Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Friday 5th November 2021
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 05/11/21
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EXCLUSIVE: Nigeria’s 60-year-old Accountant-General Idris Set To Wed 16-year-old Girl As Fourth Wife On Friday
Ahmed Idris
The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, has finalised plans to tie the nuptial knot with a 16-year-old Kano State girl, identified as Hussain on Friday (tomorrow), SaharaReporters has learnt.
A source told SaharaReporters that the event is set to take place at 274 Daurawa, Maiduguri Road in Kano.
Ahmed Idris
The source added that the marriage between the underage girl and the Accountant General may likely be consummated before Juma’at prayers on Friday.
“The Accountant General is planning to marry the underage girl on Friday at House D24, Dabah Homes Estate, opposite Tulsi Chanrai Eye Hospital, Oladipo Diya Street, Kukwaba”At No. 274 Daurawa Maiduguri Road, Kano at the office named Bagudu Kebbi Nigeria Limited. It is adjacent to Tarauni Market Junction.
“You will notice that things and preparation are taking place and I’m suspecting the marriage might hold before Juma’at Prayer or after. They may decide to beat people’s intelligence. His marriage will be consummated tomorrow.”
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Family Kicks As Accountant-General, Idris Secretly Marries 16-year-old Girl As Fourth Wife
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SaharaReporters had last month reported how the family members of the young girl kicked against her marriage to the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The family accused Idris of luring the teenager with millions of naira.
A source told SaharaReporters that Hussain’s family had kicked against the wedding but Idris insisted on marrying her despite being 44 years older than the underage girl.
Idris will turn 61 on November 25, 2021.
“This is our late sister’s daughter by name Hussain; she’s just 16, not long that she clocked 16 years old but it’s very unfortunate that a lady called Amina was the one that linked or brought the Accountant-General to our house in order to seek her hand in marriage.
“This, she did, knowing that this is a very young girl, what does that mean? It shows the Accountant General is just after that small girl to take advantage of her youthful age.
“Immediately I heard, I messaged him because when I was working with the then Head of Service, I had the opportunity of having his contact when we met over a serious matter about the country. So I messaged him on WhatsApp regarding his wedding; I sent him my picture, that of my son, my late sister and the daughter, Hussain. He replied that it’s a small world which confirmed the wedding was true,” a top family source had confided in SaharaReporters.
The family source added that the Accountant-General had bribed some media organisations they contacted for help and their request to expose his atrocities was, therefore, turned down.
“He went as far as bribing this girl with gold of over N200 million, iPhones, buying cars for her, giving her millions of naira – all to buy her attention. He started meeting different people that he wanted to know the girl’s family; he married the girl, just like that.
“There was no investigation just because he is the Accountant General of the Federation. Why are things happening in this country like this? He even told the girl to go and look for any house of her choice in Abuja, that he is ready to purchase it for her.
“He is spending the government money and every media house we go to report him, he pays them not to air or report the story. Please help us for justice to be done. This girl is just sixteen years old,” the source had added.
SaharaReporters had in a series of detailed investigations exposed how Idris acquired several properties whose value run into many billions of naira since he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as the administrative head of the treasury in June 2015.
A visit to Gezawa Commodity Market Limited and Gezawa Integrated Farms Limited owned by Idris lend credence to the allegations made by concerned citizens and some stakeholders on how and where the AGF got the money he used in acquiring the multi-billion naira firms, both in Kano through his direct family members.
The shareholdings of both firms indicate a spread of Idris family members on the official board.
There have also been questions asked about how the AGF bought ‘Sokoto Hotel’ in Kano with N500 million cash.
SaharaReporters gathered that Idris upon acquiring the hotel, ordered its immediate demolition to build a multi-billion naira shopping mall on the property.
Despite turning 60 in 2020, Idris succeeded in pulling different strings in the Presidency to secure an extension of his appointment beyond the legal limit.
SaharaReporters gathered that he engaged the services of highly placed persons including governors, senators and emirs who prevailed on President Buhari to give him the extension.
The action is however against the civil service rules, which state that a career civil servant must disengage from service either after attaining 60 years of age or having worked for 35 years, whichever comes first.
It was also against a recent circular from the office of the Head of Service to all agencies of the Nigerian Government which says, “For the avoidance of doubt and in order to maintain discipline and integrity of the extant public service rule which prescribed 60 years of age or 35 years of service for mandatory retirement, should strictly be complied with.
“Accordingly, the following guidelines shall apply. (I) that career officers who take up tenured appointments should at the point of taking up the appointment retire from service to ensure they run their term uninterrupted.
