Officials of the Nigerian Army made concerted efforts to cover up the mass slaughter of over 350 Nigerian citizens, including women and children, between December 12-14, 2015, in Zaria, Amnesty International has said.
In a newly-released report about the killing, which involved members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, Amnesty International said it was able to uncover evidence of a possible mass grave in Zaria neighbourhood of Mando with the aid of satellite imaging.
The report, titled: “Unearthing the truth: Unlawful killings and mass cover-up in Zaria”, is based on interviews with 92 people, including victims, witnesses from the Shi’ite and other communities, relatives of victims, residents of the areas where the incidents took place, lawyers and medical personnel and contains shocking eyewitness testimony of large-scale unlawful killings by the Nigerian military and exposes a crude attempt by the authorities to destroy and conceal evidence.
“The true horror of what happened over those two days in Zaria is only now coming to light. Bodies were left littered in the streets and piled outside the mortuary. Some of the injured were burned alive,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for Africa.
“Our research, based on witness testimonies and analysis of satellite images, has located one possible mass grave. It is time now for the military to come clean and admit where it secretly buried hundreds of bodies.”
The massacre of Shi’ites and continued detention of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, have earned the Nigerian government widespread international condemnation, including a probe by the International Criminal Court.
In February, the Islamic Human Rights Commission, IHRC, a United Kingdom-based Muslim advocacy organisation, has dragged President Muhammadu Buhari, the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, the chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the massacre.
The organisation also asked the ICC to investigate the emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, and the emir of Zaria, Shehu Idris, for human rights violation and crimes against humanity.
Other army officers and persons the IHRC asked the ICC to probe for their roles in the massacre are: spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Sani Usman, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Adeniyi Oyebade, the Commander Nigerian Depot, Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonisakin, Director Military Intelligence, Chief of Defence intelligence – AVM Riku Morgan, AK Ibrahim – Commander 1 Division Garrison, Nigerian Army, Kaduna and Col. F.M Babayo.
The rest are Capt Ben, Adjutant Depot, Nigerian Army; Adeniyi Oyebade, General Officer Commanding, 1 Division Garrison Kaduna; Umar Labdo; Sambo Rigachukun; Bala Lau; Yahaya Jingir and; Kabir Gombe.
In a detailed report, the IHRC argued that attacks of the army on members of IMN between December 12 and 14 in Zaria qualify as crime against humanity and therefore called on the ICC to initiate an investigation into the incident.
In April, the ICC announced the commencement of detailed investigation into the killings.
According to Amnesty International’s findings, more than 350 people are believed to have been unlawfully killed by the military between 12 and 14 December, following a confrontation between members of IMN and soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna State.
IMN supporters – some armed with batons, knives, and machetes – had refused to clear the road near their headquarters, the Hussainiyya, for a military convoy to pass. The army has claimed that IMN supporters attacked the convoy in an attempt to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff. IMN members deny this.
Some people were killed as a result of the indiscriminate fire while others appeared to have been deliberately targeted, Mr. Belay said.
The report highlighted the agony of relatives of the victims of the massacre, which the federal government has continued to deny.
Zainab, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, was quoted by Amnesty International: “We were in our school uniforms. My friend Nusaiba Abdullahi was shot in her forehead. We took her to a house where they treated the injured but, before reaching the house, she already died.
The cover-up
Amnesty International said after the incident, the military sealed off the areas around El-Zakzaky’s compound, the Hussainiyya and other locations. Bodies were taken away, sites were razed to the ground, the rubble removed, bloodstains washed off, and bullets and spent cartridge removed from the streets.
Witnesses saw piles of bodies outside the morgue of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Zaria. A senior medical source told Amnesty International that the military sealed off the area around the morgue for two days. During that time he saw army vehicles “coming and going”.
A witness described to Amnesty International what he saw outside the hospital mortuary on the evening of 14 December: “It was dark and from far I could only see a big mound but when I got closer I saw it was a huge pile of corpses on top of each other. I have never seen so many dead bodies. I got very scared and run away. It was a terrible sight and I can’t get it out of my mind.”
Another witness told the organisation how he had seen diggers excavating holes at the site of the suspected mass grave: “There were five or six large trucks and several smaller military vehicles and they spent hours digging and unloading the trucks’ cargo into the hole they dug and then covered it again with the earth they had dug out. They were there from about 1 or 2 am until about 5 am. I don’t know what they buried. It looked like bodies, but I could not get near.”
Amnesty International identified and visited the location of a possible mass grave near Mando. Satellite images of the site taken on 2 November and 24 December 2015 show disturbed earth spanning an area of approximately 1000 square metres. Satellite pictures also show the complete destruction of buildings and mosques.
“It is clear that the military not only used unlawful and excessive force against men, women and children, unlawfully killing hundreds, but then made considerable efforts to try to cover-up these crimes,” said Netsanet Belay.
“Four months after the massacre the families of the missing are still awaiting news of their loved ones. A full independent forensic investigation is long overdue. The bodies must be exhumed, the incident must be impartially and independently investigated and those responsible must be held to account.”
On Monday 25 April, the military are expected to give evidence to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry established by the Kaduna State Government in January 2016.
On 11 April, a Kaduna State government official told the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that the bodies of 347 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) were collected from the hospital mortuary and an army depot in Zaria and buried secretly in a mass grave near Mando (outside the town of Kaduna) on the night of 14-15 December.
The IMN claim a further 350 people who went missing during the incidents in Zaria remain unaccounted for.
IMN leader Al-Zakzaky and his wife Zeinat Al-Zakzaky were arrested and held incommunicado. They were only allowed access to their lawyer for the first time on 1 April 2015, three and a half months after their arrest.
Amnesty International called for those IMN supporters charged in connection with this incident to be tried promptly and fairly and for those still held in detention without charge to be either immediately charged or released.
The group also urged the Nigerian government to thoroughly investigate the killings and punish those responsible without recourse to death the penalty.
Premium Times
Friday, April 22, 2016
U.S. to help Nigeria fix fuel crisis
The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, on Thursday promised that the U.S Embassy in Nigeria would offer technical assistance to help Nigeria solve its lingering challenge of fuel scarcity.
Ms. Power made the promise on Thursday in Abuja while fielding questions from journalists during her visit to the minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
“Just last night when I was coming from the airport, I saw long lines at petrol stations here in Nigeria.
“And I really feel for the people of this country, who are going through this difficult economic time.
“And I think this is something the embassy has promised to offer whatever technical advice, counsel and technical assistance that we can offer.
“But we know that some of the best minds in Nigeria are thinking about that, including the ministers in this government,” she said.
Ms. Power said the U.S would discuss with Nigeria on diversification of its economy.
She said the drop in oil prices had caused hardship for countries that are oil dependent.
The envoy, who had earlier met with some civil society organisations, said the meeting deliberated on the deteriorating condition in Northern Nigeria due to the threat posed by Boko Haram insurgency.
She attributed the poor condition in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria to economic hardship exacerbated by the insurgency since inter-city trade had been hampered.
“In terms of our meeting with civil society, Nigerian civil society is one of the most vibrant, articulate and rigorous in the world.
“What we heard a lot about was the questions of how the conditions in the north are deteriorating because of the threat posed by Boko Haram.
“The economic hardship in the region has been exacerbated by the presence of Boko Haram and trade across the border has now come to virtual standstill.
“We heard about very difficult humanitarian conditions in Northern Nigeria and we will travel to Northern Nigeria tomorrow (Friday) and we will try to get a feel of it for first hand,” she said.
The envoy said the meeting with civil society organizations also focused on what more could be done on abductions and kidnappings, particularly of Chibok girls.
She said the issue would be discussed with the federal government by sharing whatever information at the disposal of the US government in a timely manner.
Ms. Power made the promise on Thursday in Abuja while fielding questions from journalists during her visit to the minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
“Just last night when I was coming from the airport, I saw long lines at petrol stations here in Nigeria.
“And I really feel for the people of this country, who are going through this difficult economic time.
“And I think this is something the embassy has promised to offer whatever technical advice, counsel and technical assistance that we can offer.
“But we know that some of the best minds in Nigeria are thinking about that, including the ministers in this government,” she said.
Ms. Power said the U.S would discuss with Nigeria on diversification of its economy.
She said the drop in oil prices had caused hardship for countries that are oil dependent.
The envoy, who had earlier met with some civil society organisations, said the meeting deliberated on the deteriorating condition in Northern Nigeria due to the threat posed by Boko Haram insurgency.
She attributed the poor condition in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria to economic hardship exacerbated by the insurgency since inter-city trade had been hampered.
“In terms of our meeting with civil society, Nigerian civil society is one of the most vibrant, articulate and rigorous in the world.
“What we heard a lot about was the questions of how the conditions in the north are deteriorating because of the threat posed by Boko Haram.
“The economic hardship in the region has been exacerbated by the presence of Boko Haram and trade across the border has now come to virtual standstill.
“We heard about very difficult humanitarian conditions in Northern Nigeria and we will travel to Northern Nigeria tomorrow (Friday) and we will try to get a feel of it for first hand,” she said.
The envoy said the meeting with civil society organizations also focused on what more could be done on abductions and kidnappings, particularly of Chibok girls.
She said the issue would be discussed with the federal government by sharing whatever information at the disposal of the US government in a timely manner.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Nigerian military says Boko Haram luring young people with loans
Boko Haram is luring young people by giving them loans as a bait for membership, the Nigerian military warned.
As part of the "clandestine dispensation," the terror group is offering loans to young entrepreneurs in the country's troubled northeast as part of recruitment, the military said in a statement Wednesday.
Butchers, traders, tailors, beauticians and other vocational entrepreneurs are major targets of the "unholy business engagement," it said.
"After such loans, the beneficiaries are given the option of either joining the group or risk being killed if they fail to pay the loan as at when due," the military said. "The payment has been surreptitiously programmed to fail by the benefactor, the Boko Haram."
Authorities urged residents to avoid loans or financial assistance from nonconventional sources.
Boko Haram's desperation to recruit members shows the sustained offensive by government forces is working, the military said.
But critics say the government has not been as effective in fighting the terror group. Last week marked the two-year anniversary of Boko Haram's abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok.
Most of the girls are still held captive, forcefully married to Boko Haram fighters, and in some cases used as suicide bombers. CNN obtained exclusive footage last week that shows some of the girls are alive. While the video was sent to negotiators by their captors as a "proof of life," the government did not act on it at the time.
Boko Haram, which means western education is a sin in the local Hausa language, has become the deadliest terror group for its attacks in Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon. It has killed more people than ISIS, which it reportedly pledged allegiance to, according to the Global Terrorism Index.
The group is blamed for attacks on government targets as well as schools, mosques and churches.
It aims to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Nigeria.
As part of the "clandestine dispensation," the terror group is offering loans to young entrepreneurs in the country's troubled northeast as part of recruitment, the military said in a statement Wednesday.
Butchers, traders, tailors, beauticians and other vocational entrepreneurs are major targets of the "unholy business engagement," it said.
"After such loans, the beneficiaries are given the option of either joining the group or risk being killed if they fail to pay the loan as at when due," the military said. "The payment has been surreptitiously programmed to fail by the benefactor, the Boko Haram."
Authorities urged residents to avoid loans or financial assistance from nonconventional sources.
Boko Haram's desperation to recruit members shows the sustained offensive by government forces is working, the military said.
But critics say the government has not been as effective in fighting the terror group. Last week marked the two-year anniversary of Boko Haram's abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok.
Most of the girls are still held captive, forcefully married to Boko Haram fighters, and in some cases used as suicide bombers. CNN obtained exclusive footage last week that shows some of the girls are alive. While the video was sent to negotiators by their captors as a "proof of life," the government did not act on it at the time.
Boko Haram, which means western education is a sin in the local Hausa language, has become the deadliest terror group for its attacks in Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon. It has killed more people than ISIS, which it reportedly pledged allegiance to, according to the Global Terrorism Index.
The group is blamed for attacks on government targets as well as schools, mosques and churches.
It aims to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Nigeria.
Video - Released video show some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls still alive
A newly-surfaced video is giving Nigerian families hope that children kidnapped by Boko Haram are still alive.
Nigeria to start paying salaries by the 25th of every month
The Accountant-General of the Federation, AGF, Ahmed Idris, says the federal government plans to begin payment of staff salaries by the 25th of every month as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Idris, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, said “this is going to be given a test, I believe, by this month”.
The AGF also said the government was working on a new arrangement, which, if approved, would ensure payment of the salaries before the monthly meeting of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC.
According to him, salaries are usually paid after the FAAC meeting, where revenue accruing to the federation’s account is shared among the federal, state and local governments.
“There is a standing instruction of Mr President to pay salary on or before 24 or 25 of every month and we will try as much as possible to comply and to abide by that.
“We are taking a step further to make a provision whereby we can accommodate salary payments even before FAAC.
“This is going to be given a test I believe by this month.
“We will go to seek necessary approval of our political masters to make sure that at least salary and other statutory payments are made even before FAAC.
“Because we can project how much they are and therefore we can prepare and hit the ground running to make them realisable and actualised.
“Even when we delay FAAC, we can still pay salary,” he said.
Mr. Idris dispelled the widely held belief that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy was responsible for the delay in the payment of salaries and attributed the situation to the crash in global oil prices, which affected the inflow of income to the country.
“Nigeria is practically making about 30 to 40 per cent of what it used to make by way of revenue from oil and that has affected inflow generally.
“These inflows are what the federal, state and local governments receive to service the economy.
“It is when we receive these resources and sit at the end of the month for FAAC that the resources are shared among the three tiers of government,’’ he said.
Citing the benefits of TSA, Mr. Idris said more than N2.7 trillion had been realised under a single account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He also said the cost of borrowing by government agencies had been reduced substantially and that the economy was already a beneficiary of the policy.
“The monies are stimulating the economy in a way that delivery of social goods, services and efficiency in government expenditure are being achieved.
