President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Nigerian military to halt operations in the Niger Delta for two weeks to enable government dialogue with the militants who have stepped up bombings of oil and gas installations in the region.
Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, disclosed this in Abuja, on Monday, saying the federal government was determined to restoring peace in the Niger Delta region.
“The President is interested in dialogue and has mandated the military to halt actions for about two weeks to ensure a team that will be led by the NSA, dialogue with the militants to ensure peace in the region,” he said.
Many local and multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta have reviewed their operations in the area as a result of the persistent bombing of their facilities in Delta and Bayelsa states.
Kachikwu urged the militants to embrace the offer of dialogue as it will involve key leaders from the region who have had first-hand experience of the crisis so that peace may once again be restored.
According to Kachikwu, the dialogue will be headed by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno and will consist of top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, service chiefs and ministers from the Niger Delta.
He expressed optimism that the dialogue would yield positive results and get Nigeria back to the crude oil production target of 2.2 million barrels per day as contained in the 2016 budget.
Meanwhile, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday disclosed that the federal government has commenced talks with leaders and people of the Niger Delta to halt the spate of attacks on oil installations in the area.
He said this when he met with a delegation of the European Union, led by the EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Michel Arrion.
“We are talking, we are ensuring that we minimize losses and we are stepping up security. We are also engaging the international oil companies, IOCs, to see what options exist,” he said.
Ten years after being impeached as governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye is still answering for his alleged crimes while in office. He was governor of Plateau State between 1999 and November, 2006, when he was impeached by the state legislature on allegations of corruption.
He was docked again at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court in Gudu on Monday on an amended 23 count charge bordering on money laundering and diversion of the state ecological funds to the tune of N1.162 billion.
On Monday, Dariye was in court as early as 9.00 am with a few aides, and he took his seat on the front row beside the dock. Immediately after the trial judge, Justice Adebukola Bamijoko, took her seat and the case was called, the former governor, now a senator was asked to enter the dock at 9.45am.
Counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Rotimi Jacob, represented by Tayo Olukotun, told the court that the prosecution had sought an amendment of the charges and served the accuse the fresh charges.
The amended charges were subsequently read out to Dariye who stood in the dock for all the 35 minutes it took, fiddling with his eye glasses and wiping his mouth intermittently. Looking sober and weary, he pleaded “Not Guilty” to all the 23 count charges.
Due to the absence of the prosecution witness, Dariye was asked to leave the dock for a moment. But about 50 minutes later when the witness appeared in court, the senator was again asked to enter the dock to resume hearing.
The prosecution witness, Mohammed Kawu, an operative of the EFCC, was also interrogated by both counsels.
Explaining what he knew about the case, Kawu told the court he first came in contact with the case in 2009 when he was posted to the newly created Assets Forfeiture and Recovery Unit of the commission.
“Our major responsibility was to collect all court orders secured by the EFCC since its inception for execution. Among the orders received is that of Joshua Dariye. It was an interim forfeiture order pending the determination of the charges against him,” he said.
The forfeiture order against Dariye involved 11 properties, 10 of which were located in Jos and one in Asokoro, Abuja. Kawu disclosed that his team was able to take possession of only the property in Abuja as they couldn’t take possession of those in Jos “for security reasons” because they were physically prevented from doing so.
He said they had to give up in order to “avoid serious confrontation.” He added that the Abuja property in possession of EFCC was being managed by an asset consultant who has realised the sum of N67 million from the property since 2012.
During his cross examination of the only witness in court, the defence counsel asked whether the witness could provide the money realised from the Abuja property in court, and Kawu said it was in a dedicated EFCC’s Recovery Account.
Dariye’s lawyer asked the court to give them a few days to file a proper defence and the trial judge adjourned the case for accelerated hearing to June 10.
It would be recalled that on May 9, Peter Clark, a Cetective Constable at the UK Metropolitan Police, London, who appeared as prosecution witness No 9 in the court, had recounted how the British authorities started investigations into Dariye’s money laundering activities.
He had stated that one Christopher Mekwunye, an aide of Dariye, arrested at 127 Chilton House, Portland Street, South-West London, during a raid by officers investigating a “large” credit card fraud, confessed that the £11,560 found on him belonged to Dariye who asked him to deposit it in his Barclays Bank account.
He said Dariye operated nine accounts with the Barclays Bank, some of which were high interest bearing accounts with a balance of £816,000.
According to Clark, activities on the accounts “increased significantly after Dariye became a governor in 1999” as money flowed into the accounts from a company registered in the name of his son-Ebenezer Retnam Ventures. Under Nigerian laws, an elected public official is barred from holding foreign accounts.
