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Tag: withdraw

  • ‘We can’t be intimidated to withdraw our case’

    ‘We can’t be intimidated to withdraw our case’

    Monarchs opposed to the amended Traditional Rulers Council (TRC) law in Akwa Ibom State have said they could not be intimidated to withdraw their case from court.

    They said their recent meeting with Governor Umo Eno would not make them to change their position on the law.

    The amended TRC law confers perpetual headship of the President-General of the Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers on the Ibibio, the majority ethnic group in the state, to the exclusion of other ethnic groups.

    The traditional rulers from Oro, Annang and Obolo ethnic groups are insisting that the office must be rotatory.

    Speaking with The Nation yesterday, the paramount ruler of Etim Ekpo and Vice- President, Afe Akuku Annang, HRM Akuku (Prof) Amanam Akpan Udo and the paramount ruler of Urueoffong Oruko, HRM Effiong Unanaowo, said only the court could settle the matter.

    “Our opposition to the law still stands. The governor wants an out-of-court settlement, but we won’t be intimidated to withdraw the case from court because we stand by the position that the amended TRC law is discriminatory.”

    “Since our last meeting with the governor, he has not called us to discuss the matter. But even if he does, we won’t shift ground. It is a constitutional matter, which only the court can settle,” he said.

    The paramount ruler of Urueoffong Oruko, HRM Effiong Unanaowo, said the Oro could not be treated as slaves in Akwa Ibom State, hence would continue to kick against the law.

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    He added: “We are not slaves in Akwa Ibom State. We are coastal people and were the first to have had encounter with the Europeans when they arrived the shores of the state.

    “The Oro are educated, enterprising and republican in nature. We can’t play a second or third fiddle to other tribes in this state.”

    A sociopolitical group, Mkpat Enin Unity Network, has backed Governor Eno in his efforts to resolve the traditional crisis bedevilling the state.

    It appealed to the traditional rulers, who instituted suits against the governor for signing the Amended Traditional Rulers bill into Law, to withdraw the cases and give dialogue a chance.

    This was contained in a communique issued at the end of an emergency meeting of Mkpat Enin Unity Network in Uyo yesterday.

    The communique praised the governor and House of Assembly for assenting to the bill, noting that the amendment would strengthen traditional institution.

  • Lawyers seek court’s permission to withdraw from Metuh’s trial

    Lawyers to Olisa Metuh, former spokesman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have applied to a Federal High Court in Abuja for permission to withdraw their participation in Metuh’s ongoing trial for alleged fraud and money laundering related offences.

    The lawyers numbering 12, including two Senior Advocates of Nigeria – Onyechi Ikpeazu and Emeka Etiaba – gave reasons, in a fresh motion, why they want to be excused from the case.

    The lawyers, who urged the court to allow them to withdraw from the trial in the interest of justice, claimed to be under “immense pressure” over their continued appearance in the case, and that there have been threats to their lives.

    They said, in the motion: “The counsel representing the 1st defendant have been going through immense pressure, with respect to their appearance in this case, including severe threat to their lives and will be unable to contain the 1st defendant.”

    In the motion, predicated on Section 349(7) and (8) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, the lawyers, who were absent when the case earlier came up on Monday, said they will be occupied with election petition cases and would be unable to attend the day-to-day trial ordered by the court.

    Ikpeazu, in a supporting affidavit, said he received crank calls by persons that threatened to kill him because of the way he “mishandled” the case.

    Ikpeazu added: “I have received numerous threats to my life from diverse sources through telephone calls with disguised numbers, giving an ultimatum and threatening to kill me based on the manner they claimed I had been mishandling the case.”

    He added that Etiaba also informed him that he had received similar threats and thus will no longer proceed with the representation of the 1st defendant.”

    He said: “in the circumstance, it is impossible to avail the 1st defendant the legal representation he deserves in this case.”

    The lawyers urged the court grant the motion to enable them to withdraw from case in view of the day-to-day hearing ordered by the court, a schedule, which they said, was difficult for them to meet, “having regard to diaries of their respective offices.”

    Proceedings in the case was stalled on Monday in view of the lawyers’ absence, following which the court adjourned to Tuesday.

    On Tuesday, Justice Okon Abang asked Metuh (who sat in the dock) how he intended to proceed in view of the motion by his lawyers, who also stayed away from court.

