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Tag: Akwa Ibom

  • PDP wins as APC loses two federal seats in Akwa Ibom

    PDP wins as APC loses two federal seats in Akwa Ibom

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State has lost two federal constituency seats.

    The election petition tribunal II on Wednesday delivered judgment in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Tribunal Chairman Justice Jennifer Ijohor declared Aniekan Umanah and Pat Ifon winners of the Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika and Eket federal constituencies.

    APC’s candidate Emmanuel Ekon challenged Umanah’s victory while his colleague Kufre Akpabio challenged Ifon’s victory for Eket.

    In their separate motions, the petitioners prayed the court to cancel the elections on the grounds that it did not comply with the Electoral Act.

    They asked the tribunal to nullify the certificates issued to the first respondents on February 23 election.

    The court held that since it had already determined a motion on that subject by dismissing the petitioners’ application in July 9, the court could not sit on appeal over its decision as sought by the petitioner.

  • Tribunal upholds election of PDP NASS members in Akwa Ibom

    The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal presided over by Justice Jennifer Ijohor on Thursday upheld the elections of Senator Bassey Albert for Akwa Ibom North East (Uyo) Senatorial District, Hon. Unyime Idem for Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency and Nse Ekpenyong of Oron/Udung Uko/Urueffong Oruko/Mbo/Okobo federal constituency.

    The three-member tribunal sitting at the State Sanitation Court Complex in Uyo ruled in favour of the Respondents who are all members of the People Democratic Party(PDP), citing the inability of Petitioners to prove allegations of criminality and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, as contained in their petitions.

    In the Akwa Ibom North Senatorial District petition, the petitioners, Bassey Etim, candidate and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), alleged that Bassey Albert was not elected by majority of lawful votes; not qualified to contest the National Assembly elections as his documents were falsified; and that his emergence was by reason of corrupt practices; and non-compliance with the Electoral Act by the Independent National Electoral Commission

    The petitioners, who were represented at the tribunal by Reuben Egwaba Esq, relied on Section 140(3) to urge that the tribunal nullifies the election of Senator Bassey Albert and declare Mr Bassey Etim as the winner.

    In the alternative, Etim called on the tribunal to order a fresh election and exclude the PDP and Senator Bassey Albert from contesting.

    However, Counsel to the PDP, O. B. Akpan Esq and that of the 1st Respondent Mr.Solomon Umoh SAN represented by M. D. Gwaison, submitted that the petitioners, who made wild criminal allegations of falsification of documents and noncompliance with electoral act, did not tender any other document to prove their claim.

    Barr Akpan also said that a Witness subpoenaed by the Petitioner, S. O. Ibrahim, Deputy Director, Legal Department of INEC had testified that Senator Albert satisfied INEC’s screening to contest the elections, and that no reports have been received by INEC from WAEC or any of the institutions denying any document submitted by Senator Albert.

    On votes acquired by Senator Albert, the respondents held that “the Petitioners submitted polling unit results as Exhibits P1-P317 and P320-P821 but merely dumped them at this Tribunal without linking any to their Petition during trial.

    “All witnesses of the Petitioners including the Petitioner only relied on hearsay in their Witness Statements. They confirmed on cross examination that they only received reports from agents,” maintaining that they were unable to pinpoint units of which INEC did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

    “On lawful votes, the Petitioners carefully avoided and abandoned their pleadings without giving any evidence, written or oral to prove how Senator Albert was not returned elected”.

    Similarly, the election of Hon. Unyime Idem was also upheld on ground that evidences of Petitioners and their witnesses were based on hearsay from polling unit agents, without substantial evidences.

    In proof of their petition, the petitioners called only three (3) witnesses, PW1 – Aniebiet Sunday Idung, PW2 – Friday Thomas Uwa, PW3 – Emmanuel Ukoette

    However the Tribunal upheld the argument of the respondents that, “all grave criminal allegations must be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Witnesses can only give evidences at polling units where they voted”.

    The tribunal agreed with the 1st and 2nd respondents that the election into House of Representatives for the Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State was conducted by the 3rd Respondent in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and 2019 General Elections Guidelines and Regulations in the discharge of its constitutional function.

    The Tribunal also ordered the Petitioner, Emmanuel Ukoette to pay Hon. Idem the sum of one hundred thousand naira (N100, 000).

