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A 20-year-old lady, Amina Hassan, on Tuesday dragged her father, Hassan Adamu, before a Sharia Court at Magajin Gari, Kaduna over his refusal to allow her marry the man she loves.

The girl, who lives with her grandmother on Bashama road, Tudun Wada, Kaduna said through her lawyer Ado Ali that she wants the court to order her father to marry her off to her heartthrob.

The complainant added that she had attained marriage age and would want to settle with the man she loves but her father had refused his assent.

“We want the court to order her father to marry her off to her heartthrob,” her lawyer said in court.

He also prayed that if the father remain adamant, the court should serve as the girl’s guardian and marry her off to the man she loves.

Ali said he had made attempts to convince the father to soften on his stand but to no avail.

According to the counsel, the father is withholding his blessings because the suitor has no regard for him.

The girl’s counsel however, prayed the court to grant the two parties two weeks “to sort things out and reach an agreement.”

The defendant’s counsel, Nasir Abdullahi, also agreed with the submission of the prosecution counsel for the court to give them time to resolve the issue.

The Judge, Malam Dahiru Lawal, noted that even though the father had the right to assess his daughter’s suitors, he has no right to force anyone on her.

He therefore, ordered the defendant’s lawyer to present the father in court on Oct. 29, for further hearing.

A mild drama ensued outside the Tunde Idiagbon House, former head office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission when operatives of the EFCC attempted to bar a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, from accompanying former Governor Ayodele Fayose into the premises.

Fani-Kayode, who obtained an LL.B from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a Masters degree from Cambridge University, noted that he was a lawyer and had practised in Nigeria.

After challenging the security officials with his credentials, he was allowed in.

While going in, Fani-Kayode joked with the EFCC operatives that he ought to be allowed unto the premises at any time having spent 90 non-consecutive days in the custody of the commission in 2016.

“I am a regular customer here. You should know me by now,” he joked.

Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), who has been representing Fayose in court since his recent case with the EFCC began, also took three lawyers from his chambers into the EFCC before leaving.

Dr. Kayode Fayemi has been sworn-in as the governor of Ekiti State.

Fayemi, who won the July 14 governorship election held in the state on the platform of All Progressives Congress was sworn-in on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti.

He defeated the then Deputy Governor of the state and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Professor Kolapo Olusola, and other candidates to emerge the winner of the election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission declared that Fayemi polled 197,459 votes, while, his closest rival, Olusola got 178,121 votes.

The 53-year-old governor is a native of Isan-Ekiti in Oye Local Government of Ekiti State.

He was defeated by Mr Ayodele Fayose in 2014.

This is his second term as the governor of the state.

The state Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, administered the Oath of Office on Fayemi on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti.

NAN reports that the Fayemi, a former Minister of Mines and Steel, was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress with 197,459 votes, against his closest opponent, Prof. Kolapo Olusola of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 178,121 votes.

He will serve for only four years, having been governor of the state between 2010 and 2014 under the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria.

NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari was represented at the event by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha.

Also present were the governors of Kaduna, Nasir el-Rufa’i; Oyo, Abiola Ajumobi; Kebbi, Atiku Bagudu, and Lagos, Akinwunmi Ambode.

(NAN)

The immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has arrived at the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja.

Fayose had earlier notified the EFCC that he will make himself available immediately his tenure expires.

He was on Tuesday accompanied to the anti-graft agency’s office by Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, and Femi Fani-Kayode, former minister of aviation.

Wearing a black t-shirt with the inscription “EFCC, I’m here”, the ex-governor said: “I am here in line with my promise that I will be here on the 16th of October, and like I said to EFCC, they should await my arrival. This morning, they have been to my house which I think its unnecessary.”

Also speaking, Wike said “He wrote to the EFCC that he will submit himself on the 16th of October. So let Nigerians know that he came by himself to EFCC without anybody harassing him, so that’s why I brought him here.”

