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APC’s protest cannot override court order on inspection of election materials – SDP tells INEC

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SDP guber candidate in Kogi, Ajaka condemns abduction of varsity students
Combo of SDP Logo and party's Kogi Governorship candidate, Murtala Ajaka
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The Social Democratic Party SDP and its governorship candidate in the November 11, 2023 election in Kogi State, Murtala Yakubu Ajaka have asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ignore the call by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Kogi State government to stop the inspection of materials used for the conduct of the poll.

SDP while dismissing the request by APC and Kogi for cancellation of the inspection said that such a request cannot override the order of the Court for the inspection exercise.

The party in a statement issued in Abuja by its Governorship Campaign Council Spokesperson, Faruk Adejoh-Audu maintained that the request by APC and Kogi State government for inspection cancellation was not only strange and panicky but baseless in view of the subsisting order of the Court for the inspection of the election materials.

APC through the Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Mr Kingsley Fanwo had called on INEC to stop the legal team of SDP and its governorship candidate from being further allowed to inspect the materials used for the November 11, 2023 governorship election.

Fanwo had among others, claimed that the inspection exercise ordered by Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal would give undue advantage to the opposition party in the raging legal battle on the election.

However, SDP in the statement said the call by the APC and Kogi State government was nothing but a mere desperate ploy to truncate its petition from being heard within the statutory 180 days life span of the petition.

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The party alleged that the Kogi State government had in November last year, dressed some political thugs in SDP’s T-shirts and mobilized them to the INEC office to make a similar call for the cancellation of the court’s ordered inspection exercise.

SDP claimed that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, materials used for state elections had to be spirited away to Abuja to prevent sponsored thugs from destroying them and foisting a fait accompli on the judicial review process.

The SDP statement read in part “Once more, Nigerians have been inundated with the crude and relentless crusade of government in Kogi State to ignite a phantom controversy aimed at discrediting the judicial review of the electoral heist in Kogi on November 11, 2023 with the hope of further delaying the process.

“One Kingsley Fanwo, the commissioner of information who has been acting as a purveyor of falsehood and rumour for the Kogi State government on Tuesday called on INEC to override the order of the Kogi State Elections Petition Tribunal directing that the legal team of our candidate be allowed to inspect the materials used for the elections.

“The Kogi Government outburst on Tuesday is the latest in several desperate acts to discredit, undermine or all together truncate the Tribunal’s process to allow the puppet and cousin of Mr Yahaya Bello, one Ahmed Usman Ododo to escape with the peoples mandate as a booty of the brazen electoral heist of the November 11 Governorship Elections.

“In the course of this judicial review, Mr. Bello and his security collaborators in Kogi State on November 29, 2023 went to the bizarre extent of costuming over 500 thugs in SDP T-shirts and deploying them to INEC to prevent the Inspection of the materials as ordered by the tribunal.

“So desperate and brazen were these attacks which everyone knew was being orchestrated by Mr Bello that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, materials used for state elections had to be spirited away to Abuja to prevent state government from destroying them and foisting a fait accompli on the judicial review process.

“The Tribunal was forced to adjourn indefinitely on November 30 until its order to allow the SDP Candidate to inspect the materials was complied with.

‘The outbursts of Tuesday through purveyor of falsehood calling for a halt of the inspection of the said materials must therefore be understood by Nigerians as a sustenance of their crusade to not only discredit the process but also waste the statutory time of 180 days provided for the tribunal of first instance to adjudicate on an election petition.

“But they have failed. The SDP petition will be prosecuted within the statutory time despite their desperation to avoid judicial accountability by engaging in all kinds of criminality to truncate the process.

“We challenge the Kogi State agents to submit themselves to judicial review to see if the brazen electoral heist of November 11, 2023, can survive the least minimum scrutiny.

“Attempting the deployment of thugs to delay the process or falsehoods to obfuscate the issues will not save any attempt at self-help”, the statement said.

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Enugu Lawyer rejects paternity claim after DNA Test results

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A legal practitioner, Barrister Chinedu Ifeanyi Iloeje, has publicly declared that a man previously believed to be his son is not biologically related to him, following the outcome of a DNA test.

In a public notice published in a newspaper, Iloeje stated that he was allegedly misled by the man’s mother into believing that the individual, identified as Chinedu Francis Iloeje, was his biological son.

According to the notice, DNA testing conducted on the matter established “beyond any doubt” that the man is not his son.

