The African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr Akinwuni Adesina, says corruption is not an African issue. Adesina said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday. According to him, what is important is to continue to improve transparency, accountability and the use of public resources. “The global financial crisis that brought the world down in 2008, that was not in Africa. We have no Wall Street. That collapse came from greed, from corruption, from fraud. “You have people cooking the books that are in the financial industry in Europe, not in Africa. Corruption is not an African issue. “The issue is that is not to say that there’s none. What you have to do is to continue to improve transparency, accountability and the use of public resources.” According to Adesin, he discovered during his first visit to Eritrea that the country has zero per cent corruption record. “During my first visit to Eritrea, I was talking to UN Development Programme staff. You know what they told me? That, in Eritrea, corruption is zero per cent. “Why do we not talk about that? That’s the kind of thing that we want to do. For us as a development bank, we take good governance very seriously. “As far as I am concerned, people’s resources do not belong in other people’s pockets. Governments must be accountable to their people,” he said. According to the AfDB boss, there has to be transparency on how resources are acquired and used. That’s why we have a governance programme. He said:“when you get money from us, we also support you technically. You are accounting for those resources. “I don’t want to minimise that Africa has a significant amount of illicit capital flows; it does anything between 80 billion and 100 billlion dollars a year. “ But guess what? Those that are doing that are the multinational companies. And so what we have got to do is bring a searchlight to that.” On how Africa could improve its position in the global value chain, Adesina expressed sadness about the continent’s constant position at the bottom of the value chain. According to him, the fastest way to poverty is through exporting raw materials, but the highway to wealth is through global value chains.

  Suspected thieves have reportedly raided the palace of the Olu of Ogunmakin town in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba James Sodiya, carting away his crown and staff of office. It was learnt that the hoodlums broke into the palace of the late monarch, who passed away about two months ago, on Thursday. Police spokesperson in the state, Omolola Odutola, confirmed the incident to journalists in Abeokuta on Saturday. Odutola, however, hinted that the police had arrested three suspects in connection with the crime. Odutola, who described the act as an abomination, said the police had recovered the crown but still searching for the staff of office. “On the 12th of October 2023, an intelligence was received from the palace of his Royal Majesty late Ogunmakin that one Amusa Kazeem, Oke Oladipupo and Johnson Oluwole conspired and stole the royal crown and the staff of office two months after the demise of king of Ogunmakin. “The suspects were alleged to have entered into the house at about 2:00 hours where the property of the late king was kept. “The trio took the key where it was kept in the custody of the person assigned to keep the property and removed the royal crown and the staff of office of the late king, an act described as an abomination. “Immediately the information was received, the police swung into action and recovered the royal crown from the house of one Kazeem Amusan. “The staff of office has not been recovered, but intensive action is on going to recover same. The suspects have been arrested and are under going interrogation”, the police spokesperson said. She said the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu, appealed to members of the public to volunteer information that could lead to the recovery of the staff of office.

  Alex Ogunshakin, a Nigerian, has been extradited to the United States of America over alleged $6 million fraud. In June 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declared Ogunshakin and five other Nigerians wanted for “their involvement in business email compromise (BEC) schemes resulting in over $6 million in losses”. The FBI had posted pictures of the six Nigerians on its X (formerly known as Twitter) account, describing them as “cyber most wanted”. Other Nigerians declared wanted alongside Ogunshakin are Uzuh Richard, Felix Okpoh, Micheal Olorunyomi, Benson Nnamdi and Abiola Kayode. THE INDICTMENT According to the FBI, Ogunshakin allegedly provided the bank accounts used to receive fraudulent wire transfers. The suspect was said to have sent spoofed emails to businesses used to solicit the transfers. In 2019, he was indicted in the US district court in Nebraska on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Subsequently, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest. The alleged fraud was said to have been committed from January 2015 to September 2016. THE EXTRADITION In May 2020, the US government asked the Nigerian government to extradite Ogunshakin over the alleged fraud. Subsequently, the suspect was arrested and he was recently extradited to the US. In a statement, the US department of justice said the suspect appeared before Michael Nelson, a US magistrate judge, on September 29, 2023. The judge ordered the remand of Ogunshakin in prison pending the completion of the trial. The US DOJ said some of Ogunshakin’s co-conspirators had been convicted and sentenced. “Adewale Aniyeloye, one of the fraudsters sending the spoofed e-mails to the target business, was sentenced in February 2019 to 96 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $1,570,938.05 in restitution,” the statement reads. “Pelumi Fawehinimi, a bank account facilitator, was sentenced in March 2019 to 72 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $1,014,159.60 in restitution. “Onome Ijomone, a romance scammer, was sentenced in January 2020 to 60 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $508,934.40 in restitution after his successful extradition from Poland. Other co-conspirators remain at large.”

