The Oba of Benin, HRM Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II on Thursday called on governors of the 36 states of the federation through Nigeria’s Governors Forum to ensure autonomy for the judiciary in line with the constitution.
He stated this when the outgoing Chief Judge of Edo state, Hon Justice Esther Edigin led top members of the Bench alongside her husband to formerly informed the Oba of her disengagement from service.
The Oba said that no society would be corruption-free in the absence of financial freedom for the judicial arm of government.
The monarch, however, stressed that for equity and true justice to prevail in the country, “the judiciary should not be intimidated or subjected to all kinds of ill-treatment before approving fund for its operation” insisted that the country cannot move forward without full financial autonomy for the judicial arm of government.
Earlier, Justice Edigin had informed the monarch of her official disengagement from active service, attributing her success in office to the prayers of the Oba.
She hailed the Oba’s fatherly roles in repositioning the Benin kingdom
The Management of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State has said that it will investigate the reason behind the death of one its students identified as Feranmi Fasunle.
Fasunle reportedly died as a result of the sniper she allegedly drank on Wednesday night.
Recall that the 200-level student of the Department of Political Science at the varsity drank the insecticide on Wednesday night in her room and was later rushed to the school’s health centre but was later referred to the Federal Medical Centre, Owo where she gave up the ghost early Thursday.
The reason for taking the action against herself was yet unknown. It was insinuated in some quarters that the deceased had relationship issue but some of her friends refuted this as they said she had no boyfriend.
The Head of Media and Protocols of institution, Victor Akinpelumi, speaking on the incident, described the student’s death as unfortunate, saying there was indication that Fasunle committed suicide for another reason and not on relationship matter.
According to him; “It is true that she committed suicide. We have not been officially briefed but the only details we have is that she took sniper and she was later rushed to the state health centre and from there she was referred to the Federal Medical Centre in Owo.
“The bad incident happened on Wednesday and we have not carried out our findings to ascertain if she committed suicide over relationship issues but from what we gathered she had no boyfriend.
The doctor, who spoke with me, said those who brought her said they were close to her and that she was not involved in any relationship. So, why she did that to herself is what we are yet to know.
“We will further react if we later know why she took that decision to take her own life.”
The Senate President , Dr Ahmad Lawan on Thursday faulted Southern Governors Forum for calling for the restructuring of the country, while saying that it was wrong for an elected officials to lead such agitation.
Lawan also hinted that the worsening security situation in the country is as a result of a lack of a functional local government system.
This is as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has argued that the agitation for restructuring may be genuine but elected leaders and state governors should not be the ones to champion the movement for restructuring without first replicating the idea at the state level.
The Speaker further said that the present situation does not warrant name-calling, rather the coming together of all stakeholders to find solutions to it, admitting that everyone was complicit
The two spoke in an interview with State House correspondents after the Eid-Mubarak prayers at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to the Senate President, the security challenges in the country could be attributed to the absence of a functional local government system.
He stated that while the nation’s leaders seek solutions to the security crisis confronting the nation, the Local Government system should not be neglected.
He, however, explained further that the lack of autonomy potentially inhibits solutions as well as efforts by the Federal and state governments towards addressing the nation’s security challenge.
He said, “We are all leaders and we are in this together, the solutions must come from us regardless of what levels of leadership we are – whether at the Federal Level, State Level or even at the Local Government level.
“I also want to take this opportunity to say that we have diminished the local government system. I think we can attribute the security issues to the absence of a Functional Local Government System.
“I think the time has come for us to take up the challenge and ensure that the Local Government system functions. This is as we look for ways to curb the security challenge.
We must never neglect the local government system. We must go back to our local government system to ensure they are autonomous and functional.”
Speaking on the call by the Southern Governors Forum for the restructuring of the country, Lawan said, “I believe that as leaders, especially those of us who are elected into office should not be at the forefront of calling for this kind of thing.
“Because, even if you are a governor, you are supposed to be working hard in your state to ensure that this restructuring you are calling for at the federal level, you have done it in your state as well.
What you may accuse the Federal Government of, whatever it is, you may also be accused of the same thing in your state.
“So, we are supposed to ensure that we have a complete and total way of ensuring that our systems at the federal, state and even local government levels work for the people.
“We must allow people to participate in governance so that whoever feels he has something to offer to make Nigeria better does so freely without any let or hindrance.”
Urging elected leaders to shun regionalism, Lawan added that “The President is reaching out to all the stakeholders. And I believe that as leaders, particularly those of us who were elected at all levels of government, we should avoid partisanship.
“We should avoid regionalism. We are all leaders and we are in this together.
“The solutions to our challenges must come from us regardless of what level of government we are.
“Whether at the federal, state or the local government level.
“I believe that Nigeria is going to come out of these challenges stronger.”
