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Tag: prosecute

  • Prosecute Fayose for electoral offences, lawyer tells INEC

    A Lagos lawyer, Mr. Kabir Akingbolu, has petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prosecute Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose and his deputy, Prof Kolapo Olusola Eleka, for alleged electoral offences.

    Akingbolu said Fayose and Eleka, with the Acting Chairman of Ekiti State Broadcasting Corporation, Mr. Lere Olayinka, allegedly committed at least 10 electoral offences during the June 14 election in Ekiti State.

    He made the claims in an August 6 letter to INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr Kayode Fayemi, polled 197,459 votes in the election to beat Eleka, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 178,121 votes.

    Akingbolu urged INEC to prosecute the trio in line with Section 150 of the Electoral Act, 2010, adding that it “will go a long way to curb official impunity during elections”.

    The lawyer noted that because Fayose and Eleka have constitutional immunity from prosecution until their tenure expires in October, investigation of the “serious electoral offences” ought to commence without delay.

    He threatened to apply to the Federal High Court for an Order of Mandamus to compel INEC to carry out its “statutory duty forthwith”, if it “fails or refuses to commence the investigation of the serious electoral offences disclosed in the petition before August 15”.

    Akingbolu said: “Throughout the campaign, the trio campaigned against Dr. Fayemi and urged voters not to vote for him, in contravention of Section 129(c) of the Electoral Act.

    “The campaign of the trio was tainted with abusive language, which injured religious, ethnic and sectional feelings, contrary to Section 95(1) of the Electoral Act.

    “The trio threatened to make use of force and violence, in contravention of Section 131(a) of the Electoral Act.”

    According to him, the trio prevented government aspirants, apart from Eleka, the free use of the Ekiti State Radio and Television station in contravention of Section 131(d) of the Electoral Act.

    Also, he claimed Fayose paid N3,000 to every civil servant on June 13 with intent that such money would be expended on bribing the electorate to vote for Eleka.

    Akingbolu added: “The governor campaigned for Prof Eleka in the Governor’s Lodge on June 14, within 24 hours prior to the polling day, in contravention of Section 99 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2010.

    “They prevented the Ekiti State Broadcasting Corporation from allotting equal coverage and conspicuity to all political parties, in contravention of Section 100 (5) of the Electoral Act 2010.

    “In the morning of June 14, they assembled a crowd at the Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge where they prayed and persuaded voters to vote for Prof Eleka…”

  • Bauchi to prosecute bond defaulting doctors

    Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar has said the  state will soon take a legal action against doctors, who undertook their medical training on bond without fulfilling the terms.

    A statement by his press secretary, Abubakar Al-Sadique, said the governor spoke while receiving members of the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association  (NMA), who visited him a  as part of events marking this year’s World Malaria Day.

    The governor lamented that scarce public resources were used to train doctors, most of whom were from poor families.

    He said many left the state without serving out their bonds, a reason, which he said, contributed to the paucity of qualified manpower to serve the increasing Bauchi population.

    While explaining that health has been a focal point of his administration, which resulted in the allocation of over 15 per cent of what was agreed in the Abuja declaration, the governor revealed that plans are underway to pay medical and health workers’ emoluments that will not only retain them, but attract others from neighboring states.

    “We are in the process of creating an agency that will be saddled with the responsibility of promoting hygiene and environmental sanitation, just as we empaneled a committee for the re-establishment of drainages in the state capital all of which targets prevention of the prevalence of malaria,” the governor said.

    The statement said since the assumption of office, Governor Abubakar’s administration has focused on preventive health, which included the construction of 19 primary healthcare centres in order to eliminate preventive diseases like malaria fever.

    NMA chairman, Dr Abdullahi Sani Giade said the World Malaria day was marked to sensitise the public on the dangers of malaria, especially to the people of the Third World countries.

    He said 60 per cent of death of children under the age of five result from malaria, adding that the disease claims one life every two minutes.

    The NMA chairman praised the governor for several critical interventions in the health sector, particularly allocating over 15 percent of the state’s appropriation since in 2015.

  • Adeosun on VAIDS: Fed Govt’ll name, shame, prosecute tax evaders after March 31

    Adeosun on VAIDS: Fed Govt’ll name, shame, prosecute tax evaders after March 31

    The Federal Government will name and shame tax defaulters after the expiration of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), Finance Minister Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has assured.

    She said the government will go a step further to prosecute whoever failed to take advantage of the tax amnesty programme – the VAIDS –  to regularise his/her tax profile.

