Yakubu Maikyau was sworn in as the 31st NBA president last Friday, August 25. Like most of his predecessors, he was conscious of the critical role of the judiciary without which a society descends into a state of anarchy where it ‘is the war of all against all’. Reading the mood of the nation correctly during his inaugural speech, just as he did during his first appearance on national television after his inauguration, he had expressed his concern for “terrorized, traumatized and pauperized Nigeria and Nigerians”. He went on to remind members of his noble profession of the need to protect the ‘voice of the legal profession’, which according to him “must speak against the terror in the land and the hardship that has taken over the lives of our people”.

Unfortunately, just as his predecessors did, the voice which he claimed “remains what is left of this country which cannot be emasculated” was misdirected into fighting a needless battle to whittle down the power of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by restricting it to investigative duties while the prosecutorial function is ceded to the bar or to another new body entirely.

Successive presidents of the Bar  as well as past attorneys-general have  adopted various strategies to emasculate EFCC despite the fact it can only be as independent as the supervising minister who has the last say on who to be prosecuted, wanted it to be.  It was on account of this open hostility of the Bar that EFCC in its statement of August 2016 took us on a journey through memory.  Back in 2005, Lanre Odogiyan as NBA president had called for outright scrapping of the EFCC during the Bar’s conference in Port Harcourt. That reactionary proposal was killed by some respected social crusaders including Chief Gani Fawehinmi who was present at the conference.  But Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa’s (Justice Minister 2007-2010) waged a silent war against EFCC.

The battle was again brought to the open by Abubakar Mahmoud who during his inauguration in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on August 26, 2016 as the Bar president called for reforms in the operations of the EFCC. He suggested that the anti-graft commission be made to only investigate while an independent agency carries out prosecution.

His crusade was hailed by another former NBA president, Chief O.C.J. Okocha (SAN). “The principle that the BAR is trying to pursue”, according to him is that “with thousands of lawyers looking for jobs, these legal practitioners should be employed to act as prosecutors at all levels of prosecution instead of police”. In other words for a Bar whose responsibility is first to the Bar according to Chief Idowu Sofola, one time Secretary General  of the Bar, and its president (1980-82), it is a matter of jobs for the boys.

Of course other senior members of the Bar seem to share the same mind-set. Only last week, August 24, Olisa Agbakoba, another  former  NBA president regarded as one of the pillars behind EFCC’s recorded success in its anti-corruption war suddenly remembered that EFCC as a ‘federal establishment  by virtue of being a creation of the National Assembly, cannot prosecute state offences and should not interfere in the affairs of state governors’. He has therefore urged the new Attorney General of Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, to ‘unbundle’ the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and restrict it to investigations while a new National Prosecution Agency should be established.

Unfortunately, some of the arguments brought up by the Bar to support their needless war fly in the face of available facts. First, EFCC is convinced that the war against is “a cleverly disguised campaign by powerful forces”, and so called attention to Section 6 (m) of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004, which clearly spelt out the powers of the commission as including: “taking charge of, supervising, controlling, coordinating all the responsibilities, functions and activities relating to the current investigation and prosecution of all offences connected with or relating to economic and financial crimes.”

The anti-corruption body also wondered whether it was “not a strange coincidence that the suggestion to strip the EFCC of its prosecutorial powers is being floated few months after EFCC arraigned some senior lawyers for corruption?”

Besides accusing many senior members of the Bar of accepting “tainted briefs” to aid looters by providing them with technicalities on how to avoid prosecution and conviction, EFCC also believes government cases given to some senior members of the Bar for prosecution were deliberately bungled. It cited two examples. Abubakar Mahmoud as “the federal government-appointed prosecuting counsel in the trial of ex-Delta State governor, James Ibori, at the Federal High Court, Asaba. EFCC lost the   case in questionable circumstances while the same ingredients from that case were used to fetch Ibori a 13-year jail term in London”.  

Mahmoud according to the anti-corruption body was also the EFCC’s counsel in the appeal against the infamous ‘perpetual injunction from arrest and prosecution’ by former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili, which was still pending before the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt’, eight years after it was first filed.

Finally, Mahmoud was also reminded that of the over 200 fraudulent bankers responsible for the collapse of the banking sector, only four were brought to justice in a period spanning eight years when the brief were given to senior members of the Bar.

