ATCON embarks on Data protection regulation awareness, says it’ll prevent cybercrimes

Success Damian:

Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has embarked on Data protection regulation awareness and implementation, saying that such guideline will prevent cybercrimes.

The President of ATCON, Mr Olusola Teniola, made the revelation as part of his Welcome Address at a Virtual Meeting on Nigeria Data Protection Regulation 2019 - Benefits and Compliance Process which was held on Monday, July 6, 2020.

According to Teniola, ATCON embarked on the awareness and implementation of the data protection regulation because of its strategic importance to the members.

“ATCON embarked on the awareness and implementation of the data protection regulation because of its strategic importance to our members’ businesses and to reduce or prevent cybercrimes by ensuring the safety and protection of Nigerians’ digital details on the world wide web as the failure to give adequate protection to data could be very devastating and costly to individuals and businesses,” he stated. 

Teniola said it should also be emphasized that data is now the new gold and it must be treated accordingly.

He disclosed that the meeting was put together by ATCON in collaboration with NetHost Nigeria Limited and also encouraged members to ensure implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation. “ATCON put the meeting together in conjunction with NetHost Nigeria Limited to create awareness and encourage our members to implement the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation,” Teniola said.

He stated that the Regulation aimed at protecting and guarantying the safety of all users of web from the unscrupulous people who use their knowledge to defraud and cheat people who are genuinely transacting business over different websites, public and private.

“The Regulation aims at protecting and guarantying the safety of all users of web from the unscrupulous people who use their knowledge to defraud and cheat people who are genuinely transacting business over different websites both public and private, he said.

Teniola commended the Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for putting the document together for the benefits of Nigerians.

“We commend Mr Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi, Director General/CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for putting the document together for the benefits of Nigerians who have moved their physical transactions online,” Teniola stated.

A Must read: Omoragbon reveals his political, professional antecedents

In this interview Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon, flag bearer of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the forthcoming Governorship Election in Edo State, reveals his antecedents, political and professionally. SUCCESS DAMIAN reports.

What are your antecedents, politically and professionally?

My political life started when I was in Secondary school. In fact, from class two. New Era College (Obakhavbaye Grammar School) as it was called then. At that age I formed and founded a social club known as LEO CLUB. I enlisted members from people who were my senior and I was the President. At that period, the Principal was organizing the Senior Students to act one Benin popular historical drama called IMAGUERO. They could not act it. 

Meanwhile, I went to the School library to borrow 10 copies of the books and began to organize my members for rehearsals. Do you know we acted drama to the entire students and the hall was filled to capacity as I played the lead actor. That was how I became the President of the School Debating and Dramatic Society from Class Two Secondary School and we took that drama to other schools in Benin and outside of Benin. I remained in that position even when we moved to Edokpolo Grammar School. After my WASC examination, 

I went to the School of Psychiatric Nursing Aro Abeakuta, and Six months into my studies, I contested for the position of the Assistant Social Secretary and I won. My goal was to build my political structure and visibility till when I will be in my 2nd year to contest for the Students Union Presidency. Even at that, I founded another social cultural group that also engages in drama as a therapy for mental health patients. I re-enacted that same drama Imaguero at the Sent-forth ceremony for Late Professor Ibie, who was the outgoing Medical Director. Ogun State Television covered the program and we were invited to perform that drama in a village setting. My popularity was increasing and there was no telling that I would not become President. 

Few months to the election, the students were to mark the anniversary ceremony of the hospital with a Rag Day. I opposed the rationale of going about in rags like the uncared-for mental health patients along the Nigerian roads. My opposition was so strong that it necessitated a vote. I lost as majority wanted the Rag Day. I made a statement that cost me my Presidential ambition that day by saying even though majority they say win the votes but sometimes, majority could be foolish! The meeting came to an end. So during the election, I lost to a very unknown candidate as the students did that punish me. I did not give up. I contested for the regional association of Nigerian Nurses Students in Ogun State as General Secretary-and won.