Fayose was seen with a bag filled with his clothes.

Senate President Bukola Saraki has been appointed director-general of the campaign council of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Uche Secondus, national chairman of the PDP, made this known on Tuesday.

The senate president was among the aspirants who contested the presidential ticket at the party’s convention which held in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

Saraki came third behind Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto state, and Abubakar, the eventual winner.

Secondus said the membership of the campaign council was approved “after due consultation”.

“After due consultation with party stakeholders of PDP under my leadership has approved the following as members of the Atiku presidential campaign council. President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki as director-general of Atiku Presidential Campaign Council,” the PDP chairman tweeted.

“Governor Aminu Tambuwal as the zonal coordinator for north-west. Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo as zonal coordinator for north-east. Governor Samuel Ortom as the zonal coordinator for north-central. Governor Dave Umahi as the zonal coordinator for south-east. Barrister Nyesom Wike as the zonal coordinator for south-south.

“Governor Ayodele Fayose @GovAyoFayose is the zonal coordinator for the south-west. Barr Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, Chairman, Legal Matters. Governor Udom Emmanuel as the Chairman, Fund Raising. Other members of the presidential campaign council will be announced soon.”

Paul Allen, who founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in the 1970s and later went on to become an investor, philanthropist and sports team owner, died Monday after his latest battle with cancer at age 65. Paul Allen “My brother was a remarkable individual on every level.

While most knew Paul Allen as a technologist and philanthropist, for us he was a much loved brother and uncle, and an exceptional friend,” Allen’s sister Jody said in a statement announcing his death.

In recent years, Allen was known as the owner of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, and part owner of the Major League Soccer team the Seattle Sounders, along with a variety of business and charitable ventures.

One of the world’s wealthiest billionaires, Allen also founded Stratolaunch Systems, which built the world’s largest plane designed as a colossal rocket-launching aircraft touted as the future of space travel.

The craft was on track for its first launch demonstration as early as 2019. Allen died just two weeks after publicly revealing that non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma he fought into remission nine years ago had returned. The incurable cancer affects white blood cells. He never married and had no children.

Classmate of Gates

Allen was a high school classmate of Gates in Seattle, and later, while working as a computer programmer, persuaded his friend to drop out of Harvard to create Microsoft, which became the world’s most valuable company in the 1990s.

A “heartbroken” Gates remembered Allen as “one of my oldest and dearest friends.” “Personal computing would not have existed without him,” Gates added.

“He was fond of saying, ‘If it has the potential to do good, then we should do it.’ That’s the kind of person he was.”

Allen had left Microsoft by 1983 for health reasons but held on to shares that made up the bulk of his fortune, estimated at some $20 billion.

“All of us who had the honor of working with Paul feel inexpressible loss today,” said a statement by Vulcan, the investment firm that managed his operations.

“He possessed a remarkable intellect and a passion to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems, with the conviction that creative thinking and new approaches could make profound and lasting impact.”

Microsoft said Allen’s “contributions to our company, our industry and to our community are indispensable.”

“As co-founder of Microsoft, in his own quiet and persistent way, he created magical products, experiences and institutions. And in doing so, he changed the world,” added the company’s CEO Satya Nadella.

While Gates attended Harvard, Allen studied at the University of Washington and invested heavily in research projects in his hometown of Seattle.

He invested $100 million to found the Allen Institute for Brain Science in 2003.

A decade later, he founded the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence to study the impacts on society of new technologies and the Allen Institute for Cell Science to fund research for treatment of diseases.

– Big man in sports –

In the world of sports, Allen in 1988 bought the Trail Blazers, taking the team to the NBA finals twice.

“Paul Allen was the ultimate trail blazer — in business, philanthropy and in sports,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

“As one of the longest-tenured owners in the NBA, Paul brought a sense of discovery and vision to every league matter large and small.”

He was also credited with putting Seattle on the map for the NFL.