“So I believe that they are already serving the purpose for which they are meant and they are within the economy,” he said.
He said he was optimistic having seen the benefits of the TSA policy to the Federal Government, states governments would key into it.
Mr. Idris said any insinuations that the policy would lead to laying off of staff by deposit money banks was unfounded as the policy was not intended to disrupt the operations of those banks.
He, therefore, advised commercial banks to re-strategise on how to make profit without relying on government funds.
“I think banks need to really focus themselves and re-direct themselves to face traditional banking business and not rely heavily on public resources.
“They should be more strategic and focused and I believe that they will be better for it,” he said.
The TSA policy was introduced in September 2015 to ensure that government’s resources are centralised in a single account.
It was introduced to block leakages in the system to ensure transparency and efficiency in the management of government resources.
Mr. Idris, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, said “this is going to be given a test, I believe, by this month”.
The AGF also said the government was working on a new arrangement, which, if approved, would ensure payment of the salaries before the monthly meeting of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC.
According to him, salaries are usually paid after the FAAC meeting, where revenue accruing to the federation’s account is shared among the federal, state and local governments.
“There is a standing instruction of Mr President to pay salary on or before 24 or 25 of every month and we will try as much as possible to comply and to abide by that.
“We are taking a step further to make a provision whereby we can accommodate salary payments even before FAAC.
“This is going to be given a test I believe by this month.
“We will go to seek necessary approval of our political masters to make sure that at least salary and other statutory payments are made even before FAAC.
“Because we can project how much they are and therefore we can prepare and hit the ground running to make them realisable and actualised.
“Even when we delay FAAC, we can still pay salary,” he said.
Mr. Idris dispelled the widely held belief that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy was responsible for the delay in the payment of salaries and attributed the situation to the crash in global oil prices, which affected the inflow of income to the country.
“Nigeria is practically making about 30 to 40 per cent of what it used to make by way of revenue from oil and that has affected inflow generally.
“These inflows are what the federal, state and local governments receive to service the economy.
“It is when we receive these resources and sit at the end of the month for FAAC that the resources are shared among the three tiers of government,’’ he said.
Citing the benefits of TSA, Mr. Idris said more than N2.7 trillion had been realised under a single account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He also said the cost of borrowing by government agencies had been reduced substantially and that the economy was already a beneficiary of the policy.
“The monies are stimulating the economy in a way that delivery of social goods, services and efficiency in government expenditure are being achieved.
“So I believe that they are already serving the purpose for which they are meant and they are within the economy,” he said.
He said he was optimistic having seen the benefits of the TSA policy to the Federal Government, states governments would key into it.
Mr. Idris said any insinuations that the policy would lead to laying off of staff by deposit money banks was unfounded as the policy was not intended to disrupt the operations of those banks.
He, therefore, advised commercial banks to re-strategise on how to make profit without relying on government funds.
“I think banks need to really focus themselves and re-direct themselves to face traditional banking business and not rely heavily on public resources.
“They should be more strategic and focused and I believe that they will be better for it,” he said.
The TSA policy was introduced in September 2015 to ensure that government’s resources are centralised in a single account.
It was introduced to block leakages in the system to ensure transparency and efficiency in the management of government resources.
Suicide bombers attack refugee camp in northeast Nigeria - 8 confirmed dead
Two female suicide bombers have killed at least eight people at a camp for people displaced by the jihadist Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria, a community security force member and a customs official said on Thursday.
The bombings happened around 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Wednesday in the town of Banki on the edge of Borno state, near the border with Cameroon. An attack in February on an internally displaced persons camp, also in Borno, killed 60 people.
Details of Wednesday's attack were slow to emerge as Banki is remote and largely disconnected from mobile phone networks. The state of Borno is where Boko Haram began their insurgency seven years ago. The group wants to create a state adhering to strict sharia law.
"Two female suicide bombers who were initially thought to be IDPs blew themselves up in the camp," said Khalid Aji, a member of a grassroots community security group based in Konduga, a Borno district nearly 100km from Banki.
"The first one occurred at about 8 a.m. and the second followed few minutes later. Eight people died and 12 were wounded," he added.
Aji said members of his organisation in Banki who helped to evacuate victims gave him details of the attack.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.
A senior Nigeria Customs Service official, who asked not to be named, also said eight people were killed but put the number of wounded at 15.
Banki, which is around 120 km from the state capital Maiduguri, was seized by Boko Haram in 2013 but Nigerian troops drove the militant group out of the town early last year.
Boko Haram once controlled an area roughly the size of Belgium in northeast Nigeria, but in early 2014 they were pushed out by Nigerian troops aided by soldiers from neighbouring countries.
The jihadist group has since stepped up cross-border attacks and carried out suicide bombings in markets, bus stations and places of worship.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Video - Nigeria no longer top oil producer in Africa
Nigerian judges sacked for lying about age
The National Judicial Council said on Tuesday that it had sanctioned two judges of the Niger State High Court, Justices Idris Evuti and Tanko Usman, for allegedly falsifying their dates of birth.
The NJC also said it also sanctioned another Lagos State High Court judge, Justice O. Gbajabiamila, for allegedly delayed delivery of judgment in a suit for 22 months.
NJC’s Acting Director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, said in a statement that the council had recommended Justices Evuti and Gbajabiamila to their respective states governors (Niger and Lagos respectively) for compulsory retirement.
Oye said both Justices Evuti and Gbajabiamila had been placed on suspension pending when the Niger State Governor, Mr. Abubakar Bello, and his Lagos State counterpart, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, would take decision on the NJC’s recommendations.
He said Justice Usman was not recommended to the Niger State governor for compulsory retirement because the judge had already retired as of the time the NJC took the decision at its meeting which was held April 13 and 14, 2016.
But the NJC’s spokesperson explained that the council had written to the Niger State Government to deduct from Justice Usman’s gratuity, the salaries received by him from June 2015 when he should have retired from the bench.
He also said the NJC had recommended to the Niger State Government to deduct all salaries received by Justice Evuti from September 2015 till date from his gratuity and remit same to the council which is the body that pays salaries of judicial officers in the country.
The statement read in part, “Council also considered a petition written by Mohammed Idris Eggun against Hon. Justices Idris M. J. Evuti and Tanko Yusuf Usman of the High Court of Niger State on falsification of their dates of birth.
“A fact-finding committee set-up by the council found from the records made available to it that the Hon. Justice Evuti used three different dates of birth over the years as 15th September, 1950, 10th April, 1953 and 1st April, 1953 and therefore recommended his compulsory retirement with immediate effect.
“Apart from the recommendation for compulsory retirement of Hon. Justice Idris M. J. Evuti, Council recommended to the Government of Niger State to deduct all salaries received by him from September, 2015 till date from his gratuity and remit same to the National Judicial Council that pays salaries of all Judicial Officers in the Federation.
“With respect to the Hon. Justice Tanko Yusuf Usman, Council did not recommend his compulsory retirement because it had already accepted his retirement with effect from 1st March, 2016.
“However, council decided to write to the Government of Niger State, to deduct from the gratuity the salaries received by him from June 2015 when His Lordship should have retired from the bench.”
In respect of Justice of Justice Gbajabiamila of Lagos State High Court, the NJC said apart from delaying judgment in a suit, ID12792007 – P. K. Ojo Vs SDV & SCOA Nigeria Plc, for 22 months after adoption of written addresses, the judge also failed to publish his judgment 40 days after delaying it.
The judge was also said to have, among other alleged professional misconduct, continued to hear the case after he had been notified of the pendency of a motion for a stay of execution at the Court of Appeal and that an appeal had been entered.
The statement read, “Hon. Justice O. Gbajabiamila was recommended for compulsory retirement from Office to the Governor of Lagos State, pursuant to the findings by the council on the allegations contained in the Petitions written against His Lordship by Mr. C. A. Candide Johnson, SAN.
“The allegations: That the Hon. Judge delivered judgment in Suit No ID12792007 P. K. Ojo Vs SDV & SCOA Nigeria Plc, twenty-two months (22), after written addresses were adopted by all the Counsel and Thirty-five (35) months after the close of evidence in the Suit, contrary to the Constitutional Provisions that judgments should be delivered within a period of 90 days;
“That His Lordship did not publish a copy of judgment he delivered on 24th December, 2013 until after 40 days, contrary to the provision of the Constitution which required that a copy of the Judgment of a Superior Court of Record be given to Parties in the case within seven days of delivery.
“That the Hon. Judge continued to hear the Suit in his court after he had been notified of the pendency of a motion for a stay of execution at the Court of Appeal and that an appeal had been entered.
The NJC also said it also sanctioned another Lagos State High Court judge, Justice O. Gbajabiamila, for allegedly delayed delivery of judgment in a suit for 22 months.
NJC’s Acting Director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, said in a statement that the council had recommended Justices Evuti and Gbajabiamila to their respective states governors (Niger and Lagos respectively) for compulsory retirement.
Oye said both Justices Evuti and Gbajabiamila had been placed on suspension pending when the Niger State Governor, Mr. Abubakar Bello, and his Lagos State counterpart, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, would take decision on the NJC’s recommendations.
He said Justice Usman was not recommended to the Niger State governor for compulsory retirement because the judge had already retired as of the time the NJC took the decision at its meeting which was held April 13 and 14, 2016.
But the NJC’s spokesperson explained that the council had written to the Niger State Government to deduct from Justice Usman’s gratuity, the salaries received by him from June 2015 when he should have retired from the bench.
He also said the NJC had recommended to the Niger State Government to deduct all salaries received by Justice Evuti from September 2015 till date from his gratuity and remit same to the council which is the body that pays salaries of judicial officers in the country.
The statement read in part, “Council also considered a petition written by Mohammed Idris Eggun against Hon. Justices Idris M. J. Evuti and Tanko Yusuf Usman of the High Court of Niger State on falsification of their dates of birth.
“A fact-finding committee set-up by the council found from the records made available to it that the Hon. Justice Evuti used three different dates of birth over the years as 15th September, 1950, 10th April, 1953 and 1st April, 1953 and therefore recommended his compulsory retirement with immediate effect.
“Apart from the recommendation for compulsory retirement of Hon. Justice Idris M. J. Evuti, Council recommended to the Government of Niger State to deduct all salaries received by him from September, 2015 till date from his gratuity and remit same to the National Judicial Council that pays salaries of all Judicial Officers in the Federation.
“With respect to the Hon. Justice Tanko Yusuf Usman, Council did not recommend his compulsory retirement because it had already accepted his retirement with effect from 1st March, 2016.
“However, council decided to write to the Government of Niger State, to deduct from the gratuity the salaries received by him from June 2015 when His Lordship should have retired from the bench.”
In respect of Justice of Justice Gbajabiamila of Lagos State High Court, the NJC said apart from delaying judgment in a suit, ID12792007 – P. K. Ojo Vs SDV & SCOA Nigeria Plc, for 22 months after adoption of written addresses, the judge also failed to publish his judgment 40 days after delaying it.
The judge was also said to have, among other alleged professional misconduct, continued to hear the case after he had been notified of the pendency of a motion for a stay of execution at the Court of Appeal and that an appeal had been entered.
The statement read, “Hon. Justice O. Gbajabiamila was recommended for compulsory retirement from Office to the Governor of Lagos State, pursuant to the findings by the council on the allegations contained in the Petitions written against His Lordship by Mr. C. A. Candide Johnson, SAN.
“The allegations: That the Hon. Judge delivered judgment in Suit No ID12792007 P. K. Ojo Vs SDV & SCOA Nigeria Plc, twenty-two months (22), after written addresses were adopted by all the Counsel and Thirty-five (35) months after the close of evidence in the Suit, contrary to the Constitutional Provisions that judgments should be delivered within a period of 90 days;
“That His Lordship did not publish a copy of judgment he delivered on 24th December, 2013 until after 40 days, contrary to the provision of the Constitution which required that a copy of the Judgment of a Superior Court of Record be given to Parties in the case within seven days of delivery.
“That the Hon. Judge continued to hear the Suit in his court after he had been notified of the pendency of a motion for a stay of execution at the Court of Appeal and that an appeal had been entered.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Video - Nigeria cracks down on meth labs
Nigeria’s drug law enforcement agency says it's trying to stop a rise in methamphetamine production.
In the last four years, 11 laboratories have been dismantled across the country.
Related story: Video - Meth labs cropping up in Nigeria
Aide to former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan arrested
A top aide to former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was arrested by the country’s anti-corruption agency on Monday.
Waripamowei Dudafa, who served as a special assistant on domestic matters to Jonathan, was picked up by agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s Premium Times reported.
Dudafa was wanted by the EFCC for his alleged involvement in an arms scandal in which $2.1 billion of government funds earmarked for fighting Boko Haram was diverted by government officials.
Nigeria’s former national security advisor, Sambo Dasuki, was arrested in December 2015 on charges of fraud and money laundering, which he denies. Dasuki allegedly distributed the funds among members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, including Dudafa, for use in campaigning ahead of presidential primaries in December 2014. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress defeated PDP candidate Jonathan in the March 2015 general election.
Newsweek contacted the EFCC for confirmation of Dudafa’s arrest but received no immediate reply. There is no suggestion that Jonathan did anything wrong and the former president has not been charged by the EFCC.
President Buhari has made tackling corruption a focus of his administration since his inauguration in May 2015. Endemic corruption costs the West African country millions of dollars per year, with Nigerian Information Minister Lai Mohammed saying in January that the country lost of 1.34 trillion naira ($6.8 billion) in public funds between 2006 and 2013 at the hands of just 55 individuals, including government ministers and bankers.
Waripamowei Dudafa, who served as a special assistant on domestic matters to Jonathan, was picked up by agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s Premium Times reported.
Dudafa was wanted by the EFCC for his alleged involvement in an arms scandal in which $2.1 billion of government funds earmarked for fighting Boko Haram was diverted by government officials.
