Politics
Don’t Wash My Dirty Linens In Public – Tinubu To US Court
A United States’ District Judge, Nancy Maldonado, has received a passionate prayer from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to help shield his ugly past, by ordering the Chicago State University (CSU) to guard his personal information from the public.
President Tinubu madet the prayers on Monday, and among what he is desperate to keep from the public are his admission records, transcripts and gender.
Interestintly, these are what the legal team of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar canvass would be of interest to the Nigerian public and help determine their appeal against the ruling of the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
However, President Tinubu’s legal team are praying the judge to sanction the release of only his certificate to the appellants.
The motion was filed by the president’s lawyer, Christopher Carmichael, with the clear stance that “the most critical fact has already been clearly and unequivocally established” by President Tinubu’s alma mater.
Recall that Atiku’s legal team had secured an order from a US magistrate, Jeffrey Gilbert, for the CSU to make President Tinubu’s academic records available to them.
Among the documents Atiku’s, counsel, Angela Liu, applied for, are the record of President Tinubu’s admission and acceptance at the CSU, dates of attendance, degrees, awards and honours attained by the former governor of Lagos State at the university.
Recall that with the last Thursday deadline set by Gilbert at hand, President Tinubu’s lawyers approached Maldonado, praying that the earlier decision by Gilbert needed to be reviewed by a district judge.
The judge acceded to their prayers.
There was a twist on Monday, however, as President Tinubu’s legal team prayed the court to release only the certificate and preclude other academic records, which they described as “privileged”.
An extract from the motion filed by President Tinubu’s lawyer read, “The most critical fact has already been clearly and unequivocally established by Chicago State University: Intervenor was awarded the degree as he stated.
“This point is irrelevant to the applicant because he is not seeking anything more than opposition research on a political opponent.
“The magistrate judge clearly erred in granting the application for discovery and concluding that Chicago State University must respond to the document and deposition subpoenas.
“That conclusion should be set aside and the application should be denied because the information sought cannot be used and therefore is not ‘for use’ in the foreign proceedings.
“Even if a narrow subset of information can be considered ‘for use’ in the foreign proceeding, that is limited to the diploma submitted to INEC.
“Fishing expeditions into other documents and more document productions must be precluded.”
This twist comes two days after the self-acclaimed classmate of the president, Olajide Adeniji, testified in the US district court that he knows and contested against President Tinubu as President of the Accounting Society Club at the Department of Business Admin/Accounting in the same CSU.
In the oath he took on September 23 at the Northern District of Illinois Court in Chicago, Adeniji swore that he was familiar with the same President Tinubu, the current president of Nigeria.
Biztellers gathered that Atiku’s camp has sworn to resist President Tinubu’s recent move, which they aver made it obvious that the President was bent on hiding something from Nigerians.
The Atiku camp is already bubbly with the prayers of the President Tinubu legal team.
They consider it a veiled confession that President Tinubu was living on a borrowed identity and would approach the court with counter-prayers.
Director, Research and Strategy, Atiku/Okowa 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, Pedro Obaseki, alleged that the claim by President Tinubu that the release of his record to the public would cause him personal pain was because the owner of the disputed certificate is a woman.
Speaking at a Zoom conference hosted by a London-based psychologist, Gold Emmanuel on Monday, Obaseki said the CSU would only confirm what Atiku’s camp already knew by making public the record of President Tinubu, who graduated from the institution in the late 70s.
He said, “Nigerians will be more demoralised that the owner of the certificate that President Tinubu is parading is a woman.
“We already know it as a fact, but we are seeking the release of the documents officially by CSU.”
Politics
Nigeria’s Debt Service Ratio Falls To 65% As Tinubu Tackles Economic Woes
In an effort to reduce Nigeria’s debt burden and stabilize the economy, President Bola Tinubu announced on Monday that the country’s debt service-to-revenue ratio has fallen from 97 to 65 percent over the 17 months since he took office.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony for seven new ministers at the State House, Abuja, Tinubu emphasized the government’s progress in stabilizing the economy despite challenging conditions.
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“For us, it was a challenge when the nation was servicing its debt with 97 percent of its revenue. It was nothing but the edge of the cliff,” Tinubu said.
“But today, I can report to you that we have brought that down to 65 percent, and we have never defaulted in meeting all obligations, both foreign and domestic.”
His remarks follow Afreximbank’s recent projection that Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio could reach 110.4 percent by 2024.
Afreximbank’s 2024 Nigeria Country Brief warned of a troubling upward trend in debt servicing, which could see the ratio surge from 33.8 percent in 2017 to a projected 110.4 percent next year.
However, with continued reforms, the report suggested the ratio might decline to 62.6 percent by 2025.
In the first nine months of 2023, debt servicing consumed 66.9 percent (₦5.79 trillion) of Nigeria’s total revenue, a slight improvement from 99.3 percent (₦4.23 trillion) during the same period in 2022.
Tinubu, while optimistic about economic recovery, acknowledged the ongoing struggles faced by Nigerians due to a sharp increase in the cost of living triggered by recent economic reforms.
“We have taken the bull by the horns,” the President asserted. “We have stopped the scavengers. We will fully put an end to the profiteers and smugglers of our resources across the country. We are not shirking our responsibility; we are confronting it head-on.”
