By the way Niger State is home to some of the best species of yam anywhere in the country; and in fact our hard-working, agrarian Gbagyi population cultivates about the largest share –admittedly in contention with Benue's Tiv farmers- of the nation's annual yam production. Yet no Governor of Niger State has ever deemed it desirable to transform this raw yam resource by the addition of value which will compensate our poor local farmers for their investment of capital and for the drudgery put in annual to bring that produce to us at a street value that sometimes amounts literally to robbing the farmer.
Truckloads after truckloads of yam exit the State, purchased at abysmally low glut-rate prices and transported down to the industrial suburbs of Lagos and Ogun states to be processed into 'poundo-yam flour' which now sells in supermarkets at about a thousand naira per single-meal sachet. Ironically, at the peak of yam glut in my State a thousand naira sometimes can give you a boot-full of yams bought off a street-hawking, often-child-nestling gbagyi mother who would sell not because the price is right, but because she needs to free her neck from the weight of the commodity.
Processed local rice
As with the Niger State yam, so it is with the Niger State 'stoned fadama rice' that neither Governor Kure nor Aliyu ever deemed it necessary to work to un-stone –by gradually setting a milling process in motion either through the empowerment of our predominantly Nupe local rice farmers or even the direct involvement of Government in improving and adding value to this commodity so that farmers get equitable value for their drudgery and the nation is gradually weaned from its overdependence on foreign rice. None of our governors cared.
One can go on and on from the uniquely palatable diverse fish species either from Shiroro, Kainji or in fact the exceptionally salt-sweet fadama fishes of the rice-farming communities of Nupe land who are left too at the mercy of the vagaries of a cruel informal market; and then even to the numerous varieties of fruits especially mangoes sold at glut-street price sometimes of one-penny-to-the-dozens, while street-smart juice-making factories from Sango-Otta sneak in annually to cart truckload after truckload literally at no cost from local Gbagyi communities who may only be too happy to be rid of it
EPILOGUE
Yet, critics would say 'Mohammed, this is preposterous. The current Governor is battling to pay salaries, and you are talking about big time projects. Even previous governors who had brimming treasuries at their disposal couldn't execute such projects'. No! It was not that previous governors COULDN'T . In truth they simply WOULDN'T.
Yet, just because projects were not executed when there was money, does not mean that projects cannot now be executed because there is no money. Governor Abu Lolo just has to look inwards and create 'wealth'. The Einstein peach of genuine exertion in the art of governance is all about creating 'something', -sometimes even from 'nothing'!
The Rector, Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Dr Margaret Ladipo, on Wednesday visited 13 students of the institution on admission at the College Medical Centre and the Military Hospital, Yaba.
The students were admitted following the fire accident in one of the college hostels in the early hours of the day.
Mr Charles Oni, the spokesperson of the college, said in a statement in Lagos that the rector prayed for the students and gave them monetary gifts, among others.
Oni said that the rector reassured the students that the management was with them and would always be by their side in ensuring they return to their studies before the weekend.
"Already, efforts are in top gear to redistribute the affected students into other available hostels pending the repair of the burnt two floors,'' he quoted the rector as saying.
According to the statement, there were moves as at press time to evacuate students from the Bakassi hostel to allow for structural testing of the entire building following the accident.
The spokesperson said that Ladipo urged parents not to panic as their children were in safe hands, thanking God that no life was lost to the fire.
The management has suspended all academic activities between Wednesday and Friday following the incident.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, Wednesday, asked the National Judicial Commission to sack the Federal High Court, Abuja judge, Justice Okon Abang, saying this would save the judiciary from disgrace.
Okon Abang
Governor Fayose, in his reaction to the Appeal Court judgment, which nullified Abang's ruling of the October 14, 2016 and declared it as a fraud, said; "it is obvious that Justice Abang is representing the dirty interests of some cabals, who are protecting him despite the incalculable damages he has done to the judiciary."
In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said; "In the face of these indictments by the appellate court, NJC must wade in and save the judiciary from Abang.”
He said a judge who gives fraudulent judgments is even more dangerous than armed robbers, adding that, "Those running after judges for alleged corruption and excluding a judge like Abang may not be far from being the beneficiaries of his (Abang) fraudulent judgments."