Nigeria’s former national security advisor, Sambo Dasuki, was arrested in December 2015 on charges of fraud and money laundering, which he denies. Dasuki allegedly distributed the funds among members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, including Dudafa, for use in campaigning ahead of presidential primaries in December 2014. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress defeated PDP candidate Jonathan in the March 2015 general election.
Newsweek contacted the EFCC for confirmation of Dudafa’s arrest but received no immediate reply. There is no suggestion that Jonathan did anything wrong and the former president has not been charged by the EFCC.
President Buhari has made tackling corruption a focus of his administration since his inauguration in May 2015. Endemic corruption costs the West African country millions of dollars per year, with Nigerian Information Minister Lai Mohammed saying in January that the country lost of 1.34 trillion naira ($6.8 billion) in public funds between 2006 and 2013 at the hands of just 55 individuals, including government ministers and bankers.
Nigerian military troops ambushed by Boko Haram
Suspected Boko Haram insurgents on Tuesday ambushed the convoy of the Acting General Officer Commanding, GOC, 7 Division, the Nigerian Army has said.
The Army spokesperson, Sani Usman, said in a statement that “the leading elements of the Acting General Officer Commanding, GOC, 7 Division Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Victor Ezugwu’s leading convoy was about 8.30am on Tuesday morning ambushed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists enroute to visit troops in Bama, Borno state, north east Nigeria”.
He said “although 1 soldier lost his live and 2 others were injured, they were able to clear the ambush, killing some of the terrorists and recovered vehicle and weapons from them”.
He said the recovered items include a Toyota Hilux vehicle, 2 AK-47 rifles and several ammunitions.
The Acting GOC has continued his operational visit to Bama, while the body of the late soldier and the wounded had been evacuated to Maiduguri, the statement added.
He added that Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Yusuf Buratai, a lieutenant general, has also spoken with the GOC.
“The Nigerian Army wish to reiterate its unalloyed commitment and determination to continue to clear the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists wherever they might be hiding,” he said.
The attack came a day after soldiers clashed with Boko Haram militants in Borno State.
The Army spokesperson, Sani Usman, said in a statement that “the leading elements of the Acting General Officer Commanding, GOC, 7 Division Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Victor Ezugwu’s leading convoy was about 8.30am on Tuesday morning ambushed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists enroute to visit troops in Bama, Borno state, north east Nigeria”.
He said “although 1 soldier lost his live and 2 others were injured, they were able to clear the ambush, killing some of the terrorists and recovered vehicle and weapons from them”.
He said the recovered items include a Toyota Hilux vehicle, 2 AK-47 rifles and several ammunitions.
The Acting GOC has continued his operational visit to Bama, while the body of the late soldier and the wounded had been evacuated to Maiduguri, the statement added.
He added that Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Yusuf Buratai, a lieutenant general, has also spoken with the GOC.
“The Nigerian Army wish to reiterate its unalloyed commitment and determination to continue to clear the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists wherever they might be hiding,” he said.
The attack came a day after soldiers clashed with Boko Haram militants in Borno State.
Monday, April 18, 2016
Video - Villagers return home after Nigerian military chase off Boko Haram
The Nigerian army says it has succeeded in chasing Boko Haram fighters from some of the territory they held.
Daniel Amokachi shares the incredible experience of winning olympic gold
The 1996 Nigeria team, nicknamed the Dream Team because of the numerous stars in the squad, became the first African team to win an Olympic football gold after defeating Argentina 3-2 in the final.
And last week Thursday, the current U-23 Eagles were drawn in Group B alongside Japan, Colombia and Sweden at this year's Rio Olympic Games.
In a chat with FIFA.com, Amokachi re- collects the impact winning the gold had in Nigeria 20 years ago.
“Back then Nigeria was on sanction from the United Nations and the football that we played during the Olympics made Nigerians forget about the problems they were going through by focussing on football,” said Amokachi.
“The manner in which we did it made us incredibly happy. Playing the giants of South America, and then coming back from behind against the likes of Brazil in the semi-final and Argentina in the final.
“It was an incredible experience being an Olympian and winning a gold medal. It’s something I'll cherish all my life."
The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations-winning assistant coach attributed the Super Eagles failure to qualify for next year's AFCON to poor mentality of the players.
“The players when they return to play in Africa on international duty forget to switch [mentally]. It’s something that we kind of struggle with – not only as Nigerians, but as Africans," Amokachi added.
"You play in Europe and everything you get is professional from A-Z and then when you come to Africa, the likes of transportation and accommodation can seem a distraction.
“The players forget to switch to being an African when they come back and that always makes them perform less than what they do at club level. I’m sure that has contributed to Nigeria not making it to back-to-back championships."
He went on to describe the Eagles' inability to be in Gabon as a setback for the country's football.
Amokachi said: "Not qualifying for the tournament is not good enough for a country like Nigeria, but that’s football. It makes you sit up and say: ‘We have a lot of work that needs to be done."
Speaking on his appointment as head coach of second division side JS Hercules, Amokachi expressed optimism that despite some of the setbacks, he believes he has what it takes to succeed.
“Freezing was the not the word, that’s an understatement – it was minus 35 degrees [Celsius] when I arrived!" he explained.
“I was leaving a country that was roasting, about 38 degrees when I left Nigeria. The day before I travelled, I checked the weather forecast with my wife and she joked: ‘Do you really want to go?’ [laughs] I said ‘Of course!’. The weather in Finland is an obstacle but with all obstacles when you’re trying to achieve something, you throw them out the window.
“The outdoor pitches are frozen and everything we do at the moment is indoor. You have a number of other teams using those facilities and it’s hard to get a full pitch to yourself, which can make the programme you’re trying to lay down difficult. But I am a Nigerian, an African. I’m used to challenges and I would love to see it through.
"It is my first experience as an African manager coaching in Europe and there are not many Africans who are head coaches in Europe,” said the former Club Brugge, Everton and Besiktas star. “They are giving me a platform as an African to showcase what I can do and if I do well, it's an open door for other African coaches."
U.S. to repatriate $480m of Abacha loot
But the conditions for the repatriation of the cash and other details are being worked out, The Nation has learnt.
Also, it was learnt that the Department of Justice in the United States now has a Kleptocracy Unit, which will assist to track looted funds and money laundered by public officials from Nigeria and other nations.
The planned repatriation is the outcome of the recent meeting between the Department of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
A source, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: “This is the largest loot ever traced to a former Nigerian public officer in the U.S.
“The DOJ, the AGF and the EFCC have concluded all the talks; we are in the process of repatriation of the $480million.
“Although there are interventions from private lawyers, the DOJ prefers a government-to-government deal.
“ I can tell you that the funds will soon be repatriated. If there is anything left, it has to do with the conditions which the US will attach to the utilisation of the funds.
“The US is likely to advise on specific areas to spend the funds on and the project monitoring mechanisms. It does not want the cash re-looted.”
In the source’s view, there is no hiding place for Nigerian treasury looters in the United States anymore.
“The Federal Government and the U.S. on January 14, 2003 signed the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the two nations. So, no corrupt public officers from Nigeria can hide in the US.
“At the session with AGF and the EFCC boss, they told the Nigerian team that the DOJ now has Kleptocracy Unit which is closing tabs on Political Office Holders and other public officers in this country and many other nations.”
The Department of Justice of the United States had in the last few years initiated forfeiture proceedings against the Abachas.
The proceedings made it possible for the Abacha family and its associates to forfeit over $550million and £95,910 in 10 accounts and six investment portfolios linked to them in France, Britain, British Virgin Islands and the United States.
The Criminal Division of the Office of International Affairs of the US Department of Justice, in a letter to the Federal Government, identified the accounts where Abacha loot was hidden.
The highlights are as follows: Doraville Properties Corporation – $287 million in Account Number 80020796 located at Deutsche Bank International Limited in the Bailiwick of Jersey; HSBC Fund Administration (Jersey) – $12 million in account number S-104460 in the Bailiwick of Jersey; and Rayville International, S. A – $1 million in account number 223405880IUSD at Banque SBA in Paris, France.
Others are Standard Alliance Financial Services Limited – $144 million in account 223406510PUSD at Banque SBA in Paris; Mecosta Securities – $21.7 million in accounts 10030688 and 100138409 at Standard Bank in the United Kingdom; and HSBC Bank Plc – $1.6 million in account number 38175076.
Also listed are Blue Holding (1) Pte Ltd/ Ridley Group Limited – £6,806,900; Blue Holding (2) Pte. Ltd/ Ridley Group Limited – £21,846,983; Blue Holding (1) Pte. Ltd/ Ridley Group Limited – £10,293,343.58; Blue Holding (2) Pte. Ltd/Ridley Group Limited – £56,962,996.26
It was learnt that the Abacha family had pledged to cooperate with the Federal Government.
But the EFCC is still probing the whereabouts of £22.5m (N6.18billion) loot which the late Gen. Abacha allegedly stashed away on the Island of Jersey.
No fewer than three prominent Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) have been quizzed by the EFCC on the whereabouts of the records of the recovered £22.5m (N6.18billion).
According to records, the late Head of State allegedly stashed the funds through a Lebanese called Bhojwani.
But when the Office of the AGF was alerted by a whistle-blower, the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan opened discussions with the Attorney-General of the Island of Jersey.
“The AG of the Island of Jersey cooperated fully with the government, leading to the repatriation of the £22.5m. EFCC is still searching for the records from those involved.
A top EFCC source said last night: “We have not closed investigation into the whereabouts of this money.”
Friday, April 15, 2016
Video - Author writing book based on Chibok girls kidnapping
The author of book on the Chibok girls has been visiting distraught parents, as she puts finishing touches to her book. Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode says documenting the girls’ story was a way of acknowledging their pain. Here's more on that.
Video - Football fans worried about possible FIFA suspension
A section of football fans in Nigeria have expressed displeasure towards the latest warnings of Nigeria's suspension by world football governing body, FIFA, over interference. For the third time since 2010, FIFA has threatened to ban Nigeria from the sport, the latest twist in Nigeria's football administration woes. FIFA has warned the country not to implement a court ruling ordering the removal of Football Federation boss, Amaju Pinnick, from office.
Nigeria can't afford nuclear technology
The association stated that it is unaffordable and suggested that the country should consider exploring other alternatives, such as coal and solar energy, to boost power generation and not nuclear technology.
According to the Guardian, in a statement signed by the national chairman of the NIEEE, Emmanuel Akinwole, the association said that Nigeria lacks a system that promotes a maintenance philosophy to engage itself in such a high discipline project as is required by nuclear energy.
Nuclear technology is expensive
Akinwole noted that nuclear energy is expensive, adding that nations like Europe are scaling down on the use of nuclear technology due to the associated risks and costs.
He further highlighted that in the past, almost all projects of that size in Nigeria were either not completed or could not be managed and sustained.
Akinwole then recommended that focus should rather be on projects that could boost the country’s economy, which are not properly managed, including the Ajaokuta steel mills, aluminium smelting plant, Nigerian paper mills, Discos and Gencos.
He advised that the government should discard the idea of deploying nuclear technology in the generation of power for now and rather focus its resources to unlocking the approximately 5,000MW of generation capacity that is nearing completion.
150MW of power stranded
In a separate statement, during a meeting between the minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola and stakeholders in the power sector, it surfaced that about 150MW of power at the Odukpani National Independent Power Plant is stranded.
The ministry's permanent secretary, Louis Edozien, instructed the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company to fast-track the distribution of the stranded power to lines and sub-stations.
However, according to the media, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited is already working on plans to distribute the stranded megawatts to customers in Calabar and Ikot Ekpene following the directive.
According to the Guardian, in a statement signed by the national chairman of the NIEEE, Emmanuel Akinwole, the association said that Nigeria lacks a system that promotes a maintenance philosophy to engage itself in such a high discipline project as is required by nuclear energy.
Nuclear technology is expensive
Akinwole noted that nuclear energy is expensive, adding that nations like Europe are scaling down on the use of nuclear technology due to the associated risks and costs.
He further highlighted that in the past, almost all projects of that size in Nigeria were either not completed or could not be managed and sustained.
Akinwole then recommended that focus should rather be on projects that could boost the country’s economy, which are not properly managed, including the Ajaokuta steel mills, aluminium smelting plant, Nigerian paper mills, Discos and Gencos.
He advised that the government should discard the idea of deploying nuclear technology in the generation of power for now and rather focus its resources to unlocking the approximately 5,000MW of generation capacity that is nearing completion.
150MW of power stranded
In a separate statement, during a meeting between the minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola and stakeholders in the power sector, it surfaced that about 150MW of power at the Odukpani National Independent Power Plant is stranded.
The ministry's permanent secretary, Louis Edozien, instructed the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company to fast-track the distribution of the stranded power to lines and sub-stations.
However, according to the media, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited is already working on plans to distribute the stranded megawatts to customers in Calabar and Ikot Ekpene following the directive.
Nigerian government approves direct flight from Nigeria to China
The Nigerian government has granted an airliner, Air Peace, a license to operate international flights from southeast city of Enugu to China and other areas, an official said Thursday.
The recognition would open a new vista in the economy of the state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the state governor during the closing ceremony of the First Enugu Investment Summit.
The governor said by approving the license of the airline, President Muhammadu Buhari had shown himself as having the interest of all sections of the country at heart.
Ugwuanyi said the state would never be the same again having had a successful summit that attracted investors across the world.
"We have not only showcased the vast potentials in the state, but from reactions of participants, it does appear that we have been able to provoke an unprecedented interest from investors across the world," he added.
"The journey to economic prosperity has commenced. The light of the economic dawn that has been lit through this summit will never be allowed to die," he said.
Ugwuanyi thanked delegates who made the summit a success and pledged to create an enabling environment for interested investors.
Earlier in his presentation, the Chairman of Air Peace Ltd, Allen Onyema, said the airline would soon commence flights from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu to China.
The chairman said it was time for Nigeria to be a hub for West and Central African sub-regions.
