Nigerian Eye

I have always defeated Atiku, Buhari tells tribunal

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="600" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6OaID6kxP4a9kR9VKSW1Hovec93VeLZad-ySulKbcXFhXJKZ6H6EVVSv6freIFXQpaZ0anFuKd-X48WYPU2OSi5IHcRf-BOVqTI4TX4eyNlzZz5bWq9UIp4RaJqVhwxof37r4Mo8aVUEt/s640/Buhari-atiku+..png" width="640" /></div>
 
President Muhammadu Buhari has faulted claims by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that they won February 23 presidential election. 
 
Buhari describes the claims as laughable because Atiku has never won any political contest with him (Buhari) and because he is more popular and acceptable among the electorate than the ex-Vice President. 
 
Buhari, in his response to the petition filed before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja by Atiku and the PDP, challenging the outcome of the February 23, 2019 presidential election, noted that he even defeated Atiku in his (Atiku’s) polling unit in his home state of Adamawa. 
 
<a id="more" name="more"></a> 
 
He wondered why Atiku thought he could secure victory on the platform of a political party (the PDP) he (Atiku) had previously derided and described as a dead party, and one which was beyond redemption. 
 
The President, who is listed as the 2nd respondent in the petition marked: CA/PEPC/002/2019, said in his response filed on April 16, 2019 by his team of lawyers, led by Wole Olanipekun (SAN) said: “At every previous instance, whether at intra-party or inter-party contests, where he and the 1st petitioner (Atiku) had vied, he has always been the preference of the electorate and/or delegates. 
 
“In particular, at the primary election conducted by the 3rd respondent (APC) in 2014, to pick its presidential candidate for the 2015 election, the 1st petitioner and the respondent (Buhari), amongst others, were the candidates; and while the respondent polled 3,430 votes, the 1st petitioner came a distant third with 954 votes. 
 
“The 1st petitioner was at all material times prior to his decamping to the 2nd petitioner (PDP), shortly before the presidential election, a member of the 3rd respondent (APC). 
 
“The 1st petitioner contested the presidential primary election of the 3rd respondent with the respondent in 2014 and after the respondent (Buhari) defeated him to a distant third place, the 1st petitioner joined the campaign train of the respondent immediately after the primary election, traversing all over the country and rightly declaring to all and sundry that respondent was the best choice available to the country for the position of President. 
 
“On joining the 3rd respondent, the 1st petitioner consigned the 2nd petitioner to the grave, describing it as a dead party that is beyond redemption. 
 
“The 1st petitioner could not have won the presidential election under the platform of a political, which he abandoned and described as having gone beyond redemption. 
 
“The respondent enjoys a wide acceptability across the federation and is more popular and acceptable to the electorate than the 1st petitioner, leading to the respondent securing more votes than the 1st petitioner, even at the latter’s polling unit in Adamawa State. 
 
“In the polling unit where the 1st petitioner registered for the election, while the 1st petitioner polled 167 votes, the respondent scored 186 votes.”

Latest-News I have always defeated Atiku, Buhari tells tribunal

President Muhammadu Buhari has faulted claims by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that they won February 23 pr...

N2.1 Billion Pension Fraud: Security agencies remove Maina from watch list

01:54 Unknown 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="583" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipXjJwDW6BXZGK8WLDV3_E3sb8VbHnlDsQ-qjBW-rdqg9oGAVtV1To0GlYHKWO-NPKRL5dtRNecLdGzstSgjMwHm2xUbV2DxqUYBuRWCWTyMnLfvYpdHagzW5DulwZ19O2S9q7AbcCLHRX/s400/maina.jpg" width="400" /></div>
 
There are strong indications that the Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina, who was embroiled in an alleged fraud case, might have been granted reprieve by the Federal Government. 
 
Maina, it was learnt, had been visiting the country more regularly than before from his foreign base as his name was said to have been taken off the watch list by security agencies at the nation’s international airports. 
<a id="more" name="more"></a> 
 
One year after a Senate ad hoc committee, set up to investigate his controversial reinstatement and promotion in the federal civil service, submitted its report, the Senate has yet to consider its findings. 
 
Security sources stated that the former PRTT chairman was being protected from arrest by top officials in the Presidency and the Ministry of Justice. 
 
