BREAKING: Get to know Engr. Aliyu Aziz the new Director General/CEO NIMC

The New DG/CEO NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Aziz, was a pioneer staff of NIMC and the Director, Information Technology/National Identity Database department of NIMC before he retired in 2014, after over thirty years of post qualification experience in Engineering & Information Technology, spanning both the private and public sectors.

He was a Director at the Secretariat of the Presidential Implementation Committee in the Secretary to the Government of the Federation's office saddled with the responsibilities for the Implementation of Government Decisions on Consumer Credit System, National Outsourcing Initiative and Harmonisation of Identification Schemes in Nigeria. The committee oversaw the setting up of the National Identity Management Commission in 2007.

His appointment comes after the expiration of the tenure of Barr. Chris Onyemenam as DG/CEO, and is with immediate effect.

[MUST READ] Death Of Prince Abubakar Audu And The Legal Implications - By Festus Keyamo.

The reported death today, Sunday, November 22nd, 2015, of the APC candidate in the Kogi State Governorship elections, Prince Abubakar Audu, is extremely shocking and sad. I would like to express my condolences to the entire family of Audu and to the people of Kogi State.

However, the real question agitating the minds of everybody is the legal implication regarding the inconclusive Governorship elections at the time of his demise. To state it correctly he was said to have died AFTER the announcement of the results by INEC and after INEC had declared the elections inconclusive. Admittedly, this is a strange and novel constitutional scenario. It has never happened in our constitutional history to the extent that when an election has been partially conducted (and not before or after the elections) a candidate dies. What then happens?

This is a hybrid situation between what happened in the case of Atiku Abubakar/Boni Haruna in 1999 and the provision of section 33 of the Electoral Act, 2010.

In the case of Atiku Abubakar/Boni Haruna [which is now a clear constitutional provision of section 181(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)]  the Supreme Court held, in effect, that “if a person duly elected as Governor dies before taking and subscribing the Oath of Allegiance and oath of office, or is unable for any reason whatsoever to be sworn in, the person elected with him as Deputy governor shall be sworn in as Governor and he shall nominate a new Deputy-Governor who shall be appointed by the Governor with the approval of a simple majority of the house of Assembly of the State”. 

In the case of section 33 of the Electoral Act 2010 it provides, in effect, that if a person has been duly nominated as a candidate of his party and he dies before the election then the political party has the right to replace him with another candidate and not necessarily the Deputy Governorship candidate.

Now, does the Kogi situation fit into section 181(1) of the Constitution as quoted above or section 33 of the Electoral Act mentioned above?

My simple position is that the Kogi situation fits more into section 181(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and as such James Abiodun Faleke automatically becomes the governorship candidate of the APC. This is because even though the election in inconclusive, votes have been counted and allocated to Parties and candidates. As a result the joint ticket of Audu/Faleke has acquired some votes already. James Abiodun Faleke is as much entitled to those votes already counted as much as the late Abubakar Audu. He has a right to cling to those votes going into the supplementary election.

There is only one problem, though. Who nominates Faleke’s Deputy? Unlike section 181(1) of the 1999 Constitution, he cannot approach the House of Assembly of the State to approve a nomination by him of a Deputy. This is because, in reality, he is not duly elected yet. Therefore it is only reasonable to conclude that it is APC (Faleke’s political party) that should submit the name of a fresh Deputy Governorship candidate to INEC for the supplementary election.

This is the only position in this situation that accords with reason and good sense.

FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.

BREAKING NEWS: ABUBAKAR AUDU, APC’S GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE IN KOGI ELECTION IS DEAD

According to @APCUKingdom &  Sahara Reporters, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state, Mr. Abubakar Audu is dead. Mr. Audu died of undisclosed medical reasons shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared his victory at the elections inconclusive. At the time of publishing this news, we could not determine the cause of Mr. Audu’s death. More details to follow as soon as possible.

Osun unveils Wole Soyinka High School on Monday Prof Wole Soyinka

The Government of the State of Osun will on Monday November 23, 2015 unveil the newly completed High School in Ejigbo, Ejigbo Local Government Area of the state.
The new school, named after Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, is a magnificent three-in-one school, which has the capacity for 3,000 pupils.
The Monday commissioning of the school, marks the first of such High school facilities in the state having commissioned schools in the other lower categories of the mega-schools being built by the Rauf Aregbesola administration.
The Government had earlier commissioned the Salvation Government Middle School, Alekuwodo, Osogbo, Baptist Elementary Government School, Ilare, Ile Ife as well as the Ansar-rul-Deen Government Elementary School, Isale Osun, Osogbo.
Already, more than 50 schools in the Elementary and Middle School classification have been completed and put to use across the state.
A statement signed by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, said the unveiling of the new school is in furtherance of the determined implementation of the report of the 2011 education summit organised by the state government which identified the multiform problems and rots standing in the way of functional education in Nigeria.

The statement listed the facilities in the school to include Borehole, Transformer, 72 Classrooms of 49 square-meters each capable of sitting 49 students. (Fully furnished), six Offices for study groups, six Laboratories (Fully furnished) 18 toilets for young ladies and young men each, one science library (Fully furnished), one art Library (Fully furnished), a facility manager’s office, a book shop, a sick Bay, Bursar’s office, three Principals’ office (Furnished) and three General Staff offices.
others are one Senior principal’s office (Furnished), one record store, one security shed/Reception and a total of 1000square-meters of floor space Hall capable of siting 1000 students for external exams as well as outdoor Basketball court that doubles as Lawn Tennis court among others.

The statement further assured the people of Osun that all the projects embarked upon in the education sector and other sectors will be completed.
It added that policies of the Aregbesola administration are aimed at producing world class educated minds who are well groomed to impact on humanity.
Thus the heavy investments in the complete overall of the infrastructure, provision of modern learning environment, training and retraining of the teaching personnel for the realisation of the objective of producing world class products who can hold their own anywhere in the world.
It said that it was gratifying that the various interventions of the Aregbesola administration in the education sector has yielded bountifully stating that the performances of the pupils from the state in examinations compared to the pre-Aregbesola era are indications of positive results of the interventions.

EFCC quizzes recently retired Perm Sec over misappropriation of N500m SURE-P fund

Immediate past Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Nkechi Ejele was at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja today where she was interrogated by EFCC officials over her alleged role in the misapplication of funds to the tune of N500 million meant for the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Program (SURE-P) appropriated to the Ministry in 2013 and 2014.
Ejele who was sacked alongside 16 other permanent secretaries by President Buhari on Nov. 10th, arrived the antigraft agency at about 10am and was there till this evening.