A Superintendent of Police attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has been identified as running a syndicate under the whistle blowing policy to harass and extort huge sums of money from contractors and top civil servants in Nigeria.
The police officer is believed to be name dropping the current Inspector General of Police (IGP), current chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro and other top police officers, in cahoots with some courts, for the purpose of carrying out his new trade.
Information reaching us revealed that the officer has already obtained orders of a Magistrate’s court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), freezing the accounts of some contractors working for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
It was learnt that the police officer, after obtaining the court orders, would then turn round to call on the contractors for negotiation so that their accounts would be unfrozen. [myad]
Former senior special assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on political affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has quit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because according to him, the party no longer exist in his ward.
Okupe, who announced his resignation from the party today, said: “it is with deep regret that I publicly announce my resignation from the People’s Democratic Party. It has to be public because the PDP no longer exists in my ward as a single unified party; it was when I joined it.”
The chief critic of the All Progressives Congress (APC) blamed his decision t5o quit PDP on the leadership crisis in the party at the national and state levels even as he confessed that the party can no longer bear fruits.
“My resignation is based on periods of long introspection and some of the following reasons: It is no longer news that the PDP has been embroiled in a fratricidal internal crisis brought upon it by itself. Its current direction is difficult to discern and I am convinced that even when the much-expected judgement from the Supreme Court is given, the future of the party is not likely to be significantly affected whichever way the judgement goes”.
“There seems to be too much deception, selfishness and gross nepotism in our polity nationally. During the NRC and SDP era, there existed true nationalism and brotherhood. Northern NRC politicians will under no circumstance undermine their party for any parochial reason. Also, neither will a Southern NRC politician, under any circumstance betray their party.
“Abiola was a Yoruba man, yet those of us who were Yorubas in the NRC never once thought of voting for him. The commitment in the North was even more profound. Even the Northern SDP rejected a distinguished successful Kano-born Presidential Candidate, Bashir Tofa, and voted for a Southern Yoruba Muslim candidate. Worse than that, both Abiola and his running mate, Amb. Baba Gana Kingibe were Muslims. Yet, it did not matter. Today, political parties have lost their importance and identities. Once the candidate is Northern, his party is immaterial, all northerners irrespective of their professed party affiliations will vote for him.
“This is the major reason why there has been a total absence of opposition in the country in the last two years, and may probably be responsible for the polarisation and sharp ethnic divisions we are currently witnessing in the country. In the east, there is intense anger and loud call for secession, in the south-south, there is absolute indignation and very resolute demand for total control of their resources, while the south-west is bellicose and hell bent on true federalism and restructuring which many prominent Northerners openly oppose for good or for bad. Under these circumstances, political parties have lost their flavour and relevance. Certainly, a party like my former party, PDP has no future in the evolving Nigerian political circus.
“This political confusion has percolated to the states, Ogun state being one of the worst hit. The leadership of the party has been irredeemably fictionalised for nearly a decade. Presently it is divided broadly into two major factions. One headed by Hon Ladi Adebutu and the other by Senator Buruji Kashamu. Unfortunately, I do not fit into either group. Hence it becomes extremely difficult for me to operate as a politician under the PDP umbrella in the state. Yet, all politics is local.
“The situation in the country may in the nearest future require that matured men of goodwill standby to play a unifying role for the political stability of the country. My membership of PDP may directly or indirectly preclude me from gratifying such noble and patriotic desire. Undeniably, I have been one of the major beneficiaries (not financially) of the PDP. But for a fact, the PDP and the APC are political platforms that have now expired or in the process of being so. Therefore, no matter my commitment and passion for this great party, the PDP, it has become menopausal and can no longer bear fruits. I have therefore decided to withdraw a bit and study the political situation more critically and thereafter take a decision soonest on my next political move.
