The Nation Newspaper

Tag: probes

  • Alleged $620,000 bribe: Security probes pro-Lawan protest

    Alleged $620,000 bribe: Security probes pro-Lawan protest

    Security agencies are probing alleged plans to sponsor a mass protest against the trial of the suspended Chairman of the House Committee on Fuel Subsidy Regime, Mallam Farouk Lawan.

    The protest is scheduled for today in Abuja .

    But Lawan, who met with his lawyers, Ricky Tarfa (SAN) and Mike Ozekhome (SAN), yesterday was quoted as saying: “I am unbowed.”

    There are fears in Lawan’s camp and among House members that the embattled lawmaker may be denied bail.

    Lawan and the Clerk of the committee, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, were arraigned last Friday before Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

    A security source, who spoke with our correspondent, said: “We have intelligence report of plans to disrupt Friday’s proceeding at the High Court by some students, who have been mobilised by some members of the House.

    “Some chairmen of House committees are also alleged to be involved in this planned protest.

    “One of the chairmen called some Student Union leaders and asked them to issue statements and follow up with demonstrations in Abuja against the trial of Lawan. The protesters are to be addressed by a member of the House at the main entrance of the National Assembly where the demonstration terminates.

    “A principal officer of the House followed up yesterday with a call to the same source.

    “The aim of the sponsored demonstrations and statements is to portray the collection of the $620,000 bribe and subsequent trial of Farouk Lawan as a ‘set-up’ by the Executive to ridicule the House.”

    Ozekhome said: “Lawan was in very high spirits. He believes that the Judiciary will vindicate him notwithstanding his travails. He said: ‘I am unbowed.’

    “Lawan said he believes that Mr. Femi Otedola, who is the giver of the bribe, should also be brought to justice and charged to court so that the impression is not created that there is inequality of justice in Nigeria and that Otedola is untouchable because of his reach and connections within the system.”

  • EFCC probes sale of land in Enugu

    An Enugu lawyer is in trouble for aiding 12 youths to sell a large expanse of land belonging to their community without proper consent.

    The community has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The anti-graft agency is probing the role of 12 youths in Ozalla Abor, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State in the matter.

    The land is in Phase Six Extension of Trans Ekulu, a sprawling layout in Enugu, which belongs to the community.

    EFCC said the youths, who are between 30 and 35 years, sold 200 plots of the land to members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) working at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, for the building of a private estate.

    According to the sources, who do not want to be named because “it is the commission’s headquarters in Abuja that usually speak to the media”, investigation showed that the youths sold the land for N160million.

    They collected N55million from the laywer.

    The lawyer is said to have disbursed N45million of the amount to the youths.

    A clerical officer in the public service, who was said to have collected the lion’s share of N30million and has since travelled overseas.

    Eleven other persons, led by Ikechukwu Emefu, shared N15million. The lawyer is said to be keeping N10million.

    Reacting to the EFCC preliminary report, professionals, who are indigenes of the community but resident outside Enugu, namely Ken Onudungene, Uche Enebe, Emmanuel Obodo, Ben Eruchie and Belije Madu, who is an engineer with the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) in Abuja, hailed the commission for “its swift response and dispassionate investigation which will bolster public confidence in its ability to stem the terrible tide of fraud, which is wreaking much havoc in Nigerian”.

    They wondered why any lawyer “could agree to enter into a huge land transaction with a group of jobless young men without to consulting the chiefs and elders of the community, as well as professionals and academics from the area and officials of the community development union”.

    The Ozalla Abor community on January 7 petitioned the EFCC on the land transaction.

    In the letter signed by Ferdinand Agbo and John Onyechi, chairman and secretary of the Ozalla Abor General Assembly, the community denied any knowledge of the deal.

    “We were shocked to find a bulldozer illegally working on our ancestral land on December 15, 2012 when we went on a routine inspection of our assets, following the election of a new executive committee of the assembly on December 9.

    “When we accosted the operator, we were told he was working on the instructions of the Association of Resident Doctors, which had purportedly purchased 200 plots of the land.”

    The assembly noted that further enquiries showed that the young men were still illegally selling more land and, in some cases, selling the same plots to two or three individuals and groups.

    It alleged that the young men were selling the plots far below the market value, to entice people to part with their money.

  • NAFDAC probes UNIBEN don’s HIV/AIDS cure claims

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control(NAFDAC) yesterday warned Nigerians not to use the HIV/AIDS cure drug announced by Prof Isaiah Ibeh of the University of Benin (UNIBEN).

    Stressing that the drug was not subjected to standard scientific protocols before announcement, the Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, at a briefing in Abuja, said the don would be sanctioned.

    According to him, the Minister of Health, after clinical tests byNAFDAC, ought to make such an announcement to Nigerians and the world.

    Diassociating NAFDAC from the announcement, Orhii said the product was never brought to his agency for vetting and neither was it subjected to any known institutional scrutiny.

    He said: “We have started with diassociating ourselves from the so-called cure.

    “We will decide the appropriate sanction. We have invited him for further investigation.

    “If our laws don’t have appropriate punishment for such persons who don’t follow scientific protocols in making such pronouncement, we will review the law and ensure that such do not occur again.

    “The agency wishes to state that this herbal drug, which is claimed to have undergone a series of successful tests, has never been presented to NAFDAC for evaluation of efficacy and safety.

