The trustees of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) will today be arraigned before a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja over the collapse of a six-story building in the church on September 12, last year which led to the death of 116 persons.
Senior Pastor of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua is one of the trustees.
The trustees will be arraigned before Justice Lawal Akapo alongside the engineers that constructed the collapsed building.
A statement by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Bola Akingbade confirmed it.
It would be recalled that Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos had dismissed the fundamental human rights enforcement suits filed by the engineers who constructed the collapsed six-storey building to stop their planned trial.
The engineers – Mr Oladele Ogundeji and Mr Akinbela Fatiregun, had filed two separate suits before Justice Buba seeking an order restraining the police from inviting, arresting or prosecuting them over the victims’ death.
The Lagos State Government, had set up a Coroner Inquest to unravel what went wrong, and via a verdict delivered on August 7 by Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, the Coroner had indicted the engineers and recommended them for investigation and prosecution for criminal negligence.
The engineers had filed the suits following the Coroner’s verdict, which attributed the building collapse to structural defect.
But Justice Buba, in his ruling on the defendants’ preliminary objection, held that the engineers “had not made out a case of infringement on their fundamental rights even on the merit of the application,” and dismissed their applications.
About 70 per cent of prison inmates are awaiting trial, the Prison Fellowship Nigeria (PFN) Secretary-General Jacob Tsado, has said.
Speaking with reporters during the group’s Family Week/Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Mowe, Ogun State, Tsado called for a review of the criminal justice system.
He said: “Our justice system is tilted against the victim. Justice is done when harmony is restored. We have inmates whose files are lost; they have no lawyers and on the day they are to appear, the Black Maria vehicle refuses to work because either it has no fuel or it is not in good working condition.
“So, the court has to adjourn the case. You can imagine someone who had waited for four months for his case and on that day, the case is adjourned for the above reasons. That is why in Prison Fellowship, we have become the voice for the voiceless.”
The scribe said the Week was aimed at stocking and equipping PFN members spiritually and morally for the tasks ahead.
“The popular saying is: ‘You can’t give what you don’t have.’ To give to prisoners, we need to be imparted by the power of God and to acquire relevant skills and capacities for prison ministries. For people to be engaged in the system, they need to be taught certain things for us to go out and spread the good news to engage people in criminal justice.’’
He noted that PFN is specialised non-governmental organisation (NGO) involved in security, criminal justice and the law.
To tackle the problems of those on the awaiting trial list, Tsado said his group was partnering the Lagos State government on the adoption of the restorative justice system, adding that is signed an memorandum of understanding with the government.
He said the system would promote harmony, peace, development and reintegration of offenders to the society.’’ It is good for communal progress,’’ he added.
The group’s Chair Dorcas Din appealed to the government and individuals to assist body to build its centrein Abuja to train newly released inmates before they are enter the society. She said the group has acquired land for the centre but had not been able to develop it.
She urged the government to rehabilitate the prisons, saying many of them have dilapidated facilities.
PFN’s Executive Director Ben Iwuagwu, a lawyer, urged all political leaders to assist in reforming the prisons. He said the prisons should serve as reformative centres. He said it was wrong to make them punitive, adding that our leaders have a responsibility to the downtrodden, especially those in the prisons in this regard.
The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday dismissed applications by the two engineers who built the collapsed six-storey guest house of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN).
Justice Ibrahim Buba dismissed their rights enforcement suits which sought to prevent their arrest, saying they lacked merit.
Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun had sought to prevent their trial over the fatality which occurred last September 12, killing 116 persons.
They urged the court to restrain the Lagos State government and the police from inviting, arresting or prosecuting them after they were indicted by a District Coroner, Oyetade Komolafe.
After an inquest, the coroner held in his verdict that the building collapsed due to structural defects.
Ogundeji and Fatiregun filed two suits against the Commissioner of Police, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Lagos Attorney-General and Komolafe.
The applicants prayed the court to declare that the police lack the power to act on the coroner’s verdict to investigate or prosecute them.
