The Lagos State House of Assembly has confirmed the nominees of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the Local Government Service Commission.
The House confirmed the governor’s nominees through a voice vote coordinated by Speaker Mudashiru Obasa on Tuesday in Lagos.
Obasa listed the nominees that were confirmed to include the commission’s Chairman, Mr Kamal Abiodun Baiyewu.
The other members are Mr Abiodun Orekoya, Mr Ahmed Seriki, Mr Taofeek Adaranijo, and the Vice Chairman of the APC in the state, Hon. Hakeem Bamgbala.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that all the nominees appeared before the House and were made to state their background, as well as their professional and political experiences.
Commenting after the confirmation, the speaker urged the nominees to take a cue from the way they were commended by the lawmakers, who ought to have asked them questions.
“All of you have served at the local government level, I want you to look at your relationship with the House then.
“I want you to use the opportunity of your appointment to have good relationships with all government agencies.
“You need to have good relationships with the people. I want to commend the governor for choosing the right and for giving us people that have served with the local governments in the past.
“You should ensure that we have a good Local Government Service Commission and good local governments in the state. We will surely call you back again on how you have performed in the office,” he said.
The Nigerian Senate has again called on President Muhamadu Buhari to sack all Service Chiefs due to their failure to ensure adequate security in the country.
The resolution of the senate was a sequel to a motion sponsored by Kashim Shettima, Senator representing Borno Central.
Shettima drew the attention of senators to the killing of over 45 farmers at Kwashabe village, about 20 kilometres north of Maiduguri, Borno’s capital.
The upper legislative chamber also asked the Nigerian government to equip the troops with modern weapons.
Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Marshal Ibok- Ete Ibas are all overdue for retirement, critics of the government say.
Despite calls for their sack, President Buhari has kept them in office.
Pointblank News have revealed that former Nigeria Head of State, retired General Yakubu Gowon, bought some choice property in the Greater London area shortly after he was sacked via a coup in 1975. He fled to the United Kingdom shortly after his ouster.
According to a title deed in the possession of Pointblanknews.com, one of the properties is at 32 Broadgates Avenue, Hadley Wood, Barnet, Hertfordshire.
Investigations also reveal that Gowon and his wife, Victoria bought some empty plots on that street where the current listing price is between £950,000 and £1.5 million pounds for a 6-room detached house.
Gowon was removed in bloodless coup led by late General Murtala Mohammed while he was away in Kampala, Uganda to attend the OAU meeting. Gowon subsequently went into exile in the UK, where he later acquired a PhD in political science from Warwick University. His main British residence is on the border of north London and Hertfordshire.
While he held sway as Nigeria’s leader between 1966 and 1975, oil profitability was greatest during what was called the “Golden Decade” of the oil boom. Nigeria became the wealthiest country in Africa. Between 1958 and 1974, production rose from just over 5000 to 2.3 million barrels per day and government revenue increased from N200,000 to N3.7 billion. Within two years, state profit increased by almost 50%, to an all time high of N5.3 billion in 1976.
Recently a British member of parliament Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling) attacked Gowon.
He said “We need to call out the corruption, we need to use the powers that we have in this country to stop those profiting from the wealth of that great nation and hiding it here.
During the debate on a petition on End SARS, Tugendhat accused him and the country’s leaders of corruption. He said he looted half the Nigeria Central Bank at the end of his reign. “ Some people will remember when General Gowon left Nigeria with half the Central Bank and moved to London”
Gowon pushed back when he said ““What the MP said is rubbish. I do not know where he got that rubbish from, I served Nigeria diligently and my records are there for all to see. I did not want to speak on this issue because people that know me know that what the MP said is not true” he said
The registered owners of the property on Broadgates Avenue, were listed as Yakubu Gowon and Victoria Hansatu Gowon of 32 Broadgates Avenue, Hadley Wood, Herts with Title number MX357472.
According to The extract from Her Majesty’s Land Registry “.‘ the information on the extract are current on 14 May 2018 at 20 : 33. T OF 32 Title absolute ( 30.11.1976) PROPRIETOR: YAKUBU GOWON and VICTORIA HANSATU GOWON of 32 Broadgates Avenue, Hadley Wood, Herts.
