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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched a fresh attack on the national assembly, describing it as a “den of corruption”, which is occupied by “unarmed robbers”.

Obasanjo, who recommended that the ongoing anti-graft war in the judiciary be extended to the legislative arm of government, said the corruption in Nigeria’s parliament “stinks to high heavens”.

He said this on Wednesday during the First Akintola Williams annual lecture in Lagos.
“If the judiciary is being cleaned, what of the national assembly which stinks much worse than the judiciary?” he asked.

“The national assembly cabal of today is worse than any cabal that anybody may find anywhere in our national governance system at any time. Members of the national assembly pay themselves allowances for staff and offices they do not have or maintain.

“Once you are a member, you are co-opted and your mouth is stuffed with rottenness and corruption that you cannot opt out as you go home with not less than N15 million a month for a senator and N10 million a month for a member of the house of representatives. The national assembly is a den of corruption by a gang of unarmed robbers.

“Most of them conduct themselves and believe that they are not answerable to anybody. They are blatant in their misbehaviour, cavalier in their misconduct and arrogant in the misuse of parliamentary immunity as a shield against reprisals for their irresponsible acts of malfeasance and/or outright banditry.”

He wondered why the legislative arm of government had chosen not to be transparent with the nation’s budget.

Obasanjo also condemned the “gang up against the whistleblower”, obviously making reference to Abdulmumin Jibrin, former chairman of the house of reps appropriation committee.

Jibrin had accused the leadership of the 8th assembly of padding the 2016 budget, calling for the probe of principal officers.
He also petitioned anti-graft agencies, but the house eventually handed him a 180-day suspension for alleged misconduct.

Obasanjo appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene, and purged the parliament of corruption.

“Budget padding must not go unpunished. It is a reality, which is a regular and systemic practice. Nobody should pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians,” he said.

“Ganging up to intimidate and threaten the life of whistle blower is deplorable and undemocratic. What of the so-called constituency projects which is a veritable source of corruption? These constituency projects are spread over the budget for members of the national assembly for which they are the initiators and the contractors directly or by proxy and money would be fully drawn with the project only partially executed or not executed at all.

“The national assembly budget process is not only carried out in opaque and corruptive manner but also in grossly unconstitutional manner. Hence, our lawmakers are lawbreakers. They are the accused, the prosecutor, the defenders and the judge in their own case.

“We should not continue to live with the impunity and corruption of the national assembly. Yes, I believe that something can and should be done. The president should ride on the crest of the popularity of what is happening in the judiciary to set up a highly technical team of incorruptible investigators to look into the so-called constituency projects of the past and the present and bring culprits to book. The president has overall responsibility and accountability for any fund appropriated under his watch.

There would be many of such projects and the national assembly would try to frustrate such necessary investigation. But the project sites are known and magnitude of funds voted for them are known. The investigation will reveal the true situation.”

Obasanjo said when he was in office, he attempted to audit the account of the assembly but he was frustrated.

“Once, when I was president, I asked outside auditors, both normal and forensic, to audit the account of the national assembly, they frustrated it on the basis of separation of power,” he said.

“They claimed they had oversight responsibility for their corruption and misdemeanour and nothing can be done. It is like asking a thief to watch over himself. There must be full disclosure of all relevant fiscal information in a timely and systematic manner at all levels,” he said.

He commended the federal government for its effort to “save the judiciary”, recalling an experience he had with a retired public officer.

“Three weeks before the first three judges were arrested for corruption, I was talking to a fairly senior retired public officer who put things this way, ‘The judiciary is gone, the national assembly is gone, the military is sunk and the civil service was gone before them; God save Nigeria’. I said a loud Amen,” he said.

“Three weeks later, the process of saving the Judiciary began. And if what I have gathered is anything to go by, there may be not less than two score of judicial officers that may have questions to answer. That will be salutary for the Judiciary and for the nation.”

This is not his first attack on lawmakers. In a letter dated January 13 and addressed to the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives, the former president specifically accused the lawmakers of fixing and earning salaries and allowances far above what the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved for them.

He also alleged that most of the 109 senators and 369 members of the house of representatives were receiving constituency allowances without maintaining constituency offices as the laws required of them.

Efforts to reach spokesmen of both chambers of the national assembly for a reaction to the latest allegations did not yield any result as the telephone line of Aliyu Abdullahi, senate spokesman, was unreachable, while Abdulrazak Namdas, house of reps spokesman, did not answer his call or respond to the text message sent.

