Madagali, in Adamawa State, was one of the worst-hit towns during the Boko Haram insurgency
Chairman of Madagali Local Government Council in Adamawa State, Yusuf Mohammed, has called on the federal government to assist in the rehabilitation of critical infrastructure which was destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents.
Muhammed made the appeal during a chat with newsmen on Monday in Gulak, the council’s headquarters, adding that life was very difficult for returnees in the area which was one of the communities liberated from Boko Haram by the Nigerian military.
He said government facilities such as schools, hospital and markets were no longer functioning.
“Gulak town, the headquarters of the local government, is about 15 kilometres from Sambisa forest, the den of the insurgents,” Mohammed said.
“The destruction of schools, health facilities, markets, houses, places of worship and community civic centre, is beyond imagination.
“The council secretariat has been completely vandalised and there is no single infrastructure left,” he lamented.
He added that bridges along federal roads linking Madagali to other parts of the state and neighbouring Borno state had all been destroyed.
Mohammed said that economic activities in the area have been crippled as a result of the level of destruction in the area, and life for the returnees has been very difficult.
Minister of Budet and National Planning, Udoma Udo-Udoma
The Senate has invited the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo-Udoma to throw more light on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, which formed the basis for the formulation of the 2017 – 2019 budget proposals.
This was contained in a letter signed by Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had forwarded the MTEF document to both the Senate and the House of Representatives for consideration and approval.
The letter sent to the budget minister read in part, “To enable the Senate objectively review the MTEF from a wholistic fiscal perspective, we deem it necessary to invite you to a meeting to brief the leadership of the Senate on Tuesday, 1st November, 2016, at the National Assembly by 2pm.”
The senate requested Udo-Udo to furnish it, ahead of the meeting, with the following documents: “The Medium-Term Development Plan (even a draft copy) upon which the 2017-2019 MTEF is founded; a comprehensive report on the implementation of the 2016 budget (as at third quarter, September 30); all fiscal rates, taxes, charges, etc., used to derive the projected revenue in the 2017-2019 MTEF; and a report on the structure/composition of the debt, funding sources, how the borrowed funds are to be spent as well as repayment plan and schedule.”
Ndume also noted that Senate’s debate on the MTEF had been postponed until next week; it was earlier scheduled for this week.
Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, NJC
Following recent developments in the Judiciary with regards to allegations of corruption among top judicial officers, the National Judicial Council, NJC, has announced a new set of regulations, barring judges and other court staff from accepting any form of gift from the other arms of government.
The new rule is part of measures to ensure and enhance the independence of the judiciary, and curb corruption and other unethical conduct among judicial officers and other court staff.
A new National Judicial Policy, NJP, wherein contain the latest rules guiding the nation’s judiciary will be launched by the NJC on Monday in Abuja.
Already, the existing Code of Conduct for judicial officers provides that “a judge and members of his/her family shall neither ask for nor accept any gift, bequest, favour, or loan on account of anything done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties.
But the provision in the new policy particularly bars judges and other court staff from accepting gifts from other arms of government, and also made compliance mandatory.
Section 2(3)(2) of the new policy states: “The Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers and Code of Conduct for Court Employees, with the amendment discouraging acceptance of gifts from other arms of government, should be such as would be adequate. Compliance with their provisions shall be mandatory.”
With regards to the Judiciary’s relationship with other arms of government, the new policy stipulates that “the judiciary shall not resort to lobbying in ensuring that the legislature and the executive perform their constitutional responsibilities.
“All arms of government should respect the doctrine of Separation of Powers as enshrined in the Constitution,” it added.
The policy also introduced measures to further keep complaints against judges and other court staff from the media and public domain.
Part of the policy read: “It shall be the policy of the judiciary on complaints of misconduct against judicial officers or employees of the judiciary shall not be leaked or published in the media.
“Where complaints on allegations against judicial officers and court employees are submitted for investigation, the complainant or complainants shall be made to give an undertaking not to do anything to prejudice investigation or actions that may be taken.
“The institutions of the judiciary concerned with investigation or/and implementation of decisions taken on such complaints shall be obliged to cease further action where such complaints are leaked or discussed in the media.
“Where such a leakage is occasioned after the submission of a complaint, then all investigations on the complaints shall be suspended, the leakage investigated and if such leakage is from the complainant or through other parties known to such a complainant, such a complaint should be discarded.
“Where such leakage is occasioned prior to the presentation of the complaint and the source of the leakage is found to be the complainant or through other parties known to and connected with the complainant, then such complaint shall not be accepted, upon submission, by the appropriate disciplinary body.
