Ibrahim Lamorde, a police commissioner and former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was dropped from consideration as a deputy inspector-general of police amidst concerns his elevation over four superiors could unleash internal bad blood, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

PREMIUM TIMES reported on Monday that Mr Lamorde, currently the most-senior of the 95 police commissioners in Nigeria as of January 8, was amongst those pegged for elevation to DIGs where they would serve as members of the police management team.

But when the official list was released by the Police Service Commission on Tuesday, Mr Lamorde did not make it.

Multiple sources at the commission told PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday afternoon that Mr Lamorde was dropped because there were four assistant inspectors-general from his North-East zone, even though he was highly recommended by Acting-Inspector-General Mohammed Adamu.

The PSC settled on Aminchi Samaila Baraya, from Taraba State, as the North-East slot on the management team. Other three AIGs from the North-East are: Usman Alkali Baba, Yobe State; Karma Hosea Hassan, Taraba State; and Tijani Baba, Yobe State.

“What was eventually decided was that Mr Lamorde had four AIGs ahead of him from the North-East, and it would be unfair with high risks of animosity if he is promoted ahead of them, especially since they have no pending disciplinary matters,” a commission source said. “Mr Lamorde was highly favoured, but it is better not to risk creating a bad atmosphere because of his promotion.”

“He would soon be promoted to AIG,” the source added.

A spokesperson for the commission did not return requests seeking comments about the botched promotion of Mr Lamorde, who was born in 1962.

About 16 new AIGs are expected to be announced this week, eight of whom would replace those promoted as DIG on Tuesday. This would take the number of AIGs to 28. There were 20 substantive AIGs before eight were promoted this week.

There are usually seven DIGs serving simultaneously under an inspector-general, and six of them are selected from each of the six geopolitical zones, while the IG chooses whomever he likes from any zone to be the seventh. There are also seven portfolios to be assigned to each of the DIGs, including finance and administration, criminal investigation and operations departments.

The remaining DIGs named yesterday are Usman Abubakar, North-west; Abdulmajid Ali, North-central, Frederick Lakanu, South-west; Godwin Nwobodo, South-east; Anthony Michael, South-south; and Yakubu Jibrin, North-central. The new DIGs were yet to be assigned a portfolio as of Wednesday afternoon, but this may be done any moment.

The PSC also promoted Usman Yakubu, the AIG Zone 10, Sokoto, as a DIG, but he would not be sitting on the management board because he would shortly proceed on terminal leave.

Mr Adamu has been preoccupied with constituting the crucial team since he was appointed on January 15. He met seven DIGs who worked with former IGP Ibrahim Idris on the police management board.

Since the police are the primary security agency in charge of elections, Mr Adamu has to structure to impose his own vision of effective policing before February 16.

No fewer than 5,552 members of the PDP on Wednesday defected to the ruling APC in Ganye Local Government Area of Adamawa.

Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, Chairman of the APC in the state, while receiving the defectors during the APC governorship campaign in Ganye, said that the doors were still open for new members.

According to him, both old members and new comers will be accorded equal opportunities in the party.

He said, “The decamping was a demonstration of the giant strides recorded by the party in the area.’’

The chairman called on the people to work together to ensure the victory of the party at all levels of the forthcoming elections.

Alhaji Jibril Gangjari, Chairman of the party in the local government, commended the party for the construction of Mayo Belwa-Tuongo Road.

Gangjari said that the entire Ganye Chiefdom had suffered neglect in terms of infrastructure in the past.

He assured Gov. Mohammed Bindow of massive votes for the APC in the forthcoming elections.


Alhaji Inuwa Samaila, one of the decampees, told NAN that he was attracted to APC due to the developments recorded by the party in the area.

Samaila mentioned N-power programme, Schools’ Feeding Programme, among other achievements of the APC.

He called on other members of the PDP to join the APC winning train for a better Nigeria.

NAN reports that Ganye was the second local government area Bindow visited for his re-election campaign. (NAN)

All Progressives Congress National Leader and Co-Chair of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has questioned former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s claim to being a democrat and defender of democracy, saying this rebirth as a defender of democracy must have taken place only a few hours ago.

