News From Nigeria
THE LAST JIHAD PART 1- 5B AND OTHER ARTICLES BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
THE LAST JIHAD PART 5 BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
To Thine Own Self Be True. This is not an endorsement of any leader in Nigeria. I was in Nigeria recently and observed that Nigerians have formed a subculture of always complaining as a means of coping with the realities. I now see these complaints as a quarrel amongst thieves. They robbed a bank and the smartest among them drove off with loot and left the rest stranded. They cannot call the police, so they are left with the infighting which they consider as protest.
Every Nigerian wants good leadership, but none wants to aspire to be good citizens. The negative ordeal I encountered while in Nigeria was never by any one in power. Nigerians are the gods in their little domain. In this domain, they are very dictatorial and callous and exercise power with vehemence in their various jurisdictions. From the trader who will sell you fake goods at exorbitant prices to the policemen at the checkpoint who mete out summary punishment, the rule is to dish out as much pain as possible. There is no sense of brotherhood. There is no sense of “we are in this together, let us help each other “.
Dishing out pain is the culture. You must pay before being served even when you have paid. This is the ugliness that hides before these excessive criticisms of leaders. Anytime a Nigerian comes in contact with a government agent, it is time to be punished. There is no agency in Nigeria where those employed there don’t make the abuse of the citizens the metric of their productivity. Trying to get a driver’s license, you must jump through hoops, trying to get a passport almost as bad as trying to obtain a visa to another country. In most cases, the visa ordeal is friendlier and there are no bribes involved. Try to clear goods from a Lagos port is like squeezing through the eye of the needle. There are no rules and regulations, just chaos and cruelty that numbs the mind.
A lot of people choose to walk away from the abuse of the government officials and agents, leaving their goods behind. Flying into Lagos airport is the worst ordeal. Every government agency is there including the touts from Ido Park. They are all trying to tell you they are there to hurt you. There is no cordial welcome for a returnee. There is nowhere in Nigeria the citizen does not try to erect his own obstacles. This is very sad.
Are we at war? Why so many checkpoints? Why is the Nigerian criminalized and humiliated daily by agencies that are supposed to serve them? The ordeal of being a citizen in Nigeria can drive one into a mental institution. Nigerians are resilient and quietly watch their country being turned into one huge mental asylum. The madness has become cultural. At the end of all these, the extortionists get together and blame the leaders who are the product of their thievery. This is the problem.
People who have no sense of good citizenship are crying daily for good leadership. Let’s learn to recognize that the microcosm must be organized to care for each other. Imagine that police don’t harass and shake down farmers bringing food to markets. This may lower the price of food and the decay of food due to loss of time at checkpoints will be avoided. Inflation reduced. Let us learn to care, maybe one day we can have someone who cares to assume leadership. Then we can be proud to say that is one of us.
The ratio of the naira to the dollar is not a measure of the Nigerian economy. It is a measure of the lack of productivity of the Nigerian. Blaming the leaders is a subterfuge that subtracts leadership from the people. Leadership is always a reflection of the consciousness of the people. Bad people can only get bad leaders while good people get good leaders. You cannot have one without the other.
Dr Austin Orette writes from Houston Texas
THE LAST JIHAD PART 5A BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
“If you cannot question or interrogate it, then it is a lie “Of all the religions in the World, Islam is the only one that you cannot interrogate. Those who do are violently killed by adherents of Islam, who proclaim they are fighting for Allah. My question to the preachers of Islam has always been: If Allah is great, all powerful and all merciful, why does he need weak humans to fight for him or defend him?
All over the world, Islam is fighting one war or the other in the name of Allah. The major reason is that they want to impose their teaching on people who just want to be left alone. They tell us Islam is a religion of peace. All we see around us is contrary to this claim. Any attempt to interrogate and question the teachings of Islam is met with fatuas and murderous rage and violence.
When Muhammad started as a preacher in Mecca, he didn’t have followers. He moved to Medina and started interacting with Christian and Jewish scholars who contributed to some of his knowledge. When he could not convince them of the veracity of his claim about his Allah, he left and went to raise an army to conquer them. This is why the beginning of the Quran is similar to the Torah and the Holy bible.
In his last 4 years in Medina, he had some vision that he was not sure if they came from God. Those visions were apocalyptic. The gentleness of the first part of the Quran was gone and has been transmogrified into a monstrous recreation of human existence. It was in these last four years he captured the Jews and Christians and forced them to his ways of teaching. Many were slaughtered. Those who did not convert were taxed and called Dhimis. The Dhimis are taxed but cannot testify in any disputes and Muslims are allowed to cheat them in any transaction. They are not protected unless they pay Jizia (An Islamic tax for unbelievers), which is another tax or protection. This system had to be repeated every time a new territory was captured and subjugated. The booty from the wars was given to his warriors and followers. This is how Islam was spread across the world with a Sword until the Islamic empire fell with the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1924. A lot of people were set free.
Mohammad himself said he cannot tell whether his later visions were from God. The attempt by Salmon Rushdie to question the satanic verses led to a Fatua on him and was almost killed in a gruesome attack by a fanatical Muslim. He lost an eye during that attack. He was a Muslim who grew up in a Muslim family.
As it stands today, anyone who questions the ways and whys of Islam is marked for death. Millions of Muslims who don’t want to be Muslims anymore cannot come out and say it. Their own family will execute them.
I grew up in a Christian household. My childhood was very idyllic. As a child going to church on Sundays was a treat because we also use the Sundays to visit relatives and eat some nice and tasty food. On my way to church on one Sunday day, I saw this group of women wearing white wrappers and dancing. The dance and music fascinated me and I forgot Church. At the end the dancing and incantations they served some nice meal. I enjoyed the meal and lost sense of time as I enjoyed the food. No church for me that Sunday. One of the best goat pepper soup I ever tasted. My childhood Friend who missed me at church saw me. He reported to my mother that I was eating unclean food because those people were pagans. I was chastised. After that incident, I devised a way to hide my visit to that idol worshipper’s shrine. Somehow, I got the timetable for the meals. It was a new world for me. I will stealthily go there and eat one of the best meals. I will go to Church and smuggle myself out without my friends noticing. Gradually they all joined me and our demand for the pepper soup could no longer be satisfied. Our parents found out and it was all over. No more goat pepper soup on Sundays. We had a stern warning that that food is forbidden food. I was confused. I asked if that was the same food eaten by Adam and Eve? There was no answer. I became very skeptical. How can the good people who were so kind to me be regarded as bad? No one attacked the traditional worshippers. As a child I was confused and very curious. I missed the pepper soup, but most of all I missed the love those people showed me at the shrine. I started hanging around if I could run errands for them. I could not eat their food anymore but I wanted to serve them in some capacity to show my gratitude for their love and care. I was precocious. Not once did they put pressure on me to adopt their religion. It was the Christians who were putting pressure on them to convert to Christianity. Coincidentally I started asking more questions about the Bible. Why would the Bible say this good people who gave me so much love will end in a lake of fire because they did not believe in Jesus? The cruelty and unfairness of such a scenario tormented me. My curiosity became feverish and exponential. I will ask the Sunday school teacher questions like: God created Adam and Eve. They had two children named Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel. Who did Cain marry since Adam and Eve and Cain are the only ones alive? The answers given did not satisfy my curiosity.
Studying the bible in secondary school as I grew older created more questions. Throughout this period of inquiry, no Christian person in my surrounding gave me any reason to feel that my life was in danger. These inquiries led me to the conclusion that whoever God is, will reveal itself to me. I was told to believe but I wanted to know. In my heart I know a just and kind God would give me the answers I am seeking. I was searching for meaning when a verse in the Bible flashed through my mind. The verse says: Those who worship God must do so in truth and Spirit. I went back to the Bible and read Jesus’ Sermon on the mount, and I came to the absolute conclusion that all I need to be close to God is Love. All the religions talk are just rituals to mystify the masses. I came to the understanding that all we need to do in this world is love our neighbor and God is an essence that is in every one of us.
Dr Austin Orette writes from Houston Texas
THE LAST JIHAD PART 5B BY DR AUSTINE ORETTE
“For everything under the sun, there is time. There is time for peace and there is the time for war’’. They will always lie to you. The Fulani Muslim will raise his right hand and put his left hand on the Quran, look you in eye and lie to you. He is practicing Takiya which is allowed by their religion. The art of lying to further the cause of Islam. You will never be at peace with Islamic fundamentalists. It is always a lie. “
Africans have a better understanding of religion. There is nowhere in traditional African history you will find Africans going to prove that their god is superior by killing other Africans. Africans fought wars of conquest for material things and territories. Fighting for Heaven was not part of their geography. That was for angels. They did not fight wars of religious imposition. They have a clear understanding that God is big enough for everyone.
The African traditional worshippers believe that no house built by man can accommodate the majesty and fullness of God. They did not indulge in the grandiosity of calling any place they constructed, the house Of God.
The concept of holy wars was brought to Africa by foreign people like the Fulani Jihadists. After experiencing aspects of religion in my childhood, I came to the firm belief that I don’t need to be introduced to any god filled with human passions of rage and revenge. God is love. That is enough for me. I don’t need to kill or hurt anyone to prove my loyalty to God. God is not in any book. God is not in any building. God is closer to us than our heart beat. The God essence is in every creature of God. We are compelled to give God’s love to all creatures of God. This is where I vehemently disagree with the Fulani and Wahhabi brand of Islam.
They consider their wrath to be the same as the wrath of God. They should direct that wrath towards solving the poverty, ignorance and disease they have created in the North. They should leave the South out of their map of conquest. If they love God as they claim, there is so much work for them to do , to repair all the damage they brought to the North of Nigeria. Eternity will not be enough for them to repair the damage they have done to the Hausa people of Nigeria. If they love God, they should concentrate on the rehabilitation of the Hausa men, women and children they have destroyed in the name of Islam.
The Fulani are the first to bring holy wars to Nigeria and they have never had a change of mind and strategy since then. These wars intensified when they started being used by invaders to push their tribal and religious domination. They have no love for anyone who is not a Muslim or Fulani. God is Love. This love can be found in all religions and the loneliest places. This love gave me security and the wings to fly. This is the love that made Mary Slessor to stop the killing of twins in the Niger Delta. I believe in this love and the sanctity of life for all people. This is my belief and because of this love, I will not impose this belief on the Fulani who think differently.
I consider it sacrilegious for them to force me to accept the doctrines that led to the wanton killing of Deborah Samson and others in the land of the Fulani.
If the Fulani are sincere, they should spend their energy to clean up the children of the North they have destroyed and turned to weapons of mass destruction for Nigeria. They should adopt the Almajiris and rehabilitate them instead of using them and Sharia as weapons of war.
These children are cast away as refuse and made to beg for their survival. They are married away when they could barely walk. The rate of child abuse and neglect in the North is mortifying. About 15 million children in the North of Nigeria are destitute and malnourished. They are moribund and homeless. If the sight of children did not draw on their hearts and make them to show love to children, then it means the religion they are willing to kill and die for has no empathy in their doctrines. What is a religion if it cannot hear the cries of suffering and dying children? Whatever they do or say is nothing but power grab.
They are deaf and dumb to the destitution and misery they created in Hausa land and they are bent on expanding this misery to the South. We have a duty to stop them. Islam in Nigeria is a political movement of the Fulani. It has nothing to do with those of us in the South. Their push to force Sharia into the South is nothing but an act of war. We can never reason with any people who consider us less human because we don’t subscribe to their religious beliefs.
In this wise, those in the Middle Belt and the South of Nigeria must be prepared to defend themselves from those who will not only kill us in the name of their God but also lie to us in the name of their god about their intent.
A military head of state told Obasanjo that he has not seen and not privy to the constitution when he was asked to produce it when Obasanjo was being propped to be president. This was a lie. He knew that Sharia was part of that constitution that was written without the consent of Nigerians. The General knew that if this was revealed before the election it will cause chaos. As soon as Obasanjo was sworn in, the constitution appeared. Did the constitution appear from heaven? Everything the former head of state did or said was deliberate. He followed the Fulani manuscript of TAKIYA. He was one of the architects of that fake document. After that election, that fraudulent constitution was revealed and the core north declared they are Sharia states, based on the sharia that was fraudulently embedded in that fraudulent document. This is classic TAKIYA in Islamic practice where Muslims are obligated to lie to unbelievers to further the cause of Islam.
Recently, Northern Fulani Muslims have been going on television to say they don’t know what restructuring mean. This is another bold face lie. They know we were restructured in the First Republic and all we are saying is adopt the ways of the First Republic. They would rather confuse this with nebulous terms like “lack of good leadership “ because they want to continue with this odious system that enables their thievery and ability to import criminals and terrorists into Nigeria to cause unrest. are so duplicitous they think we don’t know Sharia is a form of restructuring. They want us to fund Sharia with our labour and wealth in our terrain. They are gamblers. They want to continue the centralization that gives all powers to the Fulani in all cadre of government so they can control the economy and wealth of Nigeria and use it to empower the caliphate. If they don’t achieve that, they will set up their parallel government of Sharia where a northern monarch is the Prime minister of all Nigeria Muslims and every mosque their military command post.
They tell us Islam is superior to our culture. The Europeans who colonized us did not go this far in their grandiosity. We cannot be in the same country with those who will use lies as instruments of statecraft. The Caliphate has used fictitious population figures to advantage the caliphate. All over the world, the coast is more densely populated. This is true in the Republic of Benin and Cameroon but reversed in Nigeria.
The Fulani Islamic movement in Nigeria is about conquest. It has nothing to do about heaven. It is about the oil which Fulani believe is their gift from God as a Muslim nation like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. The Fulani has been at war with us, but we don’t know it.
All the negative indices in Nigeria are what obtains in a war-torn country. To say otherwise is hiding our head in the sand.
All the uncertainties in Nigeria are deliberate creation of the Fulani caliphate. Just like the creation of the Almajiris in the North. Gradually they are beginning the total Amajirification of Southern graduates. They have made them jobless and penurious. They are hungry and their clothing is becoming tattered. The females are selling themselves at any price to the members of the caliphate in Abuja. The caliphate has no interest to engage in solving the perennial problems of Nigeria. Their end point is the total subjugation of the non-Muslim populations of Nigeria and makes them second class citizens as obtained in most Muslim countries. Their plan is to weaken the enemy by destroying the institutions they believe in. They would create more problems to distract and confuse us. All money marked for development are stolen and directed to the Fulani treasury for their conquest and purchase of Southerners into their camp. They have opened all the borders in the North for the Fulani fighters to come in as they gradually intensify their position. Their loss of central power to accelerate this process has rendered them apoplectic. The mere adjustment of the tax bill to reflect productivity pushed them to accelerate Sharia in the Southwest. To them, this is war and the camp of the enemy must be divided. This is why they push for Sharia in the South west. Divide and conquer is their MO .This is why in the past fifty years, they used their government and military people to erode any semblance of a functioning state. They created the hardship in Nigeria. They want every Southerner to Japa so they can take over the land. Those left will be too weak to fight. We are in a war zone. We must draw a clear red line they should not cross.
Imposing Islam on us is a red line. The progress made in Nigeria was through their military surrogates who usurped power. This has emboldened them. They use the military to enrich their people, they used the military to push Nigeria into OIC. They used the military to smuggle Sharia into the constitution.
They are talking about war and secession. On question of secession they are bluffing. They are parasites who cannot live without their host. On war, we should take them serious and prepare for one. Our preparation should start by us in the South telling our children to refuse any posting by the NYSC to the North. There is no security for them and the NYSC is a source of cheap labor for indolent Northern states who consider education a haram and deliberately render their citizens illiterate and ignorant .They spend more on pilgrimages to Mecca than they spend on education. Using our children as cheap labor is a tax that is imposed on non-believers. The Fulani considers this normal based on the tenet of their religion. It is a form of Tax the unbelievers must pay in an Islamic society.
The NYSC should be converted to one year of full military training as it was initially conceived when the caliphate thwarted this plan because they want their Islamic army to have monopoly of weapons. All military commands in Nigeria must be decentralized. Police and other security institutions must be regionalized. We have to fight to preserve our way of life and reject any form of religious compulsion or imposition.
The next phase is to encourage the Hausa and other tribes that have been oppressed in the North to use their numerical advantage to deny the Fulani any political position in the North. I f you cannot elect an Hausa person, look for the nearest indigenous Yoruba, Igbo or Biron or Igala. The Fulani must not be allowed to hold power in Nigeria. They must be ostracized from our body politics until they prove their allegiance is to Nigeria. They are a cancer in our body politics. The Fulani Caliphate erroneously believes that a Christian is docile. This is going to be their undoing. Christians are not known for shedding innocent blood like that of Deborah Samson. Wanton killing is not part of Christian theology. Christians will always fight to defend themselves. In the eleventh century when the holy land Jerusalem was conquered by Islamic warriors who prevented Christian’s entry into the Holy land, Pope Urban 11, cried to Christendom, the Christians fought and took over the Holy land. These battles were called the crusades. Since then the holy land is open to anyone of any faith, including Muslims to visit. The Nigerian civil war was fought and won by southerners and the people from the middle belt. Most of the generals of Northern extraction were colossal failures as they confused the civil war with Islamic jihad. They have to be pulled from the war front due to their extreme cruelty that violated the laws of war. This is their weakness. The whole of North Africa was black. All the places in the Bible like Turkey were Christian enclaves. Today it is difficult to find a black man in Egypt and also difficult to find a church in Constantinople. This is what the Fulani are aiming for.
It is our responsibility to make them understand they are in the wrong century; we must make it our duty to wake them up from the toxic intoxication of their religion. We cannot do this by preachment alone as the toxic brew of their religion makes them to think they are fighting for Allah. They are fighting for domination. There is nothing more sinister than a person who kills in the name of God. Be prepared. We have a duty to defend ourselves.
Dr Austin Orette writes from Houston Texas
THE LAST JIHAD PART 4 BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
“Know everything about your enemy and you will watch him dig his own grave. “
I have wanted to use this part to discuss how to fend off the Fulani menace, but I am going to digress to explore their methods and how a power far away from us handled the aggression of Islamic fundamentalist and ward off the menace of Islamic terrorists.
In 1801 when America was a young country, they faced the menace of Muslim pirates who terrorized their merchants at sea in the Atlantic Coast of North Africa. Their merchant vessels were captured at sea and the citizens kidnapped and sold into slavery in North Africa. At this time, America was a weak country and had lost the protection of the British navy that used to protect American sea merchants. Thomas Jefferson who was the minister to France at that time had a meeting with the Emir of Tripoli to resolve the issues. The Emir of Tripoli explained to Jefferson that they have the right and ownership of everything in the world and the Americans must continue to pay ransom to them to prevent their ships and merchants from piracy. Jefferson asked him the source of that law and power to violate the rights of peaceful people and merchants. The Emir of Tripoli told him that the law is in the Quran. Jefferson asked for a copy of the Quran and he was given a copy. That is how Thomas Jefferson came into the possession of the Quran that is at the library of congress today. At the end of the meeting Jefferson told his colleagues that America has no choice than to go to war because a people with such belief can never be convinced by reason. At that time America had no money and no navy. Jefferson did not want to burden the new presidency of John Adams with such distractions. He quietly Searched for good sailors and built a private force quietly.
As soon as he became the third president of the United States, he declared war on Tripoli and Algiers and Morocco. These are what is referred to as the Barbary Wars in American History. The Americans freed all European prisoners and forced these criminals to stop their criminal behavior in the Atlantic Ocean. They were forced to sign treaties of non-interference. The whole of Europe celebrated this victory that a tiny country has come to the rescue of civilization. The Pope wrote a eulogy on this odyssey saying God has chosen America as the savior of civilization.
This is the beginning of the mythology of America as God’s chosen country. The Barbary States were Algiers, Morocco, Libya and those other places in the North West Coast of Africa. This is the reason why America does not negotiate with terrorists till tomorrow. Negotiating with terrorists is considered an appeasement and suggests a moral equivalency. This is what people like Sheik Gumi are asking us to do. They consider their criminality justifiable and as such we should negotiate with these criminals. This is what this Fulani Muslim cleric has been telling the Nigerian government to do. This is a back way of pumping money into the war chest of the Fulani Caliphate. The military is no longer there to raid the treasury on their behalf.
The Fulani in Nigeria are not religious. They use Islam to propagate themselves and obtain money from rich oil gulf states and Saudi Arabia. They are gamblers and they are ready to wager everything on their gamble that they will overrun Nigeria. They have used the various military governments to push the envelope. The push for Sharia at this time should be seen as them watering the plants that were sowed by their military cousins.
The Sultan of Sokoto was just an adviser to Northern Muslims. The first Sultan was Muhammad Bello, the Son of Uthman Dan Fodio. His jurisdiction was to Muslims in Kano and Sokoto. That position has changed and morphed into Spiritual leader of all Muslims in Nigeria. There was no Nigeria then. There have been Muslims in Borno and the Oyo Empire before the arrival of Dan Fodio to Nigeria. This power grabbing is a classic Fulani move. During the First Republic, Ahmadu Bello was always going to Borno to preach Islam. The Shehu of Borno observed that he was radicalizing the Muslims there. He confronted Ahmadu Bello and told him to stop coming to Borno to preach, that the citizens of Borno knew what Islam was before Ahmadu Bello’s great grandfathers were born and there is nothing he can teach them about Islam. He did not go back there.
The new Sultan of Sokoto and a lot of the emirs are retired military generals and strategists. Their operating and information centers are the various mosques scattered all over Nigeria. Their cry for Sharia is always followed by building a mosque, another command post in a new locality. The mosque is a command post and supply center for the jihadist who moves around the country in stealth mode.
One of the mistakes those of us in the South make is that we think we can reason these people out of their absurd positions. Some of them want to build schools for Almajiri. That is an institution that is serving the purpose of the Fulani caliphate. They have no interest in educating the Hausa child. An educated Hausa child is a threat to them. They will pretend to agree with you. It is a lie. They have a concept of Takiya. They are socialized differently. They have been taught to dehumanize people who are not Muslims and killing non-Muslims is not a sin in their books.
The Fulani in Nigeria are the Trojan horse the British left behind. Nigeria is going nowhere until the problem of the Fulani is solved. Lord Lugard knew this and warned about this but some of our forebears did not understand. If they did they would have not waited for the North to get independence. This is a colossal mistake in retrospect. This problem cannot be solved until there is unity among those of us who don’t believe in anything and just want to be left alone to live our lives without any form of religious interference or coercion.
The Fulani have sown so much disunity in the South that you will think the Igbo and the Yoruba people are at war with each other. If you look carefully at those, they used to sow this disunity, you will find out they are using the Yoruba Muslims.
Most of the incendiary remarks against Igbo in Lagos are made by the Muslims in the Southwest. Now they have amped up this group of Yoruba to turn on their fellow Yoruba people in the Southwest. This is the main reason they are pushing for Sharia in the West. It is not about religion; it is a war strategy to divide the enemy’s camp. They have kept a lot of money for this exercise. The Muslims in the west are getting very wealthy and flamboyant and arrogant. Someone is paying serious money for the colorful feathers of these peacocks. Soon the West will know no peace, and, in the confusion, more mosques and Islamic command centers will be built.
The Fulani are Nomads, and they thrive in chaos and entropy. They are not interested in peace and unity because that doesn’t help their brand of Islam.
Let me end this digression with how the Fulani control their puppets. Abiola was their darling until he challenged Shagari. In their Bravado, they told Abiola that they made him and they will unmake him. The rest is history. Lot of Southerners mouthing platitudes today owe their position and allegiance to this theocratic minority. Check the bank account of Alhaji and you will understand why the Catholic Church could not match that offer.
To free ourselves from this quagmire we have to find a way to cure the Stockholm syndrome and cognitive dissonance of the Hausa people who have been the direct victims of the Fulani brutality and atrocities in the North. These people have been severely abused because they think they have a common identity with their oppressors.
The emancipation of the Hausa man is the key to our freedom in the South. These writings were inspired by the little action taken by President Bola Tinubu in this respect. He understands the demography and geopolitics of the North and is prepared to do something about the odious scenario we find ourselves in. We should not make another mistake by grabbing the tiger by the tail.
Dr Austin Orette writes from Houston Texas
THE LAST JIHAD PART 3 BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
The Fulani are the problem of Nigeria. They got to this preeminent position by subjugating the Hausa that they colonized. The Fulani are colonizers. They torture and subjugate the indigenous people and teach them to hate themselves and their neighbors. They dominate by killing the Hausa kings and forcing them to adopt the Fulani way of life which is Islam.
This is the violent process that is part of the colonizing culture. Violence is always needed for colonization. The British used this method efficiently in their colonies. The case of the Fulani in Nigeria is similar to apartheid South Africa because the White minority like the Fulani never left. Since everyone is black in Northern Nigeria, the apartheid there is invisible and additionally hidden by the cloak of religious gobbledygook.
As a stealth move, they did not impose their language on the indigenous population. Conflict avoided. They solidified the North with the Hausa language and their religion while stamping out the indigenous culture.
Violence is always the weapon of the colonizers, and they have no scruples when killing in the name of their God. None of the gains and dominance of the Fulani was achieved in a peaceful democratic manner.
Democracy is antithetical to a colonialist instinct. This is why the Fulani continue to use violence as a tool of politics in Nigeria. They are the colonialists, and they don’t see themselves having anything in common with the indigenous people of Nigeria. They use the indigenous population as canon folders. Until they are countered, they will always use violence as a means of statecraft.
They see themselves as the law and have the right to use violence, chaos and insecurity to their advantage. They always use proxies as the vanguard of their campaign.
When the First Republic was toppled, they regretted not doing it first. After that, no one will beat them to it. Since then, they have used the military to achieve their ends in Nigeria. They seized those moments of calamity and turned it back to their advantage.
They used Yakubu Gowon. After opposing the unitary system imposed by Aguyi Ironsi, they accepted it and perfected it to their advantage and created more confusion by creating more states and more centralization of power which they were in control of.
When Murtala Mohammed was eliminated, they settled for Olusegun Obasanjo. He has been a gift to the Fulani.
Under him, a Land Use decree which was a prelude to RUGA was passed. This decree made Fulani who are non-indigenous Nigerians to seize land from Hausa and other indigenous people of the North.
They did this through the suppression of the indigenous people with executive lawlessness and brigandage which is still going on in the North.
Under this decree they acquired lands that have precious metals in the North and started mining these metals privately. They used the monies gained here to start militias in the North of the country. It is these militias that later metamorphosed into various terrorist groups in the North and other parts of the Sahel.
The Fulani have a large war chest to prosecute low intensity insecurity when government policies are not in their favour. They also used money for the propagation of Islam in order to make their struggle international.
