June 2021 – Page 26 – Crime Facts

Post Date : June 20, 2021

SERAP Sues FG, Lai Mohammed Over Repressive Directive Asking Broadcasters To Stop Using Twitter

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit asking the Federal High Court in Abuja “to stop the Federal Government and the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed from using their patently unlawful directive to all TV and radio stations not to use Twitter, and to delete their accounts as a pretext to harass, intimidate, suspend or impose criminal punishment on journalists and broadcast stations simply for using social media platforms.” The suit followed the order by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) asking TV and radio stations to “suspend the patronage of Twitter immediately”, and telling them to delete ‘unpatriotic’ Twitter after the social media giant was banned in the country for deleting President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet. In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/496/2021 filed last Friday, SERAP is seeking: “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the government of President Buhari, the NBC, and Mr Lai Muhammed and any other persons from censoring, regulating, licensing and controlling the social media operations and contents by broadcast stations, and activities of social media service providers in Nigeria.” In the suit, SERAP is also seeking “an order setting aside the directive by NBC and Mr Lai Muhammed asking broadcast stations to stop using Twitter, as it is unconstitutional, unlawful, inconsistent and incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended], and the country’s obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.” SERAP is arguing that “The government of President Buhari, the NBC and Mr. Lai Muhammed have consistently made policies and given directives to crack down on media freedom, and the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression and access to information, and to impose crippling fines and other sanctions on broadcast stations without any legal basis whatsoever.” According to SERAP: “The court has an important role to play in the protection and preservation of the rule of law to ensure that persons and institutions operate within the defined ambit of constitutional and statutory limitations.” SERAP is also arguing that “Where agencies of government are allowed to operate at large and at their whims and caprices in the guise of performing their statutory duties, the end result will be anarchy, licentiousness, authoritarianism and brigandage leading to the loss of the much cherished and constitutionally guaranteed freedom and liberty.” According to SERAP: “By using the National Broadcasting Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to stop broadcast stations from using Twitter without recourse to the court, the NBC and Mr Lai Muhammed have contravened the right to access to justice and fair hearing guaranteed under sections 6[1] & [6][b] and 36[1] of the Nigerian Constitution 1999, and articles 1 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.” The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi, and Opeyemi Owolabi, read in part: “The directive by the NBC and Mr. Lai Muhammed to broadcasters to delete their Twitter accounts is unlawful, as it amounts to a fundamental breach of the principle of legality, the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom, and incompatible with the country’s international human rights obligations.” “SERAP and concerned Nigerians are entitled to the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom subject only to lawful restrictions. SERAP and concerned Nigerians frequently rely on the Twitter handles of many broadcast stations as sources of information for our activities in the promotion of transparency and accountability in the country.” “Nigeria is a state party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which impose legal obligations on the government of President Buhari to ensure that the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom are respected, promoted, protected, fulfilled, and not unlawfully restricted.” “The NBC and Mr. Lai Muhammed have not shown any law breached by journalists, broadcast stations and media houses in Nigeria, and the government of President Buhari cannot use any disagreement with Twitter as a ploy to violate Nigerians’ rights and undermine their individual businesses and professional duties.” “The drafters of the Nigerian Constitution well knew the danger inherent in special executive and legislative acts which take away the life, liberty, or property of particular named persons. They intended to safeguard the people of this country from punishment without trial by duly constituted courts. These principles are so fundamental and must be respected.” “The directive to broadcast stations has seriously undermined the ability of Nigerians and other people in the country to freely express themselves in a democracy, and undermined the ability of journalists, media houses, broadcast stations, and other people to freely carry out their professional duties.” “The Twitter accounts by broadcast stations and media houses are their own properties acquired upon privity of terms and conditions formulated by the Twitter Inc. and accepted by the stations and media houses.” SERAP is also asking the Federal High Court for the following reliefs: A DECLARATION that the directive by the NBC and Mr. Lai Muhammed to broadcast stations in Nigeria to deactivate their Twitter handles and desist from using Twitter as a source of information gathering is unlawful, and amounts to a breach of the principles of legality and no punishment without law, and violation of the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom guaranteed under sections 39 and 22 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 [as amended], Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A DECLARATION that the acts of the NBC and Mr. Lai Muhammed in relying on the National Broadcasting Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to unilaterally direct broadcast stations to delete their Twitter handles and desist from using Twitter without recourse to the court amount to an infringement on sections 6[1] & [6][b], 36 and 44[1] of the

