₦airaland Forum

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKSEP 10, 2015

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested Mr.Albert Okumagba, Group Managing Director (GMD), BGL Plc, a financial services company, for offences bordering on stealing and obtaining money by false pretences.

The 51-year-old, who hails from Delta State, was picked up late Wednesday, September 9, 2015, by operatives of the EFCC. His arrest was triggered by investigation into a petition submitted to the anti-graft agency by the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC, in May, 2015.

The suspect is alleged to have diverted the sum of N28.9billion being proceeds of private placements of 4.3 billion ordinary shares of 50k each at N7.00k per share in 2007.

The company, whose subsidiaries include BGL Capital, BGL Private Equity, BGL Security and BGL Asset Management, allegedly lured 50 investors from across the country into subscribing to the company’s shares, promising them options of liquidity and exit within two years.

The liquidity and exit options offered the investors, which were contained in its memorandum of private placements, implies that the investors would get value for their investments through one of its subsidiaries, BGL Securities Limited.

But BGL moved the sum of N28.9billion to an offshore account belonging to one of its subsidiaries, BV1 Club 1, British Virgin Island.

The suspect was also said to have refused the investors the opportunity to liquidate their assets as promised.

Investigation also revealed that though the suspect allegedly promised the investors that BGL would be listed on the SEC via an Initial Private Offer, IPO, within 24 months after the private placements was concluded in 2008, it, however, turned out to be a ruse.
EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/09/10/efcc-arrests-md-bgl-albert-okumagba-over-n289bn-fraud

BY ILESANMI OMABOMI SEP 09, 2015

We have been told that President Muhamadu Buhari (PMB) is shopping for fearless and corruption free judges who will adjudicate matters in the proposed anti-corruption court that his government is planning to establish, either as new courts or as specialized divisions within the existing High Court system. These judges and courts are expected to speedily but fairly try corruption cases that will be brought before them as against the existing system where court cases go stale and eventually disappear.

We have also heard from every one of the country’s anti-corruption agencies that the main reason for the slow pace of prosecution of corruption cases in the country has to do with some judges accepting bribes and refusing to move cases forward. I believe Nigerians generally agree with this observation. However, what Nigerians, including myself, do not understand is why anti-corruption agencies that were established to fight corruption appear to be lacking the competence and expertise to go after corruption in our judicial system. After all, judges do not enjoy immunity.

Whenever these anti-corruption agencies are confronted with questions as to why corrupt judges are still operating in the country’s judicial system their common reply has been “we need evidence to move against them” I can factually establish here in this article that the lack of evidence is not the reason why the anti-corruption agencies are not going after corrupt judges. I will cite one incontrovertible example involving a case where the hunter became the hunted.

In 2014, Justice Gladys Olotu of the Federal Court was prematurely retired for a list of offences including ownership of the following assets listed below:

Shares in Ossimo Investments Limited, a private family company. As at December 31, 2012, her estimated value of investment in the company was put at N825 million;
Shares in Unity Nominees Limited, a private family Company valued at N165 million as at December 31, 2012;
1, 030 units of shares in GTB; 20, 890 units of shares in Oando. She is also alleged to be a partner in Investment Company Limited, which has shares in Access Bank, First Bank, GTB, Julius Berger Nigeria, Oando and UBA;
An uncompleted three-bedroom Town House located at City Scope, Lagos. Property valued at N20 million was acquired in 2006; a four-bedroom bungalow located at Karshi, Nasarawa State, acquired from the Nigerian Navy in 2009 valued at N10 million; a plot of land at Kjah Nasarawa State valued at N2.5 Million in 2010; a plot at Kuruduma Abuja acquired in 2012 for N2.8 million;
Six plots of land at Ogba Village, Benin, Edo state for N480, 000 in 2005; three plots of land located at Oben Village, Benin valued for N2.2 million; blocks of 4 six-bedroom flats acquired in 1979 valued for N16 million; one uncompleted twin 5-bedroom duplex, via a Lagos State government allocation for N10 million; one block of 4 three-bedroom flats via Edo State Government Allocation valued at N10 million; and
A plot of land at Guduwa Estate acquired in 2001 via FCDA allocation for N800, 000; a plot of land located at Lugbe, Abuja for N200, 000 and a plot of land at Ugbor, Edo State acquired via Edo State Government allocation for N600, 000.

The above allegations did not come from anywhere else but from Nigeria’s supposedly leading and world renowned anti-corruption agency, the EFCC. Justice Olotu’s retirement in March 2014 was based on the “establishment” of the above allegations against her by the EFCC. As I write this article no single criminal charge has been proffered against Justice Olotu, nor has a single kobo been recovered from her unexplained wealth despite the EFCC having civil forfeiture laws at its disposal. In fact, it was Justice Olotu who turned around and sued the EFCC and the federal government over her retirement. That matter is still before the courts and the same corrupt judges who would not want to set a precedent against a federal judge who was prematurely retired for having an unexplained net worth of over N2billion.

From the above it should be clear to the average Nigerian that EFCC’s failure to arrest and prosecute corrupt judges has got nothing to do with the lack of evidence. In an era of “change” when the EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies appear to have woken up from their long slumber, all Nigerians read about are “invitations” and “investigations”. We hardly read about prosecutions and convictions of the movers and shakers of Nigeria’s criminal world. This so called war against corruption is the only modern day war without casualties! When can Nigerians awake to the news of the arrest of scores of judges across the country and the television sets filled with images of judges in handcuffs and being herded into Black Marias? This is how you fight serious crime around the world. Inviting judges for questioning and investigating them in perpetuity does not stop or reduce corruption in the judiciary. What does is the arrest, prosecution and jailing of judges like Gladys Olotu.

Following the dismissal of charges against James Ibori by now retired Justice Marcellus Awokulehin and the issuance of perpetual injunction restraining the EFCC from ever investigating, arresting or prosecuting the former governor of Rivers States Peter Odili, the husband of Justice Mary Odili now of the Supreme Court, many Nigerians felt the decisions were purchased probably for billions of Naira and both judges would have been involved in the shady deals. However, we did not have hard evidence. But if the absence of hard evidence is the reason why our judiciary continues to be littered with corrupt judges, why has the EFCC not commenced the prosecution of Justice Gladys Olotu almost two years after “establishing” serious allegations against her?

Despite constant denials, Nigerians always knew before now that the EFCC could only prosecute those the government wanted it to prosecute. We also know that corrupt judges have not helped matters. However, the EFCC must look at itself in the mirror and ask: are we doing our best to fight corruption in the judiciary in particular and Nigeria in general? An honest answer should be a resounding NO.

In addition to its lack of “liver” in going after the most corrupt in the society and using them as examples, the EFCC has also demonstrated a lack of competence and holistic perspective of the legal terrain in which it is conducting its war. Few examples will suffice.

EFCC demonstrated its myopic vision of the intersection between the ability to conduct criminal investigations and prosecutions when the court issued a perpetual injunction restraining the EFCC from ever investigating Peter Odili. A competent anti-corruption agency and its lawyers would have immediately seen the dangers inherent in the precedent’s effects on its ability to investigate and fight corruption in the country and then fought the issue all the way to the Supreme Court and the National Assembly. But not this EFCC! Despite allegedly looting Rivers State of hundreds of billions of Naira Peter Odili is a free man because the court said the EFCC cannot touch him. My view of perpetual injunction against a law enforcement agency is that of an absurdity. A court cannot, with all due respect, perpetually prevent a lawfully constituted body from carrying out its responsibilities. That will be a recipe for anarchy. If the EFCC made a mistake then it can correct the mistake now. The DSS or FIRS which were not covered by the injunction as they were not parties to the process can commence new investigations of theft and tax evasion against Peter Odili and let him raise the issue of the perpetual injunction as a defense. This will provide the government a fresh opportunity to legally attack the fraudulent concept of perpetual injunctions within our legal system under the current political climate. Corrupt judges are the traders in the market where perpetual injections are sold.

Another area where the EFCC has demonstrated incompetence or sheer fraudulent connivance with corrupt judges and the accused persons is in the nature of the charges it laws. Why the EFCC will lay money laundering charges against a person accused of stealing billions of Naira is beyond my imagination. This is because upon conviction for money laundering as a crime the judge has the option of imposing a fine rather than jail time. The fine is a set amount and not a multiple of the stolen amount or in addition to jail time. The facts underlying most money laundering charges will also support fraud, theft and other charges that carry minimum jail terms. Only the EFCC can explain why it sometimes opens this prosecutorial loophole for judges and accused persons. Before the EFCC claims innocence or naivety it should explain to Nigerians why it is not resorting to civil forfeiture laws in cases where an accused who stole billions has been fined a paltry sum in exchange for not going to jail even after its attention has been drawn to such a possibility? If we cannot send looters to jail at least we should be able to get our money back.

As much as I support the contention and legal provision that every citizen should assist law enforcement agencies in solving crimes, my position is that a person facing potential criminal charges does not have an obligation to assist the EFCC in solving the crime he/she is accused of because the right to remain silent or not to incriminate oneself is superior to the duty to assist in solving crimes. It still baffles me that we have not seen cases of those invited for questioning by the EFCC not refusing to speak upon honoring the invitation to appear because the EFCC has no right to compel a potential accused to speak. Imagine a situation where millions or billions have been traced to an account belonging to an individual or company that has not establish the accumulation of such money through income or corporate tax payments and other empirical methods and there are laws providing for the forfeiture of such monies. Should the next step not be the arrest and prosecution of such individual or company rather than invitation and investigation?

Corrupt judges are not just going to disappear from our judicial system simply because the EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies are crying complaining. The benefits accruing from the judges’ malfeasance and betrayal of oath of office are too juicy to give up for simple rantings that carry no consequences. Like leaches, these corrupt judges will tenaciously glue themselves to the system and continue to suck on it until they are violently and mercilessly yanked off and destroyed. This is the lesson the EFCC must imbibe if it is to make any headway in the fight to rid our judicial system of corrupt judges.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/09/09/hello-efcc-why-are-corrupt-judges-not-jail-ilesanmi-omabomi

Closure of ChamsCity: Death of entrepreneurship, innovation

By Emeka Aginam

There appears to be growing concern among Nigerian entrepreneurs following lack of government effort to protect and support local capacities.

This development, according to recent findings has led to the closure of many of the local capacities as a result of lack of government encouragement of local efforts.

Circular on patronage of local efforts

It would be recalled that a 2006 government circular signed by the former Secretary of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette had directed all federal agencies and ministries at the federal and state levels to patronize made in Nigeria software and locally assembled computers as a priority choice of applications for all their functions.

But the apparent truth, is that only few PCs assemblers in Nigeria survived the competitive market.

Meanwhile, government has always faulted the outsourcing of operations generated locally to foreign companies under the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) arrangement.

According to the former minister of Communications Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson, local companies in Nigeria have the capacities and skill manpower to handle outsourcing within and outside Nigeria, even though Nigeria is not regarded as a destination country for BPO.

Just recently, Chams Nigerian Plc announced the closure of all four ChamCities across the nation due to the company’s inability to consistently sustain the upkeep of the ultra-modern malls which housed the various equipment.

The closure of the digital cities , it was learnt, may not be unconnected with the imbroglio of the Nigerian Identity Management Commission, NIMC, in revoking the concession agreement struck with Chams Plc for the National ID card project and instead, startlingly changing it into a contractual agreement with another set of firms, a situation which has badly affected Chams Plc through her subsidiary ChamsConsortium.

Meanwhile, the Guinness Book of World Records, had certified ChamsCity as the only digital mall globally to have the largest number of PC’s in a single location with over 1000 fully networked PC’s, processing and enabling the activation of a wide range of activities simultaneously, a development which positively portrayed Nigeria’s image on the world stage.

The sad story

According to the founding Group Managing Director, Chams Plc, Sir Demola Aladekomo who was obviously very distraught in an interview with Vanguard remarked that, “Today is a sad day for entrepreneurship and innovation as we close down ChamsCity at Ikeja that got Nigeria into the Guinness World Record because my government could not protect Chams Plc from the onslaught of the NIMC management. A nation that kills its own.”

Speaking on how corruption and vested interests killed the digital mall, he said that, “Shareholders N9.2b wasted for pecuniary interests of converting a concession to contracts. May God help Nigeria. We tried, we begged, we did our best to protect a Concession we won after a major international tender process.”

Establishment of ChamsCity

He disclosed that ChamsCity was established to handle multiple challenges associated with the substantial registration of Nigerians in the National ID card project.

Chams aspirations for the ICT hub

The IT guru who is passionate about entrepreneurship further said Chams aspirations for the world-class ICT hub was for it to exist beyond the ID card project, offering government agencies, educational institutions, professional and corporate organizations, IT service providers, and small businesses the opportunity to experience efficient qualitative services in information and communications technology.

“Data capture was not a new exercise in Nigeria. The usual procedure was to assemble people in schools, hospitals, local governments, under the tree or makeshift venues to collect their details. But when at Chams got the concession, we decided to do the data capture in a different way. “We calculated that to do 50 million cards, we needed at least 1,000 computers in about 29 locations, such that within the first five years, the 50 million Nigerians would have been fully captured. “We settled for this option because part of the concession agreement gave us the right to operate the agreement for 10 years. So, we designed the mall, and went to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) where we were able to raise about N8.4 billion from the market. We also added N800 million from our internally generated money, making total of N9.2 billion,” Aladekomo explained.

According to him, it was a huge project that caught the attention of Apple Inc, the US-based tech firm following the quantity of devices Chams ordered for installation at ChamsCity.

He said, “When we placed the order for the first 2,000 machines, the Apple people called from US to tell us that nobody had ever placed an order for 2,000 machines, not even the US State Department or the US Education Department. They demanded to know why we needed 2,000 computers. We explained to them what we were trying to do and it baffled them.”

Although the story of Chams is not limited to the Nigerian economy, it is regrettable that such innovative company that has provided jobs to millions of Nigerians can have one of its flagship project killed by government manipulation of converting a concession into a contract regime.

For now, the equipment has been converted for storage at the company’s warehouse in Lagos. Are we likely to see such initiative again? Only time can tell.

