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Tag: accuses

  • Family accuses retired DIG of intimidation, covetousness

    The Isunba/Ijiri Royal family in Ogun State has urged Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris and Ogun Police Commissioner Ahmed Iliyasu to rescue its members from a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) Adeola Adeniji.

    Adeniji, the family claimed, had continued to forcefully collect the family’s property and harass them with thugs.

    In a petition by its Secretary, Chief Mutairu Odu, the family said Adeniji allegedly threatened to use his police contacts to encroach and dislodge them from their land at Ilogbo Asowo.

    Contacted, the retired DIG declined comments on the allegations, saying he lost his stepmother and was busy with the burial.

    Adeniji, who had a copy of the petition sent to his mail last Thursday, said: “I am indeed sorry that I have not responded. It is due to the fact that I lost my stepmother on September 8 and (I’m) presently busy with the funeral arrangements. I shall arrange a one-on-one session soonest, please.”

    According to Odu, the family, which had confronted Adeniji for his actions, got detained by the retired DIG.

    The family’s secretary said his people no longer slept with their eyes closed because they were always on the lookout to threats by the retired policeman.

    He said: “Our family were recently arrested and detained for more than 14 days at the instance of Aina Ajaguna, who has been acting as a surrogate for Adeniji. It took our family a fundamental rights enforcement suit to secure arraignment of those detained at a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ota, after which they were granted bail.”

    Odu added that Adeniji, Ajaguna and Kazeem Aleshinloye had stationed “fierce-looking, marijuana-smoking thugs armed with cutlasses and guns” on their land.

    The family spokesman said the thugs shot sporadically to cause fear among the villagers.

    He said: “We hereby draw the attention of security agencies, particularly the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to the nefarious activities of the aforementioned people in respect of our family land. We urge the IGP, the Commissioner of Police in Ogun State and all concerned citizens to help us nip the activities of these land grabbers in the bud. At present, they are giving the impression that they are above the law.”

  • Forum accuses EFCC of selective probe

    A pro-Buhari group, Buhari Northern Youth Awareness Forum (BNYAF), yesterday accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of selective investigation.

    The body, which addressed reporters in Kaduna, said the anti-graft commission, in the last two years, beamed its searchlight on perceived corrupt individuals from the North, while those in the South had not been investigated.

    Its Coordinator, Comr. Muhammad Lawal, who was supported by the secretary and other members, said EFCC, as an agency under a President, who is known for his integrity, is not expected to be selective in its investigation, since most of the people under investigation served in the previous administrations, which is not limited to the North.

    He said EFCC had become a mouthpiece of people, mostly from the South, which made it difficult for the agency to investigate and prosecute corrupt people believed to be loyal to them.

    Lawal said: “We wish to congratulate the public and ourselves for the safely and healthy arrival of our father and man of integrity, President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “We have observed with keen interest unfolding events in the country and activities of key government agencies, which are part of the drive of achieving lofty goals of our administration.

    “It’s a fact that Mr. President came to power with integrity and desire to fight corruption. We remember in 2015 when we followed Mr. President to every nook and cranny of the country where we promised fighting corruption, the country’s worst nightmare.

    “Therefore, it is unfortunate to see how some people, whom Mr. President entrusted with fighting corruption, are undermining the change agenda. In particular, we have observed how an institution like EFCC has engaged in selective investigations and prosecution of people, who are perceived to be against the interests of some people.

    “It is known that corruption in the past was universal and perpetrated by people across ethnic, regional and religious divides, but unfortunately what we witness now is that fighting corruption and corrupt people is done against some people in the North, while exonerating perpetrators from the West.”

    He added: “More shocking is that EFCC is muscled by men like Prof. Itse Sagay and lawyers under the guise of human rights activists like Femi Falana and their cohorts. They have constituted themselves into authority in deciding who is corrupt and who is not, thereby unilaterally deciding who EFCC should invite, investigate and/or prosecute without regard to the rule of law or constitutionalism.”