"President Muhammadu Buhari in his magnanimity on March 31, 2016 approved for us the right to fly to five different countries and we decided now to make Enugu State the hub," he said.
Onyema said Air Peace would fly to India, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Atlanta in the U.S. and China, adding that the China flight would commence in a few months.
"There is no other airline in West and Central Africa that flies direct to China," he added.
"We will use our airline to bring passengers from countries in West and Central Africa to Enugu and move them to China," Onyema said.
"We are going to deploy a cargo plane that will do nonstop flights to Enugu," Onyema said.
The recognition would open a new vista in the economy of the state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the state governor during the closing ceremony of the First Enugu Investment Summit.
The governor said by approving the license of the airline, President Muhammadu Buhari had shown himself as having the interest of all sections of the country at heart.
Ugwuanyi said the state would never be the same again having had a successful summit that attracted investors across the world.
"We have not only showcased the vast potentials in the state, but from reactions of participants, it does appear that we have been able to provoke an unprecedented interest from investors across the world," he added.
"The journey to economic prosperity has commenced. The light of the economic dawn that has been lit through this summit will never be allowed to die," he said.
Ugwuanyi thanked delegates who made the summit a success and pledged to create an enabling environment for interested investors.
Earlier in his presentation, the Chairman of Air Peace Ltd, Allen Onyema, said the airline would soon commence flights from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu to China.
The chairman said it was time for Nigeria to be a hub for West and Central African sub-regions.
"President Muhammadu Buhari in his magnanimity on March 31, 2016 approved for us the right to fly to five different countries and we decided now to make Enugu State the hub," he said.
Onyema said Air Peace would fly to India, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Atlanta in the U.S. and China, adding that the China flight would commence in a few months.
"There is no other airline in West and Central Africa that flies direct to China," he added.
"We will use our airline to bring passengers from countries in West and Central Africa to Enugu and move them to China," Onyema said.
"We are going to deploy a cargo plane that will do nonstop flights to Enugu," Onyema said.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
President Buhari vows to crackdown on oil militants in the Niger Delta
Nigeria’s President Buhari has vowed to crack down on groups responsible for attacks on oil pipelines, which have contributed to a fuel shortage in the country.
Buhari made the comments during a state visit to China on Wednesday, where he has been meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to secure support for infrastructure projects. The Nigerian president said he was aware that the country’s national grid had collapsed several times in recent weeks and threatened the “vandals and saboteurs” responsible for blowing up pipelines and oil facilities. “We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram,” said Buhari, according to a statement from the Nigerian Presidency.
The Nigerian military has regained much of the territory previously held by Boko Haram as part of a sustained offensive beginning in 2015. Buhari claimed that the armed group—which is affiliated to the Islamic State militant group (ISIS)—controlled 14 local government areas when he came to office in May 2015 but these had all now been liberated and Boko Haram’s fighting capacity had been “significantly degraded.”
There has been an uptick in attacks on oil pipelines in 2016. Three people were killed when militants blew up a pipeline, owned by Italian company ENI in the Niger Delta, Reuters reported. Two of the four refineries owned by the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) were temporarily closed in January, due to attacks, which Nigerian power minister Babtunde Fashola said were costing the country $2.4 million per day at the time. One of the refineries was reopened in March.
The Niger Delta region was plagued by militant groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) during the mid-2000s, who kidnapped oil workers and blew up pipelines in protest at what they saw as the unfair distribution of wealth. At its peak, the militancy cut oil production to 800,000 barrels per day, less than a third of the maximum 2.5 million barrels per day. Buhari has extended a multi-million dollar amnesty program—which involves the payment of monthly subsidies to ex-militants—but has ended the practice of giving militants generous contracts for pipeline protection.
The recent attacks have resulted in massive queues gathering outside gas stations as desperate Nigerians attempt to buy fuel for their vehicles. Nigeria’s petroleum minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu was recently summoned to appear before the Senate to explain how the ministry was working to solve the shortage.
Buhari made the comments during a state visit to China on Wednesday, where he has been meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to secure support for infrastructure projects. The Nigerian president said he was aware that the country’s national grid had collapsed several times in recent weeks and threatened the “vandals and saboteurs” responsible for blowing up pipelines and oil facilities. “We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram,” said Buhari, according to a statement from the Nigerian Presidency.
The Nigerian military has regained much of the territory previously held by Boko Haram as part of a sustained offensive beginning in 2015. Buhari claimed that the armed group—which is affiliated to the Islamic State militant group (ISIS)—controlled 14 local government areas when he came to office in May 2015 but these had all now been liberated and Boko Haram’s fighting capacity had been “significantly degraded.”
There has been an uptick in attacks on oil pipelines in 2016. Three people were killed when militants blew up a pipeline, owned by Italian company ENI in the Niger Delta, Reuters reported. Two of the four refineries owned by the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) were temporarily closed in January, due to attacks, which Nigerian power minister Babtunde Fashola said were costing the country $2.4 million per day at the time. One of the refineries was reopened in March.
The Niger Delta region was plagued by militant groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) during the mid-2000s, who kidnapped oil workers and blew up pipelines in protest at what they saw as the unfair distribution of wealth. At its peak, the militancy cut oil production to 800,000 barrels per day, less than a third of the maximum 2.5 million barrels per day. Buhari has extended a multi-million dollar amnesty program—which involves the payment of monthly subsidies to ex-militants—but has ended the practice of giving militants generous contracts for pipeline protection.
The recent attacks have resulted in massive queues gathering outside gas stations as desperate Nigerians attempt to buy fuel for their vehicles. Nigeria’s petroleum minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu was recently summoned to appear before the Senate to explain how the ministry was working to solve the shortage.
Video - Boko Haram release video showing some of the kidnapped schoolgirls still alive
A video released by Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram appears to show some of the schoolgirls kidnapped two years ago from the town of Chibok.
The video, apparently filmed in December, was sent to the Nigerian government and shows 15 girls in black robes identifying themselves as pupils abducted from the school.
Some of those filmed have been identified by their parents.
It is the first footage of the girls to be seen since May 2014.
The kidnapping of the 276 girls triggered the global social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls, involving US first lady Michelle Obama and a host of celebrities.
But despite their efforts, most of the girls are still missing.
Meanwhile, hundreds of parents are holding a march in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to demand the government does more to find their daughters.
The BBC's Martin Patience in Abuja says they blame the previous government for doing nothing when the abduction took place and now the current administration for failing to devote enough resources to the search.
Boko Haram militants attacked the government boarding school in Borno state on 14 April 2014, seizing the girls who had gone there to take exams.
Shortly afterwards they released a video of them and demanded a prisoner exchange.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Video - China to strengthen cooperation with Nigeria
President Xi Jinping has met with the visiting Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari in Beijing. The two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in various fields including infrastructure, agriculture, energy and trade.
China offers Nigeria $6 billion loan for infrastructure
China has offered Nigeria a loan worth $6 billion to fund infrastructure projects, the Nigerian foreign minister said on Tuesday.
The announcement came as both countries signed a currency swap deal to boost trade. Nigeria has been in talks with China on an infrastructure loan for months.
Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and its top oil producer. But its public finances have suffered as the price of crude oil dropped around the world.
Although President Muhammadu Buhari wants to triple capital spending in 2016, he also needs to plug a projected deficit of $11.1 billion.
"It is a credit that is on the table as soon as we identify the projects," Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters after Buhari met Chinese President Xi Jinping. "It won't need an agreement to be signed. It is just to identify the projects and we access it."
There was no immediate comment from China.
Lin Songtian, director general of the Chinese foreign ministry's African affairs department, had earlier said Nigeria would be able to benefit from a $55 billion package for Africa, which mostly consists of concessional grants or export lines.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) , the world's biggest lender, and Nigeria's central bank also signed a deal on yuan transactions.
"It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different banks in Nigeria, and the renminbi has been included in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria," Lin said.
Nigeria had said it was looking at panda bonds - yuan-denominated bonds sold by overseas entities on the mainland - to fund the deficit, saying they that would be cheaper than Eurobonds.
TRADE
Nigeria's central bank has said it plans to diversify its foreign exchange reserves away from the dollar by switching some into yuan. It converted up to a tenth of its reserves into yuan five years ago.
Lin said a framework on currency swaps has been agreed with Nigeria, making it easier to settle trade deals in yuan. China has signed similar swap agreements with countries ranging from Kazakhstan to Argentina to promote wider use of its yuan.
Beijing also signed agreements to develop infrastructure in Nigeria, part of a drive to deepen its ties with Africa.
ICBC agreed a $2 billion loan to Dangote, the company owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, to fund two cement plants it plans, he told Reuters.
China's Xi told Buhari there was huge potential for economic cooperation in areas like oil refining and mining, according to Xinhua, China's official news agency.
In a speech to business leaders, Buhari said both countries wanted to work together in agriculture, fishing and the manufacturing of cars, construction materials and textiles.
The announcement came as both countries signed a currency swap deal to boost trade. Nigeria has been in talks with China on an infrastructure loan for months.
Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and its top oil producer. But its public finances have suffered as the price of crude oil dropped around the world.
Although President Muhammadu Buhari wants to triple capital spending in 2016, he also needs to plug a projected deficit of $11.1 billion.
"It is a credit that is on the table as soon as we identify the projects," Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters after Buhari met Chinese President Xi Jinping. "It won't need an agreement to be signed. It is just to identify the projects and we access it."
There was no immediate comment from China.
Lin Songtian, director general of the Chinese foreign ministry's African affairs department, had earlier said Nigeria would be able to benefit from a $55 billion package for Africa, which mostly consists of concessional grants or export lines.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) , the world's biggest lender, and Nigeria's central bank also signed a deal on yuan transactions.
"It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different banks in Nigeria, and the renminbi has been included in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria," Lin said.
Nigeria had said it was looking at panda bonds - yuan-denominated bonds sold by overseas entities on the mainland - to fund the deficit, saying they that would be cheaper than Eurobonds.
TRADE
Nigeria's central bank has said it plans to diversify its foreign exchange reserves away from the dollar by switching some into yuan. It converted up to a tenth of its reserves into yuan five years ago.
Lin said a framework on currency swaps has been agreed with Nigeria, making it easier to settle trade deals in yuan. China has signed similar swap agreements with countries ranging from Kazakhstan to Argentina to promote wider use of its yuan.
Beijing also signed agreements to develop infrastructure in Nigeria, part of a drive to deepen its ties with Africa.
ICBC agreed a $2 billion loan to Dangote, the company owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, to fund two cement plants it plans, he told Reuters.
China's Xi told Buhari there was huge potential for economic cooperation in areas like oil refining and mining, according to Xinhua, China's official news agency.
In a speech to business leaders, Buhari said both countries wanted to work together in agriculture, fishing and the manufacturing of cars, construction materials and textiles.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Video - President Muhammadu Buhari visits China
Nigeria's president, Muhammadu Buhari is on a five-day state visit to China, which began on Monday. He's expected to conclude negotiations over a 2 billion US dollar low-interest loan with the Chinese government. The money will help Nigeria fund its infrastructure projects, as well as finance a deficit on its 3 trillion Naira, or 15 billion US dollar, budget. Activities will be held to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. The visit is an important one for Nigeria. Our Lagos correspondent Deji Badmus told us about Nigeria's economic situation, and how working with China can benefit the West African nation. Earlier we spoke to CCTV's Su Yuting in Beijing for more on President Buhari's schedule during this state visit.
Related story: China wants to buy more oil from Nigeria
FIFA sends warning to Nigeria to reinstate sacked officials or get banned
It follows last week's regional high court ruling that Chris Giwa should be installed as the NFF's President and that the Fifa-recognised head, Amaju Pinnick, be sacked.
Fifa warned that the country could face sanctions - including a ban - if a decision of the Federal High Court in Jos from Friday is implemented.
In a letter dated 11 April 2016, Fifa's acting secretary general Markus Kattner said the ruling by a Jos federal high court is classed as "interference."
"The decision of the Federal High Court in Jos, if implemented, would likely be considered as interference in the internal affairs of the NFF and the case would be brought to the highest authorities of Fifa for consideration of sanctions, including the suspension of the NFF," the letter read in part.
"All members associations have to manage their affairs independently and with no influence from third parties. In addition and according to article 68 of the Fifa Statutes, recourse to ordinary courts of law is prohibited unless specifically provided for in the Fifa regulations.
"Furthermore, it is the duty of each member association to ensure that these provisions are implemented by its members and possibly take sanctions against those which fail to respect these obligations.
Fifa also acknowledged that it is the second time that Chris Giwa has resorted to legal action as well as a futile appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) in his attempt to run the country's football affairs.
"We would like to stress that the plaintiff in question already filed an appeal in relation to the same matter with the highest judicial Sport authorities, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and that said appeal was dismissed by the CAS on 18 May 2015."
The NFF has appealed against the court ruling, insisting that Pinnick is still the head of the federation while Giwa's faction and all other non-NFF staff were denied access into the football house by police in the capital Abuja on Monday.
Fifa, however, has taken a dim view of the development and warned that Nigeria risked suspension if the sacked officials are not reinstated as soon as possible.
The ongoing power struggle means Nigeria's Olympic team is at risk of being banned from Rio this year, and the Super Eagles could be denied a chance to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The qualifying draw takes place in June.
Turkish ship crew kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria
Six Turkish members of a cargo ship's crew have been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, a spokesman for the Nigerian navy said on Monday.
The crew members of the merchant tanker M/T Puli were abducted some 90 miles from the coast at around 1:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Monday, navy spokesman Chris Ezekobe said.
"Six crew members were abducted. They included the captain, the chief officer and chief engineer," Ezekobe said. "They were all Turkish."
The spokesman said the navy was going to board the vessel to speak to other crew members.
Last month, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea agreed to establish combined patrols to bolster security in the Gulf of Guinea. The gulf is a significant source of oil, cocoa and metals for world markets, but pirates pose a threat to shipping companies.
