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Human Rights: Need To Repeal Law Establishing DSS Recommended

Published

3 years ago

December 6, 2019

Editor

The need to repeal law setting up the Department of State Services (DSS) by the National Assembly has been recommended.

Former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Edo State, Barrister Osagie Obayuwana, made this recommendation in Benin City, Friday, December 6, at the 2019 World Human Rights Week organised by Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO)

Speaking on the theme: “Judge’s rule- what it entails and to what extent does it apply“, Barr. Obayuwana said the law establishing the DSS has outlived its usefulness.

“There is a precedence for this. We once had an outfit called the NSO. The SSS or DSS as they now call themselves, have completely outlived its usefulness. It is beyond redemption. It has to be dissolved immediately”, he added.

He noted that it goes beyond reshuffling of the leadership of the DSS, saying, “the entire composition of DSS from the top to the bottom, having shown itself to be unworthy, be disbanded.

“We call on the Nigerian people and the Nigerian Bar Association to insist on this; and the National Assembly to side with the Nigeria people, to repeal the law that established the DSS, sack all it’s personnel and by legislation, lay the foundation for a new security system agency focused on the protection of the well being of all Nigerians as opposed to the imagined interest of few office holders in Nigeria”, he noted.

The former attorney general of the state noted that the recent re-arrest of the human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore at the premises of the court was a slap on the nation’s judiciary.

“The crude re-arrest of Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare within the court promises, where they had gone to answer to the charges against them, is not only an insult to the judiciary as an institution and the system of administration of justice as a whole, it is a spite on all that is decent about Nigeria and world opinion”, he said.

He stated that the DSS should concentrate on their duty if they really want to serve the public rather than playing to the gallary of some individuals in the office whose powers are transient.

News

JUST IN: OPEC Secretary-General, Barkindo, Is Dead

Published

4 hours ago

July 6, 2022

Editor

The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Muhammad Barkindo, is dead.

Barkindo died late Tuesday.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, announced Barkindo’s death in a tweeted posted to his verified Twitter handle, @MKKyari, in the early hours of Wednesday.

“We lost our esteemed Dr Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo. He died at about 11pm yesterday 5th July 2022. Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community. Burial arrangements will be announced shortly,” Kyari tweeted.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had, on Tuesday, honoured Barkindo, describing him as a worthy ambassador of the country, at the State House, Abuja.

Reacting to Barkindo’s death, a former lawmaker in the eighth Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani, tweeted to his Twitter page, “Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo, former GMD NNPC and until recently, @OPECSecretariat scribe, was honoured yesterday. He died 11pm yesternight. May Allah grant him Aljanna firdausi. Amin. That is the ephemerality and transience of life.”

Details later…

News

‘Go Spiritual,’ Army Chief Tasks Troops To Complement Kinetic Efforts

Published

14 hours ago

July 5, 2022

Editor

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya, has asked troops to complement the Nigerian Army’s kinetic engagements with spiritual efforts.

He advised them to seek counselling, guidance, and divine supplications in ongoing military operations across the nation.

The Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

Yahaya gave the charge during an interdenominational church service to commemorate the Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) 2022, held at Saint Mark Military Church (Protestant), 34 Brigade Obinze Barracks in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

The army chief who was represented by Major General Victor Ezugwu, according to Nwachukwu, noted that the theme of the interdenominational service “Promoting National Unity through Religious Tolerance and Peaceful Coexistence” was apt.

He urged the Christian faithful across the nation to continually promote peace and unity in complementing the efforts of the army to surmount contemporary security challenges bedevilling the nation.

Yahaya also appealed to all to desist from the use of misinformation, deceit, and issues capable of disintegrating the nation, stressing the unity in Nigeria’s unique diversity.

The interdenominational service was held in all formations and units of the army across the nation.

The church service had in attendance representatives of the President, Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA), principal staff officers from Defence and Army Headquarters, corps commanders, general officers commanding, commandants of Nigerian Army training institutions, soldiers, and their families.

News

Man Docked For Alleged Intimidation, Falsehood Against High Court Judge

Published

16 hours ago

July 5, 2022

Editor

A Minna, Niger State-based land speculator, Ibrahim Tukura, has been remanded in correctional custody till July, 7 on the orders of a Chief Magistrate, Hauwa Kulu Isah over alleged intimidation and injurious falsehood against a High court judge, Justice Bilkisu Yusuf Gambo in the state.

Tukura had allegedly filed a case before the Niger State Acting Chief Judge, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, and requested that his case over a parcel of land presided by Justice Gambo of High Court No 6 be transferred from her court.

The defendant claimed that the disputed parcel of land of which, he is claiming ownership with suit No: NSHC/MN/173/2021 was pending in High court No. 6 presided by Justice Gambo.

He alleged that the plaintiff in the disputed land, Malam Isah Nagoji, had given the said land to the presiding judge handling the case, hence his petition to the acting chief judge, demanding that the case be transferred from her court.

Justice Bilkisu Yusuf Gambo in her reaction filed a Direct Criminal Complaint against the defendant to the Chief Magistrate Court No., Hauwa Kulu Isah, requesting a police investigation into the allegations levelled against her by the defendant.

Chief Magistrate, Hauwa Kulu Isah, forwarded the complaint to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligent Department (SCIID), for discreet investigation and afterwards, arraigned the defendant in court for prosecution.

The defendant was consequently, booked on a four-count charge of injurious falsehood, use of abusive or insulting language, criminal intimidation as well as inciting disturbance.

According to the head of the prosecution unit of the SCIID, Abdullahi Mayaki ASP, the charges contravened sections 393, 399, 397 (b), and 114 of the penal code.

However, when the presiding Chief Magistrate, Hauwa Kulu Isah read the charges to the defendant, he pleaded not guilty to the charges and was ordered to be remanded in Correctional custody.

Magistrate Isah then adjourned the case to July, 7 for further mention