TheNewsGuru

Tag: Ekiti State

  • Okowa departs Ekiti, as Fayose begs Governor stays over

    Okowa departs Ekiti, as Fayose begs Governor stays over

    Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, after successfully conducting the Ekiti State Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primaries, has departed the state.

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose was rumoured to have pleaded with the Delta State Governor to stay over the weekend.

    Fayose reportedly mockingly told the All Progressives Congress (APC) to hire Okowa for its primary scheduled to hold on Friday.

    Okowa chaired the committee that on Tuesday conducted the governorship primary of the PDP in Ekiti state, which was acclaimed to be credible and generally peaceful.

    Aspirants and observers had described the exercise as transparent and credible.

    In his remarks at the close of the exercise, Fayose said he would keep Okowa in the state till Friday so he could help the APC with their primary election.

    “We will keep Okowa here till Friday to help APC, if not they will not have any candidate. They will still continue to beat themselves. They can’t conduct congresses, they do not represent the minds of the masses,” he said.

    Reacting, however, Okowa said he is not part of the APC and cannot help them with their primary.

    “I decline to conduct the primary for APC. They need me back in Delta,” he said.

    APC primary election, which was conducted last Saturday by Tanko Al-Madura, Governor of Nasarawa state, was marred by violence.

     

  • Ekiti PDP primaries: Delegates defy heavy downpour

    Ekiti PDP primaries: Delegates defy heavy downpour

    Delta State Governor and Chairman of Committee, Ifeanyi Okowa and delegates on Tuesday morning defied heavy downpour to attend the Ekiti State Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) primaries.

    TheNewsGuru reports Governor Okowa and the 2,092 delegates defied the rains and stormed the venue set to conduct the Ekiti PDP Primary Election in Ado-Ekiti

    Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has said PDP will be going back to Aso Villa come 2019 Presidential elections.

    A total of 2,092 delegates are expected to take part in the gubernatorial primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to choose its flag bearer among the three contending candidates.

    Out of this, there are 1,585 statutory delegates while elected national and ad-hoc delegates total 491.

    The party has already appointed Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state to head the primary election committee while its National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus is to head the primary appeals committee which will begin seating on Monday.

    All members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party are also members of the appeals committee.

    A total of 51 persons who had been elected as delegates from various local governments were withdrawn from the delegates’ list because they are government officials who did not resign their appointments before contesting.

    But the party was unable to replace the withdrawn delegates because of the shortness of time.

    National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, confirmed on Monday that all measures have been put in place to ensure a hitch-free congress, noting that all the aspirants have agreed to work together.

    The aspirants are the current deputy governor of the state, Prof. Kolapo Eleka; former national spokesman of the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye and serving Senator, Biodun Olujimi.

    Ologbondiyan observed that the processes leading to primary were transparent, noting that this accounted for why nobody was complaining.

    He was confident that the Congress will be peaceful as he pointed out that there will not be a repeat of the violence witnessed during the conduct of the Congress of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state.

     

  • UNICEF raises alarm over Female Genital Mutilation practices in Ekiti

    UNICEF raises alarm over Female Genital Mutilation practices in Ekiti

    The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and Ekiti State Government have decried the increasing rate of Female Genital Mutilation, (FGM) in the state.

    They, however, said that it would take collective efforts from all stakeholders to curb the menace.

    UNICEF and the state government made this known at the end of the stakeholders meeting of the State Technical Committee on FGM in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday.

    UNICEF Consultant on FGM for Ekiti, Osun and Oyo states, Mrs Aderonke Olutayo, said the agency would render technical support to assist the state government to eliminate the practice in the state.

    She commended government determination to prosecute those who perpetrated the act and stressed the need for a legal backing and policy framework to fight the ugly practice.

    Olutayo said that the state recorded about 72 per cent in the state, noting that female children between the ages of zero and 14 were victims.

    The consultant also noted that some female teenagers and adults, even up to the marriageable age were also circumcised.

    She identified cultural and traditional beliefs as being responsible for the practice pointing out that some people saw it as a family heritage which must be stopped.

    “Some of those who perform the genital mutilation are unskilled. They do it with primitive and unsterilised equipment and do damage to human parts.

    “The World Health Organisation had a law prohibiting this practice and it has been domesticated in Nigeria, particularly in Ekiti State.

    “I want to appeal that the laws must be implemented to protect the lives of our women,” she said.

    Declaring open the technical committee meeting, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Olurotimi Ojo, decried the prevalence rate of the female genital mutilation in the state.

    The commissioner was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Ayotunde Omole.

    He charged members of the committee to join hand with government in eradicating the menace in the state.