Besides, the body wondered why the Bar that has not lived up to expectation wanted to change a winning team that has in one year recorded more convictions than all the states and federal ministries of justices combined. And it was for this reason EFCC anti-corruption lawyer Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) believes NBA president’s comment borders on ‘corruption fighting back’ especially after pointing out that of about 20 agencies authorized by the constitution to investigate and prosecute, only the EFCC is more prominent having secured over 1000 convictions since inception in 2004 which involved former governors, public servants and businessmen.

Precisely because EFCC believes  there are some rogue elements in the Nigerian Bar Association giving the Bar bad name” which the Bar unfortunately have been unable to tame, it was of the opinion that a “Bar populated or directed by people perceived to be rogues and vultures cannot play the role of priests in the temple of justice.”

It is apparent that even with EFCC holding prosecutorial powers, most of the briefs will still have to go to the senior members of the Bar. The only control it has and which the Bar wants to take away is its power to decide in the interest of Nigeria which of those ‘celebrated’ rogue elements in the Nigerian Bar Association, giving the Bar a bad name and that must be left out because of   their notoriety for ‘tainted briefs from well-known fraudsters or for betraying the very essence of law which is the pursuit of justice.

This is why the joke today is on the Bar which must invalidate EFCC’s thesis that “the current self-serving campaign is intended to create a cabal of untouchables who can be investigated but may never be prosecuted.”

Central Africa is the den of despotism. It has, for almost 60 years, been the barnyard of autocratic geriatrics and playgrounds for the mostly Frenchified African rulers.

France, among the worst of the colonial and post-colonial oppressors and exploiters of Africans, has become the most disliked and repudiated European country in Africa!

Britain held that terrible medal of shame and injustice!

On August 30, 2023, the latest military coup in Gabon reminded us of the domestic strife and atrocities imposed by those presidents-for-life in the Central African economic bloc, CEMAC.

Gabon has substantial notoriety and corruption records.

It’s a long time member of the den of despots and despair in the geopolitical area known as Central Africa

While the soldiers in Nigeria’s neighboring Niger Republic seized power and kept the deposed president under “house arrest” only a few miles away from the other home/residence of Nigeria’s immediate former president MuhammaduBuhari.

Buhari is a veteran and key figure in a number of military coups in Nigeria.

While the recent military coup in Niger has caused major anxieties and characterizations of the regional ECOWAS and its new Chairman, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu as being relatively clueless. Especially for Tinubu whose educational sojourn to Chicago State University has become a major embarrassment even for Tinubu who seems  perennially engaged in one form of mendacious fix, or another, monthly.

In Gabon, familiar stories of the shameful evidences of the crassness of the Bongos are emerging— less than 50 hours of being booted out of office. The squandering of the massive resources of their oil-rich country is raising concerns.

Clearly, the grossness of the greed of these dictators and their tenure elongating, votes rigging schemes are fit for some Nollywood and Hollywood movies.

Already, a part of the reason I decided to caption my analyses of the coup in Gabon, Ali Bongo and the 40 Thieves, is that the pillaging of the country has many thieves, some of those are natives and many are original French citizens, not just ‘honorary French Africans’.

President Ali Bongo’s removal is being celebrated by citizens of Gabon. He became the leader following the death of his father Omar Bongo, in 2009. Omar ruled for 42 years. Ali was into the 14th year of his presidency for the controversial August 26, 2023 “election”. It simply means that the Bongo family ruled Gabon for 56 years!

As the dust and debate and tensions escalate across the Sahel region and the Central African areas of the continent, the latest questions are: What’s the best way forward amid the rash of military coups?

Do corrupt and incompetent politicians make it easier to topple governments?

President Bola Tinubu has said all diplo­matic options will be exhausted with the junta in Niger Republic before any last resort of military intervention comes into the picture.

He insisted that any forceful remov­al of a democratic government remains “wholly unacceptable.”

The president reissued the threat while receiving the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs led by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Mu­hammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, at the State House, Abuja on Thursday.

In Tinubu’s words, the alternative of kinetic intervention in Niger Republic had not been jettisoned.

“I must thank you for your several visits to Niger Republic, Your Eminence, but you will still have to go back. My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copy cats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped.

