At the corporate Affairs Commission,the Nigeria Lawyers had a peaceful protest against CAC over rigorous processes from the CAC

The executive governor of Lagos state, Jide Sanwo-Olu has taken to his Twitter page to express his desire to meet the little boy who was seen in a viral video, asking his mom to ‘calm down’ after offending her.

In a series of Tweets, he urged Lagosians to emulate and demonstrate his sense of self-restraint at this time the world is combating the scourge of COVID-19.

He wrote ..

“I saw a video of one charming young boy online asking his mom to ‘calm down’ as she was set to punish him for his misdemeanour. I was moved by his sobriety, which reflected in his promise of “last chance”, when confronted with the fact that he is a regular offender.

The exchange was indeed funny, but it depicts the efforts parents put in moulding children into responsible adults. I want to assume that his mom indeed calmed down because the appeal was moving enough to make anyone change their mind.

Interestingly, the video inspired this special message to the good people of Lagos State because of the deeper meaning it conveys. Fellow Lagosians, we need to ‘calm down’ as we enjoy the coming holiday and festivity.

It is a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim’s heart of sacrifice and faith in Allah.
We need to emulate and demonstrate his sense of self-restraint at this time the world is combating the scourge of COVID-19.

We need to be moderate in our celebration and also observe prescribed protocols towards defeating the deadly coronavirus, which are, maintaining social distancing, washing and sanitizing our hands, and using our face masks.
The world needs responsibility and commitment of its people to oust coronavirus.

I urge every Lagosian to ‘calm down’ and not get carried away by the ‘excitement of the moment’. Like the rest of the world, we are still in the middle of a pandemic and need to remain extremely careful to keep the gains of the sacrifices we have all made in the past months. Let’s calm down!

Meanwhile, I would like to meet the young boy since we both have exclusive right to the phrasal verb ‘calm down”.

A Nigerian lady has shared the story of how her father who she described as ”broke and unemployed” killed her mother’s dream of owning a school.

According to the Twitter user @DaughterAngela, sometime in 1999, a man offered her mother who was a headmistress in a government school, 10 rooms to start her own private school but that dream was killed by her father because of his insecurity.

Her tweets read

In 1999, a man met my mom and told her that his 10 single rooms weren’t renting and that since my mum was a headmistress in govt school, she could start a private school.

Excitedly my mom told my dad and the fool said what does my mom have with the man that he is giving her 10 Rooms to start a school? Broken in heart and spirit my mom told our lesson teacher and he started a lesson there. My elder sister and I were the first children he started teaching in Nursery school.

I wrote my Waec in this my lesson teacher school he started from the 10 rooms

My mom sees this lesson teacher schools and say that was my dream.
The 10 rooms are still there and renting! But that opportunity was lost because my broke and unemployed dad couldn’t see past misogyny to help my mom open a school

He would have been the cashier there! Or secetary! He would have taught children like the lesson teacher and make firm a solid business that we would have been the first people to ever do in that location.

Instead he went from bank to bank looking for a job he never got hating my mom for suggesting.

He died in his sleep after he started politics and won the primaries for an LGA chairman position”

Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday July 28, announced he had asymptomatic COVID-19 but has already recovered from the virus.

He made the announcement at a meeting with security officials ahead of the country’s election in two weeks’ time. 

‘Today you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet. This is what doctors concluded yesterday. Asymptomatic,’ Lukashenko said.

‘As I said, 97% of our population carry this infection asymptomatically,’ he added. He did not give a source for that figure.

President Lukashenko previously described fears over the pandemic as ‘psychosis’ and suggested that people drink vodka and go to the sauna to stay healthy and stave off the virus.

Belarus, with a population of 9.5 million, has recorded 67,366 coronavirus cases with 543 deaths.

Two persons have been confirmed dead in a gas explosion that rocked Afariogun Street in the Ajao area of Lagos State this evening Tuesday, July 28.

The explosion started from a shop used in refilling gas cylinders. Nine shops were razed in the explosion and a number of cars were also burnt.

