Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has reserved its verdict on an appeal that was brought before it by Governor Seyi Makinde and some principal officers of Oyo State over their failure to pay an outstanding judgement debt of N3.4billion.

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, had ordered that the money should be paid to Local Government Chairmen and Councillors who were elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, but were sacked on May 29, 2019, by Makinde, after he assumed office as the governor of Oyo state.

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The court ordered Governor Makinde, the Attorney General of Oyo state, the Accountant General and four others, to pay a total sum of N4,874,889,425.60 to the ex-council chiefs over the illegal termination of their tenure.

The order was further affirmed on May 7, 2021, by the Supreme Court, which declared that the ex-council chiefs, who sued through 11 representatives led by Bashorun Majeed Ajuwon, was unlawful.

The apex court directed the Oyo state government to compute and pay them their entitled salaries and allowances within three months of the judgment.

However, in partial compliance with the judgement, the Oyo state government paid only N1.5bn, an action that promoted the sacked Chairmen and Councillors to initiate a garnishee proceeding against Governor Makinde and the others before the FCT High Court.

On the strength of their application, Justice A.O. Ebong, on April 27, issued a garnishee order absolute, directing Governor Makinde and other defendants in the matter to pay the balance of the judgment debt on an instalment basis, beginning with N1,374,889,425.60 to be paid immediately.

Justice Ebong ordered them to subsequently pay the remaining N2bn at N500million quarterly, with the first instalment payable on July 31, 2023, a decision that Makinde and the other defendants approached the appellate court to challenge.

At the commencement of proceedings in the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/595/2023, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, queried the competence of an appeal.

The panel, which had Justices Mohammed Mustapha and Danlami Senchi as members, asked counsel to the appellants, Mr Ayodele Akintunde, SAN, if he thought it was proper for the Court of Appeal to sit and review a case that had been decided by the Supreme Court.

The court also asked Akintunde, SAN, about the time limit given by the Supreme Court, within which the Oyo State governor and the other appellants were to fully pay the judgment debt.

More so, the appellate court questioned the competence of a motion by the appellants seeking to be allowed to pay the debt by instalment, noting that the appeal itself was against a similar instalment payment arrangement ordered by the High Court of the FCT.

Responding, Akintunde, SAN, said the apex court actually ordered the Oyo state government to pay the debt, within three months.

He, however, argued that the appeal did not directly touch on the judgment by the apex court, insisting that the judgement was no longer that of the Supreme Court, but that of the High Court of Oyo state, which was later registered in the High Court of the FCT.

Akintunde added that the parties had since compromised the judgement by taking certain steps.

On his part, counsel to the ex-council chiefs, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, regretted that 26 of his clients have since died from poverty and lack of funds to attend to their health, owing to the failure of the Oyo state government to comply with the various orders that courts made in their favour.

Adetunbi, SAN, faulted the appellants’ lawyer’s contention that his clients could not enforce the judgment through the garnishee proceeding because the judgment sum was not reflected.

He drew the court’s attention to a letter written on December 13, 2021, by the Attorney General of Oyo State, where the state put the salaries and allowances due to the ex-council chiefs at N4,874,889,425.60 and pledged to pay everything within six months.

Adetunbi equally drew the attention of the court to a letter dated May 8, 2023, written by one of Oyo State’s bankers and read a portion where the bank said the N1,374,889,425.60 belonging to the state, which was attached by the garnishee order, would have been paid if not for the pending appeal.

He faulted the appellants’ contention that it was mandatory for the judgment creditors to first obtain the consent of the state’s AG where funds belonging to a state or its agencies are concerned.

The respondent’s lawyer argued that by the conduct of the appellants, particularly the December 13, 2021 letter, suggested that the AG consented to the liquidation of the debt.

He maintained that the failure of governor Makinde and the others to pay the money was deliberate.

Consequently, he urged the court to dismiss the appeal.

