News & Announcements

 Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday imposed stringent bail conditions on former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha who is standing trial for alleged N2.9 billion corruption charges.

Okorocha was admitted to bail in the sum of N500 million with a surety in the same amount.
He was barred from traveling out of the country except with the express permission of the court.
The judge ordered the Senator representing Imo West in the National Assembly to deposit his traveling passport with the court registrar. In addition, the judge ordered that Immigration must be alerted in writing by the court registrar that Okorocha’s traveling passport is with the court and must not be allowed to move out of the country.

On Sunday, the veteran actor and lawyer Kanayo Kanayo celebrated his 60th birthday at the Muson Centre Onikan in Lagos. It was an all-white affair.
The actor’s family, friends, and colleagues from all walks of life gathered in large numbers to honour him on his birthday.

The actor thanked God for allowing him to witness the day and thanked his family and friends for their support throughout the years.
During the event, the actor also launched a foundation called “The Kanayo O Kanayo Foundation.”
Highlights of the event included the two ‘triumphant’ entries of the birthday boy, clad in all-white attire. In the second ‘appearance’, Kanayo wore a bowler hat, while the second time, he went for a traditional red cap worn by chiefs in Igboland.

He was later joined by his children on stage in to cut the birthday cake in a session anchored by popular comedian, Ayo Makun, aka AY.

Notable guests at the event include a presidential aspirant; Kingsley Moghalu; a former Chief Executive Officer of Transnational Corporation and Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in the last Anambra State election, Valentine Ozigbo; entrepreneur and socialite, Obinna Oyiegbu, aka Obi Cubana; Big Brother Naija winner, Hazel Onou aka Whitemoney; veteran singer, Zaaki Azzay; actor, Victor Osuagwu; and comedian, Stanley Chibunna, aka Funny Bone.

Incumbent Lagos lawmakers at the weekend lost out at the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries.

Some of them suffered heavy defeats in their bid to return to the Assembly and House of Representatives. Hon Rasheed Makinde, who represents Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency 2 in the Assembly, couldn’t muster a single vote.

He lost the ticket to Emmanuel Olotu, who won with 17 votes while Prince Adebola Ademola came to a distant second with five votes. Yemisi Rosiji, Bisi Ogungbemi and Omoyele Dasuza managed one vote each.
Former two-term Ojokoro Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Chairman and ex-aide of Lagos Governor Benjamin Olabinjo defeated the incumbent, James Adisa Owolabi to claim the Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency ticket.  BAO, as Olabinjo is fondly called polled 35 votes to Owolabi’s two; a lawmaker Saka Fafunmi got 14 votes while Adekunle Olayinka secured four votes.
In Oshodi-Isolo, Otunba Stephen Olukayode Ogundipe trounced the incumbent, Hakeem Olusola Sokunle, for the Oshodi-Isolo Constituency 1 ticket.

Ogundipe, who got 20 votes against Sokunle’s four votes, will fly the APC’s flag for the constituency’s assembly seat during the general election.
At Oshodi-Isolo State Constituency 2, the incumbent, Jude Idimogu failed to win a single vote, losing 30-0 to Ladi Ajomale, son of former Lagos chairman of the party, Chief Henry Ajomale.
It was the end of an era in Mushin State and Federal Constituency 2 as the incumbents seeking a third term in office lost to their challengers.

Bolaji Yusuf Ayinla popularly called BYA with two votes lost to former Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Transport, Toyin Fayinka, who garnered 18 votes. Former Mushin Local Government Chairman and APC Lagos Publicity Secretary Seye Oladejo scored eight votes.
Former Mushin Local Government Sole Administrator Yinka Esho-Kazeem defeated incumbent lawmaker, AbduSobur Olayiwola Olawale popularly called Omititi with 16 votes to 11 votes for the Assembly ticket.
A son of Minister of Information and Culture, Folajimi Mohammed, representing Ikeja Constituency 1, lost out to Seyi Lawal in the primary election.

