Britain to help Nigeria fight Boko Haram

Britain has pledged to help Nigeria fight terrorism after Nigeria solicited her support in addressing the security challenges facing it.

Dr Bello Mohammed, the Minister of Defence, made the request in Abuja yesterday when he received the British High Commissioner, Mr Andrew Lloyd, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office.

He said the support could be in the areas of intelligence sharing and supply of surveillance equipment necessary for curbing the menace of terrorism.

"I will also like to urge you to appeal to your government to strengthen our cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

"We have some security problems in Nigeria as you are aware and we believe that the Americans, the British as well as the EU are putting a lot of attention in the bid to curb terrorism in all parts of the world.

"If our security agencies work together with your agencies in the exchange of information, may be in the deployment of equipment for detection, it will help not only in ensuring security in Nigerian but world security", he said.

The minister also appealed to the British government to assist Nigeria in resuscitating its defence industries to enable it meets some of its military needs.

"Our defence industries have been moribund for a long time; part of our reform programme is to reactivate them, so that our defence needs that can be produced locally instead of importing them", he said.

Mohammed also appealed to the British government to support Nigeria's quest for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

Responding, Mr Andrew Lyold said his visit to the Ministry was prompted by his country's desire to strengthen military relations with Nigeria.

Lloyd said among other areas of interest, Britain would remain a strategic partner of Nigeria in the area of defence.

He said Britain recognised Nigeria's importance in the quest for global peace, and pledged his country's support for its bid for permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

Lloyd said Nigeria's role in the Security Council had been a benefiting one for global peace, adding that this had been evident in its role in restoring peace in war torn Liberia, Sierra Leone and other African countries.

He advised Nigeria to protect its nascent democracy against security challenges, saying that no modern democracy in the world was immune to such challenges.

The High Commissioner promised that Britain would partner with Nigeria to sustain its democracy and curb emerging security challenges.

Lloyd, who was on a working visit to the Ministry, was accompanied on the visit by some British military officials.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has reaffirmed its support for Libya's Transitional Council, in spite of being absent at a United Nations (UN) General Assembly that allowed the former rebels to represent the people of Libya at the world body.

A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the attention of the Minister, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru had been drawn to the "inadvertent absence of Nigeria" at last Friday's UN voting session.

"Government welcomes the decision of the General Assembly to accept the credentials of the Transitional National Council of Libya (TNC) to the UN as the legitimate authority now in Libya" Mr. Damian Agwu, spokesman for the ministry said in the statement.

The overwhelming support given to the TNC by members of the General Assembly, the highest legislative body, vindicates the wisdom of the decision taken by Nigeria earlier on this delicate matter," the statement added.

It said: "Appropriate diplomatic steps" had been taken to register Nigeria's voting preference supporting the NTC to speak for Libya at the debate of the UN General Assembly taking place in New York.

"This will form part of the UN record on the subject," the statement added.

The former rebels recently forced Dictator Muammar Gaddafi to abandon his headquarters in Tripoli, following five months of violent conflict sparked by Gaddafi's brutal crackdown on his citizens.

The NTC declared itself the legitimate representative of the Libyan people on March 5 and mandated Mahmoud Jibril, its leader, on March 23, to form an interim government.

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Swiss court orders retrial of son of Sani Abacha N54.88bn money laundering case

 

The highest court in Switzerland has ordered retrial of Abba Abacha, the son of ex- military ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha, who died in 1998, against the order of a lower court to return the sum of $350 million (about N54. 88 billion) illegally acquired by his family.

Following the inability of the son of the ex-military ruler to obtain a Swiss visa to attend the trial, Abba Abacha appealed against the earlier ruling ordering him to return the money and the highest court obliged him.

The Swiss Federal Tribunal annulled the sentence and ordered the retrial on the grounds that Mr. Abacha's rights had been violated and because of procedural irregularities.

A source said that the appeal started at a court in Geneva’s on Monday.

According to a Swiss  newspaper, LeTemps, Abba Abacha, who is currently in Nigeria, would not be attending the hearing.

He was said to have been refused a visa to go to Switzerland because he did not apply for it in time, the newspaper said. 

Jersey’s Royal Court had earlier sentenced an Indian, Raj Arjandas Bhojwani, believed to be in money laundering business deal with late Sani Abacha, to repay N26.5 million.

The convict laundered £28million through the Jersey branch of the Bank of India. He was jailed in 2010 for eight years, but in February, it was cut to six years for Bhojwani's good character.

The money was laundered in a business deal with the late Nigerian military dictator, who died in 1998.

The Royal Court ordered the confiscation of £26.5m and for  Bhojwani to contribute to the prosecution costs.

A statement released by the Royal Court said it represented the end of a long investigation into serious money laundering in Jersey.

HM Attorney General Timothy Le Cocq, QC, said: ‘This is not the first time the attorney general has brought a successful prosecution for money laundering and we hope that it will send out a clear message that Jersey will deal very seriously with such offences.’

The case began following an investigation into the activities of General Abacha.

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Former Delta Governor James Ibori to stay in Prison Till 2012

Former Delta State Governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, standing trial in London on a 14 count charge of fraud and money laundering, will remain in prison custody till February 13, 2012, when his case opens.

The alleged crimes were reportedly committed between 1999 and 2007 when Ibori served as Delta State governor.

The decision to remand him in prison followed the successful pleas of his defence lawyers that they need more time to go through 65,000 pages of evidence and also to travel to Nigeria to speak to witnesses.

The former Delta State governor appeared in court, clean shaven and wearing a grey linen jacket and shirt without a tie. He had freshly shaved, getting rid of the small moustache he at one time spotted.

He waved to supporters, and managed to smile at the police officers who led him to court, and also at one point flashed a smile at the police officers who have worked to amass tens of thousand pages of evidence against him.

