Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Thursday 25th June 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 25/06/20
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Police Disperse Shiite With Teargas, Water Canon In Abuja During Protest
Anti-riot policemen on Wednesday in Abuja dispersed members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria popularly known as Shiites with teargas and water canon during a protest.
The Shiite members were protesting the continued incarceration of their leader, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, at Berger roundabout when armed policemen emerged and fired teargas canisters at them.
The peaceful protest, which began from Utako area, paralysed traffic and commercial activities along the axis, leaving passersby scampering for safety.
Spokesperson for the IMN, Abdullahi Musa, said the movement would not be deterred in the demand for justice irrespective of the intimidation by the police.
He said, “It is high time the Buhari regime understood that their brutality cannot stop us, it only gives us more courage on what we are doing.
“Most of us are hoping to be killed in this cause, so killing cannot stop the daily free-Zakzaky protest taking place in Abuja.”
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EXCLUSIVE: APC Leader, Bola Tinubu’s Presidential Ambition Crumbles, Unable To Visit Aso Villa As President Buhari Recognises Victor Giadom As Party’s Acting National Chairman
Bola Tinubu
Former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ambition to become Nigeria’s President has practically crashed to the ground after President Muhammadu Buhari rejected former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, to support Victor Giadom as Acting National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, SaharaReporters can confidently report.
Tinubu, a two-term governor of Lagos State, had been courting President Buhari and the cabal — a group of power brokers at the Aso Rock Villa led by late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari — with the hope of clinging the APC Presidential ticket come 2023.
Tinubu had strategically imposed his loyalist, Oshiomhole, a former labour movement leader in Nigeria, as APC Chairman hoping that he will pave the way for him to obtain the APC ticket for the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu had also convinced himself that by surrendering his loyalty to President Buhari and the cabal he would be able to curry the favour of the Northern parts of Nigeria for his presidential ambition.
Bola Tinubu
However, Tinubu’s hope of becoming the President was absolutely dashed on Wednesday as Buhari rejected the Tinubu-Oshiomole political structure in the APC.
In a derisive statement issued via Twitter on Wednesday, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Buhari, Mallam Garba Shehu, said, “The President has received very convincing advice on the position of the law as far as the situation in the party is concerned and has determined that the law was on the side of Victor Giadom as Acting National Chairman.
“Because he will always act in accordance with the law, the President will be attending the virtual meeting Giadom called for tomorrow afternoon.
“We urge the media to stop promoting manufactured controversies and to not give any further room for mischievous interpretations of the law on this matter.
“In addition to the President, the Giadom meeting will, hopefully, be attended by our governors and leaders of the National Assembly.”
SaharaReporters exclusively gathered that on Tuesday, Tinubu made frantic efforts to visit President Buhari at the Aso Villa without luck.
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BREAKING: Buhari Backs Giadom As Acting APC National Chairman, To Attend Thursday NEC Meeting
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Sources said Tinubu called the President on phone through the President’s Personal Secretary, Yusuf ‘Tunde’ Sabiu, in order to book an appointment to see the President.
A source claimed that a jet was revving at the Lagos airport to convey the “National Leader” to Abuja at the time.
However, Yusuf did not allow the telephone conversation between Buhari and Tinubu to happen, making it impossible for the former Lagos State governor to travel to Abuja to see the President.
The root of the divide within the APC is about the party’s choice of candidate for the 2023 presidential election.
SaharaReporters sources revealed that Plateau State governor, Simon Lalung, Governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State as well as Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, all belong to a common bloc that has sworn to embarrass and ridicule Tinubu’s presidential ambition and bury it permanently.
These politicians have teamed up with the Northern elite, who are close allies of President Buhari such as Mamman Daura, the APC Deputy National Chairman North, Lawal Shuaibu, Yobe governor, Mai Mala Buni, former Minister of External Affairs, Baba Gana Kinigbe, Isa Funtua and Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, Gombe governor, just to mention a few.
Also, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State is opposed to Tinubu’s emergence as the APC presidential candidate.
Sources say the political attack on Tinubu is aimed to first strip him of his national influence, after which his political influence would also be decimated in Lagos State, his perceived stronghold in a fashion similar to Senator Bukola Saraki’s dethronement in Kwara known by the name “Otoge”, which in Yoruba simply means “Enough is Enough”.
