₦airaland Forum

Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state, says some “selfish” politicians are frustrating the war against insecurity by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mohammed Onogwu, chief press secretary to the governor, quoted Bello as saying this while speaking at an event on Friday.

While lauding Buhari on the release of the schoolboys abducted from a secondary school in Kankara, Katsina state, the governor called on security agencies to expose and bring to justice those sabotaging the efforts to make the country safe for all.

”The actions of these politicians are pitching Nigerians against the president and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and portraying them as bad entities,” he said.

Bello asked other governors, irrespective of party affiliation, to ensure that their states are safe because that would mean the country at large is safe.

“Anyone belonging to any political party, causing mayhem must be exposed and dealt with divisively,” he said.The governor also said some people were using the COVID-19 pandemic to play with the lives of Nigerians.

According to him, another lockdown will cripple the country’s economy and impact negatively on the poor.

At least 35 commuters were on Friday abducted by Boko Haram insurgents along Damaturu-Maiduguri road. Military sources who disclosed the incident to TheCable said the insurgents attacked a large convoy of commuters near Garin Kuturu in Jakana at about 5 pm on Friday.

The insurgents, who reportedly appeared in military uniforms, were said to have mounted a roadblock on the highway with five Hilux vans before taking away the passengers.

“The passengers first sighted a burning fire, but they thought it was bush burning, not knowing that they had already ambushed a Dangote’s truck driver and set it ablaze,” a source said.

“But while they were approaching the scene, they sighted the insurgents storming towards them on trucks mounted with heavy weapons, before they could turn their vehicles to run, the insurgents had already caught up with them.

“Many of the passengers fled to the bush, 35 were abducted, two private vehicles and one truck were set ablaze. Nine vehicles of the abducted passengers were also abandoned at the scene while their properties were looted.”

A senior police officer from the Crack team in Maiduguri who preferred anonymity said 10 passengers were rescued while those who sustained injuries were taken to Maiduguri Specialist Hospital for treatment.

…Say FG can seek help outside Nigeria.
..Life has become cheap, people die in dozens daily.
…Nobody is safe anymore in Nigeria.
…Terrorists, bandits have overwhelmed the country.

On Saturday November 28 this year, Nigerians woke up to very disturbing news. In Zabarmari community in Jere Local Government of Borno state, Boko Haram terrorists stormed the rice farms where farmers were harvesting, tied them up and slit their throats.

According to the state governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, more than 70 farmers were slaughtered, but 43 bodies were recovered and buried on Sunday November 29. Outrage greeted this barbaric act both from local and the international community. In his immediate response to the massacre, President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the killing but declared that he had given all the needed support to the armed forces to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory

On Friday December 11, the terrorists struck again, this time in Katsina state, the home state of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, General Muhammadu Buhari and on the same day the president arrived the state on a visit where they abducted 520 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara.

They were in captivity for six days before they were eventually released on Thurs.following the intervention of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association.This was a sad reminder of how more than 200 girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State as well as secondary school students of Dapchi, Yobe were similarly abducted by the terrorists.

Following the recent abduction, Kaduna, Zamfara and Kano state governments ordered immediate closure of some boarding schools for fear of bandits’ attack. The Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, on its part threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if the Federal Govt does nothing to ensure the security around schools across the country.

The nation appears to be under siege.Whether north or south, no part of the country can claim to be safe with terrorists, bandits and kidnappers having a field day.

Concerned residents have therefore cried out arguing that the primary responsibility of any government is to protect its citizens but it is obvious that activities of the bandits and insurgents are overwhelming security agents of the state.

They argued that terrorists and bandits appear to be having upper hand, strongly saying that the government must wake up to its responsibilities. We can no longer continue like this, they maintained.

