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Tag: Uwais

  • Uwais, Mukhtar seek credible electoral process

    Uwais, Mukhtar seek credible electoral process

    Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Muhammadu Uwais and the incumbent CJN, Justice Aloma Mukhtar yesterday stressed the need for the establishment a transparent electoral system capable of enthroning a people’s government.

    Justice Uwais said the country’s inability to achieve a rancor-free electoral process could ais a good excuse for foreign capital flight and a disincentive to foreign investment.

    He added that more importantly: “it is a sad commentary or dent on the political class and its cultural understanding of power.”

    Justice Mukhtar underscored the importance of free and fair elections in every democracy.

    She claimed that democratic elections require more than transparency and accurately counting ballot papers on Election Day. She added that free and fair elections are the cornerstone of every democracy and the primary mechanism for the people to exercise their franchise.

    They spoke in Abuja yesterday at the opening of a stakeholders meeting on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), organised by the National Judicial Institute (NJI), with the theme: Towards zero violence in African elections: The bar, the bench and the civil society as drivers of peace.

    The institute’s spokesman, Madu Emezie quoted the former CJN as arguing that zero violence and zero litigation are possible when stakeholders in the electoral process operate in an effective and complimentary manner.

  • Multi-campus system overstretches Law School budget, says ex-CJN Uwais

    Multi-campus system overstretches Law School budget, says ex-CJN Uwais

    Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais has urged lawyers to bail out the Nigerian Law School (NLS) from its financial challenges.

    The retired justice made the call in Abuja at a special dinner organised for three ministers – Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, a Senior Advocates of Nigeria (Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs); Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN (Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice); and Mrs. Olusola Obada (Minister of State for Defence).

    They are members of the Class of 1986 of the Nigerian Law School.

    Uwais said: “With the creation of more campuses of the Nigerian Law School, sufficient funding by the Federal Government became a problem.

    “Consequently, it is not buoyant to implement its capital and recurrent projects. This is one area that old students of the school can render assistance.”

    Uwais recalled the expansion of the Law School since the 60s.

    He added: “The Nigerian Law School came into existence in January 1963 with an intake of eight students.

    They did a three-month course. Mine was the third set of students who did the three-month course from October 1963 to January 1964. There were 127 students in my set.

    “The Nigerian Law School has come a long way with intakes now running into thousands. So many campuses have been established since its relocation from Lagos to Abuja in 1997.”

    The ex-CJN lauded the set for contributing positively to national development and assisting the Law School.

    He said: “It is gratifying to know that your set – the 1986 Set – has been in the forefront of helping the Nigerian Law School. There is no doubt that the 1986 Set has every reason to celebrate its achievements.

    “I have been made to understand that the set has produced the highest number of SANs and it has three of its members serving as ministers in the present Federal Executive Council (FEC). This is by no means a modest achievement.

    In his remark, Alhaji Turaki thanked Uwais for his contributions to the growth of Law practice in Nigeria.

    He promised, to, in collaboration with his colleagues, do everything possible to uplift the Class of 86 in their service to the country as ministers.

    Turaki, who is also the chairman of the Class, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for honouring the group with three ministerial slots.

    He said: “The first ministry in the FEC is the Minister of Justice and the AGF, he has given it to a member of our class.

    “The second ministry in terms of ranking is the Ministry of Defence. It is also being manned by a member of this class.

    “Let me assure you on behalf of the other members of the Class in the FEC that we will do whatever we can to lift the name of this Class.

    In his goodwill message, a SAN, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, though not a member of the class, urged lawyers to uphold the integrity of the profession.

    “What we see in the legal profession today does not give us joy. Let us observe the ethics of Law practice. Let us hold the Bar. Don’t allow politicians destroy the only profession we have,” he said.

  • National Assembly killed Electoral Reforms, says Uwais

    Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Lawal Uwais yesterday accused the National Assembly of killing Electoral Reforms for parties’ interest.

    The accusation came on the day the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said plans were on to check how candidates emerge for political parties.

    He said a situation where candidates who win primaries are shortchanged by political parties is making it difficult to achieve a flawless electoral process.

    Justice Uwais and Prof. Jega spoke at a workshop organised by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) with the support of Mac’Arthur Foundation in Abuja.

    The chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on INEC, Andy Uba and Jerry Manwe, said the National Assembly was open to ideas on how the legal framework for election will improve.

    Justice Uwais, who chaired the event, recalled that part of the Bill produced by the National Assembly ahead of the 2011 general election threw confusion into the polity.

    According to him, the Sixth Assembly, comprising Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislators as the majority, jettisoned sensitive recommendations of the Presidential Electoral Reform Committee (PERC), which he chaired.

    He cited Section 285(6) of the 1999, which stipulates that an election petition must be concluded before the tribunal within 180 days as a problem created by the amended constitution and the Electoral Act 2010.

    Justice Uwais said: “As we know, the Bill that was produced by the National Assembly, though reflects on some of the recommendations of the Electoral Reform Committee, not on all the recommendations of the committee.”

    “As far as the Electoral Reform Committee was concerned, the recommendations were intended to be in tandem with one another.

    “If you want to make a good job of it, you cannot just pick and choose a few. Unfortunately, although I am not blaming the National Assembly, party interest came in,” Uwais said.

    He went on: “Well, the 2010 Electoral Act was produced, it was put in practice in the 2011 elections.

    “You are in the field so you are in the position to point out the shortcomings of the Act. But I know from the legal point of view, some provisions, like the one that the electoral petition should be completed by the tribunals within 180 days, created some problems. But luckily, the Supreme Court was there to resolve the interpretation problems.

