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Tag: Appeal

  • Anambra 2021 APGA Disqualification: Nwankpo, Okafor go on appeal

    Anambra 2021 APGA Disqualification: Nwankpo, Okafor go on appeal

    Two of the frontline governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State, Nze Akachukwu Sullivan Nwankpo, and Nonso Smart Okafor who were recently disqualified alongside three others by the party’s adhoc Governorship screening panel have individually appealed against the verdict.

    Nwankpo’s appeal documents, according to his media spokesman Chuma Harris was filed before the party on Monday, June 14,2021.

    Nwankpo had in his accompanying letter to the party leadership said that the reversal of his disqualification would ensure justice and fair play to all.

    He said that the move would also be in line with the philosophy of the party, which is anchored on equity and fairness.

    He noted that reasons given for his disqualification was debatable, pointing out therefore that, “…I have fulfilled all the requirements, both membership, good percentage of nominators, including financial obligations.” he said.

    Nwankpo, an envoy of former President Goodluck Jonathan, added that it was absurd how such decision was taken against him. He said that he had spent his time and resources working for a strong and virile APGA in the state and has carried the ‘cross’ of the party in Anambra.

    “I am in dismay as to the reason for my non-clearance having satisfied all statutory requirements of our party constitution, Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

    He requested the APGA national chairman to reverse the injustice.

    But in reaction to the news of their disqualification by the party’s screening panel a member of the House of Representatives, Chief Chuma Umeoji and Nonso Smart Okafor of the Anambra state Assembly called for calm especially within their campaign structures.

    Umeoji didn’t mince words that he would appeal the screening panel’s decision, while Smart Okafor quickly took stock of the situation and has reportedly filed his appeal.

    This is coming barely a week to the party’s scheduled date for its governorship primaries on June 23, 2021 in Awka.

    Nwankpo, Umeoji and Okafor were among the five governorship aspirants disqualified by the screening committee for sundry reasons. Others include Mr Cater Dike Umeoduagu and Ozoka Ifeanyi Odera.

    So far, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo and Okwudili Ezenwankwo, Damian Okolo and ThankGod Ibeh were cleared by the Committee and have been covering more grounds sensitizing the party delegates to vote them at the coming primary.

    While Nwankpo was disqualified for being less than eighteen months oldas a member of the party, hence was required to have applied and secured a waiver from the National Working Committee of the party.

    He was also accused of being nominated by less than the 2/3 spread of members of the party in the 21 Councils of the state.

    Umeoji, a two time member of the National Assembly and former chair of Aguata Council area of the state was disqualified for “defiance and insubordination to the party authority and supremacy, which cast a dark shadow of doubt on the genuineness and credibility of his APGA membership”

    He was consequently “considered as an unsuitable APGA member to participate in the governorship primary election at the moment.” The screening committee also expressed “doubtful financial status of his nominators as APGA members”.

    They also declared as invalid, his certificate of declaration of age.

    Umeoji was equally found guilty of “gross alterations and mutilation of his Nomination form which contains an affidavit under oath, contrary to Sec 117(2) of the Evidence Act.

  • For SIM/NIN Registration, A Little Appeal, By Okoh Aihe

    For SIM/NIN Registration, A Little Appeal, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    Nothing could have made it more expedient than the lives that would be involved. And there are so many. Looking at the images on television now, looking at pictures in the newspapers, of thousands of people swirling in desperation to do a comprehensive registration of their phones by syncing the numbers with NIN, troubling questions pour in.

    What amount of stakeholder engagement was done? Apart from discussions with telecommunications operators and other interloping agencies, was there ever a stakeholder mapping to paint a picture of what would happen when the actual programme begins? There used to be something called environmental impact analysis, did it ever enjoy any consideration on this matter? Did anybody ever think that COVID-19 was going to be waved away with a magic wand for Nigeria to carry out an indeterminate project?

    Questions and more questions. Lots of materials, including editorials, have been written on this matter. Some writers are outraged while a few others are cautionary and conciliatory. But whatever your position, what we have before us, fueled by human desperation and a government importunate policy, is a tragic monstrosity whose scope may be difficult to sketch.

    Since the announcement was made mid-December last year for operators to require all their subscribers to provide valid National Identification Number (NIN) to update SIM registration records, chaos has been the supervening picture of the telecommunications industry, even forcing government to begin to repel the fire it has ignited with gasoline. As a friend would explain to me, most Nigerians who are already down to nothing, not wanting to lose their only prized asset, have tossed caution and fear in the air, and have been waking up at NIMC centres across the country. Wherever you turn, the story is the same: grim, chaotic and very foreboding.

