Thursday, August 29, 2013

Apex Court upholds Mimiko’s Election


As expected and without bias, the apex court of the land has upheld the election of Governor Olusegun Rahman Mimiko of Ondo State and dismissed the appeals by Rotimi Akeredolu of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, Olusola Oke of Peoples Democratic Party respectively.
Justice Walter Ononghen, who led six other justices on the proceedings, had reserved their ruling and fixed judgment for August 29 after counsel to parties adopted their addresses.
Messrs Akeredolu and Oke,had challenged the October 20, 2012 re-election of Mr. Mimiko of the Labour party (LP).
Mr. Akeredolu had prayed an order for a re-run election, while Mr. Oke sought for his declaration as governor.
They claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conspired with Mr. Mimiko to illegally add more than 90,000 fake voters in the voter register used for the election.
They further alleged that INEC failed to display the voter register before the election as mandated by the Electoral Act.
They said the election ought not to have been held as the processes leading to casting of votes were beclouded with `fraudulent’ actions.
The Akure Division of the Court of Appeal on July 2 dismissed the two appeals, and upheld Mr. Mimiko’s election.
The duo had filed separate appeals before the appellate court against the judgment of the Election Petitions Tribunal that had earlier dismissed their petitions.
The court held that the appellants failed to prove the allegations of substantial non-compliance of the 2012 election with Electoral Act 2010 as amended beyond reasonable doubt.
Dissatisfied with the decision of the appellate Court, Messrs Akeredolu and Oke approached the Supreme Court for what they called “further and better interpretation of the issues raised’’.
Wole Aina, who appeared for Mr. Akeredolu, urged the court to uphold his client’s relieves because the election was shrouded in “irregularities, fraud and conspiracy.”
In a swift interjection, Wole Olanipeku, counsel to Mr. Mimiko, urged the court to compel the counsel to the appellant to formerly announce the seeming extinction of ACN as a political party.
Mr. Olanipekun argued that the rules of the court compelled the ACN, which was the second appellant in the appeal to be struck out of the suit, having metamorphosed into the All Progressive Congress (APC) through a merger with other political parties.
However, Mr. Aina opposed Mr. Olanipeku’s submission, arguing that ACN’s status as an appellant still remained relevant.
“I am not oblivious of the fact that the party has gone through a process of merger resulting in a new political party called All Progressive Congress.
“This, I have read from the newspapers, and cannot be used as evidence. It is also left to be seen whether INEC has finally retrieved the party’s certificate of registration.
“So I urge the court to discountenance the ambush to frustrate the hearing of the appeal,’’ he said.
After a moment of pondering, Mr. Aina bowed to the pressure and filed an oral application for the substitution of the party with the APC as new appellant.
Mr. Olanipeku-led other counsel to the respondents to oppose the application, contending that such application ought to have been formally filed by officials of the APC.
They, therefore, prayed the court to summarily strike out ACN from the appeal, adding that the court lacked the jurisdiction to replace it with APC in the circumstance.
Giving a short ruling, Mr. Onoghen dismissed the application and ordered the striking out of ACN from the appeal.
“ACN has ceased to exist as a political party and by extension, a party in this appeal’’ he said.
Arguing the main appeal, Mr. Olanipeku, Yusuf Ali, counsel to LP, Onyechi Ikpeazu, counsel to INEC, jointly prayed the court to dismiss it.
They submitted that the appellant failed to prove the allegation of non-compliance to the Electoral Act in the conduct of the election.
Mr. Ikpeazu urged the court to discard the appellant’s affidavit that suggested that INEC accepted registering fake voters to assist Mimiko to gain upper hand in the election.
“My Lords, nothing of such happened as both the soft and hard copies of the voter register were given to all the political parties before the day of the election,’’ he said.
On the other appeal filed by the PDP Candidate, Lateef Fagbemi, counsel to Mr. Oke, urged the court to cancel the election.
“The court must stop the culture of impunity in the country’s electioneering by beginning to visibly punish offenders who benefit from such conspiracy theory like the one before you.
“We are here to tell the court that the election should not have held in view of the embellished voters register which gave the first respondent an edge over others,’’ Mr. Fagbemi said.
However, Oladipo Olanipekun, counsel to Mr. Mimiko, urged the court to dismiss the appeal, adding that the issues raised were not sustainable.
On whether the court had jurisdiction to entertain the appeals while the court is still on vacation, Wole Olanipeku led other counsel to challenge the action of the court.
They argued that the court was wrong to have shelved its vacation to attend to the appeal when a date in September was earlier fixed by the same court to hear it.
In his response, the presiding judge, Mr. Ononghen said the court derived its power from the constitution to cut-short the vacation to hear the appeals whose life would have expired on Aug 29.
“The 60 days set aside to dispose the appeals was billed to terminate on Aug. 29 and if we do not do this, it means the appeals will have been foreclosed without serving justice,” he held.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Akinlaja Inaugurates Registration Committee Members as Key Lawmakers Defect to Labour Party in Ogun State










The deputy national chairman of Labour Party, Hon Joseph Akinlaja has admonished the All Progressive Congress led administration in Ogun State to prepare its handover note, just as he affirmed that the coast is crystal clear for LP in the State to defeat APC in the 2015 gubernatorial polls.

Akinlaja made this declaration at a press conference he addressed on Tuesday August 27, 2013 at the Labour Party secretariat in Adatan, Abeokuta during the inauguration of registration committee members of the party.

