A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja has granted leave to a lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, to proceed against the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, in his quest to compel the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission to probe and arrest Baru. Jideobi is also seeking the sacking of Baru following some allegations levelled against him by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, which were revealed in a leaked memo to President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a ruling on Thursday, Justice O. A. Musa declared as meritorious Jideobi’s application for leave to seek an order of mandamus to compel the ICPC to discharge its statutory functions by proceeding with dispatch to arrest Baru and arraign him. Jideobi had also prayed the court to restrain Baru from further usurping the powers of the board of the NNPC and acting as the GMD of the NNPC pending the determination of the suit.

In his ruling, Justice Musa held, “Having gone through the application, I am of the view that it has merit and it is granted in the following terms: Leave is hereby granted to the applicant to apply for judicial review for an order of mandamus.”

The court asked Baru to show cause within three days why the application seeking his removal as the NNPC GMD should not be granted.

Justice Musa further instructed that the court processes be served on the minister of state for petroleum and the NNPC GMD.

He then adjourned the case till November 28, 2017 for hearing. In an August memo which was addressed to Buhari but leaked to the media last month, Kachikwu accused Baru of approving contracts worth $24bn without the approval of the NNPC board whose function it is to review potential appointments and terminations of senior staff prior to implementation.

According to the minister, the legal requirement is that all contracts above $20m should be reviewed and approved by the NNPC board. He told the President that in over one year of Baru’s tenure as the boss of NNPC, no contract has been run through the NNPC board.

Source: http://punchng.com/lawyer-asks-court-to-order-barus-arrest/

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja has granted leave to a lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, to proceed against the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, in his quest to compel the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission to probe and arrest Baru. Jideobi is also seeking the sacking of Baru following some allegations levelled against him by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, which were revealed in a leaked memo to President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a ruling on Thursday, Justice O. A. Musa declared as meritorious Jideobi’s application for leave to seek an order of mandamus to compel the ICPC to discharge its statutory functions by proceeding with dispatch to arrest Baru and arraign him. Jideobi had also prayed the court to restrain Baru from further usurping the powers of the board of the NNPC and acting as the GMD of the NNPC pending the determination of the suit.

In his ruling, Justice Musa held, “Having gone through the application, I am of the view that it has merit and it is granted in the following terms: Leave is hereby granted to the applicant to apply for judicial review for an order of mandamus.”

The court asked Baru to show cause within three days why the application seeking his removal as the NNPC GMD should not be granted.

Justice Musa further instructed that the court processes be served on the minister of state for petroleum and the NNPC GMD.

He then adjourned the case till November 28, 2017 for hearing. In an August memo which was addressed to Buhari but leaked to the media last month, Kachikwu accused Baru of approving contracts worth $24bn without the approval of the NNPC board whose function it is to review potential appointments and terminations of senior staff prior to implementation.

According to the minister, the legal requirement is that all contracts above $20m should be reviewed and approved by the NNPC board. He told the President that in over one year of Baru’s tenure as the boss of NNPC, no contract has been run through the NNPC board.

Source: http://punchng.com/lawyer-asks-court-to-order-barus-arrest/

A constitutional lawyer, Mr. Johnmary Jideobi, has dragged President Muhammadu Buhari before the Federal High Court in Abuja, alleging that he approved illegal appointments in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The Abuja based legal practitioner is praying the high court to declare that it was unconstitutional for President Buhari to unilaterally approve appointments or any form of re-organisation in the NNPC without input and consideration of its Board of Directors.

Aside President Buhari, other defendants in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/990/2017 are the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, the NNPC itself and its Board of Directors. Specifically, the plaintiff, is praying the court to among other things, determine “Whether in view of section 2 subsection (1) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, as amended, read alongside Section 5(1) (a) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, either of the 1st Defendant or the 4th Defendant (Baru and Buhari), is entitled in law to unilaterally make or approve appointments into any position within the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [the 2nd Defendant herein] or any other form of reorganization in the 2nd Defendant, without the prior input, consideration and approval of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [the 3rd Defendant herein] ?

“Whether the purported appointment made by the 1st Defendant [on the 29th day of August, 2017] into various positions within the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporations and the purported approval of same by the 4th Defendant, without the prior input, consideration and approval of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, [the 3rd Defendant herein] is not unlawful and therefore liable to be set aside?

“Whether in view of Section 13 of African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights [Ratification and Enforcement] Act Cap 10, Laws of the Federation (LFN), 1990, the Plaintiff herein is clothed with the requisite locus standi to prosecute this claim? Against the background of the answers that may be given to the above questions of law the plaintiff claims the following reliefs from this Honourable Court”.

Upon deterninion of the questions, the plaintiff urged the court to declare that in view of section 2 subsection (1) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 as amended, read alongside Section 5(1) (a) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, neither the 1st Defendant nor the 4th Defendant is entitled in law to unilaterally make appointments into any position within the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, or approve any form of reorganization in the 2nd Defendant without the prior input, consideration and approval of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [the 2nd Defendant herein].

“A declaration that it is patently unconstitutional for the 4th Defendant to unilaterally approve of any appointments in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation or any other form of reorganization therein without the prior input, consideration and approval of the Board of Directors the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as envisaged by the law establishing the 2nd Defendant.

“A solemn declaration of this honourable court that it is unlawful and therefore invalid for the 1st Defendant to unilaterally make appointments into any position(s) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [the 2nd Defendant herein] without the prior input, consideration and approval of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as envisaged by the law establishing the 2nd Defendant.

“An order of this honourable court nullifying and setting aside the purported appointment unilaterally made by the 1st Defendant [on the 29th day of August, 2017 as shown by exhibit “NNPC1” into various positions in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [the 2nd Defendant herein] without the prior input, consideration and approval of the Board of the 2nd Defendant.

“An order nullifying and setting aside the purported approval of the 4th Defendant for the appointments unilaterally made by the 1st Defendant into various positions within the 2nd Defendant [on the 29th day of August, 2017 as shown by exhibit “NNPC1”, without the prior input, consideration and approval of the Board of the 2nd Defendant, the said approval being unconstitutional.

As well as, “An order of perpetual injunction restraining both the 1st Defendant and 4th Defendant from further making any other appointment(s) by whatever name called into any position or office in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [the 2nd Defendant herein] or effecting any other form of reorganization of the 2nd Defendant or approving of same without the prior input, consideration and approval of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as required by the law setting up the 2nd Defendant”.
Meantime, no date has been fixed for hearing of the matter.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/10/buhari-baru-sued-alleged-illegal-appointments-nnpc/

Founder of Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry Uke, Anambra state , Nigeria, Reverend Father Emmanuel Obimma yesterday spoke on the alleged war of words between him and Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka of Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria trending for sometime now in the social media.


Reverend Father Obimma known as Ebube Muonso said he was shocked when his attention was drawn to the publications by his Personal Adviser , especialy with the things attributed to him and that attributed to Fr Mbaka by people he described as detractors interested in destroying the cordial and brotherly relationship between him and his senior priest, Mbaka.

Ebube Muonso in a brief interview with The Authority exclusively warned lay faithful in the Church not to interfere in matters that pertains ministers of God because by so doing they are incurring the wrath, of God, as no lay man can fight for a priest of God, adding that whoever does unknown to him is destroying himself or herself.



On the allegations attributed to him against Mbaka, Reverend Father Obimma said such never happened as he has no time speaking ill about a priest of God. He said the publications were a false and described it as hand work of fifth columnists interested in championing strife in the Church of God.

‘’Well, such a thing never happened, I mean, never, never happened. There is no way I will preach against my fellow priest on a pulpit, I have so many things to say, other than ranting and dropping negative statements about my fellow minister.

‘’Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka is my Senior in the ministry, and rather, I love him so much, and I pray for him almost on daily basis, so such a thing has no fundamental in my realm at all, never ever since I was ordained a priest I have preached about my fellow priest on the pulpit, that is not Fr Ebube Munso, may be it is a strategy to put anarchy and dissension between two priests, but then am very very happy that people who saw the write up did not believe, people know Fr. Ebube Munso, my congregation know what their spiritual director can do, so people debunked that post and even did not believe such.

‘’Let them produce the tape, because all my messages are recorded both on Sundays, according to my Personal Adviser the write up says while addressing my congregation on Monday, but I don’t hold any public gathering on Mondays so the story is a fallacy.

On why he named his ministry Adoration Ministry, and his name Ebube Muonso, Rev Fr Obimma said: ‘’The issue is that I did not nickname my self, it was people that started calling me Fr. Ebube Muonso, when I was newly ordained a priest, when I started healing ministry, people started calling me Ebube Muonso, I never nicknamed my self Ebube Muonso.

Adoration is a place where Jesus Christ is adored in the Blessed Sacrament, that is the meaning of Adoration so, it is immaturity for people to say so. In Nigeria there are so many Adoration ministries, so so many adoration ministries, my own ministry, is Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry , Uke Anambra state and not Adoration ministry Enugu Nigeria, “ I repeat it is not Adoration ministry Enugu Nigeria.

‘’ Our ministry is Holy Ghost Adoration ministry. There are other Rev. Fathers that have Adoration ministries, so many of them. In conceptual analysis, Adoration comes from a latin word “Adoratio” meaning to give homage or worship to some one or some thing, so that’s why in catholic there are Chapels of Perpetual Adoration where Jesus Christ is adored, where the faithful gather to adore Christ, so no body can claim monopoly of Adoration, let that person go to the dictionary and check the meaning of Adoration, I repeat my ministry is in parenthesis Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry, Anambra state.

‘’There are Olu Ndi Enigwe Adoration Minsitry, Chukwubuokem Adoration Ministry, Communion Sanctorum Adoration Ministry, Lumen Christi Adoration Ministry, Canaan Land Adoration Ministry and others, by other priests who are called also into the ministry.


Reverend Father Obimma advised worshipers of Adoration ministries to stop stoking the embers of hatred , jealousy and strife in the kingdom of God to avoid the wrath of God, asking priests to be ware of the antics of ministry destroyers.
His words: ‘’My advice to such people, because also, my Personal Adviser showed me, Reverend Father backs own reply, that Fr. Mbaka Fires back at Ebube Muonso but I know, I am quiet convinced that Mbaka did not say any thing, they just programmed it to steer strife among priests, but they have failed to achieve their aim.


‘’The issue is that I will always advise every priest, for them not to allow their followers and their parishioners lead them into error. It is a very very sensitive issue, I will not like to say anything further, because a brother priest is involved, I believe I have attained some level of maturity in the ministry.


Reacting on the alleged competition with Fr Mbaka, Reverend Father Emmanuel Obimma said he is not competing or copying any priest as there is no competition in destiny.

His words: ‘’I am not competing with anybody, there is no competition in destiny. I am just following my divine call, just like I said earlier I respect Fr Mbaka a lot, even in my seminary days, I fought for him, to the extent of raising my hand on a fellow seminarian, who dropped a cynical statement about him and because of that I was penalized by the seminary authority. My warning to followers of priest is to know that they are dealing with ordained men of God. Just like I said earlier, I have attained certain level of maturity in the ministry, I always subject everything to prayer, waiting to hear from the Lord behind the curtain veil, I believe I have the gift of discernment. So my lay faithful should be warned not to interfere in matters that pertains ministers of God because by so doing they are incurring the wrath of God. You may think you are fighting for a priest without knowing you are destroying yourself.

Reverend Father Obimma concluded: ‘’ Take note , I don’t copy anybody. I don’t jealous anybody. It is only a fool that says what he is not sure of . People are good in fabricating stories against men of God. Why should I antagonize Rev Fr Mbaka when I pray for him everyday and Holy Ghost Adoration ministry prays for him every week?’’

The Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] have come down very heavily on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB for attempting to affix culpability on it for the crises that occured at Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area where the Nigerian Police reportedly had a clash with the IPOB who were said to be awaiting the arrival of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for a rally scheduled to hold in the town. Below is the press release by ASLADD as made available to odogwublog in Awka today:

EKWULOBIA CRISES: IPOB IS CONFUSING APPLES WITH ORANGES

The attention of the Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] has been drawn to a statement released by Emma Powerful for the IPOB on the clash that was reported to have occurred between the Nigerian Police and some IPOB members at Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. In the said press release, the author labored strenuously to share the culpability of the crises between the DPO of Ekwulobia Police Station and “individuals hiding under non-existent Anambra Lawyers”.

We start by saying that the Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] is composed of eminent Legal Practitioners from Anambra State who practice both within and outside the shores of the state. Without mincing words, the foremost consideration that propelled the coming together of these fine minds is to robustly protect democracy in Anambra State which has come under a massive threat by the extra-legal and anarchist method introduced by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in his push to carve out an imaginary fiefdom for himself where delusively he would be presiding over his serfs like a feudal emperor who must not be opposed by his subjects without fatal consequences.

It is rather ridiculous that the author of the IPOB statement claimed that our group is both “faceless” and “non-existent” and yet he labored profusely to apportion blame and culpability to a “non-existent” group. This is purely an inverted logic. It is a matter of ordinary knowledge that lawyers in every society [by virtue of their professional calling and standing] are public figures. True indeed, the Convener of this august assembly is Mr. Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi. This is a gentleman committed to the defence of human rights, rule of law and constitutionalism. It is on record that our Convener stood tall and firm in robust defence of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu since he was arrested in 2015. As a matter of fact, it was our Convener who put up a pro-bono appearance with Mr. Vincent Obetta on the 17th day of December, 2015 before the Honourable Justice A.F.A. Ademola where the Mr. Nnamdi Kanu was granted bail for the 2nd time.

The records of proceedings in charge no: FHC/ABJ/383/2015 would reveal that our Convener has put up many pro-bono appearances in defence of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before the Honourable Justices; A.F.A. Ademola, A.R. Mohammed and James Tsoho. Our Convener has equally on different occasions backed up his courtroom support with strongly-worded letters to President Muhammed Buhari, Chief John Oyegun, National President of the Nigerian Bar Association and the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation urging them to see good reasons why the order of court granting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Rtd. Colonel Dasuki and El-Zakzaki bail ought to be respected in total obeisance to the dictates of rule of law and for the preservation of our constitutional democracy.

These tons of letters are readily accessible as they were well published and documented at the offices of their recipients. This is quite apart from the numerous legal articles contributed by our Convener aimed at rallying the support of human rights activists to have Mazi Nnamdi Kanu freed from Kuje. While still in prison, our Convener has had to visit and meet with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on more than five different occasions all in a bid to strategize on how to use the instrumentality of the law to set him free from the gulag. What has our convener not done to have Mazi Nnamdi Kanu breathe the air of freedom he is enjoying today even at a great personal risk [even at a time when even the highest political office holders in the South-East region were shy of identifying with Nnamdi Kanu’s ordeals]. We challenge the IPOB to controvert these hardcore and overwhelming facts. It was William George who once rightly posited that “ingratitude is a crime more despicable than revenge, which is only returning evil for evil, while ingratitude returns evil for good.”

While Immanuel Kant [German Philosopher] appreciates that “Ingratitude is the essence of vileness”, James Thomas [Scottish Musician] rightly concludes that “Ingratitude is treason to mankind”. It is not surprising to us that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu does not brook the word “gratitude” in his vocabulary of living just as he has sufficiently demonstrated that those core values handed down to us by our forebears that characterize Igbo civilization have evaporated from his menu of manners.

It is therefore rather unfortunate that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu [a huge beneficiary of our legal prowess and professional benevolence] could turn around and accuse our noble body of being responsible for Ekwulobia crises. Yes we dared to challenge him on the futility of his attempt at truncating Anambra election where he has no legitimate interest in whatever becomes the outcome of that democratic exercise. In our considered view, his home state [Abia], with deep humility and respect, needs more help to rescue her from dilapidated infrastructures than our dear Anambra State that currently shines the light in most indices of governance. All this madness being orchestrated by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is ultimately aimed at possibly setting the polity ablaze [using the fuel of hate and intimidating speeches] in the phantom hope that the weighty criminal charges hanging on his neck would drown in the ensuing melee. In achieving this devious intention [which is a mere fishing expedition in the desert], Mazi Nnamdi Kanu would not mind using as many uniformed and less-privileged compatriots as are available as his canon-fodders.

We are compelled to state for the umpteenth time that we shall never fold our alms and watch Mazi Nnamdi Kanu pull our sacred constitution apart, pollute the system with rotten speeches of putrid hatred, acrimonious vituperations and denigrating venoms while pouring acerbic expletives on the foundations of our democracy in a manner that is capable of bringing an organised society to a perilous end. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should be rest assured that if we could use our legal arsenal to rescue him from the Kuje gulag after waging a very deadly and fierce legal battle on his behalf against the Federal Government of Nigeria [amidst all odds], we equally have more than what it takes [in our legal armoury] to decisively end his impunity and defend democracy [from his tyranny, imposition and buffoonery] in Anambra State which is our primary constituency. Participating in an election is purely discretionary on the part of the citizens. But we can never accept a situation where Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB is deploying violent means to scare law-abiding Anambrarians away from the polls even to the point of the Kanus repeatedly issuing assassination threat to our Convener for which human rights communities around the globe have adequately been put on notice.

We hereby re-iterate our call on the relevant authorities to urgently commence a high-powered clinical investigation into the activities of the IPOB. Biafra is a sacred ideology which is not commodious enough to admit acts of outlawry, criminal intimidations and charlatanism under its canopied ambience.

In signing off this statement, we find it so unfortunate and discomforting that the conducts of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has forced us to address him in the very words we addressed President Muhammed Buhari when we wrote him on the 6th of January, 2016 condemning his refusal to free Mazi Nnamdi Kanu despite an existing Court Order. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should listen to this:
“Sir, all the existing Supreme Court authorities and our penal books lean heavily in support of the long-established postulation that disobedience of Court Orders (otherwise called contempt of Court) is an abomination of the rankest specie just as it is an anathema in every democracy worth the name as it holds the key to the floodgates of anarchy and societal destruction. Condemning this cancerous vice, our own Supreme Court, in the case of Hart v. Hart (1991) 21 N.S.C.C. (Pt. 1) 184 at 199, had these unkind words for those who disobey Court orders (contemnors);
“I would like to state that obedience to Orders of Courts is fundamental to the good order, peace and stability of the Nigerian nation. The ugly alternative is a painful recrudescence of triumph of brute force or anarchy, a resort to our old system of settlement by means of bow and arrows, machetes and guns or, now, even more sophisticated weapons of war.

Disobedience to an order of Court should, therefore, be seen as an offence directed not against the personality of the Judge who made the Order, but as a calculated act of subversion of peace, law, and order in Nigeria society. Obedience to every Order of Court is therefore a duty which every citizen who believes in peace and stability of the Nigerian State owes to the nation. To allow Court orders to be disobeyed would be to tread the road toward anarchy. If orders of the Court can be treated with disrespect, the whole administration of justice is brought into scorn…If the remedies that the Court grants to correct wrongs can be ignored, then, there will be nothing left for each person but to take the law into his own hands. Loss of respect for the Court will quickly result in the destruction of our society.”

How time flies! The same impunity and disobedience of Court Order levied against our president last year is what Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is gleefully practicing today. If Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had obeyed the Ruling of the Court anchoring his bail to many conditions [most of which he has violated even though he earlier agreed to them], the Ekwulobia tragedy would not have occurred. It was in the process of disobeying the Court Order [banning him from organizing and/or attending rallies] that Ekwulobia tragedy eventuated. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, his IPOB and the whole world can now see where the culpability of Ekwulobia tragedy lies. Unlike Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB that offered no word(s) of sympathy, encouragement and condolence to the deceased and victims of the 6th August gruesome, mind-boggling and ghoulish butchery at Ozubulu, we [on our part] humbly pray the Good Lord to show mercy to the victim(s) of Ekwulobia tragedy, graciously lift the light of His countenance upon the departed and grant the dead a kind admittance into his kingdom.
Ozoemezina!.
18th August, 2017.

