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Court Rules On Speaker, Police Suit, July 29
A Rivers State High Court presided over by Justice Adolphus Enebeli yesterday fixed July 29, 2013 to delver judgement on a suit between Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Otelemaba Amachree and the state Police command.
The suit, filed by counsel to the Speaker, Mr Emenike Ebete, is seeking the court order restraining the police from arresting and interrogating the Speaker over his concerns on alleged plots to assassinate the governor and cause instability and disorder in the state.
Justice Enebeli fixed the date for the judgement after listening to submissions by counsels to the parties when the matter came up for hearing, yesterday.
In his submission, Mr Ebete urged the court to sustain his application, while also quashing the counter affidavit filed by counsels to the defendants for lack of evidence.
Ebete argued that the open letter to the President, on which the defendants based their counter-affidavit was not signed by any person, and enhance could not be used to investigate the Speaker.
He emphasised that as much as the police had constitutional right to investigate anybody, there must be a provable allegation against a person.
The Speaker’s counsel, who also filed a further and better affidavit to buttress his facts, submitted that the police were already biased on the matter, and therefore should not be the ones to investigate the matter.
He further submitted that the police command was working with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state led by Mr Felix Obuah following the suspension of the executive and legislative arms of the Obio/Akpor Local Government Council, emphasising that the Speaker cannot be made to face the law based on the action of the Assembly.
He alleged that the Obuah-led PDP was using the state police to compel the Assembly to reverse its suspension of the Obio/Akpor chairman and councillors, noting that the matter bordered on abuse of their fundamental human rights.
In his defence, Mr D.C Denwingwe objected to the submissions of the applicants, saying that the application was an invitation of the court to stop the police from performing their constitutional duties.
While emphasising that nobody under the constitution was immuned from police investigation, Denwingwe submitted that the case of bias cited by the counsel to the applicant was not before the court and should not be granted.
He further submitted that the suit was a misconception of the police invitation of the Speaker, adding that the burden of proof that the police command was sponsored lay on the applicants to prove.
He thus urged the court to strike out the suit, saying that it was premature in nature. It would be recalled that the Speaker had in two different suits sought the court to prevent the Inspector General of Police, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 6 on one hand and Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Deputy Commissioner of Police and the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Obio/ Akpor on the other hand from breaching his fundamental human rights.
This was sequel to a press briefing in Port Harcourt by the police in which the state police commissioner indicated his readiness to interrogate the Speaker on allegations of alleged planned assassination of the state Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi and some other state government functionaries in the wake of the PDP and Obio/Akpor Local Government Council crisis in the state.
Meanwhile, the court presided over by Justice A. Enebeli has also granted leave on counsel to Chief of Staff, Chief Tony Okocha to serve the President of Port Harcourt Club, Mr Sylvester Eliomo through pasting at the office of the Club at Forces Avenue.
Counsel to Okocha, Mr Vincent Uchendu had through a motion experte sought the leave of court to serve Eliomo through pasting, saying that the latter had been evading service.
The judge later adjourned the matter to August 5 for hearing.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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