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Federal government has suspended the Account-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, following his arrest over money laundering and diversion of public funds allegations on Tuesday.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) intercepted Idris in Kano on Tuesday and subsequently flew him to Abuja.
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, informed Idris of his suspension in a letter on Wednesday.
His suspension is without pay, Ahmed stated in the letter dated May 18, 2022.
“Following your recent arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of diversion of funds and money laundering, I write to convey your suspension from work without pay effective 18th May 2022,” the letter read in part.
The suspension, Ahmed said, is in line with Public Service Rules to give room for proper and unhindered investigation.
The letter, titled, ‘LETTER OF SUSPENSION’, also bars Ahmed from visiting his office or contacting any official in his office during his suspension except for disciplinary proceedings that might be initiated against him.
“This is to allow for proper and unhindered investigation into the serious allegations in line with Public Service Rules 030408.
“During this period, you are not expected to attend to your place of work or contact any official in your office except for any disciplinary hearing that may be advised.
Also, it is expected that you will strictly comply with any instructions that will be forwarded to you in your current location or your known recorded address as stipulated in the extant rules,” the letter read.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that Mr Idris was still in EFCC custody as of the time of filing this report on Wednesday.
This newspaper also reliably gathered from sources with direct knowledge of the case that some assets believed to be proceeds of Idris’ alleged unlawful activities have been traced.
The sources, who asked not to be named because they had no permission to speak about the case in the press, provided photographs of a sprawling edifice located in Kano allegedly linked to Idris.
Our reporter gathered that the agency has obtained a court order for the arrest of more suspects linked to the alleged crime.
The photographs show the property is in its finishing stage.
Operatives refused to reveal the identities of the suspects in order not to jeopardise investigations.
Background
Sources had told this newspaper that the EFCC had for some time now been investigating a case of diversion of at least N80 billion in public funds which were allegedly laundered through some bogus contracts.
The companies used in laundering the funds have allegedly been linked to family members and associates of the suspended accountant-general, investigators said.
Our sources further said after progress was made in the investigation, Idris was summoned repeatedly for interrogation but he failed to honour the invitations.
“We kept inviting him but he kept dodging us,” one of our sources said. “We were left with no choice than to keep him under watch and arrest him.”
The spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, could not be reached to comment on this story. One of his subordinates said he was travelling in the United Kingdom at this time.
However, a top EFCC official confirmed the development but asked not to be named because he had no permission to discuss the matter with the media.
“The Commission’s verified intelligence showed that the AGF raked off the funds through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates.
“The funds were laundered through real estate investments in Kano and Abuja.
“Idris was arrested after failing to honour invitations by the EFCC to respond to issues connected to the fraudulent acts.”
President Muhammed Buhari appointed Idris accountant-general on June 25, 2015.
The position became vacant at the time after the former Accountant General, Jonah Otunla, left office on June 12, 2015.
Buhari reappointed Idris for a second four-year term in June 2019, amid criticisms from labour groups who said the accountant-general should retire after turning 60.
Idris, a native of Kano State, Northwest Nigeria, was born on November 25, 1960, and was until his appointment in 2015 the Director of Finance and Accounts, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
Nigeria’s outgoing president promised to leave a legacy fashioned from concrete, stone, and steel. Instead, billions in stalled financing from China is forcing him to temper his aspirations to seed the country with ambitious public works.
Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, was elected to lead Africa’s most populous nation in 2015 on pledges to tackle a deadly Islamist insurgency, clamp down on corruption, and build critical infrastructure. With only a year left before the end of his second and final term in office, it appears he put too much faith in the appetite of Chinese lenders to fund the roads, railways, and power plants that could transform Nigeria.
“It is obvious that things are below expectations,” says Ovigwe Eguegu, a Nigerian policy analyst at Development Reimagined, a Beijing-based consulting firm. “It would greatly help the ruling party’s chances in the polls next year if they deliver on these major infrastructure projects.”
Although Buhari has scored significant victories, more than $25 billion worth of projects that were meant to be completed before his departure are either far behind schedule or yet to start.