Source:

http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/08/ekwulobia-crises-asladd-knocks-ipob-kanu.html

The Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] have come down very heavily on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB for attempting to affix culpability on it for the crises that occured at Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area where the Nigerian Police reportedly had a clash with the IPOB who were said to be awaiting the arrival of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for a rally scheduled to hold in the town. Below is the press release by ASLADD as made available to odogwublog in Awka today:

EKWULOBIA CRISES: IPOB IS CONFUSING APPLES WITH ORANGES

The attention of the Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] has been drawn to a statement released by Emma Powerful for the IPOB on the clash that was reported to have occurred between the Nigerian Police and some IPOB members at Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. In the said press release, the author labored strenuously to share the culpability of the crises between the DPO of Ekwulobia Police Station and “individuals hiding under non-existent Anambra Lawyers”.
We start by saying that the Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] is composed of eminent Legal Practitioners from Anambra State who practice both within and outside the shores of the state. Without mincing words, the foremost consideration that propelled the coming together of these fine minds is to robustly protect democracy in Anambra State which has come under a massive threat by the extra-legal and anarchist method introduced by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in his push to carve out an imaginary fiefdom for himself where delusively he would be presiding over his serfs like a feudal emperor who must not be opposed by his subjects without fatal consequences.
It is rather ridiculous that the author of the IPOB statement claimed that our group is both “faceless” and “non-existent” and yet he labored profusely to apportion blame and culpability to a “non-existent” group. This is purely an inverted logic. It is a matter of ordinary knowledge that lawyers in every society [by virtue of their professional calling and standing] are public figures. True indeed, the Convener of this august assembly is Mr. Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi. This is a gentleman committed to the defence of human rights, rule of law and constitutionalism. It is on record that our Convener stood tall and firm in robust defence of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu since he was arrested in 2015. As a matter of fact, it was our Convener who put up a pro-bono appearance with Mr. Vincent Obetta on the 17th day of December, 2015 before the Honourable Justice A.F.A. Ademola where the Mr. Nnamdi Kanu was granted bail for the 2nd time.
The records of proceedings in charge no: FHC/ABJ/383/2015 would reveal that our Convener has put up many pro-bono appearances in defence of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before the Honourable Justices; A.F.A. Ademola, A.R. Mohammed and James Tsoho. Our Convener has equally on different occasions backed up his courtroom support with strongly-worded letters to President Muhammed Buhari, Chief John Oyegun, National President of the Nigerian Bar Association and the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation urging them to see good reasons why the order of court granting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Rtd. Colonel Dasuki and El-Zakzaki bail ought to be respected in total obeisance to the dictates of rule of law and for the preservation of our constitutional democracy. These tons of letters are readily accessible as they were well published and documented at the offices of their recipients. This is quite apart from the numerous legal articles contributed by our Convener aimed at rallying the support of human rights activists to have Mazi Nnamdi Kanu freed from Kuje. While still in prison, our Convener has had to visit and meet with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on more than five different occasions all in a bid to strategize on how to use the instrumentality of the law to set him free from the gulag. What has our convener not done to have Mazi Nnamdi Kanu breathe the air of freedom he is enjoying today even at a great personal risk [even at a time when even the highest political office holders in the South-East region were shy of identifying with Nnamdi Kanu’s ordeals]. We challenge the IPOB to controvert these hardcore and overwhelming facts. It was William George who once rightly posited that “ingratitude is a crime more despicable than revenge, which is only returning evil for evil, while ingratitude returns evil for good.” While Immanuel Kant [German Philosopher] appreciates that “Ingratitude is the essence of vileness”, James Thomas [Scottish Musician] rightly concludes that “Ingratitude is treason to mankind”. It is not surprising to us that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu does not brook the word “gratitude” in his vocabulary of living just as he has sufficiently demonstrated that those core values handed down to us by our forebears that characterize Igbo civilization have evaporated from his menu of manners.

It is therefore rather unfortunate that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu [a huge beneficiary of our legal prowess and professional benevolence] could turn around and accuse our noble body of being responsible for Ekwulobia crises. Yes we dared to challenge him on the futility of his attempt at truncating Anambra election where he has no legitimate interest in whatever becomes the outcome of that democratic exercise. In our considered view, his home state [Abia], with deep humility and respect, needs more help to rescue her from dilapidated infrastructures than our dear Anambra State that currently shines the light in most indices of governance. All this madness being orchestrated by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is ultimately aimed at possibly setting the polity ablaze [using the fuel of hate and intimidating speeches] in the phantom hope that the weighty criminal charges hanging on his neck would drown in the ensuing melee. In achieving this devious intention [which is a mere fishing expedition in the desert], Mazi Nnamdi Kanu would not mind using as many uniformed and less-privileged compatriots as are available as his canon-fodders.

We are compelled to state for the umpteenth time that we shall never fold our alms and watch Mazi Nnamdi Kanu pull our sacred constitution apart, pollute the system with rotten speeches of putrid hatred, acrimonious vituperations and denigrating venoms while pouring acerbic expletives on the foundations of our democracy in a manner that is capable of bringing an organised society to a perilous end. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should be rest assured that if we could use our legal arsenal to rescue him from the Kuje gulag after waging a very deadly and fierce legal battle on his behalf against the Federal Government of Nigeria [amidst all odds], we equally have more than what it takes [in our legal armoury] to decisively end his impunity and defend democracy [from his tyranny, imposition and buffoonery] in Anambra State which is our primary constituency. Participating in an election is purely discretionary on the part of the citizens. But we can never accept a situation where Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB is deploying violent means to scare law-abiding Anambrarians away from the polls even to the point of the Kanus repeatedly issuing assassination threat to our Convener for which human rights communities around the globe have adequately been put on notice. We hereby re-iterate our call on the relevant authorities to urgently commence a high-powered clinical investigation into the activities of the IPOB. Biafra is a sacred ideology which is not commodious enough to admit acts of outlawry, criminal intimidations and charlatanism under its canopied ambience.

In signing off this statement, we find it so unfortunate and discomforting that the conducts of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has forced us to address him in the very words we addressed President Muhammed Buhari when we wrote him on the 6th of January, 2016 condemning his refusal to free Mazi Nnamdi Kanu despite an existing Court Order. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should listen to this:
“Sir, all the existing Supreme Court authorities and our penal books lean heavily in support of the long-established postulation that disobedience of Court Orders (otherwise called contempt of Court) is an abomination of the rankest specie just as it is an anathema in every democracy worth the name as it holds the key to the floodgates of anarchy and societal destruction. Condemning this cancerous vice, our own Supreme Court, in the case of Hart v. Hart (1991) 21 N.S.C.C. (Pt. 1) 184 at 199, had these unkind words for those who disobey Court orders (contemnors);
“I would like to state that obedience to Orders of Courts is fundamental to the good order, peace and stability of the Nigerian nation. The ugly alternative is a painful recrudescence of triumph of brute force or anarchy, a resort to our old system of settlement by means of bow and arrows, machetes and guns or, now, even more sophisticated weapons of war. Disobedience to an order of Court should, therefore, be seen as an offence directed not against the personality of the Judge who made the Order, but as a calculated act of subversion of peace, law, and order in Nigeria society. Obedience to every Order of Court is therefore a duty which every citizen who believes in peace and stability of the Nigerian State owes to the nation. To allow Court orders to be disobeyed would be to tread the road toward anarchy. If orders of the Court can be treated with disrespect, the whole administration of justice is brought into scorn…If the remedies that the Court grants to correct wrongs can be ignored, then, there will be nothing left for each person but to take the law into his own hands. Loss of respect for the Court will quickly result in the destruction of our society.”

How time flies! The same impunity and disobedience of Court Order levied against our president last year is what Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is gleefully practicing today. If Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had obeyed the Ruling of the Court anchoring his bail to many conditions [most of which he has violated even though he earlier agreed to them], the Ekwulobia tragedy would not have occurred. It was in the process of disobeying the Court Order [banning him from organizing and/or attending rallies] that Ekwulobia tragedy eventuated. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, his IPOB and the whole world can now see where the culpability of Ekwulobia tragedy lies. Unlike Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB that offered no word(s) of sympathy, encouragement and condolence to the deceased and victims of the 6th August gruesome, mind-boggling and ghoulish butchery at Ozubulu, we [on our part] humbly pray the Good Lord to show mercy to the victim(s) of Ekwulobia tragedy, graciously lift the light of His countenance upon the departed and grant the dead a kind admittance into his kingdom.
Ozoemezina!.
18th August, 2017.
Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, Esq.
Convener, Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD].

Source: http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/08/ekwulobia-crises-asladd-knocks-ipob-kanu.html

Things are no longer at ease for the Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB] and its Leader Nnamdi Kanu in Anambra State. A coalition of Lawyers on the platform of Anambra Lawyers in defence of democracy [ASLADD] have again warned the IPOB against acts of outlawry, intimidation of Anambra citizens and other criminal acts aimed at striking terror in the minds of those who have resolved to vote on 18th November. The Lawyers asked the Attorney-General to commence an urgent clinical investigation into the activities of the IPOB in Onitsha. Below is a full copy of the letter as obtained from http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/08/again-anambra-lawyers-attack-ipob-write.html :

14th August, 2017
THE HONOURABLE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION,
MR. ABUBAKAR MALAMI, SAN
FEDERAL MINISTRY OF JUSTICE,
MAITAMA, ABUJA.
DEAR SIR

ANAMBRA 2017 ELECTION AND BIAFRA AGITATIONS: THE NEED FOR YOUR OFFICE TO ROBUSTLY RISE IN DEFENCE OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY AND HALT THE IMPUNITY OF CHARLATANS

The above subject-matter refers.
We bring you warm greetings in the name [and from the constituency] of Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] and from the constituency of all lovers of democracy, advocates of constitutionalism and apostles of Rule of Law.
BACKGROUND FACTS:
Our Dear Anambra State is now due for another governorship election. The electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission [henceforth in this letter called the INEC], has slated the date of the epic contest to be 18th November, 2017. The atmosphere is gradually heating up. This is understandable. Now, we have the Indigenous People of Biafra [henceforth in this letter called the IPOB]. They [the IPOB] are now concededly a factor in the political epic battle coming up. This is so, not because the IPOB is a registered political party under the Nigerian laws. The IPOB is not even registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria and therefore enjoys no legal entity in the Nigerian nation. However, the IPOB activities and the consequences flowing therefrom now transcend both political/geographical boundaries. The Leader of the IPOB, Maazi Nnamdi Kanu, has taken a decision and consequently issued a directive to the effect that elections would no longer hold in Biafraland.
THE SOUL OF THIS LETTER:
The seat of this letter is furnished by the vehement opposition to the holding of the said election by one Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the self-acclaimed Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra [henceforth in this letter called the IPOB] who is currently standing criminal trial bordering on treason before the Federal High Court, Abuja in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015. It is the position of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu that the said governorship election would not hold in Anambra State and that he and his followers are determined to boycott the elections. In so doing, it is their belief that Biafra as a country will speedily be realized.
THE CRUX OF OUR CASE:
Sir, there is no denying the fact that the exercise of the right to vote is tied to the discretion of each citizen. In other words, a citizen is at liberty to abstain from voting [for whatever good or bad reason] even though it is a civic duty recognized by the constitution. The IPOB have taken a position that they would “boycott” the forthcoming Anambra 2017 elections. We do not have any problem with them on this position. However, our challenge with IPOB is their seeming inability to appreciate the meaning of the word “boycott” as it relates to Anambra election. We are worried that their mode of propagating their “No referendum, no election” mantra suggests that the word “boycott” has another meaning assigned to it in their own dictionary which is “disruption” of all legitimate activities of government and electioneering activities calculated at striking terror in the minds of the citizens who have made up their mind to discharge their civic duty on the 18th day of November, 2017. We now proceed with aplomb to demonstrably instantiate this point.
Sir, the Nnmadi Kanu led IPOB are always quick to raise the green banner of “non-violence” and take refuge under its canopied ambience whereas their official dissemination channel, Radio Biafra, is a flowing river of hate-speeches, incitement to violence and war. ASLADD commend to you the video of Nnamdi Kanu in the United States asking Igbo residing there for money to buy arms to fight other Nigerians. Hate speech leads to war and war leads to deaths and, therefore, IPOB preaches violence. In the South-East [especially in Onitsha which is our commercial nerve center], the IPOB miscreants extort money from traders after intimidating them. IPOB hoodlums illegally mount roadblocks to force other citizens to buy their Biafra flags and insignia not minding whether such citizens subscribe to their separatist ideology or whether such citizens have the money to pay for the said flags. They harass citizens and threaten them with violence. They intimidate them to close their shops. IPOB street urchins have on two remarkable occasions disrupted campaigns rallies and have most infamously invaded and desecrated St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Govrenment Area of Anambra State where the Governor was to worship [with their chants of no referendum, no election]. Indeed, they have a rich history of mischief. This is potentially dangerous. IPOB is exposing the Igbo to another war and this is unacceptable. Their sing song “non-violence” is therefore a blatant lie, a ruse, a decoy and a smokescreen to mislead the unwary. It is interesting to note that the IPOB is just one out of many Biafran separatist groups. Instructively, these complaints of acts of outlawry cannot be laid against those other groups.
As the Chief Law Officer of the country and the number one defender of our constitution and rule of law, you will agree with us that all these acts complained of [in their aggregate] rudely strike at the root of democracy and constitute a grave threat to the operation of the Nigerian Constitution in the Eastern part of Nigeria especially in Anambra State in view of the governorship election holding later in November. This has now crystallised to a weighty responsibility on your shoulders more so when these acts complained of mostly draw their inspiration from the activities of Nnamdi Kanu who has literally rumpled all the conditions to which his bail was tied and is now reveling in contempt of the Federal High Court with unprecedented and scandalous impunity. Speaking from the Bar, we are convinced that the security reports [on IPOB activities] from the security agencies in Anambra State [Onitsha in particular] cannot contradict these complaints we have tabled before you unless the commanders have not been alive to their responsibilities. This ugly and fast-degenerating state of affairs was/is the reason why we wrote a similar open letter to the State Governor last week titled “The 2017 Anambra State governorship election and the imperative of ending the impunity of anarchists before it is too late”. These nefarious activities carefully tabulated herein will in no time mark the beginning of the collapse of the economy of our Dear State and indeed the South-East in general if left unchecked. This would be one calamity too many. We cannot afford it especially in the light of the fact that the South-East is already disadvantaged in so many indices of good governance.
SUMMATION:
In signing off this urgent letter, we wish to draw your kind attention to the rising wave of violent crimes in Anambra State, the kind that has never been witnessed in our entire history as a nation. While we are still reeling in shock resulting from the blood-chilling and mind-boggling butchery of our compatriots on the 6th August, 2017 at Saint Philip’s Catholic Church, Amakwa Ozobulu, yesterday [13th August, 2017], we were again thrown into mourning by the attack on yet another church, this time in Onitsha. This litany of heart-wrenching calamities is alien to us as a people. It is against this background that we now urge you to deploy all the instruments and powers of the Nigerian State available to you to reign in the excesses of purveyors of hate-speeches, terminate the pastime of anarchists among us and promptly commence a high-powered clinical investigation into the activities of the IPOB [as tabled above]. Agitation for self-determination bears no resemblance with anarchy, criminality and outlawry. Our country Nigeria is a nation whose democracy is founded on laws. Our nation is not on auto-pilot. Nigeria is neither a ghetto [where charlatans call the shots] nor a banana republic [where outlaws dictate the tone of public discourse]. True indeed, Nigeria is not an asylum where lunatics and fringe elements preside. The time to axe this sore thumb is now so that it does not get gangrenous. We must now begin to separate apples from oranges. Your highly esteemed office must now set forth at dawn so that the journey would be made before dusk. We crave your kind indulgence to share the content of this letter with the media, the International Community and Human Rights Communities world over.
Please Sir, do kindly accept the firm assurances of our highest esteem.
Yours in defence of democracy,

JOHNMARY CHUKWUKASI JIDEOBI, Esq.

Convener of ASLADD
Cc:
United Nations Mission in Nigeria
Ambassador of the United States to Nigeria
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria
The European Union Mission to Nigeria
National Human Rights Commission
The Inspector-General of Police
The Defence Headquarters
The Director-General, State Security Service
The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Federal House of Representatives
South-East Governors Forum
Anambra Council of Traditional Rulers
Source: http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/08/again-anambra-lawyers-attack-ipob-write.html

More troubles for the IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu, as Coalition of Anambra Pro-Democracy Lawyer, under the aegis of Anambra Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] wrote Governor Willie an open letter warning him of the grave consequences that would sooner than later befall the state if he refuses to reign in what they described as the "impunity of anarchist" before it is too late. The Lawyers accused the IPOB of acts of "outlawry" aimed at striking terror in the minds of the citizens who would love to go out and discharge their civil duty.A full copy of the letter is found below:

THE 2017 ANAMBRA STATE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION AND THE IMPERATIVE OF ENDING THE IMPUNITY OF ANARCHISTS BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
The above subject matter refers.

INTRODUCTION:

We, ANAMBRA STATE LAWYERS IN DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY [ASLADD], bring you warmest greetings from our constituency

BACKGROUND FACTS

The State is now due for another governorship election which the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission [henceforth in this article called the INEC], has slated the date of the epic contest to be 18th November, 2017.

It is now a public knowledge that you have picked your nomination form in other to square up with many opponents from other political parties. The atmosphere is gradually heating up. This is understandable. Now, we have the Indigenous People of Biafra [henceforth in this article political epic battle coming up. This is so not because the IPOB is a registered political party called the IPOB]. They [the IPOB] are now concededly a factor in the under the Nigerian laws. The IPOB is not even registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria and therefore enjoys no legal entity in the Nigerian nation.

However, the IPOB activities and the consequences flowing therefrom now transcend both political/geographical boundaries. The Leader of the IPOB, Maazi Nnamdi Kanu, has taken a decision and consequently issued a directive to the effect that elections would no longer hold in Biafraland. No doubt, both your humble self and the members of ASLADD are all Biafrans. To this extent, it is therefore correct to state that no one man or group can lay claim to being more Biafran than the others.

OBJECTIVE OF THE LETTER:
The fulcrum of this urgent letter has been donated by the strident opposition mounted by the IPOB to the conduct of the 2017 Governorship election in Anambra state. We have chosen to write you on this principally because we are involved. We are involved because we too are Anambrarians. We are involved because democracy has come under imminent threat in our beloved State. We are involved because the future of every nation’s democracy lies on the shoulders of lawyers. We are involved because lawyers are saddled with the sacred and abiding duties of enlightening the society, upholding the rule of law and defending our constitution [which is the most sacred document] that holds our nation in balance and in being. We are involved because it is our incontestable right to contribute in defining and protecting the future in which we will live and raise our kids. It is now clearly beyond any scintilla of argument that we have a legitimate interest in whatever plays out on the political scene of Anambra State of Nigeria.

THE MEAT OF THE MATTER:
Your Excellency Sir, A boycott is an act of voluntary and intentional abstention from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for social, political, or environmental reasons. If the IPOB had stopped at directing its members to abstain from the polls, perhaps the present open letter would not have been of any moment. But they did not stop at that. They have now gone physical. In Onitsha, video evidence abound how IPOB members have interrupted state activities where the governor went for a football tournament. On another occasion, the Governorship aspirant under the PPA platform, Chief Godwin Ezemo, was confronted at a rally by the IPOB. Only recently, the IPOB members invaded and desecrated St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area, where the Governor was to worship. From the account of the State Commissioner of Police, it took greater restraint and discipline on the part of the Governor’s security details to stave off what would have been a harvest of human casualties. Still recently, we read in the news that a coalition of militants have issued a stern warning to Anambrarians, to stay away from the polls on the 18th of November, 2017 or pay dearly for daring to defy the order of Maazi Nnamdi Kanu. All these are deliberate acts aimed at striking terror in the minds of ordinary citizens who have made up their minds to go out and discharge their civic duty.
It is now clear that going further to disrupt electioneering processes [like football tournaments, campaign rallies] and invading and desecrating the sacred places of worship [as witnessed in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Ekwulobia] are acts clearly outside the meaning of the word “boycott”. Those are acts of outlawry. They are forerunners of anarchy. Anarchy is antithetical to democracy. Anarchists are anti-democratic forces that must be opposed whether in Nigeria or Biafraland. Anambra State has values that distinguish it from the lots. We cherish democracy and its pristine values one of which is freedom of thought and speech. We are republican. We abhor anarchy and view tyranny with disgust! People who wish to deal with us must respect our values.
Your Excellency, it is important to point out that in every democracy, while the minority will always have their say, the majority will have their way. In every democracy, no one man has the monopoly of the knowledge of what is good for a people. A people even have the right [in every democracy] to reject what is good for them. Advocates of election boycott must begin to learn, accept and live with this democratic truth. We pray that those who are actively seeking to return our dear Anambra state to the wasteful and inglorious days of Mbadinuju be dismayed and turned back. This is because, they are our enemies. For seeking to precipitate anarchy in the state of the iconic departed Supreme Leader of Biafra [His Excellency Dim Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu], they are enemies of Biafraland. They have no respect for the cherished memories of our departed Supreme Leader who [in his matchless wisdom] established APGA as a political party in the Nigerian Federation. A party which the current IPOB Leader [Nnamdi Kanu] once headed its UK Chapter. Nnamdi Kanu has not told us what has changed between then and now.

ANAMBRA BU NKE ANYI. EBE ONYE BI KA ONA-AWACHI:

Call it pride, call it immodesty, we are confident in announcing that Anambra State ranks first ahead of all other South-Eastern States in all the indices of good governance and in distribution of dividends of democracy to the citizens. This is a state with the best network of roads in the whole of the Nigerian federation and the least indebted state. From the inglorious era of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, tremendous efforts have been made to gloriously change the narratives of Leadership model from the time of Dr. Chris Ngige, Mr. Peter Obi and now Dr. Willie Obiano. All these superlative achievements would not have been possible but for the wonderful and well-informed choices made during periodic elections by Anambra citizens. It is therefore a most unfortunate irony and comical that individuals from states that are known to be afflicted with infrastructural bankruptcy and cursed with pronounced leadership convulsion would be seen advising Anambrarians to avoid the polls scheduled for 18th November, 2017. They should tell it to the marines.
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE:
In signing off our letter, we wish to remind Your Excellency that you are the Chief Security of Officer [C.S.O.] of this State. All the instruments and legitimate authority of the state are at your disposal. Your hand should be strengthened by this singular fact. May your Administration never go down in history as first democratic government that was put in abeyance owing to the declaration of state of emergency in Anambra state as a result of avoidable security breaches. That would cast a pall of darkness on an administration which has so far carved out a niche for making Anambra the safest state in the whole federation. Such ignominy would be a sad footnote to the sterling achievements so far recorded by your administration. Such sore thumb must be cut off before it becomes gangrenous.
Please, Sir, do graciously accept the warmest assurances of our highest esteem.
Yours in defence of democracy,

Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, Esq,
Convener.

Source:
http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/08/anambra-lawyers-in-defence-of-democracy.html

More troubles for Nnamdi Kanu as his former Lawyer shades him on Anambra election. The Anambra born Constitutional Lawyer and Human Rights Activist came down heavily on the secessionist Leader, describing him as an anarchist and enemy of Biafra. This is contained in the Lawyer's article found on http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/08/2017-anambra-governorship-election.html.

