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Tag: stopped

  • How governors, senators, others stopped Magu

    How governors, senators, others stopped Magu

    Senate rejects EFCC chief again

    Ibrahim Magu’s confirmation for Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman was rejected again yesterday – no thanks to some governors, senators and high-profile suspects.

    Magu’s confirmation was first rejected on December 15, 2016.

    The governors were said to have been angry with Magu over the ongoing probe of the alleged diversion of N19 billion from the London-Paris Club loan refund.

    Seven governors have been implicated in the scandal.

    Besides, some senators resolved to save their colleagues following Magu’s refusal to make a commitment that he will “find solutions” to the ongoing investigation and trial of 10 members of the Upper Chamber.

    Some of the 10 senators, led by a former governor from the Northeast, specifically demanded the termination of their trial during a meeting with Magu.

    The Acting EFCC chairman however insisted that the law must take its course, a source, who pleaded not to be named because of the “sensitivity” of the matter, told The Nation.

    Some high profile suspects were said to have wielded influence to frustrate Magu’s confirmation “to pay him back in his own coin”.

    According to the source, Magu’s rejection was the product of “conspiracy of aggrieved forces”.

    It was learnt that the N19billion  was deducted from the N388.304billion, which was part of the N522.74 billion released to 35 states as refund of over-deductions on the London-Paris Club loans.

    Following protests by states against over deductions for external debt service between 1995 and 2002, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the release of the first tranche to states as refund pending a reconciliation of records.

    Each state was entitled to a cap of N14.5 billion being 25% of the amounts claimed.

    But EFCC through intelligence intercepted how N19billion was diverted to Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) accounts and some private accounts.

    A source said: “All attempts to prevail on Magu to halt the investigation failed and the governors have no choice than to engage in lobbying to truncate the confirmation.

    “Although a governor from the Northeast did his best to persuade his colleagues to spare Magu, some of the governors vowed not to take the risk.

    “At a point, the governors sent emissaries to the Acting EFCC chairman, including some government officials, but he did not shift ground.

    “The position of the governors was that the Presidency was in the picture of the deductions from the loan refunds but the EFCC’s probe was seen as an embarrassment to them.

    “Before Magu goes after them, they decided to cut him to size. These governors found willing partners in some National Assembly leaders who were implicated in the loan refund.”

    One of the emissaries sent by the governors to Magu was quoted as saying: “This chap almost secured confirmation but he bungled it by probing the loan refund.

    “Each time a commitment was secured from him, the more he has been intensifying investigation of the N19billion. We told him it was a sensitive case.”

    “A businessman reportedly interceded for Magu, urging the Senate leadership to confirm him. But the businessman later discovered that EFCC was investigating him in connection with the loan refund, The Nation learnt.

    “So, the governors refused to spare any efforts to lobby their senators to reject Magu. And don’t forget that most of these governors are godfathers of many senators. Again, 2019 is around the corner, no senator wants to take a bet on Magu and lose the opportunity of returning to the Red Chamber in the next general election,” the source said.

    Most of the senators were displeased that the EFCC was either investigating or putting more than 10 of their colleagues on trial.

    A highly-placed source said: “The Senate has had its grudges against Magu since the invitation of the wife of the President of the Senate for interrogation. The senators saw it as a desecration of the chamber.

    “Despite the fact that the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has purportedly forgiven Saraki, the questioning of his wife has been a lingering memory. There are always fears that Magu could be more drastic in his action if confirmed.

    ”And the fears came to fore during the lobbying for confirmation when the Acting EFCC chairman refused to yield ground.  Magu and a few others met with some of the Senators, led by a former governor from the Northeast, who demanded to know what EFCC will do on their cases.”

    Magu was said to have told the lawmakers that the law will take its course.

    He was quoted as saying: “I cannot find solutions to these cases.”

    Since that day, the hurdles against his confirmation became higher.

    “The list of those who met Magu where the request was tabled is an open secret,” the source said.

