The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to immediately invite Senator Ahmad Muhammad Bulkachuwa for interrogation and proceed to prosecute him accordingly. This comes after Bulkachuwa’s disclosure that his wife, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, “extended help” to some politicians during her time as President of the Court of Appeal between April 2014 and March 2020. The NBA, in a statement by its President, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, on Wednesday, noted that the viral video clip of the comments made by the senator were clearly admissions that he did attempt to and/or actually perverted the course of justice/interfered with due administration of justice, which makes him liable to be investigated and prosecuted even on his admission. The association also said “that this came with a huge negative impact on the integrity and the independence of the Judiciary can only be an understatement”. While reiterating the Bar’s commitment to the maintenance and defence of the integrity of the judiciary, Maikayau insisted that the Bar would not hesitate to take on anyone, either within or outside the legal profession, who takes steps or makes statements that are capable of undermining the independence of the judiciary and the impartiality judicial processes. The NBA president also said that at the 102nd meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC) held earlier on Wednesday, he took the liberty of his membership of the council to complain about the “rather disgusting and despicable conduct of Senator Bulkachuwa, which was a direct attack on the integrity of the Judiciary. He also said that the NJC condemned the actions of the Senator in the strongest terms as an affront on the integrity and independence of the Judiciary. Find below the full statement of the NBA President:   STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION, MR YAKUBU CHONOKO MAIKYAU, OON, SAN, ON THE COMMENTS BY SENATOR ADAMU MUHAMMAD BULKACHUWA ON THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE ON MONDAY, 12 JUNE 2023 14 June 2023 My attention was drawn to a viral video clip on the social media, of the comments made by Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa on the floor of the Senate on Monday, 12 June 2023, at the valedictory session of the Senate of the 9th Assembly, before he was interrupted and stopped by the then Senate President Ahmed Lawan. Senator Bulkachuwa, in his remarks, amongst other things, referred to “confidential dealings” he had had with some of his colleagues in the Senate, and went on to say: “I look at faces in this chamber whom have come to me and sought for my help when my wife was the President of the Court of Appeal, and I’m sure… In his concluding remarks, he said: And I must thank particularly, my wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while she was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment, and extended her help to my colleagues…” All these were amidst several interjections by the Senate President. Probably, if the Senate President had not interrupted Senator Bulkachuwa, he would have made more vital/useful revelations that would have provided specific details of the “confidential dealings of one sort or the other” he allegedly had with some of his colleagues in which according to him, “I did my best and in most cases I succeeded”. Notwithstanding however, given the office held by his wife which he clearly mentioned in his remarks, no one would be left in doubt as to the sort of help he either succeeded or did not succeed in securing for his colleagues, with whom he had since become good friends and still remain good friends. These colleagues, according to him, only “thanked me for what I have done with words of mouth, that was all.” The statements were clearly admissions by the Senator, that he did attempt to, and/or actually perverted the course of justice/interfered with due administration of justice, which makes him liable to be investigated and prosecuted even on his admission. That this came with a huge negative impact on the integrity and the independence of the Judiciary can only be an understatement. At the 102nd meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC) held today, 14 June 2023, I took the liberty of my membership of the Council to complain about the rather disgusting and despicable conduct of Senator Bulkachuwa, which was a direct attack on the integrity of the Judiciary. The NJC condemned the actions of the Senator in the strongest terms as an affront on the integrity and independence of the Judiciary. I made it clear to the Council that, while the NBA will at all times rise to the defence of the honour, integrity and independence of the judiciary, we shall not hesitate to take on anyone, either within or outside the legal profession, who takes steps or makes statements that are capable of undermining the independence of the judiciary and the impartiality judicial processes. It is in this regard that I call on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to immediately invite Senator Ahmad Muhammad Bulkachuwa for interrogation and proceed to prosecute him accordingly. I shall write a letter to both the IGP and the ICPC Chairman in this respect. We reiterate our commitment to the maintenance and defence of the integrity and independence of the Judiciary in Nigeria, within the bounds of the law, irrespective of the personalities involved. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN PRESIDENT Watch the video of Bulkachuwa making the revelation here:

