₦airaland Forum

Chyz*:
So basically he got rid of a yoruba(southerner) and gave the position to a northerner.Then gave one of his ijaw brothers(since according to him there is no other group in the ND but his people) a position, Abiye Membere. Wow, big change,excuse the sarcasm. Tribalistic retard who is the north's new b!tch.

What of Anthony Ogbuigwe? Does the name sound Ijaw or is that you cannot read or pronounce Nigerian names?

Na now dem wake up from sleep? Where have they being since the killing started?

Kobojunkie: How exactly, pray tell, what it all rubbished, because in April, someone supposedly took bribe?

Because, if he asked for $3Million from someone who claims he has done no wrong in importing diesel, he must have asked for $5-6Million from those who are guilty!

chosen04: I now regret the supporting the impeachment of Patricia Etteh . . . . .


Its obvious that Mr Integrity was even more corrupt than Etteh . . . . .

And secondly since i started working in a construction firm i have come to understand that N620m is not too large an amount for renovation of a Speaker's official residence.

@Bolded...very true!

As Police investigations into the $620, 000 bribe money allegedly collected by the Chairman of House of Representative probe committee on oil Subsidy, Hon. Farouk Lawan continues, Vanguard can report authoritatively that Police authorities have tagged Hon. Lawan as the ‘Prime Suspect’ in the bribery allegation just as the Chairman of Zenon Petroleum, Mr. Femi Otedola appeared before the Special Task Force headed by CP Ali Amodu, to either deny of confirm that he gave the bribe money to the House member.

Otedola who arrived the Force headquarters at about 10. 55am, told the Special Task Force that all he had said about the issue so far was the truth, that he has nothing to hide and that the bribe money in question, was given to Hon. Farouk Lawan who collected $500, 000 in cash and the Secretary of the committee, Boniface Emenalo who collected $120, 000 in two installments of $20, 000 and $100, 000 respectively.

When reminded that under the laws of the country, the giver and the taker of bribe are both culpable, the oil magnate told the Special Task Force that the money in question was gotten wholesale, from the State Security Service (SSS), adding that it was so done to exonerate himself and to show that he was pressurized against his will to part with the money because he was aware of the implications before the law.

More details later

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/06/otedola-appears-before-policetask-force-says-i-have-nothing-to-hide/

Is it Opon-Imo or O'Computer ... I dey laugh in Arabic

ROSYL: The only hope this country has is ME.

When you wan do? Kill every body ni?

^^^
So, where is the money now? Is it with the Police Acting IG, or the House Chairman on the EFCC or with Farouk Lawan himself?

But the money with Farouk belongs to the SSS! Which one did he tender? I hope recorded the discussions oh!

12 Jun 2012

By Ike Abonyi, Onwuka Nzeshi and Onyebuchi Ezigbo


Chairman, House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee Monitoring the Fuel Subsidy, Hon. Farouk Lawan, sang a different tune Monday over his role in the allegation that he collected $620,000 from the Chairman of Zenon Oil and Gas, Mr. Femi Otedola, to doctor the panel’s report.

Lawan, who had hitherto denied that neither he nor any member of the committee collected money from any of the oil marketers, told reporters in Abuja that he actually collected $500,000 from Otedola, whom he accused of offering him the money to influence the probe panel’s report.

Apparently reacting to THISDAY’s exclusive story yesterday where Otedola accused him of extorting money from him to remove Zenon’s name from the list of companies that collected foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) without importing petroleum products, Lawan said it was Otedola who initiated the bribe offer.

The House, however, is considering two options of dealing with the scandal, which many lawmakers have described as an undue embarrassment to the legislature, when it resumes plenary on June 19 after a one-week recess.

It was learnt that the House might either refer the matter to its Committee on Ethics and Privileges for probe or set up a special ad hoc committee to investigate the matter.

On his part, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, has promised that the Federal Government will take appropriate action when it receives the report of investigation into the allegation.

Lawan said he had informed the Chairman of the House Committee on Narcotic Drugs and Financial Crimes, Hon. Adams Jagaba, through a letter dated April 24, 2012 of Otedola’s alleged persistence to bribe him to influence the outcome of the investigation.

Lawan said he attached “the sum of five hundred thousand dollars only offered to me with another promise of two million, five hundred thousand dollars” to the letter.

On why he did not raise the issue on the floor of the House, he said he declined to do so as not to divert attention from the essence of the fuel subsidy probe.