     

  • Judge accuses judge of bias

    •Petitions CJ, seeks case transfer 

    A retired judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Gladys K. Olotu, has petitioned the Chief Judge of the court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, seeking transfer of one of her cases challenging her compulsory retirement currently pending before Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Abuja Division over alleged bias.

    Justice Olotu filed the two cases shortly after her compulsory retirement by former President Goodluck Jonathan in February 2014 over alleged wrong doing.

    In one of the suits, the retired judge sued the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and 17 others to court, while in the other suit, the President  and four others were joined as respondents which was recently thrown out by Justice Kafarati on the grounds that he didn’t have jurisdiction.

    However, in a petition dated February 23  to Justice Auta, Justice Olotu is seeking the transfer of her suit against the EFCC and 17 others from Justice Kafarati to another judge in the Abuja Division.

    The retired judge said her request was premised on the ground that Justice Kafarati showed open, clear prejudice and bias in his judgement on her suit against the President  and four others.

    She questioned the rationale behind Justice Kafarati’s insistence that he lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit while he had decided contrarily in similar case involving a judge of the High Court of Abuja who was also compulsorily retired from the Bench.

    To buttress her claims, Justice Olotu referred to a suit by Justice Lawal Hassan Gunmi (Rtd) against the National Judicial Council (NJC) and six others.

    In the said suit, Justice Kafarati dismissed the objection raised by the NJC regarding his jurisdiction to entertain the matter, while in her own case with similar facts and argument pulled a volte face and reversed himse lf.

    “It is glaring from these two decisions that Hon. Justice Kafarati has shown extreme bias and prejudice against me based on the somersault he made in my case after he held in Justice Gunmi’s case that he had jurisdiction to hear his case.

    “I am, therefore, pleading in the interest of justice and fairness (which has continuously eluded me in my travails starting from February 2011 to date from NJC, under the Chairmanship of Hon. Justice Aloma Mukhtar (Rtd) to the office of the President under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the EFCC under Ibrahim Lamorde and now Federal High Court No. 2 with Hon. Justice Abdul Kafarati, presiding) that my case be transferred from Justice Kafarati’s court to another court in Abuja Division”, Justice Olotu said.

  • Driver accuses Ogun traffic agency’s officials of extortion

    A truck driver, Kehinde Okunola, has accused men of Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) of extortion.

    According to the driver, the incident happened on February 3, 2017, when men of the agency falsely accused him of parking his truck on the highway.

    Okunola, who said his vehicle, a white DAF truck with registration number SAN 93 XA, had broken down around Odogbolu axis of Lagos-Ijebu highway, said he was shocked that men of the agency insisted on impounding his vehicle, even when it was parked far from the road.

    He explained that apart from the necessary fines paid (over N150,000), he was also made to cough out the sum of N30, 000 before his vehicle was released from the custody of the agency.

    He added that it was after he paid the money that a note was issued for its release from police custody at Odogbolu Division, where it was parked.

    However, the spokesman of TRACE, Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi said Okunola’s allegations were untrue.

    He said: ‘’There is no iota of truth in the allegations. Our men at Ikenne zone impounded his truck for violating Ogun State traffic laws and he only paid the necessary fines imposed on traffic offenders of his category, our men did not extort money from him at all.’’

     

  • Sagay accuses Customs, NDDC, others of ‘bold and brazen corruption’

    Sagay accuses Customs, NDDC, others of ‘bold and brazen corruption’

    Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Chairman Itse Sagay (SAN) yesterday accused the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of corruption and “brazen impunity”.

    He said the “recklessness” with which public officers spend public funds was “insensitive to the point of insanity”.

    “Yes, I mean that. The level of insensitivity has become pathological,” Prof. Sagay said.

    He spoke in Abuja at the National Dialogue on Corruption, organised by the Office of the Vice President in collaboration with PACAC.

    On how pervasive graft has become, Sagay said: “Corruption is omnipresent in Nigeria. High and low office holders, public and private sectors, the executive, legislative and judicial sectors, immigration, police, the civil service, everywhere.

    “What is extremely disturbing is the fact that people’s attitude to corruption has hardened. There is no longer any fear of consequences.

