The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Adamu Bello

  • Jaiz sponsors vocational training in primary schools

    Two vocational centres have been opened at Akowonjo and Africa Church Primary Schools in Akowonjo, Lagos, courtesy of Jaiz Foundation.

    The idea of the vocational training for the pupils was muted by the Alimosho Local Government Area Chairman Jelili Sulaimon.

    The project was financed by Jaiz Foundation.

    Each of the centres has training equipment and instructors for shoe-making, barbing, hair-dressing and cloth sowing.

    The instructors are expected to train the pupils.

    At the inauguration of the centres, Sulaimon said the centre was the first of its kind in the schools.

    He thanked Jaiz Foundation for making his vision for the schools a reality.

    “As the pupils progress in their academic pursuits, whatever skill they have learnt will help them greatly while in higher schools to make money to support themselves. After they might have left the schools, the skills acquired will make them be self-reliant and make ends meet before they secure employment if need be,” he said.

    He promised that the vocational centres would be replicated in other schools in the council.

    This administration will not relent in making teaching and learning activities conducive and more comfortable for our teachers and pupils.

    Jaiz Foundation Chairman Alhaji Adamu Bello decried the alarming rate of out of school children in the country.

    One of the strategies to stem the tide, he said, is through the council chairman’s initiative.

    Represented by Director/Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Imam Abdullahi Shuaib, Alhaji Bello said the initiative is new in the primary school education.

    He urged other schools’ administrators in the country to embrace it.

    “We have not found any local government that has started this initiative and we felt this is very laudable. So, we decided to partner with the council. As parents and employees, a very important reality you should know is that by the time you are retiring for whatever reasons or you are even no more, your children cannot inherit your employment. They can’t inherit your job but if you establish yourself, no matter how small, when you are no more, your children will inherit your business,” he said.

    He advised the parents to encourage their children to enrol for vocational training.

    “We should catch them young at the primary level, expose them to these skills. Let them acquire the skills and also monitor them. And also show keen interest because that will be the motivation for the children to learn.

    “By the time they start churning out their products, as parents, we would wish that we have done this many years ago. That is why we are saying to parents that let us encourage the and also be part of the scheme for the benefit of our children and for our own benefit,” he added.

    The Oba of Shasha, Oba Babatunde Ogunronbi, described the initiative as commendable.

    “It is a good thing to be educated and also into entrepreneurship.  It was after the secondary school that I learned how to make soap. That’s why you can’t see me bathing with all these medicated soap or something like that. I made the soap I use myself. If they can teach these children at this tender age, it’s going to be an advantage for them by the time they get out of the primary school to the secondary and to the tertiary to start earning something for themselves,” Oba Ogunronbi said.

  • Few private schools have complied with teachers’ registration – TRCN

    Few private schools have complied with teachers’ registration – TRCN

    The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria ( TRCN ), said on Wednesday that only 50 per cent of private schools in the country have complied with its directive to deploy only professional teachers to classrooms.

    Malam Adamu Bello, the Deputy Director, Professional Operation of the council made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Wednesday.

    Adamu said the council would continue to enforce the directive until all teachers get the mandatory certification to teach in schools across the country.

    He stressed that the 2017 deadline for all categories of teachers in the country to obtain the required professional qualification remain sacrosanct.

    The official disclosed that TRCN would prosecute unqualified and incompetent teachers nationwide as from 2018.

    “Very soon, those people that think it is a joke for the 17 years we have been drumming it for them to professionalize, will be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned.

    “The council will go after them with the full weight of the law even as we seek state governments’ cooperation to rid the country of quack and unqualified teachers,’’ he said.

    Adamu emphasised that the certification programme of the council was necessary for all teachers, irrespective of the type of certificate they possess after their graduation.

    “It is meant to strengthen and upgrade the standard of education as all professionalized teachers will attend periodic re-certification lecture and examination to keep them abreast of modern best practices,’’ he said.

  • ‘EFCC has withdrawn appeal against me’

    ‘EFCC has withdrawn appeal against me’

    A former Deputy Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Prof. Bridget Sokan, yesterday said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has withdrawn the appeal against a judgment in her favour and six others.

    She said there was no apprehension either in UBEC or EFCC on the judgment, adding that with her acquittal by Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court in Abuja, she was never involved in any perpetration of any fraud in UBEC.