  The Federal Government, on Wednesday, announced that an inter-ministerial committee had been set up to fine-tune the Student Loan bill that was signed recently by President Bola Tinubu. The committee, which will meet on Tuesday, is expected to work together and ensure that the disbursement of the student loans starts by September 2023 for the 2023/2024 academic session. The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, who disclosed these to journalists at a press conference in Abuja, said higher institutions cannot introduce tuition fees because of the introduction of the loan scheme. According to him, the institutions are not autonomous. Committee meets “The President has approved the constitution of an inter-ministerial committee on student loans made up of the necessary ministries and agencies. The inaugural meeting will come up on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. The President has also directed that by September/October 2023/2024 academic session, he wants to see recipients of the loan. So it’s a serious business. “Between now and then, we have to fine-tune the processes. The loan purpose is for the beneficiary to finish an education programme. The recovery doesn’t start until you get employed. The committee has been given specific terms of reference. “Without trying to say what the committee will do, we don’t want to make it something that only people who want to go to public schools will benefit from. Anybody that is indigent can benefit. Private schools already pay tuition so you have to give somebody who wants to go to a private school the opportunity to get the loan and pay tuition,” Adejo stated. Reacting to reports on the introduction of tuition fees, the permanent secretary noted that Federal Government-owned universities lacked the financial autonomy to introduce tuition fees at the moment. “Government alone cannot foot the bill for education and that is why we are doing public-private partnerships. Universities are autonomous but what they don’t have yet is financial autonomy. When they get that, they will be able to answer the questions on the introduction of tuition,” he stated. Meanwhile, a committee made up of representatives of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigerian Bar Association, Vice Chancellors Forum of Nigerian Universities, rectors of polytechnics, provosts of colleges of education, Ministries of Education, Finance, among others, will be part of the board of the Student Loan Fund. According to the Act, which was sighted by our correspondent in Abuja, it was stated, “The committee shall consist of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as the Chairman; the Secretary of the Fund, who shall be appointed by the Chairman; the Minister responsible for Education; the Chairman, National Universities Commission; a representative of Vice-Chancellors forum of all Nigeria Universities; a representative of the Rectors forums of all Nigerian Polytechnics and Provosts forum of all Colleges of Education in Nigeria; the Minister responsible for Finance or his representative; the Auditor-General for the Federation; a representative of the Nigerian Labour Congress; a representative of the Nigerian Bar Association; and a representative of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.” On the source of funding, it was stated that “The sources of the Fund shall consist of education bonds; education endowment fund schemes; one percent of all taxes, levels, and duties accruing to the government of the federation from Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, and Nigerian Customs Service; one percent of all profits accruing to the government of the federation arising from oil and other minerals; all sums accruing to the Fund by way of donations, gifts, grant, endowment or otherwise; and other revenue accruing to the Fund from any other source.” The Vice-Chancellor, Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti, Prof Olufemi Adeoluwa, hailed the new Students Loan Act, saying it would be a respite for students, particularly the indigent ones. Adeoluwa said, “In some climes outside Nigeria, in the United Kingdom for example, a lot of university students run on loans, which they pay back gradually after their graduation after they have secured employment. That will go a long way to assist a lot of students.”

  Thursday 15 June 2023 Currency floating: Private sector, economists back CBN as naira falls to 664/$ No division in Akeredolu’s cabinet, states acting gov Tinubu projects 500,000 jobs with Data Protection Law APC slams Amnesty for blaming killings on Tinubu Tinubu Suspends EFCC Chairman Bawa Over Alleged Abuse Of Office DSS Invites Suspended EFCC Chairman Bawa NBA Asks IGP, ICPC To Probe, Prosecute Senator Bulkachuwa Tinubu Should Have Recognised Atiku, Obi In Democracy Day Speech – Bwala Imo Was In The Cemetery When I Assumed Office, I Exhumed It – Uzodimma Subsidy Removal: Tinubu Planning Distribution Of Cheap Fuel, Says NNPC Boss G5 Members Backed Akpabio, Abbas’ Election As NASS Leaders – Wike Why I Contested Speakership Against APC’s Preferred Candidate — Wase Prepare For Impending Flood Disasters, Reps Warn FG, States Revenue From Rail Drops By 60% As Passenger Traffic Plunges To .5m In Q1 ASUU Tasks Tinubu On Averting Industrial Action ‘There’re pregnant women among pilgrims airlifted to Saudi’ — NAHCON raises alarm NAFDAC raids ‘Baban Aisha’ local herbal medicine factory, seizes equipment Students’ Loan: ASUU, ASUP say no to tuition fee hike Why cases of child labour is increasing in Nigeria — NLC Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…

  President Tinubu on Wednesday night suspended the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, AbdulRasheed Bawa. The suspension is to allow for a proper investigation into his conduct while in office following some weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him by some stakeholders in the anti-corruption fight. Upon his suspension, Bawa was directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the agency’s Director of Operations, Mohammed Umar Abba, who will oversee the affairs of the office of the EFCC Chairman. Here are six things to know about the acting EFCC chairman: 1. Mohammed Umar Abba was born on June 22, 1965, in Tudunwada Local Government Area of Kano State. 2. Abba bagged his first degree from Bayero University, Kano. He did his one-year national service at the old Anambra State Police Command and later got enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force. He attended the Nigeria Police Academy, Kaduna State, where he was commissioned in 1992. 3. CP Abba was seconded to the Commission in January 2016 to head the Counterterrorism and General Investigations, CTGI, Section at the Headquarters in Abuja. 4. He was appointed the Director of Operations of the Commission in 2017. 5. In 2019, he was promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Police. 6. On July 9, 2020, Abba stepped in as the Acting Chairman of the Commission, being the most senior operational officer when the former chairman, Ibrahim Magu, was suspended.

