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Traders Count Their Losses As Fire Guts Alaba International Market

May 5, 2023

By Akinwale Kasali

It was a Black Friday for Traders at the popular Alaba International Market in Ojo area of Lagos State, as the Market was gutted by fire.

The fire outbreak was said to have occurred at the Electronic Section of the Market. Makeshift shops around the shanties in the Market were mostly affected.

The cause of the inferno is yet to be ascertain as at the time of filing this story.

It was gathered that it took the intervention of the Lagos State Fire Service to arrest the inferno.

According to Margaret Adeseye, Director, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, an angry mob prevented the firefighters from quelling the inferno on time.

Adeseye said that the cause of the fire was still unknown but goods worth millions of Naira have been destroyed.

Details Later……

UK Judge To Ekweremadu: You Have Fallen From Grace

Adesina Soyooye

May 5, 2023

By Adesina Soyooye

A Judge in the United Kingdom, Justice Jeremy Johnson, on Friday, 5th May, taunted Nigeria’s former Deputy Senate President, Dr Ike Ekweremadu.

While sentencing both Ekweremadu and his wife, Dr Beatrice Ekweremadu to 10 and six-year jail terms respectively, for human organ trafficking, Justice Johnson, looked straight at Ekweremadu, and told the Senator that he had fallen from grace. Said the Judge to Ekweremadu, “Your conviction represents a very substantial fall from grace.”

The Ekweremadus were arrested at the Heathrow Airport, London, on arrival from Turkey on an allegation of trafficking a Lagos street trader to London in order to harvest his organ for the benefit of their daughter, Sonia, 25, who is suffering from an advanced kidney disease. The idea was to transplant the 21 year old’s kidney to save Sonia’s life.

The plan went awry when the Doctor at the Free Royal Hospital, when he was taken there, found out that he was not aware of why he was brought to London. He claimed to have been told that he was being taken to London to work and better his life, and was promised the sum of seven thousand pounds sterling. He also said the Ekweremadus asked him to pretend he was Sonia’s cousin.

When the Doctor rejected him for being too young, and for not being aware of why he was there, and the long time implications of the procedure, the victim said that Dr Obinna Obete, a London-based Nigerian-born doctor, who was the go-between for the Ekweremadu’s, and in whose house he was kept, began to treat him very badly.

He was forced to run away, and slept on the streets for three days and nights. He, thereafter, went to a Police Station, told his story, and asked that his life be saved.

Ekweremadu and his wife, pleaded not guilty, and said they were scammed. The Judge did not believe them.

The Judge, on Friday, said the three of them – Ekweremadu, his wife and Obeta – were as guilty as hell in the “despicable trade”, and pinpointed Ekweremadu as central to it.

Said the Judge: “The harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their bodies as commodities to be bought.

“You, (Ekweremadu), played a leading role in the offending act. You did so in order to secure the material advantage, namely a human kidney for your daughter. I am sure that you were the driving force throughout.

“Your conviction represents a very substantial fall from grace”

Ekweremadu and his wife will spend about 50 % of their jail terms in prison, while Dr Obeta, sentenced to 10 years in prison, will spend about 75 % of his jail term prison. His licence as a Doctor was, also, withdrawn.

In the weeks running to their sentencing, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian Senate, the House of Representatives, and the ECOWAS Parliament weighed-in, and appealed to the UK Government and the Court to temper justice with mercy. The appeals were in vain.

Breaking: Ekweremadu, Wife Slammed 10 and Six Years Jail Terms Respectively

Adesina Soyooye

May 5, 2023

By Adesina Soyooye

It is a sad day for the Ekweremadu Family. And Nigeria.

Their Patriach, former Senate President, Dr Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Dr Beatrice Ekweremadu, were on Friday, 5th May, 2023, sentenced to jail terms of 10 and six years respectively by a London Court.

A London-based Nigerian doctor who was arrested with them, Dr Obinna Obeta, also, got a 10-year jail term.

The Ekweremadus were arrested at the Heathrow Airport, London in June 2022 for trafficking a 21-year old Lagos Street trader to London for the purpose of harvesting his kidney to transplant on their 25 year old daughter, Sonia, who is suffering from a severe kidney disease.

Details, later….

