No fewer than 50 people have been killed and over 170 houses burnt in renewed onslaught on residents of Izombe in Oguta, Imo State, in the last two weeks.
National President Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), Igboayaka O Igboayaka, disclosed this at a press briefing in Owerri, the state capital, this weekend.
He said Izombe and other neighbouring communities such as Agwa, Ejemkwuru, Awa, Akabuo, Mgbele and Ogbaku have been recording incessant security challenges due to the nefarious activities of criminal elements with a code name ‘Umuoma’ (Good children)”
A video had gone viral where charred remains of bodies and houses allegedly burnt in Izombe communities were seen.
In the text of the briefing he jointly signed with the Secretary General, Ifeanyi Nweke, the national president expressed regret that both the state government and security agencies in the state “kept quiet” while innocent blood were being shed and property with millions of naira destroyed.
The statement said, “Ohanaeze Youth Council noticed, with utmost dismay, the debilitating inability of Gov. Hope Uzodinma’s administration to checkmate the activities of the bandits coupled with military personnel, police and Imo State owned untrained security network called “Ebube-Agu” which has resulted to more casualties and deaths.
“But rather than help to engender peace and tranquility, the security operatives and Ebube-Agu have turned hostile to the residents of the areas particularly, Izombe.
“Unfortunately, the situation has affected socio-economic and other activities as markets, schools and churches have been closed down in Izombe for almost 8 months now.
An indigene of Amakpurudere Izombe village said over 50 natives of his village were killed by these security operatives between June 7 and Monday June 19, 2023.
“Some of the identified people killed at Amakpurudere Village alone included Benjamin Nwadirigbo, Nwabu Onuigbo (aka Danvata), Obieze Ajaere, Izuka Izuaghanwa and Chike Izuaghanwa”
“Witnesses in the community narrated that others were equally killed in other villages of Izombe like Ndiawa, Ndioko, Orsu and Ugbele and Agwa, a neighbouring Community to Izombe.
“The combined team of police, untrained and illegal Ebube-Agu and the military had equally destroyed more than 170 buildings in various villages including over 45 houses in Amakpurudere Village alone”.
“To add more Injuries into the agony of Izumbe people, a community source reported that security forces like Ebube-Agu looted people’s property. Lo and behold more than 90% of the residents had fled to safety from their the community.
“Since Wednesday June 7, and Monday June 12, 2023, thousands of people fled from Izumbe that the careless security operatives killed Benjamin and four others.”
According to community report to Ohanaeze Youth Council, the houses burnt down in Amakpurudere Village alone belong to the following: Emmanuel Chukwudoruo, Romanus Obiagwu, Philip Okoronkwo, Ifeanyi Umezuruike, Canice Ogbonna, Herbert Nwoke, late Lucky Nwoke, Lambart Ekejiuba, Simeon Ekejiuba, Sabastine Okereke, Emeka Awaeze and Dominic Iwuanyanwu.
“Others whose houses were affected are: Benjamin Ohanyirim, Jerome Ohanyirim, Late Marcelinus Ogbonna, Lawrence Ogbonna, Calistus Ononiwu, Chief Alex Madubuko, Chief Oliver Ihejirika, Anthony Ihejirika, Alphonsius Ogbonna among others.
Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Henry Okoye, could not be reached for comments.
Power distribution companies failed to remit a total of N208.8bn to the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry in 2022, the Federal Government has said.
Figures obtained on Sunday from the latest Fourth Quarter 2022 Report of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, a Federal Government agency, as well as those from the First, Second and Third quarters showed that the Discos never made complete remittances all through the period.
There are about 11 power distribution companies in Nigeria responsible for distributing electricity to consumers in their respective franchise areas of operation. They include Abuja, Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Yola Discos.
The Discos were created in 2013 as part of Nigeria’s power sector reforms aimed at improving the efficiency and reliability of electricity supply across the country.
The firms collect electricity bills from consumers on behalf of power market. They make remittances to the power market through the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the Market Operator, an arm of the Federal Government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria.
But figures obtained from the power sector regulator showed that the Discos did not remit N49.23bn, N31.3bn, N58.3bn and N69.94bn in the fourth, third, second and first quarters of 2022, respectively, making a total of N208.8bn.
Commenting on market remittance, in its fourth quarter report, the NERC said, “The combined invoices issued to the Discos in 2022/Q4 was N231.01bn consisting of: i) generation costs from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company: N188.74bn; ii) transmission and administrative services from the Market Operator: N42.27bn.”
“From this amount, the Discos collectively remitted a total sum of ₦181.78bn (₦145.91bn for NBET and ₦35.87bn for MO) with an outstanding balance of ₦49.23bn.”
