Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Wednesday 10th June 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 10/06/20
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NDDC Scandal: Nwaoboshi To Drag Buhari’s Aide, Onochie, To Court Over Provocative Comments
Senator Peter Nwaoboshi has threatened to drag Mrs Lauretta Onochie, Senior Special Assistant on New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, to court for alleged defamation of character over social media comments on him.
In a letter of litigation written to Mrs Onochie on Tuesday in Abuja by solicitors to Nwaoboshi, she was given 48 hours to retract all her demeaning comments against the lawmaker as regards contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission or face litigation immediately.
Onochie had referred to Nwaoboshi as a thief while accusing him of embezzling funds by collecting contracts from the NDDC with 11 different companies without executing them.
Onochie said, “I was at an event in his home town when he spoke in our Anioma language, declaring himself a thief. I am an Ada Anioma. I was raised in Anioma land. We do not take what belongs to others, let alone pride ourselves in being thieves.
“But we elected him to be our representative. Didn’t we. In 2023, he would be our deputy governor had President Buhari not ordered a Forensic Audit to clean up the NDDC.
“All those talks about Lauretta Onochie is not dishing out cash is because I’m not a thief. You should be proud of me. I am proud of me.
“All those talks about Peter Nwaoboshi being a nice man for stealing your billions and giving you a pittance, the chicken has come home to roost.”
Nwaoboshi’s solicitors in the letter dated 9th June, 2020 and addressed to Onochie, chronicled all her alleged disparaging comments against the lawmaker, demanding a retraction and apology within 48-hours.
Nwaoboshi claimed that if she failed to retract the comments, legal actions would be instituted against her.
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EXPOSED: How Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Akpabio, NDDC Interim Management Committee Fraudulently Paid Over N600m For ‘Media Support’ To Cover Corrupt Activities
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“Consequent upon your unsubstantiated allegations against our client, he demands that you publish/post a retraction on all your social media platforms and tender an unreserved apology to him within forty eight hours from the day of delivery of this letter.
“Take note that if you fail to comply with the demands as stated above, we have our client’s instructions to take legal action against you without further recourse to you.
“A stitch in time saves nine,” Nwaoboshi solicitors said.
Nwaoboshi claimed that the comments by Onochie was meant to ridicule his image before Nigerians.
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INEC Confirms Direct Primary For Edo APC, Indirect For PDP
The Independent National Electoral Commission has confirmed that the All Progressives Congress in Edo will select its candidate for the September governorship election through direct primary.
INEC in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Festus Okoye, on Tuesday, said the APC leadership had indicated that direct primary will hold on June 22.
The statement further said that the Peoples Democratic Party opted for indirect primary, which will be from June 19 to June 20.
INEC said only 15 of the 18 political parties participating in the September 19 election have indicated interest in conducting primaries.
It urged the parties to conduct the primaries in line with provisions of the 1999 constitution and its policy on conducting elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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E2%80%94reps-tell Restrict Movement Of Herdsmen From Other African Countries Into Nigeria To Stop Attack On Farmers —Reps Tell President Buhari
The House of Representatives has asked the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to impose movement restrictions on herdsmen from other African countries to stop attacks on Nigerian farmers.Attacks by armed Fulani herdsmen continue to occur in farming communities all over Nigeria, leading to deaths, destruction and massive displacement.At plenary on Tuesday, Ndidi Elumelu (PDP-Delta) raised a motion to end the migration of herdsmen into Nigeria since it had been cited consistently by security agencies as the reason for attacks on indigent farmers.
He said, “The violent conflicts between the nomadic herders from neighbouring countries and local farmers is escalating by the day to more states of the federation, and if left unchecked will further threaten the security and stability of the nation.“The clashes are becoming potentially as dangerous as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.“Yet to date, response to the crisis at both the federal and state levels have been very poor and ineffective.“It has become necessary to lend a voice to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State that a stop be put to the movement of herdsmen from other African countries to Nigeria.“This is so as to curb the rate of crimes and conflicts associated with their movements across Nigeria.”The motion was unanimously adopted by the House.
