₦airaland Forum

“The church is supposed to reform people so if you will just criticise and not straighten me then I’ll just stay in my house and pray”, she said.

“But these pretty guys can’t please a woman in bed, while the ones they look down on may be very good in bed and make a woman reach an orgasm”.

Ahead of declaration of results in the Bayelsa governorship election, fresh violent activities are being reported on Sunday, in Ogbia local government and other areas of the state.

Ogbia is the country home of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

But the former President is believed to have withheld support for his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over disagreement with Governor Seriake Dickson, who ensured Duoye Diri was sponsored as the party’s candidate against Timi Alaibe, the candidate of Jonathan.

The former president voted in Polling unit 39 of ward 13, but the opposition, All Progressive Congress (APC) cleared the unit massively.

The APC also cleared all the polling units in Otuoke Ward 13, the ancestral home of Jonathan.

At the LGA collation centre, crises erupted Sunday morning as gunshots were reportedly fired by political thugs.

Agents of the PDP and those of the APC were said to have engaged in free for all fights as a result of alleged attempts by APC agents to force fake results on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s officials.

Hijacking of electoral materials and results also continues to greet the collation process, with the latest report indicating that INEC officials and sensitive materials for Nembe local government area, Mini Ward 11, Ikensi Ward 12, and Oluasiri Ward 13 were hijacked and have been allegedly taken to houses believed to be of two APC chieftains, where the officials were reportedly forced at gunpoint to sign result sheets.

As of the time of filing this report, collation at the state headquarters, Yenagoa, for the eight local government areas, have not commenced, as results from various areas, including Ogbia, are still being collated.

“I cannot tell you what I have learnt because the experience is personal. That is why I said I am grateful because the experience has helped me a lot. It has helped me to be a better person. Regardless, I will always be there for my daughter. I still have love and respect for her. She is still a good woman. The fact that things didn’t work out well doesn’t mean we have to bear grudges and all of that. We have gone beyond that.”

There is no going back in Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Thursday.

The commission said it would obey all legitimate court orders served on it in respect of the poll.

The Federal High Court in Yenagoa on Thursday nullified the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries that produced Chief David Lyon as the party’s candidate .

The judgment was on a case filed by one of the APC governorship aspirants, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri.

INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, told The Nation that the commission had deployed all it needed for the elections, adding that the polls would go on as planned.

He said the election would go ahead with its plans for the election, using the materials already prepared before the judgment was given.

He said: “If there’s any court order concerning what we are doing, we will obey all court orders because that has been the tradition of the commission; to obey all legitimate court orders.”

Justice Grace Inyang held that the primaries were conducted outside the guidelines of the party.

Lokpobiri, in the suit, prayed that he won the primaries and should be declared the authentic candidate.

Justice Inyang held that Lokpobiri and Lyon were not qualified to fly the flag of the party since the internal poll was not conducted in line with the party’s guidelines.

The judge restrained INEC from including Lyon as the APC candidate in the poll.

She said based on APC guidelines, the results of the primaries should have been declared by the returning officer for the pre-election, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State and not Senator Emmanuel Ochega, Secretary of the Election Committee.

Justice Inyang ruled that the APC violated its own rules in the composition of the election panel when it constituted a one-member committee and not seven members as stipulated in the party rules.

She said: “It has been established by judicial authorities and several judgments that political parties are bound by their own rules, the committee that conducted the primary threw caution to the winds and it is my ruling that the primaries stand nullified.

“The result announced by Senator Emmanuel Ochega is not valid as he is not the returning officer for the election. And I make an order restraining INEC from recognising any of the aspirants that participated in the said primaries.”

Lokpobiri said that he never asked the court to nullify the primary election.

He said: “I did not pray for the court to nullify the primary election but rather prayed the court to declare me the winner. On this note, I have been briefed by my lawyers, so we will file a motion of stay of execution in the Court of Appeal.”

Also yesterday, Lyon asked voters not to panic saying he was still contesting the election.

He said the Court of Appeal has asked all parties to maintain status quo and called on Bayelsans to come out tomorrow and vote massively for the APC.

A former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva said the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has granted a stay of execution of the judgment.

He told reporters: “Let me use this opportunity to let all Bayelsans and our teeming supporters know that there is no cause for alarm. Our candidates, Chief David Lyon and Bishop Degi-Eremienyo are fully, squarely on the ballot.”

Also yesterday, the Appeal Court in Abuja granted an ex-parte restraining INEC from preventing the APC and its candidates from taking part in the election.

Lyon and his running mate Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo had sought an order restraining the INEC from barring them from participating in the election based on a High Court judgment disqualifying Degi-Eremienyo.

The applicants prayed that the status quo antebellum, which existed before September 19, be maintained, as well as an order for a stay of execution on a November 12 judgement by an Abuja High Court.

Abdu Aboki, granting an ex-parte application numbered CA/A/1053/M/2019, said: “The motion ex-parte filed on 13/11/2019 is granted and ordered as follows:

“An order is granted, compelling the 5th respondent to maintain status-quo antebellum, which existed on or before the 19th day of September 2019 when suit number FHC/ABJ?CS/1101/2019, now on appeal to this court, was filed at the lower court, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction, filed on November 13, 2019.

“Consequently, an interim order of stay of the judgment of the lower court, delivered on the 12th day of November 2019, in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1101/2019, is granted and made pending the determination of the motion on notice for an order of interlocutory injunction, filed on 13th November 2019.

“The motion on notice shall be heard on 20/11/2019. The Respondents are to be served with a hearing notice and the copies of the order immediately.”

The Lagos State Special Task Force on Land Grabbers has arrested 19 suspects for alleged trespass, illegal occupation, forceful land takeover and prevention of lawful entry by violence.

It was learnt that the suspects were arrested by officials of the LSSTFLG, led by the Coordinator, Owolabi Arole, and police officers attached to the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit in connection with a land on Plot 1, Block II, Ogudu Phase II Government Residential Scheme in the Kosofe Local Government Area of the state.

The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, who is also the Chairman of the Special Task Force, Moyo Onigbanjo, noted that the suspects had been handed over to the police for prosecution at the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja.

He said, “The arrest is the culmination of investigation carried out by the special task force on land grabbers after a petition was submitted by attorneys of Ade Bamtefa, the petitioner and claimant of the land.

“On receiving the petition, officials of the task force swung into action. Both parties were invited for a meeting to establish the veracity or otherwise of the petition. It was, however, discovered from our findings that the arrested persons resorted to self-help by not only trespassing on the land which had been cordoned off with a ‘Keep Off’ inscription pending the conclusion of an investigation, but also erecting structures on the land.

“This is unacceptable and contrary to some sections of the Property Protection Law, 2016. Government residential schemes are planned schemes documented under the law which ordinarily shouldn’t be subject to cases of land grabbing and illegal occupation.

“This current trend of having land grabbers encroaching on land under government schemes is unacceptable and will be treated seriously like other cases of land grabbing.”

Onigbanjo urged land and property owners in the state to perfect legal documents pertaining to their property, noting that it would check land grabbers and ensure easy administration of justice in the event that such property was encroached on.