But for now, an incisive entrepreneurial initiative, due to sleaze, brazen highhandedness, and vested interests of a few, has unfortunately kissed the dust.

Even with the closure of ChamsCity, the other operations of Chams Plc remain solid even though the NationalID was a substantial investment for Chams PLC. Chams PLC has other investments in ChamsMobile, ChamsAccess, and ChamsSwitch, a payment processing company. Chams PLC has been very profitable for the past three years having survived the worst effect of NIMC’S acts in 2012. Chams declared dividend to its shareholders and prays to keep giving shareholders dividends yearly from 2014 onwards.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/closure-of-chamscity-death-of-entrepreneurship-innovation/

Group to Okiro: resign over fraud allegation
Posted By: Adebisi Onanugaon: September 01, 2015

A pressure group, Access to Justice (AJ), has asked the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Mike Mbama Okiro, to resign following the findings of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which indicted the Commission of corruption and fraudulent activities to the tune of N133.4 million.

In a statement in Lagos last week by its Executive Director, Joseph Otteh and Okechukwu Nwanguma of the Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), the AJ said the indictment of the PSC by the ICPC was enough reason for the chairman of the Commission to vacate office.

Access to Justice said the PSC “leadership has brought upon the Commission a huge credibility crisis and degraded its moral authority too much to be able to effectively hold police officers accountable for misconduct”.

In view of this, the group contended that the findings made by the ICPC has reached the thresholds for demanding that the PSC chair vacates office immediately.

“The Police Service Commission cannot be indulging in an entrenched pattern of malfeasance and misappropriations and remain positioned to discharge its constitutional mandate of fighting corruption or abuse of power within the police force or sanctioning police officers guilty of corruption or misconduct,”it argued.

The group noted that the PSC is responsible for the disciplinary control of police officers and for ensuring that police officers comply with all police laws and regulations, including those on corruption.

“Where the PSC cannot effectively perform its oversight disciplinary responsibilities, a huge disciplinary and control gap will be created within the Nigerian Police Force, which will, consequently, further entrench and facilitate systematic corruption within the institution.

“The continuance of the present incumbent of the office of the Chairman of the Police Service Commission is, therefore, no longer tenable. It is in the best interest of the body and for the sake of preserving the PSC’s ability to effectively perform its constitutional duties, that we are, therefore, demanding that he vacates the office now,”AJ contended.

The ICPC on August 11, ordered the PSC and its Chairman, to refund to the government treasury the sum of N133.4 million out of the N350 million it received from the Federal Government for the monitoring of the conduct of the 2015 elections following an investigation carried out by the commission based on a petition by Mr. Aaron Kaase, a staff of the PSC.

The petition alleged acts of corruption, abuse of office and fraudulent acts to swindle the PSC to the tune of N275.5 million on the part of the chairman of the PSC.

Access to Justice noted that the findings of the ICPC on the activities of the PSC revealed that “the Police Service Commission (PSC) received the sum of N350 million from the Federal Government to monitor the conduct of police personnel in the recently conducted general election.

“The Commission budgeted to expend the fund on training and physical monitoring during the election. Investigation revealed that the Commission budgeted for training of 900 staff to conduct training in Abuja, Lagos and Kano. However, the entire staff force was not more that 391 and that was the figure actually trained in a programme held in Abuja only… “

The group, in spite of having called for the resignation of PSC Chairman, Okiro, however, faulted the conclusion of the report of the ICPC on the investigation conducted into the commission.

“Judging from the ICPC’s statement, it is fairly evident that, from the start, an intention to misappropriate funds was clearly incubated, set in motion, and manifested when the Commission projected to train 509 more staff than it actually had. In other words, the Commission received training monies for a large retinue of “ghost staff”.

“Those preparatory steps were subsequently consummated: the Commission got taxpayers’ monies based upon the misrepresentations it made, and held on to the money that remained afterwards.

“As the ICPC found, the Police Service Commission even knowingly paid its staff based in Abuja return air ticket money for a programme that held in Abuja; yet another fraud!

“How these corrupt practices and deceptions could come to be characterised by the ICPC as merely “administrative in nature and within the ambits of career public servants handlings” is baffling,” AJ argued.

The group recalled that in 2008, a former Minister and Senator were arraigned and prosecuted for failing to return unspent funds in their Ministries/Committees to the government’s coffers.

“The ICPC’s working definition of criminal corruption sets our alarm bells ringing; it is clearly too flawed and deficit to help Nigeria’s war against corruption. If there were no criminal acts committed, it becomes open to question the business of the ICPC in ordering the PSC to refund money. The ICPC’s mandate, it may be said, extends only to the investigation and prosecution of acts that constitute corrupt practices,” the group said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/group-to-okiro-resign-over-fraud-allegation/

On the Abuja Centenary Legacy City Project
Posted By: Dapo Fafowora on: August 27, 2015

It is the season of daily media reports about shocking frauds, financial scams and massive corruption in Nigeria, uncovered since the change of government in May. Last week, the public was jolted by a claim from a Mr. Cairo Ojougboh, a little known public figure, though the former chairman of the Nigerian (Free) Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), that due process was not followed by the Centenary City PLC in acquiring a large chunk of land for developing its proposed Legacy Centenary City project in Abuja.

Specifically, he named the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Pius Anyim, as being behind the project and claimed that he had abused his office as the SGF in improperly securing the land for the project, as well as in getting the approval of the authorities of the FCT (Federal Capital Territory) for the entire project estimated to cost over US$18 billion. In response, the sponsors of the project claimed that it is a PPP project, and that it is being funded by contributions from 15 developers from the USA, the UAE, and some Nigerians. So far, none of the shareholders has been publicly named or identified either by Mr. Ojougboh, or the Centenary City PLC.

I was, at first, quite sceptical of Mr. Ojougboh’s allegations against Senator Anyim on this matter. I just could not believe it is possible, even with our famed public corruption that such a heist as the Legacy City Project could be pulled off by a public officer, no matter how powerful he is. But now, I have just read an advertorial placed on page 44 of this paper on Monday, August 24, by the management of Centenary City PLC, the sponsors of the so-called Abuja City Centenary Legacy Project. It was their first public attempt to fully refute any allegations of wrongdoing by either the Centenary City PLC, or by Senator Anyim, as claimed by Mr. Ojougboh over the project. I should say I was almost persuaded by the strong case made in its own defence and of the project by the management of the Centenary City PLC. Their defence basically is that this is a public and private sector project, that due process was followed in acquiring the land from the FCT, that no public funds were involved in any way in the project, and that it was in the public interest. But, even if these claims by the sponsors are true, there are a lot of ethical and moral issues raised by the manner in which the project was conceived. These moral issues are quite disturbing and require further reflections on the whole matter.

Is it morally justified that such a large chunk of valuable land in Abuja, the nation’s capital, should have been handed over, for whatever reasons, to so-called private developers? Can this be validly held to be in the national interest? Is this not a case, again, of the rich, whether Nigerians, or foreigners, grabbing potentially valuable land from the poor for the benefit of the rich, a regrettable and disturbing trend that is growing in our country, and that should be of public concern?

I had, last year, written extensively in my column in this paper criticising the idea of an elaborate celebration of the centenary, an event in Nigeria’s history that is best forgotten. If the Federal Government decided, despite strong and widespread public criticism, on marking the centenary of Lugard’s amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, why was the idea of the so-called Legacy City preferred to other options that could have been more beneficial to the nation? Even if it is a private sector initiative, are there not many other sectors of the economy, particularly energy and public transportation, crying for investment that would have been more beneficial to the public? Was the idea of an Abuja Legacy City, with its planned huge financial investments, not preferred to others because it offered people in power, such as Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, the former SGF, who claims to have coordinated the celebrations, ample opportunity for graft? Who were those behind the decision to build the Legacy City? And why should such a large chunk of land in Abuja, a national asset, be handed over to a so-called private company for the development of an exclusive city, the social benefit of which is not so apparent? And who are the shadowy members of the Board of this secretive company? Why can’t the sponsors of the project reveal their identities? It is a matter of public interest. The public is entitled to know who are behind it all. We need to know those who made the cash calls from which N1.2 billion was allegedly raised to compensate the original owners of the land, as well as the US$18 billion proposed for the project. And was the compensation offered to the indigenous owners of the land in question reasonable, prompt and adequate? How much was paid to the FCT for the land in question? These are legitimate questions begging for answers.

We are reminded of a similar land grab by Jonathan, the former President, near the airports in Abuja that was originally intended for the development of the aviation industry in Abuja. Is this not a replication of the failure of judgment by Jonathan in the land grab that caused such a public furore in the country? And did Jonathan not feel obliged to turn a blind eye to the deal because of his own Abuja land grab? The fact of the matter is that such a land grab of a valuable national asset in the nation’s capital, or anywhere else for that matter, is outrageous and should, in no circumstances, be tolerated or accepted by the public. I find it morally repugnant as it is not in the public interest. Even if it is fully and finally developed, which I doubt in present circumstances, it is bound to be socially divisive as questions will continue to be asked in future about its ethical and moral perspectives. If the sponsors of the project decide not to go ahead with it for financial and other reasons, who takes over their assets including the Abuja land? Your guess is as good as mine.

Secondly, the man at the centre of the project, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, admits that he coordinated activities marking the centenary celebrations, including the Legacy City Project. Why should he have been given such wide powers by the Jonathan PDP federal government? Was he solely in charge of the Legacy Project, or were other ministers involved in the transactions? Were the federal Attorney-General, Finance Minister and the Minister of Trade and Investments asked for advice on such a massive project? If they were not, then there is something fundamentally remiss about the manner in which the project was conceived and executed. In fact, in view of its national importance and possible negative physical effect on Abuja, such a project should not have been conceived and approved without a referendum, as would have been the case in other civilised climes. Abuja is our collective national patrimony. Any departure from its original master plan should be thoroughly debated first before any alteration to it. The big, rich land grabbers have already succeeded in distorting and changing the Abuja master plan. It is now over built and no longer the beautiful city it was supposed to be. Clusters of slums are now growing around Abuja. Those who support Anyim in this matter will argue that he acted in good faith even if his judgment and his role in the sordid matter can be called into question. But this can only be established by a thorough investigation into the manner such a vast track of land was acquired by private individuals in our capital city where there will soon be an acute shortage of land.

The Eko Atlantic City in Lagos with which it is being wrongly compared by its sponsors is totally different from the Abuja Legacy City. First, most of the land in respect of the Atlantic City is land reclaimed by its sponsors from the sea. A lot of investment went into that venture. What investment have the sponsors of the Abuja Legacy City made in the Abuja land they have grabbed? Besides, unlike the Eko City project, the Abuja land grabbed for the proposed Legacy City is a national asset. This and Jonathan’s land grab in Abuja should be thoroughly investigated and the land grabbed should be revoked and recovered from them. We cannot afford to have people placed in a position of trust and responsibility, such as the SGF, grabbing public land, or aiding other private individuals to do so. It is clearly an abuse of trust and power about which President Buhari should do something.

Over the years, the position of the SGF has become too powerful. That was not the case when civil servants, with all their faults, held the post which, for a long time, was held along with the post of Head of the Federal Civil Service. For all practical purposes, the SGF is now like an unelected prime minister, more powerful than the ministers. It is he who coordinates the activities of all the ministers, many of whom are denied direct access to the President, as all important official documents pass through him. I believe it is time to review the position and powers of the SGF so as to avoid its abuse as in this land grab case. As is becoming clearer with recent revelations, ex-President Jonathan did not really know much about what was happening in his government. He only saw and heard what his ministers and the SGF wanted him to know. This does not exonerate him from ultimate responsibility for the chaotic financial situation he left behind in the country. But he was not really on top of his government the way Obasanjo would have been. Despite his many faults, President Obasanjo would almost certainly not have endorsed the idea of a Legacy City of the kind planned for Abuja.

http://thenationonlineng.net/on-the-abuja-centenary-legacy-city-project/

Angry Oshiomhole tears apart Orubebe, says ex-minister deserves to rot in jail
August 26, 2015 Press Release

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Wednesday said former Minister of the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe is afraid of President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned probe of several billions of naira squandered on the East-West road and on the Amnesty programme under his watch as Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs.
The governor said that fear of an impending probe was what triggered Mr. Orubebe’s latest outburst in the media.
Mr. Orubebe had on Tuesday described the Edo Governor as a “villa sycophant”.
The former minister, who had a chat with some journalists in Abuja, described Mr. Oshiomhole as someone who is willing to switch allegiance to whoever is in power at any point in time.
He chastised the Edo governor for speaking against former President Goodluck Jonathan who he called a great leader.
“Oshiomhole is an ingrate and a popular villa sycophant who is quick to switch allegiance to whomever is in power,” Mr. Orubebe said.
Mr. Oshiomhole, in a statement by his spokesperson, Peter Okhiria, said the “incompetence” of people like Mr. Orubebe contributed to the dismal failure of the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
“Our attention has been drawn to the latest outburst of one clown called Godsday Orubebe in his attempt to taint the image of the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
“It is no surprise that the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, failed woefully because he surrounded himself with such charlatans as Godsday Orubebe, whose only credential is his ethnic origin and the large size of his bowler hat.
“Here was a man whose un-ministerial conduct at the election nearly plunged the nation into an avoidable crisis
“Does Orubebe really think Nigerians are fools, does he truly believe Nigerians have forgotten so soon the ignoble role he played in his attempt to truncate the release of the election results and announcement of the eventual winner of that election, a move which could have plunged the nation into another civil war?
“Is it not a shame that Orubebe who should be cooling off his heel in jail for that failed plot to truncate democracy has now found a convoluted voice?
“We are not surprised at the timing of Orubebe’s latest outburst. It is no doubt unconnected with the planned probe by President Muhammadu Buhari of the billions of naira allocated to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, even as the East-West road remains in bad shape and the probe of the fleecing of amnesty funds under his watch.
“We are aware that Orubebe, the perpetual noise maker, has raised the decibel of his noise a notch higher so that he would have a ready-made defence of witch-hunting if he is indicted in the planned probe of Amnesty funds.
“Orubebe is a yesterday’s man. We could have chosen to ignore him like his Delta brother, Mr. Sunny Onuesoke, an unknown entity who doesn’t know the arithmetic of financing, but decided to delve into a matter of a World Bank loan, something completely beyond his mental and intellectual capacity, but we simply can’t let Orubebe have the last say.
“We are not unaware that it has now become the fad for drowning and neophyte politicians to take cheap shots at the impeccable character of the Comrade Governor just to gain cheap publicity. However, Orubebe’s image, as he himself knows, is beyond redemption.
“Is it not laughable that Orubebe, the clown, accused Oshiomhole of biting the fingers that fed him? Pray, how did Jonathan feed Oshiomhole? Did he feed Oshiomhole by supervising over a government that fleeced the nation of trillions of naira, thereby denying Edo State her rightful share of funds for development? Or did he feed Oshiomhole by canvassing votes for him!
“Our candid advice is for Orubebe, a perpetual failed governorship aspirant, to go to his family and apologise for the irreparable damage done to the family name with his infamous outburst beamed live to the whole world, before coming forward to confront Governor Adams Oshiomhole who is not in any way in the same class as him.
“It is no wonder that Nigeria was at a state of near collapse until President Muhammadu Buhari came on a rescue mission and rendered people like Orubebe irrelevant.
“Never again will characters like Orubebe take us on the path of Golgotha; never again will they hold sway in the affairs of Nigeria and ruin the collective aspiration of the people.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/189025-angry-oshiomhole-tears-apart-orubebe-says-ex-minister-deserves-to-rot-in-jail.html

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKAUG 25, 2015

Kayode Oladele, a member of the House of Representatives and former Chief of Staff to the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has cautioned against actions that are capable of making a mockery of the National Assembly and its oversight functions.

