I had the privilege of a long conversation with the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, last Saturday morning. I was in the house of a mutual friend when Obi dropped by. For almost two hours he shared interesting insights into why he believes he won the election. But what I enjoyed most were the stories of his varied experiences on the campaign trail across the country. I told Obi that he surpassed my expectations at the polls and repeated what I wrote in my column last week that I either overestimated the power of party structure…
Author: meridianspy
Justice Bala Usman of the Federal High Court in sitting in Jalingo has directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC not to delist Senator Emmanuel Bwacha as the Taraba State All Progressives Congress, APC governorship candidate for the March 18 election. The court in it’s judgment reaffirmed Bwacha as the duly elected candidate of the APC for the March 18 governorship poll in the state. Justice Usman noted that it is vital to uphold the judgement of the Supreme Court which has a consequential order directing the APC to have a fresh primary where Emmanuel emerged as the candidate of…
Naira Redesign: CBN’s Non-Compliance With S/Court Verdict Contemptuous – Yadudu, Falan A renowned constitutional lawyer, Professor Auwalu Yadudu and a human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN), have described the refusal by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to comply with the Supreme Court judgement on the old naira notes as contemptuous and the highest disregard for the rule of law. Last Friday, in a unanimous judgement, a seven-member panel of justices of the Supreme Court, presided over by Justice Inyang Okoro, ordered the circulation of the old naira notes alongside the new ones until December 31. The panel held that…
Troops of the 13 Brigade Nigerian Army, Calabar, deployed for Operation Akpakwu, have rescued the Commissioner for Women Affairs in Cross River, Mrs Gertrude Njar, from captivity. The announcement of her rescue is contained in a statement by Capt. Dorcas Aluko, Army Public Relations Officer, 13 Brigade, Calabar on Wednesday. The Commissioner was kidnapped on February 1 in the Mayne Avenue area, Calabar South. “Acting on actionable intelligence on the victim’s whereabouts, troops laid a tacit ambush for the kidnappers around Peter Effiong Creek, Messembe, Jebs. “The gallant troops tactically sprung an ambush to take the kidnappers by surprise…
The President, Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria raised over N30bn to finance its climate change adaptation efforts by issuing two sovereign green bonds. Also Read: Climate Change: Communicating without Communicators While urging the most vulnerable countries to emulate Nigeria’s home-grown resource mobilisation, he said it is “likely to break the yoke of difficulties in accessing funds from developed countries’ financial institutions.” According to a statement signed by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari spoke at a roundtable addressing climate change and supporting the environment at the UN Conference on LDCs in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.…
Ahead of the governorship and state assembly elections in the country, the Department of State Services has raised the alarm that some undisclosed persons are planning to cause a “total breakdown of law and order.” This is even as the service said it had observed there had been tension in parts of the country days before the polls. In a series of tweets on his handle on Wednesday night, the spokesperson for the service, Peter Afunanya, said the actions of politicians have consequences on the country’s democracy. The tweets partly read, “The Department of State Services alerts the public of…
There are strong indications that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will shift the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections scheduled for this Saturday to March 18. Sources in INEC have confirmed this development, citing a logistics crisis stemming from the need to reconfigure BVAS for the elections. Our source who craved anonymity said the decision to postpone the polls is following a meeting of INEC’S executives on Wednesday evening. “The elections were postponed to allow one more week for preparations,” the source said. Another source who is familiar with the development said the election may as well be postponed to…
The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Wednesday, gave the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the nod to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, it used for the presidential election. The court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, held that stopping the electoral body from reconfiguring the BVAS would adversely affect Saturday’s governorship and state assemblies elections. It dismissed objections that the Labour Party, LP, and its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, raised against INEC’s move to reconfigure all the BVAS According to the court, allowing the…
The Czech cyber watchdog issued a warning about using TikTok on Wednesday, joining other Western authorities in deeming the Chinese-owned video-sharing app a security threat. TikTok has come under growing scrutiny in many countries over concerns the app may give Chinese authorities access to sensitive user data. The Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency warned that TikTok could pose a threat if installed on “devices accessing critical information and communication infrastructure”. “The Agency is concerned about a potential security threat stemming from the use of TikTok primarily due to the amount of user data that is collected by the…
The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has congratulated the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, as he turned 66 on Wednesday. In a statement released by his media officer, Tunde Rahman, the president-elect applauded his former protégé’s administrative skills and professional accomplishments as an academic and erudite lawyer, which have seen him serve successfully as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice during his administration as Lagos governor. He said, “I rejoice and celebrate with our Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on attainment of 66 today. Professor Osinbajo has been a remarkable intellectual in public service since he served with me in…
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, has put together a legal team of 19 Senior Advocates of Nigeria to challenge the outcome of the February 25 election. Atiku briefed them on Wednesday at his campaign Headquarters in Abuja, asking them to “establish the claim of illegality in the election and reclaim the mandate of the Nigerian people.” The team is headed by a seasoned litigation and commercial lawyer, JK Gadzama. He further declared that it is crucial for them to go through this process not just for himself and PDP, but also to reinforce constitutional…
Senator-elect Adams Oshiomhole has said the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, is not looking for a rubber stamp National Assembly but a robust one. Oshiomhole who is representing Edo North Senatorial District stated this while speaking with newsmen at the presentation of the certificate of return to Senators-elect in Abuja on Tuesday. ”Our president-elect looks forward to a senate that would contribute to the development of the country. ”I will not be part of the legislator for the powerful but to the countrymen,” he said. Oshiomhole, a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, said he had been the voice of…