As GS we were overseeing all the student’s unions of schools of nursing including Aro in Ogun State. It was during our tenures especially as GS that student nurses began to earn respects from both lecturers and clinicians. Then student nurses were treated as mere secondary school students. Imagine asking a student nurse to kneel or cut grasses whilst in school as punishment. I fought against that as unprofessional. 

When I qualified, I continued with the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives and rose to the position of Vice Chairman at Yaba Psychiatric Hospital. Our tenure was tumultuous. The Medical Director then will never forget Peters Omoragbon. I was a torn. It was during our era in 1992 that the national strike by Nigerian nurses throughout the federations amongst the Federal Health Institutions that lasted for almost 6 months took place. The crisis started from our unit at Yaba when we went on strike because the management failed to pay us our hazard allowances. As a result, about 6 new staff nurse who were just barely six months in employment were sacked because their employment was not confirmed then. We went back on strike requesting for them to be reinstated. 

When I retired from service in 1994, I started Nurses Across the Borders Humanitarian Initiative, that is now an NGO in Special Consultative Relationship with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and that became the FIRST NGO to be admitted as an OBSERVER into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change-UNFCCC and I was the first Nigerian NGO leader to be accorded the Designated Person for the UNFCCC in Nigeria. November of 1994, I joined the National Conscience-then it was just a movement in defiance of Gen. Sanni Abacha who decreed that there be no political activity when he took over.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi-SAM, SAN defied him because that decree was inconsistent with the freedom of association. In NCP I rose from a Ward Chairman in Kosofe Federal Constituency to the National Financial Secretary with Chief Gani and Barrister Femi Aborisade as Chairman and General Secretary respectively. I was later to add National Organizing Secretary to my portfolio as I was instrumental in setting up the branches of NCP in the whole of the South-South, the South East, and parts of the North West. Gani was so impressed with my commitments that he gave me my first car in life. When we were to contest the 2002 election, Chief Gani drafted every NEC member to contest election. We fielded candidates in all offices and in every states of the federation. I contested for the House of Representatives in 2003 in Kosofe and came third with more than 12k votes and AD won with PDP second. That began my voyage into politics as I never looked back.

In 2011 I contested for the Oredo Federal Constituency for the House of Representatives, and in 2016 contested with Obaseki and Ize Iyamu for the governorship elections.

Beyond the shores of Nigeria, I am the President of the Diaspora Nurses Association of Nigeria and also the Director for International Liaison for the Nigerian Nurses Charitable Association in the United Kingdom. My activity and role made it possible for me to interact with the Nigerian government as it relates to healthcare delivery services with other Diaspora Healthcare professionals and we have been coming home to organize series of medical missions in Nigeria. At the UN, I was elected into the Board of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN-CONGO from 2011 to 2017. I acted as Gen Sec of the Regional Committee for Africa in CONGO.

In 2013-2015, I was Treasurer of the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK-CANUK a body coordinating ALL the groups of Nigerians in the UK and in 2015-2015 elected as Financial Secretary. I am an Ordained Servant of the Most High and happily married to the most beautiful woman in the universe, Helen and I have children and a granddaughter.

Mind blowing: How APC, PDP impoverished Edo State, incurred N282.288b debt, revealed Omoragbon

Lots of wounds covered with bandages are being disclosed as the Edo State people prepare to vote in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in September, 2020. In this no-hold-barred Interview with SUCCESS DAMIAN, the flag bearer of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon, it is now public that Edo State is gasping for breath over a whopping N282.288 debt incurred by PDP and APC on behalf of the state. Excerpt:

How do you see your emergence as the NCP governorship candidate in Edo State?

My emergence as the flag bearer for the National Conscience Party in the forthcoming Edo State Governorship Election is a wake-up call for all well meaning people of Edo State to ‘OPEN THEIR EYES to the opportunity God is providing through the NCP for the best alternative for Edo State in the person of Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon. We are all witnesses to the current show of shame of the two actors in the opposing parties-APC and PDP in Edo State as they continue to recycle themselves from their parties interchangeably.