In Lagos Island State Constituency 2, it was a close battle between incumbent Lanre Afinnih and his predecessor, Sola Giwa but Giwa emerged victorious with 29 votes to 20 votes for Afinnih.
In Amuwo-Odofin State Constituency 1, Mojisola Alli-Macaulay, popularly called Mama Amuwo lost to Olaitan Folorunsho getting only four votes to her opponent’s 12 votes. Another aspirant, Prince Eniola Ado polled four votes.

Former Lagos APC Secretary Lanre Ogunyemi got 28 votes to beat his nearest rival and former Chairman of Otto-Awori Local Council Development Area, Kayode Roberts with 14 votes.
Prince Kayode Moshood Akiolu, lawmaker representing Lagos Island Federal Constituency 2 defeated Saheed Adegboyega Salawe, with 34 votes to 16 votes.

It was a double loss as former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro lost the Lagos West Senatorial District ticket to former Deputy Governor Dr. Idiat Adebule.

His son, Babajide Obanikoro, an incumbent House of Representatives member, was defeated by Oba Saheed Elegushi of Ikate’s brother, Oyekanmi Elegushi with two votes for the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency 1. Elegushi polled 25 votes while Obanikoro garnered 23 votes.
Senator Obanikoro angrily left Agege Stadium’s venue of the Lagos West Senatorial District Primary Election after his votes were counted.

Dr. Adebule, a grassroots mobilizer, inflicted a heavy defeat on him.
She polled 424 votes while Obanikoro had 119 votes.
For Lagos Central Senatorial District, Deputy Lagos Speaker Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, scored 185 delegate votes to beat his closest rival and Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Ademola Seriki who got 94 votes.
Senator Tokunbo Abiru won the Lagos East Senatorial District ticket.

A 45-year-old accountant, Folake Abiola, has committed suicide at her residence at Osapa London, in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
According to a report by The Punch, Abiola was at her house on Friday (May 27) when she allegedly drank what was suspected to be insecticide.

She was said to have died shortly after, as her family members, friends, and men of the Nigeria Police Force met her lying motionless.
A colleague of the deceased, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abiola had been suffering from depression for years, adding that the news of her death was shocking.

Contrary to claims online that Abiola committed suicide due to loneliness, and lack of a husband, among others, the colleague said her associates knew that she had been in romantic relationships, adding that she ended them due to depression.

The source said, “She had been suffering from depression for years and her death has nothing to do with loneliness or lack of a husband or sex. Within the last seven years, I know she was in a relationship twice.
“She ended those relationships on her own because of depression. She said she did not want to bring someone else into her life when she could not take care of herself. She was going through extreme depression, but people that did not know what she was going through have been posting rubbish online.
“She was a senior accountant at a telecoms firm and we are colleagues. She took her life herself and was buried that same Friday as she was the only Christian in her family.”

The colleague described Abiola as an angel, a conscientious accountant, and a lover of Christ, who was liberal in giving, adding that she had been saying she wanted to end it all before she took her life.
“In Nigeria, we don’t pay attention to mental health; a lot of people are going through depression and it is not necessary that it has to be caused by anything,” she added.
A source said the deceased worked with Globacom Limited, adding that she was on leave when the incident happened.

“She recently celebrated her 45th birthday. She was not talking to people; she always kept to herself,” the source added.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the police visited Abiola’s house and met her lifeless body on the floor.

Hundeyin said, “The moment the police in that area were alerted, they arrived at the scene and met the woman lifeless on the floor. A bottle of insecticide was also found by her, apparently, she had ingested that insecticide.
“The family members that were there officially wrote to the divisional police officer requesting for the release of the corpse to enable them to bury her in accordance with Islamic rites and the corpse was released to the family on compassionate grounds.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for political parties to conduct their primaries for the 2023 general elections.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, announced this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

This comes hours after leaders of various political parties met with the leadership of the electoral umpire led by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, at the commission’s headquarters in the nation’s capital.

At the meeting, the politicians under the auspices of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) again appealed to INEC to adjust the timetable for the forthcoming polls.
Chairman of IPAC, Sani Yabagi of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), explained that adjusting the timetable of the election became necessary because of the current timetable which he said was too tight for the political parties.

