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Oshiomhole’s Deputy Tears Him Apart ” You Are Deficient & Lack Composure To Be Chairman, So, Step Aside”

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Senator Lawal Shuaibu, Deputy  National Chairman, North of the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC) has torn the reputation and honour of party Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to shreds.

In a statement, he has said that Oshiomhole is not only deficient but lacks the Composure of the high office of Chairman, noting that he had been responsible  for the  crises that has engulfed the party in many states.

 

Here is the full text

I write this letter on my own behalf, personally and as a Deputy National Chairman.

I write this letter to you with very deep heart and high sense of responsibility.

I write this letter thinking because I am a critical stakeholder in the APC project.

I write this letter with my hands shaking arising from realizing of myself being involved in a project that is currently seen as failing, even before achieving the ambition of it’s founding Fathers. I never found myself in any failed project.

I sincerely believe in the APC Project, with all my heart.

Locus Standi

l was part of more than 90% of all the meetings and processes that led to the final agreement to merge our Parties for purpose of this project. In fact, I led my own Party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, under which you initially served as Governor, to kick-start the National Convention to secure the consent of our members to merge with other Parties. You are fully aware that l was the Chairman of that National Convention in Lagos. I also served as member of the Merger Committee. Lest I forget, I was also the person mandated to file the registration documents with INEC and that is why the receipt for payment of the APC registration fees at INEC was issued in my name. I am stating all these, only to show proof, that I am a critical stakeholder in the APC project and therefore have a stake for which I reserve the right to write this letter to you. This is however, in addition to my being a legitimately elected Deputy National Chairman, North at the last National Convention, and not because I have any higher stake in APC than any other member.

Commencement

To start with, the APC project, which started with the agreement to merge our legacy political Parties, eventually succeeded in forming a strong party that came with massive goodwill across all divides in Nigeria, and which was acknowledged to be first of its kind in the history of politics in this country.

The adopted norm at that time was team work all the way to success, and never unilateral approach to any decision-making. With that, various committees were formed to work assiduously towards achieving the goals of the new political party under an atmosphere of crude attack by the ruling party then, as well as deliberate lack of cooperation from Agencies of Federal Government. It was the first time calumnious statements were introduced against an Opposition party by the ruling party instead of vice-versa.

The interim leadership of The new Party, rather adeptly came up with a formidable army of brains drawn from it’s membership, that put together quite an impressive electoral strategy on how the Party could win election at all levels. The only function of the National Chairman was to preside over meetings in which ideas were discussed, he then allowed committees to go to work and submit reports which were tabled before the working committee for decisions or for further recommendations to the larger leadership meetings for final decisions.

The Party through it’s Committees, was able to organize congresses at all levels across the states and finally produced its National Officers when it conducted what was described as the most organized National Convention in recent history. Thereafter also, the substantive leadership of Party went ahead to organize the most orderly, cohesive and successful Presidential Convention, also in recent history.

Attractive Campaigns

When the APC Presidential Campaign started, we had two attractions; the electoral asset in the person of our Presidential Candidate and the manner of campaign that was devoid of hate speech or calumnious statements as against our opponents who unleashed their attack dogs on our Presidential Candidate and our new Party.

The maturity exhibited throughout the 2015 political rallies, together with the aura of our Presidential Candidate attracted massive goodwill for the Campaigns, and the value addition to that, was unquantifiable.

At the end of our successful Campaigns in 2015, our Presidential Candidate won massively with a whooping 15,424,923 votes as against a sitting Nigerian President’s 12,853,162 votesll This is in addition to having 23 States to our credit.

2019 Election Activities and Campaigns

Under normal circumstances, when you take over as a Project Manager, it is expected that you bring to bear, your wealth of experience to the new job which will be seen in your capacity and capabilities as value addition.

In a political party like the APC, you are expected to also introduce new approach to strategies through committees that will work and submit recommendations to you towards improving on the current fortunes of the Party.

