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The Oracle Today Wednesday January 17, 2018
NEWS ACROSS THE NATION 2018 Legal Year: FCT Judicial staff tasked on commitment
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legal practitioner, Mr V.V. Manga has urged the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court staff, to imbibe the culture of discipline and decorum within and outside the courts in the 2018 Legal Year Manga made the remark while delivering a paper at a training workshop on improved service delivery for senior staff of the FCT High Court. He said the effective and efficient performance of judicial officers’ responsibilities would not be completed without the significant functionality of the supportive staff. Manga stressed the need for seamless collaboration between the judicial officers and the general staff, adding that their role could not be overemphasised. According to him, the duties of court employees which include all statutory duties prescribed by law take precedence over all other activities and engagements. “The fact that court employees hold highly visible positions of public trust; it is desirable that a standard of conduct should be observed, considering the anticipatory disposition of the public toward the court. “Because of the pivotal role of justice administration in peace, progress and stability of the society, those who generally complement and support judicial officers in discharge of their duties must imbibe the culture of decorum.” A lecturer at the Department of Public Administration, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Dr Musa Idris, urged the staff to imbibe the means of managing stress. He said that the judiciary being the centre of activities of every society faced more challenges and needed to organise itself to meet the demand of the public. Idris said that success in the modern day business could only be achieved by a single brain decision and action, adding that individual would need the support and guidance of others. According to him, success will largely depend on the ability to build a team where individuals will come together in a common platform with a common objective to accomplish a permanent or temporary task for which the team is built.
Agim, DHQ new spokesman, resumes duty
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ewly-appointed spokesman for the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Brig. -Gen. John Agim, has assumed duty. Wing Cmdr. O. O. Ademosu, in a statement she signed on behalf of the Director Defence Information, confirmed the assumption of duty of the new spokesman on Monday. Agim replaced Maj.-Gen. John Enenche who has been deployed to the Army War College, Nigeria, as its Commandant. Until his appointment, the new defence spokesman was Commandant Nigerian Army School of Public Relations.
Benue attack: Humanitarian crises overwhelm Guma council
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hairman, Guma Local Government Area, Mr Anthony Shawon, said the invasion of some villages in the council area has left a huge humanitarian and environmental crises that needed urgent intervention. Shawon said, Monday, in Makurdi that the herders, who invaded Saav, Mbadyen and Uvir villages on Jan.1, had retreated to the forest of Dogon Yashi, stretching from Guma to Logo on the banks of River Benue, covering over 57km long. Shawon, who lamented the destruction of crops, farms and houses by the invaders, said survivors of the invasion had left their ancestral homes and were looking for shelter
in nearby towns. He said the state government had approved the setting up of camps for the displaced persons but regretted that the few already established were overcrowded by the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). “The camps at Guma and Gbajimba are overcrowded, but the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) is already handling the situation because as a local government, the scale is beyond us.” He regretted that the invaders, who were hiding in the Dogon Yashi forest, were still attacking villages, burning down houses and destroying crops. Shawon said the attackers were
still destroying crops kept in farms such as soya beans, yams, guinea corn and rice. “They are openly grazing on farms after which they set them on fire,” he alleged. The chairman, however, commended men of the Nigerian Army for their quick intervention in quelling the crisis, even as he appealed to the Force to enter into the forest and dislodge the herders there. He, however, accused the Kabawa community in Guma of ferrying food to herdsmen in the forest in exchange for cattle. Shawon, however, disclosed that the Kabawa people who carried food to the herders had been arrested by
the police in Abinsi. He, however, regretted that the herdsmen were still carrying out open grazing in spite of the anti open grazing law on an open stretch of land from Mbagwen to Lokobi in the Local Government Area. According to him, that place is still open for invasion as the herdsmen are still doing open grazing there. Meanwhile, Gov. Samuel Ortom has set aside Thursday, Jan. 11 for the mass burial of the 71 victims of the invasion while Tuesday and Wednesday had been declared days of mourning. Flags will fly at half-mast while government offices will close at 1 p.m.
