HOPELESS REGIME !! CBN accuses 20 #EndSARS campaigners of terrorism

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria was granted permission to freeze the accounts of 20 #EndSARS campaigners after linking the funds in their account to “suspected” terrorism activities.

This is according to a written address in support of a motion ex parte filed by the Central Bank of Nigeria before Justice A. R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

However, in the case with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1384/2020, the CBN made no mention of the fact that the 20 accounts were owned by persons involved in the #EndSARS protests.

The written address read in part, “My lord, the nature of the transactions undertaken through the defendants’ accounts are of suspected terrorism financing in contravention of Section 13(1)(a)and(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention)(Amendment) Act, 2013 and Regulation 31(2)(a)and (3)(b) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism Regulations, 2013.”

In a supporting affidavit deposed to by one Aondowase Jacob on behalf of the CBN, it was stated that the Head of the Economic Intelligence Unit of the Governor’s Department, CBN, Joseph Omayuku, had conducted an investigation on the accounts of the defendants and other individuals and entities held with certain banks in Nigeria.

According to the affidavit, the investigation showed that the owners of the accounts may have been involved in terrorist activities.

It added, “There is a grave allegation that the defendants are involved in suspected terrorism financing via their bank accounts in contravention of the provisions of extant laws and regulations. The aforesaid transactions undertaken by the defendants, using their bank accounts, can cause significant economic and security harm to the public and the Federal Republic of Nigeria if left unchecked.

“The applicant (CBN governor) is thus desirous to have the court empower him to direct the freezing of the 20 accounts listed on the annexure to this application and all other bank accounts held by the defendants.

“A freezing order of this honourable court in respect of the defendants’ accounts would also enable the investigation of the activities of the defendants to a logical conclusion with a view to reporting same to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.”

The apex bank said unless the order was granted, it would not be able to ensure that the money remained intact, while investigations were ongoing.

The 20 accounts frozen by the CBN are domiciled in Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Fidelity Bank, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank.

The accounts were said to have been flagged after they received money with the narration #EndSARS.

One of the #Endsars campaigners, Bassey Israel, a pharmacist, who was in charge of the #EndSARS medical team in Port Harcourt, had earlier stated that his account with Access Bank marked 003397XXXX had remained frozen since October 15.

Bassey said he learned of the development when he visited the bank to find out the reason for it.

Israel said he was informed by a bank officer that the directive came from the apex bank.

He said, “I am in charge of End SARS medical team in Port Harcourt and we had people donating for medical supplies, food, water, ambulance services, and these donations were made directly into my account and of course these donations had End SARS descriptions so I think that was how they were able to flag my account. I noticed that on October 15, I was trying to make a debit transaction on my account and noticed that there was a restriction.

“So, I called the bank and I was told that there was indeed a restriction but I should go to any branch near me and when I did so, the branch manager sent a mail to the branch where I opened the account. The response to the mail was that there was a directive from the CBN to restrict the account.

“The lady was surprised and even asked me if I had any issue with the CBN and I responded that if I had any issue with the CBN, I wouldn’t be in the bank in the first place, I would be on the run. I asked what could be done and she gave me no answer. She had to show me the mail on her computer which I read. It was directly from the CBN and it read, ‘Place this account on PND.”

Another #EndSARS protester who spoke on condition of anonymity said she had also been informed by her bank that her account has been placed on ‘Post No Debit’.

- PM NEWS

‘They raided people on the streets’ — entrepreneur narrates experience with EFCC operatives in Ogun

 

Adediran Rotimi, a young entrepreneur, says operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested him because he was found with a laptop and smartphones.

Rotimi runs a cyber café business in Ogun state near the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

On October 14, the graphic designer was arrested alongside eight other people by some EFCC operatives.

Speaking with TheCable on Tuesday, Rotimi said the operatives arrested him after they had “broken” into some houses in the compound he resides in.

According to him, while he was being conveyed to an office of the anti-graft agency, other people were picked up on the streets by the EFCC officials.

“On that particular day, I was in my room sleeping. It was about past 4am in the morning on the 14th of October, 2020, when I heard people jumping the fence into our compound,” Rotimi said.

“I didn’t want to open the door for them because my door will be the next place they would come to. They broke into the first room, forced their way in. There were only ladies there; one guy was there with them and they picked him up. They broke into the other rooms and even entered the ceiling. At gunpoint, they were arresting people.

“They broke my room last. Before I could open the door for them, they broke it. I saw the jacket on them and saw that they were from EFCC and I was like ‘Okay, fine. They are law enforcement and I don’t have anything incriminating on me.’