The British policemen stated that searches conducted on the former governor’s hotel and his property in London led to the recovery of a £43,000 cash, another £11,995 cash, a Mont Blanc pen worth £7,000 and seven pairs of Louis Vultton branded shoes worth £700 each.
He said Dariye pleaded for bail and promised to return to London on December 14, 2004, but never kept the promise. The detective caused a stir in the court when he said he was seeing Dariye for the first time again since 2004.
Clark said the EFCC was requested to assist in investigating Dariye in Nigeria and said it was an opportunity for him to confront the accused again. He said if he had the evidence EFCC presented to him in December 2004, Dariye would have been charged with criminal offence in London.
The case was stalled for years because Dariye tried to stop his prosecution first at the Appeal Court and later at the Supreme Court, which finally ruled that the former governor had a case to answer.
In January 2016 when the case resumed at the FCT High Court, Gudu, a prosecution witness, Musa Sunday, also a detective with the EFCC, provided details into the findings of the investigative team that probed the allegations against Dariye.
Sunday told the court that the EFCC had in September 2004 received a petition from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, regarding a request by the UK Metropolitan Police for the investigation of some companies linked to Mr. Dariye.
He said the petition of the UK Metropolitan Police was sent by the AGF to the EFCC, and it was subsequently referred to his team for investigation. He said they investigated all the banks, companies and individuals involved in the alleged fraud and discovered that the signatory to the bank accounts, who gave his names as Joshua Dariye, was actually the accuse.
In one of the banks, the All State Trust Bank, it was discovered that the mandate of the account at the bank had no passport photo on it, but upon interrogation of the bank manager, it was discovered that Dariye owned the account and had requested for a waiver when he opened the account.
He said it was the waiver that enabled him to open it without following the due process of affixing his passport photo on the mandate form.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed of a Federal High Court Abuja has withdrawn from the trial of former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam and his former commissioner of finance, Okpanachi Oklobia over allegations that he may have been compromised.
An online media outfit had accused the judge of having been compromised to rule in favour of the former Governor. The judge consequently announced his withdrawal from the case.
Suswam and Oklobia are standing trial on charges of money laundering and diversion of over N3 billion stolen from the sale of shares which is owned by Benue state.
Trial had been adjourned till Monday for the fourth prosecution witness, Abubakar Umar, to continue with his testimony, and the day’s proceedings was about to commence when Justice Mohammed raised the issue of the online publication.
He said that his integrity had been called to question and whatever ruling he gives at the end of the trial would be seen as compromised.
However, both the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, and counsel to the defendant, Jacob Daudu urged the trial judge to discountenance the report and continue with the case but he said it would be in the interest of justice for him to transfer the case file back to the chief judge of the federal high court.
Former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki, a retired Colonel, wants an Abuja High Court to consolidate the two criminal charges brought against him by the federal government bordering on corruption and breach of trust.
The former NSA in a fresh motion on notice filed by his counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, claimed that the trial in two different courts bordering on the same issues and facts is unconstitutional and prejudicial to his right to fair trial by the court.
He claimed that the two charges pending before Justice Baba Yusuf of the High Court No 4 and Justice Peter Affen of High Court No 24 are identical, emanating from the Office of the NSA and therefore should be consolidated in the interest of fair trial.
He told the court that he was not afraid to face trial but that the right thing in law must be done.
“To stand trial before two different courts and two different judges on the same set of facts and purported transaction of the office of the NSA will be prejudicial and great hardship against him as he stands the risk of double jeopardy having being charged in two different courts on the issue,” stated Daudu.
Dasuki asked that his name be struck out from one of the two charges in the interest of justice.
However, counsel to federal government, Rotimi Jacob, SAN, objected to the motion and asked the trial judge to proceed with the trial, saying that the defendant only wants to frustrate and delay trial.
But Daudu prayed the court to decide the motion before trial can continue because fundamental constitutional issues have been raised.
There were no objections from the other defendants in the case and Justice Yusuf adjourned till June 15, 2016 for hearing.
Dasuki, had been granted bail in three different high courts but had been rearrested and kept in custody since late 2015.
The Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on Monday dismissed the petition filed by James Faleke, challenging the election of Governor Yahaya Bello.
The tribunal held that Faleke has no locus standi to file any such petition.
Faleke was the running mate to Abubakar Audu, who was the flagbearer for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Kogi State governorship election held on November 21, 2015.
But Audu, who was already cruising to victory in the polls, died just before the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, could announce a conclusive result.
Consequently, Bello, who had come second in the APC governorship primaries, was chosen to replace Audu, but this did not go down well with Faleke who felt that he should have been the natural replacement for the deceased candidate
Faleke approached the election petitions tribunal, seeking to be declared as the valid candidate of the APC for the election and hence, the governor.
