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NAPTIP to investigate ‘human organ harvesting’ being disguised as ‘ritual murders’

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has resolved to investigate the rising cases of illegal human organ harvesting in the country, which other law enforcement agencies wrongfully call ritual murders.

Julie Okah-Donli, Director General of NAPTIP, told NAN that the agency would investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice.

“NAPTIP has decided to begin full investigation because most of the times when other law enforcement agencies go out, they will come to tell us that the suspected organ harvesting is a ritual murder,” Okah-Donli said.

“And we have resolved to carry out our independent investigation because the law gives us the power to do that and we have strong reasons to believe that these are cases of organ harvesting.

“When that is established after our investigation, we will go after everyone found involved with the full arm of the law.”

She said NAPTIP was fighting all forms of human trafficking in the country, including the rising crime of human organs trading.

The Federal Ministry of Health recently alerted the Nigerian Medical Associations (NMA) to inform doctors on the increasing number of human kidney trafficking.

NMA was directed to inform all the doctors in the relevant specialities to be watchful of illegal harvesting of human organs so that Nigerians would not fall victims.

I didn’t release huge sums before 2015 elections, Jonathan replies Osinbajo

Former President Goodluck Jonathan  has accused Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo of lying against his government by claiming that the last administration released the sum of N100 billion and another $295 million in cash within two weeks of the 2015 general election.

Jonathan, in a statement issued on his behalf by Reno Omokri, his Special Assistant on New Media, noted that the lies by the Vice President were becoming characteristic.

According to the statement, the claims credited to Osinbajo, while speaking in Lagos on Friday, at a ‘Greater Nigeria Pastors Conference’, that the former President released the huge sums weeks before the election, are false.

The statement reads:  “I make bold to say that the Vice President has once again taken to his characteristic habit of lying.

“Nigerians may recall that only last week, Vice President Osinbajo was in Anambra State, where he lied that the present administration had paid $2 billion for the second Niger Bridge.

“I had cause to expose that lie and forced the Presidency to issue a ‘clarification’. The money released was N2 billion and it came from the Sovereign Wealth Fund set up by the Jonathan administration, which the APC resisted and challenged in court.

“It will also be recalled that in February 2016, the Vice President again lied when he claimed that both the Jonathan and Yar’Adua government did not build a single road.

“This fact was easily disproved when even members of this administration, including Osinbajo’s boss, President Buhari, began commissioning projects, including roads built by the Jonathan administration.

“Nigerians will recall that the Jonathan administration rebuilt the Benin-Ore portions of the Benin-Lagos road,” Vom-Manchok road, the Kano-Zaria Road Bridge (named after late Emir Ado Bayero) and many more.

“On this recent allegation by the Vice-President, not only has the Vice President again lied, he is doing so to divert attention from the Maina scandal in which the administration in which he serves, by the testimony of the Maina family, invited Abdulrasheed Maina, the infamous alleged pension thief, back into the country, reinstated him, promoted him and deployed him as Director of Human Resources in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“When they were found out, the Presidency resorted to its favourite past time of blame game by preposterously accusing former President Jonathan of somehow magically being the brain behind Maina’s return. This is even as the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had already revealed that he ‘acted in the public’s interest’ in initiating the process for Maina’s return.

“There is also the $25 billion Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation scam which is the biggest scam ever in the history of Nigeria since 1914 to date.

“Finally, Nigerians want to know the truth about the Babachir Lawal probe which has been concluded and handed over to the president many months ago but of which no action has been taken.

“Nigerians want to hear the truth about these scandals and not tired lies about looted funds that keep being recycled without proof.

“I would like to remind the Vice President that he is a Pastor and therefore conversant with the biblical admonition in Revelations 21:8 that ‘all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone’.

Jonathan admonished the Vice President to turn a new leaf, noting that it is never too late to do so and apologise to Nigerians over the failed promise of three million jobs by the APC led government.