“I will miss my friends, associates and co-travelers on this tortuous political journey and adventure. However, it is also still possible that our paths cross in the nearest future, which will be a delight. But in spite of my stated pessimism, I sincerely express my best wishes to the more courageous party faithful who I am leaving behind and I also pray for God’s guidance for them. For how far I have gone, I remain eternally grateful to Almighty God and Jesus Christ my saviour, to whom All powers belong. If it is His will that I still play a role in national politics in future, then most certainly and by His grace, I will be back.” [myad]
Suspected billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike popularly known as Evans has dissociated himself from the recent lawsuits filed on his behalf against the police.
In an exclusive interview with Channels Television today, Sunday from police detention, the suspect dismissed the lawsuits as an attempt by some people to put him in more trouble.
“I have no hand in any case filed against the police and I did not speak with any lawyer or my father to fill a case on my behalf. All I will say is that they should temper justice with mercy.”
The suspect said that even if he was released by the police, he would not go because those he has kidnapped and collected millions of naira as ransom from would kill him.
In a motion ex parte filed before the Federal High Court Lagos on Wednesday, the suspect had alleged grave constitutional infraction perpetrated against him as he ought to have been charged or arraigned before the court.
He listed the Inspector General of Police, the Nigeria Police Force, the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos Command as the respondents in the suit.
Barely 24 hours after the suit, Evans filed a fresh suit in which he claimed the sum of N300 million as general and exemplary damages against the police for alleged illegal detention and unconstitutional media trial.
The Federal High Court in Lagos had, on Friday, dismissed the suit filed by the said lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje. [myad]
A level 7 accountant attached to the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) in Lokoja, Mrs. Husseina Mohammed has returned the sum N1, 780,500 paid in excess of her March salary to the coffers of the Kogi State government.
Mrs. Husseina Mohammed, who was surprised by package delivered to her account, was cautious, even with the knowledge that her spouse, also a civil servant, was cleared in screening exercise, but still waiting for the payment of his 16 month salary arrears.
She had received an alert on her cell phone, indicating that her account had been credited with almost N1.8 million as her monthly salary, which is approximately N34,000. The message read: “Salary for the month of March, 2017.”
Husseina read the message severally and on getting home, narrated her excitement to her husband who consequently called for a brief family meeting to consider the implication.
After the decision to refund the money was taken at the family meeting, Mrs. Husseina Mohammed quickly rushed to the Director General in the Bureau of Information and Grassroots Mobilization, Alhaji Abdulkareem Abdulamlik to narrate how she got the huge amount in her account.
She then handed over the bank teller and other documents used in paying back the money to Abdulamlik, pleading however to the government to reciprocate her good gesture by paying her husband’s outstanding 15 month salary arrears.
Abdulkareem Abdulamlik commended the woman for her honesty, saying with people like her in society, Nigeria was sure of winning the ongoing war against corruption.
He asked other civil servants and residents of the state to emulate her, adding that her good conduct would not go unrewarded and would be recorded for generation yet unborn to learn and emulate.
Nigeria Army has lamented what it called genocide by the local community against Fulani herdsmen in Mambilla, located in Taraba State.
Speaking at the Palace of the traditional ruler of Mambilla in Sardauna local government area of Taraba State, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Third Division, Brigadier General Benjamin Ahanotu, said that the hatred shown by the community around Mambilla towards the herdsmen had grown to the point of staging total elimination of the tribe from the community.
According to Brigadier General Ahanotu the Fulanis who are barely surviving today are those who managed to escape to the cities.
Full text of the address of the GOC goes thus:
My findings yesterday; I realized that there is too much hatred, too much damage done to Fulanis…the only Fulanis who are barely surviving today are the ones who ran away; who managed to escape, and the ones that dwell within the main cities. It tells you the aim, the plan by the perpetrators to eliminate; to totally wipe out the Fulanis. Even small children – two-year old children – were slaughtered; pregnant women killed.
This is worst than Boko Haram. Boko Haram would not touch children; Boko Haram would not touch pregnant women. But here, they were slaughtering children. They were slaughtering pregnant women.
It doesn’t make any sense to anybody. It is like genocide within the Mambilla.
