Group urges Osinbajo to fill RECs’ vacancies at INEC

The Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room has urged Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to nominate persons to fill 34 Resident Electoral Commissioners’ vacancies in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The group made the call at its session in Abuja on Wednesday and called on Osinbajo to urgently send the nominations to the Senate for consideration. Mr Clement Nwankwo, chieftain of the group, on behalf its behalf said that long existence of the vacancies in INEC was not good for the political atmosphere of the nation. Nwankwo urged the acting president to take full charge of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s responsibilities so that his absence would not be felt.
He commended Osinbajo for sending the nomination of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria to the senate for consideration as substantive Chief Justice of the country. Nwankwo, who is Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), advised the acting president to remain focused and not allow political intrigues to distract him. The group prayed for quick recovery of Buhari to enable him to return to his duties. It also condemned the invasion of the social media by security agents and recent arrest of Mr Audu Maikori, the founder and President, Chocolate City Entertainment. Maikori was arrested by the Police on Feb.17 in Kaduna on charges bordering on inciting comments on the social media over the Southern Kaduna crisis. “There is too much invasion of the social media space by security agents and I am surprised that in Kaduna state the arrest of a social media activist was initiated for putting out a post on social media. “The situation in Kaduna is very sad and that the governor has allowed for some of these issues to be perpetuated is very sad,’’ the group said.

Rihanna named Harvard’s Humanitarian of the Year

Rihanna never went to college but the R&B superstar voiced delight as she was presented an award by Harvard University for her humanitarian work. “So I made it to Harvard! Never thought I would be able to say that in my life, but it feels good,” a beaming Rihanna said to students’ cheers at the prestigious US university Tuesday evening.
Harvard named the 29-year-old singer its Humanitarian of the Year, pointing to her projects that include an advanced center to treat breast cancer in her native Barbados and support for girls’ education around the developing world. Rihanna said she had set up her first charity at age 18 and remarked: “People make it seem way too hard, man.” “You don’t need to be rich to help someone, you don’t need to be famous, you don’t even need to be college-educated,” she said, while joking that she wished she were. “I want to challenge each of you to make a commitment to help one person, one organization, one situation that touches your heart,” she said. “My grandmother always used to say, ‘If you got a dollar, there’s plenty to share.'” Rihanna, who was discovered by a music executive while still a teenager, has also set up a scholarship program named after her grandparents for Caribbean students in the United States.

Ladoja’s trial: Court decides on admissibility of EFCC document Thursday

Lagos – A Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed March 2 for ruling on admissibility of a document tendered before it in the trial of former Governor Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo State. Ladoja is facing trial alongside one of his aides, Waheed Akanbi, on eight counts charge bordering on N4.7 billion frauds filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Justice Mohammed Idris, therefore, fixed March 2 to decide on the admissibility of the petition by the prosecution witness.
When the trial resumed on Wednesday, the prosecutor, Mr Festus Keyamo, called on his first prosecution witness (PW1), Mr Abdullahi Lawal, to give evidence. The witness, an operative of EFCC, told the court that sometimes in July 2007, a written petition was received by the commission from the office of the Secretary to the Oyo State Government. Lawal said that in the petition, Ladoja and Akanbi were accused of perpetrating fraud and financial impropriety. The prosecutor then sought to tender the said petition before the court in evidence. At this stage, Mr Bolaji Onilenla, counsel to Ladoja, opposed to it on the ground that the said petition had not been served on his client. Onilenla argued that it was a mandatory provision of the law that the defence should be served with any document sought to be tendered in court by the prosecution. “I submit that the witness may not be able to testify before the court; we need time to study the document sought to be tendered by him,” he said. Also, Mr Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, the counsel to Akanbi, argued that it was fundamental for the court to refuse admissibility of the said document. Olumide-Fusika said the court had earlier directed that the defence should be served with all documents sought to be tendered by the prosecution. In his response, Keyamo insisted that the court has summary jurisdiction on the matter before it, being criminal in nature. He said there was no strict law suggesting that the prosecution must supply the defence with every document. Keyamo said the objection does not go to admissibility at all, arguing that in the proof of evidence, it was stated that reliance would be placed on all documents therein. “The petition has to do with how the complaint came in, and how EFCC swung into action; they can seek adjournment to look at the document and cross-examine the witness,’’ he said. The EFCC had in November 2008 arraigned the accused on a 10-count charge of conspiracy to convert property and resources derived from an alleged illegal act. The EFCC also alleged that the accused had the intention of concealing their illicit origin. It also alleged that Ladoja used N42 million out of the proceeds to purchase an Armoured Land Cruiser Jeep, and remitted about 600,000 pounds to one Bimpe Ladoja in London. NAN reports that Ladoja and Akanbi had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges, and were allowed to continue on their earlier bail terms.

Newly-wed couple die in tragic car accident one week after tying the knot (photos)

A Ugandan couple, Sedrak Webale and Grace Namatovu, have lost their lives in a tragic car accident a week after elaborate traditional wedding.
It was gathered that the couple were preparing for their final wedding celebration for the coming weekend. They had just celebrated their traditional wedding a week ago.
The couple were driving a Toyota bus on an express road when the fatal accident occurred. The accident left many others injured.