Ohanivo constituents adopt Umahi for second term From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakliki
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•Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, second left, flanked by top officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), as well as Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Senior Special Adviser to the President On Diaspora at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagba, as the head of Federal Government delegation to negotiate return of Nigerian immigrants in the Libya
PDP sweeps Delta council polls
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he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), last Sunday, in Asaba won 23 out of the 25 local government areas of Delta in Saturday’s council elections across the state. Chairman of Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC), Mr Mike Ogbodu, gave the details when he announced the results on Sunday in Asaba. He said that PDP won the chairmanship elections in 23 local government areas. According to him, elections have been postponed in Ethiope East and Ughelli North areas due to reports of violence which has resulted in the burning of the DSIEC office in Ughelli. He said elections in the two council areas would be held on Jan. 9, 2018. “Following the completion of collation and counting of results from the chairmanship and councillorship elections held last Saturday across the state, I wish to announce that the PDP won the chairmanship elections in 23 local government areas. “Election in Ethiope East and Ughelli North were postponed due to reports of hostility that were deemed not suitable for the conduct of elections. However, the commission wishes to announce that chairman-
ship and councillorship elections in the two local councils will now hold on Tuesday, January 9, 2018,” Ogbodu said. Ogbodu said that the PDP also won 424 councillorship seats across the state, adding that 59 councillorship candidates of the PDP were returned unopposed. He, however, disclosed that councillorship elections could also not hold in Ward 2 and Ward 4 in Oshimili North local government area. He said elections could not hold in those wards as a result of a court order restraining the conduct of elections there. According to him, the main opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC) won one councillorship seat in Ward 2, Aniocha North local government area. However, the APC in the state has kicked against the exercise, describing the conduct and subsequent results as a big sham. State Chairman of the APC, Mr Jones Erue, expressed the party’s position in a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday in Asaba. He also alleged that the elections were conducted without substantial compliance with relevant laws.
“This election was conducted in substantial non-compliance with the provisions set out in the DSIEC Law 2017 for the following reasons. “Sensitive election materials were not delivered as expected to most of the polling units where the actual elections were due to take place. Where materials were even delivered, they did not arrive on time as most were hijacked and re-directed along the way. “It was observed upon a close examination that the result sheets did not accompany the materials in most of the local government areas. Even where result sheets were produced, they were in sharp contrast with the samples that were presented to our party officials during the DSIEC training exercise, and so were fake. “Many Returning Officers were not at the Polling Units to conduct the elections nor to announce the outcome. For example, a DSIEC Returning Officer at Ozoro in Isoko North Local Government Area was arrested in Ozoro, facilitating illegal thumb-printing of votes,” Erue said. Erue also alleged that the election was marred by violence in a large number of council areas and wards where election was due to take place.
eople of Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo Federal Constituency in Ebonyi State, also known as Ohanivo, have unanimously adopted Governor Dave Umahi as their sole candidate for 2019 governorship election. The decision was reached during their meeting in Onicha, Onicha Local Government Area of the state which gathered party executives, youths and women leaders and community leaders. They hinged their endorsement on the fact that Umahi has performed beyond expectations. Addressing the people, Member representing the federal constituency at the National Assembly, Hon. Linus Okorie said Umahi has executed laudable projects across the 13 local government areas of the state. He noted that the constituency would deliver the governor in the 2019 governorship election with more votes than it gave to him in 2015 and called for continued support for the governor. Okorie disclosed that the constituency has already commenced wardto-ward campaign for the success of the Governor come 2019 elections, just as he commended the people of Abakaliki bloc for their support to Umahi. “We must continue to thank them, we must continue to say that they are the best people one can relate with because irrespective of their large numbers, they are very supportive to our governor, they are the ones driving his development and they are not giving him any trouble. The Abakaliki bloc has given the governor even more support than us and we will continue to thank them for believing in the governor who came on Divine mandate”, Okorie stated. On the state of affairs at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he said: “PDP has bounced back. All of you are witnessing the government of APC. They cannot even organize themselves; they cannot even hold a meeting. It took them over one year to appoint ministers; it took them over two years to appoint board members. They are so selfish.”