Court orders Nigeria police chief to reinstate dismissed officer

Justice Rabi Gwanduh said that his retirement was unlawful because Mr. Ozioko was earlier tried on the same matter by the Police in 2008 and set free.

The National Industrial Court in Jos on Thursday ordered the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, to immediately reinstate George Ozioko, who was compulsorily retired from service in 2009.

Mr. Ozioko, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, had sued the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission after he was initially absolved of complicity in a suspect’s case but was later retired.

Justice Rabi Gwanduh said that his retirement was unlawful because Mr. Ozioko was earlier tried on the same matter by the Police in 2008 and set free.

The judge said that revisiting the same offence a year after amounted to witch-hunting and declared his retirement unlawful.

Mr. Gwanduh held that a person cannot be punished for the same offence twice, according to Section 169 of the Evidence Act.

“The claimant has been reinstated, he ought not to be punished a second time for the same offence, the respondents are in error.

“By the preponderance of the evidence before the court, the claimant has proved his case against the police beyond reasonable doubt.

“The police have no right to punish him on the same issue twice; I declare his compulsory retirement null and void,” she held.

The judge also held that the retrial of the matter by a special committee set up by the IGP did not give Mr. Ozioko a fair hearing, before handing him a compulsory retirement in June 2009.

Ms. Gwanduh, therefore, ordered the police authorities to pay the claimant his entitlements from January 2007 to December 2007 when he was first compulsorily retired on the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police.

According to the judge, the amount is calculated at N88, 293 of his net salaries.
The judge further ordered the police authorities to calculate and pay the balance of his salaries from November 2006 to March 2010.

She said this was the balance due in lieu of his backdated promotion from Chief Superintendent to the rank of ACP, in line with the promotion given to his mates.

Ms. Gwanduh also ordered the police to calculate and pay the claimant all his monthly salaries and allowances as an ACP from April 2010 to date.

The judge, however, declined to award the general damages of N5 million sought by the claimant against the police.

She also declined to compel the authorities to promote him to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, in line with the promotion already given to his mates.

Ms. Gwanduh, however, frowned at the attitude of the police which only entered a conditional appearance and failed to show up throughout the duration of the case.

She commended the claimant for having enough confidence to take his matter to court for adjudication and said that the judgment was worth the effort.

The counsel to the claimant, Daniel Obla, declared the judgment as a landmark in the administration of justice in the country.

“Considering the number of adjournments we had to take to enable respondents to defend their case, we think the length of time has been justified by the judgment,” Mr. Obla said.

The counsel to the police, DCP J. A. Idoko, declined comment on the matter.

Ekiti 2014: APC lies to Nigerians on Kano governor’s air travel

APC said, “At least three Governors – Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano – have so far been prevented from making the trip” 


The claim by the All Progressives Congress, APC, that federal officials prevented the plane carrying the Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, from landing in Akure is false, PREMIUM TIMES can reveal.

At the time the APC was claiming that the Kano governor was being barred from getting to Ekiti, the spokesperson of the governor told PREMIUM TIMES his boss was in Kano and had no plans to travel to Ekiti.

The APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, claimed Mr. Kwankwaso and two other APC governors, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, were barred from getting to Ekiti to support Governor Kayode Fayemi’s re-election bid.

“At least three Governors – Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano – have so far been prevented from making the trip,” Mr. Mohammed said.
The spokesperson added that “the helicopter that was to ferry Governor Oshiomhole from Benin to Ado-Ekiti was refused permission to take off from the Benin Airport, while the plane that was flying Gov. Kwankwanso to Akure was denied permission to land”.

Ekiti has no airport and so travellers by air have to first land at Akure (neighbouring Ondo State) airport, then travel by road to Ekiti.