Post Date : June 20, 2021

United Nigeria? Yes, but southeast leaders must prioritize Igbo’s sense of belonging in Nigeria

By Ibe Pascal Arogorn The peoples of Nigeria must be united to enable this country to play a full part in shaping the destiny of mankind. On no account should we allow the selfish ambitions of individuals to jeopardise the peace of the law-abiding people of Nigeria. It is important that we put away bitterness and go forward in friendship to Independence. Finally. The southeast Igbo spoke with agility and great stance to the issues of secession in the region which very commendable. Southeast Nigeria which is known as most secured place in Nigeria after civil war has been characterized by avoidable insecurity by the agitations for self determination. To an extent, it seems like the leaders in the region were scared to take their stance on the secession clamouring. After the meeting on Saturday by the Igbo leaders, the communiqué read in part, “We condemn in totality, the activities of violent secessionist groups in the South East and elsewhere; we firmly proclaim that we do not support them, they do not speak for South East,” said the Chairman of the Forum and Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, at the end of the meeting. He added, “The impression that South East leaders are silent over some of our youths’ agitations for secession is not correct. “South East Governors, Ohanaeze President, National Assembly members, notable leaders had come out publicly many times in the past to speak against such agitations. In order not to mismanage the unfortunate situation, South East leaders have set up a committee to engage such youths to stop and allow elders speak to address such fears.” It is a courageous decision. The unity of Nigeria can’t be questioned owing to the country’s structure. Every region need each to survive. A writer Frederick Neabufo once said, “The idea of having a near-perfect country out of a ruptured Nigeria is illusory. The composite parts of the country each contribute to the miasma of confusion that Nigeria is. No single entity is responsible for Nigeria’s problems. All the ethnic nationalities are equal shareholders in the failing of the Nigerian enterprise. There is enough blame to go around. The idea of having a near-perfect country out of a ruptured Nigeria is illusory. The composite parts of the country each contribute to the miasma of confusion that Nigeria is. No single entity is responsible for Nigeria’s problems. All the ethnic nationalities are equal shareholders in the failing of the Nigerian enterprise. There is enough blame to go around. Splintering the entity has often been exalted as the remedy to Nigeria’s problems. But this is a defective reasoning because in this instance, Nigeria is defined by its geography and not its people. Nigeria is its people. It is the same people that will occupy the emergent states not angels. There is no paradise anywhere. The problem with Nigeria is a people-problem. Recalibrating the map will not change anything – if the minds of the people do not conform to progressive values. The assumption that there will be ‘’divine concordance’’ if Nigeria breaks up according to regional lines is obtuse. That a people speak a common language does not put a stamp of camaraderie on group relationship. In the south-east for instance, there is native discrimination among people of the same region. Some are regarded as ‘’impure Igbo breeds’’ while others consider themselves as ‘’true Igbo scions’’. There are areas sons of certain states are advised not to tread in search of love. Also, it is quotidian among the Igbo to describe people from certain areas in Ebonyi with the pejorative of ‘’wah awah’’ – ‘’impure breeds’’. And there is a deep gulf among classes on the social ladder in the region. The best thing that can happen to Nigeria is unity no matter the uprising in some regions . The unity of Nigeria should be venerated and unprofane by any one. Politics of imbalance and to very a large extent poor Leadership in Nigeria at various levels of governance and administration has failed to address nagging the socio-political, and economic inequality in the nation’s polity. The politics of imbalance in the nation’s political, social, economic, political and co-operate governance in the management, sharing, and allocation of the nation’s common wealth, constitute to a very large rampant state of insecurity, rancor, fear, suspicion and feelings of agitation, exclusion and isolation within and among the various ethnic nationalities in Nigerian state. Hence, primarily the problems of underdevelopment, poverty, social and political imbalance further fuel the desire for agitation and division within the Nigerian federation. Again, the politics of uneven wealth sharing formula further stimulates feelings of secession from the Nigerian state, via agitation for Biafra from the South Eastern Nigeria, calls for re-structuring also from the South Western Nigeria stemmed from the marginalization and exploitation of the resources from the South-South area of Nigeria. Hence, feelings of marginalization and deprivation nursed by people of the South East region occasioned by the high spate of poverty in the region has fuelled the called secession for another country, other than Nigeria. Biafra agitation stemmed from leadership failure on the part of government, amounting to years of social neglect, economic and political isolation of the people in Nigeria and particularly people from the South East of the Nation in general. Again, the monumental underdevelopment, lingering unemployment for the youth skewed political structure and composition and snarled speed economic growth of the Nigerian state resulting to increased poverty, hunger, insecurity and instability via Boko Haram [1]. The problem is further compounded with the failure of successive government over the over years to address the high rate of unemployment, corruption, mismanagement of public funds at the expense of the national interest. This has led to brain drain, money laundering by government officials, immigration to Europe in search of greener pastures and terrorism and very recently violence clashes between farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the North Central of the Nation. A Nation is an abstraction in itself without any form

