Connect with us

Uncategorized

Tinubu already planning for 2027 – Kalu *Says, APC mustn’t leave S’East behind

Published

on

“If you start now to plan and adopt this spirit of inclusion, South-East is going to yield a better harvest than what was yielded before,” were the words with which Ben Kalu, member representing Bende Federal Constituency of the House of Representatives, hailed the All Progressives Congress (APC), for recognising the South East in the sharing of position in the 10th National Assembly, due to be inaugurated next month.

Kalu, who was nominated for the the position of the Deputy Speaker in the APC’s announcement, announced last week, while hailing the move, said it was a veritable means of getting the South-East geopolitical zone buy into the APC philosophy.

The lawmaker while arguing that doing otherise would further alienate the party from the zone in 2027, saying: “When you talk about nation building you forget about sentiments, you forget about emotions and look at the strongest argument and the strongest argument here is how do we make a diversity sensitive leadership, nation-building effort that will incorporate all the beautiful efforts of all the diverse part of the country coming together to work for what we peach? It’s by unity, peace and progress.”

A guest of Sunday Politics, a current affairs programme on  Channels Television, he added: “You may recall that in the last four years, the South-East was not holding any of the presiding officers’ position and it has impacted on this election, among other things. I can assure you, if you neglect South-East again, a whole zone in such sensitive position, then you battle again in 2027, that is a big risk for any great planner to take.

In the recent zoning arrangement announced by the APC for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, Godswill Akpabio from the South-South was picked for Senate President and Barau Jibrin from the North-West was picked for the Deputy Senate President.

For the House of Representatives, the party picked Tajudeen Abbas from the North-West for the Speakership position to be deputized by Kalu from the South-East.

However, the APC zoning arrangement has not gone down well with many lawmakers, especially those from the North-Central who feel the zone has been ignored in the whole arrangement.

 

Uncategorized

Police after ‘drunken hunter’ who shot 14-year-old girl in Lagos  

Published

on

Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command, are after a local hunter they claimed was responsible for the fatal shot that killed a 14-year-old girl yet to be identified in the Ayinla Akera area of Orile Agege, Lagos on Tuesday.

The PUNCH METRO, reports that they had already arrested three yet-to-be-identified suspects linked to the incident, quoting on James Joel, a resident of the area as saying that the incident happened on Tuesday night.

The unfortunate girl, whose corpse was seen in a viral video lying on the ground with fresh blood oozing out from a wound in her head, was said to be running an errand for the parents, when she was shot dead by the hunter who said to be riding on motorcycle.

While residents at the scene wailed in anguish, some voices in the background alleged that the act was carried out by the policemen from the Elere Police Station in the area.

“Policemen from Elere; they have killed somebody. If this turns to war, they will run. She was sent on an errand and she was killed,” the voices were overheard saying differently, as they implicated the police operatives.

But the Divisional Police Officer of Elere Station, Amodu Jimoh, when contacted on Wednesday, reportedly dismissed the report linking policemen to the incident, even though he confirmed the incident, saying the corpse was taken to a nearby hospital, and that the woman who ran the shop where the man went to drink, had been traced.

He said: “On Tuesday night, our men were patrolling. The policemen saw some people crowded on the street there. They tried to find out what was happening. They were told somebody shot at a small girl.

“They saw the corpse on the ground. It was a 14-year-old girl. They asked for the person that shot her. They were told it was a hunter carrying a Dane gun. He was drunk. There is a woman selling alcoholic drink beside the place. Maybe he was about to remove something and the gun fired. He came with a bike and it was likely an accidental discharge.”

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

BREAKING: Kegame, eyes fresh tenure, set to rule Rwanda till 2034

Published

on

Paul Kagame, Rwandan President, who assumed power in 2000, would be seeking another term in office which would see to his being in power for 34 years if he wins over the next 10 years that would see him stretching till 2029 in the first instance and another five.

A 2015 resolution via a referendum which changed the country’s constitution, apart from allowing him contest for a seven year tenure, which he won, also allowed him the eligibility to contest for two extra terms of five years maximum at the end of it, which would start by next year.

This would be the fourth time he would be seeking election for the nation’s top job, after serving as Vice President and Minister of Defence for six years in the government of Pasteur Bizimugu from 1994 to 2000.

The 65-year-old President, while speaking on the election due to be held next year, was quoted to have told Jeune Afrique, a French-language news magazine, in an interview published online on Tuesday: “Yes, I am indeed a candidate. I am pleased with the confidence that Rwandans have placed in me. I will always serve them, as long as I can.”

In March, the country’s government decided to synchronise the dates for its parliamentary and presidential elections, due to be held in August next year, meaning that Kagame, the hero who ended the government that saw the killing of over 800,000 citizens during the infamous Rwandan genocide and had been at the corridors of power ever since, would be contesting alongside the parliamentarians.

Continue Reading

News

We didn’t write tribunal judgement – Tinubu lawyers *Explains watermarks on PEPC document

Published

on

For lawyers to President Bola Tinubu, known as Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT), the insinuation that the watermarks on the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), was a confirmation that the team wrote the judgement for the five-man panel, is nothing but mischievous.

Babatunde Ogala (SAN), who dismissed the claim, offered explanations on how the inscriptions appeared on the document, saying it was deliberately made on the copies given to the team by the PEPT secretariat to differentiate it from the others, adding that those given to other parties in the dispute did not bear the same marks.

Ogala while explaining the situation, said: “Following some mischievous insinuations being made in certain quarters regarding the innocuous water-mark of copies of the consolidated judgment of the Court of Appeal with the inscription -“Tinubu Presidential Legal Team ‘TPLT’”, it is has become necessary to offer this clarification.

“After the delivery of judgment in the 3 (Three) election petitions by the Court of Appeal on September 6, 2023, the Court directed its registry to make physical copies of same available on September 7, 2023. Accordingly, the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team applied for a certified true copy of the said judgment and paid the prescribed fee. Lawyers for PDP were present at the registry at the same time to collect the same judgment.

“In fact, the representative of the PDP collected the first copy that was made available by the registry. On collecting our own copy, we immediately scanned and water-marked with the inscription – “Tinubu Presidential Legal Team ‘TPLT’” before circulating the scanned soft copies to the lawyers in our team.

“The certified true copies issued to us and other parties in the petitions by the registry do not contain the said inscription and any insinuation to the contrary is untrue. Counsel to the petitioners will also appreciate the fact that the insinuations being circulated in some quarters are untrue, unkind, unfair, and unfortunate, as they have the same certified copies of the judgment as we have.”

Continue Reading

Trending