    Perhaps also troubled by these pictures, government has been acting on-the-go, changing some decisions midway; and of course deracinating its two-week window it has given as ultimatum, while giving an extension to a time in January and February, depending upon the window that is most commodious. This has done very little to assuage the feeling or the pain.

    But who woke up one day in a season of pandemic with the nightmare that what is best for us is the fusion of phone and NIN for subscribers to live in peace ever after? Mercifully, the operators have been on maximum overdrive, giving out short codes to the subscribers who would want to start the process online. For the time being industry figures stand above 207m subscribers; experts have argued that such figure couldn’t be processed and treated within two weeks without creating absolute chaos.

    Meanwhile the second wave of COVID-19 is here as in most parts of the world. A new strain of the virus has been detected in some countries, leading to worries whether that strain is already in Nigeria. Deaths from COVID-19 are increasing in the country and so is the case load. For me, what seems to conceal the ruinous harvest are the deaths from several other sources – banditry, kidnapping, Boko Haram, ritual killings, cultism and even road accidents, especially from bad roads all over the country. Wherever you go in Nigeria, death stalks you. Only those in government believe things are normal, very normal according to their gospel.

    At a briefing on Monday, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) raised the alarm that Nigeria have crossed the grim number of 100, 000 mark of confirmed cases while also observing that the number could be more as the tests are coming from some states, adding there is no state in the country without COVID-19. Last week alone over 9,000 cases were recorded, meaning that Nigeria is recording over a 1,000 daily.

    The spike was blamed on increased travel, business activities, including social-related ones, nightlife, religious programmes and reopening of schools without strict compliance with protocols.

    The foregoing observation is true but not the whole truth. It is disingenuous, if not totally dishonest, to exclude the intimidating introduction and intrusion of the SIM/NIN registration which, across the states of the federation, daily assails us with images of phone users nearly crushing each other to salvage the use of their phones from a government which has little to offer but wind and promises.

    Make no mistake we need to have the statistics of our people and their activities. One reason behind this is that it can help resolve a lot of security issues. This is why the exercise enjoys the cooperation of critical stakeholders, especially the operators. But the fact that the ominous effects of such policy in these troubled times could be overlooked fuels the conspiracy theory that some people are whispering about, to effect that there is more to the registration than what we see, and the forcefulness and intensity in execution is not only a pointer to such remote possibility, but actually quite superfluous, very bewildering and perplexing.

    All said, this is a time to put a hold on our pomposity and braggadocio in forcing down policies that are obnoxious and detrimental to the people. The stories coming out of the isolation and treatment centres are very unnerving. People are in pains. But those are the lucking ones. Others have died and are dying. We know those with names – those in business, academia and government, among others. But you also have those without a name – the Anonymous, for whom there will be no grave stone or well-minted epitaph. Their death enjoys no whisper. They don’t go with the wind. They are simply driven into the dark of the night. And that is eternal!

    There are indications now that school resumption date earlier fixed for January 18, 2021, will be moved again because of rising COVID-19 cases. No. Please. We need our education sector to formally open. The schools should be mandated to put all protocol practices in place to provide a safe environment for learning. My appeal is for government to suspend the SIM/NIN registration and then use the intervening period to plan for the exercise.

    A major purpose for telecommunications is to help save life and ease pain for humanity. Let it never be said that ours served the ignoble contribution of taking lives because of a government policy that has no dated significance.

     

    For Nuhu Hamman’Gabdo

    The self-effacing guy with an undiminishing smile on his face. Friendly but very self-assured. Diligent in his ways and clinical in executing assigned tasks. The end came very suddenly, with most of your loved ones, leaving us in total wrench and distraught. The end comes for everyone, someday. But yours is a blow without provision for healing. May your journey in the other side provide eternal healing to your souls, and may your memory be a blessing to your families, including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

     

  • CAS confirms Man City appeal against UEFA ban

    CAS confirms Man City appeal against UEFA ban

    Manchester City’s appeal against their two-year ban from European club competition has been registered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

    The Premier League champions were also fined 30m euros (£25m) for “serious breaches” of Uefa’s financial regulations.

    City chief executive Ferran Soriano has said the breaches are “simply not true”.

    Cas says “it is not possible” to say when the matter will be resolved.

