General
Oyo LG Poll: Ajimobi, Alaafin Explore Out-Of-Court Settlement
By Dipo Olowookere
The Alaafin of Oyo, Mr Lamidi Adeyemi, on Tuesday, visited the Governor of Oyo State, Mr Abiola Ajimobi, to explore the alternative dispute resolution mechanism in settling the dispute arising from the creation of 35 Local Council Development Areas in the state.
The foremost monarch dropped the hint in an interview with journalists shortly after emerging from a closed door meeting with the Governor at the Governor House in Ibadan.
He said that the suit filed by some aggrieved traditional chiefs challenging the alleged ceding of parts of their domain to Ogbomoso under the newly created LCDA would be resolved amicably very soon in order not to subject the people to hardship.
One Mr Oladokun Abiola and 14 others from Oyo East Local Government had challenged the creation of the new LCDAs before an Abuja FHC court on the premise that it would ostracize them from their ancestral land, while the Alaafin was joined as a respondent in the matter.
It is believed that the Alaafin wields enormous influence over the plaintiffs, who are chiefs and indigenes under the vast Oyo empire.
It will be recalled that Justice John Tsoho of an Abuja Federal High Court had on January 20 granted an interim injunction stopping the Local Government election scheduled for February 11 in the original 33 Local Government and the newly created 35 LCDAs in the state
The judge had further ordered that allocations to the original LGs from the Federation Account be suspended until the substantive suit was determined, while the matter was adjourned to February 7 for the commencement of the suit.
However, Mr Adeyemi said that the stakeholders would spare no efforts to settle the matter out of court, so as not to cause hardship to the people at the grassroots, given the extensive impact of the court order on the finances of the LGs and their dwellers.
The monarch said, “What I have come for this afternoon (Tuesday) is to try and trash out the issues as a way of finding amicable resolution. Whatever problems that arise before or even after a war, you come back to the negotiation table to settle it.
“So, instead of going to war that would be costly to both sides, that would be injurious to the populace and the people of the state, I have come to see the governor to find a way around it.
“My position on the issue is that as much as we must be careful not to undermine the legal restraint that is associated with discussing an issue that is before a law court, just take it from me, in my honest view and with all sincerity that this issue will be resolved very soon.”
The royal father described the Governor as a listening and responsive leader who could not be unsettled by such legal move, stating that it was important to understand the root cause of the legal tussle.
On whether he would prevail on the Baales, who secured the interim order, to withdraw the case from court, Mr Adeyemi said he believed that deep understanding and reason would prevail in the end.
He reiterated his commitment towards settling the issue out of court in the earliest possible time in order to expose the people at the local communities to untoward hardship on account of the stoppage of allocation to the LGs.
Mr Adeyemi said, “We are not going to coarse anybody, but I can assure you that reason and understanding will prevail. Don’t let me let the cat out of the bag now, but soon, peace will prevail.”
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A former Chief of General Staff, General Oladipo Diya (rtd), has been reported death by his family.
The late military officer was the second-in-command to the late Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha, from 1993 to 1997, when he was arrested for an alleged treason.
In a statement, Mr Oyesinmilola Diya said the former Military Governor of Ogun State died in the early hours of Sunday, March 26, 2023.
However, he did not disclose if the 79-year-old Odogbolu, Ogun State-born army general suffered from any illness before his demise.
In the statement, he only stated that further announcements would be made public in due course.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government of Nigeria has assured that it is ready to fulfil the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to ensure effective gender inclusion.
This was disclosed by Mr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, during the inauguration and inception workshop of the project in Abuja tagged The Nigeria Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT), Just and Gender Inclusive Transition (JGIT) Project.
The project is aimed at helping countries to better assess the impacts of their climate policies and actions and fulfil their transparency commitments.
Mr Ngige said the objective of the inception meeting was to launch the ICAT Just Transition project and increase awareness among the national stakeholders for a better understanding of its implementation.
He said that ICAT, an International multi-stakeholder partnership of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), was supporting Nigeria in setting up Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of a Just and Gender Inclusive Transition(JGIT).
The minister, represented by Ms Daju Kachollom, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, said Nigeria had signed a Project Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with the UNOPS, represented by the ICAT management.
According to him, the PCA is to firm up the process leading to the take-off and implementation of the project over a 12 months period.
“The objectives of the project, among others, include developing JGIT monitoring and MRV and ensuring it links with the sectoral MRV system.
“Another objective is to Enhance Transparency Framework (ETF) implemented by the Federal Ministry of Environment to achieve synergy, institutional memory, and stakeholder inclusion and cooperation.
“It will further enable a tripartite cooperation between government, labour, and employer associations to achieve a Just and Gender Inclusive Transition going forward with the implementation of the Paris agreement,” he said.
The minister said that the ICAT project would be implemented by a team of national experts and international ICAT consultants under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
On his part, Dr Yerima Tarfa, ICAT, JGIT Project Team Lead, said the initiative would help to increase the overall transparency capacities of countries and assess the contribution of policies and development objectives.
According to him, this is by providing appropriate methodological information and tools to support evidence–based policymaking.
Dr Tarfa noted that Nigeria was the largest economy and leading oil producer, and most populous in Africa.
“It faces the unique challenge of having to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and increasingly, coal) while responding to the unmet energy needs of its growing population.
“Nonetheless, Nigeria is turning this challenge into an opportunity by increasing the use of renewable energy, reducing its carbon footprints, and eliminating gas flaring.
“Nigeria’s National Determined Contributions (NDCs) is committed to a 20 per cent emission reduction by 2030 unconditionally and 45 per cent conditional, with focus on power and electricity, oil and gas,” he said.
The team lead said the highlights of the NDCs include ending gas flaring by 2030 and a 30 per cent energy efficiency level by 2030.
He said the inauguration of the inception workshop would provide the opportunity to create awareness and build a national cross-knowledge sharing that would provide a platform for key stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of the Nigeria ICAT JGIT Project.
He added that this would further set up an MRV of Just and Gender Inclusive Transition and its Roadmap for implementation in Nigeria.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An appeal court sitting in Abuja on Friday upturned the judgment of the Osun governorship election tribunal, which removed Mr Ademola Adeleke as Governor of Osun State.
In January, the tribunal declared the former Governor of the state, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, as the authentic winner of the 2022 governorship election in the state.
While Mr Adeleke contested for the position under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Oyetola flew the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Adeleke was declared winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but Mr Oyetola, who contested as a sitting governor, approached the tribunal to dislodge the winner.
He argued that Mr Adeleke won through an electoral fraud, over-voting and his prayers were answered, as the tribunal upturned INEC’s decision and declared him the winner.
However, Governor Adeleke appealed the judgement and today, a three-member panel of justices held that the election tribunal erred when it ruled that Mr Oyetola and the APC proved their allegation of over-voting.
The appellate court held that Mr Adeleke was validly elected as the governor of Osun State and restored his mandate.
