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BREAKING: More sorrow for Fubara! *S’Court nullifies Rivers polls, sacks LG bosses
The atmosphere around Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, may certainly not be a happy one as the Supreme Court, has continued to hit hard on the foundation of his government, the latest being the nullification of the outcome of the Local Government Elections that were held in Rivers State on October 5, 2024.
The apex court on Friday, upheld an appeal brought before it by the All Progressives Congress (APC), questioning the integrity of the polls which produced 22 of the 23 council chairmen from the Action Peoples Party (APP), while the remaining council was won by Action Alliance (AA), in th 23 council structure.
Apart from the initial violence that trailed the events prior to the election, the state practically went into flames on Monday, October 7 after the inauguration of the executives by Fubara a day before as some of the headquarters of councils were torched by unknown assailants, sparking off accusations and counter accusations by the forces loyal to the governor and those of Nyesom Wike, his predecessor.
About four months after, the Governor has been handed a verdict from the apex court that his efforts were in vain as he had no legal basis to carry out his actions, on the same day he also lost the bid to cling to the four-man faction of the House of Assembly after the same court held that the status of Martin Amaewhule Group of 27 House of Assembly members remained valid.
Justice Jamilu Tukur, who read a unanimous decision by a five-member panel of the apex court, vacated the November 21, 2024, judgement of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which validated the elections.
In doing so, the court held that there was no evidence to establish that the conditions precedent stipulated by section 150(3) of the Electoral Act, 2010, was met before the election was conducted by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commissioners (RSIEC).
Having demolished the position of the Court of Appeal, the apex court restored the verdict of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), from releasing voters’ register to the RSIEC for the conduct of the LG polls.
It will be recalled that a special panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi held that the high court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain suit against the Rivers State LG elections.
The appellate court equally faulted the trial court for barring security agencies from providing security during the elections.
According to the appellate court, section 28 of the Electoral Act does not cover elections conducted by states but only federal elections, governorship and Area Council Elections in the Federal Capital Territory.
It held that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who had on the strength of a suit that was filed by the APC, stopped the conduct of the Rivers State LG elections, acted outside his jurisdiction.
Justice Lifu had based his judgement on the fact that the RSIEC erred by fixing date for the conduct of polls in the 23 local government areas of the state without strict compliance with relevant laws guiding such election.
Justice Lifu held that the RSIEC failed to publish the 90-day mandatory notice before it scheduled the election.
More so, he held that the update and revision of voters’ register to be used for the election ought to have been concluded before any valid date could be fixed for the polls.
Consequently, he ordered INEC not to make the certified voters’ register available to RSIEC, pending when the relevant laws were complied with.
He further barred RSIEC from accepting any voter register from INEC or using same for the purpose of the LG polls, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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