El Rufai will save us when he is finally released from city boy’s prison.
Maxymilliano: The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has explained why he delegated some members of the party to respond to questions posed to him. According to the former Lagos Governor, he adopted the delegation method “to show team-ship”.
Tinubu spoke at the Chatham House lecture titled: ‘Nigeria’s 2023 elections: In conversation with Bola Ahmed Tinubu’, monitored by The Nation.
At the lecture, Tinubu after his opening remarks, assigned Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai to speak on how his (Tinubu-led) government would address insecurity and asked the Director of Strategic Communication of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Aleke, to respond to the question on oil theft.
sreamsense: As if we don't know it was plan before from onset
The same plan that Tinubu used to divide PDP votes three years ago, in his fight for and grabbing power before running with it cluelessly like a headless pig
lexylaw40: The “president-elect” saw in Obi's presidential bid, a good chance to reduce the winning chances of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar.
The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Oyo State, Tawfiq Akinwale, [/b]on Wednesday [b]stated that the “President-elect” Bola Tinubu asked popular economist, Prof Pat Utomi to step down for Peter Obi in the buildup to the 2023 general elections.
Akinwale made this revelation while he appeared as a guest on a radio programme on 101.7 YES FM, Ibadan, Oyo State, while alleging that Obi received campaign funds from Utomi, whom he described as Tinubu's "son."
The LP aspirant, who spoke in Yoruba language, said "In the buildup to the 2023 elections, Obi who had purchased the nomination form of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), suddenly announced his exit from the party.
"Initially, Pat Utomi had secured the LP's presidential ticket, but when Peter Obi said he resigned from the PDP and joined the LP. Bola Tinubu, a master political strategist, quickly told Utomi, that everyone knows to be his son to step down for Obi.
"The “president-elect” saw in Obi's presidential bid, a good chance to reduce the winning chances of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar.
"What Peter Obi didn't know is much more that what he knows, he started collecting campaign funds from Utomi, while Tinubu was giving the money to Utomi.
"This went on until Obi's presidential campaign got to a stage it went beyond target. Obi was used without him knowing," Akinwale said after announcing his departure from the party.
Obi defected to the LP after resigning his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and also withdrawing from the presidential race under the party.
The former governor consequently joined the race for the party’s presidential ticket, while Professor Pat Utomi, in June 2022 stepped down for him to emerge as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, unopposed in Asaba, Delta State.
Edygrin: Former Labour Party Vice-Presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has urged his former boss, Peter Obi, to return to the LP if he loses the African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential ticket.
Anyway its obvioyu adc ticket is for Atiku sorry to say obi is just wasting his time belittling himself for nothing. E go learn a lesson.
Belittling himself to someone who rescued him from political oblivion, where Obiano consigned him after his failed attempt to be Anambra godfather in 2014?
newsbook: Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano has re-echoed his allegation that his predecessor, Mr Peter Obi demanded the sum of N7.5billion from him for sponsoring his election in 2013.
Obiano and his predecessor, Obi have had a frosty relationship shortly after his swearing in.
Obi has however denied that he demanded for the sum of N7.5billion from Obiano, saying that his problem with him was his (Obiano’s) underperformance.
Obi said if he needed the said sum, he would have simply taken it from the N75billion he left for the Obiano administration at the end of his tenure.
But Governor Obiano while speaking on Wednesday evening at Ezechima Primary School, Onitsha where he inaugurated his reelection campaigns in Onitsha North Council Area, said the clarification became necessary because of the recent accusations against him by the former Governor.
He stated that his predecessor had demanded the sum of N7.5billion from him as funds spent in prosecuting the election on his behalf, but that he refused to pay the money because it was not true.
Obiano said he refused to pay because he strongly believed that public funds should be used for public good, and not to settle godfathers.
These, he said, was the reason they fell apart.
The governor said that another reason he refused to pay the money was because he was aware that enough money was raised for his campaign by his friends and associates, all of which were never accounted for by the former governor.
On the actual sum the former Governor claimed he left behind, Governor Obiano made it clear that he inherited liability of about N127 billion debt from him in contracts awarded and other responsibilities, which he has been religiously undertaking in the spirit of continuity.
He said Obi flagged off several roads even on the day he was leaving office and saddled him with the burden of paying for it, but he assured the people that he has his eyes on the ball and will not allow anything to distract him from fulfilling his promises.
The Chairman of the Governor’s Re-election Campaign Committee, Chief Victor Umeh said APGA as the political spirit of Ndigbo, has in the past three and half years, availed Anambra good governance at its best, reminding the people that the upcoming guber election was not about Willie Obiano but about ensuring that the state remained free from political godfatherism.
A former Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo in his speech said that at this time, the State needs a tested hand like Governor Obiano who has the experience and expertise to effectively steer her affairs.
2023: PDP and politics of healing Wike’s self-inflicted injury
Then, the race began in earnest for three years now, reaching a frenzy with the works of the two PDP committees on zoning. The first was the Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi committee on the zoning of the PDP party offices. The Ugwuanyi committee quickly told the world the committee’s assignment did not cover zoning the office of the president. Though this was true, the question is: why didn’t the Ugwuanyi committee zone the PDP chairmanship to the North without aligning it to the divide that would produce the PDP presidential flag-bearer? The second committee headed by Gov Samuel Ortom of Benue state was specifically on the zoning of the presidential ticket and, with the votes of the representatives of all the 17 Southern states without any exception, the Committee unanimously recommended throwing open the PDP presidential ticket, which the PDP NEC simply upheld.
One thing irrefutably stands out – Wike shot himself in the leg. Here was a man who had an overarching influence on both committees but could not insist that the ticket be zoned South. Many had wondered why? The reason is also relatively in plain sight: the Southeast factor. As the clamour for zoning of the presidential ticket of the PDP to South reached its crescendo, many had pointed out the fact that though the PDP Constitution had prescribed zoning of the office of the president to be between North and South since the South-west and South-south had taken their turns in producing the president and the vice in this current dispensation in the persons of Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, zoning this time around, should not just be to the South but the Southeast.