“We are neighbours with Ni­ger Republic, and what has joined Nigerians together with their great people cannot be broken. Nobody is interested in a war. We have seen the devastation in Ukraine and Sudan. But, if we don’t wield the big stick, we will all suffer the consequences together,” the president warned.

President Tinubu noted that Nigeria, under General Abdulsa­lami Abubakar, instituted a nine-month transition programme in 1998, and it proved very success­ful, leading the country into a new era of democratic governance.

The president sees no reason why such cannot be replicated in Niger, if Niger’s military author­ities are sincere.

“Your Eminence, please don’t get tired, you will still go back there. The soldiers’ action is un­acceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger,” the president affirmed.

READ ALSO: FUTO Emerges Africa Centre Of Excellence In Future Energies, Electrochemical Systems
On the hardship faced by many Nigerians post-fuel subsidy removal, the president assured that all ongoing reforms will lib­erate and reposition the economy, which will benefit the majority of the population in terms of opportunities, infrastructure, healthcare and education.

“Nigeria is headed for a prom­ise. Our diversity will turn into prosperity, not adversity. We will build a country that our children will be proud of,” the president assured.

The president told the dele­gation that the Federal Govern­ment had opened talks with state governments to provide land for the proper sustenance of ani­mals with a view to developing pan-national animal husbandry and agro-allied production and processing facilities for mass export, job creation and revenue generation.

“If Nigeria is still looking for vaccines for basic health issues; if infant and maternal mortality is rampant, then we should ex­amine ourselves. I will commit to consulting with other leaders, like the NSCIA, and we will meet the needs of our people,” he said.

In his contribution at the meeting, Vice President Kashim Shettima said the president had budgeted N50 billion to support the ongoing rebuilding of lives and property in the North-West and North-East, and with a new focus on dialogue to address secu­rity challenges.

The Sultan of Sokoto pledged “one hundred percent loyalty” to the president, affirming that a leader can only reach a position by the will of God, and not man.

His Eminence assured the president that the NSCIA will be available to advice and support President Tinubu to realise his dream for the country, adding that “God will hold all leaders to account, in justice and fairness.”

He suggested that the distri­bution of palliatives across the country should be monitored and augmented, where it fails to reach some of the people who remain in dire need.

“I honestly believe we will come out of the challenges stronger,” the Sultan of Sokoto concluded.

It was a night of accolades for Africa’s foremost business conglomerate, Dangote Industries Limited, (DIL), as journalists in Lagos State conferred an award of excellence on the Group for its outstanding contributions to the economic development of Nigeria and Africa in general.

The award, according to the journalists, was because of Dangote’s aggressive employment generation drive, which has seen thousands of able youths, gainfully employed in the Group as well as the commitment to provision of critical infrastructure.

This award presentation was during the Gala/Awards Nite marking the end of the 2023 Press Week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Lagos State Council, where some corporate organisations and certain individuals were also recognised for their contributions to society.

The NUJ award for Dangote Group came barely a week after the conglomerate emerged as Nigeria’s Most Valuable Brand for the sixth consecutive year, an achievement that was announced by the brand and marketing firm, TOP 50 BRANDS NIGERIA, as part of its comprehensive 2023 Top Brands perception assessment.

Dangote Cement Plc, a subsidiary of DIL, is the leading producer of Cement in the country and employs more than 65,000 direct workers and over 100,000 indirect workers, across all its Plants.

The journalists specifically lauded Dangote Group over the leading roles played by the Company regarding backward integration in the cement and sugar industries with continuous expansion of its operations, both within and outside the country, which has transformed the nation from being import-dependent to self-sufficiency and thereby creating the much-needed jobs for the employable youths.

September 1 is the transfer deadline day for most clubs in Europe’s top leagues.

The Premier League window closes at 11pm tonight, which means Deadline Day will run late into the evening.

It is similar in Scotland where the window closes at midnight, while LaLiga clubs have until 11pm to do their business.

France’s window shuts at 10pm but clubs in Italy will have to get their business done by 7pm, whereas the Bundesliga window closes at 5pm.

However, the Saudi Arabian window is open until September 7.

This means clubs still run the risk of losing players to the free-spending league once their windows have closed.

[DailyPost]

Human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) says the high level of poverty on the continent is responsible for the wave of coups in Africa.

