₦airaland Forum

Sunday Aborisade, Olaleye Aluko and Tunde Ajaja

The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions has said the information at its disposal is not sufficient to commence the probe of senators indicted in the alleged contract scam at the Niger Delta Development Commission.

The ad hoc committee set up to unravel the alleged financial recklessness by the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC had recommended an internal mechanism to investigate lawmakers indicted by the agency to have secured multi-billion naira projects without executing them.

There has been an outcry over the billions of naira stolen from the commission, even as a member of the NDDC Forensic Audit Committee, Prof Isa Sadiq Raddah, said recently that no fewer than 12,000 projects, some of which were partly paid for, had been abandoned.

Speaking at a workshop organised by the Network for Justice on Budget Monitoring and Tracking in Sokoto, Raddah, who is a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, said 1,700 contractors took mobilisation fees and disappeared.

He said, “NDDC for 20 years has got over $40bn. And when you convert $40bn to naira, we are talking of N116tn.

“The entire money was taken away by their young people, leaders, agitators, activists and now the Niger Delta is as bad as many of the rural areas you find in Northern Nigeria.”

But the chairman of the senate panel saddled with the responsibility of carrying out the probe within four weeks, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, told one of our correspondents in Abuja that the ad hoc committee did not provide relevant details that could assist him in carrying out the task.

Akinyelure also said the probe of a fresh petition against the Managing Director of the NDDC, Prof Daniel Pondei, would wait till September when the National Assembly resumes its current annual vacation.

He said his committee members, who would need sufficient time to study all the allegations contained in the petition, were currently not available following the adjournment of legislative activities till September 15.

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, had said during an investigative hearing by the House of Representatives in July that some lawmakers were beneficiaries of NDDC projects.

He subsequently released a list of the contractors, including a senator from Delta State, who allegedly had 53 projects against his name; another senator from the state with six projects against his name; a senator from Edo State, who also had six projects against his name; and a former senator from Imo State, who had 19 projects against his name.

Others were a former chairman of the Reps committee on NDDC, who had 74 contracts against his name; a former Delta State governor and another former governor of Abia State.

While the identified persons denied the allegations, the NDDC Director of Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, said in a statement that the Interim Management Committee of the commission stood by the list released by the minister. It said the names emanated from files in the possession of the forensic auditors.

The statement added, “It is not an Akpabio list but the NDDC’s list; the list is part of the volume of 8,000 documents already handed over to the forensic auditors. The ongoing forensic audit would unearth those behind the contracts.”

But in his interview with one of our correspondents, Akinyelure argued that the information at its disposal at the moment from the ad hoc committee on the senators accused of failed contracts, could not allow his panel do justice to the issue.

Lack of information hampers deep investigation –Panel

He said, “We have yet to receive detailed information from the ad hoc committee. Before my committee can entertain any petition, there must be specific allegations against certain sets of people and the allegations must be clear.

“We must have details of the contracts collected. There must be sufficient details about specific contracts, the level of execution, period of award, contract sum and amount collected. All these are not in the recommendations of the ad hoc committee.

“The ad hoc committee has not given details of the one they want my committee to sit on. We are still expecting them to supply us with information about the specific allegations against the affected senators. We need to have their identity.”

…insists Akpabio must provide more details on allegations

He explained that the committee needed to know the contract the senators collected without execution, adding that there must be specific allegations for the committee to verify and that the minister who made the allegation would need to supply more information.

He added, “I am aware that senators don’t award contract but if it is the ones they facilitated for their constituencies, we would investigate their links to the contractors.

“We will find out the procurement process they went through before the contracts were awarded, those who paid the contractors, and to whose account was the money paid to, was the contract executed or not?

“It is when we have these details that we could ask questions. So, we are still expecting the details of the petition to be forwarded to my committee. The minister (Akpabio), who made the allegations, will also need to supply adequate details.

“We want to know the senators who allegedly collected contracts and those who allegedly demanded bribe. It is when we get all the facts that we could do justice and present our report and recommendations.”

… says Pondei’s probe shifted till September

On the fresh petition against Pondei, Akinyelure said, “We will start the investigation when we resume plenary in September. We have to take our time to find out those behind the petition and other details that would guide us on who to invite to come and give evidence.”

“If we don’t have all these details, we cannot do anything. Moreover, most of my committee members are now on vacation. I cannot sit alone as chairman and claim that I’m conducting public hearing.”

He assured the public that the Senate would do justice to the issue.

My c’mttee has no further details on indicted lawmakers – Adetunmbi

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Senate ad hoc committee that probed the alleged reckless spending at the NDDC between October 2019 and May 2020, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, has said his committee has no further details on the issue apart from the ones already provided in its report.

He said his panel did an explicit job based on submissions of all stakeholders who were requested to provide both written and oral submissions while the exercise lasted.

He said, “I have done the work that was given to me. My report was explicit about the recommendations. I have yet to see details of what Senator Ayo Akinyelure’s committee was asked to do.

“All the information before us were considered and we have written our report. I don’t have any other information apart from what is contained in the report which the Senate had considered, approved and acted upon.”

CSOs ask NASS to submit lawmakers for probe

Two civil society organisations, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, and Transparency International, have demanded that the Senate and the House of Representatives turn in their members indicted in the NDDC contracts for probe.

CACOL’s Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran, asked the leadership of the National Assembly not to shield their indicted members from the ongoing probe.

He said, “We have made that call for long that the National Assembly should surrender its indicted members to the relevant anti-corruption agencies to investigate the allegations against them. Let them defend themselves. If they come out clean, they will be okay and if they don’t, let them face the consequences.

“If nothing has happened to the lawmakers indicted, the minister may not reveal further names. But the minister seems ready to spill the beans. There must be a reason why the National Assembly does not want him to continue talking.”

Also, the Head of the Transparency International in Nigeria, Musa Rafsanjani, said, “First and foremost, the National Assembly has the moral burden and they must ensure that they carry out their work with sincerity and compliance with the ethical values of the legislature.

“Some of the National Assembly members who have been accused and fingered in these allegations must be investigated. We expected by now that there should have been a thorough probe into the allegations made by the minister, Akpabio.”

There is fresh anxiety in the camp of Governor Godwin Obaseki following recent defections from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, reports ‘Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor

AS the governorship election in Edo State draws closer, anxiety continues to mount in the camp of the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, over some recent developments which pundits have described as possible threats to his re-election bid. After years of political upheaval between him and his erstwhile political godfather, former governor Adams Oshiomhole, Obaseki dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) and pitched his tent with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in pursuit of a fresh term of four years.

Following the emergence of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, and the return of Oshiomhole to Edo State after his stint as the National Chairman of the APC, many allies and supporters of the governor have returned to Oshiomhole’s fold and declared their readiness to work for the victory of Ize-Iyamu at the polls next month. This is just as numerous supporters of the APC candidates are also dumping the PDP to join him in his new party ahead of the governorship election.

To add to the concerns in the governor’s camp, 17 members of the Edo State House of Assembly have declared support for APC’s Ize-Iyamu, leaving Obaseki and the PDP with only seven lawmakers as the governorship election draws nearer. During the week, the lawmakers, led by factional Speaker, Victor Edoror, warned that if the governor flouts any of their directives, he will be impeached. Though the governor, through his spokespersons, said the threat by Edoror and others are harmless, sources say there is concern over happenings in the Assembly among Obaseki and his men.

The Nation gathered that this development has not gone down well with the leadership of the governor’s camp, thereby leading to concerns being expressed by allies and loyalists of Obaseki on the need for urgent steps to be taken to forestall a disastrous outing at the polls. Our correspondent gathered that the governor’s loyalists fear the APC and Oshiomhole may have plans to outfox Obaseki at the polls, hence the effort to create the impression that the governor is hugely unpopular across the state.

The Nation also learnt that Obaseki recently charged his aides and other appointed government functionaries serving in his administration to work hard and deliver their various constituencies on Election Day or be prepared to quit. According to a very reliable source, the governor was addressing a gathering of frontline loyalists in Benin-City when he gave the directive. “The election is a war we must win. It is not true that the governor threatened to sack people who lose their area on Election Day; what he said is that for the PDP to remain in government, all of us must deliver our constituencies at all cost,” our source said.


Worries

Speaking to The Nation on Thursday, a council chairman in the Central Senatorial District, who is a loyalist of the governor, said many supporters of the governor are currently apprehensive over the developments. According to him, there are fears that the ruling APC at the federal level may be planning to rig the election. He claimed that there are ongoing efforts to lure supporters of the governor into supporting Ize-Iyamu on the pretext that the presidency has decided to stop Obaseki from being re-elected at all cost.

“We are aware of all that is going on and I can tell you that Edo people are worried. Supporters of the governor are worried and leaders of the PDP are anxious over some recent developments. There is a plot to deceive the world into believing that Obaseki is not popular in Edo. There is a plan to rig the election. APC members are using the name of Buhari to deceive our people. They are saying Buhari doesn’t want Obaseki to be re-elected. That is how they are getting some of these people joining the APC.

“They know that in a free and fair election, Obaseki will defeat both Oshiomhole and Ize-Iyamu in Edo. Now, they are deceiving and bribing people to join the APC. But we are ready to match them. We are meeting and strategising everyday on how to counter them. The people you see joining the PDP are doing so based on what they believe. Nobody is bribing them to join,” he said. The Nation also gathered that some prominent leaders of the PDP met with the governor and factional Speaker, Okiye, to discuss happenings in the state Assembly.

Another ally of the governor and a former state official of the All Peoples Party (APP) in the state, Daniel Osifo, said aside from luring supporters of the governor away ahead of the governorship election, opponents of the governor are plotting to scare away people from coming out to vote for Obaseki. According to him, the governor’s camp has discovered plans by APC to use thugs to scare people before and during the election across the state. “Our opponents are not ready for free polls. They are trying to scare away our supporters.

“They are planning a strategy to use the federal might to scare and intimidate us. Every day, we are told by very reliable sources that the opposition was preparing the ground for chaos and anarchy, as part of the grand plot to deceive the people of Edo State into believing that it is unsafe to come out and vote for the candidate of their choice on Election Day. The federal government should be interested in law and order in Edo during the electioneering. It should be the interest of everybody to see a peaceful and fair election,” he said.

During the week, a pro-Obaseki group, the Obaseki Field Marshal Campaign Group (OFM) also appealed to the federal government as well as the ruling party not to allow the governorship election to be militarised. The group also appealed to INEC and other relevant security agencies to ensure the election is free and fair. During a media briefing in Lagos, its convener, Don Olusegun Ugbo, said the forthcoming election is another opportunity for President Muhammadu Buhari to show the world he is an impartial leader.

The group said it is supporting the governor based on what it described as his sterling performance and commitment to the welfare of the people of the state. The group implored the players and stakeholders to allow Edo people make their choice for the continued development of the state.


Allegations

Meanwhile, the Chairman of PDP’s National Campaign Council for Edo Election, Governorship, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, has given assurance that the party will thwart all plots by the APC to use security agencies to rig the forthcoming governorship election. Wike said APC’s confidence about winning the poll is because the party has plans to rig the election. In a press statement, signed by Paulinus Nsirim, Commissioner for Information and Communications, Wike stated that the PDP has gathered enough intelligence report about the unholy plan and would scuttle it at the appropriate time. The PDP tasked INEC to resist alleged attempts by the APC to prevent a free and fair election.

