CORRUPTION IN A NATION THAT FORGETS – DAILY SUN BACK PAGE
There are many problems that are putting unbearable pressure on Nigerians and Nigeria. Officials who were elected to govern, including those who were assigned specific tasks to help to engineer solutions to national development challenges, have either flopped, abdicated their responsibility, or used the opportunity to defraud the country. For 60 years, Nigeria experimented with different modes of government.
During that period, nothing worked. Military dictators marched onto the scene, applied coercion, frog-marched everyone, introduced the so-called War Against Indiscipline (WAI), and attempted an agricultural revolution. All the half-baked ideas failed. There is a world of difference between intimidating citizens through the barrel of the gun and using persuasive arguments to gain public support.
POVERTY FUELING BOKO HARAM, AL-QAEDA ATTACKS IN NORTH EAST, OTHERS –GHANAIAN PRESIDENT – DAILY SUN PG. 6, THISDAY PG.9, PUNCH PG.9, NATION PG.37
Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, has bemoaned worsening security situation in the North East, Lake Chad Basin, Mali and the Greater Sahel, saying the crisis was fueled by the high level of poverty ravaging these areas which had provided a breeding ground for Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and other terrorists groups to recruit members. The Ghanaian leader who spoke during a visit to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission in Abuja, yesterday, said endemic poverty and widespread disillusionment amongst youths were not only providing fertile breeding grounds for those who want to cross the Sahara Desert on foot and the Mediterranean Sea in rickety boats in the hope of finding a better future in Europe but also for a new generation of terrorists and violent extremists.
ANXIETY AS FG BEGINS MONITORING OF BACKLOG OF 2017/2018 FEC APPROVED PROJECTS – DAILY SUN PG.26, DAILY TRUST PG.18
The Federal Government said it has commenced physical monitoring and evaluation of backlog of projects approved and implemented by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) between 2017/2018. Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume, disclosed this, yesterday, in a statement by the Deputy Director of Information in the ministry, Osagie Jacobs.
NIGERIA: UK APPOINTS DAMILOLA OGUNBIYI CO-CHAIR OF UK ENERGY COUNCIL – THISDAY PG.9, NATION PG. 8
The United Kingdom has appointed Damilola Ogunbiyi of Nigeria as a co-chair of the UN Climate Change Conference’s (COP26) Energy Transition Council as the country kicks off Climate Week 2020. The UK CoP President, Alok Sharma will chair the council alongside Ogunbiyi, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All. Sharma made the announcement yesterday while speaking at a special event, alongside political and industry leaders about the next decade of clean energy co-operation.
CAN THE AGF AMEND THE RPC? – THISDAY /1 & /2 /8 & 9/10. A THISDAY WEEKLY PULLOUT. AGF REMOVES REQUIREMENT FOR NBA STAMP AND SEAL, AMENDS RPC 10/COVER & COVER /11
‘The Power lies in the Bar Council, not the AGF’ – Oliver Omoredia. The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN (AGF) has amended the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007 (RPC); and the new amendments have far reaching implications for the landscape of law practice in Nigeria! The Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Rules made on the 3rd of September, 2020, has deleted key provisions of the RPC, including the rule mandating the use of NBA Stamp and Seal by Legal Practitioners, and provisions requiring Lawyers acting for Government, Ministries or Corporations to pay Annual Bar practicing fees. This write up considers the powers to make the amendments to the RPC, and the far-reaching implications of the amendments to the landscape of law practice in Nigeria.
OF MALAMI, RPC AND THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION – COVER/11
It is almost a moot point, at least to legal practitioners and political scientists that the paramount objective of any lawmaking exercise, is to achieve advancement in the affairs of a society, group or organisation. In this connection therefore, lawmaking is a response to the identified problems within a State or organisation. Classical thinker, Socrates probably put it best when he argued that, “only decrees based on knowledge of objective justice can count as true laws”. As human societies continue to evolve, so too her laws, rules and regulations, in line with the dynamic and organic nature of laws and societies respectively. All over the world, the act of legislation is a forward-looking endeavour, and never an exercise steeped in backwardness, much less tyranny. The reason is not far-fetched: human societies do not proceed in a retrogressive movement.
