2019 election: Tribunal orders service of another petition on Buhari

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) has ordered
that President Muhammadu Buhari be served a petition, challenging
his victory, through the National Legal Adviser of the All
Progressives Congress (APC).

A three-man panel of the tribunal, led by Justice Abdu Aboki,
gave the order on Friday in a ruling on an ex-parte motion filed by
the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and its presidential
candidate, Pastor Aminchi Habu.

The tribunal ordered that copies of all the processes filed by
the petitioners be served on President Buhari through the APC’s
National Legal Adviser at the party’s national secretariat in
Abuja.

Petitioners lawyer, Aliyu Lemu, while arguing the motion, told
the tribunal that if the bailiff had problem serving President
Buhari in his office.

He said it was necessary that the President, who is listed as
the second respondent be served through substituted means so that
their petition could be heard within the stipulated 180 days.

Petitioners are, in the petition, praying the tribunal to
invalidate the 2019 presidential election.

They also want the tribunal to order a rerun, for omitting the
name of its party’s presidential candidate from the ballot papers
used in conducting the election

AAMEI: Keeping Nature Alive

By Abdulsalam Mahmud

The environment is a picturesque and serene habitat created for
human and animal dwelling. It is an abode where man also carries
out his other beneficial socio-economic activities. But, it is been
threatened by serious ecological problems, seasoned eco-journalists
and environmental activists, have said.

They however, recommended that concerted efforts must be made by
both Government and relevant stakeholders in the environmental
sector to halt the spate of degradation occasioned by unregulated
and over-exploitative activities of man.

They spoke individually at the African Arts and Media Earth
Initiative (AAMEI) 2008/19 Academy, which held at Lufasi Nature
Park, in Lagos State.

This year’s edition which was themed: “Development and Nature:
Reporting the Connection,” was anchored by the organisation’s
Founder and an award-winning environmental journalist with
Television Continental (TVC) TV station, Ugochi Oluigbo.

She was assisted by her organisation’s co-Founder, Bunmi Obanawu
of Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE).

AAMEI, whose catchphrase is equipping influencers to amplify
conversation around the ecosystem, uses art, entertainment as well
as the traditional and new media to explore and create
environmental conversations about the changing ecosystem.

The organisation also trains, supports and equip environmental
journalists, artists and social influencers in different sectors
with tools and knowledge.

Mr. Michael Simire, who opened the floodgate of discussions at
the two-day event, listed climate change, water and sanitation
issues, marine and coastal management, agriculture and biosafety,
waste management, environmental health, Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), land degradation, pollution, Disaster Risks
Management (DRM), nature conservation together with urban
development, as areas of global environmental concern.

Simire, the Editor-in-Chief of Environews, while speaking on
“The Mandates of Environmental Journalists,” advised
eco-journalists to write factual, objective and balanced stories,
documentaries and feature articles on the impacts of deforestation,
burning of fossil fuels, greenhouse emissions, gas flaring, and oil
spillage, among other activities that are ravaging Nigeria’s
ecosystem.

While the Editor of African News Network (ANN), Tunde Osho, in
his extempore lecture on “Era of Fake News: Maintaining the
standard,” cautioned young reporters against disseminating
falsehood, and malicious news.

He urged them to go extra-mile and verify any piece of
information they receive, saying “you must be fact-checkers who
distill inconvertible facts from blatant falsehood in any
information.”

The ANN Boss, added that “though fake news looks so juicy and
‘unbelievably true’ on the face value, journalists who are peddlers
of rumours and outright lies risk tarnishing their good reputation,
and professional integrity.”

Jennifer Igwe, an award-winning journalist, highlighted the
significance of having a human-angle perspective to reports on
environmental issues, asking funnily: “Any environmental journalist
who is not adventurous, is that one a journalist?”

She noted that been adventurous helps journalists to quickly
identify ‘unique and beautiful’ angles to write reports, urging the
participants to read widely so as to broaden their horizon.

The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) news anchor, in her
“Identifying the Stories” discussion, added: “It is imperative that
you relate cordially with environmental activists, and experts in
the field. This will enable one to know more about topical
environmental issues and the effective solutions to address them.
Environmental activists are change-advocates, hence they should be
fair, accurate, balanced and objective in their reportage. They
should verify information from credible and reliable sources. More
importantly, they should be more concerned about writing
impact-making stories on environmental problems.”

Why do you need investigative journalism? Mr. Fisayo Soyombo,
the Managing Editor of Sahara Reporters, said it is to uncover
shocking and ‘powerful’ evidence(s) about negative ills, mysterious
events, and controversial issues in the society.

Soyombo, an Opinion Editorial (Op-ed) contributor for
Al-Jazeera, drew a distinction between undercover and investigative
journalism, saying “undercover journalism reports are also
investigative journalism reports. But not all investigative reports
are undercover in nature.”

On the hazard of media investigation, he said reporters who
write stories to expose acts of corruption by government officials
risked been murdered, harassed, or assaulted physically, to mention
a few.

“As an investigative reporter, you must have plan B and C in
case the main strategy you adopted for doing an investigation fails
or you run into a trouble,” noted Soyombo.