The governor said "a judge like Abang is a cankerworm that can destroy the country if not removed totally before he does further damage to the polity."
Governor Fayose said: "Today again, three justices of the appeal court descended on Justice Abang, describing his judgments imposing Jimoh Ibrahim as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ondo State and the one affirming Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the PDP National Chairman as fraudulent.
"It should be recalled that in June, a five-member panel of the court of appeal led by Justice Morenike Ogunwumiju said Abang "raped democracy" when he annulled the election Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu and ordered INEC to issue a certificate of return to Mr. Uchechukwu Ogah without evidence of forgery against Dr. Ikpeazu. The court went on to say that Abang embarked on a wild goose chase and that he spoke from both sides of his mouth.
"These are clear indictments on Justice Abang and in a civilised society; he ought to have resigned without the prompting of anyone. Or how can a judge that has been adjudged severally as giving fraudulent judgments and acting like Father Christmas still sit in judgment over cases involving Nigerians?
"The judiciary, being the last hope of the common man must therefore be purged of elements like Abang and NJC must do the needful by sacking him forthwith so that the bench can have a new lease of life."
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday arraigned Col. Nicholas Ashinze, a former Special Assistant to the embattled ex-National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, for money laundering.
Ashinze was docked along with an Austrian, Wolfgang Reinl, and two others, Edidiong Idiong and Sagir Mohammed, in a Federal High Court, Abuja.
A statement by EFCC's spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said the accused were arraigned on a 13-count charge of corruption and money laundering to the tune of N36.8 billion.
The defendants are standing trial alongside five companies accused of diverting huge sums from the office of the NSA under Dasuki.
"The companies are Geonel Integrated Services Limited, Unity Continental Nigeria Limited, Helpline Organization, Vibrant Resource Limited and Sologic Integrated Services Limited.
"In one of the charges, the EFCC alleges that Ashinze and Reinl, who is the Managing Director of Geonel Integrated Services Limited, transferred N550 million to Edidiong Idiong, a lawyer.
"The transfer was made on April 22, 2014 in violation of Section 15 (2) (b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011."
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges preferred against them, the statement said.
Counsel to EFCC, I. O. Uket, expressed the commission's readiness to immediately begin prosecution of the accused, saying that he had the witnesses present in court.
"If the court is ready, we are also ready to produce our first witness as we have our witnesses in court,'' he reportedly told the court.
But Ashinze's counsel, Ernest Nwoye, told the court that he had a pending application for the bail of his client.
He urged the court to grant the defendant bail on self recognition having earlier been admitted to bail by an FCT High Court.
Afam Osigwe, counsel representing the second and fifth defendants, also prayed the court to admit Reinl to bail.
He stated that Reinl had been enjoying administrative bail from the EFCC since February, adding that his travel documents were with the commission.
Counsel to Idiong, Paul Erokoro SAN said his client being a legal practitioner knew what it meant to jump bail.
Erokoro stated that besides being granted bail earlier by an FCT High Court, his client had always made himself available to the EFCC.
Similarly, counsel to Mohammed, N. Jimoh, prayed the court to grant his client bail, saying he had a health challenge which he had been managing for close to 40 years.
Responding, Uket argued that the defendants lost their administrative bail the moment their matter was charged to court.
Ruling on the applications, Justice Gabriel Kolawole held that the charges were all "bailable''.
The judge said that the case would be granted accelerated hearing and urged the prosecution to pick five days in the New Year for trial.
Consequently, the case was adjourned till Jan. 23, Feb. 1 and Feb.14, March 7 and March 21,Uwujaren quoted the statement as saying.
The House of Representatives has increased the N180 billion virement sought for by President Muhammadu Buhari to fund critical recurrent and capital items by N28 billion, taking it to N208.821 billion.
The president had written the National Assembly on Oct. 26, seeking for the approval of the legislature to vire N180.8 billion from the funds appropriated for special intervention in the 2019 budget.
The intervention is to fund critical recurrent and capital items.