Among others, they wanted the court to perpertually restrain the Attorney-General or any officer under his authority from initiating or commencing criminal proceedings against them on the basis of the coroner’s findings and recommendations.
The engineers had, through their lawyer, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, rejected the coroner’s verdict, describing it as “unreasonable, one-sided and biased.”
But the respondents, in a preliminary objection, contended that the applicants’ main complaint is not for enforcement of their fundamental human rights but to challenge the Coroner’s verdict.
Dismissing the application, Justice Buba held the engineers did not make a successful case that their rights were about to be infringed.
He ruled on one of the applications and adopted it for the second engineer’s similar application.
According to him, the Coroner’s Law was an enactment of the Lagos State House of Assembly constitutionally empowered to make laws.
“The Federal High Court cannot dabble into the affairs of the state and start dishing out injunctive orders,” said the judge.
Upholding the respondents’ preliminary objection, the judge added: “The coroner’s inquest is not a court of law. It does not find anybody guilty. It only recommends.”
Arguing the application, Ojo had said: “The fulcrum of the applicants’ case is that they were not charged with any offence before the coroner; they merely appeared as witnesses and the coroner went on to indict them of criminal negligence and it is a nullity.
But the respondents, through a senior state counsel Mr. A. Bakare argued that the engineers’ case was not about fundamental rights enforcement but intended to stop government agents from performing their statutory duties.
Trial of a 62-year-old lecturer at Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Anyanwu Longinus Obialor, for alleged illegal possession of arms and ammunition has begun at an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court in Lagos.
Obialor was arraigned on June 14, 2011, after his arrest on June 12 at the Murtala Muhammad Airport, Ikeja, Lagos by the police for allegedly being in possession of one Saiga Assault Riffle and a PFG pistol.
He was re-arraigned before Magistrate J.O. Adepoju, after the matter was transferred from the Ojokoro Division of the court.
During proceedings, prosecuting Inspector Haruna Ibrahim told the court that the accused was to also found in possession of “350 assorted types of ammunition”.
The magistrate denied the defendant’s request made through his counsel, Osagie Akioya, for the matter to be struck out and ordered that the case be tried de novo (afresh).
Osagie told the court that Obialor was a lecturer at the Igbinedion University, Okada, and resided in Benin, Edo State capital.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge of illegal possession of arms and ammunition contrary to and punishable under Section 428 (d) of the Criminal Code of Lagos State.
The magistrate granted him bail on the same terms as in June 2011 – in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in the like sum.
The sureties must show proof of tax payment to the Lagos State government for the past five years. The case was adjourned till November 15 and 16.
A few politically exposed persons, who escaped justice in Nigeria, have been successfully tried and jailed abroad. There are also reported extradition requests pending against others. How can the process of extradition be made less cumbersome so that those who have cases to answer abroad can do so? Robert Egbe sought lawyers’ views.
The prosecution of politically exposed persons in Nigeria is usually a complex process. More often than not, trials involving influential former office holders drag on for years and may be susceptible to being compromised.
With the never-ending injunctions obtained by lawyers, and other loopholes they exploit in the laws, there is uncertainty about when justice will be done.
However, the case is usually different where such suspects are found to have committed elements of their offences abroad, particularly in the jurisdictions of some western nations. For instance, the judicial systems of the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), not bogged down by the ethnic, cultural, historical or socio-political pressures of Nigerian society, have administered justice timely and impartially in cases involving some members of the Nigerian political elite.
• Ibori … jailed in the UK
A case in point is the James Ibori saga where, in 2009, a Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, discharged and acquitted the former governor of the 170-count charge of corruption brought against him by the EFCC. But, five years later, a London court convicted him of money laundering and conspiracy, on charges similar to the ones he was cleared of in Nigeria.
Also, in September 2005, the late ex-Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was detained in London on charges of money laundering at a time he was not even under investigation in Nigeria and could not even be prosecuted because of his constitutional immunity.
