Revers rerun: More details on why Federal Court questioned IGP’s investigation panel

Nyesom Wike

Evelyn Okakwu

An Abuja division of the Federal High Court on Tuesday described as unconstitutional the investigation panel set up to access allegations of violence in the December 10 2016 election rerun in Rivers state.

Delivering a ruling on an application filed by the Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike, the Presiding Judge, Gabriel Kolawole, said the panel established by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris is “not only unknown to law, but equally unknown to Nigeria’s Criminal justice system”.

Mr. Wike had approached the court with 12 grounds of appeal seeking the nullification of the investigation panel set up by the Inspector General of police, Ibrahim Idris.

The panel had as part of its 15 members, officers of Nigeria’s State Security Service

Mr. Wike’s lawyer, Mike Ozehkome contended that the manner adopted by the panel in the conduct of its investigation suggests that the police force had a pre-determined notion of the outcome of their findings.

According to Mr. Kolawole, the section four of the police act which empowers the force to conduct investigations into allegations of security threats, does not however, permit the Police Force to carry out such an investigation in a manner unknown to law.

“Let me state that by the sheer provision of section (4) which provides for the general duty of the police, it is the legitimate exercise of the first defendant’s (IGP) power as the one who commands the police force to delegate the authority to conduct investigation into any matter regarding his officers, with the permission of the President. This is only feasible when the delegation of the powers is being done and confined to police officers under his command. When such delegation involves officers from a sister agency such as the second defendant, (SSS) the question remains whether the first defendant has statutory powers to constitute such a joint special investigation panel,” said Mr. Kolawole.

He added that the constitution which he has examined does not have any specific provision by which the first defendant will be said to have the legal provision to set up such a joint special investigation panel.

“It is my view that the special joint investigation panel which the first defendant set up, in so far as it was not limited to the Nigerian police force over which the first defendant has its command, but extends to the second defendant. It is to this extent that the said investigation panel is unknown to law and not known to the Nigerian criminal justice system. It is sufficient for me that the special joint investigation panel is not only unknown to law but would prove to be an extraction whose existence would create legal doubt to be put forward as a valid legal document”.

Mr. Kolawole however refused the application to set aside the resolutions of the panel.

He advised that the Attorney General of the Federation or such organ as may be required to use the said resolution considers same as bases for further investigation rather than taking decisions based on the final resolution of the panel.

The judge who had stated that no constitution could be regarded as perfect, globally, however lamented the fact that state governors are not empowered by constitution to oversee security agencies within their control.

Mr. Kolawole said although the purpose of his decision is not to serve the bases for arguments about the nation’s federalism but condemned the statutory provisions of the Nigerian laws which, “Which on the one hand clothes state governors as chief security officers of the state and on the on the hand deprives them of the state apparatus to implement such powers.

Chief Medical Director, four others remanded in prison for alleged fraud

 

Acting |EFCC Chairman, Magu

Chief Medical Director, four others remanded in prison for alleged fraud

Evelyn Okakwu

The Federal High Court, in Cross Rivers State on Tuesday remanded the Chief Medical Director of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital and four others in prison for alleged fraud and abuse of office.

The CMD, Thomas Agan, and the other accused, Offor Jonan; Head of Works and Engineering and Francis Utu who is the Administrative Officer and head of Legal Services at the hospital, as well as two other contractors; Okocha Anthony and Emmanuel Nkim are alleged to have conspired and rigged the bidding process for a contract, in contravention of the procurement act 2007.

According to a statement signed the EFCC’s head of media and publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, Messrs Agan, Jonan and Utu were alleged to have used their positions to illegally influence the award of contract for the purchase of hospital facilities to Messrs Anthony and Nkim, through companies belonging to the contractors.

The companies, Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria Limited as well as Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited were allegedly used to perpetrate the fraud, resulting in the diversion of over N85 million.

Count one of the charge reads, “That you Prof. Thomas U. Agan  as Chief Medical Director, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Offor Jonah Offor as Head of Works and Engineering, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Francis I. Utu as Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Legal Services, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Okocha Anthony being the alter ego of Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria Limited and Emmanuel Etta Nkim being the Alter Ego of Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited sometime in the month of October 2015  in Calabar, Cross Rivers State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did conspire amongst yourselves to bid rig for the purchase of one Advance Life Support Ambulance vehicle and one Toyota Coaster Bus 30 seater to Messrs Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited and Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria Limited contrary to Section 58(4) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 58(5) of the same Act”.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge. After the pleas were taken the defence counsel,  Mba Ukwenyi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, made an oral application for the bail of his client which was refused by the court.

The presiding judge; I.E Ekwo adjourned the case till May, 8 to 12, 2017.

We regret voting for Buhari in 2015, Chibok community says

Esther Yakubu, mother of the young gril who spoke in the latest BH vedeo, calling on government for help

 

People from Chibok community resident in Abuja and members of the #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG), movement on Monday said they regretted voting for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election.

