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Supreme Court Gets New Justice

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The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, Friday swore in John Inyang Okoro, as a Justice of the Supreme Court.

Inyang who hails from Akwa Ibom State increased the number of justices in the apex court to 18.

Performing the swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Court headquarters in Abuja, the CJN urged Okoro to ensure that he remained above board.

“As I felicitate with you, let me point out that you have a very heavy responsibility on your shoulders,” the CJN observed.

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She challenged Okoro to work towards correcting the wrong impressions of the public about the judiciary.

“The public perception of the judiciary as we are well aware is central to its existence especially in a democratic society as Nigeria. It follows therefore that the judiciary is a democratic society cannot remain aloof of the realities of the operating environment even if only for the pragmatic necessity to maintain its relevance in the society,” she said.

Justice Mukhtar said the judiciary plays a critical role in mediating conflicts and upholding human rights through a robust interpretation of the law.

Presidency, Gov Lamido In Battle Over Corruption Allegation

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Presidency, Gov Lamido In Battle Over Corruption Allegation

The Presidency on Friday challenged governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa state to name the minister involved in the purported $250 million bribery allegation with evidence or be prepared to tender apologies to the president and Nigerians.

President Goodluck Jonathan refuted claims by Lamido that he ignored information that an unnamed minister collected $250 million bribe from an oil company.

Speaking through his special adviser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, the President said the allegation is “regrettable, grossly irresponsible, falsehood and mischievous”.

According to Abati, “The allegation and the claim by Lamido that he informed President Jonathan of the acceptance of the huge bribe by an unnamed minister is absolutely without any foundation in fact or reality.”

He said no such communication has ever taken place between the two, saying the statement credited to the governor is a deliberate attempt to cast aspersions on the seriousness of the administration’s efforts to curb corruption.

“The Presidency views the patently bogus allegation reportedly made by the governor in a radio interview yesterday as an unacceptable and callous attempt to unjustly impinge the integrity of the President,” Abati stated.

“We abhor Gov Lamido’s descent to the unscrupulous, reckless and thoughtless peddling of arrant falsehood in a puerile effort to score cheap political points against President Jonathan for personal and sectional political gains,” he said further.

He assured that the administration would continue to make corrupt public officials answerable for their actions and will not succumb to harassment and blackmail by “self-seeking politicians jostling for personal advantage”.

Ken Imansuagbon Escapes Death In Road Crash

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Ken Imansuagbon Escapes Death In Road Crash

From Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

A former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship aspirant in Edo state, Ken Imansuagbon, narrowly escaped death although not without a fractured arm when his vehicle reportedly had a head on collusion with a truck belonging to Dangote Group

The accident was said to have occurred on Thursday evening along Ewohimi-Agbor road, Delta State, as he was returning from the burial of the late Ondo state commissioner for Art, Culture/Tourism, Deji Falae.

Imansuagbon had briefly stopped over at Ewohimi, his home town in Esan South East local government area of Edo State, to inspect an on-going project before the incident.

The vehicle somersaulted several times causing him to fracture one of his arms and he was immediately rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, for treatment.

Anambra Election: APC Condemns Arrest Of 120 Election Observers

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Anambra Election: APC Condemns Arrest Of 120 Election Observers

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned the arrest of 120 election observers on Thursday at Disyne Hotel located at Owerri, Imo State, by the police, alleging that a script was being played out to rig Saturday’s governorship polls in Anambra State.

The heavily armed police officers were said to be acting on the instructions of Mohammed Katsina, commissioner of Police, Imo State.

It was gathered that the 120 arrested persons were in the hotel to undergo training conducted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, ahead of Saturday’s gubernatorial election holding in Anambra State.

According to a statement issued by Human Rights activist, Festus Keyamo, on behalf of the party, the entire accredited observers are currently in detention at the Imo State Police Command.

In a separate reaction, the APC has also accused the police of acting out the script of the PDP for Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra by arresting the election monitors, which it disclosed are from Osun State.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its interim national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said that the tagging of the observers as “armed hoodlums carrying fake voters cards, official identity cards of INEC and independent Observer identity cards” is false.

“Those who were arrested by the increasingly partisan police are election monitors from Osun, who are members of the Justice and Equality Organization, an INEC-accredited election monitoring NGO,” the party observed.

It went further: ”Those whom the police have labelled as thugs are members of the Justice and Equality Organization. They are in Owerri for training ahead of the election. They chose Owerri because of its proximity to Anambra and its affordable hotel costs. None of them is a member of the APC, despite the insinuation by the police, and none is armed, because you don’t need guns to monitor elections. Any weapon exhibited by the police must have been procured by them to justify their gaffe.”

”The only offence that the arrested election monitors have committed, in the eyes of the police, is that they are from a staunchly APC state with zero tolerance for the do-nothing, bumbling PDP,” it concluded.

N10 Billion Fraud: Two Sons Of Gov Lamido Arrested

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N10 Billion Fraud: Two Sons Of Gov Lamido Arrested

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested two sons of Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido, for their alleged involvement in a N10billion fraud.

Aminu and Mustapha were arrested Thursday in Kano and are currently facing interrogation at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja by a team of detectives.

The arrest of the governor’s sons, insiders say, is in continuation of investigations that commenced in December 2012 when Aminu was first arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport, en route Cairo, Egypt for failing to declare the $50,000 in his possession.

Aminu who was prosecuted by the commission and convicted by a Federal High Court in Kano, has again been implicated in a web of money laundering in which billions of naira from Jigawa state government accounts are funnelled into the accounts of companies run by the Jigawa state governor and his two sons.

more than N10 billion is said to have been transferred from Jigawa State government accounts into the accounts in which Sule Lamido and his two sons have interest from 2007 till date.

The EFCC is said to have traced these transfers to 10 companies where Lamido and sons are directors and signatories to the account.

Some of the companies include Bamaina Alluminium Limited, Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited, Rawda Integrated Services Limited, Speeds International Limited and Saby Integrated Nigeria Limited.

The account of these companies received huge cash inflow between 2007 and 2013, a period that coincide with the tenure of Sule Lamido as governor of Jigawa state.

For instance in Bamaina Aluminium where Sule Lamido and his two sons are directors, investigations revealed that the company’s account controlled by Mustapha as signatory received total credit of N1.52billion between January 2010 and August 2013.

It recorded a total debit of the same amount, with Mustapha and other companies in which Lamido and his sons are directors being the beneficiaries.

In the same vein, Bamaina Holdings Limited’s account with the governor as sole signatory received a total of N1.19 billion between February 2007 and July 2013.

About N1billion was paid from this account into accounts of companies controlled by the governor and his sons.

Massive lodgements were also discovered in the account of Bamaina Company Nigeria limited controlled by Mustapha as sole signatory from Bamaina Alluminium. Between January 2010 and July 2013, the account received over N500million.

From the account of Rawda Integrated Services Limited controlled by Mustapha, there have also been massive movement of funds to another company run by Sule Lamido, Speeds International Limited. Speeds’ account recorded a turnover ofN2.2billion between January 2007 and February 2010.

In the account of Rawda with a new generation bank investigators discovered the movement of N2.6billion to an unknown signatory.

That account recorded over one hundred withdrawals running to over N600milion in cash between November 2007 and April 2008.

Saby Integrated Services Nigeria Limited, another company owned by Lamido received over N730million from several Jigawa State government agencies between June 2010 and August 2010.

Al-Makura Reshuffles Cabinet, Heads Of Tertiary Institutions

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Al-Makura Reshuffles Cabinet, Heads Of Tertiary Institutions

By Godwin Ojoshimite

Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, has effected a cabinet reshuffle which moved around most commissioners, just as he made far reaching changes in the leadership of tertiary institutions in the state.

The governor made this known through a statement made available to pressmen from Government House, Lafia.

The commissioner for finance and economic development, Mohammed Musa Dan’azumi, is now expected to oversee the ministry local government and chieftaincy affairs.

Hussaini Abubakar was moved from the ministry of education and science technology to head the finance and economic development ministry.

Also, Danladi Madaki Usha is now to oversee the agriculture and water resources portfolio, moving from the ministry for environment & natural resource.

Usha is to be replaced in the environment ministry by the commissioner for culture and tourism, Adamu Mu’azu Adogi while Samuel Meshi moves from the agriculture and water resources ministry to oversee culture & tourism.

The statement also said that Godwin Mbatsav moves from the community and rural development ministry the sport and youth development portfolio.

Angama weibey takes over at the community and rural development ministry while Sani Yakubu Nauwa has been transferred to education and technology from the local government and chieftaincy affairs ministry.

Also, in changes made in the education sector, Rebecca Isaac Umaru has been designated to take over from Dr. Hosea Tsaku as the provost College of Education, Akwanga.

Mohammed Danladi Salihu has been appointed to take over from Jonathan Kuje as Provost of the College of Agriculture, Lafia.

The statement also indicated that Emmanuel Jattau has been removed as Rector of Nasarawa State Polytechnic Lafia to be replaced by Silas D. Gyar.

Meanwhile, the people of Eggons are crying fowl play in the change of heads tertiary institutions.

An Eggon, who does not want to be named, said the governor refused to make permanent the appointment of the former heads because they are of Eggon extraction.

He observed that that if the governor continues to shortchange Eggon people, he may not get their support in the next election.

It would be recalled that the Eggons have been having a rough relationship with Governor Almakura since the Ombatse crisis started.

Permanent Secretaries To Face SSS, ICPC Screening

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Permanent Secretaries To Face SSS, ICPC Screening

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Bukar Aji, says henceforth persons seeking to be appointed permanent secretaries in the federal civil service will be subjected to integrity tests.

Speaking at the 2013 Civil Service Week in Abuja, Aji said that the test would be undertaken through the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and the State Security Service, SSS.

He said other relevant security outfits in the country would also be involved before a presentation would be made to the president for appointments.

Aji said the scrutiny would follow after they had been successfully voted by the directors in their respective ministries, where vacancies for the permanent secretaries existed.

He also said that such persons must be able to score 100 per cent during the selection process to be able to proceed to the next stage of the screening and that the new policy would maintain decorum and integrity of the service.

