WOODPECKER BLOG

Saudi Arabia condemns Trump’s recognition of Israeli claim on Golan March 26, 2019 Agency Report Donald Trump [Photo: Times] Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally, on Tuesday condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Israel’s claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights is described as a “clear violation’’ of the United Nations Charter and relevant resolutions. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed its firm rejection and condemnation of the declaration issued by the American administration to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights,’’ it said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency. The oil-rich monarchy warned in the statement that the U.S. move would have “major negative effects’’ on the Middle East peace-making efforts and regional stability. On Monday, Trump signed a proclamation recognising Israel’s claim to sovereignty over Golan in a ceremony at the White House attended by Israeli Prime...

News Profile Of Dennis Aghanya, Real Person Behind Petition Against CJN Onnoghen 14th January 2019 Petition Against Onnoghen By Buhari’s Ex-Aide It has been revealed that Dennis Aghanya, the author of the petition against Walter Onnoghen , chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), is President Muhammadu Buhari ’s former media aide. This is even as  Naija News reports that politicians and some other individuals have expressed suspicion over the speed with which the petition moved from submission, to tribunal and then trial. Others have however, also pointed out that the CJN’s trial only shows no one is above the law. Aghanya is the executive secretary of the Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI), a civil society group that petitioned the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) over alleged non-declaration of assets by the CJN. He was Buhari’s aide between 2009 and 2011 and the pioneer national publicity secretary of the Congress for P...

FGN Press Statement on Developments around CJN Onnoghen's Suspension Politics 844 VIEWS Tuesday, January 29, 2019 11:11PM / Federal Ministry of Information and Culture Gentlemen of the press, thank you for once again honouring our invitation.   As you would recollect, President Muhammadu Buhari last Friday complied with the order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, directing the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice Walter Onnoghen, pending the determination of the cases against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and several fora relating to his alleged breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.   Since then, there have been widespread reactions from within and outside the country. In particular, the opposition has latched on to it, threatening fire and brimstone and concocting all sorts of imaginary scenarios and generally muddying the waters. In what I will call the theater of the a...

EU Mission reports widespread violence, vote buying in Kano supplementary elections March 26, 2019 Voting going on smoothly at PU002 in Atawa village, Rimin Gado local hovernment area Kano. This is contrary to reports we recevied earlier that no election is holding in the area Violence, vote trading and intimidation of voters characterised the February 23 supplementary governorship election in Kano State, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) said on Monday in its report of the exercise monitored by 20 of its observers. The mission said it was disturbed that both the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies did little to address the violence and malpractices, which spread to many parts of Kano State. Also in the statement, the EU said its deployed observers, some of whom were prevented from accessing some polling units, witnessed widespread interference and vote-buying by party agents during the supplementary poll. “E...

Lawyer sues minister over ‘false claims’ against Onnoghen March 26, 2019 Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed An Abuja based lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, has filed a suit against the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, over an alleged ‘false’ claim he made on the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, that he ran a suspicious transaction running into dollars. The suit, which was filed by the plaintiff has Mr Mohammed as the defendant. According to Mr Jideobi in the suit, the minister made reckless statements. “I know as a fact that the Defendant was extremely reckless in levying an accusation of gargantuan magnitude against the country’s highest judicial office and had no reason to believe in the truth of his assertion of traces of suspicious transactions running into millions of dollars to the suspended CJN’s personal accounts. “I know as a fact that obvious lies the Defendant peddled against the Honourable Justice Onnoghen Nkanu Walter Samu...

INEC declares PDP’s Bala Mohammed winner of Bauchi governorship election March 26, 2019 Abdulkareem Haruna former FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bala Mohammed, as the winner of the Bauchi State Governorship Election. Mr Mohammed polled a total of 515,113 votes to defeat the incumbent governor Muhammed Abubakar who polled 500, 625 votes. The state Returning Officer, Muhammed Kyari, declared Mr Mohammed the winner having satisfied all requirements of the law and polled the largest number of votes in the Bauchi State Governorship Election. Bauchi has a total number of 2,462,803 registered voters. A total of 1,143, 019 voters were accredited for the election.

