24062019 - EDO Oyegun Oshiomhole ateach others troats

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2019
PFN lauds court’s judgment on
Kaduna religious bill
By Gabriel
Enogholase
B ENIN—THE
leadership of
Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria, PFN, has
described the recent
judgment of a Kaduna State
High Court over the
Religious Bill by Governor
Nasir el-Rufai as victory for
the rule of law and
democracy.
It will be recalled that the
trial judge, Justice
Hajaratu, Gwadah, in its
judgment declared that the
Kaduna State government
has no right to screen and
issue licences to religious
preachers in the state.
A statement in Benin City,
Edo State, weekend, by its
National President, Rev
Felix Omobude, PFN said:
“Our contention at the time
Governor el-Rufai sent the
executive bill for a law to
substitute the Kaduna State
Religious Preaching Law
1984 to the House of
Assembly of Kaduna State
was that the provisions of
the bill were discriminatory.
“The court is in alignment
with our position, affirming
that Sections 6 and 9 of the
bill, which seeks to screen
and licence preachers,
violates the constitutional
rights of members of the
fellowship.
“We congratulate
members of PFN in
Kaduna State. We urge all
Pentecostals in the state
and beyond to continue to
live peacefully with
everyone, remain lawabiding
in all their activities
while continuing to
accommodate the views of
others.
“PFN will continue to
work with the government
and non-governmental
actors at all levels to ensure
the peace, progress and
prosperity of Nigeria.”
Bayelsa youths, elders stage procession, urge
Buhari to confirm Brambaifa as NDDC MD
By Onozure
Dania
NO fewer than 2,000
youths and elders
have staged a public
procession in Yenagoa,
Bayelsa State to call on
President Muhammadu
Buhari to confirm the acting
Managing Director of
Niger Delta Development
Commission, NDDC,
Professor Nelson
Brambaifa, as substantive
Managing Director of the
commission.
The Bayelsa youths,
women and elders, who
took part in the procession
to the Yenagoa office of the
NDDC, said despite the
campaign of calumny
against NDDC
management, the
commission under
Branbaifa has remained
focussed on his mission to
actualise the vision of
President Buhari in Niger
Delta.
They were armed with
placards with inscriptions,
such as ‘President Buhari
please confirm Professor
Nelson Brambaifa as the
MD of NDDC board’, ‘Let
Professor Brambaifa
continue as MD of NDDC,”
“Bayelsans are solidly
behind you as MD of
NDDC”, “The only person
we want is Brambaifa as
MD NDDC”, “NDDC
board is secured with
Professor Brambaifa,”
among others.
Addressing the Bayelsa
Coordinator of NDDC,
Francis Kolokolo,
representative of the
Bayelsa Elders and former
Security Adviser to Bayelsa
State Government, Chief
Perekeme Kpodoh, said
NDDC has come of age, as
it was established to
develop Niger Delta, “but
we have seen that since its
inception, we have not had
development and today we
have a son from Bayelsa
who is Professor Brambaifa
and in four months only, he
has changed the tide.
“There are roads
everywhere. We have over
one hundred and
something roads in
Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers
states. The fact is that
Brambaifa from Bayelsa
has come to ensure that
these roads are put in good
and in motorable
conditions.
"There is nobody from
anywhere that can stop the
planned development of
the region. All those
gimmicks they are doing
outside Bayelsa are being
done for selfish interest not
for the interest of Bayelsans
or the Niger Delta."
Delta community protests
govt, oil coy’s neglect
By Festus Ahon
& Ochuko
Akuopha
THE people of Obodo-
Ugwa community,
Ndokwa West Local
Government Area, Delta
State, have decried alleged
neglect and deprivation by
Delta State government,
Energia Nigeria Limited
and Oando, the oil
companies operating in the
area.
Addressing newsmen at
the community’s town hall
where the indigenes
converged to protest against
their
alleged
marginalisation, Mr Oju
Linus said the community
had been shut out of elective
and appointive political
positions by successive
governments.
