Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has revealed how religious leaders, traditional rulers and political elites have been frustrating the efforts of the Muhammadu Buhari government to rid the country of age long corruption and indolent.

He said that whenever he wants to sack a public official who has been found to be corrupt, he would get many calls from religious and political leaders not to do so.

Professor Osinbajo, who spoke in a keynote address at the 24th Nigerian Economic Summit plenary on corruption and rule of law, in Abuja today, Monday, said that the Nigerian elite are often times get in the way of ridding the public service of corrupt executives.

The founding dean of Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, Ngaire Woods, who moderated the plenary, had asked Osinbajo to tell the summit who calls him when he wants to sack someone corrupt.

In his response, Osinbajo stated: “I would like to refer to the Nigerian elite, and it’s probably not fair to be that broad, but practically, every segment, because people who have access to you, they could be political leaders, religious leaders, business leaders, whoever has access to you.

“We have a system where people just feel like, ‘why don’t you just give this guy a break?’ “Which again is part of the problem: you don’t get one call, you get several calls.”

Osinbajo said that the government is doing so much to tackle grand corruption and systemic corruption, adding that since he became vice-president, he has seen how much impact corruption can have on a country.

According to Vice President Osinbajo, corruption more than he ever imagined before he came in as number two man.

President Muhammadu Buhari has recalled how Major General Tunde Idiagbon, who was his second-in-command as military head of State, risked his life when General Ibrahim Babangida struck with a coup that overthrew his government in 1985.

He recalled that Idagbon was on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia when the administration was overthrown, but that instead of remaining in that country, he insisted on returning to Nigeria, adding: “this was despite the political uncertainty especially as he had learnt that he, as Commander-in-Chief at that time, had not been killed in the take-over.”

Buhari, who spoke today, Monday as he received the governorship aspirants and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the three senatorial zones of Kwara State at Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that the late  Idiagbon turned down the offer from the King of Saudi Arabia to bring members of his (Idiagbon) family from Nigeria to the Kingdom, as he was his guest at that time, and eventually returned to Nigeria to suffer arrest like he (Buhari) did.

President Buhari therefore extolled the loyalty of his late deputy and asked Nigerians to remain faithful and loyal to the country in all their dealings.

“The late Major General Tunde Idiagbon was a very rare example of what loyalty to fatherland and to a superior should be. Tunde was strong, loyal and extremely committed to the cause of positively changing the narrative about Nigeria, which the administration set out to do at that time.

“You don’t have to be in uniform to be loyal.  What I said long ago in 1984 is still valid today. We have no other country but Nigeria. Others who feel they have another country may choose to go. We will stay here and salvage it together.”

The President thanked the APC stakeholders for the position they have taken to continue to support the party regardless of the outcome of the primaries and assured them that, with the unity displayed so far, APC will form the government in Kwara State after the 2019 elections.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Nigeria Police Force, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to pay N50 Million to Charles Oputa, popularly known as  Charly Boy.

Justice John Tsoho awarded the amount today, Monday while delivering judgment in a fundamental rights suit brought against the Police by Charly Boy.

He said that the amount is a compensation for the violation of his rights to dignity of the human person, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, adding that the Police should publish an apology to Charly Boy in two national newspapers.

Delivering judgment on the case marked as Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/343/2018, Justice Tsoho held that there was no evidence that miscreants invaded or stormed the premises of the protest as alleged by the police.

On whether the Applicant was entitled to stage the protest, the court held that protest is a constitutionally-guaranteed right, provided it is done peacefully.

“The Respondents (the Police) need not exercise an uncommon aggression and mayhem to ward off alleged miscreants.

“The law is that the court has the right to grant redress to anyone whose right is violated and the applicant is entitled to a remedy.

“Relief four is granted and the respondents are ordered to publish an apology to the applicant in two national newspapers for violating his fundamental rights.

“The sum of N50m is awarded against the respondents as general and exemplary damages,’’ Tsoho ruled.

Reacting to the judgment, Charly Boy’s counsel, Effiong, described it as “a resounding victory for democracy, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the country.”

“This judgment sends unequivocal message to the Nigerian Police that they have no power to stop or disrupt peaceful protests by Nigerians.

“The Police, by this judgment, cannot invent flimsy excuses to stop citizens from exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

“I am highly elated by this victory for democracy,’’ Effiong said.

In the suit filed on March 29, Charly Boy had accused the Police and their officers of harassing him and members of the OurMumuDonDo campaign during the #ResumeOrResign protests.

Charly Boy, through his lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, argued that the Police attacked the group during a peaceful demonstration at the Unity Fountain in Abuja.

He asked the court to determine whether the “use of water cannons, teargas canisters and wild Police dogs to harass him and members of his group during the said peaceful protest on August 8, 2017 was constitutional.”

He argued that the act was an infringement on his fundamental rights, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association as enshrined in sections 34, 39, and 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

Charly Boy, therefore, prayed the court to make a compelling order on the FCT Police and their commissioner to publish a public apology to him in five national newspapers.

He also demanded that payment of the sum of N100 million as general damages be awarded to the applicant as well as direct that N400 million be paid as exemplary damages by the Police.

Source: NAN.

President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that he would never sign any treaty that has no beneficial effect on the lives of Nigerians.

Apparently reacting to the insinuations made by the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo that if  Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is voted President in 2019, he will quickly sign treaties with other countries, Buhari said: I will not sign any treaty without assessing the impact it will have on the lives of Nigerians.”

President Buhari, who spoke today, Monday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja when he inaugurated the nation’s Committee for Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), said that Nigeria will henceforth take its time and breakaway from the past practice where treaties were signed without considering the needed positive gains for the country.

“We are determined to breakaway form the past practice of committing Nigeria to treaties without a definite implementation plan to actualise the expected benefit while mitigating the risks.

“We cannot go back to the days of signing agreements without understanding and planning for the consequences of such actions and our country being the worst for it.

“Few months ago I directed a nationwide stakeholders’ engagement on the Africa Free Trade Continental Area Agreement to understand the true impact of this agreement on Nigeria and Nigerians, considering the existing domestic and regional policies as it relates to trade.

“From the consultation, the key issues raised by stakeholders were abuse of rules of origin, smuggling arising from difficulties in border controls, unqualified impact of legacy preferential trade agreements, low capacity and capability of local businesses to conduct international trade, costly finance, insufficient energy and transport logistics infrastructure but our Economic recovery and Growth Plan is addressing these issues.”

The President charged the committee to concentrate on the issues raised during the nationwide consultations in order to find lasting solutions to them.

“Your task as members of the Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area Committee is to address the issues raised during the stakeholders’ consultations on the Africa Continental free trade Agreement. You are expected to develope short, medium and long term measures that will address any challenges arising there from.”

He said that Nigeria’s vision for intra-African trade is for a free movement of made in Africa goods.