The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress against the victory of Ekiti Governor, Ayodele Fayose in the June 21, 2014 governorship poll.
Supreme Court dismisses election petition against Governor Fayose
Oyo PDP Gubernatorial candidate removes transformer donated to community after losing
He apparently hasn’t recovered from the defeat. The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Teslim Folarin, has allegedly ordered the removal of the transformer he donated to Sabo community after losing at the polls last Saturday.
The Seriki Hausawa of Ibadanland, Alhaji Ahmad Dahiru Zungeru revealed this development at his palace in Ibadan few days ago.
“Folarin donated a transformer to Sabo community and it was placed around our central mosque. One of his aides, Basiru Maiborno, brought it to us. But yesterday morning, I received a call that Maiborno has taken back the transformer. Later in the day the transformer was returned back but we refused it and asked his aide to return it.” He said.
Although Maiborno a former councillor in Ibadan North denied it saying it was removed with a view to keeping it in a safer place. “It was not because Folarin lost in Sabo that we removed the transformer.
He continued, “I got the information that some hoodlums wanted to steal the transformer, which was why I removed it. Folarin does not know anything about it. Senator Folarin is a man of his words,” Maiborno concluded.
Opinion: In Memory Of The #ChibokGirls: Who Will #BringBackOurGirls? | By: Ogundana Michael Rotimi
Like a thief that cometh in the night to steal and to kill, the deadly terrorist group, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in English means, “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”, otherwise known as Boko Haram, on the night of 14–15 April 2014, stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok Community, Borno State, Nigeria.
Broke into the school, pretended to be guards, told the girls to get out and come with them. A large number of students, numbering about two hundred and seventy-nine (279) girls were taken away with them in trucks. Possibly into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest where they were known to have fortified camps.
Fifty-seven (57) of the girls managed to escape on their own on transits, left with about 219 in the hands of Boko Haram their abductor. Houses in Chibok community were also burnt down in the incident.
The school had been closed for four weeks prior to the attack due to the deteriorating security situation in the region, but students from multiple schools had been called on to take their physics final exams. These girls were aged 13 to 18 and were in their final year of school.
Tuesday, 14th April 2015, makes it exactly a year since the abduction of these girls. Their singular offence was that they wanted to be educated and pursue their dreams.
One of the saddening part of the incident was; the president did not believe that the girls were abducted for almost 18 days after their abduction was made. Since the president got the information within 24 hours of the act, if he had reacted almost immediately, those girls would have been rescued before they got to their destination.
Rather for the president to spring into actions after receiving briefings about the abduction, he doubted it. He had rather preferred to go dancing in Kano in the name of a rally. That was the most unfortunate aspect of the whole scenario. After that, it took President Jonathan about 20 days before he publicly acknowledged that the abduction actually took place.
That was after both local and international individuals and groups, especially the #BringBackOurGirls group here in Nigeria mounted pressure on him ahead of the World Economic Forum for Africa.
The president first spoke about the abduction in a media chat held 4th May, 2015, where he blamed the parents of the school girls for not giving information about the victims and the incident.
On 17 October 2014, hopes were raised that the over 200 girls left in the hands of Boko Haram their abductor might soon be released after the Nigerian army announced a truce between Boko Haram and government forces.
The announcement coincided with the six-month anniversary of the girls’ abduction and followed a month of negotiations mediated in Saudi Arabia by Chadian president, Idriss Déby.
The announcement was met with doubts, as that was not the first time the Nigerian government had claimed a breakthrough in negotiations with the Islamic militant group – it had to backtrack on a previous announcement in September after saying the girls had been released and were being held in military barracks. This was later found out to be false.
It must be on record, that if not for the relentless efforts of groups like the #BringBackOurGirls group, that kept demanding for the rescue of these girls, the government would not have said anything about their abduction, nothing would have been done about rescuing them and they would have been totally forgotten.
Fortunately, this group has been consistent; they have been humane and have shown affection to the #ChibokGirls, their family and their friends. This group keeps the memory of these girls alive and continues to hold the government responsible for failing to rescue them.
For a year now, we have demanded, we have begged, we have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have pleaded; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored the Presidency to bring down Boko Haram under its feet and #BringBackOurGirls.
Rather, our petitions have been slighted, our remonstrances have produced humiliation and insult, our supplications have been ignored, and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. We have since indulged in the fond of hope and faith, while we keep demanding for the rescue of our girls.
One thing is clear; we have pledged ourselves never to abandon this glorious course until our demand is meant. We shall keep demanding, for the rescue of our girls until they are finally brought back home.
These girls need to regain their freedom, they need to come back home, they deserve to live their normal lives and they have the right to pursue their dreams. The government must not allow the lives of these girls to be wasted, something has to be done and has to be done fast.
We have hoped that President Goodluck Jonathan would do all within his reach to rescue our girls, but as I write this piece nothing tangible has been done and the Chibok girls are yet to be back home.
And it`s so painful, that even as his tenure is coming to end, the Chibok girls still remain missing worst of it is that we do not have any situation report about their whereabouts and safety. However as Nigeria swears in a new President come 29th May, 2015, who will #BringBackOurGirls? President Jonathan or General Buhari?
Credit: Information Nigeria
Chibok Girls: One year in captivity
Who would have thought the girls would still be in captivity by now? Members of the deadly sect, Boko Haram beseiged the hostel of the Government Day Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria pretending to be guards and at gunpoint abducted over 200 girls who were preparing to write their final Secondary School Certificate Examinations. It was on the night of April 14, 2014. Exactly a year ago.
Needless to say, The past one year has been very traumatic for the girls as well as their families/relatives. And unfortunately about 20 parents have died of heart attack and frustration.
