The Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Nigeria (AMEN), Revd Fr Ejike Mbaka, in a veiled message to the Labour Party standard bearer, Peter Obi, said popularity on social media cannot control the voice of prophecy. Mbaka said the validation with millions of Nigerians on social media could not negate the prophecy and vision he had issued that Obi would not get to the presidency. The controversial Christian cleric in a new video posted on the Church’s Facebook page, added he believed the outcome of the election was in alignment with his prophecy as God revealed the future through vision, not through social media. Mbaka said, “Please, if the gift you have is not genuine, ask God for the real one; stop fabricating things. When there is a lot of noise on social media, then somebody begins to speak because you think that if millions of people are speaking of somebody, that means the majority will win the vote. No, it is a different thing from prophecy and vision. ”In a vision, God will reveal to you the future. You will see it. It was so clear. Even in the time of Jonathan, I told him, look at what the Holy Spirit says you should do, ‘remove this person if you want to win the election. If you don’t remove him, you will lose, and Buhari will take over’”. ”People will never understand Father Mbaka, and they will begin to talk rubbish on social media. Whether you understand me or not, I will keep talking. ”Social media cannot control the voice of prophecy because, in the end, it will happen the way God said it must happen.” Recall that Mbaka in June 2022 disclosed that the former Anambra state governor would never emerge as Nigeria’s president, saying that unless God ceased to exist, Obi would never smell the seat of the President, as he described him as a stingy man. He had said, “A stingy man, that cannot give people his money, with this hunger ravaging the land, and you are saying he is the one you want. You want to die of hunger? Are you people insane? Where is the Holy Spirit? “It is now that Atiku is seriously contesting for President; now that he is contesting without Peter Obi; it is now that he is serious? We want somebody that is serious. Unless Peter comes here to kneel, if he becomes President, he will close down this ministry. What we are doing is spiritual, “Listen, a good old man is better than a young wicked man; Peter Obi is going nowhere as far as God lives. If Igbos want a representative, it is not someone like Peter Obi. “I should not have talked but I saw my video going round everywhere as if Fr. Mbaka wholeheartedly came out and apologised. No, I didn’t apologise wholeheartedly, it was out of duress. I had to obey my Bishop, in obedience I had to, it is not of my volition. I did it because I am a Catholic Priest, my Bishop said, do it, my own is ‘Yes my Lord’. “I did not say he is a bad man; I said he is a stingy man. A hungry man wants someone that is generous; the man has so much money, but he is ‘I, me, myself’. But that money will not be useful to him. I am very happy now that I have spoken out. That apology is a poisonous curse against Peter Obi. “If he is wise he should have come here after that apology to say he is sorry but he waited. Anybody supporting him is wasting his money, he is going nowhere.”

  Thursday 08 June 2023 National Assembly: Tinubu, APC move to appease anti-zoning members NNPCL to cut fuel import from August 427,962 Nigerians in diaspora get NIN Marketers struggle to raise N10bn for new petrol orders Obi Presents Result Sheets From More States In Case Against Tinubu Tinubu Told Me Akpabio Is His Preferred Candidate For Senate President – Ndume Nigeria Losing Bright Youths To Other Countries, We Must Act Now – Gbajabiamila NASS Passes Bill To Punish Sexual Offenders In Tertiary Institutions New SGF Akume Promises Not To Disappoint Nigerians Pope In Hospital For Operation On Painful Hernia Air Quality Worsens For 100m Americans As Canadian Wildfires Rage Thousands Flee Flooded Homes After Ukraine Dam Destroyed Catholic bishop asks Irabor to update Nigerians on suspects arrested over Owo attack Aregbesola: I bear no grudge against anyone in Osun | Tinubu is the architect of my success Lawan: Senate under my watch worked for national interest | Buhari signed over 100 bills Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…

