Home Blog Page 2910

Court Fixes December 7 For Jonathan’s Hearing

Editorial
-
0
Court Fixes December 7 For Jonathan’s Hearing
Former First Lady, Patience Jonathan
Former First Lady, Patience Jonathan

The suit filed by former first lady Patience Jonathan against the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, has been fixed for hearing on December 7.

The wife of former-President Goodluck Jonathan is suing the EFCC over the freezing of some accounts which the former first lady said belongs to her.

Included as respondents in the case are: Skye Bank plc, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripama-Owei Dudafa, as well as four companies, namely: Pluto Property and Investment company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd, Transocean Property and Investment Company Ltd and Globus Integrated Service Ltd.

Jonathan is also asking for the sum of $200 million from the EFCC as damages for infringing on her rights.

She is also urging the court to issue an order discharging the freezing order and restrain the EFCC and its agent from further placing a freezing order on the said accounts.

As the case was mentioned on Wednesday, Rotimi Oyedepo, announced appearance for the EFCC, while Granville Abibo, SAN, appeared for Jonathan.

Addressing the court, Oyedepo informed the judge that the case was coming up for the first time, and was not yet “ripe for hearing”.

He argued that the court processes was served on him on October 19 and he is yet to study it well in order to be able to file an appropriate response.

His submission was, however, not contested by counsel to the plaintiff.

Consequently, Justice Babs Kuewumi fixed Dec. 7 for hearing.

An affidavit deposed to by one Sammie Somiari, a lawyer, to support the former first lady’s claims, stated that on March 22, 2010,  Jonathan had opened five different accounts with Skye Bank with the assistance of one Damola Bolodeoku and Dipo Oshodi.

Somiari stated that the account mandate forms were duly completed and signed by her.

According to him, the former first lady subsequently discovered that apart from one of the accounts that bore her name, the other four accounts were opened in the name of four companies which were companies belonging to Dudafa.

He said she also observed that the ATM cards of the said accounts were issued in the names of the companies, adding that she complained to Dudafa, who promised to effect the necessary changes.

He said Dipo Oshodi also promised to effect the necessary changes.

Somiari also stated that Mrs Jonathan is not a director, shareholder or participant in these companies and the funds in the said accounts were solely owned and operated by her.

“Dudafa does not own any part of the funds in the said accounts.”

According to the deponent, the Skye Bank official did not effect the instructions of the plaintiff to change the name of the said accounts to her name, in spite of repeated request.

He stated that notwithstanding the refusal of the bank to effect the necessary changes, she had been using the said ATM cards without any interference.

Somiari further stated that sometime in July, Jonathan discovered that the ATM cards were not functioning, as a result of a “No debit/freezing order” that was placed on the accounts.

“On further enquiry, the bank informed her that the accounts were frozen on the directive of EFCC as a result of ongoing investigation in relation to Dudafa.”

The former first lady said she has never been arrested or even invited by the EFCC prior to the freezing order placed on the accounts, an action she described as illegal.

Protesters Demand Suspension Of Judges Facing Corruption Charges

Editorial
-
0
Protesters Demand Suspension Of Judges Facing Corruption Charges

protesters-demand-probe-of-corrupt-judges

A group of protesters are demanding that the judges who were indicted of corruption by the Department of State Security, DSS, should step aside until their innocence have been proven.

The protesters, under the aegis of Non-Governmental Organizations in Nigeria, FONGON, gathered at the premises of the Supreme Court on Wednesday wielding placards and calling on the National Judicial Council, NJC to allow the judges to be investigated.

Leader of the protesters, Comrade Wole Badmus described the NJC as hypocritical, adding that it encourages corruption.

“Judicial corruption is worse than economic corruption. A judge that freed a corrupt person or a thief after being compromised is only asking the thief to go and continue stealing,” Badmus said.

“From year 2000 till date, about 73 judges have been suspended by the NJC but none of them has been prosecuted all this years, what kind of double standard is this?”  he queried.

The FONGON chairman said that the NJC was wrong to have leaped to the defence of the indicted judges, when the same council had earlier sanctioned some of them over petitions bordering on corruption and judicial irregularities.

He also criticised the NJC ffor not speaking out since the issue surfaced, adding that their silence in this regard was not golden.

You will recall that the NJC had refused the recommendations of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, as well as that of the association of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, to ask the judges to step aside pending the determination of their innocence.

The council stated that the guidelines for suspension of judges were clear, adding that the NJC has not even received any formal petition by the DSS against the arrested judges.