What this goes to prove is that there is no difference between the APC and PDP in Nigeria. They are two sides of a coin. Therefore, my emergence is to restore hope and confidence in governance in the people of Edo State with the assurance of an accountable and transparent government. It is to provide the genuine change missing from the rule of PDP and APC since 1999 in Edo State. My emergence is to transform the living standards of the people of Edo State above their current below poverty level by implementing our Party’s Ten Care- Plus One Programme that will abolish poverty from Edo State.

Your party was among the 79 deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). How far has it gone to ensure that it is enlisted again?

It must be recalled that the NCP was a product of the efficacy of the Rule of Law in any egalitarian society, when in 2002, by a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court affirmed the rights of all Nigerians as enshrined in section 40 of the 1999 Constitution to form and belong to ANY political party of our choices, by over ruling INEC’S REFUSAL to register the NCP under the then Late Abel Guobadia . As a result, and as law abiding citizens, we have gone to court to challenge the unconstitutionality of the action of INEC under the current dispensation. By a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, with Suit Number FHC/L/CS/544/20, we have challenged INEC’s current decision to omit our Party’s name from the political parties fielding candidates for the election in September in Edo State. Defendants in the current case are: The Attorney General of the Federation and, The Independent National Electoral Commission.

One of our reliefs being sought is A DECLARATION that the action of the Defendants without an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, is unlawful, arbitrary, oppressive, repressive, partisan, undemocratic, an abuse of power and office, and a breach of the Plaintiffs’ right to fair hearing guaranteed in section 36 of the 1999        Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended (hereinafter referred to, as “the Constitution”), and Articles 2, 3, 4 &       7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and is accordingly, null and void and of no legal consequences whatsoever. 

Your name was omitted by INEC in the provisional list for the Edo governorship election. Are you and your party not bothered about the development? What are you doing to ensure that it is included in the final list?

We are not bothered because we are already in Court and no matter how long it takes for us to get justice, any outcome of the September 19, 2020 Edo state governorship election without myself and the NCP will be a nullity. Remember Adams Oshiomhole became governor well after Osunbor was sworn in as governor almost a year in 2008 by the ruling of the law court? If we are in agreement that INEC’s action by their crooked reliance on Section 225 negates our fundamental rights of Freedom of Association enshrined even in the amended Constitution of Nigeria, and is currently in Court, then what better way to test the last ‘hope’ of the common man, which is the judiciary by putting political action to our legal action? 

Why do you think you will have upper hand in the election over the candidates of APC and PDP?

As at today as far as Edo State is concerned, the All Progressive Congress candidate-Mr Obaseki and the People’s Democratic Party candidate, Pastor Ize Iyamu have lost their credibility before the good people of Edo State. In 2007, Pastor Ize Iyamu decamped from PDP to join the APC until 2016, when he decamped again to PDP when he could actualize his governorship under the APC. Mr Obaseki was chosen above him by their political godfather-Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. Now in 2020, Mr Obaseki was denied his ticket for second term by the godfather and Pastor Ize Iyamu was now the preferred candidate by leaving the PDP to APC. What did Obaseki do? He too decamped to PDP using the resources of the Edo State to buy his way and that of his deputy, Mr Shuaibu.

Here is the catch-22: Legally Obaseki will be disqualified even if he wins because by the recent ruling of the Supreme Court, you cannot contest for nomination in two different political parties in the same election. Secondly, the entire social media is abashed by the confessions of the three dramatis personnel on their corruption-that is Oshomoihle, Obaseki and Ize Iyamu. Edo State is not made for only PDP and APC nor is it the birth right of Obaseki, Ize Iyamu or Oshomoile. 

Another reason why I will be better off is the implementation of our Party’s Ten Care Plus One programme. Finally is my experience in the Civil service, the grassroot as leaders within the civil society movement both nationally and globally and my experience from the Diaspora, as I intend to transfer my knowledge and experience of the best practices to Edo state. By the end of my Eight years as governor, Edo state would become the role model for every state in Nigeria.

What are the things that Governor Obaseki did not do well, which you will change or improve upon if you win the election?  