The Representative made the remark today in a statement concerning the planned probe of the chairman of the (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde.

SaharaReporters revealed earlier that the Senate probe has arisen from a petition engineered by Senate President Bukola Saraki to the Upper House by George Uboh, a convicted criminal. The EFCC has recently begun an investigation of Toyin Saraki, the wife of the embattled Senate President.

Uboh alleged in the sponsored petition that the leadership of the EFCC embezzled more than N1 trillion in assets seized in corruption cases.

“Ordinarily, there is no law that prevents the chairman of the EFCC from explaining his stewardship to the public through appropriate organs of government,” Representative Oladele said.

“Apart from the fact that the petitioner is a person of questionable character who I understand was jailed in the US over Credit card fraud, judging by the scope of the petition, the Senate ought to have known that Lamorde being the Director of Operations between 2003 and 2007, was not the executive chairman, neither was he secretary to the commission. Therefore, did not possess any executive power relating to the activities of the commission.”

He further noted that under the rules of the Senate and the House, petitions are usually examined at the plenary level, from where they are referred to the appropriate committee for further action. In that regard, he pointed out that at the time the petition was presented, the NASS was in recess and the Senate did not hold a plenary session. Not forgetting the fact that some senators acting at the behest of the Senate President had tried in the past to present a petition before the plenary and it failed.

Oladele therefore called on the Senate leadership to avoid making a laughing stock of the NASS, describing the probe attempt as a personal vendetta against the EFCC chairman.

“The EFCC is an institution and efforts should be made to build a strong institution rather than ridicule it,” he said.

“In addition, most importantly, the petition exposes the inefficiency of the Senate to conduct its oversight functions over the EFCC. It is the duty of the Senate to request from the commission annual reports, study it, scrutinize and then ask the leadership to clear grey areas in accordance with oversight duties prescribed by section 88 and 89, of the 1999 constitution.”

Stressing that if the Senate leadership needs an outsider to write a petition to remind it of its constitutional duties it stands indicted of dereliction of duties, he urged the EFCC not to lose track of its mandate especially now that Nigeria has a President with the necessary political will to combat graft.

“Those who seek equity must come with clean hands,” he advised.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/08/25/rep-oladele-calls-lamorde-investigation-‘personal-vendetta’

BY PIUS ADESANMIAUG 24, 2015

Ottawa. Sunday evening. Two weeks to the beginning of a new academic year. Time for getting your beering right with your buddies one last time in the summer before the start of the heavy grind of classes.

Downtown pub. Music. Drinks. Food. The usual pub crowd. I order a bottle of French wine. Somewhere at the border between my second glass and its successor, I notice that my buddy has barely touched his first glass.

We have been both very busy traveling since the beginning of summer, he in Europe, me in Africa. That's why we are meeting this evening to unwind and touch base and talk about our respective travels over wine and little chops.

But he is not drinking. He is preoccupied...

It is election season in Canada. We're electing a new Prime Minister soon. Campaign is in full swing.

My buddy is Canadian. We've been friends for a long time.

He wants to talk politics. Canadian politics.

Inevitably, we start with the devastating coverage of Canada's conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, in world media.

He asks if I read "The Closing of the Canadian Mind", a devastating op-ed published recently by the New York Times. Written by a Canadian, you'd be excused if you thought you were reading the familiar portrait of an African leader in a Western newspaper and not a portrait of the Prime Minister of Canada.

I reply in the affirmative. My friend seems to be shrinking in space as he discusses the politics of this country.

He is so ashamed of the corruption. He can barely bring himself to look me in the eye. He is wincing in visible discomfort.

As he discusses corruption under Mr. Harper - my friend is an unrepentant liberal. Obviously. -, I notice his adjectives: "grand scale corruption", "out-of-this-world corruption," "astronomical corruption," etc.

I get to my fourth glass and order a second bottle...

I am nodding profusely at the adjectives he is using to describe corruption in Canada.

Then we get to the Mike Duffy affair. My friend hopes the Mike Duffy affair will be the end of Mr. Harper. How on earth could the Prime Minister have allowed people around him to be involved in illegal expenses and cheque payments to themselves to the tune of 90,000 Canadian dollars?

Luckily for me, the second bottle of wine arrives at this moment and attending to it while taking it from the waiter spares me the chore of having to wear an appropriate facial expression of horror at the mention of such gargantuan, unheard-of corruption.

Finally, I manage to exclaim with a measure of believable bewilderment:

Ninety thousand dollars!

Can you believe it, Pius? My buddy continues. Can you believe what they are doing to this country? By the way, what do you make of the Margaret Atwood affair?

Margaret Atwood, Canada's foremost novelist, writes a satirical op-ed this week about the injection of "hair" issues into the political season. Mr. Harper and his fellow conservatives have been criticizing their opponent. Mr. Justin Trudeau, for having nice hair. Atwood reminds us, among so many other things, that Prime Minister Harper actually has a hair groomer at the tax payer's expense. The National Post publishes the article online, censors it, then republishes it after a national outrage.

Beyond the hypocrisy, what worries my buddy is the realization that he and other Canadian tax payers have been paying to groom the Prime Minister's hair.

By the time you add all the hair grooming to the untidy 90,000, he suspects that the corruption figures will be way over a hundred thousand dollars.

It's the end of the world, he assures me.

How did this country reach this dreadful level of corruption and mishandling of public funds, he asks me painfully.

I refill my glass and examine the second bottle of wine with satisfaction. It is at the halfway mark and I have done most of the drinking, my friend being too worried by the astronomical corruption ruining Canada to be able to drink efficiently like me.

I touch my face as if to make sure that I am still wearing my mask of horror.

For a second, I consider telling him that it was revealed today that the Nigerian Federal government paid seven hundred million US dollars as consultancy fees to foreign firms for the construction of a bridge.

Seven. Hundred. Million. Dollars.

Not the cost of the bridge. Just the consultancy fees - all now safely in the private bank accounts of Nigerian politicians.

And there is no bridge to show for it.

My turn now to be genuinely sorrowful.

My buddy thinks I am being sorrowful over the 90,000-dollar Canadian Federal corruption scandal that he is calling the end of the world.

He does not know that I am assessing his instinctive reaction to the 90,000 dollars and contrasting it with the Nigerian who hears the news today that seven hundred million of his tax money was stolen and the first thing his poverty-stricken black African ass wants to know is:

The ethnicity of the whistleblower

The religion of the whistleblower

The political party of the whistleblower

The ethnicity of the thief

The religion of the thief

The political party of the thief.

If the thief checks the right boxes and the whistleblower checks the wrong boxes, whether money was stolen or not becomes a secondary consideration or no consideration at all for the Nigerian. The Nigerian will excuse the theft of seven hundred million dollars if your ethnicity, religion, and political party are right. The Nigerian will condemn the whistleblower and drag him to the ICC in The Hague for harassing the thief.

I return from my reverie. My Canadian buddy is still complaining about the end of the world.

Do I tell him about the seven hundred million?

I decide to save his life.

If he already believes that 90 thousand Canadian dollars in illegal payments is the end of the world, hearing the corruption figures from Nigeria could literally signal the end of his life.

Someday, he will buy me a beer for not telling him what would surely have given him a heart attack...

And killed him.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/08/24/canadian-who-saw-end-world-pius-adesanmi

Senators, Reps want to be conferred with SAN rank

AUGUST 24, 2015 : JOHN AMEH

Senators, House of Representatives members and members of other legislative houses in the country who are lawyers, on Monday intensified their clamour to be conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

The clamour also covers all lawyers working in legislative houses in various capacities.

Besides claiming that they worked harder than judicial officers, the lawmakers argued that regular lawyers and other legal practitioners were not better qualified for the rank than the legislators.

The members pressed for the recognition during the inaugural meeting of “The Forum of Lawyers in the Nigerian Legislature,” held at the National Assembly in Abuja.

Convener of the forum, Senator Ita Enang, while speaking for the group, said since the lawyers in the legislature participated in passing all the laws used for legal practice in the country, they were qualified for the rank of SAN.

Enang, a former Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, stated that it was an “insult” to say somebody who made a law was not qualified to become a SAN, while another person who practised it could become one.

He said, “It is an insult not to make legislature lawyers SANs.

“They make the laws that the magistrate interprets and makes his way to the Supreme Court, yet you say that a lawmaker is not qualified to be honoured with the rank of SAN.

“The legislator is not qualified but the lawyer who practises the law passed by the legislature is qualified.

“Legislative practice is an arm of legal practice and should be recognised as such.

“It is the legislature and the legislator that know the laws more than the practitioners because they draft the laws.

“All the laws that practitioners practise and they are celebrated and honoured are passed by the legislature, but you say that same legislator is not qualified to be a SAN.”

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, said at the session that the aim of the forum was to promote the productivity of lawyers in the legislature through capacity-building programmes.

Dogara, who is a lawyer, was represented by another member and lawyer from Abia State, Mr. Uzoma Nkem-Abonta.

He added that, “The association is to promote cooperation, networking and interaction among its members, and to develop legislative practice as an enviable area of legal practice in Nigeria.”

The speaker said having been informed that there were about 200 lawyers at the National Assembly, he was convinced that the forum should transit “to a well established association.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/senators-reps-want-to-be-conferred-with-san-rank/

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORKAUG 15, 2015

An exclusive interview with People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Ighoyota Amori of Delta Central district by SaharaTV became heated when the senator was asked about his relationship with the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who is currently in custody in the UK for money laundering and corruption charges. He said that he had to stay in touch with Mr. Ibori because their ties are undeniable.

“Let me put this bluntly to you,” Senator Amori said in the interview with SaharaTV correspondent Kwesi Baako. “I visit James Ibori once every month. But I am not the only one who visits James Ibori. There is an avalanche of people—ministers, governors, Nigerian ambassadors—visiting James Ibori in prison. That should tell you about the person of James Ibori.”

Amori showed his undying loyalty for the corrupt former Governor when he was asked why he visits Mr. Ibori in his UK jail even though he has responsibilities with the Senate.

“I was the secretary of the political party that made Ibori governor. I became his Commissioner for Education and his political advisor. We became so close. His mother is from my village. It is very wrong to say I’m a stooge for him,“ Amori said.

The PDP senator was also asked what it feels like to be a part of the opposition for a change.

“I don’t see myself as being in the opposition. I have a good relationship with the leadership of the House. We are working closely and as a family,” Senator said.

The Senator also responded to recent photographs of him on a cruise ship with women by swearing his allegiance to his children.

Senator Amori said that “Most of the women there were all married with children… I am a married man. I am a Catholic. Highly religious and happily married with children.”

Senator Amori also denied allegations that he is positioning himself to be the next Delta State Governor, saying that he can make a difference in other roles.

“There is no big deal in being a Governor. I have been in this government for a long time. I have produced governors. I have been a power broker in the State also.”

http://saharareporters.com/2015/08/15/senator-amori-‘avalanche’-gov’t-officials-visit-james-ibori-corrupt-ex-governor-prison

SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORKAUG 15, 2015

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto and member of the National Peace Committee, has said in an interview with SaharaTV that the Committee’s recent meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari was made at the behest of Goodluck Jonathan, who pleaded that it ask President Buhari to refrain from an all-out corruption probe of his administration.

In an exclusive interview with SaharaTV correspondent Rudolf Okonkwo, Bishop Kukah mentioned that prior to the meeting, the Committee had spoken with former President Goodluck Jonathan as well as Senate President Bukola Saraki. He said that President Jonathan specifically sent the Committee to President Buhari.

Bishop Kukah also discussed issues ranging from the possible probe on the Jonathan administration to prospects for peace in Nigeria.

Bishop Kukah commended President Buhari for the work he has so far done but stated that his Party, the All Peoples Congress (APC), was voted to govern, and that their focus should be on governing, which is what Nigerians are eager for. Bishop Kukah stated that he could tell President Buhari has been taking his job seriously since his inauguration.

When asked whether Bishop Kukah believes the Peace Committee was afraid that President Buhari may have been fair in the past when he probed previous governments for corruption, he made sure to convey how much the Committee wants Mr. Buhari to use due process during investigations.

“A point we want to make very clear is that we are in a democracy, and [this] is an investigation, not a probe. We were simply saying that we don’t think anyone should be criminalized when nobody has been brought before a court. We are speaking on behalf of ordinary Nigerians,” Bishop Kukah said.

Bishop Kukah made it a point to display the Committee’s stance of indifference towards politics when dealing with issues that concern the well-being of Nigerians.

