The House of Representatives committee on Public Petitions has issued a bench warrant on Ibrahim Magu, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
The warrant was issued following Magu’s refusal to honour an invitation by the committee over a petition by Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The former first lady had written the lower chamber, alleging that the EFCC and other security agencies in the country had subjected her and her family to unwarranted harassment.
According to the House committee, four letters of invitation were sent to Magu, with acknowledgement copies as evidence, but he deliberately absented himself from three separate hearings on the matter.
The motion for the bench warrant was moved by Kingsley Chinda, a Rivers State lawmaker, and seconded by Brown Randolph, also from Rivers.
“It’s not only for the workings of this committee but for any other institutional body,” Chinda said.
“ So I move that the EFCC chairman be issued a bench warrant to appear before this committee to explain his role so that we can conclude this investigation.”
Verizon Communications, the company that bought over Yahoo, has revealed that all 3 billion of its accounts were hacked in a cyber attack that rocked the company in 2013.
According to Reuters, the new development triples the number of Yahoo accounts that was initially thought to have been affected by the attack, described as the largest data breach in history.
It also increases the number of lawsuits that could be filed by Yahoo shareholders and account holders against Verizon, Yahoo’s new owners.
The company faced at least 41 consumer class-action lawsuits in US federal and state courts, in May.
John Yanchunis, a lawyer representing some of the affected Yahoo users, said a federal judge had asked for more information to justify his clients’ claims.
“I think we have those facts now,” he said. “It’s really mind-numbing when you think about it.”
Last December, Yahoo said that data from more than 1 billion accounts was compromised in 2013, forcing it to cut the price of its assets in a sale to Verizon.
But in a statement on Tuesday, the company said “recently obtained new intelligence” revealed that all user accounts had been affected.
It however said that the investigation indicated that the stolen information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data, or bank account information.
But experts said the hacked data included security questions and backup email addresses, which could make it easier to break into other accounts held by the users.
Many Yahoo users have multiple accounts, so the actual number of people affected was far fewer than 3 billion.
A Yahoo official emphasized that the 3 billion figure included many accounts that were opened but never, or only briefly, used.
The company said it was sending email notifications to additional affected user accounts.
The Senate has set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate allegations of corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC).
Another committee was also set up to probe allegations of corruption levelled against Ibrahim Idris, Inspector General of Police, by Isah Misau, a senator.
The motion for an investigation into the affairs of the NNPC was sponsored by Samuel Anyanwu and supported by Yusuf Abubakar and Kabiru Gaya.
Anyanwu noted that the allegations raised by Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, in a recent memo to President Muhammadu Buhari, could not be swept under the carpet, given that the NNPC is almost the sole foreign exchange earner for the country.
The committee will be headed by Aliyu Wammako, and its members are: Tayo Alasoadura, Kabir Marafa, Akpan Bassey, Sam Anyanwu, Ahmed Ogembe, Chukwuka Utazi, Rose Oko and Baba Kaka.
“We must investigate this allegation and hope the quality of report will meet the standard we have set in the 8th Senate,” said Bukola Saraki, Senate President, after the announcement of the composition of the committee.
Similarly, the formation of a probe panel on the IGP followed the allegations by Misau that the police boss collects billions in bribe money in order to provide influential Nigerians with personal police security.
Misau, himself a retired police officer, told journalists during a phone interview in August: “Specifically, the IGP, on good authority from within the force, collects over N10 billion on monthly basis as money for special security provided by men of the force to corporate bodies and highly placed individuals, including criminals, running to N120 billion on a yearly basis without any reflection in the police’ annual budget or internally generated revenue.
“On nepotism, the IGP is scoring high marks by making almost half of the mobile commanders in the country people of his Nupe extraction.”
The committee to probe the IGP will be headed by Francis Aliimikhena; its members are: Joshua Lidani, Binta Garba, Nelson Effiong, Obinna Ogba, Duro Faseyi, and Abdul-Aziz Nyako.
Jalal Arabi, Permanent Secretary in charge of the State House Clinic, says services offered by the hospital are free, hence its inability to function optimally.
Arabi said the clinic would henceforth commercialise its services in order to remain afloat.
This comes days after Zahra Buhari, one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughters, condemned the clinic’s management via a post that went viral on the social media.
Zahra had complained that despite the billions allocated to the clinic in the budget, patients could not access quality healthcare there.
Many media houses had also done critical reports about the hospital, which is situated right inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Reacting to the various reports, Arabi said that the hospital is the only medical facility in Abuja where services are absolutely free for patients.
