Lagos State House of Assembly has confirmed former Editor of The Nation newspaper, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso as a commissioner.
Also confirmed is All Progressives Congress(APC) Publicity Secretary in the state, Joe Igbokwe.
But the lawmakers denied the confirmation of three nominees.
Those denied include Mr. Ajayi Bembe, Mr. George Obafemi and Prince Olanrewaju Sanusi were denied confirmation.
Details shortly…
Commissioner of Police in Anambra state, John Abang on Monday denied releasing the Eke Awka market leader, Emeka Agummadu on the order of the state government.
The market leader, a.k.a Baby Awka, was arrested alongside three others over alleged sponsorship of cult-related killings in the area.
He was however released by the police the following day.
Fielding questions from newsmen, Abang debunked the allegation that the Command released the market leader on the intervention of the state governor, Willie Obiano.
He also refuted payment of N15million by the suspect to secure his bail, just ask he denied knowledge of his membership with the All progressives Grand Alliance.
He said, “Why will the governor ask me to release him when it was a bailable offence that doesn’t need money to secure?
“N15million is a lot of money and nobody paid any money for his release.
“I don’t know him as an APGA member but a suspected cultist. He has made statement with the Police and we’re still investigating.”
He said the suspects would be charged after investigations were concluded.
Meanwhile, 49 suspected cultists arrested by the Command’s Special Ant-Cultism Squad (SPACS) were paraded by the police at the command headquarters.
Parading the suspects, CP Abang said the total figure of suspected cultists arrested in less than a week in different parts of the state were 85.
He, however, explained that 36 of them were screened out, 10 charged, while 10 others were placed under supervision being under-aged, adding that 29 were still being investigated.
Activist lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) on Monday said the government of President Muhammadu Buhari knows those causing unrest in the country and should go after them.
He spoke at the Coalition for Revolution’s (CORE) working consultative assembly themed “Democracy, state repression and the state of insecurity in Nigeria,” held at the Lagos Centre, Oregun.
The event which was billed to start at 11 am did not commence as scheduled following obstruction by policemen said to have barricaded the venue and allegedly arrested three persons.
Condemning the alleged arrest as well as that of Omoyele Sowore and other #RevolutionNow protesters, Falana said the federal government should deploy security forces to tackle terrorism, banditry kidnapping and other crimes that breach public peace and not protesters.
He said: “Our right to assembly and associate peacefully in the country is constitutional. I want to assure you that we are going to ensure that all the rights of Nigerian people that we have fought for and won will not be allowed to be eroded by any regime in this country.
“When we were told that we will not be allowed to meet, my mind went back 30-years-ago when we had the Buhari, Babangida and other juntas. We defeated the regimes and I want to assure you all that any other dictator will not be allowed to raise their head again in Nigeria.
“I heard that about three persons have been arrested. But I want to assure you that after the programme, I will demand for their release because they have not committed any offence. I want to assure you that all those that were arrested and charged during the #RevolutionNow for unlawful assembly and peace will be given adequate defense at the court of law.
“The President Muhammadu Buhari led administration knows those that are breaching the peace of the country- terrorist, armed robbers, coup plotters and others.
“Those who went to the street to protest in exercise of their right to assembly and complain against injustice, corruption and maladministration in the country cannot be said to have breached the law of the country.
“Therefore, the man (Sowore) who was arrested and detained before the protest will be adequately defended at the law court. This is because he has committed no offense.”
Falana reminded the gathering how Nigerians fought for their rights even under the colonial era, recalling how nationalists like Chief Anthony Enahoro chaired lectures organised on the need for revolution.
“So, let the authority in Abuja know that the call for revolution is not new in Nigeria. Political leaders in this country have over time called for revolution and they have never been arrested and prosecuted. If there is a mistake now, such must be corrected. This country belongs to all of us.
“Before today, they claimed that we must not engage in any activity on the street. We are trying to gather inside the hall, they claimed that we cannot do that. But because of our resolve, we won.
Continue on Page 2
A sacked Inspector of Police, Hassan Abubakar, arrested in Anambra state, on Monday gave reasons for alleged impersonation as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP),
The 35-year-old man was arrested impersonating as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), along with a member of his gang, one Ismaila Ahmed, 37, in Ihiala by operatives of the state Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The suspect, a native of Otukpo in Benue state, told newsmen that he was forced to go into crime out of frustration after he was dismissed from the Police Force in 2015 for ‘miss-firing.’
Abubakar who was paraded at the police headquarters alongside other 85 suspected cultists, said he had to take to the crime in order to fend for his family after waiting endlessly for his reinstatement following his dismissal.
He said, “I was demised by police as an Inspector for misfiring. I was on a special duty from R15,42 squadron Zamafra State to Lagos along Lekki pensulla, near Moroko police division.
“There was information that armed robbers were coming towards our direction and we stopped the vehicle but they refused and in high speed.
“By the time we knew it, they shoot one of my Inspector and I returned fire, the vehicle somersaulted three times and Police recovered three pistols in the vehicle.
“Finally, it was discovered that one of the occupants was the son of the former governor of River state Peter Odili.
