garfield1:


That is not hoodwinking na.that is uncommon benevolence or divine generosity.sorry,what business is he into and at what point did he joined apc?

EMMY76:



Nna I don't know oh the man just like playing the godfather role since 1999.
Our people love him so much like that he is worshiped like a god he has single handedly tarred almost all the roads in my community with street lights, building houses for the less previleged including making sure that all the women in my community are empowered financially.

garfield1:


How come tony chukwu is so influential in okigwe? Why can't he contest for the senate seat or get a federal appointment

EMMY76:



It's not about being outspoken politicians that are very outspoken and flamboyant like rochas we saw his performance as governor in imo. People who don't talk too much are usually strategic and achievers. Tony chukwu is from my village he is neither outspoken or flamboyant but am yet to see any politician or phylantropist in the whole imo state who can match his achievements in terms providing basic amenities like roads and empowerment for their own people.

fergie001:

Technically, he was wrong throughout, if true.

It still falls on the domain of discretion...

The meat of this case is just that they weren't convinced his documents were false.

fergie001:
Congrats to him......

garfield1 kahal29 ejimatic dansuqi

TotoGame:
Another supreme court Senator



Imo people shouldn't expect much from ibezim cus he's Uzodinma's puppet

seunmsg:
Ararume is the most unfortunate politician in Nigeria. Since Obasanjo messed up his governorship ambition in 2007, it has been a story of getting very close but never getting in. I wish him the best in the future. Congratulations to Ibezim.

Imo North: Supreme Court affirms Ibezim as Senator-elect

The Supreme Court on Friday declared Frank Ibezim of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the Senator-elect for the Imo North Senatatorial district bye-election.

The determination by the apex court will put to rest the lingering legal fireworks on the subject matter.

In arriving at it’s decision, the apex court in a unanimous judgment voided, nullified and set aside the concurrent judgments of the Federal high court in Abuja and that of the Court of Appeal which nullified the candidacy of Ibezim on the ground of perjury.

Justice Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the judgment, held that the suit which led to disqualification of Ibezim for allegedly supplying false information to secure nomination was statute barred at the time it was instituted.

Justice Agim said in the judgment that the suit was not filed within 14 days when the cause of action arose.

Specifically, the apex court held that section 285 of the 1999 was grossly violated by the plaintiff in the suit because the mandatory 14 days for such suit to be filed was not complied with.

Besides, the apex court held that the disqualification of Ibezim based on a statute barred suit was a nullity because the burden of proof for false information allegations was not proved as required by law..
Justice Agim while setting aside the judgments of both the federal high court and that of the Court of Appeal held that the appeal of Ibezim against the two judgments was meritorious, enforceable and granted it.

The Supreme Court subsequently declared Ibezim as candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5, 2020 by-election and also as winner of the election.

Ibezim had been kicked out as APC candidate on account of irreconcilable differences in the names on the certificates he presented to secure nomination and for supplying false information in his other documents.

A three man panel of Justices of the Court presided by Justice Abubakar Yahaya in a unanimous judgment had agreed with Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja that Ibezim submitted false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of his qualification for the Imo North Senatorial by-elction.

Justice Ekwo had in a judgment delivered on December 4, 2020 sacked Ibezim as candidate of the APC for the December 5 by-election in Imo North Senatorial District.

Ekwo had disqualified him from contesting the election on the grounds that he made false statements and declarations in the affidavit and documents he submitted to his party, the APC and INEC.
The false information was said to be in respect of his West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate wherein the judge held that the names on the documents were not only different but irreconcilable and accordingly ordered his disqualification from the bye-election.

One of the certificates bears Chukwuemeka Frank Ibezim and another Francis Ibezim Chukwuemeka among other differences.
Dissatisfied with the high court decision, Ibezim, the favoured candidate of governor Hope Uzodimma, then approached the Appeal Court with prayer that his disqualification be voided and set aside.
However delivering judgment in the appeal, Justice Stephen Adah who read the unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal had held that the judgment of the high court cannot be faulted since it was evident that the appellant submitted false information to APC and INEC.

