DAILY NEWSPAPERS REVIEW MONDAY MAY 24, 2021

NORTHERN YOUTHS SPLIT OVER MALAMI’S OPPOSITION TO OPEN GRAZING BAN – DAILY SUN PG.6, DAILY TRUST PG.42, THE NATION PG.8

The opposition of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami,

to the recent ban on open grazing by the southern governors in their respective States, appear to have torn the Northern youths apart. Malami had declared the southern governors’ decision ‘unconstitutional’ and likened the ban on open grazing to banning the sales of motor spare parts by the Igbo in the North, a statement that has received wide criticisms from various quarters. While the Arewa Youth Assembly has thrown its weight behind the AGF, the Northern Leaders Youth Forum (NLYF) are in full support of the ban on open grazing, while condemning Malami’s remarks.

MALAMI’S MALEVOLENT MOO – DAILY SUN PG.31

Moo is that long, deep sound a cow makes intermittently. It can be irritating sometimes. Figuratively speaking, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, made a moo last week in a failed attempt to defend wandering cows and those herding them.    

In an interview on Channels Television, Malami described the ban on open grazing of cattle by the Southern Governors’ Forum as unconstitutional. Southern governors had, in their meeting in Asaba penultimate week, banned open grazing as part of measures to stem the tide of killings and kidnappings by criminal herdsmen in the region. But to Malami, banning open grazing “is as good as saying, perhaps, the northern governors coming together to say they prohibit spare parts trading in the North.”

In critical thinking, this argument is called fallacy of faulty comparison or false equivalence. In other words, it amounts to comparing apples and oranges. Spare parts dealers are legitimate businessmen. They rent shops, which they renew annually. They don’t attack anybody. They don’t destroy other people’s means of livelihood. They don’t kidnap or move about with AK-47 rifles.

MALAMI’S OBJECTION IS ABOUT ELITE CONSPIRACY – DAILY SUN BACK PAGE

When Abubakar Malami, who serves as Nigeria’s attorney-general and minister of justice, raised objections about the ban on open grazing by southern governors, he was not, in all honesty, interested in the legality or constitutionality of the matter. His oblique reference to it was done for reasons of convenience. He wanted to give his objection a veneer of legitimacy and acceptability. The fact of the matter is that he was driven by a mindset that borders on elite conspiracy. Every other vibe or vibration was a mere cover-up, an attempt to divert attention from his real intentions.

Those in the legal profession (and Malami is one of them) tell us that he who must go to equity must do so with clean hands. Regrettably, we cannot say that of Malami in this circumstance. He made an illicit jump into the realm of legality while ignoring the fact that his take-off point was strewn with illegality. If the attorney-general was interested in the merit of the issue under consideration, he would have established a proper premise as the basis for his objection. Rather, he conveniently ignored the real issue at stake. That was why he arrived at a conclusion that had no bearing.

MALAMI, AHMED, EMEFIELE APPEAR BEFORE REPS TODAY OVER LOOTED ASSETS PROBE – PUNCH PG.8

The House of Representatives has invited ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government as well as top officials, the private sector and civil society organisations to explain the status of looted funds and public assets recovered in the last 18 years. The Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of All Recovered Loot, Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002 to 2020 by Agencies of Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective/Efficient Management and Utilisation is to hold an investigative hearing on Monday. Chairman of the committee, Mr Adejoro Adeogun, had last week laid an interim report by the committee.

NDLEA INTERCEPTS N8BN COCAINE, ARRESTS TRAFFICKER AT LAGOS AIRPORT – DAILY SUN PG.4, DAILY TRUST PG.43, PUNCH PG.4, THE NATION PG.4, THE NATION PG.44

A Brazil-based drug kingpin has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) having in his possession 36 blocks of cocaine weighing 27.95 kilogrammes with a street value of over N8 billion at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos. The trafficker, Ejiofor Felix Enwereaku, was arrested at the airport on Friday, May 14, 2021, for importing the cocaine using a gang which specialises in tagging/planting drugs in travellers’ luggage. Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said based on intelligence, narcotic agents at the MMIA on Saturday, May 8, intercepted a bag that arrived the airport from Brazil via Ethiopia on an Ethiopian airline with baggage No-ET331199 which was disclaimed by an arriving passenger on the flight.

COUNT ME OUT OF AGITATION FOR YORUBA NATION – AKEREDOLU – DAILY SUN PG.7

Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has distanced himself from the agitation for a separate Yoruba nation, saying he does not believe in the secession agenda.  Akeredolu said he was only in support of the position of the Southern Governors’ Forum on the ban on open grazing in the southern part of the country and didn’t give any support behind the agitation for Yoruba nation being spearheaded by activist, Sunday Igboho.

The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Richard Olatunde said: “Some group of persons who held a rally under the cover of what they term ‘secessionist agitations’ in Akure, on Saturday, May 22, 2021, erroneously claimed to have had his support for the rally. Governor Akeredolu wishes to state clearly that while he acknowledges the right of individuals and groups to hold peaceful rallies, it must not be misconstrued to mean support for secessionist agenda and or balkanisation of the nation; far from it. Unequivocally, the governor’s opinion on the Akure rally or any other of its ilk, is only to the effect that he is not opposed to any civil protest which is not in breach of the extant laws of the nation. 

YORUBA APC LEADERS REJECT ODUDUWA, BIAFRA OPTION – DAILY SUN PG.8

Concerned about the state of the nation, particularly the serious security challenges facing the country, All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in the South West met at Lagos House, Marina, yesterday. In a communique read by former Interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, the leaders endorsed the resolutions of southern governors who met recently in Asaba, Delta State on restructuring, state police and the ban on open grazing. They expressed their strong opposition to separatist agitations and hate speeches, while urging those indulging in such to desist forthwith, they equally renewed their belief in the unity, stability and sustainability of the country.

TINUBU, GOVS, OTHER S/WEST LEADERS REJECT SECESSION – DAILY TRUST PG.39, THIS DAY PG.1 & 13

Amidst agitation for the Oduduwa Republic in the South-West, leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the geo-political zone Sunday met in Lagos where they expressed “strong opposition” to the agitation. The meeting held in Lagos House, Marina, was at the instance of the former interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande. At the meeting was a national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, governors of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Adegboyega Oyetola (Osun) and Chief Bisi Akande.

FG SET TO PROSECUTE 5,800 BOKO HARAM SUSPECTS – DAILY TRUST PG.42      

The Federal Government has concluded plans to prosecute 5, 800 suspected members of the Boko Haram sect. Chioma Onuegbu, Head, Complex Casework Group and Deputy Director of Prosecutions, Federal Ministry of Justice, disclosed this in Abuja at the weekend during a media engagement by the Wayamo Foundation. The forum is a media engagement for justice and accountability and for promoting understanding of the work of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Onuegbu said the ministry had vetted the case files of 800 out of 1, 000 suspects whom prima facie evidence were established against in 2019.

FAYEMI, AKEREDOLU ABSENT AS SOUTH-WEST LEADERS ENDORSE RANCHING, STATE POLICE – PUNCH PG.8, THE NATION PG.1 & 6

Leaders of the All Progressives Congress in the South-West, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and governors in the region, on Sunday reinforced the call for true federalism and ban of open grazing in the country. The party leaders, who met in Lagos, backed some of the decisions of the Southern governors in Asaba, Delta State, saying there was the need for the Federal Government to address insecurity in the country. Also at the meeting were the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; governors of Lagos, Ogun and Osun states, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Mr Dapo Abiodun and Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, respectively; a former interim chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande; General Alani Akinrinde (rtd.); a former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Segun Osoba; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Pius Akinyelure, among others.