News

BREAKING: Federal High Court Reverses Ratification Of Joyce Oduah’s Suspension As NBA Secretary General

Published

2 years ago

August 23, 2022

Editor

The Ratification of suspension of Barrister Joyce Oduah as Secretary General of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has been nullified by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The ratification effected by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the NBA was on Tuesday voided and set aside by the court on grounds that the action was an affront to the rule of law and a violation of the court’s proceedings in the matter.

Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed while ruling in an application filed and argued by Mr Ayotunde Ogunleye on behalf of the plaintiff, held that the NBA’S NEC which gave legal effect to the suspension of the plaintiff acted in bad faith and in utter disregard to the proceedings of the court.

The Judge agreed with Ogunleye that the ratification done on August 21 ought not to have been carried out by the NEC in view of the pendency of a suit challenging the suspension in the first instance.

Justice Mohammed also agreed with the plaintiff’s counsel that the purported Ratification was not only an affront to the Court but a denigration of the sanctity of the judiciary which on several occasions had been condemned by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Ogunleye had in his application drawn the attention of the Court to the effect that the out-going President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata who is the 2nd defendant in the suit against the suspension, presided over the August 21 meeting of NBA’S NEC where the purported Ratification was carried out.

Ogunleye cited Supreme Court authorities to establish that the Olumide Akpata-led National Committee acted against the established law in taking steps in a matter pending against them adding that the purported Ratification was a deliberate and desperate ploy to foist helplessness on the court.

He urged the court to condemn the Council for resorting to self-help in a suit being adjudicated upon by a law court.

Justice Mohammed agreed that having submitted to court jurisdiction and joined issues with the plaintiff in court and with or without the express order of the court, no party ought to have taken any further steps on the subject matter of the litigation.

The Judge said the action of the NBA’S Council in relation to the unlawful ratification was irritating, annoying, condemnable and liable to be set aside since the actors in the illegal ratification cannot claim ignorance of the position of law on such a contemptuous attitude.

The National Executive Committee (EXCO) of the NBA led by Olumide Akpata had on August 15, 2022, suspended the General Secretary pending ratification by NBA’S NEC for final removal from office.

Nine out of eleven officers who signed the resolution authorizing the suspension also referred Mrs Oduah to the NBA’S NEC for disciplinary action and for removal from office for alleged gross misconduct.

However, while the NBA’S NEC ratified the suspension, it declined to ratify the recommendation for the removal of the plaintiff from office on the ground of her subsisting legal action against the suspension.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, Goodwin Onuakwu had made spirited efforts to justify the ratification on the ground that the NBA’S NEC only acted on a completed act.

The senior lawyer urged the court not to hold that the action of the NBA’S NEC amounted to self-help or attempts to foist a situation of hopelessness on the court because the suspension can be voided and set aside if merit is found in the case of the plaintiff.

Justice Mohammed, however, disagreed with the senior lawyer on the ground that the action of the NBA’S NEC was a direct attack against the court and must not be allowed to stand.

The Judge particularly noted that the action of the NBA’S NEC members was painful because all of them are legal practitioners.

The court thereafter fixed August 31 for hearing in a motion on notice seeking mandatory order of injunction against the defendants in the suit.

News

Economic Hardship: Pastor Suspends Collection Of Offerings Church[VIDEO]

Published

1 hour ago

May 19, 2024

Editor

A pastor in Lagos state has caught the eyes of Nigerians after announcing the suspension of offering collection in his church.

In a trending video, the pastor could be seen telling his church members that henceforth, offerings will no longer be collected because of the situation of the country.

He stated that in these times that people spend more money to buy petrol and pay more for transportation, it would be unfair to collect offerings from them.

He said until the petrol price is reduced, his church will not collect money from its congregation. He called on all pastors to stop collecting offerings from their congregation.

