ICPC: Senate screens Owasanoye, 8 board-member nominees

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The Senate on Wednesday screened Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye as chairmanship nominee for the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

The nominee, if approved, will take over from Ekpo Nta, whose five-year tenure expired in June and who has been redeployed to the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages as a full-time commissioner.

Owasanoye may become the fourth substantive chairman of the commission since it was established by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 1999.

The past chairmen were Mustapha Akanbi and Emmanuel Ayoola (both justices) and Mr. Nta.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the screening, conducted by the Senate Committee on Anti-corruption and Financial Crimes, was also conducted for eight nominees as members of the board.

The nominees are Dr. Grace Chinda (Delta), Okolo Titus-(Enugu) Abiora Iqwedebia (Anambra) and Mrs. Olubukola Balogun (Lagos).

Others are Justice Adamu Bello (Katsina), Hannatu Muhammad (Jigawa), Abdullahi Maikanu Saidu (Niger) and Yahaya Umah Daudu (Nasarawa).

Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Chukwuka Utazi, cautioned the nominees against exhibiting attributes that could demean the credibility, value and prestige of the ICPC.

He urged them to be prepared for the job ahead if eventually confirmed by the Senate, adding they draw inspiration from one another.

“The nominees passed through thorough screening and cross-examination by members of the committee.

The chairmanship nominee, 54-year old Owasanoye, was the executive secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC.

He graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 1984 at the age of 20 with an LL.B Upper Division and was called to the Bar in 1985.

He thereafter went to the University of Lagos where he bagged an LL.M in 1987 at 24.

Professor Owasanoye moved from the University of Lagos where he was assistant lecturer to the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS where he became a professor of law in 2001 at the age of 38.

He is a specialist in Commercial and International Trade Law, Corporate Law, Child Rights and Human Rights Law and Strategic Governance and the Law of External Debt Management.

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New minimum wage: FG restates what workers will get monthly

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Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, on Wednesday, restated federal government’s stance on the new minimum wage.

He spoke at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The minister said the N24,000 per month stands, a figure the organised labour has kicked against.

He said that once minimum wage was fixed, any organisation or state that had the capacity to pay more could do that.

Ngige cited that Edo, Delta and Lagos states paid their workers more than the current N18, 000 national minimum wage.

He disclosed that FEC approved the implementation of the no-work, no pay principle when workers go on strike in the federal public service.

The minister said that the technical committee, which was inaugurated on April 27, 2016, did their work and submitted to the FEC in Oct. 2017.

“FEC in turn, empanelled a committee of ten which I chaired to do a government Draft White Paper on those contentious areas that the technical committee had looked at.

“These contentious areas are enforcement of section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act Law of the Federation 2004; this is the section that deals with lockout of workers by their employers without declaring redundancy appropriately.

“Because in some establishments, especially in the private sector, workers are locked out by their employers; so the law there says that if you lock your workers without passing through the normal channel-due process.

“For the period of the lock out, the worker is assumed to be at work and will receive all the remunerations and allowances, benefits accruing to him for the period and that period will also be counted for him as a pensionable period in the computation of his pension.

“But when workers go on strike, the principle of no-work-no-pay will also apply because that principle is enshrined in the same section 43 of the Labour Act,’’ he said.

According to Ngige, the section says that for the period a worker withdraws his services, government or his employers are not entitled to pay.

The minister said that under the section, the period for which the worker was absent would not count as part of his pensionable period in the public service.

Ngige added that the issue of public servants remaining permanently in the executive bodies on trade unions was discussed.

His words: “Government realises that some persons in the public service go into trade union executive positions; hold offices; and they do that for life; for as long as they are in the service.

“In doing so, they will refuse postings and deployments under the guise that are doing trade union activities; government says no.

“You have to be a public servant first before you become a trade unionist; therefore, if you are there; the public service rules will also apply to you.

“And in furtherance to this, government has also said that there must tenure stipulations because people stay there without tenure; many organisations give people union positions without tenure; government says there is no office that does not have tenure.’’

Ngige said that trade unions, henceforth, should present constitutions that must have tenures; at least, maximum of two tenures for any elective position.

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2019: Peter Obi speaks on Southeast governors working against him - Atiku

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Peter Obi, former Anambra governor, has stated that South-East governors and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the region never acted against him.

He said this in reaction to alleged opposition to his emergence as the running mate of the party’s presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

NAN reports that Obi spoke when he visited the site of last Friday’s pipeline fire that killed scores of residents of Umuimo and Umuadoro communities in Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Council.

He said he had spoken to leaders in the Senate including Ike Ekweremmadu, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Theodore Orji, Sam Egwu and others.

“For us, what is important is to rebuild the South-East, to rebuild Nigeria. What we need is to talk about how to create jobs, how to make Nigeria better for the citizens.

“Let me thank Gov. Ikpeazu for what he is doing. Governance is about the people feeling you. It is about moving around, seeing it for yourself.