Excerpts:

Mr Ledum Mitee, lawyer and former President, Movement For Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) said, “the primary purpose of government, by Section 14 of our constitution, is the security and welfare of the citizens. Where a government admits failure in providing security and welfare of the citizens, that government has failed. It is not a brilliant excuse for a Commander-in-Chief to make claims that he has given support to his subordinates who have not performed, for the buck stops at his desk”

Darlington Nwauju, spokesman, Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA), said, “insecurity anywhere is fuelled by poverty which comes with hunger. In the North where Boko Haram terrorists are daily becoming a source of concern, poverty has made the youths there susceptible to hunger and therefore candidates for radicalisation by the sects that dangle all manner of promises before them.

In the past, kidnapping for ransom was not a common crime in the North but today, it has become cash cow for all manner of criminal sects. Therefore, my immediate suggestion is for the membership base of the civilian JTF to be expanded to engage these criminals since the nation cannot afford to be recording losses of manpower in terms of the security personnel because of the cost of training even one personnel.

According to a political analyst, Zadok Akintoye; “it is important for the President to realize that Nigerians have lost hope in the capacity of his government to provide good governance or promote justice. Indeed, the Buhari presidency gave Nigerians one final hope in 2015 that things might become better but the president has shown that he cannot be trusted to meet the ideal desires of Nigerians.

Segun Showunmi said, “It is hard to accept that Nigerians are the ones killing themselves on this scale. No, this is not who we are; there is no reasonable justification for this. Whatever may be the case, a globalised world cannot look on, while this barbarity is taking place in full world view. Humanity has more than enough resources to deal with this once and for all.

Honestly, it is heart-wrenching to take in this type of news daily. Farmers slaughtered on their farms in such large numbers? In such gory fashion? May peace envelop the hearts of the relatives of the victims and may the world be inspired to hurry up and come to the rescue of Nigeria; this nation must not sink. We cannot continue like this.

Ayo Fadaka, former South West Zonal Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party said, “Some few years back, Buhari himself told us that Boko Haram had been degraded and technically defeated. Our nation today has all the trappings of a failed state and unfortunately Mr President does not seem to know.

They are not telling him the truth.The Nigerian military, once feared across our sub region continues to degenerate and have indeed become a laughing stock, nothing can excuse this prolonged battle with Boko Haram insurgents.

The seeming incompetence of the Service Chiefs certainly continues to embolden dissidents of all colors to wage their own wars against the nation. Life has become so cheap that people die in dozens everyday from unnatural causes, principally from the activities of bandits and Boko Haram, this is sad.

Dr Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, Convener, YesWeFit Revolutionary Movement: “President Buhari can reinvigorate the confidence Nigerians had as promised during the run up to the 2015 presidential election by convening a security summit. He must allow the stakeholders in the security sector to discuss frankly during the summit in order to proffer solutions to the insecurity challenges in Nigeria.

Chief Sola Ebiseni, former commissioner in Ondo state said the killing of those Borno farmers, just 20 kilometers outside Maiduguri, is a clear message from Boko Haram to the effect that they have taken over many places. Herdsmen killings, banditry, kidnappings and other related violent crimes for which the military is deployed for several internal operations, have left the military fatigued and demystified.

Benue CAN Chairman, Rev. Akpen Leva, said “it is very unfortunate that people are being killed in a manner that suggests that we have no regards for life in this country. As a matter of fact, nobody is safe anymore in this country.

Over 43 farmers were slaughtered in Borno in gruesome manner as if nothing happened. Regrettably anytime any of this happens the military would say they are on top of the situation but the killings persist.

I would advise that since the Service Chiefs have so far done their best and their best is not enough, I think there is every need to inject new blood into the system. We have tried several strategies that did not work. And if the armed forces are overwhelmed we should also seek the assistance of other countries because it gets out of hand.

Chairman of Benue Tribal Leaders, Chief Iorbee Ihagh said: The President is not fair to Nigerians to have claimed earlier that Boko Haram had been defeated yet people are still being killed everyday and it doesn’t bother the president.

Americans can go to war because of one life but that is not the same with us in this part of the world. I personally feel that it is time to fire the Service Chiefs and bring in new hands because they have nothing to offer any more.

Speaking on the issue, Dansaaki Samuel Adeleye Agbede a member of the Senior Elders Forum of the Yoruba Council of Elders, said President Buhari should not hesitate to seek assistance from outside the country.

