Cowboy !!! N1.2 billion fraud: What I know about Fayose’s involvement – Witness tells court

The trial of ex-Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose commenced on Monday with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, calling witnesses.

The former Governor is charged with N1.2 billion fraud, a sum he is said to have received from the Office of the National Security Adviser, NSA in 2015.

He had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The former Governor was earlier arraigned on October 22 alongside his company, Spotless Investment Ltd on 11 counts.

Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, the lead Counsel for the EFCC, on Monday, called on first prosecution witness, Lawrence Akande, a banker.

Akande, who is the first witness to enter the box, told the court that in June 2014, he was called by one Abiodun Agbele, who informed him that he had about N1.2 billion cash lodgement to make in Akure.

The witness told the court that afterwards, he also received a call from Fayose on the same issue.

He added that since the lodgement was in Akure, he placed a call across to his colleague in Akure to follow up same.

“This is all I know on this issue,” he said.

Asked if he knew the second accused, (Spotless Ltd), he replied that the company is a customer of his bank with an account at Dugbe branch in Ibadan.

The prosecutor then showed the witness some account opening document of Spotless Nig. Ltd, De Privateer Ltd, Still Earth Ltd as well as account document of first accused.

Being cross-examined by defence counsel, Kalu Agabi SAN, he said that he only made mention of Fayose in his subsequent statements.

Also during cross-examination by second defence counsel, Olalekan Ojo SAN, the witness told the court that he had worked in the banking sector for 28 years.

He confirmed to the court that a person who is not a signatory to an account cannot make withdrawals from such account.

Akabde said there are withdrawal limits in every account and where withdrawals are to be made above the stipulated limits, it is reported to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to investigate such transaction.

EFCC then called its second witness, Mr Abiodun Oshodi.

- Daily Post

Rewane: Atiku must tell us who he’s planning to sell NNPC to

Bismarck Rewane, the chief executive of Financial Derivative, says Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), must tell Nigerians, who he is planning to sell the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to.

The Atiku policy document, released on Monday, highlights that the presidential candidate is seeking partial privatisation of the NNPC, regarded as Nigeria’s cash cow.

Reacting to the specific idea of privatising the NNPC, Rewane said the idea is a noble one, but Atiku must tell Nigerians who he plans to sell to, else he may plunge the country into chronic capitalism.

“I agree that he (Atiku) should privatise, but selling to who?” Rewane said in his response to a question by Channels TV business editor, Boason Omofaye.

“You must not just say you are going to sell, you must tell us how, and to who?

“If you are going to have a voucher system like they have in India, where everybody in the public will have a voucher, then you can sell it.

“It becomes rather than government owned, it becomes Nigerian privately-owned, and part of it you want to internationalise like what Saudi Arabia is doing.

“But you see, it is a noble idea, but it stops short of the specifics, tell us who and who, and how you are going to ensure that it is not sold to your own cronies.

“One of the big risks of privatisation is the Russian model, where you have chronic capitalism. If you have businessmen, who are in government like Donald Trump, you want to make sure that both the government and the people are protected from conflicts of interest.”

ON THE NEXT LEVEL

Rewane said he likes the fact that the Buhari administration wants to take Nigeria to the next level, and that policy documents are out more than 100 days before elections.

The Associate of the Institute of Bankers, England and Wales, also said he likes what the president is saying about his plans, but the presidential candidates need to debate.

He said the biggest problem he sees in the next level document is that it has not come out to say ‘we would sell those refineries’, remove subsidies, so we have a free market economy.

He added that there is nothing wrong with having a billionaire or a poor man in the office of the president, that what Nigeria needs is a leader with a vision, leaders who can deal with structural rigidity.

He said neither the Atiku nor the Muhammadu Buhari programme speaks on how to increase Nigeria’s labour productivity, considering the population growth.

The financial analyst, with over 40 years experience, said Buhari, Atiku have shown us “the what” they will do, but not “the how” they would do it.

He said both teams must deal with labour productivity, inflation, current recessionary gap, unemployment, and Nigeria’s excruciating debt service burden.

- TheCable

EFCC arraigns Kano governorship candidate for ‘$1.3m fraud’

Abdulsalam Saleh Abdulkareem, governorship candidate of Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), has been arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged $1.3 million fraud.

Abdulkareem and his co-accused, Ebere Nzekwe, were arraigned before justice Lewis Allagoa of the federal high court, Kano, on a nine-count charge of criminal conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence.

According to Jamman Al-Azmi, the petitioner, the defendants “fraudulently” obtained $1.3 million from him after assuring him that it would be used for a business investment.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them.

One of the counts read: “That you Abdulkareem Saleh Abdulsalam, Ebere Nzechukwu (aka General Aria), Michael Edosa (at large), sometime in August 2014, at Kano within the Kano Judicial Division of the High Court, with intent to defraud, conspired to obtain the total sum of one million, three hundred and twenty thousand dollars ($1,320,000.00) from Dr. Jamman Al-Azmi when you represented that you have the capacity to partner with him for joint venture business, which representation you knew to be false, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

The defence counsels, KM Liman and Chris Asekome, asked the judge to grant the defendants bail as “they have already been enjoying an administrative bail given by EFCC”.

Johnson Ojogbane, prosecuting counsel, did not oppose the bail application but stated that “if his lordship is inclined to grant their bail, he should do so with the knowledge that the first accused person jumped bail and did not show up the last time the matter was fixed which made it to be adjourned for today”.

Justice Allagoa granted the accused persons bail in the sum of N100 million and one surety in like sum.

The case has been adjourned to January 2019.

- TheCable

Violence against women “mark of shame on society” — UN

Violence against women is a mark of shame on societies, the UN declared, saying until women and girls can live free of fear, violence and insecurity, the world cannot pride itself as being fair and equal.

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, made the remark on Monday at a special event at the UN Headquarters to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, adding that “violence against women and girls was a global pandemic.”

The Day, observed annually on Nov. 25, highlights violence against women as serious cause of death and incapacity as cancer, among women of reproductive age.

Guterres said “it is a moral affront to all women and girls and to us all, a mark of shame on societies and a major obstacle to inclusive, equitable and sustainable development.

“At its core, violence against women and girls in all its forms is the manifestation of profound lack of respect – a failure by men to recognise the inherent equality and dignity of women.

“It is an issue of fundamental human rights. The violence can take many forms – from domestic violence to trafficking, from sexual violence in conflict to child marriage, genital mutilation and femicide.

“It is an issue that harms the individual but also has far-reaching consequences for families and for society.

“Violence experienced as a child is linked to vulnerability and violence later in life.

“Other consequences include long-term physical and mental health impacts and costs to individuals and society in services and lost employment days.”

The Day kicks off the 16 Days of Activism under the Secretary-Generals’ UNiTe campaign, which called on people of all sectors to join in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls.

The theme for 2018 is ‘Orange the World: #HearMeToo,’ and as in previous years, the colour orange is used to draw global attention to the issue, while the hashtag is encouraged to amplify the message of survivors and activists and to put them at the centre of the conversation and response.

The theme aims to broaden the global conversation and highlight the voices and activism of all survivors of violence and advocates around the world – many of whom are often missing from the media headlines and social media discussions.

The Executive Director of UN Women, Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, highlighted UN initiatives, shifting the livelihoods of women signalled hope for progress.

She said “a culture that changes from questioning the credibility of the victims, to pursuing the accountability of the perpetrators within due process, is possible.”

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women is one of the ways the UN is fortifying prevention and responses to the global scourge, by awarding grants to initiatives that support the rights of women and girls.

Over the past two decades, the UN Trust Fund has supported more than 460 projects in 139 territories and reached over six million individuals in 2017 alone

In other efforts, UN Women, alongside the European Union and UN partners, are at the forefront of the ‘Spotlight Initiative’, the largest ever single investment in eliminating violence against women toward the ‘Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative’.

Pointing to alarming statistics, Maria Garces, President of the UN General Assembly, regretted that hundreds of millions of women were still victims to violence or sexual abuse.

Statistics estimated that 35 per cent of women have experienced some form of physical and or sexual violence, and as many as 38 per cent of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner.

“It is a sad reflection on all communities, States, and the United Nations that the world is still far from reaching the goal of ending violence against women and girls.

“We are still far away,” Garces said at the event.

- PM News

2019: Lagos AD Guber candidate tasks INEC on credible polls

The Governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Lagos State, Chief Owolabi Salis, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure credible elections in the 2019 general elections.

Salis, who made the appeal on Monday when he met with the Heads of Muslim community in Ikeja area of the state, urged INEC to avoid rigging and discourage vote buying and other malpractices.

He said that he remained the candidate of the people in the Lagos State governorship race and would ensure that the grassroots support from the people translated to his victory in the poll.

