metro
#EndSARS protester who testified before Lagos panel ‘stabbed by hoodlums’
Kamsichukwu Ibeh, an #EndSARS protester who testified before the Lagos judicial panel on police brutality, has been stabbed by suspected hoodlums.
She was said to have been attacked on Sunday evening in the Sangotedo area of Lagos while she was heading home from work.
Ibeh testified before the Lagos panel on November 21, 2020 regarding the Lekki tollgate shooting.
In a video seen by TheCable, Ibeh, who had machete cuts on her hands and parts of her body, was seen crying as she narrated how she was attacked.
“Last night, I was attacked on my way back from TNS by the three guys who I thought were passersby,” she said.
Ibeh said while she was at the bus stop, the men identified her as the “girl from the panel”.
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“He said if they kill me, they will see how I will continue to agitate for justice. They started cutting me like I am a thief,” she said.
Adesina Ogunlana, a lawyer and human rights activist who represented Ibeh at the judicial panel, said her attackers came “with identity and with purpose”. The lawyer said Ibeh was attacked because of her testimony.
Ogunlana, the former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, said the incident is an attempt to silence protesters.
“Yesterday night, enemies of the #EndSARS movement and protest launched a murderous attack on one of the leaders of the movement, Kamsichukwu Ibeh,” she said.
“The attackers were not criminals who came to rob her of personal effects, neither were they rapists. The criminals came with identity and with purpose.
“As they were macheting and cutting her the three assailants said, ‘we know you. Since you #EndSARS people have been warned to stop and you didn’t, when you die, go and continue in heaven’.
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“They inflicted serious matchet cuts on her and left her for dead. That Kamsi is still alive is only by the grace of God.”
Earlier on Monday, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa had alleged that there is a threat to his life over the report of the Lagos judicial panel.
Adegboruwa, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was a member of the panel.
Last Monday, the panel submitted two documents — a consolidated report on cases of police brutality and another on the Lekki shooting incident — to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of the state.
In the 309-page report which was leaked to the public, the panel said the “killing of unarmed protesters by soldiers on October 20, 2020 could be described in the context of a massacre”.
The report has elicited mixed reactions — with some persons commending the panel while others pointed out errors in the document.
The Cable
metro
BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year
BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year
The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.
Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.
Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.
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According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).
The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.
BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year
metro
EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud
EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.
Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.
“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.
Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.
Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.
The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.
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“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.
Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.
Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.
There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.
FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.
A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.
The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.
Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.
EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud
metro
Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27
Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.
The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.
At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.
“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.
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He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.
Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.
The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.
After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.
“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.
Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.
The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.
Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27
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