It Is No Longer Lucrative Smuggling Vehicles Into Nigeria..ACM Kayode Olagunju

It is no longer lucrative to snuggle vehicles into Nigeria as  getting such vehicles validly registered without paying custom dutirs on them is impossible.

This assertion was made by the Zonal Commanding Officer Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Zone 10 Sokoto, comprising Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States Dr Kayode OLAGUNJU, mni while paying a courtesy visit to the Area Commander of the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) in Sokoto, Comptroller Umar GIMBA Assistant Corps Marshal Kayode OLAGUNJU explained that the collaboration of the FRSC, NCS, Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the States lapping on technology has made registering such vehicles without paying appropriate fees, difficult .

According to him, vehicles on which custom duties have not been paid are detected at the point of registration and owners of such vehicles are referred back to the Customs for payment of the required duties, thus the idea of short-charging the government is defeated.

In a release signed by Route Commander Aminu Sokoto, the Acting Zonal Public Education Officer of  FRSC, ACM Olagunju called for continuous collaboration between the FRSC and NCS in the three states of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara. 

Comptroller Umar Gimba on his part stressed the importance of collaboration between the two agencies especially in the areas of Intelligence gathering, blocking of revenue leakage and general improvement in national security. He advised against smuggling and stated that his men are up to the task of thwarting the efforts of smugglers in the Zone.

The two organizations promised continuous collaboration for the overall benefits of the country.

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Kayode Fayemi Wins At Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Kolapo Olusola-Eleka challenging the election of Governor Kayode Fayemi.

Affirming Fayemi’s election, the five-man panel of the Supreme Court led by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad unanimously held that the appeal challenging the outcome of the poll lacked merit.

Justice John Okoro, who read the lead judgment, affirmed the judgments of both the Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal and the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had both dismissed the petition challenging the outcome of the July 2018 poll.

READ ALSO: Supreme Court nullifies APC candidates’ elections, declares PDP winner of Zamfara polls

The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Fayemi and the All Progressives Congress polled a total of 197,459 votes to defeated Olusola-Eleka and the PDP who placed second with 178,121 votes in the July 14, 2018 election.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, PDP and Olusola-Eleka had filed their petition before the Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal which sat and delivered its judgment in Abuja.

The petitioners alleged among others in their petition that the election was marred by a lot of wrongs including non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

But the tribunal on January 28, 2019 dismissed their petition and affirmed the results declared by INEC.

The petitioners further appealed to the Court of Appeal, raising seven issues against the judgment of the tribunal.

But delivering judgment, Justice Stephen Adah who led the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, resolved all the seven issues raised against the appellants and in favour of the respondents – Fayemi, INEC and APC.

Justice Adah dismissed the case for lacking in merit, a decision the two other members of the panel – Justices Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson and Emmanuel Agim, consented to.

In their further appeal to the Supreme Court, the PDP and Olusola-Eleka, urged the apex court through their lawyer, Yusuf Ali (SAN), to upturn the lower court’s judgment.

The appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Friday.

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Breaking :Tearful British Prime Minister Theresa May Resigns

British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will quit as Conservative leader on 7 June, paving the way for a contest to decide a new prime minister.

In an emotional statement in Downing St, she said she had "done my best" to honour the 2016 EU referendum result.

It would remain a matter of "deep regret" that she had been unable to deliver Brexit, she added.

Mrs May said she will continue to serve as prime minister while a Conservative leadership contest takes place.

She will step down as Tory leader on 7 June and a leadership contest is due to begin the following week.

The prime minister has faced a backlash from her MPs against her latest Brexit plan, which included concessions aimed at attracting cross-party support.

Andrea Leadsom quit as Commons leader on Wednesday saying she no longer believed it would "deliver on the referendum result".

Mrs May met Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt at Downing Street on Thursday where they are understood to have expressed their concerns about the bill.

In her statement on Friday, she said that in order to deliver Brexit, her successor would have to build agreement in Parliament.

"Such a consensus can only be reached if those on all sides of the debate are willing to compromise," she said.

Mrs May said she had done "everything I can" to convince MPs to support the withdrawal deal she had negotiated with the European Union but it was now in the "best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort".

Mrs May's voice shook as she ended her speech saying: "I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honour of my life to hold.

"The second female prime minister, but certainly not the last.

"I do so with no ill will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love."

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said she had been "right to resign" and that the Conservative Party was now "disintegrating".

A series of Conservative MPs praised Mrs May following her statement.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said she was a "true public servant":

Chief whip Julian Smith praised her commitment to the country as "outstanding".

And Mrs Leadsom, who quit on Wednesday, said the prime minister's speech had been "very dignified".