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Angry Katsina Youths Set Ablaze Buhari, APC Billboards Over Rising Insecurity, Incessant Killings
A violent protest erupted today at Yantumaki, Katsina over rising insecurity and incessant killings.
Rampaging youths burnt APC billboards and flags in the area.
Protesters in the video could be heard chanting ‘ba ma yi APC’ meaning ‘we reject APC.’
Yantumaki is a town in Danmusa LGA where a district head was killed weeks ago as a recent attack claimed lives of a couple of people with many left injured.
Video of APC Billboards Burnt As Violent Erupt At Yantumaki Over Rising Insecurity, Killings In Katsina
APC Billboards Burnt As Violent Erupt At Yantumaki Over Rising Insecurity, Killings In Katsina
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COVID-19: Slash Workers Salaries, Senator Ali Ndume Tells Nigerian Government, Urges Citizens To Make ‘Sacrifice’
Ali Ndume, lawmaker representing Borno South in the Nigerian Senate, has asked the Nigerian Government to cut workers salaries in order to cope with economic loses from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nigerian senators are some of the highest paid in the world, earning about N13.5m as allowance alone in addition to monthly salaries of more than $2,000. The National minimum wage is however, pegged at N30,000, an amount many states of the Federation have found difficult to pay.
Ndume made the comment in an interview with Channels TV.
He said since workers had been grounded due to the Coronavirus pandemic, there was no need for pay.
He said, “Government should critically look at the personnel and recurrent expenditure which consumes about 70 per cent of the budget. Money should be pumped into capital.
“People should make sacrifices. This is the time to look at issues critically. But as I said, When I talk like this – and make my opinion – people look at it and call me all sorts of names. But I try to express myself.
“I think there should be more sacrifice, especially on the personnel side. How can you sustain the same personnel and overhead costs when even the work that you are doing… most people don’t go to the office now, and they are being paid fully for the month.
“Is there any justification for that? If you cannot work because of the pandemic, then you should be given palliatives and be paid less.”
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COVID-19: Kaduna State Government Lifts Lockdown, Reopens Worship Centers, Businesses
Kaduna State Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai
Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State, has lifted the partial lockdown in the state put in place to curb the spread of Coronavirus.The governor made the announcement in a television broadcast on Monday.He said, “From tomorrow, Wednesday, 10 June 2020, the Quarantine Order is amended to permit a significant reopening of the state. The restriction of intra-state movement is lifted, subject to a night-time curfew of 8pm to 5am.
Kaduna State Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai
“Subject to compliance with safe reopening protocols, businesses can reopen, with the provision of thermometers for temperature checks, sanitizers or hand washing equipment and physical distancing measures within all facilities. Working hours will be from 9am to 3pm daily.“Church services are allowed only on Sundays and Mosques are allowed to conduct only Friday Jumat services, for the time being, subject to compliance with the safety stipulations in the guidelines.“Supermarkets and providers of personal services such as hairdressing and barbing salons can reopen; hotels can fully open, but with their restaurants and bars offering only room service. Restaurants may all reopen after decontamination, but are still restricted to takeaways.”
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Does The Law Allow Government To Negotiate With Bandits? Adegboruwa, Monday Ubani Share Legal Perspectives
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, and Ex-Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Monday Ubani, in interviews with SaharaReporters share their view on recent peace deal made by Katsina and Zamfara states with bandits who have continued to terrorize the region.
Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa
Criminal law is within the concurrent legislative list of the constitution, which means that when it comes to matters relating to crime, both the federal and state government have the jurisdiction to determine the issues relating to crime.
If there are offences committed against federal laws, the federal government will prosecute. If it is an offence against state laws, the state government will prosecute. In that regard, it would depend on the nature of the criminality in the respective state.
The Administration of Criminal Justice Acts allows parties to explore the possibility of plea bargains and discussions towards resolving issues between themselves.
When the matter has graduated to the extent of communal violence leading to the death of unarmed civilians, terrorism, levying war against the people, I think that every governor should be wary of negotiating with bandits so you don’t end up empowering them even before the so-called negotiations.