In response to the appeal, INEC, according to Okoye, was emphatic that the request for a 37 – 60 days extension of the timeline for primaries and the nomination of candidates could not be granted because it would disrupt other scheduled activities on the timetable.
He stated that the parties later pleaded with the commission to use the six-day period between June 4 and 9 to conclude outstanding primaries and prepare to upload the list of candidates and their affidavits on the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal.

The INEC official stated that the commission did not schedule any specific activity during this period in order to give parties time to compile the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates before uploading the same to its portal.
“The commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates or any of the subsequent timelines which remain sacrosanct,” he said.
“However, this request is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only without prejudice to those already concluded by political parties. The commission will not monitor already concluded primaries.”
Read the full statement below:

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION
PRESS RELEASE
PARTY PRIMARIES AND SUBMISSION OF LIST OF NOMINATED CANDIDATES
Party Primaries
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met with the leadership of political parties today Friday 27th May 2022. Once again, the political parties requested the Commission to review the timelines for political party primaries provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the conduct of the 2023 General Election released on Saturday 26th February 2022.
Earlier, the political parties had requested for 37 – 60 days extension of the timeline for primaries and the nomination of candidates. The Commission was emphatic that this request could not be granted because it would disrupt other scheduled activities on the Timetable. This position of the Commission has not changed.

However, based on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election, the parties have now pleaded with the Commission to use the 6-day period between 4th and 9th June 2022 to conclude outstanding primaries and prepare to upload the list of candidates and their affidavits on the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal. The Commission did not schedule any specific activity during this period. The idea is to simply give parties time to compile the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates before uploading the same to the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal from 10th – 17th June 2022.

The Commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates or any of the subsequent timelines which remain sacrosanct. However, this request is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only without prejudice to those already concluded by political parties. The Commission will not monitor already concluded primaries.

The INEC Candidates Nomination Portal
After the conduct of primaries, the next critical activity for political parties is the online submission of the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor which shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidates indicating that they fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into the various offices via the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal.

In addition, the Commission, based on past experience, has decided to train the political party officials to make efficient and effective use of the portal. The Commission will train four officials from each of the 18 political parties, making a total of 72 in all.

Unfortunately, some of the political parties are still yet to submit their nominees for the training. The Commission hereby reminds such parties to do so immediately. The Commission wishes to reiterate that only electronically submitted nominations will be processed.

Political parties are therefore advised to ensure that their primaries are free of rancor in order to meet the timelines for the remaining activities embodied in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.
Festus Okoye
Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee
Friday 27th May 2022.

Dancer, Kafayat Shafau, popularly known as Kaffy, said she started getting more healing when she stopped sleeping with her ex-husband, John Ameh.

In an interview with Chude Jideonwo, she said, “I thought at the beginning that I had found someone to completely make me happy. But, that was selfish thinking. No human being should be one’s source of happiness.

“When you see him (her husband), you will think he can’t even hurt a fly because he is always calm. He has actually made me be afraid of calm people. I held him in high regard until I had to ask him why he was treating me the way he was. I asked him what he had against me that was making him sleep around, even with my best friends. I knew that if I really loved him, I had to let him go.”

The dancer (Kaffy) also stated that she started healing after she stopped sleeping with her ex-husband. She said, “I started getting more healing when I stopped sleeping with him. I was celibate in my marriage for three years before getting a divorce.”

Wanted drug kingpin behind the 2000.6kg Cannabis Sativa seized in a concrete mixer truck in Adamawa State on 2nd December 2021, Henry Chukwuneku Okamaru (a.k.a. Lawrence Ik Okamaru) has been arrested in Ondo state after five months of a search by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

Two suspects: Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu were arrested in connection to the consignment last December. They had confessed that the concrete mixer truck with Lagos registration number SMK 890 XB was loaded with the illicit drug in Ogbese, Ondo state while they traveled for two months on the road before arriving in Adamawa where they were eventually arrested by NDLEA operatives.

