Some Rape Cases Are For Rituals, Police Boss Confirms: Vows To Go Drastic On Culprits

June 15, 2020

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has confirmed that some rape cases in Nigeria are for ritual purposes, even as he promised to rally round other security agencies as well as stakeholders to deal drastically with the culprits.

The police boss, who spoke to newsmen today, June 15, at the presidential villa, Abuja, admitted that restrictions of movements because of the outbreak of coronavirus had resulted in the surge in the cases of rape and gender-based violence.

“It is a very wicked offense. It is a very serious offense. It is very wicked of an individual to engage in rape or defilement. And there are a lot of causes, some are doing it for ritual purposes. Some are doing it because they are within the family and they see the victims and have the urge to go into it and do it. But such people should not be allowed to go Scott free.”

Mohammed Adamu said that the police had always handled rape cases even before the surge, adding that between January and May this year alone, the police recorded about 717 rape incidents across the country and that about 799 suspects have been arrested.

According to him, about 631 cases have been conclusively investigated and charged to court while 52 cases are under investigation.

“The police and other security agencies and other non-governmental Organisations have been collaborating, to see to it that these cases of rape and gender based violence are dealt with.

“The NGOs and CSOs that have the capacity to deal with this kind of offenses, have been cooperating with law enforcement agencies in capacity building, management of victims of rape and similar offenses and procedures for collecting evidence, towards successful prosecution.”

The Inspector General of Police called on Nigerians who have come across any victim of sexual offenses or rape or gender based violence, to quickly report to law enforcement agents.

According to him, keeping such information without reporting it will give room for the perpetrators to continue to commitment the offenses.

“I am just to inform you that government is doing something about it and you can see me with the ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and Women Affairs Development, Pauline Tallen.

“From now onward, national partnership with every stakeholder is what we are going into and not only within the country but within the subregion. “We have to partner with organizations that are involved in this. We know we have been working seriously with UNODC

(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) and other civil society organizations.

“So, just to tell you that government is doing something seriously to curtailed this type of offense.”

Presidency Angry With Prof Ango Abdullahi, Says He’s Irritant, Featherweight

Editorial staff

June 14, 2020

The Presidency is angry with the convener of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi for alleging that the insecurity in some northern states of the country was an indication that President Muhammadu Buhari and the governors of those states have lost control over the protection of the people which is a constitutional duty.

In a statement today, June 14, special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Femi Adesina said: “we are not surprised by this latest statement by Prof. Abdullahi, and our past position on what his group represents remains unchanged: a mere irritant and featherweight.”

Adesina noted that Ango Abdullahi is only floating Northern Elders Forum (NEF) to cause mischief, adding that hearing the name, NEF, one would think the body is a conglomeration of true elders.

“But the truth is that NEF is just Ango Abdullahi, and Ango Abdullahi is NEF. It is a quasi-organization that boasts of no credible membership, and its leader is akin to a General without troops.”

The presidential spokesman recalled that before the 2019 presidential election, the one-man army called NEF had shown its antipathy against President Buhari, and its preference for another candidate but that thet all got beaten together.

“NEF is merely waving a flag that is at half-mast. President Buhari steadily and steadfastly focuses on the task of retooling Nigeria, and discerning Nigerians know the true state of the nation. They don’t need a paper tiger to tell them anything.”

Gunshot In Aso Rock: Presidency Vows Not To Interfere In Police Investigation

Editorial staff

June 14, 2020

The Presidency has vowed not to interfere in the police investigation into the recent incident in the Aso Rock presidential villa, leading to gunshot fired by a security personnel.

The incidence led to the arrest of some staff of the presidency, especially those working for the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, by the police.

In a statement today, June 14, senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu said that having authorized the proper investigation to be carried out into the unfortunate incident by the Police, the President has acted in compliance with the rule of law.

“In this particular instance, the President says the law should be allowed to take its course.”

The Presidential spokesman said that the shooting, which happened outside the main residence of the President, did not affect the President.

“This is to assure all and everyone that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, is not, and was not at anytime in any form of danger arising, either from deadly infections or the reported incident by security personnel which is currently under investigation.”