    According to him, the practice which is prevalent in the rural areas must be nipped in the bud with concerted efforts from officials of Primary Healthcare because of their proximity to the grassroots.

    He said that over 72 per cent cases were reported in Ekiti, ranking the state high in the prevalence of the harmful practice and urged stakeholders to join in the campaign against the act.

    He pointed out that FGM had done more harm to women that had been cut, saying the victims were either carrying lifetime infectious diseases like HIV, barrenness, hemorrhage, broken home due to sexual non-satisfaction and other associated problems.

    The commissioner said the programme was meant to mobilise the younger generation against the practice and identify ways to end the practice.

    He described genital mutilation as “a flagrant infringement of the rights of the female gender,” and urged the government at all levels to stop the menace in the overall interest of motherhood.

    The commissioner explained that the state had domesticated the law banning the practice in the state and warned that anyone caught still engaging in the practice would be prosecuted.

    He charged the womenfolk, whom he described as “the real victims” to intensify their campaign against cutting of the female genitals, to create more awareness.

    In his remarks, the UNICEF Consultant on FGM/C for Ebonyi and Imo states, Mr Ben Mbakwem, charged the participants to see the campaign against FGM as an activism to rescue women from an unprofitable traditional practice.

    He said that all efforts should be mobilised to eliminate the practice in the state.

    The meeting was attended by stakeholders from the UNICEF, National Orientation Agency, Ministry of Women Affairs, the Nigeria Police, NSCDC, Media, trade union and professional organizations and Non Governmental Organisations.

     

  • Mind your business, Ekiti APC tells Fayose

    The Ekiti state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) on Wednesday night reacted to claims by Governor Ayo Fayose that some of its aspirants planned to monetise Saturday’s governorship primary, describing it as figment of his imagination.

    The party, through its State Publicity Secretary, Chief Taiwo Olatunbosun said what the governor had just displayed by raising “false alarm” was a sign that he was afraid of an impending loss by his party of the July gubernatorial election.

    ” Fayose is frustrated and jittery, let him mind his business. He is not a member of our party so I don’t know where he is picking his information from.

    ” APC is not like his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party that has stolen our commonwealth and plunged the nation into a state of coma

    “Yes, we will mobilise our members for the primary but the allegation that we are sharing that kind of money by the governor is laughable

    ” We will do everything that is right and within the constitution to send him out of the Government House, so let him start packing.

    “No amount of blackmail will stop or derail us. The Ekiti people are set for the APC and we will make sure we produce a candidate that is acceptable to the people.”he said.

    At a press conference earlier on Wednesday, Fayose raised the alarm over alleged movement of heavy cash into the state by some unidentified aspirants of the APC.

    He said such monies were meant to compromise the delegates.

    He claimed that the governorship election slated for July 14 in the state might also be compromised by the use of cash, going by the alleged desperation of the aspirants who are jostling for the ticket of the APC.

    According to him, the way the exercise was being compromised in the build up to ordinary primary, showed that the APC was merely paying lip service to the war against corruption.

    The Governor wondered where the money being spent by the alleged and unidentified aspirants was coming from.

    Fayose claimed that one particular aspirant gave each delegate N250,000, and another gave N500,000, with a promise to offer them N1million each onSaturday, the day of the party primary.

    He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant agencies to beam their searchlight into the alleged monetisation of the electoral processes in the state and avoid a repeat of same scenario when it comes to the gubernatorial election proper.

     

  • Appeal court orders freezing of Gov. Fayose’s Zenith Bank account

    A Court of Appeal in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State has given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the go-ahead to freeze the bank account of Ayo Fayose, Governor of the state.

    Justice J. S. Ikeyegha, who read the ruling of the three-man panel, directed the freezing of Fayose’s Zenith Bank account.

    TheNewsGuru recalls Justice Taiwo Taiwo of a Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti had in December 2016 ordered the EFCC to defreeze the bank accounts frozen as a result of investigations into the money in the account, which were alleged to be proceeds of illegal activities.

    The EFCC, dissatisfied with the ruling had approached the Appellate Court to set aside the ruling of the lower court.

    The agency had argued that the order contradicted that of Justice M. B. Idris of a Federal High Court in Lagos, which gave the Commission the legal backing to freeze the accounts until investigations were concluded.

    The Appellate Court has now ruled in the favour of the EFCC.

     

  • Fayemi declares interest in Ekiti guber poll

    Fayemi declares interest in Ekiti guber poll

    Former Ekiti state governor and current Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi on Sunday says he will contest the July 14 gubernatorial election coming up soon in the state under the APC.

    He made his ambition known at a news conference at his Isan-Ekiti country home in Oye Local Government Area of the state.

    Fayemi had hosted leaders and scores of members of the party from all the 16 Local Government Areas and the 177 Wards of the state.