    “This bogus claim of efficacy without following the appropriate procedure for drug evaluation is capable of misleading the public, especially those who have HIV/AIDS as there is no known cure for the infection.

    “You may recall that Nigeria had been inundated with similar spurious claims in the past, when individuals announced cure for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and diabetes, which later turned out to be false after thorough investigation.

    “This is usually at the expense of innocent citizens, who have risked their lives, wasted their time and money in search of the elusive cure for their ailments.

    “Nigerians deserve better than to be used as guinea pigs, no matter how noble the intention of the researcher.

    “Also, recall that in September 2011, NAFDAC arrested the Managing Director of Winners Medical Diagnostics and Research Institute, Dr. Jacob Abdullahi, for dealing in expired medicines claimed to be cure for HIV.

    “Similarly, in November 2011, Dr. P.S.A. Bondima Young of Bondima Hepatoviral Centre, Jos, was apprehended by NAFDAC for administering unregistered drugs on patients for the treatment of hepatitis.

    “I wish to caution other persons who might want to follow the footsteps of Prof. Isaiah Ibeh in making public claims for products ,whose safety and efficiency have not been scientifically proven to desist.

    “There is a laid down protocol for determining efficacy and safety of new medicines and this must be strictly adhered to by all.”

  • Military panel probes killing of six in Bayelsa

    A military panel of investigation into the killing of six youths in Agge, Bayelsa State, last weekend took the evidence of eyewitnesses and members of the bereaved families in Warri, Delta State.

    The Captain I.A Suleiman-led panel, sitting in the Effurun Barracks of the Nigerian Army, took evidence from the parents, wives and children of the deceased.

    A source at the meeting said one of the women broke into tears while recounting the last hours of her late husband.

    The six youths were killed by troops of the Joint Task Force, code-named ‘Operation Pulo Shield’, around Agge, Bayelsa State, on July 23 in unclear circumstance.

    The Coordinator of the JTF Joint Media Campaign Centre, Lt. Col Onyeama Nwachukwu, in a statement after the incident, said the deceased were sea pirates, who engaged troops in a gun fight.

    “On sighting our troops, the sea pirates opened fire and the troops retaliated immediately, leading to the killing of six pirates,” he said.

    Nwachukwu’s claim was contested by an Ijaw human rights group, the Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative (IPDI), which accused the JTF of cold-blooded murder.

    IPDI, in a statement by Comrade Austin Ozobo, said the youths were taken alive by the troops and were later paraded in Agge before being taken to an unknown destination where they were shot dead.

    Ozobo backed his claim with a photograph, which was allegedly taken during the parade of the six youths in Agge Community.

    The photo showed six youths handcuffed and naked to the waist.

  • N2.7b ‘fraud’: EFCC probes more suspects

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is probing more suspects in the N2.7billion fuel subsidy scam.

    The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, yesterday said the EFCC has not invited him or any member of his family in relation with the subsidy scandal.

    Although the minister was not mentioned in the report of The Nation on Sunday, he said he had been under pressure to clarify issues surrounding the scam.

    Wogu, who spoke with our reporter, said: “As a public officer, I have tried my best to live above board.

    “Neither I nor any member of my family has been invited for questioning by the EFCC since the investigation began in February.

    “And I am in no way involved with the issue at all as wrongly insinuated.

    “I do not have any share in Pinnacle Contractors Limited, which has been used to get import allocations.

    “I have to make these clarifications to The Nation because I have been receiving calls as if I was involved in the scam.”

    The EFCC yesterday admitted that it received a search report from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which confirmed that Pinnacle Contractors Limited was registered on July 20, 2001 with RC No. 419968.

    But the commission insisted that it is still looking into the alleged pseudo owners of Pinnacle Contractors Limited.

    In the last few months, the EFCC has been probing the ‘strange’ payment of subsidy to Pinnacle Contractors Limited.

    The company is one of the 25 firms recommended for criminal investigation by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

    The company got a subsidy claim in 2011 without allegedly importing any fuel.

    The ongoing probe has, however, become complicated, following claims that the company had been sold to Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited without its shareholders retaining their interest.

    Also, another angle to the ongoing probe is how a sold firm benefited from the fuel subsidy regime to the tune of N2.7billion.

    Investigation by our correspondent showed that three more suspects have been invited in connection with the fraud.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “Our investigation into the N2.7billion fuel subsidy scam is still ongoing.

    “We have invited more suspects since Monday.

    “One major challenge we have is about the status and the “real” owners of Pinnacle Contractors Limited, which collected the subsidy.

    “We are suspecting that there is more to the ownership of the firm than meets the eye.

    “Our team is seeking to know whether the company was dead or merged as at 2010 and how did it come about fuel import allocations?

    “We have established that the company got subsidy for fuel not imported into the country.

    “It might take time but we will crack the nut surrounding the ownership of Pinnacle Contractors Limited.”

    The source added: “We got a search report with more issues to clarify.

    “The report will assist us to probe more on some lapses we have noticed from the statements obtained from some people already interrogated.

    “From the search, the firm was incorporated on July 20, 2001, with the First Nature of Business described as ‘unspecified.’

    “The directors are Obi Uju; Eribo Felix; Sotunde Femi and Onu Ogbonnaya.

    “With initial share capital of 1,000,000, the company type is rated as “Limited by shares.”

    “The address of the said firm is Plot 1227, Oka Akoko Close, Garki II.”