ICPC Chairman Has Not Been Sacked

Editorial
-
1
ICPC Chairman Has Not Been Sacked
ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta
ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta

The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, Ekpo Nta, has not been sacked by the federal government, contrary to media reports on Wednesday morning, the www.icirnigeria.org can authoritatively report.

Reports in the media, mainly online news websites, indicated that Nta had been asked to go on compulsory leave, preparatory to his retirement.

According to a report in the Vanguard on Wednesday, the ICPC chairman had been directed, through a letter from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, to proceed on “compulsory leave beginning from today, October 26.”

However, when the www.icirnigeria.org spoke to the ICPC chairman at about noon on Wednesday, he said he was in the office and unaware of his sack.

Nta said that the information in the media reports is false but he declined making further comments on the matter, referring our reporter to the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government.

“I do not want to comment on this. I think it is easy to confirm the veracity of the story from the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government that is quoted as sending me a letter,” the ICPC chairman stated.

However, a source who is a senior official in the office of the SGF who spoke to our reporter on the condition of anonymity said that no letter had been issued from the office directing the ICPC chairman to proceed on terminal leave.

Reports about the sack of the ICPC chairman are common in the media, with the focus usually on when his tenure comes to an end. The latest media reports indicated that Nta was appointed as acting chairman of the anti graft agency in 2011 and that his tenure expires in November 2016.

In an interview earlier in the year, Nta told the www.icirnigeria.org that he became substantive chairman of the ICPC in 2012 and that his five year tenure ends in November, 2017.

DMO Advises FG Against Excessive Borrowing

Editorial
-
0
DMO Advises FG Against Excessive Borrowing

dmo-advises-fg-against-excessive-borrowing

Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, DMO, has said that the maximum amount of money the country can comfortably borrow in 2017 is $22.08 billion, as anything more will violate the country-specific threshold.

This was part of recommendations contained in the 2016 Debt Sustainability Analysis, DSA, report, released by the DMO and made available to journalists.

The recommendation is coming after President Muhammadu Buhari sent a letter to the National Assembly requesting to borrow almost $30 million between 2016 and 2018.

“The maximum amount that can be borrowed (domestic and external) by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2017, without violating the country-specific threshold, will be $22.08 billion (i.e. 5.89 per cent of 374.95 billion dollars),” the DMO report read.

“The Debt Management Strategy, 2016-2019 provides for the rebalancing of the debt portfolio from its composition of 84:16 as at the end of December, 2015 to an optimal composition of 60:40 by the end of December, 2019 for domestic to external debts, respectively,” it added.

The DMO said it hoped to achieve this by substituting the relatively expensive domestic borrowing in favour of cheaper external financing.

“This policy stance has been reinforced by the recent deterioration in macroeconomic variables, particularly with respect to the rising cost of domestic borrowing,” the report read further.

“Hence, the shift of emphasis to external borrowing would help to reduce debt service burden in the short to medium-term and further create more borrowing space for the private sector in the domestic market.

The DMO also clarified that the recommendation was made, taking into account the absorptive capacity of the domestic debt market and the options available in the external market.

Nigeria’s total debt profile has risen by 30% to $62 billion in 2014, up from $47.6 billion as at September 2013.

The country’s external debt stood at $9.52 billion, 15 per cent of the entire debt stock.
Domestic borrowing, however, accounted for bulk of the total money owed by Africa’s largest economy.

On Tuesday, President Buhari wrote the House of Representatives seeking approval for an external borrowing of $29.960 billion.

The President said the loan was needed to execute important projects across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital territory.

“The projects cut across all sectors with special emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, growth and employment generation, poverty reduction through social safety net programmes and governance and Financial management reforms among others,” the letter read.

More Nominees Reject Buhari’s Appointment

Editorial
-
0
More Nominees Reject Buhari’s Appointment

more-nominees-reject-buharis-appointment1

Another nominee of President Muhammadu Buhari for the post of non-career Ambassador, Usman Bugaje, has explained why he did not accept the President’s offer, just as Akintunde Akinwande, the Presidential nominee for the post of Chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has also declined the offer.

Bugaje, from Katsina State, had refused to speak to the media on his refusal to accept the ambassadorial nomination, but on Wednesday, he took to his social media page to explain his stance.

The post read: “Regarding the published nomination for an ambassadorial posting, I have not spoken to the press and may not do so anytime soon.

