Patience Jonathan finally loses N12 billion loot to Nigerian treasury

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday ordered the permanent seizure by the Nigerian government of $8.4 million . (about N3billion) and N9.2 billion, belonging to Patience Jonathan, wife of former Nigerian leader, Goodluck Jonathan.

Justice Mojisola Olatoregun granted the application of the EFCC for the forfeiture and ruled that the money was reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
The judge held that Mrs Jonathan could not prove that the money was legitimately earned, in what is surely a big triumph for the EFCC.
Joined as co-respondents in the case alongside Patience Jonathan are Globus Integrated Services Ltd; Finchley Top Homes Ltd.; Am-Pm Global Network Ltd; Pagmat Oil and Gas Ltd; Magel Resort Ltd; and one Esther Oba.

Olatoregun in her judgement stated that she found no reason in the affidavit filed before the court to show cause why the money found in the various bank accounts should not be be qualified as proceeds of an unlawful activities and same not to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

$4million each was found in First BanK Plc and Skye Bank Plc(now Polaris Bank) accounts and another $429,000 was also found in Skye Bank account.
The naira components of the seized loot were found in bank accounts in Fidelity Bank, EcoBank, Diamond Bank Plc, Standbic IBTC Plc and Zenith Bank.

EFCC on 29 October, 2018 had sought an order of the court for the final forfeiture of the entire money, six months after it secured an interim forfeiture order from the same court.
EFCC application was filed by its counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo.
Dame Patience Jonathan claimed that the source of the funds found in her account were gifts and donations during social events such as Christmas celebrations, Salah, burial of her mother and during the launch of her NGO, Women for Change Development.

She also claimed that she enjoyed tremendous goodwill gifts from dignitaries as wife of Goodluck Jonathan, right from 1999, when he was a deputy governor in Bayelsa, up till the time, he became the president of Nigeria.
Another claim she made was that she inherited some of the money from her late mother..
To further debunk the notion that the funds were not proceeds from unlawful enrichment, Esther Oba, the only sister to Patience and special assistant on household duties in Aso Rock, said some of the funds found in her domiciliary accounts were gotten from her estacode during official trips. She also claimed that some of the money were donations from people after she lost her mother and also when she had her first child, after 14years of marriage.

However, Olatoregun said the applicants failed to say precisely where the money came from.
The judge stated that the 2nd respondent also failed to dispel the suspicion that the funds found in Globus Network Ltd were proceeds from unlawful activities.
Justice Olatoregun further, stated that the three witnesses provided by the respondents failed to show proof of source of the money the EFCC urged the court to forfeit as they said they were only in charge of sales.
She said the three witnesses failed to proof that the huge sums were not proceeds from illegal activities.

The court found no evidence to support the volume of income found in the various accounts the EFCC is seeking the court to forfeit.
Also the fact that the Bureaux des change stated that there was no business transaction with the respondents and that they only changed money from naira to dollars is no doubt a reason to support the suspicion that the money emanated from unlawful activities.
Justice Olaturegun held that the overwhelming evidence produced by the EFCC showing that fictitious names were used to lodge money into the accounts and the non-payment of tax also buttressed the fact that the money was a proceed from illegal enrichment.

Justice Olaturegun therefore concluded by saying the respective sums are liable to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The court ruled that the respondents failed to show cause while the sums of N9.2bn and 8.4m USD should not be forfeited to the Federal Government.

-PM NEWS

Pregnant officer shot dead as gunmen raid Bayelsa police station

Suspected gunmen have reportedly invaded a police station in Bayelsa, killing four officers, including a pregnant policewoman.

According to PUNCH, suspected hoodlums invaded the station in Agudama community of Yenagoa local government area in the early hours of Monday, opening fire on the officers.

Also said to have been killed was the divisional police officer (DPO) and two other policemen who were on duty during the attack.

Sources in the community were quoted as saying the attackers also made away with the rifles and ammunition during the operation that began at about 2am.

