June 2021 – Page 14 – Crime Facts

Post Date : June 26, 2021

BREAKING: NAF dismisses report of terrorists attack at Kaduna base

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has said its Base in Kaduna was never attacked by terrorists, contrary to the social media reports. In a statement, the Director Public Relations and Information Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said the speculation was the handiwork of merchants of fake news. He said occupants of the Base are going about their normal businesses. According to the statement, “merchants of fake news are at it again. This time around, their focus is on the premier Nigerian Air Force Base at Kaduna, which they claimed came under terrorist attack in the early hours of today, 26 June 2021. “Members of the public should please disregard the news as it is entirely false. There was nothing of such as the inhabitants of the entire Base are going about their normal activities and duties without any threat whatsoever.”

Post Date : June 26, 2021

Auditor-General queries multibillion-naira irregularities in NPA accounts

The Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation has issued seven queries on the audited accounts of the Nigerian Ports Authority in 2017. The queries include standalone financial statements, non-current assets (depreciation, addition to fixed assets, property, plant and equipment, and interest in joint ventures), current assets (cash and cash equivalent, trapped fund in Enterprise Bank, inventories, trade receivables, etc.), liabilities, statement of profit and loss, and other comprehensive income, expenditures and administrative expenses. The Auditor General, Adolphus Aghughu, in an audit report sent to the National Assembly, dated May 24, 2021, a copy of which journalists obtained on Friday, demanded explanation from the management of the NPA on its audited accounts, which he said was submitted to his office on February 22, 2019 for comment, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts invited the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the management of NPA to appear before it on July 8, 2021 over the queries. Speaking on the N65.763bn spent on fixed assets, Aghughu said the NPA management should furnish the analysis of the assets acquired during the year, showing suppliers, evidence of ownership, gross amounts, outstanding amounts (if any), taxes deducted and remitted to the relevant tax authority and the current status of the assets. Also on property, plant and equipment, on which N390.581bn was spent, the Auditor General said, “The carrying amount of the property, plant and equipment and properties on lease were qualified in the auditor’s independent report, because they were unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to confirm the completeness, existence and valuation of the carrying amounts. “In view of the above, the management is required to provide the schedules of movable assets purchased by the concessionaires per the various lease agreement and furnish the list of assets in use and projects in progress acquired or being executed by the concessionaires for the authority under the ports development programmes of the lease agreements for audit scrutiny.” The NPA is also expected to provide “sufficient records, backed up with a detailed fixed asset register to support the existence, completeness and carrying amounts of property, plant and equipment, as well as properties on lease,” while Aghughu further asked the management to “provide an updated non-current assets register showing the dates of purchase, location of assets and amount depreciated to date.” The management is also to provide a list of property, plant and equipment transferred to Continental Shipyards Limited at inception as part of the NPA’s capital contribution and furnish the list of various assets, including buildings disposed by the authority in the last three years. Aghughu further demanded a schedule of bank balances showing the names and locations of the banks at which cash and cash equivalent from current assets of the authority are maintained, the individual account balances and the respective comparative figures. The office further asked for a “detailed list of the subsidiaries and the bank balances resulting in the observed total difference of N168,458,000 in the bank balances within and outside Nigeria between the group and the authority, which represent the balances of the subsidiaries. “Cogent reasons why the accounts were garnishee by the law court and detailed efforts towards setting aside the order as shown in the table below being cash and cash equivalent under garnishee order by the law court.” The office also reported that funds amounting to about $3.231m may have been trapped in Enterprise Bank as the report from the NPA management showed that “there was no movement in Enterprise Bank account with Number 6003605768 during the year.” It added, “The balance has not changed from $3,231,677.45 for more than two financial years,” asking the management to provide the current status of this bank balance. The Auditor General also queried the status of the Staff Home Ownership Scheme as well as the N1.5bn deposited as initial takeoff fund with Aso Savings and Loans Plc, which Aghughu said served as an agent for the creation of mortgages and the subsequent collections of repayments on the same mortgages, adding that the NPA later severed relationship with the bank, following the Federal Government directive on Treasury Single Account implementation in 2015. The office said an audit examination showed that the NPA made an advance payment of about N4.479bn to contractors and demanded that the name of the individual contractor, nature of the contract, age analysis of each of the contracts and reasons for not sanctioning in line with the Financial Regulation 3104(1). The Auditor General also demanded explanation from the NPA on the current status of about N2.334bn received from shipping companies in 2013 as tracking fees, which was deposited with First City Monument Bank and was supposed to have been transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2017. Speaking on circularisation of the management letter with terminal operators, the office said, “According to the Management Report, Page 37, Paragraph 5.3.1, seven terminal operators’ circularised two responses were received, while others had yet to reply.” Aghughu noted that while one of the terminal operators quoted an indebtedness of $513,150.51, the NPA records were reading $4,485,981.52, showing a difference of $3,972,831.01. He added that while the second operator, ABTL, quoted $619,372.99, the NPA records showed $2,383,675.24 variance, with a difference of $1,764,302.25. The NPA also queried “trade and other payable” on which N116,674,099,000 was spent, demanding the name of the creditors, services rendered, comparative figures as well as a breakdown of the Value Added Tax and Withholding Tax, stating the reasons the remittances amounting to about N35,317,209,000 were not made to the relevant tax authority. Apart from a revenue of N239.480bn reported, for which the office is demanding a breakdown into their various components for audit scrutiny, Aghughu also queried under-remittance of operating surplus by the authority in 2017. He said, “It was observed on Page 15 of the Financial Statements that the operating surplus for the year 2017 was N76,782,268,000 and N42,414,819,000 was appropriated for the year. However, during

