PRESIDENCY: CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENTS OF 2020 – DAILY TRUST PG.4

In this year, prominent Nigerians especially in the presidency made many controversial statements that would continue to linger in the minds of the populace for many years.

Our correspondent, Faruk Shuaibu chronicles some of the remarks that raised dust in the polity.

AMOTEKUN IS ILLEGAL – MALAMI

At the peak of the moves by the South-West governors to establish Amotekun, a security outfit in the region to tackle the rising insecurity in the area, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami labelled it as illegal. Specifically, Malami said; “The setting up of the paramilitary organisation called “Amotekun” is illegal and runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law.

NJC RECOMMENDS SACK OF YOBE GRAND KADI, OSUN HIGH COURT JUDGE – DAILY TRUST PG.7, SUN PG.26, THISDAY PG.5, PUNCH PG.8, NATION PG.11

The National Judicial Council (NJC) has recommended the compulsory retirement of the Grand Kadi of Yobe State, Shu’aibu Talba, and a judge of the Osun State High Court, Justice Abdulkareem Abdulrasaq, over alleged age falsification. The NJC’s decisions were taken at its 93rd meeting, which was held virtually on December 16, 2020.

LAWYERS, CRIMINOLOGISTS TO HEAD EFCC – SUN PG.28

Few weeks after Ayo Salami-led panel of inquiry submitted a comprehensive report to President Muhammadu Buhari on alleged diversion of assets by a suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, the Senate has initiated moves to reform the anti-graft body. According to a Bill sponsored by a senator from Cross River State, Professor Sandy Onor, the chairmanship of the EFCC would no longer be restricted to serving or retired senior police officers or security agents.

JUSTICE BELLO LOSES BID FOR ICC JOB, SCORES BELOW 5% OF VOTES – THISDAY PG.55

The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Ishaq Bello, has lost his bid to become judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, prosecutes international crimes, crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and aggression by nationals of the 123-member countries. Bello was nominated on June 20 by President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s candidate.

MAGU’S CLASSMATES URGE BUHARI TO ENSURE FAIRNESS OVER SALAMI’S PANEL REPORT – THISDAY PG.57

Classmates of the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu, at the weekend called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take an informed decision and ensure fairness in the review of the report of the Justice Ayo Salami panel. Speaking at a media briefing at the weekend, Chairman of the Yerwa Practicing Primary School (YPPS) Alumni Association, Maiduguri, Al-Hasan Ibn Abu-Bakr Sultan, urged the president to ensure fairness in the work of the committee set up to review the Justice Ayo Salami-led presidential panel that probed allegations of financial impropriety against Magu.

NIGERIA’S BORDERS REMAINS CLOSED, 24 HOURS AFTER FG ORDER – SUN PG.25

Nigeria’s land border with Benin Republic at Seme, near Badagry, Lagos State, remained closed, more than 24 hours after the Federal Government announced its reopening on Wednesday. A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who visited Seme on Thursday evening, reports that human and vehicular movement across the border post was restricted as the frontier remained under lock.

IPOB DARES S’EAST GOVS, SAYS ESN HAS COME TO STAY – SUN PG.26, THISDAY PG.58, PUNCH PG.14, NATION PG.33

Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said the South East Security Network (ESN) has come to stay, boasting that nobody can stop it from functioning. It claimed anyone trying to oppose the security outfit is testing the will of the people and “does so at his own peril.” In a statement by the media and publicity secretary of the group, Emma Powerful, it described the comment as a ‘shameful display of their irredeemable enslavement and loyalty to their caliphate slavemasters who in the first place appointed them Governors.’

OVER 70 KILLED DURING #ENDSARS IN LAGOS UNCLAIMED – SAN – PUNCH PG.8

The interim Chairman, Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), says over 70 corpses of persons killed in Lagos during the #EndSARS protests have yet to be claimed. Falana said this during an interview with Newsmen on Sunday. The Chief Coroner of Lagos State, Mojisola Dada, had in a public announcement on November 19, 2020, called on relatives of people who lost their lives between October 19 and 27 to visit the Lagos State Teaching Hospital to identify and claim bodies of their loved ones.