Appeal Court Upholds Senator, Two House Members’ Elections in Ekiti
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday mandated the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make special funds available for the production of textiles and garments locally.
Buhari made the call after declaring open the 31st National Education Conference of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) in Abuja.
This is coming as the Governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele said yesterday that the bank intended to deploy as much as N100 billion loans in its bid to revive ailing cotton and textile (CTG) industry.
Emefiele said the apex bank also approved N19.18 billion to fund nine ginneries across the country.
The President, represented by Prof. Segun Ajiboye, Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, also called on the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to facilitate training of Textile Workers to sustain current efforts at improving local garments production in the country.
He noted that the administration was committed towards improving the industries in the country with the signing of the executive order 003.
The President noted that the CBN had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian military and paramilitary outfits, as part of efforts to revive the Cotton, Textiles and Garment (CTG) sector in Nigeria.
“I am glad to report to you that this is already yielding positive fruits.
The General Secretary, NUTGTWN, Mr. Issa Aremu, commended the federal government for the closure of Nigeria’s land borders to end smuggling of goods into the country. Aremu said the move was impressive, as it was aiding local production and consumption of goods.
Meanwhile, Emefiele said yesterday that the bank intended to deploy as much as N100 billion loans in its bid to revive ailing cotton and textile (CTG) industry.
He spoke in Abuja during the signing of two memoranda of understanding between the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) and Ginning Companies and also between Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association and Armed Forces of Nigeria Police, Paramilitary Institutions and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Emefiele said N50 billion had been disbursed from the N100 billion. The MoUs will see the ginning companies buying off cotton produced by farmers while textile manufacturers will supply materials for the production of uniforms by Nigerian uniformed forces.
According to the CBN Governor, “Nigerian cotton, textiles and garment sector has been facing very difficult challenges resulting not only in the closure of over 150 textiles firms in Nigeria but also loss of over 2 million jobs on 1990s beginning from the cotton farmers, to the ginneries and textile firms.
An Appeal Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti yesterday upheld the election that produced Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi of the All progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of Ekiti North Senatorial district election conducted on February 23.
The three-man appellate court dismissed the case filed by Senator Duro Faseyi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), claiming that the APC candidate didn’t score the highest number of lawful votes in the election.
In the same vein, the court struck out the suit filed by Hon.
Kehinde Agboola of the PDP against the APC candidate, Hon. Peter Owolabi, in Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1, thereby affirming the APC’s candidate’s victory in the February 23 National Assembly polls.
Also, the court dismissed a case filed by Mr. Nicholas Olusola Omotoso of the PDP against the winner and APC candidate, Hon. Ibrahim Olanrewaju, in Ekiti North Federal Constituency II.
The crux of the of the three appeal cases was that the APC Senator and the two federal lawmakers did not score the highest number of lawful votes and that the ruling party didn’t conduct valid primaries, which presupposed that the party didn’t present candidates for the polls.
Delivering his judgement in the case filed against Adetumbi, Justice Hamma Akawu Barka said Faseyi acted like a busy body by trying to contest the outcome of the APC’s primaries, saying only those who participated in that primary could contest the outcome of party primary.
“By combined effects of Section 87(9) of the Electoral act and Section 285(14) of the 1999 Constitution, only aggrieved aspirants who participated in a primary can contest its outcome. Not just anybody. With this, the appellant lacks the locus standi to have filed this appeal in the first instance.
“Even if he has the locus, it has to be filed within 14 days after the conduct of the primary, so filing it outside that stipulated days rendered it statute barred.
“Apart from this, it is only the state High Court, Federal High Court and the Federal Capital Territory High Court that can entertain such issue that emanated from the conduct of any primary, so we lack the jurisdiction to entertain this case.