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Apeeal Court Throws Out Onnoghen’s Appeals, Faults CCT’s Suspension Order

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The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Friday threw out four appeals filed by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, regarding his trial by  the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

But the court in one of the four unanimous judgments of the three-man panel, faulted the ex parte order issued by the CCT on January 23, 2019  for Onnoghen’s suspension.

President Muhammadu Buhari acted on the same order to suspend Onnoghen and swear in Justice Tanko Muhammad as acting CJN on January 25.

The three-man bench of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Stephen Adah in four separate unanimous judgments held that three of the appeals had become academic since the trial had been concluded by the CCT.

One of the appeals was ruled to be incompetent.

All the four appeals were filed to challenge various interlocutory decisions of the Danladi Umar CCT before the tribunal handed down its final judgment convicting Onnoghen on April 18, 2019.

Justice Adah said, “Since the substantive matter before the CCT  has already been concluded, this appeal is already spent and there is no basis to go into the nitty-gritty of the ex parte order.”

The Federal Government  on January 11, 2019 charged Onnoghen with breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers by failing to declare his assets between 2005 and 2016 and also  making false declaration by not  declaring  five domiciliary bank accounts as part of his assets in 2016.

Onnoghen remained suspended until April 18 when the CCT convicted him on all six counts and ordered his removal from office.

But Justice Adah  said in one of the  judgments that the ex parte order for his suspension was not only made when the defendant had yet to be arraigned before the CCT, it was obtained in the proceedings “shrouded in secrecy and clandestine manoeuvre”.

He  said while all the parties to the case during the January 22, 2019 proceedings of the trial agreed with the tribunal to have the case adjourned till January 25 for the hearing of pending applications, the prosecution went behind the defendant to obtain the ex parte order on January 23.

“The mode of secrecy the ex parte order has raised some questions,” he said.

He also  said  courts must be wary not to address the merit of a substantive matter in an interlocutory application.

“The merit of the matter ought not be taken at the interlocutory stage,” he said.

Justice Adah also agreed with Onnoghen’s lawyers, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), and Chief Chris Uche (SAN), that the ex parte order breached the ex-CJN’s right to fair hearing.

“The appellant has said the order was in breach of his fundamental right to fair hearing. This is true and it ought not to be so,”  he  said.

Justice Olabisi Ige, who read the lead judgment in another appeal, also held that the CCT ought to have suspended proceedings in reverence  for  the various interim court orders issued by the National Industrial Court and the Federal High Court, restraining the tribunal from going on with the trial.

Justice Ige said, “The judgments, rulings, decisions and orders issued by a court of law  are  sacrosanct and must be obeyed until set aside.”

He said the tribunal should have obeyed the restraining orders not minding if the orders were illegal or that “the court went on a voyage of its own”.

He added that the only option available to the tribunal was to file an appeal before the Court of Appeal to have the orders set aside.

However, the Justices, including Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, who delivered the lead judgment in another appeal, held that there was nothing wrong with  the CCT’s decision to hear the appellant’s notice of preliminary objection along with the prosecution’s interlocutory motion on notice.

They also ruled that the CCT rightly applied the provisions of section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act by refusing the defendant’s application for stay of proceedings.

Justice Adah, in another judgment dismissed Onnoghen’s appeal challenging the warrant of arrest issued against him by the CCT.

The appeal was struck out on the basis that the appellant failed to present a copy of the arrest before the court.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal has yet to fix a date for the hearing of Onnoghen’s appeal challenging his conviction by the CCT.

The Punch

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We Care About You, Adron Homes Fetes Partners, Clients on Valentine’s Day

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Premier real estate firm, Adron Homes has celebrated its teeming clients, partners and well wishers on Valentine’s Day, stressing how much they care.

A statement released by management team, and made available to this medium, reveals that the company does not take for granted all the supports received from clients and partners alike, adding that on a day like this, spreading love and compassion should be the paramount duty of everyone.

The message in full:

“As Valentine’s Day dawns upon us, we are reminded of the profound impact that love and empathy can have on our lives and the communities we serve. At Adron Homes, we believe in the transformative power of these values, and we are committed to fostering a culture of compassion and care in everything we do.

“To our cherished clients: Your trust and support are the driving force behind our success, and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve you. As we continue to work together, let us build relationships rooted in mutual respect, understanding, and empathy. Your satisfaction and well-being are our top priorities, and we are committed to going above and beyond to exceed your expectations.

