The President General of the Ohanaeze, Chief John Nnia Nwodo has made it clear that Igbos would not want Nigeria to be split because they have more at stake than any other ethnic groups in the country.

He stressed that the apex Igbo organization would prefer that the country is restructured than break up as being agitated for by some Igbo youths.

A statement from the Office of the President General quoted him as telling a cross section of Ndigbo leaders in Abuja that no ethnic group has more stake in Nigeria project than the Igbo and as such cannot consider a break up as a viable option.

The Ohanaeze boss said that there is no part of this country where Ndigbo have not invested their resources even without any corresponding investment from others in Igboland.

He said that while Ohanaeze understands and appreciates the circumstances that prompted the youth agitations under the MASSOB and IPOB platform, the elders do not believe that leaving the country is a reasonable option at this time.

Nwodo said that the various segments of Igbo leadership comprising the Ohanaeze leadership, Governors, National Assembly members, Traditional and religious leaders after deliberating on the situation in Enugu came to the conclusion that the restructuring option is the reasonable way to go.

He said that restructuring will bring Nigeria to a level where every person of whatever tribe, religion or class would have a sense of belonging and in return give in their best for the development of the country.

Nwodo also announced that steps are being taken by the apex body leadership to carry along the youths of the region and ensure that the Ndigbo have a common and unified position on the way forward for them.

The Ohanaeze President General insisted that equal partnership, equal ownership and level playing ground for all is the right way to go to bring the best in our people and set the country on the path of growth and development. [myad]

An Abuja Federal High Court has rejected the embattled Senator Dino Melya’s motion for a temporary injunction restraining Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from proceeding with the process of recalling him back to his village in the Kogi West Senatorial Zone until the determination of suit challenging his recall.

However, the court has suspended the process of the recall.

Justice John Tsoho, who announced the suspension of the process, directed all the parties to maintain their status quo until September 29 when the court will hear the suit challenging bid by Melaye’s constituents to recall him from the Senate.

Justice Tsoho ruled that the parties should “maintain status quo pending the hearing of the motion on notice” and adjourned the case to September 29 for hearing of the motion on notice as well as for the applications filed by three individuals, led by Chief Cornelius Olowo, who equally applied to be made parties in the suit. Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) argued Melaye’s ex-parte motion.

Determined to save his seat, Senator Melaye had dragged the INEC before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, seeking an order stopping the ongoing process by his constituents to recall him.

In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/587/2017, with INEC as the only defendant, Melaye faulted the recall process, saying it was tainted with political malice and initiated by his political enemies.

In the originating Summons he filed through his lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the embattled lawmaker prayed the court to declare that the petition presented to INEC for his recall was illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional, invalid, null and void and of no effect in law. He also prayed the court for a declaration that the petition purportedly forwarded to the INEC was invalid and of no effect, the same being signed by fictitious, dead and none existing persons in his senatorial district, as well as for an order of injunction restraining INEC from commencing or further continuing or completing the process of his recall.

Senator Dino Melaye had earlier ran to his colleagues at the Senate to present his ordeals from which the Senate told INEC that it is wasting its time trying to recall Senator Melaye.

Describing the recall moves of Melaye as an exercise in futility that would become a waste of time and resources of the state, the Senate said INEC is aware of relevant sections of the constitution which the cumbersome process of recall must follow.

It had also noted that the various stages passed so far in the move, as facilitated by the electoral umpire, were not in line with laid down constitutional procedures and guidelines.

Resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a point of order raised against the recall move by Senator Dino Melaye himself. Recall also that some electorates in Kogi state had gathered 188,588 signatures out of the 360,098 registered voters in Kogi West representing 52% percent and taken same in ‘Ghana-must-go’bags to INEC, demanding that the electoral body continue with the processes towards recalling the senator. INEC too had confirmed receiving the signatories and billed a date to commence with the process.

Senator Melaye had, however, said he discovered many signatures of dead men, including those of late prominent politicians in the state, maintaining that the signatures were forged or were inputed without the consent and knowledge of the owners.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has made it clear that President Muhammadu Buhari has no intention of dispensing with the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu whether or not his appointment is confirmed by the Senate.

The position of the Presidency is coming against the background of a controversies brewing between the Senate and Professor Osinbajo over his statement on the manner the Senate has been treating the administration’s nominee to lead the EFCC.

The acting President said at the inauguration of the Kaduna office of the anti graft agency today, Thursday: “Mr. Chairman (Magu), two weeks ago, I discussed the EFCC and your appointment with President Muhammadu Buhari and he told me he has every confidence in you and every confidence in the commission and the work that you have been doing. And as long as he is president you remain the chairman of the EFCC.”

He said that those who think that they were winning in fighting back against the government’s war on corruption, should wake up.

