INEC has given me certificate of return but Speaker has refused to swear me in —Ilorin South candidate cries out

Mr. Jimoh Raheem Agboola, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, contested for the Ilorin South constituency seat in the last House of Assembly election. He has found himself entangled in a sort of legal labyrinth occasioned by the confusion in the candidature of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the election. In this interview by SAM NWAOKO, he tells his story and what he thinks is the way forward. Excerpts:

When the election you partook in was conducted and concluded, who was declared the winner?

The person declared winner of the election was Shehu Sulaiman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He was declared the winner after the conduct of that election and that was the genesis of the entire issue.

If the declaration of Sulaiman as the winner of the election is the issue, did you contest his victory at the election petitions tribunal or what is the bone of contention?

The bone of contention then was that the man in question was not eligible to contest the election ab initio because he did not have the requisite qualifications. In fact, we discovered that he forged some of his certificates to pretend as if he was qualified to contest for and occupy that position. So we contested his eligibility at the election petition tribunal.

So, what did the tribunal say? What was the verdict of the election petitions tribunal?

The tribunal ruled that we did not prove the allegation beyond reasonable doubt. The tribunal, however, also ruled that the APC did not have a candidate for the election as the said Shehu Sulaiman had deposed to an affidavit that he was not the candidate of the APC. In addition, since Sulaiman deposed to an affidavit that he was not the candidate of the APC, the tribunal held that the person with whom Sulaiman was replaced as candidate by the APC was not properly substituted as at the time he got the judgement from the court that he was the new candidate. He was not known to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the time of the election.

You are saying that the court ruled that the APC had no candidate since there was a time lapse in the substitution of its candidates?

Yes. That was the case because time had lapsed. Of a fact, after the first of the elections in the 2019 general election, that is the National Assembly and presidential elections, that was when they went to court to substitute the name of their ineligible candidate at the INEC. The judgement they got at the court was that the new man was their candidate on the grounds that the name of the first man was submitted in error.

What then happened, because this is kind of winding?

The judgement of the tribunal was that as at the time of that election, the APC had no valid candidate for the House of Assembly election for Ilorin South constituency. It ordered that we should go for a rerun that would be between the PDP and other political parties without the APC.

So, who now doesn’t want a rerun?

The APC went to the Court of Appeal on the ground that its candidate was legally substituted at the INEC. The APC also brought before the Appeal Court the argument that we did not join its new candidate, the man who replaced Sulaiman, Hassan Elewu, in our petition. That was their ground of appeal.

Our own ground of appeal was that as at the time we went for that election, the APC did not have a valid candidate as pronounced by the tribunal. Secondly, we presented an argument that there was no rancour during the election, that the election was free and fair and therefore did not warrant a rerun. We asked the court to declare us the winner being the runner-up in the election with the highest valid votes.

Your contention is that by that time too, Hassan Elewu had not emerged as a candidate? We need clarification?

He was not a candidate; and he was not a candidate by the time of the election because he does not have a name with the INEC. He is not supposed to surface or appear at the INEC at all. He has no business with the election. Even at the tribunal, we had filed our petition at the tribunal before how was given a certificate of return.

So, at the Appeal Court, their own appeal was dismissed and we were awarded a cost of N50,000 on the ground that Section 285 of the Electoral Act which stipulates that nobody can be declared a winner in an election until he or she had gone through all the processes. Since Hassan Elewu was not known to the INEC and did not go through all the election processes, he cannot be validly declared a winner. So the Court of Appeal turned down their request but granted our own request on the ground that we scored the highest lawful votes.

So, after all these, has INEC said anything? Has there been intervention from the commission? Have you been issued a certificate of return?

Yes, the Court of Appeal gave an order to that effect. The first order was for INEC to issue me a fresh certificate of return; then another order that it should withdraw the certificate of return given to Hassan Elewu. Even the tribunal at first ordered that the certificate given to Elewu should be withdrawn. That order was even given by the tribunal. The Court of Appeal affirmed the order of the tribunal and ordered that the certificate given to Elewu should be withdrawn and a fresh certificate of return should be issued to me.

Has the INEC complied with the orders?

INEC has fully complied with the court orders by issuing me a certificate of return. The matter has left the hands of INEC because the commission has obeyed the orders of the court.

