21032019 - PDP, Atiku in post-election trauma, depression — APC

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10 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 No one can force me out of PDP —- AGBAJE ..Denies mismanaging campaign funds By Olasunkanmi Akoni L AGOS—THE governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje has said he remained in the party and no one would force him to quit. Agbaje made the remark, following insinuations and rumours making the rounds in the early hours of Wednesday, that he had dumped PDP. In a statement by his Director of Media and Publicity, Felix Oboagwina, Agbaje said: “I have never discussed with anyone any plan to dump PDP, neither has such a prospect crossed my mind. There is no reason for it. It is uncalled for.” He vowed to remain in the party, despite the campaign of calumny being waged against him in the media by a few leaders. The PDP flag-bearer said he only on Monday released a message encouraging members to rise above the questionable defeats suffered in the last election and maintain faith in the party, and that it would be contradictory for him to suddenly turn tail and flee the same party. According to him, recent vituperations in the press and social media against his person and his role in the last election were the machinations of political featherweights and did not warrant any response. Agbaje said: “Suffice to say that Chief Layi Ogunbambi’s claim of being denied funds as Director-General of Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council in Lagos State amounted to attempting to build LPetroleum AGOS—DANGOTE Refinery and Petrochemicals Company, yesterday, flagged off a vocational training scheme that will inculcate skills in the young men and women from the Ibeju-Lekki area to make them marketable. Dangote Group Executive Director, Capital Projects, Mr Devakumar Edwin said the initiative was a demonstration of the firm's commitment towards capacity building and youth empowerment in the country. The vocational skills, which was launched in collaboration with the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, and the Nigerian Content Development and something on nothing. For starters, the position he lays claim gives him no locus standi as no such formal position existed in the entire campaign structure of PDP in Lagos or any of the other 35 states.” Reacting to Ogunbanmbi’s claim, Agbaje stressed that the man who paraded himself as the DG of the Atiku/Obi Presidential Campaign Council had his wife, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Ogunbambi, contesting as gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State against PDP on another party platform. “Ogunbanmbi also went to the extent of stating his contributions financially and policy wise to my campaign. This is news to me. May be he should tell the world his financial contributions to my campaigns. There is no time I have ever sat with Dr. Ogunbanmbi to discuss policy issues,” he said. Agbaje, also, dismissed allegations levelled against him over stealing of campaign funds. He said: “I was not given one kobo by the party or the PDP Presidential Candidate for the gubernatorial elections. We ran our campaign from beginning to end on a shoe-string budget. You cannot steal or divert what is not given,” he said. “That this former Chairman of the party in Lagos State can accuse anyone of mismanagement of funds baffles me. He so mismanaged party funds during his tenure that he ‘forgot’ to keep money aside to pay several years’ rent for the party secretariat! Funds to run rallies in the 20 LGAs during the 2015 campaigns were not forthcoming from the party under his chairman. FLAG-OFF: From left; Group Executive Director, Capital Projects, Mr. Edwin Devakumar; Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu; Oloja of Epe, Oba Kamarudeen Animasahun, and Manager, Project Certification, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engr. Frank Ibi at the Vocational Training Scheme flag off ceremony organized by Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals for youths across host communities in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos yesterday. Boeing 737 MAX: We'll wait for outcome of investigations before taking decision •As Senator stresses need to protect — Air Peace CEO By Olasunkanmi Akoni, Lawani Mikairu, Onozure Dania & Gabriel Olawale L A G O S — CHAIRMAN and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Air Peace airline, Allen Onyema, yesterday, said the airline would wait for the outcome of investigations before taking a decision on its order for 10 Boeing 737 MAX 800 which will begin to arrive in 2023. Onyema also frowned at the behaviour of some Nigerians who mischievously created the impression that the airline already had the EMPOWERMENT: Dangote refinery flags off vocational skills for host communities Monitoring Board, NCDMB, was designed to cover plumbing, masonry, welding, iron bending, auto mechanics and electrical works. Edwin said the scheme was geared towards adding value to the lives of the youths and their communities and equip young men with trade skills that would prepare them for better opportunities. At the event, attended by top Obas and