He asked: “Where was he (Atiku), his voice and action during Abacha’s suffocating maximum rule? Was he not a member and cheer-leader of one of the five Abacha parties aptly described then as five leprous fingers of Abacha? Did he even have the courage to visit his mentor, late Major General Shehu Musa Yar Ádua, in jail for fear of Abacha stopping him from running for the governorship of Adamawa?

Asiwaju Tinubu also said contrary to the impression created by the PDP presidential candidate (Atiku) that the Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen was removed, he was only asked to step aside for the allegations against him to be investigated and could be reinstated if found not guilty.

The statement personally signed by Asiwaju is titled “REPLY TO ATIKU’S STATE OF THE NATION”.

It reads: “The PDP’s presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku, recently made comments regarding suspension of CJN Onnoghen. Atiku’s release is entitled “State of the nation address”. I encourage everyone to read it. In its disregard for the truth and patent misrepresentations, it will go down in political history as a classic of self-incrimination. Atiku thinks the piece exalts him. Instead it evinces his penchant for wilful misstatement that make him unfit for the office he now seeks and has always coveted.

In the statement, he claims to have dedicated all his life to the defense of democracy. Those of you who know him, and even those who don’t, know this is not true. If all of his life has been dedicated to support for democracy, then he is far too young to run for president; however, I must congratulate him for having somehow managed to find or begin a second life. This rebirth as a defender of democracy must have taken place only a few short hours ago.

“His previous life of over seventy years was one of skirting democracy and of blatant impunity in attempting to enshrine reactionary government and installing an unjust political economy on the backs of the people.

In his address, he claims the nation has entered a difficult moment. To my dear and good friend Atiku, I say the difficulty is not so much with the moment but with your memory.

When you lorded over Nigeria in tandem with President Obasanjo, there were myriad court orders mandating that your government render to Lagos state the funds due it to improve the lives of its millions of inhabitants. Instead, you gladly and without dispute joined Obasanjo in utter disregard for these unambiguous legal verdicts. In so doing, you demeaned the rule of law. You also readily sacrificed the economic development and welfare of millions of innocent people in Lagos just to gain some illicit political advantage that proved to be fleeting and of no avail to you in the end.

“You now speak of democracy and the need for executive restraint. But such verbal finery never crossed your lips or traversed your pen when you and Obasanjo improperly removed Senate Presidents more easily than a trendy cad exchanges a pair of shoes or changes the subject of his false affections. Your love for democracy is such that you were recently observed apologising to the PDP for not rigging the Lagos 2003 gubernatorial polls as you did the polls in the other Southwestern states.

Instead of repenting for rigging at least five states too many, your expressed regret was that you had not rigged enough; that you rigged one state less than the complete mauling of democracy your party and your principal had mandated. Regarding such a destructive love as this, I am sure democracy and fair elections would rather do without.

“A few weeks ago in a televised broadcast you even revealed to the people that your official policy envisioned the base enrichment of your friends should you achieve the presidency.

I must assume that your lifetime as a defender of democracy began after this long record of unjust deeds and even after your latest statement of intent to mould Nigeria into an oligarchy. If this is not the case and if all these things you have done and said are consistent with your current notion of democracy, then there is but one conclusion. The democracy you now claim to support remains a rather strange breed of democracy, such as to be nigh indistinguishable from the regressive, rentier political economy you designed and foisted on Nigeria as the crafty lieutenant of the bullish Obasanjo.

“Strange that you would choose to depict the current situation so inaccurately as to stir emotions unduly. You claim that CJN Onnoghen has been removed. However, this is not so. He has been temporarily suspended. You and your advisors should know and recognize the vast legal difference between “suspension” and “removal.” Yet you persist in conflating the two in what you say is a pursuit of justice. While true you may be in pursuit of something. It is not justice.

