A former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration Safety Agency, Raymond Temisan Omatseye, has been sentenced by a Federal High Court in Lagos to five years in prison for corruption.
Omatseye had been charged on a 27 count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The charges bordered on contract splitting, bid rigging and approving contract above his approval limit to the tune of over N1.5 billion, which the anti-graft agency said contravened Section 58(4) (d) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
He also faced money laundering charges.
At the last hearing of the case on Monday, March 14, counsel to the accused, E.D. Onyeke, while making his final address urged the court to dismiss the case against his client because the prosecution had not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The prosecution counsel, Godwin Obla, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, however, prayed the court to convict Omatseye, especially given the fact that 25 of the 27 charges preferred against him bordered on contract award above his limit, including awarding a contract to a company with the highest bid, which is against procurement regulations.
Egyptian authorities say Debris from the crashed EgyptAir flight has been found floating in the Mediterranean.
Flight MS804 was travelling from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board, including 10 crew members and 3 children.
Reports say the plane had made stops at Eritrea and Tunisia before it vanished from the radar early on Thursday on its way to Cairo.
Egypt’s army spokesman said wreckage and passenger belongings were found 290 kilometres from Alexandria.
This was corroborated by Greece’s Defence Minister, Panos Kammenos who explained that a body part of the plane, two seats and at least one suitcase had been found.
Greek, Egyptian, French and UK military are taking part in the search operation which is now focused on finding the plane’s flight and voice recorders.
Meanwhile, Egypt says the plane was more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault.
But France’s Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault on Friday morning said there was “absolutely no indication” so far as to why the plane came down.
In France, investigations have commenced to determine whether a possible breach of security happened at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport from where the flight took off.
A member of the Military Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta drowned on Thursday evening at the Taylor Creek close to an oilfield run by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, in Okordia, Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria.
Reports say the soldier was escorting officials of NAOC, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency, and some Oil workers who were returning from an assessment visit to an oil leak site when the incident occurred.
According to a member of the community, “The boat conveying the crew from Agip’s field capsized on their way back from the site and before help could arrive, the soldier drowned and died. They were using a hand-paddled canoe to cross the workers one at a time.”
“He was washing his boots when water entered that boat and it capsized and his riffle fell into the creeks. The other members of the crew had crossed and were waiting for him.” the source added.
The attention of fishermen operating along the creek was drawn to the distressed soldier and the operator of the boat who all came to rescue him, but he was already dead before the rescue.
Youth President Kalaba of the Community, Mr Samuel Oburo, said the dead soldier’s riffle was recovered by local divers on Friday.
“Some soldiers from Elele barrack came after the body of the soldier was recovered and asked me to mobilize local divers to search for the riffle of the soldier.”
“We went in search of the gun and we recovered the riffle and handed it over to them, later in the day another senior officer came around to thank the community,” Oburo said.
Col. Isa Ado, spokesman of the JTF in the Niger Delta could not be reached to comment on the incident, and text messages sent to him was not responded to.
Also, Eni, parent company of NAOC are yet to comment on the incident.
The leader of the abducted Chibok girls’ parents, Yakubu Nkeki, has expressed his doubts over claims by the Nigerian military that the girl rescued on Thursday, Serah Luka, is one of the missing Chibok school girls abducted on April 14, 2014 in Borno State, AFP has reported.
According to the news agency, Nkeki said while the army called him before announcing the rescue of the first rescued girl, Amina Ali, he was not contacted about Luka, adding that there were only two girls on his list with the surname Luka.
He also said none of the girls with the surname came from Madagali, in Adamawa State, as claimed by the army about the second girl.
“I can say in my capacity as the head of the Chibok Abducted Girls Parents group that this girl is not among the abducted Chibok girls,” Nkeki was quoted by the French news agency, adding that contrary to claims that Serah is the daughter of a pastor, none of the four pastors on the association’s list goes by the name Luka.
The military, however, is maintaining its position that Luka is one of the missing Chibok girls.
A senior military source told AFP that the military is convinced that the girl is one of the abducted school girls.
“The military personnel who carried out the rescue operation and the civilian vigilantes who assisted them and those who know the girl confirmed that she is among those abducted,” he told the news agency.
