COG123:
Mahmud Mohammed, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, has confronted President Muhammadu Buhari in a face-to-face meeting in the Presidential Villa following the weekend crackdown on federal judges and two Supreme Court justices by the country’s secret police, The Trent can exclusively report.

The meeting, which held in the morning of Monday, October 10, 2016, was at the instance of the Honourable Justice Mohammed, multiple sources reveal.

Present at the meeting were Lawal Daura, the director-general of the Department of State Security Services, DSS, which serves as the country’s secret police and the president of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Babatunde Adejumo.

Our findings are that the meeting was very tense and the chief justice did not mince words when addressing the president on the matter. The visibly infuriated CJN tongue-lashed the president for violating the democratic principles of separation of powers and assuming the unconstitutional status of “supervisor” of the judiciary, an independent arm of government.

RELATED: Presidency Confirms That President Buhari Sanctioned DSS Crackdown On Judges

Justice Mohammed accused President Buhari of victimizing the judges targeted in the midnight crackdown by the DSS for refusing to be intimidated by the secret police over the matters of the election petitions of Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

According to one of our top inside sources, the CJN exposed a series of scare and intimidation tactics carried out by the DSS director general, a kinsman to President Buhari, to make the bench bow to its wishes and overturn the judgement against the current governors of the two oil-rich states.

Mohammed expressly accused the DSS DG of using the name of President Buhari in carrying out what he called an “unprecedented attempt to influence the bench and pervert justice” in the country. The president was visibly upset by the revelations and repeatedly denied knowledge of such harassment of judges by the DSS.

Mr. Daura attempted to deny knowledge of such subterranean moves and claimed that the judges that were arrested, in what the secret police wrongly termed as “sting operation”, were corrupt. A claim which saw the CJN shout him down telling him to shut up and sit down.

After lambasting the secret police boss, Justice Mohammed proceeded to unreel instances in which Daura contacted judges handling the election petition cases claiming that ruling in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates was “what President Buhari wanted”. Again, the president denied issuing such instructions.

The CJN also revealed that the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi offered the judges millions of dollars to overturn their ruling on the two election petitions. He said the honourable justices rebuffed Amaechi because they were hellbent on delivering a sound judgment on the cases which had been unduly sensationalised by politicians.

Justice Mohammed revealed that Amaechi also said that he was acting on the orders of the president and that in actual fact, the judges arrested over the weekend were those who refused to be corrupted by the DSS and Amaechi and insisted on preserving the independence and integrity of the bench.

On this revelation, Buhari presented a disturbed contenance, our sources say. The president requested that the CJN puts down his position in writing, which we are reliably informed has been done.

Insiders revealed to The Trent that the climate in Aso Rock is unusually tense following the posture and damning revelations by the CJN.

There are whispers in the corridors that based on the gravity of the allegations against the DSS director and Amaechi, Buhari may let go of the duo to “clear his name from the embarrassing episode’, a top security source told our reporter.

Justice Mohammed went on to describe the DSS action as “very saddening”, “deeply regrettable” and a “distressing and unfortunate” incident when he later addressed the valedictory court session held in honour of a retiring Justice of the Supreme Court, Suleiman Galadima. The attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami was conspicuously absent at the event on Monday.

In the early hours of Saturday, October 8, 2016, operatives of the county’s secret police invaded the homes of a number of senior judges and abducted some of them from the homes under the guise of an anti-corruption battle.

“My lords, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, not to detract from this occasion, it is indeed very saddening and deeply regrettable, the distressing and unfortunate incident which occurred on Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8, 2016,” Mohammed said at the valedictory court session held in honour of a retiring Justice of the Supreme Court, Suleiman Galadima

President Buhari appointed Lawal Daura, his kinsman from his hometown in Katsina on July 2, as head of the DSS after firing Ita Ekpeyong. Daura was recalled from retirement as he had retired from the service of the DSS when he reached the mandatory age of 60 according to the Civil Service rules of Nigeria. He is also a member of Buhari’s political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and served on the security committee for Buhari’s presidential campaign.

