The Federal Capital Territory Administration through its investment arm, the Abuja Investment Company (AICL) has taken over the THISDAY Dome, in compliance with last week’s Appeal Court judgment. The publisher of newspapers has also been ordered to pay the FCT, the sum of N197,477,702 being an outstanding cumulative rent.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Abuja Investment Company Limited, Dr. Musa Ahmed Musa, formally took over the property from the court bailiff on Friday.
The Group Managing Director recalled that in 2009, AICL was allocated Plot 702 Cadastral Zone A00, CBD, Abuja and thereafter entered into a 2-year lease agreement with Messrs Leaders and Company (Publishers of Thisday Newspaper) in respect of the said Plot, now popularly called “This Day Dome Arena.”
The lease agreement was effective from May 1, 2009.
“The total rent payable for the term was ₦97,094,284.02, of which Messrs Leaders & Company deposited the sum of ₦57,558,854.73 as part payment. The Lease Agreement provided that the balance of the rent in the sum of N39,495,429.30, was to be paid on or before August 31, 2009.
“In spite of several requests for payment, however, the balance of the rent remains outstanding as Messrs. Leaders & Company has flagrantly refused to pay,” Dr. Musa stressed.
He said that due to the company’s failure to pay the outstanding balance of rent, the AICL in its letter dated April 13, 2011, indicated to the company its unwillingness to renew the lease which expired on April 30, 2011, and requested M/S Leaders & Company to deliver vacant possession of the property at the end of the agreed lease period, which till date remains outstanding.
“M/S Leaders’ recalcitrant behavior was predicated on the fact that it is a media house and had made threats to use the media in blackmailing AICL and FCTA into not collecting its rent and also forfeiting its rights to the property. Notwithstanding all the propaganda, AICL
resorted to the only available remedy to it which was the law courts,” he added.
He said that the Administration went to court in 2012 to recover the property and judgment was passed in 2014, which was appealed by M/S Leaders & Company.
According to him, last week Thursday, the appeal failed and the company’s application for a stay of execution proceeding was also dismissed by the court.
At the site of taking over and handing over to the FCT Administration, Mrs. Ada Amadi of AICL Legal Department, said that the Court of Appeal also awarded the sum of N197,477,702.8 being cumulative outstanding of rent due to the FCT Administration.
She said that the structure at the site would be evaluated to ascertain its value, and if it was not up to the outstanding N197 million, the balance would be pursued through a garnishing proceeding in the Court. [myad]

People of Ekiti state have risen against their governor, Ayo Fayose, asking him to resign over what they called governor’s failure to live up to expectations.
The people represented by a coalition of civil society organizations and the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties staged a protest in Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti state.
The protesters were under the umbrella of “Be the Change Organization,” South West chapter.
The protesters, who converged on the popular Fajuyi Park, went through the Governor’s office gate and proceeded to Okeyinmi roundabout where their leaders addressed the public.
They carried placards with various inscriptions, including, “What happened to the airport fund,” “Fayose must go,” “Fayose is a disgrace,” “Stop wasting Ekiti money on olosho nights,” “We say no to Fayose’s financial recklessness,” and “We don’t want a criminal as governor.”
The protesters also chanted anti-Fayose songs to deride the governor, whom they accused of cornering the resources of the state.
The CNPP in its address read by the Publicity Secretary, Ayo Adelabu, called on the governor to come out and defend himself on the N4.7bn arms deal saga.
“We also implore him to come and explain to Ekiti people how he has spent six month allocation without the payment of Emiti workers which has grounded the state working force for the past one month.”
The CNPP called on the management of Zenith Bank to explain their role in the funding of Fayose’s 2014 election in the state.
The CNPP warned the governor to stop abusing President Muhammadu Buhari, who according to them, has been enjoying the full support of the majority of Ekiti people at large.
“CNPP strongly condemn Ekiti state legislators who have turned themselves to Political slaves in the hand of Fayose at the detriment of Ekiti people,” Adelabu said.
The CNPP asked the governor to explain the N2.3 billion loan he allegedly took from the bank, and advised the governor to immediately stop the flyover bridge project and caution all his political thugs against the attack on innocent people in the state.
The Executive Director of BCO, Mrs. Omotunde Fajuyi, said Ekiti people were embarrassed by the latest revelation of Fayose’s link with N4.7bn arms cash adding that all Nigerians must support any move to recover the people’s commonwealth from looters.
She said that Ekiti people were people of honour and integrity, even as she expressed dismay that Fayose’s conduct in power had brought shame and odium on all Ekitis both at home and abroad.
“We support President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade, we have come out to protest looting of our money, corruption in government and scandals digging this government in Ekiti.
“Workers are dying at home, we want Fayose to explain what he has done with allocations he had so far collected because he had received more than N50bn as allocation since he came to power.
“Fayose claims to be a Christian, he must come out clean and give account to the people of Ekiti State and he must submit himself and all his aides and associates to anti-corruption agencies for investigation,” Fajuyi said.
The spokesperson for the artisans, Idowu Ayegbe, said, “We regret all the burden the governor has imposed on us in Ekiti in form of levies and taxes on our pupils. We are not happy with what the governor is doing including his attacks on the President.”
A youth leader, Adeoye Aribasoye, challenged Fayose to explain what he did with ecological funds and N9.6bn bailout funds he received from the Federal Government.
“We have a governor who is richer than the state, a governor who has over N4bn in his account he is the only one who can explain what he has done with all the funds he had received from federal authorities.
“He must explain the N2.4bn ecological funds because we don’t know what has happened to the money, he must answer for the revelations of Ekitigate.
“Pupils and students of public schools have been at home for over four weeks due to the strike embarked upon by civil servants and teachers,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, the Executive Director of Zenith Bank, Sola Oladipo, led other top management officials to the governor to apologize to him on media report claiming that the bank had dissociated itself from the funding of his election.
When accosted by reporters who had laid an ambush for them if the bank actually made the denial, Oladipo who struggled to answer the question said only the spokesman of the bank could comment on the matter.
But commenting on the visit,  Fayose said, “They were begging me and that the matter should not go beyond this level. I asked them why did they go to the EFCC to tell lies.‎ Why did they have to lie that money came from the Office of the National Security Adviser?‎ If the money is for me why did they have to link with me what is not.”
Public workers in Ekiti State are owed five months salaries, while media reports said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had traced N4.7 billion from the Office of the National Security Adviser to Fayose’s account and two sons of a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro.
The governor, who denied the allegation, said that he had no financial transaction whatsoever with the ONSA under retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki and Obanikoro either by cash, cheque or electronic transfer. [myad]

