The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigeria

  • Five-yr-old girl needs N500,000 for surgery

    A five-year old girl, Mercy Aka suffering from swollen stomach diagnosed as Ventral Hernia by doctors is seriously in need of a sum of N500,000 for surgery.

    It was said that Mercy had been taken to several hospitals in the last five months.

    Read Also: 35 year old lady needs N5+ million for hip replacement and plastic surgery

    Doctors at the Nigeria Christian Hospital in Nlagu in Abia State said the N500,000 required would cover the cost of the surgery, treatment and drugs.

    Mercy’s parents, Mr and Mrs Utume Nor-Aka, both indigenes of Taraba State, however pleaded with kind hearted Nigerians to assist them with funds to save their daughter from untimely death.

    Donations can be forwarded to a Union Bank account no: 0107296941 with the name, Mercy Aka, while her parents can be reached on 09013355235.

  • Court jails Lagos farmer 10 years for raping, impregnating daughter

    A Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced a Lagos farmer, Yesiru Onajobi, to 10 years in prison for raping and impregnating his 14-year-old daughter (name withheld).

    Justice Sule Hassan convicted Onajobi following a six-year trial

    The judge said the prosecution successfully proved the charges of rape and unlawful canal knowledge made against the farmer.

    Read Also: Mobile Money agent rapes’ colleague to death in Ogun

    Justice Hassan held: “The prosecution has been able to establish the charges against the defendant. “I have also listened to the plea of allocutos made by the defendant’s counsel, though, she did not say much.

    “The offences that the defendant is charged with are very serious offences, consequently, I hereby sentenced you, Yesiru Onajobi to 10 years imprisonment on each count without option of fine.

    “The terms of imprisonment are to run concurrently. However, the period spent in custody shall be deducted from the jail terms”.

    Onajobi was arraigned by the National Agency for Prohibition and Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), on July 18, 2013.

    The offences, according to NAPTIP, contravened Sections 13 (1) and 18 (a) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement Act 2003.

  • Hoodlums kill policeman, seven vigilantes in Niger

    A policeman and seven members of a local vigilance group have been killed by gunmen in Kusherki community in Rafi local government area of Niger State.

    The gunmen were said to have ambushed the victims who were on their way to the village after receiving distress calls that the community was under the siege of suspected hoodlums.

    Sources said hoodlums engaged the security men in exchange of gunfire that lasted three hours, during which the unnamed policeman died.

    Read Also: Policeman killed in Ekiti bank robbery

    Policemen were said to have received a distress call that some armed cattle rustlers had invaded Lamba Waya village at Pandogari, which prompted the deployment of a joint team of police, civil defence personnel and vigilance group members to track down the hoodlums.

    Witnesses said the gunmen men escaped with the rustled cattle leaving seven vigilantes and one policeman dead.

    Confirming the report, Police spokesman, Muhammad Abubakar noted that the cattle rustlers were also badly injured during the exchange of gunfire.

    He disclosed that security forces had been drafted to the area with a view to apprehending the culprits.

    “Our men are following the blood trails and combing the areas as we speak, “ Abubakar added.

  • Gunmen abduct two senior NSCDC officials

    Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted two senior personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    The two officials were identified as the Area Commander of Edo North Command, Francis Okunwe and Divisional Officer of Irrua, Albert Eguavoen, a Chief Superintended of Corps (CSC

    They were on their way to Benin city, the state capital, when they were abducted at Ewosaa before Ekpon near Ebele in Igueben Local Government Area.

    Read Also: NSCDC nab 20-year old woman for hawking N.3m naira notes

    Sources at NSCDC said the two officials travelled through Igueben due to the bad state of the Benin-Auchi-Okenne highway.

    It was said that the abduction happened on Friday at about 2 pm and the Toyota Sienna van they were travelling in had been recovered from where it was abandoned.

    “They were on their way to Benin but because of the bad state of portions along the Auchi – Benin road, they decided to pass through Igueben to cut off the bad spots but unfortunately the incident happened around Ewossa before Ekpon.’’

    Confirming the incident, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Danmallam Mohammed, said security agencies had been directed to apprehend the abductors.

  • Lagos: Baale denies involvement in land grabbing

    The Baale of Cardoso area of Ipaja, a Lagos suburb, Chief Moroof Owonla, aka Kaka, on Thursday, denied any involvement in land grabbing activities within the Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area of the state.

    A statement by his Media Adviser, Chief Babajide Osokoya, described Owonla as a consummate businessman in various sectors of the country’s economy, who would not engage in such unlawful activities.

    According to the statement: “Apart from being a traditional ruler of repute, High Chief Owonla sits comfortably atop successful businesses spanning hospitality, education, property, oil and gas and automobiles. He is the Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Owonla Hotels, Impressive Schools, Owonla Property Management Company, Rosebol Oil & Gas Limited and Kaka Auto Marts.

    ‘’It was, however, shocking that some residents in Ayobo and other communities in the area staged a demonstration to protest against the activities of land grabbers allegedly led by one Moroof Owonla, aka Kaka, who has been terrorising their communities.”

    Owonla said he had no personal or business relationship with the property agent, who issued a 14-day ultimatum dated September 10, 2019 to property owners in the community.

    He urged concerned authorities to feel free to carry out thorough investigations on the matter with a view to ascertaining those responsible for the controversial notice.

    The statement added: “We imagine what could have been the link between High Chief Owonla and the agent known as Gabfod Properties that informed the reported protest against his personality on the streets.

    ‘’For purpose of clarity, Chief Owonla was the property agent of late Chief Arimiyau Bello Ekundayo, when he won the case over the landed property in suit No. ID/1722/92 in the judgment delivered by Justice O.A Williams (Mrs.) of Ikeja High Court 7 on October 24, 2004, and he successfully managed the property until this year (2019), when the children and family of late Arimiyau Bello Ekundayo decided to disengage Chief Owonla and appointed Gabfob Properties Investments as their new land agent.

    ‘’Chief Owonla, a graduate of Business Administration from the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, is equally a landlord on the said property, having bought 15 acres with genuine documents directly from the judgment creditor, late Chief Arimiyau Bello Ekundayo, long before his death,  and this his children and family can attest to.’’

  • Redeemer cometh for abused tenants

    It is no longer news that some of the most atrocious crimes against humanity are committed in the house rental sector in Lagos State.

    Unscrupulous and mindless estate agents, especially those not bonded to government aegies and operating loosely as wheelie-dealers, have been having a kill on unsuspecting home-seeking tenants and dashing so many hopes with reckless abandon.

    You hear or read of an agent collecting advance rent from 100 people for only one room or flatlet or flat or even fleecing members of the public on properties that are not even assigned to them for letting. And cases of victims are not helped by the disposition of some law enforcement agents to reported cases of fraud by dodgy estate agents or rent collectors.

    That the state government has responded to these unsavoury developments with the creation of a state real estate transaction department (LASRETRAD) in the ministry of housing is quite commendable to help bring to an end the woes of would-be tenants who did not come about their money easily.

    LASRETRAD seeks to regulate, monitor and develop an institutional framework for real estate transactions in the state with a view to protecting citizens from fraudulent and unscrupulous practices of some real estate agents who often use real estate transactions as a means to defraud and take advantage of unsuspecting tenants and purchasers of properties.

    This agency of government is also to monitor compliance with the state tenancy law of 2011 and other state legislation on land transactions. It is a body that should be patronized by citizens for their common good. Government information machinery should be revved to give maximum publicity to this vital public service.

    This columnist supports government in creating awareness to members of the public to avoid unregistered agents and swindlers in the real estate sector.

  • Kosegbe? No, these buildings must give way for the safety of all

    The new general manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency is a certain Mrs Abiola Kosegbe. Those who know her attest to her brilliance and commitment to the job of helping to minimise avoidable deaths in the state through building collapse.

    Collapse of distressed or poorly constructed buildings is a nationwide phenomenon. What makes Lagos case special or different is the nature of how buildings had sprung up, especially since the 70s, particularly in central Lagos which has had more than its fair share in incidents of building collapse.

    In several cases, nowhere are buildings rules and regulations breached more than on Lagos Island. There, recalcitrant and greedy house owners and developers put up structures that reasonable people see from the very start as disasters waiting to happen. And rather than being dissuaded by building control officials, they are compromised to look the other way, ostensibly after receiving dubious gratification.

    When gnashing of teeth occurs due to building collapse which had been caused by developers and compromised officials of state, families begin to count losses of lives and damage to limbs and properties, and members of the public begin to proffer solutions that everyone knew about but which do not hold water with culprits.

    Too many lives had been lost and a lot of deformities done to several. It is time therefore for government to find permanent panacea to this recurring problem. The LABSCA big boss name is Kosegbe, which means “Immoveable”. But given the terrifying dimension building collapse has assumed over the years, she must be ready to move those structures that pose grave danger to lives and properties, lest her own position in government is threatened.

    In tackling this worrisome problem, the government and the governed must come to a common agreement that the inevitable must be done. Government must lead this crusade by increasing the equipment needed to voluntarily bring down distressed or poorly constructed structures without doing damage to the fabric or texture of the surroundings; and upping the degree of sanctions on the owners of the affected buildings and the compromised officials that turned the Nelson’s eye to the infractions committed before the bubble of building collapse burst.

    Government ought to do more in the area of urban renewal and lead positive development in that regard, instead of abdicating its statutory responsibility to the citizens.

    Community leaders, led by traditional heads, must do more sensitization to get citizens support to save their own lives and properties and prevail on callous owners and developers not to deliberately put people’s lives in jeopardy.

  • Atiku: Any enquiry into God’s work?

    The presidential election tribunal, by a unanimous decision of 5 – 0, has ruled that President Muhammad Buhari’s re-election is valid.

    But the main contender challenging the decision, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is still not giving up, indicating immediately after Wednesday’s judgement that he was appealing it at the Supreme Court.

    My goodness! Is this love for the rule of law or an obsession for power for its own sake?

    I am not a lawyer, but my little understanding of litigation is that it is not commonplace to have a Supreme Court upturn a unanimous decision of an Appeal Court. You never can tell; maybe Atiku’s case will be radically different from the norm.

    If that happens, we wait to see where that takes the nation to. But if it doesn’t, then Atiku, who covets the presidential throne so badly, will have to take his case to Almighty Allah.

    I do not know why the serial presidential contender couldn’t accept his fate on this matter and prepare himself for another time but I do know that, like Haruna Ishola once sang: there’s no enquiry for God’s work or desire. If I were Atiku, I will lay the matter to rest and wish the President hearty congratulations.

  • Credibility, power and leadership

    The media report that a Nigerian senator called it an insult for Nigerians to criticize the senate for its decision to buy  jeeps or SUVs  for senators in the National  Assembly sets the ball  rolling for our discussion today. To  me the senators anger or seeming indignation is misplaced, if not mischievous and it is certainly  an insult  to Nigeria’s democracy  for a senator to  say  that sort of nonsense  in an age of transparency and accountability in the world’s  democracy.

    The  equivalent of the Nigerian senator’s outburst on the global  stage in terms of braggadocio and arrogance are  namely  the boast  of the Iranian Foreign Minister that it would be  a total  war if the US or  Saudi  Arabia retaliate  against the charge by both nations   that Iran was responsible for  the  drone and missile attacks on Saudi  oil facilities  this  last week. If   you add  to this innuendos on the  Nigerian   President’s  actions on institutions managed by his Vice  President  and  the  conclusions   of friction between the powers that be in Aso  Rock,  then  you will  see that mischief is abroad  in the governance  of  Nigeria and is an illwind that bodes no good.

    Let me start by taxing the credibility in the three events by exposing the fallacy in their respective emanation and origin. In  the first  case of the  furious senator, he conveniently forgot  that he is  an  elected official  responsible to his constituents and Nigerians  at  large who  have a right to question  the running  of the senate as well as the perks  and emoluments that a senator  takes home.

    No anger or calculated outrage can obscure or mask that fact of accountability and responsibility. In the case of the threat of total war on the US and Saudi Arabia by the Iranian Foreign Minister, it is a clear   case of   the leopard incapable of changing its spots. This is because   Iran’s opponents have always accused it of sponsoring terrorism globally and its threat of total war does little to create any credibility for its denial of the charge that it sent the drones and missiles that destroyed the Saudi oil facilities.

    In the case  of the aspersion being cast on the  activities of the Vice President while he held  fort for the President during his many absences  I think  it is a case of giving a dog a bad name  in other to hang it, as I feel this Vice  President is  like Caesar’s wife  above reproach on most  of these matters and he cannot  in any way  be compared to Nero, the ancient  Roman Emperor  who  fiddled  while Rome burnt  like his detractors would have us believe in these  past  few days  of  his vilifications.

  • Court orders forfeiture of funds linked to Oyo-Ita’s alleged associate, ONSA director

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the forfeiture of various sums of money estimated at over N1billion allegedly owned by a government official, Titus Okunrinboye Thompson and a former Director of Communications at the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Haruna Wando Mohammed.

    Details of the money include about N550million allegedly found in two Zenith Bank accounts belonging to Thompson, who the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) claimed acted as a front for the immediate past Head of Service (HOS) of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita.

    The other chunk constituting $287,500 and N291,367,914.35 was said to have been recovered from Mohammed, in relation to a surveillance contract awarded sometime in 2012 by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to a private firm, RTCOM Limited. The contract was said to have been code named – Falcon Eye (FE).

    While the court ordered that the money recovered from Mohammed be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government, the one being held in Thompson’s two Zenith Bank accounts is only temporarily forfeited.

    On Thursday, Justice Folashade Giwa-Ogunbanjo granted the order of permanent forfeiture in the Mohammed case after EFCC’s lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, argued the motion he filed to that effect.

