News

Our Inauguration Legal, Valid – Ogun PDP Chairman

Published

6 years ago

May 10, 2020

Eric

The new chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Honourable Samson Bamgbose, has said the inauguration of the new State Executive Committee last Friday complied with the laws of the land and therefore valid.

Bambgose, who said this on Sunday, was reacting to a statement credited to Prince Uche Secondus and Senator Umaru Tsauri, National Chairman and National Secretary of the PDP respectively, dissociating the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party from the newly inaugurated state executive committee in Ogun State.

But Bamgbose in a statement, noted that while the position of the NWC was not unexpected, “it is disturbing that our leaders in this great party still do not understand (or just don’t care) that all politics is local and that handing over the structures of the PDP to Ladi Adebutu (whose only desire for seeking such control is to guarantee his ambition of being the candidate of the party for the Ogun State gubernatorial elections in 2023) is a recipe for depletion of the commitment of members to the party in Ogun State and defeat at the polls.”

According to the new chairman, the issue as to which organ of the party is empowered to conduct congresses for the elections of party leaders in Ogun State had been resolved in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/636/2016, which reposed the powers in the party’s state executive committee.

He said “The courts in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/347/2012 and successive cases (particularly Suit No. FHC/L/CS/636/2016) have sought to create a special case for the conduct of congresses and primaries in the Ogun State Chapter of the PDP.“

Therefore in its judgment in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/636/2016 of 24th June 2016, the Federal High Court (echoing its earlier judgment in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/347/2012) ordered (inter alia) in favour of the Adebayo Dayo led PDP Ogun State Executive Committee (OGSEC) as follows:

“That an order is granted to the Plaintiff (Adebayo Dayo led PDP OGSEC) restraining the 2nd Defendant (PDP) by itself, its agents, servants, proxies and surrogates from henceforth conducting the affairs of the PDP in Ogun State, including meetings, congresses and/or primaries except through the new officers of the party that have emerged from congresses conducted by the plaintiffs as listed in the exhibits attached to the affidavit in support of this originating summons.

“That an order is granted to the plaintiff directing the 1st defendant (INEC) to deal exclusively with the new Ogun State officers of the PDP that emerged from the congresses conducted by the plaintiffs (as listed in exhibits attached to the affidavit in support of this originating summons) in the conduct of the 2nd defendant’s (PDP’s) programmes in Ogun state including congresses and primaries of the party until the four years tenure to which they have been elected is spent.”

Bamgbose said the validity of the judgment had been challenged at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court where it was dismissed.

The PDP chairman stressed that the organ empowered to conduct congresses for the PDP in Ogun State is the judicially recognized state executive committee.He added, “Currently, the unassailable position is that congresses have been validly concluded by the outgone, judicially protected PDP OGSEC and new officers (that emerged in accordance with the terms of the orders in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/636/2016 set out above) have been validly inaugurated on the last day of the judicially recognized and specified tenure of the outgone leadership.

“My colleagues and I (following that inauguration) have now legally and validly taken over the running of the affairs of the Party in Ogun State.”

The PDP state chairman described the claim that the congresses that produced the new state executive and the inauguration contravened the interim injunction order made by Justice Inyang Ekwo, in suit No FCT/AB/CS/208/2020 on March 4, 2020 directing the maintenance of status quo until the hearing of the notice, Bamgbose as untrue because there was no interim injunction against the conduct of congresses in the state.

He explained that Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/208/2020 was instituted by some national officers of the PDP to seek a review of the judgment which had ordered that only the said authentic PDP state executive could conduct congresses or primaries of the PDP in Ogun State.

According to him, the plaintiffs had applied for an order of the court to stop the PDP OGSEC from conducting congresses and the court had refused the application and directed that the defendants be put on notice.

Bamgbose said “By March 3, 2020, when this matter came up, a preliminary objection had been filed on behalf of the Adebayo Dayo led OGSEC, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the action.

“In the face of this preliminary objection, the court could not and did not entertain any application to stop the conduct of PDP congresses in Ogun State; the Supreme Court has directed that in such circumstances the court whose jurisdiction is being challenged cannot make any order against the interest of the party challenging its jurisdiction.

“It was whilst adjourning the case for hearing of the preliminary objection and other applications that the judge on his own volition made the remark that “parties should refrain from doing anything that will tamper with the res of the action.“

“This was not an order restraining conduct of congresses or for maintenance of status quo as misrepresented in PDP NWC.”

Bamgboseadded that to consolidate the position of the executive, “we decided to take ourselves outside possible allegations of breach of the ‘order’ or of contempt of court by appealing against the order and filing an application for its stay. It is a known dictum in law that a party cannot be in contempt of court when he disobeys an order he has appealed against and filed an application to stay.”

Bamgbosesaid the state executive was willing to accord the national leadership of the party its deserved respect but the leaders must learn to operate within the ambit of the law.He added that the state executive was amenable to working with the NWC to bring feuding groups together in the state and position the party to take over the reins of government in 2023

News

Gunmen Kill Driver, Abduct Passengers on Benin-Ore Expressway

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked a commercial bus operated by GUO Transport along the Benn-Ore expressway, killing the driver and abducting several passengers in what underscores Nigeria’s deepening insecurity on major highways.