“We want to see a qualitative and quantitative change in the lives of Nigerians. Nobody knows how Buhari’s presidency will end, nobody knows what will happen to him when he [finishes] his tenure. The stick that they are using to whip Jonathan may be the stick that they will use to whip Buhari tomorrow,” Bishop Kukah said.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/08/15/bishop-kukah-jonathan-sent-peace-committee-plead-buhari-his-behalf

Presidency probes death of tortured inmate over Patience Jonathan’s $3m

AUGUST 15, 2015 : KUNLE FALAYI

A case, which began as a routine arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over $3.1m, has revealed a system of torture and extra-judicial impunity, which might have led to the death of an inmate of the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos, Suleiman Yerima.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the $3.1m in contention allegedly belonged to Mrs. Patience Jonathan, wife of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, who was said to have earmarked the money for exigencies during the campaign period leading up to the 2015 general election.

A sequence of events, which brought a petition concerning Yerima’s death to the Presidency, began to unfold on July 17, 2015 while Muslims celebrated Sallah.

In a mosque within the high walls of the prison facility, Muslim inmates – convicted and awaiting trial – prayed. But by the end of the prayer session, one of them, Yerima, was dead.

The deceased, who was remanded on June 24, 2015 along with another co-accused, Uwem Antia, were both due to reappear in court on November 9, 2015.

On Tuesday, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Ben Angwe, led a team of investigators to the Kirikiri Maximum Prison and the zonal office of the EFCC in Ikoyi, Lagos, on a fact-finding mission.

According to him, the Presidency and the office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had received a petition from the lawyers of the deceased, detailing how Yerima was tortured by the police in connivance with the officials of the EFCC and how that led to the death of the inmate while in prison custody.

At the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Angwe, who called for documentations about the inmate’s death, asked the medical superintendent, Dr. Edwin Hemeson, if Yerima ever complained about any medical issues. Hemeson confirmed that there was no time he had any reason to treat the deceased for an ailment prior to his death.

“When he collapsed at the mosque that day, he was rushed to the prison hospital, lifeless. We confirmed that he was dead on arrival. The deceased was transferred to Ajeromi General Hospital, Ajegunle, where he was again certified dead,” Hemeson said.

Asked if he noticed any sign of torture on Yerima’s body when he was brought in from the mosque where he collapsed, Hemeson said it was the nurses on duty who received the body and transferred it to Ajeromi.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that on July 21, 2015, four days after the deceased died, his family requested for his body and asked that an autopsy should not be performed on him so that he could be buried according to Islamic doctrine.

Angwe asked Hemeson if he issued a death certificate and what the cause of death was according to his examination. The death notification signed by Hemeson in the deceased’s file was inscribed with “sudden death and query cardiovascular accident.”

“All we are required to issue is a death notification when an inmate dies suddenly, we inform the coroner whose duty it is to ascertain the actual cause of death and issue a death certificate,” the doctor said.

In June 2015, the EFCC released a statement about the arrest and arraignment of Yerima and Antia on allegations of, “stealing the sum of $2,25m from two bankers, Gladys Aginwa and Ale Dennis.”

“The suspects allegedly approached Aginwa and Dennis in February 2015, offering to sell foreign exchange to the tune of $10m to them. After agreeing on the exchange rate, a sum of N672, 750, 000 (Six Hundred and Seventy Two Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira only) was transferred into the account of one of the bankers. From the banker’s account, the entire sum was moved into Antia’s account,” the EFCC said.

EFCC alleged that Antia approached a bureau de change operator and handed N666,250,000 to him, after they agreed on its dollar equivalent of $3,127,000. The commissioner accused Antia and Yerima of only handing over $1m to the bankers thereafter, saying they would be able to source for the remaining the following day. They were later accused of fleeing and switching off their phones after that.

However, during the NHRC visit to Kirikiri Prison, Antia, the deceased’s co-accused, explained that he thought he was going to die the way he was tortured in the custody of the police.

“We handed over the outstanding amount of money to one of the bankers (Dennis) at the Murtala International Airport. I am well known to them. This is not the first of such contracts we would handle for them. They represent Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the wife of the former President and we have supplied them dollars on many occasions. When they approached us about the need to supply the dollars for Mrs. Jonathan’s campaign activities during the election, I told them we could handle it as usual. Unfortunately, they diverted her money this time.

“After we were arraigned and the judge said we should be remanded in custody, the EFCC operatives laid ambush for us around the court and forcibly took us from prison officials.

“We were later transferred to Zone 2 Police Command where I was tortured more than I could imagine. I was stripped, held up by my feet as they dipped my head inside a bucket filled with water for long. By the time they do that to you, you would even say what you did not do.

“They shot me in the foot and hung me up with my two hands tied separately and my legs tied in similar way from night till morning.

After that, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Joseph Mbu, ordered that they should transfer me to the Maroko Police Division, where I was locked up in a cell. I defecated on the same floor I slept for one month.

“I was lucky that a priest who comes around to pray for inmates came to the cell one day and I slipped him my lawyer’s number. My lawyer later took up my case and we were later transferred to Kirikiri. My partner, the late Yerima, also told me about the brutal torture he went through at Zone 2 also.”

During the NHRC team’s visit to the EFCC, the Head of the Zonal Office in Lagos, Mr. Iliyasu Kwarbai, explained that the EFCC had no hand in the torture of the men.

When asked to take the team to the torture chambers of the EFCC, he said the commission had no such thing.

Kwarbai said, “We are a group of professionals. Integrity is one of our core values. We don’t extort confessional statements because our investigation is about tracing records and documents.

“We did not hand over the men to the police. Zone 2 requested for them. They came with a letter and we handed the suspects over.”

Prof. Angwe said what complicated the issue of the suspects was the involvement of the police. He said if Yerima had died after falling ill, it would have been a different issue.

He said, “When an inmate dies suddenly in prison, it is a serious issue. We want to ensure that whoever is involved is brought to book.

Our duty is to build a just and civilised society.

“The Presidency and the office of the vice president got a petition from the deceased’s lawyer and the case was referred to us for investigation. We would get to the root of this case and ensure justice is done.”

http://www.punchng.com/feature/super-saturday-crime/presidency-probes-death-of-tortured-inmate-over-patience-jonathans-3m/

Don’t encourage corruption, APC cautions Sultan, Oritsejafor, Kukah, others
August 13, 2015

Two days after the National Peace Committee met with President Muhammadu Buhari and cautioned him on the probe on the immediate past administration, the president’s party has risen in his support.
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in seeming reference to the committee members, asked opinion leaders to ensure that their actions and utterances do not give comfort to those who looted the commonwealth of the country.
Some members of the peace committee, headed by former military ruler Abdulsalam Abubakar, include the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar; the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Ayo Oritsejafor; and prominent Catholic cleric, Matthew Kukah.
Speaking after the committee met Mr. Buhari, Mr. Kukah said although the leaders were not in support of corruption, they were worried about the process.
“I think what we are concerned about is process,” he said. “It is no longer a military regime and, under our existing laws, everybody is innocent until proven guilty.
“Again, our own commitment is not to intimidate or fight anybody. The former President’s commitment and what he did still remains spectacular and I think that President Buhari himself appreciates that.”
However, on Thursday, the APC, in a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, warned against any attempt to truncate the ongoing fight against corruption in the country. It expressed total support for President Buhari’s determination to end the scourge in the country.
It appealed to all Nigerians, especially opinion leaders, to ensure that their actions and utterances do not give comfort to those who looted the commonwealth of the country.
”Our party promised Nigerians change, but the change that we promised and which Nigerians desire so much cannot be achieved if we allow the resources that belong to all Nigerians to be appropriated by a few.
”How do we upgrade our decayed infrastructure and provide jobs for our people when the money meant for that has been embezzled by a few?
”President Buhari has promised to break the vicious cycle of corruption that has held Nigeria down.
”How can he do that if he allows those who have looted the treasury to escape justice, and then use their ill-gotten wealth to fight the government?
”How can he do that if he turns a blind eye to the monumental cases of corruption in all sectors?
”We know that fighting corruption in a society where the cankerworm has eaten deep into its fabric will not be easy. We know that corruption will always fight back.
”But there is no other choice than to confront and destroy this monster once and for all, lest it destroys Nigeria,” it said.
The party said the President’s sincerity of purpose could be seen from his statement that any of his party members who was found to be corrupt would not escape justice.
”Therefore, those who are shouting themselves hoarse by saying the Buhari Administration’s fight against corruption is selective or is a distraction, are only seeking to sabotage the epic battle.
”If they have any case of corruption against any member of the APC, they should forward their evidence to the appropriate anti-corruption agency,’’ it said.
The party said that the danger in truncating the fight against corruption was that it would consign Nigeria to poverty, insecurity and unemployment in perpetuity.
”That is why we are restating our unalloyed support for the President, and urging him not to be deterred or distracted by those hiding under sophistry to weaken the fight.
”We are glad that most Nigerians have lent their support to the government’s fight against corruption, going by their interventions on the Social Media, which has now become a people’s parliament of sorts.
”We urge them not to relent in their support, irrespective of the antics of the naysayers,” it said.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/188346-dont-encourage-corruption-apc-cautions-sultan-oritsejafor-kukah-others.html

Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio Desperately Moves To Destroy Evidence Of Corruption In The Midst Of Fresh EFCC Petitions

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORKAUG 08, 2015

Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Minority Leader of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has taken desperate measures to cover traces of corruption and misappropriation of state funds during his tenure as the Governor of Nigeria's highest revenue received state, Akwa Ibom from 2007-2015, several reliable sources in Akwa Ibom State.

The sources revealed that as part of this scheme, Mr. Akpabio, has invaded government offices in the state including the Akwa Ibom State Government Office, the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and the Office of the State Accountant General. He allegedly carted away sensitive official government documents which may have given anti - graft agencies traces of billions of naira belonging to the state, stolen while Akpabio was the Governor.

On Monday, August 3rd, 2015 Mr. Akpabio in company of few reliable allies, stormed the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly in a G - wagon Mercedes Benz with another salon vehicle and ordered the Speaker of the House, Hon. Aniekan Akpan, a first time member who was imposed on the House despite the aspirations of two returning members of the House for the same position amidst protests and controversy and the Clerk of the House, Mrs. Mandu Umoren, to surrender certain official and classified documents of the House to him.

The duo who are loyalists of the former governor packed the demanded documents and handed them over to Mr. Akpabio who remained inside the vehicle throughout the operation. One of the sources who witnessed the clandestine move told Saharareporters that some members of the House were aggrieved over the development.

Another source within the Akwa Ibom State Government revealed that the former Governor is rattled by a recent publication by Diamond Bank Plc which shows that the state was owing the bank 5.8 billion naira obtained during the tenure of Akpabio. The source hinted that the loan was never approved by the State House of Assembly and that Mr. Akpabio was determined to forge official documents of the House to cover the infraction.

On the documents taken from the State Government Office and the Office of the Accountant General, the source further hinted that beyond the loan, that Mr. Akpabio is desperate to cover up for certain huge expenditures and withdrawals which took place during his tenure as governor including the ones contained in several petitions against Mr. Akpabio to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by doctoring and forging government documents to give such expenditures and withdrawals the stamp of legislative and executive approvals.

SaharaReporters exclusively reported on June 23, 2015, that questionable withdrawals were made by three officials within the Akwa Ibom State Government. The trio of Godswill Akpabio, Mr. Etekamba Umoren, and Mr. Udo Isobara all conspired and successfully ransacked the Akwa Ibom State Government Accounts together.

The funds were fraudulently extracted on the basis of fictitious expenditure requests made by Permanent Secretary, Etekamba Umoren, which were authorized by the then Governor Godswill Akpabio, according to a petition by Mr. Leo Ekpenyong, an Abuja based legal practitioner.

The total sum of N40.1 billion of mostly N10m per withdrawal fraudulently withdrawn as cash by the Offices of the Permanent Secretary, Governor's Office and the Permanent Secretary, Special Services Department in 2014 was never spent on any public projects. The total amount of monies stolen by Godswill Akpabio in just one year is equal to the annual budget of some states in Nigeria put together, according to the petition.

Mr. Akpabio, according to several sources is determined to cover up for these withdrawals and other cases of embezzlement of public funds by him.

Meanwhile, Sahara Reporters has obtained a copy of a fresh petition, the third by the same petitioner, Leo Ekpenyong, dated 3rd August, 2015 addressed to the Chairman of EFCC and copied to the president of Nigeria and the Director General of the State Security Services.

In a press statement made available to Sahara Reporters issued on Friday August 7, 2015 lawyers from Akwa Ibom under the auspices of Akwa Ibom State Lawyers Forum. Abuja urged the President not to be distracted by Akpabio and other Senators of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The statement read in part, “The outpouring of the aspersion by the Godswill Akpabio-led 49 member Senate Caucus of the PDP on President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-graft crusade is a deliberate attempt to stampede and blackmail the President.

“As ministers in the ‘temple of Justice,’ we condemn Akpabio’s vituperations on the current administration’s war against corruption, which is the bane of our growth as a nation. It is worthy of note that the eight - year reign of Akpabio in Akwa Ibom State without mincing words will go down in history as the "dark era" of massive looting of the State treasury, since its creation in 1987.