When people get into problems that seem intractable, they seek help because our level of intelligence gathering is very low and also the level of cooperation by the inhabitants of the area is very low because they are subjected to intimidation, harassment, they are petrified with fear. If they should say anything to Nigerian army, the insurgents will descend on them.

In his own comments, the Chairman of Yoruba World Assembly, Chief Taye Ayorinde wondered the kind of umbilical cord that is tying the president with the Service Chiefs that has made it difficult for him to sack them as requested by the National Assembly and several Nigerians.

“He (President) is not willing to do anything, he is not listening to the cries of the masses, he is turning this country into a unitary one. The Northern Elders have asked him to sack all the service chiefs but he has refused. What is he afraid of? Are they the most qualified in the country?

A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Johnson Abolagba said “. To say the least, the terrorists, the bandits, the herdsmen have overwhelmed Nigeria and the truth is we wonder whether Nigeria still has leaders. People are being killed, either by bandits, kidnappers, herdsmen or by Boko Haram, it is as if Nigeria is not being led by anybody at this point in time.

According to Hon Paul Ohonbamu, former Commissioner for Information in Edo state, ”if Buhari says he has done all he has to do for the armed forces, it means in terms of logistics and other needs he has done well, but I think he should heed the call of many people that the Service Chiefs should be changed so that new ideas could be generated.

Dr Enoch Malachi, a pastor and medical doctor said Nigeria needs external support and the president should not shy away from making such requests. He said: “I want to say that if we are not able to deal with this evil in the nation I think we need assistance, the government should not shy away from the fact that these terrorists are making the country ungovernable, inhabitable so there is no shame in seeking assistance from the United Nations.

Comrade Ibrahim Garba Maryam, policy analyst observed that “it is enough for President Buhari to say he has given all the needed support to the armed forces to take all necessary steps to protect the country and its territory. Has he taken time to find out if the money was utilised for the purpose it was meant? There is no administration that has not claimed to have spent billions of naira for security.

The problem with this country is that corruption will not allow those in power to do the right thing. If the government is able to monitor those responsible for the security of this country, things will be better.

Malam Ustaz isyaku an Islamic scholar, said if president said he has given those in charge of security the necessary things they needed and yet our innocent farmers and villagers are being killed and kidnapped then nobody is safe.

Sir Chimezie Nwalozie, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Imo State, said: “it is part of our nature sometimes, as humans, to wait for others to tell us exactly the same thing we know we should do. It is obvious that they have failed us woefully. In better developed countries, the security situation in Nigeria is enough to make the President resign.

Nevertheless, if the President is really sincere, he should know that the time to rejuvenate the security apparatus is now. The heads of the security agencies have been there for over five years and in the present circumstances, we all know that they have exhausted their strategies. We need fresh minds with fresh zeal and a new approach to tackle the menace before the terrorists begin to think of expanding their acquired territories.

Mazi Shedrack Nzediegwu, social crusader, described the growing insecurity in the land as “a rampaging cancer that is about to swallow Nigeria”. His words: “What we are seeing is the shadow of the true cancer, about to swallow Nigeria. A faulty foundation cannot stand for long, the foundation of this country, Nigeria, was faulty from the beginning.

In his own reaction, Dr. Imma C. Ikoro, an educationist, said: “personally, I don’t believe that the President has done all he needs to do, so long as he remains adamant about rejigging the security apparatus in the country. Also, how were the monies budgeted in billions for security, all the years, spent? This needs to be addressed first.”
Continue reading @..........

The Defence Headquarters has accused Amnesty International (AI) of blackmailing the Nigerian military in its recent report, which accused the military of crimes against older people in the Northeast.

The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, said this in a statement on Wednesday, adding that there were contractions in the report.

Part of the statement read: “The attention of the Nigerian military has been drawn to the recent report released by Amnesty International in its chapter 3 as “Nigerian Military Crimes.The report is clear desperation targeted at blackmailing the Nigerian military. Thus, the report should be discountenanced.”