community leaders, including Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu and the Baales in the host communities, the Dangote Group boss said the company would continue to invest in projects that would add value to the lives of the people in the communities hosting its facilities. He said: “At Dangote Industries Limited, our corporate social responsibility projects are centred around the development and well-being of the people, especially our host communities. In Ibeju Lekki, we have executed several projects that are enhancing the lives of the people. We have provided boreholes for all the communities, classrooms for the local schools, and we just awarded scholarships to 51 secondary school students.'' In his remarks, Oba Akiolu said the programme was unprecedented in that the company was yet to start operation but is empowering youths to make them employable. The monarch then encouraged the youths to utilise the skills which they will acquire through the training programme. aircraft in its fleet. According to him: “It is true that Air Peace ordered for10 Boeing 737MAX 8, after which the aircraft type was involved in two fatal accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia respectively, but like other airlines that have also ordered the aircraft, the Nigerian carrier would wait for the outcome of investigations before taking a decision on the order. “We are not saying we are cancelling neither are we saying we are not cancelling because no airline that ordered for the aircraft had said it is cancelling. Everybody is waiting for the outcome of the investigation. What airlines that have the aircraft have done now is to ground them until the result of the investigation comes out. And at the same time countries are banning them from flying in their airspace until the investigation comes out. “But I still wonder that air accident happened in Ethiopia, Ethiopians have never taken their airline that had accident to the cleaners. Ethiopians have never up to this moment attacked Ethiopian Airlines that bought this aircraft. South West Airlines has so many of these planes, no country has ever attacked those who innocently purchased these planes and who are already using them. We have 400 of these planes in active service.'' Senator hails ban, mourns death of Nigerians in ill-fated aircraft Senator Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East and Chairman Senate Committee on Land Nigerian airspace Transport, has stressed the need for Nigeria to protect its airspace even as he commended the ban on Boeing 737 MAX 8 in Nigeria. Ashafa, who mourned the death of two Nigerians who died in the Ethiopian airline crash also urged government to ensure that all aircraft’ operating within Nigeria are air worthy in order to keep Nigerians safe at all times. The senator who made the remarks during plenary from a motion he sponsored and titled “The Sad Demise of two illustrious Nigerians in the recent Ethiopian Airlines crash of 10th March, 2019 and the need for Nigeria to protect its airspace from the Boeing 737 Max 8 series pending the determination of its Air worthiness.” Ashafa stated further that the two Nigerians who lost their lives were no ordinary citizen as the two of them distinguished themselves in their various fields and till their death were worthy Ambassadors of Nigeria in the Diaspora. Ashafa observed that it was not the first time that a Boeing 737 Max 8 series aircraft had crashed under similar circumstances. He thereafter commended the Minister for Transportation (Aviation) Senator Hadi Sirika for the restriction placed on the use of the Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 series aircrafts within the Nigerian airspace pending the outcome of the investigation of the plane crash. NGO demands open inquest on collapsed Ita - Faaji building A non-governmental organisation, NGO, Women Empowerment and Legal Aid, WELA, has asked the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke, to open an inquest into the tragic death of 20 persons, during the collapsed of a building last week in Ita- Faaji area of the state. Meantime, former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bode George, has urged the state government to ensure that all those guilty for the building collapse at Ita Faji in Lagos Island be prosecuted. On the inquest, the Chairperson of WELA, Mrs Funmi Falana, in a letter to the Chief Registrar of the State Judiciary, urged the chief Judge to conduct a coroner inquest in to the building collapse. Falana said: “In the light of the foregoing, we request you to use your good offices to cause a coroner’s inquest to be conducted into the cause of collapse of the fourstorey building at Ita-Faaji area of Lagos Island that led to the death of 18 people on March 13, and make appropriate recommendations pursuant to section 15 of the Lagos State Coroner’s Law 2007 which provides that an inquest shall hold whenever a Coroner is informed that the death “in a violent, unnatural or suspicious situation. George, speaking during a courtesy visit to the victims at the Lagos Island General Hospital, George said thought, government cannot be everywhere, but those saddles with the responsibility must be held accountable.
Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 — 11 COURTESY VISIT: From left: Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Airtel Nigeria; Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Rahgunath Mandava, CEO, Airtel Africa; Mr. Sunday Dare, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC and Mr. Jaideep Paul, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Airtel Africa during the courtesy visit by the Management of Bharti Airtel Group to the Commission’s headquarters yesterday. Fayose: Drama, as judge, EFCC lawyer tango By Innocent Anaba L prosecution AGOS—FOUR witnesses, yesterday, testified before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, at the resumed trial of immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose, who is being prosecuted alongside a company Spotless Investment Ltd on an 11 counts charge of fraud, by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC. Fayose pleaded not guilty to the charge. Meanwhile, there was drama midway into the hearing between the trial judge, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun and EFCC counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, when the judge raised concern over the failure of the prosecution to tender the complete three pages of the statement of one of the witnesses. Noting that the prosecution, was not doing a good job, the judge said, “Mr Jacobs, you dare not, you are not competent to look into my ruling, to evaluate my ruling, you are totally incompetent, whether you are a Senior Advocate or not.” Jacob: “I was not referring to Your Lordship’s ruling.” Judge: “You are going beyond your bounds. Do not let me trash your practice. Listen to me, if you re-evaluate my rulings in this court, you”ll get into trouble. “You can only go on appeal, Mr Jacobs. Your mode of advocacy, I do not understand it, it looks like what do they call it? Jankara market. “You stand here to reevaluate my ruling, you are incompetent to do that. You do not stand there with impetus and re-evaluate my ruling. I have ruled, relying on two sections of the Evidence Act, if you have an objection, you go on appeal. You have no competence, carrying your wig with arrogance and we have a lot of young lawyers here. What are you teaching them. You stand up to a judge, reevaluating the ruling of a judge. It will not happen in my court! Your reexamine your witness; if you are not re-examining, then close your case.” Jacob: “My Lord, I never said a word about Your Lordship’s ruling.” Judge: “I do not take tangential comments here. You are fond of doing that. You are an extremely rude, senior advocate. If you are a senior advocate, you are not older than me at the Bar and you are not older than me in age. In Yoruba land, we respect age. And in this job, we have what they call professional ethics and respect for each other.” Jacob: “I have respect for you My Lord.” Judge: “You have never offered it.” Jacob: “For My Lord to say that I am Jankara practice lawyer...” Judge: “Yes, I am saying it, if we finish here, you can write a petition to the NJC.” Jacob: “No court has ever told me I engage in Jankara practice.” Judge: “I have said it: go and do whatever you like.” Jacob: “My Lord, I’ve been on this job for a while.” Judge: “I do not want to know.” Jacob: “No judge has ever called me a Jankara lawyer.” Judge: “How many years have you spent?” Jacob: “I take exception to that word, Jankara. No judge can tell me that I am involved in Jankara practice.” Judge: “Now, are you reexamining your witness?” Jacob: “Yes, I am. But I take exception to that word, Jankara practice. I take full exception to it. I do my job according to my conscience; I will never pervert the course of justice; I will never call any witness to come here and lie against another person. I fear God .” Earlier, three other witnesses, all Lebanese – Goshen Joseph; Joseph Mechleb and Maroun Mechleb, who are working in Nigeria as building and construction engineers, also gave their evidence. Mechleb, who is the Chief Executive Officer of a construction firm, Samchase Nigeria Limited, which is based in Akure, the Ondo State capital, while being led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Jacobs, told the court that he had done various jobs for both the Federal Government and some states, including Ekiti State. He said he did jobs for Ekiti State in 2006, 2014, 2015 and 2016 when Fayose was governor of the state. Mechleb told the court that the jobs he did for Ekiti State were facilitated by Abiodun Agbele, an aide to Fayose. He said there was an agreement that he would “appreciate” Agbele for every contract he facilitated for Samchase Nigeria Limited. Mechleb said though the “appreciation” was not specified, it was usually about 10 per cent of the contract sum. The Lebanese, who told the court that he could neither write nor read English language fluently, said the scope of the contracts was usually communicated verbally, saying, “We agreed that when he got jobs for me, I will appreciate him. We did not specify but it’s around 10 per cent.” Mechleb told the court that he once lied to the EFCC about owning a property on Agbele’s instructions. He said he falsely claimed ownership of the property in order to help Agbele, whom