News
FG expects additional £100m Ibori loot
- Delta, Falana tackles FG over loot use
The Federal Government is expecting over £100m (N527bn) allegedly stolen by a former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, and his associates, Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has said.
He said this Tuesday night on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
Delta State Government has said it will challenge at the Supreme Court the move by the Federal Government to take over recovered £4.2m Ibori loot that the United Kingdom promised to release to Nigeria.
Malami also said $100m traced to the late Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, was being expected.
He said, “As it is we have succeeded in recovering £4.2m from the UK. We are still pursuing other assets even as it relates to the Ibori assets.
“The quantum of the amount involved was within the region of over £100m (N2.2bn) and it is out of it that we have succeeded in recovering a fraction of £4.2m and we are still pursuing an additional sum within the region of £100m (N527bn) and that will be a function of conviction and subsequent recovery process.”
The AGF said the money would not be handed over to the Delta State Government because the crime that led to the diversion of the funds was a federal one.
He further argued that one of the conditions for the UK repatriating the Ibori loot was that the money must be tied to certain federal projects which were gien as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Abuja-Kano rail and the Second Niger Bridge and a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed between both parties.
However, human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), described Malami’s position as faulty.
Falana said funds stolen from the Bayelsa State Government years ago were returned to the state government.
He said this was what also happened in the case of Joshua Dariye, a former Governor of Plateau State who was convicted for diverting state funds.
The senior advocate said giving the Ibori loot to the Federal Government was at variance with Section 162 of the constitution.
Falana said, “The £4.2m does not belong to the Federal Government. The money confiscated from Governor Joshua Dariye in the United Kingdom was recovered by the Federal Government, repatriated to Nigeria and returned to the Plateau State Government.
“The money confiscated from Governor DSP Alamieyesigha in the UK was recovered by the Federal Government, repatriated to Nigeria and remitted to the Account of Bayelsa State Government.
“Since what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander the sum of £4.2m confiscated from Governor James Ibori in the United Kingdom and recovered by the Federal Government has to be remitted to the Account of the Delta State Government.”
Delta has rejected the plan by the Federal Government to use the recovered loot for the construction of the Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road, and the Lagos-Ibadan road.
The state’s Commissioner for Information, Ehiedu Aniagwu, said the proposed use of the recovered loot (£4.2m) by the FG was injustice to the government and people of Delta.
He said, “We would try to get take advantage of the legal system to make the federal government correct the injustice they are about to visit on us as a state.
“If they are quite sure that the funds they are about to repatriate left Delta State on account of those who have governed the state in the past, on what basis would they now take the money to another place? Under which law?”
News
Late COAS Lagbaja gets CFR honour, buried amid tributes
Late COAS Lagbaja gets CFR honour, buried amid tributes
The late Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja, was on Friday laid to rest in Abuja, amid tears and tributes.
President Bola Tinubu conferred a posthumous award of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) on the late Chief of Army Staff.
The burial took place at the National Cemetery in Abuja to end two days of funeral rites that began in Lagos earlier in the week.
His body was lowered into the grave at exactly 4:41pm after the ceremony that lasted over two hours.
Lagbaja’s casket, draped in Nigeria’s green and white colours, arrived at the cemetery around 3pm in a white funeral wagon after a funeral service at the National Christian Centre in Abuja.
Dignitaries were led to the event by President Bola Tinubu. Others are Vice President Kashim Shettima; the Acting Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Olufemi Oluyede; the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa; Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru, and other top government officials and military brass.
President Tinubu announced the conferment of the CFR on the late COAS during the interment at the National Cemetery in Abuja.
The President extolled the virtues of the late warrior, especially his contributions to national security.
According to him, the appointment of Lagbaja as the COAS was one of his finest made so far.
“As an eternal symbol of our appreciation, I have granted the late Chief of Army Staff, the posthumous national honour of the Commander of the Federal Republic of the Niger (CFR),” Tinubu declared.
He thereafter invited the wife of the late COAS, Mariya, to collect the award on behalf of the Lagbaja family amid applause from the congregation.
News
Supreme Court dismisses 16 govs suit challenging EFCC legality
Supreme Court dismisses 16 govs suit challenging EFCC legality
The Supreme Court has dismissed the suit by 16 states challenging the constitutionality of the acts establishing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and two others.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the other agencies are the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
In the lead judgment by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji delivered on Friday, the Supreme Court resolved the six issues raised for determination in the suit against the plaintiffs.
The court held that the laws establishing the anti-corruption agencies were validly enacted by the National Assembly within its legislative competence.
It faulted the claim by the plaintiffs that the EFCC Act, being a product of the United Nations convention on corruption, ought to be ratified by majority of the state houses of assembly.
Delivering judgement on Friday, Justice Abba-Aji ruled that “the EFCC Act, which was not established from a treaty but a convention, does not need the ratification of the houses of assembly.”
News
Executive Secretary FCDA Hadi Ahmad suspended indefinitely
Executive Secretary FCDA Hadi Ahmad suspended indefinitely
Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority FCDA, Engr. Shehu Hadi Ahmad, has been suspended indefinitely.
His suspicion was on the order of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to the Minister, Lere Olayinka, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday evening.
No reason was given for the suspension.
Ahmad was directed to hand over to the Director, Engineering Services in the FCDA.
The statement read: “The Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority FCDA, Engr. Shehu Hadi Ahmad, has been suspended indefinitely.
“According to a statement on Thursday, by Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, the suspension of Engr Hadi Ahmad is with immediate effect.
“The suspended Executive Secretary has consequently been directed to hand over to the Director of Engineering Services, Engr in the FCDA.”
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