₦airaland Forum

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A United Kingdom Court has jailed the Chief Executive Officer of Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Limited, Abdulrahman Bashir, after he was found guilty of breaching multiple orders of the court in a pending suit instituted by Sahara Energy Resources Limited.

Justice Butcher of England and Wales High Court handed a 10-month jail sentence to the oil mogul, and has ordered him to comply with requests for the release of 6,400.69 metric tonnes of gas oil to Sahara Energy Resource Ltd. or its agent from Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Ltd. This was in line with the deal Ultimate Oil and Gas, the trading arm of Rahamaniyya Oil in the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), entered into with Sahara Energy in 2018. In the signed contract, Ultimate Oil and Gas agreed to buy, and Sahara agreed to sell 15,000 metric tonnes in the Vacuum of Gas Oil.


A Collateral Management Agreement (CMA) containing a London arbitration clause was entered into on July 8, 2018 between the two parties and it was further learnt that Rahamaniyya agreed to store the gas oil at its terminal pending payment by Ultimate. Sahara, it would be recalled, delivered a total of 14,967.159 metric tonnes of gas oil to Rahamaniyya’s terminal in Nigeria and also issued invoices for the gas oil on October 26, 2018 for $10,760,728.77.

The payment should have been made by August 29, 2019 but Ultimate defaulted in making necessary payments. In December 2018, Ultimate and Sahara entered into a settlement agreement in which Ultimate confirmed that the value of gas oil that had been delivered was $10,760,728.77, and agreed to make a series of monthly payments for it. Court records showed that some payments were made, in consequence of which some 8,566.469 metric tonnes of gas oil was released to Ultimate. Ultimate, however, reneged in performing the terms of the settlement agreement in full by making all the payments due. After various warnings, on May 10, 2019, Sahara terminated the settlement agreement, notifying Ultimate that its agent, Asharami Synergy Plc. would take delivery of part of the remaining gas oil from the terminal.

Various attempts made by Sahara, according to the court papers, to obtain delivery of the gas oil were futile, leading to the lawsuit which was filed both in Lagos and in the United Kingdom. Justice Butcher, who delivered the third order following a contempt of court judgement, said: “The basis of he sentence was that Mr. Bashir had committed continuing breaches of the order of Mr. Justice Robin Knowles of 1 August 2019 and of the order of Mr. Justice Bryan of 6 September 2019.” There was also a binding indication that the sentence could be reduced to six months if Bashir complies with the relevant order which had previously been breached. He was also fined £500,000 while Adebowale Aderemi, its manager, was fined £10,000.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has commenced an investigation into allegations of diversion of public funds against the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Professor Daniel Pondei.

Akpabio and Pondie had been accused of alleged N40 billion corruption in NDDC.

The position of the EFCC was contained in an acknowledgement letter in response to a petition it received from the foundation for true freedom and good governance.

The petition signed by the convener of the foundation Deji Adeyanju requested the commission to investigate the allegations against the Minister and the NDDC boss respectively.

The acknowledgement signed by EFCC head, Economic Governance, Adebayo Adeniyi reads: “We write to acknowledge the receipt of your petition dated 3rd August 2020 in respect of the above subject and to inform you that investigation into the case has commenced”

“In view of the above you are kindly requested to attend an interview with the undersigned through O/C team 6 on Thursday, August 20th at the EFCC headquarters, Jabi, Abuja.”

Akpabio had in a statement declared that he was ready to face any probe instituted to investigate his activities as Minister in charge of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

This declaration was contained in a press statement by Anietie Ekong, Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, issued in Abuja

According to Aniete, Akpabio was upbeat about the plan to probe the NDDC as he has no skeleton in his cupboard, adding: “In fact, he will welcome a public hearing beamed live for all Nigerians to see”

He continued: “The probe of the Commission along with the ongoing forensic audit will expose those who have used their exalted positions over the years to fleece the NDDC through fully paid contracts which were never executed and other forms of contact racketeering”

“While we await the probe if carried through, we find it extremely insulting for Senator Akpabio’s name to be dragged into what is obviously a smear campaign”

“The general public should not be misled by spurious claims. The NDDC under the supervision of Senator Akpabio will not be distracted neither will the ongoing forensic audit of the Commission be derailed through blackmail and intimidation”

“The Minister will remain focused on the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to reposition the Commission for sustainable development of the Niger Delta region”

Statement reads in part: “The attention of the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been drawn to sensational headlines about an alleged N40 billion corruption in NDDC”

‘We wish to state categorically that under the supervision of Senator Akpabio, there has been no corruption in the NDDC”

“It is obvious that there has been an upsurge in attacks on the Commission, the Interim Management Committee and the Honourable Minister through spurious and unsubstantiated allegations since the commencement of forensic audit of the Commission. Unfortunately, these phantom allegations have found their ways into the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly”

‘In response to the campaign of calumny, the Commission had explained that the Interim Management Committee has only approved the total payment of Eighteen Billion Naira (N18, 000,000, 000) for contractual claims”

“The payments to contractors are all payments for contracts awarded by previous administrations, especially the payment for contracts below N50 million. The present management has not awarded any single contract. So where is the bogey N40 billion coming from?

“It is instructive that the Commission under the supervision of Senator Akpabio has devised a strategy by which only duly verified and inspected contracts with photo and video evidences are recommended and approved for payments. The Interim Management Committee has been very prudent in managing the affairs of the interventionist agency”

“The interest of Senator Akpabio has been to make sure that the NDDC completes its headquarters building, started since the days of the defunct Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), the contract of which was awarded with approval of the Federal Executive Council many years before Senator Akpabio became the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs’

“Following the recent Presidential approval, the NDDC is also providing intervention support to complement efforts of the Federal and State governments against further spread of COVID 19 in the nine states of the Niger Delta.”

Nigeria is making frantic efforts to stop Enron Nigeria Power Holding (ENPH) from enforcing a $22 million arbitration award that could risk the country’s assets in the US, TheCable can report.