The lawyer further clarified that he never legally adopted the individual, despite the latter bearing the name Chinedu Francis Iloeje.

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Barrister Iloeje explained that the man’s original name is Chinedu Francis Onwualu and stressed that he has no legal or biological relationship with him.

The notice also informed members of the public, the Greater Iloeje Family, the Umuodu Village Union, Uwani Amokwe Town Union, St. Theresa’s Catholic Church Amokwe, Udi Local Government Council, and other stakeholders of his declaration.

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He stated that the disclaimer was made in good faith and while of sound mind, urging the public to take note of the clarification.

The publication has sparked discussions on paternity disputes and the increasing reliance on DNA testing to resolve questions of biological parentage.

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Obi donates N10 million to burnt hospital in Enugu

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Mr Peter Obi presenting a cheque of 10 Million Naira to assist in the renovation of the burnt Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital, Enugu State.
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Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the forthcoming 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has donated N10 million to assist in the renovation of the burnt Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital, Enugu State.

The former Anambra State governor handed over the cheque for the donation to the hospital management team when he visited the hospital yesterday.

The hospital belongs to the Reverend Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of the Catholic Church.

Mr Peter Obi inspecting the burnt hospital

Addressing the hospital management team after inspecting parts of the burnt hospital, the NDC presidential candidate commended them for their efforts in contributing to healthcare delivery services.

Telling them that even though they might feel that they were not being appreciated for what they were doing, Obi, however, described healthcare delivery services and education as among the “most critical needs of society” and urged them not to relent in what they were doing.

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Accompanied during the visit by his Chief of Staff, Commissioner for Housing, as well as Special Adviser on Media when he was Anambra State governor, Prof. Stella Okunna, Prof. Patrick Obi, and Dr. Valentine Obienyem respectively, Obi assured the hospital management team that he would continue to support them.

Part of the hospital gutted by the inferno and inspected by Obi was the Children’s Ward.

Expressing gratitude on behalf of the hospital management, the Chief Medical Director of Immaculate Heart Hospital, Nkpor, Anambra State, Rev. Sister Dr. Maria Nkiruka Okafor, eulogised Obi for his sacrifices and selfless contributions to humanity.

Disclosing that Obi had already credited the hospital’s accountant with the N10 million donation and that he was even the person who called her to inform her that he had received the sad news of the inferno and promised to donate towards the renovation, Rev. Sister Okafor described him as a rare politician.

She prayed that God would grant him his ambition to become President of the country and enable him to achieve his desire to transform it.

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FG, Enugu State target direct China-Enugu Cargo flights by December – Keyamo

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Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo
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The Federal Government and Enugu State Government are in talks to ensure the commencement of direct cargo flight operations between Enugu and Guangzhou, China, before the end of the year.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Barr Festus Keyamo, disclosed this in Lagos during the launch of the United Air’s newly acquired airplanes on Thursday.

The Minister added said the FG had affected a structural management overhaul at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, also bringing the airport under a privately run operational framework.

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“One of our prides in the South is the Enugu International Airport. The Enugu governor approached Mr. President, noting that the airport was not maximising its economic potential under standard bureaucratic structures, and requested to bring in private investors to run it. Mr. President gave the green light.

“As I speak with you, Enugu is now fully privately owned and fully supported by state government, with the clear objective of also turning it into a dedicated cargo hub for the entire Southeast.”

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To this effect, therefore, Keyamo said that a high-level bilateral trade negotiations were ongoing with a view to securing direct logistics flights between China and the Southeast by the end of 2026.

“Just two days ago, the Enugu governor and I were actively negotiating the first direct cargo flight from Guangzhou, China, straight into Enugu.

“We are targeting December for the maiden flight. This will allow our Southeast merchants and traders in China to consolidate their goods into unified cargo accounts twice a week, flying straight into Enugu for seamless delivery to hubs like Onitsha and Aba,” he concluded.

It is recalled that Governor Mbah had in July 2025 launched Enugu Air, a state-owned airline, as part of the administration’s integrated blueprint for a modern, multimodal transport ecosystem and the vision to make Enugu a major aviation and logistics hub.

Since then, Enugu Air has grown its fleet from three at inception to six planes with plans to further increase it as it prepares to commence operations to regional destinations like Accra, Libreville, Abidjan in next few months and long haul flight operations to various destinations around the world by the end of the year.

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