Another discussant, Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, pointed out that
human beings, their exploitative tendency and harmful activities,
is the chief reason why many species of plants and animals have
gone into extinction across the world.

The Founder of Lufasi Park, disclosed that about 12 million
tonnes of waste plastics are deposited into seas and oceans by
rainfall, flooding and erosion. A situation, he maintained, causes
severe plastic pollution.

“It is heartwarming that prominent world leaders have also lent
their influential voices to the campaign on tackling climate
change. Prince Charles of Wales stated at a previous UN General
Assembly gathering that tackling global warming is the greatest
challenge facing the world today. While Bill Gates, one of the
world’s richest, said that climate change is a terrible problem,
and it absolutely needs to be solved. It deserves to be a huge
priority,” the fairly-complexioned Majekodunmi said.

The art of wildlife photography, according to Dr. Babajide
Agboola, is more than meets the eyes.

But wildlife, he said, refers to undomesticated species of flora
and fauna, advocating for what he called ‘Corporate Environmental
Responsibility (CSR)’.

He however, expressed dismay that some financial and other
profit-making institutions that use animals such as elephant,
eagle, lion, birds and many others, as part of their logo, have
done little or nothing about conserving the endangered animals’
species.

Agboola, a conservation ecologist and wildlife photographer,
emphasized the need for photojournalists to carry out diligent
research to know the aggressive features of various species in
wildlife habitats so as not to get harmed in the course of their
job.

He added: “Always observe and carefully track animals or the
subjects you intend to give shots. Then be wary of animals’ threat
zones. You must also be patient while trying to get the favourite
shots you wish to take of wildlife animals. Among other things,
know the techniques of photography and master your camera very
well.”

The wildlife photographer, then made a slide presentation of
both action and portrait picture of an African mushroom, giraffe,
antelope, black heron, double sprawl falcoline, snake, white
floated monkey (which is only found in Nigeria), eagle, falcon,
black weaver, bearded barbet, speckle Pidgeon, spider and other
exotic wildlife animals.

The duo of Gbemile Oluwatosin, and Ajibade Adedotun,
participants at the workshop, also showcased a collection of their
wildlife photographs.

Humans, Mr. Nnimo Bassey, opined are the most destructive
species of animals, saying they contribute to the about 80 percent
loss of biodiversity across diverse habitats.

While discussing “Nature and Development” in a Skype video call,
he emphasized the need for eco-reporters to seek legal action
against persons who engage in activities that degrade
environment.

The renowned environmentalist bemoaned the indiscriminate gas
flaring taking place in Niger Delta, saying the region is among the
top ten most polluted areas in the world.

He called on stakeholders to promote ‘Climate Smart
Agriculture’, among others, to tackle looming global food
insecurity crisis.

The Founder of Climate Action Nigeria, Mr. Kelvin Akoje, on his
part, said effective and timely response to environmental issues
will help to mitigate the impacts of disasters such as flooding,
erosion, and even the age-long Farmers/Herders’ clashes.

Shedding more light on “Ecological Governance and Policies”,
Akoje tasked journalists to hold policymakers in the Environment
Ministry accountable, while ensuring that funds allocated for
ecological problems are judiciously utilized.

The participants, on the second day of the workshop, visited the
abandoned Lekki Beach Resort project at the Free Trade Zone area in
Ibeju Lekki.

During the field trip, a dredger was seen ‘rainbowing’ scooped
sands along the bank of the ocean at the resort, while some giant
ships were packed at the dock.

Host of the academy, Mrs. Oluigbo, underscored the importance of
forging a symbiotic relationship between nature and development,
through robust environmental activism and media advocacy.

She tasked participants to champion the course of a safer,
uncontaminated and healthier global environment through writing
stories, investigative reports, features and articles about
poisonous activities that are endangering the ecosystem, for
Government and policymakers’ intervention.

“Moving forward, social media groups will be created to enable
the AAMEI fellows constantly interact with us and partner one
another. It will enable our fellows discuss about environmental
problems and how to go about reporting or writing about them,” said
Mrs. Oluigbo.

The participants also watched a video documentary on the effects
of oil spillage at Ogoniland and other areas in the Niger Delta
region, showcasing how aquatic life, together with fertile soils
were poisoned by devastating spills.

Highpoint of the workshop was a tour across facilities at the 20
hectares Park to catch a glimpse of animals and plants at the
donkeys’ stable, monkeys’ cage, fern garden, the helmeted guinea
fowls, ducks, rabbits and goats enclosures, anthill, the African
spurred tortoise, civet (a cat-like animal), the Park’s Village,
Forest Bathing area and Lake Nora and Moses (two artificial water
bodies).

In a chat with PRNigeria, Miss Toluwalase Ogunleye, a
post-graduate student of Environmental System and Climate Change at
the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), and
delegate to the workshop, said she garnered first-hand experience
on how to ‘tenderly’ care for her environment, while safeguarding
it from wanton destruction.

“I have learnt how to report and tell environmental stories not
just from the scientific prism, but through a human angle. This
will go a long way to create awareness about the danger of
destroying our natural ecosystem,” she added.

Abdulsalam Mahmud is a staff Writer with PRNigeria