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Zamfara State Erupts In Jubilation Over Supreme Court's Verdict

The supreme court verdict nullifying APC’s votes for 2019 elections in Zamfara state has sparked jubilation in Gusau the state capital, Daily Trust has learnt. The motorbike riding jubilants were roaming the street of Gusau, hailing the court verdict, while holding the posters of the candidate of the governorship candidates of peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) Dr Bello Mutawalle Maradun.

Residents were also expressing divergent opinions on the verdict with many of them expressing hope for a better administration ahead.

“I hope the new administration would make life better for the people. I was not surprised at the verdict owing to what has been happening right from the party primaries to date, ” a resident Aliyu Hussain said.

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Breaking :Supreme Court Hands Over Zamfara Governorship To PDP,Nullifies Elected APC Candidates At All levels

The Supreme Court on Friday nullified the elections of all the candidates of the All Progressives Congress in Zamfara State in the 2019 general elections.

Delivering a unanimous judgment of the five-man panel led by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, the apex court declared the first runners-up in the 2019 general elections in the state as the winners of all the posts earlier declared to have been won by the APC and its candidates.

Justice Paul Galinje, who read the lead judgment upheld the decision of the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal to the effect that the APC did not conduct any valid primary election and as such had no candidate for any of the elections in the state.

He described the votes polled by the APC candidates in the elections as wasted, adding that the party and the candidates with the second highest votes and the spread in the various elections were the valid winners.

The judgment centres on the governorship, state House of Assembly and the National Assembly elections conducted in Zamfara State on February 23 and March 11, 2019.

APC candidates, including the outgoing governor of the Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, who was elected to the Senate, had won most of the offices contested for in the 2019 elections with the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidates, placing first runners-up in the polls.

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Court Convicts Calistus Obi, Ex NIMASA Acting Director-General On N136m Fraud

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday convicted a former acting Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Calistus Obi, who was charged with N136m fraud.

Justice Mojisola Olatoregun convicted Obi alongside Dismal Alu, who was the second defendant in the case.

The judge held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission proved the charges against them beyond reasonable doubt.

In the eight counts filed against them, the EFCC said they conspired between themselves on August 5, 2015, to convert N136m belonging to NIMASA to their own use.

The prosecution said they acted contrary to sections 15 and 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012.

Though Obi and Alu had upon their arraignment pleaded not guilty, but Justice Olatoregun, in her judgment on Thursday, convicted them of the offence.

The judge adjourned till May 28 to pronounce her sentence.

She ordered that the convicts be remanded in prison until then.

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We Spent Abacha's Recovered Loot On Tradermoni ,Others ..FG

The Federal Government got N470.8 billion released between 2016 and last year for the implementation of its Social Investment Programmes (SIPs), the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Programmes (SIPs), Mrs. Maryam Uwais, said yesterday.

She listed four-broad programmes as the N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT), National Home-Grown School Feeding and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programmes (GEEP)

Mrs. Uwais briefed State House reporters in after giving an account of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The special adviser, who said that from 2016 till date, the Federal Government budgets annually N500 billion for social investments, explained only N79.98 billion was released in 2016.

She said the N140 billion was released in 2017 and N250.4 billion last year.

She also revealed that out of the N322 million dollars recovered Abacha loot meant for the SIPs, only N22 million dollars had been utilised by her office.

Mrs. Uwais said that at the end of March, the NSIPs had made direct impacts on 12,069,153 beneficiaries and over 30 million secondary beneficiaries, comprising cooks, farmers, families, employees and members of the community.

She said: “Under N-Power, we have 526,000 youth spread across 774 LGAs teaching in public schools, acting as health workers in primary health centres and as agric extension advisors to small holder farmers in our communities.

“Nigeria is fast on its way to becoming the leader in Africa in the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, by feeding over 9.7 Million pupils and still counting.

“Today, we have 103,992 cooks on our payroll, feeding 9,714,342 pupils in 53,715 government primary schools around 31 States. These children are able to eat a balanced diet, towards improving their learning outcomes.

“Also, under the GEEP, we have the FarmerMoni, MarketMoni and TraderMoni.

“For the first two, funds between N10, 000 and N350,000 are paid into the accounts of the successful applicants who belong to a registered cooperative and have a bank account.

“For TraderMoni, petty traders are given a loan of N10, 000 each and upon repayment within six months, the beneficiary becomes eligible for a higher amount, at which point they must open bank accounts.”

The Head of the CCT programme, Henry Ayede, said that using the National Social Register data on poor and vulnerable households in the country, the government currently pays N5, 000 monthly to 872,700 households.

He said that the beneficiaries were identified by the communities to ensure the delivery of the funds to the right beneficiaries.

The Head of the School Feeding Programme, Mrs Bimbo Adesanmi, said that the government was spending about N70 to feed a child under the programme.

She said that the government was able to spend less on nutritious meals by sourcing for all ingredients directly from the farmers without using middlemen.

She also revealed that the government deworms the children benefiting from the programme, every six months to reduce frequency of infections.

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