They target oil tankers, usually seeking hostages for ransom and fuel to sell. Security analysts say the pirates have emerged from militant groups in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
A lawyer for Kaptanoglu Group, an Istanbul-based shipping company, said the crew members abducted from the M/T Puli included the ship's captain and that those left behind were unharmed, according to the newspaper Hurriyet.
The tanker was carrying liquid chemical fuels and was traveling to Cameroon, Hurriyet said, citing the lawyer, Fehmi Ulgener.
The crew members of the merchant tanker M/T Puli were abducted some 90 miles from the coast at around 1:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Monday, navy spokesman Chris Ezekobe said.
"Six crew members were abducted. They included the captain, the chief officer and chief engineer," Ezekobe said. "They were all Turkish."
The spokesman said the navy was going to board the vessel to speak to other crew members.
Last month, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea agreed to establish combined patrols to bolster security in the Gulf of Guinea. The gulf is a significant source of oil, cocoa and metals for world markets, but pirates pose a threat to shipping companies.
They target oil tankers, usually seeking hostages for ransom and fuel to sell. Security analysts say the pirates have emerged from militant groups in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
A lawyer for Kaptanoglu Group, an Istanbul-based shipping company, said the crew members abducted from the M/T Puli included the ship's captain and that those left behind were unharmed, according to the newspaper Hurriyet.
The tanker was carrying liquid chemical fuels and was traveling to Cameroon, Hurriyet said, citing the lawyer, Fehmi Ulgener.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Video - Fuel crisis crippling Nigeria
Nigeria remains at a virtual standstill as more suppliers run out of fuel and motorists spend hours on end looking for the commodity. While the country is Africa's biggest oil exporter, its local refineries remain underdeveloped meaning that it must import its own fuel for domestic consumption. Inefficiencies in that system perennialy grind operations to a halt.
Hunting down gays in Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria—According to a statement released in February by the Nigerian police, Abdul Lawal, dressed as the groom, and Umar Tahir, dressed as the bride, were just about to take their seats at their well-attended marriage ceremony on February 6, when plainclothes police broke up the part and whisked them away to jail, along with several of the guests.
The so-called same-sex marriage ceremony, which took place at the popular King’s Land Hotel in the capital, is prohibited under Nigerian law.
The spokesman for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, Anjuguri Manzah, said the police acted “based on the provisions of the Same-Sex Prohibition Act” which many in this highly religious country have embraced, but which has been widely criticized by LGBT activists here and abroad.
The much scrutinized legislation (PDF) signed into law in 2014 outlaws sodomy and provides penalties of up to 14 years in jail for a gay marriage. It also prohibits the promotion of civil unions.
When it was approved by then-president Goodluck Jonathan, the United States, Britain and Canada condemned the new law, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying that it “dangerously restricts” freedom of expression and association of all Nigerians.
Jonathan’s successor, Muhammadu Buhari, has stood firm in support of the anti-gay law, despite pressure for its repeal, particularly from the United States. Under his administration, gay people will be arrested and prosecuted based on the law.
Incidents like the arrest of Lawal and Tahir and their guests in a supposed marriage ceremony are rare, but not unprecedented, particularly in northern Nigeria. Similar arrests have taken place in Bauchi and Kano, where witnesses say suspects were often tortured in detention and forced to give names of other gay people they know to the police.
“That is what they did to some of our friends in Bauchi after they were arrested,” an unmarried gay man we’ll call Mana, who lives in Jiwa community, told The Daily Beast. “They tortured them into naming people they had come in contact with, including friends who weren’t gay.”
Mana, who used to live in Bauchi, said his name was mentioned during interrogation, but he had left town by the time police came to arrest him in 2014.
“I got information that policemen were arresting gay people and so I quickly fled,” he said. “Those who were unfortunately arrested said they were tortured and forced to give names and phone numbers of their close friends to the police.”
Nigerian law enforcement agents are notorious for torturing suspects to extract confessions, and a number of officials have been accused of intimidating suspects until they implicate innocent friends and associates. One motive: to make money off of bail after they round people up.
Although news of the Jiwa arrests spread like wildfire across the country and the action of security officers in apprehending the actors was commended by a number of citizens and religious organizations, human rights activists rejected claims by the police that a gay marriage ceremony had taken place anywhere in Abuja. They say that security officials carried out arrests in a local celebration that was not a same-sex wedding at all.
Rights worker John Adeniyi, who has been following the case closely, told The Daily Beast that the ceremony where Lawal and Tahir were arrested was actually a traditional fund-raising ceremony—known in the local Hausa language as Ajo—where some participants “socially cross-dress for the purpose of entertainment”.
“At one point in time when a traditional music was playing and people were performing the cultural dance, police stormed the event premises and caught one of the cross-dressed participants dancing in a close range to one other person who cross-dressed alongside several other persons,” said Adeniyi, who works with the Global Initiatives for Human Rights (GIHR), a small, specialized unit within Heartland Alliance that supports the protection and promotion of human rights, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression.
“The two persons presumed to be a couple were two individuals spotted dancing in a close proximity at the cultural dance performance although one of them was cross-dressed, which was the factor that made the police come to the conclusion without an adequate investigation,” Adeniyi added.
In recent times, a number of human rights activists have accused the police of arresting and detaining perceived homosexuals without cause, except for the purpose of extorting money from detainees to allow them to get out of jail.
Adeniyi said the accused gay couple and those arrested alongside them were required to pay bribes to the police to secure their release.
“At least one lady confirmed to have paid 70,000 naira (about $350) in order to secure the bail of her girlfriend and herself,” he said. “Several other people paid different amounts of money to be released from detention.”
There is also fear that the anti-gay law, accompanied by the aggressive clampdown on gay people, may have worsened the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the country. Apart from jailing gay couples, the law provides penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for membership or encouragement of gay clubs, societies and organizations, and this has been interpreted to include groups formed to combat AIDS among gays.
Not long after the anti-gay law was passed, the UN agency fighting AIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria expressed “deep concern that access to HIV services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will be severely affected” in the country, which has an estimated 3.4 million people living with the HIV virus. About half of that number are women, but unprotected intercourse among men puts them at especially high risk.
Mana said a number of his gay friends have tested positive for HIV but are reluctant to seek counseling so as not to reveal the way in which they contracted the disease.
“For some gay people it is better to die with the disease than reveal how it was gotten,” he said. “In a country that hates gay people, you can’t tell who will help send you to jail.”
Mana told me in February that he was making it back to Bauchi, where the very active Sharia system of Islamic law, which runs parallel to the state and federal justice system, prescribes the death sentence for homosexuality. A judge decides whether it should be done by a public stoning or by lethal injection, although no gay person has been subjected to such punishment as yet.
For Lawal and Tahir, it remains to be seen what further action the police will take against them, or whether this case may have been closed already after both men, as Adeniyi said, paid to secure their release on bail. Authorities have refused to speak further on the case to the media.
Whatever befalls the “gay couple,” and whether or not they were apprehended in a marriage ceremony, the public announcement and publicity surrounding their arrest, and the special attention given to this case by the police shows how much of a priority authorities put on hunting down gays.
At the point of release, Lawal and his supposed partner “were verbally assaulted, named, shamed and photographed without consent,” Adeniyi said, but they now feel helpless to respond. “They fear further escalation.”
The so-called same-sex marriage ceremony, which took place at the popular King’s Land Hotel in the capital, is prohibited under Nigerian law.
The spokesman for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, Anjuguri Manzah, said the police acted “based on the provisions of the Same-Sex Prohibition Act” which many in this highly religious country have embraced, but which has been widely criticized by LGBT activists here and abroad.
The much scrutinized legislation (PDF) signed into law in 2014 outlaws sodomy and provides penalties of up to 14 years in jail for a gay marriage. It also prohibits the promotion of civil unions.
When it was approved by then-president Goodluck Jonathan, the United States, Britain and Canada condemned the new law, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying that it “dangerously restricts” freedom of expression and association of all Nigerians.
Jonathan’s successor, Muhammadu Buhari, has stood firm in support of the anti-gay law, despite pressure for its repeal, particularly from the United States. Under his administration, gay people will be arrested and prosecuted based on the law.
Incidents like the arrest of Lawal and Tahir and their guests in a supposed marriage ceremony are rare, but not unprecedented, particularly in northern Nigeria. Similar arrests have taken place in Bauchi and Kano, where witnesses say suspects were often tortured in detention and forced to give names of other gay people they know to the police.
“That is what they did to some of our friends in Bauchi after they were arrested,” an unmarried gay man we’ll call Mana, who lives in Jiwa community, told The Daily Beast. “They tortured them into naming people they had come in contact with, including friends who weren’t gay.”
Mana, who used to live in Bauchi, said his name was mentioned during interrogation, but he had left town by the time police came to arrest him in 2014.
“I got information that policemen were arresting gay people and so I quickly fled,” he said. “Those who were unfortunately arrested said they were tortured and forced to give names and phone numbers of their close friends to the police.”
Nigerian law enforcement agents are notorious for torturing suspects to extract confessions, and a number of officials have been accused of intimidating suspects until they implicate innocent friends and associates. One motive: to make money off of bail after they round people up.
Although news of the Jiwa arrests spread like wildfire across the country and the action of security officers in apprehending the actors was commended by a number of citizens and religious organizations, human rights activists rejected claims by the police that a gay marriage ceremony had taken place anywhere in Abuja. They say that security officials carried out arrests in a local celebration that was not a same-sex wedding at all.
Rights worker John Adeniyi, who has been following the case closely, told The Daily Beast that the ceremony where Lawal and Tahir were arrested was actually a traditional fund-raising ceremony—known in the local Hausa language as Ajo—where some participants “socially cross-dress for the purpose of entertainment”.
“At one point in time when a traditional music was playing and people were performing the cultural dance, police stormed the event premises and caught one of the cross-dressed participants dancing in a close range to one other person who cross-dressed alongside several other persons,” said Adeniyi, who works with the Global Initiatives for Human Rights (GIHR), a small, specialized unit within Heartland Alliance that supports the protection and promotion of human rights, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression.
“The two persons presumed to be a couple were two individuals spotted dancing in a close proximity at the cultural dance performance although one of them was cross-dressed, which was the factor that made the police come to the conclusion without an adequate investigation,” Adeniyi added.
In recent times, a number of human rights activists have accused the police of arresting and detaining perceived homosexuals without cause, except for the purpose of extorting money from detainees to allow them to get out of jail.
Adeniyi said the accused gay couple and those arrested alongside them were required to pay bribes to the police to secure their release.
“At least one lady confirmed to have paid 70,000 naira (about $350) in order to secure the bail of her girlfriend and herself,” he said. “Several other people paid different amounts of money to be released from detention.”
There is also fear that the anti-gay law, accompanied by the aggressive clampdown on gay people, may have worsened the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the country. Apart from jailing gay couples, the law provides penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for membership or encouragement of gay clubs, societies and organizations, and this has been interpreted to include groups formed to combat AIDS among gays.
Not long after the anti-gay law was passed, the UN agency fighting AIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria expressed “deep concern that access to HIV services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will be severely affected” in the country, which has an estimated 3.4 million people living with the HIV virus. About half of that number are women, but unprotected intercourse among men puts them at especially high risk.
Mana said a number of his gay friends have tested positive for HIV but are reluctant to seek counseling so as not to reveal the way in which they contracted the disease.
“For some gay people it is better to die with the disease than reveal how it was gotten,” he said. “In a country that hates gay people, you can’t tell who will help send you to jail.”
Mana told me in February that he was making it back to Bauchi, where the very active Sharia system of Islamic law, which runs parallel to the state and federal justice system, prescribes the death sentence for homosexuality. A judge decides whether it should be done by a public stoning or by lethal injection, although no gay person has been subjected to such punishment as yet.
For Lawal and Tahir, it remains to be seen what further action the police will take against them, or whether this case may have been closed already after both men, as Adeniyi said, paid to secure their release on bail. Authorities have refused to speak further on the case to the media.
Whatever befalls the “gay couple,” and whether or not they were apprehended in a marriage ceremony, the public announcement and publicity surrounding their arrest, and the special attention given to this case by the police shows how much of a priority authorities put on hunting down gays.
At the point of release, Lawal and his supposed partner “were verbally assaulted, named, shamed and photographed without consent,” Adeniyi said, but they now feel helpless to respond. “They fear further escalation.”
Related stories: Being gay in Nigeria
Friday, April 8, 2016
Nigerian linked to ISIS arrested in Germany
A 29-year unnamed Nigerian, alongside an Iraqi, aged 46, were on Thursday detained by the German police on suspicion of having links with Islamic State, ISIS and of planning ‘a serious act of violence,’ Reuters reports.
This was made known by a German police prosecutor, Thomas Steinkraus-Koch in a statement yesterday.
According to the statement, security sources have provided information that both suspects could have been in contact with members of ISIS.
“Police did not immediately find any suspicious items, but are pursuing investigation.
“The suspects were detained in the Bavarian capital Munich and nearby Fuerstenfeldbruck,” the statement said, adding there had been no forthcoming threat to the public.”
The police have, however, declined to give any more details.
According to the police, the names of the suspects would not be revealed until investigations were completed.
“There would be no further statements before Friday,” the police was quoted to have said.
This was made known by a German police prosecutor, Thomas Steinkraus-Koch in a statement yesterday.
According to the statement, security sources have provided information that both suspects could have been in contact with members of ISIS.
“Police did not immediately find any suspicious items, but are pursuing investigation.
“The suspects were detained in the Bavarian capital Munich and nearby Fuerstenfeldbruck,” the statement said, adding there had been no forthcoming threat to the public.”
The police have, however, declined to give any more details.
According to the police, the names of the suspects would not be revealed until investigations were completed.
