Connect with us

News

S’Court To Hear Wike, Fubara loyalists’ Appeals February 10

Published

on

The Supreme Court has scheduled February 10, 2025, to hear two separate suits filed by the All Progressives Congress, challenging the validity of the local government elections conducted in Rivers State in 2024.

The apex court also scheduled the same date to hear five other cases bordering on the political crisis in Rivers State.

Advertisement

The crisis in the state erupted in October 2023 when a faction loyal to the former governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, attempted to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

READ ALSO:Rivers Crisis: Why I Won’t Settle Rift With Fubara – Wike

In response, Fubara stormed the Assembly complex and sealed it off.

Advertisement

Subsequently, the lawmakers declared their defection to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party, while Fubara dismissed their legitimacy and began engaging with a three-member Assembly instead.

The legitimacy of the three-member assembly, especially in the passage of the 2024 budget, and screening of commissioner-nominees, among others, became a legal issue heard at the Rivers State High Court, Federal High Court, up to the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court consolidated four appeals: Rivers State House of Assembly and others vs. Rivers State Government and nine others; Rivers State House of Assembly and others vs Rivers State Governor and nine others; Rivers State House of Assembly and others vs. RSIEC and nine others and Rivers State House of Assembly and others vs Accountant General of Rivers State and nine others, for easy hearing and judgment.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: Certificate of Occupancy Debt In FCT Hits N300bn, Says Wike

The date was determined by a five-member panel of Justices of the Supreme Court, after addressing all preliminary issues raised by the parties involved in the legal disputes.

The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission fixed October 5, 2024, to conduct the local government election in the state.

Advertisement

Not satisfied with the arrangement by the electoral body and for violating the bills passed by the Martin Amaewhule-led state House of Assembly, extending the tenure of the LG chairmen in the state, the state APC took the RSIEC to court.

The faction of the APC loyal to Wike, thereafter, withdrew from the election, while the faction loyal to the former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, participated.

The state chapter of the PDP loyal to Wike also refrained from participating in the exercise.

Advertisement

However, Fubara insisted the election would be held, while most of his loyalists defected to the Action People’s Party in the state to contest the election.

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/987/2024, filed by the APC, issued an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission from releasing the voter register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission for the conduct of the local government election.

Justice Lifu also barred the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Security Services from participating in or providing security for any local government election in Rivers State.

Advertisement

Furthermore, Justice Lifu barred RSIEC and the Rivers State Attorney General from using or accepting the voter register from INEC for the elections.

The court’s decision was based on Justice Lifu’s finding that RSIEC did not follow the conditions precedent required for conducting such elections.

However, the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, overturned the lower court’s decision, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to issue the orders in favour of the APC.

Advertisement

The election was held and swept by the APP, winning 22 chairmanship seats out of the 23 in the state.

Dissatisfied with the appellate court’s judgment, the APC filed an appeal at the Supreme Court in two separate cases, marked SC/CV/1106/2024 and SC/CV/1107/2024.

The APC, represented by Joseph Daudu (SAN) and Ogwu Onoja (SAN), urged the apex court to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision and reinstate the judgment of the Federal High Court.

Advertisement

Chris Uche (SAN) led the legal team for the respondents.

After hearing motions for the two appeals, the panel of Justices, led by Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji, directed the parties to file and exchange their respective briefs of argument before the February 10 hearing date.

The five-member panel also consolidated four appeals for easier determination.

Advertisement

This was granted upon the request of the appellant’s counsel, Daudu (SAN), who represented the Rivers State House of Assembly.

In addition, the court fixed February 10, 2025, for the hearing of SC/CV/1071A/2024, following the withdrawal of a cross-appeal filed on November 18, 2024, by the Rivers State House of Assembly against the National Assembly and 16 others.

Advertisement

News

Nigerian Don Bags US Varsity Elite Research Fellowship

Published

on

A Nigerian scholar, Raphael Ebiefung, has been awarded the prestigious Grace Jordan McFadden Professor Programme Fellowship at the University of South Carolina.

A statement issued by the Institution noted that the “highly competitive fellowship” recognises academic leaders who advance knowledge and address pressing social challenges.