The Fulani are not really a religious people. They use religion for their political advancement. Through their Emirate System, their tentacles spread so far down South as Kwara State. There is no history of a non-Fulani who is an Emir. It is a closed system. To be an Emir, you have to be a Fulani and a Muslim and speak their language which is not Hausa. They are closely linked. They intermarry. They are one big family by blood. Throughout the reign of Buhari, Atiku never altered any word because he is family . People accuse Buhari of filling every position with Fulani. They are wrong. Buhari filled every government position with his family members.
They have the secrecy code of organized criminal syndicate. Their nomadic instincts make them to thrive advantageously in periods of national strife and chaos.
None of the advancement and wealth that they have accumulated was achieved in times of democratic harmony or peace. From the aforesaid, it can be assumed that it is not in their interest to foster peace and unity. They have come to understand that the rest of Nigeria especially the South have qualms about shedding innocent blood and they seize on this weakness to sow fear.
When we lament the death of Deborah Samson, they celebrate it because it is a warning that they could go further. They directly tell us that they will do anything to maintain their preeminent position in Nigeria. The various military coups and regimes in Nigeria were orchestrated by the Fulani and they benefited from them immensely. With avalanche of oil money, they can use to buy government officials who are non-Fulani and propagate their brand of Wahabi Islam. Under the military, they dragged Nigeria to be a member of OIC. Under the military, they added Sharia to the Constitution of a multiethnic and multi religious country.
Under the military, they produced a Constitution that has “No Go areas “called exclusive, legislative list. This list contains everything necessary for human development. Under General Obasanjo, they declared Sharia in their states because they know Obasanjo does not have the gumption to point out this unconstitutionality.
Now they are emboldened to push Sharia further south. Their impunity is overwhelming. They are taking small incremental steps in turning Nigeria from a secular state to an Islamic state without the consent of the citizens. This is why they have been sponsoring low intensity conflict within Nigeria.
The insecurity that abounds is nurtured by them so Nigerians can flee their homes, and their governments will reassign the land to them. The insecurity is also used to scare Southern youths and intellectuals to embark on the Japa train perpetually. This will weaken the South as those who will oppose them, will find it easier to Japa and cede the land to the Fulani.
Don’t be surprised if you hear that the Fulani are lobbying for easy visa protocols for educated Southerners especially the Biafrans who will gladly jettison the idea of Biafra land. They have the means, and they have the reach.
When you hear that an Emefiele stole billions, the question is how much was stolen by the Fulani accomplice? That is always a secret. They are very organized in their criminality and their stolen money flows through the chain of command. They are not loud like Southern money miss road people. They may not change their cars, and they may not change their abode. You won’t see them throw lavish parties. Fulani don’t see themselves as citizens. They see themselves as colonizers. This is the root of their pride and a weakness because when Nigerians realize that they are dealing with colonizers, they will go the way of colonizers. It will be worse because they have no superior technology to counter an avalanche of angry Nigerians. It is this day they fear most because they have been ruthless with their power and the anxiety in their ranks is feverish when they or their surrogates are not in power. How do you bell the cat?
The North is not a monolith as the Southerners have it in their imagination. The North is a Tower of Babel that was cobbled together by the Fulani jihadist. They used Islam to blind fold them. The instrumentality of coercion was so brutal and barbaric beyond the scope of the discussion here. We can still see some relics in their present-day agitation for Sharia by the Fulani. We in the South have agitated a lot but we don’t know who the foe is. We are haughty and prideful of our western education that we can sell our birthright cheaply. This is one of their greatest arsenals.
The Fulani have the money and the wherewithal to purchase the loudest Southerner of any tribe. We should subsume our arrogance and learn who the Fulani in Nigeria are. This is the key to render void any of their medieval advancement and primitive acquisitions.
Dr Austin Orette writes from Houston Texas
THE NIGERIAN QUESTION VERSUS THE LAST JIHAD (PART TWO)
BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
The Problem of Nigeria is the Fulani. Solving this problem is the beginning of a new Nigeria. This is why every Southerner and Middle belt citizen must take a stand against Fulani colonization. The Fulani people are very retrogressive.
Lord Lugard in his memoirs refers to them as fatalistic people without any ideals. He cautioned that these people are severely diseased and any society attached to them will never see any progress and will live to regret it.
Nigerians are in a serious state of national regret because of this ethnic and theocratic minority. All the indices of misery in the North which the Fulani colonized through theocratic subterfuge are stratospheric. The Fulani people have been running apartheid system in Northern Nigeria, using the Hausas as door mats. These are people who want leadership without any responsibility.
For too long, they took Nigeria for a ride by grafting themselves to the Hausas that they are oppressing. Throughout the Sahel, the Fulani who is a nomad has no reputable domicile. They are not in charge of their homestead in the Senegambia and Futa Jalon. They were never tolerated there hence Usman Dan Fodio left with his zealots for greener pastures.
Since their conquest of the Hausa kingdoms in the North, they have been on a race back to the first century. The fifty years that their armies ruled Nigeria has always been a journey to yesterday with theocratic decrees. They ruled Nigeria for fifty years and the most ignorant, stupid and parasitic people are from the North. It is okay to dominate with knowledge and technology. The only thing these brutes gave to the north is sharia education. The whole North has been turned into a domicile of religious bigotry and Muslim terrorists. No people with this kind of bankrupt mentality should be allowed access to power in a modern state.
We are in an era where people in other climes are talking of quantum computing and these theocratic Fulani people tell the Hausas that the best education is memorizing the Quran and it is okay to kill anyone who disagrees with their medieval incantations. They send their own children to the best schools with stolen money from Nigeria. This is odious. There is nothing the Fulani people achieved in Nigeria that is based on merit.
Recently about a thousand Fulani people who have no basic education were flushed out of high position in the Nigerian Central bank. A people less than ten percent of the population of Nigeria with no skill and education are over represented in every major Nigerian ministries and parastatals. They have corrupted the judiciary and made Nigeria a lawless society. No Fulani got anything in Nigeria by merit. Whatever wealth they have were bestowed on them by the Fulani military that ran Nigeria aground. They are not religious people. They use religion to create the subterfuge necessary for the enthronement of their mediocrity. What kind of people will ask for a naval headquarters in a desert terrain? This is not the mindset that can build or develop any nation. This is why I ask every Nigerian to understand that all the economic and security issues in Nigeria today are created by the Fulani. They are nomadic people and they use subterfuge and entropy to make advancement. These are deliberate ploys to make educated southerners to subscribe to the Japa syndrome perennially and thin the army of the opposing camp. They use religious gobbledygook to recruit the people they deliberately kept ignorant. This is the time to stop them and save the nation. All the issues that are plaguing Nigeria today is caused by the Fulani people. Late Muhammadu Buhari was president for eight years and did nothing about security or the economy because it was not in the interest of the Fulani. He used Nigerian money to construct a rail to Niger Republic. This is who they are. We must stop them and make them understand they don’t own Nigeria. This is why we must curtail their influence that is out of proportion to their numbers, education and technological know-how.
They took Nigeria into OIC and smuggled Sharia into a constitution of a multiethnic and multi religious nation. This is sacrilegious and beyond pardon. The British colonized Nigeria and left. The Fulani people colonized the North and never left. It is time to disband their apartheid regime in the North. All Southerners must unite on this. An enlightened leadership can never emerge in Nigeria if the Fulani problem is not solved. This is a task that must be done. We must make this their last Jihad.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON TEXAS
THE LAST JIHAD PART 1 BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
It has become a culture for Northern Nigerian politicians to erupt into subterfuge and engage in effusions of caustic language against their imaginary enemies.
In their orgy of hatred, they always speak in hyperboles. In a democracy, we expect our politicians to debate the issues and point the way forward. This culture of debate involves give and take. You win some, you lose some and parochial interests are subsumed for the good of the whole nation.
This is the way it should be in any functioning democracy except in Nigeria where the fundamentalist Fulani Muslims have decided to put our democracy in a choke hold.
They came out vociferously against the tax bill in the National Assembly, before they read it. They rained fire and brimstone on President Bola Tinubu. Some even threatened war. These are not ordinary people. These are people who have walked the halls of government as governors and other plenipotentiary positions. They know clearly that a bill before the National Assembly has to be debated before it becomes law. They would rather scuttle the debate and threaten anyone who supports it, with hellish repercussions. They even threatened secession. They amplified their umbrage and called Tinubu OTP (One Term President). They promised mayhem for the president’s kinsmen.
The next day, Sharia became an issue in Western Nigeria. They have telescoped their thoughts to us that they will destroy what they cannot have. When they stood there and threatened Nigeria, they forgot how far times have changed and they seem to be the last to know that their world view and position are steeped in stack contradiction to the present.
In the past, the military gave them everything. They have become like spoilt children throwing tantrums for parental attention. They are lost without military dictatorship that spoon feeds and handed position and merit to them without questions. They are suffering from severe cognitive dissonance. They seem to have the ahistorical perception that they, the Fulanis defeated Biafra and kept Nigeria “united “, and as such the whole of Southern Nigeria is a conquered territory that should be under the Islamic Fulani extremist.
Whatever bloviated position they achieved was through successive military coups in Nigeria that arrogated positions out of proportion to their merit and contributions to Nigeria socio economic and political evolution and development. The Fulani military that ran Nigeria bequeathed a lot of wealth, power and position to this clique of religious zealots from Futa Jalon. They used the Islamic religion to convince the Hausas that they are of one purpose. This is a lie. The Hausa people in Northern Nigeria are the hewers of wood and drawers of water. They are prisoners in their homeland. They encourage these unfortunate people to join the other ranks of the Nigerian army and use them as foot soldiers for their Jihad against the South that is more educated and more productive.
Through successive coups, they had unearned merit. With this came a lot of wealth they are using to propagate Wahhabism in Nigeria. Instead of using this stolen wealth to develop their part of Nigeria, they used it to keep mostly the Hausas ignorant, poor and uneducated. It is these pool of ignorant people that they can easily weep into a religious frenzy to attack non-Muslims. They have used this approach for their political survival in a Nigeria.
Things are changing; the world is closer and more competitive. They say they have more land and more people. Why can’t they monetize these factors? It is easier to weaponize ignorance and poverty. They can’t because they purposely made their people to be poor and ignorant. They intend to use them in their proxy wars of religious extremism.
The Fulanis always use proxies to do their battle. The mistake they are making now is that they have always fought the last battle the same way. They go to their most potent ammunition. The Sharia is the tool the Fulanis used to conquer the North and is the tool they want to use to make their foray into the south.
Unfortunately for them, they failed to understand that a Southern Muslim is an educated person who knows the position of religion and culture in his life. The Fulanis are religious extremist and everything they got in Nigeria is due to this extremism. They threatened to leave the union. They are not going anywhere because they know that decision will be suicidal. They will be poorer than Niger Republic or Chad or their brethren roaming in the Sahel. Anytime the Fulanis lose influence, they conjure up their imaginary relationship with Sharia.
During the debate for the 1979 Constitution, the Northern delegates walked out because Sharia was not included in that constitution. They returned with their egos bruised.
Four years later, the Northern Military overthrew the government of Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari. Ibrahim Babangida made Nigeria a member of OIC (The organization of Islamic States). Sani Abacha was the author of the 1999 constitution. Sharia was smuggled into the constitution.
These so-called gains for the North were only achieved under unitary military dictatorship. They could not educate their people, they could not build industries. Individually, the Fulanis have made out like bandits in the various military regimes that ruled Nigeria. They are billionaires with oil wells but don’t know the location and coordinates in the Niger Delta.
These predatory achievements were made under the name of Northern Nigeria and Islam. This is why in this time of distress; they are reaching out for their familiar weapon, Islamic extremism and bellicosity. Unfortunately for them at this time they will have to grapple with the monumental squalor and decay they created in the North.
The middle belt doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Northern agenda of Islamism, terrorism and poverty. Soon, the Hausa man will start asking them; Why is every Emir a Fulani Person? Where are the Hausa Sarikis? Why is every imam of a mosque in Northern Nigeria, a Fulani? Most of all they will ask, what are we fighting for?
In the First Republic in Nigeria, the North did not agitate for Sharia. We had independent Regions who did not succumb to the indolence of monthly allocation. This was because at that time the North was prosperous and Self-sufficient. They had purposeful leadership. The new apostles of Sharia have no weapon to fight their poverty, disease and ignorance. They are behaving like a drunken man at the wheel of a car praying for superstition to rescue him out of imminent accident.
No one should be perturbed. This is their last Jihad. What we are witnessing is the spasms of a dying oligarchy.
Dr Austin Orette writes from Houston Texas
THE IMPERIALISM OF FOREIGN RELIGIONS BY AUSTIN ORETTE
While Africans opine about imperialism of the west and others, the least talked about and the most lethal of all the isms, is the imperialism of religion in African society.
We can criticize our tribes; we can criticize our politicians and politics but the moment we try to examine the role of religion in our backwardness we are considered pariahs. Soon or later a death decree or fatua is issued. Why is it so? What is so special about religion that cannot be criticized?
All over the world, religion has led to the death of many. Any comment on religion that is not in good light is considered blasphemy and the penalty is death. Why this and why Africans should kill each other because of foreign religions. How did these religions enter our society with so many disregards for the life of the African? I have thought about this and came to the conclusion that the fear that religions impose on its adherents in Africa is not only the fear of hell fire but also the fear of physical harm and social ostracism.
How did foreign religions become so powerful to supplant our cultures and assume primacy of place that we are willing to torture and fillet our neighbors because he does not agree with our concept of God? The two religions tearing Nigeria apart are Islam and Christianity. The homeland of these religions has no respect for the humanity of black people. These religions were the tools used to enslave black people and still use to this day to discriminate against black people in the Western and Islamic world.
The practitioners of Islam and Christianity in Africa will form a common cause to kill on behalf of the religion of these invaders. We see all these anomalies in these religions, but our people have been severely and thoroughly mentally enslaved that they are blind to these realities. They are blind to these abominations and continue to revere these foreign gods whose goodness is bestowed on Caucasians or Arabs only. They ravaged and desecrated Africa and the African people and we stupidly believe that their god that told them the African was inferior, and worthy of slavery is also our God. Until we abolish the imperialism of religion in Africa and Nigeria in particular, we are going nowhere with our so-called independence. The reason we cannot criticize these religions is a carryover from their homelands. When the religions were practiced by the villagers and so-called primitive people, it was okay to throw these primitive people into the lion’s den. When the kings adopted these religions for their political survival, it became sacrosanct to criticize these religions because doing so became equivalent to criticizing the king. The king was the church, and the church was the king. These religions became tools of conquest. The penalty for criticizing the king was death. This is how religion became sacrosanct. The king could do no wrong because the king was God. The adoption of any religion by the reigning monarch was the quickest way to spread any religion in early times. The Monarch is converted, and all his subjects are decreed to follow suit.
In Africa, attempts to convert kings were rebuffed and the king was overthrown, killed or exiled. The Western societies dug themselves out of this conundrum. They fought many wars, and Europe became scattered all over the World. A nation called America was born. America looked to the ills of Europe and distilled a blueprint of a society that is not beholden to religion. In America you are free to practice your religion, but the state cannot establish or practice a religion or impose any religion on you. Their constitution has stood them well and the old countries of Europe have gradually ceded their monarchies and religion to the personal realm. In fashioning the American constitution, the good Christians there still considered the African an inferior being that was only three fifths human. This is how far the western religion went in denigrating the African. Islam did worse. The only difference is that the Arab world has done so much to hide their brutality against the African. The Arab world is still under various monarchies and Islam is the religion of the Monarchs. Like their western counterparts, the Monarch is Islam, and any criticism of the king is the criticism of Islam. This is the reason why the crown prince of Saudi Arabia sent murderers to kill Khashoggi, who criticized him in Turkey. Since the King is Islam and Islam is the king, why has the Arab world not issued any decree that prohibits discrimination against Africans.
A stroll through any Arab city will tell the African he is not wanted. This is why I will prefer the west any day. They have made attempts to enact laws against discrimination. No such laws in the Arab world. In the Western world the people may be racist, but the system is being refined not to be. In the Islamic world, the people and their system are racist. It has been observed that during the hajj, punitive conditions are rolled out for those attending from black Africa. It is obvious that they only want the money. Don’t pay attention to the feigned nicety of their big cities.
As I observed earlier, in the Arab world, there is no difference between Islam and the state because the monarch is Islam. So, the concept of separation of the state and religion is still in the horizon (and the future when the church or the state will become so corrupted that people will cry and fight for reformation). It is already happening in Yemen. It is this system that is called Sharia that Muslims in Nigeria want to impose on Nigeria. They forget that Nigeria, unlike the Arab world, is a plural society.
Inspite of all these clear observations, Nigerians are at war with each other to prove the superiority of their imported religions. This is not a religion that originated in Africa. Why are we the ones to keep alive the religions that are dying in their homelands? The imperialism of religion has forced the African, who is a loving being to become the blood thirsty and bloodletting tool of western and Arab imperialism.
It is time we begin to jettison these foreign religions and rely on the culture that saw Africans through the travails of foreign invaders who introduced their gods to us without recognizing our humanity. Nobody should tell us about our divinity except us. Any explanation of our divinity by non-African (the so-called pastors and Imams) will always be fraudulent. This is why they don’t respect us. They cannot believe we worship their gods’ inspite of what they did to us in the name of their gods. Call it Christianity or Islam, they cannot talk more about God and love more than Orissa. This is a call for Africans to remove themselves from the worship of these foreign gods whose holy books were used to enslave the people of God that live in Africa. Until we take this drastic step, the African will always be a creature of pity and contempt. He will always be seen as a slave by the west and a kaffir by the Arabs.
Austin Orette, a physician, lives in Texas, USA
WALL OF HATRED, EMBELLISHED BIAFRA STORIES AND LIES
BY AUSTIN ORETTE
I don’t enjoy replying to these incendiary and caustic postings of Biafrans. For us to move forward, someone has to do it. All the blame for Biafra must go to those who started Biafra and are still in denial to this day and blames everyone who has any observation to the contrary.
Today, we are witnessing another bellicose nation deny its responsibility in drawing destruction unto itself. Israel started a war and it is blaming Iran for its destruction. This is the corollary of the Biafra separatist. They declared a war on Nigeria and since they lost, they blame everyone but themselves. The generation that declared Biafra is dying away. Soon most of those who were the actors in Biafra will be gone. Instead of the bitterness ebbing away, a thick wall of hatred is being erected because that generation that fought, are handing over embellished stories and lies to their children who are not interested in reexamining their positions and reappraising their stagnant thinking about the war and the issues that led to the war. We are familiar with the fact that truth is the first casualty of war. The Nigerian civil war is not an exception in this regard. For some reasons, the proponents of Biafra will want us to believe that they have the monopoly of the truth. This gentleman saying Gowon lied should revisit Biafra without his acidic temperament. His remarks against Gowon should not go unchallenged. His remarks are wrong, self-serving and crude and devoid of historical accuracy.
Nigeria did not declare war on Biafra. It was Biafra that declared war on Nigeria. Gowon was a very reluctant warrior. He didn’t want brothers to spill brothers’ blood. He tried everything including granting a lot of concessions to Ojukwu in order to avoid the war. He was a man of peace. The proponents of Biafra always hang on to Aburi as if there was nothing happening in Nigeria before Aburi. It is very disturbing to see people so clear eyed about Aburi but they are amnestic about what led to Aburi. If the Igbos had declared Biafra and stayed in their enclave, the story of Nigeria would have been different. After they declared Biafra, they invaded the Midwest Region and deposed Gov David Ejoor and appointed a Biafran as the governor. The people of the Midwest region saw hell and mayhem during the three months that the Biafrans occupied the Midwest Region. They conscripted people into the Biafran Army, raided Banks and killed those who refused to join Biafra. It was on their way to Ore that they were pushed back by federal troops that were hurriedly assembled. The three months of the occupation of the Midwest region by the Biafrans was hell on earth for the citizens of the Midwest region who were under the Biafran military occupation.
Since the Proponents of Biafra always take Aburi as the beginning and end of everything, I will try to examine this Aburi for all to see. The Biafrans to this day have never accepted that they were the aggressors. They have handed erroneous history to their children. This is the deliberate ploy to hide their gross negligence. They have used their propaganda machine to populate the whole s system with lies and innuendos. In a twist unknown to them, these lies have become a prison to their uninformed generations. This is the reason why the generation that was not alive during that war always speaks with anger and crudity. Nnamdi Kanu actually used Aburi to justify his aggression towards the Nigerian state. It is time we point them to the accurate history and pull away the blanket of lies that have given them comfort in their infamy. When a sitting senator can mount a podium and malign an elder statesman, like Gowon, then nothing is sacrosanct. It is time Nigerians tell the Biafrans that their whole existence is a big lie generated by those who led them into the wrong alley. The sooner they jettison these lies and form a common course with other Nigerians, the better it will be for them. Their perpetual cry for Biafra is fraudulent and based on lies. They should be made to understand that they brought Nigeria to this nadir.
In this discourse, we may be forced to delve into their uncivilized behavior that made them to cripple the Nigerian state through murder and mayhem. The Igbo man in Nigeria is not a victim. He is a perpetrator. They owe Nigeria apology for the disruption they caused the Nigerian state.
Aburi was a place for cessation of hostilities. No one sent Gowon to Aburi to rewrite the Nigerian constitution that was overthrown by the Igbo officers. For the Igbos to always try to convince everyone that Aburi was the beginning and the end of their bellicosity is a big lie. They have told this lie over and over that they are beginning to see it as the truth and they have wrapped this lie with all kinds of mythology. Why Aburi? This place was chosen because Ojukwu said he was not safe in any place in Nigeria. Fair enough. If Ojukwu had insisted on return to the status quo ante, maybe things would’ve been different. If you look at the body language of Ojukwu and Gowon during those meetings, you can see that Gowon was very pliant. He was ready to do anything to avoid that war. It was Ojukwu who came with cautery of lawyers and made impossible demands. The Igbos forgot that we had a constitution that guaranteed regional autonomy that was abrogated by Aguyi Ironsi who also abolished the regions and introduced the unitary system that started Nigeria on this perilous path. I am always amazed when the South-East people refuse to acknowledge the role they played in ushering Nigeria to our present hell. Ojukwu studied history at Oxford. He must have known what befall a people who lose wars. Instead of negotiating for ceasefire in Aburi, he came with a team of lawyers to rewrite a constitution of Nigeria in another land. We had a constitution which was overthrown in a coup by Igbo officers. Why is it difficult for the Igbos to understand that Ojukwu had no means to enforce any agreement? This is the core issues that the Biafrans have refused to understand to this day. I have always said these actors were very young. It is not out of place to ascribe some of their actions to youthful exuberance. The more I read about Aburi, the more I find out that Ojukwu was more interested in headlines and his Oxford credentials which were impressive and were highly blown in foreign newspapers. The foreigners were not going to fight his war. What Ojukwu and his lawyers demanded at Aburi were not anything within the power of Gowon. All the things Ojukwu asked for can only be addressed in a parliament of the Nigerian people. There was no parliament. Those who were in the know when Gowon returned made it clear to Gowon that what he negotiated with Ojukwu were not within his powers. Any attempt to make the Igbos to understand that what Ojukwu got from Aburi is not tenable and will not be accepted by the rest of Nigeria fell on deaf ears. Since then they developed the Mantra, “On Aburi We stand “. I will repeat, no one sent two soldiers to another country to rewrite the Nigerian constitution. Nigerians refused to succumb to this blackmail by the Igbos.
There were other negotiations. There was Arusha and there was Kampala. Biafra had no legitimacy and wherewithal to enforce their one-sided accord. The rest is history. In the overall scheme of things, Aburi is a non-issue. Did Ojukwu have any negotiations with Adaka Boro who declared Niger Delta Republic? Boro was captured and sentenced to death. Why was this so? It was so because Ojukwu and Ironsi had the power to nullify Boro’s Niger Delta Republic, and they did. If you juxtapose this, we can say Gowon had the power to nullify Biafra and he did. The myopia of the Biafrans is a deliberate affliction. Let us move forward.
DR AUSTIN A. ORETTE IS A FAMIL MEDICINE DOCTOR IN HOUSTON, TEXAS. HE RECEIVED HIS MEDICAL DEGREE FROM UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA
How Julius Berger is reshaping infrastructural landscape of Abuja
Right from its entry into Abuja to build a modern federal capital for Nigeria in 1980, Julius Berger has remained very relevant in the infrastructural development of the seat federal government of Nigeria.
Accordingly, the company’s extensive involvement in the construction and rehabilitation of roads, bridges, and interchanges makes it to unrepentantly continue to play a vital role in shaping the city’s physical and socio-economic landscape. As the capital city grows rapidly, the strategic infrastructure projects spearheaded by Julius Berger have contributed significantly to urban development, improved transportation systems, and economic efficiency, said the Regional Manager of the company, Oliver Berger.
According to him, “we are reshaping the infrastructural landscape in the Federal Capital Territory. Right from Julius Berger entrance into Abuja in 1980 we have inspired development through partnership with the Federal Government on Largescale development. Now, we are taking infrastructural development to the next level.”
Oliver Berger listed some of the recent projects, completed and ongoing to buttress his point. He mentioned Abuja-Kubwa Expressway, Abuja International Airport Runway, Central Bank of Nigeria building, Airport Road Interchange, construction of Arterial Road N5, Rehabilitation of International Conference Centre, Asokoro Hillside Multispeciality Hospital, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, New Headquarters, Central Roads B6/B12, Construction of the Residence of the Vice President, and Emergency Rehabilitation of FCT Minister’s residence, to name a few.
Work is in full swing on the Arterial Road N5 (Obafemi Awolowo Way), and we’re making significant strides toward delivering this vital 4.4 km infrastructure project. With box culverts, a river bridge, and the N3/N30 junction taking shape, every milestone brings us closer to enhancing connectivity and development in the region, he said; adding, at Julius Berger, our commitment to quality and efficiency drives every step of the journey.
On the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s new headquarters which was designed by Artec Practice Limited and being constructed by Julius Berger, the Regional Manager of the company said, with the unique touch of Julius Berger in the project’s construction, it is excellence that is speedily taking shape.
He said the masterpiece of the structure is an architectural landmark that embodies innovation, efficiency, and world-class engineering. From its sun-shielding façade to cutting-edge building systems, every detail is crafted to set new standards in functionality and design.
Pointing in the direction of the the iconic National Stadium, he said it stands as a proud testament to the power of vision, innovation, and collaboration. The architectural piece is an architectural marvel which is more than just a venue. It is a symbol of Nigeria’s commitment to excellence and its passion for sports.
