Nigerian Gazette

Your Blackmail Against Akwa Ibom Tribunal Judges Won’t Work, Group Slams Akpabio Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been advised to focus on his new assignment as a minister and stop blackmailing members of the  National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Akwa Ibom State, with false and childish bribery allegations “when he could have actually been the one who tried to compromise the tribunal members and failed.” The Elections Transparency Group, ETG, in a release on Tuesday, said it was worrisome that in his bid to arm-twist the Appeal Court President, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, into disbanding the Tribunal or move its sittings from Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital to Abuja, Senator Akpabio has now commissioned media propaganda against the Tribunal Chairman, Justice W. O. Akanbi.”  Recall that a week ago today, it was widely reported across the media space and platforms that Senator Akpabio had concluded plans to blackmail the Tribunal Chairman and oth...

Akwa Ibom Guber Tribunal: How President Buhari's Aide,  Ita Enang shot at voters to snatch voting materials ...WITNESS EXPLAINS HOW UDOM FLOORED EKERE IN IKOT ABASI President Muhammadu Buhari's Senior Special Assistant on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Solomon James Enang shot at, and injured some voters during the Governorship Elections at Ibiono Ibom, Ward 2, Units 11 and 12, with one hospitalized for many months, a witness told the Akwa Ibom state Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal in Uyo, Friday. The witness, Nicholas Edward Andy who told the tribunal that it was the only reported incident that took place in his local government area, said Senator Enang shot at the voters to enable him cart away INEC materials in those units. Andy, a PDP agent in the Governorship Elections, testifying as RW 22 was 2nd Witness of the 2nd Respondent, as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP opened its defense. He intimated the tribunal under cross examination by Assam Assam,SAN counsel t...

Victimisation, using and dumping heads of tertiary institutions in Nigeria It has become a common phenomenon in some Academic Institutions in the Country, Nigeria for some Governments of the day to inherit Heads of Tertiary Institutions only for them to be victimized and even after removing them, government would appoint Acting Officers or transitional Heads of Tertiary Institutions and later dump them. Academic Institutions have their respective rules that govern the appointments of their Heads, most especially; Vice Chancellors, Provosts and Rectors.President and Governors newly assuming office often rubbish these rules to pave way for assertion of authorities and prejudice perhaps due to naivety, misinformation or sentimentality. It is common these days that whenever a new government is formed, the first target is usually the tertiary institutions, receiving bashes and lashes while some political thugs hail their principals at this ugly scenario of misfeasance. In the process of des...

Akwa Ibom Gov, Udom Emmanuel Meets PDP Caucus, Assures of Better Days Ahead Governor Udom Emmanuel has expressed appreciation to members of the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the PDP for their support which led to victory for the party in the last general elections, promising that better days lie ahead. The state chief executive made the appreciation at a meeting held at the permanent secretariat site of the party at Atan offot, Uyo. He commended the women,youths and Elders for their steadfastness and the support that aided his re-election, assuring that the PDP would continue to garner more strength in the state. "I thank all of you, from unit to wards and the chapters of the party." Overwhelmed by the success at the Polls Governor Emmanuel assured the party faithful of better days ahead. "Today,  I stand here as the man  elected through the platform of this great party to re-echo my avowed commitment to the Akwa Ibom Project.  "I will cha...

BREAKING: Akpabio Boasts, "I have the Appeal Court President in my pocket, Tribunal will be moved from Uyo to Abuja in the next 24 hours" Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State,  Senator Godswill Akpabio, may have finally succeeded in his plot to move sittings of the Election Petitions Tribunal from Uyo,  the state capital,  to Abuja for easy manipulations. Our reporter gathered exclusively that Akpabio boasted today, that "he has finally convinced the Appeal Court President, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to move the Tribunal currently sitting in Uyo to Abuja in the next 24 hours from where a ruling that will favour him will be written.” Akpabio, who has been nominated as minister by President Muhammadu Buhari and is billed to be sworn in tomorrow,  is challenging the victory of Senator Chris Ekpenyong in the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District election.  "Watch out, in the next 24 hours, the tribunal will be moved from Uyo to Abuja and as I speak, the judgement th...

