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Tinubu to judges: Spare nobody, do justice without fear or favour!
From President Bola Tinubu came a clear message to Nigerian judges on Monday – ensure speedy justice delivery to all manner of persons, according to law and without fear of favour, affection or ill-will.
Urging the judicial officers to be blind to a litigant’s status or tribe, the President at inaugurating the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division building complex, Dakibiyu, warned them that a compromised legal system threatened democratic stability.
Decrying widespread citizen frustration with prolonged case backlogs and slow adjudication, Tinubu, who was represented by Kashim Shettima, Vice President, maintained that the administration of justice must be both fair and swift so that the common man can have confidence in the judiciary as his last hope.
Stressing that constructing the new Court of Appeal complex reinforced his Renewed Hope Agenda and his administration’s determination to give the operators of the nation’s justice system a befitting home, he said the judges must reciprocate by doing untainted justice.
He said: “To My Lords Justices, as you move into this complex, Nigeria asks one thing of you: let justice be swift. Let it be fair. Let it be blind to status, tribe, or purse. Let the common man feel that this Court is truly his last hope. On this note, and to the glory of Almighty God, I hereby commission the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division Building Complex, for the service of justice and for the benefit of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The President, while stressing the import of the project, stated that it was unacceptable that the Abuja division of the appellate court operated from a cramped, temporary space for too long, adding that a nation seeking justice must respect the temple of justice.
His words: “When I visited and saw the condition, I gave a simple instruction: fix it. Today, we have fixed it. I must commend the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, for timely delivery and for domesticating his demonstration’s judicial reforms in the nation’s capital.
“You took the assignment to deliver this project in May 2024. By July, contractors were on site. You promised 16 months. You delivered in record time. No excuses. No variation. Just results. Nigerians can see the difference. We are proud of your dedication to duty.
“This project aligns with my administration’s priorities which aims to improve governance and the rule of law by implementing judicial reforms, restructuring the judiciary, and increasing funding to ensure a just, rule-based society.
“This complex is world-class. With two large and eight smaller courtrooms, cases will now receive speedy attention. This will go a long way toward ensuring justice for all, upholding the rule of law, maintaining law and order in the Federal Capital Territory, and reducing congestion in our correctional centres. This is how you honour the Judiciary. This is how you strengthen democracy.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the Renewed Hope Agenda is not a slogan. It is action. We said we would restore the dignity of our institutions. We are doing it for the Judiciary. We are doing it in health, education, roads, and power. Brick by brick, we are rebuilding Nigeria.”
Thanking the FCT Minister further for domesticating his administration’s policies on judicial reforms, the President said, “I am therefore pleased by the concrete efforts made by the Minister of the FCT to domesticate this policy thrust by building more courts, constructing befitting residences for judicial officers, digitising judicial processes in the Territory, and providing solid support for legal education.
For the judges, Tinubu acknowledged that they serve the nation under immense pressure, even as he listed what he described as the heavy docket being carried by the Abuja Division of the appellate court, including election petitions, constitutional matters.
“The eyes of Nigeria are on you. You deserve an environment that matches the weight of your responsibility. This complex is not a favour. It is your right. And we will do more,” he added.
Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, President of the Court of Appeal, who had noted that the impact of the complex on the administration of justice cannot be overemphasised, said before the court complex was built, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal was operating with only two courtrooms, adding that the lack of infrastructure had slowed the speedy delivery of justice over the years.
Stressing that importance of the project, she expressed confidence that the new complex will significantly improve the speed at which matters are resolved, stressing that the structure of the justice system must reflect the legal system it serves, thanking the President Vice President, and the FCT Minister for recognising the need to improve the justice sector as one of the institutions that guarantees stability and democracy.
Wike, who said he had informed Tinubu of the need to intervene in the deplorable state of the court, stated that the President not only approved the provision of a befitting complex for the Court of Appeal, as well as residences for judges, but also ordered interventions in the National Industrial Court, the Federal High Court, and the Code of Conduct Tribunal in the FCT.
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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