During a recent visit to the International Conference Centre, ICC when he was conducted round the project site by the Regional Manager, Region Central North of the company, Oliver Berger, the minister of the FCT, Barr. Nyesom Ezenwo Wike who was obviously satisfied with the work-in-progress even as the company pledged to complete the project ahead of the planned handover date in May 2025, declared, Julius Berger’s expertise is highly commendable. They are doing a wonderful job here.
Awarded in October 2024 by the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, the scope of the contract for the rehabilitation of the Centre includes, finishing, mechanical and electrical renovation, sanitary rehabilitation, façade work, furniture, ancillary buildings, roof repairs, and external work.
Julius Berger’s Road and bridge works have transformed the infrastructural outlook of Abuja, and they constructed several interchanges, such as the Airport Road Interchange, which eliminated dangerous U-turns and reduced traffic congestion. The modern traffic solutions replaced old junction systems that were inadequate for the increasing population and vehicle numbers.
These projects have combined to expand Abuja’s arterial road networks; enhanced mobility and they are easing access to various districts and the upgrades have helped maintain continuity in transport services and improved road safety.
In a rapidly growing city like Abuja, effective traffic management is crucial. Julius Berger has addressed this need by constructing several critical bridges and flyovers. The Jabi Lake Bridge and the Nyanya-Karu flyover are prime examples of how the company has alleviated traffic congestion, facilitating smoother commutes for residents and visitors alike.
One of the most significant contributions of Julius Berger to Abuja’s infrastructural landscape is road development. The company has been instrumental in the construction and rehabilitation of major highways and roads, enhancing connectivity within the city and to neighbouring regions. Notable projects include the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport access road, which have improved transportation efficiency and accessibility.
Beyond transportation infrastructure, Julius Berger has played a vital role in the construction of public buildings and facilities in Abuja. The company has been involved in the development of modern educational institutions, hospitals, and government buildings, fostering a conducive environment for learning and public service. Projects such as the Nigerian National Mosque and the Nigerian National Christian Centre highlight Julius Berger’s capacity to blend functionality with architectural beauty.
As Abuja continues to expand, urban development has become essential. Julius Berger is actively involved in various urban renewal projects aimed at enhancing the city’s livability. This includes the development of parks, recreational facilities, and housing estates that cater to the growing population, ensuring that urban sprawl does not compromise the quality of life for residents.
March 30, 2025
Press Statement
Eid-el-Fitr: PDP Urges Piety, Fear of God
…Charges Nigerians to Stand for Justice, Rule of Law
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) congratulates the Muslim Ummah on the successful completion of the Holy Ramadan fasting urging Nigerians to allow the divine lessons, values of love, unity, peace, patience, tolerance, restraint and total submission to the Will of the Almighty Allah among other virtues imbibed during the period to guide their daily dealings with one another.
Our Party urges Nigerians, especially those in leadership positions at all levels to re-dedicate themselves to the path of selfless service guided by love, truth, fairness, honesty and impartiality in all their activities and put away acts of corruption, arrogance, manipulation and insensitivity to the plight of the people.
Indeed, the Eid-el-Fitr offers us as a nation and humanity the divine portal to redeem our nation by standing up for justice, strict adherence to the Rule of Law and accountability in the polity.
The PDP is deeply disturbed that while citizens of other countries are celebrating the Eid-el-Fitr in plenty, Nigerians are dampened in spirit due to the unbearable hardship occasioned by the misrule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration which has worsened in the last two years.
Our Party however charges Nigerians not to relent but continue to apply the lessons of Ramadan in recharging their resilience, focus and love for one another in the pursuit of a God-fearing, secure and prosperous nation that we once had under the PDP administration.
The PDP calls on Nigerians to use the occasion as usual to reach out, uplift and share with one another especially the less, privilege, the displaced and those that are hurting due to one misfortune or the other so that the joy of Eid-el-Fitr can spread to all
Our Party as always prays for the nation and wishes Nigerians, especially the Muslim Ummah a happy Eid-el-Fitr celebration.
Signed:
Hon. Debo Ologunagba
National Publicity Secretary
STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE
PRESIDENT TINUBU APPRECIATES NIGERIANS FOR BIRTHDAY WELL WISHES, REVEALS HE NEARLY QUIT 2023 PRESIDENTIAL RACE
President Bola Tinubu has expressed deep appreciation to Nigerians for their outpouring of goodwill and prayers as he marked his 73rd birthday.
At a special Iftar held in his honour at the Presidential Villa on Saturday night, President Tinubu thanked guests for their presence, prayers, and contributions to the nation’s development.
Acknowledging the challenges he faced on his path to the presidency, President Tinubu reaffirmed his commitment to advancing Nigeria’s progress.
The gathering included the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and his wife, Nana Shettima, members of the Federal Executive Council, principal officers of the National Assembly, current and former governors, diplomats, business leaders, religious figures, and some of the President’s childhood friends.
Dr. Abdulkadir Salman Sholagberu, Imam of the National Mosque, Abuja, led special prayers seeking divine guidance and continued progress for the President and the nation.
Reflecting on his political journey, President Tinubu recounted a moment of doubt during the 2023 election campaign when he contemplated withdrawing from the race after an encounter with a close relative.
“Those close to me know that the odds were against me. During the campaigns, one of them came to my living room around 3:30 a.m. and said he needed just N50,000 to buy foodstuff for our uncle.
“He told me, ‘The currency is gone because of you. People are jumping over bank counters because there is no cash. Our uncle, a wealthy man, doesn’t even have N10,000 in cash. What are you running for?'”
“I told him, ‘I am running for President, not for you and our uncle.’ I gave him the N50,000. As he walked out, he turned to me and said, ‘I don’t think you will make it.’ I replied, ‘I will make it.'”
The President disclosed that his uncle later called to confirm receiving the money but admitted that he had only given the messenger N10,000, keeping the rest.
“I was amazed. At that moment, I almost dropped the idea of running for President. But thanks to Aminu Masari and all of you who encouraged me. When I came to Abuja, Masari told me, ‘I am the Chairman of the North West Group; don’t look back’,” he said.
President Tinubu noted that he assumed office during a time of economic uncertainty and had to make immediate, difficult decisions, including removing the fuel subsidy.
“On the day of my inauguration, I had to decide on something not originally in my speech, and that was the fuel subsidy removal,” he said.
Noting that Nigeria had reached a point of no return on the issue, the President said:
“The hallmark of a great leader is the ability to make the right decision at the right time. That was the day I declared that the subsidy was gone. The following day, I was hounded and thoroughly abused in the media. But I stood firm, knowing it was the right thing to do for our nation’s future,” he said.
Vice President Kashim Shettima lauded the President’s sacrifices, stating that history will remember him as the leader who took on the nation’s most complex challenges.
“Thanks to his boldness, future presidents of Nigeria will not have to wrestle with the same ghosts that haunted past administrations, including fraud-ridden fuel subsidies, an unstable forex market, and the suppression of local government autonomy.
“These were the thorny issues that many before him sidestepped. But Asiwaju did not sidestep history; he came to rewrite it.
“And in rewriting it, Asiwaju has taken the bullets that many before him simply lacked the courage to face. But that is the thing about true leadership: it is not for those who seek comfort. It is for those who understand that the path to national greatness is lined with difficult choices,” he said.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio praised the President’s ability to forgive and his relentless passion for national development.
Akpabio described the President as a leader who thinks outside the box and as the ‘most audacious president’ in the country’s history.
He said that, under Tinubu’s watch, governors are getting more allocation.
“If I were a governor under your administration, I would have been a ‘supernatural governor’ and not an uncommon governor,” he said.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, described President Tinubu as a leader who has broken barriers and uplifted future Nigerian politicians.
He noted that the President had taken a backseat to raising leaders for decades.
“Today, he is at the forefront because Nigeria needs him. In 2019, despite not being from his region, he supported me in my most difficult political moment. Nigeria needs leaders who rise above tribal considerations, and he has demonstrated that,” he said.
Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State commended the President’s decisive leadership at a time when Nigeria needed stability.
“Only a leader with deep conviction and love for the country could have taken the bold and yet necessary decisions that averted national collapse and now restoring hope and confidence across the federation,” he said.
Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy Dr. Bosun Tijjani shared his personal experience of being appointed by President Tinubu despite his past activism.
“Before my appointment, I had never met Mr. President. But after my confirmation, he told me, ‘I have looked at your records and activism, and I am giving you an opportunity to serve,'” he said.
The minister recounted a recent meeting at the World Bank, where a senior official described President Tinubu as the best reformist leader in Africa today.
Professor Shaffideen Adeniyi Amuwo, a childhood friend of the President, reminisced about their early years and how divine providence led Tinubu to the presidency.
“Our relationship did not just start in Chicago; we played soccer together as children. While I chose the library, my brother chose politics because he loved to speak. Today, Allah has shown His greatness by guiding him to lead Nigeria.
“The city of Chicago, founded by a Black man, has educated the man who now leads the most populous Black nation on earth. I pray that Allah continues to hold his hand and guide him as he works to save our country,” he said.
Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President
(Information & Strategy)
March 29, 2025
STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE
PRESIDENT TINUBU APPROVES TENURE EXTENSION FOR COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF IMMIGRATION KEMI NANNA NANDAP
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved an extension of Mrs. Kemi Nanna Nandap’s tenure as the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) through December 31, 2026.
Mrs Nandap began her career in the Nigeria Immigration Service on October 9, 1989.
President Tinubu appointed her as Comptroller-General on March 1, 2024, to serve till August 31, 2025.
Under her leadership, the Nigeria Immigration Service has witnessed significant advancements in its core mandate, with notable improvements in border management, modernisation of immigration processes and national security measures.
President Tinubu commended the Comptroller-General for her exemplary leadership and urged her to continue dedicating herself to the Service’s strategic priorities, which align with his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The President reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to supporting the Nigeria Immigration Service in fulfilling its mandate to protect Nigeria’s territorial integrity and promote safe, legal, and orderly migration.
Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President
(Information & Strategy)
March 31, 2025
STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE
PRESIDENT TINUBU RECONSTITUTES NNPC LIMITED BOARD, APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN, GROUP CEO
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a sweeping reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, removing the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure and the group chief executive officer, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari.
President Tinubu removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.
The new 11-man board has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman.
Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu.
Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the country’s geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu, North West, Yusuf Usman, North East, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas( NLNG), who represents North Central.
President Tinubu appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from the South West, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the South East.
Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
All the appointments are effective today, April 2.
President Tinubu, invoking the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, emphasised that the board’s restructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialisation and diversification.
President Tinubu also handed out an immediate action plan to the new board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives.
Since 2023, the Tinubu administration has implemented oil sector reforms to attract investment. Last year, NNPC reported $17 billion in new investments within the sector. The administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.
The Tinubu administration targets raising oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030. Concurrently, the government wants gas production jacked to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030.
Furthermore, President Tinubu expects the new board to elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030.
The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is from Borno State. He is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received a degree in civil engineering in 1984. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris
He started his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production as a trainee engineer in 1985.
Musa became Total Nigeria’s Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015. Last year, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group.
Apart from his oil industry career, Ahmadu Musa Kida is a former basketballer and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation(NBBF) board.
Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, He was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His Renaissance recently led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), worth $2.4 billion.
Like Kida, Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career in the oil sector. From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist.
Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager. In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).
During his career, he was chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
President Tinubu thanked the old board members for their dedicated service to NNPC Limited, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the old Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns. He wished them well in their future endeavours.
Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President
(Information & Strategy)
April 2, 2025
Nigerian women task Tinubu on Akpoti-Uduaghan
Nigerian women on Monday spoke out against the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and the signatures to recall the Kogi Central representative.
“This is the example of tyranny, harsh and unfair decisions”
They also asked President Bola Tinubu and Senator Godswill Akpabio to use their good offices to protect and defend the rights of women in Nigeria.
“The suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan disgusted many people. The dispute in the senate caused much doubt about the honesty of male politicians in the country”
The influential women reformers at a meeting to discuss the social, civil and religious conditions and rights of women in Nigeria urged the senate to lift the suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan.
‘It has been established that suspension and recall processes are not appropriate responses to disagreement concerning a senate president and a member of the senate.
They called upon God to afflict people behind Akpoti-Uduaghan’s recall processes with madness and imbecility.
Particularly, the women condemned the violation of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s rights and the treatment of women politicians as children and instruments of emotional satisfaction in the country’s politics.
Chairperson of South-South Women Rights Movement, Mrs Alice Anene presented the stance of the women to local and foreign journalists.
The highly intelligent and spirited women advised Akpabio to conduct himself honourably as Senate president.
“Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is a great fighter and remarkable public servant. She is also the most trusted and best informed person to ever represent Kogi Central”
The crusaders of women rights denounced the plot by desperate chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to get rid of Akpoti-Uduaghan.
“They hired fake people and poured money into destroying Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan”
The women argued that the recall process was not necessary because it might lead to more harm than good for women, Kogi Central and the nation’s democracy.
“History is recited in favour of those who have won. But in this case, recall agitators and those behind the suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan Uduaghan should be ashamed of themselves”
No rift between Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan – South-South leaders
South-South leaders on Sunday lauded the cordial relationship existing between the President of the Senate, Chief Godswill Akpabio and the Senator Representing Kogi Central, Chief Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
‘’We know that the Senate President does not have anything against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, contrary to the insinuation of political mercenaries’’
They also chastised some individuals and groups for introducing dangerous dimensions to the recent development in the Senate.
‘’We consider it very irresponsible and most uncharitable for some individuals and groups to mischievously try to set Akpoti-Uduaghan against the leadership of the Senate for expressing her views’’.
Rising from a meeting on Sunday in Calabar, the South-South leaders disproved sexual harassment and sidelining rumours, describing them as ‘’wicked and malicious’’
‘’These smear campaigns are attempts to tarnish the image of the distinguished senators and put the popular, bright and unflappable Akpoti-Uduaghan at logger-heads with the leadership of the Senate
A statement by the National Chairman of the South-South Front, Chief John Harry shortly after the meeting applauded Akpabio and Akpoti-Uduaghan for working for the progress of the country.
‘’There is a general misunderstanding. The unwarranted attack being launched on Akpabio and Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan amounts to an assault on our collective sensibilities’’
Harry said the leaders took cognizance of the pleasant disposition of the Senate President, his inclusive strategy and the peaceful atmosphere he has been able to create in the Senate.
“No amount of allegations and criticisms hurled at the distinguished senators can erode their contributions to the development of the country”
The notable leaders called on all South-South and North Central people and indeed Nigerians to show solidarity and support for the Senate President and the member representing Kogi Central in the Senate.
‘’The Kogi Central Senator is dedicated and fearless. There is no amount of blackmail, name-calling or intimidation from fictitious groups that could change the course of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s destiny’’
Email editor: ebirerihenry52@gmail.com
Call editor: 08036977194
…………………………………………………………………..
Nigeria Opposes Move to Split AU’s Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security
The Nigerian government has backed the move to reform the African Union, making the continental body more vibrant, viable, and relevant to the needs of member states in the face of rapidly changing global political and economic realities.
President Bola Tinubu, whose statement was delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, during the consideration and deliberation on the AU reforms report, commended his Rwanda and Kenya counterparts, Paul Kagame and Williams Ruto, for the reform proposals.
President Tinubu acknowledged the recommendations outlined in the draft decision on the AU reform and said the Nigerian government supports the proposal to establish a Heads of State and Government oversight Committee for the AU Reforms under President Ruto’s leadership.
The Nigerian government also endorsed the proposal that the agenda of the AU Summit feature no more than three strategic items.
In the intervention delivered by Ambassador Tuggar, President Tinubu rejected the proposal to create a new department out of the existing Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security. Nigerian diplomat, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, heads the department. He was re-elected to another term at the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government, which ended Sunday.
“We do not support the proposal to reconfigure the Department of Political Affairs Peace and Security (PAPS) as the reconfiguration of the PAPS Department in the way currently suggested will only lead us to incur more expenditure needlessly.
“We already have a SOD under the Directorate of PAPS. We cannot have a Peace Support Operations Directorate independent of the Directorate of Political Affairs, Peace and Security. We believe any attempt to create another department from the existing one will destabilise the AU political affairs and peace and security process. It is also important that issues that were never brought to the attention of Member States are not part of the reform,” President Tinubu said.
On the need for inclusiveness and transparency as an integral part of the reform of the AU system, President Tinubu noted that the continental organisation should instead focus on implementing adopted policies and programmes.
“It is in this connection that Nigeria wishes to reiterate that instead of seeking to reach consensus on all fronts of our reform at one sweep, we should concentrate on areas where we have already reached consensus. There is no harm in carrying out reform in phases. It would be an error to continue seeking consultation on all fronts in perpetuity,” President Tinubu emphasised.
He said Nigeria would continue to support the reform process as long as it remained transparent and inclusive and did not needlessly destabilise the status quo.
Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President
(Information & Strategy)
February 16, 2025
EFCC Arrests 47 Suspected Internet Fraudsters in Ekpoma, Edo State
Operatives of the Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Saturday, February 15, 2025 arrested 47suspected internet fraudsters at different locations in Ekpoma, Edo State.
The suspects were arrested based on credible intelligence that linked them to fraudulent internet activities.
Items recovered from them include 14 exotic cars, laptops and phones
They have made useful statements and would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
Dele Oyewale
Head, Media & Publicity
February 17, 2025
Alleged $340,000 Fraud: Mercy Chinwo’s Ex Manager must Appear in Court-Judge
Justice A.O. Owoeye of Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, on Monday, February 17, 2025 held that Mr. Ezekiel Thankgod must appear in court to take his plea and adjourned till March 6, 2025 for his arraignment.
Mr. Thankgod, ex-manager of gospel artiste, Mercy Chinwo has consistently evaded arraignment by the Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, prompting a warrant of arrest to be issued on him by the court during January 16, 2025 proceedings.
Thankgod is to be arraigned on a three-count charge, bordering on money laundering and dishonest conversion to the tune of $340,000.
One of the charges reads: “That EZEKIEL ONYEDIKACHUKWU THANKGOD and EEZEE GLOBAL CONCEPTS LIMITED sometime in 2023, directly retained the sum of $260,494 (Two Hundred and Sixty Thousand Four Hundred and Ninety-Four USD) in EEZEE GLOBAL MINISTRY Zenith Bank Plc account number, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity, the dishonest conversion of the said sum, property of Mercy Chinwo and Judith Kanayo.”
The offence is contrary to Section 18(2)(d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The bench warrant of January 16, 2025 for his arrest followed an application by the prosecuting counsel, Bilikisu Buhari, who informed the court that the prosecution has been unable to effect service of the charges on him as he had been unreachable.
On January 24, 2025, defence counsel, Dr. Monday Ubani, SAN had to accept service on behalf of the defendant, but pointed to a preliminary objection challenging the charges.
Justice Owoeye subsequently adjourned till today, Monday, February 17, 2025 for the defendant’s arraignment. Yet, he remained absent and was again, represented by his counsel.
While conceding that the day’s business on the matter was for the arraignment of the defendant, the defence counsel cited a notice of preliminary objection before the court, challenging the trial.
He further sought to move an objection, which the court shot down on the ground that he cannot be heard, until his client appears in court.
Responding to Justice Owoeye’s inquiry on the whereabouts of the defendant, the defence counsel told the court that he received a call from him that he was involved in a terrible accident today’s morning, but that he promised to be available in court at the next adjourned date.
The prosecution, led by Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, described the procedure adopted by the defence in the case as “strange.”
Citing provisions of sections 396(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, as well as Judicial Authorities of State vs Achara and Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Yahaya Bello, Oyedepo, urged the court not to hear the application of the defence.
“It is a show of shame and outright disrespect for this court, for the defendant to be absent on three different occasions in a criminal trial,” he said.
He further informed the court that shortly after the court rose at the last adjourned date, the defendant was seen within the court’s premises, granting media interviews.
He further argued that if actually the defendant was indisposed as stated by his counsel, he ought to depose to an affidavit as proof before the court.
After listening to the arguments, Justice Owoeye declined to grant the request of the defence until the defendant appeared in court.
“The court has not assumed jurisdiction over the case, since the plea of the defendant has not been taken,” Justice Owoeye said. He further held that the bench warrant issued against the defendant by the court had not been withdrawn and therefore, subsisted.
He also held that the defendant should appear in court on March 6, 2025 next adjourned date, either by the subsisting bench warrant or production by his counsel for his arraignment.
Dele Oyewale
Head, Media & Publicity
February 17, 2025
Witness narrates how Chinese Employer lured her into Alleged Cyber-terrorism, Internet Fraud in Lagos
The First Prosecution Witness, PW1, Jacob Lilian, in the trial of Ling Yang (a.k.a Shoa Ming), a Chinese, and part of the alleged 792-member syndicate of cryptocurrency investment and romance fraud suspects has narrated before Justice D.I. Dipeolu of Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos how her job search at Genting International Co. Limited ended in being lured into dating scam by the defendant.
Yang alongside Genting International Co. Limited is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a four-count charge, bordering on cybercrime and advance fee fraud, having been arrested in Lagos by officers of the Commission in a surprise operation tagged “Eagle Flush Operation” on December 10, 2024.
One of the charges reads: “That you, LING YANG A.K.A. SHAO MING, sometime in December 2024 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intent to gain a financial advantage for your employer fraudulently impersonated one Amity by holding yourself out as such, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22 (2) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015.” He pleaded guilty to all the charges, prompting his trial.
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Hanatu U. KofarNaisa, the witness, a Nigerian identified the defendant as one of the Chinese that work on the Seventh Floor of the company’s building.
“As at November 2024, I was in search of a job and so I joined a WhatsApp group called job update, which was where I got to know about the job that stated customer service and only an address written as No 7 Oyin Jolayemi Street, Lagos. On getting there I was not asked to present any CV or documentations, and when I got in, I was required to sit in front of a computer. I thought I was about to have an online test, but rather I did a speed limit test that was set to be 30 and I got 28,” she said.
She added that she was encouraged to improve her speed, and subsequently given a job with the company.
“No credentials were required or asked for and I was not given any offer letter,” she said.
According to her, the company provided accommodation for her on the Island and she moved in.
She further testified that she was later given a script to read, adding that she was told that was her job.
“On the script there was a name, Alani Thomas, and I was asked to read the script further and to get familiar with any customer assigned to me and chat with them,” she said.
Testifying further, she stated that Europeans were the main targets and that she was usually introduced as Alani Thomas.
“The WhatsApp group is being monitored by the employers, and once names are exchanged, and I start to get to know the customer, by the third day of chatting with the customer, once they are at ease with me, I will be asked to stop chatting with the customer and then the employers will take over the chatting,” she said.
She disclosed that her monthly salary was N250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) and that the Nigerian employees had seat numbers and computers allocated to them.
She disclosed that she wanted to resign from the job, but the company had a way of caging them and monitoring their activities.
“We were always escorted by security officials from the office to the accommodation and we were never allowed to leave the office premises. Before we start working for the day, we have to submit our phones.
The EFCC arrest was a saving grace for me,” she said.
Prosecution counsel applied for an adjournment to enable it to tender the computer with the scripts in evidence.
Justice Dipeolu adjourned the case till April 11, 2025 for continuation of trial.
Dele Oyewale
Head, Media & Publicity
February 17, 2025
LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ATTACK, A LANDMARK OF INDIGNITY TO THE NIGERIAN ELECTORATE, ESPECIALLY THE PEOPLE OF LAGOS, SAYS ATIKU
The viral video of armed security operatives invading the Lagos State House of Assembly is utterly reprehensible and stands condemned. It must be subjected to a full and thorough investigation.
It is bewildering that the invading operatives reportedly have a mandate to enforce a leadership change in the House.
It is appalling that it is those who claimed to have fought for democracy that decided to sanction this crass desecration of the state’s foremost legislative body, and by so doing, putting our hard-earned democracy in jeopardy.
This act is an attack on the sanctity of democracy and a landmark of indignity to the Nigerian electorate, especially the people of Lagos.
Whatever may have caused the leadership crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly is an undercurrent that is not abnormal in a system of democracy.
The purported invitation of armed security operatives for a conflict resolution in a parliament is an anathema that should be frowned upon and interrogated with all sense of urgency.
Tinubu should focus on bringing Nigeria out of the mess he plunged the country into rather than interfering in the state matters. -AA
February 17, 2025
Press Statement
You Can’t Return to Office- PDP Tells Sacked Osun State LG Chairmen, Councilors
…Asserts Appeal Court Judgment Sealed Their Fate
…Asks IGP to Hold Osun APC Responsible for Violence, Killings
The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cautions the sacked Osun State Local Government Chairmen and Councilors to perish the thought of forcing themselves back into office as such will amount to a futile venture with dire consequences.
The PDP also charges the All Progressives Congress (APC) to accept the reality and end its resort to self-help, misrepresentations, vituperations, violence and killing with the aim to trigger crisis and destabilize the State, having realized that it has irredeemably lost.
The PDP asserts that the fate of the ousted Local Government Chairmen and Councilors was sealed by the Judgment of the Court to Appeal which nullified the unconstitutional attempt by the then Governor Gboyega Oyetola to illegally plant them as Local Government officers in the guise of an election.
Having been roundly rejected by the people of Osun State in the Saturday, July 16, 2022, governorship election, the then Governor Oyetola and the APC ought to have known that attempting to side-step the laws and manipulate the process to illegally foist APC members and apologists as Local Government Chairmen and Counselors was an exercise in futility which was bound to fail ultimately.
The APC is the architect of its misfortune. It should have known that disregarding and refusing to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Osun State Local Government Election Laws with respect to the requirement on notices, processes and procedures of conducting local government election is destined to be fatal and irreparable.
We counsel the Osun State APC to stop playing to the gallery by trying to bring in the exulted office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria into disrepute by hopelessly dropping the President’s name at public spaces in their desperate but pathetic and unrealizable attempt to garner undeserved sympathy.
The APC should note that our nation operates a federal system of government with clearly entrenched devolution of powers among the federating units as well as the various sub-national tiers of government. It should therefore desist from the fruitless attempt to drag President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Federal Government into the issue of local government election which, under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), is within the purview of the State and has no connection whatsoever with the Federal Government.
If the APC believes that it is truly popular in Osun State as it claims, it should rather get ready for election as already scheduled by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) instead of holding unto an imaginary strand of straw and instigating violence and killings in the State.
Our Party strongly condemns the violence and killing of some youths today by APC thugs and calls on the Inspector General of Police to hold APC leaders in Osun State responsible and bring them to book for this heinous crime.