Post Date : June 26, 2021

Buhari: War against illicit drugs more deadly than insurgency

President Muhammadu Buhari says the danger posed by illicit drugs is worse than the impact of insurgency, banditry and other threats to the nation’s stability. The president stated this on Saturday during the launch of War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), an initiative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), to commemorate the United Nations international day against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking. Buhari, who was represented at the event by Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, said he had seen three generations — grandparents, parents and children — destroyed by illicit drugs. He noted that the war against drug abuse is beyond slogan “but a call for civil action for all Nigerians to take active part in this war”. “The war against drugs is a war that must be fought by all, it is therefore my pleasure, to declare on behalf of the good people of Nigeria, a War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), not just as a slogan, but a call for civil action for all Nigerians to take active part in this war,” he said “Let me say that this war is more deadly than the insurgency we have in the Northeastern part of the country or the acts of banditry in the Northwest or the acts of kidnapping that transcends all the geopolitical zones of this country. “Because it is a war that is destroying three generations, because I’ve seen clips of where grandparents are on drugs, parents are on drugs, and by extension, their wards, their children are on drugs. “So this is a war that is targeting three generations in a stretch. So it is more deadly than even the security challenges that we are having in this country and I strongly believe that every effort must be put in place to ensure that we deal with the issues of substance abuse and trafficking.” On his part, Buba Marwa, chairman of NDLEA, noted the anti-drug agency has achieved impressive records in the war against illicit drugs in the last five months, adding the war must be sustained. “While the statistics are impressive, we wouldn’t deceive ourselves that we have succeeded in cleaning the Augean Stable in five months,” Marwa said. “We have only made a head start. We need to sustain the momentum. We need to win the drug war. We cannot afford to be complacent. “It is not difficult to conclude that drugs have been catalysts of terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery and various violent conflicts that are currently Nigeria’s albatross. “The enormity of the danger of drug abuse calls for an urgent need to nip the problem in the bud. This is the reason we have redoubled our efforts in the past five months with the maxim of offensive action.”