He spoke at a Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) national symposium held in Abuja on Thursday.

Falana accused Nigeria’s ruling class of taking the people for granted. According to him, despite the poverty in the country, the National Assembly allocated billions to itself.

The theme of the symposium was “Nigerian Economy and the Crisis of Survival, Robbing the Poor to Pay the Rich”.

His comment comes on the heels of recent coups in Africa. The latest was in Gabon where soldiers seized power, ending decades of the Bongo dynasty’s reign.

The development has triggered condemnations from within and outside the continent.

President Bola Tinubu had described the wave of coups in Africa as a “contagious autocracy”

A new school year begins this month across the country and over two million university students will return to classes in the nation’s 170 universities. Of these, 79 are privately owned, either by individuals, foundations or faith-based organizations; 43 are owned by the federal government and 48 owned by the 36 states. The students are returning to the same old problems in their campuses, which are particularly more acute in the public institutions than the private ones. Although the private universities do fare relatively better in terms of infrastructure, facilities and governance, our public universities have completely broken down and I will like to ask the Tinubu administration to pay particular attention to this.

The major problem that debilitates our public universities is poor funding and this leads to other problems such as lack of adequate lecture rooms; lack of laboratories, lab equipment and reagents; inadequate libraries, books and journals as well as hostel and office accommodation. Just like the rest of the country, they also suffer from inadequate electricity and many other facilities. Poor funding also means poor remuneration for faculty and non-faculty members, and this, in turn, usually triggers labour crises and disruptions of academic calendars. In other words, we have a poorly paid and poorly motivated workforce in these universities who are no longer interested in training and molding the characters of our young folks, but are more bent on supplementing their incomes by selling lecture notes and extorting money from their students. Our public universities have become breeding grounds for social deviants, cult groups, thieves and perverts, among others. The overall impact of these is that our children graduate from these universities poorly trained, ill-equipped and unprepared to enter either the labour market, proceed to graduate studies or create their own jobs. They not only become helpless to themselves, but are also dependents on their parents and relations and become a burden to the society.

Nigerian universities also lack linkage and partnership arrangements with international universities. When last did any of our universities collaborate with foreign institutions in conducting cutting-edge scientific research? Our professors seldom take up fellowships in other international institutions and this lack of exposures hampers learning.

The private universities, especially those owned by the mega churches, are well resourced, and so they fare better. Their campuses look decent and well-kept, and the facilities appear modern and adequate. Some private universities are however struggling to meet their financial needs as students’ enrolments have fallen short of expectations. Every year, over 70% of about 1.5 million young folks who seek university admissions in Nigeria apply to the 91 publicly-owned universities mostly due to affordability factor, while the rest who are from relatively well-to-do families choose the private universities. Federal government-owned universities are tuition-free, but students are required to pay some charges that could amount to a paltry N100,000 per session.

Students in state government-owned universities, however, pay tuition fees, ranging from N100,000 to N300,000 per session, in addition to other sundry charges. The fees vary from states to states. Lagos State University (LASU), for example, charges far more than Nassarawa State University! In addition to inadequate funding, public universities also suffer from corruption and misgovernance. It’s not uncommon to see a fight erupt now and then between Governing Council members and Vice Chancellors over contracts. But the private universities, on the hand, cater for students from families that can afford them. Their fees are higher than what the public institutions are charging. Faith-based institutions like Covenant University (owned by Winners Chapel/Bishop David Oyedepo) and Redeemers University (owned by RCCG) charge moderately because they receive a lot of additional funding from their respective missions.

So, overall, we have a situation in which only about 20% to 30% of Nigerian university students receive adequate learning in a conducive environment because they happen to be schooling in the private universities. The rest are languishing in public institutions, facing constant sexual harassments from old professors with high libidos or coping with the menace of gun-wielding cult members. How things have changed! When I graduated 38 years ago, UNN looked very much like a small American college. It was a beautiful campus with wide tree-lined roads, nice buildings and sport facilities. The swimming pool was still functioning. Pray! Is there any government-owned university with a pool today? The big students’ hostels were named after Africa’s icons (Awolowo, Akintola; Azikiwe; Ahmadu Bello; Balewa; Eyo Ita; Nkrumah; Eni Njoku and Mary Slessor); the faculty buildings took the names of global icons (Jackson; Sapara; Cardoso, Alexandria; etc) while the two main refectories were named after Margaret Ekpo and Oba Akenzua. The first assignment a curious freshman would give himself was to find out whom these persons were. But things have grown worse since then. We have not only lost our history as a nation, we have also lost our values, and our students are now in a quagmire. Campuses are no longer fun places for our young adults. I pity the new generations.

