Stay Back In Your Village If You Can’t Obey Our Laws – Gov. Fashola

Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos state has reiterated his commitment to the enforcement of the new traffic law and the existing environmental laws of the state to ensure the state remains environmentally-friendly.
The governor, who disclosed this on Tuesday after visiting some on-going project sites, however sounded a note of warning to visitors and those intending to come and live in the commercial centre to be abreast with the details of these laws so as not to break them.

Mr Fashola said his administration will not fold its arms while some residents live in Lagos as if they are living in their villages.
“You can’t continue to live like you are in your village here in Lagos. Life in Lagos is changing by the day. The government has spent fortune to ensure good environment, drainages, roads and transportation system. It is unfortunate some people are still living as if they are in their village.
“Please, if you can’t obey our environmental and traffic laws, stay back in your village,” the governor warned.”
InformationNigeria.org

State Of Origin Controversy: Femi Falana, Itse Sagay Condemn CJN’s Action

Outrage has continued to greet yesterday Monday’s refusal by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Maryam Alooma-Mukhtar to swear in Justice Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo into the Court of Appeal on the basis of her inter-state marriage, just as it emerged that the National Judicial Council, NJC, duly approved her appointment.

Justice Maryam Alooma-Mukhtar

While eminent lawyers and legislators condemned the development, it emerged that the NJC actually approved  approved Justice Jombo-Ofo’s appointment as a replacement for the South-East geopolitical zone and not necessarily as a nominee of Abia State.
Human rights activist and legal luminary, Femi Falana (SAN) as well as International Law expert, Prof. Itse Sagay have spoken on the issue.
According to Femi Falana, “As soon as the appointment was made by President Goodluck Jonathan in line with Section 238(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the former High Court judges became Justices of the Court of Appeal in line with the Supreme Court decision of Ogbuyiga v. Okudo (1979) 1 All NLR. Having not been removed as a Justice of the Court of Appeal by the appointing authority, the refusal of the Chief Honourable Justice to administer the oath of office on the Honourable Justice Ifeoma Jumbo-Ofo cannot be justified in law.
“Since the appointment of the Honourable Justice Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo has not been validly set aside, she should not have been subjected to any embarrassment on the basis of a belated petition that sought to challenge the appointment on the ground that she is not an indigene of Abia State. In other words, the petition ought to have been discountenanced as it violates section 42 of the Constitution which has prohibited discrimination arising from circumstances of birth or sex.
“May we remind those who are opposed to the appointment of the Honourable Justice Ifeoma Jumbo-Ofo of the case of Augustine Mojekwu v. Caroline Mojekwu (1997) 7 NWLR (PT 512) 283 where Tobi JCA (as he then was) held inter alia: “All human beings – male and female- are born into a free world and are expected to participate freely, without any inhibition on grounds of sex, and that is constitutional. Any form of societal discrimination on grounds of sex, apart from being unconstitutional, is antithesis to a society built on the tents of democracy which we have freely chosen as a people.
“In the light of the foregoing, the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria should swear in the Honourable Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo without any further delay in the interest of justice and fair play.”
Professor Itse Sagay, SAN said, “I am very unpleasantly surprised. It is a narrow minded conduct. Where the person is working is where the person is contributing. It is very shocking, primitive, backward, uncivilized and totally unacceptable.
“I have a high regard for the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, but her conduct has shaken my confidence in her.”
InformationNigeria.org

CPC to finalise merger with ACN, others

Leading oppositon parties in the country have begun concrete moves to ensure they grip unto power from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections.
DailyPost gathered that a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Congress for Progressives Congress (CPC), scheduled for today is aimed at achieving the said purpose.
The meeting has as its top agenda, an endorsement ratification of the proposed merger with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and other political parties.
BOT Chairman and National Leader of the party, General Mohammadu Buhari, had initiated merger talks with ACN National Leader, Bola Tinubu, some months ago.
Buhari who contested the last three presidential elections, is keen to create a formidable alliance that can eject the PDP from power.
The CPC’s National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fashakin, noted that the party would be harmonising its terms and proposals for the merger plan with the ACN and other parties at the BOT meeting.
He said the party was excited about responses received from prominent opposition leaders, adding that it is only a strong coalition that will give the PDP a run for its money
DailyPost

Stop Tarnishing My Reputation – Orosanye Warns Ribadu

The last may have not been heard of last Friday’s rift between the chairman of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, Malam Nuhu Ribadu and his deputy, Mr. Steve Orasanye at the Aso Rock villa while submitting the task force’s findings to the president.

Steve Oronsaye

Orosanye, yesterday, accused Ribadu of carrying out a campaign of calumny against his person.
Ribadu had accused Orosanye of having a personal interest in one of the quizzed companies during its investigations but the former Head of Service of the Federation, denied having any link with Adax Petroluem and challenged Ribadu to prove the contrary if he has the facts.

