Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has dissociated himself from the suit filed at an Abuja High Court asking that the Court declare him the authentic Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
News broke Thursday evening, and went viral on Friday that Wike has jointly filed a suit with one Lawyer, Newgent Ekemon, seeking the nullification of Atiku’s Candidacy.
Joined in the purported suit were Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
But soon after the story went viral, Governor Wike said he does not even know the lawyers who filed the suit, and never approved of it. He apparently read it like everybody else.
According to the purported suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/782/2022, Wike and Ekamon claimed PDP gave undue advantage to Tambuwal’s withdrawal for Atiku which aided the laters emergence as the candidate of the PDP in the May 28 and 29 primary.
But Wike who spoke to ThisDay Friday, expressed surprise over the suit, describing it as the handiwork of mischief makers who acted with intent to use him to score cheap political goals.
“I don’t know the lawyers. Am I a kid to be filing a suit at this time? I had 14 days within which to file any suit. I didn’t, then is it two months after I will file a suit?
“Just a few days ago, they came up with the claim that I ordered my Chief Security Officer to pull down PDP’s flag in my office.
“This is all propaganda. Some people are trying to use me to win election.”
Wike then threatened to sue over the publication of the suit because he had nothing to do with it.
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the Party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, in his reaction to the alleged suit, and Wike’s denial of any knowledge of it, hailed the Rivers State Governor as a strong Party man. He blamed the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the misinformation.
Ayu was quoted to have, allegedly, said: “Wike never took PDP to Court. It was sponsored by the APC. Wike knows that if he had to take the Party to Court over the Primaries, he had only 14 days window of opportunity to do so. Wike is a strong Party man and he has come out to deny that.”
The PDP crisis has taken a new dimension as the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has sued the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar; the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; and the PDP over the result of the presidential primary elections by the party.
On May 28 and May 29, 2022, the party elected Atiku as their flag bearer that left Wike aggrieved.
He also lost out as the Vice Presidential candidate to Atiku.
Wike filed a joint suit with a chieftain of the party Newgent Ekamon.
He listed the PDP as the first respondent while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the 2nd respondent. Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal and Abubakar are listed as the 3rd and 4th respondents respectively.
Wike asked the court to determine whether Tambuwal stepping down for Abubakar amounts to the loss of his votes, rendering vote transfer to Atiku as null and void.
In an eight point prayer that serve as part of the originating summon, Wike is seeking for nine reliefs, including nullification of Tambuwal’s votes.
Condemning the PDP position as negligent and in bad faith since Tambuwal stepped down after voting commenced, they prayed the court to “cancel the transfer of votes and a corresponding order restraining the 3rd respondent (Tambuwal’s) withdrawal in the primary was done after voting had commenced.”Subsequent upon this, the Court should remove the name of Atiku as a Presidential Candidate and recount the votes and declare Wike Winner.
At the primary, Atiku polled 371 votes, Wike polled 237 and Bukola Saraki garnered 70 votes.
Wike, therefore, asked the court to direct“the 1st respondent (PDP) to declare the 2nd applicant (Wike), a presidential aspirant in the May 28 and May 29 primary as the winner of the aforesaid primary with a corresponding order directing the 1st respondent (PDP) to forward his name as the candidate to contest the presidential election in 2023.”
Ekamon, on his part, said he was a member of the PDP and that he is attesting to the fact that Wike won the presidential election.
“The third respondent (Tambuwal) speaking twice before stepping down from the contest, persuaded all his delegates who were going to vote for him to vote for the 4th respondent (Atiku).
“The 1st (PDP) and 4th (Atiku) respondents who also wanted the votes desperately agreed with the 3rd (Tambuwal) and assigned 3rd (Tambuwal) respondent’s votes to the 4th (Atiku) respondent and increased his votes to win the 2nd applicant (Wike).
“The 2nd applicant (Wike) won the primaries if the votes of the 3rd respondent (Tambuwal) had not been transferred or assigned to the 4th respondent (Atiku)”, he said.
The National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, later described Tambuwal as the “hero of the convention.”
Wike had recently met with Atiku with a view to resolve the knotty issue, but it appears the peace deal has collapsed. Only recently, Wike had removed all PDP flags from his office. In a swift move, the PDP had removed him as the leader of the party in Rivers State.
A new global coalition of human rights, The International College of Democracy and Human Rights Scholars, ICDHRS, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of destroying 15 million voters cards in Nigeria. They claim the destruction is targeted against specific electoral blocks.