    He said he was driven by his past records of positive achievements, especially for workers, retirees and pensioners while in office in the state.

    He explained that his decision to seek re-election was to deliver the state from incompetent and dubious hands and take her to where its supposed to be.

    The former governor becomes the 35th person to formally indicate interest in the governorship poll in the APC alone, aside from dozen others whose campaign posters and billboards are already out on the streets without formal declaration.

    Fayemi said he would formally submit his letter of intent to the state secretariat of the APC as soon as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lifts ban on campaigns on April 15.

    On the issue of a White Paper, indicting him for corruption and consequently banned him from seeking public office for 10 years, Fayemi said he was not bothered.

    He declared that the said White Paper cannot stop his ambition, describing the document as final result of several months of political witchhunt launched against him by the Ayo Fayose-led administration that cannot stand the test of time.

    “Regardless of whatever anybody may think, I know I am eminently qualified to contest the election, if I am not qualified, I would never have come to tell you I want to contest.

    “Most of the negative things Fayose and his government said or alleged of me were deliberately concocted out of malice to either malign my character or score cheap political goal; but the truth will always prevail.

    “Same goes for the manipulated debt profile of the state which was a clear case of exaggeration and distortions.

    “Can you imagine, Fayose said he issued White Paper banning me from holding public office, but today, I am giving him red card. By the end of the gubernatorial poll exercise, we will know who is right between the two of us,” he said.

    The Minister vowed to dislodge Fayose and his deputy in the poll if picked at the May 5, 2018 gubernatorial primary of the party in Ado Ekiti.

    He advised other aspirants against divisive tendencies by their followers, stressing that whoever that eventually emerged from the coming primary must be embraced by all since the national secretariat of the party had promised that the whole exercise would be open, free and fair.

    He promised to use his second-term to correct all past mistakes and improve on the good ones, saying he had learnt his lessons since leaving office about four years ago as governor.

    Fayemi, therefore, asked all those he offended while in office as governor to forgive him, while also saying he had forgiven all those who erred against him, in the interest of the party.

    He warned Fayose not to attempt to remove or destroy his campaign posters and billboards the way his government was currently doing to some opposition posters.

    The minister was however silent on when he would be resigning his appointment as minister from the Federal Executive Council.

     

  • News Hour 10-08-2017 I TNGtv

  • Fayose’s re-election bid, effort in futility – Falana

    Vocal human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has said the courts will not endorse the re-election bid of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State after exhausting his two terms as governor.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Fayose ‎made the declaration on Monday, saying that he would contest the 2018 governorship election ‎to serve his first term which was truncated in 2006.

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that Fayose was impeached in 2006, but the Supreme Court in 2014 nullified the impeachment that ousted him from office about seven months to the end of his first term.

    ‎However, Falana on Tuesday explained that Fayose’s bid to seek re-election would amount to tenure elongated which no court could grant.

    In his words: “Tenure extension by a governor under any disguise is anomalous. No court can prolong the tenure of a sitting governor buying the two terms prescribed by the Constitution.

    “In the case of Gov Rasheed Ladoja v INEC the appellant wanted an extension of his term of office to allow him to spend extra 11 months while he was fighting his impeachment from outside.

    “Although the Supreme Court had set aside his impeachment it was held that the relief was illegal and unconstitutional.

    “Similarly, the governors who were re-elected after their initial election was annulled, the Supreme Court made it abundantly clear that tenure extension was unknown to the Constitution.

    “In view of the settled position of the law on the matter, Governor Ayo Fayose cannot be granted by any court in Nigeria.”

  • Alleged Probe: Fayose inaugurates panel to probe predecessor, Kayode Fayemi

    Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State on Monday inaugurated a judicial commission of enquiry to investigate allegations of fraud against his immediate predecessor, and current Minister for Steel and Minerals Resources Development, Kayode Fayemi.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that this followed a resolution passed by the Ekiti State House Assembly some weeks ago, which directed the governor to pursue the investigations given that the minister failed to appear before the house when summoned the come and testify.

    The assembly had accused Fayemi of diverting funds belonging to the state Universal Basic Education Board while serving as governor of the state.

    But the minister denied any wrong doing, saying the house and the state government were out to tarnish his image.

    Fayemi had also derided the house for the call for his investigation, saying the case in question was before a court of law.

    Fayose, while constituting the panel in Ado Ekiti, explained that the move was in compliance with the resolution of the House of Assembly.

    “In compliance with the resolution of the State House of Assembly and pursuant to the powers conferred on Mr. Governor in section 2 of the Ekiti State Commission of Enquiry Cap C10 Laws of Ekiti State, 2012, His Excellency, Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose, has set up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to look into the financial transactions of the state between 2010 and 2014,” the governor’s speech read on his behalf by the Secretary to State Government, Modupe Alade, said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the commission is headed by retired Justice, Silas Oyewole, of the Ekiti State High Court.