The commission stated that poor remittance by the Discos was a direct consequence of the power firms recording higher than allowed Average Technical Commercial and Collection losses.
The NERC also stated that the combined invoices issued to the Discos in the third quarter of last year was ₦204.84bn, adding that this was split into generation costs from the NBET, ₦164.34bn; and transmission and administrative services from the MO, ₦40.50bn.
“Out of this amount, the Discos collectively remitted a total sum of ₦173.55bn (₦140.67bn for NBET and ₦32.88bn for MO) with an outstanding balance of ₦31.29bn.”
On the power market remittance in the second quarter, the NERC stated that the combined invoices from the NBET and MO to the Discos in Q2 2022 was N185.01bn, split into generation costs – N149.89bn, while transmission and administrative services was put at N35.12bn.
“Out of this amount, the Discos collectively remitted a total sum of N126.69bn (N102.35bn for NBET and N24.34bn for MO) with an outstanding balance of N58.32bn,” the report stated.
Similarly, data sourced by our correspondent from the Q1, 2022 report of the NERC on market remittance indicated that the combined invoices from NBET and MO to Discos in the first quarter of last year was N205.63bn, split into generation costs – N164.86bn; while transmission and administrative services was N40.77bn.
“Out of this amount, the Discos collectively remitted a total sum of N135.69bn (N109.96bn for NBET and N25.73bn for MO) with an outstanding balance of N69.94bn,” the commission stated.
Nigeria’s power sector is faced with liquidity crisis and one of the reasons for this is the poor remittances by power distribution companies to the electricity market since the privatisation of the industry in November 2013.
The President, Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, and coordinator, Power Sector Perspectives, Kunle Olubiyo, urged the new government led by President Bola Tinubu to take a holistic look at the power sector.
He told our correspondent in a recent interview that the privatisation of the successor distribution and generation companies of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria in November 2013, should be reviewed.
This, he said, was particularly due to the dysfunctional outputs of the power distributors since they were privatised, adding that the 10-year moratorium on power sector privatisation would end this year.
Olubiyo said, “When this moratorium expires by October, naturally it will be without litigation because they’ve given the privatised companies 10 years. And so if in between the lines we try to shift the goal post, then litigation can arise.
“If not for the activities of the banks that are now involved in the day-to-day running of some Discos, there is no way we would have been able push out this height of impunity in the sector. People make as much as N15bn in a month and they will still have a licence for zero remittance.
“As consumers, are we not paying our power bills? For the generation companies, don’t they pay for gas? And somebody will collect money on our behalf and will not remit. So this system of privatisation cannot work and has not worked since the sector was privatised 10 years ago.”
The Abuja-based power sector expert and former member of the Presidential Adhoc Committee on Review of Electricity Tariff in Nigeria, further called on the government ro pull out its 40 per cent stake in the Discos and break the 11 distribution companies’ franchises into smaller units so as to break the present market monopoly and promote the ideals of a competitive electricity market.
Four men were on Friday arraigned at the Yaba Magistrates’ Court for allegedly defrauding their employer, Think Finance Microfinance Bank of N150m in the FESTAC Town area of Lagos State.
The defendants include the company’s Head of Risk Management, Ojimi Ayodeji, the Loan Officer, Isaac Eddy, Joseph Setonji and Juwon Irinyemi, and were arraigned before Magistrate Patrick Nwaka on three counts of theft.
The prosecutor, Thomas Nurudeen told the court that the defendants employed by the firm were put in charge of giving loans to people for business purposes, but they conspired and used fake names to borrow money from the firm to the tune of N150m which they shared among themselves without interest and never paid back.
The defendants presented individuals and represented them with bank verification numbers, account names and passport photographs which were not real to borrow the money.
Nurudeen stated that the defendants committed the offences between 2019 and December 2022 at the Think Finance Microfinance bank located at FESTAC Town.
According to Nurudeen, the offences contravened and are punishable under Sections 314, 325 (1) and 287 (a) (b) (e) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The charges read in part, “That you, Ojimi Ayodeji, head of risk management, Isaac Eddy, loan officer, Joseph Setonji, Juwon Irinyemi and others now at large, between the year 2019 and December 2022, at the Think Finance Microfinance Bank, FESTAC Town, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit fraud and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 325 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
“That you, Ojimi Ayodeji, head of risk management, Isaac Eddy, loan officer, Joseph Setonji, Juwon Irinyemi, and others now at large, between 2019 and December 2022, at the Think Finance Microfinance Bank, FESTAC Town, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, fraudulently allocated loans of N150m to the individual representing them with BVN and account name and passport photographs which were not real, the representation which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 314 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The defence counsel, one barrister Ola, prayed the court to grant them bail in the most liberal terms.
Without opposition from the prosecution, Nwaka admitted them to bail in the sum of N2m each with four responsible sureties in like sum.