“We consider the comment by INEC to cancel or suspend the election because of violence as succumbing to the antics of the APC. All they want is violence because they cannot win the election. If the election is suspended, the implication is that Obaseki will serve out his tenure without election in November,” Wike said, adding that “for Oshiomhole, the election is a face saving, do or die venture having been treated badly in Abuja.”

But the APC has dismissed PDP’s allegations, insisting that President Buhari would not allow the military to influence the outcome of the forthcoming poll. The party also said all the people defecting into the APC from the PDP are doing so because they are tired of the government of Godwin Obaseki.

Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena, wondered why the PDP is so panicky about the events of the past few days and concluded that Edo people are definitely ready to elect the man they want to govern them.

Nabena, who said the APC is constantly reiterating its appeal to security agencies to do everything possible to stop all forms of violence and malpractices before, during and after voting, boasted that victory is certain for his party at the September 19 poll. “Sensing the widespread acceptance and support the good people of Edo State have given the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, in the lead up to the forthcoming governorship election, the PDP is clearly panicked and has resorted to childish and comical conspiracies.

“Procurement of result sheets, cloning of PVCs, stealing card readers, vote buying, voter intimidation and other election fraud are the PDP’s stock-in-trade. For us in the APC, it is one person, one vote. Our people-focused development record is visible to all and the good people of Edo State are poised to make the right and progressive choice, come September 19. We reiterate that our security services must do everything to stop the PDP’s plan to unleash violence, intimidate voters and buy votes during the election. Come September 19, votes will count and the will of the Edo electorate will prevail,” Nabena said.

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) at the weekend said angry youths shut down a major power facility, the Afam Power Station, in Rivers State.

The acting Manager, Corporate Communications, PHEDC, Mrs Chioma Aninwe, said the angry youths on Friday, forcefully took over control of the Afam power station belonging to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

She said the development was the reason for the total blackout in the state.

Aninwa said “The youths, known as Oyibo Youths, shutdown Afam Transmission lines around 21:04 p.m. on Friday, thereby, throwing the entire Port Harcourt and Rivers state into darkness.

“The youths took laws into their hands and marched in their numbers to the transmission station, forcing the operators to shut down supply without observing safety measures.

“This ugly incident has become the order of the day due to their acclaimed inadequate power supply to their communities.

“PHED also informed them of the need for the company to apply systematic load shedding in order to accommodate all its customers.

“However, all our attempts have proven futile as the youths insisted on 24-hour supply, negating our efforts at ensuring equitable distribution of supply to customers.

“PHED condemns in its entirety the frequent shutdown of Afam power station, and hereby, draws the attention of law enforcement agencies and the Rivers government.

“We urge the authorities to come to our aid and put a final stop to this frequent disruption of power distribution to customers at the slightest power challenge in the state.”

They said the trend, which placed emphasis on favoritism/nepotism over competence, was a pathway to future crisis in the country.

The appointment of a substantive Provost for Nigerian Defence Academy is presently causing ripples as some concerned stakeholders have accused the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (Rtd), of appointing Prof Isa Garba despite not participating in the processes for such appointment.

The aggrieved persons subsequently demanded the urgent intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari to avert crisis in the institution.

They said the trend, which placed emphasis on favoritism/nepotism over competence, was a pathway to future crisis in the country.

It was gathered that five professors with requisite academic qualification from the academy were invited to submit their curriculum vitae, their case study, mission and vision for consideration to be appointed as Provost of the institution.

Those invited include, Prof David Oluwatoba Alabi of Political Science Department, Prof Sunday Olawole Okeniyi of Chemistry Department, Prof Sydney Chinedu Osuala of Maths and Computer Department, Prof Jonathan Maduka Nwaedozie of Chemistry Department and Prof Adam Okene Ahmed of History and War Studies, who all staff of the academy.

All the invited professors commenced the processes which included screening and physical interviews with one Prof Ahmed topping in all of the processes for consideration.

His appointment was later confirmed by the Governing Council of the Academy under the Chairmanship of the minister, Magashi, in acting capacity, awaiting his official letter as substantive Academy Provost.

Then to the surprise of all, Prof Garba from Bayero University, Kano, who was not part of the processes from the beginning emerged from no way and the same minister through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence confirmed him as substantive Academy Provost of the institution without participating in the appointment process.

“It is a case of nepotism, the Honourable Minister of Defence is from Kano State, the NDA Commandant is also from Kano State and wanted someone from the state to be the Academy Provost for reasons best known to him and hence why Prof Garba who is also from Kano State was brought in after the processes have been completed.

“When Prof Garba was interviewed, he was found unappointable on a number of counts, first that he has not attained the number of years as an academic professor which should not be less than 10 years as a professor to be so appointed as Academy Provost, and secondly that he lacks the administration capacity and knowledge, since he has never been a head of department, neither has he been a dean or academic director but only served as a sub dean in the university and same report was sent to the ministry,” a source said.

Emmanuel Adedoyin and his wife anticipated their wedding day with bated breath. As the date drew nearer, efforts to avoid hitches on D-Day were made by the couple and every other family member that mattered. Preparations rolled into anxieties as imageries of glamour characteristic of such occasion preoccupied the minds of the young couple like hornets glued to the eaves.

The much-awaited day finally came. As the clock ticked 9am, Emmanuel left his residence in Arepo – an Ogun community along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway – together with some of his friends. His looks and resplendent flowing native dress radiated glitz as he headed to the wedding venue, about 42 kilometres away in Ejigbo, Lagos State.

Although the programme was to start at 2pm, the 31-year-old was eager to be on the ground in time to tie up loose ends. He got to the venue at 10am that Sunday, waiting patiently for his parents to arrive so the event could start.

All along, he never thought anything could pose a threat to the schedule. Unfortunately, terrible traffic ensued on Lagos highways that Sunday and turned out to be big a monster holding his parents’ car for several hours on Ikorodu-Road.

“It is a day I can never forget,” said Adedoyin, Emmanuel’s father. “Two relations, my wife and I were stuck in traffic for hours and the bride price was with me,” he added.

Adedoyin told our correspondent that he and his wife left Arepo at 12.30pm, thinking it would be a smooth drive all the way, being a weekend when traffic was usually free.

“We left home at that time on the assumption that there would be no traffic,” he disclosed as he began to narrate the troubled time he endured that day.

Back at the wedding venue, tension continued to mount as everyone eagerly awaited the arrival of the groom’s parents. The event was put on hold and to douse the tension, the bride’s family had to employ the weird side. A table tennis was quickly put together to keep the guests entertained as some of them had started leaving the venue, Adedoyin said.

He stated, “We started running into traffic at Seven Up, Ojota. We turned back to link Kudirat Abiola Way and met another traffic. We then manoeuvered until we linked the Third Mainland Bridge.

“By the time we got to Oworonsoki junction, it was hell. The car we were in was overheating. It was already 5pm and calls were coming in repeatedly from my son’s in-laws. I kept on telling them we were on our way and that we were held in traffic.

“When we got to Anthony on Ikorodu Road, I could no longer manage the overheating. I had to park the vehicle at a safe place. I immediately took a bus from there to Oshodi.”

At Oshodi, embattled Adedoyin got caught up in another mess. Commercial bus drivers were unwilling to take passengers who wanted to drop off at Iyana Isolo. At this time, the agbada he donned elegantly when he left home had suddenly found solace in his left arm as he waved anxiously at any yellow buses in sight.

When it became apparent that he would not get a bus that would stop at Iyana Isolo, where he would join another vehicle to Ejigbo, he went the way of a smart Lagosian.

“I boarded a bus and on getting to Charity (the bus stop next to Iyana Isolo), I told the driver, I would alight at Iyana Isolo. The driver was mad at me because he had already said he would not stop there.

“I pretended as if I was a stranger in Lagos and was begging him to drop me off. Meanwhile, I was by the door side, determined to jump down at any slight opportunity.

“The conductor blocked the door; he didn’t want me to disembark. Passengers joined to beg on my behalf and he eventually stopped. It was already 7pm. I immediately took a bus to Ejigbo. I didn’t get to Ejigbo until 9pm. I took a N500 bike from Ejigbo to the church where the engagement held. I prostrated to apologise to my son’s father-in-law,” the 55-year-old man stated, adding that his son was speechless when he saw him.

He explained that his wife and two other members of the family came in an hour later to witness whatever they could make out of the event.

“Lagos traffic is terrible. Since I relocated to Abuja some years back, I feel discouraged to come to Lagos because of the traffic. I don’t even know what really caused the traffic that day because there was no accident.

“My son (the groom) had gone there since morning. I was even abusing him for going there early. Even the food we were taking to the venue got there late,” Adedoyin lamented.

Operators of lottery, pools and betting in Lagos are to pay license fee of N20million when a bill being considered by the state House of Assembly becomes law.

The bill entitled; “Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority Bill Arrangement of Sections” went through public hearing on Friday 14th August, 2020 at the state House of Assembly.

According to the bill, “before a license is granted to an operator, the Authority shall be satisfied that the applicant is a registered company in Nigeria with a minimum share capital of N20, 000,000 (Twenty Million Naira) or as may be directed by the Authority.”

It also specified that the local content shareholder shall abide by the regulations, policies, terms and conditions issued by the Authority.

It was also revealed at the public hearing that the new bill, when it becomes law, will consolidate all the laws in the sector and repeal existing laws such as the Lagos State Lotteries (Amendment) Law 2008, the Lagos State Lotteries Law (2004), and the Casino and Gaming Regulatory Authority Law (2007).

Others are Casino and Gaming Regulations (2007), Pools Betting Control Law (2003) and Pools Betting Tax Law (2003).

The Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa said “the world wide gaming is worth $200 Billion. Several Nigerians are involved in games and sports betting.

“Its addictive nature calls for caution, and it is our view that the 2008 lottery law needs an amendment as the bulk of the game are done on mobile gadgets,” he said.

The state’s commissioner for Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, said in his comments that a lot has changed in the Nigerian gaming sector in the last 10 years, and that most of the people involved are youths.

“The future of gaming in Nigeria is bright. The regulations are very robust. The Bill addresses cyber security and addresses the concerns of many people. I want to urge all stakeholders to take it serious,” he said.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. Rotimi Olowo, said in an interview that the bill was meant to consolidate, gaming and virtual lottery in the state.

“We have different licenses for individual products in the sector. The people have ventilated their opinions and we will work on them.

“The law is not meant for the operators alone; it is also meant for the regulators, we will look into all the areas.”

The lawmaker said that the Bill would help the state to gather enough money that would be used in the health sector, environment and even sports sector.

Olowo stated further that the money is not coming into the consolidated fund of the state, and that it is meant to take care of the welfare of the citizenry.

He explained that the state wanted a law that would consolidate all the laws in the sector.

“The issue of N20 Million would be looked into by the regulators. We would look at the socioeconomic reality and allow sanity into that sector.

One of the stakeholders at the event, Mr. Adebagun Nojeem from Lagos Pool Promoters requested that the stakeholders in the gaming sector should be involved in the State Lottery Board and that the issue of N20 Million share capital should be looked into.

“The issue of N20 Million share capital should be looked into. It would have retroactive effect on the companies that have been registered. Pool is a game of the senior citizens. With the new capital base, we may go under.

“The 10% charges on sales should be reduced to about 2.5%. Penalty of N2.5 Million should be reduced to 1 Million or N500, 000 and the issue of imprisonment should be removed,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr. Tokunbo Akande from the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) said that licensing fees or royalties should be used in the bill instead of taxes and that there should be rooms for dispute resolutions in the bill.