Furthermore, Akpabio has series of corruption related petitions against him pending at the EFCC, currently being investigated, which is why he is raising false alarm against Mr. President to evade prosecution and conviction."

http://saharareporters.com/2015/08/08/senate-minority-leader-godswill-akpabio-desperately-moves-destroy-evidence-corruption

Multibillion naira contract scam rocks NDDC
August 8, 2015Ibanga Isine

The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, is reeking of a multibillion naira scam involving the board and top management of the agency.
Documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES show that the board and management of the commission violated a directive by former President Goodluck Jonathan on probity and accountable handling of funds.
Mr. Jonathan had on December 16, 2013, while inaugurating the Bassey Ewa Henshaw-led board at the Aso Rock Villa, cautioned against the award of fresh contracts until all ongoing ones are completed.
“A body like NDDC should not just go into a voyage of contracts procurement but ongoing projects must be completed for people to benefit before new ones are awarded,” Mr. Jonathan had said.
“There are just too many ongoing projects and we believe that you don’t even have enough manpower to manage the ongoing projects.”
The president also hinted at financial impropriety by previous managements of the NDDC, saying, “If you aggregate the total amount of money the Federal Government has spent on this agency, (it) is enormous. And I don’t believe on ground that we have something to show.”
“The former board at a time had to be dissolved because instead of the board to work with the management to make sure that people from the area benefit from the NDDC, they were busy quarrelling over money.”
But this newspaper can authoritatively report that the commission not only jettisoned Mr. Jonathan’s directive, but it brazenly abused the nation’s procurement law.
Two weeks after it was inaugurated, the commission awarded a curious contract for what it called intelligence gathering, management and mitigation in all the senatorial districts in the nine states within the region.
To circumvent the Public Procurement Act 2007, the commission was said to have split the job into 30 lots and awarded to political gladiators and cronies of board members and top management staff.
A total of N2.7billion was doled out to 30 companies for the contracts, described as spurious by some insiders.
There are claims that some of the firms that benefited from the contracts are not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission as prescribed by the Nigerian Companies and Allied Matters Act. But that could not be independently verified by PREMIUM TIMES Friday.
In each of the nine catchment states, a total N299.2million was spent on the contract with each contractor in a senatorial district getting N99.7million.
In the execution of the jobs, contractors served as both consultants and executors of the contract.
The jobs emanated from the office of the head of the security department through the Executive Director, Projects, Tuoyo Omatsuli, to the Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Henry Ogiri.
Approval for the payment of the contractors was conveyed via an internal memo, dated December 15, 2014.
Some of the companies that benefited included Osmoserve Global Limited, Merryl Finch Limited, Viva Guarantees Limited, Actinum Limited, Virgin Logistics Limited, Wright Integrated services Limited, among others.
Again on February 25, 2014, the Managing Director, Dan Abia, awarded a N882million contract, above his statutory approval limit of N2.5million, for the purchase of 40 luxury vehicles.
The contract was awarded to Automatt Global Services, located at 167 Aba Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, with a Local Purchase Order, LPO, no: 15301.
The order included 18 Toyota Hilux 4×4 pickup vans, two armoured LX570 Lexus jeeps, two regular LX570 Lexus SUVs, two armoured Toyota V8 Land Cruiser SUVs and 16 regular Toyota V8 Land Cruiser SUVs.
The Toyota Hilux van, which was bought by the commission at N156.5 million, with each costing N8.7million is sold for N6.5million at Carmudi, an online car shop.
Equally, a regular Toyota V8 Land Cruiser SUV, which was supplied to the commission at N27.9 million each, sells for N18.5million at Carmudi while a regular Lexus LX570 SUV which it got for N32.4million is sold for N22.5 million at Carmudi.
PREMIUM TIMES could not get the exact prices of the armoured vehicles but dealers, who spoke on the issue, insisted that the NDDC quotes were outrageous.
The vehicles where bought even when the commission has surplus in its garages and even gives away to top politicians across the country.
The commission also awarded contracts for the purchase of vehicles for the police commands in the catchment area at N12.5 billion.
Police commands in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo and Delta states benefited from the security vehicle contract.
However, instead of routing the contract through the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Federal Executive Council as mandated by the procurement law, the commission was said to have split the job into 12 slots and awarded each at the cost of N985 million.
A source in the commission, who asked not to be named because he is not empowered to speak on the matter, confided in this newspaper how a contract for the acquisition of waste disposal trucks worth over N1.6 billion was awarded against the provisions of the procurement law.
“The contract was split among 85 companies and each got close to one hundred million,” said the source.
“You can see from the local purchase order for the purchase of the 40 luxury vehicles that was awarded to a Port Harcourt-based automobile firm that the NDDC does not obey relevant laws of the land.”
Attempts to speak with the commission’s managing director, Dan Abia, failed as he would neither answer calls nor respond to a text message sent to him.
However, when contacted on the telephone, the commission’s spokesperson, Ibitoye Abosede, said, “I am not aware of all these things. Is the NDDC the only place you are supposed to report? I am not aware of these things you are talking about. Thank you.”
Here are the documents below:

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/188019-multibillion-naira-contract-scam-rocks-nddc.html

Welcome apology
Posted By: Editorialon: August 07, 2015In: Editorial

•A well deserved closure to the grave injustice done Ajayi Crowther, Africa’s first bishop

By a public expression of repentance for its unjust treatment of the illustrious 19th century African cleric, Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the Church of England demonstrated a capacity for self-examination and re-examination that deserves attention. The historic admission of guilt highlighted the long history of racism and the scope of racially inspired but misguided chauvinism. It was also a lesson in injustice of a colonial colour.

It is noteworthy that it took the Church well over a century to arrive at the point of public remorse. A June 30 ‘thanksgiving and repentance service’ to mark the 150th anniversary of Crowther’s historically significant ordination as the first African Anglican bishop in 1864 provided the stage for the moving show of self-purification. It is a measure of the institutional regret that the apology came from none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who is the most important leader of the Church of England and the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Welby’s words concerning Crowther, who is regarded as the father of Anglicanism in Nigeria: “We in the Church of England need to say sorry that someone was properly and rightly consecrated Bishop and then betrayed and let down and undermined. It was wrong.”

He also said in his sermon: “In spite of immense hardship and despite the racism of many whites, he evangelised so effectively that he was eventually ordained Bishop, over much protest. He led his missionary diocese brilliantly, but was in the end falsely accused and had to resign, not long before his death.”

It is relevant to observe that Crowther died of a stroke in Lagos in 1891, which was possibly connected with his desolation.

To openly admit that Crowther didn’t deserve the blow he suffered from fellow Anglicans, as Welby has done, reflects the virtue of acknowledging fallibility. In this context, it is worth noting that Welby further said: “We are sorry for his suffering at the hands of Anglicans in this country. Learning from their foolishness and from his heroism, we seek to be a church that does not again exclude those whom God is calling. We seek new apostles, and the grace to recognise them when they come.”

Crowther, described as “extraordinary”, played an undeniably effective role in evangelism in the early days of Christianity in Nigeria. “Today, well over 70 million Christians in Nigeria are his spiritual heirs,” Welby said in tribute to his pioneering efforts.

Crowther’s achievements are remarkable, considering his path to priesthood. Born in Osogun in present-day Oyo State, Nigeria, and in 1821 seized in his village by Fulani slave raiders who sold him to Portuguese slave traders at the age of 12, the young Ajayi of Yoruba ancestry was rescued by the British navy and taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone.

His conversion to Christianity and his baptism in 1825 led to his adoption of the name of a visible British clergyman of the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS). He studied in England and attended the Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, where he advanced his exceptional interest in languages, which became of immense use in evangelism.

Crowther made history when he was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church at a ceremony in England. It is a testimony to his quality that in the same year he was also given a Doctorate of Divinity by the prestigious University of Oxford.

To his credit, Crowther’s language skills produced the first Yoruba translation of the Bible, which was completed in the 1880s, and a Yoruba version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. These projects illustrate how seriously Crowther took his Christianity. He also produced primers for the Igbo language and the Nupe language.

The apology of the Church of England is very welcome. It is good for Crowther’s name, which is protected by history.

http://thenationonlineng.net/welcome-apology/

Alleged N17m bribe: ICPC invites Onyeka Onwenu, Internal Auditor
Posted By: Yusuf Alli

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has invited the Director-General of the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Ms Onyeka Onwenu, and an internal auditor for interrogation on the alleged N17million bribe-for-contract at the centre.

Prior to the appearance of the songstress today, three key officials of the NCWD were yesterday grilled by the anti-graft agency.

They are Mukhtar Usman, Jauro Jibrin and Sadeeq Umar.

But a Deputy Director in NWCD, who doubles as Personal Assistant to Onwenu, Chika Abazu, has been remanded in prison following the alleged N17million bribery.

A source in ICPC said: “Our investigation into the bribery scam has reached an appreciable level of interaction with Ms Onyeka Onwenu.

“Actually, this invitation predated this new administration. But each time we summoned her during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, she used to tell ICPC that she was either running one errand for the former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, or on her entourage.

“Now that we have arraigned her PA in court, we need to complete the other leg of our investigation because findings have shown that some officials of NCWD were also implicated in the bribery scandal.

“Fairness demands that we should hear from these officials whether or not they were involved as alleged.”

Abazu, who was charged to court on July 10, 2015 before Justice Chukwu Ndukwe of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, is facing a six-count charge of bribery and gratification.

Although he pleaded not guilty, he was denied bail and remanded in Kuje Prison.

A contractor, Joseph Nwakama, who is also an architect with Solidmark Associates Limited, petitioned ICPC that he paid N17million bribe to NCWD top officials through Abazu.

The petitioner said: “I was called by Abazu, a deputy director at the NCWD and PA to Onwenu, early in April 2014 and asked to submit a bid for the renovation of rooms at the centre’s guest house.

“After two days he called me and told me that the centre would like me to do the job because my bill was the lowest, and that I should come and see the DG.

“When I came, the DG asked me to start work, that I should work day and night (and) that they would give me an award letter, agreement and advance,” the contractor stated.

The contract was awarded on April 28, 2014 at N33 million for 25 rooms.

“He told me that the DG wanted me to give them N23million out of the money for the 55 rooms. I told him that it was too much (but) he told me that if I was not going to give them, the DG would ask me to pay back the money (N22, 619, 047.62) and the other contractor would do the job.”

He said he later gave N17million to Abazu.

http://thenationonlineng.net/alleged-n17m-bribe-icpc-invites-onyeka-onwenu-internal-auditor/#comments

Jonathan govt-ordered arms yet to arrive – Dasuki

AUGUST 6, 2015 : FIDELIS SORIWEI, ABUJA 53 COMMENTS

The immediate past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki(retd.), has said some arms and ammunition, ordered during the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan, have yet to arrive in country.

The former NSA said some elements, whose identities he did not disclose, were frustrating the nation’s efforts to get the critically needed equipment to fight the terror sect, Boko Haram.

Dasuki said these in an interview with PR Nigeria, an Abuja-based media consultancy outfit, consulting for the Nigerian military and security agencies.

According to him, the former government, a a point, queried some arm suppliers for the delay in the supply of the items paid for by the government.

He said some of the equipment procured by the Jonathan administration would arrive the country soon, but was not specific about the time.

“It was unfortunate that some elements are frustrating the efforts as we even had to query some suppliers for the delay in the delivery of arms and ammunition,” Dasuki said.

The former security chief, whose Abuja and Sokoto residences were raided by operatives of the Department of State Services recently, explained that the previous administration acquired a lot of highly sophisticated equipment to fight and reclaim 22 local government areas from the insurgents after years of frustration by some countries.

He listed the items to include “Alpha jets, APCs, MRAP vehicles, advanced artillery pieces, assorted arms and ammunitions, highly sophisticated surveillance drones, T72 and carried out modification of F7 supersonic jet fighters.”

The arms also included armoured tanks with comprehensive NBC protection system, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles with capacity to withstand explosions, Improvised Explosive Devices and assorted Armoured Personnel Carriers with effective protective system against small arms fire and shrapnel.

He said the equipment were effectively utilised to recover 22 local government areas then under Boko Haram’s control and prevented the Boko Haram from disrupting the 2015 election.

Dasuki added that the security forces were able to use the equipment to prevent the leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, from releasing videos of threats against the country.

http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-govt-ordered-arms-yet-to-arrive-dasuki-2/

El-Rufai Orders Banks To Close Govt. Accounts, Remit Balance To CBN print
Published on August 6, 2015 by admin

Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has directed all banks with accounts of the state government to close them.
According to El-Rufai, the decision to close the accounts was to give way for implementation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA, framework by 1 September, 2015.
The governor who further explained that the decision was part of the process of attaining this goal, said all banks that maintain the accounts of the government have not only been put on notice to close them, but have also been asked to remit the balances to the Central Bank of Nigeria which will host the state’s TSA.
A statement signed by Samuel Aruwan, the Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, said the governori gave the directives at a meeting with officials of all the banks hosting the state government’s revenue and expenditure accounts.
He said the meeting was also attended by the Kaduna State Branch Controller of the CBN.
El-Rufai explained that after the establishment of the TSA, the state government will open specified sub-accounts with the CBN and the commercial banks.
“The banks’ officials present assured the governor that within five working days of receiving the formal instructions from the state government, they will close the accounts and remit the balances to the TSA.”
While thanking the banks for their continued support, the governor assured them that a session will be organized to explain to the banks how the new TSA and the sub-accounts will work.
The statement also disclosed that selected revenue-holding accounts will be excluded from this directive.
The government will publish needed Treasury Circulars and other instructions to give effect to these decisions.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/08/06/el-rufai-orders-banks-to-close-govt-accounts-remit-balance-to-cbn/

Shock as Rep withdraws motion to probe treatment of Nigerians by foreign companies

Posted By: Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofion: August 06, 2015

The House of Representatives was denied the opportunity of intervening on the reported inhuman treatment Nigerians working in some foreign companies operating in Nigeria were subjected to.

A motion to address the issue entitled: ‘Urgent need to curb unwholesome practices of Chinese, Indian and Lebanese companies in Nigeria, was withdrawn by the sponsor, Segun Adekola (PDP, Ekiti).

To the surprise of some lawmakers, who were prepared for the debate, Adekola took the leave of the House to withdraw the motion.

The motion was listed third for debate on the Order paper yesterday.

In accordance with House rules, the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara granted the request.

In his argument of the motion, as contained on the Order paper, the lawmaker said a media report on an incident at Wempo where it was alleged that a Nigerian worker’s head got smashed by a faulty machine at Wempo called for concern.

The lawmaker regretted that incidents of nonchalance to Nigerian workers’ welfare is rampart with foreign companies operating in the country, with less than impressive action from relevant authorities.

He argued that some of the foreign companies have little regard for the safety of their workers, many of whom had died or got maimed in the work place due to gross negligence by the companies managements.

As stated on the Order paper, the lawmaker expressed concern that some of the foreign companies act with impunity by subjecting their workers to degrading working conditions and a near absence of safety measures in flagrant disobedience of Nigerian Labour laws.