He said each surety would present a tax clearance receipt of three years that would be verifiable by the court and adjourned the case till August 16, 2023.
The National Coordinator of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint the next Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from the southern part of the country.
Onwubiko while addressing newsmen in Abuja, said appointing the next EFCC Chairman from the region would be sending a powerful message of unity and demonstrating commitment to fostering a harmonious and balanced Nigeria.
HURIWA’s call is coming after the suspension of Abdulrasheed Bawa on 14th June, 2023 by president Tinubu, while Abdulkarim Chukkol was asked to step in as Acting Chairman of the Commission.
Onwubiko’s words: “Nigeria is a diverse nation, with over 250 ethnic groups and a multitude of languages and cultures. It is imperative that our national institutions, such as the EFCC, reflect this diversity and promote a sense of inclusivity.
“We firmly believe that there are highly capable individuals from the South who possess these qualities and are more than qualified to take on the position of EFCC Chairman. It is essential to prioritize competence over regional considerations to ensure the effectiveness and credibility of the commission.
“The appointment of the next EFCC Chairman should be based on merit, competence, and relevant experience in the field of combating economic and financial crimes. The individual chosen should possess the necessary skills and expertise to lead the institution effectively.
“HURIWA strongly urges President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to seize the opportunity to promote equity and competence by appointing a candidate from the South as the next EFCC Chairman. This step will not only address regional imbalances and promote national unity but also enhance the effectiveness and credibility of the commission. By prioritizing merit-based appointments, we can foster a stronger, more inclusive Nigeria in the fight against corruption.”
Visa Restriction: Nigerian Students Carried 52,000 Dependants To UK In 2022 – British High Commissioner
Admin– Says UK Issued 325,000 Visas To Nigerians In One Year
British High Commissioner to Nigeria Richard Montgomery says the UK government’s new policy on the restriction of foreign student visas is aimed at managing the pressure on social services for scholars.
Montgomery, who said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, explained that the policy was not aimed at discouraging Nigerian students studying in the UK.
According to him, at the moment in the UK, Nigerians desiring to study in the UK have 97 per cent visa approval rate.
He urged Nigerians to see the new visa regime in the UK in a bigger context, a thing which he said is “really a positive for Nigeria and the United Kingdom”.
“Three years ago, there were 20,000 Nigerian students in British higher education institutions, and last year, the number increased to 127,000.
“So, we had a five-fold increase in the number of students from Nigeria coming to UK universities.
“We are delighted that UK universities continue to attract the best and brightest from Nigeria.
“And in the wider context, last year, the UK granted three million new UK visas of various types including students and other visitors.
“Nigerians alone received 325,000 of those 3 million visas.
“So more than 10 per cent of the visas from the UK are to Nigerian citizens which is fantastic.
“It goes back to the fact that the UK and Nigeria have strong people-to-people links.
“The policy change is about people who are doing non-research degrees coming to the UK as undergraduates, or for a one-year master’s degree programme, and who decide to bring their dependents.
“We have had a very significant rise in the number of people coming from all around the world, not just from Nigeria.
“This has caused some strain on the UK.
“Sometimes it is difficult to find good accommodation as a student and there is real pressure on housing and social services for students.
“If you looked at it three years ago, only 1,500 dependants of students were coming to the UK from Nigeria, but now it was 52,000 last year.
“I am just trying to put it in proper context, that this is an adjustment.
“The words that are being used in the media to describe the situation are misrepresenting. We are making an adjustment that enables us to manage the demands on services in university towns and elsewhere.
“Nigerians are very successful in acquiring visas. We have a 97 per cent approval rate and so that is the big context,” Montgomery said.
He expressed the UK’s pride in its research institutes and higher education which, he said, were listed among the top hundred universities in the world.
The higher institutions, he said, are very open to students going to study in the UK.
He expressed the belief that Nigerians stand to gain massively from the international exposure and international networks offered by studying in the UK.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the UK Home Office in May announced that from Jan. 2024, undergraduate and master’s students would no longer be allowed to take their dependents along with them to the UK.
The restriction does not apply to students in research programmes.
Vast crowds of robed pilgrims made solemn circles around the Kaaba, the black cube at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, on Sunday as the biggest hajj pilgrimage in years began in the heat of the Saudi summer.
Islam’s holiest site is expected to host more than two million worshippers from 160 countries during the annual rites that could break attendance records, with 1.6 million foreigners already arriving by Friday evening.
The hajj began early on Sunday with the “tawaf” – the circumambulation of the Kaaba, the large cubic structure draped in black cloth with gold trimmings that millions of Muslims pray towards every day.
“I am living the most beautiful days of my life,” said Abdel-Azim, a 65-year-old Egyptian as he performed the ritual.