"It is therefore a most unfortunate irony and comical that individuals from states that are known to be afflicted with infrastructural bankruptcy and cursed with pronounced leadership convulsion would be seen advising Anambrarians to avoid the polls scheduled for 18th November, 2017. They should tell it to the marines. Such directives can only be found in books like Alice in Wonderland. It is akin to a tale told by an idiot full of sound fury signifying nothing [apologies to Williams Shakespeare]. In the light of the legal adumbrations hereinabove highlighted, anybody who chooses to deploy other means than that legally accepted means capable of advancing the Biafra agitation is nothing but an anarchist. Ndigbo have a saying that “ebe onye bi ka ona-awachi”. This literally translates that “Where a man lives, he protects”.

"Those who do not know the laid down procedures or are unwilling to follow the internationally recognised procedures for secession should leave the business of Biafra agitations alone. They should humble themselves and go into the lecture room of international law or seek for a crash programme on international law. Abstaining from election is a choice. However, going further to disrupt electioneering processes [like football tournaments, campaign rallies] and invading and desecrating the sacred places of worship [as witnessed in Ekwulobia] are acts clearly outside the meaning of the word “boycott”. Those are acts of outlawry. They are forerunners of anarchy. Anarchy is antithetical to democracy. Anarchists are anti-democratic forces that must be opposed whether in Nigeria or Biafraland."

"Anambra State has values that distinguish it from the lots. We cherish democracy and its pristine values one of which is freedom of thought and speech. We are republican. We abhor anarchy and view tyranny with disgust! People who wish to deal with us must respect our values. In every democracy, while the minority will always have their say, the majority will have their way. In every democracy, no one man has the monopoly of the knowledge of what is good for a people. A people have the right [in every democracy] to reject even what is good for them. Advocates of election boycott must begin to learn, accept and live with this democratic truth. May those who are actively seeking to return our dear Anambra state to the wasteful and inglorious days of Mbadinuju be dismayed and turned back. This is because, they are our enemies. For seeking to precipitate anarchy in the state of the iconic departed Supreme Leader of Biafra [His Excellency Dim Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu], they are enemies of Biafraland. They have no respect for the cherished memories of our departed Supreme Leader who [in his matchless wisdom] established APGA as a political party in the Nigerian Federation. A party which the current IPOB Leader [Nnamdi Kanu] once headed its UK Chapter. Nnamdi Kanu has not told us what has changed between then and now."

A former Lawyer to the IPOB Leader [Nnamdi Kanu] and Anambra born constitutional Lawyer, Barrister Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, has descended heavily on the proponents of "No referendum, no election" mantra. This is contained in an incisive article he titled "2017 ANAMBRA GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION, ELECTION BOYCOTT AND SEPARATIST AGITATIONS: SEPARATING APPLES FROM ORANGES".Part of which reads: "I want to start my reflection by re-affirming that our country Nigeria is a nation whose democracy is founded on laws. Our nation is not on auto-pilot. Nigeria is neither a ghetto [where charlatans call the shots] nor a banana republic [where outlaws dictate the tone of public discourse]. Indeed, I can go on to state that Nigeria is not an asylum where lunatics and fringe elements preside. There is no argument that appointing a date for a referendum is just one step among many in the build up to the possible grant of independence to any people desirous of same. Dates for a referendum are not just given for the mere asking. They are not given on a platter of gold. They are not given as a routine. They are not given willy-nilly. It does not follow that when asked for, a date for referendum is given the same way morning must follow the night. Every procedure relating to referendum as a prelude to secession is tied to law. Such referendum processes are not at large. Indeed, under our present Constitutional arrangement, referendum can only [legally] be ordered where the agitators have taken their agitations to the Court room for the enforcement of their human and peoples’ right to self-determination. Such tough legal duel will most likely terminate at the Supreme Court. If and when the outcome does not favour the agitators, then they have a case which they can put before regional and global bodies having exhausted all available domestic remedies. This can only be so because Biafra as an entity will at best remain a failed project without recognition accorded to it by the United Nation [an august body that understands that the balkanization of a country is not a tea party.]."

The Lawyer scored the bull's eye when he very insightfully submitted thus: "It is therefore a most unfortunate irony and comical that individuals from states that are known to be afflicted with infrastructural bankruptcy and cursed with pronounced leadership convulsion would be seen advising Anambrarians to avoid the polls scheduled for 18th November, 2017. They should tell it to the marines. Such directives can only be found in books like Alice in Wonderland. It is akin to a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing [apologies to Williams Shakespeare]. In the light of the legal adumbrations hereinabove highlighted, anybody who chooses to deploy other means than those legally accepted means capable of advancing the Biafra agitation is nothing but an anarchist. Ndigbo have a saying that “ebe onye bi ka ona-awachi”. This literally translates that “Where a man lives, he protects”. Anambra is indeed “our own” and I must sound selfish here. Boycotting election [from clear legal perspective] will by no means advance the cause of Biafra. Election boycott and Biafra realization have no nexus. That is trying to confuse apples with oranges to only score a point in attention-seeking. It is at this juncture that I entirely endorse the conclusion of Anambra APGA that “Nnamdi Kanu’s call for a boycott of elections in the South-East, beginning with the governorship polls scheduled for November 18, 2017 in Anambra is irresponsible, irredentist and totally devoid of any focus”. I equally endorse the view of Ohanaeze Chairman [Chief Nnia Nwodo] that “We are happy with the peace that exists here. We are happy with the steady progress that Anambra has registered over the years. The next election can only improve not retard it”. Those who do not know the laid down procedures or are unwilling to follow the internationally recognised procedures for secession should leave the business of Biafra agitations alone. They should humble themselves and go into the lecture room of international law or seek for a crash programme on international law. "
The lawyer has some unkind words for Nnamdi Kanu. Hear him: "Anambra State has values that distinguish it from the lots. We cherish democracy and its pristine values one of which is freedom of thought and speech. We are republican. We abhor anarchy and view tyranny with disgust! People who wish to deal with us must respect our values. In every democracy, while the minority will always have their say, the majority will have their way. In every democracy, no one man has the monopoly of the knowledge of what is good for a people. A people have the right [in every democracy] to reject even what is good for them. Advocates of election boycott must begin to learn, accept and live with this democratic truth. May those who are actively seeking to return our dear Anambra state to the wasteful and inglorious days of Mbadinuju be dismayed and turned back. This is because, they are our enemies. For seeking to precipitate anarchy in the state of the iconic departed Supreme Leader of Biafra [His Excellency Dim Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu], they are enemies of Biafraland. They have no respect for the cherished memories of our departed Supreme Leader who [in his matchless wisdom] established APGA as a political party in the Nigerian Federation. A party which the current IPOB Leader [Nnamdi Kanu] once headed its UK Chapter. Nnamdi Kanu has not told us what has changed between then and now"
The full article is found on the lawyer's facebook page at: https://web.facebook.com/jideobi.johnmary1/posts/1533998306658554

Cc; Lalasticlala, Seun, Tonyis2much, Tonybacanister

Referendum for Biafra: Ending the Legal Heresy, Building a New Nation by: Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, Esq.

There is certainly no denying the unfortunate fact that a whirlwind of anarchy is about encircling the whole Nigerian Nation. Indeed, this is a perilous time for the Nigerian nation. The handwriting is boldly written on the wall for even the blind to see and too audible for even the deaf to hear. Permit me to borrow the words of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukkah [that great and acclaimed Apostle of the pen] to paint a clearer picture of what apparently is the dominant mood of our nation. Now, listen to this:
“The froth has come to the top: Nigeria’s broth of deceit and opportunism masquerading as politics has triggered a diarrhea with dire consequences for the public space. Except we concede that we are a cursed nation, it is difficult to fathom how we could have ended up where we are now, a nation in a permanent stupor and always unable to celebrate its victories not to talk of avoiding its sorrows. How did we leave so many doors open that a small coterie of nondescript individuals with neither known addresses nor antecedents suddenly took centre stage?A first time visitor to our country in the last few weeks would think they have crashed into a party organised by drunken criminals who, in their bouts of raucous inebriation have resorted to a serious brawl with self injuries while overturning tables and food, destroying both glasses and plates… Suddenly, the nation seems to have come unhinged. Across the country, sounds of very irresponsible and provocative utterances fill the air. The media lapped it all up and by giving these adult urchins publicity, created the impression that the end of our nation had arrived.”
The above vivid analysis of Bishop Kukkah [which I most humbly crave his indulgence to adopt in this exercise] amply captures the state of the Nigerian nation at the moment. As the days go by, there is still no sign that we are yet resolved, as a people, to turn the ugly tide and rescue our nation from the precipice. Amidst this encircling gloom and blasting storm dangerously tossing the ship of state around, this writer humbly seeks [by this little contribution] to weigh into the situation [using the extant laws as the guiding polestar] by pointing at possible solutions capable of dousing tensions and stilling the storm especially in view of the deafening clamour for referendum as championed by the Indigenous People of Biafra [called IPOB henceforth in this treatise] as a prelude to the possible balkanization of the Nigerian State. In the main therefore, this write-up principally aims at debunking the legal heresy that our body of laws [corpus juris] has no provision for the conduct of referendum as it is presently constituted. This false legal postulation has unfortunately saturated the climate of Biafra’s debate, blurred the vision of stakeholders [including our Federal Parliaments] and the Biafran agitators alike. If the storm precipitated by this erroneous legal postulation is successfully dispersed in and by this exercise, it will have reduced tension in the land, in that the Nigerian political stakeholders would no longer deploy the cudgel of such legal apostasy to push back the Biafran agitators and put down their legitimate demand with a view to possibly achieving a temporal victory of postponing what now seems to be the doomsday. At the same time, the Biafran agitators will have learnt [from the gratuitously beneficent illumination of this academic enterprise] how to appropriately table their demand [for the conduct of a referendum] to the Nigerian state in a manner that is devoid of ethnic tension which seems to largely characterize their present method of seeking the said referendum. After all, it is not a prerequisite that for a successful conduct of referendum to take place [within a geographical space] the de facto/de jure sovereign state [here, the Nigerian state] would be plunged [willy-nilly] into the cauldron of needless political turmoil or its continuous existence violently threatened or the sanctity of her laws violated by hate-speeches or such other crude methods and unpolished tactics with which IPOB has [principally] sustained its agitations/activities so far. This would unfortunately translate into nothing but abuse of such right to demand for the conduct of a referendum which the legal system of every civilised nation disavows.

Dispelling the Legal Heresies:
It is now beyond any legal argument that the right to self-determination [discernible from Article 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights] enures to the benefit of people of all nations [Biafrans not excluded]. For its defining impact on this discuss, we make haste to reproduce the lucid provision of the said Article 20 of African Charter as follows;
“All peoples shall have the right to existence. They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen.”
Be it noted that no less an institution than the Nigerian Supreme Court has had the opportunity to eloquently testify that “the Charter gives to citizens of member states of the Organisation of African Unity rights and obligations”. Speaking further on the imperative of such rights conferred by the African Charter being enforced by the Nigerian courts, the Supreme Court went further to percipiently insist that “if they must have any meaning”, those “rights and obligations are to be enforced by our Courts”. [See generally the case of Abacha vs. Fawehinmi (2001) 51 WRN 29; (2000) 6 NWLR 228, (2002) 3 LRC 296, (2001) 1 CHR 95.]

How then is the Right to Self-determination enforced?
Riding on the back of the foregoing accepted legal position that the right to self-determination is available to any group within the Nigerian geographical space, the crucial question now craving for resolution remains “how” such a right is to be enforced by any group [such as the IPOB and its kindred groups] desirous of taking advantage of same within the orbit of our laws.
Pursuant to section 46 (3) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria [henceforth in this piece called the Constitution] the Chief Justice of Nigeria has been empowered to make Rules and he has made Rules for the enforcement of these human rights. We now turn to the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, 2009 [henceforth in this reflection called FREP Rules] which currently holds the field in matters verging on fundamental rights enforcements in Nigeria. Under section 46(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended (“the Constitution”), any person who alleges that any of his fundamental rights and freedoms under Chapter IV of the Constitution is being or is likely to be contravened in any individual or the State in relation to him may apply to a High Court in that State for redress; and the High Court shall have original jurisdiction to hear and determine any application made to it, and may make such orders, issue such writs and give such directions as it may consider appropriate for the purpose of enforcing or securing the enforcement of any right within the State. It should be noted that only the High Court (the Federal High Court, State High Court or the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory) has original jurisdiction in respect of applications for the enforcement of human rights in Nigeria. See Order 1, rule 2 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009. For purposes of emphasis, paragraph 3 of the Preambles to the Rules is reproduced thus:
“3. The overriding objectives of these Rules are as follows:
(a) The Constitution, especially Chapter IV, as well as the African Charter, shall be expansively and purposely interpreted and applied, with a view to advancing and realizing the rights and freedoms contained in them and affording the protection intended by them
(b) For the purpose of advancing but never for the purpose of restricting the applicant’s rights and freedoms, the Court shall respect municipal, regional and international bills of rights cited to it or brought to its attention or of which the Court is aware, whether these bills constitute instruments in themselves or form part of larger documents like constitutions. Such bills include:
(i) The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other instruments (including protocols) in the African regional human rights system.
(ii) The Universal Declarations of Human Rights and other instruments (including protocols) in the United Nations Human Rights system.
(c) For the purpose of advancing but never for the purpose of restricting the applicant’s rights and freedoms, the Court may make consequential orders as may be just and expedient.
(d) The Court shall proactively pursue enhanced access to justice for all classes of litigants, especially the poor, the illiterate, the uninformed, the incarcerated, and the unrepresented.
(e) The Court shall encourage and welcome public interest litigations in the human rights field and no human rights case may be dismissed or struck out for want of locus standi.
The right way to go therefore is for the IPOB and such other break-away outfits to humble themselves and toe the path ordained by our laws in seeking the enforcement of their entrenched right to self-determination which is by presenting an application for the enforcement of their legal right consecrated in the African Charter before the Federal High Court with the Federal Government of Nigeria [and its relevant institutions] as the defendant(s).

Ubi jus ibi remedium:
Ubi jus ibi remedium’ is a latin maxim which means where there is a right there is a remedy. The word ‘Jus’ means the legal authority to do or demand something, and the word ‘remedium’ means the right of action in a Court of law. Literal meaning of this maxim is that whenever there is a legal right, there is a legal remedy. It also expresses that there is no wrong without a remedy. In the leading English case of Ashby v. White (1703) 14 St Tr 695, 92 ER 126 , the Court forcefully pronounced that, “When the law clothes a man with a right he must have means to vindicate and maintain it and remedy if he is injured in the exercise and enjoyment of it, and it is a vain thing to imagine a right without a remedy for want of right and want of remedy are reciprocal”. The maxim ubi jus ibi remedium is a principle of justice which is universally admitted. [See the case of Bello v. Attorney-General of Oyo State (1986) 5 N.W.L.R. (Pt. 45) 828. Invoking and applying this maxim of revered antiquity, the Nigerian Supreme Court [speaking through Fabiyi, J.S.C.] in the 2013 case of BFI Group v. BPE approved of this principle in these telling terms;
“Literally ubi jus ibi remedium means where there is a right, there is a remedy. It is said that the rule of primitive law was the reverse. Where there is a remedy there is a right. The court is enjoined to provide a remedy where a legal right is established. The court should look into the substance of the action rather than the form.”
What clearly emerges from a forensic analysis of the concatenation of the FREP Rules and ubi jus ibi remedium doctrine comes to this: once the Federal High Court affirms the existence of the legal right to self-determination of the Biafran agitators, the prayer seeking to compel the Federal Government of Nigeria [through all its relevant institutions] to conduct a referendum in the identified geographical space becomes the only legal remedy the court [in the entire circumstances] would pronounce in favour of such applicant(s). Indeed, the position of the law cannot be otherwise for ‘it is a vain thing to imagine a right without a remedy for want of right and want of remedy are reciprocal’ [Ashby v. White]. To put it nakedly, where the legal right of self-determination exists, the legal remedy of referendum must consequentially be handy.
Building a new Nation:
It is understandable that major political stakeholders in the Nigerian project would not subscribe to or brook any process that would precipitate the disintegration of the Nigerian nation. This explains their consistent latching on the supposed “non-negotiability” of the nation’s unity. It is therefore imperative that all such stakeholders would roll up their sleeves to promptly diffuse the impelling influence(s) that has/have continued to fuel(s) the current separatist agitations. This requires sincerity of purpose and deliberate efforts at reversing the systemic injustices meted out over the years [by officials of the Nigerian State] against the citizens now resolutely crying “Biafra or death”. The steely resolve of the modern-day Biafran agitators represents a sad indictment on a system that has long thrived on inequity, tribalism, impunity and official discrimination despite lofty constitutional provisions proclaiming “federal character” as the state’s creed. And here, our President Muhammed Buhari must take blame for his 5% and 99% unguarded postulation. This odious old order must peremptorily be dismantled to give way to the establishment of a new Nigerian nation. With the emergence of a new Nigeria where leaders are accountable to citizens, no one tribe or religion is exalted above the other(s), job opportunities abound for our teeming youths, constitutionalism becomes the only state creed and our guiding lamp, rule of law reigns supreme and impunity red-carded, then separatist agitations would instantly lose their appeal to [and grip on] their current subscribers and the leaders of such separatist movements would run out of steam as they will lose relevance among their own adherents. This urgent demand for the enthronement of a new order has come to be cabined in the now favourite phrase of “re-structuring” by some stakeholders. Stakeholders must now firmly resolve to walk the talk so as to take this re-structuring mantra away from the realms of sheer rhetoric. If this much-touted re-structuring remains a hollow phraseology or empty sloganeering, it might only be a question of time and a new nation called “Biafra” would gain a space on the global map. Such would amount to a collective indictment on all of us. It means that we have failed ourselves [and posterity] for failing to protect our democracy as handed down to us by our forebears. May such a day never break in our nation’s history. We must now therefore set forth at dawn. That way, we will make the journey before dusk. In signing off this reflection, it is now fitting to end with the seasoned advice and prayer recommended by our own Anthony Cardinal Okogie. Hear him: “Nigerian leaders must wake up lest the ship of state sink. They must stop fiddling while the country is burning. So we pray: Grant, O Lord, that our leaders become wise, and that the wise become our leaders. Amen.”

Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi is a Criminal Defence Attorney based in the F.C.T. Abuja. He could be reached on: joannesmaria2009@yahoo.com.
Source: http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/07/referendum-for-biafra-ending-legal.html

Cc;
Lalasticlala
Mynd44
Ishilove
Marpol
Semid4lyfe
Obinoscopy
Seun

Is this this the last straw that will break the back of the Ag. Chairman of the EFCC? Check for yourself below;

This is what the Acting EFCC Chairman met in his office today.

An Abuja-based Constitutional Lawyer has accused the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Mustapha Magu, of corruption in award of contracts, violation of Public Procurement Act and fueling separatist agitations in the country through tribalism in EFCC employment. The lawyer, in a letter to the Ag. EFCC Chairman, threatened to drag Magu to the Federal High Court if he fails to make public the particulars of all Nigerians employed by the Commission since 15th November, 2015 [when Magu took over]. The Lawyer, coming under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, wants Magu to publish how much the Commission under him has received from Foreign Donors/Partners and all the contracts the Commission has awarded since Magu took over. Below is the full letter as found on the Lawyer's facebook wall:

10th July, 2017.
THE ACTING CHAIRMAN,
THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION,
NO. 5 FOMELLA STREET,
WUSE 2, ABUJA.
Dear Sir,

APPLICATIION FOR THE DETAILS OF ALL THE NIGERIANS EMPLOYED BY THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION BETWEEN THE 15th DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2015 AND 30th DAY OF JUNE, 2017, CERTIFIED TRUE COPY OF THE COMMISSION’S BANK STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT AND CERTIFIED TRUE COPY OF ALL THE CONTRACTS AWARDED BY THE COMMISSION [ALL COVERING THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE 15th DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2015 AND THE 30th DAY OF JUNE, 2017] BROUGHT UNDER SECTIONS 1, 2, 3, 4 & 7 OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, 2011.
The above subject-matter refers.
1. I write you as a citizen of Nigeria and equally as a Legal Practitioner duly called to the Nigerian Bar.
2. Recall that ever since you took over the mantle of leadership as the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [the Commission or EFCC for short], the Commission has had cause to employ Nigerians into the Commission. The employment carried out by the Commission [as supervised by you] is said to have been skewed against a segment of the Nigerian nation in a manner that has further fuelled separatist agitations in some parts of the country. The skewed employment underlies the failure of the employment exercise to satisfy the dictates of federal character as most eloquently enshrined in our Constitution.
3. Further recall that since your assumption as the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, the Commission has had cause to make procurement s for its use. Rumours making the round has it that not all such procurement complied with the mandatory provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 which is an extant law firmly binding on the Commission you currently head. The alleged mindless violations of the Public Procurement Act by the Commission has raised the question of burgeoning corruption and challenges the integrity of the Commission which should not be.
4. It is equally a fact that since you took over the Leadership of the Commission as its Acting Chairman, there has been influx of humongous funds from multiple foreign partners and donors running into millions of dollars for the advancement of the work of the Commission for which Nigerians [the people on whose behalf the anti-corruption war is being fought] are yet to be accounted to as transparency dictates.
5. It is to effectively measure up to circumstances such as the ones highlighted above, that the wisdom of the law dictated the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act in 2011 [hereafter called FOI Act, 2011] to essentially make public records and information more freely available, provide for public access to public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest and to establish procedure for the achievement of these purposes and for related matters.
6. Sir, the turn of events in the most recent times has put it beyond any shadow of doubt that the FOI Act, 2011 represents the only safe passage through which the bewildered citizens and confounded stakeholders can arrive at the temple of the truth in resolving the puzzles surrounding the Trinitarian allegations of extra-budgetary spending, debilitating tribalism and abuse of contract-awarding processes as recognised by the Public Procurement Act, 2007 against the Commission.
7. Flowing from the foregoing and as a concerned Nigerian citizen, I hereby invoke my well-established rights under sections 1 and 3 of the FOI Act, 2011to REQUEST you to PUBLISH or cause to be published the under-listed documents/information/records;
8. (a) The complete details [showing their academic qualifications and states of origin] of the employees of the Commission employed between the 15th day of November, 2015 and 30th June, 2017.
9. (b) A Certified True Copy of the Bank statement of account of all the Bank Accounts being maintained by the Commission [into which foreign donors and partners have made remittances] in all the commercial banks covering the period between 15th day of November, 2015 and 30th June, 2017.
10. (c ) A copy of all the contracts awarded by the Commission between the 15th day of November, 2015 to the 30th day of June, 2017.
11. For the avoidance of doubt, you are to note that section 2(4) of the FOI Act, 2011 imposes a legal obligation on you to ensure that the information being sought is widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various means including print, electronic and online sources and at all the offices of the Commission across the Federation.
12. Further to the above, you are reminded that section 4(a) FOI Act, 2011 makes it mandatory for you to make the information available to me within seven (7) days after this application is received by you. I undertake to pay the requisite fees.
13. TAKE NOTICE that if you fail, neglect and or refuse to grant the application herein contained within the time-frame allotted by the FOI Act, 2011, I shall have no further recourse to you than to activate the combined provisions of section 1(3) and 2(6) of the FOI Act, 2011.
14. It is my most sincere belief and humble expectation that you will see good reasons to follow the laws of the land especially on these now vexed Trinitarian issues of public concern; that way, the unpleasantness and needless distractions associated with avoidable litigations will have been prudently and wisely sidestepped.
Please, Sir, do graciously accept the firm assurances of my warmest regards.