Atiku Abubakar went a step further by offering to step down from the race if it would be agreed that the touted zoning to the South would mean micro-zoning to the Southeast. Wike and the rest could not take the Atiku challenge maybe because Atiku would likely back Peter Obi, who was his vice-presidential running mate in 2019 and an ally. The prospects of Peter Obi picking the ticket if PDP zoned South was so real compelling Wike to go for an open contest, believing he could pick it up ahead of Atiku, Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed, given his large war chest.
ddippset: Says a man who hijacked the party and singlehandedly produced the last 4 National Chairmen of the party for his own selfishness.
Says a man who accepted nomination to be running mate to Fulani Atiku. He knew it was injustice to give Atiku the ticket yet he lobbied to be the VP.
He knew the party had to go South for the 2023 election, yet he still put Secondus as National Chaiman just to hijack the party.. Only to push Secondus out because he wanted the ticket 2023.
This man remains the biggest problem of PDP.
He can only deceive and fool his minions, not reasonable people.
Atiku is the loyal vice to Obasanjo and exemplary democrat who rallied other democracy heroes to kill Baba Iyabo's 3rd term agenda in 2007, despite his Ghana must go bags of bribe.
Atiku is the brainbox of PDP's deregulation and privatisation policies that gave us 16 years of widespread prosperity, peace and security without piling huge debts on us and future generations.
Edusouls: This Kenya people na wahh be like say their own sapa worse pass for the whole of Africa
Do you mean that their posh city neighbourhoods lack pipe borne water like detty, smelling Lagos
anonimi: Lawmaker scores Lagos Water Corporation low
A Lagos State lawmaker, Mr Saka Fafunmi, on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction at the performance of the state Water Corporation.
Fafunmi, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly (LAHA), said in Ikeja that the corporation had not been able to justify statutory allocations to it.
The lawmaker, who represents Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency 1 at the assembly, spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that the corporation had the capacity to generate much fund internally through water rates but had relied solely on government funding because of poor performance.
'' Anyone that is using water will be willing to pay for it; the corporation has not been giving us water.
"Is there any new community that Water Corporation has given water? People depend on boreholes; even government estates have industrial boreholes.
"Why do we keep pumping money into an agency that does not give us the desired results?'' he asked.
He noted that the Adiyan Waterworks was located at Ifako-Ijaiye, where many of the residents had resorted to digging boreholes as a means of getting water.
''A lot of people are falling sick because they don't drink clean water.
''In the same compound, where you have sewage, is where you have a borehole.
''There is no way you can manage the sewage that it will not leak and pollute the water; everyone drinking such is drinking contaminated water,'' he said.
The lawmaker urged the corporation to increase water reticulation and supply to residents.
Lithiumite: So are you telling the world that your ADC trump wannabes are crooks too?
How is anyone a worse crook than Tinubu and others in Oshiomhole’s Assembly of Past Criminals, APC
chisomkachy: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has withdrawn the alleged money laundering suit it filed at the Federal High Court against Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa.
Naija News understands that the anti-graft did not give any particular reason for its application for withdrawal.
Following the application to withdraw, Justice Nicholas Oweibo discharged the ‘lien/Post No Debit’ placed on Obasa’s three accounts in Standard Chartered Bank.
The accounts are (US Dollars) 0001852063; (Current) 0001852056 and (Saving) 5002309624.
The judge also set aside the ex-parte orders he made on September 15, 2020, which led to the freezing of the accounts.
Recall that the court on September 15, 2020, granted an interim order freezing Obasa’s accounts following the EFCC’s application in a suit marked FHC/LCS/1064/2020.
The agency had said it was investigating the Speaker for the alleged offences of conspiracy, diversion of funds, abuse of office and money laundering.
But Justice Oweibo, on August 16, 2023, heard the application to unfreeze the accounts in his chamber.
During the hearing, the EFCC was represented by Mr. Sulaiman I. Sulaiman, while Obasa was represented by Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN).
The EFCC lawyer told the court that the application to unfreeze the accounts was pursuant to Section 44(2)(K) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Sections 26, 29 and 34 (1) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, and under the court’s inherent jurisdiction.
Section 44 of the Constitution concerns constitutional rights to property.
Justice Oweibo held: “It is hereby ordered that an order is hereby granted to the respondent/applicant setting aside the ex-parte orders of this court made on the 15th day of September 2020 upon the ex-parte motion of the Applicant/ Respondent in relation the funds of the Respondent/Applicant domiciled in the accounts stated in the following schedule:
“ACCOUNT NAME, FINANCIAL ACCOUNT INSTITUTIONS, TYPE OF ACCOUNT, 1. Mudasiru Ajayi Obasa, Standard Chartered, (US Dollars) 0001852063 2. Mudasiru Ajayi Obasa, Standard Chartered (Current) 0001852056 3. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, Standard Chartered (Saving) 5002309624.
“Issued at Lagos, under the seal of this Honourable Court and by the hands of the Presiding Judge this 16th day of August 2023.”
Is it not more meaningful to have a comparison between the cost of living before AND after the change promised by APC was allowed by Nigerians
thisweekng: The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Chief Olawale Edun has said the last time Nigeria’s economy looked stable was about a decade ago.
He made this statement during his maiden press conference as Minister of Finance where he outlined President Bola Tinubu’s vision, agenda and strategy for the economy.
He said, “I think as we all know, we are not where we should be. The economy is barely growing above the rate of population growth.
“But it was not always so, and I think in trying to look at the way forward, if we now have a situation of slow growth, double-digit inflation, weak/depreciating exchange rate, as well as security concerns that are resulting in an economy that is not growing and not taking Nigerians out of poverty.
