A former Nigerian Ambassador to Egypt and Iran, Umar Wali, has pleaded with the federal government to look into his case, saying that he receives a paltry N2,400 as monthly pension.
The retired diplomat said he retired as a grade 16 civil servant in 1990 with an initial pension of N50,000, after serving his fatherland for 36 years.
He said that instead of increasing, his pension had continued to shrink and was even stopped for some years.
“Even as a retired ambassador who served this nation for 36 years, for eight years I had been receiving N1, 800 as my monthly pension and later it was increased to N2, 400; that is what I have been given as my pension in the last eight years,” Wali lamented.
“I am 82 years and weak. I have written several complaints to pension office in Abuja to no avail. I have also gone there on several occasions to complain on the same issue.
“I have written and they promised to rectify but up till this moment nothing has been done about it. I am appealing to authorities concerned to as a matter of fairness look into this issue,” he pleaded.
DAILY TRUST newspaper reported that in response to the former ambassador’s claims, the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, said that Wali’s outstanding benefits has been processed but is awaiting approval.
Theodora Amechi, Head of Corporate Communications of the Directorate, said that the ex-ambassador was captured is the Civil Service Verification Exercise in November 2015, in Kano.
“The pensioner supplied affidavits for his letter of first appointment and letter of retirement which delayed the resolution of his complaint,” Amaechi said.
It would be recalled that the PTAD had undergone interruptions in leadership as three different persons have headed the Directorate this year.
Early in the year, Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, suspended the former Executive Secretary of the Directorate, Nellie Mayshak, and appointed an acting head.
However, a new executive secretary, Sharon Ikeazor, was recently appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the federal high court has pulled out from the trial of former national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Justice Ademola was one of the seven judges who were arrested by the Department of State Security after their residences were raided on Saturday, October 8.
He announced his withdrawal from the trial on Tuesday, citing allegations of corruption against him by the DSS, which is the prosecution in the trial.
Recall that the DSS alleged that it found huge sums of money in various currencies at Ademola’s residence.
The FHC judge, however, wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigera, Mahmud Mohammed, giving his own version of the DSS invasion of his house.
He alleged that the DSS operatives had forced him, at gun point, to sign the papers they presented to him.
Ademola also said that he was convinced that his ‘persecution’ was because of the judgments he had given against the DSS in the suits involving Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the secessionist Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB.
He also accused the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, of masterminding the whole scenario, as a way to get back at him over an old matter between the two.
The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, has called on the National Judicial Council, NJC, to suspend the Judges that have been indicted of corruption by the Department of State Services, DSS, until they have cleared their names.
Executive Secretary of the Committee, Bolaji Owasanoye, a professor, made this known on Monday during an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja, at the presentation of the Committee’s August 2015 to July 2016 report.
Owasanoye was of the opinion that the Judges should no longer be allowed to preside over cases in court, adding that the honorable thing to do is for the NJC to give the Judges the opportunity to defend themselves.
He said: “The reason is because all over the world, if a Judge is appearing before another court on criminal charges, all cases before him should be shut.”
Also, Chairman of the Committee, Itse Sagey pointed out that corrupt Judges portends great danger for the society as they have the power of “life and death.”
“Any judge who is corrupt is committing a crime against humanity. He destroys our confidence on the State; it encourages people to resort to self-help,” Sagey said.
“If an issue comes up, the judge is the ultimate.
“There are some governors who did not win election, yet judges gave vent to that. If the judiciary is corrupt, it is the only body that has the power of life and death over Nigerians.”
“We need the judiciary, we need an upright judiciary. If we don’t put the judiciary right, a judiciary with moral authority, then we have no government,” he added.
He maintained that the moral authority of some Supreme Court judges have crashed, adding that “When a judge is corrupt he should be treated like one of us.”
On the Committee’s report, the Executive Secretary, Owasanoye said it interacted with several anti-corruption agencies including other relevant agencies of government.
He said the interactions and consultations focused on proceeds of corruption, assets recovery, reopening of inconclusive or high profile cases like the Halliburton case.
Also the Committee embarked on workshops for the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act covering 84 Federal high Courts, 20 FCT High Judges, 72 Judges from all 36 states of the Federation and 40 magistrates from Lagos and FCT.
