The Deputy Speaker of the Taraba State House of Assembly, Tanko Maikarfi has declared that Governor Danbaba Suntai is incapacitated and too I’ll to govern the state.

The Deputy Speaker explained that this informed the decision of the House to ask Suntai to return abroad for medical care and for the acting governor, Umar to continue in office.

Speaker of the House of Assembly had announced this afternoon a resolution by members that Governor Suntai return abroad to continue his medical treatment as he was not yet well enough to return to work.

The Speaker announced the decision at a press briefing after a meeting of members of the House who had visited the governor Wednesday night.

The Speaker also said that the House decided that the acting Governor, Garba Umar should continue in that capacity until a time when Suntai is fit enough to take over the affairs of the state.

In an exclusive telephone interview with www.icirnigeria.org after the press conference, Maikarfi said that 16 out of the 24 members members signed the resolution to ask the governor to go back to conclude his treatment.

“A total of 16 out of 24 members signed the resolution the our principal should finish his treatment and that the acting governor should continue to manage the affairs of the state,” he said.

Maikarfi who said he was speaking from the Government House where the acting governor operates from, disclosed that members of the House decided that Suntai was not well enough to govern the state after a visit to him on Wednesday night.

“I can tell you what they do not want us to say, that the governor is incapacitated. He cannot walk, he cannot stand and cannot address anyone for more than three minutes,” the Deputy Speaker stated.

He added that the House only performed it’s constitutional responsibility decision its decision had been transmitted to both Suntai and the acting governor

Reminded that the governor been shown in a video where he purported addressed the state,Maikarfi dismissed the video, maintaining that anyone who saw Suntai would have no doubt that he was too incapacitated to handle the affairs of a state.

A video Of Suntai swearing in a new cabinet was released on Wednesday. It shows the governor as very frail and in need of rest. He was barely able to speak audibly or shake hands with people.

Suntai also scarcely wore a smile throughout the video and looked pitifully tensed and uncomfortable.

The dissolution of the Taraba state cabinet was announced on Wednesday by the special adviser to the governor on media and publicity, Sylvanus Giwa.

Apart from sacking the cabinet, the governor also removed the secretary to the state government,SSG, and appointed Timothy Gibon Kataps in his stead.

READ ALSO:

• LG Employees Accuse Nasarawa Govt Of Negligence
• Confusion Trails PDP Convention As Splinter Faction Emerges
• APC Denies Plan To Disrupt Kwara Rerun Election
• Court Stops PDP’s Recognition Of Nwoye In Anambra
• All 25,000 Candidates Fail Liberia University Entrance Examination

Similarly, the former Chief of Staff was replaced with Aminu Jika, who is handling the position for a second time.

Meanwhile, the acting governor has dismissed the dissolution of the cabinet insisting that he is still in charge of the state’s affairs and would continue to discharge his duty in that capacity until told otherwise by the State Assembly.

“I am waiting to hear from them. As I speak to you, if the assembly tells me to revert to the position of deputy, I will comply,” Umar said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the election of Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party,  LP, as governor of Ondo State.

A panel of seven, presided by Justice Sylvester Nguta, held that the appeal filed against Mimiko’sre-election was unsustainable.

Nguta held that the decision of the Akure division of the Appeal Court on the matter was apt, adding that the apex court would not upturn an appellate decision which was given according to evidence brought before it.

According to Nguta, the appellant did not sufficiently prove his allegations against the conduct of the election.

“The appellant failed to prove the allegations of substantial non-compliance of the 2012 election with Electoral Act 2010 as amended beyond reasonable doubt, ” the court ruled.

Nguta said the appellant also failed to provide cogent evidence of the voter register he claimed was manipulated just as he was unable to prove allegations of fraud, irregularities and violent disruption of the election.

“In the circumstance, the appeal fails and it is therefore dismissed; the decision of the AkureDivision of the Appeal court on the matter is thereby upheld,” he decided.

Rotimi Akeredolu, candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria,  ACN, had challenged the July 2 decision of the Appeal Court which upheld the October 20, 2012 re-election Mimiko of theLabour party,  LP.

Akeredolu claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission,  INEC conspired with Mimikoto illegally inject about 90,000 fake voters in the voter register used for the election.

He further alleged that the Electoral body failed to display the voter register before the election as mandated by the Electoral Act.

According to him, the election ought not to have been held as the processes leading to casting of votes were fraudulent.

