The Chairman of the Sokoto State Ulama Forum of Izala, Abubakar Usman Mabera, has said any Muslim lawyer who defends the musician sentenced to death in Kano State, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, has renounced Islam.

Sharif-Aminu was sentenced to death by hanging on August 10 after he was found guilty of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad.

TheNigerialawyer had reported how the development stirred an outcry among many Nigerians.

Despite the public outcry, the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria asked Kano state government to execute the court judgment.

In response, the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, said he would not hesitate to sign Sharif-Aminu’s death warrant if he failed to file an appeal within 30 days.

The convict has however appealed against the court’s decision.

Mabera, while speaking in Sokoto at the weekend, said blasphemy is a capital offence in Islam of which punishment is death, and that since a competent court has found the singer guilty, he cannot be pardoned.

He asked Muslim lawyers to be careful in defending the convict, adding that “any lawyer who comes out to defend him has renounced his Islamic faith”.

The cleric also asked the Muslim faithful to seek God’s forgiveness because the prevailing setbacks in the country are signs of wrongdoing.

”For all indications, God is not happy with us and we have to repent because he alone is the answer to our woes,” he said.

THE Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has seized the assets of Hydro Hotels Limited over N600 million debt.

The takeover of the company’s assets was confirmed at the weekend by Jude Nwauzor, the Head of Corporate Communications Department at the government recovery agency.

Affirming the decision of a Federal High Court in Minna, Niger State, the Court of Appeal, through Justice Habeeb A. O. Abiru, Justice Abubakar Datti Yahaya and Justice Amina Audi Wambai, the court granted AMCON judgment against Hydro Hotels Limited and its Chief Promoter, Alhaji Isah Mohammed Ladan, on the debt.

The appellant court also ordered the forfeiture of moveable and immoveable assets of Hydro Hotels Limited and Ladan.

The court further granted AMCON full possession and outright power of sale of the properties. AMCON has been at work since President Muhammadu Buhari signed the amended AMCON Act into law. The amendment provides the government agency additional powers to go after its obligors, majority of who have remained recalcitrant for years.

Armed with the court order, AMCON, through its appointed Debt Recovery Agent, Ajunwa and Co., took effective possession of four top properties of the obligor.

These include the properties at Plot 165/166 MTP. 95A, measuring 0.300 hectares at Farm Center, Tunga Ward, Near New Secretariat, Minna, Niger State; Plots 173 and 174 MTP. 95A, consisting of 0.414 hectares; Property at 1 Wawa Road, New Bussa, Niger State, and property at 82 Garkuwas Residence, New Bussa, Niger State.

The case of Hydro Hotels Limited and its promoter has been prolonged as the loan was purchased by AMCON during the first phase of Eligible Bank Assets (EBA) purchases from Finbank (now FCMB) in 2010.

Due to the lack of adequate collateral, AMCON said its investigation on Ladan revealed other hidden properties belonging to the obligor in Niger State, which were hitherto not known to AMCON.

The agency’s move to expand investigation and trace additional assets, it stressed, is in line with Section 49 (1) & (2) of the AMCON Act 2019 (as amended).

Security agencies have stepped up surveillance of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the two contiguous states of Nasarawa and Kogi to forestall planned attacks by the Boko Haram and Darul Salam.

The security beef-up followed an intelligence report that suspected terrorists were planning a grand offensive on the FCT and the two states.

The Nigeria Customs Service, in a circular signed by Comptroller (Enf HQ), Mr. H. A. Sabo, and dated September 4, had raised the alarm that Boko Haram insurgents had camped in and around the FCT and planning to attack selected targets in the nation’s capital.

It had called on Customs personnel to be security conscious all the time.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), however, reassured the residents of FCT and other adjoining states that the armed forces and other security agencies were on the red alert to combat crime and ensure effective surveillance.

The FCT Police Command also said it had activated intelligence gathering mechanism and crime-fighting measures to protect lives and property in the FCT.

Our correspondent gathered at the weekend that massive troop deployment in the affected states, which began last Wednesday, had been intensified while enhanced security cordon was thrown around the nation’s capital.

Military checkpoints, jointly manned by police and intelligence officials, were mounted on Keffi, Lokoja-Abuja road up to Gwagwalada and other entry points into the FCT.

There was also more deployment of police patrol teams in strategic locations while plain-clothes detectives had been assigned to scan the FCT.

A statement by the Defence Headquarters reassured residents of FCT and other adjoining states that the armed forces and other security agencies were on the red alert to combat crime and ensure effective surveillance of the FCT and other states of the country.

It said: “This is imperative sequel to a purported memorandum from the Nigeria Customs Service warning its staff on a possible attack on the FCT. The Armed Forces of Nigeria, working together with other security and response agencies particularly the core intelligence agencies, hereby assure the general public that preventive and preemptive intelligence are ongoing. The general public is thus advised to go about their lawful businesses undeterred.

“Furthermore, the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies wish to assure the general public that the offensives against the common enemies of this nation will not cease until normalcy is restored in all parts of the country.”

The statement signed by the Coordinator of the Directorate of Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, urged the general public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to security agencies.