After entertaining arguments from both lawyers, the appellate court reserved its judgement till a date to be communicated to the parties.

Senator representing Abia South senatorial district at the National Assembly, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has said that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s kinsmen are finding it difficult to complain over President Bola Tinubu’s manner of appointments which favours his native South West zone.

He stated that Buhari’s kinsmen could find it difficult to complain because they enjoyed the concentration of appointments to their zone during their time.

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Abaribe, who stated this while featuring in a radio programme in Umuahia, noted the federal character law which stipulates balancing of appointments among the six geo-political zones, was observed in breached by the Buhari administration.

He lamented that Tinubu has taken the same route as the former administration in concentrating over 22 critical positions on his kinsmen in breach of the federal character law.

He said; “When Buhari started this ethnic concentration of positions; I was one of the first people to shout at it. At that time in 2016, it was very clear that Buhari was going a route that nobody had seen in this country, appointing those from his ethnic divide and religion.

“But we said that this was setting a wrong precedent for the country. We continually preached against it. We said this would be an ill wind that would not blow Nigeria any good. Now this is several years later, we have seen where this has collapsed the economy. We have gotten to a situation where the present government of President Bola Tinubu which we thought was going to repair the damaged psyche of Nigerians, is actually doubling on what Buhari did.”

“The Igbo have a saying that if a bad practice stays long, it becomes a custom. It became a culture for Buhari to concentrate appointments in his zone, and now Tinubu has continued it. It is like Tinubu saying if Buhari could do it, why can’t I do, he is even doing more than Buhari did. Most people who come from Buhari’s place are now finding it more difficult to complain because this is what they enjoyed in their own time. I remember a friend of mine who said, to leave Buhari to appoint who he wants, even if it is going to be from one village, so long as it will lead us beyond where we are today.”

“We told him it was not going to be possible. Today, the president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu has done the same thing. You can count 22 critical positions, all the positions in the financial sector and too many are from his side.”

“Let’s look at the federal character says that you are not supposed to govern in such a way to make every other person not have confidence and bring out a sense of loyalty to the people. There are 6 zones in Nigeria, out of the 6 zones, only South East continues to have just the constitutionally provided number of ministers. The South East has 5 because we have 5 states, but every other zone has more than what they are supposed to have. South West has up to 10 ministers; North West up to that number, South-South has about 9 ministers. You know have a bloated cabinet.”

“They are all there and ensuring that each zone gets far more than what they are supposed to get according to the constitution which states that each state is supposed to be represented by a minister. So, this tells us that the number of ministers we are supposed to have is 36 plus the one from the FCT which makes it 37. So, the maximum should be 37, but now we have close to 50 ministers.”

“In all these excess, it is not also spread equally; the South West has preponderance, the North West too, then the North East before the South-South. The South East is left out and what everybody thinks is that you can do all these and get away with it. I’m telling you that from history when Buhari did it, it didn’t augur well for him and make the country better. Rather, it made the country worse, Tinubu’s government is following suit and definitely, it won’t make the country better. This is because you have to bring everybody together; it will also give a sense of belonging to all. Federal character makes citizens have confidence in the administration of the country.”

“The federal character has been observed more in the breach. The federal character principle is a law promulgated by the National Assembly which gave birth to the Federal Character Commission. The job of the federal character commission is to essentially look at all aspects of the ministries, agencies and departments that are running the government and ensure that there is balance within them, balancing of political positions. But that’s not what we are seeing.”

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has distanced himself from alleged campaign of calumny against the Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, urging the minister to focus on the immediate demands of her office and and stop raising false alarms through proxies.

Kalu was reacting to a press conference by a support group of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, the Progressive League of Youth Voters, which had accused him of working against the minister and asked President Bola Tinubu as well as the APC national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje to call him to order.

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At a news conference Tuesday in Abuja, the group, led by Ambassador Usman Shuaibu, specifically threatens to occupy the national assembly of Hon. Kalu continued to politically antagonize the minister.