ICDHRS is a recently formed coalition of “democracy and social justice experts” operating in Nigeria and abroad.
In a letter written to INEC dated 10 August, 2022, the group accused the Commission of “deliberately, mindlessly, hatefully and discriminatorily engaging in “massive disenfranchisement of tens of millions of enthusiastic Nigerians that trouped to INEC registration centers so as to be registered ahead of the 2023 Presidential Election.”
They alleged that the discovery was made during a “critical examination by the College of the INEC released official statistics relating to the 31st July 2022 abrupt termination of the CVR ahead of the country’s 2023 General Elections especialy the Presidential segment. “The 15.4m new voters registrations destroyed by INEC is more than the total winning votes (15,191,847 votes) of the country’s Presidential Election of February 2019 declared by the Commission and credited to the Presidency of Buhari/Osibanjo.”
In a press release Thursday, the group said: “The letter was duly communicated yesterday, 10th August 2022 through their official emails and WhatsApp. A physical copy has also been delivered at the Office of the INEC Chairman in Abuja.
“The letter was a follow-up to the first letter by the College written to the Commission on 14th June 2022, a period of 27 days today.
“It must be recalled that the College had in its letter of 14th July 2022 investigated and identified 30 disenfranchisement and election rigging plots ahead of the 2023 General Elections particularly the President segment and called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to publicly speak in admission to or against the 30 rigging plots with outlined plan of action to tackle them headlong.
“Regrettably, the Commission neither reached out nor publicly spoke or responded till date. The Commission also chose not to respond to any of the issues raised including our 16-point demands; thereby taking responsibility for hatching the 30 poll rigging plots. By the above, therefore, no explanations by the Commission concerning the letter will be entertained or accepted by the College.”
According to the release,
“The College carefully studied INEC’s officially released statistics including its updates on CVR, starting from 28th June or end of June 2021 when the CRV commenced and 31st July 2022 when it was abruptly terminated and found that INEC deliberately, mindlessly, hatefully and discriminatorily engaged in massive disenfranchisement of tens of millions of enthusiastic Nigerians that trouped to INEC registration centers so as to be registered ahead of the 2023 Presidential Election. The destruction was also found to have been perpetrated on the grounds of ethnicity and religion. It was further discovered that the destroyed figure (15.4m new voters’ registrations) did not include those that logged unto INEC’s online voters’ registration portal but could not continue or conclude their registrations.
“To buttress the above, it was observed, for instance, that between January 2022 and 2nd June 2022, a total of 19.1m applicants were received by the Commission, out of which only 6.8m were validated as ‘successfully registered voters’. INEC had, for no just reason, shut down its online voters’ registration portal on 31st May 2022 and never opened it till 31st July 2022 when it abruptly terminated the CVR Exercise. “Apart from several INEC top-shots descending so low to hatefully and discriminatorily mock the affected citizens, saying they: “suddenly wake up at their beck and call to be registered”, the Commission was maliciously found to have hidden under the cloak of “incomplete registration”, “multiple registrations” and “timed-out biometric capturing” as reasons for the massive disenfranchisement.
“Consequently, INEC’s hurried termination of the CVR on 31st July 2022 which is seven months before the Feb and March 2023 General Elections, contrary to the statutorily provided 90 days or Nov 25, 2022, is utterly suspicious and strongly condemned. It is also a confirmation that the Commission is partisan and holding brief for a particular political party and its candidate and bent on massively disenfranchising tens of millions of citizens of voting age including 7m-11m that successfully did their online pre-registration and voters’ registration by 90% completion, remaining only physical biometric capturing. “Therefore, what the sum total of the above means is that while tens of millions of Nigerian citizens of voting age worked hard under the rain and the sun and got registered by INEC, the Commission unscrupulously engaged in destruction of their registrations, to the tune of 15.4m and as if that was not enough, the Commission has further threatened to disenfranchise millions more between August and November 2022 repetitively using “elimination of multiple registrants” as a deceitful cover.”