It is expected that for every decision credited to the Party, it should be the result of a meeting where resolutions are passed by the working committee.

It is also expected that policies by the party are always alI-inclusive and never one sided and to cap it up, no unilateral decisions should be made to represent the opinion of either the National Working committee, the National Executive Committee or even the least, the National Caucus. National Chairman cannot assume the powers of the National Working Committee.

Faulty Processes The last Congresses in States, unfortunately, represented a complete lack of knowledge, not to talk of experience on how due process in political electoral process is adhered to.

The National Working Committee is saddled with the responsibility of recommending guidelines for every electoral process and appointing committees that will embark on conducting primary elections for every constituency and submit report and thereafter an appeal committee will attend to complaints and petitions and also submit its report to the NWC. The National Working Committee is then expected to perform the duty of the final adjudicatory body on each electoral matter and from there you have the final list of Candidates.

National Chairman cannot, in any circumstances be Chairman of any committee be it screening committee of any other committee contrary to what you did.

Chairman presides over the meetings of Nationai Working Committee in which each matter disposed of by any appeals committee is examined and Tina! decision reached.

If the National ChairMan should chair any of these committeés what if there is a complaint about his own conduct, who do you send your petition to? He can not be a judge in his own matter!

National Working Committee meetings, in my own experience, shall not be held in private residences especially where it involves thousands of party men and women with grudges over injustice meted out on them by officials of the Party. The Party Secretariat is the officially recognized venue of such meetings, uniess if there are other motives for keeping away from there.

For every meeting of any organ of the Party, there shall be minutes of the meeting reflecting every decision taken at such meeting. Most of the meetings held and fundamental decisions purported to have been taken were not backed by minutes.

The few meetings that were covered by the Secretariat and minutes taken could clearly show that final decisions of the NWC were altered! Example was the unanimous decision by NWC to allow Mrs Aisha Alhassan, former Minister of Women Affairs to go and contest with her co-Aspirants at the primaries in Taraba State which decision was overruled by you. You singIe-handedly disqualified her and numbers in the Party got depleted and thereby weakened. So also, several other aspirants that you personally disqualified without Just cause.

Arising from such conduct, the APC ended up with severe injuries and is today badly fractured in virtually every constituency in this country, resulting in the erosion of the massive goodwill that you met the Party with.

Apart from the President, more than 60% of members including those that contested elections under the APC in 2019 are not happy with the process as it left a lot to be desired. We have Court cases in every State, by far much more than it was in 2015 and I wonder how much money the Party is likely to spend on litigations arising from mistakes of the National Chairman in not adhering to due process and sidelining transparency. Committees for primaries became secret affair to the extent that not even members of the NWC were aware of how certain committees were constituted with members mostly from Edo State outnumbering every other State and in some instance, the same Edo members sewing in more than one State in conducting primaries. The records are there to be seen. What is wrong with being just in what you find yourself doing for the people? Personal interest should not be allowed to overshadow the interests of our teeming loyal members across the country.

Building Institution

We all know and I still believe that by electing us into the various Party offices, we are expected to build this institution to flourish and wax stronger beyond our own tenure, not to be seen as undertakers that came to kill and bury it, and clearly so! The strength of every political Party I also believe, lies in the number of States it is able to win elections.

We had 23 States in 2015, but after the 2019 elections we lost 7 States!

We also had 60 Senators in 2015 at the end of the election count, we now end up with 57 Senators in 2019! You were not brought in to lose election, It is absolutely unacceptable!

What this entails is that for any Senator to become a presiding Officer he needs to go and kneel down before the PDP Senators and beg for support! And to make things worse, you announced that APC will not allow any PDP Senator to be , appointed as Committee Chairman except the committees statutorily meant for the opposition members of the Senate. That is never the tradition of the legislature anywhere! The Legislature is the house of collaboration and lobby and you can never succeed with hostile approach, you must lobby seek for cooperation of members across Party divides. If you don’t know, you have made the situation worse than it seems. Try and use your calculator and you will find that as at now, if anybody, backed by the PDP members, wants to become Senate President, all he needs is the support of only 6 APC Senators to win the election on the floor of the Senate! Chairman, strategies are not announced on television, they are discussed at caucuses.

