Petrol marketers are behind the lingering product scarcity and the instability in pump price, oil workers under the auspices of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) said yesterday.

The association accused the marketers of trying to force an increase in the pump price of petrol above the threshold approved by the Federal Government.

For weeks, Nigerians have been enduring pains to buy petrol at filling stations, especially those belonging to Independent Petrol Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), where products sell for as high as N300 per litre.

The government has pegged the pump price at between N165 and N169.

IPMAN yesterday announced that its members have dropped the plan to go on strike.

But PENGASSAN President Festus Osifo rejected a situation whereby non-state actors arrogate to themselves the power to determine the litre price of petrol far above government regulation.

Osifo spoke yesterday during the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the association in Abuja.

He said it was disturbing that the Federal Government was equally demonstrating high level of culpability in the unwholesome situation by its silence and unwillingness to frontally and publicly address the harrowing experiences of Nigerians.

The PENGASSAN president said: “The persistent shortage of petrol has become a source of pain to the Nigerian people as the current shortages are been perpetuated by players in the downstream sector in order to hike the price far above the government-approved threshold.

“It is an added problem when non-state actors begin to arrogate to themselves the power to determine the price of a liter of fuel far above the rate pegged by the government in the current subsidy regime.

“It is more disturbing that the government is equally demonstrating high level of culpability in the unwholesome situation by its silence and unwillingness to frontally and publicly address the harrowing experiences of Nigerians in the current situation, because no concerned and responsive government will bury its head in the sands like the proverbial Ostrich while the citizens are being brutally exploited.”

Osifo urged security agencies, especially the Nigerian Customs Services (NCS) and Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) charged with manning the nation’s borders, to stop the high rate of smuggling of the products across West African countries.

He added: “We demand that the various security agencies, especially the men of NCS and NIS charged with manning the nation’s borders, act professionally and in dictates to their oaths of allegiances to stop high rate of smuggling of the products across the West African countries.

“The various depots and other storage facilities, especially those owned and operated by the NNPC, should be upgraded and made accessible to all operators to lift the product.

“Consequently, we demand an immediate end to the avoidable, unnecessary, crippling and pain-inducing fuel shortages and unapproved price hike in the country. No excuse is good enough to cripple the country. If there are challenges, they should be fixed; we have a government in power to fix challenges, not to make excuses.

“We are ready and willing to collaborate with the Federal Government and assist in all ways possible to overcome the country’s present challenges. But we caution it not to take the Nigerian people for granted as it seems to be manifestly doing on various crucial national issues.”

The PENGASSAN chief also demanded the prosecution of those arrested in connection with the oil theft be prosecuted and if found guilty be made to face the consequences.

He urged the government to sustain the current effort in restoring the vandalised pipeline and increasing crude oil production.

IPMAN’s National Operations Controller, Mr. Mike Osatuyi, said markets have no plan to shut down their stations as being speculated.

According to him, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) has promised to henceforth, sell directly to IPMAN members at official rate of ex-depot price.

He said the backlog of IPMAN members’ tickets, which was over 2,000 currently, was being cleared.

Osatuyi said: “Nigerians should not engage in any panic buying as we are entering Christmas period. Our wide network nationwide makes us the perfect outlets to ensure sustained distribution of petroleum products across the country.”

On December 10, the Ogun State chapter of IPMAN threatened to shut down all its outlets across the state over an ultimatum issued to marketers by the Department of State Security (DSS).

The DSS had directed all petrol stations nationwide to sell fuel at the regulated price, and threatened to shoot down defaulting stations.

The petrol supply situation in Lagos, Abuja and other cities has remained unstable.

• Agency faults claim

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday faulted a claim by Senator Ike Ekweremadu that it was behind his ordeal.

The Senator claimed the commission provided information that resulted in him and his wife being denied bail by the United Kingdom (UK) authorities.

Ekweremadu’s son Lloyd claimed that his parents were being held in the UK based on information supplied by the EFCC, including a claim that they were being investigated.

