DELTA—-The opening of testimony by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Delta State in the April 11 election, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor in the state Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Asaba, was on Tuesday stalled following three fresh motions filed by the counsels to the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the PDP, just as the hearing was to begin.

The Tribunal had adjourned till yesterday, August 17, for the petitioner Olorogun Emerhor, to call in his witness; however the tribunal had to adjourned till Thursday, August 20, to hear the fresh motion filed by the counsels to Okowa and the PDP challenging the subpoenaing of some INEC staff by the petitioner to testify in the tribunal.

The APC governorship candidate, had through his counsel, Mr. Thomson Okpokor (SAN) in readiness to call in his witnesses, had on August 7, after the pre-trial conference, filed a motion seeking the tribunal to subpoena some INEC officials to testify as witness before the tribunal.

However, in what an APC chieftain, Dr Cyril Ogodo has described as a “delay tactics and an attempt frustrate the commencement of the trial,” challenging the declaration of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, by INEC as the winner of the governorship election, Okowa through his lead counsel Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN) waited till today to file fresh motion thereby stalling the commencement of the trial.

Opposing the fresh motion brought by Okowa through his lead counsel Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN) and the PDP’s counsel A .T Kehinde (SAN), Chief T. Okpokor (SAN) asked the tribunal for time, till Wednesday due to the exigency of time to enable him respond to the fresh motion brought by the respondents.

Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Nasiru Gunmi, after listening to all the parties to the case, adjourned case till Thursday, August 20 for hearing of the fresh motion brought by the Okowa and the PDP.

It would be recalled that the Appeal Court sitting in Benin and presided over by Justice I.M.M Saulawa on, Wednesday 12th August 2015, dismissed and struck out the appeals by Okowa and PDP filed separately against the earlier rulings of the tribunal at Asaba that favoured Emerhor / APC.

Okowa and PDP had appealed against the ruling of the tribunal delivered on 30/06/2015 that all preliminary objections to terminate the petition will be held alongside the hearing of the substantive petition.

The appeal was dismissed as lacking merit with cost of 50,000 naira awarded against Okowa and PDP.

Cyndi Maisonneuve, who bravely opened up to The Guardian about her real-life runaway groom experience. “Once, it made me cry. Now I find it almost funny,” Maisonneuve says as she describes the day leading up to what was supposed to be her romantic destination wedding in Hawaii. She had met her “tall and cute” fiancee two years prior at a baseball game, and though he lived two hours away in northern Ontario, the couple traveled to see each other every weekend and when they got engaged six months later, Maisonneuve told the paper, “It didn’t feel rushed. I was 23 and it felt as if life was coming together.”

Fast forward to the wedding day in question. “We were staying at a hotel overlooking the beach where the ceremony would take place and, from our window, I watched preparations,” Maisonneuve remembers. “Maybe that’s why I wasn’t nervous as I started getting dressed. Maybe that’s why I was so blindsided by what happened next.”

What happened next was an unexpected visit from the groom-to-be. He was crying, and Maisonneuve told The Guardian that at first, she “assumed he was letting the emotion of the day get to him.” But, “Then he said it. ‘I don’t think I can do this.'”

“I stood there – with the veil already in my hair. This man who was supposed to be the love of my life was telling me he was calling off the wedding less than an hour before we were due on the beach. I didn’t even ask why. I told him to leave. That hotel room suddenly felt so small.” Out the same window from which she had just been watching final preparations, Maisonneuve watched her sister tell the family and friends gathered on the beach that the wedding was off.

Maisonneuve didn’t know what had sparked the sudden change of mind from someone she thought she knew so well, but a quick peek into their shared hotel wardrobe quickly told her that it wasn’t just last-minute jitters: “While I’d been out that morning, he had taken all his clothes and passport. He’d actually left me. I was heartbroken. Humiliated, devastated.” (Oof. We feel you.)

A few weeks later, Maisonneuve met up with her former love, who told her he called it off because she wanted children and he didn’t before suggesting — to her understandable astonishment — that they get back together, just not get married. (Um, no.) Now, six years later, Maisonneuve is dating again, and has proven she has one hell of a good sense of humor, telling The Guardian “I realized it’s actually a pretty great anecdote. I can even laugh about it.”