    Metuh said he met with his lawyers on Monday evening and that they said they were traumatized by experiences they have had in the hands of the Federal Government since the trial started.

    The ex-spokesman for the PDP prayed the court to grant an adjournment to enable his lawyers argue their fresh motion in which they prayed to be excused from the case.

    Justice Abang subsequently adjourned till March 13.

    Metuh is being tried with his firm, Destra Investment Ltd, for allegedly receiving N400million from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) preparatory to the 2015 presidential election, without executing any contract.

    Metuh is also accused of engaging in cash transaction to the tune of $2million without going through any financial institution.

    The prosecution has since closed its case after calling about eight witnesses, with Metuh currently testifying as a defence witness.

  • 15 senatorial candidates withdraw for Shettima

    Fifteen candidates of various political parties in Borno Central Senatorial District on Wednesday withdrew for Governor Kashim Shettima to actualise his senatorial ambition.

    They spoke in Maiduguri, the state capital, ahead of tomorrow’s re-scheduled presidential and National Assembly polls.

    The governor is the senatorial candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the district.

    Giving reasons for their action, the candidates said: “No one has acquired the kind of experience necessary to represent Borno Central in terms of understanding the demands of the military’s operational efforts, the existing gaps, the humanitarian issues and the next phase of rebuilding as much as APC’s candidate for Borno Central, Alhaji Kashim Shettima.”

    The Chairman of Forum of Candidates for Borno Central, AbdulKadir Fema, of the Action Peoples Party (APP), read a position paper on behalf of the 15 candidates at a media briefing at the Inter-Party Advisory Council’s office in Maiduguri.

    The chairman was supported by 10 other candidates at the briefing.

    They are candidates of Action Peoples Party (PPA), Better Nigeria Progressives Party (BNPP), Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), New Progressive Movement (NPM), Yes Electorates Solidarity (YES), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Nigerian Elements Progressive Party (NEPP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Nigeria Community Movement Party (NCMP), Coalition for Change (C4C), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Justice Must Prevail Party (JMPP), Independent Democrats (ID) and Democratic Alliance (DA). There are 20 candidates for Borno Central senatorial election.

    “We, the under-signed candidates of 15 political parties for Borno Central senatorial election, have, after consultations with our supporters and amongt ourselves, resolved to withdraw from the February 23, 2019 re-scheduled presidential and National Assembly elections in unanimous support for candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC for Borno central senatorial, Alhaji Kashim Shettima.

    “We took this decision based on our conviction that even though each of us has the capacity and the patriotic zeal to competently representing the people of Borno central in the 9th Senate, we are of the opinion that in the next national assembly, three major issues will largely define the representation of Borno people,” they said.

     

  • Disquiet over plans to withdraw N18b from N45b IDPs fund

    •N5b for ‘retraining’ of security personnel
    •We followed due process, says minister

    There is disquiet over the request to deduct N18,227,065,037.50 from the N45 billion approved by the National Assembly in 2016  for the Presidential Committee for the Northeast Initiative (PCNI).

    Of the targeted N18.2 billion, N5 billion is being proposed for the “retraining of security personnel” in the Northeast under a project called the “Bama Special Squad”.

    The National Assembly had, in December 2016, approved the N45 billion for the rehabilitation of millions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and rebuilding of the six Northeastern states ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    The N45 billion was meant to address humanitarian crises in the 112 local governments in the six states – Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba.

    The N18. 2 billion is meant to go into a special account, the “Northeast Intervention Fund”, which has been placed under the control of Minister of State for Budget and National Planning Mrs. Zainab Ahmed and Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari.

    Kyari is the chairman of the Bama Initiative. He also chairs the Procurement Committee. Zenaib Ahmed chairs the Project Committee of the Bama Initiative.

    Responding to The Nation’s inquiries on the project, the minister said there was no wrong doing in the steps taken so far, insisting that due process was observed in setting up the Bama Initiative.

    Speaking through Mr. Akpandem James, an aide of the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, the Minister of State said the project was part of the intervention programme for the Northeast.

    The minister’s response, which came through an email questionnaire sent to her by The Nation, confirmed the request, but stated that the N18.2 billion had not been released .

