The Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to begin deduction of over N40billion from the Federation Allocation Account for Ebonyi State Government and remittance of same to a consulting firm.

In its order absolute, the court equally ruled that the Ebonyi State Government should pay the firm, ANDREW BISHOPTON NIG LIMITED and its partners, Mauritz Walton Nig Limited,  N118,787,380.00) and other sums for failing to keep to the terms of the contract agreement, it entered with the latter.

The court also ordered the CBN to withdraw US29,854,856.9 and another N30,100,000,000.00 from the state’s accounts and remit same to the company.

The state government contracted ANDREW BISHOPTON NIG LIMITED in 2016 to pursue and recover money illegally deducted on both its foreign and local loans and facilities, especially the Paris Club refund.

The firm, it was gathered, approached the court, following the state government’s alleged reluctance to keep to the agreed contract terms, a development that led to the illegal arrest and detention of a senior employee of the consultancy organisation, Mrs Jackie Ikeotuonye, by the former.

The court, presided over by Justice S. Dalyop Pam, in its order absolute, ruled that one of the applicants or judgment creditors, ANDREW BISHOPTON NIG LIMITED, were treated unfairly by the government.

A copy of the Ruling, dated November 2, 2022, which was obtained by our Correspondent, on Monday, read, “Upon this Garnishee Proceedings dated and filed  on the 18th of July, 2022, and coming  up for Ruling today, the 2nd day of November, 2022.

“Whereas all the parties are absent.

“M.N. Mohammed, SAN with K. Nkwocha, Esq. and R. Asher, Esq. of Counsel for the Judgment Creditors.

“P.N. Zephaniah, Esq. of Counsel for the 1st Garnishee Respondent.

“And the Honourable Court having delivered its Ruling in the open court today, the 2nd day of November, 2022.

“It is hereby ordered as follows:

“An Order Absolute of this Honourable Court is hereby made DIRECTING the 2nd Garnishee (United Bank for Africa Plc) to, within 24 hours, pay the sum of One Hundred and Eighteen Million, Seven and Eighty-Seven Thousand, Three Hundred and Eighty Naira) (N118,787,380.00) Only, attached from the account maintained by the Judgment Debtor, Government of Ebonyi State known as Ebonyi State Government Treasury Single Account with Account No: 1001158077 maintained with the 2nd Garnishee Bank, United Bank for Africa Plc into the designated Account Name: Mauritz Walton Nig Limited, Bank Name: Wema Bank Plc, Account No: 0122765584, to liquidate the judgment in this suit.

“An Order Absolute of this Honourable Court is hereby made DIRECTING the 1st Garnishee Bank (the Central Bank of Nigeria) to deduct at source, the sum of US29,854,856.9 (Twenty Nine Million, Eight Hundred and Fifty Four Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty-Six Dollars, Nine Cents) Only and the sum of N30,100,000,000.00 (Thirty Billion, One Hundred Million Naira) Only , respectively from the monthly Federation Allocation Account of the Judgment Debtor, Ebonyi State Government and credit same into the designated Account of the 2nd Judgment Creditor, Mauritz Walton Nig Limited, Bank Name: Wema Bank, Bank Account: 0122765584, to liquidate the judgment sum in this suit.

“Issued at Port Harcourt, under the seal of the Court and the Hand of the Presiding Judge, this 2nd day of November, 2022.”

More than 30 megawatts from Ekim Power Station in Mkpat Enin Local Government of Akwa Ibom State are wasting due to non-deregulation of power distribution.

The 1 by 60 power station was conceived by Governor Udom Emmanuel, in conjunction with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and inaugurated in 2019.

It has the capacity to generate 48 megawatts and serve local governments, namely Eket, Mkpat Enin, Eastern Obolo, OrukAnam and Onna.

However, despite the enormous resources invested by the Emmanuel administration, the Manager of Ekim Power Station, Etomas Bassey, an engineer, described it as a huge waste, as it could not distribute power.

He spoke when members of the Association of Eket Senatorial District Media Professionals visited the station as part of activities marking the association’s week.

Bassey said the major challenge faced by the station was its inability to supply the power generated, a situation that had put the station on a collision course with host communities.

He said: “The challenge we have is evacuation of the supply. I learnt the state government is fighting to get licence of distributing the supply because our problem now is how to evacuate the supply.

“At present, I have about 30 megawatts to give out, but the distribution companies are not picking it. They have their own reasons. I can’t speak for the distribution companies. For me, this place is just lying here wasted.”

“The host communities are complaining. We have been harassed here on three occasions. We have been locked here for three days by the communities. The reason is that they can’t have this facility in their community, yet they don’t have power.

“We told them that we are not in the business of distributing. The distribution companies have the right to distribute, but we can’t do that. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed didn’t include that the host communities will be given power from this station.”

Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has expressed confidence of Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) victory in the 2023 general election.

Dr. Ikpeazu, who spoke when his deputy, Ude Chukwu, led his supporters and other party faithful to him in Aba, described Chukwu as his strong ally and partner in progress, in politics and beyond.

He assured members of the deputy governor’s political family that they remained PDP members with their rights and privileges intact, both under him as governor and the incoming PDP administration.

The governor said with the family reunion, it had become clearer that the PDP would win the 2023 elections in the state.

He told the crowd that the deputy governor was an emerging leader in Nigeria with great and powerful potential, whose future in leadership remained bright.

Speaking about the governorship aspiration of the deputy governor, he said he was well within the constitutional rights of Chukwu to run for the office of governor and hailed him for his spirit of sportsmanship and his decision to remain a part of the PDP and to support the party in the 2023 elections.

Ikpeazu made it clear that one of the keys to a successful career in politics was consistency.

He challenged the people to show him any politician in Abia who had achieved anything tangible by jumping from one party to another.

Chukwu told the governor that he came with the representatives of his political family to reaffirm their allegiance and loyalty to him and the PDP.

He said after the primaries, “this is the first time I will be bringing my political structure for this kind of public show of support.”

The Director General of the Ikpeazu Vision Rangers, one of the pro groups in the political family of the deputy governor, O’Brien Iroh, thanked the governor for his large heart.

He said they would work hard to ensure the success of the party.

The Special Assistant to Akwa Ibom State Governor on Media, Mr. Richard Peters, has slammed the governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Congress (YPP), Senator Bassey Akpan, over his recent comments against Governor Udom Emmanuel on the 13 per cent oil derivation windfall.

Akpan, the senator representing Akwa Ibom-North-East (Uyo) Senatorial District, had, during a ward-to-ward campaign at East Itam in Itu Local Government, said Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike’s disclosure had confirmed his position that Governor Emmanuel had received N280 billion from the Federal Government without accounting for it.

The YPP governorship candidate alleged that he was offered billions of naira, to jettison his governorship ambition and return to the Senate, but he rejected the offer.

He said the money were proceeds from the state government’s share of 13 per cent derivation arrears paid to Niger Delta states, adding that Emmanuel had collected the state share amounting to N600billion.

He regretted that despite the huge sums received by the governor, the state had nothing to boast for.

But Peters, while addressing a news conference, described the allegations as ridiculous and defamatory.

In a statement titled: ‘Governor Emmanuel still saddling on Excellence’, he said he wondered why people would choose to condescend to defamation as a tool for political communication.