The problems confronting the Edo people did not start with Mr. Obaseki. As such, it is not what he did not do well or did, but what the government of both PDP and APC failed to do since 1999. One major problem these sadistic political parties have foisted on Edo people is the rising debt profile from 1999 to date. According to the 2019 report of the National Bureau of Statistics, Edo state domestic debt was N86,820,254,212.61 (A) in stocks and N69,904,633,299.09 (B) as loans. Whilst the external (foreign) debt was $279,029,896.21 that is @ the rate of N450/$ = 125,563,453,294.50 Billion! (C) Million. Cumulatively in Naira: A+B+C: =N282,288,340,805.20!!! Can you imagine that? That is the total debt incurred on behalf of the state by both PDP and APC. Tell, what have the people to show for it? Nothing. Instead, you have people in government building bullet proof houses, ridding on bullet proof cars, spending billions of naira to purchase ticket to run for public office, someone owing private jet, private universities, building an entire estate that you barely live in maybe once or twice a month, no good roads, erosion has destroyed half of the state, all health institutions remained mere consulting clinics, no program of engagement for the youth after school other than employ them as party thugs. How can we suffer in the midst of plenty.

With our Ten Care Plus One Program, the NCP government under my watch shall address these inequalities and inequitable distribution of our collective wealth. The details would be made public and distributed and promoted through the mass and social media in all languages in Edo state. I shall restore the peoples’ confidence back again to the government by making public in my first 30 days in office, the entire income and debt profile of Edo State from 1999 to 2020. I will lay bare to the people of Edo state what the PDP and APC have done to our collective psyche and I can assure you under my watch, we shall set up a Judicial Panel of Enquiry to recover all ill gotten wealth by any public officer from this state. That is one sure way of ending godfatherism and godmotherism in Edo.

Would you say the defection of Governor Godwin Obaseki has really ended godfatherism in Edo State?

The answer is NO. You know what would end godfatherism in Edo state? Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon will end godfatherism in Edo because by the time I am sworn in as governor, my godfathers and godmothers would be the people in Edo state. My emergence would have been the repudiation of the status quo under the PDP and APC by the people in Edo State with their votes not with the amount of money I am able to share because I have none stolen from the collective wealth of the state or from illegal sharing to party faithful by every ruling party in Nigeria.

What are your agenda for Edo people?

Our agenda for Edo State is based on the Party’s Ten Care Plus One Program. For the people to appreciate how these programs would work, it is good for them to understand how we got to where we are today. The experience of the masses since 1999 has not brought about any fundamental change. Governance has remained for the interest of a few individuals in the state. The people are justifiably shocked at the utter contradiction of abundance and poverty. Whereas the rulers swim in abundance and engage in ostentatious living, the citizens wallow in abject poverty. It is not only poverty that torments Nigerians; it is the fact of poverty amid plenty and natural bounty. This is a source of internal sadness to many. As a result, we have wrapped our agenda under a carefully crafted Ten Care Plus One Program as follows: Employment Care, Food Care, Health Care, Housing Care, Education Care, Water Care, Electricity Care, Transportation Care, Telecommunications Care, Security Care-Plus one is the Ecological Care-this will take care of the environmental degradation as a result of erosion and climate change. That is our Eleventh Care program.

NCP and AAC have a working understanding in Lagos. Do you see that possibility in Edo State during this coming election?

We are prepared to work with everybody, in Edo State irrespective of party affiliation except PDP or APC. Any member of the APC and PDP who decamps and embraces our program as a party will be welcome, but we will never work with the party structures as organs.

Soyemi, LASUCOM 400 Level student receives Diana Award Roll of Honour 2020

Success Damian:

Toluwalashe Soyemi of the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM) has received Diana Award Roll of Honour 2020.

Soyemi, a 400 Level Medical student from LASUCOM was honoured with the Diana Award for going above and beyond in his daily life to create and sustain positive change in their community.

The Diana Award established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, is the highest accolade and most prestigious award a young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts.

After rigorous selection process, Toluwalashe was selected alongside 184 recipients from 35 countries, of which he was one of the 9 Nigerians selected.