They expressed their regrets on in Abuja at a protest rally over the inability of the government to take measures to rescue the over 200 school girls kidnapped by the terrorist group, Boko Haram, in their school in Chibok, Borno State, in 2014.

Boko Haram had last week released a video of the girls who are still alive and said they were willing to trade the girls in exchange for their members in detention in various prisons.

One of the girls, Maida Yakubu, who also spoke in the video asked their parents to beg the Nigerian government to accede to the demand of Boko Haram so that they would be released.

Speaking during the protest on Monday, the chairman of the Chibok Community, Hosea Tsambido said members of the Community and BBOG voted massively for Mr. Buhari as against his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, who they voted for in 2011.

“They tell us that our girls seen in the latest video was merely an arrangement,” Mr. Tsambido said. “No one has spoken to the family of any of the Chibok girls since the last video was released, by the terrorists. We regret our votes. We regret it.”

Speaking further, the community leader said, “We were promised that the president would visit Sambisa, after becoming president. We were also told that within two weeks our girls would be rescued.

“But over one year now, there is no tangible statement about our girls. The presidency has stated instead that it is confused.”

The BBOG group said it was embarking on a fresh 14-day campaign to re-energize the clamour for the rescue of the girls.

The protesters were heading for the Presidential villa to speak with the president as they usually do during their protests.

They were however, stopped by a combined team of security personnel at the entrance of the three arms zone.

The group said the current administration has ran out of excuses regarding the return of the Chibok girls.

“No more excuses,” they chanted several times.

The protest was still ongoing as at the time of this report.

A pro-Buhari group, the Buhari Media Support Group, (BMSG), had appealed to the “BringBackOurGirls” (BBOG) to shelve today’s demonstration to the Presidential Villa.

The group in a statement by one of its members, Muhammad Labbo, said that was necessary to avoid complications and anything capable of undermining efforts of the government to rescue the girls unharmed.

Mr. Labbo noted that playing politics with the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls was unhelpful and embarrassing to the government and counterproductive to the silent efforts of the military to rescue them.

‪He said the government would take serious exception to the mobilisation of the parents of the kidnapped girls to score political advantage or exploiting the tragedy to play to the gallery.

Mr. Labbo said dragging the parents of the victims to Abuja for endless demonstrations would only compound a bad situation, and give them the impression that a rescue mission “is as simple as abc.”

‪According to him, the BringBackOur Girls Group should not claim monopoly of patriotism and humanity over the government by seeking to undermine the silent efforts of the military to map out strategies to safely rescue the girls.

‪He said if there was a formula for rescuing the girls within 24 hours unharmed, government would have done that, reminding the Bring Back Our Girls group of the complexities and sensitivity of hostage rescue missions.

‪”The terrorists have no rules of engagement and therefore, would not mind killing all the hostages if the Nigerian military attempts any rash action,” he said.

 http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/209038-regret-voting-buhari-2015-chibok-community-says.html

Abia governorship tussle:AGF denies giving orders to INEC, warns parties to await court instructions

Malami

The Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami has stated that his office had nothing to do with the recognition of Abia State, oil magnate, Samson Ogah as governor of the the state.

In a statement Sunday, signed by the special adviser on media and publicity to the AGF, Salisu Isah, Mr. Malami said media reports alleging that his office had instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to issue certificate of return to Mr. Ogah were false and completely baseless.

Mr. Malami noted that his constitutional powers on the matter had not been invoked, and as a strong believer in the rule of law, he prefers that the law should naturally take its course.

"The attention of the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to the insinuations that the AGF is behind the legal logjam over the Abia state governorship seat and wish to clarify that those canvassing this position have no basis to do so.

"Of particular concern are those who have peddled ill-natured rumours with a view to misinform our discerning populace that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and by extension, the Federal Government of Nigeria gave directives to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue Certificate of Return to Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah declaring him Governor-Elect. He has definitely not taken any action either by spoken words or body language as far as this Abia governorship crisis is concerned", the statement said.

"As far as the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is concerned, the constitutional powers for the legal opinion of his office have not been invoked on this issue. So far, nobody has approached him to proffer any legal opinion to it. As a strong believer in the rule of law, it is his belief that the law should naturally take its cause. The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation will not be dragged into this controversy and mind-games being played out by the various legal minds and spin doctors of both camps at this point", it added.

The statement warned that parties involved should, await the decision of the court, and called on Nigerian to desist from dragging the AGF into what it discribed as 'knotty issues of this kind'.

 A Federal High Court, in Abuja presided over by Justice Okon Abang had on June 27 annulled the election of the incumbent governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu , after finding him guilty of tax evasion.

 Mr. Abang had also ordered INEC to issue a certificate of return to Mr. Ogah to pave way for his swearing-in.

Mr. Ikpeazu appealed the judgment and notified INEC of the development.

But the electoral umpire went ahead to execute the order of the court on June 30, saying it never received any notice of appeal from Mr. Ikpeazu.

court asks IG to watch over former PDP chair, who appears in court on wheel chair

Mr. Bello came to court on a wheel chair

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to place a former acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party under intensive watch while he undergoes treatment at an Abuja hospital.




Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the ruling, Tuesday, after hearing the arguments of various counsel in the criminal charge leveled against Mr. Mohammed and his son, Abba.


The former PDP chairman and his son are facing a four-count charge of financial misappropriation, levelled against them and their company, BAM projects and Properties Ltd, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.


Both men are part of those indicted in the N31 billion meant for the purchase of arms to fight terror in the country, but which was allegedly distributed to some PDP members for the 2015 election campaign.



Counsel to Abba Mohammed, Ogala Osoka, had made an application asking the court to grant his client bail, pending the determination of the suit.


Mr. Osoka said the application for bail was made on December 29 and filed the following day.


He said the charges levelled against his client were bailable in nature.


“The condition for bail is the applicant’s appearance in court,” Mr. Osoka said.


He told the court that his client’s health condition is bad, and that he had been in custody for 41 days.


He therefore requested the court to grant him bail, with conditions that were not excessive.


The counsel to the former PDP chair, Abdulazeez Ibrahim, also prayed the court to adopt the application of the first defendant for his client.



He told the court that Mr. Mohammed was undergoing surgery in London, but upon discovery of the charges against him and the conditions attached, decided to fly into the country, and even had to be treated at an Abuja clinic, because his surgery was still fresh.


He said exhibits four attached to his affidavit contained a letter given to him (Mr. Mohammed) by the surgeon attending to his case.

He added that there were also pictures of the PDP chieftain while receiving treatment.


But the counsel to the prosecution, Aliyu Yusuf, prayed the court not to grant the bail requested by Mr. Ibrahim, and Mr.Osoka

He said the allegations against the defendants were serious, adding that the first defendant, in his application for bail, did not prove that his health conditions cannot be treated in prison custody.

Citing Section 19, sub section 2b of the EFCC Act, Mr. Yusuf urged the court to consider the character of evidence, as provided by the court, and deny Abba Mohammed bail, stressing that he had the likelihood of interfering with the cause of justice.


He asked the court to issue an order for accelerated hearing.


After listening to the counsel, Justice Mohammed ruled that Abba Mohammed be remanded in Kuje prison.


He also ruled that since Mr. Haliru Mohammed indicated in his affidavit the status of his health, he should be placed under the care of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, while undergoing treatment.


The matter was adjourned till January 7, 2016.

2016: what Onaiyekan said

This audio contains Bishop Onaiyekan's speech with Premium Time's Evelyn Okakwu regarding President Buhari's corruption war and a proposed amnesty for culprits. happy listening Upload Music - Music podcasts - bishop Onaiyekan's speech

How Appeal court dismissed Wike’s appeal

How Appeal court dismissed Wike’s appeal

By Evelyn Okakwu

The court of Appeal in Abuja, Monday, dismissed the appeal filed by the River State governor, Nyesom Wike contesting the ruling of the state’s election tribunal which nullified his election on October 24.

Counsel to Mr. Wike, Emanuel Ukala, had filed an appeal, on November 3, requesting the court to set aside the tribunal’s ruling on seven grounds.

In a unanimous judgment, however, a five man panel led by justice. M. B. Dongban-Mensen dismissed all seven grounds of the appeal for lacking in merit.

"Haven dismissed all seven motions of this appeal, I find the appeal lacking in merit, and the appeal hereby dismissed," said Mrs. Dongban-Mensen.

Mrs. Dongban-Mensen further said the decision of the tribunal which nullified Mr. Wike's election is valid and within its jurisdiction.

She frowned at the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which sought to contest the use of its own card readers, describing the act as dangerous for the nation's electoral process.

Ms. Dongban-Mensen noted that card readers were introduced by INEC to ensure a free and fair election and therefore it was disastrous for the same INEC to negate the principle laid down by its self.

“INEC is not allowed to shift grounds on the elections conducted by it”, the court said.

Mr. Ukala, had in the November 3^rd appeal told the court that tribunal failed to conduct a pre-trial conference after the removal of the first chairman; hence it aired in its judgment.

He also said his client was denied the right to fair hearing.

But the appeal court ruled that: "What happened in this case is not a change of tribunal, but a change of chairman”.

It therefore held that the tribunal’s ruling cannot be questioned on the basis of the involvement of a new chairman.

The appeal court also ruled that Mr. Wike was not denied his right to fair hearing, stressing that the 21 days’ notice given cannot be open to challenge with regards to the ruling of the tribunal

Mrs. Dongban-Mensen therefore ruled that the election conducted in the state in April was null and void and requested INEC to conduct a re-run in 90 days.

Another of Mr. Wike’s counsel, Ifedayo Adedipe, who was at the appeal court told news men after the sittings, that his client will study the ruling of the tribunal upheld by this judgment and proceed to the Supreme Court.

“I can assure you that we will like to have a second opinion in the Supreme Court on the various legal issues raised by the nature of this petition”, he said; referring to the petition by the All progressive Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside which led to the ruling by the tribunal.