Wednesday 7 January 2015

INEC SOLICITS COOPERATION OF SECURITY PERSONNEL ON ELECTORAL LITIGATION

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday called on security agencies to cooperate with it for successful prosecution of election-related offences.

The Director-General of the Electoral Institute (TEI), Prof. Abubakar Momoh, made the call at a three-day training workshop for security personnel ahead of the 2015 general elections.

He said the commission needed the support of security personnel to secure materials, election records, election space, and evidence to ensure due diligence in prosecution.


``What often happens is a situation where for lack of evidence, for lack of proper records, inability of security personnel so involved to be willing to serve as witnesses, to be willing to come out and support with what they have recorded and what they have written.  


``You will find out at the end of the day, cases are badly prosecuted or even struck out at frustration by judges and magistrates.

``At the end of the day people who should be in jail go scot free. What this does is that it emboldens them, both politicians and such culprits next time to even wreck heinous crime on the system.

 ``And this endangers the political space, it endangers electoral space and it endangers people who actually go out there to exercise their civil duties.

``So it is actually important that security personnel should cooperate with us, assist us to deepen this process,`` he said.


Momoh said with the cooperation of security personnel, the electoral process stood a better chance of being more credible, while the peoples’ confidence in a reliable electoral process would be renewed.

The director-general said that the commission would expect security agents to avert all forms of election violence in the 2015 general election.

 ``If there are security threats, it will have a fundamental impact on voter turnout and morale.  People are not likely to turn out for any election where they suspect that there is not going to be security,`` he said.

According to him, the parameters for monitoring elections have changed as observers are are now concerned not so much about what the commission does or failed to do, but about what security agents do or fail to do.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, who was represented by Ghazzali Mohammed, the Commissioner of Police in charge of Election Planning and Monitoring, advised politicians to obey the law.

Abba said that the Nigeria Police in collaboration with other security agencies in accordance to the Section 117 of the Electoral Act would deal with anybody found to be fomenting trouble during the elections.


``We are going to deal with anybody that thinks he is above the law; that is our own; all we say is that the politicians should obey the law,`` he said.


Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the workshop, Mr Mohammed Haruna, the Director of Operations, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corp (NCSDC), described the training as timely.

Haruna said the agencies would ensure that information from the training reached all relevant officers nationwide.

Present at the workshop were officers from the Nigeria Police, Federal Road Safety Corp, NSCDC, and the Department of State Security Service.

Others were the Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigerian Custom Service, the National Youth Service Corp, the Nigerian Prison Service, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Highlife singer, Flavour expecting baby with ex-beauty queen, Anna Banner

Reports say Nigerian singer, Flavour, is expecting another baby with former beauty queen, Anna Ebiere Banner.        
The 31-year-old highlife singer is set to father his second child with the former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant winner.
Flavour

The couples, who have on several occasions been reported to be in a romantic relationship, are said to have hit it off in mid-2014 and are very fond of each other.
Anna Banner, 19, is said to be two months pregnant.

The couple made headlines in early December when Flavour released ‘‘Golibe’’ music video which starred Anna as the lead girl. 

However, last year, Flavour welcomed his first child with an ex-Delta Soap Queen, Sandra Okagbue.

Monday 5 January 2015

''TEAR POLITICAL POSTERS AND GET ARRESTED'' Lagos State Police commissioner warns.

Lagos State Police Commissioner, Kayode Aderanti has directed all Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers to arrest anybody that attempts to remove political billboards or posters in the state.

Mr. Aderanti also warned the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency to desist from such practices.
The Lagos Police Boss, while addressing journalists, today, in Lagos, said the move became necessary, following complains by politicians.
Kayode Aderanti


He told journalists that the command will invoke the full wrath of the law before, during and after elections on anybody or government agency that conducts himself or itself in a way inimical to the peace of the state.