In legal hearings before the trial, Ibori's defence team told the court that they intend to argue that he cannot be tried in the United Kingdom, since a court in Nigeria has already decided there is no evidence he has committed any crime in Nigeria.

One of Ibori's defence lawyers, Mr. Benjamin Aina (QC), told Southwark Crown Court that they could not begin the trial as planned in November because they need more time to go through the approximately 65,000 pages of evidence and travel to Nigeria to speak to witnesses.

'Mr. Ibori has the right to be competently defended,' Judge Anthony Pitts said, setting the new date. Ibori's defence team did not object to the prosecution's request to extend the time Mr. Ibori could be held in custody.

Without such agreement prisoners in custody on remand for non violent offences can be released on bail after six months.

Ibori was extradited to the UK from Dubai in April 2011, and prosecutors decided he would be tried alongside a co-defendant, Emmanuel Preko, who was already slated to be tried in November.

His lawyer, Nicholas Purnell, referred to in court by other members of the defence team and the Judge as 'one of the finest legal minds of this generation,' told the court he had been forced to withdraw his services from Ibori because of the schedule.

'This has caused some considerable distress to the defendant,' he said. 'The delay to the start date allowed Mr. Purnell to represent Ibori as originally planned,' he said.

The prosecution said the defence team had already had adequate time to prepare, as many of the legal representatives had also worked on the trials involving associates of Ibori.

His wife, mistress and lawyer, were all convicted in London last year. Much of the complex evidence has been agreed over the course of the previous trials, the prosecution said.

Before the trial the court will convene to hear legal arguments, where Ibori will apply to have the case thrown out.

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Newly appointed commander of the Special Task Force promises to bring peace to Jos

Maj.-Gen. Oluwaseun Oshinowo, the new Commander of the military Special Task Force, STF, maintaining security in Plateau, on Monday in Jos vowed to ensure the return of peace to the troubled state.

Oshinowo made the promise when he paid a courtesy call on Gov. Jonah Jang, saying that he understood the terrain of Plateau having lived in the state since 1981.

“I’m here to work for Plateau State because I’ve settled here with my family and my two kids were born here. I’m not living in the barracks but in my own house in Bassa.

“I’m here at the bidding of the Commander-in-Chief and I am ready to work with you. I seek your cooperation so that we can bring peace back to Plateau.”

Oshinowo described Plateau as his home and said he would like his children and family to grow in a peaceful atmosphere that used to pervade the entire state in the past.

“We need to bring peace back to Plateau; we can do it and we will do it. I do tell my friends that crisis met me in Jos and crisis will leave me in Jos by God’s grace.

“Plateau used to be the envy of everybody in this country. Many of us come from other states but Jos is the best place you can stay in this country whether you believe it or not and the peace must return.”

The STF commander, however, said that he would not be able to do anything without the cooperation of Jang, his senior colleague in the military.

Responding, Jang expressed dismay at accusations that he, as an experienced military officer, had not been able to end the crisis because of the many intricacies involved.

“When a similar crisis erupted in Numan in the then old Gongola State, it didn’t take me one week to put it under. I didn’t need anybody’s permission to order the brigade commander and the head of state congratulated me for a job well done.

“But as an elected governor, the constitution has changed the position of the chief security officer of a state to that of a general without troops because all the security forces are under the president.”

Jang said that the president’s directive to the Chief of Defence Staff did not presuppose that he (Jang) had failed but that the defence chief was only being reminded by the president to come and do his work properly.

The governor, however, said that the president had not relieved him as the chief security officer of the state since it was a constitutional issue.

He said that all the security heads met regularly at the Security Council but noted that security issues agreed on at the council were not carried out by the appropriate authorities.

Nigeria loses Trade Union hosting rights

Meanwhile, following the spate of bombing in the country by Boko Haram sect, Nigeria has lost the hosting rights of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) Congress which was scheduled for Abuja from October 24 – 26, 2011.

Nigeria was granted the hosting rights in October 2010. President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade AbdulWaheed Omar, who disclosed this in a press conference yesterday said , “this congress would have brought trade unionists from across Africa to Nigeria as well as their comrades from all continents.

Unfortunately, due to the spate of bombings especially that of the United Nations House in Abuja, the hosting right has been withdrawn and is to be taken to either Cotonou, Johannesburg, Nairobi or Dakar. What this tells us is that rather than government creating more problems in the country, it should engage in problem- solving schemes”.

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Video - Four Boko Haram members to face death penalty for UN attack

And now on to Nigeria, where four members of a radical Islamist sect face trial for bombing the U.N. headquarters in the Nigerian capital. If found guilty, the men face the death penalty for their role in the attack, which killed 23 people.

Four suspected members of a radical Islamist sect have been charged with orchestrating a suicide bombing on United Nations headquarters in the Nigerian capital last month.

The attack killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 100.

They face the death penalty if found guilty.

The men are accused of being members of Boko Haram, whose name in the Haussa language means "Western education is forbidden."

They were among 19 men brought to a magistrates court in Abuja on Friday accused of carrying out separate attacks as members of the sect.

The sect is also blamed for almost daily killings around its home base in the remote northeast.

The U.N. attack was the first known suicide bombing in Nigeria.

It marked an escalation in the group's tactics and revealed a step-up in the sophistication of explosives it uses.

Intelligence officials have said evidence suggests some Boko Haram members have trained in Niger and have connections with al Qaeda's North African wing.

The United States has become increasingly concerned about the threat posed by Boko Haram and its cooperation with al Qaeda.

Nigeria's population of more than 140 million is split roughly equally between a largely Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.

Boko Haram, which wants Islamic sharia law more widely applied, does not have the support of the majority of Nigerian Muslims.

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