Toluwalashe Soyemi is an outstanding Hero who at age of 18 years old, co-founded Protostar Initiative, a youth-led social venture committed to providing mental health education in communities whilst advocating for the destigmatisation of mental health conditions.

As the Team Lead, Tolu works with local communities to train young people in mental health first aid and raise awareness in schools and other youth organisations. These training sessions dispel common myths and help people to recognise symptoms and access support mechanisms for mental health conditions.

In lieu of the international pandemic that has restricted movements, Tolu and his team worked on a project that aims to provide online mental health services (counseling, therapy, etc) to 1000 people within 6 months for free.

Tolu is campaigning for a world in which everyone is educated on mental health and where every person with a mental health condition can access the support they need.

This is not the first time that Tolu would be putting LASU on the global map as last year, he was recently selected on a fully-funded scholarship to represent Nigeria in Shenzhen, China for the Unleash Innovation Lab as a United Nation SDG Talent to pitch his project on mental health and has gotten multiple international opportunities in support of his project on mental health.

Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award, says: “We congratulate all our new Diana Award recipients who are change-makers for their generation. We know by receiving this honour they will inspire more young people to get involved in their communities and begin their own journey as active citizens. For over twenty years The Diana Award has valued and invested in young people encouraging them to continue to make positive change in their communities and lives of others.”

UNESCO jingle: LASU alumni's entry makes top

Success Damian:

The entry submitted to the UNESCO for the “Call for Jingle/Short videos against the dis-and misinformation on COVID-19” by four alumni of the Lagos State University has emerged among the top 10 best for the competition.

In a press statement, the call for jingle was necessitated in a bid to engage the African youths, through their creativities, to curtail the widespread of false information, especially on social media, that is ravaging even more than the global Covid-19 pandemic itself.

The alumni, Elias Sanni, Olusegun Giwa, Sandra Animam and Babatunde Gandonu who are recent graduates from the School of Communication, Lagos State University, took to the call and worked remotely to come up with the creative that emerged among the top 10 best amidst 41 other entries.

All winners were announced on the 30th of June on a live webinar organized by the UNESCO Abuja Regional 

Headquarters titled, “Youth Power in Combating Mis- and Disinformation on COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond.” In attendance at the event was the honourable minister for Youths and Sports, Nigeria, Mr. Sunday Dare and minister for Youth Affairs in Sierra Leone, Mr. Mohamed Orman Bangura, among others.

Winners will be awarded with certificates and gift prizes and an opportunity to become members of the Youth Alliance for Media and Information Literacy (YAMIL) to combat mis- and disinformation.

The alumni, through their talents and skills, acquired through learning and teachings from their alma mater have been adding value, through their many creatives, to the institution during their university days and won’t stop doing exploits.

Reverend Sis calls on Lagos State Government to open places of worship

Success Damian:

Rev. Sr. Agnes Adepoju, of Our Lady of Apostle, OLA, Lagos has urged the Lagos State Government to allow people turn to God in worship by relaxing the lockdown restrictions on religious institutions as the government provide guidelines for gatherings.

While commending the state government for doing everything to protect people from the menace of the COVID-19 virus, Adepoju said that it is rime for the people to turn to God for divine solutions to the coronavirus pandemic.

Said she: " There is no gainsaying in the fact that the Lagos State Government has made commendable efforts and continues to make efforts to bravely combat the scourge that has been unleashed on the State and its residents by the COVID-19, a pandemic which has also successfully thrown the global populace into a state of economic and political stress. 

"The government has provided guidelines and continues to provide information and practical tips for keeping safe: physical distancing, avoiding of unnecessary public gatherings, use of nose masks and alcohol-based hand sanitizer etc., yet the number of cases is on the increase. 

"Having tried all the human ideas with their limitations, isn’t it time to turn to God and allow people to gather in worship with the sort of guidelines that were provided? Or is it the case that the place of God in helping to overcome the infection is not recognized and acknowledged? I believe that given our circumstance of living in Lagos, the rate of infection would have been higher were it not for God’s mercy." 