Post Date : June 20, 2021

Stop Tinubu from controlling Alpha Beta, ex-MD begs court

A former Managing Director of Alpha Beta LLP, Mr. Dapo Apara, has filed a suit before a Lagos State High Court asking it to stop a former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, from controlling the finances of Alpha Beta. In the suit filed by Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) on behalf of Apara on Wednesday, the former MD alleged that Tinubu controls Alpha Beta, a tax consulting firm that monitors and generates revenue on behalf of the Lagos State Government. The ex-Alpha Beta boss had in 2020 filed a suit before the court but withdrew it before filing it a second time after making amendments. Apara, who had in 2018, written a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission accusing Alpha Beta of tax fraud, asked the court to compel the firm to pay him his entitlements even as he alleged that Tinubu was the one that got him removed from his position as MD for investigating the firm’s finances. Apart from Tinubu, others named as defendants in the suit included Alpha Beta and the current Managing Director, Mr Akin Doherty, who is also a former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State. The claimant is seeking eight reliefs including “A declaration that the 2nd defendant (Tinubu), not being a named partner of the 1st defendant (Alpha Beta), is not entitled to direct or influence the affairs of the 1st defendant in such a way that will deprive the claimant (Apara) of his profits and entitlements from the 1st defendant. “An order directing the defendants herein, to render an account of all sums due to the claimant from the defendants, from 2010 to date (and) an order tracing all funds and assets due to the claimant from the defendants herein from the inception of the 1st defendant till date. “An order of specific performance of Clause 8 and 11.0 of the partnership agreement that created the 1st defendant by extant partners; an order for payment to the claimant by the 1st and 3rd defendants, of all sums adjudged to be due to the claimant from the said 1st and 3rd defendants on the submission of the accounts. “A perpetual injunction restraining the 2nd defendant (Tinubu), from directing, influencing or in any other manner running the affairs of the 1st defendant (Alpha Beta) in such a way that will deprive the claimant of his profit and entitlements from the 1st defendant (Alpha Beta), the 2nd defendant not being a partner of the 1st defendant. “Ten per cent interest in ruling (5) above; and cost of this suit of N10m.” In the statement of claim, Apara also narrated how Alpha Beta was allegedly formed in 2002 when Tinubu was still the governor of Lagos State. The claimant said he was the one who came up with the idea of a consulting firm to help the state government to track and reconcile taxes. “The claimant (Apara) avers that sometime in about the year 2000, he solely conceived, prepared and presented a proposal to the Lagos State Government on providing consultancy services using his registered firm, Infiniti Systems Enterprises, with respect to using computer technology to track and reconcile the Internally Generated Revenue of the state. “The claimant avers that following the presentation of his proposal to the Lagos State Government, the second defendant (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) who was at the time the governor of Lagos State, demanded that 70 per cent equity interest in the project be assigned to a certain Olumide Ogunmola on his (Tinubu’s) behalf before he, the second defendat, would approve the project,” Apara said in his statement. The former Alpha Beta boss claimed Tinubu nominated Adegboyega Oyetola and one Olumide Ogunmola. He said due to the technological innovation that was deployed by him, the IGR of the state grew from N10bn per annum in 2002 to N300bn in 2019. The claimant stated that in 2010 or thereabout, Tinubu directed that the incorporation structure of the Alpha-Beta Consulting Ltd be changed from a limited liability company to a limited liability partnership under a newly promulgated law in Lagos State. He said the aim of the move was to shield Tinubu’s involvement from public scrutiny. Apara said as the head of the company, he began looking into its finances and he made many startling discoveries such as mysterious transfers of over N20bn in different currencies to several companies. The former Alpha Beta boss said he realised that all the payments were sanctioned by the partners nominated by Tinubu and they were done without his knowledge, contrary to the terms of their partnership. Apara stated that Tinubu was furious that he was looking into the company’s finances and ordered that he be demoted to deputy managing partner. He said he refused to obey this order and this led to a feud between the both of them. No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit. Both Tinubu and Alpha Beta had last year described Apara’s allegations as spurious. The company had alleged that Apara was relieved of his position because he was involved in fraud. A statement by the firm read in part, “The fact is that Dapo Apara began making his untrue allegations in the aftermath of his removal as Managing Director of Alpha Beta for fraud and unethical practices. “While he was MD, Apara used his position to siphon huge sums of money from the company including but not limited to fraudulently converting $5m; money allegedly used to pay for cloud-based services that were eventually discovered to be worth less than $300,000. “In July 2018, further evidence of his fraudulent and unethical practices was uncovered, including the revelation that he converted approximately N6bn belonging to Alpha Beta to his personal use.”