“We can only change our position if the principal of the school or the government of Borno state come out and refute this established identity of the girl.”
The Senior Special Assistant on Security to Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, Denen Igbana, was in the early hours of Friday killed by unknown gunmen, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, has reported.
According to the report, Igbana was killed at his Tionsha residence Makurdi, the state capital.
Ortom has vowed to ensure that the killers are found and prosecuted. The governor spoke when he visited the deceased’s family, adding that Igbana had requested for funds to fence his house as he was threatened with kidnapping.
He also described the late aide as one of his key appointees, adding that he played a great role in the state government’s amnesty programme that saw criminal gangs surrender their arms.
The police in the state have already started investigating the murder, with the commissioner of police, Paul Yakadi, saying they were already “nosing around to fish out possible suspects.”
Blamadu Lawan, Vice Principal of Government Secondary School, Chibok where over 200 female students were abducted by insurgents in 2014, has said that Amina Ali, the first girl rescued by Nigerian troops on Wednesday was a “quiet and humble girl”.
Lawan told the BBC that the girl had changed dramatically and seemed to have matured faster.
“She was completely changed. She had become very thin and awkward,” Lawan said after identifying her when she was brought to her home town Mbalala, near Chibok.
“She didn’t use to say much and now she looks motherly,” he added.
A female neighbour of the family who spoke to the AFP also described her as “a darling of the neighbourhood”, quick to help with household chores and keep the family compound clean.
“She always wore a smile on her face and hardly quarreled with any child in our area. This is why she kept many friends among the children of the neighbourhood,” the neighbour told AFP.
Amina and her elder brother were the only surviving children of Muslim parents Ali and Binta and lived in a mud-brick home with a corrugated iron roof in the mainly Christian market town.
Eleven of her siblings died and shortly after Amina, then aged 17, was kidnapped from the school on April 14, 2014, her father died, said Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a local teacher who knows the family
The Nigerian Army has announced the rescue of another Chibok girl in Borno State, just days after the first one was found in the same area.
The second girl, named Serah Luka, according to a statement by the acting Director of Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, a Colonel, was rescued on Thursday morning along with 96 others, women and children, after military clearance operations in some villages in Damboa local government area of Borno State.
According to Usman, Serah, who said that she hails from Madagali in Adamawa State, was an JSS1 student at the Government Girls Secondary School, GGSS, Chibok when she was abducted by Boko Haram gunmen in April 2014 along with more than two hundred other school girls.
She said she had been in the school for only two months and a week when the abduction took place.
Serah told officials that she and others, including three other Chibok girls, escaped from captivity after a Boko Haram location in Shettima Aboh was ransacked by Nigerian troops. The whereabouts of the three other girls is still unknown.
Sheis currently receiving medical attention at a facility at the Abogo Largema Cantonment, Biu, Borno State.
Read Clonel Usman’s full statement below.
At about 11.00am today, Thursday, 19th May 2016, troops of 231 Battalion, 331 Artillery Regiment (AR), Detachment of Armed Forces Special Forces (AFSF) 2, Explosive Ordinance (EOD) Team and Civilian Vigilante group of Buratai, conducted clearance operations at Shettima Aboh, Hong and Biladdili general area in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State. During the operations, the troops killed 35 Boko Haram terrorists and recovered several arms and ammunitions and other items. In addition, they rescued 97 women and children held captives by the Boko Haram terrorists. We are glad to state that among those rescued is a girl believed to be one of the Chibok Government Secondary School girls that were abducted on 14th April 2014 by the Boko Haram terrorists. Her name is Miss Serah Luka, who is number 157 on the list of the abducted school girls. She is believed to be the daughter of Pastor Luka. During debriefing the girl revealed that she was a JSS1 student of the school at the time they were abducted. She further added that she hails from Madagali, Adamawa State. She averred that she reported at the school barely two months and one week before her unfortunate abduction along with other girls over two years ago. She added that there other three girls who fled from Shettima Aboh when the troops invaded the area earlier today which led to their rescue. She is presently receiving medical attention at the medical facility of Abogo Largema Cantonment, Biu, Borno State.