When the news of the denial first spread on Thursday, PREMIUM TIMES called the Director of Press Affairs to Mr. Kwankwaso, Baba Dantiye, who said his boss had no plans to travel to Ekiti.
Mr. Dantiye said Mr. Kwankwaso was at an event in Kano State and had no plans of travelling to Ekiti State.
“The governor is in Kano here; he did not have plans of going to Akure, none that I know of,” Mr. Dantiye said.

Perhaps realising that his party had released a statement to the contrary, Mr. Dantiye called back to say he was at an event with the governor and would not “want to confirm or deny” the APC’s claim.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the event the Kano governor attended in Kano on Thursday was the graduation of 1120 mechanics and vulcanisers from the 44 local governments of the state.
Supporters of the governor posted pictures of the event on facebook.

Not all lies
While the APC apparently lied on Mr. Kwakwanso’s situation, the party’s claim that Mr. Amaechi was prevented from getting to Ekiti is true.
PREMIUM TIMES reported a statement by the Rivers State government that Mr. Amaechi was stopped from getting to Ekiti by road after his plane landed in Akure.

The governor was then detained by soldiers for several minutes before he was allowed to return to Akure but not to Ekiti to campaign for Mr. Fayemi in the Ekiti election that holds on Saturday.

“Governor Amaechi was ambushed and refused entry into Ekiti by military personnel acting on orders from above. He made to turn back and return to Akure where his chattered aircraft was parked but was chased and rounded by armed soldiers and security personnel in Odudu, Ondo state.

According to the captain who led the operation, he had orders not to allow the governor entry or exit,” the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Ibim Semenitari, said.
The spokesperson to the Edo State governor, Peter Ohiare, also told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Oshiomhole’s aircraft was barred from leaving Benin airport.

Mr. Ohiare said he was informed of the air travel ban by the Commander 81 Maritime Crew, Benin City.

The spokesperson of aviation agencies had told PREMIUM TIMES that the military had the power to regulate Nigeria’s airspace even without the permission of the civilian agencies.

Military reacts
When contacted on why soldiers detained Mr. Amaechi, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Olajide Laleye, denied that the incident occurred.

“That’s ridiculous, on what grounds? How could the military have arrested the governors? That’s not true, there was no arrest,” Mr. Laleye, a Brigadier General, said.

The military and the Nigerian Police have pledged to ensure security during the Ekiti election; but have been accused of aiding Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The three major candidates in the election are Mr. Fayemi of the APC, Ayo Fayose of the PDP, and Opeyemi Bamidele of the Labour Party.

But Governor Amaechi himself confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that he was detained by soldiers who barred him from travelling to Ekiti. His aides later said he was released and allowed to return to Akure but that his plane remained impounded.

Confab to withhold allowances of absentee delegates

Delegates were asked to show themselves as responsible and distinguished persons.

The delegates to the ongoing National Conference who stay away from plenary sessions will from Monday forfeit their sitting allowance.

This was stated by the Vice Chairman of the Conference, Bolaji Akinyemi.

On Thursday, shortly after the Conference adopted the votes and proceedings of Wednesday’s plenary sitting, the Chairman, Idris Kutigi, called on Mr. Akinyemi to address the delegates.

Mr. Akinyemi read the riot act to the delegates, cautioning them to show themselves as the responsible and distinguished persons they are.

He said the Federal Government was worried at the low turnout of delegates to the Conference. He pointed out that when people are paid allowances, they should be seen to be doing that for which they were paid.

He lamented that attendance to plenary sittings has seriously dwindled since the Conference commenced considering the reports of 20 standing committees.

Mr. Akinyemi lamented that more than half of the seats at the Conference were empty, a situation which indicated that 50 per cent of delegates did not turn up for plenary.

“They are reminding us that when members of an intervention agency are paid sitting allowances, they should sit. We are considering not paying allowances to those who do not turn up for plenary.

We do not want to be pushed to a situation where we treat esteemed delegates like primary and secondary school students. We don’t want it to get to that. We are all very responsible people and we should show that here.

“With effect from Monday, delegates who do not show up will not be paid sitting allowance except on health reasons and that should have been communicated to you in and hope that I never offended any of you,” he announced.

