BusinessDay 22 Oct 2017

8 BD SUNDAY
C002D5556 Sunday 22 October 2017
News
We are ready for Kwara LG polls - KWASIEC
SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin
The Kwara State Independent
Electoral
Commission
(KWASIEC) says
it has concluded
arrangements to conduct
local government election
on November 18, 2017.
Abdulrahman Ajidagba,
the KWASIEC chairman,
who disclosed this while
briefing journalists, said
that the reason for the
change of the election date
before was to enable the
commission look inward
and put necessary mechanism
in place to avoid inconsistency,
election malpractice
and ensure credible
and fair election.
According to him, the
state has 36 political parties
but only 11 showed interest
and would be partaking in
the forthcoming election.
“We have 36 political parties
in Kwara State but 11
parties indicated interest to
participate in the election.
“We are guided by law
and everything is on course.
We are ready, prepared,
willing and enormous to
conduct free, credible and
fair election on 18th November,
2017. There will be
no change of election date,”
said Ajidagba
The All Progressives
Congress (APC) in
Edo State has described
as a lie, the
claim by the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) that the
state’s governor,
Godwin Obaseki, used a
public school as venue for the
recent tour of some wards in
the state.
The Publicity Secretary
of the APC in the state, Chris
Azebamwan, said: “Our attention
has been drawn to
the lie by the fragmented
People’s
Democratic Party in Edo
State, by its Publicity Secretary,
Chris Nehikhare, who
accused Governor Godwin
Obaseki of using a public
school compound as venue
for the ‘thank you visit’ to
members of the APC at some
wards.”
Azebamwan explained
that in the news report published
by an online news site,
Nehikhare alleged that the
Obaseki-led APC government
acted in breach of its
own policy by organising a
thank you
rally at a public school,
after placing a ban on the
use of public primary and
secondary schools for social
events in the state.
He promised that
KWASIEC will give every
party equal right and will
not disappoint the general
public.
Meanwhile, the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP)
in the state has suffered a
major setback in its bid to
stop the conduct of the local
government election in
the state.
An Ilorin High Court
dismissed the PDP’s plea
to stop the conduct of the
council poll.
The PDP, through its
lead counsel Salman Jawondo,
had approached the
court, asking it to restrain
the Kwara State Independent
Electoral Commission
(KWASIEC) from conducting
the said election into the
16 local councils.
Also joined in the suit
was the state Attorney General
and Commissioner for
Justice, Kamaldeen Ajibade
(SAN).
The party had hinged its
claims on the alleged unconstitutionality
inherent
in KWSIEC’s guidelines for
candidates participating in
the council poll.
The PDP argued that
the 2006 local government
Obaseki did not use school compound for rally as alleged by PDP, says APC
“In the most hypocritical
manner and with total disrespect
to Edo people, Governor
Godwin Obaseki-led
APC government, is now
using the prohibited public
school fields for his so-called
thank you rally,” Nehikhare
was quoted as saying in the
news report.
But the state APC scribe
debunked the claim, saying
that “the Edo State APC
is aghast at the ease with
which the PDP is applying
Azebamwan
its last breath in
the propagation of falsehood
in the state as it struggles
desperately to come to
terms with its new reality
of an obscure party that is
ready for
decommissioning.”
Azebamwan maintained
that at the said
rallies, Governor Obaseki
was treated to a warm and
carnival-like reception everywhere
he went, across
several local government
electoral law passed by the
Kwara State House of Assembly
is inconsistent with
the National
Assembly Act and the
1999 Constitution.
The party also averred
in its application that some
requirements for candidates
in the Kwara State local
government electoral law
and the guidelines for the
conduct of the council poll
are preconditions not
within the purviews
of the 1999 Constitution
as amended and the 2010
Electoral Act as amended.
It listed such requirements
as the screening and
disqualification of candidates
by the KWASIEC.
But in his judgment,
Justice Sulaiman Akanbi
said that there was nothing
unconstitutional by the legislation
passed by the state
House of Assembly.
He, therefore, ordered
the state electoral umpire
to go ahead with the November
18th, 2017 local
government elections.
“What the Kwara State
House of Assembly did
constitutionally and additionally
is to aid the Federal
Law; the state law is
not inconsistent with the
Electoral law. Kwara State
House of Assembly did not
run foul of the Constitution
rather it complemented it.
headquarters and stressed
that “None was held at a
public school.”
He further said that the
videos and photographs of
the tour of some wards have
been broadcast severally and
printed in newspapers and
magazines in national and
local media. “The contents
are the same and there is no
media content of the governor
at a public school during
the tour.”