    She insisted that the fund was not being diverted, adding that the Bama Initiative was conceptualised to address the development of the Northeast as a focused intervention that concentrates on providing a holistic solution.

    The minister said: “First of all, the word diversion is inappropriate here. The assumption may stem from the lack of understanding of the essence of the Northeast Intervention Fund and the role of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative (PCNI).

    “Both have to do with interventions in the Northeast rehabilitation programme. A representative of the PCNI is a member of Presidential Steering Committee, the Implementation and Procurement Committees of the Bama Initiative (TBI); so the question of diversion does not arise.

    “The Northeast Intervention Fund is a Service Wide Vote, which has a budgetary provision of N45 billion. Expenditure from this vote can be approved by the President for the development of the Northeast. PCNI is funded from the vote, so is TBI.

    “The Bama Initiative was conceptualised to address the development of the Northeast as a focused intervention that concentrates on providing a holistic solution; an improvement on the fragmented approach in the past few years.

    “TBI is meant to be a pilot that can be replicated in another town that has been devastated by the Boko Haram insurgency.”

    She added: “TBI is to be made operational to coordinate and support the security and humanitarian activities of the Federal Government, the Borno State Government (BOSG), the Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

    “That vehicle, which is a pilot phase of the Northeast rehabilitation programme, starting with Borno State, is The Bama Initiative (TBI). There is already a provision of N45 billion in the 2017 Budget for Northeast intervention. The N18,227,065,037.50, when approved, would be ring fenced in a Special Project Account to be used exclusively for TBI.”

    The N45 billion PCNI is set aside for the rehabilitation of 21 local governments spread across six states in the Northeast. The N18.2 billion is being proposed for Bama Local Government, which is only one out of the 21 local governments devastated by insurgency.

    On why Bama was singled out for the project, the Minister said: “The choice derives from the fact that Bama is the second largest town in Borno State. It also has the second largest number of displaced persons.

    “Bama also has a strong military presence, a helipad, good logistics and a location where a number of people have already moved to. It was, therefore, ideal that the programme is adapted to Bama.”

    Mrs. Ahmed justified the involvement of the Bama Initiative in the retraining of security agencies with N5 billion, saying the security personnel so trained will constitute what she described as the “Special Bama Squad (SBS)”.

    She said: “The Special Bama Squad (SBS) would be made up of 1,500 men of the NPF and 1,500 men of the NSCDC that will relieve the Nigerian Army in Bama and five other nearby towns and its environs.

    “The SBS will be trained to fit into their expected role. The Nigerian military is to conduct the training of the 3,000 men. TBI intervention is designed to ensure that, as the Nigerian military reclaims territories held by or under threat from the Boko Haram insurgency, these territories are secured by the Police and Civil Defence formations, enabling the armed forces to advance and secure other operating theatres.”

    Mrs. Ahmed said her position as chairperson of the Project Implementation Committee would not lead to any conflict of interests with her role as Minister of State.

    Asked to defend the Bama Initiative and speculations that it was one of the many scandals being perpetrated under the present administration, the minister said such speculations were borne out of ignorance.

    Inaugurating the PCNI in October 2016, Buhari had directed all government agencies involved in humanitarian efforts in the Northeast to collapse into PCNI, which he mandated to coordinate all intervention activities in the zone.

  • Niger Delta militants withdraw quit notice to northerners, Yoruba

    Niger Delta militants withdraw quit notice to northerners, Yoruba

    The coalition of Niger Delta militants, yesterday, withdrew the October 1 quit notice they issued to northerners and Yoruba living in the region.

    The Pan Niger Delta People’s Congress (PNDPC), a new group that claimed to have the mandate to negotiate for the Niger Delta with the Federal Government and other interested stakeholders, said the issuers of the quit notice gave them the mandate to withdraw it.

    The coalition had disbanded the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) after passing a vote of no confidence in the group and constituted PNDPC as the new negotiator for the region.

    The militant groups appointed His Royal Majesty Pere Ayemi-Botu, paramount ruler of Seimbiri Kingdom as the head of the PNDPC and named Chief Mike Loyibo as the coordinator/ convener of the group.

    The coalition comprises the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers; Niger Delta Joint Revolutionary Crusaders Council; Niger Delta Supreme Egbesu Fighters; Niger Delta Red Scorpion Fighters; Niger Delta Youth Mandate for Justice; Niger Delta People’s Liberation Force; Niger Delta Fighters for Resource Control; Niger Delta for Urhobo Resource Control; and Bakassi People’s Liberation Force.

    Loyibo, whom the coalition said was appointed following his track records of integrity and honesty, confirmed that the coalition mandated the PNPDC to announce the withdrawal of the quit notice.

    He said the youths were remorseful after he and members of the new group met with them and told them the implications of the quit notice to the peace and development of the region.

    He said: “People should disregard the quit notice from our youths. I have spoken to many of them and they mandated me to withdraw it on their behalf.

    “They have called off the quit notice and discharged it. Everybody in the region in the west, east and north should go about their normal business. I can guarantee them of their safety.

    “The entire Niger Delta people are not in agreement with the quit notice issue. The boys that issued it are very remorseful. So, they have asked me, because they mandated me to speak for them and the region, to discharge the quit notice.

    ” Loyibo noted that such unpatriotic remarks like issuance of quit notices had their origin from the cold war involving the country’s founding fathers during the precolonial era.

    “This quit notice and counter quit notice found their foundations from the precolonial days. The three leaders that negotiated the independence of Nigeria did not love themselves.

    “It was the crisis that extended to our era where everybody begins to struggle for their own. I don’t believe in regional or tribal considerations. As Ijaw people, those that had been good to us did not come from our region,” he said.

    He said the youths were only suspicious that the Federal Government was trying to weaken them through promises that they might not fulfill at last.

    Loyibo said the leaders also told the youths to also hold their governors, appointees and regional interventionist agencies responsible for lack of leadership and development.

    He blamed the Arewa youths for causing tension in the polity and frowned on the way and manner the government treated them.

    He noted that nobody should be treated as a second class citizen adding that all must be held as equal stakeholders in the Nigerian project.

    The Ijaw leader, however, said the youths in the region still believed in the integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and their ability to fulfill the promises they made to the region.

    He said: “We are peaceloving people. Our diversity is our strength. Mr. President has brought a lot of integrity to governance and he came in with massive goodwill. So, I believe that this is the time he should be addressing the issue.

    “The late President Yar’Adua took the bull by the horn and declared amnesty and today amnesty is working. The place is being transformed in human capacity building.

    This is not the time for us to bring violence. When the militants and the agitators and the people of the Niger Delta named us to represent the Niger Delta as the new face, it did not come to us as a surprise because some of us have long history of integrity and openness.

    “We believe that Nigeria will continue to remain as one under a peaceful situation. So, I hereby, use this medium to formally discharge that quit notice. It is of no effects and there is no element of seriousness and the people that did it are very remorseful after we met with them and scolded them.”

  • North’s youths to withdraw Igbo quit notice

    North’s youths to withdraw Igbo quit notice

    •Shettima persuades groups

    The Arewa Youths Coalition is set to withdraw the October 1 quit notice handed Igbo in the North to leave.

    The youths were waving the olive branch after a meeting  with Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima in Abuja yesterday.

    Arewa Youth Coalition spokesman Abdulaziz Suleiman told reporters that consultations were ongoing among members with a view to withdrawing the quit notice.

    Suleiman ascribed the decision to withdraw the quit notice to what he described as “positive developments” that came out of the meeting with Shettima and persuasions from the Northern Governors Forum.

    On the actual date for the withdrawal of the notice, Suleiman said: “You will hear from us this week.”

    He added: “What we can say is that there has been a major development. Now the chairman of the Governors’ Forum has taken the initiative and invited us to start negotiations. This is the first time we are meeting publicly with any leader and we believe that it is a major step forward in our ongoing consultations.

    “We hold the governor in high esteem and we have the unity of the country at heart”.

    Suleiman said: “You see, I wonder why you talk about quit notice. We only issued a Kaduna declaration, quit notice is just a part of it. Let us do the recounting of the successes of our declarations first. We are sill going on with our consultations”.

    Shettima said his discussion with the group was fruitful and that members of the executive of the coalition demonstrated a lot of courtesy and respect during the meeting.

    The governor said he was able to impress it on the youths to appreciate the enormity of the challenges facing the country and how the quit notice they issued had compounded the situation.

    Shettima, who is the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, added that the governors have also been in discrete consultations with the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa ‘ad Abubakar on this and other issues.

    Confirming the decision of the Arewa Youths to withdraw the quit notice, Shettima said they had agreed to review their position and that he was expecting the good news from them in the next few days.

    The governor said: “We met with the leadership of the coalition of Northern Groups in my capacity as the chairman of the Northern Governors Froum.

    “We had very fruitful discussion with them and they have shown a lot of courtesy and respect for the establishment. This is the first time that they are sitting down with the leadership of the forum.

    “They were having interactions with His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto. I started conversations with them right from Kaduna yesterday and we continued the discussion today and by the grace of God, it is going to yield fruits.

    “We are trying to have understanding of the challenges confronting us as a people and solutions to those challenges. I have to commend them for honouring our invitation because a political problem needs a political solution”.

    Shettima cautioned against criminalising the group, adding that harassing and intimidating them would not bring solution to the nation’s challenges.

    “They have agreed to revisit their decision and we will follow it up to its logical conclusion and I believe that in the next couple of days, we are going to get the good news from them.

    “I don’t want to preempt them by saying that this is what will happen or not. But definitely, they have shown responsibility and commitment to the national cause and they have wider plans to promote the cause of national unity and cohesion.

    “It was a very open, free and frank discussion, we heard their reservations and I gave them my reasons and believe me, by the time they hold their meeting this week, I think Nigerians will heave a sigh of relief.

    “I wish to call on the leadership of our brethren in the South Eastern part of the country to equally pick the gauntlet, because it takes two to tango, to take the gauntlet and rein in the excesses of Nnamdi Kanu and his group”.

  • Fani-Kayode asks judge to withdraw from case

    Fani-Kayode asks judge to withdraw from case

    Former Minister of Aviation Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has asked Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos, before whom he is being tried for alleged money laundering, to withdraw from the case.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Fani-Kayode and former Minister of State for Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, on a 17-count of laundering about N4.6 billion. They pleaded not guilty.

    The 17-count borders on alleged conspiracy, unlawful retention of proceeds of theft and corruption and money laundering.

    Fani-Kayode said sometime in 2008, he was tried by the EFCC on a 47-count charge before Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumobia.

    He said the charge was “drafted, prepared, settled and executed” by Justice Hassan when he (Hassan) was still a legal officer at EFCC.

    The former minister, who was acquitted, said EFCC “vigorously” prosecuted the charge against him within a period of seven years while Hassan remained a prosecuting counsel at EFCC.

    In a fresh application to challenge the court’s jurisdiction, Fani-Kayode said as a former EFCC lawyer, who had filed criminal charges against him in the past for which he was discharged and acquitted, he would not get justice under Justice Hassan.

    He said upon conclusion of his tenure as minister of Aviation in 2007, the EFCC had investigated him for sundry matters that culminated in criminal charges.

    He stated that Justice Hassan was the commission’s lead counsel that reviewed his case and concluded he should be charged to court for criminal prosecution.

    The former minister said Justice Hassan as  EFCC senior counsel, who prepared and filed the charge sheet against him, believed while instituting the criminal process that a prima facie criminal case had been established against him before preparing, drafting and filling the criminal charge against him.

    He said he was arraigned before the Lagos Division of the court on a 47-count charge signed by Justice Hassan as a senior prosecuting counsel for EFCC in 2008.

    According to him, the charges bordered mainly on his activities as minister.

    He contended that Justice Hassan, being at that time an EFCC senior prosecuting counsel, must have believed or formed an opinion about him  that as minister, he must have abused his office and corruptly enriched himself and thereby committed a financial crime against the country.

    He added that as a result of the charges, he was prosecuted by the anti-graft agency for about seven years before he was discharged and acquitted by the court.

    Forty-five counts were dropped, leaving only two counts, which went to trial.

    He was subsequently discharged and acquitted of them.

    Fani-Kayode is, therefore, praying the judge to withdraw from the pending proceedings because of the likelihood of bias.

    The former minister said he believed the court as presently constituted would not guarantee fair trial, neither is he guaranteed neutrality, impartiality or fair hearing of his case before the court.