Inaugurating A New President On May 29 Is Not Absolute

The Source

May 5, 2023

By Aloy Ejimakor

Yesterday (May 4, 2023), I tweeted on my Twitter handle that “Given that the FINALITY of election result is decided by the Court, except where the INEC-declared result is uncontested, it’s unconstitutional to swear-in a winner whose victory has not been affirmed by the Court. Where’s the law that says such a winner must be sworn-in? None!”

Since then, I have received a barrage of direct messages and requests to publicly speak more on this. So, to those who asked me and in the public interest, below are the short answers to your many questions:

Yes, inauguration of a new President on May 29 is not absolute, neither by the provisions of the Constitution, the Electoral Act or any other written law.

And no, there won’t be any VACUUM if a new President is not sworn-in on May 29. The Constitution envisaged such an anomalous situation and thus copiously provided for the rainy day, as follows:

First, Section 135(1)(a) of the Constitution says that “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a person shall hold the office of President UNTIL when his successor in office takes the oath of that office”.

If you pay close attention to above provisions, you will notice that the Constitution never said “until May 29” and it used the word ‘shall’ which – by settled legal interpretation – means ‘must’. That means that the incumbent President, despite exhausting his eight years, is not going anywhere until his successor is sworn-in and such a date could overshot May 29.

Now, you can see that this is not about Tinubu, because, if you strictly follow the Constitution, neither Atiku, nor Obi (in addition to Tinubu) would be inaugurated as President on May 29 and Nigeria will still have a constitutional President.

You will also notice that since 1999, a lot of ‘successors’ or winners of elections, mostly of the gubernatorial kind, had taken their oaths of office AFTER May 29. So, where did this widespread notion that May 29 is sacrosanct or absolute come from? It came from mere custom or political expediency, not from any known black letter law.

Second, Section 136(2) of the Constitution says that “Where the persons duly elected as President and Vice President die or are UNABLE for ANY REASON whatsoever to assume office before the inauguration of the National Assembly, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall immediately conduct an election for a President and the Vice-President”.

In plain terms, what the preceding Section 136 is saying is that, apart from death, there are myriad reasons that could prevent or imperil the President-elect and the Vice, standing together, from assuming office on May 29 and heavens won’t fall.

One of such other reasons that easily comes to mind is a Court order, usually of an Interlocutory kind, emanating from the Tribunal on a Motion; or from an Originating Summons (not an election petition) succeeding before a Federal High Court on interpretation of the pertinent constitutional provisions on point, including particularly the said Sections 135, 136, in addition to Section 1(2) of the Constitution vis-a-vis the absolutism or otherwise of May 29.

To be clear, the Section 1(2) of the Constitution that is pertinent to this discourse provides that “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”

In my view, both the Tribunal (under the Electoral Act) and the Federal High Court (under Section 6 of the Constitution) have concurrent jurisdiction to delve in the interpretation of these Sections as they impact on May 29.

Anybody saying that it is only the Election Tribunal that possesses an exclusive jurisdiction on this matter or that simultaneously and separately initiating such a Suit before the Federal High Court will abuse the process of the Election Tribunal is wrong, because the fundamental business of interpreting the Constitution (the organic law) is independent of, and should have primacy over everything else, including particularly a mere election petition before a narrowly-constituted ad hoc Tribunal.

Now, ponder this: If the result declared by INEC does not accord with the Electoral Act, it then follows that such result does not, ipso facto, accord with the Constitution, because the Electoral Act is a product of (and subservient to) the Constitution – the grundnorm. The river never flows backwards. Thus, any repugnancy in the Electoral Act must yield to the demands of the Constitution.

Thus, by virtue of the preceding Section 1(2) of the Constitution, inaugurating a new President on May 29 while the Court (as the final umpire) is yet to call the final result would mean that persons (or a group of persons) have taken control of the Government of Nigeria in a manner that does not accord with the Constitution.

The clearer and obvious way of understanding this conundrum is to think of it this way: If a new President is sworn-in on May 29 and subsequently, the Tribunal or the Supreme Court (again: the final umpire) invalidates the election, what would you say happened to the Government of Nigeria during the period the sacked President held office before the final judgment?

Unarguably, what happened is that, during such period, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and her government were taken control of in a manner that did not accord with the Constitution. This is a grave constitutional injustice that can never be undone. So, by all means, it should be avoided as the Constitution has enabled such under Sections 135 and 136.