Watch the video below:

News

Shettima Launches NEDC’s School Enrollment Drive Programme

Published

15 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

Vice President Kashim Shettima has launched the Accelerated Senior Secondary School Education Programme (ASSEP) initiated by the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) in collaboration with the office of the VP to enhance child enrollment drive in schools within the North-East sub-region.

Speaking during the launching of the programme in Bauchi on Saturday, the VP said that consequences of the nation’s action and inaction were evident in all indices used to assess development.

He said while primary education provides a foundation, secondary education is a bridge, adding that the Northeast sub-region has been the victim of inability to enforce a uniform policy to drive school and the persistent cultural perversion to formal education in the country.

“We in the Northeast occupy a quantum of position in ranking of essential services. Education being a key sector of this country, this is especially pronounced in the post primary education, while the Northeast secondary school enrollment drive stands at 19 percent, far below the nation’s 39 percent,” he said.

Earlier, the Managing Director of NEDC, Mohammed Alkali, said that the primary education completion level of 85 per cent in the Northeast is among the best in Nigeria, but secondary school enrolment is a mere 15 per cent, the second worst nationally.

According to him, due to the challenges in the post-primary education segment, JAMB UTME applications and admissions into tertiary institutions in 2019 were the lowest for the Northeast compared to other regions.

He added that, nationally, the Northeast has the lowest number of teachers and the highest percentage 55 per cent of those available are without literacy skills.

The MD also revealed that the challenges in the post-primary education segment include weak quality indices and a wide demand-supply gap driven by economic and cultural factors.

“The Accelerated Senior Secondary Education Programme seeks to boost the post primary education rating across the North East region through improved enrolment into tertiary institutions.

“It’s also to improve skills development as well as the elevation of teacher quality. It would pay special focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and communication.

“These would foster creativity and critical thinking; motivates and inspires young people to generate new technologies and ideas to learn from inquiry-based tasks,” he said.

Alkali also explained that the programme would also raise awareness about after-school possibilities and the potential for diligent students to become successful and prominent contributors to the North East region and Nigeria at large.

He expressed gratitude to the Federal Government especially, the Vice President for the deep interest and commitment to human development in the North-East.

News

Edo Police Break Silence On Operatives Fighting Dirty In Viral Video

Published

15 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

The Edo State Police Command says a trending video showing two operatives of the command engaging in a fight is a handiwork of mischief makers.

In the video which has gone viral on the internet, two policemen are seen fighting themselves, while a voice commentary in the background claims they are from the Igueben Decisional Police Station headquarters in the state.

A writeup also attached to a version of the video sighted by Info Daily also claims that the policemen were fighting because of sharing formula of money collected from motorists on the highway. The writeup also claims that the incident happened yesterday, May 17th, 2024.

But reacting to the viral video in a statement issued by SP Chidi Nwabuzor, Police Public Relations Officer, the command said contrary to the claim, the incident happened in 2020, adding that disciplinary measures were taken against the erring policemen.

The statement which issued electronically to newsmen in Benin on Saturday evening partly reads: “Edo State Police Command wishes to inform the general public that it’s aware of a video trending on the internet showing two policemen that engaged themselves in a fight in public spaces and wishes to state as follows that;

“The now trending video happened in April 2020 in a community called Ebelle in the Igueben local government area of Edo State.

“The two erring policemen, namely; (i) F/NO.491112 CPL Ozimeade Aidonojie and (ii) F/NO. 516384 PC Salubi Stephen were attached to Ebelle Police Divisional Headquarters.

“They defaulted, tried in an orderly and upon conviction dismissed from the Force for the offence of discreditable conduct contrary to Paragraph ‘E’ Sub Section 111 of the Police Act and Regulations 370 Cap. P19 of Federation of Nigeria 2004.”

Nwabuzor in the statement reiterated the state Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, commitment to “making Edo State a desired secured state where the law abiding citizens and the general public go about their lawful businesses in making Edo State economic hubs of Nigeria without fear or intimidation.”