The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ahmed Saleh

  • Omar Assar’s absence won’t Team Egypt – Saleh

    Egypt’s Captain Ahmed Saleh has declared that the absence of Omar Assar will not stop team from aiming for the top spot in the men’s team event of the ongoing ITTF African Championships

    Saleh who is the most experienced player in the team said  that it was obvious that the absence of Omar has adversely affected the confidence of the team, but added that they are determined to claim the title ahead of others in Mauritius.

    “I must tell you that it will be really difficult without Omar Assar because his presence motivates us most times. But we are focused on winning the men’s title because we want to go back to the World Team Cup where we made history by winning the bronze medal in 2013.

    There is no doubt that Nigeria is our greatest threat but I must tell you that it is going to be a different scenario entirely because matches are not the same in table tennis. You can be the best player but on certain circumstances things might not go your way in some matches. So we are hopeful that we can do it without Omar Assar,” he said.

    The former African champion added that the inclusion of three young players in the team is an avenue to groom them into the main team after the retirement of El-Sayed Lashin earlier this year.

    “The young players are the best in Egypt for now and we want to integrate them into the team with the hope that they will cement their places and remain permanent members of the team. I just also let you know that they are dangerous players and you must watch out for them in the singles,” Saleh said.

     

     

  • NJC poise to stop pension fraud

    The Executive Secretary, National Judicial Council  ( NJC )Ahmed Saleh has disclosed that the council is determined to rid the it’s system of any form of irregularities as it has paid eighty per cent pension arrears to retirees of Federal Judiciary from 2013 to date.

    Saleh made this known on Tuesday, shortly after inspecting enrollment exercise for retirees of the federal judiciary in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa and Kaduna states respectively.

    According to him, payment of monthly pension and outstanding arrears has been one of his major priority since his assumption to office.

    “When I assumed office in 2017, I didn’t mince words, I made it clear that pension administration is one of my priority areas and as such all operational and structural frameworks must be put in place to ensure timely and prompt payment of monthly pension, clear outstanding arrears of pension owed, have a reliable and accurate data of pensioners and deployment of a robust platforms to detect and do away with ghost pensioners,”

    “The pension administration in NJC has recorded remarkable achievements since my assumption. These include introduction of E-monitoring solution to the accounting processes, -voucher, introduction of Direct Data Capture machine, computerised computation system and contributory pension module that will aid in minimizing errors or omissions in preparation of remittance to pension fund administrators,” Mr. Saleh revealed.

    Further more, he added that, the council has set up a data base centre for the Pension department and organised series of pre-retirement training for the staff of federal judiciary with the sole aim of preparing them for life after service.

    The council has also established a toll-free complaint line where pensioners can lodge in their complaints in order to a avoid duplications by blocking any loopholes against fraudulent acts.

    Responding to the legal backing of handling pension by the commission, Saleh said the administration of pension of federal judicial officers was transferred to the National Judicial Council via the Pension Rights of Federal judicial officer ( administration of pension) Act 2007.

    He explained that with the enactment of the act, the NJC was mandated to cater for funding of it’s pension costs through budgetary process which hitherto was being handled by the office of the head of civil service of the federation and that challenges such as inadequate funding and misappropriation of pension funds to delays in payment of benefits, lack of authentic records of pensioners, existence of ghost pensioners among others have been taken care of.

    “In 2013, the National pension commission also transferred the administration of accrued rights of all federal judiciary staff to the NJC and thereby making it the responsibility of NJC to source the funding of all accrued rights of federal judiciary staff.

    “Consequent upon this His Lordship, the Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Ononghen approved the upgrading of the pension unit to a full fledged department,” the Executive Secretary revealed.

    An enrollee from Court of Appeal Kaduna, Asabe Bawa expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise.

  • ‘It’s unlawful for judges to engage in business while in service’ 

    …Prosecution tenders N4.3m cash as exhibit in court

     

    The Chief Judge of the Supreme Court, Ahmed Saleh testified as the second prosecution witness Thursday in the on-going trial of Justice Sylvester Ngwuta.

    Justice Ngwuta of the Supreme Court is being tried before the Federal High Court, Abuja by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation.

    The judge, in whose houses in Abuja and Abakaliki, the Department of State Service (DSS) claimed to have recovered huge sum of money, is being tried on sundry charges including money laundering.

    Thursday, Saleh, who led in evidence by the lead prosecution lawyer, Mrs. Olufemi Fatunde, said the law bars serving judicial officers to engage in business.

    Saleh’s position was in response to a question whether Justices of the Supreme Court were allowed to do business while still in service.

    Saleh said, “I know under the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers, judicial officers are not allowed to engage directly in businesses.”

    The office of the AGF had earlier last month withdrew a N2billion criminal charge filed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) against Saleh and two official the Supreme Court, claiming it did so they have Saleh testify for the prosecution in Justice Ngwuta’s trial.

    The former prosecuting lawyer in Justice Ngwuta’s trial, Charles Adeogu-Phillips, who was also leading the prosecution team in the Saleh case, before its sudden withdrawal, frowned at the AGF’s decision.

    Adeogun-Phillips later cited the withdrawal of the case against Saleh as part of his reason for withdrawing from Justice Ngwuta’s trial.

    Saleh further said Thursday, that said Justice Ngwuta was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court around June or July 2011.

    He said between when Justice Ngwuta was appointed in 2011 and September 2016, a period of five years, he earned a total of £50,000, $196,000, N119m.

    the incomes accruable to Justices of the Supreme Court comprised their salaries and allowances as well as air fare and estacodes paid to them when they travel abroad.

    He said Justices of the apex court were also earn £10,000 for medical check-up annually, and were entitled to estacode of $1,300 per night whenever they were on a foreign trip.

    Saleh said Justice Ngwuta, as a Justice of the Supreme Court, was earning N751,087 as monthly salary and N710,000 as other allowances monthly.

    H added that within the last five years, Justice Ngwuta earned about  £50,000 as medical allowances, $196,000 as medical allowances, N8m for air tickets for medical trips; another N8m as air fares for conferences abroad and N103m as salaries.

    The witness said: “His Lordship has travelled five times from 2011 till September 2016 for medical check-up. And each year he has received £10,000 making a total of £50,000 for five years.

    “His lordship was also paid a little above N8m for air tickets for the medical trips. For the various conferences that he attended over the period. His lordship was also paid a little above N8m for air tickets.

    “The total estacodes paid to him for various foreign trips is $196,000.The total salaries nd allowances his lordship collected during the period is a little over N103m,” Saleh said.

    Answering questions from the defence, under cross-examination, Saleh said no law barred a Justice of the Supreme Court from owning properties.

    The witness said since he had been in office, he had never received any report of corruption allegation against Ngwuta.

    He added: “No, in the course of my duty, I did not receive any report that the defendant engaged in business other than his work as a Justice,” the witness said.

    Mrs. Fatunde, before calling Saleh to the witness stand, tendered through the first prosecution witness, Nwamba Chukwuebuka, N4, 365,840 cash, which was said to have been recovered from Justice Ngwuta’s house in Abakaliki.

    The N4, 365,840 cash wrapped in a cellophane and loaded in a brown bag. The bag and another ash-coloured one, containing documents, were also admitted as exhibits.

    The judge ordered that the bags with the money should be kept by the DSS for safekeeping.

    Mrs. Fatunde also tendered the statements made to the DSS by the witness. The witnesses statements dated, November 12 and November 13 and 17, 2016, were admitted as exhibits without objection.

    Chukwuebuka, a building contractor allegedly engaged by Justice Ngwuta to build some houses in Abakaliki,  had earlier while testifying, spoken about three bags containing N27m, but that substantial part of the money was expended on the building projects before the bags were discovered by the operatives of the DSS.

    The witness said what was left of the money was counted by DSS operatives in his presence at Abakaliki home of Justice Ngwuta and it was N4,365,840.

    Lead defence lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN) was allowed to further cross-examine Chukwuebuka, Who confirmed that the bags and their contents belonged to Justice Nfwuta.

    He said no other person has claimed ownership of the bags since they were handed to him.

    Earlier at resumption of proceedings, the prosecution had the defendants re-arraigned on an amended charge of 12-count, in t place of the previous charge of 16 counts.

    The trial continues Friday.‎

     

  • ITTF Championships: Egypt quakes over Toriola’s arrival

    ITTF Championships: Egypt quakes over Toriola’s arrival

    The arrival of Segun Toriola in Morocco late on Monday has thrown Egypt into technical confusion at the ongoing ITTF African Senior Championships holding in Agadir, Morocco.

    Prior to the arrival of Toriola, who is regarded as the most successful table tennis player in the continent, the Egyptians were relieved that they would have an easy ride over Nigeria with only Aruna Quadri as the only threat in the team.

    But late on Monday, when the North African heard about the arrival of Toriola, their camp has been thrown into confusion with some of their players describing it as a huge challenge for them to reclaim their title in the men’s team event.

    Even some of the Egyptian coaches were eager to make an enquiry about the players that would be presenting for the tournament while they took their time to size up Nigerian players like Olajide Omotayo, Nurudeen Hassan and Jamiu Azeez.

    They were also convinced that they would have a smooth win over the Nigerians after watching the West African team sweating hard to defeat Tunisia 3-1 in their group match on Monday.

    One of the most experienced players in the Egyptian team, Ahmed Saleh told NationSport that Toriola is a dangerous player with a lot of experience, adding that Toriola’s present form might pose a lot of problem to them in the team event.

    The Egyptian team are eager to reclaim their title after losing the men’s team title to Nigeria at the 2015 African Games.