Recently during the last national convention of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, in Abuja, president Muhammadu Buhari had caused a stir when declared that the rule of law should play second fiddle in matters of public and national interest. The President had gone ahead to say that the Supreme Court had in the past made similar pronouncement through a judgment it delivered. Expectedly, this presidential declaration has elicited so much controversy and reactions with majority of them condemning totally the statement. Nobel Laureate Prof Sole Soyinka in his reaction described…
Read MoreCategory: EDITORIAL
Security Agencies and 50 Naira Extortion from Motorists
Nigeria security agencies the Police, Armed Forces and Para Military agencies were created by the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria for the purposes of providing security of lives and property of Nigerians from both internal and external aggression. The same constitution in realization of the primary, importance of the duties and responsibilities of these agencies placed them on first line charge in terms of payment of salary, allowances and other performance enhancing emoluments. Primarily the major reason for this prioritization is to ensure that personnel of these agencies…
Read MorePitiable plight of pensioners in Imo State
Imo pensioners recently took to various media platforms including radio, Owerri and national newspapers to lament what they described as non-payment of their pensions including years of arrears under the present APC administration of Governor Rochas Okorocha in Imo State. The pensioners mostly retired permanent secretaries according to media reports, even went to the extent of penning an open letter to the President Mohammadu Buhari to notify him of their plight. The pensioners equally featured in a radio phone-in programme where they told Imolites and indeed Nigerians what they have…
Read MoreThat DSS invasion of National Assembly
Last Tuesday, August 7 2018, Nigerians and the international community woke up to behold a strange sight at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja. Masked security operatives from the Department of State Security DSS, had invaded and blockaded the complex, preventing lawmakers, journalists, workers and Nigerian who had one business or another in the complex from gaining access into it. The siege lasted for some hours before various reactions and interventions brought it to an abrupt end. To say the least, that invasion apart from stalling legislative business especially the planned…
Read MoreThat DSS invasion of National Assembly
Last Tuesday, August 7 2018, Nigerians and the international community woke up to behold a strange sight at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja. Masked security operatives from the Department of State Security DSS, had invaded and blockaded the complex, preventing lawmakers, journalists, workers and Nigerian who had one business or another in the complex from gaining access into it. The siege lasted for some hours before various reactions and interventions brought it to an abrupt end. To say the least, that invasion apart from stalling legislative business especially the planned…
Read MorePolice siege on Saraki, Ekweremadu, Dogara condemnable
The reported police siege on the residence of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy Ike Ekweremadu and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara yesterday once more brings to fore, the obvious danger facing our democracy. This development came on the heels of the planned defection of some APC senators and members of the House of Representatives to PDP. Security agents were said to have taken over the official residence of the said principal officers of the National Assembly presumably to stop them from attending yesterday’s plenary…
Read MoreEkiti Election: A post-mortem
The July 14, 2018 Ekiti State governorship election has come and gone but the dust raised by the highly disputed result as well as the conduct of the election, are yet finally settle. Nigeria Newspoint had in its editorial of July 11 edition reminded all stakeholders in the election on the need to play by the rules especially, security agencies. But hardly had that publication hit the newsstand than reports of alleged invasion of Ekiti Government House by security agencies during which Governor Ayodele Fayose claimed he has pushed and…
Read MoreNeed for FG, NASS to work in harmony
Most Nigerians have described as “triumph of justice”, Friday’s Supreme Court judgment, dismissing the false asset declaration charges against Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki. The apex court upheld earlier decision of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), which discharged and acquitted Saraki in all 18-count-charge against him. In a statement personally signed by him, after the verdict the Senate President while x-raying what he has passed through since his trial began noted that the country itself also suffered as a result of the trial. Senator Bukola Saraki may have won…
Read Morekiller Herdsmen and looming anarchy in Nigeria
On Monday June 25 2018, Nigerians for the umpteenth time woke up to behold another grisly sight of Fulani Herdsmen massacre in Plateau State. The killer Herdsmen reports revealed had attacked about eleven villages in Barkin Ladi LGA Sunday night killing over hundred, injuring many, while many others were declared missing after the attack. In their usual dare devil manner the marauding Herdsmen unleashed violence and death on men, women, children and the aged. They killed every living thing on their path and burnt non living things like houses to…
Read MoreNeed for govt to re-open Douglas Road
Douglas road in Owerri, the Imo state capital is strategically located, and also the commercial nerve center of the state. The nerve centre of an organization or place is where its activities are controlled as well as where bulk of revenue is generated. All over the world, nerve centers exist from where the prosperity of a state or nation is determined. The constituents of these commercial centers may include banks, corporate offices, markets, parks etc. Economic activities around most nerve centers determine the healthy or otherwise nature of the most…
Read More