A Legal Practitioner identified as Obianuju Ekejiuba was intercepted and arrested by the operatives of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Abuja while on her way to allegedly supply a parcel of 500grams of Indian hemp to consumers.

In what is now the new trend with people fainting while being interrogated, the NTA Reporter, Iliyasu Yakubu, asked the legal practitioner why she was into drug peddling, she simply slumped in response to his question.

She was led back to the office after officers of the NDLEA gave first aid treatment to her theatrics.

Thenigerialawyer

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday walked back its threat to suspend the September 19 governorship election in Edo State over threats of violence, explaining that the rethink was based on the implication of a constitutional crisis such a decision would trigger, if the election is not conducted.

The commission also said out of 14 items required for the preparations of the governorship election, nine had been implemented.

It justified deregistration of some political parties, explaining that they have no verifiable addresses while their telephone lines were traceable to business centres.

Speaking on a television programme yesterday, the INEC National Commissioner for Information and Chairman of Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, assured the electorate that the September 19 governorship election will go ahead as planned as the political parties have complied with INEC’s notice over threats of violence.

“INEC is progressively moving ahead with the September 19 Edo State governorship election. There are fourteen items for the election and nine of them have been implemented and none sensitive materials have been deployed. We are proceeding with the election as planned.

“The political parties on their own are complying with the commission’s warning on violence and we have also observed a change from the threats of violence. So, we are moving ahead with the election,” Okoye stated.
According to him, there will be a constitutional crisis if the election is not conducted because Section 178 (2) stipulates the timeline for the election to be conducted.

He stated that the Edo State governorship election must be conducted before October 13, or else, there would be a constitutional crisis.
He added that the political parties are “pulling out of their threats of violence and INEC is, therefore, going ahead with the governorship election as planned.”

Okoye, who explained why some of the registered political parties were deregistered, said in November 2019, the commission wrote the political parties but discovered that they had no verifiable addresses.

“When INEC put a telephone call to their registered telephone numbers, we discovered that the lines were ringing as telephone lines of some business centres and some of them have no verifiable office addresses,” he said.

He said most of the political parties were deregistered because they did not meet the constitutional requirements of Section 225(a), which states that any political party that did not score a 25 per cent vote in one local government election, or 25 per cent in any local government during a governorship election breached the law.

He said the law prescribed that it should be on votes scored by the political party and not the capacity to win votes, adding that capacity to win votes is futuristic, while the extant laws are insisting on actual votes scored.

He denied knowledge that INEC deregistered some of the political parties despite court orders barring the commission from doing so.

He denied that INEC deregistered any political party that is in any tribunal challenging the outcome of any election.

According to him, “INEC allowed for a full circle of the tribunals to be finished before it commenced the deregistration processes of the defaulting political parties.”

He said there was no record before it that one of the deregistered political parties, KOWA Party, could win a councillorship seat in any part of the country.

Edo Assembly Complex Unsafe for Sitting, Say 17 Lawmakers

The group of 17 members of Edo State House of Assembly, yesterday met in an undisclosed location and condemned alleged destruction of the legislative complex, describing it as unsafe for them to sit.

They also called on security agents to evict hoodlums from the complex in order to create a conducive atmosphere for the conduct of legislative business.

They, however, set up a five-man committee to investigate the removal of three local government chairmen by the state Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

They described the sacking of the chairmen as an infringement on their fundamental human rights, abuse of office and political victimisation.

Their speaker, Hon. Victor Edoror, said the presence of the hoodlums was a desecration of the House of Assembly, making it unsafe for them to sit.

According to the resolutions of the lawmakers sent to journalists via WhatsApp, the lawmakers called on the police to sack all those they said were occupying the Assembly complex.

The lawmakers also passed a resolution, mandating the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Zone 5, Mr. Dibal Yakadi; Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Johnson Kokumo; state Director of Department of State Services (DSS) and other relevant security agencies to evict the said hoodlums from the legislative complex.

Edoror said: “The state government under the guise of consolidated renovation has destroyed the roof of the building, making the place inhabitable to the extent that the hallowed chambers have been messed up and valuables carted away.

“We hereby ask the state government to desist from such act of vandalism of the building.

“The relevant security agencies – AIG, Zone 5; Commissioner of Police, and DSS are hereby mandated to evacuate the hoodlums before they turn the state and the assembly premises into a lawless state.”

He said the lawmakers also received three petitions brought before it through the law firm of Ehiogie West-Idahosa Law Chamber, signed by Mr. Emos Osawaru, over what he described as the unlawful removal of the Chairmen of Etsako East, Mr. Oremiyu Momoh; Esan West, Mr. Patrick Aguinede; and Etsako West, Mr. Yakubu Musah.

According to him, “The petitions described the removal of the three elected council chairmen as an infringement of their fundamental human rights and abuse of office and political victimisation on the part of Governor Godwin Obaseki

“The speaker, having listened to the content of the letter, set up a five-man committee to investigate the matter and report back to the house within two weeks before adjourning to Tuesday, August 18, 2020.”

The member, representing Uhumwonde State Constituency, Hon. Washington Osifo, is the chairman of the committee.

Other members are Hon. Ebenezer Okaka, Owan East; Hon. Nosayaba Okunbor, Orhiomwon East; Hon. Dumez Ugiagbe; and Hon. Christopher Okaeben, Oredo East.

As at press time, efforts to get Edo State government and of the state police command’s reactions proved abortive as their officials did not take their calls or reply the text messages sent to them.