However, Chief Press Secretary to the deputy Speaker, Levinus Nwabughiogu, said the press conference was misdirected or at best, done without the consent of the minister who obviously would be embarrassed by it because it has the imprints of a people on a mission to infamy and perfidy.

He said while one is seriously affronted by the launch of insolence and impudence against the person and the Office of the Deputy Speaker by this group, it is also very pertinent to state that it may be lost on them that Kalu shares a healthy and robust relationship with Onyejeocha both as a sister and worthy partner in the government of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“But the fact that Onyejeocha has not yet disassociated herself from the press conference leaves a huge worry and casts aspersions on her person as to what manner of a minister would be creating an impression of someone deliberately courting trouble where none exists.

“From what is conceivably right and true Onyejeocha is a sister whose integrity would be brutally assaulted by a group that chooses to drag her name to raising false accusations.

“Though she was a fellow congress member in the 9th National Assembly with Kalu, for starters, except on issues of collective patrimony in Abia State or of national significance in APC or the national Assembly, the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu does not share a direct political affinity with Onyejeocha so as to be engaged in a feudal struggle.

“Both officials hail from different political constituencies and so, there is no basis for a political war at all. Kalu’s passion is to engender a new paradigm shift in political leadership especially as it affects the youth of this country.

“Besides, at the moment, Onyejeocha as a minister functions under the executive arm of government while Kalu is preoccupied with legislative duties at the National Assembly.

“With these obvious distinctions, it then beats an imagination that Kalu from Bende Federal Constituency, unusually preoccupied with a plethora of national engagements would effortlessly pick up a quarrel with his sister from Isukwuato/Umunneochi federal constituency.

“On this, it may be pertinent to question this false alarm, coming barely one week after Kalu secured victory at the Court of Appeal to affirm his electoral mandate after the Labour Party (LP) and the Action Alliance (AA) fought tirelessly to upturn the mandate of the people. Is there something Onyejeocha is not telling the public about the legal battle even when it was obvious that the AA candidate, Ifeanyi Igbokwe cried impersonation in the matter? Did the judgement which has put an end to the legal voyage and ultimately upheld the election of the deputy speaker upset her? Was she up to something clandestine? We need answers.

“The office of the Minister is supposedly established to help the government to create jobs for our teeming unemployed youths. Rather than creating jobs through some political subterfuge and encouraging them to occupy the national assembly because Kalu was not sacked by the Court, a new paradigm shift should be born to make the youths succeed in matters of decency. Leaders are a shining example for the youths and therefore must not be seen to be fighting themselves when they should be partners in the task of building the nation. Besides, the future of this great nation which are the youths must not be dragged into a useless, egocentric battle”, he added.

Former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC said the commission must probe why upload of the presidential poll results to the INEC results viewing portal (IReV) failed.

Jega stated this while speaking in an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday.

The former INEC chief said he could relate to many of the challenges faced during the general election.

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He said, “And if you are so confident with the planning process, and at the end of it all, there is a failure somewhere, you will take the blame because you are the leader.

“But it does not mean you are the one who has deliberately done it because you are compromised. We need to be fair in our assessment.”

Jega said before he left the commission, an evaluation of the success and failure rate of the card reader was carried out.

“The card reader failed in five percent of places of deployment which is 95 percent success. But the pressmen and politicians were just focused on where it failed. But it can never be perfect,” Jega said.

“I can tell you that the BVAS that was developed to replace the card reader is of significant value to the electoral process. The major failure experienced during the polls relates to the upload to the IREV as promised by the chairman.

“I think we need to interrogate why the uploading, specifically with regards to the presidential election, failed.

“This needs to be done, not just in-house by INEC, but in a very transparent manner. I think there will be a lot of revelations with regards to what happened in order to properly apportion blame to who is responsible for what happened.”

