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The Federal High Court has okayed two separate suits seeking to sack the newly appointed Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairman, EFCC, Olanipekun Olukoyede.

Legal practitioners Stanley Okawara and Maxwell Opara brought both suits before the court.

Vanguard reports that whereas the first suit, marked FHC/KN/CS/280/202, was lodged before the Division of the court in Kano State, the second suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1410/2023, is pending before the Abuja Division.

Already, Justice Abdullahi Liman of the Kano court has fixed the 30th day of October to hear a motion on notice seeking to restrain the EFCC chairman, whose appointment was confirmed by the Senate on the 12th day of October, from exercising the powers and functions of the office or drawing salaries and emoluments as an occupant of the office, pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

Though the plaintiff had, through his lawyer, Jideobi Johnmary filed an ex-parte application for the court to issue an order of interim injunction against Olukoyede, Justice Liman ordered him to go and put all the defendants on notice.

President Bola Tinubu, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the EFCC are cited as defendants in the matter.

The court directed the plaintiff to join the EFCC chairman, Olukoyede and Secretary of the Commission, Muhammad Hammajoda, as 4th and 5th defendants, respectively.

Justice Liman further permitted the plaintiff to serve a copy of the court process on President Tinubu by serving same on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.

Besides, the court okayed substituted service of the suit on the Senate President through the clerk of the Senate.

It equally abridged the time within which all the defendants should enter appearance and file their respective processes to 15 days.

Specifically, the plaintiff is, among other things, praying the court to determine “whether having regard to the combined provisions of Section 1(1), 1 (2) and (3), 4 and 15(5) of the Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 2 (1) (a) of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004, the 1st defendant (Tinubu) is possessed of the constitutional powers to appoint anyone who is not a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent to the position of the chairman of the 3rd defendant?

Whether having regard to the combined provisions of Section 1(1), 1 (2), and (3), 4 and 15(5) of the Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 2 (1) (a) of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004, the 2nd defendant (Akpabio) is possessed of the constitutional powers to receive and consider for screening and ratification by the Nigerian Senate anyone who is not a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent to the position of the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant?”.

Protesters have taken to the streets of Abuja as the Supreme Court commenced hearing the appeals filed against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.

The protesters, standing by the road, carried different placards demonstrating both support and opposition to Tinubu’s victory.

The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has withdrawn its appeal against Tinubu’s election victory. The judgments on the appeals of both the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and that of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, have been reserved.

Officials from the Lagos Waste Management Authority, in conjunction with the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit, executed the closure of Alaba International Market, located in Ojo, during the early hours of Monday, October 23.

The closure was confirmed by the Environment and Water Resources Commissioner, Tokunbo Wahab, in a statement released on Monday.

According to Wahab, the market was sealed for multiple violations, including:

Poor Waste Disposal: Alaba International Market was found to be engaging in substandard waste disposal practices, which posed a significant environmental hazard.
Failure to Pay Waste Bills: The market reportedly failed to fulfil its obligations by not paying its waste bills, which are essential for proper waste management and sanitation services.

Gross Environmental Sanitation Offences: The market was also charged with gross environmental sanitation offences, indicating a significant breach of established sanitation regulations.
He said the closure is a stern reminder of the government’s commitment to maintaining environmental cleanliness and holding businesses accountable for their environmental responsibilities.

There was mild drama at the Supreme Court on Monday, October 23, following a receipt of two conflicting letters on President Bola Tinubu’s Chicago State University certificate by the judges.

Justice John Okoro, chairman of the 7-member panel hearing the application of Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), filed against the victory of President Tinubu, had raised the concern as hearing commenced.

“But in this case, there are two conflicting letters from the CSU – one authenticating the president’s certificate and another discrediting it. Which do we rely on?,” he asked.

This is was followed by noise in the courtroom.

Details later….

Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has arrived at the Supreme Court of Nigeria for the hearing of the appeal filed by the presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi, seeking to nullify the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.

Leading reporters gathered that several other high-profile dignitaries have arrived at the Supreme Court in anticipation of the day’s proceedings.

The court is also set to hear the appeals of the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and that of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

The seven-member panel of the apex court is led by Justice John Okoro.

Other members of the panel are Justices Uwani Abba-Aji, Mohammed Lawal Garba, Adamu Jauro, Ibrahim Saulawa, Tijani Abubakar and Emmanuel Agim.

