National
Court to Hear Ex-Minister’s Motion to Halt Paternity Allegations
A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has set October 8 for the hearing of a motion filed by former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Kabiru Turaki, seeking to stop further publications regarding a paternity dispute involving him and his former acquaintance, Uwani Arabi, and two others.
Presiding judge, Justice Aliyu Shafa, made the decision on Tuesday after refusing to grant Turaki’s initial ex-parte motion, which requested an interim injunction against the defendants.
Justice Shafa instructed that the ex-Minister refile his motion as a notice, allowing the defendants an opportunity to respond.
Turaki accuses Arabi, her former husband, Musa Baffa, and her daughter, Hadiza, of defamation, following claims that he fathered a child with Hadiza. He is also seeking the return of $120,000, which he claims to have loaned Hadiza for a heart surgery in Dubai, Cairo, and Jeddah.
In a supporting affidavit, Turaki urged the court to issue a restraining order to prevent further dissemination of what he described as false allegations during the ongoing legal battle.
He also denied any sexual impropriety, stating that his support for Hadiza’s education at Baze University in Abuja was purely philanthropic.
The defendants, in a joint statement, rejected the defamation accusations, insisting that Turaki had taken advantage of Hadiza, leading to her pregnancy.
They called for a DNA test to resolve the dispute, arguing that Turaki was blocking a proper investigation. They also plan to present evidence, including voice messages, chats, and medical reports.
A separate but related case filed by Turaki, aimed at preventing the police from investigating Hadiza’s claims, has been adjourned until October 17.
The paternity dispute has drawn significant attention, with both sides presenting contrasting narratives as the legal drama unfolds.
The founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy, Prof Udenta Udenta, on Thursday, accused the Bola Tinubu Presidency of dismantling democratic values and weaponing the judiciary, and the 1999 Constitution (as amended) against Nigerians.
Prof Udenta, a distinguished fellow of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, said the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State was a distortion of democratic institutions by the Tinubu government.
“The system that should protect democratic governance, you are weaponising them; the judiciary, the apparatus of the state, you are distorting, diluting and transmogrifying them in a way and manner that is shutting down democratic conversations.
“That is what you find as the legacy of the Bola Tinubu president and his political agents,” Prof Udenta said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
The scholar said dismantling democratic principles isn’t by shooting guns but by misusing democratic instruments like the constitution and the judiciary.
“When you abandon the foundational norms of democracy and then you begin to use instruments you acquired in power to dismantle the guardrails that govern the democratic system, then democracy dies.
“It is not by firing a shot that democracy dies or crumbles, it is leveraging the guardrails like the constitution, like what was done in Rivers State, to abort democratic rules,” he said.
The scholar also accused Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd) of dismantling the levers of democracy with his suspension of all political appointees in the oil-rich state.
“You find the sole administrator strutting around Port Harcourt, dismantling democratic infrastructure,” he said.
Prof Udenta described what is practised in Rivers State as a “hybrid regime which is a part of competitive authoritarianism” being deployed to “manacle the spirit of a nation and abort democratic institutions at all levels” including labour unions, media houses, political parties, and civil societies.
Prof Udenta regretted that the quality of the lives of Nigerians in the last two years has so depreciated. He lamented that there is widespread hunger and poverty in the land with escalating food inflation usurping the income of average Nigerians.
“There is poverty in the land, there is hunger everywhere, inflation is soaring, criminality and terrorism and all manners of insecurity pervade the nation, and the government is bemused like this current one,” he said.
A bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for the office of the Prime Minister as head of government and the office of President as head of state and to provide for a framework for the mode of election to the said offices, has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
It is among 32 Constitution amendment bills that scaled second reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
Also among the bills is a bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for specific seats for women in the national assembly and state houses of assembly.
Another is a bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to reduce the lengthy period for determination of pre-election petition matters and provide for the establishment of pre-election tribunals for pre-election matters and regulate the process of suspending a member of the national assembly from legislative duties.
A bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to review the requirements that qualifies persons to be elected as president and vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, governors and deputy governor, passed second reading as well.
A bill for an act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to review the status of the Federal Capital Territory as regards the election of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and bills for the creation of Wan State and Gobir State also passed second reading.
This brings the total number of Constitution Amendment Bills passed so far through second reading to 113.
Actress Regina Daniels has assured her husband, Ned Nwoko, that she will stand by him even if multiple women are linked to him.
The movie star stated this in the comment section of her husband’s touching poem posted on Instagram on Thursday.
Senator Nwoko, in his post, dispelled rumour of marital discord and revealed that they were expecting their third child together.
“Oooh my king! The greatest man in Igbo land! Dike’m! Obim! Ezigbo dim Oma!” Regina commented.
“What did I do to deserve this honour! 10,000 women by your right, 20,000 by your left and I will stand gidigba because what we share will remain the first in history.”
Nwoko’s post followed rumour that he was expecting a child outside wedlock with actress Chika Ike.
The lawmaker addressed the allegation in his post, saying: “No rumoured child outside, That ship never sailed, Let them retire that story, tired and stale.
“Their lies will fade, their voices dim, Yet here we stand unmoved, untrimmed. For love like ours, built on steel, Doesn’t break, doesn’t kneel. Still standing, still thriving, unshaken, supreme.”
He also warned those spreading falsehoods about him, revealing that he has placed a bounty on those propagating defamatory claims.
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