It was a torrent of tears and wailing in Okene, Kogi State when one of the policemen shot and killed by dare-devil armed robbers in Otukpo, Benue State was laid to rest on Monday evening.

Female Inspector, Adija Bello was caught by the robbers’ bullets when they attacked the Divisional Police Station in Otukpo as they simultaneously robbed five Banks in the area last Friday.

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Benue Police Command confirmed four of their officers, including the Divisional Police Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP)John Adikwu, dead in the attack.

The corpse arrived Okene around 7pm on Monday after which it was taken to the cemetery for interment amid tears and sadness that enveloped the short burial ceremony.

Eyewitnesses said Inspector Adija Bello, who was on afternoon duty on the fateful day did not have any idea of what fate awaited her in the office as she prepared to leave home for official duties.

She was said to have taken her two daughters, Mejidat Abdulganiyu,7, and Faiza Abdulganiyu,2, to the home of one of her neighbours for safe keeping with the hope of picking them up on return from work.

This was however not to be as she fell and passed away following the gun attack by the criminals.

The husband of the deceased, Mr Abdulganiyu Omeiza, who is also a police officer attached to the Police Mobile Force (PMF) 54, Onitsha, Anambra State, lamented the gruesome murder of his wife while on official duty.

He said his wife was everything to him and he would miss her dearly.

He said the wife spoke to him on phone shortly before her untimely death in the hands of the robbers.

Omeiza, who spoke on phone, said: “She was everything to me. I really miss her every day. Everyday before she goes to work or take the kids to school, I will call her to know how they are doing.

“Even on that fateful day we spoke a night before and I told her I will be on night duty. From that night duty once I closed, I normally call her by 7am.

“But I woke up by 8.00am and I called her. She said she did not want to disturb me because she knew since I was on night duty I would not be able to call them early.

“So on that very day, around a few minutes to 3pm, she called me. We talked but I did not know that would be the last time I would speak with my wife.”

A close friend to the deceased, Emma Yambasu, described her as a selfless personality who went out of her way often to make others happy.

“She was a very good person, she had a heart of gold, she was so selfless and always put others before herself. There is nobody that don’t know her in Otukpo because of her kindness and friendly disposition.

“I don’t know why they would do this. It’s not like they tried to stop them,” she said amid tears.

Popular Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh, has detected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The defection was announced by the APC via a post on its X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.

According to the post shared by the ruling party, Dikeh, who was the Rivers State deputy governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2023 election, was unveiled on Monday.

The actress was unveiled by the APC National Women Leader, Dr Mary Alile, Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Duro Meseko, at the party’s headquarters in Abuja.

Dikeh remains one of the leading actresses and artistes that joined politics in the build up to the 2023 general election.

..PDP Mute As LP Writes Security Agencies

The Enugu state chairman of the Labour Party, Barr. Casmir Agbo, has raised alarm over alleged threat to assassinate him and other stakeholders of the party in the state.

Barr. Agbo had in a statement issued in Enugu on Monday, mentioned some of the stakeholders marked for elimination to include LP Governorship candidate in the March 18 election, Hon. Barr. Chijioke Edeoga.

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Others are; Emma Agama, Barr. Collins Eze Agbo, Hon. Cosmos Agbo and Hon. Ekene Okenyi from Opi Community in Nsukka Local Government Area of the state.

Confirming this to Daily Gazette, the LP chairman accused rival People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of being the brain behind the alleged plan.

Agbo claimed in the release that, “the PDP in the state had set out plans to remove some key stakeholders of labour party in Opi and the party’s governorship candidate, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga.”

According to him, the PDP had allegedly concluded that they would not allow labour party to take over from the party after the anticipated Appeal Court judgement but rather another party should take over.

However, the Labour Party chairman noted that the matter has been reported to the Force headquarters Abuja for necessary action.

The PDP in either Opi ward, Nsukka LGA or the State chapter is yet to respond to the allegation.