“They said I should lie down and they asked for my laptop and phone. I provided my laptop and three phones — one iPhone, one android phone, and one small Nokia phone. Once I gave them the laptop and phone, they said ‘stand up, let’s go.’

“Their mode of operation is not different from SARS. They were actually raiding people on the streets. One particular guy was actually going on the road and because he had a smartphone, he was slapped and asked to enter their bus.”

Rotimi said on getting to the EFCC office, their pictures were taken before any form of investigation began.

“They handed me over to an investigative officer and they started checking my phone and laptop. They collected all my passwords to emails, phones. They even printed my bank account statements. They were searching for almost five hours. After they found nothing on it, they took my gadgets to their ICT,” he said.

“The ICT man did not see anything on it and I was returned to the investigative officer, I was thinking that I would be allowed to go but a ‘suspect’ file was opened for me and I was asked to write a statement.

“I wrote the statement and they gave me a bail condition. The conditions were outrageous. I have to get a lawyer with two sureties; the two sureties must have landed property in Ibadan and must be taxpayers. That day, I couldn’t do anything. They kept me in their cell for more than 48 hours. I was able to meet up with the bail on Friday.”

‘NO MORE MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD’

A traumatised Rotimi said he has not been able to work because his gadgets are still at the EFCC office.

The entrepreneur said when he went to request for his laptop and phones, he was still questioned on being a fraudster.

“They keep asking me to come back and sign papers. On Friday, one of the officers asked if I’m into cybercrime. I said ‘no, that I’m into business.’ He asked if my business is registered. I told him that my business name is registered and it is reserved under CAC, but my company isn’t registered. He said it is a criminal offence and I could be arrested for that,” he said.

“I can’t work because my gadgets are still with them. I help students type their projects. Now, they can’t access their work.

“My people rallied around to pay the bail. What prompted my story is because they are holding onto my devices. They keep asking me to come back and sign papers. On Friday, one of the officers asked if I’m into cybercrime. I said ‘no, that I’m into business.’ He asked if my business is registered, I told him that my business name is registered and it is reserved under CAC but my company isn’t registered. He said it is a criminal offence and I could be arrested for that.

“I can’t work because my gadgets are still with them. I help students type their projects, now they can’t access their work. My people rallied around to pay the bail.”

Tony Orilade, EFCC spokesman, is yet to comment on the incident.

Rotimi’s story comes weeks after Nigerians took to the streets to demonstrate against police harassment and brutality.

For 12 days in October, youth across the country held protests to call for reform of the Nigeria police force under the #EndSARS campaign.

- THECABLE

CORRUPTION EXHIBITION !! Dasukigate: Witness tells court how Jonathan’s ex-NSA, Dasuki hired clerics with N2.2bn

 

The first prosecution witness in the trial of Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser, NSA, to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Adariko Michael, has disclosed that the sum of N2.2 billion was used from the Office of Dasuki to pray against Boko Haram.

Michael, an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission investigating officer, revealed that the sum was used to hire clerics in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia who prayed for Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram insurgency.

The investigator gave the testimony during the trial of Dasuki over the alleged two billion dollars arms deal fraud, NAN reports.

Dasuki was charged before Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court on a 32 counts-charge bordering on misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, dishonesty.

However, the EFCC’s operative while led in evidence by the anti-graft agancy’s counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, said: “Between September 27, 2013, and April 16, 2015, N50 million was credited to Reliance Referral Hospital’s account.

“Based on responses from the banks involved, as an investigating officer, we found out that money was transferred to several individuals and companies.

“When we went through the account statement, we asked the second defendant (Aminu Babakusa) the reason for this.

“He informed us that the money was used to hire clerics to pray for the nation as regards the Boko Haram crisis.

“When we asked him to provide the names, contacts and phone numbers of the clerics he hired to pray for the nation, he mentioned only two,” he said.

After listening to the testimony, the judge adjourned the matter till November 11 for continuation.

- DAILY POST

POST-ELECTION CAMPAIGN !! Nigeria will achieve food security under my watch – Buhari

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to ensure Nigeria achieve food security under his administration.

The president stated this in Abuja on Tuesday when he inaugurated the National Young Farmers Scheme designed by the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) to elicit more youth interest in farming.

He urged agencies involved in agriculture to include youth in driving modern methods of farming.

He assured all those interested that an enabling environment would be created for full participation.

According to him, agriculture remains the backbone of the Nigerian economy, being the largest contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“We will do more to expand, modernise and revolutionise our agriculture, which is our most important asset.

“I have directed that all NALDA’s abandoned farm estates be retrieved to enable thousands of our young men and women to be engaged in farming.