It was gathered that Maina, who was earlier declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2015 and subsequently placed on the International Police wanted list, was always in the country hobnobbing with senior officials. 
 
One of the sources told newsmen that the Federal Government was no longer interested in taking Maina into custody, describing him as ‘a friend of this administration’. 
 
“The EFCC is free to chase after him, but the government seems to have taken a decision on the matter because Maina is no longer on our watch list. From the body language of top officials, Maina appears to be a friend of this administration,” he stated. 
 
Following request by the EFCC, the Interpol had issued a red alert for Maina’s arrest, but the embattled civil servant subsequently met with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), in Dubai in 2016 during which he was reportedly assured of his safety in Nigeria. 
 
The minister, in November 2017, admitted before a Senate ad hoc panel probing Maina’s reinstatement to the civil service that he met with the former PRTT boss in Dubai. 
 
Sequel to this, Maina resumed at the Ministry of Interior where he was promoted to the position of Deputy Director, Human Resources Department, without sitting for the mandatory promotion examination. 
 
Findings also indicated that Maina had stopped going to work at the interior ministry. 
 
It could not be immediately confirmed if President Muhammadu Buhari’s order that he should be sacked had been carried out by the Federal Civil Service Commission. 
 
When asked if Maina still worked at the interior ministry, the ministry’s spokesman, Mohammed Manga, responded angrily, “Stop calling me about Maina. Am I his employer? Why are you personalising this issue? You are personalising it. What is your business now?” 
 
Maina had, in February, secured a court order stopping the EFCC from declaring him wanted. 
 
Justice Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court described the action of the anti-graft agency in declaring Maina wanted as unlawful. 
 
The commission has, however, filed an appeal against the order. 
 
Meanwhile, the statement, declaring Maina wanted, was still on the EFCC’s website as of Saturday night. 
 
When asked if Maina was still on the watch list of the Nigeria Immigration Service, the NIS Public Relations Officer, Sunday James, said he had not been briefed. 
 
He, however, added that anyone on the security watch list could not be allowed to leave the country. 
 
“Our service regulation does not permit anyone on the watch list to travel out of the country and come in at will. If there is any instruction given to us, we comply,” James noted.

Latest-News N2.1 Billion Pension Fraud: Security agencies remove Maina from watch list

There are strong indications that the Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina, who was embroiled in an all...

Thick smoke at new Abuja airport terminal causes panic

01:54 Unknown 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZsZ2xeR0izD8Y_pLDSSv1OW-VhqxnM-Lh4j1363yYRdoZWUYB6DSTo-Zu9Tt7fsFoozd6EaB7rbGsFB5rmnfcDcMe-JABwvxWZVG94ynoQrbgVXcv73lx2pAAyepRhndvRgbpZ514UhHr/s640/Nnamdi-Azikiwe-International+abuja+Airport.jpg" width="640" /></div>
 
There was thick smoke at the new terminal of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Saturday afternoon, causing panic among airport users and passengers. 
 
Although the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria described the situation as a minor incident, airport users who saw the smoke expressed worry over the development. 
 
FAAN also stated that there was no fire at the facility and that its firemen were handling the situation, as operations would commence after the firemen were done. 
<a id="more" name="more"></a> 
 
“Of course, the smoke caused panic. An average person would naturally express worry when you see smoke coming out from a point in such a facility like this airport,” a traveller who simply identified himself as Gideon, stated. 
 
But the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, FAAN, Yakubu Henrietta, insisted that the situation was a minor incident and that it was handled by the authority. 
 
“The incident was, however, swiftly curtailed by the in-built fire detection and protection system at the new terminal that triggered automatically,” Yakubu said. 
 
She said the building was designed and built with fire detection protection system, adding that the system comes up when it senses high ambient temperatures and sprays fire extinguishing agent.

Latest-News Thick smoke at new Abuja airport terminal causes panic

There was thick smoke at the new terminal of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Saturday afternoon, causing panic among ai...

10 killed, over 100 houses set ablaze in Benue community

01:54 Unknown 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="400" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM9QQwMxnpXYtFAiKlrckdhPIZZMvip8UNE1BtukL8M69PcL1Sv742OEAgH2UlS7zwQV2rLFJKkxDw6sOoTs_IJpyzKyy-gSgZeNEXIys7nMhomaWRZPntK_XEEmxjkHuiWmv1hvyyF0AA/s400/fire-explosion.jpg" width="400" /></div>
 
Over 10 persons have been killed and about 100 houses set ablaze in Aila, Egba ward, Agatu Local Government Area since crisis broke out over fishing pond in Benue State. 
 