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, has disclosed that six in 10 children in Nigeria suffer one or more forms of violence before they become adults.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Thursday by UNICEF’s Nigerian representative, Jean Gough, who also applauded Bayelsa State for its recent adoption of the National Child’s Right Act, joining 22 other states that have done so.
“A national survey by the National Population Commission, supported by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF, launched in September 2015, found that six in 10 children suffer one or more types of violence before they reach the age of 18 years,” Gough said.
He also stated that one in four girls and one in 10 boys experience sexual violence while one in five boys and one in six girls suffer emotional violence. While revealing that many of these victims do not disclose what happens to them, Gough said less than four percent receive the necessary help to recover.
“In response to these findings, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Year of Action to End Violence against Children, calling on states to take action to strengthen their laws, policies and services to protect children. Bayelsa State has heeded the Federal Government’s call and is warmly congratulated,” he noted, adding that the law is important in protecting children.
Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, warned that violators of the child’s right law would face still penalty in accordance with the law.
The Nigerian Air Force has honoured two of its personnel killed in the counterinsurgency war by naming some new facilities after them.
Ebitimi Owei, a Flight Lieutenant, and Awodi Emmanuel, a Flight Sergeant, were killed on October 10 and August 25, 2015 respectively.
A statement issued by NAF spokesperson, Ayodele Famuyiwa, a Group Captain, said the facilities were provided in Makurdi and Benin City.
The newly provided facilities in Makurdi include a Bulk Fuel Installation (BFI) with 2,000,000 litres capacity, crew/briefing room for F-7Ni pilots, 12 units of 3-bedroom flats for Senior Non-Commissioned Officers, and sporting facilities for the use of NAF personnel, family members and host community.
The statement said a block of 4 units of 3-bedroom flats was also commissioned for officers serving at the 81 Air Maritime Group, Benin,” the statement said.
The Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, an Air Marshal, who was represented by the Chief of Policy and Plans, James Gbum, an Air Vice Marshal, charged the NAF personnel to reciprocate government’s commitment to their welfare by rededicating themselves to their assigned duties.
Confusion has gripped the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, as the acting Comptroller General, CG, Martin Abeshi continues to defy a ministerial directive that he should hand over to a Deputy Comptroller General, Babandede, following the expiration of his tenure.
The Minister for Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, on Tuesday wrote a letter to Abeshi directing him to hand over to Deputy Comptroller General, GCG, Mohammed Babandede, to act as the new NIS boss, since his service had lapsed.
The acting CG was expected to have handed over to Babandede immediately but he has since refused to do so, insisting that there are two other DCGs in the Service who are senior to his proposed successor.
Abeshi’s refusal to hand over to a new man as directed by the minister has led to some tension at the Abuja headquarters of the NIS, and led to administrative glitches as many officers do not know to whom they should report .
In the minister’s letter dated May 18, which he personally signed which was exclusively obtained by the www.icirnigeria.org and reproduced below, Danbazau reminded Abeshi that his service which was initially extended in March had expired on Sunday, May 15 and asked him to hand over to a specifically named officer.
Usually, a retiring officer in the military and para military services hands over to the next most senior person.
Sources in the service told our reporter that Abeshi questioned why he should be told to hand over to Babandede, arguing that there were two other officers of the same rank who were senior to him in service.
As at Thursday morning, Abeshi had still not handed over to Babandede although many officers have started according the new acting CG the honour and priviledge of his new position.
Abeshi’s action, it was gathered, has stalled any official announcement by the government of the appointment of Babandede as the new acting CG, although there have been speculation in the media about the “sacking” of the acting CG.
It was gathered on Thursday morning that the minister has given another directive to Abeshi to hand over to Babandede unfailingly before the close of work today.
Abeshi was appointed acting CG on August 24, 2015 after the suspension of the substantive head of the Service, David Paradang. But, it was gathered that his appointment came only a few months before he was to proceed on terminal retirement leave, which explains why his acting appointment had to be extended.
When contacted to clarify the true position of things, the NIS public relations officer, Ekpedeme King, said that the matter was beyond his office to make comments about and referred our reporter to the Ministry of Interior for any explanations.