While the election petitions were being heard at the courts, the INEC resident electoral commissioners (RECs) for Akwa Ibom, Austin Okojie, was detained and tortured for 13 days and his Rivers State counterpart, Gesila Khan , was also detained for two weeks by Nigeria’s secret police. The harassment, detention, and torture of electoral officials of the two oil rich states was reportedly connected with the interest of President Buhari in reclaiming electoral victory from main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in those states.

None of the INEC officials detained by the DSS have been charged with any crime and the election petitions were eventually ruled in favour of the PDP by the Supreme Court.

http://www.thetrentonline.com/chief-justice-nigeria-confronts-buhari/

todaynewsreview:
Senator Dino Melaye and his Children at the CNN Headquarter

http://www.todaynewsreview.com/p/938/senator-dino-melaye-and-his-children-at-the-cnn-headquarter

...

shakaZuIlu:
Dino no be Saraki, ekweremmadu you can talk anyhow.

useless scallywag woman
Tinubu is a bastard
Osibanjo is a vagabond

kcnwaigbo:


The senate clerk prepars the senate rule for the incomming senate!! The 2015 senate rule is for the 8th senate,if anyone says it was forged then you will have to prove it was forged!!! Nonsense

kcnwaigbo:


Mr knowledge,you could have at least attempted to counter my positions!! That is why **** like you rush to court and end up embarrassing yourself like the CCB and their stupid witness wetkas

kcnwaigbo:


Which stupid forgery? Anyway it is not about rushing to court but rather about winning!! The chance of the FG winning this case is zero!! The 2011 senate rule dies with the seventh senate!! If you said the current 2015 senate rule is forged then you will have to come out with the original!!

Elxandre:
Many Nigerians are shameless hypocrites who have no sense of justice and fairness.

Tinubu got freed for a similar case, but hypocrites are saying Saraki shouldn't be freed for the same wrong doing.
Instead they shower praise on Tinubu and say Saraki should face his own music, when in fairness, Tinubu should be retried since the judge admitted his error in freeing him back then.

Only an idiott wouldn't know that Saraki is being persecuted by the people he agitated through his desperation.

ukomko:
FORMER Anambra State governor, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife has described the recent letter to President Muhammadu Buhari by the northern elders wherein they claimed “short changed” in capital budgetary allocations as “unnecessary”, and arising from their “studied” notice of the dominance of the three zones of the North, especially the North west in budgetary allocations.

He pointed out that “it may be a matter of how much more the North must have, in excess of the south, for the backbone North not to feel shortchanged.” Ezeife, a former federal permanent secretary, in a terse six-­point letter released at the weekend entitled, “Letter to Northern Elders and all Nigerians on the Northern Elders letter to the President” addressed the issues raised by them in their letter, and frowned against the use of Ambassador Maitama Sule, who he described as “ symbol of One Nigeria from the deep North,” as a signatory.

He queried why they did not use “Dr Junaid Mohammed the irredentist deep Northerner, who appears to be disdainful of other Nigerians” instead for the hatchet job. He saluted their courage in pointing out some of the critical negative factors responsible for the rapid decline of the Nigerian economy (the collapse of the Naira, serious loss of values in the stock market, the unprecedented high level of suffering of the Nigerian people etc), adding that the letter also implies the inaccessibility of the president for advice by those who should know.

While further x-­raying the letter, he agreed with their call for “immediate establishment of an economic management team;; raising the ‘quality of advice and support the president requires,’ and for him to conclude the appointment of key officers and advisers,” adding, however, that they forgot to remind the president that “these officers may not all be available from Daura or even Katsina.”

He further praised them for noting the “evident weakness and gaps in skills, competences, experience and (even) integrity,” for believing the allegations “that Boko Haram still has substantial presence in many areas near Maiduguri and other towns and villages,” and for expressing doubt about “quality of intelligence, and leadership of the Armed Forces,” urging the president to handle their advice with the urgency it deserves, having come from a friendly direction.

On the claim of southern dominance in recurrent expenditure, Ezeife explained that not all recurrent expenditure is personnel emolument. It includes, according to him, operational and logistics cost of governance, citing the president’s foreign trips, “contributions to OIC and to Saudi-­sponsored anti-­terrorism fund;; payment for power, fuel, stationery, etc.”

