NDIC Act has 35 doctored clauses, chairman claims – Newstrends
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NDIC Act has 35 doctored clauses, chairman claims

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Godwin Emefiele and AbdulHakeem Abdullateef

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) alleged yesterday that former President Muhammadu Buhari signed a doctored NDIC bill hours before leaving office.

It said the new law contains 35 sections that were hitherto not in the bill passed by the National Assembly.

The corporation fingered the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) Godwin Emefiele and his cohorts in the NDIC of tampering with the passed bill en route to Buhari for his assent.

NDIC Chairman AbdulHakeem  Abdullateef made the allegations while being featured on a television programme.

Abdullateef stated that the corporation has, under the new law, been stripped of its independence as it now has to seek the approval of the CBN before discharging some of its duties.

“A crime has been committed. Only President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will tell us who is to be investigated,” he said.

Under the new Act, NDIC can no longer monitor and supervise banks. It is left with only the duty of checking the books of banks after getting the CBN’s nod.

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Besides, the  Act removes the powers of the President to appoint the Managing Director or Executive Directors of the NDIC.

 Also, officials of the corporation cannot aspire or rise to the height of being managing directors or executive directors of the corporation.

According to Abdulllateef, only the CBN, in accordance with the  Act, can recommend professionals for the positions of managing director and executive directors of the NDIC.

He said:” Former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Act without reading it. No reasonable person, who does not want fire to burn him inside the grave will sign this Act. They deliberately made it 48 hours before he left, because they knew that a President that is handing over has a lot to do. They knew that he had said that ‘I cannot wait to leave,’ so they took this bulky document to him to sign.

“The NDIC is meant to be an independent agency because the government wants to ensure that the deposits paid by Nigerians into banks are never endangered by the conspiracies of either the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), to ensure that whatever misbehaviour is being displayed, won’t affect Nigerians. The NDIC Act of 2006 guarantees the independence of the NDIC.

“Also, NDIC should always visit the banks and look into their books, and ensure that the way they are operating these banks does not endanger depositors.

“The moment they knew we were appointed, they introduced a new bill to the National Assembly.

“Until this bill was passed, there was no section Seven that replaced the old section Seven. The old section Seven says Mr President shall be free to appoint anyone that he feels competent to be the chairman, and Mr President shall be free to appoint one representative of the six geopolitical zones to monitor NDIC.

“The Federal Ministry of Finance, being one of the shareholders of the NDIC shall select one director to represent the Federal Government in the board.

“Emefiele and his cohort in the NDIC decided to remove the power of Mr President to appoint competent Nigerians. The new Act was not part of what was discussed at the National Assembly. The new Act is different from what the National Assembly passed, and what was taken to the President. It is illegal.”

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 ”The current President wants to fight corruption, and corruption will want to fight back. Therefore,   every one of us in every agency must stand with the President.

“When they know that what they are doing is fraudulent, they will not present it before the National Assembly to look through. There are many men of integrity in the National Assembly who will not sell their conscience. No National Assembly member will watch you remove their power to appoint competent people in the six geopolitical zones and remove them.

“In the new Act, they fraudulently made the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance as the chairman. I have never heard it in my life. I went to the permanent secretary and asked if he knew about it, and he said ’I swear by my God, I know nothing about it.’

 ”The permanent secretary said, ‘When it was suggested to me, I told them that I am too busy as a permanent secretary to be superintending over NDIC. They know that I will not have time to superintend over the NDIC so that they can be doing what they want.’

“The new composition says Mr President cannot appoint a managing director or executive director, except the people recommended by the  CBN governor. They put the  CBN governor there because they thought they could be there forever. You cannot restrain Mr President; he must be free to appoint competent Economists and  Accountants.

“They have also killed the career progression of the 1,600 staff members of the NDIC. They are now saying that any staff member can never become the executive director or managing director; that it is an agency outside the NDIC that can recommend, which is the CBN. And we say the NDIC is an independent agency?

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“There is a lot of protest now in the NDIC, among the staff members. They have been demoralised and demotivated because stylishly, the current executive directors have been ‘removed’ according to them because those ones were freely appointed by the President before, but now, it has to be under the recommendation of the CBN.

“They have also, in the new Act, removed the representative of the Ministry of Finance.

“The mandate of the NDIC is to protect depositors. With this new Act, NDIC will no longer be able to protect depositors. NDIC was established as independent so that it would not be disturbed by the CBN. But now, they have introduced 35 new sections under which the NDIC will need to seek the approval of the CBN before it can discharge its duties.

