Court Strikes Out Suit Seeking To Bar Obaseki From Participating In Edo PDP Primary

     The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has struck out the suit filed by Mr Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama stopping Governor Godwin Obaseki from participating in Thursday’s PDP governorship primaries, in Edo State.

  A counsel to the plaintiff, D. C. Denwigwe, (SAN) had in an oral application during resumption of the hearing on Wednesday, informed the court that the parties in the suit had resolved the matter. He said their clients have settled and have directed their counsels to withdraw the case.

He also apologised to the court for the inconveniences and urged that the matter be struck-out based on the oral prayers. Emmanuel Enoidem, Counsel for the 1st defendant, Uche Secondus and 3rd to the 7th defendant, counsel for the 2nd defendant, Higher King and Counsel for the 8th and 9th defendants, Alex Ejesiema, SAN also concurred to the motion.

  However, the presiding Judge, Justice E. O. Obile, struck out the matter follow the submission of the counsels. Addressing newsmen Emmanuel Enoidem who is also the National Legal Adviser of the PDP said they agreed that the party must be united.

  Alex Ejesiema (SAN), Governor Godwin Obaseki’s lawyer on his part, said they were prepared for it. He also noted that there is no more obstruction for Governor Obaseki and therefore, he can contest. Mr Ogbeide-ihama had filed a suit in the court asking it to prevent any member of the party that has purchased forms but not screened within the time stipulated to contest the PDP primary.

  Subsequently, the court on Tuesday, granted the request for an accelerated hearing of the suit but before the hearing on the application today, Ogbeide-Ihama’s counsel requested that the court stood down the case for some time, to allow for an out-of-court settlement.

Everton boss Ancelotti faces €1m Spanish tax fraud charges

 

   Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti has been charged by prosecutors in Spain over alleged tax irregularities related to his time at Real Madrid.

The Madrid community prosecutor's office alleged that tax declarations presented by the Italian excluded some of his income, and that this had been done "with the intention of unreasonably evading his obligations to the public treasury".

The indictment said Ancelotti's alleged activity had cost the treasury more than one million euros. Ancelotti was in charge at Real between 2013 and 2015, at which point he was sacked by club president Florentino Perez.

Ajimobi's health condition worsens, now on life support machine

  Family members, political associates and relatives of former Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi, are fearful as hopes of him recovering from coma fades away by the minute.

The 70-year-old slipped into coma on Thursday for the second time as a result of COVID-19 complications. The news sparked rumours of his death, sending panic across the landscape especially among his supporters and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) where he is the National Deputy Chairman (South) of the party.

On Monday, a reliable source close to the ex-governor told SaharaReporters that Ajimobi had been on life support machine since Friday after he slipped into a deep coma and may not make any recovery going by the observations of medical experts around him. The source further disclosed that the former Oyo governor has had a lung surgery since being hospitalised but made no progress while his kidneys have also failed.

Doctors treating Ajimobi, it was reliably gathered, on Friday informed his family that his situation had defied every medical intervention and that only a miracle can bring him back to life. To douse tension generated by his health condition, SaharaReporters discovered that his supporters have circulated an old video on the Internet of Ajimobi having lunch, claiming that it was captured during the recent Muslim festival to mark the end of Ramadan fast just to show that he was alive and in fact healthy.

According to the source, who spoke with SaharaReporters, the move was a deliberate attempt to deflect attention away from his precarious state of health.

"He is in very bad shape, he has been hooked to a ventilator since and on life support machine since Friday. There is only a very slim chance of him making it alive from that hospital.

"The video in circulation is an old one meant to douse tension among his supporters," the source said.

Ajimobi has been in the Intensive Care Unit at First Cardiology Hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos, since he was rushed to the place few weeks ago after it emerged he had Coronavirus. 

The former governor first slipped into coma on June 8 but was revived and stabilised by doctors until last Thursday when he again went totally unconscious.

First Cardiology is the same hospital where former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, was treated for Coronavirus until he died of the disease.

Ize-Iyamu Emerges Winner Of Edo APC Primary Election

 

   Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has emerged the winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in Edo State.

Chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee and Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma disclosed this on Monday in Benin City, the state capital. Ize-Iyamu won the party’s primary after polling 27, 838 votes to defeat his rivals, Pius Odubu who garnered 3,776 votes and Osaro Obaze who got 2,724 votes respectively.

Following this development, he automatically becomes the APC flagbearer for the September 19 governorship election in the state.

Reacting to the electoral process, Uzodinma said the election was a formality in accordance with the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the other aspirants had already stepped down before the polls.

Shortly before the commencement of the election, APC members had thronged their respective wards to vote in the party’s primary election. The exercise held across the 192 wards of the 18 local government areas of the state.

 CHANNELS

No State In Nigeria Is COVID-19 Free – Chikwe Ihekweazu

 

   The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says no state in the country is free from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).NCDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu disclosed this on Monday during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

 

The comment comes even as the NCDC is yet to officially report a case in Cross River state, as of Monday afternoon. Mr. Ihekweazu was responding to a question about states who were discharging patients and declaring themselves COVID-19 free.

“No state, no single state in Nigeria is COVID-19 free, not one,” Mr. Ihekweazu said. “No country in the world is COVID-19 free. Even New Zealand, that is an island state is still having new cases after a period of not having any.”

He continued: “We can’t separate ourselves from the rest of the country. We live in a context, viruses spread, it’s the nature of them, so right now no state is COVID-19 free. That’s why we have to keep doing this work that we are doing, testing people, finding out if they have it.”