While you ponder this, keep in mind that there is no express provision in the Constitution, the Electoral Act (the law that enables elections and transitions) or any other written law that strictly requires that a challenged winner of an election must be sworn-in on May 29.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no personal or political animus against any election winner. An election winner surely deserves the fruits of his victory but it must not be on May 29. It can be later or even not at all, if the Court – which is the final electoral umpire – fails to affirm his INEC-victory.

In the unique legal framework of Nigeria’s elections, INEC is not the end but the means to the end. That end is the Court (the judiciary) which alone possesses all the judicial powers of the Federation, including the final powers to declare winners of elections.

So, the smart framers of the Constitution, having figured that, some day, an occasion will surely arise where a winner may be unable for ANY REASON to be sworn-in on May 29, they inserted the implicit ‘tenure elongation’ in Section 135 but limited it by the provisions of Section 136 that requires INEC to ‘immediately’ conduct another Presidential election. If the intendment of this creative Constitution-making was not to ensure there’s no VACUUM, what then is its intendment?

Thus, in the clear absence of any law mandating that a swearing-in must proceed apace on May 29, the only reason (or justification) Nigeria had indulged in such crass unconstitutionality (or extra-constitutionality) since 1999 was political CUSTOM, and that’s because the country or the political class was desperate and thus minded to avoid anything that the military can latch on to continue in power.

Today, that custom, even though initially convenient and compelling is retrograde and can no longer stand because it is repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. Above all, it is – by hindsight – incompatible with the Constitution and Laws of the Federation of Nigeria in several ramifications.

And mark my word: This thesis does not apply to the office of the President ALONE. It applies across the board. And until Nigeria gets its elections right or purges itself through a popular referendum, the judiciary should ensure that winners of disputed elections must not take power until the declaration of the final result by the last Court.

If politicians are made aware that power can only come after the courts (not INEC) have decided the result, it will work wonders in getting the greatest number of contestants and even INEC and political partisans to keep in line, play fair and desist from this dismissive mantra of ‘go to court’ which is a subliminal insult on the Constitution and the judiciary.

Ejimakor, a Constitutional Lawyer, wrote from Abuja

May 29 is not Sacrosanct for Swearing-In of Tinubu

The Source

May 5, 2023

By Sam Amadi

Electrical systems are determined by constitutions, which are shaped by historical developments. In constitutional law there are few universals & plenty peculiarities. May 29 as d date to inaugurate a new government is conventional not constitutional.

The constitution provides that President and Governors all have 4 years tenure. None should exceed that tenure. So a president or governor came to power on May 29 four years ago, he or she had to vacate office this May 29. That’s is sacrosanct. None should stay a day longer.

But the constitution does not prescribe that a new president must take office on the same May 29. In popular imagination, it is taken for granted that there would be a valid president to take over on May 29. But were that is not possible due to several reasons, there is a constitutional remedy. D constitution provides that in the event there is no president or vice the senate president should take over.

There are many circumstances for that, including impeachment and death of both. It also includes when no valid president is elected to be sworn in When a president has been declared president-elect but his election is being challenged in court, what should happen? Should he or she be sworn in while defending his or her declaration? This has been the practice. But it is a dangerous practice that can lead to grace crises.

Imagine a sitting president being declared unlawfully returned as President by INEC. He could refuse to hand over power, he could even prevent d court from sitting and making d decision if he knows he will lose. As commander in chief, he could use state power to defeat justice.

The best situation is for all cases to be ended before swearing in of a new president. This should apply to a less extent to governors because they are not commander in chief. It’s dangerous for a hybrid democracy like ours to have a president who could lose power through d court.

Best solution is for the courts to finish the cases on time b4 inauguration as it is done in the US. Nest best is to delay inauguration until cases end since the eventual president will still have a complete 4 years tenure. He suffers no deprivation. The worst is to make him.

Commander in chief with the undue advantage it confers and the threat it poses to national stability and democracy.

If Trump could plan to disrupt congress to stay in power in advanced US, imagine the possibilities in an electoral autocracy like Nigeria with desperate politicians.

Sam Amadi, PhD, is a Law Lecturer and Columnist, Financial Nigeria

Osinbajo’s Bid For Presidency Borne Out Of Public Interest – Aide

Ayodele Oni

May 5, 2023

By Ayodele Oni

An Aide to the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has defended his decision to contest for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) last year, saying “he couldn’t have just walked away like that.”

The Aide said the decision was borne out of other reason of the interest of the public.

