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Don’t blame Mark, ADC appeal was to determine jurisdiction only – Umeh
Nothing else was expected outside the Court of Appeal determining whether Nafiu Bala Gombe, had the jurisdiction to sue the African Democratic Congress (ADC), at the beginning of the crisis that has now led to the hammer slammed on it by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The commission had last week withdrawn the recognition hitherto accorded David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, as Chairman and Secretary, relying on the order of the appellate court, which enjoined parties in the matter to maintain the status quo ante bellum.
Joash Amupitan, INEC Chairman, had interpreted the order to mean that since hostilities began on September 2, when Gombe approached the court, maintaining neutrality, the commission should not recognise either side to the conflict.
Against this backdrop, Mark, had received the lashing of many critics, who wonder why he rushed upstairs to the appellate court instead of approaching the Federal High Court to dispense with the matter.
But Victor Umeh, Senator representing Anambra Central at the National Assembly, on Monday dismissed the criticisms, saying the embattled party boss only went to remove the snag of Gombe’s irritation by clearing the issue of jurisdiction.
A guest on Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, Umeh, who faulted INEC for allegedly meddling in the internal affairs of the party decried the leadership rocking the coalition party, adding that Mark leadership was not wrong in his approach.
Hear him: “The truth is that there is no blame on David Mark’s leadership to approach the court of appeal with an interlocutory appeal on the Federal High Court’s refusal to throw away the case that the court has no jurisdiction.
“The issue of jurisdiction was raised at the onset of the Federal High Court. When the issue of jurisdiction is raised, the court must take it and determine it first of all.
“If the court has no jurisdiction, it has no business going into the matter ab initio. It doesn’t matter how well the court tries the case; if you don’t have jurisdiction, everything you do thereafter will be a nullity.
“When he assumed jurisdiction in the matter, David Mark and his leadership challenged the decision of Justice Nwite’s court that he had no jurisdiction, and they were right.
“If the Court of Appeal had seen that the Federal High Court had no jurisdiction, it wouldn’t have gone on this long journey. The court would have seen that even the Court of Appeal itself has no jurisdiction to go into the matter involving the internal affairs of a political party, leadership, for example, no jurisdiction.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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