He challenged their posturing of being the “backbone of the Buhari administration, informing them “that the backbone of anything, or body, or an administration should be an asset, not a liability or a leakage.”

“The North takes by far, more than it contributes to the coffers of Nigeria. Neither in funding or expertise, can it be said that the North is the backbone of a Nigerian government. Or did they mean that the North voted most for Buhari? That was in the past, even if it is the truth. What about the West, from which Buhari is not?” Commenting on their recommendation that the president should bring the ‘full weight of the law on IPOB, (Indigenous People of Biafra) he demanded that it should be “full weight of respect for court decisions, human rights, rights to self-determination, which the United Nations has removed from the internal affairs of a state, etc.” “Answering some of the issues raised in the elders’ letter is like chasing rats while the house is burning.

The Fulani North does have the right to, and should advise their son, on winning ways: in politics, economics and social relations,” he summarized.

The elder statesman urged the northern elders to advise the president on the neglect of the South-­east and the promotion of Biafra. He accused the president of taking actions that make “non-­pretenders in the South-­east feel exposed to gross inequity, injustice as unfairness;; marginalization, discrimination, as not being seen as full-fledged Nigerian nationals, or not qualified to hold the highest office in the land.”

He listed some of these actions as not including a South-east person in his first 40 appointments, the withdrawal of the appointment of an easterner at NIMASA three days after announcement, failure to appoint a South-­east person to even the sixth and least protocol position in government, in a six geo-political zone structure;; not one Igbo person is in the National Security Council, spilling the blood of eastern youths at Aba, Onitsha and many other places, and disrespect for rule of law by keeping Nnamdi Kanu in detention despite court orders for his release on bail.

Others include undisguised hatred for the Igbo, and the repugnant case of security agencies arresting and detaining 76 youths who tried to repel the rampaging Fulani herdsmen from their farms, among others.

He said: “This is what Biafra is all about – a reaction to unfairness, injustice, iniquities, and inequities against the South-­east by the president.”

He further accused the DSS (Department of State Services) of ethnic bias and being the power behind the Fulani herdsmen. “This impression became stronger after their unsubstantiated allegation of a shallow grave in Abia State. It is not in the long interest of Nigeria, nor the Fulani in Nigeria, that the herdsmen maraud Nigeria, rampaging, raping, killing, sacking farmers and taking over their farmlands. He kicked against the grazing bill currently on the floor of the National Assembly, warning that “we should not institute a permanent conflict through the bill if passed into law.” Concluding, Ezeife observed that those who need Nigeria most are toying with her survival, adding that the nation has so far failed in living up to its manifest destiny. He therefore, stated that Nigeria has no basis for continued existence, unless it can become a totally changed country.


http://biafrasay.com/p/320564/ezeife-to-northern-elders-buhari-creating-biafra

Pavarottii:
[b]These people think we r still campaigning. Wen has access to loan become an achievement wen u will still pay back with interest.

They said we av saved 3trillion wiv TSA.
They said we av recovered about 2 trillion from looters.
U.S.A promise to help us get our loot.
Saudi Arabia will recover our money 4 us.
We av discovered 23,000 ghost workers(so where are their salaries going to now).
We av saved billions from subsidy scam.

Ironically, we are still borrowing almost 2trillion. SGF just say we borrow to pay salaries.
Someone begins to wonder, all these monies, with no SINGLE project started. Where are they?

We are tired of all the gimmicks; start projects and start fulfilling ur promises.
Even turning our banks to post offices, planning on increasing VAT, increasing duty fees in all ports and borders, buying fuel for 250 above even at a filling station, Paying more 4 dollars etc.

Am actually confused what the government spends money on. That is complaining that there is no money.

Someone pls help me here. Or is it the more u look, the less u see government. Or is this truly a SCAM; where some people are siphoning d money and lie to us that there is no money. [/b]

blueto:


http://dailypost.ng/2016/04/09/expect-more-good-works-from-me-jonathan-tells-nigerians/

prophetfire:
my dear U said it all. Givin 3 key and strong ministries like power, housing and works which re important to the succes or failure evaluation of a govt to one man shows that our president may be a dullard as pdp peeps call him. Just one of those three is enough to keep one person on the edge in an infrastructuraly and power decrepit country like nigeria.

