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Ayu, Okowa To Lead ‘Black Uniform’ Protest At INEC headquarters Monday

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked its members to join a protest at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja over the result of the presidential election.

On Wednesday, INEC declared Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election that was held on February 25.

Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the PDP who had 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who secured 6,101,533 votes.

But the PDP rejected the declaration of Tinubu as the president-elect, saying Atiku won the election.

In a notice by Ibrahim Bashir, director of admin, Atiku campaign council, the party informed its members that the protest would take off from the Legacy House in the Maitama area by 10 am.

It added that the uniform for the protest is black.

“I am directed to respectfully invite Your Excellencies: The National Chairman, Dr Iyrochia Ayu, The Vice Presidential Candidate and Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyichukwu Okowa, Governors of; Akwa Ibom and Chairman of PCC, Mr Udom Emmanuel, Sokoto state and DG of PCC, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, and Governors of Bayelsa, Edo, Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba and Osun States; Former Senate Presidents, Senator David Mark and Senator Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, BOT members, NEC members, PDP Senators and House of Representatives Members, NWC members of the party, DDGs, Directors, Deputies and Assistant Directors of NCMC; Members of the PCC; Leadership of People Living With Disabilities and all other Stakeholders to a protest match to INEC Office,” the notice reads.

“Endeavour to be very punctual please.”

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UAE To Lift Visa Ban On Nigerians Soon — Federal Government

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Nigeria’s minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, says the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will soon lift the visa restriction on Nigerian travellers.

Keyamo made this known on Saturday during an interview with the State House media.

He said the country has observed all protocols to facilitate the visa ban reversal.

“We have done everything. We have resolved everything. Just wait for the announcement from the UAE government, and that announcement is imminent,” Keyamo said.

“They would announce. I want to give it to them to announce the date.”

Speaking further, the minister said he is privy to the date when the travel restriction will be officially lifted, but would wait for the official announcement.

UAE and Nigeria have been engaging in a diplomatic row over flight allocations since 2021.

On December 13, 2021, UAE issued a travel restriction on passengers from Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, citing a surge in the countries’ COVID-19 cases from passengers of the two African nations.

However, it was reported the travel ban might not be unconnected with the diplomatic row between Nigeria and UAE over Air Peace’s flight frequency to the Arab country.

On March 5, the presidency shared a document announcing the restriction has been lifted, however, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, clarified the document was not authorised by the Nigerian and UAE governments.

Also, on May 23, the federal government said the UAE visa ban on Nigerians has been resolved and an announcement is imminent.

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Ogun Home Lesson Teacher In Police Net For Defiling 13-Yr-Old Girl

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The Ogun State Police Command has arrested Femi Onayemi, for defiling a 13-year-old girl in the Obada-Oko area of the state.

Report has it that the suspect had earlier been hired by the girl’s parents to tutor her at their home in the community in 2023.

It was gathered that the survivor’s parents were shocked when the suspect scaled the fence of their home to gain access to the 13-year-old’s room and commit the heinous crime.

The spokesperson for the state command, Omolola Odutola, confirmed the incident and stated that Onayemi had been arrested.

She said, “The parents of the minor approached our division at Obada Oko on June 12, 2024, to report the incident. The suspect was employed in 2023 to help the survivor with her studies at home.

“However, on June 9, 2024, the suspect was caught committing the crime after he had jumped over the fence of the house. Our men swung into action immediately after the matter was reported.

“The suspect was also believed to be attending the same church that the survivor attends every Sunday. He confessed to the crime after we arrested him.”

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63-Yr-Old US Woman Wrongly Convicted Of Murder Freed After 43 Years In Prison

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Sandra “Sandy” Hemme, a 63-year-old Missouri woman, who was imprisoned for more than 40 years for murder, has had her conviction overturned after spending 43 years in prison for a murder she did not commit.

According to The Guardian on Sunday, Hemme was convicted in 1985 based on her incriminating statements, made while she was a psychiatric patient.

However, a judge has now ruled that there is “clear and convincing” evidence that she was innocent of the crime.

Hemme, now 63, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1980 murder of a library worker, Patricia Jeschke, in St Joseph, Missouri, after Hemme made statements to the police incriminating herself while she was a psychiatric patient.

Livingston County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman on Friday ruled that “evidence directly” ties the murder of Jeschke to a local police officer who later went to prison for another crime and has since died.

The judge said that Hemme who has spent the last 43 years behind bars, must be freed within 30 days unless prosecutors decide to re-try her.

The judge’s decision followed a January hearing where Hemme’s legal team presented evidence linking the murder to Michael Holman, a former local police officer who has since passed away.

Hemme’s conviction was the longest-known wrongful conviction of a woman in US history.

Her legal team, with the Innocence Project, argued that authorities ignored Hemme’s contradictory statements and failed to disclose evidence that would have helped her defence.

Her attorneys in a statement said, “We are grateful to the Court for acknowledging the grave injustice Ms Hemme has endured for more than four decades.”

Hemme initially pleaded guilty to capital murder to avoid the death penalty, but her conviction was later overturned on appeal.

She was retried in 1985, with the only evidence against her being her contradictory and factually impossible “confession” made while she was a psychiatric patient.

In a 147-page petition, her attorneys seeking her exoneration argued that authorities had ignored these inconsistencies.

At the time, 20-year-old Hemme was undergoing treatment for auditory hallucinations, de-realization, and drug use. Her attorneys noted that she had a history of inpatient psychiatric care, having spent most of her life in treatment since the age of 12.

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