Former President Olusegun Obasanjo: FG says Boko Haram Statement Irresponsible.

Nigeria’s Federal Government has asked former President Olusegun Obasanjo to tender a public apology over his comments imputing ethno-religious motive to Boko Haram and ISWAP.

Government also asked him to withdraw the statement it described as deeply offensive and patently divisive.

It said such indiscreet comments are far below the status of an elder statesman. 

In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it was particularly tragic that a man who fought to keep Nigeria one is the same one seeking to exploit the country’s fault lines to divide it in the twilight of his life.

He said Boko Haram and ISWAP are terrorist organizations pure and simple, adding that they care little about ethnicity or religion when perpetrating their senseless killings and destruction.

”Since the Boko Haram crisis, which has been simmering under the watch of Obasanjo, boiled over in 2009, the terrorist organization has killed more Muslims than adherents of any other religion, blown up more mosques than any other houses of worship and is not known to have spared any victim on the basis of their ethnicity. It is therefore absurd to say that Boko Haram and its ISWAP variant have as their goal the ‘Fulanisation and Islamisation’ of Nigeria, West Africa or Africa,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said President Buhari put to rest the mis-characterization of Boko Haram as an Islamic organization when he said, in his inaugural speech in 2015, that ”Boko Haram is a mindless, godless group who are as far away from Islam as one can think of”.

The Minister said Obasanjo’s comments are therefore as insensitive and mischievous as they are as offensive and divisive in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like Nigeria, wondering whether there is no limit to how far the former President will go in throwing poisonous darts at his perceived political enemies.

He said Obasanjo’s prescriptions for ending the Boko Haram/ISWAP crisis, which include seeking assistance outside the shores of Nigeria, are coming several years late, as President Buhari has done that and more since assuming office, hence the phenomenal success he has recorded in tackling the terrorists.

”Shortly after assuming office in 2015, President Buhari’s first trips outside the country were to rally the support of Nigeria’s neighbours – Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger – for the efforts to battle the terrorists. The President also rallied the support of the international community, starting with the G7, and then the US, France and the UN.

”That explains the massive degrading of Boko Haram, which has since lost its capacity to carry out the kind of spectacular attacks for which it became infamous, and the recovery of every inch of captured Nigerian territory from the terrorists,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said Obasanjo’s call for wide consultations with various groups as part of the efforts to tackle the Boko Haram crisis has been neutralized by his ill-advised comments which have served more to alienate a large number of Nigerians, who are offended by his tactless and distasteful postulation.

The Minister called on the former President, whom he said took bullets for Nigeria’s unity, not to allow personal animosity to override his love for a united Nigeria, saying it will not be out of place if he withdraws his unfortunate statement and apologizes to Nigerians.


Source: NAN

Appeal Court Affirms Oyetola’s Election, Adeleke Loses

The Court of appeal sitting in Abuja has set aside the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal’s judgment which nullified Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s victory in the Osun governorship election.

In three separate appeals filed by Oyetola, the All Progressives Congress and the Independent National Electoral Commission, the appellate court was asked to set aside the 22 March, 2019 judgement of the tribunal which declared Senator Ademola Adeleke as winner.

The Appeal court has now affirmed Oyetola’s election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The tribunal in a split judgment on 22 March declared Adeleke as winner of the September 2018 election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue him with the certificate of return.

Two of the judges, Justices Obiora and Ayinla Gbolagunte. upheld the petitions filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ademola Adeleke and the PDP. However, the Chairman of the tribunal differed from the two and upheld Oyetola’s election.

The tribunal’s majority verdict held that the supplementary election by INEC in seven cancelled units on Sept. 22,2018, was null and void.

The tribunal ruled that the Returning Officer who cancelled the results had no power to do so.

The appeal court judgment also has a dissenter, Justice George Mbaba.

In the majority judgment of four-to-one, delivered by the Chairman of the five-man panel, Justice Jumai Hannatu-Sankey the judges declared that the decision of the tribunal which sacked Oyetola as governor was not valid and consequently set aside the entire proceedings of the tribunal.

The appellate court nullified the majority judgment of the tribunal delivered by Peter Obiora, on the grounds that he relied on the evidence of two witnesses which he did not observe.

Justice Sankey noted that the Court of Appeal ordinarily having set aside the entire proceedings of the tribunal, ought to order a re-trial of the case.

However, she said, the appellate court could not order a re-trial because the 180 days provided by the law for election petition had elapsed.

Justice George Mbaba in a dissenting judgment, dismissed the appeal and upheld the decision of the tribunal.

Justice Mbaba held that Justice Obiora who did not participate in the proceedings of February 6, 2019 was contentious and enough reason to nullify the appeal.

He added that all the members of the panel ought to have been on seat to sign the proceedings of Feb.6, 2019 and subsequently disagreed with the judgment of the other four members.

Mbaba further noted that the issue of sabotage cannot be ruled out as the records were transmitted by court’s registrar.

He consequently dismissed the appeal and upheld the majority decision of the tribunal which sacked Oyetola and returned Adeleke as Governor.

Mbaba however awarded cost of N200,000 against Oyetola.

Another appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was also upheld by the majority of four to one.

In his dissenting judgment, Mbaba came down heavily on the electoral umpire,INEC for its failure to live up to expectation in the conduct of the election.

He held that INEC which did not call any witness at the tribunal or tendered any document surprisingly came to the Appeal Court to file an appeal.

