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  • Court Of Appeal Declares Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe PDP Senatorial Candidate For Cross River North

    Court Of Appeal Declares Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe PDP Senatorial Candidate For Cross River North

     

    The battle for the Cross River North Senatorial seat which was won by the Peoples Democratic Party at the December 5, rescheduled elections has taken a different twit 24 hours after Dr. Stephen Odey was sworn in by the Clerk of the Senate.

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has just declared Hon. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe as the duly nominated candidate of the PDP and the rightful winner of the election against Dr. Odey who was declared by INEC and sworn in by the Senate.

    The Court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to immediately issue a Certificate of Return to Hon. Jarigbe and withdraw the one earlier issued to Dr. Stephen Odey.

    In its unanimous judgment, the court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the trial court that the primaries which produced Jarigbe was conducted with the correct and authentic list of delegates and that Hon Jarigbe having scored the highest number of valid votes in the primary election is the validly nominated candidate of the PDP.

    The Appeal Court also upheld the position of the Federal High Court that the primary election was duly monitored by the INEC in line with the law hence was a valid primary election of the PDP.

    This judgment has abruptly halted the seeming advantage Dr. Stephen Odey got yesterday when he was invited by the Clerk of the Senate to take his oath of office and allegiance. This is despite another order of the FCT High Court which restrained the Senate from swearing Dr. Odey in as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    By this judgment and until the Supreme Court gives its final judgment, Hon. Jarigbe is expected to be sworn in immediately to sit to represent the good people of Cross River North Senatorial District.

  • Operation Akpakwu Begins Demolition Of Kidnappers Abode In The State.

    Operation Akpakwu Begins Demolition Of Kidnappers Abode In The State.

     

    The State Government’s recently launched joint task force operations, codenamed OP AKPAKWU had long begun a state-wide manhunt for kidnappers, armed robbers and other criminal collaborators in the State with tangible success reports made as multiple arrest have been recorded so far.

    As part of it’s mandate under the State Anti-Cultism and Kidnapping Law which gives clear authority for the demolition of properties owned by kidnappers or used for such activities, the operation had begun demolition of such properties in the State.

    Yesterday at Asanbanca in Akpabuyo Local Government, the team led by the four (4) State Security Advisers who had previously clamped a kidnap kingpin in Calabar, supervised the demolition of a said property owned by him.

    Recall that the Governor of the State, Sen. Ben Ayade had issued an ultimatum to kidnappers and criminal elements to either relocate or face the drum, mandating the OP AKPAKWU not to spare anyone caught in the web of these activities.

    Speaking to the Warden, a resident in Asanbanca community who pleaded anonymity said, “we are beginning to see the changes and we encourage the team not to bow to pressure or compromise”

     

  • Rt. Hon. Hilary Bisong Commends Sen. Gershom Bassey For Ekpugrinya Junction- Okundi Road Maintenance

    Rt. Hon. Hilary Bisong Commends Sen. Gershom Bassey For Ekpugrinya Junction- Okundi Road Maintenance

     

    The member representing Boki II State Constituency in the Cross River House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Hilary Bisong, has commended the Senator representing Cross River Southern Senatorial District, Gershom Bassey, for the ongoing rehabilitation of the Ekpugrinya-Okundi highway in Cross River State.

    Bisong, who commended the National Assembly member for capturing the road in the National Budget, said that the maintenance will drive economic development in the area.

    According to him, Sen. Bassey, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), had shown capacity in community development through road infrastructure.

    “I want to specially thank Sen. Gershom Bassey for capturing the Ekpugrinya-Okundi highway in the National Budget on my request.

    “I made a passionate appeal to him when I visited him in his office last year concerning the road and he assured me that the road will be captured for maintenance.

    “Today, massive work is ongoing on that road and the good people of Boki are very happy with his kind gesture.

    “Senator Bassey has shown enormous capacity and utmost desire for road infrastructure in the state,” he said.