“On conclusion of investigation, the disciplinary bodies may allow public disclosure of their findings, subject to following the proper channels.”
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, has condemned Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State over the introduction of the Ekiti Grazing Enforcement Marshals, EGEM, a vigilante group whose job is to ‘arrest’ cows that were allegedly damaging farms in the state.
The association said Fayose’s action was not well thought through and was targeted at “our members who are bonafide Nigerians.”
Spokesman for the group, Othman Ngelzarma, said in a statement accused the newly-formed group of having “shot five cows and carted away the meat but the herdsman was able to flee with the rest of his cattle.”
He added: “As far as we know, Ekiti State is not an island of its own, but a state within the Federal Republic of Nigeria and while the governor is permitted to carry out actions geared towards protecting the interest of Ekiti State, such actions should follow the rule of law.
“We deplore this act of brigandage and call on Governor Fayose to offer an unreserved apology to MACBAN, and equally set machinery in motion with a view to compensating our members who lost five cows in this primitive adventure.”
Ngelzarma also pointed out that the actions of the vigilante group, popularly known as ‘Anti-malu’ is even outside the term stipulated by the Ekiti State anti-grazing act, “if the law exists at all”.
He called on the federal government to look into the actions and activities of the group “because we cannot fold our hands while the only means of survival of our members is taken away and destroyed.”
“We are hereby constrained to implore the Federal Government through its security agencies to wade into this unprovoked and primitive aggression against our members, before this incident develops into unquenchable inferno involving our members and Ekiti State government,” the group warned.
MACBAN, however, sympathized with the government of Kaduna State, and the people of Kaduna South over the recent attack on Godogodo community by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
The Bayelsa State government has threatened to arrest and prosecute some victims of the 2012 flood disaster in the state, if they refuse to vacate the original site of the Bishop Dimeari Grammar School, BDGS, Yenagoa, where they had occupied since after the disaster.
This was made known in a statement issued on Sunday by the state commissioner of Educational, Markson Fefegha.
The statement urged staff and students of BDGS to begin moving back to its original site in Yenagoa Local Government Area as from October 24.
Government had blamed the inability of the school to move to its original site on the presence of the flood victims whom the commissioner described as ‘illegal occupants’.
The premises is presently being occupied by the Law Faculty of the state-owned Niger Delta University, NDU, and some of the flood victims who have refused to return to their homes for fear of another disaster.
Fefegha warned the trespassers to vacate the premises or incur the wrath of the law.
“All illegal occupants of buildings in the premises of BDGS Yenagoa, are by this statement advised to vacate the premises on or before Sunday, 23rd of October, 2016,” the statement read.
“The State Ministry of Education has served enough notice and delayed the return of the school, on sympathy grounds.
“However, the government shall be compelled to invite the law enforcement agencies to effect the arrest and prosecution of all illegal occupants that will be found from Monday, 24th of October, 2016.
“The general public and especially staff and students of BDGS should please take note and comply,” the commissioner added.
However, the flood victims have severally lamented that the over N 600 million intervention funds donated to them through the State government have been allegedly embezzled by governor Seriake Dickson, thereby leaving the victims to their fate.
Reports said that Chairman of Globacom, Mike Adenuga, had also presented a cheque of N 500 million to governor Dickson in 2016 for victims of flood disaster.
But chairman of the Flood Management Committee, Francis Doukpola denied involvement in the alleged diversion of funds, saying that his committee only received a paltry sum of N10 million which included its running cost.
The Committee was supposed to be a permanent one, due to the fact that Bayelsa State, being a riverine state, was prone to incidences of flooding, but reports suggest it is no longer operational due to the fact that the governor would not release funds for its operations.
Recently, in September this year, some Bayelsa Communities were reported to be severely affected by floods while residents of Ogbia local council area were cut off.
Hundreds of victims of the 2012 flood disaster have remained refuge in the BDGS premises since 2012, refusing to vacate the school even after the flood had receeded.
Acting Public Relations Officer of the Niger Delta University, NDU, Ingezi Idon, however said that the eviction order was not applicable to the Law Faculty of the University.
“The eviction order does not affect the Faculty of Law, rather it affects illegal occupants that occupied the premises during the 2012 flood of the premises.
One of the victims taking refuge in the school premises, who pleaded anonymity said that they were compelled to remain in the school as government had not done anything to help them.
“Where do they want us to go, they diverted the flood intervention fund and now they are bent on evicting us from this place, let them go ahead but they should remember that there is God,” he said.
The Kaduna and Enugu State Police Command said some armed robbery suspect terrorizing residents of Kaduna and Enugu States have been arrested.
Police Public Relations Officer of the Kaduna command , Aliyu Usman, told Newsmen on Saturday that seven suspects were arrested at Unguwar Sarki and Narayi all in Kaduna metropolis.
Usman said the police got a report on October 8 and quickly swung into action which led to the arrest of the seven suspects between October 13 and 14, by the command’s Intelligence Bureau.
He added that one of the suspects is still at large and efforts are on to arrest him and other accomplices.
“Four plasma television sets and three mobile phones were recovered from the suspects,” the police spokesman said.
“The suspects confessed to have committed the crime. Investigation is still ongoing and they will be charged to court for prosecution.”
Usman assured citizens 0f the state of their safety, saying that the police were committed to protecting the lives and property of everyone.
“We call on the public to give the security operatives maximum cooperation in the fight against crime and criminality in the state,” he said.
In a related development, the Police in Enugu State also disclosed that it has smashed a highway robbery syndicate that terrorized the Nsukka axis of the Enugu-Makurdi road while disguising as military officers.
Ebere Amaraizu, the spokesman of the Nigerian police in Enugu, told journalists that two double barrel guns fabricated as AK 47 rifles, money, a pair of boots and torches, were recovered from the gang.
He said: “The Police Counter Terrorism Unit Axis received a distress call on Thursday that hoodlums had blocked the road by Inyi in Igboeze North and (were) wreaking havoc on their victims.
“The unit swung into action promptly which resulted in exchange of fire.
“One of the hoodlums was fatally injured and later confirmed dead by a doctor.
“Another hoodlum identified as Godwin Okpe from Ogbadigbo in Benue dressed in camouflage is also fatally injured and being revived to aid operatives in their investigation.
“Others escaped with bullet wounds’’, Amaraizu added.
He appealed to members of the public particularly hospital operators to watch out for any one with suspected bullet injury and report promptly to any nearby police station.
Commissioner of Police in Enugu state, Emmanuel Ojukwu, applauded the effort of the policemen, and added that the command would continue to maintain functional security for members of the public as well as motorists in the state.
Burkina Faso’s Interior Minister, Simon Compaore, has said that the country had foiled a coup plot by forces loyal to ousted President Blaise Compaore.
A BBC report quoted the minister as saying that at least ten of the plotters had been arrested, but the top suspects were still on the run, adding that the coup was to have been staged on 8 October, with an attack on the presidential palace in the capital, Ouagadougou.
Recall that forces loyal to Compaore had staged a coup in September 2015, but surrendered a week later after protests and opposition from top generals.
French-educated banker Roch Marc-Kabore was elected president in November, ending a turbulent period since ex-president Compaore’s overthrow in a popular uprising in 2014.
According to the interior minister, the latest coup plotters had also planned to attack a prison to free those held over last year’s coup.
Gilbert Diendere, an army General and the former head of Comapore’s presidential guard, was detained for seizing power in September 2015.
He has been charged with 11 crimes including threatening state security, murder, collusion with foreign forces, voluntary assault and wilful destruction of property.
Blaise Compaore, no relation to the interior minister, is exiled in neighbouring Ivory Coast.
He was driven out of power by crowds opposed to his bid to change the constitution to extend his 27-year rule.
He was accused of committing widespread abuses during his rule.
The Nigerian Judicial Council, NJC, has said that it would not suspend the judges being investigated by the Department of State Security, DSS, over allegations of corruption.
Recall that the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, had suggested that the affected judges be asked to proceed on a compulsory leave, until their innocence or otherwise in the DSS’ allegations is fully and completely established.
However, in a statement on Friday, the NJC, dismissed the call by the NBA, saying that to suspend the judges would mean going against “the 2014 revised judicial discipline regulations formulated by NJC pursuant to section 160 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended”.
The council further stated that it shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other authority or person while exercising its disciplinary power of control over judicial officers in the federation.
It added that its constitutional mandate is to process and recommend to the executive at the federal and state levels, the appointment, and or the removal of judicial officers from office, including exercise of its disciplinary control of suspending and or warning judicial officers.
Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf of the FCT High Court has granted an application brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, seeking to consolidate the two separate criminal charges against former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki and others with respect to their involvement in the infamous N2.1 billion arms scam.
Dasuki alongside Shuaibu Salisu, a former Director in the Office of the NSA, ONSA; Aminu Babakusa, a former General Manager, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited are being prosecuted by the EFCC, on a 19-count charge bordering on money laundering and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N13, 570,000, 000.00.
Similarly, Dasuki is also being prosecuted by the anti-graft agency alongside Bashir Yuguda, a former Minister of State for Finance; Attahiru Bafarawa, ex-governor of Sokoto State; his son, Sagir and their firm, Dalhatu Investment, for N13 billion fraud before Justice Afem.
At the last hearing on Wednesday, October 5, 2016, counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, moved an application for the consolidation of the two cases to allow for diligent prosecution.
Dasuki’s counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, then agreed before Justice Baba Yusuf to formally write the Chief Judge of the FCT judiciary, Justice Ishaq Bello, to consolidate the two charges in the interest of Justice.
The two counsels also urged Justice Baba-Yusuf to adjourn the matter pending the time the Chief Judge would consider the application for consolidation.
Consequently, the matter was adjourned to October 21, 2016 to allow the two parties reach a consensus and present the outcome of their meeting with the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Abuja.
At the resumed sitting on today (Friday), counsel to the EFCC, O. A. Atolagbe told Justice Baba-Yusuf that, “we met with Justice Afeem few minutes ago and he has ruled that the sister charge, CR/42/15, be transferred to this honourable court. We urge your Lordship to adjourn the two cases to the same day for trial or for further directions.”
The defence counsels raised no objection to the prosecution’s pleadings.
Consequently, Justice Baba-Yusuf granted the application and ruled that, the two cases be consolidated adding that, “the implication of this transfer is that the prosecution will serve the defence counsels so that the defendants can be re-arraigned before this court.”
He therefore adjourned to November 16, 2016 for re-arraignment of the accused persons.
Africa’s biggest Telecommunications company, MTN, has denied the allegations that it illegally repatriated about $14 billion from Nigeria, insisting that it did not break the country’s currency transfer rules.
The Nigerian Senate had in September ordered an investigation into the allegation which was first raised by the Chairman of the Senate committee on the FCT, Dino Melaye.
Melaye accused the current Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enalamah of allegedly conniving with MTN to unlawfully repatriate $13.92 billion between 2006 and 2016.
On Thursday, Enalamah failed to appear before the Senate committee investigating the issue, drawing the ire of the lawmakers in the process.
The crux of the allegation is that MTN did not obtain certificates declaring it had invested foreign currency in Nigeria within a 24 hour deadline stipulated in a 1995 law, and so the repatriation of returns on those investments was illegal.
Nigeria is MTN’s most lucrative market out of the 22 countries the company operates in across Africa, Asia and the Middle East but it is becoming increasingly problematic.
MTN runs Nigeria’s largest mobile phone network which generates a third of the company’s revenue.
The fund transfer issue has battered MTN’s shares, which were near a 6-1/2 year low at 105.91 rand on Friday.
Ferdi Moolman, chief executive of MTN Nigeria, in a statement released on Friday, explained that when banks issued “certificates of capital importation (CCI)” for funds it brought into Nigeria after the deadline they had done so with central bank approval.
“Often for various reasons such as not having all the required documentation, for instance, it is not possible to issue a CCI within 24 hours, and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Forex Manual contemplates such situations by asking that the banks refer to the CBN for approval,” Moolman said.
“As such, the CBN has the authority, and indeed we believe, approved the banks’ applications to issue CCIs outside the recommended time frame,” he said.
The motion initially put forward by Nigerian Melaye claims MTN requested the certificates at least five years after bringing in the hard currency.
The row comes as Africa’s biggest economy struggles with its first recession in a generation and dollar shortages due to low oil prices and is the second major dispute between the South African telecoms firm and Nigeria.
Earlier this year, MTN agreed to pay a greatly reduced fine of 330 billion naira ($1.1 billion) to end a long running dispute over unregistered SIM cards in Nigeria.
Analysts said the latest saga showed the risks inherent in frontier markets but said international investors find it difficult to ignore Nigeria because of the size of its market.
As part of the settlement to end the SIM card dispute MTN agreed to list its local unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
“Ultimately, MTN Nigeria has to become less foreign and more Nigerian if it is to stay in Nigeria over the long run,” Guy Zibi, principal at U.S.-based telecom advisory firm Xalam Analytics.
“MTN’s strategy served them extremely well but it was always a risky strategy, and they are merely seeing the downside of it albeit in somewhat extreme fashion,” Zibi said.
Rafiu Ibrahim, chairman of Nigeria’s senate investigative panel on the alleged illegal fund repatriation, said on Wednesday that a team of international and local accountancy experts and lawyers had been assembled to look into the matter.