Culled from Thisday

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja has fixed October 15 to deliver judgment in the suit challenging the power of the President forwarding the names of 11 nominees for appointment as judges of High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to the Senate for confirmation.

Justice Ekwo adjourned the matter, on Wednesday, for judgment after the parties have adopted their respective briefs of arguments and adumbrated on their submission.

A legal practitioner, Oladimeji Ekengba the plaintiff in the matter had filed the suit in which he made the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the President of the Senate, the clerk of the Senate, Chief of Justice of Nigeria and the National Judicial Council respondents.

Adopting his brief of argument, Ekengba urged the Court to hold that the procedure adopted by the President who forwarded the names of the 11 nominees recommended to him for appointment as judges of the Federal Capital Territory to the Senate for confirmation is unconstitutional.

He urged the Court to determine whether, by virtue of the provisions of section 256(2)of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has power to appoint, screen, confirm persons recommended as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

Whether by virtue of the provisions of section 256(2)of the Constitution the President can abdicate his duty and responsibilities to the Senate for the appointment of persons as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

Whether the forwarding of the names of Abubakar Useni Musa, Edward Okpe, B. Abubakar, M. Francis, Jude Nwabueze, Josephine Enobi, Christopher Opeyemi, Mohammed Idris, Hassan Maryam Aliyu, Fashola Akeem Adebowale and Hamza Mu’azu all of whom recommended by the National Judicial Council to the President and judges of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory can be subjected to the Senate for screening and confirmation contrary to and in breach of section 256(1) of the Constitution.

The plaintiff further prayed the court for a declaration that by virtue of the provisions of section 256(2) of the Constitution, the Senate lacks the power to appoint, screen and confirm persons recommended as judges of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, who is not head of the court.

He urged the court to declare the purported appointment as unconstitutional and void.

He also urged the court to hold that the appointment of the 11 new judges can not be subject to Senate confirmation.

But, Tinuola Babalola who represented the Attorney General of the federation and the President urged the court to dismiss the suit for lacking in merit.

She said that the plaintiff had no (locus standi ) legal right to institute the action.

Other defendants’ lawyers also raised objection to the suit insisting that the plaintiff lack locus standi while the National Judicial Council asked the Court to remove its name as a respondent because it has done nothing wrong.

A former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia on Wednesday honoured the invitation of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) over his comment that government is culpable for the ongoing killings and in Southern Kaduna.

Mailafia was released a few minutes past 6 pm

The DSS had summoned Mailafia for questioning after he claimed on a radio programme that a governor from the northern part of Nigeria is a leader of the Boko Haram sect.

Dr Obadiah arrived at the Plateau State Command of the DSS Jos at exactly 12:45 pm along with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Pius Akumbo and Plateau State chairman of Nigeria Bar Association, Saleh Bawa.

Before his arrival at the premises of the DSS, the vicinity was besieged by his loyalists mostly members of different socio-cultural groups within the Middle Belt, including members of the Middle Belt Forum and Association of Middle Belt Ethnic Nationalities.

As at 3:08 pm on Wednesday, Dr Obadiah and his lawyer, Pius Akumbo SAN are still with the men of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) in Jos while his supporters keep waiting within the vicinity.

The battle for the soul of the University of Lagos continues unrestrained. The Governing Council of the university came all the way to Abuja to meet and sack the sitting Vice Chancellor, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe. He resisted and fired his own public notice discountenancing removal.

Not done, the Registrar of the university and Secretary of council, Mr. Oladejo Azeez, believed to have the full backing of its chairman, Mr. Wale Babalakin SAN, issued another statement naming Professor Theophilus Soyombo as acting vice chancellor.

In the messy mix, steps in major and loud stakeholder, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which describes the action of the council as an illegal contraption. ASUU’s position changes the face of the battle, and it promises to be a long drawn one.

Major stakeholders, the students are on edge but side with Ogundipe.

School owner, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Education, says the council has the power to hire and fire. Ben Goong, its spokesman say, ““While the Ministry awaits for the proper briefing from the university authorities, it is important to reaffirm that council has the power to hire and fire but that due process must be followed in doing so.”

Azeez statement eads: “My attention has been drawn to a document circulating under the hand and signature of the former Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos, Professor Oluwatoyin T. Ogundipe, FAS. The letter purports to deny his removal by the Governing Council of University at its Emergency Meeting of Wednesday, August 12, 2020.

“For the avoidance of doubt, I am in my capacity as Registrar and Secretary to Council the only custodian of the minutes of Council and the authorizing officer on behalf of Council to issue official statements pertaining to all Council Affairs.

“Members of the public are hereby advised to totally disregard the statement attributed to the said former Vice Chancellor. The position remains that he was lawfully removed by the Governing Council at a meeting fully attended by all Council members.

“I also wish to use the opportunity to inform members of the public that Council at the said meeting duly appointed Professor Theophilus Omololu Soyombo of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos as Vice Chancellor of the University in an Acting Capacity.”

Ogundipe had said that “his purported removal is an act of illegality and cannot stand as it is in clear violation of UNILAG Act as amended by the universities (miscellaneous provisions) amendment Act, 2003.”

He urged members of the UNILAG community and the general public to disregard the information about his removal.

Students say they have confidence in Ogundipe and his style of leadership since he came on board as the vice-chancellor of the university two years ago, adding that his administration follows due process in all its activities.

The two members council, Professors Olukemi Odukoya, and Bola Oboh, lays the blame for on-going drama squarely Babalakin.

They insist due process was not followed as Ogundipe was not given the opportunity to defend himself.