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Tag: probing

  • Why I am probing Amaechi, by Wike

    Why I am probing Amaechi, by Wike

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, has explained the  probe of the Rotimi Amaechi administration.

    He said the essence of the probe was to throw light on some areas.The governor insisted that it was not meant to witch-hunt anybody.

    Wike yesterday said in Abuja  that the recommendation of the probe panel would determine the cause of action to be taken against Amaechi.

    He, however, did not rule out handing over the findings to anti-graft agencies.

    He said: “The essence of the judicial commission does not have to do with witch-haunting anybody, but to understand things we could not have understood.

    “ If he had worked with the transition  committee we set up, the committee would have asked one or two questions.  No transition committee was set up by government (Amaechi’s administration).

    “It is only our state that never had any transition committee. We set up our own transition committee. It made every communication;.it wrote. They did not cooperate with it.”

    Wike also claimed that his predecessor was only trying to use the media to divert attention from the probe panel.

    His words:  “He (Amaechi) said he would use all constitutional and legal means.  The  commission is not an  unconstitutional commission. It is a constitutional and legal commission.

    “Nobody has been indicted. We only ask  them to look into  matters and ask one or two questions.”

    Wike recalled that his predecessor also set up probe panels and was never accused of  witch-hunting.

    The governor also debunked the report making the rounds that he was handed a handover note. He said:  “Let us start from the national level. When Jonathan was leaving, did he just handover just the villa?. Did he not handover the whole government structure;. from one ministry to the other?.”

    Wike said the permanent secretary of the Government House never gave him a handover note.

     

  • EFCC ‘probing N2b in judge’s account’

    EFCC ‘probing N2b in judge’s account’

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has explained its on-going investigation of retired Justice Gladys Olotu formerly of the Federal High Court, Abuja and two other judges of the court.

    The EFCC said it was investigating the three judges over allegation that they were involved in unethical conduct, including maintaining various bank accounts and investment interests in business while still in public service. One of the other two judges serves in Abuja. The other is in the Lagos Division.

    The commission said its investigation was upon a petition by a group, Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), in which Justice Olotu was also accused of maintaining an offshore account with First Bank (United Kingdom) and was alleged worth over N2billion in cash and investments.

    These formed part of averments contained in a counter-affidavit dated April 1, 2014 filed by the EFCC in reaction to a fundamental rights enforcement suit instituted against it and 17 others by Justice Olotu before the Federal High Court, Abuja.

    Justice Olotu, who was retired earlier this year by President Goodluck Jonathan for “gross misconduct and upon the recommendation by the National Judicial Council (NJC)”, sued after she was invited by the EFCC in the course of its investigation.

    The commission denied allegation by the retired judge that it was being instigated by the NJC and other defendants in the case. It also denied abusing Justice Olotu’s fundamental human rights, as alleged, and stated that it was within its statutory powers to investigate and prosecute economic and financial crimes.

    An EFCC official, Habufari Yahaya, who deposed to the affidavit, said “in the course of investigation, certain issues arose for further clarifications, which had to do with documents and the applicant (Justice Olotu) therefore requested for time to bring them and she was obliged”.

    The EFCC stated that Justice Olotu is, by her suit, seeking “the protection of the courts from investigation”. It argued that the retired judge cannot “use the instruments of the law to shield herself from being investigated.”

    It prayed the court to dismiss the suit as it relates to it (EFCC) with cost, on the ground that it was “unmeritorious and speculative”.

    Justice Olotu is seeking, among others, to restrain the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the State Security Service (SSS), the police and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) from further inviting or quizzing her.

    She averred, in a supporting affidavit, that the NJC and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke (SAN), were instigating the various security agencies against her for daring to challenge her compulsory retirement in a separate suit.

    She stated that upon the service of processes (in relation to her earlier suit challenging her compulsory retirement) on them, the AGF and, NJC “very unfortunately felt and indeed expressed anger against me”.

    Justice Olotu also stated that “in fulfillment of these threats, the 7th and 8th respondents (AGF and NJC) ganged up with the 9th to the 18th respondents against me, and I was subsequently invited by the 1st respondent (EFCC) to its office on March 18, 2014.

    The 9th to 18th respondents include the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Salifu Alfa Belgore and Chief Gabriel Igbinedion – the Esama of Benin and father of former Edo State governor, Lucky Igbinedion.

    Others are companies. They include Ponticell Nigeria Limited, Stolt Offshore Services S. A., the Vessel M. V. Theo, the owners of the Vessel M. V. Theo, Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited, A.B.C. Maritime AG, the Vessel M.V.Lara and the Vessel M.V.Krysia.

