Law maker in waiting !!! Anambra Police arrest 30-year-old man who specialises in duping bank customers at ATM

The police in Anambra State has arrested Mr Obinna Okafor, a 30-year-old man who specialises in robbing bank customers at Automated Teller Machine, ATM, points, while making withdrawals.

The state command’s police public relations officer, SP Haruna Mohammed said Okafor was arrested in Nnewi at an Access Bank branch by men of the force while on patrol.

He said the suspect specializes in duping unsuspecting victims around automated teller machine centres by swapping their ATM cards with another stolen ATM in his possession.

He said, “On the 20/11/2018, operatives attached to Nnewi Area Command while on surveillance patrol around Access Bank Nnewi arrested one Obinna Okafor ‘m’ aged 30 years of Enugu-Ezike in Enugu State.

“He was arrested while withdrawing money using ATM Card stolen from a medical student in Nnewi.”

Meanwhile, exhibits found in his possession include: eight different ATM cards reasonably suspected to have been stolen from his victims and sum of one hundred and twenty thousand naira (#120,000) already withdrawn from his victim’s account at the point of his arrest.

The case is said to be under investigation after which the suspect would be charged to court for prosecution.

The command assured the public of its commitments towards ensuring safety and security in the state.

- Daily Post

Offa Robbery: You can’t escape prosecution, Police tell Saraki

Police said the five suspects arraigned in court in Ilorin, Kwara State, had already given them enough clues about Saraki’s involvement in the robberies and they were determined to prosecute him.

Police gave this position in a response to the statement by Yusuph Olaniyonu, Senate President Bukola Saraki’s spokesman.

Olaniyonu called for a probe of Adikwu’s death.

But the police appeared to have ruled out a probe of the death, saying that the the 30 year-old suspect slumped and died in detention.

“There is a post-mortem examination result in respect of the death of Michael Adikwu”, police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood said.

In any case, he went further, Adikwu’s death did not exculpate the Senate President, who was allegedly indicted by the five suspects now on trial in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Adikwu was a dismissed policeman, who in the course of interrogation admitted killing 22 persons, including pregnant women and nine policemen, police claimed. He was also the man who led the police to the other suspects and the recovery of 22 AK 47 Rifles carted away from the police.

“The law must take its course”, the police said, as they insisted that the arraigned suspects will provide enough testimony to prosecute the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.

The Police also dismissed political motive in the case they have against Saraki and explained why they were determined to prosecute Saraki for the crime committed.

“It should be of serious concern to all, that human life is sacrosanct and where investigation has been concluded and suspects arraigned in Court, judicial process must be exhausted and not hindered for the law to take its course in ensuring justice for the families of more than 33 innocent persons including pregnant women that were gruesomely murdered in cold blood”.

Here is the edited version of the police statement:

“The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to the innuendo in the media on the death of a sectional gang leader Michael Adikwu ‘M’ 30Yrs, a dismissed policeman and an ex- convict, who confessed to have killed Twenty Two (22) persons including pregnant women and Nine Police personnel and carted away of 22 AK 47 Rifles at the Offa Police Divisional Headquarters during Offa Bank Robbery on the 5th April, 2018. It is therefore imperative that the Nigeria Police Force respond to the publication and set the record straight.

“The Nigeria Police Force is conversant and mindful of contempt of Court in commenting on cases already before the Court of competent jurisdiction.

“However, the Force is constrained and compelled to respond to the statement from Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu, Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and not on the Court processes and proceedings on the case of Offa Bank Robbery for which Five principal suspects are now standing trial in a State High court in Ilorin, Kwara State.

The police insisted that the five suspects now in court—Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran arrested for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa Bank Robbery and the gruesome killing of 33 innocent persons, indicted the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.

“The Five suspects admitted in their confessional statements to the Police investigators that they were political thugs of the Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sen. Bukola Saraki and the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Alh. Abdulfatah Ahmed.

“The Five (5) gang leaders further confessed during investigation that they are political thugs under the name Youth Liberation Movement a.k.a “Good Boys” they also admitted and confessed to have been sponsored with firearms, money and operational vehicles, such as a Lexus RX 300 Jeep with Reg. KWARA, KWA 143 RM with inscription SARAKI on a sticker attached to the vehicle and Mercedes Benz Compressor Reg. LAGOS, LT 496 KJA.

