BUHARI APPROVES SEPLAT’S ACQUISITION OF MOBIL NIGERIA FROM EXXONMOBIL – NATIONS PG.5
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved Seplat Energy’s acquisition of the entire share capital of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited from Exxon Mobil Corporation. Mr. Buhari approved the transfer in his capacity as Minister of Petroleum Resources. Exxon Mobil entered into a landmark Sale and Purchase Agreement with Seplat Energy to acquire the entire share capital of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited from Exxon Mobil Corporation, Mobil Development Nigeria Inc., and Mobil Exploration Nigeria Inc., both registered in Delaware, USA. The presidency said President Buhari gave the approval in consonance with the country’s drive for Foreign Direct Investment in the energy sector and considering the “extensive benefits of the transaction to the Nigerian Energy sector and the larger economy.”
POLICE RE-ARREST JOS PRISON ESCAPEE, 25 OTHER SUSPECTS – DAILY SUN PG.4, THIS DAY PG.29
The Police Command in Plateau has re-arrested one Mohammed Ibrahim, one of the inmates that escaped from the Jos custodial centre. Mr. Bartholomew Anika announced this when he presented him and other suspects to the media on Monday in Jos. Onyeka said that Ibrahim, 39, who was re-arrested by the operatives of its anti-kidnapping unit is among those who escaped during the November 2021 jail break in Jos. The commissioner said that the suspect was re-arrested at Wamba Local Government Area of Nasarawa State in April. “In a bid to arrest all escapees of the recent Jos jail break that occurred in November last year, our operatives intensified efforts and re-arrested Mohammed Ibrahim.
IPOB ANNOUNCES NNAMDI KANU’S REPLACEMENT – DAILY SUN PG.6
Mazi Chika Edoziem has been announced by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as Nnamdi Kanu’s replacement. He would pilot its affairs until its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is released. A statement by the spokesman, Emma Powerful, said Edoziem would relinquish the leadership role to Kanu when he is released. The statement read partly: “For the avoidance of doubt, the Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra (DOS), headed by Mazi Chika Edoziem, is at the helm of affairs of the Biafra movement; whenever our leader Mazi Nnamdi KANU comes out, he hands over IPOB structure back to him.”
EX-GOV DARIYE, NYAME REGAIN FREEDOM – DAILY SUN PG.26, DAILY TRUST PG.6, PUNCH PG.8, NATIONS PG.5, THISDAY PG.8
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCOs) Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command has released two former governors, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, as well as three others from custodialcentres. Spokesman for the FCT command, Mr. Chukwuedo Humphrey, confirmed the release in Abuja, yesterday. It came almost four months after the former governors were granted state pardon. At a council of state meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in April, Dariye and Nyame were among 159 inmates pardoned. The two former governors, who were both jailed for fraud, were granted pardon on the grounds of age and ill health. Humphrey said that the letter of their release was sent to the command by the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy Committee on Monday.
ALLEGED ORGAN HARVESTING: RIGHTS ACTIVIST FROWNS AT CONTINUED DETENTION OF EKWEREMADU – DAILY SUN PG.27
An Abuja-based legal practitioner and rights activist, Kayode Ajulo has frowned at the continued detention of former deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, insisting the offences they were accused of were bailable. He was at Central Criminal Court, popularly known as Old Bailey, in solidarity with Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice, standing trial for alleged conspiracy to traffic David Nwamini Ukpo, so his organ could be removed and given to their daughter, who has kidney failure. He, however, vented his displeasure in a chat with both local and international journalists via zoom.
8 IPOB MEMBERS ARRESTED OVER ATTACK ON IMO POLICE STATION – DAILY TRUST PG.11
Men of the Imo State Police Command have arrested eight members of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and its militia arm, Eastern Security Network (ESN), suspected to have carried out the attack on Agwa Divisional Police headquarters. Four police officers, two of whom are females, were killed and property destroyed in the Friday attack. The Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Mike Abattam, in a statement on Monday, said the suspects were arrested after police raided their hideout in Agwa in Oguta Local Government Area of the state.