  The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has been appointed as the Chairman of the African Governors’ Forum of the World Bank. The African Governors’ Forum is a platform for African finance ministers and central bank governors to engage with the World Bank on issues of mutual interest. The African Caucus was established in 1963 to strengthen the voice of African Governors. A statement by the Federal Ministry of Finance on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, said that this marks the first time Nigeria has assumed the role of Chairman in 60 years. It said: ‘’World Bank Appointment: Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Mr. Wale Edun has been appointed to Chair the African Governors’ Forum of the World Bank.   “This marks the first time Nigeria has assumed the role of Chairman in 60 years. ’The appointment presents a unique opportunity for Nigeria and the implementation of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.’’ According to the IMF’s guiding principles for the caucus, the forum’s Chairman is determined by rotation based on the alphabetical order of African countries. This system ensures that each country takes its turn to lead the group, preventing one nation from chairing the forum twice while others have yet to assume the role.

  The Nigerian Bar Association in Imo State has condemned in strong terms an alleged assault, humiliation, torture and unlawful detention meted out on one of its members, Chigozie Chinaka, by Assistant Commissioner of Police, David Ogenyi, of the Police Area Command in Owerri. Addressing a press conference at the secretariat of the Nigerian Bar Association In Owerri, the Imo State capital, the state chairman of the association, Allinor Ugochukwu, called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to kindly prevail in the matter accordingly and in the meantime suspend ACP David Ogenyi and the concerned officers to guarantee a thorough and unbiased investigation. The victim, Chigozie Chinaka, who narrated what transpired between him and the police to journalists, alleged that he was beaten to a pulp and stripped naked by ACP Ogenyi and some officers of the Owerri Municipal Command in the course of performing his legal duty – seeking the bail of a client who was earlier arrested and detained. Condemning the alleged police brutality and illegal detention of their own, the NBA called on the IGP to wade into the matter and set up an independent panel to investigate the matter. Meanwhile, the Imo State Police Command has described as malicious and untrue the allegations by the lawyer. In an interview with Channels Television, the Public Relations Officer of the Imo State Police Command, Henry Okoye, said the account of the lawyer is a total different version of what transpired. He, however, said that the Commissioner of Police in the state has constituted an investigative panel to look into the matter.

  The Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ahmed Audi, has ordered the immediate deployment of undercover security agents to schools and host communities in the North-West zone and other parts of the country to protect the schools from attacks by bandits and other criminal elements. The Commandant also directed the undercover agents to work in synergy with the states ministries of education and other stakeholders in order to achieve the desired result of ensuring safer schools in the country. He gave the order at the closing ceremony of the capacity building programme for safe schools response team held in Kaduna State on Friday. Over 200 NSCDC personnel, local vigilantes and other stakeholders drawn from the seven states in the North-West geopolitical zone participated in the five-day special training programme under the safe schools initiative handled by the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre. The whole idea is against the backdrop of the prevalent cases of attacks and violence on schools in the northern region in particular and its attendant negative impact on schools and host communities such as the increasing rate of out of school children in the country. The training curriculum reviews the importance of whole- society approach in safe schools project in Nigeria, intelligence gathering mechanism as well as early warning, response mechanism and schools declaration guideline. The National Strategic Plan on Safe Schools Initiative is also designed to mobilise synergy among security agencies, especially in the areas of evidence-based collaboration, coordination and cooperation. For a state that has been fatigued by lingering insecurity posed by terrorists and bandits, the Kaduna State Government said it welcomes all partnerships that will bring about peace and security in the state. The capacity building programme is one in the series of trainings put in place by the national Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre designed to strengthen the resilience of relevant stakeholders towards ensuring adequate protection of schools located in vulnerable communities from attacks by bandits and terrorists