Post Date : June 20, 2021

Asset declaration: EFCC issues final warning, targets over 120 bank MDs, top executives

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has issued a final warning to over 120 managing directors and top executives of banks to submit their asset declaration forms. The anti-graft agency gave the top bankers till June ending to obey the order even as the initial deadline of June 14 has passed. The EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had initially in March given top bankers, among others, till June 1, 2021, to declare their assets in line with the Bank Employees, ETC (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986, with defaulters said to risk 10 years in jail if found guilty by any Federal High Court. But the anti-graft agency extended the deadline till June 14 to allow bankers to comply with the order effectively. However, Sunday PUNCH learnt that the EFCC chairman had sent a final reminder to all the affected banks executives and given them till the end of June to declare their assets. “The truth is that this law has been in place for over 35 years, but it was hardly ever enforced and so these bankers would just declare anything or not declare at all. However, the EFCC is now demanding the declaration forms as part of moves to sanitise the system. “To this effect, the chairman has written a reminder to the banks, asking all top executives to comply latest by the end of June,” an investigator told Sunday PUNCH. Findings showed that well over 120 managing directors, deputy managing directors and executive directors of 19 deposit money banks are affected by the EFCC’s order. Checks by Sunday PUNCH showed that Access Bank has 16 board members, United Bank of Africa has 15, Sterling Bank and EcoBank have 13 members each, while First Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and Fidelity Bank have 12 members each as contained on their official websites. Others are Zenith Bank, 11; Wema Bank, 11; Union Bank 11; First City Monument Bank, 9; and Unity Bank, 8. According to the Bank Employees, ETC (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986, bankers should declare their assets through the appropriate authority like the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. But the forms were hardly ever scrutinised, a trend which the EFCC seeks to change. Section 1 of the Act states, “Every employee of a bank shall, within fourteen days of the commencement of this Act, make a full disclosure of all his assets. “In the case of a new employee, he shall within 14 days of assuming duty with the bank make a full disclosure of all his assets at the time of his assuming duty; and for the purpose of this subsection, a transfer or secondment from one bank to another shall be treated as a new employment.” Section 2 of the Act reads, “The full disclosure of assets required under Section 1 of this Act shall be made in the manner prescribed in the Declaration of Assets Form contained in Form A of the Schedule to this Act and shall be executed before and attested to by the Registrar of a High Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court. “The President or the appropriate authority may from time to time prescribe such other forms as may be necessary to achieve the purpose and intendment of this Act.” The Act in Section 5 states that the Chief Executive of every bank “shall twice in every year, but not later than 7 January, or 7 July, as the case may be, submit to the appropriate authority a list of all employees who joined or left the employment of the bank in the immediately preceding six months expiring respectively on 31 December of the previous year and 30 June of that year respectively.” The Act explained that “Chief Executive” meant the chairman, the managing