“If we think back to the last time when the economy was stable- when it was growing, when inflation was low, and the interest rate was affordable, that period was about a decade ago. Growth was about 6% in 2013 and 2014.” Private sector to drive the economy
tafabaloo: Apart from IBB, the other administration that destroyed the very fabric of the nation's economy and the little infrastructure was OBJ' s. This unfortunate funeral was midwifed by the duo of ATIKU and El Rufai, national Council on Privatisation and it's undertaker, BPE.
Records disprove your propaganda lies easily.
anonimi: How Indorama sustains manufacturers, boosts Nigeria’s FX earnings
Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited (IEPL) has emerged as a major value creator in the Nigerian economy. It is responsible for the survival, growth and sustenance of many manufacturing companies in Nigeria today. A large number of plastic and allied firms depend on the Eleme-based company for petrochemical resins (or polymer resins) which serve as their raw materials.
The petrochemical company is just one of the several subsidiaries of Indorama-Nigeria Group, which also comprises Indorama Eleme Fertilizer & Chemicals Limited (IEFCL), Indorama PET Nigeria Limited, and Indorama Port Operations.
Since Indorama Corporation of Indonesia became core investor in the old Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited (EPCL) in 2006 through privatisation programme of the Federal Government, the group has become a game changer in the Nigerian economy.
The petrochemical company has solved the major challenge facing a number of manufacturers— poor access to raw materials. Rather than scramble for foreign exchange to import inputs, the company ensures that manufacturers have access to their critical raw materials, enabling them to save costs and improve margins.
The major resins used by plastic and allied companies are polyethylene and polypropylene. Indorama produces about 45 grades of these products for various industries. About 600 of such companies in Nigeria depend on IEPL for their survival. They are estimated to have over 90,000 workers.
anonimi: Neo-black Problem: Must Blacks Be Ruled by Whites in Order to Prosper?
In short, the neo-black dilemma may be framed as follows: is it better to live under white rule without political dignity but with basic life-sustaining standards for many;
or to live under black rule with illusory political dignity and without basic life- sustaining standards for the majority? @ @ The path forward for Africa lies in cultivating higher and adequate levels of personal and communal agential integrity as well as full personal responsibility and productivity. Not to mention creativity (including epistemic creativity), productive justice (such as merit and freedom), harmony and reconciliation at local and international levels, and a proper domestication of capitalism and other related values and institutions.
Africa must stop wasting her time on dreams of socialism because it is a system of wealth distribution primarily. Whereas, capitalism is a system of wealth creation primarily, and wealth has to be produced before it can be distributed.
Lithiumite: And is it dele and his so called gang that wants to come redeem this country....I rather go vote sowore than those crooks.
Is there a worse crook than the city boy who has Lagos trillions annual budget but steals it to fund his power grab instead of employing workers to make government services and utilities available to everyone?
Is there a worse crook than the JagaBandeet who owes workers, owes contractors, withholds capital release to ministries, rolls over budgets due to failed implementation?
Who is the worse crook than the Lagos tax master plan owner, the man who has perfected the Stockholm syndrome strategy of Stalin
wildernessVoice: Are you saying Igbo will prefer Fulani to Tinubu. The contest will be hot if ADC feature: Obi as President and Kwankwaso as VP
Even the Jagaban of Borgu has always preferred Fulani to his fellow Yorubas, so why should other southerners not follow his tribalistic example
anonimi: How we foiled Jonathan’s effort to make Mulika Adeola Speaker, Akande reveals
AS president in 2011, Goodluck Jonathan did all he could to ensure South West grabbed the country’s number four seat, including lobbying then opposition leaders from the zone, to no avail. The North West eventually grabbed the seat, supported by South West leaders in opposition to then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Former Governor of Osun State and now statesman, Chief Bisi Akande, made this revelation in his autobiography, “My Participations” which is currently dominating political and national dis- course.
Aminu Tambuwal, now Sokoto State governor, won the seat, against the preferred pick of his party, Mrs Mulikat Adeola Akande, from the South-West. Defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, then a fledging opposition, which had Akande and his soulmate, former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, as front- line leaders, openly asked its elected members of the House of Representatives, mostly from the South-West, to work against their region and back Tambuwal from North-West.
The opposition party’s support carried Tambuwal through the contest against Akande, then ruling party’s favourite for the speakership seat.
In his book, Chief Akande revealed that former president then as incumbent, personally reached out to Tinubu, who is now believed to be nursing presidential aspiration in 2023 and himself, but couldn’t convince them.
He wrote, “President Jonathan, immediately after the meeting (with political parties), called Bola Tinubu aside into a lobby to broach the matter of ACN support for a choice of who would become the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“That same day, President Jonathan talked to me on phone about the same matter. He disclosed that PDP had zoned the position to the South-West but that only one Muraina and another Mulika won elections on PDP ticket from the zone into the House of Representatives.
Highways: Where Are The Cows? Is Evans A Herdsman?'
When Funke Olakurin, daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti was murdered instead of Bola Tinubu to make sure that the perpetrators were brought to book, he ended up making fun of the death of the young lady by turning everything into tribalism by showing his hates for Igbos.
Tinubu has never spoken against the deadly activities of Fulani herdsmen across the country
The same stand Adeyinka Grandson gave on the death of Fasoranti's daughter is where Tinubu, the leader of the Yoruba Conservatives stands. Please see Tinubu's video below. pic.twitter.com/COhiSvabqW
— Adeyinka Grandson (@deyinkagrandson) July 14, 2019
Mrs Olakunrin died of gunshot wounds in July 2019 after her vehicle was attacked by armed men, suspected to be marauding Fulani bandits whose violent activities had reached a frightening level across the southwest states.
Those arrested suspects include Lawal Mazaje, 40, from Felele area of Kogi State; Adamu Adamu, 50, from Jada area of Adamawa State; Mohammed Usman, 26, from Illela area of Sokoto State and Auwal Abubakar, 25, from Shinkafi area of Zamfara State....