On his part, Mr. Niyi Adekunle from Grand Lotto said that the first license fee for lottery was issued in 2008 for N200 Million, which he said, was huge money.

The last may not have been heard about the drama at Idumuje-Ugboko in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State where a former senator, Ned Nwoko, has been allegedly oppressing residents.

Last month, he ordered the arrest of Chukwunonso Nwoko, monarch of the town, and subsequently asked the police to ransack his palace.

SaharaReporters gathered that the monarch and some residents of Idumuje-Ugbako had opposed Nwoko's attempt to forcefully acquire additional 90 hectares of land from an area earmarked for all indigenes of the community.

Heavily armed police officers accompanied by one of Nwoko's vigilante guards, Okachi Nwa Ejimofor Nwoko, were at the palace to dig up dead bodies buried as falsely claimed by the former senator.

The team, led by the officer-in-charge of homicide in Delta State Police Command, ransacked all rooms in the palace, in search of weapons as alleged by Nwoko but they didn't find anything.

It was gathered that Okachi had received N5million (Five million naira) from Nwoko with instructions to lead the police to the exact spot where dead bodies were buried in the palace.

The tradition of Aniocha forbids that the palace and its environment should be used for burying people.

This was after the monarch had been abducted by the police and detained at Asaba police cell.

The king, who was charged with murder as orchestrated by Nwoko, was later released on the orders of the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.

A source familiar with the police operations said it was Nwoko who informed the police command in Asaba that the palace was heavily loaded with sophisticated weapons of war.

"He informed the police to take extra precautions with regards to the operation. Then the police arrive at the palace, heavily armed, to dig up bodies of the dead (which Ned Nwoko claimed was buried at the palace). The police also ransacked every room in the palace, in search of weapons of mass destruction. The search yielded no result.

"The team of policemen was led by the officer-in-charge of homicide in Delta State Police Command. A special unit from Abuja was also sent as support for this palace disturbance and intimidation. It included a pathologist and quantities of body bags to preserve its evidence.

"After hours of digging, the police got frustrated. They said, 'Nobody for here. All we dey see na pipes to the soakaway. (If there is anybody buried here, we would see it before the pipe').

"When the police further interrogated Okachi, who was handcuffed throughout the digging, he told them he was confident.

"The police left the palace frustrated, without finding anybody or bodies buried at the palace as alleged by Ned Nwoko and his 'boys'. It signed a consent agreeing that it did not find anybody buried in the palace as alleged by Okachi and as reported by Ned Nwoko," the source said.

A peacemaker, Muhammed Obadimeji, has been killed while separating a fight between two men, Eniola Ayodele and Kayode Babashola, in the Dopemu area of Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Ayodele and Babashola were fighting over their girlfriend, Barakat Wasiu, when Obadimeji intervened to make peace.

While separating the rivals, it was learnt that Ayodele, who was armed with a sharp object, allegedly stabbed Obadimeji in the chest in an attempt to stab Babashola.

The impact of the stabbing made Obadimeji to fall to the ground, but as the 25-year-old was clutching on to life, some good Samaritans came to his rescue and rushed him to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, for urgent attention.

However, it was learnt that Obadimeji died in the process of being treated.

A resident of the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Obadimeji had no relationship with Barakat, but played the role of a peacemaker between Ayodele and Babashola when they were fighting, adding that he was killed in the process.

He said, “The boyfriends were fighting over the girl and the person who came to separate them was killed. One of them stabbed the person, who wanted to separate them and the injury led to his death. The man knew nothing about the fight; he wasn’t the one in a relationship with the girl; he just intervened to stop the fight and that was it.

“The girl is a teenager and somebody was killed because of her. The police have arrested the two rival men and the girl. All of them are in the police station.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that Obadimeji’s corpse was deposited in the Yaba General Hospital’s mortuary for autopsy, while the suspects had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, for discreet investigation.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, said a good Samaritan reported the incident to the police, adding that one of the rival lovers stabbed Obadimeji, while trying to separate them.

Elkana stated, “On Sunday, August 9, 2020, around 1.30pm, information was received from a good Samaritan that one Eniola Ayodele, 28, was fighting with Kayode Babashola, 31, over a girl, Barakat Wasiu, all of who stay in the same address on Momodu Street, Orile-Agege.

“During the fight, Eniola Ayodele allegedly used a sharp object to stab one Muhammed Obadimeji, 25, who was said to have come to separate them, in the chest. The peacemaker was rushed to the LASUTH in Ikeja for treatment and later died.

“A team of policemen was mobilised to the scene of the incident, where Ayodele, Babashola and Barakat Wasiu were all arrested and brought to the station. Obadimeji’s corpse has been deposited in the mortuary of the General Hospital in Yaba for autopsy. Investigation is in progress and the case has been transferred to the SCIID, Panti, Yaba, for further action.”

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday held a meeting with Governor Babagana Zulum on the security situation in his state.

Zulum, who spoke on how he escaped the attack on his convoy, however insisted on a “decisive action” to clean the Augean stable.

The President promised to take appropriate action which might involve a complete overhaul of the security apparatchik in Borno State, it was learnt.

According to findings, the President had a no holds barred meeting with Zulum to have firsthand information on the slide in counter-insurgency in the North-East, especially Borno State.

The meeting preceded that of the session the President had with the North-East governors yesterday.

According to sources, the President was shocked by security and intelligence reports on what is going on in the frontline.

One of the sources said: “The governor said all that the people of Borno State wanted is adequate security of lives and property which is waning.

“He said his people were fast losing hope that the Boko Haram insurgency can be won unless urgent action was taken.

“He also explained in details how his convoy was attacked on July 29 and the likely intelligence clues for the ambush. He explained how the state has been cooperating with the military and security agencies. It is likely that Boko Haram was not behind the attack on Zulum.

“The governor said his people are after decisive action in order to remedy the situation and for the troops to go back to their winning days.

“The President promised to take appropriate action which can salvage the situation in Borno State and other states in the North-East.

“Now, it is all about the President mustering the will power to address the challenges at hand. Another source said from the security reports available to the President, there might be a likely overhaul of the counter-insurgency operation in Borno and other parts of the North-East.

The source, who gave insights into the war against Boko Haram in Borno, said: “The real problem is that some top officers and troops have turned Baga into a cash crow by engaging in fish and livestock business. It is from the business that they are getting a lot of money.

“Baga produces 45% of the dry fish being consumed in Nigeria. It also has one of the robust fertile land in the country where tomatoes and vegetables are grown.

“Some of these officers have bought all the livestock in the area.

“Directly opposite the military barracks in Baga is a huge farmland which a top military officer admitted belongs to him.”

The highly-placed source said: “We have taken note of the assurance of the President but this action he promised is not rocket science, the President must stop some of these officers from profiting from the agony of our people.

“From the success achieved by the troops in the past few years, it will not take them more than six months to end Boko Haram insurgency if they are not distracted by fish business.”

The Federal Government has directed civil servants on Grade Levels 12 and 13 as well as those on essential duties to resume full duties.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan, gave the directive in a circular dated August 10, 2020.

The circular was titled “Resumption of officers on Grade Levels 12 and !3 and those on essential duties”.

Before now, as part efforts to curtail further spread of COVID-19, only workers on Grade Level 14 and above are resuming at their duty posts, and they only work three days in a week.

But Yemi-Esan, in the circular, added that all workers resuming for work will henceforth work from Monday to Friday and from 8 am to 4 pm.

She wrote, “Following Mr President’s approval of the recommendation of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, officers on Grade Levels 12 and 13, and those on essential services are hereby directed to be in the office every working day (Monday to Friday) with effect from Monday, August 10, 2020.

“Also, the officers and those affected by earlier circulars on resumption of duty are now to resume by 8 am and close by 4 pm daily.

“Permanent Secretaries/Chief Executive Officers are to define the officers performing essential services in their MDAs.

“However, in doing so, consideration must be given to the health implication of the number to recall for duties in the light of the extant guidelines on the measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.”

As they resume work daily, Yemi-Esan asked the officers to ensure full compliance with the directives and advice on the COVID-19 pandemic preventive measures, including maintenance of physical distancing, regular washing and/or sanitising of hands and wearing of face masks.

She added that efforts should be made to avoid overcrowding in individual offices.

“Where the number of staff resuming work is large, Permanent Secretaries/Chief Executive Officers should consider the option of duty rosters,” she added.

Trouble broke out in Ikorodu area of Lagos after a man, Adekunle Adeyemi, reportedly told their neighbours that he had been sleeping with one Mrs. Chisom, the wife of one of their neighbours, Mr. Arinze Onuoha, which resulted into a public fight and in the process, Adeyemi stabbed Mr. Arinze to death.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the incident happened at Red Block Street, Grammar School area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, where they reside.

It was gathered that when Adeyemi realised that he had murdered Mr. Arinze, he fled and since then had been on the run in order to evade arrest and not face the charge for murder.

The matter was reported to the Ikorodu Police Division by one of their neighbours, Glory Dickson, who told the Police what happened before Adeyemi stabbed Arinze to death.

This was disclosed by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bala Elkana, who confirmed that the suspect, Adeyemi is on the run after the dastardly act.

He said that the victim, Arinze Onuoha, was allegedly stabbed to death by Adekunle Adeyemi after he was accused of having affair with his wife, Chisom Onuoha.

The Police said, “A woman, Glory Dickson, came and reported that Adeyemi of the same address came to their room alleging that her husband, Stanley Dickson, told Chisom’s husband, Arinze Onuoha, that he (Adeyemi) was having an affair with his wife (Chisom).”

“This led to an argument and confrontation and in the process, Adeyemi stabbed Arinze with a knife on the left side of his chest. The victim was rushed to the Ikorodu General Hospital by sympathisers where he was confirmed dead and the corpse was brought back home.”

SP Elkana said that a team of detectives moved to the scene and the victim was found already dead lying on the floor of his apartment and further stated that the Police have since commenced investigation and have started manhunt to arrest Adeyemi, who is now at large.

He said that the Police have identified some marks of assault on the left side of the victim’s chest as his corpse was moved to the mortuary of the hospital for autopsy report.

Meanwhile, the residents were said to have deserted the compound as neighbours fled the scene of the crime in order to avoid arrest by the Police for interrogation.

By Fredrick Nwabufo


https://i0.wp.com/www.pmnewsnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Obasanjo-Top-bottom-Atiku-Peter-Odili-Ghali-Nabba.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1


Olusegun Obasanjo is a defining personality in Nigeria’s politics. For decades he has hovered like a wraith over the political cumulus. He is one of the many Nigerian leaders who have profited prodigiously from the country’s undertaking, and he has lived a lifetime on the Nigerian privilege.

Fate handed Obasanjo the brick and mortar to set Nigeria on a fine-grained foundation in 1999 – after years of military vandalism. But did he saddle up to the importunities of destiny? Well, I believe we may not be on the current trajectory as a country if Obasanjo had applied his luck judiciously. He had the chance to redefine the course of our history – even though I admit it was not all up to him – he represented an interest.

Obasanjo’s administration was like a reprise of the military era. Political assassination, a burdensome baggage of the military epoch, was rife under Obasanjo. To date, there is still no piece to the puzzle in the murder of Bola Ige and Harry Marshall – and some other politically-linked killings across the country during Obasanjo’s presidency. It was due to the ineffaceable enormity of the bloodletting that the Northern Elders Forum and the Arewa Consultative Forum asked Goodluck Jonathan to prosecute Obasanjo in 2013.