director or other similar officer of a bank, including the Central Bank of Nigeria. Likewise, the Act defined “employee” or “employee of a bank” to include the governor (of the CBN), the chairman and members of the board, managing director, director, general manager, manager, examiner, inspector, controller, agent, supervisor, officer, clerk, cashier, messenger, cleaner, driver, and any other category of workers of the Central Bank, a bank or other financial institutions. Speaking in March, EFCC chairman, Bawa, noted that the anti-corruption agency was worried about the role that financial institutions and bankers played in corruption. He said, “We understood that at the tail end of every financial crime, it is for the criminal to have access to the funds that he or she has illegitimately acquired and we are worried about the roles of financial institutions. “We have discussed, but we hope that all financial institutions, particularly the bankers, will declare their assets as provided for by the law, in accordance with the Bank Employees Declaration of Assets Act. “The EFCC, come June 1, 2021, will be demanding the asset declaration forms filled by the bankers so that the line that we have drawn from June 1 is really complied with by bankers in particular.” In an action backing the EFCC’s move, the House of Representatives recently passed for second reading a bill to make it compulsory for workers in the banking, insurance and pension industries to declare their assets. The proposed law will also bar staff members of banks and other financial institutions from operating accounts outside the shores of Nigeria. Their spouses and children may also be mandated to declare their assets when a bill presently at the House becomes law. Also, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation would also be stripped of the responsibility to keep records of declared assets by Nigeria Customs Service and bank workers, and transfer it to the relevant regulator of each industry. In an earlier move, the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2016 ordered workers in all the 19 Deposit Money Banks in the country to declare their assets in an anti-corruption crusade in the banking industry. However, some bank directors who spoke to one of our correspondents on Friday

Post Date : June 20, 2021

Obaseki demolishes loyalist hotel in Benin

RESIDENTS of Adeyan Street, GRA, Benin City, were thrown into confusion, following the alleged demolition of almost completed hotel by Governor Godwin Obaseki. Our Correspondents report that the hotel, which was said to be owned by one of the die-hard supporters of Governor Godwin Obaseki, Mr Victor Ighile, popularly known as Mojo, was brought down despite the lamentations of residents of the area and passers-by. A sympathiser who spoke to our Correspondents, said; “Mojo is one of the key supporters of Governor Obaseki. Mojo spent his personal money running into millions of naira to ensure the reelection of the Governor for a second term in office”. The sympathiser who pleaded anonymity, said; “Mojo is one of the major sponsors and influencers of Governor Obaseki home and diaspora loyalists. “We had expected that Governor Obaseki would find a way to compensate Mojo. Little did we know that his hotel would be demolished by Governor Obaseki whom he worked hard for during his second term campaigns”. Another sympathiser, who also does not want his name in print, spoke in the same vein, describing Governor Godwin Obaseki’s action as disheartening. He added that; “Edo people are surprised and still in shock that the Governor could do this to his strong supporter.” As at the time of filing this report, effort was still being made to reach the Government and the owner of the hotel for comments on the matter.