“These two Vehicles were used for the Offa Bank Robbery by the five gang Leaders. The first vehicle was later registered after the Offa Bank Robbery to divert attention while the suspects were in detention.

“These confessions were made before the media and the public on the 3rd of June, 2018. It is therefore, evidently clear that the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki has case to answer in the whole matter.

“It was also discovered during investigations that three gang leaders who participated actively in the Offa Bank Robbery, Viz: Ayoade Akinnibosun aka AY, Ibukunle Ogunleye aka Arrow and Adeola Abraham followed the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki to Olofa’s Palace when the Senate President paid a condolence visit to Offa after the bank robbery.

“Further investigation into the matter revealed that all the Five gang leaders namely; Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran have direct connection to the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki as a picture of one of the five gang leaders when paraded by the Police was in ‘Aso Ebi’ (trouser) used during the Senate President daughter’s wedding.

“The Five gang leaders further admitted that they attended the Senate President daughter’s wedding held in Abuja.

“Consequent on all the above, a thorough and discreet investigation was concluded by the Police into the matter and all the five gang leaders arrested for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa Bank Robbery that indicted and implicated Senator Bukola Saraki, Senate President in the Offa Bank Robbery are alive and now in Court”.

- PM News

Over to you, 'useless and selfish leaders' !! Malala: Declaration of state of emergency on Nigeria’s education sector overdue

Malala Yousafzai, child rights activist, says the declaration of emergency on Nigeria’s education sector is overdue.

Earlier in the month, the National Economic Council (NEC) directed governors to declare a state of emergency on the education sector.

The council had complained about the declining standard of education and called for urgent actions.

In a statement, Yousafzai said the action empower women and drive sustainable growth.

She appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to work with governors to address the challenges in the education sector.

“During my visits to Nigeria in July 2014 and July 2017, I met girls eager to complete their education. I saw the fierce ambition in their eyes as they told me about their dreams — among them to become doctors, reporters and scientists,” she said.

“As such, the recent decision by the National Economic Council (NEC) to direct state governors to declare a state of emergency in education is overdue. The NEC has shown great leadership by publicly recognising that it is of vital economic importance to get all of Nigeria’s children in school and learning the skills they need to thrive in the future workforce. When girls go to school, they become economically empowered women who promote sustainable development and drive economic growth.

“It is now crucial that President Buhari works with states to deliver meaningful change through enacting states of emergencies, and also with the House of Representatives to ensure the amendment to the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act urgently receives passage and presidential assent. This would not only guarantee every child in Nigeria the right to 12 years of education, but also improve states’ access to federal UBE Commission funds.

“In placing girls’ education at the top of the agenda this year, Nigeria’s leaders will send a clear signal that they are determined to secure Nigeria’s stability and prosperity by investing in its future — its children.”

She also called on the federal government to allocate six percent of Nigeria’s GDP to education funding.

- Thecable

EFCC: Electrical fault — NOT sabotage — caused inferno

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says there was no element of sabotage in the fire incident that razed its office in Wuse 2, Abuja.

Tony Orilade, acting spokesman of the anti-graft agency, disclosed this on Thursday. Orilade attributed the cause of the fire to electrical fault.

He said no documents were destroyed in the inferno, adding that the data centre was the commission’s newsroom.

While it is believed that the razed data centre is where the EFCC is likely to have kept records of its arrests and recoveries, Orilade said: “There were no documents, only out-of-use computers and other accessories.

“There was no sabotage; nothing of such. The data system is intact, the computers in the centre were not installed; they were just packed and stored.

“We thank God for the quick intervention of the Fire Service. There is no course for worry.

“The war against corruption is on top gear under the chairman, Ibrahim Magu; with his determination, definitely victory is assured.”

Following the incident, the commission relocated its data centre and inter-agency task force units to its headquarters in Jabi, Abuja.

- TheCable

Strike to go on until Govt accedes to ASUU demands – Omole

The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Ibadan, UI, Chapter, Dr Deji Omole has said that the ongoing strike embarked upon by the union would not be called off unless the Federal Government do the needful by resolving all the contending issues.