If justice was your goal, you would acknowledge that the CJN has only been temporarily suspended not permanently removed. Thus, your recourse to saying that the president violated the constitutional provision regarding the removal of a CJN is inaccurate in that Buhari never intended to remove the CJN. What he has done is to have the CJN temporarily get out of his chair so that the serious matters against him can be heard by someone other than himself. Should the charges show themselves to be wrong or unproven, the CJN will be automatically reinstated as the head of the Nigerian judiciary. However, for Atiku to state that the CJN should remain on seat while credible and grave charges swirl around him is to put the entire workings of the Supreme Court under a heavy cloud.

“It is ironic that Atiku of all people throw such darts at President Buhari. Buhari actually exercised considerable restraint in this matter. He has reasonably balanced concerns about the integrity of the judiciary with concerns for the individual rights of the accused. Nothing has been taken from the CJN that cannot be restored if the facts warrant such restoration. Thus, President Buhari conditionally suspended the CJN. By doing so, this allows for the case to move forward without the CCT or others fearing the CJN might use his position to unduly interfere with proceedings. If the CJN is exonerated, then he will return to his position. If not exonerated, then a more permanent discipline awaits him.

This is an imminently fair and balanced approach, especially given the fact that the constitution and other laws really do not provide clear and unambiguous guidance in how to proceed in a case whether the CJN is the defendant under this unique fact pattern. While Atiku rails against Buhari because of this act of restraint, we can but imagine the tack Chief Obasanjo and Atiku would have taken if they presided over this situation. By now, they would have put CJN Onnoghen in the stocks or shipped him off to that infamous farm in Ota where he would have begun his new career in plucking poultry.

“It is curious that Atiku would take up the marker of a jurist who has enjoyed the sweet but hidden benefits of several million dollars of mystery money passing through his secret bank accounts, Even when discovered, these accounts held several hundred thousands of dollars in them.

Someone in Atiku’s position would normally be wary of a judge thusly tainted. A politician in Atiku’s position should more objectively be concerned that the government would have been the source of the hidden funds or that government would use the fact of the clandestine money as leverage against the judge to make sure he did government’s bidding for surely this a jurist highly compromised by pecuniary indiscretion. It is almost unnatural that an opposition candidate would champion the soiled cause of such a judge who seems to have sold something in exchange for the money found in his vest’s secret pockets.

“Yet, Atiku now cries the anguished cry of a man who thought he had won the lottery only to find he had misread the last number on his claim ticket. Or perhaps these are the tears of a man who thought he had invested in a sure deal only to see the reason for the investment evaporate before his very eyes. Now, Atiku and his cohort seek to turn their personal disappointment into a burning national issue. They seek to manufacture a constitutional crisis where none exists.

They said they suspended their campaign because of this matter. Here, they are as illogical as illogic can beget. By suspending their campaign, did that mean they were permanently ending it? Of course not! That would be a boycott or the permanent “removal” of the campaign. No, they have resumed their campaign after temporarily suspending it. If they know the meaning of suspend in this regard, only malign intent allows them to feign ignorance to the meaning of the word “suspend” when applied to CJN Onnoghen.

“There is no need to quake at the solitary incident of the interim suspension of a justice pending the legal resolution of serious criminal claims against him. If this matter is shorn of the political trappings it has acquired, there is no fairer way to handle the matter.

Atiku, I gather, would rather leave the man in seat and allow the charges against him to go unattended. Or Atiku would rather that the CJN preside over his own trial. Such is the logical conclusion of Atiku’s position. It is an odd bravery that would lead Atiku to stake such a position. If Atiku is as oddly courageous as he now depicts, then let him venture a step further. Pray tell, let Atiku tell us what good and precious thing he and the PDP rendered that they cannot even countenance the temporary and conditional suspension of a single jurist until the charges of illegality against the man have been fully resolved in open proceedings conducted by his judicial peers.

“Atiku claims to be a democrat and defender of democracy, but where was he, his voice and action during Abacha’s suffocating maximum rule? Was he not a member and cheer-leader of one of the five Abacha parties aptly described then as five leprous fingers of Abacha? Did he even have the courage to visit his mentor, late Major General Shehu Musa Yar Ádua, in jail for fear of Abacha stopping him from running for the governorship of Adamawa?

