BREAKING: SUSPENDED CJN ONNOGHEN RESIGNS

Walter Onnoghen has resigned as the chief justice of Nigeria “with immediate effect”.

He turned in his resignation letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday evening, April 4, 2019, a day after the National Judicial Council (NJC) recommended that he be compulsorily retired for misconduct.

By virtue of section 306 of the 1999 constitution, his resignation takes immediate effect.

Section 306 says “(1) Save as otherwise provided in this section, any person who is appointed, elected or otherwise selected to any office established by this Constitution may resign from that office by writing under his hand addressed to the authority or person by whom he was appointed, elected or selected. (2) The resignation of any person from any office established by this Constitution shall take effect when the writing signifying the resignation is received by the authority or person to whom it is addressed or by any person authorised by that authority or person to receive it.”

The resignation, TheCable understands, was the “best possible option” for Onnoghen under the current circumstance.

It will also save Buhari from having to get two-thirds majority of the senate to confirm Onnoghen’s retirement as stipulated in Section 292 (1) of the 1999 constitution which says a “judicial officer shall not be removed from his office or appointment before his age of retirement except in the following circumstances – (a) in the case of – (i) Chief Justice of Nigeria… by the President acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate.”

Buhari may not be able to muster the needed majority

BREAKING: BRITISH MPs REJECTS BREXIT DEAL FOR THE 3RD TIME

British MPs on Friday rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal for leaving the European Union for a third time, raising the spectre of a “no deal” exit or a long delay to the process.

Sitting in an extraordinary session in the House of Commons, MPs rejected the text negotiated with European leaders last year by 344 votes to 286.

AFP

BREAKING: MAN U APPOINTS SOLSKJAER FULL TIME MANAGER

Manchester United have announced that current caretaker manager and former striker, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, has been appointed as the club’s full-time manager on a three-year contract.

Solskjær scored 126 goals in 366 appearances for United between 1996 and 2007 and also managed the club’s reserve team until the end of 2010.

He was appointed caretaker manager on 19 December 2018 and won his first eight games in charge on the way to an overall record of 14 victories and two draws in 19 games, amassing more Premier League points than any other club during that time.

“From the first day I arrived, I felt at home at this special club,” said Solskjær. “This is the job that I always dreamed of doing and I’m beyond excited to have the chance to lead the club long-term and hopefully deliver the continued success that our amazing fans deserve.”

Ed Woodward, Executive Vice Chairman, comments: “Since coming in as caretaker manager in December, the results Ole has delivered speak for themselves

APPEAL COURT UPTURNS HIGH COURTS'S RULING ON ZAMFARA GUBER POLLS

The Court of Appeal sitting in Sokoto State, led by Justice Tom Yakubu, has set aside the judgement of a Zamfara High Court on the All Progressives Congress primary election that produced the party’s candidates for the governorship, National and State Assembly elections.

Detail later…

(NAN)

BREAKING .... GOV ORTOM OF PDP DECLARED WINNER OF GUBER CONTEST

 

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has been re-elected for a second term.

The Returning Officer in the state, Professor Maimako Sebastian declared him winner after he polled 434,473 votes to beat his closest rival and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Emmanuel Jime who got 345,155 votes – a margin of 89,318.

BREAKING .... PDP COASTING TO VICTORY IN BAUCHI GUBER POLLS

The Bauchi state gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Bala Mohammed, has increased the margin of his lead in the governorship election.

Mohammed garnered 6,376 votes in the just concluded re-run election, as against 5,117 votes scored by  incumbent governor Mohammed Abdullahi of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Result of the re-run was announced in Bauchi on Sunday by the governorship election Returning Officer, Prof. Mohammed Kyari, Vice Chancellor of Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola.

Kyari however said he was not in a position to make any pronoumement regarding the overall winner of the governorship election in the state due to the suit before a  Federal High Court, Abuja over the collation of results in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that outcome of the election in respect of 19 out of the 20 Local Government Areas in the state,  earlier conducted on March 9, indicated that Mohammed polled 469,512 votes while Abubakar scored 465, 453 votes.

With the release of the re-run election result, conducted in 36 polling units across 15 Local Government Areas,  the total votes scored by Mohammed increased to 475,888 votes, while that of Abubakar rose to 470, 570 votes, a difference of 5,318 votes.

With the conclusion of the supplementary elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state is awaiting the decision of the Federal High Court  in Abuja on the collation of results of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, before determining the governor-elect.

Incumbent governor, Mohammed Abubakar, had dragged INEC to court to challenge the decision of the electoral body directing the continuation of collation of results of the area, having earlier declared same as inconclusive.

Judgement on the matter had  been fixed for Monday, March 25.

BE READY FOR VAT INCREASE - FIRS

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), on Tuesday, urged Nigerians to brace for an increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) by between 35 and 50 per cent in 2019.

This will raise the VAT from the current five per cent to between 6.75 and 7.25 per cent.

The Chairman of FIRS, Mr Babatunde Fowler, dropped the hint when he appeared alongside other top officials in the Federal Ministry of Finance before the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja.

He said the impending VAT increase was one of the areas being looked at by FIRS to meet its 2019 revenue generation target of N8 trillion.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the officials appeared before the committee to give details of the 2019-2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

Fowler’s announcement came shortly after the Senate passed the National Minimum Wage Act (Amendment) Bill in which it approved N30, 000 as the new minimum wage for the workers in the country. (NAN)