    Similarly, the petition brought before the tribunal by Mr Victor Antai of the APC challenging the victory of Chief Nse Ekpenyong of the PDP for Oron Federal Constituency was dismissed for lacking in merit.

    As at the time of this report, ruling was being awaited for the Uyo Federal Constituency seat where Mr Ekerete Ekpenyong of the APC is challenging the victory of Mr Michael Enyong of the PDP in the February 23, 2019 national assembly election

  • Police rescue kidnapped man from Akwa Ibom shrine

    The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has rescued one Dr Sylvanus Udofa from a shrine in the Abak Local Government Area of the state and arrested his kidnappers.

    Udofa was rescued by police operatives from the Etim Ekpo/Abak Division from his abductors, who were negotiating the ransom for his release.

    Speaking while parading the suspects at the command’s headquarters in Ikot Akpan, Abia on Tuesday, the state Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, said the five kidnappers were arrested through intelligence gathering.

    Ahmed, who spoke through the command’s Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macdon, added that the gang demanded the sum of N300,000 from their victim and threatened to kill him if he did not produce the money.

    The accused are Imo Udoh, Monday Uko, Emma Udo, Isaiah Ufia and Edonma Ekong.

    “On July 11, 2019, around 9.15am, based on intelligence, a team of operatives from the Etim Ekpo/Abak Division stormed a shrine in Abak and arrested Imo Udoh, Monday Uko, Emma Udo, Isaiah Ufia and Edonma Ekong, who abducted one Dr Sylvanus Udofa, 57, and demanded that he paid N300,000 ransom or be killed. Operatives also rescued the victim,” the CP stated.

     

  • Akwa Ibom guber: APC demands resignation of Tribunal chairman

    The All Progressives Congress(APC) in Akwa Ibom has called for the resignation of Hon. Justice Jennifer Mbalamen Ijohor, who is the chairman Panel of 2 in charge of National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in the state.
    The APC observed that Hon. Justice Ijohor is the wife of Professor Anthony Ijohor, the Secretary to the Benue state government as well as strong stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), who also served as special adviser to Governor Samuel Ortom.
    State chairman of the party, Mr. Ini Okopido in a press conference Saturday at the party secretariat Uyo alleged that there was a clear conflict of interest in her work as chairman of the tribunal.
    ”Akwa Ibom State Chapter of the APC has established that Hon. Justice Jennifer Mbalamen Ijohor, who is the Chairman of Panel 2, National and State House of Assembly Election Petition in Akwa Ibom State, has a strong family relationship with a PDP stalwart, and so, there is a clear conflict of interest in her work as the Chairman of the Tribunal.
    ”In deed, we can say categorically that the Hon. Justice cannot discharge her duties as objectively as we would expect.
    ”We know for a fact that the husband to Hon. Justice Jennifer Ijohor, Prof. Anthony Ijohor, SAN, is the Secretary to the Benue State Government under a PDP governor. Prof Ijohor is a strong PDP stalwart in Benue State. Before he was appointed SSG, Prof Ijohor was an Adviser to the PDP Government of Governor Ortom.
    ”He (Prof Ijiohor) holds very strong and critical views about the APC. It is not farfetched if these sentiments are shared between husband and wife.
    ”Gentlemen of the Press, you will recall that it was only last month that the President of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa recused herself from presiding over the Presidential Election Petition Panel for the reason that her husband is an APC member”, Okopido said.
    The APC state chairman alleged that Hon. Justice Jennifer Ijohor as chairman of the tribunal has shown clear bias against the APC in the election petition matters brought before the tribunal hence the need for her to resign.
    ”We have three major reasons to believe that Hon. Justice Jennifer Ijohor’s conflict of interest has become a burden for her, and so she has not been discharging her duties at the Tribunal objectively.
    ”One, the Petition number EPT/AKS/HR/08/2019 between Edidiong Efiong Idiong & APC (Petitioners) and Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo, PDP & INEC (Respondents) in respect of Ikono/Ini Federal House of Representatives was struck out on the strength of interlocutory injunction application. This was despite spirited arguments by Counsel to the Petitioners drawing the Panel’s attention to the relevant sections of the Law to persuade the Panel.
    ”Similarly, the Petition Number EPT/AKS/HR/03/2019 between Hon. Ekerete Ekpenyong & APC (Petitioners) and Hon. Michael Enyong, PDP & INEC (Respondents) for Uyo/Ibesikpo Asutan/Uruan/Nsit Atai Federal Constituency was denied the amendments sought by the Petitioners at the pre hearing stage by the Hon. Justice Ijohor on the flimsy excuse that the name of the federal constituency was not written in full.
    ”Our lawyers’ spirited arguments to have that amended were turned down. Such amendments are being routinely granted by other Panels and indeed regular Courts. Of course, we have appealed these judgement.
    ”Another reason we believe that the Hon. Justice is biased against the APC and its candidates is rooted in the public statements and tweets of Henry Ijohor, who is the only son to the Hon. Justice. In his various statements and public communication, Henry has indicated more than a passing interest in the petitions filed at the various tribunals, particularly those in Akwa Ibom and Rivers State. In his tweet of 21st March, 2019, sent out at 8.24pm, Henry said: “The judges and lawyers handling Rivers and Akwa Ibom elections petitions have to be experienced. On the surface it’s obv ious they’ll (sic) be a lot of pressure on them and a lot of work to be done” @BarrHenryIjohor.
    ”We therefore request the Hon. Justice Ijohor to do the right thing and recuse herself from the Election Petition Tribunal in Akwa Ibom”, he said.
    The party also raised the alarm that its witnesses at the tribunals are being threatened and intimidated by persons suspected to be members of the PDP.
    ”Last month, APC witness, Mr. Tiebet Joshua reported to the Panel 1 of the National Assembly Tribunal that Engr. Chris Ekpenyong, who is the Respondent in the case at the Tribunal, had personally called him and threatened to kill him if he testified for Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Petitioner. And early this week, Dr. Ita Udosen, the Deputy Chairman of our Party in the State, received a phone call in which the caller threatened to trail and deal with him.
    ”This was in the day he appeared in the Witness Box for his Party and governorship candidate. Dr. Udosen had reported this threat to our Legal Team, who then reported it to the Tribunal. In addition, the Deputy Chairman has formally reported the matter to the security agencies.
    ”Gentlemen, we believe that these threats are the tactics of the PDP and its members who are now embarrassed as the Tribunals are listening to, and seeing evidence of, the revelations of their ungodly practices during the elections.
    ”We call on the Security agencies to track down these criminals and bring them to justice. As a Party, we will never be cowed or intimidated by unscrupulous politicians and their collaborators at INEC”, he said.