ENPH, an incorporation of the defunct Enron International, is seeking a turnover of Nigeria’s claim to proceeds from an $80 million mega yacht that was sold in the US.

In 2019, a US federal court had given Nigeria approval to sell the yacht, named “Galactica Star”, as part of an ongoing corruption case against Kola Aluko, Nigerian businessman who allegedly acquired it with diverted profits from oil sales in Nigeria.

The yacht has been sold for $37 million and ENPH is trying to lay claim to part of the proceeds in enforcing its $22 million arbitration award.

Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, is now seeking approval from President Muhammadu Buhari to negotiate the award to protect the country’s assets, TheCable can report.

He told the president that ENPH could further target the country’s assets in California, New York and other states in America.


ROAD TO CONTRACT BREACH

On December 6, 1999, ENPH had entered a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Lagos state government, guaranteed by the federal government through the now-defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), later named Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

ENPH was to build, arrange, finance and run electricity generating plants and natural gas pipelines in Lagos state.

NEPA suspended the PPA on December 15, 1999 for renegotiation.

However, construction continued on the different phases of the porject.

By September 30, 2000, phases one and three of the contract were completed while negotiation for phase two of the construction failed.

At the time, Enron International had gone bankrupt, but it wrote to the federal government that this would not affect ENPH, the Nigeria arm, in carrying out its own part under the contract.

After several failed attempts at negotiating, ENPH commenced an arbitration against Nigeria on June 13, 2006 at the international chambers of commerce court of arbitration in London, accusing the government of breach of contractual agreement.

Six years later, on November 12, 2012, a final award (“Quantum”) was given against Nigeria in the sum of $11.22 million, with 2 per cent interest from June 13, 2006, and also expenses for legal services.

Attempts by the Nigerian government to negotiate the settlement failed.


ENRON SEEKS ENFORCEMENT

On July 19, 2013, ENPH, under the convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards which Nigeria is also a signatory, approached the US court in the southern district of Texas to seek enforcement of the award.

The court granted ENPH the motion for confirmation of the award on October 16, 2015, prompting Nigeria government to appeal the judgement at the US district of Columbia circuit.

ENPH had also argued that Nigeria, following the contract, had waived its rights to challenge the award.

Nigeria’s appeal was subsequently dismissed, and the court affirmed the order to confirm the award.

In an interesting approach, ENPH also sought from the court a writ of garnishment to be issued against the JP Morgan Chase Bank on the ground that it has in its possession commercial assets belonging to Nigeria which could be garnished in satisfaction of the judgement in favour of ENPH.

The company’s prayer was, however, denied.

And in a fresh move on March 9, 2020, ENPH filed an amended application and this time asking the court for the turnover on the Galactica Star Nigerian assets.

The US department of justice (DoJ) and counsel to the Nigerian government again challenged the application, and on May 21, 2020, the court denied ENPH’s request.

ENPH, however, secured another order on July 15, 2020 to file an appeal.


MALAMI SEEKS BUHARI’S APPROVAL TO NEGOTIATE

In a letter dated July 28, 2020, Malami sought Buhari’s approval to negotiate the arbitration award against Nigeria in the failed power project.

Without a settlement, the AGF said, ENPH will continue to cause problems for Nigeria with different litigation which may put the Galactica case at risk.

“Without conceding, should ENPH succeed in attaching the USA v Galactica funds by deducting $22 million all that will be left for FGN will be about $5.4 million which may be less after deduction of the 3% success fee accruable to BCR,” Malami wrote in a letter seen by TheCable.

“The resultant implication would mean FGN will lose an asset it is rightfully entitled to, loss of revenue to FGN, loss of revenue as regards the huge litigation cost that has been paid to FGN counsel (disbursement and retainership fees) etc.

“In other to avoid unwarranted delay and ENPH further intervention,, it has been advised that is is in FRN’s interest to deal expeditiously with the intrusion of an unrelated issue (ENPH issue) in the repatriation of funds in the ongoing USA v Galactica case.”

Malami said without a settlement, ENPH will definitely hold up the earlier repatriation of the Galactica funds for a year or more.

The AGF asked the president to approve for Berliner Corcoran & Rowe (BCR), Nigeria’s counsel, in collaboration with the ministry of justice designated officers to proceed to engage in negotiation and settlement meeting with ENPH.

He argued that a negotiation may halt ENPH’s consideration of further action.

He also added that it may reduce the present amount being claimed by the company.

Ibrahim Gambari, chief of staff to the president, in another letter dated August 13, 2020, directed Saleh Mamman, minister of power, and Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, to review the matter and revert with “considered views to inform Mr President’s further directives”.

The development comes at a time government is also trying to get an upturn over the $9.6 billion awarded P&ID Ltd, an Irish firm, in arbitration against Nigeria.

“This approach is the reason we have government representatives signing empty pages of loan agreements repayment schedule and other key documents required for the loan agreements to become effective. We have commercial contracts signed in US Dollars, while the loan agreements for the execution of the same contracts were signed in Chinese YUAN currency in Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy/Galaxy Backbone Limited.

“We have also seen references made in the commercial contracts regarding BOQs but none of‘ the commercial, contracts agreements submitted to us especially by Ministry of Transport has a single BOQ attachment.

He said further: “We have noticed from documents available to us that commercial contracts process signed by Federal Ministry of Transport alone within this is over $33 billion without any clear cut financing arrangements. Most of these commercial contracts agreements didn’t also have local content clauses and we’re witnessed by none properly designated and authorised officials.

Lauretta Onochie, a media aide of President Muhammadu Buhari, has criticised David Oyedepo, presiding bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, for rejecting the Company and Allied Matters Acts (CAMA).

TheCable had reported how the bishop kicked against the law, saying it is irrational to subject churches to the same laws as companies.

Under CAMA, signed into law on August 7, religious bodies and charity organisations will be strictly regulated by the registrar-general of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and a supervising minister.