Credit: refinery29

In the past four years Governor Idris Wada has been governing our state but come November 21st November, 2015 a fresh election for the office of Governor would be conducted as our constitution demands.
I want to be the recipient of the baton. This is not a decision I take lightly, but one that I arrived at after a careful and persistent consideration as well as the need for a servant leader who places people over politics and service above all else. I took the decision to run for governor of our state in 2015 under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after a great deal of thought. I consulted widely with my family, friends and close political associates in Kogi state and nationwide.

In April this year, I started a state-wide public consultation with leaders and major stakeholders in our party and state including traditional rulers, political pressure groups, youths and women groups across the state. Since then I have visited the 21 local government areas of the state, meeting leaders and the rank and file of the party at the grass roots, the heart and soul of the PDP without whom we cannot achieve victory. After many weeks of consultations, what began as a thought has now become a course of action, which I wish to pursue. And today I will step out to purchase the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms for the gubernatorial primary election.

I am running for governor because I believe I can add value to the governance of a state I love so much. My love for the State and it’s people knows no limit. I love the diversity, the can-do spirit, the communal life of neighbour-helping-neighbour of the people; and I believe in what Kogi state can be. And my passion to serve compels me once again to stand for what is right for all Kogites, to make Kogi state what it can be. I offer myself as a Kogite who is concerned about the widespread unemployment that is destroying the very fabric of our society.

During the course of my consultation, I met with and heard from tens of thousands of fellow Kogites from across the three senatorial districts about how we can continue to build the Kogi state of our dream, with jobs and opportunities for every resident in every community. What I have heard over and over is that it doesn’t matter to the majority of our people where the person who provides these jobs and opportunities come from or the language he or she speaks. What matters to them is that there should be jobs and business opportunities for all.

Kogi State is blessed with abundant human and natural resources; such as solid minerals,vast farm lands, vast water resources, intelligent, hard working and talented people. For all of our state’s wealth, there should be no suffering in the land.
But I bet that in every family there is a loved one who has no job, many for years after graduation. And there are some others who are underemployed. I hear of university graduates who are working with school certificate because these are the jobs they could get. Others are riding okada and keke to offer transport services just to make ends meet and hold their lives together. It doesn’t have to be so.

Like most Kogites, I dream of a Kogi state where those who want to work will find appropriate jobs and those who want to set up businesses can do so without bothering about the infrastructure that will enable them to succeed. I dream of a Kogi state where our youths can look at us with hope and we see them as worthy future leaders. I dream of a Kogi state where our tomorrow will always be better than yesterday. I dream of a Kogi state where, where you come from and the languages you speak do not matter. I dream of a Kogi state where the interest of all is paramount and not those of the few. I dream of a Kogi state where you do not have to know a big man before you get what you deserve. I dream of a Kogi state of equal opportunity and no discrimination.
I believe that, through collaborative and inclusive efforts and participatory governance, all Kogites, working together as a statewide team can make this dream a reality in our life time.

The challenges we face going forward are enormous. We all know these challenges because we face them every day in our daily lives. Unemployment, general insecurity, corruption, rising food prices, housing shortage, broken marriages are some of the challenges we must overcome. They are formidable. But I am prepared for them. I believe that job creation holds the key to overcoming all these challenges. If we can tackle the problem of unemployment, all other problems, whether it is robbery, kidnapping, communal conflicts, broken marriages, prostitution etc, will be drastically reduced to the barest minimum because none of us is born bad.
It would have been criminal of me to look the other way when I know I can do something about these problems. That is why today I am asking my fellow Kogites to allow me to serve as governor for the next four years.

My earned experience as an investment Banker for 25years along with my firm grounding in our community give me a unique understanding of the critical issues of our time. I know how government works. I also know how the private sector works. I am ready for the challenge of building the Kogi of our dream.

I have an agenda for the next four years to meet the hopes and aspirations of our people. If the good people of Kogi state give me the privileged opportunity to be Governor, I shall implement a pan Kogi agenda that offer viable solutions that specially reflect the views and wishes of all Kogites rather than those of special interests. I will focus on job creation like a laser beam. These would not be public sector jobs but jobs that will be created mainly by the private sector, with government creating the enabling environment.

I believe that by building a strong and stable economy, a strong and secured society, a cleaner environment and changing our politics, the four point agenda christened as the four pillars of the House of Kogi of our dream, we can create the jobs we so badly need to strengthen our families and revitalise our communities.

Our dependence on the Federal allocation which has crude oil as the main source of revenue not only exposes our economy to foreseeable shocks, it endangers our security because unemployment is presently our greatest security risk. The petrol dollar made us to unwisely ignore every other sector particularly agriculture with its huge job creation potential, thereby robbing us of a source of massive employment for our teeming youths.

By acting decisively to restructure the economy of our state through massive investment in agriculture and rural economies, modernising and expanding our infrastructure including affordable housing, promoting tourism, entertainment and sports, assisting existing and moribund industries and encouraging new ones to set up agro-based industries, we can jump start job creation and achieve greater, more sustainable economic prosperity.

As we recreate our economy, it is also imperative that we secure and strengthen our society and protect the environment, and by so doing create the enabling environment to attract local and foreign investment.
Residents and visitors deserve to live in peace and safety, free from harassment, intimidation, vandalism and fear at home or on the streets of Kogi State.

We can transform our State and strengthen our society by providing better schools and better hospitals for our people. We believe that education and health care should be affordable, accessible and qualitative. I will work to deliver improvements in quality and capacity in our health care and educational sectors.

I believe in our youths. They are worthy future leaders. We must give them genuine hope that the future can be better. As Governor, I will create the necessary environment for the full realisation of their immense innate endowments in entrepreneurship, sports, entertainment or as part of the working class.

In recognition of the silent roles women play in our society as the solid rock of families, I will work tirelessly to enhance women’s rights, insist on 35 percent of women representation in our government and give them the responsibility for all development schemes relating to women affairs. We will up-grade and expand markets across the State because they are the traditional strongholds for women.

We will make our environment cleaner by embarking on a comprehensive urban renewal and regeneration programme to redress urban problems that include poor sanitation, inadequate transportation and traffic congestion.

This necessary transformation of our economy and society and protecting of the environment require new approaches and ways of doing things. We must change our politics and restore faith in government. I am committed to the principles of accountability, transparency, social justice, sustainability and inclusivity – of the whole of Kogi state and it’s entire people. These principles will drive our programme of action for the next four years.

Also in the drive to transform, we need strong institutions, as against powerful individuals. As Governor, I will work to strengthen the institutions of government through an agenda of rejuvenation. The civil service and local government administration in particular will be strengthened and empowered for better, effective and efficient service delivery.

As the next Governor Kogi state, I won’t kick the can down the road. I will confront every challenge that come our way because I understand the urgent need to diversify our economy, secure and strengthen our society and protect the environment to help create sustained economic growth and new jobs for our people. Doing all these will not be easy. But I believe it is do able. That is why I have decided to join the race to seek the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The current Governor and a few others are in the race. We are all qualified. We are all good men and women who mean well for our state. But I can do a better job of transforming our state and taking it to the next level of development. I need the support of everyone in the party to make this happen. Support me in the primaries because my candidacy will ensure easy victory for our party in the governorship election and thereafter, transform our state to the level thought impossible and through this living example make the opposition completely irrelevant in Kogi State.

I am ready to take up the unfinished business of building a Kogi state of our dream which began in 2011 and make Kogi state greater.
So join me. Together, we can make the new Kogi possible.

God bless Kogi State and God bless Nigeria.

The Kaduna State Government has given an update on thepreparations to support pilgrims from the state to perform the Hajj smoothly. The Government disclosed that it is saving N221.81m from the steps it has taken to reorganise the way the pilgrimage is conducted. In recognition of this, Kaduna State has been selected as the state whose pilgrims will be the first to be flown out this year.

This was disclosed in a statement from Samuel Aruwan, the Special Assistant, Media and Publicity.

“This year, 5,682 citizens of Kaduna State will be going on the Hajj. The pilgrims will be supported by 116 officials..

“The government reiterated that it has completely eliminated the concept of government-sponsored pilgrims. The government however clarified that not sponsoring pilgrims is not the same thing as not providing care while on the Hajj for citizens of Kaduna State who are paying their own way. The government recognises its duty to provide officials who will cater for the spiritual and welfare needs of the pilgrims.Therefore, the government will discharge its obligation to the pilgrims and send a delegation of guides, preachers, medical personnel, media professionals and pilgrim officers.

“The official delegation will be led by the Ameer of Birnin-Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jibril, who is the 2015 Ameer-ul-Hajj. The government has been careful to phase its reform efforts in a way that it will not disrupt the 2015 pilgrimage arrangements which were fairly advanced by when it took office. In subsequent years, the government will consider ways of further reducing its expenses while protecting the comfort of pilgrims.”