Moves by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last governorship election, Terhemen Tarzoor, to unseat governor Samuel Ortom of All Progressives Congress (APC) met a final brick wall today when a Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Benue State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed the qualification and election of the governor.
The governorship candidate of the PDP, had asked the court to reverse the tribunal’s judgment and declare him winner of the April governorship election in the state. He said that the tribunal erred in its judgment as Ortom was not qualified to contest in the election. According to him, Ortom was not validly nominated by the APC to stand for the election. He had sought for a declaration by the appellate court to set aside the tribunal’s judgment, which had dismissed his petition for lack of merit. Tarzoor had also asked the court to direct the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare him winner of the April governorship poll. In its argument, the APC had insisted that its candidate was validly nominated in conformity with the requirements of the Electoral Act, 2010, adding that the burden of proof rests on the shoulders of the appellants. In an unanimous decision read by Justice Mohammed Garba, the court dismissed the appeal in its entirety for lack of merit. Garba said the appellants failed to discharge the burden of proof, which rested on them, in line with the legal dictum that “he who alleges must prove”, adding that the lower court was right in dismissing the petition. Meanwhile, counsel to the PDP, Donald Kertyo, had vowed to test the ruling at the Supreme Court. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that nothing would stop him from wiping out Boko Haram from Nigeria soo, even as he sent his sympathy to the victims of the latest attacks that killed many both in Yola in Adamwa state yesterday and Kano, today. A statement by senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, quoted Buhari as asking for increased vigilance among the civilian population to help ward off suicide terror attacks on soft targets around the country. “The President condemned in strongest terms the barbaric suicide terrorist attacks which took place in Yola on the evening of Tuesday, November 17 and in Kano today, causing numerous deaths and injuries among civilians. “The President extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the Government and people of Adamawa and Kano States respectively. “President Buhari reassures Nigerians that his administration is very much determined to wipe out Boko Haram in Nigeria and bring all perpetrators of these heinous crime against humanity to justice.” The statement quoted the President as asking all Nigerians not to despair in the face of cowardly terrorist attacks but to have confidence in the ability of Nigeria’s re-invigorated, well-equipped and well-motivated Armed Forces and security agencies to overcome Boko Haram very soon. The President stressed the need for vigilance on the part of the citizens, saying that it is a potential life saver as security agents cannot be everywhere to deter every planned attack. He emphasised that citizen’s vigilance will help to reduce the frequency of such attacks.
Earlier in the day in Kano, an explosion went off at the GSM market around Farm Centre, killing many people and injuring several others.
This was even as another bomb exploded yesterday in Yola, Adamawa state capital, killing over 30 people.
It is believed that both explosions were carried out by the dreaded Boko Haram sect. [myad]
A 13-member Presidential Committee on the procurement of arms and equipment for the Nigerian army has come up with a damning report that a total extra budgetary interventions of N643,817,955,885.18 and $2,193,815,000.83 which were supposed to have been expended on the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to date were laden with fraud.
The committee, which was set up by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) on the authority of President Muhammadu Buhari said that the amounts quoted did not include grants from the State Governments and funds collected by the DSS and Police.
“It was observed that in spite of this huge financial intervention, very little was expended to support defense procurement.”
These revelations were contained in the interim report which the committee submitted to the President today.
A statement by the special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Femi Adesina said that while the committee which was inaugurated on 31 August 2015 is yet to complete its work, its interim report has unearthed several illicit and fraudulent financial transactions.
“As part of the findings, the committee has analyzed interventions from some organizations that provided funds to the Office of the National Security Adviser, Defence Headquarters, Army Headquarters Naval Headquarters and Nigerian Air Force Headquarters, both in local and foreign currencies.
The committee also observed that of 513 contracts awarded at $8,356,525,184.32; N2,189,265,724,404.55 and €54,000.00; Fifty Three (53) were failed contracts amounting to $2,378,939,066.27 and N13,729,342,329.87 respectively.
“Interestingly, it was noted that the amount of foreign currency spent on failed contracts was more than double the $1bn loan that the National Assembly approved for borrowing to fight the insurgency in the North East.”
The committee also discovered that payments to the tune of Three Billion, Eight Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N3,850,000,000.00) were made to a single company by the former NSA without documented evidence of contractual agreements or fulfilment of tax obligations to the FGN.
“Further findings revealed that between March 2012 and March 2015, the erstwhile NSA, Lt Col MS Dasuki (rtd) awarded fictitious and phantom contracts to the tune of N2,219,188,609.50, $1,671,742,613.58 and €9,905,477.00. The contracts which were said to be for the purchase of 4 Alpha Jets, 12 helicopters, bombs and ammunition were not executed and the equipment were never supplied to the Nigerian Air Force, neither are they in its inventory.
“Even more disturbing was the discovery that out of these figures, 2 companies, were awarded contracts to the tune of N350,000,000.00, $1,661,670,469.71 and €9,905,477.00 alone. This was without prejudice to the consistent non-performance of the companies in the previous contracts awarded.