Africa’s largest economy is crying out for investment in infrastructure to spur growth and diversify beyond oil production. The public and private sectors need to spend $2.3 trillion over 23 years to tackle the country’s infrastructure deficit, with the heaviest allocations directed toward transport and energy, according to a finance ministry report published in late 2020.
About 40% of Nigeria’s 200 million people live in poverty, and the government generates barely enough revenue to service the nation’s debt, trapping it in an endless cycle of borrowing. Like many developing countries, it’s turned to loans from Chinese state-owned banks to finance major public works.
“Buhari got into power and looked at his options at how to provide infrastructure to Nigeria,” says Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi, a political science lecturer at Lagos State University. “China is known for that. China is the leading state financier in Africa, not only in Nigeria.” From 2000 to 2020, China’s lenders committed almost $160 billion to African governments and state-owned companies, according to a database run by Johns Hopkins University and Boston University.
Project-specific lending to Nigeria from the Export-Import Bank of China totals $3.6 billion, according to data published in December by the nation’s Debt Management Office. The loans enabled Buhari to complete two rail lines that cover almost 350 kilometers (217 miles)—one started from scratch linking the commercial hub of Lagos with the city of Ibadan and another begun by his predecessor connecting the capital, Abuja, to the northern city of Kaduna. Funding from the same lender is paying for the upgrade of a 220km highway and a 700-megawatt power plant, with both projects expected to be completed before the end of Buhari’s term.
Those are notable achievements in a country where previous leaders have spent billions of dollars on projects that remained unfinished for decades or swiftly fell into disrepair. Buhari’s government even revived and finished a third rail segment that one of his predecessors began building in the 1980s. But these exploits are far more modest than the ambitions outlined by the president and his allies when they swept aside the political party that had governed Nigeria since the restoration of democracy in 1999.
A conspicuous failure is the 740 miles of rail track that will travel northward from Ibadan to the trading center of Kano. Buhari has frequently extolled the benefits of this line, estimated to cost $5.3 billion, which he says will streamline and turbocharge commerce between Lagos’s seaports and Nigeria’s second-largest city.
Ahead of the president’s reelection in 2019, the ruling All Progressives Congress party told Nigerians that Buhari’s second term would bring the construction of two additional rail projects priced at $14 billion and a giant 3,000MW hydroelectric plant that’s been on the drawing board for 50 years. Since then, the state-owned energy company has commenced work on a $2.6 billion gas pipeline intended to increase domestic consumption of the country’s abundant reserves and reinvigorate power-deprived industries.
At various times, Buhari or his officials have announced the government has obtained or would shortly secure loans from China to pay for the bulk of these developments. Yet the funds haven’t materialized, so projects are being kept on life support with government money or are on pause until financing can be resolved.
Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s transport minister at the time, voiced his frustration in February, telling reporters, “We were waiting on the Chinese to give us the loans we applied for, and till today they’ve not replied.” According to Amaechi, the finance ministry had to turn to London-based Standard Chartered Plc to arrange financing for the rail lines.
Unfortunately for Buhari, China’s enthusiasm for underwriting these capital-intensive endeavors appears to be waning. When President Xi Jinping addressed the eighth triennial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in October, his financial pledge to the world’s least industrialized continent fell for the first time in more than a decade, decreasing a third from the $60 billion committed at the same event in 2018.
Xi’s government “is facing tight budget limits domestically and needs to balance different priorities overseas,” says Ye Yu, associate research fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. In Africa “the focus has shifted to vaccines and multilateral aid” channeled via organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, she says.
Also, concern about the capacity of some African nations to repay their debts is “discouraging Chinese financial institutions’ lending in lower-income countries,” Ye says.
There are steps Nigeria could have taken to improve its chances of unlocking at least some of the promised Chinese funding. One of Xi’s most senior envoys informed Buhari in 2019 that China Eximbank couldn’t finalize $4 billion in loans for a 700MW hydroelectric facility until his government resolves a long-running legal dispute involving a Nigerian firm.
The experience of a subsidiary of the state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corp., which builds Nigeria’s new railway, has also played a role, according to Eguegu. The company’s reports of “delays and problems” to China Eximbank “definitely makes securing the rest of the loans much harder,” he says.
The armed groups that are active across much of Nigeria are also deterring potential financiers. So-called bandits blew up a section of the Abuja-Kaduna line and then opened fire on a passenger train in late March, killing nine and kidnapping dozens more. The abductees are still missing, and service on the line has yet to resume.
A China-backed project that appears to be progressing more seamlessly is one in which the Nigerian government has taken a back seat, participating as a minority shareholder in the development: a much-needed new deepwater port outside Lagos designed to decongest two existing facilities in the city. A $629 million loan from state-owned China Development Bank and $221 million in equity funding from majority shareholder China Harbour Engineering Co. are financing most of the $1 billion project, which is expected to start operations in the first quarter of next year.
With a presidential vote looming early next year, Chinese lenders may choose to sit on the sidelines until there’s a successor to Buhari. “The fact that China has been reluctant now places it in a powerful position to renegotiate and reengage” once the dust settles after the election, Oshodi says.
It’s too soon to write off some of the Chinese-funded projects that have stalled, Oshodi says, noting that the three rail lines Buhari inaugurated were conceived of, and in two cases started, by previous heads of state. “Hopefully [the next president] may be in the position to complete many of these ambitious projects,” he says.
The backbone of a major cartel distributing drugs in Delta and adjourning states was broken on Sunday 15th May following the arrest of a wanted 59-year-old drug baroness, Bridget Oghenekevwe Emeka, a.k.a Mama, by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at her palatial mansion where she cooks and distributes Crack Cocaine, Methamphetamine and other illicit substances.
No fewer than nine of her staff and associates were arrested along with her in coordinated simultaneous operations at her expansive residence and drug bunks where she accommodates drug users and sells illicit substances to them and others in parts of Warri, Delta state.
Femi Babafemi, the agency's director, media & advocacy who announced this on Tuesday said various quantities of Crack Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Molly, and Loud were seized from her home.
Babafemi added that drug bunks; a pump action gun, 15 cartridges, documents, two cars, mobile phones, drug paraphernalia such as sodium bicarbonate and polythene wrappings were also recovered for further investigation.
According to agency's director of Image management, five of the baroness' staff that cook, cut, package and distribute the drugs were found in her house located at Favour Street, Otukutu, Effurun Warri while four of her associates were equally arrested at her drug bunks in other parts of the town during the raids by Strike Force officers of NDLEA supported by the military.
The drug baroness has been under surveillance for weeks after her identification as a major distributor of illicit drugs in the South South state.
Bridget cooks Cocaine into Crack Cocaine for local distribution and consumption in drug joints.
Some of the paraphernalia for making Crack recovered from her house include: sodium bicarbonate, which is the main adulterant and recipe for making crack cocaine, as well as transparent nylon used in wrapping the finished product.
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men involved in all the processes leading to the eventual execution of the operation plan. He also appreciated the armed forces for their unwavering support to the Agency.
A 30-year old University drop-out Mustapha Gajibo has been converting petrol mini-buses into electric vehicles at his workshop, but he is now going a step further to build solar battery-powered buses from scratch in a push to promote clean energy and curb pollution.
Africa's top producer and exporter of crude oil has heavily-subsidised gasoline and a patchy supply of electricity -- a combination that might discourage anyone from investing in electric vehicles.
But the entrepreneur who is a resident of Maiduguri city in Nigeria's northeast, is undaunted. He says rising global oil prices and pollution make electric vehicles a worthwhile alternative in Nigeria.
At his workshop, he has already stripped combustion engines from 10 mini-buses, powering them with solar batteries. The buses, which have been operating for just over a month, cover a distance of 100 km on a single charge, he said.
His most ambitious project is building the buses from scratch. They will be equipped with solar panels and batteries.
"As I am speaking to you now at our workshop, we are building a 12-seater bus which can cover up to 200 kilometres on one charge," Gajibo said.
"Before the end of this month we are going to unveil that bus, which will be the first of its kind in the whole of Nigeria," he said, adding that his workshop had capacity to produce 15 buses a month.
In Nigeria, like most of Africa, electric vehicles have not yet gained traction because they are more expensive and there is little electricity and no infrastructure to charge vehicles.