According to reports, the accident happened after a 62-year-old woman, who runs a cooking gas shop and her 32-year-old daughter were called back to their shop to attend to a “regular customer” who came to fill a gas cylinder. The woman returned and successfully attended to the customer. However, the sad incident happened when the customer tried putting the gas cylinder into a waiting tricycle, it fell and exploded.

The Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, who confirmed the incident, said the fire had been extinguished and that the bodies of the deceased persons have been evacuated from the scene of the incident.

See more photos from the scene below

A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt Tuesday, July 28 presided over by Justice Chiwendu Nwogu sentenced three persons to death by hanging for the kidnap and murder of Sampson Worlu, a 32-year-old lawyer in 2015 .

Worlu, a native of Ogbogoro in Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers State was killed while he was observing the one year mandatory NYSC program in Imo State.

The three convicts; Chiwendu Alozie, Wilfred Jumbo and Gift Amadi were arrested in 2016 after investigation conducted by Department of State Security Service (DSS) after the family of the Late Worlu reported the matter to them.

Justice Nwogu who delivered the judgment tried them for kidnapping, conspiracy to murder and murder.

The Judge said evidence provided by the prosecution team and the confessional statements by the accused are weighty enough and the court relied on them to arrive on the decision of the sentence.

Justice Nwogu said the court is convinced that they committed the crime and the court cannot closed its eyes to the law despite the claims by the accused that they never committed the crime.

It was gathered that one Chijioke Wisdom who was arrested along with the three convicted persons died while in prison custody.

Also three others who allegedly participated in the kidnapping and murder of the late lawyer are still at large.

It was gathered that the kidnappers despite receiving ransom of one million from family members still went ahead to kill the young lawyer.

The Defence Headquarters, (DHQ), on Monday, reacted to a statement credited to the National Chairman of National Democratic Party (NDP), Chidi Chukwuanyi, that “the state of corruption in the country calls for the replication of the Ghanian experience under former President Jerry Rawlings in Nigeria” describing it as reckless and inciting the Military personnel against the constituted Civil Authority in the country.

This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, DMO, Major John Enenche.

The DHQ pointed out that “what Chidi Chukwuanyi is calling for is a combination of unpopular acts of insurrection and mutiny, which cannot be taken for granted by the Armed Forces of Nigeria.”

It, however, stated “clearly and unequivocally that the Nigerian Military is a force that is in consonance with all global best practices and cannot be misguided by any individual or group” and that “for the avoidance of doubt, the Armed Forces of Nigeria is totally loyal to the President Commander-in-Chief and fully subordinated to the civil authorities of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

The statement titled RE-“NIGERIA NEEDS A RAWLINGS NOW —NDP” reads, “the attention of the Defence Headquarters has been drawn to a newspaper published in the Sunday Tribune of 26 July 2020 captioned “Nigeria Needs a Rawlings Now – NDP”

“In this publication, the national chairman of National Democratic Party (NDP), Chidi Chukwuanyi, “says the state of corruption in the country calls for the replication of the Ghanian experience under former President Jerry Rawlings in Nigeria”

“While the Defence Headquarters does not wish to join issues in any way, it is instructive to observe that this unguided utterance targeted at the Nigerian Military is inciting and instigative

What Chidi Chukwuanyi is calling for is a combination of unpopular acts of insurrection and mutiny, which cannot be taken for granted by the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

“Consequently, I am directed by the High Command of the Nigerian Military to let the general public know and remind personnel of the Armed Forces of Nigeria;

* That all officers and men of the Nigerian Military swore to an oath of allegiance to be totally loyal to the civil authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and protect the constitution. This translates to unalloyed loyalty to the President Commander in Chief and full subordination to the civil authorities of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

*That all officers and men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria are to continue to abide by the constitutional provision, in Section 217 sub-section 2 (c) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, “To suppress insurrection and act in aid of civil authorities to restore order”. Any act to the contrary is unconstitutional

*That all officers and men of the Nigerian Military are further reminded of offences contained in Armed Forces Act CAP A 20, The laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, which include among others; Mutiny in Sections 52 and 53, which if committed are punishable

I am to further directed to state clearly and unequivocally that the Nigerian Military is a force that is in consonance with all global best practices and cannot be misguided by any individual or group. And for the avoidance of doubt, the Armed Forces of Nigeria is totally loyal to President Commander-in-Chief and fully subordinated to the civil authorities of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Police have arraigned a UK-based blogger, Saidi Shittu, before the Lagos State Magistrates’ Court, Igbosere, on a two-count charge of threat to life.

