A federal high court in Abuja has ordered former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim to open his defence in the money laundering charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola gave this ruling on Thursday while dismissing a no-case submission filed by Ohakim, claiming that the evidence by the prosecution had disclosed no prima facie case against him.
The EFCC arraigned Ohakim on July 8, 2015 on the allegation that he purchased a property at the Asokoro district of Abuja, with a cash payment of $2.29 million, equivalent to N270 million, during his tenure as the Imo State Governor in November 2008.
Ohakim was also accused of trying to hide his ownership of the property by entering into an agreement as a tenant on the property, as well as failure to declare the property as part of his assets when the EFCC asked him to do so in January 2014.
The prosecution had called six witnesses and tendered documentary evidence to support its claims, but counsel to Ohakim, Awa Kalu, SAN, on May 5, 2016, filed a no-case submission, insisting that the prosecutor’s evidence had failed to link his client to the commission of the alleged crime.
However, in his ruling on Thursday, Justice Ademola held that the prosecution had disclosed prima facie case that warrants the former governor to open his defence.
Reports from the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, say Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaiwe, an Abuja-based lawyer, has withdrawn a suit seeking the disqualification of President Muhammadu Buhari from the 2015 Presidential Poll for allegedly not possessing requisite education qualification.
Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had alleged that President Buhari was not qualified to contest the 2015 presidential election as he did not sit for the Cambridge West African School Certificate WASC, in 1961 as he claimed.
Buhari was represented in the case by over a dozen Senior Advocates of Nigeria, led by Wole Olanipekun and included, Femi Falana, Lateef Fagbemi, Akin Olujinmi, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Kola Awodein, Taiwo Osipitan, Charles Edosomwan, Emeka Ngige, Femi Atoyebi, Funke Aboyade, H.O. Afolabi, and Muiz Banire as well as many other junior lawyers.
Pope Francis has called for peaceful coexistence among Nigerians, particularly residents of Osun State, irrespective of the socio-cultural and religious beliefs.
The Pope, who was represented by the Papal Nuncio to Nigeria Augustine Kassuja, made the appeal during a visit to the Osun Government House in Osogbo, the State Capital.
The Catholic Pontiff said that dialogue instead of violence should be employed in resolving issues of disagreement between people of diverse culture, religion and beliefs.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola expressed his appreciation at the visit of the Catholic Church’s highest hierarchy, and reiterated his administration’s commitment to working with all religious representations to promote peaceful coexistence in the state.
Osun State had been in the news of late especially with regards to religious intolerance.
It would be recalled that a court in the state had ordered that female Muslim students be allowed to wear hijabs to school.
The ruling did not go down well with the State’s chapter of the Christian association of Nigeria, CAN, who directed Christian students to attend schools in their various religious garments.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, has warned Chinese businessmen that the era of discretionary sale of crude oil by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is over.
Kachikwu was speaking at a reception organized by officials of the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing.
The forum provided an opportunity for officials of the embassy to seek clarification about the sale of crude oil in Nigeria following enquiries from Chinese businessmen who got fraudulent offers from Nigeria.
Kachikwu explained that the use of discretion in the sale of crude oil by previous administrations led to corruption in the Nigeria’s oil sector. He reiterated that only eleven companies have been approved to lift oil from Nigeria following an open bid process and that the next bids will hold in April 2017.
The minister also said that investigation is ongoing with regards to the discovery of Nigeria’s stolen oil in China. He appealed to Chinese businessmen to stop buying stolen oil, saying it encourages militancy and vandalism.
The event was part of activities of the NNPC roadshow in China which was aimed at drawing investments into Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The minister says about $80 billion oil deals have been signed with various Chinese oil companies, including Sinopec, China’s leading oil company.
The roadshow is also scheduled to hold in India and other Gulf Countries.
Elechi Amadi, One of Nigeria’s literary giants and author of the renowned novel, The Concubine, is dead.
It was gathered the novelist died at the Good Heart Hospital, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday of an undisclosed ailment.
Amadi, who was 82 years old, will be best remembered for his 1966 novel, The Concubine, which has been called “an outstanding work of pure fiction”.
Some of his other works included The Great Ponds, Isiburu, Sunset in Biafra, Dance of Johannesburg, Pepper-soup, The Road to Ibadan, The Slave, Estrangement, Les Grand Etangs, and The Woman of Calabar.
Born in 1934 in Aluu in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Amadi attended Government College, Umuahia (1948–52), Survey School, Oyo (1953–54), and the University of Ibadan (1955–59), where he obtained a degree in Physics and Mathematics.
