₦airaland Forum

UNTIL all the abducted Chibok girls have been rescued, the war against Boko Haram cannot be declared won, President Muhammadu Buhari said.

On April 14, 2014, 276 girls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno. Out of that number 81 have regained freedom, while 195 are still in capacity.

"I have always said that we cannot consider the war against insurgency to be won until the remaining Chibok girls are found and delivered to their parents," the president said on Saturday during the grand finale of the 53rd anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in Makurdi, Benue State, where he was represented by the minister of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali.

“We must realise that the NAF has played some crucial roles in the counter-insurgency efforts in the northeast. I urge the air men and officers to consolidate on their efforts and protect our national security,” he said.

“And the government is fully committed to fulfilling this objective as soon as possible. Accordingly, the two new Russian fighter helicopters, which are being inducted into the NAF inventory today (Saturday), is to enhance the search for these girls, and the other abductees of the insurgents."

He urged the air force to use the fighter helicopters to intensify its search for the girls and other hostages of the insurgents.

“Since its establishement in 1964, the air force has lived up to the deployment of air power to defend the territorial sovereignty of the country, and we have been able to rescue most of the towns and villages, hitherto violated by the Boko Haram insurgents,” he added.

IBRAHIM Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has revealed that his agency has recovered N521,815,000.00, $53,272 747.00, £122,890.00, and €547,730.00 since the federal government’s whistle-blower policy commenced in December 2016.

“Apart from several other recoveries running into several billions of naira, the recent whistle blower policy, has led to the recovery by EFCC of N521,815,000.00, $53,272 747.00, £122,890.00, and €547,730.00,” he said.

Magu also lamented the situation where treasury looters get rewarded with positions of authority and chieftaincy titles.

Speaking at the 2017 Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) week/award day, Magu said values such as hard work and integrity were no more regarded.

“The moral values of honesty, integrity and hard work, has been overtaken by greed and crass materialism,” said Magu, who was represented by A. Bello.

He noted that this was evident in the fact that the society “now recognizes thieves and looters of the common treasury, by rewarding them with chieftaincy titles and other high positions of authority”.

Magu said there’s an urgent need “to go through the process of reorientation and regeneration” so as to free the country from the shackles of corruption.

He added that “the process must start from our homes”.

He also said that the EFCC recorded 62 convictions in the first quarter of 2017.

Magu urged players in Nigeria’s financial sector, to ensure that they play an active role in the war against corruption, by reporting any suspicious transactions to the agency.

Lalasticlala

THE Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, has said the suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, signals a journey to his total removal.

Sagay stated this in an interview on Thursday.

“I think the suspensions are inevitable , and in my view, they are a journey to total disengagement.

“ The SGF is a top member of the administration . He should have known that for him to award a contract to his own company is absolutely prohibited by the Code of Conduct and the Constitution . [b]What he was doing was illegal[/b]and unconstitutional .

“ The worse is that he didn’t even award the contract for relevant activity such as for food, rather it was for grass cutting , which is totally unrelated to the needs of this people for very basic life- saving materials,” he was quoted by Punch Newspaper to have said.

Itse Sagay accused the former SGF of violating the Code of Conduct for public officials by awarding a contract to a company linked to him.

Lawal was suspended by President Buhari over alleged contract scam in the North- East.

Members of the Senate had last year called for the resignation , probe and prosecution of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation , Babachir Lawal , for allegedly owning one of the companies awarded contracts in the rehabilitation of the North-East .

Lawal was alleged to have resigned his directorship of the company after becoming the SGF and the company had executed the contract .

The lawmakers , who reacted to the interim report by the Senate Committee on the Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North-East , took turns to criticise Lawal as allegedly working against the anti -corruption stance of the current administration .

THE Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has questioned President Muhammadu Buhari’s persistent absence from state functions, especially the weekly Federal Executive Council meetings, asking whether or not the President was now governing the country by proxy.

Fayose said: “Every day, what we hear is President said this, President said that without seeing the President in any official function and one is prompted to ask; where is the president?”

In a release issued in Ado Ekiti on Thursday by the governor’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said it was becoming obvious that a group of cabal is exercising the powers of the President.

He said: “I saw the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal on television responding to his suspension and what came to my mind was that there could actually be many presidents operating in the Buhari’s presidency.

“Perhaps, it is for this reason of possible existence of governments within the government of Buhari that confusion pervades the polity, with the President himself writing letter to the Senate to clear someone of wrongdoing and the same person being suspended three months after on the basis of the same allegation. It is also for this reason that the President nominated Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for confirmation as EFCC Chairman and the DSS, an agency under the Presidency wrote the Senate not to confirm him.