Eneche said the report cannot be described as credible because the research did not meet the universal academic or global best practice criteria.He said the research did not have the justifiable percentage of sample in the population claimed to have been investigated.

According to him, for the entire so called research, the question is, to whom is the loyalty of the respondents selected by AI; Boko Haram or peace loving Borno citizens?

“However, it is desirable in the interest of the general public to bring out some contradictions in the report that tends to criminalise the Nigerian military which is not true,” he said.

The coordinator described as baseless, the claims by AI that soldiers killed older people, among others who were trying to flee from their homes.He said the military was guided by extant regulations and rules of engagement.

According to him, AI also admits on page 36 of their report that “during previous Amnesty International research, some former detainees, including children, admitted openly that they had been in the armed group – sometimes through recruitment and other times through abduction.

“AI cannot rule out that older people interviewed for this report at times supported Boko Haram. This is to buttress the fact that the military will and cannot detain civilians unlawfully,” he said.

Enenche quoted AI as saying, “In recent years, soldiers and CJTF members involved in ‘screening” have sent fewer older people, among other groups to detention.

He said the report also stated that soldiers had increasingly refrained from detaining older people fleeing Boko Haram controlled areas in recent years

“These among several others in the report are obvious contradictions to the portrayal of the Nigerian military by AI.

“As such, it is a deliberate attempt to discredit the Nigerian military in the fight against insurgency and terrorism in the North East which should be resisted.

“Nigerians should be assured that the Armed Forces of Nigeria will not be deterred in the fight to rid the country of terrorists and criminals in the country in spite of the allegations.”

Penultimate Friday, four loyalists of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, met with President Muhammadu Buhari in his Abuja abode. Former Osun State governor, Chief Bisi Akande, who has become a permanent feature of such Tinubu-linked visits, led three others, Chief Segun Osoba, and two Lagos GAC members, Tajudeen Olusi and Abayomi Finnih. They went in buoyant and left gloomy.

Yoruba always attribute post-family meeting despondency among siblings to plain and painful truth, shared behind bolted doors. 13 days before the crabby visit, a presidential delegation led by CoS Ibrahim Gambari, had paid a condolence visit to Tinubu and the state government over the #ENDSARS bereavement.

It should ordinarily be assumed that Jagaban had sent his eminent foot-soldiers to thank the President for commiserating with him, in both personal and sub-official capacity as the Governor-Emeritus of Lagos. You ask why he wasn’t on the trip as the man who received the presidential sympathy. Do Yoruba not always advise the bereaved to stay in-door.

Well, Tinubu wasn’t on the trip because it was opportunistic. His camp wanted to explore the so-called economic tragedies that just befell him, during the protest, for political capitals. The President may be Fulani but he seemed to know much about Yoruba’s warning against antics; e ni ba ta oja yepe, a gbowo okuta.

Because the sentiment is always in favour of the one who just suffered a loss, the Lagos group must have thought that Buhari’s resolve to take charge of the party, before his exit from power in 2023, God willing, would be weakened by the emotions of Tinubu, being at the receiving end of what he was suspected to have programmed. His gang was caged.

Before the #ENDSARS tragedies, the President had sent a message to Tinubu he wanted to take charge of the proposed membership registration for APC faithful and he expected the Lagos strongman to give him full support, the way he (President) also supported him in 2013 when the Lagos lord was allowed to take absolute charge of the party register, now described as obsolete, by the party leadership.

The exercise should ordinarily not be much of a problem, since it should be desirable to know the party’s actual strength and measure growth. The only snag here is that the entire party organs, from up to bottom, are also being primed for dissolution, just like the Adams Oshiomhole’s NWC which Tinubu backed like a rock, was dismantled by Buhari like a house of infamy, to pave way for the Mai Mala Buni’s fidie (interim) national leadership of the party.

The President’s resolve is now a major headache for the one seeking to succeed him and emissaries are being thrown into it right, left and centre, to get the Aso Rock soldier, to listen to the billionaire lion, who has been deliberately placed on poor partisan diet by his powerful adversaries in the fortress they jointly built, to provide political cover for them.