Lawan, in a statement in which he gave a detailed account of what transpired between him and Otedola, said: “I had considered bringing this issue as a matter of privilege on the floor of the House later today (April 24), but I am concerned that the controversy it will generate will dwarf the contents of the report, which needs public attention so that necessary reforms in the sector could be affected.

“Given the desperation of Mr. Otedola, handling this matter, in a firm but diplomatic manner is necessary as he has also made some veiled threats which put me and members of the committee in a delicate situation.”

He also said that the ad hoc committee’s secretary, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, whom Otedola had said collected $120,000 on his (Lawan’s) behalf informed him that Otedola offered him $100,000.

According to Lawan, Emenalo did this through an April 24 letter he wrote to him. Emenalo’s letter reads: “I wish to inform you that I was on his invitation, at the residence of their chairman, Mr. Femi Otedola, in Maitama (Aso Drive) this morning and he offered me the sum of one hundred thousand US dollars in two bundles of $50,000 each. The money is hereby forwarded as evidence.”

Lawan also stated that the police were aware of the offer of bribe as the Inspector-General of Police (IG) in a letter dated May 9 directed the Task Force on Investigation to meet him.

He said the IG had in a letter with reference number CR:3000/IGP.SEC/STF/FHQ/ABJ/VOL 2/309 to him, called Lawan’s attention to an interview he granted a national newspaper on April 28, 2012 and directed, “a discreet investigation into the matter.”

The letter was signed by the Commissioner of Police, Special Task Force, Ali Amodu.

He said that in another letter dated May 16 with reference number CR:3000/IGP.SEC/STF/FHQ/ABJ/VOL 2/319, and signed by Amodu, the IG requested the money exhibit, names of witnesses and other material evidence from him.

Lawan explained that in a letter dated May 31, he told the IG that the matter (bribe offer) had been referred to the relevant committee of the House for legislative action.

He said he promised that the House would inform him (IG) about the outcome of the legislative actions.

According to him, the IG in a letter to the Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, dated June 4, 2012, stated that a detailed criminal investigation had been ordered into the matter.

In the letter titled, ‘Investigation Activities: Letter of Invitation in a Case of Criminal Conspiracy and Attempt to Pervert the Course of Justice by Offering Gratification’, the office of the IG stated that “the Inspector General of Police has directed a detailed criminal investigation into the matter.”

His account of the story Monday completely contradicted the version he gave on Sunday in Abuja, where he claimed that he had previously alerted the public on the bid by an oil marketer, who he did not name, to bribe the ad hoc committee members and the House leadership to influence the outcome of the fuel subsidy probe report.

He further denied that neither he nor any member of the committee collected money from any of the oil marketers.

Otedola, on Sunday revealed to THISDAY how Lawan and Emenalo had collected $620,000 from him, as part payment of $3 million, in a sting operation masterminded by the security agencies.

He narrated how Lawan had allegedly approached him a few days before the report was to be tabled on April 18 before the House of Representatives, demanding money so that Zenon’s name would be kept out of the report.

It was, however, learnt that shortly after the bribe scandal became public, Lawan attempted to persuade the House leadership to provide him a soft-landing.

Sources said Lawan on learning that security agencies were in possession of the video clips containing the alleged bribery incident, sought for a way out of the mess and opted to publicly tender the “marked dollar bills” as exhibit at one of the plenary sittings of the House.

However, the plot failed when Speaker of the House, Tambuwal, and some principal officers of the chamber confronted Lawan and demanded to know why it took him about six weeks to disclose that an oil marketer attempted to bribe him.

However, speaking on the issue, Adoke said in a telephone interview with THISDAY Monday night, that the Federal Government will not condone any act of impropriety, adding that the country has enough laws to prosecute any offender.

“We are waiting for the report. As soon as we get it, we would investigate it and take appropriate action. The Federal Government will not condone any act of impropriety. We have enough laws to prosecute anyone who commits an offence in the country,” he said.

When contacted, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stated that it had not been formally informed of the alleged bribery scandal, but would act once the report reaches them.

Corroborating EFCC’s position, sources confirmed that the State Security Service (SSS) has not sent a report on the bribe to any of the law enforcement agencies.

The SSS, however, was said to have notified Tambuwal several weeks ago of the information at its disposal on what transpired between Lawan and Otedola. The speaker, sources said, was said to have been shown the video footage showing Lawan collecting money from Otedola and the conversation that transpired.