But addressing members of his congregation on Sunday, Oyedepo said such laws were borne of out the government’s jealousy about the prosperity recorded by the church.

“The church is God’s heritage on earth. Molest the wife of somebody and you will see the anger of that person. The church is the bride of Christ. You know how a strong man is when you tamper with his wife. The church is the body of Christ. We are under obligation to give warnings to wicked rulers so we could be free from their blood,” he had said.

Reacting in a tweet on Monday, Ononchie said Oyedepo would have to abide by the government’s law as long as he dwells in the country.

“I hope this is not true. If it is, Oyedepo will have to manufacture his own country and live by his own laws,” the tweet read.

“As long as he lives and operates within the entity called Nigeria, he will live by Nigerian rules and laws. He will do as he’s told by the law. Enough of lawlessness.”

The question for most Nigerians would be, what do we do about this?

I don’t know. We have to rejig. This is because the decisions this man used to make lacked emotions; they were not about ‘this or that is my friend.’ If it was for the public good, he would act immediately. But that precise action is missing – that precise action that endeared him to some of us is missing.

The solution is for him to delegate more to trusted and patriotic Nigerians that work with him. And if the people working with him are not acting on intelligence reports, he should immediately replace them. That will help us survive the remaining years.


Away from insecurity, there have been repeated calls for the restructuring of this country and a return to the 1963 constitution, where the country arguably had strong regions and a more coherent federal system. What do you think about that?

Are you not tired of experimentation? Some people believe that we should split Nigeria into six regional governments, like we have zoned into geopolitical entities. Has that solved the problem of insecurity in Nigeria? No. I think the people who are calling for that should know how many times we have written the constitution. How old is Nigeria? Compare us with the country that colonised us – Britain, they don’t even have a written constitution.


So, it is not the constitution that is a problem. The problem is with the handlers and implementers of the constitution. Nigeria is very fond of calling people to come and think in conferences, conventions and bring out reports. All these reports that Nigerians have given about Nigeria will fill the National Assembly complex and what have we done about them?

Another person will say, ‘Let’s organise another conference.’ Such conferences will come, rehash (discussions) and use a different language to say the same things. Some of us who were at the previous meetings cannot attend now – probably because of age.

I was a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee with Chief Rotimi Williams and Ben Nwabueze. We have become old now. We have enough information to build this country. Our problem is that we don’t allow the institutions we created to stabilise. We don’t apply them to solve our problems.

So, we don’t have a learning process, and we deceived ourselves into believing that, if we keep changing and changing constitutions, we will be better. No serious country I know has so many constitutions like Nigeria and they have never helped us. So, let us settle down and apply what we have got from our experience.

For example, we now know that we need decentralisation of some kind – from our practice and not from some ideological reasoning. We now know from experience that if we decentralise and give more powers to the federating units, we can achieve more. We should give them more powers to create more institutions that will help them tackle insecurity.

If we decentralise and say the people who speak the language of each federating unit should be in its police force, we would have tackled the question of insecurity. Another way to say this is that we have to redefine politics in this country. The accumulation of wealth in Nigeria is sickening. How can somebody have billions of naira where someone else is dying in hospital because they cannot afford to pay a N3,000 bill? I am a retired university teacher but I’m in a country where my mates who respect me so much have oil wells where they make several millions of dollars per day and there is no hospital where the ordinary people can access quality healthcare?

Look at this COVID-19 pandemic; if it were really to go round this country, it would have killed up to 50 million people because the required facilities are not here. The educated people of Nigeria – they rival one another with money. They go into politics to make more money but, in those days, it was about ‘how many times have you been imprisoned for opposing the people oppressing your people?’

It is interesting that the debate about 2023 has begun and the country is already talking about zoning and the region that should produce the president in 2023. Do you think we need a rotational arrangement?


The constitution of Nigeria, which I participated in writing and which Nigerians have largely subverted, states the qualifications for standing for election in Nigeria. They are that the person must be a Nigerian, among other integrity records. I remember that I stood for a presidential election around 1994 and my party then said I had no money and was a confusionist. But I insisted that it was my constitutional right to contest. The party said it had decided that anyone who would run for the office of the president must bring N500m in cash and put it on the table.

Of course, I said I would not even bring N5 and they decided to remove my name from the list of the names of contestants. So, I went to court and asked the court to enforce my constitutional right and I won. My party was forced to include my name among contestants. Now, the political practice can bring about any arrangement agreed upon within the political parties, provided that what they agree upon is constitutional and lawful.

So, zoning is committed by political practice. What I have against zoning is that the most powerful elements within the zoning system pollute it by deciding ab initio who they will give the ticket to, thereby limiting the democratic rights of Nigerians.

If Nigeria grows a bit more in developing our democracy, we should reach a stage where, like it happened in the US, a George Bush and a ‘son of George Bush’ can become president and a third Bush who wants to become president can also emerge.

That is my dream for Nigeria. But for now, tribal considerations are part of the system. And I am not ashamed of saying ‘tribal’ because I am a Tiv man from Benue State and it does not limit me at all. I also want a Tiv man who is qualified as the president. And there are many criteria to decide qualification. I want to see someone from my tribe become president. But will someone from my tribe become president in 2023? Of course not. I am intelligent enough to know that. None of them has the kind of money that this political practice brought into Nigeria has caused. It has become a monetised political system.

So, if anyone from my tribe says they want to contest in a presidential election, I will tell them, ‘You must be unserious because you don’t have the kind of money required.’ Let us allow Nigeria to grow and for the best qualified candidate to emerge. That candidate should have a clear knowledge of what is expected of a chief executive officer of a heterogeneous society like Nigeria. This time, let the political parties not limit the chances of Nigerians against their own will.

An elder statesman, former Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum and Chairman, Governing Board of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, Dr Paul Unongo, discusses the security situation in the country, restructuring and other national issues with OLALEYE ALUKO

There has been a resurgence of violence and killings in Southern Kaduna for some weeks and the government seems to be incapable of dealing with these criminals. What do you see as the cause of this carnage?