“It is not too late for the Vice President to turn a new leaf and begin to apologize to Nigerians for the three million jobs a year he and his boss promised, but ended up losing 4.5 million jobs in their first two years according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.

“If Vice President Osinbajo is looking for whom to blame for the present sorry state of the Nigerian economy, he should buy a mirror.

“The rushed implementation of the Treasury Single Account policy of the Jonathan administration, the constant negative comments about our economy by the President while on foreign trips, the inconsistent foreign exchange policies of the government, the advice to the World Bank to focus only on Northern Nigeria, the openly pro Northern Agenda which gives promotion and appointments to persons of Northern extraction irrespective of merit or experience are to blame, not Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.”

FG takeover of N1trn in BVN-less accounts ‘could cause liquidity stress for banks’

An estimated N1 trillion naira in bank accounts without Bank Verification Number (BVN) could be forfeited to the Federal Government by October 31.

However, experts in the banking sector say this could lead to a repeat of the credit and liquidity squeeze that rocked the banking sector as a result of the takeoff of Treasury Single Account (TSA) shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed power.

On October 17, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, granted an ex parte application filed by Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation, seeking to forfeit all balances in bank accounts without BVN if the owners do not come forward to claim them by October 31.

Justice Dimgba also ordered the 19 affected Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to disclose the owners and the financial content of each of the accounts.

Malami had claimed that the move is aimed at checking corruption and enthroning transparency in the financial system.

But, according to a report by The Guardian, “no less than N600bn, and an alleged undisclosed N400bn by ‘smarter banks’ mostly belonging to politically exposed persons, may be sterilsied in the exercise, if followed duly and diligently by authorities.”

The report added that this development will return banks to the path of renewed hunt for liquidity to cover up daily operational demands.

It could further lead to “raising fixed deposit and interbank lending rates, aggravated cost of funds for customers and resort to frequent visits to the discount window, especially as Nigerian banks have the penchant for trading with free and cheap monies”.

Various financial institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), refused to comment on the matter as the deadline for the enforcement of the court judgement fast approaches.

Femi Ademola, a financial analyst, agrees that the move will lead to a cleaner financial system, but it will scramble the money market matrix, at least for a few days.

He however said banks are quite smart and may find a way to legally wriggle out of the supposed tight corner.

“I can also tell you that the operators are smarter than the regulators, so they may still find a way out of this despite the order,” Ademola said.

He explained that the development could multiply the woes of accounts that are lined in the unending processes of obtaining Letters of Administration.

Similarly, Magnus Kpakol, Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, commended the move by the AGF.

Kpakol maintained that if there is significant value in any account outside the BVN scheme, it is the owner that made it suspicious and should be the one to blame.

“The move is in the right direction especially for the purposes of ongoing fight against corruption. The only thing I ask is time to accommodate those with genuine reason,” Kpakol said.

However,  Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Lagos-based human rights lawyer, noted that the BVN is just a policy of the CBN and not a law.

He argued that it was improper for a court to issue such an order based on a mere policy.

“I am well concerned about how we deploy interim orders for permanent purposes, such as to forfeit valuable assets, without any fair hearing from the person(s) concerned,” Adegboruwa said.

“I think it is improper to obtain interim order to freeze bank accounts of estates that are in dispute between the eneficiaries of estates of deceased persons that are still being contested; of profits of companies that are still subject to litigation or other disputes, just to mention a few examples of the arbitrariness of these orders.

“There is nothing in Section 3 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011, that makes BVN a condition precedent for operating a bank account in Nigeria.

“What the law requires is verifiable identity of the customer such as name, address, photographs and identity cards.

“The BVN is a policy decision of the CBN, and so a court of law should not base its orders on executive policies that are not backed by law.