“(II) that career officers who have not retired from service before the commencement of their tenured appointment must leave office on the attainment of mandatory age/years of service for retirement and (iii) that career officers who are currently holding tenured appointment are required to retire from service with immediate effect and continue to run their term. Failure to do so would mean that they would vacate office on attaining the mandatory age or at the expiration of their term whichever comes first.”
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Socialite, Obi Cubana Released By Anti-graft Agency, EFCC After Three Days
Obi Cubana
Popular socialite and businessman, Obinna Iyiegbu, aka Obi Cubana, has been released.This comes three days after he was detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged money laundering and tax evasion.
Obi Cubana
The Anambra-born club owner was reportedly arrested on Monday afternoon and was granted administrative bail on Tuesday.A source in the EFCC told SaharaReporters that it was routine for any detained suspect in its custody to be granted administrative bail.”It is routine that once anyone is detained beyond a day, we give ‘Administrative Bail’ conditions but he is still with them because he hasn’t met the conditions,” the source said on Tuesday.Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, Cubana was released from the EFCC custody, according to Punch.The Cubana Group Chairman had been taken to the Abuja headquarters of the anti-graft agency on Monday afternoon regarding alleged offences bordering on alleged money laundering and tax fraud.Obi Cubana made headlines in July when he hosted an ostentatious burial for his mother in Oba, Anambra State, in which over 200 cows were reportedly killed.The lavish display of wealth generated controversies with many Nigerians questioning his source of wealth.Several celebrities, business people and politicians turned out in large numbers for the funeral.
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Protesters At National Assembly Demand Probe, Sacking Of Director-General Of Industrial Training Fund
Joseph Ari
Civil society groups on Thursday held a protest at the National Assembly to demand the removal of the Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, Joseph Ari, over what they described as his alleged history of corruption and highhandedness at the government agency.The groups called on the National Assembly to probe the ITF’s appropriation for 2021 as well as deny the agency of funds in 2022 until adequate explanations were given.
Joseph Ari
The civil societies were led by the Concerned Citizens for Change, Accountability and Probity, and the Joint Civil Society Task Force on anti-corruption in Nigeria. The protesters demanded the sack of the ITF’s director, saying this would make good the promises of the government to rid the country of corruption.Speaking for the groups, Ibrahim Jalo, the chairman of the joint task force, said, “We are here to call the attention of Nigerians to the illicit transactions going on at the ITF under the leadership of Joseph Ari as the DG. We are not left in any doubt as to the complicity and flagrant abuse of office by Ari as the DG.“Indeed, the patronage given to companies with the DG’s vested interests in the award of contracts is the greatest disservice to Nigerians. Again, these phantom projects were never executed. Hence the capital votes allocated to ITF remained unutilised; hence our call to the National Assembly is to suspend further budgetary allocations to the fund until the DG resigns or is removed.“If the DG is not called to question, other public officers will follow suit and in all of this, it is Nigerians who will suffer. We have received so far 21 petitions against the DG on his abuse of office.”“We are here at the National Assembly believing that as our representatives, you will not let us down in this fight,” the protesters added.SaharaReporters had on July 21 reported that ITF workers accused the DG of nepotism and marginalisation.It had been reported that Ari was also accused of awarding fraudulent contracts to family members without recourse to procedure and due process as well as illegally promoting female workers without regard for public service rules.Speaking to SaharaReporters, a staff had alleged that the DG had been running the agency like a personal estate.“Nepotism is at its peak in this agency as wrongful employment of Plateau State indigenes is the order of the day. We keep wondering why the President gave him a second term. He has turned the agency to his personal estate. He prefers to promote female workers for hidden reasons without regard for public service rules.“Even his appointment did not follow due process. He ought not to be reappointed in the first place. He was first employed into ITF in 2006 as Deputy Director on a permanent and pensionable basis after retiring as a Permanent Secretary in the Plateau civil service,” one of the workers had said.
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BREAKING: Owner Of Collapsed Lagos Building, Osibona, Discovered Dead, Removed From Rubble
The Chief Executive Officer of Fourscore Homes Limited, Femi Osibona, has been confirmed dead.The body of Osibona, who is the owner of the 21-storey building that collapsed in Ikoyi, was discovered among others during the rescue operation on Thursday.