“Most importantly, the President did not attend the FEC meeting last week and the meeting did not hold this week under the flimsy excuse that Easter Break stalled it. How could Easter Break that ended on Monday be responsible for the inability to hold FEC meeting on Wednesday? Definitely, there is more to this than meets the eye.

“It has therefore become necessary that Nigerians hear the voice of their President and see him physically, not through surrogates or the cabal operating behind the scene.”

Speaking further, Governor Fayose, who described a President as the face and image of a nation, urged President Buhari to hold regular media chat in which Nigerians can ask questions and offer suggestions on the running of the country.

He said: “Since his first and only media chat was held in December 2015, Nigerians have not had opportunity of seeing their President address them directly and this is not the best approach to governance in a democracy.”

SHEHU Sani, chairman of the senate committee which indicted Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation, says his panel is not rejoicing that a “mighty mortal has been caught in the trap of his fate”.

Sani said this in reaction to the suspension of Lawal .

President Muhammadu Buhari had suspended Lawal and Ayo Oke, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on Wednesday afternoon.

Sani described this as a good development, recalling that the senate had recommended the dismissal of Lawal after his committee investigated the activities of the Presidential Initiative on the North-East (PINE) under the SGF’s leadership.

Back then, Buhari had written to the senate, saying he would not sack Lawal because he was not a given a fair hearing.

This not only irked the lawmakers but sparked a public outcry.

But in a statement late Wednesday, Sani commended Buhari for “acting upon the recommendations contained in the senate committee report on the humanitarian crisis in the north-east”.

“It is commendable for the president to heed the call to fumigate the throne of lice and bugs with the same ability he goes after rodents afar,” the statement by Sani read.

“The sword of truth is not just cast and sharpened for the neck of foes but also for those of friends.

“Courage is dispensing justice, greater courage is dispensing justice against our emotions and temptation towards saving a friend.

“It’s easier to annihilate an adversary for a heap wrong than reprimand a friend for a mountain of wrong.

“The senate and the committee have nothing personal against the SGF or any person affected, but we simply did our job in conformity with our constitutional responsibilities and the moral calling of our conscience.

“We cannot jubilate because a mighty mortal is caught in the trap of his fate, we are neither saints nor angels, but we have a duty to raise a card a blow the whistle.”

Lalasticlala, mynd44

ipobarecriminals:
mynd44 u see display one now.

kunlexy1759:
Should we believ this?

THE National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is claiming ownership of the $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23, 218,000 seized Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from Osborne Towers, a luxury residential complex in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The NIA is the government security agency tasked with overseeing foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations in Nigeria.

A ranking government official with knowledge of the latest twist to the seizure confirmed that NIA Director General, Ambassador Ayodele Oke, has been in touch with EFCC’s boss, Ibrahim Magu, to express his displeasure over the raid at the apartment used as one of NIA’s safe houses in Lagos for its clandestine operations, TheWill quoted an official of the agency.

The official said Magu, whose confirmation as substantive chairman of the agency has been frustrated by the DSS and the Senate, has been under pressure to show President Muhammadu Buhari the billions of naira he told the president during a meeting that the EFCC had recovered under his leadership. “So he is on a reckless search for monies hence all these strings of raids and seizures within the last one week,” the source who asked not be identified said.

“I can authoritatively tell you that the money belongs to the NIA. The DG has come forward to claim it and has informed my office of the development. He is furious with Magu for his agency’s recklessness and for compromising their operations.”

Meanwhile, Justice Muslim Hassan of a Federal High Court in Lagos Thursday ordered the temporary forfeiture of the cash and ordered that the funds be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government and adjourned till May 5, 2017, for anyone interested in the funds to show up before him to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

Lalasticlala

Garrithe1st:
Money is being pumped into the economy via investments in infrastructure and social intervention programs. The problem is that simpletons like you would rather such monies be handed over to looters as was done in the previous administration..

Keep weeping bro...

kitaatita:
Let me tell you a bit about Babachir. I reason, I don't flow with the crowd nor am I motivated bigotry. The Senate passed a resolution based on an interim investigation report and asked the President to remove his appointee. The report which was transmitted to the President had minority number of the ad-hoc investigation committee members appending their signature. At the time it was presented to the whole sitting of the Senate, more members of the committee had signed. The president reverted to the Senate that he can't act on an interim report which was signed by minority of its members. They should conclude their investigations and sign the report. Proper things should be done properly.

sarrki:
Dogara is not worthy of the seat he's occupying


He's a snitch

Garrithe1st:
Supporter and fan of thieves..

kitaatita:
You don't really seem happy that EFCC is making modest progress in its anti-corruption campaign. Do you hate this country or its leadership?

