Headline

UPDATED: Adeleke Wins At Appeal Court, Oyetola Slapped With N500,000 Fine

Published

1 year ago

March 24, 2023

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Friday, set aside the tribunal judgment that nullified the election of Ademola Adeleke as governor of Osun State.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Mohammed Lawal, held that the appeal lodged by Adeleke to challenge his sack by the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was meritorious.

The court also held that the sum of N500,000 is awarded as a cost against the All Progressive Congress and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

During the ruling, the justice resolved that the preponderance of proof that there was over-voting in the elections rested on the petitioner.

The court also maintained that “the party alleging non-compliance with the electoral act must prove its case without merely relying on the weakness of the other party.”

Delivering judgment, Justice Mohammed Shaibu overruled the judgment of the governorship election tribunal that nullified the outcome of the July governorship polls.

The three-man panel revoked the tribunal’s order which directed that a Certificate of Return be withdrawn from Adeleke and issued to his predecessor and All Progressives Congress candidate, Oyetola.

The Osun tribunal had annulled Adeleke’s victory and affirmed Gboyega Oyetola of All Progressives Congress as the authentic winner of the poll.

The PUNCH reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission had returned Adeleke as the winner of the poll.

INEC said Adeleke polled 403,371 votes to defeat then-incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes

But Oyetola and the APC rejected the result of the poll and headed for the tribunal.

In its January 27, 2023 majority verdict, the Justice Tertse Kume-led tribunal annulled Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll.

However, a minority judgment by Justice B. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the winner of the poll.

Displeased, Adeleke and the PDP headed for the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal heard the appeal on March 13 and reserved its judgment.

But the court of Appeal on Friday set aside the tribunal judgement.

Headline

Best Airports In Africa For 2024 Named, Nigeria Missing [Full List]

Published

43 mins ago

April 19, 2024

Editor

Skytrax, a UK-based airline and airport review and ranking site has named Cape Town International Airport in South Africa as the best airport in Africa for 2024.

This came after Skytrax conducted a survey from August 2023 until March 2024, in which respondents are polled on a variety of areas, from check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security and immigration, through to departure. Over 100 customer nationalities participated in the survey.

It was also stated that Cape Town airport has the ‘Best airport staff service in Africa’ while Durban King Shaka Airport, which came second, had an additional award for ‘Best regional airport in Africa’.

Johannesburg’s Tambo International Airport came third, while the Mohammed V International Airport serving Casablanca, Morocco, polled fourth.

At fifth place was Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in Mauritius, with Morocco making another entry via Menara Airport in Marrakesh for sixth place.

Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport, the hub of Ethiopian Airline, was ranked seventh, while the Kigali International Airport in Rwanda scooped the eight spot.

Cairo International Airport in Egypt took the ninth position while Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport had the tenth place.

See the full list below for the Best African Airports 2024:

Cape Town

Durban King Shaka

Johannesburg

Casablanca

Mauritius

Marrakech

Addis Ababa

Kigali

Cairo

Nairobi.

Headline

UPDATED: Defence Chief, Nine Others Die In Kenya Military Helicopter Crash

Published

22 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Editor

A Kenyan military helicopter carrying top brass including the defence chief crashed on Thursday, police said.

President William Ruto convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council, his office announced after news of the crash emerged.

Defence forces chief General Francis Omondi Ogolla was among those on board the helicopter that went down in Elgeyo Marakwet county, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi, a senior police officer told AFP.

“The helicopter burst into flames after crashing and it had more than 10 senior commanders on board including General Ogolla,” the officer said.

“They were in the area on a security mission because there are KDF (Kenya Defence Forces) soldiers deployed in the region,” he said.

Earlier, there was no report of official comment on casualties.

“President William Ruto has convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council at State House Nairobi this evening following a Kenya Defence Forces’ helicopter crash this afternoon in Elgeyo-Marakwet County,” State House spokesman Hussein Mohamed said in a statement.

Ogolla, 61, was appointed Chief of the Defence Forces by Ruto in April last year after a stint as deputy.

Ruto told journalists last May that he appointed Ogolla despite him being among those who tried to overturn his narrow election win against opposition leader Raila Odinga in 2022.

“When I looked at his CV, he was the best person to be (a) general,” Ruto said, adding his decision went against the wishes of many people.

A trained fighter pilot, Ogolla joined the KDF in April 1984, rising through the ranks to command the Kenyan Air Force in 2018, a post he held for three years.

However, in a latest report, President Ruto said Ogolla and nine other senior military officers died in a helicopter crash on Thursday.

He added that only two survived the air accident.

“Today at 2:20 pm, our nation suffered a tragic air accident… I am deeply saddened to announce the passing on of General Francis Omondi Ogolla,” Ruto said.

AFP

Headline

Heavy Floods in UAE, Afghanistan, Pakistan, 135 People Killed

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2024

Editor

Around 70 people have been killed by heavy rains lashing Afghanistan over the past five days, the government’s disaster management department said on Wednesday.

Neighbouring Pakistan has also been hammered by spring downpours, with 65 people killed in storm-related incidents as rain falls at nearly twice the historical average rate, officials told AFP.

Dubai’s flagship Emirates airline cancelled all check-ins on Wednesday as staff and passengers struggled to arrive and leave, with access roads flooded and some metro services suspended.

Afghanistan was parched by an unusually dry winter that desiccated the earth, exacerbating flash-flooding caused by spring downpours in most provinces.

Disaster management spokesman Janan Sayeq said “approximately 70 people lost their lives” as a result of rains between Saturday and Wednesday.

Fifty-six others have been injured, he added while more than 2,600 houses have been damaged or destroyed and 95,000 acres of farmland wiped away.

Giving a smaller death toll last week, Sayeq said most fatalities at that point had been caused by roof collapses resulting from the deluges.

The United Nations last year warned that “Afghanistan is experiencing major swings in extreme weather conditions”.

After four decades of war, the country ranks among the nations least prepared to face extreme weather events, which scientists say are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change.

At least 25 people were killed in a landslide after massive snowfall in eastern Afghanistan in February, while around 60 were killed in a three-week spate of precipitation ending in March.

In Pakistan, heavy downpours between Friday and Monday unleashed flash floods and caused houses to collapse, while lightning killed at least 28 people.

The largest death toll was in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 32 people have died, including 15 children, and more than 1,300 homes have been damaged.

“All the casualties resulted from the collapse of walls and roofs,” the spokesman for the province’s disaster management authority, Anwar Khan, told AFP on Wednesday.

Dubai’s giant highways were clogged by flooding and airport passengers were urged to stay away on Wednesday as the glitzy financial centre reeled from record rains.

Huge tailbacks snaked along six-lane expressways after up to 254 millimetres of rain – about two years’ worth – fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

At least one person was killed after a 70-year-old man was swept away in his car in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the country’s seven emirates, police said.

Passengers were warned not to come to Dubai Airport, the world’s busiest by international traffic, “unless absolutely necessary,” an official said.

“Flights continue to be delayed and diverted… We are working hard to recover operations as quickly as possible in very challenging conditions,” a Dubai Airports spokesperson said.

Climatologist Friederike Otto, a specialist in assessing the role of climate change on extreme weather events, told AFP it was “highly likely” that global warming had worsened the storms.