Also, when the Chairman of the House Committee on Narcotic Drugs and Financial Crimes, Hon. Jagaba, was contacted to confirm receipt of Lawan’s letter, he denied receiving any letter to that effect.

“I am not part of the Ad Hoc Committee on Monitoring the Fuel Subsidy and to the best of my knowledge, I did not receive any such letter of complaint about an attempt to bribe the subsidy committee. I am not aware of anything concerning that transaction (bribery) and my committee is not in possession of such a letter,” he told THISDAY in a telephone interview Monday.

Jagaba said that while he could not hold brief for Lawan, it would be important for Nigerians to look at the issue on its merit.

According to Jagaba, the subsidy report unveiled monumental corruption in the management of the subsidy scheme and should not be undermined because of the bribery allegation against the committee.

Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lawan-i-collected-500-000-bribe-offer/117822/

seyigiggle: acn/cpc is not strong enough to remove jonathan.
they need an extension to ss and se region before it could become feasible.
meanwhile, they are surpose to be strengthening and expanding their base as pdp is doing now in the sw by reconciling their agrreived members.
now my judgement; cpc should first reconcile with anpp before thinking about acn
meanwhile, they will not achieve anything if the two old dogs come, dont they like being a god father?

You are a very correct juggernaut! Don't be surprised that the PDP will capture the SW again. Now, they are reconciling themselves in the SW and then sponsor their "divide & rule" agents into the ACN...

CPC is not even a problem...let them sort themselves out first.

On the other hand, the alliance of CPC/ACN will fail...watch the body language of Buhari and Tinubu...they "desperately" want to be number 1.

Hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Thank God...Prof. Obe did not die oh!

This type of Political Alliance has never worked in Nigeria and it will never work now. Trust me, PDP will carry the day!!!

Profidada: Please let me use this medium to retract and apologise for the earlier comment i made concerning mr oniwon austin, mrs deziani maduekwe, mr rilwan lukman and mr ahmadu ali. . Please i did it out of mistake and stupidity and have recognised that. Please accept my apology.

You are forgiven but next time, please be careful! I absolve you from your sins by the power conferred on me by GEJ!

But I thought Fashola said he doesn't have the power to hire and fire doctors, so who gave him the power now? ACN and propaganda. Fashola has eaten the humble pie! How does it taste?

Good development indeed...Congratulations to President Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Najwal: Ummmmm too Many Grammars.... Little or no Action. I wonder which is worse?

Dearie, I cherish you indeed! Which is really better...Little or no Action

fork adict: Thanks so much for your post. I am sure you must be feeling real good with yourself for your newly acclaimed status as a public commentator. here is my rejoinder to your post. Paragraph for paragraph.

I personally find your first paragraph insulting because you insinuated therein that I don't have a reasoning power of my own. At my age,(and you don't have any idea how old I am), I adopt a 'follow-follow' mentality on national issues most of which affect me personally either directly or indirectly. Your position is akin to someone who gets slapped by another and waits for a third party to react on his behalf before he expresses the pain he feels consequent upon the assault. I mean who does that? So Mr Rolchi, you don't know me but i tell you that i have got my own independent will.Whatever sentiments I feel about Jonathan which i dare say are mostly contempt and disgust, are very much justifiable. Any attempt at justifying such sentiments will only make me veer of the purpose of this post.

I very much agree with you that democracy in a heterogenous society like Naija is a slow process. Since you want to play the blame game, then i dare say that the slowness of the whole process can be attributed to the goons who copied verbatim the democratic process from the western countries that are largely homogenous in composition and expected it to work in a heterogenous society like ours without any modifications. That apart. Who says we still can not devise our own system of governance that will make thigs move faster and at a much cheaper rate? Why can't we have a constitutional conference where these issues and a host of other issues can be ironed out? Who says we must stick to western democratic norm even though it has clearly failed us? i have said it here time and agin that i don't give a fork what kind of political system we practise in naija so long as our leaders are honest, transparent, responsible and sensitive to the plight of the common man. If military rule can deliver on all these performance indexes, then maguy military rule it is.

I couldn't make any sense of your third paragraph but for the fact that many GEJ antagonists only come here to rant about GEJ and not profer solutions to our problems. I advise that you search deeply and hard enough. Quite a number of us profer solutions to many pressing national issues. I have come across posts that prescribe how best we can tackle the Boko Haram menace for instance.