“Dare Atiku say what is really upsetting him and what he really is hiding in his attempt to cloak his lifetime of undemocratic reckonings in the swaddling of this much too belated democratic second birth he now claims for himself”.

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
January 29, 2019.,

People Living With Disability said on Friday that they will be rewarding President Muhammadu Buhari with their votes in February 16 for showing them love and signing into law, the National Disability Act which was recently passed into law by the National Assembly after about 16 years of agitation.

The President had assured of prompt signing of the law when transmitted to him when he appeared on a television programme with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently.

Special Adviser to the President on Disability Matters, Dr. Samuel Ankeli said at a news conference that the signing of the bill into law has given the PWD community in Nigeria a sense of belonging, adding that they owe him a duty to reciprocate the gesture by giving him their votes.

He said: “God has used a father and a man of the people, President Muhammadu Buhari to do this thing for us. It is a worthy course and we are very proud of it. Three things are common in this.

“First, we now belong to the international community of persons with disability. Secondly, we now have access to governance. We can now occupy office even as high as that of the President. We can become chairmen of local government now without inhibition. Our rights are now protected for political participation and governance.

“We can now have access to Finance because the banks will now open their doors to us whether they like it or not. We now have access to schools and you cannot deny us admission and you must give us access to class rooms and lecture halls. It is now left for us to wake up and take advantage of this opportunity.

“Thirdly, the need has come for us to educate the public on the need for them to understand this law. We want the whole world to know that this Law is not meant to harass any individual, but to let them know that we are citizens of this country and have rights that need to be protected and if you violate the rights, the law will come down on you.

“We are no longer going to take charity, but deal with us as colleagues and as true Nigerians. We are calling on our colleagues who have not decided on where they stand to know that if you have a father that believe in you, you ought to believe in that father.

“He has proven that he is a father to us all and we need to give him a thank you package on the 16th of February. We should all come out with our PVC. All persons with disability in Nigeria should come out and show him that we are grateful for what he has done. The battle is over and we are victors together.

“This bill will help us fight corruption against persons with disability. One good turn deserves another. Let us give to God Whois God’s and to Buhari, what belongs to him. Time has come for us to do the right thing.”

The APC National Disabled Leader, Misbau Lawal Didi said the President has demonstrated that he is a father to all including the disabled persons and called on members to vote for President Buhari.

He said: “On behalf of all the PWDs in Nigeria we thank the reliable Government of the APC lead by an honest and trustworthy man President Muhammadu Buhari who has given the PWDs freedom that other party rulers failed to do even by haven the opportunity to rule for 16 years.

“I am glad to remind you that under my Party the All Progressives Congress a lot have been achieved by the PWDs of our great Country Nigeria including the Inclusion of PWDs in the Party structure at all levels, appointment of SSA and SA on Disability matters by Mr. President, appointment of SSAs by Governors, appointment of SAs by LGAs Chairmen, establishment of Agencies by some APC State Governors e.g. Lagos and the Plateau, Nasarawa e.tc. . On the 23rd of January, 2019, a Bill for the Discrimination against PWDs.

“Prohibition Act 2018, was signed into Law by a father, the elected leader by Nigerians and respected Politian Globally President Muhammadu Buhari. I therefore, believed that Nigerians with disability will massively vote for Mr. President Buhari and all the APC Candidates on the February 16, 2019 so that the act can be fully implemented as planned, I do hope you will agree with me a vote for APC Candidates is a vote of confidence for our party to continue it good work for the betterment of all Nigerians.”