“How proper is it, for a court to seek to determine the rights of parties in their absence, in view of the clear provisions of section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution and Article 7 of the African Charter,” he asked,

Adegboruwa noted that “while it is in order to trace, isolate and forfeit monies suspected to be proceeds of crime, seeking to forfeit all monies in all banks in Nigeria on the ground of absence of BVN is manifestly illegal”.

Obasanjo: School feeding programme should be done by states, not FG

Olusegun Obasanjo, former President, says the school feeding programme currently being handled by the Federal Government is rather the responsibility of state governments.

Obasanjo expressed this opinion while fielding questions from journalists at the venue of the World Food Prize in Iowa, USA, where Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina was awarded the 2017 laureate of the World Food Prize.

He noted that the idea of providing free meals for pupils is quite commendable, but he added that more people would benefit from the programme if it were handled by state governments.

“Any programme that will enhance food intake, particularly of the youth, and will help them in their growth, vitality, and in giving them better nutrition, I would regard as a good programme,” Obasanjo said.

“I encouraged it. It is not supposed to be a Federal Government programme.

“If I remember correctly, I think Nasarawa State had a similar programme, which was good; Kano State had one, which was good. I think one of the states in the south-west also had one. But it was not a federal programme.

“It was initially a state programme that was encouraged and assisted [by the Federal Government] as much as possible in the past.

“It’s not a Federal Government programme; it shouldn’t be. Any state that wants to go into it must be ready to go into it and any state that goes into it must make it a success, otherwise it’s not useful.

“I went to a mission school and in my third year, we had what they called ‘midday meal’, which was tremendously appreciated and, I believe, helped because some of the children didn’t even have what they could call one square meal a day.

“The school provided one good meal, which was good for them. And that was only at the school level, not even at the community level. It was not at the city level, not to talk of district level.

“So, I would say that any state that wants to undertake such a programme should be encouraged.”

On how successful the school feeding programme has been so far, Obasanjo said the rating would depend on how many states the programme has covered and the percentage of pupils that is benefitting from it.

“I don’t even know how many states are participating in it. Any programme that has not been covered in at least 50 per cent of the country, I don’t know how you will rate it; whether you would rate that as a success or a failure,” he said.

“Any programme must cover at least 50 per cent of the country for me to describe it as successful and if you can even take it to 90 per cent, I would say very good.

“You may not be able to get 100 per cent; but anything that covers between 80 and 90 per cent, I would regard as good.”

The Presidency had said 17 states were benefitting from the free school feeding programme as of August.

Laolu Akande, spokesman to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, stated that so far the Federal Government had paid over N6.2 billion to the various states to cater for the 4,773,064 schoolchildren in 25,771 schools being covered so far by the programme.

The list of beneficiary states is as follows: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kaduna, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara.

It’s not possible to restructure Nigeria, says Gowon

Yakubu Gowon, former Military Head of State, says the restructuring of the country as currently agitated for, is impossible.

The retired general, who spoke in Minna, the Niger State Capital, on Saturday pointed out that the ethnic composition of the country will not allow for restructuring.

“Nigeria is made up of over 500 ethnic groups, languages and dialects and so many various groups called nationalities and they want restructuring,” he said.

“This restructuring everybody is asking for, we will have about 500 different ideas of restructuring. There is call for restructuring to reduce the number of states to only a few either back to the old region or to the zones.”

Channels reports that Gowon urged Nigerians to have faith in the indivisibility of the country, rather than agitating for its restructuring.

He pointed out that states would not want to be merged into regions, thereby making restructuring untenable.

He also wondered if the states can be financially independent when the restructuring sails through.

“Those are some of the ideas that I do not know whether it will be possible for any state today to wish to be merged with another state. Let us see whether our politicians will see guidelines to be able to achieve what they want.

“But I have my problem whether the states will be financially capable to run their states properly.”

Gowon is a frequent preacher of Nigeria’s unity, and often holds prayer sessions across states.