We have no reason whatsoever to go about it this way if we really are serious in building this institution that many leaders suffered to put in place.

Conclusion and Prayer

It is my honest opinion that your ability to ensure this party flourishes is deficient as you lack the necessary composure and you also don’t possess the capabilities and the requisite experience to run a political Party.

The respect APC was commanding among its members and Sympathizers have been completely eroded, while the goodwill has equally evaporated with the type of attitude of threats to members you deploy, including senior members like Governors, Senators, Ministers and other Government officials whose functions do not fall within your jurisdiction. As I know, the relationship between Party and Government are cooperation and collaboration to ensure Government programs are implemented in line with the party manifesto, but not shouting and giving marching instructions to Government officials on television screens or on the pages of newspapers, and more often than not, they call your bluff and make look helplessly unimportant in the scheme of things”

Please don’t get me wrong, do not think I am saying these about your conduct as Chairman because I want to be Chairman. I don’t want to be National Chairman, because I can not be, even if I want to, for as long as President Muhammadu Buhari is in office, having come from the same North West geo-political zone.

In advanced democracies, people who fail to add value or build over and above what they met on assumption of duty show some civilized examples, they honourably bow out.

In that connection therefore, I want to advise you to take the path of honour, to step aside and allow the Party to embark on the onerous task of reconstruction and rehabilitation in those States it was weakened by the effect of manner the last primary election exercises were conducted or even the task of recreating the party where it is on the path of extinction, arising from the loss of a sitting APC Government, for example in Zamfara State, where you directly personally created the problem leading to the painful complete loss of APC’s electoral fortunes, FROM UP TO DOWN I All these are uncontestable facts. You cannot exonerate yourself from blame on what happened to APC Zamfara State, thereby destroying the hopes and aspirations of 534,541 APC members and supporters, including my goodselfp!

l have nothing personal, except that I love this Party and can not keep quiet seeing it being brutally murdered!

Very Sincerely,

Senator Lawal Shuaibu
Deputy  National Chairman, North

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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Okuama Massacre: Military Declares Eight Persons Wanted

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The Defence Headquarters has declared eight persons wanted over their roles in the recent killing of 17 military personnel in Delta State.

The military released the list on Thursday at a briefing in Abuja.

Those declared wanted are Prof. Ekpekpo Arthur, Andaowei Dennis Bakriri, Akevwru Daniel Omotegbo (Aka Amagben), Akata Malawa David, Sinclear Oliki, Clement Ikolo Oghenerukeywe, Reuben Baru, and Igoli Ebi.

During the briefing, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, called on Nigerians especially residents of Delta and adjoining states to assist the military with credible information that would lead to the arrest of eight persons allegedly responsible for the killing of seventeen soldiers in Okuama community in Delta State.

General Buba says the military remains determined to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous act in Delta State, reaffirming its commitment to rescue all kidnapped and abducted victims in Nigeria.

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How CJMR Has Championed Restoration of Justice to Unjustly Incarcerated, Condemned – Founder, Olujobi

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By Eric Elezuo

“At CJMR, we stand firm on our scriptural foundation: ‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice…,” Pastor Olujobi 

Most citizens of the world are endowed with milk of human kindness, and are ever ready to lend a helping hand to folks in need, either for cash or kind. One of these citizens is a Nigerian of special breed, filled with compassion and zeal to assist wrongfully detained persons to regain their freedom. He is Mr. Hezekiah Olujobi, who is leading the fight against wrongful detention and elongated detention without trial with his Non-Governmental Organization, the Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR).

The CJMR as stated, is NGO dedicated to promoting human rights and advocacy within the Nigeria Correctional Service and strengthening the rule of law in Nigeria Criminal Justice System, according to the Founder, Mr. Olujobi.