“This administration will be achieving agricultural mechanization through this scheme and I am confident that Nigeria, under my watch, will achieve food security by producing most of what we eat.

“In good harvest years, we may even export our surpluses and earn foreign exchange,’’ he added.

Buhari expressed the hope that the resuscitation of NALDA would make Nigeria food sufficient and, in a few years, begin to earn more revenue from export of agricultural commodities.

“By virtue of my passion and desire for agriculture and also as a farmer myself, I am directly supervising NALDA as an authority under the Presidency.

“I am asking the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and state governments to give full cooperation to NALDA in its activities.

“With the success of Anchor Borrowers programme spearheaded by the Central Bank of Nigeria and new programmes to revive cotton, palm products and cocoa, the next few years will see a vast difference in our agricultural performance.’’

The president said that all the necessary approvals that NALDA required for effective take-off, beginning with areas of adequate land preparation for crop farming and livestock rearing, had been given.

He, therefore, charged the Executive Secretary/CEO of NALDA and his team to continue to live up to expectations and increase their activities in local communities.

“I am told that, so far, 4,333 families have benefited from this scheme and it is expected that many more individuals and families will benefit as the programme is rolled out.

“I now flag off the National Young Farmers’ Scheme. It is my expectation that the scheme will take in young Nigerians, graduates and non-graduates alike, and be part of government’s effort to reduce unemployment and contribute to the regeneration of agriculture and our economy.’’

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, commended the president for his steadfastness in repositioning the agricultural sector since coming to office, opining that the country had already felt the impact of the policies of the administration.

He said there was a need to encourage agricultural agencies, like NALDA, to work closely with the research institutions in Nigerian universities.

The Executive Secretary/CEO of NALDA, Mr Paul Ikonne, said the discovery of oil in the country hampered the growth of agriculture and increased poverty in rural communities.

He assured the president that the concerted effort to revive interest in farming would tackle poverty and create wealth.

Ikonne said the resuscitation of NALDA, after close to 20 years of abandonment, would go a long way in reducing unemployment in the country, especially among the youth.

“Our focus is to engage 1,000 farmers from each of the 774 Local Government Areas, thereby creating 774,000, direct employment annually,’’ he added.

Goodwill messages were given by a representative of the Young Farmers, Fatima Usman Musa and Denmark Ambassador to Nigeria, Amb. Jesper Kamp.

Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi and Mai Mala Buni of Yobe also participated in the event.

- PM NEWS

Ministry of health: 50m Nigerians at risk of river blindness

 

Michael Igbe, the programme manager of the National Onchocerciasis Elimination Programme at the ministry of health, estimates that 50 million Nigerians are at risk of getting infected with onchocerciasis, also called river blindness.

NAN reports that Igbe was speaking at a media dialogue organised by the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the ministry of information and culture, in collaboration with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in Ibadan.

The manager, who spoke on ‘Overview on Onchocerciasis Elimination in Nigeria’, said: “Treatment with ivermectin started in 1989, and in 1997, the community-directed treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) strategy was adopted as the main strategy of programme implementation”.

“At inception, Nigeria had interventions covering 32 states and the federal capital territory (FCT). Now, 27 states and the FCT, with about 50 million persons in Nigeria are at risk of onchocerciasis.”

Igbe explained that the disease was caused by the nematode, Onchocerca volvulus, which is the second leading cause of preventable blindness.

According to him, onchocerciasis is transmitted by the bite of an infected black fly: Simulium damnosum and other species, breeding in fast-flowing streams and rivers.

He noted that “people become blind early in life as from 20-30 years”.

Igbe said the major challenge encountered in addressing the disease is insecurity in some local government areas.

Others, he said, are poor funding by government and inadequate logistics for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) programme.

He noted that NTDs are viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases that mainly affect the world’s poorest people.

- THECABLE

Nnamdi Kanu not Igbo, family roots traced to Cameroon

 

An Igbo group has asked Nigerians not to take statements credited to the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, seriously as he is from Cameroon and does not speak for Igbo people.

The group, which calls itself The Industrious People of Eastern Nigeria,IPEN was reacting to a statement credited to the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.

Wike wondered why Igbo people allowed criminals to speak on their behalf.

IPEN now stated that its members will no longer allow a man whose genealogy has been traced to Southern Cameroon to continuously cause disaffection between them and other ethnic nationalities.

In a statement distributed by Mediashop Naija, the group claimed that Nnamdi Kanu’s grandfather settled in Rivers state and later Afara Ukwu in Abia state in 1909.

The group claimed Kanu’s grandfather moved to Abia when he was ostracised from Mankon village in the Southern Cameroonian City of Bamenda.

