Again MPC Retains Policy Rate At 13.5 – TheNigerialawyer

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria on
Tuesday left the Monetary Policy Rate unchanged at 13.5 per
cent.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced the decision of
the committee at the end of a two-day meeting held at the apex
bank’s headquarters in Abuja.

He explained that all the 11 members that attended the meeting
unanimously agreed to hold the monetary policy stance.

The governor said apart from the MPR that was retained at 13.5
per cent, the committee decided to hold the Cash Reserves Ratio at
22.5 per cent.

Also retained are the Liquidity Ratio, which was left at 30 per
cent; and the Asymmetric Window which was left at +200 and -500
basis points around the MPR.

Details later.

US Indictment: Lawyer Asks Court to Bar Extradition of
Air Peace Boss, Allen Onyema

A Nigerian Lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Johnmary C.
Jideobi, has instituted a suit in the Federal High Court in Abuja
for the enforcement of the fundamental human rights of the
embattled Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Peace, Mr. Allen
Onyema, who is facing fraud allegations in the United States of
America.

The Abuja based legal practitioner in the suite no:
FHC/ABJ/CS/1446/2019 filed on Monday, and a copy obtained by
PRNigeria^[1] prayed the Court to bar
the Federal Government of Nigeria and Attorney General of the
Federation/Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami as well as
other agencies of government from harassing or extraditing Onyema
to the US against his will.

He sought a seven-point reliefs including a declaration by the
Court that the Federal Government and or any of its agencies with
prosecutorial powers as represented by Malami who is the Respondent
“is/are without powers to abridge the fundamental right of Onyema
to freedom of movement as donated by Section 35 of the amended 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

The Legal Practitioner also wants the Court to declare “that on
the authority of Diamond Bank PLC vs. Opara (2018) LPELR-43907(SC)
the Federal Government of Nigeria and or any of its agencies with
prosecutorial powers as represented by the Respondent herein cannot
derogate from the constitutional right to freedom of movement by
attempting to forcefully expel and or extradite Onyema from the
shores of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to any other country of
the world for the purposes of any criminal trial whose substance
arose from underlying civil aviation contracts”.

Also to declare that they “cannot give effect to any extradition
request from any country of the world in so far as the ingredients
or constituent facts of the indictment and or charges underlying
the said request are traceable to or related with or arose from
diverse civil aviation contracts entered into by Onyema through his
duly registered companies with other duly registered companies in
other jurisdictions especially in the United States of
America”.

Jideobi also sought an order of the Court to perpetually bar”
the Federal Government of Nigeria and or any of its agencies with
prosecutorial powers as represented by the Respondent herein either
by themselves, their servants, privies, assigns or any other person
or authority acting either in concert with them, on their behalf or
under them from giving effect to any extradition request from any
country of the world in so far as the ingredients or constituent
facts of the indictment and or charges underlying the said request
are traceable to or related with or arose from diverse civil
aviation contracts entered into by Onyema through his duly
registered companies with other duly registered companies in other
jurisdictions especially in the United States of America”.

He also sought a Court order perpetually barring the Federal
Government of Nigeria and or any of its agencies from attempting to
use or seeking to use harass, threaten to arrest, inviting and or
arresting the Applicant in relation with the civil contract he
mutually entered into through his duly registered companies with
other aviation companies especially in the United States of America
or anything connected thereto.

The Applicant holds the clear belief that the Constitution of
Nigeria alongside the extant Fundamental Rights Enforcement
Procedure Rules, 2009 empowers him to initiate proactive steps to
“protect these highly cherished Fundamental Rights of Onyema now
that there is the likelihood that the Federal Government of Nigeria
through any of its prosecutorial agencies” may abridge these
rights.

According to him, the suit seeks to enforce the beneficiary’s
Fundamental Human Rights to ward off their impending or likely
erosion by the law Federal Government of Nigeria who may lend its
weight to the extradition request the Government of the United
States of America may present to it in violation of the
pronouncement of our Supreme Court in the case relied on.

To this end, Jideobi wants the Court to determine whether having
regard to the provision of Section 46 (1) & (2) of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the
Fundamental Rights of the Air Peace boss to freedom of movement,
protected by sections 35 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),
have not been endangered and exposed to erosion by the facts and
circumstances revealed in the US charges.

No date has been fixed for hearing.

By PRNigeria^[2]