The report of the House Committee on Appropriation was presented to the House on Wednesday by its Chairman, Rep. Mustapha Dawaki (APC- Kano).
In the report was the request for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (foreign missions), increased from N14billion to N16.34 billion.
Also, increased was the request for statutory transfer (Public Complaints Commission), which had been increased from N1.2 billion to N2.5 billion. All other items were retained as requested.
While presenting the report to be debated and approved on Thursday, Dawaki disclosed that the committee, on Nov. 17 and Nov. 21, met with the relevant stakeholders and brainstormed on the proposal.
He said it was established that the affected MDAs justified the need for intervention and approval of the virement for their respective agencies.
"The committee observes that there are other areas of critical needs with potential for development and stimulating the economy and for which additional funds could be provided through virement from the Special Intervention Programme"
Details of the recommended proposal for approval showed that under Recurrent, the Service Wide Vote: Public Service Wage Adjustment (PSWA) takes N71.80billion, Service Wide Vote: Contingency N1.20billion.
Similarly, Service Wide Vote: Margin for increase in Cost (MIC) N2billion, Ministry of Interior: Cadet feeding-Police Academy, Wudil, Kano N932,40million, Service Wide Vote: Amnesty Programme N35billion.
Also,Service Wide Vote: Internal Operations of the Armed Forces N5.20billion, Service Wide Vote: Operation Lafiya Dole N13.93billion, Ministry of Youth and Sports Development: NYSCN19.79billion.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Missions N16.34billion, Federal Ministry of Education: Augmentation of Meal Subsidy/Direct Teaching & Laboratory Cost N900million.
Also recommended for approval under Statutory Transfer is Public Complaints Commission N2.5billion.
Under Capital items, the Ministry of Defence: Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is allocated N12.70billion, Capital Supplementation: Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE)N1.50billion, Payment of local Contractors Debts/Other Liabilities N25billion.
The total amount of amount to be vired is now N208.82billion, which is N28 billion higher than the N180.8 billion requested for by the president.
The committee also recommended that the sum of N300 million appropriated in the 2016 budget under the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for the construction of 132 KVA Substation at Gwaram, Jigawa be vired for the Reconstruction of Fallen Towers, Replacement of Glass Insulators, for Gagarawa, Jigawa (TCN01B021775).
When the motion for the laying of the report, which was seconded by Rep. Saheed Fijabi (APC-Oyo) was tabled, it received unanimous approval from the plenary presided over by Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara.
Osun state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has distributed another set of Tablets, “Opon Imo” to secondary school students to enhance education in the state.
The Principal of Kuta Community High School, Mr Asifat musibau (right), giving a Tablet of knowledge (OPON IMO), to a student, Oloyede Bukola. With them is his father, Mr Femi Oloyede (left), during the distribution of Tablet of knowledge by the State Government to students of Kuta Community High School , Kuta State of OsunThe Principal of Kuta Community High School, Mr Asifat musibau(right), giving a Tablet of knowledge (OPON IMO), to a student, Olalekan Daniel. With them is his Sister, Ojo Damilola (left), during the Distribution of Tablet of knowledge by the State Government to students of Kuta Community High school, Kuta, State of OsunThe Principal of Kuta Community High School, Mr Asifat musibau (right), giving a Tablet of knowledge (OPON IMO), to a student, Oyelude Ayomide. With them is her father, Mr Oyedeji Samson (left), during the distribution of Tablet of knowledge by the State Government to students of Kuta Community High school, Kuta, State of OsunThe Principal of Kuta Community high School, Mr Asifat musibau (right), giving a Tablet of knowledge (OPON IMO) to a student, Lateef Muminat. With them is her mother Mrs Lateef Silifat, during the distribution of Tablet of knowledge by the State Government to students of Kuta Community High school, Kuta, State of Osun
Hillary Clinton is now more than two million votes ahead of President-elect Donald Trump in the popular vote count for the US presidential elections, a tally compiled by the Cook Political Report showed Wednesday.
The Democratic candidate’s 1.5 percent lead in the popular vote makes no difference to the outcome of the November 8 election, which Trump won by taking a majority of electoral votes. Clinton conceded the following day.
