The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

Yari and the Senate presidency

Sir : After the intense political battle of the 2023 general elections, the nation’s attention has now shifted to the National Assembly. With Senate President Ahmad Lawan and Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila apparently out of the race, contenders have begun jostling to replace them.

The National Working Committee of the ruling APC had reeled out its zoning formula and anointed their preferred candidates for the President and Deputy President of the Senate and Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

At least six senators are running for the seat of the President of the 10th Senate. The contestants are from four of the nation’s six geo-political zones: the Northwest, Southeast, South-south and North-central.

As we inch towards the transition, the politicking rages on. Political opinions and considerations may vary, and the assessment of an individual’s suitability for such a position is subjective and can be influenced by diverse factors, including political affiliations and personal perspectives, the fact remains that Yari is the best among the hexad.

Whoever is familiar with National Assembly politics knows that imposition does not stand. Obasanjo’s imposition of Evan Enwerem as President of the Senate did not last more than five months. Jonathan’s attempts to impose Mulikat Adeola-Akande as Speaker of the House of Representatives failed. Buhari’s attempt to impose Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila in 2015 also failed. The duo later succeeded in 2019 not because they were imposed but because the lawmakers accepted them.

While not underating the qualification of Godswill Akpabio, Barau Jibrin, Sani Musa and Orji Kalu, former Governor of Zamfara state, Abdulaziz Yari’s pedigree in terms of political and administrative experience and capacity displaces that of all the other candidates. Yari as a former party chairman, former member of the House of Representatives and former governor, has seen both sides of legislative and executive coins.

Yari’s interest in becoming the next Senate President is a game changer not only in the permutations surrounding the aspiration but also in the promise of what his leadership of the Senate portends.

Yari’s political trajectory is replete with notable successes and significant contributions in their respective contexts. His infrastructural development initiative in Zamfara including roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and rural electrification are aimed at improving the state’s socio economic development, his educational strides initiated policies that enhanced access to quality education in the state as he established new schools and renovated existing one, his agricultural programmes encouraged drives to boost good production and improve livelihood in rural areas.

Yari’s aspiration reminds me of Thomas P O’Neill who served as speaker of the United States House of representative from 1977 to 1987. He was widely respected for his ability to build consensus, negotiate across party lines and pass significant legislation. His leadership style emphasised finding common ground and working collaboratively to achieve legislative goals.

Like O’Neill, Yari is poised to demonstrate exceptional leadership skills in mobilising the country and its legislature to face the challenges of Nigeria’s “Renewed Hope” of the incoming government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu with the aim of bringing about political stability and social transformation.

His experience will help in shaping significant legislation and fostering a more cooperative atmosphere between the executive, judiciary and legislative arms of government.

Ultimately, the decision regarding who becomes the Senate President rests with the legislators themselves and the political dynamics within the legislative body. It involves consultations, negotiations, and voting among the members of the Senate to determine their preferred candidate for the position.

Yari as Nigeria’s next Senate President is no doubt a game changer!

•Kabir Akintayo,

Abuja.

May 19, 2023
Bauchi: A strategy to promote basic education

SIR: “In a few weeks from now, we shall be done with the junior secondary school certificate examination, and from then on, I am done with Western education.” The foregoing was uttered to my hearing in the Hausa language by some junior secondary school students in the Bauchi metropolis recently.

I found the statement to be disturbing. It affirms what is generally known about Bauchi State as being one of the states in the country with a high rate of out-of-school children.

Of course, some critics blame the situation on the decade-long insurgency in the Northeast. Others locate the root cause in parents’ lackadaisical attitude in enrolling the children in school just as political opponents of the government accuse it of not providing the needed atmosphere for learning. Whatever the situation is, the state government must be at its feet to make sure things are done well. More than that, the government must feel, not only duty bound to encourage our children to stay in school, but reward them when they excel.

Take the recent case of the students who represented the state in a national competition and came top among the participating states. Whereas the students have been celebrated by many concerned individuals in Bauchi State and beyond, the state government is yet to either acknowledge or reward the lads.

These students from Government College (Special School) Toro who participated in the recent National Inter-secondary Schools Quiz competition organized by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council and came out first deserves to be recognized and celebrated, especially as they are products of public schools as against the elitist private schools.

