2023: Peter Obi and I never believed in ideologies of Labour Party — Doyin Okupe
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Former director-general of the Labour Party presidential campaign, Doyin Okupe said he and the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, never believed in the ideologies of the party.
Okupe stated this in an interview on Arise Television.
According to Okupe, Labour Party was just a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the presidential election.
Recall that in January, Okupe resigned his membership of the Labour Party, making a case for ideological differences.
Okupe said his membership of the party ended the moment Obi lost the election.
“The LP for us — for Peter Obi and I — and those in the leadership of the movement… the party was a special purpose vehicle (SPV).
“I have never been a labour person, I have never operated on the left before but we needed a platform and this was the only platform readily available to us.
“We thought that if we won the election… there are no fast and hard rules about ideologies. You can always find a shade between the left and the right. You can always move to the centre.
“We were hoping and praying that if we won we would find a way to come to some consensus with the labour.
Obasanjo, Bells VC seek inclusion of private varsities in Student Loan Scheme
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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Vice Chancellor of Bells University of Technology at Ota in Ogun State, Prof. Jeremiah Ojediran, have urged the Federal Government to include students of private universities in the soon-to-commence Student Loan Scheme.
They spoke at the inauguration of the Asiwaju Onafowokan, Coleman Wires and Cables building yesterday at Bells University’s College of Postgraduate Studies in Ota.
Obasanjo, who inaugurated the facility alongside the vice chancellor, urged the government to include private university students in the loan programme.
The former President expressed doubts about the government’s ability to implement the programme with total transparency.
Yahaya Bello: Protesting Lawyers Storm Supreme Court
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Dozens of lawyers yesterday stormed the Supreme Court to protest what they described as harassment and intimidation of former Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Also, hearing in the appeal filed by the EFCC against the judgement of the Kogi State High Court, which barred the commission from arresting the former governor could not take place as the Court of Appeal did not list it.
The EFCC had appealed the order on March 11, 2024 and sought a stay of execution in Appeal No: CA/ABJ/CV/175/2024: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission v. Alhaji Yahaya Bello. The Court of Appeal did not grant the stay of execution but fixed yesterday for hearing.
The appeal, however, failed to take place as the registrar told journalists that the appeal was not listed among the cases for the day.
While parties in the matter were in the court to get date for the appeal, the protesting lawyers reportedly from across the country stormed the Supreme Court in condemnation of the EFCC “illegal” approach against Yahaya Bello.
The lawyers under the umbrella body of Lawyers of Conscience through their co-convener S.K. Alewu, lamented the EFCC’s attempt to arrest the former governor despite being served a valid court order that restrained it from doing so.
Alewu said not only had Bello’s fundamental rights been breached, he said the judiciary has become willing tools in the hands of enemies of the rule of law.
The lawyers, therefore, urged the Nigerian Judicial Council and President Bola Tinubu to call the EFCC to order to stop further abuse and disobedience of court orders.
Bayelsa: Tribunal Reserves Judgment In Sylva’s Petition Against Diri
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Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has reserved judgement in the case filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylvia, against the declaration of Governor Douye Diri, as the governor of the state.
The chairman of the tribunal, Justice Adekunle Adeleye, yesterday in Abuja, announced that the judgement would be delivered within the 180 days statutorily allowed by law.
He said all parties in the petition would be communicated as soon as the judgement delivery date is fixed.
At yesterday‘s proceedings, the petitioners, Sylvia and APC, adopted their final written address, praying the tribunal to annul the declaration of Diri as the winner of the election.
Their lead counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), told the tribunal that the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, embarked on wrongful exclusion of results before arriving at the declaration of Diri as winner.
The petitioners‘ lawyer stated that the electoral body did not debunk the allegation of wrongful exclusion of results by not calling the state election result collation officer to testify.
He, therefore, urged the tribunal to objectively decide the petition on the strength of the evidence adduced by the petitioners especially because INEC did not call a single witness to challenge all the allegations.
However, Diri‘s counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), informed the tribunal that the petition by Sylvia is dead on arrival because it is grossly deficient in quantity and quality of evidence.
He said that the petition was baseless, frivolous and vexatious and grossly lacking in merit because the two petitioners did not discharge the burden placed on them by law.
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