Monday, July 9, 2018

news
John Alechenu and
Eniola Akinkuotu
The All Progressives
Congress on Sunday said
it would take legal actions
against the National Chairman
of the Reformed-APC, Alhaji
Buba Galadima, and other
members of the group.
The National Legal Adviser
of the Adams Oshiomholeled
APC, Babatunde Ogala,
disclosed this in a statement
made available to The PUNCH
via e-mail.
He said this in reaction to
the formation of the splinter
group, R-APC.
Aggrieved members of
the New Peoples Democratic
Party bloc and other aggrieved
members of the ruling APC
had on Thursday last week
announced the formation of
the R-APC.
Ogala accused Galadima
and other R-APC leaders of
impersonation, fraudulent
interpretation, conducts
likely to breach public peace
and breach of trademark and
infringement of copyright.
The APC also hinted
possible arrest of leading
members of the R-APC by
security agencies.
The legal adviser stated,
“For the infringement so far
committed by Mr Galadima
and the odium he has brought
upon the APC brand, we will be
seeking civil redress against his
person and that of his group.
“With respect to the
criminal aspect of his conduct,
we will be notifying the
appropriate authorities to do
the needful.”
According to Ogala, the
press conference and statement
issued by Galadima “were
reminiscent of the televised
military address issued after a
successful execution of a coup
d’état” which had become the
order of the day before the
return of democracy.
Ogala accused the
Saraki
Success Nwogu, Ilorin
The Speaker of the Kwara
State House of Assembly,
Dr Ali Ahmad, has said the
Supreme Court judgement,
which discharged and
acquitted the Senate President,
Dr Bukola Saraki, of false
assets’ declaration and sundry
charges preferred against him
by the Federal Government,
was a victory for democracy
and the rule of law.
In a statement on Sunday,
Ahmad said the apex court
affirmed what Kwara people
had always believed that Saraki
was completely innocent of all
the charges that the Buhari
administration had allegedly
been slamming on him since
2015.
Ahmad said, “We were
led to believe that Saraki was
going through a fair, run-ofthe-mill
trial superintended by
people with integrity. It was a
hoax. Valuable manhour and a
stupendous amount of public
funds were wasted on what the
Supreme Court referred to as a
“forensic somersault.”
•L-R: Vice Principal, African Capital Alliance, Ladell Robbins; Head Strategy, Afriglobal, Neeraj Vaidya; Partner,
Transaction Advisory Services, Ernst and Young Nigeria, Olufemi Alabi; Chief Financial Officer, Jotna Nigeria Limited,
Debasis Roy; and Associate Director, Transaction Advisory Services, EY Nigeria, Damilola Aloba, at EY Nigeria’s
Private Equity Breakfast session in Lagos ...on Thursday. Photo:Goke Famadewa
Ihuoma Chiedozie, Enugu
Governors of the South-
East states rose from a
meeting in Enugu on Sunday
evening with a decision that no
land would be made available
for the establishment of cattle
ranches in the zone.
The meeting, which held at
the Enugu State Government
House, had the governors of
Enugu (Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi),
Ebonyi (Dave Umahi) in
attendance, while Abia and
Anambra were represented by
the deputy governors.
Imo State Governor, Rochas
Okorocha, was absent and was
not represented by his deputy.
The President General
of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief
Nnia Nwodo, presented the
association’s ‘template on
restructuring’ to the governors
at the meeting, which ended
late on Sunday evening.
Addressing journalists
after the parley, the Chairman
of the South-East Governors
Forum, Umahi, disclosed that
the governors had agreed that
ranching would not be allowed
in the zone.
MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018
R-APC: APC drags Galadima, others to court
Galadima-led R-APC of
resorting to self-help instead of
seeking legal redress.
He said if members of
the group felt strongly about
events that took place during
the recently concluded national
convention of the APC, they
should have approached the
court.
He noted that Galadima’s
press release could be captured
under three major issues,
namely:
“That the party’s convention
was improperly conducted by
the convention chairman as
consensus candidates were
only subjected to a ‘yes’ vote in
alleged contravention of Article
20 of the APC constitution.
“That a group of delegates
have come together 10 days
after the successful conduct of
the APC convention to, in their
words, ‘take control and give
legitimacy’ to APC now to be
known as Reformed APC.
“That R-APC, whose
congresses and convention
date has yet to be disclosed,
already has the full
complement of national
executives, national working
committee, state executives
and local government officials
in all 774 local government
areas across the country.”
Faulting Galadima, Ogala
stated, “The question of
elections within the APC is
covered by Article 20 of the
APC Constitution. Specifically,
Section 20 (1) provides that
all party posts prescribed or
implied by this constitution
shall be filled by democratically
conducted elections at the
respective national convention
or congress; subject where
possible to consensus.”
In a veiled reference to
alleged criminal breaches
of the law on the part of the
R-APC, Ogala maintained that
the immediate consequence of
Galadima’s action is that “he
and his gang” had committed
several criminal infractions
against the APC.
The legal adviser said
by referring to himself as a
national chairman, Galadima
had committed the offence of
impersonation.
He said Galadima,
knowingly made a statement
which he knew to be untrue
with the aim of deceiving
Nigerians into abandoning the
APC.
The APC legal adviser
further argued that the APC is
a brand owned by members
of the political party so
registered and that by using
the APC brand, the R-APC had
infringed on the copyright of
the APC and was thus liable.