Where now lies the problem since you have a certificate of return?

The problem now is with the House of Assembly. They have refused to comply with the orders of the courts.

Why has the House of Assembly refused to accept you, or what is the problem there?

What the House of Assembly said was that Elewu had gone to court to seek for the interpretation of the judgement. That was what I was told at the House of Assembly.

Which judgement are they seeking its interpretation?

They said it is the judgement of the Court of Appeal. Their ground remains that Elewu was legally substituted as the candidate of the APC. This is the same case at the election petitions tribunal and the Court of Appeal is the one he has taken to a Federal High Court. They said because of the fresh matter now at the federal high court, they cannot obey the judgement of the Court of Appeal that said I should be sworn-in. They claimed that they have received a writ of summons from the court; that is why they cannot obey the Court of Appeal judgement that they have received.

Isn’t the Court of Appeal the highest place issues such as yours could be heard?

The Court of Appeal is the highest you can go with any National Assembly or state House of Assembly matter. The Court of Appeal is the last bus stop.

So, what is now your case; what is your next step?

On my part, we took steps to seek a political resolution of the mater because we are one. I consider it that we are one in the state. I am even one of the stakeholders in the House of Assembly because I had served there between 1999 and 2003. However, we found that all efforts, all means to speak with the Speaker was rebuffed and all our efforts proved abortive. So, we have resolved that we will pursue our case legally in the courts. All ways I tried to meet with the Speaker was blocked. So we are going the way of the courts to seek a final resolution.

Were you joined as a respondent in the fresh case filed at the high court?

Yes, I was joined. But we filed preliminary objection; INEC also filed a preliminary objection because we both feel that the high court where the matter was taken back to, has no jurisdiction on the matter after the Court of Appeal had decided on. That is what we are contesting at the federal high court now. It is coming up this January, precisely on the 20th of this month

Corruption is a universal trend, conceived under the notion that a person wielding power gets all, at any cost. The vice having infested all societal institutions leaves the less privileged to become more miserable.Students in the country’s tertiary institutions have handed down tales to generations about extortionists posing as lecturers and nothing more.

The Guardian has captured some of the ordeals, which have been narrated bit by bit by those who lived to tell their stories. A student of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic (RUGIPO), Owo, Ondo State, Olajide Olawunmi, revealed that in their school, the lecturers always use the statement “not compulsory but necessary,” to indirectly compel them to participate in whatever they assigned class representatives to do.



“Sometimes they ask to pay between N500 to N1000 for a photocopied research work or assignment. When we eventually get the copy, we discover that it is never up to the paid amount. And then, in a case where we are 200 students, they get roughly N100,000 to 200,000 thousand naira,” he said.

Echoing Ojo’s views, another student from Ekiti State University (EKSU), who identified herself as Esther, said: “Most of our lecturers are fond of such act. They walk into the class, announce that we should pay for our handouts to the class representative and then tell the class representative to put down the names of the students. The lecturer is just indirectly saying that if you do not pay, you fail.”

Some other students have moved beyond handouts and have complained about lecturers confidently asking for bribes in exchange for grades.
A student from the University of Benin (UNIBEN), who pleaded anonymity, said, “Our French lecturer who knows that none of his students knows or understands the course, made us sit in a horrendous pattern of one person per bench during his examination and after the exam, he would ask us to pay N5000, if we want to pass the course. This is a class of 130 students.”

Ukamaka Ude, a student from the University of Nigeria (UNN), confirmed that indeed lecturers do ask for tokens in exchange for grades.“I had a carryover in one of my courses because the lecturer had not included my continuous assessment score to my final result. I went ahead to meet him alongside other students with similar issues. He asked us to buy his textbook, review the given chapters and then submit it with a sum of N5000. We had no choice. We needed the grades,” she said.

Also another undergraduate from Kwara State Polytechnic (KP) revealed that not only do they take bribes for grades; they also take undue advantage of student caught in the act of examination malpractice. “ They asked for bribes from students caught cheating in other not to be reported or have their papers cancelled. Some of our lecturers swiftly turn such incidents to a great business opportunity,” he said.