For now, Gajibo has one charging station powered by solar.
There are other hurdles like foreign currency shortages that make it difficult to import parts. So, he is looking to source them in Nigeria.
"We have been substituting some materials with local materials to bring our costs down and maximise profit," said Gajibo.
Naira plunged against the U.S. dollar on Monday with a 0.60 per cent depreciation at the official market.
According to FMDQ, where forex is officially traded, the naira which opened trading at N417.30 closed at N421.50 to a dollar at the close of business on Monday.
This implies N2.50 or 0.60 per cent devaluation from N419.00 it exchanged hands with the greenback currency Friday, last week.
This is the second lowest level the naira exchanged officially with the dollar in five months after closing at N422.67 to a dollar on January 5, early this year, and the first time it stretched across the N417.00 and N419.00 and above benchmark it has been trading in the past four months.
The naira reached an intraday high of N410.00 and slipped to a low of N444.00 before closing at N421.50 per $1 on Monday.
Forex turnover plummeted by 58.3 per cent with $70.68 million recorded at the close of business on Monday against the $169.38 million posted in the previous session last week Friday.
Similarly, the local currency touched N600.00 mark at the parallel market on Monday.
In Uyo, currency dealers exchanged the naira at N595.00 and sold within the range of N596.00 and N600.00 to a dollar, while Abuja balck market dealers at wuse zone 4 said the currency was exchanged at N594.00 and sold at N595.00 per $1 on Monday.
Federal government says the Abuja-Kaduna train service will resume operations on May 23.
Yakubu Mahmood, spokesperson, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), said this in a statement on Monday.
In March, the government suspended operations on the route after an attack on the train by gunmen.
Eight passengers died in the attack, while many were kidnapped.
Mahmood said the decision to resume operations does not mean efforts to secure the safe release of those abducted would be shelved.
“The government wishes to assure the relatives of the abducted citizens still in captivity that the safe rescue of these passengers is a top priority and not to misconstrue the resumption of train services, like abandonment or nonchalant attitude of the government towards their plight,” the statement reads.
“The federal government will never abdicate its responsibility in rescuing these valuable citizens, however, the government assures of its resolve not to succumb to threats by any faceless group.”
The resolve to resume train services on the route was reached even as most of the kidnapped passengers are still held captive by abductors.
Relatives of the abducted passengers had warned the federal government against resuming operations along the route until their loved ones were rescued.
Nigerian students, yesterday, made good their threats to cripple socio-economic actives in the country as they barricaded major highways and obstructed movements in continuation of their protest over ongoing nationwide strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
In 2020, the union embarked on a nine-month strike, the longest since 1999 and about two years later on February 14, it went on a four-week warning strike. It declared another eight weeks strike, saying it was giving the government more time to attend to its demands. Upon it expiration, it announced additional 12 weeks roll-over with effect from May 9, to end in August. The students have so far spent three months at home owing to the lecturers’ strike.
Following the protracted industrial action which has lasted over 90 days, the students had last week released an action plan which include disruption of socio-economic and political activities to force government and the lecturers back to the dialogue table with a view to speedily resolving the disputes and ensure the return to classrooms.
Yesterday’s protest forced motorists on major routes linking the Southwest to the Southeast and the north to spend several hours while others had to find alternatives routes out of the logjam. Most commuters were forced to trek long distances to their destinations.
In Ibadan, Oyo State, the protesting students barricaded the highway in front of the University of Ibadan (UI) and hampered free flow of traffic along the busy Ojoo-UI-Molola Road and the road leading from UI to Bodija. The students also went to the entrance of Oyo State Government Secretariat, Ibadan, and prevented vehicular movement.
Leader of the Ibadan protest, Solomon Emiola, said: “We are here because of ASUU, NASU SSANU strike. We want the Federal Government to use this as the last strike. We want all the strikes to finish. This should be the last strike in the history of Nigerian students.”
One of the protesting students, Damilola Olubunmi, said: “I am here because we need to tell the Federal Government that students must resume. The strike is not affecting the students alone. It is also affecting our parents. The essence of this is that when the road is blocked, people cannot move and they will trend it for us. Then, the government will know that we are protesting.”