BabaNath:
Those girls whey Shekau1 show for him video whey dey recite Quran nko? Abi those ones be Chile girls?

What of the claim made by one retired American Ambassador to Nigeria as regards these girls?

Were their names not verified with WAEC?

Must we politicize everything?

Uncle Fayose, why are you like this?

SleekAboki:


This ludo,amala and gbegiri Tinubu should ask his fulani master Buhari what magic he has performed in the last 10 months? Bloody Ojota cowards who only finds strength when it's GEJ. I blame Gej for allowing a failed ludo player ride on him to Aso Rock.

Gbawe aresa arresa demdem egift ngeneukwenu omenka how REAL is this chain in your hood?

TPAND:
Come 2019 .... There will be several factions and break-outs in APC.

Factions
Atiku
Tinubu
Oyegun
Kwankanso
Buahri

Break-Outs
Saraki
Dakuku
Ameachi
Dino Melaye
Fashola
Rochas Okorocha

sayyid:



http://www.punchng.com/fresh-power-tussle-in-apc-buhari-woos-tinubu-for-support/

nortcentrallord:
All these are just shows. Saraki will be cleared because apc knows if they try him, he will sink the party. A man who has nothing to loose is more dangerous. When he is found guilty, he will have nothing to loose then.

DeLaRue:
As a party APC seems fundamentally flawed. I have come late to agree, but it is only a matter of time before it collapses.

How else can one explain this Mr Frank, a deputy national publicity secretary repeatedly issuing his own personal/unofficial press release castigating the leadership of his party as and when he pleases.

At the start of the Senate leadership election saga, when the party, including the ineffectual party leader Mr Oyegun, were trying to find a solution, out of nowhere this same Mr Frank issued a press release where he attacked Tinubu, a major leader of his party for no apparent reason.

There is no other party in the world where a senior party official is allowed to keep his job with these sort of outbursts. He can certainly criticize like any other citizen, but he cant do that whilst retaining his job. Even PDP at its worst wld not have allowed this sort of thing.

Mr Oyegun is supposed to be calling this man to order . Infact he should be facing disciplinary procedure to explain his unofficial outbursts. But Mr Oyegun is so weak and ineffectual, it is unbelievable.

PhockPhockMan:
The deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Timi Frank, has described the continued trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, as “worrisome”, saying there were flaws in the processes leading to the arraignment.
Mr. Frank said in a statement on Friday that it was dangerous that the leadership of the APC “chose to sit on the fence and watch Mr. Saraki swim or sink in his trial”.
“I sincerely hold that the current trial of Saraki is not only underserved, but amounts to paying a good man with evil. I also want to say that the leaders of our great party have unfortunately remained quiet in the face of evil.
“I don’t believe we have forgotten that the victory of the APC during the last general elections could not have been possible without courageous strategists like Saraki who lent their political weight in favour of the APC at the risk of their own lives and personal survival,” Mr. Frank said.
“I don’t think we have forgotten how Saraki as a Senator in the 7th Senate brought the attention of Nigerians to the fraud perpetrated by the the last administration in the name of fuel subsidy.
“I don’t think we have forgotten so soon how Saraki led five other governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the APC – a development that successfully turned the political tide against the PDP and eventually tipped the electoral scale against them during the 2015 general elections.
“I don’t think we have forgotten how Saraki led scores of Senators to cross over to the APC on the floor of the Senate.
“I don’t think we have also forgotten what he gave of his time, personal resources and energy to ensure that the APC emerged victorious both at the National, State and Local Government level,” he said.
Mr. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets.
On Thursday, the Code of Conduct Tribunal rejected Mr. Saraki’s argument that the case against him was flawed, and ordered the trial to continue.
Mr. Frank wondered how the case of Mr. Saraki was being treated differently at the CCT, which in 2011 struck out the case against one of the national leaders of the party “because he was not given the opportunity to deny or admit the alleged discrepancies in his asset declaration forms in line with Section 3(d) of the CCB/CCT Act unlike 11 other ex-governors who had similar cases of irregularities whose cases were dropped by the CCB after they were invited by the agency”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 3(d) of the CCB/CCT Act which has been so undermined by the CCT in its Thursday ruling states that the CCB shall: ‘Receive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of this Act and where the Bureau (not the AGF or EFCC) considers it necessary to do so, refer such complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal established by Section 20 of this Act in accordance with the provisions of Sections 20 to 25 of this Act: provided that where the concerned makes a written admission of such breach or non-compliance, no reference to the Tribunal shall be necessary'”.