Proposing possible means of curbing the menace in schools, the students unanimously suggested that if the school authorities could set up effective and incorruptible disciplinary unit that would regularly check and scrutinise the excesses of these lecturers, it would go a long way in reducing the rate of corruption a
mongst lecturers

For the second year in a row, the Federal Government has failed to carry out its planned sale of some of its stake in joint venture oil assets.


The Federal Government did not include the sale of the JV oil asset stakes as a source of expected revenue in the highlights of the 2020 budget presented by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

The 2019 approved budget presentation revealed that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had directed that immediate action be commenced to restructure the JV oil assets “so as to reduce government shareholding to not less than 40 per cent and that this exercise must be completed within the 2019 fiscal year.”

The document said, “The overall revenue performance in 2018 is only 55 per cent of the target in the 2018 budget partly because some one-off items such as the N710bn from Oil Joint Venture Asset restructuring and N320bn from revision of the Oil Production Sharing Contract legislation/terms have yet to be actualised and have thus been rolled over to 2019.

“We have again reflected projected proceeds from oil assets ownership restructuring as revenues for transparency and monitoring. Expected funds have been earmarked to fund critical capital projects as this was not achieved in 2018.”

The nation’s oil and gas production structure is majorly split between the JV onshore and in shallow water with foreign and local companies and the PSC in deepwater offshore, to which most international oil companies have shifted their focus in recent years.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation owns 55 per cent stake in its JV with Shell and 60 per cent stakes with others, including Chevron and ExxonMobil.

Under the JV arrangement, both the NNPC and private operators contribute to the funding of operations in the proportion of their equity holdings and generally receive the produced crude oil in the same ratio.

The Buhari-led regime had in its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan released in 2017 said it would reduce its stakes in JV oil assets, refineries and other downstream subsidiaries such as pipelines and depots.

Chukwudi Akasike, James Abraham, Abiodun Nejo, Matthew Ochei, Raphael Ede, Ogbonnaya Ikokwu, Chidiebube Okeoma, Bola Bamigbola, John Charles and Daud Olatunji

Following the threat by the Nigeria Labour Congress that it may not be able to guarantee industrial peace and harmony if governors refuse to conclude negotiations and payment of the National Minimum Wage by December 31, some states that have yet to begin the implementation have commenced negotiations with the labour unions in their states.

According to findings by our correspondents, there are different stages of negotiations in the states that have yet to comply with the new minimum wage, which was signed into law on April 18, 2019 by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

In Plateau State, for example, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Dan Manjang, told one of our correspondents in an interview on Friday that negotiations with labour unions in the state were still ongoing and that government was aware of the December 31 deadline given by the labour union.

He said government had already set up a committee for that purpose, adding that Governor Simon Lalong was committed to the welfare of workers in the state, even though he did not disclose the exact date the state would commence the payment of the new minimum wage.

Investigations by our correspondent, however, revealed that no formal meeting had taken place between government’s negotiating team and the representatives of labour to discuss modalities for the implementation.

He added, “What I can tell you is that deadline or no deadline, we will pay the new minimum wage to our workers. The governor was among members of the technical committee that arrived at the 30, 000 minimum wage, so there is no way he will turn round to say that he will not pay the workers in his home state.”

In Ekiti State, the Secretary, Ekiti State Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Gbenga Olowoyo, said on Friday that the council that would negotiate the payment of the new minimum wage in the state had been constituted but that it was expecting government’s committee to call for inaugural meeting so that the negotiations could begin.

Olowoyo said, “We have no doubt about meeting the December 31 deadline and consequent payment of the minimum wage by the state government. Labour in the state had a roundtable with Governor Kayode Fayemi on Tuesday and he reassured us that negotiations would soon begin and that he would implement the resolution at the joint negotiation.”

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Muyiwa Olumilua, said, “They (the committee) had been doing underground work and that negotiations would soon commence.”

In Delta State Governor, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Mr Olisa Ifejika, said the committee set up by the governor had been meeting to agree on the template for the implementation of the new minimum wage.

He said, “The labour in Delta does not have problem because Governor Okowa had said the state was ready to implement whatever template the Federal Government approved. The committee chaired by the Secretary to the State Government, Chiedu Ebie, has been meeting and will also meet on Monday to look at the modalities of payment.”