There have been concerns over the whereabouts of Osibona, Wale Bob-Oseni, his friend, and others trapped in the building.Bob-Oseni, who was to catch a flight to the US, briefly made a detour to see the project at the invitation of the developer but did not walk out alive.On Tuesday, Nifemi, the personal assistant to Osibona, was confirmed dead.A source, who confirmed the development to SaharaReporters, said her corpse was recovered on Tuesday.While nine people were rescued, over 30 have been confirmed dead.On Monday, the building located on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos collapsed with a yet-to-be-ascertained number of persons still trapped beneath the rubble.SaharaReporters earlier reported on Thursday that the death toll at the site had risen to 38.Emergency workers have evacuated nine persons alive from the debris of the fallen building.According to Highbrow Living Magazine, the collapsed property, comprising four-bedroom maisonettes, flats, duplex and penthouses, was 65 per cent sold out.The price range for the apartment is also said to be between $1.2 million and $5 million.The structure was said to be 80 per cent completed and was billed to be concluded in 2022.
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COP26: The Last Chance Saloon Of Our Modern World By Dr Nasir Aminu
Dr Nasir Aminu
This week, about twenty-five thousand people from nearly 200 different countries are attending the 26th annual edition of the Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, a two-week event. The attendees include activists, negotiators, delegates, world leaders – including our own President. The gathering is for taking action on the climate crisis. COP26 was launched just two days after the G20 summit in Rome – where climate crisis was the second most important topic after global recovery. Nigeria was absent at the G-20 summit.
Conventional wisdom says problems that are left unattended have a habit of becoming a crisis. Human activities of heating the globe are evident. Burning fossil fuels for energy, cutting down forests and farming livestock are all avoidable activities. These create many gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and many others, called greenhouse gases. These volumes of greenhouse gases, triggered by humans, are added to those naturally occurring in the atmosphere. As a result, the earth is now 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer compared to the pre-industrial level. Paris Agreement’s goal is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid any catastrophic outcome.
The impacts of climate change are now evident to the world, from wildfires in Greece and Algeria, to flooding in London and Turkey, to drought in Australia and Northern Nigeria. Wildfires start quicker and spread faster, storms are more severe, and flooding is increasing. There is also the crisis of extinction of land and ocean species, rising sea levels, and increased drought. For the developing countries, like Nigeria, these issues lead to increased food shortage, animal migration, health risks, poverty and displacements. In 2020, the 10-highest climate change-induced disasters occurred in some of the poorest parts of the world. It cost over $130 billion, killing thousands and displacing millions. These costs are escalating every year.
Dr Nasir Aminu
Seeing this crisis, old Nietzsche’s profound question comes to mind: is this modern world of ours a rising civilisation or an exhausted one? I will leave the question to answer itself.
Research by scientists from Europe, US and China predict that by 2070 a third of the global surface would be unsuitable for human life as the global temperature rises. The prediction included West and Central Africa, which will force the majority of the people to migrate to a suitable region. It is estimated that about 81% of Nigeria’s population would suffer from these extreme temperatures. Despite our preference not to migrate, the extreme temperature may drive a large percentage of people.
Whenever a wound becomes infected, doctors would advise changing the bandage or risk losing the limb. Today, scientists are warning us that there will be mass extinction unless drastic actions are taken. COP26 is seen as the moment to set aside our differences to launch a substantial agreement that will put the global economy on a sustainable trajectory to save our planet. The Prince of Wales, a five-decade climate change campaigner, calls this period the last chance saloon.
Despite a near-total agreement on the scale and urgency of this crisis, critical issues have to be determined if this conference will succeed. There is cynicism that the COP26 may yield questionable pledges. Those who are being asked for these commitments are politicians, banks, and oil companies. For example, the leaders of China and the CEO of BP only participated via a video link, with the former making superficial pledges. The Russian President is contemplating attendance. The Brazilian government wants to be paid before it stops destroying the Amazon rainforest.
What is being asked of everyone does not go against any religious or any ideological ideals. It is the most humane thing any moral institution could support. In trying to emphasise the gravity of the situation, the Archbishop of Canterbury compared the current actions of politicians with the atrocities brought by the Nazis. The comment created a vibe. In the first 24 hours of COP26, deals were struck to achieve net-zero carbon emission by 2030. Net-zero carbon emission means investing in carbon dioxide removal to compensate for the emissions one creates– following up an evil deed with a good deed. It will mean there will be a little, or no, addition to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which could achieve the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius. Over $19 billion was raised to halt deforestation in the world’s forests, Africa inclusive.
Like many countries, Nigeria committed to ending deforestation by 2030 and achieving a net-zero target by 2060 – 30 years later. Until then, Buhari emphasised, Nigeria will continue to use gas. This fossil fuel accounts for a fifth of the world’s total carbon emissions. Buhari told stories about Lake Chad, drought, deforestation, and pollution. It felt like the 1980’s theme park because there are so many references to what Nigeria was.