    Justice Olotu stated that in honouring the invitation by the EFCC, she arrived its office at about 10am on March 18, 2014 and was subsequently “arrested, interrogated and detained until about 4pm before I was released to go with instructions to come back on April 1, 2014 for another round of humiliation and detention”.

    She insisted that her invitation by the EFCC “was orchestrated by the AGF and the NJC along with the named 10 others.

    “I felt highly humiliated, tortured, heartbroken by the way and manner the officers of the 1st respondent ridiculed me in the name of interrogation,” she stated.

    Justice Olotu averred that after her experience with the EFCC, officers of the ICPC, SSS, the police and the Code of Conduct Bureau were now on her trail, making it difficult for her to move freely and to freely and safely stay in her residence.

    “My residence has now turned a rendezvous for all manner of security agents in Nigeria for the single reason that I filed Exhibit A (the suit against her retirement) and have refused to discontinue it,” she added.

    She seeks, among others, an order directing all the respondents to tender a written apology to her; an order awarding N5billion as exemplary damages against the respondents and in her favour and a perpetual injunction restraining the respondent, from further arresting, detaining and humiliating her.

    NJC, in its counter affidavit, denied being behind the retired judge’s experience in the hands of the EFCC. It described Justice Olotu’s allegations as falsehood.

    “The 8th respondent (NJC) did not at any time instigate the 1st – 5th respondents (EFCC, ICPC, SSS, police and CCB) or any security agency to investigate the applicant (Olotu) in respect of any wrongdoing.

    “The 8th respondent did not feel or express any anger against the applicant for filing Exhibit A and has not threatened to set the machineries of the 1st to 5th respondents in motion against the applicant,” an official of the NJC, Khadijat Hassan, stated in the affidavit.

    NJC has urged the court for an order directing Justice Olotu to attend court for cross-examination to substantiate the allegation contained in the affidavit she personally deposed to in support of the motion for enforcement of fundamental right dated March 24, 2014.

    NJC’s lawyer, Philips Jimoh-Lasisi (SAN), noted in the application dated May 2, 2014, in view of the nature of Justice Olotu’s allegation against his client, “it is necessary for an order to be made directing the deponent (Olotu) to attend court for cross-examination”.

    He relied on Order 27 Rule 1 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2009 and contended that since Justice Olotu deposed to the affidavit supporting the main suit, the court could make an order directing her to attend court for cross-examination.

  • DHQ: we’re probing soldier’s claim on military commanders’ link with Boko Haram

    DHQ: we’re probing soldier’s claim on military commanders’ link with Boko Haram

    The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) denied yesterday that some commanders in the Northeast and Boko Haram insurgents were working together – as alleged by a “soldier”.

    The DHQ said impersonation could not be ruled out to create wrong impressions for the public.

    The Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, who spoke with our correspondent in Abuja, said the military was probing the purported confession of “a soldier” in an interview with the Voice of America (Hausa Service).

    Gen. Olukolade said: “Ordinarily, the Nigerian soldier is too disciplined to be involved in that kind of utterances on radio.

    “Let no terrorist propagandists hide under the guise of not wanting to disclose their source to present impostors as representing Nigerian soldiers.

    “We do not agree that he is our soldier; we believe very strongly that he is not our soldier. We are still studying the interview to confirm the motive.

    “At the moment, we suspect that the intention is to create wrong impressions and cause disaffection.

    “A case of impersonation cannot also be ruled out. We are taking the information seriously despite the fallacies contained in it. We do not believe he is one of our soldiers.”

    In the interview, the “soldier” said he had witnessed incidents that suggest some commanders are working with Boko Haram.

    He described how his military unit, based in Borno State region, was ambushed by Boko Haram fighters.

    The soldier, who did not want to be identified, said the commander of a nearby military unit, based in the town of Bama, recently sought assistance from his unit in carrying out a raid.

    The soldier said when the two military units joined up, they were given different uniforms. The Bama unit commander gave his own troops green uniforms. The soldier said his unit received tan “desert camouflage” uniforms.

    When the troops reached the battle area, the soldier said the commander of the better-equipped Bama unit suddenly withdrew his forces, leaving the remaining troops to fend for themselves against Boko Haram fighters.

    Speaking in Hausa, he said: “We had only light arms and our men were being picked off one after the other.”

    The soldier also said he recognised some of the Boko Haram fighters as his former military trainers in Kontagora, a town near the capital, Abuja.

    “We realised that some of them were actually mercenaries from the Nigerian army… hired to fight us,” he said.

    This soldier and others have said that too often, commanders have pocketed money that was supposed to be used to help equip units, the VOA claimed.

    In a January 2012 speech, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said Boko Haram members have infiltrated his government’s executive, legislative and judicial sectors, as well as the police and armed forces.

    Jonathan has declared a state of emergency in three northern regions where Boko Haram is active, and launched operations to destroy the group’s camps. Despite those efforts, though, large-scale attacks have continued.

    Atlantic Council Africa Center Director Peter Pham said the soldier’s account could have merit.

    “It certainly would not surprise me that it is happening,” said Pham.

    Pham said the goal should be to figure out how and why collaboration between military officers and terror groups could happen.

    “What’s critical is to understand, if there is this collusion, to understand whether it is a collusion born of corruption, born of desperation simply to avoid combat that would result in casualties for the men under your command, or if it is born of ideological sympathy with the insurgents,” he said.

    Apart from some well-trained elite units, Pham said most of Nigeria’s military is “woefully underfunded and under-resourced” in terms of equipment and training.

    E.J. Hogendoorn is deputy director of the International Crisis Group’s Africa programme. The group recently released a detailed report about the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.

    He said Nigeria’s military disfunction is part of a broader problem of systemic corruption extending through most government sectors.

    Hogendoorn says “drivers”, such as bad governance and the inability of state institutions to provide basic services, help create a pool of unemployed youth “ripe for radicalisation”.

    “We argue that even were Boko Haram to be defeated, if you don’t deal with those drivers, you are not going to be able to stabilise either northern Nigeria or the entire country,” he said.

    Hogendoorn said for change to occur, the Nigerian government needs to address corruption and poor governance in a systematic and sustained way.

  • Probing Abuja killings

    By all indications, Nigeria is going through very dire straits. Things are not normal in many aspects of our national life. Suspicion and mutual distrust among the various cleavages are at an all time high and exert tremendous influence on perceptions and actions. This is a sad commentary for a country that is about to mark 53years of independence in a couple of hours from now.

    Under this circumstance, it is the minimum expectation that those in authority should be alive to extant sensibilities and refrain from actions that could give vent to blackmail, anger and frustration.

    In an environment where people have been sensitized to think in very self-serving and particularistic manner, actions or inactions of public officers that should ordinarily have been given the benefit of doubt are subjected to very serious scrutiny. The overall aim is to find excuses to get even with perceived adversaries. That is what you find where people are aggrieved for one reason or the other. And it sums up the current mood of the country.

    These sensibilities were evoked last week when officials of the State Security Services (SSS) announced their encounter with suspected Boko Haram members at an uncompleted building in the Apo area of Abuja in which nine of these suspects were killed and many injured. Deputy Director, Public Affairs of the SSS, Marilyn Ogar gave account of what transpired. According to her, some suspected Boko Haram members in their custody had disclosed that some arms were buried within the premises of the building which provided a meeting point for their members. Based on this information, a combined operation of the SSS and the Army stormed the building at night and as they were digging the ground for the arms, they came under the gun attack of the insurgents.

    Their counter response led to the dead and injured. But this account has been disputed by some of the residents who said they are migrant workers and less-privileged people who paid some token to the security man in charge of the building to sleep there. They also claimed the owner of the building, said to be a military officer, had given them notice to quit the place and that the allegation was part of the plan to call a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

    Expectedly, the turn of events has elicited resentment and anger from a large segment of the society. The feeling is that there seems to be more to the issue than ordinarily meets the eyes. There is the feeling that the account of the encounter presented by the SSS did not tie up. To add to this air of suspicion, the police have said they were not put on notice before the attack. Both the Senate and the Police have responded to this outcry by stepping up investigations to get at the root of the matter. But the SSS insists its account is a true representation of the matter. The Army also corroborates SSS account as its position on the matter. Ogar has made spirited efforts to persuade the public that the attack followed rules of engagement and the services stand to gain nothing by killing innocent people. She said their action was based on credible security reports at their disposal and would therefore want the public to believe their account of the circumstances of the encounter.

    Ordinarily, there would have been the temptation to reason along with the SSS. This is more so as the service is not known to post shoddy records in handling issues of this nature. Again, the very sensitive and difficult nature of the fight against terrorism ought to count in their favour in resolving the misunderstanding arising from the incident.

    Yet, there are issues that have been brought to the front burner by the killings that cannot be allowed to be swept under the carpet. And they account for the outcry.