He worked for a time as a land surveyor and later was a teacher at several schools, including the Nigerian Military School, Zaria (1963–66). Amadi served in the Nigerian Army, remained there during the Nigerian Civil War, and retired at the rank of captain.
He also served in the Rivers State Civil Service as a Permanent Secretary from 1973 to 1983 and was appointed Commissioner for Education in 1987, as well as Commissioner for Lands and Housing.
He celebrated his 80th birthday in Port Harcourt in 2014, releasing a souvenir edition of one of his plays, Isiburu.
Amadi lived in his hometown, Aluu, till his death.
Reacting to the news of the death of Amadi, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike said he was saddened by the death of the literary icon, describing his passage as a loss to the country.
Former Minister of foreign affairs and current secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board Of Trustees, Ojo Maduekwe is dead.
Maduekwe died at a hospital in Abuja on Wednesday evening at the age of 71.
Reports say he was on his way back from the U.S. to Nigeria through Dubai when he took ill.
Born May 6, 1945 in Abia State, Nigeria, Maduekwe was appointed Foreign Minister of Nigeria on July 26, 2007 by President Umaru Yar’Adua
He was also appointed Culture and Tourism minister by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and Minister of Transport in 2001.
As Minister of Transport he famously advocated the use of bicycles as a major means of transportation as it was more environmental friendly.
The proposal was strictly criticised due to the very busy nature of most Nigerian roads; Maduekwe himself was once pushed into a ditch by a bus while he was cycling to work.
Maduekwe was recently appointed the secretary of the PDP Board of Trustees.
Speaking to journalists from Saudi Arabia, chairman of the BoT, Walid Jibrin, said Maduekwe died at a time his services were most needed.
The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Community Court of Justice has adjourned judgment indefinitely in the case of former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki against the Federal Government in which he challenged his unlawful detention since December 2015 in the custody of the Department of the State Security Service, DSS.
The court, presided over by Justice Friday Nwoke had on May 16 reserved judgment till Wednesday, June 29 after taking final argument from Dasuki’s lawyer, Robert Emukperuo and government lawyer, Tijani Gazali.
However, journalists, lawyers and other observers who stormed the regional court in Abuja on Wednesday were told the much awaited verdict of the court was not ready and that the new date for the judgment would be communicated to lawyers when ready.
They were turned back at the entrance of the court by security men who told them that the court management had mandated them to tell everybody that judgment was not ready, prompting the people to leave one after the other when the reality dawned on them that the court will not sit after all.
Dasuki had dragged the federal government before the ECOWAS Court praying the regional court to intervene in his detention without trial since December last year.
The ex-NSA asked the court to void the detention, the seizure of his properties and to bar government from further detaining him without a lawful court order.
In the court action he instituted, Dasuki asked the court to award in his favor a sum of N500 million as compensatory damages for his alleged unlawful invasion of his house, detention, seizure of properties and infringement on his rights.
He claimed that government had put him on trial in three different high courts on corruption charges where he was granted bail and that after his bail, he was re-arrested on December 29, 2015 and has since been held incommunicado without lawful court order.
“The critical issue that needs to be resolved is whether there is any legal justification for the detention of the applicant by the defendant”, he said, adding that the only justification in the amended statement of defence adduced by the defendant for detaining the applicant is the recourse to national security.
“They have not adduced before this court any judicial procedure that they have relied on in incarcerating the applicant.
“They have equally not relayed to the court any domestic legislation whatsoever to justify the detention of the applicant.
“My lord I submit that this is a classic case of arbitrary and illegal arrest”, Dasuki added.
But the Federal Government had argued a preliminary objection against Dasuki on the ground that he ought to have filed a contempt charge against the government for alleged disobedience to court order on the bail granted him but the ECOWAS Court ruled that the case of the plaintiff was on his fundamental rights and has nothing to do with the domestic court.
ECOWAS May be Financially Broke
While no reason was giving for the indefinite adjournment of the ruling on Dasuki’s case, the ECOWAS Court and its Parent body the ECOWAS Secretariat may be financially broke.
Recently the Vice President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Justice Micah Wright had disclosed that one of the impediments that the court was facing was insufficient fund for its operation due to non-payment of levy by member states.
“The court and by extension the entire community is facing financial difficulties where member states are not paying up the community levy and that is the means of finance for all ECOWAS activities,” he said.
“The court is always at disadvantage when the funds are being distributed. But we have to take more initiatives to impress it upon the commission the mandate of the court is of such that the court is alone.
