Politics
Alleged Treason: Judge Threatens To Strike Out Case Against Sowore
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, threatened to strike out the four-year-long treasonable felony case instituted by the Federal Government against pro-democracy activist and Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore.
The judge also urged the Federal Government’s prosecution team to get its acts together following the inability of one of its counsels, Barr. Maryam Okorie, to make clear her arguments in court on Wednesday.
The Tide’s source reports that the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led government had accused Sowore of treason following his call for a protest tagged #RevolutionNow, slated for August 5, 2019, for which he was abducted at midnight on August 3, 2019, and was detained for five months by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Resuming the trial on Wednesday with the accused present in court, the Federal Government’s counsel, Barr. Okorie made a false claim that the reason Sowore’s trial was transferred to Justice Nwite was because the now-retired Justice Anwalu Chikere was initially handling the case, and that the case was started de novo because Chikere retired.
Okorie also told the court that on the last adjourned date, the court had ordered that the hearing notice be served on the second defendant, Olawale Bakare. She, however, said that she was not aware if Bakare had been served with the notice.
The Court Registrar, however, confirmed that Bakare had not been served.
Counsel to Sowore, Mr. Marshall Abubakar, told the court that he believed the prosecution team was only trying to frustrate his client by its inability to serve the second defendant the hearing notice for him to appear in court.
Abubakar noted that he had written a letter to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice asking that the charge be severed so that his client could take his plea and stand trial alone.
“My lord, this is the fifth year since this charge was filed, the defendant has been denied access to his family since then because he has not been allowed to travel outside the country where his family lives.
“You cannot continually and perpetually hold the man under suspicion that he committed a crime, and so we will apply that this case be struck out until the prosecution is ready to prosecute it,” Abubakar said.
The prosecuting counsel, Okorie, told the court that since they had written to the Minister, they would have to wait for the Minister’s response to know the next line of action.
Seemingly dissatisfied by the Federal Government counsel’s claim which led to an argument between Mr Sowore, one of his lawyers, Marshall Abubakar from Falana and Falana’s chambers, and barrister Okorie, Justice Nwite threatened to strike out the case on the next adjourned date, December 5, 2023, if the prosecution team fails to get its acts together.
Justice Nwite further ruled that he was minded to grant an adjournment on the condition that by the next adjourned date, the prosecution team (FG) would comply with the order of the court to serve the second defendant.
The judge warned that if the order of the court to serve the second defendant was not complied with, the matter would be struck out.
“If you are not ready to go on with the matter, I am sounding this as the last warning that at the next adjourned date, I will strike out the matter even if heaven falls, let it fall,” Justice Nwite warned.
He therefore adjourned the matter until December 5, 2023.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.