Unfortunately, only a few people like Lagos State governor, Jide Sanwoolu, Tinubu’s cousin, Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State, and Senator Omo Agege still support him.
Tinubu had decisively battled anybody opposed to his presidential ambition or, who shows interest in the 2023 presidency.
Recently, Rauf Aregbesola, a close ally of Tinubu and a minister in the Buhari regime, lost favour with Tinubu after information filtered that Aregbosola could contest the 2023 presidential election as a Vice Presidential candidate to an unnamed politician.
Tinubu immediately disbanded Aregbesola’s groups in Lagos State, boasting that the former Osun governor was his boy and that the Lagos structure remains undivided.
Tinubu and Oshiomhole had also forced their way through to impose Abiola Ajimobi as Deputy Chairman, South West of APC.
However, Ajmobi has taken ill and remains in a coma at a Lagos hospital.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported how Ajimobi’s health is failing him despite a series of medical treatments applied to save his life.
This development is coming on the heels of the bitter division that is mounting up even in the Lagos APC, Tinubu’s stronghold.
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EXCLUSIVE: Former Oyo Governor Ajimobi’s Health Condition Worsens After Days In Coma, Now On Life Support Machine
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Sources informed SaharaReporters that the deceased Lagos Senator, Adebayo Sikiru Osinowo also known as “Peperrito”, was plunged into severe health challenges, leading to his death because Tinubu turned his back on him, placing more value on Lagos Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa.
SaharaReporters had exclusively done series of investigative reports on the financial scandal of Obasa.
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REVEALED: Lagos Senator, ‘Pepperito’, Died At First Cardiology Hospital, Ex-Oyo Governor, Ajimobi, Reportedly In Critical Condition At Same Facility
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However, Obasa remains a strong ally of Tinubu.
The hope continues to dim by the day for Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
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APC National Secretary, Bulama, Dares President Buhari, Declares Giadom NEC Meeting Illegal
Waziri Bulama
The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Waziri Bulama, has said that a meeting of the National Executive Committee called by Victor Giadom, Deputy National Secretary, was illegal.
This is coming hours after President Muhammadu Buhari backed Giadom as the authentic Acting National Chairman of the APC and promised to attend the meeting scheduled for Aso Rock.
Bulama in a statement on Wednesday urged members of the party to disregard the notice of the NEC meeting because Gaidom was not part of the National Working Committee or an APC member.
The party has been engulfed in a crisis following an order by the Appeal Court affirming the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as APC National Chairman.
Waziri Bulama
The statement by Bulama reads, “We are constrained to once again react to a purported invitation to a National Executive Committee meeting of our great party; the All Progressives Congress issued by one Victor Giadom who until the last general elections in 2019 held the position of Deputy National Secretary of the party.
“Our esteem members are advised to disregard this invitation because the author and sole signatory of the said invitation is not member of the National Working Committee of our party talk more of being an Acting National Chairman as claimed.”He had voluntarily resigned in compliance with Article 31(1)(i) of our constitution to contest the position of deputy governor in Rivers State during the last general elections and has not been re-nominated by his zone to return to that office.
“Further, his non-membership of the NWC has been affirmed by the courts and an order restraining him from parading himself as a member of the NWC was granted against him on June 22, 2020 in the case of Dele Moses & Anor V APC (SUIT NO: PHC/360/2020) where the court said inter alia:
“That an order of interim injunction be and is hereby made restraining the 1st, 2nd 4th and 5th refendants, acting by themselves or through auy of their officers, agents, or privies from recognizing or regarding the 3rd defendant/respondent as the National Chairman or Acting National Chairman or Deputy National Secretary of the 1st defendant/respondent or member of the National Working Committee of the 1st defendant/respondent pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice”.
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BREAKING: Buhari Backs Giadom As Acting APC National Chairman, To Attend Thursday NEC Meeting
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“He has also been suspended by the Rivers State chapter of our party and the NWC received communication of same on June 21, 2020.