    “Bribe is demanded brazenly with a sense of entitlement. So too has insensitivity to misuse, abuse and waste our common patrimony, even in these lean times.”

    He said in the face of financial drought and famine, the National Assembly bought cars worth N30million each for oversight functions.

    “The NDDC, which is the other name for uncompleted projects, has just bought over 70 cars. About eight of them are super Lexus Jeeps costing N78million each,” he said.

    Sagay said the money could have been spent on infrastructure, housing, schools and hospitals.

    He said it amounted to shedding crocodile tears for the NDDC management to complain of lack of funds for projects.

    He said Customs had completely ignored the fight against corruption, operating as if it is not in Nigeria.

    Sagay said last December, his cousin who was relocating to Nigeria from the United States after 26 years paid fraudulent duties for household goods.

    “Bribe was demanded at every stage of the obstacle race called custom clearance, involving long table, short table and other ingenious instruments of extortion,” he said.

    For instance, he said his cousin paid N1.2million for “approval of personal effects”, and paid for physical examination of items because the scanner was not working, among others.

    Sagay said the huge recoveries being made by the Federal Government from former government officials showed that the “orgy of monumental looting continues”.

    “We have to ask ourselves what the problem really is. We are definitely overwhelmed by an epidemic of kleptomania. But do we have a collective psychiatric problem?

    “Why would a person loot what he cannot spend in 10 life times while exposing the rest of the population to misery, hunger, poverty, wretchedness, and even death,” Sagay said.

    He slammed judges for violating the Administration of Criminal Justice Act which provides that ruling on preliminary objections shall be made at the time of delivery of judgment.

    “In spite of these clear provisions, some judges are still granting adjournments running into months and, worse still, will adjourn their cases to give a ruling on a preliminary objection instead of giving the ruling at the same time as the judgment on the substantive criminal matter.

    “What is more, contrary to Section 306, which provides that an application for stay of proceedings in respect of a criminal matter shall not be entertained, some courts still adjourn in order to await the outcome of an interlocutory appeal.

    “All this is illegal and strictly constitute acts of misconduct on the part of the judge. The outcome of all this is that we have over 100 high profile cases not going nowhere,” he said.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki, represented by Senator Chukwuka Utasi, faulted Sagay’s comments on the National Assembly.

    He said it would be “counter productive” to “demonise” others.

    “It does not help in confidence building within government and across the civil population when institutions of state are demonised  to put a shine on others,” he said.

  • PDP accuses INEC, security agencies of plotting to rig

    PDP accuses INEC, security agencies of plotting to rig

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies of plotting to rig Saturday’s election.

    Its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, at a news briefing in Abuja, alleged that the plot was to rig the election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He said: “The PDP wishes to declare to INEC and security agencies that the people of Bayelsa State and our members have been rallied in their numbers to combat, head to head, any move by anybody or group whatsoever to rig the December 5 governorship election.

    “We wish to make it clear to all, especially INEC officials, both regular and ad hoc that the atmosphere in Bayelsa is tense and that any of them, who in any way allows himself to be used for manipulation, will be doing so at his own peril.

    “Bayelsans, conscious of the ugly records of brazen doctoring of votes by INEC in favour of APC in the Borno and Kogi governorship elections, are determined to stop the commission in its trail and ensure that such is not repeated in their state.

    “We are aware of the marching order handed down to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at his furtive meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, to rig Kogi and Bayelsa elections in favour of APC, but we wish to let the commission know that attempting so in Bayelsa will have repercussions.

    “Prof. Yakubu and other INEC officials involved in Bayelsa election must note that the state has unique political characteristics and its resistance level to electoral injustice and fraud comes with dreadful costs.

  • PDP accuses APC of plotting to blackmail Fayose

    PDP accuses APC of plotting to blackmail Fayose

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to blackmail Governor Ayo Fayose on what it called “the struggle for ministerial slot”.

    The party, in a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Jackson Adebayo, claimed the APC members alleged that “an APC group, which believes that its leader has been shortchanged in the screening exercise carried out by the Department of State Security, is attacking other leaders not in their group and blaming the governor for it”.