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has made it clear that President Muhammadu Buhari he had come to know, is the one that would not cut deals as he presides over the affairs of the nation.
Professor Osinbajo acknowledged that some people may regard President Buhari as being strict because of his forthrightness, but that “he is the kind of leader we need now. He is a president who will not cut deals and who is only interested in moving Nigeria forward.
“We are very happy that we have a President who is honest, a President who is straight forward, a President who is operating from the genuineness of his heart, this is the kind of leader that we need now.”
Vice President Osinbajo spoke on Friday during a courtesy visit by a delegation from the Deeper Christian Life Church, led by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi at the Presidential Villa.
He said that he and the president have worked together “very, very well,” adding that the government did not create the sordid economic conditions Nigeria is facing.
“The reason we are here at this time is known to the Lord Himself. Everyday I wake up knowing there is a cause for being here and it is to move the country forward.”
Osinbajo told Pastor Kumuyi the Ogoni clean-up in Niger Delta is very important, a situation which he said is very bad.
“I have been in the area a few times, but we need peace in the area to be able to carry on with the clean-up exercise.”
He said the clean-up exercise will take decades but that with the phased implementation, people can gradually return to fishing and farming.
On the power sector, Professor Osinbajo said that by February this year the country was doing 5000MW of electricity for the first time in history.
The Vice President said however that the continued militants’ attacks on the pipelines has made things bad not only on electricity, but also cutting the oil revenues of the nation.
He assured that government is working diligently on effective solutions to those challenges as he expressed the hoped that God has a purpose for choosing the President and himself to serve at this time.
“This is the doing of the Lord.”
Earlier, Pastor Kumuyi had thanked God for the progress made so far by the Administration.
“God will fulfil the purpose for which He brought you at a time like this.”
Pastor Kumuyi invited the Vice President to the crusade, even as he pledged his contributions and prayers for the Buhari administration and for the progress of the country. [myad]

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raised alarm that some fraudsters have taken over its operations by using the name of its Acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu to extort money from suspects that are under investigation.

A statement by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren said that the commission has not and will never mandate any individual to demand gratification from persons under investigation.

The statement said: “It has come to the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that some unscrupulous individuals now parade the streets posing as representatives of the Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, and extorting money from persons under investigation, promising them a soft-landing and, in some instances, giving them assurances that their cases would be closed.

“Intelligence available to the commission indicate that some of them who are known to have relationships with the acting chairman are exploiting this knowledge to position themselves as agents of the anti-graft czar, to extort desperate suspects under investigation by the commission.”

The EFCC said that it stood by its earlier warning to Nigerians to beware of some fraudulent individuals who were using Magu’s name illegally to solicit funds.

It asked anyone who approaches them for gratification to either report to the nearest office of the EFCC or police station.

“In the recent past, the commission notified the public of the activities of some individuals who cloned the phone number of Magu, using same to illegally solicit funds. Some even opened fake Facebook accounts in the name of the EFCC boss and proceeded to use same to con unsuspecting citizens.

“But despite the alarms, it would seem that criminal minds are not deterred as their number seemed to have swelled.

“The commission, for the umpteenth time, wishes to warn members of the public not to fall for the wiles of fraudsters and scammers exploiting the good name of the acting EFCC Chairman to defraud desperate citizens.

“Mr. Magu has not and will never mandate any individual to demand gratification from persons under investigation.

“Members of the public are advised to report anyone who approaches them with a request for gratification on behalf of the EFCC Chairman, to the nearest EFCC office or police station.” [myad]