  • Akwa Ibom guber: Tribunal adjourns cross examination

    The governorship petition tribunal in Akwa Ibom State on Monday adjourned the cross examination of witnesses in a case between Governor Udom Emmanuel and Mr. Nsima Ekere till July 10.
    Chairman of the three-man panel Chief Justice A.M Yusuf said the adjournment was to enable the registry mark the exhibits properly.
    The court said it will begin the examination on July 10 when all the evidence have been duly marked.
    Chier Assam Assam (SAN), lead counsel to Udom, thanked the panel for showing the right attitude towards lawyers, saying it will strengthen the judiciary.
    Ekere of the All Progressives Congress (APC) filed a petition to challenge Governor Udom Emmanuel’s victory in the March 9 election.

  • Akwa Ibom, Rivers top states with highest unemployment rate in Q3 2018 – NBS

    Akwa Ibom, Rivers top states with highest unemployment rate in Q3 2018 – NBS

    The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Akwa Ibom reported the highest unemployment rate of 37.7 per cent in third quarter 2018.

    NBS said this in its Labour Force Statistics – Volume 2: Unemployment and Underemployment by State for Third Quarter, 2018 posted on its website.

    The bureau said that Rivers was the second highest reported unemployment rate with 36.4 per cent followed by Bayelsa with 32.6 per cent.

    Also, Abia recorded 31.6 per cent and Borno reported 31.4 per cent unemployment rate in the quarter under review.

    The report said the top five states with the highest unemployed population were Rivers (1,673,991), Akwa Ibom (1,357,754), Kano (1,257,130), Lagos (1,088,352) and Kaduna with (940,480).

    It said among these five states with the highest unemployed population, Lagos state reported the lowest rate of 14.6 per cent during the quarter.

    Meanwhile, the bureau said Katsina State, Jigawa, Kaduna State and Yobe recorded the highest underemployment rates of 39.5, 38.1, 31.0 and 30.0 per cent.

    It said the national unemployment rate for the quarter was 23.1 per cent while the underemployment rate was 20.1 per cent.