Garba Shehu stressed that armed guards and other security personnel assigned to the State House receive the necessary training of especially weapons handling, saying that where they come short, their relevant agencies have their rules and regulations to immediately address them.

He regretted that such a minor occurrence is being used by some critics to justify attacks on the government and the person of President Buhari, adding that it is “beggars belief.”

Obaseki/Oshiomhole Naked Brawl: When Will Primitive Politics End? By Fredrick Nwabufo

Editorial staff

June 13, 2020

One of the many contraptions that have defied contrivance and evolution in Nigeria is our politics. We still practise the basest, vilest and crudest kind of politics. In fact, there is a more transparent and disciplined political system in the animal kingdom than there is in our country.

Some studies have shown that baboons have an ordered democratic system – not based on social dominance but on purpose, merit and importance. Baboons will not follow any member of their troupe based on his rank or social significance but squarely on if that member has direction and purpose.

Also, honey bees have one of the most organised social systems. They hold the freest, fairest and most transparent elections. I think we have to start learning from animals – deploying a bit of biology in our politics. It is that bad.

The open scrimmage between Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo, and Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the APC, foregrounds the filthiness and anachronism of our politics. In the build-up to the 2016 governorship election in Edo, Oshiomhole eulogised Obaseki as having the ‘’brains and creativity’’ to lead the state while suggesting that the governor’s opponent, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who was in the PDP at the time, could not be trusted with public funds.

Speaking on his now canonised candidate (Ize-Iyamu) at the time, the APC national chairman said: “We kept him away, nothing near government circle, no access to public fund.”

Now, because of his rift with Obaseki, Oshiomhole is angling to install a man whom he said cannot be trusted with public funds as the governor of Edo. You cannot find such ludicrosity even in the animal kingdom. What is at play here is

Oshiomhole’s vulgar interest – obviously. He wants to rule by proxy and of course, relish the benefits of puppeteering.

But where is the interest of the Edo people in all of these? Has the governor failed in his duties? Has he failed on his promises to the people? Has he misused public funds? Are the social and economic indices of the state better or worse than they were four years ago? I believe these gradients should be the basis on which Obaseki is assessed.

Really, Obaseki played into the jaws of the kraken. I believe he knew what he was getting into. In our quotidian politics of interest dealing, he must have made some concessions to his promoter but reneged on them after getting into office. Though it takes courage to back out of any deal that is not in the interest of the people, weaselling out of a supposed agreement accents a flaw in the character of the defaulter.

Obaseki alleged that Oshiomhole pencilled down names of those he must appoint as commissioners in his living room – but he rejected them. Though, the APC national chairman denied the allegation, he admitted he had recommended one or two names to be appointed as commissioners. That fact is there was a covenant, and the deal broke. Nigeria’s classical primitive politics!

In 2016, the APC rubber-stamped the candidature of Obaseki, but in 2020, the same party has disqualified him from vying for its ticket in the Edo governorship primary election over ‘’inconsistencies in his academic credentials’’. Why now? This clearly limns the APC has a party that is vacant of principles, integrity and utility. There could be nothing more fatally astounding.

Over the years, I have watched the APC course from bad to worse, and now to the utterly egregious. Some of the party’s chieftains have blamed the recent nose-dive on Oshiomhole. They may not be entirely wrong. The APC has greatly unravelled. It has become the asymptote of Nigeria’s primitive club of pillagers.

The APC could survive Oshiomhole’s despoiling artifices as a party, but it cannot regain itself and the purpose it once held. Oshiomhole could leave the APC in the same state as he left the NLC – broken, battered and peripheral.

As 2023 approaches, Nigerians will have to look beyond the two wagons of despoilers – the PDP and the APC – if practicable. We are in dire need of political parties that will run on ideologies and principles; that will fecundate political discourse with ideals and real issues not with primitive and base themes that stunt our political growth.

Intellectuals, professionals, particularly those with the interest to serve the people, must get involved in politics; it should not be left for certificate forgers, area boys and cultists. How can our primitive politics evolve when it is run by primitives?

Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist.

Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo

National Open University Matriculates Over 15,000 Students Online

Editorial staff

June 13, 2020

No fewer than 15,000 new students of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), matriculated today, June 13 via online.

The institution’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, at the occasion, advised the students to rise to the challenges of the modern world in their quest for knowledge.

The Vice Chancellor, who read his speech over the Zoom application to which many of the students logged on from all over the country, advised the students to see any challenge they encounter in the course of their studies as a building block.

“One block at a time, and you will erect a mansion. You are in the best position to do this because your learning is powered by your personal desire to learn.”

The Vice Chancellor noted that while many students enter higher institutions in order to become educated so that they can get jobs, the matriculating students at NOUN already have jobs and occupations.

Professor Adamu said that because technology has become a commodity, NOUN has optimised its online facilitation exercise such that students can easily interact directly with their lecturers.

According to him, the university is the only one having a Directorate of Learning Content Management System (CLMS) which in due course could become a full-fledge online university.

He said that all the academic programmes of the university are fully accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in order to ensure their integrity

“Our programmes, quality assurance and delivery mechanisms are therefore more solid than those of many conventional universities who keep coming to us to see how we work this technological magic.”

Adamu informed the new students that this was his last matriculation address at NOUN, his tenure of five years having to end in February, 2021.

“I want to meet you in the next four years, during your graduation, not as Vice-Chancellor, full of knowledge and ready to take on the world as a result of your studentship in NOUN, and proudly watch you graduate with flying colours as simply the best of the best.”

The matriculation oath was administered online on the students by the Registrar of the university, Mr. Felix I. Edoka.

The event was beamed live on the social media and NOUN platforms and was conducted online because of the Covid-19 pandemic which forced the federal government to shut down all schools in the country since March, 2020.

NOUN is the only single-mode open and distance learning university in Nigeria and the largest in West Africa with 580,000 enrolled students spread in 78 study centres across Nigeria.

Obaseki Will Win Second Term, Edo APC Chairman Insists

Editorial staff

June 12, 2020

Edo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Anselm Ojezua, has said that despite the disqualification of Governor Godwin Obaseki by the party’s Primary Screening Committee, he will go on to win the next election to complete his second term.

“They (the committee members) didn’t say Obaseki will not contest the election but that he will not contest on the platform of the APC. Obaseki performed well and will be re-elected for a second term.”

The party chairman, who spoke to news men in Benin City today, June 12 after the announcement, said that the result didn’t come as a surprise as the governor had alluded to the fact that he will not get justice from the screening exercise.

The APC chairman appealed to the supporters that leadership of the party will meet on Saturday to properly respond.

“I want to appeal to leaders and members of APC in Edo State to remain calm. The validity of the Screening Committee has not been established.”

Gov Obaseki Can’t Fight Oshiomhole And Win – Fani Kayode

Editorial staff

June 12, 2020

A former Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said that Governor Godwin Obaseki could not have fought the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiohole and succeeded.

Reacting to disqualification of Obaseki from the governorship primary of the party, for a possible second term, by the screening panel, the ex-minister, via his Twitter handle, described the Oshiomhole, as a formidable adversary and skillful fighter, saying: “One of the most important virtues in life is LOYALTY. Never bite the finger that fed you.

“Obaseki has learnt this lesson the hard way. I have known Oshiomole for years. He is a formidable adversary, a skilful fighter and a tough cookie. Obaseki could never have outmanoeuvred him.”

Governor Obaseki was disqualified alongside two other aspirants by the panel which sat at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja today, June 12. He was disqualified for alleged discrepancies in his names and certificates.

This Is Mockery Of Democracy, Presided Over By Oshiomhole – Disqualified Gov Obaseki

Editorial staff

June 12, 2020

Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki, who has just been disqualified from participating in the June 22 primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for possible second term, describes the process as a mockery of democracy, presided over by the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

The governor in a statement today, June 12 by his media aide, Crusoe Osagie, said: “we have watched the mockery of democratic process, which Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is administering and superintending over in our great party the All Progressives Congress (APC). It has been an unfortunate, disheartening and dreadful spectacle”

Governor Obaseki who said that he will not appeal his disqualification as it clear that Oshiomhole has carefully orchestrated the move from the beginning, called on his supporters to be calm and to wait for further directives.