In Enugu State, findings showed that government had constituted a five-member negotiation committee, headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Simon Ortuanya, that would confer with labour on the issue.

The Chairman of the Trade Union Congress in the state, Mr Chukwuma Igbokwe, who confirmed the development to Sunday PUNCH, said the committee met on Monday and setup a technical committee to work out the financial implications of the new law.

Igbokwe said, “When we have worked it out at the technical committee, we will revert to the main committee to start negotiating the consequential adjustment and if there would be need for adjustment.”

He explained that the committee also discussed the sustenance of the payment of 13th month to workers.

In Abia State, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has tasked the Joint Negotiation Committee to work out modalities that would make it seamless for the government to implement the payment of the new minimum wage to workers. He assured the workers that his government was committed to paying the new minimum wage.

While inaugurating the 16-man committee, which has the state Head of Service, Onyi Wamah, as chairman on Friday, the governor, represented by his deputy, Ude Oko Chukwu, also charged them to recommend ways of stopping ghost workers and padding of salaries in the state, saying such practices were responsible for the heavy wage bill in the state.

He mandated them to expedite action and submit their report on or before December 31, 2019.

Meanwhile, in Rivers State, it is not yet clear when the committee on the minimum wage implementation will be set up.

The state NLC chairperson, Mrs Beatrice Utubo, told Sunday PUNCH that a letter had already been sent to Governor Nyesom Wike on the need to set up the negotiation committee on minimum wage.

She said, “‘We have sent a letter to the governor. They have called us to ask us who would constitute the committee and which we have told them. Then we (Rivers State NLC) left for Abuja for a meeting on the minimum wage. I will see the Secretary to the State Government on the issue on Monday.”

The state Head of Service, Mr Rufus Godwin, said he would speak to one of our correspondents on the matter on Monday.

Also, in Imo State, the state Commissioner for Information, Felix Ebilikwe, said on Friday that government would soon announce the minimum wage negotiation committee, noting that the committee would meet up with the December 31 deadline given by labour.

“The governor is labour friendly and Imo State under Governor Emeka Ihedioha will keep civil servants happy,” he added.

In Osun State, the state government kept mum over the issue, even as the organised labour in the state said it had written to the governor, asking him to constitute the team that would discuss the new minimum wage.

The NLC Secretary in the state, Rufus Adeyemi, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, however said labour was still expecting his reply to the letter.”

In Benue State, an aide to Governor Samuel Ortom, Chief Ode Enyi, on Friday said that the governor would soon set up a committee to meet with labour over the new minimum wage.

When informed of the deadline given by the organised labour, Enyi said, “The labour leaders in the state know that the governor is a lover of workers and will go the extra mile to ensure that workers in the state enjoy.”

Asked if government had received correspondence from the national secretariat of the organised labour, the governor’s aide said no letter had been received.

In Ogun State, the state government said it would soon set up negotiation committee to enhance the payment of the national minimum wage.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Kunle Somorin, said, “The organised labour unions have been meeting with our workers-friendly government on the minimum wage issue and an agreement will soon be reached.”

The state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress had few weeks ago threatened a showdown with the government over the minimum wage, saying it had written series of letters to the government but were all ignored.

As a result, the NLC in the state said it could not guarantee industrial harmony.

Court sacks Ooni’s second-in-command, orders replacement

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi
Bola Bamigbola, Osogbo

An Osun State High Court on Wednesday sacked the Obalufe of Ife, Chief Idowu Adediwura, and directed the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, to, within 21 days, filled the stool with a candidate from the Aga Ruling House.

Obalufe is the traditional prime minister of Ife and he is next to Ooni in rank.

Justice Foluke Awolalu of the Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo, in her judgment on the suit instituted by Abayomi Elugbuji on behalf of self and the Aga Ruling House, held that the installation of Adediwura was not in accordance with the provisions of Ife Chieftaincy Declaration of 1957.

The court had earlier dismissed the preliminary objection filed by Adediwura seeking that the matter be dismissed because there were similar cases already instituted on the same matter.

On the merit of the case, the court held that going by the Ife Chieftaincy Declaration of 1957, it was the turn of Aga Ruling House to produce Obalufe and not Ajagbusiekun, where Adediwura that was eventually installed hails from.

