Author: The Nation

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos Thursday struck out the “illegal firearms possession” charge filed by the federal government against the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo made the order after granting an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar, to withdraw the two-count charge.

Abubakar relied on Section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

The defence through its lead counsel J.B. Daodu (SAN) had argued that the prosecution could not withdraw the charge unless the government first purged itself of its disobedience to the court’s July 25 order granting Emefiele N20 million bail.

But Justice Oweibo, while condemning the government’s conduct, granted its application.

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The judge wondered what good it would do to the defence if the court did not allow the withdrawal.

 Justice Oweibo said: “The prosecution has shown signs that they are not law-abiding and have no respect for the court. The court cannot force them.

“What good will it be for the defendant who is in custody? Of what benefit will it be to keep the file in the court’s docket?

“I believe the proper thing is to allow them to withdraw the charge. They can simply abandon it and the court will still have to strike it out for lack of diligent prosecution. The application to withdraw is hereby granted.”

Emefiele has been in the custody of the State Security Services (SSS) (or self-styled Department of State Security, DSS) since June 10 following his suspension by President Bola Tinubu on June 9.

Following his arraignment on July 25 on a two-count charge of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, Justice Oweibo granted him N20 million bail and ordered his remand at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions.

But the DSS did not allow the banker to be remanded in the NCoS’ custody.

It rearrested Emefiele after fighting off NCoS officials on the court’s premises.

Following proceedings on August 10, the court fixed Tuesday last week to hear two pending applications filed by either party.

The first application – filed by the Ministry of Justice on August 3 – sought leave to appeal against the N20m bail.

Read Also: Emefiele weeps as arraignment for fraud stalls

The second – filed by Emefiele on August 8 – asked the court to stop the Federal Government from further prosecuting him on the charge of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition or any other charge.

When the matter came up Tuesday last week, the DPP made an oral application to the court seeking to withdraw the charges against Emefiele.

He stated that the application was informed by emerging facts and for circumstances that need further investigation, adding that the application was brought under Section 108 of the ACJA, 2015.

But Daudu (SAN) opposed the move, submitting that the court could not hear the oral application because the prosecution had not complied with the court’s order granting Emefiele bail.

He also argued that there was no application before the court because the prosecution had not complied with the law and the rules of the court.

The loyalists of ex-minister Rauf Aregbesola have renamed their faction within the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun state to the Omoluabi caucus.

They also disowned their members numbering about seventy-nine who were appointed by Governor Ademola Adeleke as caretaker committee members for local government areas across the state.

The Nation recalled that the Aregbesola’s loyalists had opposed the reelection of ex-governor Adegboyega Oyetola under the faction within APC named, The Osun Progressives (TOP).

The faction was dissolved in December 2023 by one of their leaders who is the former speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Najeem Salam.

In a recent development, the chairman of the defunct faction, Adelowo Adebiyi in a statement on Thursday disclosed that the new name of the faction is now Omoluabi caucus.

The statement reads: “We wish to state that whosoever that has been appointed into political offices by the Adeleke’s administration got such, practically on his or her individual’s connection and influence, and not on behalf of Omoluabi, or as compensation for defunct The Osun Progress (TOP) or Omoluabi caucus.

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“We restated unequivocally that at no time did the defunct TOP enter into any agreement with the PDP to work for it; which might warrant the erroneous compensation as being falsely spread by the mischief makers. Those who feel strongly about their individual interests couldn’t be stopped from pursuing such, hence the situation whereby some of them accepted to serve in the PDP government.

He noted that: “We restate our commitment to the APC. On behalf of our Patron, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, we thank all those who had been steadfast and absolutely loyal within our tendency and urge all members to start the mobilisation work of politicians and voters in earnest for the APC, our party ahead of future elections.”

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) announced on Thursday that 36 officers were killed in Niger State.

Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, confirmed the casualties when he gave a breakdown of the ambush of troops in Niger State and an evacuation helicopter that crashed on August 14, 2023.

The breakdown was given at the biweekly briefing of the Defence Media Operations.

When asked about the cause of the helicopter crash, he restated that an investigation is still underway to determine the cause.

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He urged citizens to be cautious of propaganda and fake news by terrorists and implored them to remain patriotic.

Terrorists ambushed troops in the Zungeru region of the state, and some valiant Nigerian Army soldiers paid the price.

A Nigerian Air Force MI-171 Helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission also crashed on Monday in the state’s Shiroro Local Government Area (LGA).

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating job racketeering in federal agencies on Thursday frowned at what it described as a gross violation of the provisions of the laws governing employment in the country.

The committee also demanded an explanation from the management of the Nigeria Institute for Trypanosomiasis and Onchocerciasis Research on why they refused to respect the approval granted them by the Head of Service of the Federation and the Federal Character Commission.

The committee was particularly not happy with the Nigeria Council for Good Science and Technology for failing to respect the constitutional provision on federal character, employing its foundation staff from only two geopolitical zones of the country.

The registrar of the council, Veronica Even had told the committee that the Council which was established in the year 2020 employed 65 staff for its take-off.

But a member of the committee, Wole Oke observed that the employment of the 65 staff failed to take into consideration the provisions of federal character as contained in the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Oke said: “This agency recruited staff without obeying the provision of Federal Character which is a constitutional requirement and the Federal Character Commission gave them a certificate of compliance.

“On what basis was the certificate issued when they failed to comply with the provisions of the Constitution? We have to take this matter seriously.

“This recruitment should be validated because it violates extant laws. You cannot employ people to start a new agency that will be funded by taxpayers’ money when the Nigerian community is not represented. “

Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi also queried the issuance of the certificate of compliance to the agency when it was clear that they failed to comply with the provisions of the law.

While demanding an explanation from the management of NITR, the committee wondered why they would request for approval and waiver from the Head of Service and Federal character commission when they will not abide by the approval.

The letters submitted by the agency showed that while they requested for, and got approval from the Head of Service to employ 80 staff, they wrote to the FCC and got approval to employ 90 staff.

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However, records of employment the agency made available to the Committee indicate that they eventually employed 86 staff.

Gagdi said: “There was no reason to approach the Head of Service in the first place when you cannot respect and adhere to their approval.”

Meanwhile, the committee chairman has denied indicting the Register of the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyode or any agency.

Speaking at the resumed hearing of the committee, Gagdi said the committee has been having a robust engagement with all agencies appearing before it.

He said until the committee concludes its assignment and submits a report to the House, it cannot be said that it has indicted any agency for any wrongdoing.