“More instructive is the fact that the said invitation copiously references the NEC meeting he illegally sought to convene on March 17, 2020 with a view to resurrecting same to hold on June 25, 2020. Regrettably, this proposed NEC meeting is also infected by the same bug that render the former void which is Article 25 (B) of our constitution which provides: “Our leader, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is renowned for insisting on compliance with our constitution and rule of law. It can therefore not be true that Mr President supports the convening of such an illegal NEC by a non-member of APC’s NWC. We urge all to disregard the said Notice as neither the NWC nor the NEC has called for such meeting.”
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Terrorism Of The Libido! By Ozodinukwe Okenwa
SOC Okenwa
Rape is a moral crime in every decent society. Raping any woman is morally repugnant and no reason can ever be adduced to atone for the crime. Rape ought to be treated seriously by the law given its psychological trauma on the victims. Rapists ought to be treated like murderers, armed robbers or terrorists. Worse of all, when a girl or a lady is not only raped but hacked to death (sometimes with her genitals ‘stolen’ in cold blood) then the crime assumes an alarming frightening dimension.
In Nigeria strange things happen on a daily basis. And sometimes it is so chilling that the state of the union itself is called into question. It is not surprising these days reading online or hearing about marabouts or fetish priests caught with human heads or parts dripping with blood! Or Pastors being accused of violating their female church members. Or politicians playing Dangote by establishing phoney companies to which they award juicy contracts and whose bank accounts they use to abuse power and swindle the electorate.
Few months ago the Kogi State Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdumumini Danga, was accused of battering and raping a beauty queen Elizabeth Oyeniyi. Today we are still awaiting justice on the matter. And while we are on it Commissioner Danga is still walking free with little or no expression of remorse.
SOC Okenwa
Not too long ago a flamboyant new-generation Pastor of the COZA Ministry in Abuja, Biodun Fatoyinbo, was sensationally accused by Busola Dakolo, a professional photographer married to popular musician Timi Dakolo of sexual violation when she was just 18! The matter was not resolved satisfactorily judicially. Fatoyinbo has since returned to the pulpit preaching the good news to the faithful!
In Kano the local police authorities had recently arrested a 32-year-old serial rapist, Muhammad Alfa, in Kwanar Dangora. The man confessed to having raped more than 40 females in a year — including girls, married women, as well as an 80-year-old grandma! And three armed men allegedly gang-raped a 17-year-old street hawker at the Oja-Oba Market, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
Recently in Benin City, Edo State (a notorious mid-western state with international reputation of pimping business) Miss Uwaila Vera Omozuwa, a student of the University of Benin was brutally attacked inside the Redeemed Christian Church of God where she was mercilessly raped and killed! Recently too a teenager, Barakat Bello, who was undertaking the National Diploma programme in Science Laboratory Technology was attacked at her home in the Akinyele area of Ibadan and violently raped and stabbed to death!
These two gruesome sexual terrorism had reignited national outrage against rape and rapists. Nigeria is degenerating fast before our very eyes and implosion is inevitable with the dreadful trend. One doubts if there is any redemptive work that can be done to pull the giant back from the brink.
Behold, we are no longer facing a common faceless enemies in terrorism but another brand of libidinal terrorism. While Boko Haram are still very much alive and well terrorising our compatriots up north, challenging the Nigerian military frontally and sowing sorrow and destruction another non-military front seems to have been opened: unarmed mad men letting their heads overrule their primal instincts are on the prowl using their libidos as tools to terrorize young girls on the streets and even in places of worship!
Apart from becoming the poverty capital of the world displacing India to take the ‘trophy’ the most populous country in Africa has apparently ‘toppled’ South Africa as the raping capital of the continent. Instead of copying great nations of the world going to the moon, manufacturing supersonic jets and nuclear weapons we always emulate the ignoble, the vile.
As the revered Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Church had said recently while cursing the rapists that snuffed life out of Uwa there is no punishment too hard or strong for culprits of rape. We are of the opinion that harsh legal mechanisms be put in place to dissuade and punish severely the animals using their filthy libido to assault innocent girls sometimes mutilating them and leaving their parents in a state of desolation.
Like kidnapping and terrorism the governments at all levels must activate judicial procedures to deal with this national menace. Coming to legal terms with the criminal trend must be seen generally as a call of duty.