“The dream has come true,” said the retiree, who saved up for 20 years to pay the $6,000 fee to take part.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be undertaken by all Muslims with the means at least once.
A series of rites are completed over four days in Mecca and its surroundings in the west of oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday night, pilgrims will start moving to Mina, about five kilometres (three miles) from the Grand Mosque, ahead of the hajj’s climax at Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his final sermon.
‘Great blessing’
Outside the Grand Mosque, thousands prayed on colourful carpets that adorned the pavement, with male pilgrims wearing a simple white robe. The area was dotted with ambulances, mobile clinics and fire trucks.
The hajj poses a considerable security challenge and has seen several disasters over the years, including a 2015 stampede that killed up to 2,300 people.
There have been no major incidents since, and catastrophe was the last thing on pilgrims’ minds.
“I cannot describe my feelings,” said 25-year-old Indonesian student Yusuf Burhan.
“This is a great blessing. I never imagined that I would perform the hajj this year.”
This year’s summer timing for the hajj, which follows the lunar calendar, will test the endurance of worshippers during the mostly outdoor ritual.
Carrying white umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching sun, policemen in the mountainous city have conducted foot patrols and set up checkpoints to inspect hajj permits.
Others splashed water on pilgrims as temperatures climbed towards 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
Inside the Grand Mosque, thousands of paramedics stood on standby. Saudi authorities said more than 32,000 health workers will be on hand to help fend off heatstroke, dehydration and exhaustion.
‘Not a single vacant bed’
The hajj, with its hefty fees, makes billions of dollars a year for the world’s biggest oil exporter, which is trying to diversify its economy beyond fossil fuels.
This year’s will be the biggest since 2019, when about 2.5 million people took part. Only 10,000 were allowed in 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, rising to nearly 59,000 in 2021. Last year’s cap of one million has been removed.
Saudi businessman Samir Al-Zafni said all his hotels in Mecca and Madinah are at full capacity until the first week of July.
“This year there is not a single vacant bed in our group of 67 hotels,” he told AFP from his office.
The hajj also demonstrates social reforms in the deeply conservative country. This year’s pilgrimage will be the biggest since Saudi Arabia scrapped rules in 2021 that banned women who weren’t accompanied by a male relative.
Leaving the Grand Mosque after evening prayers on Friday, Ramot Ali from Niger struggled to describe the feeling of performing hajj for the first time.
“I am very happy,” she said.
Emefiele: ‘Two persons can’t answer the crimes’, probe Buhari, ex-ministers, others – Sani tells Tinubu
AdminFormer federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani has asked President Bola Tinubu to courageously allow a full-scale probe of the “plunder” that occurred under the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The former lawmaker demanded that the investigation should begin with former President Buhari, his ex-ministers, his service chiefs and the cabal wing of his Government.
Following Tinubu’s assumption of office, he removed Godwin Emefiele as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Abdulrasheed Bawa as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Sani in a tweet on Sunday said redesigning the Naira is not the only economic Crime perpetrated under the Buhari administration and urged Tinubu to “courageously allow a full-scale investigation of the plunder that occurred under the Buhari administration, beginning with Buhari, his ex-ministers, his service chiefs and the cabal wing of his Government.”
“The President should not also shield former Governors who are now at liberty, even waiting for political appointment as entitled men. One or two persons in the cage can’t answer for the crime perpetrated by others in the last eight years. The current investigation can easily be stained as selective if the probe net is restricted.
“The simple question is; what about others who also contributed to ruining the economy? Or maybe some of us are just too impatient because of lack of knowledge of what is ahead.”
President Bola Tinubu says a naval officer once slapped him for overcharging him unintentionally when he was a taxi driver in the United States.
The president made this known as his shared stories of humble beginning in a biography published on the back page of a national daily.
The biography titled, ‘Tinubu: My life as gypsy cab driver in the US’, was authored by Nigeria’s seasoned journalist, Mike Awoyinfa.
According to Tinubu, in the story, he worked as an unlicensed taxi driver in Chicago, the US picking passengers from the airport to their destinations.
The president said the driving job was embarked on in order to sustain him financially before he went to school.
He narrated, “We got an unregistered used car commonly called Gypsy, which we ran as a taxi. We operated at the airport where we picked passengers, and not anywhere else, like the hotel because it was forbidden for unlicensed cab drivers to do so.
“We did that for a while to raise some money. Bolaji went to Tennessee, while I headed for Chicago.
“I was supposed to have started schooling in April. I deferred it till September in order to have more money. Immediately I got to Chicago, I went straight to Richard Daley College. It was very interesting.
“I was able to pay for my apartment and tuition fees at Chicago State University. I supplemented that by doing different menial jobs like door guard and security man.”
Speaking further about the incident, he said the naval officer he picked at the airport slapped him because he overcharged him, as his destination was nearby.
“As a cab driver, one experience I will never forget was when I over-charged a naval officer who was returning to the country. It was not intentional,” Tinubu said.
“Apparently, I didn’t know the direction. There was no GPRS in those days to locate directions. So, he gave me the direction to his house in a Virginia suburb.
“I gave him the price and the man responded with a slap to my face. He said I should know the correct price to charge to the location he mentioned. He slapped me and gave me the money.”
British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, has stated that the UK government’s new policy on the restriction of foreign student visas is aimed at managing the pressure on social services for scholars.
Montgomery, who said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, explained that the policy was not targeted at discouraging Nigerian students studying in the UK.
According to him, at the moment in the UK, Nigerians desiring to study in the UK have a 97 per cent visa approval rate.
He urged Nigerians to see the new visa regime in the UK in a bigger context, a thing which he said is “really a positive for Nigeria and the United Kingdom”.
Montgomery said, “Three years ago, there were 20,000 Nigerian students in British higher education institutions, and last year, the number increased to 127,000. So, we had a five-fold increase in the number of students from Nigeria coming to UK universities.
“We are delighted that UK universities continue to attract the best and brightest from Nigeria. And in the wider context, last year, the UK granted three million new UK visas of various types including students and other visitors.
“Nigerians alone received 325,000 of those 3 million visas. So more than 10 per cent of the visas from the UK are to Nigerian citizens which is fantastic. It goes back to the fact that the UK and Nigeria have strong people-to-people links.
“The policy change is about people who are doing non-research degrees coming to the UK as undergraduates, or for a one-year master’s degree programme, and who decide to bring their dependents.
He continued, “We have had a very significant rise in the number of people coming from all around the world, not just from Nigeria. This has caused some strain on the UK. Sometimes it is difficult to find good accommodation as a student and there is real pressure on housing and social services for students.
“If you looked at it three years ago, only 1,500 dependants of students were coming to the UK from Nigeria, but now it was 52,000 last year.
I am just trying to put it in proper context, that this is an adjustment. The words that are being used in the media to describe the situation are misrepresenting. We are making an adjustment that enables us to manage the demands on services in university towns and elsewhere.
“Nigerians are very successful in acquiring visas. We have a 97 per cent approval rate and so that is the big context,” Montgomery said.
He expressed the UK’s pride in its research institutes and higher education which, he said, were listed among the top hundred universities in the world.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) branch in Benue State has praised Governor Hyacinth Alia for his choice to uphold the state’s ban on open grazing of livestock.
The state’s former governor, Samuel Ortom, signed the Prohibition of Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law in 2017, and it was intended to operate as a strong barrier against the inflow of herdsmen.
Remember that the governor said the bill will be examined when he took office, causing concern that his administration may repeal the measure.
His administration has, however, adopted the law as a way of tackling the security crisis bedevilling the state.
Reacting, PDP in a statement issued on Saturday by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Bemgba Iortyom, welcomed Alia’s final stand on the matter.
The party urged the governor to create an enabling environment for the herdsmen who are willing to embrace ranching to do so, saying those who are unwilling should be chased out of the state.
Part of the statement reads, “We welcome the governor’s stand and urge him to back his words regarding his new stand with action by getting those herdsmen willing to embrace ranching to take to the practice immediately while those unwilling to do so should leave the state.”
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Minister Of Finance, Budget And National Planning Not Allowed To Deduct Or Tamper Allocations To States — Court Rules
AdminA Federal High Court sitting in Awka , Anambra State, on Wednesday, 21st June, ruled that the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning is never permitted to deduct the statutory allocation from the Federation Account that is owed to a State in a suit brought by the Attorney General of Anambra State against the Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning alongside the Attorney General of the Federation who was joined as a party to the suit.
The Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account Etc) Act clearly states that the portion of funds from the federation account due to States and Local Governments shall be paid to the State who should then manage same for the benefit of their local governments. Accordingly, the learned justice Dimgba has posited that:
“Section 162 of the Constitution and the Allocation Of Revenue (Federation Account, Etc.) Act, 1982 does not permit any bilateral interaction between the Federal Government represented by the 1st Defendant and LGCs under a State. Section 162(5)(6)(7)(8) of the Constitution make it clear that any amount standing to the credit of LGCs must be allocated to the States who will in turn remit it to the State Joint Local Government Account and distribute them in the terms and manner approved by the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly. In the event, any direct distribution of funds including refunds from the Federation Account to the LGCs in my view will be an infraction of the Constitution.
“And as I have held earlier, violation of law by a party is not one that is solved by resort to self-help by another party, or by a countervailing breach of the law by the activist party in a knock-for-knock or tit-for-tat formula. Violation of law by a party, where police powers have not been provided or granted to another seeking a remediation, can only be solved through judicial intervention initiated by the activist innocent party.”
His Lordship further added that “neither the Constitution in Section 162 nor the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account Etc) Act gave the 2nd Defendant (Attorney General of the Federation) any role in the allocation or sharing of revenues accruable to any of the tiers of Government in the federation account. I see no reason therefore why the 2nd Defendant should pick up the cudgel and start fighting for local governments in Anambra State when none of them has invited it to do so, and also when neither the relevant statute nor the Constitution given it any role in the relevant legal field.”
The Attorney General of Anambra sort amongst other reliefs had asked the court to hold as follows:
A DECLARATION that upon a proper construction of the provisions of Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), read along with Sections 2 (2) and 3 (1) of the said Constitution, the 1st Defendant cannot appropriate any money standing to the credit of the Federation for any purpose, other than, for the purpose of distribution to the three tiers of government, namely; the federal government, state governments and local governments.
A DECLARATION that by virtue of the provisions of Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), read along with Sections 2 (2) and 3 (1) of the said Constitution and Sections 1 & 3 of the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, Etc) Act, 1982, the 1st Defendant cannot make deductions from the statutory allocation to which the Plaintiff is entitled from the Federation Account for the purpose of crediting the Local Governments of Anambra State through the State Joint Local Government Account.
A DECLARATION that having regard to the provisions of Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), read along with Sections 2 (2) and 3 (1) of the said Constitution and Sections 1 & 3 of the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, Etc.) Act, 1982, the Defendants cannot, on behalf of the federal government, authorize the direct remittance of any funds to the Local Governments of the Plaintiff from the Federation Account.
Justice Dimgba said in delivering his verdict has said that, “In my view, there is no basis for the 1st Defendant to deduct the funds and retain them transitorily, that is, in escrow, Even sending the money directly to the local governments has no basis. As I alluded to before, doing so would be clearly illegal under both the Constitution and the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account Etc.) Act, as none of them established any provisions for a direct transfer of the 1st Defendant’s entitlements from the federation account to local governments”.
Earlier the defendants had challenged the court’s jurisdiction, contending that the suit constitutes a dispute between the Federation and a State (Anambra) of which the Supreme Court has exclusive original jurisdiction by virtue of Section 232(1) of the Constitution.
While warning against swamping the Supreme Court with every matter that has an agent of the federal government as a party, Justice Dimgba held:
“By virtue of Section 251(1)(r) 1999 CFRN, the Federal Government or any of its agencies can be sued in this Court for a declaration or injunction affecting the validity of any executive or administrative action or decision by the Federal Government or any of its agencies. And in this case, the Plaintiff is challenging the administrative action or decision of the 1st Defendant (a Minister of the Federal Government in charge of Finance) to deduct from its monthly statutory allocation and either withhold or directly remit same to the Local Government Councils (LGCs) as their share of the Paris Club Refund…
“It certainly cannot be that whenever a State has concerns in relation to the manner in which a federal official such as a minister or a federal agency such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) exercises its responsibility that affects that State adversely, then that activates a dispute between the federal government and the state in which only the Supreme Court will have original jurisdiction. May that day never come in which the apex court gets reduced to a magistrate court entertaining all sorts of sundry original matters simply because a state and federal officials are involved…”
The sack of Service Chiefs last week by President Bola Tinubu has provoked harsh words over their performance in office, with many lamenting that they presided over the needless death of more than 22, 000 citizens.
With high-profile killings, abductions and other crimes, their era was regarded as a period of inefficiency, leading to the sigh of relief that welcomed Tinubu’s action.
Since they came in at a time the nation was under the grip of bandits, kidnappers and ritual killers, there were high expectations from Nigerians. But the hope turned into a nightmare as non-state actors operated with reckless abandon across the country.
Though their removal was not surprising given the emergence of a new leader of the country, many saw their exit as overdue.
The President had, last Monday, relieved the Chief of the Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, Chief of the Army Staff, Farouk Yahaya, Chief of the Naval Staff, Awwal Gambo, Chief of the Air Staff, Isiaka Amao, and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali of their duties.
Of the attacks that took place during their tenure, many were quick to point at the Abuja-Kaduna train attack, the Owo massacre and Kuje jailbreak as their lowest points.
Apart from questioning the capacity of Nigerian security personnel, the incidents exposed many fault lines in the nation’s security architecture.
Security architecture
The human and material losses that accompanied the incidents are countless as many victims are licking their wounds while the victims died for no crime of theirs.
On March 28, 2022, bandits ambushed an Abuja-bound train in Kaduna, bombing the rail track and killing eight passengers.
