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Tag: Olisa Agbakoba

  • Nigeria suffering from incompetent leadership – Agbakoba

    Nigeria suffering from incompetent leadership – Agbakoba

    A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), on Monday attributed Nigeria’s under-development to incompetent leadership.

    He said the country cannot attract Foreign Direct Investment (FID) when it is under a “non-performing government.”

    Agbakoba spoke at the second plenary session of the ongoing Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.

    The session had the theme: Institutionalising African Investment.

    Agbakoba urged lawyers to put more pressure on government to perform.

    He said no progress has been made towards addressing the power deficit, adding that he uses about 10 generators to run his offices.

    The ex-NBA president said bad leadership was manifest in the deplorable state of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway which is the gateway to Nigeria major seaport.

    Agbakoba said it takes him an average of three hours every day to get to work due to poor state of Nigerian roads.

    He said: “Despite all of the resources allocated to power, we don’t have power. As I stand before you, I run about 10 generators in various offices.

    “The vice president spoke very eloquently but in real terms, we as lawyers are responsible in the context that we must put pressure on government.

    “No one is going to come here on foreign direct investment with the kind of, for want of a better word, non-performing government that we have. It’s not possible.

    “Despite the huge market – 200 million Nigerians – we are very poor. So, sometimes we sit here in fancy suits; but go out to the streets.

    “I am a maritime lawyer in Apapa district. The Apapa district contributes 30 per cent of Nigeria’s national budget. Yet it takes three hours for me to get to work because trucks and tankers have blocked the entire place.

    “So, let’s not pretend. We must look for leadership. And I think that is the central challenge.”

     

     

  • Obasanjo: I’ll back honest leaders, young or old

    Obasanjo: I’ll back honest leaders, young or old

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo Thursday promised to support any leader with integrity and zeal for service, no matter the person’s age or sex.

    Obasanjo said despite the failure of some of younger politicians he supported for appointments and political office after his presidency, he did not think older people should be excluded from leadership recruitment process.

    Although he lamented that his young protégées wasted the opportunity to develop the country because of their “materialism, self-centeredness and opportunism”, he noted that this would not stop him from mentoring more young leaders through democratic means.

    Obasanjo stated this in his July 28, 2017 reply to a letter from former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Chairman, Olisa Agbakoba, urging him to lead a search for “young, vibrant political leaders” for the country.

    Olisa had lamented that the country was held back by an aged political class and a poor culture of encouraging “younger people with new ideas to aspire to positions of leadership, in particular the office of the President.”

    But, Obasanjo, who noted that he shared some of Agbakoba’s sentiments, said he could not “jump over the democratic system or put democracy aside” in the quest to help honest young people with leadership potential.

    He said: “The point to ponder is how have the successor generation positioned themselves to lead? I look back at some members of the younger generation and 1 am miffed at the missed opportunities.

    “I am equally saddened that although we the so-called older generation did facilitate, some semblance of infrastructural development, today the gains made have been mostly pushed down the drain by some of those privileged young people saddled with similar responsibilities in the recent past.

    “You should know that some of these same young people whose interest we canvass have in the recent past been a complete disappointment and failures in their various appointed or elected positions.

    “Some of these young people in public or private sector have frittered the prospect of being at the vanguard of sustainable development of what some of us, the earlier generation of leaders, pioneered on the altar of their crass materialism self-centeredness and opportunism.”

    He added: “If I find men and women who have shown profound commitment and exemplary integrity in their various chosen careers or professions as well as zeal for the service our fatherland, I will, of course, give such both my support and inspiration, notwithstanding their age, circumstances or place of birth.

    Obasanjo urged Agbakoba to “step forward and develop a mobilization framework that seeks to rearrange Nigeria on a different basis of legitimacy.

    “The late Chief Awolowo and the great Zik were younger than you when they threw their hats in the ring. It is time to take the hard road. Olisa, it is time to jump down from the fence and the slddon look corner. It is your fatherland. The time is now.”