“This is the only health centre in Abuja where patients are not required to pay any dime before consultation,” he said in a press statement signed by Atta Esa, Deputy Director, Information at the State House.
“In other government hospitals in Abuja, patients are required to pay for consultation, treatment, laboratory tests and others, but that has not been the case with the State House Medical Centre.
‘‘The Centre offers free services; nobody pays a kobo for hospital card, consultations or prescriptions; and this has taken a toll on the subvention the Centre receives from the government.
‘‘We have some of the best equipment in the country. For instance, to maintain the MRI and other scan machines, we spend close to N2 million monthly. Yet we do not charge a dime for those who require MRI scans in the clinic.”
Arabi said that going forward, the clinic’s management will “among other things seek the commercialisation of the centre to boost its revenue and augment the appropriation it receives from the government in the quest for a better qualitative service”.
The commercialisation will be only a part of other reform efforts aimed at returning the clinic to its deserved status.
“We have already created a NHIS (National Health Insurance Scheme) desk at the clinic where patients will be required to authentic their profile,” Arabi said.
“If their HMOs (Health Maintenance Organisations) are registered in other hospitals, they will be required to transfer to the centre.
“This is another way through which we can boost revenue generation at the hospital and this has started yielding results because the stark reality is there is no free lunch anywhere.”
Arabi, however, dismissed allegations of corruption and embezzlement of funds meant for medical supplies in the centre, as alleged by Zahra’s social media post.
“I know people will insinuate and give all sorts of reasons because they don’t ask but it will be foolhardy and madness for anybody in his senses to defraud a medical centre of a kobo and toying with people’s lives,” he said.
“No sane person will do that, so the truth of the matter is that the hospital is being run on subvention and appropriation.
“If it (subvention) comes, we pile the drugs; but the truth is the drugs are always overwhelmed by the number of people who use the centre, because it is not controlled,” he said.
The leaked internal memo written by Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum resources, to President Muhammadu Buhari, is still generating heated conversations among Nigerians on the social media.
According to the memo dated August 30, Kachikwu had complained bitterly about the unprofessional attitude of Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, as well as how he (Kachikwu) was being sidelined in the running of of NNPC’s activities.
It is yet unclear how the memo got leaked to the press but Nigerians care less and have taken to Twitter to express their opinion on the matter.
As usual, some of the expressions were comical, with one particularly suggesting that Buhari may not even read the memo, and another saying Kachikwu was too good for the mess he was instigating. One even advised him to turn in his resignation.
Here are a few of the interesting comments:
Ibe Kachukwu is too good for this mess. He should resign. How can you not have access to your direct boss? Smh. https://t.co/PpwnMfgcn3
#KachikwuAllegations So let’s focus on the substance of Kachikwu’s allegations, which are pretty damning-corruption, poor governance, tribalism and no due process at NNPC!!! Will Kachikwu be Buhari’s Sanusi???
Willie Obiano, Anambra State Governor, says President Muhammadu Buhari likes governors like him who are hardworking and deliver on their campaign promises.
Speaking after meeting with Buhari at the villa on Tuesday, Obiano said the President reassured him of a free and fair governorship election in Anambra State on November 18.
“He [Buhari] has reassured free and fair election; that’s what should be important to me,” Obiano said.
“He likes governors like me who are hardworking, who are delivering on what people can see, who are bringing dividends of democracy to their people, that’s what the President wants.
“He doesn’t care about your party; he wants to know that you are doing well in this area, in that area, and that’s how a President should work.”
Obiano said that Buhari’s expectation is in tandem with the policy of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which is regard for best practice.
“We do not believe in rigging, APGA has never rigged an election,” he said. “All we want is for the umpires to be unbiased – free and fair election – and you will get the result.”
Buhari also met with Rotimi Akeredolu, Governor of Ondo State, who visited him in the company of Kayode Fayemi, Minister for Solid Minerals Development.
Benjamin Ogunbodede, former Executive Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), has been sentenced to 40 years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Ibadan.
Ogunbodede, a Professor and a priest of the Anglican Church, was convicted on Tuesday alongside two others: Zacheus Tejumola, an accountant with the institute, and Omitowoju Janilekun, a contractor.
They were found guilty of a 10-count charge bordering on conspiracy, unlawful conversion, and stealing of school subvention, which was brought against them by the EFCC.
JUST IN: Prof Benjamin Ogunbodede, Ex-DG Inst of Agric Research & Training sentenced to 40years in prison for defrauding the Inst of N177m.