The FCT Police Command also said it had deployed intelligence gathering mechanism and crime-fighting measures to secure the FCT.

It said, in a statement, that the command was also working in synergy with other security agencies in its ongoing effort to strength security in FCT.

The command said it was committed to the protection of lives and property and forestall any act that could lead to a likely security breach.

The statement, signed by Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Anjuguri Manzah, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), urged FCT residents to report any suspicious persons or activities in and around their neighbourhoods at the nearest police station.

The recent hike in the price hike negatives the principles of the Nigerian constitution, Alliance for Survival of COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) has said.

The group, a coalition of over 80 labour and civil rights groups, led by a human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, has also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to live up to his responsibility.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Chairman of the coalition and radical Lagos lawyer, Falana insisted that the increase was illegal and should be annulled.

ASCAB said the hike will increase the tempo of anger, frustration and desperation of Nigerians who are daily being pushed to the extreme of tolerance of the government’s extremist socio-economic programmes

The group said handing over the mainstream of the economy to the mood swing of global economic forces was like putting Nigeria on auto pilot, which might lead to a crash.

Falana said Nigerians have been stretched beyond their reasonable elastic limit with the ceaseless imposition of policies that push the masses to cliff edge of livelihood.

“The federal government has taken yet another illegal decision. Nigerians are not expected to obey illegal orders,” Falana said

He cited the Supreme Court judgment that vested the right to increased fuel price in the hands of the Minister of Petroleum, a position presently being held by Buhari

He said contrary to the provisions in the constitution, the federal government had been using the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to fix the prices of petroleum products, adding that following the recent challenge of the usurpation of the powers of the Minister of Petroleum Resources to fix the pump price by the ASCAB, the federal government decided to transfer the power to the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC).

He said “the PPMC announced a new Ex-depot price of N151.56 for petrol last week. In justifying the illegal and insensitive increase in the pump price of fuel, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva was quoted to have said that the government is no longer in the business of fixing prices for petroleum products, saying “we have stepped back. Our focus now is on protecting the interest of the consumers and making sure that marketers are not”

ASCAB faulted the minister, accusing him of reinforcing an illusion that the increase is without the prior consent of the federal government.

He said in the same vein, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has publicly confirmed the decision of the federal government to hand over the duty of the Minister of Petroleum Resources to the so-called global market forces.

ASCAB recalled that while speaking from Abuja during a web seminar organised by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), last week, she explained that all tough measures adopted by the federal government were geared towards weathering the current headwinds posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to her, “what that means is that the price of refined petrol will be determined by the global price of crude oil, so the price will keep changing according to how the global market operates.”

ASCAB insisted that decision of the federal government to abdicate its responsibility to fix the price of fuel is the height of official impunity, which should not be tolerated in any democratic society.

ASCAB said “indeed, it is a reckless violation of Section 6 (1) of the Petroleum Act, which provides that: “The Minister may by order published in the Federal Gazette fix the prices at which petroleum products or any particular class or classes thereof may be sold in Nigeria or in any particular part or parts thereof.”

ASCAB cited the case of Bamidele Aturu versus Attorney-General of the Federation (unreported suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/591/2009), where the Federal High Court declared illegal and unconstitutional the policy decision of the federal government to deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry contrary to the combined effect of the provisions of the Price Control Act and the Petroleum Act.

According to the learned trial judge, Adamu Bello J. (as he then was):

“It seems to me that a combined reading of the provisions of sections 4 and 6 of the Police Control Act and the Petroleum Act leaves one in no doubt that the control of and regulation of prices of petroleum products among others, is a legal duty imposed on the government of the Federation acting through its relevant functionaries, that is, Minister of Petroleum Resources and the minister in charge of commerce by the two acts of the National Assembly referred to, so any decision by the government to deregulate the downstream sector as it affects the fixing of price of petroleum products must contend with those enactments. In other words, any decision to deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry by not fixing the prices of products while these extant laws remain in force and has not been amended or abrogated, will be in conflict with those enactments and therefore be illegal.”

ASCAB said since the judgments and orders of the Federal High Court are binding on the federal government as well as all authorities and persons in Nigeria pursuant to section 287 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 the decision of the PPMC to increase the price of petrol is contemptuous, illegal, null and void.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode, has advocated for the domestication of the arbitration process in Nigeria due to the cost involved in doing it overseas.

Kayode, SAN, said this during an interview at Sunrise Daily program at Channels Television.

He said, “we must reorientate ourselves about the understanding of arbitration and the implication, and as I said also, seek to domesticate it because most of the government-related arbitration are done either in Paris or in London or somewhere else;”

He mentioned some of the challenges of doing arbitration outside the country to include financial cost and difficulty in obtaining visa among others. He, therefore, advised that arbitration should rather be carried out in Nigeria

“it costs money. You need to get a visa for instance to go to London. What if you couldn’t get it? And it costs money to move up and down. Why not do it in Abuja or do it Lagos which will be easier for us.

“And I do not think based on the doctrine of Party equality, if you are really the key person like in P&ID case, there is no reason why this Arbitration should not have been in Abuja.