COP26 has yet to see Nigeria’s proposal but has seen several funding commitments for developing countries following the presentations of their climate proposal. For example, the Costa Rican government showed how it has been paying farmers to protect forests near their farms. The project won Prince William’s Earthshot prize, which comes with £1 million. The President of Columbia, where tropical forests cover 52% of its land, presented a plan to protect 30% of its territory by 2022. South Africa showcased its $8.5 billion transitioning models from coal to renewable sources, which has become the talk of COP26. Pakistan presented its $10 billion Tree Tsunami reforestation campaign.
As days go by, activists are bracing up to the moment when the delegates and world leaders will be discussing a commitment for the elephant in the room – fossil fuel. Greta Thunberg, the Swedish activist, has petitioned COP26 to immediately end all fossil fuel investments, subsidies, and new projects and stop further exploration and extraction. So far, over 20 countries and financial institutions will halt all financing for fossil fuel development overseas and divert the spending to green energy instead.
The hard fact is that fossil fuel, which emits the highest volume of greenhouse gas globally, still accounts for 80% of global energy. Fossil fuels, together with other industrial processes, contribute 65% of the greenhouse gas emission – which brought us to this place. Nigeria’s financial income will be affected if that happens. But should income be Nigeria’s immediate problem when facing mass extinction? The Climate Crisis is not the petty competition we do with Ghana. Our relative position in the global pecking order must change for the common good.
Of course, some are worried that flowery global talk about climate change may lead to collective action. Some are concerned that COP26 will mean an aggressive push toward the total phase-out of fossil fuels to keep global warming below 1.5 Celsius. Russia, India, and China are among these groups as they prioritise economic growth over a burning planet. It is mind-boggling how these intolerants free-riders take advantage of just institutions as we face mass extinction.
Lastly, it is by no means a foregone conclusion for developing economies to be concerned about the cost of transitioning from fossil fuel to low-carbon options. Affluent nations and private institutions will collectively provide a minimum of $100 billion annually by 2023. The fund will be provided to poorer countries through grants, cheap finance, and loans. Doing so will make them overcome the barrier of high costs as they actively make low-carbon choices.
For Nigeria, getting a financial guarantee will not be difficult, but it must adopt a climate action as fast as scientists tell us the planet is burning.
Dr Nasir Aminu is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
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What Happens In Anambra On Saturday? It Depends By Azu Ishiekwene
Azu Ishiekwene
Just hours before voters in Anambra State decide the next governor, a party not on the ballot is getting serious attention.
The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), the separatist group demanding an independent homeland, has declared there would be no election on Saturday not only to press its separatist demand, but also to demand the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, currently in his 17thweek in detention in Abuja for alleged treason among other charges.
IPOB is not a political party and Kanu, its leader, is not on the ballot. But the leaders of the 18 political parties, especially the four major ones – APGA, APC, PDP and YPP – know that where they stand on Kanu may hinder or promote their chances.
Azu Ishiekwene
As they struggled to extract their feet from their mouths during the televised debate on Monday, you could sense that Charles Soludo (APGA), Andy Uba (APC) and Valentine Ozigbo (PDP), desperately trying to appease IPOB members and their sympathisers. They know that how far they could go may depend on what they say about IPOB.
If they couldn’t win IPOB sympathisers over, they can’t risk making them mad. And to show how much it meant to have IPOB in his corner, for example, Ifeanyi Ubah, the Young Progressives Party (YPP) governorship candidate who couldn’t spell IPOB to save his life, rushed to court for a pass to visit Kanu in DSS custody in Abuja.
In the last three years, the South East has been in a state of war, partly as a result of political banditry by Abuja-based politicians determined to hijack power at all costs.
The scorched-earth politics of this group has sowed discord and raised tensions in the region. Even worse, government’s incompetent handling of the situation has stoked violence, silenced the legitimate demands of moderate groups, and pushed IPOB to a lunatic fringe.
But will that affect Saturday? It depends.
The decision of IPOB sympathisers in the past to abduct school children who defied their sit-at-home orders from examination centres, is an indication of the extent they would go to enforce their insanity.
For its part, the Federal Government has been on a war footing, deploying more policemen and soldiers that could outnumber the ratio of registered to actual voters.
Yet, despite the long shadow of fear and misery, there’s not much that is new about the Anambra governorship election.
Low voter turnout is not new. Even though the state has a population of about 4.5million, the most populated in the South East, with a registered voter population of 2.5million, the highest voter turnout for any governorship election in the last 22 years has been less than 300,000.