The charge preferred against Shittu by the police bordered on the alleged threat to the life of Alhaji Olanrewaju Hameed Al-Fulaney

The two-count charge read: ‘That you Saidi Shittu, ‘m’, on the 21st of July 2020 at Lagos Island, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did threaten the life of one Alhaji Olanrewaju Hameed Al-Fulaney and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 56 of the criminal law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.

‘That you Saidi Shittu, ‘m’, on the same dates, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did provoke breach of peace by offensive publication and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 57(c) of the criminal law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.’

However, the defendant who resides in Belfast United kingdom, but is currently in Lagos, pleaded not guilty to the charge and he was granted bail by the court.

Further hearing in the case has been adjourned till August 26.

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said on Monday that international flights will be open when it is safe to do so.

This comes as he lifts the suspension of ExecuJet airline for false information and for flying Naira Marley to Abuja for a concert on June 12.

He said the ban was lifted after the airline paid half of its fine and submitted a payment plan on how it will pay the balance, saying the suspension was not punitive but corrective.

Speaking on international flight resumption, the Minister said: ‘Well, we have received a tremendous amount of emails and WhatsApp messages and phone calls and so on and so forth, that we should open up international flights.

‘And, of course, we’ve taken it for granted that people understood that is not a function of aviation alone, otherwise, there would not have been a task force.

‘So this is a function of a lot of MDAs, function of government but National Air Transport Facilitation Committee has been established which comprises of the following membership:

‘Ministry of Aviation, Foreign Affairs, health, culture and tourism, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs, Nigeria Immigration, Nigerian Police, Nigeria Agriculture Quarantine Service, Ministry of Interior, the states security services, Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, the Ground Handlers Association, the Freight Forwarders Association, the Air Operators Certificate representatives, airline operators of Nigeria representatives, Nigeria civilization security committee, and the airport security committee.

‘They will be having a meeting tomorrow to further discuss the protocols to open the airports.

‘Certainly, Aviation is the worst-hit in this, there must be passenger movements, especially international passenger for us to be able to survive.

‘We’ve said here on this platform, the salaries are becoming difficult and difficult for us to pay.

“So we want to open more than you want us to open. We’re daily living with it, when are we going to open? But this is subject to so many factors and all of this, all of the sacrifices that aviation is making is in the interest of the public, in the interest of all of us to stay safe.

‘So, therefore, the government will not abdicate its responsibility of ensuring that will all stay safe. We definitely will open.

‘I hear a lot of arguments and that a lot of countries have opened. The last time I checked, most of the European countries, if not all, there is a ban that is ongoing anyway, so also in the popular UAE and in America.

‘But definitely we will open, there is also the Self Continental Committee of West Africa, which we’ve been discussing since it is an economic union, but we will open, we’ll open very soon when everything seems to be okay and safe and, like I said, it is a function of a lot of MDAs, is not only an aviation function, if it’s us we would have opened like yesterday because when we open it means we will make more money, we will be able to carry on activities, we’ll pay our salaries and provide the service.

‘So, the purpose of us heading this is to most respectfully, I must say, it’s to be able to judge and find out what is safe for our citizens, for our country, so please bear with the situation, we feel your pain, we understand it as much as you do.

‘We know that some people are cut away from their families and are cut away from their businesses but this is an act of God. This is first my job.

‘So, please we are aware of the situation. We are very responsible people. We will open when it is the right time to open and I’m sure it will be sooner than later.”

Sirika said the stakeholders will also meet and discuss and analyse and review the protocols for the resumption of international flights and then we will announce and then it will be opened.

‘This is the same similar way that we want to open domestic flights, for example.’

He said: ‘Having opened the domestic flights, we found out that some of the airports, a few of the airports weren’t ready and we didn’t open them, but now gladly majority of them, over 80 per cent of the airports are open.

‘So, therefore, international airport travel would be open and it will be soon.’

