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Pat Utomi took Undisclosed N59m Loan From Bank PHB – EFCC

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Pat Utomi took Undisclosed N59m Loan From Bank PHB – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday disclosed that Pat Utomi, the first defense witness in the trial of a former managing director of BankPHB, now Keystone Bank, Francis Atuche and two others, took loan facilities to the tune of N59million at different times from the bank during his tenure as the vice chairman of the bank.

The disclosure came while Utomi was being cross-examined by the EFCC counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, before Justice Lateefa Okunnu of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja Presenting the documents before the court, Pinheiro said Utomi took facilities worth N59 million naira from the bank during the tenure of Atuche.

Pinheiro noted that the facilities granted to Utomi and many others were not disclosed at the time the board of directors of the bank was ratifying facilities granted by the bank.

“I suggest to you that the application for these loans predated the meeting. The reason why you did not pose opposition to the ratification of those huge loans was because of the various huge facilities taken by you. You did not voice opposition to the grant of over one hundred billion naira facilities presented to you for ratification. It is the practice  in every minutes that the purpose of facilities granted are stated in the minutes, but the minute of the Board of Directors meeting  of July 9, 2008 was an exemption”, Pinheiro put to Utomi under cross examination.

Analysing how the loan was given, Pinheiro said a N40 million facility was granted to the witness on July 3, 2008, and another draft of ten million naira was also raised on September 23, 2008 in favour of the witness.

He added that Utomi, through a company, UR Maintenance Limited, took another facility of N5 million.

It was also disclosed that a relative of the witness, Emmanuel Utomi, received a cheque of four million naira allegedly on his behalf from Clairemount Management Services, a company in which Atuche is alleged to be the sole signatory.

Pinheiro also declared that other board members took various loan facilities from the bank.

According to him, Mike Ajoku, a kinsman of Utomi from Ibusa in Delta state was granted a N428 million loan facility.

Fidelis Idita, also a kinsman of Utomi from the same community, took a loan facility from the bank.

It was also alleged by the prosecution that one Consolidated Business Support Services got a facility of N1 billion. The company is allegedly linked to one Ifeyinwa Osime, also a member of the bank’s board.

Pinheiro posited that these facilities were not listed when the CBN called for a list of debtors was because the board members were beneficiaries of the questionable facilities.

He noted that Utomi, at some point, contradicted his earlier claims that the bank’s credit officer presented the list of all companies to the board for ratification when he couldn’t recall if the chief credit officer was male or female.

“On the day over one hundred and twenty billion naira was allegedly ratified by the Board of Directors, you could not recall whether the chief credit officer who was alleged to have made the presentation before the Board was male or female.” said Pinheiro.

The case was adjourned to October 3, 4, 23, 24, 25; November 18 and December 3 and 4, 2013 for continuation of trial.

 

Revealed: Breakaway PDP Has More Than 7 Governors

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Revealed: Breakaway PDP Has More Than 7 Governors

By Nma Shekwolo

Many more than the seven widely known governor of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, might be in support of the breakaway faction, with others preferring to remain anonymous.

One of the key figures in the PDP faction led by Abubakar Baraje, governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, disclosed this Friday, adding that the others were quietly supporting the new faction.

Speaking while receiving the executive director of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, governor Aliyu said there are “many members of the G7 who intends to remain silent.

There are silent members.

Although he refused to disclose the identity or number of the other governors, he said that it was in the interest of the breakaway group for the Bamanga Tukur led PDP to believe that not more than seven of the state chief executives were in the faction.

The seven governors in the breakaway PDP are Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).

Several key members including the governors and former vice president Atiku Abubakar walked out of the last PDP convention in Abuja and formed a parallel party and subsequently went to court to ask for an order restraining Tukur and others from parading themselves as executive officers of the PDP.

Attempts to bring the breakaway group back into the ruling party’s fold are still on going.

The governor in receiving his guests urged them to ensure in the good work and promote unity in the north.

He also asked the foundation to work in collaboration with other bodies to harness income and improve the lot of northern Nigeria while assuring the foundation that he would join hands with them to plead to other state governors who have not redeemed their pledge to the foundation.

Earlier, the executive director of the Foundation, Shettima Ajayi said the foundation has helped to train 350 women and youths in vocational and entrepreneurship programs adding that most of the trainees have started their own businesses.

He also said that the foundation has reached out to some northern states affected with insecurity and has rendered assistance to some of them.

Yobe: One Soldier, Two Civilians Dead In Fresh Attack

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Yobe: One Soldier, Two Civilians Dead In Fresh Attack

By Iro Babayola

One soldier and two civilians, including the wife of a senior policeman, have been killed in a fresh attack executed by members of the banned Boko Haram sect on Wednesday in the Buni Yadi town of Yobe State.

The attackers reportedly laid siege on the community at about 10:00pm, setting ablaze public buildings armed with Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers and homemade bombs.

According to a resident of the area, the son of the Yobe Peoples Democratic Party’s youth leader, Ado Bomboy, was killed in the attack while many shops, houses and two telecommunications masts were set ablaze.