Reports indicate that the assailants ambushed the South East-bound vehicle, opened fire on the driver, who died at the scene, and subsequently whisked away passengers to an unknown destination.

The incident is believed to have occurred along a notorious stretch of the highway linking the South-West to the South-South, long plagued by banditry and abductions.

While official confirmation from security agencies is expected, local sources and a circulating video showed that passengers might have forcefully been taken into nearby forests, a tactic commonly employed by kidnapping syndicates operating along the corridor. Similar attacks in the past have involved mass abductions, with victims later released after ransom payments.

News

Police Retirees Block Aso Rock Gate, Demand Action on Pension Scheme

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Some retirees of the Nigeria Police Force under the aegis of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF) have staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja demanding President Bola Tinubu sign the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly in December 2025.

The bill seeks to withdraw the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The protesters, under the scorching sun, walked from the Three Arms Zone in Abuja through the street in front of the Police Headquarters.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, in addition to the Nigerian flag and the flag of the Nigeria Police Force.

Led by its National Coordinator, CSP Raphael Irowainu, the protesters described the retention of the NPF in the Contributory Pension Scheme as fraudulent and illegal.

They also said the CPS is inhumane and obnoxious.

According to them, the protest seeks to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to the President on 16th March 2026.

They said that when signed into law, the Act will totally exempt the police from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

The protesters, accompanied by some of their spouses and children, also blocked Gate 8 leading into the Presidential Villa, causing obstruction to vehicular movement.

Efforts by Villa security personnel to dissuade them from the protest proved abortive as they insisted on seeing the President.

They laid their mats in front of the gate, singing songs of solidarity, while some of them lay on the floor.

As of the time of filing this report, no one from the Villa had addressed the protesters.

CSP Irowainu said that their main purpose is to prevail on President Tinubu to sign the bill exiting the Nigeria Police Force from the CPS, which he said has been passed and transmitted to him by the National Assembly.

He lamented that while other security agencies in the country such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and others have all been exited from the scheme, the police remain trapped in it.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill—the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme—passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” CSP Irowainu said.

It is not the first time retired officers are staging a protest over the CPS. In July last year, they demonstrated at the National Assembly to demand their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The demonstrators, mostly elderly, stood in the rain holding placards and chanting anti-government songs.

Some of the retired police officers also besieged the Force Headquarters in Abuja to protest against the CPS.

Addressing the protesters at the time, the then Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, said the welfare of retired police officers was being addressed, but that the exit of the Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme was not something that could be implemented immediately.

He, however, advised the leaders of the protest to refrain from spreading misinformation, stressing that the Force could not abandon its own.

News

IGP Disu Orders Ban on Illegal Checkpoints Nationwide

Published

3 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

Eric

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, has issued a sweeping directive to Commissioners of Police nationwide, ordering an immediate end to extortion, illegal checkpoints, harassment of citizens and other misconducts.

He declared that restoring public confidence in the Nigeria Police Force is now a top operational priority.

The order was contained in a signal to members of the police management team including Commissioners of Police (CP) and other operational commanders.

In the marching order, the IGP acknowledged the deep mistrust many Nigerians feel toward officers, describing it as “painful” and unacceptable.

He said citizens now fear encounters with the police as much as they fear criminals, warning that such a reputation cannot continue under his leadership.

According to him, the directive marks the beginning of a determined effort to rebuild discipline within the police and re-establish its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

The order specifically outlawed the routine collection of money from motorists on highways, the operation of unauthorised checkpoints, and the practice of arresting citizens and forcing them to withdraw cash from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or Point of Sale (PoS) devices.

The IGP also condemned the use of officers for private duties in homes and businesses, describing such deployments as abuse of authority and a violation of existing presidential directives on VIP protection.

Officers were further directed to comply strictly with approved dress codes, remain clean-shaven and adhere to established uniform regulations.

The police boss warned that harassment of citizens in any form would no longer be tolerated, stressing that the Nigerian public is not the enemy of the Force but the reason for its existence. At the same time, he assured officers that the institution would equally defend them against intimidation or disrespect from members of the public, noting that the dignity of the uniform must be protected on both sides.

Holding command leaders directly accountable, the IGP said Commissioners of Police would henceforth be responsible for misconduct within their jurisdictions.

He ordered them to demonstrate measurable improvements in discipline within seven days or face formal queries and possible transfers where lapses persist.

He emphasised that supervisory failure would no longer be ignored at any level of leadership. To ensure compliance, the directive introduced new oversight measures, including independent monitoring of field operations and public reporting channels through which citizens can lodge complaints directly with Force Headquarters.

A Citizens Commendation System will also be established to recognise officers who demonstrate professionalism, with monthly honours to be drawn from public nominations across commands.

Describing the directive as a decisive turning point, the police chief said Nigerians have grown weary of promises and now expect visible change. He ordered all commanders to brief personnel under their authority within 72 hours and confirm compliance in writing, declaring that the process of cleaning up the Force has begun and will be sustained until public trust is restored.