News

Archbishop Martins Condemns Ethnic Profiling, Calls for Peace and Tolerance

Published

6 months ago

March 23, 2023

Eric

The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins has condemned in very strong terms all forms of ethnic profiling, utterances, and violence witnessed in some parts of Lagos state, before, during and after the recent elections, warning that the trend if not urgently check-mated, could truncate the peaceful co-existence of residents of the state.

The Archbishop described as unfortunate and unacceptable, the tension, hate speech and violence, especially before, during and after the recent Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections in some parts of the state.

In a statement signed by the Director of Social Communications, Rev. Fr. Anthony Godonu, the prelate urged the state government as a matter of urgency to call all parties to order and to put in place a machinery for the quick restoration of peace and normalcy.

He equally implored the law enforcement agencies to safeguard the lives and properties of all residents irrespective of tribe, religion, or ethnic groups.

Archbishop Martins also urged the residents of Lagos to remain calm and not allow themselves to be divided against their neighbours.

According to him, “the ethnic and discriminatory comments making the rounds particularly on social media, are not a reflection of the true nature of Lagosians, who are known to be very peace-loving, accommodating and cosmopolitan, including by promoting inter-tribal marriages for many decades.

“I call on everyone to put a stop to the spread of hate speech and fake news and to shun all forms of rancor. The divisive comments and behaviours, particularly along ethnic or tribal line is not conducive to good neigbourliness and peaceful coexistence. The people of Lagos must not allow the political class to whip up such divisive sentiments to disrupt their lives and livelihood. We are all equal before God and the only man-made distinction among people is between the poor and the rich, the privileged and the underprivileged.

“We are all Nigerians and have lived and interacted together as one people for decades in Lagos and other parts of our country.

“With the elections over, we hope that all those who have been fanning the embers of ethnic division will be more circumspect and desist from further heating up the polity. We must be law-abiding citizens and not take the law into our hands in any guise”.

While commiserating with families that lost their loved ones and persons whose properties were destroyed in the violence in the state and across the country, Archbishop Martins also called on law enforcement agencies to do the needful where offences have been committed, as part of efforts to facilitate a national healing process.

News

Mohbad: Sam Larry Now in Our Custody, Police Confirm

Published

1 hour ago

September 29, 2023

Eric

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested controversial Lagos socialite, Balogun Eletu, aka Sam Larry, over an ongoing investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of the singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, aka Mohbad.

The Lagos State Police Command Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the development to The Punch in a late Thursday night telephone interview.

“Yes, Balogun Eletu aka Sam Larry is now in our custody. He is currently assisting with the ongoing investigation,” Hundeyin said.

The police had earlier invited Sam Larry and singer, Azeez Fashola aka Naira Marley, for questioning over Mohbad’s demise.

The police, last week, also confirmed that pathologists had concluded the autopsy conducted on Mohbad, while they await the result.

He said, “Autopsy has been concluded. Awaiting results.” This development followed the exhumation of Mohbad by a combined team of the Nigeria Police Force and health officials.

The police had also arrested the nurse who reportedly injected the deceased singer before his demise on Tuesday, September 12.

The Punch

News

Kaduna: Tribunal Affirms Sani’s Election, Dismisses PDP’s Petition

Published

15 hours ago

September 28, 2023

Eric

The Kaduna State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kaduna has dismissed petition brought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the 2023 election, Isah Ashiru, against the victory of Governor Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, in a dissenting judgment of two against one, delivered on Thursday, a three-member panel headed by Justice Victor Oviawie dismissed the petition on the ground that the pre-hearing notice was filed out of time, and therefore deemed to be abandoned.

The tribunal chairman and another member held that the appeal brought by PDP and Ashiru against the dismissal of their petition at the preliminary stage by the first and second defendants was not meritorious because the filing of the pre-hearing notice was abandoned and out of time, and therefore had dealt the entire petition a fatal blow.

The tribunal, however, noted that if the petition had not been dismissed for lack of merit, it would have ordered a supplementary election in 22 polling units within 90 days in the substantive judgment.

Senator Sani, during the election polled a total of 730,001 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ashiru of the PDP, who scored 719, 196 votes.

The Labour Party (LP) candidate, Jonathan Asake, came third with 58,283 votes, while Suleiman Hunkuyi of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) scored 21,405 votes.

While the Labour Party and NNPP accepted the outcome of the election, the PDP and its candidate rejected the results, alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the wrong candidate winner of the election.

Besides, the PDP and Ashiru alleged that there were massive irregularities and manipulation of results in favour of Governor Ubah in some local governments by INEC. According to them, the APC candidate did not score the highest number of valid votes cast in the election and ought not to have been returned winner of the election by INEC.

In June 2023, PDP and Ashiru, however, filed a petition at the election petition tribunal to challenge the election of Governor Uba.

At the last sitting of the court on September 3rd, all parties presented their final written addresses before the tribunal, with APC’s legal team led by a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bayo Ojo (SAN), arguing that the petitioners had helped in proving he won the election free and fair, pointing in particular to the admission of a star witness for the petitioner, Bonett Gwazah, a senior system analyst in the VR/ICT department of INEC in Kaduna State.

News

NiMET Alerts FCT, Edo, 23 States of 48-Hour Downpour

Published

23 hours ago

September 28, 2023

Eric

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency has notified the residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Edo, Kwara, and 22 other states of 48-hour downpour beginning on Thursday.

The bulletin reads: “Moderate to heavy rainfall is expected within the forecast period (Thursday 28th and Friday 29th, September 2023) over parts of Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi, Enugu, Edo, Delta, and Bayelsa.

Other States are: “Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ebonyi, Kwara, Benue State and the Federal Capital Territory.”

The agency said other parts of the country will experience light to moderate rainfall.

On the likely impact of the rains, NiMet warned: “The expected moderate to heavy rainfall is expected to cause some flash flooding over their areas of occurrence.

“Strong winds should accompany the rains with the strongest winds expected over parts of Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kebbi State.”

The agency cautioned residents against driving through surface runoff waters, as they have strong undercurrents.

It identified slippery road surfaces and reduced visibility as other hazards that may be triggered by the downpour.

The Punch