However, the leader of the team, identified only as Tambaya, and three others are yet to be found.
Tambaya has been declared wanted by the police and he is said to be capable of communicating in Hausa, Fulfude and Pidgin English.
tafabaloo: What gang ? The gang leader that made Buhari a president is comfortably sitting with candour as the nation's president and may still carry the day because he knows the game better than any of those parading themselves as the new saviour. Even Dele Momodu if checked well will not vote Atiku because he does not believe in his capacity to berth the ship of this nation at a more comfortable shore.
Are you saying this because the Nigeria of PDP's Atiku and Obasanjo in eight years was worse than Tinubu's three years or worse than APC's 11 years?
In what areas was the Atiku/Obasanjo era worse than this one
Adexvivacity: Dele should go and ask Bode George.... Lẹyin lẹdiyẹ n tọ ya ẹ
Is it not better for him to ask Nigerians who bear the brunt of Tinubu's cluelessness, incompetence and corruption that has made Buhari seem like a superstar in comparison
May Day: Hunger, unemployment, insecurity real— Tinubu
According to him: “The theme demands our collective attention and serves as a stark reminder of the need to create an environment where every worker feels safe, valued, and empowered to contribute to the growth and prosperity of our nation. As your President, I assure you that this administration is committed to creating such an environment for the common good.”
On the economic hardship, he noted that while it is a global phenomenon, its effects on Nigerians are particularly severe.
Tinubu said: “I am aware of the peculiarities of the economic hardship Nigerians face—rising living costs, hunger, insecurity, unemployment, and the loss of livelihoods. These challenges are real and demand definitive solutions, which I am poised to address as your President.
How else do we know that he is one of those school na scam members of Agbero Poverty Congress, APC that has hijacked NURTW in their usual lawless fashion
Racoon: Appeal Court Removed ‘Illegal’ NURTW President ‘MC Oluomo’, But He Won’t Quit Office
Musiliu Akinsanya, a former chairman of the Lagos State Parks and Management Committee, has continued to disregard the law in acting as national president of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), a trade union of transport workers in the country.
In November 2024, a Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed an earlier National Industrial Court of Nigeria judgment pronouncing Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa as president of the union. Baruwa had served for four years and he was to be serving his second term, having been reelected in August 2023, three months to the termination of his first tenure as enunciated by the union’s constitution.
But some members of the union, led by Najeem Usman Yasin, a former president of the same union and current chairman of its Board of Trustees (BoT), disputed Baruwa’s re-election, causing the police in the Federal Capital Territory to arrest and detain him many times.
Yasin unilaterally dissolved the National Administrative Council led by Baruwa and then facilitated the setting up of a National Caretaker Committee to administer the union. At this point, Baruwa and 13 others, including the NURTW as a juristic personality, headed to the National Industrial Court.
INDUSTRIAL COURT’S CONCLUSION Baruwa and others, referred to in the case as claimants, filed their case, marked NICN/ABJ/263/2023, on September 28, 2023, against Yasin and six others referred to as defendants. After arguments by both parties, the court delivered a judgment in favour of the claimants on March 11, 2024, according to a certified copy of the judgment obtained by FIJ.
Justice O. O. Oyewumi of the National Industrial Court collapsed the 10 and 11 distinct issues for determination submitted to the court by the claimants and defendants separately into four.
ISSUE ONE: The first issue to be ruled upon was “Whether the Claimants’ action as presently constituted is competent to give the Court the necessary vires over this action? If this is answered in the positive”.
The defendants argued that the court was incompetent to hear the case because it was commenced through an improper application. But the judge rejected their opposition, saying they failed to attach an affidavit to disclose the facts they were advancing.
“Failure of the defendants to file an affidavit to back up their grounds of objection which has delved into the facts of the case having left the realm of the law is fatal to the objection,” Justice Oyewumi ruled, dispensing with the first issue.
ISSUE TWO: Are the names of the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th and 14th claimants are liable to be struck out from this action?
In the course of the proceedings, the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th and 14th claimants (Bello Adamu, Eugene Eze Job, Prince Isah Dahiru Usman, Suleiman Adamu, Muhammed Bello Madu and NURTW) sought to pull out, saying they did not consent to the case. It was based on their withdrawal application that the judge formulated the second issue for determination.
In his ruling, the judge said that even though the law permits a co-claimant to challenge the inclusion of their name in a case, there are exceptions. Where that person is a necessary party “without whom an action cannot be effectually and effectively determined”, the challenge becomes a nullity.
“Thus the application to strike [out] the name of a co-claimant will not succeed automatically, as it was not a matter of course to allow a co-claimant to withdraw and have his name struck out at any time,” the judge ruled.
Furthermore, the judge found that 9th claimant Muhammed Bello Madu appeared in the early stage of the litigation and identified himself in court, without equivocation, as the 9th claimant. Therefore, his claim that he did not give his consent to the case was surprising.
“If he never gave his consent and was not aware of the pendency of this suit, then what was he doing in court on the 24th day of October, 2023 and identified himself as the 9th claimant?” the judge asked.
As far as the second issue was concerned, the judge found that those seeking to be removed from the suit were indispensable to the proper determination of the case, “hence the need for them to remain parties in this suit”.
“It is settled law that the main reason for making a person a party as stated earlier is so that he would be bound by the outcome of the action and in which case the questions to be determined in the action would be such that could not be effectually and completely fairly settled without him,” the judge stated on Page 32 of the judgment, specifically adding in Page 33: “Issue two is thus resolved against them [the six claimants claiming to be unaware of the suit].”
ISSUE THREE: The arguments on the third issue: Whether paragraphs 13, 15c, 17, 29, 30 and 31a and b of the defendants’ counter-affidavit are liable to be struck out, were treated briefly.