In 2017, Willie Obiano, was elected with 234,071 votes; and his predecessor, Peter Obi, who also spent two terms as governor polled 97,833 to win his second term.
A board member of the election monitoring group, YIAGA Africa, Ezenwa Nwagwu, who has been in Awka, the Anambra State capital for about a week, told me on Wednesday that concerns about potential low voter turnout as a result of insecurity were largely media inventions.
“Anambra has historically had very low voter turnout. That has nothing to do with IPOB, which is a relatively new thing,” he said. “No Anambra governor has been elected by slightly more than one-tenth of registered voters in the state. As for those who have been trumpeting insecurity, you should also ask yourself why not one of the 18 political parties in this election has said anything about it throughout their campaign. Not one.”
Nwagwu also added that security could have been a big issue if people needed to travel long distances to vote. “From what I have seen in the last one week,” he said, “INEC has taken polling points closer to short walking distances from people’s homes. That will make it easier for them to exercise their franchise.”
Yet, fears remain that this is not just a governorship election but a referendum on who really controls the South East: IPOB or a cohort of Abuja politicians backed by federal might?
It’s the sort of perfect storm that plays to the advantage of those who will deploy the monopoly of force not to protect citizens or voters, but to produce an outcome they wish to see – one that reinforces their stranglehold – in spite of voters.
The line-up of candidates does not lessen the misery of potential poor voter turnout. Two of the three leading candidates have been here before.
Soludo, who on paper, has an edge over the others, contested in 2011 on the platform of the PDP against former Governor Peter Obi. In Soludo’s Damascus journey, which appears to be the inevitable rite of passage for many Nigerian politicians, he has switched from PDP, his former home, to APGA which he fought against 10 years ago.
At the time, former BOT Chairman of the PDP, Tony Anenih, promised Anambra voters that if they elected Soludo, he would change his name from Anenih to Anene (Igbo name meaning let’s look up to God). Obi won, Anenih kept his name, and Soludo left to fight another day.
He returns to the hustings with strong intellectual credentials and a work history that spans many local and international institutions, notably the Central Bank of Nigeria where he was governor, and a number of international financial institutions including the IMF and the World Bank, where he worked as consultant.
This reputation endears him to the media but in a state famous for its brutal and predatory politics, it remains to be seen how Soludo will translate his solid away credentials to home advantage. Of course, being the outgoing governor’s anointed helps. But we have also seen in a number of states, including Ogun State in 2019, that even the begotten of the incumbent can fail sometimes.
Will the name of Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the father of Biafra nationalism and patron saint of APGA save Soludo the way it has preserved Obiano after Peter Obi’s spectacular fallout with the party? It remains to be seen.
Insiders informed me on Wednesday night that, until the last few weeks, Governor Obiano’s house was divided: the governor wanted Soludo, his wife, the lady famous for her designer vaccines and glasses, apart from her strong political views, made it clear that Chukwuma Ume Umeorji, currently representing Aguata Federal Constituency, was her preferred candidate.
Also, ahead of Saturday’s election, Obiano had a bitter taste of federal might with the loud and conspicuous absence of all federal officials invited for the opening of the state’s airport. That has been interpreted as a warning shot.
Does that dress rehearsal help the other candidates, especially Andy Uba, also tipped as a strong contender and Abuja favourite? More than anything else, what Uba is counting on is not Soludo’s weakness, the division in Obiano’s house or even his airport opening misery.
Andy Uba, the 14-day Anambra governor who was removed by the court because he was illegally installed, is still counting on his huge stock of favours from Abuja earned over years of assiduously cultivating the bedrooms and corridors of power.
That power has worked for him and his siblings. Briefly curtailed when his brother Ugochukwu Uba was called out for bribing a judge for a favourable election result in 2004, that power was in full flair when it was deployed in enabling and protecting Chris Uba who kidnapped Governor Chris Ngige for a ransom.
That power has preserved Andy Uba through his political odyssey, transforming his family into something of a political dynasty despised for good reasons, but hardly ignored.
I’m told that there is something about this odious power factor that fascinates the common folk in Anambra and which Andy Uba could use to energise the grassroots who might regard Soludo as an Igbo man in diaspora.
But Abuja politicians are not a solid block. Ngige, labour minister and the highest-ranking Anambra politician in President Mohammadu Buhari’s APC government, may not have a better opportunity than now to take his revenge on the Uba clan. And he can count on his position in the pecking order of APC to find resources to execute his revenge.
Does that mean that the PDP candidate, Valentine Ozigbo, could reap from the wreckage? It’s improbable. In the last 22 years, PDP ruled Anambra for six years, and APGA for 16.
Although Ozigbo has strong private sector credentials, which should suit Anambra’s temperament of industry and entrepreneurship, his party’s influence in the state has waned over the year, aggressively eroded by internal strife within PDP and the desperation of the ruling party APC to capture the South East at all costs, with Imo as the staging post.
If the main question at election time is whether people think life is better today than it was yesterday, the answer in Anambra will ordinarily be too obvious. But then, it depends. It depends not on the promises made or kept but on whether voters think they matter in holding politicians to account.
Despite Obiano’s initial rancour with his installer and benefactor, Peter Obi, over whether it was N79billion or N9billion that was left in the treasury or whether government business under Obi was window-dressing, the state has made some progress.
In a country where about two-thirds of the states hardly meet their recurrent obligations, progress by governors could mean regular payment of salaries. It could also, shamelessly, mean how much the governor has done for his ancestral home and community, and whether the government has, at least, maintained the record of his predecessor in areas such as school enrollment and access to healthcare.
Anambra elections and hubris go hand in hand, but somehow, the state has managed to find its way. In spite of the odds, I hope it does so this time. Although something tells me it may not be settled at the ballot on Saturday.
Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP
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BREAKING: IPOB Cancels Sit-at-home, Urges Anambra Residents To Vote On Saturday
The Indigenous People of Biafra has cancelled its proposed one week sit-at-home order across the South-East region.The group said the order was called off following consultations with elders, traditional, and religious leaders from the Southeast.
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This was made known in a statement issued on Thursday by the IPOB’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful.The group earlier said the sit-at-home exercise across the southeastern part of Nigeria commencing from the eve of Anambra election will hold.IPOB stated that the only option to avert the sit-at-home is if President Muhammadu Buhari’s government releases Kanu on or before November 4.According to Powerful: “Following the genuine intervention of our elders, esteemed traditional Institutions /Rulers and Religious Leaders, and after a due consideration of the positive impacts of their engagement, and sequel to the fact that Our elders have spoken in our terms, the leadership of IPOB hereby and immediately calls off the one week sit-at-home earlier declared to commence tomorrow, November 5 to November 10, 2021.“We have equally considered several appeals by our mothers who earn their living based on their daily economic activities which will obviously be affected if Biafra land is locked down for one whole week. It’s never our intention to add to the pains of our people, hence our decision to suspend the sit-at-home.“IPOB leadership is only interested in our referendum and peaceful agitation for self-determination, and cannot by under any guise be seen to be interfering with any electoral process.”The separatist group urged people of the Anambra State to come out en masse and vote for candidates of their choice on Saturday.“The people of Anambra State should go out en masse and peacefully exercise their franchise come 6th November 20121 and accordingly, chose a leader of their Choice and should not be intimidated by anybody, group of persons or security agents.“Credible intelligence available to us confirmed that the Nigeria DSS has concluded arrangements to deploy a branch of their trained terrorist group to Anambra State come Saturday to unleash mayhem on our people and attribute the killing to peaceful IPOB members.“Anambrarians should vote and standby to protect their votes. No rigging of any kind will be tolerated on the Anambra State governorship election. It must be transparent, free and fair to all.“We wish to thank Biafrans, IPOB members worldwide, friends of Biafra and lovers of freedom for their continued support for our dogged struggle for independence,” IPOB said.
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South-East Governors Make Fresh Moves To Meet Buhari Over Nnamdi Kanu
The South-East Governors have resolved to soon meet with President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to dialogue over issues surrounding the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.The governors said that the meeting would guarantee that political solutions were deployed in the case of the IPOB leader who is currently in the detention of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Also, the meeting will address the violence in the South-East and the sit-at-home orders issued by different groups of agitators.This was revealed in a press release issued by the South-East Governors’ Forum through its Chairman who also doubled as the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, and made available on Thursday.The governors said, “We are aware of the various illegal orders of sit-at-home by different groups of state agitators for our people of South-East to sit at home every Monday and from 5th to 10th November 2021.“Whereas we have identified some of the spokespersons of some of these groups and we have been engaging them to stop all forms of violence and illegalities in South-East and allow South-East leaders to address all issues raised by them, we are however working with security agencies, our local security and our leaders to protect the lives of our people and to address all issues raised.“We thank Ohaneze Ndigbo for a good job they did through their various committees in raising various solutions towards addressing all issues raised by our young children. South-East Governors are studying their reports with the elders and leaders of the various South-East states and very soon, we will be meeting with Federal Government of Nigeria on these issues including deploying political solutions in the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu which we have already initiated.“We thank our religious leaders, Conference of Bishops and Archbishops of South-East, the traditional institutions of South East and Christian Association of Nigeria of South-East for their interventions and mediations on this matter. We will work with them to achieve the desired result for our people and Nigeria.”
