INEC SACKS FOUR COLLATION OFFICERS OVER ALLEGED PARTISANSHIP IN RIVERS GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION

Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Rivers State, Obo Effanga, has said that four collation officers for the governorship election in Rivers State who were alleged to be partisan have been removed.

In a statement on Friday, Effanga said: “Our attention have been drawn to a petition about the list of LGA collation officers for the governorship election in Rivers State wherein four of the listed persons were alleged to have partisan inclination.

“We have since updated the list by removing the said persons whom we had no prior knowledge of their alleged partisanship.

“They said officers were selected from the lists sent to us from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), headquarters as lecturers in the University of Port Harcourt, as well as those other lecturers who attended the training we held for academic Staff of the University of Port Harcourt.“We took every reasonable step to ensure that the proposed collation officers were without any partisanship, even as we requested each person to disclose any such interest which may not be known to us.

“We have since briefed the Chairman of INEC on this, following his request for response by us.”

AKWA IBOM STATE RANKS HIGHEST IN HIV/AIDS PREVALENCE RATE IN NIGERIA

The Nigerian HIV/AIDs Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) has shown that Akwa Ibom has the highest prevalence rate of HIV in the country.

The result indicates that about 5.5 per cent of the people living with HIV in Nigeria are in Akwa Ibom State, followed by Benue State, which has about 5.3 per cent prevalence rate.

It also states that while the North-West has the lowest prevalence rate at 0.6 per cent, the South-South geopolitical zone has the highest with 3.1 per cent.
Speaking during the announcement of the NAIIS result on Thursday, the Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDs (NACA), Sani Aliyu, said about 1.9 million Nigerians are currently living with HIV.

The event was held at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja.
He said the percentage of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) in Nigeria, among the age group of 15-49 years, is 1.4 per cent (1.9 per cent among females and 0.9 per cent among males.)

In his response to the prevalence rate in the state, the minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, said this is not the time to start blaming states.
“For the south-south, (it) is Akwa-Ibom that has the highest prevalence, and, for the North Central, it is still Benue State.

“But then we should also look at the quality of interventions we have had. Benue has one of the largest interventions programme in the country, so that is also expected to yield results.

“It would have been frustrating if with those interventions, we now have 10 per cent in Benue.” he said.

He noted that he was quite happy about the downward trend in Benue State.
In his goodwill message, David Young, Charge de Affairs, Embassy of the United States of America, said “Beyond the data, the survey has proved the capacity of Nigerians working together in solidarity with one another to rise and resolve challenges regarding the health and well being of their brothers and sisters.

“The US government is proud to support Nigeria in conducting the NAIIS survey,” he said.

The Country Director, Center for Disease Control Nigeria (CDC), Mahesh Swaminathan said the results will help the government improve it efforts in the fight against the virus.

“The encouraging results presented today, along with ongoing monitoring and evaluation data will help the Government of Nigeria to intensify efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDs to achieve epidemic control.

“CDC will continue to work alongside our Nigerian brothers and sisters in this fight.” he said.

SUPREME COURT AFFIRMS INTERIM FORFEITURE OF ANOTHER N2.4BN LINKED TO DAME PATIENCE JONATHAN

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed another order of interim forfeiture made by the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court in respect of the sum of N2.4bn allegedly traced to the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

The apex court had, barely a week ago, affirmed an interim forfeiture of the sum of $8.4m belonging to the ex-First Lady and directed her to return to the Federal High Court in Lagos to show cause why the fund should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

On Friday, in a separate appeal, a five-man Bench of the apex court unanimously handed down a similar verdict on another sum of N2,421,953,522 in the bank account of Lawari Furniture & Bath Limited, a firm which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had linked to Mrs. Jonathan.

Lawari Furniture & Bath Limited had, through its lawyers, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), filed the appeal to challenge the January 12, 2018 judgment of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed the interim forfeiture order of the Federal High Court in Abuja in respect of the N2.4bn.

CHELSEA TO FACE SLAVIA PRAGUE IN THE QUARTER-FINALS OF THE EUROPA LEAGUE

The Blues comprehensively defeated Dynamo Kiev over two legs in the round of 16, with the aggregate scoreline finishing 8-0 to Maurizio Sarri’s men.

Slavia Prague, meanwhile, secured their place in the final eight rather narrowly. They shocked Sevilla with a 6-5 win on aggregate after their second-leg fixture went deep into extra-time.

Chelsea will be happy with this draw, having avoided several prestigious clubs, and they will take encouragement from their previous success against Czech opposition.

Take a look back at the Blues’ only six encounters against teams from the Czech Republic in their history!

CHELSEA 4-2 VIKTORIA ZIZKOV, 15 SEPTEMBER 1994

Chelsea defeated Viktoria Zizkov 4-2 in the first leg of their Cup Winners Cup clash. Goals from Paul Furlong, Frank Sinclair, David Rocastle and Dennis Wise secured the Blues their victory.

PRESIDENT TRUMP ISSUES FIRST VETO AFTER CONGRESS REJECTS BORDER EMERGENCY

Trump

President Trump on Friday issued the first veto of his presidency, rejecting legislation that opposed his declaration of a national emergency to fund a wall along the southern border. The bill blocking Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration had attracted significant Republican support in Congress.