Yours faithfully,

JOHNMARY CHUKWUKASI JIDEOBI, Esq.
Cc;
1. The President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
2. The Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation
3. The President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
4. The Speaker, Federal House of Representatives
5. The Federal Character Commission
6. The Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises
7. The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria
8. All the Commercial Banks in Nigeria
9. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption
10. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character
11. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts

Source: https://web.facebook.com/jideobi.johnmary1/posts/1505088176216234

SUIT TO REMOVE IBRAHIM MAGU: LESSONS IN PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION FOR CITIZEN JOE IGBOKWE

Background Fact:
On the 1st of July, 2017, a journalist-friend with one of our national dailies drew my attention to the write-up by Chief Joe Igbokwe [of APC, Lagos] on his facebook wall which drew a lot of diverse response and reactions [mostly rancorous and hostile] from his readers. The said post erroneously insinuated that the court action seeking to terminate the acting chairmanship of Mr. Ibrahim Magu was/is aimed at truncating the political apple cart by the Igbos in a manner that would end up depriving them the opportunity of having a shot at the presidency. There is no doubt that by the said post, Chief Joe Igbokwe is more interested in the messenger and not the message which the suit challenging the continuous stay of Magu at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [henceforth in this piece called EFCC] is meant to deliver. That is not good and fair enough. Concededly, it is entirely correct [as Chief Joe Igbokwe observed] that the Lawyer who instituted the suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking to end the acting chairmanship tenure of Mr. Ibrahim Magu at EFCC is of Igbo extraction. In fact the said lawyer happens to be the present writer.

The Objective of This Exercise:
There is no doubt that the suit [by way of Originating Summons] commenced against Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu [before the Hon. Justice Quadri of the Federal High Court] by my humble self has understandably drawn all manner of reactions from the Nigerian public especially the political class. A section of the Nigerian public has misconstrued the essence of the suit as being a ballistic missile launched by the “corruption-fighting-back-sponsors” or some other “adverse political interests” as it were to dislodge the purported “fight against corruption” of the present administration. The present article is therefore a veritable tool for winnowing solid truth from windy falsehoods which the likes of Chief Joe Igbokwe are vainly seeking to [mischievously] weave around this very important suit aimed at ending the culture of executive lawlessness and scandalous impunity in the system which have all conspired to hobble the rule of law and exiled constitutionalism. Contrary to the impression being projected by Chief Igbokwe, Mr.Ibrahim Magu is not the only person sued as the Defendant in the suit. The said suit has four defendants and Magu is even the 4th Defendant. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants are the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Economic and Finanial Crimes Commission respectively.

The Essence of The Suit:
A peep into the affidavit evidence deposed to and filed before the Court by this writer would reveal the most noble and reformative drive that impelled the institution of the suit. It reads in part:
13. I know as fact that the 3rd Defendant was established by a Statute spelling out the modalities of the appointment and tenure of its Chairman.
14. I know as a fact that the decision of the 1st Defendant rejecting the nomination of the 4th Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant is binding on all the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants herein.
15. I know as a fact that ever since the 4th Defendant was rejected by the 1st Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant on the 15th December, 2016, the 4th Defendant has not vacated his position in the office of the 3rd Defendant despite the bindingness of the 1st Defendant’s decision on him. The persistent refusal of the 4th Defendant to bow to the constitutional authority of the Nigerian Senate is scandalously spiteful and scornful of the Nigerian Constitution and capable of weakening the potency of the laws of the land in a manner that will precipitate anarchy and crash our democratic system.
16. I know as a fact that despite the rejection by the 1st Defendant of the nomination of the 4th Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, the 4th Defendant has continued to exercise the powers and functions of an Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant in defiance of the decision of the Nigerian Senate rejecting him which constitutes a grave affront to the Constitutional authority of the Nigerian Senate and gravely threatens the established Constitutional Order of Nigeria.

17. I know as a fact that on the 17th January, 2017, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigerian wrote a letter addressed to the President of the 1st Defendant re-nominating the 4th Defendant herein as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
18. I know as a fact that ever since the re-nomination of the 4th Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, the 1st Defendant has never considered and ratified the 4th Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
20. I know as a fact that in considering the nomination of the 4th Defendant and rejecting him on the 15th December, 2016, the 1st Defendant has found the 4th Defendant wanting and grossly unfit to be appointed to the Office of the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
21. I know as a fact that despite the grave allegations leveled against the 4th Defendant by the State Security Service (otherwise called the DSS) in its letter to the 1st Defendant, the basis upon which the 4th Defendant’s nomination was rejected by the 1st Defendant, the 4th Defendant has not been arraigned before any court of competent jurisdiction for the purposes of the determination of his guilt or otherwise of the grave allegations dangling over his head like the sword of Damocles.
A dispassionate and intimate reading of the excerpts of the depositions of the Plaintiff in his affidavit evidence above [especially paragraph 15] would amply reveal the greatest inspiration of the plaintiff [in presenting the matter] as nothing but the protection of our democracy and constitutional order. These salient facts verging on the unfortunate abuse of our constitution reveals how much the rule of law has suffered in the hands of our political elites. Indeed, it has been said of old that a patriot should always stand ready to defend his country against his government. If there are still vestiges of doubt regarding the intention of this writer in challenging the impunity of Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu, they would quickly give way to these unanswerable submissions found in the plaintiff’s written address now before the Court which are hereby reproduced;
“2.05: The Plaintiff being of the considered view that the persistent refusal of the 4th Defendant to bow to the constitutional authority of the Nigerian Senate is scandalously spiteful and scornful of the Nigerian Constitution and capable of weakening the potency of the laws of the land in a manner that will precipitate anarchy and crash our democratic system, he has approached this Honourable Court with a view to vindicating the sanctity and strength of the law.
2.06: The Plaintiff is of the further considered view that, like the Ceasar’s wife, those who seek to preside over the institutions of the State charged with the sacred duties of cleaning the Augean stable of corruption (in the mode of the 3rd Defendant), ought to live above board and should be seen as such. The Plaintiff is deeply worried that ever since the damning security report of the DSS on the 4th Defendant was acted upon by the Nigerian Senate, the 4th Defendant has never deemed it fit to submit himself for proper trial by a court of competent jurisdiction with a view to ascertaining his innocence or guilt. This is particularly compelling given the scandalous nature of the said allegations and the image burden they have foisted on the 4th Defendant. These background facts in their aggregate propelled the institution of the present suit so that large-scale impunity would not be consecrated and accepted in our 21st century Nigeria as a new normal.”

Paramountcy of Rule of Law:
There is no argument that our country operates a constitutional democracy. There is equally no argument as to the supremacy of our constitution and its pervading bindingness on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is extremely difficult to reject the argument that the future of every country’s democracy rests on the shoulders of lawyers. A lawyer lives to enlighten his society. Talking about the rule of law, I start by reminding Chief Joe Igbokwe that as a Nigerian Legal Practitioner, I am held bound and glued to the provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007 [henceforth herein called RPC]. Under the Rules, Rule one (1) imposes general responsibility on all legal practitioners in these lucid words;
1. A lawyer shall uphold and observe the rule of law, promote and foster the course of justice, maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and shall not engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner.
It follows from the foregoing therefore that it is a duty imposed on every Nigerian admitted to the Nigerian Bar to “uphold the rule of law.” The enactment fully evinces its undoubted intention of making this duty obligatory by deploying the compulsive word “shall”. There is equally a pre-supposition that all incidental power necessary to discharge the duty is amply donated. This position is re-enforced by Section 10 (1) and (2) of the Interpretation Act which expressly provide as follows;
(1)Where an enactment confers a power or imposes a duty, the power may be exercised and the duty shall be performed from time to time as occasion requires.
(2) An enactment which confers power to do any act shall be construed as also conferring all such other powers as are reasonably necessary to enable that act to be done or are incidental to the doing of it.
Upholding the rule of law requires first the knowledge of the concept of rule of law. We need not wander far afield in search of the meaning of Rule of Law. The doctrine of Rule of Law engaged the wisdom of the Nigerian Supreme Court in the highly celebrated case of The Military Governor OF Lagos State & Ors. v. Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu & Anor. (1986) LPELR-3186(SC). In that often cited case, the ever-indomitable and renowned jurist, Eso, J.S.C [of blessed memory] taught us this;
“The Nigerian Constitution is founded on the rule of law the primary meaning of which is that everything must be done according to law. It means also that government should be conducted within the frame-work of recognized rules and principles which restrict discretionary power which Coke colourfully spoke of as 'golden and straight met wand of law as opposed to the uncertain and crooked cord of discretion' (see 4 Inst. 41).”. (emphasis supplied by us)
Since the primary meaning of rule of law [according to the Supreme Court] is that everything must be done according to law, then, plainly, a Nigerian legal practitioner charged with the duty of upholding the rule of law already has his work clearly cut out for him. Certainly, this end cannot meaningfully be achieved if the same lawyer cannot approach the Courts of the land with a request to upturn an unlawful act of a government or any of its servants with a view to ensuring that everything is “conducted within the frame-work of recognized rules and principles”. Since the Rules of Professional Conduct, 2007 empowers the Plaintiff to “uphold the rule of law”, then, it equally connotes and “shall be construed as also conferring all such other powers as are reasonably necessary to enable that act to be done or are incidental to the doing of it.” in the words of Section 10 (2) of the Interpretation Act. The capacity to institute an action in court to challenge illegal/unconstitutional acts of impunity threatening the nation’s constitutional order cannot be excluded from the powers as reasonably necessary to enable the duty of upholding the rule of law discharged as the present occasion has warranted.

Promoting Good Governance:
Beyond being a Lawyer charged with the duty of promoting the rule of law, I here remind Chief Joe Igbokwe that under Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, I have the right [just like every other Nigerian] to participate directly in the governance of my country. Now, here this:
“Every citizen shall have the right to participate freely in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
I have chosen to exercise my unquestionable statutory right as a citizen of this country to “participate in the government of my country directly.” To directly participate in the government of one’s country could take different shapes and forms. It could be in form of advocacy of different shades, and by no stretch of imagination can it be said that bringing an action to challenge impunity by the government or any of its officials is outside the scope or contemplation of participating in the governance of the country. What is more, our Supreme Court has affirmed that “The Charter gives to citizens of member states...rights and obligations, which rights and obligations are to be enforced by our Courts, if they must have any meaning”[see Abacha vs. Fawehinmi (2000) 6 NWLR 228, at 289, paras. B-E.]

Summation:
In all of this, Chief Joe Igbokwe must begin to accept the democratic truth that every Nigerian is an equal stakeholder in this all-important Nigerian project. It is never the exclusive preserve of the privileged few. To the extent that this is correct, it should, in consequence, be accepted that my views and actions should carry as much weight as that of every other Nigerian [including Chief Joe Igbokwe and his paymasters]. Let me make it unequivocally clear that no one man [from any quarters] has ever approached me or made any donation in sponsorship of the present suit seeking to end the acting chairmanship of Mr. Ibrahim Magu at the EFCC. I note in passing that for daring to institute this very suit, my own life has constantly been under threat by daredevil agents of dark forces in high places who run this country with dark conscience. I laid this very complaint before the court hearing the matter on the last adjourned date. True indeed, I have received calls warning me that if I fail to withdraw this very suit, I would not live to hear the judgment of the court in the matter. I am not shaken because it is Our God Almighty that has the final say over my life. The catalogue of tribulations is indeed endless all in a bid to run me out of steam and out of town and possibly take the wind off my sail. My God will overcome them all. Our laws can keep us if only we keep our laws. Our democracy can keep us if only we keep our democracy. By continuing to remain and act as the Acting Chairman of the EFCC despite his resounding rejection by the Senate, Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu is rumpling the Nigerian Constitution. Has he got the powers to do that? The answer is a loud no. Persons who are desirous of presiding over the agencies of government established by law cannot afford to be spiteful of the law and where they are found to be riding roughshod on the Rule of Law, a civilized society ought not to entrust them with a position of responsibility otherwise by their gargantuan impunity and abuse of democratic ethos, an organized society may come to a sad end. Mr. Ibrahim Magu should get this message in the clearest of language. Let me use the rare altitude of this publication to say it loudly that I owe Chief Igbokwe no loyalty neither do I owe same to his paymaster or his cause. My loyalty is to the law and the law alone. This is because the law is my only constituency. In the end, the live issue before the court still remains:
Whether the conduct of the President by sending the name of Mr. Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC has not ended the expediency of the EFCC being headed by an Acting Chairman thereby ending the stay of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the Acting Chairman of the Commission?
The above question posed for the determination of the court most aptly captures the public interest nature of the suit. Public interest litigation [PIL] is defined as the use of litigation, or legal action, which seeks to advance the cause of minority or disadvantaged groups or individuals, or which raises issues of broad public concern. It is a way of using the law strategically to effect social change [https://www.pilsni.org/about-public-interest-litigation]. Public interest litigation has been defined as a legal action initiated in a court of law for the enforcement of public interest in which the public or class of community have pecuniary interest or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected. This class of litigation is mainly aimed at wiping out violation of fundamental rights and genuine infraction of statutory provisions, but not for personal gain or political motive or any recondite or oblique consideration. It is in the light of this lucid definition that the suit challenging the continuous stay of Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu as the Acting Chairman of the EFCC must be seen and understood. I am always at one with the great Apostle of the pen, Thomas Pain, in asserting that “if there must be trouble, let it be in my own day so that my child may have peace”. I choose to stop here.

Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, Esq. is a criminal defence attorney and a human rights activist based in Abuja, Nigeria and could be reached through: truedemocracyfornigeria@gmail.com

SUIT TO REMOVE IBRAHIM MAGU: LESSONS IN PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION FOR CITIZEN JOE IGBOKWE

Background Fact:
On the 1st of July, 2017, a journalist-friend with one of our national dailies drew my attention to the write-up by Chief Joe Igbokwe [of APC, Lagos] on his facebook wall which drew a lot of diverse response and reactions [mostly rancorous and hostile] from his readers. The said post erroneously insinuated that the court action seeking to terminate the acting chairmanship of Mr. Ibrahim Magu was/is aimed at truncating the political apple cart by the Igbos in a manner that would end up depriving them the opportunity of having a shot at the presidency. There is no doubt that by the said post, Chief Joe Igbokwe is more interested in the messenger and not the message which the suit challenging the continuous stay of Magu at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [henceforth in this piece called EFCC] is meant to deliver. That is not good and fair enough. Concededly, it is entirely correct [as Chief Joe Igbokwe observed] that the Lawyer who instituted the suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking to end the acting chairmanship tenure of Mr. Ibrahim Magu at EFCC is of Igbo extraction. In fact the said lawyer happens to be the present writer.

The Objective of This Exercise:
There is no doubt that the suit [by way of Originating Summons] commenced against Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu [before the Hon. Justice Quadri of the Federal High Court] by my humble self has understandably drawn all manner of reactions from the Nigerian public especially the political class. A section of the Nigerian public has misconstrued the essence of the suit as being a ballistic missile launched by the “corruption-fighting-back-sponsors” or some other “adverse political interests” as it were to dislodge the purported “fight against corruption” of the present administration. The present article is therefore a veritable tool for winnowing solid truth from windy falsehoods which the likes of Chief Joe Igbokwe are vainly seeking to [mischievously] weave around this very important suit aimed at ending the culture of executive lawlessness and scandalous impunity in the system which have all conspired to hobble the rule of law and exiled constitutionalism. Contrary to the impression being projected by Chief Igbokwe, Mr.Ibrahim Magu is not the only person sued as the Defendant in the suit. The said suit has four defendants and Magu is even the 4th Defendant. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants are the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Economic and Finanial Crimes Commission respectively.

The Essence of The Suit:
A peep into the affidavit evidence deposed to and filed before the Court by this writer would reveal the most noble and reformative drive that impelled the institution of the suit. It reads in part:
13. I know as fact that the 3rd Defendant was established by a Statute spelling out the modalities of the appointment and tenure of its Chairman.
14. I know as a fact that the decision of the 1st Defendant rejecting the nomination of the 4th Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant is binding on all the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants herein.
15. I know as a fact that ever since the 4th Defendant was rejected by the 1st Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant on the 15th December, 2016, the 4th Defendant has not vacated his position in the office of the 3rd Defendant despite the bindingness of the 1st Defendant’s decision on him. The persistent refusal of the 4th Defendant to bow to the constitutional authority of the Nigerian Senate is scandalously spiteful and scornful of the Nigerian Constitution and capable of weakening the potency of the laws of the land in a manner that will precipitate anarchy and crash our democratic system.
16. I know as a fact that despite the rejection by the 1st Defendant of the nomination of the 4th Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, the 4th Defendant has continued to exercise the powers and functions of an Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant in defiance of the decision of the Nigerian Senate rejecting him which constitutes a grave affront to the Constitutional authority of the Nigerian Senate and gravely threatens the established Constitutional Order of Nigeria.

17. I know as a fact that on the 17th January, 2017, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigerian wrote a letter addressed to the President of the 1st Defendant re-nominating the 4th Defendant herein as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
18. I know as a fact that ever since the re-nomination of the 4th Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, the 1st Defendant has never considered and ratified the 4th Defendant as the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
20. I know as a fact that in considering the nomination of the 4th Defendant and rejecting him on the 15th December, 2016, the 1st Defendant has found the 4th Defendant wanting and grossly unfit to be appointed to the Office of the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
21. I know as a fact that despite the grave allegations leveled against the 4th Defendant by the State Security Service (otherwise called the DSS) in its letter to the 1st Defendant, the basis upon which the 4th Defendant’s nomination was rejected by the 1st Defendant, the 4th Defendant has not been arraigned before any court of competent jurisdiction for the purposes of the determination of his guilt or otherwise of the grave allegations dangling over his head like the sword of Damocles.
A dispassionate and intimate reading of the excerpts of the depositions of the Plaintiff in his affidavit evidence above [especially paragraph 15] would amply reveal the greatest inspiration of the plaintiff [in presenting the matter] as nothing but the protection of our democracy and constitutional order. These salient facts verging on the unfortunate abuse of our constitution reveals how much the rule of law has suffered in the hands of our political elites. Indeed, it has been said of old that a patriot should always stand ready to defend his country against his government. If there are still vestiges of doubt regarding the intention of this writer in challenging the impunity of Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu, they would quickly give way to these unanswerable submissions found in the plaintiff’s written address now before the Court which are hereby reproduced;
“2.05: The Plaintiff being of the considered view that the persistent refusal of the 4th Defendant to bow to the constitutional authority of the Nigerian Senate is scandalously spiteful and scornful of the Nigerian Constitution and capable of weakening the potency of the laws of the land in a manner that will precipitate anarchy and crash our democratic system, he has approached this Honourable Court with a view to vindicating the sanctity and strength of the law.
2.06: The Plaintiff is of the further considered view that, like the Ceasar’s wife, those who seek to preside over the institutions of the State charged with the sacred duties of cleaning the Augean stable of corruption (in the mode of the 3rd Defendant), ought to live above board and should be seen as such. The Plaintiff is deeply worried that ever since the damning security report of the DSS on the 4th Defendant was acted upon by the Nigerian Senate, the 4th Defendant has never deemed it fit to submit himself for proper trial by a court of competent jurisdiction with a view to ascertaining his innocence or guilt. This is particularly compelling given the scandalous nature of the said allegations and the image burden they have foisted on the 4th Defendant. These background facts in their aggregate propelled the institution of the present suit so that large-scale impunity would not be consecrated and accepted in our 21st century Nigeria as a new normal.”