    The minister was quoted to have assured foreign countries that any information volunteered to “the Federal Government would strictly adhere to the confidentiality of the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, in line with the guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).”

    In a statement, Mrs. Adeosun’s media aide,  Oluyinka Akintunde, said the minister made disclosure at a symposium orgarnised yesterday in Kaduna for VAIDS stakeholders.

    Adeosun stated that the government has the political will to prosecute tax evaders after the expiration of the tax amnesty programme by March 31.

    She said: “We will close VAIDS at the expiration of the programme on March 31, 2018. And once the programme is closed, we will name and shame and also prosecute tax evaders.

    “The Federal Government has the political will and data to go after tax evaders who fail to take advantage of the tax amnesty programme.

    “Many Nigerians cannot explain their lifestyles or match their lifestyles, assets and income with their tax payment.

    “We will close VAIDS at the expiration of the programme on March 31, 2018. And once the programme is closed, we will name and shame and also prosecute tax evaders, since they refused to take advantage of the opportunity.”

    On data sharing with foreign countries, the minister noted that the information sourced would be strictly used for tax purposes.

    “The guideline requires that the automatic exchange of financial account information must be specifically designed with residence jurisdictions’ tax compliance in mind rather than be a by-product of domestic reporting for it to be effective”, she said.

    She added that the automatic exchange of information had become necessary to combat tax evasion and protect the integrity of tax systems.

    The VAIDS, according to her, has been strengthened by the data on financial accounts, property and trusts shared by other countries.

    The urged offshore asset owners to utilise the VAIDS window to regularise their taxes before the end of the amnesty programme.

    Her words: “The offshore tax shelter system is basically over. Those who have hidden money overseas are being exposed and whilst Nigerians can legally keep their money anywhere in the world, they must first pay any taxes due to the Nigerian Government so that we can fund the needs of the masses and create jobs and wealth for our people.”

    In his remark, Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai said he had declared his assets last year, he lauded the collaboration between the federal and state governments on tax.

    He pledged to provide land ownership data to tax authorities at the federal and state levels, as part of measures to bring more income earners and asset owners into the tax net.

    The governor assured that the revenue from taxes would be judiciously used in improving the lives of residents of the state through investment in infrastructure, primary healthcare and education.

    The FIRS Executive Chairman, Babatunde Fowler reinforced the need for Nigerians to join hands with the federal and state governments to improve the standard of living through compliance with tax payment.

    Dignitaries at the event include, Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Idris Ahmed, captains of industries and business owners.

  • ‘Fed Govt should arrest, prosecute Waney’s sponsors’

    ‘Fed Govt should arrest, prosecute Waney’s sponsors’

    Stakeholders in Rivers State have urged the Federal Government to arrest and prosecute sponsors of the late notorious terrorist, Chief Johnson Igwedibia aka ‘General’ Don Waney and other criminals.

    They said this would act as a deterrent to others.

    The stakeholders alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike’s ambition had changed the peaceful ambience of the state, especially Orashi region, to daily bloodletting.

    The stakeholders, under the aegis of Civil Society Groups in Orashi Region and Orashi National Congress (ONC), spoke yesterday at a news conference at Civic Centre in Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA).

    The conference, addressed by the President of ONC, Emeni Ibe, was attended by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Prof. Henry Ugboma, an indigene of Ndoni in ONELGA; another stakeholder from Ndoni, Chief Henry Odili; monarchs; leaders and other personalities.

    The stakeholders accused Wike, Rivers State Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, an indigene of Omoku and another PDP chieftain from ONELGA, Chief Elemchukwu Ogbowu, as some of the sponsors of Igwedibia.

    The Rivers governor, who was in Omoku on Tuesday to commiserate with the bereaved families, however, denied sponsoring Igwedibia and others.

    He accused Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi and other chieftains of All Progressives Congress (APC) as being behind insecurity in Rivers.

    Rivers APC Publicity Secretary Chief Chris Finebone described the allegation “as a lie from the pit of hell.”

    Obuah, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Pastor Jerry Needam, described the allegation of sponsoring Igwedibia as untrue and frivolous.

    Ogbowu admitted that he and the terrorist (Igwedibia) were from the same Aligwu community in ONELGA, but he never sponsored him and others.

    Ibe said: “The genocide and terrorism in Orashi region are highly condemnable, hence the perpetrators and sponsors should be brought to book. Security in Orashi should be improved to rid the area of criminals roaming and terrorising people.

    “There is suspicion that security agencies and operatives in Orashi may have compromised, hence their roles should be investigated. The multinational oil companies in Orashi should desist from patronising criminals in their exploration and exploitation activities.

