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PDP Kicks as Police Arrest, Detain Adeleke
The Peoples Democratic Party has protested against the detention of its candidate for last year’s Osun State governorship election, Ademola Adeleke, by the police on Monday.
Adeleke was detained at Force Headquarters in Abuja after he was invited by the police
“This is highly provocative, an invitation to anarchy and a recipe for a very serious crisis not only in Osun but also in the judiciary and our nation,” the PDP National Publicity Secretary,Ologbindiyan, said at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.
“The arrest and detention of Senator Adeleke is a direct act of violence against our laws, the institution of the judiciary and the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“This is part of the grand plot by the All Progressives Congress to coerce Senator Adeleke into relinquishing the mandate that was freely given to him by the people of Osun State, which was further established by the tribunal.”
Ologbondiyan said the plot was to arraign Adeleke before “an ostensibly compromised magistrate’s court” over the same issues of alleged examination malpractice and certificate forgery before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
He said, “The heinous calculation by the APC is to ensure that Senator Adeleke is not free to be sworn in as governor of Osun State as they know he will surely obtain justice and retrieve his stolen mandate at the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
“The police arrested him in the guise of an invitation despite the direct orders of the Federal High Court restraining them or their agents from arresting and detaining him on account of the statement of result and testimonial duly issued by the Ede Muslim Grammar School, Ede, pending the determination of the originating summons pending in the court.
“Senator Adeleke, as a law-abiding citizen honoured an invitation by the police only for him to be arrested and detained in a dingy facility in Maitama, in direct affront to the order of the Federal High Court.”
The PDP argued that arraigning Adeleke in a magistrate’s court for a matter already being heard by the Federal High Court was aimed at causing a crisis in the judiciary.
The party said, “The PDP therefore demands the immediate and unconditional release of Senator Adeleke by the police.”
The police said the lawmaker would be arraigned on Tuesday for unstated criminal offences.
Force spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, confirmed to one of our correspondents that they had taken Adeleke into custody.
He stated, “Senator Adeleke is currently in police custody. He was taken into custody in the evening (Monday) in connection with ongoing criminal investigations touching on his person.”
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Abuja had granted Adeleke permission to travel to the United States for a checkup on Tuesday.
Justice Inyang Ekwo however ordered him to honour a fresh police invitation on May 6 (Monday), before travelling the next day.
In his ruling delivered on Friday, but which its enrolled order was seen by The PUNCH on Monday, the court specifically directed the police not to prevent Adeleke from travelling on May 7.
The judge ordered him to return to the country on June 9.
Adeleke’s passport was seized by the court last year as the bail condition granted him, following his arraignment.
The judge ordered the Chief Registrar of the court to release the passport to him to enable him to embark on the foreign trip.
Justice Ekwo also ordered Adeleke to return the passport to the Chief Registrar within three days of his arrival in Nigeria on June 9.
He delivered his ruling after hearing Adeleke’s lawyer, Dr Alex Iziyon (SAN), and the prosecuting counsel, Simon Lough, on Friday.
After Adeleke applied for the release of his passport, the police opposed the application on the ground that there was a fresh petition against him.
The petition was said to have been filed after the senator had filed his application before the court.
Others standing trial before the court alongside Adeleke are Sikiru Adeleke, the Principal of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Alhaji Aregbesola Muftau, Registrar of the school, Gbadamosi Ojo, and a teacher in the school, Dare Olutope.
The prosecution accused the five defendants of committing the offence of examination malpractices by fraudulently, through impersonation, registering Adeleke and another Sikiru Adeleke, as pupils of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School for the National Examination Council’s June/July 2017 Senior School Certificate Examination in February 2017.
The Senate has granted approval to the ₦1.77 trillion ($2.2b) loan request of President Bola Tinubu after a voice vote in favor of the request.
The Senate presided by Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, approved the loan after the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts chaired by Senator Wammako Magatarkada (APC, Sokoto North) presented the report of the committee.
The request which was submitted by the President on Tuesday is part of a fresh external borrowing plan to partially finance the N9.7 trillion budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year.
Tinubu had on Tuesday written to the National Assembly, seeking approval of a fresh N1.767 trillion, the equivalent of $2.209 billion as a new external borrowing plan in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
The fresh loan is expected to stretch the amount spent on debt servicing by the Federal Government. The Central Bank of Nigeria recently said that it cost the Federal Government $3.58 billion to service foreign debt in the first nine months of 2024.