“Additionally, it was discovered that the former NSA directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to transfer the sum of $132,050,486.97 and €9,905,473.55 to the accounts of Societe D’equipmente Internationaux in West Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America for un-ascertained purposes, without any contract documents to explain the transactions.
“The findings made so far are extremely worrying considering that the interventions were granted within the same period that our troops fighting the insurgency in the North East were in desperate need of platforms, military equipment and ammunition. Had the funds siphoned to these non performing companies been properly used for the purpose they were meant for, thousands of needless Nigerian deaths would have been avoided.
“Furthermore, the ridicule Nigeria has faced in the international community would have been avoided. It is worrisome and disappointing that those entrusted with the security of this great nation were busy using proxies to siphon the national treasury, while innocent lives were wasted daily.
“In light of these findings, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the relevant organizations arrest and bring to book, all individuals who have been found complicit in these illegal and fraudulent acts.” [myad]
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, was today, at the Convocation Ceremony, installed as the 7th Chancellor of the University of Ibadan.
L-R – Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), O.I. Olukoya (Registrar), The 7th Chancellor, University of Ibadan, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar (CFR), Sultan of Sokoto. [myad]
A British court has convicted a couple, Emanuel Edet, 61, and Antan Edet, 58 for keeping and treating a Nigerian immigrant as slave for more than two decades, forcing him to work for no pay and threatening him with deportation if he tried to escape, prosecutors said.
The Crown Prosecution Service told the court that the couple held their victim captive from the time he was brought to Britain when he was 14 years old. The husband and wife were convicted at Harrow Crown Court in northwest London on charges of child cruelty, slavery and assisting in illegal immigration.
They had told the teen when they brought him from Nigeria in 1989 that they would pay him and provide him with an education, prosecutors said. Instead, the victim, now 40, was forced to cook, clean, garden and care for the couple’s children without any pay for up to 17 hours a day, they said. He was forced to eat alone and typically slept on hallway floors, they said.
He got no education and had only very limited contact with his family and the outside world. The couple took his passport, and he had no identity documents, prosecutors said.
Prosecutor Damaris Lakin said the Edets told their captive he would be arrested as an illegal immigrant and deported if he left the house and contacted police.
“He believed this and felt trapped and completely dependent on the Edets,” Lakin said in a statement. “Emanuel and Antan Edet have cruelly robbed this victim of 24 years of his life. They have treated him with complete contempt.”
“This was a shocking case of modern day slavery,” he said.
The convictions came on the first day of a two-day Trust Women conference in London on women’s rights and human trafficking held by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Prosecutors said the Edets had changed the victim’s name and added him to their family passport as their son when they brought him into Britain. [myad]
The immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega has warned the federal government against implementing the Treasury Single Account (TSA) on the electoral body, saying that that it will be a recipe for disaster.
Jega who spoke at the 2015 e-Nigeria Governance Forum in Abuja, said the effectiveness of electoral processes is conditional on availability of financial resources to deliver efficient services consistent with international minimum benchmarks and global best practices. “Electoral processes cannot be effective if an EMB is starved of funds and/or has to go cap in hand to an incumbent executive begging for funds before it can conduct an election. The financial autonomy of INEC needs to be strengthened.
“It should continue to be on first line charge and have all its funds released through the statutory transfer fund as appropriated by the National Assembly. Subjecting an electoral Commission to the so-called single treasury account, I believe, is a recipe for disaster.” [myad]
Nigeria has zoomed pass Swaziland into the final pool stages of African World Cup qualifying with a 2-0 defeat today in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers state of Nigeria.
Swaziland’s underdogs had held Nigeria to a goalless draw in the first leg in Lobamba last Friday and it took into the second half of the return game for the West African powerhouse to finally breach their defence.
Ghent forward Simon scored from a free-kick six minutes after the break, before Celtic defender Ambrose turned the ball home from another set-piece with four minutes remaining to seal the tie.
Swaziland finished the game with 10 men when Phumlani Dlamini received his second booking in the closing stages.
Twenty African sides, split into five groups, will compete in the decisive pool stages of the World Cup qualifiers starting late next year, with the top team in each group guaranteed a place in the finals in Russia. [myad]
The President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki has vowed to lead the senate to investigate the alleged N25 billion Treasury Single Account (TSA) fraud irrespective of intimidation from any quarter.
Saraki, who was reacting to a motion moved by Senator Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi West) over a newspaper article allegedly blackmailing the Senate for pointing out the alleged fraud said that the senate would not relent in carrying out its constitutional duties, including pointing out any action that would be detrimental to Nigerians.
“No amount of either blackmail or intimidation will stop us from doing the work we have to do. We have a responsibility here to ensure that there are no leakages in government funds and if there are, we will call the attention of the public and do whatever it takes to salvage the situation; it is our responsibility.