Salis said that the state needed an urgent transformation, affirming that only a visionary leader could achieve that for the state.

He assured that he would give priority attention to issues of housing, health, education and ensure that the youths were empowered.

According to him, there is systemic slavery in the country whereby a segment of the society is neglected causing derailment of people’s destinies.

“A situation where graduates are driving tricycles is counter-productive.

“One thing my government will do is to support the justice system so that the jurists can make decisions in the interest of the state. This is vital and I know what to do and how to do it.

“As a practicing lawyer, I can tell you there is so much to be done by lawyers in Nigeria. Ours is a huge population, so, you can use law to expand the economy and empower the masses,” he said.

He also urged the electorate to believe and trust in his aspiration to make the state better.

- PM News

Budgetary allocation to education: Nigeria ranks 20th in the world

Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, a former Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), on Monday said that poor budgetary allocation is responsible for poor and abysmal performance of Nigerian Universities.

This is even as he said that over 95 percent of capital infrastructure provisions​ in the nation’s universities is from the education intervention agency.

Bogoro disclosed this on Monday in Benin, while delivering the 44th Conviction lecture of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), with the title; “Ivory Towers and the challenge of Nigeria’s innovative and creative renaissance,” noted that said Nigeria ranks 20th in the world, in budgetary allocation to education.

It would be recalled that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), are currently on strike over alleged funding of Nigeria’s universities.

The former TETFUND boss the intervention agency expanded its interventions to support academic staff development, support for book development and professional /institution- based journal production, library development and National Research Fund (NRF) and institution-based research funds with ceiling levels of N50 million and N2 million respectively.

While noting that Nigeria has remained the lowest funding nation of public education in the world, he urged academicians in the university to come up with additional non-budgetary funding window options

A statistical table of cross-country comparison of percentage of budget allocation to education against the national budget (World Bank 2012), he presented, showed that smaller African countries are far ahead of Nigeria in the funding of education.

Budgetary allocation of countries like Uganda, 4th (27.0%), are Botswana, 10th (20.0%), Lesotho,14th (17.0%) and Burkina Faso, 15th (16.8%) respectively, are higher than Nigeria’s 20th (8.4%) position in world ranking of education funding.

The former TETFUND boss noted tangible asset value has overtaken tangible asset value, due to poor funding of institutions, and has resulted in poor human capital and half-baked graduates produced by the various universities across the country.

He noted that universities and centres of excellence are not just institutions, but are considered the foundation of other national institutions, since they are the bastions of innovations, creativity, inventions, highest level of training and knowledge acquisition, strategies and quality control.

Bogoro who however said that all hope is not lost, called for a rebirth in the allocation of funds to the country’s tertiary institutions.

“All is, however, not lost, as the trend can be reversed, and we in the ivory towers have a leading role to help in ensuring that we mold and sustain qualitative and human capital through compliance with the statutory mandate to our universities and other tertiary institutions by maintaining the high standards prescribed in our laws, as well as improvement of working environment that will guarantee the quality of our graduates and research outcomes.

“We must as a people, accept to elevate human capital development to the level of international best practice which has been responsible for the higher competitiveness of the strongest economies, technologies and military powers of the new millennium.

“We should through research and powerful advocacy in campuses, seize the initiative of promoting strong institutions, rather than strong men, rulers or personalities, as the veritable foundation for governance,” he said.

The former TETFUND boss who commended the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), for being instrumental to the establishment of the agency, however, tasked the Union on new innovations to help rescue universities and indeed the entire education sector from non-performance.

Bogoro, also advocated the need to re-assess the proliferation of universities for strict compliance with not only quality and standards but also sustainable funding mechanism.

He noted that ASUU and other stakeholders in the universities have a vital role to play in demanding that minimum prescription for standard ps and funding regimes are met by all universities that have been licensed.

Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of UBIB, Prof. Friday Orumwense, thanked the guest lecturer for making out time for the lecture.

- PM News

N30,000 Minimum wage: Buhari, governors’ meeting deadlock

The meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Governor’s Forum, NGF, to resolve the raging dispute over the proposed N30,000 National Minimum Wage ended in a deadlock on Monday in Abuja.

The meeting took place at the Presidential Villa.

The Chairman of the NGF, and Governor of Zamfara State, Mr Abdulazeez Yari, led a smaller team of governors to the meeting to speak for the Forum.

Those at the meeting included Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode; Kebbi State Governor, Mr Atiku Bagudu; and the Enugu State Governor, Mr Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Punch reports that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, was also at the meeting.