We cannot excise this chapter from our political history. It remains an eternal blot on the former president. There were also incidences where Obasanjo was summary and borderline ruthless in execution. The cases of Odi and Zaki Biam where the former president dispatched troops on a murderous mission are still a talking point. Really, I found it fiendish when Obasanjo accused President Muhammadu Buhari of tyranny while he himself had trafficked in raw autocracy.

Corruption and pursuit of vendetta were also the hallmark of the Obasanjo administration. The sale of public assets was heavily governed by insular interest. In fact, the preliminaries of the current wobbly state of the power sector were by the failed performance of that administration. The Obasanjo government reportedly cast $16 billion into the power black-hole – not one living light-bulb to show for it.

Testifying before the senate ad hoc committee investigating the privatisation of government businesses from 1999, in April 2011, Nasir el-Rufai, who was the director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) under Obasanjo, said the former president and Atiku Abubakar, his deputy, influenced the sale of public companies to their associates who did not have the wherewithal to buy them. He said the failure of the exercise was largely due to ‘’government interference’’.

“The president and I were always quarrelling over issues of privatisation. Each time I told him we have a process … that they should advise their friends to be the highest bidder,” el-Rufai said to the panel.

Perhaps, where Obasanjo chalked up notoriety is in his pursuit of vendetta. The former president is a known ‘’grudgist’’. He spares no foe – even in death. His grating ‘’condolence’’ letter on the death of Buruji Kashamu whom he knocked posthumously is the classic ‘’Obasanjo the vengeful’’. He said the late ex-senator, who was wanted in the US for alleged drug dealing, escaped justice but could not evade the sceptre of death.

I do not spar with Obasanjo over his judgment on the deceased. Hagiography is not the best way to send off any departed. Our deeds live on long after we have checked out of this plane. But I am only concerned about Obasanjo’s duplicity. His government gave evidence in the drug-dealing case against Kashamu in the UK, securing his release. And the late politician was Obasanjo’s ally until a bitter divorce owing to divergences in Ogun politics.

And while the comradeship subsisted, Obasanjo exalted Kashamu above iniquity in one of the Omo Ilu Foundation programmes of the deceased in Ogun. ‘’We appreciate all your good work. God will bless you for your good deeds,’’ he said at the event.

[b]In his pursuit of vengeance, Obasanjo ‘’retired’’ some politicians who stood in the way of his ambition. He varied with Peter Odili, former Rivers state governor, who was angling to be Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s deputy. Obasanjo preferred Jonathan – for ‘’certain reasons’’. He thwarted the mission of Odili and encumbered him with a corruption case. The Ikwerre politician procured a ‘’perpetual injunction’’ to save himself.

Also, the former president exerted himself dismantling whatever reputation Atiku Abubakar, his deputy, who challenged his second-term bid, had. He summarily costumed Atiku in a corruption garb which haunts the political future of the former vice-president to date.

Obasanjo checked Ghali Umar Na’Abba, former speaker of the House of Representatives, and Chibudom Nwuche, his deputy, out of politics after they initiated impeachment proceedings against him. He was deft in making sure they did not return to the house in 2003.

I must add, Obasanjo was able to alter the political progression of these men because their closet was not dirt-free.[/b]

Obasanjo admitted he made some mistakes, but he said they were ‘’genuine’’ omissions. “I never say that we didn’t make mistake or we are perfect, but whatever mistake we made was a genuine mistake. It wasn’t a mistake we made as a result of selfishness,” he told the Point Newspaper in an interview in July 2020.

I think, whether the mistakes were ‘’genuine’’ or not, history will be as dispassionate and grating on Obasanjo as he has been on others.

Q: How did this affect our stunted development?

A: After we fought a civil war, we came back to democracy. But those mistakes of the war threatened our democracy. The second effect was the introduction of new dimensions, new leaders, leaders who are disconnected, leaders who have no idea of the sacrifice made by our founding fathers. Even now, there is no curriculum. I understand we don’t teach history in our schools. And that is the biggest mistake because if you have no history, who will write your own history? So, we have been grappling with these problems since then because there is disconnect between our founding fathers and the young generations. And then the clamor for wealth became the main thing.

That is why I said we have been having governance issues right from 1960. In 1960, we had four governments – the Federal Government and three regions (Northern, Eastern and Western regions). By 1965, we had five governments – the Federal Government and four regions (Northern, Eastern, Western and Mid-West) but today we have 37 governments (Federal Government and 36 states). Now, we’ve been having government, whether military or civilian, for the past 60 years and, therefore, there has been leadership mismanagement of resources. We have been making budgets since 1960 to construct roads and we have not finished.

Go anywhere in the world, you don’t see government constructing new roads but maybe creating new modern highways. In Nigeria, for over 60 years we have been budgeting for health, yet malaria keeps coming and malaria is our problem. Similarly, we have made budgets for education for the past 60 years, at all levels. But look at the turn out and quality of education in our schools. But, conversely, if you look at the operators from 1966 to date, you could see the rapid and astronomical growth of individuals. The Nigerian individual can compete with anybody in the world in terms of material possession. And their lifestyle is comparable anywhere in the world.

So, it means, our primary duty of human development has been subordinated. The country has been subordinated; the operators lead while the country follows. And that is why Nigeria is a paradox: Two compelling extremes, extreme poverty and extreme wealth. The poorest man in the world is a Nigerian. Look at the smaller countries, it is because they are small and, therefore, they have human management to give benchmark.

In Nigeria, as you travel on highways, you find a fellow human who you call a mad man picking something to eat. People who you see crippled or blind, it is not their fault; it is because government has failed some 30 to 40 years back to address the root causes of those afflictions from the beginning. There was no vaccination, so there was polio. There was no good drinking water, no personal good hygiene and, therefore, people fall sick. So these things you see advertise our failure some 30 to 40 years ago.

Q: Manifestation of our failures…

A: Absolutely, they are the root causes of our failure. If the root causes have been addressed 40 years ago through good governance, provision of facilities, health, drinking water and vaccination, everything would have been addressed. So, failure to address these challenges is the biggest corruption. Failure is the corruption. And we term that as material theft. That is just one aspect of corruption. It is because the entire system is corrupted that you call it material theft. So it is because the system is corrupted that material theft becomes very visible. And, therefore, it is all about stealing money. In our personal conduct, we are corrupt. You pass by a fellow human being and you call him a mad man because he is naked or half naked, trying to pick something to eat from the dustbin and you don’t feel concerned and you say you are not corrupt. You are morally and mentally corrupt.

And, therefore, institutions supporting better lives for human beings have been truncated. In churches, mosques, board rooms, editorial boards, the character of the operators is not clear.

Q: Talking about characters, we have been entertained of recent by actors at the National Assembly on the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, probe involving the Minister of Niger Delta Ministry, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the erstwhile Managing Director, Joy Nunieh, on corruption charges leveled against the commission?

A: You see, all these are just symptoms. The question is, as you are talking to me, in all honesty, if we reflect and interrogate ourselves in terms of personal conduct, social behavior, is it normal or ideal?

Q: Are you not surprised?

A: I am not surprised. Let me tell you, you as a person, if you are put in that place, you will ‘chop money’. Because when we established these institutions, we didn’t think about how they would operate. What kind of people are you looking for? People with the right mental disposition and character… But when they lobby to get there, you find that the institution is not designed to give effect to the objective of the institution. Look at the EFCC for example, I mean the Chairman rides in bullet proof SUV, he confiscate Jeeps, tankers, etc. He is a fellow human being operating in a Nigerian environment where things are all wrong. Why do you blame suspended EFCC Chairman Magu or Minister Akpabio when a civil servant or a tax collector is expected to go to the market and collect tax but hides part of the money he collects for government?

Q: Akpabio said during the NDDC probe that Committee Chairmen collect contracts from the agency they are supposed to be supervising…

A: It is against work ethics. We are so unethical in the way we do things. Tell me anybody in Nigeria who is standing upright? Who in the Presidency?

Q: The Presidency or the President?

A: The President is only a symbol. He is perceived to be upright and perfect. And, therefore, he is seen as a shield and people are frightened and run away. But then, those behind the shield, what are they doing there? What do they do with the shield?

Q: Still on corruption, the EFCC and Ministry of Justice which ordinarily should be fighting and criminalizing corruption are ironically enmeshed in corruption allegations?

A: You once found Magu sitting next to President Buhari in a public occasion. And there is a Police Commissioner in Abuja. Magu is Deputy Commissioner of Police. In the same occasion, you found the AIG, DIG sitting far off from the President, and Magu is seated beside the President. The operators of the institutions should be anonymous. The duty of the EFCC is to investigate and prosecute. I mean they are too visible. And that, on its own, puts fear into people. And because they are feared, therefore they can do anything. If you want to buy a house in Abuja, EFCC can make a call to invite you because they are monitoring your account. As you make withdrawals, you are invited, as the owner of the property receives alert, he is invited and he would be asked how he came about the money. And then they pressure you. My pension fund account has been blocked for the past three years because they say I laundered money. This means, as far as government is concerned, I shouldn’t even eat. So, this approach which purely instills fear into people is not the proper way to fight corruption. The institution of government should not frighten the people. They should give you confidence and inspire you to do the right thing. Today in Nigeria, the culture of fear has become the new normal. Government should be compassionate, humane because they say it is for the people. Government is held in trust for the people and so therefore you don’t use power to harass and humiliate people.

Q: Despite your efforts and sacrifice you made to the development of Jigawa State, are you not worried that you are being tried for corruption?

A: That is coming in my memoir. My case of corruption is not an APC case. You will read the full details when my memoir comes out. It is a case arising from a civil war we had in PDP when I was perceived as nursing an ambition to run for the President. And I think everything was done to diminish and demean me. For instance, the DSS wrote a report that I stole N33billion in Jigawa. And they revealed this to some journalists. There was this effort to destroy me. Lamorde (former EFCC Chairman) called some members of the National Assembly and told them that I had an account in dollars in a place called Jersey. For the first time I heard about the place called Jersey from Lamorde. It’s somewhere between England and France and that it is a safe haven for laundering money. Lamorde said this. DSS said this about me. Former attorney general Adoke was also used to fight this perceived presidential ambition.

They harassed my people and officials. They picked my son at the airport who was sick and they did everything to embarrass me. They checked everything in my house. They just wanted to silence me and put me in check. That’s why they arrested my son. DSS invited about 10 of my office staff members.

So, the corruption charge against me was on account of the civil war in the PDP over presidential ambition. So, it is not an APC thing. They tried me through Dasuki money and found nothing. The money for elections, unfortunately I didn’t even see it even though I was Director of the campaign. So these are the areas the APC tried to get me and they couldn’t. But the case I am having is simply a case organized by the PDP based on my perceived ambition to put me in check and control.

Q: You are 72. You don’t look your age. You look 62…

A: All my life, I have been challenging the unchallengeable. I have overcome so many obstacles. I have met and overcome unfriendly people, not enemies. I don’t have enemies, but unfriendly people. Today, I don’t fare well if there is no crisis.

By Olalekan Bilesanmi


Remember Alhaji Sule Lamido? He was Foreign Affairs Minister under the Obasanjo administration. He later went to become a two-term governor of Jigawa State. After that, Lamido aspired to be Nigeria’s President on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. But in this interview, the veteran politician claims his quest for the presidency led to some politicians viciously coming after him. He speaks on the state of the nation.

