₦airaland Forum

AMADU77: Gd day
Accord EOD how much n how long ?

overboard: Give me some time, like 3 or 4 days...

In a further move towards the fulfillment of his pledge to Nigerians that no person or organization guilty of fuel subsidy fraud or corruption will escape justice, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has set up a new Committee to further verify and reconcile the findings of the Technical Committee set up by the Federal Ministry of Finance to conduct a detailed review of all subsidy claims and payments made in 2011.
President Jonathan directed the 15-member committee headed by Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede to begin work immediately and conclude its assignment by 1700 hours on Friday, July 13, 2012 as a prelude to immediate action on all identified cases of fraud.

Other members of the new committee are: Dr. Abraham Nwankwo (DG DMO), Mr. Bernard Otti (GED Finance & Accounts, NNPC), Mrs. Oyinye Ahuchogu (CBN), Mrs. Sola David-Borha (MD Stanbic/IBTC, representing the Banking Community), Mr. Mike Osatuyi (National Secretary, IPMAN), Mr. Obafemi Olawore, Mr. Jonah Otunla (Accountant-General of the Federation), Mr. Bright Okogwu (DG, Budget Office), Mr. Reginald Stanley (Executive Secretary, PPPRA), Mrs. Aisha Waziri-Umar and Mr. Jalal Arabi.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the State Security Service will also be represented on the Committee which has the following terms of reference:
1. To further verify and reconcile all claims made in the report of the Technical Committee on Fuel Subsidy Payments;
2. To properly identify all cases of overpayment and/or irregular payment;
3. To accurately identify all likely fraudulent cases for criminal investigation and
4. To review any other pertinent issues that may arise from its work and make appropriate recommendations.
On receiving the Verification and Reconciliation Committee’s report, President Jonathan will order whatever action he deems necessary to ensure justice and the full recovery of all fuel subsidy funds that may have been illegally paid.

Lagos-based legal practitioner, Festus Keyamo on Wednesday said the embattled and suspended Chairman, House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Regime, Mr. Farouk Lawan, must resign immediately and face criminal trial for allegedly collecting money from the Chairman of Zenon Oil, Mr. Femi Otedola, to influence his committee’s report.

In a communiqué released by the lawyer, he asserted that the “sequence of undisputed facts” of the scandal showed that Lawan “collected bribe purportedly on behalf of his committee to doctor his report”. The lawyer wondered why Lawan refused to involve any law enforcement agency in his purported sting operation and why he only waited for the scandal to break out before taking any step.

According to Keyamo, “Farouk Lawan must stop this dance of shame and save that House of whatever is left of its credibility by resigning from office immediately and face his criminal trial squarely. It is, indeed, himself and his hired goons that are turning this episode into a theatre of the absurd, and not the other way round.”

“A few hours after collecting the dollars, Farouk Lawan stood up on the floor of the House and, instead of exposing Otedola, he was actually shielding him by convincing his colleagues to remove Otedola’s company name from the list of indicted companies in the report,” Keyamo said. Festus Keyamo also dismissed the investigation by the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, of the scandal describing it as “nothing but a laughable sham, a diversionary and disgraceful enterprise with a pre-determined end, an unconstitutional and illegal exercise and Nigerians must ignore it.”

Rooney has released a statement this evening in response to Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments yesterday. And in it, he confirms he wants to leave Old Trafford.

He says: “I met with David Gill last week and he did not give me any of the assurances I was seeking about the future squad.”

“I then told him that I would not be signing a new contract.”

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3189600/Rooney-I-want-to-leave-United.html

With the nomination of Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar as the new Chief Justice of Nigeria to the Senate by President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday, Nigeria’s apex court is set to have its first female head.
Justice Mukhtar, 68 will replace Justice Dahiru Musdapher who retires as the CJN on 15 of July. Justice Mukhtar has been a trailblazer for women on the Bench in many respects. When she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2005, she was the first female jurist to be appointed to the highest court in Nigeria.
Justice Muktar had also earlier made history as the first woman to be appointed into Appeal Court, Nigeria’s second highest court. Ironically, it was gathered Justice Muktar was nominated by the Kano State government to the appellate court in 1987 to pave way for a male appointee.

The incoming CJN who was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1967, a year after she was called to the English Bar is also the first female lawyer in the Northern part of the country.
Legal practitioners and colleagues described her as independent minded.

Justice Mukhtar was one of the justices who gave a dissenting judgment that is widely acclaimed in legal circles and the academia in the Yar’Adua/Buhari election result dispute in 2007. The incoming CJN alongside Justices George Oguntade, (now retired) and Walter Onnoghen, held that there was substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2006 which vitiated the election of the late President.
It was gathered that an offer was made to her some months ago to proceed on secondment outside the country and assume office as the Chief Justice of Gambia as a way of stopping her from becoming the CJN. She however declined the offer.

Justice Mukhtar began her legal career as a pupil counsel in the Ministry of Justice of Northern Nigeria in 1967. She was later appointed Magistrate Grade I, North Eastern Government (1969 – 1973), thus scoring another first as the first female Magistrate in the Northern region.

She made another history with her appointment as the Chief Registrar, Kano State Government Judiciary (1973 – 1977) and Judge, High Court of Kano State in 1977 and Justice, Court of Appeal in 1987. She is at present the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court.
Justice Muktar has been a life Bencher since 1993 and a life member of the Federation of Women Lawyers. She was also the Vice President of the National Association of Women Judges of Nigeria. In 1989, Muktar was honoured by the Federation of Women Lawyers and in 1991; she was decorated with a Gold Merit Award by the Kano State Government.

In 2003 she was again honoured by the International Association of Women Lawyers, and in 2004, the Fellowship of the Nigerian Law School was conferred on her.
Justice Muktar had her primary education at the St. George’s School, Zaria and also at St. Bartholomews’s school, Wusasa, also in Zaria from 1950 and 1957. She furthered her education at Rossholme School for Girls in East Brent, Somerset, England for her GCE O’ Levels in 1962 and went for further education at the Technical College, Berkshire England.

She graduated from Gibson and Welder college in law in 1966 and was subsequently called to the English Bar in absentia. She was called to the Bar on June 26, 1967.