by Admin | Apr 28, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI Christian Nwosu, an officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who confessed to the court that he received N30 million from former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to rig the 2015 general elections, has agreed to forfeit to the Federal Government the landed property he bought with the bribe. In a plea bargain agreement between Mr. Nwosu and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the INEC official, who was facing trial for his crime, agreed to relinquish to the Nigerian government a huge parcel of land measuring 100 feet by 80 feet. Details of the agreement indicated that the forfeited land is located at Okotomi Layout, Obodogwugwu Quarters, in Okpanam, Delta State. Mr. Nwosu had purchased the land with the money he received from Ms. Alison-Madueke for agreeing to manipulate the 2015 elections in favor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The defendant also agreed to forfeit to the Federal Government the sum of N5 million EFCC investigators had recovered from him during the anti-graft agency’s investigation. Under the plea agreement, Mr. Nwosu also undertook to pay a fine of N500,000. However, Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, raised the fine to N10 million, stating that the higher fine was in keeping with the stipulation of the act under which the INEC officer was charged. Said Justice Idris: “I have read carefully the plea bargain agreement and I have reviewed the content of same. By Section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, a plea bargain agreement is allowed as in this case, wherein the first defendant has provided...
by Admin | Apr 28, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The police have denied carting away the 2017 proposed appropriation bill during their raid on Senator Danjuma Goje’s residence in Maitama, Abuja last week. The Force stated that it recovered 38 files and six envelopes containing documents and write-ups on “how former Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau plotted the assassination of Sheikh Jafaru.” The police in a statement on Thursday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, added that N18.056 million, $19,850 and SR9, 400 (Saudi Riyals), and a laptop were also recovered during the search. He stated that detectives also recovered files on funds spent on security administration and information gathering– a-g, 2009; file on release of funds for Special operations a- f, 2009; file on Gombe State government cash inflow 2005; file on Project 2007 – Executive Briefs on how to fight opposition in Gombe State – Strategies and Tactics. Other exhibits included envelopes containing permit in operating as an Oil Industry Service Company (special categories) 2011 and letters from Alhaji Mohammed Danjuma Goje (Sarkin Yakin Gombe) to the Managing Director, LUBELL Nigeria Ltd. of proposed residential Devt at Kashere Phase II dated January 16, 2007 and November 19, 2010. “The Nigeria Police Force wishes to state categorically that there was no single document relating to 2017 budget sighted or removed by the Police team that executed the search warrant. There is video recording of the execution of the search warrant,” the statement said. The Force disclosed that the search warrant from a court of competent jurisdiction was executed at the former Gombe governor’s residence following intelligence report that stolen funds and other incriminating...
by Admin | Apr 28, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says Nigeria is currently at a crossroads as poverty, unemployment, inflation, infant mortality and other social vices are on the increase. He, therefore, called on Nigerians to unite in the demand for true federalism. Atiku said this while delivering his speech at the formal public presentation of the Daily Stream newspaper in Abuja on Thursday. He said, “A huge pall of pessimism hangs over a section of the citizenry, and the ranks of those who harbour real doubt about the future of the country swell by the day. “The country is truly at a crossroads, and things are made worse by the cocktail of economic, social and political problems which we have had to contend with, and which add to the abysmally low estimation of our country even by its own citizens.” The former Vice-President recalled that life was better in the First Republic because each region was allowed to grow at its own pace while the Federal Government was weaker. Atiku, however, noted that following the creation of states, the Federal Government became very powerful while the federating units became poor, thereby, deepening poverty among the populace He added, “Our beloved country has been in the throes of severe and debilitating social and economic problems. Virtually all the development indices have not been favourable: massive and pervasive poverty, double-digit inflation, unemployment, dwindling foreign exchange receipts, poor GDP growth rates, high infant and maternal mortality, high levels of illiteracy, and millions of school-age children out of school.” Atiku said the many problems facing the nation were already threatening the unity and the existence...
by Admin | Apr 28, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI ormer president Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed why he opposed the re-election of immediate past president, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election. Mr. Obasanjo’s reasons are contained in a book, Against the Run of Play, written by Mr. Segun Adeniyi, Chairman of the Editorial Board of ThisDay Newspapers. The book, an account of what happened in the 2015 presidential election, is due for public presentation in Lagos on Friday. The relationship between the former presidents, noted the author, had soured long before the election. Mr. Jonathan, whose political rise is widely credited to Mr. Obasanjo’s influence, had sought to make up with his presumed benefactor and keep him on his side for re-election. He arranged for a meeting with Mr. Obasanjo in his Abeokuta home. Before leaving for the Ogun State leg of his campaign in January 2015 wrote the author, Mr. Jonathan had concluded plans to visit Mr. Obasanjo, who had agreed to meet him. Mr. Obasanjo, however, gave a condition: Jonathan must come along with someone of sufficient credibility to act as a witness at the meeting. Mr. Jonathan agreed to bring one along. He approached the hugely influential General Overseer (GO) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor EA Adeboye, who accepted to play the role of a witness. But on the evening of 12 January 2015, the agreed date of the meeting scheduled for Mr. Obasanjo’s Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Pastor Adeboye arrived in the company of Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel. “It was only Pastor Adeboye that Jonathan told me was coming with him, but Bishop Oyedepo is a...
by Admin | Apr 27, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss Nigerian Senator Buruji Kashamu’s lawsuit against the U.S. government, the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday. The American government is attempting to have Mr. Kashamu extradited from Nigeria to the U.S. in order to prosecute him for drug trafficking. Mr. Kashamu was indicted in 1998 for running a heroin syndicate in Chicago. He then fled the country and proceeded to successfully run for Senate in 2015. Mr. Kashamu currently represents Ogun State East in the National Assembly’s upper chamber. In 2015, the senator filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice in an attempt to prevent U.S. law enforcement from “abducting” him in Nigeria. He alleged that the U.S. was conspiring with his political enemies in Nigeria to have him abducted. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) collaborated with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Nigeria to raid Mr. Kashamu’s Lagos home and abduct him in order to extradite him to the U.S. A Nigerian court, however, order the DEA to leave, saying it was illegal for the agency to arrest him on Nigerian soil. In Monday’s court ruling, Judge Richard Posner ruled that no law prevents U.S. law enforcement agents from “ being present when foreign officers are effecting an arrest or from assisting foreign officers who are effecting an arrest,” the Chicago Tribune reports. Mr. Kashamu is depicted in the popular American Netflix series, “Orange Is The New Black,” which centers on Piper Kerman, who was tried for money laundering alongside the Ogun East...
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