According to Laolu Akande, the presidential ticket slug out by Osinbajo with others including Bola Tinubu was not meant to slight anybody.

His decision to contest had drawn criticism from members of the Lagos APC, with some describing his ambition as a betrayal of Tinubu.

But early this week, deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi insisted that Osinbajo remains a formidable presidential material in Nigeria.

The vice president was the attorney-general of Lagos when Tinubu was governor of the state.

Speaking on Friday in an interview with Channels Television, Akande said Osinbajo contested because he believed that he possesses the necessary experience, qualifications and inspirational leadership qualities for the office of the president.

“What is important is that you take the step you want to take in the best interest of the people. Public interest is the overriding factor.p

“You couldn’t have been vice-president for eight years, and the kind of vice-president that he has been, and how much work that has been done.

“The level of understanding that you have acquired in terms of what has to be done and the capacity he has demonstrated when he had the opportunity to act for the president.

“And he has inspired tens and scores of millions of Nigerians with his leadership style. People see him as a representation of a new Nigeria. All of these can’t be in place and he just walks away.

“He did what he needed to do and the party made the decision and he just has to move on after doing the right thing.”

Osinbajo was largely absent from the campaign trail of the APC presidential candidate in the run-up to the elections fuelling speculation that he was not supporting the eventual winner of the primary election.

Tinubu went on defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) in the presidential election.

The two defeated candidates have filed petitions at the tribunal to challenge the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to declare Tinubu winner of the election.

TRCN Reveals Status Of Teachers In Private Schools, Says Most Of Them Are Illiterates

Ayodele Oni

May 5, 2023

By Ayodele Oni

The general saying that private schools are better than the public ones, is being threatened with discovery by a regulatory body that majority of those private institutions are being run by illiterates.

For years now it has become the practice of parents to enroll their siblings in privately owned institutions, especially nursery and primary schools in the believe that they are well equiped to raise those children.

It has even become a sort of competition among parents with some of them having the notion that parents with children in public schools are the poor, and cannot afford fees of privately owned ones.

This has led to astronomical rise in number of privately owned institutions to the extent that any available buildings are being turned to private learning centres.

Now, the Federal Government’s regulatory body for teaching in Nigeria, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, (TRCN), has declared that 70 per cent of private school teachers in Southwest states are not qualified to teach.

The South-west states in Nigeria are Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo and Ekiti.

The council’s registrar, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye who noted that the culprits were not teachers, but cheaters, added that they don’t only cheat the pupils/students but the system in its entirety.

Speaking in Abuja at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, (MoU) between the Council and INSTILL Education, Ajiboye revealed that contrary to several speculations about the Southwest and its teachers of private schools, 70 per cent had been discovered unqualified.

Lamenting that 70 per cent of the unqualified teachers lacked the prerequisites to be registered by the Council, the TRCN boss stated that a large number of teachers in Nigeria had never been exposed to training and had been using outdated equipment for illustration.

“They are not registrable with the TRCN. So that is to tell you that there is a big gap. So you cannot call them teachers but cheaters.

“So we are looking into the future to fill up that gap like it’s done in South Africa.”

He said signing the MoU was aimed at equipping Nigerian teachers with 21st-century skills that would ultimately support teacher professional development and learning outcomes in Nigeria and Africa in general.

$1bn Ondo Deep Seaport Gets Boost

James Orji

May 5, 2023

The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has assured that the $1 billion Ondo multipurpose deep seaport project would get all necessary approval for its implementation.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Bello-Koko gave this assurance when he received the Ondo State coordinator for special projects, Boye Oyewumi, in his office in Lagos.

During the meeting, Oyewumi submitted the ‘Full Business Case’ for the port to the NPC boss.

Bello-Koko assured his guest that the NPA would work with the federal Ministry of Transportation and other relevant agencies to obtain approvals to enable the port to begin operations.

The NPA chief executive said, “The NPA has consistently restated its readiness to provide requisite technical guidance for the establishment of new ports in line with global best practices.

“In keeping with NPA’s commitment to creating an enabling atmosphere for the construction of more deep seaports, the Ondo state project will come to fruition.”

May 29: Tinubu’s Men Attack Catholic Bishop

James Orji

May 5, 2023

Ahead of the May 29 inauguration of the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s men are not leaving anything to chance to ensure that the plan is not scuttled.

