According to a report from Liverpool Echo, Thiago Alcantara is on the radar of Sevilla and Real Sociedad. It was also stated that the Spanish veteran is said to have admirers in Saudi Arabia, although he has firmly declined offers from the Middle Eastern league, stating that he has no intentions to leave Anfield this summer. Moreover, Thiago was linked with a return to Barcelona over the past week, but there have been no further developments in that direction.

Thiago’s Disappointing Season At Liverpool In The Last Campaign

Thiago experienced a disappointing period with Liverpool in the previous campaign, struggling to make a significant impact in the Premier League. The 32-year-old’s productivity for the Merseyside club was hindered by injuries, resulting in him making only 21 appearances across various competitions last season.

Despite the challenges, the Spanish midfielder’s abilities deserve recognition, as he displayed impressive statistics. In the Premier League, he averaged 1.2 dribbles, 0.9 shots, 2.4 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, and 0.7 clearances per 90 minutes. Moreover, Thiago showcased accuracy in distributing possession from midfield, completing 86.5% of his attempted passes in the English top tier, as per stats via whoscored.

Should Klopp Sanction His Exit?

Thiago continues to play a vital role at the Merseyside club, but his age becomes a significant factor when considering the impact of a potential departure. At 32, he is reaching the later stages of his career, raising questions about his ability to perform at the highest level consistently. Losing a player with his wealth of experience and technical skills could create a void in Liverpool’s midfield, as his composure and vision have been valuable assets to the team.

The Spanish veteran faced challenges finding his rhythm due to injuries and disrupted match fitness, limiting his influence on games and preventing him from showcasing his full potential last season. However, it is worth noting that with a fresh start and improved fitness, his performance may be resurgent.

In their efforts to rejuvenate the midfield, Liverpool has made notable additions like Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai this summer. Nevertheless, Thiago could serve as an excellent mentor and understudy to these young talents, offering valuable guidance and experience as they develop within the team. This is why Jurgen Klopp has agreed to keep him at Anfield, as the benefits of retaining his services outweigh the risk of losing him for free next summer.

[the4thofficial]

West Ham are under threat in their pursuit of Denis Zakaria from Juventus after Fabrizio Romano reported a new bid going in from Monaco.

The Swiss, who spent last season on loan at Chelsea, is one of numerous midfield targets for the Hammers this summer, but had looked to be one of the closest to completion.

It now appears to be a head-to-head choice for the 26-year-old after the Ligue 1 side, managed by his former Borussia Monchengladbach boss Adi Hutter, entered the race with a concrete bid.

Reporting via Twitter on Tuesday evening (25 July) Romano wrote: “EXCL: AS Monaco have submitted first bid to sign Denis Zakaria from Juventus. He’s among priority targets for the club as Adi Hütter knows him well.

“Zakaria will now assess options. Many clubs want him — West Ham also negotiated with Juventus to sign him. Up to the player.”

Competition

This is exactly the risk with playing the transfer market as the Hammers are currently doing, as being moderately advanced on moves with multiple target at once leaves the club open to hijacks.

If Monaco are seen to be acting decisively in the pursuit of Zakaria, likely to replace another player linked with a Hammers move in Youssouf Fofana [L’Equipe, 27 June], then they may look the more attractive option.

And the fact that Hutter has managed the exit-bound Juventus man before in the Bundesliga is another link that might hand Monaco that advantage.

It appears that West Ham are far enough down the line for them to still be a viable option should the Swiss international decide he wants a return to the Premier League.

But, while there is of course potential competition for all targets the longer the door is left open, it looks it has now got very real in the Zakaria race.

The latest development likely leaves West Ham with a choice between making a concerted final effort to convince both player and club that the London Stadium is right for his next move, or to quickly turn their attentions elsewhere.

[westhamzone]

There is no individual or group which commands legitimacy across the country’s fault lines and therefore capable of resolving amicably the conflicts resulting from inter-group interactions. Distrust is very entrenched and quite often just a person’s name makes the person a suspect on which side the person is likely to be in the various contestations in the country. By the time Mandela died on December 5 2013, he had become one of the greatest moral authorities in the world.