He said the electoral umpire was wrong for saying that Adeleke and PDP cannot challenge the September 27 rerun election on the grounds that they had waived their rights by participating in the said election.

According to Mbaba, no serious party would boycott any rerun election when a final declaration had not been made.

He said INEC acted dubiously in the rerun election.

“INEC acted dubiously in the way it handled the rerun election. INEC should not have been put in the dock if it has done the right thing at the rerun election.

“ When INEC was in the dock, it shied away without filing any argument”, Mbaba said.

On the cancellation of results in 17 polling units, Justice Mbaba held that the cancellation was deliberate because INEC returning Officer has no power to do the cancellation.

“It is the presiding Officer that has the power to cancel results if need be,’’ he said.

Other members of the panel were Justices Abubakar Yahaya, Isaiah Akeju and Bitrus Sanga.

Governor Oyetola, who contested the last governorship election on the platform of the APC, faulted the majority judgment delivered by the tribunal.

The governor in his 39-ground Notice of Appeal filed on March 26, by his team of lawyers, led by Wole Olanipekun, SAN, claimed that the judgment was “perverse, replete with contradictions and not supported by evidence led by the petitioners”.

He therefore asked the appellate court to uphold his appeal, set aside the majority judgment and dismiss the Oct. 16, 2018 petition by PDP and Adeleke.

The governor said his complaint, in the appeal, was against the entire majority judgment, except where the tribunal held that it lacked jurisdiction to set aside INEC Guidelines; that the allegation of over voting was not proved; that the petitioners did not prove voided votes and other parts of the judgment where the tribunal agreed with their arguments.

Oyetola is contending, in his first ground of appeal, that the entire majority judgment was a nullity, because it was written and delivered by Justice Obiora “who did not participate in all the proceedings of the tribunal and who was not present when all the witnesses gave evidence.”

He noted that Justice Obiora was absent on Feb. 6, when the respondents witnesses Ayoola Soji and Oladejo Kazeem – testified and tendered exhibits, which the tribunal admitted in evidence.

The appellant argued that, having not attended the tribunal’s siting on Feb. 6, Justice Obiora could not have seen the two witnesses and was unable to examine their demeanour, as required, and therefore, unlawful for the judge to have authored a judgment in which he reviewed the evidence given by the witnesses.

He said: “The writing of and or the participation of the honourable justice P. C. Obiora in the writing of the judgment of the lower tribunal of March 22, and delivery of same, vitiates the entire judgment.”

Oyetola also argued that the tribunal, in its majority judgment, erred in law and acted without jurisdiction when it accepted the petitioners’ complained of non-compliance with the provisions of Electoral Act in relation to the Sept. 22, 2018 governorship election in Osun and on that basis proceeded to nullify the victory of Oyetola and APC.

It was equally the appellant’s contention that the tribunal acted without jurisdiction by basing its decision to uphold the petition and set aside the return of the appellants on the basis of allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, in relation to the Sept. 22 governorship election.

Source: NAN

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Welcome A Baby Boy To The Royal Family

Source: cheatsheet.com

The latest royal baby has arrived.

Meghan Markle, who is married to Britain's Prince Harry, gave birth to the couple's first child early Monday. The baby boy weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces. His name hasn't yet been announced.

The baby is "very healthy," Harry told reporters later in the day, adding that "mother and baby are doing incredibly well."

"It's been the most amazing experience that I could ever possibly imagine," the giddy new father said. "How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension, but we're both absolutely thrilled."

Harry was "present for the birth" at 5:26 a.m. local time, Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

The palace added that royal family members "have been informed and are delighted by the news." Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, is with the couple at Frogmore Cottage in Berkshire, and the palace says she is "overjoyed by the arrival of her first grandchild."

The pregnancy had been shrouded in an unusual degree of secrecy. Buckingham Palace did not disclose where she would give birth or precisely when she was due.

News: NPR

See Video - Francis Odega “gerrarahere” Send His Wife Out of the House, Refuses to Pay His Only Child's Tuition Fees.

Nigeria’s popular comic actor Francis Odega has reportedly sends his wife out of his house and has refused to care for their only child.

This was revealed in a video provided on Instagram, where his daughter, Success Odega explained how the actor beats regularly her mother (his wife).

She (Success) further added that Francis Odega – who is well-known with the comic saying “gerrarahere” has also refused to pay her tuition fees.

The daughter went ahead to plead with Nigerians to help ensure that he pays her school fees, even as he has kicked  her and her mom out of the house.

A report was also given by one of Francis’s in-laws with details of what has been going on, saying her sister has been married to the actor for 15 years and has not enjoyed a single day of the marriage.

She noted the actor was poor and had nothing when her sister met him but she had stayed with him through it.

She wrote, “Then, he only had a video club that wasn’t bringing enough money, so my sister started a salon in the same shop and was taking care of the family with the salon business.

“Then things got very bad because he wasn’t getting any job and whenever my sister advises him to even go out to connect with colleagues that could probably help him, he would beat her up so badly.”
According to her, the actor had once attempted to rape her too, not minding she was the sister-in-law.

“One faithful night, I was home sleeping and my sister was at the hospital, Mr Odega came home and tried to rape me and I managed to run out of the house.

“So many times he has beaten my sister to the point that she will have to wake up at the hospital and each time all he will say is that my family will do nothing, that we don’t even have money to make any case with him,” she added.

See Video:

Credit: Instablog9ja