  The Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) on Wednesday in Abuja pledged its support for the Federal Government’s removal of fuel subsidy. The association’s chairperson, Dame Winifred Akpani, made the disclosure at the end of a meeting with President Bola Tinubu. She said the association would also support the government’s palliative measures by providing between 50 and 100 mass transit buses. Akpani said the buses would be locally manufactured and would use Compressed Natural Gas as fuel.   “We pledge our support for President Tinubu in the bold decision of removing petrol subsidy. It is an idea that was long overdue. “Removal of subsidy is not about making fuel costly and taking it out of the reach of Nigerians. It is about getting it right on the real issue of petroleum product subsidy. “Who are those enjoying the subsidy? The subsidy ends up being enjoyed by those it was not meant for. “We also spoke to the president about substitutes to petrol as well as creating an environment conducive for investments to thrive in the oil sector,’’ she said. Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, who led the DAPPMAN delegation, described the subsidy removal as a bold step that portended positive growth for the economy He said fuel subsidy withdrawal was a clear indication of Tinubu’s readiness to address the challenges of the oil and gas sector. “Subsidy has become a N4 trillion per annum issue and its removal will release more funds for economic development. “Subsidy removal will unleash the potential of Nigeria because it will open up a lot of resources for the development of other sectors of the economy. “The National Economic Council will soon begin sitting to propose interventions on the subsidy removal. “The interventions will definitely be a long-lasting solution to the effect of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians,’’ Abiodun said.

  The immediate past Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has apologised to the former Governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola over the feud between them that last four years. Aregbesola, who was Osun Governor between 2010 to 2018, handed over to Oyetola who served under him as Chief of Staff after winning the 2018 governorship election. However, he was opposed to Oyetola’s re-election and faulted the elders of the party for not calling his successor to order over decision to reverse his policies. Oyetola and All Progressives Congress consequently lost the June 2022 governorship election to Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party. Aregbesola, who arrived in Osun State after his tenure as the minister under former President Muhammadu Buhari, visited the palaces of Owa Obokun, Oba Gabriel Aromolaran and Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun before addressing his supporters at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park via Old Garage, Osogbo. The ex-minister, who spoke in Yoruba, first commended Buhari for inviting him to his cabinet to serve. He also lauded President Bola Tinubu for being his destiny helper and trusting him with power. Aregbesola said: “I have not returned to Osun for animosity or acrimony but reconciliation of our party. I have come here today to beg for forgiveness from anybody who is offended towards me. “The reason why people are applauding me over my successes in Osun today was because of the great work I did when I was in government and those who turned themselves into enemies today, we worked together in government. “I thank God who showcased me from Lagos through the help of President Bola Tinubu. He is the architect of my success. I spent 8 years as commissioner in Lagos. “In 2004, we had a meeting in Badagry where we talked about how we will take over our states from the opposition party. President Tinubu and other Yoruba elders directed me to come and take over Osun State from the opposition. “With the help of God and the support of Asiwaju, I was able to excel as a governor for 8 years even though it was not easy with the help of those that turned to my enemy for four years.” Ex-minister narrated that he loved Oyetola and handed over power to him, after the apex court ruling in 2019. “In 2019, after the Supreme Court judgment, I came to this venue with the person I handed over power to. I counseled that I have played my own part and handed over to the person I loved. “But I said, the person must do it right by ensuring unity within the party. If that is done, I will now be the godfather. But unfortunately, Satan took over them in interpreting what I said. I never begged for anything from them when he was in power. “I am saying it today and I am begging for forgiveness. After this, we are not going to beg anybody again. We didn’t offend anyone and we don’t believe anyone offended us but it’s possible that they believe we offended them, that’s why we are apologising to them,” Aregbesola said.