Baruwa and his co-claimants implored the court to strike out paragraphs 13, 15(c), 17, 29, 30 and 31(a) and (b) from a counter-affidavit filed by the defendants for containing “extraneous matter including legal conclusions, arguments, speculative conjectures and opinions irrelevant” against Section 115 (2) the Evidence Act, which states: “An affidavit shall not contain extraneous matter, by way of objection, prayer or legal argument or conclusion.”
The judge concluded that those paragraphs truly offended the provision of the Evidence Act and were struck out accordingly. In the same vein, he held that expunging them from the records would “not inexorably have dismal or caustic consequence on the Counter Affidavit” because its remaining paragraphs were enough to sustain the defendants’ position.
ISSUE FOUR: The last issue, “whether or not the claimants have proven the questions posed for determination of this court to be entitled to the reliefs sought”, which was the livewire of the case, was treated extensively.
The claimants argued that Yasin’s role as chairman of the NURTW BoT was advisory alone, per their constitution, and as such, lacked the power to dissolve the administrative council or take far-reaching decisions on the daily affairs of the union.
Article 6 of the NURTW Constitution says that the BoT at various tiers “shall include” offering “advice on the administration and policy direction of the Union in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”. It shall also mediate in misunderstandings that may arise from time to time between the Union and any government or security institutions.
The claimants argued that Yasin’s BoT had not been inaugurated at the time he presided over the meeting which illegally dissolved the Baruwa-led council. But the court rejected this argument.
The court also found that the decision to constitute the caretaker committee was not taken at any BoT meeting and “the decision to constitute a Caretaker Committee cannot be imputed to the 1st defendant [Yasin] as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees going by the content” of the supplied exhibits. “I so hold,” the judge ruled.
The judge considered whether Baruwa and others were validly elected for a second term. Elected national leaders of the union emerge, per the constitution, through what is called “Quadrennial National Delegate Conference”. The defendant alleged that no such conference was held to produce the Baruwa-led council.
Baruwa is from Ogun State in the southwestern region of the country, where most states had proscribed the NURTW. For this reason, according to the defendants, he could not have been validly nominated from the zone for the position of the president.
The court trashed this contention by referencing its settled position that the suspension of the union’s activities by some governors in the zone does not invalidate the rights of members from the zone to unionise and participate in the activities of the union.
Justice Oyewumi found that Baruwa was validly elected. “The court also finds that contrary to the position of the defendants in their counter affidavit, the 1st claimant [Baruwa] was validly nominated and elected for the position of President of the Union at the Quadrennial National Delegates Conference,” the judge wrote in Paragraph 58.
“I equally find that contrary to the position of the defendants by Exhibit R14 at page 903 of the Record that there was a National Credential Committee constituted for the purpose of the screening of candidates for election into the National Administrative Council and shall also conduct the election, including the swearing in of the new NAC members. The defendants have not placed any document before this court to state contrary to the exhibits attached by the claimants in proof of the fact that before the constitution of the Caretaker Committee there had been Zonal and National Conferences which produced elected new officers.” more ↓ Aliyu Isa Ore, the third defendant, claimed that he never attended the conferences that produced Baruwa. Per the court’s findings, not only did he attend those conferences, he was nominated as a deputy president candidate from Kwara State and he appointed one Garba Musa as his polling agent.
On the appointment of 4th defendant Agbeyangi as acting general secretary on August 14 to legitimise the Special Delegates Conference earlier talked about, the court found that 13th claimant Asogwa had not vacated his position at that material time, making Agbeyangi’s appointment invalid. Asogwa only retired and lawfully relinquished his position from the union on October 28, 2023, having turned 65 years of age.
“I have perused the said Exhibits and I find therein, especially in Exhibit R4 that the 13th Claimant was born on 28th October 1958 which means that he would be 65 years of age which is the mandatory retirement age in the Union’s Conditions of service on 28th October 2023 contrary to the assertion of the defendants which was not backed by any credible evidence,” the judge stated in Paragraph 62.
“Again, the defendants who would want this court to believe that the 4th defendant [Kayode Agbeyangi] as at the relevant day (that is 14th August 2023) was the Acting General Secretary failed to place before this court any instrument appointing him as such especially since the claimants are alleging that the Acting Secretary is one Alhaji Suleman Musa who is the 4th defendant’s superior and who only just became such upon the retirement of 13th claimant on 28th October, 2023.”
“In my humble view it is only when the 4th defendant, Kayode Agbeyangi, has been shown to validly occupy the office of the Acting General Secretary that it can be said that he had the power to convene the Special Delegates Conference in line with Article 8 (2) of the Union’s Constitution. The States Council Resolution cannot give validity to the exercise of the power where such assumed power did not exist at that time it was purported to have been exercised.”
According to Justice Oyewumi, the only evidence placed before him to legitimise Agbeyangi’s appointment was a supposed resolution that emanated from an illegally convened Special Delegates Conference.
Before the caretaker committee could arise at all, the National Executive Council must have been dissolved first by a vote of no confidence by the majority of State Councils. By the court’s findings, nothing of such existed to justify the removal of the Baruwa-led council.
In a situation where a caretaker committee is validly constituted, it is only permitted by the constitution to convene a Special Delegates Conference to elect a new leadership within six months. Contrary to this, the committee in question went ahead to convene two conferences through which new officers were elected. Even at that, the election was held on October 25, 2023, contrary to the constitutional requirement that such an election must be held every four years and in the month of August.
A copy of the Certificate of Judgment issued by the National Industrial Court. “An illegal act has no any other name; it is illegal. The defendants were clever by half. Since the Special Delegates Conference, which is the foundation, has been knocked off, then the constitution of the National Caretaker Committee cannot stand and since the Caretaker Committee equally exceeded its powers by convening the Zonal Delegates Conference and National Delegates Conference which led to the subsequent purported election and emergence of some persons as new officers vide Exhibit NURTW 5, which are the superstructures, must equally collapse like a pack of cards, because they lack foundation or structure to stand on and thus their purported election is a nullity,” the judge said, invalidating the caretaker committee and the election it conducted.