    Cas arbitration procedures involve an exchange of written submissions between the parties while a panel of arbitrators is convened to hear the appeal.

    The independent adjudicatory chamber of the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) said it found City had broken the rules by “overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to Uefa between 2012 and 2016”, adding that the club “failed to cooperate in the investigation”.

    At the time, City said they were “disappointed but not surprised” by the “prejudicial” decision and would appeal.

    Uefa launched an investigation after German newspaper Der Spiegel published leaked documents in November 2018 alleging City had inflated the value of a sponsorship deal, misleading European football’s governing body.

    Reports alleged City – who have always denied wrongdoing – deliberately misled Uefa so they could meet financial fair play rules requiring clubs to break even.

  • Buhari allays fears, says troops withdrawal from troubled communities will be gradual

    President Muhammadu Buhari has reassured Nigerians that withdrawal of the military from areas where peace had been restored will not be done in a manner that will expose communities to more risks of attacks.

    The president said the withdraw exercise will be gradual and carefully planned, not abrupt or arbitrary to jeopardise the success already recorded by the military.

    Reacting to concerns and appeals from governors and community leaders over the proposed withdrawal, Buhari said the “administration will not abandon citizens in need of protection.”

    He urged Nigerians, especially public affairs analysts, to carefully study the statement following a security council meeting with service chiefs that the withdrawal of troops would be done after an “assessment” to determine areas where peace had returned to enable civil authorities assume full control.

    Buhari said where it is determined that the withdrawal would not in any way jeopardize peace already achieved, the military pull out would be in a careful and gradual way.

    “You don’t need to worry. We will not expose our people and their communities to harm or danger,” the President assured.

    “The withdrawal is to allow the military focus on its primary duty of defending the nation against external aggression. It is the duty of the police to handle internal security since Nigeria is not at war.

    “The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps will support the police to provide internal security. When it is time to withdraw, nothing will be rushed,’’ he added.

  • NASS Election: APC vows to appeal Ekweremadu’s victory

    NASS Election: APC vows to appeal Ekweremadu’s victory

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it will appeal the victory of former Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, at the State and National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal in Enugu.

    The Chairman of the party in Enugu State, Mr Ben Nwoye, this on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), while reacting to the judgment of the tribunal that affirmed the victory of the Senator.

    The candidate of the APC in Enugu West Senatorial Zone in the Feb. 23 general elections, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, had approached the tribunal following the return of Ekweremadu as the winner of the poll.

    In its judgement delivered on Sept. 9, 2019, the tribunal struck out the petition on the ground that the petitioners failed to prove their cases beyond all reasonable doubt and affirmed the victory of Ekweremadu.

    Nwoye, however, said that necessary steps had already been taken to appeal the decision of the tribunal which he described as a ‘template judgement’.

    He said that the party was disappointed at the decision of the tribunal after the party’s legal team had put up a formidable argument to prove their case.

    “We are shocked that the case turned out this way in spite of the overwhelming evidence we adduced,” he said.

    Nwoye commended the petitioners’ legal team for putting up a good fight at the tribunal.

    Mr Patrick Luke, the petitioners’ counsel, said that his clients had instructed him to appeal the judgment.

    Luke said that the petitioners did all they could to prove their case, “but the trial court decided otherwise. We have an instruction from our clients to appeal the judgment.”

    “There are fundamental errors in the judgment. We shall study it and respond accordingly.”

  • Osun Govt files appeal against tribunal’s verdict declaring Adeleke as governor

    The Osun State Government on Thursday filed an appeal against the judgement of the state Election Petition Tribunal on the 2018 state governorship poll declaring the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate, Ademola Adeleke, the winner of the election.

    The state government charged the residents of the state to remain calm and go about their lawful activities following the tribunal judgment in the governorship election petition.

    It reassured the people of their safety and security of properties because “the Government of the State is still the only legitimate Government having the authority to govern the State.”

    A statement by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Mr. Wole Oyebamiji, said: “The Government of the State of Osun wishes to appreciate the teeming support of the majority of the people in all things essential for mutual progress.

    “As it is, the administration of His Excellency, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, Governor, State of Osun, wishes to assure the people that the judgment of the Election Tribunal has been put on appeal.

    “This is to further assure all the residents of the State of adequate security of lives and properties, as the Government of the State is still the only legitimate Government having the authority to govern the State.

    “We assure all our people that justice will prevail at last, and the law enforcement agencies have been instructed to maintain law and order across the State. We therefore urge all the residents of the State to go about their lawful duties without any hindrance.”

