“It’s a shame that those who claim to be men of honour cannot honour their word.”
•As two SANs storm out of proceedings
•Court fixes March 28 for judgment
The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) yesterday failed to halt hearing in a N100 billion suit instituted against President Muhammadu Buhari over the alleged unlawful removal of Senator Ifeanyi Ararume as Board Chairman of the NNPCL, just as two senior lawyers representing the oil company in the suit stormed out of the proceedings.
Hearing in the matter filed by Ararume at the Federal High Court, Abuja had been stalled on two previous occasions by the NNPCL.
The plaintiff, Araraume had instituted a N100 billion suit against Buhari, over his alleged unlawful removal as Non-Executive Chairman of the newly-incorporated NNPCL.
Besides Buhari, the NNPCL and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) were second and third defendants respectively.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had on January 11, adjourned the matter to January 23, for definite hearing.
When the matter up yesterday, the judge directed parties to identify and adopt their processes as their brief of argument in the matter.
Reacting, lead lawyer to the NNPC, Prof. Koyinsola Ajayi, drew the court’s attention to a motion for stay of proceedings challenging the January 11 of the Court, which had declined to take the NNPCL’s motion of preliminary objection to the substantive suit.
Ajayi, was of the opinion that the application for stay be taken and the court takes a decision one way or the other before progressing with the case.
Responding, Justice Ekwo declined, insisting that the court would take all motions together, including the substantive suit.
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After several attempts to make the judge take the application for stay first, failed, Ajayi, while observing that the position of the court has placed him at an uncomfortable position, asked the judge for permission to withdraw from the proceedings.
Responding, Ekwo reminded the lawyer that he was not the one who engaged Ajayi and as such the senior lawyer was at liberty to take whatever decision he seems good.
At this juncture, Ajayi withdrew from the proceedings and walked out of the court and was followed by Etigwe Uwa, SAN, who represented NNPC at the January 11 proceedings.
However, the court reminded Ajayi that a process already filed before a court was deemed adopted even if the lawyer refuses to do so.
The judge subsequently called on other parties to adopt their various processes.
Responding, Ararume’s counsel, Chief Chris Uche, urged the court to invoke the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) to nullify the removal of his client as the Chairman of the NNPCL.
Uche argued that Buhari acted outside the law to remove Ararume as Board Chairman after incorporating the oil company in his name and was billed for inauguration in that capacity.
But Buhari’s lawyer, Mr. Abubakar Shuaib, disagreed with Ararume and prayed the court to dismiss the suit on the grounds that it was statute barred at the time it was filed.
Specifically, Shuaib argued that Ararume’s suit offended Section 2(a) of the Public Officers Act and as such was incompetent.
Similarly, lawyer to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr Akeeem Mustapha SAN, told the court it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
Mustapha in exonerating the CAC claimed that his client did not play any role in the removal of Ararume, other than incorporating NNPCL as a limited liability company based on the document submitted to it.
He, however, submitted that Ararume’s appointment was political, adding that the president has the power to hire and fire.
He stressed that Ararume’s appointment had nothing to do with the CAMA law.
Shortly, after parties adopted their brief of arguments, Justice Ekwo announced that ruling and or judgment in the suit is fixed for March 28.
Araraume had asked for N100 billion to compensate for damages caused him by the alleged unlawful and unconstitutional way and manner he was removed as the NNPCL chief after using his name to incorporate the entity.
In the suit marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/691/2022, the former Senator formulated four issues for determination by the court.
One of the issue was whether in view of the provisions of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the NNPC, Companies and Allied Matters Act 2010 and the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, the office of the Non Executive Chairman is not governed and regulated by the stated provisions of the law.
Thisday
Tinubu’s refusal to honour Seyi’s pact with us disappointing – Nnamdi Kanu’s family
The family of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, have expressed disappointment over the failure of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to honour an alleged agreement between his son Seyi , and the family before the 2023 general election.
Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, in a statement, claimed that Seyi with the approval of his father, personally met with him in Abuja shortly before the election, where both parties entered into agreement concerning Kanu.
According to him, it was agreed that IPOB would not bycott the polls on the condition that Tinubu would release Kanu if elected President.
Prince Emmanuel expressed disappointment that nearly two years after the emergence of Tinubu as President, his brother (Kanu), has continued to languish in detention despite the fact that the presiding Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, had since recused herself from the matter.
He said it was disappointing that those who claimed to be honourable, failed to keep their words.
The statement read:”Before the last election, I received a message from an ex-governor that Seyi the son of President Tinubu wanted to see me. I agreed to meet with him on the condition that the overriding priority and hence the fulcrum of our discussion will be the release of my brother. The meeting was held in Abuja in the presence of another individual whom I asked along to witness the deliberations and if need be provide independent verification should the need arise.
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“Seyi confirmed to me that his father sanctioned the meeting and that I should consider any agreement we reach as binding on the then candidate Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“In good faith we agreed that I shall relay the outcome to my brother to reinforce the long held tradition of IPOB not interfering with the conduct of elections, either through boycott or any other form of civil disobedience. This understanding was duly communicated to my brother and he reaffirmed his commitment not to stop the elections or order any boycott.
“When President Tinubu as a candidate visited Owerri during his campaign, he too reiterated his commitment to facilitate the release of my brother if elected. We took his public statement as a tacit reaffirmation of the understanding I reached with his son Seyi.
“At the end, IPOB did not call for election boycott despite having the capacity to do so. IPOB also made sure that discordant voices urging election boycott were overcome because election boycotts would not reflect well on the reputation of a global movement that prides itself on adherence to democratic tenets.
“It therefore, defies logic that nearly two years after President Tinubu assumed the mantle of leadership in Nigeria, my brother is still in detention despite not having any charge against him. It’s been over three months now that Justice Binta Nyako recused herself from the case yet no new judge has been assigned the case.
“This is on top of the fact that Appeal Court had earlier discharged him of the sham charges and ordered his release which the previous regime of Buhari declined to obey.
“Supreme Court determination that his bail ought not to have been revoked has been ignored by the courts and the government. The latest insult is that Abuja courts of all persuasion are no longer willing to determine the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on merit but are rather relying on ludicrous and inapplicable technicalities to stall the timely determination of his cases.
“The truth is that Nigerian courts cannot, will not and do not have both the substantive and procedural jurisdiction to try him. His detention is without the backing of any known law in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world.
“It’s a shame that those who claim to be men of honour cannot honour their word.”
Jealous husband stabs Bishop to death over allege affair with wife
A jealous husband has been reported to have stabbed a Bishop of a Church in Osogbo, Rapture Empowerment International, Dr Sina Olaribigbe for allegedly having an affair with his wife.
It was gathered that the jealous husband and his wife had a long misunderstanding which the deceased was trying to settle between them, but had not succeeded.
It was learnt that the deceased visited the wife, who lived separately with the husband early hours on Thursday and the husband got the hint and quickly trailed to the house.
Findings revealed that on getting to the house, located around BCGA area behind Olorunda local government Secretariat in Osogbo, Osun State capital, the jealous husband who had been getting hints of the Bishop’s affair with his wife descended on him and stabbed him severally on the chest.
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A member of the Church, Isaac Oyeleye confirmed that the Bishop was stabbed to death on his Facebook page on Thursday, describing his death as unfortunate.
Confirming the incident, Osun Police Command spokesperson, CSP Yemisi Opalola confirmed the incident, adding that the suspect and the enstraged wife have been arrested.
She said the couple were not living together and the deceased Bishop was an arbitrator trying to settle the dispute between the couple.
Her words, “They are couple but not living together. They are not separated by law yet. The Bishop, (deceased) used to settle fight between the couple. We were told the pastor was at the wife’s place today when the enstranged husband got there.
“We were also told the husband stabbed the pastor. We were also told the deceased was on the wife’s bed when the incident happened. The husband stabbed him severally and he died”
Police arrest couple over alleged rape, assault of minor
The Police Command in Rivers has confirmed the arrest of a couple for allegedly raping and beating a 13-year-old girl in their residence in Port Harcourt.
The command’s Spokesperson, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, disclosed the development in an interview with Newsmen in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The wife was said to have stripped the teenager and inserted pepper into her private part after accusing her of having sexual intercourse with her husband.
Iringe-Koko stated that the suspects had been arrested and transferred to the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for investigation and possible prosecution.
Goodness, the mother of the teenager, whose full name was withheld to avoid stigmatisation, recounted the incident to Newsmen.
A resident of Rupokwu town in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Goodness revealed that the assault on her daughter occurred on the evening of Dec. 29, 2024.
She explained that when she was alerted by neighbours about the attack on her daughter by a neighbour, she immediately closed her shop and rushed home.
“Before I got home, neighbours had already rescued my daughter from the wife’s assault.
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“My daughter was still writhing in pain from the beating and the pepper applied to her body and private area,” she said.
Goodness said that after her daughter felt relieved, she revealed that on Dec. 25, 2024, a female neighbour, who is a friend to the wife, took her to the house.
She said that on that fateful day, the man sent his wife and her friend on an errand, leaving the teenager alone with him in the house.
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