Post Date : June 26, 2021

Imo NUJ berates commissioner for disowning journalist

Ibe Pascal Arogorn, Owerri The Nigerian union of journalists, Imo state chapter has berated the commissioner for information, Declan Emelumba for disowning a Punch reporter, Chidiebube Okeoma. This was contained in a statement by the union’s chairman, Commrade Precious Nwadike. He said, “The latest release by the Imo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Declan Emelumba which was as usual signed by Mr. Chris Akaraonye, a retired photographer and an active pensioner in the same Ministry of Information, is nothing new in the chain of events designed by the Imo State Government to hijack and dominate the NUJ in Imo state. “The fact that it was also published in some newspapers said to be on the payroll of Emelumba is also not news, as the state government continues to dig-in and take advantage of the impoverishment of the people of the state. Poverty, as always, is a potent weapon wielded by the rich against the inherently poor populace. “It would have been assumed that the Information Commissioner had by his press release and utterances confirmed to Imo people that having left the practise for so long before his appointment as Commissioner, he now knows little or nothing about the roll call of active journalism practitioners in Imo, hence his reason for describing the Punch Reporter, Chidiebube Okeoma, as a non-journalist. Speaking, “we know it goes beyond that; Emelumba represents the Imo State Government’s bid to control the media and news contents emanating from Imo state in the hope that it could subtly arm-twist practitioners into reporting Imo state only on their terms. “But unfortunately, Emelumba and his sponsors chose to execute their sinister mandate with a crowd peopled mainly by non-practitioners and spearheaded by the weak-link impostor, Mr. Chris Akaraonye who has further degenerated into a rubber stamp for Emelumba’s many mendacities. “The Union read with utmost dismay the sponsored publication in some local newspapers – Announcer, Lead Express and Newsbreak newspapers – in which they averred that the Punch Newspaper Reporter who was manhandled by security personnel at the Imo Government House is not a registered journalist. “This, no doubt, is in a bid to justify the criminal assault unleashed on an innocent journalist by policemen and hoodlums from the Imo State Government House. “Chidiebube Okeoma’s only sin was that he covered a protest organized by street sweepers, mainly widows who are being owed their sweeping stipend for upwards of six months. . “We do not intend to educate Emelumba on the rights of citizens but let it be known to him that it is the right of every citizen to protest. It is also the right of Imo citizens to observe such protest if they so wish, and the right of any practising journalist as Comrade Chidiebube Okeoma, to cover and report the protest. “If the news platforms that published your tissues of lies had even the slightest modicum of conscience or the least knowledge of their mandate as journalists, they would have known that their responsibility is not just to the Government alone but to the public especially the oppressed members of the public. “The least they could have done is to join Chidiebube Okeoma and other practicing journalists to report the abuse and dehumanization meted out on the poor widows sweeping the streets of Owerri. “They can choose to publish whatever they like for gratification or convenience while others publish for humanity and posterity, one thing is sure, a day of reckoning awaits us all. “As a professional body therefore, we sympathize with Emelumba while warning that he should stop impersonating the Union by hiding under a non-existent Imo NUJ faction to discredit core practitioners in the state. “We are also not unaware that Emelumba may be making a ‘huge kill for himself’ while pretending to be leading the charge for government against practicing journalists in Imo state, “Nwadike said.

Post Date : June 26, 2021

Boko Haram Attempts to Take Over Air Force Base in Kaduna

Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group, has tried to take over the Nigerian Air Force base in Kaduna on Saturday morning, FIJ has learnt. An Air Force offiicial told FIJ that as of 6 am on Saturday, a gunfight between the terrorists and military personnel that lasted for close to two hours was ongoing. The terrorists had attacked the base from the back side. The Air Force base, which is large in expanse, is susceptible to being porous. This attack comes two days after herdsmen went to a Nigerian Army barracks in Jaji, Kaduna, and stole cows. It is unconfirmed whether there were human casualties, but sporadic shootings were reported. Source: F.IJ