The White Witches and Wizards of Nigeria have predicted the outcome of the Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi States governorship elections slated for November 11.

Spokesman of the group, Okhue Iboi, said Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State’s All Progressives Congress (APC), Dino Melaye of Kogi State’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Bayelsa State’s Timipre Sylva of APC would lose their elections.

In a chat with newsmen in Lagos on Saturday, Iboi said the candidates will fail woefully at the polls if they fail to heed wise counsel.

Iboi said, in the Imo election, the fight would be between the candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Athan Achonu, and the PDP’s Samuel Anyanwu, contrary to speculations that the incumbency factor will favour Governor Uzodinma who according to him, is terribly hated by his people.

He further urged security operatives to tighten security in the politically charged and volatile state to avert a bloodbath during the poll.

He said, “When we met in the coven to review the three off-cycle governorship elections, we examined all the political parties and their candidates and their chances of winning the election.

“We noticed that Uzodinma is terribly hated by his people. Also remember that he’s governor not by popular will but by legal technicalities of the Supreme Court.

“To date, his people derisively refer to him as Supreme Court Governor. The senseless killing in the state is another albatross he is carrying.

“His people thought that he was the brain behind the spate of killings perpetrated by Unknown Gunmen (UGM) and the destruction of property of the people. So, the people believe he is their sponsor. This is very unfortunate anyway, but that is what we saw in the coven.”

On Kogi State, he said the election is between the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the PDP, stressing that Governor Yahaya Bello had already lost over failure to field his deputy to succeed him.

“The Social Democratic Party (SDP) is as strong as the APC and the PDP in the state. When we met in Idah, Okenne, Ankpa, and other parts of the state, Governor Yahaya Bello’s candidate would have won easily in the state, but he appeared to have shot himself in the foot by listening to wrong advice.

“The people that advised him not to field his deputy will cost him the election victory in the state. When we got to the coven, we were told that all his strategies of destabilizing the election by fomenting trouble would not fetch him victory. There will be a bloodbath in Kogi, but Bello will still lose the election. So, we saw the election is between PDP and SDP.

“For Dino Melaye, he’s very recalcitrant. We’ve invited him a couple of times for a strategic meeting, but you know, pride goes before a fall. His vain pomposity will be his undoing. And if he fails to heed our call, he will be shell-shocked about the outcome of the election.

“Governor Bello has already lost out of favour with his people by not fielding his deputy governor to succeed him, but preferring to field his brother,” he said

On Bayelsa State gubernatorial, Iboi said Sylva would not go anywhere in the election.

“Recall that I had in a statement predicted that he would suffer a setback in his candidacy for the ruling APC.

“Now, he is fighting the battle of his life to retain the candidacy of the party, which the court had taken away from him. If he gets it, we don’t see him going far with it,” he said.

Kaduna—Kaduna State Schools Quality Assurance Authority, KSSQAA, has sealed Al-Azhar Academy, in Zaria, over alleged beating of a student to death.

The JSS 3 student, Marwan Sambo, 19, was reported to have died from severe beating and corporal punishments by some teachers, over absenteeism.

In a statement, yesterday, in Kaduna, the Director-General of KSSQAA, Dr. Usman Abubakar, said the state’s Ministry of Education, representing the state government, along with the school, had launched a fact-finding mission.

He said their visit to Zaria was to assemble the sequence of events that transpired from the Al-Azhar Academy, where the incident happened, to the victim’s home, to offer condolences and engage with bereaved family and some school mates of the victim.

Abubakar added that the KSSQAA team visited the Divisional Police Headquarters, Zaria City, where the school principal and the vice-principal were being detained.

“The fact-finding team then moved to Hajiya Gambo Sawaba General Hospital, Zaria, where the victim was formally confirmed dead.

“Finally, KSSQAA team visited the graveyard where the victim was“said to had been put to rest, and a fresh-looking grave was observed,” he said.

The DG, therefore, noted that the State Government, under the leadership of Gov. Uba Sani, assured the“general public of its firm resolve to ensure conducive learning environment, equity and justice.

Against the backdrop, he urged members of the general public to remain calm and law abiding while investigation continued for justice to be served accordingly.

“In the interim, guided by the provisions of its Establishment Act (amended 2015), the KSSQAA has closed down Al-Azhar Academy, Zaria and the school premises“remains sealed pending the outcomes of the investigation,” he said