In Ogun, a joint protest by students of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye; Tai Solarin University of Education, Science and Technology (TASUED) Ijagun and Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, saw the students block the Sagamu-Benin Expressway.
Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “#End ASUU strike now#”, “We say no to educational stagnancy”, “We are tired of deadlock meetings” and “Education should not be this difficult” among others, the students blocked the expressway leaving many motorists stranded and travellers trapped.
Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in the state, Damilola Simeon, appealed to the Federal Government to respond urgently to the yearnings of ASUU. He stressed that it was high time the Federal Government and members of ASUU agreed and reach a compromise to end the strike.
”We have been clamouring since the commencement of this ASUU strike that something should be done with immediate effect, but both ASUU and the federal government are not listening to us. They have to understand the fact that Nigerian students will always be at the receiving end at the end of the day. Our students are suffering, our students are fed up. This whole issue is getting out of hand. We do not pray that our students end up engaging themselves in criminal activities as we all know that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop,” he said.
The NANS chairman begged the two parties to do the needful and call off the strike.
Don Ayomide, President, Student Union Government of TASUED, said the protest was necessary to let both the federal government and ASUU be aware of the plight of Nigerian students.
Similarly, students of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) also blocked major roads in Akure, the Ondo State capital in protest to the ASUU strike.
The students who trooped out as early as 6.30am moved in enmass on major roads in the town chanting various solidarity songs.
The protest caused serious crisis for transporters and commuters as the busy Ilesa-Akure express road was temporarily blocked.
For hours, transporters plying the busy road were stranded as a result of the protest, just as commercial activities in the affected areas were halted. Some of the roads blocked aside the Ilesa-Akure express road include Benin-Owo road and Orita Obele road among others.
The students hinged their action on the attitude of the Federal Government on the strike by the university teachers, condemning the attitude of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on the plight of both the university students and teachers.
While appealing to the Federal Government to accede to the demands of ASUU and other staff unions of university, the students threaten to continue with the protest until the universities are opened for academic work.
In Benin, Edo State, students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) shut the Federal Secretariat, Benin, stormed the secretariat at Aduwawa area and declared a work free day for workers.
They cooked at the secretariat and threatened to shut Federal Government offices in the state to press home their demand for the resolution of the ASUU crisis.
“We have told the workers that today is a free day for them because they can’t be working while we are out of our classes. All the Federal offices would be shut down. We have also written to INEC to let them know that election will not take place in Edo until we return to our classes. The police is here with us to ensure that the protest is not hijacked by hoodlums because the students are peace-loving people,” said Foster Amadin, president, UNIBEN Student Union Government.
“Education has been taken to an unserious level and the Federal Government is busy with election, forgetting that there are many students at home due to the ASUU strike. We are here today, we have protested at the Airport, Ring Road and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) office. We will keep going round until they find a solution and we go back to our classes,” Amadin said.
A magistrate’s court sitting in Sokoto has remanded two suspects — Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci — arrested in connection with the murder of Deborah Emmanuel, a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education.
BACKGROUND
On May 12, Deborah was attacked by a mob and set ablaze over comments purportedly considered to be an insult to Prophet Mohammed.
A video of the student being stoned and beaten with sticks was shared on social media.
The incident sparked outrage and condemnation across the country and the police command in Sokoto, subsequently, arrested two suspects in connection with the killing.
On Saturday, some residents protested against the arrest of the two suspects, which led to unrest in Sokoto — a development that led to the imposition of a 24-hour curfew by the state government.
SUSPECTS PLEAD ‘NOT GUILTY’
On Monday, the police command in Sokoto arraigned Aliyu and Hukunci over alleged participation in the murder of the female student.
During the court proceedings, the suspects pleaded not guilty to the murder of the deceased.
According to NAN, Khalil Musa, the prosecuting inspector, told the court that the police are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Mansur Ibrahim, the defence counsel who is leading a team of 34 lawyers for the case, applied for bail on behalf of the suspects, adding that the request was in line with constitutional provisions and sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
But the trial judge (name withheld for security reasons) reserved ruling on the bail application and ordered the suspects to be remanded at a correctional centre.