‘‘My message to APC led administration in Ogun State is that they should be peaceful, they should allow contest to be like a game so that when we defeat them in 2015 they will accept defeat’’. Akinlaja affirmed.

Commenting on his mission to Ogun State LP secretariat, Hon Akinlaja said; ‘‘I am very impressed with the volume of turnout we recorded here today and am going to relay this to the national chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu and all the NEC members of the party that the presence of Labour in Ogun State is very significant and it’s a winning ticket for Labour Party come 2015. I said so because this is not a rally, its also not the inauguration of our party in this state, this is just to inaugurate a 4-man registration committee in each of the units, wards, and Local Governments, and also at State level and we witnessed this attendance? I think this is encouraging.’’

Speaking further the deputy national chairman said, ‘‘I am here because of the heavy presence of Labour Party enthusiasts in the state; we want to solidify the structures by starting from the foundation which is the determination of both real and potential Labour Party members in the state to harness them together into a formidable structure that is capable of winning an election. We have met different level of leadership in the State including His Excellency the former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, he subscribed to Labour Party and he is also part of what is happening here today not just him other political heavy weights in the state are also declaring their membership for Labour Party on a daily basis and I see this as a huge achievement for us.’’
Also at the event, 7 members of the Ogun State House of Assembly and two others representing the state in the House of Representatives defected to the Labour Party; they are former deputy speaker, Remmy Hassan (Odogbolu State Constituency); Samson Onademuren (Ijebu North East); and Adijat Adeleye-Oladapo (Ifo II), all members of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria stormed the inauguration of the membership registration committees of the LP in the state. 

The mammoth crowd also went into a jubilant mood when they noticed the arrival of party chieftains from the ACN, PPN and the PDP who also attended the event alongside with the governorship candidate of the PPN in the last 2011 guber polls, Mr. Gboyega Nasir Isiaka and the loyalists of former governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

Addressing the members of the party, the Ogun LP State Secretary, Sunday Oginni, corroborated what Hon Akinlaja said earlier, pointing that the emerging coalition was set to dislodge the ruling APC in the state. He described Governor Ibikunle Amosun leadership as lacking human face and competence, adding that the LP would correct the anomalies already noted in the current government in the state come 2015.

The Ogun ACN assembly members were also joined at the LP event by their Peoples Party of Nigeria colleagues in the state legislature, including John Obafemi, Joseph Adegbesan and Salmon Adeleke, representing Remo North, Ijebu North II and Imeko Afon state constituencies, respectively. Also at the inauguration of the LP membership registration committees was another assembly member, Abiodun Akovoyon, representing Ipokia Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. The nine Ogun Assembly members were in company with two members of the federal House of Representatives from the state, Abiodun Akinlade and Razaq Adewusi, respectively representing Ipokia/Yewa South and Imeko Afon/Yewa North Federal constituencies on the platform of the defunct ACN and PPN.


Emmanuel Ajibulu is Press Secretary to Hon Joseph Akinlaja

Bimbo Daramola: New Face of Socio-Economic Empowerment




In a renewed effort to redeeming his electoral promises, Hon Bimbo Daramola, a federal lawmaker representing Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1, comprising of Oye and Ikole Ekiti, once again brought excitement and respite to his constituents just as he offered various empowerment items to his people to sustain them socio-economically.
The elaborate event which witnessed an unprecedented crowd took place at Ifelodun Primary School in Ikole Ekiti on Saturday, August 17, 2013, where his stewardship-rendering known as “Abomire 2” was brought to full public glare. The beneficiaries were drawn from all the 24 wards in the constituency, with almost 600 people benefitting from the numerous empowerment items, irrespective of their political affiliation, ethnic or religion.
Items distributed at the programme included, 2 Luxury buses, 18 Cars, 42 Plasma TV sets, 24 Ceiling Fans, 12 Grinding Machine, 24 Generating Sets, 12 Vulcanizing Machines, 12 Sewing Machine, 12 Dryers, 10 Hair Clippers, 24 Farm Sprayer, 12 Deep Freezers, and 12 Motorcycle. Hon. Daramola also offered cash support of N25, 000 each to 48 youths to start their small scale businesses, 40 widows and other senior citizens also benefited from the gesture.
According to Hon Daramola, ‘‘this impactful zeal is aimed at empowering our people to make them self-employed and to complement the efforts of the state government in sustaining our human capital development initiative. My motivation for this project comes from my party, which has as one of its three major core values promotion of private enterprise for people to empower themselves and be self sustaining.’’ The astute lawmaker stated.
Daramola who is the deputy chairman committee on Millennium Development Goals had just been appointed few weeks a go by Rt. Hon Aminu Tambuwal Speaker House of Reps, as Chairman, adhoc committee to probe the allocation of plots of Land to companies and individuals in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and probable cases of fraud in the process from 2010 till date. This recent appointment was a pointer to the fact that Daramola is a parliamentarian of note whose meritorious contributions at the hallowed chamber cannot be underestimated.
Suffice to emphasize that this empowerment programme is expected to rub on every member of the constituency directly or indirectly. It is a delight that many past beneficiaries are now economically viable and are sustaining their families from the proceeds of the empowerment. However there are strong indications that the multi-million naira 38-bed hospital project at Ire-Ekiti which is still under construction would be completed and fully put to use before the end of 2014. This is another project embarked upon by Hon Bimbo Daramola; the edifice after completion would be opened to people in the community for them to enjoy free medical services, courtesy Hon Daramola.
Ayodele Bayode wrote from Ire Ekiti, Ekiti State, South-West