Landmark

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has been asked to refuse the request  to make available to the public details of security spendings in the war against insurgency. According to the suit filed by a lawyer,  Mr.  Osaze Agbonifo, releasing security spending to the public will breach the provision of Freedom of Information Act. A civil society organisations,  Global Integrity Crusade Network,  had applied for the release of security spending on insurgency in the North East of Nigeria under the Freedom of Information Act. But reacting to the development, the civil rights lawyer said the disclosure of such to any unauthorized body will be a breach of the provision of the Freeodm of Information Act and not in the interest of the country’s image. Respondents in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/159018, are the Office of the National Security Adviser,  Ministry of Defence, State Security Service, National Intelligence Agency, Nigerian Army, Ni...

                As the presidential elections edge closer, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) desperation for power is becoming even more glaring.  It is this utter desperation that triggered the PDP and its candidate Atiku Abubakar into hiring Russian hackers to compromise the polls.  With the reported alliance gaining  grounds last week, the Coalition for Nigeria (CN) has echoed that it is no mere idle talk neither is it some sort of conspiracy theory.    The group made this known in a press statement on Tuesday in Lagos.  According to Mr Dipo  Samuel, its Secretary General, Mr Atiku has already released funds to facilitate his secret mission.  “When the then PDP aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, hired the United States firm and lobbyist, Brian Ballard to work for his emergence, we expressed concerns as to why the same man that helped US President...

                      Following ceaseless bickering over unsubstantiated facts on budget from certain organisations,  renowned civil society group, Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has backed the Nigerian Army.  The group has questioned the likes of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Enough is Enough (EiE), and BudgIT who raised false alarm over the Army's budget implementation in the last three years.  According to CESJET, these groups have no moral right to enquire into the military’s activities, especially as they are known to be sponsored by external fraternisation to destabilise the progress. This was made known by   Barrister  Gbemisola Osaloni  it’s Executive Director, in a press conference on Tuesday in Lagos.  Instead of indulge in falsehood CESJET, however, advised these group to vi...

            A human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana on Friday advocated the bearing of arms by the officers of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) to mitigate crime rates in the state through community policing. Falana made the case at A-Day Public Hearing of a Bill for a Law to Amend the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency for the Regulation and Control of Neighbourhood Safety Corps Activities and for Connected Purposes. The public hearing was organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Security and Strategy headed by Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho (Mushin Constituency I) Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) commended the House for being thoughtful in creating the corps, saying that security of lives and property, remained the primary responsibility of the government. He called for the expansion of the powers of the corps to carry out functions of the police in the stat...

Stakeholders and the Lagos State House of Assembly on Friday differed on the proposed Security Trust Funds (STF) for the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC). The House had proposed a 10 per cent of the STF for the LNSC but stakeholders expressed reservations over the Assembly’s proposed fund as part of the funds to run the state’s security outfit. The stakeholders expressed their views at a one-day Public Hearing on a Bill for a Law to Amend the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, CH.55 Law of Lagos State. The public hearing was organised by the Assembly Committee on Information, Security and Strategy, headed by Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho (Mushin Constituency I). Section 9 of the Principal Law is to be amended by creating a new subsection (2) (g) as follows “guarantee allocation of 10 per cent of its funds to the Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency of the state.” The Executive Secretary of the Fund, Dr. AbdulRasak Balogun said that the amendment to th...

A highly respected traditional ruler in Yorubaland, the Olowu of Owu Kuta, Oba Hammed Adekunle Makama Oyelude, has called for total support for the  Nigerian Army on the war against terrorism.  The Olowu was reacting to a report in the media which indicted the Nigerian Army for war crimes in countering Boko Haram and other threats to the country.  The monarch said the report, which accused the troops of war crimes was mischievous and disheartening, considering the sacrifices the soldiers have made in restoring peace back to the nation. Oba Oyelude, while addressing a press conference on Thursday at his ancestoral Palace, implored Nigerians irrespective of political affiliation or convictions to come together and resist the cheap blackmail against our Army. He said, “At this critical time in our nation's history, I consider it mischievous and malicious the timing of the release of the said report, and the usual double standard of ...

A lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Bisi Yusuf has said that the contentious issue of the amendment of Electoral Act was just a way of shifting attention by the National Assembly. Bisi Yusuf, representing Alimosho Constituency 1 in the Assembly spoke against the backdrop of the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill to law in an interview. The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stated that President Muhammadu Buhari has not done anything wrong according to law.  Yusuf, who is the Chairman of the House Committe on Public Account (Local) added that nothing could be changed from the electoral law 90 days to elections in accordance with the constitution. "It is too late to do that except these people want to amend the constitution, which cannot be done now. You cannot change the goal post at the middle of the match.  "The National Assembly only wants to distract the at...