    He urged young people organize themselves around positive core values.

    “Let them become ideological in the sense of nationalism and patriotism in this struggle. This is a democracy. Politics is a game of numbers at the end of the day. The youth are in the majority. What is the excuse?

    “So long as the older generation does not have the incentive to step down, for so long will they continue to reinvent and reappoint and resurface.

    “The generational shift will need to be worked for and worked at. We did that before, but it was neither sustained by performance nor by commitment.

    “But we should not give up I personally hold myself available to mentor and to guide but I cannot jump over the democratic system or put democracy aside,” Obasanjo said.

  • Obasanjo urged to find young leaders for Nigeria

    Obasanjo urged to find young leaders for Nigeria

    A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has urged former President Olusegun Obasanjo to lead a search for “young and vibrant political leaders” to run the country.

    Agbakoba lamented that there was no culture among the political elite to encourage inspired young people to run for political leadership, especially the presidency.

    In a July 20, 2017 letter to the former President, Agbakoba said the country was held back by an aged political class.

    He said: “Our country is held back by a crop of leadership that has outlived usefulness and effectiveness as a result of old age.

    “It beggars belief that there is no culture among our political elite, to encourage younger people with new ideas to aspire to positions of leadership, in particular the office of the President.”

    Agbakoba noted that the modern history of Nigeria was shaped by young people.

    He added: “Your Excellency was 39 years when you became Head of State. Nnamdi Azikiwe was 40 when he founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). Obafemi Awolowo was 43 when he became Premier of Western Region. Ahmadu Bello was 40 when he co-founded the NPC. Odumegwu Ojukwu and Yakubu Gowon were in their 30s when they took centre stage in Nigerian politics.

    “It seems to me a great contradiction that after a young vibrant set of leaders got Nigeria off the ground in the early 60’s, Nigeria has steadily descended into chaos and is probably now ranked as one of the most ungovernable countries in the world.

    “I feel compelled to request your intervention because you are one of few past leaders with enough clout to galvanize the political elite to produce like in France, a Macron or in Canada, a Trudeau.”

    He suggested that the time had come for a generational change in national political leadership.

    “I believe it is time for our elder statesmen to give way to a young new vibrant political leadership.

    “I am also convinced that with your support this can be achieved and expanded to become high policy amongst all political parties in Nigeria. Nigeria will greatly benefit.

    “I strongly feel that a radical change in political leadership from old to new will be transformational,” the former NBA president concluded.

     

     

  • Osinbajo’s acting presidency is automatic, say Olanipekun, Agbakoba

    Senior lawyers on Wednesday said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo automatically become the Acting President once President Muhammadu Buhari transmitted a letter to the Senate in line with Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

    They said the President’s description of Osinbajo as the person to “coordinate activities of the government” does not vitiate the constitutional provision.

    President Buhari’s May 5 letter to the Senate reads in part: “In compliance with Section 145 {1) of the 1999 constitution as amended, I wish to inform the distinguished Senate that I will be away for a scheduled medical follow-up with my doctors in London.

    “While I am away, the Vice President will coordinate the activities of the government.”

    To the lawyers, the wordings of the letter do not affect Osinbajo’s authority as Acting President with full executive powers.

    Those who spoke included former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidents, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN); Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN), Prof. Koyinsola Ajayi (SAN), Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), activist-lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa and Lagos lawyer, Clement Onwuenwunor.

    Section 145(1) provides: “Whenever the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his Office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, the Vice-President shall perform the functions of the President as Acting President.”

    Olanipekun said there is no provision for the position of “Coordinating Officer/President/Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” in the Constitution, adding that the letter was not properly drafted.

    “Prof. Osinbajo is either addressed as Vice-President or Acting President; and in the present circumstance, and not minding the crafting and language of President Buhari’s letter to the National Assembly, Prof. Osinbajo automatically assumed office as Acting President by constitutional imperatives.