Justice Adah had stated that no other person order than the institution that awarded certificates can lawfully effect correction on them.

He advised that candidates must be diligent with the ways and manners they put their names in documents, stressing that it is a serious thing if a person’s name is misplaced or spelt wrongly.
The appeal court had also disagreed with Ibezim that the case was statute barred, adding that from available records, it was filed 11 days after the cause of action arose and not after 14 days as claimed by Ibezim.

According to the appellate court, the legal action was instituted on September 23, 2020 whereas INEC had received the said forged documents from the APC on September 13, 2020.

With the Supreme Court fresh decision, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC will now proceed to formally declare winner of the election and issue Ibezim certificate of return as required by law for him to be inaugurated as a senator.

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has mobilised Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and the party’s reconciliation committee headed by a former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to persuade the Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, to rethink plans to defect from the main opposition party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

THISDAY learnt that the move followed the threat by 18 elected local government chairmen and 196 councillors in the state to defect from the PDP if the party fails to repeat its state congress.

The chairmen and councillors yesterday met with members of the NWC in Abuja during which they served the defection threat.

The delegation, led by the Chairman of Akpabuyo Local Government Area, Hon. Emmanuel Bassey, in a petition handed over to the party’s Deputy National Secretary, Dr. Emmanuel Agbo, called for immediate conduct of transparent congresses at all levels in the state.

THISDAY gathered that in the last congress conducted by the PDP in the state, Ayade lost control of the structures to members of the party in the National Assembly.

The governor’s loss of political structures at all levels to a faction that sponsored Hon. Agoms Jarigbe in the senatorial primary that pitted him against Senator Steve Odeh, sponsored by the faction loyal to the governor.

Odeh, it was gathered, was sponsored by the governor to replace the late Senator Rose Okoh who died last year.

It was alleged that Odeh reached a deal with the governor to spend only one term as a senator to enable Ayade to return to the Senate, where he was until 2015.

However, the calculation failed as Jarigbe, a serving member of the House of Representatives refused to remain in the House.

At the primary, PDP returned Odeh as the senatorial candidate, but Jarigbe rejected the outcome and went to court and his appeals were upheld.

The development led to the threat of defection by the governor and his faction, which boycotted the zonal congress of the party held recently in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where Chief Dan Orbih was elected as the South-south National Vice Chairman.

The governor also boycotted the PDP governors’ meeting at the weekend in Makurdi, Benue State.

It was as a result of the threat by the governor to defect to the APC that the elected local government chairmen and councillors met with Agbo yesterday to present their petition for a new congress to confer respect on the governor as the leader of the party or they would defect.

Chairman of the Calabar Municipal Council, Hon. Effiong Eke, told journalists after the meeting with the party that they demanded a fresh state congress to guarantee the return of party structures to the governor.

He said: “The governor is the leader of the party in the state. He should be given control of the party structures and this can only be done with a fresh congress.

“We are demanding a fresh congress. If not, where the Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, goes, we will go with him. He is the leader of the party in the state.”

Also, the leader of the delegation, Hon. Emmanuel Bassey, who is also the Chairman of Cross Rivers State Local Government Chairmen Forum, said: “We are chairmen of the 18 local government councils in Cross River State. We came to meet the national chairman and we have met him, and he was ably represented by the Deputy National Secretary in the person of Dr. Emmanuel Agbo.

“We came for the purpose of our state; the state of affair of the party in our state; we met him and we presented to him what we came with and he has honourably taken care of it and has assured us that he is going to make sure that what we presented to the party and what we came with, will be given immediate and urgent attention.”

When he was asked to reveal the content of the petition presented, he said: “You guys must have known that the state congress has not been held, and we did ask that it be done urgently. And he has assured us that that will be considered urgently.

“For God’s sake, Prof. Ben Ayade is the party leader in Cross River State; he is the one that leads, just like every other governor in any PDP state. So, let us give him his due respect. Let it be given to him.

Whatever equation he must have taken, I think is to a great extent it is for the goodness and betterment of the party.

“Let me state here categorically that we are the pillars of the party in Cross River State and these pillars were erected by Prof. Ben Ayade; so, if he goes, we go with him.”