To that extent, they are not prepared to spare anyone who appears to be against their principal becoming the commander-in-chief, even if such is a revered man of God like the former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Olorunfemi Onaiyekan.

On Wednesday, the retired Catholic Archbishop joined a few other Nigerians who said Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who won the February 25 presidential election should not be sworn in until the contestations over his election are settled in the court.

“There are cases in court that have not been disposed of. That is why we are in an anomalous situation.

“We have a president-elect whose election is being challenged and the court is handling it.

“I’m still waiting for the court to tell me who won the election. It doesn’t make much sense to be swearing in people when they are still in court,” Onaiyekan said.

His comment did not go down well with the camp of the president-elect who has descended on him heavily. Nothing would stop the inauguration of Tinubu, according to Festus Keyamo, the minister of state for Employment and one of the spokesmen of the former Lagos Governor.

In a statement, he issued on Thursday, the minister said Onaiyekan comment is an embarrassment to the Body of Christ, he urged him to act like a statesman on matter concerning the stability of the country. “Dear daddy Onaiyekan, you know we all respect you a lot, but your political comments are becoming unstatesmanlike.

“A statesman who doubles as a Man of God should strive to be fair to all. You didn’t say the same thing when Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, and Buhari were all sworn in as Presidents when their cases were still before the courts,” Keyamo said.

On his part, Femi Fani-Kayode described Onaiyekan’s comment as one of the plans by the ‘Deep State’ to stop Tinubu from becoming president, adding that the president-elect is a moving train that cannot be stopped.

According to the former Minister and one of the spokesmen of the defunct Tinubu/Shetima Presidential Campaign Council, said the election of Tinubu is a divine plan of God that cannot be stopped by anybody.

He said Tinubu will outlive all those that want to stop him from becoming president and commander-in-chief.

Fani-Kayode said: “To Cardinal John Onaiyekan and those that share his views that the swearing in of our President-elect should be postponed until after the Election Tribunal has delivered its judgement I say the following.

“The Nigerian people have spoken and the Deep State conspiracy to stop Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu from becoming President failed long ago.

“We are well past that stage and you cannot stop a moving train. Those that have hardened their hearts and that have refused to accept God’s will and admonition to let Asiwaju and the Nigerian people go shall, like Pharaoh, perish before our very eyes.

“Those that are filled with bitterness, hate, envy, fury, and rage and that seek to pursue us into the Red Sea as we make our way to the Promise Land shall be drowned by it.

“Whether they like it or not, God-willing, the President-elect SHALL be sworn in on May 29th and those that want him dead or wish him ill shall see the grave long before he does. This is the doing of the Lord and it is marvellous in our sight.”

Meanwhile, some opinion leaders in the country insist that the inauguration should go ahead while the court is allowed to do its job of deciding who won the presidential election.

This is not the first time a president will be inaugurated while contestations about the election are still pending in the court,” according to those familiar with the nation’s political system.

Nothing Will Stop Tinubu’s Inauguration Says Army

James Orji

May 5, 2023

Bola Ahmed Tinubu At Arewa Joint Committee Forum

The Nigerian Army has assured Nigerians of the smooth inauguration of president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Tinubu is billed to be sworn in on May 29 as the country’s 16^th president and commander-in-chief despite controversies surrounding his election.

He will replace the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari who is expected to step back in a few weeks after the end of his eight-year term.

Some Nigerians have expressed reservations about his impending inauguration, while others have called for the institution of an Interim National Government, ING.

On Wednesday, a former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan said the cases arising from the February 25 presidential election should be dispensed with by the tribunal before Tinubu is sworn in.

Not many agreed with the respected Catholic cleric.

Speaking ahead of the May 29 inauguration the Army said it will be hit-free to ensure that ‘nothing unwanted happens.”

It also warned those planning to scuttle the inauguration to have a change of heart.

The Director, Defence Media Operation, Maj.-Gen. Musa Danmadami, told reporters in Abuja that the military and other security agencies are working together so that the country had a smooth transition of power.

According to him, “The issue of threat to the security and stability of the country is addressed promptly. Elections have come and gone. For the presidential election, a winner has been announced.

“There is a transition committee in place comprising all members of the security agencies, ministries, and agencies of government to make sure the event is held successfully and without a glitch.

“We don’t see reasons why there should be a problem during the activity. The inauguration will come and go and nothing will happen.

“We are not going to relent at ensuring there is peace and stability across the length and breadth of the country.”

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