Sirika also denied allegations that under the guise of evacuation people are being smuggled in.

He said I’m sure minister of foreign affairs will respond to that most efficiently. You cannot deny your citizen from coming back if he wants to come back and he has a means of coming back, he will come back.

‘But when he comes back, he will now, of course, respect the protocols that are put in place.

‘So, please be fair to us. We really honestly want to serve, we are actually serving in the best way that we think we should serve and we believe that we are doing the right thing.

But we, of course, we would listen always land we will tweak where we think that things are not going the way that they should go.

Condemns Efforts Towards Unauthorized Attempt On NBA Website .

The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) has given updates to candidates and voters for the upcoming NBA elections.

In a meeting via zoom with the candidates, the ECNBA said the many issues were encountered during voters verification exercise ranging from receipt of list of eligible voters from Branches, to data on the BPF payments, incomplete membership information and documentation from Branches, inaccurate lists from some Branches.

However, ECNBA said over 30, 000 Voters had verified their details as at the closure of the verification exercise on July 26, 2020

ECNBA explains that the security of votes is of paramount importance so it is still discussing with its engaged IT Consultants on the platform to be used for the elections.

Read the full details below:

ECNBA UPDATE ON THE NBA NATIONAL OFFICERS ELECTIONS 2020 PRESENTED AT THE STAKEHOLDERS INTERACTIVE SESSION HELD ON THE 27TH OF JULY 2020

PREAMBLE
The ECNBA welcomes you all to this interactive session to update Bar leaders, Candidates and Voters of the current state of affairs towards preparation for the NBA National Officers Elections. We had hoped that this session would take place earlier in the electoral process but the global health emergency response by Government compelled a change of the course of activities initially outlined by the Committee to accord with extant regulations on the pandemic and yet accord with the Nigerian Bar Association Constitution 2015(as amended). We do however consider it necessary at this stage of the electoral process, to hold this session albeit remotely, due to the prevailing conditions, to enable us rub minds with stakeholders in the process towards ensuring that we all have a National election that we can be proud of as Lawyers and as an Association.

COMMENCEMENT OF DUTIES
The ECNBA was appointed by the NBA NEC and inaugurated by the NBA President of the 12th day of March 2020 pursuant to the provisions of the NBA Constitution which prescribes for the appointment of the Committee at the first NEC meeting of an election year. The Committee was given the task of conducting the NBA National Officers election within four (4) months. This was at a time when the COVID19 pandemic had just broken out in the Country. Undeterred, the Committee was set to commence work immediately, even if working remotely, knowing that time was of the essence. The effect of the pandemic however significantly slowed down responses and affected schedules and timelines.

COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES
From the time of inauguration of the Committee till date, the ECNBA has carried several activities and has kept members informed through its several releases in ECNBA Statements Nos.1-15.

It is noteworthy that in the course of its activities, the ECNBA has constantly updated members via Statements and publications in total of fifteen (15) as at date. We would however like to specifically address some areas perceived to be of concern to members and Candidates in the election.

THE ELIGIBLE VOTERS REGISTER
The importance of a credible voters list to the NBA 2020 elections cannot be over emphasized. The Nigerian Bar Association Constitution 2015 (as amended) in Paragraph 1.3 (d) Second schedule stipulates that the register of eligible voters is to be compiled by the ECNBA in conjunction with the Nigerian Bar Association. As such the said task is not one that could be done without recourse or input from the NBA or its Staff. In furtherance of this provision, while engaging with the National Secretariat, the ECNBA also engaged with Branch Chairmen to supply lists of members that had met the Constitutional criteria for eligibility to vote, being payment of Branch Dues as at 31st March of 2020. The National Secretariat was also requested to produce the list of members who had paid their Bar Practice Fees as at March 31st 2020. This task suffered some delays due to the fact that the NBA National Secretariat and some Branches of the NBA were closed and not fully operational due to the Government lockdown in Abuja and other parts of the country, making it difficult to access some necessary documentation for the exercise. It would also be recalled that Access Bank was not fully operational at this time and needed time to supply the data on payments of BPF. Eventually, the National Secretariat succeeded in producing the comprehensive data on the BPF payments, but the lists from the NBA Branches were however more challenging to gather as shown in the several statements already published by the ECNBA to that effect.