    The two orders granted in the case, marked:FHC/ABJ/CS/694/2019 are:

    *A final order of forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of the sum of N291,367,914.35 recovered from one Haruna W. Mohammed in the course of investigation to be transferred to Recovered Funds Account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    Read Also: Bank seeks forfeiture of senator’s school over N150m debt

    *A final order of forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of the sum of US$287,500.00 recovered from one Haruna W. Mohammed in the course of investigation and which has been transferred to the Recovered Funds Account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    In the case involving Thompson, Justice Giwa-Ogunbanjo could not hear a similar motion filed by Abubakar.

    She noted that although the court had earlier in July 2019 ordered the interim forfeiture of the money and directed that the EFCC publish the order in a national daily, the respondent (Thompson) was absent in court and was not represented.

    Abubakar said the EFCC complied with the order and caused a publication to be made in a national daily on July 8, 2019.

    He noted that since the publication was made, neither Thompson nor Oyo-Ita (who he is suspected to have acted for) responded to the order, by making claim for the money, a development Abubakar said, informed his motion for final forfeiture.

    Justice Giwa-Ogunbanjo then adjourned until October 7, 2019 for the hearing of the motion for final forfeiture and ordered that hearing notice be issued to Thompson in relation to the next hearing date, scheduled for the hearing of the motion for perManent forfeiture.

    The EFCC said, in court documents, sighted by The Nation, that Thompson was an accountant in the Federal Ministry of Special Duties, when Oyo-Ita served as the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary.

    It was alleged that the money traced to Thompson’s two accounts in Zenith Bank (one containing over N500m, while the other has over N50m) were public funds allegedly  siphoned through a project called – Group Life Insurance – which was ostensibly meant for some staff of the ministry.

    In the case of Mohammed, the EFCC stated, in a court document, “that it received intelligence, sometime in 2017 “in respect of cases of defence contract/procurement fraud, gratification and money laundering against the former National Security Adviser (NSA), alleging conspiracy and criminal misappropriation of public funds involving the huge sum of money.

    “Preliminary investigation conducted by the Commission revealed that Ambassador Haruna Mohammed Wando was the Director of Communications at the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

    “Our investigation of the case further revealed that sometimes in 2012, the ONSA contemplated putting in place an ICT driven surveillance and security platform to check illegal activities within the Nigerian territorial waters. This was to enhance the security of Nigeria’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

    The project was meant to cover Nigeria’s coastline stretching 420 nautical miles from East to West including the territorial sea and the EEZ of the country.

    “In order to actualize this dream, a committee was set up to carry out an assessment of the country’s maritime security architecture and assets vis-à-vis the desirability and viability of the proposed project.

    “The Committee which mandate includes sourcing for relevant and reputable companies for the project was headed by the then Director of Communications of (ONSA), the said Amb. Haruna W. Mohammed.

    “Between April and June 2012, the committee invited relevant reputable companies to forward technical and financial proposals; companies which submitted proposal to that effect were however not awarded the said contract.

    “A company called RTCOM Limited which was not invited to submit proposal in that regard eventually ended up getting the job which job was code named Falcon Eye (FE).

    “Stamford International Limited (SIL) was considered as the proffered bidder and was first awarded the contract on 11th April, 2013. They applied for a mobilization fee of US$5.0 million which was not given to them, while on 10th June 2013 RTCOM Limited applied for the same amount and for the same purpose.

    “On 30th April, 2014 ONSA signed a contract with RTCOM Limited for the implementation of the Falcon Eye (FF) Project at a contract sum of $459,369,500.

    “40 per cent of the contract sum, amounting to $183,758,585 was paid by ONSA to RTCOM Limited on the 29th May 2014.

    “Investigation has linked RTCOM limited with bribery and corruption in the build up to the award and execution of the FE project which explains why the shady deals went through.

    “Further to the foregoing, investigation has established that RTCOM Limited has paid the sum of about US$1.0 million (in structured periodic cash payments) to the said Amb. Haruna W. Mohammed while he served as director at ONSA and Chairman of the Committee on FE as bribe and/or kickback.

    “Amb. Haruna W. Mohammed admitted in his extra judicial statement to have converted some of the USD received from RTCOM to naira and deposited it in his Eco Bank account number 0129640537 while 0129640544 had some of the USD balances.

    “Further to the foregoing, a total sum of N291,367,914.00 and USD 287,500.00  have since been refunded voluntarily by the suspect, Amb. Haruna W. Mohammed to the EFCC.

    “The sum of USD 287,500.00  was transferred to the EFCC recovery account through the OAGF FGN Asset Recovery US Account.

    “The sum of N291,367,914.00 was refunded by suspect through several bank drafts submitted by the suspect to the EFCC through the OAGF FGN Asset Recovery US Account.”