    Much of the suspicion is informed in part by the handling of the matter by the SSS both before the encounter and after the subsequent killings. There are yawning gaps to be filled. There are also questions to be answered. Though one cannot claim expertise in the rules of military warfare and strategy, there are commonsensical procedural flaws in the SSS account of the encounter. And much of the crisis of confidence they are now battling with, stem largely from these. The immediate impression one gets is that the first thing they did on getting to the building was to commence the digging of the ground for the arms their informant said were buried under ground. As they were digging the ground, they came under the gun fire of the terrorists and had to respond in self-defence culminating in the casualty figure.

    Now, the searing posers: if the SSS and the Army detachment were detailed to hunt Boko Haram suspects in the building, what should constitute the standard entry behaviour on getting to their target? Is it not a standard safety rule that they should anticipate some resistance and prepare well ahead of time for that eventuality? This is more so when they had prior information that some arms were buried there. Should they not have cordoned off the area and then selectively commence arresting those they suspect to have links with Boko Haram? These questions arise because, the immediate impression we get from the SSS account is that as soon as the security agencies got to the site they commenced the digging of the ground for the supposedly buried arms. By this account, it was as they were digging that they came under the heavy gun fire of the insurgents and had to counter resulting to the killings. This account looks somewhat untidy and unprofessional. The minimum expectation is that all those living in the building should first have been under the safe custody of the security operatives. Having done that, the entire premises will then be searched before the digging to recover whatever arms were supposedly hidden there. Had this precautionary measure been adhered to, perhaps those who supposedly shot at the security operatives would have been apprehended earlier and disarmed. And where that proves difficult, the agencies would then consider maximum force such that led to the high death toll.

    Again, the case of the SSS is not remedied by their inability to show evidence of the digging, the arms recovered and possible victims of the attack on their side. By just bandying claims without substantive evidence to corroborate them, they left room for the raging suspicion that has become the lot of the ill-fated encounter.

    Matters are not helped by the testimonies of some of the injured. The allegation that the incident was a subterfuge to get the squatters out of the building since the owner had become uncomfortable with them is another issue. Even as the SSS would want us to resolve the doubts created by these lapses in their favour, it will be difficult to do so under the foregoing circumstances.

    Admittedly, the war on terrorism is a very daunting and risky one that has cost the lives of security operatives and civilians alike. Even at that, no room should be left for doubts to creep into the enormous sacrifice that has been the fate of the war against terrorism. Neither should the fight constitute an alibi for extra judicial killings. It is a very critical and sensitive challenge that must be handled in the most professional manner. Boko Haram has some support from within. And no room should be given to these anarchists to ridicule the war against terror. The current probes must get at the root of the matter. It is in the overall good of the continuing struggles to tame the scourge.

  • Court stops Tukur’s panel from probing Suntai’s health

    A High Court, in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, has restrained the panel set up by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to probe the health and office of Governor Danbaba Suntai.

    The governor is receiving treatment abroad on the injuries he sustained in a plane crash near Yola, the Adamawa State, in October last year. Suntai piloted the plane.

    The panel, headed by Sen. Hope Uzodinma, has six other members. Its assignment is to, among other things, “fast-track the process of constitutional adherence as it affects the current status of the Office of the Governor of Taraba State”.

    It is to submit its report within two weeks, beginning from May 27.

    But before the panel could begin its assignment in Taraba, supposedly yesterday, Alhaji Garba Julde and Sale Audu Habu went to court.

    They are challenging the constitutionality or otherwise of the committee, with a motion on notice. The plaintiffs sued the PDP and the panel members.

    In the motion of ex-parte, Julde and Habu prayed the court to order an interim injunction against the panel.

    Counsel to the plaintiffs, Ibrahim Effiong, with P. O. Olusuye and S. E. Keledu, said the reason for the ex-parte application is the “prevention of imminent irretrievable injury or damage to the right of one of the parties to the suit”.

    He added: “Giving the time frame within which the second to eighth respondents (the seven-member panel) are to submit its assignment to the first respondent (PDP), I am of the view that the applicants have made out a case for grant of this application made ex-parte.

    “To refuse this application is to render the outcome of the contest nugatory, should the applicants succeed in their claim. This is because by then, the committee would have completed its assignment and submitted its report, thereby destroying the subject of the contest.”

  • Why we’re probing Ezu River crisis, by Ekwunife

    The House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Environment, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, has said the National Assembly intervened in the Ezu River crisis to prevent a recurrence.

    Some bodies were dumped in the river, which is a boundary spot between Anambra and Enugu states.

    Mrs. Ekwunife, who spoke yesterday at the palace of the monarch of Amansea community, Igwe Kenneth Okonkwo, described the incident as a calamity.

    She said the claim by the Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) that its members were killed and dumped in the river by security agents must be investigated.