Ahead of the December 10 legislative rerun election, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has accused the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission of handing over original copies of result sheets to the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, towards an alleged plan to rig the poll.

Wike, who spoke in Etche Local Government Area on Wednesday, alleged that Amaechi made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja during a meeting of Rivers APC leaders.

The governor said that he was in possession of the proceedings of the Abuja “illegal” meeting of the APC.

He alleged that Amaechi assured the Rivers APC leaders at the Abuja meeting that the original result sheets supplied by the INEC would be used for the December 10 rerun elections to facilitate victory for the APC candidates.

“While we are working for the people of Rivers State to convince them to vote for us, the APC is busy working with the INEC to rig the rerun elections.

“On December 10, follow your results bumper to bumper. Don’t allow anyone to swap results. I urge the Etche people to follow their results,” he said.

The governor stated that the Rivers APC members who were arrested while printing fake result sheets for INEC were transferred to Zone 6 Police Command headquarters in Calabar.

He also alleged that arrangements had been concluded to take them to Abuja with a plan to release them in line with the request of the APC.

Wike added, “Tell them, INEC you cannot rig election in Etche. Tell INEC, you cannot support another party to rig the election.”

He said the APC had concluded plans with security agencies to arrest the chairmen of Etche Local Government Area, Ikwerre Local Government Area and other leaders of the party to create room for the rigging of the rerun elections.

Reacting through his media office, Amaechi described Wike’s allegation as wild, baseless and an attempt to intimidate INEC into doing his (governor’s) bidding.

He said, “We know his game; this is an old worn-out trick that will certainly fail. Wike is scared, profoundly afraid. This is why he is telling these spurious lies. He knows he will lose at the polls, if the election is free & fair.”

Also, the state APC Publicity Secretary said, “It is sad that the governor’s grand deception train anchored at Etche to deceive the good people of Etche with a phoney road project flag-off.

“Etche people must follow in the footstep of Ogoni people who have since realised that the governor simply took them for a ride with the flag-off of Sakpenwa-Bori-Kono Road and others.”

Several telephone calls put across to the Rivers State INEC Public Relations Officer, Antonia Nwobo, and a text message were neither answered nor replied.

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The Federal Government has warned the people of Niger Delta region that the destruction of oil facilities will ultimately destroy their livelihoods, aspirations and future.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo gave the warning at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday while meeting with a group known as the Urhobo Leaders of Thought led by its president, Chief Tuesday Onoge.

According to the vice president, vandalising pipelines and oil installations in the Niger Delta is akin to destroying facilities meant to help the people of the region.

“So much damage is being done. Governments will come and go, but these damages will ultimately destroy people’s livelihoods, aspirations and their future.

Nobody else anywhere in the world will destroy the facilities meant to help them. There is no benefit whatsoever from the destruction," he said.

The vice president, who called for understanding of the Niger Delta leaders, cautioned that "destruction and damage does not lead to anything good.”

He said the Federal Government would continue its outreach to leaders and groups in the Niger Delta in seeking peaceful resolution of the crisis.

He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had demonstrated an exemplary leadership by opening channels of communication and negotiation with the Niger Delta leaders and representatives.

“He (President Buhari) is quiet, but fiercely determined once he makes up his mind and gives his word,” the vice president stated.

A statement by Osinbajo's spokesman, Laolu Akande, quoted Onoge as lamenting that if the funds sent to the Niger Delta in the last 16 years were judiciously spent, the people of the region would have benefited; asking “What happened to these monies?"

Onoge was also quoted as saying that his group condemned the destruction of oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta and promised to assist in ensuring peace in the region.

The leader of the delegation also declared his group's support to the ongoing anti-corruption war of President Buhari's administration.

lalasticlala

A Nigerian man living in Ghana, Benjamin Oyem, has died from injuries sustained when his brother’s Ghanaian wife, Comfort Agboloshie, set the room they were sleeping in on fire.

According to reports, 38-year-old Agboloshie on Thursday removed her three children, all females, aged four, seven and nine, from the room in which they were sleeping with their father and uncle.

After taking the children to a safe place, she soaked some clothing in kerosene, set them on fire, before throwing them into a room where her husband, Lawrence Nkem, 45, and Oyem, 42, were sleeping and locked the door.

