A former commissioner for Health in Ebonyi State, Henry Aloh, has been charged to court by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, for allegedly diverting N79million meant for the renovation and construction a general hospital in the state.

Aloh who was arraigned before the High Court of Ebonyi State, is accused of conspiring with one Sam Agbo, a manager at the Intercontinental Bank plc (now Access Bank) in Ebonyi State, to divert the sum to an account allegedly opened in the name of one John Okoli, who was falsely presented as a representative of the company.

“Part of the allegations against the commissioner was that he procured John Okoli who was his patient and Patrick Chukwu, his Personal Assistant to be signatories to the account opened in the name of the company, which is contrary to and punishable under,” a statement signed by the head of media, ICPC, Folu Olamiti said.

The offence is contrary to sections 26 and 19 of the ICPC Act 2000 and section 473 (2) of the Criminal Code Act, Cap 28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

Investigations carried out by the commission, revealed that theoffences were committed in 2005 when the Ebonyi State government awarded a contract for the renovation and construction of Amasari General Hospital to the tune of N79 million.

The prosecution counsel, Raheem Adeshina, did not oppose the bail application moved by M. Erhenede and Emeka Uwake counsels to the accused.

The chief judge of the state, A.N Nwankwo, who is presiding over the case granted bail to the accused in the sum of N50 million and one surety in like sum who must be resident within the courts’ jurisdiction.

The case has been adjourned to October 22 for hearing.

The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,Bamanga Tukur, says the suspension of Ayo Fayose, former EkitiState governor from the party, cannot stand.

The PDP chairman made his position known after a visit to his office by some Ekiti elders led by Fayose complaining about the developments in the state chapter of the party.

Incidentally, Fayose had earlier accused the Ekiti State chairman of the party of plotting to impose the minister of police affairs, CalebOlubolade, as the party’s candidate for the 2014 governorship election in the state.

According to a statement issued on Friday by the special assistant media to the PDP chairman, Oliver Okpala, Tukur said that the suspension was done without the consent of the party’s national leadership and therefore violates laid down procedures.

Tukur expressed surprise that such a far reaching decision involving a former governor and a gubernatorial aspirant of the party was taken without due consideration and the consent of the party’s leadership.

The statement said that the party’s leadership would not condone any act of imposition of candidates, adding that in issues of election into any office, the party’s national leadership would create a conducive and enabling environment for all party members to contest.

It added that where it became necessary to have a consensus arrangement, all party members would be carried along to avoid anyone being short-changed or isolated.

The state chairman of the party, Makanjuola Ogundipe, had suspended the former governor for the roles he allegedly played in the invasion of the state secretariat by hoodlums last week.

Also suspended were: the state secretary of the party, Tope Aluko; state women leader, Busola Oyebode; as well as state public relations officer, Kola Oluwole.

Ogundipe said investigations conducted by the party indicated that the suspended persons were connected to the crisis in the party.

He denied allegations that he collected N5 million from the minister to help him emerge as the party’s consensus candidate.

President Goodluck Jonathan has commiserated with the family of the late Alade Odunewu, a respected veteran journalist, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 85.

The President said that the late Odunewu would be remembered as a nationalist and patriot whose notable contributions to national development extended well beyond his chosen profession.

He urged the present generation of Nigerian journalists to emulateOdunewu’s exemplary qualities of forthrightness, fairness, patriotism and moral rectitude.

“Allah De”, the name given to the late journalist derived from his ‘Allah De’ columns written when he worked with the Daily Times of Nigeria, also headed the Nigerian Guild of Editors, an association he co-founded.

He also served as the president  and pioneer chairman of the National Press Council, NPC.

In 1956, he was managing director of the Nigerian Tribune and later worked with the Allied Newspapers of Nigeria as the editor-in-chief.

In 1964, he moved to the Times Group where he became the editor of the Daily Times and rose to become Editor-in-Chief.

He served as a commissioner for tourism in Lagos State in 1973 and was later a member of the Federal Electoral Commission, FEDECO.

He was also appointed as Sole Administrator of Eko Today, a newspaper published by the Lagos State government during the administration of Muhammed Marwa, Brigadier-General.