“According to Guardian Newspaper of 14th April 2022, quoting INEC Chairman (Prof Mahmood Yakubu),”1.39m or 45% of the newly registered voters were invalidated (disenfranchised) between 28th June and 31st Dec 2021 out of over new 3m citizens that registered”. The invalidated figure of 1.39m were accused by INEC of “incomplete and multiple registrations” and in January 2022 alone, according to same media report, “1.1m were invalidated” on same “grounds”. Between 1st Feb and 28th June 2022, according to This Day Newspaper of 28th June 2022, quoting official statistics of INEC, “only 8,631,696 of the 10,487,972 newly registered voters were successfully registered and 1,856, 276 invalidated or disenfranchised”. According to INEC statement of 1st August 2022, “7,043,594 newly registered voters who successfully completed their online pre-registration were invalidated on account of their failure to have their physical biometrics captured by INEC before CVR deadline of 31st July 2022” and that “out of 10,487, 972 successful online CVR registrants, only 3,444,378 were successfully captured in physical biometrics capturing”. Further findings made by the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, a network of 80 CSOs, as reported by Punch Newspaper of 3rd August 2022, indicated that “11million citizens who completed their INEC online registration forms were shut out from being captured biometrically and massively disenfranchised by the Commission”. The Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room had spoken through Ene Obi and appeals made to the Commission to capture and enfranchise them fell on deaf ears till date.”
The coalition comprises 41 Professors, 20 Doctorate Degree Holders, 30 Lawyers, 19 Indigenous Northern Religious Leaders, 14 Eastern Nigerian Democracy and Human Rights CSO Leaders, Swiss and American Rights Campaigners, and some other democracy and social justice advocates or campaigners.
Nollywood Actor, Moses Armstrong is in deep trouble.
Armstrong is alleged to have raped, intimated and supplied abortion drugs to a 16-Year-old.
The embattled Actor is now charged with rape, intimidation, conspiracy and supply of instruments to procure abortion drugs for the said minor.
The Akwa Ibom State Government is prosecuting the actor, and has filed charges against him on Wednesday, August 10, 2022, at a State High Court sitting in Uyo, the State Capital.
Armstrong, who was a former aide to Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him, and was granted bail by Justice Ntong Ntong in the sum of N5 million.
Armstrong was arrested on June 13, 2022, for allegedly raping the a 16-year-old minor who he adopted and has been leaving with him and his family.
The news which made the rounds on the social and conventional media that Nigerian Musician, Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe, popularly known as Kizz Daniel, was arrested and detained by Tanzanian Police has been debunked.
It was also alleged that the ‘Buga’ crooner refused to perform because he didn’t have his gold chain on him.
This was actually disclosed by the Show Promoter, Steven Kelvin. But he has made an about-turn, and confessed that he lied against Kizz Daniel.
Steven made this revelations during an interview with Daddy Freeze alongside Kizz Daniel’s brother, Tolu.
It was disclosed that there were pressing technical issues that stopped the Nigerian singer from performing and not the alleged missing gold chain as circulated on Social Media.
When Daddy Freeze posed a question to Steven why he lied that Kizz Daniel on the reason he failed to perform because he didn’t see his Gold Chain, Kelvin stated that “emotions were high that night”.
It was also revealed that the $60,000 he earlier earlier claimed was paid to the singer, , was not paid to Kizz Daniel directly but to an agency managed by music executive, Paul Okoye.
Steven also admitted that the singer tried to salvage the situation and also met with fans to apologize and postponed the show after arriving for the event an hour to his performance, following an eight-hour flight delay in Kenya.
According to Daniel, the show promoters told him there’s no need for that as they will take care of it, but never did.
Tolu who revealed that the contract for the show allowed for it to be postponed, added that Kizz Daniel also offered to pay for a hall and for other things to ensure that the show was successful if postponed, which the show promoters agreed to but reneged after things took a negative turn.
He also stated that the singer was not arrested but taken in for questioning to know what really happened.
Steven admitted that all these happened, but said they were only trying not to have issues with authorities because they are new in business in the country and also didn’t know how to tell the concert-goers that it has been postponed.
A Flourish Sabastine 85th- minute solo strike was all the Falconets needed to record a 1-0 Victory over European Champions, France, at the ongoing FIFA Under-20 Female World Cup in Costa Rica.
The Falconets had started the match at San Jose Stadium as the minnow team, but grew into the game as it gathered momentum, absorbing the pressure from the French ladies.
There was relatively no much action in the first 20 minute as the French team dominated the game and dictated the pace with the Nigerian team sitting back.
The game was halted for over an hour following a heavy downpour that saw the pitch waterlogged, prompting the center referee to halt the game with both teams returning to their respective dressing room.