  • 14 years imprisonment: Appeal the judgement, Taraba residents tell ex-Gov Nyame

    Following the judgement of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja which sentenced former Governor Jolly Nyame of Taraba State to 14 years’ imprisonment, residents of Taraba have urged him to appeal the judgement.

    Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Gudu, Abuja, had, on Wednesday, found the former governor guilty of 27 of the 41 counts preferred against him.

    Nyame, who was charged with 41 counts of misappropriating the sum of N1.64bn in 2007, was found guilty of breach of trust involving fraudulent approval of N250m for the purchase of stationery and office equipment on December 30, 2004.

    But reacting to the ruling, some residents of Taraba who called on their former governor to approach the Court of Appeal which they said would overturn the ruling of the lower court.

    One of the respondents, Barrister Nierus Johnson, said the former governor still have windows of redress ahead if he has good ground of appeal and urged him and his team of lawyers to consider testing the decision of the high court at the court of appeal.

    Again, Mohammed Umar, who said he had worked closely with the former governor, urged him to appeal the judgement of the Federal High Court.

    He described as “laughable” the decision of the court to sentence the former governor, saying Nyame had laid a solid foundation for a greater Taraba, and that the issues the court relied on would be quashed at the Appeal Court.

    On the allegations that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari was being selective in the fight against corruption, Nierus said government should prosecute people across board so as to be seen as being holistic.

    “The fight against corruption in the country today seems to be one-sided and targeted at opposition. We want government to be holistic and focused in the fight against corruption.

    “Today, if you are accused of corruption and you cross over to APC, nobody talks about it again.

    “I remember the case of one of the former governors of Plateau State, but since he crossed carpet to APC, the issue has died a natural death. We have several of such cases in the country today,” Nierus said.

    Mrs. Tabitha Kassa, a market woman who said she had enjoyed goodwill during the tenure of the former governor, urged him not to be deterred by the high court judgment, noting that the decision of the high court was not final.

     

  • Senate appeals court ruling nullifying Omo-Agege’s suspension

    The Senate has filed a notice of appeal and a stay of execution on a High Court judgement nullifying the suspension of a senator, Ovie Omo-Agege.

    Olu Onemola, an aide to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, made this known Thursday evening.

    “The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Coram Nnamdi Dimgba .J. in a judgment delivered today, the 10th May, 2018 in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/314/18 between Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege V. Senate & 2 Ors held that the Senate and the Senate President who where the 1st and 2nd Defendants in the suit filed by Sen. Ovie Omo Agege can punish erring members of the Senate. The Court also held that all reliefs of the plaintiff are not grantable as they could not be supported by the processes filed by the plaintiff.

    “However, relying on Relief 8 which is the Omnibus prayer, the Court held that the suspension was not in accordance to law, the Senate and the Senate President promptly filed a Notice of Appeal and a Motion for Stay of Execution of the same Judgement on the 10th of May, 2018,” he wrote.

    A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or another court order.

    Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court gave the ruling nullifying the suspension on Thursday.

    Dimgba said the Senate’s decision regarding the suspension, as well as the pattern adopted by the National Assembly, was constitutionally defective.

    He said the Senate has no power to suspend a senator for more than 14 days.

    Omo-Agege was suspended for 90 days by the Senate after he accused his colleagues of working against President Muhammadu Buhari by amending the electoral act.

    The Senate said the suspension was not because of Omo-Agege’s comments on the election re-oreder but for his move of approaching the court over the matter.

    That was also frowned at by the judge who said it was an abuse of the Senate’s powers.

    “Access to court is a constitutional right which cannot be taken away,” Dimgba said.

    Meanwhile, the embattled senator in a reaction to the ruling said it is victory for Nigeria’s nascent democracy and not necessarily against the senate or its leaders.

  • Jibrin’s suspension: S’Court orders lawyer to pay N2m for filing frivolous appeal

    The Supreme Court has fined a lawyer, Mr. Tolu Babaleye, N2m for filing a frivolous appeal to delay the hearing of a suit filed by a former Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin,‎ to challenge his suspension for 180 legislative days since September 28, 2016.

    A five-man panel of the apex court headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, during the proceedings that held on Wednesday, delivered a unanimous bench judgment shortly after parties to the appeal adopted their papers in the course of the proceedings.