In the meantime, the All Progressives Congress(APC) and G20 UK have endorsed the second term ambition of governor Dapo Abiodun, saying he deserves re-election for another round of four years come 2023, following his even development of the state and inclusive governance style, the daily crucible has reported.
The UK APC and G20 group, UK, also described as an exercise in futility attempts by some failed politicians to deploy smear campaign and petitions to make governor Abiodun ineligible to participate in the 2023 governorship race on the platform of APC.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership had recently received a petition written by one Ayodele Oludiran which seeks to disqualify Governor Abiodun from participating in the forthcoming governorship primaries.
The petition alleges that there are discrepancies in his Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) forms CF001 submitted in 2015 and 2019.
The April 12 petition also alleges that the governor was convicted for an offence in 1986.
The petitioners add that he bears Shawn Michael Davis in addition to Dapo Abiodun.
But the governor, in a letter to the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, through his lawyers Afe Babalola & Co, urged the party to disregard a petition.
The law firm, in an April 19 letter to Adamu, described the petition as full of spurious and unfounded allegations to mislead the party into disqualifying the governor from participating in the 2023 gubernatorial poll.
However, Prince Dele Tinuosho, spokesperson for G20 UK chapter and Hon Sunday Olalekan Oyesanya - both members of APC UK, said sponsors of smear campaign and petitions seeking the disqualification of Abiodun by the APC National Working Committee (NWC) would fail just as they failed woefully to stop him in the build up to the 2019 governorship election.
The two United Kingdom based APC chieftains pledged full support of the foreign chapter for the governor ahead of the party primaries and 2023 general elections.
They urged the National body of APC to disregard the petition and petitioner while also calling on the good people of Ogun State to rally round the governor and ensure he returns in 2023 to enable him continue his further developmental agenda for the state.
The Department of State Services has reportedly arrested a blogger, Ahmed Olamilekan, for allegedly publishing a story on Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, the Punch has reported.
The report published by Olamilekan was said to be on Abiodun’s alleged criminal records in the United States.
Olamilekan’s lawyer, Festus Ogun, said his client had been in detention since Friday after he honoured an invitation by the Ogun State command of the secret police.
He accused the governor of instigating his client’s arrest, adding that Abiodun had the right to challenge the publication in court instead of using the DSS to harass the blogger.
Abiodun had been involved in a battle with his political adversaries, who called for his disqualification over his alleged arrest in the US for a credit card fraud and forgery in 1986.
The governor, who is running for re-election under the ruling All Progressives Congress, had dismissed the claims, saying they were not sufficient grounds for his disqualification.
But speaking to Punch’s correspondent on the phone on Monday, Ogun said he had just left the DSS office but was not allowed to see his client.
He said, “Ahmed was invited for questioning by the Ogun State command of the Department of State Services over a publication relating to the controversial criminal past of the state governor. Thereafter, he was forced against his will to pull down the story from his news blog.
“On Friday, last week, he was invited again and because my client had nothing to hide, he again honoured their invitation. Since then, he has been held incommunicado. He has not been granted access to his family or lawyer and he has been detained beyond the time contemplated by law. Currently, he is being arbitrarily tortured, intimidated and denied his fundamental rights to liberty guaranteed under Section 35 of the constitution.
“I am just leaving the Ogun State command of the security service; they did not allow me, his legal representative, to have access to him. The law is clear: you cannot detain a suspect beyond 24 or 48 hours, as the case may be.
“Again, I became very worried why the governor would instigate the arrest because in the very first place, when a journalist files a report that the governor feels worried about, he is entitled by law to approach the court for redress. But the governor didn’t do so. I do not think journalism is a crime in this country; why should a journalist be treated in such a despicable manner?”
The DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, denied that the blogger was in the agency’s custody.
“Let the lawyer be truthful to you,” he added.
Ogun later called to say the journalist had been transferred to the police command headquarters.
The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Waheed Odusule, said he could not tell the reason for the arrest.
Efforts to reach the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Oyeyemi Abimbola, for comments were not successful as at the time of filing this report.
We shall update the story as soon as we heard from the PPRO, Punch stated.