Trump and Hillary
But the former secretary of state’s popular vote lead continues to grow.
She has received 64,227,373 votes to Trump’s 62,212,752 million, according to the Cook Political Report’s latest tally, which was compiled from official sources.
It is the second time this century that a Democrat has won the popular vote but lost the presidential election.
In 2000, vice president Al Gore lost to George W. Bush despite winning nearly 544,000 more votes than his Republican rival.
The Supreme Court ultimately decided that election, pushing Bush over the top in electoral votes by giving him the win in the contested state of Florida.
ABUJA-Finally, the federal government had expunged endowment funds of the Universities from the Treasury Single Accounts, TSA and returned it to the authorities of the institutions.
This was one of the 8 demands pressed on the government by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU and why the Union proceeded on one week warning strike.
The decision was taken on a day, the federal government also approved the sum of N456m for procurement of 67 cars for Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC for patrol and surveillance.
Federal Executive Council, FEC at its meeting on Wednesday took the decision on behalf of the federal government.
Briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige who was joined by his counter-parts in Information, Lai Mohammed and Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma said that FEC however didn’t not concede to paying the end allowances demanded by ASUU due to the present economic recession.
He said: “There was a report on ASUU strike by the Minister of Education and we have made headway. ASUU had some demands; about 8 of them. Seven of them have been trashed out.
Government conceded to them the right to exclude endowment funds that accrued to Universities from the Single Treasury Account, TSA.
“The single treasury account is not for punishment, it is an account that enables any government institution to know what their financial position is at any given time.
“It also makes for accountability. You pay in whatever you drive from government funds, ask for it back and you get it. The only thing is that you must do the paper work for the accountability aspect of it to be there and for any institution, they should be able to look at first glance, see the monies they have in account A, B or C at the CBN add up and know what they have.
“Government agrees to ASUU’s demand but limited it to only endowment funds. But that doesn’t also mean that at the end of the day, the University councils will not have right to audit such an account, that is really the only area that is still contentious.
“The other aspect of it is the end allowances. The end allowances are the only one that is not sorted out now because everybody knows and agrees that we are in recession. If we are in a recession and you are asking us to pay you 284 billion, nobody will pay it because the money is not there.
Nnewi, Onitsha, Awka and other city centres of Anambra State were agog, Wednesday, following the victory tour of 2016 Federations Cup winners, FC Ifeanyi Ubah.
This is even as Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, on behalf of the government and the good people of the state, received the Proprietor of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah and the team, in Akwa, the state capital, donating N10million to boost the morale of the club for future exploits in the Nigerian Professional Football League, and at the continental level.
See photos below:
Fans, players, coaching crew and management of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, led by its President, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, during its victory tour in Anambra State. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State also received the team at the Government House, in Agu-Awka, donating N10 Million to boost the team’s morale subsequently.Fans, players, coaching crew and management of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, led by its President, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, during its victory tour in Anambra State. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State also received the team at the Government House, in Agu-Awka, donating N10 Million to boost the team’s morale subsequently.Fans, players, coaching crew and management of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, led by its President, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, during its victory tour in Anambra State. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State also received the team at the Government House, in Agu-Awka, donating N10 Million to boost the team’s morale subsequently.Fans, players, coaching crew and management of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, led by its President, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, during its victory tour in Anambra State. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State also received the team at the Government House, in Agu-Awka, donating N10 Million to boost the team’s morale subsequently.Fans, players, coaching crew and management of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, led by its President, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, during its victory tour in Anambra State. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State also received the team at the Government House, in Agu-Awka, donating N10 Million to boost the team’s morale subsequently.Fans, players, coaching crew and management of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, led by its President, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, during its victory tour in Anambra State. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State also received the team at the Government House, in Agu-Awka, donating N10 Million to boost the team’s morale subsequently.Fans, players, coaching crew and management of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, led by its President, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, during its victory tour in Anambra State. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State also received the team at the Government House, in Agu-Awka, donating N10 Million to boost the team’s morale subsequently.Fans, players, coaching crew and management of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, led by its President, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, during its victory tour in Anambra State. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State also received the team at the Government House, in Agu-Awka, donating N10 Million to boost the team’s morale subsequently.Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano; former APGA Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh and President, FC Ifeanyi Ubah, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah during the FA Cup victory tour, to the Government House, Awka.