Owasanoye added that the workshop focused on Interlocutory Applications, Bail and Stay of Proceedings, the Trial Process and Powers of Anti-Corruption Agencies, Asset Recovery for National Development and Integrity and Ethics in Criminal Justice Administration.
He revealed the establishment of a Presidential Committee on Asset Recovery, adding that committee had developed a framework for Management and Administration of Recovered Stolen Assets.
The committee also lamented the current judicial system which allows suspects to use proceeds of corruption to fight the state which has limited fund to pay expensive legal fees.
He said all assets found to have been tainted by stolen public fund should be frozen until the determination of a court.
The PACAC also decried the use of Nigeria’s fault lines in countering the fight against corruption which sometimes includes religious, ethnic and religious divides amongst others.
The Federal Government has re-arraigned former Governor of Adamawa state, Murtala Nyako and his son, Abdul-Aziz before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The two were re-arraigned following the death of the former trial judge, Justice Evo Chukwu, in June this year.
Nyako was arraigned on Monday alongside his son and two others as well as five companies on charges of money laundering and diversion of funds to the tune of N29 billion.
The other accused persons include Zulkifikk Abba, a Senator representing Adamawa Central in the National Assembly and one Abubakar Aliyu.
They pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Counsel to Nyako and his son, Kanu Agabi, SAN, urged the court to allow his clients continue to enjoy the bail conditions earlier granted to them by Late Justice Chukwu.
The prosecution counsel did not oppose the bail application, but rather urged the court to order the former sureties who stood for the accused persons before Justice Chukwu, to depose to an affidavit, to show that they are ready to continue to stand as their sureties.
Agabi argued against the affidavit sought by the prosecution, explaining that “the sureties had not given any contrary indication in the matter”.
Justice Abang ruled that the defendants continue enjoying the bail earlier granted by Justice Chukwu since there was nothing before the court to show that they jumped the bail earlier granted.
He then adjourned the case to November 17 and 21 for commencement of trial.
President Muhammadu Buhari and the ICRC President, Peter Maurer
President Muhammadu Buhari has declared he would continue talks with Boko Haram insurgents for the release of the remaining Chibok schoolgirls, as long as international agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, will be involved.
President Buhari made the remarks at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday while meeting with the president of the ICRC, Peter Maurer.
He commended the role played by the Red Cross in the Thursday’s release of the 21 abducted Chibok schoolgirls, urging the organisation to keep up with its humanitarian interest in Nigeria.
Buhari however stressed that Nigeria’s biggest problem was, perhaps, the issue of internally displaced persons, IDPs.
He noted that there were over two million IDPs in the country, comprising of “over 60% women and children.”
“About 60% of the children don’t know their parents, or where they come from. It is weighing heavily on government,” Buhari said.
He assured that his government is taking the rebuilding of destroyed infrastructure in the Northeast as top priority, pointing out that the G7 nations had equally indicated support which Nigeria heartily welcomed.
Buhari also said he was pleased that the Red Cross recognized that the Nigerian military is co-operating with civil authorities, and respecting humanitarian rights in their operations against the terrorists.
Teachers in government owned primary and secondary schools in Bayelsa State, have resumed for the 2016/2017 academic session following directives from the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT.
The teachers had refused to return to classes after the long vacation in August, citing the failure of the state government to pay their eight-month salary arrears.
At a meeting between the teachers’ association and the state government earlier in May, it was agreed that the government would pay at least half of the salary arrears owed the teachers, pending when the state’s finances would improve, but government failed to keep its own side of the bargain.
But when reporters visited various schools on Monday, pupils and students expressed happiness that the strike, which had kept them at home for weeks after the new session started in first week of September, was finally over.
Esther Ebi, a JSS 2 student of St Jude’s Secondary School Yenagoa, said: “I am happy to be back in school in my new class, I have seen some of my friends but not all of them and classes have not started, we are still cleaning our classrooms.”
Bayelsa State’s Commissioner for Education, Marson Fefegha, said that the strike was called off following a truce between the striking workers and the state government.
Fefegha stated that the NUT has promised to fast-track teaching in order to make up for the period that the strike lasted.
“Schools just resumed today,” she said, “and teachers need one week to settle down to work but NUT has assured the government that they will meet up.”
The commissioner also said that a team of inspectors from the Ministry of Education would be deployed to monitor the compliance of teachers.
He warned that anyone who refuses to resume would be declared a “ghost worker’’ and replaced immediately.
