Court sends ex-Gov. Sule Lamido, sons to prison over Alleged N1.35BN Fraud

A Federal court has declared Former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, accused of fraud, remanded in prison custody in Kano till September 28.

The former governor was arraigned on Thursday alongside his children for receiving N1.35 billion kickback from a government contractor.

The money was allegedly paid into accounts controlled by the governor and his sons.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is accusing the four suspects of money laundering, amongst other charges.

They were due for arraignment Wednesday, but the court appearance was rescheduled to Thursday (today).

Security was stepped up around the court vicinity in Kano ahead of the hearing Thursday.

Delivering a ruling, Justice Evelyn Anyadike ordered that the four accused persons be remanded in a Kano Prison Custody because the EFCC said they lacked enough facilities to accommodate them.

She rejected the pleas of defence counsel, Effiong Effiong, SAN, that the accused be kept at EFCC custody, saying the commission had complained of inadequate facilities.

Twenty eight-count charge bordering on a number of alleged breach of trust by Sule Lamido, Aminu Sule Lamido, Mustapha Sule Lamido and one Aminu Wada Abubakar, was read in court.

They pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to them.

The case involved N1.351 billion.

The judge ruled that the accused persons be remanded pending the hearing of their bail applications.

Earlier, the defence counsel, Mr. Effiong, had argued that remanding the accused persons in prison would amount to trampling on their fundamental human rights.

He pleaded they be sent to either of EFCC facilities in Abuja or Kano.

However, the counsel to the EFCC, Chile Okoroma, objected to the plea, saying EFCC facilities were full to capacity both in Kano and Abuja.

The case was adjourned to September 28 for ruling on bail applications.

There was pandemonium in court between those supporting Mr. Lamido and those against him, leading the police to fire teargas canisters into the air to disperse the crowd.

Mr. Lamido, his sons and Mr. Abubakar are accused of using their positions to siphon Jigawa State funds.

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OKONJO IWEALA SAYS SHE IS BEING PERSECUTED

Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, the former minister of finance says the battering of her name in the media by some politicians has to stop.She has been accused by Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomole of spending N2.1 billion from the Excess Crude account with no proper approval. The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee which comprises of all Finance commissioners from the 36 states yesterday stated that they were not informed when the former Minister approved the release of N2.1 billion from the ECA.

Okonjo-Iweala has reacted to ECA's report in a statement signed by her media adviser. Read below...

We thank the Finance Commissioners for their clarification on the use of the Excess Crude Account.(ECA) and for acknowledging that this is not an Okonjo-Iweala issue.
The statement clearly shows that Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) is a statutory body which is chaired by the Hon. Minister of State for Finance in which all the states are represented.
Payments made were used for paying for petroleum subsidies for the Nigerian people and were approved by Mr President.
Therefore there is no question of mismanaging any resources here.
For the avoidance of doubt, at no time did Dr. Okonjo-Iweala say that FAAC approved such expenditures. What she said was that all these expenditures were discussed at FAAC meetings attended by Finance Commissioners from the 36 states.
It is therefore clear that there was no misrepresentation by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.
The question before us is: why is there such an excessive attempt to batter her name in an attempt to damage her reputation? It is clear as I said in my previous statement that the motive is malicious and very political and therefore will not succeed.

If monies were used to pay for subsidies for the Nigerian people and duly approved, why is Okonjo-Iweala’s name being battered in this way?
This persecution should stop.

Paul C Nwabuikwu
Media Adviser to Dr Okonjo-Iweala

Photos; Passenger Bus Falls Into Lagoon Along Ijebu Ode-Ore Expressway

A very fatal accident was recorded at Ajibandele on Ijebu Ode - Ore Expressway after a bus fell off a bridge and plunged into a lagoon. The cause of the accident was not known at the time of writing but witnesses say no one died from the tragic accident as passengers only sustained minor injuries.

Presidency Denies Plans Of Sharing $1.7 Billion Excess From Crude Account

Following reports which circulated yesterday that the federal government and the 36 states have agreed to share $1.7billion of the $2billion balance in the Excess Crude Account, the presidency has released a denial statement to that effect..Read below;

Reports in sections of the media today that funds will be drawn from the Excess Crude Account for the relief package approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for states and local governments, are incorrect.

For the purpose of greater clarity on the matter, the measures approved by President Buhari to deal with the problem of unpaid public sector salaries in many states are as follows:

*The sharing of the $2.1 Billion dividend paid to the Federation Account by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG);

* A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from N250 Billion to N300 Billion. This will be a soft loan available to states for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries; and

*A debt relief program designed by the Debt Management Office which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660 Billion, and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.

The measures approved by President Buhari definitely do not include drawing down the remaining balance in the Excess Crude Account or the "liquidation" of the account as some media outlets have wrongly reported.

No such decision has been taken or approved by President Buhari, and last week's meeting of the National Economic Council clearly concluded that the Excess Crude Account should be left untouched at this time.

FEMI ADESINA
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
July 7, 2015

Naira Drops As Demand Pressure Heightens

The Nigerian foreign exchange market continued to increase yesterday at the bureau de change (BDC) and black market as the value of the naira dropped to a low of N232 and N236.50 against the dollar respectively.

Daily Sun gathered that the value of the naira at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the interbank end of the foreign exchange market, however, remained stable as the green back sold for N196.95 and N198.58 respectively. At the BDC, the value of the naira against the pound dropped to N350. Pressure had mounted on the naira at the parallel and black market after the CBN, a fortnight ago, curbed access to the dollar on the official interbank market for importation of a wide range of goods, shifting demand for hard currency to the black market.

The foreign external reserves, which had been trending downwards since last year, rose slightly to $29.157 billion, as at July 2 according to latest figures made available by the CBN. This is the highest figure since June 9, 2015 when it stood at $29.181 billion. Meanwhile, the rate at which banks lend among themselves dropped as at the close of business yesterday.

Overnight rate dropped to five year low of 5.1250 per cent while one and three months rates dropped to 14.1547 and 15.5823 per cents respectively. Six-month rate, however, rose slightly to 16.3288 per cnet.

SOURCE: DailySun

Police to Question Deputy Senate President Ekweremadu Over Alleged Forged Senate Rules on Monday, July 6, 2015.

The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase,on  Sunday summoned the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged forgery of the Senate Rules on election of its principal officers, PDP, said.

This was disclosed on July 5, by the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh during a press briefing.

Metuh stated that Ekweremadu’s invitation was part of a plot to arrest and detain him by the APC-led Federal Government.

Metuh said;

“We are aware that some APC senators opposed to the emergence of Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as senate president and deputy senate president respectively met last week and concocted a petition, accusing the deputy senate president of altering the Senate Rules on the process of election of the presiding officers, upon which the police via a letter dated July 1, 2015 and signed by the Deputy Inspector General in charge of criminal investigation at the Force Headquarters has invited him to appear tomorrow (today), Monday, July 6, 2015 where he will be detained and put under pressure,” 

He also said that neither Ekweremadu nor any other Senator-elect, could have been involved in the process of producing the 2015 Standing Rules of the Senate.

“Senator Ekweremadu was not in any way involved in the process other than being nominated for the position of the deputy senate president and could not have been privy to the secret ballot procedure adopted by the National Assembly bureaucracy, which has been widely adjudged as transparent and credible,”Metuh added.

The National Publicity Secretary of the  the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement on Sunday, that it had nothing to do with the decision of the police to invite Ekweremadu.