There was a drama today when a Magistrate in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, Shuaibu Usman, discharged the Director of Radio Biafra and Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on all counts of criminal conspiracy and ownership of an unlawful society brought against him by the federal government but was re-arrested outside the court premises by the operatives of the State Security Service.

The Magistrate had ruled:  “The accused person is hereby discharged and the case struck out.”

But the Department of State Services (DSS), which had announced its withdrawal of the case at the lower court, re-arrested Kanu to be charged for the same offence at a higher court, which it said has jurisdiction to entertain charges bordering on terrorism.

The DSS had detained Kanu for at least 90 days despite an order of the magistrate court granting him bail in October.

After the lower court granted him bail, the DSS got an order of the federal high court, Abuja, to keep the leader of IPOB in detention.

However, his lawyer, Vincent Obetta, filed a counter application, seeking bail for the accused person.

Meanwhile, Justice of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Adeniyi Ademola, is expected to rule on the bail application tomorrow.

Since, the arrest and detention of Kanu by Nigeria’s secret Police, in Lagos, on Saturday, October 17,  wave of protests, engineered by IPOB, as well as members of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) had swept through the South-East and parts of the South-South, demanding an immediate and unconditional release of Kanu.  [myad]

President Muhammadu Buhari has said the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been universally acclaimed as a model regional economic community. ​
The President who addressed the 48^th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Summit of Heads of State and Government in Abuja today, explained that the Organization has recorded concrete achievements which loudly speak for themselves.
Buhari noted however that in spite of the significant achievements, the Community still faces numerous challenges, adding that while some of such challenges militate against the integration drive, others continue to pose risks to peace and security, as well as political stability in the region.
“There are also structural and administrative challenges in running the Commission that equally require serious attention.
“Security challenges persist in our region as we continue to be confronted with the daunting scourge of transnational organized crime including arms trafficking, drug trafficking, as well as piracy and criminality at sea.
“Equally worrying is the rising scourge of violent extremism and terrorism. All this constitute serious threats to peace and security in the region, and therefore require our urgent and concerted actions.
“Regional and indeed global solidarity is vital in our efforts to counter these threats. To this end, we must continue to enhance our system of governance and, working with our partners, accelerate the implementation of our joint initiatives and mechanisms created to address these daunting but not insurmountable risks.
“As we do so, we should not relent in our effort to engage with member states coming out of crises, in order to help them to consolidate on the achievements made.”
President Buhari said that the catastrophic consequences of climate change are manifest in the region, saying that a number of fragilities, conflicts and environmental degradation that affect the member countries today with serious negative impact on peace, security, economy and livelihoods are either directly or indirectly triggered by climate change.
He said that no country could alone be able to reverse or stop some of these consequences, as it requires huge investment of resources far beyond our capabilities.
“We should therefore continue to press for international assistance and to work with the rest of the world to protect the environment. We should do so without loosing focus on our industrial development objectives. Our efforts to fast track regional integration should also be informed by the requirement for clean source of energy.  In this regard, I welcome the agreed outcome of the just concluded COP21 in Paris, which aims at reducing global warming and providing for financial support to developing nations.”
“We must also continue to cooperate with our development partners, and take advantage of their willingness to support our initiatives to address all these challenges in the most appropriate and beneficial ways to our region and to global peace and security.”
Buhari said that Nigeria would like to see that on-going reforms in ECOWAS institutions are concluded and firmly entrenched to ensure greater effectiveness in leading the integration process.
“We would like to see that the resources of the Community are devoted to the implementation of economic programs that would enable us build a prosperous region.”
He expressed his strong belief in the vast potentialities of the region, stressing that he remains confident that under the leadership of the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government, Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal, the Community will continue to make steady progress towards achieving the goals for which it was founded.  [myad]

The Presidency has described the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan as a discredited one from which President Muhammadu Buhari could not have accepted what it called ‘questionable monetary gift.’

In a statement today denying the media reports especially  on internet-based media, that Buhari received $300,000.00 and up to five armoured SUVs from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA)  in the aftermath of the attack on his convoy in Kaduna last year, the Presidency said that it is untrue.

The statement which was signed by the special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Femi Adesina denied deny that President  Buhari received $300,000.00 or any monetary compensation whatsoever from the Jonathan Presidency or any of its officials, in the aftermath of that attack, or at any other time since then.

“While it is true that one armoured SUV and one untreated SUV were sent to the President in the aftermath of the attack, the vehicles were in keeping with his entitlements as a former Head of State under the Remuneration of Former Presidents and Heads of State (And other Ancillary Matters) Decree of 1999.

“Section 3, Sub Section 1 of that Decree provides that three vehicles will be provided for former heads of state and replaced every four years.

“There was therefore nothing untoward, illegal or tending to corruption in former Head of State Buhari and Presidential aspirant, as he then was, receiving vehicles, to which he was statutorily entitled, from the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“President Buhari had in keeping with his austere, spartan and frugal disposition shunned most of his entitlements as a former Head of State, but was prevailed upon by his supporters to accept the two vehicles for his personal safety in the aftermath of the dastardly attempt to assassinate him.

“It is preposterous to think that the President will allow his acclaimed reputation of honesty and incorruptibility to be tarnished by accepting a questionable monetary compensation from a discredited regime.” [myad]

The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has indicted his colleagues in the National Assembly over the arms deal scandal, involving the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki to the tune of $2.1 billion.

According to Senator Saraki, the oversight function of lawmakers is under question in a situation where such huge amount of money meant for arms was allegedly diverted and or mismanaged.

The Senate president, who spoke on a motion tagged: “Abandonment of projects‎: A menace to Development in Nigeria,” stressed that standing committees in the National Assembly have failed in their responsibilities and that ‎ the 8th Senate, which he heads, must make a difference.

“I want us to ensure that our committees do proper oversight. The leadership must also do its own part.

“E‎ven the present prosecution of the former National Security Adviser was due to lack of proper oversight.”

During the debate on the motion, Senator Suleiman Nazir (Bauchi North) observed that public infrastructure account for most of the abandoned projects and that those projects were awarded based on considerations given to friends even when they do not possess the needed technical knowledge.

“The repeated practice in Nigeria is that once new people are in office, the policies or programmes of the previous administration are abandoned. This unwillingness to ensure policy continuity is the root cause of abandonment of projects.

“The desire for ego credit taking, rather than genuine service delivery was behind the drive for new projects and abandoning of old ones.

“Factors such as poor planning, inadequate budgeting, delay in releasing project funds, which lead to project execution delay, increased contract cost variation and contract splitting in order to give jobs to friends are the major reasons for project abandonment.”

Nazif revealed that about 11,886 projects, with an estimated cost of N7.78 trillion, have been abandoned in the country.

The lawmaker accused the past administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of embarking on a weekly charade of awarding new contracts or re-awarding old ones at higher prices during its weekly Federal Executive Council ( FEC) meetings.

Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) said the decision of the All Progressives Congress government for zero percent budget system was aimed at eliminating the practice of project abandonment and to curtail fund misappropriation.

The Senate urged the Federal Government to set up a project performance and monitoring task force to punish contractors who collect mobilization and disappear from site. [myad]