At the resumption of the match after the rain subsided, France continued from where they stopped dictating the pace with the Falconets, this time, forcing a counter attack on the France team.
This did not metamorphose into anything positive as no meaningful chance was created.
Nigeria got the best chance of the game with a square play from Flourish Sabastine linking up with Mercy Idoko whose shot was saved by the French Goalkeeper for a corner kick.
The French team didn’t rest on their oars as its gangling striker, Sangare, hit a powerful shot that was also saved by the Nigeria goalkeeper, Monle Oyono.
The Video Assistant Referee, VAR, rescued the Falconets who went a goal down from a corner kick that was converted but a foul occurred in the process, as VAR yanked off the goal.
Few minutes later, a through pass from Mercy Idoko released Flourish Sabastine who outpaced her makers to score a brilliant solo goal to give the Falconets the needed three points to go top of the Group.
Coach Chris Danjuma started the game with Monle Oyono in goal, Oluwatosin Demehin, Omowunmi Oshobukola, Rofiat Imuran and Jumoke Alani in the defense line.
Joy Jerry, Mercy Idoko, Motunrayo Amoo and Deborah Abiodun in the midfield with Flourish Sabastine and Esther Onyenezide leading the attack.
The Falconets face South Korea on Sunday, 14th August, 2022, in their second match of the World Showpiece.
The Imo State Government has denied receiving the sum of N70b as tax from the Federal Government.
In a statement signed by the Media Adviser/Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Oguwike Nwachuku, the Government debunked
the claim by a group of people “purportedly from Egbema, in Ohaji/ Egbema Local Government Area, that N70b was released to the Imo State Government as accrued taxes from the oil producing status of the state.”
Said the statement:
“No such money was released to the State Government.
“This Government runs an open and transparent process.
“There is no way such a huge amount of N70b could be released to the State Government as accrued taxes, secretly.
“The truth is that the information is false. Those behind the press conference should desist from raising false alarm.”
When a proud Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Amusan climbed the podium in faraway Eugene, Oregon in the United States, as the World Champion in Women 100m Hurdles, not a few equally proud Nigerians mounted with her in spirit.
She had just set a new World Record at 12.12s breaking Keni Kendra Harrison’s 27-year record and leaving legend Michael Johnson wondering how she did it.
Whether from their living rooms in Canada, in the consulting rooms of UK hospitals, or even on the streets of Indonesia, where they have all migrated in search of the good life that had eluded them in Nigeria, in those few moments we were all Nigerians. We were there with her on the podium.
In that brief moment when Nigeria’s National Anthem was played for the entire world, our Nigerian-ness was not in doubt.
Then the Commonwealth Games started a few days later in Birmingham, UK and our star girl repeated the feat.
Along with other Nigerian girls, she reminded the world of the greatness that is in and of Nigeria, despite the odds.
Before the games started, the team found as it was in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow eight years ago, and even in the Tokyo Olympics, too, that the officials had forgotten the team’s kits.
The omens didn’t look good.
Tobi Amusan
Make no mistake about it, Nigeria has everything it takes to be great and occupy a front row seat among nations as a world leader.
We all know it, even if it’s unfortunate that Tobi, just like many others before her, could only truly display that greatness in spite of, rather than because of Nigeria.
Tobi Amusan was born and raised Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria. Her parents, who are school teachers in a country where teachers are worth 10 for a penny, could never by any stretch of luck afford an education in the University of Texas, El Paso, where she met her current coach, Lacena Golding-Clarke.
Listening to her during an interview she granted at UTEP in 2018, Amusan made it clear that she couldn’t have gone far without scholarships from the American university and her coach, who is also a three-time Olympian for Jamaica.
Yes, it’s true that the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Habu Gumel, has come out to say that Amusan is one of the Nigerian athletes on the sponsorship of the Olympic body with some annual stipends since 2018 till date.
But that only came two years after her UTEP’s scholarship. As a matter of fact, she went Pro in 2018, which means that though she was still taking courses at the University toward her degree in Health Promotions, she was no longer competing for UTEP.
It was between 2016 and 2018 that she got the greatest boost her career needed, and that didn’t come from the Nigerian government.
Nevertheless, her win is for her, as well for Nigeria and Nigerians.
But typical of Nigerians and our penchant for always searching for thorns even among de-thorned roses, we have managed to make Amusan’s glorious win another moment of national homicide.