He added that the assailants numbered about 50.

Confirming the attack, the Yobe State Police Commissioner Sanusi Ahmed Rufa’i said the attackers killed one soldier, wounded two and burnt the Divisional Police Officer’s wife inside her house.

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A make-shift police station, fire service, L.E.A office and two JTF Hilux vans were also set ablaze by the insurgents.

Telecom masts in the town were also burnt by the insurgents, the police commissioner also revealed.

It would be recalled that this will be the second time Buni Yadi was attacked by Boko Haram in the last few months.

 

Borno Assembly Passes Vote Of No Confidence On Jonathan

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Borno Assembly Passes Vote Of No Confidence On Jonathan

The Borno State House of Assembly has passed a vote of no confidence on the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration over the ongoing Boko Haram crisis in the state, insisting that the situation has deteriorated.

Leader of the Assembly, Idrissa Jidda, while expressing displeasure over the handling of the security situation by the federal government, hailed the state governor, Kashim Shettima, for his approach to the impending security challenges.

Jidda said the governor has done creditably well in giving hope to the people of the state and could have performed better if he had received the necessary support from the federal government.

Another lawmaker, Abubakar Tijjani, representing Maiduguri metropolitan council in the state House of Assembly, said it was time for the federal government to shun politics and take the necessary steps that would bring a lasting solution as well as give hope to those who have been affected.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the last attack launched in the Benishiekh area of the state has risen to 150, as the army remains mystified about  the ambush which has left the most number of soldier casualty since the fight against insurgency began in the region.

Property destroyed in the two-day attacks by the suspected insurgents include 15 trucks, 18 cars, eight motorcycles, six bicycles and more than 280 houses and shops of residents who had fled into the bush on the directives of soldiers deployed in the town.

Army spokesman, Mohammed Idriss Yusuf, said on Wednesday that over 300 Boko Haram insurgents invaded the town by 5p.m. and started to attack houses and shops with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs for about 10 hours.

He added that as the soldiers ran out of arms and ammunition to face the firing powers of the insurgents, some of the soldiers had to take cover in the nearby bush, after the residents were directed to flee also for their safety.

Saidu Yakubu, of the Borno State Environmental Agency, BOSEPA, said at least 150 dead bodies had been recovered.

He said besides the torching of people’s houses and shops, the office complexes of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), boarding primary school and the council’s secretariat were also set ablaze by the gunmen.

 

Jonathan Sacks Emordi, Olagunju

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Jonathan Sacks Emordi, Olagunju

Barely a week after he laid off nine ministers. President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday terminated the appointment of two of his special advisers,

This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity, Reuben Abati.

The statement said the appointment of Joy Emordi, who was special adviser to the President on National Assembly matters, and that of Tunji Olagunju, his special adviser on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD, had been terminated with immediate effect.

“President Jonathan thanks Mrs. Emordi and Dr. Olagunju for their services and wishes them success in their future endeavours,” the statement further added.

Olagunju had served as special adviser to the President on NEPAD since June 2007 while Emordi was appointed in 2011.

Anambra Commissioner Resigns Over Fraud Allegation

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Anambra Commissioner Resigns Over Fraud Allegation

The Commissioner for Special Duties in Anambra State, Vincent Ezenwajiaku, who was declared wanted by the police over a N10.6 million fraud has resigned.

Ezenwajiaku was declared wanted by the police on Wednesday after an unnamed petitioner accused the commissioner of inducing him to part with the said sum which he claimed he paid through instalments between 1996 and 2002.

The commissioner said that his resignation was to give him room to prove his innocence as he was prepared to do all it takes to clear his name.

Narrating his own side of the story, Ezenwajiaku accused the complainant whom he referred to as his former business partner of taking the matter too far.

He admitted he was owing the complainant, his former business partner, the sum of N6 million and not N10.6 million as claimed, adding that he could not meet up with the payment because of an illness that kept him bedridden.

“The issue of owing this man came up in 2004 after the meeting of the board of the company and it was agreed that I should pay him N7.5m which I agreed to do. We have never quarrelled,” he said.

The ex-commissioner has also filed a N250 million libel suit against the commissioner of Police in charge of the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, as well as one Chuks Mgbemena of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA and Okposiakpo Elolor, a Chief Superintendent of Police.

70 Percent Pass Recorded In NECO Exam

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70 Percent Pass Recorded In NECO Exam

The National Examinations Council, NECO on Thursday announced the June/July 2013 result with a total of 719, 593 out of the 1, 034, 263 candidates who wrote the exams, scoring at least  five credits.

The result this year is some cheery news coming after three consecutive years of mass failure at Senior School Certificate Examination SSCE.

Appraising the result in Minna, the registrar and the chief Executive of the Council, Promise Okpala, said that 681,507 candidates representing 66.63 per cent made credit pass and above in English Language while 668,314 candidates or 65.50 percent recorded same in Mathematics.

In Biology, 66.88 percent had credit and above while 66.68 per cent of the candidates that wrote Physics and 66.41 percent Chemistry candidates equally made credit pass and above.