Let’s start from the statement by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State against your party, PDP, that the NWC members are tax collectors, apparently referring to the way Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State got the ticket to contest the Sept 19 governorship election on its platform.

I don’t like discussing the specifics of the character of people. But then, for instance, if Solomon Lar, Gemade or Audu Ogbeh were the Chairman, do you think they would be called tax collectors? If Wike called them tax collectors including the Chairman, I mean the Chairman is Wike’s invention; he is Wike’s boy… In any case, if you look at the PDP as a history, heritage, institution, the party which produced three Presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, the party which produced government for 16 years, which produced so many governors and lawmakers, both at the state and federal levels, so many council chairmen and ambassadors, with this huge history behind it, and you talk about the capacity, ability, and the party is presently being led by eaglets. So, the PDP is led, at best, by what you can describe as the youth wing of the party. Whatever Wike might have said, he may not be at fault. Because…


Whatever Wike said you think isn’t a slap on the party?

Wike can be right because if you look at it and extend it from the party to Nigeria where you have institutions and the Federal Government in terms of performance, capacity and service delivery and the level of governance we have had, then you will know that Nigeria is being governed and led its second 11. On the other hand, look at the PDP which has produced the likes of Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Atiku among others, and the current leaders managing the affairs of the party, you could see obviously that the party is now being run by the eaglets of the party and not by the seniors. Secondus is a product of Wike. I am saying this with all honesty.


I mean no disrespect. And then in terms of their exposures, experience, age, certainly for them to lead a party where people like Obasanjo, Atiku and others have operated, it means people would expect high caliber leaders to tackle APC, but as it is, the two groups, the government running the country and the party as opposition, are operating at the same frequency. They are all grossly inadequate to lead Nigeria as a political party or as a government if you look at what Nigeria is in terms of our history.

As an elder statesman among others, what are you doing to change the narrative?

I agree with you that the BoT, whose members are the conscience of the party and whose integrity and political profile, should guide the party…it is so difficult to explain. We made big mistakes as PDP.

How so?

We made mistakes because who brought APC into power? So, we have a problem because I have been saying Buhari government is PDP government but deformed PDP. It’s just like me now, one part of me is deformed PDP and the other is deformed APC. So, the deformed PDP parades some of the finest leaders who the PDP honored, dignified and trusted but who went and joined the APC to defeat the PDP. Everybody at that time was angry about PDP.


So we left PDP. So, this government is a creation of the PDP. To correct the mistakes, we need to purge ourselves of the sins. Those who left PDP should also purge themselves of the sins because it all about Nigeria today.

So, it means all of us have been pursuing political and personal interests and not national interest. If you don’t get it, you can abandon the party and pursue the other party. So it means you are willing to harm Nigeria. Ideally, we should suppress our interests and rally behind Nigeria, promote Nigeria and actualize our mission. But by the time we pursue our personal interests, we are leading and Nigeria is following. And you now have insurgency, kidnapping and a country divided.


You were in government for eight years. You set up some legacy projects that should still be standing…

You see, we are not talking about me as an individual or my government but we are talking about Nigeria. The PDP did very well, the railway lines, highways, the airports. The PDP government was a government of ideas. Whatever this government is doing is all based on the foundation of the PDP. In terms of infrastructure, economy, security, bond between brothers and sisters, harmony between the regions, religions and tribe is not there anymore. It means our political chemistry is terribly distorted. We are talking in general terms, all of us, those in government, nobody is happy.


Any regret that you lost power in the state?

No, no, no. You see the people of Nigeria have the power and right to change the government as and when they want.

Whether rightly or wrongly?

The right is certified under freedom; therefore, you are free to be stupid. It’s your right to be stupid. There should be no any regret from an individual in terms of politics because the right to confer authority or withdraw it is in the people.


So, if the Nigerian people fell into the APC propaganda that for the 16 years that PDP ruled, it was all looting and nothing was done even though they found new, modern airports in Abuja, Kano, Enugu and others under Stella Oduah, highways, power projects, it is most unfortunate. So, the APC came with no ideas, the only thing they had in excess is evil. They unleashed pains on Nigerians. So, it’s for the people to make a choice, if PDP had not joined APC to support the latter in the 2015 elections, they would not have won. Recall the previous elections, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011, if you had combined all the parties together, they could not defeat PDP.


So, you don’t believe the merger of different parties that make up APC brought it to power?

No, no, no. The merger was a barren woman without PDP members coming to fertilize it. No matter what they did under the merger, there was no way they could have won the Federal Government.

What is your take on the clamor for the sack of Service Chiefs because of the deteriorating security in the country?


I don’t know why people forget so easily. You cannot build a nation if you always rely on the spur of the moment.

But the administration promised security during electioneering campaign…

What I am saying is that in 2015 when the PDP was in power, security, material corruption and economy were the main issues around which the APC build their campaign of propaganda. They said PDP members were all thieves. Even in the APC, their former Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, said if you joined the APC, the power of Buhari’s piety would wipe away all your sins. So no matter how dirty you were, how much you stole, if you joined the APC, pious Buhari will forgive you and wipe away your sins.


And if you are talking about security, what was the promise when they came? That we were insecure, that there was Boko Haram bombing and killing of people in churches and mosques. They even brought pictures from other countries just to solidify their propaganda solid. Former President Jonathan was maligned; they abused him and his wife. Things became very personal. PDP was demonized so much so that nobody wanted to associate with the party.

So, we were flushed out. You are asking me about insecurity? They failed. You put in a government that cannot secure you. So why are you telling me? Because it has even gone beyond Boko Haram, it has come to a situation where a Nigerian will steal another Nigerian and demand for ransom. Friends would connive and arrange fake kidnap. A man would attack his people, burn the entire village, kill kinsmen and rustle animals. When PDP was there, we were doing very well but then we were demonized. So why are you talking about insecurity?


Don’t you think changing the Service Chiefs can bring sanity and change the narrative against insecurity?

Today’s warfare is Hi-Tech. United States can send a drone to Lebanon to target a terrorist and kill him. That is what they call precision killing. But in Nigeria, for us to overcome Boko Haram, Army chief Buratai must go to Maiduguri. And then Buhari, a whole general, would be giving order in public. He ordered the IG to go to Gusau. And he said it in the public. That is a security issue that normally should be classified. So the security, economy and corruption they used as propaganda, it is for Nigerians to judge and see whether they are better off.


The APC in Jigawa may succeed itself as there isn’t strong opposition personality that can contest with the ruling party come 2023?

Tell me today in Nigeria one single person who gained national acceptance under APC. APC came on board on Buhari’s personal popularity. The PDP doesn’t work on individuals but collectively. We work together to put somebody there. Unlike PDP, the APC is about Buhari. Now remove Buhari from APC, after eight years, tell me who will be there? So, the PDP, either at the state or national level, is owned by the people. We brought Obasanjo in 1999, he did not win anything in the South-West but he won Nigeria. So, it is a Nigerian family working for Nigeria. So, irrespective of where he is coming from, if PDP says it is you, we must support you. So, the issue of Jigawa, it’s like the issue of PDP in Nigeria. It’s not about Sule Lamido. Sule Lamido is a personal phenomenon. And so when the time comes, the extended family will come and say “we want Mr. A or B”.


Usually, people of your standing reside in the cities and not in the village living with the locals. But here you are living in the village with your people. It looks strange.

A: Very interesting. I found your question very weird. Where was I born? I was born here in Binukudu. My daddy lived here and I grew up here as a child with my peers. So why do you think the worldly attainments or status should simply make me to be bigger than this village where I was born?


Q: You can’t be bigger than where you were born?

A: How can I be? I was born here. I mean in this village and the people knew me before I became what I became.

Q: You are a national figure…

A: I was exported from this village to the entire country. So, it means I cannot grow bigger than my village. So, whatever I am in life, my foundation and beginning was in this village. It’s my pride, history, heritage and everything. So, you think I am now what you think I am, therefore I should be living with people like you? You found me, unfinished product from this village, produced from this village. You are talking about material definition or status.


Q: Looking at when you were growing up, pre and post independence, the values and virtues your generation held dear have all been eroded, same with infrastructure and governance…

A: Our founding fathers had a dream and a vision for Nigeria. And they were colonized. And they knew the pain of being colonized, of being owned territorially. And so we were colonized and the first thing the colonialists did was to induce in us the notion and feeling that we were inferior. From there, they kind of made us feel ashamed of our tradition and culture because our way of life was different from theirs. And, therefore, they tried to convert us to their own system and way of life. So our history, tradition, culture, tribe and everything about us was destroyed. And we were psychologically also destroyed. Our founding fathers were very active on what they wanted. To them, there was nothing like North or South, Christians or Muslims, Yoruba or Hausa – Fulani because they were fighting a bigger vampire which was trying to consume us. So, the unity was total, the commitment to our independence too was total.


And the main function of any government is human development. But human development will never be complete because the more you elevate a human being, the higher he becomes aware of himself and the more he meets human development. We are pursuing perpetual perfection. If you say, for instance now, that you are contented as a human, then your life is finished because it cannot take challenges.

Shortly after our independence, there was a civil war but, at independence and there in our national anthem, there was a stanza that says “though tribes and tongues may differ in brotherhood we stand”. That stanza was fully wiped away and we went about killing each other. From there on, we got the issue of North, South, East, West and Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw and the essential thing was simply abandoned.


Q: Which was what?

A: Human development! You must be a human being before you become Hausa, Muslim or Christian. So, these manipulative differences are mere distractions from the leaders.

Civic Hive, a non-governmental organisation from BudgIT, has described the amount spent by the Federal Ministry of Health to procure face masks as alarming.

It alleged that the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, especially face masks, carried out by the Federal Ministry of Health, was questionable as the prices quoted were outrageous.

It disclosed that from information it obtained as at August 1st 2020, from the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO), the Ministry spent a total of N37m to procure 1,808 pieces of disposable face masks. In a series of tweets via its official Twitter handle, the Civic Hive stated that: “The Ministry of Health spent N37.06m on just 1,808 pieces of ordinary face masks. This brings the cost of a single mask to approximately N20, 467. This is ridiculously expensive!

“A single entity by the name Marvellous Mike Press Limited was awarded 15 out of the 29 contracts at the Federal Ministry of Health. This amounted to a sum of N444.28m.”

Speaking with The Nation, The Manager of Civic Hive, Iyanuoluwa Bolarinwa, said, “We sat down and checked the procurement site. There is a particular portal on the site that carries the emergency COVID-19 contract. We looked at it. We have been doing advocacy on how much states have spent and how much ministries are spending to do their procurement and also on the major things they have been doing concerning the whole pandemic.

“We saw that the Federal Government has released how much they have spent so far on all the contracts they have done and they also put where the funding came from for each ministry.

“For each ministry, all the things they did were itemised. What we did was we looked at all the items and we picked out all the things that were not looking so good. When I say ‘not looking so good’, it doesn’t necessarily mean that what they did was totally bad, but we were just looking at it from the angle of citizens and from what is obtainable in the market.

“We picked out 10 things that caught our attention. We saw that these 10 things were looking so exorbitant for the prices that they have been quoted. Also, we looked at the modalities of how the contracts were carried out. Out of all the projects that the Ministry of Health was in charge of, they gave 15 out of 29 to a particular company called Marvelous Mike Printing Press Limited. The total amount of contracts awarded to that company was N444 million. Is it only that company that knows how to do all of these things? Why is that company the only one they were awarding the contracts to? That got our attention for the Ministry of Health.

