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Chief Tony Okocha Advocates Support for President Tinubu

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In keeping with his promise of ensuring that projects to be embarked upon by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Rivers State under his reign as the Rivers State Representative in the 7th Governing Board of the NDDC are borne out of the needs of the people, and that these projects are completed on record time, Sir (Chief) Tony C. Okocha, DSSRS, JP, the Rivers State Representative in the 7th Governing Board of the NDDC, who is also the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee (CTC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, today, undertook the inspection of several ongoing NDDC projects across Rivers State.

The first point of call was the inspection of the “Construction of 2 Numbers of Two-Bedroom Semi Detached Principal and Teachers Quarters at Community Secondary School, Umuechem” in Etche local government area, in Rivers State.

To ensure the safety of the 2 Numbers Two-Bedroom Semi Detached Principal and Teachers Quarters Project which is under construction, and for the safety of the Principal, Staff Members, and others who will be making use of the facility, the Rivers State Representative in the NDDC promised to ensure that the entire school premises will be fenced and litted up with Solar Powered Street Light.

This particular project by the NDDC in Umuechem Community in Etche LGA in Rivers is jinks-breaking in that this is the very first time that any government project, from the Federal, State, or the local government would be cited in the community in her history, despite the huge contribution of the community to the nation from the huge mineral deposit in that community, which has been contributing to the economic mainstay of Nigeria.

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For the records, Umuechem Community has about 53 Oil Wells that is sustaining the country with nothing to show for it before this project by the NDDC.

Next was the inspection of the “10 Bedroom Corpers’ Lodge Project” (all ensuite), sited at the Ignatius Ajuru University Campus in Ndele, in Emohua local government area, Rivers State.

The “10 Bedroom Corpers’ Lodge Project” in Emohua LGA has a gymnasium, a large-sized common room, and a leisure centre amongst other facilities for the comfort of the Corpers’ that will be making use of the facility.

From Emohua LGA, the inspection team led by the indefatigable Rivers State Representative in the NDDC headed straight to Soku Community in Akuku-Toru LGA, not minding the rain, for the inspection of “The Emergency Construction of 10,000 Gallons Capacity Solar-Powered Water Project at Soku Community, Akuku-Toru LGA, Rivers State.”

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The Solar-Powered Water Project in Soku Community will be recticulated to all the nooks and crannies of the community to make life more meaningful for the people.

Recall that few months back, Soku Community was hit by a cholera outbreak in which the NDDC intervened swiftly through the office of the Rivers State Representative in the Governing Board to avert what would have resulted in the loss of several lives within Soku, and other satellite communities.

As a result of the report made available upon inspection and analysis of the water samples taken from Soku Community by a team from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Sir (Chief) Tony C. Okocha did promised to ensure that a safer source of drinking water will be provided to the people, as a permanent solution to the incessant and perennial cases of the outbreak of cholera which Soku Community has been experiencing since 1971.

On departure from Soku Community in Akuku-Toru LGA,, the train moved to Degema LGA in Rivers State, for the inspection of “The 1,300 Seater Pavilion Project”, sited at the premises of the Degema LGA Secretariat, Degema, Rivers State.

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Also inspected today is the “Nkpolu Community Town Hall Project”, and the “Reconstruction of the NTA/Apara Link Road/Drainage Project”, all in Obio/Akpor LGA, Rivers State.

In all of the inspected project sites of ongoing NDDC projects in Rivers State, the people expressed their joy and excitement on the projects within their domain, while thanking the 7th Governing Board of the NDDC under Dr Samuel Ogbuku PhD, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) for the intervention, which they described as highly impactful, and timely.

In his responses at the various communities in the LGAs visited to inspect ongoing NDDC projects in Rivers State today, Sir (Chief) Tony C. Okocha, the Rivers State Representative in the NDDC affirmed that the progress made in executing the projects inspected was due to the peaceful disposition and cooperation of the benefitting communities.