Odunewu served as the president of the Nigerian Media Merit Award, a project that is designed to reward excellence in journalism.

He also published the book, ‘Winner Takes All’, a compilation of some of his writings.

An indigene of Ikorodu in Lagos State, he will be buried today at Vaults and Gardens Ikoyi, Lagos.

A man who claimed to be a security agent with the Department of State Security, DSS, and duped victims on the pretext of getting them secret service jobs has been charged to a high court in Abuja.

The impersonator, Mohammed Ayuba, was on Wednesday arraigned at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Gudu, by the  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a nine – count charge of impersonation and intent to defraud.

Prosecuting counsel, Yetunde Alabi, told the trial judge, JusticeAdebukola Banjoko, that Ayuba had claimed to be a staff of DSS,Abuja an identity with which he milked his unsuspecting victims – Amos Emmanuel, Ayuba Danjuma, Istifanus Yohanna, EmmanuelAyuba and Blessing Gajere – of N465, 800 under the pretext of offering them jobs with the secret service.

One of the nine-count charges against the accused reads: “That you, Mohammed Ayuba a.k.a Alfa Musa… with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of Sixty Three Thousand Six Hundred Naira(N63,600.00) from one Amos Emmanuel… when you falsely represented yourself as capable of providing him job with the Department of State Security Services which pretence you knew to be false…”

The EFCC lawyer said the offence committed is contrary to section  1 (1)b of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related OffencesAct, 2006 and punishable under section 1 (3) of the same Act.

However, the accused person pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him.

Alabi then asked the court to proceed with the case by fixing a date for trial, while also urging it to remand the accused person in prison custody.

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Defecnce counsel, Bassey Nweke, asked the court to grant his client bail as the offence is bailable.

Justice Banjoko granted bail to the accused person in the sum of N5million with two sureties in like sum.

“One of the sureties must be a public servant not below grade level 12 and must present a letter of attestation from his organization.  One of the sureties must also possess a landed property in Abujawith Certificate of Occupancy duly verified,” the judge specified.

Trial of the accused would commence on November 19.

In a related development, the EFCC also arraigned one Ekaete ImeSam before Justice Banjoko, for fraudulently obtaining N2.3million from one Jerry Ekezie under false pretence.

Sam pleaded not guilty to all the 5-count charges and was remanded in prison custody pending ruling on the bail application fixed for July 26, 2013.

An Abuja High Court today ordered the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, to halt all plans pertaining to its national convention scheduled to hold after the Ramadan fast.

Delivering judgement on the reliefs sought by three members of the party, Justice Suleiman Belgore also restrained about 18 members of the PDP National Working Committee, NWC, from further acting on behalf of the party.

The three members of the party – Abba Yale, Yahaya Sule andBashir Maidugu – had approached the court for an order setting aside and nullifying all the processes that led to the appointment of all the acting national officers of the PDP’s NWC on June 20.

They said in their prayers before the court that the appointment of the interim officers through memoranda dated June 20 2013  addressed to the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party while the suit was before the court was done “to pre-empt the decision of this court, in absolute self-help and in total disobedience and contempt of this honourable court.”

Counsel to the applicants, Samuel Okutepa, argued that the action of their party’s NEC in asking the officers indicted to relinquish their positions amounted to self-help, in view of a subsisting case on the matter.

The PDP NEC had directed about 20 members of the party’s NWC to vacate their positions following a report of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that the emergence of the affected officers through voice votes, as against proper election, was a contravention of the party’s guidelines for congresses and conventions.

The three members asked the court to restrain the national chairman of the PDP, Bamanga Tukur, from performing any functions or duties assigned to the National Working Committee of the party pending the hearing and determination of the matter by the court.

They also sought for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the party “and all its agents, including its national chairman and any other person or group of persons acting for and on behalf of the defendant (PDP) from convening and or holding any meeting or convention in furtherance of the decision of the NEC of the defendant made during the pendency of this suit, pending the hearing and determination of this case”.

The Judge however, refused to stop Tukur, the party’s financial secretary and national auditor from continuing with their functions.

The Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Paul Orhii, has denied  involvement in a N700 million scam as reported by an online publication.

An online news site had published last month that a  petition to the Economic Financial Crime Commission, EFCC,  linked Orhii to N700million in a Lagos account of his former special assistant, AisahtOkpa-Iwenofu.