“Our area of focus are Advocacy, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Investigation, Cases review, Rehabilitation of individual upon freedom and Restorative Justice in Criminal Matter,” he added.

The CJMR as an organization, was established in 1999, and was officially registered in 2009. It has since then accumulated an enviable and proven track record of facilitating the release of individuals from death row, some of whom had been unjustly incarcerated for 18 to 28 years.

“Additionally, over 600 inmates have been freed from illegal detention after 4 to 12 years without trial. The organization has also established a Halfway Home that has benefited over 300 individuals.

“Our activities cut across the Correctional service in South West: Oyo, Odun , Ogun and Lagos States. We still have over 100 cases for intervention including 10 people on death row whom we strongly believed they are victims of wrongful conviction,” Olujobi stressed.

Hezekiah Olujobi, also known as a Pastor, for his vocation as a preacher of the gospel, who is the founder of CJMR, is currently working on two books to project the work of the organization so far.

The first, “Their Stories Behind Bars,” is a collection of narratives from individuals wrongfully sentenced to death and how the organization helped secure their rrlease, while the second book, “Their Hurts and Unforgettable Memories,” delves into the stories of victims and offenders, exploring their deep hurts and the healing process through restorative justice.

The following stories below as told by Pastor Olujobi, carefully epitomizes how far the NGO has gone to put smiles on the faces of individuals, who have otherwise lost hope of ever living their lives among free people again

Olaniyi Emiola’s Wrongful Conviction: My Belief in His Innocence

Olaniyi Emiola was sentenced to death based on witness testimony that was a case of mistaken identity. The armed robber apprehended at the crime scene insisted he was not the person being referred to and claimed he did not know Emiola at all. However, one of the victims, who recognized Emiola by the name “Abija,” insisted that he was the culprit. Emiola was known in the streets as “Abija,” not “Niyi,” yet the robber mentioned a “Femi Niyi,” not “Abija.” The man in question is Olaniyi Emiola, not Femi Niyi. During the trial, it was claimed that the robber identified the house of their leader to them, who is known as Abija,

In this controversial case, the conclusion of judgment of my noble lord, Hon Justice Jimoh of the Tribunal Court, was as follows:

“It is our considered judgment that the discovery of the second accused in the house pointed out by the first accused to the prosecution, and the discovery of the stolen items in the house shown to the police by the first accused, are admissible and well taken. Referencing R. v. Garbett (1847) 2 C & K 474 and R. v. Treacy (1945) 30 CAR 93, with these authorities in view, the second accused has been properly identified and linked with the commission of the crime charged.

Since the prosecution has adduced sufficient evidence to place the second accused at the scene at the material time, his alibi defense is logically and physically demolished.

This was established by the Supreme Court in the cases of Patrick Njovens vs. The State (1973) 5 SC 17 at 65 and Christian Nwosisi v. The State (1976) 6 SC 109 at 112.

It is my considered judgment that since the defense of the second accused has failed and, by the acceptable evidence of the prosecution witnesses, the accused has fallen into the warm embrace of the law, and I so hold.

SENTENCE: OLANIYI EMIOLA – The sentence of the Tribunal upon you is that you be hanged by the neck until you are dead or suffer death by firing squad, as the Administrator of this State may direct. May the Lord have mercy on your soul.”

This was the judgment that sent a man to darkness and anguish, leaving him to await execution in a solitary cell for 11 years without the right to appeal, luckily for him, the abolition of execution was announced in Nigeria.

Reprieve came when we visited Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in 2007. We investigated the matter by analyzing the entire judgment and all the contents of the case file. We took up his case, amplified his voice of innocence, and refuted all the arguments in light of the existing facts recorded in the judgement.

Olaniyi Emiola was finally set free in January 2011, after 17 years had been wrongfully taken from his life.

One can only imagine what would have happened if execution had not been abolished in Nigeria.

