Supreme Court re-opens Kashamu’s extradition suit, Feb. 27

Former Senator Buruji Kashamu’s bid to stop his extradition to the United States of America for alleged drugs related offences will be heard at the Supreme Court on February 27, 2020.

 

 

 

Kashamu filed the two appeals before the apex court praying it to void the request of the American government that he be extradited to USA to answer criminal charges against him in respect of an alleged heroine drug importation into the country.

 

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are the major respondents in the appeals in which the former Senator is asking the Supreme Court to stop government from executing two judgments of the Court of Appeal granted against him.

 

The fresh hearing date has been communicated to parties involved in the long drawn  legal tussle through hearing notice.

 

Hearing in the two sets of appeal by the businessman and politician along with others had earlier been put on hold to enable the court clear the backlog of political cases that arose from the last year general elections which were time bound.

 

The apex court is to review the two judgments delivered in favour of the Federal Government by the Lagos division of the Court of Appeal on May 4 2018.

 

Kashamu had in his notices of appeal to Supreme Court complained that the Court of Appeal erred in law by voiding and setting aside the two judgments of the Federal High court which barred Federal Government from extraditing him to America.

 

The ex-senator is praying the apex court to set aside the decisions of the Court of Appeal as they affected him.

 

But government through the Attorney General of the Federation AGF has responded with a counter prayer that the Supreme Court should uphold the judgments of the Court of Appeal which cleared coast for his extradition.

 

The AGF claimed that the Appeal Court was right in setting aside the two judgments of the High Court because they were based on hearsay evidence of Kashamu before the court.

 

The AGF urged the Supreme Court to allow the judgments of the Court of Appeal to enable the federal government extradite Kashamu to USA to prove his innocence or otherwise in the hard drug trafficking criminal charge filed against him by the American government since 2015 when he was alleged to have escaped to Nigeria.

 

Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN is leading the legal team of Kashamu while Chief Emeka Ngige SAN is heading the Federal Government legal team at the apex court.

 

The Court of Appeal had on May 4, 2018 cleared the coast for the federal government to extradite Kashamu who had engaged government in a long drawn legal battle since 2014.

 

The appellate court in the two separate judgments voided and set aside all orders made by a Federal High Court between 2014 and 2017 restraining the government from proceeding with the extradition.

Justice Joseph Ikyeghi in the judgments marked CA/L/1030/15 and CA/L/1030A/15 in the appeal filed by the AGF held that the orders granted in favour of Kashamu by Justice Okon Abang were invalid because they were based on hearsays and speculations by Senator Kashamu.

 

The court held that the hearsay that a former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was instigating the extradition was not established under any law because Obasanjo was not joined in the suit or made a witness.

 

The appeal court said that an affidavit deposed to by Kashamu on the issue was worthless and not in compliance with Evidence Act because the former senator himself claimed that he was told by several persons who were not called to testify in court.

 

Justice Ikyeghi held that Justice Abang in his two judgments on the issue erred in law by playing undue reliance on affidavit that contravened Evidence Act to give judgment against the Federal government.

 

Consequently, the order of injunction stopping the extraction process was voided and set aside.

 

Justice Ikyeghi had agreed with counsel to the Federal Government Chief Emeka Ngige SAN that a statutory body like the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) cannot be prohibited from performing its statutory functions on hearsays and speculations as in the instant case.

Ihedioha vs Uzodinma: Reasons Supreme Court must review ruling on Imo Guber – HURIWA

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, on Wednesday gave reasons the Supreme Court should review its earlier ruling that sacked Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo State and declared Hope Uzodinma winner of the last governorship election in the State.

HURIWA said the Supreme Court should revisit its earlier ruling for the purpose of Judicial integrity in Nigeria.

Addressing a press conference, the National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko said judges should exhibit high-level of competence when carrying out their duties.

Onwubiko also charged judges to be fearless and do away with bias or prejudice in the conduct of their responsibilities.

He said: “The reason for this media interface is to appraise the decision of the immediate past Imo State governor Hon. Emeka Ihedioha to return to the Supreme Court of Nigeria to seek for a review of the judgment of the 7 member panel headed by the Honorable the Chief Justice of Nigeria Muhammad Tanko in which the election of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha last year March was overturned by the singular verdict that has become the most dangerous piece of a judicial heist in nearly 100 years of Nigeria’s amalgamation.

“As stakeholders on the democratization process, we have reviewed the ingredients of the process already initiated by Hon. Emeka Ihedioha in which through his team of well-respected lawyers, he is praying the Nation’s highest judicial forum to reverse the horror of a verdict inflicted on millions of the good people of Imo State. Through his legal team headed by erstwhile Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Kanu Agabi (SAN) he has identified some areas he alleged the court was misled into arriving at its decision.

“In his papers before the apex court seeking for setting aside of the judgment, Agabi observed that the beneficiary of the judgment, Governor Hope Uzodinma failed to plead the votes scored by all the parties in the 388 affected polling units, as it was only the votes scored by him that were pleaded – an omission he said, rendered the petition incompetent.