The commissioner asked all Headmasters and Principals to ensure strict compliance and cooperate with the inspectors.
Chairman of Bayelsa chapter of the NUT, Kalaama Toinpre, said that the teachers have returned to the classrooms and were ready to teach.
He said: “We have secured some agreements from the state government in writing that at the end of this month, October, two months half salary of the outstanding be cleared in addition to the two months half salary already paid.
“Having secured the commitment of the state government to commence clearing the backlog, we shifted grounds and decided to suspend the strike and returned to work from today (Monday).
“We at the state executive of the union are grateful for the solidarity of teachers who resisted ploys to sabotage the struggle for the welfare of teachers and to factionalise teachers in Bayelsa. We shall remain united,” Toinpre said.
The dust raised by President Muhammadu Buhari’s remark about his wife’s comments on his government is clearly yet to settle as a frontline Northern politician and one of his former allies; Junaid Mohammed, has asked women in the president’s cabinet to resign in protest.
Aisha Buhari, in a BBC interview last week had claimed that 45 among 50 people her husband appointed into government were imposed on him and that she may not support him for re-election if he failed to re-shuffle his cabinet.
When asked to react to his wife’s remarks while in Germany, Buhari said his knowledge about politics was superior to that of his wife and that his wife belonged to his kitchen and “the other room.”
But Mohammed, who spoke with www.icirnigeria.org on Monday, said the president’s comments was an insult to women and represented a mindset that was inimical to the advancement of women.
“What he said was a reflection of his inner attitude towards women generally and if he doesn’t respect them for who they are, then why should they be of service to him? They should immediately tender their resignation letters in protest,” he advised.
The radical Kano politician said he listened to the interview granted the BBC by Aisha Buhari and did not see where the woman raised any personal issue, but instead spoke about issues that are fundamentally national issues.
He said for the president to have put down his wife in such condescending manner was “a disgrace not only to him but also to all Nigerians.”
He stated further: “When the question was put to him in Germany, he was standing beside Angela Merkel, a woman and Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
“She is today arguably the most influential woman on earth, and if Buhari knew nothing about courtesy or protocol, he should have at least remembered that if he said something which looks or sound misogynistic, it will not go down well with the woman who was standing by his side.
“He came across as a terrible misogynist who had nothing but contempt for womanhood. It is really unfortunate because what he did was to diminish himself and to diminish every Nigerian man, and especially every Northerner.
“In the 21st century and a leader of 180 million people to come out with that kind of statement, then we have really derailed. He did not address the issues raised by his wife.
“In this modern age to look at a woman and say she is just a companion in the bedroom is a disgrace. It is a shame and he has given us a very bad name.
“German papers and papers outside Germany condemned his statement. He did Nigeria a mighty disservice. I am really very uncomfortable with those statements. And I think every woman in this country must be hurt by the president’s remark.”
Muhammed said the president’s wife was being very tactful by refusing to name the people who had hijacked her husband’s government, stressing that the people are well known to those close to the administration.
He continued: “The issues she raised are issues that bother her and bother other patriotic Nigerians, and they are issues that should bother all of us. Even though she didn’t mention the names of Mamman Daura, Abba Kyari and others, she was referring to them.
“We did not elect any one of them, we elected Buhari. And if they are not accountable to us, he is accountable to us.
“This woman said out of the 50 appointments he made, 45 of them he didn’t know. Now this should concern us because it means the president is being manipulated by the likes of Mamman Daura and others and today Nigeria is in very bad shape.
“So the question to ask is who is in charge? Who is accountable to us? Because when things are going well, anybody can take the credit but when things are in a mess, we’ll have to ask ourselves who is doing what?
“And for him to be talking about women that way is a disgrace even to the women serving in his government. So let us not deceive ourselves, this man has goofed and he should be told in no uncertain terms that he has goofed.”
Out of 36 ministers appointed by President Buhari, only six are women. They are: Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance; Aisha Alhassan, minister of women affairs; Amina Muhammed,minister of environment; Aisha Abubakar, minister of state for trade and industry; Zainab Ahmed, minister of state for budget and national planning and Khadija Ibrahim, minister of state for foreign affairs.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola, One Of The Seven Senior Justices Arrested By The Department Of State Security, DSS, Over Allegations Of Corruption, Resumed Sitting At The Federal High Court In Abuja On Monday.