    Mrs. Ekwunife, who visited the community with bags of rice, garri, beans, corn, mats and exercise books, said the culprits must be brought to book.

    She said: “The investigation is on going, we are not talking of two or three dead bodies, rather over 30 bodies.

    “This issue is not for Amansea or Anambra because it will affect the nation, if nothing serious is done about it.

    “There is every possibility that it might happen elsewhere. So, it must be taken seriously.

    “We must follow the investigation at the National Assembly.

    “All the members are working together on this issue and we are happy that those on the panel are men of integrity.”

    Okonkwo said members of the community still live in fear.

    He said: “What we want is justice to be done on this matter.”

  • ‘ICPC probing four governors’

    FOUR governors are being investigated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Miscellaneous Offences. Commission (ICPC), its Chairman, Mr Ekpo Nta said yesterday.

    Nta, however said he will not name the governors to avoid any act which could jeopardise ongoing investigations.

    He also said the anti-graft commission has uncovered a school where young ones are being trained on how to professionalise 419 business.

    According to a statement by the commission’s Resident Consultant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Folu Olamiti, the ICPC spoke in an interview on Splash FM Radio in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    The statement said: “The ICPC Chairman re-confirmed to his interviewer that four governors were being probed.

    “When pressed to name them, he declined, saying “It will jeopardise our investigations.

    “He said it should be noted that those invited for questioning were still innocent until prima facie cases were made against them.

    “So, those who have no case to answer will be allowed to go home free men with their image intact”.

    The statement said “Nta disclosed that the commission’s effort in this regard had yielded positive result when four alleged big time 419 fraudsters known as Yahoo Yahoo boys were arrested in Owerri, Imo State in a joint operation between ICPC and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    “He disclosed that the alleged Yahoo Yahoo boys had even gone a step further by setting up a school where they were teaching young minds on how to professionalise 419 business.

  • EFCC: we’re probing Etete for fraud, forgery

    EFCC: we’re probing Etete for fraud, forgery

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it is investigating former Oil Minister Dan Etete for alleged fraud. The case involves the $1.092 billion paid by the Federal Government on transactions between Shell/Agip and Malabu Oil & Gas in respect of OPL 245.

    The investigation, according to the chairman of the anti-graft agency in an interim report presented before the Leo Ogor-led ad hoc committee investigating the deal, was sequel to a petition brought against Etete by Mohammed Sani, (son of former Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha).

    Lamorde said the matter before the commission “is the alleged conspiracy, forgery, altering of forged documents and fraud by the above stated suspects (Dan Etete and others) to the detriment of the complainants (Abacha and others).

    The EFCC boss, giving a background in the issue, said: “In February 2012, the commission received a petition written by A.A. Umar & Co on behalf of PECOS Energy Limited and Mohammed Sani against Ednan Aganev of the International Consulting Limited of the Confederation of Switzerland, Geneva; Consular Service of USA, Mr. Rasky Gbinigie of Ikoyi, Lagos and others. The petition bordered on allegations of conspiracy, forgery and altering of forged documents for the purpose of misappropriating the funds of Maiabu Oil & Gas by Chief Dan Etete.

    “The petitioner said his clients, Alhaji Mohammed Sani and PECOS Energy as well as Kwekwu Amafegha (representing Dan Etete) were shareholders of Maiabu Oil & Gas with an equity ratio of 50:20=30. “They, however, alleged that Chief Dan Etete subsequently conspired with the Company Secretary of Malabu Oil & Gas, Mr. Rasky Gbinigie, to forge board resolutions and file documents purporting to alter the equity structure of the company and also transferred the complainants’ shares to Seidou Munamuna and Joseph Amaran.

    “Upon discovering this, on October 17, 2008, Alhaji Mohammed Sani wrote a letter to the Corporate Affairs Commission with reference number AT/CUPNI/VOL. 1/129/08 through Atabo & Co to place a caveat restraining the company from transacting any business or effecting any change in the ownership of the company without his or PECOS Energy Ltd’s approval.”

    Lamorde said analysis and comparison of the obtained incorporation documents from the Corporate Affairs Commission and those submitted by the petitioners show “a suspicious variance strongly indicative of forgery of the documents submitted to the Corporate Affairs Commission.”

    He went on: “A subsequent search conducted by Rickey Tarfa & Co dated 31/08/2007 as well as an undated search conducted by Wali, Uwais & Co showed that the corporate status, shareholding structure and the names of directors were changed and filed by Rasky Gbinige.

    “Thus, Mohammed Sani was changed to Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Sanni with four million shares in contrast to the original 10 million shares.”