“N37 million was used to procure 1,808 pieces of face masks. By the time we divided the number of face masks procured with the amount that was used, totally it was almost N20, 000 per face mask. How will you say that you spent N20, 000 to procure disposable face masks?”

In response via the Federal Ministry of Health’s WhatsApp platform for journalists, the Director of Information, Media and Publicity, Olujimi Oyetomi, said, “Don’t let us reduce our noble profession of journalism to playing mischief. I will not be surprised if you come up with nothing truthful about the so-called expose. You should be able to know fake news.”

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja



Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has appointed Balaraba Ibrahim as the Special Assistant on Women Affairs (Unmarried).

This is according to a letter dated August 4, 2020, with reference number GO/SS/POL/S/83 and signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Mohammed Baba.

The letter, which was obtained by Sahara Reporters, read in part, “I am pleased to convey the approval of his Excellency Sen Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed CON, the Governor of Bauchi State, for your appointment as Special Assistant, Women Affairs (Unmarried).

“The appointment is based on your knowledge, experience and personal qualities of hard work, honesty and absolute loyalty. I would expect you to utilise all these qualities in facing the challenges of your office to facilitate the attainment of our collective goal and the expectation of our electorate.

“The terms and conditions of your appointment as enunciated in the regular government policies as applicable.”

Ibrahim is the Chairperson, Association of Divorcees in Bauchi State.

Last year, she set up counselling centres for intending couples across the state in an effort to address challenges leading to broken homes.

She told the News Agency of Nigeria that the centres would be established in partnership with Muslim and Christian clerics to prepare the minds of intending couples.

According to her, the increase in the number of young divorced girls is becoming worrisome and constitutes a menace to the society.


Ibrahim said, “We conducted a survey three months ago across the 20 local government areas of Bauchi State. According to the indicators, major causes of separation and divorce were lack of empowerment skills, unemployment, poverty and early marriage among spouses.”

Ibrahim also noted that some husbands were not discharging their marital responsibilities which, she said, included proper feeding, clothing and shelter of their spouses.

“Some of the divorcees we interviewed during our survey three months ago said that their husbands were not providing their basic needs.

“Some of them, as young as 20 years, were married off at the age of 15, while others had divorced more than 10 years ago.

“While men are not even available for marriage, those that were married could not take care of their matrimonial responsibilities.

“We will partner with clerics from both religions to embark on counselling before marriage to prepare their minds for marital life.”

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stopped telecommunications operators in the country from implementing the proposed end-user billings for the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).

This came as the telecoms regulator revised its policy on price determination for the service with a clause prohibiting the telcos from charging their customers.

NCC said the amendment was necessitated by the protracted dispute between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and financial institutions on the applicable charges for USSD services and the method of billing.

USSD, sometimes referred to as “Quick Codes”, is a communications protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator’s computers.

Recall that the telcos had, late last year, announced the implementation of end-user billing, which means that banks’ customers who use the USSD for transactions would be paying charges to their banks and the telecom operators as well.

The outrage from Nigerians over the announcement had sparked mudslinging between the telcos and the banks, but the implementation was later suspended.

In the amended ‘Determination of USSD Pricing’, which took effect from August 1, 2020, NCC stated: “MNOs must not charge the consumers directly for the use of USSD channel for financial services in the form of end-user-billing. The transaction should be between the MNOs and the entity to which the service is provided.

“All billings by MNOs for financial service using USSD code assigned to Financial Service Providers must, thereby, be implemented via the Corporate Billing model.”

NCC said the amendment also came on the heels of a recent directive by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, regarding a review of the USSD pricing by all parties involved, following a presentation made by the commission on the billing structure, determination of USSD pricing, current status and the way forward.

Speaking during the presentation, the minister had stated that he took the decision to suspend the commencement of end-user billing (where the consumers are charged directly from their airtime balance for use of USSD channels as opposed to corporate billing where the banks paid the MNOs for the use of USSD service) because he was “genuinely besieged with a barrage of complaints at the attempted commencement of end-user billing by service providers.”

The minister also clarified that “USSD is a service to banks and not to the telecom consumers, and as such, banks should see themselves as corporate customers of telecom operators with a duty to pay for using the telecom network and infrastructure, including USSD channels extended to them for service delivery to their customers.”

According to him, “MNOs have no direct relationship to bank customers, and cannot, therefore, charge directly for the usage of USSD channel.”

The USSD channel has evolved over time from a telco-exclusive channel used for only telco services such as balance inquiry and recharges to a channel for the deployment of a broad spectrum of services, including financial, insurance, agricultural, government services and more.

The use of the USSD channel has become a critical resource in the economy even more so in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic that has witnessed a rise in reliance on digital services.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, noted that the commission had, in the interest of the consumers and other stakeholders, revised the determination previously issued by removing the Price Floor and the Cap to allow the MNOs and the banks negotiate rates that will be mutually beneficial to all parties concerned.

By Tordue Salem

The House of Representatives may be in a surreptitious plot, to ram through a bill that seeks to vest the power over all water sources across the federation, in the hands of the Executive.

The Bill when first introduced last year by the Presidency had generated controversy across the country, because of its desire to have the Federal Government take charge of lands and water resources in the country.

Some commentators, thought of it as a decoy, to advance the interests of the cattle-herding population.

Even the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, had raised concerns over the piece of legislation on July 23, querying that “Is this not the same Bill that generated controversy in the Media”.

He, however, allowed it pass, when the Chairman, Rules and Business, Rep. Abubakar Fulata, convinced him otherwise.


The Bill entitled: “National Water Resources Bill, 2020”, was arbitrarily reintroduced in the Green Chamber, in breach of its rules, legislative convention and provisions of the 1999 Constitution before the House adjourned for a two-month recess on Thursday, July 23, 2020.

The reintroduced bill, though was negatived by the 8th Senate, headed by Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Rep. Yakubu Dogara-led 8th House, passed it.

But the unpopular piece of legislation hadn’t secured the concurrence of the Senate and the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari, before that Assembly elapsed in June last year.

Recall that on Thursday, July 23, 2020, the House had, referring to Order 12, Rule 18 of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, 9th Edition, passed the National Water Resources Bill, 2020 and committed it to a “Committee of the Whole”, for third reading and final passage.

The presentation of the Bill was done by the House Chairman on Rules and Business, Rep. Fulata.

The referral of the said Bill to the Committee of the Whole, however, breaches Order 12 Rule 16 of the Standing Orders of the House.

Though the Order states that such a Bill from a preceding Assembly be gazetted, and clean copies, circulated, VANGUARD investigations found that none of that was done.

Thorough investigations with the Rules and Business Committee, and interviews with some members of the House who do not want their names mentioned, found that the Bill was neither gazetted nor clean copies circulated to members, before it was committed on Thursday, July 23 for passage, in breach of the rules of the House.

Order 12 Rule 18, states: “Bills passed by the preceding Assembly and forwarded to the Senate for concurrence was made or negatived, or passed by the Senate and forwarded to the House for which no concurrence was made or negatived or which were passed by the National Assembly and forwarded to the President for assent, but for which assent or withholding thereof, was not communicated before the end of the tenure of the Assembly, the House may resolve that such Bills, upon being re-gazetted or clean copies circulated, be re-considered in the Committee of the Whole”.

Part 2, section 5(1) of the Land Use Act of 1978, states that: “It shall be lawful for the Governor in respect of lands, whether or not in urban areas, (a) to grant statutory rights of occupancy to any person for all purposes”.

Article 7, subsection 2 of the 1999 Constitution, says also grants State governors powers over land.

Highlights of Bill:

The Bill seeks to bring all water resources (surface and underground) and the banks of the water sources, under the control of the Federal Government, through its agencies to be established by the Bill.

Section 13 of the Bill, states that “in implementing the principles under subsection (2) of this section, the institutions established under this Act, shall promote integrated water resources management and the coordinated management of land and water resources, surface water and groundwater resources, River basins and adjacent marine and coastal environment and upstream and downstream interests”.

Section 2(1) of the Bill, says ” All surface water and groundwater wherever it occurs, is a resource common to all people”.

The Bill is primed for passage by the House, on their resumption from recess next month.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has revealed that the Nigerian government is about to borrow another $3billion from China.

This is coming at a time when there are controversies trailing the Federal Government’s planned securement of $500million loan from China.

The House of Representatives had raised an alarm over clauses in Article 8 (1) of the Commercial Loan Agreement signed between Nigeria and the Export-Import Bank of China.

In the said agreement, Nigeria stands to concede her sovereignty to China should there be a default in the repayment of the $400million for the Nigerian National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone phase 2 project signed in 2018.

Part of the agreement said that: “The borrower hereby irrevocably provides waives any immunity on the grounds of sovereign or otherwise for itself or its property in connection with any arbitration pursuit to Article 85 thereof with the enforcement of any arbitral award pursuit thereto except for the military asset and diplomatic asset.”

However, Amaechi, while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, explained that he told the National Assembly members not to probe the loan issue too much in order not to scare the lender.

He noted that the country might lose a chance of getting another $3billion loan which the Nigerian government planned to use in executing the rail from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.

“The reason why I said that is because we have already applied for $5.3billion to execute the rail from Ibadan to Kano. We are about applying for about $3billion to execute the rail from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.

Amaechi, however, stated that the lawmakers approved the loans that have generated many controversies.

He wondered why the same lawmakers who approved the loan were now questioning the same loan and the terms of the loan having looked at it before.

“Don’t forget the National Assembly approved that loan. It is unconstitutional and impeachable if you take a loan without the approval of the National Assembly. So the same National Assembly that approved the loan is now questioning the same loan and the terms of the loan having looked at it before.

“If I am the lender, I will be worried. If they get worried, they will say ‘No, we will not approve the remaining loans you have applied for,” he said.

Since its inception, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has recorded shocking, unending fights among appointees, especially Ministers and Heads of Departments and agencies.

While many Nigerians have expressed worries over this ugly trend, the unending fights among the appointees have become a sort of distraction to governance and the administration.

1. Godswill Akpabio Vs Joi Nunieh

The fight between the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, and former Acting Managing Director, Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ms. Gbene Joi Nunieh, sparked up controversies.

Akpabio, had in a live programme, sternly responded to claims of abuse of office by Nunieh against him, describing the NDCC’s erstwhile boss as “too temperamental to be responsible” after an attack on her marital life.

Nunieh alleged: “Nobody makes any payment in NDDC without Godswill Akpabio’s approval.

“When we first came, on the day of the inauguration, he said to me in the car, ‘Madam MD’, if you don’t do what I say, the same pen with which I used to sign your paper, is the same pen I will use to remove you.”

They exchanged rounds of fierce brickbats with very troubling details for which the NDDC has become a source of probes in the National Assembly.

2. NIPOST (Maimuna Abubakar) vs FIRS

The leadership of Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) and the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) traded words over jurisdiction in respect of stamp duty collection.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Postal Service, Maimuna Abubakar took to twitter to allege FIRS stole the mandate of NIPOST.

The NIPOST chairman said the FIRS, which is the agency responsible for assessing, collecting and accounting for tax accruing to the Federal Government, had begun printing stamps. She also alleged FIRS did not only steal NIPOST’s stamps but also its ideas.

FIRS, in its rejoinder, countered NIPOST and faulted claims of Maimuna Abubakar. It said: “To be sure, NIPOST is a government parastatal established by Decree 41 of 1992 with the function to develop, promote and provide adequate and efficiently co-ordinated postal services at reasonable rates.