The site alleged that the unnamed petitioner had concrete proof of deals between Okpa-Iwenofu and fake drug dealers, claiming  further that she was a mistress to the D-G.

But the NAFDAC boss has denied having illicit relationship withOkpa-Iwenofu and is also claiming ignorance of  the N700 million said to have been found in her bank account. He described the allegation as outright falsehood.

He said he was never invited by the EFCC on the ‘so-called’ petition submitted to the anti-graft agency and that the publication of the allegation through an online news site, an unrecognised newspaper, was a campaign by aggrieved counterfeiting agents to bring him and the agency down.

“There is no iota of doubt that my detractors, some of who are drug counterfeiters would go to any length this time around to paint me black.They are envious, badly hit and uncomfortable with our well-coordinated, multifaceted and successful anti-counterfeiting strategies,” Orhii said.

According to him, the failed attempt to assassinate him in 2010 made his detractors hell-bent on assassinating his character with falsehood.

“How could I sack someone who has got my N700 million without first of all collecting my money? This is absolutely not logical,” he said.

The NAFDAC boss said he remains committed to fighting counterfeit drugs in the country and that his dedication to serving the nation will remain unshaken.

“I can never disappoint millions of Nigerians and friends abroad who have invested so much trust, confidence and hope in me,” he said.

Also speaking, the Chairman, NAFDAC Governing Board, John Ibu, noted that all allegations aimed at the Agency’s DG, were part of the plot to derail him from the good works he was doing.

“The DG has enviable achievements, which is recognised both locally and internationally and we are in support of his fight against fake drugs to safeguard the health of Nigerians. “If there is substance in the allegation, we would have investigated and dealt with it our own way,” he said.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, on Tuesday unveiled the  revised guidelines on the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act,FOIA.

The unveiling took place in Abuja during a public presentationorganised in collaboration with the Democratic Governance for Development, an arm of the UNDP, and other development bodies.

Represented by his the Senior Special Assistant 1, Peter Akpe, theAGF said the revised Act is aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability, pointing out that under the Act, public institutions are required to disclose certain information to the public.

“The revised guidelines are built upon the fulcrum of transparency on which the FOIA rests and incorporates lucid explanatory materials on the provisions of the Act. Under Section 1 of the Act, all government or public institutions are required, subject to certain exceptions, to disclose information pursuant to a request by any person,” he said.

Adoke also unveiled the website of the FOIA, which he said would help in achieving the aims of the Act  in addition to the revised guidelines.

“On this website, the public can access the report of the various activities related to the Freedom of Information Act and reports submitted by MDAs under Section 29 of the Act,” he said.

The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, urged Millennium Development Agencies, MDAs, to support the efforts of the Ministry of Justice in actualising the objectives of the  Act by reviving theirFOIA desks and ensuring that adequate awareness via public education and enlightenment is created.

“This is in the sense that all public servants and public institutions are guided properly in their obligations to provide necessary information to requesting individuals and bodies,” Maku said.

The Project Director, Democratic Governance for Development Project of the UNDP, Mourtada Deme, said the revised guidelines will ensure active citizen participation.

“A young democracy like Nigeria’s can only be strengthened when the citizenry are empowered with access to public information that can assist them to make informed contributions to democratic reforms and to hold elected officials and public servants accountable,” Deme said.

Also, a representative of the European Union, EU, Alan Munday, said the FOIA was essential to national development.

“Freedom of information is essential to the citizenry as it will assist them to contribute to the development of the nation,” he said.

The FOIA has been employed to demand for certain information that are of public interest in recent times, but it would appear that it is at variance with the oath of secrecy, which prohibits public officials from disclosing certain information deemed capable of jeopardisingthe security of the country.

This, he explained, has provided a refuge for public officials to function in secrecy, which is the bedrock of corruption.

On Monday, the federal government was dragged before a Federal High Court, Ikoyi, by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, for failing to provide information on the spending of the N700bn borrowed between December 31, 2012 and April 30, this year.

Requests have also mounted on the leadership of the National Assembly to disclose the salaries and allowances of its members, which is yet to be provided.