Speaking further, Sir (Chief) Tony C. Okocha added that, “The project in your domain is in line with the mandate given to the NDDC by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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“Mr President feels the pain and hardship of the people, and is doing everything possible through projects, policies, and programs such as the continuous distribution of palliatives to the people, the increment of the minimum wage of Nigerian Workers by over 100% from #30,000 to #70,000 which has already been signed into law, the Students’ Loan Scheme, Massive investment in agriculture across the country, and the allocation of more funds to the 36 States and the 774 LGAs for the spread of more developmental projects across the country etc.

“It is important to note that the present economic situation in the country is as a result of many decades of accumulated challenges associated with governance which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is committed towards providing lasting solution to.

“There’s practically no way that these challenges from many years of neglect and decay which has brought us to where we are today can be tackled in one year. No one can perform that magic, not even with a magic wand.

“The present government is merely one year in office, and what the President needs from the people is their continuous prayers, support, understanding, and cooperation.

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“To the youths, l wish to appeal that you remain peaceful and shun all acts of violence.

“While it is the constitutional rights of citizens to protest, it is equally important that those behind the planned protest are known, and that they articulate their views properly, engage with the government, consolidate, before confrontation.

“The inspection of ongoing NDDC projects in Rivers State today is our own way of advocating for peace and support for the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and to also advocate
that the planned protest is shelved to avoid a breakdown of law and order, and to avoid a repeat of what happened in Kenya recently as a result of protest, which today has put Kenya in ruins. Sudan is also an example.

“I hear people talking about taking over the government as one of the reasons for the protest. Is that also an economic issue? It is clear that the planned “Nationwide Protest” is ultimately targeted at disrupting the present government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. No One can take over the government through the back door.

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“For us in the 7th Governing Board of the NDDC, our focus is on providing more impactful projects to the people by changing the ugly narratives about the NDDC being a cash cow for some selected few.

“Gone is the era of doing 1 kilometre road to the house of any big man. Not Under my watch in Rivers State will that happen. Under the Chairmanship of Mr Chiedu Ebie, the Chairman of the Management Board of the NDDC, all the projects that will be embarked upon will be from needs assessment with the full and active participation of the people.

“The NDDC under the present Governing/Management Board will not abandon any project. That is our resolve, and it’s evident that we are committed to our promises with the number of projects scattered all over the State already within just seven (7) months of our being in charge. Every LGA in Rivers State will feel the presence and impact of the commission.

“For the contractors handling these projects, l wish to commend them for the speed with which they’re going about the execution of the projects even when they weren’t given a dime as mobilization.

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“I wish to assure all our contractors that they will not be owed. They will all be paid in full upon completion of the jobs they’re handling.

“Ours is to pay the contractors upon the successful completion of the jobs at hand. All they need to do as contractors is to apply for payment, and they will be paid.

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Judge sentences Trump in hush money case but fails to impose any punishment

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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment, an outcome that cements his conviction but frees him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.

Trump’s sentence of an unconditional discharge caps a norm-smashing case that saw the former and future president charged with 34 felonies, put on trial for almost two months and convicted by a jury on every count. Yet, the legal detour — and sordid details aired in court of a plot to bury affair allegations — didn’t hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison. Instead, he chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.

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Merchan said that like when facing any other defendant, he must consider any aggravating factors before imposing a sentence, but the legal protection that Trump will have as president “is a factor that overrides all others.”

“Despite the extraordinary breadth of those legal protections, one power they do not provide is that they do not erase a jury verdict,” Merchan said.

Trump, briefly addressing the court as he appeared virtually from his Florida home, said his criminal trial and conviction has “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime.

The Republican former president, appearing on a video feed 10 days before he is inaugurated, again pilloried the case, the only one of his four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will.

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“It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work,” Trump said.

Trump called the case “a weaponization of government” and “an embarrassment to New York.”

With Trump 10 days from inauguration, Merchan had indicated he planned a no-penalty sentence called an unconditional discharge, and prosecutors didn’t oppose it.

Prosecutors said Friday that they supported a no-penalty sentence, but they chided Trump’s attacks on the legal system throughout and after the case.

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“The once and future President of the United States has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

Rather than show remorse, Trump has “bred disdain” for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system, Steinglass said, and his calls for retaliation against those involved in the case, including calling for the judge to be disbarred, “has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has put officers of the court in harm’s way.”