OF NBA PRACTICE RULES, (UN) STAMP AND S(T)EAL! – THISDAY/3
Rest in peace, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG), the second woman to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States of America – a strong advocate for women’s rights, and indeed, for fairness and equality for all. An Ivy League educated Lawyer, and an extremely sound Judge. Known for some of her dissenting opinions, one of the most famous being that of the case of Bush v Gore 531 U.S. 98 (2000) in which she opposed the majority decision which handed the election to George W Bush, on the ground that a recount of the votes in Florida was impractical. She referred to the majority decision as an ‘untested prophecy’, which ‘should not decide the Presidency of the United States’. Our hope is that; she will be replaced by someone equally as deserving of replacing her. May her soul rest in peace. Amen.
EFCC WITNESS CONTRADICTS SELF IN EX-MINISTER, TURAKI’S TRIAL – NATION PG.6
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s witness, Mr Umar Tahir, on Monday, contradicted himself in the ongoing trial of a former Minister in the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government, Taminu Turaki. The development occurred when Tahir, who was a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Islamic Affairs in the same government, was being cross-examined by Counsel to Turaki, Joe Gadzama, SAN, before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
THICKENING PLOT TO SCRAP EFCC – NATION PG.17, 18, & 21
A plan to scrap the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is underway. A draft bill, now in circulation, seeks to replace the commission with an agency under the Federal Ministry of Justice under the Attorney-General of the Federation. It eliminates EFCC’s autonomy and replaces it with an entity to be under the complete control of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) exposed the plot last Wednesday.
AGF’S AMENDMENT OF RPC WON’T HARM LAWYERS, SAYS EX-NBA CHAIR – NATION PG.19
Former chairman, Ikorodu branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Adebayo Akinlade, has said the purported amendment of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for the legal profession won’t affect lawyers. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), amended and gazetted Rules 9(2),10,11,12 and 13 of the RPC on September 3, via statutory instrument No 15 of 2020. The AGF’s action has elicited reactions from stakeholders. Some criticised it for being illegal because the meeting of the General Council of the Bar was not convened prior to the amendment.
HOW TO PREVENT RE-LOOTING OF RECOVERED PUBLIC ASSETS, BY GBAJABIAMILA, MALAMI – NATION PG.20
Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, have suggested ways to prevent the diversion of recovered public assets stolen by public officials. Gbajabiamila and Malami said the provision of accurate information on recovered assets and proper monitoring were measures capable of ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of such recovered assets as well as deter public officials from diverting them.
‘WHY AGENCY FOR PROCEEDS OF CRIME RECOVERY, MANAGEMENT IS NEEDED’ – NATION PG.20
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has stated that the Proceeds of Crime Recovery and Management Agency will end the era when government agencies work at variance over recovered assets. President Muhammadu Buhari approved Malami’s memo for the establishment of the agency last Wednesday at the 15th virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. The bill will be forwarded to the National Assembly soon, the government said.
EX-NBA VP SUES AGF OVER AMENDMENT OF RPC – NATION PG. 21
A former Second Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Monday Onyekachi Ubani, has asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to quash the purported amendment of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for Legal Practitioners 2007, by Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN. He prayed the court to declare, among others, that the unilateral amendment and gazetting of Rules 9(2),10,11,12 and 13 of the RPC, on September 3, 2020, via statutory instrument No 15 of 2020, was “illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires, and therefore null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”
TRIAL OF AGF MALAMI – NATION PG.28
The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, is on trial in many fronts. With respect to the knotty issue of the Process & Industrial Development Ltd (P&ID) scam against Nigeria, the learned silk has distinguished himself creditably in his capacity as the chief law officer of Nigeria. With respect to his fight with the suspended chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, the jury is still out as to whether he was accentuated by ill-motive in his petition indicting the erstwhile corruption czar.
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