There are other cases of Nigerians wanted abroad. The extradition to the UK of a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), Emmanuel Ehidiamhem Okoyomon, has been ordered by a Federal High Court in Abuja. Okoyomon’s extradition is being sought by the UK government over his alleged role in the bribery allegation involving officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NSPMC and Securency International Pty of Australia between 2006 and 2008.
•Kashamu… allegedly wanted in the US
The case of Mr. Buruji Kashamu, who was recently sacked by an election tribunal as senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, is another example. Former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke (SAN) had stated in an application for extradition of the Nigerian businessman at the Federal High Court in Lagos, that Kashamu was the subject of a one-count charge superceeding indictment in a criminal case filed before an Illinois court on May 21, 1998.
•Allison-Madueke… invited for questioning in London
Two Fridays ago, Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) invited Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison-Madueke and four others for talks concerning a case of bribery and money laundering.
In almost all of these cases, voices of discontent have been raised by party loyalists or ethnic groups of the suspects, who have raised allegations of witch-hunting and selective prosecution. In some cases, the potential for violence if convictions are secured against the suspects is not inconsequential. This is particularly true of the potentially-volatile Niger Delta region, home of most of Nigeria’s oil reserves.
The advantages of trial abroad
The government of President Muhammadu Buhari recognises the limitations of the administration of justice system in Nigeria and has repeatedly emphasised the need for judicial reforms that will aid his administration’s anti-corruption war and strengthen democratic governance.
The president has since appointed a Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption headed by Professor Itse Sagay, a prominent professor of law and civil rights activist. The Committee will, among other things, advise the present administration on the implementation of required reforms in Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
• Okoyomon
Nevertheless, many politically exposed Nigerians are suspected of owning property abroad. If such property are found to be evidence of money laundering, like in the Ibori saga, they could form the basis of prosecution in foreign courts. Nigeria’s role would be limited to supplying information and approving extradition requests, should the foreign government make a legitimate request. This would relieve the country of the financial burden of carrying out the trials locally. It would also put paid to allegations of selective prosecution and witch-hunting.
Constitutional lawyer and author Mr. Sebastine Hon (SAN), explains how extradition works.
He said: “Extradition by Nigeria of its citizens for trial abroad is lawful and legal. The procedure is covered under the Extradition Act 2004, and once Nigeria has a reciprocal agreement with any country, it is bound by that agreement, which is in the form of an international treaty, to extradite any person requested by that country.
“Unless that agreement is no more in force, if a request is made while that agreement is still in force, Nigeria is under obligation to comply, under international law, to extradite that person.
“Extradition in international law ensures “the smooth working of the system across international borders, to achieve worldwide peace and the fight against crime,” Hon said.
He continued: “So, without that every country is a sovereign nation that will refuse incursion into its own territory for the purpose of arrest and trial abroad.
“Nations realising the importance of fighting crime using lawful means, enacted various prosecution laws to help and situate that right of prosecution for crimes committed on their soils by foreigners.”
Lawyers prefer trial at home
Nevertheless, where elements of a crime are committed in Nigeria and also abroad, the learned silk opined that the suspect could be tried abroad, after Nigerian courts have already failed to do justice.
He said: “If certain elements of a crime are committed in Nigeria and some are committed abroad, the courts of both countries have jurisdiction to deal with those cases.
“So, if a Nigerian court fails to convict and somebody secures a conviction abroad, fair enough. It means the judicial system of that country is stronger than ours.”
He explained that by the intendment of the criminal law, anybody that commits a crime should expect punishment.
He added: “So if you escape in Nigeria and you’re found culpable elsewhere, that is good. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s even better to have it so.
“Especially those people, who commit high crimes, they just milk the nation of billions and billions of naira and they muscle their way through in Nigeria, so to speak, and because of the weak legal and judicial system, if they’re convicted abroad, there’s nothing wrong with that. I fully support that.”
• Hon
Mr. Hon dismissed allegations of witch-hunting made by suspects in corruption trials.
He said: “Without being a witch, nobody will witch-hunt you. If you’re no witch, you shouldn’t be afraid of being hunted. I support extradition. It is in our laws and in so far as no one has abrogated those laws, the full process of the law should go on, no matter whose ox is gored or no matter whose interest is affected.”
Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Festus Keyamo, wants all accused persons, no matter how highly placed, tried in Nigeria. Although Keyamo supports lawful extradition, he opined strongly that the Nigerian judicial system must be made effective enough to see prosecutions through.
• Keyamo
“If there’s a genuine request for extradition, Nigeria has a duty to oblige any country that asks for anyone for trial,” Keyamo said. “The reason is that Nigeria is part of the global community and we’re part of various treaties – bilateral, multi-lateral – that guarantee or prescribe the ways and methods by which people can be extradited for trial.
“So, if we’re part of all of these treaties and there’s a genuine request for extradition for anybody, we have a duty to oblige those countries. If we start turning down extradition requests on flimsy excuses, it will mean that we’re not serious in the fight against corruption,” he said.
He explained that if a Nigerian commits an offence here and elements of that offence abroad, Nigeria should not go begging that other country to try its own citizen.
He said: “Once the person is arrested here and there is jurisdiction to try the person here, we have a duty to make our system work and try the people and convict them.
“However, if there are elements that happen here and elements that happen abroad and it will not amount to double jeopardy, then we can as well try the person here and convict the person, if the person is in our custody.
“It will amount to cowardice and evidence of a weak sovereignty if we just voluntarily tell the person to go abroad, to send the person away when we have the jurisdiction to try the person here.”
•Ugwumadu
For Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Malachy Ugwummadu, he understands why there is a perception that the judiciary doesn’t seem to be formidable enough when it comes to the administration of the criminal justice system. Nevertheless, he rejects any idea of the government encouraging foreign trials for its citizens, likening it to outsourcing the administration of the Nigerian criminal justice system.
“To make such a proposal is to encourage the government to abandon or abdicate its responsibility,” Mr. Ugwummadu said. “A government that will have to outsource the administration of its criminal justice system, has abandoned or abdicated all the crucial purpose of that government, and so it’ll be farfetched in terms of recommendations to suggest that that should happen,” he added.
He continued: “However, I did say that I understand why this is coming up, because if you take a closer look at the records of prosecution so far, it’s difficult to identify any politically exposed state actor, who has gone down in this country on account of an effective prosecution.
“That is already an indictment, but what to do is not to hand over the security of the country to another country, including those who may not even have the patience to follow the due process of the law.”
The way out
The key to an effective judicial system, said Keyamo, is to reform it. He said: “So, the fact that our system is slow and not working does not mean that we should give up our sovereignty, I do not subscribe to that, we should not.
“We have a duty to make our system work, but, if it’s only when there’s no offence here, the person has not committed any offence here but has committed an offence abroad and there’s a request for the person to be tried abroad, we must send the person away. Like the case of Buruji Kashamu, we have a duty, no matter the legal gymnastics.”
Even where the Nigerian justice system fails, Keyamo, a socialist, critic and columnist, feels it must not be given up on.
He said: “That does not mean that we should shy away from our responsibility to try people and convict them, we have a duty to make it work. So, if at the end we avoid trying people like that, in preference for sending them abroad, when will our system work?”
Mr. Ugwummadu recommends several measures that will better aid the fight against corruption. He said: “What we need to do is to strengthen the agencies of government that we have, campaign a lot more for the government to make the judiciary a lot more independent, punish judicial elements, be they judges of the High Courts, Customary Courts, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, wherever they may be. Discipline those dissidents, who are in the habit of perverting justice and then fund properly the anti-corruption agencies.”
He continued: “The welfare and security of this country are the primary responsibility of government. The administration of criminal justice in any country borders also on security. The reason is that if you’re unable to deal with crime and criminality using the instrumentality of the law and the judiciary, you’re exposing every other law-abiding citizen to another degree of violence, because at that point you’ll be talking of self-help.