The tears that involuntarily ran down her face while the Nigerian National Anthem was on hadn’t even dried before the ugly divisive theories took over.
On the one side are those who have obviously ruled out any goodwill towards this country and so the best they could do was to link her tears to everything that has gone wrong with Nigeria. You would think Amusan had written a speech and handed it over to them to disseminate. Yet, every single word came from their own already poisoned selves.
Of course, it isn’t difficult to understand this almost suffocating bile and its roots. But how do despair and spreading apocalyptic theories make the country any better?
Then, on the other side are the government apologists, career ostriches who have long unashamedly forgotten their heads in the sands of a clueless and rudderless leadership that has bedevilled this country for a while now. They think Amusan’s win is another reason to sneer at those they have labelled as this administration’s detractors.
To them, Amusan’s win is another sign that Nigeria is doing well and would get even better if only the critics stopped calling out this government at every turn.
They always wait for these blue moon appearances on the world stage to gloat about their pseudo-patriotism and the rest of the boloney, that even they themselves would ordinarily find hard to keep down, if their outlook hadn’t been so coloured by illogical self-preservative tendencies.
The truth they know but prefer to overlook is that for every Amusan out there mounting world podiums in Nigeria’s name, there are countless other athletes who have since given up and would proudly wear the flags of other countries in their moments of glory.
For instance, in 2016 about 10 Nigerian athletes were at the Rio Olympics for other countries. This was repeated during the last Olympics in Tokyo, Japan in 2021.
During that Olympics, while only Blessing Oborodudu and Ese Brume were the only athletes that won medals for Team Nigeria, at least 10 Nigerian athletes played for other countries like Japan, USA, Italy and Norway during the games, with some of them winning medals for those countries.
And, really, no one blames them because the Nigerian government’s poor treatment of Nigerian athletes – and its professionals in general – over the years isn’t some secret tucked away in hidden files; it’s always displayed at every opportunity.
The unfortunate result is there for all to see.
Just a few days ago it was disclosed that the UK’s General Medical Council had licensed at least 266 Nigerian doctors in June and July 2022.
And that’s for a country that has long fallen short of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of one medical doctor to 600 patients.
According to a recent report by the ICIR, only four doctors are available for 10,000 patients as of 2022, and this is even said to be the best in the last four years. That’s the same country that has allowed itself to lose three doctors daily to the UK just between June and July.
In August 2021, armed operatives of the State Security Service were reported to have gone to Sheraton Hotel in Abuja to disperse Nigerian doctors who were arriving for an interview for medical positions in Saudi Arabia.
The current trend of brain-drain in Nigeria cuts across professions, especially among the younger population.
That Amusan and some of her colleagues haven’t abandoned Nigeria isn’t because of Nigeria and we must never become so deluded as to think so.
And that’s what we should celebrate; her win, her strength, her skills and her patriotism, which has proved real and true.
The performance of our athletes in Birmingham should remind us of millions of Tobi Amusans pining away in the crannies of our country, the same country that produced and nurtured world class athletes from Emmanuel Ifeajuna to Richard Ihetu (Dick Tiger), and from Chidi Imoh to Sunday Bada and FalilatOgunkoya, among others.
Turning Tobi Amusan’s golden feat into another opportunity for needless propaganda or spreading bile all over an already fragile country would be a major disservice to this great Nigerian young woman.
It would also be a great loss of a teachable moment for us all. When the official chest-thumping is over and hopefully some shame and modesty return, the government should decide to henceforth do all it can in the short time remaining to nurture and retain every Tobi Amusan out there, not just in sports, but also across all professions.
Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has canvassed better welfare package for the personnel of the Nigeria Police Force to motivate them for quality service delivery.
The Governor spoke on Thursday when he received executive members of the Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund in Ado Ekiti.
Speaking while receiving the team, Dr. Fayemi, who spoke through the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, said the welfare of officers and men of the Nigeria Police should be accorded priority because of their importance in maintaining security of lives and property.
He identified areas that the Police need motivation to include better salary and allowances, training, housing scheme, insurance and state-of-the-art equipment to tackle insecurity and all forms of crimes and criminality in the country.
Responding to the request of the leader of the delegation for the support of the states and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) for the Police personnel, Dr. Fayemi said efforts should be made by stakeholders to support the Police to perform their statutory and constitutional duties.