JULY 18 of every year, which is Nelson Mandela’s birthday, is celebrated across the world as Mandela Day. It should be recalled that the United Nations General Assembly declared in November 2009 that July 18 of every year should be commemorated as Mandela International Day in recognition of the contributions of the late South African President to the culture of global peace. The Mandela Day was essentially aimed at honouring the late anti-Apartheid activist’s lifelong commitment to social justice, reconciliation, and human rights.

The day also encourages individuals and communities worldwide to engage in acts of service that will make a positive impact in their communities. In December 2015, the UNGA extended the scope of the Mandela Day to also include promoting humane conditions of imprisonment, raising awareness about prisoners being a continuous part of society and valuing the work of prison staff as a social service of particular importance. The UNGA adopted the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and approved that these should be known as the “Nelson Mandela Rules”.

Born in 1918 in the village of Mvezo, Mandela was given the forename, Rolihlahla, which literally translated means “troublemaker”. Some say he lived up to the name because as an undergraduate at the University of Fort Hare, he was suspended for joining a protest boycott. Mandela later studied law at the University of Witwatersrand and soon became involved in the anti-apartheid movement, African National Congress, ANC, which led to his being arrested several times, culminating to life imprisonment in 1962.

During his years in prison, Mandela was seen as the symbol for the struggle against racial oppression in South Africa and one of the most influential leaders in the anti-apartheid movement. Though he dedicated his life to the struggle for freedom of South Africans, he also had the wisdom to recognise that non-violence and negotiations were the most efficient path in the fight to end apartheid. In 1993, Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize. As the first Black South African to serve as the country’s president, Mandela spent his years in office (1994 – 1997) promoting the transformation of the country into a rainbow nation founded on the promotion of reconciliation.

As President, he was neither corrupt nor tyrannical. He was rather seen as a symbol of decency and reconciliation. The United Nations General Assembly marked this year’s Mandela Day with an informal plenary meeting. The Speakers were Csaba Kõrösi, President of the77th session of the General Assembly, António Guterres, UN Secretary-General and Andrew Young, a politician, activist, and former Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations.

In his speech during the plenary, Csaba Kõrösi, remarked: “In times of turbulence and uncertainty, there might be little room for idealism. But we need ideals, in both sense of the word. Meaning, on the one hand, standards of perfection and, on the other hand, people we can respect. Role models, if you wish, men and women who influence others by serving as an example. Let us follow Madiba in embracing the power of resistance to oppression, justice over inequality, dignity over humiliation, and forgiveness over hatred.”

In commemorating this year’s Mandela International Day at Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, urged Nigerians to strive to be like Mandela rather than just celebrating him. Soyinka who was the special guest of honour at the occasion was quoted as saying that there are “many Mandela among us…. We should do everything to free them and celebrate them wherever they are to save the coming generation.” What can we all learn from the life of Mandela? One, our leaders can learn that the key responsibility for driving a reconciliation process in any polarised and fractious society lies with the leadership of that country.

Since the leader of such a fractious society necessarily belongs to one of the fault lines or contending blocs in such a society, he or she has to make an early choice whether to deliberately transcend the extant fault lines (at the risk of displeasing his or her ‘own people’ in the short term) or politicise those fault lines by cultivating some and alienating others in a bid to entrench himself or herself in power. Mandela chose to embrace all, including the Whites who promoted Apartheid and imprisoned him for 27 years – to the consternation of many Blacks who fought the Apartheid system and itched for revenge.

He eschewed any temptation to privilege his Xhosa ethnic group and instead set out deliberately to support the construction of a rainbow nation. In Nigeria, one of the causes of the anarchic nature of the struggle for power, especially at the federal level, is the fear that the group that wins power will use it to privilege its in-group and disadvantage others. The actions of some of the country’s leaders since 1999, especially the Buhari government, seem to justify those fears.

Two, Mandela was a synonym for reconciliation. Jailed for 27 years for his opposition to apartheid, he came out of prison in 1990 expressing no bitterness towards those who deprived him of 27 years of his life. When he was sworn in as post-apartheid South Africa’s first democratically elected President in 1994, many Black hard liners wanted justice for the sins of apartheid while many White people were apprehensive of their fate under Black majority rule. Mandela opted to champion reconciliation among the country’s fractious population, espousing the principles of nation-building and co-operative governance.

When he set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995, the emphasis was on reconciliation in sharp contrast to the approach taken by the Nuremberg Trials and other de-Nazification measures. Even before he became President in 1994, Mandela had chosen to be a reconciler. A clear demonstration of this was in 1993 when a White right winger murdered Chris Hani (at the time arguably the ANC’s most popular leader after Mandela).