Nuhu Ribadu

Orosanye in a strong worded statement issued yesterday in Abuja, said if the former chairman of the committee is so certain of his facts regarding an alleged $1.5 billion issue, he should have confronted him with it instead of making the allegations on pages of newspapers.
The statement reads,” My attention has been drawn to various false and spurious allegations leveled against my person by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as published in national newspapers of November 3rd 2012.
“While I do not intend to trade insults with Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, I must unequivocally state for the records that the blatant falsehoods, misrepresentations and outright slander and maligning of my reputation shall not go un-replied.
“I have never had a relationship or dealt with Addax Petroleum in my life in any capacity as stated by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu  and if he has any evidence whatsoever to the contrary, let him publish it for the record rather than engage in empty accusations.”
InformationNigeria.org

33-year-old mechanic absconds from home after wife delivers triplets

The birth of a child into a family is expected to bring ceaseless joy and happiness but the reverse is the case of a 33 year old auto-mobile mechanic, Yemi Oyeniyi, who took to his heels when he found out his wife, Esther, was blessed with a set of triplets.
It was learnt that trouble started for the Abeokuta based father of five, four months ago when his pregnant wife went for ultra-scan and it was revealed that she was carrying three babies.
According to the mother of the triplets, Esther Oyeniyi, who is still at the Ogun State Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta, her husband started behaving strangely when he got the result of the scan on June 3, 2012.
The 27 year old teacher said her husband’s behaviour towards her changed drastically after the scan, thus she became worried and had to relocate to a church at Okeyidi, also in Abeokuta.
Recounting her sojourn, the now mother of five said she was brought to the State Hospital, Ijaiye, Abeokuta by her church authorities for admission on October 19,2012, ten days later, she was delivered of a set of triplets, all girls.
With mixed feelings, the mother of the triplets lamented that, since Oyeniyi left their Okeyidi matrimonial home, his mobile phone had been switched off as all attempts to get through to him failed.
The visibly worried mother said during the naming ceremony organized by the church authorities, that neither her husband nor any of his family members who reside in Iganna, Oyo State was around.
Asked what she would do if the husband doesn’t return, the nursing mother said God would see her through.
DailyPost

5 Reasons Why President Obama won re-election

As the World comes to the reality of the victory of incumbent President Obama in the November 6, Presidential election the Business News Global Political team have identified 5 reasons why he won.
First reason was his championing of the middle-class and low income earners interest at the economic front. From the debate to his campaigns he shared his philosophy that to build an economy, it is done from the middle to the other levels.
Stating that no additional tax burden will be put on the middle-class workers but rather the high-income earners to help tackle the deficit challenges of the economy, won the confidence of the middle and low class income earners.
Second is his remarkable bail out of the Auto Industry which saw major corporations like General Motors and Chrysler come back from dead to life, this great intervention that secured thousands of Jobs that would have been lost and that inspired the workers to go out and massively vote Obama in Michigan and Ohio.
Third in his Foreign Policy President Barack  Obama achieved the great  feat of  eliminating America’s number one public enemy ‘Osama Bin Laden’ in Pakistan, without spending much and that remarkable feat went down into the records for him.
Fourth  the unfortunate political comment of his challenger Governor Mitt Romney at a fundraiser that ‘47% of Americans are victims of the government’  gave him the edge ahead of the elections.
Finally the Hurricane Sandy episode brought out a strong leader in President Obama  as his remarkable coordination of relief efforts for the displaced people and the prompt approval of express funds and aid to worst hit states,  gave him the maximum votes in New Jersey and New York.
BusinessNews

Ribadu’s report drama, ploy by Presidency to cover oil sector rot – Malami, SAN

  By Soni Daniel
 ABUJA—The open disagreement over the report of the Nuhu Ribadu-led committee, which investigated the rot in the Nigerian oil industry, has been described as a premeditated action by the Presidency to rubbish the outcome and prevent the administration from accepting and implementing the recommendations.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, who made the claim in an exclusive interview with Vanguard yesterday, pointed out that the drama over the manner in which the report was written and presented to the government was masterminded by the same government that set it up.
“The purpose of what the government did was simply to divert Nigerians’ attention from the monumental looting by certain well placed individuals and top government agencies so as have justification for not implementing it.
“These elements are well connected and the government does not appear to be in a hurry to touch them given the weight of the evidence in both the Ribadu report and the Subsidy panel against them.
The legal practitioner said it was wrong for the Presidency to set up a committee to probe the infractions in the oil sector only for the same government to openly rubbish the outcome.
According to him, the President should have allowed Ribadu to hand in his report and ask for any other dissenting opinion on the matter, thereafter.
“The drama we saw was so clear that the government had planned to discredit the report turned in by the former EFCC chairman and it does not help this country in any way.
Turning to the political turf, Malami, who is the National Legal Adviser of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, noted that Nigerians should de-emphasise the issue of region and religion in the choice of the next President and focus on the capacity of the person to serve the nation.
According to him, the choice of the next president should be based strictly on the ability of the person to take the country to the next level, the preparedness of the person to take appropriate measures to tackle rising insecurity in the land and check mounting corruption that has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation.
Malami said, “No sectional presidency can salvage this country from its present decay and despondency. What we really need is a man who has the courage and the determination to confront the menace of corruption and insecurity that has stifled the nation’s progress.
The legal practitioner also dismissed as a waste of time and resources the current move to amend the Nigerian Constitution, pointing out that Nigeria’s problem was not caused by the constitution but by the treatment of issues with impunity by both the government and the people.
He said that without a deliberate and sustained effort by the government to tackle corruption and other challenges that have tended to keep the nation down, Nigerian would continue to slip daily even if the constitution was amended daily.
On the type of government that is most suitable for Nigeria given its complexity of religion and culture, Malami suggested that Federalism, which is currently being practiced in the country remains the best but called for serious reformations in the system to serve the people better.
He opined that the cost of governance should be drastically reduced so as to free some funds for the development of the critical areas of the economy and take care of the majority of the citizens who have been cut off from governance and thrown into the abyss of poverty.
“We should continue with Federalism but reduce the cost centres to the barest minimum by making government highly unattractive at all levels. All expenses associated with all tiers of government should be slashed substantially while accountability should be strengthened at all levels.
“We do not really need a full time National Assembly, which has taken a lot of our resources at the moment while the Executive should cut down on several areas of waste and save  the money to improve the welfare of the majority of Nigerians who are languishing in squalour.
Vanguard