It claimed Kanu’s grandfather Okwu Kanou was ostracized due to issues relating to mental illness.

P.M.News was not able to verify this story, but doubts its authenticity as Kanu’s father, Eze Israel Okwu Kanu, was, until his death last year, the traditional ruler of Isiama Afara, a community in Umuahia, Abia State.

But IPEN expanded its claim: “His settlement in both places explains why activities of the proscribed group is prevalent in Rivers and Abia states respectively”, IPEN claimed in a statement by its South-East coordinator, Nwabueze Okoye.

According to the group: “The character and traits exhibited so far by the IPOB leader in the quest for his Biafra, clearly shows that he is not Igbo.”

Read the full statement by IPEN

“The systematic infestation of the south eastern region with Nnamdi Kanu’s victim mentality is worrisome and has to be checked.

“Igbo people are not cowards neither are we timid. We are naturally daring. The igbo man does not run away from problems rather he is constantly in search of solutions.

“We do not run away from challenges, we compete and naturally dominate.

“Nnamdi Kanu wants Biafra simply because he lacks the mental, physical and emotional capacity required to succeed in a competitive society as ours.

“This personal lack of self-confidence and feeling of powerlessness which Nnamdi Kanu has systematically tried to pass on to our youths is un-igbo like and must be stopped.

“After the civil war, the Igbo man was left with nothing. Our abandoned properties in other parts of the country were taken over by people who never worked hard for it.

“We had to build our region from the scratch and today we have the biggest and most thriving economy among other ethnic groups in Nigeria.

“We have dominated trade and commerce in Nigeria and beyond. Neither Nnamdi Kanu nor his lineage has contributed to the economic growth of the igbo people.

“The Igbo man who has lived all his life doing business in Maiduguri did not tell you he wants to return. Neither did the one that owns fuel stations and other properties in Damaturu tell you he is not comfortable.

“But Nnamdi Kanu wants them to abandon their sweat and return to the East where he expects to Lord it over them.

“He has no verifiable business or source of income anywhere in the world but want to create problems for those with businesses in Lagos.

“The South-East remains the most developed among all regions in the country not because of Government presence but as a result of the industrious nature of the true Igbo man.

“Nigeria has its peculiar challenges, obstacles and limitations like can be found in many other societies.

‘But the igbo man has made it a habit to break these barriers and succeed everywhere we find ourselves.

‘Igbo people have excelled in all spheres of human endeavor in all parts of the world.

‘We have captains of Industries, sports men and women, people in the entertainment industries, academics of Igbo extraction that have left indelible footprints in the sands of time all over the world.

‘How do you imagine a tribe that produced the great Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Sam Mbakwe, the novelist and author of “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe, Philip Emeagwali, Prof Chuba Okadigbo, the former Secretary General of the Common Wealth, Emeka Anyaoku, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Late Prof. Dora Akunyili and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala among others would have an Nnamdi Kanu as its spokesperson?

“Nnamdi Kanu has not even achieved what the likes of Christian Chukwu, Chioma Ajunwa, Kanu Nwankwo, Mikel Obi, Peter and Paul of Psquare, Flavour and Phyno achieved in the world of sports and entertainment to put him in a pedestal to speak for Ndi igbo

“All these people to mention but a few excelled within and outside the same Nigeria that Nnamdi Kanu could not.

“According to the group, “Nnamdi Kanu does not possess the necessary qualifications required to speak and cannot be said to be speaking for Ndi Igbo.

“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu does not speak for ndi Igbo and he does not control igbo as a tribe

“The group blamed the leadership vacuum created by greedy politicians in the South-East as the reason Kanu roamed the region unchecked.

“The group concluded by saying, that their primary objective was to fill up that vacuum and re-awaken the “can do” spirit of the Igbo man to enable the people take their pride of place in the Nigerian body-polity.”

- DAILY POST

2023: I will become President like Joe Biden – Pastor Tunde Bakare

 Pastor Tunde Bakare, the General Overseer of the Citadel Global Church, has expressed hope of becoming Nigeria’s President.

Bakare said just as Joe Biden emerged as the United States, US, President-Elect, he would also become president.

The clergyman, who has never hidden his aspiration to become president, disclosed this in an interview with journalists, on Tuesday in Lagos State.

Speaking with a group of journalists in Lagos, Bakare said in clear terms that he will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari come 2023.

According to Bakare: “There is something called destiny. I am not one to hide under the umbrella of one finger and make ambition look like vision, I do not camouflage.

“It is not a matter of life and death, but you can write it down. As the Lord lives, and as I am given the opportunity, the day will come, like Joe Biden, that I will be the President of Nigeria.”

- DAILY POST