She said  though worshipping via the various media platforms fulfils certain purposes, it cannot be compared with congregating, as well as receiving the required sacraments, especially the Holy Communion.

Said she: However, in spite of the government's efforts to manage the situation, the numbers have not reduced. Nevertheless, the decision to indefinitely suspend Public Religious activities across the state is certainly inappropriate and needs to be reconsidered. An earlier pronouncement of the government had given citizens of the state, especially the Christian Churches, the impetus to prepare vigorously for a gradual resumption of Public worship beginning from 21st of June 2020. Their hopes were dashed and their spirit dampened by the announcement of June 16, 2020.

"Asking worshippers to stream religious activities of worship through the media fulfils a purpose but it cannot be compared with congregating in an orderly fashion for worship, seeking the intervention of God. It is even more difficult for us Catholics since it is said that receiving the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist in Holy Communion is what makes us to be fully alive in Christ."

She said that it has become clearer that some of those places that restrictions have been relaxed have turned out to be places where the virus can be easily transmitted. especially given the inability of anyone to enforce the precautions. 

"Open markets, banks, intra state bus stops; interstate transportation facilities etc. are more likely fertile grounds for transmission. This is not to disregard the importance of the market, banks or public transportation or trivialize the importance of the services they render but rather to highlight the fact that opening up for public worship is not likely to increase infection in the same way as it can be increased in these other areas that are not able to keep the guidelines."

She argued that churches are by far more capable of enforcing the guidelines from the government, and can be easily monitored than any other place. 

She further argued that there is obviously no reason for the government not to allow worshippers to gather in church to worship even only on Sundays for fear of spreading the virus. 

Said she: "Whatever level of risk that may have been there in gathering to worship have been obviated by the regulations put in place. The risk of getting the virus when people come to Church is by far less than it is in the other places that they have to go to. Let it be known that humans are religious by nature and an average Nigerian is incurably religious as their religious beliefs are pervasive of their entire life."

While quoting Isaiah 7:13, she urged the government to listen to the cry of the people who have handed their rights to them in trust. 

Said she: "This silent mass of people wish to exercise their rights to gather in worship and government should not stand in the way. The least the government should do is to reconsider its decision to suspend public worship and let those who are ready to start to begin. 

"Those who exercise their right not to gather should not be allowed to abridge the rights of those who wish to gather in worship. It would be injustice to those who wish to reopen if their rights are denied them for no just cause, especially as they wish to exercise it only within the guidelines given by government. We plead for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to guide the governor and those who assist him to take decisions always, especially in this matter."

Edo 2020: I am still in the race, says Omoragbon, NCP Flag-bearer …Heads to Court

Success Damian:

Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon, the Gubernatorial Candidate under the National Conscience Party in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State has declared that he is still in the race, even as the party has headed to court.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, he said “You are all wondering why my name: Pastor Peters Osawaru OMORAGBON, RN, RPN, (Gubernatorial Candidate under the National Conscience Party) was omitted by INEC in their list of prospective candidates in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State.

“First, let it be made known that the list is Provisional and not Final.  Even, if INEC releases the Final list by omitting my name, do not despair as we shall continue with our electioneering campaign with other candidates, for we are currently in Court challenging INEC’s unconstitutional acts, and like other relevant precedence in our country’s jurisprudence, records are replete of the nullification of election results/outcomes where people have been disenfranchised, or where there are obvious illegalities in the actions of INEC. This may not be different if the name of my Party and mine are not on the Ballot on September 19, 2020,” Omoragbon stated.

In a brief a brief historical perspective, Omoragbon said “After the 1999 general elections that brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the National Conscience (as it was then called, because it was not a political Party after its formation in 1994 to defy Late General Sanni Abacha) under Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, applied to INEC in 2002 for registration as a Party under Late Chief Abel Guobadia. Our application was denied.

“Chief Gani Fawehinmi went from the High Court up to the Supreme Court to challenge the actions of INEC and on November 8, 2002, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision voided 12 of the 13 guidelines used by INEC to register political parties, describing them as Unconstitutional.