Post Date : June 20, 2021

Sickle cell: Nigeria ranked highest globally – Minister

By Moses Emorinken, Abuja Relevant stakeholders and sickle cell survivors have advocated for an increase in awareness about sickle cell disorder, the elimination of negative notions associated with it, and the urgent need for intending couples to know their genotypes before getting married. Disclosing that Nigeria is currently ranked as highest burdened by sickle cell disease globally, ahead of Democratic Republic of Congo and India, they urged school owners, religious, traditional and community leaders to include talks on sickle cell disease and genotype testing in their programmes to break the painful and agonising cycle of raising children with the disease. The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, speaking at an event to commemorate this year’s World Sickle Cell Day with theme: ‘Shine the Light on Sickle Cell,’ said: “Nigeria currently has the highest burden of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) in the whole world ahead of Democratic Republic of Congo and India, with an estimated 25 percent of her adult population being carriers of defective S-gene. “WHO in 2015 estimated that 2 percent of new-borns in Nigeria are affected by sickle cell anemia, giving a total of about 150,000 affected children born every year. About 50 percent to 80 percent of the estimated 150,000 infants born yearly with SCD in Nigeria die before the age of five years and those that manage to survive suffer end-organs damage which shortens their lifespan including stroke. “The 2021 World Sickle Cell Day commemoration gives us a unique opportunity to raise awareness about the increasing burden of SCD and eliminate the negative notion associated with it as well as building synergy with civil society organisations, international institutions and development partners towards the prevention, control and management of SCD in Nigeria.” A sickle cell survivor and founder of Beulah Sickle Cell Foundation, Mrs. Josephine Olunaike, made these known in her lecture during the official launch of the book: “I’m a survivor: the story of my triumph over sickle cell pains,” by Mallam Shehu Mohammed, at the weekend in Abuja. She said: “It is important that everybody in the country knows their genotype. Therefore, we must educate to eradicate. If we don’t educate and increase awareness we are still going to be moving in this cycle. Concerning genotype testing, some do not know about it, some cannot afford it, and some will not go to the hospital just to have this test done. We must therefore attempt to use our financial capabilities to support free genotype testing.” In his address, a sickle cell survivor, Mohammed, said: “Sickle cell patients on their part are still lacking adequate information on how to take care of themselves so that they could at least reduce the negative impact of this disorder on their well-being. The society on its part still lacks the necessary empathy and understanding to sickle-cell warriors. This explains why warriors are greatly discriminated against in the job market and in society generally.

Post Date : June 20, 2021

Banditry: Nine Kebbi pupils, teachers rescued, three dead, 90 still missing

Seventy-two hours after bandits attacked the Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State, 10 persons comprising 94 pupils, four teaching and four other non-academic staff members were kidnapped, Sunday PUNCH can report. A source told our correspondent that the majority of the kidnapped students are SS1 and SS2 pupils who were in the middle of taking their end-of-term test. Three students, one each from Kamba, Kebbi; Wushishi and Anaba in Niger State have been confirmed dead, while nine, including eight students and a teacher, have been rescued. Governor Atiku Bagudu, who visited the school on Friday to commiserate with the staff and students on behalf of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), said he had received intelligence about bandits’ activity weeks in advance. He stated, “About two weeks ago, there was news of bandits’ movement and they were sighted around this area. We consulted with the federal authorities here, who told us that the school had about two weeks to finish its term examinations. “It was agreed that if security could be reinforced and stationed in the school, it was better to support the children to finish their examinations before going home. This abduction was a brazen and tragic incident where bandits confronted the policemen who were providing security to the school. “Unfortunately, they made away with some students and teachers. Since this unfortunate incident occurred, all hands have been on the deck to ensure that these children and staff of ours are rescued alive, hale and hearty.” Bagudu also expressed delight that the Commissioner of Police had deployed a 22-man team of the Special Anti-Terrorism Task Force to the school. He said, “The security agents were around even during the attack. They deserve commendation for their gallant efforts, while trying to repel the attack. Unfortunately, they were overpowered because the bad elements came in their hundreds.”