    “He cannot be addressed as Coordinating Officer but as Acting President. Those who drafted this letter for President Buhari have not been fair to him or the nation,” Olanipekun said.

    To him, Osinbajo assumed the position of the Acting President based on what the constitution dictates, and based not on Buhari’s wishes.

    “No special favour is being done to the Vice-President by the transmission of a letter by the President to the National Assembly under and by virtue of section 145(1) of the Constitution, as that section is self-executory, meaning that on the transmission of a letter to the National Assembly, the Constitution employs the use of the word ‘shall’ to install the Vice-President as the Acting President.

    “It is a constitutional appointment which takes effect from the moment the President informed the National Assembly that he was proceeding on medical leave.

    “The words employed in President Buhari’s letter cannot derogate from or override the mandatory provision of section 145(1).

    “Apart from this, under and by virtue of section 142(1) of the Constitution, both the President and Vice-President contested on a joint and single ticket, which is inseparable.

    “Having said this, my reservation still lies in the fact that a good number of Nigerians still surprisingly hold on to the thinking that government and governance should be personalised, and that by alluding to ‘government of Nigeria’, they ignorantly zero in on individuals.

    “There cannot be any vacuum in government and governance anywhere in the world, and the Constitution also states this very clearly and unambiguously in Section 142(1).

    “To me, this should be the end of the discussion and debate; as there is a world of difference between a Coordinator and a constitutionally appointed Acting President,” Olanipekun said.

    Agbakoba said the “controversy” created by President Buhari’s choice of words was unnecessary.

    “I am concerned by the unnecessary controversy. I believe it is a distraction by politicians. The nomenclature used by the President to describe his Vice President does not matter.

    “What matters to the average long suffering Nigerian is good governance.  Will the Acting President create jobs; provide water, roads, electricity, food, etc. This is what is important,” Agbakoba said.

    For Ali, the letter’s content is not important.

    “Once the President transmits a letter that he will be away, the Vice President by operation of Section 145 of the Constitution transmutes as Acting President ipso facto (by that very fact or act),” Ali said.

  • How Nigeria can get out of recession – Agbakoba

    How Nigeria can get out of recession – Agbakoba

    A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), on Tuesday warned that Nigeria could remain in recession until the fourth quarter of 2020 if new economic models are not adopted.

    At a briefing in Lagos, he called for a council of economic advisers made up of economists, statisticians, and other financial experts to map out strategies on economic recovery.

    Agbakoba urged the Federal Government to reduce raging inflation at 17 per cent in the medium term, implement 2016 budget to reflate the economy, provide massive social benefits, and create a robust private sector-led market by waking up dead capital trapped in the national housing stock which he said is valued at N7trillion.

    According to him, a full deregulation of the forex market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will allow a level playing field and remove distortions such as round tripping.

    He said CBN’s focus on forex management is encouraging round tripping and creating what he described as asymmetry.

    Agbakoba, a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, said the proposed emergency powers for the President was welcome if it is only to make the procurement process more efficient, as according to him, a massive spending in public works will help boost the economy.

    He urged the Federal Government to study the “new deal” policy deployed by the late United States President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to get his country out of the “Great Recession.”

    “He created massive public works programmes, especially the momentous Tennessee Valley Authority, enacted the Glass-Stegall Banking Act, directing banks not to speculate or trade but lend, enacted the National Industrial Recovery Act to deal with massive employment, and created the Works Progress Administration, putting back millions to work on public infrastructure,” Agbakoba said.

    The development lawyer urged the federal government to give the funds in Treasury Single Account (TSA) to banks at single digit rates and supervise usage.

    “There is need for massive legal regulatory and institutional reform in the financial services sector because money is oxygen to the economy, but it is not flowing as a result of bottlenecks,” he said.