APC suffers major loss as Appeal Court sacks Zamfara governorship, parliamentary candidates March 25, 2019 Agency Report Court of Appeal Headquarters The Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, on Monday, set aside the judgment delivered by the Zamfara High Court, allowing the All Progressives Congress (APC) to field candidates in the 2019 Election. The appeal was filed by Kabiru Marafa, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) and 129 others through his counsel, Mike Ozhekome, SAN. Respondents are Kabiru Liman-Danalhaji and 139 others represented by Mr Mahmud Magaji as lead Counsel. Delivering the lead judgment, which was adopted by two other justices, Tijjani Abubakar and Jamilu Tukur, Justice Tom Yakubu held that the lower court failed in its duty to properly evaluate the evidence before it. Mr Yakubu said judges have the legal power to produce judgment and reach decisions with reason, noting that in the instant case, it was not done. “I a...

ano Election Violence: Group condemns police ‘inaction’, INEC’s ‘double standard’ March 25, 2019 Ebuka Onyeji Voting in progress at Doka PU 003, Dawa village in Rimin Gado local government area Kano state Related News Supplementary Elections: CDD raises concerns over possible violence, vote buying in affected states March 23, 2019 INEC must ensure total use of smart card readers for governorship elections - CDD March 7, 2019 Kano Supplementary Election: Ganduje executes more emergency projects in crucial ward, shares money March 20, 2019 INEC has nothing to count in Kano–Kwankwaso March 23, 2019 Local observers decry "do-or-die" attitude of politicians, electoral violence March 14, 2019 The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has described as “highly disappointing”, the inability of the police to manage situations leading to widespread violence and unchecked intimidation of voters during Saturday’s supplementary governorship elect...

Court strikes out APC candidate’s suit seeking to stop collation of Bauchi governorship election results March 25, 2019 Evelyn Okakwu former FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed Related News Court adjourns suit by APC, Bauchi governor March 20, 2019 Bauchi Rerun: PDP writes INEC, says no basis for supplementary elections March 22, 2019 Court stops INEC from collating Bauchi governorship election results March 19, 2019 Bauchi Governorship: APC arm-twisting judiciary, PDP says March 20, 2019 INEC halts collation of results for Tafawa-Balewa March 19, 2019 An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has lifted its temporary ban on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to continue with the collation of governorship election results in Bauchi State. The court had entertained a suit filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Governor Mohammed Abubakar, asking the court to determine whether INEC has the powers to dec...

Woolsey to Newsmax TV: Trump Should Treat Venezuela Like Grenada (Getty Images) By Greg Richter    |   Friday, 08 March 2019 07:48 PM President Donald Trump should act on Venezuela's dictatorship as Ronald Reagan did on Grenada's in 1983, former CIA Director James Woolsey tells Newsmax TV . Wool...

Election: Court dismisses suit seeking to nullify Wike’s candidacy March 8, 2019 Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike Photo: Pulse.ng   An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has dismissed a suit seeking to disqualify the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, from participating in the 2019 gubernatorial elections. The court, presided over by a judge, Inyang Ekwo, ruled that the applicants brought their request outside of the stipulated time. The court agreed with lawyers representing Mr Wike, who viewed that the request did not conform to demands of section 285 (9) of the 1999 Constitution. The court also described the instant application as an abuse of court process. The applicant, Elvis Chinda, had approached the court with a request for it to determine whether Mr Wike was not liable of providing false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission. He also asked the court to determine whether the alleged mis...

A PEEP INTO SENATOR HOPE UZODIMMA'S JOURNEY TO DOUGLAS HOUSE My records show the first time Senator Hope Uzodimma made efforts to be governor was in 2003 when he was the governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). His deputy governorship candidate at the  time was  Chief Ikedi Ohakim who has since served as Imo State governor in the period 2007-2011. This means that his deputy governorship candidate in the 2003 governorship election has since served as governor and is even frantically demanding to serve one more tenure.In spite of the   crises that trailed that election of 2003, Chief Hope was prevailed not to challenge it in the   court. He simply moved on. 2007:Again, Chief   Hope Uzodimma was in the governorship race in the 2007 election . In the governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP). which held at the bowl of Dan Anyiam Stadium on December 13 th , 2006. In that primaries, Senator Ararumr polled 2061 ...