“But if we continue to put it in London then you know that it costs money to go there. And sometimes you don’t get visa as a said. If you don’t get money then you don’t move on with the case.” Kayode said

The learned silk added that there is now virtual arbitration which can also be taken advantage of.

“But there is a reprieve because now we are doing virtual arbitration so you could actually sit down here and do your arbitration online whether the arbitration is based in London,” He said

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has confirmed that an appeal has been filed against the conviction of Yahaya Shariff Aminu who was recently sentenced to death by the Upper Sharia Court, Kano

This is contained in a statement signed by the NBA National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Rapuchukwu Ernest Nduka, made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL) titled “RE: NBA WADES INTO THE REPORTED CASE OF REFUSAL BY THE FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL CENTRE TO ALLOW LAWYERS ACCESS TO YAHAYA SHARIF-AMINU, WHO WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH BY THE KANO STATE UPPER SHARIA COURT.”

Nduka said, “It will be recalled that on the 2nd day of September 2020, the Nigerian Bar Association went on a fact-finding mission to the Federal Correctional Centre Kano, where the fact-finding team confirmed that Yahaya Sharif-Aminu had been denied access to lawyers and thus was unable to take steps in appealing the death sentence on him, by an Upper Sharia Court.

“The Nigerian Bar Association has now been informed by Kola Alapini Esq, that an Appeal has now been filed on behalf of Yahaya, challenging the sentence of the Upper Sharia Court. The said Appeal No. K/37CA/2020 was filed on the 3rd day of September 2020 and duly served on the Attorney General of Kano State. It has been confirmed that the Attorney General of Kano State has since received the said notice of appeal.”

NBA recalls that the governor of Kano State has vowed to sign death warrant for Shariff’s execution if Shariff fails to appeal against the conviction. It said it is now expecting the stay of Shariff’s execution until he exhausts his right of appeal.

“It will also be recalled that the Governor of Kano State in a press statement had stated that he will be constrained to sign the warrant of execution in respect of the judgement of the Upper Sharia Court if there is no appeal against the said judgement.
It is expected that the execution of the judgement and the signing of the warrant of execution will be stayed in order to allow Yahaya exhaust his constitutional right of Appeal.”

NBA emphasized on right of appeal and legal representation of accused persons and vowed to monitor Shariff’s appeal process

“The Nigerian Bar Association reiterates that every accused person is entitled to be given the requisite opportunity to exercise his constitutional right of appeal and his right to be represented by a lawyer of his choice.

“The Nigerian Bar Association shall keenly monitor the process.” the statement concluded

As Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress (TUC) and relevant organs of Labour are preparing to embark on strike over hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, from N148 to N161 per litre, the Presidency has said the removal of subsidy is long overdue.

According to a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, to stop the mismanagement of taxpayer money, eliminate corruption associated with subsidies on petroleum products, power, fertilizer among others, the decision to implement long-delayed reforms, withdraw and allow the market to determine their prices are tough decisions the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had to make to deliver dividends of democracy.

According to the Presidential Media aide, the current administration is facing multiple challenges along with COVID-19, which include low earnings, near-collapse of the oil market, floods, threats of terrorism and banditry but that a good government must take decisions for the people’s good.

The statement read thus:

The All Progressives Congress, (APC) came to power in 2015 defeating an incumbent administration amidst very high expectations from President Muhammadu Buhari.

Five years on, the administration has worked hard to meet many expectations, but still, there are certain tough decisions which had to be taken to put back the country on the path of sustainable development.

To stop the mismanagement of taxpayer money, eliminate corruption associated with subsidies on petroleum products, power, fertilizer among others, the administration took the decision to implement long-delayed reforms, withdraw and allow the market to determine their prices.

Subsidy removal in these sectors had long been foreseen by successive administrations as game changers in search of solutions to move forward with the nation’s development. These are reforms that are necessary and overdue. Blueprint upon blueprint, timeline upon timeline had come and gone but courage to take bold decisions was not there.

Over the last few days, one claim acquiring a potent resonance with the online community, sections of the labour movement and the opposition is that the actions are ill-timed and ill-advised.

There is nothing new in the fact that the country is today fighting multiple challenges along with COVID-19, including low earnings, near-collapse of the oil market, floods, threats of terrorism and banditry but the challenges notwithstanding, a good government must take decisions for the people’s good.

As President, Muhammadu Buhari takes these difficult decisions, both popular and unpopular and as a leader because he is demonstrating the right courage to take such decisions as they become necessary in view of present circumstances.

History will be kind to President Buhari because in addition to his amazing ability to command votes, he will be remembered as the President who made real contributions to economic and overall national development by eliminating the evils of corruption embedded in subsidies.

In any democracy, the most important certificate in governance is acceptance by the people and, with the support of ordinary Nigerians, President Buhari has shown a rare determination to carry out the bold initiatives as these ones driven by nothing other than the greatest good for the greatest number of people. In carrying out the reforms, the President needs the support and understanding of all citizens-inclusive of the opposition parties, the labour movement and civil society groups.

In these challenging times, the President is pushing development goals not politics and history will judge him in favourable terms rather than his critics in the new media and the opposition.