Post Date : June 19, 2021

NLC leaders were paid to organise protest against my Govt – El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has alleged that, members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) were paid from Abuja to organise the recent protest against his government’s rightsizing exercise. El-Rufai stated categorically that, he knows those who gave the labour leaders money, to organise the protest and he will soon expose them. The Governor who declared the protest which shutdown electricity and other sectors of the economy in the State as illegal, therefore dared the labour movement to come to Kaduna for protest. NLC was in Kaduna to protest against the planned mass sack of workers by the state government under the rightsizing exercise. El-Rufai who stated this in a radio interview in Kaduna on Thursday night said, his government cannot continue to spend over 80 per cent of its income on payment of salaries. The Nation had reported that, the labour movement commenced a five day warning strike in Kaduna State, during which supply of petroleum products, electricity and other social services were cut off from the State. The protesting labour members were on the second day of the protest attacked at the popular NEPA roundabout and the protest was distrupted. However, the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity intervened on the third day by inviting the labour and the state government to negotiation table, a condition which made the labour leaders to suspend the strike. Meanwhile, Governor El-Rufai in the Hausa radio chat said, his government was yet to lay off any worker under the rightsizing exercise, except for political appointees 99 of whom he has sacked. He said it was easier to verify the documents and certificates of the political appointees, but he has to take his time to study those of the civil servants to avoid making any mistake. According to him, “We know what happened, the NLC were paid from Abuja to come to Kaduna and protest and we know who gave them money, we will soon expose them.” He said the NLC staged the protest without any concrete evidence that the state had retrenched public servants inappropriately. “Everything the NLC said was a lie, the state government did not sack any civil servant. In fact as I speak to you now, the state government is screening the credentials of the over 30,000 civil servants in the state. It is based on that that we are going to releive those we find guilty of their employment. “Some civil servant have fake certificates, some are using other people’s certificates. We are checking all that and when we finish we will do away with them. So what the NLC is saying about the state is wrong,” he said. Governor El-Rufai however reiterated his threat to prosecute all those who participated in the NLC protest.

Post Date : June 19, 2021

UAE Lifts Travel Ban On Nigeria As Emirates Resumes Flights

The United Arab Emirates has finally lifted the travel ban on Nigeria, paving the way for the resumption of flights between the two countries. Flights were suspended since March following a diplomatic row between the two over the COVID-19 rapid antigen test introduced by the UAE government in addition to the negative PCR test requirement stipulated by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The UAE flag carrier, Emirates, which suspended its flight since March, has now announced resumption from June 23rd. This followed the updating of the travel protocols by the Dubai Disaster Management Committee which finally removed the rapid antigen test and said passengers from Nigeria would only be required to possess negative PCR test. Emirates Airline, in a statement, welcomed the latest protocols and measures announced by Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management to allow the safe resumption of passenger travel from South Africa, Nigeria and India to Dubai. “We look forward to facilitating travel from these countries and supporting various travellers’ categories. “We will resume carrying passengers from South Africa, Nigeria and India in accordance with these protocols from 23rd June. “We thank the Supreme Committee for their continuous efforts in monitoring the development of the situation and announcing the appropriate guidelines and protocols to protect the community and safeguard the travel sector.”

Post Date : June 19, 2021

10 killed in fresh Benue/Ebonyi communal conflict

No fewer than 10 persons were feared dead in a renewed bloody clash between the bordering communities of Ezza and Effium in Ado Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue State and Ohaukwu LGA of Ebonyi State. Chairman of Ado LGA, James Oche who confirmed the fresh crisis and the death of 10 persons condemned the communal conflict which erupted on Friday lamenting that the crisis had undervalued the peace his administration was working assiduously to achieve. He appealed to the Ezza and Effium people to immediately sheath their swords and embrace peace even as he commiserated with the families of those who lost loved ones. Relatedly, the Chairman also disclosed that the Police and the newly formed Community Volunteer Guards in the local government were able to rescue three persons allegedly abducted by suspected herdsmen in the area. Oche disclosed that some armed kidnappers suspected to be herdsmen had on Thursday laid siege on the road between Utonkon and Okpoga and stopped a Lagos bound commercial vehicle from Oju LGA and took five persons hostage. He said, “Operation Puff Adder Police Unit and the newly formed Community Volunteer Guards in Ado LGA successfully confronted the group of Fulani kidnappers and secured the release of three of five persons abducted. When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Catherine Anene when contacted said she was going to get the details of the incidents from the Divisional Police Office in Ado.