“To our esteemed partners: Your collaboration is instrumental to our growth and success, and we appreciate the trust you have placed in us. Let us continue to work hand in hand, guided by a shared commitment to excellence and a genuine concern for each other’s success. Together, we can achieve great things and make a lasting impact in our industry and beyond.

“On this special day, let us all strive to be agents of love and empathy, spreading kindness and compassion wherever we go. Together, we can create a world that is more caring, more connected, and more compassionate.

“Happy Valentine’s Day to each and every one of you. May your hearts be filled with love, and may you continue to inspire others with your acts of kindness and empathy.”

With warm regards,

Adron Homes
Building Cities ,Communities And Homes

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LovableVibes: Instant Messaging App Launched in Nigeria

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A new secured social media messaging app known as LovableVibes has been launched in Nigeria, to facilitate the sharing of news, photos, and videos as well as market goods and services to the teeming clickers around the globe.

Developed by Austin Daniels, a.k.a Lovable, a Nigerian, boasted that LovableVibes is a Secure Messenger whose main focus is to be the number one privacy and secure communication system for users that value their privacy.

“Nigerians heavily relied on the foreign messaging app that serves no local content hence the zeal to create LovableVibes; something that Africans would be proud to declare as theirs. Since countries like China, Japan, Korea, and India managed to put their apps together, Africa must be developed by Africans, to measure at par with the international community positioned to bridge that gap.

“We would be introducing more features to make sure user data is protected. We can hide and lock a single chat. The files are not stored in the user’s phone but in bucket cloud storage. The files are 100% safe, and even if your phone is stolen, you don’t need to panic. All you need to do is log in to a new phone and your files are back automatically from where you stopped.

“You may want to ask, are Google Cloud buckets encrypted? Yes, cloud storage always encrypts your data on the server side, before it is written to disk. We don’t see users’ chats or files. That’s why our energy is to provide the user’s privacy at all costs.”

According to Theresa Moses, the app developer’s spokesperson, “the social media app was created out of a need for a Nigerian owned and indigenous social media platform; where Nigerians can have guaranteed communications, with the utmost security and launched on April 18th, 2023 to protect users’ information and privacy.”

On the unique features of the app, she said it is end-to-end encrypted, enables people to connect in communities, allows users to share pictures, video, and audio calls, 500 member group chat, which will be upgraded to 1,000, stickers and files exchange up to 60MB and grow the business to take over WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

“We have the admin panel for the team to use. They can’t see any posts and other things even the user’s chat conversations. We cannot delete videos, and pictures if there is a report on them. Accounts can also be deleted while users’ pages can be modified. Misinformation and fake news can be handled and taken down when users report issues and we confirm it as fake. The same goes for gory contents”.

LovableVibes is currently trending in Nigeria and other countries such as the United Kingdom, India, Germany, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Italy, Congo, Bahamas etc. The application could be downloaded on Google Play and App Store for both Android and Apple phones.

Android Users: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lovablevibes.vibes

iPhone Users: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lovablevibes/id6447699262

LovableVibes Features includes: Unique chat design, Clean UI/UX, See Device Contacts, One-to-One Chat, Chat without Saving number, User status (Online, Last seen, is typing), Video Calling, Audio Calling, Call Logs (with Call duration), See Unseen Message Count, Forward Text Messages, Share any kind of Documents, Video and Images, Share Audio Recording, Share Contacts, Share Current Location, Share GIF (from GIPHY Gallery), Download Media, Change wallpaper, Play Video, Hide and single chat, Block Chat, End-to-End Encryption (Only Sender and Recipient can read the text messages in One-to-One Chat. Even Admin cannot read them), Profile Page (Change Avatar, Status, Display name), Push Notifications (on new message, calls).

All Notifications via chat, Status Stories, Group Chat, User Profile View, Video type Calling Screen, Progress Indicator for Media Sending, Delete for Me/Everyone, See All Joined Users, Reply chat, Forward chat, Share Through App, Broadcast feature integrated too and Notification can also be seen on smart watches. More updates and features are coming soon as we are going to change the concept of status view and more interface patterns.

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IPOB: Nnamdi Kanu’s Family Fights over Money, Control of Bank Accounts

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The crisis rocking the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has taken a more dramatic dimension as close relations of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, are at loggerheads over foreign bank accounts operated by the group, according to Politics Nigeria.