In his prayers, Adekola wanted the House to mandate the Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity, when constituted to investigate the incident at Wempo and other unwholesome practices of foreign companies operating in Nigeria with a view to bringing an end to the unhealthy trends.

http://thenationonlineng.net/shock-as-rep-withdraws-motion-to-probe-treatment-of-nigerians-by-foreign-companies/

Posted By: Duku JOEL, Maiduguri on: August 04, 2015

Following the disclosure by the immediate past Chief of Defense Staff, Alex Badeh that the Nigerian troops were ill equipped for the fight against Boko Haram, Borno Elders’ Forum on Tuesday called on former president Goodluck Jonathan to make an unreserved apology to the people of the state for his failure to handle the crisis.

The forum in a statement signed by its chairman, Amb. Usman Gaji Galtimari, wondered why Governor Kashim Shettima was “almost hanged to death” when he made the same assertion as Badeh.

The elders were also shocked that Badeh was complacent with a sensitive issue that led to massive loss of lives and property without justification.

“What particularly baffles the Borno Elders’ Forum was that at some point in 2014, the Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, had said it publicly after assessing the true situation as the man on ground that troops deployed in the fight against insurgents seriously lacked and required better military equipment and that those at battle fronts were poorly motivated. Several voices were raised in support of the Governor’s position.

“The Governor’s comments were completely rebuffed by the then President of Nigeria who went as far as threatening to withdraw soldiers from Borno as he spoke on live television interview relayed by the Nigerian Television Authority, at a Presidential Media Chat. Not only did the President rebuke the Governor and by extension, the people of Borno State, his aides followed suite and roundly condemned the Governor,” the statement said.

The elders in the light of Badeh’s confession, which according to them has vindicated the governor, demanded the following:

– A National Judicial Commission of Enquiry under an incorruptible judge from preferably the Southern Nigeria be set up to ask the immediate past President questions on why his administration refused to provide the military with the required functional and superior equipment whereas our sons and daughters were exposed to mass murder, severe injuries and grave destructions of our communities

– If the former government is found wanting it should be charged for genocide against the people of Borno State or at least criminal negligence at the International Criminal Court of Justice.

– The retired CDS retired should also be asked why he kept silent when the military under his command was not provided with the right equipment. He had the option of speaking or resigning as he ought to have done in order to draw attention of the world and by that he would have saved lives of Borno people.

– A list of citizens of Borno State killed from the time the issue of military capacity became in question, is compiled and relations of those killed are fully compensated for the death of their loved ones as a result of criminal negligence.

– A list of soldiers sent on missions without being properly equipped and exposed to death at different battle fronts in Borno State, is also compiled and that they are specifically celebrated with their survivors fully compensated since their bread winners died not just in combat but out of negligence of those in authority.

– An unreserved apology is tendered by the immediate past President and his service chiefs to the people of Borno State, especially those lost relations and also to Governor Kashim Shettima for all the humiliation he was made to suffer for telling the truth about capacity of the military at that time.

http://thenationonlineng.net/borno-elders-demand-jonathans-apology-over-killings/

Forgery and fudge in the senate
Posted By: Tatalo Alamu on: August 02, 2015


And whilst we are still on the subject of the fearsome confrontation between the old order and the forces of rampaging political modernity, it is meet to report that after the initial hiccups and frontal insubordination to the dictates of the majority party, the House of Representatives is settling down to good and honest business at last.

Snooper monitored the proceeding last Wednesday and was very impressed by the depth and clarity of presentations. Particularly outstanding in deportment and submission was Honorable Shehu-Shagari. The Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, was masterfully in charge, evoking calm comportment and regal equanimity. It was all redolent of promise and good tidings.

Meanwhile as this was happening in the lower chamber, the upper chamber, the senate, compromised in the eyes of discerning compatriots by forgery and fudge and by the sheer illegality and illegitimacy of progeny and provenance of its leadership, was digging in. The old axiom that when you are in a hole, you stop digging does not cut any ice with its leading lights or lightlessness. They are furiously digging in.

The senate began business with a rousing acclamation of its errant leadership. This motion was supported by a whopping two and a half dozen senators purportedly elected under the APC platform. That just about did it. The aromatic smell of food in the guise of imminent juicy committee memberships could induce a feeding frenzy and unhinge the most loyal party members. This is not the time for fancy theories about party supremacy. As one of the senate’s leading luminaries has famously put, “the senate is not a party secretariat”. The goat eats where it is tethered.

In a classic case of chutzpah, the senate even had the great immoral courage and the brazen temerity to admonish members of the public against media-slamming of its members and to caution the security agencies against witch-hunting family members of distinguished senators. The Rip van Winkle at the EFCC who has just woken up after a millennial nap, must take this serious admonition to heart or be prepared for more mass invasion from the Tartar hordes led by the infamous brawler from Kogi.

It is clear that this lot are beyond soap and water, and there is no point in any further remonstration or appeal to logic and national interest. Since tenacious occupation irrespective of legality confers partial ownership in the eyes of the law, the senate may yet get away with blue murder. Worn down by sheer attrition, the ruling party and the public may decide to move on and overlook the historic infringement. In a typical Nigerian judicial and constitutional fudge, it might even be argued that there is no point in disrupting legislative harmony and stability no matter how it is conjured.

But that is assuming that a leopard can ever change its spots. After securing its flanks, this senate will resume its destabilization of the executive and the country as a whole in a most vicious manner. Its leadership, having been outed as retrogressive charlatans, can only find relevance on the corpse of a new Nigeria. They will fight tooth and nail to maintain the dead order and its diseased detritus.

In the event, President Buhari must be prepared to take his case directly to the Nigerian people. There can be no doubt who at the moment is the overwhelming favourite of the Nigerian populace, no matter the shameless antics of the ousted party and its unreconstructed collaborators in the ruling party. Something tells snooper that this may yet end in a stormy confrontation.

http://thenationonlineng.net/forgery-and-fudge-in-the-senate/

Senators’ vote meant to spite Buhari — Marafa

AUGUST 2, 2015 : SUNDAY ABORISADE 69 COMMENTS

Spokesperson for the Senate Unity Forum, Senator Kabir Marafa, in this interview with SUNDAY ABORISADE, alleged that his colleagues passed a vote of confidence in Dr. Bukola Saraki’s senate leadership in order to spite President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress leadership

Will the vote of confidence passed in Senator Bukola Saraki’s leadership of the senate end the lingering crisis in the upper chamber?

I honestly don’t understand the meaning of the vote of confidence passed by the 81 senators. I don’t know where the idea came from and why it was done at that time. However, to my mind and I may be wrong, my own interpretation of it is that it was done to spite Mr President and possibly, our party, the All Progressives Congress. The only reason why such a thing could be done at that time is because during the National Executive Committee meeting of the party, the President directed that party supremacy should be respected. With the benefit of hindsight, I know that the party wrote a letter to the senate president requesting him to read on the floor of the senate, names of four prominent party members who are senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the party’s leaders in the senate. But the senate president, in his wisdom, refused, saying his hands were tied and instead he went ahead to read some names that we did not know where they came from. The list he read was from unknown and unrecognised zonal caucuses which to me, are nonexistent. We know the political parties. We know who their leaders are; no matter how small a political party is. Political parties are recognised duly by the constitution to the extent that the constitution says that nobody can assume any elective position without belonging to a political party and without being sponsored by that political party to contest. That is to say that the Nigerian Constitution absolutely recognises political parties. Our rules say that a majority or a minority leader should be appointed or named from a political party that has more or less number of senators as the case may be. I don’t think that this argument can be twisted to mean some people can sit down in a corner and say that we are the ones that can nominate from that political party when that political party is there and its leadership is also there. This is one of the issues that generated a lot of controversies in the senate and I am one of the people that feel and believe that the senate president, with due respect to him, was misled.

There are arguments that the vote of confidence has some political undertones. What is your reaction to this?

From the outset, with due respect to members of the Peoples Democratic Party, and members of the APC in the senate, I want to say that the PDP is playing real politics with the issue of the vote of confidence and I don’t blame them. Maybe if I were in their position, I would do the same. Those that I really pity are my fellow APC members who are playing along with them because this is our God-given time. Opposition in Nigeria suffered for 16 years and watched how the PDP ruled us. In the senate, it was a case of winners take all throughout that period. All the leadership belonged to the PDP and no member of the opposition had the slightest courage to attempt to contest as a presiding officer. The leadership of the party did everything they wanted. They allocated committees to their members without any regard to certain zones. Take for example, the South-West, during the just concluded 7th Senate, had only chairmanship of Grade C or Grade D committees. There was no Grade A committee chairman among them at all. But take the South-East and South-South for instance, they had more than 10 very powerful committees each. Take Enugu State alone, the state produced the deputy senate president who was the chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, chairman of the board of the Nigeria Institute for Legislative Studies, the state also produced the chairman of Committee on Communication and also chairman of the Committee on Works. Virtually all the senators in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Abia, Imo states and so on were members of powerful committees at the detriment of other geopolitical zones. [b]The simple reason they gave then was that we were following the rules of the senate and that was what the rule said. They said for anybody to be appointed as a presiding officer or principal officer, or to the headship of committees or even as a delegate anywhere, the senate would be guided by the ranking rules. The rule was applied to suppress us. We felt that there was need to have rules to guide a gathering like this one otherwise it would become a lawless gathering. Thus, all we had to do was to perform well so that our people could return us so that when we come back, we will begin to enjoy what others enjoyed when we were new. But suddenly we are now seeing a situation where these rules are being abused. Suddenly they are now telling us that constitution overrides these rules when they are actually the architects of the rules. What we have done in this 8th Senate will keep hunting the senate from today and the people who sabotaged the rules would be hunted by it many years to come and their pay day will come one day.[/b]

Are you not worried that some members of the Senate Unity Forum have dumped the struggle and are already pitching tent with the pro-Saraki group?

Personally, I am not bothered by numbers anymore because we are not fighting this course simply because we are members of the SUF that contested the position of senate president and lost. Whatever happened on June 9, a leadership emerged by whatever name you want to call it. There is a leadership and as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I must be able to respect the laws of Nigeria if I am aggrieved, the laws provided for me means and ways of addressing my grievances which I have done. Nobody can say that there was no election. Thus, for now, there was an election and results were announced and there are people that were announced as leaders. We must respect them. What we are saying now is that, there are some lapses, some abuses on our laws and we are saying that as senators, we must live by example and be the ones to respect our own laws first before we call on others to respect our own institution. We should not be the ones that will sabotage and abuse our own laws only to come out and tell other people to obey the laws of the federation or even respect our own institution. We are fighting for the system and demanding the need to play according to the rules so that at the end, the system will be stronger. A situation whereby we bend our rules anyhow, just to suit purposes is really unparliamentarily and unacceptable to Nigeria and I don’t need a large number of people to fight the cause. I will do my job and say whatever is wrong. I don’t care I could even be ruled out of order 20 times in a day. I take solace in the fact that Nigerians are watching, documenting and appreciative of what I am doing. I know that one day, even if I am in my grave, these issues will come back again, they will resurface and people will discuss them and history will say Senator Marafa said certain things on a particular date but was ruled out of order. God spare our lives, we will all see the repercussion of what we are doing in the 9th Senate. The contest will be very fierce because it is now open to 109 Senators, no more ranking because you cannot have your cake and eat it.

On the floor of the senate on Tuesday, you called for the nullification of all activities carried out in the senate from June 9 apart from the proclamation. Why these fresh demands?

The activities of the senate on the June 9 stand because they were covered by the proclamation of Mr President which states that the proceedings of the chamber shall start by 10:00am. But all other activities of the senate from the time but not limited to the oath of office, is a nullity because it was not done within the time frame. The activities of the senate on June 23 and 24 are equally a nullity. The rule book regulates the proceedings of the chamber. This book brings about law and order in this chamber. This is the book that stipulates the dos and don’ts.

Order 13 ( 1 ) (contained in the earlier amendments) states that on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays except the second and third Fridays of the month, committee meetings are to hold between 9:00am and 12 noon.

Order 13 ( 2 ) states that on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the senate shall meet at 2pm and unless previously adjourned, it shall sit until 6pm . A substantive motion has to be moved by the leader of the senate or a senator acting in that capacity that the senate be adjourned, by 6pm. The deputy senate president has said that the senate rules has come in effect and that for it to be amended, will have to follow order 110 based on the provisions of the rule.

Order 3 (2) states that nomination of senators to serve as presiding officers and appointment of principal officers and other offices of the senate or on any parliamentary delegation shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators.

The nominations made by the PDP are not in accordance with the ranking and are therefore null and void.

But all the senators were on Tuesday, given new copies of the Senate Standing Order 2015 as amended which corrected the time of sitting which you just raised?

I have said everything about all the abuse of privileges in the senate and it is now left for Nigerians to judge. On June 24 I drew the attention of the whole senate to the fact that a new set of rules had been introduced to the senate and that I didn’t know where they came from, because we never amended the 2011 version. But our deputy senate president said each senate comes with a new set of rules and that the one given to us after inauguration was meant for the 8th Senate. Now, for anybody to amend the 2015 version again, he has to follow order 110 (1-5). I did remind the senate president that it is stated in order 13 (2) that the senate will sit from 2:00pm to 6:00pm, but suddenly, they told us that it was an error. The next thing was that they started distributing another rule book which corrected the error. What this means is that they are printing this book at will. If there is anything they don’t like in it, they will just print and say that the earlier one was an error. These are some of the issues that I am talking about and which would have repercussion on the 9th Senate. We have two new rules within two months. Which one are we going to work with now? We don’t know.

http://www.punchng.com/politics/crossfire/senators-vote-meant-to-spite-buhari-marafa/

Revving up anti-corruption agenda

Contrary to the posture of his predecessors who used to receive brief from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies, Buhari has only left these agencies to “read his lips and be on the same page” with him in fighting corruption. A presidential aide, who spoke with our correspondent in strict confidence, said: “Do you know that Buhari has not asked any of the anti-corruption agencies to arrest anyone? He has not called for the file of any suspect or given them a list of the untouchables. Suddenly, these agencies increased their pace because Buhari does not place any inhibitions on their way, no presidential interference at all.” In the last few weeks, some heavyweights either quizzed or arraigned in court were ex-Governor Sule Lamido and sons; ex-Governor Martin Elechi and son; ex-Governor Ikedi Ohakim; Mrs. Oluwatoyin Saraki (the wife of the Senate President); Hajiya Zainab Dakingari (the daughter of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua); ex-Governor Murtala Nyako and son; a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi and Mrs, Ifeoma Nwobodo, who was the Chief of Staff to the former Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sullivan Chime.