No fewer than 168 persons were taken away in the attack which was largely attributed to the failure of intelligence.
Security experts had accused the authorities of failing to act as the incident happened a few days after unidentified gunmen invaded the Kaduna airport, killing an official on the runway.
There was also the Owo massacre of June 2022, which saw bandits attacking Saint Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, killing no fewer than 70 worshipers.
The state police command said the attack was carried out by gunmen at about 11:30 a.m., while the church service was ongoing.
Eyewitnesses said the gunmen threw explosives into the church and started shooting as the worshippers scampered for safety.
On the heels of that incident was a deadly jailbreak in Kuje, the heart of the Federal Capit6al Territory, FCT, Abuja.
No fewer than 400 inmates escaped in the attack the Islamic State in West Africa Province, ISWAP, claimed responsibility.
Four inmates, several attackers and a security guard died in the incident, which happened less than 47 kilometres from the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of power. About 1,000 inmates were in the facility when the attack took place, according to officials.
The event increased the number of prison escapees in Nigeria, which was over 5,000 at the time.
They’ll be remembered as inefficient
These, however, led to the conclusion that the outgone Service Chiefs would be remembered for high-profile attacks and deaths of countless citizens.
Coordinator General, Access to Advocacy and Rights of the People, Mr. Akintunde Adedeji, said: “We all witnessed the spate of insecurity under President Buhari. It was unchecked. History will remember them as being inefficient. It will remember them for displaying gross ineptitude as they were unable to reduce the spate of insecurity to the barest minimum. We were all living witness to the allegations of corruption that permeated the military bodies.
“History won’t record anything good about them. It is one thing to be the head of a military organisation, it is another thing to have the will, the patriotic zeal to be exemplary in the discharge of duties. This has to do with a disposition towards addressing or tackling insecurity. The body language of the Commander-in-Chief who is a retired general was not the best. It rubbed off on those Service Chiefs. As the saying goes when the head is rotten, the whole body is useless.
“As a former military man, the Commander-in-Chief did not measure up in ensuring that he put the Service Chiefs on their toes to reduce insecurity to the barest minimum. The lack of will and patriotic zeal to address it was responsible for the inefficiency of the service chiefs.”
Nigerians’ expectation
Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, on his part, said: “Every administration wants to be unique. Whatever the Service Chiefs did wrong was not obvious because it was not significantly different from what their predecessors did. The truth is just that Nigerians are dissatisfied with the state of security and intelligence gathering in the nation.
“In most cases, preventable security breaches do occur, especially in areas prone to terrorist attacks. And that is a minus in the way law enforcement and intelligence agencies do their work. That might be the reason they were removed. Maybe the new administration wants to inject new blood or invigorate the security architecture to send a signal to those that are coming in.
“History will remember them as people who passed through and did their best, which wasn’t good enough for the aspirations of the Nigerians. In Nigeria, you can’t say citizens are well-secured because kidnapping happens always. Inexplicable killings go on in several parts of the country. There are massacres in various states such as Kaduna and Plateau.
“ It could be that during their tenure there was a failure of intelligence. It is either the intelligence gathering was flawed or the means through which they obtained intelligence was awkward. This could have led to the killings and the attack on the railway, the kidnap of passengers and the pogrom that happened on farmlands and several villages in different parts of the country.
‘Nigerians are not happy’
National Coordinator, Activist for Good Governance, Mr Declan Ihekaire, comment on the issue, said: “Rather than say they were sacked or removed, I will say they were relieved of their duties based on the change of guard, which is at the discretion of whoever is at the helm of affairs in every country. We can say that they have not done well in their duties, but it is not to say that they didn’t do their best. Though they did their best, the fact remains that the security situation is still very porous, so porous that the government of today must do so much to give hope and assurance to the citizenry that security will be better.
“I will urge the current administration to endeavour to have a conference of past and present Service Chiefs where questions on what has resulted in the current situation can be asked. Through those questions, they can proffer solutions. Before the service chiefs came in under Buhari, banditry and killings had been in existence. During Jonathan, Yar’Adua and Obasanjo’s administration, insecurity was there. Now, the question should be why hasn’t it reduced drastically? Is it because Nigerians are not happy with themselves? Is it that external forces are fuelling the crisis? Is it that we don’t have the resources to combat the criminals? Is it that there was no money to carry out operations? These questions should be asked.
“The current administration should be able to broaden its knowledge of governance because when they do so, they can capture where the previous administration failed and what will be done differently to get things right.”
Worse
Also speaking, acting National Chairperson, Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, and Oyo State Coordinator of Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights, CDWR, Mr. Abiodun Bamigboye, said: “The job of the Service Chiefs, which is to ensure adequate protection of lives and properties of Nigerians was defeated, not only under the Buhari administration even under his predecessors. The failure was so much under the Buhari-led administration. It showed that they failed in their responsibilities.