I will merge your foutrh and fifth paragraphs. Dude, I was convinced that you either know nothing about how huge the roles and responsibilities of the president are or you have an idea but only chose to grossly underestimate them. If i may ask you, UniAbuja is not a first generation university and neither is it a second generation university in my opinion but here, i stand corrected. I ask again if you feel that admission racketeering is particular to UniAbuja alone. FYI, it is common to all first, second and third genration universities. I can't tell about the private universities though. Why then did your presido (the daft one) choose to tackle the issue in UniAnuja alone. Is it because it is a university located in the FCT? Is that a substantive enough reason? A more appropriate move would have been to set up the committe on a national level to investigate the menace in all federal universities. Now, that would have been a more insightful approach. It is stooooopid moves like this and many more that GEJ makes on a daily basis that disgust me. I wonder if the guy thinks at all. he should be busy trying to resolve more pressing national challenges rather than preoccupying himself with what goes on in UniAbuja even thoughit is a common menace to all federal universities in the country.

Now to the big one, BOKO HARAM. You adduced that it is a political scourge. That Boko Haram is a faceless militia and what have you. Funny how nigerians avoid the main issues but choose to fight shadows. I ask you, is it not the same GEJ that has boldy told nigerians time and again that the main sponsors of Boko haram are highly placed in his regime? What has he done about those sponsors? He knows his enemies but elcts to ignore them at the expense of destruction of lives and of properties worth millions of naira and you tell me that the whole sheet is political? PL-E-A-SE. It is common logic that an effective means of fighting an enemy, is to starve it of that which nourishes it. For example when you fight fire, the most effective technique is to cut out one of the three nourishments. Heat, oxygen or fuel. It's your choice. The same technique can be used to fight Boko haram. Cut off their funding and let us see for how long they will last. So guy, blame Boko Haram on your clueless, and lilly livered president and commander in chief.

God Bless nairaland.
Fork President Goodluck Jonathan.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Sir, the way you responded shows you are a "young" Nigerian. Yes, I understand your feelings of disgust but in your long post, I failed to see how you "rocked" my boat! Let me talk about Uniabuja because this is what this thread is all about.

Now, if President Goodluck Jonathan is able to deal with this issue in Uniabuja squarely and neatly, don't you think it will put the VCs of other Universities where this "racketeering" takes place on the correction mode? I believe, they will automatically sit-up and fight this menace in their domain. This in my mind is cheaper than raising a full blown committee for each of the over 38 Federal Universities.

So for me, this is a winning formula adopted by the President.

God bless you, my dear fellow Nigerian!

Having followed this thread from the beginning till now, I now add my "2 kobo"

IT pains me when young Nigerians are carried away by the gimmicks of the opposition as propagated by the sectional media and fail to be objective in analysis of our everyday experiences as Nigerians! So sad indeed. It also painful that we have allowed our minds to be filled with hate for our dear President (I know people will call me dumb right away but feel free to do so).

However, I must point out one fact which neither you (reading this now) or the the opposition or NLander can disprove. Democracy in a mulch-ethnic society like Nigeria is a "slow process" which would have enabled us to build consensus in how we should be governed. Unfortunately, a greater part of this time was eaten away by "coupists" who were largely "northerners". Consequently, the psyche of Nigerians is still tuned to the "military" era where we hear "Enough is Enough" moreso, with these key actors still in the picture and are wearing civilian toga and dictate the course of our democracy!

Better still, we are in a Democracy and that guarantees free speech. We thank the Almighty God for this. WE can express ourselves as we like and no "heck" of a person will arrest us. Incidentally too, our democracy is growing with the increase in social networking and our President even indicated his intention to run on FB....quite intriguing! But then again, it is enough for us to insult him and in all these insults so far on this thread, no positive contribution to solve the problem from the "insulters". This is bad and it is a military mentality...democracy thrives on ideas and not insults! Do you know that some uninformed Nigerians even call for the military again...this is disappointing indeed. They come across to me as kids though.

Now as for the "unqualified" students in Uniabuja; the President acted right. He has the right to mention to the Minister of Education that he is not comfortable with what is happening in a school that is close to him. How will you feel if you hear that students in Uniabuja fought themselves and lives lost as a result of the misunderstanding with security forces or school management?