He further expressed confidence that Nigeria was on a “good path” toward recovery, emphasizing that the government remains committed to re-engineering the economy.
He cited the introduction of a new minimum wage as one measure aimed at mitigating rising living costs.
Monday’s ceremony also saw the swearing-in of seven new ministers, part of a recent cabinet reshuffle.
In two batches, ministers including Idi Maiha (Livestock Development) and Dr Jumoke Oduwole (Industry, Trade, and Investment) took their oaths.
The reshuffle, which saw 10 ministers reassigned, five discharged, and seven new appointments confirmed by the Senate, reflects Tinubu’s stated commitment to reshaping his cabinet to meet Nigeria’s evolving challenges.
As the administration continues to implement reforms, President Tinubu emphasized a long-term vision for economic sustainability, not only for the current generation but also for future ones.
“Despite the challenges, we must undertake the job of re-engineering and retooling this country’s economic path,” he said.
Politics
Edo Deputy Gov, Omobayo Ordered To Court Over Refusal To Vacate Office
A Federal High Court in Abuja has mandated that Godwins Omobayo, the Deputy Governor of Edo State, appear in person on November 26, 2024, following allegations of contempt of court stemming from his failure to comply with a previous ruling.
Justice James Omotosho issued the order on Monday, asserting that Omobayo, described as the alleged contemnor, must be afforded a fair hearing in accordance with Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
READ MORE: Bobrisky Flees Nigeria Amid Legal Turmoil
The court action was initiated by Philip Shaibu, who was reinstated as Deputy Governor after the court invalidated his impeachment by the Edo State House of Assembly on July 17.
Justice Omotosho ruled that the impeachment proceedings lacked due process and that the grounds for Shaibu’s removal did not constitute gross misconduct.
Shaibu’s suit targets several parties, including the Inspector-General of Police and the Edo State House of Assembly, seeking enforcement of the court’s judgment and demanding that Omobayo vacate the deputy governorship position.
Omobayo assumed office on April 8, following Shaibu’s impeachment.
During the court proceedings, it was revealed that Omobayo was served legal documents but failed to appear.
In response, Shaibu’s attorney, Ayotunde Ogunleye, SAN, urged the court to compel Omobayo’s attendance, citing the need to uphold judicial authority.
In delivering his ruling, Justice Omotosho adjourned the case until November 26 for further proceedings.
He directed that hearing notices be served to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th defendants involved in the charge.
“In the interest of justice and to provide the alleged contemnor with an opportunity to defend himself and receive a fair hearing, in accordance with Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), I hereby order that the alleged contemnor appear in court in person on November 26, 2024,” the judge stated.
It is noteworthy that the current tenure of the state government is set to conclude on November 12.
Politics
Presidency Fires Back At Atiku
On the heels of the salvo fired by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria’s 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, signalling what might be a long-drawn hot exchange of words, the Presidency has made what it called ‘our initial response to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’.
This was contained in a statement put out on micro-blogging site, X, Sunday by the Special Adviser to the President (Information and Strategy), Bayo Onanuga.
The former vice president had detailed the shortcomings of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, making efforts to detail what he would have done differently, that would have better results for Nigeria.
In a swift response, the Presidency countered that Atiku and his ideas “were rejected by Nigerians in the 2023 poll”, based on his antecedents.
The statement reads, “OUR INITIAL RESPONSE TO ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR
“We have just read a statement credited to former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in which he tried to discredit President Bola Tinubu’s economic reform programmes while pushing his untested agenda as a better alternative.
“First, Alhaji Atiku’s ideas, which lacked details, were rejected by Nigerians in the 2023 poll.
“If he had won the election, we believe he would have plunged Nigeria into a worse situation or run a regime of cronyism.
“Abubakar lost the election partly because he vowed to sell the NNPC and other assets to his friends. Nigerians have not forgotten this, nor would they be comforted by Atiku’s antecedents when he ran the economy in the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2003.
“As vice president, Atiku supervised a questionable privatisation programme. He and his boss demonstrated a lack of faith in our educational system, and both went to establish their universities while they allowed ours to flounder.
“Talk is cheap. It is easy to pontificate and deride a rival’s programmes even when there are irrefutable indices that the economic reforms yield positives despite the temporary difficulties.
“Despite the futile attempt to hoodwink Nigerians again in his statement, it is gratifying that the former Vice President could not repudiate the economic reforms pursued by the Tinubu administration because they are the right things to do.
“His advocacy for a gradualist approach only showed that he was not in tune with the enormity of problems inherited by President Tinubu.
“It is so easy to paint a flowery to-do list. It is expected of an election loser.
“President Tinubu met a country facing several grave challenges. Fuel subsidies were siphoning away enormous resources we could ill afford, and there was criminal arbitrage in the forex market.
“No leader worth his name will allow these two economic disorders to persist without moving to end them surgically.
“While advocating for gradual reforms may sound appealing, Tinubu took measures that should have been taken decades ago by Alhaji Abubakar and his boss when they had the opportunity.
“Alhaji Abubakar calls for empathy and a human face to reforms. We have no problem with this as it resonates well with our administration’s focus. President Tinubu has consistently emphasised the need for compassion and protection of the most vulnerable.
“The administration has prioritised social safety nets and targeted support for those affected by recent economic transitions.”