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Tag: accuses

  • Lawyers kick as EFCC accuses Babalakin of planning to flee

    Lawyers kick as EFCC accuses Babalakin of planning to flee

    The hide-and-seek game between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Bi-Courtney chairman Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN) continued yesterday, with the anti-graft agency accusing the businessman of plotting to flee the country.

    The commission made the allegation through its counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of a Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

    Babalakin’s admission at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for hypertension, according to his counsel, frustrated his arraignment for allegedly transferring N4.7 billion on behalf of the convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori.

    Jacobs said EFCC operatives laid a siege to LUTH to ensure that Babalakin did not escape.

    Jacobs said Babalakin was hiding in the hospital to evade arrest, adding that the embattled businessman had even called the EFCC that he wanted to go home.

    “He (Babalakin) asked for a guarantee from the EFCC that he will not be arrested upon leaving the hospital, but we rejected it. We had an intelligence report that he wanted to leave the country.

    “It is our duty to ensure that he does not escape. It has happened before. Ibori left this country and was jailed in the United Kingdom (UK). It is the duty of my client (EFCC) to ensure that this should not happen again,” Jacobs said.

    He said the application for an adjournment, which was filed by Babalakin’s counsel and his suit against the EFCC at the Federal High Court, Lagos, were aimed at stalling the arraignment.

    Babalakin’s counsel, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN) and Dr Abiodun Layolu (SAN), said the EFCC was only making wild allegations against their client.

    Layolu said: “The continued siege on the first defendant (Babalakin) in the hospital by EFCC operatives can worsen his health condition and delay the arraignment.

    “His hypertension has been aggravated by the presence of these stern-looking operatives in the hospital premises.”

    Ayorinde dismissed the anti-graft agency’s claim that Babalakin was stalling the arraignment by filing various applications.

    He said: “The first defendant is entitled to all the protection of the law in the country.

    “If he sees that his rights are being trampled upon, he has the right to take the necessary legal steps.”

    The judge, after hearing their arguments, urged the EFCC to get an independent medical report on Babalakin’s health status and forward it to the court.

    Justice Onigbanjo adjourned the matter till January17 for hearing of the applications filed by defence counsel and for Babalakin’s possible arraignment.

    Babalakin and four others are facing the 27-count charge of money laundering.

    There was a twist to the case when the court granted Babalakin’s counsel, Mr Ebun Sofunde (SAN), permission to withdraw from the matter.

    Sofunde, in an application dated December 4, told the court that he was withdrawing his representation for “personal reasons”.

    Babalakin is facing the charges alongside Alex Okoh, Stabilini Visioni Ltd., Bi-Courtney Ltd. and Renix Nigeria Ltd.

    The EFCC alleged that the defendants fraudulently assisted Ibori to transfer various sums, through various parties, to Erin Aviation’s account in Mauritius for the purchase of a Challenger aircraft.

    The charges border on conspiracy, retention of proceeds of a criminal conduct and corruption.

    The defendants were to be arraigned on November 29, but Sofunde’s claim that Babalakin was on admission at LUTH stalled it.

    Also yesterday, the EFCC described as an abuse of court process a suit filed by Babalakin, seeking to prevent his trial for alleged money laundering offences.

    The commission argued that the process adopted by the lawyer -businessman in seeking to frustrate his scheduled trial was alien and unknown to the country’s law.

    EFCC queried the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, Lagos, before which the suit is pending, to hear it. The commission prayed the court to dismiss it for being incompetent.

    EFCC’s position is contained in both the notice of preliminary objection and counter affidavit it filed against the suit.

    Babalakin filed the suit to challenge the competence of a 27-count charge filed against him before the Lagos High Court, Ikeja and on which he was to be arraigned on November 29.

    His planned arraignment could not hold because of his absence. His lawyers told the court that he was ill, forcing the court to adjourn till yesterday.

    On the same day, Babalakin, via a motion ex-parte, obtained leave from Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos to challenge the legitimacy of the charge before the Ikeja court and seek an order halting his trial.

    Yesterday, the planned hearing of Babalakin’s suit and EFCC’s applications was prevented by the insistence of Wale Akoni (SAN) to be allowed to respond to EFCC’s applications.

    Akoni, in opposing EFCC’s lawyer Jacobs’ request to move his applications, said he was served on December 6, and that the court’s rules allow him seven days to react to the applications.

    He consequently sought adjournment to enable him respond, a request the court acceded to and adjourned till today.

    The EFCC objected to the court hearing the suit on five grounds, among which is that the court lacked the jurisdictional powers to hear the suit. It also argued that the suit, as presently framed, was incompetent.

    The EFCC contended that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process because the reliefs sought are not available under the law and that the suit does not disclose any reasonable cause of action. Abubakar Garba, an EFCC operative, who deposed to the counter affidavit, debunked Babalakin’s claim that the commission did not obtain the fiat to prosecute him.