    It has as its terms of reference, to ascertain how much Ekiti State Government received as statutory allocations during the period under review and how same were disbursed.

    The commission is also to “look into the financial transactions of Ekiti State between 2010 and 2014; ascertain the amount received on behalf of the State from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC); investigate the allegations of fraud/loss of funds, including the diversion and conversion of the UBEC funds; ascertain the amount that the Ekiti State Government took as loans during the period under review and how they were utilized.”

    It was also mandated to consider all other issues relating to the finances of the Ekiti State Government within the period under review, and to make appropriate recommendations to the Ekiti State Government.

    “This is no witch-hunt because severally, the State House of Assembly, that is conferred with the power to look into the finances of the state, has invited former governor John Kayode Fayemi to clarify some issues bothering on the finances of the state such as the SUBEB funds which was mismanaged and others,” Mrs. Aladje said.

    “But despite having been invited for three times, he has refused to honour the invitation.

    “Since he has refused to do that, the governor, acting on the directives by the state Assembly and the powers conferred on him by the constitution, has set up this judicial Commission of Enquiry.”

    Ekiti State Attorney General, Owoseni Ajayi, said the setting up of the enquiry was in strict compliance with section two of the Ekiti State Law on the establishment of Judicial Commission of Enquiry.

    “Fortunately, this particular law was signed into Law in 2012 by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, which means it is an extant Law, a Law of the state and not intended to witch-hunt anybody,” he said.

    “The Commission is a fact finding one and there is no cause for anybody to be afraid of the proceedings of the Commission which is quasi-judiciary and would be in the open court and not hidden from anybody.”

    Ajayi assured that the principles of fair hearing would be upheld as all parties must be given a fair hearing in the proceedings.

    “It is not at all targeted at former governor Kayode Fayemi in person, but it is to find facts as to how the finances of the state were dispensed under that administration,” he said.

    “So, if anybody is called upon by that Commission, and served adequate notice through a medium by which they can be informed, and they abdicated their right to defend or present facts contrary to what is presented, then they will be taken as if they have abandoned their right of fair hearing and any judgement passed thereof would be binding on such persons.”

    Your panel, a waste of time, Fayemi fires back

    However, in a swift reaction, the Minister for Steel and Minerals Resources Development and former governor of the state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, described the judicial commission inaugurated by his successor (Fayose) on Monday as “an exercise in futility”.

    Yinka Oyebode, Special Assistant on Media to the minister said in a statement that the governor’s action was at variance with the laws of the land which makes it subjudice for anyone to entertain a matter that is already before a court of competent jurisdiction.

    “It is obvious, Governor Fayose is desperate to probe the administration of his predecessor in office, Dr Kayode Fayemi, for personal vendetta. Yet, he is advised to be guided by the rule of law and decency in this wild goose chase.

    “The Governor and members of the panel are reminded that the two cases involving the House of Assembly, its leadership and top officials of the present administration are still pending In an Abuja High Court and a Federal High Court in Ado, thus making it an act of illegality for another panel to look into the matter.

    “The governor is advised to concentrate on the serious task of governance and refrain from shadow chasing which the current pursuit of personal vendetta through a kangaroo committee clearly represents,” he added.

  • One feared dead, several others injured over chieftaincy tussle in Ekiti

    One person was feared dead with several others injured following a chieftaincy tussle that engulfed Igogo in Moba Local Government Area of Ekiti during the week.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the crisis which started like a mere disagreement between parties on Monday, suddenly took a dangerous turn on Thursday and dragged on until the early hours of Friday.

    This followed news that filtered into town that one of the two contesting for the Asaba chieftaincy title in the town had been allegedly kidnapped by some unknown persons.

    NAN gathered that the kidnapped contestant was alleged to be equally enjoying the support of most residents of the town.

    It was reported that the second contestant was, however, alleged to be enjoying the support of some influential people from the town.

    Sola Akande, a resident of the town, told NAN that the crisis snowballed into a major violence when it became known that there were plans to impose the unpopular candidate on the people.

    He said that soldiers and men of the Nigeria Police, attached to the state anti-crime control unit, code-named “Operation Flush” had to be invited to restore normalcy in the town.

    NAN reports that as at the time of filling the report normalcy had been restored to the town.

    The Police Public Relations Officer, Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the clash.

    Adeyemi, however, said he was not aware that anybody lost his or her life during the clash.

    He said that a Deputy Commissioner of Police led a team of security men that eventually restored peace to the area.