     

  • Olisa Agbakoba: They must be ready to compromise to move forward

    Olisa Agbakoba: They must be ready to compromise to move forward

    Sunday Oguntola spoke with constitutional lawyer, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) on the options available for APC

    It is a very difficult issue. The way I understand it is that both sides have to be ready to compromise to move forward. This is not what Nigerians voted for; Nigerians voted for change. I believe the issues behind this development are very crucial.
    One, the presidential system recognises parties up to the point of election. Once elections have been won, the constitution is silent on what should be the roles of political parties. So, the All Progressives Congress (APC) that wants to dictate how National Assembly officials should emerge is only acting based on the British system.
    We have the British culture but practises the presidential system. The constitution says members of the National Assembly are free to elect their leaders without recourse to any party. To me, the APC didn’t handle the issues well.
    The party had over two months since it won the presidential election to determine who gets what. I expected them to have settled all the contentions before they became public knowledge. It appeared the party focused too much on winning the presidential election and went to sleep. That remains a fatal error.
    So, in that circumstance, you cannot blame Saraki because he simply capitalised on the situation as an astute politician. Having said that, I believe Saraki and Dogara should compromise. That will help to save the polity and the nation’s democratic experience.
    If they insist on having their way, it may spell doom for the APC. Very soon, the APC will become the PDP and vice-versa. Nigerians are disappointed with the struggle for positions. They have to resolve the issues early before Nigerians become disillusioned.

  • Court sacks Agbakoba as Bi-Courtney assets’ receiver

    Court sacks Agbakoba as Bi-Courtney assets’ receiver

    Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos on Monday vacated an order appointing a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) as receiver over the assets of Bi-Courtney Limited, its chairman Chief Wale Babalakin (SAN) and three others.

    The Murtala Muhammad Airport 2 (MMA 2) is owned by Bi-Courtney pursuant to a concession agreement with the Federal Government.

    Justice Buba said the order made by another judge, Justice Okon Abang, was in error.

    The judge held that the order should not have been made when there were related cases on the same issue before him.

    According to him, the whole facts were not disclosed to Justice Abang before he made the order.

    Saying his “brother judge” was misled, he declared Agbakoba’s appointment null and void and adjourned hearing on the substantive suit.

    Agbakoba was also appointed receiver over the assets of Chartered Investment Limited, Resort International Limited and Roygate Properties Limited.

  • AMCON takes over MMA2, Federal Secretariat

    *Appoints Agbakoba as receiver

    The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has granted possession, management and control of assets belonging to Bi-Courtney Limited, Chartered Investment Limited, Resort International Limited and Roygate properties to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

    The assets include the Murtala Muhammad Airport 2 (MMA 2) owned by Bi-Courtney pursuant to a concession agreement with the Federal Government and the Old Federal Secretariat building Ikoyi Lagos, belonging to Roygate Properties pursuant to another concession agreement between Roygate and the Federal Government.

    The Court in its ruling of on 22nd September 2014 by Justice O.E Abang  also appointed Dr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN, as receiver, to realize the assets of the companies, enforce the individual liability of the shareholders and directors and to manage the affairs of the above mentioned companies for the purpose of recovering debts owed to the AMCON.

    The Court also granted orders freezing the various bank accounts of the companies and directed the banks to disclose all account balances.

    AMCON through its counsel Olisa Agbakoba and Associates applied to the Federal High Court for orders of possession and receivership over these assets as a result of the failure of these companies to pay a cumulative debt of about N50 Billion owed to AMCON.

  • Southeast lawyers to honour Okorocha, Dickson, Akpabio, others

    Southeast lawyers to honour Okorocha, Dickson, Akpabio, others

    The Eastern Bar Forum (EBF) will hold its seminar and award night on June 13 at Newton Hotel in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

    Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) will deliver a keynote address on the topic: “Whither Nigeria”.