“At dawn, we heard one policeman escape, while another, who was shot on the leg survived the attack”, a resident was quoted as saying.

No civilian was said to have been attacked during the incident, while the officers’ bodies have been taken to the Federal Medical Center, Yenagoa, the state capital.

TheCable could not immediately reach Asimin Butswat, the state police command spokesman as he did not pick his calls while a text message sent is yet to be replied.
The attack comes about a week after two police officers in the state lost their lives in an encounter with gunmen

- THECABLE

Female undergraduates abuse drugs more than male students; shisha most common – NDLEA

Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has revealed that female students in most Nigerian universities abuse hard drugs more than their male counterparts.

The Spokesperson of Anambra State command of the agency, Mr. Charles Odigie, who disclosed this, said the situation was unfortunate, but was the reality staring the society in the face.
Odigie, who was speaking during a one-day symposium tagged ‘curbing school dropout and drug abuse’ in Awka, the Anambra State capital, said the malaise was more prevalent in a university in Awka.

He said that from the command’s recent arrests of drug offenders in the state, female students of a university (name withheld) constituted most of the offenders, harping on the need for re-orientation.
Odigie regretted the general high rate of drug abuse in tertiary institutions, saying it was an indication that students allow themselves to be influenced in the school environment, where they have more freedom.

According to him, “there is high rate of drug abuse in tertiary institutions due to the absence of school hostels on campuses, making it difficult to control students who abuse these substances.
“For instance, majority of UNIZIK students live off-campus in lodges where neither the landlords nor caretakers are there to control them. If they are to be within the school premises, the story would have been different.”

He identified shisha, a popular local hard drug consumed by youths through pipes, as the most widely abused by the female students.
Odigie said the failure of parents to care and monitor their children’s activities in the tertiary institutions was one of the contributory factors to the high rate of social ills in the society, while tasking parents not to leave the training of their wards to teachers alone.

“We’ll however continue to sensitise the public on the dangers of drug abuse, urging other government agencies and NGOs to gear their activities towards the sensitisation of the masses on drug abuse, and encourage people to always report cases of abuse to the command,” he said.

- DAILY POST

PL NEWS :Arsenal submit £40m offer for Crystal Palace’s Zaha

Arsenal on Monday bid £40million for Crystal Palace winger, Wilfried Zaha, Sky Sports News reports.

Zaha has informed the club of his desire and urged them to reach an agreement with the Gunners who he supported as a boy.

Palace have already struck a deal worth over £50million with Manchester United for the sale of Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

And the South London side already insisted that only one of their academy products would be allowed to leave.
But Zaha remains determined to secure his own big-money switch from Selhurst Park too.

Palace have put a huge £80m price tag on the 26-year-old, which would put him out of Arsenal’s price range. The Gunners have a starting budget of around £45m, following their failure to qualify for the Champions League.

That has left Zaha hoping that Palace chairman, Steve Parish, will lower the club’s demands to make his dream switch a reality.

- DAILY POST

N30,000 minimum wage: Organised labour blows hot, mobilizes for nationwide strike

Organized labour has commenced mobilisation of its members nationwide to prepare them for the next line of action following persistent government’s efforts to derail the implementation of a new National Minimum Wage

Organised labour, under the aegis of the Trade Union Side, TUS, of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, JNPSNC, the eight Unions in the Public Services of the Federal and 36 State Governments have alerted Nigerians that labour may have to embark on industrial action if the current state of affairs as regards the issue of consequential adjustment arising from the new national Minimum wage of N30,000.00 per month remains the same.

This was part of statement issued in Abuja on Monday by the TUS Acting Chairman, Comrade Anchaver Simon, and the Secretary, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal.

The TUS regretted that since the Committee set up early this month by the government to work out the Consequential Adjustments arising from the new National Minimum Wage of N30,000.00 started to meet, the government has been coming up with one strange proposal or the other all with the intent of scuttling the implementation of the new National Minimum Wage signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, 18th April, 2019.
It added, “As things are right now, the government side is only prepared to pay peanuts to workers as adjustment under the pretext that it will soon be undertaking general salary review in the Public Service.