Lawan further advised Nigerians to support efforts at ensuring the desired autonomy for local governments in the country.
Also speaking, the Speaker said those championing the call for succession might be misguided and do not mean well for the country.
While speaking on the call for restructuring, he said there might be genuine agitations but explicitly states that elected leaders and state governors should particularly not champion the movement for restructuring without first replicating the idea at the state level.
He called for a national spirit of oneness, saying that “If truth be told, we all have equal shares in the blame for what’s happening today.
“Whatever challenges we have, we must all come together to make sure that we resolve these issues we’re facing.
We must imbibe that spirit of oneness, togetherness, unity and love that would take us through this.”
The Speaker said the Eid celebration should be a period of sacrifice, love, and worship amid the spate of insecurity in the country, adding that it was not the time for name-calling or trading blames as everyone is complicit.
The Federal Government on Thursday stated that it’s has reserved Two million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for the second dose in the first phase of vaccination.
Saying, with 1,748,242 Nigerians vaccinated as of May 12, 2021, the percentage targeted with the first jab is 86.9 percent.
Noting the vaccination with the second dose of the vaccine has started, it urged persons who have received their first dose of the vaccine to ensure they check their vaccination cards to know when they are due for their second jab.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, made these known during a virtual briefing organised by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC) on covid-19 response.
According to him; “Vaccination is ongoing across all states. As of today 1,748,242 Nigerians have been vaccinated. This represents 86.9 percent of the number of Nigerians that have been targeted with the first those of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Due to the current increasing uncertainty in global vaccine supply which is facing our continents and most of the world, Nigeria’s Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) made a strategic choice to utilise our current covid-19 supply to administer double dose rather than single doses. This will ensure that every Nigerian who receives a vaccine from our present supply, receives their second dose before the recommended time span between doses passes, which is between 6 to 12 weeks.
“Administering these two doses of the vaccine within the recommended time frame is very important to ensure full inoculation benefits.
“This means that with the current supply, we will fully inoculate roughly 2 million Nigerians rather than partially inoculate 4 million Nigerians. We are removing an element of risk that is becoming too high.
He continued; “We have already started administering second doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. In addition to health workers, frontline workers aged 18 years and above, and persons aged 50 years and above are being advised to visit any designated vaccination site to receive their vaccine doses whether the first or the second dose
“We are also advising that people who have received their first dose should check their vaccination cards for the date of the second dose, and ensure that they receive their second dose to gain full protection against covid-19.”
“Concerning the number of doses that are left in Nigeria, what we did in Nigeria was to actually divide the four million doses into two compartments”,Shuaib added.
The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed has hinted that most of the banditry and kidnapping across the country are being perpetrated by Muslims.
Mohammed warned fellow Moslems to desist from harbouring bandits and kidnappers, saying they must be courageous to hand them over to security agencies.
He gave this hint on Thursday at the Government House shortly after performing the Eid prayers to mark the Sallah.
According to him; “We are grateful to Allah. Ramadan has been a period of prayers and devotion. As a nation we need to reflect deeply on our common existence because we are challenged by so many aspects of our misdemeanors, crime and criminality.
”As a Moslem, most of the criminality is coming from us as members of the Islamic faith. That’s the issue of banditry, kidnapping and the rest.
”However, we must be very courageous to say it. It’s not something acceptable in the tenet of Islam. We should fear God to make sure we don’t give ourselves, our community and even our religion a bad name. We must have to change as this is really escalating to other parts of the country.”
Mohammed also called on the Federal government to work towards improving the security architecture, stated that tackling insecurity is a collective effort.
According to him, political, traditional and religious leaders have major roles to play.
He added, ”We know these bandits. We know where they stay and what they do. Sometimes they are aided and abetted by us.
“We should fish them out because the police in their limited numbers are already overwhelmed due to insufficient human capital.
”Apparently, the FG security architecture has failed not because of any compromise but because the situation is overwhelming.”
Thomas Tuchel , Chelsea Manager has said that his side’s 1-0 defeat by Arsenal on Wednesday was their own fault and a “wake-up call” ahead of a huge end to the season.
Tuchel’s side would have all but sealed a Premier League top-four finish with a win, but instead are now looking over their shoulders after a poor performance.
Emile Smith Rowe’s first-half goal settled the London derby after a defensive mix-up by the hosts in which Jorginho’s wayward backpass was scrambled off the line by Kepa Arrizabalaga but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang teed up Smith Rowe to score.
According to him; “Totally our fault, nobody else’s. We lost, it’s totally our responsibility. We had huge chances. We made an own goal more or less – total gift,” Tuchel said.
“We weren’t on the pitch with the same energy, it wasn’t easy to come up with the intensity and passing. We weren’t sharp enough and didn’t have the same hunger and attitude as we’re used to playing with. So it’s on us.”