So, in this regards, concerning what has happened in Katsina State, where amnesty was declared for bandits and they were paid huge sums of money in Zamfara, only to empower them to wage more dangerous war against the people, that should send a signal that the state is appearing weak against criminals and bandits and that should not be the case.
The government has the instrumentality of war and power, the armed forces, navy, police, army, and even the regular forces such as NSCDC.
I support that the government should pursue peace but they should not be made to look like they are negotiating on a weak platform as the experience so far has not produced any meaningful result. All the negotiations made with Boko Haram had backfired in the sense that all the money paid to them has ended up empowering them more than before.
I support, generally, negotiations but with people who have a genuine desire for peace unlike what is happening now.
In the Niger Delta, when amnesty was introduced, people laid their arms and forsook blowing down pipelines and we don’t have any experience of pipeline vandalism thereafter for a long time. Those were the kind of negotiations that people prefer. On the side of the bandits so far, they have reneged all the agreements they have with the government. So, I don’t think it’s proper to continue to pursue bandits that make the government look like it’s a weak party.
Monday Ubani
A bandit is a criminal and do people negotiate with criminals? You negotiate with people of course due to some factors that are not within your knowledge.
It is the circumstance and the position that you are that will either determine whether you want to negotiate or you don’t want to. If you are in a position of strength, of course, there is no way you will negotiate with a criminal but if you are in the position of weakness, you try to negotiate. Nations negotiate when they are in a position of weakness and they know that collateral damage would be done to the citizens.
But ordinarily, a criminal is a criminal, agreeing with him in his crime means you are supporting what he is doing. Negotiating with a criminal is relative and it depends on which position you are. If you are in the position of strength, you should inflict collateral damage on the criminal.
The state and the federal government should know their relative strength with regards to the bandits. If these bandits (in Zamfara and Katsina) have not kept to their promise, it is up to them and the people who elected them should hold them accountable whether they have done well in negotiating and continuing to re-negotiate.
The constitution gives the government the primary responsibility of catering for the welfare and security of the people and that includes local, state and federal government. The federal government should be able to deploy all the forces there to protect lives and property.
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How Dissolved O’dua Investment Company Board Allegedly Ran Organisation Dry For Seven Years
Following the dissolution of the Board of Directors of Odu’a Investment Company Limited, SaharaReporters has uncovered myriads of corrupt activities perpetrated within the investment.
The board was dissolved in April 2020 at a virtual meeting of South-West governors.
Governor of Ondo State and Chairman, South-West Governor’s Forum, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, announced the dissolution of the board.
Akeredolu didn’t disclose issues that led to the dissolution of the board.
However, investigations by SaharaReporters revealed that financial misappropriation and internal rancour, especially among the board directors forced the South-West governors to take the decision.
It was gathered that the investment had no record of any dividend payment to shareholders between 2007 and 2013, leaving the financial record of the investment at a loss.
Within seven years, the investment’s profit was either low or a loss while administrative expenses, overdraft, finance cost and unpaid gratuity were high.
At the centre of the financial scandal were Engineer Sola Akinwumi, the immediate past Chairman of OICL; Chief (Dr) Isaac Akintade, a former Chairman of OICL from 2013 to 2017, as well as the former Group Managing Director of the Odu’a Investment Company Limited, Mr Adebayo Jimoh.
The trio was indicted in many financial misappropriations that included the diversion of the investment’s fund for personal use.
They were also accused of poor handling of the investment, which led to running aground of the different companies owned by the Odua Investment.
“Odua Net, a telecommunication company, was granted a licence to run and was on the verge of being listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange but was run aground by the mismanagement of the board in connivance with Mr Jimoh.
“The investment also owned Wema Bank but was surreptitiously sold out to become a public liability company. Another company poorly managed is the Airport Hotel, Ikeja. The shabby state of the hotel has made it become an old glory.
“The board directors along with their friends visit the hotel to live an extravagant life without paying for items consumed,” a source told SaharaReporters.
Documents of internal audit obtained from one of the sources linked to the state governors, revealed the extent of corrupt activities in the investment.
The audit shows an increase in the Profit Before Tax from N378m and N495m in 2013 to N849m and N1.061b in 2018 for the holding company and the group respectively.