    According to the PDP spokesman, the group, which was alleged to have instigated last week’s police invitation  of the former Governor of the old Ondo State, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua, had held meetings in Ado Ekiti where further attacks on some of the APC leaders in the state were hatched.

    Adebayo said it was also at the meetings that it was decided that after the attacks, their media team should go to the press to blame Governor Fayose for it.

    Adebayo said: “We are constrained to raise this alert now because this is not the first time that the APC will be fomenting trouble and fighting dirty only to blame Governor Fayose or the PDP for it.”

    But the APC Secretary, Paul Omotoso, advised the ruling party to stop ridiculing itself before the people with infantile statements which stand logic on the head.

    Omotoso said the alleged struggle for ministerial slot only exists in the “wild imagination” of the PDP which he said had been overwhelmed by challenges of governance and is now chasing shadows.

    He said: “Everybody knows that the PDP thrives on blackmail and it only accuses opponents of what it is planning to do. The so-called struggle for ministerial appointments only exists in the PDP’s imagination.

    “The PDP having failed Ekiti people with its shambolic and woeful performance is now resorting to false allegations. The PDP is not concerned with how a minister is nominated in an APC-led government, it has had its time in power and Nigerians know how their ministers plunged Nigeria into a deep mess our party is now clearing.

    “It is only a party that lacks idea, a party that is idle and bereft of ideas that will be churning out lies and falsehood and this is a result of their frustration in justifying its stolen mandate.”

  • CBN accuses manufacturers of sabotage

    CBN accuses manufacturers of sabotage

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has defended its foreign exchange (forex) policy restricting dollar access to 41 commodities, saying it acted in good faith and in the interest of the economy.

    CBN Director, Monetary Policy, Moses Tule,    said allowing unfettered access to forex will sink the economy because oil price decline has reduced volume of government dollar earnings.

    Tule who spoke at the Private Sector Dialogue with the CBN on forex policy organised by Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos, accused some manufacturers and real sector operators of insincerity in their request for forex.

    He said some manufacturers obtain forex from the CBN at official rate, send the fund abroad without the intension of importing goods. He said such funds are never repatriated.

    Also, he faulted practices where some manufacturers make upfront forex demand, sometimes with over two years gap. “Some importers demand for forex for items they want to buy in the next two years,” he said.

    Tule said the business of micro-economic management in Nigeria needs the support of all stakeholders for it to achieve the desired success. He said that no economy is run by forex, and that it is the level of economic activities in the country that determines the volume of dollar-earnings in such country. He said that before the fall in oil prices, the apex bank did its best to ensure that everyone that needed forex got it.

    However, with the oil price down, and government dollar-earnings declining, it can no longer be business as usual. He said it is not only businesses that need forex, and that government also needs forex to buy key equipment needed for infrastructural development.

    LCCI President, Alhaji Remi Bello said volatility of the forex market has grave consequences for companies with high dollar exposures. He said it is time to constructively engage the CBN on forex management to achieve the best result. He said real sector operators are concerned in particular that some raw materials were on the list of 41 items excluded from the list.

  • N12b currency fraud: Lawyer accuses judge of bias

    N12b currency fraud: Lawyer accuses judge of bias

    Trial of some members of staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and some commercial banks involved in the alleged N12 billion mutilated currency fraud was stalled yesterday as the counsel for two of the accused persons, Mr Olalekan Ojo, accused Justice Olayinka Faji of bias.

    Ojo, who is the lead counsel to the second and third accused – Olaniran Muniru Adeola and Toogun Kayode Philip – filed an application seeking disqualification of the trial judge and a stay of proceedings pending determination of the appeal against ruling of the court on June 19.

    The two accused requested the Court of Appeal to direct the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to transfer or assign the case to another judge.

    A total of 22 persons were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in seven different cases. Six of the accused work with the CBN, while the others work with various commercial banks.