THE Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-rufai says there is no security vote appropriated to him.

On Tuesday, Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman of the house of representatives, said what el-Rufai published was the security budget of Kaduna and not his security votes.

But in a statement on Thursday, Samuel Aruwan, spokesman of the governor, said the state’s budget specified what was voted to security agencies and nothing was given to the governor.

He said the Kaduna’s security funding is not operated like the national assembly where everything is “opaque”.

Aruwan said if the leadership of the national assembly have security votes they should disclose what is allocated to them.

“The Kaduna state government has presented details of its security budget. What was presented represents the only security vote for the entire government,” he said.

“As the figures show, there is no security vote for the governor of Kaduna state. This may be a shock to those used to the notion of security votes as barely disguised slush funds, but we do not operate such a system in Kaduna.

“Our budgets specify what is voted as assistance to security agencies, and its expenditure is properly recorded and accounted for. These are not monies given to or spent by the governor.

“If the leaders of the NASS have security votes allocated to or personally collected by them, they might wish to disclose such. Our security spending does not operate like the NASS system of sharing public funds in such an opaque fashion that even NASS members do not know how their entire budget is broken down or what the leadership gets as its ‘running costs’.

“The figures in the pay slips presented for the Honourable Speaker are in stark contrast to the declaration by The Economist regarding the earnings of NASS members. One of the claims cannot be right.”

He said the demand of the budget of the national assembly to be public would not go away.

“However, notwithstanding the intemperate response of the spokesman of the house of representatives, the demand that the NASS budget be made public will not go away,” he further said.

“It is not personal, and there is a strong civic constituency that is demanding it. The sooner all of us in public life recognised that the game has changed, and that segments of civil society and indeed everyday citizens of Nigeria, are much more aware, astute and advanced than the state of our politics, the better for our democratic health.”

The governor’s spokesman said the people who leaked his memo to President Muhammadu Buhari should be blamed and should not be brought into the matter.

“The NASS leadership has been promising ad infinitum to publish the breakdown of the opaque, one-line budget. It should simply do so. Prompt release of the 2015 and 2016 breakdowns, along with the proposed figures for 2017, would be a good way to start,” it read.

“As things stand today, even if Mallam Nasir El-Rufai refrains from further commentary on this matter, the genie is already out of the bottle. The public will not accept a secretive NASS, or any other branch of government for that matter.”

Lalasticlala

THE Federal High Court in Lagos has granted the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that the $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 recovered from an Ikoyi, Lagos, apartment be forfeited to the federal government.

The total value of the money at the Central Bank official exchange rate is over N13 billion.

The EFCC recovered the huge cash, presumed to have been looted, on Wednesday from an Osborne Street, Ikoyi apartment in Lagos State.

The anti-graft agency said it acted following a tip from a whistle-blower.

In his ruling, Justice Muslim Hassan ordered temporary forfeiture of the money to the government.

He adjourned further proceedings to May 5 for anyone interested or wishing to claim the money and make case why it should not be permanently forfeited to the government.

NIGERIA'S Vice-President has said his search for members of 'Cabals' in the presidency is ongoing.

“Cabals are meant to be secret. I am still looking for those guys. Honestly, I don’t know where they are. I can’t tell you that I know where those fellows are,” Osinbajo said while speaking at the presidential villa in Abuja during an interactive session with some media houses.

He also responded to a question on whether or not he has a free hand as the chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC).

“Let me explain that we have a many sided economy. If you look at issues around macro -economy, I am chairman of the economic management team. It means that I supervise the team that runs the economy. But there are many aspects of the Nigerian economy,” he said.

“We have the states which are running different functions. We have the central bank which is autonomous. We do not control what central bank does. Of course we try to influence their policy, and we try to see how we can contribute to the fiscal policy and monetary policy. We also try to dictate the pace, but there are issues that we allow the bank to decide.

“To the extent that I supervise the economy, one has a relatively free hand. It’s just like a man having several companies… Like I said earlier, monetary policy is controlled by the CBN and in the micro - economic aspect, we have several competent people who are in charge. But I am involved on a daily basis in the running of the economy. We are trying to see how we can get out of recession and sustain growth.”

Osinbajo also spoke about targets of the economic council and strategies put in place to turn the fortunes of the country around for the better.

“To a certain extent, we have targets at our meetings in NEC. We look at various issues and see how we can make impact. For instance, in agriculture we are looking at how we can make impact. For example we are looking at how we can ramp up rice production, and our target is self -sufficiency in those areas by 2018,” he said.