CJMR’s Advocacy visit to the Oyo State Attorney General

The organisation has also taken its advocacy to the Attorney General’s office in Oyo State, and achieved certain parameters as represented in the narrative below:

“On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, the Committee for Centre for Justice Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR) conducted an advocacy visit to the office of the Oyo State Attorney General. The purpose of the visit was to highlight the plight of numerous inmates who have been denied justice and are enduring the prolonged anguish of indefinite trials for capital offenses.

The primary goal of the visit was to bring to the Attorney General’s attention specific cases of individuals who appear to have been wrongfully accused of capital offenses and have been languishing in detention since 2015 without legal advice. Additionally, there are those who have been repeatedly taken to the High Court since 2017 without the prosecution presenting a single witness.

In a recent development on March 18 and 19, 2024, the Oyo State Chief Judge, Honorable Justice Iyabo Yerima, visited the custodial centers in Ibadan and Oyo. She firmly resolved not to address any capital offense cases, maintaining her stance throughout the jail delivery exercise. Consequently, 32 inmates were released from Agodi and 38 from Oyo, totaling 70 releases from facilities that house 1,250 and 827 inmates, respectively. The data clearly indicates that a significant proportion of detainees charged with capital offenses remain unaddressed.

Pastor Olujobi further noted that “During the CJMR’s visit, seven recommendations were proposed to enhance the efficiency of justice delivery by the Attorney General’s office, and a list of 32 individuals awaiting legal advice was submitted.”

The Attorney General, known for his humility and activism, pledged to collaborate with the CJMR.

He further acknowledged that “It is a profound injustice for individuals, even those apprehended with substantial evidence, to be detained indefinitely, risking the degradation of evidence and waning interest or resolve of witnesses. The slow turn of the justice system’s wheels can erode its very foundation.

“Similarly, it is an injustice for an innocent person to endure punishment due to procedural delays or inefficiencies.

The presumption of innocence until proven guilty is a fundamental principle of democratic societies, yet it is undermined when the process to establish innocence is plagued by excessive delays. The time for change is now.

Olujobi is also of the view that “The judiciary must move beyond a confessionary-based approach to prison decongestion and focus on those unjustly detained for capital offenses.”

From Darkness to Light: The Unraveling of Injustice and the Triumph of Freedom for Olusola Adepetu after 26 years behind bar

In this scenario, the police conducted a comprehensive investigation, and the defense attorney performed admirably. However, despite these efforts, the judge appeared to succumb to public pressure, reminiscent of Pontius Pilate’s historical decision, resulting in Olusola Adepetu being wrongfully sentenced to death.

Tragically, this miscarriage of justice led to the loss of 26 years of Adepetu’s life.

The appellant, a native of Ondo state was 34 years old at the time of his arrest, a father of 4 children with a broken home.

He was the owner of Olusola Naturalist Hospital. He was a Guru in herbal traditional-medicine, very popular with radio and television advertisements.

He cures all manner of ailment, he was a highlife socialite, he was a member of special marshal of Federal Road Safety Commission, due to the nature of his work as herbal traditional medicine healer he was highly connected with people in high places who always patronized him and in the world ravaged with deceases people always throng his office to seek healing for their ailments.

He is not a medical doctor but always referred to as Doctor Olusola.

All of a sudden, the light of his fame and popularity went off, he was enveloped with thick darkness. For a good 26 years he never walks under the moon nor is beaten by rain.

What happened?

His girlfriend was murdered in a mysterious way, three days later, her dead body was recovered by the police at the Express way, Sanyo, Ibadan and deposited at mortuary in Adeoyo state Hospital. Who must have done this?

Nobody knows till today. The relations who were in the shop of the father of his girlfriend who saw him when he came to pick the deceased and the bar man who saw him the previous day with the deceased pointed touch light on him.

Upon his arrest, rumors went round the whole city like wildfire and consumed the heart of men, same Radio and Television stations where his advertisements were being jingled, announced his arrest, all kinds of rumors went round the city, his case became a celebrated case.

He was consumed by the public adverse opinion.