“We had initially asserted that going by the open display and enthronement of illegality by one man in the party that comprises several organs and eminent personalities, there is no way that Governor Godwin Obaseki would get a fair assessment in the run-up to the nomination of candidates to fly the flag of the party in the forthcoming Edo gubernatorial election.

“It is unfortunate that this open show of shame, illegality and travesty of justice is the brand of democracy which Comrade Oshiomhole has reduced the APC into. The situation is quite saddening because this is a party supposedly reputed for change, equity and social justice.

“We have therefore decided that it would be effort in futility to appeal whatever the unjust outcome of the evaluation and screening process of the APC will be, especially when Comrade Oshiomhole has declared that he is the Supreme Court and ultimate determiner of the fate and future of our great party.

“We wish Oshiomhole luck in his maladministration of the party and trust that the Almighty will help our country to find the path to true liberty, freedom and justice.

“We call on all party members and the teeming supporters of Governor Obaseki to remain calm and await further directives.”

FIRS Public Notice On Deduction Of VAT At Sources By Companies Operating In Oil And Gas Industry

Editorial staff

June 12, 2020

DEDUCTION OF VALUE ADDED TAX AT SOURCE BY COMPANIES OPERATING IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Section 13(2) of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, CAP V1, LFN 2004 (as amended), states that “the Service may, by notice, determine and direct the companies operating in the oil and gas sector which shall deduct VAT at source and remit same to the Service”.

Further to the provisions of the VAT Act, FIRS issued Information Circular No. 02/2007 – Notification of Guidelines on the Implementation of VAT Deduction (Reverse Charge) and New Payment Arrangement with Respect to Fees, Levies, and other Charges Payable by Companies in Oil and Gas Industry.

By the information circular, the FIRS mandates all companies operating in the Nigerian Oil & Gas Sector, to deduct VAT charged by their suppliers or contractors from the payments due and remit same to the FIRS.

The Service observed that some companies are not complying with the notice to withhold and remit VAT. Consequently, the FIRS hereby clarifies as follows:

That the directive contained in the FIRS Information Circular No. 02/2007 mandating all Companies operating in the Oil & Gas Sector to deduct VAT at source and remit same to FIRS in line with the above provisions still subsist.
“Companies operating in the oil & gas sector” include all companies engaged in (i) upstream operations, (ii) downstream operations, (iii) Refineries (iv) oil serving companies and (v) any other business operation in the upstream , mid-stream or downstream oil & gas sector.
VAT deducted shall be separately accounted for on VAT Form 002A and remitted to the FIRS. It shall not be merged with VAT charged by the company to its customers.
Where the FIRS had issued any directive, ruling or notice contrary to the directives contained in the Circular referred to in this notice, such directive, ruling or notice is hereby withdrawn, invalidated and voided.
Failure to deduct and remit VAT shall attract sanctions in accordance with the law.

Consequently, all taxpayers especially companies operating in the Oil and Gas sector, tax practitioners, tax officials, other stakeholders and the general public are to be guided accordingly.

Muhammad M. Nami

Executive Chairman

Second Term Mishap: APC Disqualifies Gov Obaseki From Edo Primary

Editorial staff

June 12, 2020

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Screening committee has disqualified Governor Godwin Obaseki from participating in the governorship primary of the party slated for June 22.The announcement was made by Prof. Jonathan Ayuba, Chairman of the screening committee.

Professor Ayuba said that Obaseki and two other aspirants, Chris Ogiemwonyi and Mathew Iduoriyekenwen, were disqualified from standing for the primaries.
According to him, Governor Obaseki was disqualified because of a defective Higher School Certificate, adding that the document he produced only attested to his attendance and not a certificate.
He said that the committee could not ascertain the authenticity of his National Youth Service Corps Discharge Certificate.
Members of the seven-man screening committee said that the report was conclusive, adding that they all signed it.

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