But in a series of tweets, Femi Fani-Kayode described the allegation by the MP who provided no evidence as false
He said , “Whatever you may say or feel about General Yakubu Gowon it is NOT true that he took half of Central Bank with him when he went on exile to the UK and studied at Warwick University after being removed in a coup by General Murtala Mohammed.
“I have my views about Gowon and what I consider to be his role in the mass murder and genocide of 3 million Igbos during the civil war and I have often expressed it but he was NOT a thief and neither did he amass wealth for himself when he was Head of State.
“As a matter of fact he was the darling of the British Government & no Nigerian leader, living or dead, has been as close to successive British Governments as him.
“This very young British MP is trying to revise history and demonise a man who served and protected British interests in Nigeria when he was in power more than any other and this is most dishonourable and unfair.
“The truth is that the greatest looters in the history of humanity were the British themselves and their Empire enslaved, looted and pillaged entire nations and continents.
“If he wants to criticise Nigerian leaders let him do so with facts and not fabricate lies in a scurrilous and essentially racist attempt to confirm the stereotyping of every Nigerian and African leader as being corrupt.
“The truth is that even though they pretend and sweep it under the carpet, there are as many corrupt British leaders, government officials and public servants today as there are Nigerian and this has always been the case.
Members of the House of Representatives were divided at Tuesday plenary on whether or not to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to appear before them and offer explanation on the true security situation of the country. An earlier circulated motion had prayed for the invitation of the president. But the motion eventually moved by Hon.
Satomi Ahmed on behalf other 10 Borno State lawmakers on the floor prayed the president to amongst other things, declare a State of emergency on security matters. But the motion as presented didn’t sit down well with another Borno lawmaker, Hon. Ahamdu Jaha who relied on Order 6, Rule 1 of the House to say that the original motion to which all the lawmakers agreed on was to call on the President to address them on the security situation especially in the north east region. He, therefore, amended the prayers of the motion. “My amendment is that Mr. President should be invited to come and explain the security situation in the country especially in the north east”, he said. His amendment got the support of the House. But the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila said it was not necessary, stressing that the State of emergency prayer sufficed This was however rejected by the House.
Similarly, the majority leader of the House, Ado Doguwa added his voice, saying that security issues can’t be discussed openly, pleading for the understanding of his colleagues not to summon the president. His contribution was however greeted with a thunderous shout of No. Seeing the rising tension and the determination of the lawmakers, the Speaker suddenly called for executive session to resolve the matter. “Hon. Colleagues, I am a little bit disappointed with a lot of these no, no. “This is not the spirit with which we started this 9th assembly. “We will go into executive session to resolve this matter”, Gbajabiamila said The House is yet to reconvene at the time of filing this report.
On Saturday, November 28, about 43 farmers who had gone to their farms during the current harvest season were attacked by Boko Haram terrorists.
They were tied up; their hands behind their backs, one after the other their throats were slit. The United Nations puts the number of casualties at 110, not 43. Amnesty International says over 10 women and others are missing. The people of Zabarmari were so outraged they refused to bury the dead. They asked that the Governor of Borno State, Professor Baba Gana Zulum, must show up to witness the tragedy that has befallen their community. Zabarmari, in Jere Local Government Area, is about 20 kilometres out of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. Two weeks earlier, terrorists had also attacked and killed members of the community. Maiduguri and the entire Lake Chad region have remained the hotbed of terrorism in Nigeria. In September, the state Governor’s convoy was attacked by insurgents during a visit to Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad. A death toll of 30 was reported. Several policemen and soldiers posted to that axis to help combat the menace of terrorism have also fallen victim, and died in the hands of terrorists. Many have had to lay down their arms and remove their uniforms. The security situation in the North Eastern part of Nigeria is proving intractable despite the Nigerian government’s repeated assurances that the Boko Haram has been technically defeated and degraded.