Many Black South Africans simply wanted war. But Mandela thought otherwise. In one of his most impassioned speeches, Mandela declared: “Tonight I am reaching out to every single South African, Black and White, from the very depths of my being. A White man, full of prejudice and hate, came to our country and committed a deed so foul that our whole nation now teeters on the brink of disaster…. A White woman, of Afrikaner origin, risked her life so that we may know, and bring to justice this assassin.” Mandela promoted ‘politics without bitterness’ – in deeds, not just in rhetoric.

Three, Mandela’s greatest legacy was his uncanny ability to steer South Africa through the crisis of its rebirth. Though South Africa still remains a divided country, it would certainly have been worse without Mandela. By choosing to be a symbol of peace and reconciliation, Mandela became a figure who transcended all the fault lines in South Africa, Africa and even the world. This is the missing link in Nigeria today in its arduous journey to nationhood.

There is no individual or group which commands legitimacy across the country’s fault lines and therefore capable of resolving amicably the conflicts resulting from inter-group interactions. Distrust is very entrenched and quite often just a person’s name makes the person a suspect on which side the person is likely to be in the various contestations in the country. By the time Mandela died on December 5 2013, he had become one of the greatest moral authorities in the world.

Senator Shehu Sani has insinuated that the poor are the worst hit by the current economic hardship, while the rich are insulated from economic woes.

Sani, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former lawmaker, made the assertion via his verified Twitter handle on Tuesday.

Sani wrote: “In our country, the rich are in the Noah’s Ark and the poor are in the Titanic.”

DAILY POST recalls that the cost of living in the country soared after the pump price of fuel skyrocketed to N612 per litre last week.

The United States dollar also gained massively against the Nigerian naira in the exchange market recently.

[DailyPost]

Members of rganised labour have reportedly applauded a plethora of “Palliatives” rolled out on July 20 by the National Economic Council (NEC) – statutorily chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

They include: Immediate release of grains and fertilisers by the Federal Government to states, for distribution or sale at subsidised prices; conditional cash transfers to the poorest of the poor; a cash award policy to aid civil servants for six months; and a new minimum wage for workers.

Others are: Payment of (arrears) of salaries, allowances, pensions, gratuities; support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs); and start of energy transition from petrol to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for vehicles, and eventual use of e-Vehicles in the long run.

State governments will generate comprehensive registers “for the vulnerable people only,” and drive the new “awards” that replace the panned President Bola Tinubu’s “N8,000 monthly palliative to 12m poor and vulnerable households.”

Tinubu had instituted the N8,000 palliative without recourse to a Presidential Technical Committee set up to work out modalities for alleviating subsidy removal from essential products and services.

Nigerians – including Tinubu’s supporters aliased ‘BATists’ and ‘Progressives’ – who’d questioned the rationale for the “N8,000 monthly “tokenism” and called for its reversal, would rather go with the President than do something to rock the boat of the nation.

But not so with organised labour, which read in the N8,000 relief package a design by Tinubu to relegate their demands, headlined by a review of the minimum wage by 100% to 200%.

It’s an opportunity for the unions to flex muscles, threatening to resume their strike – suspended in June due to criticisms, and a court restraining order.

President Tinubu’s claim of “fuel subsidy is gone” in his inaugural speech on May 29 – and floating of the Naira – had caused hoarding and scarcity of petrol, and a 300% jump in pump price.

The effect is the prevailing rise in the prices of goods and services, and even acute shortage of common commodities, such as tomatoes, in southern Nigeria.

With the carte put before the horse, the Tinubu government had mooted a variety of palliatives, and constituted a Technical Committee to work out the modalities.

Yet, with mounting pressure, the government moved a pace – without the committee’s report – and announced an N8,000 monthly stipend – for six months – for 12m poor and vulnerable households.

The allowance and other remedial measures would be financed with N500bn from the supplementary budget prepared by President Buhari’s government; and $800m (N600bn) World Bank loan to mitigate effects of fuel subsidy removal.

The President’s letter in that regard to the National Assembly states in part: “Please note that the federal executive council, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, approved an additional loan facility to the tune of $800 million to be secured from the World Bank for the National Social Safety Net programme, Copy of FEC’s extract attached.

“You may also wish to note that the purpose of the facility is to expand coverage of shock responsive safety net support among the poor and vulnerable Nigerians.

This will assist them in coping with basic needs.

“You may further wish to note that under the conditional cash transfer window of the programme, the Federal Government of Nigeria will transfer the sum of N8,000 per month to 12 million poor and low income households for a period of six months, with a multiplier effect on about 60 million individuals.”

“In order to guarantee the credibility of the process, digital transfers will be made directly to beneficiaries’ accounts and mobile wallets.

“It is expected that the programme will stimulate economic activities in the informal sector, and improve nutrition, health, education, and human capital development of beneficiaries’ households.”

Rather than applause for moves to redeem its pledge to relieve the hardship borne by mostly the less-privileged in the society, the Tinubu government came under hammer for the miserly N8,000 award that can’t take the estimated five per household (60m) through a week.

There’s a torrent of questions from concerned Nigerians, with the organised labour leading the charge. A sampler:

• How did the government arrive at N8,000 monthly stipend for six months. * What’s the credibility of the data relied on to compile the beneficiaries. * Where and when was the data collected, and by who * What’s 12m households in over 133m Nigerians below the poverty line. * Who provides for the millions outside the scheme?
• Will government scale-up or reduce the beneficiaries, or abandon the process after six months.
• Will suffering in the land vanish after six months, to stop the social safety net. * What happens to the policy if there’s a change of government within the timeframe of implementation?

Summing up, labour leaders –  irked by Tinubu’s alleged “bad faith,” and loss of credibility in the technical committee that he’d empanelled to work out modalities to alleviate the subsidy removal – gave their damning verdict, as captured below:

As reported by Vanguard on July 14, an official of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), who spoke on the issue, says: “The action of the President has actually undermined the credibility of his own Committee.

“We believe it is not only undemocratic but shows that the President is merely setting up the committee as a window dressing for whatever purposes he has set out for himself.”

The President, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo, holds that,

“Any palliative payment must be in line with the agreement reached with labour (and) in line with the technical committee meeting.”

To Dr Tommy Okon, president, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) and deputy president of TUC, “What form of poverty alleviation policy implementation strategy is this?”

“Is it not proper to allow the Presidential Committee to conclude its assignment and arrive at a collective agreement with organized labour before embarking on any palliative care distributions?

“It’s an economic waste. What is N8,000 monthly to 12 million Nigerian households with this hyperinflation and socio-economic challenges?” Okon queries.

“What the government is doing could amount to exactly what the previous (Buhari) administration did that yielded no positive impact on the economy and the citizens.”

“The President has been ill-advised, as that amount (N8,000) cannot feed a child in one month, talk less a family… It’s an insult on Nigerians,” says Ms Jean Anishere Chiazor, vice president, Maritime Arbitrators Association of Nigeria (MAAN).

And the General Secretary of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Prince Peters Adeyemi, warns:

“We need to know the criteria to be used in determining those that will benefit from the programme. We hope this will not be another avenue for a few individuals to divert such money to their private pockets.”
Tinubu’s reversal of the N8,000 award barely a week later is allegedly traced to rumbles in the unions worried that he’d ditched their demands, chiefly a hike of at least 100% in minimum wage.
To pre-empt the unions’ moves to resume their suspended strike, Tinubu came out as a “listening President,” to rollback the N8,000 palliative, and promise release of thousands of farming inputs, and a speedy review of the minimum wage.
Labour’s still “lukewarm” to the President’s latter pledges, but the National Economic Council’s resolutions have “warm the unions’ hearts,” as payment of “cash award, outstanding salaries, allowances, pensions and gratuities, and a minimum wage” top the items to be implemented.
As a labour leader remarked at the weekend, “If the three tiers of government implement these palliatives, the average and poor Nigerians will at least breathe under the crushing effects of subsidy removal from petrol.

“We commend the Federal and State governments, through the National Economic Council, for these bold moves, and hope they will not disappoint Nigerians.”

Governors Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Chukwuma Soludo (Anambra) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) – who spoke with reporters after the NEC meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja – said the government would implement the resolutions, and timeously, too. Nigerians hope so!

Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria .

Alhaji Lamidi Apapa, the acting National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has prayed a Federal High Court, Abuja, to compel the Inspector-General (I-G) of Police to eject the embattled LP National Chairman, Julius Abure, from the party’s national secretariat.

Apapa, in a fresh suit filed before Justice Ahmed Mohammed, also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Abure and three other suspended national officers from further representing or parading themselves as national chairman and officers of the party.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Apapa; Alhaji Lawal Saleh, acting National Secretary; Comrade Anslem Eragbe, National Youth Leader and LP are the 1st to 4th plaintiffs in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/777/23 and filed by their lawyer, Anderson Asamota.

The plaintiffs had sued Mr Abure as suspended National Chairman; Farouk Umaru, suspended National Secretary; Ojukwu Clement, suspended Organising Secretary; Oluci Opara, suspended National Treasurer and I-G as 1st to 5th defendants respectively.

In the latest case dated June 1, the plaintiffs sought nine reliefs which include “an order setting aside or nullifying all steps or proceedings conducted by the 1st to 4th defendants, actions or decisions taken, documents or correspondences prepared, authored, signed and issued by them, after they were restrained by the FCT High Court on April 5th and suspended by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Labour Party on 3rd day of May, 2023.

“An order of mandatory injunction directing or compelling the 1st to 4th defendants whether acting by themselves or through their officers, privies, representatives, attorneys and/or agents to render account of all monies or funds received by them through gift, donations, contributions for and on behalf of the party and return or refund all the monies or gift received by them for and on behalf of the party.”

The plaintiff, who prayed the court to eject Abure and the three co-defendants from the party’s national secretariat located at No. 2, IBM Haruna Street, Utako, Abuja, described them as “illegal occupants.”

They sought a declaration that by virtue of Articles 13 (2)(B)(xvii), 17(ii) and 19(2) (C) & (3)C of the Constitution of the Labour Party, 2019 (as amended), the NEC of the LP is empowered and/or inundated with powers to take disciplinary action or discipline the erring members and national officers of the party for misconduct.

They said that by the constitution of the party, Abure, having been suspended by the NEC cannot continue to hold himself out as the national chairman of the party, “which is privilege only enjoyed by members of the party,” among other reliefs.
In the affidavit deposed to by Eragbe, he said an FCT High Court on April 5 restrained the 1st to 4th defendants parading themselves as national chairman and national officers of the party.

He averred that despite the said restraining order “hanging over their necks like the sword of Damocles,” they continued to parade themselves as national officers of the party in various fora and meetings in flagrant disobedience of the order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

Based on this, Eragbe said the NEC, in its meeting held on May 3, reached a resolution suspending the four of them.

He said the decision was based on their “numerous acts of contempt of the FCT High Court restraining order, convening, holding and participating in illegal NEC meeting on April 18 in Asaba, Delta.

He also said it was for their involvement in fraudulent activities and anti-party activities especially as it appertains to the conduct of pseudo gubernatorial primaries in Imo State, Bayelsa State and Kogi State on 15th April, 2023.

“That the 1st to 4th defendants conducted, presided and superintended the said pseudo or illegal primaries in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi State on 15th April 2023 in contempt of the restraining order of the FCT High Court referenced above.”

When the matter was called on Monday, Asamota, who appeared for the plaintiffs, told the court that the matter was slated for mention and all the defendants had been duly served.

He then prayed the court to adjourn the matter for hearing.

But Kehinde Edun, a lawyer who represented the suspended National Secretary, Umaru, said Abure, Clement and Opara had not been served with the court papers which necessitated their not being represented in court.

Justice Mohammed, therefore, directed the court registrar to crosscheck from the record if all the defendants were served, but the registrar confirmed that only Abure (1st defendant) was served with a hearing notice.

The judge, who adjourned the matter until Nov. 28 for further mention, ordered that the originating summons and hearing notices be served on all the necessary parties.

Again, the President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial list failed to surface at the Senate on Tuesday.

This has aggravated the anxiety over the complexion and composition of the list.

The presidency has also declined to comment on the status of the list even as the chief spokesman to the President, Dele Alake, had told THE WHISTLER that “there’s a new 60 day law” guiding the formation of the cabinet without further clarification.

On Tuesday at press time, there was no correspondence from the president even as no confirmation came from the Senate that the list had been received.

Sources however said the list had not been sent “at least not by 10:30am, this morning as we speak.”

The office of the clerk to the Senate has also kept mum on the issue.

On the lips of almost everyone is what could be holding the list with 4 days to go.