“There would be no further statements before Friday,” the police was quoted to have said.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Former Finance Minister Okonjo-Iweala reveals her mother was kidnapped in response to fuel subsidy issue
Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said her 83-year-old mother was kidnapped because she advised former President Goodluck Jonathan to remove fuel subsidy.
In an interview with Le Monde, the 61-year-old economist said the fight against corruption was at the root of the kidnap, with the abductors demanding her resignation on live television.
When asked what her failures and successes in the fight against corruption were, Okonjo-Iweala said: "Your answer would take a whole day.
"On my first experience as minister, I wrote a book, Reforming the Unreformable (ed) The MIT Press, 2012). For the second, it was really difficult. Nigeria subsidises fuel. About $ 6.7 billion that it costs, we found that 1.5 billion was fraudulent.
"One importer claimed that his boat was waging its oil while at the other end of the world, according to maritime classification society Lloyd's Register Marine.
"I told the president that we would stop paying. What happened? They kidnapped my mother, 83 years. During the first three days, their only demand was my resignation. I was supposed to go on television and announce my resignation.
"This was one of the worst moments of my life. Can you imagine what happens in your head if you have to be responsible for the death of your mother?
"I will not go into details, but you must understand that in a country like this... in the fight against corruption, we must be prepared to pay a personal price. My father asked me not to resign. The president asked me not to resign. At the end, everyone began looking for her, and the kidnappers released (her)."
Speaking to dwindling oil prices, Okonjo-Iweala said state governors did not allow Jonathan save for the rainy day, yet they are the ones complaining today.
"Some economists are very concerned for Nigeria, which could greatly suffer from the fall in oil prices. Others say the contrary, that its economy is strong enough to turn the corner.
"Both are right. But one thing saddens me. When I was finance minister the first time, the volatility of oil prices, and therefore state resources, cost at least three points of growth in the country.
"We then established a stabilisation mechanism and opened an account for the oil surplus, which posted up to $22 billion. In 2008, when prices fell from 148 to $ 38 a barrel, no one has heard of Nigeria because the country was able to tap into this fund. And that, I am very proud [of].
"When I returned to the department in 2011, there remained only $4 billion on this account while the price of oil was very high! I tried again to put money aside. The president agreed, but the governors did not accept.
"I suffered a lot of attacks from them and now that the country would really need this account, these same people accuse me of not having saved! If Nigeria had been more careful, we would not be here today. It hurts me. We have the mechanism, we had the experience, but we were prevented to act."
Okonjo-Iweala further spoke on her childhood and the hardship she experienced first-hand, during the Biafran war.
"I grew up in a village in southern Nigeria where I grew up to eight and a half years by my grandmother. My parents were scholarship students in Germany and did not have enough money to take me with them.
"I learned real life, fetching wood, water. At five, I could cook. This life has given me strength and a strong character. The other experience from my childhood is the Biafran war (1967-1970). My parents lost everything. I knew what it was to have nothing more."
In an interview with Le Monde, the 61-year-old economist said the fight against corruption was at the root of the kidnap, with the abductors demanding her resignation on live television.
When asked what her failures and successes in the fight against corruption were, Okonjo-Iweala said: "Your answer would take a whole day.
"On my first experience as minister, I wrote a book, Reforming the Unreformable (ed) The MIT Press, 2012). For the second, it was really difficult. Nigeria subsidises fuel. About $ 6.7 billion that it costs, we found that 1.5 billion was fraudulent.
"One importer claimed that his boat was waging its oil while at the other end of the world, according to maritime classification society Lloyd's Register Marine.
"I told the president that we would stop paying. What happened? They kidnapped my mother, 83 years. During the first three days, their only demand was my resignation. I was supposed to go on television and announce my resignation.
"This was one of the worst moments of my life. Can you imagine what happens in your head if you have to be responsible for the death of your mother?
"I will not go into details, but you must understand that in a country like this... in the fight against corruption, we must be prepared to pay a personal price. My father asked me not to resign. The president asked me not to resign. At the end, everyone began looking for her, and the kidnappers released (her)."
Speaking to dwindling oil prices, Okonjo-Iweala said state governors did not allow Jonathan save for the rainy day, yet they are the ones complaining today.
"Some economists are very concerned for Nigeria, which could greatly suffer from the fall in oil prices. Others say the contrary, that its economy is strong enough to turn the corner.
"Both are right. But one thing saddens me. When I was finance minister the first time, the volatility of oil prices, and therefore state resources, cost at least three points of growth in the country.
"We then established a stabilisation mechanism and opened an account for the oil surplus, which posted up to $22 billion. In 2008, when prices fell from 148 to $ 38 a barrel, no one has heard of Nigeria because the country was able to tap into this fund. And that, I am very proud [of].
"When I returned to the department in 2011, there remained only $4 billion on this account while the price of oil was very high! I tried again to put money aside. The president agreed, but the governors did not accept.
"I suffered a lot of attacks from them and now that the country would really need this account, these same people accuse me of not having saved! If Nigeria had been more careful, we would not be here today. It hurts me. We have the mechanism, we had the experience, but we were prevented to act."
Okonjo-Iweala further spoke on her childhood and the hardship she experienced first-hand, during the Biafran war.
"I grew up in a village in southern Nigeria where I grew up to eight and a half years by my grandmother. My parents were scholarship students in Germany and did not have enough money to take me with them.
"I learned real life, fetching wood, water. At five, I could cook. This life has given me strength and a strong character. The other experience from my childhood is the Biafran war (1967-1970). My parents lost everything. I knew what it was to have nothing more."
800 Boko Haram fighters surrender to Nigerian military
At least 800 members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram have reportedly surrendered to the military in the last three weeks, the Defence Headquarters said.
The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, who made this disclosure to Punch, in Abuja on Wednesday noted that 800 of the insurgents dropped arms in the last three weeks.
He said, “I can confirm that about 800 of the Boko Haram members have surrendered to the military.”
This development is coming barely 24 hours after the Defence Headquarters announced the establishment of a rehabilitation camp for repentant Boko Haram members.
The DHQ had in a statement on Tuesday stated that the rehabilitation camp was being established under Operation Safe Corridor, which was created as a platform to rehabilitate and integrate repentant members of the sect to the society.
He added that the insurgents would be made to go through various vocational trainings under the programme and empowered for reintegration into the society.
The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, who made this disclosure to Punch, in Abuja on Wednesday noted that 800 of the insurgents dropped arms in the last three weeks.
He said, “I can confirm that about 800 of the Boko Haram members have surrendered to the military.”
This development is coming barely 24 hours after the Defence Headquarters announced the establishment of a rehabilitation camp for repentant Boko Haram members.
The DHQ had in a statement on Tuesday stated that the rehabilitation camp was being established under Operation Safe Corridor, which was created as a platform to rehabilitate and integrate repentant members of the sect to the society.
He added that the insurgents would be made to go through various vocational trainings under the programme and empowered for reintegration into the society.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Video - The deradicalization of Boko Haram victims in Nigeria
In this VICE on HBO extra, Kaj Larsen visits a government-run deradicalization center aimed at rehabilitating women and children held captive by Boko Haram.
Video - Fuel scarcity worsens in Nigeria
Nigeria's petrol crisis has taken a turn for the worse as some motorists now spend almost twenty-four hours at petrol stations just to fill up their tanks. The country has been battling crippling petrol shortages for over a month as a result of scarcity of refined petrol. The worst affected is Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital from where CCTV's Deji Badmus brings us this update.
Alex Iwobi does not regret choosing England over Nigeria
Iwobi, 19, was born in Lagos but grew up in London and played for England's youth teams up to the under-18 level before accepting a call-up to Nigeria's senior team last year. He made his competitive debut for the national team against Egypt during the recent international break, ending any possibility of switching back to England.
The forward, who has starred for Arsenal with two straight man-of-the-match performances in his first two Premier League starts, saw his team knocked out of qualifying for the African Nations Cup Nations. But Iwobi, who is the nephew of former Nigeria star Jay-Jay Okocha, remains happy with his decision.
"I do not have any regrets whatsoever in opting to play for Nigeria and will always do my best whenever I put on the green-white colours of Nigeria," he was quoted as saying by the AllAfrica.com website. "I hope to be involved in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers too.
"I am very grateful to my teammates, the Nigeria Football Federation, coaches, the press and fans for the warm welcome I received following my decision to come home. Nigeria is a great footballing nation and deserves to assume her rightful place in Africa and world football and I am keen to be part of a team that achieves this goal."
Iwobi only came on as a substitute for the qualifiers against Egypt but could play a bigger role at the Olympics, where the squads are largely made up of U23 players.
However, going to Brazil would rule him out of the start of the Premier League season. The Olympic tournament ends on Aug. 20, with the Premier League kicking off Aug. 13.
"I am looking forward to the forthcoming Olympics and if I am invited, I will do my best to make a meaningful contribution," he added. "I believe that Nigeria has a crop of excellent players who are capable of doing great things at the Olympics."
Related stories: Video - Nigeria and England fight over football player Alex Iwobi
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Video - Shortage of fertiliser affects farmers in Nigeria
Fertiliser has also been seized by security services because of fears it could fall into the hands of Boko Haram.
Farmers are warning this will soon lead to food shortages.
Panama Papers reveals that former Nigerian Senate President David Mark illegally operates 8 shell companies
Nigeria’s immediate past Senate President, David Mark, has links to at least eight offshore shell companies while holding public office, in violation of a federal code of conduct law, a massive leak of files belonging to Mossack Fonseca, a law firm in Panama, shows.
The files, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, show how Mossack Fonseca, reputed as one of the most secretive companies in the world, helped clients register offshore entities, some of which are then used to launder money, evade tax and dodge sanctions.
They also provide details of the hidden financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world, including in Nigeria.
The trove of 11.5 million files shows how a global industry of law firms and big banks sells financial secrecy to politicians, fraudsters and drug traffickers as well as billionaires, celebrities and sports stars.
The revelations are among the findings of a lengthy investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other global news organizations – including PREMIUM TIMES.
PREMIUM TIMES is the only Nigerian publication involved in the investigation, which lasted a year.
As a former senate president, Mr. Mark stands out among other notable Nigerians named in the files.
The 68-year old former military officer spent the last 40 years covered by the investigation largely as public office holder. But he is widely seen to be far richer than his legitimate incomes could have provided.
He served as military governor of Nigeria’s north-central state of Niger, minister of communications, and later as president of the Nigerian Senate from 2007 to 2015.
Mr. Mark has been in the senate since 1999, and remains a senator of the federal republic, representing Benue South Zone in the upper legislative chamber.
Mr. Mark and his secret companies
The Mosseca Fonseca database shows that Mr. Mark is one of Nigeria’s most extensive users of offshore shell companies, even while being a public official.
In documents, Mr. Mark was linked to eight active companies registered in the British Virgin Island.
They are Sikera Overseas S.A, Colsan Enterprises Limited, Goldwin Transworld Limited, Hartland Estates Limited, Marlin Holdings Limited, Medley Holdings Limited, Quetta Properties Limited, and Centenary Holdings Limited.
In the documents, Mr. Mark was repeatedly marked as a politically exposed person, and at a point the former Senate President had to send documents, across to Mosseca Fonseca to prove that he was clean.
It remains unclear what businesses Mr. Mark is conducting with the companies.
While not all owners or operators of such offshore entities are criminals, owning or maintaining interest in private companies while serving as a public official is against Nigerian laws.
Section 6(b) of the Code of Conduct Act says a public office holder shall not, “except where he is not employed on full‐time basis, engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade”.
In a previous investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Mark’s estranged wife, Vikky Preye Mark, was also exposed as an operator of secret offshore accounts.
Mrs. Mark operated an account with the Swiss branch of HSBC, but with details made largely secret.
Although she was known within the bank as the beneficial owner of the account, she was largely identified with a secret code – 14312MP.
Mrs. Mark opened the account on December 18, 1989 and closed it on July 12, 1991. About that time, her husband, then a top ranking army officer, had served as military administrator of Niger State and federal minister of communications, a period during which he is believed to have made a fortune.
Court papers during a messy divorce with his wife suggested that some of Mr. Mark’s children schooled in Switzerland, but it is not clear whether it was during that period that Mrs. Mark operated the HSBC account.
The court papers also showed that the Marks operated foreign accounts elsewhere.
About six million pounds in four accounts – three at the Northern Bank, Isle of Man, and one at the Allied Irish Bank, Jersey – were frozen in October 2000 as a result of the ancillary relief sought by Victoria Mark in the couple’s divorce case.
Part 1, Section 7 of the Code of Conduct law provides that, “Any public officer specified in the Second Schedule to this Act or any other persons as the President may, from time to time, by order prescribe, shall not maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria.”
If the Code of Conduct Bureau decides to slam charges on Mr. Mark following the #PanamaPapers revelation, the politician may lose his senatorial seat, a position he won back just on February 20 after his initial election of March 28, 2015 was annulled by a tribunal. His fiercest challenger had alleged irregularity.
Section 23 of the Code of Conduct law, which stipulates punishment for violators, say:
(1) Where the (Code of Conduct) Tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravening any of the provisions of this Act, it shall impose upon that officer any of the punishments specified under subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The punishment which the Tribunal may impose shall include any of the following-
(a) vacation of office or any elective or nominated office, as the case may be;
(b) disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding ten years; and
(c) seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.
The #PanamaPapers had on Monday exposed Mr. Mark’s colleague in the Senate, Bukola Saraki, as failing to declare at least four assets belonging to his wife, all tucked away in secret offshore territories, as required by Nigerian laws.
But the President of the Senate denied any wrongdoing, saying he “declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant legislation,” and that the charges against him “are both unfounded and politically motivated.”
Mr. Mark wouldn’t comment
The former senate president did not answer or returns calls made to him by PREMIUM TIMES reporters seeking comments. He also did not respond to a text message.
His spokesperson, Paul Mumeh, initially said he would only comment if given access to the database from which the story about his boss was sourced. He later said Mr. Mark was out of Abuja, and was unreachable.