It was also gathered that N292m was paid as a dividend in 2019 with a total of N1.208b paid between 2015 and 2019. This is in direct contrast to the zero Naira paid between 2008 and 2014.
Recall that in November 2011, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission probed the GMD, Mr Jimoh, and four other management staff of the company over alleged misappropriation of N10.3m belonging to the company.
The ICPC was allegedly influenced to abandon the investigation and also free Jimoh of all charges.
Sources said the owner state governors have yet to decide on whether to commence legal actions against the previous board’s chairman, directors and previous GMDs. Meanwhile, a new board has been inaugurated to further drive the investment in its current height.
The board is headed by Dr Lawrence Olusegun Aina (Osun) as the Chairman.
While Mr Segun Olujobi (Ekiti), Dr Tola Kasali (Lagos), Otunba Bimbo Ashiru (Ogun), Chief Segun Ojo (Ondo), Seeni Adio Esq SAN (Oyo) as members of the board.
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Churches, Mosques Should Remain Closed As Social Distancing Can’t Be Enforced -Kemi Olunloyo
Nigerian journalist, Kemi Olunloyo, in an exclusive interview with SaharaTV, shared her views on the COVID-19 pandemic, rape issue in Nigeria, and police brutality movements currently going on around the world.
Video of Churches, Mosques Should Remain Closed As Social Distancing Can't Be Enforced – Kemi Olunloyo
Churches, Mosques Should Remain Closed As Social Distancing Can’t Be Enforced – Kemi Olunloyo
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REVEALED: How Nigerian Presidency, Office Of National Security Adviser, Others Got More Money Than Appropriated In 2016, 2018
President Muhammadu Buhari
The Nigerian Government paid the office of the National Security Adviser, the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Interior and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources N60.37bn more than it allocated to them in the 2016 and 2018 fiscal years.
This is 124 per cent more than the appropriation given to the MDA’s within the period.
Civic Media Lab discovered that the Ministry of Interior benefited more from the largesse, collecting N33.24bn from the pot of extra cash.
ONSA was over N10bn distant in second, with an added cash to spend of N20.44bn, the presidency was an estimated N15bn behind with a spending top-up of N5.80bn, while the Ministry of Water Resources was boosted with N462.67m.
On May 6, 2016, and June 20 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari passed a law ordering that ONSA be given a capital budget of N78.74bn, the presidency be allocated N50.78bn and Water Resources Ministry be granted N46.08bn.
Presidency
In the 2018 financial year, the President asked that the Federal Ministry of Interior be credited with N75.09bn to meet its developmental plans.
Data collected from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and sighted in the Budget Implementation Report published by the Budget Office, said as at May 5, 2017, and June 19 2019, ONSA had been credited with N99.18bn, the presidency was given an aggregate sum of N56.55bn and water resources was awarded N46.54bn.
The biggest beneficiary, the Ministry of Interior, had N108.34bn doled out to it.
2016 Record
The President approved the sum of N32.08bn for the office of the National Security adviser, which houses the spending of the DSS, the National Intelligence Agency and several other security apparatus.
At the end of the spending cycle, N33.21bn had been released into the coffers of the office.
This is N1.13bn or 103.5 per cent more than what the president approved.
The agencies in ONSA were able to spend all of the money approved, meaning the funds were released to them in time and no change was left over.
In the same budgeting cycle, the presidency was authorised to draw down on N23.04bn.
When the year had run its course, N27.94bn or 121 per cent of approved funds had been sent to all agencies in this parastatal.
It was not fortunate enough to spend all of it though. N2.13bn had to be returned to the revenue account because it was only able to spend N25.13bn, which is 109.2 per cent more than it should have been able to spend.
Within this year as well, the ministry of water resources was backed by law to spend N46.08bn.
When the year reached May 5 2017, the ministry had been given N46.54bn, N462.67m or 101 per cent more than it was meant to disburse.
In contrast to these agencies which were able to spend leisurely, key ministries like transport, power, works and housing; science and technology, health, education, etc, had to make varying degrees of cuts to their developmental plans for the year.