This newspaper, in the previous weeks, reported the multiple divisive crises that struck the group following the arrest and continued detention of Kanu. One of the problems facing the group is the issuing of unauthorised statements by members of Kanu’s family, which caused a sharp divide among IPOB members globally.

But more recently, the group is mired in deep problems over access to funds and change of signatories to its foreign bank accounts operated in different countries.

Central in this furore are members of Kanu’s family who are beginning to fight each other over the control of the accounts. This, if not resolved, may plunge the already divided group into complete chaos, sources, including a top-ranking IPOB chief, familiar with the inner workings of the group revealed to our correspondent.

Since the group runs on donations from its supporters in diaspora, it is believed that this crisis can put it in a financial situation that may halt operations of all IPOB branches.

Worries from detention

Kanu, since his arrest and repatriation back to Nigeria in 2021, has only had access to the group’s funds through his proxies and Directorate of States (DOS). The DOS is saddled with responsibility of catering for IPOB interests in various countries spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and other continents.

However, in recent times most of the foreign accounts have been frozen due to one issue or the other. Since Kanu is facing treasonable felony charges and still in detention, all of these concerns could not be properly treated.

Instead, the IPOB leader gives instructions from detention through his lawyers and other senior members of the group.

German Account Saga

During a recent meeting with Kanu, one of the group’s members complained that they are having issues with the new IPOB bank account in Germany. According to our source, a German Court restricted access to the account due to disagreement in replacing the signatory to the account.

The member explained that when they wanted to replace Collins Chinedu, a former national coordinator of IPOB in Germany, with Abraham Ogbonnaya, trouble ensued.

The move was fiercely resisted as the IPOB directorate of States(DOS) led by Chika Edoziem, quickly issued a public disclaimer describing Ogbonnaya as a criminal.

In fact, in the heat of the crisis in Germany, Kanu’s younger brother, Kingsley Kanu, was accused of imposing Ogbonnaya as the new National Coordinator for Germany with the sole intent to cause division within the existing structure. Edoziem, in a letter to the bank insisted that Chinedu, being the one whose name is in their constitution, should be the one to operate the bank account.

Meanwhile, as a way of resolving the conflict, Kanu’s lawyer, Ejimakor then sought his (Kanu’s) approval for funds to be paid into their national account instead.

He disclosed that Washington could raise $5000, Baltimore $10,000, New Jersey $20,000 and New York $20,000.

Our source stated: “Kanu expressed displeasure over the inability to access bank accounts in Germany and Italy.”

“Ejimakor explained that the issues were caused by ongoing battle over change of Signatories to the accounts.”

“He told Kanu that the account in Germany was blocked based on a memo from Kingsley seeking to change the signatories to the account and that Kingsley claimed that he (Nnamdi) authorised the memo, Kanu denied giving such authorisation.”

Nnenna Kanu and Emmanuel Kanu

While the control of funds in the Italian and German branches of the IPOB is still subject of controversy, two members of Kanu’s family are fighting over the money in the United States.

Nnenna Kanu and Emmanuel Kanu, two siblings of the IPOB leader, want the control of IPOB’s bank account in the US. Recently, Nnenna did a live broadcast where she publicly insulted Emmanuel and accused him of interfering with her duties.

In a rebuttal, Emmanuel claimed that he is acting on the orders of their elder brother(Nnamdi).

Sources told POLITICS NIGERIA that Nnamdi Kanu, on getting whiff of the development, was miffed that his younger sister, Nnenna, has been flouting his directives regarding IPOB bank accounts in the US.

He also admitted detailing Emmanuel to ensure Nnenna complies with his directives which may have led to the disagreement.

IPOB DOS bars payments to German Account

In a brash response to the power tussle over account control, the IPOB directorate of State (DOS) in a recent press statement, called on all its members to desist from paying donations/funds into the group’s German account.

The statement signed by Edoziem in February read in part;

“All IPOB family members worldwide are therefore directed to stop making payments into the IPOB account in Germany because any payment made will be returned to the payee and this will direct unnecessary attention to the family.”

“Furthermore, please note that until the Directorate ascertain what actually happened to that account and why it was closed, all IPOB family units around the world are hereby directed to desist from sending their monthly dues or any funds”.

Source: Politics Nigeria

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