“Paul Allen was the driving force behind keeping the NFL in the Pacific Northwest,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

Paul Allen and Bill Gates in the early days

“His vision led to the construction of CenturyLink Field and the building of a team that played in three Super Bowls, winning the championship in Super Bowl XLVIII. ”

His personal charitable foundation gave to a diverse array of causes, including anti-poaching initiatives in Africa, climate and energy research, and projects on homelessness, as well as the arts and culture. Actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio hailed Allen as a “strong advocate for environmental protection.

“His legacy lives on via his incredible work as a philanthropist and investor,” he added. Amazon, Blue Origin and The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos said Allen’s “passion for invention and pushing forward inspired so many. He was relentless to the end.”

In his 2011 memoir “Idea Man,” Allen described a somewhat stormy relationship with Gates in the early days of Microsoft.

Allen wrote that he had expected a 50-50 split in the new company, but Gates insisted on taking 60 percent, and later raised it to 64 percent, claiming that Gates schemed to “rip me off.” He played guitar since he was a teenager and played for a blues-rock album with his group the Underthinkers in 2013 that was reviewed by Rolling Stone, which said Allen “curls some twang and grit into the blues-rock track.”

The consumer price index, which measures inflation, stood at 11.28% in September from 11.28% recorded in August on a year-on-year basis, data from the National Bureau of Statistics have shown.

Going by the inflation report released by the bureau on Tuesday, this is the second consecutive month of inflation rise after 18 consecutive months of decline.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.84 percent in September 2018, down by 0.21 percent points from the rate recorded in August 2018 (1.05) percent,” the report read.

“The urban inflation rate increased by 11.70 percent (year-on-year) in September 2018 from 11.67 percent recorded in August 2018, while the rural inflation rate increased by 10.92 percent in September 2018 from 10.84 percent in August 2018.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 0.86 percent in September 2018, down by 0.14 from 1.00 percent recorded in August, while the rural index also rose by 0.82 percent in September 2018, down by 0.14 percent from the rate recorded in August 2018 (0.96) percent.

“The composite food index rose by 13.31 percent in September 2018 compared to 13.16 percent in August 2018.”

However, the food sub-index was one percent in September compared to the 1.42% recorded in August 2018.

The food items that caused the increase in food inflation were caused by increases in the prices of potatoes, yam, vegetable, fruits, meat, milk, cheese, egg, bread, fish and cereals.

The farmer-herdsmen crisis and most recently, flooding in some parts of the country, have resulted in a drop in food production.

It was on the grounds of the farmer-herdsmen crisis that the World Bank cut its growth projection for Nigeria from 2.1% to 1.9%.

The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, whose tenure expired midnight on Monday, said earlier in the day that he would visit the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday (today) with his bedclothes and pillowcase.

Fayose’s immunity ends along with his tenure and he has been invited to the headquarters of the EFCC where he will answer to allegations that he received about N1.3bn from the Office of the National Security Adviser through the then Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.

Fayose said, “I will be there on Tuesday. I am not begging for any bail. It is up to them. If they want me, they should just give me a bed. I have done by bed bedclothes, I have done my pillowcase, I have my English and Yoruba bibles. I am prepared for them. Nobody should worry about me. Only cowards die many times before their deaths.”

Fayose spoke even as a source close to him has said that some governors and lawmakers who are members of the Peoples Democratic Party are expected to accompany him to the EFCC.

Sources close to our correspondent said Fayose, who is the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, would be accompanied by a team of PDP stalwarts.

The source said, “Fayose will be going to the EFCC with governors and lawmakers. It will be the same way Senate President Bukola Saraki was accompanied by his colleagues when he went to the Code of Conduct Tribunal. We will be there to give him all the encouragement he needs.

Also speaking at a farewell dinner hosted in honour of Fayose, a former minister of aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said he and others would escort Fayose to the EFCC.

He said when he was also in the custody of the commission in 2016, the governor visited him and gave him encouragement.