As he appeared from his Florida home, the former president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he’s tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration.

“Legally, this case should not have been brought,” Blanche said, reiterating Trump’s intention to appeal the verdict. That technically can’t happen until he’s sentenced.

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Trump, a Republican, becomes the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.

The judge had indicated that he planned the unconditional discharge — a rarity in felony convictions — partly to avoid complicated constitutional issues that would have arisen if he imposed a penalty that overlapped with Trump’s presidency.

Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a banner that read, “Trump is guilty.” The other held one that said, “Stop partisan conspiracy” and “Stop political witch hunt.”

The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business’ records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.

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“I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge,” the Republican president-elect wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat.

Bragg’s office said in a court filing Monday that Trump committed “serious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York’s financial marketplace.”

While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump’s political rise. Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off — through Trump’s personal attorney at the time, Michael Cohen — as part of a wider effort to keep voters from hearing about Trump’s alleged extramarital escapades.

Trump denies the alleged encounters occurred. His lawyers said he wanted to squelch the stories to protect his family, not his campaign. And while prosecutors said Cohen’s reimbursements for paying Daniels were deceptively logged as legal expenses, Trump says that’s simply what they were.

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“There was nothing else it could have been called,” he wrote on Truth Social last week, adding, “I was hiding nothing.”

Trump’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed or at least the sentencing postponed.

The Trump attorneys have leaned heavily into assertions of presidential immunity from prosecution, and they got a boost in July from a Supreme Court decision that affords former commanders-in-chief considerable immunity.

Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year.

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On one hand, Trump’s defense argued that immunity should have kept jurors from hearing some evidence, such as testimony about some of his conversations with then-White House communications director Hope Hicks.

And after Trump won this past November’s election, his lawyers argued that the case had to be scrapped to avoid impinging on his upcoming presidency and his transition to the Oval Office.

Merchan, a Democrat, repeatedly postponed the sentencing, initially set for July. But last week, he set Friday’s date, citing a need for “finality.” He wrote that he strove to balance Trump’s need to govern, the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, the respect due a jury verdict and the public’s expectation that “no one is above the law.”

Trump’s lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing.

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Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial.

After Trump’s election, special counsel Jack Smith closed out the federal prosecutions over Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A state-level Georgia election interference case is locked in uncertainty after prosecutor Fani Willis was removed from it. [AP]

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Emirship tussle: Celebration in Kano as A’Court rule in favour of Emir Sanusi

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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Celebration in the ancient city of Kano as a Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II in the crucial legal battle over the Emirship stool.

Supporters of Emir Sanusi, including youths and elderly individuals, celebrated the victory with drums, dancing, and other festivities.

The judgement delivered by the Appeal Court which sat in Abuja has brought an end to the prolonged legal dispute that threatened the stability of the Kano Emirate.

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Recall that the dispute began when Governor Abba Yusuf sometime in May 2024 dissolved all the Emirates and dethroned the 15th Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero while he was away from the state (the palace) and that which paved way for the reinstatement of the 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II who was immediately moved into the Kofar-Kudu palace to ascend the throne.

Upon return to the state, Bayero was forced to occupy the Nassarawa mini palace in a sit tight and where he currently carries out his courts.

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Akwa Ibom sacks all commissioners

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Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has dissolved his cabinet, saying he needs to bring new professionals on board.

Speaking during a valedictory session at the exco chamber, on Friday, Eno said none of the commissioners under performed.

The governor who stated that though all of them delivered on their responsibilities, they had to be replaced for new set of professionals to be brought into the government.

“For me, if you were to be changed based on non-performance, I think none of the Commissioners would go. All of you have delivered and that’s why the Arise Agenda has succeeded. But we must come to the end of a season, start another season and keep moving,” he said.

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He said a valedictory dinner will be held on Friday evening at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Uyo, in honour of the outgone exco members.

Most of the commissioners have been in office for almost 10 years as some of them served under former Governor Udom Emanuel.

The commissioners and advisers were said to have been retained to allow Governor Eno compensate them for the services they rendered since they were not rewarded by the time the last administration came to an end on May 29, 2023.

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