Ganduri:

https://politicsngr.com/cant-win-pdp-2019-even-massive-rigging-apc-senator-ibrahim/

ORIENTATION101:
unlike this saraki case . If Onnoghen retirement age has elapsed he cant be reinstated back meaning his case is dead on arrival

jaybee3:


Wickedness dey your body walahi

ABUJA, February 17, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court of Nigeria in a unanimous ruling Friday reinstated the sacked Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Raliat Elelu-Habeeb, following her unceremonious removal from office by former Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

The Chief Judge was sacked in 2009.
The apex court in its judgement ruled that the governor did not have the power to sack her from her position without the approval of the National Judicial Council (NJC).

Justice Mahmud Mohammed who delivered the judgement of a 7-member panel of justices held that when all the relevant provisions of the constitution were read together, it would become obvious that that a state governor could not remove a chief judge from office without having recourse to the NJC.

“It is not difficult to see that for the effective exercise of the powers of removal of a chief judge of a state by the governor and house of assembly, the first port of call by the governor shall be the NJC,” Mahmud stated.

According to him, the council is equipped with the personnel and resources to investigate the inability of the chief judge to discharge the functions of his office and the subject of disciplinary action of removal through the committees of the council.

After citing several sections of the constitution, Justice Mohammed further held that: “From these very clear provisions of the constitution which are very far from being ambiguous, the governors of the states and the houses of assembly of the states can not exercise disciplinary control touching the removal of chief judges of states or other judicial officers in the states.”

Following Justice Elelu-Habeeb’s sack, she consequently dragged the government of Kwara State to the Federal High Court challenging the power of the state’s House of Assembly and the State Government to initiate disciplinary action against her.

Other justices on the panel include Walter Onnoghen, Christopher Chukwumah-Eneh, Muhammad Muntaka-Coomassie, Olufunmilola Adekeye, Mary Peter-Odili and Olukayode Ariwoola.

The appeal was heard by the Supreme Court on 28th November 2011 and judgment was reserved for Friday 17th February 2012

The case before the Supreme Court was an appeal from the decision of the court of appeal sitting in Ilorin, which was delivered on the 2nd day of July 2010.

The Federal High Court had earlier granted judgment in favour of the removed CJ Judge, but the Government of Kwara state appealed to the Court of Appeal in Ilorin, Kwara State.

The court of appeal ruled that the state chief executive could not remove a judicial officer/cum chief judge without an input from the National Judicial Council.

On the other hand, the court of appeal further ruled that the case ought to have been instituted at the State High Court and not at the Federal High Court as in the instant case.

The Supreme Court yesterday held that since the NJC, a federal agency was involved, she was right to have commenced her case at the Federal High Court.

In the suit filed at the Ilorin division of the Federal High Court on her behalf by Chief Adegboyega Awomolo SAN, the Kwara State Chief Judge said that only the NJC has the power to initiate disciplinary proceedings against her in respect of her duty as the Chief Judge of the state.

She therefore asked for an order of injunction restraining the Kwara State House of Assembly and the Attorney General of the State from relying on a letter inviting her to come and show why disciplinary actions should not be taking against her by the state’s House of Assembly.

She also asked that the Kwara State Government be restrained from interfering with her job as the Chief Judge of the state.

In an affidavit she deposed to, Elelu-Habeeb said that all the allegations contained in a letter written by the then State Governor, Saraki to the state House of Assembly related to the exercise of her duties and powers as a judicial officer and that neither the House nor the Governor has the power to inquire into such allegations.

She said that neither the Governor nor the House of Assembly copied her in the letter, which she claimed was widely published in newspapers.

She said, “I know as a fact that unless the State’s House of Assembly and the Attorney General of the State (3rd and 4th defendants) are restrained by an injunctive order, the leadership of the judiciary of Kwara State, being the 3rd arm of government will be adversely affected.”

She argued that neither damages nor monetary compensation can adequately pay for physiological trauma, inconveniences that any adverse action or decision that the 3rd and 4th defendants might take as related the letter initiating disciplinary action against her.

Other reliefs being sought by the Chief Judge include and a declaration that by the combined interpretation of sections 4, 153, 292 and paragraphs 20, 21 of the third schedule to the Constitution, it is only the NJC that has the exclusive power and authority to inquire into any complaint against her.