The Chairman of Agbaduma Development Association (AGA), Makurdi branch, Benjamin Eigege, disclosed this during interactive session with journalist in Makurdi, Benue State capital. 
 
<a id="more" name="more"></a> 
 
Eigege also called on the state and federal governments to deploy security men in Aila community to protect lives and property. 
 
He said the people of Aila have been under incessant attacks from neighbouring Egba community over fishing pond which is in dispute. 
 
According to him, suspected militia have so far killed 10 persons in Aila and set houses ablaze, with many rendered homeless. 
 
Eigege noted that the lingering crisis assumed a more dangerous dimension on 18th of March this year when an Aila man, Nghede Ibrahim, was shot dead at the fishing pond by suspected militia from Egba, an adjoining village. 
 
He stated further that the Acting Chairman of Agatu Local Government Council, Alhaji Oyigbocho, visited Aila community to calm down tension and to plead against reprisal attacks, but immediately he left, some suspected militia stormed Aila community and killed 9 persons. 
 
“They set over 100 houses ablaze and destroyed property worth millions,” Eigege said. 
 
More worrisome to Aila community, he said, is that when security men were deployed to the area, instead of going to Aila community, who are always at the receiving end of the attacks, they are now stationed at Egba community, the people he alleged are suspected to be behind the killings. 
 
He traced the history of the bloody lingering crisis to a fishing pond which is in dispute. 
 
According to him, attempts to get protection from the Benue security outfits have failed so they resort to “Save our Souls” messages to the state and federal governments through the media. 
 
He therefore calls for immediate intervention from the government to enable Aila people go back to their ancestral land and farm as raining season has set in. 
 
In its reaction, the Benue Police Command called for calm and promised to deploy more policemen to the area. 
 
Chairman of Agatu Local Government Area, Alhaji Oyigocho, could not be reached but a member of Agatu Local Government Council said efforts are in top gear to bring the Egba/Aila lingering crisis to an end. 
 
He said a meeting of critical stakeholders is schedule to hold soon so as to find lasting peace among the warring communities.

Latest-News 10 killed, over 100 houses set ablaze in Benue community

Over 10 persons have been killed and about 100 houses set ablaze in Aila, Egba ward, Agatu Local Government Area since crisis broke out ov...

OSUN Politics: PDP alleges fresh plot to smear Adeleke

01:54 Unknown 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKVzoXeLv45-4mA7RbiDx9ii8iSNISp4FIkc0VrLzd3oIRmUNMgelBM8EouPdRMPeFfmy5OzI4Zlns4eUOAMxwkKWK0Vy7zAT2Wh_jDYLGmiRLNwWUtBEGZbtSS18bNWn2roIt9anrr1A/s400/ademola+adeleke.jpg" width="400" /></div>
 
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged fresh plots by some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to smear the reputation of its candidate in the Osun State governorship election, Senator Ademola Adeleke. 
 
Adeleke has been having a running legal battle with the APC over alleged falsification of his Secondary School Leaving Certificate. 
 
In a statement yesterday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the main opposition party accused some unnamed APC leaders of knitting ludicrous allegation that Adeleke’s Secondary School Testimonial was forged. 
 
According to Ologbondiyan, the PDP already has information on how the APC used a former commissioner in the state to reach out to certain top security officers to use the fabrications to arrest and embarrass Adeleke and the Principal of his school, Ede Muslim High School, Ede, Mr. Kadili Adejare Abass. 
 
<a id="more" name="more"></a> 
 
The PDP said it has also been fully informed of how huge sums of money has allegedly been forwarded as bribe to the compromised security agents to arraign and humiliate Adeleke and Mr. Adejare Abass on fabricated charges, even when they know they cannot prove any case. 
 
The party further claimed to be in possession of intelligence of attempts by agents of the APC to hack into Adeleke’s former school files, with the view to mutilating relevant academic documents, just to get at the lawmaker, not minding the harm such would cause other students of the school,” the party said. 
 
The PDP counselled the APC to accept its defeat in the Osun Governorship Election and desist from acts of mischief against Senator Adeleke, saying that such attempts will come to naught. 
 