Investigations revealed that Okamaru is one of the leaders of a cannabis cultivation cartel that operates in the Ondo-Ekiti axis, while he shuttles between Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, and Delta State from where he coordinates supplies of illicit consignments to Northern parts of the country and Lagos State.
The drug lord has also been identified as a member of an international drug trafficking ring, while he shuttles between Nigeria and South Africa where he settles his family. He has strong control and stake in cannabis cultivation in Ondo, Edo, Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo States with large storage facilities in Lagos and Abbi in Delta State from where his consignments are distributed year-round. Meanwhile, a 36-year-old Nigerian based in Italy, Nwakanma Michael Uche has been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA Abuja for ingesting pellets of heroin.

Nwakanma who hails from, Arodizuogu Village, Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State was nabbed while trying to board Air France Airline Enroute Abuja-Paris-Milan, Italy on Sunday 15th May 2022. He was thereafter kept under observation during which he excreted 95 pellets of the illicit drug. He claimed he came to see his parents in Nigeria after 12 years in Italy and to complete his father’s traditional marriage rites. He added that he was to be paid N1.5million after the successful delivery of the drugs in Milan.
Across five states of Edo, Kaduna, Kogi, Akwa Ibom, and Oyo, NDLEA operatives intensified their offensive action against drug cartels. In Edo, a pharmacy along Sapele Road, Benin, was raided on Friday 27th May following intelligence and prolonged surveillance. The owner of the store, Thaddeus Uliagbafusi, 58, was arrested while a total of 130,670 tablets of different controlled drugs, 1,396 ampoules of pentazocine injection, and 743 bottles of codeine were recovered from a secret location where the drugs are repackaged. This followed a similar raid of a drug joint operated by Mrs. Christianah Gabriel, 53, at Uromi, Esan North-East LGA, Edo State, who was arrested with 25kg cannabis.

While operatives seized 15, 000 ampoules of pentazocine injection in Kaduna along the Abuja-Kaduna express road, 12,500 tablets of Diazepam were intercepted along the Okene-Abuja highway on Thursday 26th May. The drug exhibits were found inside a truck conveying motor spare parts from Onitsha, Anambra to Kaduna. In Akwa Ibom, a female drug dealer, Irene Emmanuel Bassey was arrested on Saturday 28th May, during a search of her house at Ikpa town, Esit Eket LGA where 30.5kg cannabis was recovered, while one Muideen Rasaki was nabbed with 90.8kg cannabis at Elere, Boluwaji area of Ibadan South-East LGA.

While commending the officers and men of the Directorate of Intelligence, NAIA, Edo, Kaduna, Kogi, Akwa Ibom, and Oyo state Commands of the Agency for the series of arrests and seizures in the past week, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged them and their compatriots across the country not to relent in their offensive action against drug cartels and their kingpins.

President Muhammadu Buhari says he is extremely saddened by the reported deaths of scores of worshippers during a stampede at a religious event in Port Harcourt, Rivers.
The Rivers State Police Command had confirmed that 31 worshippers died in a stampede at the venue of an outreach program put together by Kings Assembly, a new generation church on Saturday morning.
Reacting to the incident in a statement issued by his media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Saturday, the president admonished organizers of religious, political, and other big events to plan well and carry them out in a disciplined manner to avert similar calamitous deaths and injuries.

The president directed that “all efforts should be made to provide relief to those injured in the unfortunate incident”.
He added that disaster and relief agencies of the Federal Government should maintain constant contact with the Rivers Government to ensure that good care is taken of the relief efforts.

Buhari expressed his condolences and that of the nation to the bereaved families and to the government and people of Rivers and prayed to the Almighty to repose the souls of the deceased.

.Atiku floored 12 other aspirants in the election held at the velodrome complex of the Moshood Kashimawo Abiola Stadium, Abuja.