Justice Ayo Emmanuel, who presided over the case, sentenced the accused persons to four years imprisonment for each of the counts, but ruled that it would run concurrently.
Ibe Kachiukwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to save the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the oil industry from collapse arising from lack of transparency instituted by Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director (GMD) of the corporation.
Kachikwu made the call to the President in a memo to Buhari on Baru’s “penchant for sidestepping due process in running the NNPC”.
According toSaharaReporters the memo was dated August 30 and titled ‘Matters of Insubordination and Lack of Adherence to Due Process Perpetuated by GMD NNPC-Dr. Baru’.
The memo (HMS/MPR/001/Vol.1/100) opened with a complaint by Kachikwu about postings within the corporation done without his knowledge.
“Mr. President, yesterday, like many other Nigerians, I resumed work confronted by many changes within NNPC,” Kachikwu wrote.
“Like many reorganization and reposting are done since Dr. Baru resumed as GMD, I was never given the opportunity before the announcements to discuss these appointments. This is so despite being Minister of State Petroleum and Chairman, NNPC Board.”
He also complained that the NNPC Board, which has met monthly since inauguration by the President, was never briefed of the postings and appointments. The Board, he added, has statutory duty to review the appointments. Its members, said Dr. Kachiukwu, got to know of the appointments via the social media and NNPC press release.
“At a minimum and like other parastatals supervised by me at the Ministry have continued to do and in compliance with proper governance standards expected of a multinational oil sector organization [sic].” He said.
He said that acts of misbehaviour by Baru were already hindering all the envisaged positive changes for the oil and gas sector.
“I have been on a race to stabilize and move the industry to the next phase. Timing is critical. The sector is also in a critical state where only innovative ideas can stop the alarming impact of the fall of oil prices on national income,” he added.
“The innovations that we have developed and started implementing in the downstream, upstream, policy generation and Niger Delta security have enabled the sector to aggressively pursue out-of-the-box ideas of rejuvenating this sector, getting the best yield and increasing our earnings from oil and gas.
“What this means is that parastatals in the Ministry and all CEOs of these parastatals must be aligned with the policy drive of the supervising ministry to allow the sector register the growth that has eluded it for years. To do otherwise or to exempt any of the parastatals would be to emplace a stunted growth in the industry.”
He also begged the President to “save the office of the Minister of State from further humiliation and disrespect” by compelling all subordinate parastatals to submit to oversight mandate and proper supervision, which he was appointed to manage on the President’s behalf.
He equally urged Buhari to instruct Baru to allow NNPC run properly and report along due process lines to the Board.
Kachiukwu called on the President to set the right examples by suspending the recently-made appointments in the NNPC, and encourage joint presentation meetings between heads of parastatals and the Minister of State to him [President] as a way of encouraging better work ethic and ensuring discipline.
Residents doctors in Kaduna State embarked on an indefinite strike on Tuesday over the “sorry state” of healthcare facilities in state-owned hospitals.
Joseph Jokshan, President of the Association of Resident Doctors in the state, said that the state government refused to respond to any of the demands made by the doctors 21 days ago.
He noted that the strike action is not what the doctors want, but “unfortunately, we cannot effectively carry out these tasks in the current sorry state of our healthcare facilities”.
The doctors listed their grievances to include poor funding, equipping and staffing of hospitals, non-provision of living environment for medical health workers and patients, immediate implementation of already approved funding for residency training of doctors in their chosen fields, and due but unimplemented promotion of doctors.
In addition, Jokshan said members of the association were demanding the payment of House Officers’ salaries and arrears, and immediate and full implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).
He urged the general public to bear with them and join them in the struggle so that it would yield positive and quick response from the government.
“This is the struggle we intend to see through to the end, not because we are unaware of the implication of this action but because we are left with no other option,” he said.
Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has finally sworn in Dorothy Mato as replacement for Herman Hembe, who was sacked by the Supreme Court.
During his time as a member of the lower legislative chamber, Hembe, an ally of Dogaras, headed the House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory.
The Supreme Court had ruled that Mato, not Hembe, was the authentic candidate of the APC in the federal legislative election held in 2015.
It ordered INEC to immediately issue her a certificate of return, and directed the leadership of the House of Representatives to immediately swear her in.
But Dogara, a lawyer by training, refused to obey the judgement of the Supreme Court to swear Mato in.
With Mato’s swearing in on Tuesday, the people of Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue State now have proper representation at the House of Representatives.