Businessideas:
Stop this sensationalism.There's nothing profitable in lying or deceiving people so as to make your blog popular. The identity of the owner is yet to be revealed.Stop peddling falsehood before you are invited by the EFCC to show them the owner

Haggard, Dirty Looking Woman Dumped $43.4M, £27,800, N23.2M In Lagos Home Raided By EFCC

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday said it has uncovered cash to the tune of $43.4 million, £27,800 and N23.2 million in a residential building in Lagos.

The four-bedroom apartment, said to be located on the seventh floor of Osborne Towers at 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, was stormed by EFCC operatives in the early hours of Thursday.

The operation was said to have followed a whistle blower’s confidential alert received by the Commission’s Lagos office regarding some noticed suspicious movement of bags in and out of a particular apartment in the building.

According to the source, the movers of the bags made it appear they were bringing in bags of clothes.

Another source who is conversant with the apartment of interest indicated that a woman usually appeared on different occasions with Ghana Must Go bags.

The source was quoted as saying: “She comes looking haggard, with dirty clothes but her skin didn’t quite match her outward appearance, perhaps a disguise.”

On getting to the building, operatives met the entrance door locked.

Inquiries from the guards at the gate explained that nobody resides in the apartment, but some persons come in and out once in a while.

In compliance with the magisterial order contained in the warrant, the EFCC used minimum force to gain entrance into the apartment.

Monies were found in two of the four bedroom apartment.

Further probe of the wardrobe by operatives revealed three fire proof cabinets in one of the rooms, disguisedly hidden behind wooden panels of the wardrobe.

Upon assessing the content of the cabinets, neatly arranged US Dollars, Pound Sterling and some Naira notes in sealed wrappers were found.

Preliminary findings indicated that the funds are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.

The facility is said to be owned by Osborne Towers Resident Association.

Investigations, according to the EFCC, are ongoing.

Lalasticlala

​VICE-PRESIDENT Yemi Osinbajo has declared that there is no law in the Nigeria Constitution stopping the Presidency from representing the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, as substantive chairman.

Osinbajo, a Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, made this known while speaking with journalists at the Presidential Villa.

He added that the Presidency is fully in support of Magu emerging as the substantive chairman of the EFCC.

He said: “It is up to the Senate to make their judgement and it is up to us say what we want to do.

“If our candidate is rejected, we can re-present him.

“No law says we can’t re-present him.

“And again, there is the other argument, whether or not we need to present him for confirmation and that’s a compelling argument from Femi Falana.

“His argument is that under the constitution, section 171, and if you look at that section, it talks about the appointments that the president can make.

“They include appointments of ministers, ambassadors and heads of agencies such as the EFCC.

“In that same section 171, the constitution rightly said that certain appointments must go to the Senate such as ministerial and ambassadorial appointments.

“Those of heads of agencies like the EFCC do not have to go to the Senate.

“That’s what the constitution says.

“But the EFCC Act, which of course as you know is inferior, says that EFCC chairman should go to the Senate for confirmation.

“I am sure that even a pocket book lawyer knows that when a legislation conflicts with constitution, it’s the constitution that prevails.

“I agree with Mr. Falana that there was no need in the first place to have sent Magu’s name to the Senate, but we did so and it was rejected by the Senate, but I believe that it can be re-presented.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong about the fact that Senate has rejected him.

“Senate has acted in its own wisdom to say ‘no, we don’t want him’, and we can say ‘this is our candidate… we like the gentleman and we want him to continue.’”

Speaking on report of the Department of State Services that indicted Magu, Osinbajo said President Muhammad Buhari could have interfered with the DSS report if he wanted to, but that he decided to hear Magu’s own account, after which he felt convinced to retain the anti-graft czar.

Osinbajo said: “We should commend the President for not interfering with what the DSS said.

“The DSS came up with a report and the man who was accused refuted it.

“He explained and gave a reason.

“When that happened, the President looked at what Magu said and what the DSS wrote and he said: ‘I am satisfied with what Magu said.’

“He then decided to retain Magu as the nominee for EFCC.

“I don’t see any reason why that should be contested.

“The President has not interfered with what the DSS said.

“If he wanted to interfere, he would have ordered the DSS to keep quiet.

“He didn’t do that, but he said: ‘I don’t think the DSS report is meritorious enough to withdraw his nomination.’

“The President reserves the right to say: ‘this is who I want.’

“I’m fully in support of Magu as the EFCC chairman just as the President is.”

It could be recalled two weeks ago, the Senate stopped the confirmation of Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission in protest of the decision of the executive to retain Magu as the head of the EFCC.