The PDP calls on the people of Osun State to remain calm, law-abiding and get ready for the Local Government Election as they continue to support Governor Ademola Adeleke in his outstanding delivery of monumental life-enhancing projects and programs in the State.
Signed:
Hon. Debo Ologunagba
National Publicity Secretary
Delta govt approves urban renewal plans for Asaba, Warri
Delta State Government, yesterday, approved major infrastructure development projects targeted at urban renewal of the Asaba capital territory and Warri, the commercial nerve centre of the state.
The approvals were part of the decisions reached at the maiden 2025 State Executive Council (EXCO) meeting presided over by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
Briefing journalists at the end the meeting, the Director General of the Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency (DSCTDA), Chief Patrick Ukah, expressed excitement at the recent approvals for road infrastructure projects in the territory.
He described the development as a significant step towards enhancing urban renewal, improving connectivity and boosting economic growth.
Chief Ukah emphasized the government’s commitment to transforming the capital territory through strategic infrastructure upgrades, assuring residents that the approved projects would bring lasting benefits to the capital territory.
According to Ukah, “I must tell you that the Capital Territory in this administration has received a lot of attention, especially in the area of road infrastructure.
“I am happy to report that the Umejei Road in Ibusa, is being given a complete facelift, and the Okpanam Township Road, from the City Gate to the church and extending into Amaichai down to the Post Office, has also been approved for reconstruction.
“We are also making significant progress across BONSAC. A 2.6-kilometer road from the Road Safety office is being constructed into BONSAC, along with a network of roads that will connect to Achalla Ibusa Road.”
He explained that some projects were delayed due to upward reviews but disclosed that approximately eight of them had now been approved, with contractors already mobilized to the respective sites.
“Before now, some of our projects were stalled due to upward reviews. However, in this administration, about eight of them have now been approved, and the contractors are returning to the sites.
“Four of these are major projects that many of us were concerned about due to delays. For instance, the one crossing Ogbeogonogo Market has been approved, and Odilison has also received approval. Once the official release is issued, you will see the full details of these roads.
“Most importantly, in line with the governor’s MORE agenda, the transformation of the capital city has officially begun. The entire capital territory is set to receive a facelift, and the development, under the MORE agenda, is being accelerated,” he added.
On his part, the Director-General, Warri, Uvwie, and Environs, Prince Godwin Ejinyere said Governor Oborevwori had directed that all major roads in Warri and environs should be given a face-lift.
“I want to sincerely inform Deltans that Warri truly will be great again as promised by the governor who has given the go ahead for us to reconstruct bad roads, to maintain bad roads and reconstruct roads linking major places in Warri.
“All the roads we are doing are not for political patronage. The Governor has directed that we identify all bad roads in Warri and make sure Warri wears a new look.
“Outside that today, Exco graciously approved the additional works for the stormwater project taking place in Warri.
“Knowing the nature of Warri that it’s always flooded whenever it rains and anytime from now the rains will be here again, the Warri storm water project was awarded sometime in April 2024 and has now been reviewed upward to accommodate additional works and also considering the rising cost of building and construction materials.
“We had to look into a lot of things for the job not to stop and, as I said today, the governor has graciously approved the onward construction of the project and equally increased the scope of work.
“Rome was not built in a day but I want to tell us that the job has been increased from what it used to be, to cover many other areas in Warri and environs.
“It’s a wonderful one; I want to say, on behalf of all our Warri people, that we owe nothing but prayers for our governor.”
LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY SUSPENDS PLENARY INDEFINITELY
The Lagos State House of Assembly has suspended plenary indefinitely following the invasion of the assembly by operatives of the State Security Services on Monday.
Tensions escalated in the assembly on Monday as security personnel, reportedly from the SSS, entered the assembly premises and locked the Deputy Speaker’s office before the start of the plenary session.
This action led to a standoff between lawmakers and security officers, with the lawmakers eventually regaining access to the assembly.
During the plenary session, the lawmakers addressed the security breach and passed a vote of confidence in the Speaker, Mojisola Meranda.
They also resolved to investigate the incident and report their findings to President Bola Tinubu and the SSS Director General Oluwatosin Ajayi.
PSC approves appointment of Jimoh Moshood as Commissioner of Police, Lagos State command
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the appointment of Olohundare Moshood Jimoh as the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, effective Monday, February 17, 2025.
In a statement, the PSC spokesperson, Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, said, “CP Jimoh, before his appointment, was the Commissioner of Police, Ports Authority, Eastern Ports.”
CP Jimoh, a native of Kwara State, previously served as the Force Public Relations Officer and held several key positions, including Deputy Commissioner, Airport Police, Deputy Commissioner, Finance and Administration, and Deputy Commissioner, General Investigation.
He has undergone extensive professional training both locally and internationally, including: Combat Operations Course – Mobile Training College, Maiduguri, African Union Mission – Darfur, Sudan, Weapons of Mass Destruction Countermeasure Training – United States, Social Construction and Management Reform Training – China, Executive Leadership Academy – Pudong, China, Maritime Rescue and Salvage Training – China Maritime Academy, Ningbo, China, Anti-Hijacking Techniques and Tactics Training – Yunnan Police College, Kunming, China, Police Training Institute – Seoul, South Korea.
CP Jimoh is also a recipient of the Presidential Award for Public Relations Personality of the Year, presented by the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations in recognition of his outstanding contributions to public relations in Nigeria.
His confirmation followed his appearance before the PSC on Monday, where key officials, including the Commission’s Chairman, DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd), Justice Adamu Paul Galmuje (rtd), and DIG Taiwo Lakanu (rtd), were present.
The appointment reflects the Commission’s commitment to strengthening leadership and ensuring effective policing in Lagos State.
Security operatives take over Lagos Assembly
The leadership tussle in the Lagos State House of Assembly took a new twist on Monday with heavy security presence at the premises during a plenary session.
Security vans and personnel were spotted in and outside the premises of the Lagos Assembly complex in the Alausa Area of the commercial city.
An official of the Lagos Assembly said that the speaker Meranda Mojisola and 32 members of the lawmaking body are present for Monday’s plenary.
While issues to be discussed at the plenary are unclear as of the time of this report, some members of the Lagos Assembly were spotted discussing in clusters inside the premises.
Although a source said that the leadership of the House is intact, reports claim that there might be a change in the speakership of the Lagos Assembly.
Last month, members of the Assembly removed the House’s long-term speaker Mudashiru Obasa over allegations of fraud and other sundry charges.
They thereafter elected Meranda Mojisola as Obasa’s replacement in a historic move that saw the member representing Apapa Constituency I become the first speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
“The Constitution makes it clear that the House has the powers to regulate its proceedings. So, the members of the House felt that they’ve had enough of the Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa and today, we have unanimously agreed that Rt Hon Mojisola Meranda Lasbat becomes the new Speaker of the House,” a member of the Assembly representing Epe Constituency 1 Abiodun Tobun said in defence of Obasa’s impeachment.
Tobun argued that the lawmakers “owe Lagos State a duty of ensuring that the sanctity of the House and the integrity of this House are restored”.
Obasa has denied claims of corruption levelled against him.
Obasa insisted he was still the Lagos Assembly speaker.
The former speaker who represents the Agege constituency dismissed fraud allegations against him which he labelled as “fictitious and unsubstantiated”.
“I am still the speaker until the right thing has been done,” the lawmaker said in a press conference organised at his Ikeja home in Lagos.
“If you want to remove me, remove me the proper way and I will not contest it. “I’m a Muslim and I believe in fate. But let’s do it the way it should be done.”
The Lagos Assembly crisis has dragged on for weeks, leaving many wondering about the next step for the House.
Many claimed his governorship ambition fuelled his removal, Obasa said there was nothing wrong with nursing that goal.
Weeks after his removal, Obasa dragged the Assembly and Meranda before the Lagos State High Court challenging his sack as the speaker of the House.
He asked the court to declare that his removal by his colleagues was unlawful owing since the Assembly was on break.
Attempts to link Obasa’s impeachment to Seyi Tinubu’s ‘guber aspiration’ mischievous (3)
By Ehichioya Ezomon
Removed Speaker Mudashiru Obasa (Agege Constituency 1) of the Lagos State House of Assembly may fail to get back his exalted office, yet, he’s succeeded in forcing an unplanned shift of the House plenary indefinitely, thus sowing tension and confusion among the lawmakers, and splitting the close-knit Governance Advisory Council (GAC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
This comes after new Speaker Mojisola Meranda (Apapa Constituency 1) formally assumed office on Monday, January 27, 2025, amid majority of the lawmakers chanting: “Madam, continue your work; your work is appealing to us. You are the Speaker, you are the Speaker, you are the Speaker. Speak for Lagos. Continue with your work.”
With Obasa reportedly absent from the Assembly, the lawmakers posed for photographs with Meranda, and accompanied her to the Speaker’s office, “where intense prayers were offered as she settled into her new role.” The plenary was then postponed, “to douse tension in the state.”
The lawmakers’ public rallying for Meranda was a “kick in the groin” for Obasa, whose fate appears sealed since losing power on Monday, January 13, and returning from the United States of America to insist that he remains the Speaker until due process is observed in his removal, in line with the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
Welcomed back to town on Saturday, January 25, by hundreds of jubilant supporters at the official residence of the Lagos Speaker in the GRA, Ikeja, Obasa slammed his ouster, in absentia, as unconstitutional.
In an “A luta continua; vitória é certa” (“The struggle continues; victory is certain”)-like mood, Obasa told his supporters: “I’m still the Speaker until the right thing has been done,” and the crowd cheered.
“I am not afraid of being removed. After all, it is not my father’s chieftaincy title. I am representing my people and they have returned me six times. If you want to do anything (remove him), do it well.”
Obasa insinuated that were he present in the Assembly, the lawmakers wouldn’t succeed in removing him as Speaker. He queried: “They did the removal all because I was out of the country. Why did they have to break the chamber and use a fake mace to carry out the removal?
“If they say they don’t want me anymore, that’s fine, but let them follow due process. I still believe I am the Speaker until the right procedure is followed. Lagos is a special place, we cannot denigrate the state.”
Obasa held his ground, as he addressed his 2027 governorship ambition he tactically broached when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented the 2025 Budget proposals to the House, thus sparking the instant flurry of activities in the Lagos polity.
Saying, “Having ambition to become a governor is not a sin,” Obasa declared: “However, I said on the floor of the House, when the budget was presented, that I had no thoughts of governorship. But that does not mean I am not qualified or that I lack experience; I still maintain that (stand).”
Citing a breach of fair hearing, Obasa claimed he wasn’t given a chance to respond to the charges the House leveled against him, and challenged his colleagues to substantiate the allegations, and afford him a chance to respond.
“They (lawmakers) should not discredit an innocent person (Obasa); they should prove their allegations against me. The Lagos State House of Assembly is above the common standard of excellence. I believe in the image of our institution; we must not destroy it and I will never partake in it’s destruction.”
Obasa also criticised the Police for “conniving with the lawmakers” to oust him from power, alleging that besides the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Olawale Ishola, “leading police officers to invade the Assembly,” over 200 policemen allegedly invaded his private residence in Agege, blocked the gate, and prevented members of his family from going out of the house.
Obasa referenced other Presiding Officers of the Lagos Assembly removed without deployment of the police. “When former Speaker, Rt Hon. Jokotola Pelumi, was removed, he was in the Assembly and we did not invite policemen. When my sister, former Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, was removed, we did not invite the police,” Obasa said.
Even with his eyes red, Obasa appreciated members of the GAC and Governor Sanwo-Olu, “who is my brother,” and who “always calls me his younger brother,” and thanked President Tinubu, “who will always be my father.”
Obasa said he’d been with Tinubu from his days in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) under which Tinubu’s elected Senator in the Third Republic, noting that he never expected to be Speaker in 2015, but “Tinubu supported me even when everyone was against me.”
Tinubu’s the acclaimed head of the shadowy and powerful GAC of the Lagos APC, which acts as a clearing house for the party affairs, including elective and appointive positions. But there appears a split in the GAC, as two of its members have criticised Obasa’s ouster as illegal.
As reported by The Nation on January 30, a member, Chief M.A. Taiwo, faulted the process of Obasa’s removal, noting that, “The act of the lawmakers is illegal. It shows total disregard and clear disrespect for leadership. The GAC is split over the matter, but we will all defer to our leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to resolve the crisis.”
Another GAC member, former Senator Anthony Adefuye, described the removal as illegal, stating, “What he (Obasa) is saying is that he was illegally removed, and the procedure was faulty. I agree with him.”
Meanwhile, former Lagos Speaker and ex-Minister of State for Health, and Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Olorunnibe Mamora, faults Obasa’s claim that his removal flouts the 1999 Constitution, saying that only the removal of President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor is specified therein, and the procedure to effect the removal.
In an interview with Vanguard on January 25, Mamora, who’s Speaker from 1999 to 2003, and Senator from 2003 to 2011, said Obasa’s removal was constitutional, clarifying that though impeachment and removal are used inter-changeably, the removal of Principal Officers of the Senate, House of Representatives, and State House of Assembly requires only the support of two-thirds of members to succeed.
Mamora’s words: “Let me correct the impression. I have heard people say this in media discourse. If you look at the Constitution, you would not find impeachment. What you find is removal. There is a difference between removal and impeachment.
“Impeachment connotes bringing allegations of wrong doing formally, and presenting (them) before an offending public officer. But allegation does not necessarily amount to guilt. It only says that these are the allegations that have been brought formally, which the officer has to respond to; that is impeachment.
Recalling how former United States President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House but the conviction was defeated in the Senate over his sex affair with Monica Lewinsky, Mamora explains that allegations brought through impeachment may not necessarily lead to removal, adding, “If you are now convicted on the basis of allegations and a kind of sentence is passed, then it may lead to removal.”
“It (Constitution) does not even say you should explain. It is just a simple process, because the Speaker is just first among equals. That is why the process for removal of the Speaker or Senate President is different from the removal of Mr. Governor, Deputy Governor or President, or Vice President,” Mamora says.
“Because, in the case of the Governor, it is the whole state that voted to put him in office; that is why the procedure for his or her removal is a complex process. The allegations must be supported by one-third to be brought and served notice on the holder of the office, wait for his or her response, set up a panel, report comes back to the House and the House comes with a two-third majority of the members. So, you see it’s a complex process.
“The removal of a Speaker in the House of Assembly or the National Assembly Speaker or Senate President is simple. Once members bring a motion that is supported by two-thirds of members, then the Speaker vacates the seat; that’s all.”
“The Constitution does not even say you should state the allegations. It only says if you have the support of not less than two-thirds majority of the members, in support of the motion for the removal of the Speaker, and the Speaker vacates. It does not even say you should confront him with the allegations.
“Obasa was impeached and removed because there was presentation of allegations against him. And it was on the basis of the allegations that the House decided to remove him.”
Mamora adds: “We need to get it clear. What we do here is that we use the words, impeachment and removal, inter-changeably, as (if) they are the same. I need to correct that.
“There could be impeachment without removal. The Constitution, under Section 92, sub- section two or thereabout, talks of removal; that the Speaker shall vacate if a motion is presented, supported by two-thirds of members. That’s all.
“So, allegations were presented against Obasa and on that basis, the members went ahead to remove him in consonance with the Section 92 of the Constitution. So, the removal of Obasa is constitutional.”
Presented with a seeming fait accompli, shouldn’t Obasa rethink and retool his strategy, and give peace a chance in the Assembly and entire Lagos State? This poser comes on the back of a statement by majority of the House members on January 27, decrying Obasa’s alleged sabre-rattling, capable of heating up the polity.
Vowing to stand by Meranda as the new Speaker, a statement by Ogundipe Olukayode (Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II), on behalf of members, urged Obasa to shelve his bellicose stance and toe the path of “Peace we want in Lagos and Peace we will achieve.”
The statement partly reads: “It is imperative to clarify that over 2/3 of the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly are solidly united behind the new Speaker, Rt Hon. Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, therefore we stood by the decision taken on the 13th of January where Rt Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa was impeached and we shall defend our positions to the latter.
“The position of the House remains the same and nothing has changed. The position being canvassed by former Speaker, Rt Hon. Obasa, is uncalled for and unparliamentary.
“The majority of members elected Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker for the 10th Assembly and we also, at the said Plenary, took the majority decision to remove him and stand by the new Speaker. So, nothing has changed.
“All members were elected from their various constituencies across the state and we all have the inalienable rights under the necessary Statutory orders to remove their Principal Officers, including the Speaker.
“I (we) therefore appeal to the former Speaker to toe the line of peace and harmony as being followed by others, as the current intransigent posture will heat up the polity and not augur well. Any attempt to heat up the polity will be resisted by the majority of distinguished members who unanimously elected Rt Hon. Meranda,” the statement said.
Will Obasa heed this timely warning, even if he wants to bid for Governor and square up against Seyi Tinubu, who remains taciturn about his alleged aspiration till date? Let Obasa’s political case not be like the dog’s which refused to listen to its master’s whistle! (END)
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Edo Guber Tribunal: All eyes on Okpebholo as PDP, Ighodalo, INEC unexpectedly close cases*
By *Ehichioya Ezomon*
Today, Monday, February 10, 2025, is first D-Day for Governor Monday Okpehbolo at the Election Petitions Tribunal (EPT) sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. The ex-Senator (APC, Edo Central) is expected to begin defence of his declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.
Members of the public, especially the people of Edo State, are watching and waiting with bated breath, to see whether Okpebholo will toe the INEC line and close his defence without calling any witnesses to testify for him.
The INEC – which declared Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the poll winner, having scored 291,667 votes (about 51.1%) – failed to call any of the five witnesses it slated to testify, despite persuading the three-man tribunal on January 5 to adjourn the case to January 6, as “the witnesses would come to Abuja from Benin,” Edo State capital city.
At the resumed proceeding on January 6, INEC’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN), said his team had shelved the idea of bringing witnesses after it reviewed the case, adding, “My Lords, after we left you yesterday (Wednesday), we gave more thought to the matter and came to the conclusion that the sensible thing to do is to close the case of the 1st Respondent, which we hereby do,” Agabi told the tribunal.
Counsel for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, didn’t express surprise by the turn of events, with Adetunji Oyeyipo (SAN) saying, matter-of-factly, that, “Frankly speaking, we are not surprised and it is well within the right of the 1st Respondent (INEC) to show such good discretion. We are not objecting.”
But in an undisguised elation, the PDP unsolicitedly offered expert’s opinion, pointing to the risk INEC’s failure to call witnesses poses for the Respondents. “This abrupt end to INEC’s defence leaves the electoral body relying solely on cross-examinations and arguments from APC and Okpebholo’s lawyers,” the party said.
The PDP, however, noted its pathway to claiming its “stolen mandate,” explaining that, “The tribunal has already admitted critical BVAS machines into evidence, devices that will expose over-voting and discrepancies in the declared results.”
The party added: “Testimonies from PDP witnesses, including local government agents and an expert witness (PW12), detailed systemic manipulation during result collation. Independent monitors, such as Athena Centre and TAP Initiative, have corroborated these claims, further denting INEC’s credibility.
“By opting not to call witnesses, INEC appears to be taking a gamble, leaving its defence in the hands of APC and Governor Okpebholo’s legal teams. Analysts suggest this approach could backfire, as INEC must now contend with its own certified records and the BVAS data, which clearly contradict the declared results,” the party added.
Yet, PDP/Ighodalo had similarly suddenly closed their case on Monday, February 3, after calling 19 witnesses to testify to their claim of winning the governorship poll, though Ighodalo, going by INEC’s declaration, scored 247,274 votes (about 43.3%) to place second to Okpebholo.
It’s uncertain how many of the 290 witnesses – earmarked to testify for the eight political parties appearing before the tribunal – belonged to PDP/Ighodalo. But as the main challengers of the poll, surely, hundreds were primed to testify for them!
Recall that the tribunal had adjourned in Benin City on Friday, January 24, after taking the testimonies of PW11 and PW12, and relocated sitting to Abuja on Tuesday, January 28, with the Plaintiffs expected to call more witnesses, some of who refused to show up to testify the previous week.
But alas on Monday, January 3, a counsel for the Plaintiffs, Robert Emukpoeruo (SAN), offering no rationale, told the tribunal that his clients had concluded their case (in just 10 days), having called 19 witnesses, thus dampening the proceedings that’d captured public attention since the hearing proper began on January 21.
Left to guess the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of the Plaintiffs’ action, several questions then arose: If PDP/Ighodalo called only 19 witnesses, did they cover the 765 of the 4,519 polling units, whose votes they query in their petition? Did the 19 witnesses supply and adduce enough evidence that rendered calling more witnesses unnecessary?
We’re reminded, though, as per Muhammad JSC, in Olonade v Sowemimo (2014) LPELR-22914(SC), 27 – in explaining the meaning of the standard of proof in civil cases, (and) the balance of probabilities – that:
“The court decides which side’s evidence is heavier, not by the number of witnesses called by either party or on the basis of the one being oral and the other being documentary, but by the quality or probative value of the evidence be it oral and/or documentary.”
So, in deciding to close their case after calling 19 witnesses, did PDP/Ighodalo think they’d met the legal threshold set out above, to prove their allegations of manipulation of the election?
“No, they didn’t,” declared the Acting Chairman of the Edo chapter of the APC, Emperor Jarrett Tenebe, whose voice was muffled when PDP/Ighodalo held the tribunal spellbound with evidential claims of electoral heist by the INEC, APC and Police, telling the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on January 3 that PDP/Ighodalo “abandoned their case abruptly because they have no case ab initio.”
Boasting that “the whole country and the people of Edo in particular would know that the APC won the election” when the Respondents open their case, Tenebe said: “They (PDP/Ighodalo) were called to testify but couldn’t produce more witnesses, so closing their case at this point amounts to abandonment of the case.
“If you are challenging about seven hundred and something polling units and you call only 19 witnesses, does that not amount to abandonment? I think they do not have a case, that is why they hurriedly closed their case today (January 3), which is a good thing for the APC.”
But it appears that Tenebe (like the PDP) was too early to guess the outcome of the petition, as the INEC on January 6 closed its defence without calling any witness, leaving the tribunal chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, to rule that: “The request (by INEC) is granted and the first Respondent’s case is hereby closed,” and adjourned the matter to today, Monday, January 10, for Okpebholo to open his defence.
The three-man panel of Justices Wilfred Kpochi (Chairman), A.B. Yusuf and A.A. Adewole considers mainly alleged irregularities in the total number of votes cast in many polling units, which reportedly exceeded accredited voter-count recorded by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that the INEC deployed for the ballot.
While six parties question the credibility of the election in which INEC returned Okpebholo as the winner; the focus is on Ighodalo, who came second with 247,274 votes (about 43.3%) at the poll, with the PDP claiming those figures were manipulated to disfavour Ighodalo.
As hearing commenced in Benin City, the tribunal’s proceedings had witnessed the expected legal fireworks, with PDP/Ighodalo striving to unmask alleged massive rigging of the process that threw up Okpebholo as Governor, who’s sworn-in on November 12, 2024.
The party avers that – but for disfranchisement of voters; suppression of votes; over-voting; vote-buying; and connivance of the APC, INEC and Police to “gift” victory to Okpebholo – Ighodalo won the election, and should be declared as Governor of Edo State.
Going by testimonies of the Plaintiffs’ witnesses, PDP/Ighodalo seemed to hold their ground: That they won the election and INEC should’ve so returned. The witnesses tried to demonstrate alleged suppression, inflation and alteration of votes by the APC, INEC and Police, to the detriment of Ighodalo, a Lagos-based Lawyer and business tycoon.
Exuding confidence – and taking a page from PDP/Ighodalo’s sweeping allegations against APC/Okpebholo – the witnesses were even judgmental, pointing out votes that should’ve been counted or cancelled, and claiming that INEC’s reported rigging of the process amounts to a brazen breach of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).
Thus, if election petitions – and elections – are won on social media, PDP/Ighodalo would’ve breasted the tape before they closed their petition marked: EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, as reports on the proceedings were salaciously-headlined, portraying PDP/Ighodalo to’ve rubbished and made mincemeat of INEC’s declaration of Okpebholo as the poll winner.
Hence, there’s fear and anxiety that Okpebholo may also fail to call witnesses, and rely on the alibi that PDP/Ighodalo’s documentary evidence, and oral testimonies by the witnesses didn’t prove the Plaintiffs’ case “beyond reasonable doubts,” and “in substantial compliance with the electoral laws.”
Prior to the start of hearing on January 21, the Respondents, via Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), had asked the tribunal to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ petition on grounds of “incompetence” and “not filed in accordance with the extant law,” and to hands-off the petition for “lack of jurisdiction?”
An inkling to such a possibility was the prayer by Okpebholo’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), on Thursday, January 6, for the tribunal to grant him a date next week (this week), to enable him open defence, saying, “I never envisaged the first Respondent (INEC) would close its case today.”
“I have not arranged for witnesses to be moved from Benin. A date next week would be okay,” Ikpeazu said, even as he promised “not to use the entire 10 or five days” allotted to the second Respondent (Okpebholo) for his defence.
Reacting, Plaintiffs’ counsel argued that adjourning till Monday (today) would be too long, and urged the matter be adjourned to Saturday (January 8) for Okpebholo to open his defence. But the tribunal rejected the plea, and subsequently fixed February 10 for Okpebholo to open his defence.
So, will Okpebholo advance his defence today by limiting the number of witnesses to be called, and reducing the alloted number of days thereoff; relitigate the pre-hearing call for the tribunal to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ petition; or align with INEC’s counsel, Agabi’s claim, and aver that his (Okpebholo’s counsel, Ikpeazu) “did justice to the case during the cross-examination of the petitioners’ witnesses?”
Members of the public are anxiously waiting for Okpebholo’s moves on his first D-Day at the tribunal, which may be a harbinger of what to expect on his second D-Day during the tribunal’s judgment to close out the 180 days (six months) allotted by law to consider and decide the petitions!
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357_ .
PRESS RELEASE
SANWO-OLU CELEBRATES EL-RUFAI AT 65
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has congratulated the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, on his 65th birthday.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, in a congratulatory message issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, described el-Rufai as a committed public servant who served his State, Kaduna, and Nigeria with dedication.
The Governor said el-Rufai, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, contributed immeasurably to governance and politics in Nigeria with honour in all the public offices he occupied.
He said: “On behalf of my family, the government, and good people of Lagos State, I congratulate former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, on his 65th birthday.
“Malam el-Rufai is a committed public officer. He turned around Abuja during his tenure as Minister of FCT. Kaduna State also witnessed phenomenal growth and development in many sectors during his eight years as governor.