People say GEJ should not intervene in Uniabuja....but constitutionally, is he not the visitor to the University? When OBJ came in 1999, one of the first things he did was to fight cultism in Universities (and thro'Committees...maybe some of us were too young then to remember) and increase salaries. Obasanjo did it through committees (the famous visitation panels) and how come some "children" here will accuse President Goodluck Jonathan of raising an ad-hoc committee to resolve issues in Uniabuja when he is the visitor to the university. Is it all part of the hate "largely" orchestrated by the media controlled by the opposition? However, President Jonathan did not raise this committee, he simply asked the Minister of Education to do so and like a good NLer said (God bless your heart), this will not even cost money in terms of members of the committee doing their job! Even if it cost money, I want to present to Nlanders that it costs money to clear "shit"!

On the issue of Boko Haram...this is clearly political!!! Some Nigerians compare them to Niger Delta "freedom fighters" (as they called themselves then), but they had a name and address. They had "Generals", "commanders" etc. You could go their camps and talk with them...but who are these BH? Today, they send a video to NTA: the next day, they deny it. Another time, they invite President Jonathan to Yobe, another time; the reverse on their statement. Then, it is political. One question...was the election that brought Yar'Adua not more rigged than the election that brought President Goodluck Jonathan? Was the election that brought President Shehu Shagari not rigged too? I welcome a vibrant opposition but not just open insult to the office of the President or its holder. It is wrong and even in the military regime, those that tried it paid the price...but thank God for democracy!

Let me add that Nigeria is "multi-ethnic" society and any action being taken at the highest political office in Nigeria is first and foremost viewed along the line of "north" and "south". President Jonathan is not responsible for all the woes of Nigeria, rather blame our "coupists" and those who benefited from their regime!

God Bless Nairaland,
God Bless President Goodluck Jonathan,
God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria

ogugua88: His "seat"? There is a difference, but you didn't spot it. I said "unqualified president". How could I have been referring to the seat and not GEJ?

I'm not going to respect an unqualified, looting politician because his title is president. He and his cronies refuse to respect Nigerians, so why are you begging me to respect him? Respect is earned in my books. I don't give it out anyhow.

You sound like someone I know!

So sad!

brioconcept: Nigerians will not see the various changes and growth in the economy. I see alot of progress, transformation and growth. It is time we begin to talk postive int this country. GEJ remain my president and He is doing great. When he leaves, many of us will understand what I am talking about. I love you GEJ. Long live NIGERIA!

Thank You!

Nicklee: I have never seen such baseless religious and tribal bigotry in my life. What has become of Nigerian youths? Where have we kept our brains? Are our brains just good for fraud and 419, and incapable of coordinated reasoning and judgment?

I am not standing brief for Buhari because I think (and I hope) someone younger (with as much zest against corruption as Buhari has) should step up. I hope that person will also get the support of Buhari. But the comments on this thread is so disturbing that my vision of a better Nigeria is becoming blurred and frustratingly lost.

We were all witnesses of the revolutions last year in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and now Syria. The people stood up and said enough was enough. In Nigeria, we have had Boko Haram and other equally terrorism organizations (MEND et al, kidnappers in SE) since the times of Obasanjo. BH started their spate of bombings during Yaradua's time and the trend was going up. I saw the trend then and complained that Nigerians should be worried about the trend which was pointing up. Now their menace has reached frightening levels and Nigerians, ignorant and weak in brain-power, have decided to blame Buhari. When will we learn to THINK first about our problems and figure out sound, strategic and custom-made solutions to our problems? When? Why are we so foolish, so dumb?

Th election violence was unfortunate. My younger sister was serving in Kaduna at the time and she was an INEC polling officer and I certainly feared for her. BUT, I have a very strong position against election rigging. Election rigging comes to me as RAPE and defilement and this is more painful because I see it as politicians raping my unborn kids and their generation. By rigging elections and consequently answering to the rigging machinery that brought them into power, these politicians destroy the very essence of our existence and create a country that is carefully crafted to provide absolutely no future for the next generation. We are building a very weak foundation for Nigeria until we realize that the RAPE called election rigging needs to stop. At the last count, 10 of my friends have shipped their wives to the US of A to come have their babies. Who wouldn't if your kids and their futures are constantly being raped by hoodlums? WE, the people of NIGERIA, have a right, an indelible right as a matter of urgent national interest and for the sake of our kids, their future and posterity, to rise up and fight for our votes. FIGHT against election RAPE! Fight for your KIDS. Stop being cowards and sellouts and stop blaming someone who reminds you of what you should be doing.