Yet, considered deeply the crime of rape and ritual killings in our decadent society speaks to our collective conscience and interrogates our moral values and ethics. Why would a sane mortal not only violate a girl but cut off vital parts of her body? The cruelty deserves death sentence!
Ritual killing for purposes of power or riches has become a constant feature of our depraved national life. The get-rich-quick syndrome could be a compelling factor or reason for the commission of the heinous crime. We live dangerously as money becomes a new ‘god’ worth worshipping.
Besides, the inordinate quest for power constitutes another worrying factor. Politicians go to any lenght to aqcquire power leading to unfettered access to resources of the state. And once they find themselves in positions of power and authority they play god fiddling with the funds that could go towards improving the living conditions of the people if properly expended and accounted for.
With Abubakar Shekau still mysteriously at large hitting harder and harder and recording resounding success with piles of body-bags left for our soldiers to bury in mass graves and the billionaire abductor Evans cornered and caged examples must be made of rapists and ritual killers in our midst.
Let us conclude unequivocally, therefore, by saying that the libidinal terrorism of our generation must be tamed forthwith. And now is the time!
SOC Okenwasoco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr
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Ozodinukwe Okenwa
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Delta Trade Union Accuses PDP Chairman Of Murder, Seeks Justice Over Harassment Of Members
Ogbueshi Dada Okonji
Members of the Sand Dealers Multi-purpose Co-operative Society Ltd have accused the Peoples Democratic Party Chairman of Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State, Mr Ogbueshi Dada Okonji, and his associates, Mr Victor Nnalue and Mr Dumnebi Eluaka of terrorising them.
They claimed the PDP chieftain influenced the Delta State Police Commissioner, Mr Hafiz Inuwa, to order police officers to randomly arrest and terrorise members of the trade society.
The trade association revealed that while four members of the trade society were allegedly shot to death on the orders of Okonji, nine of them were jailed for seven years before they were discharged of all allegations by the court.
They also revealed that two of their members were arrested in 2011 and have yet to be arraigned in court even as they complained that their whereabouts have been unknown.
Ogbueshi Dada Okonji
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The traders also accused the police of conniving with the PDP Chieftain to flagrantly disobey a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court.
They said, “Mr Ogbueshi Dada Okonji, his cohorts and their tribesmen have attempted to kill our leader Mr Mbadiwe Ossai (alias Jah Dave).
“They said they will never allow an Isoko man to own or do any business in the beaches in Asaba, despite the Federal High Court judgment.
“While at the federal prison Ogwashi-uku in 2011 to 2018, Mr Ogbueshi Dada Okonji sold our leader’s landed properties to his friends with the aid of police, then came mocking and boasting to our leader that we will rot in prison.
“They boasted that the Governor of Delta State, Mr Ifeanyi Okowa, was aware of our detention and in support of their atrocities, that’s why our bail was rejected. After spending seven years and three months in prison, nine of us were discharged and acquitted of the four counts on November 28, 2018 by Hon Justice M. O Omovie of High Court 5 Asaba. We won all the cases but all the judgement and court orders granted in our favour, have not been stayed, appealed against or set aside by any Appeal Court in Nigeria, so they remain valid and subsisting till date.
“Mr Ogbueshi Dada Okonji and his cohorts shot to death four of our members – Mr Jerome Abi, Mr Kelechi Nmaku, Mr Austin Duru and Mr Chukwuma Emordi Okolotu – and also inflicted severe injuries on our leader, Mr Mbadiwe Ossai, and many of our members in 2011.
“Two of our members– Mr Louis Opiah & Mr Emma Lisa– were arrested by A.C.P Chike Nwabuwa and a team of the Police force Headquarters Abuja since 2011 but have not been seen either dead or alive till date.
“Our leader, his family and our members now live in exile – in Nigeria.
“We are pleading with all men and women of God, human rights groups, Delta State Government and the Federal Government to come to our aid and restore the dignity of rule of law which have been rubbished by the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr Hafiz M. Inuwa.
“We urge the Inspector General of Police to give us justice in this matter by personally directing the Delta State Commissioner of police to obey the court orders and his directives.