Omole stated this on Tuesday while briefing newsmen after the congress of the union in Ibadan, stressing that the union would not allow the ruling elite to destroy the heritage of the poor, which is qualitative public education.

According to him, the position of ASUU was a fall out of the first meeting held with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige which did not go into substantive issues that led to the strike.

It will be recalled that about three weeks ago, the union had declared total, indefinite and comprehensive strike over failure of the Buhari-led federal government to fulfill the content of the Memorandum of Action it signed with the Union in 2017 bothering on Revatilisation and funding of universities, unpaid accumulated earned academic earned allowances, release of University staff pension company license among other issues.

Omole pointed out that Wale Babalakin, who is the leader of Federal Government team is being rejected by the Union because he is an interested party pursuing a private university license and will do everything to jeopardize public education funding.

He stated that a situation whereby two members in the federal government team are pursuing their private university licenses indicate they would not favour funding of public education.

The ASUU scribe maintained that the three-week old ASUU strike is borne out of genuine and patriotic commitment to ensure a better future for children of the masses and that of Nigeria.

Dismissing the allegation being bandied by the government that the strike was political, Omole said, “How can our strike be political when there are matters that you as government signed into and you failed to fulfill your promises? To us, it is the Federal government that is being political with the truth by becoming untrustworthy.

“How can the President and his Vice be asking Nigerian universities to become one of the leading universities of the world without making the same commitments responsive and responsible governments in the world are making to Education? Our leadership has shown consistent disrespect for agreements and this is why they can no longer be trusted by our Union.”

- PM News

9.4m people living with HIV unaware — UNAIDS report

A new report, ‘Knowledge is Power’, has revealed that an estimated 9.4 million people who are infected with HIV virus are not aware.

According to the report, released by UNAIDS, 75 per cent of all people living with HIV or 27 million people, know their HIV status.

The report called for increased efforts to reach the 9.4 million people living with HIV who are not aware that they are living with the virus and the estimated 19.4 million people living with HIV who do not have a suppressed viral load.

The new report from UNAIDS showed that intensified HIV testing and treatment efforts were reaching more people living with HIV.

To remain healthy and to prevent transmission, the HIV virus needs to be suppressed to undetectable or very low levels through sustained antiretroviral therapy.

According to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr Michel Sidibé, to effectively monitor viral load, people living with HIV need access to viral load testing every 12 months.

“Viral load testing is the gold standard in HIV treatment monitoring. It shows that treatment is working, keeping people alive and well and keeping the virus firmly under control,” Sidibé said.

The report outlined that access to viral load testing was mixed; in some parts of the world, getting a viral load test is easy and fully integrated into a person’s HIV treatment regime, while in others, there may be only one viral load machine for the entire country.

Sidibé stressed: “Viral load monitoring needs to be as available in Lilongwe as it is in London.

“HIV testing and viral load testing should be equal and accessible to all people living with HIV, without exception”.

The report showed that one of the biggest barriers to HIV testing was stigma and discrimination.

Studies among women, men, young people and key populations revealed that fear of being seen accessing HIV services, and if the person is diagnosed, fear that this information would be shared with family, friends, sexual partners or the wider community, was preventing them from accessing HIV services, including HIV testing.

According to UNAIDS, however, access to HIV testing is a basic human right, and the UN HIV/AIDS agency said it was calling for a global commitment to remove the barriers preventing people from testing for HIV.

The barriers include eliminating HIV-related stigma and discrimination, ensuring confidentiality in HIV testing and treatment services, and deploying an optimal mix of HIV testing strategies to reach the populations most in need.

Others are integration with other health services, removing policy and legal barriers hindering access to HIV testing and treatment, expanding access to viral load monitoring in low- and middle-income countries and ensuring access to early infant diagnosis for newborns.

The report demonstrated that implementing these measures would hugely advance progress towards ensuring that all people living with and affected by HIV have access to the life-saving services they need.

- PM News

EFCC seals-off 6 landed property allegedly belonging to Fayose

Photo : Punch

No fewer than six landed property allegedly owned by immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose were on Thursday sealed-off in Ado Ekiti by operatives of the EFCC.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the action may not be unconnected to a court order which authorised seizure of the property suspected to have been built with corrupt proceeds.

