Akala, PDP senator trade words over assassination plot

The lawmaker representing Oyo North at the Senate, Senator Gbenga Babalola, has petitioned the police, alleging that the state Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Ayoola Agboola, were making attempts to assassinate him.

The development signals a serious crack within the Chief Lamidi Adedibu political family as both the senator and the politicians alleged were helped into power in 2007.

In a petition to the Commissioner of Police (CP) in the state, Babalola said he had been receiving sustained threat to his life by loyalists of the governor and Agboola because he is seen as a great threat to the governor’s second term ambition in his senatorial district.

Court Dismisses Igbinedion’s Suit On Seized Property

An application by the former governor of Edo state, Lucky Igbinedion, to have his property seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) released to him was on Friday dismissed by Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court in Lagos for lack of merit.

In the meantime, the ex- governor speaking through his lawyer, Ricky Tarfa (SAN), after the court’s verdict, vowed to appeal the ruling.

The judge, while delivering his ruling, noted that Section 13 of the Federal High Court Acts granted the anti-graft agency the power to temporarily grant injunction to freeze or attach assets suspected to have been acquired by proceeds of fraud.

According to the judge, the anti-graft agency acted within its power as sections 28 and 29 of the EFCC Act empower the commission to temporarily attach properties suspected to have been acquired through crime.

The judge also held that under section 19 of the Federal High Court Act and Section 220 of the constitution, the court has the jurisdiction under the act to make orders attaching the property, since the territorial jurisdiction of the federal High Court is nationwide and that there is only one Federal High Court in Nigeria.

WAEC Bans Candidates, Teachers Over Malpractices

Some of the 51, 876 candidates who were involved in various allegations of examination malpractice at the November/December 2010 West African Senior School Certificate Examination have been banned from writing any WAEC-organised examination for three years.

The acting chairman of the Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Chief Adeniyi Falade, said this during its 51st meeting held at Excellence Hotel and Conference Centre, Ogba, Lagos.

He said, “After due consideration of the cases of examination malpractice, the committee endorsed appropriate sanctions prescribed by the rules and regulation governing the conduct of the examination.”

According to him, the committee has endorsed the cancellation of the entire results of the candidates involved in the malpractice while some of them have been barred outright from writing any of WAEC-organised examinations.

Though he could not say how many candidates were affected, he noted that many of them, including some teachers involved in the act, were sanctioned.

Police discover 100 strands of dynamite in Kaduna

The police in Kaduna yesterday uncovered plans to cause massive bombing of part of Kaduna with the discovery of over 100 strands of dynamites loaded in three sacks after one other sack exploded, killing one person, while the other is currently in hospital.

The state Police Commissioner, Haruna John, told newsmen at the St Gerard Catholic Hospital, Kaduna where one of the suspected bombers was admitted for treatment that the bombs were capable of bringing down any building in the state.

The police boss had on Thursday afternoon alerted of plots to cause violence during the National Assembly election by unknown people, saying that security agents would not tolerate any act of violence throughout the election.

However, a few hours after the police warning, a bomb was said to have exploded at Mahuta village on the outskirts of Kaduna metropolis, killing one of those carrying it, while the other was seriously injured.

INEC shifts polls to April 26 in Ekiti

The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has bowed to the pressure mounted by the Action Congres of Nigeria (ACN), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties that there will be no election today in Ekiti State. Elections are now to hold on April 26.

All the major political parties in Ekiti State numbering 10 including　the 　ACN, PDP, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and　 the Labour Party (LP) had yesterday rejected the staggered elections.

2011 Poll: Police Nab 19 Suspected Thugs In Oyo

As a pointer to the determination of the police to prevent violence during the 2011 elections, about 14 men suspected to be hoodlums were arrested in Iwoate in Ogo Oluwa Local Government Area of Oyo. Another five were also nabbed at Iresaadu in Surulere Local Government Area by the state police command.

According to reports, the suspected hoodlums, upon interrogation, had revealed that they were from Lagos to support a House of Representatives candidate from the local government.

The arrested men were suspected to have been brought into the local government by an opposition party to disrupt today’s elections.