“A judicial office is a trust. In the discharge of this, there are responsibilities that must be discharged.

“In the process of the discharge of these responsibilities, certain attributes must be exhibited. Some of these attributes are competence, diligence, propriety, impartially and objectivity. We the judges of this country must face up to our responsibilities.

“What exactly is the reason for this recklessness is it corruption as alleged in certain quarters or is it lack of competence or diligence, whatever it is, it is giving the Nigerian Judiciary a very bad name, and it must be stopped. Judges must perform their judicial duties without fear or favour, bias or prejudice and ensure that their conduct both in and out of Court maintains and enhances the confidence of the public.”

On failure to review the judgment, Onwubiko stated that subsequent election could be undermined by the judiciary, “civil defence, customs, immigration and prison warders to man polling booths, write results, tendered it and even if INEC rejects it what you need to do is to buy over the judiciary and the person could carry the day. The results tendered were not verified.”

The rights group also urged the apex court not to allow the panel to review the judgment again due to the possibility of bias.

“Panel that sat the judgment must never be allowed to hear the review application. If Trump could have been impeached by the Congress for making a call, how much more we will allow the judiciary to undermine democracy. INEC said the results were cancelled due to over-voting and violence. How can the court be the one to award the result. The panel must never be allowed to sit for the matter,” HURIWA added

We at Jehovah witness don’t take blood, say parents who refused blood transfusion for sick child

Right activist, Harrison Gwamnishu has brought to the attention of Nigerians a case he is currently handling of a Nigerian father refusing medical assistance for his ailing daughter, Precious, just because his church, Jehovah’s Witness, is against blood transfusion.
Harrison Gwamnishu, who met with the parents in Sapele, Delta state, shared a video on social media and Nigerians are outraged following the release of the video showing the father of the child clearly refusing blood transfusion.
Precious suffers from Hydrocephalus and might need blood transfusion if surgery is carried out on her.
Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased pressure inside the skull.
Her father in a chat with Harrison said he is not opposed to medical help for his daughter but what he will never consent to is for a blood transfusion to be done on his one year and 7 months old daughter.
”We in Jehovah’s witnesses, we don’t take blood. I would not want to transfuse blood into the child. We will not accept blood transfusion. If in the course of surgery they would transfuse blood in the child, we would not want that. I don’t want my baby to die but that is our faith” he said.

Bauchi govt take message of value re-orientation to tertiary institutions

The Bauchi State Government says it Is determined to take on Attitudinal Reorientation in all sectors of development in the state.

Governor Bala Mohammed disclosed this at the nationwide Attitudinal Reorientation Programme for Students of Tertiary Institutions held at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi.

Governor further said the impact of government’s efforts towards value Reorientation will not be felt by the society without the buy in of the entire citizens.

Represented by the Chief of Staff, Government House Bauchi, Dr Ladan Salihu, the governor said it is the intention of the government to eliminate the scope of systemic corruption and other social vices in both the public and private Institutions in the state.

He therefore solicited for the support of stakeholders to enable his government eradicate social vices and rebuild the state.

The Director General, National Orientation Agency, Dr Garba Abari while speaking at the occasion, emphasized the need for the students of Tertiary institutions to embrace the country’s National Core Values for National Development.

Dr Garba Abari believes that embracing the core values of the nation as enshrined in chapter 2 section 23 of the country and working together will no doubt result in ensuring a moral society that will aid national development.

He pointed out that, an immoral society filled with impunity is a threat to the progress and advancement of any nation.

” The objectives of this programme is to orient the students on the need to embrace the country’s core values and to create a synergy between the Agency and Tertiary Institutions for value reorientation as well as curtail the rising trend of social vices.

” The campus focus has become highly imperative due to the myriads of social vices that has bedeviled the Nigerian Tertiary Institutions which include cultism, examination malpractice, drug abuse, trafficking among others

Garba Abari said youths being the backbone and strength of any nation, has to be sensitized and encouraged to shun all forms of social vices by imbibing desirable behaviors necessary for national development as well as keying into the federal government’s next level agenda.

Delta Hospital To Bury 300 Unclaimed Corpses

The Agbor Central Hospital under Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, has concluded plans to bury 300 unclaimed corpses said to have been abandoned in the hospital’s morgue.

According to the management of the hospital, the mortuary originally designed to around 60 corpses was now littered with uncollected corpses by families.

Making the disclosure on Tuesday, Zonal Medical Director of the hospital, Roy Maduka, expressed sadness over the situation, saying that there were currently over 600 corpses at the facility.

While appealing to the state government for the establishment of a modern mortuary, Maduka said the regular power supply enjoyed at the hospital at the moment was as a result of the acquisition and installation of a 33KVA transformer by the state government.

He said, "This will help in easing the current practice of just embalming of dead bodies deposited at the mortuary.

“The mortuary is old and relies on embalming of bodies. The building was constructed to take about 50-60 bodies at a time.

