By Tonnie Iredia
One of the topical issues of the previous week was the refusal of
Justice Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to
swear-in one of the newly appointed Justices of the Court of Appeal. The
CJN reportedly based her decision on a petition alleging that the Judge
concerned, Justice Jumbo-Ofo did not deserve the appointment on the
grounds of State of origin. Many commentators especially politicians
have loudly and publicly chastised the CJN for the decision. I disagree
with them and commend the CJN for living up to her hard earned
reputation.
What the critics have failed to realize is that the refusal of the
CJN does not amount to a perpetual stop to Justice Jumbo-Ofo becoming a
Justice of the Court of Appeal. The point which needs to be appreciated
is that every petition ought to be examined before being endorsed or
discarded.
The politicians who are against the stand of the CJN are perhaps
inadvertently suggesting that to petition is a wasteful exercise. In
other words, the contents of any and every set of grievances should be
discountenanced without taking a look at it suggesting that there is no
basis for petitioning in society. Of course, that can only happen in
utopian societies where there are no claims and counter-claims and where
there are no rivals and opponents.
One strong point in the arguments of the pro Jumbo- Ofo analysts is
that the petition can affect the sanctity of marriage and indeed
discourage family life in Nigeria. I, too, deprecate the rule whereby a
woman is not allowed to benefit from a slot reserved for her husband’s
state of origin but we must not overlook the fact that it is because
such a rule exists that people were able to put up the petition.
Therefore, what the critics should have done would have been to decry
the rule and call for its abolition and not to expect the CJN to ignore
it while it subsists. To do so, is to give room to our CJN to
determine which rule she likes and should follow and which rule she
dislikes and can ignore. Such a posture which places the determination
of issues on the temperament of an operative does not augur well for
society. That most people think that a rule is retrogressive does not
make the rule to become non-existent.
I would have applauded Aloma’s critics especially legislators if they
had moved to ‘kill’ whatever enabled the CJN to take the position she
took. After all, ours has been a pro-active legislature that knows what
to do even with the critical principle of the “doctrine of necessity”.
Rather than do that, public attention was instructively drawn to the
attention of S 238(2) which says a person shall become a Justice of the
Court of Appeal if he or she is appointed by the President on the
recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC).
It does not seem well thought-out to take the section to mean that
nothing else including death can stop such an appointee from holding
office. The same is true of the argument that the CJN being the Chairman
of the NJC should have ensured that all issues were ironed out before
the appointment was made.
This is because the argument takes a posture which suggests that any
fresh information that comes to light after the appointment must be shut
out forever- a trend which has for sometime now roped the nation in a
toga of technical justice.
The provision of Section 285 of our Constitution which says that an
appeal from a decision of an election tribunal must be heard and
disposed off within 60 days from the date of the judgment of the
tribunal is perhaps a good example of how technicality buried the
substance in the case of the Adamawa Governorship election.
Our premise is that if a man says his opponent is a thief it is
better for our justice system to acquit or convict the accused rather
than to say the allegation should have been made earlier or that it was
not written in a particular form. We need to go beyond technicalities in
criminal matters.
This was why we commended elsewhere, the handling of the allegation
that the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido’s qualification was fake.
The case went up to the Supreme Court and at each level the Governor
proved beyond doubt that the allegation was false and he won.
Thereafter, he sued his petitioner for defamation before the latter
owned up to his mischief and begged for forgiveness. It was a veritable
plus for democracy, justice administration and the rule of law that the
judiciary did not use technicality to shield the Governor from the due
process of law. If so, why should we crucify the CJN for seeking to
investigate a petition? It is indeed naïve to argue that the CJN should
have allowed the swearing-in of Jumbo-Ofo simply because the CJN is
also a woman.
In other words, the CJN being female should condone any wrong
allegedly done by or on behalf of a woman. To do so, is to place
morality over a rule. It is heart-warming that Justice Aloma-Mukhtar is
once more on the right path by not allowing the emotions of the moment
to affect her guiding principles.
Let our politicians who are always jumping into conclusions recognize
that whereas everybody can be a politician and hold all sorts of
political positions, it is not so with being a judge. Accordingly, that
the President appointed Justice Jumbo- Ofo and that she was duly
recommended by the NJC; that the allegations against her appointment
should have been cleared before the swearing-in day; that we are all
desirous of giving women a chance and that Chief Justice Aloma being
female should have led in the crusade cannot kill a petition.
Instead, the issues at stake ought to be thoroughly examined and
appropriately handled before anyone can support or reject the petition.
For now, it is dangerous to put undue pressure on Aloma who has shown
at all times that she cannot be compromised. We therefore urge her to
hold on to her duties with the diligence inherent in her outstanding
virtues.
Vanguard
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
“Only a mad man will fail to acknowledge that there is high level corruption in the country” – OBJ
Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday said that he never imposed
president Goodluck Jonathan on Nigerians, saying that his only vote
couldn’t have made him president.Obasanjo said this at a lecture delivered by Professor Bolaji Akinyemi to mark the 40th anniversary of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s call to ministry at the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri in Delta State.