The wanton killing in Zabarmari is a clear affirmation of the reality we live with: Nigeria has not defeated or degraded the terrorists, and if anything, the country’s security problem has worsened between 2015 and now. The lie has been further put to all claims of achievement of peace and stability through all kinds of military operations and initiatives – Operation Lafiya Dole, Operation Safe Corridor, the establishment of super camps, OperationYancin Tafki. Last week, Nigeria was named the third most terrorized country in the world in the Global Terrorism Index, after Afghanistan and Iraq. Governors of the North also cried out about the spate of insecurity in their region. They asked that the Attorney General of the Federation should grant their state Attorneys General the fiat to enable them prosecute terrorism-related cases at the state level. It was in the same week, that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, speaking at a meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) declared that the North is the most unsafe part of Nigeria, and the most difficult place to live in. Zabarmari is a tragic reminder of the truthfulness of this statement. The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development share the same view.
It should therefore make sense that as youths protested in October against police brutality in Southern Nigeria under the banner of #EndSARS, the protest slogan in the Northern states was tagged #EndInsecurityNow. As has become traditional, the slaughter of 43 or more farmers in Zabarmari has been greeted with expression of outrage, anger and disappointment. President Muhammadu Buhari through one of his spokespersons, says it is “senseless and insane”. It is indeed barbaric and horrific. What manner of men would tie up their fellow human beings and slaughter them like rams? The cruelty is unspeakable. For every act of this nature that is reported, there are many other incidents that are never reported. The biggest cost of the insecurity in Nigeria is the devaluation of human lives. Look at how Nigerians often argue over the number of casualties. It is 43, no, 45, actually UN says 110, as if not every single life matters.
On October 31, we all witnessed how the United States sent the elite SEAL Team Six special forces unit to rescue a Catholic priest and farmer, Philipe Walton (27), who had been kidnapped at the Niger-Nigeria border and kept in Northern Nigeria. It was a “precision” hostage rescue operation which was instructive for all it said about citizenship and state responsibility. The abductors didn’t know what hit them. Six of them were killed and the American was rescued. Over 40 Nigerians have been slaughtered and yet there has been no serious feeling of accountability and empathy on the part of government. Everyone was shocked yesterday when Garba Shehu, Presidential spokesperson reportedly told the BBC in an interview that the 43 farmers whose throats were slit didn’t have clearance from the military before going to the farm. So it is their fault that they got killed? Zabarmari is 20 km away from Maiduguri – should such an area so close to the state capital be an ungoverned space? Garba Shehu has since back-tracked a little. He was only explaining “the military’s mode of operation”, he says. The survivors insist that they alerted the military! Does Garba Shehu now speak for the Nigerian military?
In some other countries, the authorities would have deployed an elite counter-force to track down the murderers. But here, it is convenient to give excuses. One excuse is that the terrorists are now attacking “soft targets” and that is because they have been weakened. Only the wicked will refer to the waste of 43 lives as a “soft target”! Another excuse is that terrorism does not have a specific end-date; after all in Afghanistan and elsewhere, terrorism remains a problem after so many years. But how about demonstrable capacity to “downgrade, degrade, and defeat?” Where is the value of all that attempt to engage and rehabilitate the insurgents? And of what use is the store of intelligence about the enemy that is available? In another statement, the Federal Government says the military has been given “needed support to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory”. Really? Where is the evidence? In August, President Buhari gave the service chiefs marching orders to “rejig their strategy” and address the security problem in the country. He needs to summon them to another meeting.
Terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, drug addicts and all kinds of violent characters including criminally-minded herders have constituted themselves into overlords across Nigeria. It is not only the North that is unsafe; the entire country has become a killing field. This is not new. President Buhari did not create terrorism and banditry, but the insecurity problem has worsened under his watch, and that is ironic considering the fact that he was the “expected messiah” who most Nigerians believed would put an end to insecurity in the country. Northern Nigerians voted massively for President Buhari in 2015 and 2019. If they also ever thought that having a Northerner in power would translate into special advantages for the ordinary Northerner, that has not happened. Not even in Katsina, the President’s home state is life safe. Nigeria’s insecurity crisis explodes the myth of the politics of proximity, the thinking that having “one of our own” in charge automatically confers advantages on the group or community. Northern Nigerian remains strictly divided along ethnic and religious lines; essentially, the significant war in Nigeria is between the rich and the poor. The latter are united by “their thingification,” that is the manner in which they are treated as worthless by a self-seeking aristocracy of power, and their own counter-response of anger and protest.
