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Tag: Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice

  • Defamation: Court adjourns Dokpesi’s suit against Lai Mohammed, AGF 

    FCT High Court, Apo, on Monday adjourned until Oct.23, the alleged N5billion defamation suit, instituted by Chief Raymond Dokpesi against the Minister of Information and Culture and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

    Dokpesi, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and chairman emeritus of DAAR Communications Plc, filed the suit on April 30, seeking N5 billion damages from the defendants for alleged defamation.

    Read Also:‘N2.1b fraud’: Dokpesi received funds without executing contract, says witness

    He alleged that Information Minister, Lai Mohammed and the Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami (SAN), defamed his character by the inclusion of his name on the treasury looters’ list.

    The plaintiff had told the court that the Information Minister had on March 30, during a press conference, portrayed him as “a corrupt and crooked person, a dishonest man and a thief.”

    Dokpesi through his counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), told the court that the minister’s action negatively affected his reputation and that his image had been seriously injured.

    The plaintiff said he had suffered considerable distress, odium, obloquy, ridicule in political analysis in the media.

    Dokpesi besides the N5 billion damages,  is also asking the court to order the defendants to publish a full retraction of the said publication.

    He further asked the court to order the defendants to tender an unreserved apology to him in all the major electronic and print media outlets in the country.

    He further urged the court to grant a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their servants, agents, partners, representatives, from further writing, publishing defamatory words about the plaintiff.

    At the resumed hearing on Monday, the plaintiff’s counsel, Ennaemeka Adasu, holding brief for Ozekhome, informed the court that the matter was slated for hearing and all the five plaintiff’s witnesses were in court.

    He, however, told the court that the defendants’ counsel only this morning in court, served the plaintiff with a notice of preliminary objection on the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit.

    Adasu , who argued that the service on his client in court this morning was done in bad faith and in the circumstance, requested for an adjournment to enable him respond to the objection.

    Justice  Adegboyega Adeniyi, upheld the plaintiff counsel’s submission and adjourned  the case until Oct. 23 for hearing of the preliminary objection.

     

  • FG saves N4.5 trillion from high profile cases 

    FG saves N4.5 trillion from high profile cases 

    The Federal Government on Wednesday disclosed that it has saved over N4.5 trillion from high profile cases prosecuted by the Ministry of Justice between 2015 and 2017.

    The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami briefed State House correspondents at the end of about seven hours Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He was with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello.

    According to Malami, his Ministry presented its score card to Council in the last two and a half years.

    He said “In respect of Federal Ministry of Justice what was presented to the Council today is the score card from 2015 to 2017

    “We presented a score card as to cases both civil, criminal that were prosecuted by the Federal Ministry of Justice and their implications as to savings that were done for the government commencing from 2015 to the present time.

    “Fundamentally arising from the cases that were conducted by the Federal ministry of Justice, the Ministry has succeeded in saving the government around N4.5 trillion relating to the claims that were presented in respect of these cases which were indeed conducted and concluded.” he

    Continuing, the Minister said “The Federal Government has put in place a committee saddled with the responsibilities of coming up with policies and strategies that will ease off congestion of prisons.

    “Over 70 percent of the inmates are awaiting trials there are sizeable number that couldn’t afford to pay limited fine that have been imposed by them arriving from their convictions.

    “There are those awaiting trials that have never seen the court room for over five years and above and indeed there are multiple legislation that are before the national assembly that are intended to support the decongestion of prison formation process.” he said

    He said that another area the Ministry presented its score card was the ongoing prosecution of Boko Haram cases.

    On Boko Haram suspected terrorists ongoing trial, he said that the total number of convictions so far is 255 and those discharged is 737.

    He said “We presented a position as to the number of cases that were prosecuted, number of convictions that were procured and the number of discharges that were made relating to the cases and then made a presentation as to the road maps for the continuation of the process.

    “There were other presentations that were made particularly as it relates to plea bargain. There are a lot of pending criminal cases in respect of the accused persons standing trials, who made offers for plea bargain.

    “Again there are high profile cases that we made our score card and gave an insight as to their respective positions.

    “A presentation was made relating to national prosecution team as it relates to the cases they are expected to prosecute.” he said

    The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi also disclosed that FEC has approved the construction of the  Ibadan – Kaduna rail lines at the cost of $6.7 billion.