    Those to be honoured are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim; Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs Senator Polycarp Igwe Nwagu; Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Liyel Imoke (Cross River) and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi.

    Others are Justice Kate Abiri, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), Chief Tony Mogbo (SAN), Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN), Onueze C.J. Okocha (SAN), Agbakoba, Prof. Ernest Ojukwu and Bayelsa Attorney-General Kemasuode Wodu, who was EBF’s immediate past chairman.

    Also to be honoured are Innoson Industries Nigeria Ltd and Moni Pulo Ltd, while Justice Udo Udoma and Justice Chukwudifu Oputa will receive posthumous awards.

    EBF Chairman Ogbonna O. Igwenyi said: “Honouring such great men will encourage other young men to emulate good work.”

  • Court outlaws inclusion of Judiciary’s budget in Executive’s Appropriation Bill

    Court outlaws inclusion of Judiciary’s budget in Executive’s Appropriation Bill

    A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday held that it was unconstitutional for the Judiciary to submit its annual budget estimates to the Executive for consideration and inclusion in its Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly for passage as budget.

    Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a judgment yesterday, held that the practice was not only wrong but offends the principle of separation of power and independence of the Judiciary enshrined in the Constitution.

    The judge held that since the Judiciary was not an agency of the Executive, and the National Assembly is not made to submit its budget estimates to the Executive, it was wrong to expect the Judiciary to be subjected to Executive control in budgeting and finance.

    “The submission of the Judiciary’s budget to the Executive for consideration is unlawful and unconstitutional. If the National Assembly does not submit its budget estimates to the Executive, why is the Judiciary expected to do so? “

    “The provisions of Sections 81 and 84 of the Constitution should be adhered to. The Constitution has not recognised the practice of the Judiciary submitting its budget estimates to the Executive for consideration and inclusion in the Executive Bill to the National Assembly,” the judge held.

    The judgment was delivered based on a suit filed by a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) seeking among others, fiscal autonomy for the Judiciary. The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the National Assembly were defendants in the suit.

    Justice Mohammed declared that, henceforth, the budget of the Judiciary would be prepared by the NJC and must no longer be “part of the estimates to be included in the Appropriation Bill as proposed expenditures by the President as is the present practice”.

    The judge agreed with the plaintiff, who contended that the manner by which judiciary’s budget was being appropriated was contrary to the principle of separation of power and the provisions of Sections 81 (2) and Section 84(1), (2), (3), (4), and (7) of the Constitution.

    The judge declared that any amount standing to the credit of the judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation should henceforth be paid directly in whole to the NJC for disbursement and never again through the budget office of the executive arm of government.

    He granted the seven reliefs sought by the plaintiff, one of which is a prayer for a perpetual Injunction against the defendants from all practices on judiciary funding which run contrary to Sections 81 (2) (3) and 84(2) (7) constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, to wit, submitting judiciary’s estimates to the executive instead of directly to the 3rd defendant (National Assembly) and release of the judiciary’s fund in warrants by the executive instead of directly to the 3rd defendant for disbursement;

    The judge also made a consequential order, restraining the 1st and 3rd defendant (the AGF and the National Assembly) from appropriating the funds for the Judiciary in the annual Appropriation Act.”

    The judge dismissed all the arguments canvassed by both AGF and the National Assembly in opposition to the suit.He agreed with the plaintiff that “the continued dependence of the judiciary on the executive arm, represented by the 1st defendant for its budgeting and funds release is directly responsible for the present state of under-funding of the Judiciary”.

    The judge held that the contention of both the AGF and the National Assembly that the practice of sending the judiciary’s budget estimate to the executive arm of government could not be justified as much as the practice was in clear conflict with the provisions of the Constitution.

    The judge also dismissed the preliminary objection filed by the National Assembly, challenging the jurisdiction of the court on the grounds that the plaintiff lacked locus standi; that the suit disclosed no reasonable cause of action and that the suit constituted an abuse of court process.