By Abdulwahab Abdulah
LAGOS—Following the verdict of an Ikeja High Court convicting the former National Deputy Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George and five others, respondents in the libel suit he slammed against some media outfits have asked the court to allow them to amend their statement of defence.
Specifically, they were asking the court to grant them leave to tender last week’s judgment delivered by Justice Joseph Oyewole, stating that the substance and outcome of the judgment will have relevance to their case.
George has dragged The Independent Newspaper, publishers of the Daily Independent and others; Independent Network Communications Limited, publishers of The News and Corporate Vendors Limited to court asking for N1.5 billion and N1bn from them as compensation over the publication of the Mr. Nuhu Ribadu-led investigating panel report that indicted him and other board members over the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) N86bn scam.
At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, before Justice Hakeem Oshodi, Mr Femi Falana, representing the defendants, informed the court on their plan to adopt their earlier written addresses, while praying for an order “permitting the defendants to further amend their statement of defence.
It really surprised me that a criminal can still be sueing for labelling, with this you can see he has no shame at all, Has he not be convicted by an high court, he still has the guts to sue .Well am hearing of an appeal court judgement,like i said in one ofmy comments we are watching the judiciary and want to see the outcome of the appeal before i will make my final comment. but in the words of America declaration of Independence ” we find this to be self evident that all men are created equal by God” though amnot happy with the low jail term, let us wait and seewhat will happen in the appeal court, and the 84 billion that the port robbers have stolen.
ekhas_theory@yahoo.com
uniben.
in fairness to GOD. the issue of this our country is somehow pathetic. i’ve not seen it anywhere in the whole world where these looters are so free like NIGERIA. but i know that GOD shall ask them one day that what have they done with these massive wealths given to us by GOD. all the political job seekers they shall proceed no further, all the generational curses will be for them whilst the blessings shall be for the masses.
i write from my base in EKITI.
in fairness to GOD. the issue of this our country is somehow pathetic. i’ve not seen it anywhere in the whole world where these looters are so free like NIGERIA. but i know that GOD shall ask them one day that what have they done with these massive wealths given to us by GOD. all the political job seekers they shall proceed no further, all the generational curses will be for them whilst the blessings shall be for the masses.
i write from my base in EKITI.
A thief is a thief and such do not have any right. Bode george and others are in jail and should be treated as jail bird. They should be used as a guinea pig for any experimental drug. Barawo without shame, How dare you talk. Thief serve your jail term and when you are done, then you will explain how you got all your money
Thanks for keeping the updates!
MEN OF HONOUR SPEAK OUT OPENLY; AT LAST
At last the unthinkable is happening. For ages, I have named and shamed these criminals on the pages of our newspapers; (The Vanguard included) and requested that they account to us how they have suddenly come about their astronomic wealth. Without mincing words, I have called them unspeakable names from my base, in London and in Lagos, Yet, Tajudeen Oladipo and these shameless thugs still believe it is their right to loot our treasury. Now, so that there should be no doubt as to origin of this accusation, I have always signed my name in full whenever I condemn. The public outcry against greed, corruption, indiscipline and blatant and unabashed stealing by people who no longer deem it worthy to have their family name sanctified is getting its long-awaited undisguised backing from men of honour…at last !!!
It is therefore encouraging to see the following names joining the roll of honour. Men like Balarabe Musa, Ayo Adebanjo (an Old Grammarian ) Lateef Adgbite, Bishop of Lagos Mainland (Prof) Adebayo Akinde, Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, Tanka Yakassai, Ayo Fasanmi, Joseph Evah and and Yinka Odumakin are indeed honourable men. They and others like them should now collectively address the other vagabonds in power, and should next tell Obasanjo to his face that he is not an emperor dressed in golden toga, and he is not God; I say he is a just a Nigerian like the rest of us. He is also a retired military soldier, who if he knows his onions should best understand the leadership principle of accountability. But alas, he does not.
Here is someone who by his own admission never wore shoes to school, who was lucky enough to get into the Army, scrapped through Mons, but could not make it to the best academy in Sandhurst (whereas the likes of Benji Adekunle did) but somehow he managed to amass, in a comparable shorter period than Bill Gates, an incredible amount of personal wealth from our Petro-dollars. How did he magic all this wealth to his pocket ?
Is it then unreasonble for reasonable men to ask how he got about this money; if the money was not stolen or corruptly acquired in the first place. The time has come for us to demand that he should account to us how he came about this wealth, in as much as he was neither printing the money nor was he ever an entrepeneur. And money, we know, does not grow on trees, It is our God-given right to ask how all these came to pass. Indeed we have a need to know.
No one in his right senses will wish to claim immunity, from accountability when such a nauseous odium hangs around what he proclaims as his right to adulation.
If only David Mark as co-ord at the Command and Staff College, Kaduna (1982-83) had exposed the crime committed at Jaji by the likes of Bode George and Mike Akhigbe, this nation might have been saved from having to go through this rotten episode.
Our people should go and revisit the origin and consequences of the French Revolution. From the pages of our daily newspapers one gathers that the angry mobs are getting ready to storm the gates of the Bastille.
Dr Buki Morgan MBBS psc., Colindale, London. & Surulere, Lagos.
Nothing would come out of this matter since it is self-explainatory.
Bode George is now in jail and he has no more assumed clause
guiding protection of his name form being tarnished. Bode George,
breed the Northeast wind with caution and pay the litigation cost.