Mr. Frank said it was pertinent to mention that when the particular section of the Act was pleaded in the defence of one of the leaders of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011, the same chairman of the tribunal, Justice Danlandi Umar struck out the case for lack of jurisdiction to entertain the suit when he ruled that “…On Section 3(d), I feel compelled by the argument of the learned SAN for the accused. It is a condition precedent for referring a charge to this Tribunal that the Accused ought to have been invited to either deny or admit the allegations against him. This is missing in this case as the Complainant has no such evidence of a prior invitation. It would be proper for me at this stage to simply decline further exercise of jurisdiction having held that the co diction precedent to the instituting of charges against the Accused has not been complied with. I hereby resolve this issue in favour of the Accused…”
He added: “It is based on the above precedent that I want to ask why Saraki’s case is different? Why is the judiciary suddenly giving in to apparent blackmail from a section of the media by refusing to do their job as required by law?
“Already the Senate President has told the world that the trial has nothing to do with corruption but that he is being persecuted for emerging as the Senate President. To me the ominous silence of our leaders since the day he was arraigned uphill now serves to validate the claims of the Senate President that he is being persecuted.
“Or where else in the world will the number three citizen of a country be hurled before a tribunal over alleged irregularities in his asset declaration forms 13 years ago, and the hierarchy of the ruling to which he is a bonafide member will not come out to show solidarity or defend him?
“If it is true that the trial of the Senate President is not borne out of genuine desire yo fight corruption but is being carried out for selfish political ends, then who is next?
“I think the party need to be courageous enough to speak out against this unwholesome trend whose outcome will definitely not augur well for the overall development of our party and by extension the country at this hour.
“Even the holy scriptures admonish us not to muzzle the (ox) that thresh the corn. Saraki has paid his dues at a time it was suicidal for anybody to stand up against to the then ruling PDP. I believe it is time for all of us to act to save our party. It is time to rally round our generals who have fought valiantly and led us to victory. To abandon Saraki is to abandon a worthy comrade,” he said.



http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/200826-sarakis-trial-splits-apc-senior-member-blasts-party-leaders-keeping-quiet.html

BlackTechnology:


Under Buhari Nigeria has become a field of blood

From Fulani herdsmen

to Mile 12

to killing of unarmed IPOB

to militants
Soldiers are very free to IPOB. IPOB is the name of a very greedy and dangerous animal in the zoo. ROFL


Can everyone see why we regard the sophistication of a particular people useless and counter productive

TheLegal:


Double jeopardy will not avail Tinubu, he was merely discharged and not acquitted. what is the effect of a discharge? An accused who is discharged can be tried again. I would advise you to go and familiarise yourself with the doctrine of double jeopardy and the factors to consider before applying it.

