The Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has dismissed the petition filed by Idris Wada, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the November 21 Governorship election in the state, against the nomination of Yahaya Bello as governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, for lack of merit.
The tribunal led by Justice Hamima Mohammed said Wada lacked the locus standi to challenge Bello’s nomination.
It held that the nomination and sponsorship of Bello by the APC as its candidate in the election following the death of the original candidate, Abubakar Audu, was purely a domestic affair of the party and neither the PDP nor the tribunal nor any other person who did not participate in the process had the legal capacity to it.
The tribunal however said it was still considering the merit of the petition jointly filed by Wada and his running mate, Sunday Awoniyi and the PDP, asking the tribunal to return Wada as winner of the election since he polled higher number of votes than Bello.
Wada posited that Bello polled only 6,805 votes in the December 5 supplementary election and could not possibly inherit the over 240,000 votes polled by Audu, the initial candidate of the APC.
Wada asked the tribunal to declare him winner of the election and the validly elected governor of Kogi state, having garnered a total of 204,867 votes in the elections.
But Justice Mohammed ruled that the votes recorded in the November 21 election belonged to the various political parties as had been established in various rulings of the Supreme Court.
It added that INEC was right to have collated the 240,857 votes polled by the APC through the the late Audu, and merged them with the 6,885 votes recorded by the party in the supplementary poll.
On whether Bello should be disqualified because he had no running mate, the tribunal held that the issue was not part of conditions of qualification to contest as governor under section 177 of the Constitution.
The tribunal held that James Faleke was still the deputy governorship candidate of the APC in the supplementary election since he did not withdraw his candidacy as spelt out under section 35 of the Electoral Act which required him to give 45 days’ notice to his party before the election and his party would in turn notify INEC.
The tribunal had dismissed the petition by James Faleke, late Audu’s running mate, yesterday for lack of merit as the tribunal held that he had no locus standi to challenge the process.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled that Azibaola Robert, a cousin to Former President Goodluck Jonathan,be remanded in Kuje Prison pending the determination of his bail application.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had arraigned Azibaola and his wife Stella alongside their company, Oneplus Holding Limited, before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, for allegedly illegally receiving a $40 million contract from the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Azibaola has been in the EFCC custody for 72 days.
Justice Dimgba however ordered that Stella should continue to enjoy the administrative bail granted her earlier while adjourning till Wednesday to rule on Azibaola’s bail application.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied claims by the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration that he handed over a virtually empty treasury.
He made this known in an interview with Bloomberg Television, London, on Monday,saying that Nigeria’s economy has been contracting since middle of 2014 when the price of Brent Crude was reduced by almost half.
“It is not true; there is no way that he would have inherited an empty treasury and at the same time give bailout to the states. It’s not possible,” Jonathan said.
Crude exports accounted in 2014 for as much as two-thirds of government revenue, with most state budgets relying on monthly handouts from the federal administration.
Authorities in Nigeria have started investigating and prosecuting corrupt officials and have recovered millions of dollars in cash so far. Also the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have slammed criminal charges on top officials of Jonathan’s government such as Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser and Olisa Metuh, Publicity Secretary of the Poeples Democratic Party, PDP.
On whether he was being investigated for corruption, Jonathan said, “I will be investigated and I am being investigated. Yes! Investigations are going on but I would not want to make certain comments. When a government is working it is not proper to make certain comments. I will allow the government to work. It is not a good practice.”
The former president also expressed confidence that the government will be able to come to an agreement with the Niger Delta militants in order to stop the attacks on oil and gas installations that have slashed production.
“Definitely, it will be resolved; yes, government can always overrun restive movements and so on, but the Niger Delta is too delicate. The level of damage will be too much for the government to bear. We used dialogue,” he said.
Jonathan was vice-president when the government offered an amnesty and monthly stipends to militants to end years of instability and violence.
But in February, Jonathan’s successor, President Muhammadu Buhari, reduced the stipends and cancelled security contracts with former military leaders, leading to escalation of violence in the Niger Delta region and resurgence in the destruction of oil infrastructure.
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.