Fani-Kayode added, “When I was in the EFCC detention for 60 days and then another 30 days, he came to see me. They were shaking that a sitting governor could come to the EFCC and they came to bring me to see him from one of the underground cells and all he was saying was, ‘Know that God is with you, God is alive.’

“As you stood by us when we went through challenges, so shall we stand by you from October 16 when we go to the EFCC to go and see them. Nothing can overcome you because God is with you.”

While delivering his farewell speech, Fayose said he would be at the EFCC by 1pm, adding that he would be going with his pillowcase, bedclothes and other effects.

He added, “I will be there on Tuesday. I am not begging for any bail. It is up to them. If they want me, they should just give me a bed. I have my English and Yoruba bibles. I am prepared for them. Nobody should worry about me. Only cowards die many times before their deaths.”

The governor said his persecution would be short-lived, adding that the PDP would return to power in the next presidential election.

Fayose said it was not the first time the anti-graft agency would be prosecuting him, adding that he would emerge victorious as he had in the past.

He said, “Tell them at the Villa. My name is Ayo Fayose. My name is Peter the rock. Let me say to you that by the grace of God, I will be at the EFCC by 1pm on Tuesday. I am not a coward, never. Let it be said to them that today is their own and tomorrow is our own. I am coming.”

The governor said once he was released by the EFCC, he would intensify his criticism of the Buhari government, adding that, “As soon as I leave the EFCC I will talk more than what I have said before. There is no way a Buhari will match an Atiku when you put the two of them side by side, comment by comment, clarity by clarity of tongue.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it stands by its statement that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will not field candidates for the 2019 general election in Zamfara state.

Mahmoud Yakubu, INEC chairman, said this on the sideline of the opening of a two-day validation workshop titled “Study on the cost of elections in ECOWAS Region” on Monday in Abuja.

“We have issued a statement on Zamfara and nothing has changed. We stand by the statement that we issued,” he said.

Yakubu re-emphasised that the deadline for submission of party candidates’ name to the commission was October 18, saying that it would give a full report on that after November 18.

INEC had informed the ruling APC in a leaked memo that it would not be allowed to field candidates for elective positions in Zamfara in the 2019 elections.

The commission’s acting secretary, Okechukwe Ndeche, in a letter to the APC said the party was barred from fielding candidates for governorship, national assembly and state assembly elections.

The commission said this was because APC failed to comply with sections 87 and 31 of the electoral act of 2010.

Parties, according to the act, were expected to comply with the timetable and schedule of INEC, which says that the conduct of primaries must be held between August 18 and October 7.

INEC said it received reports from its Zamfara office, indicating that no primaries were conducted in the state “notwithstanding that our officials were fully mobilised and deployed.”

Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman, later responded to INEC saying the party had already arrived at a consensus before the deadline.

Oshiomhole said following the high level of friction, disagreements and threats of violence by various political camps before the primaries, all the aspirants met at City King Hotel, Gusau, to find a truce.

“After hours of intense horse-trading, a consensus was reached within the spirit and context of the electoral act and the constitution of our party,” he had said.

“This was done in strict compliance with Section 87 (6) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).”

He said the claim by INEC that no primaries were conducted could only be referring to its officials’ observation that actual voting did not take place.

The party chairman also noted that PDP had similar issues in Kano state and wondered why INEC did not bar the opposition party from fielding candidates.

Yakubu added that the commission would by the end of November print the outstanding permanent voter cards (PVCs).

“We have printed the PVCs for those who registered in the first quarter of 2018. We are right now simultaneously printing for those who registered in the second and third quarters,” he said.

“We are looking at the end of November for all the PVCs to be printed including request for transfer and relocation.

“Let me just repeat the assurance that every citizen that registered and who have applied for transfer or replacement will get his or her PVC before 2019 general elections.”

He, however, said that the commission had stopped every registration, request for transfer and replacement of damaged PVCs.