Paramountcy of Rule of Law:
There is no argument that our country operates a constitutional democracy. There is equally no argument as to the supremacy of our constitution and its pervading bindingness on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is extremely difficult to reject the argument that the future of every country’s democracy rests on the shoulders of lawyers. A lawyer lives to enlighten his society. Talking about the rule of law, I start by reminding Chief Joe Igbokwe that as a Nigerian Legal Practitioner, I am held bound and glued to the provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007 [henceforth herein called RPC]. Under the Rules, Rule one (1) imposes general responsibility on all legal practitioners in these lucid words;
1. A lawyer shall uphold and observe the rule of law, promote and foster the course of justice, maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and shall not engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner.
It follows from the foregoing therefore that it is a duty imposed on every Nigerian admitted to the Nigerian Bar to “uphold the rule of law.” The enactment fully evinces its undoubted intention of making this duty obligatory by deploying the compulsive word “shall”. There is equally a pre-supposition that all incidental power necessary to discharge the duty is amply donated. This position is re-enforced by Section 10 (1) and (2) of the Interpretation Act which expressly provide as follows;
(1)Where an enactment confers a power or imposes a duty, the power may be exercised and the duty shall be performed from time to time as occasion requires.
(2) An enactment which confers power to do any act shall be construed as also conferring all such other powers as are reasonably necessary to enable that act to be done or are incidental to the doing of it.
Upholding the rule of law requires first the knowledge of the concept of rule of law. We need not wander far afield in search of the meaning of Rule of Law. The doctrine of Rule of Law engaged the wisdom of the Nigerian Supreme Court in the highly celebrated case of The Military Governor OF Lagos State & Ors. v. Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu & Anor. (1986) LPELR-3186(SC). In that often cited case, the ever-indomitable and renowned jurist, Eso, J.S.C [of blessed memory] taught us this;
“The Nigerian Constitution is founded on the rule of law the primary meaning of which is that everything must be done according to law. It means also that government should be conducted within the frame-work of recognized rules and principles which restrict discretionary power which Coke colourfully spoke of as 'golden and straight met wand of law as opposed to the uncertain and crooked cord of discretion' (see 4 Inst. 41).”. (emphasis supplied by us)
Since the primary meaning of rule of law [according to the Supreme Court] is that everything must be done according to law, then, plainly, a Nigerian legal practitioner charged with the duty of upholding the rule of law already has his work clearly cut out for him. Certainly, this end cannot meaningfully be achieved if the same lawyer cannot approach the Courts of the land with a request to upturn an unlawful act of a government or any of its servants with a view to ensuring that everything is “conducted within the frame-work of recognized rules and principles”. Since the Rules of Professional Conduct, 2007 empowers the Plaintiff to “uphold the rule of law”, then, it equally connotes and “shall be construed as also conferring all such other powers as are reasonably necessary to enable that act to be done or are incidental to the doing of it.” in the words of Section 10 (2) of the Interpretation Act. The capacity to institute an action in court to challenge illegal/unconstitutional acts of impunity threatening the nation’s constitutional order cannot be excluded from the powers as reasonably necessary to enable the duty of upholding the rule of law discharged as the present occasion has warranted.

Promoting Good Governance:
Beyond being a Lawyer charged with the duty of promoting the rule of law, I here remind Chief Joe Igbokwe that under Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, I have the right [just like every other Nigerian] to participate directly in the governance of my country. Now, here this:
“Every citizen shall have the right to participate freely in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
I have chosen to exercise my unquestionable statutory right as a citizen of this country to “participate in the government of my country directly.” To directly participate in the government of one’s country could take different shapes and forms. It could be in form of advocacy of different shades, and by no stretch of imagination can it be said that bringing an action to challenge impunity by the government or any of its officials is outside the scope or contemplation of participating in the governance of the country. What is more, our Supreme Court has affirmed that “The Charter gives to citizens of member states...rights and obligations, which rights and obligations are to be enforced by our Courts, if they must have any meaning”[see Abacha vs. Fawehinmi (2000) 6 NWLR 228, at 289, paras. B-E.]

Summation:
In all of this, Chief Joe Igbokwe must begin to accept the democratic truth that every Nigerian is an equal stakeholder in this all-important Nigerian project. It is never the exclusive preserve of the privileged few. To the extent that this is correct, it should, in consequence, be accepted that my views and actions should carry as much weight as that of every other Nigerian [including Chief Joe Igbokwe and his paymasters]. Let me make it unequivocally clear that no one man [from any quarters] has ever approached me or made any donation in sponsorship of the present suit seeking to end the acting chairmanship of Mr. Ibrahim Magu at the EFCC. I note in passing that for daring to institute this very suit, my own life has constantly been under threat by daredevil agents of dark forces in high places who run this country with dark conscience. I laid this very complaint before the court hearing the matter on the last adjourned date. True indeed, I have received calls warning me that if I fail to withdraw this very suit, I would not live to hear the judgment of the court in the matter. I am not shaken because it is Our God Almighty that has the final say over my life. The catalogue of tribulations is indeed endless all in a bid to run me out of steam and out of town and possibly take the wind off my sail. My God will overcome them all. Our laws can keep us if only we keep our laws. Our democracy can keep us if only we keep our democracy. By continuing to remain and act as the Acting Chairman of the EFCC despite his resounding rejection by the Senate, Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu is rumpling the Nigerian Constitution. Has he got the powers to do that? The answer is a loud no. Persons who are desirous of presiding over the agencies of government established by law cannot afford to be spiteful of the law and where they are found to be riding roughshod on the Rule of Law, a civilized society ought not to entrust them with a position of responsibility otherwise by their gargantuan impunity and abuse of democratic ethos, an organized society may come to a sad end. Mr. Ibrahim Magu should get this message in the clearest of language. Let me use the rare altitude of this publication to say it loudly that I owe Chief Igbokwe no loyalty neither do I owe same to his paymaster or his cause. My loyalty is to the law and the law alone. This is because the law is my only constituency. In the end, the live issue before the court still remains:
Whether the conduct of the President by sending the name of Mr. Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC has not ended the expediency of the EFCC being headed by an Acting Chairman thereby ending the stay of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the Acting Chairman of the Commission?
The above question posed for the determination of the court most aptly captures the public interest nature of the suit. Public interest litigation [PIL] is defined as the use of litigation, or legal action, which seeks to advance the cause of minority or disadvantaged groups or individuals, or which raises issues of broad public concern. It is a way of using the law strategically to effect social change [https://www.pilsni.org/about-public-interest-litigation]. Public interest litigation has been defined as a legal action initiated in a court of law for the enforcement of public interest in which the public or class of community have pecuniary interest or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected. This class of litigation is mainly aimed at wiping out violation of fundamental rights and genuine infraction of statutory provisions, but not for personal gain or political motive or any recondite or oblique consideration. It is in the light of this lucid definition that the suit challenging the continuous stay of Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu as the Acting Chairman of the EFCC must be seen and understood. I am always at one with the great Apostle of the pen, Thomas Pain, in asserting that “if there must be trouble, let it be in my own day so that my child may have peace”. I choose to stop here.

Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, Esq. is a criminal defence attorney and a human rights activist based in Abuja, Nigeria and could be reached through: truedemocracyfornigeria@gmail.com

Cc:Lalasticlala, Seun

Human Rights Activist and Anambra State born Constitutional Lawyer has today presented a petition to the DSS Boss in Abuja against Prince Emmanuel Kanu [Fineboy], junior brother to the IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The petition borders on criminal intimidation and threat to life because of the dissenting views held by the former IPOB Leader's Counsel [Barr. Johnmary Jideobi] on the Anambra election. Below is the full letter.

28th June, 2017
THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL,
STATE SECURITY SERVICE (SSS),
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS,
ASO DRIVE,
ABUJA.
Dear Sir,
PETITION ON CRIMINAL INTIMIDATION AND THREAT TO MY LIFE AGAINST ONE PRINCE EMMANUEL KANU [ a.k.a. FINEBOY] AND THE NEED FOR URGENT INVESTIGATION
The above subject matter refers.
I write to bring to your kind attention the criminal intimidation and ferocious threat to my life issued by one Mr. Prince Emmanuel Kanu [a.k.a. Fineboy], junior brother to Nnamdi Kanu, the Leader of the Indigineous People of Biafra [IPOB] on the 26th day of June, 2017 [around 10:04am].
The genesis of the threat is traceable to the post I put up on my facebook wall which was equally published on www.odogwublog.com with this link: http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/06/nnamdi-kanu-and-election-boycott.html
It was after the publication of this news item that Prince Kanu, using his mobile phone number 08030405675, sent me a text warning me to “be very careful”. Thereafter, he called me and queried why I would oppose his brother Nnamdi Kanu by telling people that election would hold contrary to his [Nnamdi Kanu’s] declaration that elections would no longer hold in Igboland. He assured me, that as a result, I would not be safe anywhere I am for daring to challenge his brother.
The crux of this petition raises the issue of freedom of expression, freedom to hold opinion, the civic duty to cast votes in elections and sanctity of life [all constitutionally guaranteed under the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria] on the one hand, while on the other hand it equally raises the issue of criminal intimidation and threat to life punishable by our extant laws.
Mindful of the duty cast on me as a bona fide citizen of Nigeria by the Constitution which by its section 24(a) enjoins as follows;
It shall be the duty of every citizen to -
(a) abide by this Constitution, respect its ideals and its institutions, the National Flag, the National Anthem, the National Pledge, and legitimate authorities;
It is in abiding by the Constitution and exercising my undoubted right to freedom of expression and the right to hold opinion and propagate same that I encouraged my Anambra compatriots to ignore the directives of Nnamdi Kanu [a directive lacking in any stamp of legitimate authority which the APGA in Anambra State has aptly described as irresponsible, irredentist and totally devoid of any focus while warning the IPOB Leader that Ndigbo have not instituted a separatist movement or a terrorist gang as it were. ]
While essentially acknowledging the supremacy of God Almighty in the overall affairs of life, security of life inclusive, it is still of great importance to emphasise the constitutional responsibility of the Nation’s security [especially the Service] to protect lives and properties, investigate crime, prevent crime and ultimately take all necessary measures to bring criminal culprits to account [explaining the rational for the present petition]. In putting this on record, it is to be hoped that in the event of anything untoward befalling me henceforth [God forbid], the authorities, family members, Human Rights communities, friends and well-wishers would know the direction to look in unraveling such incident and apportioning culpability.
While I solemnly confirm the factual content of this petition and at the same time give my undertaking to assist the Service in every material particular in its investigation of same, I urge you to use your good offices to urgently commence a full-scale investigation into this heavy allegation that verges on the threat to my life the sanctity of which is amply protected by the laws of the land.
Please Sir, do kindly accept the firm assurances of my esteemed regards.
Yours faithfully,

JOHNMARY CHUKWUKASI JIDEOBI, Esq.
Cc;
1. The Inspector-General of Police
2. The National Human Rights Commission
3. The Executive Governor of Anambra State of Nigeria
4. The Executive Governor of Enugu State of Nigeria
5. The Executive Governor of Abia State of Nigeria
6. The Executive Governor of Imo State of Nigeria
7. The Executive Governor of Ebonyi State of Nigeria
8. The Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence
9. The House Committee on National Security and Intelligence
10. The Senate Committee on Human Rights
11. The House Committee on Human Rights
12. The National President Nigerian Bar Association [NBA]
13. Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo

See what this lawyer said [on his facebook wall] while raising alarm that Nnamdi Kanu's Junior brother threatened to kill him for expressing his view that Anambra State Governorship election must hold. The lawyer once acted for the IPOB Leader.

----------------------------------------AND THE THREATS HAVE STARTED POURING IN--------------------------------------------
Good day, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is no longer news that MR. NNAMDI KANU gave a directive that nobody should participate in further elections throughout the Igboland starting from Anambra November 2017 Governorship election.
It is equally no longer news that I have publicly, on this platform and many more others, denounced the said directive for lacking, both in wide consultation and being grossly uninformed and irrational [an opinion that is solely mine which I have the unquestionable right to hold and propagate]. Anambrarians are very intelligent and not gullible people and I restate my overwhelming confidence that the directive of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu [an Abia State indigene] on our election cannot be heeded by the highly cerebral and exceptionally industrious sons and daughters of our beloved State acclaimed as the "Light of the Nation". The reason is simple: Nnamdi Kanu has no LEGITIMATE interest in whatever becomes the outcome of that exercise.

Following this publication, the foot soldiers of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu have started harassing my phone with all manner of THREATS to my life. Interestingly, the first salvo was fired by Prince Kanu [popularly known as Fineboy, Nnamdi Kanu's junior brother with this phone number: 08030405675.]. He guaranteed me that I would not be safe anywhere I find myself for daring to challenge Nnamdi Kanu. His THREAT to my life [ which I am not surprised anyway] has been well noted and is being taken care of.
The sole purpose of this press release is not about the very fact of the threats. It is directed at demonstrating how tyrannical, dictatorial and intolerant the supposed leaders of the would-be-Biafra nation would administer the affairs of the state if handed over to them. Definitely, Biafra under these elements would not be a DEMOCRATIC state. It is going to be a FASCIST state where the "KING" does no wrong and no one dares challenge him. A state where the citizens cannot ask the leaders how they run the state, a state where the citizens cannot call their leaders to account, a state where citizens will be in perpetual fear of the King who must never be opposed but adored and worshiped, a state where all the dissenting voices must be crushed, a state that abhors plurality of reasoning and alternate thinking. That approximates to a state where the conduct of government business would be shrouded in utmost secrecy away from the uninitiated, it approximates to a state where the state officials would be ridding roughshod on human rights of citizens without remedy, it equates a state where the fate of the nation would be perching on the cliff of the arbitrary exercise/indulgence of executive whims and caprices. If the Biafra the Igbos are struggling for is of this abhorrent and odious kind, I do not pray for such a day to come. That means the blatant impunity, inequity, mind-boggling wickedness and awful lawlessness that characterise our experiences in Nigeria today would multiply in thousand folds instead of ABATING in the proposed Biafra nation.
My Dear Brothers and Sister, I hereby challenge Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his associates to put online [in a down-loadable form within 48 hours from now] the PROTOTYPE/MODEL of the Constitution they envisage for the would-be-Biafra nation for all Biafrans to begin deliberation on. The type of governance structure, where the Capital of the new state would be located, the type of Legislature, the hierarchy of courts, the qualification/criteria of leaders and proposed institutions of state that would drive the business of governance in the proposed new state. Their inability to respond to this challenge would clearly reveal that the drivers of this bus have no known destination. Is is clearly a journey into anarchy, avoidable fratricidal wars, and at best a journey into the unknown. No sane man joins the bandwagon on this sort of journey. We should begin to interrogate the direction, essence and route of this all-important journey. Until relevant answers are promptly volunteered to this SALIENT posers, I stand for November, 2017 Anambra election. My state has been blessed with wonderful leaders ever since the era of Dr. Chris Ngige, OON [Onwa]. Anambrarians have always made these excellent choices. No one man [not to talk of a man from another state] has what it takes to stop Anambrarians from defining their future and expanding the frontiers of excellence for which we are known. I rest my case.

Source: https://web.facebook.com/jideobi.johnmary1/posts/1488043567920695

An Abuja-based Anambra born Lawyer and former Counsel to the Leader of IPOB worldwide, has called on Ndigbo Worldwide to judge between himself and the family of Nnamdi Kanu whether he deserves the death threat issued to him by Prince Kanu [Fineboy] against the background of gargantuan sacrifices he made in the legal battlefield for the release of NNAMDI KANU at a time when even the highest political office holders from the South-East could not raise a finger or voice in seeking the release of the IPOB Leader. This is contained in the Press Release he issued wherein he lined up the links to different websites where he published the letters he wrote to different authorities for them to obey the Order of Court granting bail to the IPOB Leader even at a huge risk to his personal safety. The Lawyer wondered whether it has become a new norm in Biafraland for grave sacrifices to be rewarded with such confounding ingratitude as to the threatening of his life. Below is the full Release of the Lawyer:

-------- BEFORE THE KANUs KILL ME-------------

Since the the year 2015, NNAMDI KANU was arrested and kept in detention, I have been at the forefront of his release. Before lending the weight of my legal profession to seek his release, I have NEVER met him in person, he too has never seen me. Out of my sheer abhorrence for injustice and oppression, I robustly rose to his defence. Without any legal fees or any briefing, I put up appearance for his defence specifically on the 17th day of December, 2015 and to the glory of God Almighty, that was the very day the Honourable Justice A.F.A Ademola granted him bail. The records of the proceedings of the Court for that day is still there to vindicate this. Video evidence equally abounds.

Yet after that, without any legal consultation [but solely moved by the desire to challenge impunity and disregard for the rule of law by the Government of Nigeria], I wrote series of open letters addressed to the authorities including;
1. The then National President of the Nigerian Bar Association of Nigeria [NBA], Mr. Augustine Alegeh, S.A.N
2. The National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress [APC], Chief John Oyegun.
3. I wrote to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammed Buhari, GCFR
4. The Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation

In all of these writings [at a great RISK to my personal life], I was not briefed by Kanu but because I believe he was being unfairly treated by the refusal of the Government of the day to obey Court orders granting him bail. Indeed, this is quite apart from the numerous legal articles I have contributed to call the attention of the government to the plight of detained NNAMDI KANU.
For history/record purposes, I will re-produce hereunder the links to the websites where these writings were published. I undertook this life-threatening task at a time when even the highest political office holders from the entire South-East Nigeria could not raise a finger or a voice in seeking Kanu's release. I undertook these dangerous tasks when I was BARELY ONE year at the Nigerian Bar as a Lawyer.

My people, what WRONG then have I done to the NNAMDI KANU's FAMILY that I should deserve to die? Is that how to repay this unparalleled kindness, gargantuan sacrifices, and unremitting commitment? Is that how a supposed leader is to treat his subjects? Is that how a supposed leader is to reward diligence and sacrifices? When has INGRATITUDE AND WICKEDNESS become the reward for sacrifices even to the point of threatening to kill me merely because I expressed a dissenting view on the holding of election in Anambra State [my home State] in November, 2017? What is wrong in a Lawyer holding an opposing view and expressing his mind? Was it not the opposing views I held against the position of the Federal Government of Nigeria that made me to rise to NNAMDI KANU'S defence at a time when nobody was willing to thread that lonely path?
The world [especially the Ndigbo Worldwide] is hereby summoned to judge between myself and the Family of the Kanus. PRINCE KANU [Fineboy] should tell the world how and WHY I deserve death after seeing to the release of his brother and Leader of IPOB.
Thank you everyone.
Here are the links to the published letters:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/…/kanus-lawyer-writes-buhari-al…/
http://www.odogwublog.com/…/nnamdi-kanu-dasuki-lawyer-write…
https://elombah.com/…/3870-picture-odumegwu-ojukwu-welcomes…
http://www.odogwublog.com/…/growing-impunity-lawyer-battles…

Source:http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/06/biafra-repaying-me-with-death-threat-is.html

An Abuja-based Anambra born Constitutional Lawyer, Barrister Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, has denounced the directive issued by Nnamdi Kanu to the effect that people from the South-East should boycott all future elections starting with the November, 2017 Governorship election in Anambra State. The Lawyer, who once acted for the IPOB Leader, described the directive as "uninformed" and "irrational". He expressed his confidence that Anambra people are too intelligent to heed to a directive he described as a "NONSENSE".
Below is the full message as found on his facebook wall:

-------------------ON ANAMBRA 2017 ELECTIONS------------------
I have received many calls and messages in my inbox regarding call by NNAMDI KANU for people to boycott elections in the South-East starting from Anambra November, 2017 Gubernatorial election. My callers have always wanted to know my stand on that. I am already doing an all-embracive article on the provocative and reckless utterances of NNAMDI KANU and the consequences which the ill-informed activities of the street urchins who subscribe to his weird views portend for our region if unchecked TIMEOUSLY. But before the writing is completed, let me say it loudly on this platform. No one man has the capacity to interfere with a legitimate exercise that allows a people to decide who leads them in a democratic set-up like ours. Anambra elections will hold and very successfully too. It is now a battle between the INFORMED and UNINFORMED. And the later cannot win the former. We owe it a duty to conscientise our people on the need for them not to give up the exercise of their legitimate right on the altar of a very uninformed and irrational directive that can only RUIN them. I have no scintilla of doubt in my mind that my fellow Anambrarians are too intelligent to swallow this NONSENSE. It is already evident that nobody in Anambra is listening to the said directive as electioneering activities are in top gear. I have my Permanent Voters Card [PVC] READY. I invite all men and women of enlightened mind to come out en mass and exercise their voting power for any candidate of their choice come November, 2017. We remain the "Light of the Nation".

#Istandforrestructuring #stopcursingthedarkness #lightacandle#letusmakeNigeriagreatagain

Source: https://web.facebook.com/jideobi.johnmary1/posts/1487298717995180?comment_id=1487308734660845&notif_t=feed_comment&notif_id=1498422594834945

Cc: Lalasticlala, Seun

An Abuja based Constitutional Lawyer and Human Rights Activist, Barrister Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, has threatened the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, S.A.N. , with the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for his failure to discharge his constitutional duties of advising the Federal Government of Nigeria and her Security Agencies on obeying Court Orders especially those relating to bail and production of accused persons in Court. Making a case for the IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu, a former National Security Adviser and the Shiites Leader, El-zakzaki, the Lawyer, barring the last minute change of mind, is set to confront the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja with these questions of law;
1.Whether upon a holistic reading and interpretation of the community provisions of Sections 150 and 287 (1), (2) & (3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the 2nd Defendant [by virtue of occupying the office of the 1st Defendant] is under a constitutional duty of issuing a legal advice [one way or the other] to the Federal Government of Nigeria with respect to Courts’ decisions against it or any of its agencies?

2.Whether the persistent refusal, failure and or negligence of the 2nd Defendant [by virtue of occupying the office of the 1st Defendant] in discharging his constitutional duty of issuing legal advice [one way or the other] to the Federal Government of Nigeria with respect to courts’ decisions against it or any of its agencies does not amount to grave professional misconduct [in view of the provisions of Rule 1 (1) of the Rules of Professional conducts for Legal Practitioners, 2007] warranting the referral of the 2nd Defendant to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee by this Honourable Court for investigation and trial.