Apart from trying to turn the habitation to a cage for Asiwaju, the shares allotted him in the joint venture are being deliberately squeezed to make him uncomfortable to the point of either barking or backing out. None of the options, is comforting.

The membership registration about to be conducted by the party, will shame some leaders who have hitherto used bogus register of the past, to confer undue community value on themselves. Since the new one is expected to be digital, too many rumps may be in the open at the end of the day.

Take the story of a state chapter for example. During the presidential primaries, Buhari got 1.9 million votes, ostensibly mainly from party faithful. In the general election, he got 850,000 votes, supposedly from party members and independents! How do you explain that. Heavyweights are going to be paperweights.

Tinubu asked Baba Akande and others to assure the President Lagos exco needs no dissolution as all is fine and well, despite the several court cases in Abuja and Lagos, challenging the emergence of Tunde Balogun and his men.

In fact, Lagos matter isn’t a laughing mata like Baba Akande tried to make it look in the photo-op with the President. It is constitutional in nature; it is whether to determine if APC is standing with the constitutionality of the existing 20 local government or its leader and his 57, which aren’t in the rule book

The President was firm in his No. Can we dissolve party organs in 35 states and leave Lagos out? That was a rhetorical question that gummed the lips of the emissaries when they left Villa. The breaking news of their coming ended with no news, or maybe unpalatable news for the leader. Nothing to report.

Now that is certain Buhari is very interested in his successor, at least, the one who would emerge from his party and it is increasingly looking he isn’t going to emerge from Bourdillion, a fight would soon erupt, I predict.

How do I know? You can’t take all away from a man at a go, without a fight. Not even a man of God. He will ask God to fight for him, since he can’t possibly seek revenge on his own. Daddy G.O, one of the most-known doves in today’s Christendom famously said he would ask God to kill anyone that touched his jewel, Mother-in-Israel, Mummy Folu.

And Tinubu is definitely no dove. He is more of a raptor, because he has learnt to be a patient destroyer when dealing with powers that could commandeer his economic and political destruction in a blink. What they are trying to take away from him, is bigger than Lagos.

States without APC sitting governors, where he had joined Oshiomhole to instal pliable excos from which he was planning to reap a windfall of delegates during presidential primaries, are about to be dismantled.

Almost certainly, his powerful enemies, including those in the national secretariat who are biting and blowing breeze, won’t allow his friends back as excos in those states. As at the last count, you can’t count more than five sitting APC governors on his side.

Then the Umahi, Goodluck permutations and projections keep coming into the APC presidential mathematics and you expect Tinubu not to fight, after his men like Adams, Fowler and Magu, have bitten the dust?

Yoruba will say, ekan lomokunrin nku (the courageous always go for the broke). Tinubu will be within range to fight back, because his adversaries appear determined to either turn him into a party effigy or add so much fire to the water until he jumps out.

...Ocean Trust Ltd has no traceable physical address, yet it received N3.8 billion for undisclosed services, including N1.75 billion between May 14-15, 2018.

Between May 14 and 15, 2018, Lagos government tax contractor Alpha-Beta transferred N1.75 billion to Ocean Trust Ltd in three transactions of unclear origin, Peoples Gazette can report as our ongoing examination of Lagos finances throws up yet another suspicious handling of public funds.

The money was part of at least N3.8 billion that went to Ocean Trust in seven transactions in January and May 2018 for services that neither Alpha-Beta nor the beneficiary could yet explain, the Gazette found as the first media outlet to obtain the company’s bank statement.

On Monday, the Gazette exposed how Alpha-Beta received from and transferred large transactions worth billions of naira to businesses linked to an Internet fraud syndicate.

The Gazette was unable to trace Ocean Trust to any physical address in Nigeria, but its CACfilings showed it was registered in 2001 and operated by political and business associates of Omobola Tinubu, who governed Lagos between May 1999 and May 2007 and now seeks the presidency in 2023. 