“Today I am vetoing this resolution,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it.” The president called the resolution “dangerous” and “reckless.”

The president was flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General William P. Barr and Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary. Mr. Barr said that the president’s emergency order was “clearly authorized under the law” and “solidly grounded in law.”

The president’s veto, which was expected, will send the legislation back to Congress, which most likely does not have enough votes for an override, meaning that Mr. Trump’s declaration will remain in effect.

The president has long insisted that there is a security and humanitarian crisis at the border with Mexico, an assertion that was undercut by Mr. Trump himself when he acknowledged that he could have waited to issue his declaration.

Democrats seized on those words and cited government data that shows there has been no flood of criminal migrants coming into the country. Some Republicans shared that view.

But others said they opposed the president on the grounds that it was the duty of Congress to appropriate taxpayer dollars and that Mr. Trump had exceeded his authority. On Thursday, a dozen Republicans joined Senate Democrats in voting to overturn Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration, in a 59-to-41 vote.

“Never before has a president asked for funding, Congress has not provided it and the president then has used the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to spend the money anyway,” Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, said after the vote on Thursday. Senator Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas, said he thought Mr. Trump’s declaration was unconstitutional.

Mr. Trump has held broad sway over congressional Republicans in his first two years in office. The vote by a dozen Republicans in the Senate siding with Democrats on an issue central to the president’s agenda was seen as a reclaiming of the role of Congress as a coequal branch of government.

He was undeterred by the Republican opposition and quickly signaled his next step when he tweeted “VETO” not long after the vote. The president said that there was nothing less than an “invasion” of the United States by migrants, and he added that so many of them had been apprehended that there was “nowhere left to hold all of the people that we’re capturing.”

Even if Congress fails to override the veto, the emergency declaration is already being challenged in court.

“Even members of President Trump’s own party are beginning to realize that he is a one-man constitutional crisis,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

“The president’s veto is as meaningless as his signature on the national emergency declaration,” he added. “Congress has rejected the president’s declaration, and now the courts will be the ultimate arbiter of its legality. We look forward to seeing him in court and to the shellacking that he will receive at the hands of an independent judiciary.”

HOW APC WON ZAMFARA ELECTIONS IN 24 HOURS – GOV. YARI

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State has attributed the successes recorded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the February 23 and March 9 general elections in the state despite the party’s crisis to “divine intervention’’.

Mr Yari disclosed this when he fielded questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Friday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the APC was allowed to field candidates for all the elections in the state only a week before the first day of elections (Feb. 23) when a Court of Appeal in Sokoto, Sokoto State, reversed an earlier decision of a lower court, which had banned the party from the elections.

The Zamfara State Collation Officer, Kabir Bala of the Ahmadu Bello (ABU) Zaria, had announced that the APC Presidential candidate, President Buhari, won the February 23 presidential election in the state with 438,682 votes while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, scored 125,423 votes.

Mr Bala also disclosed that the APC had won the three senatorial seats and the seven seats in the House of Representatives from the state in the February 23 presidential and parliamentary elections.

He said the APC governorship candidate won the state governorship election with 534,541 to defeat Bello Muhammad Mutawalle of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 189,452 while the APC also won all the 24 seats in the Zamfara State House of Assembly.

Mr Yari, who spoke to State House correspondents in Abuja on Friday, said he was happy with the outcome of the elections, saying that it was God that gave this political victory to the APC in the state.

He said: “You know the turmoil that Zamfara elections put on Nigeria, disagreements upon disagreements, from the party to court and then to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which disagreed.

”Then, we went back to court and finally under 24 hours, we were cleared and we were back on the ballot box.

“Only God has done this and given us the victory.

“I am very happy with the outcome of the elections. I also want to appreciate my people, despite the fact that some people felt I was carried away by the activities at the centre, insinuating I abandoned the seat, especially with the security problem, but the people are aware of what the administration has been doing and they appreciate it.

“Despite the daily attacks, the security agencies were up and doing and their presence in the state was well appreciated by the people.

“They also appreciated the efforts of Mr President which took us to where we are. Like I said only God could have done it.’’

The governor also disclosed that he had succeeded in reconciling all the aggrieved APC aspirants in the state.

He said his past experience as party chairman in the state, member, House of Representatives and governor for eight years had helped him to restore peace and tranquility within the governing APC in the state.

“In my state, there were only seven or eight people contesting for the governorship position and I have said it that if I could preside over primaries where 18 people contested and succeeded, why can’t I manage eight, nine or 10 in my state?

“I have been on ground since 1999 to date and I know the system and how it works. I have been party secretary, party chairman, House of Representative and a two-term Governor, is with this experience that I was able to manage.

“Unfortunately, there were a lot of misunderstanding between the party in the state and the national body but in the end we ended in the court and the court gave the verdict and INEC compiled.

“Though, it came late, if you are with the grassroots definitely everything must work well. The people appreciated what we have been doing and when it came to voting, they voted wisely,’’ he added.

MMr Yari, whose tenure as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum would expire by May 29, expressed the hope that the forum would remain united and work in tandem with the federal government’s agenda.

(NAN)