“Under them, insecurity got worse. What we used to know under Jonathan was Boko Haram; under Buhari, we began to have banditry, insurgency and herder-farmer clashes. While kidnapping became a big business, youth restlessness doubled. All of these are the scorecard of the service chiefs.
“I don’t think relieving them of their duties is a wrong decision, although it won’t strengthen the security network in the country even though they are replaced with the best. I say this because at the root of insecurity in this country are also economic issues. For instance, what is the population of unemployed Nigerians? It is so massive than the population of many European countries combined.
“The poverty rate is so massive too. When this is looked at, it will be understood that it is not about changing the Service Chiefs but paying attention to the root of insecurity.
“Any government that wants to end insecurity must ensure that the economic root is tackled. It is not just having a general as a president, the rate of unemployment and poverty also fuels insecurity. Without a government that would tackle unemployment and poverty among others, there is nothing that Service Chiefs can do that would translate into improvement in security.”
Six Nigerians have died in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while performing this year’s pilgrimage.
The deceased were among the 95,000 Nigerian pilgrims who made the annual journey to the holy land for this year’s hajj exercise.
The head of the Nigerian medical team for the pilgrimage, Dr Usman Galadima, made the disclosure in Makkah on Saturday night.
He also revealed that 30 persons underwent psychiatric evaluation.
Speaking during a pre-Arafat meeting with stakeholders, he said two of the deceased pilgrims were from Osun State; and one each from Kaduna and Plateau.
He said of the them died of cardiac arrest; and others, of illnesses he did not disclosed.
Galadima, whose presentation was tagged ‘Vital Events as of June 24, 2023’, said the team attended to 30 pilgrims with mental health challenge.
He, however, assured that the patients would perform hajj as they “are now in a stable condition.”
He said seven pregnancies were recorded among the pilgrims; two from Sokoto State and one each from Adamawa, Kwara, Yobe, Plateau and Katsina.
Galadima also disclosed that two miscarriages were recorded; while a diabetic pilgrim had his leg amputated.
He said his team offered consultations to a total of 15, 860 Nigerian pilgrims and referred about 100 to Saudi hospitals.
Earlier, the chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikirullah Kunle Hassan, said all the 95,000 Nigerian pilgrims had been airlifted for the exercise.
A Federal High Court, presided over by Justice S.A. Amobeda, sitting in Kano, on Friday, granted an Ex-Parte Motion, stopping the state Governor, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, from further demolitions of structures and property in the state.
The Motion Ex-Parte, was filed by a citizen, Saminu Muhammad, through his lawyer.
The court restrained the Kano State Government and its agents from demolishing some buildings located along BUK road.
Justice S. A. Amobeda, particularly, ordered Kano state government to stop plans of demolishing the applicant’s property located on No. 41 and 43 Salanta, along BUK Road, Kano.
Respondents joined in the suit are Attorney-General of Kano State, Solicitor General of Kano State, Governor of Kano state, Kano State government and Kano State Bureau for Land Management.
Others include Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority, Inspector-General of Police, Nigeria Police Force, Commissioner of Police, Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The court, after listening to the motion moved by the applicant’s counsel, Prof. Nasiru Aliyu, SAN, ordered accelerated hearing of the case and adjourned the suit to 10 July, 2023.
The Order partly reads: “That Order of this Court is hereby made in the interim restraining the Respondents by themselves, agents, servant or proxies whatsoever called from encroaching, trespassing, entering, invading, demolishing or revoking the Applicant’s titles or doing any other act in respect of the Applicant’s property No. 41 and 43 situate at Salanta, along BUK Road, Kano, covered by Certificate of Occupancy No. KNMLO8228 and Certificate of Occupancy No. KNMLO8229 pending the hearing and determination of the Originating Motion.
“That Order of this Honourable Court is hereby made granting leave to the bailiff of this court to serve the 3rd, 4h, 5h and 6th Respondents with all processes and all subsequent processes in this suit through any staff or officer in the office of the 1st and 2nd Respondents and deeming the service as valid, personal and proper.
“That Order of this Honourable Court is made granting leave to the bailiff of this Court to serve the 7th and 8th Respondents with all processes and all subsequent processes in this suit through the office of the 9th Respondent and deeming the service as valid, personal and proper.
“That Order of this Honourable Court is hereby made granting leave to the bailiff of this Court to serve the 10th and 11th Respondents with all processes and all subsequent processes in this suit through the office of the 12th Respondent and deeming the service as valid, personal and proper.
“Accelerated hearing is hereby ordered. That Order of this Court and al the processes in this suit shall be served on the Respondents. That the matter is adjourned to 10m July, 2023 for Hearing.”