With all kinds of rumors, the death of the lady was attributed to ritual killing, some said he cut the breast of the lady, some said he cut her private part for the ritual purpose.

At every court adjournment the whole court room and the premises will always be filled up with people. The case attracted the public interest. Like Pontius Pilate, the judge has no choice than to deliver the innocent man as a sacrificial lamb not for the world but for his likely hidden sin.

Light shines on his path again, when we unravel the case file documents with the dissenting judgement and the man regains his freedom after 26 years.

The critical question is: Who will advocate for the poor and helpless? It is us;
The Chief Judge, Attorney General, Commissioner of Police, and all stakeholders must be involved. And this where CJMR comes in, and the organization are doing it.

“We therefore call for wholesome assistance from all and sundry to sustain the tempo, and help our people, who graciously need the assistance,” Olujobi concluded.

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Binance Executive Detained in Nigeria Escapes from Custody

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One of the two Binance executives detained in Nigeria for alleged tax evasion and other offences, Nadeem Anjarwalla, has escaped from lawful custody, according to PREMIUM TIMES report.

Our sources said Mr Anjarwalla, 38, escaped on Friday, 22 March, from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were detained after guards on duty led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in the spirit of the ongoing Ramadan fast.

The Briton, who also has Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airliner.

It remains unclear how Mr Anjarwalla got on an international flight despite his British passport, with which he entered Nigeria, remaining in the custody of the Nigerian authorities.

Authorities are also said to be working to unravel his intended destination in a bid to get him back into custody.

An Immigration official said the Binance executive fled Nigeria on a Kenyan passport. He, however, said authorities were trying to determine how he obtained the passport, given that he had no other travel document (apart from the British passport) on him when he was taken into custody.

Another source said the two officials were held at a “comfortable guest house” and allowed many rights, including the use of telephones, a privilege Mr Anjarwalla is believed to have exploited to plot an escape.

When contacted Sunday night on the escape of the Binance executive from detention, the Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, Zakari Mijinyawa, said he would enquire and revert. He has yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

Mr Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager, and Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance at the crypto exchange platform, were detained upon their arrival in Nigeria on 26 February 2024.

A criminal charge was filed against the two executives before a Magistrate Court in Abuja. On 28 February 2024, the court granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) an order to remand the duo for 14 days. The court also ordered Binance to provide the Nigerian government with the data/information of Nigerians trading on its platform.

Following Binance’s refusal to comply with the order, the court extended the remand of the officials for an additional 14 days to prevent them from tampering with evidence. The court then adjourned the case till 4 April 2024.

Also on 22 March, the Nigerian government approached the Federal High Court in Abuja and slammed another four-count charge on Binance Holdings Limited, Mr Anjarwalla and Mr Gambaryan, accusing them of offering services to subscribers on their platform while failing to register with the Federal Inland Revenue Service to pay all relevant taxes administered by the Service and in so doing, committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 8 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as Amended).

The defendants were also accused of offering taxable services to subscribers on their trading platform while failing to issue invoices to those subscribers to determine and pay their value-added taxes and, in so doing, committed an offence contrary to and punishable under S.29 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as amended).

Count Three of the charges accused the three defendants of offering services to subscribers on their Binance trading platform for the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies and the remittance and transfer of those assets while failing to deduct the necessary Value Added Taxes arising from their operations and thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 40 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Establishment Act 2007 (as amended).

The last count of the charges wants the defendants punished for allegedly aiding and abetting subscribers on their Binance trading platform to unlawfully refuse to pay taxes or neglect to pay those taxes and, in so doing, committing an offence contrary to and punishable under the provisions of S.94 of the Companies Income Tax Act (as amended).

The Nigerian government had, in the past three months, been cracking down on suspected money launderers and terrorism financiers, some of whom it alleged are using the Binance platform for criminal activities

The Nigerian government said over $21.6 billion was traded by Nigerians whose identities were concealed by Binance.

Source: Premium Times

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