 

 

It’s ’embarrassing’! More than 100,000 ‘Nigerians have been deported in 2017 alone

Lucy George, a development economist and former staff of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, is concerned about the growing number of Nigerians that are being deported from overseas.

She said the figure, about 1549 already, is embarrassing, especially when the over 100,000 deported from Cameroon are added.

In an interview with NAN, George said: “We have had an overwhelming number of Nigerians deported or voluntarily returned this year, which is embarrassing.

“The largest number of Nigerian deportees for this year comes from Cameroon, which deported about 100,000 Nigerians who escaped the Boko Haram disasters and sought refuge in Cameroon.

“That was seen to be an illegal deportation, which still is being denied by some Cameroonian officials, however, we are not including that in the embarrassing statistics.

“I am surprised by the number of Nigerians that have been deported and have volunteered to return to Nigeria from Libya just this week, as 161 people arrived on Thursday and 257 people did same on Tuesday.

“There were also 164 people deported in May, 171 in March and another 171 in February.

“In February and May, South Africa had deported 97 and 90 Nigerians respectively in midst of the xenophobic attacks.

“We saw it to be a discriminatory at first but later realised they actually did commit immigration-related offences causing them to be deported by the South African authorities.”

Advising Nigerians to stay back and develop their country, she said: “If everyone is leaving the country for greener pastures, who is expected to remain in Nigeria to develop it? Anyone who doesn’t grow in the system will lose out when the country becomes better.

“Imagine a scenario where a young man graduates from the university then leaves Nigeria in search of greener pastures but after arriving, fails to succeed in the new land.

“He realises that things are not as fabulous as portrayed in movies as these countries have tougher systems, especially because he doesn’t meet the requirements for career jobs in their country.

“He spends time being too embarrassed and broke to return to Nigeria but finally gets deported after many years.

“In that time, he has lost the opportunity to put his education to practice, develop productive skills and has lost contact with friends who would have helped him develop himself or place him in a prominent position.

“Nigerians should learn to be hardworking and patient to see their hard work reap its benefits because riches don’t come overnight.

“The countries they are running to didn’t develop overnight so you can’t expect to comfortably reap what you didn’t sew thinking the roads are paved with gold.

“In summary, I will emphasise on the fact that there is no place like home so I hope Nigerians learn from these numerous Nigerians that have been brought back home.”

A minimum of 1549 Nigerians have been sent back to Nigeria, with the exemption of the controversial 100,000 from Cameroon.

These include a minimum of 23 Nigerians deported from Spain, 187 from South Africa, 924 from Libya, 110 from Italy, 41 from the U.S, 146 from the UK and 118 from six other European countries: Austria, Germany, Hungry, Switzerland, Norway and Denmark.

Boko Haram fighters ‘kill’ three soldiers but miss out on commanding officer

The Nigerian Army has confirmed that three soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram ambush on October 18.

The soldiers were part of a convoy escorting the Commanding Officer of 81 Battalion of the Nigerian Army when they were ambushed by the insurgents along Damboa-Maiduguri Road at about noon.

Onyema Nwachukwu, spokesperson of the counter-insurgency operation (Operation Lafiya Dole), said the lead vehicle of the convoy stepped on a landmine before the attackers opened fire.

“Yes, I can confirm that an ambush was sprung against a convoy of one of our Commanding Officers when the leading vehicle stepped on an improvised Explosive Device (IED) buried along the road at Teteri village while enroute Maiduguri,” Nwachukwu said.

“The escort troops fought bravely through the ambush, successfully defending the Commanding Officer and other civilians who were caught in the ambush.

“Unfortunately though, three of the escorts paid the supreme price with their lives and two vehicles were taken.

“Our Mobile Strike Team immediately mobilised to reinforce the troops and trailed the insurgents, recovering a gun truck, a Hilux and two motorcycles.

“Two AK 47 rifles abandoned as the insurgents fled in disarray were also recovered by troops.”