“The court cannot source external funding like the commission or like other institutions. We don’t want to compromise our independence and neutrality by going out to seek donor funding.”
At another occasion, the President of ECOWAS, Marcel De Souza had expressed frustration over the paucity of fund being experienced by the commission.
De Souza, spoke when he led a delegation from the commission to a courtesy visit on the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadijat Abba-Ibrahim.
He appealed to Nigeria and other member states to rescue the commission by paying up their outstanding levies.
“The community levy which represents 90 percent of our funding is no longer regularly paid by most member states; Nigeria is not alone in this regard, also Cote D’Ivoire…
“We see that the greatest challenge lies with Nigeria. The arrears that Nigeria is owing is 694,000 dollars because there was no payment made between 2015 and 2016.
“Because of the debt burden it carries, ECOWAS is now losing its credibility,” the president said.
Meanwhile President Muhammadu Buhari had assured of Nigeria’s continued commitment to meet all her obligations to the ECOWAS Commission.
President Buhari made the pledged last month (May 27, 2016) while receiving the president of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza in the State House, Abuja.
The President was reported to have told the ECOWAS delegation that “the federal government of Nigeria would strive to show good example by meeting all its financial obligations to the sub-regional organisation.”
Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, former member of the Edo State House of Assembly, has won the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship Primary conducted by the Ali Modu-Sheriff-led faction of the party on Wednesday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin.
Earlier in the day, the Police had cordoned off the entrance to the stadium apparently to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
Chris Eziken, the Edo State Police Commissioner had said he wasn’t certain if the primary election would go on as scheduled.
“I am not INEC. It is too early to find out if the primary will hold or not. You can call me back in the afternoon to find out,” Eziken had said.
But it appeared the police later allowed the party members entrance into the venue; which could be the reason voting started around 4:25 in the evening.
Iduoriyekemwen contested against Johnson Agbonayima, himself a lawmaker representing Egor and Ikpoba-Okha constituency in the House of Representatives.
Ahmed Gulak, chairman of the electoral committee declared Iduoriyekemwen winner with a total of 481 votes after his opponent Agbonayima had voluntarily stepped down.
There was no representative of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to observe or monitor the exercise.
Gulak expressed optimism that Iduoriyekemwen would be returned elected after the September Governorship election in the state.
Cairo Ojugbo, newly appointed national vice chairman of the Modu-Sheriff faction of the PDP, reiterated that Modu-Sheriff remained the authentic national chairman of the party, describing the exercise as the only authentic governorship primary of the PDP in Edo State.
Ojugbo said the rumours making the rounds that Modu-Sheriff was gunning for the 2019 presidential ticket of the PDP were false. He urged the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction to return under the Sheriff-led executive in order to move the party forward.
An Abuja High court has removed former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu-Sheriff, as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, declaring the process that led to his election as null and void.
Justice Valentine Ashi held that Sheriff’s emergence as the party’s national chairman was illegal because it was based on an amended provision of the Party’s constitution which was illegally introduced in 2014.
In his ruling on Wednesday, Justice Ashi said the amendment was a violation of the Electoral Act and the actions of the PDP leaders who partook in it, illegal.
Though no mention was made of Modu-Sheriff’s name, the court ordered that all persons who became national officers of the party by virtue of the amendment should restrain from further parading themselves as such.
The ongoing crisis in the PDP had split the party in two with Modu-Sheriff heading one faction while Ahmed Makarfi, former Kaduna State governor, heads the other.
Makarfi was appointed chairman of a caretaker committee, backed by the party’s governors and national lawmakers.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it awaits another court judgment expected to be delivered by a Port Harcourt high court on July 4, in order to decide which of the PDP factions to recognize.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned a former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu, before a Federal High Court in Lagos on a 26-count charge of stealing about N49.2 billion.
The retired Air Marshal was arraigned together with two order Air Force officials, Jacob Adigun and Gbadebo Olugbenga, Air Vice Marshal and Air Commodore respectively.
They pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The presiding Judge, Mohammed Idris granted the accused persons bail in the sum of N500 million each with two sureties in like sum.
The sureties must have landed property within the court’s jurisdiction and the title documents of such land should be verified by EFCC and be deposited with the court registrar. The sureties must also swear to an affidavit of means which must also be verified by the EFCC.
The accused were also ordered to deposit their international passports with the court registrar.
They are to be remanded in prison custody pending the fulfillment of their bail conditions, except Adigun who is to be remanded in EFCC custody due to his health challenges.
Thereafter the case was adjourned till July 8, 2016 for commencement of trial.