The brothers were, however, rescued by neighbours who rushed them to the Tema General Hospital with severe degrees of burns.

Nkem survived and is being treated for severe injuries at the hospital but Oyem died.

The Public Relations Officer of the Tema Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ms. Juliana Obeng, said the remains of the deceased has been deposited at the Tema General Hospital mortuary.

Indications emerged over the weekend that workers in Federal Government establishments earning superfluous salaries may have their wages reviewed.

This is in line with renewed push by government to put a check on fleecing revenue by revenue generating agencies. To underline its seriousness, evaluation and grading department officers of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission are currently on the field for the assignment, according to a top officer at the commission. “Our evaluation and grading officers are currently out there on the field for the purpose.

In the past, we extended invitation to some of these agencies, of recent was the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), but it never responded.

“The team out there is expected to return to the office this week and submit their report to the chairman, who will study it and make recommendations to the Federal government,” the source at the commission confirmed to New Telegraph.

The Public Relations Officer at the commission, Mr. Williams B. Danbaki, who also confirmed the development to our correspondent on phone, however, declined further explanation.

Special Assistant to the Chairman of the commission, Mr. Chadi Abidioeu, said, as a practice, he does not respond to official matters on weekends.

“I am sorry, I don’t respond to office matters on resting days. Call me on Monday for clarifications you are seeking,” he told our correspondent. However, a top officer with the Finance Ministry in Abuja also confirmed to our correspondent that representatives of the Wages Commission would be included in fund recovery committee announced last week by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.

The officer, who spoke in confidence, said the Federal Government was not happy that some revenue generating agencies had been consuming 85 per cent of their revenue surplus as salary and overheads while they persistently declare operating losses in their statements of account.

“The minister has decided to integrate the representatives of National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission in the committee headed by the Accountant General of the Federation to probe and recover unremitted revenue surplus in custody of MDAs.

“Recall that the issue of bogus salaries by some agencies such as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), NDIC, NIMASA, NPA, CBN, and very numerous other agencies came up at certain time in the era of previous governments and income and wages commission was to come up with an acceptable salary scale for these agencies, but the work was abandoned.

“The current reality and short-changing government of its enormous revenue by revenue generating agencies call for a revisit of salary template for agencies,” he said. Contacted, Special Assistant on Media to Finance Minister, Festus Akanbi, didn’t respond to calls and text message to his telephone.

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission, two weeks ago, raised the alarm that revenue generating agencies were short-changing government by declaring operating losses in their statements of account.

The commission alleged that revenue agencies withheld operating surplus meant for transfer to the Consolidated Revenue Account and deployed same into funding over bloated salaries and overheads.

The Finance Ministry, last week, constituted a committee to recover unremitted operating surpluses of agencies of government, running into N450 billion.

The committee led by the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, was mandated to reconcile the operating surpluses of 31 revenue- generating agencies of government for the period 2010 to 2015.

The findings of the committee revealed underremittance of over N450 billion said to have accrued within the period. The committee, added the statement, would be inviting the management of these agencies to explain why their operating surpluses were not remitted as mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.

Some of these agencies have incurred huge expenses on overseas training and medicals, and huge expenses on behalf of supervisory ministries and/other organs of government involved in oversight or regulatory functions without appropriate approval.

Other infractions include payment of salaries and allowances to staff and board members, governing councils, and commissions, which are outside or above the amount approved by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) and the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.

The list also includes unacceptable expenses incurred on donations, sponsorships, unfavourable contract signed for revenue collection by third party; granting of staff loans that have not been repaid, as well as sale and transfer of assets to board members, among others.

According to the Finance Ministry, the overall effect of these practices is that operating surpluses of these agencies are lower than should be.

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According to THISDAY checks, the Buhari camp of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is determined to win Ondo State, first to make a statement in terms of who is in charge of the party, and two, to set the path for the 2019 general election.

Umar Muhammed, Lafia

A cleaner, Peter Oko, has narrated how he stole N5.675 million from the New Nyanya branch of Diamond Bank, where he worked.

The 29 year-old stated that he took the keys to the vault, stole the money and hid it in a carton, which he took home after the close of work.

The money was however recovered by the police, which said that the suspect had been charged to court.

Oko told Northern City News at the Nasarawa State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department in Lafia that he carried out the theft alone, saying, “As a cleaner, I knew where all the keys were kept.”