    He went on: “The PDP senators did not mince words that the Acting EFCC chairman will not be confirmed because of alleged tilting of investigation towards opposition leaders. The ongoing subtle probe of the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio and his wife by the EFCC was considered as an affront after Magu had lobbied the PDP Caucus.

    “Although two of the PDP senators met with Magu on Tuesday to assure him of likely clearance but the game plan changed overnight when the caucus took a position against Magu.”

    Another source fingered some high profile suspects of the EFCC, including some bank chiefs, as those behind Magu’s travails.

    The source added: “The Acting EFCC chairman stepped on toes of these high-profile suspects, who in cahoots with their associates and sympathisers, lobbied senators to halt what one of them described as ‘Magu’s hurricane’. These suspects have the wherewithal to fight Magu to a standstill.

    “The problem with Magu is that he has no godfather to fight his cause. And Senate politics is about influence wielding, building contacts and high-wire relationship.

    “There were rumours that some suspects budgeted about N2.2billion to stop Magu’s confirmation. The EFCC stumbled on this information but it was yet to trace any transaction linked to the slush budget. The agency was suspecting under-the-table vote.”

    Also yesterday, it was learnt that “the crisis of confidence within the kitchen cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari” affected Magu’s confirmation.

    A source in government said: “Magu has limited contacts in government. His sympathisers are President Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the President’s wife, Hajiya Aisha Buhari,  the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Babagana Monguno and the Chairman of PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay, among others.

    “Unfortunately, the NSA who recommended him for the job is facing challenges with some members of the kitchen cabinet who see Magu as doing the bidding of his benefactor.

    Asked of the role of the Department of State Services (DSS), the source said: “I think the service was uncomfortable with lack of inter-agency cooperation between it and the EFCC.

    “There was a time the DSS advised Magu to stay action on an operation in the Southsouth, but the EFCC went ahead. It led to mutual suspicion.

    “The closeness of Magu to the NSA, who had issues with DSS,  aggravated the proxy war, which resulted in two damning reports against Magu. The Acting EFCC chairman is a victim of power play  in the kitchen cabinet.”

  • Why Kanu’s Biafra radio must be stopped

    Ever since former President Jonathan lost the presidential elections on March 28, which some of us knew he will never win based on the facts that we all know and the statistics available, majority of Igbo have been unhappy and angry. They have been cursing and abusing the President and APC leaders wishing that President Buhari never existed and APC never formed. Many of them have been so frustrated after the elections that they are now looking for a way to get back to the APC controlled federal government.

    Now, one Nnamdi Kanu who has been dreaming about the State of Biafra has provided a space for them to vent their anger. Some of them have joined him to wish for the State of Biafra. Suddenly the so-called Radio Biafra has created a momentum for them. On facebook I have watched with a keen interest what these guys dish out on daily basis in the name of fighting for Biafra. They tell blatant lies, create havoc, make terrible noise, abuse other Nigerians, and preach unimaginable propaganda and hate that at once put Igbo land in potential danger. I have been waiting for the South-east governors to speak up but they have maintained a deafening silence that suggests complicity. I have also waited for our elders to call him to order but nothing has happened. With the so-called Radio Biafra, he has unleashed an unimaginable trailer-load of lies and potentially dangerous propaganda that has put Igbo nation in danger. It is now 45years after the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War and I think that the Igbo must rise up to stop this man who never saw the 1967-1970 Civil War and who may not know the implications of what he is doing. He has never consulted anybody to seek his opinion. He has been speaking to the gullible and not too educated people in Igboland, and very soon these uneducated people will take a dangerous decision that may decimate and destroy Igboland. Soon our people will start complaining that they were not consulted. To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed.

    Woe betides a nation whose leaders are children. If we elders do not talk about this evil, posterity will never forgive us. Let us speak out and if these children do not hear us, then it should be on record that we spoke. About a month ago the barrage of lies and uncontrolled propaganda Radio Biafra dished out everyday drew the attention of NBC which asked Nigerians to stop listening to this useless radio station.

