The Senate on Tuesday suspended its investigation into allegation of assault against Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Mr. Danladi Umar, by a security guard, Clement Sargwak. The Chairman Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, said the panel decided to adjourn the investigation sine die following a suit instituted against the Senate by Umar on the matter. Umar had dragged the Senate, the Senate President, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, privileges and public petitions to court and urging the judiciary to interpret the powers of the National Assembly to investigate matters whether they included cases of assault. But lawyer to the petitioner, Timizing Venyir Ramnap, kicked against the decision of the committee. Ramnap, in his brief submissions before the Committee’s ruling, said the purported originating summons from a Federal High Court, Abuja forwarded to the committee by counsel to the accused, were mere court processes and not declarative orders. “Courts have procedures of doing things. The present document before this Committee as read out by the Chairman, is not an order from any court but mere court process served on the Senate. “Were it to be valid order from the court of competent jurisdiction, Senate may back out, but since it is not, the Senate through this Committee still have its constitutional powers on the case and can forge ahead with the investigation. “We hereby wish to submit that the Senate do look at its position as contained in law by rejecting this temptation,” he said. But the Committee Chairman quickly responded that it is not a temptation but effort being made by somebody to circumvent it, which will be challenged in the court. He said: “We have submitted all the originating summons to the leadership of the Senate, Clerk to the National Assembly, Clerk of the Senate and the legal department of the National Assembly. “All the issues raised by the respondent who has turned himself to a plaintiff now, will be challenged in the court because investigation on the alleged assault started here before the CCT Chairman ran to court. “Be rest assured that the matter will not die like that but we have to stop investigation for now, pending the outcome of consultations we are seeking for from relevant authorities and in particular the counter offensive being made against the CCT Chairman in the court of law. “This is a clear case of circumventing the constitutional powers of the Senate after submitting himself to us for investigation and begged for time to study the allegations made against him. “He appeared at the first sitting, sought for a week to study allegations on assault leveled against him. We gave him three weeks for that. “There after, at the second, third sessions, he sent representatives that he couldn’t come due to ill health, only for him to inform us through his lawyers at the fourth sitting two weeks ago (July 13, 2021), that he was already in court. “Here today, neither him nor any of his representatives is here which will make us to stop the entire process for now, because we can’t write report on the investigation by hearing from only one side. “We hereby step this investigation aside sine die,” he said. Danladi in the suit with file no FHC/ABJ/ CS/671/2021, challenged Senate’s Constitutional Power to conduct investigation and purpose for which it is exercisable. Specifically, the CCT Chairman asked the court to interpret the constitutional powers granted the Senate or House Committees on Ethics and Privileges and Public Petitions whether it covers public assault which are part of the constitutional functions of the Police and the Courts of Law. A copy of the originating summons signed by Sunday Edward (ESQ) from Abuka and Partners on behalf of Umar, listed him as the Plaintiff and the Senate, Senate President, Senate’s Commitee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions and the Attorney-General of the Federation as defendants. Umar in the originating summons asked the court to interpret the powers of the four defendants to investigate the case of assault in question. The summons read in part: “Whether the purported case of assault which allegedly took place at Banex Plaza, on 29th March, 2021, forms part of the matters the 1st defendant is constitutionally empowered to investigate. “Whether the 1st defendant and its Committee, that is, the 3rd defendant, are competent to investigate and/or invite the plaintiff in relation to the investigation of the allegation of assault levelled against him. “Whether the powers of the 1st defendant to conduct investigation are not by and/or subject to provisions of sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and are not exercisable for the purposes of making law and exposing corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution of administration of laws within its legislative competence and in the disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by the 1st defendant. “Whether the 1st defendant’s move to conduct investigative hearing on the petition before it is not unconstitutional and does not amount to an unwarranted usurpation of the functions of the Police and of the Courts of competent jurisdiction”. Umar urged the Senate to discontinue the investigation following his suit against the National Assembly. “We write to inform you that the case between our client and Clement Sargwak is now before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (suit No: FCT/HC/ CV/1544/2021, Mr Danladi Umar vs Clement Sargwak) and the issue as to whether or not Clement Sargwak had discontinued and/or withdrawn his petition before your Honourable Committee is equally sub judice. “We trust that Senate, as the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, will respect due process and refrain from delving into a matter that is before a court of competent jurisdiction,” the letter reads. The CCT Chairman was alleged to have physically assaulted Clement Sagwak at the Bannex Plaza in Wuse 2, on March 29, 2021. In seeking redress, Sargwark through his lawyer, petitioned the Senate.