America's right to bear arms was introduced by their founding fathers for one fundamental reason. It was certainly not to protect themselves against one another. Americans have a right to bear arms to protect themselves against a repressive government. The founders reckoned that if at any instance, some form of repressive government comes into office, THE PEOPLE, should be able to protect themselves by the use of force. That is why the US, as big and diverse as it is, is where it is today. I wish Nigerians can learn this lesson.

In summary,

1. Stop blaming Buhari. If elections are rigged in your neighbourhood, you should rise up to demand otherwise even if it resorts to violence. You have a right to stop the rape of your kids.
2. Spend some time thinking about Nigeria's problems, writing your thoughts down, articulating what you think is a way forward, identifying political persons/organizations that can help push your agenda, and supporting them. Let's be practical and useful for once.
3. Start coordinating young people in your areas. Form pressure groups and youth political and economic thinktanks. Make a practical push for a better Nigeria.

Sorry for the epistle. I'm just so worried at the current shape of Nigeria that it brings tears to my eyes everytime.

Sir, did you vote in the last election? If you did, who won in your Polling Unit?

Another GEJ phobia!

This GEJ is truly influential! He has not said anything about 2015 and his opponents are indeed troubled. If he speaks, I wonder what will happen to his opponents

GEJ...you are too much!

MEND leader, Henry Okah, the main suspect of the October 1, 2010 bombings in Abuja says the government made up evidence to try him



The South African Police Service (SAPS) have been served a barrage of accusations about complicity in the presentation of falsified forensic reports in order to prosecute Henry Okah, a Nigerian national, currently incarcerated at the Johannesburg Prison for his alleged role in the October 1, 2010 bombings in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja.

In a sworn affidavit made available to Premium Times on Wednesday, Mr. Okah alleged that the Nigerian government fabricated series of lies going as far as stealing bodies from a morgue to stage a crime scene in order to keep him locked up. The accused further alleged that the SAPS have thereby become entangled in this web of forgery.

On October 21, 2010, Noel Zeeman, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the SAPS made a submission to a regional court in Johannesburg stating that the SAPS, ‘working in a close proximity with their Nigerian counterparts’, had built a formidable case against Mr. Okah, who is generally regarded as the head of Nigeria’s militia group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

“I nevertheless, wish to reiterate that the State has a very strong case against the accused,” Mr. Zeeman told the court.

Almost two years later however, the accused says that the evidence upon which the SAPS’ ‘strong case’ was built was fabricated by the Nigerian government.

The government however issued a statement Wednesday, saying Mr. Okah's claim in his affidavit were false, and that it was ready to confront the MEND leader in court.

In his affidavit, Mr. Okah named Nigerian police officers, medical doctors in some of Nigeria’s capital’s prestigious hospitals, officials of the State Security Service, and top politicians as the actors in the creation of ‘non-existent’ evidence to accuse him of acts of terror, incarcerate him in a South African jail, as well as deny him bail.

“I have studied the police docket and state categorically that exhibit “N” is false and misleading. I therefore respectfully state that the so-called evidence material relied on by the learned Regional Court Magistrate and the High Court does not exist,”

Mr. Okah said of the SAPS’ docket submitted to the courts, insisting that the State had been unable to supply evidence of the claims it had made in a sworn affidavit.

Falsifying evidence

“In order to influence the proceedings against me in South Africa, the Nigerian Government presented staged photographs showing alleged victims…great effort has been made to conceal the identities of the corpses positioned by the Nigerian government. The reason being that these individuals are not victims of any bombing but corpses taken from a local mortuary for a photo shoot,” Mr. Okah said.

Alleging that the prosecutors’ police docket “provides proof of tampering with a possible crime scene by the Nigerian Authorities”, Mr. Okah names Corporal Akor Emmanuel, a Nigerian police officer, and officials of the National Hospital, Abuja, as the persons involved in this scheme.

“The bodies in the photographs are intact showing no signs of trauma associated with a bombing and they appear in underwear in some cases.

“The victims have been placed facing downwards to render them unrecognizable. Those surrounded by the remnants of burnt out motor vehicles are spotless with no signs of soot even as the tarred road beneath these bodies appears to be damaged by fire,’ Mr. Okah says.

