14012020 - 50 years after: Let's revisit issues that caused Civil War

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2020—3
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ADJOURNED:
Lawyer to some
All Progressives
Congress, APC,
clients in the
2019
gubernatorial
elections, Chief
Alex Iziyon (SAN)
(left); Chief Mike
Ozekhomeh
(SAN)
representing
some Peoples
Demicratic Party,
PDP, clients
(middle) and
others after the
Supreme Court
adjourned rulings
on six different
2019
governorship
election petitions
at the Supreme
Court, Abuja,
yesterday. Photo:
Abayomi Adeshida.
Fate of 6 govs hanging, as sick justice
forces S-Court panel to adjourn
•Ganduje, Ortom, Tambuwal, Ihedioha, Lalong, Mohammed await verdict
By Ikechukwu
Nnochiri
ABUJA—FATE of six
governors is currently
hanging in the balance, as the
Supreme Court, yesterday,
abruptly adjourned 13 appeals
that arose from governorship
elections that held in the states
on March 9, 2019.
The apex court, which had
in its cause-list for yesterday,
okayed hearing in appeals
seeking to nullify the outcome
of governorship elections in
Kano, Imo, Sokoto, Plateau,
Bauchi and Benue states,
suddenly suspended its
proceedings after one of the
justices developed an
undisclosed sickness.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria,
CJN, Justice Tanko
Muhammad, who led a
seven-man panel of justices,
announced a stand-down of
all the appeals, midway into
hearing on the case
challenging the election of
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje
of Kano State.
The appeal against Ganduje
was lodged before the court
by the governorship
candidate of Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, Abba
Yusuf.
Yusuf’s lawyer, Chief
Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN,
had after the matter was called
up, identified and adopted all
the processes his client filed
against Ganduje of All
Progressives Congress, APC,
and Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC.
After Awomolo adopted his
brief of argument and urged
the apex court to allow the
appeal and nullify Ganduje’s
re-election, the CJN, notified
parties that a member of the
panel was “seriously sick.”
He said: “Due to unforeseen
circumstances, please the
court will abruptly rise because
one of us is seriously sick.”
The CJN declined to
disclose the identity of the
ailing jurist.
However, the
announcement by the CJN
marked the second time the
apex court panel vacated the
court room for their chambers,
yesterday.
The CJN had about 9:02
a.m., when the court
commenced sitting, led other
justices out of the courtroom,
citing “excessive noise.”
He warned that the court
would not resume until the
noise, occasioned by
mammoth crowd that
struggled for standing space
in the court room, was
minimised.
Consequently, senior
lawyers were restricted to
appear with only five juniors,
even as security operatives
reduced the number of non
lawyers in the court.
Meanwhile, when the court
resumed at 9:20a.m., Yusuf’s
lawyer, Awomolo, SAN,
apologised to the panel for the
noisy atmosphere which he
blamed on non lawyers.
Responding, the CJN said:
“It is alright, but we went out
for a different purpose, and
when the purpose was
achieved, we came back.”
About 20 minutes after the
CJN stood-down, all the
appeals owing to the sudden
sickness of a member of the
panel, a clerk of the court
subsequently announced that
all the appeals would be
adjourned till today.
Ganduje, Ortom,
Tambuwal,
Ihedioha, Lalong,
Mohammed await
verdict
Aside Ganduje, others
awaiting decision of the apex
court on appeal against their
election are Governors Emeka
Ihedioha of Imo State, Aminu
Tambuwal of Sokoto, Simon
Lalong of Plateau, Samuel
Ortom of Benue and Bala
Mohammed of Bauchi .
There are four separate
appeals relating to the Imo
State governorship dispute.
While the first case marked
was filed by Ifeanyi Ararume
of All Progressive Grand
Alliance, APGA, the two other
appeals were lodged against
governor Ihedioha by Senator
Hope Uzodinma of the APC
and Uche Nwosu of the Action
Alliance, AA, respectively.
In Sokoto State, the
governorship candidate of
APC, Ahmed Sokoto, in his
appeal, challenged the
declaration of Tambuwal of
PDP as the valid winner of the
gubernatorial contest in the
state.
On the governorship
dispute in Plateau State, while
the candidate of PDP, Senator
Jeremiah Useni, in his appeal,
queried the election of
Governor Lalong on ground
that election in the state was
characterised by irregularities,
on his own, Lalong also filed
a cross appeal.
In Bauchi, the former
governor of the state,
Mohammed Abubakar, who
lost his re-election bid on the
platform of APC, in his appeal,
challenged his defeat by
former Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory, Bala
Mohammed of the PDP.
Meantime, in Benue State,
the governorship candidate of
APC, Emmanuel Jime, in his
appeal, prayed the apex court
to void governor Ortom’s reelection.
Likewise, Ortom who won
at both the tribunal and the
Court of Appeal, also filed a
cross-appeal, challenging the
legal competence of the
appeal against his election
victory.
My client’s bail conditions impossible to
meet, says Maina’s lawyer
COUNSEL
to
Abdulrasheed Maina,
former chairman of Pension
Reform Task Team, PRTT,
Afam Osigwe, yesterday,
said his client could not fulfill
the conditions of the bail
granted to him by a Federal
High Court in Abuja.