Assuming there were crises, said the judge, a better alternative was to ask the National Industrial Court under Sections 18 or 19 of the NICA 2006 to act in accordance with the powers conferred on it.
Instead of following the rule of law, the defendants chose to take laws into their hands and tow an illegal path. Akinsanya, alias MC Oluomo, who currently occupies the office of the union president, was one of the beneficiaries of that unlawful election.
NIC’s JUDGMENT AFFIRMED BY APPEAL COURT In April 2024, the defendants appealed the industrial court’s judgment at the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.
L-R: Hakeem Adeosun (7th defendant in the court case), Musiliu Akinsanya, Tajudeen Badiru Badru Agbede (2nd defendant in the same case), taking oath of office as Trustee, President and Vice President respectively on November 11, 2024. Source: SocietyNow. In a 40-page judgment delivered over six months after filing the appeal, the Court of Appeal unanimously agreed with and upheld the National Industrial Court’s findings.
The lower court found that all the contentious issues raised by both parties centered on the provisions of the union’s constitution. Based on this, the court decided the case by interpreting the applicable sections of the constitution.
At the Court of Appeal, Yasin and his co-appellants argued before a three-man panel interpreting the constitution without calling for oral testimony amounted to denial of fair hearing.
“On the denial of fair hearing by the grant of the reliefs, I have earlier found that the Appellants were not denied fair hearing by the Trial Court, the Appellants have clearly not shown, how the grant of the reliefs by the Trial Court denies them their right to fair hearing. Again, I resolve this issue in favour of the Respondents [Baruwa-led group],” Justice Asmau Ojuolape Akanbi, delivering the lead judgement on November 8, 2024, ruled.
The court remarkably resolved all the issues raised against the appellants [who were the defendants before the lower court], adding that they failed to show how the granting of reliefs in favour of the Baruwa-led council by the lower court denied them fair hearing.
“On the whole, all the issues are resolved against the appellants and in favour of the respondents. The appeal is devoid of merit and the same is hereby dismissed. I affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court delivered on the 11th day of March, 2024 in respect of Suit No: NICN/ABJ/263/2023,” Akanbi ruled.
Matters of this nature mostly terminate at the Court of Appeal. But it got worse. Despite the court ruling that there was no vacancy in the presidency of the union, Akinsanya-led Tajudeen Badru Agbede, acting as vice president, and Akeem Adeosun as a national trustee, and others assumed leadership of the union just three days after the appellate judgement was delivered.
Editor Note: This is the first of a two-part series on the leadership tussle facing the NURTW. The second, revealing how powerful people in the Bola Tinubu administration and federal security establishments have been frustrating the enforcement of the judgements, will be released on Sunday.
insidelife22: Sentiments aside, do you think Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win Next year's presidential election.?
Sentiments aside, he does not deserve to win reelection, seeing how much of a disaster he has been such that his own 2011 expired Buhari that was thought to be clueless seems like a bright superstar now.
All Promises Cancelled, APC has destroyed every single aspect of the country that was handed over to them 11 years ago by PDP prosperity politicians, who used deregulation and privatisation to give us peace and security for 16 years without burdening us with debt ayeraye.
What positive change has occurred in Nigeria since 2015? Which one
May Day: Hunger, unemployment, insecurity real— Tinubu
According to him: “The theme demands our collective attention and serves as a stark reminder of the need to create an environment where every worker feels safe, valued, and empowered to contribute to the growth and prosperity of our nation. As your President, I assure you that this administration is committed to creating such an environment for the common good.”
On the economic hardship, he noted that while it is a global phenomenon, its effects on Nigerians are particularly severe.
Tinubu said: “I am aware of the peculiarities of the economic hardship Nigerians face—rising living costs, hunger, insecurity, unemployment, and the loss of livelihoods. These challenges are real and demand definitive solutions, which I am poised to address as your President.
A benchwarmer taking about dumbing the Great APC. 😂
Someone close to him should tell him the truth. A benchwarmer in APC is far more relevant and influential that the National Chairman of ADC and PDP combined.
In your irrelevance, you still accorded that respect, applause and accolade of a party member.
What else is great about Oshiomole's Assembly of Past Criminals, APC aside looting, stealing and theft that is covered with propaganda lies? Anything else
chisomkachy: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has withdrawn the alleged money laundering suit it filed at the Federal High Court against Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa.
Naija News understands that the anti-graft did not give any particular reason for its application for withdrawal.
Following the application to withdraw, Justice Nicholas Oweibo discharged the ‘lien/Post No Debit’ placed on Obasa’s three accounts in Standard Chartered Bank.
The accounts are (US Dollars) 0001852063; (Current) 0001852056 and (Saving) 5002309624.
The judge also set aside the ex-parte orders he made on September 15, 2020, which led to the freezing of the accounts.
Recall that the court on September 15, 2020, granted an interim order freezing Obasa’s accounts following the EFCC’s application in a suit marked FHC/LCS/1064/2020.
The agency had said it was investigating the Speaker for the alleged offences of conspiracy, diversion of funds, abuse of office and money laundering.
But Justice Oweibo, on August 16, 2023, heard the application to unfreeze the accounts in his chamber.
During the hearing, the EFCC was represented by Mr. Sulaiman I. Sulaiman, while Obasa was represented by Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN).
The EFCC lawyer told the court that the application to unfreeze the accounts was pursuant to Section 44(2)(K) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Sections 26, 29 and 34 (1) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, and under the court’s inherent jurisdiction.
Section 44 of the Constitution concerns constitutional rights to property.