Currently, Bauchi State is in a dangerous situation as its youth routinely quit education for such anti-social acts like Sara Suka. The state government must be reminded that giving recognition and even awarding scholarships is crucial to encouraging children to see the light in the path of their education. Rewarding them with scholarships stands to draw the attention of the wayward to education and encourage those already in the system to put in more effort.

Gone are the days in Bauchi when international scholarships were given to the best brains many of whom are now professionals in their respective careers.

•Umar Sani Yakubu,

saniumaryakubu@gmail.com.

May 19, 2023
More grounds to cover in fight against illicit drugs

Sir: Drug trafficking and abuse are deadly monsters and as well a threat to peace, security and stability of a nation. As a global problem, it has eaten deep into the security and moral fabrics of many nations of the world. There’s hardly any country in the world that doesn’t battle one drug related issue or the other.

Drug trafficking and abuse are Siamese twins. If drug trafficking can be nipped in the bud, drug abuse will as well be reduced to the barest minimum. In Nigeria, drug abuse has remained a dangerous enabler of many crimes and vices.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has been doing wonderfully well. They have been on top of the game most especially since Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) assumed office as the helmsman. There have been tremendous transformation of the operational architecture of the agency and hence mind boggling successes recorded.

The re- jigged operational procedure where numerous arrests and seizures have become the order of the day has no doubt sent many traffickers packing while the hard-hearted ones have continued even while nursing their wounds as a result of multi- billion naira losses.

Despite the achievements recorded in the area of arrests and seizures, there still remain more grounds to be covered against drugs. Such places like palaces, churches, market places, labour unions, schools should be explored for an elaborate sensitisation with the aim of collaborating with heads of the various institutions mentioned above.

Traditional rulers should be actively involved in the fight against drug enlightenment in their domains. It will go a long way to reduce the way hard drugs and other substances of abuse are tackled in their communities.

Religious institutions must be encouraged to live up to their expectation as the moral compass of the society. As such they can take part in drug preventive programmes.

In the same vein, organizations have roles to play in reducing the rising drug demand. They can incorporate drug use policies and drug prevention programs into their operational procedures while schools can equally make drug education part of their curriculum.

It is my belief that with collective efforts of the various stakeholders and synergy among sister agencies, a safe and sane society devoid of huge substance abuse will be realized in Nigeria.

•Ijeoma Okeme,

Ejigbo, Lagos State.

May 19, 2023
Ekweremadu: The law, the powerful and the weak
- By : Oludayo Tade
Obinna Obeta, Ike Ekweremadu and Beatrice Ekweremadu, you have each been convicted of conspiracy to commit an offence of human trafficking. You brought a young man to London to exploit him. The exploitation was the proposed donation of a kidney in return for a reward, the reward being money and a chance to work in the United Kingdom. (Sentencing Remarks of Mr Justice Johnson Central Criminal Court, May 5, 2023)

The conviction of Nigeria’s former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice Ekweremadu and Obinna Obeta in London over conspiracy to commit an offence of human trafficking (organ trafficking) has elicited reactions from individuals, social-political groups and religious organisations. But there is nothing that they have said that Mr Justice Johnson of the Central Criminal Court didn’t capture in his sentencing remarks. The Justice expressed pity on the Ekweremadus who have a daughter, Sonia who is in need of a kidney transplant or stay on dialysis for the rest of her life due to her FSGS nephrotic syndrome.

Justice Johnson said “Everybody has enormous sympathy for her (Sonia), and for the impact on you (the parents) of seeing your daughter’s suffering….”. However, what we often time overlook in our clime is justice from the perspective of the victim of crime. We cannot pity one person with ailing daughter and overlook the other person, whose body part is being commodified. Is he a lesser human being because he is poor? This boy is human, with parents and family who also hope that their son’s hustle on Lagos streets will yield return one day.

What interests me in this case as a sociologist with bias for criminology and victimology is the general concern of the UK law to protect the weak against the strong and powerful. Will this boy have escaped if it happened in Nigeria?