“Now, even to go to banks to check their books, they said the CBN must approve. So, you have taken away the independence of the NDIC. Even to pay depositors, the new Act says the NDIC must get the CBN’s approval.

“The National Assembly is the apex law-making institution in Nigeria. I monitored the process when it was passed by the Senate, it does not contain all these I have mentioned here. The House of Representatives also concurred with the Senate. But along the line, on the way to Aso Rock Villa, new sections were introduced by people who are not members of the National Assembly.

“In law, if the President signs an Act that is different from what was passed, that Act is inchoate, which means there is a material omission of what ought to have been done, and that Act is null and void.

“Mr. President alone cannot make an Act, it must be the concurrence of the two Houses.”

“They did not introduce those sections to the National Assembly because they know the Senators are reasonable people. Why will you remove the representatives of the six geopolitical zones from monitoring you?”

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200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS

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Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa

200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has disclosed that about 200,000 repentant terrorists have so far dropped their arms and surrendered to troops in the North East, noting that the twin strategy of kinetic and non-kinetic operations was responsible for this achievement.

The CDS made this known at the Security and Justice Symposium organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in collaboration with the British High Commission, which began at the National Counterterrorism Centre in Abuja on Tuesday.

He disclosed that the theme of the symposium, ”Securing Peace, Ensuring Justice, Protection, Conduct, and Accountability,” speaks volumes about the deluge of security challenges the armed forces and security agencies are facing.

His words, “All the challenges we are facing today have to do with fairness, equity, justice, and accountability.

“There will not be peace without justice, equity, fairness, and accountability. In our operations, we are conducting both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies, which have to a large extent yielded significant successes, and we want to particularly thank the National Security Adviser for his great support in this regard.

“Nigeria is going through so many challenges, and we feel we’re able to address this, and everybody has a sense of belonging. A lot of the security challenges we are having, we are sure, will go down. I want to thank the National Security Advisor for all the support he’s given us, both the kinetic and the non-kinetic.

“We have said it; the kinetic aspect is just less than 30%. The non-kinetic has a lot to play. The non-kinetic, because when you have democracy, people must have the evidence of democracy. As long as it tells people to sleep well and be peaceful, and they are hungry, their children cannot eat, and all this creates more problems.

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“The issue of informants. We have to look at how we tackle this issue of informants. Because these are the people who have created the issue.

200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS

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Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police

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Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police

The spokesperson for the police in Delta State, SP Bright Edafe, has confirmed the death of two robbery suspects in the state.

Mr Edafe, who disclosed this to journalists on Tuesday in Warri, said that the deceased were killed from the bullets shot by their gang members.

According to him, the incident occurred on Wednesday at Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Edafe explained that the deceased were leading the police surveillance team attached to the Ekpan Division to their hideout when they were caught during a shoot-out.

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“The suspects were arrested at Effurun roundabout with a bag containing 57 live cartridges and other items. They were leading the surveillance team to their hideout at Warri/Sapele road when their gang members, on sighting the vehicle of the police team, engaged them in a shootout.During the gun duel, the arrested suspects that were leading the police team were fatally wounded by the gun shot of their colleagues. The two injured suspects were taken to the hospital and later died while receiving treatment,” he said.

Mr Edafe said that items recovered from the hoodlums hideout included: one English pump action gun, one locally made cut-to-size gun and eight live cartridges.

Others were: six iPhones, Smart phones and a Rolex wrist watch.

He said that the command had intensified manhunt on the fleeing members of the gang.

 

Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police

(NAN)

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Akwa Ibom businessman abducted, driver killed, police orderly injured

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Dr. Samuel Ekerenam
Akwa Ibom businessman abducted, driver killed, police orderly injured
Gunmen kidnapped a prominent businessman, Dr. Samuel Ekerenam and k!lled his driver in Eket town, the headquarter of Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
Ekerena, the owner of Hephzibah Mall, was abducted about 10:00pm on Saturday, 23 November, 2024.
It was gathered that the gunmen trailed the victim to the shopping complex, shooting sporadically to scare the passers-by away before whisking him away to an unknown destination.
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The body of Ekerenam’s driver was discovered in the pool of his blood, while his police orderly was severely wounded in the gun attack.
The spokesperson of the State Police Command, ASP Timfon John, who confirmed the incident on Monday, November 25, said the Commissioner of Police, CP Joseph Eribo has deployed tactical operatives to comb for the abducted businessman.
The PPRO added that the police were on top of the game and very soon the kidnap victim would be rescued and the perpetrators made to face the full weight of the law.

Akwa Ibom businessman abducted, driver killed, police orderly injured

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