  The Ondo State House Assembly has debunked what it described as “some distorted news story” stating that it had suspended the impeachment of the state Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa. The House said it will carry the impeachment through to a logical conclusion in order to determine the veracity or otherwise of the “monumental allegations of gross misconduct against the Deputy Governor.” In a statement signed by its lawyer, Femi Emodamori on Saturday, the Ondo Assembly noted that it has followed the impeachment processes as provided in the Constitution to the stage where the Chief Judge is required to constitute a 7-man panel to look into the allegations levelled against the Deputy Governor It stated that the Chief Judge replied and stated that he received an ex parte order which the Deputy-Governor secured from the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court on 26th September, 2023, ‘restraining’ his lordship from setting up the Panel, pending when the Court would hear all the parties in the case to determine the merit of the application or the case filed by the Deputy-Governor. The House added that it is promptly taking the necessary legal steps to vacate or quash the order and/or the entire suit at the Federal High Court, in order to untie the hands of the Chief Judge and proceed with the impeachment to a logical conclusion. See full statement below: Our Client, the Ondo State House of Assembly, has brought some distorted news story stating that it had “suspended” the impeachment of the State Deputy Governor, to our attention. The House reaffirmed that it has not “suspended” the impeachment process as inaccurately reported, and will carry same through to a logical conclusion in order to determine the veracity or otherwise of the monumental allegations of gross misconduct against the Deputy Governor. Impeachment is a constitutional process clearly outlined in section 188 (1)-(11) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and our Client has meticulously complied with all the stages leading up to the obligation placed on the State Chief Judge to set up a 7-man Panel to investigate the allegations, as stipulated in Section 188(5) of the Constitution. The notice of allegations of gross misconduct was signed by 11 members of the House and presented to its Speaker on 20th September, 2023 in strict compliance with Section 188(2) of the Constitution, which requires at least one-third of the 26 House members to sign and present the notice to the Speaker. That is the first stage in an impeachment process. The Speaker in turn served the notice on the Deputy Governor on 25th September, 2023, and also caused same to be served on all the other members of the House, in strict compliance with the same Section 188(2) of the Constitution which requires him to do so within seven days.That was the second stage. The third stage, as stated in Section 188(3) of the Constitution, requires two-third majority of the members to pass a motion within 14 days after the notice of allegation(s) of gross misconduct was first presented to the Speaker, for the investigation of the allegation (s) and request the State Chief Judge to set up the 7-man Panel to investigate same. Our Client meticulously complied with the said Section 188(3) of the Constitution. In fact, 23 out of its 26 members (more than the minimum two-third majority required) passed that motion on 3rd October, 2023. Section 188(5) of the Constitution further states that after the motion is passed by the two-third majority, the Speaker should formally request the State Chief Judge to set up the Seven-man Panel. The Speaker diligently complied with this on the same 3rd October when the motion was passed. It was at this stage that His Lordship, the Honourable Chief Judge of Ondo State, replied the House, stating that he received an ex parte Order which the Deputy-Governor secured from the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court on 26th September, 2023, ‘restraining’ his lordship from setting up the Panel, pending when the Court would hear all the parties in the case to determine the merit of the application or the case filed by the Deputy-Governor. For the avoidance of doubt, Section 188(10) of the Constitution clearly states that “The proceedings or determination of the House or Panel or any matter relating to such proceedings or determination shall not be questioned or entertained in any court”, and there are too many judgments of the highest courts in Nigeria affirming that no court has the jurisdiction to dabble into an impeachment process, as long as the House of Assembly complies with all the constitutional process. The Honourable Chief Judge himself stated in his widely reported reply to my Client, that his lordship was not unmindful of the above provisions of Section 188(10) of the Constitution and even quoted it verbatim. His lordship however stated that as a Chief Judge, he would prefer that the ex parte Order, which his lordship believes “tied his hand”, should first be vacated or set aside. The Chief Judge obviously prefers to err on the side of caution. The position of our Client, therefore, and contrary to the inaccurate press report, is that in spite of their reservations about the position of the Honourable Chief Judge in the face of the clear provisions of Section 188(10) of the Constitution and the judgments of the appellate courts stating that no court has the power to question or entertain any matter relating to the impeachment, they would, for now, show sufficient understanding of the delicate position the Hon. Chief Judge has found himself, by promptly taking the necessary legal steps to vacate or quash the order and/or the entire suit at the Federal High Court, in order to untie the hands of his lordship and proceed with the impeachment to a logical conclusion. The general public would recall that a similar suit instituted by the same Deputy Governor on the same subject matter at