In all, 128 blind students sat for the examination.

Giving a comparative analysis of students’ performance in the last three years, Okpala said the council witnessed “rises in performance from 15.84 per cent in 2011 through 51.66 per cent last year to this year’s 69.57 per cent”.

He attributed the improved performance to the resolve by federal and states governments as well as stakeholders to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the country, adding the improved performances over the years were “empirical indications that the efforts of the President, Ministry of Education are yielding positive results”.

Okpala pointed out that the Council has zero tolerance for examination malpractices as the number of candidates involved in examinations malpractices dropped to 8,308  or 0.80 percent.

“We have sanctioned schools and candidates involved in examination malpractices through de-registration or cancellation of results, and we have de-registered 36 schools for a period of two years,” he added.

Six Commissioners Sacked In Yobe

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Six Commissioners Sacked In Yobe

Six commissioners were Thursday sacked by governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State for inefficiency.

The governor who announced the commissioners disengagement at the weekly executive council meeting at Government House said they were found wanting in the performance of their duties.

The commissioners are Bala Haladu, (Transport and Energy); Yusuf Yahaya, (Sports); Musa Maina Dumburi, (Ministry of Youths); Fatsuma Talba, (Health); Ahmed Wakil Sarki, (Environment) and Aji Yerima Bularafa, (Higher Education).

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Governor Gaidam, however, said the commissioners should see their removal from the cabinet as normal routine exercise done to allow his administration meet the expectations of the people.

He thanked thanking the commissioners for their service to the state and observed that some of them might be called upon to serve the people again if the need arises

Northern Governors Will Not Support A Sovereign National Conference – Aliyu

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By Nma Shekwolo

Chairman of the Northern States Governor’s Forum, NSGF, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has said that the region will not support calls for a Sovereign National Conference, arguing that such a demand will mean that all elected politicians give up their positions as “you cannot have two sovereignty in one state”.

On the other hand, the Afenifere renewal group (the pan-Yoruba Socio-political group) backs a Sovereign National Conference, saying, “what this nation needs is a fundamental political reform that will overhaul the present bloated governance structure. And we believe such fundamental reform can only come about through an instrument of a Sovereign National Conference”.

Speaking at the opening of a one day workshop organised by the Niger state Ministry of Tertiary Education for Niger state students, Aliyu said that those calling for a sovereign national conference must understand its implication.

“If anybody says he is going to organise a sovereign National Conference all of us in government must resign our jobs and then transfer the sovereignty of the country to a committee that is going to discuss the sovereignty of the country,” he said.

The governor however added that the forum would approve a national conference which in his view will move the country forward.

His words: “I will love a National Conference that will look at our constitution and really give us justice, equity and fairness in our body politics and in our national life.”

He said contrary to popular views, the Northern states are not afraid of organising a conference as it will promote constructive deliberations that will lead to the progress and development of the country.

The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday renewed calls for a National Conference.

“A conference of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities, called to foster frank and open discussions of the national question, can certainly find accommodation in the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution which guarantee freedom of expression, and of association,” Senate President David Mark said.

While noting that it is welcome development, Mark said nonetheless that the idea of a National Conference is not without inherent and fundamental difficulties.

“Problems of its structure and composition will stretch the letters and spirit of the Constitution and severely task the ingenuity of our constitutionalists,” he stated.

142 Corpses Recovered From Borno’s Latest Attack

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142 Corpses Recovered From Borno’s Latest Attack

By Musdapha Ilo

At least 142 corpses have been evacuated from the Maiduguri/Damaturu highway and its surrounding bushes after an ambush laid by some Boko Haram members on Tuesday, an official of the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency, BOSEPA, has said.

Saidu Yakubu, the agency’s spokesman told journalists in the presence of the State Governor, Kashim Shettima, that on Thursday alone 87 corpses were evacuated from the road and bushes even as the evacuation continued.

Three swollen corpses were seen lying on the highway just as two compactor waste evacuation trucks fully loaded with corpses stood by as at this afternoon during a visit to the area.

Initial reports said at least 40 soldiers were killed and 65 others went missing in the attack. The military have since denied this, while failing to state the number of their men who were killed or missing.

A detachment of soldiers under the 134 Battalion of the 12 Brigade under the Multi National Joint Task Force, MNJTF, stationed in Kangarwa village in Kukawa local government, had conducted a reconnaissance to gather intelligence around the area, during which they established the presence of previously unnoticed Boko Haram camps.

The soldiers returned to their base and filed a report recommending aerial bombardment of the area, preparatory for a ground operation by troops, our sources who declined to be named for security concerns said.

But that plan was cancelled at the final minutes by an unnamed top official without formal communication to the more than 100 troops that had already advanced on the area as a result of the communication ban imposed on the state.

The soldiers were allegedly trapped in the ambush under heavy fire from the militants who had surrounded the area, leaving at least 40 soldiers killed.

The insurgents further moved to confiscate a huge cache of weapons from the soldiers after the attack which makes history as one of the most fatal for the Nigerian army since the state of emergency declaration.

Army authorities have already ordered investigation into the matter.

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