“I pray to God to grant former Governor Nasir el-Rufai a long life, good health, and renewed energy for more service to humanity, his State, Kaduna, Nigeria and mankind in years to come.”
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
SPECIAL ADVISER – MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
16 FEBRUARY 2025
SERAP gives CBN 48 hours to withdraw ‘unlawful, unfair hike in ATM transaction fees’
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, to use his “leadership position to immediately withdraw the patently unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unjust increase in Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transaction fees.”
SERAP urged him to “ensure that the exercise of CBN statutory powers and functions does not inflict misery on poor Nigerians and contribute to human rights abuses.”
The CBN recently announced that ATM withdrawals made at a machine owned by a bank but outside its branch premises will now attract a charge of N100 per N20,000 withdrawn. ATM withdrawals at shopping centres, airports or standalone cash points, will incur a N100 fee plus a surcharge of up to N500 per N20,000 withdrawal.
Banks ‘are advised to apply the increased ATM fees with effect from March 1, 2025.’
In the open letter dated 15 February 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “the manifestly unlawful, unfair, unreasonable, and unjust increase in ATM transaction fees will hit hardest those at the bottom of the economy and exacerbate the growing poverty in the country.”
SERAP said, “The increase in ATM transaction fees ought to have been shouldered by wealthy banks and their shareholders, not the general public. The increase only benefits the CBN and commercial banks at the expense of poor Nigerians.”
According to SERAP, “CBN policies should not be skewed against poor Nigerians and heavily in favour of banks that continue to declare trillions of naira in profits mostly at the expense of their customers. The increase in ATM transaction fees would inflict misery on poor Nigerians and contribute to human rights abuses.”
The letter, read in part: “The increase in ATM transaction fees is also entirely inconsistent with the oft-expressed commitment by the government of President Bola Tinubu to address the growing poverty across the country.”
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 48 hours of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the CBN to comply with our request in the public interest.”
“The exorbitant and unlawful increase in ATM transaction fees at a time the country is facing economic and financial crises would contribute further to the impoverishment of the population.”
“Imposing exorbitant ATM transaction fees on socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians at a time several Nigerian banks are declaring trillions of naira in profits yearly is manifestly unfair, unreasonable and unjust.”
“The increase cannot be justified under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, and the country’s international human rights obligations.”
“The patently unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unjust increase in ATM transaction fees also inherently contributes to violations of the human rights of socially and economically Nigerians.”
“The increase creates a two-tiered financial system that discriminates against poor Nigerians who may not be able to afford or pay the increased fees.”
“While the government of President Tinubu has primary responsibility for protecting the rights of Nigerians, the CBN also has the responsibilities to ensure that its practices and guidelines do not cause or contribute to human rights abuses.”
“The CBN could play an important role in promoting economic opportunities for Nigerians where the majority of the people live in poverty.”
“The CBN is failing to comply with the Nigerian Constitution, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act and the country’s international human rights obligations in the exercise of its statutory powers and functions.”
“The CBN is also compromising its stated mission to advance the management of the country’s economy, and ultimately, sustainable development.”
“According to our information, the CBN through a Circular to all banks and other financial institutions dated February 10 2025 stated that it has reviewed and increased the ATM transaction fees prescribed in section 10(7) of the CBN Guide to Charges by Bank, Other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions 2020.”
“Section 42(1)(a) of the CBN Act 2007 provides that ‘The Bank shall wherever necessary seek the co-operation of and co-operate with other banks in Nigeria to – (a) promote and maintain adequate and reasonable financial service for the public.’ It also provides that any policy of the CBN ‘shall be in the national interest.’”
“Section 1(c)(d) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018 provides that the objectives of the Act are to ‘protect and promote the interests and welfare of consumers’ and ‘prohibit restrictive or unfair business practices’ such as the exorbitant and unreasonable increase in ATM transaction fees by the CBN.”
“Significantly, the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act are directly binding on the CBN, as the provisions constrain the exercise of the statutory powers and functions of the institution.”
“Specifically, section 2(1) the Act provides that its provisions ‘apply to all undertakings [such as the CBN] and scope of application to all commercial activities within, or having effect within, Nigeria.”
“Section 2(2) provides that, ‘This Act also applies to and is binding upon- (a) a body corporate or agency of the Government of the Federation; (b) a body corporate; (c) all commercial activities aimed at making profit and geared towards the satisfaction of demand from the public.’”
“According to section 70(1) of the Act, ‘For the purpose of this Act, an undertaking [such as the CBN] is considered to be in a dominant position if it is able to act without taking account of the reaction of its customers or consumers.’”
“The Act prohibits abuse of dominant position by the CBN including charging excessive ATM transaction fees to the detriment of consumers.”
“Section 104 of the of the Act asserts the supremacy of the Act over ‘the provisions of any other law’, such as the CBN Act. The only exception to the provision is the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”
“Section 127(1) of the Act also prohibits the CBN from making any policy or providing “any services at a price that is manifestly unfair, unreasonable or unjust.”
“The CBN has clear responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) to undertake human rights due diligence to identify and mitigate contributions to human rights violations of not only its own activities but also activities to which it is directly linked by its business relationships.”
“The CBN has responsibilities under the UNGPs to take effective steps to avoid or mitigate potential human rights harm and to consider ending any charges or transaction fees where severe negative human rights consequences cannot be avoided or mitigated.”
Kolawole Oluwadare
SERAP Deputy Director
16/02/2025
Lagos, Nigeria
Emails: info@serap-nigeria.org; news@serap-nigeria.org
Twitter: @SERAPNigeria
Website: www.serap-nigeria.org
For more information or to request an interview, please contact us on: +2348160537202
Email editor: ebirerihenry52@gmail.com
Call editor: 08036977194
…………………………………………………………………..
Witness narrates how Chinese Employer lured her into Alleged Cyber-terrorism, Internet Fraud in Lagos
The First Prosecution Witness, PW1, Jacob Lilian, in the trial of Ling Yang (a.k.a Shoa Ming), a Chinese, and part of the alleged 792-member syndicate of cryptocurrency investment and romance fraud suspects has narrated before Justice D.I. Dipeolu of Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos how her job search at Genting International Co. Limited ended in being lured into dating scam by the defendant.
Yang alongside Genting International Co. Limited is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a four-count charge, bordering on cybercrime and advance fee fraud, having been arrested in Lagos by officers of the Commission in a surprise operation tagged “Eagle Flush Operation” on December 10, 2024.
One of the charges reads: “That you, LING YANG A.K.A. SHAO MING, sometime in December 2024 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intent to gain a financial advantage for your employer fraudulently impersonated one Amity by holding yourself out as such, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22 (2) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015.” He pleaded guilty to all the charges, prompting his trial.
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Hanatu U. KofarNaisa, the witness, a Nigerian identified the defendant as one of the Chinese that work on the Seventh Floor of the company’s building.
“As at November 2024, I was in search of a job and so I joined a WhatsApp group called job update, which was where I got to know about the job that stated customer service and only an address written as No 7 Oyin Jolayemi Street, Lagos. On getting there I was not asked to present any CV or documentations, and when I got in, I was required to sit in front of a computer. I thought I was about to have an online test, but rather I did a speed limit test that was set to be 30 and I got 28,” she said.
She added that she was encouraged to improve her speed, and subsequently given a job with the company.
“No credentials were required or asked for and I was not given any offer letter,” she said.
According to her, the company provided accommodation for her on the Island and she moved in.
She further testified that she was later given a script to read, adding that she was told that was her job.
“On the script there was a name, Alani Thomas, and I was asked to read the script further and to get familiar with any customer assigned to me and chat with them,” she said.
Testifying further, she stated that Europeans were the main targets and that she was usually introduced as Alani Thomas.
“The WhatsApp group is being monitored by the employers, and once names are exchanged, and I start to get to know the customer, by the third day of chatting with the customer, once they are at ease with me, I will be asked to stop chatting with the customer and then the employers will take over the chatting,” she said.
She disclosed that her monthly salary was N250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) and that the Nigerian employees had seat numbers and computers allocated to them.
She disclosed that she wanted to resign from the job, but the company had a way of caging them and monitoring their activities.
“We were always escorted by security officials from the office to the accommodation and we were never allowed to leave the office premises. Before we start working for the day, we have to submit our phones.
The EFCC arrest was a saving grace for me,” she said.
Prosecution counsel applied for an adjournment to enable it to tender the computer with the scripts in evidence.
Justice Dipeolu adjourned the case till April 11, 2025 for continuation of trial.
Dele Oyewale
Head, Media & Publicity
February 17, 2025
LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ATTACK, A LANDMARK OF INDIGNITY TO THE NIGERIAN ELECTORATE, ESPECIALLY THE PEOPLE OF LAGOS, SAYS ATIKU
The viral video of armed security operatives invading the Lagos State House of Assembly is utterly reprehensible and stands condemned. It must be subjected to a full and thorough investigation.
It is bewildering that the invading operatives reportedly have a mandate to enforce a leadership change in the House.
It is appalling that it is those who claimed to have fought for democracy that decided to sanction this crass desecration of the state’s foremost legislative body, and by so doing, putting our hard-earned democracy in jeopardy.
This act is an attack on the sanctity of democracy and a landmark of indignity to the Nigerian electorate, especially the people of Lagos.
Whatever may have caused the leadership crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly is an undercurrent that is not abnormal in a system of democracy.
The purported invitation of armed security operatives for a conflict resolution in a parliament is an anathema that should be frowned upon and interrogated with all sense of urgency.
Tinubu should focus on bringing Nigeria out of the mess he plunged the country into rather than interfering in the state matters. -AA
February 17, 2025
Press Statement
You Can’t Return to Office- PDP Tells Sacked Osun State LG Chairmen, Councilors
…Asserts Appeal Court Judgment Sealed Their Fate
…Asks IGP to Hold Osun APC Responsible for Violence, Killings
The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cautions the sacked Osun State Local Government Chairmen and Councilors to perish the thought of forcing themselves back into office as such will amount to a futile venture with dire consequences.
The PDP also charges the All Progressives Congress (APC) to accept the reality and end its resort to self-help, misrepresentations, vituperations, violence and killing with the aim to trigger crisis and destabilize the State, having realized that it has irredeemably lost.
The PDP asserts that the fate of the ousted Local Government Chairmen and Councilors was sealed by the Judgment of the Court to Appeal which nullified the unconstitutional attempt by the then Governor Gboyega Oyetola to illegally plant them as Local Government officers in the guise of an election.
Having been roundly rejected by the people of Osun State in the Saturday, July 16, 2022, governorship election, the then Governor Oyetola and the APC ought to have known that attempting to side-step the laws and manipulate the process to illegally foist APC members and apologists as Local Government Chairmen and Counselors was an exercise in futility which was bound to fail ultimately.
The APC is the architect of its misfortune. It should have known that disregarding and refusing to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Osun State Local Government Election Laws with respect to the requirement on notices, processes and procedures of conducting local government election is destined to be fatal and irreparable.
We counsel the Osun State APC to stop playing to the gallery by trying to bring in the exulted office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria into disrepute by hopelessly dropping the President’s name at public spaces in their desperate but pathetic and unrealizable attempt to garner undeserved sympathy.
The APC should note that our nation operates a federal system of government with clearly entrenched devolution of powers among the federating units as well as the various sub-national tiers of government. It should therefore desist from the fruitless attempt to drag President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Federal Government into the issue of local government election which, under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), is within the purview of the State and has no connection whatsoever with the Federal Government.
If the APC believes that it is truly popular in Osun State as it claims, it should rather get ready for election as already scheduled by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) instead of holding unto an imaginary strand of straw and instigating violence and killings in the State.
Our Party strongly condemns the violence and killing of some youths today by APC thugs and calls on the Inspector General of Police to hold APC leaders in Osun State responsible and bring them to book for this heinous crime.
The PDP calls on the people of Osun State to remain calm, law-abiding and get ready for the Local Government Election as they continue to support Governor Ademola Adeleke in his outstanding delivery of monumental life-enhancing projects and programs in the State.
Signed:
Hon. Debo Ologunagba
National Publicity Secretary
Delta govt approves urban renewal plans for Asaba, Warri
Delta State Government, yesterday, approved major infrastructure development projects targeted at urban renewal of the Asaba capital territory and Warri, the commercial nerve centre of the state.
The approvals were part of the decisions reached at the maiden 2025 State Executive Council (EXCO) meeting presided over by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
Briefing journalists at the end the meeting, the Director General of the Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency (DSCTDA), Chief Patrick Ukah, expressed excitement at the recent approvals for road infrastructure projects in the territory.
He described the development as a significant step towards enhancing urban renewal, improving connectivity and boosting economic growth.
Chief Ukah emphasized the government’s commitment to transforming the capital territory through strategic infrastructure upgrades, assuring residents that the approved projects would bring lasting benefits to the capital territory.
According to Ukah, “I must tell you that the Capital Territory in this administration has received a lot of attention, especially in the area of road infrastructure.
“I am happy to report that the Umejei Road in Ibusa, is being given a complete facelift, and the Okpanam Township Road, from the City Gate to the church and extending into Amaichai down to the Post Office, has also been approved for reconstruction.
“We are also making significant progress across BONSAC. A 2.6-kilometer road from the Road Safety office is being constructed into BONSAC, along with a network of roads that will connect to Achalla Ibusa Road.”
He explained that some projects were delayed due to upward reviews but disclosed that approximately eight of them had now been approved, with contractors already mobilized to the respective sites.
“Before now, some of our projects were stalled due to upward reviews. However, in this administration, about eight of them have now been approved, and the contractors are returning to the sites.
“Four of these are major projects that many of us were concerned about due to delays. For instance, the one crossing Ogbeogonogo Market has been approved, and Odilison has also received approval. Once the official release is issued, you will see the full details of these roads.
“Most importantly, in line with the governor’s MORE agenda, the transformation of the capital city has officially begun. The entire capital territory is set to receive a facelift, and the development, under the MORE agenda, is being accelerated,” he added.
On his part, the Director-General, Warri, Uvwie, and Environs, Prince Godwin Ejinyere said Governor Oborevwori had directed that all major roads in Warri and environs should be given a face-lift.
“I want to sincerely inform Deltans that Warri truly will be great again as promised by the governor who has given the go ahead for us to reconstruct bad roads, to maintain bad roads and reconstruct roads linking major places in Warri.
“All the roads we are doing are not for political patronage. The Governor has directed that we identify all bad roads in Warri and make sure Warri wears a new look.
“Outside that today, Exco graciously approved the additional works for the stormwater project taking place in Warri.
“Knowing the nature of Warri that it’s always flooded whenever it rains and anytime from now the rains will be here again, the Warri storm water project was awarded sometime in April 2024 and has now been reviewed upward to accommodate additional works and also considering the rising cost of building and construction materials.
“We had to look into a lot of things for the job not to stop and, as I said today, the governor has graciously approved the onward construction of the project and equally increased the scope of work.
“Rome was not built in a day but I want to tell us that the job has been increased from what it used to be, to cover many other areas in Warri and environs.
“It’s a wonderful one; I want to say, on behalf of all our Warri people, that we owe nothing but prayers for our governor.”
LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY SUSPENDS PLENARY INDEFINITELY
The Lagos State House of Assembly has suspended plenary indefinitely following the invasion of the assembly by operatives of the State Security Services on Monday.
Tensions escalated in the assembly on Monday as security personnel, reportedly from the SSS, entered the assembly premises and locked the Deputy Speaker’s office before the start of the plenary session.
This action led to a standoff between lawmakers and security officers, with the lawmakers eventually regaining access to the assembly.
During the plenary session, the lawmakers addressed the security breach and passed a vote of confidence in the Speaker, Mojisola Meranda.
They also resolved to investigate the incident and report their findings to President Bola Tinubu and the SSS Director General Oluwatosin Ajayi.
PSC approves appointment of Jimoh Moshood as Commissioner of Police, Lagos State command
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the appointment of Olohundare Moshood Jimoh as the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, effective Monday, February 17, 2025.
In a statement, the PSC spokesperson, Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, said, “CP Jimoh, before his appointment, was the Commissioner of Police, Ports Authority, Eastern Ports.”
CP Jimoh, a native of Kwara State, previously served as the Force Public Relations Officer and held several key positions, including Deputy Commissioner, Airport Police, Deputy Commissioner, Finance and Administration, and Deputy Commissioner, General Investigation.
He has undergone extensive professional training both locally and internationally, including: Combat Operations Course – Mobile Training College, Maiduguri, African Union Mission – Darfur, Sudan, Weapons of Mass Destruction Countermeasure Training – United States, Social Construction and Management Reform Training – China, Executive Leadership Academy – Pudong, China, Maritime Rescue and Salvage Training – China Maritime Academy, Ningbo, China, Anti-Hijacking Techniques and Tactics Training – Yunnan Police College, Kunming, China, Police Training Institute – Seoul, South Korea.
CP Jimoh is also a recipient of the Presidential Award for Public Relations Personality of the Year, presented by the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations in recognition of his outstanding contributions to public relations in Nigeria.
His confirmation followed his appearance before the PSC on Monday, where key officials, including the Commission’s Chairman, DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd), Justice Adamu Paul Galmuje (rtd), and DIG Taiwo Lakanu (rtd), were present.
The appointment reflects the Commission’s commitment to strengthening leadership and ensuring effective policing in Lagos State.
Security operatives take over Lagos Assembly
The leadership tussle in the Lagos State House of Assembly took a new twist on Monday with heavy security presence at the premises during a plenary session.
Security vans and personnel were spotted in and outside the premises of the Lagos Assembly complex in the Alausa Area of the commercial city.
An official of the Lagos Assembly said that the speaker Meranda Mojisola and 32 members of the lawmaking body are present for Monday’s plenary.
While issues to be discussed at the plenary are unclear as of the time of this report, some members of the Lagos Assembly were spotted discussing in clusters inside the premises.
Although a source said that the leadership of the House is intact, reports claim that there might be a change in the speakership of the Lagos Assembly.
Last month, members of the Assembly removed the House’s long-term speaker Mudashiru Obasa over allegations of fraud and other sundry charges.
They thereafter elected Meranda Mojisola as Obasa’s replacement in a historic move that saw the member representing Apapa Constituency I become the first speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
“The Constitution makes it clear that the House has the powers to regulate its proceedings. So, the members of the House felt that they’ve had enough of the Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa and today, we have unanimously agreed that Rt Hon Mojisola Meranda Lasbat becomes the new Speaker of the House,” a member of the Assembly representing Epe Constituency 1 Abiodun Tobun said in defence of Obasa’s impeachment.
Tobun argued that the lawmakers “owe Lagos State a duty of ensuring that the sanctity of the House and the integrity of this House are restored”.
Obasa has denied claims of corruption levelled against him.
Obasa insisted he was still the Lagos Assembly speaker.
The former speaker who represents the Agege constituency dismissed fraud allegations against him which he labelled as “fictitious and unsubstantiated”.
“I am still the speaker until the right thing has been done,” the lawmaker said in a press conference organised at his Ikeja home in Lagos.
“If you want to remove me, remove me the proper way and I will not contest it. “I’m a Muslim and I believe in fate. But let’s do it the way it should be done.”
The Lagos Assembly crisis has dragged on for weeks, leaving many wondering about the next step for the House.
Many claimed his governorship ambition fuelled his removal, Obasa said there was nothing wrong with nursing that goal.
Weeks after his removal, Obasa dragged the Assembly and Meranda before the Lagos State High Court challenging his sack as the speaker of the House.
He asked the court to declare that his removal by his colleagues was unlawful owing since the Assembly was on break.
Attempts to link Obasa’s impeachment to Seyi Tinubu’s ‘guber aspiration’ mischievous (3)
By Ehichioya Ezomon
Removed Speaker Mudashiru Obasa (Agege Constituency 1) of the Lagos State House of Assembly may fail to get back his exalted office, yet, he’s succeeded in forcing an unplanned shift of the House plenary indefinitely, thus sowing tension and confusion among the lawmakers, and splitting the close-knit Governance Advisory Council (GAC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
This comes after new Speaker Mojisola Meranda (Apapa Constituency 1) formally assumed office on Monday, January 27, 2025, amid majority of the lawmakers chanting: “Madam, continue your work; your work is appealing to us. You are the Speaker, you are the Speaker, you are the Speaker. Speak for Lagos. Continue with your work.”
With Obasa reportedly absent from the Assembly, the lawmakers posed for photographs with Meranda, and accompanied her to the Speaker’s office, “where intense prayers were offered as she settled into her new role.” The plenary was then postponed, “to douse tension in the state.”
The lawmakers’ public rallying for Meranda was a “kick in the groin” for Obasa, whose fate appears sealed since losing power on Monday, January 13, and returning from the United States of America to insist that he remains the Speaker until due process is observed in his removal, in line with the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
Welcomed back to town on Saturday, January 25, by hundreds of jubilant supporters at the official residence of the Lagos Speaker in the GRA, Ikeja, Obasa slammed his ouster, in absentia, as unconstitutional.
In an “A luta continua; vitória é certa” (“The struggle continues; victory is certain”)-like mood, Obasa told his supporters: “I’m still the Speaker until the right thing has been done,” and the crowd cheered.
“I am not afraid of being removed. After all, it is not my father’s chieftaincy title. I am representing my people and they have returned me six times. If you want to do anything (remove him), do it well.”
Obasa insinuated that were he present in the Assembly, the lawmakers wouldn’t succeed in removing him as Speaker. He queried: “They did the removal all because I was out of the country. Why did they have to break the chamber and use a fake mace to carry out the removal?
“If they say they don’t want me anymore, that’s fine, but let them follow due process. I still believe I am the Speaker until the right procedure is followed. Lagos is a special place, we cannot denigrate the state.”
Obasa held his ground, as he addressed his 2027 governorship ambition he tactically broached when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented the 2025 Budget proposals to the House, thus sparking the instant flurry of activities in the Lagos polity.
Saying, “Having ambition to become a governor is not a sin,” Obasa declared: “However, I said on the floor of the House, when the budget was presented, that I had no thoughts of governorship. But that does not mean I am not qualified or that I lack experience; I still maintain that (stand).”
Citing a breach of fair hearing, Obasa claimed he wasn’t given a chance to respond to the charges the House leveled against him, and challenged his colleagues to substantiate the allegations, and afford him a chance to respond.
“They (lawmakers) should not discredit an innocent person (Obasa); they should prove their allegations against me. The Lagos State House of Assembly is above the common standard of excellence. I believe in the image of our institution; we must not destroy it and I will never partake in it’s destruction.”
Obasa also criticised the Police for “conniving with the lawmakers” to oust him from power, alleging that besides the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Olawale Ishola, “leading police officers to invade the Assembly,” over 200 policemen allegedly invaded his private residence in Agege, blocked the gate, and prevented members of his family from going out of the house.
Obasa referenced other Presiding Officers of the Lagos Assembly removed without deployment of the police. “When former Speaker, Rt Hon. Jokotola Pelumi, was removed, he was in the Assembly and we did not invite policemen. When my sister, former Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, was removed, we did not invite the police,” Obasa said.
Even with his eyes red, Obasa appreciated members of the GAC and Governor Sanwo-Olu, “who is my brother,” and who “always calls me his younger brother,” and thanked President Tinubu, “who will always be my father.”
Obasa said he’d been with Tinubu from his days in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) under which Tinubu’s elected Senator in the Third Republic, noting that he never expected to be Speaker in 2015, but “Tinubu supported me even when everyone was against me.”
Tinubu’s the acclaimed head of the shadowy and powerful GAC of the Lagos APC, which acts as a clearing house for the party affairs, including elective and appointive positions. But there appears a split in the GAC, as two of its members have criticised Obasa’s ouster as illegal.
As reported by The Nation on January 30, a member, Chief M.A. Taiwo, faulted the process of Obasa’s removal, noting that, “The act of the lawmakers is illegal. It shows total disregard and clear disrespect for leadership. The GAC is split over the matter, but we will all defer to our leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to resolve the crisis.”
Another GAC member, former Senator Anthony Adefuye, described the removal as illegal, stating, “What he (Obasa) is saying is that he was illegally removed, and the procedure was faulty. I agree with him.”
Meanwhile, former Lagos Speaker and ex-Minister of State for Health, and Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Olorunnibe Mamora, faults Obasa’s claim that his removal flouts the 1999 Constitution, saying that only the removal of President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor is specified therein, and the procedure to effect the removal.
In an interview with Vanguard on January 25, Mamora, who’s Speaker from 1999 to 2003, and Senator from 2003 to 2011, said Obasa’s removal was constitutional, clarifying that though impeachment and removal are used inter-changeably, the removal of Principal Officers of the Senate, House of Representatives, and State House of Assembly requires only the support of two-thirds of members to succeed.
Mamora’s words: “Let me correct the impression. I have heard people say this in media discourse. If you look at the Constitution, you would not find impeachment. What you find is removal. There is a difference between removal and impeachment.
“Impeachment connotes bringing allegations of wrong doing formally, and presenting (them) before an offending public officer. But allegation does not necessarily amount to guilt. It only says that these are the allegations that have been brought formally, which the officer has to respond to; that is impeachment.
Recalling how former United States President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House but the conviction was defeated in the Senate over his sex affair with Monica Lewinsky, Mamora explains that allegations brought through impeachment may not necessarily lead to removal, adding, “If you are now convicted on the basis of allegations and a kind of sentence is passed, then it may lead to removal.”
“It (Constitution) does not even say you should explain. It is just a simple process, because the Speaker is just first among equals. That is why the process for removal of the Speaker or Senate President is different from the removal of Mr. Governor, Deputy Governor or President, or Vice President,” Mamora says.
“Because, in the case of the Governor, it is the whole state that voted to put him in office; that is why the procedure for his or her removal is a complex process. The allegations must be supported by one-third to be brought and served notice on the holder of the office, wait for his or her response, set up a panel, report comes back to the House and the House comes with a two-third majority of the members. So, you see it’s a complex process.
“The removal of a Speaker in the House of Assembly or the National Assembly Speaker or Senate President is simple. Once members bring a motion that is supported by two-thirds of members, then the Speaker vacates the seat; that’s all.”
“The Constitution does not even say you should state the allegations. It only says if you have the support of not less than two-thirds majority of the members, in support of the motion for the removal of the Speaker, and the Speaker vacates. It does not even say you should confront him with the allegations.
“Obasa was impeached and removed because there was presentation of allegations against him. And it was on the basis of the allegations that the House decided to remove him.”
Mamora adds: “We need to get it clear. What we do here is that we use the words, impeachment and removal, inter-changeably, as (if) they are the same. I need to correct that.