Fayose had earlier raised an alarm of deliberate `persecution and witch hunting’ after his last encounter with the EFCC.

The anti-graft had pressed charges against Fayose in a Federal High Court Lagos on allegations of fraud while serving as governor.

Parts of the notice of seizure placed by the anti-graft body on the property in Ado Ekiti, read thus: “EFCC, Keep-off’’, “Property under Investigation’’ among others.

However, Fayose had accused the EFCC of going about town sealing property belonging to innocent individuals arbitrarily under the guise that those properties belonged to him.

The former governor said this in a statement signed by his Media Assistant, Mr Lere Olayinka, and made available to newsmen.

Fayose said his response to the unfortunate incident was aimed at informing the public ahead of the EFCC’s usual blackmail and media trial.

“I have just been informed that operatives of the EFCC are going about sealing houses of innocent people in the state, under the guise that the houses are linked to me

“This is another wild goose chase and the usual media campaign against my person.

“It is only in our country that an anti corruption agency will first go about sealing houses before determining the ownership, which can be done so easily by visiting relevant agencies.

“I am therefore, informing the public ahead of their usual blackmail and media trial.

“Please note that none of the property in question is owned by me and the records are there for anyone that is interested to see

“The EFCC is advised to stop going about looking for ways to malign my person just because of their hatred as a result of my uncompromising stands on national issues.

“Even if the commission is being pressured from ‘above’ to persecute me at all cost, it should at least, do its job diligently to save itself from persistent embarrassment’’, he said.

- PM News

Polls : Why Atiku may fail as President – Donald Duke

Donald Duke, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has said that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP “baggage” will not allow its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar perform excellently if he emerges as President in 2019.

Duke speaking to newsmen on Thursday in Lagos said no matter how good a candidate’s intentions are, the person cannot perform if he becomes President on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), NAN reports.

The former Governor of Cross River state said that the aforementioned points about PDP is not to score a political point, but a fact he knew, being a former staunch member of the PDP.

“Even if I had emerged as the PDP presidential flag bearer, and win the election, the huge baggage the party carries will not allow me to do well.

“The corruption is huge. You need to be completely unshackled to perform amidst such obstacles without being pulled down.

“The PDP presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, is like an elder brother to me. I have known him from when I was 12 years old. The APC is not completely left out of the baggage. Hence, the need for Nigerians to change the culture of PDP and APC.

“You can see that President Muhammadu Buhari, with his stern stand on corruption, is still finding it difficult to navigate smoothly because it is the same corrupt persons that we are still battling. They simply joined APC from PDP,” he said.

Duke, a former Governor of Cross River, said that apart from Buhari, he is the only candidate among the 76 running for the presidency in 2019 that had a pedigree of being the head of a state.

According to him, he joined the SDP to provide Nigerians an alternative platform which would be a viable option.

“2019 is around the corner. The choice that Nigerians make is what they have to live with,” he said.

He, however, said that his campaign would be issue-based, devoid of mudslinging, pointing out that it was the mudslinging campaign in 2015 that contributed to PDP losing the election.

“I hope we don’t descend into what happened in 2015, as I can see it coming again. We should talk about things that affect us. Those are the levels we should elevate our campaigns to,” he added.

- Daily Post

MKO Abiola: Bill to make June 12 Democracy Day passes 2nd reading

A Bill for an Act to amend the Public Holidays Act in order to declare June 12 as Democracy Day in Nigeria has passed the second reading at the House of Representatives.

The bill, which was jointly sponsored by Rep. Edward Pwajok (APC-Plateau) and Rep. Kayode Oladele, seeks to bring the Act in tandem with the present realities and exigencies of the modern times.

Leading the debate, Pwajok said that before 1979, there were separate Acts regulating public holidays in the country.

He said the situation led to indiscriminate declaration of public holidays which had negative consequence on the nation.

Pwajok recalled that in 1975, a law was made to repeal all state laws on public holidays and to streamline the process of declaring holidays for the federation.

According to him, by law, the President may declare any day as public holiday by public notice or Act through the Minister of Internal Affairs.

He said that by the schedule of the Act, some days such as New Year Day, National Day like Oct. 1 and religious festivals are set aside for public holidays.

He said that in 2000, the National Assembly amended the schedule to add May 29 as Democracy Day.