The INEC returning officer and vice chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, AdebiyiDaramola, announced Mimiko to have won the election with 260,199 votes from the 18 Local Government Areas of the state,  while Akeredolu polled a total of 143,512 votes.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has suspended Andy Ubah, a serving senator and four other members of the faction of the party in Anambra State following their refusal to honour an invitation to appear before its National Working Committee, NWC, to defend their actions.

Others suspended members include factional chairman of the Anambra chapter of the party, EjikeOguebego, Chris Ubah, brother to the senator, Benji Udeozor, and Tonia Nwankwu.

A statement announcing their suspension which was signed by the party’s acting national secretary, Remi Akintoye, was addressed to all five men.

The decision of the party’s leadership to suspend them followed a meeting of the NWC where the events of the Anambra state primaries were reviewed.

Two separate elections were held in the state last Saturday – one by the Ken Emeakayi – faction and the other by the Oguebego-led faction, producing   Andy Ubah and Tony Nwoye as winners.

However, the party’s leadership has given recognition to Nwoye as the party’s flag bearer for the November 16 gubernatorial election in spite of a Federal High Court ruling to disregard the results of the elections until it determines a case filed before it.

The PDP’s acting national publicity secretary, Tony Okeke stated that the only governorship primary election recognised by the party was the primary election conducted by the electoral panel under the leadership of Ibrahim Shema, governor of Katsina State and  that holding any other election is a clear breach of the party’s constitution and would not be tolerated.

An invitation to the Ubah brothers and others to explain the holding of a parallel primary was ignored, leading to their suspension.

An Abuja Federal High Court will on September 18, 2013 deliver judgment in a case of N787 million fraud and subversion of due process filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against former Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, BridgetSokan and six other officials of the agency.

At a sitting on Thursday, the trial judge, Justice Adamu Bello, apologised for the delay in delivering ruling on a no case submission brought by the accused persons.

He explained that his inability to deliver the ruling on November 6, 2012 was due to the overwhelming volume of cases before him.

“I have to seek your consent in summoning you all in spite of the break to re-adopt your addresses before I can proceed in delivering this ruling”, Bello said.

In re-adopting his response to all the written addresses brought by the accused persons, the prosecution counsel, Wahab Shittu urged the court to be guided by the fact that the only legal requirement for consideration at this stage was whether there are legally admissible evidence and material entitling the accused persons to respond to the accusation against them by way of defense.

He further prayed the court to call upon the accused persons to enter into their defense as there is legally admissible evidence for them to do so.

Earlier, the team of defense lawyers which include Caleb Muftwang, I.K. Ijeoma, R.Okotie Ebohand  Oluwole Aladoyin gave a brief of their written addresses as regarding their dates of submission and went on to re-adopt same in support of their no case submission.

One after another, they urged the court to discharge their clients as, according to them, there was no case against them.

The case which has lingered for five years has seen the EFCC calling up several witnesses including Ahmed Modibo Mohammed, former executive secretary of UBEC; Shamsudeen Umar, assistant manager, Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC; Usman Tahir who was part of the investigation team from EFCC and Ben Agweye, a forensic expert.

From their testimony, four of the six companies that bided for the supply of plastic chairs and desk to all junior secondary schools in the federation had no evidence of registration with the CAC.

They further stated that there was no competitive bidding process leading to the award of contract, neither was there any newspaper advertisement in line with extant procurement regulations.

It was also revealed by the evaluation report that over N787 million was paid as mobilization fee representing 85% of the contract sum as against the 25% in the contract agreement.

The other accused persons who were first arraigned on May 18, 2009 on a 63-count charge of fraudulent inducement, criminal conspiracy and subversion of due processes in the award of contract and other offences are Molkat Manasseh Mutfwang, Andrew Ekpunobi and Michael Aule.

Others are the companies used in perpetrating the fraud, including Intermarkets USA;Intermarkets Nigeria Limited and Alexander John Cozman, a foreign contractor.

The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has been shut following a violent protest that erupted Tuesday.

Speaker of the Assembly, Musa Mohammed who addressed journalists at a news conference said no further sitting would be held until the security of the lawmakers is guaranteed.

It was gathered that youths in their numbers stormed the Assembly complex, throwing stones and other items at the lawmakers after a session with the state governor, Tanko Al-Makura.

The youths alleged that the legislators were disturbing and harassing the governor for political reasons and asked the law makers to allow him a free hand in ruling the state.

Confusion reigned at the assembly complex as lawmakers took to their heels to escape the wrath of the youths who saw the invitation of the governor as part of a process of intimidating the governor.