Aminu Tambuwal had asked his supporters to vote for the former Vice President after announcing his withdrawal from the contest shortly before voting commenced.⁣
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At the conclusion of sorting and counting the votes, the Chief returning officer of the PDP 2022 electoral committee, Senator David Mark declared Atiku elected as the party’s presidential candidate having polled 371 votes.⁣
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Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike finished second with a total of 237 votes, while the former Senate President, Bukola Saraki recorded 70 votes to finish third.⁣

The shareholders of Twitter have sued billionaire Elon Musk for manipulating the price of the company’s shares downward through his comments after the $44 billion deal agreement. The shareholders in the lawsuit accused Musk of deliberately passing negative comments about Twitter to drag down its price on the stock market.

The suit was filed Wednesday in federal district court for Northern California and argued that Musk intentionally drove down the company’s stock to secure a better deal.
According to them, the billionaire’s tricks worked as Twitter has lost $8 billion in valuation since the Buyout was announced. They added that Musk was aware of the bots problem and other issues Twitter was facing before agreeing to the $44 billion deal.

Musk had last week put the acquisition deal on hold pending the determination of the actual number of bots on Twitter, which the company put at less than 5%.
The shareholders while narrating the cause of the lawsuit said: “On April 25, 2022, Twitter, Inc. announced that it had agreed to sell itself to Elon Musk for $54.20 per share, or approximately $44 billion (the “Buyout” or “Proposed Buyout”). Musk negotiated the Twitter Buyout over the weekend of April 23-24, 2022 without carrying out any due diligence.

“The Buyout is only conditioned on approval of Twitter’s shareholders at a meeting to be scheduled this summer, regulatory approval, and closing of the Buyout by October 24, 2022. Before agreeing to buy Twitter for $44 billion, Musk, one of the world’s richest individuals valued at $276 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and a sophisticated businessman with a phalanx of lawyers and investment bankers, according to the press, specifically agreed to waive detailed due diligence as a condition of the merger agreement.”

“At the time, Musk was well aware that Twitter had a certain amount of “fake accounts” and accounts controlled by “bots” and had in fact settled a lawsuit based on the fake accounts for millions of dollars. Musk had tweeted about that issue at Twitter several times in the past, prior to making his offer to acquire Twitter with full knowledge of the bots.“

Musk and his team were also well aware of an $809.5 million settlement Twitter entered into in September 2021, in a securities fraud class action alleging Twitter overstated its user numbers and growth rate. All the documents from that case were publicly available to Musk, including a website containing, among other things, the Court’s order denying Twitter’s motion for summary judgment.
“Because Tesla’s stock is worth much less now than when Musk agreed to buy Twitter, Musk is at risk of a margin call or a requirement to put up more cash. Musk quickly acted to attempt to mitigate these personal risks to himself by engaging in unlawful conduct that moved the price of Twitter’s stock down,” they added.

The shareholders further alleged that “Musk proceeded to make statements, send tweets, and engage in conduct designed to create doubt about the deal and drive Twitter’s stock down substantially in order to create leverage that Musk hoped to use to either back out of the purchase or re-negotiate the buyout price by as much as 25% which, if accomplished, would result in an $11 billion reduction in the Buyout consideration.“

As detailed herein, Musk’s conduct was and continues to be illegal, in violation of the California Corporations Code, and contrary to the contractual terms he agreed to in the deal.
ALSO, READ  Ghana NPP Estimates Cost For Electricity From Nuclear PowerMusk’s market manipulation worked — Twitter has lost $8 billion in valuation since the Buyout was announced.”
The billionaire, who has put his $44 billion deal to buy the company on hold, believes that there are more spam or bot accounts on Twitter than the company has claimed.

Testing the claim through his over 93 million followers on Twitter, Musk posted: “Twitter claims that >95% of daily active users are real, unique humans. Does anyone have that experience?”
He then provided two options for people to vote: One, laughter emoji for real humans, and the second option a bot icon.

After 13 hours of the poll, over 1.3 million Twitter users had voted with 52.5 percent in favor of humans and 47.5 percent in favor of bots, as of the time of filing this report.
The poll is to last for 24 hours.