The Federal Government on Tuesday in Ilorin said it has no plan to gag the press even as it advanced reasons behinds it’s decision to ensure the regulation of the social media in the country. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the government’s position on the regulation was in furtherance of national interest which was in line with global best practices. Mohammed spoke at the opening of a 2-day 2021 edition of the Annual Roundtable on Cultural Orientation (ARTCO) by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO). According to the minister, no responsible government will allow enemies of Nigeria use media as a tool to destabilise the nation. He said the phenomenon of fake news and hate speeches which has dominated the social media space is detrimental to the nation’s peace, security and national cohesion. He therefore appealed to the media to ‘shun sensational reporting and eschew fake news’ to prevent or de-escalate conflicts. The minister reassured that President Muhammadu Buhari would continue to ensure enabling environment for a robust media practice exists in Nigeria. He said “Contrary to insinuation in some quarters, this government has no plans to muzzle the media. It appreciates the media as a strategic partner in our determination to foster the socio-economic and political development of our nation”. Speaking on the theme of the roundtable “Culture, Media and Nation Cohesion”, Mohammed said that the neglect of culture and the breakdown of cherished cultural values have contributed largely to the myriad challenges bedeviling our nation today. He said that urgent and concerted efforts are therefore required for cultural reconstruction and reawakening to achieve the much-desired socio political and economic progress. “The other dimension of the theme of this conference is the role of the media in fostering national cohesion. The media is an indispensable institution in modern and democratic societies. As the fourth estate of the realm and watchdog of society with constitutional backing, media has a pivotal role to play in the progress and well being of society”, he said. Also speaking, the Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Mr. Ado Mohammed Yahuza, said the 2021 theme for the programme was selected to reemphasize the significance of culture and the media to socio-political and economic development of the nation. “We are fully convinced that our present challenges as a nation can be surmounted through a culture rebirth programme with the media playing a leading role. “The replacement of our cherished cultural values of honesty, hard work, good neighbourliness, respect for elders, respect for constituted authority with negative tendency such as “get-rich-quick syndrome”, ethnic and religious bias have been the bane of our national cohesion and development efforts. “It is our belief that if the media emphasize and celebrate our cherished cultural values and the things that unite us instead of the things that divide us, national unity and cohesion would be easily achieved”, he noted.

A Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed October 4 to hear a suit by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) challenging the legality of the Federal Government’s suspension of the operations of micro blogging and social media website, Twitter. The Incorporated Trustees of the NBA filed the suit numbered FHC/L/CS/613/202 on June 18, following the government’s June 4 threat to prosecute Nigerians who defy the directive by continuing to use Twitter. President Muhammadu Buhari; the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are first to fourth defendants, respectively. The NBA, via its 7 member legal team led by Dr Charles Mekwunye, is seeking 11 reliefs. They include, among others, a declaration that the ban or suspension of the microblogging site is unlawful and a declaration that any prosecution of users of the site will be unconstitutional. It is also seeking a declaration that the ban affects the business, employment and economic activities of lawyers and Nigerians generally and an order mandating all mobile network and internet service providers to unblock the use of the microblogging and social media site. The Chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA/SPIDEL), Monday Ubani, has a similar suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos. So does the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) at the Federal High Court in Abuja; and 176 other Nigerians and SERAP at the ECOWAS Court of Justice. Last Friday, the Federal Government told a the Federal High Court in Lagos that it had not stopped Nigerians from using Twitter. The government and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami stated this in a counter-affidavit deposed to in response to an originating motion filed by human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, challenging the suspension. In the affidavit deposed to by Mr Ilop Lawrence on behalf of the Federal Government, Malami said the suspension of Twitter was not an abuse of human rights because Nigerians were still using social media platform. It read in part, “The applicant (Effiong) and the class he seeks to represent can still operate those Twitter accounts from anywhere in the world and even from Nigeria. Nigerians are still tweeting, even at this moment as the ban on Twitter is not aimed at intimidating Nigerians or an infringement on the rights of Nigerians to express their opinion. “The respondents (Federal Government and AGF) have never stopped the applicant (Effiong) and the class of persons he seeks to represent from voicing their opinions to access government information and offer criticism where necessary.” Nigeria suspended Twitter after the social media platform pulled down a tweet by President Buhari on the ground that it violated its rules. A few days after restricting citizens’ access to Twitter, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) also directed all broadcast outfits to “suspend the patronage of Twitter immediately”, labelling the platform as “unpatriotic”. The legality of the government’s move has been widely questioned and stakeholders in the civic space have moved to challenge the controversial decision, which has sparked national outrage and attracted international criticism for weeks.