he described as a friend. The Lebanese had been asked by Jacobs if he knew of a company, JJ Technical Services Limited, to which he replied that the firm belongs to his younger brother and brother-in-law, Maroun Mechleb and Joseph Mechleb, respectively. He said his brother once approached him to help get some jobs for JJ Technical Services Limited, because since the company was incorporated in 2007, it has never got a job. Mechleb said he collected the firm’s documents and gave to Agbele to find job for it, but Agbele did not. The Lebanese said at a time, Agbele approached him and asked if he had a company which could be used to get a contract. He said he then nominated JJ Technical Services Limited. The Lebanese said Agbele later bought a property in the name of JJ Technical Services Limited and brought the deed of assignment for him to sign. Obasanjo denies being paid by NOUN as lecturer •Demands immediate retraction, apology By Daud Olatunji A FORMER BEOKUTA— President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday denied a media report that he earns N40,000 as a lecturer at the National Open University, NOUN, saying he was rendering the service probono. Obasanjo gave the clarification in a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi. The former President, described the media report (Not Vanguard), as embarrassing, uncharitable, mischievous and in bad taste. He however, called for immediate retraction and apology from the Office of the Vice Chancellor. The statement read: “My attention was drawn to a newspaper report, published specifically on Page 8 of a national newspaper of Wednesday, March 20, 2019 with the headline “Obasanjo earns N40,000 as NOUN lecturer — VC.” According to Obasanjo, “”Ordinarily, this will have been unnecessary exercise, if it has been the usual shenanigans of the media to sell their newspapers, but, the very clear quotation of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Abdalla Adam on the headline made this clarification imperative and to set the records straight on His Excellency’s engagement with the university. “In putting the records in right perspective, His Excellency wishes to draw By Ola Ajayi AS the Oyo State Police command intensifies effort at unravelling the mystery surrounding the killing of the member of the House of Representatives, Mr Temitope Olatoye, popularly called, Sugar, the penultimate week, the traditional ruler of Lalupon in Lagelu Local Government Area of Oyo State, Oba Muniru Adekunle, has said that the Chief Whip of the state House of Assembly, Mr Olafisoye Akinmoyede, who is currently being detained at the state Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, is innocent of the charges. The monarch, who is the traditional ruler to the detained lawmaker, said with the human kindness that Sugar always exhibited, Akinmoyede would not commit such a horrible crime. The monarch, while speaking with newsmen in the attention of the Vice- Chancellor to his letter dated 12 April 2018, which was written to the University Registrar, Mr. Felix Edoka, when the Council offered him a part-time appointment as an Instructional/Tutorial Facilitator and Project Supervisor in the Faculty of Arts at the Abeokuta Study Centre. “Specifically in Paragraph 3 of the letter, President Obasanjo wrote: “I will gladly undertake any of the functions mentioned in paragraph two of your letter pro bono and I hope that the functions will be flexible enough to accommodate my rather tight schedule.” (See attached a copy of the letter).” In the statement, Obasanjo affirmed that he has not received any money either as salaries or otherwise from the University and not planning for such now or forever. He explained that this intention of pro bono service was stated in his letter of appointment which read in part: “With pleasure and duty to give back to others out of what God and NOUN have given me. “The publication, which has generated mixed reactions from the general public and calls from far and near on the elder statesman expressing concern, is to say the least, embarrassing, uncharitable, mischievous and in bad taste, with immediate demand for a retraction and apology from the office of the Vice Chancellor.” SUGAR'S MURDER: Monarch exonerates Oyo House whip Ibadan yesterday, described the lawmaker as an epitome of peace, who had contributed immensely to the development of Lalupon Town and the entire local government area through his philanthropic gestures. He added that though, both Sugar and Akinmoyede belonged to different political parties, the relationship between them could best be described as that of “brothers and best of friends.” Oba Adekunle said; “I have always known Sugar and Akinmoyede as not only brothers but also best of friends. It is therefore, inconceivable that one would want to terminate the other’s life, for whatever reason. “As the traditional ruler of Lalupon Town where Akinmoyede hails from, I know him to be a man of peace; he does not encourage thuggery and violence. I’m sure he didn’t know anything about the incident,” he said.
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21032019 - PDP, Atiku in post-election trauma, depression — APC

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