Engineering at its best

FATAI AKINBADES HOTEL

TULIP HOTEL IN IBADAN

The secretary to the state government during Governor oyinlola's regime Chief Fatai Akinade Akinbade after scooping the state fund went to Oyo state to build this state of the heart hotel in Ibadan. does that means that hotel business is not thriving in Osun State.

In memory of Rashidi Yekini.

It's one yearthat you departed.  Yekini scored 37 goals as a Nigerian international, and represented the nation in five major tournaments, including two World Cups, where he scored the country's first-ever goal in the competition. He was also named the African Footballer of the Year once.
We miss you!!!

FOR CIVIL ENGINEER'S CONSUMPTION

STANDARD HOOKS AND BENDS REQUIREMENT

HAZARDS ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

A GLASS BRIDGE OVER COLORADO RIVER

AN INCLINED COLUMN

ACN, PDP kick as tribunal upholds Mimiko’s victory

The three-member Ondo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Friday upheld the declaration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko as the winner of the October 2012 governorship election in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had on October 21, 2012, announced Mimiko as the winner of the poll, which was widely adjudged as free, fair and very credible by local and foreign election observers and monitors.
Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Andovar Kaka’an dismissed the petitions of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigeria and Chief Olusola Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party for lacking in merit.
Kaka’an added that the petitioners and their witnesses failed to prove beyond reasonable doubts, allegations of irregularities, violence and non-compliance with the Electoral Act pleaded in the suits.
Kaka’an also ruled that the issue of illegal injection of voter register allegedly carried out by the Independent National Electoral Commission was a pre-election matter that should have been challenged at a high court before the October 20, 2012 election.
He said since INEC had supplied soft copies of the voter register 30 days before the poll to all parties in the election, anyone who discovered any form of irregularity should have approached a high court to complain.
The panel also dismissed the reports of the expert witnesses of the petitioners, because apart from the fact that their submissions were discovered not to be factual, they confessed during cross-examination that their services were not at the instance of the court.
Kaka’an further held that there was no evidence supplied either by the petitioners or their witnesses to justify the fact that the 164,072 names allegedly injected into the 2012 register by INEC was done in collaboration with the Labour Party, whose candidate won the poll.
He added that there was no proof to show that either Mimiko, who won the poll, or his party benefited from the alleged injection of the register with illegal voters.
He said the expert witnesses confessed during cross-examination by counsel to the defendants that they carried out their assignments for financial considerations and that their clients needed their report to substantiate claims in their petitions.
He declared that all the submissions of Akeredolu and Oke in their petitions and the evidences of their witnesses were “bundles of primary and secondary hearsay, which failed woefully to substantiate their claims.
The panel chairman said the petitioners were inconsistent and failed to substantiate their allegations with adequate proofs.
He said, “The petitioners failed woefully to prove their allegations of crimes allegedly perpetrated during the poll by the defendants beyond any reasonable doubts.
“No single witness testified that he or she did not vote or that the votes were taken away to unauthorised places after the election while no police report, which indicated violence during the election, was tendered by any of the parties.
“The issues relating to the voter register are pre-election matters which the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain.”
The tribunal also carpeted the petitioners for their failure to extend pleadings to all the polling units in the state while none of them brought a single voter card or ballot box to the court to prove their allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2010.
He stated that none of the witnesses called by the petitioners actually witnessed the commission of crimes during the election by the defendants but relied substantially on information from their friends and party members.
He, therefore, dismissed both suits for lacking in merit and their inability to prove all allegations raised beyond reasonable doubts.
However, both Akeredolu and Oke had said their legal teams had been directed to start a fresh process to appeal the judgment.
Oke said, “The ruling fell short of the expectation of the Ondo State people and we shall challenge it at the Court of Appeal.
“The party is not surprised as we had earlier reported the compromising attitude of this panel, when it erroneously struck out the name of our party and vital paragraphs of our petition, which we challenged at the Appeal Court and our prayers were upheld.
“We are consulting as a party with our candidate, Chief Olusola Oke and the national leadership of the party and our legion of counsel on the next step we are going to take.”
Akeredolu, through a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the ACN in the state, Mr. Rotimi Agbede, also expressed his resolve to head for the appellate court.
He said, “It is rather unfortunate that the trial judges chose to close their eyes on the overwhelming oral and documentary evidences presented by the petitioners even when INEC principally refused to defend itself at the tribunal.
“The ruling of the tribunal, no doubt, had put the judiciary on trial in the open court of the people who relied heavily on the courts to dispense justice without fair or favour.”
But Mimiko said the verdict had confirmed that the Nigerian judiciary was living up to its role as the final impartial arbiter in all contentious matters.
He said, “We, as government, are mindful of the onerous task of meeting the development challenges of our people; we know that the fostering of understanding between the government and the people will engender a more conducive environment for the deepening of the dividends of good governance.”

Gunmen kidnap 92-year-old ex-minister …demand release of terror suspects

A gang of gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect on Friday kidnapped an elder statesman, Alhaji Shettima Monguno, at the Mafoni Jumaat Mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State, shortly after he performed the jumat prayers.
The kidnappers, who have contacted the family of the 92-year-old man, are demanding the release of some terror suspects being detained by security agents.
The gunmen reportedly forced the former Federal Minister of Petroleum into their car and sped away, shooting into the air to scare away worshippers.
Monguno’s son, Rahma, told Saharareporters on the telephone that the kidnappers had made a contact with the family, demanding not money, but freedom for some of their members being detained by the government.
The former minister, also the Chairman, Borno Council of Elders, had called for amnesty for Boko Haram and urged the Federal Government to have a dialogue with the group.
During a stakeholders’ meeting convened by President Goodluck Jonathan in Maiduguri in March 2013, the nonagenarian had challenged the government to identify members of the sect and hold a dialogue with them.
“To be frank, Mr. President, but for dialogue, you wouldn’t have become the President of this country today. Our founding fathers, who got together and begged the British government to hand over the reins of government, had to sit together and forget their differences and agreed that we would live together in harmony,” he had said.
In April 2012, Monguno said in an interview that the demand of the Boko Haram to impose Shar’iah on many states should not discourage the government from cajoling the group to come to a roundtable.
Last week, the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri announced that the dreaded sect had set up a new squad which would engage in kidnapping.
Two weeks ago, the sect also reportedly made $3.5m from kidnapping a French family in Cameroun.
Force spokesman, Frank Mba, confirmed the incident, saying the police were searching for the elder statesman.
Meanwhile, the Borno State Executive Council convened an emergency security meeting after the abduction of Monguno on Friday.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the state governor, Kashim Shettima, who chaired the meeting, became emotional at a point.
He was quoted as wondering why “a 92-year-old man that has dedicated his life helping orphans, poor widows and vulnerable children in the society, offering scholarships to children for even Islamic education, building Islamic schools, feeding the poor and even advocating for peaceful negotiation and amnesty for the sect members will be so treated.”
A source at the meeting said Shettima had just returned from Friday prayers and was scheduled to visit the Borno State Radio and Television station.
He was to undertake an inspection of facilities at the station as well as interact with the management and staff as part of activities to mark the World Press Freedom Day.
The governor had to cancel the visit to chair the meeting, which was held amid tight security.
The source said before convening the meeting, Shettima called members of the Monguno family and instructed security agents to furnish him with details of what exactly transpired.
The meeting, which was held at the Mungonos’ residence a few metres from the Borno State Government House, was to ensure that the statesman is released unharmed.