Nwachukwu, however, added that the military has intensified ground and aerial operations against the insurgents.

“May I also inform you that just recently troops conducting the Operation Deep Punch 2, in an artillery bombardment destroyed 10 Boko Haram vehicles concealed under thick foliage near Garin Manoma,” he said.

“Several insurgents were equally killed in that bombardment. Recall also that 15 insurgents were killed by our troops when the insurgents attempted an assault at Yamteke, near Gwoza.

“An armoured fighting vehicle, one Gun truck and two cars laden with improvised explosive device were recovered in that encounter. Be assured that our troops are relentless and not resting on their oars despite these successes.

“You must however also bear in mind that we are fighting terrorism and insurgency founded on perverted ideological indoctrination hence the remnants of the terrorists group strive to remain undaunted by carrying out isolated opportunistic rampages as they flee.

“This is apparently a far cry from those dark days. Our troops remain resolute and undeterred in ensuring that Boko Haram is finally brought to its knees.”

Court rules el-Rufai must pay Audu Maikori N40m over unlawful arrest

Audu Maikori

The Federal High Court in Abuja has awarded the sum of N40 million in damages against Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, for unlawfully arresting and detaining Audu Maikori.

Also affected in the judgement are the Inspector General of Police, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police and the State Attorney General.

John Tsoho, the presiding Jjdge, awarded the costs as compensation for Maikori’s “unlawful arrest and detention” between February 17 and 18, and between March 10 and 13, 2017.

He also ruled that the respondents must pay the sum of N1,430 to the applicant as the cost of instituting the suit.

The judgement followed a fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed by Maikori on May 5, 2017 following his arrest and detention by the Kaduna State Police Command.

Maikori, a lawyer turned businessman and owner of Chocolate City Entertainment, was arrested in February for circulating a false report on the social media about an attack by Fulani herdsmen in Southern Kaduna.

“My driver’s younger brother and five other students of college of education Gidan Waya were ambushed and killed by herdsmen yesterday #SouthernKaduna,” Maikori tweeted on January 23.

“They were in a commercial car going back to school when the driver stopped suddenly under the pretext of checking his engine.

“As soon as the car stopped the attackers shot all 6 students but let the driver who is Fulani go. He gave us these details.

“When we speak we are viewed as trouble makers by the Govt. Well I have seen the pictures and it’s a painful sight.”

The tweets went viral, as many of Maikori’s followers on twitter retweeted the story, and even some online news platforms published it.

But the story turned out to be false as the said College of Education released a statement denying any such attack on any of its students.

Maikori immediately issued an apology and pulled the earlier story down.

“I hereby tender an unreserved and sincere apology to the Management of the College of Education, Gidan Waya, His Excellency the Governor of Kaduna State and the Kaduna State Government, and also to the people of Southern Kaduna and the Fulani community and also VANGUARD newspapers whose source was my driver for the false statement by my driver which I also publicized believing same to be true,” he wrote on February 4.

But el-Rufai would have none of it, insisting that Maikori must be punished for trying to incite the public.

Maikori was arrested in Lagos and transferred to Kaduna, where he spent days in police custody before the case was transferred to court.

He was later granted bail on “very liberal terms” while the case was still on going.

Justice Tsoho, in his ruling on Friday, noted that his verdict does not preclude the ongoing trial of Maikori in Kaduna.

189 groups endorse Buhari for 2019 presidential election

The Buhari Support Group, an amalgamation of 189 groups that worked for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, says it has endorsed him for the 2019 general election.

Abu Ibrahim, leader of the group, made this known after he led a delegation to meet with the President at the state house on Friday.

Ibrahim said the visit was to show solidarity and to let Buhari in on some of the activities of the group so far.

“We came here as members of the national committee of the Buhari support group. This is an amalgamation of about 189 different support groups that had worked for President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC to win the 2015 general election,” he said.