More...
Nigeria's economic crimes agency said on Monday night it had arrested the country's accountant general over charges of diverting public funds and money laundering to the tune of N80 billion.
Africa's biggest economy and energy producer, Nigeria has struggled for decades with endemic corruption among senior public servants and the political elite, who many Nigerians blame for widespread poverty in the country.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said in a statement it had invited Ahmed Idris, the administrative head of the national treasury, on several occasions to answer questions on the charges but he had failed to present himself.
Idris could not be reached on his mobile phone for comment.
EFCC said Idris used "proxies, family members and close associates" in deals and schemes to defraud the government and invested the proceeds in real estate in the nation's capital Abuja and his home state of Kano in northern Nigeria.
The agency has in the past successfully prosecuted a former head of police and former state governors among several high ranking government officials and politicians.
Earlier this year, the government said EFCC recovered at least $750 million in local and foreign currency linked to corruption and fraud in 2021.
Amid fuel scarcity that has gripped the nation’s capital in the past week, it has emerged that top politicians of political parties procured fuel in most petrol stations in Abuja ahead of their primaries.
Many Abuja hotels have also been fully booked on Saturday, including smaller hotels on the outskirts. THISDAY checks showed that some presidential hopefuls paid for fuel in most petrol stations.
A source told THISDAY that one top politician paid for fuel in eight filling stations for the benefit of his delegates.
“You are seeing long queues everywhere because the politicians involved have purchased fuel in most of the petrol stations,” stated the source.
“One popular politician paid for petroleum products in eight filling stations while others are also competing to buy up fuel in other stations to enable the movement of their delegates.”
The source also mentioned that political parties had secured accommodation in various hotels in Abuja for delegates.
“All the hotels in Abuja are fully booked. My boss sent me to secure a hotel which we were initially told was available, but when I got there, we were told another group beat us to it,” revealed the source. “Even in Gwagwalada and other hotels in the outskirts, it is the same thing. They are all booked.”
Another source said, “The same politicians buying up petroleum products as we were told even booked hotel accommodation two weeks ago.”
During political party primaries, most parts of Abuja are flooded with party delegates and their teeming supporters. Some delegates sleep inside party support vehicles and sometimes on the streets.
A socio-political organization, Yoruba Referendum Committee (Agbajoowo), has called on the Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti States’ Houses of Assembly, to pass into law, the bill for a referendum which has already been sent to them twice.
The group in a release in Ibadan, by Femi Odedeyi and Shenge Rahman hinged the call on the Yoruba aphorism that says, “One’s head cannot be shaved in his/her absence”, stating that the 1999 Constitution shaved the peoples’ heads in their absence.
It charged the Houses of Assembly to rise to the occasion especially as the demand is supported by a growing number of Yoruba who have signed the petition to that.
The Committee submitted that current suggestions by notable Yoruba individuals and organizations advocating for a government of National Unity or an Interim Government are direct means of subverting the legitimate quest for true federalism in the country.
It stated further that such a move denies the sacrosancy of the people in whom power resides but tends to arrogate power and authority to the leadership, noting that being the creator of the problem in the first instance such leadership cannot be the solution.
While emphasizing that it is not calling for the cancellation or boycott of the 2023 elections, it recalled that in 1960 when the idea of a government of National Unity was proposed by the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC), the Action Group (AG) rejected it on the ground that such a coalition government was not feasible between two political parties of vastly divergent political philosophies.
The group added that the Interim Government of 1993 was instituted as a half-measure to address the crisis emanating from the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections, stating that because of its shaky foundation it did not take long for the military that set it up to torpedo it.
“There is no evidence till date that the political upheaval or crisis engendered by the ‘June 12 annulment’ has disappeared to warrant such calls. Instead of the said crisis abating, problems of structure and power relation in the country are getting worse by the day", it said.
The group then maintained that the option before the Yoruba is to organize a referendum within Yorubaland to decide the framework for their aspirations and self -actualisation while also advocating a similar template for other regions to facilitate the re-federalization of the country.