Maina, who is standing trial
on a 12-count charge of
money laundering, was first
arraigned by Economic and
Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, on
October 25.
He had pleaded not guilty
to the charges and Justice
Okon Abang, the trial judge,
granted him a N1 billion bail
one month later.
As part of the bail
conditions, the judge ordered
Maina to provide sureties
with property worth N500
million each. He said the
sureties must have landed
property fully developed in
Asokoro or Maitama in Abuja
and they must be serving
senators with no criminal case
in court.
Abang also ordered that one
of the sureties must be
present in court at every date
fixed for trial.
Maina was also ordered to
deposit all his travel
passports, including
American, Nigerian and
diplomatic passports.
At the resumed trial,
yesterday, Osigwe brought
an application pursuant to
section 181 of the
Administration of Criminal
Justice Act, ACJA, seeking a
bail variation for the former
PRTT chairman.
He said although two
senators had indicated
interest to stand as sureties
“they have stated that they
neither have property in
either Asokoro or Maitama
worth the amount specified
by the court.”
The judge adjourned the
case till today to continue
hearing the application to
vary the bail.
NIMASA, NBS move to
aggregate shipping sector
contribution to GDP
By Emeka
Anaeto & Godwin
Oritse
THE National Bureau of
Statistics, NBS, and
Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety
Agency, NIMASA, are
currently in talks on how to
aggregate and calculate the
maritime and shipping
sectors’ contribution to the
nation’s Gross Domestic
Product, GDP.
Disclosing this in Lagos,
weekend, NIMASA’s
Director-General, Dr. Dakuku
Peterside, said the contribution
of the sector was currently
scattered across different
segments of the transport,
trade and other sectors’
contribution to the GDP.
He said the ongoing
discussion aims to capture the
comprehensive segments of
the maritime industry
including Customs’ collections
at the ports into single
contribution to the GDP when
it eventual takes off.
He explained that it was the
hope of the agency that all
maritime and shipping
activities will be captured in
the database of the NBS.
Final Billing System
eases shipping
operations
Meanwhile, at the backdrop
of delays vessel turnaround
time at the Nigerian ports as
well as the huge debt owed
the NIMASA by shipping
companies, the agency has
introduced its new ship billing
system called the Final Billing
System, so as to hasten
preparation of shipping
services bills.
Listing the major landmark
achievements of the agency in
2019, Peterside said before
now, shipping companies and
their agents would have in
their books unending
NIMASA’s bill, adding that
most of these bills were not
reconciled for a very long time.
He also said the
introduction of the new billing
system had reduced vessel
dwell time, under invoicing,
over invoicing and
inappropriate invoicing.
According to him, under the
new system shipping firms
can now close their books on
any particular ship delivery
within two weeks.
He stated: “The introduction
of the Final Billing System
has put to rest the issues of
double billing and under
billing with the creation of a
platform for dispute resolution.
The system ensures
appropriate closure on all
vessel transactions within a
period of two weeks after
departure. This has led to
improved customer
satisfaction.
“Before now shipping
companies and their agents
would have in their books
unending NIMASA’s bills
either it’s a staled form, under
billing, over billing and more
often these bills are not
reconciled for a very long time.
“The first thing the new final
billing system has done is that
it has helped to reduce dwell
time in our ports. When a
vessel comes, that vessel can
leave once her agent signs an
undertaking, the agent will
not stop doing business
because of the single vessel.
“The agent cannot sign
another undertaking if the first
one has not been reconciled.
“If you look at the impact on
the economy, when a vessel
gets stock for days just because
it was not given a sailing
clearance, off-course, it will
start paying demurrage, it will
continue paying theNigerian
Ports Authority, NPA, charges
for berthing space.
“It has cut down vessel dwell
time, improved vessel
turnaround time. The second
one is that it enables you close
the books within two weeks."
Customs short-lists 162,399
from 828,333 applicants
By Emma Ujah,
Abuja Bureau Chief
THE Nigeria Customs
Service, NCS, has shortlisted
a total of 162,399 out of
828,333 candidates, who
applied for various positions
in the organisation, last year.
Comptroller-General, Col.
Hamid Ali (retd), said he
would ensure a transparent
recruitment exercise.
Public Relations Officer of
the service, Joseph Attah, in
a statement, yesterday,
indicated that short-listed
candidates were being
notified via their e-mail
addresses and telephone
numbers.
According to him, the
candidates would write an
aptitude test on the date and
centre indicated in the
messages received from the
organisation.
He warned that applicants
should be wary of fraudsters
demanding money for the job,
stressing that the process was
free.
Attah said: “Following
vacancies advertisement by
the Nigeria Customs Service
last year and the disturbing
attempts by internet
fraudsters to hack and
discredit the recruitment
process.
“The Comptroller-General
of Customs, Col. Ali (retd)
has expressed dismay over
the criminal activities of these
elements and gave
assurances of his
determination to preside over
a recruitment process that will
be credible, transparent and
smooth from the beginning
to the end.
“Accordingly, after a
painstaking short-listing
process, a total of 162,399 had
been short-listed out of
828,333 candidates that
applied."