He noted that despite
being the host to Energia/
Oando joint venture, the
people still live in abject
poverty, lamenting that the
people lack basic social
amenities such as potable
pipe borne water,
educational facilities,
electricity, good roads,
among others.
Reiterating that the people
were facing untold hardship
due to three decades of oil
exploration in the area, he
said the multinational oil
Rivers govt'll continue to
partner the church —Wike
GOVERNOR Nyesom
Wike of Rivers State
has stated that his
administration will
continue to partner the
church for the development
of the state.
Speaking, yesterday,
during the Lord’s Chosen
Crusade with the theme:
“God has the power to do
this or that” at the Yakubu
Gowon Stadium in Port
Harcourt, Wike attributed
his political survival to the
support and prayers of the
Christian community.
He said the forces of
darkness invaded the state
and attempted to rob the
mandate of the people, but
God stood firm.
A-Ibom bans roadside
trading in Uyo
By Harris-Okon
Emmanuel
UYO—IN a bid to keep
Uyo metropolis and its
environs clean, Akwa Ibom
State government has
clamped down on roadside
trading.
But the move has drawn
criticisms from petty traders
who accused the
government of being
insensitive to their plights as
bread winners in their
families.
A task force comprising
personnel of a local vigilante
group some days back went
round the streets, upturning
the petty traders’ wares and
companies had completely
abandoned their corporate
social responsibilities to the
community.
On her part, Women
Leader of the community,
Ojugbeli Caroline,
lamented gross neglect of
the community despite the
huge oil resource generated
from the area.
He said: “We saw forces,
but the greater force, God
Almighty, came. With this
crusade, Rivers State will be
abundantly blessed. I
repeat once again without
apologies, Rivers State is a
Christian state. That is why
nobody can touch us. When
it mattered most, the
Christian community
prayed and God heard
your prayers.
“I will continue to support
the activities of all churches.
This government will
always partner the
churches in whatever
programme they are
engaged in. I urge the
church to continue to pray.
Each time you pray, put us
in your prayers.”
chasing them away from the
sidewalks of the major
streets in the metropolis.
Chairman, State
Environmental Protection
and Waste Management
Board, Prince Akpan Ikim,
had in a radio programme,
"Sanitation Watch,” gave
credence to the ban, stating
that government obtained a
court order to evacuate all
roadside traders and those
trading on unauthorised
locations in the state capital.
“Overtime, we had
pleaded with roadside
traders in Uyo to relocate to
government approved
markets and desist from
displaying their wares on
walkways and major streets
within the state capital and
beyond but all our efforts to
evacuate them peacefully
had been unsuccessful. Now
that we have received court
order, we have no option
than to do what the law has
directed,” he said.
But the traders have come
down hard on the
government, saying that they
need money to feed their
families, urging Governor
Udom Emmanuel to make
good his pledge during his
first term to build roadside
stores in the city.
Ogba vs Okiemute: Tribunal
admits petitioner’s evidence,
adjourns to July 11
By Babatunde
Jimoh
NATIONAL and State
Assembly Election
Tribunal sitting in Asaba,
Delta State, has adjourned
till July 11, 2019 hearing in
the case by Mr Benjamin
Okiemute of All Progressives
Congress, APC, in which he
is challenging the electoral
victory of Mr Kenneth Ogba
of Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, in the 2019 general
election.
In the petition, Okiemute
and APC are challenging the
declaration of Ogba as the
duly elected member
representing Isoko South in
the Delta State House of
Assembly by the
Independent National
Electoral Commission,
INEC.
Other defendants in the
petition are PDP and INEC.
Chairman of the tribunal,
Justice C. Onyeador, said on
the adjourned date, parties
are for the adoption or
presentation of their
respective written address.
Before the matter was
adjourned till July 11, a
senior INEC official in
charge of the March 9, 2019
election, Shuaibu Razak
testified for the commission.
In a short ruling, the
tribunal chairman, Justice
Onyeado, ordered that the
documents, namely INEC
Form EC81, including
Voters Register for 10 polling
units in Irri and units 7 and
8 in Oleh Ward 2, be
admitted ‘’from the Bar’’ and
collectively as Exhibit A.