Against the answers that may be rendered by this Honourable Court in disposal of the questions of law posed above, the Plaintiff tables before this Honourable Court the following entreaties;
1.A SOLEMN DECLARATION of this Honourable Court that by virtue of the combined provisions of Sections 150 and 287 (1), (2) & (3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the 2nd Defendant [by virtue of occupying the office of the 1st Defendant] shoulders a constitutional duty of issuing legal advice [one way or the other] to the Federal Government of Nigeria with respect to Courts’ decisions against it or any of its agencies
2.A SOLEMN DECLARATION of this Honourable Court that the persistent refusal, failure and or negligence of the 2nd Defendant [by virtue of occupying the office of the 1st Defendant] in discharging his constitutional duty of issuing legal advice [one way or the other] to the Federal Government of Nigeria with respect to courts’ decisions against it or any of its agencies does amount to grave professional misconduct [in view of the provisions of Rule 1 (1) of the Rules of Professional conducts for Legal Practitioners, 2007] warranting the referral of the 2nd Defendant to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee by this Honourable Court for investigation and trial.
3.AN ORDER of this Honourable Court, commanding the 2nd Defendant to issue, FORTHWITH, legal advice [in writing] to the Federal Government of Nigeria and her agencies regarding the courts’ decisions against it and its agencies [particularly the courts’ judgments exhibited in the Plaintiff’s Affidavit] within thirty (30) days from the date of the delivery of the judgment of this court in this suit.
4.AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court of Nigeria to forward a certified true copy of the judgment of the court in this suit to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee as a complaint [by the Federal High Court of Nigeria] of grave professional misconduct against the 2nd Defendant for his investigation and trial within seven (7) days from the date of the delivery of the judgment of this court in this suit.
5.ANY OTHER ORDER OR ORDERS that this Honourable Court may deem fit to make as [may be] dictated by the prevailing circumstances of this suit.

Source: http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/06/kanu-dasuki-el-zalkzaki-attorney.html

Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday adjourned till June 29 a suit filed by a lawyer, Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, seeking to remove Ibrahim Magu as the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

At the resumed hearing of the Originating Summons, the plaintiff, Jideobi, who represented himself, informed the court that Magu and the EFCC (the 3rd and 4th Defendants) just served him their counter affidavit and written addresses just this morning in the Courtroom despite filing the said processes since April 3.

The Plaintiff invited the Court to take note of the unhealthy conduct of Magu and EFCC by deliberately refusing to serve him much earlier despite the fact that he has been calling them and demanding for the processes.

He submitted that the conduct of the 3rd and 4th Defendants constituted an unhealthy drag on speedy administration of justice.

As a result, the Plaintiff sought for a short adjournment to enable him file a further affidavit and do a composite reply to the Defendants’ processes.

The Defendants did not oppose the application for adjournment.

The Senate was however not represented. Before adjournment, there was a mild drama when the plaintiff sought the leave of the Court to make a very “salient observation”.

The Plaintiff however alleged that since the last four or five days, he has been receiving threatening calls from masked numbers, warning him to withdraw the matter or he would not be alive to hear the Court’s judgment on the matter

Source: https://newtelegraphonline.com/2017/05/court-adjourns-suit-seeking-sack-efcc-boss-magu/

Cc; Seun, Lalasticlala

The Federal High Court, Abuja presided over by the Honourable Justice Quadri has adjourned the matter seeking to remove Ibrahim Mustapha Magu as the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to 29th June, 2017.
At the resumed hearing of the Originating Summons, the Plaintiff, Barrister Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, who represented himself, informed the Court that the Magu and the EFCC (the 3rd and 4th Defendants) just served him their Counter affidavit and written addresses just this morning in the Court room despite filing the said processes since the 3rd of April, 2017. The Plaintiff invited the Court to take note of the unhealthy conduct of Magu and EFCC by deliberately refusing to serve him much earlier despite the fact that he has been calling them and demanding for the processes. He submitted that the conduct of the 3rd and 4th Defendants constituted an unhealthy drag on speedy administration of justice.
As a result, the Plaintiff sought for a short adjournment to enable him file a further affidavit and do a composite reply to the Defendants’ processes. The Defendants did not oppose the application for adjournment. The Senate was not represented despite being served with a hearing notice on Friday, 26th May, 2017.
Before the Court adjourned the matter, a mild drama played out when the Plaintiff sought the leave of the Court to make a very “salient observation”. The Plaintiff alleged that since the last four or five days he has been receiving threatening calls from masked numbers warning him to withdraw the matter or he would not be alive to hear the Court’s judgment on the matter. In his words: “My Lord, since the last four or five days, I have been receiving calls from unknown numbers demanding that I withdraw the present suit. I do not know who they are, who sent them or who they are working for. But their messages have always been one and the same which is that if I do not withdraw the present suit, I will not be alive to her the judgment of the Court in the matter. I perfectly appreciate the weight of this concern which I have decided to share in the open Court. Being a Lawyer, I appreciate the weight of my complaint and I make this complaint with a very sense of responsibility since it borders on threat to my own life. I do not belong to any other institution. This is where I belong and this institution should protect me.” After noting his concern, the presiding Judge, Hon. Justice Quadri encouraged him to petition the relevant security agencies who could use advanced technology like the GPS to unmask and track the phone numbers. The Plaintiff replied that he had instructed his Lawyers to address his petition to the Inspector-General of Police and the State Security Service [DSS].
It would be recalled that the Plaintiff had approached the Federal High Court seeking, among others for;
A SOLEMN DECLARATION OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT, that under and by virtue of section 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act 2004, the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, cannot continue to function in office as Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, after the decision of the 1st Defendant, The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which rejected the nomination of the 4th Defendant as Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
A SOLEMN DECLARATION OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT, that the 2nd Defendant, the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation, and through him the Federal Government of Nigeria, are bound by the decision of the 1st Defendant, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, rejecting the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, as Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and cannot continue to treat, recognize, deal with or deploy the 4th Defendant as Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
AN INJUNCTION restraining the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, whether by himself, his servants, agents or privies, or in any manner whatsoever from functioning in office as or from performing or continuing to perform the duties of or from holding himself out or parading himself as the Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
AN ORDER, forthwith directing the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, to vacate, relinquish and surrender his office as Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Source: http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/05/assassination-update-court-adjourns.html

Cc: Seun, Lalasticlala

An Abuja based Constitutional Lawyer [Barr. JOHNMARY CHUKWUKASI JIDEOBI] who has dragged the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Mustapha Magu, to Court, has raised alarm that his life has come under THREAT. This is revealed in a short telephone interview he had with odogwublog.com in Awka, Anambra State.
The Anambra-born Human Rights Lawyer is alleging serial threats to his life in recent times by unknown callers over the action he filed against the Acting Chairman of the EFCC seeking his removal by the Abuja Federal High Court. According him:

“Since the past one week, I have been receiving calls from unknown [hidden] telephone numbers who usually call with menacing voices and their messages have remained one and the same which is to withdraw [hands off] the suit I filed against the Acting Chairman of the EFCC forthwith and unconditionally. I have been specifically warned that I will not live to tell the outcome of the suit I filed against the Commission’s Acting Chairman should I fail to heed the voice of reason.” “The callers would usually inform me of my residential address, the addresses of my siblings and loved ones whom they threaten to deal with even if they are unable to hit me.”

Asked what steps he has taken to deal with the situation the Lawyer replied:
“First of all, I have always known that the task of tackling impunity is a dangerous one. I am equally convinced that the suit I have filed is to discharge one of the sacred duties a Lawyer owes his society. One of the cardinal duties of a Lawyer is to uphold the Rule of Law, defend the democracy of his State and oppose impunity. I have discussed the serial threats to my life with my Lawyers whom I have instructed to petition the State Security Service {DSS}, the Inspector-General of Police and other security Agencies and the Human Rights Communities including relevant Diplomatic Missions of the European Union, United Kingdom and that of the United States of America. Of course, my Lawyers will equally petition the Committees on Human Rights and Judiciary of both the Nigerian Senate and the Federal House of Representatives. I have equally instructed them to bring this ugly, sad, ungodly and condemnable development to the attention of the Court when the matter comes up for hearing tomorrow (today). Above all, my protection is ultimately in God’s hands alone” “They have equally threatened me with arrest and indefinite detention but I am unshaken. “

Recall that the Lawyer had gone before the Federal High Court Abuja asking the Court whether in the light of the refusal of the Senate to approve of the appointment of Magu as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC his tenure as the Acting Chairman has not ended. He sought for the immediate sacking of Magu by the Federal High Court. The matter is fixed for hearing on 30th May, 2017 before the Honourable Justice Quadri of the Federal High Court.

Source: http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/05/magu-lawyer-riases-alarm-over-threat-to.html

Contrary to the argument advanced by the Federal Government that the appointment of the substantive Chairman of the EFCC does not require confirmation by the Senate, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has told the Federal High Court, Abuja that the approval of the Senate is needed before Magu could become substantive Chairman of the EFCC.
The opposing position of the Attorney-General is contained in the brief of argument he filed in the suit brought against Ibrahim Mustapha Magu by a Constitutional Lawyer, Barr. JOHNMARY CHUKWUKASI JIDEOBI.
In the Originating Summons, the Lawyer sought for the following orders;
. A SOLEMN DECLARATION OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT, that under and by virtue of section 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act 2004, the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, cannot continue to function in office as Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, after the decision of the 1st Defendant, The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which rejected the nomination of the 4th Defendant as Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
2. A SOLEMN DECLARATION OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT, that the failure, omission or neglect by the 4th Defendant to vacate and relinquish his office as Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, after the rejection of his nomination by the 1st Defendant, has disqualified him from further consideration for confirmation as the substantive Chairman of the 3rd Defendant by the 1st Defendant, The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
3. A SOLEMN DECLARATION OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT, that the 2nd Defendant, the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation, and through him the Federal Government of Nigeria, are bound by the decision of the 1st Defendant, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, rejecting the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, as Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and cannot continue to treat, recognize, deal with or deploy the 4th Defendant as Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant.
4. A SOLEMN DECLARATION OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT, that the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, its servants and officers are bound by the decision of the 1st Defendant, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, rejecting the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, as Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and cannot continue to treat, recognize or deal with the 4th Defendant as its Acting Chairman.
5. AN INJUNCTION restraining the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, whether by himself, his servants, agents or privies, or in any manner whatsoever from functioning in office as or from performing or continuing to perform the duties of or from holding himself out or parading himself as the Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
6.AN INJUNCTION restraining the 3rd Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, whether by itself, its servants, officers, agents or privies, or in any manner whatsoever from holding out or parading, treating, recognizing or in any other manner dealing with the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, as its Acting Chairman.
7. AN ORDER, forthwith directing the 4th Defendant, Ibrahim Magu, to vacate, relinquish and surrender his office as Acting Chairman of the 3rd Defendant, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
8.ANY OTHER ORDER OR ORDERS as this Honourable Court may deem fit to grant in the entire circumstances.
In accepting that the Senate has the powers to confirm the appointment of the EFCC Chairman, the AGF submitted at paragraph 4.16 of his Written Address in the suit “My Lord, the President appointed the 4th Defendant as acting head of the 3rd Defendant Office and the confirmation of the Senate is not needed to give effect to that, the only time this section will be breached is if and when the President decides to go ahead without the approval of the Senate to make the 4th Defendant the substantive Chairman of the 3rd Defendant." The matter is fixed for hearing tomorrow by Justice Quadri of Court 10, Federal High Court, Abuja.

Cc: Seun, Lalasticlala

MOB [JUNGLE] JUSTICE: SPEAKING OUT FOR THE VICTIMS, ENDING THE SCOURGE
So many ills afflict our society and some of those ills have come to be identified as wide-spreading evils of our time. Among these wide-spreading evils of our time is the scourge of jungle justice [otherwise known as and called mob justice]. It is one crime that diminishes our common humanity and shocks the conscience of every civilised society. While it is true that before now this evil has received inadequate attention but with the advent of technology, the menace of this scourge is now increasingly gaining the attention that it deserves. It is one that is currently troubling stakeholders in criminal justice administration given its pervasive spread. There is no argument that mob justice is a significant social and legal issue with many different perspectives.
DEFINITION OF TERMS:
For every discussion to be intelligible there must be definition of terms [apologies to Aristotle]. Understanding the word “mob justice” or “jungle justice” is key and central to the appreciation of this write-up. The violent phenomenon of mob justice can explained as when a group of people, sometimes several hundred, take the law into their own hands, act as accusers, jury and judge and punish an alleged wrongdoer on the spot. The person accused of a crime has no chance to defend himself /herself or claim innocence. This procedure often ends up with the victim being beaten to death or seriously injured. The victim of a mob is denied a fair trial and the right to life. [Adapted from MOB JUSTICE: A qualitative research regarding vigilante justice in modern Uganda].
According to wikpedia, Jungle justice or mob justice is a form of public extrajudicial killings in Sub-Saharan Africa, most notably Nigeria and Cameroon, where an alleged criminal is humiliated, beaten or summarily executed by a crowd or vigilantes. Treatments can vary from a "muddy treatment", where the perceived perpetrator is made to roll in mud for hours to severe beatings followed by necklacing. This form of street justice occurs where a dysfunctional and corrupt judiciary system and law enforcement have "lost all credibility. European principles of justice have likewise become discredited. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_justice]. Suffice it to note that the phrase “mob justice” would be used interchangeably with “jungle justice” in this discuss.
PURPOSE OF THE WRITE-UP:
This is an enquiry into the possible underlying factors that fuel the social malady of mob justice in our present day society, the position of the law on the issue [as espoused by our Courts] and the possible solutions to end the plague.
FACTUAL EXAMPLE:
A colleague of mine [identity withheld] who practices law in the Federal Capital Territory [F.C.T. for short], Abuja, narrated to me his ordeal in the hands of a mob operating along the Karu axis of the F.C.T. where he had gone to visit a friend. The incidence took place in the first week of May, 2017. The grisly account is rather gut-wrenching and would be recounted as graphically recounted to me by my friend. Owing to power outage in the area where he visited, he decided to take his phone to a nearby barbing salon to charge around 7:00pm. Thereat, many other residents of the neighbourhood equally come to take advantage of the generator set used by the barbing salon to power their phones and other electrical gadgets. It so happened that when the owner of the barbing salon wanted to close for the day, people naturally came for their phones. As the owner of the salon went to turn of the generator, my learned friend equally took his phone and made for his friend’s house.
Midway to his friend’s house, my learned friend was accosted by a group of young men numbering around 10 [between ages 18 to 24] who asked him to go back to the barbing salon as one of them was looking for his phone. On getting to the salon, the owner recognised him and informed the young boys that it was not my learned friend who could have made away with the phone they were looking for. Before my learned friend could say ‘Jack Robinson’, he saw himself on the ground. Next, the young boys started landing all manner of hard objects on my friend; blocks, planks and what have you. Having pummeled him into stupor, my friend realized that if he did not act fast, his life would be ended by the mob with no one to tell his story. He managed to motion to them to stop so he could talk to them. Falsely thinking that my friend was about to tell them the “truth” finally, the mob relented a little and my friend used the short reprieve to pick race at a speed akin to that of the famous Usain Bolt. On reaching his friend’s house, he hit himself on the gate with a very loud shout that caused the residents of the compound to rush out to know what was happening. Sighting my friend, one man in the compound who had known my friend as a Lawyer beckoned on the rampaging mob to halt their brutality. The old man told the mob that he was sure my friend could not have committed the theft they were accusing him of. He suggested that the matter be quickly taken to a native doctor who was located nearby so that he [the native doctor] could consult the spirits to find out the culpability or innocence of my friend. The spiritual processes adopted by the native doctor was long [they should not detain us here] and seem to command the fullest confidence of the mob. The Chief Priest finally announced to them that my friend was/is innocent of the accusation they leveled against him. Of course, the mob instantly became penitent and they have been begging my friend for forgiveness. After a marathon medical tests/scan and treatments, how to make the mob answerable to the law for their attempted murder of my friend has been engaging my time and that of my friend up to the point of writing this article.
WHAT FUELS THE MENACE?
Concededly, mob justice is a complex phenomenon. However, our intimate reading of relevant research materials on the issue sufficiently informs us that the menace of jungle justice is largely fueled by structural issues encompassing poverty, lack of education, unemployment, extreme deprivation and lack of opportunity which are all attached to a lower social class. Research outcome suggests that citizens from lower social classes are less likely to have recourse to the judicial system. Weak, inaccessible and compromised judicial system is also identified as a factor fueling the menace of mob justice. The dominant perception among the deprived class is that the judicial system is fragile and untrustworthy leading them to take the laws into their own hands.
LAWYERS WALK AGAINST MOB JUSTICE:
In November, 2016, a group of lawyers and human rights activists staged a walk against mob justice which played out in the same month of November and in the Orile area of the same city of Lagos. In his contribution during the walk, the Executive Director of the Access to Justice, AJ, Mr Joseph Otteh, gave a very insightful contribution on the causes of jungle justice ravaging our society. Hear him:
"Jungle justice is a metaphor for the failure of justice, the failure of society to apply uniform and equal standards and processes to everyone, the failure of society to protect its people from the whims of base and irrational human instincts and impulses. A society that allows a few people to take laws into their own hands, and sometimes take human life under that influence of that power, is a broken, lawless state. The entire concept of "State", "government" and "Rule of Law" is lost where people are allowed to act, or not prevented from acting as though society were, as Hobbes said, in a state of nature, unregulated, unbridled, or life was "brutish, nasty and short. When people take laws into their own hands in a society, they basically express the idea that state institutions of law and order are dysfunctional and lack trust or confidence. If people trusted those institutions, it is a lot easier to engage those institutions when crimes occur... Our Police Force is broken, and has been so for as long as I can remember. Our judiciary too, is a largely inefficiently administered institution, and the idea of being stuck in courts once cases get in there they foster a loss of confidence in courts and a lot of people are not prepared to "let the law run its loss" in our law courts.”
ENDING THE SCOURGE, LEGISLATIVE INTERVENTION:
The Votes and Proceedings of the Nigerian Senate of Tuesday, 22nd November, 2016 confirms that the Senate considered and approved a motion [standing in the name of Senator Bareehu O. Ashafa, Lagos East] condemning the rising cases of jungle justice in the country. For its defining impact on this write-up, I will quote the motion of Senator Ashafa is extenso:
“Motion made: That the Senate is disgusted by the rising cases of jungle justice by mobs that have arrogated to themselves the power to condemn others to death and execute judgment without recourse to the law courts in different parts of Nigeria;
Worried about this trend, especially the case of a young boy recently lynched in the Orile area of Lagos State for stealing;
Horrified that these rising barbaric acts are in most cases, perpetrated with a crowd of people watching unperturbed is most disheartening and frightening as each act dehumanises us as a race;
Disgusted that this is not the first time that in the country that the mobs have engaged in jungle justice. Some of the instances of jungle justice still fresh in our memories are as follows;
i. We can never forget when four young boys, Ugonna Obuzor, Toku Llyod, Chiadika Biringa, and Tekena Elkanah, all students of the University of Port Harcourt were lynched in 2012 after they were falsely accused of being thieves in Aluu, a community in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
ii. Sometime in October, 2016, it was reported that a young man trying to steal a flat screen TV from a football viewing center in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State had his arm chopped off by an irate mob on suspicion of stealing.
iii. On October 19th, photos of a suspected burglar tied up like bush meat surfaced online. He was said to have been caught red-handed after breaking into a house and trying to steal some valuables in Sokponba in Benin City, Edo State. He was beaten blue and black, tied up like bush meat and later handed over to the police.
iv. In February, 2016, one Akinifessi was reported to have been beaten to death by a mob in Ondo State for engaging in homosexuality.
Further disgusted at the growing culture of extreme hate and disregard to human life, coupled with institutional lethargy against prosecution by some State Attorney-Generals, with the recent case of Mrs. Bridget Agbahime, who was killed in July, 2016 by an angry mob in Kano for having a different opinion from those of her attackers;
Observes that the current social disinterestedness to move against this behaviour that has led to Nigeria being tagged as one of the countries with the worst rate of jungle justice in the world, yet a religious country;
Reiterates that the growing culture of citizens or anyone in particular taking the law into their own hands and meting out justice as they deem fit is most reprehensible;
Observes that Section 33 of the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the right to life and that no Nigerian life should be taken except in accordance with the rule of law;
Restates the need for all citizens not to submit to this evil act because in doing so, we‘ll lose our humanity;
Acknowledges that mob justice is the trait of a people with long deprivation of justice; it shows a fault in our legal/justice system.”
It is to the credit of the Nigerian Senate that after the above robust and comprehensive lead debate by the sponsor of the Motion, it [the Senate] resolved to, among others;
i. Condemn in totality these abhorrent acts of barbarism;
ii. Urge the Nigerian Police to immediately ensure that all the perpetrators of this barbarism and make sure they are brought to book;
iii. Urge the Attorney-General of the Federation, the States Attorney-Generals and the Police to show greater sense of duty in diligent apprehension and prosecution of this kind of offenders.
ANTI JUNGLE-JUSTICE BILL:
Earlier on Wednesday, 5th October, 2016, the Senate considered a Bill titled “Prohibition and Protection of Persons from Lynching, Mob Action and Extra-judicial Execution Bill, 2016(SB. 109)”. This Bill [standing in the name of Senator Dino Melaye] is aimed at forming the legislative sledgehammer to shatter the menace of jungle justice in Nigeria. No wonder the Senate [on the 22nd November, 2017] equally resolved to “urge the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to urgently accelerate the passage of Anti Jungle-Justice Bill before it”.
THE VIEWS OF OUR COURTS:
Our [Nigerian] Courts have remained consistent in condemning the tendency of the citizens to relapse into the disavowed practice of mob action. Both the Nigerian Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have taken the advantage of their rare judicial altitude to hand down the warning to the perpetrators of mob justice that our system of justice ahbours their practice. In the case of Olabode v. State (2007) ALL FWLR (Pt 389) 1301 at 1323 - 1324, paras H - B, 1325, paras. D - F, their Lordships of the Court of Appeal have this to say of mob justice;
“…let me state once again that no matter how one feels about the acts of another, it is wrong to try to redress an unlawful or seemingly unlawful act with another unlawful act. This will amount to jungle justice. We cannot afford that now, I believe that we had since passed that stage. Nobody, and the appellant inclusive, should reverse the hand of the clock in this regard. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, recognizes the sanctity of human life and no one will be allowed to take the life of another without due process no matter how brave he thinks he is. If he does, the full weight of the law will be brought to bear on hhim. This should serve as a clear message to those who, at the slightest provocation, on hearing that person is either a witch or has stolen something, decide to set such person ablaze. The law frowns at and will certainly punish such criminal and irresponsible act when proven as in this case." Per. Okoro and Fabiyi JJCA.
In his characteristic manner, Justice Muhammad of the Nigerian Supreme Court, in the case of SPIES v. Oni (2016) LPELR-40502 (SC) has this to say;
"My noble lords Law is meant to provide peace, security, protection concord and purposeful co-existence amongst citizens. No reasonable society will encourage resort to self-help for whatever reason and not certainly on mere suspicion."
In the celebrated case of Kaza v. State (2008) 7 NWLR (Pt.1085) 125 S.C. 2, the Supreme Court frowned at the lynching of a Muslim by his Muslim brothers who accused him of insulting Prophet Mohammed and slaughtered him on the outskirts of the city as a result. In dismissing their appeal and upholding the sentence of death by hanging imposed on them by the High Court of Kebbi State for Culpable homicide, the Supreme Court condemned the evil of mob justice in these punchy words;
“The appellant in this appeal did not show to any of the courts that he had the requisite authority to take away the life of the deceased. He thus unlawfully deprived the deceased the opportunity to defend the allegations levelled against him before any court of law or authority. The village head of Kardi who was contacted by the appellant and others, for authority to execute the deceased, flatly refused authority as he fully well knew that he was not the right authority to grant such a leave. A learned person known as Ustaz Mamman drew attention of the appellant and his co-accused persons that they had no authority to take away the life of the deceased, yet they kept deaf ears and even described the Ustaz as an infidel. I cannot see how these kind of people shall have any respite by the law. What is good for the goose is good for the gender. Life is precious to all and sundry. He who kills by the sword shall die by the sword. I have no sympathy for the banishment of such busy bodies who respect no human, life due to their high degree of misapprehension of the law or, should I say, complete ignorance of the law. The appellant failed to convince me through his explanations. But he is free to make further and better explanations to the hang man, though belatedly.”
END:
What emerges from the array of facts and galaxy of judicial authorities surveyed above crystalises to the inescapable conclusion that the evil of mob justice is a reflection of the weak law enforcement regime in the country and largely ineffective judicial system. Jungle justice, being a complex phenomenon, manifests itself in various colours; the common thread being the dethronement of the rule of law and resort to self-help. Arguments have been advanced in some informed quarters that by the constant refusal of government to obey court orders the government is as culpable of jungle justice as the uniformed miscreants who pile tyres on accused persons to set them ablaze on the street. For instance, in the wake of the Orile incidence in Lagos, Mr. Joseph Otteh of Access to Justice robustly argued that;
"Government needs also respect the rule of law, for where it persists in flouting court orders, it is setting a pernicious example to the rest of society, and telling Nigerians that it is just fine to behave in the style of the jungle. So, in a manner of speaking, government is as guilty of jungle justice as the people who pile tyres around the neck of victims and light them up."
Indeed, there is considerable force in this submission and I endorse it! One of the dangers inherent in this scary evil was very adroitly exposed by Mr. Monday Ubani, Esq. Listen to this;
“Somewhere and someday, a person who does not like your face will allege you have done something and the mob will believe his own side of the story without hearing from you and set you on fire. That is the end, because the person will not be alive to say what happened. It should be disallowed.”
In signing off this discussion on how to end this fast-spreading evil, we note that there is a consensus among stakeholders that instead of allowing this evil to take root on our soil, we should rather work in concert to insist and ensure that the institutions established to combat crime and punish offenders wake up to their Constitutional responsibilities since we cannot use criminality to cure criminality. The time to demand this institutional efficiency from the Police and our judiciary is now. I choose to stop here.