It is difficult to know what Mr Femi Aribisala intends to achieve with his provocative article on the above subject matter in the Vanguard Newspaper of Sunday, October 9, 2016. While this may be a cause of concern and worry to the teeming population of believers in the pews, Mr Aribisala's article ought not to cause any agitation among believers.
Nonetheless, it is likely that Mr Aribisala has only tried to raise a question that could then enable him learn more while others might benefit from it. The article surely presents him as a non-specialist theologian who mistakenly found some information that he could not rightly process and therefore turned it to the public who might be left rather confused.
The article suggests that the Bible is not infallible because it is selective, that is the compilers of the Bible were selective in the materials they allowed to remain within the canon of the Bible. He also argues that there was double-mindedness in the Church especially because while it accepted the Book of Enoch until AD 363 it later dropped it at the Council of Laodicea. Aribisala argues that the decision of the Church could not have been infallible because the apocryphal books which are included in the 'current Catholic Bible' are 'not in the Protestant Bible'. Furthermore, he states that because the Bible makes statements that appear inconsistent with scientific claims the position of the Bible therefore cannot be said to be infallible. In the overall he confuses the position of the Church with the status of the Bible as the inspired word of God.
These points cannot in anyway invalidate the scriptures as the authentic word of God to His people. The writer of this article has joined the bandwagon of so-called 'modern people' who have become critical of the Bible as though it is a scientific book that must be read as such. The assumption that the Bible should be read (in the words of Benjamin Jowett) ‘like any other book’ aided the application of the various rational procedures and questions to the erstwhile divinely given book. 'Instead of taking scripture as a divinely-given book which is beyond human reason, critics thus assume that it can be treated for the purposes of study, as if it were a human creation.'
The eighteenth century Enlightenment opened the door to the modern age of reason and biblical criticism that later gave birth to the likes of F C Baur and David Strauss who are believed to be the fathers of modern biblical criticism. In spite of their efforts, to which neo-orthodox theologians of the likes of Karl Barth have responded, it is evident that to read the Bible in the way Femi Aribisala and the others have done is grossly mistaken.
The sixty-six books that form the unity of the Bible were handed down as the authentic Scriptures of the Church. As C.H. Dodd rightly notes, 'These writings have their being, as they had their origin, within the life of a community which traces its decent from Abraham and Moses, from prophets and apostles, and plays its part in the history of our own time; and the Scriptures not only recall its past, but serve the needs of its day-to-day existence in the present.' But as the Church faced the dangers of extravagances and eccentricities of beliefs, it had to set out its own life and beliefs, guided by the Rule of Faith and the Canon of Scripture.
It was important therefore that it had to select what it believed to be consistent with the faith that had been handed down from the early fathers of the faith. The Canonization of Scripture therefore needed to involve a process of selection, as the Church examined the various materials to ensure that they not only had messages but such as could be said to have been inspired with continual relevance to the generations of the people of faith. This process was guided by a number of factors which included the nature of the content of the book and its consistency with the salvific message of the Bible with Christ as its hermeneutical key.
The word ‘canon’ when applied to scripture implies two things. It first means ‘a rule’ which can mean that Scripture is the church’s measuring line or yardstick when it reflects on its life and commitments’. It also means ‘a list', “as something fixed and established, by which one can orientate oneself”. The second meaning concerns the recognition which the early church gave to the books that form the Bible, and this seems to define the first meaning of scripture as authoritative. Although the act of canonisation does not give authority, it defines or restricts it, since there were other writings that were not canonized. The value attributed to the Bible indicates that its authority is ultimately the authority attributed to God; hence it is called Holy Scriptures.
The early church adopted the Hebrew Bible because Jesus had set his seal of authority on these writings, and they are largely perceived to reflect authentic revelation of God’s will and purpose. ‘They also followed him in assuming that the scriptures they inherited were not merely human witness to the nature of faith, but spoke with God’s authority’. Following this, the writings were revered as authoritative, and since the authors were also believed to have been ‘inspired’, it became customary to refer to the entire writings as the ‘word of God. However, Christ came to be seen as the centre of scripture, the climax of divine revelation and also the true ‘Word of God’, a terminology that the Johannine gospel bequeathed to Christian theology.
