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Jubilation In Kaduna As Tribunal Upholds Ekene Adam Winner Of Reps Election

Published

1 year ago

August 22, 2023

The Gleamer

…. As Court awards 500,000 damage against the petitioner

…Ekene dedicates win to constituents

By: Austine Emmanuel, Kaduna

Supporters of the Labour Party, (LP) have stormed the streets in Kaduna state to celebrate the victory of Hon. Ekene Abubakar Adams, following the judgement that upheld his election as the duly elected Member representing Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency, in the February 25th general election.

The Jubilation follows the dismissal of the suit filed by Hon. Yakubu Barde of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) demanding Ekene’s sack over an alleged certificate forgery.

The National Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kaduna on Tuesday dismissed the petition brought by Barde on the ground that it lacks merit.

Justice F.A. Fiberesima while delivering judgment on the case on Tuesday, leading a three-man panel that heard the petition, dismissed the case and awarded N500,000 damages to Ekene for defamation of character by the petitioner.

According to her, forgery from the point of law is a criminal act, a very weighty allegation that must be proved beyond every reasonable doubt.

She noted that the tribunal was already in doubt because the petitioner could not prove the allegation on the ground that his claims lack merit and therefore discountenance.

The judge further stressed that despite the fact the petitioner tendered documents to support his claims, the respondent, Ekene Abubakar Adams also tendered his own document from the same schools and therefore the best way to have given the petitioner’s claim an edge was to present an eye witness.

Speaking with Journalists shortly after the event, Ekene said “I feel normal. I was never agitated because I know the court will do the right thing. The victory is for the people and that is why you see celebration ongoing everywhere.

“We have been up and doing and so we will continue to serve the people as we have promised. I, therefore, called on the aggrieved members to come and join hands with me so we can build our dear constituency together.”

Reacting to the judgement, Counsel to the respondent, Muhammed M. Sani said the judgement was highly educative, adding that justice has prevailed at last.

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Nigerian Technical Aid Corps to Partner Federal Inland Revenue Service for Enhanced Service Delivery

Published

3 hours ago

November 21, 2024

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) have agreed to constitute an Ad Hoc joint Committee to work out modalities on how the both federal agencies will interface for a greater service delivery of their both mandates for the benefits of recipient countries of the Technical Aid Corps scheme.

This was the high point of a meeting held, Wednesday,in Abuja when the Director,Inter-Governmental Relations Department of the FIRS,Dr.Umaru Idris Ahmed led a delegation of the Service to a courtesy call on the Director General of NTAC,Rt.Hon.Yusuf Buba Yakub.

Speaking during the visit,Rt.Hon. Buba informed his guests that the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps was established in 1987 with a mandate to drive the Technical Aid Corps scheme as an instrument of soft power diplomacy for the promotion of the nation’s foreign policy goals in African, Caribbean and the Pacific nations.

He added that in the past 37 years of driving the mandate NTAC has deployed over 10,000 highly trained professionals in diverse fields of endeavour to 40 countries across the world and has showcased Nigeria as a friend to those countries in the spirit of the United Nations’ South-South Co-operation.

“Today,as we speak,the Scheme is not limited to just interventions in the Health and Education sectors,but also in Engineering,in the Judiciary and even Artisanship.

“For instance,today,the Chief Judge of The Gambia and many Legal Draftsmen are Nigerians.Nigerian Professors are also currently heading the prestigious University of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology in that country.There are so many cases like these across the world so that today going forward we are thinking,with the necessary amendments to our statues here,of attracting the needed foreign exchange from the services of some of these professionals we send out to share our abundant human resources with our sister countries of the ACP Region,”the DG informed.

Earlier speaking,the Director of the IGRD and leader of the Federal Inland Revenue Service delegation,Dr.Ahmed told their hosts that the delegation was at the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps to advance the building of new relationships with MDAs in line with the mandate of the newly established Inter-Governmental Relations Department of FIRS.

He also informed that the Department,which was established at the FIRS in March this year, had the sole mandate of fostering relationships between the Agency,the MDAs of Government and the private sector. The above he said was in order to further project the image of the Service in good light in relation to its role in tax reforms for national development in the Tinubu Administration.

Dr. Ahmed further informed that,being a member of both the African Tax Forum(ATAF) and the West African Tax Forum(WTAF),he would strive to liaise with those professional bodies to ascertain how NTAC could assist some ACP countries with the competencies of some Nigerian tax experts.

Among those present at the meeting on the side of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps were the Director of Administration at the Agency,Amb.Yakubu Abdullahi Ahmed;the Director of Programmes,Amb.Zakari Usman as well as the Deputy Director of Administration,Amb.Saidu D
Muhammed and Mr.Saidu Idris Yusuf,a Deputy Director in the Accounts Department.

Officers from the FIRS include the following:
Mrs.Shehu Ganiyah,Ashu A.S,Mr.Silas Onweydu as well as Mr.Okim Thomas.While others were Mr.Usman Ibrahim and Amina Abdullahi.

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