    Sokan and six others were charged to the Federal High Court on May 18, 2009, on a 4-count charge of fraudulent inducement, criminal conspiracy and subversion of due processes in the award of N787 million contract.

    But Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court, Abuja had, in his ruling on September 19, last year, discharged the seven accused persons upholding their ‘no case’ submission.

    Although the EFCC through its counsel, Wahab Shittu, filed a notice of appeal, it later had issues with whether or not to go ahead with the case.

    The commission confirmed that it was reviewing the Federal High Court judgment.

    But Sokan, in a letter through her counsel, Oluwole Aladedoye, faulted a story in The Nation on Monday that the review of the judgment was causing tension.

    The letter reads: “You are aware of the ruling of the Federal High Court discharging and acquitting our client of all counts brought against her by EFCC, yet you still described her as being involved in perpetrating fraud several months after this ruling.

    “The EFCC, to your knowledge, filed a Notice of Appeal against the ruling of the Federal High Court.

    “The same EFCC voluntarily filed a Notice of Withdrawal of Appeal as far back as October 25, last year.

    “There is no apprehension of any sort at UBEC or EFCC concerning the judgment.

    “The Nation published that EFCC appealed the ruling of the Federal High Court, yet the impression is being created in the publication under reference that EFCC is yet to appeal.”

    She said she asked her counsel to write because she had been “inundated with disturbing calls since Monday concerning the publication” which she described as “false, malicious and irresponsible.”

     

  • ‘Why I can’t be removed from office’

    ‘Why I can’t be removed from office’

    People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Bamanga Tukur has told President Goodluck Jonathan why he cannot be removed from office now.

    His explanation is informed by speculations about plans by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to sack him.

    Tukur, in a January 13 letter by his lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, addressed to President Jonathan, said he cannot be removed because there was a valid subsisting order of a Federal High Court, Abuja, issued on April 25, last year asking the party to maintain the status quo.

    In the suit he filed for PDP against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Justice Adamu Bello ordered parties to maintain status quo by not taking actions that would lead to the removal of the then national officers.

    PDP, in the suit, sought, among others, a declaration that the tenure of the National Officers elected at the 2012 National Convention could not be truncated.

    This was after the INEC alleged irregularity in the election, saying that the nominations of the officers who were unopposed at the 2012 convention were invalid because they were affirmed by voice votes instead of “open secret ballot”.

    Tukur said he wrote Jonathan because he is the constitutional leader of the PDP and that it was reported that he (Jonathan) attended the BOT meeting where the plan to remove Tukur was hatched.

    The letter reads: “My attention has been drawn to reported proceedings of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party, which culminated in the decision to remove Dr. Bamanga Tukur from the position of Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

    “This removal is to be achieved either by pressurising him to resign or by some vote of lack of confidence to be procured against him at a planned National Working Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party.

    “This letter is addressed to you because you are the constitutional leader of the PDP and it was reported that you were in attendance at the BOT meeting.

    “That order is still subsisting, valid and binding on the PDP and INEC till date and especially as at the time the BOT meeting decided to procure the removal of Dr. Bamanga Tukur.

    “The position of Nigerian Law is that anyone, though not directly bound by an order of court, who aids or abets the negation of such an order is liable for criminal contempt and all contemptuous actions taken by contemnors are null and void and liable to be set aside by the court.”

    Oluyede said he decided to write the president to forestall a breakdown of order and to prevent the PDP from falling into a booby trap.

    “In the circumstance, we find that the deliberation by the BOT on a plan to remove the National Chairman of the PDP and the decisions and resolutions reached at that meeting are null and void and anything built on it will be equally null and void.

    “More importantly, we must point out that INEC, which is a party to the proceedings in which the order was made, cannot recognise any new appointment or installation of a replacement for Dr. Tukur arising from the decision taken at the said BOT meeting or that of any other organ of the Party during the subsistence of the order for status quo.

    “This would mean that any nomination forms submitted or signed by such a replacement would be equally null and void. The ramifications of this chain of illegalities are easy to imagine.”

    The letter went on: “We have written, inter alia, to draw your attention to the taint this illegal process could be on an otherwise legitimate nomination process for the candidates of the PDP at the forthcoming general elections.

    “This can be avoided now by mere attention to detail and compliance with due process.

    “Due process in the circumstances dictates that any legitimate demand for the termination of Dr. Tukur’s tenure as National Chairman of the PDP be subjected to the procedure and processes prescribed by the Constitution of the Party for removal, only after the court has determined the pending action or otherwise vacated the subsisting order aforementioned.”

