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Good morning! Here Are Some Major News Headlines In The Newspapers Today: Presidency tackles Obasanjo over democracy comment

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1. The Presidency, on Monday, blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the current state of Nigeria’s democracy. The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, noted that the democracy the country currently practises dates back to direct inputs by Obasanjo when he led the country first as military Head of State from 1976 – 1979 and as civilian President from 1999 – 2007.

 

2. The House of Representatives has summoned 83 ministries, departments, and agencies of the Federal Government as it begins an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of over N447.6bn COVID-19 intervention fund from 2020 to 2022. At least 22 of the MDAs got not less than N447.6bn as COVID-19 funds in 2020 alone.

3. The Peoples Democratic Party has urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to set up a judicial panel of inquiry to probe the alleged All Progressives Congress influence in the Court of Appeal judgment that sacked the Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang. The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the party was appalled by a viral video where an APC leader, Yusuf Gagdi, boasted that they know people in the Supreme Court.

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4. Following the expiration of the deadline earlier given to land allottees owing ground rents in Abuja, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has extended the payment deadline till December 14, 2023. In the publication signed by the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola, the debtors were advised to pay up “within two weeks from the date of publication, failure of which such titles may be revoked.”

5. Factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, has said he is ready to die while doing what is right for the interest of the state. He said some powerful individuals were after him because he is standing with the Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and opposing the sinister plot to impeach him.

6. The prospect of German investment in Nigeria’s power and rail sector brightened yesterday after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu met with German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. It was the second meeting between the two leaders in one month, both of which focused on German investment in Nigeria.

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7. Monthly revenue inflow into the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) fund has risen from N650 billion to N1trillion since the withdrawal of subsidy on petrol, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has said. He spoke in Asaba, the Delta State capital, at the opening of a four-day retreat organised for FAAC members.

8. The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Monday affirmed Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the validly elected governor of Benue State. The court dismissed the appeal filed before it by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Titus Uba, and declared Alia the true winner of the March 18 polls.

9. A man, Ade Olowopopo, has taken his two sons, Kunle and Mayowa Olowopopo, to court for allegedly assaulting their sister, Bisi Olowopopo, and for stealing his properties at Lakwe Lekki, Lagos State. The Olowopopos were arraigned on Monday before Magistrate O. M. Ajayi presiding over an Ebute Metta Magistrate’s Court on five counts bordering on breach of peace, assault, breaking, stealing, and threat to life.

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10. The Lagos State Police Command has said the autopsy report of the late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, aka Mohbad, conducted two months ago has not been given to them. The State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who made this known on Monday, urged Nigerians to disregard the rumour making the rounds.

 

 

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Abuse of office: Emefiele challenges jurisdiction of Lagos court to try him

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The Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has deferred till the end of trial, its ruling on the application filed by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to try him on the charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

 

Through his lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olalekan Ojo, Emefiele submitted that he cannot be tried in the high court of any state in Nigeria for alleged acts of abuse of his office as this raises issues of constitutionality and legality.

 

The former CBN governor also noted that counts 1-4 of the 26 counts charge filed by the EFCC against him are unconstitutional as they are not contained in any law in Nigeria.

 

His counsel asked the court to make an order striking out counts one to four of the charge on the grounds that:

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. the Honourable Court has no jurisdiction to try the offence of abuse of office in relation to the office of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria which the 1st Defendant occupied at all times material to the commission of the offences and

 

ii. the 1st Defendant’s/Applicant’s acts said to constitute arbitrary acts resulting in abuse of office are not offences known to law as mandatorily required by section 36(12) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

 

The EFCC through its counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Oyedepo, however, countered these arguments.

 

Citing decided cases of the Supreme Court, he asked the trial judge, Justice Rahman Oshodi, not to defer or prevent the trial of the case on the basis of objections challenging the particulars of the counts of the information.

 

“That approach is intended to take us back to where we are coming from as this were the basis for Section 1 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA and the purpose for which Administration of Criminal Justice Law, ACJL was intended. The intention of our collective resolution as a nation was to to prevent undue delay in our criminal cases.

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“I urge my lord to refuse this invitation, trial has commenced, this application to prevent the trial today is unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional and I urge the court not to depart from the decision of the apex court as to do so would amount to judicial rascality,” Oyedepo stated.

 

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JUST IN: Obaseki increases minimum wage to N70k in Edo

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Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo, has approved a new minimum wage of N70,000 for civil servants in the state. 

 

The governor made the declaration on Monday while inaugurating the Labour House.

 

Obaseki named the Labour House after Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo north and immediate-past governor of Edo.

 

Details later…

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‘Breach of law’ — Oshiomhole condemns Ododo for ‘rescuing’ Yahaya Bello during EFCC siege

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Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo north, has faulted Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi, for his interference in the saga involving Yahaya Bello and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

 

The EFCC is accusing Bello, immediate-past governor of Kogi, of money laundering and corruption to the tune of N80.2 billion. 

 

BACKGROUND

On April 17, EFCC operatives laid siege to Bello’s Abuja residence in a bid to arrest him for grilling. 

 

While the operatives were at Bello’s residence, Ododo arrived at the scene.

 

Shortly after Ododo left the residence, the EFCC operatives ended their siege. There were reports that Ododo had surreptitiously whisked Bello away in one of the cars in his convoy. 

 

Amid the drama, the Kogi high court delivered judgment in a fundamental rights enforcement suit, restraining the commission from “harassing, threatening to arrest or detaining” the former governor.

 

Speaking on Saturday at the national integration conference, Oshiomhole said Ododo’s “rescue” of Bello and the former governor’s refusal to show up in court constitutes a breach of the law.

 

The conference which had ‘Revisiting the national question: Nigeria’s elusive search for national integration’ as its theme, was organised by the Kukah Centre.

 

The senator also urged citizens to speak up against breaches of the law — irrespective of who is involved.

 

“If you are afraid, given the fact that you are very vocal, you are independent, you cannot be dismissed, you cannot be promoted or demoted… if you are afraid to mention the name of a former governor who breached the law and a sitting governor who used his immunity to cover a governor that lost immunity, where will the courage come from?” Oshiomhole said.

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“This sophistry of saying we can name the child of a poor man who steal(s) a goat but we are afraid to mention the name of a big man who breached the law, that for me is at the root of our problems.”

 

‘ALL CHILDREN MUST HAVE ACCESS TO EDUCATION’

Bello had also allegedly paid $760,910 in advance fees to the American International School Abuja (AISA), for five of his children from the coffers of the Kogi state government.

 

The children are in grade levels 2 to 8 at the school.

 

Oshiomhole said during his spell as Edo governor, his colleagues denied children of the poor access to education.

 

“As a former governor, I was a member of the national economic council (NEC) where some state governors argued that they did not have the resources to pay 50 percent subsidy in order to ensure that the children of the poor go to school even when those governors are sending their own children abroad,” Oshiomhole added.

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The former Edo governor said leaders must possess the political will to implement laws they enact.

 

“What I consider to be the most important investment, namely, that never should a child be born in this country and be denied access to go to school,” he said.

 

Kogi ranked 27th across states in Nigeria with the highest number of out-of-school children (ages 6–15).

 

 

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