The court also restrained Adediwura from parading self as Obalufe.

Commenting on the matter, counsel for the plaintiff, Mr Babafemi Akande, described the judgment as “sound and clear,” adding that a Chieftaincy Declaration once registered had become the law.

“The law is very clear, nobody is above the law and no one is below it. So the judge gave the judgment in accordance with the dictates of the law,” Akande said.

Efforts to get Adediwura’s reaction to the judgment proved futile, as calls to his phone number rang out, while text message sent to him was not replied as of the time of filing this report.

Police officer kills self in Imo

A police Sergeant attached to Access Bank branch at Ahiara Junction in Ahiazu Mbaise local government area of Imo State, simply identified as Paul Joseph, has reportedly committed suicide.

Joseph, who was said to be due to be promoted to the rank of inspector, was said to have shot and killed himself on Wednesday over alleged frustrations of life.

The incident, it was learned, drew the attention of a crowd, who stood in groups chatting and wondering what could have pushed the policeman to kill himself.

According to sources in the bank, the incident happened around 7.00 am when the bank staff were resuming work for the day, only for them to hear gunshot from their security house at the gate.

Upon enquiry, they discovered that the policeman had killed himself while his colleague was out to the junction buying food.

It was gathered from some police officers within the vicinity that Joseph, who was reported to have hailed from Taraba State, had in the last two weeks voiced frustrations over life and had been telling family and friends that he wanted to end his life and go to heaven.

One of the policemen, who spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity, said “Last week, we were all here when he called his wife around 4.00am in the morning and told her that he was tired of his life. In that call, he said it would be better for him to die and go to heaven.

“His wife, I learned, called one of his friends as well as a senior police officer and complained to them about the call from Joseph. But, I think they didn’t take her complaints seriously because her husband was about being promoted and had no reason to kill himself.

“But it was yesterday being Tuesday that we noticed that he was serious about what he was saying when we were drinking at the bar and he said he would kill himself.

“The strange thing was that he didn’t quite say what his problem was. He was only saying he was tired of this life”.

His corpse, it was gathered, was ordered for evacuation by the police officer in charge of Ahiara Police Division to be deposited in the morgue.

All efforts by our correspondent to speak to the state commissioner of police, Rabiu Ladodo and the police spokesman, Orlando Ikeoku proved abortive as text messages sent to their phones were not responded to.

However, a man, who identified himself as the personal assistant to the CP answered the call put to his phone line later, telling our correspondent that the police boss would call back in few minutes.

But as of the time of filing this report, the CP was yet to return the call.

AdeeT:


I've betrayed her trust, I have really hurt her, I wish that I could undo all I've done. But it's too late, and I'm reek of guilt, it's all over me.

I just cheated on a beautiful lady that has stayed with me through thick and thin for years, a wonderful soul that anyone would dream to have. Cheating might be a common thing, but the moment you cheat on a pure soul, an innocent woman that gives you all, WITH HER BEST FRIEND, then it's beyond cheating.

I am charming, good looking working class guy, guys and girls easily comment how good looking I am, my fiancee is so proud of me, and my achievements that she easily shows me off at the slightest opportunity. She attended the same Uni with her friend, and ever since then, they've been a very good friend. They even served at the same place(worked out), to show you how close they her.

Now my fiancee works in the southern Nigeria, we planned to seal things up next year, and live together here in Abuja. Her friend came for a job interview here, and my woman advised that she rather stay with me for the period instead of her spending a lot on hotel accommodations since I live alone in a bedroom flat. I obliged, and she came down here, little did I know that things would get messy. Long story cut short, I fell in to her seduction the second night of her staying after some series of events. We ended up having sex couples of time before she left. I feel terrible now, though she felt nothing, I can't even flow well with my woman on phone again, guilt is all over me. I don't know how I will stand her whenever we meet. Of all girls in the world, she's the least anyone would want to cheat on.

I'm thinking of telling her. Mind you guys, I'm not a weakling, I've never been one. Before I met her some 3 years back, I was on the other end of life. She changed a lot for good for me, and helped stop many bad things, as well as starting several good ones. I don't know what her reaction would be after telling her. Her friend still communicates with her as if nothing happened.

I'm in pain guys. A serious one. I need advices.