I think the reason why you are asking me this question is because I have been around for quite some time and I have been in the struggle for an independent Nigeria – a sustainable, peaceful and all-interacting and interactive Nigeria. Since the good old days with people like David Lot and Joseph Tarka, we have been talking very loudly about integrating every single person and caring for every single section of the country. These are technically those we call the minority groups.

I advanced a theory when I was much younger that if the minority groups of this country came together and formed a strong political force, they would actually impose their will on the three major tribes, which, at that point, were the ones running the country. I mean the Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa/Fulani regions. And I noted that the then northern Nigeria should be reorganised because we were gigantic and I knew religion was going to play a major role. So, we advocated for the reorganisation of the then northern region and we thought one of them should be called the Middle Belt region.


So, if you know the history of Southern Kaduna from the annexation of communities into the then Zaria Province, you know that the things happening today were observed at that time. The in-depth analysis would reveal that we have not handled the crisis of integration with the seriousness that it deserves. I think, by creating regions, we could have, by this time, made Nigerians happier if our leaders were more proactive and not reactive. In Nigeria, we seem to wait until a situation deteriorates, then we take a reactive action and think we are addressing the problem, whereas we are not.


I think showing intelligence is stopping a crisis from happening – that is the work of intelligence. When you get intelligence from agencies, you must work on it quickly. The Western world is not as chaotic as it is here. We are not suggesting that they don’t have incursions or crises but they are able to act promptly on their intelligence. So, I think that the criticism that applies is that our government’s reaction or action time takes too long. I don’t know what the problem is. It usually comes up with an action that would have been effective if it had acted from the beginning of the situation. It waits until the problem has festered and many of the atrocities have been committed. Such a reaction becomes suppressive and can produce a counterproductive result. This is because you are trying now to suppress what has become a very explosive situation.

The approach of the government to issues – that will explode eventually – is too slow. I believe there is nothing wrong with our intelligence network. I was attached to one of them, which used to be called the E-Department in those days and was created by former Inspector General of Police, Muhammadu Yusufu. But when the government is given correct information and intelligence and they take too long to act, there is a problem.

Also, in parts of Benue and Taraba states, we have heard about attacks by gunmen in recent times on various communities, leading to a gradual food crisis as farmers can no longer go to their farms. What is the way out of this crisis?


If we were the ones who put this government into power, we must tell it that it takes too long to react. When a situation is developing, it waits for it to fester and later drafts troops to go and suppress the communities. By the time you draft
So, on what we should do, it sounds theoretical but the way we are going to get this crisis solved is to let the government start acting correctly and promptly on intelligence. Our government should not wait until the situation gets out of hand.


The Christian Association of Nigeria and other stakeholders, particularly in Southern Kaduna, two weeks ago, said the state government had not been proactive enough. But some other Nigerians also say leaders of these communities and traditional chiefs create tension between the groups. What do you say to this?

What role do they (traditional rulers) play, according to the constitution? They don’t have powers. The blame should be put where it ought to be put. The government, by constitution, which I participated in writing, has enormous powers to solve the problem of insecurity. We should be proactive and preventive but our government acts reactively with intelligence. It does not make sense. It is so serious today that nobody is safe.

I don’t criticise the intelligence-gathering capacity of this country because I had once been in one of the intelligence arms and they did a good job. But to use the intelligence through an actionable government move is the problem.


The Senate has advised the military chiefs to step down, going by the rising insecurity in the country. Do you think the service chiefs should go?

The Senate is a constitutional establishment; the constitution gives the power to change and appoint service chiefs to the President and then they (senators) want to create confusion. They should be straightforward. They should tell the President to do his duty. Or are they giving notice that they want to impeach him? They have the power to remove him but they cannot blame the heads of the armed forces. This is a very critical situation. There is so much tension in the country and it appears that the government has abdicated its responsibility and there is total confusion.

The situation now is that somebody is the Commander-in-Chief who has the right to appoint and remove the heads of the military. That right is not shared with the National Assembly. The President can remove them for dereliction of duty.

I can understand the frustration of the representatives of the people when it looks as if there is nothing happening about the security situation in the country. We have allowed reactive application of intelligence. We have been so delayed and it is as if this country is 24 hours at war. Intelligence is to prevent occurrence (of insecurity) but we have delayed too much and our situation has gone out of control; the only solution the government has is suppression. It is not the military that is for the maintenance of internal security in the country – it is the police. Do the police have enough equipment to do their job? Do they have enough intelligence that they can bring to bear? There is already an ongoing debate about the decentralisation of this arm that maintains law and order. Let us see how it ends.


At the heart of this crisis is the struggle for lands and other economic resources. You have been a proponent of the anti-open grazing law. Do you think the state governments have been sincere in implementing that law?

I have analysed the situation; there is a good aspect of this law and there are aspects which I had advised the government to be cautious about because we are dealing with human beings. I am not a theoretical person – I am 85 years old. So, if people make laws, they should not personalise laws. Laws should be applicable across the board and it is the responsibility of the government to prosecute those who break the laws. And when you deliberately make laws to target some people, you stand a chance of having the people fight you back.

One, we need an understanding between the federal executive arm of authority and the state authority. That way, you can implement the laws passed at the state level very easily. But where the Federal Government does not support the laws passed by the state and refuses to help them in enforcing them, it becomes very difficult. The state does not have an army or a police force. It cannot solely enforce these laws. We must allow the system we choose to stabilise and we should apply the system to the problems.

The point I have been making really is that the government of this country takes time to act on matters of security. They lose time to make their interventions meaningful. When they do come, they become only a massive attempt of suppression. They have no innovation and they must confront the situation that has got out of control with military suppression – the military then goes to kill or be killed.


There are fears that, if these killings continue in Southern Kaduna and other places, there would be reprisals by the locals. Don’t you think it is high time the country rejigged its security architecture?