There are killings in every part of the North: Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Southern Kaduna, Adamawa, and in the Middle Belt/North Central Nigeria: Benue, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi. Life has become so short in many places, even luxury bus owners from the East announced that they may suspend trips to certain parts of the country. The Abuja-Kaduna highway has become a risky route either by road where bandits lie in wait, or by rail – a scary route where the Chinese trains Nigeria procured, often break down in the middle of nowhere. Many of the Governors and “big men of the North” have since relocated to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. They visit their states of origin, under the protection of heavily armed escorts. Even incumbent Governors are on exile in Abuja. One Governor was accused of abandoning his state for the Federal Capital Territory. His response was that he visits home four times a month, and why should anyone complain about that? It would be interesting to study this phenomenon of distance-governance and its value.
In the South, kidnapping is on the rise. Bandits have also taken over the roads. A day before the Zabarmari killings, bandits, identified as kidnappers, attacked and killed a traditional ruler, Oba Adegoke Israel Adeusi, the Olufon of Ifon, as he returned from a meeting in Akure, Ondo State. On Monday, November 23, during the debate of the #EndSARS October protests in Nigeria and the aftermath by the Petitions Committee of the UK House of Commons, there were references to killings by state authorities in Obigbo, Rivers state, the persecution of Nigerian Christians in the Middle Belt, and the abuse of human rights by state actors in Nigeria. In the Niger Delta, a coalition of nine militant groups has now served notice of a new round of attacks on oil and gas installations. They identify themselves as Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA). The reign of insecurity places Nigeria in great difficulty. The country suffers a revenue problem, given the volatility of oil prices, occasioned by COVID-19, the disruption in demand and supply chains and declining national productivity. The country is in recession, the second time in five years. Poverty is galloping, seated as it is astride a sturdy horse. Many are jobless. This has deepened the insecurity challenge in the country. The population of angry and hungry men and women has increased, creating a complex situation in which social, economic and political problems hold a rendezvous of violence.
But one unmistakable aspect of this dilemma is how insecurity up-ends everything else, particularly agricultural productivity, and job creation. Food security is one of the major cardinal targets of the Buhari administration. When the Federal Government decided to close down Nigeria’s borders with its neighbours in August 2019, the plan was to encourage food production within Nigeria, check food importation and encourage in particular rice production, in which Nigeria is said to enjoy a comparative advantage. At the time, the Minister of Agriculture, Muhammmad Sambo-Nanono even boasted that there is no hunger in Nigeria. Agricultural productivity also formed the kernel of the administration’s plan to diversify the Nigerian economy. But national insecurity is an antithesis to food security. What is curious is that bandits and terrorists seem to target agricultural production deliberately as a way of inflicting pain. In 2018, about 73 farmers were killed in two local governments in Benue state in what was described as a farmers-herders clash. The same 2018, a farm in Ondo State, belonging to Chief Olu Falae, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and a Yoruba leader was attacked by bandits. Three years earlier, Chief Falae was also kidnapped on his farm. A week ago, the bandits returned to Chief Falae’s farm again. They set it ablaze. In the evening, they launched an attack on the workers as they slept. Chief Falae is calling on the “Amotekun” to help save his farm and workers!
Incessant attacks on communities and farmlands in Southern Kaduna have reduced food production in that part of the country. Fishing and farming around the Lake Chad Basin have been halted due to insecurity. In both the North East and the North West, farming communities have been displaced. The most affected states in fact represent the food basket of the nation. Zabarmari where 43 -110 farmers were killed on Black Saturday, is well known for the good yield of its rice fields. Now that terrorists have taken over those fields, surviving farmers would be afraid to go to farm. They may be peasant, subsistence farmers but they contribute to the country’s food output, and the agriculture value chain. Food transportation has also been affected. Even where farmers are still able to produce, they have to contend with the insecurity on Nigeria’s highways and the high cost of transportation. Why are farmers being targeted in the North and the South? The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has warned of an imminent food crisis. The crisis is already here. Food inflation in Nigeria is over 17% according to the National Bureau of Statistics. COVID-19, and the flood that disrupted food production in the Niger River basin may have been part of the problem, but insurgency and banditry pose the biggest threats to agricultural production in Nigeria. Food insecurity can in turn worsen the country’s public health crisis. The growing combination of poverty, hunger and insecurity in the land is a national emergency.