Justice Oweibo held: “It is hereby ordered that an order is hereby granted to the respondent/applicant setting aside the ex-parte orders of this court made on the 15th day of September 2020 upon the ex-parte motion of the Applicant/ Respondent in relation the funds of the Respondent/Applicant domiciled in the accounts stated in the following schedule:
“ACCOUNT NAME, FINANCIAL ACCOUNT INSTITUTIONS, TYPE OF ACCOUNT, 1. Mudasiru Ajayi Obasa, Standard Chartered, (US Dollars) 0001852063 2. Mudasiru Ajayi Obasa, Standard Chartered (Current) 0001852056 3. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, Standard Chartered (Saving) 5002309624.
“Issued at Lagos, under the seal of this Honourable Court and by the hands of the Presiding Judge this 16th day of August 2023.”
His job as Minister of Power is above his capacity.
He simply lacks the know-how to navigate the highly technical ministry.
His promise of restoring electricity not later than two weeks is nothing but a grand deception.
Believe the Minister of Darkness and you will believe anything.
@hotseat
If we believe his city boy boss on stopped corruption tales in Brazil and stopped borrowing bragging after hitting higher revenue target in August, then why should we not believe Adelabu Penkelemess' 150 million Nigerians with adequate electricity claim?
Adelabu simply confirmed that All Promises Cancelled, APC leaders looters of integrity have delivered what they promised Nigerians 11 years ago.
Did Fashola not tell us that the only way to have stable electricity was to vote out PDP prosperity politicians, after which he would do the needful in 6 months
Buhari’s administration to generate 20,000mw of electricity in four years – APCPCO
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) on Sunday promised to provide Nigerians with 20,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity within the first four years it takes over governance at the federal level. It maintained that its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) will improve the nation’s power situation significantly, if elected.
The proposed 20,000mw of electricity to be generated by the party in four years time will surpass Nigeria’s present consumption rate of around 15,000mw, the party had said.
Disclosing this in a statement issued by its spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, APCPCO expressed disappointment that the federal government under President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration has only succeeded in adding 1.400mw to the national grid in four years.
rottable: What happened to PDP will still happen to APC very soon.
Those decamping to APC have their motives.
City boy will settle them big time like he did for Osun governorship contestants.
What do you think he is using his 53% of the federation account for, if he is owing workers, owing contractors, failing to release capital budget to ministries and rolling over capital budgets from one year to another, despite increased borrowing more than PDP?
LordIsaac: The "trouble" would go away if the North returns power!
A northerner is already in power currently. So what is your point here?
Jagaban of Borgu, the serial betrayer of Yorubas and southerners is more northerner than the Sultan of Sokoto, with his Mu_Mu presidency.
The return we need is that of PDP deregulation and privatisation policies, which gave us 16 years of widespread prosperity, peace and security without loading us with debts to be repaid by generations unborn.
What would make a patriotic Nigerian not work with others to make it happen
anonimi: My dad, victim of complex conspiracy – Kola Abiola
What role did Bola Tinubu play in all of these?
At the very beginning, he was part of the Yar’Adua PF group from Jos. He was a senator then, and as far as the group went, we related. The crisis started post-election. When Abacha came, one of the things he wanted to do was to be the administrator for Lagos.
That is Tinubu?
Yes. I am sure you have seen pictures of him and my dad. He was hoping that there would be civilian administrators like we had under IBB but Abacha said no, that he was going to have military administrators. So he (Tinubu) said okay, in that case, can I be a deputy administrator? But Abacha said that there wouldn’t be deputies. Then he wanted the post of a commissioner.
He wanted to be a commissioner?
Yes. Then it was a choice between him and someone very close to Jakande who has passed on now. I can’t remember his name, but because Babagana was already in the government, that guy was picked as commissioner. But really, Senator Tinubu had lost out already.
Was Tinubu very close to MKO?
Yes, he was close enough. He and Adeniyi Adele, a very good guy, were close to my father. In fact, Adeniyi was closer to my father and more dedicated to the process than anyone of them. When my documentary comes out, you will see Tinubu’s take on issues. So once he lost out, automatically, he became a NADECO member and Adeniyi was incarcerated.
anonimi: How we foiled Jonathan’s effort to make Mulika Adeola Speaker, Akande reveals
AS president in 2011, Goodluck Jonathan did all he could to ensure South West grabbed the country’s number four seat, including lobbying then opposition leaders from the zone, to no avail. The North West eventually grabbed the seat, supported by South West leaders in opposition to then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Former Governor of Osun State and now statesman, Chief Bisi Akande, made this revelation in his autobiography, “My Participations” which is currently dominating political and national dis- course.
Aminu Tambuwal, now Sokoto State governor, won the seat, against the preferred pick of his party, Mrs Mulikat Adeola Akande, from the South-West. Defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, then a fledging opposition, which had Akande and his soulmate, former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, as front- line leaders, openly asked its elected members of the House of Representatives, mostly from the South-West, to work against their region and back Tambuwal from North-West.
The opposition party’s support carried Tambuwal through the contest against Akande, then ruling party’s favourite for the speakership seat.
In his book, Chief Akande revealed that former president then as incumbent, personally reached out to Tinubu, who is now believed to be nursing presidential aspiration in 2023 and himself, but couldn’t convince them.
He wrote, “President Jonathan, immediately after the meeting (with political parties), called Bola Tinubu aside into a lobby to broach the matter of ACN support for a choice of who would become the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“That same day, President Jonathan talked to me on phone about the same matter. He disclosed that PDP had zoned the position to the South-West but that only one Muraina and another Mulika won elections on PDP ticket from the zone into the House of Representatives.
Melagros: COMRADES, if I may ask, why the bitterness against Obi by Sowore?
Maybe because Sowore knows that Tinubu is desperately looking for another person to lure Obi out of ADC to divide opposition votes, like he did in 2023
Perhaps Sowore knows something that we don’t know yet?
lexylaw40: The “president-elect” saw in Obi's presidential bid, a good chance to reduce the winning chances of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar.