    The project, he said, is expected to be completed in three years.

    According to him, the contract for the Kaduna to Kano aspect of the rail line was awarded last year.

    The Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, also briefed on the progress made based on the recently approved executive order, the national strategy for competitiveness and the entire science and technology innovation road map.

    As part of the score card of the Ministry in the past two and half years, he presented new biscuits being produced in conjunction with Nasco Food.

    He said “High nutrient density products developed and proposed for inclusion in the current Nigerian School Feeding program will provide at least a third of the desired major macro and micro nutrients requirement stipulated by the World Health organization, Food and Nutrition Board.

    “Additionally, the products will be produced by NASCO Foods Limited, Jos that have state-of-the-art processing equipment with vast experience in Food processing, Food Safety and quality for production and supply chain nationwide.

    “The developed nutritious products have been tested using Nasco Food processing facilities in Jos and have been found to be technically and economically viable.

    “The pupils in the schools in Jos and Lagos where the sensory evaluation and consumer acceptability studies were done showed strong likeness for the products and are ready to consume the products if including in the school feeding program.” he said

    On his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said that the major projects which were rolled out by his ministry, including the citizens diplomacy program, desk to desk review initiatives and the economic diplomacy innovation, are recording successes.

    He also gave score card of his Ministry in the past two and half years to the Council.

    He listed the special interventions by the Buhari’s administration for the ministry, foreign missions and embassies to include N16.3 billion, N933 million, N7 billion, $32 million and $28 million.

    According to him, all the interventions were made as the President decided that he would not entertain sending Nigerians abroad without the necessary funding.

    He said “Special intervention fund to rescue many embassies in several countries of the world. First was in 2016 when the Naira was fluctuating terribly and of course the dollars to our embassies were too low to sustain them.

    “We received initially N16.3 billion, and was successfully distributed to all embassies. The second one was N933 million for renovations and other debts released in October, 2017.

    “The third was $32 million that were released for critically distressed 65 missions that were in serious debts and crisis. This was approved in November 2017 and we are in the process of distributing to the embassies around the world another one, $28 million and is the process of also being distributed and finally for ministry headquarters, the sum of N7 billion was made.” he said

    He added “A lot of the debts and the crisis in our embassies and missions around the world have been building over the last 10 years and Mr. President decided that he will no longer accept the situation where we are sending Nigerians out to represent this country and not given them the resources to be able to carry out their tasks. Hence he made provisions and directed that these funds should be released to them.

    “So the situation is still not perfect but this has come in very handily and of course in the interest of transparency we wanted to show how these funds had been disbursed.” he stated

    The Minister of FCT disclosed that FEC approved N1.9 billion for road reconstruction of Clinton Drive and N273 million for water treatment chemicals.

    Read Also: Tracking high-profile corruption cases

  • Mainagate: Nothing will be swept under carpet, says Senate panel

    Mainagate: Nothing will be swept under carpet, says Senate panel

    The Senate ad-hoc panel investigating the surreptitious reappearance of former Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform, Abdulrasheed Maina, Thursday vowed not to sweep anything under the carpet in its quest to expose how Maina re-emerged.

    The committee also said that its report would be submitted to the Senate in plenary for consideration in December.

    Chairman of the panel, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, stated this while briefing reporters after closed door session with the Attorney General of the federation and Minister of Justice,  Abubakar Malami.

    The meeting was held in his office apparently to keep praying eyes away from the discussion of the panel.

    Senator Paulker said that the committee resolved to conduct the investigation behind closed door because the committee wanted to do through probe of the issue assigned to it.

    The Bayelsa Central lawmaker said that the investigative hearing was shifted to his office on account of his personal discretion.

    He said, “It is at my discretion to hold the meeting my office.  All the four chairmen of the committee were present.  We don’t want a situation whereby media report will dictate section of our report.  The closed door session will allow us to do thorough investigation on the matter.”

    Paulker added, “Nothing will be swept under the carpet, the truth of matter will come out at the end of our investigation and the report will be submitted before Christmas.”

    The meeting yesterday will be the second time this week that Malami will appear before the panel.

    It is also expected that the AGF will appear before the committee next week.

    When the AGF appeared the committee on Tuesday, The Nation exclusively reported that Malami admitted that he met with Maina in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year.

