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No Campaign of Calumny Against FCC Chairperson Will Be Tolerated – APG

Published

2 years ago

July 26, 2023

…Enough is Enough- Leadership fumes

The Arewa Professional Group (APG), comprising various professionals from all walks of life as well as elder statesmen and women of substance of Northern extraction have called on the leadership of the House of Representatives, the Senate of the Federal Republic and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to put an end to the ethnic profiling, gender abuse and religious bias that have been used against our very own Ambassador and an Arewa woman leader, Dr Muheeba Dankaka of the Federal Character Commission(FCC).

For the record, this is a female professional who has remained a bastion of Sir Ahmadu Bello (Sardauna of Sokoto); a role model of our women and girl-child in the North and who has consistently prided herself in the discharge of her duties effectively, right from assuming the mantle of leadership.

Nigerians and indeed, the management of the FCC will agree that before the presidential elections of 2023, even the lowest cadre of staff of the FCC, the leadership of the National Assembly and the various committees were adequately aware of the avid stand, body language and sincere campaigns embarked upon by Dr Muheeba Dankaka, who did not hide her genuine efforts. She showed her dexterity as a great mobilizer and avid supporter of the President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s candidacy which, according to our investigation did not go down well with a select few from the Labour Party (LP) principally dominated by individuals from the Southeast geopolitical zone.

It will also be recalled that these elements embarked on a campaign of calumny and war of attrition against our very own, by going to the market square to dance naked and went as far as using all sorts of blackmail tactics, media bully and ambush tactics aimed at unseating her from her official seat.

Authoritatively, they have consistently called her several unprintable names; have as well tried inducing her so that she could chicken out and indulge in unethical practices at the commission, but she stood her ground, maintain that it was no longer business as usual.

They also made her to swear with the Holy Quran of her innocence in all the alleged and trumped-up charges by these disgruntled Southeast members of the Federal House of Representatives who were and are still hell bent on casting aspersions, and engage in smear campaign against her office and personality, just to ridicule and infuse her to public ridicule. All these calculated attempts were also aimed at her because, according to their myopic and parochial view, she is a woman without godfather, who is also a practicing Muslim that could not easily and willingly respond to their antecedents.

In a press release signed by the National Coordinator of Arewa Professional Group (APC), Dr Umar Bala Abdulkadir and Secretary, Comrade Nazanmi Dakingari respectively, the duo warned the Honourable members and their collaborators not to “misconstrue our golden silence for cowardice or granted as the so-called maltreatment given to Dr Muheeda was intended as maligning and dishumanising her, just because she is female from Northern Nigeria, as well as a Muslim,” for that matter.

They also cautioned that Nigerians are aware of a lot of government parastatals and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that have blatantly refused the instructions and invitations of the House of Representatives (HOR) but until date, nothing has been heard of such organizations or MDAs.

The Arewa group therefore wants to know when it has become a crime for a person to stand and mobilize for whom she believes in “and that her only crime remains her doggedness, not to appease the gods and indulge in sharp and unethical practices, to favour the committee members who have resorted to blackmail her with all sorts names calling like job racketeering, gross mismanagement and other similar accolades, all in a bid to substantially blackmail her to do their bidding and even use her own staff against her, to show their desperation and sheer wickedness.”

Accordingly, the said innuendoes from the Labour Party (LP) and emanating from those from the Southeast extraction, are spearheaded by a female member who has audaciously pointed fingers at Dr Muheeda, that “I will deal with you and prove to you that Nigeria belongs exclusively to us” on repeated occasions, even in the public domain. All these were done because she vehemently refused to compromise her stance and not open the treasury and other unwarranted benefits-in-kind attached to her office to those disgruntled members.

These members therefore have resorted to using Mr Moses Anaughe, a Commissioner in the Commission who hails from Delta State, to malign, do media trial and cast aspersions on the Commission for mesh of porridge.

It will also be recalled that the few times the Chairperson of FCC was invited, she diligently honour the invitations and on other occasions, she was ill and had to send in a senior management staff to represent her who officially tendered a certified copy of a doctor’s report, but because of the nefarious and clandestine plot of the members, they went ahead to cast her in bad light in the public domain.

These actions ostensibly brought her untold pains, trauma and psychological torture and aspersions from close family and friends, associates, professional colleagues, as well as women groups, across the country, which also threw her in the bad books of unsuspecting public not knowing the real issues at stake.

But if truth must be told and upheld, Dr Muheeda Dankaka remains a stabilizing factor and a transformer of the first order, right from her assumption of office and mantle of leadership and she has gone, against all odds, to reposition, change the narrative like never before in the annals of the Commission. These were done, even as there were orchestrations by fifth columnists, traducers and avowed enemies of Nigeria’s progress and haters of the current President of the Federal Republic, whose only agenda are to line their pockets, cheat, blackmail the Commission into submission, so as to uncontrollably reap where they did not sow.