“I thank those who think me fit for the job, but I have so much in my hands already, especially the Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), which is the only broad platform in the north driving development.

“I have weighed the options and have decided to remain home and continue the struggle for development and good governance,” Bugaje explained.

His explanation came just few days after another ambassadorial nominee, Pauline Tallen, rejected her nomination, arguing the need for political appointments to be well-spread among the parts of the state for equity and balance.

Tallen also cited lack of proper consultation as well as her husband’s failing health as reasons for rejecting the post.

In the case of the nominee for the chairmanship position of NERC, Akinwande, he was reported to have failed to appear before the Department of State Security, DSS, for a security screening as was customary with such nominations.

THISDAY newspaper reported that his absence at the screening could be an indication that he was rejecting the nomination.

The chairman of the senate committee on power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said that the presidency should have ascertained the willingness of the nominee, especially as the nomination was made almost three months ago.

The committee had to suspend the screening exercise as, according to Abaribe, it was impossible to screen other nominees in the absence of the chairman-designate.

The chairman further said that the privatisation of the electricity sector was meant to improve the power sector and the inauguration of the NERC board was key in playing a major role to that end.

“Regrettably, when members of the committee assembled to screen the nominees made by President Buhari… the presidential liaison who brought the nominees informed us that the chairman was unavoidably absent,” he said.

“The commission is vital and cannot function without a chairman.”

Other nominees to the NERC board are Sanusi Garuba, vice chairman nominee, Nathan Shatti, Moses Arigu, Dafe Akpeneye, Frank Okafor and Musiliu Oseni.

In a meeting with President Buhari on Monday, governors of the All Progressives‎ Congress, APC, extraction expressed their concerns at the improper consultation before appointments were made, but the president tasked them to put their complaints in writing, promising to look into it.

Gambia Joins African Queue To Leave ICC

Editorial
-
0
Gambia Joins African Queue To Leave ICC
President of The Gambia, Yahya
President of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh

The Gambia says it will pull off the International Criminal Court, ICC, after accusing the tribunal of persecuting and humiliating Africans.

The small West African nation joins South Africa and Burundi in withdrawing from the court.

The ICC was set up to try the world’s worst crimes but has been accused of unfairly targeting African leaders.

Gambian Information Minister, Sheriff Bojang, said the court had ignored Western war crimes.

He said the ICC, for example, had failed to indict former British Prime Minister Tony Blair over the Iraq war.

Speaking on state television, Bojang said the ICC was “an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of colour, especially Africans”.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, is a former Gambian justice minister.

President Yahya Jammeh has ruled The Gambia since taking power in a coup in 1994.

Elections are due in December, but opposition leader Ousainou Darboe and 18 others were jailed for three years earlier this year over an unauthorised protest.

The country has been unsuccessfully trying to have the European Union indicted by the court over the deaths of thousands of African migrants trying to reach the continent by boat.

South Africa said last week that it had formally begun the process of withdrawing from the ICC because it did not want to execute arrest warrants which would lead to “regime change”.

Last year, a South African court criticised the government for refusing to arrest Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the court.

Burundi has also said it will leave the court, while other Africa countries like Kenya and Namibia have said they might.

All but one of the ICC’s 10 investigations have been Africa-based.

Read also:

Lagos Is Africa’s Fifth Largest Economy

Editorial
-
0
Lagos Is Africa’s Fifth Largest Economy

 

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), in a group photograph with the Executive Council of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), in a group photograph with the Executive Council of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce

Governor Akinwumi Ambode has expressed delight at the emergence of Lagos state as the fifth largest economy in Africa.

The governor said his administration is in the process of setting up an Economic Management Team made up of distinguished individuals from the private sector and the public sector to manage and scale up the successes recorded in that direction.

Ambode was speaking when he received a delegation from the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce who were on a courtesy visit to the Lagos House, Ikeja.

“Very soon we would be setting up what we would refer to as an Economic Management Team to drive the fifth largest economy,” he said.

“That’s the way we need to envision ourself, and this Economic Management Team will involve nominees from the Chambers and other people in the private sector, so that we can collaborate because majorly this economy is driven by the private sector.

“Our duty is to create an enabling environment and fuse all that together, I think that synergy can just catapult Lagos into that global city state that we want it to be,” Ambode added.

The Governor noted that his decision to create the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment, otherwise known as Lagos Global, was to encourage investment in Lagos both from within and outside, among many other initiatives of the present administration.

He said: “I think it is very instructive to clearly state that the economy of Lagos is in the hands of the private sector and beyond the fact that Lagos is now the fifth largest economy in Africa, the drive to take Nigeria out of recession actually resides in the private sector and willingness on the part of the public sector.

“Because our economy is in the hands of the private sector and we are willing to allow them drive it, that is why we have decided to formulate policies and decisions that will make the private sector to thrive in this State and that is why in the last 18 months, we have been running this administration on a tripod of security, job opportunities and infrastructure development.”

Leader of the delegation, Dapo Adelegan, congratulated Governor Ambode on the emergence of Lagos as the fifth largest economy in Africa, adding that with the development, it was now important to globalize the economy of Lagos.

He said the Chamber would be willing to partner with the Lagos State Government not only to globalize the economy of the State, but also in the area of policy formulation, among other critical sectors.

Adelegan also announced the decision of the Chamber to inaugurate Governor Ambode as one of the patrons of the Chamber.

Defence Chief Urges International Collaboration Against Terrorism

Editorial
-
0
Defence Chief Urges International Collaboration Against Terrorism
Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonisakin
Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olonisakin

Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Gabriel Olonisakin has called on world military leaders to unite and pull their resources in the fight against terrorism which he described as a common enemy that is threatening the very existence of humanity.

A statement issued by the acting Director of Defence Information, Rabe Abubakar, quoted the CDS as making the remarks during a meeting of the Committee of World Chiefs of Defence Staff in Washington DC recently.

According to the CDS, terrorism does not only hinder development of nations, but is fast threatening the corporate existence of the human race.

He cited an instance with the cruelty of the Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria which kill, maim and destroy properties in unimaginable proportion.

Olonisakin condemned in very strong terms the activities of terrorists across the globe, adding that if things could get worse if nothing was done to check the situation, through the instrumentality of joint forces and information sharing, it may snowball into catastrophic dimension.

“Terrorism being an asymmetric warfare requires wider spectrum of cooperation with other nations, since insurgency and terrorism transverse beyond borders,” he said.

Why I’m Committed To Fightng Corruption – Magu

Editorial
-
0
EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu
EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has said that the reason he is committed to the fight against corruption was because he views it as a crime against humanity.

Magu was speaking during a courtesy visit to the National Union of Textile and Garment Workers of Nigeria Head office in Kaduna.

He said: “Corruption affects everybody that is why everyone is a major stakeholder in the fight.

“That is why I have the passion, zeal and the courage to lead the fight against corruption.”

The EFCC boss said that before the coming into power of President Muhammadu Buhari, there appeared no hope for the country, but the President has shown “demonstrable political” will to deal with the menace of corruption.

He called on Nigerians, especially members of the organized labour, to support President Buhari and his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo in the quest to make Nigeria corruption-free.

General Secretary of the union, Issa Aremu, who is also a deputy National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, opined that the EFCC should be empowered to invite anyone living above their means to explain their source of wealth, and if their explanations were no satisfactory, they should be prosecuted.

“If found guilty the person should be made to forfeit entire proceeds from corruption,” Mr. Aremu said.

He also suggested that a special account be designated as Infrastructure Development Fund from recoveries from corruption proceeds.

Aremu commended the Buhari administration for its campaign against corruption, which he said was killing the culture of industry, enterprise and productivity in Nigeria.

“We call on Buhari to revisit the 2014 National Conference Report and implement some measures that would deepen the government’s war against corruption,” he said.

Troops Arrest Army Officers, Police  Suspected Of Aiding Boko Haram

Editorial
-
0
Troops Arrest Army Officers, Police  Suspected Of Aiding Boko Haram

File

Nigerian troops have announced the arrest of nine suspects accused of aiding the Boko Haram terrorists in the Northeast.

This brings the number of suspects arrested in the last two days to 30 as army spokesman, Sani Usman, said 21 other suspects were arrested on Monday.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Usman said the suspects included two officers, two soldiers, two policemen and 26 civilians.

He disclosed that investigation carried out on the 21 suspected collaborators and saboteurs earlier arrested led to the nabbing of the nine.

“Many more suspects would be arrested and prosecuted based on evidences against them and level of culpability,’’ he said.

The army spokesman described the suspects as “unpatriotic elements’’ whose acts were “likely to jeopardise’’ the collective efforts of the Nigerian military to clear the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists.

He advised members of the public to report any known or suspected illegality with regards to Operation Lafiya Dole to security agencies.

 

1...2,9092,9102,911...3,440Page 2,910 of 3,440