The UK Justice was sensitive to the power imbalance and how the vulnerability of the boy may have been exploited for the gains of the Ekweremadus. Justice Johnson said: “Sonia’s uncle, Diwe Ekweremadu, knew Obinna Obeta from medical school. He got in touch. Obinna Obeta offered to help find a donor. A possible donor was identified. By law his name may not be published. I will call him C. He had grown up in a village where he had no electricity or running water. He left school at the age of 15. He went to Lagos where he sold phone accessories from a wheelbarrow in a market. He was earning approximately 3,500 Naira a day, equivalent to about £7. Tests in Nigeria showed that his blood group was the same as Sonia. He agreed to come to the UK. He did not at any point agree to donate a kidney to Sonia altruistically. There was no reason why he should do so. He was not related to your family. He did not know Sonia, or any other member of your family. Nothing was put in place to secure his future health-care needs if he donated a kidney. The wealth and power inequality and disparity between you and C could not be more marked. You, Ike Ekweremadu, are a senator in Nigeria’s National Assembly. You have held high political office. You had many staff, including domestic staff, chefs, maids, and drivers. You own multiple properties across the globe – there is evidence of as many as 40. More than £400,000 went into your bank account over a 6-month period. By contrast, C was unable to afford the £25 fare to travel from Lagos to Abuja. You each conspired together to bring C to the UK in order to exploit him. You all knew that was unlawful. You, Ike Ekweremadu had been part of the legislature that had introduced the law that made that conduct a criminal offence in Nigeria”.

Here, the Justice showed how power, influence, and structure on one side were deployed to manipulate a boy in poverty and hopelessness on the other side. The social context within which the victim grew up is related to bad governance in Nigeria. He dropped out of school and sadly, the conspirators did not make provision for his aftercare if he donated his kidney. How much is the life of a poor boy worth in the hands of the powerful?

But there are lessons to learn from the system in the United Kingdom as against our system which ‘sacrifices’ the poor for the rich, or consider the poor as dangerous for the society but pampers and venerates the exploitative cabals. In the UK, the law exists to protect the poor against the manipulation of the powerful and the influential. The London system is however not fraud or corruption proof as the whole conspiracy process involved a corrupt relationship established with one of the staff in Hospital to be used and the court held that Senator Ekweremadu was instrumental in setting up that corrupt relationship and controlling it. The former senator will be behind bars for nine years and eight months, his wife four years and six months and Obina Obeta 10 years. The sentence has deterrence function and has created more awareness.

The hospital approached by the Ekweremadus followed ethical protocol to establish if the victim understood what he was brought to do in London. The police decided to help protect the vulnerable and the collaborators were arrested, prosecuted and convicted. We must ensure that the weak are protected against the strong and should not allow the power wielders to prey on the vulnerability of the weak. In this case, the convicted rationalized their actions, determined the cost and benefit of their actions and got the unintended consequences of their intended actions. The good news is that Sonia has indicated that chances are now higher to get altruistic donor within the UK system.

In few days, a new administration will come on board in Nigeria. It will be important for the Bola Tinubu administration to reduce the level of poverty in Nigeria, reduce the number of out-of-school children and make institutions work. It is also important for the incoming president to ensure that Nigeria has functional health system that is good enough to treat him (the president), the governors and other politically exposed persons so we can keep our money at home and develop health infrastructures. This will also guarantee that ordinary Nigerians will have access to functional health systems well positioned with motivated personnel and equipped with state-of-the-heart equipment.

If we make education work in Nigeria, Nigerian children will not be caught up in Ukraine and Sudan wars that cost us fortunes to bring them back home. We need to act altruistically while in power because we can be victims of what we failed to do when out of office. President-elect Bola Tinubu, lofty heights are only attainable in a nation that peace and justice is allowed to reign. It’s now your turn to make Nigeria work.

•Dr Tade, a sociologist wrote via dotad2003@yahoo.com
May 19, 2023
Uzodimma: Changing the face of Imo
- By : James Udemba
It may sound incredible or too good to be true. But it is the truth nonetheless: Yes, without any fear of contradiction, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has wrought a new Imo State laced with new possibilities and new opportunities, glittering with solidly paved roads, a litany of infrastructural facilities, and a robust public service. And now the mother of the game changers: the prospect of a river port in Oguta that will catapult both Imo State and the Southeast to an industrialised economy. That is the brand new Imo State Uzodimma has wrought in just 40 months. And it is truly beautiful to behold.

Now, look at these: One of the distinguishing features of the Uzodimma administration in the last three years is the initiation and strengthening of projects which have economic values even as they serve their immediate purposes. In both the strategic and critical infrastructure he has put in place in Imo State and the ones he has attracted from the federal government, Senator Hope Uzodimma appears to have only one goal: the economic emancipation of the state from its civil service and consumptive orientation and placing it in the league of other economically advanced states like Lagos, Rivers and Kano.