“On the other hand, the FIRS is the sole agency charged with the responsibility of assessing, collecting, and accounting for all tax types including Stamp Duties.”

3. Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa vs Isa Pantami

Few months ago, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, engaged in war of words over office space.

NIDCOM, an agency of the Federal Government, lacked office space for about a year but was offered a space by the Nigerian Communications Commission, an agency under Pantami’s ministry.

Dabiri-Erewa took to twitter to accuse the Minister of ordering armed men to chase away her staff from the office, an allegation Pantami denied.

The matter degenerated with the NIDCOM CEO accusing the Minister of being disrespectful to women while the minister called the NIDCOM boss a liar.

She wrote: “An Islamic scholar should not lie. Hon minister (Phd), you did that to me because I am a woman. Your disrespect for women is legendary. Left the ugly incident behind me since February. But please, release all our office equipment. Public office is transient.”

In response, Pantami wrote: “This is a fat lie from her. The owner of the building @NgComCommission has faulted her lies on their social media platforms.

“The Minister has never given that directive to any gunman. We need to be very objective in reporting. I have never sent any gunmen there, and I have no one.”

4. Ibrahim Magu Vs Abubakar Malami

A perceived silent war and tussle between the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, and suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, became noticeable after the former’s allegations against Mgau.

In the past weeks, Magu has been appearing before Justice Ayo Salami-led presidential panel investigating corruption allegations against him. Magu was allegedly petitioned by Malami and the Department of State Service (DSS).

Malami’s memo allegedly accused Magu of diversion of recovered loot.

5. Hajiya Zainab Ahmed Vs Saleh Mamman

A case between Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed and Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, over the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), Marilyn Amobi led to a war of words.

Zainab had reinstated Ms Marylin Amobi as Chief Executive Officer of the NBET and inaugurated the board of the agency recently moved to her ministry by President Buhari.

The reinstatement was seen as an affront against her counterpart, Mamman, who had on two separate occasions recommended Amobi’s sack.

by Haleem Olatunji


The federal ministry of health awarded 15 out of 29 COVID-19 contracts to a single company, a report by CivicHive of BudgIT, a non-governmental organisation, has revealed.

The 15 contracts worth N444.28 million were awarded to Marvelous Mike Press Limited.

This information is contained in a report released by CivicHive of BudgIT, an organisation focused on transparency and good governance.

In a series of tweets on Monday, CivicHive said a sum of N3.03 billion has been spent by seven government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) on COVID-19 contracts.

It identified several “inflated payments” for the different contracts, which it attributed to closed procurement process.

The report states that N489.14 million was spent by the ministry of health on COVID-19 contracts.

It said Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital spent N2.72 million, while Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, spent N45.34 million.

The federal ministry of health was said to have disbursed N970.25 million which was sourced from the COVID-19 intervention fund, and over 50 percent of this fund was given to Marvelous Mike Press Limited, according to the report.

It said Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, spent N106.72 million, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) spent N1.17 billion, while the ministry of interior and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) spent N250 million on COVID-19 contacts.

The organisation queried the acquisition of a Prado jeep, purchased by the NCDC at the rate of N39.75 million, saying the health agency owes Nigerians an explanation on the purpose of the vehicle amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The report revealed that the federal ministry of health expended N37.06 million on 1,808 pieces of face masks at the rate of N20,467 per one.

“What is the use of a Prado Jeep in the middle of a pandemic? The NCDC needs to explain to the general public what it was meant for,” the tweet read.

“The Ministry of Health spent N37.06m on just 1808 pieces of ordinary face masks. This brings the cost of a single mask to approximately N20,467. This is ridiculously expensive!

“A single entity by the name Marvellous Mike Press Limited was awarded 15 out of the 29 contracts at the Federal Ministry of Health. This amounted to a sum of N444.28m.

“How does Federal Medical Centre Abeokuta award contracts amounting to N106.72m without a contractor? Are the projects fixing themselves?”

The report stated that NCDC spent N43.87 million on supplying 2,240 pieces of face masks and N49.8 million on personal protective equipment (PPEs), without sufficient description of the items purchased with the funds.

It accused most of the MDAs of not being transparent in their procurement process, adding that the projects would have been competitive if made open.

“NCDC spent N49.8m on PEPs without proper descriptions of things bought with the funds. We do not have a proper record of how much was spent on what. This appears to secretive,” it read.

“A sum of N43.87m was spent to supply 2240 pieces of facemasks by NCDC. FMC Abakaliki bought and installed a 100KVA Generator without a contractor!

“The Ministry of Interior spent N18m on the purchase of 10,000 milliliters per kilogram for liquid soap.

“The University of Abuja Teaching hospital took the delivery of medical supplies specifically for the isolation center ranging to N34.86m. Till now, we do not know exactly what was supplied to the center.

“Most of the MDAs involved do not make public their procurement process. We believe this would have been competitive if all projects we made open to all. With the way things are, it is nearly impossible to seek transparency and accountability.”

Customers are paying more on loans and getting less on deposits from commercial banks, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) report has said.

They paid between 15.01 per cent and 30.70 per cent on borrowed funds but the interest paid on their term deposits dropped by 1.46 per cent to 6.27 per cent, the CBN’s economic report for the first quarter of the year shows.

The report released at the weekend, indicated that the average prime and maximum lending rates rose by 0.02 per cent point and 0.47 per cent point, respectively, to 15.01 per cent and 30.70 per cent, in the review period. The percentage were above their levels in the preceding quarter.

The average prime and maximum lending rates stood at 29.98 per cent and 14.99 per cent respectively in the fourth quarter of last year.

The rising lending rates, analysts said, have led to upward pressure on market rates and cost of production for the manufacturing sector.

The CBN observed that despite the rise in lending rates, banks were paying less deposit interest to depositors. The average term deposit rate fell by 1.46 percentage points to 6.27 per cent. The spread between the average term deposit and average maximum lending rates widened by 1.93 per cent points to 24.43 per cent points.

The margin indicated that customers are paying 24.43 per cent higher fee than they are getting from banks.

However, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which is the benchmark for interest rate at which the CBN lends to the commercial banks, is currently at 12.5 per cent.

Despite the rise in lending rates, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele said aggregate domestic credit (net) grew by 5.16 per cent in June 2020 compared with 7.47 per cent in May 2020.

The total gross credit in Nigeria rose by N3.33 trillion from N15.56 trillion at end-May 2019 to N18.90 trillion at end-June 2020.

These credits were largely recorded in manufacturing, consumer credit, general commerce, and information and communication and agriculture, which are productive sectors of the economy.

The CBN said the the rise in interest rate reflected liquidity in the system. It explained that the inflation rate of 12.26 per cent for March 2020 resulted in negative real rates for deposits, but positive real rates for the prime and maximum lending rates.

“With the headline inflation at 12.26 per cent in March 2020, all deposit rates remained negative in real terms, while prime and maximum lending rates were positive in real term,” the report said.

Continuing, the report showed that money market rates were generally stable and moved in tandem with the level of liquidity in the first quarter of 2020. Daily interbank call and Open Buy Back (OBB)-discountable securities traded in the Nigerian Inter- Bank financial transactions- rates ranged from five per cent to 7.24 per cent and 1.77 per cent to 21.02 per cent, respectively.

The average interbank and OBB rates were 10.68 per cent and 12.08 per cent, respectively. Other rates, such as the seven-day and thirty-day Nigerian Inter-bank Offered Rate (NIBOR) traded at 11.74 per cent and 9.81 per cent, respectively.

The Federal Government expended about N523.3 million on school feeding programme during the lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (MHADMSD), Sadiya Farouq, announced this at the Presidential Taskforce briefing on COVID-19 on Monday in Abuja.

Farouk made the revelation against the rumours and speculations going around one of our key interventions of the government – the Home Grown School Feeding Programme.

She said that the programmed was modified and implemented in three states following a March 29th, Presidential directive.

“It is critical at this juncture to provide details that will help puncture the tissue of lies being peddled in the public space.

“The provision of ‘Take Home Rations’, under the modified Home Grown School Feeding programme, was not a sole initiative of the MHADMSD.

“The ministry, in obeying the Presidential directive, went into consultations with state governments through the state Governor’s Forum, following which it was resolved that ‘take-home rations’, remained the most viable option for feeding children during the lockdown.

“So, it was a joint resolution of the ministry and the state governments to give out take-home rations.

“The stakeholders also resolved that we would start with the FCT, Lagos and Ogun states, as pilot cases,’’ the minister said.

According to her, each takes home ration was valued at N4,200 and that the figure was arrived at with proper consultation.

The minister said that the figure generated from statistics provided by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN)

“According to statistics from the NBS and CBN, a typical household in Nigeria has 5.6 to six members in its household, with three to four dependents.

“So, each household is assumed to have three children.

“Based on the original design of the Home Grown School Feeding programme, long before it was domiciled in the ministry, every child on the programme receives a meal a day.


“The meal costs N70 per child.

“When you take 20 school days per month, it means a child eats food worth N1,400 per month.

“Three children would then eat food worth N4,200 per month and that was how we arrived at the cost of the ‘take-home ration’.

“The agreement was that the federal government will provide the funding while the states will implement.

“To ensure transparency in the process, we partnered with the World Food Programme (WFP) as technical partners.’’

She said that her ministry invited government agencies like the EFCC, CCB, ICPC, DSS and some NGOs to monitor the process.

“TrackaNG monitored and gave daily updates validating the programme.

“In the FCT, 29,609 households were impacted, 37,589 households in Lagos and 60,391 in Ogun, making a total of 124,589 households impacted between May 14, and July 6.

“If 124,589 households received take-home rations valued at N4,200, the amount will be N523,273,800.

The government, then, directed that all workers in the factory, should exit the premises and later locked all the gates and sealed off the factory.

The Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dr Bashir Olanrewaju, told journalists and ministry officials, numbering five that they were held hostage by the factory management.

Recalled that Richard Gbadebo, a 300-level student of the Department of European Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, died in an industrial accident on Monday.

The 21-year-old Richard was said to have died after he fell into the factory’s soap-making machine. The deceased student was said to be on a night shift.

Nylon was said to have rolled round his hand and in the process of trying to detach himself, the nylon drew him into the machine, which was said to have crushed him.

The mild drama occurred, when officials of the Department of Pollution Monitoring and Quality Control of the ministry, led by Dr Olanrewaju, got to the factory at Oluyole Estate Extension, to seal it to pave way for investigation.

It was learnt some of the workers resisted government’s move by holding them hostage for about 30 minutes, before the State Commissioner of Police, Nwachukwu Enwonwu, intervened and got them released.

Olanrewaju said: “The intention was to talk to them, not necessarily to disgrace them, as they need to be producing under a very safe environment. It was also to investigate to know how it actually happened, with a view to preventing such in the future.”


“But the management resisted our men, when we got there. We were held hostage. I was one of those held hostage. We invited the police and we were rescued, when the police came. Immediately, we called the police and they rescued us.”

“We are conducting investigation. After that, we will decide the next line of action to determine their culpability, whether the accident was preventable or not preventable, whether they made some mistakes and how the mistakes could have been prevented,” he explained.

The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Bauchi State is planning to recall former speaker Yakubu Dogara from the House of Representatives.

Dogara last week dumped the PDP, for the second time and returned to the All Progressives Congress.