A declaration that the letter of the Kwara State House of Assembly is in breach and violation of the 1999 Constitution in so far as it relates to the exercise of her functions as the Chief Judge of the State.

An order setting aside the decision of the 3rd and 4th defendants and any other steps taken thereon in so far as it relates to her office as the state’s Chief Judge.

There has been no formal reaction from the government of Kwara State following the ruling.

hisexcellency34:
I can't wait for Mary Odili to become Chief Justice of Nigeria ((CJN). Buhari, Amaechi and APC fear that woman no be small

Fret18:

eyebee01:

Thanks I hav d document now

Onyekwere77:
Those who were shortlisted, did u guys use abuja addresses??

MVLOX:
one can hardly find Delta and Edo on the list... na wa

dingbang:
48,341,000 million naira. Now tell me, is APC not a scam?

Igboblog:
Na to go remove the small change wey dey inside the bank

eyebee01:
why can't someone just upload the list here for all to download

A former minister on Monday testified that he was directed to pay money from public funds to a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose.

Musiliu Obanikoro, a former minister of state for defence, gave evidence on Monday before Mojisola Olatoregun, a judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos during the trial of Mr Fayose.

Mr Obanikoro said he was directed to pay money to Mr Fayose from national security funds.

He said this while being led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, who is prosecuting the case on behalf of the anti-graft agency, EFCC.

Mr Fayose and his company, Spotless, are being prosecuted for alleged illegal diversion of funds of about N6.9 billion.

Mr Obanikoro told the court that, “on a Monday in June, 2014 I received a call from Mr Peter Ayodele Fayose, when we were approaching the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, wanting to know if there is any message from National Security Adviser Col Sambo Dasuki but I replied no.

“But shortly after his call, a message came in from NSA saying certain amount of money will be received into the account that was opened to manage Boko Haram threat under my watch as minister of state for defence. NSA told me that Fayose will call me as to how he will receive the money.”

“A total equivalent of $5 million from National Security Adviser impress account was given to Fayose by the order of NSA.”

He also said that Mr Fayose introduced one “Biodun Agbele to me that he would be the one to receive the money for him which was done in Akure Airport because it was physical cash.”

“I had earlier wanted to transfer the dollars so that the Naira equivalent can be withdrawn in Ado Ekiti, which was the reason why I initially called Diamond Bank M.D but he replied that the bank does not have such capacity in Ado Ekiti for that huge amount of money.”

The former minister also told the court that due to the inability of the bank to pay the equivalent of the money in naira, he had to give physical cash of N200 million to Mr Fayose on June 5, 2014, from the National Security Adviser’s imprest account. He said another N2 billion was paid to Mr Fayose on the 16th of June 2014 from the same account.

He further informed the court that his late aide was in the meeting where Mr Fayose acknowledged the receipt of a total naira equivalent of $5m at Spotless hotel in Ado Ekiti, owned by Mr Fayose.


The counsel to Mr Fayose, Kanu Agabi, a senior advocate, applied for an adjournment to enable him to cross-examine Mr Obanikoro. He said the witness had said a lot in court and he would need time to look through his statements before cross-examining the witness.

The counsel to the 2nd defendant, Olalekan Ojo, a senior advocate, also urged the judge to adjourn the case to enable him to confer with his client on the evidence of the witness.

The judge, Mojisola Olatoregun, subsequently adjourned the case to February 4,5 and 6, 2019.


The EFCC is accusing the former governor and his company, Spotless, of receiving various funds from the office of former NSA, Dasuki Sambo. The monies are believed to have been meant for security tasks including funding the war against Boko Haram.

Part of the charge reads that “on June 17, 2014, Fayose and Agbele were said to have taken possession of the sum of N1.2 billion, for purposes of funding his gubernatorial election campaign in Ekiti State, which sum they reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.”

The former governor was also alleged to have received a cash payment of $5 million (about N1.8 billion) from Mr Obanikoro, without going through any financial institution.


The offences contravened the provisions of sections 15(1), 15 (2), 15 (3), 16(2) (b), 16 (d), and 18 (c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011.