    Also yesterday, Tukur insisted that he could only be removed through a properly conducted national convention of the party and that until that takes place, he remains the legally-recognised national chairman.

    He dismissed reports that President Jonathan had asked him to resign, saying that the party’s constitution did not vest the President with such powers. According to him, the report was the handiwork of the opposition.

    Tukur said: “I am an elected national chairman. I have my certificate of return. I cannot resign. The convention brought me, so it has to take the convention that brought me for me to resign.

    “So, not even the President can ask me to resign. Remember that some members of the National Woking Committee (NWC) were asked to go recently because the election that brought them was flawed. So Mr. President can not tread that route again.”

  • Keyamo faults Jonathan’ on Service chiefs

    Keyamo faults Jonathan’ on Service chiefs

    •Lawyer threatens legal action within 14 days

    Rights activist Festus Keyamo yesterday criticised President Goodluck Jonathan’s refusal to sack the nation’s Service chiefs – chief of Air Staff, chief of Army Staff and chief of Naval Staff – five months after their appointments were voided by a court.

    In a letter yesterday, the lawyer claimed that since no one appealed the judgment delivered on July 1, last year, by Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court, Abuja, the court’s decision remained valid and subsisting.

    He said: “As it is today, all official actions taken by the Service chiefs since the July 1, 2013, judgment was delivered, are null, void and of no effect in law. It only needs someone who is affected by their official actions to challenge their authority in a court.”

    Justice Adamu held that the appointments of Service chiefs without the approval of the Senate and the House of Representatives is null and void, in line with Section 18(1) and (2) of the Armed Forces Act, Cap. A20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

    The suit was initiated by Keyamo.

    The lawyer’s letter, written yesterday and titled: Refusal to obey and comply with judgment in respect of appointments of Service Chiefs, was addressed to President Jonathan; Senate president and the House of Representatives speaker.

    “Till now, no appeal has been filed against that judgment. It goes without saying that all the present Service chiefs; Lt-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (chief of Army Staff); Air Vice Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh (chief of Air Staff) and Rear Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba (chief of Naval Staff), were appointed without the confirmation of the National Assembly. Their appointments are, therefore, null and void ab initio,” Keyamo said.

    He regretted that the National Assembly, whose power to confirm the appointment of Service chiefs was activated by the judgment, refused to demand that President Jonathan obey the judgment.

    The lawyer threatened further court actions should the President and others refuse to act within 14 days.

    He added: “In fact, that is why the real intent of Section 18 of the Armed Forces Act is to subject the Armed Forces to civil authority.

    It is also pertinent to observe that neither the President nor the Service chiefs are constitutionally superior to the National Assembly.

    “As a result, the appointment of Service chiefs, which is political, cannot be different from other political appointments that require the confirmation of the National Assembly, e.g. the chief justice of Nigeria, justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, the chairmen of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), ministers and ambassadors.

    “Please, do not give Nigerians the impression that the military is still above the law.

    “The most embarrassing of this scenario is that the c National Assembly has refused to do anything to comply with the judgment when a court of law has clearly given life to that power. It is sad for our democracy.

    “In the circumstance and in the spirit of compliance with court judgments, obedience to and respect for the rule of law, I require that you direct, advise and enforce compliance with the judgment given on July 1, 2013.

    “If within 14 days of the receipt of this letter you all fail to act, I will have no option but to head back to the court to compel compliance.”

  • Sylva escapes fresh arraignment

    Sylva escapes fresh arraignment

    •Refuses to enter court

    •Lawyers ‘fight’ over ex-governor

    •Ex-Minister Lawal’s trial stalled

    Former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva yesterday escaped re-arraignment on a fresh charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Sylva, who is being tried before Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was to be arraigned before a new judge, on a fresh 42-count charge.

    The ex-governor and six others are accused of laundering about N19.2 billion.

    Although he was within the premises, Sylva, who had attended the proceedings before Justice Bello, refused to enter Court 7 to be re-arraigned.

    Despite protests by prosecution lawyer Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) that Sylva was outside and should be invited to take his plea, his lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), insisted otherwise.

    Fagbemi told the court that his client was not issued with a hearing notice as was required, and that the new charge was only served on him (as against his client) the previous day.

    As Jacobs stood to counter him, Fagbemi shouted him down, insisting he was not through with his submission. He accused Jacobs of being rude.