  • Task Team accuses Head of Service of illegal payment

    The Abdulraheed Maina-led Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) yesterday raised the alarm over what it described as illegal payment of November pension fund to pensioners by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

    PRTT spokesman Hassan Salihu told reporters in Abuja that the Head of Service Pension Office paid November pension without recourse to its verified biometric database, which is authentic and devoid of irregularities.

    Pensioners in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, according to Salihu, have reported “the omissions and gross under payment of pensions in November, and the PRTT wishes to distance and dissociate itself from this payment as it was made without recourse to or knowledge of the Pension Reform Task Team.”

    This action, he said, is a flagrant disregard to the instruction of President Goodluck Jonathan who directed at the Economic Management Team meeting held on October 23 that “the PRTT’s restructuring of the Head of Service, Police pension offices be done to logistical conclusion.”

    Salihu, who vowed that the PRTT would investigate any fraud in the process of the alleged payment, said: “As usual, the PRTT prepared and processed the payment of November pension, but the Head of Service Pension Office went ahead and made payment of the pension without recourse to its verified biometric database, which is authentic and devoid of irregularities.

    “Even if the takeover is required by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, it ordinarily requires demarcation as to where the PRTT stops and where the Head of Service Office will take over. The implication is that the painstaking efforts by President Jonathan through the PRTT in the last 30 months will be bastardised and pension fraudulent activities will resurface, hence bringing down the achievements of President Jonathan’s Pension Reform Agenda.”

    Asked if the PRTT has met the Head of Service, Alhaji Sanni Saleh, on the development, Salihu said: “We have written to the Head of Service, but there has been no response till now.” He said: “The PRTT as at October 23 has recovered over N220 billion. Some of the recoveries are carried out through investigations by the PRTT team. We need people that can be trusted. We recover money monthly. We will continue to do the job. But I want to say that the PRTT has no running cost. I am from the ICPC and others are from other security agencies.”

     

  • ACN accuses Fed Govt of sabotaging Ribadu Task Force

    ACN accuses Fed Govt of sabotaging Ribadu Task Force

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Federal Government of sabotaging the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, headed by Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, following the controversy that marred the presentation of the task force’s report on Friday.

    In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the decision to appoint two members of the committee, Mr. Steve Oronsaye and Mr. Bernard Otti, to positions in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while the task force was still working on its assignment was a deliberate booby trap.

    It said if the Federal Government did not have an ulterior motive, it would have waited for the task force to complete its assignment before appointing Mr. Oronsaye into the board of the NNPC and Otti as the Director of Finance of the same establishment.

    “Alternatively, both men should have resigned their membership of the committee the moment they were given the plum jobs to avoid conflict of interest. The fact that they stayed on, only to disparage the report of the task force at the end, is an indication that they were meant to play the role of spoilers,” ACN said.

    The party said the temerity with which the duo sought to denigrate the report of the task force in the presence of President Goodluck Jonathan showed that they must have been acting a well-prepared script.

    “All these two men needed to have done, if indeed they did not agree with the report of the task force, was to write a minority report and present it to the President, instead of engaging in theatrics as they did at the presentation, in front of the whole world.

    “Unfortunately, the President’s efforts to downplay the whole disagreement and give the dissenters a soft landing did more to accentuate the damage done to the report by the two men. The President’s statement that becoming board members of the NNPC does not disqualify them from being members of the task force is an indication of his innermost thoughts on this issue,” it said.

    ACN said it was not surprised at how things turned out with the task force, having warned in a statement it issued on February 8 that naming credible people like Mr. Nuhu Ribadu to head the task force might just be part of government’s ploy to poach credible personalities from the opposition so that it could decimate it (opposition) and tarnish the well-earned credibility of such personalities.

    “Among our observations in that statement, we said: ‘There is also the possibility that booby-traps will be set for such credible personalities to guarantee their failure in their assignment, after which they will be ridiculed and dumped like a chump’’’, the party noted.

    It added: “We hate to say that our fears have been justified.”

    ACN stressed that the Federal Government is not interested in an effort to clean up corruption and mess in the oil sector, and that it is engaging in window dressing by setting up committees upon committees, whose outcomes will add to the growing list of reports that are now gathering dust at the Presidency.

  • Ribadu report: ANPP accuses Fed Govt of cover-up

    Ribadu report: ANPP accuses Fed Govt of cover-up

    The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) yesterday accused the Federal Government of trying to cover up the report of the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenues Task Force.

    The report showed that Nigeria lost about N4.64trillion over the last decade from cut-price deals struck between multinational oil companies and government officials.

    The Presidency, ANPP alleged, is plotting to hide the revelations by the committee claiming that “the Ribadu Committee had not formally submitted its report to the appropriate authority.”