    Describing the appeal as “vexatious and frivolous”, Justice Ejembi Eko, who delivered the lead judgment of the court, ordered Babaleye to pay each of the four respondents to the appeal, including Jibrin, the sum of N500,000.

    Apart from Jibrin, the other respondents ordered to be paid N500,000 each were the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara; the House of Representatives and the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

    The court ordered that the total fine amounting to N2m must be personally paid by the lawyer.

    Babaleye had filed the appeal on behalf of two members of the House of Representatives – Nicholas Ossai and Orker-Jev Yisa – asking to be allowed to be joined as defendants to Jibrin’s case which is still pending before the Federal High Court.

    Ossai was the Chairman of House Committee on Ethics, which recommended Jibrin’s suspension and Yisa was the House member who moved the motion for the suspension of the Kano lawmaker.

    Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, where Jibrin’s substantive suit is still pending, had on April 13, 2017, dismissed the lawmakers’ joinder application, describing them as “strangers” with no interest to protect in the proceedings.

    The lawmakers had, through their lawyer, Babaleye, appealed to the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which had also in its judgment delivered on December 17, 2017, dismissed their case.

    The two legislators had further appealed to the Supreme Court.

    At the hearing of the appeal before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the appellants’ lawyer, Babaleye, faced a torrent of questions from the members of the CJN-led panel, expressing their concerns about the frivolity of the appeal.

    In response, Babaleye maintained that the appeal was necessary and filed to enable the appellants “to clear their names”.

  • Biafra: IPOB appeals proscription order

    The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has asked the Court of Appeal to upturn its proscription and declaration as a terrorist organisation.

    Recall that Justice Adamu Kafarati of the Federal High Court on September 22, 2017, made the order while ruling on an ex parte application by Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

    On January 18, Justice Kafarati rejected a motion by IPOB, seeking among others, the reversal of the order.

    In an appeal filed yesterday by its lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor, IPOB urged the Court of Appeal to set aside the entire decision by the Federal High Court, including the order proscribing it and declaring it a terrorist group.

    The group, in the appeal in which it raised five grounds, argued that the mandatory statutory condition requiring the President’s approval, under Section 2 (1) (C) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013, was not met.

    It also argued that the memo purportedly giving an approval to the AGF’s request for the proscription of IPOB was signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari, instead of President Muhammadu Buhari himself as stipulated by law.

    IPOB argued that “the trial judge erred in law, when he ruled that the mandatory statutory condition requiring president’s approval, under Section 2 (1) (C) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013, was satisfied, on the authority of the Memo of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation to the President dated September 15, 2017, thereby occasioning a miscarriage of justice.”

    It stated that: “A cursory look at the Memo of the Attorney General of the Federation dated 15th day of September 2017, addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, being relied upon or referred to by the learned trial judge, as constituting the mandatory President’s approval granted before an application Exparte for the proscription of the appellant’s activities and its designation as terrorist organisation, was made to the court, shows that it is a mere memo from the Attorney General of the Federation to the President requesting for the said President’s approval, prescribed under Section 2 (1)(C) of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013, and not the mandatory President’s approval envisaged under the Act.

    “The purported President’s approval dated the September 18, 2017 addressed to the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, captioned “Approval of the President, Commander-In-chief of the Armed Forces for the declaration/proscription of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a Terrorist Organization pursuant to section 2(I) (A) (B) & (C) of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013”, was signed by ABBA KYARI, designated as Chief of Staff to the President, and was not signed by the President as required under Section 2 (1)(C) of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013.

    “Under Section 40 of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013, which deals with the interpretation of words or phrases, the word “President” as used in the Act, refers and only means the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and acts specified under the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act to be done by the President must be done by the President himself, the Act does not provide for this specialised power to be delegated to any officer, staff or personnel of the President to act, on behalf of the President.

    “The important condition that the President will have to give his approval was neither satisfied by the Attorney General’s memo of September 15, 2017 nor corrected by the purported approval signed by the Chief of Staff to the President.

    “There was no valid approval given by the President in the Memo, in satisfaction of the mandatory requirement under section 2 (1)(C) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013.”

    The appellant argued in the second ground of appeal that “the learned trial judge erred in law, when upon his formulation of issues arising for determination in the ruling delivered on the January 18, 2018, and in consideration therefore, arrived on findings of facts that were grossly faulted by non-evaluation of affidavit evidence placed before the court, and recondite issues of law set out for the trial court’s determination, by the appellant; thereby occasioning a miscarriage of justice.”