“For nearly 365 nights I have knelt and prayed for their return. We are in one house with four families in a compound. We are almost refugees in our country. Anytime I hear a noise it feels as if Boko Haram is coming for us.” An agonized parent said.
The government’s endless promises have offered not a glimpse of hope. Several campaigns have been launched nationally, protests and meetings held in different parts of the country, the issue has sparked global outcry.
The campaign for the release of the girls has been tagged “The most iconic fight of a freedom struggle.” Till the girls are found, this according to Prof Wole Soyinka will remain an open sore in the conscience of our nation.
Please spare some prayers for the girls and their troubled families.
Gubernatorial Polls: INEC declares elections in Imo, Abia and Taraba inconclusive
The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared elections in Imo, Abia and Taraba states inconclusive. Results in Imo and Abia states were declared ‘inconclusive’ due to the close margin of win between the APC and PDP parties and high number of cancelled votes.
As for Taraba, the governing body said a rerun in some parts of the state will be held in 30 days time.
LUTH Chief Medical Director dismisses reports of Ebola case at the hospital
The management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has totally dismissed reports that were circulated on the social media over the weekend that two foreign nationals died of the Ebola Virus Disease in the hospital.
The Chief Medical Director, Prof. Chris Bode has issued a statement in response to the news.
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to a malicious piece of information making the rounds on social media, which purported that two foreign nationals brought to LUTH on Sunday, April 12, 2015 died of EVD.
“This is to swiftly deny any such rumour and inform members of the public that no such event happened. Our professionals at the emergency services, various lines of responders, laboratories and nurses all reported no such cases in our hospital.”
He said since the last case of Ebola in the country, the hospital had been on “eternal vigilance and shall continue to observe all precautions to quickly identify any case of the highly infectious disease, in line with international best practices.”
Credit: PUNCH
'Outstanding Atmosphere at the Theatre of Dreams'. Juan Mata writes on Man United's derby win
Hi everyone,
As I write this I’m still full of adrenaline after our win in the derby. Beating your Manchester rival and, on top of that, being able to score in front of your crowd is a truly amazing feeling, especially because we stretch our good moment and we keep adding points.
I may sound repetitive but once again I have to say that the best part is the incredible atmosphere that Old Trafford generates. I have to admit that it was arguably the game with the best atmosphere at home since I arrived to United, and I realised that already during the warm-up…
It was a special game, we had had several consecutive defeats against City and both the fans and the players felt it was time to change that streak. It’s not easy to explain with words what you feel on the pitch, but the thrill of a comeback in a derby is something I will never forget.
The result was amazing, although it is true that things were looking bad at the beginning… They had a strong start, played great football in the first few minutes and managed to score first, but our team showed character and soon afterwards we were able to come back, which confirms that this team does not give up easily.
We have plenty of confidence in ourselves, that’s something you can tell in both the good and the bad moments. Ashley was decisive to tie the score and also in our second goal, and after that we could control the game and add up three more points that are very important to reach our goal.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing, once again, was the character and personality shown by the team after a bad start of the game.
From this Monday we are already thinking about our next ‘final’, a visit to the leader of the Premiership. Needless to say that it’s going to be a very special game for me. I already played against Chelsea in the first half of the championship, but going back to Stamford Bridge for the first time will bring me plenty of good memories, for sure.
The day I arrived to this great club I wrote: “Gratitude is the memory of the heart”. And I keep thinking the same. At that time I had the chance to thank everybody who helped me in London during those two and a half years, and next Saturday it will be nice to meet former team-mates, fans and friends.
I keep good memories of them and I wish them the best. Obviously, our intention is to get the three points again and we will try from the kick-off until the final whistle. The best thing is that we get to this game in a very good moment, with confidence, but we are aware that we must perform at our best level if we want to beat Chelsea.
On Saturday, at the pre-match hotel, I watched la Liga games. The Spanish championship gets tight again after Barça’s draw against Sevilla and Real Madrid’s victory versus Eibar. Luis Enrique’s team played very good for the first 30 minutes, but when you are facing such rival as Sevilla you never know.
They have one of the toughest stadiums in Europe, Barça could tell last Saturday. As I said in previous weeks I expect a very close race for the title. Let’s see what happens…
Other than that I have to highlight Chory Castro’s superb goal with Real Sociedad against Deportivo. It reminded me of a very famous one from Van Basten in the Eurocup final….
I also want to congratulate Marc Márquez for his victory in MotoGP, he is a phenomenon!
Hugs to all, and I hope we can keep our good streak in what it’s going to be a special game for me! Have a nice week, my friends!
Juan
Omawumi and Tiwa Savage flaunt their baby bumps
Ready to pop! I’m certain A-list singers, Omawumi and Tiwa Savage are counting down days until the arrival of their children. Tiwa has expectedly added weight, Omawumi on the other hand hasn’t added much. They look so beautiful still
Gubernatorial Poll: Meet the Governors-Elect in 21 states
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has announced winners of the 2015 Gubernatorial Elections in 21 States namely; Kaduna, Ogun, Sokoto, Oyo, Bornu, Lagos, Niger, Ebonyi, Adamawa, Enugu, Zamfara, Benue, Nassarawa, Gombe, Kwara, Katsina, Bauchi, Kano, Akwa-Ibom, Delta and Yobe.
Restaurant owner's touching note to bin scavengers goes viral
Ashley Jiron, the owner of P.B. Jams, an America-based restaurant’s touching note to scavengers who search for food in her dumpster has gone viral. Moved by pity, Ashley said it hurt to see someone scouring a dumpster to survive.
The note reads:
“To the person going through our trash for their next meal, you’re a human being and worth more than a meal from the dumpster. Please come in during business hours for a classic, fresh veggies, and a cup of water at no charge. No questions asked. – your friend, the owner.”
I’m certain patronage would increase too.
Credit: UK Telegraph