  Felix Ajakaye, Catholic bishop of Ekiti, has asked Lucky Irabor, chief of defence staff, to give an update on the suspects arrested over the attack on St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo state. On June 5, 2022, gunmen attacked the Catholic church leaving 40 people dead and many injured. In August, Irabor said the gunmen behind the attack had been arrested. In a statement, Ajakaye noted that it is a year since the attack and Nigerians are still waiting for answers.   He said the defence chief is yet to update Nigerians on what has become of the suspects. “There was outright condemnation within and outside Nigeria against the evil and unprovoked attack. Typical of the then President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, it commiserated with the Church, Ondo state and the people concerned, and it promised to arrest the culprits,” he said. “Really, the government was widely known for its promise of always being on top of the situation, though it was never seen to be on top of the action.   “Surprisingly, a few months after the attack, addressing a world press, general Lucky Irabor, the chief of defence staff, informed the world that arrests had been made regarding the Sunday attack at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo. “Unfortunately, to date, 5 June 2023, exactly one year after, we have not heard anything again from the army general. “Now, a question for the chief of defence staff, general Lucky Irabor. Please, sir, when shall we be lucky to know what has become of the people you told Nigerians and the whole world were arrested due to their involvement in the massacre of the over 41 people and scores of people seriously injured during the Church attack of the worshippers by such people in Owo on 5 June 2023? “Until an answer is given, we shall keep asking the question. Remember, the cases of the Chibok girls, Leah Sharibu and the others are still there.”

  The Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, tendered in evidence on Wednesday the final results for the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. The national document known as Form EC8D(a) was tendered by Paul Annanaba, SAN, on behalf of the party and Obi as part of the evidence in support of the petition protesting the outcome of the February 25 elections at the Presidential Election Petition Court. The LP and its candidate, Peter Obi, are challenging the conduct of the presidential election in which Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The 1st to 4th respondents in the suit are; INEC, Tinubu, the vice-president, Kassim Shettima, and the APC. The respondents, through their legal representatives on Wednesday, all agreed to the presentation of the national results for all the states and the FCT. Following no objection from the respondents, the five-man panel of the PEPC headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani admitted the national document as evidence in the petition by Obi. In the same development, the petitioners tendered, as evidence in support of their petition against Tinubu’s return, form EC8Cs from 13 states: Bayelsa, Benue, Cross-river, Ebonyi, Edo, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Ekiti and Delta. The form EC8C is used for collating election results at the local government level. The results recorded at ward levels are entered into this form. But the respondents, through their counsel, all objected to the admissibility of the form EC8Cs. They informed the court that they would explain the reasons behind their objections in their final written addresses. However, the court admitted the forms in evidence and marked them as exhibits. Thereafter, it adjourned further hearings on the petition to Thursday, June 8, 2023. Objection to PDP’s subpoenaed witness Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, called its first subpoenaed witness at the Presidential Election Petition Court on Wednesday. In a petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023, Atiku and the PDP are challenging the outcome of the presidential election that produced Tinubu as president. At the resumed hearing, counsel for the PDP, Chris Uche, SAN, informed the court that the petitioners are set to call their first subpoenaed witness, who is an ad hoc employee of the Independent National Electoral Commission. However, counsel for the respondents in the case, INEC, Tinubu and the APC, objected to taking the testimony of the witness. As soon as the witness entered the witness box, and barely before he could take his oath, counsel to INEC, A.B. Mahmoud, SAN, rose in objection to the hearing of the witness. He informed the court that he was only served this morning with the statement of the witness and, as such, would have to study the statement to enable him to carry out a thorough cross-examination. Similarly, Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi SAN, and APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, shared the same view and opposed the move by the petitioners. Responding, Uche argued that there was nothing strange in the statement of the witness to warrant an adjournment. He pleaded with the court to allow at least one of the subpoenaed witnesses to make judicious use of their allotted time. The chairman of the five-man panel of PEPC, Justice Tsammani, proposed to stand down the trial for 30 minutes to enable respondents to look at the documents and thereby cross-examine the first subpoenaed witness. INEC counsel, however, insisted that the witness cannot be taken on Wednesday because the witness “is said to be an Ad-hoc staff of the Commission,” and as such, he would have to go and look at INEC’s records to enable him to prepare properly. Following the respondents’ assertions, Uche urged the court to adjourn till tomorrow, June 8, for the calling of the three subpoenaed witnesses. Earlier, the PDP and Atiku called their 11th witness, the PDP chairman, Anambra, Ndubuisi Nwobu, to testify before the court. The witness told the court during cross-examination by counsel for APC, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, that the results were disputed at the lower levels before they arrived at the state level. He added that they collated the results because they didn’t have any other alternatives. When asked if he put that in his witness statement on oath, he said it was not possible to write down everything that happened in the statement. The court will also continue the hearing in the PDP and Atiku’s petition on Thursday, June 8, 2023.