    The report said between third quarter, 2017 and third quarter of 2018, only nine states recorded a reduction in their unemployment rates despite an increase in the national unemployment rate.

    The states included: Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ondo and Rivers; the same states recorded reduction in their combined unemployment and underemployment rates.

    The report said six states recorded the highest gains in net full-time employment between third quarter, 2017 and second quarter, 2018.

    The states were Lagos adding 740,146 net full-time jobs, Rivers (235,438), Imo (197,147), Ondo (142,514), Enugu (122,333), Kaduna with 118,929 jobs.

    The report presents the state breakdown of the results of the Labour Force Survey earlier published by NBS.

    According to NBS, unemployment and underemployment rates vary across states due to the nature of economic activity predominant in each State.

    States with higher focus on seasonal agriculture tend to have higher rates of underemployment compared to unemployment.

    This may swing from high full-time employment during periods of planting and harvest, when they are fully engaged on their farms to periods of high underemployment and even unemployment at other periods in between.

    Meanwhile, states with a higher propensity for women to be housewives or stay home husbands or that have negative attitudes to working tend to have lower unemployment rates.

    The women tend to have lower unemployment rate as they are not considered part of the labour force in the first place and as such have no bearing on the rate of unemployment.

    On the methodology for arriving at the figures, the bureau said the total population in Nigeria was divided into labour force (currently active) and non-labour force (not currently active).

    The labour force population covers all persons aged 15 years to 64 years who are willing and able to work regardless of whether they have a job or not.

    The definition of unemployment, therefore, covers persons (aged 15–64 years) who during the reference period were currently available for work, actively seeking for work but were without work.

    The non-labour force includes population below 15 years or older than 64 years as well as those within the economically active population.

  • Akwa Ibom: Tribunal orders INEC to allow APC candidate inspect election materials

    Akwa Ibom: Tribunal orders INEC to allow APC candidate inspect election materials

    The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Uyo, on Monday, ordered INEC to allow the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr Nsima Ekere, to inspect all election materials used during the March 9 Governorship Election.

    The tribunal Chairman, Justice A. M. Yakubu, also gave permission to the APC to serve Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom and the PDP through substituted means.

    Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) the lead Counsel to Ekere and the APC, Chief Victor Iyenam, said the party will proceed immediately to paste the court processes on the PDP Secretariat located on Four Lane, Uyo.

    “What we got was application for substituted service since efforts to service Gov. Udom Emmanuel failed.

    “So, the court has granted us leave to serve the governor at the PDP office in Uyo. And then the other application is to inspect election materials.

    “We will get to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office to obtain the documents as listed, inspect them and make photocopies.

    The election petition tribunal sitting in Uyo said it received 34 petitions.

    The tribunal said two petitions from the Senatorial election filed by Sen. Godswill Akpabio of APC against Mr Christopher Ekpenyong of the PDP from Akwa Ibom North West and Mr Bassey Etim of APC against Sen. Bassey Akpan of the PDP from Akwa Ibom North East.

    The tribunal also received eight petitions from the House of Representatives and 23 petitions from the State House of Assembly elections out of the 26 house of assembly seats.

  • Akwa Ibom explains cause of high rate of HIV/AIDS in state

    The Akwa Ibom government has attributed the high rate of HIV/AIDS in the state to the influx of visitors.

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

    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, according to the findings of the survey released on March 14, in Abuja.

    Few days after the release of the NAIIS survey findings, the health commissioner in Akwa Ibom, Dominic Ukpong, briefed reporters in Uyo on the state government reaction to the survey findings.

    According to the commissioner: “The location of the state with a large coastal front of 129 Km stretching from Ikot Abasi to Oron, an airport, good road network, peaceful atmosphere, friendly disposition of our people, good cuisines and fast developing economy have made our state the destination of choice for both national and international visitors.”

    “All these are not without attendant public health consequences, like transmission of communicable diseases which HIV/AIDS cannot be excluded.”

    Ukpong said the state government and its health partners, with funding from USAID, carried out a similar survey – Akwa Ibom AIDS Indicator Survey (AKAIS) – in 2017.

    “The result as disseminated in November 2017 showed a prevalence of 4.8% for the age group 15 to 69 years.

    “Statistically this two results 5.5% (2018) and 4.8% (2017) for NAIIS and AKAIS respectively are within the same 95% confidence interval ranging from 4.7 to 6.3 percent.