This report is contrary to the one published yesterday, Friday by a social media which misquoted the Army as saying that Fulaniis Herdsmen are worse than Boko Haram. [myad]
Snake sneaked into the room of a young couple in Chibiri, in Kuje Area Council of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) last night and killed their two year old daughter.
Eye witness account said that the mother of the child was doing some domestic work in front of the one-room apartment when she suddenly heard the daughter crying inside where she was sleeping on the bed.
It was learnt that when the woman rushed to the room, she found the snake holding the neck of the child with its poisonous mouth.
The source said that the mother had to forcefully pull the snake from the child’s mouth, who died a few hours after.
It was learnt that the snake escaped, without being killed, into the nearby bush.
“The dead child is the first one for the couple who got married about three years ago. The child was very bubbling with life,” a neighbour of the couple told our reporter.
The couple were said to have taken the child to a garden to enjoy the recently concluded Sallah break and even travelled with her to show their parents in the village, in Kogi State.
When our reporter arrived at the scene of the incidence, the mother and father of the dead child were said to have moved out of the house. [myad]
The police in Anambra has warned that they would stop at nothing to ensure the success of the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election, irrespective of the call for the boycott of the election by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The State Commissioner of Police, Garba Umar, who spoke today, Saturday in Awka, the State Capital, in reaction to the call by the IPOB on residents of the state to boycott the November 18 governorship election, stressed that no person or group could stop the election in the State.
“We have the capacity to provide a peaceful atmosphere in Anambra State for that election. Nobody or group can issue such threat and succeed because we have all it will take to subdue such threat.
“The people of the state have the right to have periodic elections to choose their leaders; nobody or group can stop them from exercising such right. We can’t allow it.
“We are fully on the ground and we can suppress such threats,” he said.
The police boss said that consultations are ongoing with relevant stakeholders in the state to ensure a peaceful poll. The stakeholders, including political parties and Ohanaeze, the apex Igbo socio-cultural body, had cautioned IPOB after it called for the boycott of the guber poll.
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has said that the state has woken up from slumber and is set to fly in terms of physical development.
He said: “Kogi state is moving; it has woken up from its slumber and it is on the verge of taking off to fly. We are not just walking or running; we are about to fly. Kogi is really working and it’s moving.”
Governor Yahaya Bello made these remarks today when he spoke to news men at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after observing Friday Jum’at prayer.
He said that with ongoing efforts to take the state to an enviable height, it would soon catch up with Lagos State.
“As an ambassador of the youth, I’m providing good leadership in Kogi and in no distant time, we are going to see that Kogi will catch up with Lagos by the grace of God.”
According to him, there is no political crisis in the state, contrary to speculations in some quarters.
He said that the state was very stable even as he denied having a hand in the travails of Senator Dino Melaye, the embattled lawmaker representing Kogi West in the Senate.
“I’m not behind his problems. He should know who is behind his problems.” [myad]
The restructuring of a giant mobile telecommunication company, Etisalat Nigeria, by the new owners – consortium of banks – has forced its chairman, Hakeem Belo-Osagie, out.
The chairman today, Friday, announced his stepping down with immediate effect without giving any reason. Etisalat was taken over by a consortium of banks two weeks ago.
The banks, led by Access Bank PLC and other local and foreign banks have taken over the telecommunication company effective June 15.
The take-over came as a result of a futile effort by Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), promoted by-one time Chairman, United Bank for Africa, UBA, Hakeem Bello-Osagie, to reach agreement with the banks on debt restructuring plan in the protracted $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) debt impasse. [myad]
“We are glad to inform you that President Muhammadu Buhari is recovering in a very robust manner. We hope he takes it easy and when he comes back, I have no doubt at all that we will have a new and active period of activities.”
These were the assurances given by the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun when he addressed newsmen at the end of a meeting between the party`s National Working Committee (NWC) and state governors elected on the party’s platform today, Friday.
Chief Oyegun said however that only the president’s doctors abroad could decide when he would be fit to return to the country.
President Buhari left Nigeria on May 7 on medical vacation in London. [myad]
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