He stated this in a motion seeking to set aside the November 4 order of interim forfeiture made against 40 properties linked to the Senator.

Lloyd claimed that the EFCC obtained the interim forfeiture order by fraud and by withholding vital facts from the court.

He said the commission knew that his parents, who are being held in the UK, would be unable to take necessary steps within the 14 days required by law to challenge the order.

But, in its counter affidavit, the EFCC argued that the allegations made against it by Lloyd showed he was not conversant with the proceedings in the criminal prosecution against his parents in the London court, which was why he thought it (the EFCC) “has a hand in the predicament and travails of his parents.”

The EFCC said its July 18 letter to the Crown Prosecution Service (UK) in response to a July 17 letter “was a mere routine to a counterpart government agency in accordance with the global best practice of information sharing with other law enforcement and other agencies in the USA and U.K”.

The commission added: “The response of the respondent to the Crown Prosecution Service was never an instigation or encouragement to the Crown Prosecution Service to detain Senator Ekweremadu or anyone else.

“The respondent (EFCC) was neither linked to, or had any interest in the subject of investigation in the U.K., namely trafficking a person with a view to exploitation, that is, organ harvesting.

“Both the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service in the U.K. are independent agencies with wide discretion to carry out their duties/responsibilities and cannot be influenced by anyone, including the respondent.

”The respondent, being a foremost premiere and flagship law enforcement agency, does share information and intelligence with other law enforcement agencies worldwide, including the Metropolitan Police of the U.K., FBI of the United States, KGB of Russia and other renowned law enforcement agencies.

“As such, the innuendoes, insinuations speculations and presumptions manifest in the aforementioned paragraphs of Lloyd Ekweremadu’s affidavit are unfounded and unkind to the respondent.”

The EFCC, which claimed to have been investigating Ekweremadu for money laundering, argued that it was at liberty to initiate forfeiture proceedings or criminal charges against a suspect at any time.

It added: “The filing of the instant forfeiture proceedings was a mere coincidence with the arrest of Senator Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice N. Ekweremadu in the U.K.

“The respondent has done substantial investigation warranting the steps it took in the instant application for the forfeiture of the properties reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of crime.”

Faulting the motion filed by Lloyd, said to be a director in one of the companies linked with his father (Power Properties Nigeria Ltd), the EFCC argued that he ought to file an affidavit to show cause why a final order of forfeiture should not be made on the properties linked to his parents.

It added: “Already, some persons who claim an interest in some of the properties have filed affidavits to show cause.

“The ownership of some of the properties is vested in companies such as Power Properties Nigeria Limited and Ikeoha Foundation which are entities distinct from Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

“The applicant (Lloyd) who is a shareholder in Power Properties Nigeria Limited can show cause if at all there is reason to show cause, why the properties should not be finally forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“Contrary to the depositions of the applicant alleging bad faith and non-disclosure of facts concerning the arrest and detention of Senator Ekweremadu in the U.K, forfeiture proceedings are basically an action in rem, not an action in person.

“It is for persons interested to come forth and show cause, as such, there was neither bad faith employed by the respondent nor non-disclosure of material facts as alleged.

“The applicant herein has failed to file an affidavit to show cause as required by law.

“The procedure under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 does not admit of an application to set aside the interim forfeiture order without filing an affidavit to show cause.

“The applicant’s application as constituted is grossly incompetent and liable to be dismissed.

“Some interested persons have filed an affidavit to show cause why final forfeiture order should not be made.

“It will not serve the interest of justice to set aside the interim order of forfeiture issued by this court on 4/11 2022, which is meant to preserve the assets/properties pending the determination of the application for a final order.

“Doing so would adversely affect the respondent and the persons interested, who have duly taken steps as required by law.”

Yesterday, Ekweremadu’s lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), prayed the court to grant the reliefs sought by his client and set aside the interim forfeiture order.