Source: https://web.facebook.com/jideobi.johnmary1/posts/1458538404204545

OPEN LETTER TO MR. ABUBAKAR MALAMI: OUR DEAR ATTORNEY-GENERAL, IMPUNITY IS INCREASINGLY DEFINING YOUR TENURE.

2. Dear Sir,
3. I bring you warmest greetings from the constituents and Apostles of Rule of Law and Constitutionalism in Nigeria.
4. Sir, there is no other time in our recent history when executive lawlessness, characterized by flagrant disobedience to sacred orders of court , has dominated the platform of public discuss and boggled the minds of Democrats more than the present time in which the government to which you act as its Chief Law Officer holds sway. This position will shortly be vindicated and fortified by statistical evidence which shall be marshaled out in the course of this letter.
5. The soul of this letter is donated by the large-scale impunity, confounding executive recklessness, flagrant abuse of power, inexplicable disobedience to sacred orders of our courts by persons and authorities currently exercising the plenitude and amplitude of powers of the Federal Government of Nigeria under the subsisting Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is supposedly binding on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is the unfortunate reality that this most sacred document [the Constitution], which ordinarily ought to be enjoying pervading bindingness on all government functionaries, is suffering untold humiliation and unprecedented desecration in the hands of different government agencies, authorities and functionaries of the government you are meant to advise that necessitated this urgent public letter to your person.
6. REASONS FOR THE LETTER:
7. My reasons for writing you are understandably manifold but for economy of space, I would scale it down to three. Like a Lady’s skirt, this urgent letter of grave concern promises to be short enough to be attractive but equally long enough to cover all the essential parts of the issues under scrutiny.
8. First and foremost, [by the infinite mercies and grace of God Almighty] I am a proud member of this most honourable profession on this planet earth, the legal profession, just as your good yourself. And it is hardly disputable that the future of democracy in every civilised society lies on the shoulders of lawyers.
9. Secondly, the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation is recognised as a great historic office that places its occupier in the rare position of the “Keeper of the King’s conscience”, the Chief Law Officer/Legal Adviser not only to the President of the Nation alone but equally the entire Federal Government with all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies thereunder. Added to these super responsibilities, by the ancient and ever-unbroken tradition of our profession, you are rightly acclaimed the “Leader of the Bar.”
10. The third crucial reason for this urgent letter is the lessons of precedents. The pre-eminent and incontestable position of the Attorney-General, under the common law, as the chief law officer of the State, either generally as a legal adviser or specially in all court proceedings to which the State is a party, has long been recognised by the courts[State v. Ilori (1983) 2 S.C. 155]. The enormous powers bestowed on you by our Constitution have been acknowledged as a great ministerial prerogative coupled with grave responsibilities. It follows therefore that however you decide to exercise these awesome powers donated to your office today will definitely form a precedent for the future. Whether your manner of discharging the duties of your office today might be adjudged a bad or good precedent belongs to posterity and should therefore be of great concern to you.
11. STATISTICS OF DISOBEDIENCE TO COURT ORDERS
12. Sir, not long after you were sworn in as the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Federal High Court of Nigeria [Abuja Division, presided over by the Honourable Justice A.F.A. Ademola], delivered a Ruling ordering the Department of State Security to release Mr. Nnamdi Kanu [the Leader of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra] on bail [unconditionally] on the 17th December, 2015. That Court Order was disobeyed by the Department of State Security [otherwise known as the DSS] who by our Constitutional structuring are under the ultimate command of the President as per his pre-eminent position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
13. Secondly, it is no longer news that the High Court of Federal Capital Territory [per, the Honourable Justice Huseni Baba-Yusuf] granted bail to the former national security adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd). The same Court equally granted him bail [per, the Honourable Justice Afen] in another charge brought against him by the Federal Government. Sometime in January, 2017, the same F.C.T. High Court, presided over by the Honourable Justice Huseni Baba-Yusuf was moved by Mr. Ahmed Raji, SAN to re-affirm the bail earlier granted Mr. Dasuki. Again in April, 2017, the Federal High Court [sitting in Abuja, per the Honourable Justice Ahmed Mohammed] was similarly moved by Mr. Ahmed Raji [Dasuki’s Counsel] to re-affirm the bail earlier granted Mr. Dasuki by the said Court since 2015. On the 4th October, 2016, the Court of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, declared the arrest and detention of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, as unlawful and arbitrary. The court also held that the further arrest of Mr. Dasuki by government on November 4, after he was granted bail by a court of law, amounts to a mockery of democracy and the rule of law. Up to the present moment, Mr. Dasuki still remains in the custody of the DSS. On the 16th May, 2017, the State Security Service [otherwise known as DSS] took their impunity and bewildering insolence for the Courts to a higher level when it refused to produce Mr. Dasuki for his trial before the FCT High Court. All that Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN [the Prosecution counsel] could tell Justice Baba Yusuf was that he was surprised that the former NSA was not within the court premises for the continuation of his trial but however could not go any further. Off course, this did not go down well with the Defence team led by Joseph Daudu, SAN who quickly informed the court that the Prosecutor’s response was unhelpful.
14. SHEIKH IBRAHIM EL-ZAKZAKY RELEASE ORDER:
15. On 13th December, 2015, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky was arrested by Nigerian State Actors and was kept in the custody of the DSS until the 2nd day of December, 2016 when the Federal High Court [Abuja Division, presided over by the Honourable Justice Gabriel Kolawole] ordered the Federal Government to provide an accommodation for El-Zakzaky, his wife and family members within Kaduna State or any part of the northern region. The court declared the continuous detention of El-Zakzaky since December 13, 2015 as unlawful and illegal since the issue of protective custody was unknown to law or the National Security Agencies Act establishing the DSS. The court further awarded the cost of 25 Million Naira as general damages to be paid to Ibrahim El-Zakzaky who must be released unconditionally to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) within 45 days. The Inspector-General of Police was equally ordered to convey El-Zakzaky and his wife to the accommodation provided by the government. The court also awarded 25m damages to Mrs Zakzaky, making a cumulative of 50 Million Naira as general damages. Since the 2nd day of December, 2016 up to the present moment, the DSS has not obeyed that Court Order. On the contrary, the DSS have continued to detain Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. The said order of the Court has equally not been stayed, vacated nor successfully challenged and upturned on appeal.
16. LAWYERS IN DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY PROTEST AGAINST IMPUNITY:
17. On the 31st October, 2016, a mammoth crowd of lawyers under the aegis of Lawyers in Defence of Democracy staged a protest that shook the heart of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. According to media sources, the Convener of the Group, Ikenga Ugochinyere, Esq., stated the purpose of protest thus;
a. “We Lawyers in Defence of Democracy and Citizens for Good Governance reject the call for the judges, whose homes were invaded by the DSS, to step aside as heeding the call will be a victory for tyranny and gradual return to Kokoma democracy. We dissociate ourselves from such call. That the DSS and other agencies release from detention all Nigerians who have been granted bail by the courts and who have fulfilled their bail conditions including compliance with all judgments and orders. Their continuous hold of such persons is an affront on the authority of the judiciary, dictatorial and a desecration of the fundamental democratic principle of separation of powers. The Executive cannot be prosecutor and judge at the same time... A country where a man can secure bail four times for the same charges and you still detain him is lawless. A country where a judge will grant bail on bailable offences and the person involved is then arrested on phantom corruption charges because he ruled against the whims and caprices of persons in government is a lawless country.”
18. It is noted in passing that the protesters among other key institutions, equally marched to your office on the day of the said protest. Also of interest is the fact that the Convener of the Group has been in detention ever since up to the present moment without a criminal charge formally filed against him before any Court of the land.
19. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WEIGHS IN:
20. On Thursday, the 26th day of January, 2017, the Federal House of Representatives, resolved to urge the Executive arm to direct security agencies to obey court orders, especially those relating to bail and production of accused persons in Court for trials; and mandate the Committee on Human Rights and Justice to investigate cases of detention of accused persons beyond the statutory period in contravention of subsisting Court Orders granting them bail, failure to release or produce accused persons in Court for trial and prevail on the offending agencies to ensure their releases and report to the House within four (4) weeks for further legislative action. Interestingly, on the same legislative day, the Federal House of Representatives considered and adopted a motion titled “Need to check persistent Fundamental Human Rights Breaches and Acts of Impunity by Security Agencies”. After a robust and wide-ranging debate on the Motion, the House noted that the Chapter Four of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, guarantee, among others, rights to peaceful assembly, personal liberty and freedom of movement but concerned about the rising cases of violation of those rights; also noted the air of impunity with which the personnel of the security agencies treat citizens and the worrisome tendencies to disobey court orders; concerned about the recent arrest and detention, on 22nd December, 2016, of some members of Civil Society Organisations, such as Lawyers in Defence of Democracy, National Youth Council of Nigeria and Citizens for Good Governance by the State Security Service for allegedly planning a peaceful protest and they have remained in detention for over 29 days since their arrests without being charged to Court or released. The House resolved, among others, to mandate the Committee on Human Rights, Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence and Justice to investigate this incident and all other cases of unlawful arrests and detention of citizens and disobedience of Court Orders since June, 2015 and report to the House within four (4) weeks for further legislative action.
21. THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA WEIGHS IN:
22. When he appeared before the Nigerian Senate for his confirmation, the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, on the 1st of March, 2017 roundly condemned the rampant cases of disobedience to Court Orders. Fielding questions from the lawmakers, the CJN said the challenge of disobedience to court orders “is for the legislature and the executive to handle.” He said the judiciary would welcome that day that court judgments would be respected and carried out after exhaustion of the right of appeal. That will mean the independence of the judiciary, he added. If rulings are not respected, the judge continued, they would just be “mere piece of paper.” “Anyway, disobedience of court order is an act of impunity,” he said.
23. WARNINGS OF OUR COURTS:
24. The Nigerian Court of Appeal in the memorable case of Balonwu v. Obi (2007) 5 NWLR (Pt. 1028) 488 at 538 Paras.C- E, 564-565 Paras.B – G, has this to say on disobedience to sacred Orders of Court;
25. “An order of court whether valid or not must be obeyed until it is set aside. An order of court must be obeyed as long as it is subsisting by all no matter how lowly or highly placed in society. An act of disobedience towards an order of a court can render any further act by those who have acted disobediently to sanctions from other court because no court would want its orders flouted. This is what the rule of law is all about hence the courts have always stressed the need for obedience of court orders…Obeying court orders is both legal and moral obligation but you find that court orders are toyed with both by lawyers and the litigating public. Indeed for the politicians, the rule of law is non-existing until it suits their purpose, and it is only then it is observed to the letter. Without a strict adherence to the rule of law, our nascent democracy and indeed our Constitution will only be worth the paper on which it is written. What makes a great country is adherence to the rule of law. Even in hell, there is order and discipline.”
26. Indeed, all the existing Supreme Court authorities lean heavily in support of the long-established postulation that disobedience of Court Order (otherwise called contempt of Court) is an abomination of the rankest specie just as it is an anathema in every democracy worth the name as it holds the key to the floodgates of anarchy and societal destruction. Condemning this cancerous vice, the Supreme Court, in the case of Hart v. Hart (1991) 21 N.S.C.C. (Pt. 1) 184 at 199, had these unkind words for those who disobey Court orders (contemnors);
27. “I would like to state that obedience to Orders of Courts is fundamental to the good order, peace and stability of the Nigerian nation. The ugly alternative is a painful recrudescence of triumph of brute force or anarchy, a resort to our old system of settlement by means of bow and arrows, machetes and guns or, now, even more sophisticated weapons of war. Disobedience to an order of Court should, therefore, be seen as an offence directed not against the personality of the Judge who made the Order, but as a calculated act of subversion of peace, law, and order in Nigeria society. Obedience to every Order of Court is therefore a duty which every citizen who believes in peace and stability of the Nigerian State owes to the nation. To allow Court orders to be disobeyed would be to tread the road toward anarchy. If orders of the Court can be treated with disrespect, the whole administration of justice is brought into scorn…If the remedies that the Court grants to correct wrongs can be ignored, then, there will be nothing left for each person but to take the law into his own hands. Loss of respect for the Court will quickly result in the destruction of our society”
28. To cap it all, the Constitution by its Section 287 (3) lucidly provides in the very words which I would now most respectfully reproduce;
29. “The decisions of the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, a High Court and of all other Courts established by this Constitution shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by other Courts of law with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, a High Court and those other Courts, respectively”
30. SUMMATION:
31. What patently emerges from the concatenation of the instances of executive impunity and lawlessness most dispassionately surveyed above comes to the ineluctable conclusion that the present Federal Government of Nigeria, which you are saddled with the onerous duty to offer sound legal advice, has most unfortunately fallen into the cesspit of tyranny, lawlessness and impunity. Most of its security agencies (especially) have pathetically constituted themselves into the sinkhole of constitutionalism, Rule of Law and sacred human rights of great Nigerian Citizens.
32. THE CASE AGAINST YOU:
33. Sir, the case against you in all these well-carefully itemised instances of disobedience to Court Orders and Human Rights abuses by different State Actors, is that there is no iota of evidence on record that you have lifted a finger to intervene by advising the concerned agencies to uphold the dignity of our Constitution which is the foundation of our society [especially for them to comply with these Court Orders]. No such recorded evidence exists anywhere and I challenge you to prove me wrong by producing one to Nigerians. What this comes to is that you are very comfortable to sit in your hallowed chambers and watch our Constitution thrown to the dogs and the dignity of our Courts basterdised. It equally means that you are very comfortable with the kind of decadent precedent that all these acts of outlawry and brigandage would [in their aggregate] foist on our future democracy. These summations are indeed unanswerable since finding otherwise would certainly amount to eyewash.
34. END:
35. Given the nature and gravity of the issues under consideration, it becomes imperative to call to mind the salient observations most ably offered by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria [Atanda Fatai-Williams. CJN] in State v. Ilori, where he rightly stated;
36. “For all these reasons, it cannot be too strongly stressed that this pre¬eminent position of the Attorney-General with respect to criminal pro-ceedings in our Constitution carries with it grave and onerous responsibi-lity which should not be discharged with levity. Because of this, it is of paramount importance that when an Attorney-General is being appoin¬ted, the appointor should, at all times, bear in mind the integrity, ability, experience, and maturity required of the person holding this high and important office. He should be a person who, in the discharge of his duties, will always "have regard to the public interest, the interest of justice, and to the need to prevent any abuse of legal process."
37. Sir, as the tenure of the government you presently serve gradually winds up its activities, you may find it expedient to cast aside the seductive veils of political considerations and sentiments and approach the content of this letter with the spirit of a patriot who should always stand ready to “defend his country against his government.” As for whatever backlash that might befall me for my courage to address you on these important issues of our realm, I take refuge in the protection of God Almighty who inspired the legendary Thomas Paine to declare that “if there must be trouble, let it be in my own day so that my child may have peace.” I find here a convenient place to stop.
38. Sir, do graciously accept the firm assurances of my highest regards.

39. Yours in preservation of democracy,

40. JOHNMARY CHUKWUKASI JIDEOBI, Esq.
Cc;
CJN, Senate President, Speaker, HOR.

Cc: Seun, Lalasticlala

An Abuja based Legal Practitioner, Barr. Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, has taken the war against impunity ravaging the land to the very doorstep of the Attorney-General of the Federation, MR. ABUBAKAR MALAMI, SAN.

In an open letter titled"OUR DEAR ATTORNEY-GENERAL, IMPUNITY IS INCREASINGLY DEFINING YOUR TENURE", the Constitutional Lawyer informed the Attorney-General that;

"The soul of this letter is donated by the large-scale impunity, confounding executive recklessness, flagrant abuse of power, inexplicable disobedience to sacred orders of our courts by persons and authorities currently exercising the plenitude and amplitude of powers of the Federal Government of Nigeria under the subsisting Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is supposedly binding on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria"

The Lawyer reminded the AFG that "it is hardly disputable that the future of democracy in every civilised society lies on the shoulders of lawyers." The Lawyer gave three reasons for writing the open letter among which is that "The enormous powers bestowed on you by our Constitution have been acknowledged as a great ministerial prerogative coupled with grave responsibilities. It follows therefore that however you decide to exercise these awesome powers donated to your office today will definitely form a precedent for the future. Whether your manner of discharging the duties of your office today might be adjudged a bad or good precedent belongs to posterity and should therefore be of great concern to you"

The Lawyer took time to go down memory lane by carefully itemising the catalogue of disobedience to Court Orders by different agencies of the Federal Government. While condemning the AFG for his inaction, the Lawyer hit the AGF squarely when he wrote thus;

"Sir, the case against you in all these well-carefully itemised instances of disobedience to Court Orders and Human Rights abuses by different State Actors, is that there is no iota of evidence on record that you have lifted a finger to intervene by advising the concerned agencies to uphold the dignity of our Constitution which is the foundation of our society [especially for them to comply with these Court Orders]. No such recorded evidence exists anywhere and I challenge you to prove me wrong by producing one to Nigerians. What this comes to is that you are very comfortable to sit in your hallowed chambers and watch our Constitution thrown to the dogs and the dignity of our Courts basterdised. It equally means that you are very comfortable with the kind of decadent precedent that all these acts of outlawry and brigandage would [in their aggregate] foist on our future democracy. These summations are indeed unanswerable since finding otherwise would certainly amount to eyewash. "
He finally urged the AGF to "cast aside the seductive veils of political considerations and sentiments and approach the content of this letter with the spirit of a patriot who should always stand ready to “defend his country against his government"

As for whatever evil consequences that might befall him for courageously speaking out, here is the Lawyer's conviction;

"As for whatever backlash that might befall me for my courage to address you on these important issues of our realm, I take refuge in the protection of God Almighty who inspired the legendary Thomas Paine to declare that “if there must be trouble, let it be in my own day so that my child may have peace.”