“It was maybe too many changes from the last match and I take full responsibility for that. Maybe it’s the last wake-up call for all of us.”
With an FA Cup final on Saturday against Leicester City, Tuchel made a number of changes to his starting line-up.
It resulted in only a third defeat in 26 games in all competitions for Tuchel and left Chelsea in fourth spot in the Premier League with two games to play.
They are six points clear of West Ham United who have three matches left and seven ahead of Liverpool with four.
“I felt it a little bit coming in training and I’m a bit unlucky that it’s proven today on the pitch. I regret… we could have, we could have, we could have but we didn’t,” Tuchel said. “The choices were not so good from my side for the line-up. This is on me. We were unlucky. We can lose in football. We did everything today to lose.
“I’m not happy with my line-up. There were too many changes and I shouldn’t have done it like this. It was something in particular but I don’t want to tell you.”
Super Eagles Coach, Gernot Rohr has submitted a list of 35 players to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for the upcoming international friendly games in Austria in June.
The list which will be made public next week, our correspondent gathered has two new players who are being rewarded for their fine form for their respective European teams with a call up to the Super Eagles.
He also stuck with the majority of players who he has been working with the past few years since he was appointed coach of the team.
“Just two new names for now. Players who have done so well so far. The rest are mainly the ones who have been with the team the past few years. It should be released in two weeks time,” a source said.
Super Eagles will not doubt play two games during the June international window for national teams after the postponement of the start of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Talks are presently advanced with the African duo of Cameroon and Senegal with Germany also an option that Rohr wants ahead of the start of the World Cup qualifiers.
The Federal Government will soon resuscitate Special Terrorism Prosecution Courts in the country Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, has said.
The move, Malami said is geared towards the Federal Government’s commitment to end insecurity in the country.
This was contained in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Office,Dr. Umar Gwandu on Thursday.
The statement stated that, “Very soon, the Federal Government will, through the Federal Ministry of Justice’s Complex Case Group, resuscitate and reinvigorate the existing special terrorism prosecution courts in the country in order to bring to book all those found guilty so as to serve as deterrence to others” Malami said.
The Ebierien Itubor-led faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State on Thursday claimed that their decision to open a parallel secretariat was because the secretariat controlled by the faction loyal to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, was opened with the proceeds of corruption.
Itubor faction alleged that the property housing the party’s secretariat at Bay Bridge area of Yenagoa, the state capital, was acquired under Sylva as Governor with the proceeds of corruption.
Speaking on the lingering crisis in the APC in the state, a member of the faction, Sunday Frank-Oputu, claimed that the opening of the new secretariat was the best thing that had happened to the majority of party members.
According to him; “As far as I am concerned, it is the best thing that has happened to Bayelsa State because the former secretariat which is on Mbiama-Yenagoa road, is a property acquired with proceeds of corruption under Sylva’s government.
“When Sylva was governor, he asked the Bayelsa State Capital Development Authority to go and buy that property with state money. The evidence are there. Former Governor Seriake Dickson even went to court over the property and the matter is still in court.
“The money was paid from Bayelsa State government’s account. We all know the party’s secretariat is not and has never been on the government’s property before. That is a government property that belongs to all Bayelsans. Bayelsa State government’s property belongs to everybody both APC members, PDP members and the rest of the people.
“Therefore, a party cannot claim ownership of it and be using it, it’s wrong. I am using this same medium to call on the Governor of Bayelsa State to immediately prepare to take over that property because it rightly belongs to the Bayelsa State government”, he stated.
The property is a proceed of corruption. APC, as a party that does not believe in corruption. It stands for truth and justice. We are saying that a secretariat is a wrong place for Bayelsa to keep its APC secretariat.”
Frank-Oputu, who is a chieftain from Southern Ijaw, however, said that the status of the old party’s secretariat and the circumstances surrounding its acquisition had led to many political misfortunes for the party.
He claimed: “One, do you know that in 2015, we narrowly missed the governorship when Sylva had already got over 80,000 votes in Southern Ijaw but INEC cancelled, and we lost it.
“In 2019, we even won it, it was declared, but a day to the swearing-in, that was when the victory of the APC was upturned. All those are bad things showing that where the secretariat is situated is a bad place because it was acquired with proceeds of corruption.
APC cannot stand on the corrupt ground to do anything and succeed because President Muhammadu Buhari is a man who has a clean record when it comes to anti-corruption. So, for us as a people and believers of Buhari’s system of governance, that secretariat is the least place anybody should expect us to stay.”
Efforts to get the reaction of Sylva were not successful as his mobile phone failed to connect. Also, a text message sent to his phone was not responded to as of the time of filing this report.
