Avengers plotting to kill Jonathan, kinsman cries out – Newspaper Review

The front pages of Nigerian dailies for Friday, August 19 bear stories of the chaos within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as the troubles rocking the national assembly. Not left out is the war within the Niger Delta, the Federal Governments quest to quell the storm in the region.

The Punch reports that The Body of Principal Officers of the House of Representatives said on Thursday that the decision to sack its former Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Mr Abdulmumin Jibrin, was a collective action.

They also disassociated themselves from Jibrin and his recent allegations

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It said Jibrin was sacked in response to agitation by the majority of members after they discovered that he abused the 2016 budget.

The principal officers also noted that the budget would have suffered more abuse in the hands of Jibrin had the House, the Senate and a team from the Executive not met to retrieve it from the former chairman.

They explained that the rescue mission started after various Ministries, Departments and Agencies complained of being harassed by Jibrin.

It was the first time the principal officers came out boldly as a body to disown Jibrin since he began his budget-padding allegations against Dogara and three of the principal officers on July 21.

All 10 principal officers of the House signed the document.

They are Dogara; Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun; Majority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; Deputy Leader, Buba Jibril; Deputy Whip, Pally Iriase; Minority Leader, Leo Ogor; Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyeama; Deputy Minority Leader, Yakubu Barde; and Deputy Minority Whip, Binta Bello-Maigeri.

They described Jibrin’s allegations as “wild” and “baseless.”

The Guardian, The Vanguard and This Day, all have on their front pages the story of Abia’s governorship controversy.

It was victory for Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State yesterday as the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja set aside the judgment that removed him from office.

The panel, which comprised Justices Helen Ogunwumiju, Abubakar Datti Yahaya, Philomina Ekpe, Ibrahim Shatta Bdliya and Saidu Tanko Hussaini, set aside the judgment delivered by Justice Okon Abang in its entirety.

The court held that the originating summons which led to the judgment that removed Ikpeazu was not properly constituted, and as such, the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear it, and consequently, any decision that flowed from it was null and void.

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Aside from not signing the originating summons, the court held that the suit filed by Dr. Samson Ogah did not disclose any cause of action because it was filed even before the appellant (Ikpeazu) submitted his documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Justice Shatta agreed with the counsel to the governor, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) that it was not the duty of the court to begin to search for the signatory to the originating summons to authenticate it as required by law.

The court also held that although the originating summons was later amended, an amended summons has no capacity to cure a defective and incurably bad originating summons being the foundation of the suit.

According to the appellate court, “the law has laid down principles by which a case can be instituted, but on the motion which led to this appeal, three people indicated themselves as lawyers and signed the document while the law states that only an identifiable legal practitioner can do so.”

The court ruled that it was not its business to embark on a voyage of helping a litigant decide who filed his case, and by so doing, the lower court erred in deciding for the litigants.

In another pronouncement by Justice Ogunwumiju, the appellate court held that Justice Abang raped democracy in his order that the INEC should issue a certificate of return to Ogah when there was no evidence of forgery or criminality against Ikpeazu.

According to the court, the judgment of Justice Abang was grossly erroneous because it was based on inadequacy of tax receipt that cannot be visited on the appellant.

“After reading through the judgment several times, I was amazed at how the trial judge arrived at his conclusion of perjury against the appellant when there was no evidence of forgery. To say the least, his findings are ridiculous.

“The judge must have sat in his chamber, unilaterally assessed and computed the tax of the appellant and came to the conclusion that he did not pay the required tax. But let me say that courts are not allowed to speculate as the trial judge has done in the instant case.

“In another breath, the trial judge spoke from both sides of his mouth when in one breath, he claimed that he based his findings on supply of false information and in another breadth, he came to the conclusion that the appellant in this matter committed perjury, even when there was no allegation of forgery and no allegation that he did not pay tax.”

The Appeal Court also held that the Federal High Court judge turned the head of the law upside down in his conclusion that it was the appellant that should bear the burden of proof on the allegation made by Ogah.

Nigerian Tribune reports that the national chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, on Thursday, said the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) poses a very big challenge to the commission.

Yakubu, who was on a familiarisation visit to the Tribune headquarters, at Imalefalafia, Ibadan, Oyo State, said the commission received a total of 11 conflicting judgments and orders within the last three months.

Professor Yakubu, who came in company with other top functionaries of INEC, noted that the commission was particularly worried about judgments emanating from courts of coordinate jurisdiction across the country.

The PDP is currently divided into two factions, which are not only entangled in a litany of court cases, but are also separately laying claim to the leadership of the party.

Just like it happened on May 21, the national convention of the party slated for Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday, was again aborted principally by conflicting court judgments.

Professor Yakubu identified one of the core challenges confronting the commission as the issue of conflicting court judgments, stressing that within two days  this month (August) alone, the commission received one judgment and three court orders relating to the PDP crisis.

He slammed politicians for wanting to exploit the courts, hence “they all operate at the level of the high courts,” as none of them had gone to the Court of Appeal.

“Courts of law and their judgments must be obeyed. Within three months, we received as of yesterday (Wednesday), 11 court judgments and orders, almost all of them conflicting. All of them were from courts of coordinate jurisdiction; all of them from the High Court.

“In fact, in two days, 15th and 16th of this month, we received one judgment and three court orders, from courts of coordinate jurisdiction from different parts of the country, two from Port Harcourt, two from Abuja.

“As we closed from work yesterday (Wednesday), a Federal High Court in Abuja came with another judgment. So, it is really a very big challenge. The politicians want to exploit the courts; that is why they all operate at the level of the High Court, none of them has gone to the Court of Appeal,” the INEC boss said.

The Nation reports that those linking former President Goodluck Jonathan to the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) are gunning for his head, Niger Delta stakeholders alleged yesterday.

The stakeholders under the aegis of the Coalition of Niger Deltans for Justice and Development (CONDJUD) described the allegation that Jonathan is the grand patron of NDA as callous, wicked and unthinkable.

“It is a plot to bring him to disrepute and eventually kill him”, CONDJUD National President Chief Ebiakpor Barley claimed in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital.

NDA, also yesterday, renewed its campaign for Niger Delta Republic, fixing October 1 for the venture.

CONDJUD also frowned at the security report alleging Jonathan’s involvement with NDA, saying it was “contrived by hired blackmailers for selfish, personal and wicked reasons.”

Barley said despite the smear campaign, Jonathan remained a good, innocent, peace-loving, law-abiding and God-fearing man.

He said: “Laughable as the allegations against him (Jonathan) in the campaign of calumny already in the open are, it cannot be taken for granted and waved aside as it is serious because they are desperate and anxious to accomplish their clandestine mission to malign, frame up and eliminate an innocent man.

“The  plot is to link and to establish him as the chief sponsor of the activities of a militant group in the Niger Delta – the Niger Delta Avengers. The ex-President, we all know, is a meek and honest man, who upholds more than anything else, the unity of Nigeria and progress of her people for greater development.

“Therefore, any kind of thinking to link him with any set  of persons or cabal planning or carrying out bloody mission of bombing and destroying the economic means of the country or destabilising the nation, cannot and does not tally with his character.”

Jonathan, Barley said, demonstrated his belief in non-violence and the development of the country when he vowed that “no blood of any Nigerian is worth my ambition”.

He said Jonathan voluntarily relinquished power to his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari, without allowing his followers to foment trouble during and after the 2015 presidential election.

Daily Sun reports that a peaceful protest by students of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) yesterday turned bloody leaving one student injured, four vehicles burnt with several others vandalised.

The  violence, came few days after the vice chancellor of the university and the bursar were allegedly interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The students were protesting alleged insecurity that had become a recurring decimal in recent times, in the institution’s host communities. It was further gathered that students living off campus had been experiencing incessant invasion of their hostels by armed men.

The students in their hundreds had, early in the morning, blocked the main entrance to the institution, causing  traffic gridlock on the Alabata Road with many staff prevented from gaining entry into the institution. Many students and workers of the institution were stranded at different bus stops as irate students condemned the insensitivity of the university’s authorities.

Daily Sun gathered that one of the  private student hostels, Adejoke Hostel, in Isolu community was attacked by armed robbers on Wednesday. The development, it was gathered, led to disruption of academic and administrative activities in the institution.

However, the peaceful protest went awry, as the students allegedly attacked a  police team. The security team was led by the Divisional Police Officers of Obantoko and Odeda, Mrs. Veronica Osakwe and Mr. Ojogo Olorunlana.

In the attempt at dousing the  tense situation, they allegedly attacked an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC), and a police officer.

A 100 level  student of Forestry and Wildlife, Taiwo Abisoye, was said to have been hit by a canister fired by a policeman.

This  development was said to have angered  students forcing them to have set four vehicles on fire, several vehicles vandalized, a church building, Divine Heights Bible Church, at Kotopo area.

The entire camp area to Obantoko became tensed, but the deployment of more policemen, men of the Mobile Police Force and men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS), brought the situation under control.

Daily Trust reports African Central Banks must not accept “fit-for-all- purposes” prescriptions handed down from abroad as it addresses the continent’s current economic challenges, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

The president rather urged African apex banks to continue to look for “innovative home-grown solutions” to fix the continent’s troubled economy.

Buhari spoke at the opening of the 2016 annual meeting of the association of African Central Banks which opened in Abuja yesterday.

The theme of the symposium was“Unwinding Unconventional Monetary Policies: Implications for Monetary Policy and Financial Stability in Africa.”

The major challenges, he noted, were slowdown in growth; weakening global demand; rising inflation; restrictions in capital flows; rising debt levels; increased exchange rate volatility and depleting external reserves.

He called for proactive and effective combination of conventional and innovative monetary policies. “The world is a dynamic place and with innovation, we can survive,” he stated.

President Buhari said such countries as Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Mozambique that relied on natural resources only had been hit the hardest.

According to the president, China, a major trade and business partner to a number of African countries, was currently slowing down as it remodels its economy; sparking fears of further weakening.

He said the Central Bank of Nigeria had, for many years, spearheaded economic stimulus measures through specific intervention programmes, urging that the measures be sustained “through good times and through difficult times.”

Buhari emphasised that monetary policy alone was not sufficient to bring about desired economic growth, suggesting that “We must carefully balance monetary and fiscal policy measures.”

He said his administration was diversifying the economy away from excessive reliance on oil to ensure self-sufficiency and massive employment for millions of the youth.

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