Security was projected as one of President Buhari’s legacy issues. Incidentally, that – combined with people’s welfare – is the original purpose of government. Rediscovering that purpose while eschewing the temptation to offer excuses, is the way forward.
The Federal Government has filed terrorism charges against the leader of Aswani International Market in Lagos State, Chief Taoreed Farounbi, alias Baba Alado, and six others.
In the three counts filed before Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos, Farounbi and his co-defendants were accused of conspiring and participating in acts of terrorism, leading to the killing of two men, Debo Olohunyo and Chibuzor Daniel, in the White Sand area of Isheri-Osun, Lagos State on March 19, this year.
The prosecution also alleged that the defendants unleashed mayhem, leading to the destruction of many properties in the area.
The prosecution said the defendants acted contrary to Section 1(2) (a) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 as amended by Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013.
Listed as Farounbi’s co-defendants are Alhaji Olusegun Akinde, alias Echo, Ayokunle Fakiyesi, Idowu Akinde, Musiliu Oladejo, Lekan Matthew, and Adeleke Akindeji.
The scheduled arraignment of the defendants was stalled on Monday as the prosecuting counsel for the state, A. K. Alilu, told the judge that save for the sixth defendant, Lekan Matthew, who was in court, the others had not been seen again after they were granted administrative bail.
The defence counsel, M.B. Jimoh-Akogun, assured the court that his clients had not absconded, saying the impression they had was that the case was fixed for December 16.
Following Jimoh-Akogun’s undertaking to accept service of the charge sheet on his clients, Justice Hassan ordered that the charge sheet be served on him, while he made an order remanding Matthew in correctional custody, pending the defendants’ arraignment on January 28, 2021.
In this file photo taken on November 24, 2020 US President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a cabinet announcement event in Wilmington, Delaware. – President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona was finalized November 30, 2020, further cementing his win even as Donald Trump continues to make baseless claims of vote fraud. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP)
President-elect Joe Biden’s victories in Arizona and Wisconsin were certified on Monday, further cementing his win even as Donald Trump continues to make baseless claims of vote fraud.
“This election was conducted with transparency, accuracy and fairness in accordance with Arizona’s laws and elections procedures, despite numerous unfounded claims to the contrary,” Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs said during the vote’s final, official certification.
The last Democrat to carry the southwestern state in the race for the White House was Bill Clinton in 1996, marking a significant shift of the US electoral map this year.
Biden beat Trump by just over 10,400 ballots in a state where turnout was high, and shifting demographics saw a growing population of young Hispanic voters.
The ex-vice president’s win in the former reliably Republican bastion could also be attributed to suburban women attracted to his centrist approach, experts have said.
Trump has refused to concede to Biden, which delayed the start of the presidential transition by weeks, as he made baseless claims of fraud that have been shot down in state and federal courts.
“WOW, total election corruption in Arizona. Hearing on now!” Trump tweeted as his lawyers and some lawmakers met in Arizona.
Wisconsin, another hotly contested state which Trump narrowly won in 2016, also certified Biden’s win Monday, with Governor Tony Evers tweeting he had “carried out his duty.”
“Please join me in thanking our clerks, election administrators, and poll workers across our state for working tirelessly to ensure we had a safe, fair and efficient election,” he added.
Trump has also targeted legal challenges at the state of Pennsylvania, which the president won in 2016 but was flipped back to the Democrats this year.
Pennsylvania’s supreme court dismissed on Saturday a Republican lawsuit that had sought to invalidate mail-in ballots in the battleground state — or to throw out all votes and allow the state’s legislature to decide the winner.
The court dismissed both claims in a unanimous decision, calling the second one an “extraordinary proposition that the court disenfranchises all 6.9 million Pennsylvanians who voted in the general election.”
Pennsylvania officially certified Biden’s victory there on November 24. The lawsuit had also sought to stop certification.
Biden has proceeded with the transition process, despite efforts by Trump and his campaign to undo the election, and is due to be sworn in on January 20.
Biden won the electoral college vote — the state-by-state competition deciding the winner — by 306 to 232.
In the popular national vote, which does not decide the result but still has political and symbolic heft, Biden won by 51 to 47 percent.