The lawmaker said that in May 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari announced June 12 as the new Democracy day.

He explained that for the pronouncement to become effective there has to be an amendment on the Public Holidays Act.

Pwajok said if the bill is passed into law, subsequent June 12 will become public holidays to commemorate Democracy Day.

He said May 29 would be celebrated every fourth year when there is an inauguration of a new president.

In his ruling, the Speaker of the House, Mr Yakubu Dogara forwarded the bill to the House Committee of the Whole for further legislative actions.

- Daily Post

Man sentenced to death by hanging in Zaria

A Kaduna State High Court sitting in Zaria has sentenced one Abdullahi Ibrahim to death by hanging.

Justice Kabiru Dabo, while delivering the judgement, said that the offence committed by Abdullahi Ibrahim against late Kabiru Suleiman was Culpable Homicide punishable under Section 221 of Penal Code.

Abdullahi Ibrahim, a former security personnel with Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria had on 5th December, 2011 used an axe to machete Kabiru Suleiman to death.

Late Kabiru Suleiman, had on the fateful day went to Abdullahi to collect money meant for his father’s entitlement to the tune of N270,000.00, which he used Abdullahi’s account as a very close friend.

Abdullahi ran away until 5th March 2014 when he was arrested and charged to court.

- Daily Post

Abiola’s wife reveals why Jonathan lost to Buhari in 2015, blasts former president

Zainab Duke-Abiola, wife of late Moshood Abiola, has said the new book written by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan is a “monumental manipulation of historical facts and figures”.

Jonathan on Tuesday, launched his book ‘My Transition Hours’, to mark his 61st birthday.

In a statement on Thursday, Duke-Abiola described the book as “a pseudologia fantastica”.

She said the claim by Jonathan that former US President Barack Obama and ex-UK Prime Minister David Cameron interfered with the country’s 2015 election is “ludicrous”.

“The book is a monumental manipulation of historical facts and figures.

“Though President Jonathan conceded defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari after he lost the elections, he remained fixated on the presidency and did not want to believe that Nigerian voters swept him out of power because of his gross incompetence and ineptitude.

“For the records, Jonathan lost the election because he made himself the sole candidate of the PDP despite his abysmal failure in governance. He directed the party to print only one presidential nomination Form 001, which I paid for, but because of his blind ambition, he confiscated my presidential nomination Form 001 and went into the political battlefield in borrowed robes, thereby meeting his political Waterloo accordingly,” Duke-Abiola said.

She said the ex-president plunged the country into an avoidable security and humanitarian crisis.

“I think the only option left for Jonathan is to plead with God and Nigerians for forgiveness and until we forgive him, he should remain in his purgatory of lethargy. No amount of write-up can erase the fact that he took this great nation for granted.

“The indeprecabilis question for Jonathan to answer is What did he do with the power Nigerians entrusted him with? Did he ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians or even the marginalized Niger Deltans? Did he even put drinking water in his own village? Are Jonathan’s village mansions accessible by road? Why does he charter helicopters to travel to his own village?

“Jonathan said corruption is not stealing and thereafter flagged off the looting spree of the treasury, which ultimately plunged Nigeria into recession when he left. Jonathan will go down in history as Nigeria’s worst political mistake,” Duke-Abiola added.

- Daily Post

Saraki conducts Senate proceedings despite alleged lack of quorum

Nigeria’s Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki on Thursday conducted proceedings of the upper legislative chamber despite supposed lack of quorum as required by Order 10 of Senate rules.

Amidst the scanty presence of senators and as the order paper was being observed, Senator Adamu Aliero drew the Senate President’s attention to the development, saying it was an embarrassment that there was no quorum.

Aliero said, “Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, I want to raise Order 10 to draw your attention that I have just signed up attendance register as number 25.

“It means we have not formed a quorum of 38 Senators and it is an embarrassment for us to continue sitting.”

However, the Senate President insisted that they were 39 already, saying that the Clerk of the Senate should check the register.

DAILY POST recalls that the Senate plenary was suspended for a week due to the lack of quorum last week.

The Senate President however attributed the poor attendance of plenary by Senators to oversight functions, adding that the electioneering which has been lifted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, might be responsible as well.

- Daily Post