Buhari, APC Urge Tribunal To Dismiss Atiku, PDP’s Petition On Technicalities, Evidential Grounds President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC have urged the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the February 23 general election on technicalities and evidential grounds. The prayers formed the gamut of other requests contained in both Buhari and APC final addresses to be adopted on August 23 made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja. The respondents had described Abubakar’s address that urged the tribunal to sack Buhari and affirm him (Abubakar) president, as a “wild goose chase prayer’’. They alleged that PDP erroneously allowed a candidate who was not a Nigerian by birth to contest the highest position, adding that such was an adventure that violated the provision of the Constitution. The president and his party, therefore, prayed the tribunal to invok...

Multi-Million Naira Contracts Scam In Ekiti SUBEB,  Bank Accounts Flagged, Fayemi Threatens Chairman With Sack All is not well in the Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board  (SUBEB) as an attempt by the Chairman, Prof Francisca Aladejana to expose what she thought was contracts scam perpetrated by the immediate past administration of Mr. Ayodele Fayose has boomerang, leading to invitation of top official of the agency to Abuja.  Also,  the bank account of Ekiti SUBEB is also said to have been flagged while some of its top officials have been invited to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Abuja for questioning.  Sources in the known confided in our reporter that the SUBEB chairman, had discovered when she assumed office that contracts worth close to N1 billion was hurriedly awarded, with one single company getting more than 30. The contracts were allegedly sold to third parties at exorbitant rate of 35 percent making execut...

Nsima Ekere: Liar Or Confused? I've seen several online campaigns by members of the All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom State, calling for the  annulment of the March 9th gubernatorial election results as announced by INEC.  They've equally stated their reasons why the governorship Tribunal sitting in Uyo should cancel the results presented before them by INEC. The primary reason is that the results presented by INEC are doctored results, maintaining that their party, APC won the election in 26 Local Government Areas of the State.  Having a glance on their governorship Candidate's petition, I discovered that the APC supporters are contradicting Nsima's petition. They're confusing themselves with their counter productive suppositions.  Nsima Ekere on his petition stated emphatically  that election held in only two Local Government Areas ( Etim Ekpo and Essien Udim) therefore, the results presented for the remaining 29 Local Government Areas should be cancelled...

Breaking: Court Grants Atiku’s Son In-Law Bail A Federal High Court in Lagos State on Thursday granted bail to Abdullahi Babalele, son in-law to Atiku Abubakar, 2019 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Justice Nicholas Oweibo granted him bail in the sum of N20million with one surety in like sum. According to the judge, the surety must be resident in Lagos and must produce evidence of means through an affidavit. He also ordered Babalele to deposit his passport. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had on Wednesday arraigned Babalele for allegedly laundering $140,000 during the general elections. He, however, pleaded not guilty to the two-count charges leveled against him. The commission also arraigned Atiku’s lawyer, Uyiekpen Giwa-Osagie and his brother Erhunse Giwa-Osagie, on a separate charge of laundering $2million.

Ita Enang and his Tortoise Antics Bassey Ukpong On Monday August 11, the media were saturated with the news that Senator Ita Enang had been relieved of his appointment as the Senior Special Assistant to President on National Assembly (Senate) with Omoworare Babajide, a former senator from Osun state, appointed to take over from him.  Since this news broke, Ita Enang has exhibited tortoise attitude of sitting tight in office and feigning ignorance of his sack.  Perhaps Senator Ita Enang is yet to realise that his role in splurging lies against Governor Udom Emmanuel's administration in his home-state, Akwa Ibom  is over.  Enang is yet to come to terms with the fact that he has essentially been impersonating the office of the SSA to the President on National Assembly ( Senate) and that is a crime that should warrant his arrest and prosecution. Information emanating from the Presidency has it that Senator Ita Enang has promised not to vacate the...