    “The Federal Government, international community, donor agencies and humanitarian agencies should attend to the needs of the victims. We enjoin youths to toe the path of peace and shun crimes and vices.

    “In view of the strategic economic contribution of Orashi region, the Federal Government should embark on people-oriented programmes that will ameliorate the suffering of the people and create employment for our youths.”

     

  • ‘Prosecute those behind death of Nigerian girls’

    The Director-General of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dame Julie Okah-Donli, has asked Italian authorities to ensure that those behind the death of 26 Nigerian girls on Mediterranean Sea are identified and prosecuted.

    She frowned at the haste with which the girls were buried without disclosure of their identities and nationalities.

    Okah-Donli lamented that the girls were buried on November 17, a day after the Italian Embassy in Nigeria communicated to her during a meeting with the ambassador and through an email that the remains would be buried on November 26.

    The NAPTIP boss spoke in Italy at meetings with officials of the Nigerian Embassy, officials of sister agencies and the Nigerian community, in her attempt to unravel the mystery behind the death of Nigerian migrants on Mediterranean Sea.

  • Govt to prosecute those defacing Abuja

    Govt to prosecute those defacing Abuja

    Those who continue to deface structures in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), especially the city centre, will henceforth be prosecuted and jailed, it was learnt yesterday.

    Coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) Umar Shuaibu, who spoke during a sensitization campaign, warned residents to desist from indiscriminate pasting of posters on walls, bridges, road signs, sign boards, illegal advertisements and other public structures, or face the music.

    Shuaibu said: “We are here because of all those people defacing the city. We want to see that we clean everything, and also bring to book, those involved in placing illegal advertisement on walls and other public facilities.

    “Their activities have adversely affected the beauty of the city, so we want to ensure that we clean everywhere, and also ensure that such practise does not reoccur in the future. The most important thing is that Abuja must be clean.

    “We will trace perpetrators of this crime all over the city. If you do not want us to come after you, quickly go to all those places you illegally placed your advertisements and wrote your numbers and either remove or clean them; else we will get you, and punish you in line with prescribed laws. If you want people to come to your event, and know about your businesses, give them addresses through appropriate means.

    “We want to punish defaulters to deter others; because when people break the law and get away with it, it encourages others to do same. They will be punished in line with the laws for defacing the city and causing nuisance.”

  • NAPTIP: why we’re yet to prosecute human trafficking kingpins

    •’Those arrested, prosecuted are mere agents’
    •Agency rescued over 12,000 victims in last 14years

    The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has explained its inability to prosecute the real kingpins behind human trafficking.

    It said it is because the powerful forces behind the crime are mostly outside the country.

    The Director General Barrister Julie Okah-Donli stated Nigerians involved in the illicit trade are mere agents for the real traffickers outside the country.

    She argued that until the destination countries prosecute those involved in the crime, it would remain difficult to totally eradicate.

    She spoke during a courtesy visit to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa at t     he Presidential Villa.

    Okah-Donli stressed the refusal of the destination countries to prosecute their gangs and confiscate their assets will continue to pose a serious challenge to the efforts of the agency to end human trafficking.

    The agency, she also, revealed has been able to rescue over 12,000 victims in the last 14 years.

    The NAPTIP boss said: “Nigerian is just a victim. It is not a wholly Nigerian problem when they came back to the countries, the destination countries will want to tell us that their nationals are not involved.

    “When I have meetings with them that is what they always say and a lot of people are not looking in that direction. When they said that, I always tell them what about their nationals?

    “They are criminal gang working with Nigerian agents. There is nowhere in the world where Nigerian will be operating freely, in Italy and the Italians are not involved.

    “But they told me they have not been able to identify any criminal gang.

    “These people find it so easy to get in. So how do they get there? So they need to begin to prosecute and convict their nationals.”

    Dabiri-Erewa assured of support to ensure Nigerians are properly educated about consequences of travelling abroad illegally.

  • Energy firm to arrest, prosecute thieves

    The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) has threatened to arrest and prosecute any person, group or corporate body found to be engaged in energy theft in its network.

    Acting Chief Executive Officer, PHED, Kingsley Achife, talked tough yesterday in Rumuorlumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during a town-hall meeting on customers’ bill of right, according to the company’s Manager, Corporate Communications, John Onyi.

    He decried the constant loss of about 30 per cent of the company’s anticipated revenue to energy theft on a monthly basis, which he described as unacceptable.