    “Therefore the results scientifically similar despite the little change in figures. The slight difference between the NAIIS and AKAIS prevalence can be attributed to the sample population size, about 16,000 in AKAIS 2017 and about 8000 in NAIIS 2018, making AKAIS sample size twice the size in NAIIS, making AKAIS result more precise,” Mr Ukpong said.

    The health commissioner said the HIV prevalence in the state was on the decline.

    “The last nationally accepted HIV survey, prior to the NAIIS survey in 2018 was the ANC SENTINEL study in 2014 and the National prevalence was 3%, while Akwa Ibom State prevalence was 10.8%.

    “Arguably as it is being reported that the national prevalence has dropped from 3% (2014) to 1.4% (2018), similarly that of Akwa Ibom State has dropped from 10.8% (2014) to 5.5% (2018),” the commissioner said.

    He said the state governor, Udom Emmanuel, is committed to the health and wellbeing of the people.

    The commissioner listed out immediate measures to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in the state as follows:

    * Increasing access to HIV testing services, by providing enough rapid test kits whereby all primary health centres and secondary health facilities in the state will be able to provide free HIV testing services to its citizens.

    * Increasing access to treatment by creating three new comprehensive treatment centres, one per senatorial district to be fully supported by the state government these will complement other comprehensive treatment centres supported by international partners.

    * The State Primary Health Care Development Board, inaugurated by the Executive Governor recently, is working hard to kick-start its activities, which includes management of our primary health centres. This will impact positively on the service delivery in these health facilities.

    * Embarking on state-wide community outreaches and enlightenment campaigns to create demand for the uptake of HIV services. (I, therefore, appeal to the media to be partners in this project by incorporating jingles, news promo, and talk shows and media chats on HIV at no cost, to support the fight against the transmission of the virus.)

    * Strategising for effective intervention among drivers of new infections namely young adult females and members of the key population, by designing interventions that are gender and youth-friendly.

    Among the long term measures, the commissioner said the government would push for legislation in the state that would protect people living with HIV and also end stigmatization and discrimination.

  • A’Ibom: Akpabio heads to Election Tribunal, Seeks Order to Reclaim Mandate

    Following the withdrawal of his case filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, which sought to challenge his Senate re-election loss, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District in the February 23rd Senatorial election, Godswill Akpabio, and his party, have approached the Election Tribunal, sitting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, to kick-start the legal processes, that would lead to the validation of his victory at the poll.

    Akpabio is seeking to upturn the victory of Mr Christopher Ekpenyong and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), based on perceived electoral irregularities which characterised the said election.

    The former Senate Minority Leader, had while the election was ongoing, besieged the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), alleging cases of infractions and deliberate violations of the electoral law and guidelines during the senatorial election.

    In the said election, INEC had in collaboration with some PDP chieftains in the senatorial district, wrongfully declared Mr. Ekpeyong and his party, the PDP, winner of the poll, having scored 118,215 as against Akpabio’s 83,158.

    However, incontrovertible result sheets from Akwa Ibom INEC office showed different figures that had Akpabio securing 138,256 votes as against Ekpeyong’s 123,843.

    Dissatisfied with the conduct and outcome of the election, the former governor of Akwa Ibom and his party vowed to approach the election petition tribunal to ventilate their grievances as well as reclaim their stolen mandate.

  • Gov. Emmanuel re-elected A’Ibom governor

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Gov. Udom Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of Saturday’s governorship election in Akwa Ibom.

    The Returning Officer, Prof. Faraday Orumwense, Vice Chancellor, University of Benin, who announced the result in Uyo on Monday, said that Gov. Emmanuel won in all the 31 local government areas of the state.

    Orumwense said Emmanuel was re-elected governor having polled 519,712 votes. His main challenger, Mr Nsima Ekere of the All Progressives Congress (APC), polled 171,978 votes.

    Mr Emmanuel Nwankpa of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) polled 2547 votes and Mr Ekene Uzodinma of the United Peoples Party (UPP) polled 1,476 votes.

    Orumwense said that there were 2,119,727 registered voters in the state, with 720,064 voters accredited. He said 696,245 valid votes were recorded, while 15,792 votes were declared void.

    He noted that the election was keenly contested, saying that 50 political parties contested for the governorship election in the state.