Ocean Trust’s registered office address in the CAC filings was 684, Idowu Taylor Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The address, also known as Freedom House, has been known as Mr. Tinubu‘s administrative office, housing several organisations and media offices owned by Mr. Tinubu.

A clique of associates

Yemi Adefarakan

CAC filings showed Yemi Adefarakan once held majority shares of 4.6 million in Ocean Trust. Mr. Adefarakan now holds the position of executive director and group financial officer of Continental Broadcasting Service, owners of TVC News and other related media subsidiaries in Lagos and Abuja. 

Mr. Adefarakan is also a director at Primero, operators of Lagos metro services BRT. Primero is led by Fola Tinubu, a cousin of the former Lagos governor and ruling party chief. 

Frank Obi

Also on the registration filings of Ocean Trust was Frank Obi, group executive director of Paragon Holdings. Paragon built Ikeja City Mall, Circle Mall, Oshodi LAWMA Complex, Simpson LAWMA Complex and once held a 20 percent stake in Ikeja City Mall.

Mr. Obi, who is also a non-executive director at Primero, had two million shares in Ocean Trust.

Kehinde Durosinmi

Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, head of Lagos State Security Trust Fund, was also on Ocean Trust CAC document obtained by the Gazette with 2.4 million shares, alongside a former senator Jonathan Zwingina, who had 2.5 million shares.

Wema Bank account opening package obtained by the Gazette showed Mr. Adefarakan was a signatory to Ocean Trust’s financial activities. 

Messrs. Adefarakan and Obi used the same address in the account opening documents: 19A, Abagbon Close, Victoria Island.

A spokesman for Wema Bank did not immediately return a request seeking comments about whether the financial institution conducted a physical inspection of Ocean Trust’s address when it updated the firm’s know-your-customer diligence in 2016.

Messrs. Obi and Zwingina declined multiple requests seeking comments from the Gazette about their ties to Ocean Trust.

Mr. Durosinmi-Etti, a former CEO of Skye Bank, initially denied any ties to Ocean Trust, saying he had never heard of the firm. But when the Gazette showed him the CAC documents that confirmed he was involved, the security fund manager said his memory of the business had become fuzzy.

Mr. Adefarakan also initially denied links to Ocean Trust. But when reminded that he ran the firm with Mr. Obi and others and the 2018 transfers from Alpha-Beta, he warned the Gazette not to proceed with our story.

Mr. Adefarakan said the bank documents were “classified,” warning in Yoruba that “e ma ba nkan je oh,” i.e.: publishing the documents could trigger chaos within their circles.

Suspicious outflows

Although its CAC filings showed involvement of members of Lagos political and business elite, Ocean Trust had no known physical address. The Gazette tracked Ocean Trust to Freedom House and other addresses in Lagos but no one admitted familiarity with the name.

Yet, Alpha-Beta moved billions to the apparent shell company presumably from its opaque and questionable earnings from successive Lagos governments since Mr. Tinubu. 

On January 12, 2018, Alpha-Beta transferred N800 million to Ocean Trust. Barely a few days later, the company also received N750 million on January 15 and another N450 million on January 16.  

Ocean Trust again received N750 million from Alpha-Beta on May 14, 2018. The next day on May 15, the firm received N1 billion in two tranches of N550 million and N450 million from the tax contractor, documents showed. 

On May 17, N50 million went to Ocean Trust from Alpha-Beta. All the transactions, totalling N3.8 billion in the reviewed period, were vaguely described as ‘outflow’, making it difficult to understand their purpose. 

Afolabi Aremu, chief account executive at Alpha-Beta, suggested the transactions were legitimate, but failed to elaborate on the company’s business with Ocean Trust to the Gazette.

Unchecked secrecy

Our findings came as Mr. Tinubu and Alpha-Beta were striving to extricate themselves from money laundering charges raised against them by Dapo Apara, a former CEO of Alpha-Beta who said Mr. Tinubu controls Alpha-Beta as a conduit for siphoning Lagos funds to service his political and business structures. 