“I’m not sure about the accuracy of your claims,” Mr. Mumeh said. “I need to consult him (Mr. Mark) before commenting.”
The files, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, show how Mossack Fonseca, reputed as one of the most secretive companies in the world, helped clients register offshore entities, some of which are then used to launder money, evade tax and dodge sanctions.
They also provide details of the hidden financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world, including in Nigeria.
The trove of 11.5 million files shows how a global industry of law firms and big banks sells financial secrecy to politicians, fraudsters and drug traffickers as well as billionaires, celebrities and sports stars.
The revelations are among the findings of a lengthy investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other global news organizations – including PREMIUM TIMES.
PREMIUM TIMES is the only Nigerian publication involved in the investigation, which lasted a year.
As a former senate president, Mr. Mark stands out among other notable Nigerians named in the files.
The 68-year old former military officer spent the last 40 years covered by the investigation largely as public office holder. But he is widely seen to be far richer than his legitimate incomes could have provided.
He served as military governor of Nigeria’s north-central state of Niger, minister of communications, and later as president of the Nigerian Senate from 2007 to 2015.
Mr. Mark has been in the senate since 1999, and remains a senator of the federal republic, representing Benue South Zone in the upper legislative chamber.
Mr. Mark and his secret companies
The Mosseca Fonseca database shows that Mr. Mark is one of Nigeria’s most extensive users of offshore shell companies, even while being a public official.
In documents, Mr. Mark was linked to eight active companies registered in the British Virgin Island.
They are Sikera Overseas S.A, Colsan Enterprises Limited, Goldwin Transworld Limited, Hartland Estates Limited, Marlin Holdings Limited, Medley Holdings Limited, Quetta Properties Limited, and Centenary Holdings Limited.
In the documents, Mr. Mark was repeatedly marked as a politically exposed person, and at a point the former Senate President had to send documents, across to Mosseca Fonseca to prove that he was clean.
It remains unclear what businesses Mr. Mark is conducting with the companies.
While not all owners or operators of such offshore entities are criminals, owning or maintaining interest in private companies while serving as a public official is against Nigerian laws.
Section 6(b) of the Code of Conduct Act says a public office holder shall not, “except where he is not employed on full‐time basis, engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade”.
In a previous investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Mark’s estranged wife, Vikky Preye Mark, was also exposed as an operator of secret offshore accounts.
Mrs. Mark operated an account with the Swiss branch of HSBC, but with details made largely secret.
Although she was known within the bank as the beneficial owner of the account, she was largely identified with a secret code – 14312MP.
Mrs. Mark opened the account on December 18, 1989 and closed it on July 12, 1991. About that time, her husband, then a top ranking army officer, had served as military administrator of Niger State and federal minister of communications, a period during which he is believed to have made a fortune.
Court papers during a messy divorce with his wife suggested that some of Mr. Mark’s children schooled in Switzerland, but it is not clear whether it was during that period that Mrs. Mark operated the HSBC account.
The court papers also showed that the Marks operated foreign accounts elsewhere.
About six million pounds in four accounts – three at the Northern Bank, Isle of Man, and one at the Allied Irish Bank, Jersey – were frozen in October 2000 as a result of the ancillary relief sought by Victoria Mark in the couple’s divorce case.
Part 1, Section 7 of the Code of Conduct law provides that, “Any public officer specified in the Second Schedule to this Act or any other persons as the President may, from time to time, by order prescribe, shall not maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria.”
If the Code of Conduct Bureau decides to slam charges on Mr. Mark following the #PanamaPapers revelation, the politician may lose his senatorial seat, a position he won back just on February 20 after his initial election of March 28, 2015 was annulled by a tribunal. His fiercest challenger had alleged irregularity.
Section 23 of the Code of Conduct law, which stipulates punishment for violators, say:
(1) Where the (Code of Conduct) Tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravening any of the provisions of this Act, it shall impose upon that officer any of the punishments specified under subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The punishment which the Tribunal may impose shall include any of the following-
(a) vacation of office or any elective or nominated office, as the case may be;
(b) disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding ten years; and
(c) seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.
The #PanamaPapers had on Monday exposed Mr. Mark’s colleague in the Senate, Bukola Saraki, as failing to declare at least four assets belonging to his wife, all tucked away in secret offshore territories, as required by Nigerian laws.
But the President of the Senate denied any wrongdoing, saying he “declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant legislation,” and that the charges against him “are both unfounded and politically motivated.”
Mr. Mark wouldn’t comment
The former senate president did not answer or returns calls made to him by PREMIUM TIMES reporters seeking comments. He also did not respond to a text message.
His spokesperson, Paul Mumeh, initially said he would only comment if given access to the database from which the story about his boss was sourced. He later said Mr. Mark was out of Abuja, and was unreachable.
“I’m not sure about the accuracy of your claims,” Mr. Mumeh said. “I need to consult him (Mr. Mark) before commenting.”
Monday, April 4, 2016
Video - Residents of Chibok, Nigeria say the government has abandoned them
Nigerian forces capture leader of Islamist extremist group Khalid al-Barnawi
The leader of al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group Ansaru has been arrested in Nigeria, authorities there say.
A military spokesman said Khalid al-Barnawi was captured in Lokoja, capital of the central state of Kogi.
The US had placed a $5m (£3.5m) bounty on his head after branding him one of three Nigerian "specially designated global terrorists" in 2012.
Ansaru is a splinter group of Nigeria's largest jihadist group, Boko Haram, known for kidnapping foreigners.
Ideologically aligned to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, it is also accused of killing a number of Westerners.
Ansaru said it carried out an attack on a maximum security prison in the Nigerian capital Abuja in 2012, freeing dozens of inmates.
"Security agents made a breakthrough on Friday in the fight against terrorism by arresting Khalid al-Barnawi, the leader of Ansaru terrorist group in Lokoja," military spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said.
"He is among those on top of the list of our wanted terrorists."
A military spokesman said Khalid al-Barnawi was captured in Lokoja, capital of the central state of Kogi.
The US had placed a $5m (£3.5m) bounty on his head after branding him one of three Nigerian "specially designated global terrorists" in 2012.
Ansaru is a splinter group of Nigeria's largest jihadist group, Boko Haram, known for kidnapping foreigners.
Ideologically aligned to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, it is also accused of killing a number of Westerners.
Ansaru said it carried out an attack on a maximum security prison in the Nigerian capital Abuja in 2012, freeing dozens of inmates.
"Security agents made a breakthrough on Friday in the fight against terrorism by arresting Khalid al-Barnawi, the leader of Ansaru terrorist group in Lokoja," military spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said.
"He is among those on top of the list of our wanted terrorists."
Panama Papers reveals hidden family assets of Bukola Saraki uncovered in tax havens
At least four assets belonging to the wealthy and famous Saraki family of Nigeria, all tucked away in secret offshore territories, have been uncovered.
But the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, failed to declare them to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as required by Nigerian laws.
This revelation, made possible by internal data of the Panama-based offshore-provider, Mossack Fonseca, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with PREMIUM TIMES and over 100 other media partners in 82 countries, could worsen Mr. Saraki’s case as he battles to extricate himself from allegations of corruption.
Mr. Saraki is yet to respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ request for comments. His spokesperson, Yusuph Olayinonu, did not return calls or respond to a text message seeking comments.
But in a written response to ICIJ, the Senate President insisted, through his UK lawyers, that he “declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant legislation,” and that the charges against him “are both unfounded and politically motivated.”
Last September the CCB slammed false asset declaration charges on Mr. Saraki, accusing the Senate President, among other things, of failure to declare his assets in full.
Under the code of conduct law, a public office holder is required to declare his own assets, those of his wife as well as assets in the names of his children below the age of 18.
In his declaration form, Mr. Saraki listed property owned by his wife, Toyin Saraki, to include a plot of land at Lekki valued at N5 million, which he said was a gift he received in January 1989.
Mrs. Saraki was also listed as owner of a property at 15 Bryanston Square, London W1 and 69 Bourne Street, London.
While the first, which rental income was put at £48,000 with a value of £900,000, was acquired in January 1989, the second, which value was put at £2m and had rental value of £150,000, was acquired for business in April 2000.
However, a fresh investigation by PREMIUM TIMES and its media partners, has uncovered a hidden London property in the name of Toyin Saraki but which was left out among the assets declared by the Senate President.
The hidden property is located at #8 Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ. It has title number NGL802235.
Similarly, the Senate President stated in his assets declaration form that his wife held an account in Eco Bank Broad Street, Lagos, where she had N1.5 million at the time he became governor in 2003.
She also maintained an account in Coutts & Co Strand, London, where she owned £450,000 and $125,000 in addition to $3 million in Northern Trust International Banking Corporation Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner.
Mrs. Saraki was also listed as maintaining substantial shares in European and American Trading Company, Tyberry Corporation and Eficaz Limited just as she held 500,000 shares, valued at £500,000, at P.C.C (U.K) Ltd. He was however silent on the number of shares the former first lady had in Haussmann and Tiny Tee (Nig) Limited.
Elaborate as the declaration in the name of Mrs. Saraki appeared to be, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report that apart from the undeclared London property, three additional overseas assets in the name of the wife of the Senate President were hidden from the authorities and are missing from the assets declaration form.
Our investigations reveal that Mrs. Saraki owns secret companies in some notorious tax havens.
The hidden assets
The first, Girol Properties Ltd, was registered on August 25, 2004 (a year after Mrs. Saraki’s husband became governor of Nigeria’s north-central state of Kwara) in the British Virgin Island (BVI).
Company documents show that Mrs. Saraki owns 25,000 numbers of shares with a par value of US$ 1,00 each, and was appointed the first and only director of the company.
It however remains unclear what businesses Mrs Saraki transacted with the company. Mrs Saraki however, in a letter to ICIJ, through her lawyers, denies ever owning any shareholding in Girol Properties.
But the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, failed to declare them to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as required by Nigerian laws.
This revelation, made possible by internal data of the Panama-based offshore-provider, Mossack Fonseca, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with PREMIUM TIMES and over 100 other media partners in 82 countries, could worsen Mr. Saraki’s case as he battles to extricate himself from allegations of corruption.
Mr. Saraki is yet to respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ request for comments. His spokesperson, Yusuph Olayinonu, did not return calls or respond to a text message seeking comments.
But in a written response to ICIJ, the Senate President insisted, through his UK lawyers, that he “declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant legislation,” and that the charges against him “are both unfounded and politically motivated.”
Last September the CCB slammed false asset declaration charges on Mr. Saraki, accusing the Senate President, among other things, of failure to declare his assets in full.
Under the code of conduct law, a public office holder is required to declare his own assets, those of his wife as well as assets in the names of his children below the age of 18.
In his declaration form, Mr. Saraki listed property owned by his wife, Toyin Saraki, to include a plot of land at Lekki valued at N5 million, which he said was a gift he received in January 1989.
Mrs. Saraki was also listed as owner of a property at 15 Bryanston Square, London W1 and 69 Bourne Street, London.
While the first, which rental income was put at £48,000 with a value of £900,000, was acquired in January 1989, the second, which value was put at £2m and had rental value of £150,000, was acquired for business in April 2000.
However, a fresh investigation by PREMIUM TIMES and its media partners, has uncovered a hidden London property in the name of Toyin Saraki but which was left out among the assets declared by the Senate President.
The hidden property is located at #8 Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ. It has title number NGL802235.
Similarly, the Senate President stated in his assets declaration form that his wife held an account in Eco Bank Broad Street, Lagos, where she had N1.5 million at the time he became governor in 2003.
She also maintained an account in Coutts & Co Strand, London, where she owned £450,000 and $125,000 in addition to $3 million in Northern Trust International Banking Corporation Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner.
Mrs. Saraki was also listed as maintaining substantial shares in European and American Trading Company, Tyberry Corporation and Eficaz Limited just as she held 500,000 shares, valued at £500,000, at P.C.C (U.K) Ltd. He was however silent on the number of shares the former first lady had in Haussmann and Tiny Tee (Nig) Limited.
Elaborate as the declaration in the name of Mrs. Saraki appeared to be, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report that apart from the undeclared London property, three additional overseas assets in the name of the wife of the Senate President were hidden from the authorities and are missing from the assets declaration form.
Our investigations reveal that Mrs. Saraki owns secret companies in some notorious tax havens.
The hidden assets
The first, Girol Properties Ltd, was registered on August 25, 2004 (a year after Mrs. Saraki’s husband became governor of Nigeria’s north-central state of Kwara) in the British Virgin Island (BVI).
Company documents show that Mrs. Saraki owns 25,000 numbers of shares with a par value of US$ 1,00 each, and was appointed the first and only director of the company.
It however remains unclear what businesses Mrs Saraki transacted with the company. Mrs Saraki however, in a letter to ICIJ, through her lawyers, denies ever owning any shareholding in Girol Properties.
The second company, Sandon Development Limited, was registered in Seychelles Island on January 12, 2011 and has Mrs. Saraki and one Babatunde Morakinyo, (a long-term personal aide and friend of Mr. Saraki) of 11 Okeme Street, Lagos, as shareholders.
While incorporating that company, documents show, Mrs. Saraki bought a curious service from Mossack Fonseca & Co, the Panamanian firm that helped her to register the firm.
Perhaps to avoid being identified as the beneficial owner of Sandon, the Senate President’s wife asked Fonsecca to provide nominee directors for the company. Nominee directors are sometimes used in tax havens to conceal real owners of companies and assets.
She then made an undertaking indemnifying the Panamanian company “in respect of all claims, demands, actions, suits, proceedings, costs and expenses whatsoever as may be incurred or become payable by you in respect of or arising out of any member or employee or associate of your company or associated companies holding any office, directorship or shareholdings in the company or by reason of or in consequence of any act or decision made by any such person or company in connection with the management and/or administration of the said company.”