“It will be recalled that the Committee on Consequential Adjustment of salary agreed to set up a technical body to work out different scenarios in respect of salaries that would be paid to workers who are in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that draw their emoluments from the Government treasury.
“The Technical Committee met severally and series of computations that were to be presented for the plenary for consideration were developed. All was going on well until the Government Side came up later with their usual magic and ambush all aimed at scuttling the whole exercise.”

According to the union, the TUS had initially proposed that since the minimum wage was increased by 66.66 per cent that is, from N18,000.000 to N30,000.00, salaries for officers on Grade Levels 01-17 should be adjusted accordingly to maintain the relativity that exists in the salary structure in the Public Service.

It added, “But when the government side argued that such increase across board would raise the total wage bill too high, the Trade Union side reviewed its demand downward and eventually settled for 30 per cent for officers on Grade Levels 07-14 and 25 per cent for those on Grade Levels 15-17.

“The Government side on its part was insisting on 9.5% salary raise for employees on Grade Levels 07-14 and 5% for those on Grade Levels 15-17,” the union stated. The two (2) sides then agreed to capture the two positions in the technical committee’s report which will now be presented for discussion at the plenary.
According to the TUS, it received “a rude shock at the last meeting of the Technical Committee when the government side began to hold on to a non-existent position that the Technical Committee’s term of reference was to base its assignment in respect of salary adjustment on what was provided for the subject in the 2019 budget. This is very incorrect and unfortunate.

It regretted that “the implication of Government’s position was that the Technical Committee cannot go beyond what the government was pushing for which is 9.5 per cent salary increase for officers on GL 07-14 and 5 per cent for those on GL 15-17.
“The implication of this is that Government has a predetermined position and only called labour in to rubberstamp its hidden agenda.
“With this turn of event, it is quite clear now that some fifth columnists in this Administration are hell-bent on pushing President Muhammadu Buhari to enter into a collision course with millions of Nigerian workers in the Public Service. This is very sad,” the Union stated.

The union recalled that “after the Ama Pepple committee recommended N30,000 monthly new National Minimum Wage, the government side went to the press to announce that the negotiation was inconclusive and thereafter sent N27,000 and N30,000 monthly National Minimum Wage proposal to the National Council of State and the National Assembly and the latter approved N30,000 as the new monthly National Minimum Wage before President Buhari signed it into law on 18th April, 2019.

“It is indeed perplexing that political office holders whose monthly take-home pay runs into millions of naira are the ones working behind the scene to ensure that public service employees especially core civil servants continue to receive starvation wages.

“This is why the eight Trade Unions in the Public Service have resolved that
 enough is enough and that if the Federal Government fails to call its officials to order and direct them to negotiate openly the issue of Consequential Adjustment arising from the new National Minimum Wage, millions of workers at the Federal and 36 States Public Services will have no other alternative than to take some necessary Trade Union actions to seek redress. The time for President Buhari to act is now.”

- DAILY POST

Court orders arrest of NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, four others

An Abuja division of the Federal High Court on Monday issued a bench warrant against the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Amaju Pinnick.
The court also ordered the arrest of four other officials of the NFF accused of misappropriating funds belonging to the football body.

The presiding judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu gave the order after the case involving the NFF officials was called and they were absent in court.
Others to be arrested are: NFF Secretary, Sunusi Mohammed; the 1st Vice-President, Seyi Akinwumi; the 2nd Vice-President, Shehu Dikko and an Executive member, Yusuff Fresh.

Recall that the Federal Government had earlier this year in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/93/2019, filed a 17-count charge before the court.

The officials were accused of alleged misappropriation of $8,400,000 belonging to the football body.
The judge gave the order for the arrest of the defendants upon an oral application by the prosecution lawyer, Celcius Ukpong, when the case was called and the defendants were absent.
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-DAILY POST 

3 dead, 16 missing as boat capsizes in Lagos

Three dead bodies have so far been recovered from the Lagoon where a boat carrying more than seventeen people capsized at Ikorodu, on Saturday, 29 June 2019. Sixteen passengers of the ill-fated boat are said to be missing.

According to a statement by the CEO, Lagos state emergency management board (LASEMA), Oke -Osanyintolu who led the rescue operation involving LASWA Officials and the Marine police, two people have been confirmed dead and three persons rescued.
“A boat mishap occurred at the above location yesterday the 29th of June, 2019. Investigations conducted revealed that the boat was en route Badore (Ajah) to Egbin (Ikorodu) with between 17 and 21 passengers on board.

“The boat allegedly capsized due to overloading. It was gathered that the boat was overturned by the heavy current.
3 persons were rescued and were taken to hospital.
“Unfortunately, the lifeless body of an adult female, identified as Aniyikaye Oluwaseunfunmi, 40 years old and an unnamed person was found and bagged by the Agency’s response team.
Rescue and recovery efforts continue for the other missing passengers by

- PM NEWS

New Tax ID: FG directs CBN, others to synergise with JTB

The Federal Government has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria InterBank Settlement System (NIBBS), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), to cooperate with the Joint Tax Board (JTB) in the release of relevant individual records.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated this while inaugurating the New National Tax Identification Number (TIN) Registration System on Monday in Abuja.
The new tax administration was built around data, adding that without credible and comprehensive data, an efficient tax system would be impossible.
TIN was a vital instrument to uniquely identify, as well as register new taxpayers and bring them into the tax bracket.

The vice president said that TIN gave the managers of the national tax administration systems the capacity to conveniently and efficiently access and connect information from multiple sources.
He added that this formed the basis for projecting future revenues and for making realistic expenditure plans, for governments.

Osinbajo said that the ultimate outcome of TIN was increased revenues for the government at all tiers, to fund investments in infrastructure, social investment, human capital development, and more.
According to him, the new initiative aligns fully with the Federal Government’s strategic objectives as outlined in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

“We seek to achieve is really to attract business and more importantly, local business; and it is local business investment that develops the economy the most.
“If it is easy for the local person to do business, it becomes more attractive to the international business to come into the country.
“All of these reforms attract the levels of investment and inflows the Nigerian economy requires for sustainable economic growth.

“In the light of the foregoing, all agencies critical to the optimal success of this initiative, the CBN and NIBBS, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), are hereby directed by the President to provide the fullest co-operation to the JTB especially in the release of the relevant individual records.
“The JTB, led by its chairman, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, all the partners and stakeholders who have made this possible, deserve our commendation for this giant leap.

“The Nigerian business and economic environment is the better for your hard work and continuous innovation,” Osinbajo said.
On his part, Fowler, who is also the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), said that tax-revenue administration in the 21st century had evolved into a systematic and deliberate process underpinned by availability of reliable data.

He said the new TIN registration system would be reinforcing the laudable efforts of the administration towards building a robust tax-revenue administration system.
Fowler added the new system would also promote a tax-friendly environment and ensure a sustainable and inclusive economy for all Nigerians.

He said that during the first tenure of the administration, there was an expansion of the tax base from N10 million to 20 million taxpayers with a potential for an increase of up to 45 million before the end of the third quarter of 2019.
The executive chairman said there was a growth in the IGR of states by over 46.11 percent from N800.02 billion in 2016 to N1.16 trillion in 2018.
“For the first time in the history of Nigeria, the Federal Government paid all outstanding PAYE tax liabilities owed by the Federal MDAs from 2002.to 2016 totalling about N135 billing to various state governments.
“We hope that this gesture will encourage state governments to also promptly remit all withholding taxes and VAT due to the federation account.

“In the Tax Administration Section of the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Nigeria moved up positively by 25 points during the period and it is expected that the country would further move up the ranking by the time of review for 2019 is published,” Fowler said.
Chairmen of Boards of Internal Revenue from the 36 states of the federation attended the event.
The highlight of the event was the issuance of a tax certificate to the Vice President.

- PM NEWS