The lawmakers had summoned the governor to explain his non-compliance and implementation of resolutions previously passed by the House.

Four items were slated to be addressed by Al Makura but only two could be dealt with before 6.00 pm when the rules of the House bars reaching resolutions on issue.

One of the resolutions Al Makura had failed deal with concerned the state university. The House had passed a resolution asking the governor to reinstate the management of the university under the leadership of Shamsudeen Amali which was sacked in February this year.

Another issue is the refusal of Al-Makura to recall all staff of the state owned transport agency,Nasarawa Express and that of the state owned newspaper company.

The lawmakers had also ordered that the immediate accounts of the state owned transport agency be frozen until the governor appears before them.

There was also the issue of the governor failing to sign into law some bills passed by the House.

Acting on Section 100, sub-section 4-5 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the House majority vote overrode the governor with a two thirds majority and assented to two bill s- a bill to regulate the activities of the state traditional rulers and a bill to establish the state rehabilitation board.

The bills were earlier passed by the legislators but were not assented by the governor months after they were passed.

Also angered by the comment of the governor’s Special Adviser on Inter-Party Affairs, HajaraDanyaro, alleging that the lawmakers were given N300 million as leave grant, the lawmakers ordered that the governor’s aid should equally appear before the House to prove her claim.

Two days ago, the Nasarawa state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, alleged a planned attack on the state lawmakers for summoning the governor.

In a statement signed by the state chairman of the party, Yunana Iliya, the party said that members of the state ruling party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, had hired thugs to attack the assembly members and urged security operatives in the state to provide them with adequate security.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested 17 persons for stealing N1.7billion meant for pensioners in primary schools in all 33 local governments in Oyo State.

Those arrested include , former executive secretary of the state Local Government Pension Board, Muili Hakeem Aderemi; Iyabo Giwa, former treasurer; Adeshina Jimoh Ayoade, former cashier;Oguntayo Banji, former internal auditor and Adebiyi Olasunbo Musendiq, former admin officer.

Others are: Salewa Adedeji; Kareem Rasheed;Johnson Bosede; Adeduntan Johnson; OlomideOlaide; Oyebamiji Akinlolu; Muili Adedamola; Adewale Kehinde; Saka. M. Ikeola; Oluokun Funmilayo;Oyetunji Taiwo and Olujimi Philip Adebayo.

READ ALSO:

• Gov Suntai Is Incapacitated – Taraba Deputy Speaker
• Supreme Court Upholds Mimiko’s Re-election
• PDP Suspends Andy Ubah, Oguebego, 3 Others
• Court Rules On N787 Million UBEC Fraud Case In Sept
• Nasarawa Assembly Shut After Youths Protest

The spokesman of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, inna statement said that the suspects had illegally withdrawn  N1.7 billion from the sum of N4.1 billion received from both state and federal governments for teachers pension.

Items including houses and landed property are said to have been recovered from the suspects.

The EFCC spokesman said they will all be charged ton court as soon as investigations are concluded in the matter.

The Lagos State government on Tuesday revoked the concession agreement reached for the Eti-Osa-Lekki-Epe Expressway with the Lekki Concession Company.

The decision followed the approval of the state’s lawmakers to allow the government the right to acquire the existing concession rights and toll revenue benefits held by the concessionaire.

Governor  Babatunde Fashola had in a supplementary budget proposal letter to the State House of Assembly dated August 19, 2013, requested the it to amend the 2013 budget, owing to unforeseen developments in terms of the state’s internally generated revenue.

Fashola in the letter said: “The proposal for further amendment is largely predicated by the need to fund the acquisition of existing concession, right and toll revenue benefit held by the LekkiConcession Company, LCC, the concessionaire for the Eti-Osa-Lekki- Epe expressway.

“This will effectively accelerate the transfer of ownership of the road to the state, leaving the state with wider policy options with regards to that important infrastructure.

“This will entail increase in the overall budget size by N7.5bn. This is against the background of a projected shortfall of N22.5bn in budgeted internally generated revenue, IGR, which now need to be covered by the additional borrowings,” the governor said.

The House gave its approval for the requests in the proposal read on the floor by the Clerk, GaniyuAbiru.

The commissioners for budget and economic planning, Ben Akabueze; Finance, Ayo Gbeleyi as well as works and infrastructure, Obafemi Hamzat, were at the House to defend the proposal.

The LCC was mandated under a 30-year build, operate and transfer agreement to upgrade, expand and maintain the about 50-kilometre road (Phase I), and construct another 20km of coastal road (Phase II) along the Lekki corridor.