Post Date : June 26, 2021

Murder of Super TV CEO: Why we can’t take action yet on our student —UNILAG

THE University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, has said that it is yet to take any decision against Chidinma Adaora Ojukwu, a 300-level Mass Communication student who, on Thursday, publicly recounted how she stabbed her lover, Super TV CEO, Mr Usifo Ataga, to death some days earlier in the Lekki area of Lagos. Chidinma, 21, narrated the incident to newsmen while she was being paraded for the crime by the Lagos State police command at its headquarters in Ikeja. Speaking to Saturday Tribune on Friday on the matter, UNILAG’s Deputy ViceChancellor (Academics and Research), Professor Oluwole Familoni, said although the university received the news with shock, it could not take any instant decision against the student. Professor Familoni said this was because the university was yet to receive any official report from the appropriate quarters, especially the police, on the allegation levelled against the student. He said Chidinma committed the alleged crime far away from the university campus and therefore her action was personal and had nothing to do with UNILAG. According to him, even though the university is not claiming that all its students are saints, it doesn’t teach its students how to murder people or do wrong things. “So, to us in UNILAG, it is very unfortunate that the girl is not a good ambassador of our university. But then, we can’t disown her because of her alleged action which the school totally condemns,” he said. He insisted that what Chidinma had done, “as of today” (Friday), was still on the pages of newspapers and other media platforms and the university could not act based on that. “So, if the university will do anything on the matter, particularly now, it will require official communication from appropriate authorities, particularly the police, to the university,” he stressed. Professor Familoni pointed out that even at that, one thing is clear and that is, once a student is in police or correctional custody, such a student cannot at the same time be in school let alone register for courses, nor attend lectures nor do any examination. “So, if they write us that our student has committed a criminal offence of any type, definitely, the law will take its course and that invariably means she will not be able to qualify to remain as our student. “But as I have said, that could only be when the matter is officially communicated to us,” Professor Familoni emphasised.

Post Date : June 26, 2021

NDLEA arrests 60 suspected drug traffickers in Imo

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it has seized 646.23 kilograms of hard drugs and arrested 60 drug suspects in Imo State between January and June 2021. The seized drugs are Cannabis Sativa (Indian hemp) cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and tramadol while the suspects arrested were between the ages of 17 and 60 years. Briefing journalists on the commemoration of 2021 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking, the Imo State Narcotics Commander, Nse Inam, added that the Federal Government Special Border Task Force also transferred 4,784kg of Cannabis sativa to the state command. Inam, an Assistant Commander General of Narcotics, further said that eight convictions secured various jail terms, adding that the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria strike affected the prosecution of the affected persons. He said, “15 drugs addicted person admitted, two persons were successfully rehabilitated and discharged while five others were terminated for various reason. Drug education, sanitisation and public enlightenment were also carried out at Imo State University, Trinity High School Oguta, Emmanuel College Owerri and St. Silas Anglican church Amawire Uratta among others.” “Drug abuse and trafficking portend serious danger to any society. For us to tackle the problems of insecurity, we have to take the issue of drugs and trafficking seriously”, he added. Inam however, vowed to beam the agency’s searchlight on the activities of patent medicine dealers and their likes with a view to ensuring that they did not continue to be one active channel for the dispensations or sale of illicit substances to the society.