Anyone who is our President has the absolute power to appoint and remove the heads of the security agencies. But why concentrate on the heads of these agencies? The operatives cannot go beyond what they are ordered to do by the Commander-in-Chief. I think that the instrument applied for gathering intelligence in this country does so currently and passes it correctly to the necessary quarters but there is too much reaction time between this and the application of action. So, the solution is dealing with the delay in action. It is not with the military but with whoever directs the military. If you talk to some of these security personnel in the field, if they are honest with you, they will tell you they also are frustrated. That is the truth. Let us call for proper prompt action on intelligence, now that we are experiencing an explosion. We are in a very terrible situation. People should not go into politics if they don’t want to make hard decisions. We need leaders who want to act the right away.


As one of the elder statesmen who know the formative years of Nigeria and the struggles that brought it to being, in what ways do you think the President has not been proactive and needs to change the narrative?

I had a discussion with a young man recently, when we were reviewing these things. He was frustrated and I was frustrated. I said I have two relationships with President Muhammadu Buhari. One, I knew him personally during the first time he came to power with (Tunde) Idiagbon as military head of state in 1983. I used to advise (him) also.

I think that it was difficult for him to return to power but God decided (and I believe I am right in saying ‘God’ because he had opposition from even outside Nigeria). Some of us were called to quell the fire and I had an opportunity to be part of the process. I had so much faith that I stuck out my neck and ensured that many powerful countries that were not happy with his coming back to power in 2015 were interacted with. We spent over three to four weeks in foreign countries. If I was not convinced about something, I would not do such a stupid thing because I was not very healthy. But I was so confident and I told people that there was a so much hope, so we should not miss the opportunity of bringing President Buhari to power. The man was not looking for aggrandisement; he just wanted to correct certain things.

I don’t understand what is happening now, from my knowledge of this man, except this gentleman really was very ill (when he was taken abroad for medical attention). You know he left this country for almost seven months and people kept on postulating that he died and that another president should be chosen. But his supporters were firm and the government was firm. The Vice President was firm too.

I think since the time he was ill, the capacity of the President for independent thoughts and decision-making and the capacity of the President I love and sacrificed my life for, diminished somewhat. And may God help me if I am wrong.

In the beginning, some of us who were close to him then even told him not to try and micromanage Nigeria. We told him that he must learn to trust people because Nigeria is too big and complex for that: ‘If you try to micromanage Nigeria, you will die. So, please, make appointments.’

You know, there was some delay before he made appointments. So, the decisions that come out now are not as precise as the decisions the Buhari I know to be very precise would make. Two, the decisions that come out now appear a bit confusing. It is as if three to four persons are deciding and, sometimes, they decide against one another.

There appears to be confusion in the Buhari administration and this also has to do with delay in acting on intelligence. Someone was quarrelling with me that we were always apologetic regarding Buhari and I said, no. I speak as I see it and this is what I see.

The signals coming out now indicate that the illness had a very destructive side effect on his concentration and somebody who is helping him is not doing a very good job. If that is not true, then we will tell him that he is confusing us with some of the things that are happening. They don’t make sense. There ought to be clear decisions and they should come on time. The security situation is serious and the challenging aspect of security comes with intelligence gathering and I know that the intelligence gathering of this country is good. I know that the men and the women who work in this system work very hard.

When you bring intelligence to your principal, all you can do is say, ‘If you don’t work on it and act on this, this is going to happen.’ The leader doesn’t have to delay their action, but when they do, it becomes a reaction. I can’t understand how a precise military commander like Buhari who came to power with Idiagbon and whose actions we saw the first time he was in power (is the same one now). You cannot compare that with what is happening today; it is not normal.

10 of the 104 federal government-owned unity schools paid N135.44m for feeding students more than thirty days after the federal ministry of education ordered the immediate closure of all government-owned academic institutions.

The ministry of education gave the directive on March 20. Data on disbursements made by government agencies in April, obtained from the office of the Accountant general and analyzed by Civic Media Lab, shows that the 15 payments were made between April 23 and 26.

Thirteen of the payments were made to private accounts; the other two were paid into company accounts.

FGC Maiduguri and FGC Azare made seven payments for feeding or meal subsidies, while the other eight schools made one payment each. FGC Maiduguri made four disbursements to one Saidu Inusa N.

The government college in Azare, Bauchi State, made three payments to three different individuals.

The other schools which made food-related payments in April were FGC Potiskum in Yobe, FGGC Bauchi, FGC Birnin Yuri in Kebbi State, FGGC Yola in Adamawa State, FGC Keffi in Nasarawa State, FSTC Zuru in Kebbi State, FSTC Uromi in Edo State and FSTC Tungbo in Bayelsa State.

The Federal Government Girls College in Bauchi made the most significant single disbursement, paying out N21.37m to one Abdulkadir Abubakar on April 23 2020.

When contacted, the principal of the college, Mrs Binta Gangua, gave no explanation why her school paid the sum to Mr Abubakar more than a month after its students were asked to return home.

"Excuse me, go and ask the ministry – federal ministry of education," she said. Mrs Gangua said the payment had nothing to do with the school.

The second-highest single disbursement was the N18.59m paid by FGC Keffi to Atayi Patrick J., whom the principal said is the school's bursar.

Mr Isa Ahmed sounded dumbfounded when told that his school paid more than N18m to the said individual.

"Patrick J? He is our (member of ) staff now; he is the bursar of the school, how can we pay him for feeding?" Mr Ahmed said.

"The school was not in session, and we didn't buy anything for anybody. The school is in session now, and it's that same money we are using to buy food for the children because we have not gotten any money from anybody," he said.

Mr Ahmed said the money was a statutory payment that comes to the school monthly. He said Mr Patrick J. collected the statutory money for feeding on behalf of the school.

"He normally collects such money for us. Before now, all the unity schools had a central account, but now they have stopped that system. They now pay the money for feeding and other overheads into the school bursar's account," Mr Ahmed said.

According to him, funding for capital projects came directly to the school. After so many devious details, Mr Ahmed said the money paid to Mr Patrick came directly from an account operated by the federal ministry of education.