But the firm and the state government came under severe attacks when they introduced what the residents considered as high tolls on the road in 2011 after significant progress was made in the first phase.

Users of the expanded road have had pay between N50 for motorcycles to N120 for saloon cars and tricycles; N150 for sports utility vehicles, minibuses and pick-up trucks; N80 for commercial mini-buses and N250 and N350 for light trucks and heavy trucks and buses with two or more heavy axles, respectively.

With the development, residents and motorists may no longer pay the toll to access the multibillionnaira road or abide with a new toll fee that may be fixed by the state government.

President Goodluck Jonathan has queried the chairman of the National Population Commission, NPC, Festus Odimegwu barely 24 hours after the minister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdul-Kadir was sacked.

The query might be connected to recent comments made by the NPC chairman regarding figures of the 2006 census which he said were cooked up.

Odimegwu had alleged that no credible census had been conducted in Nigeria since 1816. According to him, census figures were regularly distorted for selfish reasons.

“No census has been credible in Nigeria since 1816. Even the one conducted in 2006 is not credible. I have the records and evidence produced by scholars and professors of repute,” he said.

Odimegwu added: “Nigeria has run on falsehood for too long. We must stop this falsehood and put a stop to all of these. Because the 2006 census was not correct, the former board of NPC was unable to publish the figures. If they try it, there will be uproar.”

The Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso had not taken these remarks lightly and had drawn the attention of the President to the comments, even faulting Odimegwu’s appointment.

Kano State had been declared the most populous state in the country following the census.

“We are not happy about that appointment and think that it was a mistake. Festus shouldn’t be there in the first place and my guess is that he’s taking a lot of his products (referring to alcoholic beverages) because he cannot be the chairman of NPC and at the same time be attacking what his predecessor had done,” said Kwankwaso.

Odimegwu was given an ultimatum to respond to the query, ascertaining whether or not he made the comments attributed to him.

The political crisis in Taraba State deepened on Wednesday morning with the dissolution of the state Executive Council by the Governor, Danbaba Suntai.

The latest development was made known by the special adviser to the governor on media and publicity, Sylvanus Giwa.

Apart from sacking the cabinet, the governor also removed the secretary to the state government,SSG, and appointed Timothy Gibon Kataps in his stead.

Similarly, Suntai replaced his former Chief of Staff, with Aminu Jika, who is handling the position for a second time.

Confirming the dissolution, Suntai’s chief press secretary, Hassan Mijinyawa, said that all commissioners had been directed to hand over to their permanent secretaries.

He said that the appointments of the SSG and chief of staff are with immediate effect.

Reacting to the move, the immediate past commissioner for information and culture, Emmanuel Bello, described the dissolution as a welcome development which would help re-shapen the Suntaiadministration “to continue to transform Taraba State until his tenure lapses in May 2015.”

In less than 72 hours since the return of Suntai on Sunday, the political temperature in the state has gone up, creating a division between those in support of the deputy governor, Garba Umar, who has been acting as governor for 10 months in the absence of his boss and those on the side of the recuperating governor.

While the Speaker of the House, Haruna Tsokwa has asked the governor to come and address the Assembly at plenary as a condition for resuming, the Majority Leader, Joseph AlbasuKunini, asked the governor to start work with immediate effect.

A group known as the Coalition of Taraba Youth Movement, has urged on the state’s House of Assembly to summon the governor, Danbaba Suntai, to address the people of the state in order to put an end to the speculations and confusion regarding his return.

President of the coalition, Abubakar Waziri, made the call at a news conference on Monday inJalingo.

Waziri noted that people of the state who had been praying for the ailing governor for the past 10 months deserved to know his true state of health.

“We want Governor Suntai to speak to the people of the state, either through the media or at the House of Assembly. The state is in a state of confusion now because the people do not know what to believe,” he said.

Suntai, flew back into the country on Sunday but has since not spoken publicly to anyone though his close associates continue to say that he is mentally alert and well enough to handle governance in Taraba state.

His family and personal aides insist that he must rest for at least 72 hours after his return, in accordance with his doctor’s advice.

However, to the surprise of many on Monday, Suntai reportedly wrote to the leadership of the State House of Assembly informing them of his readiness to resume work.

Many are doubtful that the letter actually originated from him, hence the youths in the state are calling on the governor to give a public address.

In the meantime, the acting Governor, Garba Umar has lauded the people of the state for the show of love and affection to the ailing governor when they turned out in large numbers on Sunday to welcome him.