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Aji decried a growing impression that the civil service had lost its values and called for a collective effort to salvage the service.

“As we are aware, there is a general impression that the civil service of today has lost its values and integrity and has deteriorated in terms of moral, discipline and productivity. The ciivil service had hitherto been known for its patriotism, discipline, loyalty, stability, impartiality, competency, innovation, productivity and honesty,” he noted.

He also said that corruption in the service must be tackled head on, adding that his office was strengthening the Anti-corruption and Transparency Unit in the ministries, departments and agencies of government to bring about the needed changes.

Floods Kills 300 In Somali

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Floods Kills 300 In Somali

An estimated 300 people have been killed by a cyclone that hit Somalia’s north-eastern Puntland region at the weekend.

Hundreds are still unaccounted for and thousands of livestock have perished in what the Puntland government describes as a disaster.

The cyclone, known as 03A, has caused torrential rains, high wind speeds and severe flooding, leading to a declaration of a state of emergency, with the government appealing for international aid.

Many fishermen “are missing and feared dead, the storm has destroyed entire villages, homes, buildings, and boats”, the government said in a statement.

Weather experts from the United Nations, UN, Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, confirmed flooding was severe.

“Given that Puntland is a semi-arid region, it rarely rains but when it does, to an extent we have seen, the impact is devastating,” Hussein Gadain, a senior FAO technical adviser, told the AFP news agency.

The UN World Food Programme said it was “working closely” with local authorities to assess the needs in the devastated Puntland region.

The main road between Puntland’s capital town of Garowe and the key port in Bossaso has been cut off by flood water, hampering delivering of relief supplies.

“The loaded and ready trucks cannot deliver supplies by road, as the heavy rains and flooding have rendered dirt roads to the coastal areas impassible,” the government said.

Somalia has been ravaged by civil war since the collapse of a central government in 1991.

Puntland, which forms the northeastern tip of the Horn of Africa, has its own government, although unlike neighbouring Somaliland, it has not declared independence from Somalia.

Senate Stalls, Postpones Oduah’s Appearance Indefinitely

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Senate Stalls, Postpones Oduah’s Appearance Indefinitely

The Senate on Thursday rescinded its resolution to summon the minister of aviation, Stella Oduah, to appear before it over the state of the aviation sector and high number of air crashes.

Oduah, who was supposed to appear before the Senate at Plenary in Abuja on Thursday, will now face the Senate Committee on Aviation at a date yet to be announced.

In a curious turn of events with no precedence, the Senate suspended the minister’s earlier scheduled appearance due to the absence of Senate President, David Mark.

The Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, informed the legislators that the Senate President had desired to “personally” preside over the session with Oduah.

He then moved a motion for the Senate to rescind its earlier resolution summoning Oduah, saying it was pursuant to Order 53 (6) of the Senate Standing Rules.

The order states: “It shall be out of order to attempt to reconsider any specific question upon which the Senate has come to a conclusion during the current session except upon a substantive motion for rescission.”

Senate Minority Whip, Gain Solomon, seconded the motion, saying that at the executive session on November 7, senators were unanimous that the motion should be rescinded.

The senators agreed that the minister should rather appear before the Senate Committee on Aviation and relying on Order 53, Rule 6 of the Senate Standing Rules, unanimously voted for the earlier resolution to be rescinded.

The minister of aviation had been criticised over the alleged purchase of two bulletproof vehicles for her by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, at the cost of N255 million.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Hope Uzodinma, told newsmen that there was no “pressure” from the Presidency to cover up the allegation.

Uzodinma said: “I don’t know where you heard what you heard but what I had just said is the decision is in order. I think the rescinded summon is proper and it is in order and in accordance with the Senate rules,” he said.

However, Uzodinma was not forthcoming with a definite date when the minister is expected to appear before his committee.

“The timetable will be worked out as soon we meet at the committee level,” he said.

Boko Haram Kills 26 In Borno Multiple Attacks

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Boko Haram Kills 26 In Borno Multiple Attacks

No fewer than 26 persons have been killed in some villages in Borno State in attacks launched by men suspected to be members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect.

The attacks, it was gathered, began on Sunday night and continued through to Wednesday in Southern Borno, affecting about 40 houses.

The villages attacked include Bdagu, Izge, Hartsa and Yazza villages in Gwoza, Damboa and Askira -Uba local government areas of Borno state respectively.

The insurgents also suffered casualties as three  of them were killed when residents of some neighbouring villages of Dille and Lassa mobilized and pursued them into the bush.

A source from Bdagu said that the attackers between Monday and Wednesday, stormed the affected villages using two Hilux vehicles, three buses and over 30 motorcycles armed with AK47 rifles.

They went from house to house, killing, looting and setting houses and farmlands ablaze, the source said.

Another source from Yazza village appeled to the state government and the Army to immediately deploy military troops to the area, saying residents now live in fear of future attacks.

He said it was unfortunate that the attackers operated with impunity, without any hindrance from helpless unarmed villagers.

It was however difficult to get official confirmation of the attacks as at the time of filing this report, although a security official who was not authorized to speak to the press confirmed the attacks and killings in the villages.

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