The Arewa Professional Group (APG) hereby calls on these enticed members, to henceforth “desist from heating the polity unnecessarily” and also “stop their clandestine plots against Dr Dankaka,” whose only crime remains, that she does not open the treasury of the Commission and pecks of office to them” and “they should as well stop forthwith their orchestrated campaign of calumny, but forcing her under duress to swear on the Holy Islamic Book, the Quran.

”If this kind and unsolicited advice is not adequately complied with, “we will be forced to take decisive steps, by calling on all our Arewa Honourable Members of the House of Representatives and Distinguished Senators, as the lovers of truth, to go after their own and fight for the collective good of the region, echoing “Enough is Enough! We would not accept the unethical narrative against our very own from the region and also maintain the rhetoric: ‘Who is a woman for that matter?’”

“We have also resolved to look at the traitor in Mr Moses Anaughe, and in due course, the Group will issue a statement on his person, which will wash his dirty linens in the public domain for well-meaning Nigerians to see the stuff he is really made of,” the Group vowed.

The Group equally maintains that they have the absolute trust and confidence in Dr Dankaka, in her ability to diligently deliver the duties of her office and would be ready to mobilize all Arewa stakeholders and the generality of the people, including women and youth groups to wake up from their slumber and fight for their common aspirations of our region.

This is done with the strong belief that “We all know the retrogressive plan of the Southeast Honourbale Members who vehemently wish to reduce the number of women from our region in the Federal appointments and to also coarse and hoodwink the young and youthful ladies from the region, aspiring to be like Dr Dankaka. Therefore, we have resolved to resist this hidden agenda with all our beliefs. The Federal Character Commission should be allowed to be run in a professional manner. Let Dr Dankaka have her peace, so as to continue to offer her quote to the progressive development of the nation. At the risk of repeating ourselves, since when has it become a crime to professional serve one’s fatherland?”

News

The Most Shocking A/Court ‘Judgment’ in Nigerian History: An unfortunate precedent that should not be allowed to stand

Published

7 hours ago

November 30, 2025

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The last is yet to be heard of wide ranging ex-parte orders as this time around, the charade has moved to the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division. In the case of FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others, the Court of Appeal’s ex parte orders are not only egregious but a chilling sign of judicial capture, smacking of dirty practices at best and corruption at worst.

On Thursday, 27th November 2025, at exactly 2:00pm, Justice Yargata Nimpar delivered a ‘ruling ’ that appeared like a thief in the night, a ghost and unscheduled, the said decision came upon a Motion Ex-parte which was not heard not argued in open court, yet it surfaced, fully written, signed, stamped, and delivered as though it had lived a full life on the Court of Appeal docket.

For many Nigerians, the judiciary has again weathered the storms. Veterans of the legal system describe this episode as “a daylight heist… a judicial armed robbery without guns.”

The controversies over wide ranging ex-parte applications, it would seem, has found its way to the Court of appeal, an intermediate court with limited original jurisdiction as donated to it by statute.

In this instance, barely two weeks ago, we reported the ex-parte orders against NESTOIL and the other defendants listed in the suit before the Federal High Court which led to the transfer of the suit to another judge.

The said interim orders were vacated by effluxion of time, being that ex-parte orders last for only 14 days.

The court however ordered parties to maintain status quo and adjourned the Motion on Notice for hearing by the consent of the parties. That Motion is still pending before the Federal High Court.

It would seem that in order to frustrate that pending Motion, the Plaintiffs somehow filed a similar application to the Court of Appeal which was granted an order ex-parte directing the Lower Court not to take any further steps, including determining the pending application filed by Plaintiffs (now Appellants).

This magically resurrected, fast-tracked application seem to have been rubber-stamped at the fictional “Appeal Bench of Shadows,” as insiders have begun calling it.

A CASE THAT NEVER EXISTED — YET RECEIVED A JUDGMENT

Our Judiciary correspondent gathered that when the court’s official list for the day was released, nothing seemed amiss. No controversial cases. No unexpected hearings.

But somewhere inside the dusty chambers of bureaucracy, a secret file was already being prepared and by 2pm, a judgment carrying the signatures of an entire appeal panel had surfaced — even though none of them had appeared in open court and when the case itself had never been argued before any High Court, making an appellate ruling legally impossible.

By evening, whispers had turned into rumblings. Court workers who handled the mysterious document reported unusual instructions: No public sitting; No mention on the court list; No access to case filings; No digital record and No audio recording of proceedings. Yet an order was made retrospectively to undo a completed act! which is yet another impossibility in law, because the exparte order cannot restore what has been already executed.

“It was like dealing with a ghost file,” one clerk said. “It appeared from nowhere and disappeared into official archives as though it had always existed.”

This judgment, once delivered, spread like wildfire, with legal scholars calling it “a constitutional impossibility.” Veterans said they had never seen anything similar since the 1970s.

Enquiries from our judiciary correspondents indicate that an application can only be hinged upon a valid Notice of Appeal against a decision of a lower court before any application can be entertained at the Court of Appeal.