The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Oyo State, Tawfiq Akinwale, [/b]on Wednesday [b]stated that the “President-elect” Bola Tinubu asked popular economist, Prof Pat Utomi to step down for Peter Obi in the buildup to the 2023 general elections.
Akinwale made this revelation while he appeared as a guest on a radio programme on 101.7 YES FM, Ibadan, Oyo State, while alleging that Obi received campaign funds from Utomi, whom he described as Tinubu's "son."
The LP aspirant, who spoke in Yoruba language, said "In the buildup to the 2023 elections, Obi who had purchased the nomination form of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), suddenly announced his exit from the party.
"Initially, Pat Utomi had secured the LP's presidential ticket, but when Peter Obi said he resigned from the PDP and joined the LP. Bola Tinubu, a master political strategist, quickly told Utomi, that everyone knows to be his son to step down for Obi.
"The “president-elect” saw in Obi's presidential bid, a good chance to reduce the winning chances of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar.
"What Peter Obi didn't know is much more that what he knows, he started collecting campaign funds from Utomi, while Tinubu was giving the money to Utomi.
"This went on until Obi's presidential campaign got to a stage it went beyond target. Obi was used without him knowing," Akinwale said after announcing his departure from the party.
Obi defected to the LP after resigning his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and also withdrawing from the presidential race under the party.
The former governor consequently joined the race for the party’s presidential ticket, while Professor Pat Utomi, in June 2022 stepped down for him to emerge as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, unopposed in Asaba, Delta State.
Richtaiwo: Headless mobs go soon reason Sowore matter.
The headless man is in Aso Rock, destroying Nigeria more than his 2011 expired and clueless Buhari that he made president four years later, to earn his own Emilokan turn on Yorubalokan tribalistic rotation and zoning.
May Day: Hunger, unemployment, insecurity real— Tinubu
According to him: “The theme demands our collective attention and serves as a stark reminder of the need to create an environment where every worker feels safe, valued, and empowered to contribute to the growth and prosperity of our nation. As your President, I assure you that this administration is committed to creating such an environment for the common good.”
On the economic hardship, he noted that while it is a global phenomenon, its effects on Nigerians are particularly severe.
Tinubu said: “I am aware of the peculiarities of the economic hardship Nigerians face—rising living costs, hunger, insecurity, unemployment, and the loss of livelihoods. These challenges are real and demand definitive solutions, which I am poised to address as your President.
PulaPower: “And the Constitution says there cannot be an independent candidacy,so how did he become a candidate of the LP if he does not belong to the LP?
Apc knew this but Obi contesting favored them hence why they didn’t give a damnnn
You have figured out the nexus between Wike and Tinubu in 2023 after he failed to get PDP nomination as president and as vice president, despite his overwise moves.
anonimi: Wike lobbied PDP committee to be Atiku’s running mate – Ex-gov’ship aspirant
Thu, 29 Sep 2022 14:33:04 WAT
Muazu Magaji, a former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kano State, has alleged that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, lobbied members of the party’s committee constituted to advise the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on the choice of his running mate.
Magaji disclosed this while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, on Thursday.
The Kano politician also argued that there was no proof that Atiku promised Wike the vice president position as claimed.
The PDP committee had recommended the Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa; Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel and Wike.
The committee, however, scored Wike above the other two contenders but Atiku decided to settle for Okowa. A decision that has since unsettled Wike’s camp.
Magaji, however, claimed that Wike lobbied to be scored ahead of others, adding that the Rivers State governor should not be trusted with important positions in the country.
2023: PDP and politics of healing Wike’s self-inflicted injury
Then, the race began in earnest for three years now, reaching a frenzy with the works of the two PDP committees on zoning. The first was the Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi committee on the zoning of the PDP party offices. The Ugwuanyi committee quickly told the world the committee’s assignment did not cover zoning the office of the president. Though this was true, the question is: why didn’t the Ugwuanyi committee zone the PDP chairmanship to the North without aligning it to the divide that would produce the PDP presidential flag-bearer? The second committee headed by Gov Samuel Ortom of Benue state was specifically on the zoning of the presidential ticket and, with the votes of the representatives of all the 17 Southern states without any exception, the Committee unanimously recommended throwing open the PDP presidential ticket, which the PDP NEC simply upheld.
One thing irrefutably stands out – Wike shot himself in the leg. Here was a man who had an overarching influence on both committees but could not insist that the ticket be zoned South. Many had wondered why? The reason is also relatively in plain sight: the Southeast factor. As the clamour for zoning of the presidential ticket of the PDP to South reached its crescendo, many had pointed out the fact that though the PDP Constitution had prescribed zoning of the office of the president to be between North and South since the South-west and South-south had taken their turns in producing the president and the vice in this current dispensation in the persons of Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, zoning this time around, should not just be to the South but the Southeast.
Atiku Abubakar went a step further by offering to step down from the race if it would be agreed that the touted zoning to the South would mean micro-zoning to the Southeast. Wike and the rest could not take the Atiku challenge maybe because Atiku would likely back Peter Obi, who was his vice-presidential running mate in 2019 and an ally. The prospects of Peter Obi picking the ticket if PDP zoned South was so real compelling Wike to go for an open contest, believing he could pick it up ahead of Atiku, Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed, given his large war chest.
ddippset: Says a man who hijacked the party and singlehandedly produced the last 4 National Chairmen of the party for his own selfishness.
Says a man who accepted nomination to be running mate to Fulani Atiku. He knew it was injustice to give Atiku the ticket yet he lobbied to be the VP.
He knew the party had to go South for the 2023 election, yet he still put Secondus as National Chaiman just to hijack the party.. Only to push Secondus out because he wanted the ticket 2023.
This man remains the biggest problem of PDP.
He can only deceive and fool his minions, not reasonable people.
Crime › Re: Bandits Ambush Troops, Kill Nine Soldiers, One Policeman In Kebbi by anonimi: 9:28pm On Mar 25
