Security beefed up as Jega relocates to Ondo

There were restrictions of movement within and around the Independent National Electoral Commission, Alagbaka, Akure on Tuesday by soldiers and policemen ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

Meanwhile, INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, was expected to arrive in the state on Tuesday to oversee the election.

Our correspondent, who visited the INEC headquarters, reported that there was a heavy security presence at the office.

The street leading to the office was manned by policemen who questioned pedestrians and motorists using the road.

Visitors without scheduled official business at the office were turned back by security officials manning the gate.

Kogi legislators impeach Speaker, others

KOGI State House of Assembly Speaker Abdullai Bello and four other principal officers have been impeached. The Speaker was replaced by Lawal Jimoh who represents Okene II.
Of the 25 members of the House, 17 signed the impeachment letter.
Bello’s impeachment came 16 months after he was elected Speaker and nine months after he was sworn in on January 27 as acting governor, a few hours after the incumbent helmsman, Idris Wada, took office. The rivalry was eventually resolved in Wada’s favour.
Other affected principal officers are Deputy Speaker Emmanuel Mebije, Majority Leader Yakubu Yunusa, Chief Whip Saidu Akawu Salihu and Minority Leader Adeyemi Abidemi.
Gowon Paul Haruna, representing Dekina 1 Constituency who moved the motion during the emergency meeting, said the majority members of the Assembly had lost total confidence in the leadership of some of the principal officers.

Jonathan Was Misunderstood On Single Term

The presidency, yesterday, said that President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposal for a single term for the President and Governors was misunderstand, and maintained that it was twisted to mean the president was seeking tenure elongation through the backdoor.
Speaking at a media dialogue with Editors on Constitution Amendment Process at Sheraton Hotel in Lagos, organised by Democratic
Governance for Development Project in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati urged the media to assist in the sensitisation and debate on the ongoing constitution amendment at the National Assembly.
He noted that the president’s intention on the constitution was twisted, and said, “Now it is not new. In the last 30 years there have been attempts to amend the constitution so many times.

Heavy Bombing in Potiskum

Heavy explosions and gunfire rocked  Potiskum, the Yobe state capital Wednesday, residents said, after violence this week left at least 24 people dead in the sister city of Maiduguri in Borno state.
Blasts and shootings shook residents of the town, previously hit hard by violence blamed on the extremist group Boko Haram, residents said.
The police commissioner for Yobe state, where Potiskum is located, said there had been a bomb explosion and security forces afterward cordoned off the area and began house-to-house searches.
He did not say whether there had been any casualties.

Bakassi people sue FG

EFFORTS by the National Boundary Commission, NBC, to demarcate the maritime boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon have run into a legal storm as leaders of Bakassi have taken legal action against the commission.
The suit,which was filed at an Abuja High Court, yesterday, may be the first of the series of legal actions which the aggrieved people of Bakassi want to take against individuals, governments and agencies that worked directly, or indirectly, to take away their land, endanger their cultural heritage and rendered them as refugees in their own country.
The people of Bakassi are challenging the NBC which is expected to start the process of demarcation of the new boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon based on the 1975 Marowa Declaration, which set the controversial Ngo/Coker line which jettisoned the April 1893 and the 1954 international boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon.
The old boundary sets the boundaries and co-ordinates at the Rio Del Re Estuary, which was concealed in the memorandum of facts which Cameroon took to the International Court of Justice in 1994.
Leader of Save Bakassi Group, Mr. Maurice Ekong, told Vanguard that the people of Bakassi had decided to take legal action against the NBC because the commission’s actions are illegal and unconstitutional.
He said: “President Goodluck Jonathan went to New York last month to tell the world that he believed in the rule of law. We want to test that mantra of the president in the case of Bakassi because there are several issues here that require the interpretation of legal minds. First, we know that the Green Tree Agreement, GTA, which they have been using has not been domesticated by the National Assembly, the highest law making arm of government in Nigeria.
The provisions of GTA are inconsistent with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Supreme Court, the National Boundary Commission and all agencies of Federal Government should derive their powers from valid laws of the land and the constitution. We believe that the NBC is acting based on the provisions of GTA and the pronouncement of ICJ, both of which did not take into account the position of Bakassi people.”
Mr. Ekong said the decision to sue NBC is to forestall any violent reaction from angry Bakassi people and to prevent a foreclosure of the fate of Bakassi people who are still hopeful that they would reclaim their land.
Another prominent Bakassi leader told Vanguard that Bakassi people have also concluded plans to sue Nigeria for extracting oil from Bakassi illegally since 1975 and leaving the peninsula impoverished and under-developed.
Source

Lagos State to impound bad vehicles

The Lagos State Government has announced that it would commence impounding rickety vehicles plying roads in the state.
The state’s Chief Vehicle Inspection Officer (CVIO), Gbolahan Toriola, on Monday, said that most road accidents in the state were caused by non-road worthy vehicles.
“We are set to get these rickety vehicles off the roads to make our roads safe and to achieve the proposed plan of making Lagos Metropolis a mega city,” he said.
“With the enforcement of the new traffic law in the state, motorists plying Lagos roads should obey traffic laws, make sure that their vehicles are road-worthy and they should also obtain the required valid documents.”
Toriola further stated that VIO had visited LAGBUS and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) depots in the metropolis to prevent their rickety buses from operating.
“It is sad to see how poorly these buses are being handled. We will never relent in making the LAGBUS and BRT buses road-worthy and worthy of emulation to other commercial buses in the state,” he said.
Both LAGBUS and BRT are franchised transport companies under the regulation of the Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).

Funke Akindele, Patience Ozokwor and Others Star In "A WISH" - New Movie By Elvis Chuks, Set To Be Premiered In December!

Diamond Groove Productions presents 'A Wish' - hilarious movie  about a single mother who is petty trader with no opportunity of education, but who has One Wish ... to be able to see her child go to school and explore the opportunities she never had, but fate stricks when she discovers she has a few years to live after being diagnosed with cancer.....