    “I know among the lawyers, they are not happy with the solution provided by the Supreme Court. At the moment we are aware that there is an exercise going on and we cannot amend the Electoral Act in certain respect without amending the Constitution.”

    Jega, who was represented by his Chief Technical Adviser, Mr. Okechukwu Ibeanu, said: “Prior to the 2011 general election, INEC had over 80 per cent separate contradictory ex-parte injunctions that prompted it to write to the then Chief Justice of Nigeria on the imminent danger posed by such injunctions.

    “However, we are glad to note that there was over 50 per cent reduction in post election cases after the election, compared to what we had in 2007. It was obvious that the 2010 Electoral Act was stronger than the previous ones. However, it must be pointed out that it is not yet perfect. It is a work in progress that needs constant interrogation.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ozodinobi, Muhammed, Ekpo win Uwais Public Service Award

    Ozodinobi, Muhammed, Ekpo win Uwais Public Service Award

    MESSRS Anthony Zikora Ozodinobi, M.B.W Dogo-Muhammed and Imo Ekpo have won the maiden edition of Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais Public Service Award.

    The awards were presented to them at a lecture organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

    In his welcome address, Chairman of the Award screening committee, Chief Solomon Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) said: “I welcome everyone here to this very first lecture and award presentation of the Mohammed Lawal Uwais Public Service Award”

    “The award was designed to recognise and honour the outstanding contributions of Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais, former CJN, for his years of selfless service to Nigeria culminating in the 11 years as Chief Justice of Nigeria (1995-2006).

    “The public service award was designed to recognise individuals who have, in the course of their careers, made considerable impact in their areas of service, whether locally or internationally, demonstrated faithfulness, loyalty, and integrity in their areas of service to the nation, have unblemished records of service, made positive and useful contributions to the advancement, progress and wellbeing of the nation, demonstrated in the course of their service, a high level of discipline, dignity of labour, religious tolerance, self reliance and patriotism as enshrined as part of the national ethics in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended; demonstrateda high level of ingenuity and performance outside the call of their duty for the discharge of their duties, and showed exceptional qualities which the committee may reasonably find to positively contribute to national development.”

    Awomolo said: “Considering the personality of Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais and knowing the magnitude of his individual and intellectual contributions to this nation, looking at how fast the work attitude of public and civil servants has depreciated, I couldn’t decline the opportunity given to me to serve as the chairman of the screening committee. It wasn’t an easy task; our mandate in the committee was to ensure an honest and transparent exercise.

    He went on: “I immensely appreciate the professional and humble contributions of all the committee members throughout the screening process. Advertisements were made in both the print and electronic media, calling for nominations across the country, which got a massive response. The committee screened thoroughly from among the responses and selected the best. The first three are as follows:

    •First position: Engr Anthony Zikora Ozodinobi

    •Second position: Mr M. B. W Dogo Muhammed

    •Third position: Engr. Imo E. Ekpo

    Ozodinobi, Anthony Zikora is an electrical/electronic engineer and a public servant. He was born on March 6, 1953. He hails from Nimo, Njikola Local Government Area , Anambra State, Nigeria. He attended Holy Ghost Primary School, Enugu from 1959 to 1963, he then went to Municipal Council School, Port Harcourt from 1964 to 1965.

    He later attended Trinity High School, Oguta, Imo State from 1966 to 1972, College of Immaculate Conception Enugu from January 1973 to September 1973. He graduated with B.Sc. Electrical/Electronic from the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 1978.

    He also got a PgD in Computer Science & Engineering from Enugu State University of Science & Technology in 1991 and also a PgD in Banking and Finance from University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus in 1992.

    Ozodinobi has an uncompromising style of leadership with officers irrespective of their ethnic nationality or religious inclination. He believes strongly in the principle of delegation of duties with requisite authority to perform any task.

    Early training that is punctually the sole of every business guided him through his service life from his very first national assignment as National Youth Service Corps member.

    He maintains an open friendly attitude to colleagues and works cordially with people from both Christian and Muslim faith.

    Muhammad Bello Waziri Dogo was born on June 24, 1954 in Azare, Katagum LGA, Bauchi State. He is married with children. He is presently the Executive Secretary/CEO, National Health Insurance Scheme, Shehu Yar Adua Street, Utako District, Abuja.

    Mohammed got an M.B.B.S from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in June 1978. And also got other additional qualification in the field of medicine.

    Mr Dogo-Muhammad was appointed Executive Director of NHIS on 1st of March, 2007 for a period of 5 years in the first instance. He was determined to reorganize and re-position the agency to meet every international standard and be rated among the best practices. He scanned the organisation using SWOT and PEST analyses after which he made a presentation to President, Olusegun Obasanjo in which he highlighted 10 areas that required urgent attention.

    He was instrumental to the change of NHIS Departments from six departmental structures to seven departmental structures. ICT was approved by government under hios watch because he envisaged the positive impact ICT will have on the operations of the scheme and programmes.

    Engineer Imo Effiong Ekpo was born on January 16, 1952 in Uyo. He hails from Ibesikpo Asutan LGA of Akwa Ibom State. He is married with four children. He started his education at Lutheran High School Uyo and finished in 1970 at the University of Ibadan in 1978, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England in 1981 and the University of Ibadan, Ibadan in 1987. He got a B. Sc (Hon) Degree in Geology, Post Graduate Diploma (Civil) Geological Engineering and a M.Sc Degree in Engineering/Hydrogeology respectively. He specialised in Civil – Geotechnical/Water Engineering and Hydropower.

    They have demonstrated high level of ingenuity and performance outside the call of their duty for the discharge of their duties