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Oshiomhole Bounces Back as APC Chairman As Appeal Court Rules
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The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday lifted the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress.
Before the appellate court nullified Oshiomhole’s suspension, President Muhammadu Buhari had postponed indefinitely, the APC National Executive Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday (today).
Also on Monday, governors, who were opposed to Oshiomhole, at a meeting in Abuja, engaged in a shouting match with their colleagues supporting him.
But a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Abubakar Yahaya unanimously ordered a stay of execution of the March 4, 2020 order of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Jabi, Abuja, which suspended Oshiomhole from office.
It also restrained the respondents to Oshiomhole’s appeal, including the police and the Department of State Services from continuing to enforce the FCT High Court’s order.
Apart from the police and the DSS, the other respondents restrained by the Court of Appeal were the plaintiffs at the FCT High Court who obtained the order for the suspension of Oshimhole.
They are the Vice-Chairman of the party in the North-East, Mustapha Salihu, and the Chairman of the party in Edo State, Anslem Ojezua; Alhaji Sani Gomna, Oshawo Steven, Fani Wabulari, and Princewill Ejogharado.
Oshiomhole, who was in court with a large number of his supporters, was visibly happy after the ruling was delivered on Monday.
The court lifted Oshiomhole’s suspension following an ex parte application for stay of execution of the FCT High Court’s order which was moved by his lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), on Monday.
Delivering the lead ruling shortly after listening to Olanipekun, Justice Abubakar Yahaya noted that there was the urgent need for the FCT High Court’s order to be lifted to enable Oshiomhole to participate in the APC’s National Executive Council meeting scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
Justice Yahaya said there would not be any status quo to maintain if the NEC meeting held in his absence.
He ruled, “We are of the view that an emergency picture has been painted so that the intervention by this court at this time and in this process is warranted.
“There is information that the National Executive Committee meeting of the second applicant is to be held tomorrow (Tuesday) and following the order of the FCT High Court under consideration, the first applicant (Oshiomhole) will not be able to participate. If this happens, then there is no chance that there will be status quo ante bellum to be maintained. The status quo can only be maintained, in these circumstances, if there is a stay of execution of the FCT High Court’s order.
“It is on this basis that we find merit in this application. We hereby order a stay of execution of the ruling of the FCT High Court in suit number FCT/HC/CV/837/2020 delivered on March 4, 2020, pending the determination of the motion on notice which is now slated for hearing on Friday, March 20, 2020.
“As a corollary, we also hereby make an order restraining the respondents, themselves their agents, privies, and servants, jointly and severally from continuing to take any further steps to give effect to the same order of the FCT High Court pending the determination of the motion on notice.”
Noting that Oshiomhole had demonstrated his preparedness to prosecute the appeal, the appellate court also ordered the accelerated hearing in the case.
Justice Yahaya ended the ruling with an appeal to politicians to stop involving the court in all their internal affairs.
“Having said all those, we implore political parties to try to resolve their differences amicably without the necessity of involving the court at all times,” Justice Yahaya said.
While arguing his ex parte application for the stay of execution of the FCT High Court’s order, Olanipekun had urged the court to grant the application, arguing that failure to do so might cause irreparable damage to his client.
“My lords, time is of essence,” Olanipekun said, adding that the National Executive Council of the APC was set to hold its meeting on Tuesday in Oshiomhole’s absence.
He also cited section 122 of the Evidence Act which he said “enjoins your lordship to take judicial notice of what is going on in your surroundings” as he said that the party had been destabilised since March 4 when the suspension order was issued against Oshiomhole.
He noted that the FCT High Court’s order suspending Oshiomhole was issued contrary to the admonition of the Supreme Court to courts not to dabble in the internal affairs of political parties.
An attempt by the respondents’ lawyer, Mr Oluwole Afolabi, to pass the information that the party’s NEC had been postponed, was rebuffed by the panel.
Responding to Oluwole, the panel said the hearing being ex parte proceedings, the respondents were not entitled to be heard and the information passed to the court through their lawyer could not be validly used.
The Court of Appeal’s hearing was initially adjourned indefinitely on Monday afternoon.
The court resumed sitting at 4pm after the members of the special panel constituted by the court management were able to arrive in Abuja from their divisions in different parts of the country.
Justice Danlami Senchi of the FCT High Court had on March 4 suspended Oshiomhole as APC’s National Chairman on the grounds that the party wrongfully continued to retain him in office while he was under suspension as a member of the party.
The suit was instituted before the FCT High Court by six applicants.
