The Supreme Court of Nigeria has nullified the primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Imo West Senatorial District which produced Jones Onyerere as its candidate for the National Assembly Election. The apex court nullified the primary election on the ground that it was conducted in Owerri, the Imo State Capital instead of Orlu which is the Senatorial Headquarters of Imo West. In a judgement on the appeal filed by Nnamdi Ezeani, Justice Emmanuel Agim said the PDP violated section 87 (9) of the Electoral Act by conducting the primary election outside the venue clearly stipulated by law. The apex court held that by the judgment, PDP will not participate in the next month’s senatorial election having failed to produce its candidate within the time allowed by law. Justice Agim held that since the time for the conduct of the primary election to nominate candidates was already over, it is deemed that the party would not have a candidate in the February 25 National Assembly poll. Justice Agim warned the parties to always conduct their affairs within the ambit of the law adding that section 87 (9) of the Electoral Act is clear on where primary election should be conducted.

  Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the electoral Act, which he notes paved way for his victory as Governor as well as free and fair elections in his state. He stated this at a media chat today after a private meeting with President Buhari at the state house. Governor Adeleke elected under the ticket of the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is visiting the state house for the first time since he was inaugurated in November last year. He told state house correspondents that he was at the Villa to say hello. Underscoring the President’s good health, Governor Adeleke noted that Nigerians and the International community have equally applauded the conduct of the exercise. It would be recalled that during the election in July, 2022, Governor Adeleke unseated the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Governor Adeleke noted the visit to the villa would also provide him the opportunity to discuss other issues of federal assistance with the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.

  Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) will re-define governance in Nigeria, Mrs Dudu Manuga, the party’s National Women Leader said in Gombe on Friday. Manuga told the Newsmen that Obi remained the most competent candidate that would meet the expectations of Nigerians. According to her, Obi’s experience and impeccable character over the years, make him the most suitable candidate that Nigerians should trust with their votes on Election Day. She said Obi, being a two-term governor of Anambra, a successful entrepreneur and banker, and leader with sound international economic background was most qualified to be elected president to make Nigeria better. “The growing acceptance of Peter Obi amongst youths and women is because they believe that he would bring a new narrative to governance that will reorder the nation for the benefit of the people. “Obi will not disappoint Nigerians if elected because he is competent, trustworthy and has the needed integrity to lead the country to greatness,’’ she said. Manuga said as the national women leader, she and her team were working to mobilise more women and use their numerical strength to ensure Obi’s victory. “We women are the ones naturally endowed with the capacity to give birth. We have been pregnant, carrying in us the new Nigeria. “We are almost at the point of birth and we are not ready to have a still birth or a miscarriage. “The strength we need to give birth is our Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) which we have tagged `Peter’s Victory Card’. “We will use this strength all over the country to push and ensure a new Nigeria is born,’’ she stressed. Manuga appealed to women and youths to collect their PVCs before the expiration of INEC deadline and ensure that they vote wisely by voting for Obi.

  A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prof. ABC Nwosu, has resigned his membership of the party. He cited the refusal of the party to respect its power rotation/ zoning principle as reason for his action. Nwosu served as Minister of Health during the administration of Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo administration (1999-2007). The elder statesman who is a known ally of the Presidential candidate of the PDP, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, conveyed his decision to quit the party in a letter dated January 12, 2023 which was addressed to the National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu and the acting chairman of the BoT, Adolphus Wagbara. In the letter, Nwosu said he was leaving the party because of its failure to adhere to the zoning arrangement in its constitution. It read in part, “I hereby resign my membership of the Peoples Democratic Party and its Board of Trustees with effect from today Thursday 12th January, 2023,” the letter reads. “This resignation for me is a matter of conscience and principle because of the Party’s inability to adhere to the rotation provision in its (PDP) constitution. “The journey to rotational presidency between the North and South of Nigeria has been a long and arduous one and I have been involved.” Nwosu equally said the opposition party “must learn” to respect the provisions in its constitution and the agreement reached by party members. He maintained that, “Nigeria and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) must learn to keep to an agreement reached by a Constituent Assembly (1995), and enshrined in the Party’s (PDP) Constitution (1998),” Recall that months preceding the party’s Presidential Primary, various interest groups including Southern Governors of PDP extraction, demanded that the Presidency be zoned to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure. Specifically, party faithful mounted pressure using various platforms to demand that the party zone its Presidential ticket to the South. However, the party’s national executive committee (NEC) approved the report of its zoning committee which recommenced that the presidential ticket should be thrown open to all zones. However, intrigues took the better part of negotiations ahead of the PDP presidential primary election held in May 2022, leading to the emergence of Atiku as the party’s Presidential candidate. The party is battling to resolve the internal strife which emanated from events which followed.

  A woman identified as Florencia Amado Cattaneo has allegedly cut off her husband’s penis and stabbed him to death. Her late trumpet player husband, Pedro Federico Zarate, was found dead in the couple’s flat in the Altos de San Lorenzo area of Argentina. The 41-year-old suspect has been arrested by police for the horrific alleged murder and sent for psychiatric assessment, according to Mail Online. Aside from cutting off her husband’s penis, she also left a knife buried in the dead man’s eyeball. The deceased was found with the knife embedded in his eye and his genitals mutilated. The suspect – a psychologist – was arrested on 11th January after fleeing to her mother’s house in a taxi ‘with bloodstains on her hands’, her sister Patricia told local media. Her husband’s body was found by his sister-in-law on the bed at the apartment he shared with his wife and five-year-old son. He had stab wounds all over his body, including his chest, and his genitals were mutilated, according to local media reports. Amado Cattaneo has been admitted to the psychiatric ward of a medical centre in La Plata, where she will undergo tests. The victim was a trumpet player and a music producer. He had worked at the Estacion Provincial cultural centre in La Plata since 2006. A native of Cordoba, he married Amado Cattaneo in 2017.

  Manchester City and France footballer Benjamin Mendy was told on Friday that he will be retried later this year for one count of rape and another of attempted rape. Mendy was cleared of six counts of rape and one of sexual assault after a trial in Chester, northwest England. Jurors failed to reach verdicts on a seventh rape charge and a count of attempted rape. More to follow…