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E2%80%99s-aide-over-use-elevator Power-drunk Lawmaker Orders Arrest Of Deputy Senate President’s Aide Over Use Of Elevator
There was drama at the new building of House of Representatives’ wing of the National Assembly on Thursday in Abuja after a member of the House of Representatives representing Oluyole Local Government Federal Constituency of Oyo State, Tolulope Sadipe, ordered the arrest of Jide Babalola, the media aide to Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy Senate President.SaharaReporters learnt that Sadipe accused Babalola of bumping into her inside the elevator.
It was gathered that about seven people were already in the public elevator including the lawmaker when Babalola joined them from the 3rd floor.Though it could not be ascertained as at time of this report why the lawmaker refused to use the elevator meant for the legislators, it was learnt that the lawmaker became aggressive after Babalola joined the elevator as she accused him of about bumping into her.Akande was said to have shouted at him and insisted to know his name for daring to enter the same elevator with her.When the elevator eventually reached the ground floor, the aide reportedly apologised to the lawmaker.SaharaReporters was told that the enraged lawmaker insisted that she must teach him a lesson of his life and get him arrested despite the apology.At this point, the lawmaker went ahead to call the attention of her colleagues who were accompanying a minister to a budget defence meeting who also pleaded on his behalf.“All efforts to pacify and calm the frayed nerves of the lawmaker were unsuccessful as she flared up, throwing caution to the wind. She ordered the police and Sergeant-At-Arm to arrest the media aide.“Babalola was eventually picked up and accosted by the security operatives to the Crime Unit section of the Nigerian police located at Presidential Gate inside the National Assembly where he was detained for about two hours and asked to write a statement.“It took the intervention of some lawmakers and colleagues who thronged the police station and secured his release with the condition from the police that he must make himself available whenever he was being called upon,” a witness told SaharaReporters.Meanwhile the lawmaker did not answer her phone calls or respond to the text message sent to her when SaharaReporters reached out to get her reaction on the matter.Akande is also the Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora.
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Drama As Court Hurriedly Hears Case Involving Suspended Nigerian Ports Authority Boss, Usman 24 Hours Before Fixed Date
Hadiza Bala Usman
The court hearing regarding the reappointment of the suspended Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman was stalled on Thursday following a discovery that the matter was heard 24 hours before the scheduled date. SaharaReporters gathered that the court had on Wednesday admitted a motion over the case from the defendants’ counsel in the absence of the plaintiff’s counsel which is against legal practices.
Hadiza Bala Usman
President Muhammadu Buhari, in May, approved Usman’s suspension, to allow a probe of allegations of improprieties against her to take place unhindered.The probe is at the instance of the supervising transport ministry, headed by Rotimi Amaechi.At the heart of Usman’s suspension is a Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) contract given out to a Lebanese syndicate by top government officials.Further investigations revealed that the controversial CTN contract was prepared for the Lebanese proxies by Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi alongside the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami to rake in money into their coffers.In March, Elder Asu Beks alongside Tompra Abarowei and Miebi Senhe, filed a suit challenging the powers of President Buhari to prematurely reappoint Hadiza Usman, six clear months before the expiration of her statutory five years tenure. The plaintiffs, among other reliefs, are also urging the Court to declare the composition of the current Board of Nigerian Ports Authority, a nullity as it did not meet the statutory requirements, prescribed by the NPA Act.At the first hearing of the suit on July 5, 2021 and filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by Chief Mike Ozekhome, the Presiding Judge, Justice Tijani Garba Ringim, was informed that the defendants, including the President, Minister of Transportation, Hadiza Usman and Emmanuel Abisoye, NPA Board Chairman, had no counsel representing them, which prompted the case to be adjourned to November 4. Meanwhile, on resumption to court on Thursday, the counsel for the plaintiff learnt that the hearing had taken place 24 hours aforetime. Barr Ejieke Onuoha, representing Chief Mike Ozekhome Chambers said: “I just cannot understand what is going on. We (plaintiffs and counsel) were in court on July 5. The Judge went through his diary and picked November 4 as the date for the next hearing which is today. “But to my surprise, I was informed by Registrar that the matter came up for mention the previous day and even admitted a motion from Barr E. A Ogboji, counsel for Hadiza Usman and Emmanuel Abisoye, withdrawing their representation. We will get to the root cause of what may have transpired.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Buhari’s Minister, Malami Intervenes, To Defend Suspended Nigerian Ports Authority Boss, Hadiza In Court