  A former senator who represented Kaduna Central at the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, on Wednesday mocked the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai for missing out in the recent appointments made by President Bola Tinubu. Daily Trust had reported that Tinubu appointed a former Governor of Benue State, George Akume as Secretary to the Government of the Federation while the outgoing Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila was appointed the Chief of Staff. Akume, who was sworn-in by the President on Wednesday at the Aso Villa, had served during the second tenure of the former President Muhammadu Buhari as Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs. Before Akume and Gbajabiamila were appointed, insinuations were rife in various quarters that the former Kaduna State governor would get one of the positions considering his closeness to the President during electioneering.   Reacting to the development, Sani, who was apparently referring to comments credited to El-Rufai on Islamisation agenda, said Tinubu had “dodged a poisonous knife” by scheming the former governor out of the two positions he described as “critical”. “If Tinubu had appointed ‘Mr Over Sabi’ as SGF or Chief of Staff, he would have sown the seed of discord between the President and the Vice President, speak and move around as more important than the two. Tinubu has dodged a poisonous knife,” Sani said in a tweet on Wednesday afternoon. El-Rufai was alleged in a trending video on social media to have said that the Muslim-Muslim ticket in the Kaduna governorship election would be sustained beyond 20 years in the state. In the video, the former governor, who spoke in Hausa, also claimed that Muslim domination was being replicated at the national level, and that the victory of President Bola Tinubu had silenced his critics, particularly the Christian Association of Nigeria.

  Abubakar Malami, the immediate past attorney-general of the federation (AGF), advised former President Muhammadu Buhari to decline assent to the bill on uniform retirement age for judicial officers, TheCable can report. In a memo seen by TheCable, Malami told the former president that approval of the bill would create a “huge financial and unexpected burden” for the federal government. On May 2, the national assembly directed Amos Ojo, its clerk, to transmit the bill to Buhari for assent. The proposed alteration was entitled ‘Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fifth Altercation) (No.37) Bill, 2023’.   The constitutional bill seeks to extend the retirement age of high court judges — and others — from 65 to 70 years. The retirement age of justices of the appeal and supreme courts is already pegged at 70. The bill also seeks to ensure uniformity in the pension rights of judicial officers of “superior courts of record” specified in section 6(5) of the 1999 constitution (as amended). Advertisement The courts listed in section 6(5) are the supreme court, court of appeal, federal high court, high court of Abuja, high courts of states, sharia court of appeal, national industrial court, and customary courts of appeal, among others. MALAMI’S MEMO TO BUHARI In a memo dated May 23 and addressed to the office of the chief of staff to the president, Malami said the bill appears to be “far-reaching, unduly wide, ambiguous”, adding that it made no “justification” for the extension of retirement age and benefits for judges. Malami averred that the bill would lead to stagnation in the career growth of judges, adding that “those currently on the bench would have to stay longer, preventing others from being elevated in higher courts”.   The former AGF said the bill, if approved, may lead to further agitation for the extension of the retirement age of justices of the supreme court and court of appeal. “Accordingly, the federal government enacted the Federal Judicial Officers (Administration of Pension) Act 2007, which transferred the responsibility and administration of pension of the federal judicial officers from the department of establishments in the office of the head of service of the federation to the National Judicial Council,” Malami wrote in the memo. “Similarly, State Governments are responsible for the pension of judicial officers in the state courts of record. “These provisions are now being amended by the fifth alteration which now restricts the power of the federal government to make law with respect to Judicial Officers who retire after the age of 65.   “Regardless of extant economic realities of the federal government, by virtue of the fifth alteration, all judges who retire after attaining 65 years of age would be entitled to payment of their salaries for life, including all allowances in addition to any other benefit to which they may be entitled. “By virtue of the constitution, the only persons entitled to payment of their last salaries for life as pension are the President, Vice-President and Justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. In the case of the latter, it’s only applicable if the justices retire at or after the age of 65 and have spent not less than 15 years.” Malami added that the proposed alteration of the constitution also eliminated the “responsibility of states to pay these altered retirement benefits”. (TheCable)