But a source told THISDAY that the NWC was working to stave off Ayade’s planned defection by mobilising Tambuwal, Obaseki and the Saraki-led committee to ensure a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

“The PDP’s top hierarchy has moved to resolve the matter. Some governors that are close to Prof. Ben Ayade have been contacted. The Saraki-led reconciliation committee has been contacted and before the weekend, we are sure of good news,” the source stated.

The party had earlier sent Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, to mediate in the crisis in the Cross River State chapter of the party, following speculations that Ayade was planning to join the APC.

Receiving Mohammed in his office in Calabar, Ayade had said the PDP under his watch scored the highest returns in elections, adding that he was not moved by the disagreement with party stakeholders.

He said: “I know you are somebody that doesn’t take injustice. One single injustice they will see a new Cross River State…and I say it as a warning because it does appears that your party seems to celebrate people who threaten and stress them.

“All councillors in the state are PDP; council chairmen are PDP; all House of Assembly members are PDP, all commissioners are PDP, and all the National Assembly members, except one, are PDP: all of them are under my leadership.

“I am happy you have created an opportunity for a melodrama. So today I am seated and dancing on the fence. Indeed that’s true.

“And so I speak with righteous anger for the continuous annoyance and nuisance orchestrated on our innocent by external factors. But I just hope this ends today.

“And so please as I leave you with some holy whispers, which will be very strong, firm and clear, it’s a harbinger of trouble.

“While I believe in ecclesiastics of peace, I believe in the catechism of good faith but I also believe in respect for the supremacy of an office.

“I think the time has come when all of us will gather and say enough is enough.”

As plots thicken over Governor Benedict Ayade’s alleged moves to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), council chairmen, councilors and political appointees have resolved to go with him, if he eventually dumps the party.

All 18 council chairmen, vice chairmen, 196 councilors and over 6,000 appointees, yesterday, held a solidarity rally for Ayade, insisting that they would swim or sink with him.

Ayade had been at loggerheads with National Assembly members and stakeholders, leading to his frosty relationship with the party prompting him to remain neutral for some time now.

Chairman of Akpabuyo Council, Emmanuel Offiong Bassey, said since God sent Governor Ayade to salvage the state, Cross River people would support his move, programmes and policies of the Ayade administration to the end.

“With the rally, we are sending a message that we are behind Ayade and we will stop at nothing to ensure that we give him necessary support to succeed. We are ready to sink or swim with him.

“ Our leader should go to sleep because his foot soldiers are on ground. Ayade is the leader of the PDP in Cross River State and whosoever plays with this fact does so at his or her own peril,” they said.

The council chairmen also disclosed that they organised the rally in appreciation and support of Ayade’s aggressive industrialisation drive that has culminated in the establishment of several industries across the state.

Responding, Ayade commended the council chairmen for supporting him, saying the social contract he signed with the people was to lift Cross River out of the doldrums and pledged to continue to create jobs through industrialisation.

Expressing concern over the influence of external forces in the state’s politics, Ayade charged Cross River people to unite and protect the state and its infrastructure from divisive and destructive agents.

Senior Special Adviser to the governor on political matters, Peter Ojie, stressed that Ayade’s ability to industrialise the state in spite of lean resources, showed competence, adding: “The rally is also meant to demonstrate that the support we gave him in 2015 and 2019 was not in vain.”

garfield1:


One insider said ayade will defect before next week elapse.let's wait...

Ahead of the imminent defection of Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara state, Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and governor of Kebbi state, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu yesterday led a delegation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) bigwigs to Zamfara state.

Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee and Yobe state governor, Mai Mala Buni, as well as Jigawa state governor, Abubakar Badaru were also part of those who visited Zamfara, where they commiserated with governor Matawalle over a recent market fire in Gusau, the state capital.

Leader of the delegation, Governor Atiku Bagudu acknowledged the efforts of Governor Matawalle in ensuring the return of peace in the state and offered support and solidarity through a donation of N50 million to the victims calling on the general public to be more careful in order to prevent a recurrence.