Messrs Obanikoro and Fayose were allies and members of the opposition PDP during the period of the transaction. The former minister has, however, since joined Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, and is now a prosecution witness.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, says among other things, if elected into power he will enrich his friends.

The PDP candidate stated this on Wednesday while addressing the business community in Lagos at an event themed “Getting Nigeria’s Economy Working : A Pragmatic Approach.

“I am not going to enrich members of my family but my friends.

“Are my friends not entitled to be enriched? As long as there is no element of corruption there,” he said.

Beyond that, Atiku also vowed to privatise the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) if he gets into power.

He said, “I am committed to privatizing NNPC, I said it.”

Read Also: I’m Committed To Privatising NNPC, Even If They Kill Me – Atiku

He had previously announced that he would privatise the oil corporation which has faced controversy over how it operates over the years.

Although the plan had been faulted by some at the time it was announced, the PDP candidate vowed to follow through with it even if it costs him his life.

“I swear, even if they are going to kill me, I will do it,” he said.

A Federal Capital Territory High Court on Monday dismissed a legal action instituted by a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, to challenge the nomination of Senator Buruji Kashamu as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State for the March 2, 2019 governorship election.

The court held that Adebutu, who was nominated by the National Working Committee of PDP for the governorship election, cannot maintain his suit against the defendants because the primary election that produced him was conducted in violation of a subsisting court judgment.

Justice Ajoke Adepoju, in a judgment in the suit filed by Adebutu to challenge the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept his candidacy, said that the PDP National Working Committee acted in bad faith by disregarding a subsisting judgment of a Federal High Court to produce the candidate.

Justice Adepoju said that since PDP was a party in the judgment of the Honourable Justice I.N. Buba, the judgment of the court was binding on it and must be obeyed and respected so as to protect the sanctity of court in the interest of the rule of law.

The judge agreed that it was the National Working Committee of the party (PDP) that reserves the power to conduct a primary election for the nomination of candidates for the 2019 general election but said that the National Working Committee must not do so in violation of any court judgment.

Justice Adepoju held that the PDP National Working Committee cannot hold a valid primary election without recourse to the Ogun State chapter of the party or outright approval of the party until the judgment against it by Justice Buba has been set aside by a higher court.

Justice Adepoju said that Hon. Adebutu’s case cannot be maintained to declare him a governorship candidate because the PDP National Working Committee which conducted the primary election that produced him as a candidate last year did so in violation of a judgment of a Federal High Court delivered by Justice Ibrahim Buba.

The judge, therefore, dismissed the suit in its entirety.

The judge said that she arrived at the conclusion because of the need for sanctity and judgments of courts to be protected by parties or individuals, adding that PDP did not do well by disobeying the judgment of Justice Buba with the way it conducted its primary election in Ogun State last year.

Justice Adepoju said that although Hon. Adebutu was able to establish that his own primary election was conducted by the appropriate organ of PDP but that he was not entitled to be declared the candidate because of the circumstances that surrounded the conduct of the primary election in breach of a judgment that has not been set aside.

Earlier, the court had dismissed the objection raised by Kashamu against the case of Adebutu on the ground of jurisdiction, adding that the House of Representatives member has the option in law either to file his case in Abeokuta, Ogun State or in Abuja as he did.

Senator Buruji Kashamu and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon Ladi Adebutu have been laying claim and counterclaim to the party’s governorship ticket having emerged from two parallel primaries conducted in the state.

But in the suit filed by Adebutu with References No. FCT/FT/CV/29/2018, he prayed the Abuja High Court to declare him as the authentic PDP candidate for the 2019 governorship Poll in Ogun State.

His ground in the suit argued by his counsel, Mr Patrick Ediale, was that he emerged as a candidate from the primary election conducted by the Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee of the party.

The House of Representatives member also hinged his claim on the ground that he was not a party to any court case or judgment against that may have any binding effect on him.

But Kashamu, who was represented by Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the suit on the ground of lack of jurisdiction.

