The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, ordered the
Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), to take over prosecution
of Sen. Hope Uzodinma’s case from Special Presidential
Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property (SPIP).
Uzodinma, a serving senator is being prosecuted by the panel on
a two-count charge, one of which has to do with alleged refusal to
declare his assets.
Justice Okon Abang, gave the order in a bench ruling after
taking arguments from two prosecuting counsel in the matter.
When the matter was called, Mr Celsus Ukpong, announced
appearance for prosecution following which Mr Ukeyima Aguta, also
announced appearance saying he was sent from the office of AGF to
take over prosecution of the matter.
Aguta told the court that the Court of Appeal had ruled that the
panel had no prosecutorial powers and that the law setting it up
only allowed it to investigate.
“The AGF has directed me to take over the prosecution of this
case as the panel which instituted it has no powers by the law that
set it up to commence this prosecution.”
Aguta insisted that he was a senior counsel in the office of the
AGF who was an authority unto himself and could not be
challenged.
The lawyer said that as a senior counsel, he did not need a
letter from the AGF to present to the court before taking over the
prosecution of the matter.
In his submission, Ukpong said that he was not against the AGF
taking over the matter, but that the defendant, who was in court,
should be allowed to take his plea before he would hands off
prosecution.
He also argued that the AGF should have written to inform the
court that he was sending a counsel to take over the prosecution of
the matter.
Justice Abang in a short ruling said that he was satisfied that
Aguta was from the office of the AGF and therefore, there was no
need for a letter from the AGF to the court.
“I am satisfied that P.U Aguta is from the office of the
Attorney-General so the issue of the AGF nominating him or writing
a letter introducing him is not relevant here.
“I do not think that a person who is not from the AGF can come
to court and tell the court that he is from there and the court
cannot question the authority of the AGF.”
The judge said there was no law to back the submission that the
defendant had to first take his plea before the AGF could take
over.
He further ordered that the AGF should take over prosecution of
the matter.
“The attorney-general of the federation or any officer in his
department, in this case, P.U Aguta by virtue of Section 174 shall
take over proceedings in this matter.
“The special investigation panel shall submit to the authority
of the attorney- general of the federation or any officer in his
department for the prosecution of this matter.”
The judge adjourned the matter until June 3.
Counsel to Uzodinma, Mr Olushola Oke, (SAN), said that the
charges against his client were not clear.
“The charge against my client is very unclear, we do not know
exactly what the former prosecutor was all about.
“What we do know is that a special presidential panel that
brought this charge has no power under the law to charge anybody to
court.
“The Court of Appeal has interpreted this section in another
case saying, their power is only to investigate and when they find
anything that should be prosecuted, they hand it over to the
Attorney-General for consideration.”
Oke also said that he had application before the court
challenging the competence of the charge as well as the
jurisdiction of the court to handle the matter.(NAN)
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DHQ Denies Report of Premature Retirement of
Christian-Military Officers
The Defence Headquarters has noted with dismay a mischievous and
systematic campaign of calumny against the government through
spurious and unfounded allegations of lopsided recruitment,
postings, appointments and retirements of military personnel by the
Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN).
Specifically, by an obscure online blog owned by one Sola Kuti
which he christened “SK Blog.” The blogger without recourse to any
effort of finding out the truth, accused the Nigerian Army of
systematic retirement of over 200 officers from particular
geo-political zone and religious group in the first quarter 2019
and secret recruitment into the services, without giving further
details. Ordinarily, one should not bother about it because it is
not true and born out of the figment of the writer’s imagination.
However, it is imperative to correct the erroneous impression being
created in the mind of some members of the public.
Therefore, it is important to reiterate that postings,
appointments and retirements in the military are routine activities
and common public knowledge. Every officer, soldier, rating, airman
or woman on commission or enlistment into the Services look forward
to an exciting, adventurous and rewarding career in the Armed
Forces and most importantly knows exactly when he or she is due to
retire. Officers, soldiers, ratings, airmen and women are not only
conscious of this but look forward to it. Personnel often retire
based on age on rank or length of Service. In the event of
approaching retirement, the affected person or persons are given
adequate notice and also prepared for life after Service through
training programmes at either the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, or
Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, Oshodi. Therefore, it is
irresponsible for anyone to allege that such exercises were
targeted at a particular ethnic group or religion.
Similarly, recruitment and enlistment into the Armed Forces of
Nigeria have always been made known to the public and follows
transparent and well known procedures that are in line with best
practices. We expected the writer to make effort of finding out the
truth before misleading unsuspecting members of the public through
such publication. He should have taken advantage of the various
public affairs departments of the Services to enquire about such
issues. Although we are not mindful of the fact that such write-ups
are sponsored by some obviously unpatriotic and ignorant elements,
it is instructive to state that the Armed Forces of Nigeria remain
the cohesive and bastion of national unity and no amount of
campaign of calumny would change that. Such things are alien and
blasphemous in the military.
More also, the allegation of “unease and disquiet in the
military formation” is not only untrue, but sheer mischief.
The public is implored to please disregard such insinuations as
there are proper career plan and progression in the military,
therefore, there is such thing like premature retirement or
deliberate attempt to cleanse a particular ethnic or religious
group in any of the Services.
ONYEMA NWACHUKWU
Colonel
Acting Director Defence Information