Post Date : June 26, 2021

INEC to comply with court ruling on Anambra PDP executives

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will comply with a high court judgement that dismissed the sacking of the Anambra state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) executives. A federal high court in Abuja on June 9 dismissed three applications filed by the national office of the PDP and two others. The applications sought to stay a judgment sacking the party’s executive council in Anambra state, pending the determination of the appeal. The June 9 judgment, which they sought to stay was on a suit marked: HC/CV/774/2021 filed by Samuel Anyakolah — for himself and all local government chairmen and ward executives that emerged from the Anambra PDP congress conducted on November 28 and December 1, 2017 under the supervision of Chukwudi Umeaba, as acting chairman state caretaker committee. Olukayode Adeniyi, the judge, held that the three applicants — the PDP, Ndubisi Nwobu and Uchenna Obiora — failed to make out a case to warrant the grant of their application that sought to stay the judgment pending the determination of the appeal. Adeniyi said the applicants did not show that the non-staying of the judgment would either render their appeals nugatory or make it impossible for the party to conduct its primary for the forthcoming governorship election. He voided all activities engaged in by the party since June 9 when the judgment was delivered, including the elections it conducted on June 10 and 11 to elect a three-man ad-hoc ward delegate that would participate in the voting at the primary of the PDP scheduled for June 26, 2021. Adeniyi declared among others, that “all congresses, designations or appointments made by the first defendant (the PDP), with respect to the positions of the state chairman, EXCO members and local government chairmen, as contained in pages 14,15 and 16 of the Southeast zonal congress brochure of 6th March 2021 are hereby nullified and set aside.” The judge ordered the PDP to henceforth, recognise and adopt only the list of the already inaugurated party officers and delegates that emerged from the Anambra PDP congresses conducted on November 28, 2017 and December 1, 2017 validated by Grace Bent Ward Congress Appeal Panel report and Ukpai Ukairo local government appeal panel report, under the supervision of Chukwudi Umeaba, who shall continue to act in the capacities for which they were duly elected. In a letter addressed to the PDP national chairman and dated June 25, INEC said it has received the court judgement dismissing the sacking of the Anambra PDP executives. The letter signed by Rose Oriaran-Anthony, the secretary to the commission, informed the PDP national chairman that INEC would comply with the June 9 judgement. “The Commission has been served with the judgement of the High Court of the FCT delivered on 9th June, 2021 in suit No. FCT/HC/774/2012- Between Samuel Anyakorah vs PDP & ors regarding the Anambra State PDP executives,” the letter reads. “Consequent upon the above, the Commission wishes to intimate you on the need to comply with same. Accept the assurance of the Commission’s high regards, please.”

Post Date : June 26, 2021

Ekiti poly students kidnap colleague, collect N2.2m ransom

Operatives of the Rapid Respond Squad (RRS) of the Ekiti State police command have arrested a fourteen-man gang of kidnappers over the abduction of a student of the Crown Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti. Tribune Online gathered that the student identified as Akiode Akinyemi was kidnapped in his hostel last week Saturday around 10am and was whisked away to unknown destination. According to the police spokesman, ASP Sunday Abutu, the abductors demanded N2.2 million as ransom from the family of the victim which he said was paid into eight different bank accounts. He explained that the operatives of the command upon receiving the information swung into action and arrest all the fourteen suspects in connection with the crime, among which ten were students of the polytechnic. “All the suspects arrested have confessed to the commission of the crime and stated that the two million, two hundred thousand naira (N2,200,000) collected as ransom before releasing the victim was shared among them,” the PPRO said. Abutu who disclosed that the suspects would soon be charged to court after completion of investigation, said the Commissioner of Police, Tunde Mobayo urged residents to support the security agencies with timely and accurate information towards getting rid of criminal elements in the state.

Post Date : June 26, 2021

11 dead, 22 injured in Osun road accident

No fewer than 11 travellers have been confirmed dead while 22 others sustained various injuries in an accident that occurred in front of Ayedaade Local Government secretariat on Saturday night. The Nation gathered that 33 people were involved in an accident that occurred along the Gbongan-Ibadan expressway around 9:05pm. Our correspondent learnt that the accident involved two vehicles; a white commercial bus Mazda with registration number KJA392YA and a black Toyota Hiace bus with registration number GWL427YM. An eyewitness named Taiwo, said, “it is so sad that the accident took lives. The two vehicles had a head-on collision. The two drivers were at high speed and then collided with each other. The accident was fatal, we don’t even know that some of them could survive the accident. It was a terrible scene. It was so terrifying to see blood dripping from the two vehicles. Another eyewitness who pleaded not to be named said, “the Road Safety officials, Osun Ambulance and Osogbo Ambulance who arrived at the scene of the accident on time rescued those that we’re not killed in the accident. I don’t know the number of those that survived but many people died in the accident.” When the spokesperson of the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), Osun Command, Mrs Agnes Ogungbemi, was contacted, she confirmed that 11 people were killed in the accident and 22 people injured, blaming the speed limit violation as the possible cause. She explained that “16 injured victims were taken to Ariremako Hospital in Gbongan, six injured victims were taken to the Central Hospital, Osogbo. Ife rescue team who joined us in the rescue operations after a call was put to them, took 10 corpses to Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife morgue. The remaining one corpse was taken by the relatives who are from Hausa community in Lagos.” Ogungbemi noted that seven phones, some luggages and some amount of money were recovered from the victims.