Ogala said the President
Muhammadu Buhari-led APC
administration was prepared
to do all that was lawfully
necessary to cleanse Nigeria’s
political process of people who
had become accustomed to
brigandage and being unruly.
In his reaction, the National
Publicity Secretary of the
R-APC, Mr Kassim Afegbua,
said, “This long epistle to the
Romans with a series of legal
jargon is only food for the ears
of their political buccaneers
and economic predators.
“This so-called legal adviser
does not need to bog us with
this long, windy and twisted
legal logic; all he needs to
do is to approach a court of
competent jurisdiction and sue
us.
“As one of the beneficiaries
of a convention, he needs to
We won’t donate land for ranching — S’East govs
Umahi explained that the
reports that some South-East
states had made land available
for the establishment of
ranches, based on a request by
the Federal Government, were
not true.
The Ebonyi State Governor
stressed that while the Federal
Government had not asked
for any land for ranches, the
governors would not accede
to such a request, should it be
made.
“No land in the South-East
has been donated for ranching.
We have not donated any land;
we have not been asked to
donate and we are not going to
donate.
“Ranching is not approved
by the South-East governors
in the South-East,” Umahi
declared.
The governors, in the same
vein, condemned the recent
killings in Plateau State, and
demanded “justice for Plateau
people.”
The governors, however,
raised the alarm over what
they described as challenges
posed by the movement of
herdsmen in the South-East.
They agreed to meet with
heads of federal security
agencies over the development.
Reading from a
communiqué adopted at
the meeting, Umahi said,
“The South-East Governors
Forum commiserates with the
Governor of Plateau State and
the people of the state for the
recent killings.
“We condemn the killings
and join other regions to
demand justice for the Plateau
people.
“South-East governors have
noticed increased challenges
in the movement of herdsmen
from one state and region to
another with the resultant
effect of massive destruction
of farmlands with attendant
clashes with farmers.
“South-East governors
have been spending huge
funds in settling farmers
whose farms and crops are
destroyed – we, therefore,
request an emergency
meeting in the South-East
with federal security chiefs,
farmers and herdsmen to stop
the movements and prevent
clashes.”
Following the presentation
by Ohanaeze, the South-
East governors restated their
demand for restructuring.
“Ndigbo’s Stand on
Restructuring of Nigeria was
presented to the South-East
Governors Forum by the
Ohanaeze President, based on
the resolutions arising from the
Awka enlarged Igbo meeting.
“He (Ohanaeze President)
also laid down the template
for the governors. The Forum
thanked Ohanaeze on a job well
done and reiterated its earlier
stand that restructuring is the
only way forward for Nigeria.
“The Forum also decided
that the governors should take
a studied look at the template
of restructuring and will make
its final stand clear by the next
meeting of the Forum,” the
communiqué said.
The governors, at the
meeting, observed that
the ‘dispute’ between the
governments of Anambra and
Ebonyi states over the recent
renaming of Abakiliki Street in
Awka, Anambra State, was due
to ‘communication gap which
is already being closed.’
11
impress his new economic
predators that he too has all it
takes to fit into the filthy lucre
of the present arrangement.”
R-APC meets today,
decides next moves
Meanwhile, R-APC will
hold a crucial meeting in Abuja
on Monday.
A usually reliable source in
the R-APC faction of the All
Progressives Congress told
one of our correspondents,
in Abuja, on Sunday, that
party leaders “are set to meet
tomorrow (Monday) to take
stock of the struggle” and forge
a way forward.
Asked if the recent
Supreme Court decision which
exonerated the President of
the Senate, Bukola Saraki of
corruption charges and the
recent peace moves by the
Adams Oshiomhole-led APC
would help mend fences, the
source said “No.”
He said, “The recent
court victory has more than
anything else, served as a
morale booster for us. It was
not only a victory for Bukola
Saraki; it was a victory for the
rule of law and a vindication
of our earlier position that he
was being persecuted because
the charges against him were
politically motivated.”
The source further said,
“The court decision has
strengthened our resolve to
forge ahead.”
He was non-committal
when asked for specifics on
issues to be discussed.
He said, “For strategic
reasons, we set the agenda
for such meetings on the go,
leaders table issues, we put
them on a scale of importance
and discuss.
“You, however, can’t rule
out discussions on our next
step as a result of the Supreme
Court judgment and peace
moves by the other side.”
Attempts to get a reaction
from the National Chairman
of the R-APC, Buba Galadima,
were unsuccessful. Repeated
calls to his mobile telephone
number were neither picked
nor returned. The number
later became unreachable. A
response to a text message sent
to him on the subject was still
being awaited as at the time of
filing this report.
But Galadima, during
an interview on Kakaaki,
a programme on Africa
Independent Television, said
the R-APC now had enough
lawmakers in the National
Assembly to impeach anybody.
He, therefore, dismissed
claims by the National
Chairman of the APC, Mr
Adams Oshiomhole, that the
party would not lose sleep over
the rebel faction.
The R-APC Chairman said,
“Those who say they would
not lose sleep, why have they
gone cap in hand, kneeling
down before members of the
National Assembly? I want to
say that today, as I sit here if I
give directives to the National
Assembly to impeach anybody
for a constitutional infraction,
it would be done because I have
the majority in the National
Assembly.”