  Edwin Clark, convener of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), has alleged that Ifeanyi Okowa, former governor of Delta, misappropriated the state’s derivative fund amounting to N1.760 trillion. Clark said he had written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the involvement of Okowa in the floating of Premium Bank, which he allegedly used to lodge all the derivation funds. Clark, who spoke in an interview on Wednesday, said the former governor “autocratically mismanaged the funds”. He added that Okowa sidelined the Delta state oil producing areas development commission (DESOPADEC). DESOPADEC is an interventionist agency established to manage a 13 percent oil derivation fund to drive infrastructural development of the oil-producing communities in the state. “Okowa said he had been spending the money. Their answer was that they spent N5 billion on paying pensioners. How does that come under 13 percent?” Clark asked. “And they also spent the money building a university in Okowa’s village. I mentioned in the letter [to the EFCC] that Okowa has 13 companies. I told him he put the 13 percent (derivation funds) into these 13 companies and let him deny it. “The one paid to Delta state came to N1.767 trillion. Instead of paying 50 percent (of the N1.760 trillion) to the DESOPADEC as provided by the law, which is automatic, he now held the 13 percent fund — the entire money, dishing out instalmentally and approving every contract the DESOPADEC had awarded. “So, Okowa has embezzled our money. It’s not even accounted for in his annual budget.”

  Yet-to-be-identified gunmen have abducted seven students of the University of Jos. DSP Alfred Alabo, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Police Command in Plateau State, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Jos. According to Alabo, the students were abducted on Monday night at their hostel located outside the campus. He explained that the students were whisked away while reading for their second-semester examinations that commenced on Tuesday.   ”It is true that seven students of the University of Jos were abducted by some criminal elements. ”They were picked up on Monday at about 8:30pm at their hostel, along Bauchi ring road in Jos North Local Government Area. ”The Commissioner of Police in the state, Bartholomew Onyeka, has deployed armed police personnel to arrest the kidnappers and ensure the safe release of the abducted students. ”Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), and other security agencies have also deployed their personnel for search and rescue operations,” he said. Alabo advised students and residents of the area to be calm, insisting that security agencies were working assiduously toward ensuring the safe return of the abducted students. (NAN)

  The Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, on Wednesday, said the subnational was in a state of disrepair when he assumed office on January 15, 2020.   “Given the situation in Imo State before 2020 when I became the governor and the situation of Imo State today, 2023, three years after, a lot of things are there for people to now know that there is a huge difference,” Uzodimma said during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today. “When I came to Imo State, I met a moribund state, a state that was in distress. A state, I can even say, that was in the cemetery; I exhumed the body. “Can you imagine a state where I came as the governor and everybody absconded? No handover note. There was no compass for me to navigate the aircraft.” According to the governor, after harvesting information from “official and unofficial quarters,” he was able to establish a nominal roll. Uzodimma added that he “re-established” the civil service, created a payroll, and began to rehabilitate all the infrastructure which he described as dilapidated. “The infrastructure deficit was so huge, all the roads were not motorable, all the hospitals were not working. I started,” he said. READ ALSO: Don’t Relent In Your Prayers For Akeredolu, Deputy Urges Ondo People As the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, the governor is seeking re-election in the state’s governorship election scheduled for November 11, 2023. Other candidates include Samuel Anyawu (PDP), Senator Athan Achonu (Labour Party), Anthony Ejiogu (All Progressives Grand Alliance), and Ikenga Okere (Accord Party).

  Clockwise from bottom left: Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and the G5 The immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, says all members of the G5 supported the emergence of Godswill Akpabio and Tajudeen Abbas as the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives. The G5 refers to a group of five former and incumbent governors who rejected Atiku Abubakar as the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election over the party’s zoning arrangement. They include Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, as well as former governors Wike, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), and Okezie Ikpeaz (Abia). Their seeming alliance between them and President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress has drawn scrutiny and speculation as to possible defections. At a media briefing in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, the former Rivers governor said the election of Akpabio from the South-South as the president of the Senate is “a clear testimony that Nigerians are interested in the unity of the country”.   Wike stated that, by the result, President Bola Tinubu has equally proven that he will not allow the country to be polarised.   Describing Akpabio as qualified and experienced, he argued that the Senate President would not lead a “rubber stamp” assembly. “I don’t believe that Akpabio will be rubber stamped. I also supported him because he equally supported me when I was running for governorship,” Wike said.   “Akpabio is a competent, qualified and educated person. He is an orator who can represent this country anywhere. What other qualifications do you want? “Rivers state and the G5 Governors all supported Akpabio because we couldn’t stop our support midway.” According to him, his interest was not about a political party, but the nation, therefore his party, the PDP, cannot query him for his stance. Wike advised Akpabio and Abbas not to fail Nigerians by being “rubber stamped”, but also added that they should not fight with the President.   He noted that not fighting with the President does not mean being a “rubber stamped” assembly.

  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday informed all authorised dealers and the general public of immediate changes to operations in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) Market. See the full statement below: