Appeal Court fines Makinde N50m for withholding ex-council Chiefs’ funds

The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Friday awarded N50 million in damages against Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and six others for failure to pay the outstanding balance of N3,374,889,425.60 (N3.4 billion) from the N4,874,889,425.60 (N4.9 billion) debt, arising from a May 7, 2021 judgment of the Supreme Court.

A three-member panel of justices, in a unanimous judgment, condemned Makinde’s conduct, which it described as disrespectful of the nation’s judicial system.

The court affirmed the April 27 decision of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ordering the state governor to paid the outstanding balance.

The N4.9 billion debt arose from the judgment of the Supreme Court given against Makinde, the state’s Attorney-General (A-G), Accountant-General and four others in an appeal by chairmen and councillors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but sacked on May 29, 2019, by Makinde, upon assuming office.

In the judgment, the appellate court upheld the arguments by the lawyer to the ex-council chiefs, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, resolved the two issues, identified for determination, against the appellants and dismissed the appeal filed by Makinde and six others for lacking in merit.

The court awarded N50 million cost against Makinde and co-appellants, to be paid to the ex-council chiefs led by Bashorun Mojeed Bosun Ajuwon.

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The judgment was on the appeal marked: CA/595/2023 filed by Makinde, the Oyo State’s A-G, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Accountant-General of Oyo State, Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, the House of Assembly and Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).

In the lead judgment, Justice Danlami Senchi held that, as against the contention by the appellants, there was no dispute in relation to the amount that constituted the judgment debt.

The judge referred to a letter written on Dec. 13, 2021, by the A-G of Oyo State, where the state put the salaries and allowances due to the ex-council chiefs at N4,874,889,425.60 and pledged to pay everything within six months.

He said the court could not allow Oyo State Government and its officials to approbate and reprobate; blow hot and cold at the same time by claiming the amount constituting the debt was not ascertained despite the letter by the A-G and the fact that the appellants took steps to settle the debt by making part payment.

Justice Senchi also faulted the appellants’ contention that the ex-council chiefs failed to first obtain the consent of the Oyo State A-G before initiating a garnishee proceeding to seize the state’s funds to settle the judgment debt.

The judge said asking the ex-council chiefs to first seek and obtain the consent of the Oyo A-G, who was one of the judgment debtors, amounted to making him to be a judge in his own case, “which requirement is unfair to the judgment creditors.”

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“The ex-council chiefs were in order to have initiated the garnishee proceeding, because there was a judgment debt to be paid by the appellants by virtue of the judgment of the Supreme Court,” he said.

The Supreme Court had, in its May 7, 2021 judgment, declared the action of the ex-council chiefs, who sued through 11 representatives, led by Bashorun Majeed Ajuwon, as lawful and ordered the Oyo State Government to compute and pay them their entitled salaries and allowances within three months of the judgment.

Rather than comply with the judgment, the Oyo State Government paid only N1.5 billion, prompting the judgment creditors (the ex-council chiefs) to initiate a garnishee proceeding against Makinde and others before the High Court of the FCT.

In the April 27 ruling, Justice A. O. Ebong of the High Court of the FCT issued a garnishee order absolute, directing Makinde and others to pay the balance of the judgment debt on instalment basis, begining with N1,374,889,425.60 to be paid immediately.

Justice Ebong ordered them to subsequently pay the remaining N2b billion at N500 million quarterly, with the first instalment payable on July 31, a decision Makinde and others challenged at the Court of Appeal.

NAN reports that it was the April 27 ruling by Justice Ebong that the Court of Appeal affirmed in the judgment delivered on Friday.

Appeal Court fines Makinde N50m for withholding ex-council Chiefs’ funds

Nigeria losing best brains to Japa syndrome — AfDB President

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has called on African leaders to create quality jobs for their teeming unemployed youths to stem the trend of brain drain bedevilling the continent.

Adesina said in Abuja on Friday at the second Veritas University Digital Innovations Exhibition and 12th convocation lecture that Nigeria was losing its best brains to Japa syndrome.

The former minister of agriculture who spoke on the convocation lecture theme “Africa, It’s Your Time”, also tasked Nigeria to turn its huge youth demography into an asset and not a liability.

Adesina, who was conferred with an honorary doctorate degree by the institution, announced that Nigeria had been listed among 10 other African countries to benefit from the Bank’s $20 billion Desert-to-Power initiative.

He noted that the power project was conceived to develop 10 GW of solar power, being the largest solar zone in the world when completed.
He listed other countries to benefit from the initiative as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Eritrea, and Senegal.

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Adesina also announced AfDB’s adoption of Veritas University as a centre of excellence for computer coding for employment.

“What Africa lacks is not money. What Africa lacks is lack of bankable ideas. Remember, money will always follow great ideas,” he said.

“As you join the workforce, technology and Artificial Intelligence will play a big role in your lives and in your enterprises.

“I expect to see many of you provide creative solutions to many of our challenges through analytics and data aggregation. There are huge opportunities in smart and digital economies of the future.

“All this matter to me personally because I do not want to see the continued exodus of young people who risk their lives to dangerously cross land and sea to go to Europe at all cost.

“The fastest way for Nigeria to dramatically expand the wealth of its economy, create jobs and provide decent work opportunity for its youth is to implement bold, effort-oriented, industrial manufacturing actions.

“This will rapidly expand foreign exchange earnings, boost income per capita and provide quality and well-paying jobs for millions of its young people,” he added.

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Adesina charged the youth, both in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, to dream again while urging Africa to make use of the largest reserves of cobalt, lithium, diamonds, cocoa, nickel, copper, platinum and uranium in the world.

According to him, those resources could boast of 65 per cent of the world’s arable land and the largest deposit of solar potentials but has not materialised into wealth for the continent.

The Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Hyacinth Ichoku, revealed that the institution’s undergraduate enrollment had increased from 1,200 in 2018 to over 6,000.

Also, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman Governing Council of the institution, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah urged the graduating students to be good ambassadors of the institution.
Kukah, in a bid to give back to the institution, announced a donation of N3 million to three students who demonstrated their ideas to the gathering.

Court gives stringent bail conditions for UTME impersonators

A Federal High Court sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, has granted stringent bail conditions to three persons who were arrested for UTME registration impersonation examination malpractice.

They were arraigned and remanded to prison custody in May, 2023.

At the resumed hearing of the case Thursday, Justice T.O Adegoke, granted bail to the defendants to the sum of N1m each and sureties who must have a company registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC) and do business within Akure metropolis.