Shortly after the company was incorporated, Mrs. Saraki used it, in July 2011, to buy the property on Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ.
The property, acquired from Renocon Property Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Island, was never disclosed to Nigerian authorities as required by the country’s code of conduct law.
The third hidden company in the name of Mrs. Saraki is Landfield International Developments Ltd., a company registered in the British Virgin Islands on April 8, 2014. It’s registration number is 1819394 while its registered office is 1 Akara Blog., 24 De Castro Street, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Island.
According to Mossack Fonseca, the registered agent of the company, Mrs. Saraki, at least until January 27, 2015, was sole shareholder and beneficial owner of the company which had two nominee directors – Glaisd Alie Limited and NewGombe Limited – both appointed on September 2, 2014. Its agent says Landfield is authorized to issue a maximum of 50,000 no par value shares.
“In so far as is evidenced by the documents filed at the Registered Office, the Company is in existence and, in good standing,” Mossack Fonseca recently said of Landfield in response to an enquiry by one Laura Templeman, a Senior Associate for Ogier Group, a law firm based in the British Virgins Island. “According to the documents filed on the Company’s file as at 27th January, 2015, there are no actions, pending or threatened against the Company and no action has been taken to wind up the Company or to appoint a receiver or manager.”
Mrs. Saraki said she sold her shares in the company to a third party in January 2015, but PREMIUM TIMES is yet to sight any document to that effect.
In July 28, 2015, Mrs Toyin Saraki, who was the first lady of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, was interrogated by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in relation to awards of contracts during her husband’s tenure as governor.
The EFCC has not taken further actions since her interrogation, and nothing has been heard of the case since then.
A troubled husband
Mrs Saraki’s husband, Bukola, who is Nigeria’s third most powerful official by virtue of his position as Senate President, is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets.
He is being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, a special court that tries public officers for any contravention of the Code of Conduct for Nigerian public officers as spelt out in the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian constitution.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) were established to enforce “a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business, and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.”
The Code of Conduct Bureau had on September 16, 2015 slammed charges on Mr. Saraki, accusing him of offences ranging from anticipatory declaration of assets, to making false declaration of assets in forms he filed before the Bureau while he was governor of Kwara state.
The Senate President was also accused of failing to declare some of his assets, acquiring assets beyond his legitimate earnings, and operating foreign accounts while being a public officer – governor and senator.
The offences, the charge said, violated sections of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
Mr. Saraki is also said to have breached Section 2 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act and punishable under paragraph 9 of the said Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Senate President has denied wrongdoings, saying the case was politically motivated and that he was merely being persecuted for emerging the President of the Nigerian Senate against the wishes of his political party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, which preferred a different candidate.
But this fresh revelation regarding hidden assets in tax havens might fuel the allegations against Nigeria’s third most powerful official and strengthen the prosecution’s case against the politician.
The Saraki family and ownership of offshore companies
Apart from Toyin Saraki, another member of the Saraki family popped up repeatedly as PREMIUM TIMES and its partners conducted a year-long investigation into the leaked Mossack Fonseca internal documents, which contained 2.6 TB files, involved 214,488 entities, and revealed hundreds of details about how former gun-runners, contractors and other members of the spy world use offshore companies for personal and private gain.
Laolu Saraki, brother to Senate President Saraki, also has several footprints in offshore financial havens, documents show. A number of shell companies are connected to the younger Saraki.
He is sole shareholder in some of the companies while sharing ownership with some business partners in others.
For example, documents show that Laolu is the owner of Polly Capital Holdings Ltd registered in Niue, a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean.
Another document showed that after some years, Laolu brought in another person as co-owner. The company is now co-owned with a certain Richard Pembroke, who has 25,000 equity shares, just like Laolu.
Laolu’s other offshore companies are co-owned with his associates. Among the co-owners are Kojo Annan, son of former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan; Obi Asika; Olufela Ibidapo who are all known figures in Nigeria.
Laolu and Kojo Annan hold equal shares of 25,000 in Blue Diamond Holding Management Corp. The duo, along with Mr. Asika, also own Sutton Energy Limited, registered in the British Virgin Island.
Mr. Asika owns 15,000 units of shares, the same amount owned by Laolu Saraki and Kojo Annan. Mr. Asika was a Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and is closely connected to the Sutton Group.
Mr. Asika’s profile on the website of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), of which he is Board member, refers to him as Founding Partner & Executive Director, Sutton Group from June 1999 to October 2002.
The connection between Mr. Annan and Mr. Asika seems clear, as Mr. Annan sits on the Board of Mr. Asika’s another company,Dragon Africa. Additional documents show that the trio – Laolu, Kojo and Asika – also co-own Sapphire Holding Ltd., a company located in Samoa, a tiny Island of an estimated 194,320 people in the South Pacific.
Company documents also indicate that Ensol Limited (Environmental Solutions), registered in the Republic of Seychelles, with registration number 028376, partly belongs to Laolu.
The company is co-owned with Ama Annan, a relative of Kofi Annan (former UN Secretary General), who was appointed director on May 19, 2006 but ceased to be director on July 2, 2008.
Another Nigerian, Olufela Ibidapo, was then appointed to replace her on January 4, 2010.
Mr. Ibidapo is the current Head of Corporate Affairs at Heritage Bank, a successor bank to the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, largely owned by the Saraki family but whose operational license was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria in January 2006 following the re-capitalisation policy in the banking sector.
The bank however returned with a new name (Heritage Bank) in 2012 following the order of the Federal High Court, compelling the central bank to restore its operational permit after it declared that it had amassed the required capital base to return to business.
It however remains unclear why the Saraki’s incorporated the offshore companies linked to them or what businesses they transacted with the entities.
While that may not be the case with the Sarakis, some business people in Nigeria and elsewhere are known to have created Shell companies offshore for a host of dodgy business reasons, which include hiding assets, avoiding tax or as fronts for illegal deals. Shell companies are however not entirely illegal, and not all owners use them for dubious purposes.
We have done nothing wrong – the Sarakis
Mr. Saraki and his wife denied any wrongdoing.
Responding to separate written demands for comments, the couple maintained that it is not illegal to hold shares in offshore companies.
In a letter to ICIJ by the London-based law firm of Discreet Law, Mr. Saraki said he declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant Nigerian legislation.
Mrs. Saraki, in a separate letter to the ICIJ through another London-based law firm, Harbottle & Lewis, also insisted that she “made all required disclosures in relation to her shareholdings.”
In their separate letters, the couple threatened to sue should the ICIJ and its partners proceed to publish information about the undeclared offshore assets, with Mrs Saraki saying any publication concerning her private financial information infringes on her privacy and breaches the Data Protection Act 1998.
While incorporating that company, documents show, Mrs. Saraki bought a curious service from Mossack Fonseca & Co, the Panamanian firm that helped her to register the firm.
Perhaps to avoid being identified as the beneficial owner of Sandon, the Senate President’s wife asked Fonsecca to provide nominee directors for the company. Nominee directors are sometimes used in tax havens to conceal real owners of companies and assets.
She then made an undertaking indemnifying the Panamanian company “in respect of all claims, demands, actions, suits, proceedings, costs and expenses whatsoever as may be incurred or become payable by you in respect of or arising out of any member or employee or associate of your company or associated companies holding any office, directorship or shareholdings in the company or by reason of or in consequence of any act or decision made by any such person or company in connection with the management and/or administration of the said company.”
Shortly after the company was incorporated, Mrs. Saraki used it, in July 2011, to buy the property on Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ.
The property, acquired from Renocon Property Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Island, was never disclosed to Nigerian authorities as required by the country’s code of conduct law.
The third hidden company in the name of Mrs. Saraki is Landfield International Developments Ltd., a company registered in the British Virgin Islands on April 8, 2014. It’s registration number is 1819394 while its registered office is 1 Akara Blog., 24 De Castro Street, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Island.
According to Mossack Fonseca, the registered agent of the company, Mrs. Saraki, at least until January 27, 2015, was sole shareholder and beneficial owner of the company which had two nominee directors – Glaisd Alie Limited and NewGombe Limited – both appointed on September 2, 2014. Its agent says Landfield is authorized to issue a maximum of 50,000 no par value shares.
“In so far as is evidenced by the documents filed at the Registered Office, the Company is in existence and, in good standing,” Mossack Fonseca recently said of Landfield in response to an enquiry by one Laura Templeman, a Senior Associate for Ogier Group, a law firm based in the British Virgins Island. “According to the documents filed on the Company’s file as at 27th January, 2015, there are no actions, pending or threatened against the Company and no action has been taken to wind up the Company or to appoint a receiver or manager.”
Mrs. Saraki said she sold her shares in the company to a third party in January 2015, but PREMIUM TIMES is yet to sight any document to that effect.
In July 28, 2015, Mrs Toyin Saraki, who was the first lady of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, was interrogated by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in relation to awards of contracts during her husband’s tenure as governor.
The EFCC has not taken further actions since her interrogation, and nothing has been heard of the case since then.
A troubled husband
Mrs Saraki’s husband, Bukola, who is Nigeria’s third most powerful official by virtue of his position as Senate President, is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets.
He is being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, a special court that tries public officers for any contravention of the Code of Conduct for Nigerian public officers as spelt out in the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian constitution.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) were established to enforce “a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business, and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.”
The Code of Conduct Bureau had on September 16, 2015 slammed charges on Mr. Saraki, accusing him of offences ranging from anticipatory declaration of assets, to making false declaration of assets in forms he filed before the Bureau while he was governor of Kwara state.
The Senate President was also accused of failing to declare some of his assets, acquiring assets beyond his legitimate earnings, and operating foreign accounts while being a public officer – governor and senator.
The offences, the charge said, violated sections of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
Mr. Saraki is also said to have breached Section 2 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act and punishable under paragraph 9 of the said Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Senate President has denied wrongdoings, saying the case was politically motivated and that he was merely being persecuted for emerging the President of the Nigerian Senate against the wishes of his political party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, which preferred a different candidate.
But this fresh revelation regarding hidden assets in tax havens might fuel the allegations against Nigeria’s third most powerful official and strengthen the prosecution’s case against the politician.
The Saraki family and ownership of offshore companies
Apart from Toyin Saraki, another member of the Saraki family popped up repeatedly as PREMIUM TIMES and its partners conducted a year-long investigation into the leaked Mossack Fonseca internal documents, which contained 2.6 TB files, involved 214,488 entities, and revealed hundreds of details about how former gun-runners, contractors and other members of the spy world use offshore companies for personal and private gain.
Laolu Saraki, brother to Senate President Saraki, also has several footprints in offshore financial havens, documents show. A number of shell companies are connected to the younger Saraki.
He is sole shareholder in some of the companies while sharing ownership with some business partners in others.
For example, documents show that Laolu is the owner of Polly Capital Holdings Ltd registered in Niue, a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean.
Another document showed that after some years, Laolu brought in another person as co-owner. The company is now co-owned with a certain Richard Pembroke, who has 25,000 equity shares, just like Laolu.
Laolu’s other offshore companies are co-owned with his associates. Among the co-owners are Kojo Annan, son of former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan; Obi Asika; Olufela Ibidapo who are all known figures in Nigeria.
Laolu and Kojo Annan hold equal shares of 25,000 in Blue Diamond Holding Management Corp. The duo, along with Mr. Asika, also own Sutton Energy Limited, registered in the British Virgin Island.
Mr. Asika owns 15,000 units of shares, the same amount owned by Laolu Saraki and Kojo Annan. Mr. Asika was a Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and is closely connected to the Sutton Group.
Mr. Asika’s profile on the website of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), of which he is Board member, refers to him as Founding Partner & Executive Director, Sutton Group from June 1999 to October 2002.
The connection between Mr. Annan and Mr. Asika seems clear, as Mr. Annan sits on the Board of Mr. Asika’s another company,Dragon Africa. Additional documents show that the trio – Laolu, Kojo and Asika – also co-own Sapphire Holding Ltd., a company located in Samoa, a tiny Island of an estimated 194,320 people in the South Pacific.
Company documents also indicate that Ensol Limited (Environmental Solutions), registered in the Republic of Seychelles, with registration number 028376, partly belongs to Laolu.
The company is co-owned with Ama Annan, a relative of Kofi Annan (former UN Secretary General), who was appointed director on May 19, 2006 but ceased to be director on July 2, 2008.
Another Nigerian, Olufela Ibidapo, was then appointed to replace her on January 4, 2010.
Mr. Ibidapo is the current Head of Corporate Affairs at Heritage Bank, a successor bank to the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, largely owned by the Saraki family but whose operational license was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria in January 2006 following the re-capitalisation policy in the banking sector.
The bank however returned with a new name (Heritage Bank) in 2012 following the order of the Federal High Court, compelling the central bank to restore its operational permit after it declared that it had amassed the required capital base to return to business.
It however remains unclear why the Saraki’s incorporated the offshore companies linked to them or what businesses they transacted with the entities.
While that may not be the case with the Sarakis, some business people in Nigeria and elsewhere are known to have created Shell companies offshore for a host of dodgy business reasons, which include hiding assets, avoiding tax or as fronts for illegal deals. Shell companies are however not entirely illegal, and not all owners use them for dubious purposes.
We have done nothing wrong – the Sarakis
Mr. Saraki and his wife denied any wrongdoing.
Responding to separate written demands for comments, the couple maintained that it is not illegal to hold shares in offshore companies.
In a letter to ICIJ by the London-based law firm of Discreet Law, Mr. Saraki said he declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant Nigerian legislation.
Mrs. Saraki, in a separate letter to the ICIJ through another London-based law firm, Harbottle & Lewis, also insisted that she “made all required disclosures in relation to her shareholdings.”
In their separate letters, the couple threatened to sue should the ICIJ and its partners proceed to publish information about the undeclared offshore assets, with Mrs Saraki saying any publication concerning her private financial information infringes on her privacy and breaches the Data Protection Act 1998.
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