The 36 states governors, through their respective Attorneys General and Commissioners for Justice, have dragged the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, before the Supreme Court over the failure of the Federal Government to fund the courts in the country with recurrent expenditure since May 5, 2009. It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, had in May 2020, signed Executive Order 10, which gave financial autonomy to the legislature and judiciary at the state level. The state governors argued that the Federal Government should also fund state courts if the president must make such order. The plaintiffs in the suit against the AGF, through their counsel, Mr Augustine Alegeh, SAN, are contending that the respondent refused to fun...
Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State on Thursday in Abuja asked the Court of Appeal to reverse the decision of the Bayelsa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which nullified the November 16, 2019 governorship poll in the state. Similarly, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have also approached the appellate court asking it to reverse the tribunal’s judgement. In their separate appeals, the appellants prayed the court to uphold that the conduct of the governorship election and its outcome which produced Mr Diri as governor complied with relevant laws. Arguing on behalf of Mr Diri, his counsel, Chris Uche, (SAN), told the court that the case of the first respondent (Advanced Nigerian Democratic Party (ANDP)) was statute barred as ...
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has explained why its National Working Committee (NWC) led by Adams Oshiomhole was sacked. The party, in documents filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja by its lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), said the sack of the Oshiomhole-led NWC was informed by the needs to end the various internal crises that pervaded the party’s rank and file. APC, in a counter-affidavit it filed against a suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/ CS/736/2020 by Kalu Agu, who claimed to be a member of the party in Abia State, said the crises that had characterised its affairs ended immediately the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, led by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni was put in place. It argued the suit by Agu was designed to destabilise the party’s current peace buildin...
Voice of Nigeria A prior presidential panel, which investigated the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, indicted him, a report has alleged. The report noted that the embattled EFCC boss had been unable to account for the interest generated from N550bn cash recovered from 2015 to 2020. The panel is separate from the panel led by a former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, which is currently probing Magu and other top officials of the agency. The chairman of the previous committee was Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim and the members were DIG Anthony Ogbizi; a member from Federal Ministry of Justice; Mualledi Dogondaji from the EFCC; Hassan Abdullahi from the DSS; an unnamed member from the Office of the Accountant General of the...
Reuters A Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday adjourned until July 21, to hear a suit challenging the legality of the conviction of Funke Akindele, her husband, Abdu-rasheed Bello, and 236 others. A Lagos-based Lawyer, Mr Olukoya Ogungbeje, had approached the court seeking a declaration that the law upon which Akindele and others were convicted was inconsistent with the 1999 constitution. Recall that Akindele, a popular actress; Bello, and others were arrested, tried and convicted for violating the Lagos State Infectious Diseases (Emergency Prevention) Regulations 2020. She was said to have hosted a birthday party in her Lagos residence to celebrate her husband’s birthday, an act viewed as a violation of the state government’s regulation on infectious disease prevention. Akindele rose to...
Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has assented to a bill repealing the law that created pension allowances and gratuities for former governors, deputy governors, assembly speakers and deputy speakers. Signing the bill into law in Owerri on Friday, the governor noted that the erstwhile law runs contrary to the 1999 Constitution as amended, which stipulates that a pensioner must have worked for at least 10 years and must be up to 45 years of age. He regretted a situation where some of the beneficiaries of such payments also get a huge amount of money as salaries and allowances in other positions they occupied, such as serving as senators or members of the House of Representatives. He said: “Apart from the inconsistency of such a law to the provisions of the ground norm, which is the Consti...
The House of Representatives has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Federal Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Aviation to ensure that local airlines enjoy the right of first refusal, where Nigerians need to be evacuated. This was sequel to the unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Mohammed Bello (APC-Kano) and eight other lawmakers, at the plenary on Tuesday. While moving the motion, Bello said that the two ministries and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID–19 had engaged foreign airlines to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Dubai, London and America, due to the COVID-19 currently ravaging the world. He listed the airlines to include Ethiopian Airlines, British Airways and Emirates. According to the lawmaker, the economic objective of Nigeria, under the 1999 Constitution, ...