Asserting the principle of separation of powers

For 49 days, the National Assembly was on the verge of brinkmanship because the President refused to interfere in the internal affairs of the Legislature. There were conflicting reports on whether or not ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo prevailed on Buhari to intervene, it was however obvious that the President took a constitutional risk which almost overshadowed his victory and the electoral gains of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In the end, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Speaking on a live interview chat with NTA on Monday, the President explained why he refused to interfere. He said: “I have to be very sensitive to the Constitution of the country. I do not like to be told by anybody, especially the legislators that I am interfering in their matter. There are three arms of government: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. Over the years, they have developed the system of choosing their leaders.

“There is no way I can directly interfere. All I can do through the party is to appeal to their conscience that what I already observed, we should go over it as soon as possible. When I say we, I mean the APC.”

Corroborating his claim, the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said Buhari stuck to his stand till the end. He said: “Mr. President made it once again clear that everybody has no alternative but to listen to what the party says. He emphasized the fact that all of us were what we are thanks to the platform that the party provided for everybody. I think this message resonated very intensely with all the members of the House. He still did not interfere and his parting words to us were that the leadership of the House and the party should go and resolve whatever issues that were militating against a resolution.”

Buhari’s unique visit to the US

This trip was a major breakthrough for Buhari because it came early in the day of his administration and he can now settle down for work. Besides mending the strained diplomatic ties between the US and Nigeria, Buhari was able to seek support for the nation’s war against Boko Haram and anti-graft campaign which may lead to the repatriation of about $6billion looted funds. The shuttle also fetched a commitment of $2.1billion loan from the World Bank (through its International Development Agency) to rebuild the insurgency-ravaged North-East. While the first 10 years of the loan will be interest free, additional 30 years would attract interest “lower than capital market rate.” On its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) might invest about $300million on immunization against malaria. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is expected to work with Dangote Foundation for a zero polio free system in the country. A former Deputy Minority Leader in the Senate, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora told THE NATION’s correspondent during the week that the gains of the trip were significant. He said: “It is a measure of goodwill Obama and the United States have for President Buhari and his administration. That goodwill goes beyond America; it also extends to international community especially the Western world.”

Giving anti-terror war a new bite

Since the appointment of new Service Chiefs, the nation’s counter-insurgency campaign has heightened. Troops have seized many camps of Boko Haram, killed more than 300 insurgents and set free hundreds of captives including a six-day old infant. Buhari has also initiated a military alliance with Chad, Niger Republic, Cameroon and Benin Republic. A military source said: “With the way we are going about the campaign, we will rout out Boko Haram in the next six months if we sustain the tempo.”

Bail out for states

Worried by the collapse of the economy of most states, the President has reeled out some bail out measures including the release of N713.7billion intervention funds for states; N413.7billion represents special intervention funds; and the balance of about N250billion to N300billion as a soft loan to states. While about N413.7b ($2.1b) was sourced from the recent LNG proceeds, the remaining N300b came from a Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund. The Debt Management Office (DMO) is expected to assist states to restructure over N660billion commercial loans crippling their economy.

What should Nigerians do?

National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu during the week asked Nigerians to be patient with Buhari to effect the much desired change. He said: “Change is not by magic, it is driven by the people… You see, we have had so much problem in this country in the past because we run into policy blindfolded without adequate and effective planning. You don’t have results unless you plan well. The time it takes you to plan, examine, re-jig, re-evaluate is more important than the time you just rush into taking action because you are either being sentimental, being emotional and being driven by forces that are not expected.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/the-buhari-presidency-behind-the-scenes/

The Buhari Presidency: Behind the scenes
Posted By: YUSUF ALLIon: August 02, 2015 20 Comments


Since President Muhammadu Buhari took over the reins of power on May 29, his governance style has been a major discourse among citizens. His traducers, especially the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have turned fault finders overnight and won’t give him a breathing space. In this piece, YUSUF ALLI, MANAGING EDITOR, NORTHERN OPERATION explores the ‘slow and steady’ pace of Buhari and his unsung silent initiatives which may turn the nation around.

Contrary to the awkward and uncomplimentary claims of a governor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the countdown to the March general election, President Muhammadu Buhari is waxing stronger by the day. His capacity to cope with the workload has remained amazing to his aides, friends and associates. And in the last two months, it is becoming obvious that a new dawn is imminent for the nation. There can be no better testimony than that of President Barrack Obama, who lodged Buhari at the famous Blair’s House meant for philosopher leaders, and gave Nigerians a lot to cheer about their president. Obama said: “President Buhari came into office with reputation for integrity and a very clear agenda that is to make sure that he has been bringing safely security and peace to his country.”

Trailing Buhari in the last two months has revealed many dimensions of the new President and the how he is laying foundation for a robust future for the country.

Buhari’s unusual schedule causes stir in The Villa

Apart from going through some discomfort (through a make-shift life) before packing to the Presidential Villa, the President lives an austere life. He works from 7am to the wee hours of the night with intermittent time for his five daily prayers. He consults with few underground advisers (close and old associates of many years) in House 7 and aides on daily basis to weigh options. Talking on the tight schedule of the President, the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu said: “Maybe because of his military background, the President wakes up early and he is an avid listener to radio stations. Before he reports for work by7am, he must have listened to all the talk shows on radio and you will be amazed how he picks you up on some national issues discussed on radio. Most times, he starts his day by 6am.

“The President works from the early hours of the day till 1am and 2am. In fact, there was a time the team around him had a meeting and expressed worries that the President was having only three hours of sleep. They therefore redesigned his schedule by saying no more appointment by 9pm. The new policy did not last more than one week. After that, the President worked till 1am.” Responding to a question, Shehu said: “I think it has to do with his military training because it got to a point that one of the youngest staff working with the President could not cope with his schedule.”

Unveiling Buhari’s moral curtains

Coming into power with a hard-earned reputation, Buhari has changed the face of Aso Rock – the seat of government. Unlike in the past administrations, loafers, busy bodies, political heavyweights, multi-colour businessmen masquerading as investors, chieftains of banks seeking to influence financial policies, portfolio investors and money bags do not have easy access to the Presidential Villa again. Instead, they now loiter around the corridors of the Senate and House of Representatives to have a peripheral feeling of what Buhari or the Federal Government is up to. This is the first time since 1999 when those who usually alter the fortunes of Nigeria at night over champagne have been shut out of the Villa. They can no longer drive in and out of the Villa at will; they cannot have gossip dinners with the President and have no access to every file signed by the President or a privileged knowledge of appointments and government policies again.

The situation got to a ridiculous stage under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua that a businessman was always getting the copy of policy statement even before Ministers or Permanent Secretaries knew of the government direction. While ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was in charge, some businessmen and money bags could influence policies within minutes after a shuttle to the Villa. They sought monopoly of everything in the country, they wanted waiver to direct the economy as they like or determine how Nigerians breathe, and some of them manipulated the oil, industrial and financial sectors from the tip of their fingers. At a stage under Jonathan, Ministers feared these money bags and Presidential friends than the ex-President himself. All the luxury is gone with Buhari in charge. A source said: “To Buhari, any businessman, political heavyweight or money bag visiting the Villa must come to add value and not to diminish or deplete the system.”

These men of means are unhappy being on the same pedestal with the poor but Buhari is unruffled. Besides having quality time to meditate on the state of the nation and plan, the Vila is saving huge cost often spent on accommodation at state expense, choice foods and exotic champagne like Vodka which was the delight of some people in the last government.

Instead, Buhari runs a tight administration with a code of conduct for his immediate family and aides. Aides must live above board and keep sealed lips on official secrets, especially crucial policies and itinerary. Once you cross the border line, you are either redeployed or isolated or ejected from the Villa. To the shock of every staff in the Villa, Buhari woke up one day and relieved his Chief Security Officer, Abdulrahman Mani and Administrative Officer Widi Liman of their jobs. Although the government has kept mute on the removal of these confidants, findings revealed that Mani might have been redeployed for allegedly “leaking Buhari’s itinerary to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke who strove to travel on the same flight to London in May. It was also learnt that Mani was sent out of the Villa following power tussle between him and the Aide-de-Camp of the President, Lt. Col. Muhammed Abubakar Lawal over the security changes effected in the seat of government. Another source said Buhari was unhappy with Mani and Liman on how they mismanaged the ‘opportunity’ to take care of his appointments. He suspected some connivance when unwanted guests or some corrupt elements were placed on appointment list.

Also a desperate businessman looking for an oil block had attempted to bribe a brother-in-law, Musa Yola, to get access to the President but the in-law paid dearly for it. The dubious transaction was not only busted, Buhari ordered the arrest of his in-law in handcuffs. He ordered the State Security Service (SSS) to investigate the scam.

This is the first time that the First Family will be under some restrictions. Buhari has listed no go areas for his wife and children in order to avoid abuse of power. When his wife and children went for lesser Hajj (Umrah) a few weeks ago, he made sure they travelled on Emirates Airline, a commercial flight with a caveat that they must not receive any gift from wealthy Nigerians who are usually using the pilgrimage to curry favours. A top source said: “President Muhammadu Buhari has adopted a strict policy on the use of presidential aircraft in order to save cost. His wife and relations have been restricted to the use of the aircraft in the presidential fleet.

“A situation where the aircraft were used anyhow by some friends, associates of the President during the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan can no longer be applicable in this dispensation.

“For example, the Wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari and three children travelled for lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia on Emirates Airline instead of using presidential aircraft.

“Buhari is determined to ensure the judicious use of the presidential aircraft to save cost. He is also setting a new template for governance. Do not be surprised if you see the President using commercial flights.”

Findings also revealed that Buhari is blazing another moral trail as a leader because his wife still cooks for him. While hosting some children to Eid-el Fitr festival, the wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, made the unusual disclosures. She said: “I’m going to leave you soon. I want to go back home to cook for my husband. Because my children are here playing with you, nobody is at home, only my husband. I want to go back home to be with him and also cook dinner for him.” As at the time of filing this report, Buhari is yet to acquiesce to pressure to make his wife to go about with the appellation of the ‘First Lady’. A source added: “I think the President does not want the Office of the First Lady hijacked by vested interests as the case between 2010 and 2015 when Jonathan was in charge. So far, Hajiya Aisha Buhari is known and addressed as the ‘Wife of the President.’

Awaiting the fate of presidential jets

Going by his level of contentment, it was apparent that the President does not need all the aircraft in the Presidential Fleet but he is yet to make up his mind on what to do. During the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, about N9.08billion was spent annually to maintain the 10 aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF). The aircraft are two Falcon 7X jets, two Falcon 900 jets, Gulf stream 550, one Boeing 737 BBJ (Nigerian Air Force 001 or Eagle One), and Gulf stream IVSP.

Others are one Gulf stream V, Cessna Citation 2 aircraft and Hawker Siddley 125-800 jet.

A presidency source said: “Do you know that it costs about N747 million to fuel the aircraft in the presidential fleet per annum. President Buhari said his administration cannot afford such a luxury. He has limited the use of presidential fleet by his wife, immediate family and friends.

“The US President, Barrack Obama uses only two Boeing jets and one helicopter. So, Buhari is determined to cut cost. In any case, he lives an austere life. If he can ask his wife to fly on a commercial jet, then other public officers must emulate his standard.”

How he is running government without ministers

Gradually the President is restoring the old glory of the nation’s civil service in line with the 800-page report of Ahmed Joda Committee, which was submitted on June 11. Ahead of his appointment of ministers next month, the President is running the government with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, Permanent Secretaries (who are the accounting officers of ministries) and the Chief Executives/ Directors-General of parastatals and his key aides like some Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants. The Permanent Secretaries and the CEOs of agencies are enjoying every bit of freedom because for the first time since 2007, they can now make suggestions, rub minds with the President and implement without anyone breathing down on them. The Senior Special Assistant on Media, Shehu said: “The Permanent Secretaries are there to assist him and he has given them independence to take decisions (including financial ones) unless it is something extra-ordinary.”

Reforms/ the coming structure of government and new ministers

Sources in the Presidential Villa confided in THE NATION that the report of the Ahmed Joda Committee and the 2012 document of Steve Oronsaye panel will go a long way in shaping the surgical reforms which Buhari will carry out. These reforms may include merger of ministries and agencies, cutting waste in public service and putting in place a culture of transparency and accountability. In its report, the Joda committee said: “There is no direct relationship between the number of ministries and efficacy of service delivery. The US with a population of 316million and with GDP of $17, 328 trillion (30 times Nigeria’s GDP) has 15 ministries. India has 24 ministries while the UK has 17.

“The current structure of the Federal Government of Nigeria with 28 ministries and 542 agencies (50 of which have no enabling laws) results in very high cost of governance. The portfolios of ministries are not responsive to all the major critical national challenges such as family and child affairs; religious affairs; vulnerable and elderly group affairs as well as the North-Eastern crisis.

“There is an apparent conflict between the desire of reducing the cost of governance through cabinet downsize and the constitutional requirement of a cabinet-level ministerial appointment from each of the 36 states of the Federation.”

More than any group, the new ministers coming into Buhari’s cabinet may not enjoy the same luxury like some of their reckless predecessors in the administration of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and ex-President Goodluck Jonathan. Shehu said: “The President has said he will cut wastes everywhere. He used to tell us that as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, he was always applying to the Federal Executive Council for estacode each time he was going for OPEC meeting. You can predict his policy.”

But the only challenge Buhari might have is about his plans to reduce the number of ministers from 42 to 18 or 19 because it will amount to a violation of the 1999 Constitution unless the relevant Section 147(1-3) is amended.

The section says: “There shall be such offices of Ministers of the Government of the Federation as may be established by the President.

“Any appointment to the office of Minister of the Government of the Federation shall, if the nomination of any person to such office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President.

“Any appointment under subsection (2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of section 14(3) of this Constitution:

“Provided that in giving effect to the Provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state.”

When contacted, one of the strategists of the new administration said: “The President is still keeping the list of ministers to his chest; he has not disclosed any list.”

