Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, Chief of Army Staff, has ordered the promotion of Second Lieutenant Oluchukwu Owowoh to the substantive rank of Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army.

The Nigerian Defence Academy disclosed this in a statement on X.com on Wednesday.

The statement by the NDA on Wednesday partly read, “Speaking during the decoration ceremony that took place today, June 26, 2024, at the Nigerian Defence Academy Officer’s Mess and Golf Club, the NDA Commandant, Major General JO Ochai, extolled the track record of excellence of Lt. Owowoh as a cadet, which accorded her the rare privilege of becoming the first female Nigerian to be trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as well as her promotion to the new rank.

“The event was attended by senior military officers, academic and non-academic staff, and family members, among others.”

In April, Owowoh, 24, made history when she became the first Nigerian female officer to graduate from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in the United Kingdom.

President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, met with governors of the 36 states of the federation and ministers over the new minimum wage demand by organised labour and other economic matters.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima chaired the meeting at the council chamber of the presidential villa before Tinubu arrived at the venue. 

The meeting comes about 48 hours after the federal executive council (FEC) stepped down the memo on the new minimum wage for the president to consult with the governors and the private sector.

The governors, under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), met in Abuja on Wednesday to deliberate on the minimum wage for workers.

Over the past few months, the federal and state governments, organised labour, and the private sector have been negotiating a new minimum wage.

At the last meeting of the tripartite committee on minimum wage, organised labour rejected the N62,000 proposal by the government and insisted on N250,000.

The federal government had asked the labour unions to demand a more realistic and sustainable minimum wage.

On June 7, governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) said the N60,000 minimum wage for workers was unsustainable.

Kemi Pinhero, EFCC counsel, urged the court to compel the defence lawyer to explain why the defendant was not in court despite an undertaking he made on June 13 to that effect. 

He prayed the court to dismiss “the story of the defence lawyer as dilatory and a further attempt to treat this court with scorn”.

Pinhero also prayed the court to punish the two senior lawyers representing the former governor, insisting that they have breached the rules of professional conduct.

“My lord, our application is that since one of the lawyers is present in court, he should be moved to the dock and dealt with summarily. That is what the law says,” the EFCC lawyer said.

“We urge the court to exercise disciplinary jurisdiction over the lawyers so as to preserve the integrity of the judiciary.

“If a chief justice of Nigeria can be docked before an inferior tribunal, who then is a SAN or a former governor in terms of status?

“Even a former president of the United States of America was docked. These senior lawyers have been helping the defendant to treat this court with scorn.

“For five consecutive sittings, the defendant refused to make himself available for his trial and his lawyers have continued to use all forms of chicanery to frustrate his arraignment. 

“If this sort of conduct is not punished, then we will be sliding to a situation that will be worse than Animal Farm.

“The world is watching. Punishing these senior lawyers will send a very clear message.”

‘ONLY AN AFTERTHOUGHT

Responding, Adedipe told the court that he was not Bello’s lead counsel, adding that he also did not sign any undertaking to guarantee the presence of his client in court.

“My lord, the narration by the prosecution counsel is very untrue and it is accentuated by malice. I am not the lead counsel in this matter,” Adedipe said.

“What the learned prosecution counsel has tried to do was to pitch my person against this court.”

He submitted that the EFCC has failed to execute the warrant it obtained for the arrest of the defendant.

Adedipe said his team had earlier notified the court that it was not aware of the whereabouts of the former governor.

He noted that given the direction the case had taken, he would like to withdraw his appearance for the defendant pursuant to Section 349(8) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

The EFCC lawyer submitted that it was too late for the defence lawyer to withdraw his appearance. 

“My lord, he should be used to set an example that this is not a lottery game. His request to withdraw is only an afterthought and it should not be countenanced by this court,” he said.

“I urge your lordship to invite him to the dock immediately.”

Emeka Nwite, trial judge, is yet to rule on the matter.