Advertisement

Ebiefung, a doctoral researcher and a one-time assistant lecturer and librarian at Top-Faith University, Nigeria, who specialises in human-AI interaction and information behaviour, is expected to join “an elite group of scholars shaping the future of higher education and interdisciplinary inquiry,” the University said.

Ebiefung, in a statement made available to The PUNCH on Friday, described the award as a “milestone that underscores Nigeria’s capacity to produce world-class scholars.”

READ ALSO:NUPENG Tanker Drivers Announce Strike Over CNG Trucks Dispute

Advertisement

He said, “I am deeply honoured to receive the Grace Jordan McFadden Fellowship. It is a testament to the resilience and potential of young Nigerian academics striving to make a global impact.

“My research seeks to understand the dynamics of human behaviour in relation to AI systems. This area is critical as we move deeper into the digital age,” he explained.

Nigerian scholars have continued to leave an impressive intellectual footprint across the world.

Advertisement

The PUNCH reported how, in August, a Nigerian scientist, Deborah Agbakwuru, was awarded the prestigious Besancon scholarship at the University of Montana.

READ ALSO:Danish Court Sentences Ex-minister To Prison For Child Abuse Material

The scholarship is one of the most distinguished graduate recognitions at the university and is awarded annually to an outstanding researcher in the biological, physical, and mathematical sciences.

Advertisement

Similarly, Nigerian-born researcher, Peter Ngene, won a €2m grant from the European Research Council for his project in 2024.

Ngene, an associate professor at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, was among seven researchers from Utrecht University, the Netherlands, who won the grant. According to a statement by his university, Ngene’s work focused on the “interface-mediated fast ionic conductivity in nanocomposite solid-state electrolytes.”

He said the goal was to unravel the reason why the ionic conductivity of certain solids can increase or decrease by thousands of fold at their interface with other solids.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

News

NBA Drags IGP Egbetokun To Court Over Tinted Glass Permit Policy

Published

on

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has filed a lawsuit against the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, challenging the legality of the Nigeria Police Force’s tinted glass permit policy.

The lawsuit, instituted on Wednesday, September 2, 2025, before the Federal High Court in Abuja, comes months after the IGP introduced a directive requiring motorists to apply for and renew tinted glass permits annually through a digital platform, for a fee.

Advertisement

In a statement released Friday, the NBA described the policy as unlawful, unconstitutional, and lacking transparency. It also raised concerns that proceeds from the exercise were being paid into a private account rather than the Federation Account.

“Despite the extension of enforcement to October 2, 2025, several motorists have reported harassment and extortion by policemen at checkpoints on the basis of this policy,” the association said, warning that it infringes on citizens’ rights to privacy, freedom of movement, and dignity.

READ ALSO:Ex-gov Ohakim, IGP, Others Win Fundamental Rights Suit

Advertisement

The NBA also questioned the validity of the Motor Tinted Glass (Prohibition) Act of 1991, a military-era law under which the police has anchored the policy, stressing that it may not meet constitutional tests required in a democratic society.

The action was filed by the NBA’s Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), led by Prof. Paul Ananaba (SAN) and Olukunle Ogheneovo Edun (SAN). The association vowed to pursue the case “to a logical conclusion.”

READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW:

Advertisement

THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION CHALLENGES THE LEGALITY OF THE POLICE TINTED GLASS PERMIT POLICY OF THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE

One of the key resolutions of the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Bar Association at its pre-conference NEC meeting held on the 23rd day of August 2025 in Enugu is that the NBA should challenge the legality of the Nigeria Police Force tinted permit policy in court.

READ ALSO:IGP Launches Safe School Initiative In Bauchi

Advertisement

In April 2025, the Inspector General of Police purportedly introduced a policy which mandated members of the Nigerian motoring public to apply for and obtain annual motor tinted glass permits from the Nigeria Police Force for a fee. The Inspector General of Police in the same month purportedly launched a digital portal (http://possap.gov.ng) through which the application for tinted glass permits were to be processed. We are being informed that the portal and the policy are to be managed by a private vendor, and there is no indication that the funds generated from the enforcement of the purported policy will go into the Federation Account.

The Inspector General of Police initially pegged the date of commencement of the enforcement of the Policy to the 1st day of June 2025, but subsequently extended the date to the 2nd day of October 2025.

Despite the fact that the date of commencement of the enforcement of the purported policy has been extended to the 2nd day of October 2025, there have been several reported cases of harassment and extortion of citizens by the Policemen in checkpoint duty on the basis of this same Policy, thus raising serious concerns of threats to and violation of citizens’ fundamental rights to dignity of human person, right to privacy, right to freedom of movement and the right to own movable property guaranteed as by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.

Advertisement

Furthermore, the introduction and proposed enforcement of the tinted glass permit Policy has raised several other genuine concerns, including the validity of the Motor Tinted Glass (Prohibition) Act (Decree 1991), a military-era law under which the Police has sought refuge. A critical scrutiny of the Act would confirm concerns that the legislation may be unable to satisfy the test of a law reasonably justifiable in a democratic society under Section 45 of the 1999 Constitution as to justify reliance on it to deprive citizens of their rights to privacy and free movement.

READ ALSO:NCAA Petitions IGP Over KWAM 1’s Unruly Conduct In Abuja Airport

Moreover, the fact that the legislation does not make provision for renewal of tinted glass permits or payment of fees for renewal are serious issues which clearly reveal that the Policy lacks statutory foundation.

Advertisement

Furthermore, that payment for the permit is being made into a private account: PARKWAY PROJECTS Account No: 4001017918 raises serious concerns of transparency surrounding the utilisation of funds realised from the exercise, given that the account is neither domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria nor associated with the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Against the above backdrop, the Nigerian Bar Association, through its Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) has on Wednesday the 2nd September 2025 instituted a public interest action before the Federal High Court, Abuja in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/182/2025 between: The Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association v. The Inspector General of Police & Anor essentially challenging the legality of the tinted glass permit policy.

The NBA-SPIDEL, under the leadership of its Transition Committee Chairman, Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN and the Section’s Public Interest Litigation Committee, chaired by Mr. Olukunle Ogheneovo Edun, SAN, whose proactive efforts were responsible for the accomplishment of this task, have been directed to pursue this litigation to a logical conclusion.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

News

Peju Ogunmola’s Family Breaks Silence On Cause Of Son’s Death

Published

on

The family of veteran actress, Peju Ogunmola, has spoken out for the first time following the passing of the actress’ only son, Sola Ayomikun Omobolanle, dismissing rumours about the circumstances of his death.

Tribune Online reports that Ayomikun, the 24-year-old son of Ogunmola and her husband, comic actor Sunday Omobolanle, popularly known as Aluwe, died on September 2, 2025.

Advertisement

Shortly after the news broke, unverified reports surfaced online alleging that his death was linked to a bathroom accident — claims the family has now categorically denied.

In a statement signed by Yemi Amodu on behalf of the Ogunmola family, they clarified that Ayomikun passed away in a hospital in Ibadan after a brief illness, not from any accident.

READ ALSO:Veteran Actress, Peju Ogunmola, Loses Only Child

Advertisement

The statement read: “It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved son, Sola Ayomikun Omobolanle, a jewel, a precious child, and a rising star whose light shone brightly and touched many lives.

“We wish to clearly state that Sola did not pass away as a result of any bathroom accident, contrary to false reports being circulated online. He was briefly unwell and, during this period, received first-class medical care. Despite the best efforts of the medical team, he peacefully answered the call of his Creator.”

The family further condemned the speculation surrounding his death, describing it as painful and disrespectful.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:The Only celebrity I Have Ever Had A Crush Is Davido – Peju Johnson

“These misleading stories, suggesting that Sola died from a fall in the bathroom without help, are entirely false. They not only dishonour his memory but also bring unnecessary pain to his loved ones,” the statement added.

According to the family, Ayomikun has since been laid to rest at Eternal Rest Home in Ibadan, surrounded by relatives and close friends.

Advertisement

They also expressed appreciation for the support received during their period of mourning:

At this time of grief, we are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love, prayers, and support we have received from family, friends, colleagues, and well-wishers. Your kindness has been a source of strength and comfort. We pray that no family will ever have to endure the pain of untimely loss. May the Almighty grant Sola eternal rest and grant us all the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending