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Category: Politics

SERAP drags Buhari to court over ‘draconian’ CAMA Act
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit asking the Federal High Court, Abuja, to stop President Muhammadu Buhari from implementing “draconian and unlawful provisions” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.
The Act allows the Federal Government to arbitrarily merge a new association with an already registered association; suspend and remove trustees of any association or take over funds belonging to any association.
Joined in the suit as defendants are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/172/2021 filed last Friday, SERAP is seeking an order stopping the trio from implementing the CAMA Act of 2020.
The organization recalled its letter to Buhari in August 2020, which requested him to revoke his assent and return it to the National Assembly for a repeal of sections 839, 842, 843, 844 and 850 contained in Part F.
The suit filed by SERAP lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi argued that everyone has the right to freely associate and that no one can be imposed on the other.
The suit insists the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantees the right to freedom of association.
It warned that allowing the defendants to arbitrarily merge two or more private associations, religious associations, charities, NGOs or professional bodies, would blatantly violate their fundamental human rights.
“Section 842(2)(a)(b)(5)(6) of CAMA 2020 violates the right of these associations and other Nigerians to property including the right to operate their bank accounts and use their funds the way they choose to subject to already existing banking regulations and practices”, it read.
SERAP is also seeking an order of injunction restraining the CAC and others from implementing sections 831, 839, 842, and 850 pending the hearing and determination of the suit
February 14, 2021
APC urge PDP members, come register at night if you are ashamed
The caretaker committee chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye has said the party is ready to register members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, even at night.
Nwoye spoke on Sunday shortly after revalidating his membership at his Afianwakpaka 00-12 pooling unit, in Amuri ward, Nkanu West Council area of Enugu State.
He said the APC was ready to welcome all, including “our brothers and sisters willing to dump the PDP for our party.
“If you don’t want to come during the day time to register, maybe because you are ashamed, we are ready and willing to register you in the night.”
The Enugu APC boss, who was recently appointed a federal Commissioner in the Consumer Competition Commission, representing South-East Nigeria, said the ongoing exercise was vital in the nation’s democratic process, because “if you want to vie for any election, including the president, or governor, you must be a member of a registered political party.”
Nwoye particularly called on the people of his locality and entire Nkanu West Council area to identify with the APC, “especially for the fact that we have benefitted from the party, he said.
“For instance, by the Grace of God, today, we have a federal Commissioner representing the South East, courtesy of APC. We have the Nigerian Ambassador to Poland, in the person of General Chris Ugwu (Rtd) and the member representing South East in the Police Service Commission PSC, Barr. Onyemuche Nnamani, three of us are from Nkanu West.
“So, with all these appointments our people of Nkanu West don’t have any reason not to join APC enmass via the ongoing registration exercise.”
In his remarks, Chairman of the Enugu State APC membership registration/revalidation Committee, Senator Jonathan Zwingina, expressed satisfaction with the high level of enthusiasm being shown by members and stakeholders of the party in the State.
He said the Nwoye-led APC had succeeded in planting the party in the hearts of the people of the State, calling on the South Easterners to take advantage of the ongoing registration to join the ruling party, as they stand to benefit a lot.
Zwingina added that the exercise was open to all and sundry from 18 years and above, stressing that it was not meant for a particular region or race
February 14, 2021
Insecurity: FG to Hold Nationwide Town Hall Meetings
National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (Rtd) is to lead a delegation of heads of federal law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies to townhall meetings in 6 geo-political zones.
The meetings which were agreed upon after his meeting with service chiefs and heads of other security agencies have a direct assessment of the security situation across the country, get feedback and elicit recommendations on the pathway to lasting peace and security in the country.
The first town hall meeting will hold in Kaduna State on Monday for the north-west geo-political zone. Those to attend the meetings are the 7 State Governors in the zone, traditional and religious leaders, lawmakers, non-governmental, youth and women groups.
February 14, 2021
Adamu Garba Asks Buhari: Are You Leading Nigerians Or Catching Cruise?
Sometimes I wonder, I genuinely wonder whether President @MBuhari is leading Nigeria or catching cruise with our trust
How can the country be in tension, killings all over the places, yet no categorical statement from the President?
Why the silence at this very critical moment?
Why must we always talk, ask and insist before we can hear from this President.
The matter at hand, from North to South is on the verge of exacerbating ethnic tensions. Blames and counter blames, accusations and counter accusations, yet silence from the President?
Why is that?
The President is the only, truly and rightful legitimacy to restore order, assured of safety & security for the citizenry in times of tensions like this
The President must be in control of the narrative all over the media by his appearances, assuring statements
Why the absence?
There is no region, tribe or religion, no matter the attachment or loyalty to the President, that will be happy with the present situation where everyone is left to advance their individual narrative to the complete absence of the Commander in Chief’s. None!
This is not good.
The President should have to address the media, take over the headlines with assuring statements. Reach-out to the victims directly
At this juncture, absence Presence means absence leadership
It is very critical at this point, that no vacuum is created for a bad press narrative
February 14, 2021
Sokoto: APC Expresses Lack Of Confidence In SIEC
By Muhammad Goronyo, Sokoto
“Our position is due to the glaring fact that they are all card carrying members of the PDP.
All of them are very close cohorts of the leadership of the government in Sokoto state who are always dancing to its tunes”, declared the state APC Chairman, Isah Sadiq Achida while addressing newsmen at the party Secretariat along Sultan Abubakar Road, Sokoto.
He said the recent happenings in the preparations for forthcoming LG elections in the state have glaringly confirmed our their position.
That when the state government announced the belated decision to conduct the local government elections in the state, they expected the electoral body to arrange consultative meetings with other political parties for the successful conduct of the elections but outrightly refused to do so.
Achida said they expected a just umpire like SIEC should have invited political parties for their inputs before coming up with an election timetable adding that it was a further indication of their lack of fairness and unwillingness to provide a level playing ground for political parties wishing to participate in the elections.
“It is sad to note that apart from deliberately starving the local governments of funds that legally belong to them, the present administration in Sokoto state will go down in history as one that was instrumental to reducing the tenure of elected local government councils from three to two years for no other reason than to serve the personal convenience of its leadership”, averred the chairman.
He said the APC in Sokoto therefore call on all its members and supporters across the state not to participate or have anything to do with the conduct of the elections in the interest of the party and the principles of democracy which the APC represents.
February 14, 2021
Pastor ask CAC to suspend, probe Apostle Suleman
A pastor, Mike Davids, who was formerly with Omega Fire Ministries, has asked the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to suspend the General Overseer of the church, Apostle Johnson Suleman.He urged the CAC appoint an interim manager in line with Section 839 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.
Davids, who had accused Apostle Suleman of sleeping with his wife in the presence of his young daughter, said the CAC should also probe the church’s finances, Apostle Suleman’s lifestyle and alleged the purchase of a private jet.The requests are contained in a letter sent to the Registrar-General of the commission, Garba Abubakar, which was received by the CAC on February 12, 2020.The letter titled reads: ‘Petition for the Immediate Investigation and Removal of Apostle Johnson Suleman, a Trustee of Incorporated Trustee of Omega Fire Ministry it/no: 21739 and for Closure Of the Church and/or Appointment of Interim Managers to Manage the Affairs of the Church Pursuant to Section 839 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.“I have had cause to believe that Apostle Johnson Suleman has continued to use his position as trustee and general overseer of OFM to commence an amorous relationship with my wife which has led to several acts of enticement of my wife and an adulterous relationship between the two of them.
“Beyond having sexual relations with my wife, that in clear misappropriation of the trustees’ funds and church money, Apostle Johnson Suleman opened a supermarket for my wife at Lugbe.“He has bought a car for my wifeand he has rented a residential apartment for my wife and children without my approval, knowledge and consent.“Worst still, Apostle Johnson Suleman has also unlawfully restrained me from gaining access to the house to see my children.
“All these actions amount to clear violations of statute and the constitution and objectives of the church with respect to how church money ought to be appropriated and applied.”
February 14, 2021
APC To Boycott Sokoto LG Election
Ahead of the March 27 local government election in Sokoto State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced its withdrawal from the exercise.
Addressing journalists on Sunday at the party’s secretariat in Sokoto, APC Caretaker Chairman, Isa Sadiq Achida, said the party cannot participate in an election that will be conducted by unfair, compromised and bias umpire.
According to him, the state electoral commission is a composition of men not only loyal to the state government, but very close allies of the state governor, and are allegedly ready to do his bidding.
He said the party is pained that the present administration in the state has destroyed the local government administration, noting that the APC cannot tarnish its good mage by participating in a compromised exercise.
The APC chieftain is however sure of winning the election if conducted in a free and fair manner.
Achida blamed the party’s decision to pull out of the exercise on what he described as a lack of transparency by the state government.
February 14, 2021
It’s shameful to arraign protesters but pamper terrorists -PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party has described the arrest, humiliation, and trial of #OccupyLekki protesters on Saturday, as a sad reminder of what Nigerians went through in the hands of military dictators.
The Lagos State Chairman of the PDP, Adedeji Doherty, reacted to this sad occurrence, in a release on Sunday, titled, ‘#OccupyLekki: Lagos PDP slams Sanwo-Olu over arrest, humiliation of protesters, demands discontinuation of their trial’.
The chairman said, “It is a shameful irony that a government that is pampering terrorists could send policemen armed to the teeth against civilians who only expressed their displeasure over a government decision.
“Lagosians will never believe that a time will come in the State when citizens’ rights to peaceful protests will be muscled by a supposed democratic government.”
“It is now clear that all that matters to the APC government of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is the billions of naira generated at the Lekki Toll Gate, and not the welfare of the people.
He also demanded explanations on whether or not it was part of the mandates of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution to investigate cases of police brutality in the state to order the commencement of operations at the toll plaza.
“When did it become the duty of a judicial panel of inquiry to order the resumption of collection of tolls at a Toll Gate, which was shut down owing to the alleged killing of youths whose only offence is that they demanded that SARS policemen should stop killing them?
“The Lagos State Government and most especially, the members of the House of Assembly from Lagos Island, Eti-Osa, Ibeju-Lekki, and Epe LGAs should open up a public hearing or Referendum on the reopening of this controversial tollgate to show the world that democracy is really the order of the day in Lagos State, instead of trying to crush a peaceful protest without presenting any kind of alternative medium of diplomacy as it concerns the tollgate issue.
“As for those who were arrested among the protesters, we wish to tell them to remain strong, committed, and resolute in their quest for a Nigeria where the government does the right thing and citizens are allowed to ventilate their grievances against government freely,” the PDP chairman said.
February 14, 2021
Arrest Bala Mohammed, Abbas, Not Protesters – HURIWA
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemn the clampdown and arrests of peaceful protesters at the controversial Lekki Toll Gates in Lagos State.
The National Coordinator of the rights group, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said on Saturday in Abuja that the conspiratorial silence of the Nigerian Police and the Department of States Services to the open backing of armed herdsmen by Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed and the call for arms by the Kano State chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abdullahi Abbas, is condemnable, especially that the Federal government is showing double standards and gross violations of human rights of protesting citizens who are law abiding and peaceful threatens constitutional democracy.
HURIWA which compares the current administration’s bloody attacks of peaceful protesters in Lekki Toll Gates Lagos and in almost the entire peaceful marches by citizens since the last six years to the military junta in Myanmar, said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is increasingly becoming dictatorial and totalitarian which goes against the Nigerian Constitution upon which basis they were elected by Nigerians who are the owners of the sovereignty of Nigeria.
According to him, the public demonstrations are democratic ways of passing on information of existing grievances to the elected leaders of the nation state just as the group said any attempt to suppress democratic freedoms of expression and peaceful Assembly is a coup against democracy and the Constitution.
“The crackdown on peaceful protesters in Lekki Toll Gates Lagos this weekend is a grave affront to the core principles and values of constitutionalism and democracy,” Onwubiko said.
Says arrest may trigger mass protest nationwide
He warned that action of the Lagos State Police command could motivate activists from across the country to pour out on the streets to carry out solidarity marches.
He said that the brutal arrests of these activists by the police under the command and control of Mohammed Adamu, is offensive to all known international human rights conventions, treaties endorsed by the Nigerian State and domesticated by the municipal law and the Grund Norm of Nigeria.
The Rights group said the Nigerian Police not being a law making body under section 4 of the Constitution has no authority or legal powers to stop the exercise of these protected and guaranteed fundamental freedoms of the citizens which in any event can not even be legislated against except and unless otherwise decided by the competent Court of law in line with section 6 or during periods of national emergency declared so by the legislative process.
He said that there was the constant harassment of the economist and a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Mailafiya Obadiah by the DSS and Police over his comments on insecurity in the nation while the Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed supported the terror actions of armed herdsmen but the security forces have not acted.
He also said same was the case of the Kano APC state Chairman who called on the supporters to decisively deal with any person or group of persons that will attempt to embark on any form of electoral rigging on election day come 2023.
February 14, 2021
Ex-President Jonathan urges politicians to close ranks after elections
Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has advised Nigerian politicians not to see elections as coup or war, but rather come together to support whoever emerges winner.
Speaking in Yenegoa, the Bayelsa State capital during the thanksgiving/anniversary service to mark Governor Douye Diri’s one year in office, Jonathan also advised those in politics not to play it with bitterness.
He said, “Our democratic process is recognised by law, so modern day politicians should not begin to practice democracy and contestation to power as if we were organising coup.
“At the end of the political process, we expect that both parties should come together and the winner carries everybody along. Leaders who contested the election must know that it was a political process known by law, and whoever wins, we agree that God gave him that position.
“I want to thank Governor Diri for opening his hands and welcoming every citizen of Bayelsa State, irrespective of political divide. Immediately you win an election you become the governor of everybody,” he said.
Also speaking, Governor Diri appreciated God who made it possible for him to serve the state in that capacity, even when he least expected it.
He said his victory at the Supreme Court on February 13, 2020 was an answer to prayers by men of God and the people of the state.
February 14, 2021