Meanwhile, during the debate on the report of the Committee on Civil Security, Youth and Sports, tension which had soaked the house eased.

Many delegates who spoke called for the creation of an internal funding system for civil society groups and appropriate mechanism to regulate their operations.

Awalu Yadudu had called for the proper regulation of civil societies in the country and the creation of a legal framework for their funding.

Ebele Okeke suggested that men who rape toddlers and young boys should face the firing squad to serve as a deterrent to others. She argued that many of the children who are raped grow up to become terrors to the society.

 She said that there was an urgent need to stop all forms of rape in the country.

Yadoma Bukar asked that the age to stand for election into the National Assembly be reduced to 25 years.

With so many youth out of jobs, she called for the merger of empowerment agencies of the government to properly address the growing unemployment in the country.

She said, “If age is nothing but a number and youth just a title, I want to urge that Nigerian youth should be given opportunity to serve the country.”

Mike Ozekhome said while the committee had made fantastic recommendations that would take the country to greater heights, civil society organisations were trouble-shooters and should not be seen as trouble makers. While supporting the call for the regulation of civil society groups, he drew attention to the fact that many of such groups were fakes and should be weeded out.

Mr. Ozekhome also called for tougher action against companies and firms that still engaged casual workers in the country.

Salome Jankada called on men to take responsibility for their children. She suggested that financial institutions should be made to plough part of their profits for the development of Nigerian children. She added that there was no need for the institutions to declare huge profits but fail to invest it on bettering the condition of youth and children.

“The banks should be given responsibility because they are part of the society and they make so much money and declare huge profits too,” she said.

Alfred Diete-Spiff argued that the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, was supposed to reach out to all youth and not only graduates.

He, therefore, suggested that the scheme be extended to include youth from the age of 18 so that the country would reap immense benefit from it.

“The NYSC should therefore, be extended to accommodate youth from 18 years. It is about time, we expanded the scheme to incorporate all youths to create a National Peace Builders Corps,” he said.

Nigeria, Iran sign agreements on tourism, geology

The ministers also signed agreement on industrial cooperation between both countries and visa waiver for holders of diplomatic passports.


Nigeria and Iran on Thursday in Abuja signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to cooperate in tourism, geology, mining, mineral processing and metallurgy sectors.

The Minister of State (1) for Foreign Affairs, Viola Onwuliri, and the Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, Mohammed Nematzadeh, signed the agreement at the end of the 5th session of Nigeria-Iran Joint Commission.

The ministers also signed agreement on industrial cooperation between both countries and visa waiver for holders of diplomatic passports.

According to Mr. Onwuliri, the signing of the agreements demonstrates the seriousness both countries attach to the need to collaborate more and boost their economic ties.

She said Nigeria and Iran had very low volume of annual bilateral trade, which official figures was put at less than $50 million annually.

She stressed the need for the countries to encourage people-to-people contact to raise the level of trade and economic relations between them.

“It is important to note that Nigeria and Iran have shared great historic and diplomatic ties for a very long time.

“This is evident in the mutual understanding and support between the two friendly nations at various multilateral engagements,” she said.

Ms. Onwuliri, a professor, also requested Iran’s support in the fight against terrorism in the country.
“The problem of terrorism has become universal and it is imperative for the countries not to stand by and watch terrorists kill and maim innocent citizens.

“As a developing country, Nigeria needs understanding, encouragement and assistance of its friends, of which Iran is one,” she said.

Earlier, Mr. Nematzadeh had said that Iran and Nigeria’s membership in international organisations, such as D8 and OPEC, was a great advantage to deepen economic ties.

“In recent years, Iran has achieved great successes in the fields of science and economy and I express our readiness to share these potentials with the Nigerian people.’’

He called on the governments of both countries to identify and remove obstacles inhibiting economic development to encourage private sector participation.