“Currently, we have over 600 corpses in the small space. Over half of the bodies are unknown/abandoned corpses. We are currently making plans to conduct a mass burial for the unknown corpses.

"Plans are also being made to build a holding place for the abandoned corpses for a period of time before mass burial can be conducted.”

Six Men Arrested For Defrauding 200 People Through Online Kidney Scam

A Nigerian man and 5 others have reportedly been taken into police custody for duping about 200 sick patients in need of kidneys.

The men pretended to be World Health Organisation, W.H.O, certified buyers and sellers of kidneys based in Banaswadi, India and they had made use of the name of a super-speciality hospital and reputed doctors to lure people seeking kidneys for transplants.

Luck ran out for the members of the syndicate after they were tracked down by the police through their website following a complaint from a doctor, Shafiq M M, director of a private hospital.


The men have been identified as Esene Lovely, their kingpin from Edo State, Nigeria,  Mohammed Ahmed Ismail and Marwan Faisal both from Sudan, Herendra, Jatin Tripura, and Kami Ranjan from India.

The gang claimed they were into buying and selling of kidneys and they would cut off communication after families paid them an initial deposit to the start the process.

The police recovered bank account details and ATM cards.

According to reports, they had allegedly taken money ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 on the pretext of insurance and registration from about 200 people.

Nnamdi Kanu’s Parents Burial: ‘Do not test wrath of IPOB members’- Ohanaeze tells Nigeria Police

The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council worldwide on Tuesday tasked the Nigeria Police to avert any form of clash with the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, which would turn to bloodshed of Igbos during the forthcoming burial of the parents of Nnamdi Kanu.

The group made this known in a statement signed by the President and Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council worldwide, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Mazi Okwu Nnabuike and forwarded to DAILY POST in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state.

The statement reads in part: “We urge Security agents not to taste the wrath Of Biafra agitators or Ndigbo, as the Paramount Ruler of Afaraukwu Community, HRM Eze Isaac Kanu and His Wife will be laid to rest on Friday February 14 2020.

“Ohanaeze youths will not tolerate any form of intimidation, harassment, provocative show of force, arrest and killing of any Igbo Man under the guise of maintaining peace where there’s no crisis.

“We remind the Police on the need to stop further use of provocative and inciting media releases and interviews to incur the wrath of the people during the burial rites of the paramount ruler of Afaraukwu community HRM Eze Isaac Kanu and his wife, as there will be influx of foreign dignitaries from all over the world.

“The dignitaries from all over the world will use the opportunity to assess if the allegations of harassment levelled against the Nigeria Police and the Army on IPOB are true.

“We urge the Commissioner of Police, CP. Okon of Abia State Police to withdraw his threat of unleashing mayhem against his citizens, and tactically tender unreserved apology to IPOB.

“Biafra agitators are not violent in nature and CP Okon should not create an opportunity to make a peaceful State of Abia turn into flames or engulfed by crisis.

Ohanaeze will engage with all stakeholders to avert avoidable arrest or killing of Any Igbo Youth during the Burial Rites”.

The group, however, called on IPOB to jettison any provocation that would turn the burial of the parents of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu into the bloodshed of innocent citizens of the state.

“We urge Biafra agitators, especially IPOB members to join other sympathisers and family of the late Paramount Ruler of Afaraukwu Community HRM, Eze Isaac Kanu, to be of good conduct and avoid using anything that would jeopardize the burial rites process as custom demands.

“IPOB should not allow the repeat of “Oraifite” sad Episode and they should not engage security agents in any way. IPOB should ensure that they avert avoidable bloodshed during the burial.

“We plead with IPOB members not to display any Biafran flags or uniforms, as there’s no reason to lose any life while trying to bury the King and Queen of Afaraukwu community. Abia is safe and secure and there should be no bloodshed or massacre, it will be resisted” the group stated.

ECOWAS constitutes c’ttee on Nigeria’s land border closure

The Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government has constituted a committee, headed by President Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso,  to study and make a full report on Nigeria’s land border closure with her neighbouring countries.

The decision to set up the committee was agreed on Sunday night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at an extraordinary session of ECOWAS leaders convened on the margins of the 33rd AU Summit to discuss the issue and other pressing regional matters.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, told journalists after the three-hour closed door session that the meeting attended by President Muhammadu Buhari and chaired by the ECOWAS Chairman, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic, also discussed West Africa′s new single currency, the Eco, and the situation in Guinea Bissau after the presidential election.

Onyeama, while speaking on borders closure in a statement issued yesterday by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said: ‘‘The President of Burkina Faso is charged with undertaking a full study of the situation, make a report and then we take it from there.

On when the report will be presented to ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, the minister said there was no timeline set for the committee but that it is supposed to start very quickly, study the situation from all the affected countries and present its report.

Onyeama, while commenting on the Eco currency, said nothing has changed in respect of Nigeria’s position’’. He explained that Nigeria’s position was that the convergence criteria have not been met by majority of the countries, therefore there has to be an extension of time on the take-off of the single currency.