The CBN report on international payment statistics showed that the amount represents a 39.77 per cent increase from the $2.56bn spent during the same period in 2023.
According to the report, while the highest monthly debt servicing payment in 2024 occurred in May, amounting to $854.37m, the highest monthly expenditure in 2023 was $641.70m, recorded in July.
The trend in foreign debt servicing by the CBN highlights the rising cost of debt obligations by Nigeria.
Further breakdown of international debt figures showed that in January 2024, debt servicing costs surged by 398.89 per cent, rising to $560.52m from $112.35m in January 2023. February, however, saw a slight decline of 1.84 per cent, with payments reducing from $288.54m in 2023 to $283.22m in 2024.
March recorded a 31.04 per cent drop in payments, falling to $276.17m from $400.47m in the same period last year. April saw a significant rise of 131.77 per cent, with $215.20m paid in 2024 compared to $92.85m in 2023.
The highest debt servicing payment occurred in May 2024, when $854.37m was spent, reflecting a 286.52 per cent increase compared to $221.05m in May 2023. June, on the other hand, saw a 6.51 per cent decline, with $50.82m paid in 2024, down from $54.36m in 2023.
July 2024 recorded a 15.48 per cent reduction, with payments dropping to $542.50m from $641.70m in July 2023. In August, there was another decline of 9.69 per cent, as $279.95m was paid compared to $309.96m in 2023. However, September 2024 saw a 17.49 per cent increase, with payments rising to $515.81m from $439.06m in the same month last year.
Given rising exchange rates, the data raises concerns about the growing pressure of Nigeria’s foreign debt obligations.
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Self acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, has been arrested by law enforcement in Finland.
The BBC reports that Ekpa was subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media”.
Ekpa was said to have committed the crime in 2021 in Lahti municipality.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested four other men over alleged terrorist offences.
A citizen of Finland and Nigeria, Ekpa has described himself as leader of the separatist IPOB group since Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration.
Finnish police say Ekpa’s activities and social media rhetoric may have fanned the flames of violence in the south-east of Nigeria.
“He carries out these activities from his social media channels, for example,” said Otto Hiltunen, detective chief inspector of the NBI.
In February 2023, Ekpa was arrested by police at his residence in Lahti but was released after hours of questioning.
Using his social media channels, Ekpa had directed Igbos not to participate in Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
In September 2021, the Biafra agitator and secessionist denounced Nigeria and vowed to return the medal he won for the country at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships.
The Court of Appeal has sacked Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo as the National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
In a ruling that upheld the earlier judgment of the National Industrial Court, the appellate court sacked MC Oluomo and reaffirmed Tajudeen Baruwa as the legitimate leader of the union.
Baruwa had assumed office after a properly conducted election held at the union’s headquarters in Abuja.
The three-member panel of the Appeal Court dismissed the appeal filed by MC Oluomo’s faction, declaring it devoid of merit.
In addition, the court imposed a fine of N100,000 on the appellants, further solidifying Baruwa’s leadership position.
Reports quoting court documents said to have been released on Friday detailed the ruling, which effectively countered any attempts to displace Baruwa from his role as the NURTW president.
The judgment read: “This is an appeal against the judgment/decision of the National Industrial Court Sitting in Abuja, in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/263/2023, delivered on the 11th March, 2024, by Justice O. O. Oyewumi.
“Upon reading the Record of Appeal compiled and transmitted before this court, together with the respective briefs of argument, and after hearing the counsels for the appellants and respondents, it is hereby ordered that:
“This Appeal is devoid of merit, and the same is hereby dismissed.”
The ruling reinforces the legitimacy of Baruwa’s presidency, concluding the legal dispute over the union’s leadership.
Meanwhile, MC Oluomo’s son Idowu Akinsanya (King West) had bragged about his feat of emerging the NURTW president, saying: “We are now in charge of Nigeria, not only Lagos,” a comment that attracted public opprobrium.
MC Oluomo, a diehard supporter of President Bola Tinubu and a prominent figure in Lagos politics, was the sole candidate in the election, which took place at the union’s zonal secretariat in Osogbo. His perceived victory was deemed to carry significant implications for the future of the NURTW and the political landscape of Nigeria.