That’s why one is not surprised with the single mindedness with which he pursued the federal government to grant approval for the dredging of the sea route from Oguta Lake through Orashi river to Degema and finally to the Atlantic ocean. No doubt it was the security impact and the vast economic opportunities therein that motivated the governor to seek the partnership of the Nigerian Navy and multinational companies to embark on the project and bring it to fruition. The formal flag – off of this ambitious project on Thursday, May 11, more than spoke eloquently of the vision of a man who has changed the narrative of Imo State in just 40 months in office.

It is really ironic that when Uzodimma secured the approval for the project shortly before the general elections, critics, including journalists who ought to know better, went to town to dub it a campaign gimmick by the ruling All Progressive Congress intended to hoodwink the Igbos into voting for the party. Some highly placed officials of the federal officials were even sceptical as they claimed ignorance of the approval. But the man at the centre of it all was not daunted because he knew what he was doing. Apparently deaf to the insinuations and distractions, he went about it with a determination and zealousness that only a knowledgeable and determined businessman would. Therefore, when the cream of the Nigerian society gathered at the bank of the famous Oguta Lake the project was no longer on the realm of speculation but that of realization.

Nigeria’s vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, led dignitaries to Oguta to flag off the project. The Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor was there with the Chief of Naval staff, Vice Admiral Awaal Gambo. Minister of Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo came with other high ranking members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Interestingly, royal fathers outside the state also wanted to be part of history by being physically present to witness the event. The Obi of Onitsha, His Majesty, Alfred Achebe, came from Anambra, the Ooni of Ife, His Majesty, Oba Adeyeye came from Osun, while the chairman of Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Okeke led his brother royal fathers to give a royal seal of approval and blessings to the project. As the waters flowed from the Oguta Lake to the Atlantic Ocean, so did the torrents of commendation to Governor Hope Uzodimma. In truth, he deserves all the commendation for initiating such a gigantic project that will change the economic and security face of Imo State in particular and Nigeria in general.

Vice President Osinbajo captured it succinctly when he described the dredging of Oguta Lake through Orashi river to Degema and finally to the Atlantic Ocean as a game changer in the economic and security development of the nation and Imo State. According to him, “the project is designed to revive the economic channels and enhance coastal connectivity and ensure security on the stretch of the two rivers opening up to the Atlantic Ocean. When realized, it will offer economic opportunities to the host communities, Imo State and Nigeria in general”. He also announced to the cheering audience that President Buhari has also approved a free trade zone for the area, which will leverage on the large gas carbon deposits in the area.

But the number two citizen of the country had some very kind words for Uzodimma who he described as a man of foresight and pragmatism. While commending President Buhari for approving the project, Osinbajo noted that without Uzodimma’s foresight, nothing would have been done for the project to take off. He was happy that with the flag off of the hypographic survey and dredging the project will surely come with economic transformation to open Imo State as a gateway to other West African countries.

Apart from the economic benefits, the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor, said the project will boost security in the waterways of the Southeast and Niger Delta, and for that reason, the military will support it wholeheartedly. ‘The overall objective of the project is to create an economic and secure environment along the river and the communities on the coast. The military will leverage on the approval to support the realization of the project”, he assured.

That assurance was re-echoed by the Chief of Naval staff, Vice Admiral Gambo, who described the project as a medium for transportation of goods and services and for curbing criminal activities and reducing oil theft in the coastal areas. He recalled that a naval base had been proposed for Imo State as early as 1991, but its operation could only start during the government of Governor Hope Uzodimma in 2021.

Speaking on the partnership between the Navy and the state government in the execution of the project, the naval chief assured that his officers and men will provide the necessary security for the project, while urging the communities along the coastal areas to take the project as their own.

Uzodimma agreed with Admiral Gambo that the approval for the project came at a right time with God using President Buhari to actualize it during his time as Governor of Imo State. He said the project” is for trade and investment, economic transformation and the fight against crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism”.

According to him, “the dredging and opening up of the two rivers to the Atlantic will remove Imo State from being landlocked as it is encapsulated in security and economic development”.

The governor who was obviously excited over the flag off disclosed that the project will be realised not with magic but by the miracle of Public Private Partnership (PPP).” He pointed out that the purpose of the hydrographic survey and dredging is to determine the mapping and depth of the entire distance from Oguta Lake to the Atlantic Ocean.