  • Another suit wants court to compel FEC to declare Buhari incapacitated

    Another suit wants court to compel FEC to declare Buhari incapacitated

    A new suit seeking to compel the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to declare ailing President Muhammadu Buhari incapacitated and unfit to continue in office was filed Thursday before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

    The suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/ 671/2017 filed by a group, Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International (KHRFI) is coming three weeks after a similar suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/508/2017 was filed before the same court by a United States-based Nigerian, Toyin Dawodu.

    The suit filed Thursday has the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, the Executive Council of the Federation (otherwise known as the Federal Executive Council), the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the National Assembly as defendants.

    KHRFI also filed an ex parte application to seek a mandatory leave (permission) of the court to commence the main action under the judicial review procedure of the Federal High Court.

    When granted the permission sought, the suit, the plaintiff, by virtue of the adopted procedure, intends to ask for a judicial review of whether or not the four respondents to the suit – Osinbajo, the ECF, the AGF, and the National Assembly, had failed to perform their constitutional mandate and obligation under section 144(1)(a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution in relation to Buhari’s health status.

    It intends to seek among others, an order of mandamus compelling FEC to pass the resolution declaring Buhari “incapable of discharging the functions of his office”.

    It The plaintiff’s position that the declaration by the Executive Council of the Federation will  enable the Senate President “to constitute a medical panel that will verify the declaration of the Executive Council of the Federation pursuant to section 144(4) of the Constitution.”

    In a supporting affidavit, lawyer KHRFI; Patricia Chigbundu said the ongoing medical vacation embarked on by the President on May 7, 2017 was the third in the series of such trips.

    She said the President has spent over 60 days abroad since May, yet “Nigerians were not informed on the health conditions of the President.

    “That the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, had also embarked on medical vacation on January 19 to March 12, 2017 and stayed for over 60 days and Nigerians were not informed on the health conditions of the President.

    “The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, embarked on medical vacation from June 6, 2016 and Nigerians were not also informed on the health conditionsof the President.

    “Before the latest medical vacation on May 7, 2017, the President was not able to preside over the Federal Executive Council meeting.

    “All these series of medical vacations are affecting good governance in Nigeria and Nigerians deserve to know the true condition of the state of health of their President.”

    KHRFI wants among others:

    *A declaration of the honourable court that the  Executive Council of the Federation has failed to perform its constitutional duty by failing, refusing and neglecting  to pass a resolution declaring the  President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari who has been away for more than 60 days on third medical vacation since the assumption of office as the President  in 2015 incapable of discharging   the functions of   office;  in view of section 144 (1) (a) and (b) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

    *A declaration of the honourable court that the  Executive Council of the Federation  that in the circumstances of the Executive Council of the Federation not passing a resolution  declaring the President incapable of discharging the  functions of his office, the  Senate President  should not go ahead    to constitute   a medical panel  to examine the health condition of the President,   to determine if the President is suffering from  infirmity of body and mind,  and whether the President   has become permanently incapable  to discharge the functions  of  his office;  in view of section 144 (4) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended).

    *An order of mandamus compelling the  Executive Council of the Federation to immediately and without any further delay  perform its constitutional duty by   passing  a resolution declaring the  President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari who has been away for more than 6o days on third medical vacation since the assumption of office as the President  in 2015  incapable of discharging   the functions of   office;  in view of section 144 (1) (a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

    *An order of mandamus compelling the  Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria    to go ahead    and constitute   a medical  panel  to examine the health condition of the President Muhammadu Buhari    to determine if the President is suffering from  infirmity of body and mind and to determine whether the President   has become permanently incapable  to discharge the functions  of  his office;  in view of section 144 (4) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended).

    Daudu, in his case, wants the court to declare that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has the powers to set up the medical panel to determine Buhari’s health status in the absence of a resolution of the Executive Council of the Federation declaring the President unfit to continue in office as provided under section 144 of the Constitution.

    The suit is now before Justice Adamu Abdu Kafarati, awaiting a hearing date.

     

  • Court strikes out Buhari’s N50b suit against NTA, IGP, Ali, others

    Court strikes out Buhari’s N50b suit against NTA, IGP, Ali, others

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a N50billion suit by President Muhammadu Buhari against two media houses, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), former Director of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign organisation, Ahmadu Ali, among others.