    Besides, Fani-Kayode said the transactions leading to the charge occurred in Abuja while he was director of Media and Publicity of the Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation with its office in Abuja, adding that he also lives in Abuja.

    He is, therefore, praying the court for an order to return the file to the chief judge for reassignment to another judge sitting in the Abuja division.

    The case comes up for hearing on February 8.

  • Bobbi Kristina: Bobby Brown may withdraw life support today

    Bobbi Kristina: Bobby Brown may withdraw life support today

    There are indications Bobby Brown will withdrawn life support for his ailing daughter, Bobbi Kristina, today, being third anniversary of Whitney Houston’s Death.

    Sources say Bobby has finally made the decision, realising there is no hope for his 21-year-old daughter to recover.

    It was said that Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mom, also wanted life support pulled on the anniversary to “bond mother and daughter for eternity.”

    Reports say members of the Brown family are extremely emotional, sobbing over the decision but realising it’s the right thing to do.

    Meanwhile, investigations continue on Nick Gordon, as his relationship with Bobbi Kristina is reportedly violent, according tofriends.

    Sources close to the couple have revealed that their spats which sometimes resulted in domestic violence were almost always triggered by Nick’s jealousy over Bobbi Kristina’s fame. He felt he was also Whitney Houston’s child, since he grew up with her and could not understand why people focused on Bobbi.

    One recent example; they were trying to get their own TV show but when Nick wasn’t offered the same deal as Bobbi Kristina, they turned it down.

    The facial injuries on Bobbi Kristina’s face have trigerred current investigation, as she was said to have suffered injuries to her face before she was found submerged in a bathtub.

    It was also gathered from the couple’s friend, Max Lomas thatNick Gordon was acting strangely before they found Bobbi Kristina.

    A vigil was held Monday for Bobbi Kristina, as friends and family gathered to pray for her recovery. Gatherers sang gospel tunes, read scripture and offered prayers.

    The vigil for Bobbi Kristina, called “Shining a Light of Healing for Bobbi Kriss,” took place at the Riverdale Town Center in Riverdale.

    Several hundred people attended the event, including three of Brown’s family members.

  • ‘Withdraw Jatau or we’ll defect to APC’

    A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth pressure group with membership strength of 18,000 in Bauchi State, the Bauchi Youth Foundation (BAYOF), has urged Governor Isa Yuguda to review the emergence of Auwal Mohammed Jatau as the party’s governorship candidate for the February 2015 election.

    BAYOF, in a statement at the weekend, appealed to the governor to listen to the seven PDP governorship aspirants’ grievances and resolove the pending doom of the party in the state.

  • Why Giwa must withdraw case, by Pinnick

    Why Giwa must withdraw case, by Pinnick

    The President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick yesterday gave reasons why the factional NFF  President, Chris Giwa should withdraw his case from the law court.

    Giwa had taken the issue of NFF election to Nigerian court which is threatening World Football ruling body, FIFA’s hammer.

    Speaking with State House correspondents, Pinnick said that Giwa should rather wait for the outcome of the case before Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) instead of going to the general court.

    He said: “So, it is a situation that you have to manage tactfully and that is what we are doing; not wanting to say Nigerian laws are not important in this regard, they are. But you should look at the bigger picture. But then, I believe Giwa will see reasons why he should withdraw the case and concentrate on the one in CAS. If the one in CAS favours him, it’s his luck, but if it doesn’t then he should work with us, that’s what I told him yesterday.”

    “The country is very passionate about football development. So we will do our best in making sure that we do the right thing, we do the best, taking all interests into consideration to ensure that this does not repeat itself.”

    “It is not every four years we should keep having crisis in the NFF. We’ll perfect the legislations, the NFF Act which also says that we shouldn’t go to court, we should go to CAS if you have cases, and so on and so forth. Those are the things we are setting out to achieve.”

    “Normally, you are suppose to go to ordinary court but you can go if you wish because the Nigerian law is supreme. There is no way you will relegate the Nigerian law. But because we have signed on to FIFA you are meant to respect FIFA legislations. If we had not signed on to FIFA we would say go to hell, but we have signed on to FIFA and CAF.”

    “It’s like an association you have signed on to and therefore you need to respect its laws, but not at the detriment of your own law which of course is supreme and that is why you exist.” He added