Oluola89:
SECOND Republic politician and Anambra State Chairman
of the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party, NPP, Chief Guy
Ikokwu, has urged the Federal Government to release
without delay the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of
Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu because his continued
incarceration is not in the best interest of the country.
Ikokwu, a lawyer of over 50 years and a chieftain of the
defunct National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, attributed
the raging clamour for Republic of Biafra to the refusal of
Nigeria’s leaders to restructure the country, which he
argued is hindering the nation’s socio-economic growth.
Nigeria, Igbo must not go for second civil war Asked his
take on the raging agitation for the Republic of Biafra,
Ikokwu, who fought the civil war on the side of Biafra,
said: ‘’Generally speaking and in line with what Chief
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was the first
leader of Biafra said, our people should not go for a
second civil war. It is in public domain. It is on Youtube
and video. Anybody can play it and listen to what he
said. Ikokwu In saying that, he said history should be a
lesson not only for Nigeria but also for Igbo people and
that the grave implications of a civil war are such that the
initiators do not normally know where it would end and
who and who would suffer. In the first civil war, the
majority of those who suffered were the innocent people.
More than a million people died and they were not the
ones who started the war or were fighting the war. He
said a second civil is not in the best interest of Nigeria,
that Nigeria should learn its own lesson and understand
that the Igbo always add value to anywhere they go. To
any situation they are called upon, they add value. They
never go anywhere to deteriorate the existing situation.
Not only that they are so flexible that they can change
their culture – language and dressing that they and the
natives will almost look alike; that the main thing Nigeria
should do is to restructure the country into fiscal
federalism as our founding fathers – Herbert Macauley,
Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello,
Dennis Osadebey, MI Okpara , etc, who agitated and got.
They fought for a federal structure and this is embedded
in our national anthem – in diversity we stand, there is
unity in diversity. Need for justice equity, fairplay ‘’That is
where the Igbo stand. There should be unity in diversity.
We should use the diverse abilities of each group. The
Yoruba have where they excel. Six zonal structure The
Urhobo, Hausa, Fulani, Tiv, Nupe, Kanuri, etc, each have
where they excel. Use all these diversifications to
promote a united front so that on the whole, the whole
nation will rise up and be better for it. That is where we
stand. There should be justice, equity and fair-play. Once
these three things are given, you will not find any more
resentment or demonstration by youths. At the moment,
majority of Nigerians believe in the six zonal structure.
Leading Nigerians from all parts of the country like
Emeka Anyaoku, Wole Soyinka, Kayode Fayemi, Bolaji
Akinyemi, etc have said a thousand times: Give these
geo-political zones federating powers so that they can
become the federating units. Each federating unit can
take care of certain things in its area. It can take care of
its youths, hospitals, infrastructure and even local
councils. If a federating unit wants one million local
governments, let it create them and pay them from its
own resources. It is these federating units that will now
engender the issue of diversification, which economic
wise, the present Federal Government has been told: with
falling oil prices, you don’t have enough federal revenues
again, the economy should be diversified so that each
unit will contribute what it has in its area. For instance,
the South-East has oil palm, the North can produce
groundnut, cotton. The South-South has rubber, oil palm.
The South-West has cocoa. If we diversify the economy,
Nigeria will be stronger and richer. You don’t have solid
minerals in the East but you have it in the North-East and
North-Central. It is only now that the Federal Government
is asking the Solid Minerals Minister, Kayode Fayemi, to
ensure that the Federal Government regulates the mineral
deposits and how they are exploited. Exploiting of solid
minerals In the North, it is individuals that are exploiting
the solid minerals but in the South, individuals are not
allowed to pump oils. All these are not only to the
detriment of the zone but also the whole the country.
Looting our national treasury more treasonable than
operating Radio Biafra On the way IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu
is going about the Biafran agitation and the Federal
Government slamming of treasonable charges against
Kanu, he said: ‘’The issue of Radio Biafra is not
treasonable. Radio Biafra is digital instrument registered
in United Kingdom or America. It is not the first time.
Professor Wole Soyinka had Radio Kudirat, done abroad
and broadcasting to Nigeria. NADECO endorsed such
foreign radios by Nigerians. It is a matter of freedom of
information. If Kanu is guilty of treason on account of
Radio Biafra then millions of Nigerians are guilty of
treason in the social media because it is a digital matter
now. You take your smart phone and say whatever you
like – good, bad, rubbish, exemplary, etc.

more news on biafra visit www.kleeqers.com/forum/news/1059-biafra-fg-unnecessarily-making-nnamdi-kanu-a-legend-ikokwu#7237

HungerBAD:
President of the Nigerian Senate on Thursday, a day after he led the National Assembly to pass the 2016 Appropriation Act.

The Code of Conduct Tribunal spoilt the fun for Saraki who has been receiving commendations from his party chiefs over the passage of the budget as it refused the entreaties of the Senate President to quash his trial over the 13 count charges of false assets declaration preferred against him by the Federal Government.

Justice Danladi Umar, Chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal had stopped the Senate President’s second attempt to stop his trial when it held that the charges preferred against the Senate President was valid and competent in law in his ruling on Saraki’s motion challenging the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to try him.