  • CRSPHCDA Commences Personnel Audit For Environmental Health Officers

    CRSPHCDA Commences Personnel Audit For Environmental Health Officers

     

    The Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency has commenced verification exercise for environmental health officers in the state as a means of boosting and optimizing the services of the unit in the state.

    Addressing the workers at the Agency’s Head office in calabar, the Director General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong urged the workers to cooperate with the screening committee in order to achieve the desired aim of the exercise.

    The DG who was represented by the Director of Administration Barrister John Odu said, the aim of the exercise is to create a unified system where all environmental health officers in the state can be in cooperated in line with the laws guiding their system of operation.

    Barrister Odu said, the agency having the mandate to provide quality healthcare to 70% of Cross Riverians across the state, can only function effectively if all staff are brought under one control system where regulation of their duties will be ensured and their duties discharged without compromise.

    The verification exercise is expected to be done in all three Senatorial districts of the state with screening centres in Ikom to cover the central Senatorial District and Ogoja for those in the Northern Senatorial District.

    Some of the documents expected to be presented to the panel by the officers includes:

    Original and photocopies of their credentials.

    Evidence of registration and licence with EHORECON.

    Two recent passport photograph in two separate files.

    Evidence of payment of dues 2019-2020 and must appear in their complete uniforms for identification.

    Currently, there are 150 Environmental Health workers under the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency offering services to citizens and residents including;

    1. Environmental health control of housing/sanitation

    2. Waste management

    3. Food hygiene/ control

    3. Pest/vector control

    4. water hygiene and sanitation

    5. School health services

    6. Occupational health and safety

    7. Epidemiological investigation/control

    8. Protection of recreational environment

    9. EHIA

    10. Promotion and enforcement of environmental health quality standard

    11. Pollution control and abatement.

  • Court Of Appeal Nullifies Metuh’s Conviction, Says Justice Okon Abang Was Bias

    Court Of Appeal Nullifies Metuh’s Conviction, Says Justice Okon Abang Was Bias

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday nullified the conviction and seven years jail term on a former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, after finding him guilty of money laundering charges.

    A three-man panel led by Justice Stephen Adah in a unanimous judgment held that the proceedings of the Federal High Court leading to the conviction of Metuh and his company, Destra Investment Limited, were marred with bias, and should not be allowed to stand.

    Justice Adah stated that Justice Okon Abang, who delivered the lead judgment, was biased against the convicts from his utterances.

    He, therefore, directed that the case file be sent back to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to another judge other than Justice Abang.

    Justice Abang had in his judgment delivered on February 25, 2020, sentenced Metuh to seven years in prison. This was after he was found guilty of count one, two and three of the seven-count charge levelled against him and his company by the Federal Government.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had instituted the charge against Metuh and his company for alleged money laundering to the tune of N400 million.

    Ruling on the first count charge, Justice Abang held that the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, unlawfully transferred the N400 million to the defendants in November 2014.

    The judge maintained that Metuh and his firm reasonably ought to have known that the N400 million paid to them formed part of the proceeds of unlawful activity of the former NSA since they had no form of contractual

  • Suspected Herdsmen Kills Lawyer And His Pregnant Wife In Benue

    Suspected Herdsmen Kills Lawyer And His Pregnant Wife In Benue

    Culled from Igbere TV

    A popular Benue lawyer, human rights activist, Moses Udam and his pregnant wife have been brutally murdered by unknown men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

    Barrister Udam, who is a Managing Partner at Orkar, Udam and Associates (Attorneys and Legal Consultants), was killed alongside his wife, Nkechi, at Agboughul area of Makurdi on Tuesday night, December 15.

    It was gathered that the attackers stormed their residence in the middle of the night while they were asleep and slaughtered them.

    A third person identified as elder Nyikyor Mazugu was also murdered while three people are being treated for severe injuries sustained during the attack.

    Governor Samuel Ortom, who confirmed the incident on Wednesday, says Benue State under his watch will not succumb to attacks by ”terrorists whether they are jihadists or militia herders whose sole target is occupation of the state and destruction of lives and property.”