Commenting specifically on the economic and security benefits of the project when fully realized, Senator Uzodimma declared: “The success of the project will bring unquantifiable employment for Imo State, the Southeast and Nigeria at large. This will be followed by the establishment of an industrial cluster leveraging on the gas deposits and other natural resources in the area. In addition, the project will foster cultural ties between the Southeast and the South-south when the security is strengthened and movement becomes seamless”.

The governor commended President Buhari for the “approval to dredge the two rivers and for the approval to uplift the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri to Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri, for approval to locate the naval base in Imo State, for approval to upgrade its Alvan Ikoku College of Education to a federal university of education and for the approval to establish oil reclamation programme in Imo State”.

He also thanked Buhari for his support to recover Imo from bandits and hoodlums that terrorised the state.

In their different goodwill messages, the former Governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emeka Nduka and the President General Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief (Engr.) Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, they all commended the efforts of Governor Uzodimma as a great thinker and appealed to Ndi Imo to give him maximum support to realise the project and more.

They also thanked President Buhari for supporting the governor and approving his demands which are aimed at making Imo State better.

•Udemba is a public affairs analyst based in Owerri, Imo State.
May 19, 2023
Deaconess Dada for burial

Funeral rites for Deaconess Victoria Olufemi Dada (Adebusoye) will continue today with a wake at her home, CAC, Glory of God, Glory Land, off FUTA Road, Akure, Ondo State.

The burial service will take place at Christ Ministry (Bethel) Headquarters, beside Ayedun Primary School, Ayedun Quarters, Akure.

A statement by her son, Prof. Sunday Adebusoye of the University of Lagos, Akoka, said entertainment of guests would take place at the Exclusive Event Centre, opposite FUTA junction, Akure.

May 19, 2023
UN seeks $3b for Sudan as fighting rages in Khartoum

The United Nations has declared that more than half Sudan’s population now needed aid and protection, as civilians sought shelter from air strikes and sporadic clashes between rival military factions in the Khartoum area.

Residents said power had been cut, food was in short supply, and drinking water scarce due to the violent power struggle, now in its second month despite international mediation efforts.

Launching an appeal for some $3 billion in aid, the United Nations said 25 million people needed help – the highest number ever recorded in Sudan, where around 15 million needed aid before the conflict.

Signalling no let-up in the conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), anti-aircraft guns and drones could be heard on Wednesday and yesterday in the capital, residents reported.

“We have been moving from one place to the other in past days,” said 27-year-old Abbas al-Sayyed, speaking to Reuters by phone from Bahri, a city adjoining the capital Khartoum, epicentre of a conflict that has killed hundreds of people.

“There is no electricity, no water at all, and even the bread we used to get in the first days of the war, we can’t get now. We can’t move out,” he said.

not immediately verify the video.

Across Sudan, the fighting has uprooted around 1 million people, 220,000 of whom have fled into neighbouring states.

Talks mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabia in Jeddah have so far failed to secure a ceasefire.

May 19, 2023
Canada seeks foreign help to fight spreading wildfires

Canada has called for foreign help to combat wildfires burning out of control and spreading across vast swathes of the western half of the country.

The fires that have devastated the oil-producing Alberta province have in recent days spread to neighbouring British Columbia and Saskatchewan as well as the Northwest Territories.

Some 2,500 firefighters from across Canada backed by 400 military personnel have been deployed across Alberta to try to tame the wildfires, which have already burned more than half a million hectares of forests and grasslands and destroyed many homes and businesses.

But they aren’t enough, officials said.

“It’s still a very significant and dangerous situation in Alberta,” federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told reporters in Ottawa.

Blair said the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre “is reaching out to foreign countries – the United States, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand… We’re asking them to come and help us.”

Smoke from the wildfires has blanketed western Canada, leading to warnings about poor air quality posing risks to health.

In Calgary, the sky had an orange hue to it as the smoke grew thicker throughout the day.

Hundreds of kilometres to the east, residents of Regina and Saskatoon in neighbouring Saskatchewan province said they woke up to a thick haze and a strong smell of smoke in the air.

Across the region, almost 180 wildfires were burning, including 48 out of control, forcing tens of thousands to flee over the past two weeks.

Evacuation orders and alerts were lifted in some parts on Tuesday and Wednesday, including hard-hit Drayton Valley west of Edmonton in Alberta and Fort St. John in British Columbia, as those fires were subdued.