Together with the Inspector-General of Police, Adamu Mohammed and the Department of State Services, the six applicants are the respondents to appeal jointly filed by Oshiomhole and the APC.
The Punch
The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, on Thursday, criticised President Bola Tinubu’s “Emi Lokan” slogan ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Makinde said Nigerians do not need “turn-by-turn nepotism”, arguing that voters should be free to decide who becomes the country’s next president in 2027.
The Oyo State governor spoke during the APM’s town hall meeting in Akure, Ondo State.
Makinde asked: “How can someone say ‘Eemi lokan’ in a country like Nigeria? You were given the opportunity. If you recall the 1999 presidential election, the South-West voted massively for Baba Olu Falae, but the rest of Nigerians voted for Baba Obasanjo. So, this is not an issue that only the South-West can resolve; it is an issue we must address collectively as Nigerians.
“We do not want ‘turn-by-turn nepotism’, nor do we want a situation where people say, ‘I will vote for projects because it is my turn’. You will not finish those projects, and when it becomes someone else’s turn, they will do the same thing. We will end up with a Nigeria where we cannot get value for the resources belonging to Nigerians.
“The Reset Nigeria agenda is about building a country where infrastructure development supports economic growth and addresses the concerns of young people and women.
“Once we fix our economy, no zone will be left behind, and no demographic group will be left behind.”
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has denied saying the Federal government will introduce a fuel tax when the economy stabilises and income levels improve.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Oyedele said his remarks during an interview with ARISE News was misrepresented, insisting that a “fuel tax is not on the table.”
However, during the interview with Rotus Odiri, ARISE News Business Correspondent, on the sidelines of the 2026 International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, Oyedele said the tax would come when income levels improve enough for Nigerians to accommodate it.
He said taxes account for between 20 and 80 percent of pump prices in some countries, while many African countries impose between six and 10 different taxes on fuel products.
He said introducing fuel tax while petrol was still subsidised would have been counterproductive because government would effectively be paying the tax itself.
According to him, imposing the tax immediately after removal of petrol subsidy would be insensitive to Nigerians.
“The objective should be that instead of trying to suppress prices, which hasn’t worked for us, it hasn’t worked for any country in the world, not one. Instead of trying to suppress prices, think about how to grow income faster than prices rise,” Oyedele said.
“That’s how you bring prosperity and grow the middle class and that is exactly what we are doing as led by Mr. President himself.
“At the appropriate time, when the economy has stabilizes and income level will be able to accommodate it, those taxes will come. Not because we want to impose taxes,” he added.
In his Tuesday post, the minister reiterated that introducing a fuel tax at this time would be insensitive following removal of petrol subsidy, describing reports that government will introduce the levy when the economy stabilises as “fake news.”
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and Deputy Director of the Presidential Campaign Council, Chief Dele Momodu, has described former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the most nationally formidable and experienced among the leading contenders for the 2027 presidential election.
Momodu said Atiku’s experience at the national level distinguishes him from President Bola Tinubu and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi.
He stated this on Wednesday during an interview on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, in Abeokuta.
“If you look at the antecedents of the three major candidates, between Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, you will see that Atiku is the most experienced. He has managed our country at the highest level,” he said.
Momodu traced Atiku’s political journey to the 1992 Social Democratic Party (SDP), presidential primary where he contested against late MKO Abiola and stepped down for him.
He said Atiku accepted the outcome without crisis even after he was not picked as Abiola’s running mate, describing it as a mark of true democratic temperament.
“He is the only one who started from around 1992, contested the SDP primary against Abiola and stepped down with uncommon equanimity. He did not make any noise,” Momodu said.
He noted that Atiku was among the founders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and served as Vice-President from 1999 to 2007.
Comparing Atiku with Obi, Momodu argued that while Obi’s best was demonstrated in Anambra, Atiku’s was at the presidency level managing the national economy.
“Peter Obi has tried his best in Anambra, while Atiku’s best is at the level of vice president controlling the economy of Nigeria. The difference is clear. He has matured in experience and exposure,” he said.
Momodu also said President Tinubu’s experience was largely limited to Lagos.
“What I’m trying to say is that Tinubu’s experience was limited to Lagos, and that is why when he became president, he thought Nigeria was Lagos. And he has found out now that Nigeria is not Lagos,” he said.
He argued that the current economic hardship under the present administration did not show prosperity, insisting Atiku remained better positioned to lead the country.
“Well, we are yet to see that prosperity, and if yesterday would determine today and tomorrow, it is obvious that Tinubu should retire now and let someone else do it,” Momodu added.
DailyPost
