By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday dismissed a no-case submission filed by former Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State in his ongoing trial over alleged unlawful interception of the telephone communications of the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling, held that the State Security Service, SSS, had placed before the court sufficient evidence to warrant the court to call on the ex-governor to enter his defence if he so desires.

The judge, therefore, ordered El-Rufai, the sole defendant in the charge, to enter his defence.

The defendant had opted for a no-case submission after the SSS closed its case by calling two witnesses.

Mr El-Rufai, through his counsel, Akinyemi Aremu, had urged the court to hold that the prosecution had failed to establish a case requiring the former governor to enter a defence.

In response, the SSS lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, SAN, adopted their counter affidavit in opposition to the no-case submission.

Mr Aladedoye argued that the defence failed to address Exhibit “B”, which the prosecution said contained El-Rufai’s alleged admission concerning the tapping of Ribadu’s phone.

He submitted that since the prosecution had established a prima facie case against El-Rufai, the defendant was required by law to enter his defence.

The National Chairman of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS), Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, has strongly condemned a viral video showing a man dressed in the uniform of the organisation’s First Aid Group, participating in a jogging exercise and chanting provocative statements calling for AK-47 rifles to be given to them to enable them to travel to Enugu on Sunday and carry out an attack.

Reacting to the disturbing development, Sheikh Bala Lau called on the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant security agencies to immediately investigate the incident, identify those responsible and ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice in accordance with the law.

The National Chairman categorically dissociated JIBWIS from the inflammatory statements, stressing that such expressions of violence, intimidation and threats against any community are completely alien to the principles, teachings and objectives upon which the organisation was established.

He emphasised that wearing the uniform of the JIBWIS First Aid Group or appearing among its members does not automatically establish that an individual is acting on behalf of the organisation or with its authorisation.

Sheikh Bala Lau further expressed concern that the incident could represent a deliberate attempt by individuals or external interests to misrepresent the organisation and damage its longstanding reputation. He therefore urged security agencies to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the video, including the identity, affiliation and possible motives of those involved.

The Chairman recalled that JIBWIS recently organised an international conference in Abuja, bringing together Christian leaders, Muslim scholars from different Islamic schools of thought, prominent personalities and participants from different parts of the world, with the central objective of promoting interfaith dialogue, mutual understanding, religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

He questioned how an organisation that has consistently invested its resources, leadership and institutional efforts in building bridges across religious and ethnic divides could reasonably be associated with statements advocating violence against fellow Nigerians.

For approximately 48 years since its establishment, JIBWIS has remained committed to the propagation of authentic Islamic teachings, the promotion of the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), moral reformation, education, humanitarian services and the peaceful coexistence of people irrespective of their religious, ethnic or geographical backgrounds.

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‎By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
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‎The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has announced the provision of a N100,000 weekly allowance for each of the 53 isolated contacts traced to the female Ebola patient in Abuja.
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‎Jide Idris, NCDC director-general, told reporters on Sunday, stating that the stipend became necessary after isolated people complained about the financial impact of their isolation on their families.
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‎“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families,” the NCDC boss said.
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‎He added, “We are providing N100,000 per person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining.”
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‎Mr Idris explained that the allowance is an unplanned emergency measure that could be reviewed as the situation evolves.
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‎“This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” Mr Idris said.
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‎That the Ebola patient was discovered in FCT, according to Mr Idris, did not mean the responsibility for managing the outbreak rested solely with the FCT government.
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‎He enjoined other states to prepare to support persons impacted by public health emergencies, should any case be detected in their jurisdiction.
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‎“This is not the responsibility of the FCT alone. What we have to do for the FCT, we have to do for any other state, just in case,” he said.
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‎He confirmed the isolation of seven additional persons linked to the Ebola virus patient in Abuja, raising the number of isolated persons to 53.
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‎Peoples Gazette last week reported that NCDC added the patient’s two domestic staff to the 44 isolated persons.
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‎“As of now, we have 53 primary contacts. These comprise 44 people from the health facility where the patient was treated and nine additional contacts,” the NCDC boss said at a press briefing on Sunday.
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‎He explained that the newly traced contacts were largely the healthcare workers who first attended to the patient in Julius Berger Clinic before she went to Nizamiye Hospital, where she was diagnosed with Ebola.
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‎Mr Idris said none of the isolated people has, so far, tested positive to the virus.
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‎A 42-year-old female patient, who was born in Uganda and married to a Swiss diplomat, tested positive to the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease on October 20.
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‎She had departed Uganda for Nigeria on October 3.
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‎Nigeria’s health minister Ali Pate said genomic analysis indicates that the virus identified in Nigeria is highly similar to the case reported in Kenya.
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‎He implied that there was a high possibility that the patient in Nigeria crossed paths with a Kenyan man at the airport in Uganda. The Kenyan man died days after arriving in Nairobi.
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‎Uganda’s Ministry of Health denied exporting the virus to Nigeria, reaffirming its Ebola-free status as declared by the World Health Organisation in August.
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