The canonisation of the New Testament involved discriminating ‘between those books seen to be authoritative and so part of the sacred tradition and those that were not’. Inspiration is argued to be a corollary rather than a criterion for canonicity, but apostolic authorship or connection, orthodoxy and catholicity are vital criteria for deciding the canon of the New Testament. The catholic (universal) acceptance of the writings is a very important factor that needs our emphasis in the present circumstance. The canonized books of scripture were recognized on the basis of a wide acceptance of the authority of the books not with any compulsion. This in itself is attributable to the divine act.
However, what gave the ‘documents their original recognition was a widely recognized acknowledgement of their contents. The whole church had heard the gospel in them. These criteria were necessary in order to separate the authentic from heretical teachings and the Marcion’s canon of the Bible. Thus the Bible was for the early church an inspired and trusted document with reliable content, where the will of God was revealed to God’s people and God’s world. The reliability of the book consists in the truth that it seeks to reveal. Just as the Bible bears witness to the acts of God in history, it became a reference and authoritative book for the church’s preaching and teaching, and so, a normative account of Christian origins.
Whilst acknowledging the differences in the nature and outlook of the Old and New Testaments, the Church was able to reconcile the importance of the Old Testament as preceding the New Testament while the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The incongruities that are often talked about actually illustrate the manner in which through trial and error men came to apprehend the truth.
The Scripture is the book that the Church recommends people to read in order to know God in His relation to man and the world, to worship Him intelligently, and to understand the aim and the obligations of human life under His rule. In other words, the Bible is the revelation of God. The combination of things new and old sets up a tension in the mind. But the tension gives depth.
Mr Aribisala's question about the infallibility of the Bible is a wrong one not least because he defines infallibility in the light of the process of canonization of the Bible. This does not make the Bible infallible or otherwise. What is important is that the message of the Bible is infallible. It speaks the profound mystery about God to humanity and offers the authentic means of salvation to mankind. The climax of divine love and relationship shown in the Bible to mankind is God's effort to tabernacle with man and save him from sin. This is the mystery that Mr Aribisala ought to celebrate rather than employ the awkward scientific method of reading the Bible, a method that brought neither salvation nor growth to the Church.
The agreed sixty-six books exclude the apocryphal, which in some quarters are referred to as Deutero-canonicals. The Thirty-Nine articles of faith of Protestant Anglicanism have helpfully demarcated the relationship between the sixty-six books and the apocryphal. In article VI the sixty-six books of the Bible contain 'all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.'
While the Church may read the apocryphal as we also read other story books and learn from them, it does not apply them to establish any doctrine.
The Scripture therefore is true in all manners in establishing spiritual truth employing metaphor where necessary to make its point. Thus Mr Aribisala misunderstands his references to 1 Chronicles 16:30 and Psalm 96:10 that 'The world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved.' The movement these texts talk about is not the type that the geographer talks about the earth moving around the orbit. Indeed the world has been so firmly established that come day or night God's order cannot change and His name will be glorified. As John Ellerton (1870) wrote, 'The sun that bids us rest is waking our brethren 'neath the western sky And hour by hour fresh lips are making thy wondrous doings heard on high.'
While the universe lasts the Lord is God. This is infallible. Thus the Bible is authoritative in its constant relevance to the world and the human life in general. It is only God's Word that can be ever-so relevant. This is infallible in the truth it communicates and in the salvific implications that it has for mankind. The Bible remains God's word and it is infallible.
The infallibility of the Bible cannot be questioned because the leadership of the Church misunderstood the scientific exploits of Nicolaus Copernicus (c.1500), Giordano Bruno and Galileo in the 1600s. That the Roman Catholic Pope apologized for the past mistakes of the Church is a remarkable action that cannot undermine the Scripture in anyway. It must not be forgotten that subsequent scientific advancement was aided by Christians.