“We also want the police to bring to book Mr Ogbueshi Dada Okonj, Mr Victor Nnalue, Mr Dumnebi Eluaka and to avoid anarchy that’s looming.”
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Oyo Shut Offices After Three Cabinet Members Test Positive For COVID-19
Three members of Oyo State Executive Council have tested positive for COVID-19.
Governor Seyi Makinde broke the news in a tweet on Wednesday.
Makinde, who advised residents of the state to take preventive measures against the disease, reiterated that COVID-19 was still in the state.
He said, “Today, we received COVID-19 confirmation tests for all members of the Oyo State Executive Council. Sadly, three tests came back positive and two were inconclusive, so they will need to be retested.
“The EXCO members have been contacted and contact tracing has begun. Also, their offices have been closed and will be decontaminated.”
The EXCO members have been contacted and contact tracing has begun. Also, their offices have been closed and will be decontaminated.— Seyi Makinde (@seyiamakinde) June 24, 2020
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Sabiu Yusuf’s Fat Bank Accounts That Shocked CBN Governor By Farooq A. Kperogi
Someone told me CBN governor Godwin Emefiele was so alarmed by the hundreds of billions of naira that Sabiu “Tunde” Yusuf has in his name in personal bank accounts that he advised Sabiu to mask some of the bank accounts and to divvy up the amounts in them to save his neck in a post-Buhari dispensation.
Sabiu reportedly said the billions in his accounts are “gifts” from people. But why didn’t he get such “gifts” when he was a recharge card seller? Accepting “gifts” for favors done while occupying a privileged government position (he’s Buhari’s Private Secretary and de facto Chief of Staff) is against the law.
Aisha Buhari, who is herself neck-deep in unimaginable corruption, has commissioned people to take photos of Sabiu’s multi-billion naira properties all over Nigeria. You may soon start seeing them on social media.
The stench bomb of fetid corruption that will explode after Buhari leaves office would be so unprecedentedly malodorous it would deaden Nigeria’s collective nasal sensibility for a long time.
Buhari is Aware of Sabiu’s Fat Bank Accounts
After I published the above update on how CBN governor Emefiele was so alarmed by the unusually large sums Sabiu “Tunde” Yusuf has salted away in his name in many bank accounts, an insider sent the following to me:
“Re: Your post about Sabiu & Emefiele. Buhari himself was alarmed & when he confronted Sabiu about the source of the money, he made the same ‘gift’ claim. Buhari ordered the money be returned to the treasury but
Mamman Daura reportedly intervened (although I haven’t been able to confirm the authenticity of that part). Buhari, as usual, could only grumble.”
Buhari does his own stealing by proxy, which makes it impossible for anyone to trace anything to him. That was the evidence that came out from the probe of PTF.
He was probably only aghast that Sabiu is too stupid to have that much money squirreled away in bank accounts in his name, not that he has stolen that much money.
Sabiu’s friends tell me he has up to one TRILLION naira in CASH in various bank accounts in his own name, properties worth billions in many parts of Nigeria, and up to N7 billion worth of shares in AA Rano Oil.
Apart from his own primitive acquisitiveness, he is also probably fronting for someone. I suspect that he is fronting for Mamman Daura since Mamman Daura allegedly overruled Buhari’s instruction for Sabiu to return the money he has in his bank accounts to the national treasury.
Remember that Sabiu’s mother, the late Hajia Halima (more popularly known as “Hajja Madam” in Daura) is Mamman Daura’s full blood sister. Hajia Halima and Mamman Daura are Buhari’s niece and nephew respectively.
When the curtain closes on the Buhari regime, I can guarantee you that it will go in the records as the most corrupt regime in Nigeria’s entire history. This is no hyperbole.
There is no greater enabler of corruption than the knowledge that there is no consequence for it. There is zero fear of consequence for stealing in Buhari’s regime. That is why everyone who can, is stealing to his or her heart’s content. What passes for governance in this regime is a raucous stealing bazaar
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Nigeria’s Vice President, Osinbajo, Postpones National Economic Council Meeting As APC Holds NEC On Thursday
Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has postponed a virtual meeting of the National Economic Council earlier scheduled for Thursday.
The NEC, chaired by the Vice President, has all state governors and a few relevant ministers as members.