“When the police dismissed me, I waited to be reinstated and since I have nothing to do and I have five children I have to be wearing police uniform to escort motors.
“Whenever I see escort, I will follow them to get money to feed them.
He said luck, however, ran out on him when one Godwin Abba sold a corolla car to him and transferred N800,000,00 from his Eco bank account to his Fidelity bank account, without knowing the car was stolen and has a tracker.
“Since I cannot drive, I have to engage a driver. I wore police uniform so that the custom will not disturb us since there was no duty paid on the motor.
“I used the uniform to influence security operatives to pass us. Along the line, I was arrested along Ihiala road after my explanation, nobody wants to hear or listen to me. I know who sold the car to me and I can identify him.”
Abubakar called on the police to thoroughly investigate the case, insisting that he had never handled rifles since he was dismissed from Police.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the revelations of variances in tax revenue collections by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was a confirmation that the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency had been neck-deep in corruption and looting of national patrimony.
In a statement Monday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said the discovery of variances in tax remittances has vindicated its concerns about underhand dealings and frittering of monies collected as taxes in the last four years.
The party said Nigerians were not deceived by the “desperation” by agents of the Presidency to cover their complicity by seeking a fall guy in the Executive Chairman of FIRS, Babatunde Fowler.
The PDP further stated that a critical study of the leaked correspondence from the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, to the FIRS Chairman at the wake of the revelations of financial discrepancies at FIRS, totally betrayed the complicity of the “cabal” in the Presidency.
The statement said, “The correspondence also further confirms that our nation and her economy have been in the strangulating grips of a corrupt cabal, who has evidently hijacked the statutory roles and responsibilities of agencies of government, leading to the crippling of our system in the last four years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s misrule.
“It’s appalling that the Buhari Presidency has allowed its cabal a field day to loot our common patrimony, leading to the crushing economic hardship in the land, which is now worsening, with the anti-people ban on FOREX for food by the Buhari administration.
“The stealing of our taxes by APC agents has brought so much anguish to Nigerians, who suffer the brunt of collapsed infrastructure, decay of social amenities and a crippled national economy under President Buhari”.
The main opposition party urged the National Assembly to investigate the handling of taxes collected by the FIRS in the last four years, with a view to taking urgent steps to recover the “stolen funds” and channel such to projects that have direct bearings on the welfare of Nigerians”, the statement added.
A former Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to refuse an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking the final forfeiture of her 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised golden iPhone.
The court on July 5 ordered the temporary forfeiture of the items valued at $40million (about N14.4billion), which were recovered from the former minister’s home.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo ruled on an ex-parte application in which the commission said the items were suspected to be bought with illicitly acquired funds.
But, in a counter-motion filed through her lawyer Prof Awa Kalu (SAN), Mrs. Alison-Madueke urged the court to order that the items be returned to her.
She accused the EFCC of gaining access to her apartment illegally and taking the items without a court order.
Besides, she said seizing her jewellery was a violation of her fundamental right to own property under sections 43 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution and “to appropriate them at her discretion”.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke, said to be under investigation in the United Kingdom, urged the court to reject EFCC’s prayer to permanently forfeit the jewellery and the golden iPhone to the Federal Government.
The former minister contended that the court lacked jurisdiction to grant the interim forfeiture order.
According to her, EFCC did not charge her with any crime or serve her with any summons.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke said the temporary forfeiture order was prejudicial to her because she was denied fair hearing.
Hearing on the application was stalled on Monday due to Prof Kalu’s absence.
A lawyer from his chambers, Chukwuka Obidike, said the SAN was handling an election petitions case.
He sought an adjournment.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke is the defendant in the application filed pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other related Offences Act No. 14, 2006.
The EFCC said it found and recovered the jewellery and the customised golden iPhone “on the premises of the respondent”.
It added that it reasonably suspected that the former minister acquired them with “proceeds of unlawful activities.”
According to a schedule attached to the application, the jewellery, categorised into 33 sets, include “419 expensive bangles and 315 expensive rings.
Others are 304 expensive earrings, 267 expensive necklaces, 189 expensive wristwatches and 174 expensive necklaces and earrings.
The rest are 78 expensive bracelets, 77 expensive brooches, and 74 expensive pendants.
EFCC said: “The respondent’s known and provable lawful income is far less than the properties sought to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
Justice Oweibo ordered that the 2,149 pieces of jewelries and the customised gold iPhone be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government.
The judge ordered the anti-graft agency to publish the forfeiture order in a national newspaper.
It is “for the respondent or anyone who is interested in the property sought to be forfeited to appear before this honourable court to show cause within 14 days why a final forfeiture order of the said properties should not be made in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
Justice Oweibo adjourned until August 29 for hearing.
Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, on Monday, said Zimbabwe plans to borrow 1.9 billion dollars from the Group of 7 industrialised states to clear its debts to the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank.
Mthuli said immediately after clearing the debt, Zimbabwe would seek 1 billion dollars from the two multilateral financial institutions to repay the G7 debt, the Herald newspaper reported.
The minister said Zimbabwe also expected the Paris Club, whom it owes 2.8 billion dollars, to forgive part of the debt.
The G7 is made up of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Japan.
Mthuli said Zimbabwe’s total external debt stood at approximately 8.5 billion dollars as at end of June this year.
The debts, owed for over a decade now, have prevented the country from accessing fresh capital from the multilateral financial institutions to help revive the economy.
This is despite the fact that the country in 2016 cleared its 108 million dollars arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Mthuli said Zimbabwe will need to first complete a staff monitored programme (SMP) with the IMF to restore sound and sustainable macro-economic fundamentals to be in good standing for fresh credit.
The SMP is Zimbabwe’s second in five years, and will run for 10 months from June 2019 to March 2020.
A heavy rainstorm around Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State has damaged the bridge linking the LGA and neighbouring Madagaili LGA to the rest of the state.
Our correspondent gathered on Monday that the downpour which started on Friday night and continued to Saturday morning affected the Dilchim bridge in Michika LGA so badly that the bridge had remained impassable.
The Dilchim bridge had been one of those in the Madagali-Michika axis bombed by Boko Haram insurgents in 2014 when the insurgents took over seven LGAs in the northern part of Adamawa State, including Madagali and Michika, but although it remained in a bad state as it was yet to be reconstructed, a makeshift passage was created around it, which the weekend flood destroyed.
“Vehicles coming to Michika or Madagali have to stop just before the bridge and those seeking to go out of Michika or Madagali similarly cannot pass to the other side, so we are restricted,” a Michika resident, Florence James, told our correspondent on Monday afternoon.
Another Michika resident however said some travellers had started to find some means of crossing from one end of the bridge to another.
Sunday Stephen, a resident of Bazza, a community close to the Dilchim bridge, said people were using ladders placed over flowing water to get across.
“It is a precarious way to move over but people who have the heart and feel they must get back home or move on to wherever they are going are resorting to this method,” Sunday Stephen said.
Speaking about the development on Monday, the Director General of Media and Communication of Government House, Yola, Mr Solomon Kumangar, said Governor Ahmadu Fintiri had alerted the Federal Government on need for intervention.
Kumangar specified that the governor had extracted a pledge from the permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Works to construct an alternative passageway with immediate effect.
A contract had been given by the Federal Government in 2016 for the reconstruction of the Dilchim bridge and nearby Kudzum bridge, both bombed by Boko Haram two years earlier, but execution of the contract had since then remained in limbo.
The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Nasarawa State has reserved judgement on the petition filed by Emmanuel Omnugadu, governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the victory of Governor Abdullahi Sule in the 2019 elections.
Justice Abba Mohammed, Chairman of the tribunal stated this on Monday in Lafia, during the submission of final written addresses by counsels to the petitioner and the respondents.
The Chairman therefore said that the tribunal would communicate to all parties in the petition on the day the judgment would be deliver.
Earlier, Ola Olanikpekun (SAN), led counsel to the PDP candidate, said that there was no compliance with the accreditation requirements in more than 90 percent of the polling units during the March 9, governorship election in the state.
He said that they have tendered in evidence to the tribunal certified copies of voters register and the total votes that returned the governor has not tally with the accreditation.
“If there is no compliance with the accreditation therefore the law says that the election is invalid and should be declared as such.
“The election conducted on March 9, in Nasarawa State has not complied with accreditation process and that is what we are holding unto.
“We want the tribunal to declare the election invalid and order a fresh election,” the counsel added.
On their parts, Hassan Liman (SAN) and Mr. Adebayo Adelogun (SAN) counsels to All Progressives Congress (APC) and the governor argued that the petition should be dismissed for lack of merit.
The duo argued that the petitioner claimed that accreditation was not carried out was just a figment of their imagination.
They therefore said that the petition be dismissed and the tribunal should award cost to the petitioner for wasting the time of the tribunal.
Many admission seekers into the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom state were Monday frustrated and stranded as the university failed to conduct its earlier admission screening exercise.
The development followed the strike embarked upon by the Non Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) which has crippled academic and administrative activities in federal universities nationwide.
Our correspondent who was at the main and town campuses of the university saw hundreds of candidates waiting hopelessly at various faculties of the institution yesterday.
UNIUYO chapter chairman of NASU, Comrade Ime Edigheyong Edet, explained that the warning strike became necessary following Federal Government’s refusal to pay areas of Earned Allowances since 2013.
According to him, the warning strike, which is expected to end on Friday, was a prelude to the total strike that would commence soon after the review of the action on Friday, “if the Federal Government fails to heed to our demands”.
He disclosed that the Federal Government was owing non-teaching employees over N30billion in all the Federal Universities in Earned Allowances between 2013 to 2016, adding that the remaining arrears were yet to be computed.
He listed the cumulative debt arising from these earned allowances to include over time, travel allowances and other entitlements, saying “the refusal of the Federal Government to listen to the voices of reason has forced NASU at the national level to call members out on this warning strike”.
The NASU UNIUYO chair, who also expressed worry over the Federal Government refusal to review and implement the 2009 agreement on Earned Allowances, explained that “this agreement was supposed to be reviewed upward every three years”.