“We have been holding meetings, discussing the problems of this country, Nigeria. So, we thought it was high time we met with the President to intimate him about the activities of the group.

“We discussed with him about the plans to improve the situation in Nigeria. Mr President was very pleased with our programmes.”

Ibrahim said his belief in Buhari remained unshaken as he remains the man who can ensure the progress and stability of the nation.

Similarly, Ahmed Lawan, Senate Majority Leader, who joined the BSG on the visit, said Buhari’s “good works” would speak for him come 2019.

“We have issues we think that the administration will be dealing with very successfully, now that we have economic recovery and growth plan which encapsulates everything we need to move Nigeria forward,” he said.

“I believe we are going to achieve those things that we set for ourselves at the moment. I also believe that the future is bright and by the grace of God.

“By 2019, we would have achieved so much in this administration and Mr President will have no option but continue the good work he has started.

“We will continue to identify with and support all the programmes that this administration has set forward.

“And l believe that we have every justification to be happy because, the president campaigned on three major pillars of anti- corruption, fighting the insecurity across the country and revitalizing the economy of Nigeria.

“It has been a very good journey so far and also we believe that Mr. President and Nigerians have a future beyond 2019. What he has started, by the grace of God, he should be able to complete, up to 2023.”

Buhari has not said whether he would seek re-election, but Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, had told journalists that a group known as ‘Buharists’ was working to ensure that the Presidents runs for a second term.

In September, Aisha Alhassan, Minister of Women Affairs, said she would support Atiku Abubakar, rather than Buhari, should both men indicate interest in running for the presidency in 2019.

In October last year, Aisha Buhari, wife of the President, also indicated that she may not support her husband if he decides to run for a second tenure.

French court sentences Teodorin Obiang, Equatorial Guinea VP, to jail

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Teodorin Obiang, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, has been handed a three-year suspended prison sentence by a court in France.

Obiang, who is also the son of Teodoro Obiang, President of Equatorial Guinea, was tried in absentia on charges bordering on embezzlement, money laundering, corruption and abuse of office.

The 48-year-old was also given a suspended fine of €30 million.

Spearheaded by two anti-corruption groups, the case, is the first of three targeting the families of African leaders for using ill-gotten gains to live it up in France.

Obiang was accused of spending more than 1,000 times his official annual salary on a six-storeyed townhouse in a posh part of the French capital, a fleet of fast cars and artworks, among other assets.

Prosecutors argued he could not have funded such lavish purchases without pilfering public money from his West African homeland.

The affair first made headlines in 2011 when French police raided Obiang’s mansion on the glitzy Avenue Foch in Paris, hiring trucks to haul away a fleet of Bugattis, Ferraris, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and other cars.

The property, valued at €107 million, was seized by investigators.

However, Obiang denies the charges, insisting that his money came from legitimate sources and that all his purchases were legal.

His lawyers accused France of “meddling in the affairs of a sovereign state”, and has lodged an appeal at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

According to France24, Obiang’s counsels accused the French justice system “of trying to replace Equatorial Guinean judges with themselves”.

The court did not follow prosecutors’ recommendations on sentencing but did grant their request that his residence, which Equatorial Guinea protested was a diplomatic mission, and other assets be confiscated.

The ruling is seen as a victory for the French chapter of Transparency International France and its sister NGO Sherpa, which brought the complaint against Obiang.

“Every year, billions of euros are embezzled to fund the profligate lifestyle of a few corrupt leaders abroad, particularly in France,” Transparency International said in a statement ahead of the ruling, adding that it aimed “to ensure that France is no longer a place to launder money”.

Obiang was Agriculture and Forestry Minister before being promoted by his father to Vice President in 2012, putting him in pole position to succeed him as leader.

Many of his eye-popping purchases were made through Somagui Forestal, a forestry company that prosecutors called “an empty shell used solely to channel public money”.

His tastes included sharp suits from Paris’s top tailors, whom he allegedly paid with suitcases of cash.