“We appreciate the laudable roles of the Police Trust Fund and we will support it in giving welfare to the personnel. We are going to look into your demands because we recognize the importance of the Police.”
The Governor assured that his administration would continue to support the state police command within the limited resources available to the state government.
Dr. Fayemi commended the Police for displaying high level of professionalism and efficiency during the last governorship election held in the state which was conducted under a peaceful atmosphere.
The Governor charged corporate organisations to support the Police Trust Fund to deliver on its mandate to assist the Police in the areas of better welfare, training and retooling.
Speaking earlier, leader of the.delegation and member, Board of Trustees, Police Trust Fund, Dr. Adebiyi, commended the Ekiti State Government for its moral, financial and logistics support to the Police.
Dr. Adebiyi disclosed that the Police Trust Fund was established by President Muhammadu Buhari, to mobilize funds in order to improve the funding of the Police in view of the fact that the security force is underfunded.
The Police Trust Fund chief noted that the Board deemed it fit to go to the field to see the challenges being faced by the personnel and to explore ways to ameliorate the situation.
He used the opportunity to express the gratitude of the Police to the state government for the support enjoyed in Ekiti while also describing the security situation in the state as commendable.
Dr. Adebiyi urged Governor Fayemi to use his position as the NGF Chairman to assist the Police Trust Fund to access its funds held up by legal issues to assist the Force to achieve its mandate.
Attorney General of the Federation, (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has absolved the present administration from any blame on deductions from states funds arising from Paris Club refund to settle consultants.
Under the previous administration states shared the sum of $418m Paris Club in form of loan to assist them to get over some of their financial problem.
According to the AGF, state Governors have no basis to complain about deductions from the Paris Club refund paid to the consultants they hired.
Malami, during a ministerial briefing in Abuja on Thursday, explained that the Governors created the liability whuch payment they have also indemnified.
Addressing the controversy caused by the recent deductions made from the refund, the Minister affirmed that when the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) made a request for the refund, one of the components was the settlement of the consultants who were engaged by the forum.
Malami recalled that when the Paris Club refund was paid to the states, the governors initially made part payment to the Consultants, but later decided to stop payment, which led to Court case and they asked for an out of court settlement.
The Minister said this resulted to request to the President to make the payment to the Consultants, a request he said, was then passed on to the Office of the AGF for legal opinion.
Malami noted that after being subjected to necessary checks, it was found out that there was no element of fraud involved
“The President passed all the requests of the governors to the Office of the Attorney General for consideration.
“I suggested to the President on the face value of the judgment and the undertones associated with the consultancy services, it was my opinion, the same treatment we metted to P&ID, that let us subject this claim, the consent judgment to investigation by the agencies of the government.
“Mr. President approved, I directed the EFCC and DSS to look into these claims and report back to the office of the Attorney General.
“And these agencies reported and concluded that there are no problem undertone associated with it. The government may continue to sanction the payment dependent. Now, that was the background.
“Even at that, we took further steps after receiving these reports from the EFCC among others, to demand for indemnity from the governors.
“You, as a forum, you incurred this liability, you submitted to consent judgment, we have subjected this claims to investigation and we have a report.
“But even at that, we need independent indemnity from you, establishing that it is with your consent and understanding that these payments should be made, in writing.
“And I’m happy to report to you that the governors individually and collectively provided the desired indemnity to the Office of the Attorney General, conceding, agreeing and submitting, that the payment should be made.
“Yes, and that was the ground and the basis on which we eventually took a decision by advising the President that the payment should be made.
“And then along the line, there was a change of leadership of the Governors Forum.
“And all the noise making that is now being generated arising from the Governors Forum is not only unjustified, but indeed, a clear case of absence of defense.”
“But one other point of interest you may wish to note, is the fact that the new leadership of the Governors Forum instituted an action, even when the federal government was indeed acting on the basis of the judgment of the Supreme Court.
“They now embarked on a fresh legal suit, challenging the payment, challenging the previous agreement, challenging the indeminity and the court dismissed the application. Their case was dismissed by the Federal High Court.
“So, that is the foundation and I’m happy to report one, that the judgment and contention was a judgment that was obtained long before the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami came into office, long before the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari came into office.
“It was a product of their own doing and they had it submitted to judicial proceeding, judgment was entered against them.
“They have committed to the payment of the money, they have on their own indeed effected part payment. I closed my case and I will not like to answer any further question on that.”