LAWYERS EXAMINE IMPEDIMENTS TO EXECUTION OF JUDGMENTS – DAILY TRUST PG.26
For 23 years, a Lagos-based lawyer has been frustrating the enforcement of a Supreme Court judgment delivered since April 1999 on a disputed land. The apex court judgment was executed twice and the judgment debtors again repossessed the land twice, thereby frustrating the execution of the decision of the court. In June 2016, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja fined the Nigerian government the sum of $3.3 million as compensation over the extra judicial killing of eight persons at an uncompleted building in Apo, Abuja in September, 2013. The court had ordered the payment of $200,000 to the families of each of the persons killed in the raid and $150,000 to the 12 others injured in the attacks. Almost a year on, no steps have been taken to either review the order or obey it.
WHATEVER HIS OFFENCE, IMPRISONED LAWYER DESERVES FAIR-HEARING – LAW TEACHER – PUNCH PG.3
The Head of Department of Jurisprudence and Public Law, Faculty of Law, Kwara State University, Malete, Dr Yahya Hambali, talks to JOSEPHINE OGUNDEJI about the incarceration of a rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, by the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Ekaette Obot, over alleged contempt of court. What does contempt of court mean, and what amounts to contempt? When we talk about contempt, it refers to a situation where one disrespects a court. Generally, the law of contempt is meant to protect the court and the institution that the person sitting there is representing. It is not all the time about the individual, because when a judge steps out of the court, he is just like you and me, but once he enters the court, whatever he or she does in his or her official capacity, it is deemed that the court did that.
SHIITES, SECURITY AGENTS CLASH IN KADUNA, SIX KILLED – PUNCH PG.9, THIS DAY PG.30, NATION PG.6
The Islamic Movement of Nigeria, on Monday, said security agents killed at least six of its members and injured about 40 other followers of its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky. In a short statement, IMN stated that the incident occurred during the group’s Ashura mourning procession in Zaria, Kaduna. “Security forces have, today, Monday, gunned down at least seven followers of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H), and injured over 40 others during the Ashura mourning procession in Zaria which was observed peacefully across Nigeria and different parts of the world,” the statement read.Also, the leader of the movement in Zaria, Abdulhamid Bello, alleged that a combined team of security operatives shot indiscriminately at the members.
SUSPECTED MASTERMIND OF JOS JAILBREAK, 17 OTHERS ARRESTED – NATIONS PG.6
Plateau State Police Command has apprehended one of the suspected masterminds of the 2021 Jos prison jailbreak and 17 others. They were arrested for alleged criminal offences ranging from kidnapping, conspiracy, trespass, armed robbery to unlawful possession of firearms. Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bartholomew Onyeka, said operatives of the command re-arrested one Mohammed Ibrahim, 39, who escaped from the Jos Correctional Centre. Oneyaka said he was among the masterminds of the Jos Correctional facility attack which took place on November 28, 2021.
JUDGMENT EXECUTION: OLD PROBLEM, NEW SOLUTIONS – NATIONS PG.16
On June 4, 2022, a bizarre incident occurred in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The next day in Abuja, the President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Justice Benedict Kanyip, ordered the closure of the Imo State division of the court starting from Mo His announcement followed the alleged attack on and abduction of four NICN staff on June 4, while they were on an official duty to enforce a judgment in Owerri. They were executing judgment in suit no: NICN/OW/16M/2022, between Prince Eze Madumere V Governor of Imo State, Zenith Bank Plc. the Attorney-General of Imo State and the Imo State Government.
LAWYER SPEAKS ON RECOVERY OF 44 FED GOVT PROPERTY – NATIONS PG.24
A top Abuja lawyer has opened up on his involvement in the recovery of about 44 Federal Government property illegally occupied by individuals and organizations. This followed the reported questioning of an aide to Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged sale of recovered assets. Principal Partner at M. E. Sheriff & Co., Mohammed Sheriff, faulted reports linking his firm with alleged fraud involving an aide to Malami, Mrs. Ladidi Mohammed, in relation to sale of assets recovered by Federal Government from looters.