The challenges to the exercise ranged from but were not limited to: lack of Bank statements showing payment of dues by members, failure of members to submit their payment details to their Branches for compilation, incomplete membership information and documentation from Branches, inaccurate lists submitted by some Branches, amongst others. The general impact of the lockdown across the country is also acknowledged as a major factor that affected the exercise.

In combating these challenges, the ECNBA had to device creative solutions, to sort through the various lists and payment details submitted in order to sieve those persons truly eligible to vote in compliance with the provisions of the NBA Constitution.

It must at this stage be clarified that due to complaints by members in respect of lists submitted by their Branches and the desire to ensure that no eligible Voter is disenfranchised, the ECNBA gave an opportunity to members whose names may have been omitted or had errors, to submit same directly to the Committee with proof of payment of their Branch dues and Bar Practice fees for compilation in the voters register. It is noteworthy that these activities had deadlines assigned to them because the Committee was also bound by timelines imposed by the NBA Constitution, which still remains effective in the face of the COVID19 pandemic. While some colleagues responded to the publications and extensions given within the time stipulated, some failed to do so and only awoke much later (after expiration of the deadlines) to demand that their names be included on the final Voters list. However, there must be an end to that exercise and as such the final list of names had to be published in accordance with the NBA Constitution.

VOTERS VERIFICATION EXERCISE
By the ECNBA Statement No. 008, the Committee called on eligible voters to ensure they verified their details on the NBA website preparatory to voting in the elections. The importance of the Exercise cannot be overemphasized as it is not only a form of accreditation for eligible Voters, but also a source of authentic data about members supplied by the Voters themselves. It also ensures that Voters have access to their portal in the event that the site would be used for the voting exercise. The verification exercise for voters has now ended by 6PM on Sunday 26th July 2020. We can confirm from records of the exercise available to us now, that over 30,000 Voters on the published Voters have now verified their details.

ELECTION PLATFORM AND IT CONSULTANT
Security and integrity of the voting platform for the NBA national officers election 2020 is of paramount importance to the ECNBA. The authenticity and security of votes cast at the elections are issues that have not been taken lightly. A lot of work has gone into ensuring that all but only legitimate votes count at the elections. It would be recalled that in the ECNBA Statement No.006, the Committee outlined its efforts at engaging an IT expert to work with the ECNBA in the determination of the proper platform to be used for voting and also the modalities for the electronic voting. We can confirm that further to our Request for Proposals, applications were received from several IT firms, which went through various stages of screening and interviews and at the end, a firm which was adjudged to have the requisite experience and expertise and competence in such matters was engaged to work with the ECNBA on this project. At the time of engagement of the Consultant, the ECNBA had not taken any decision as to the platform to be used for the elections as mentioned in our Statement No. 006 and were open to exploring all viable options, inclusive of the newly developed election portal of the Nigerian Bar Association. We had intimated that the decision as to what platform would be used for the elections would be based on the recommendations of the technical experts, in this case our engaged IT Consultants, not foreclosing recommendations from other experts. The Committee therefore deprecates in strong terms the various attempt by individuals, who in an attempt to force the hand of the ECNBA some of whom are members of the profession, to gain unauthorized access to the NBA website and going further to publish a report showing perceived weaknesses of the site to the world. This action is sad to say, not expected of gentlemen of the legal profession.

The ECNBA is confident of the competence of our OT Consultants who are to advise us on the technical aspects of the electoral process and will abide by their professional recommendations.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, and as we count down to the elections, the ECNBA wishes to express its gratitude to members of the Bar for their patience with the ECNBA, our Bar leaders for their constant advise and contributions and the National Secretariat for cooperation thus far in this process. Needless to say that we all are stakeholders in this process and must continue to work together to ensure a smooth transition process in our association for the benefit of us all. On its part the ECNBA will continue to keep its promise of doing its very best to conduct a transparent, inclusive, free and fair 2020 polls. We therefore urge you to keep an open mind on issues and make constructive contributions that will engender progress and promote the general good of our dear Association.