According to the state
APC Publicity Secretary, “the
fact that Governor Obaseki
is a man of rules, law and order
cannot be controverted.
This can be verified by his
administration’s policies that
have since rid bus stops and
locations in Benin City of
chaos, which many people
thought was impossible. So it
is laughable to even imagine
that the same
governor, whose rising
profile in public administration
has caught the attention
of world leaders can break
his own rules.”
He advised the PDP that
“the resort to barefaced lies
is clearly not a strategy to regenerate
a dead political idea
like the PDP. Truthfulness
and constructive criticism is
the way to go.”
Port Harcourt Literary Society:
NDDC imagemaker, Amu-Nnadi, now resident poet
Ignatius Chukwu
The Port Harcourt
Literary Society has
appointed Chijioke
Amu-Nnadi, an
award winning poet and a
deputy director in the Niger
Delta Development Commission
(NDDC) as ‘Resident
Poet’ of the society.
This is coming on the
heels of a recent honour
from the Associa tion of
Nigerian Authors (ANA),
Rivers State chapter, for his
con tributions to literature,
at the 2017 Literary Excellence
Day of the association
in Port Harcourt.
Presenting the appointment
letter and keys to his
office, during a brief ceremony
at the NDDC headquarters,
Chidinma Ubakanwa,
Programme Coordinator of
Port Harcourt Literary Society,
underlined the need
to provide mentorship for
young writers. She said
that the appointment of
Amu-Nnadi as resident poet
would create new opportunities
for budding writers to
hone their skills.
“This is done in recognition
of your works, literary
awards and as an inspiring
figure who would make a
positive impact and help
advance the objectives of
our Society,” the letter read.
The Chairman of the
Rivers State chapter of ANA,
Uzo Nwa mara, described
Amu-Nnadi as one of the
best poets in Africa. He
declared: “He has been a big
inspiration to many young
writers and that is why
ANA found him worthy of
recognition.”
Nwa mara lauded the
NDDC for promoting literary
excellence through the
sponsorship of the literary
prizes, one of which was the
ANA/NDDC Gabriel Okara
Prize for Poetry in 2002 won
by the fire within written
by Chijioke Amu-Nnadi.
Accepting his new role,
Amu-Nnadi, promised to
live up to the expectations
of the literary society, noting
that he derived joy from
writing.
He recalled that he got
into writing poetry by
chance. According to him,
a challenge from a fellow
student drew him into poetry.
“As a first year student
of Mass Communication at
the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, I had the privilege
of sharing the same class
with a few young men who
loved poetry. But I was the
only one who had no time
for poetry. So, I was forced
to rise to the challenge.”
In his remarks, the
NDDC Director Corporate
Affairs, Ibitoye Abosede,
gave kudos to Amu-Nnadi
for his literary prowess,
which he said had produced
several books, including the
fire within, pilgrim’s passage,
through the window
of a sandcastle (which won
the 2013 ANA Poetry Prize
and the 2014 Glenna Luschei
Prize for African Poetry),
a river’s journey, a field
of echoes, among others.
2017 US-Nigeria legislative, executive
leadership forum to focus on Africa
SEYI JOHN SALAU
Leaders of thought
and industry experts
from Nigeria and the
United States will
focus on development across
Africa in the 2017 US-Nigeria
Legislative, Executive
Leadership Forum, organisers
have said. The forum
billed for November 15-18,
in Washington DC, USA, will
discuss Africa’s influences
on global economy, arts and
culture, and entertainment
through exchange of expertise,
idea-sharing and
effective policy discussions
to affect a truly restructured
Africa and the world
at large.
The forum, which will
provide an conducive environment
to build new
connections and long lasting
business relationships
between Nigeria and the
U.S will also explore efficient
border security and
migration management,
weigh the benefits and risks
of International Trade, import
and export in global
economy, as well as ways
of maximizing microeconomic
reforms and policies
through legislation and best
practice sharing.
Asha Okojie-Osazuwa,
founder, Festival of Arts &
Culture Expo Inc. (FACE),
organiser of the US-Nigeria
Legislative and Executive
Leadership Forum in a statement
said the forum would
provide a platform for young
leaders to engage in productive
dialogue on the global
stage.
Tagged ‘Nigeria Revitalisation
Initiative: Global
Partnership for Effective
Development & Restructuring,’
Asha opined that the
forum will review the legal
and regulatory framework
of Public Private Partnership
(PPP) and Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) Policies, the
future of aviation, transportation
and food safety in
emerging markets, improving
health and educational
systems for Job creation
and community capacity
development.