“There could be impeachment without removal. The Constitution, under Section 92, sub- section two or thereabout, talks of removal; that the Speaker shall vacate if a motion is presented, supported by two-thirds of members. That’s all.
“So, allegations were presented against Obasa and on that basis, the members went ahead to remove him in consonance with the Section 92 of the Constitution. So, the removal of Obasa is constitutional.”
Presented with a seeming fait accompli, shouldn’t Obasa rethink and retool his strategy, and give peace a chance in the Assembly and entire Lagos State? This poser comes on the back of a statement by majority of the House members on January 27, decrying Obasa’s alleged sabre-rattling, capable of heating up the polity.
Vowing to stand by Meranda as the new Speaker, a statement by Ogundipe Olukayode (Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II), on behalf of members, urged Obasa to shelve his bellicose stance and toe the path of “Peace we want in Lagos and Peace we will achieve.”
The statement partly reads: “It is imperative to clarify that over 2/3 of the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly are solidly united behind the new Speaker, Rt Hon. Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, therefore we stood by the decision taken on the 13th of January where Rt Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa was impeached and we shall defend our positions to the latter.
“The position of the House remains the same and nothing has changed. The position being canvassed by former Speaker, Rt Hon. Obasa, is uncalled for and unparliamentary.
“The majority of members elected Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker for the 10th Assembly and we also, at the said Plenary, took the majority decision to remove him and stand by the new Speaker. So, nothing has changed.
“All members were elected from their various constituencies across the state and we all have the inalienable rights under the necessary Statutory orders to remove their Principal Officers, including the Speaker.
“I (we) therefore appeal to the former Speaker to toe the line of peace and harmony as being followed by others, as the current intransigent posture will heat up the polity and not augur well. Any attempt to heat up the polity will be resisted by the majority of distinguished members who unanimously elected Rt Hon. Meranda,” the statement said.
Will Obasa heed this timely warning, even if he wants to bid for Governor and square up against Seyi Tinubu, who remains taciturn about his alleged aspiration till date? Let Obasa’s political case not be like the dog’s which refused to listen to its master’s whistle! (END)
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Edo Guber Tribunal: All eyes on Okpebholo as PDP, Ighodalo, INEC unexpectedly close cases*
By *Ehichioya Ezomon*
Today, Monday, February 10, 2025, is first D-Day for Governor Monday Okpehbolo at the Election Petitions Tribunal (EPT) sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. The ex-Senator (APC, Edo Central) is expected to begin defence of his declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.
Members of the public, especially the people of Edo State, are watching and waiting with bated breath, to see whether Okpebholo will toe the INEC line and close his defence without calling any witnesses to testify for him.
The INEC – which declared Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the poll winner, having scored 291,667 votes (about 51.1%) – failed to call any of the five witnesses it slated to testify, despite persuading the three-man tribunal on January 5 to adjourn the case to January 6, as “the witnesses would come to Abuja from Benin,” Edo State capital city.
At the resumed proceeding on January 6, INEC’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN), said his team had shelved the idea of bringing witnesses after it reviewed the case, adding, “My Lords, after we left you yesterday (Wednesday), we gave more thought to the matter and came to the conclusion that the sensible thing to do is to close the case of the 1st Respondent, which we hereby do,” Agabi told the tribunal.
Counsel for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, didn’t express surprise by the turn of events, with Adetunji Oyeyipo (SAN) saying, matter-of-factly, that, “Frankly speaking, we are not surprised and it is well within the right of the 1st Respondent (INEC) to show such good discretion. We are not objecting.”
But in an undisguised elation, the PDP unsolicitedly offered expert’s opinion, pointing to the risk INEC’s failure to call witnesses poses for the Respondents. “This abrupt end to INEC’s defence leaves the electoral body relying solely on cross-examinations and arguments from APC and Okpebholo’s lawyers,” the party said.
The PDP, however, noted its pathway to claiming its “stolen mandate,” explaining that, “The tribunal has already admitted critical BVAS machines into evidence, devices that will expose over-voting and discrepancies in the declared results.”
The party added: “Testimonies from PDP witnesses, including local government agents and an expert witness (PW12), detailed systemic manipulation during result collation. Independent monitors, such as Athena Centre and TAP Initiative, have corroborated these claims, further denting INEC’s credibility.
“By opting not to call witnesses, INEC appears to be taking a gamble, leaving its defence in the hands of APC and Governor Okpebholo’s legal teams. Analysts suggest this approach could backfire, as INEC must now contend with its own certified records and the BVAS data, which clearly contradict the declared results,” the party added.
Yet, PDP/Ighodalo had similarly suddenly closed their case on Monday, February 3, after calling 19 witnesses to testify to their claim of winning the governorship poll, though Ighodalo, going by INEC’s declaration, scored 247,274 votes (about 43.3%) to place second to Okpebholo.
It’s uncertain how many of the 290 witnesses – earmarked to testify for the eight political parties appearing before the tribunal – belonged to PDP/Ighodalo. But as the main challengers of the poll, surely, hundreds were primed to testify for them!
Recall that the tribunal had adjourned in Benin City on Friday, January 24, after taking the testimonies of PW11 and PW12, and relocated sitting to Abuja on Tuesday, January 28, with the Plaintiffs expected to call more witnesses, some of who refused to show up to testify the previous week.
But alas on Monday, January 3, a counsel for the Plaintiffs, Robert Emukpoeruo (SAN), offering no rationale, told the tribunal that his clients had concluded their case (in just 10 days), having called 19 witnesses, thus dampening the proceedings that’d captured public attention since the hearing proper began on January 21.
Left to guess the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of the Plaintiffs’ action, several questions then arose: If PDP/Ighodalo called only 19 witnesses, did they cover the 765 of the 4,519 polling units, whose votes they query in their petition? Did the 19 witnesses supply and adduce enough evidence that rendered calling more witnesses unnecessary?
We’re reminded, though, as per Muhammad JSC, in Olonade v Sowemimo (2014) LPELR-22914(SC), 27 – in explaining the meaning of the standard of proof in civil cases, (and) the balance of probabilities – that:
“The court decides which side’s evidence is heavier, not by the number of witnesses called by either party or on the basis of the one being oral and the other being documentary, but by the quality or probative value of the evidence be it oral and/or documentary.”
So, in deciding to close their case after calling 19 witnesses, did PDP/Ighodalo think they’d met the legal threshold set out above, to prove their allegations of manipulation of the election?
“No, they didn’t,” declared the Acting Chairman of the Edo chapter of the APC, Emperor Jarrett Tenebe, whose voice was muffled when PDP/Ighodalo held the tribunal spellbound with evidential claims of electoral heist by the INEC, APC and Police, telling the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on January 3 that PDP/Ighodalo “abandoned their case abruptly because they have no case ab initio.”
Boasting that “the whole country and the people of Edo in particular would know that the APC won the election” when the Respondents open their case, Tenebe said: “They (PDP/Ighodalo) were called to testify but couldn’t produce more witnesses, so closing their case at this point amounts to abandonment of the case.
“If you are challenging about seven hundred and something polling units and you call only 19 witnesses, does that not amount to abandonment? I think they do not have a case, that is why they hurriedly closed their case today (January 3), which is a good thing for the APC.”
But it appears that Tenebe (like the PDP) was too early to guess the outcome of the petition, as the INEC on January 6 closed its defence without calling any witness, leaving the tribunal chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, to rule that: “The request (by INEC) is granted and the first Respondent’s case is hereby closed,” and adjourned the matter to today, Monday, January 10, for Okpebholo to open his defence.
The three-man panel of Justices Wilfred Kpochi (Chairman), A.B. Yusuf and A.A. Adewole considers mainly alleged irregularities in the total number of votes cast in many polling units, which reportedly exceeded accredited voter-count recorded by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that the INEC deployed for the ballot.
While six parties question the credibility of the election in which INEC returned Okpebholo as the winner; the focus is on Ighodalo, who came second with 247,274 votes (about 43.3%) at the poll, with the PDP claiming those figures were manipulated to disfavour Ighodalo.
As hearing commenced in Benin City, the tribunal’s proceedings had witnessed the expected legal fireworks, with PDP/Ighodalo striving to unmask alleged massive rigging of the process that threw up Okpebholo as Governor, who’s sworn-in on November 12, 2024.
The party avers that – but for disfranchisement of voters; suppression of votes; over-voting; vote-buying; and connivance of the APC, INEC and Police to “gift” victory to Okpebholo – Ighodalo won the election, and should be declared as Governor of Edo State.
Going by testimonies of the Plaintiffs’ witnesses, PDP/Ighodalo seemed to hold their ground: That they won the election and INEC should’ve so returned. The witnesses tried to demonstrate alleged suppression, inflation and alteration of votes by the APC, INEC and Police, to the detriment of Ighodalo, a Lagos-based Lawyer and business tycoon.
Exuding confidence – and taking a page from PDP/Ighodalo’s sweeping allegations against APC/Okpebholo – the witnesses were even judgmental, pointing out votes that should’ve been counted or cancelled, and claiming that INEC’s reported rigging of the process amounts to a brazen breach of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).
Thus, if election petitions – and elections – are won on social media, PDP/Ighodalo would’ve breasted the tape before they closed their petition marked: EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, as reports on the proceedings were salaciously-headlined, portraying PDP/Ighodalo to’ve rubbished and made mincemeat of INEC’s declaration of Okpebholo as the poll winner.
Hence, there’s fear and anxiety that Okpebholo may also fail to call witnesses, and rely on the alibi that PDP/Ighodalo’s documentary evidence, and oral testimonies by the witnesses didn’t prove the Plaintiffs’ case “beyond reasonable doubts,” and “in substantial compliance with the electoral laws.”
Prior to the start of hearing on January 21, the Respondents, via Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), had asked the tribunal to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ petition on grounds of “incompetence” and “not filed in accordance with the extant law,” and to hands-off the petition for “lack of jurisdiction?”
An inkling to such a possibility was the prayer by Okpebholo’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), on Thursday, January 6, for the tribunal to grant him a date next week (this week), to enable him open defence, saying, “I never envisaged the first Respondent (INEC) would close its case today.”
“I have not arranged for witnesses to be moved from Benin. A date next week would be okay,” Ikpeazu said, even as he promised “not to use the entire 10 or five days” allotted to the second Respondent (Okpebholo) for his defence.
Reacting, Plaintiffs’ counsel argued that adjourning till Monday (today) would be too long, and urged the matter be adjourned to Saturday (January 8) for Okpebholo to open his defence. But the tribunal rejected the plea, and subsequently fixed February 10 for Okpebholo to open his defence.
So, will Okpebholo advance his defence today by limiting the number of witnesses to be called, and reducing the alloted number of days thereoff; relitigate the pre-hearing call for the tribunal to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ petition; or align with INEC’s counsel, Agabi’s claim, and aver that his (Okpebholo’s counsel, Ikpeazu) “did justice to the case during the cross-examination of the petitioners’ witnesses?”
Members of the public are anxiously waiting for Okpebholo’s moves on his first D-Day at the tribunal, which may be a harbinger of what to expect on his second D-Day during the tribunal’s judgment to close out the 180 days (six months) allotted by law to consider and decide the petitions!
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357_ .
PRESS RELEASE
SANWO-OLU CELEBRATES EL-RUFAI AT 65
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has congratulated the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, on his 65th birthday.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, in a congratulatory message issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, described el-Rufai as a committed public servant who served his State, Kaduna, and Nigeria with dedication.
The Governor said el-Rufai, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, contributed immeasurably to governance and politics in Nigeria with honour in all the public offices he occupied.
He said: “On behalf of my family, the government, and good people of Lagos State, I congratulate former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, on his 65th birthday.
“Malam el-Rufai is a committed public officer. He turned around Abuja during his tenure as Minister of FCT. Kaduna State also witnessed phenomenal growth and development in many sectors during his eight years as governor.
“I pray to God to grant former Governor Nasir el-Rufai a long life, good health, and renewed energy for more service to humanity, his State, Kaduna, Nigeria and mankind in years to come.”
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
SPECIAL ADVISER – MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
16 FEBRUARY 2025
SERAP gives CBN 48 hours to withdraw ‘unlawful, unfair hike in ATM transaction fees’
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, to use his “leadership position to immediately withdraw the patently unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unjust increase in Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transaction fees.”
SERAP urged him to “ensure that the exercise of CBN statutory powers and functions does not inflict misery on poor Nigerians and contribute to human rights abuses.”
The CBN recently announced that ATM withdrawals made at a machine owned by a bank but outside its branch premises will now attract a charge of N100 per N20,000 withdrawn. ATM withdrawals at shopping centres, airports or standalone cash points, will incur a N100 fee plus a surcharge of up to N500 per N20,000 withdrawal.
Banks ‘are advised to apply the increased ATM fees with effect from March 1, 2025.’
In the open letter dated 15 February 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “the manifestly unlawful, unfair, unreasonable, and unjust increase in ATM transaction fees will hit hardest those at the bottom of the economy and exacerbate the growing poverty in the country.”
SERAP said, “The increase in ATM transaction fees ought to have been shouldered by wealthy banks and their shareholders, not the general public. The increase only benefits the CBN and commercial banks at the expense of poor Nigerians.”
According to SERAP, “CBN policies should not be skewed against poor Nigerians and heavily in favour of banks that continue to declare trillions of naira in profits mostly at the expense of their customers. The increase in ATM transaction fees would inflict misery on poor Nigerians and contribute to human rights abuses.”
The letter, read in part: “The increase in ATM transaction fees is also entirely inconsistent with the oft-expressed commitment by the government of President Bola Tinubu to address the growing poverty across the country.”
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 48 hours of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the CBN to comply with our request in the public interest.”
“The exorbitant and unlawful increase in ATM transaction fees at a time the country is facing economic and financial crises would contribute further to the impoverishment of the population.”
“Imposing exorbitant ATM transaction fees on socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians at a time several Nigerian banks are declaring trillions of naira in profits yearly is manifestly unfair, unreasonable and unjust.”
“The increase cannot be justified under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, and the country’s international human rights obligations.”
“The patently unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unjust increase in ATM transaction fees also inherently contributes to violations of the human rights of socially and economically Nigerians.”
“The increase creates a two-tiered financial system that discriminates against poor Nigerians who may not be able to afford or pay the increased fees.”
“While the government of President Tinubu has primary responsibility for protecting the rights of Nigerians, the CBN also has the responsibilities to ensure that its practices and guidelines do not cause or contribute to human rights abuses.”
“The CBN could play an important role in promoting economic opportunities for Nigerians where the majority of the people live in poverty.”
“The CBN is failing to comply with the Nigerian Constitution, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act and the country’s international human rights obligations in the exercise of its statutory powers and functions.”
“The CBN is also compromising its stated mission to advance the management of the country’s economy, and ultimately, sustainable development.”
“According to our information, the CBN through a Circular to all banks and other financial institutions dated February 10 2025 stated that it has reviewed and increased the ATM transaction fees prescribed in section 10(7) of the CBN Guide to Charges by Bank, Other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions 2020.”
“Section 42(1)(a) of the CBN Act 2007 provides that ‘The Bank shall wherever necessary seek the co-operation of and co-operate with other banks in Nigeria to – (a) promote and maintain adequate and reasonable financial service for the public.’ It also provides that any policy of the CBN ‘shall be in the national interest.’”
“Section 1(c)(d) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018 provides that the objectives of the Act are to ‘protect and promote the interests and welfare of consumers’ and ‘prohibit restrictive or unfair business practices’ such as the exorbitant and unreasonable increase in ATM transaction fees by the CBN.”
“Significantly, the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act are directly binding on the CBN, as the provisions constrain the exercise of the statutory powers and functions of the institution.”
“Specifically, section 2(1) the Act provides that its provisions ‘apply to all undertakings [such as the CBN] and scope of application to all commercial activities within, or having effect within, Nigeria.”
“Section 2(2) provides that, ‘This Act also applies to and is binding upon- (a) a body corporate or agency of the Government of the Federation; (b) a body corporate; (c) all commercial activities aimed at making profit and geared towards the satisfaction of demand from the public.’”
“According to section 70(1) of the Act, ‘For the purpose of this Act, an undertaking [such as the CBN] is considered to be in a dominant position if it is able to act without taking account of the reaction of its customers or consumers.’”
“The Act prohibits abuse of dominant position by the CBN including charging excessive ATM transaction fees to the detriment of consumers.”
“Section 104 of the of the Act asserts the supremacy of the Act over ‘the provisions of any other law’, such as the CBN Act. The only exception to the provision is the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”
“Section 127(1) of the Act also prohibits the CBN from making any policy or providing “any services at a price that is manifestly unfair, unreasonable or unjust.”
“The CBN has clear responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) to undertake human rights due diligence to identify and mitigate contributions to human rights violations of not only its own activities but also activities to which it is directly linked by its business relationships.”
“The CBN has responsibilities under the UNGPs to take effective steps to avoid or mitigate potential human rights harm and to consider ending any charges or transaction fees where severe negative human rights consequences cannot be avoided or mitigated.”
Kolawole Oluwadare
SERAP Deputy Director
16/02/2025
Lagos, Nigeria
Emails: info@serap-nigeria.org; news@serap-nigeria.org
Twitter: @SERAPNigeria
Website: www.serap-nigeria.org
For more information or to request an interview, please contact us on: +2348160537202
Email editor: ebirerihenry52@gmail.com
Call editor: 08036977194
…………………………………………………………………..
Delta govt approves urban renewal plans for Asaba, Warri
Delta State Government, yesterday, approved major infrastructure development projects targeted at urban renewal of the Asaba capital territory and Warri, the commercial nerve centre of the state.
The approvals were part of the decisions reached at the maiden 2025 State Executive Council (EXCO) meeting presided over by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
Briefing journalists at the end the meeting, the Director General of the Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency (DSCTDA), Chief Patrick Ukah, expressed excitement at the recent approvals for road infrastructure projects in the territory.
He described the development as a significant step towards enhancing urban renewal, improving connectivity and boosting economic growth.
Chief Ukah emphasized the government’s commitment to transforming the capital territory through strategic infrastructure upgrades, assuring residents that the approved projects would bring lasting benefits to the capital territory.
According to Ukah, “I must tell you that the Capital Territory in this administration has received a lot of attention, especially in the area of road infrastructure.
“I am happy to report that the Umejei Road in Ibusa, is being given a complete facelift, and the Okpanam Township Road, from the City Gate to the church and extending into Amaichai down to the Post Office, has also been approved for reconstruction.
“We are also making significant progress across BONSAC. A 2.6-kilometer road from the Road Safety office is being constructed into BONSAC, along with a network of roads that will connect to Achalla Ibusa Road.”
He explained that some projects were delayed due to upward reviews but disclosed that approximately eight of them had now been approved, with contractors already mobilized to the respective sites.
“Before now, some of our projects were stalled due to upward reviews. However, in this administration, about eight of them have now been approved, and the contractors are returning to the sites.
“Four of these are major projects that many of us were concerned about due to delays. For instance, the one crossing Ogbeogonogo Market has been approved, and Odilison has also received approval. Once the official release is issued, you will see the full details of these roads.
“Most importantly, in line with the governor’s MORE agenda, the transformation of the capital city has officially begun. The entire capital territory is set to receive a facelift, and the development, under the MORE agenda, is being accelerated,” he added.
On his part, the Director-General, Warri, Uvwie, and Environs, Prince Godwin Ejinyere said Governor Oborevwori had directed that all major roads in Warri and environs should be given a face-lift.
“I want to sincerely inform Deltans that Warri truly will be great again as promised by the governor who has given the go ahead for us to reconstruct bad roads, to maintain bad roads and reconstruct roads linking major places in Warri.
“All the roads we are doing are not for political patronage. The Governor has directed that we identify all bad roads in Warri and make sure Warri wears a new look.
“Outside that today, Exco graciously approved the additional works for the stormwater project taking place in Warri.
“Knowing the nature of Warri that it’s always flooded whenever it rains and anytime from now the rains will be here again, the Warri storm water project was awarded sometime in April 2024 and has now been reviewed upward to accommodate additional works and also considering the rising cost of building and construction materials.
“We had to look into a lot of things for the job not to stop and, as I said today, the governor has graciously approved the onward construction of the project and equally increased the scope of work.
“Rome was not built in a day but I want to tell us that the job has been increased from what it used to be, to cover many other areas in Warri and environs.
“It’s a wonderful one; I want to say, on behalf of all our Warri people, that we owe nothing but prayers for our governor.”
LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY SUSPENDS PLENARY INDEFINITELY
The Lagos State House of Assembly has suspended plenary indefinitely following the invasion of the assembly by operatives of the State Security Services on Monday.
Tensions escalated in the assembly on Monday as security personnel, reportedly from the SSS, entered the assembly premises and locked the Deputy Speaker’s office before the start of the plenary session.
This action led to a standoff between lawmakers and security officers, with the lawmakers eventually regaining access to the assembly.
During the plenary session, the lawmakers addressed the security breach and passed a vote of confidence in the Speaker, Mojisola Meranda.
They also resolved to investigate the incident and report their findings to President Bola Tinubu and the SSS Director General Oluwatosin Ajayi.
PSC approves appointment of Jimoh Moshood as Commissioner of Police, Lagos State command
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the appointment of Olohundare Moshood Jimoh as the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, effective Monday, February 17, 2025.
In a statement, the PSC spokesperson, Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, said, “CP Jimoh, before his appointment, was the Commissioner of Police, Ports Authority, Eastern Ports.”
CP Jimoh, a native of Kwara State, previously served as the Force Public Relations Officer and held several key positions, including Deputy Commissioner, Airport Police, Deputy Commissioner, Finance and Administration, and Deputy Commissioner, General Investigation.
He has undergone extensive professional training both locally and internationally, including: Combat Operations Course – Mobile Training College, Maiduguri, African Union Mission – Darfur, Sudan, Weapons of Mass Destruction Countermeasure Training – United States, Social Construction and Management Reform Training – China, Executive Leadership Academy – Pudong, China, Maritime Rescue and Salvage Training – China Maritime Academy, Ningbo, China, Anti-Hijacking Techniques and Tactics Training – Yunnan Police College, Kunming, China, Police Training Institute – Seoul, South Korea.
CP Jimoh is also a recipient of the Presidential Award for Public Relations Personality of the Year, presented by the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations in recognition of his outstanding contributions to public relations in Nigeria.
His confirmation followed his appearance before the PSC on Monday, where key officials, including the Commission’s Chairman, DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd), Justice Adamu Paul Galmuje (rtd), and DIG Taiwo Lakanu (rtd), were present.
The appointment reflects the Commission’s commitment to strengthening leadership and ensuring effective policing in Lagos State.
Security operatives take over Lagos Assembly
The leadership tussle in the Lagos State House of Assembly took a new twist on Monday with heavy security presence at the premises during a plenary session.
Security vans and personnel were spotted in and outside the premises of the Lagos Assembly complex in the Alausa Area of the commercial city.
An official of the Lagos Assembly said that the speaker Meranda Mojisola and 32 members of the lawmaking body are present for Monday’s plenary.
While issues to be discussed at the plenary are unclear as of the time of this report, some members of the Lagos Assembly were spotted discussing in clusters inside the premises.
Although a source said that the leadership of the House is intact, reports claim that there might be a change in the speakership of the Lagos Assembly.
Last month, members of the Assembly removed the House’s long-term speaker Mudashiru Obasa over allegations of fraud and other sundry charges.
They thereafter elected Meranda Mojisola as Obasa’s replacement in a historic move that saw the member representing Apapa Constituency I become the first speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
“The Constitution makes it clear that the House has the powers to regulate its proceedings. So, the members of the House felt that they’ve had enough of the Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa and today, we have unanimously agreed that Rt Hon Mojisola Meranda Lasbat becomes the new Speaker of the House,” a member of the Assembly representing Epe Constituency 1 Abiodun Tobun said in defence of Obasa’s impeachment.
Tobun argued that the lawmakers “owe Lagos State a duty of ensuring that the sanctity of the House and the integrity of this House are restored”.
Obasa has denied claims of corruption levelled against him.
Obasa insisted he was still the Lagos Assembly speaker.
The former speaker who represents the Agege constituency dismissed fraud allegations against him which he labelled as “fictitious and unsubstantiated”.
“I am still the speaker until the right thing has been done,” the lawmaker said in a press conference organised at his Ikeja home in Lagos.
“If you want to remove me, remove me the proper way and I will not contest it. “I’m a Muslim and I believe in fate. But let’s do it the way it should be done.”
The Lagos Assembly crisis has dragged on for weeks, leaving many wondering about the next step for the House.
Many claimed his governorship ambition fuelled his removal, Obasa said there was nothing wrong with nursing that goal.
Weeks after his removal, Obasa dragged the Assembly and Meranda before the Lagos State High Court challenging his sack as the speaker of the House.
He asked the court to declare that his removal by his colleagues was unlawful owing since the Assembly was on break.
Email editor: ebirerihenry52@gmail.com
Call editor: 08036977194
…………………………………………………………………..
PSC approves appointment of Jimoh Moshood as Commissioner of Police, Lagos State command
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the appointment of Olohundare Moshood Jimoh as the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, effective Monday, February 17, 2025.
In a statement, the PSC spokesperson, Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, said, “CP Jimoh, before his appointment, was the Commissioner of Police, Ports Authority, Eastern Ports.”
CP Jimoh, a native of Kwara State, previously served as the Force Public Relations Officer and held several key positions, including Deputy Commissioner, Airport Police, Deputy Commissioner, Finance and Administration, and Deputy Commissioner, General Investigation.
He has undergone extensive professional training both locally and internationally, including: Combat Operations Course – Mobile Training College, Maiduguri, African Union Mission – Darfur, Sudan, Weapons of Mass Destruction Countermeasure Training – United States, Social Construction and Management Reform Training – China, Executive Leadership Academy – Pudong, China, Maritime Rescue and Salvage Training – China Maritime Academy, Ningbo, China, Anti-Hijacking Techniques and Tactics Training – Yunnan Police College, Kunming, China, Police Training Institute – Seoul, South Korea.
CP Jimoh is also a recipient of the Presidential Award for Public Relations Personality of the Year, presented by the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations in recognition of his outstanding contributions to public relations in Nigeria.
His confirmation followed his appearance before the PSC on Monday, where key officials, including the Commission’s Chairman, DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd), Justice Adamu Paul Galmuje (rtd), and DIG Taiwo Lakanu (rtd), were present.
The appointment reflects the Commission’s commitment to strengthening leadership and ensuring effective policing in Lagos State.