    The suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/267/2015 was filed by the President on March 23, 2015 through a team of lawyers led by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

    The suit sought to among others, prohibit the defendants from further airing and publishing an offensive documentary produced by then President Jonathan’s campaign organisation, which portrayed Buhari and his party – All Progressives Congress (APC) in bad light.

    Defendants in the suit included DAAR Communication Plc – owner of African Independent Television (AIT), National Television Authority (NTA), National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), IGP, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Dr. Ahmadu Ali.

    Buhari had argued, in his statement of claim that the documentary titled: “The Real Buhari,” aired on NTA and AIT during the last presidential campaign, amounted to hate speech, which contravened Section 95(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010.

    He stated that the hate broadcast by Daar Communication (AIT) and NTA, contained fabricated and concocted facts about the purported past of the 1st plaintiff (Buhari), meant to mislead the electorate for the benefit of then President Jonathan, then Vice President, Namadi Sambo and the PDP.

    The plaintiffs – Buhari and the APC – sought among others, a declaration that the publication and airing of the documentary breached Section 95 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010 and Section 2(g) – (n) of the NBC Act 2010.

    The plaintiffs also urged the court to award N50b in exemplary and aggravated damages against the defendants, and in their (plaintiffs’) favour.

    They equally sought an order directing the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th defendants (Daar Communication, NTA, PDP and Ali to publish “unreserved apologies” in the Economist of London, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Cable News Network (CNN), among others.

    When the case was mentioned Wednesday, no lawyer announced appearance for any of the parties.

    In a brief ruling, Justice John Tsoho noted that the case was filed on March 23, 2015, but that the plaintiffs failed to take any follow-up steps.

    “It (the case) is deemed abandoned. And it is hereby struck out,” the judge said.

  • Buhari to sign executive order on transparency in govt – Malami

    Buhari to sign executive order on transparency in govt – Malami

    Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN on Monday disclosed that, as part of his efforts to entrench his fight against corruption, President Muhammadu Buhari will soon sign an executive order on transparency and efficiency in government.

    Speaking at the National open government partnership retreat in Kaduna State, the Minister said “Corruption remains one of the biggest impediments to National development. It is illegal and illegitimate. It concerns actions that are often clandestine and practices that those who perpetrate it always try to conceal.”

    He continued that, “Numerous scholars insist that many of the political, social and especially economic problems we face in Nigeria is still traceable to the problem of corruption.”

    Malami also commended the Kaduna State Government, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, saying “We settled for hosting this event in Kaduna for many reasons including the fact that Governor Nasir El-Rufai has made significant efforts in engaging with the citizens and In the publication of Budget information as well as his desire to fast track the development of open government partnership principles in Kaduna State. It is my hope that Kaduna State can become a pilot state for the purpose of implementing OGP principles at the sub National level.”

    “The open government partnership is a multi-stakeholders initiative focused on improving transparency accountability citizen participation and responsiveness to citizens  through technology and innovation. OGP was formally launched in 2011 when the 8 founding governments Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom among others, saying Nigeria formally joined in in July 2016. 

    “Let me reiterate that the FGN will continue to pursue reform program on transparency and accountability through targeted measures based on the commitments that we have made to promote fiscal transparency open procurement open contracting access to information asset disclosure citizen engagement and empowerment.”

    However he said “dwindling oil revenue government is desirous to continue to provide an enabling environment to attract foreign investors in order to diversify the economy. President Buhari has made it clear that Nigeria is open for business and has assured the world that illicit finance will have no hiding place in our country. 

    “In the coming weeks, the president will sign an executive order on promoting transparency and efficiency for the creation of an enabling business environment in Nigeria that will mandate all ministries, agencies and department to adopt openness in contracting procedures and publishing of contracts.”

    In his own remarks, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, represented by his Deputy Barnabas Bala Bantex said, “This government believes that the governance standards embodied in the Open Government Partnership are very helpful in advancing the implementation of transparent and result-oriented government.

    “In Kaduna State, we are cooperating with BudgIT on budget transparency, and everyone already knows that we insist on open competitive bidding for our contracts. Hardly a week passes without us publishing tenders in the newspapers. We have also established a platform for citizen engagement, with the Eyes and Ears project that confers on citizens the capacity to engage in real-time monitoring of our projects.”

    According to him, “these efforts towards open government are being acknowledged by our development partners.”