FSTC Zuru paid N13.82m to Fabs &Sons Integrated Ltd; it was the third single most substantial payment made for feeding three days after unity schools had been shut for a month.

The N26.11m, paid to Saidu Inusa by FGC Maiduguri in four tranches on April 23, was the largest money disbursed by the affected unity schools while their students were at home.

FGC Azare's three payments summed up to N18.04m, which is slightly lesser than the cash released by FGC Keffi. All the monies released by the Bauchi-based secondary school were made on April 23 as well.

N5m is the lowest sum disbursed by any of the schools. FSTC Uromi credited one Abuh Abdul's account with N5m while FGC Azare paid the same amount to one Adamu Bappah, in its second cash transfer for feeding.

The spokesperson of the federal ministry of education, Ben Goong, was approached to clarify if indeed the department made these payments itself.

He requested that he be called back an hour after he received the initial call but failed to respond when contacted again. Mr Goong also did not respond to a text message after the second call was made.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has overturned a ruling by a lower court affirming the de-registration of 74 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The appellate court held that INEC failed to follow due process while deregistering the parties.

The court therefore declared that the deregistration was illegal and ordered INEC to relist the 74 parties.

carammel:
Nengi, Bigbrother is smarter than you

Adam Nuru, managing director of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), says the bank made an error of posting N573 million into the church account of Emmanuel Omale.

The Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets (PCARA) had accused Ibrahim Magu, suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of allegedly using Omale, founder of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry, to launder funds abroad.

The committee said the former acting chairman purchased a property in Dubai using Omale’s name — an allegation the pastor has denied.

Magu is currently being investigated by the committee headed by Ayo Salami, former president of the appeal court, for allegedly mismanaging loot recovered by the anti-graft agency.

Testifying before the committee on Thursday, Nuru said the bank just discovered the mistake upon invitation by the committee — four years after the money was posted.

“On January 16, 2016, we made a return to NFIU which indicated that there was a transaction of an inflow of well over N573million. (N573,228,40),” the bank MD said.

“This return was said to be in favour of Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministries Account No 1486743019.

“After that report, we conducted an investigation and discovered that the lodgement which we reported to NFIU was an error.

“The error was as a result of the fact that we were using a bank application called Pinnacle-7. However, we migrated from that application to a newer version called Pinnacle-10.

“Usually, when the bank intends to migrate from one application to another, we utilize weekends to carry out the exercise. The migration involves moving all the balances of customers from the previous application to the new application. The account of the Divine Hand Ministries was moved during that migration.

“It was that balance of N573million that was wrongly posted as an inflow into Divine Hand Ministries as reported to NFIU. This error was not peculiar to Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministries alone but was also ascribed to 27 other accounts.”

Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, has written to President Muhammadu Buhari, denying the allegations of corruption levelled against him.

A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) had asked the president to probe Malami over “14 high-profile corruption cases”.

The CSOs listed “financial fraud” and “influence peddling” among the allegations levelled against the AGF, while calling for his resignation.

Malami was also accused of “illegally” auctioning sea vessels holding crude oil seized by the federal government.

Reacting to the allegations, Malami said he needed to write to the presidency in order to clear his name, and that he would also seek redress in court.

According to Vanguard, the minister said in his letter that the allegations were orchestrated to ” falsely portray me as a corrupt officer who used public office to acquire wealth and build an empire”.

Malami, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said before his appointment in 2015, he had a “successful legal practice of more than 20 years” and “owned lucrative business” which earned income from.

He said he declared all his assets and statements of accounts upon his assumption of office.

Explaining that none of his wealth is ill-gotten, Malami said: “While the code of conduct for public officers prohibits my active participation in the running of my already established ventures, it does not preclude me from gaining the fruit of my establishments.

“Since my appointment as a minister in your cabinet, I have conducted myself strictly within the confines of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers contained in Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended.

“It is to be noted that apart from my successful legal practice of more than 20 years, seven of which were as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, before my appointment, I have as allowed by law had interests in business ventures, all of which I had resigned from active participation upon my appointment.

“Among other things, I owned lucrative business ventures of Rayhaan Hotels and Rayhaan Food & Drinks, both in Kano, since December 13, 2013, years before the 2015 election that saw to the victory of President Muhamadu Buhari as the President and long before I was appointed to be a Minister in the first term. That informs why those items were included among 27 property listed in the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, Form filled by Malami when he was first appointed a minister.

“Apart from the above as income from the government, Your Excellency is invited to also note that while the Code of Conduct for Public Officers prohibits my active participation in the running of my already established ventures, it does not preclude me from gaining the fruit of my establishments. Hence, earnings from mainly the hotels, restaurants, farms are used to either improve these ventures or to expand and build new ones. In all these, the requirement of the law is that I declare at the point of exit from office as I have declared at the point of entry.

“On assumption of office in 2015, I had course as a constitutional requirement to file my assets declaration form at the point of assuming duty as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria detailing my assets which include: my houses (both residential and others) farmlands, hotel, school and other enterprises.

“Statements of accounts from all my banks were also submitted to the Code of Conduct which were duly verified as is the procedure after submission is made. A copy of the form is attached hereto as annexure1, should Your Excellency wish to personally review it. “As a public officer, my sources of income were streamlined and narrowed to my entitlements from the government coffers. These entitlements come in the form of salaries, allowances and estacodes. For the period, I have served as a Minister (for the 1st term) starting from November 11, 2015 to May 28, 2019, the cumulative figure of what constitutes these entitlements is as provided for in our laws relating to the salary and emoluments of political office holders.

“I have taken a personal decision to seek remedy from the court as a result of the series of derogatory contents so published against me. In the same vein, I have written the Inspector General of Police to investigate the matter.”

Malami earlier defended himself, saying he committed no illegality in approving the auction of the sea vessels, for which Kabir Akingbolu, a human rights lawyer, said the AGF risks five years in prison.

The Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) has said the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) lied about NIPOST’s stamp duty account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

NIPOST’s General Manager Corporate Communications, Franklin Alao, said in a statement on Sunday that the NIPOST’s account with the CBN was duly opened for the purpose of stamp duty and was not illegal.

“Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) attention has been drawn to a publication by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) that NIPOST operated an illegal stamp duty account.

According to the publication, the Director of Communication and Liaison of FIRS made the statement in a series of tweets. “We hereby state categorically that the statement is false and was made to misinform and mislead members of the public,” Alao said.

He said the account the Director of Communication of FIRS made reference to as “illegal” was opened by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in consultation with the office of Accountant General of the Federation, in the name of NIPOST Stamp Duties Collection Account when CBN gave instruction to Deposit Money Banks (DMB) to commence the deduction of #50 stamp duties from bank customers accounts.

He said: ” The account belongs to the Federation and NIPOST does not have access to whatsoever monies lodged into the account, as such the question of illegality and misappropriation does not arise.”

He reinstated that NIPOST Act 2004 provides and vest solely in NIPOST the power to print adhesive postage stamps, which is the instrument for denoting documents and other transaction instruments in compliance with the provisions of the Stamp Duties Act.

A twenty-year-old fashion designer, Ayomide Taiwo, attacked by a police officer, Inspector Ago Egharepbe, attached to Ibokun Divisional Headquarters, Osun State, is dead.

Ayomide had been in a coma since Tuesday following the attack by Egharepbe, who was said to have requested a bribe from him.

He passed on around 10 am on Sunday.

An uncle to the deceased, Segun Agboola, broke the news to The PUNCH on Sunday./

He said, “Ayomide never made it. He died after spending about six days in a coma. Since the incident happened on Tuesday, he had been in a coma.

“We are planning to take the corpse to Iragbiji, his hometown for burial. He lost his father long ago. He is survived by mother, aged grandmother and two siblings.”

ABUJA/LAGOS – The continued retention of the country service chiefs in office by President Muhammadu Buhari, has once again, been fingered to pose a great danger to the ongoing fight against insecurity in the country.

Though military sources have indicated that there was nothing morally and legally wrong with their continued stay in office, observers are of the view that everything psychological was wrong with the action, as it negatively affects the career of other officers in the service.

Some analysts, including security operatives, believe that the present crop of security chiefs have gone bankrupt of ideas to fix things in the sector, as their subordinates do not appear very willing to go the whole miles for them any longer.

Aare Oladotun Hassan, a legal practitioner, believes that their continued retention is hampering the fight against insecurity that has almost gone out of hand in some parts of the country.

Hassan said, “It is highly unreasonable to jettison due processes and allow unfettered display of crudity, arbitrariness and unlawful use of the office.

“This is a brief description of what the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has displayed, by allowing and instilling his prerogative of powers on the long-overdue change of guard at the helms of the nation’s security affairs.

“It is crystal clear that the highest security apparatus, the Army, Air Force, and Navy, concurrently, has failed woefully in the discharge of their statutory duties in the protection of the nation’s territorial boundaries from insurgents and terrorists, in gross violation of the prescribed tenure of the service chiefs.”

Also speaking in the same vein, Goddy Uwazurike, a lawyer, noted that the present service chiefs “are the longest-serving service chiefs in the past 20 years.

They are also among the least performing chiefs during the period. “So, it is safe to assume that they are serving at the pleasure of Mr. President only.

It is also imperative to believe that Mr. President is satisfied with their performance.

“The widely held view that there is a need for fresh blood and brain does not bother Mr. President. As a matter of fact, many people have lost faith in the expected rejig of the security architecture of Nigeria,” said Uwazurike. On his part, an Abuja-based civil rights advocate, Ezenwa Nwagwu, who expressed a divergent view, said the service chiefs should be left to carry out their duties in peace, as they could not be removed from office based on public opinion, but empirical facts.

An Abuja-based security analyst and Public Relations consultant, who doesn’t want his name in print, said that officers and soldiers were tired of the present leaderships of the various services and desired changes.

He insisted that the service chiefs have lost their relevance in the eyes of their officers, and were no longer being taken seriously, having also run out of new ideas to redeem the country from the present security quagmire.

Nonetheless, Nwagwu, who disagreed with the assertion, stressed that some persons outrightly neglect to measure their performances vis-à-vis what previously obtained before the coming onboard of these service chiefs.


He stressed further that in any case, the President who appointed them must be very pleased with them, hence their retention, and there was nothing any public opinion on this could stop.

He said if the military today had succeeded in pushing the Boko Haram terrorists to the fringes of the Lake Chad, with a few of them now becoming common criminals, then, the service chiefs should be given some credits.

“As I speak with you now, there are night buses leaving from Oyingbo to Maiduguri safely, three flights depart and land at Maiduguri International Airport daily because it is now safe.

“Let us not hinge the stay or otherwise of the Service Chiefs on public opinion or what people say.

Let us get empirical facts on the state of insecurity before making analysis,” Nwagu said. He insisted that the security situation is not worse now as it is made to look, arguing that the President may not be given proper briefs on the true situation in the sector.

Police have disrupted a protest by some youths under the auspices of Concerned Southern Kaduna who were calling for an end to killings in the area.

Daily Trust gathered that the protesters were to converge at NNPC Junction in Kaduna on Saturday Morning around 8 am when the heavily armed policemen arrived the scene and ordered them to leave.

The Police Public Relation Officer in Kaduna State, ASP Mohammed Jalige, told Daily Trust that they were not informed by the conveners of the protest.

“We were not informed of any protest. “We only conducted a show of force today (Saturday) and we dispersed the unlawful gathering.

“The area is calm now and there was no any problem,” he said. It was also gathered that their was no confrontation from both sides despite the fact that three protesters were initially arrested but later released on the spot.

Our correspondent observed that the youths, both male and females, wore black T-shirts as a symbol of mourning.

Limis Alpha, one of the Conveners of the protests, told Daily Trust that the protest was peaceful and it was planned to show the pains of Southern Kaduna people.