“So, a government that throws its hands up in defeat and says well, the only thing we can do is to outsource our judicial system to the United Kingdom or United States; that is not creative. Secondly, it does nothing to correct the wrongs. My recommendation, therefore, is that our government should become a little introspective, look inwards, correct the anomalies in the system that have made it possible to frustrate effective criminal prosecution.”
The near empty national treasury that almost grounded the administration of President Buhari on assumption of office was one of the major factors that propelled him to go after looters in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Not only did he take the campaign to recover the loots to the international community, but he expressly solicited the support of the world leaders towards repatriation of the stolen funds.
Such repatriation of the stolen fund will not end the case as Buhari also threatened to further prosecute anybody found wanting.
But his appeal for assistance from the global community appeared not to be achieving the desired result until about a fothnight ago.
Worried by the seemingly slow support of the international community towards the stolen fund recovery, President Buhari tasked the world leaders to do more on the stolen fund while speaking a fortnight ago at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the United States (US).
“In particular, I call upon the global community to urgently redouble efforts towards strengthening the mechanisms for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption and ensuring the return of stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin,” he told the world leaders.
Barely four days after appealing to the world leaders to do more on the stolen funds at UNGA, some of the countries moved against some ministers in ex-President Jonathan’s administration.
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was arrested alongside her brothers by the British authorities in London.
As directors of Hadley Petroleum Solutions Limited, they are facing trial for alleged bribery and money laundering in London.
Glad with the new development, President Buhari last Tuesday commended Britain and Switzerland for their efforts to assist Nigeria in recovering stolen funds.
While receiving the new British High Commissioner, Mr. Paul Arkwright in Abuja, Buhari said: “Switzerland and Britain have been very helpful indeed in the recovery of our assets. But we must build on what we have started.
“It is also important to send a signal to the elite that it is no longer business as usual. I personally appreciate the efforts of Prime Minister David Cameron on this issue.
“He has honoured his commitments to us. He promised to support our government to build a strong and dynamic economy and he has been faithful to his words,” he added
Justice Sendoten Ogunsanya of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, has refused to suspend hearing in a N5 billion alleged land fraud case brought against a former accountant at Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr. Michael Adenuga.
Adenuga and his company, Covenant Apartment Complex Ltd., were arraigned in last May by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a three-count charge of stealing, forgery and use of false documents.
The defendant’s counsel, Miss A. Funmilayo, informed the court that her boss, Dr Muiz Banire (SAN), who would have conducted the case, was in Abuja while another senior counsel, Mr. Ehis Agbogu, was hospitalised. She sought an adjournment.
Ruling, Justice Ogunsanya upheld the prosecution’s argument that the defendant’s counsel announced her appearance when the case was called, only to inform the court when hearing resumed that she had just been briefed on the matter.
She said: “Counsel who appears in any case is presumed to have full knowledge of the case and have full authority of the defendant. The court directs that the prosecution should continue with the case.”
When hearing resumed last Tuesday, the two prosecution witnesses, Oye Oyeniran and Olubukola Adeyemi Oladiran, said Mr. Adenuga defrauded them and some other investors in a landed property worth about N5 billion.
Adenuga and his company were alleged to have fraudulently converted a 22.68 hectares of land located in the Lekki area of Lagos between February 2008 and September 2011, to their use.
According to EFCC, the property, situated at Ayetoro Ikota, in the Lekki area of Lagos, was owned by Covenant Sugarland Property Development Ltd., and Messrs Sunday and Joseph Oyeniran and was proposed to be developed as a residential neighbourhood to be called Sugarland Town.
The defendants are also accused of forging a document titled: ”Contract of Sale between Covenant Apartment Ltd. and Kingview Realty Ltd., to facilitate the alleged theft, contrary to Section 363 and 364 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
According to the EFCC, the said document was later presented by Adenuga to one of its officers, Mr. James Buzugbe, as genuine.
The commission said the offences contravened sections 278 (1) and 285 (b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.
Mr Oladiran, who was led in evidence by EFCC counsel Mr. Emmanuel Jackson, testified that he and other investors under his group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adenuga’s group to buy the land and that each group would raise half of the cost.