    In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Emma Eneukwu, the party advised the Federal Government to own up to what it described as the decade-old daylight robbery.

    It also called on the National Assembly to look into the matter and ensure that the committee do not cover up any vital information that could lead to the prosecution of indicted government officials.

    It said: “The ANPP received with deep concern the widely reported news about a leaked report of the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenues Task Force which says Nigeria lost about N4.64trillion over the last decade from cut-price deals struck between multinational oil companies and government officials.

    “Our great party also noted that the Presidency has since tried to water down the gravity of these revelations by saying that because the Ribadu Committee had not formally submitted its report to the appropriate authority, the report in the public domain is suspicious.

    “On the other hand, we believe that the people have a lot to fear from the government if 24 million barrels of crude oil can leave the shores of this nation under suspicious circumstances.

    “We are also aware that coupled with the Reuters report of the deep graft in the NNPC, what we are faced with is capable of ridiculing us in the comity of nations.

    “We also call on the National Assembly to look into this indicting report in order to ascertain the true situation of things, and most importantly to ensure that the so-called committee set up to look into the Ribadu Committee’s report does not cover up vital facts which will help to exorcise the demon of corruption.”

    A civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) to withdraw any invitation for the participation of Nigerian government officials.

    In a statement by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation said: “Government officials should not be allowed to participate in an important event like the IACC meeting.

    “Senior government officials and multinational oil companies act with almost absolute impunity and continue to divert oil and gas revenues into private pockets rather than for the common good.

    “ It is not only immoral but also unlawful and amounts to an outright stealing of the commonwealth of our people and a serious violation of human rights.”

  • PDP group accuses Folarin of anti-party activities

    A group within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, the Synergy Democratic Group, yesterday accused former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin of “serial anti-party activities”.

    The group was reacting to Folarin’s congratulatory message to Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko on his re-election.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Diran Majaro, the group said: “Unless a stop is put to the former Senate Leader’s penchant for sitting in a house and defecating in that same house, he would continue to believe that intra-political treachery is a classical example of political behaviour in Nigeria.

    “Our party must put a stop to Folarin’s penchant for anti-party activities. This was what he did in the 2011 elections, when he subverted the PDP’s will by supporting and clandestinely canvassing the candidature of his cousin.

    “Folarin is travelling the same road by congratulating the candidate of a rival party in an election the PDP participated in and lost, and which the party in Ondo State had sworn to contest at the courts.

    “In his congratulatory message, Folarin said performance, rather than political godfatherism, was the determinant of a leader’s relationship with the people.

    “If indeed performance is the deciding factor, we want Folarin to tell the world what he achieved as a PDP Senator for four years and Senate Leader for another four years. Folarin’s stay at the National Assembly was political barrenness.

    “Folarin is praising his friend, Mimiko, while our party and its commendable performance in the Ondo polls are being rubbished by this fair-weather politician.”

    The group urged the party’s national leadership to probe Folarin’s alleged anti-party activities.

  • Human Rights Watch accuses Govt, Boko Haram of abuses

    Human Rights Watch accuses Govt, Boko Haram of abuses

    Islamist sect Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces might have committed crimes against humanity during three years of conflict that has killed at least 2,800 people, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.

    Crimes against humanity are offences that can lead to prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    Boko Haram says it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, and its fighters have killed hundreds in bomb and gun attacks since launching an uprising in 2009. The sect has become the No. 1 security threat to Africa’s top energy producer.

    The report documents multiple cases of abuses by Islamists, including brutal killings of Christian civilians and the assassination of Muslim clerics who criticise them.

    Some of these attacks were “deliberate acts leading to population ‘cleansing’ based on religion or ethnicity”. The ICC defines crimes against humanity as grave offences that are “widespread or systematic”.

    There was no immediate reaction from Boko Haram.

    The report also accused Nigeria’s joint military and police joint taskforce (JTF) of “physical abuse, secret detentions, extortion, burning of houses, stealing money during raids, and extrajudicial killings of suspects”.

    “Despite allegations of widespread security force abuses, the Nigerian authorities have rarely held anyone accountable … further solidifying the culture of impunity for violence.”

    The study came as Nigeria’s military tried to fend off accusations of a shooting spree in the insurgent stronghold of Maiduguri on Monday that residents say killed at least 30 civilians.

    Asked about the report, JTF spokesman for Borno state, of which Maiduguri is the capital, reiterated a statement on Wednesday that there was no evidence of such abuses.

    “There is no established or recorded case of extrajudicial killing, torture, arson or arbitrary arrest by the JTF in Borno state”, where most of the violence has occurred, he said.

    “It is important to state that terrorists killed were during gun battles with the JTF troops”, not executions, he said.