In an elaborate description of one of the cases, the defence pointed out several discrepancies in autopsy reports of the alleged bombing victims. Mr. Okah’s affidavit also offers descriptions of how a single police officer escorted seven different bodies to three different hospitals on the same day.

The prosecutors’ evidence also indicates that a single Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) witnessed the autopsies of the seven bodies during an eight-hour period, Mr. Okah says.

Furthermore, the defence claims that no pathologist from the designated hospitals appended their signatures on the autopsy reports, rather an unnamed medical practitioner placed a stamp of the National Hospital, Abuja on the forms even though the autopsies were not all carried out in the hospital.

In addition, Mr. Okah alleges that the Nigerian government offers contradictory accounts of the state of the body of one of the victims.

“The medical practitioner describes the corpse 8 days after the death and two days after a post mortem examination as fresh and neatly dressed with only a 1 mm puncture wound. This, contradicting a police report which recorded cuts on the body,” he said.

The defence concludes that not only were the bodies planted at the accident site two days after the October 1 bombings, “these post mortem examinations may in fact never have taken place”, adding that the prosecutors have offered no single picture to show that the autopsies were indeed carried out.

SSS and coerced witnesses

Mr. Okah further alleges that Nigeria’s secret police have quickly realised how weak their case is and have resorted to forcing witnesses to testify in the State’s favour. He claims that the SSS have offered cash in bribes in situations where force has not worked.

According to him, a certain man, Obi Nwabueze “has been offered freedom and money in exchange for false testimony against me”.

Another person arrested by the SSS, Francis Osuwo, was allegedly forced by the SSS to append his signature on a statement pre-written by the officers. Mr. Osuwo “is completely illiterate” and was “denied access to a lawyer until he signed the statement required by the Nigerian interrogators”. Mr. Osuwo passed away whilst in custody, Mr. Okah says.

Mr. Okah has also claimed that the Nigerian High Commission in Johannesburg paid a certain man, Justin Umejesi (a.k.a Ben Jessy) to supply information on the accused without knowing that the latter had lost contact with the accused since 2007.

Mr. Okah claims that the Nigerian government also ‘intended to obtain a confession statement from Mr. Umejesi who was to have admitted to seeing me in possession of items he now believed to be used in the [making] of bombs”.

The same Mr. Umejesi was declared wanted by the Nigerian government as being complicit in the October 1 bombings a while later..

Links with top politicians

Mr. Okah’s affidavit contains numerous mentions of several politicians, most of them from his home state, Bayelsa, President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state as well.

Mr. Okah even claims a close relationship with the president and insists that his ‘travails’ are a result of his refusal to play to the tune of his high profile friends.

Naming top presidential aides and appointees like Moses Jituboh, the Head of Personal Security to the President; Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, the Minister for Petroleum Resources; Godsday Orubebe, the Minister for the Niger Delta; Tony Uranta, an unofficial presidential aide; Oronto Douglas, Special Adviser to the president on Research Documentation and Strategy, Mr. Okah weaves a tale of a mutually beneficial relationship between himself and these officials and even claims direct access to President Jonathan prior to the October 1, 2010 bombings.

“I was in constant touch with President Goodluck Jonathan through his ministers and Advisors until my arrest on 2 October 2010 and all this time wrongly believing my relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan is good,” he said.

The trial

Mr. Okah, who was arrested on October 2, 2010 in South Africa, is currently incarcerated in the Johannesburg Prison. Charged with certain offences in terms of the “Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Act”, his previous bids for a bail have been denied.

Mr. Okah’s new affidavit was filed on Thursday in South Africa in a fresh bid to seek bail.

His trial is set to begin in the South Gauteng High Court, South Africa, on October 1, 2012.

Source: http://premiumtimesng.com/news/4927-nigeria_staged_crime_scene_to_nail_me_henry_okah.html

Okija_juju: Free Education is a NO! NO!

Education should not be free.

Basic education, yes!! but after J.S.S 3, education should be on merit and sports scholarship. Everything that has been subsidized has been destroyed. A University should be free to charge any amount it deems necessary for it to run at full steam. A university should be free to source for funds through tuition, research for companies and industries and other means. BUT, this habit of free free free has wrecked the Universities.

The Government in Nigeria poorly funds our Universities, then they sit in their fancy offices and houses and fix the cost of tuition for the Universities and still expect a university that s already running on a shoe string budget to provide top quality education. HOW!!!!!