“We were not given the opportunity to do the protest because before we converged at the vicinity, over 15 -20 hillux of policemen heavily armed arrived.

“We only want peace in our land; that is what we want. “We thank God everything went well. “The police understood us and we understood them too,” he said.

He said the concept of the protest was simply to hold placards without delivering any form of speeches because they believed that silence is also a message.

‎Southern Kaduna has been facing attacks by unidentified gunmen in the area which have led to the killings of many innocent villagers in the area.

A member of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP Caucus of the House of Representatives, Rep. Nnolim Nnaji, has distanced himself from allegations by some members of the opposition in the House that Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila is shielding some of his colleagues from allegations of contracts Sleaze at the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

Nnolim who is the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, “faulted the media report accusing the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila of shielding some members of the House listed by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio as beneficiaries of the Niger Delta Developments Commission (NDDC) contracts”.

He described the news report “as untrue and didn’t represent the collective position of the generality of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) members in the House”.

He said the “alleged letter referred to in the report could not stand as the position of the major opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

He emphasized that it was unfair to accuse the speaker of shielding the lawmakers whereas “he was the one who in the first place that compelled the Minister to produce the names”.

The lawmaker representing Nkanu Federal Constituency of Enugu State said: “As far as I am concerned, the allegation by the Minister against some members was a matter that bothers on the integrity of the House”.

He cautioned against “utterances that will divide us”.

He urged; “Members to rather direct their attention to focus on the NDDC investigation, worsening insecurity including the recent killings in Southern Kaduna, marginalization of some sections of the country, deprivation and hunger across our country rather than attacking the straw man in order to give soft landing to the inefficiency of the NDDC leadership”.

According to him, “As far as I am concerned, the Speaker is doing a good job of presiding over the house, engaging constructively with the Executives on national issues, which is the reason for the investigation in the first place.

“I want to affirm that matters arising from the Ministers letter have been properly referred to Ethics and Privileges Committee and would ordinarily form part of the report to the House by the time we resume from our vacation”.

Dauda Lawal, former executive director of First Bank of Nigeria, has accused Ibrahim Magu, suspended chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of distorting facts in his defence before the presidential investigative committee.

The committee, headed by Ayo Salami, retired president of the appeal court, is probing the activities of the agency under Magu.

Magu was alleged to have mishandled the recovered loot and sold seized assets to his associates.

In a letter addressed to the presidential committee, Lawal said Magu made inconsistent statements without evidence in his testimony before the committee.

“My Lord, I wish to respectfully state that the narrative by Mr. Ibrahim Magu in his said defence is laced with barefaced distortion of relevant facts, and is an attempt to mislead the Honourable Panel. Contrary to extant documentary evidence, Mr. Ibrahim Magu concocted a tale to suit his mischief without providing any supporting proof of his false account,” Lawal said.

“Mr. Magu in his response sought to explain that the sum of US$153,310.000 (One Hundred and Fifty-Three Million, Three Hundred and Ten Thousand United States Dollars) was brought to Fidelity Bank Plc. from NNPC on behalf of Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke.

“My Lord, a simple arithmetical calculation will show that by Mr. Magu’s narrative, the total amount of the above sums allegedly brought by the above-named persons from NNPC to Fidelity Bank Plc. is the sum of US$152,480,000. This latest summation by Mr. Magu is inconsistent with the depositions contained in the Affidavit in support of the Motion Ex parte for Interim Forfeiture filed by the EFCC before the Federal High Court on 6th January 2017 that the amount brought from NNPC to Fidelity Bank Plc. was US$153,310.000.

“Worse still is that both in Mr. Magu’s narrative and in the Affidavit filed by the EFCC in support of the Ex parte Application, Mr. Magu and the EFCC failed to show or disclose how the above sums were withdrawn or “moved” from the NNPC by the above-named persons.

“No account operated or managed by NNPC in any Bank or financial institution was given as the source of where the sum was allegedly withdrawn. No record of or from NNPC has been shown to support the bogus allegation that the sums as alleged by Mr. Magu was withdrawn from NNPC and “moved” to Fidelity Bank Plc.

“One wonders how the EFCC and Mr. Magu could rely on the above claims which are false, unfounded and contradictory as the foundation/basis of their allegations against me.”

Lawal said contrary to Magu’s claim, record of proceedings showed that he was always in court to defend allegations against him and that he never employed any delay tactics to stall the case before the federal high court.

On Wednesday, the presidential committee said it would ensure fair hearing during the probe.

THE Federal Government has ordered the immediate seal off an Ibadan-based factory, Expand Global Manufacturing Limited, makers of WAW detergent, where a 21year-old Richard Gbadebo died in the course of duty.

The factory located in Oluyole area of the city, was sealed on Wednesday by officials of Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Gbadebo, who, until his death on July 28, was a 300-level student of the University of Ibadan.

The deceased, who was a worker with the factory, a contracting firm with Expland Global, was reported to have slipped into a soap making machine and died during production, while on night shift.

While speaking, the Federal Controller of Labour, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Oyo State Office, Mr Femi Fatoki, said the factory was sealed-up based on findings from a preliminary investigation.

He said: “Immediately we got knowledge of the accident, we came for a report. We came here and we could not do more.”

“But despite that, we are able to put up a preliminary investigation and it was based on the preliminary investigation that we ordered the sealing up of the factory.”

“And this order is in conformity with section 38 of the Nigeria Factory Act. It has been identified as a dangerous workplace and the record said we should seal it up,” he said.

Fatoki further noted that the factory has been sealed up and it can’t operate any longer until the company the order was lifted.

A staff of the ministry, Dr. Adaora Obu, while also speaking, said the preliminary investigation was inconclusive, saying investigation is still ongoing.

She said that some contraventions have been identified which they have informed the company manager in writing.

“We are still investigating, looking into the autopsy report and all that. So, when we finish with the investigation, I am sure there would be a statement,” she said.