The Federal capital Authority was given less than half of the money it was supposed to develop Abuja with.
2018 record
2017 was a fair game for everyone. The Federal Government was too cash-trapped to give any MDA all it promised.
In 2018 though, the favoured siblings, ONSA and the presidency were given more than their allotted share of the country’s sparse development funds.
The Federal Ministry of Interior was more favoured than the other two, however.
In the appropriation act which was signed in June, DSS and its sister agencies were promised N46.66bn.
The executive graciously overextended itself to keep its word, giving ONSA N65.96bn, 141.4 per cent more than it vowed it would give.
The money was also released timely enough to ensure only N18,495 was returned.
ONSA had an extra N19.30bn to spend, when the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing had less than 50 per cent of its capital funds available.
In this year, the President’s parastatal was allocated N27.80bn.
Being the domain of the seat of power, it was given an extra N825.27m more.
Unfortunately, funds were not released early enough, making the department spend N20.56bn of the N28.560bn it received.
The presidency was mandated to return N7.22bn into the federation account.
The biggest winner, the Ministry of Interior, was assigned N75.09bn by the President during this budgeting calendar.
The large ministry was nonetheless credited with N108.34bn or 44.23 per cent more than it should have been given.
The timing of the disbursement to the parastatal meant it was not able to spend all of the additional N33.24bn sent to it. N14.87bn was returned to the consolidated revenue fund because the agencies in the ministry shared N93.47bn.
The Interior Ministry had leftover returns, while the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment received less than N50bn from an allocation of N81bn.
What is the explanation?
Former Head of Research at BudgIt, Samuel Atiku, said the extra funds came from the service-wide vote, an envelope of over N1trn housed in the then Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
“The budget is divided into two,” he explained. “There are ones that are going directly into the Ministries Departments and Agencies. Then there is what you call service-wide vote and capital supplementation.”
“For budgeting reasons, they do not tell you the MDA that will be responsible for spending money under capital supplementation or service-wide vote. During implementation, MDA’s will typically report funds that were appropriated under service wide vote or capital supplementation as if it was normal budgetary allocation.”
IN 2016, the appropriation plan of the budget and National Planning Ministry showed that N402.54bn of capital funding was embedded in the service-wide vote, out of a total package of N1.14trn.
Many of the line items listed as capital projects in the SWV, were MDA specific.
N4bn was awarded for capital development of the National Institute of Legal Studies.
Another N1bn was given for the National Assembly clinic. Yet, the National Assembly has its budget, which is a statutory transfer.
N2bn was given for the financing of the implementation of Nigeria’s nuclear power programme, money which could have been simply slotted into the budget of the National Atomic Energy Commission in the Presidency or the nuclear regulatory agency in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Another N3bn was given to the Global Alliance For Vaccine Initiative; it could have been put in the health ministry and a N1bn matching grant for the safe school initiative programme that could have been part of the Education Ministry’s appropriation was also placed here.
Since both ministries did not receive full appropriation in 2016, it is a point of investigation to know if these monies were released.
As Atiku explained, the SWV is filled with projects that have unknown implementing agencies.
“It clearly shows that there is a difference between the Nigerian budgeting process that we run and the accounting process that we run as well,” Mr Atiku said.
This disparity was made more glaring in the 2018 budget. N55.15bn was budgeted as provision for the implementation of the National Health care Act, under the capital projects of the SWV.
The Health Ministry spent 53bn in this budgeting calendar. It was allocated N86.50bn but N63.42bn was released.
An officer from the Budget Office affirmed what Samuel Atiku said but could not give any specifics on how funds in the SWV are disbursed.
The officer said, “Some aspects of the service-wide vote are specific for certain agencies but there are some that are for general purpose.”
Carving out line items that are MDA specific in their intent, appears to be aimed at making the government’s spending plan opaque.
Provision for the payment of electricity charges is made in the spending plan of each agent.
Yet there is a lump sum of money for this same purpose in the 2018 SWV, giving an observer the impression that monies may be released for this intent in two different subheads.
The annual N100bn for constituency projects, which are scattered across many MDA’s, is also part of the SWV’s capital envelope.
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