Izinyon told Justice Ajoke Adepoju that the primary elections in dispute were conducted in Ogun State and that the appropriate place to institute the suit remains Ogun State in the face of the law.

Besides, the senior counsel submitted that the primary election that produced Kashamu was the authentic and lawful one having been conducted in line with the judgment of Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

In the judgment exhibited in the court, Justice Buba had in 2016 ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and PDP to recognize and accept, for purposes of the 2019 Nigeria General Elections, only candidates of the PDP in Ogun State that have been nominated through primaries endorsed or conducted by the Adebayo Dayo-led new officers of the PDP in Ogun State.

GOV. ORTOM SHOULD STOP HIS HATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRESIDENT BUHARI, SAYS PRESIDENCY

The Presidency calls on Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State to desist from basing his campaign for re-election on falsehoods concerning President Muhammadu Buhari and instead focus on the dire issues confronting the State.

Governor Ortom's campaign is clearly one designed to stir division and hatred, and to divert the people's attention from his inability to pay staff salaries and pensions for several months.

It has been noted that the governor has been visiting churches in the state where he falsely tells congregations about President Buhari's so-called plans to Islamise Benue State.

This nonsense has formed the basis of his campaign, because he has nothing to offer Benue people.

The allegations coming from Ortom were particularly unfair, when one considers how much support the governor received from the Federal Government, which supported his grazing laws as a means to end the farmer-herder crises that have plagued the state.

If not for President Buhari's insistence that the governor be given a chance to effect the law, he would have faced resistance from different sources and found it difficult to implement.

While advising Ortom to immediately stop his dubious attacks on President Buhari, the Federal Government calls on the people of Benue State to not fall for Ortom's deception and allow themselves to be hoodwinked by such a negative campaign.

They should instead, ask him why he has refused to pay staff salaries and pensions for months, and what he did with the funding from the excess crude account which should ideally have gone towards addressing such payments.

ABUJA—Indications emerged, yesterday, that chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, may lose his position unless President Muhammadu Buhari changes his mind.

Magu It was learned that the EFCC boss may be asked to pursue further studies in order to advance his career in the Nigeria Police Force where he is already a commissioner, as the Presidency has vetted two top police chiefs as replacement.

One of the very reliable sources confirmed to Vanguard that the EFCC chairman who had defied all odds to cling to his job, despite being denied confirmation by the Senate, is likely to be given a dignified exit out of the job by the Presidency so as not to be seen as having been ‘used and dumped’ by the Buhari administration.

A Presidency top official, who is privy to the plan, told Vanguard that Magu was likely to be asked to proceed on further studies at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Jos, where top bureaucrats are groomed for higher offices. Vanguard gathered that aside from Vice President Osinbajo, Magu no longer enjoys the support of most influential figures in the Presidency. Magu does not defer to anyone and does not want to keep any agreement with anyone.

“The plan to remove him has reached an advanced stage and nobody except the President himself can stop the hand of the ticking clock,” said a top Presidency official who did not want to be named.

Vanguard was also told that as the plot to oust Magu thickened, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has begun moves to stall his removal from office, describing him as the face of the Buhari’s anti-corruption war.

It was gathered that Osinbajo had already gone behind those planning to remove him to tell Buhari that any attempt to remove Magu would stifle the corruption fight and send a wrong signal to the international community, which had been hailing Nigeria in the past.

One of those close to Magu said the acting chairman was aware of the plot but had resigned to fate, hoping that President Buhari would save his job. An EFCC official confirmed, yesterday, that Magu was saddened by the move to remove him, despite putting his life and career on the line to fight for the country.

The official cited the prosecution and conviction of no fewer than 317 corrupt elements in the country between January and December 2018. However, efforts to reach Magu to confirm the development proved abortive, as he neither picked calls placed to his known telephone lines nor responded to text messages sent to him.

Special Assistant on Media to Magu, Mr. Tony Amokeodo, also declined to comment on the development, saying he was just hearing the issue for the first time from our correspondent.