He added, “I single-handedly carried out the operation because I have been working as a cleaner in the bank for the past 10 years and my eyes had been on one of the keys to the vault, where the bank used to keep all its money.

“As a cleaner, my attention was not only on the keys, but on how I will carry out the operation successfully without being caught by either the security or any staff of the bank.”

The suspect said he stole the money without the knowledge of the bank workers, adding that he had access to all the foreign currencies in the bank as he knew where they were kept.

“As a cleaner, I knew where all the secret files were kept and where the bank kept its keys where you can have access to dollars, Nigerian currency and all other currencies.”

Oko blamed the economic situation for his action, stating that he had never been involved in a criminal act before now.

“The devil of economy recession pushed me into the crime; I have never committed a criminal act before, luck ran out on me and I was caught in the process,” he stated.

The state Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Bello, said the crime was reported to the police in October, 2016, by the bank, adding that the matter was then transferred from Karu Divisional Police Headquarters to the SCIID for investigations.

Financial experts and socio-economic commentators have described as failure of the anti-corruption fight, the revelation that some agencies of government are boycotting the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The development, which the Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, also described as diversion of public funds, has also, emerged in the form of frivolous spending by the agencies involved to the tune of 90 per cent of their generated revenues.

TSA is a single pool of government revenues, where all its agencies are mandated to remit earnings, in a move to entrench a culture of transparency, accountability and efficient management of national resources.

But, just one year after its take off, amid positive records, the public officer superintending the operations has raised the alarm, saying that it has been boycotted, with attendant losses running into billions.

Faculty member at the Lagos Business School, Dr. Austin Nweze, said the corruption fight has not been thorough, adding that many, especially those close to the national resource, will be looking for a way to help themselves, to avoid losing out entirely.

But a lawyer and public affairs analyst, Chukwuemeka Eze, noted that when the TSA was introduced, many people hailed it as an antidote to the financial indiscipline in the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of Government, which to an extent it has proved true.

“Strict implementation of the TSA denotes that the MDAs will wait for approval from the Minister or such other authority in accordance with budget provisions before money will be spent.

“This has led to financial asphyxiation in the MDAs, prompting them to devise ingenious ways of overcoming the policy. It is evident that they collude with banks to open miscellaneous accounts, which they use for selected transactions.

“In many cases, they do it in collaboration with ministry officials who can defend these acts when the bubble bursts. From these accounts, the MDAs operate as of old. This is the trend that the Minister of Finance is miffed about,” he said.

“The TSA, going by the Minister’s confession, is endangered. Unless politicians check their avarice and looting of public funds, public servants will always device a means of eating from the cookie jar,” he added.

The minister revealed that agencies in question paid salaries above specifications of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, converting official cars to personal ownership under 48 hours of purchase, inappropriate and arbitrary monetization of medical allowances, undue and excessive overseas travels, lavish training allowances and conference spendings, excessive and personal loan approvals, including unapproved mortgages among others.

A civil society activist, Eze Onyekpere, told The Guardian that there seem to be a sort of confusion in the finance ministry, as sometimes they behave as if they do not know what to do.

“The ministry should come out clear in its statements. There should be further details if they are really fighting the corruption and know what to do. Of course, I am not surprised to an extent. Take the instance of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which budget is cleared by the National Assembly committee, with N25 billion personnel cost. This is beside frivolous items and ridiculous sub-heads.

“In the first half of 2016, only about N951 billion was earned, but we spent N2.4 trillion. This means that the country is borrowing to pay salaries. This is the extent that things can be unclear,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Cowry Asset Management Limited, Johnson Chukwu, admitted that there might be some conjecture by some individuals to take advantage of any situation.

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He said they also offers quality service delivery and the price was affordable without any stress of keeping and maintaining girl friend,

A 44-year old housewife, Mary Onu has been arrested after she allegedly stole a Nissan Infiniti SUV belonging to a car dealer and used it to sow a seed offering to her church prophet, Solomon Orimisan of the Celestial Church of Christ, Idimu, Lagos, Nigeria.

The incident happened at Gabriel Bell close, Bamishile Estate in Idimu where the church was located.

Onu was arrested with her daughter, Alice who signed the agreement and handed over the Jeep to Prophet Orimisan after she obtained a token sum of N500,000 in exchange for the vehicle.

The Delta State-born Mary who was a member of the church went to the prophet and told him that he wanted to appreciate him for his assistance and prayer to her and her family which had benefited them.