The judge noted that the Act establishing the CCT as well as the 1999 constitution, as amended, conferred the Tribunal with the requisite jurisdiction to hear and determine allegations bordering on breach of code of conduct by public officers.

On Saraki’s argument that the FG waited for over 13 years before instituting the charge against him, Justice Umar held that there is no time frame for the prosecution of a criminal offence.

In asking the Tribunal to free him of the charges, the Senate President had cited the case of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State who was arraigned before CCT in 2011, but was discharged after only two appearances in the Tribunal.

Kanu Agabi, the Senate President’s lawyer had argued that Tinubu was freed by the Tribunal then because FG failed to fulfil necessary condition precedents capable of conferring jurisdiction on it to hear the substantive charge.

According to Agabi, the tribunal had in the case against Tinubu, noted that the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, which recommended the prosecution, ought to have invited the defendant to clarify discrepancies in the assets he declared, before the charge was initiated and consequently discharge him.

Like Tinubu, Agabi said his client was also not invited to clarify the allegations against him.

“My lord he has not been invited up till now. That was the same reason you gave for allowing Tinubu to go home, on the ground that ten other governors were invited by the CCB to make clarifications on discrepancies in the assets they declared.

“But till now, the defendant here, who is the Senate President of this country has not been invited. It is our position that the law is not discriminatory”, Agabi submitted.

He also argued that the laws establishing CCB mandated it to summon anyone perceived to have falsely declared his assets to give explanations.

“The defendant was never afforded such opportunity, not even a chance to kneel down and apologise”, said Agabi who added that the charge was politically motivated and instituted in bad faith.

Failure of the Bureau to summon Saraki to give explanations, Agabi argued was fatal to the charge.

But in his ruling on Friday, Justice Umar said the former Lagos State Governor was discharged in error in 2011.

“The tribunal has since realised that the decision it made on the case between FRN vs Tinubu was in error and has clearly departed from it”.
“It is not out of place for the prosecution to charge the defendant now. The application to quash the charge is hereby refused. The tribunal hereby re-inforce its jurisdiction in line with the constitution an section 3(d) of the CCB &Tribunal Act.

“Accordingly, the prosecution is hereby ordered to produce its witnesses for the trial of the defendant to commence immediately,” Justice Umar held.

“Tinubu’s case was based on 1979 law and the Tribunal having realised its mistake more than three years ago upturned the decision and said they made a mistake, that it was an error and that it was given without considering the 1999 Constitution,” Rotimi Jacobs, the Prosecution Counsel said while giving further elucidation to the Tribunal’s ruling to journalists.

Jacobs who had argued along this line to oppose Agabi’s request that his client should be allowed to go home based on the decision of the court on former Lagos State governor added that The Tribunal had in two other cases decided in 2012 and 2014 overturned the decision.

“If it was the Chairman of the Tribunal that was in error, should we follow the error? He has corrected it in two other judgments,” Jacobs who also said the Federal Government is ready to pursue the case against the Senate President at any other court added


http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2016/03/24/cct-trial-why-saraki-cannot-be-allowed-to-go-like-tinubu-justice-umar/