The Letter was received in the office of the AGF on 19th May, 2017 and copied to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Cc: Seun, Lalasticlala
An Abuja based Legal Practitioner, Barr. Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, has taken the war against impunity ravaging the land to the very doorstep of the Attorney-General of the Federation, MR. ABUBAKAR MALAMI, SAN.

In an open letter titled"OUR DEAR ATTORNEY-GENERAL, IMPUNITY IS INCREASINGLY DEFINING YOUR TENURE", the Constitutional Lawyer informed the Attorney-General that "The soul of this letter is donated by the large-scale impunity, confounding executive recklessness, flagrant abuse of power, inexplicable disobedience to sacred orders of our courts by persons and authorities currently exercising the plenitude and amplitude of powers of the Federal Government of Nigeria under the subsisting Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is supposedly binding on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria"

The Lawyer reminded the AFG that "it is hardly disputable that the future of democracy in every civilised society lies on the shoulders of lawyers." The Lawyer gave three reasons for writing the open letter among which is that "The enormous powers bestowed on you by our Constitution have been acknowledged as a great ministerial prerogative coupled with grave responsibilities. It follows therefore that however you decide to exercise these awesome powers donated to your office today will definitely form a precedent for the future. Whether your manner of discharging the duties of your office today might be adjudged a bad or good precedent belongs to posterity and should therefore be of great concern to you"

The Lawyer took time to go down memory lane by carefully itemising the catalogue of disobedience to Court Orders by different agencies of the Federal Government. While condemning the AFG for his inaction, the Lawyer hit the AGF squarely when he wrote thus;

"Sir, the case against you in all these well-carefully itemised instances of disobedience to Court Orders and Human Rights abuses by different State Actors, is that there is no iota of evidence on record that you have lifted a finger to intervene by advising the concerned agencies to uphold the dignity of our Constitution which is the foundation of our society [especially for them to comply with these Court Orders]. No such recorded evidence exists anywhere and I challenge you to prove me wrong by producing one to Nigerians. What this comes to is that you are very comfortable to sit in your hallowed chambers and watch our Constitution thrown to the dogs and the dignity of our Courts basterdised. It equally means that you are very comfortable with the kind of decadent precedent that all these acts of outlawry and brigandage would [in their aggregate] foist on our future democracy. These summations are indeed unanswerable since finding otherwise would certainly amount to eyewash. "
He finally urged the AGF to "cast aside the seductive veils of political considerations and sentiments and approach the content of this letter with the spirit of a patriot who should always stand ready to “defend his country against his government"

The implication of the whole anomaly impugned was summed up by the Lawyer in these telling words;
"What patently emerges from the concatenation of the instances of executive impunity and lawlessness most dispassionately surveyed above comes to the ineluctable conclusion that the present Federal Government of Nigeria, which you are saddled with the onerous duty to offer sound legal advice, has most unfortunately fallen into the cesspit of tyranny, lawlessness and impunity. Most of its security agencies (especially) have pathetically constituted themselves into the sinkhole of constitutionalism, Rule of Law and sacred human rights of great Nigerian Citizens.”

As for whatever evil consequences that might befall him for courageously speaking out, here is the Lawyer's conviction;

"As for whatever backlash that might befall me for my courage to address you on these important issues of our realm, I take refuge in the protection of God Almighty who inspired the legendary Thomas Paine to declare that “if there must be trouble, let it be in my own day so that my child may have peace.”

The Letter was received in the office of the AGF on 19th May, 2017 and copied to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Source http://www.odogwublog.com/2017/05/breaking-attorney-generals-office.html

Cc: Seun, Lalasticlala

An Abuja based Legal Practitioner, Barr. Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, has taken the war against impunity ravaging the land to the very doorstep of the Attorney-General of the Federation, MR. ABUBAKAR MALAMI, SAN.

In an open letter titled"OUR DEAR ATTORNEY-GENERAL, IMPUNITY IS INCREASINGLY DEFINING YOUR TENURE", the Constitutional Lawyer informed the Attorney-General that "The soul of this letter is donated by the large-scale impunity, confounding executive recklessness, flagrant abuse of power, inexplicable disobedience to sacred orders of our courts by persons and authorities currently exercising the plenitude and amplitude of powers of the Federal Government of Nigeria under the subsisting Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is supposedly binding on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria"
The Lawyer reminded the AFG that "it is hardly disputable that the future of democracy in every civilised society lies on the shoulders of lawyers." The Lawyer gave three reasons for writing the open letter among which is that "The enormous powers bestowed on you by our Constitution have been acknowledged as a great ministerial prerogative coupled with grave responsibilities. It follows therefore that however you decide to exercise these awesome powers donated to your office today will definitely form a precedent for the future. Whether your manner of discharging the duties of your office today might be adjudged a bad or good precedent belongs to posterity and should therefore be of great concern to you"

The Lawyer took time to go down memory lane by carefully itemising the catalogue of disobedience to Court Orders by different agencies of the Federal Government. While condemning the AFG for his inaction, the Lawyer hit the AGF squarely when he wrote thus;

"Sir, the case against you in all these well-carefully itemised instances of disobedience to Court Orders and Human Rights abuses by different State Actors, is that there is no iota of evidence on record that you have lifted a finger to intervene by advising the concerned agencies to uphold the dignity of our Constitution which is the foundation of our society [especially for them to comply with these Court Orders]. No such recorded evidence exists anywhere and I challenge you to prove me wrong by producing one to Nigerians. What this comes to is that you are very comfortable to sit in your hallowed chambers and watch our Constitution thrown to the dogs and the dignity of our Courts basterdised. It equally means that you are very comfortable with the kind of decadent precedent that all these acts of outlawry and brigandage would [in their aggregate] foist on our future democracy. These summations are indeed unanswerable since finding otherwise would certainly amount to eyewash. "
He finally urged the AGF to "cast aside the seductive veils of political considerations and sentiments and approach the content of this letter with the spirit of a patriot who should always stand ready to “defend his country against his government"

As for whatever evil consequences that might befall him for courageously speaking out, here is the Lawyer's conviction;

"As for whatever backlash that might befall me for my courage to address you on these important issues of our realm, I take refuge in the protection of God Almighty who inspired the legendary Thomas Paine to declare that “if there must be trouble, let it be in my own day so that my child may have peace.”

The Letter was received in the office of the AGF on 19th May, 2017 and copied to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

1. OPEN LETTER TO MR. ABUBAKAR MALAMI: OUR DEAR ATTORNEY-GENERAL, IMPUNITY IS INCREASINGLY DEFINING YOUR TENURE.

2. Dear Sir,
3. I bring you warmest greetings from the constituents and Apostles of Rule of Law and Constitutionalism in Nigeria.
4. Sir, there is no other time in our recent history when executive lawlessness, characterized by flagrant disobedience to sacred orders of court , has dominated the platform of public discuss and boggled the minds of Democrats more than the present time in which the government to which you act as its Chief Law Officer holds sway. This position will shortly be vindicated and fortified by statistical evidence which shall be marshaled out in the course of this letter.
5. The soul of this letter is donated by the large-scale impunity, confounding executive recklessness, flagrant abuse of power, inexplicable disobedience to sacred orders of our courts by persons and authorities currently exercising the plenitude and amplitude of powers of the Federal Government of Nigeria under the subsisting Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is supposedly binding on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is the unfortunate reality that this most sacred document [the Constitution], which ordinarily ought to be enjoying pervading bindingness on all government functionaries, is suffering untold humiliation and unprecedented desecration in the hands of different government agencies, authorities and functionaries of the government you are meant to advise that necessitated this urgent public letter to your person.
6. REASONS FOR THE LETTER:
7. My reasons for writing you are understandably manifold but for economy of space, I would scale it down to three. Like a Lady’s skirt, this urgent letter of grave concern promises to be short enough to be attractive but equally long enough to cover all the essential parts of the issues under scrutiny.
8. First and foremost, [by the infinite mercies and grace of God Almighty] I am a proud member of this most honourable profession on this planet earth, the legal profession, just as your good yourself. And it is hardly disputable that the future of democracy in every civilised society lies on the shoulders of lawyers.
9. Secondly, the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation is recognised as a great historic office that places its occupier in the rare position of the “Keeper of the King’s conscience”, the Chief Law Officer/Legal Adviser not only to the President of the Nation alone but equally the entire Federal Government with all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies thereunder. Added to these super responsibilities, by the ancient and ever-unbroken tradition of our profession, you are rightly acclaimed the “Leader of the Bar.”
10. The third crucial reason for this urgent letter is the lessons of precedents. The pre-eminent and incontestable position of the Attorney-General, under the common law, as the chief law officer of the State, either generally as a legal adviser or specially in all court proceedings to which the State is a party, has long been recognised by the courts[State v. Ilori (1983) 2 S.C. 155]. The enormous powers bestowed on you by our Constitution have been acknowledged as a great ministerial prerogative coupled with grave responsibilities. It follows therefore that however you decide to exercise these awesome powers donated to your office today will definitely form a precedent for the future. Whether your manner of discharging the duties of your office today might be adjudged a bad or good precedent belongs to posterity and should therefore be of great concern to you.
11. STATISTICS OF DISOBEDIENCE TO COURT ORDERS
12. Sir, not long after you were sworn in as the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Federal High Court of Nigeria [Abuja Division, presided over by the Honourable Justice A.F.A. Ademola], delivered a Ruling ordering the Department of State Security to release Mr. Nnamdi Kanu [the Leader of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra] on bail [unconditionally] on the 17th December, 2015. That Court Order was disobeyed by the Department of State Security [otherwise known as the DSS] who by our Constitutional structuring are under the ultimate command of the President as per his pre-eminent position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
13. Secondly, it is no longer news that the High Court of Federal Capital Territory [per, the Honourable Justice Huseni Baba-Yusuf] granted bail to the former national security adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd). The same Court equally granted him bail [per, the Honourable Justice Afen] in another charge brought against him by the Federal Government. Sometime in January, 2017, the same F.C.T. High Court, presided over by the Honourable Justice Huseni Baba-Yusuf was moved by Mr. Ahmed Raji, SAN to re-affirm the bail earlier granted Mr. Dasuki. Again in April, 2017, the Federal High Court [sitting in Abuja, per the Honourable Justice Ahmed Mohammed] was similarly moved by Mr. Ahmed Raji [Dasuki’s Counsel] to re-affirm the bail earlier granted Mr. Dasuki by the said Court since 2015. On the 4th October, 2016, the Court of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, declared the arrest and detention of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, as unlawful and arbitrary. The court also held that the further arrest of Mr. Dasuki by government on November 4, after he was granted bail by a court of law, amounts to a mockery of democracy and the rule of law. Up to the present moment, Mr. Dasuki still remains in the custody of the DSS. On the 16th May, 2017, the State Security Service [otherwise known as DSS] took their impunity and bewildering insolence for the Courts to a higher level when it refused to produce Mr. Dasuki for his trial before the FCT High Court. All that Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN [the Prosecution counsel] could tell Justice Baba Yusuf was that he was surprised that the former NSA was not within the court premises for the continuation of his trial but however could not go any further. Off course, this did not go down well with the Defence team led by Joseph Daudu, SAN who quickly informed the court that the Prosecutor’s response was unhelpful.
14. SHEIKH IBRAHIM EL-ZAKZAKY RELEASE ORDER:
15. On 13th December, 2015, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky was arrested by Nigerian State Actors and was kept in the custody of the DSS until the 2nd day of December, 2016 when the Federal High Court [Abuja Division, presided over by the Honourable Justice Gabriel Kolawole] ordered the Federal Government to provide an accommodation for El-Zakzaky, his wife and family members within Kaduna State or any part of the northern region. The court declared the continuous detention of El-Zakzaky since December 13, 2015 as unlawful and illegal since the issue of protective custody was unknown to law or the National Security Agencies Act establishing the DSS. The court further awarded the cost of 25 Million Naira as general damages to be paid to Ibrahim El-Zakzaky who must be released unconditionally to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) within 45 days. The Inspector-General of Police was equally ordered to convey El-Zakzaky and his wife to the accommodation provided by the government. The court also awarded 25m damages to Mrs Zakzaky, making a cumulative of 50 Million Naira as general damages. Since the 2nd day of December, 2016 up to the present moment, the DSS has not obeyed that Court Order. On the contrary, the DSS have continued to detain Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. The said order of the Court has equally not been stayed, vacated nor successfully challenged and upturned on appeal.
16. LAWYERS IN DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY PROTEST AGAINST IMPUNITY:
17. On the 31st October, 2016, a mammoth crowd of lawyers under the aegis of Lawyers in Defence of Democracy staged a protest that shook the heart of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. According to media sources, the Convener of the Group, Ikenga Ugochinyere, Esq., stated the purpose of protest thus;
a. “We Lawyers in Defence of Democracy and Citizens for Good Governance reject the call for the judges, whose homes were invaded by the DSS, to step aside as heeding the call will be a victory for tyranny and gradual return to Kokoma democracy. We dissociate ourselves from such call. That the DSS and other agencies release from detention all Nigerians who have been granted bail by the courts and who have fulfilled their bail conditions including compliance with all judgments and orders. Their continuous hold of such persons is an affront on the authority of the judiciary, dictatorial and a desecration of the fundamental democratic principle of separation of powers. The Executive cannot be prosecutor and judge at the same time... A country where a man can secure bail four times for the same charges and you still detain him is lawless. A country where a judge will grant bail on bailable offences and the person involved is then arrested on phantom corruption charges because he ruled against the whims and caprices of persons in government is a lawless country.”
18. It is noted in passing that the protesters among other key institutions, equally marched to your office on the day of the said protest. Also of interest is the fact that the Convener of the Group has been in detention ever since up to the present moment without a criminal charge formally filed against him before any Court of the land.
19. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WEIGHS IN:
20. On Thursday, the 26th day of January, 2017, the Federal House of Representatives, resolved to urge the Executive arm to direct security agencies to obey court orders, especially those relating to bail and production of accused persons in Court for trials; and mandate the Committee on Human Rights and Justice to investigate cases of detention of accused persons beyond the statutory period in contravention of subsisting Court Orders granting them bail, failure to release or produce accused persons in Court for trial and prevail on the offending agencies to ensure their releases and report to the House within four (4) weeks for further legislative action. Interestingly, on the same legislative day, the Federal House of Representatives considered and adopted a motion titled “Need to check persistent Fundamental Human Rights Breaches and Acts of Impunity by Security Agencies”. After a robust and wide-ranging debate on the Motion, the House noted that the Chapter Four of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, guarantee, among others, rights to peaceful assembly, personal liberty and freedom of movement but concerned about the rising cases of violation of those rights; also noted the air of impunity with which the personnel of the security agencies treat citizens and the worrisome tendencies to disobey court orders; concerned about the recent arrest and detention, on 22nd December, 2016, of some members of Civil Society Organisations, such as Lawyers in Defence of Democracy, National Youth Council of Nigeria and Citizens for Good Governance by the State Security Service for allegedly planning a peaceful protest and they have remained in detention for over 29 days since their arrests without being charged to Court or released. The House resolved, among others, to mandate the Committee on Human Rights, Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence and Justice to investigate this incident and all other cases of unlawful arrests and detention of citizens and disobedience of Court Orders since June, 2015 and report to the House within four (4) weeks for further legislative action.
21. THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA WEIGHS IN:
22. When he appeared before the Nigerian Senate for his confirmation, the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, on the 1st of March, 2017 roundly condemned the rampant cases of disobedience to Court Orders. Fielding questions from the lawmakers, the CJN said the challenge of disobedience to court orders “is for the legislature and the executive to handle.” He said the judiciary would welcome that day that court judgments would be respected and carried out after exhaustion of the right of appeal. That will mean the independence of the judiciary, he added. If rulings are not respected, the judge continued, they would just be “mere piece of paper.” “Anyway, disobedience of court order is an act of impunity,” he said.
23. WARNINGS OF OUR COURTS:
24. The Nigerian Court of Appeal in the memorable case of Balonwu v. Obi (2007) 5 NWLR (Pt. 1028) 488 at 538 Paras.C- E, 564-565 Paras.B – G, has this to say on disobedience to sacred Orders of Court;
25. “An order of court whether valid or not must be obeyed until it is set aside. An order of court must be obeyed as long as it is subsisting by all no matter how lowly or highly placed in society. An act of disobedience towards an order of a court can render any further act by those who have acted disobediently to sanctions from other court because no court would want its orders flouted. This is what the rule of law is all about hence the courts have always stressed the need for obedience of court orders…Obeying court orders is both legal and moral obligation but you find that court orders are toyed with both by lawyers and the litigating public. Indeed for the politicians, the rule of law is non-existing until it suits their purpose, and it is only then it is observed to the letter. Without a strict adherence to the rule of law, our nascent democracy and indeed our Constitution will only be worth the paper on which it is written. What makes a great country is adherence to the rule of law. Even in hell, there is order and discipline.”
26. Indeed, all the existing Supreme Court authorities lean heavily in support of the long-established postulation that disobedience of Court Order (otherwise called contempt of Court) is an abomination of the rankest specie just as it is an anathema in every democracy worth the name as it holds the key to the floodgates of anarchy and societal destruction. Condemning this cancerous vice, the Supreme Court, in the case of Hart v. Hart (1991) 21 N.S.C.C. (Pt. 1) 184 at 199, had these unkind words for those who disobey Court orders (contemnors);
27. “I would like to state that obedience to Orders of Courts is fundamental to the good order, peace and stability of the Nigerian nation. The ugly alternative is a painful recrudescence of triumph of brute force or anarchy, a resort to our old system of settlement by means of bow and arrows, machetes and guns or, now, even more sophisticated weapons of war. Disobedience to an order of Court should, therefore, be seen as an offence directed not against the personality of the Judge who made the Order, but as a calculated act of subversion of peace, law, and order in Nigeria society. Obedience to every Order of Court is therefore a duty which every citizen who believes in peace and stability of the Nigerian State owes to the nation. To allow Court orders to be disobeyed would be to tread the road toward anarchy. If orders of the Court can be treated with disrespect, the whole administration of justice is brought into scorn…If the remedies that the Court grants to correct wrongs can be ignored, then, there will be nothing left for each person but to take the law into his own hands. Loss of respect for the Court will quickly result in the destruction of our society”
28. To cap it all, the Constitution by its Section 287 (3) lucidly provides in the very words which I would now most respectfully reproduce;
29. “The decisions of the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, a High Court and of all other Courts established by this Constitution shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by other Courts of law with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, a High Court and those other Courts, respectively”
30. SUMMATION:
31. What patently emerges from the concatenation of the instances of executive impunity and lawlessness most dispassionately surveyed above comes to the ineluctable conclusion that the present Federal Government of Nigeria, which you are saddled with the onerous duty to offer sound legal advice, has most unfortunately fallen into the cesspit of tyranny, lawlessness and impunity. Most of its security agencies (especially) have pathetically constituted themselves into the sinkhole of constitutionalism, Rule of Law and sacred human rights of great Nigerian Citizens.
32. THE CASE AGAINST YOU:
33. Sir, the case against you in all these well-carefully itemised instances of disobedience to Court Orders and Human Rights abuses by different State Actors, is that there is no iota of evidence on record that you have lifted a finger to intervene by advising the concerned agencies to uphold the dignity of our Constitution which is the foundation of our society [especially for them to comply with these Court Orders]. No such recorded evidence exists anywhere and I challenge you to prove me wrong by producing one to Nigerians. What this comes to is that you are very comfortable to sit in your hallowed chambers and watch our Constitution thrown to the dogs and the dignity of our Courts basterdised. It equally means that you are very comfortable with the kind of decadent precedent that all these acts of outlawry and brigandage would [in their aggregate] foist on our future democracy. These summations are indeed unanswerable since finding otherwise would certainly amount to eyewash.
34. END:
35. Given the nature and gravity of the issues under consideration, it becomes imperative to call to mind the salient observations most ably offered by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria [Atanda Fatai-Williams. CJN] in State v. Ilori, where he rightly stated;
36. “For all these reasons, it cannot be too strongly stressed that this pre¬eminent position of the Attorney-General with respect to criminal pro-ceedings in our Constitution carries with it grave and onerous responsibi-lity which should not be discharged with levity. Because of this, it is of paramount importance that when an Attorney-General is being appoin¬ted, the appointor should, at all times, bear in mind the integrity, ability, experience, and maturity required of the person holding this high and important office. He should be a person who, in the discharge of his duties, will always "have regard to the public interest, the interest of justice, and to the need to prevent any abuse of legal process."
37. Sir, as the tenure of the government you presently serve gradually winds up its activities, you may find it expedient to cast aside the seductive veils of political considerations and sentiments and approach the content of this letter with the spirit of a patriot who should always stand ready to “defend his country against his government.” As for whatever backlash that might befall me for my courage to address you on these important issues of our realm, I take refuge in the protection of God Almighty who inspired the legendary Thomas Paine to declare that “if there must be trouble, let it be in my own day so that my child may have peace.” I find here a convenient place to stop.
38. Sir, do graciously accept the firm assurances of my highest regards.

39. Yours in preservation of democracy,

40. JOHNMARY CHUKWUKASI JIDEOBI, Esq.