NANS blocks UNIOSUN over threat to expel 4000 students

- The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has waded into the crisis in the Osun state university

- The university authority has threatened to rusticate 4410 students who could not pay their schools as deadline expires on Tuesday February 28

- The university has accused the students of using the school fees on the ponzi scheme MMM

Following the threat by management of the Osun State University to expel over 4000 students who could not pay their school fees on the allegation that some might have spent the fees on the ponzi scheme, MMM, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has waded in.

NANS, a body that protects the welfare of higher institution students nationwide, has rejected the move by the university authority to rusticate the 4410 students who failed to meet the deadline for the school fees payment.

Daily Trust reports that the National Vice President, Afolabi Aguda, said the threat was not acceptable due to the economic situation in the country.

Afolabi spoke to journalists in Osogbo during organized by NANS to drive home the desire of the body and find a meeting point between the students and the university authority.

He said NANS would seek a way out to handle the issue rather than rusticate the students who have not committed any criminal offence against the management of the school.

He condemned the manner in which some policemen shot two students of the university recently over an allegation of internet fraud also known as Yahoo-Yahoo, lamenting that similar thing occurs often in many campuses across the country.

Afolabi said: “In democratic setting, police should comply with the law and respect human rights. If the killings, harassment and extortion by police persist, Nigerian students would storm the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in a massive protest and occupy that office.”

Obasanjo’s statement, ‘provocative, self-serving, misleading’ ― Fayose

Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo was making “provocative statements that distract and discourage Nigerians from squarely facing up to the onerous task of fixing the economy” and asked him to stop.

Governor Fayose in a statement on Tuesday, said: “There is much suffering in the land. The people are hungry. Yet, one of those responsible for this unsavoury state of affairs relishes in adding insult to the people’s injury. He makes statements that are not only reckless but also untrue.”

Fayose was reacting to a statement credited to former President Obasanjo in which the former president said his generation had failed the nation.

In the statement by his Chief Press Secretary,  Idowu Adelusi, Fayose decried what he said was “Obasanjo’s sanctimonious self-righteousness,” saying “apart from the statement being misleading, self-serving and discomfiting, it is also not what the country needs at this time of great economic distraction.”

Fayose said “rather than generalise, Obasanjo should speak for himself,” and added that “Obasanjo, truly, has failed this country many times over but not all members of his generation failed this country. There are shinning lights in that generation that have served the nation well.”

He said: “How about Emeka Anyaoku, Wole Soyinka, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Prof. Ayodele Awojobi? The list is endless and they are to be found in all the nooks and crannies of this country who belong in the same generation as Obasanjo and who have done this country proud.”

Fayose, however, lamented that Obasanjo wasted all the golden opportunities that he had to make this country great, first as a military Head of State and later as a two-term civilian president. “It is too late in the day for him to now cry over other countries that have passed Nigeria by. This is mere crocodile tears when we realise that no other Nigerian leader had the opportunities that Obasanjo had to make this country great but he bungled them all.

“He should speak for himself and not rope his entire generation into his misadventure in governance. Here is a man who neither recognised nor encouraged any star except himself. He must shoot them down or disparage them. For him, Obafemi Awolowo was not patriotic; MKO Abiola was not the messiah Nigeria needed; Tinubu was a rascal; Jonathan was not good; and President Muhammadu Buhari did not understand economics. Only Obasanjo is good. Only Obasanjo fought and won the civil war. Only Obasanjo understands everything – from economics to military to foreign affairs.

“Yet, this is the same Obasanjo that laid the foundation for corruption in this country with his ill-fated third-term misadventure when billions of Naira was used to bribe National Assembly members. This is the same Obasanjo that turned EFCC under Nuhu Ribadu into his private army to harass political opponents. Under this same Obasanjo, eight civilian governors were illegally and unceremoniously removed from office through kangaroo impeachments. Minority members of the Houses of Assembly were empowered to override the majority members. Under Obasanjo, our elections were “wuru-wuru” and “mago-mago” and we were the laughing stock of the international community.

“This same Obasanjo, who came back from prison a pauper, ask him how much he is worth today and how he made the money? The launching of his Presidential Library, which he is preparing to commission soon, attracted donations that ran into billions of Naira while he was in office. Only God knows how many more billions the commissioning will garner this time around.

Accusing the former President of an obsession with hugging the limelight, the governor said: “Obasanjo should give us a break. There is no denying the fact that he failed the country. The least he can now do is leave us alone to clear the peculiar mess he and others of his ilk got this country into. Let him retire into obscurity; fade away from the limelight; and allow us our peace and serenity,” Fayose added.

6 wounded in Chicago shootings

x people were wounded in Chicago shootings Tuesday afternoon and evening, police said.

Two men standing in the 3200 block of West 55th Street were each shot in the foot after people inside a vehicle opened fire about 8:45 p.m. in the Gage Park neighborhood, police said. Both men were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition. 

In the Lawndale neighborhood, a woman and a man were each shot in the shoulder in the 3800 block of West Grenshaw Street about 7:55 p.m. Both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, police said.  

Earlier in the Austin neighborhood, a 29-year-old man was shot in the abdomen in the 300 block of North Laramie Avenue about 5:16 p.m. The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition, police said in a media notification. 

In the West Pullman neighborhood, a 17-year-old boy was walking about 4:04 p.m. in the 11500 block of South LaSalle Street when a gold vehicle pulled up beside him and someone inside started shooting. The victim suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

No arrests had been made in any of the shootings.

Check back for updates.