ABOUT 500 NIGERIANS DEPORTED ARRAIVE NIGERIA, LAGOS

A plane carrying about 500 Nigerians deported from the UK has landed in Lagos

Most of the deportees say they are not happy to come back.

One person told me that he was arrested by British police and was not allowed to even take his belongings before being deported.

A few of them who say they don't have relatives here are stranded in the airport.

Recently, Nigeria expressed concern over UK's plan to deport 29,000 Nigerians, and has insisted that due process be followed before Nigerians are removed from the UK.

The West African nation says Britain must ensure that those been deported are really Nigerians, medically fit to travel and have a role to play in the country - meaning they should be able to fit into Nigerian society.

INEC announces decision on Kogi election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has at last its decision on the governorship election in Kogi state. With the demise of Abubakar Audu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Saturday’s governorship poll in Kogi state a new legal battle reported on the fate of the election.

APC candidate, who was buried on November 23, was leading his closest rival and incumbent governor of the state, Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party, by 41,353 votes.
The INEC has asked the ruling party to fill the vacuum created by the death of its candidate in order to continue with supplementary election.

The electoral commission has issued a statement that says:
1. The Commission will conclude the election in the remaining 91 polling units.
2. INEC will allow the APC to fill the vacancy created by Audu’s death
3. INEC will conduct supplementary election on December 5, 2015.

The commission has announced the poll in Kogi state inconclusive.
According to results declared the margin of votes between Audu and Wada was 41,353. And that the poll was inconclusive because the total number of registered voters in 91 polling units, in 18 local government areas, where election was cancelled is 49,953.

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.