Another justice of the FHC, Nnamdi Dimgba – whose house was raided by the DSS, but was not arrested – also presided over court session on Monday.
The DSS said it had followed due process in embarking on the operation against the judges, claiming that the Service had enough evidence to prosecute the judicial officers for corruption.
Huge amounts of money in various currencies were said to have been recovered by the DSS at the Judges residences after they had conducted searches.
However, the National Judicial Council, NJC, condemned the DSS’ action, describing it as an affront to the principle of separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution.
The NJC insisted that no judicial officer may be subjected to arrest by any security outfit in the country without the approval of the council.
The council also noted that the actions of the DSS have left judicial officers prone to attack by criminals who may attack them under the guise of being security officials.
Justice Ademola also wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed, alleging that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, was the one behind his ‘persecution’.
Ademola said that Malami was out to take revenge on him over what transpired between them years back in Kano state.
He sought the permission of the CJN to commence a lawsuit against the AGF and the federal government.
Parents of Ese Oruru, the teenage girl who was allegedly abducted from her home in Bayelsa State earlier this year, have condemned the girl’s continued stay in Police “protective custody”, saying that they want their daughter back with them and in school.
The Federal High Court in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, had on Monday adjourned the abduction case to December 8, a decision that did not go down well with the girl’s parents.
They wondered why the accused person, Yinusa Dahiru, should be enjoying his freedom on bail, while the victim, is being denied access to her family in the guise of protection.
Ese’s parents alleged that their daughter and her baby were being kept in conditions that’s not very conducive for her welfare and that of her baby.
The 14-year old Ese was delivered of a baby girl on May 25, 2016 while under Police care at the Police Officers Mess in Yenagoa and has remained there since
Ese’s father Charles Oruru, noted with sadness that his daughter should be in school and not at the police officers mess with her new born baby.
“My daughter has been yearning and even crying to go back to school as her classmates are now ahead of her, she has lost a whole year to this saga and she is still in Police protective custody while the accused is enjoying freedom on bail,” he said.
“I am begging the Delta government, Nigeria and the world at large to come to our aide.”
Oruru hails from Delta State but resides in Yenagoa and he wants the Delta state government to assist him in catering for his children’s education.
Rose Oruru, mother of the victim, added that they have received assistance from people as well as some police officers, but maintained that the Police Officers’ Mess “is not a good place to stay and bring up a new born baby.”
“We are just abandoned in a room that we are not even allowed to go out,” she said.
“We stay with our trash bin which is smelling , we and the new born baby are compelled to breathe the offensive smell.
“So the world should note that we are been marginalised for no reason,” she lamented.
Counsel to the accused, Kayode Olaosebikan who was in court with Yunusa who has been granted bail said no information was given as to the reason for the court’s failure to sit.
He said the case has been adjourned till December 8 for further hearing of the matter.
The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, has raised an alarm on the shortage of anti-retro viral drugs in various health facilities in Nigeria.
Bilali Camara, the Country Director of UNAIDS, described the situation as an emergency and said that the agency is in talks with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, NEPHWAN, as well as other major donors over the issue.
Camara told journalists in Abuja on Monday, that the problem was as a result of the difficulties being encountered by Global Fund to manage its resources in the country.
Global Fund is one of the major donor agencies in Nigeria.
Camara told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that “UNAIDS is very much concerned about the anti retro-viral drugs crisis in Nigeria and it is working with Country Coordinating Mechanism to quickly address the problem.”
“It is a new issue that comes up within Nigeria and Global fund relationship, we are working to rebuild their confidence and bring them back to the field.
“We also want them to understand that cutting and depleting their resources hurt Nigerians,” he said.
The UNAIDS Country Director noted that the actions of the global fund by reducing its support for Nigeria “is negatively affecting HIV/AIDS response in the country,” adding that “We are moving forward to rekindle global fund’s relationship with Nigeria.
Also, the National Coordinator of NEPHWAN, Victor Omosehin, said that the drugs were not available in many centres.
He stated HIV patients in Taraba State now take pediatric drugs due to non-availability of the adult drugs in the state, but the danger was that taking pediatric drugs by adult would lead to resistance.
Omosehin urged the government and other stakeholders to as a matter of urgency do something to remedy the situation.
“Denying people affected by HIV access to drugs is denying them access to life,” he said.