Security operatives take over Lagos Assembly
The leadership tussle in the Lagos State House of Assembly took a new twist on Monday with heavy security presence at the premises during a plenary session.
Security vans and personnel were spotted in and outside the premises of the Lagos Assembly complex in the Alausa Area of the commercial city.
An official of the Lagos Assembly said that the speaker Meranda Mojisola and 32 members of the lawmaking body are present for Monday’s plenary.
While issues to be discussed at the plenary are unclear as of the time of this report, some members of the Lagos Assembly were spotted discussing in clusters inside the premises.
Although a source said that the leadership of the House is intact, reports claim that there might be a change in the speakership of the Lagos Assembly.
Last month, members of the Assembly removed the House’s long-term speaker Mudashiru Obasa over allegations of fraud and other sundry charges.
They thereafter elected Meranda Mojisola as Obasa’s replacement in a historic move that saw the member representing Apapa Constituency I become the first speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
“The Constitution makes it clear that the House has the powers to regulate its proceedings. So, the members of the House felt that they’ve had enough of the Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa and today, we have unanimously agreed that Rt Hon Mojisola Meranda Lasbat becomes the new Speaker of the House,” a member of the Assembly representing Epe Constituency 1 Abiodun Tobun said in defence of Obasa’s impeachment.
Tobun argued that the lawmakers “owe Lagos State a duty of ensuring that the sanctity of the House and the integrity of this House are restored”.
Obasa has denied claims of corruption levelled against him.
Obasa insisted he was still the Lagos Assembly speaker.
The former speaker who represents the Agege constituency dismissed fraud allegations against him which he labelled as “fictitious and unsubstantiated”.
“I am still the speaker until the right thing has been done,” the lawmaker said in a press conference organised at his Ikeja home in Lagos.
“If you want to remove me, remove me the proper way and I will not contest it. “I’m a Muslim and I believe in fate. But let’s do it the way it should be done.”
The Lagos Assembly crisis has dragged on for weeks, leaving many wondering about the next step for the House.
Many claimed his governorship ambition fuelled his removal, Obasa said there was nothing wrong with nursing that goal.
Weeks after his removal, Obasa dragged the Assembly and Meranda before the Lagos State High Court challenging his sack as the speaker of the House.
He asked the court to declare that his removal by his colleagues was unlawful owing since the Assembly was on break.
Attempts to link Obasa’s impeachment to Seyi Tinubu’s ‘guber aspiration’ mischievous (3)
By Ehichioya Ezomon
Removed Speaker Mudashiru Obasa (Agege Constituency 1) of the Lagos State House of Assembly may fail to get back his exalted office, yet, he’s succeeded in forcing an unplanned shift of the House plenary indefinitely, thus sowing tension and confusion among the lawmakers, and splitting the close-knit Governance Advisory Council (GAC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
This comes after new Speaker Mojisola Meranda (Apapa Constituency 1) formally assumed office on Monday, January 27, 2025, amid majority of the lawmakers chanting: “Madam, continue your work; your work is appealing to us. You are the Speaker, you are the Speaker, you are the Speaker. Speak for Lagos. Continue with your work.”
With Obasa reportedly absent from the Assembly, the lawmakers posed for photographs with Meranda, and accompanied her to the Speaker’s office, “where intense prayers were offered as she settled into her new role.” The plenary was then postponed, “to douse tension in the state.”
The lawmakers’ public rallying for Meranda was a “kick in the groin” for Obasa, whose fate appears sealed since losing power on Monday, January 13, and returning from the United States of America to insist that he remains the Speaker until due process is observed in his removal, in line with the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
Welcomed back to town on Saturday, January 25, by hundreds of jubilant supporters at the official residence of the Lagos Speaker in the GRA, Ikeja, Obasa slammed his ouster, in absentia, as unconstitutional.
In an “A luta continua; vitória é certa” (“The struggle continues; victory is certain”)-like mood, Obasa told his supporters: “I’m still the Speaker until the right thing has been done,” and the crowd cheered.
“I am not afraid of being removed. After all, it is not my father’s chieftaincy title. I am representing my people and they have returned me six times. If you want to do anything (remove him), do it well.”
Obasa insinuated that were he present in the Assembly, the lawmakers wouldn’t succeed in removing him as Speaker. He queried: “They did the removal all because I was out of the country. Why did they have to break the chamber and use a fake mace to carry out the removal?
“If they say they don’t want me anymore, that’s fine, but let them follow due process. I still believe I am the Speaker until the right procedure is followed. Lagos is a special place, we cannot denigrate the state.”
Obasa held his ground, as he addressed his 2027 governorship ambition he tactically broached when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented the 2025 Budget proposals to the House, thus sparking the instant flurry of activities in the Lagos polity.
Saying, “Having ambition to become a governor is not a sin,” Obasa declared: “However, I said on the floor of the House, when the budget was presented, that I had no thoughts of governorship. But that does not mean I am not qualified or that I lack experience; I still maintain that (stand).”
Citing a breach of fair hearing, Obasa claimed he wasn’t given a chance to respond to the charges the House leveled against him, and challenged his colleagues to substantiate the allegations, and afford him a chance to respond.
“They (lawmakers) should not discredit an innocent person (Obasa); they should prove their allegations against me. The Lagos State House of Assembly is above the common standard of excellence. I believe in the image of our institution; we must not destroy it and I will never partake in it’s destruction.”
Obasa also criticised the Police for “conniving with the lawmakers” to oust him from power, alleging that besides the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Olawale Ishola, “leading police officers to invade the Assembly,” over 200 policemen allegedly invaded his private residence in Agege, blocked the gate, and prevented members of his family from going out of the house.
Obasa referenced other Presiding Officers of the Lagos Assembly removed without deployment of the police. “When former Speaker, Rt Hon. Jokotola Pelumi, was removed, he was in the Assembly and we did not invite policemen. When my sister, former Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, was removed, we did not invite the police,” Obasa said.
Even with his eyes red, Obasa appreciated members of the GAC and Governor Sanwo-Olu, “who is my brother,” and who “always calls me his younger brother,” and thanked President Tinubu, “who will always be my father.”
Obasa said he’d been with Tinubu from his days in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) under which Tinubu’s elected Senator in the Third Republic, noting that he never expected to be Speaker in 2015, but “Tinubu supported me even when everyone was against me.”
Tinubu’s the acclaimed head of the shadowy and powerful GAC of the Lagos APC, which acts as a clearing house for the party affairs, including elective and appointive positions. But there appears a split in the GAC, as two of its members have criticised Obasa’s ouster as illegal.
As reported by The Nation on January 30, a member, Chief M.A. Taiwo, faulted the process of Obasa’s removal, noting that, “The act of the lawmakers is illegal. It shows total disregard and clear disrespect for leadership. The GAC is split over the matter, but we will all defer to our leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to resolve the crisis.”
Another GAC member, former Senator Anthony Adefuye, described the removal as illegal, stating, “What he (Obasa) is saying is that he was illegally removed, and the procedure was faulty. I agree with him.”
Meanwhile, former Lagos Speaker and ex-Minister of State for Health, and Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Olorunnibe Mamora, faults Obasa’s claim that his removal flouts the 1999 Constitution, saying that only the removal of President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor is specified therein, and the procedure to effect the removal.
In an interview with Vanguard on January 25, Mamora, who’s Speaker from 1999 to 2003, and Senator from 2003 to 2011, said Obasa’s removal was constitutional, clarifying that though impeachment and removal are used inter-changeably, the removal of Principal Officers of the Senate, House of Representatives, and State House of Assembly requires only the support of two-thirds of members to succeed.
Mamora’s words: “Let me correct the impression. I have heard people say this in media discourse. If you look at the Constitution, you would not find impeachment. What you find is removal. There is a difference between removal and impeachment.
“Impeachment connotes bringing allegations of wrong doing formally, and presenting (them) before an offending public officer. But allegation does not necessarily amount to guilt. It only says that these are the allegations that have been brought formally, which the officer has to respond to; that is impeachment.
Recalling how former United States President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House but the conviction was defeated in the Senate over his sex affair with Monica Lewinsky, Mamora explains that allegations brought through impeachment may not necessarily lead to removal, adding, “If you are now convicted on the basis of allegations and a kind of sentence is passed, then it may lead to removal.”
“It (Constitution) does not even say you should explain. It is just a simple process, because the Speaker is just first among equals. That is why the process for removal of the Speaker or Senate President is different from the removal of Mr. Governor, Deputy Governor or President, or Vice President,” Mamora says.
“Because, in the case of the Governor, it is the whole state that voted to put him in office; that is why the procedure for his or her removal is a complex process. The allegations must be supported by one-third to be brought and served notice on the holder of the office, wait for his or her response, set up a panel, report comes back to the House and the House comes with a two-third majority of the members. So, you see it’s a complex process.
“The removal of a Speaker in the House of Assembly or the National Assembly Speaker or Senate President is simple. Once members bring a motion that is supported by two-thirds of members, then the Speaker vacates the seat; that’s all.”
“The Constitution does not even say you should state the allegations. It only says if you have the support of not less than two-thirds majority of the members, in support of the motion for the removal of the Speaker, and the Speaker vacates. It does not even say you should confront him with the allegations.
“Obasa was impeached and removed because there was presentation of allegations against him. And it was on the basis of the allegations that the House decided to remove him.”
Mamora adds: “We need to get it clear. What we do here is that we use the words, impeachment and removal, inter-changeably, as (if) they are the same. I need to correct that.
“There could be impeachment without removal. The Constitution, under Section 92, sub- section two or thereabout, talks of removal; that the Speaker shall vacate if a motion is presented, supported by two-thirds of members. That’s all.
“So, allegations were presented against Obasa and on that basis, the members went ahead to remove him in consonance with the Section 92 of the Constitution. So, the removal of Obasa is constitutional.”
Presented with a seeming fait accompli, shouldn’t Obasa rethink and retool his strategy, and give peace a chance in the Assembly and entire Lagos State? This poser comes on the back of a statement by majority of the House members on January 27, decrying Obasa’s alleged sabre-rattling, capable of heating up the polity.
Vowing to stand by Meranda as the new Speaker, a statement by Ogundipe Olukayode (Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II), on behalf of members, urged Obasa to shelve his bellicose stance and toe the path of “Peace we want in Lagos and Peace we will achieve.”
The statement partly reads: “It is imperative to clarify that over 2/3 of the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly are solidly united behind the new Speaker, Rt Hon. Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, therefore we stood by the decision taken on the 13th of January where Rt Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa was impeached and we shall defend our positions to the latter.
“The position of the House remains the same and nothing has changed. The position being canvassed by former Speaker, Rt Hon. Obasa, is uncalled for and unparliamentary.
“The majority of members elected Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker for the 10th Assembly and we also, at the said Plenary, took the majority decision to remove him and stand by the new Speaker. So, nothing has changed.
“All members were elected from their various constituencies across the state and we all have the inalienable rights under the necessary Statutory orders to remove their Principal Officers, including the Speaker.
“I (we) therefore appeal to the former Speaker to toe the line of peace and harmony as being followed by others, as the current intransigent posture will heat up the polity and not augur well. Any attempt to heat up the polity will be resisted by the majority of distinguished members who unanimously elected Rt Hon. Meranda,” the statement said.
Will Obasa heed this timely warning, even if he wants to bid for Governor and square up against Seyi Tinubu, who remains taciturn about his alleged aspiration till date? Let Obasa’s political case not be like the dog’s which refused to listen to its master’s whistle! (END)
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Edo Guber Tribunal: All eyes on Okpebholo as PDP, Ighodalo, INEC unexpectedly close cases*
By *Ehichioya Ezomon*
Today, Monday, February 10, 2025, is first D-Day for Governor Monday Okpehbolo at the Election Petitions Tribunal (EPT) sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. The ex-Senator (APC, Edo Central) is expected to begin defence of his declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.
Members of the public, especially the people of Edo State, are watching and waiting with bated breath, to see whether Okpebholo will toe the INEC line and close his defence without calling any witnesses to testify for him.
The INEC – which declared Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the poll winner, having scored 291,667 votes (about 51.1%) – failed to call any of the five witnesses it slated to testify, despite persuading the three-man tribunal on January 5 to adjourn the case to January 6, as “the witnesses would come to Abuja from Benin,” Edo State capital city.
At the resumed proceeding on January 6, INEC’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN), said his team had shelved the idea of bringing witnesses after it reviewed the case, adding, “My Lords, after we left you yesterday (Wednesday), we gave more thought to the matter and came to the conclusion that the sensible thing to do is to close the case of the 1st Respondent, which we hereby do,” Agabi told the tribunal.
Counsel for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, didn’t express surprise by the turn of events, with Adetunji Oyeyipo (SAN) saying, matter-of-factly, that, “Frankly speaking, we are not surprised and it is well within the right of the 1st Respondent (INEC) to show such good discretion. We are not objecting.”
But in an undisguised elation, the PDP unsolicitedly offered expert’s opinion, pointing to the risk INEC’s failure to call witnesses poses for the Respondents. “This abrupt end to INEC’s defence leaves the electoral body relying solely on cross-examinations and arguments from APC and Okpebholo’s lawyers,” the party said.
The PDP, however, noted its pathway to claiming its “stolen mandate,” explaining that, “The tribunal has already admitted critical BVAS machines into evidence, devices that will expose over-voting and discrepancies in the declared results.”
The party added: “Testimonies from PDP witnesses, including local government agents and an expert witness (PW12), detailed systemic manipulation during result collation. Independent monitors, such as Athena Centre and TAP Initiative, have corroborated these claims, further denting INEC’s credibility.
“By opting not to call witnesses, INEC appears to be taking a gamble, leaving its defence in the hands of APC and Governor Okpebholo’s legal teams. Analysts suggest this approach could backfire, as INEC must now contend with its own certified records and the BVAS data, which clearly contradict the declared results,” the party added.
Yet, PDP/Ighodalo had similarly suddenly closed their case on Monday, February 3, after calling 19 witnesses to testify to their claim of winning the governorship poll, though Ighodalo, going by INEC’s declaration, scored 247,274 votes (about 43.3%) to place second to Okpebholo.
It’s uncertain how many of the 290 witnesses – earmarked to testify for the eight political parties appearing before the tribunal – belonged to PDP/Ighodalo. But as the main challengers of the poll, surely, hundreds were primed to testify for them!
Recall that the tribunal had adjourned in Benin City on Friday, January 24, after taking the testimonies of PW11 and PW12, and relocated sitting to Abuja on Tuesday, January 28, with the Plaintiffs expected to call more witnesses, some of who refused to show up to testify the previous week.
But alas on Monday, January 3, a counsel for the Plaintiffs, Robert Emukpoeruo (SAN), offering no rationale, told the tribunal that his clients had concluded their case (in just 10 days), having called 19 witnesses, thus dampening the proceedings that’d captured public attention since the hearing proper began on January 21.
Left to guess the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of the Plaintiffs’ action, several questions then arose: If PDP/Ighodalo called only 19 witnesses, did they cover the 765 of the 4,519 polling units, whose votes they query in their petition? Did the 19 witnesses supply and adduce enough evidence that rendered calling more witnesses unnecessary?
We’re reminded, though, as per Muhammad JSC, in Olonade v Sowemimo (2014) LPELR-22914(SC), 27 – in explaining the meaning of the standard of proof in civil cases, (and) the balance of probabilities – that:
“The court decides which side’s evidence is heavier, not by the number of witnesses called by either party or on the basis of the one being oral and the other being documentary, but by the quality or probative value of the evidence be it oral and/or documentary.”
So, in deciding to close their case after calling 19 witnesses, did PDP/Ighodalo think they’d met the legal threshold set out above, to prove their allegations of manipulation of the election?
“No, they didn’t,” declared the Acting Chairman of the Edo chapter of the APC, Emperor Jarrett Tenebe, whose voice was muffled when PDP/Ighodalo held the tribunal spellbound with evidential claims of electoral heist by the INEC, APC and Police, telling the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on January 3 that PDP/Ighodalo “abandoned their case abruptly because they have no case ab initio.”
Boasting that “the whole country and the people of Edo in particular would know that the APC won the election” when the Respondents open their case, Tenebe said: “They (PDP/Ighodalo) were called to testify but couldn’t produce more witnesses, so closing their case at this point amounts to abandonment of the case.
“If you are challenging about seven hundred and something polling units and you call only 19 witnesses, does that not amount to abandonment? I think they do not have a case, that is why they hurriedly closed their case today (January 3), which is a good thing for the APC.”
But it appears that Tenebe (like the PDP) was too early to guess the outcome of the petition, as the INEC on January 6 closed its defence without calling any witness, leaving the tribunal chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, to rule that: “The request (by INEC) is granted and the first Respondent’s case is hereby closed,” and adjourned the matter to today, Monday, January 10, for Okpebholo to open his defence.
The three-man panel of Justices Wilfred Kpochi (Chairman), A.B. Yusuf and A.A. Adewole considers mainly alleged irregularities in the total number of votes cast in many polling units, which reportedly exceeded accredited voter-count recorded by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that the INEC deployed for the ballot.
While six parties question the credibility of the election in which INEC returned Okpebholo as the winner; the focus is on Ighodalo, who came second with 247,274 votes (about 43.3%) at the poll, with the PDP claiming those figures were manipulated to disfavour Ighodalo.
As hearing commenced in Benin City, the tribunal’s proceedings had witnessed the expected legal fireworks, with PDP/Ighodalo striving to unmask alleged massive rigging of the process that threw up Okpebholo as Governor, who’s sworn-in on November 12, 2024.
The party avers that – but for disfranchisement of voters; suppression of votes; over-voting; vote-buying; and connivance of the APC, INEC and Police to “gift” victory to Okpebholo – Ighodalo won the election, and should be declared as Governor of Edo State.
Going by testimonies of the Plaintiffs’ witnesses, PDP/Ighodalo seemed to hold their ground: That they won the election and INEC should’ve so returned. The witnesses tried to demonstrate alleged suppression, inflation and alteration of votes by the APC, INEC and Police, to the detriment of Ighodalo, a Lagos-based Lawyer and business tycoon.
Exuding confidence – and taking a page from PDP/Ighodalo’s sweeping allegations against APC/Okpebholo – the witnesses were even judgmental, pointing out votes that should’ve been counted or cancelled, and claiming that INEC’s reported rigging of the process amounts to a brazen breach of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).
Thus, if election petitions – and elections – are won on social media, PDP/Ighodalo would’ve breasted the tape before they closed their petition marked: EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, as reports on the proceedings were salaciously-headlined, portraying PDP/Ighodalo to’ve rubbished and made mincemeat of INEC’s declaration of Okpebholo as the poll winner.
Hence, there’s fear and anxiety that Okpebholo may also fail to call witnesses, and rely on the alibi that PDP/Ighodalo’s documentary evidence, and oral testimonies by the witnesses didn’t prove the Plaintiffs’ case “beyond reasonable doubts,” and “in substantial compliance with the electoral laws.”
Prior to the start of hearing on January 21, the Respondents, via Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), had asked the tribunal to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ petition on grounds of “incompetence” and “not filed in accordance with the extant law,” and to hands-off the petition for “lack of jurisdiction?”
An inkling to such a possibility was the prayer by Okpebholo’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), on Thursday, January 6, for the tribunal to grant him a date next week (this week), to enable him open defence, saying, “I never envisaged the first Respondent (INEC) would close its case today.”
“I have not arranged for witnesses to be moved from Benin. A date next week would be okay,” Ikpeazu said, even as he promised “not to use the entire 10 or five days” allotted to the second Respondent (Okpebholo) for his defence.
Reacting, Plaintiffs’ counsel argued that adjourning till Monday (today) would be too long, and urged the matter be adjourned to Saturday (January 8) for Okpebholo to open his defence. But the tribunal rejected the plea, and subsequently fixed February 10 for Okpebholo to open his defence.
So, will Okpebholo advance his defence today by limiting the number of witnesses to be called, and reducing the alloted number of days thereoff; relitigate the pre-hearing call for the tribunal to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ petition; or align with INEC’s counsel, Agabi’s claim, and aver that his (Okpebholo’s counsel, Ikpeazu) “did justice to the case during the cross-examination of the petitioners’ witnesses?”
Members of the public are anxiously waiting for Okpebholo’s moves on his first D-Day at the tribunal, which may be a harbinger of what to expect on his second D-Day during the tribunal’s judgment to close out the 180 days (six months) allotted by law to consider and decide the petitions!
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357_ .
PRESS RELEASE
SANWO-OLU CELEBRATES EL-RUFAI AT 65
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has congratulated the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, on his 65th birthday.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, in a congratulatory message issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, described el-Rufai as a committed public servant who served his State, Kaduna, and Nigeria with dedication.
The Governor said el-Rufai, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, contributed immeasurably to governance and politics in Nigeria with honour in all the public offices he occupied.
He said: “On behalf of my family, the government, and good people of Lagos State, I congratulate former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, on his 65th birthday.
“Malam el-Rufai is a committed public officer. He turned around Abuja during his tenure as Minister of FCT. Kaduna State also witnessed phenomenal growth and development in many sectors during his eight years as governor.
“I pray to God to grant former Governor Nasir el-Rufai a long life, good health, and renewed energy for more service to humanity, his State, Kaduna, Nigeria and mankind in years to come.”
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
SPECIAL ADVISER – MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
16 FEBRUARY 2025
SERAP gives CBN 48 hours to withdraw ‘unlawful, unfair hike in ATM transaction fees’
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, to use his “leadership position to immediately withdraw the patently unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unjust increase in Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transaction fees.”
SERAP urged him to “ensure that the exercise of CBN statutory powers and functions does not inflict misery on poor Nigerians and contribute to human rights abuses.”
The CBN recently announced that ATM withdrawals made at a machine owned by a bank but outside its branch premises will now attract a charge of N100 per N20,000 withdrawn. ATM withdrawals at shopping centres, airports or standalone cash points, will incur a N100 fee plus a surcharge of up to N500 per N20,000 withdrawal.
Banks ‘are advised to apply the increased ATM fees with effect from March 1, 2025.’
In the open letter dated 15 February 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “the manifestly unlawful, unfair, unreasonable, and unjust increase in ATM transaction fees will hit hardest those at the bottom of the economy and exacerbate the growing poverty in the country.”
SERAP said, “The increase in ATM transaction fees ought to have been shouldered by wealthy banks and their shareholders, not the general public. The increase only benefits the CBN and commercial banks at the expense of poor Nigerians.”
According to SERAP, “CBN policies should not be skewed against poor Nigerians and heavily in favour of banks that continue to declare trillions of naira in profits mostly at the expense of their customers. The increase in ATM transaction fees would inflict misery on poor Nigerians and contribute to human rights abuses.”
The letter, read in part: “The increase in ATM transaction fees is also entirely inconsistent with the oft-expressed commitment by the government of President Bola Tinubu to address the growing poverty across the country.”
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 48 hours of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the CBN to comply with our request in the public interest.”
“The exorbitant and unlawful increase in ATM transaction fees at a time the country is facing economic and financial crises would contribute further to the impoverishment of the population.”
“Imposing exorbitant ATM transaction fees on socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians at a time several Nigerian banks are declaring trillions of naira in profits yearly is manifestly unfair, unreasonable and unjust.”
“The increase cannot be justified under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, and the country’s international human rights obligations.”
“The patently unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unjust increase in ATM transaction fees also inherently contributes to violations of the human rights of socially and economically Nigerians.”
“The increase creates a two-tiered financial system that discriminates against poor Nigerians who may not be able to afford or pay the increased fees.”
“While the government of President Tinubu has primary responsibility for protecting the rights of Nigerians, the CBN also has the responsibilities to ensure that its practices and guidelines do not cause or contribute to human rights abuses.”
“The CBN could play an important role in promoting economic opportunities for Nigerians where the majority of the people live in poverty.”
“The CBN is failing to comply with the Nigerian Constitution, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act and the country’s international human rights obligations in the exercise of its statutory powers and functions.”
“The CBN is also compromising its stated mission to advance the management of the country’s economy, and ultimately, sustainable development.”
“According to our information, the CBN through a Circular to all banks and other financial institutions dated February 10 2025 stated that it has reviewed and increased the ATM transaction fees prescribed in section 10(7) of the CBN Guide to Charges by Bank, Other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions 2020.”
“Section 42(1)(a) of the CBN Act 2007 provides that ‘The Bank shall wherever necessary seek the co-operation of and co-operate with other banks in Nigeria to – (a) promote and maintain adequate and reasonable financial service for the public.’ It also provides that any policy of the CBN ‘shall be in the national interest.’”
“Section 1(c)(d) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018 provides that the objectives of the Act are to ‘protect and promote the interests and welfare of consumers’ and ‘prohibit restrictive or unfair business practices’ such as the exorbitant and unreasonable increase in ATM transaction fees by the CBN.”
“Significantly, the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act are directly binding on the CBN, as the provisions constrain the exercise of the statutory powers and functions of the institution.”
“Specifically, section 2(1) the Act provides that its provisions ‘apply to all undertakings [such as the CBN] and scope of application to all commercial activities within, or having effect within, Nigeria.”
“Section 2(2) provides that, ‘This Act also applies to and is binding upon- (a) a body corporate or agency of the Government of the Federation; (b) a body corporate; (c) all commercial activities aimed at making profit and geared towards the satisfaction of demand from the public.’”
“According to section 70(1) of the Act, ‘For the purpose of this Act, an undertaking [such as the CBN] is considered to be in a dominant position if it is able to act without taking account of the reaction of its customers or consumers.’”
“The Act prohibits abuse of dominant position by the CBN including charging excessive ATM transaction fees to the detriment of consumers.”
“Section 104 of the of the Act asserts the supremacy of the Act over ‘the provisions of any other law’, such as the CBN Act. The only exception to the provision is the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”
“Section 127(1) of the Act also prohibits the CBN from making any policy or providing “any services at a price that is manifestly unfair, unreasonable or unjust.”
“The CBN has clear responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) to undertake human rights due diligence to identify and mitigate contributions to human rights violations of not only its own activities but also activities to which it is directly linked by its business relationships.”
“The CBN has responsibilities under the UNGPs to take effective steps to avoid or mitigate potential human rights harm and to consider ending any charges or transaction fees where severe negative human rights consequences cannot be avoided or mitigated.”
Kolawole Oluwadare
SERAP Deputy Director
16/02/2025
Lagos, Nigeria
Emails: info@serap-nigeria.org; news@serap-nigeria.org
Twitter: @SERAPNigeria
Website: www.serap-nigeria.org
For more information or to request an interview, please contact us on: +2348160537202
Email editor: ebirerihenry52@gmail.com
Call editor: 08036977194
…………………………………………………………………..