The group in advancing this course of action, noted that the only period of social and economic development experienced in Nigeria was during the federal and regional administrations attested to by the references to the Western region as “our Golden Era” by the Yoruba and lately the President Muhamnadu Buhari administration’s recourse to showcasing its economic achievements via the “rice pyramid”, an admission of the developments in the then Northern region as exemplified by the “groundnut pyramids”.
The group further stated that despite the limitations of that period, the Western region between 1951 and 1959 under Obafemi Awolowo, was and is still recognized as the “Golden Era” which the 1960 Independence Act and the 1963 Constitution attempted to later neutralize by the virtue of their pernicious provisions.
The group said, “Thus, the said two Constitutions cannot be a foundation to build on. Instead, a new constitution that takes care of our aspirations must be fashioned out anew. It is therefore necessary to create a Roadmap towards creating the political, economic and cultural atmosphere that will ensure continuous and unfettered development as envisaged and pursued by the then Western region as a categorical Imperative which we hereby dub as Yoruba referendum.
"Furthermore, in order to avoid the huge expenses associated with every electoral cycle, the Federal Republic of Nigeria must be anchored on a valid Federal Constitution with a “Federal Presidential Council, whose members will be selected or elected from each of the Nationalities as Federating Units and from whom a Head of State will be selected or elected as the primus-inter-pares with an agreed term.
"This will make the need for country-wide campaigns by a candidate unnecessary thus cutting off avoidable expenses. Such will also compel the aspirant or candidate to concentrate on the real needs and aspirations of the People he or she is representing".
While reiterating that it is not opposed to the planned 2023 elections, the Yoruba Referendum Committee said it noted the spirited efforts of all Yoruba politicians who have declared their intention to contest for the Presidency, urging them to anchor their aspirations on not only good governance for Nigeria but also on ensuring that the Yoruba Nation and Nigeria as a whole are “rescued from the continuous cycles of underdevelopment.”
The group contended that given the historical political reality of Nigeria, it was clear that what is today regarded as ‘our Golden Era’ occurred when the country was practising parliamentary system of government while advocating a return to that system of government which ensured less monetization of electoral politics as there was no need for even a region-wide canvass for votes to become the Premier.
"This is sharp contrast to what obtains today, under Presidential System in which Gubernatorial and Presidential Elections cost a colossal amount of money which keep increasing at every electoral cycle", it stated.
The Yoruba Referendum Committee insisted that what it is advocating now can be achieved without having to postpone it till when successors of those in power currently come to take over, calling on those in the corridors of power now to make “this referendum a priority as it represents the collective aspirations of the people.”
"Those being called upon included Governors, Speakers, Legislators, Presidential hopefuls and other aspirants into various political offices in the land. Community, religious and opinion leaders are also called upon to ensure that this initiative come into reality to avoid being seen as part of the conspiracy against the re-establishment of the Peoples’ ownership of the apparatus of their own governance", the group added.
Emmanuel Garba, Deborah’s father, in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, said he paid N120,000 to transport the remains of his daughter from Sokoto State to Niger State.
Garba, who said he would not seek any legal redress, disclosed that the government had not contacted him despite the gruesome killing of her daughter.
He stated, “I have yet to get a call or message from anyone concerning the incident. Nobody called me; I decided to go on my own. I went to the state CID (Criminal Investigation Department) office and begged them to help me get the corpse so I could bury it because leaving it there might make it decompose. Then they took me to the mortuary, did some paperwork and released the remains to me.”
“I was the one who paid to transport the remains. I was charged N120,000 which I was forced to pay because that was the cheapest I got as the majority of people don’t like transporting corpses.”
Garba, a security guard with the Niger State Water and Sanitation, said his wife had fallen ill, adding that she had just finished receiving injections.
He also stated, “We are not seeking redress in any court over the killing of our daughter. We are firm believers in Christ who always leave everything in the hands of God. No vengeance, nothing. Everything is left to our creator.
“We don’t want anything (from the government) but it is just unfortunate that we used all our resources to send her to school and now she is dead. She was my eldest child and I have seven others left.”
Her mother, Alheri Emmanuel, who broke down in tears, said, “I have no demands; I don’t want anything but one thing I know is that my children will never go to school again.”