So, where do we go from here? The federal and state government governments must make education a priority in the next four years and our universities must be adequately funded. More private universities are needed to fill the gaps in our education system. It is notable that with the sharp increase in fuel price tax imposed by the new administration (we call it subsidy removal), governments’ revenues have improved considerably since June. Education and Health should take the lion’s share of the national and states’ budgets, and these monies should be used judiciously in improving our public universities. Governing Councils should be composed of persons of high integrity whose preoccupation will not be to make money from contracts. Making our universities work is a better palliative than sharing grains of rice! The private sector also has a role to play. In that case, more of our wealthy businessmen and women should establish universities and be ready to fund them adequately. In this new age, university graduates should be job creators, but not job seekers!

The social media platform X will begin offering video and audio calling, owner Elon Musk announced on Thursday, a step towards turning the former Twitter into an “everything app.”

“Video & audio calls coming to X,” Musk wrote in a post on the platform, without specifying when the new features would be available.

The calling features would work on iOS, Android, Mac, and PC systems, and no phone number would be needed, he said.

“X is the effective global address book,” the billionaire added. “That set of factors is unique.”

Last month, Musk and his newly hired chief executive Linda Yaccarino announced the rebranding of Twitter as X, saying it would become an “everything app” inspired by China’s WeChat that would allow users to socialize as well as handle their finances.

X’s payment branch Twitter Payments LLC was granted a “crucial” currency transmitter license from the US state of Rhode Island on Monday, allowing it to “engage in cryptocurrency-related activities” such as exchanges, wallets and payment processors, the crypto website CoinWire reported this week.

The license allows X to “securely store, transfer, and facilitate the exchange of digital assets on behalf of its users,” according to CoinWire.

Since Musk bought Twitter last October, the platform’s advertising business has collapsed as marketers soured on his management style and mass firings that gutted content moderation.

In response, the tycoon has moved towards building a subscriber base and pay model in a search for new revenue.

Many users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the site’s new charges for previously free services, as well as its changes to content moderation and the return of previously banned far-right accounts.

Musk also killed off the Twitter logo, replacing its globally recognized blue bird with a white X

A Benue State High Court in Gboko, presided over by Justice D.M. Igyuse has dismissed a suit seeking to set aside the suspension of Dr. Iyorchia Ayu as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and have him reinstated as National Chairman of the party.

The suit was filed by one Nongo Ordue on behalf of the 17 member executives of Dr. Ayu’s Igyorov Council Ward of Gboko Local Government Area, LGA, of the state, seeking an order setting aside the suspension of the former National Chairman of the PDP from the party.

The plaintiffs among other prayers, also sought an order of the court reinstating Dr. Ayu as the National Chairman of the PDP.

In his reply to the suit, counsel to the PDP, Clement Mue, submitted that the judgment of a Makurdi High Court in Utaan against Ayu, which was marked MHC/85/2023 had sufficiently addressed the issues raised in the claim of the plaintiffs.

Mue argued that the suit was therefore caught up by a bar known in legal parlance as ‘estoppel.’

Mue informed the court that “Senator Ayu had since filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the decision of the court.”

He argued that “hearing and determining the suit would amount to sitting on an appeal against the earlier decision of a court of coordinate jurisdiction.”

The PDP counsel urged the court to hold that the suit before it amounted to “an abuse of court process.”

In his judgment, Justice Igyuse pointed out that the plaintiffs had filed a similar claim in suit No. GHC/36/2023 between themselves as plaintiffs, including Dr. Ayu who was the 18th plaintiff and the said suit was struck out by High Court 3, Gboko on June 27, 2023 on the application of J.T. Injua who told the court that the said claim had been filed by the present plaintiffs’ counsel, Nongo Ordue.

Justice Igyuse agreed with the submission of Mr. Mue and accordingly dismissed the suit, describing it as “the worst form of abuse of court process.”