    Now here are compelling reasons why Igbo must remain in Nigeria in their own interest. The Igbo fought a civil war of self determination between 1967 and 1970 and lost about one million people. This should be taken as a huge price for the unity of this country. Having paid this monumental supreme price I think Igbo should work for the unity of this country based on social justice, equity and fair play.

    Moreover, Nigeria has three major ethnic groups: Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. The Hausa/Fulani has Hausa people stretching all through the Sahel to the Sudan. They are mostly Muslims and they have contact with the Arab world. The Yoruba nation has Togo, Benin Republic, Sierra Leone and even up to Brazil and Cuba to run to where their kinsmen are. Igbo nation has no outlet anywhere in the world where the language is spoken. Therefore they must see Nigeria as where they belong and work for its survival.

    Nigeria provided a big space for Igbo to spread their tentacles, explore, excel and blossom. South East is too small for this highly mobile and dynamic people to thrive. The world pays attention to Nigeria today because of our size and population. If Nigeria splits into smaller countries the world will pack their bag and baggage and leave. Population and size make a nation a destination.

    Assuming we manage to get a State of Biafra, which state in the South-east will produce the first President? When Enugu State was created, the late Governor C.C Onoh sacked all the civil servants and teachers from Anambra State. Recently former governor T. A. Orji of Abia State sacked workers from Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu States. Now how can we manage Biafra with this attitude?

    The Igbo control 60-70% of all the imports in Nigeria and other Nigerians, Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani, Ijaw, Efik, Birom, Tiv, Idoma etc provides huge market for Igbo mobile and big time traders.

    Monumental inter marriages between Igbo and Yoruba and other ethnic groups have thrived for close to 70years now that we cannot just dismiss all these with a wave of hand.

    Igbo own huge and massive investments in property in Lagos and Abuja, and other state capitals in Nigeria. Now are you going to wish all this away?

    Other Nigerian cities have provided safe haven for Igbo as places to run to cool off whenever self inflicted crisis arise or other problems. When kidnapping became a way of life in the South-east, our people moved to other parts of Nigeria to settle. Now where will Igbo go when confronted with these problems in Biafra?

    How can Igbo thrive without their Lagos and Abuja or Port-Harcourt? What happens to all their connections and relationships in these places?

    Can someone tell Nnamdi Kanu that wars may be fought for 50 years and people will die to achieve Biafra? The war may even consume Nnamdi and all the members of his family and millions of others without achieving the purpose.

    We have been so inter-married, interwoven, intertwined, inter-related that the idea of separation may not be encouraged. I do not want to lose my friends from the other parts of Nigeria for anything.

    I can go on but there is no need to continue to do so. We must be strong enough to stop this  old problem of looking down on people who are different from us. This is the problem of Nigeria. Nigeria’s diversity is a big plus for all of us to excel. United we stand, divided we fall. I confess that Igbo have not played better politics in Nigeria since 1970 and that has been our bane. Anytime we want to change bad leadership in the country, Igbo as a block will resist it. It happened in 1993 and we lost everything. In 2015, Igbo were at it again but forces of history prevailed. Igbo can do better than this.

    However, I want Nigerian leaders to show leadership by carrying all Nigerians along in distributing power and resources. If there is no justice, there will be no peace. If there is no peace there will be no progress. Let justice prevail. Let us be fair to all concerned. If the truth must prevail and it must prevail, Nigeria has not been fair to Igbo since the end of civil war. They tell us that there is no victor and no vanquished but in actions and deeds, the victors are still celebrating and enjoying the spoils of the war while the defeated are still languishing in abject neglect. For instance, of all the six zones in Nigeria, only the South-east has five states. We have found solace in all these because we have found out that those who are still oppressing the Igbo in Nigeria are not better. We also take solace in the findings of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council that all acts of indignity against human persons, against human society debase the perpetrators more than the victims.  It is not that the offended cannot forgive but have the offenders repented? This injustice must stop now for the sake of unity of this country.