The 36 state governors had recently taken a position that they could only afford to pay N22,500 as the new minimum wage.

They had also stated that the other options were for them to reduce their workforce or the Federal Government would have to review the revenue sharing formula to make more money available to the states.

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr Kayode Fayemi, is one of the key proponents of a revenue formula review.

Signs of a deadlock at the meeting was noticed when the governors emerged wearing long faces and refused to formally address State House correspondents.

One after another, Yari and his colleagues declined to talk.

Similarly, the President’s Media Office, which earlier promised to brief reporters on the outcome of the meeting, also kept mum after the meeting.

As of the time of filing this report, the media office had yet to respond to any inquiries.

However, findings indicated that pressure was put on the governors to move up to N24,000, a middle course the federal government was said to be disposed to as the New Mininmum Wage, according to Punch.

- PM News

Armed robbers attack bank in Ekiti, kill four

Suspected armed robbers on Monday killed four persons during an attack on a bank in Ijero-Ekiti.

The victims of the robbery include two policemen, a bank security guard and an aged man.

The robbers were said to have launched attack on the town’s police station where they killed the two cops before heading to the bank for the robbery operation.

The robbers allegedly invaded a police station in the town and killed two policemen on duty, while a chief security guard of the Bank was shot at the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) gallery of the bank.

The robbers were said to have entered Ijero through Aramoko Road in an ambulance with a casket laced with weapons.

An eyewitness disclosed that the robbers announced their arrival with gun shots which sent residents scampering for safety.

The bandits reportedly blew the bank’s security door with dynamite to gain access into the banking hall.

They were said to have made away with unspecified amount of money during the raid which was said to have lasted for about an hour.

The heavy shooting by the robbers paralysed transportation, economic and social activities.

The raid of the bank in Ijero was coming barely three months after a similar incident at a first generation bank in Igede Ekiti, in which a police man was killed.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Ekiti State, Mr. Caleb Ikechukwu, who said he was still at the branch of the bank “to gather reliable information on the armed robbery incident,” said the attack occurred at about 5:30pm.
Ikechukwu said: “There was casualty. They succeeded by using dynamite to gain access into the banking hall and the robbery took place around 5:30pm on Monday.”

He, however, said “There was no casualty on the side of the bank while there were one or two on the side of the police.”

- Daily Post

Presidency reacts to Service Chiefs’ walk out during Buhari’s 2019 campaign launch

The Presidency has frowned at the media report on unceremonious departure of some service chiefs from the venue of the launch of “Next Level 2019’’, describing it as “absolutely unnecessary”.

Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made this position known in a statement in Abuja on Monday.

The launch of the Campaign Manual/Next Level Document took place at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The presidential aide, who was reacting to a report by one of the national dailies, explained that the service chiefs had wanted to witness the event only to leave before it got underway after discovering the nature of the event.

The statement read: “the media should have asked what brought the Service Chiefs to the “Next Level 2019” event at the State House, only to leave before it got underway.
“They were mistaken in their assumption that this was a non-political event, to showcase the achievements of the administration, the success of which they are part.

“Hardly were they seated than did the Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali ask them to leave as this was a political gathering.
“They quickly left, even before the arrival of the President and for the event to get under way. The fuss over this is therefore absolutely unnecessary.’’

President Buhari had on Sunday inaugurated campaign manual for his re-election in 2019 with a call on politicians to be peaceful and decent in their campaigns and avoid any act capable of setting the nation ablaze.
“I’m not unmindful that the National Assembly and the Presidential campaign starts today, I will implore candidates to go about the campaigns peacefully and decently.
“We have no other country, let us not set it ablaze because of politics,’’ President Buhari said at the event, which was witnessed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and wife of the president, Aisha Buhari.

- Daily Post

Nigeria Police law outdated, existing since 1943 – NASS

Sen. Bala Na’Allah, the Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate on Monday said the nation was operating an obsolete Nigeria Police law, which had been in existence since 1943.

Na’Allah said this at a dialogue session with the National Assembly and Stakeholders on Police Reform and Police Bill organised by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) in Abuja.

He said that was why he decided to sponsor the Police Reform Bill to make the police to be abreast with global best practice.
He said that the bill had passed second reading and was currently at the committee level and hopefully, public hearing would be conducted, then senate would consider the report within the next 30 days.

“The Nigeria police force is always critisised for not delivering on their responsibility; as a party that promised to leave Nigeria more secured than it met it, we decided to initiate this reform.