She told him that she wanted to sow a seed offering with the Infiniti model QX56 which the market value is over N2 million.

She asked him that he should pay only N500,000 as a token and which an excited Orimisan agreed and paid the money into her account.

P.M.Express gathered that she drove the SUV to the church with the owner, who is a car dealer and introduced him as his driver.

When they went inside the church to discuss, the owner of the SUV did not knew what was going on and after Orimisan paid the money, she left both of them inside the church premised and bolted away.

When the prophet came out and saw the car dealer, he asked him to leave and informed him he had settled with Mary.

It was then the prophet realized that Mary have scammed him as the owner explained what transpired between him and Mary before the vehicle was brought to the church.

The matter was reported to the police who trailed Mary and her daughter, Alice for several weeks and later arrested them in their hide.

At the station, Mary confessed to the crime but claimed she had already spent the money to solve her personal problem.

They were charged before Magistrate’s court sitting in Isolo on Thursday with conspiracy, obtaining under false pretence and stealing under the Criminal Code.
They pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor, Mr A.U. Ojei told the court that he was not objecting the bail condition, but the court should use discretion to grant them bail so that they will face trial.

The presiding Magistrate, Mrs A.K. Shonubi granted them bail in the sum of N200,000 with one sureties in like sum.

They were remanded in prison custody pending when they will perfect their bail condition.

The matter was adjourned till 24 November 2016.

John Ameh, Abuja

The House of Representatives on Thursday defended its decision to buy exotic cars for its 360 members at a period the country’s economy is in recession.

It said lawmakers must have a means of mobility while carrying out oversight duties over Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government.

The House will spend at least N3.6bn across 24 months to complete payment for  the luxury vehicles supplied by the Kaduna-based Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited.

The PUNCH had reported exclusively on Monday that the firm had already delivered 28 units of Peugeot 508 series to members in the first batch of 50 cars.

A total of 360 units of the exotic automobile would have been delivered by January 2017.

The Deputy Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Jonathan Gaza, while defending the procurement of the cars on Thursday, said that recession would not stop lawmakers from performing their legislative duties.

He argued that in a recession, both the executive and legislative arms of government were expected to work even harder to find urgent solutions to challenges facing the country.

Gaza noted that while working during recession, members were not expected to trek to the premises of the MDAs for oversight duties.

He added, “In a recession, we will all put on our thinking caps. We are working; these are committees’ cars and they are not the personal property of members.

“When you came here today, how did you come? Did you walk down to this place (National Assembly) from your house?

“If a member is going to visit an agency, will he trek there?

“We need materials, computers, stationery, cars; these are all for work.”

Asked to comment on whether the National Assembly would approve Buhari’s bid to take a loan of $29.96bn, Gaza replied that discussions were ongoing between the two sides.

The lawmaker said no conclusions had been reached.

He also declined to speak categorically on whether the government had begun making releases for the constituency projects of lawmakers.

The constituency projects of senators and members are worth N100bn in the 2016 budget of N6.06tn.

The refusal of the government to fund the projects is reported to be one of the sore points in the relationship between Buhari and the National Assembly.

But, when asked a direct question on the issue, Gaza parried it.

“We don’t release money for constituency projects. Our work is to pass the budget and we passed the 2016 budget. It is the responsibility of the executive to release funds for projects.

“Also, the money is not paid into our pockets, we don’t touch it,” he replied.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the current administration will probe the N2 billion ecological fund alleged to have been shared under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Governors had earlier met Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, to seek the disbursement of the country’s ecological fund.

When the issue was presented at the national economic council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Thursday, Osinbajo said the government of President Muhammadu Buhari would investigate previous spending.

According to Laolu Akande, special assistant to the vice-president on media and publicity, the governors discussed the issue of the N2 billion, which was allegedly shared among some states under “unclear circumstances and criteria”.

“There were complaints that state governments did not have equal access to the fund amid allegations of political preferences,” Akande said in a statement.

“Vice-President Osinbajo assured the council that the matter would be properly investigated, broadly reviewed, and forthright counsel would be made to the president regarding the matter.”

Akande also quoted the vice-president as saying the government is paying diligent attention to the issue of abuses and excesses of certain revenue generating Agencies (RGA).

The statement added that Adeosun was asked to brief the council on abuses by RGAs, and that she said some agencies were paying salaries above specifications of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), and converting official cars to personal ownership under 48 hours of purchase.