In separate statements, Mr. Tinubu and Alpha-Beta denied allegations of corruption, but neither denied Mr. Apara’s claim about Mr. Tinubu’s control of Alpha-Beta. 

Last month, Mr. Tinubu confirmed ownership of TVC and The Nation newspapers, yet neither him nor any member of his family reflected in the CAC documents of both companies. The former Lagos governor effectively admitted using proxies to hold commercial interests across multiple companies.Alpha-Beta’s enduring status as Lagos government’s main tax consultant has generated keen interest of taxpayers and criticism of political opposition. 

In 2012, Lagos PDP chief Adegbola Dominic filed an FoI seeking disclosures of Lagos government’s businesses with Alpha-Beta, but he was turned down on the basis of FoI’s irrelevance in Lagos as a federal law.Alpha-Beta continued its business with Lagos unchecked, receiving an irrevocable order to take from Lagos monthly federal allocations.

The company’s bank statements are being published for the first time since it became the preeminent tax consultant for the richest state in the country, and they reflected vast transfers to business and political associates of Mr. Tinubu’s.

Mr. Tinubu was the governor when Alpha-Beta, founded by Mr. Apara, became Lagos’s main tax collectors.There were claims that the government was paying Alpha-Beta some commissions for confirmed tax receipts, but the company’s bank accounts published on Monday by the Gazette reflected other transactions that appeared to show a fixed monthly revenue from Lagos coffers. 

Mr. Apara said in court filings that most of the transactions from Alpha-Beta were transferred to other entities linked to Mr. Tinubu in a manner that suggested money laundering. Mr. Tinubu and Alpha-Beta denied the allegations.

Still, both Alpha-Beta and Lagos authorities have continued to deny the Gazette requests for them to clarify some of the suspicious transactions in the bank documents.

Download Alpha-Beta’s 2018 bank statement here, CAC filings of Ocean Trust here, and Wema Bank package on Ocean Trust here

US Attorney General William Barr gave federal prosecutors blanket authorization Monday to open investigations into voting irregularities, as President Donald Trump repeated unfounded claims he lost the presidential election due to fraud.

Barr, long a close defender of Trump, stressed that his letter to US attorneys around the country was not an indication that the Justice Department had evidence yet of genuine cases of fraud in the election won by Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

But he unleashed the prosecutors from former restrictions on such probes, just as Republicans leveled claims of illegal voting and vote-counting in several states, claims that still await solid evidence.

“Given that voting in our current elections has now concluded, I authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases,” Barr said in the letter.

“Such inquiries and reviews may be conducted if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual state.”

Voting fraud investigations are normally the purview of individual states, which establish and police their own election rules.

Justice Department policy has been to hold back any federal involvement until vote tallies are certified, recounts completed and races concluded.

But Barr told the attorneys that “practice has never been a hard and fast rule,” and stressed that, if they see anything that could reverse the results of last Tuesday’s election, they should pursue it.

“While serious allegations should be handled with great care, specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for initiating federal inquiries,” he wrote.

US media reported that the head of the Justice Department’s Election Crimes Branch, which oversees investigations into voter fraud, resigned following Barr’s order.

The branch director, Richard Pilger, reportedly handed in his resignation within hours of Barr’s authorization.In an email to colleagues about Barr’s order, Pilger said, “Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its ramifications… I must regretfully resign from my role,” The New York Times reported.

Barr’s order came as Trump battles to reverse Biden’s narrow wins in several key states — Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona  — that gave Barack Obama’s former vice president enough electoral votes to win the overall presidential election.

The Trump campaign and the Republican party have filed or threatened lawsuits in several of the states, hoping to change the outcome with ballot disqualifications and recounts.

But so far, their actions have gone nowhere, and state officials have challenged them to provide proof of allegations.Trump had reportedly pressured Barr to get involved on his behalf even weeks before the election.

But the attorney general had disappeared from public view for several weeks, until Monday when he was seen meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Gondonu:
What the Bleep! This Abike is sick.Convicted BH terrorists financiers that Nigerian government have never identified any? This simply proved that the govt knows these sponsors but refused to identify & convict them.