“We are not too comfortable with the situation where only the few get good security while the larger population is left at their own peril.
“So we decided that let us look at what happens around the world and check what is wrong with our own system.

“We discovered that the structure of the Nigerian police will never ever give it the kind of efficiency and effectiveness that it requires to be able to secure the population of Nigeria.’’

Na’Allah said that was the reason for the reforms to bring sufficient funding, and localise the operation of the police in such a manner that every community would be secured based on international best practice.
He said that the reform when passed would enhance the coverage of the police to the grassroots and enable them carry out their duties without boundaries.

“If you are travelling on the road, and you are robbed at the border between one police station and another, the police will proudly tell you that it is not under their jurisdiction.

“Yet we have one Nigerian police, so how can it be that when something is happening somebody will say it is not under our jurisdiction? That is not done anywhere in the civilised world,’’he said.

Mr Lawal Abubakar, the Chairman House Committee on Police Affairs, said that the bill was going for public hearing, adding that it would change the narrative of the activities of the police.

Abubakar called for the input of citizens and the police to enrich the reform process and produce a bill that would stand the test  of time to face the contemporary Nigerian challenges.

The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who was represented by CP Adat Ududo, CP Admin, Research and Planning Department commended National Assembly for the reform.
Idris advised that the issue of funding and manpower should be taken into consideration.

- Daily Post 

Eeeeeooooo !!! PDP : Aregbesola is a monumental failure

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Osun State has called out Governor Rauf Aregbesola, describing his eight years tenure as a monumental failure.

It argued that the governor will go down in history of the state as the worst since the return of democratic rule in 1999.

PDP said contrary to what the governor was making people to believe as achievement in infrastructure and human capital, “Aregbesola is leaving the state worse than how he met it in 2010”.

The Chairman of PDP in the state, Hon. Soji Adagunodo stated this on Sunday through a statement he signed and made available to newsmen in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

Speaking on where he scored himself high during an all night interaction tagged “Ogbeni Till Day Break” on Friday, PDP said such self glorification was childish and a total farce.

According to the party, “There is no better indication of the governor’s failure than the dysfunctional educational system, comatose healthcare, gargantuan debt, deplorable road, abysmal water infrastructure and several other negatives which the governor is bequething to his successor.

“It is already on record that it is during the tenure of Ogbeni Aregbesola that Osun was ranked by BUDGIT as one of the four most indebted States and the least fiscally responsible state in Nigeria.

“It was during these same years that the state found itself on the lowest rung of performance of students in public examinations; a situation which made us a laughing stock even among states hitherto considered educationally disadvantaged in Nigeria.

“Human life and development had never been this compromised as Medical doctors, health workers, lecturers, and civil servants embarked on strikes for a cumulative period of not less than 3 and a half years during Aregbesola’s administration.”

PDP also took on Aregbesola over his claim that he had built more roads than previous governors, saying there were more death traps than motorable roads, as it cited township roads in Ejigbo, Iwo, Ede, Ikirun, Ila Orangun, Ilobu among others.

The party added that the roads from Osogbo to Ila-Odo, Akoda-Gbongan, Orile Owu to Ijebu-Igbo, Iwo to Ejigbo and several others which it said the governor used as cover to obtain various huge loans have been abandoned at stages ranging between 15 and 40 percent completion.

“The road from Osogbo through Iwo to Ibadan which the governor boasted would be rehabilitated by Julius Berger in 2012 was never started and must today rank among the worst roads in Nigeria.

“It is similarly on record that a recent survey by an international organisation ranked Osun as one of the 3 dirtiest states in Nigeria. This is in spite of the billions of Naira siphoned by Local and State government officials in the guise of environmental sanitation.

“Our party notes that while Osun is very happy that the reign of Ogbeni Aregbesola is coming to an end, the people are rather sad at the legacy of impunity and fraud that Mr Governor and his party introduced to our political landscape as exemplified in the September 22nd and 27th governorship election in Osun State. It is one ugly legacy which has put the name of our dear state on the dark spot of political discourse within and outside Nigeria.

“However, our hope is in the judiciary to do justice and restore the mandate freely given to Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke as the rightful successor to Ogbeni Aregbesola; the PDP hereby joins the people of Osun State to keep on praying that the inglorious reign of the APC would soon be terminated and a new lease of prosperous life be injected into the State of the living spring”, the statement said.

- Daily Post