    Achife said: “PHED has collaborated with security agencies. A crack team of anti-energy theft squad has been established to work on a daily basis with the Revenue Protection Department (RPD) of the company (PHED).

    “We can assure you that anybody caught in meter tampering, by-pass through diversion of load or hooking directly to power lines shall not go scot free. He or she must face the full weight of the law. We cannot continue to condone energy thieves in our network. It must be stopped.

    “This is an era of energy accountability. For us to sustain the power industry, energy theft must be eradicated. We urge you to join in the war against energy theft and it must be won.”

    PHED’s acting chief executive officer also stated that the spate of energy theft in the company’s coverage area (Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers states) was a major source of huge revenue leakage.

    Achife added that with the warning and the setting up of the anti-energy theft crack team, PHED would tackle the ugly energy theft in the system.

  • Prosecute perpetrators of hate speeches, says SAN

    Prosecute perpetrators of hate speeches, says SAN

    A Constitutional lawyer,  Chief Sebastine Hon (SAN) has asked the Federal Government not to spare perpetrators of hate speeches.

    He said Section 4 of the 2011  Terrorism Act , amended by Act No. 10 of 2013  criminalises support for terrorism.

    He said the Terrorism Act stipulated  two to five years imprisonment as minimum punishment for terrorism.

    “We must not permit, I say with all vehemence, our collective existence to be threatened for very narrow and selfish reasons”, he contended.

    He counseled government to “act fast to arrest our apparent, if not clear, descent to total anarchy, due to the avalanche of hate speeches flying over the whole place”.

    He said the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo was correct in his classification of hate speech as terrorism.

    “Section 1(2) of the Terrorism Act, 2011, has described an “an act of terrorism” as an act deliberately done with malice, which, amongst other things, is intended or can reasonably be regarded as having been intended to seriously intimidate a population or seriously destabilise or destroy the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organisation.

    “There can be no better description of the current situation in Nigeria, where ethnic or cultural groups are issuing, willy-nilly organised and unguarded threats to other ethnic groups in Nigeria”, he argued.

    .Hon however commended the Acting President for his timely proclamation on the matter and as a confirmation of his public statement

  • AGF, EFCC get court’s nod to prosecute Ubah, Capital Oil

    AGF, EFCC get court’s nod to prosecute Ubah, Capital Oil

    •Appeal Court voids purported clearance by AGF, House of Reps, others

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja which among others, prohibited  investigation and prosecution of businessman Ifeanyi Ubah and his firm, Capital Oil and Gas Limited over their alleged complicity in the massive petroleum subsidy scam recorded under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    The court, in a unanimous judgment by a three-man panel, voided the purported clearance jointly issued Ubah and his firm via separate letters written by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and a report by the ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives (that probed the oil subsidy scam).

    The judgment was on an appeal  initiated by the Chairman of the EFCC and AGF against the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja delivered on July 25, 2013 in a fundamental rights enforcement suit  filed by Ubah and his firm. It was prosecuted by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), with Ajibola Oluyede and Babs Akinwumi representing Ubah and Capital Oil.

    Court documents revealed that trouble started for Ubah and his firm when the Presidential Committee on the Verification and Reconciliation of subsidy payments to petroleum marketers queried the payment of about N43.291billion subsidy payment to them on the ground that the process leading to the payment was suspicious.

    The case was referred to the Police’s Special Fraud Unit, ‘D’ Department, Force CID, Lagos for investigation. It issued two interim reports dated November 2, 2012 and November 3, 2012, claiming that the transactions involving Ubah and his firm were suspicious.

    Ubah and Capital Oil, who queried the composition of the Presidential Committee on the ground that it was headed by former Access Bank Managing Director, Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede, with another board member, Cosmas Maduka, as member (a bank with which they had financial dispute), had the two police interim reports set aside by a judgment of the Federal High Court on February 18, 2013.

    For unexplained reasons, the police, on February 28, 2013 issued a third report exonerating Ubah and his firm. The House of Reps’ ad-hoc committee gave a similar verdict in its report of April 18, 2012. The AGF, in a legal advice to the EFCC Chairman and the IGP, dated October 2014 exonerated Ubah and his company from criminal liability.

    Based on the AGF’s advice, the EFCC Chairman issued a report dated February 25, 2015 confirming that there was no criminal liability established against Ubah and his firm.

    The AGF followed up with three letters dated March 12, 2015, addressed to the Ministry of Finance, the Debt Management Office and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), notifying them that the EFCC has discontinued any investigation into the case and has issued Ubah and his firm clearance letter.