Responding, Governor Matawalle commended the three APC governors for the gesture which he noted his colleagues from the PDP had not done and assured that it would be reciprocated.

“This is a strategy from and by the APC, and Zamfara as a no man’s land will continue to welcome you and we will not care what negative things other people will say but we expect you to also extend our appreciation to our President, Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.

But credible sources told Daily Trust last night that beyond the sympathy visit, the APC governors also finalized talks on the planned defection of Governor Matawalle from the PDP to the APC.

Governor Matawalle had commended his Ebonyi state counterpart, Governor Dave Umahi, for defecting from the PDP to the APC, in November last year.

Fresh moves are on for Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), Daily Trust has gathered.

This is just as the party yesterday announced the extension of its on-going membership revalidation and registration exercise to accommodate new members.

There have been talks about the planned defection of Matawalle, who became governor of the state on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following the judgement of the Supreme Court on the crisis that trailed the primaries of APC in Zamfara.

Matawalle’s moves to join the APC predated the defection of the Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi to the ruling party in November last year.

A former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima, had last year told Daily Trust that plans are on for Matawalle to join APC.

The crisis rocking the APC in the state, a source said, was one of the factors that delayed the defection of the governor. The two warring camps in the state chapter of the party — Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Kabir Garba Marafa factions — had in February reconciled.

A source close to the chairman of the national caretaker committee of the APC, Mai Mala Buni, confirmed the defection moves. “The talks on Matawalle’s defection have gone far but wait for him to formally announce it,” the source said, pleading not to be named.

Also, a former governor of the state said a governor who is a member of the APC in the North West is spearheading the defection.

Another source said former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari and other chieftains of the party in Zamfara State have been notified.

“We were told that he will join our party this month. They also told us that the defection is sanctioned by the presidency. Nocturnal meetings to finalise the arrangement are being held,” he said.

Ahead of the defection, it was gathered that the governor met with top officials of his administration in Zamfara State.

Out of the seven states in the North West, five are governed by APC while Sokoto and Zamfara are of the PDP.

In a chat with Daily Trust on Thursday, the Publicity Secretary of the ruling PDP in the state, Alhaji Farouk Ahmad, said no one had officially informed their party that Matawalle is planning to defect to APC.

“We are just hearing it from the grapevine as you do but I can tell you that PDP as a party is not informed about the decision, so I can’t confirm anything to you,” he said.

In the same vein, the vice chairman of the opposition APC in the state, Alhaji Sani Gwamna Mayanchi, said they were not officially contacted and that APC has nothing to say about it.

On his part, the state Commissioner of Information Alhaji Ibrahim Dosara said “I haven’t discussed anything like that with the executive governor.”

Meanwhile, Secretary of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, in a statement on Thursday, said the extension became necessary because of the number of people willing to join the party.

fergie001:
Yes.....I like the combination...A butterfly that thinks itself a bird.

Wike, You go hear am.

fergie001:

His first degree was UNN, MSc UI, PhD UNN...

I know the man.

fergie001:


So you work there? That's good

fergie001:

Ok...He is a good person.

fergie001:

Someone called me yesterday, and was jubilating.....I was shocked.

africanusvu:
Why is everyone who knows this man is giving bad news about him

UndissolvedMeta:
You're right,thou I don't know him but I heard lecturers discussing about him in the exam hall yesterday morning ,they were all sad. They claimed Michael Okpara people killed him sha

Munzy14:

Edeoga the guy man...Who will always say them the talk say clitoris small, and some people are still cutting it off... his usual addage...

fergie001:

I know them all.....and I know this one.

Edeoga and Otunta were far younger. Otunta would have been 63 next month. Edeoga is even younger sef.
The present one no be small pikin oooo na advanced Church

fergie001:

Nobody likes him in the school. Don't know why.
Both students and staff alike.

Ok....INEC said they are waiting for the SC and won't act for now; according to Okoye.

fergie001:


....damn it!
Asaga eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Chai, Chineke!

fergie001:

Enough to make my decision.

garfield1:

.e no go pass ta and son.seems your an insider in abia politics