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SaharaReporters had earlier revealed how the Attorney-General of the Federation, Malami opted to defend Usman in the suit.From documents obtained by SaharaReporters, Emmanuel Ogboji, counsel for Usman and Adesoye, Chairman of NPA Board stated that he had resigned from defending Bala Usman and Adesoye following the intervention of the Attorney General. A source had noted, ”As the hearing of the originating summons resumes at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi on Thursday, President Buhari is opting to defend Hadiza in court. “Also, the AGF has taken over defence of Hadiza and Emmanuel Adesoye. He had asked Hadiza’s lawyer to hands off. “Imagine, President Muhammadu Buhari is opting to defend a public office holder who is on suspension based on alleged corruption charges.”Meanwhile, Ogboji in the document dated August 13, 2021, explained that he had to withdraw from the case considering the status of Malami as the Law Officer of the federation. The document reads, “Take notice that this Honourable court moved to the 3rd of November 2021 at the hour of 9:00 clock in the forenoon or so soon thereafter as counsel may be heard on behalf of the 3rd and 4th defendants for: ”Grant the counsel of the 3rd and 4th Defendant permission to withdraw his appearance and other processes filed in this suit due to the intervention of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.“And for such further or other orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.”Another document dated 13 of August 2021 reads: “Barr. Ogboji A Emmanuel, Male, Christian, a Citizen of Nigeria of No. 30B, Juliana Ibeyem plaza Opebi road, Ikeja, Lagos, do hereby make Oath and state as follows: That I am the above-named person whose passport photograph is attached herein.“That I am the Solicitor representing the 3rd and 4th Defendants in this suit and by virtue of the position, I am conversant with the facts of this case. That Nigerian Ports Authority that instructed me to defend the 3rd and 4th Defendant has informed me that the Attorney General of the Federation has intervened in the suit. “That the Attorney General and Minister of Justice being the Law Officer of the Federation, I have to withdraw from the Suit. That the Defendants will not be prejudiced by this application. I depose to this affidavit in good faith believing same to be true and in accordance with the Oath Act.”SaharaReporters had also reported that top government officials also got President Buhari to buy into their deal, which is under the NPA jurisdiction, to swindle the country and its ailing economy.On March 21, the President announced that he had directed Amaechi to reintroduce the CTN, citing the “increase in banditry across the nation and ideas to beef up security in the country.”Buhari had been cajoled that the CTN contract would play a crucial role in enabling the nation address the growing spate of insecurity around cargo handling, according to top sources.A competent source had said, “Malami and the Senate President are behind the deal. Finally, they awarded it to a Lebanese. It is 100% confirmed because they even wanted us to do the contract. But when we realised they were interested in looting, we backed out.“The Lebanese man will be giving them $300,000 monthly. That was one of the reasons behind Usman’s removal. It was a contract on container tracking. But there is still rivalry in the whole contract; there is the Amaechi camp on one side as well as Malami and Senate President on the other side.”Also, it was gathered that Usman lied to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Malami (SAN), and the Senate about the recommendations of a committee she had set up to investigate the dredging project at the Calabar Port.Usman had reportedly lied that dredging the Calabar Port was not viable whereas the report of the committee indeed proved that work had commenced at Calabar Port and that it was viable, but Usman ignored the report of the committee and insisted that the job must be stopped.Sources privy to the issue said Usman took the position because he wanted the job for her cronies and not a neutral company.Another document obtained by this newspaper showed that the NPA’s budget audit report had uncovered how over N18 billion expenditure could not be explained under Hadiza’s watch between 2016 and 2017.In documents obtained by SaharaReporters, which are from the audit of the Budget Performance Report (BPR) for 2016 and 2017, the NPA is being investigated for “Excessive Increase in Administrative Expenditure and Operational Expenses” in which the NPA incurred questionable expenses to the tune of N18 billion.One of the documents reads, “As part of the exercise, the team performed an analytical review of the administrative and operational expenses incurred by the authority as contained in the Budget Performance Report for the year 2016 and 2017.“It was observed that the total expenditure reported by the Authority increased astronomically by 128% from N87,474,781,088.00 to N198,989,352,119.00 in 2017. Of particular concern was the Administrative Expenses which increased by 72% from N26,126,990,784.00 in 2016 to N44,937,334,999.00 in 2017.”
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