But, EFCC’s lawyer, Sylvanus Tahir (SAN), prayed the court to reject the motion since the case was not directed at Ekweremadu, but at the property, to which some individuals and organisations were already laying claim.

Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned till January 25 for a ruling.

By Dele Alake and Bayo Onanuga

Ordinarily, we consider it beneath us as well-bred  media professionals to continue to engage in public spat with Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, a congenital blackmailer and hustler, especially in deference to ceasefire calls by well-meaning leaders and elders. The interventions  followed our statement on Monday entitled “Obaigbena and His THISDAY/ARISE News’ Hypocritical Grandstanding On Public Morality”.

But we crave the indulgence of these well-meaning Nigerians to allow us respond to Obaigbena’s  latest rambling, called a statement.

The largely diversionary composition was an attempt to deodorise his  ethical problems.

Obaigbena tried to deflect attention from those pertinent issues we raised about ethics. There is nothing he said to creditably detract a jot from our accurate summation of his well-known perverse and ignoble approach to media practice over the years, a practice that continues to undermine the integrity of journalism profession in the country.

In his first statement attacking us, Obaigbena craftily attempted to mis-characterise  as an attack on free speech, our principled stand against his blackmail to have Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu appear on Arise TV and its PDP  sponsored Town Hall meetings.

In the second statement, he was still adamant that our candidate must attend his Town Hall debate, despite our stance that our candidate is already executing another communications strategy to reach the most important target: the Nigerian voters. We, repeat again: We will not make our candidate available to validate a scheme which, in the light of unassailable information at our disposal, is nothing but a racket by the Arise TV owner, designed to embarrass our candidate.

We now proceed to give a blow-by-blow response to Obaigbena’s latest very poor attempt at red-herring:

Rigmarole on Dasukigate:

How laughable that Obaigbena is now denying he was not in EFCC custody for receiving illicit funds from National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki. He attempted to rationalise that the money received was compensation for losses incurred by newspaper proprietors following the clampdown by security agents. But he craftily glossed over the meat of the matter: the grave misconduct to have the funds paid into the bank account of Hydrocarbon, a shell company (obviously set up for money-laundering) to which Obaigbena was the sole signatory. Since NPAN has bank accounts,  why was the money not transferred there directly?

Moreover, the petty lie in Obaigbena’s statement was punctured by the joint disclaimer issued on 12  December  2015 by Tribune, New Telegraph and Peoples Daily in whose names he had collected money. The three newspapers said they did not receive a kobo.

His claim that he pocketed the chunk of the money received from Dasukigate as compensation for the alleged terrorist  attack on his Abuja office is a laughable afterthought.

Rewriting June 12 story:

Contrary to Obaigbena’s lame attempt to rationalise his campaign against June 12 as action taken in furtherance of his membership of National Republican Convention (NRC), nothing can be further from the truth. His long story about sitting close to MKO Abiola on a London-Johannesburg flight begs the questions.  He craftily sidestepped the issue of being recruited by the military regime to go on CNN to unconscionably declare “Abiola did not win any election”, shortly after NEC suspended the announcement of June 12 results. That dirty campaign was to prepare the grounds for the  eventual annulment on June 23 of the election. If  Obaigbena was pro-democracy as he falsely claims, why did he take up media consultancy work  to Ernest Shonekan, the head of the Interim National Government,  cobbled together by the junta  to legitimise the illegality?

South African/London fiascos:

Obaigbena also tried to downplay the gravity of his misadventure in South Africa for which he had to flee, abandoning his office equipment and furniture till today. On one hand, he lied that it was President Nelson Mandela who asked that he set up the newspaper in South Africa because the dominant newspapers in the country were owned by the white establishment. On the other hand, he claimed that the same white establishment frustrated his venture. He forgot that when he floated ThisDay South Africa in 2003-4, a black President was in power!