Further Investigations by our judiciary correspondent reveals that no such Notice of Appeal has been filed nor served on the respondents; no parties have been invited to Settle Records and no Records of Appeal have been transmitted.

One wonders the platform or upon which grounds the ex-parte order was made, observed one senior lawyer, especially as a similar pending application filed by the Appellants has been adjourned for Hearing by the Federal High Court.

Furthermore, the case at the trial court before Justice Osiagor has not been heard on its merits, which documents was placed before the appellate court and all applications before the judge has not been heard or is the court of appeal now a trial court.

A JUDICIARY AT A CROSSROADS

Public outrage rose quickly. Lawyers described the situation as “a hijacking of justice by shadowy interests.” Civil society groups demanded explanations.

A Judiciary where justice can be manufactured behind closed doors…a legal system where influence not merit, decides outcomes…and an institution tested by the weight of powerful external forces, et cetera should not be allowed to thrive.

AN ERA-DEFINING SCANDAL

This judgement will stand as one of the most dramatic challenges ever faced by Nigeria’s justice system. The shockwaves has rippled far beyond the courtroom — touching politics, business, security agencies, and public trust.

One thing is clear: This is the kind of judicial earthquake that rewrites history, shakes institutions, and forces a nation to confront the truths it fears the most. Our judicial correspondences were able to get an incline of the ex-parte orders made by the Court of Appeal as follows:

AN ORDER of interim restorative injunction reversing all steps taken by the Respondents and/or persons purporting to act on the instructions of the Respondents and which steps or actions were taken pursuant to the order of the Federal High Court coram Osiagor, J made on the 20th day of November 2025 pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on the 26th day of November 2025.
AN ORDER of interim injunction restraining the Respondents, their agents, servants, affiliates, and privies from interfering with and interrupting the Receiver/Manager in the performance of his duties pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on 26th November 2025.
AN ORDER staying further proceedings at the lower court pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on the 26th November 2025.

A SHOCKING DEPARTURE FROM JUDICIAL NORMS

Therefore, the Lagos Court of Appeal’s decision to grant ex parte orders in FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others stunned the legal community as ex-parte rulings are meant for rare emergencies and hardly exercised by appellate courts. By acting without hearing both sides, while the matter was already before the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal has undermined the principle of natural justice and distorted its own role.

NIGERIAN IMAGE AT RISK

At a time when Nigeria is striving to reposition its global reputation, this case sends the wrong message. It portrays the country as one where courts can be hijacked by private interests, where fairness is discarded, and where corruption lurks behind judicial robes. For investors and international partners, it reinforces damaging stereotypes of weak institutions and compromised justice.

AN URGENT CALL FOR INVESTIGATION

These orders are not just irregular — they are evidence of judicial capture. They must be investigated urgently. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, the National Judicial Council, the President of the Court of Appeal and the Nigerian Bar Association cannot remain silent. If appellate courts become arenas for ex-parte adventures, Nigeria’s justice system risks collapse under the weight of manipulation.

CLOSING NOTE

The Court of Appeal’s conduct in FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others is more than a misstep, it is a warning sign of judicial capture. If Nigeria is serious about restoring its image and strengthening democracy, this case must be investigated, accountability enforced, and reforms implemented. Anything less would be an abdication of the judiciary’s sacred duty to uphold justice. We must not allow that to happen.
A very Senior lawyer emphasize that the exparte order of the court of appeal lagos division in Nestoil has the possibility of eroding administrative control of Heads of superior Court from assigning or re assigning matters within their respective courts. Furthermore both the President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Justice of Nigeria may not have the authority to disband a panel and re- constitute another panel over any matter in their respective courts. This decision is a total anarchy to the judiciary and urgent steps must be taken to vacate the strange Court of appeal exparte order.

The conduct of the court of appeal justices is not excusable anywhere in the world and it’s indeed has brought the court of Appeal justices who constituted the panel to ridicule

News

Pius Akutah’s Alleged Fraud at Nigerian Shippers Council Uncovered

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

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Investigations by Nigerian Concord Newspaper reveal that the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Pius Akutah, has allegedly misappropriated public funds for a lavish lifestyle.

According to our findings, within months of assuming office, Akutah allegedly purchased a bulletproof SUV valued at approximately N850 million. In addition, he is reported to have acquired over twenty exotic SUVs for use as a convoy.

Akutah is also said to have acquired multiple high-value properties, including three in Abuja’s Maitama and Asokoro districts worth over N2 billion, and two in Lagos’ Banana Island valued at N1.8 billion. These acquisitions appear far beyond the scope of his official salary and allowances.

Further investigation suggests that Akutah may be using public funds to support political ambitions, including allegedly grooming militants across 23 local government areas in Benue State for a potential 2027 gubernatorial bid.

Staff of the Shippers Council reportedly claim that Akutah frequently accesses the council’s treasury without proper authorization. Some insiders have indicated that a petition will soon be filed with the EFCC, ICPC, and the Presidency to report his alleged misconduct.