    But, in the Court of Appeal judgment, delivered on May 12, a copy of which The Nation obtained last Friday, Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, who read the lead judgment, said those letters were mere opinions of the authors, not sufficient to confer a status of innocence on a criminal suspect, who has not been tried in court.

    Justice Agim said such letters can also not deter relevant investigative agencies from reopening investigation on the case, because a legal advice by the office of the AGF on a case file sent to it by the police after investigation, was not the same as the exercise of the AGF’s power to take over or discontinue criminal proceedings under Section 174(1)(a) and (c) of the Constitution.

    The judge said Ubah and his firm’s reliance on the letters “and two recent judgments of the Federal High Court, they quickly procured upon obtaining those documents (the letters by AGF, IGP and EFCC Chairman), are all aimed at circumventing and defeating the decisions of this court in IGP v. Ubah, Aig-Imoghuede v. Ubah and Maduka v. Ubah (three decisions of the court’s Lagos division which set aside the February 18, 2013 judgment given by the Federal High Court, Lagos.

    Justice Agim noted that the fact that the office of the AGF and the Chairman of the EFCC have continued to prosecute the appeal despite the letters purportedly written by them in favour of Ubah and his firm, was an indication that “the current holders of those offices have refused to ratify or adopt the letters written by their predecessors.”

    The judge added: “I have held herein that the said report of the ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives is of no legal effect and that in any case, it did not absolve the 1st and 2nd respondents (Ubah and his firm) from complicity in the massive fraud in the petroleum subsidy payments.

    “I have also held herein that the investigation report in exhibit CAPOIL 4 (the 3rd police investigation report) exonerating the 1st and 2nd respondents from complicity in the commission of the said crimes conflicts with the elaborate findings of facts showing their commission of the offences in exhibits CAPOIL 1 and 2 (the 1st and 2nd police investigation reports) and that this justifies the further investigation of the matters by the appellants.

    Justice Agim noted that one of the allegations raised by then Chairman of Access Bank, Dr. Cosmas Maduka against Ubah and his firm before the Presidential Committee that investigated the subsidy fraud was that they “fraudulently obtained clearance of imported petroleum products when the original copy of the bill of lading for the products was still in the possession of the consignee, Access Bank that financed the letters of credit for the importation.”

    He also noted that the second police investigation report on the case, marked: exhibit CAPOIL 2 contains findings of facts of Ubah and his firm’s involvement in petroleum subsidy payment fraud.

    “Exhibit CAPOIL 4 (third police investigation report) and exhibit PA3 (the report of the ad-hoc committee of the House of Reps) relied on by the 1st and 2nd respondents all agree that there was massive fraud in petroleum subsidy payments involving petroleum marketing companies, tank farm owners and Federal Government officials.

    “There was therefore, a reasonable basis for the suspicion of the 1st and 2nd respondents of committing the said offences.

    “The fuel subsidy fraud involved corruption and fraud on a very massive scale, involving many oil marketing companies and officials of government regulatory agencies, resulting in the looting and stealing of trillions of naira from the Federal Government of Nigeria and threatening the security and economy of Nigeria.

    “This fact is common knowledge and is not open to question. The petroleum subsidy fraud is a serious and very complicated fraud that has dealt a devastating blow on the security and well-being of the people. “

    Justice Agim, who likened the massive fraud that was perpetrated in the name of petroleum subsidy to terrorism and treason, castigated trial court judges, who chose to yield their platforms to suspects being investigated for complicity in such grave offences.

    “Yet, the trial court and other courts have determined applications for the enforcement of fundamental human rights of persons being investigated for committing this and similar type of offences in such a manner as to prevent or frustrate such investigation by issuing injunctions to stop ongoing process and prevent even future processes without regard to the very serious nature of the crime alleged to have been committed and its far reaching destructive effect on society.

    “Such legal processes initiated by suspects to pre-empt the due investigation of the allegations against them amount to gross abuses of the legal process and court processes.

    These pre-emptive legal processes initiated by persons suspected of committing very serious offences such as petroleum subsidy fraud, theft of public funds and properties, terrorism, treason, etc to prevent the initiation or continuation of the due criminal processes of investigation of the allegation against them is not a legitimate or genuine use of the court process.

    Justice Agim frowned at the conflicting roles played in the case by relevant government agencies including the police, the office of the AGF and the EFCC, who at different points, issued letters of clearance to Ubah and his firm.

    Justices Peter Olabisi Ige and Tani Yusuf Hassan, who were members of the three-man panel, agreed with Justice Agim’s views in the judgment.