After JSS3, any student that flunks WAEC should be sent to a vocational school to learn a craft or should be allowed to sit for WAEC again and try and pass, only that on his second attempt, the cost would be borne by the parents of the students. . . Upon passing into Senior Secondary, a scholarship system is put in place. For Academically gifted students who can hit a set average yearly, their tuition is covered 100% by the government. For those B & C students, they are on a partial scholarship (60% government), and those that are skillful and can maintain a set average as well yearly, they would have a special provision for them. The truth is that we must make the students work for their scholarship not just throw it blanket for everybody and anybody. This habit of free education all the way is really destroying our educational system. . Little wonder majority of those students who flunk external exams are from public schools.

To hell with free anything or subsidized anything. Provide us jobs, provide us security, provide us electricity, and provide us good schools. . . We will foot our own bills, Insurance companies and bank schemes would take care of tuition costs, security would ensure that we can hussle through the night, In the developed countries and continent with all the billions of excess dollars they have, EDUCATION and BASIC AMENITIES like water, electricity and telecomms are neither free nor subsidized.

May God increase your honour and comfort you on every side for speaking the truth! Remain blessed always brother! I cherish you.

PeeDaVinci: could this be a case of corrupt judge(s) or incompetent SAN(s)

Dis Guy: Those SANs should be named, shamed and blacklisted if possible made to refund the cost!!

never heard a judge use the word incompetence so many times

they should be de-SANned!! they are just feeding fat

@bolded: Exactly bro!

These lawyers sef? They will be the ones to lambast every government policy and again be the ones to woefully disappoint Nigerians!

So, whom do we cry to? oh Judiciary!!!

walcolm: he is not taking back anything. he is guilty of most of the charges its just that the useless lawyers in this country are messing up the whole thing and that is why the pronouncements of the Judge in dismissing this particular charade is heart warming

Exactly! Now, we are beginning to see what GEJ saw in approving the suspension of the former PCA. The Judiciary is wholesomely corrupt and they must reform now! NBA over to you! This is another blow to that noble profession. Try this case in London, Erastus is heavily Guilty...otherwise, why did he flee in the beginning?! The EFCC has been infiltrated by corruption...GEJ saw this and removed Farida, people lashed him for not following process of going to the Senate. This is another proof!

Nigeria, after GEJ, will become better!

NBA cut the show and REFORM NOW!

when people start to stammer and use distracting lines like I'm bn witch hunted, this is like a kangaroo court, et al in front of less educated and uncouth members of a panel , you can tell Madam DG has something to hide

She has goofed with regards to transparency and is now using staff member incompetence under pretense to cover up her tracks. with all d reputable work experience she has, can she tell us that is how the behave there in African Development Bank..ehhn?. Yes she is qualified for the job no doubt, but on this note she has put her fingers in the cookie jar and caught out right. shame it's by the same useless NASS members who are guilty of the same crime as well.
Make she go siddon somewia jareh instead of quoting African Bank 10 Billion dollars funs, I managed , Harvard MBA and co. we dont want to hear all that.

Every little thing they ask her, I have not done that yet, I'm still trying to get the right staff after how many years. What does her job specification say in terms of delivery, does it say u have 5 years to deliver or it says you have to deliver. So by the time she finishes her tenure she will list them all as "Work in progress" yet she is collecting the benefits and props for the job
ABSOLUTE RUBBISH. This people have no regard for peoples money one bit.

Thats the problem with us we think once someone shows up from World Bank, ADB , Goldman Sachs , Harvard or Stanford Uni MBA or 1st degree they are above the law. No they are not

if the house of rep guys asked her for money is she not smart enough and effect payment, call EFFC and trace payment or at least record them /prove them by setting up a meeting
where is the email, where is the text, where is the recording of them asking for money

You do your home work if you know u want to nail someone trying to nail you as well, she just showed up at the panel with her yeye CV thinking that would bamboozle us all

Yes we know NASS members are the most corrupt of the lot

but this time around madan DG is just clutching straws and playing dirty over nothing cos she has bn caught out and her reputation is at stake simple

Thank You! May God bless your good heart

bittyend:
I'm being patriotic

Blue blood flows in the arteries of every human being - but the colour of the blood in my arteries is green white green. I'll defend  that green white green - even when I'm being persecuted

Proudly Nigerian

Me like the bolded