The move angered the PDP hierarchy both in Bauchi and at the national level.

Now a chieftain of the party in Bauchi has revealed the next move against Dogara, who is representing Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa constituency.

Malam Bibi Dogo, disclosed that stakeholders from the party will soon ask the leadership of the House of Representatives to declare Dogara’s constituency seat vacant.

The PDP chieftain said that the people of Bogoro, Dass and Tafawa Balewa federal constituency who elected Dogara on the platform of PDP were no longer comfortable with being “totally eclipsed” in the House.

“The constituents do not know any convincing reason why their elected representative in the National Assembly defected to APC as Dogara did not consult them before his defection.

“I hereby call on the House of Representatives leadership to quickly declare Dogara’s seat vacant to enable the constituents elect a capable replacement.”

He explained that in view of Dogara’s inability to consult his constituents before defecting to APC, the constituents would soon commence the process for Dogara’s recall, declaring that the people will not condone political indiscipline.

Dogo submitted that the reasons stated by Dogara in the resignation letter he sent to his PDP ward chairman are nothing but flimsy excuses.

Dogo claimed Dogara has lost his political relevance, and his return to APC will spell doom and help in the final burial of APC not only in Bauchi State but Nigeria in general.

Dogo noted that Dogara had made three defections in recent times.

Dogara moved from PDP to APC ahead of the 2015 general elections, moved again from APC to PDP ahead of 2019 general election and now moved again from PDP to APC.

“His jumping from party to party smacks of political indiscipline but you know that a rolling stone gathers no moss. Unfortunately, he lacks the political discipline to be trusted with any public office in Bogoro, Dass and Tafawa Balewa.

“How can you trust a man whose only political antecedent is jumping from one party to another? The PDP will soon take a drastic action to ensure Dogara is recalled”, he said.

Dogo spoke with Daily Trust.

Recalling an elected member is a complicated process.

It starts with a petition to INEC signed by more than 50 percent of registered voters in the constituency.

INEC will notify the elected person being recalled and then move to verify the signatures on the petition.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said that Nigeria is already repaying China loans.

Amaechi stated this when he appeared on a live television programme (Democracy Today) aired on AIT on Saturday.

He said, out of the $500m loan the federal government took to build the Abuja-Kaduna rail line, $96m has been paid, adding that Nigeria has capability to pay all the China loans.

“We are paying the loans.

“In the same National Assembly sitting, they were told that the $500million loan, we have paid $96m already.

“Nigeria is already paying and the $500m was not taking by us, it was taken by President Goodluck Jonathan in his term and that clause was there,” he said.

He said the excitement about the immunity clause is misplaced as it was just a clause that protects China money.

“Anybody that is saying he doesn’t know what a sovereign guarantee or immunity is, too bad for the person, because it simply means in trade that I am not giving you this loan free of charge, just like you go to the bank to collect a loan, the moment you don’t pay they go after your assets you put down.

“That is all about the clause, the Chinese can never come and take over Aso rock and become President or Minister,” he said.

The House of Representatives, in their probe of Chinese loans to Nigeria, found that the agreements ceded Nigeria’s sovereign right on the assets financed by the loans to China if there was payment default.

This findings have been generating reactions from Nigerians all through the week. But he said all the conditions that Nigeria signed on the loans was approved by the National Assembly, hence the probe was unnecessary.

Amaechi said it would be unconstitutional to take a loan not approved by the National Assembly, but for the issue of confidentiality in government he would have published the clauses generating the dusts.

“The National Assembly are aware of all these loans. “We can’t take loan without the National Assembly.

“So, ask why they are investigating? “The Chinese is just asking us to show them the evidence that we will pay back which is the immunity clause.

“If we don’t pay, they can take back their assets,” he noted.

A Nigerian, Mr Gabe Okoye, is on the ballot in a forthcoming Democratic Party’s senatorial primary runoff election in the U.S.

Okoye, who hails from Enugwu-Aguleri, in Anambra, is seeking the main opposition party’s ticket for the Nov. 3 general election into the Georgia State Senate to represent District 9.

Okoye, who is a chieftain of the party in the state, faces a black female challenger, Nikki Merritt, in the second round scheduled for Aug. 11.

They both advanced to the runoff stage after defeating a third aspirant, Cheryle Moses, in the first round of the primary held on June 9.

The winner will face the incumbent, Sen. Peter Martin, a Republican, who has been representing the district since 2015 and is seeking a fourth term.

Okoye is currently a Planning Commissioner in Gwinnett County, the second-most populous local government in Georgia, and is the first black man to serve as a commissioner in the county’s 202-year history.

The civil engineer and founder of Georgia-based construction firm, Essex Geoscience, also currently serves on the Executive Committee Board of the Gwinnett and state chapters of the Democratic Party.

Among other goals, Okoye is seeking to capture the District 9 seat from the Republican Party, which has held it for over 30 years, “with nothing to show for it”.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that he was also aspiring to give the black community in Gwinnet County, his base, a strong voice at the state level.

In these regards, the senatorial hopeful carved a niche for himself while serving as the Democratic Party chairman in the local government between 2016 and 2018.

As of the time he emerged the party chairman in 2016, Gwinnett was a Republican stronghold, with only five of the 25 elected officials in the county being Democrats.

However, the tide turned when Okoye led the party into the 2018 mid-term elections and recorded historic wins.

They captured 13 elected offices, including the majority of Gwinnett seats in the Georgia state legislature, from the Republicans, who currently hold only seven positions.

The Democratic Party swept the two county commission seats that were up for election and also took one of the two School Board seats contested for.

Also, the party reclaimed the office of the Solicitor General of the county after decades in the hands of the Republicans.

“Under my leadership of the party, we elected the first black commissioner, first black school board member, and also the first black Solicitor-General of the county in its 200-year history as of 2018.

“The Democratic Party also produced the first black state judge from this county under my watch,” Okoye told NAN.

In recognition of these historic achievements in Gwinnett, the Georgia House of Representatives in Resolution 313 of 2019, designated Nov. 6 of that year as Gabe Okoye Leadership Day.

The resolution partly read: “Gwinnett County is the most diverse and the second largest county in the State of Georgia, but this diversity was not reflected in the county’s leadership.

“Gabe Okoye exhibited great leadership in mobilising and educating the various 9communities of Gwinnett County on the fundamental right to vote.

“He worked hard to help make the leadership of the county more inclusive, and the result of his hard work was made manifest during the general election on Nov. 6, 2018.

“Therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives that the members of this body commend Gabe Okoye and recognise Nov. 6, 2019, as Gabe Okoye Leadership Day in Gwinnett County.”

Okoye moved to the U.S. in 1981, and has been residing in Lawrenceville, a suburb of Atlanta and headquarters of Gwinnett County, since 1992.

On arrival in the U.S., he started life as a security guard, worked his way through college to become a licensed civil engineer, and later became an established Essex Geoscientist.

Married and blessed with four “grown and successful children’’, Okoye believes he has realised his American dream, and is fighting for others to realise theirs.

“Therefore, I will give a fearless, strong voice to the silent majority in our district and our county in general,’’ he said on his campaign website.

A former Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation – Americas (NIDOA), Okoye told NAN that another of his main objectives was to bring the Nigerian community into the mainstream of U.S. politics.

Okoye, who represented Nigerians in the Diaspora at the 2014 National Conference in Abuja, decried the absence of his fellow countrymen in the U.S. political and civic space, in spite of their enormous contributions to the country’s development.

“What we Nigerians do here is to attend our various ethnic meetings and then go home.

“Our people don’t mix with the main stream of this country, and I think it is wrong.

“I also think that we are not leading our children the right way. We should clear the way for them into the American politics.

“We don’t hear our names in the political lexicon of this area. I want to encourage our children to go into politics,’’ he told NAN.

The price of Nigerian grown wheat has risen by 33 per cent due to the low production volumes of the product.

The rise in the cost of wheat may lead to increase in the prices of bread and other pastries. Wheat is the major raw material for flour used in baking.

It was gathered from the Wheat Growers Association of Nigeria that the projected price of the product was N180,000 per metric tonne at the beginning of the planting season.

However, due to the COVID-19 containment measures that affected the harvest process and led to the loss of the product by farmers, the price had increased to N240,000 per metric tonne.

The President of the association, Salim Muhammad, who spoke with The PUNCH explained that the spread of the coronavirus started during the harvest period of wheat planted by farmers.

“We set a price of N180,000 per metric tonne but the market demand raised the price to N240,000 per metric tonne, which the off-takers are not willing to accept,” Muhammad explained.

According to him, the inability of farmers to harvest products on time led to losses.

He added that farmers were unable to meet market demand for the product.

Muhammad said, “The virus started spreading during our harvest period and it could not allow farmers to have access to their farms due to restriction in movement and lockdown.

“It did not allow the farmers to get the labour they needed because of the social gathering restriction put in place.”

He explained that birds, insects and the weather had destroyed some of the ripe wheat that couldn’t be harvested on time.

“The farmers who were able to harvest successfully did not have access to market because of the lockdown,” Muhammad said.

He said the association had made projections for 34,000 metric tonnes of wheat based on 11,185 farmers approved by the CBN but unfortunately due to the restricted movement, the group could not ascertain the volume of harvested wheat.

Muhammad said from all indications, the hike in price would trickle down to millers, bakers and consumers.

Wheat is important to the diet of many Nigerians as it is a major component of wheat flour, pasta, bread, dough, noodles and spaghetti, among others.

Meanwhile, the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers in Lagos State are also complaining of a hike in the rates of baking materials, including flour, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the group, a bag of flour that cost N9,000 before COVID-19 crisis, now goes for N13,000.

The association explained that the instability of foreign exchange, high cost of diesel and other baking materials, were reasons given by flour millers for the hike in the prices of baking materials.

The hike in price of wheat-based staples also pushed up food inflation rate as seen in the inflation figures for June 2020.

In June, the year-on-year food inflation increased by 0.14 per to 15.18 per cent while the monthly component rose by 0.06 per cent to 1.48 per cent as the highest price increases were recorded for bread and cereals, potatoes, yams and other tubers.

Data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that durum wheat flour and seeds were some of the major agricultural products imported in the first quarter of the year.

The data showed that durum wheat valued at N127.85bn was imported from the United States, Latvia, Canada, Argentina, Russia and Lithuania.

This is an indication that the value of wheat imports grew by 22 per cent between January and March 2020 compared with Q1 2019 imports from Argentina, Canada, Russia, United Arab Emirates and US valued at N105.113bn.

Forecast made by the Food and Agricultural Organisation indicated that wheat imports by Nigeria this year could reach 4.8 million tonnes but could be affected by the sharp depreciation in naira and falling foreign exchange reserves.

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee, Mai Mala Buni, said on Thursday that the purported 2023 presidential ticket of a former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara was mere rumor.

Buni, who is also the Yobe State governor, said the APC would spring a surprise in the September governorship election in Edo State.

Speaking in an interview on the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation monitored in Kaduna on Thursday, Buni said the APC would coast to victory in the Edo poll.

When asked whether it is true that Dogara joined the party so that Tinubu/Dogara would contest to have Muslim/Christian ticket, Buni said, “These are mere rumour and rumor strive in democracy. That’s not even our concern for now. It is not even proper to start talking about 2023 when we have a seating President.

“People are surprise when Dogara joined us(APC). That’s how we will continue to spring surprises. In democracy, people talk but 2023 is not even our priority now. We are working towards uniting the party.”