The Minister of State for Health, Muhammed Pate, has resigned from office to take up the position of professor at the Duke University’s Global Health Institute, USA.

He would also serve as senior adviser to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation based in Washington DC and participate in a university-wide Africa initiative.

In his resignation letter dated July 22, which was addressed to the President, Pate said he would continue to serve on part-time basis as the chairman of the Presidential Task Force on polio eradication and the public-private coalition for saving one million lives initiative.

“I wish to offer the continuation of my service on part-time basis as chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication and the public-private coalition for Saving One Million Lives Initiative, if you agree, in fulfilment of my previous commitments to see to conclusion of these important national priorities. This may entail an honorary advisory role reporting directly to you progress at least on quarterly basis,” he stated.

Responding to his resignation, the special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Reuben Abati, said President Goodluck Jonathan is highly delighted that members of his cabinet were attracting global attention.

He said the President views the appointment as a plus for the administration and the country and commends the minister for the  integrity and competence which he brought on board while carrying out his duties first as the chief executive of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and later as a minister.

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Abati also noted that another cabinet member, the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was one of those shortlisted for the position of the World Bank’s President last year.

Pate who was appointed minister in July 2011, is an American Board-Certified medical doctor in both internal medicine and infectious diseases, with an MBA, Health Sector Concentration) from Duke University, USA.

He is also a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, SAGE, on Vaccination and Humanitarian Emergencies at the World Health Organisation, WHO, in Geneva.

A Federal High Court judge sitting in Abuja, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, has asked for an amendment of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 to ensure that information supplied in compliance with the Act is done on a need to know basis.

Justice Kolawole said that unless adequate statutory safeguards are embedded in the Act, the underlying intention of government for enacting the law may be undermined or sabotaged as “irate individuals or busy bodies will abuse the rights which it has created with regard to information on public administration.”

According to him, the Act as it stands has created legal rights without a corresponding legal responsibilities and would lead to a situation where scarce public resources, time and energy are squandered in attending to requests which the applicant does not need.

He insisted that the responsibility to use the Act by Nigerians as an instrument to ensure transparency in governance “should not be left so loose and at large without any form of checks and, perhaps, balances”.

“It is my view that it is also part of transparency that rights created by enactments such as the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 are themselves not abused by irate litigants or those one may describe as ‘busy bodies,” the judge said.

He called on the National Assembly to undertake a review of the Act so as to ensure that access to information is only made available to such applicants who genuinely need it for specific purposes.

Kolawole expressed these views while delivering judgement in a suit instituted by Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, PIN, a non-governmental organization, seeking an order of mandamus to compel presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, to provide detailed information on the multi-million dollar contract awarded in April 2013 to an Israeli company, Elbit Systems, to monitor Internet communication in Nigeria.

The Stop Impunity Nigeria, SIN, Campaign had filed a ex-partemotion on behalf of PIN on June 5, 2013, seeking leave of the court to apply for: “a declaration that the denial of access and refusal to make available to PIN detailed information on the contract awarded to Elbit Systems, a company based in Haifa, Israel,  for the supply of the Wise Intelligence Technology  System for Intelligence Analysis and Cyber Defence for Nigeria by Dr Abati without an explanation constitutes an infringement  of PIN’s rights  guaranteed and protected  by section 1 (1) of the Freedom Information Act, 2011,” among other reliefs sought.

Ruling on the motion, Justice Kolawole stressed that there is no country in the world where access to all forms of public records are thrown open even to an applicant who is not required to show any specific interest in the information requested from a public body.

The judge noted that reading through the processes filed on behalf of PIN in the case, the applicant merely stated that the respondent is the “Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity” but did not state that the respondent in that capacity was being sued as one who awarded the contract in issue.

The judge also questioned whether it was sufficient for Abati to be sued for being a “Special Adviser” to the President on media and publicity, when he has not been shown under any law to be involved in the award of the contact on which information is being requested.

He said he was not aware of any legislation by which the “Office of a Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity” was created as to make “the Respondent as sued in the Motion Ex-parte to be seen as a public body, authority or officer who is prima facie amendable to prerogative orders of mandamus which are judicial instruments to enforce the performance of public duties, Justice Kolawole struck out the motion.