Oladiran said after the land became fully owned by Covenant Sugarland Property Development Limited, Adenuga went behind them to obtain the signature of the original land owner, the Ojomu Chieftaincy Family on a “Deed of Assignment” made in his company’s name for 17.2 hectares of the land.
He further alleged that Adenuga proceeded to obtain the Governor’s consent on the fraudulent “Deed of Assignment” document with a forged Survey Plan and through the scheme denied the government huge sum of money in statutory fees.
“The said “Deed of Assignment” was registered as No 63 at Page 63 in Volume 2398 with the Lagos State Land Registry.
“Within days of registering the “Deed of Assignment”, he approached and used the fraudulent document to obtain millions of Naira in financial facilities from Imperial Homes Mortgage Bank Limited (formerly known as GTHomes Limited)”, the witness testified.
Three witnesses, Mr. Sunday Oyeniran, Engr. Oye Oyeniran and Olubukola Adeyemi Oladiran, have so far testified against Adenuga.
They told the court how various sums of money were raised through investors to develop the project.
The EFCC counsel also tendered through the last two witnesses some documents of draft payments made by the investors for the purchase of the property.
The documents tendered and eventually admitted as evidence by the court include letters authorising the payments and the statements made by the witnesses to the EFCC after they discovered and reported the fraudulent diversion of the property by Adenuga.
Justice Ogunsanya adjourned the matter to November 12.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday sent a notice to corrupt Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) officials – get set for trial.
Buhari, who spoke in the United States; stressed the need to sanitise the oil industry and free it from shady deals.
He said those responsible for the corruption in the oil giant firm will soon be prosecuted.
The President spoke in New York during a meeting with President Xi Jinping of China on the sidelines of the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).
He said the first step in this direction had already been taken, with the appointment of a new management for the NNPC and its subsequent reorganisation.
The President did not indicate how soon the prosecution would start but many contracts entered into by the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration have been cancelled for being shady.
Buhari praised President Xi for China’s assistance to Nigeria to curb the theft of crude oil.
[ad id=”403656″]He applauded China’s interception of a shipload of crude oil stolen from Nigeria, which was to be sold and the proceeds paid into private accounts.
“We know your stand on corruption and we are grateful. Your continued cooperation in curbing oil theft from Nigeria will be appreciated, ” he said.
Buhari told his Chinese counterpart that under his leadership, the military had been re-trained and re-equipped and was making steady gains in the fight against Boko Haram.
President Xi said China was involved in the development of Nigeria in diverse areas, such as construction of railways, airports, agriculture, and the Mambilla Hydro-power project, among others.
He promised that China will increase its investment in Nigeria’s agricultural sector to boost food security.
Xi also promised that his country will invest in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and assist in the development of human resources.
More heads will roll in the NNPC as part of the ongoing transformation, Group Managing Director Dr Ibe Kachikwu said at the weekend.
Kachikwu said: “I have introduced the three elements I call the three Ps – people, process and performance. The people aspect is very key. Individuals who are aged or affected in a wrong that impacted the corporation will obviously be let out. There is no business in the world for you to keep doing wrong things and keep progressing. The only way you can do that obviously is that your performance modelling and evaluation must be very strong.
“Right now in the system, I will like to see our human resources department doing a better job of evaluating people’s performance every year. Salary increase will be done for those who scale the hurdle. One of the things I have started doing is that we will be doing a weekly report card. The report card takes an issue every week and basically televised out to every staff and it runs on their television, which will be the first thing to turn on to see every Monday. It will happen every week from now till December and we are dealing with all manner of issues- from performance to behavioural norms, to where we are headed.”
The NNPC chief said the idea was to carry everybody along because “in doing such a restructuring, you ensure everyone is able to determine one’s performance, and in doing so, people will know when they lost their tab”.
Kachikwu also stated that as part of the transparency efforts, he would bring back the auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCooper, that just partially audited the NNPC to conduct a full audit. He said: “The other aspect of transparency is how we deal with the accounting issues. We are doing a couple of things in this direction. First we are bringing back the auditors who gave the partial audit to come and do a full audit.