    The shock came when the first case marked FHC/IB/34C/2015, involving five persons came up for trial yesterday. The accused in the first case are Kolawole Babalola, Olaniran Muniru Adeola, Toogun Philip, Ajumwa Bolade and Samuel Ogbeide.

    The judge had delivered rulings on applications for bail on June 19 and adjourned trial to June 26.

    Lead counsel for the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), had announced that two witnesses were ready to give evidence yesterday.

    He disclosed that one of the witnesses was in the court and that the second one was on his way from Lagos with the assurance that he would arrive on time.

    But, taking his turn,  Ojo informed the court of a motion he  filed before the court, seeking a stay of proceedings pending the determination of his appeal and prayer to reassign the case to another judge.

    He said his clients cannot get fair trial before the court presided over by Justice Faji, having convicted them by his pronouncements in some sections of his ruling on bail applications on June 19, 2015. The counsel specifically made reference to Justice Faji’s pronouncements on the defendants on page 93 to 97 of the ruling.

    He disclosed that the motion was filed earlier yesterday. Counsel for the first defendant, Otunba Olayinka Bolanle, also aligned with Ojo’s views.

    He further informed the court of his motion, challenging the jurisdiction of the court on the case.

    Bolanle said the motion was filed with regard to “propriety to continue with the trial, to expressions made in the ruling to the first defendant.”

    He added that the motion was to challenge the partisanship and the jurisdiction of the court. But counsel for the fourth defendant, Dare Adebayo, expressed willingness to defend their client in the trial.

    Consequently, the judge could not go on with the trial.

    He described the situation as ”Judge on a trial in a public criminal trial.” Though he rued the development which seemed to him that the defence counsel did not want the trial to commence.

    Justice Faji said the defence counsel were entitled to the right of hearing on whatever motion filed before the court, pointing out: ”I must be cautious” while referring to the issue of prejudice and jurisdiction.

    He said the court would have to wait for the determination of the Court of Appeal’s decision on whether as trial judge he can comment on the evidence before him. Faji then adjourned hearing of the application to Wednesday July 1.

    He  urged all the counsel to file their motions and counter motions in respects of all other sister cases before then.

  • Man accuses soldiers of carjacking

    An artisan, Mr Abiodun Olutayo, has accused soldiers from the 3 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Effurun barrack, of carjacking.

    Olutayo alleged that the soldiers stormed his business place along PTI Road, Effurun, Delta state, last Friday and made away with his Toyota Camry car.

    It was gathered that the soldiers took the action after their colleague alleged that Olutayo, a vulcaniser, stole his Toyota Sienna van.

    While speaking with The Nation, Olutayo said, “I have known him for a long time because we come from the same area and we have been friends. So when his car was stolen, he used my car for some time.

    “I was surprised when he called me on Friday to say he wanted to see me. And when he came to my office at PTI road, he forcibly took my car keys and gave it to his colleagues who went away with my car, my money and other valuables in it.

    “I could not do anything because they are military men. Since then, I have been calling him, but he asked me to come to the barracks. I had already reported the matter at Ebrumede Police Station and the police told me that they would get in touch with the Commanding Officer.”

    When contacted by our reporter, the Commanding Officer, Lt Col Bassey, confirmed the report, but claimed that “the man (Olutayo) is not telling you the whole truth.”

    He stated that the soldier, Sgt Olotu, accused Olutayo of being the mastermind of the theft of his (Olotu’s) car in 2014, an allegation that was denied by the alleged suspect.

    Asked why the military men resolved to self-help by seizing Olutayo’s car instead of reporting to the police, Lt. Col. Bassey said: “He (soldier) did the right thing because he reported the matter to the Military Police as he should have.”

    He further explained that Sgt Olotu would have contravened military guidelines if he had gone out to report to civil police. He, however, did not explain why the crime suspect was not arrested when his car was seized from him.

    Lt. Col Bassey explained that the Military Police were investigating the allegation of theft, adding that they would turn in the result of their investigation to the police when it is concluded.

    But Olutayo accused the military of using brute force against him, stressing that the military man’s car was stolen in the house of his estranged mistress.