    • Igbokwe writes from Lagos

  • ‘My husband has stopped eating my food’

    A middle-age woman, Ruth Abah, is seeking the dissolution of her six-year-old marriage to her husband Abel, at an Agege Customary Court in Lagos.

    She said her woes began in 2011 when her husband stopped eating at home.

    “I was six months pregnant when my husband stopped eating my food. On several occasions, I asked him what I did but he never gave an answer. It went on for eight months and three weeks but my husband never gave a reason for his actions,” she said.

    The petitioner added that her husband is fond of beating her.

    She said: “He beats me over trivial issues. He also went to the extent of buying his own foodstuff to the house. At times we fight over our stove.”

    Mrs Abah said she left her matrimonial home 2011 with their baby because the torture was too much, adding that her husband traced her to the house she rented and beat her mercilessly.

    “The love between us turned cold immediately we got married. I realised he loved me while we were courting. I want dissolution and I want him to cater for our child because I have been single-handedly taking care of our son for over three months,” she said.

    Defending himself, the respondent, said his wife she left the house of her own volition.

    “I got back from work one day and I realised that my wife wasn’t at home. I didn’t know why she left because we had no issue that day. We are both responsible for our child’s school fees. I am fine with the dissolution because I have someone else,” he said.

    The court’s President, Pa Adekunle Williams, ordered the respondent to pay N15, 000 as the child’s three-month outstanding allowance. He adjourned the matter till July 23.

  • Boko Haram must be stopped, says Fasheun

    Founder and President of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) Dr. Frederick Fasheun yesterday warned that the Boko Haram insurgency must be curbed before the 2015 general election.

    He decried the killing of seven foreigners and polio immunisation officers and urged political leaders in the North to address the menace before it is too late.

    Fasheun, who spoke in Lagos, urged the Sultan of Sokoto to name Boko Haram members if he wants amnesty for them.

    He urged Nigerian leaders to prove wrong the predictions of the United States that the country would disintegrate by 2015.

    Fasheun said: “I warn that the 2015 poll portends danger because southerners may not be able to travel up North to campaign for votes. The South may also create an unhealthy atmosphere for northerners to campaign in their region.

    “Let the Sultan of Sokoto, who seeks amnesty for Boko Haram members, give us a list of members of the sect. When two nations go to war, they will later need to go to a roundtable to resolve their differences. So, northern politicians must lead the battle for peace in their region and put insurgents on the leash. Otherwise, no one can predict the hostile reception awaiting them when they attempt to campaign in the South in 2015.”

    On the “neglect” of the Yoruba by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, Fasheun urged House of Representatives’ Speaker Aminu Tambuwal to vacate his office, saying the seat does not belong to him.

    He said the seat was zoned to the Southwest and must be filled by someone from the zone.

  • Why we stopped Abuja transport policy, by minister

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Muhammed, yesterday said poor implementation of the new transport policy and some other lapses by the FCT Administration led to stopping the policy.

    Mohammed admitted several lapses in the policy and promised to correct them.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja, following the suspension of the ban on mini-buses within the city centre, the minister said the FCTA had bought about 700 high capacity buses to serve the affected areas of the territory.

    The suspension, he said, would only last for three weeks after which full implementation of the new policy will begin.

    He spoke after a meeting with officials of the mini-buses’ union, FCT chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) , besides the FCT Police Commissioner as well as the Director, Department of State Security.

    Muhammed directed that a committee to be chaired by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Anthony Ozodinobi, bne set up to fine-tune its implementation.

    The stakeholders, including the FCT Chapters of the NLC/TUC, the police, Vehicles Inspection Officers (VIO), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and member of a civil society organisation, are represented on the implementation committee.

    Muhammed insisted that there is no going back on the implementation of the policy because it is for the good of all residents of the FCT.

    He announced that another transportation-related policy, including but not limited to car mart, car wash and illegal motor parks in and around the FCT, which have been banned, will also be enforced.

    The minister added that the FCT Park-and-Pay policy faced similar challenges.

    He said the enforcement of such measures are the only solution to sanitising transport-related problems in the Federal Capital Territory.