This is coming a few hours after President Muhammadu Buhari announced that he would attend the National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress, which Victor Giadom fixed for Thursday.
The Permanent Secretary/Secretary, NEC, Olusola Idowu, announced the postponement in a memo tagged “radio message” dated June 24, 2020 and addressed to all state governors.
The message was titled: Notice of postponement of the 105th (5th in 2020) meeting of the National Economic Council.
“Chairman of council, His Excellency, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), GCON, has directed that the NEC virtual meeting earlier scheduled for Thursday, June 25, 2020 has been postponed,” the message read.
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Deeper Life Church Representative Accused Of Conniving With Police To Kidnap Land Owner
Pastor Kumuyi
The Deeper Christian Life Ministry has been accused of illegally acquiring a parcel of land in Ogun State.
Mr Franklyn Osezua, who has been representing the church, was accused of conniving with some police officers to threaten, intimidate, arrest and maliciously prosecute the people of Maba Town under Obafemi Local Government Area of Ogun State, who claim to be the legitimate owners of the land.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, in a statement, said the church suddenly started laying claim to the vast parcel of land measuring about 31.599 acres.
The statement partly reads, “In furtherance to their strong-arm tactics to intimidate the owners of the land and forcefully take over their land, representatives of the Deeper Life Ministry have also been accused of a failed attempt to kidnap key members of the Ogunbolu family and this crime was reported to the police, leading to arrest of the culprits but the investigation was scuttled.
Pastor Kumuyi
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“RULAAC is particularly concerned about the unethical role of the police officers involved in aiding land grabbing by a Christian organisation and intimidating the rightful owners of the land in disregard to court orders re-affirming the ownership of the land and restraining the police from further harassing the Ogunbolu family, the legitimate owners of the land.”
The RULAAC Executive Director stated that the ownership of the land was affirmed by the judgment of the High Court of Abeokuta delivered by Hon. Justice A. Rotimi Balogun dated February 11, 2019.
He also said that the local chief of Maba Town (Baale of Maba Town), Chief Jimoh Akinrinola, was attacked and attempted to be kidnapped all in a bid to forcefully take over the land.
The statement added, “Sometime in 2019, some representatives of the Incorporated Trustees of Deeper Christian Life Ministry headed by one Mr Franklyn Osezua, with the aid of one Supol Taofeek Tijani of Zonal Monitoring Unit (ZMU) of Zone 2 headquarter, Onikan, Lagos State, invaded the entire land with thugs armed with dangerous weapons.
“Mr Franklyn Osezua has since then continued to use some officers of the Nigerian Police Force, especially DSP Funmi Eguaoje, Inspector Archibue Moses, Inspector Alabi Babatunde, Sergeant Martins Gimba of Area 10, FCT Abuja, and Taofeek Tijani of Zonal Monitoring Unit (ZMU) of Zone 2 headquarter Onikan Lagos State to threaten, intimidate, arrest and maliciously prosecute them over their parcels of land which they inherited from their forefathers who are the first settlers and owners of Maba town of Obafemi Owale Local Government Area of Ogun State. They put up signs on the land camouflaging as the Nigeria Legion to scare the owners from accessing their land.
“When the Deeper Life Ministry discovered that their plans to take over the land had failed, they then wrote a false and malicious petition against members of the Ogunbolu family to the Force CID Area 10 FCT ,which is the office of DSP Funmi Eghuaje, to help them use her office to intimidate and force the Ogunbolu family to give up their land and to maliciously prosecute them in court.
“With the prodding of DSP Funmi Eghuaje, the representatives of the Deeper Life Ministry led by Mr Franklyn Osezua wrote another frivolous petition against the Ogunbolu family to the property section of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“Consequently, aged members of the Ogunbolu family were arrested again by officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and detained for over one week, before they were eventually released by a court order which restrained both the Nigerian Police Force and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from further harassing the Ogunbolu family.
“However, DSP Funmi Eghaje has refused to obey the court order owing to the huge sums of money being regularly given to her by the representatives of the Incorporated Trustees of Deeper Christian Life Ministry led by Mr Frankly Osezua to pervert justice.”