    He stated that the pattern of the attack and killings barely four days after a similar incident at Tse-Angbande was unfortunate and bore the handwriting of mindless jihadists who had set out to overrun the state.

    The Governor noted that the series of attacks were a grand plan to whittle down operations of Livestock Guards and Agro Rangers who are doing very well in containing attacks on communities and enforcing the ranching law of the state.

    Ortom lamented that developed climes globally with higher number of cattle compared to Nigeria have no cases of conflicts between herders and farmers due to ranching which is also being practiced in Benue, stressing that he would continue to speak against impunity in the country.

    Udam had in 2015 contested for Makurdi Local Government Chairmanship seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

     

  • Senate President Ahmad Lawan Swears In Stephen Odey As Senator Representing Cross River North

    Senate President Ahmad Lawan Swears In Stephen Odey As Senator Representing Cross River North

    The Nigerian Senate today sworn in Stephen Odey as senator representing Cross River Northern Senatorial district.

    Odey was not sworn in along others yesterday, which sparked speculations that he was rejected base on the injunction gotten by the Rt. Hon. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe member representing Ogoja/Yala federal constituency, who was a major contender for the party ticket.

    Two Federal High Courts of equal jurisdictions had given conflicting judgment to both Stephen and Jarigbe as authentic flag bearers of the PDP ticket.

    Odey was however given the certificate of return. A development that led Rt. Jarigbe to get the court injunction to restraint the inauguration.

  • Just In: Senate President, Ahmad Lawan Swears In Four Senators, Excludes Stephen Odey

    Just In: Senate President, Ahmad Lawan Swears In Four Senators, Excludes Stephen Odey

    Culled from CrossRiverWatch

    The Senate on Tuesday swore in the immediate past Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bayelsa West.

    Also sworn in as Senators were Moses Cleopas, PDP, Bayelsa Central; Adetokunboh Abiru, All Progressives Congress, APC, Lagos East and Prof. Nora Dabu’t, APC, Plateau South.

    The oath of office and allegiance were administered Tuesday on Senator Olujimi by the Clerk of the Senate, Ibrahim El- Ladan during plenary.

    The President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, however, refused to swear in the Senator-elect for Cross River Northern Senatorial District, Stephen Odey.

    Odey had arrived the National Assembly complex as early as 8am with supporters from Cross River State in anticipation for the swearing-in.

    Odey who was the Senior Legislative Aide, SLA to Governor Ben Ayade as a Senator in the 7th Senator, was however disappointed when his name was not mentioned as one of those to take the oath of office.

    With the swearing-in, the number of All Progressives Congress, APC, Senators now stand at 63 while PDP now has 45 Senators.

    While Senator Seriake replaced Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo; Senator Cleopas is replacing Senator Diri Douye; Senator Abiru replacing late Adebayo Osinowo and Dadu’t is replacing late Ignatius Longjan.

  • Deputy Governor Dies In Bomb Blast Attack

    Deputy Governor Dies In Bomb Blast Attack

    A bomb attack in Afghanistan’s capital city killed the deputy governor of Kabul on Tuesday, security officials said, adding a sticky bomb was attached to his car by unknown assailants.

    Mahboobullah Mohebi, the deputy governor was travelling with his security guards when the blast occurred. Two guards were injured in the process. No militant group has made an immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

    Last week an Afghan government prosecutor was shot dead in eastern Kabul while he was on his way to work.

  • C’River PDP Ward And Chapter Exco List Comes Up For Hearing At The Supreme Court

    C’River PDP Ward And Chapter Exco List Comes Up For Hearing At The Supreme Court

     

    The Case Appealed by Ayade’s faction of PDP in CRS, on Party Structures, comes up at the Supreme Court, today.

    There have been a parallel list for both ward and chapter executives of PDP in the state.

    A development that led both factions to approach court seeking legitimacy of their list. The faction of National Assembly members had won at both the High Court and Court of Appeal.

    The faction loyal to the governor had approached the Supreme Court to nullify the decision of the appellant court.

    This matter when decided, will put to rest, which faction has the Authentic PDP Structure in CRS.