“The issue is that they didn’t get all the data, and we will give them all the data this time. I need to know the true state of all the finances of the corporation and statement of funds up to this day. Our accounts and finances were last audited in 2010. They would be audited and drawn currently to 2015, that is something I hope I will achieve before December.
“What we know is that whether the account or performance is good or bad is secondary. But at least we know what the state gets and know what it is you want to work on. We are doing that and the President is very supportive of that.”
Kachikwu noted that through the contracts that he cancelled and replaced with new models, including the delivery of crude oil to the refineries, the Offshore Processing Agreements (OPA) and the crude, for – product exchange agreement (SWAP), he has been able to save an average of over $150 million a month for the nation.
Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki and some members of the Like Minds in the Senate have reached out to some emirs.
They are trying to explore ways of resolving the crisis of confidence between the Senate President and the Presidency, The Nation has learnt.
Some of them were said to be urging the emirs to prevail on the Federal Government to drop charges against Saraki, who is facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false declaration of assets.
But President Muhammadu Buhari may not accept under-the-table deal in matters relating to corruption, a source said.
The Senate President’s supporters have been attributing the arraignment to “political vendetta”.
Saraki had audience with some traditional rulers from the North on Saturday.
A highly-placed source said: “Some loyalists of Saraki are really pushing for political option. This is why they have been reaching out to prominent emirs and chiefs in the North.
“I think Saraki is buying into the rapprochement by meeting with some emirs where he explained his own side and how things could be straightened.
“For instance on Saturday, Saraki had audience with some emirs and chiefs from the North in connection with his travails and how to resolve the matter amicably.”
A member of The Like Minds said: “No one is happy the way things are – at a standstill. The Presidency and the Senate leadership are working at cross-purpose.
“If we continue like this, the hostility between the Presidency and the Senate will deepen and it will affect many things.
[ad id=”403656″]“We are reaching out to some emirs and Northern leaders to address this problem. We believe we can manage the situation before it gets out of hand.”
A source in the Presidency said: “As far as I know, President Muhammadu Buhari will not accept under-the-table deal on allegations having to do with corruption.
“The Presidency has explained that it has nothing to do with Saraki’s trial. There is no basis for any lobbying.”
As at last night, Saraki’s supporters were still divided on whether or not to confront the Presidency over his arraignment before the tribunal.
Some Senators are seeking outright condemnation of the trial; others are pushing for a subtle management of the situation.
“We are weighing options ahead of our resumption on tomorrow on how to manage the situation, “a senator said.
Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, two of his sons and some companies were re-arraigned yesterday before the Federal High Court, Abuja, on amended charges of corruption and money laundering.
The ex-governor, his sons; Aminu and Mustapha, and an aide, Aminu Wada Abubakar and the companies were arraigned on July 9 before the Federal High Court sitting in Kano.
Yesterday, the prosecuting agency, brought a new charge, and a new person; Batholomew Darlington Agoha, and increased the counts to 27.
The affected companies are Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited, Bamaina Aluminium Limited and Speeds International Limited.
Yesterday, they were arraigned before Justice Adeniyi Ademola. They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
One of the counts read: “That you Alhaji Sule Lamido (while being governor of Jigawa State), Aminu Sule Lamido, Mustapha Sule Lamido, Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited and Speeds International Limited between October 15 and December 18, 2008, within the jurisdiction of this court converted an aggregate sum of N124,649,915 paid by Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company Nigeria Limited into the account of Speeds International Limited.”
Justice Ademola granted them bail on the conditions earlier granted them by Justice Gabriel Kolawole (also of the Federal High Court, Abuja).
Justice Kolawole said one of the sureties must be a Level 16 civil servant in either a federal or state establishment. The other, the judge said, must be an entrepreneur, who must own a property worth N75 in Abuja, Kano or Jigawa.
He ordered the accused persons to deposit their travel documents with the court, which they could retrieve whenever they wish to travel.
Justice Ademola adjourned to October 21 for trial.
