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Tag: Dr. Monday Ubani

  • Ubani denies Malami ties, threatens legal action against defamers

    Ubani denies Malami ties, threatens legal action against defamers

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Monday Ubani, has denied any connection to the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), describing attempts to associate him with an alleged criminal narrative as reckless, malicious, and contemptuous of the court.

    Ubani, through his solicitor, Nkem Okoro, issued a strong rebuttal to a publication authored by Tonye Clinton Jaja, accusing the writer of deliberately inserting his name into a sensational narrative without providing facts, documents, witnesses, or any identifiable connection to wrongdoing.

    The statement said the publication was not only defamatory but also a direct violation of an existing court order restraining Jaja from making further defamatory or reputation-damaging publications against Ubani.

    It added that the author’s conduct showed open disregard for the authority of the court and the rule of law, especially in light of ongoing civil and criminal proceedings already instituted against him.

    “The casual mention of a person’s name in a criminal narrative without particulars does not amount to evidence or public interest disclosure. It is character assassination and an abuse of media space,” the statement said.

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    Ubani denied having any professional, financial, administrative, or personal dealings with Malami, stressing that no relationship, transaction, or interaction exists that could justify the claims being circulated.

    According to his legal team, the complete absence of factual particulars in the publication further exposes what it described as the emptiness and mischief behind the allegations, warning that reputation should not be sacrificed on the altar of sensationalism.

    Ubani’s lawyers said they had already activated “robust civil and criminal enforcement processes” against Jaja over what they termed serial defamatory publications and persistent contemptuous conduct.

    These processes, they said, are being pursued deliberately and will be carried through to their logical conclusion.

    The statement stressed that if the author or anyone else genuinely possesses credible evidence against Ubani, the proper forum remains the courtroom and not media trials, open letters, or unrestrained use of public platforms to smear reputations.

    It urged members of the public to completely disregard the publication, advising readers to rely on verifiable facts, due judicial process, and the rule of law rather than unsubstantiated narratives.

    The statement made it clear that patience has limits, warning that any further defamatory publications would attract immediate and escalated legal consequences.

    “All further defamatory publications shall attract severe consequences sooner or later,” the statement warned, adding that accountability was inevitable.

    Ubani’s lawyers reiterated their commitment to protecting their client’s integrity and ensuring that the matter is resolved strictly within the bounds of the law, insisting that the era of unchecked media accusations must give way to responsibility and judicial discipline.

  • Ubani: No security breakthrough without strong local govts

    Ubani: No security breakthrough without strong local govts

    Legal practitioner and policy analyst, Dr. Monday Ubani (SAN), has warned that Nigeria’s persistent insecurity will remain unresolved unless the federal government confronts what he calls the most neglected pillar of national safety — a functional and fully empowered local government system.

    Ubani said that despite decades of investment in military operations, counter-terrorism campaigns, recruitment drives, and surveillance technologies, the country continues to witness rising kidnappings, banditry, and violent community attacks because the tier of government constitutionally positioned to act as the first responder remains politically weakened and financially crippled.

    Reacting to Nigeria’s latest security crisis, he noted that the federal government’s recent National Emergency on Insecurity, unveiled by President Bola Tinubu, again omitted the most crucial reform: restoring capacity and autonomy to local governments.

    The package includes recruiting more security personnel and withdrawing police protection from VIPs, but Ubani insists these steps cannot succeed without fixing grassroots governance.

    He argued that security threats do not begin in Abuja or state capitals but in communities, rural settlements, and neglected neighbourhoods.

    Since these areas fall under local government jurisdiction, Ubani said councils are constitutionally designed to detect early threats, mobilise community responses, and support policing efforts.

    Yet, they have been systematically stripped of this capacity.

    According to him, the State Joint Local Government Account and other political controls have allowed state governments to seize council funds, impose loyalists, and undermine independent administration.

    Many local councils, he said, now function as extensions of state executives rather than as frontline governance institutions.

    Ubani warned that a local government unable to maintain rural roads for patrols, provide street lighting, support vigilante structures, empower traditional authorities, or fund surveillance tools is a council rendered ineffective in protecting its population.

    This vacuum, he added, has created ungoverned spaces where bandits flourish, and kidnappers operate freely.

    He noted that national debates consistently centre on state police, youth employment, military expansion, rural education reforms, and economic interventions, while the foundational need for effective local government administration is repeatedly ignored.

    “No matter how many security personnel are recruited, or how advanced our surveillance equipment becomes, no national strategy can succeed when communities remain abandoned and disconnected from governance,” he said.

    Ubani described full constitutional and financial autonomy for local governments as the most urgent reform needed to stem insecurity at its roots.

    He commended the attempt by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to seek Supreme Court clarity on the issue, but lamented that political interference frustrated the initiative.

    Calling on President Tinubu to act decisively, he said direct funding and unrestricted autonomy for local councils must now be treated as a national priority.

    “The path to a safer Nigeria begins with strengthening the tier of government closest to the people,” Ubani stated. “Non-functional local government administration breeds insecurity.

    “The sooner we confront this truth, the sooner Nigeria can make real progress.”