Osinbajo, who was represented by Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State, said that President Buhari is solidly behind Magu and wants him to continue to work as the Chairman of the (EFCC.

“Last night, I spoke with the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who reconfirmed the position of the President and told me that as long as he remained the Acting President or Vice President, Ibrahim Magu would remain the chairman of the EFCC.

“That is the only message from the President, so those who are thinking that corruption is winning this war, Magu would remain their nightmare for the next two years or six years as the case may be.”

Governor El-Rufai had earlier said that his government donated the office to the EFCC to demonstrate its “zero tolerance to bad behaviour by public office holders, contractors, businesses and citizens.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Magu restated his call for the setting up of prison for corrupt ones in the Sambisa forest, “where they can be kept away and have the sobriety to be truly reformed.” [myad]

Contractors in Nigeria working for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA), have accused some policemen attached to the Inspector General of Police (IGP’s) Special Tactical Squad, of using the whistle-blowing policy of the federal government to black-mail and extort various sums of money from them. This was even as the officers of the squad denied such allegation.

The contractors alleged that the policemen, led by a Superintendent of Police (SP) in the tactical squad and leader of the investigative team, Ben Kalio Bright, blackmail and intimidate them using the name and office of the IGP, Idris Ibrahim and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) Sir Mike Okiro.

They said that the squad, working with some court officials, have given court orders to freeze bank accounts of individuals and companies under the guise that their accounts are being investigated under the whistle-blower policy.

The aggrieved contractors said that the officers would contact them individually to open negotiations on how to unfreeze the accounts at a price which is said to run into millions of naira.

One of the contractors who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity for fear of further victimisation, claimed that the team leader is running a syndicate under the whistle blower policy to harass and extort money from them and some top civil servants.

“This officer has the backing of his bosses and has continued to run a syndicate under the whistle-blower policy to harass and extort huge sums of money from contractors and top civil servants in Nigeria.

“He harasses us and drops name of the current Inspector General of Police (IGP), Idris Ibrahim and current chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, who is a retired IG, and other top police officers.

“The syndicate has been successful basically because they are working in cahoots with some courts in the FCT, for the purpose of carrying out their new trade.

“Information available to us revealed that the officer has already obtained orders of a magistrate court in the FCT that we believe is in collaboration with him, to freeze bank accounts of many contractors working for MDAs.”

But, the Squad Commander, ACP Yusuf Kolo, dismissed the allegation, saying that the squad does not have the authority to initiate such investigation without the order of a competent court.

He explained that several investigations ordered by the court were on-going and are not restricted to whistle-blowing related cases, just as it is not within the job description of his squad to freeze or unfreeze any account,

According to him, the squad is charged with investigating and reporting its findings to the courts, adding that any irregularities concerning freezing and unfreezing accounts would have to be traced to the courts.

The commander insisted that he was not aware of negotiation with suspects or defendants in any case, and that the police cannot collaborate with criminals to pervert the course of justice.

Also, speaking on the allegations against his team, SP Bright said that every investigation by the team is assigned by the commander following a court order which is usually a consequence of

a petition.

Bright said that his team, like other teams in the squad, investigate issues raised in such petitions by inviting the parties involved to make statements among other techniques, but has no dealings with the court.

He complained that the allegation was the handiwork of some powerful people bent on frustrating the squad’s investigation, adding that the only case where accounts of suspects were unfrozen, even as the investigation was yet to be completed, was without the knowledge of the investigating team. [myad]

Former Nigeria Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has described the Senate President Bukola Saraki as ‘irresponsible’ for telling Nigerians that recalling Dino Melaye from the Senate was “a waste of time.”

Ezekwesili, in a series of tweets, said that it is irresponsible for the Senate President to speak down on the efforts of the citizens.

She wrote: “really? Digging in your pattern of “pocketizing” our Democratic Institution, right? I sorry for you & your ilk.

“No serious leader of any institution of Democracy in a serious country that respects its citizens speaks like you.
Many of us have no dog in the Kogi recall fight. BUT, it is a DEMOCRATIC PROVISION. Don’t talk down on Citizens.”

During a plenary on Tuesday, the Deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu had said the Senate had to be convinced that Melaye’s constituents had done the right thing and that it was a waste of time to embark on the recall.

“They (constituents) need to come back here and convince everyone of us that they have done the correct thing. Unless they do that, they cannot even give effect to it. So, why are we wasting our time? Let us move on and allow them to waste their time,” he said.

In support of his deputy, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, also said, “There is no need for further comments. The Deputy Senate President has said it; 10 years is no joke in leadership. We have seen clearly the processes. Let the process speak for itself. I don’t know why funds are being wasted, which should have gone on more important things. INEC is also at the middle of a test. Eventually, it must come back here for us to decide whether it is satisfactory or not.” [myad]