He also recommended the establishment of trade centres to further develop trade relations.
“Removal of obstacles regarding banking relations, finance, insurance, investment and customs are highly necessary to facilitate trade flow between the two countries.’’

The Iranian minister said Nigeria and Iran had great potentials for cooperation in the fields of maritime and air transportation, power, water resources and agriculture.

He condemned the spate of killings, abductions and assignations perpetrated by insurgents in the country.

He said that Iran was strongly opposed to terrorism, citing the country’s experience in counter-terrorism.

“We hope Nigeria will come out of this situation, which is not acceptable to any human being in the world,” he said.

The Iranian delegation comprises government officials and a 25-man delegation from the private sector.

The Iranian private sector had indicated interest to invest in Nigeria’s oil and gas sectors, pharmaceuticals, housing, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

BREAKING: Jonathan appoints Bode George’s wife, Roli, as new NDLEA boss

The appointee is the wife of a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bode George.

 
President Goodluck Jonathan has appointed Roli Bode-George as the new Director General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

The appointee is the wife of a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bode George.

Mr. George, a leader of the PDP in Lagos, is currently a delegate, appointed by the president, at the National Conference. His conviction for fraud, when he served as head of the Nigeria Ports Authority, by a High Court was upturned by the Supreme Court.

Mr. Jonathan’s spokesperson, Reuben Abati, announced the appointment on his twitter handle on Thursday evening. He said the appointment is with immediate effect.

Mrs. Bode-George takes over from Olufemi Ajayi, who was on Wednesday appointed the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF.

President Jonathan had in 2011 also appointed Mrs. Bode-George as a federal commissioner in the National Population Commission, NPC.

Ghanaian Witch Doctor, Nana Kwaku Bonsam, Battles Prophet TB Joshua Again

Self-acclaimed Ghana's number one witch doctor, Nana Kwaku Bonsam, who has been consistently attacking Nigeria's foremost seer, Prophet TB Joshua, is at it again and this time, he says Prophet Joshua killed the late former Ghana President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, who was one of Joshua's best friends and adherent.

The juju man who has never been comfortable with Prophet TB Joshua growing influence in the politics of Ghana and once vowed to report the man at the Synagogue Church of All Nations to the Pope, also said that TB Joshua is not a true man of God and that he uses magic and tricks to mislead people through his prophecies.

He also claimed that the editors at the Synagogue fabricate deliverance sessions, confessions, predictions of world events and then post it on the Internet and demonstrate same on the church's Emmanuel TV.

As a final catch, Bonsam says he will lead other juju men in Ghana to spiritually attack the branch of Prophet TB Joshua's church in the Gold Coast.

LBS woos young scholars

Some of the nation’s brightest minds will hone their research skills and gain first-hand exposure to academic life at the forthcoming Lagos Business School (LBS) Young Talents Programme.

The one-day programmes scheduled for August 1, is aimed at building a relationship with students and young graduates. It will also offer successful candidates research scholarship opportunities and build a network of future LBS faculty.

The LBS Young Talents Programme is open to second-year undergraduates and above, including M.Sc holders and corps members (not older than 30) with first-class or second-class-upper honours degrees.

They will be exposed to the LBS culture, history and inspiration.  They will also learn about career channels in management, research and teaching, including the day-to-day activities of faculty, researchers and administrative staff.

“The programme will bring talented people in contact with a world-class institution where they will learn what it takes to begin an academic career,” explained Dr Uchenna Uzo, faculty lead on the programme.

“It is also an institutionalised way of getting good talent who can become faculty or administrative staff now and in the future,” he said.

As with other LBS activities, the relationship with participants will be maintained after the event so the benefits they derive will be sustained.

Dr Franca Ovadje, member of the faculty team, said Young Talents Programme could not have come at a better time.

“LBS strives to be a world-class business school with a significant impact on the African environment.

The Young Talents Programme (YTP) aims to develop strong academics who will transform society through their knowledge and research. YTP will prepare participants for an academic career in business management,” she said.