By law the president has 60 days to present his ministerial list to the Senate. That expires on Saturday when the office mandated by law to receive and screen the list would be shut down.

The president has between the rest of the working day of Tuesday (today), Wednesday and Thursday, which are legislative days to send in the list.

It was gathered that the president had retrieved the list to make an amendment but a reliable source denied it saying “ministerial list was never sent to the Senate. The information from the clerk to the Senate was false.”

The Senate had broken into a closed-door on Thursday in the past week with expectation that it was to smoothen rough edges in order to allow a smooth consideration of the ministerial nominees.

What transpired during the closed-door was never revealed even as the ministerial list was not unveiled afterwards.

If the president indeed made adjustments to his list, the mood in the Senate is that the president would send in the ministerial list for consideration before the end of the week’s legislative sitting.

Some aggrieved youths have taken to the streets of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to demonstrate their grievances against the controversial video clip famous singer, Davido shared recently on his Twitter account.

Recall that Davido came under severe criticisms after sharing a clip of the music video of his signee, Logos Olori’s new single ‘Jaye Lo’ which captures people praying and dancing in front of a mosque.

Some prominent Nigerian Muslims including former aide to ex-president Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, Senator Shehu Sani, actor, Ali Nuhi, asked Davido to take down the video and apologise to Muslims for “disrespecting” their religion.

The singer eventually bowed to the demands after 48 hours and deleted the video.

However, in a video making the rounds on social media, some youths in Maiduguri were seen setting on fire a poster of the singer as they demanded that the OBO crooner should apologise to the Muslim community.

The National Industrial Court (NIC) has affirmed the status of the Congress Of University Academics (CONUA) and the Nigeria Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) as trade unions in Nigeria, thus dismissing the suit filed by ASUU.

In a ruling on Tuesday, the president of the NIC, Justice Benedict Kanyip, dismissed ASUU’s lawsuit which challenged the Federal Government’s registration of CONUA and NAMDA as trade unions.

Kanyip ruled that Section 27 of the Trade Union Act does not depict trade monopoly and makes allowance for more than one trade union in employment.

He added that both the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, and the registrar of the union, were within their rights to register both unions to co-exist with ASUU.

The Justice held that ASUU did not provide any evidence to show the complete registration of CONUA and NAMDA when the suit was filed, adding that any evidence that was provided by ASUU was hearsay because the suit was filed on October 26, 2022, meanwhile, CONUA and NAMDA’s registration had yet to be, gazetted in line with Section 523 of the Trade Union Act.

THE WHISTLER reported last year, when ASUU’s legal representative, Femi Falana SAN, stated that the union would sue the FG for registering CONUA and NAMDA while it was still on strike.

Falana said the registration of the unions is illegal seeing as only one union is allowed to operate in every sector, according to the Trade Union Act.

“You can’t have two trade unions in the same sector. Only a union is allowed to be registered for all academics in Nigeria.

“That is the essence of the classification of trade unions because we used to have mushrooms in the First Republic, so the government restructured the unions and grouped all academics together and all non-academics together. You can’t have two or three in one field,” he said.

Falana added that there is a Supreme Court judgment on the proliferation of trade unions, the Erasmus Osawe V Registrar of Trade Unions.

Suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has been granted a N20 million bail by a Federal High Court setting in Ikoyi, Lagos.

As part of condition to perfect the bail, the embattled CBN Governor must produce a surety with landed property within the jurisdiction of the court.

Emefiele who earlier pleaded not guilty is facing two count charges bordering on illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

His lawyer, Joseph Daudu, SAN, who had applied for his bail contended that the offence for which he was changed is bailable, which the presiding judge, Nicholas Oweibo, agreed with.

THE WHISTLER on July 13 reported that Justice H. Muazu of Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja had given the Department of State Services (DSS), seven days to charge Emefiele, to court or release him from detention.

The embattled CBN Governor had sued the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and the DSS for arresting and detaining him in a commando style, alleging the agencies were carrying out a political witch-hunt against him due to his “people-oriented financial policies which several political actors are not comfortable with and are now looking for any means to scandalize and smear his image and reputation.”

It would be recalled that President Bola Tinubu had on June 9, suspended Emefiele as the apex bank’s Governor and had directed that the bank’s Deputy Governor of Operations, Folashodun Shonubi, resume office in an acting capacity.