“Other abuses stated include inappropriate and arbitrary monetization of medical allowances, undue and excessive overseas travels, lavish training allowances and conference spendings, excessive and personal loan approvals, including unapproved mortgages among others,” the statement read.

“These agencies were said to raise as much as N1.5 trillion annually, and spend almost 90 percent of it on recurrent expenditure in clear violation of due process and the constitution.”

The minister reportedly said the financial abuses had been going on for a decade, revealing that the agencies involved hide revenues that ought to go into the federation account.

She said such activities will now be exposed and terminated as directed by the president.

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday struck out a suit challenging the validity of the trial of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on charges of breach of code of conduct for public officers and asset declaration breaches preferred against him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole struck out the suit following an oral application by a lawyer from the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mrs. H. M. Eken.

When the case was called on Wednesday, Eken noted that the plaintiff, Timipa Jenkins Okponipere, who filed the suit on behalf of the Senate President, was absent from court.

The lawyer argued that the applicant’s absence from court implied lack of diligence on his part to prosecute the case.
She urged the court not only to strike out the suit, but to also award N20,000 cost against the applicant.

In his ruling, Justice Kolawole noted that on the previous adjourned date of September 29, 2016 neither the applicant nor the two respondents were in court.

He noted that although the hearing notices ordered by the court were not served on parties, the fact that the 2nd respondent was in court showed more diligence on the AGF’s part.

The judge relied on the provisions of Order 19 Rule 15 of the court’s Civil Procedure Rules, to strike out the suit.

But he declined to award any cost against the applicant on the grounds that there was no evidence that hearing notice was served on the applicant.

The applicant, who claimed to be “suing as attorney to Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki,” listed the CCT and the AGF as respondents in the suit, in which he sought among others, to restrain the respondents from proceeding with Saraki’s trial.

Okponipere had prayed the court’s declaration that “the plan to resume the trial of Senator Abubakar Saraki at the CCT is a breach of his fundamental right to fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

He also prayed for an order compelling the CCT and AGF to suspend indefinitely, any plan to resume the trial at the CCT.
Among the grounds relied on by the applicant, include that the trial at CCT was commenced at the wrong time, four years after Saraki allegedly committed the offences.

“It is nobody’s fault that the 1st and 2nd respondents were not vigilant enough to stop or prevent Senator Saraki from attaining public office. If truly the respondents were proactive institutions of government, they ought to have prosecuted Senator Saraki immediately after he left office as Governor of Kwara State in 2011, but they never did.

“The failure, refusal and/or negligence of the respondents to prosecute Senator Saraki for the offences he allegedly committed between 2003 and 2011 before he returned again to public life as a senator, vitiated all his past alleged misdeeds such that, as of June 8, 2015 when he was inaugurated as a senator, he was assumed to be a public office holder without blemish in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of the respondents, otherwise they would have long since initiated proceedings against him.

“The subsequent attempt to put Senator Saraki on trial over offences allegedly committed between 2003 and 2011 are not only tainted with political mischief and desperation, they constitute a breach of his fundamental right to fair hearing,” Okponipere said.

However, in a notice of preliminary objection, filed on behalf of the AGF, Mr. Abubakar Malami, the prosecution faulted the suit and urged the court to dismiss it for lacking in merit.

The AGF noted that the subject matter of the suit did not fall within the provisions of chapter four of the Constitution, containing the guaranteed fundamental human rights.

He argued, “The appellant lacks the locus to institute this suit on behalf of Senator Saraki in the absence of any legal basis which prevents him (Saraki) from deposing to the affidavit accompanying this application himself.”

“The grant of the applicant’s reliefs will constitute an abuse of court/judicial process having regard to the fact that the subject matter of this suit has been determined by the Supreme Court”.

lalasticlala

NaijaMutant:
Some Nigerians at that time were even writing the US government not to sell arms to Nigeria.

They also wrote the South African government to keep the seized money meant for arm purchase just to spit GEJ and render him a failure

GEJ is out of the way, can they undo their evil machinations to frustrate the Nigerian state rather than GEJ?

deuce07:
Afonjas at it again. NCAN! A feast has been prepared for thee.

The brown roof republic

linusbnn:
Bro forget

Naff24:
How many Nigerians have that Spare Money

Tolexander:
So where did he dump the body if the sex was had in the bush?

at Ojuoro Street, Stadium Road, in Ijero-Ekiti, Elite.