Grounds
Obudu contract debt: Appeal court reserves judgment against Cross River
The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in the appeal filed by a private firm, Zedici Capital Ltd, against the Cross River State Government over a N3.8 billion contract debt. The appellant, Zedici Capital Ltd, is the firm that remodelled the Obudu Mountain Resort in Cross River State, now a subject of litigation. The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, headed by Justice Peter Ige, reserved the date after counsel to the parties had adopted their legal submissions for and against the appeal, that is challenging the judgment of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which had in 2019, refused to affirm the arbitral award to Zedici Ltd over its investment of N3.8 billion in the resort. Justice Ige announced that a date for the judgment would be comm...
My wife lost her memory the two times she had our children – man tells court
A Sharia Court in Magajin Gari, Kaduna, Kaduna State, has granted the prayer of one Aminu Abdulkareem, a business man for divorce on grounds that he no longer loved his wife, Aisha Sanusi. According to newsmen, Aminu, who resides in Mahuta, Kaduna, in his petition, said his wife also lost her memory whenever she was close to giving birth. Delivering judgment, the judge, Nuhu Falalu granted Aisha custody of their six-year-old child and ordered Aminu to pay N15, 000 monthly for the upkeep of the child. He also ordered Aisha to allow the child’s father see him without any restriction. Earlier, Aminu said: “The love is no longer there. I want to divorce her. I also want custody of our two children.” Aisha, who lives on Abeakuta Street, Kaduna, through her counsel, Elizabeth Yayok, did not obje...
Joe Bidens announce death of ‘first dog’ Champ
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Saturday announced the passing of their German shepherd Champ, who they called a “constant, cherished companion” for 13 years. “In our most joyful moments and in our most grief-stricken days, he was there with us, sensitive to our every unspoken feeling and emotion. We love our sweet, good boy and will miss him always,” the Bidens said in a statement. Champ was one of two German shepherds living at the White House with the president and first lady. Biden got Champ in 2008, the year he was elected vice president under President Barack Obama. Champ lived alongside Major, who the Bidens adopted in November 2018 and became the first rescue dog to live in the White House. Major had to be briefly removed from the premises after two incidents of ni...
Cross River North: Senator Odey floors Joe Agi at election tribunal
The Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Calabar Friday, upheld the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr. Stephen Odey, in the Cross River North Senatorial District by-election. Delivering the judgment in a petition by Joe Agi (SAN) with number: EPT/CR/SEN/03/2020, the chairman of the three-man election tribunal, Justice Yusuf Muhammad, upheld the preliminary objection raised by Odey’s lawyer that the two grounds of petition were pre-election matters. The Tribunal, therefore, struck out the petition for lack of merit. The tribunal also held that Jarigbe Agom, who is the second respondent in the petition, was never cleared nor contested the December 5, 2020, PDP primaries. It therefore faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the wrongful iss...
Court restrains Ondo governor from sacking chief judge
A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, stopped Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of Ondo State from removing the Chief Judge (CJ) of the state, Justice Oluwatoyin Akeredolu, from office. Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling, restrained the governor and five others seeking to remove the Chief Judge from office on the grounds that they lacked constitutional powers to do so. Justice Akeredolu had approached the court for an order restraining the defendants from illegally removing her from office without recourse to the National Judicial Council (NJC). Delivering ruling in the application, Justice Ekwo held that the powers to investigate, probe and indict any judicial officer for any misconduct in the discharge of duties is constitutionally vested in the NJC only. According to the judge, b...
Federal pensioners pull out of pensions union
The crisis among pensioners on Sunday got messier as Federal Civil Service Pensioners (FCSP) finally opted out of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) over alleged denial of the branch’s rights and privileges. Members of FCSP also premised their decision on “illegal and unconstitutional” appointment of a caretaker committee by the NUP at its April National Delegates Conference held in Abuja. FCSP announced it was pulling out from NUP in a communique issued at the end of the emergency NEC meeting of the union which was held at Labour House by its national chairman, Omezi Sunday. Sunday explained that opting out became necessary over the lingering trade dispute between the FCSP and the NUP. According to him, the protracted impasse is occasioned by the blatant refusal of the NUP to give a co...
UEFA confirms Rome as Euro 2020 host city
Rome’s Stadio Olimpico has been “fully confirmed” as a venue for Euro 2020 matches after the Italian government guaranteed the presence of at least 25 per cent of fans, UEFA announced on Wednesday. Rome was one of four of the 12 host cities threatened with having its matches removed because it could not give assurances that spectators would be allowed into grounds given the ongoing Covid-19 situation. “The authorities have guaranteed at least 25 per cent of the stadium’s capacity will be filled,” European football’s governing body said. “As a result, UEFA considers Rome to be fully confirmed as a venue for the tournament.” Three other cities — Munich, Bilbao and Dublin — have until April 19 to provide UEFA with additional information on their plans for spectators. Rome is set to host the o...
How love affair gone bad led to imprisonment of Prophet Israel Oladele
When the Lagos State Court of Appeal granted the Senior Shepherd-in-Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Genesis Global, Prophet Israel Oladele Ogundipe, a post-conviction bail last week, on grounds of failing health, quite a number of people, particularly members of his congregation, were very happy with the news. This is because the televangelist’s previous bail applications were all turned down. Oladele was arraigned on seven counts bordering on obtaining by stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretences, unlawful conversion of property and forgery, fraudulently collected N14m and £12,000 in various tranches from the complainant between August 30, 2002 and 2005. He was found guilty on two counts of stealing and unlawful conversion of property not delivered. And on November...
Prince Charles pays tribute to ‘my dear papa’ Philip for devoted service
Britain’s Prince Charles paid a personal tribute on Saturday to his “dear papa” Prince Philip, saying the royal family missed him emormously and that the 99-year-old would have been amazed at the touching reaction across the world to his death. Philip, the husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth who had been at her side throughout her record-breaking 69-year reign, died at Windsor Castle on Friday. “As you can imagine, my family and I miss my father enormously,” Charles, the couple’s eldest son and heir to the throne, said outside his Highgrove House home in west England. “My dear papa was a very special person who I think above all else would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him and from that point of view we are, my family, deeply grateful f...
Jordan arrests ex-top aide, royal family member in crackdown
Jordanian security forces have arrested a former adviser to King Abdullah and others on “security related” grounds, the Petra state news agency said. Bassem Awadallah, a long-time confidant of the king who later became minister of finance, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a former royal envoy, were detained along with other unnamed figures, Petra said. It gave no further details and said an investigation was under way. اعتقال الشريف حسن بن زيد وباسم عوض الله وآخرين لأسباب أمنيةhttps://t.co/3SzKcWHzln#بترا — Jordan News Agency (@Petranews) April 3, 2021 Arrests of top officials close to royal family members are rare in Jordan. Awadallah, who was a driving force behind economic reforms before he resigned as chief of the royal court in 2008, has long faced stiff resistance from an old guard and an...
CAN: Isa Pantami serving President Buhari’s interest
File Photo The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, says President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Isa Pantami as Nigeria’s communications minister to serve a predetermined purpose, noting the government will not cast him away no matter how loud the call for his removal becomes. CAN’s position was relayed by its General Secretary Joseph Daramola in an interview with Punch. The comments come less than 24 hours after the presidency defended Mr Pantami of his alleged support for terrorist groups. Mr Daramola said the Christian body is not surprised that the presidency swiftly came out to exonerate Pantami, saying those who tapped him for the job were quite aware of his antecedents and must have given him specific instructions to carry out in government. “Government studies the characters they pu...