The Electoral College is all but certain to go through the formal motions of confirming Biden when it meets on December 14.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday dispatched an high powered government delegation to Maiduguri to deliver a message of condolence and solidarity with the government and people of the state over the killing of 43 farm workers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 43 farmers were murdered while unspecified number of others were unaccounted for when Boko Haram insurgents attacks rice fields at Koshere village, near Zabarmari, on Friday.
NAN gathered that nine of the victims were believed to be settlers in search of greener pasture from Zamfara, seven from Kebbi and eight from Sokoto state while the remaining were indigenes of Zabarmari town.
NAN also reports that the victims were buried on Nov. 29.
A statement by Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said members of the high level officials were drawn from the Executive and Legislative arms of government.
He stated that the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan spoke for the team and the Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari representing Buhari presented a joint message, on behalf of the President, the government and people of Nigeria.
Shehu said the president’s message was delivered to the state governor, the Shehu of Borno, and the bereaved Zabarmari community, describing the massacre of the farm workers as the worst form of “senseless, barbaric and gruesome murder.”
In the message, Buhari gave strong assurances of his continuous commitment to fighting insurgency and all forms of insecurity in Borno and across the country.
The president committed himself to making more resources available to the military to prosecute the war.
According to him, he will work closely with neighbouring countries on bilateral and multilateral levels to ensure that there is no hiding place for the terrorists.
“Nothing is more important than ensuring the security of lives and property of the people. Everything is secondary when security is at stake.
“As we mourn the loss of our sons in Zabarmari, the Armed Forces have been given the marching order to take the fight to the insurgents, not on a one-off, but on a continuous basis until we root out the terrorists,” he said.
Buhari commended Gov. Babagana Zulum for his leadership in running the affairs of the state.
In his response, Zulum thanked the president for “ensuring relative peace since his assumption of office”; saying that the ”situation is much better” than he met it.
The governor presented a number of requests on behalf of his people, including that the youths of the state should be enlisted in military and paramilitary organisations to play their roles in the defence of the nation.
He called on the federal government to assist in the repatriation of Borno indigenes in camps in neighbouring countries and requested the National Assembly to hasten the draft budget now before them to allow better allocation of resources for the Northeast sub-region.
At the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Umar Ibn Garbai, the traditional ruler described as “madness,” the gruesome killings and urged his subjects to pray and offer useful information to the security agencies.
He thanked Buhari for his efforts in returning normalcy to the state.
“Before this administration came, all 27 local councils and the Emirs had migrated to Maiduguri.
”We had no power from the National Grid, Telephone services were discontinued and the airport was closed,” he said.
He commended the president for changing all that for the better.
The presidential aide further disclosed that the delegation was also in Zabarmari, Jere Local Government where the incident took place.
The local Imam, Alhaji Idris who responded on behalf of the community, said they were touched by the president’s gesture, saying, “we are happy that the President is with us in our moment of grief.
Other members of the delegation included the House Majority Whip, Tahir Monguno, the Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammed Bello, Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, Agriculture (State), Mustapha Shehuri and Works and Housing (State), Abubakar Aliyu.
Others are National Security Adviser, retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
Innoson, an indigenous auto company owned by Innocent Chukwuma, has approached the Federal High Court in Enugu to stop what it claims to be deregistration and re-registration of Guaranty Trust Bank until the bank pays the company a N32 billion judgement debt.
Joined in the suit is the Central Bank of Nigeria as the second defendant, Securities and Exchange Commission as the third defendant, and Corporate Affairs Commission as the fourth defendant.
Innoson claimed that the bank is trying to deregister as a public limited liability company to avoid paying the judgment debt awarded against it.
Innoson is therefore praying the court for an order of perpetual injunctions restraining the CAC from allowing GTB to go private until the bank pays the outstanding judgment debt arising from disagreement on loans and importation of auto spare parts.
The auto company is also asking the court to set aside SEC’s no-objection to GTB’s proposal to re-register as a private limited liability company or a holding financial company, as well as set aside CBN’s earlier approval of GTB’s request to go private.