Deadlytruth:
Those who in an attempt to paint Awo as a tribalist by repeating this quote "........But before the
inauguration into the offices, Awo went
and brainwashed the yorubas, asking
the how could they allow someone
from Across the Niger to come over to
rule them?............." are obviously mischievous and can't really digest what Awo said.
Awo did not ask how they could allow another tribe (Igbo) man or a non Yoruba to come and rule them. There were other non-Yoruba and even Igboid tribes within the Western Region hence were not from across the Niger, e.g. Binis, Akoko-Edos, Aniomas, Etsakos, Esans, Urhobos, Owans, Itsekiris, Isokos, Aniomas (the group assumed to be Igboid in the Old Western Region), etc. Awolowo did not resist the idea that these tribes and even the Igboid among them rule the Western Region as long as they were natives of the Western Region and therefore had equal stakes in it as Yorubas. What he was against was having a man from across the Niger i.e. from another region entirely - both the Eastern or Northern Region (as River Niger cuts off the Western Region both from the North and East) to nurse the ambition of ruling the Western Region as no one from the Western region; be it Bini, Yoruba, Akoko-Edo, Etsako, Itsekiri, Ijaw, Anioma, etc; was reciprocally seeking to cross River Niger into the North or East to rule them.
For goodness sake the colonial masters divided Nigeria into three regions so that each region would govern itself and have peace and not for one region to try to colonize and govern another. Zik's flooding of the Western Regional House of Assembly with Easterners and his final attempt to take premiership of the West was an attempt to defeat the essence of creating the Regions in the first instance. Zik was pursuing local inter-regional imperialism which Awolowo resisted. How could resistance to imperialism be same as tribalism? Can we use that logic to term Zik himself a racist for fighting against colonization and seeking independence from white imperialists? Did Awolowo or any other Westerner ever attempt to go and rule the Eastern Region or Northern Region? Why could Zik not simply begin his charity from home?
If Zik so truly believed in one Nigeria why did he refuse to use his acclaimed political wizardry to give a strong foothold to NCNC in the North and then try to seek Northern premiership? Zik was born and brought up in the Northern Region hence he was most popular there, so why not simply start his political career there or the Eastern Region which he hailed from by blood? Why the Western Region where he was neither from nor born and brought up?
A northerner was ruling the Northern Region, Zik allowed his fellow Easterners to be ruling their own Eastern Region yet he himself an Easterner wanted to be ruling the West at the same time so that no Westerner will be ruling anywhere. Was that a good scenario needed to balance the tripod structure back then?
If Zik had already won the election as Igbos say here, then how come Awolowo prevented his swearing in and Zik never went to court to reclaim his mandate? How could Awolowo alter the results that have already been openly declared by the electoral body? It is like claiming that after INEC announced Wike as winner Peterside rallied Ijaws against Ikwerres and got the results changed by INEC to deny Wike of being sworn in. Does that make sense at all?

shegsrules:
Channels seeking controversy as there selling point. Who observed that today.

aryzgreat:
The only yoruba man with igbo blood.

Orikinla:
Lest we forget, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Turaki Adamawa, has not given up his presidential ambition. And I actually felt sorry for him when former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for personal political vendetta stopped Atiku from succeeding him after Atiku served as his Vice-President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, and denied Nigeria of having a better, healthier and stronger President, because Atiku would have become the best Nigerian President from northern Nigeria.

Please, those who don't like Atiku for personal reasons or political vendetta should look at themselves in the mirror first.
I don't believe in those who want to stop the best intentions of others, because of their past imperfections. I always look at the bright side and let your light shine as God also does so as long as you are ready to make amends and go on to excel and succeed for the common good.
After all, the senior citizen castigated as "Mr. No Certificate" is today his excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces of Nigeria by the grace of God who qualifies the unqualified.
Supporting retired General Buhari cost me millions of naira and hatred from the goons of the former ruling party, PDP. But at the end of the race, the will of Almighty God prevailed. But if Buhari had given up, he would not be sitting on that great seat he is sitting on today since he moved into the State House yesterday. Therefore, Atiku should not give up his Nigerian Dream as long as he means well for Nigeria. And whosoever means well for Nigeria should not give up his or her Nigerian Dream.

All I going to do is to challenge Atiku and other Nigerian politicians to become more of patriotic nation builders than greedy title chasers and repent from using the poor masses as their political pawns and sacrificial lambs in their evil greed for power.
Lest we forget, the election of President Muhammadu Buhari cost the lives of many people in Rivers State, where I lost my in-laws who were members and supporters of the APC; in Kaduna where people were also attacked and murdered and other parts of Nigeria. Today, as the leaders of the APC are dining and wining in celebration, let them remember those who sacrificed their precious lives for their victory. I doubt if President Muhammadu Buhari has gone on condolence visits to their bereaved families.

wildchild1:
Hmmmmm,so he has a bigger ambition?He is definitely not going to get that slot,trust me,Tinubu's time to take his pounds of flesh ,shebi na him be Saraki spokesperson. Lets see who will save him

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Volksfuhrer:
If Saraki had an APC deputy, he wouldn't have much of an issue with APC.