“That action initiated by NCP and won at the Supreme Court gave rise to the possibilities for the existence of all the parties that today parade themselves as Parties including the All Progressive Congress. President Buhari would not have been able to register his CPC if NCP has not won the battle for multipartyism in Nigeria,”

He disclosed that the only parties in existence before NCP went to Court in 2002, were the PDP, AD and NPP, adding that all others were products of the Supreme Court ruling fought for by Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAM, SAN under the National Conscience Party.

“When Osunbor won the Edo State elections against Oshomole in 2007, Comrade Oshomole resorted to the Court to claim his mandate and in 2008, won the election through the law courts, which was why Edo State elections does not align with the general elections in the country as Oshomole’s tenure began to run from the date he was sworn in, November 2008.

“My good people of Edo State, we have Transversed this path before 18 years ago. This is not alien to us. Our Party was a product of a legal struggle and a movement and we are back again to the trenches. The right to associate and form associations is an inalienable right enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the African Charter on Human Rights and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights to which Nigeria is a signatory. In the United Kingdom, the decisions of the government can be overridden by the decision of the European Court in so far as it bothers on denial of human rights.

On way forward he said “By a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, with Suit Number FHC/L/CS/544/20, we have challenged INEC’s current decision to omit our Party’s name from the political parties fielding candidates for the Edo State elections.

Referring to the originating summon, he said “The Originating Summons were Brought pursuant to the provisions of sections 1, 4, 6, 36, 40, 42, 45, 153 & 221 – 229 OF THE 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, and articles 2, 3, 4, 7, 10(1), 11, 13(1) & 26 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Order 3(9) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) rules 2019 and under the Inherrent Jurisdiction of the Honourable Court.

According to Omoragbon, “Defendants in the current case are: The Attorney General of the Federation and, The Independent National Electoral Commission.

“One of our reliefs being sought is a declaration that the action of the Defendants without an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, is unlawful, arbitrary, oppressive, repressive, partisan, undemocratic, an abuse of power and office, and a breach of the Plaintiffs’ right to fair hearing guaranteed in section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended (hereinafter referred to, as “the Constitution”), and Articles 2, 3, 4 & 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and is accordingly, null and void and of no legal consequences whatsoever.

“If we are in agreement that INEC’s action by their crooked reliance on Section 225 negates our fundamental rights of Freedom of Association enshrined even in the amended Constitution of Nigeria, and is currently in Court, then what better way to test the last ‘hope’ of the common man, which is the judiciary by putting political action to our legal action?

“If the National Conscience Party had not gone to court in 2002 and was denied registration without first applying to INEC, there would have been no locus standi for our going to court in the first place.

“This action is not mine alone but also of leadership of the Party led by the national Chairman Mallam Tanko Yunusa, who is the second Plaintiff in the above suit and with the coordination of the Party Secretariat. We communicated with INEC, the State Security Service, the Nigerian Police as required by Law. We have our evidences. We conducted our Primaries and it was duly recorded before the deadline for party primaries.

“Our Legal Team are fully mobilized and sensitized as initiated by Barrister Marcus Eyarhono to take this battle as far as the ECOWAS Court if the Nigerian Legal System fail us-but like in 2002, the Supreme Court will be in the best position to interpret the Constitution in this wise. It will have to decide if by section 40 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the fundamental right: …to assemble freely with other persons, and in particular to form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interest can be taken away by the same Constitution by a rogue amendment and inclusion of section 225? You cannot take away what you guarantee by law within the same law. That is an invitation to constitutional crisis. It can only happen in a Banana Republic.

“In conclusion, my campaign is continuing in earnest. We shall advance our People’s Program under the TEN CARE PROGRAM of the Party Manifestoes vigorously and vehemently. 

“We shall not Retreat, nor shall we SURRENDER our struggle to the corrupt tendencies of the ruling class. This is a battle for the enthronement of the Rule of Law in Nigeria using the Edo State governorship election in September as a litmus test,” Omoragbon stated.