Security operatives take over Lagos Assembly
The leadership tussle in the Lagos State House of Assembly took a new twist on Monday with heavy security presence at the premises during a plenary session.
Security vans and personnel were spotted in and outside the premises of the Lagos Assembly complex in the Alausa Area of the commercial city.
An official of the Lagos Assembly said that the speaker Meranda Mojisola and 32 members of the lawmaking body are present for Monday’s plenary.
While issues to be discussed at the plenary are unclear as of the time of this report, some members of the Lagos Assembly were spotted discussing in clusters inside the premises.
Although a source said that the leadership of the House is intact, reports claim that there might be a change in the speakership of the Lagos Assembly.
Last month, members of the Assembly removed the House’s long-term speaker Mudashiru Obasa over allegations of fraud and other sundry charges.
They thereafter elected Meranda Mojisola as Obasa’s replacement in a historic move that saw the member representing Apapa Constituency I become the first speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
“The Constitution makes it clear that the House has the powers to regulate its proceedings. So, the members of the House felt that they’ve had enough of the Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa and today, we have unanimously agreed that Rt Hon Mojisola Meranda Lasbat becomes the new Speaker of the House,” a member of the Assembly representing Epe Constituency 1 Abiodun Tobun said in defence of Obasa’s impeachment.
Tobun argued that the lawmakers “owe Lagos State a duty of ensuring that the sanctity of the House and the integrity of this House are restored”.
Obasa has denied claims of corruption levelled against him.
Obasa insisted he was still the Lagos Assembly speaker.
The former speaker who represents the Agege constituency dismissed fraud allegations against him which he labelled as “fictitious and unsubstantiated”.
“I am still the speaker until the right thing has been done,” the lawmaker said in a press conference organised at his Ikeja home in Lagos.
“If you want to remove me, remove me the proper way and I will not contest it. “I’m a Muslim and I believe in fate. But let’s do it the way it should be done.”
The Lagos Assembly crisis has dragged on for weeks, leaving many wondering about the next step for the House.
Many claimed his governorship ambition fuelled his removal, Obasa said there was nothing wrong with nursing that goal.
Weeks after his removal, Obasa dragged the Assembly and Meranda before the Lagos State High Court challenging his sack as the speaker of the House.
He asked the court to declare that his removal by his colleagues was unlawful owing since the Assembly was on break.
Attempts to link Obasa’s impeachment to Seyi Tinubu’s ‘guber aspiration’ mischievous (3)
By Ehichioya Ezomon
Removed Speaker Mudashiru Obasa (Agege Constituency 1) of the Lagos State House of Assembly may fail to get back his exalted office, yet, he’s succeeded in forcing an unplanned shift of the House plenary indefinitely, thus sowing tension and confusion among the lawmakers, and splitting the close-knit Governance Advisory Council (GAC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
This comes after new Speaker Mojisola Meranda (Apapa Constituency 1) formally assumed office on Monday, January 27, 2025, amid majority of the lawmakers chanting: “Madam, continue your work; your work is appealing to us. You are the Speaker, you are the Speaker, you are the Speaker. Speak for Lagos. Continue with your work.”
With Obasa reportedly absent from the Assembly, the lawmakers posed for photographs with Meranda, and accompanied her to the Speaker’s office, “where intense prayers were offered as she settled into her new role.” The plenary was then postponed, “to douse tension in the state.”
The lawmakers’ public rallying for Meranda was a “kick in the groin” for Obasa, whose fate appears sealed since losing power on Monday, January 13, and returning from the United States of America to insist that he remains the Speaker until due process is observed in his removal, in line with the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
Welcomed back to town on Saturday, January 25, by hundreds of jubilant supporters at the official residence of the Lagos Speaker in the GRA, Ikeja, Obasa slammed his ouster, in absentia, as unconstitutional.
In an “A luta continua; vitória é certa” (“The struggle continues; victory is certain”)-like mood, Obasa told his supporters: “I’m still the Speaker until the right thing has been done,” and the crowd cheered.
“I am not afraid of being removed. After all, it is not my father’s chieftaincy title. I am representing my people and they have returned me six times. If you want to do anything (remove him), do it well.”
Obasa insinuated that were he present in the Assembly, the lawmakers wouldn’t succeed in removing him as Speaker. He queried: “They did the removal all because I was out of the country. Why did they have to break the chamber and use a fake mace to carry out the removal?
“If they say they don’t want me anymore, that’s fine, but let them follow due process. I still believe I am the Speaker until the right procedure is followed. Lagos is a special place, we cannot denigrate the state.”
Obasa held his ground, as he addressed his 2027 governorship ambition he tactically broached when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented the 2025 Budget proposals to the House, thus sparking the instant flurry of activities in the Lagos polity.
Saying, “Having ambition to become a governor is not a sin,” Obasa declared: “However, I said on the floor of the House, when the budget was presented, that I had no thoughts of governorship. But that does not mean I am not qualified or that I lack experience; I still maintain that (stand).”
Citing a breach of fair hearing, Obasa claimed he wasn’t given a chance to respond to the charges the House leveled against him, and challenged his colleagues to substantiate the allegations, and afford him a chance to respond.
“They (lawmakers) should not discredit an innocent person (Obasa); they should prove their allegations against me. The Lagos State House of Assembly is above the common standard of excellence. I believe in the image of our institution; we must not destroy it and I will never partake in it’s destruction.”
Obasa also criticised the Police for “conniving with the lawmakers” to oust him from power, alleging that besides the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Olawale Ishola, “leading police officers to invade the Assembly,” over 200 policemen allegedly invaded his private residence in Agege, blocked the gate, and prevented members of his family from going out of the house.
Obasa referenced other Presiding Officers of the Lagos Assembly removed without deployment of the police. “When former Speaker, Rt Hon. Jokotola Pelumi, was removed, he was in the Assembly and we did not invite policemen. When my sister, former Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, was removed, we did not invite the police,” Obasa said.
Even with his eyes red, Obasa appreciated members of the GAC and Governor Sanwo-Olu, “who is my brother,” and who “always calls me his younger brother,” and thanked President Tinubu, “who will always be my father.”
Obasa said he’d been with Tinubu from his days in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) under which Tinubu’s elected Senator in the Third Republic, noting that he never expected to be Speaker in 2015, but “Tinubu supported me even when everyone was against me.”
Tinubu’s the acclaimed head of the shadowy and powerful GAC of the Lagos APC, which acts as a clearing house for the party affairs, including elective and appointive positions. But there appears a split in the GAC, as two of its members have criticised Obasa’s ouster as illegal.
As reported by The Nation on January 30, a member, Chief M.A. Taiwo, faulted the process of Obasa’s removal, noting that, “The act of the lawmakers is illegal. It shows total disregard and clear disrespect for leadership. The GAC is split over the matter, but we will all defer to our leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to resolve the crisis.”
Another GAC member, former Senator Anthony Adefuye, described the removal as illegal, stating, “What he (Obasa) is saying is that he was illegally removed, and the procedure was faulty. I agree with him.”
Meanwhile, former Lagos Speaker and ex-Minister of State for Health, and Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Olorunnibe Mamora, faults Obasa’s claim that his removal flouts the 1999 Constitution, saying that only the removal of President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor is specified therein, and the procedure to effect the removal.
In an interview with Vanguard on January 25, Mamora, who’s Speaker from 1999 to 2003, and Senator from 2003 to 2011, said Obasa’s removal was constitutional, clarifying that though impeachment and removal are used inter-changeably, the removal of Principal Officers of the Senate, House of Representatives, and State House of Assembly requires only the support of two-thirds of members to succeed.
Mamora’s words: “Let me correct the impression. I have heard people say this in media discourse. If you look at the Constitution, you would not find impeachment. What you find is removal. There is a difference between removal and impeachment.
“Impeachment connotes bringing allegations of wrong doing formally, and presenting (them) before an offending public officer. But allegation does not necessarily amount to guilt. It only says that these are the allegations that have been brought formally, which the officer has to respond to; that is impeachment.
Recalling how former United States President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House but the conviction was defeated in the Senate over his sex affair with Monica Lewinsky, Mamora explains that allegations brought through impeachment may not necessarily lead to removal, adding, “If you are now convicted on the basis of allegations and a kind of sentence is passed, then it may lead to removal.”
“It (Constitution) does not even say you should explain. It is just a simple process, because the Speaker is just first among equals. That is why the process for removal of the Speaker or Senate President is different from the removal of Mr. Governor, Deputy Governor or President, or Vice President,” Mamora says.
“Because, in the case of the Governor, it is the whole state that voted to put him in office; that is why the procedure for his or her removal is a complex process. The allegations must be supported by one-third to be brought and served notice on the holder of the office, wait for his or her response, set up a panel, report comes back to the House and the House comes with a two-third majority of the members. So, you see it’s a complex process.
“The removal of a Speaker in the House of Assembly or the National Assembly Speaker or Senate President is simple. Once members bring a motion that is supported by two-thirds of members, then the Speaker vacates the seat; that’s all.”
“The Constitution does not even say you should state the allegations. It only says if you have the support of not less than two-thirds majority of the members, in support of the motion for the removal of the Speaker, and the Speaker vacates. It does not even say you should confront him with the allegations.
“Obasa was impeached and removed because there was presentation of allegations against him. And it was on the basis of the allegations that the House decided to remove him.”
Mamora adds: “We need to get it clear. What we do here is that we use the words, impeachment and removal, inter-changeably, as (if) they are the same. I need to correct that.
“There could be impeachment without removal. The Constitution, under Section 92, sub- section two or thereabout, talks of removal; that the Speaker shall vacate if a motion is presented, supported by two-thirds of members. That’s all.
“So, allegations were presented against Obasa and on that basis, the members went ahead to remove him in consonance with the Section 92 of the Constitution. So, the removal of Obasa is constitutional.”
Presented with a seeming fait accompli, shouldn’t Obasa rethink and retool his strategy, and give peace a chance in the Assembly and entire Lagos State? This poser comes on the back of a statement by majority of the House members on January 27, decrying Obasa’s alleged sabre-rattling, capable of heating up the polity.
Vowing to stand by Meranda as the new Speaker, a statement by Ogundipe Olukayode (Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II), on behalf of members, urged Obasa to shelve his bellicose stance and toe the path of “Peace we want in Lagos and Peace we will achieve.”
The statement partly reads: “It is imperative to clarify that over 2/3 of the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly are solidly united behind the new Speaker, Rt Hon. Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, therefore we stood by the decision taken on the 13th of January where Rt Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa was impeached and we shall defend our positions to the latter.
“The position of the House remains the same and nothing has changed. The position being canvassed by former Speaker, Rt Hon. Obasa, is uncalled for and unparliamentary.
“The majority of members elected Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker for the 10th Assembly and we also, at the said Plenary, took the majority decision to remove him and stand by the new Speaker. So, nothing has changed.
“All members were elected from their various constituencies across the state and we all have the inalienable rights under the necessary Statutory orders to remove their Principal Officers, including the Speaker.
“I (we) therefore appeal to the former Speaker to toe the line of peace and harmony as being followed by others, as the current intransigent posture will heat up the polity and not augur well. Any attempt to heat up the polity will be resisted by the majority of distinguished members who unanimously elected Rt Hon. Meranda,” the statement said.
Will Obasa heed this timely warning, even if he wants to bid for Governor and square up against Seyi Tinubu, who remains taciturn about his alleged aspiration till date? Let Obasa’s political case not be like the dog’s which refused to listen to its master’s whistle! (END)
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Edo Guber Tribunal: All eyes on Okpebholo as PDP, Ighodalo, INEC unexpectedly close cases*
By *Ehichioya Ezomon*
Today, Monday, February 10, 2025, is first D-Day for Governor Monday Okpehbolo at the Election Petitions Tribunal (EPT) sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. The ex-Senator (APC, Edo Central) is expected to begin defence of his declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.
Members of the public, especially the people of Edo State, are watching and waiting with bated breath, to see whether Okpebholo will toe the INEC line and close his defence without calling any witnesses to testify for him.
The INEC – which declared Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the poll winner, having scored 291,667 votes (about 51.1%) – failed to call any of the five witnesses it slated to testify, despite persuading the three-man tribunal on January 5 to adjourn the case to January 6, as “the witnesses would come to Abuja from Benin,” Edo State capital city.
At the resumed proceeding on January 6, INEC’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN), said his team had shelved the idea of bringing witnesses after it reviewed the case, adding, “My Lords, after we left you yesterday (Wednesday), we gave more thought to the matter and came to the conclusion that the sensible thing to do is to close the case of the 1st Respondent, which we hereby do,” Agabi told the tribunal.
Counsel for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, didn’t express surprise by the turn of events, with Adetunji Oyeyipo (SAN) saying, matter-of-factly, that, “Frankly speaking, we are not surprised and it is well within the right of the 1st Respondent (INEC) to show such good discretion. We are not objecting.”
But in an undisguised elation, the PDP unsolicitedly offered expert’s opinion, pointing to the risk INEC’s failure to call witnesses poses for the Respondents. “This abrupt end to INEC’s defence leaves the electoral body relying solely on cross-examinations and arguments from APC and Okpebholo’s lawyers,” the party said.
The PDP, however, noted its pathway to claiming its “stolen mandate,” explaining that, “The tribunal has already admitted critical BVAS machines into evidence, devices that will expose over-voting and discrepancies in the declared results.”
The party added: “Testimonies from PDP witnesses, including local government agents and an expert witness (PW12), detailed systemic manipulation during result collation. Independent monitors, such as Athena Centre and TAP Initiative, have corroborated these claims, further denting INEC’s credibility.
“By opting not to call witnesses, INEC appears to be taking a gamble, leaving its defence in the hands of APC and Governor Okpebholo’s legal teams. Analysts suggest this approach could backfire, as INEC must now contend with its own certified records and the BVAS data, which clearly contradict the declared results,” the party added.
Yet, PDP/Ighodalo had similarly suddenly closed their case on Monday, February 3, after calling 19 witnesses to testify to their claim of winning the governorship poll, though Ighodalo, going by INEC’s declaration, scored 247,274 votes (about 43.3%) to place second to Okpebholo.
It’s uncertain how many of the 290 witnesses – earmarked to testify for the eight political parties appearing before the tribunal – belonged to PDP/Ighodalo. But as the main challengers of the poll, surely, hundreds were primed to testify for them!
Recall that the tribunal had adjourned in Benin City on Friday, January 24, after taking the testimonies of PW11 and PW12, and relocated sitting to Abuja on Tuesday, January 28, with the Plaintiffs expected to call more witnesses, some of who refused to show up to testify the previous week.
But alas on Monday, January 3, a counsel for the Plaintiffs, Robert Emukpoeruo (SAN), offering no rationale, told the tribunal that his clients had concluded their case (in just 10 days), having called 19 witnesses, thus dampening the proceedings that’d captured public attention since the hearing proper began on January 21.
Left to guess the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of the Plaintiffs’ action, several questions then arose: If PDP/Ighodalo called only 19 witnesses, did they cover the 765 of the 4,519 polling units, whose votes they query in their petition? Did the 19 witnesses supply and adduce enough evidence that rendered calling more witnesses unnecessary?
We’re reminded, though, as per Muhammad JSC, in Olonade v Sowemimo (2014) LPELR-22914(SC), 27 – in explaining the meaning of the standard of proof in civil cases, (and) the balance of probabilities – that:
“The court decides which side’s evidence is heavier, not by the number of witnesses called by either party or on the basis of the one being oral and the other being documentary, but by the quality or probative value of the evidence be it oral and/or documentary.”
So, in deciding to close their case after calling 19 witnesses, did PDP/Ighodalo think they’d met the legal threshold set out above, to prove their allegations of manipulation of the election?
“No, they didn’t,” declared the Acting Chairman of the Edo chapter of the APC, Emperor Jarrett Tenebe, whose voice was muffled when PDP/Ighodalo held the tribunal spellbound with evidential claims of electoral heist by the INEC, APC and Police, telling the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on January 3 that PDP/Ighodalo “abandoned their case abruptly because they have no case ab initio.”
Boasting that “the whole country and the people of Edo in particular would know that the APC won the election” when the Respondents open their case, Tenebe said: “They (PDP/Ighodalo) were called to testify but couldn’t produce more witnesses, so closing their case at this point amounts to abandonment of the case.
“If you are challenging about seven hundred and something polling units and you call only 19 witnesses, does that not amount to abandonment? I think they do not have a case, that is why they hurriedly closed their case today (January 3), which is a good thing for the APC.”
But it appears that Tenebe (like the PDP) was too early to guess the outcome of the petition, as the INEC on January 6 closed its defence without calling any witness, leaving the tribunal chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, to rule that: “The request (by INEC) is granted and the first Respondent’s case is hereby closed,” and adjourned the matter to today, Monday, January 10, for Okpebholo to open his defence.
The three-man panel of Justices Wilfred Kpochi (Chairman), A.B. Yusuf and A.A. Adewole considers mainly alleged irregularities in the total number of votes cast in many polling units, which reportedly exceeded accredited voter-count recorded by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that the INEC deployed for the ballot.
While six parties question the credibility of the election in which INEC returned Okpebholo as the winner; the focus is on Ighodalo, who came second with 247,274 votes (about 43.3%) at the poll, with the PDP claiming those figures were manipulated to disfavour Ighodalo.
As hearing commenced in Benin City, the tribunal’s proceedings had witnessed the expected legal fireworks, with PDP/Ighodalo striving to unmask alleged massive rigging of the process that threw up Okpebholo as Governor, who’s sworn-in on November 12, 2024.
The party avers that – but for disfranchisement of voters; suppression of votes; over-voting; vote-buying; and connivance of the APC, INEC and Police to “gift” victory to Okpebholo – Ighodalo won the election, and should be declared as Governor of Edo State.
Going by testimonies of the Plaintiffs’ witnesses, PDP/Ighodalo seemed to hold their ground: That they won the election and INEC should’ve so returned. The witnesses tried to demonstrate alleged suppression, inflation and alteration of votes by the APC, INEC and Police, to the detriment of Ighodalo, a Lagos-based Lawyer and business tycoon.
Exuding confidence – and taking a page from PDP/Ighodalo’s sweeping allegations against APC/Okpebholo – the witnesses were even judgmental, pointing out votes that should’ve been counted or cancelled, and claiming that INEC’s reported rigging of the process amounts to a brazen breach of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).
Thus, if election petitions – and elections – are won on social media, PDP/Ighodalo would’ve breasted the tape before they closed their petition marked: EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, as reports on the proceedings were salaciously-headlined, portraying PDP/Ighodalo to’ve rubbished and made mincemeat of INEC’s declaration of Okpebholo as the poll winner.
Hence, there’s fear and anxiety that Okpebholo may also fail to call witnesses, and rely on the alibi that PDP/Ighodalo’s documentary evidence, and oral testimonies by the witnesses didn’t prove the Plaintiffs’ case “beyond reasonable doubts,” and “in substantial compliance with the electoral laws.”
Prior to the start of hearing on January 21, the Respondents, via Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), had asked the tribunal to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ petition on grounds of “incompetence” and “not filed in accordance with the extant law,” and to hands-off the petition for “lack of jurisdiction?”
An inkling to such a possibility was the prayer by Okpebholo’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), on Thursday, January 6, for the tribunal to grant him a date next week (this week), to enable him open defence, saying, “I never envisaged the first Respondent (INEC) would close its case today.”
“I have not arranged for witnesses to be moved from Benin. A date next week would be okay,” Ikpeazu said, even as he promised “not to use the entire 10 or five days” allotted to the second Respondent (Okpebholo) for his defence.
Reacting, Plaintiffs’ counsel argued that adjourning till Monday (today) would be too long, and urged the matter be adjourned to Saturday (January 8) for Okpebholo to open his defence. But the tribunal rejected the plea, and subsequently fixed February 10 for Okpebholo to open his defence.
So, will Okpebholo advance his defence today by limiting the number of witnesses to be called, and reducing the alloted number of days thereoff; relitigate the pre-hearing call for the tribunal to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ petition; or align with INEC’s counsel, Agabi’s claim, and aver that his (Okpebholo’s counsel, Ikpeazu) “did justice to the case during the cross-examination of the petitioners’ witnesses?”
Members of the public are anxiously waiting for Okpebholo’s moves on his first D-Day at the tribunal, which may be a harbinger of what to expect on his second D-Day during the tribunal’s judgment to close out the 180 days (six months) allotted by law to consider and decide the petitions!
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357_ .
PRESS RELEASE
SANWO-OLU CELEBRATES EL-RUFAI AT 65
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has congratulated the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, on his 65th birthday.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, in a congratulatory message issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, described el-Rufai as a committed public servant who served his State, Kaduna, and Nigeria with dedication.
The Governor said el-Rufai, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, contributed immeasurably to governance and politics in Nigeria with honour in all the public offices he occupied.
He said: “On behalf of my family, the government, and good people of Lagos State, I congratulate former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, on his 65th birthday.
“Malam el-Rufai is a committed public officer. He turned around Abuja during his tenure as Minister of FCT. Kaduna State also witnessed phenomenal growth and development in many sectors during his eight years as governor.
“I pray to God to grant former Governor Nasir el-Rufai a long life, good health, and renewed energy for more service to humanity, his State, Kaduna, Nigeria and mankind in years to come.”
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
SPECIAL ADVISER – MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
16 FEBRUARY 2025
SERAP gives CBN 48 hours to withdraw ‘unlawful, unfair hike in ATM transaction fees’
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, to use his “leadership position to immediately withdraw the patently unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unjust increase in Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transaction fees.”
SERAP urged him to “ensure that the exercise of CBN statutory powers and functions does not inflict misery on poor Nigerians and contribute to human rights abuses.”
The CBN recently announced that ATM withdrawals made at a machine owned by a bank but outside its branch premises will now attract a charge of N100 per N20,000 withdrawn. ATM withdrawals at shopping centres, airports or standalone cash points, will incur a N100 fee plus a surcharge of up to N500 per N20,000 withdrawal.
Banks ‘are advised to apply the increased ATM fees with effect from March 1, 2025.’
In the open letter dated 15 February 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “the manifestly unlawful, unfair, unreasonable, and unjust increase in ATM transaction fees will hit hardest those at the bottom of the economy and exacerbate the growing poverty in the country.”
SERAP said, “The increase in ATM transaction fees ought to have been shouldered by wealthy banks and their shareholders, not the general public. The increase only benefits the CBN and commercial banks at the expense of poor Nigerians.”
According to SERAP, “CBN policies should not be skewed against poor Nigerians and heavily in favour of banks that continue to declare trillions of naira in profits mostly at the expense of their customers. The increase in ATM transaction fees would inflict misery on poor Nigerians and contribute to human rights abuses.”
The letter, read in part: “The increase in ATM transaction fees is also entirely inconsistent with the oft-expressed commitment by the government of President Bola Tinubu to address the growing poverty across the country.”
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 48 hours of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the CBN to comply with our request in the public interest.”
“The exorbitant and unlawful increase in ATM transaction fees at a time the country is facing economic and financial crises would contribute further to the impoverishment of the population.”
“Imposing exorbitant ATM transaction fees on socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians at a time several Nigerian banks are declaring trillions of naira in profits yearly is manifestly unfair, unreasonable and unjust.”
“The increase cannot be justified under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, and the country’s international human rights obligations.”
“The patently unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unjust increase in ATM transaction fees also inherently contributes to violations of the human rights of socially and economically Nigerians.”
“The increase creates a two-tiered financial system that discriminates against poor Nigerians who may not be able to afford or pay the increased fees.”
“While the government of President Tinubu has primary responsibility for protecting the rights of Nigerians, the CBN also has the responsibilities to ensure that its practices and guidelines do not cause or contribute to human rights abuses.”
“The CBN could play an important role in promoting economic opportunities for Nigerians where the majority of the people live in poverty.”
“The CBN is failing to comply with the Nigerian Constitution, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act and the country’s international human rights obligations in the exercise of its statutory powers and functions.”
“The CBN is also compromising its stated mission to advance the management of the country’s economy, and ultimately, sustainable development.”
“According to our information, the CBN through a Circular to all banks and other financial institutions dated February 10 2025 stated that it has reviewed and increased the ATM transaction fees prescribed in section 10(7) of the CBN Guide to Charges by Bank, Other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions 2020.”
“Section 42(1)(a) of the CBN Act 2007 provides that ‘The Bank shall wherever necessary seek the co-operation of and co-operate with other banks in Nigeria to – (a) promote and maintain adequate and reasonable financial service for the public.’ It also provides that any policy of the CBN ‘shall be in the national interest.’”
“Section 1(c)(d) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018 provides that the objectives of the Act are to ‘protect and promote the interests and welfare of consumers’ and ‘prohibit restrictive or unfair business practices’ such as the exorbitant and unreasonable increase in ATM transaction fees by the CBN.”
“Significantly, the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act are directly binding on the CBN, as the provisions constrain the exercise of the statutory powers and functions of the institution.”
“Specifically, section 2(1) the Act provides that its provisions ‘apply to all undertakings [such as the CBN] and scope of application to all commercial activities within, or having effect within, Nigeria.”
“Section 2(2) provides that, ‘This Act also applies to and is binding upon- (a) a body corporate or agency of the Government of the Federation; (b) a body corporate; (c) all commercial activities aimed at making profit and geared towards the satisfaction of demand from the public.’”
“According to section 70(1) of the Act, ‘For the purpose of this Act, an undertaking [such as the CBN] is considered to be in a dominant position if it is able to act without taking account of the reaction of its customers or consumers.’”
“The Act prohibits abuse of dominant position by the CBN including charging excessive ATM transaction fees to the detriment of consumers.”
“Section 104 of the of the Act asserts the supremacy of the Act over ‘the provisions of any other law’, such as the CBN Act. The only exception to the provision is the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”
“Section 127(1) of the Act also prohibits the CBN from making any policy or providing “any services at a price that is manifestly unfair, unreasonable or unjust.”
“The CBN has clear responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) to undertake human rights due diligence to identify and mitigate contributions to human rights violations of not only its own activities but also activities to which it is directly linked by its business relationships.”
“The CBN has responsibilities under the UNGPs to take effective steps to avoid or mitigate potential human rights harm and to consider ending any charges or transaction fees where severe negative human rights consequences cannot be avoided or mitigated.”
Kolawole Oluwadare
SERAP Deputy Director
16/02/2025
Lagos, Nigeria
Emails: info@serap-nigeria.org; news@serap-nigeria.org
Twitter: @SERAPNigeria
Website: www.serap-nigeria.org
For more information or to request an interview, please contact us on: +2348160537202