The nature or grounds of canonicity is logically distinct from the history or recognition of canonicity. It is the inspiration that renders it authoritative and not the human acceptance or recognition of it. What is authoritative by virtue of God's involvement is regardless of human agreement with it.
The problem with Mr Aribisala is that he asks the wrong questions, confusing the Church as synonymous with the Bible, and fails to understand the nature of the Bible as a living witness to the relationship between God and mankind, and as a witness to God's saving plan for the world through Christ, the climax of divine revelation. It is therefore not a science textbook but a supernatural text that answers the questions that science cannot attempt.
The Ven. Dr Stephen Ayodeji Fagbemi General Secretary Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
Defending champions Nigeria on Wednesday in Limbe could only draw 1-1 with rivals Ghana at the 2016 African Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) in Cameroon.
The result left both sides with four points each after two Match Day Two, but it also brightened their chances of semi-finals qualification.
It was however a setback to the Super Falcons who had been expected to advance to the semi-finals with a win, no matter how close.
The Falcons are tournament favourites with seven title wins from the competition's past nine editions, and had started their campaign with a 6-0 mauling of Mali on Sunday.
With Ghana having struggled to beat Kenya 3-1 on Sunday, the Falcons expectedly took the lead after 22 minutes through competition's leading goal scorer Asisat Oshoala.
But the Black Queens stood up to them to draw level in the 44th minute, and then went on to dominate the second half.
Nigeria will now meet Kenya on Saturday in their final group phase game, while Ghana take on Mali, with both Nigeria and Ghana needing only draws to advance.
If both sides draw their matches on Saturday, group leaders Nigeria will top to face Group A runners-up in the semi-finals.
The Sen. Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the PDP has commended the Court of Appeal for its judgment recognising its candidate Eyitayo Jegede as the party's candidate in the Nov. 26 Ondo governorship election.
Mr Dayo Adeyeye, the National Publicity Secretary of the faction, said the judgment was proof that what transpired at the lower court was miscarriage of justice.
Adeyeye made the remark in a statement issued to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.
The Court of Appeal panel led by Justice Ibrahim Salauwa on Tuesday set aside the ruling of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court recognising Jimoh Ibrahim as PDP candidate in the Ondo state guber poll.
The Appeal Court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to replace Ibrahim's name with Eyitayo Jegede as PDP candidate for the Saturday's election.
Adeyeye said the party appreciated the Nigerian judiciary for "standing behind truth as it affects the attempt by enemies within working in consonance with some jittery and desperate opposition members.''
Makarfi
He said that the aim of the enemies was to thwart PDP's participation in the Ondo State governorship election.
Adeyeye said that the judgments delivered by the Supreme Court and that of the Court of Appeal had rekindled the hope of the common man in the judiciary.
He said: "this shows that justice might be delayed, but will surely come provided the oppressed refuse to give up on his rights.
"The judgment delivered by the Justice Salauwa-led Appeal Court Panel which returned the validly elected candidate of our party, to his rightful place was expected.
"It was expected because we were sure that the travesty of justice carried out at the lower court will in any sane society, not stand the test of time.''
Adeyeye added that it was gratifying to note that all the seven issues before the Appeal panel as relates to the illegal substitution of the factions' candidate, were decided in favour of Eyitayo Jegede.
"This goes to prove that what transpired at the lower court was a miscarriage of justice. ''
Adeyeye expressed hope that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would toe the line of the Court of Appeal by postponing the Saturday election by a minimum of two weeks.
He said the postponement would allow the faction's candidate to inform the people of the state his programmes for them through campaigns.
He expressed hope that the rest issues before the court as it affects the PDP would be treated with dispatch and justice served.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff-led PDP candidate, Mr Jimoh Ibrahim, said he was certain of getting justice at the Supreme Court.
Ibrahim accused the incumbent governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko of paying for the judgment with the state treasury.
"I have read the decision of the Court of Appeal delivered today.
"We have nothing to lose as the Supreme Court seat on the same case tomorrow.
"We shall get justice at the Supreme Court and if PDP wins Saturday election we shall have our four years mandate to rule Ondo State,'' Ibrahim said.
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