Contrary to claims that he met a hostile environment, his habitual unethical practices gave him out. His business model of funding his newspapers and a champagne lifestyle from proceeds of blackmail rackets fell flat in South Africa where rules of a good society are rigidly enforced. To deceive advertisers, he inflated his circulation figures which the regulatory agency frowned at. Also, he owed printers  and his workers. Gale of complaints against the “carpetbagger from Nigeria” soon reached the authorities and one official was quoted as famously saying, “You call yourself Thisday, very soon it will become That-day”. The prophecy came to pass with chilling accuracy soon after.

On his misadventure in London, Obaigbena disingenuously put it down to Forex crisis as if it happened this year or last year. The details of the judgment by the presiding judge were damning enough: Obaigbena lacks the personal honour and integrity to run any decent company.

His claim that his seven year directorship ban has been appealed is not the full story. He already lost one appeal at the Chancery in August.

Payment of salaries/pension:

Obaigbena tried to deflect his chronic indebtedness as something common in the media industry. It is an affliction peculiar to THISDAY/Arise which purports to make lots of money (as reflected by bumper advert patronage) but curiously still fails to pay workers as and when due. Even when the economy was relatively “good”, Obaigbena never paid workers regularly. His popular saying to staff, as well known in the industry, is that : “THISDAY/Arise ID card alone is your meal ticket”.

Such corrupt philosophy underlies the unethical practices in media companies run by Obaigbena.

A classic illustration of the untold hardship and dehumanization of his workers was provided by Mr. Paul Ibe, who is now the Special Adviser on Media to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Obaigbena tricked Ibe to South Africa with mouth-watering offers. But Ibe ended up enduring hunger there before finding his way back to Nigeria. Following a suit filed at the National Industrial Court in 2011 (suit no NICN/ABJ/26/2011), Mr. Ibe was awarded damages against Obaigbena for backlog of salaries, non-remittance of taxes and pension deducted from his wages over the years and outstanding entitlement. Tens of other staff of Thisday have died due to lack of money for medical care while awaiting Obaigbena to pay them their entitlements.

Open partisanship/Mefy racket:

We observe too that Obaigbena disingenuously sidestepped the questions raised about employing the services of Dr Reuben Abati, a card-carrying member of PDP as anchor person on Arise TV,  as well as  Obaigbena’s multi-million Naira consultancy role in the ill-fated attempt by a sitting Central Bank governor, Godwin Emefiele to compete for APC’ presidential ticket.

These are weighty moral issues Obaigbena, with all his resourceful facilities to lie and dissemble, could not defend.

Again, we challenge him to deny if Abati wasn’t the running-mate of Senator Buruji Kashamu on PDP’s platform in the governorship contest in Ogun in 2019.  Kashamu was a wanted drug lord in the US. Of course, the same Abati, who never allows any opportunity to pass without attacking Asiwaju Tinubu daily, would have been one of those Obaigbena would have lined up  at his dubious Town Hall meetings to “interrogate” Tinubu! Such shameless, unethical practice!

Further, while pontificating on public morality, Obaigbena conveniently ignored the perversity of collecting hundreds of millions as “media consultant” to Godwin Emefiele, the occupant of a critical public office from which utmost sobriety and non-partisanship is expected. Through patronizing reportage in THISDAY/Arise, Emefiele was egged on to openly descend into the political arena and bid for the presidential ticket of APC in its last primaries in what is now commonly called the “Mefy racket”.

This has antecedents:  Obaigbena was also “consultant” to President Jonathan as he was to Chief Ernest Shonekan. Whatever happened to journalism ethics?

The culture of media merchandising:

In a futile attempt to burnish his image, Obaigbena resorted to dropping the names of U.S. and UK leaders who had attended events staged by him. Dropping the names and pictures of these former Western leaders who attended paid-for-appearance ThisDay events as if they attended when serving in office,  is another Obaigbena’s vainglorious clout chasing scheme to scam the public. He failed to disclose that the high-profile personalities who delivered keynote addresses at such events were handsomely paid from money he collected through media blackmail from captains of industries notably bank chiefs. To con the outside world, Obaigbena had boasted in an interview with New York Times that he had corporate fortune of $100m accruing to his company annually. But later, tax officials in Lagos could not reconcile those bogus claims with his tax records and non-remittance of taxes deducted from workers. It was so easy to expose his fake lifestyle.