The party also charged Nigerians, particularly the people of Osun, to continue to be at the alert in resisting what it described as the “noxious schemes” of the APC against their will as a people.

Latest-News OSUN Politics: PDP alleges fresh plot to smear Adeleke

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged fresh plots by some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to smear the reputation ...

EFCC probes N8.7 billion fraud in JAMB

01:54 Unknown 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="600" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQ5fyOF2gaqSb-PrPJTTN2N4Na298IvjGYUfOYT38fq5_q5dXAbRHEsh1aeN-4XCEcDR4zdU3KueUbjlRMGk3yaXuTBeFSIREs3edejhIvmkhx9xor6N7o8u9UeO8cWaA0esGICEBwXdF/s400/1-EFCC-OnoBello-1105.jpg" width="400" /></div>
 
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has launched into a probe of the cash inflow and outflow of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) between 2010 and 2016. 
 
The anti-graft agency wants to get to the root of an alleged N8.7billion fraud in the board. 
 
Fifteen suspects have already been shortlisted for trial. 
 
Among them are some zonal heads and state coordinators. One of the suspects facing trial is a female accountant, Philomena Chise, whose sensational claim that a snake swallowed N36million raked in from the sales of e-facility cards rocked the nation. 
<a id="more" name="more"></a> 
 
Chise later told EFCC operatives that the said N36milion was disbursed as an I-Owe-You advance to cash-strapped staff. 
 
The N8.7billion alleged fraud is said to have predated the present JAMB management, led by Prof. Ishaq Oloyede. 
 
A document detailing the alleged fraud and sighted by The Nation says the large sum was revenue from sales of e-facility cards and change of course cards which ended in private pockets. 
 
“The remittance of over N8billion by Oloyede to the Federal Government as revenue led to the Forensic Investigation of Financial Activities of JAMB between 2010 and 2016 by Faithpro Consulting Auditing Associate (Financial and Management Consultants),” it says. 
 
“The forensic investigators came up with N8.7billion shortfall within the same period which the EFCC has been investigating. There are about 15 suspects who may face trial in the first batch.” 
 
Some of the states where the fraud was detected include Benue, Nasarawa, Kano, Kogi, Plateau, Gombe, Yobe and Edo. 
 
Some of the suspects under investigation, who may face trial include Chise and Sale Umar (Benue); Labaran Tanko (Nasarawa); Daniel Agbo (Kogi), Yakubu Jekada (Plateau), Patricia Ogunsola and Cyril Izireim Imoukhuede (Edo); Murtala Abdul (Gombe); Aliyu Yakubu (Kano) among others. 
 
The report adds: “In Benue, out of the expected revenue of N124, 180,00 from e-facility cards, only N88,700,000 was remitted leaving a balance of N35.48million. 
 
“The JAMB office in the state also received 10,210 change of course cards and instead of remitting N8, 025,000, about N7million was paid into the designated account. About N1,025,000 is missing till date. 
 
“Although JAMB’s preliminary findings claimed that Chise confessed that a snake swallowed the N36m unremitted cash, she told the EFCC detectives that the shortfall was an I-Owe-You advance to cash-strapped staff that are yet to refund same.” 
 
Employees in Yobe State claimed to have “lost sales records because of attacks on Damaturu by Boko Haram.” 
 
The story is similar in Edo State “where N26,400,000 is missing. Out of the expected revenue from e-facility cards of about N123, 933,000, only N97,533,000 was paid into the relevant account.” 
 
In Gombe, about N40, 004,000 sales revenue was realized but only N29, 073,000 was remitted leaving a balance of N10,269,000.” 
 
“An officer in Kano, in his efforts to cover up for 20,000 unaccounted cards worth N20million, cut carbon papers in the form of e-facility cards and returned these cards as unused.” 
 
The document revealed findings on Nasarawa State where an officer claimed to have lost over N24,037,000 cards in a road crash. 
 
The document added: “Investigation revealed that Mr. Labaran Tanko was the JAMB State Coordinator of Lafia Office, Nasarawa State between 2011 and 2016. 
 
“Investigation revealed that within the period of his tenure, Nasarawa State Office revealed a total of 24,882 e-facility cards out of which 24,037 were unsold while 845 were sold at the rate of N1,000 each. The expected revenue was N845,000 realized and remitted to JAMB. 
 
“However he claimed that the remaining 23,147 cards got burnt in an accident he had along Lafia-Akwanga Expressway while 890 cards were missing. 
 
“Meanwhile, contrary to his submission, forensic evidence obtained from the IT Unit of JAMB showed that the cards were sold and utilized by candidates within Nasarawa State and its environs. 
 
“This forensic evidence showed the name, phone number and purpose for which the cards were used. The expected revenue from the claimed burnt/missing cards was N24,037,000. The revenue from the cards, which were actually sold and utilized based on forensic evidence, was never remitted to JAMB. 
 
“Also investigation revealed that 2,000 CBT cards were supplied to Nasarawa State Office which were never sold. Rather, the State Coordinator claimed that the said 2,000 CBT cards were among the cards that got burnt in road accident along Lafia-Akwanga Expressway. 
 
Contrary to the claim, investigation recovered forensic evidence which showed that the cards were actually not burnt but utilized by candidates within Nasarawa State and its environs. This forensic evidence further revealed the details of candidates hat used the cards, such as name, phone number and purpose for which the cards were used. 
 
“Further investigation revealed that 4, 589 change of course cards were supplied to Nasarawa State Office of which they sold 1,426 at the rate of N2,500 each while 3, 163 cards were unused and same was remitted to JAMB. However, the State Coordinator claimed that the remaining 3,163 cards got burnt in the same road accident. Forensic evidence, however, proved otherwise.”

Latest-News EFCC probes N8.7 billion fraud in JAMB

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has launched into a probe of the cash inflow and outflow of the Joint Admissions and ...

Gunmen kill two tourists in Kaduna, 11 in Benue

01:54 Unknown 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="713" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOmYqidhjU9MQFFgonlvBJTRL2AJKxtrlDfijOvDRBZGSQy96txpfPl2Dqae2Vo2DxpCYOnejbLEzOAXV8kOm2266z5eFMyfBbkN0RPqEb0ErblnSkLPDWTs1XMzHt-8oyNg6kVzEbCGMs/s640/gun+kill.jpg" width="640" /></div>
 Suspected kidnappers in the early hours of Saturday invaded a resort in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State and shot dead two persons including an expatriate, a woman. 
 
It was also learnt that the gunmen abducted three persons. 
 
Also in the early hours of Saturday, unidentified gunmen killed 11 persons in Ngibo and Tse-Aye villages in the Ikyurav-Tiev 1, council ward of Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State. 
 
Sources told one of our correspondents that after the gunmen killed four persons in Ngibo village and seven in Tse Aye village, they allegedly rustled 28 cattle belonging to one Agwaza Atedze. 
 
Meanwhile, spokesman for the police in Kaduna State, Yakubu Sabo, confirmed the killing of two persons in the crisis-prone Kajuru. 
<a id="more" name="more"></a> 
 
In a statement, Sabo said the suspected kidnappers stormed the resort, popularly called Kajuru Castle, and killed two guests believed to be tourists from Lagos on the spot. 
 
He said a patrol team, led by the Kajuru Divisional Police Officer, had removed the bodies to St. Gerard Catholic Hospital in Kaduna metropolis. 
 
He said investigation later revealed that 12 tourists from Lagos were partying at the resort before the incident occurred. 
 
Sabo added, “Normally before such an social event happen, the organisers would inform us for security coverage, but the party was done without the knowledge of the police in the area as traditionally done.” 
 
According to him, the state Commissioner of Police, Ahmad Abdurrahman, had promised that they would apprehend the perpetrators of the attack. 
 
A source revealed that the bandits, who attacked Ngibo and Tse Aye, shot indiscriminately immediately they rode on motorcycles into the villages between 3am and 4am. 
 
It was learnt that many of the villagers had fled the communities for fear of another attack. 
 
Spokesman for the police in Benue, DSP Catherine Anene, confirmed the incidents. 
 
She said the DPO in charge of Katsina-Ala had responded to directive to deal with the situation. 
 
However, Anene could not confirm the casualty figure. 
 
Also confirming the report, Force Commander of the Operation Whirl Stroke, Maj Gen Adeyemi Yekini, said the clash was between the Shitile and Ikyurav people of the area, adding that troops had moved to restore calm to the two communities.