But the three-man tribunal led by Justice Halima Mohammed, dismissed the petition for lacking in merit, saying that Faleke lacked locus standi to challenge Bello’s election since he was never sponsored by the APC as a governorship candidate in both the November 21 election and the supplementary poll held on December 6.
Massive storms has continued to batter Australia’s east coast, flooding rivers, uprooting trees and leaving homes worth millions of dollars in danger of collapsing.
Three people are dead and more are missing after massive storms flooded rivers, uprooted trees and tore into beaches along Australia’s east coast.
New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania are the worst affected areas.
A man was reportedly swept into the Ouse River from his own backyard on Monday, while a woman was declared missing after floodwaters inundated her house in the state’s north-west.
Also on Monday morning, a man’s body was found in the Cotter River near Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory and the Police explained that the 37-year-old was caught in floodwaters at a river crossing.
Police divers also retrieved the bodies of two men whose cars were washed off New South Wales roads in separate incidents.
Monday’s incident is the worst flooding in Northern Tasmania in decades, with parts of Launceston, Latrobe and Railton all underwater.
The Insurance Council of Australia says insurance companies have so far received 11,150 claims across Queensland and New South Wales totalling an estimated $38 million.
Muslims in Nigeria, on Monday, joined their counterparts across the globe to commence the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Leader of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, made the announcement on Sunday following the sighting of the crescent moon in various places in the country.
He congratulated the entire Muslim Ummah in Nigeria and urged them to use the holy period as a time of prayer to God for the peace and progress of the nation.
The Sultan also called on Muslims to live in harmony with people of other faiths, as well as offer supplications for the success of the country’s leadership.
Also, in a message to Muslims, President Muhammadu Buhari advised Muslims to use the holy month of Ramadan as a great opportunity for seeking forgiveness and getting closer to Allah.
Speaking through his Special Media Assistant, Garba Shehu, the President said the month of Ramadan was a time of spiritual reawakening which demands not only abstaining from food and drinks, but also avoiding all negative styles of living.
The President also advised all Muslim faithful not to see the month of Ramadan as a time for making excessive personal gains at the expense of others.
Meanwhile, the Sokoto state government has promised to provide free feeding and other assistance to the less privileged persons during the fasting period.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal made the pledge through a statement issued on Sunday by his spokesman, Imam Imam.
The governor said the gesture was in view of the prevailing economic situation in the country and urged members of the public to increase almsgiving and assistance to those in need.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday began a 10-day holiday which he intends to use to visit an Ear, Nose and Throat, ENT, specialist in London.
The trip was confirmed by the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina in a statement.
“During the holiday, the President will see an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist for a persistent ear infection. The President was examined by his personal physician and an ENT specialist in Abuja and was treated. Both Nigerian doctors recommended further evaluation purely as a precaution,” Adesina stated.
There had been speculations lately over the President’s state of health, with some media reports indicating that he was ill.
Adesina had dismissed the reports, insisting that the President was hale and hearty although the presidency later announced that he was suffering from an ear infection.
Eni, the parent company of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, says its oil production has been reduced by 65,000 barrels per day after an attack on one of its pipelines in Bayelsa on Friday.
In May this year, the company’s oil output was shutdown by 5,200 barrels following attacks on its oil field.
A spokesman for Eni confirmed the development in a short email sent to journalists on Sunday, June 5, 2016.
Statistics from the company shows that Nigeria loses more than $3 million each day NAOC facility remains out of production.
In a related development, spokesman of Aiteo, the company that operates the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, Shola Omole, said Aiteo has shut its line which conveyed crude to Bonny export terminal due to an attack on the line on May 28, and about 75,000 barrels daily production was deferred.
Nigeria’s minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, on Thursday, said that Nigeria was producing 1.6 million barrels of oil per day, excluding production outages due to attacks on Agip, Shell and Chevron.
The Defence Headquarters has warned of possible Boko Haram attacks during the Ramadan which is expected to begin on Monday.
A statement by Rabe Abubakar, Defence spokesman, said terrorists planned to use the Ramadan periods which usually attracts gathering of large number of persons during morning and evening worships and prayers to carryout large scale bombings.
The statement advice the general public to be watchful of strange persons and objects in their localities particularly, around places of worships and to promptly report same to security agencies
It is further to advice that adequate security and surveillance be evolved by respective places of worship to forestall any unwholesome acts by some unscrupulous elements.
“The DHQ wishes to reassure law abiding citizens to go about their normal businesses while efforts are being made to eliminate the remnants of the terrorists from their hideouts as well as addressing other security challenges in the country,” Abubakar stated.