“An order of perpetual injunction restraining the 2nd Defendant (Central Bank of Nigeria) from granting the 1st Defendant (GTB) a financial holding company license and or final approval to operate or carry on business as a financial holding company whether in its present name or as a private limited liability company until it, the 1st Defendant(GTB ) pays the Plaintiff (Innoson Nig Ltd) the total outstanding judgement debt of N32, 875, 204, 984. 38k (Thirty Two Billion, Eight Hundred and Seventy-Five Million, Two Hundred and Four Thousand, Nine Hundred and Eighty-Four Naira, Thirty-Eight Kobo) arising from suit Nos. FHC/L/CS/603/2006 and FHC/AWK/CS/139/2012 respectively affirmed by the appellate courts in Appeal Nos. CA/1/258/2011, SC.694/2014, and CA/E/288/2013,” the statement read.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria had struck out GTB’s motion to set aside its earlier decision in February 2019 dismissing GTB’s appeal against the Court of Appeal judgement in 2014 which was in favour of Innoson.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the Federal High Court in Awka granted leave to Innoson to enforce and execute the judgment.
As Innoson commenced the process of executing the judgement, GTB filed a motion on notice seeking an order for staying or suspending the execution embarked upon by Innoson and sought an order to set aside the exparte order by the lower court granting Innoson leave to enforce the judgment.
Whilst refusing GTB’s application and staying further proceedings, the Supreme Court further held that the order it made on March 27, 2019, in favour of Innoson was still valid, adding that all the steps taken for executions in pursuance of that order were valid.
It was reported that while Innoson was still waiting for GTB to come up with a payment plan for the Judgement debt, the bank decided to go private.
Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Monday, in Asaba, assented to the state’s 2021 Appropriation Bill of N383 billon.
The bill tagged “Budget of Economic Recovery” is made up of N210 billion capital expenditure and N173 billion recurrent expenditure
The Delta House of Assembly increased the budget figure of N378.48 proposed by the governor to N383 billion.
Signing the budget, Okowa assured the people that the state would strive to recover from the economic challenges engendered by Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The governor commended the state house of assembly for the speedy passage of the bill.
He said that signing the budget before December would avail the state government the opportunity to further plan towards its implementation from January, 2021.
He said that the state government would remain focused in the implemention of the budget as passed, for the benefit of the people.
The governor noted that there was warm working relationship between the executive and the legislature in the state.
“You have just witnessed my signing into law, the 2021 Appropriation Bill, and as I said on Oct. 27, during the presentation of the bill, we are in very difficult times this year.
“The second wave of the pandemic will create further challenge for the recovery of the economy of our nation.
“However, we are optimistic that in the 2021 fiscal year, things will gradually improve and we will be able to get back to the desired levels of infrastructural and human capital development for our people.
“There is a lot of unemployment and our people are generally getting restive nationally.
“I pray that God will help us and this nation to rediscover ourselves and to commit every work of our people and our state and nation for the common good of all our citizens.
The budget is termed ‘budget of economic recovery’ because we are very much aware of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on both our health systems and the economy of the country.
“The pandemic obviously impacted negatively on our budget in 2020 that we had to reduce it twice in the year.
“I want to appreciate our contractors who have continued to stay in their various sites to work even when it is becoming increasingly difficult to make payments on contractual agreements already made.
“We will continue to be very responsible as a state and we will continue to work with them to deliver on our projects,” he said.
The governor expressed delight that some of the key projects in the state, including the new state secretariat building and the Ughelli-Asaba dual carriageway were still on course.
“I want to reassure you, Mr Speaker and Delta people that the executive will keep focus on the development of projects that we are involved in,” he added.
He disclosed that work had commenced at the Ogwashi-Uku Agro-Industrial Park, and reaffirmed that the state government was committed to delivering the project on time.
Okowa said that the state would continue to focus on entrepreneurship programmes, and take them to higher levels in the 2021 fiscal year by engaging more youths.
He said that the state government was also be paying attention to the girl-child development and the empowerment of women.
Presenting the appropriation bill, the Speaker of the state assembly, Sherrif Oborevwori, said that the bill went through all legislative process before being passed.
He said that the bill was presented to the house on Oct. 27 and was passed on Nov. 17, after it was considered sector by sector.
“The quick passage of the bill was necessitated by Your Excellency’s vision to bring the state out of the economic challenges posed by the pandemic,” he said.
According to him, the increase in the budget size was to provide for some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that were not captured in the proposal.