Wadume’s property seized as accounts placed under probe   Security operatives and the panel probing the killing of policemen by soldiers in Taraba State have seized some property of suspected kidnap kingpin Hamisu Bala alias Wadume. Wadume, whose arrest by Police anti-kidnapping squad, sparked a row that led to the killing on August 6, of three policemen and a civilian by soldiers, is on the run. The police have launched a manhunt for him and at least two panels are probing the matter. It was learnt that Wadume’s properties in Taraba and other states, including the houses he allegedly built for friends and some community leaders, have been sealed up by the panel. It was learnt that more than 20 vehicles in the fleet of his transport company, including the private cars he gave out to his allies and kinsmen, have been impounded and taken to the Wukari police station. Thirteen of the vehicles are Volkswagen Sharon. Dozens of employees at Wadume’s Transport business, including the comp...

Insecurity in Nigeria: Robbers Raid Police Barracks Police officers and their families residing in the ‘B’ Police Barracks along the Benin-Onitsha expressway in Asaba, Delta State have raised the alarm of incessant robbery attacks on them in recent times. The residents of the barracks who spoke to The Sun on condition of anonymity, said the robbery suspects have taken advantage of the prevailing dakrness in the barracks to unleash series of attacks on them. The barracks was thrown into darkness two months ago after yet-to-be-identified persons vandalized the transformer serving the barracks and who also made away with the cables. ”Robbers have been coming here to dispossess us of our property. We have lost power generating sets, handsets laptops and personal effects to the dreaded thieves. There is uncleared vegetation at the other side of the barrack, through which they gain access to the barrack. They have been tormenting us lately. They come through the bush, and...

Ekiti monarchs drag Fayemi to Court over appointment of Chairman of Council of Obas Some aggrieved monarchs have instituted a suit against Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi over the appointment of the Alawe of Alawe Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Alabi as the Chairman of the State traditional council of Obas. The suit, filed before an Ado-Ekiti High Court is asking the court to nullify the appointment of Oba Adebanjo, describing the action taken by Fayemi to appoint someone outside the stipulated 16 Monarchs called ‘Alademerindinlogin’ to occupy the prestigious seat, as a flagrant disregard of the Ekiti State Chieftaincy Law. The governor had on July 31st appointed Oba Alabi as the Council Chairman to serve for a period of two years following the tenure expiration of Oloye of Oye Ekiti, Oba Oluwole Ademolaju. Joined in the suit registration number HAD/76/2019 are; Governor Kayode Fayemi(1st defendant), Attorney General of Ekiti State, Wale Fapohunda (2nd) and Oba Adebanji Alabi(3rd). An ori...

GOV EMMANUEL RECEIVES EXCELLENCE RECOGNITION FROM US CONGRESS  Uduak Inwang, Texas. The Governor of Akwa Ibom State Mr. Udom Emmanuel has been honoured by the United States Congress for his industrialisation policy in the State. The award was presented to the Governor by Senior Chief Deputy Whip of  the United States House of Representatives and an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee during the 32nd Annual Convention of Akwa Ibom Association of Nigeria (AKISAN), USA Inc, 2019, which took place at the Houston Marriott Westchase, Houston Texas, over the weekend. The award was recieved on behalf of the Governor by the Secretary to the State Government Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson who is currently the U.S. Representative for Texas' 18th Congressional District currently serving in her 13th term in the House, appreciated the efforts of the  Governor for turning Akwa Ibom State into an industrial hub and a d...

Top Ganduje critic kidnapped in Kaduna Abubakar Idris, a social media commentator known for his strong criticism of Governor Umar Ganduje, has been kidnapped in Kaduna. Khadija Idris said her husband was abducted at their residence near the Psychiatric Hospital in Barnawa neighbourhood of Kaduna.  The incident occurred at about 1:00 a.m. as Mr Idris was returning home. “He opened the gate by himself and drove in,” his wife said. “But as he was about to lock the gate, two men accosted him and took him away in his car.” Mrs Idris said her husband’s abductors had red caps on and one of them held a gun to his head to forcibly shove him into the vehicle. Aminu Idris, a younger brother of Mr Idris’, said the family could not immediately ascribe a motive to the abduction. The kidnappers had also not been in touch. “We are still waiting to hear what they want us to do,” the brother said. “It is a very tough situation for the family right now.” The ma...