    It soon degenerated into a shouting match. Everyone in court watched as both attorneys slugged it out.

    “Rotimi, you are rude. Do you know where you are? Must you now be rude because you handle EFCC cases? Rotimi, sit down, you are rude,” Fagbemi shouted.

    Jacobs, who was livid, shouted back, saying: “You cannot be rude at me. I won’t allow this.”

    Justice Ahmed Mohammed later intervened, describing the incident as “highly unfortunate.”

    Justice Mohammed said both lawyers’ conduct was capable of giving young lawyers and non-lawyers a bad impression.

    “I call on you senior members of the bar to keep your cool. Please, let us not desecrate this profession.

    “I see this as an affront on my authority in this court. Two senior lawyers, standing up to each other this way.”

    Both lawyers later apologised to the court and to each other, with Fagbemi calling Jacobs, “my junior brother.”

    Also charged with Sylva are Francis Okuburo, Gbenga S. Balogun, Samuel Ogbuku, Marlin Maritime Limited, Eat Catering Services Limited and Haloween Blue Construction and Logistics Limited.

    Two of the accused – Balogun (third accused) and Ogbudu (fourth accused) – were in court and mounted the dock.

    Sylva stood on the corridor leading to the court, while proceedings lasted.

    Efforts by Jacobs to ensure that the arraignment, having failed to take place yesterday, should be carried out before December 31 failed, as the defendants insisted that time should be devoted to the hearing of the preliminary objection by Ogbudu.

    Justice Mohammed fixed January 23 for the hearing of objections in the case.

    Earlier, before Justice Bello, Fagbemi argued an application in which Sylva sought the release of his passport to enable him travel.

    EFCC’s lawyer John Ainetor objected to the application, arguing that Sylva wanted to evade trial on the new charge.

    Ainetor told the court that this was the third time Sylva was filing a similar application, as others were rejected for lacking in merit. He urged the court to refuse it.

    The trial of former Labour Minister Hassan Lawal before Justice Bello was stalled yesterday.

    Prosecution lawyer Wahab Shittu told The Nation that the case could not go on because there were moves to transfer the case to another judge.

    He said the court would communicate to parties when the transfer was effected and the case ready for hearing before a new judge.

  • Court orders service on Uduaghan, others

    Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday ordered that court documents be served on Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo) following the two cases pending against them, President Goodluck Jonathan and others.

    The case on which court documents are to be served on Uduaghan seeks to join President Jonathan and some key members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a contempt suit.

    The court ordered the service of processes on Oshiomhole and Mimiko on a case seeking the nullification of the last governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

    Justice Adamu Bello ordered the service on the three yesterday after hearing two ex-parte applications seeking leave to serve the documents outside jurisdiction.

    The applications were filed by the plaintiff in both cases, Bedding Holdings Limited (BHL).

    BHL, in the first case, accused President Jonathan and others of unlawful use of its patented ballot boxes for the party’s last special convention.

    It filed an application seeking an order joining President Jonathan and 10 others in “the contempt proceedings already commenced by plaintiff/applicant”.

  • Court dismisses EFCC’s suit against Sylva

    A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday dismissed a suit brought against former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The commission had in an earlier suit got an order of temporary forfeiture of about 48 property traced to Sylva.

    Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed had while granting the order last December allowed the EFCC to continually apply for the extension of the order.

    But in Thursday’s ruling, the judge rejected an application by EFCC for the extension of the lifespan of the order on the ground that since the commission has filed a formal charge against Sylva before another judge of the same Federal High Court, it would be proper if the application for extension of the interim forfeiture order was made before the new court.

    “It would appear that EFCC is instituting a multiplicity of suit against the accused. This court cannot allow any process that amount to an abuse and it is hereby dismissed,” Justice Mohammed held.

    In the charge before Justice Adamu Bello of Court Three, Sylva is being prosecuted by the EFCC over alleged money laundering related offences.

    When the case came up on Monday, his lawyer, Okunade Olorundare (SAN) informed the court about a new application by Sylva, seeking for permission to travel abroad.

    His new application was filed about a month after the court refused an earlier application he filed, seeking for permission accompany his wife on a medical trip outside Nigeria.

    In the new application, Sylva is praying the court to release his international passport deposited as part of his bail conditions. He also wants to be allowed to travel on ground of ill health.

    Justice Bello fixed July 15 for hearing of the application.