“The fact about the TSA will come out and everybody will have opportunity before the committee to state the fact, the facts will speak for themselves,’’ he said. Saraki said the assembly would expedite action on the inauguration of Standing Committees to enable it to begin its oversight function fully.
Earlier, Melaye said that his attention was drawn to the write-up accusing the Senate of working against President Muhammadu Buhari’s effort to implement TSA. He expressed concern that the writer could conceive such an idea in spite of the National Assembly’s resolve to work with Buhari in fighting corruption.
Melaye recalled that it was the assembly’s stand on the alleged TSA fraud that led SystemSpecs to refund the one per cent it collected from mopped up funds to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). “The writer said we are against the change agenda of Mr President because we raised the abnormality going on with the implementation of the TSA.
“We did not at any time in this Hallowed Chamber implicate President Muhammadu Buhari of being involved in TSA fraud. “ We will not stop carrying out our legislative duties for fear of being blackmailed. “The motion moved last week had two prayers.
“The first thing we did was to thank Mr President and commend him for the implementation of the TSA and for anyone to say the Senate is fighting Mr President is myopic, parochial and unacceptable. “I have a letter here that I am going to lay with this paper, written by the Director, Banking and Payment of CBN to the Managing Director of SystemSpecs.
“The CBN categorically stated that they should remit the one per cent that they collected. “I also have a letter here by the managing director of that company to the Accountant General of the Federation and the Governor of CBN that have completely buttressed and elicited our decision last week.
“So for people to blackmail us as irresponsible, it is not acceptable to me and the Senate. “Never would we allow blackmail and political and economic bigots to destroy the people. We are for the people and we will stand in defence of public interest.’’
The write-up and letters cited by Melaye were referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition to be returned to Senate in one week.
The Senate had on November 11 raised alarm over alleged payment of N25 billion to one e-collection firm, REMITA, in one day as one per cent of monies transferred to TSA. It also directed its Committee on Finance, Banking and other Financial Institutions and Public Accounts to carry out a holistic investigation into the matter and report back in two weeks.
A four year-old girl raped by her uncle; a ten year old boy beaten to death by his father; yet another heart wrenching story of abuse. No day passes without similar stories in the media. Many of us will sigh and turn the page, searching for the financials, the latest corruption scandal, or the sports news. We seem to have become desensitized to these horrors our children suffer. Today, on Universal Children’s Day, and as the Goodwill Ambassador on Ending Violence Against Children, I urge you, please read on. The global call for children to be protected from all forms of violence, in all settings was sounded on this day in 1989, when the UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Africa reinforced this call to end violence, one year later, when it adopted its own African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Nigeria readily signed up to both treaties in 1991, and in 2003 we passed our own national law – the Child’s Rights Act – bringing in comprehensive protection for children from violence. Paper commitments, however, are meaningless without action and our children continue to suffer extreme levels of physical, sexual and emotional violence. Six out of ten children (60%) in Nigeria, according to the National Violence Against Children Survey, conducted by the National Population Commission with support from UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suffer such violence. By any measure, that is shocking, horrific and, for Nigeria as a nation, an embarrassment. One in four girls (25%) and one in ten boys (10%) will suffer sexual violence before they reach 18 years old; this year alone 9 million of our children will have been subjected to rape and sexual abuse. And they suffer in silence. They are prevented from reaching out for help by shame, stigma and a lack of knowledge about where to get help. Most worrying is that sexual violence is so normalized amongst our children that many of them do not realise that what they suffering is wrong. Before they have turned 18 years, half of all of our children will have been whipped, intentionally burned, punched, kicked, hit or threatened with a weapon. These cannot be dismissed as acts of discipline. These are acts of violence that have no place in an upbringing that should enable our children to flourish. Violence – sexual, physical and emotional – is not confined to children who are poor or marginalized. It does not just affect children in the north east who are affected by the conflict there. It transcends wealth, location, and family circumstance. It can happen to any child, anywhere. It can happen to your son or daughter, your brother, sister, niece, nephew or cousin, to your friend. Adults who suffered violence are significantly more likely to use violence themselves. Violence against children constrains our development and costs us between two and eight per cent of our GDP. In September this year, the UN included a target to end violence against children in the Sustainable Development Goals, explicitly linking, for the first time, a violence-free society for children to economic growth. I was proud to speak at the launch of the Year of Action to End Violence Against Children in September, at which President Buhari personally called on each and every one of us to take action. We have a moral obligation to act, a civic duty, and a legal obligation. I am proud to be the Goodwill Ambassador for this campaign. If I can inspire even one person to take action – to stop perpetrating violence; to protect children from violence; to make children aware that they have a right to grow up free of violence; to help a child speak out, and to show compassion and support when they do – it will have been worthwhile. You too can join this fight. It’s time to take action! Together, Let’s End Violence Against Children. [myad]
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Moves by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last governorship election, Terhemen Tarzoor, to unseat governor Samuel Ortom of All Progressives Congress (APC) met a final brick wall today when a Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Benue State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed the qualification and election of the governor.