Nwanguma noted that DSP Eghaje and the officers acting under her instruction charged the Ogunbolu family to the Abeokuta High Court in Charge NO: AB/15C/2020 based on the false petition by representatives of the Deeper Life Ministry, which was not investigated.
He said it was not only an act of brazen lawlessness but also unprofessional for an officer, who is no longer in a matter and, who did not investigate a matter to charge people to court one year after based on a petition that was not investigated.
He urged the Inspector-General of Police to recall the case and assign it to a neutral and honest team for proper and thorough investigation to ensure the prosecution of all erring persons accordingly.
He also demanded that the Police Service Commission investigate the unprofessional conduct of DSP Funmi Eghaje and the other officers acting under her instruction in respect of the malicious charges against the Ogunbolu family.
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COVID-19 Donations: Activist Raises The Alarm As Accountant-General Fails To Publish Spending Report
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, has failed to keep his promise to release daily COVID-19 expenditure.
A check on the Open Treasury portal where the AGF’s office vowed to publish inflows and outflows from COVID-19 donations showed that only one report was released on May 6, one day after the guidelines were published.
Idris appended his signature to a framework for all departments to adopt in reporting their cash requests, the number of monies released and the total spent.
Civic Media Lab observed that the May report detailed inflows of over N697m in donations as of April 30 but recorded no outflows.
The framework, which was designed to ‘bridge the trust gap’ between the federal government and citizens, has been breached by the failure of Mr Idris’s office to meet some of its directives.
In the transparency section of the framework, the Accountant-General said, “The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation shall publish a daily treasury statement for COVID-19 Fund outlining all the inflows into the Fund and all the outflows. The inflow information shall indicate the source of the funds while the outflow information shall indicate the MDA responsible for each payment out of the Fund.”
At the time of writing this piece, only one report published on May 6, was available on the Open Treasury website.
The Accountant-General committed to publishing the daily COVID-19 spending plans on the ‘Open Treasury Portal (www.opentreasury.gov.ng) not later than one week’ following any transaction made from the funds.
The guidelines published by the accountant-general added, “Also, each MDA shall publish a detailed report of its activities relating to COVID-19 fund on its website at the end of every week.”
CML did not find any expenditure details on the websites of the ministry of health or the NCDC.
Aside from the daily reports, the accountant-General said, “The Monthly Budget Performance Report for the COVID-19 Fund shall be published on the Open Treasury Portal not later than 14 days following the end of the month.” Ten days after, such a report has yet to be uploaded on the site.
The Office of the AGF, which is under the Ministry of Finance, said any department that failed to publish “timely report of COVID-19 activities in the prescribed format and at the stipulated intervals or to respond to FOI request would constitute early warning signs of mismanagement and shall be deemed as a contravention of this guideline.”
Convener of the Human Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Olarenwaju Suraju, said the Accountant-General might have contravened his guidelines. Suraju said the COVID-19 donations framework would have helped Nigerians track not only outflows but which of the companies and individuals that made promises are fulfilling them.
He noted that the entities which made pledges did so, expecting that their tax obligations would be reduced at the end of the year.
“Part of the directive from the Accountant-General says MDAs that fail to release their reports within the specified period or respond to FoI requests from the public, are indicating that there is something to hide,” Suraju said. “It is almost clear if nothing has been published since May till now, there are things to hide, not only by the MDAs but by the office of the Accountant-General also.”
He said the federal government must follow up with companies that made COVID-19 pledges since they would most likely deduct such promises from their tax portfolio at the year’s end.
“Many of the companies have not delivered on their promises. Quite a number of them have used that public attention and some of them have either reneged or have yet to meet their promises. Many of those promises are not free, quite a number of them are using tax reliefs to cover up for the donations,” he said.
MDAs in Nigeria have a history of poor accounting and auditing. This antecedence is reflected in the non-availability of the country’s 2018 audit report in 2020.
In the 2016 audit report, the Auditor-General said 160 MDAs failed to submit their books. With no law compelling them to do so, the number increased to 265 in 2017.
The Auditor-General of the Federation, Anthony Ayine, said the accounts of agencies that decide to turn in their cash flow, were riddled with discrepancies. It is this precedence that made civil society advocates pass the COVID-19 framework as another ‘empty promise’ made in response to public pressure.
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