Since Nduka Obaigbena introduced his  blackmail and extortionist brand of journalism into Nigeria, generation of Bank CEOs, company Chief Executives, politicians and Governors from 1999 have suffered in silence, seeking liberation from oppressive journalism by intimidation. In 2009, Nduka Obaigbena raided Niger Delta states with his Thisday Entertainment’s packaged Niger-Delta Peace Concert. He coerced the Niger-Delta Governors then to contribute hundreds of millions of Naira with a promise to bring A-list pop stars such as  Jay-Z and Beyonce to perform. After collecting the money the promised superstars didn’t show up. One of the governors was at the airport till almost midnight waiting to receive the superstars. These governors complained and suffered in silence because they were afraid of Nduka and his Thisday Newspaper which he has turned to instrument of oppression.

We took notice of Reuben Abati’s ramblings on Arise TV on his Wednesday Morning Show where he laboured in vain to defend his despicable record and perversions. Abati queried our statement that he is a registered member of PDP.

The query is rather for him. How did he become a deputy governorship candidate to the Late Senator Buruji Kashamu in 2019 without a membership of PDP as required by law?

We really do not expect much from Abati. He is a known pathological liar, who has lived on lies and deceit all his professional life. While he has successfully created the image of a conscientious public intellectual over the years, the fact is that he is a morally bankrupt man who has no scruples in selling  his soul to the devil as long as money is involved.

Abati has very odious reputation within the corporate and political circles as “anything goes newspaper columnist”  as long as the money is right.

• Alake, Adviser, Media and Strategic Communication, and Onanuga, Director of Media and Publicity, sent the statement on behalf of All Progressives Congress (APC) Media and Communication Directorate

An Upper Sharia Court sitting in Kano on Thursday sentenced Islamic cleric Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara to death by hanging.

The Sharia court also ordered the State Government to seize the two mosques belonging to the accused.

The Kano State government had barred the cleric (Sheikh Kabara) from preaching in the State for his mode of teachings which were considered “too incendiary.”
The court presided over by Khadi Ibrahim Sarki Yola, convicted the embattled cleric after finding him guilty of the charge of blasphemy leveled against him.

“This Honorable Court is convinced that the prosecution counsels have proven their case beyond reasonable doubt.

“Therefore, the court has convicted the defendant of all the charges leveled against him, hence, sentenced him to death by hanging,” the judge, Khadi Ibrahim Sarki Yola said on Thursday.

Khadi Ibrahim Sarki Yola also urged the media to refrain from using any of Abduljabbar’s teachings and pictures.

Sheikh Kabara, who denied any wrongdoing, said he will not beg for leniency.

“I am ready to die and I will die like a hero,” he said.

The cleric has only 30 days to appeal the judgment, failure to which he will forfeit his right of appeal and will be hanged until he dies.

During the court proceeding, Counsel to the defendant, Barrister Aminu Ado Abubakar, prayed the court to accord leniency to the accused cleric, arguing that his client committed what he did out of ignorance.

But in what surprised everyone, the accused (Sheikh Kabara) stood up promptly and told the court he did not know the lawyer who claimed to be his legal counsel.

“I don’t know him. This is the first time I am seeing him. He should not be allowed to speak on my behalf. I can and should be allowed to speak for myself,” he stated.

The trial judge however responded that the lawyer is recognised by the court as the defence counsel.

“My lord, after I heard how you twisted all my evidence, you turned around all my submissions upside down, you have assigned words to me that I have never uttered.

“Deliver your judgement and I am not asking for leniency at all. I want all my followers to know that I will die a hero and I don’t want you (the judge) Ibrahim Sarki Yola to do me any favour or grant me leniency. This is my last word. Assalamu Alaikum,” Kabar told the judge.