He also called on Nigerians to choose between a strong leader who might adopt unusual approach to tackle a problem or a weak leader who will worsen the situation.
When asked on how he could forge any form of unity with those who are perpetuating violence in the Northern part of the country, an emotionladen Obasanjo went emotional- said: “Boko Haram is an ill wind that blows nobody no good.”
“ Boko Haram stated their grievances and I promised to relay them to the authorities in power, because that was the best I could do. I did report. But my fear at that time is still my fear till today. When you have a sore and fail to attend to it quickly, it festers and grows to become something else.
“Whichever way, you just have to attend to it. Don’t leave it unattended to. On two occasions I had to attend to the problem I faced at that time. I sent soldiers to a place and 19 of them were killed. If I had allowed that to continue, I will not have authority to send security whether police, soldier and any force any where again. So, I had to nip it in the bud and that was the end of that particular problem,” he said.
The former president admitted that all problems might not require that kind of treatment. According to him, “if you say you don’t want a strong leader who can have all characteristics of leaders including God fearing, then have a weak leader and the rest of the problem is yours.”
He argued that “the beauty of democracy is that power rests in the people, and every elected person would seek your votes to come back; if you don’t want him, he won’t come back.
Obasanjo argued that people had been saying that he imposed President Goodluck Jonathan on Nigerians but what they have failed to admit is that, his single vote could not have made a man president.
He urged Nigerians to stand up and take their destinies in their own hands, reminding them of a Yoruba adage, “if you say it the way it is, you will die; if you don’t say anything at all, you will die, why don’t you say it and die?
Obasanjo said there would be no room big enough to accommodate every Nigerian at a roundtable conference to find a national consensus, adding that he would rather want to see a Nigeria where justice, fairness and equity reign supreme.
“Only a mad man will fail to acknowledge that there is high level corruption in the country”, he said, adding that the same World Bank that is always releasing figures about Nigeria’s poor state of economic condition, recommended a structural adjustment programme for the nation and nearly all the eggheads in the country bought it even when the political leaders at the time said it would be detrimental to the nation.
“I challenged them to tell me the names of the Nigerians who had stashed monies abroad but they were not forthcoming except for the case of the Abacha loot. We recovered a large chunk of that loot and they told us there was still over $1 billion from that family but my successors did not pursue any further.
“What I am saying is that it is the same World Bank that came to us with structural adjustment and some of us said it would make us poorer, you (Akinyemi) were in government at the time. We went for structural adjustment and we were poorer. And then they came up with an excuse that we didn’t do it the way they wanted us to do it. Many years later, they accepted that we were right and they were wrong,” Obasanjo stated.
“I called World Bank, they said go and look at the agreement, and the agreement says they are not responsible for how the money is spent. The Word Bank then told me that is the agreement and there is nothing we can do.
“I didn’t say that we are not corrupt, we are. But are we doing something about it? Once, people said, the fear of Ribadu is the beginning of wisdom. Then what happened to Ribadu? Then there was no longer any wisdom,” he stated.
“I don’t see anything wrong with federal character if we want to wedge this country together because if you want to enter a place where there are 40 people and they require somebody and you are Urhobo and at the back you find somebody speaking Urhobo, the tendency is for you to go for that man. It’s natural. So there is some form of security in the application of federal character,” he said.
On the location of strategic and military assets which the lecturer argued are located on the Zaria-Kaduna axis out of mutual suspicion, he recommended that the nation must adopt the South African model of locating military formations across the nation, Obasanjo said: “If you look at the deployment of troops and formations in the country, it is fairly well spread.
“When I joined the army, there were five battalions, Enugu, Abeokuta, Ibadan and two were stationed in Kaduna. That was done by the colonial masters. Immediately after independence, our political leaders decided that there must be a battalion in Jos, Lagos, but as at today after the civil war there is a battalion in Warri and some other places.
“When we were doing that, we took into account the strategic interest of this country and don’t forget that there are certain types of trainings that you can get in certain parts of the country,” he pointed out.
DailyPost
A Subsidy Drama: The EFCC’s Romance with The Chairman’s Son
Mahmud Tukur (Son of PDP Chairman center) and Counsel hob-nobbing with EFCC operatives
Enter Mahmud Tijani, as dapper as ever in his aviator shades, his babariga with a copy of the son tucked under his arm. Chances are every single thing he adorns, including the N200 newspaper are paid for from proceeds of one financial crime or the other. Truth be told he and his clique of subsidy thieves called the ‘Bugatti Boys’, a moniker bestowed upon them due to their affinity for the motor vehicle after the same name that retails from $1.5 million, are untouchable.
Yet the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have the audacity to tell Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the High Court of Lagos State that they are negotiating with this criminal. I guess the logic at Aso Villa is to be seen to talk tough on corruption when in all truth, you have no business with fighting any form of corruption, especially when its committed by the son of someone you talk to more times in a week than your First Lady.
Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), lawyer to the accused, actually confessed in court that his client was pretty much guilt-ridden, and that the EFCC had an air-tight case against him. In saner climes, this is what the prosecuting attorneys call a slam-dunk, a sure-thing. In Nigeria, when you’re the son of Mr. Big Man-no Pimples, then this is what you call grounds to institute plea bargaining.
Oyetibo told the court, “We as senior counsels we have studied the processes…and have decided to enter into discussion with the prosecution.
“That’s why we didn’t file any processes to challenge the prosecution in court,” he added.
Nobody plea-bargains better than an SAN, although you don’t really need an SAN to conduct one of these mock trials, you can actually get a first-year law student from the University of Janglova and still be successful in these outings. The thing is your father has to be the President’s confidant, and the EFCC and Judiciary have to receive funding and marching orders from the President.
The court also granted the subsidy suspects which include Abdullahi Alao, son of business tycoon, Arisekola Alao; and Alex Ochonogor the release of their international passports, as the EFCC did not challenge the request of the defendant’s lawyers.
Welcome to Nigeria, where stealing a Bible can land you prison time in less than two weeks of trial, but stealing billions almost certainly guarantees your freedom, and a beautiful romance.
BusinessNews
French Police Detain Nigerian Private Jet Carrying President Jonathan's Front Man
Jide Omokore
By SaharaReporters, New York
The Abuja-bound plane had arrived in Paris from Monaco. A French police source who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity disclosed that the plane was detained for two days.
The source did not disclose the make and model of the jet nor the exact date the aircraft was detained, but disclosed that the private jet was detained as part of an investigation into its ownership. Even though the source refused to reveal more, stating that further disclosure could compromise their investigation, a source in Abuja told SaharaReporters that French authorities seemed interested in finding out if the jet belonged to a Nigerian official. The Abuja source stated that Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke may be the focus of the French investigation.
SaharaReporters was told that the detained jet was flying Mr. Omokore and two women when it was impounded for two days. The jet was later released and was then flown back to Nigeria with Mr. Omokore on board.
The name of the Kogi-born Jide Omokore has featured prominently in the recent fuel subsidy scandal that rocked the Nigerian economy. In Abuja circles, he is well known as a front man for President Jonathan and Petroleum Minister Alison-Madueke.
Nigerian Politician Olusola Saraki Is Dead
Dr. Olusola Saraki
By SaharaReporters, New York
Dr. Saraki died in his sleep at his Camera road home in Ikoyi Lagos according to family sources.
Dr. Saraki will be buried today in Ilorin at 4pm Nigerian time according to Muslim rites.
Nigerian gospel singer faces jail term after posing as pilot to defraud women of $125,000
A
gospel singer who pretended to be an American fighter pilot, an oil
executive and widower to con women out of more than £120,000 has been
jailed today.Oluwamayola Ajayi, 31, of Sherman Gardens, Chadwell Heath, used dating website Match.com to ensnare four women using different names and identities.
In one case he sent email threats, purportedly from a captor, saying he had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom.
Ajayi was convicted of conspiracy to defraud after a trial and faces sentence later this week.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how Ajayi, who was nominated best international act at the 2011 Gospel Music Awards, gained the women’s trust before persuading them to hand over their savings to fund business enterprises
He insisted the cash would be repaid.
His victims, who all live in America and Canada, were “completely taken in” by his elaborate lies.
They were left humiliated and some were financially ruined by the scam, which ran between November 2009 and August 2010.
One victim handed over more than $125,000 (£78,662) from her late husband’s life savings and dead mother’s estate, which she had earmarked for retirement.
Another disabled woman from Nova Scotia was duped into giving Ajayi almost $38,000 (£23,913) after he pretended to be Travis David McFly, a United States Airforce pilot serving in Iraq.
Ajayi, who was arrested last August at the home he shares with his wife, denied conspiracy to defraud, fraud, concealing criminal property, using criminal property and two counts of possessing articles for use in frauds.
He was unanimously convicted by a jury on all counts after the trial after admitting a single count of possessing a false identity document with intent.
Adjourning sentence, Judge Sarah Paneth told Ajayi he was facing a ‘lengthy’ prison term.
DailyPost
Man Uses GPS to Trace His Wife to a Place Where She was Having S*x with a 16-year-old Boy
Amie Neely
Reports have it that the boy was an exchange student living with Neely and her husband at the time of the alleged assault. There is also another exchange student still taking up residence there. There is no indication, however, that Neely, who teaches at Community Christian Academy, ever taught the student she’s accused of assaulting.
The boy told the police that he drove Neely to an area near St. Lucie West Centennial High School. He said he got in the back seat with Neely and, as the two were having s*x, the teacher’s husband walked up to the car and discovered them.
Meanwhile, Neely has blamed “midlife crisis” feelings for her behavior when questioned by police, according to TC Palm. She also said the boy kept asking for sex and she hoped he would stop asking if she went along with his requests, according to police. The boy also told the police he and Neely had sex on multiple occasions, including inside the teacher’s home.
IformationNigeria.org
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