Olasunmibo Aboluwade, Abuja 

Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has warned relevant government agencies to thread with caution and ensure the safety of a former minister of power and steel, Dr. Olu Agunloye, who has been remanded at the Kuje Correctional Service.

Agunloye is currently awaiting trial on corruption charges. 

Soyinka likened the travail of Agunloye to the tragic 2001 assassination of former Minister of Justice, Bola Ige. 

Agunloye had pleaded not guilty to the charges when he was presented before the Federal High Court.

The presiding judge ordered his remand in Kuje pending the issuance of bail. 

Soyinka raised concerns about Agunloye’s safety within the correctional facility. 

He emphasized the historical context, reminding the nation of Bola Ige’s murder, which remains unsolved to this day. 

The Nobel laureate said, “I wish to alert the nation and the government that there exists a justifiable, high-level concern for his safety. 

“His predecessor in office, the late Chief Bola Ige, was murdered in his bedroom by a professional assassin even while his police protection detail took time off, all at the same time, to a nearby eatery,” Soyinka stated. 

Drawing attention to Agunloye’s previous collaboration in investigating Ige’s murder, Wole Soyinka expressed the potential dangers that the former minister might face due to the abrupt decision to remand him to prison. 

Soyinka called for the establishment of an independent, non-partisan commission to thoroughly investigate the scandal surrounding Agunloye’s case. 

“The latest development is sinister and alarming. Let it be understood that if anything happens to this pivotal witness while in custody, the inference will be heard loud, clear, and unambiguous,” Soyinka warned. 

The backdrop to this controversy includes the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) declaring Agunloye wanted in December 2023 on charges of forgery and corruption. 

Soyinka’s statement serves as a powerful call for transparency, justice, and a careful examination of the circumstances surrounding Agunloye’s legal proceedings. 

Olasunmibo Aboluwade, Abuja 

The Director General of the National Institute For Legislative And Democratic Studies, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, said on Thursday that the inadequate number of legislative drafters in National and state assemblies is affecting lawmaking in Nigeria 

Sulaiman, who is a former Minister of National Planning stated this during the inauguration of the third NILDS Internship Programme on Legislative Drafting, in Abuja.

He said NILDS introduced the internship programme on Legislative Drafting when it discovered the need to strengthen the nation’s parliaments with experts that would make the lawmakers’ jobs easier.

The DG said the insufficient numbers of legislative drafters in the parliaments across Nigeria was because no university in the country was offering it as a course.

Sulaiman said all the interns are qualified lawyers who had either first class or second class upper at their degree level.

He said “The NILDS Internship Programme on Legislative Drafting is an initiative designed to provide interns with the requisite knowledge, and skills in Legislative Drafting.

“This is to enhance the capacity of interns in legislative drafting and equip them with the necessary knowledge needed to actively contribute to the drafting of laws and other legislative instruments for the legislature in the country. 

“This initiative is important in view of the fact that legislative drafting is a very specialised area of law that is not taught as a regular course in conventional institutions of learning. 

“It is on this note therefore, that I wish to urge the participants who have been carefully selected by our team of experts to consider themselves lucky to benefit from this great opportunity.

“The objectives of the Internship programme are specially designed to acquaint interns with knowledge on the principles and rules of legislative drafting, the legislative process and the role of a legislative drafter.

“They are expected to know the different types of legislation, such as bills, regulations, and treaties.

“They will also have the  skills on legal research and analysis of legal issues relevant to legislative drafting, committee system in the Legislature, and to understand the impact of legislation on the society.

“This initiative is based on the commitment of the Institute to bridge the gap in the acute shortage of legislative drafters in the country despite the increasing demand for their services across the national and sub-national levels.”

Sulaiman added that the internship initiative was the first of its kind to be organised by any African Parliament.

He said, ” Nigeria is taking the lead and hopes that other Parliaments will follow suit.”

The DG said the leadership of the 10th National Assembly was commitment to sustaining the  laudable initiative considering the gains and potentials it would have in consolidating and strengthening the legislative institution.

He said, “In 2022, two batches of interns were trained by the Institute. The training for the first batch commenced in February, while the 2nd batch commenced in May 2022.  

“At the end of the programme, the interns were assessed, and the Institute granted the best interns employment opportunity with the Institute, and this year’s internship programme will not be an exception.  

“The interns were also issued certificates, as well as letters of recommendation for engagement of their services by legislators.”

THISDAY reports that 30 interns were admitted into the programme.

The institute had so far trained 60 legislative drafters since the internship programme started in 2022.

Olasunmibo Aboluwade, Abuja

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, dismissed Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa’s claims that Legislative Immunity covered his statement on the floor of the Senate.

Bulkachuwa had during the 9th Senate valedictory service explained how  he usually influenced his wife’s judgments in favour of his colleagues in the red chamber.

His wife, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa was a former justice of the Appeal Court.

Justice Ekwo told Senator Bulkachuwa that his statement on the floor of the Senate on that day amounted  to confession.

The judge dismissed the suit filed by Bulkachuwa, seeking an order restraining anti-graft agencies from inviting, interrogating or arresting him over what he said about influencing his wife’s judgement who was a former Court of Appeal President.

The court held that the lawmaker has no right to influence judgements of a judge.

Justice Ekwo stated this in the Court today while delivering judgement on a case instituted against Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission.

The judge held that the statement made on the floor of the Senate amounted to a “confession” that Senator Bulkachuwa influenced his wife, who was then President of the Court of Appeal, to get favourable judgments for his colleagues.

 The judge criticized the Clerk of the National Assembly, who was one of the defendants in the case, for attempting to provide cover for the Senator.

According to the judge, the statement was not made in relation to ‘legislative business during plenary’ and is therefore not covered by legislative immunity.

Bulkachuwa had approached the court in July to stop the ICPC probe over his alleged ‘judicial interference’

The former senator representing Bauchi north senatorial district, Adamu Bulkachuwa, has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to restrict the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, from investigating and arresting him.

The senator had during the valedictory session of the 9th Senate, publicly confessed to having influenced his wife, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa’s decision as Appeal Court judge to favour his colleagues in the Senate.

His confession had ignited a widespread controversy across Nigeria.

The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, in the wake of the outrage that trailed the revelation, called on the police and the ICPC to investigate the senator.

After receiving the invitation by the ICPC, Bulkachuwa, through his lawyer, Donald Ajibowu, wrote to the agency to reschedule his appearance to 6 July, based on ill-health.

The ICPC, in line with its mandate to investigate corrupt practices, invited the senator for questioning.

However, three days ahead of the rescheduled date, Bulkachuwa filed a suit urging the court to bar the agency from investigating him.

He listed the Federation’s Attorney General, the National Assembly Clerk, the State Security Service (SSS), the ICPC, and Nigeria Police Force as defendants.

He urged the court to declare his invitation as “illegal, arbitrary, oppressive, unconstitutional and a gross violation and a likelihood of continuous infraction of the applicant’s fundamental human right as guaranteed by Sections 34, 35, 36, 37, 41 and 46 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”

The senator in the suit filed on July 3rd, sought a “judicial interpretation of Section 1 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act 2017, which confers immunity on him from any civil or criminal litigation in respect of any utterance he makes on the floor of the Senate in his capacity as a serving Senator.”