Air quality indexes in several cities, however, indicated wildfire smoke that spread from the Pacific Coast to Manitoba province still poses a “very high risk” to health.

In recent years, western Canada has been hit repeatedly by extreme weather, the intensity and frequency of which have increased due to global warming.

May 19, 2023
Syrians lament Assad’s return to Arab League

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia yesterday to attend his first Arab League summit in 13 years, signaling regional reintegration after more than a decade of war.

The scene of Assad’s plane landing in Saudi Arabia to a gracious greeting by top officials was unheard of just a year ago, when Riyadh, Doha, and several other Arab capitals severed diplomatic ties with Damascus and helped finance and arm opposition groups to topple him.

After 12 years of a deadly civil war that killed more than 500,000, wounded hundreds of thousands more, and left millions as refugees and displaced, Syrians at home and abroad seem ambivalent about the Arab states’ re-acceptance of Assad.

Assad arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last week to attend the Arab League Summit at the official invitation of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz. This invitation, which ushers in the end of Assad’s extended diplomatic isolation, can be seen as a failure of his opponents to remove him over the course of the civil war and a victory in legitimacy for Assad.

The move sparked controversy and massive reactions among Syrians. Washington, however, said it did “not believe that Syria merits readmission to the Arab League”.

“We are not going to normalise relations with the Assad regime, and we certainly don’t support others doing that as well,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel recently told reporters in Washington.

Some Syrians expressed their anger at Assad’s invitation, contending that his attendance at the league summit amounts to the legitimising of a “killer regime,” ending the international isolation of the brutal dictator responsible for millions of dead and displaced.

May 19, 2023
Court affirms Ojoko as Baale of Magodo
- 37-year-old chieftaincy dispute resolved
Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has affirmed Chief Lateef Amodu Ojoko as Baale of Magodo in Kosofe Local Government.

The court declared that the earlier installation of Alhaji Jimoh Sobowale as head of the community was null and void.

Delivering judgment, Justice L. B. Lawal-Akapo said: “Putting the case of both parties on an imaginary scale, the scale clearly preponderates in favour of the first claimant (Ojoko) against the first defendant, (Sobowale) and I so hold. In the result, the claim of the claimants succeeds.”

Granting the reliefs sought, the judge said: “It is hereby declared that the 1st Claimant, Alhaji (Chief) Lateef Amodu Ojoko, is the legally and validly appointed and installed as the Baale of Magodo Community.

“It is hereby declared that the purported installation of the 1st Defendant by the 2nd Defendant is wrongful, illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

“An order of perpetual injunction be and is hereby granted, restraining the 1st Defendant from parading or holding himself out as the Baale of Magodo Community and or using any paraphernalia symbol or insignia associated with the office of status of Baale of Magodo Community.

“The counter-claim of the 1st Defendant fails and it is accordingly dismissed.”

Ojoko and other claimants-Madam Dada Ojoko and Ganiyu Ojoko-had taken Sobowale and other defendants-Ikosi Isheri Local Council Development Area and Kosofe Local Government to court, challenging Sobowale’s installation. He described Sobowale, a retired Deputy Commissioner of Police, as an impostor, stressing that he (Ojoko) was the duly elected Baale, who received a Certificate of Appointment and staff of office to succeed the first Baale, Chief Olikotun Adediran. Under cross-examination by Ojoko’s counsel, Kike Siji-Fasole, the witness said Sobowale, who is not a member of Ojoko family, only came to reside at Magodo after his retirement from police in 2006. The judge also said the letter issued to the first defendant by the Isheri-Ikosi LCDA lacked basis.

Justice Akapo-Lawal said: “I take judicial notice of the fact that there is no Isheri-Ikosi Local Government, but Isheri Ikosi Local Government Development Area. Since Isheri-Ikosi Local Government does not exist in law, going by the above judicial pronouncement, there is therefore, no platform upon which the letters (Exhibit P8 & 9 can stand.”

Quoting the legendary Lord Denning, he said: “If an act is void, it is in law, a nullity. It is not only bad, but also incurably bad. And every proceeding which is founded on it is also bad and incurably bad. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stay there. It will collapse.”

Justice Lawal-Akapo added :”Conversely, going by the above decisions, Isheri Ikosi LCDA is not a local government in Lagos State within the contemplation of the 1999 Constitution. From whichever way it is viewed, the purported appointment of the 1st Defendant is based on very faulty premise and as such cannot stand and I so hold.”
May 19, 2023