    The military campaign against Boko Haram has had some success – limiting Boko Haram’s ability to carry out large scale attacks, but the heavy-handedness has angered locals.

    “These killings, and clashes with the group, have raised the death toll of those killed by Boko Haram or security forces to more than 2,800 people since 2009,” the HRW report said.

  • Lawmaker accuses Okorocha of abandoning flood victims

    The lawmaker representing Ohaji-Egbema/Oguta Federal Constituency, Gerald Irona, has criticised Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha for his alleged indifference to the plight of flood victims.

    The lawmaker noted that the governor’s visit to the floods was not enough to reduce the sufferings of the internally displaced persons.

    He said the visit should have been followed up by corresponding action that would reduce the victims’ suffering.

    During an assessment tour of flooded communities in Oguta Local Government Area, led by House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, Irona noted that the affected communities are in oil producing areas.

    According to him, despite the huge revenue derived from the area by the state government, the communities still remains underdeveloped.

    The lawmaker, who is also the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Gas, said the government ought to provide initial relief measures before the intervention of the Federal Government.

    Decrying the exclusion of Imo State from a meeting of the flood disaster states, Irona said there was a disconnect between the state and the Federal Government.

    He said this was responsible for the slow development of the state, especially in the oil producing areas.

    Irona said: “Our people have continued to be marginalised in Imo State, despite the fact that we are an oil producing state. The governor came to Oguta to assess the level of damage, but after that, nothing has been heard from the government. My people are displaced and they face the danger of epidemics.

    “We know what Anambra and Delta State Governments have been doing to assist the flood victims. But in Imo State, it has been politicised. That’s why the governor could come to Egbema without a bar of soap for the victims.

    “We are appealing to the Federal Government and other interventionist agencies to come to our aid.”

    Ihedioha, who expressed shock at the level of the devastation, said the House of Representatives would carry out a comprehensive assessment of the 22 states that were ravaged by floods recently.

    The lawmaker said the extent of damage to the states would be included in next year’s Environmental Hazard Budget.

    He explained that the visit was to enable him have a first-hand assessment of the damage the flood caused, adding that he would submit his report the House for action.

    Ihedioha, who donated N800, 000 cash to the victims, regretted that the floods destroyed homes and public institutions.

    The lawmaker said the House would engage the executive for solution to the menace.

  • Kwara ACN accuses govt of mismanagement

    THE Kwara State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party-led government of wrecking the state with its “financial recklessness and corruption”, days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) barred banks from granting loans to the state.

    The Chairman, Kayode Olawepo, said in a statement issued in Ilorin that the CBN hammer was inevitable in view of what the ACN called “the financial recklessness and corruption of the immediate past and present PDP governments in the state.”

    He added: “It is interesting that this blacklisting comes amid empty boasts by the Kwara State Government officials that the state is viable and is in no financial mess. It is an embarrassing situation, though it is a case of a chicken coming home to roost. We saw it coming and warned against it.”

    Olawepo said ACN’s findings showed that the state was owed N6.8 billion and was short-listed for the penalty following its failure to repay its backlog of loans, which led to the purchase of the debts at an agreed price by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

    The party called on the anti-graft agencies to probe the alleged mismanagement that led to the state being declared unviable by the CBN, and bring to prosecuted anybody found wanting.

    The statement added: “The CBN circular said the state and others in the same condition have no viable means of paying their loans and so cannot be allowed to borrow again. In other words, the 45-year-old Kwara State is not a viable entity! This revelation confirms our repeated alarm that the state is being wrecked under the PDP government. No thanks to financial recklessness, misplaced priorities and corruption.

    “The fact that the CBN doubts the state’s ability to repay the loan confirms our position that much of the so-called projects embarked upon are unviable and are mere conduit pipes with no benefit for the people.

    “To underscore the recklessness of the PDP administration in Kwara, while the state fails to pay salaries and cannot pay pensions, it recently set up a committee to celebrate Nigeria’s 52nd independence anniversary in a grand style. Also, while the majority of the people live in poverty, this same PDP-led government is building a mansion for former Governor Bukola Saraki and using the state funds to bail out ‘thriving’ Shonga Farm, which it once declared as a private concern.

    “On the contrary, other states that receive comparable federal allocations don’t have problems paying salaries and have not been declared unviable by the CBN simply because they have not mismanaged their funds in the way the PDP-led government has mismanaged the funds of the Kwara people.

    “We urge the PDP government to stop living on a begging bowl – which is responsible for this mess. It should instead show genuine leadership to bring out the best in the people who remain the most potent source of success.

    “We also enjoin the law enforcement agencies to investigate this allegation of financial mismanagement and bring to book whoever is responsible for bringing the state to its knees in this manner. Transparency and good governance demand this and Kwara people have a right to know what has happened to their funds.”