What has changed in the past few weeks?

Nothing sums up the turn-around being championed by Buhari than a confession by one of the immediate past ministers who said: “I don’t believe that everything can be done in an orderly manner as presently the case. Buhari’s personal leadership qualities, including hard work, have made a difference. Former President Jonathan said he was caged but I have realized that we were all caged.” Without firing any shot as a military General or visiting any establishment, the President’s body language has done much magic in the past few weeks. The system is working in every Ministry, Department and Agency because public servants and government officials know that Buhari will not take nonsense. Since no one wants to incur the president’s wrath, civil servants now report at their desk on time.

The same body language charm afflicts the electricity generating, transmission and distribution companies such that the nation’s power supply is reasonably stable since May 29 when Buhari only inherited a “historic low” of 727 megawatts (mw). According to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Wednesday, the National Transmission Grid has recorded another peak of 4,662 megawatts (mw) of electricity. The TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Seun Olagunju said: “Power generation and transmission have been recording new peaks above 4,500mw following improvements in gas supply to the generating stations as well as equipment/ infrastructure upgrade and enhanced human capacity of system operators.”

----CONTINUES BELOW-----

DSS arrests 28 kidnap masterminds in six days

AUGUST 1, 2015 : ADELANI ADEPEGBA, ABUJA

The Department of State Services has arrested 28 suspected kidnappers nationwide within six days.

The service stated that it apprehended the suspects across various states in the South-South, South-West and the North-West regions between July 20 and 26, 2015.

A statement by one Tony Opuiyo on Saturday in Abuja, said the DSS line with its statutory mandate, initiated series of special tactical operations in states prone to the nefarious activities of criminal gangs.

The operations, it added, succeeded in the capture of the masterminds and other facilitators of kidnapping syndicates among whom is one Victor Afikparobo, who was picked up on July 20, 2015 at Owheologbo, Isoko North LGA of Delta State.

The suspect, the DSS added, was a key member of the ‘Federal’ gang, a kidnap syndicate which perpetrated series of kidnap incidents within the Ikorodu/Otta axis of Lagos State, adding that the arrest had given further leads to the gang leader of the Federal kidnap syndicate.

The service further claimed to have arrested three suspects, including one John Felix (a.k.a. Austin), Rowson Anufa (a.k.a. Amori) and Obukoko Emoabe, a local herbalist to the group on July 22 at Ovara Orugun village in Ughelli North LGA, Delta State.

The trio are key members of the kidnap gang that terrorised the Lagos-Ikorodu road, and Owo, Ondo State, the agency stated.

On July, 24, the DSS also apprehended Joseph Ojobor (a.k.a Chairman), the leader of the Lagos cell of the ‘Federal’ kidnap syndicate at Uduere, village in Ughelli North LGA, Delta State.

The DSS said he had also been linked to some incidents of illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism.

It said, ”

Also, on the same July 24, at about 0500 hours, the team arrested another member of the Lagos cell of the ‘Federal’ kidnap syndicate, one Timothy Japheth in his house at Onokpasa Avenue in Okhan village in Ughelli North LGA, Delta State.

“Earlier, on July 19, another member of the notorious gang, one Howell Anufa, was apprehended by the service. The suspect was instrumental to the kidnap of the Regent of Akungba Akoko in Ondo State.

“Anufa also participated in the spate of kidnap incidents, carried out by the gang in Lagos and Ogun states respectively, before he relocated to Warri, Delta State, where he was eventually arrested.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/dss-arrests-28-kidnap-masterminds-in-six-days/

Metuh betrayed Jonathan for refusing to appoint him spokesperson — PDP workers

August 1, 2015Press Release

The Peoples Democratic Party Staff Welfare Association has described as “an absolute bunkum, a clumsy, and blundering blackmail”, an allegation by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, that staff members were being sponsored by the APC to destabilize the PDP.
The association said such a weak shot from a mortally crippled arsenal of witch hunt is incapable of breaking the resolve of the staff to expose the thieving band in the PDP’s National Working Committee and restore the core vision of the party.
“We are not surprised that the allegation will become the most fashionable means of covering tracks,” the staff said.
The staff are challenging the PDP’s move to sack half of its work force and cut by 50 per cent the pay of the remaining workers, just two months after leaving power.
The workers have accused the NWC members of squandering over N12 billion of party funds, and destroying the former ruling party.
In a statement Saturday, the chairperson of the workers’ association, Ngozi Nze, and Secretary, Dan Ochu-Baiye, said the allegation of being sponsored by the APC is a “wide window into the impressionable character of the man who has been in saddle as the party’s image-maker and an ominous signpost into the shallow manner the publicity of the party has been run”.
“We wish to state that this is a man whose conduct, demeanour and media outings have been a repulse to professionalism and a source of embarrassment to party members.
“We therefore place on record that the majority of the establishment staff of the PDP are not just unrepentant members of the party who have spent over sixteen years in service; who have assimilated the PDP ethos as a way of political life but are also the repository of the party’s institutional memory whose spirit can hardly succumb to the ephemerality of power loss.
“Who plays anti-party you may ask? Staff members who are genuinely resisting the morally repugnant and obsessively corrupt NWC so that the PDP will survive or the likes of Olisa Metuh who has a track record of anti-party given his open endorsement of APGA candidate in 2013 Anambra governorship election, the subsequent denigration of PDP candidate and his chances on live television program less than 24 hours after the election, even as the result was being awaited?
“Earlier in January 2010, Anambra governorship election, Metuh as National Vice Chairman, South East, abandoned Chukwuma Soludo, the PDP candidate while openly galvanizing support for Hope Democratic Party candidate, his friend and benefactor. The PDP did not only woefully lose in Otolo Nnewi Ward 1 of the Party’s zonal vice Chairman but came a distant third in his polling booth! What a faithful party officer!
“Again, we have incontrovertible evidence that the man who is PDP Publicity Secretary worked assiduously against the presidential candidate of the PDP, former President Goodluck Jonathan, in the last election in order to requite the ex-President for rejecting him as Director of Publicity of the Presidential Campaign which was given to Femi Kayode, a development which came after Metuh had squandered a whooping sum of 450 million naira media fund earlier approved for the office of PDP Publicity Secretary by President Jonathan.
“Last week’s controversial congresses in Anambra is another signpost to the destructive trajectory which the likes of Olisa Metuh is driving the PDP to. The chairman of the congress, Ike Abonyi, no doubt a veteran journalist is at present in Olisa Metuh’s employ as his media adviser. Another member of the committee, Collet Odenigbo is Metuh’s friend and adjutant on special assignments while the man returned as State Organizing Secretary, Sam Ben, is Metuh’s personal assistant. The process was so personalized to the chagrin of party members, especially leaders who were also illegally compelled to part with certain amount of money. As we write, the party is still waiting for the result of the congresses a week after it was held, pending when Metuh is done with his conclave of distortion and extortion.
“This is the same man who we reliably gathered, is surreptitiously scheming to emerge as the Organizing Secretary of the party next year. To do what? Turn the party organization into Idumota Market and institutionalize exaction, graft and impunity.
“This is a man who started in 1999 as a zonal youth leader, then National Ex-officio, Acting National Auditor, Zonal Vice Chairman and now publicity secretary. It is either his umbilical cord was buried at Wadata Plaza or that he can’t survive on any other thing except the PDP.
“We make bold to add that the worst form of anti-party is the mindless plunder of the party resources by the NWC which Olisa Metuh is an integral part of, in fact the leader of the body’s extortion gang. Recall that the same man was the Chairman of Kogi State congresses which held last week and match it with the fact that the widely rumoured request for One billion Naira from the State governor emanated the same week.
“Indeed labeling the staff of the PDP could be a veiled attempt to justify the huge sum of 70 million naira which Metuh collected in July in the name of fighting the APC in the media.
“We wish to therefore advise him and the NWC to respond to gritty issues raised in our press briefing without which the fortunes of the party will continue to dwindle,” the workers said.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/187653-metuh-betrayed-jonathan-for-refusing-to-appoint-him-spokesperson-pdp-workers.html

Publish salaries, allowances of lawmakers, Gbajabiamila tells NASS
Published on August 1, 2015 by

The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos-APC), has urged the National Assembly to publish a breakdown of salaries and allowances of federal lawmakers in the country.
Gbajabiamila told newsmen on Friday in Abuja that the call became necessary in order to correct conflicting figures as perceived by the public.
He said the need for official disclosure of the figures became necessary in view of the current campaign for full disclosure
of funding of all tiers and arms of government.
He added that “until you open up your books to the public, let them look at how much you earn, and break that payment down into sub-heads and what that payment is for.
“It is after you open that up that the debate on whether it is too much or too little can then begin.
“For instance, if you bring it down, say for transportation, this is how much a lawmaker gets, the public can determine whether the amount is too much for transportation or not.
“There are many conflicting figures and you leave yourself vulnerable to speculations as a legislator if you are not transparent and you don’t open up your books.
“So, I am in support of the National Assembly to open up its book to the public and publish it.”

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/08/01/publish-salaries-allowances-of-lawmakers-gbajabiamila-tells-nass/

Toyin Saraki’s entourage to EFCC embarrassing, says CACOL
Published on July 31, 2015 by

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, a Lagos-based rights organisation, has slammed Mrs. Toyin Saraki, the wife of Nigeria’s Senate President Bukola Saraki, for allowing a huge crowd to accompany her to the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, some days ago.
Mrs. Saraki is being investigated for alleged alleged money laundering which reports claimed, occurred while she was the First Lady of Kwara State.
She was recently grilled for six hours by the EFCC, but she visited the office of the anti-graft agency with an entourage that included some senators, a situation many Nigerians have also condemned.
[b]In a statement Friday, CACOL described the visit by Toyin Saraki with her entourage to the EFCC as a national embarrassment.
“Well-meaning Nigerians were taken aback as they watched on their television sets the large entourage of Mrs. Toyin Saraki, wife of the Senate President, which comprised mainly of the nation’s ‘honourable’ lawmakers from both the higher and lower chambers.
“These national lawmakers and supposed representatives of the Nigerian people, reportedly accompanied Mrs. Saraki, who had been invited by the anti-corruption agency to come and answer to an allegation of corrupt practice, in a show of solidarity with the accused.
“The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL is particularly disturbed and miffed at what it terms not only a show of shame and gross irresponsibility, but a clear anti-thesis of what their primary constitutional duty is.
“One cannot but wonder how far President Buhari would be able to go in his avowed war against corruption in this country, if the very law-makers who are expected to give him the needed support through the provision of enabling legal frame-work with which to successfully prosecute the war, are openly, though tacitly, fraternising with corruption by turning themselves into bodyguards of a suspected corruption criminal,”[/b] CACOL said in the statement signed by Mrs. Temitope Macjob, its acting Media Officer.
The rights organisation said from reports, twenty-five legislators abandoned their statutory duties to follow Mrs. Saraki to the office of the EFCC and most of them waited for the over six hours that the exercise lasted.
“They are doing the jobs Nigerians didn’t elect them to do.
“Although they have the right to presume that she is not guilty until convicted, but do not have the right to portray her innocent of the allegations made against her, even before being interrogated.
“The lawmakers’ conduct presupposed that they are determined to intimidate the EFCC in its task of tackling corruption. It’s sad that they chose to abandon their statutory role of lawmaking while playing the meddlesome interloper, thereby diminishing the exalted chambers they represent,” the statement said adding that the incident is reminiscent of the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo days, when Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was being accompanied by “shameless praise-singers who had to roll out drums, clad in ‘Aso Ebi’ and danced in and around the court premises in solidarity with the accused each time he appeared in court to answer to corruption charges.
“CACOL observes that this singular act by these legislators, is a clear indication that certain members of this very important arm of government, if not called to order, are out to make the job of eradicating corruption or at least, stemming it to the barest minimum, by Buhari’s administration, more complex and difficult than ever envisaged.
“The Coalition of anti-corruption organisations therefore calls on Nigerians to get ready and be set to confront anybody, group or institution, that is out to frustrate President Buhari’s efforts at wrestling to submission this gargantuan, seemingly untamable monster, called corruption and save Nigeria from its destructive tendencies.
“We should share President Buhari’s assertion that ‘if we fail to kill corruption, corruption will kill us’. It must be seen as a collective responsibility; Buhari can’t do it alone.
“We are asking Nigerians not to spare corrupt characters, whoever they may be, but adopt CACOL’s slogan to name, nail, shame and shun corrupt leaders, anywhere, everywhere.”

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/07/31/toyin-sarakis-entourage-to-efcc-embarrassing-says-cacol/

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKJUL 31, 2015

The interrogation of former aides and associates of Sullivan Chime, former governor of Enugu State by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, continued today with the grilling of Ikeje Asogwa, former managing director, Enugu State Housing Corporation and incumbent chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu State.

Asogwa arrived the headquarters of EFCC in Abuja about 10.30am on July 31. He was still being interrogated at the headquarters of the EFCC.

Sources at the anti-graft agency disclosed that Asogwa's invitation followed the discovery that he diverted Enugu state funds meant for public housing in the state.

His interrogation comes a day after Ifeoma Nwobodo, Chime's ex- Chief of Staff, was grilled for alleged money laundering and misappropriation of funds. She is still in the custody of the agency.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/07/31/efcc-arrests-pdp-chairman-enugu-diverting-funds-meant-public-housing

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKJUL 30, 2015

The Chief of Staff (CoS) to Sullivan Chime, the former governor of Enugu State, ( Mrs) Ifeoma Nwobodo, is currently being quizzed by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Mrs Nwobodo, who arrived the Wuse, Abuja headquarters of the anti-graft agency at about 9.30 am this morning, was immediately ushered into the interrogation room where a team of crack detectives commenced an intensive interrogation. The issues involve sundry allegations of conspiracy, money laundering, and misappropriation of public funds and abuse of office. She was still being grilled as of press time.

Her invitation is believed to be a precursor to the interrogation of Chime, as EFCC is said to be flooded with petitions indicting him of humongous graft during his eight-year rule of Enugu State between 2007 and 2015.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/07/30/efcc-quizzing-former-enugu-gov-chimes-chief-staff-ifeoma-nwobodo