“When we came this morning, he could have said “well, listen I am busy” and stayed back in his office but he came around with us. He has been to those places.

“He has listened to the people and I assure you that whatever he said today he will do will be practicalised. It is not a question of wishing. So we are all working as a team.

“You know in politics, we need to ask for more. That consultation will be asking for more”, he said.

Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, in his remarks, said that the South-East caucus in the National Assembly had always been in support of Peter Obi’s emergence as the PDP vice-presidential candidate.

He said that the nation at this time needed men and women whose words could be their bond and who would understand the challenges of the country.

“Today, what we have is a man who we can queue behind, a man who can make sure that Nigerians are rescued from where they are today, in despondency”, he said.

He noted that this was the reason he could say that all the leaders of Igboland were in support of Obi’s candidature.

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2019: APC appeal Committee upholds Shehu Sani as Kaduna Central Senatorial candidate

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2019: APC appeal Committee upholds Shehu Sani as Kaduna Central Senatorial candidate

The Professor Oserheimen Osunbor-led appeal Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has upheld Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial district, Shehu Sani as its candidate for the 2019 general election.

With this development, the lawmaker is the recognised candidate as opposed to Hon. Uba Sani, who is a political aide to the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.

In a report made available to news men on Wednesday, the five man panel’s recommendation gave Senator Sani a clean bill to contest for the Senate in 2019.

The panel insisted that Sani is the only candidate recognised by the party.

Other members of the committee are: Mike Ugwa (Secretary), Musa Gwadabe, Reuben Famuyibo and Abdulrahman Adamu.

The development was sequel to complaints and protest that trailed the conduct of the presidential, governorship and legislative primary elections of the party, which the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole inaugurating an appeal committee to look into the various complaints by aggrieved aspirants.

Recall that Uba Sani had instituted a suit against the APC leadership where he compelled them to conduct primaries.

Senator Shehu Sani, however, distanced himself from the primary election, which Uba Sani claimed to have won.

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2019: PDP speaks on destruction of Buhari’s billboard, police harassments in Akwa Ibom

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2019: PDP speaks on destruction of Buhari’s billboard, police harassments in Akwa Ibom

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Akwa Ibom State, has reacted to the report that its members destroyed the billboards of President Muhammadu Buhari in the state.

The party also alleged that the All Progressives Congress, APC, was using the police to harass their members.

In a series of tweets on its official tweeter handle, the PDP claimed that the APC was already faced with the certainty of its defeat in the coming election.

The party wrote, “Faced with all but certain defeat both at the State & the National level, the @OfficialAPCNg in Akwa Ibom State has resorted to deploying sick and morally revolting propaganda, concocted lies, arrest and harassment of innocent citizens of the state.

“The latest in their arsenal of lies is a petition by @OfficialAPCNg State Chairman, Ime Okopido, alleging that @aksgovt, through the Hon. Commissioner of Environment, Dr. Iniobiong Essien, ordered the destruction of @MBuhari’s billboard in the state #policeharassmentinakwaIbom

“An action that the @PoliceNG IGP deployed a Special Squad to Uyo, to harass and arrest Dr. Essien, the state Commissioner for Environment. Truth is, there are no campaign billboards of President @mBuhari in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. #policeharassmentinakwaIbom

“We call on the good people of Akwa Ibom state to remain calm in spite of this extreme provocation. We equally call on the IG of @PoliceNG and the @OfficialAPCNg led FG to stop harassing citizens of this great country. Nigeria belongs to all of us.”

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Police arrests Ponzi scheme operators in Cross River over N1billion fraud

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Police arrests Ponzi scheme operators in Cross River over N1billion fraud

Policemen from the zone six headquarters, Cross River State have arrested a Swiss Gold Ponzi scheme operator, Mrs. Lizzy Efa.

The operator was arrested on Tuesday at the border between Nigeria and Cameroon in Bakassi axis while trying to leave Nigeria.

Upon her arrest by a Special Anti-Robbery Squad, “investors” besieged the Zonal Police Headquarters to demand for their money.

One of the investors and Petroleum dealer, Mr. Justus Austin said that he had lost N11.6m to the scheme.

The investor demanded that the matter be transferred to the EFCC to avoid bias.

“If the police should handle it again, our efforts would be futile. We call on the EFCC to take over the matter from the police,” he said, adding that the lady was set free by the police after she was first arrested two months ago.

“People have invested so much money in the name of Swiss Gold; she is a breakaway from another group. She was initially arrested but the police released her with a promise that she was going to pay after three months.

“They tracked one of the major owners in the Government House on Tuesday with huge funds. She was one of those acting as intermediary to collect money from investors and deposit to the scheme.

“Huge money was found in her possession and that was how they were able to track Efa. We had lodged our petition in the EFCC.

“My wife and I, for instance mopped about N11.5m from our small businesses and deposited into the scheme. She raked in over N1bn within three months,” he said.

When contacted, the Zonal Police Public Relations Officer (ZPRO), Nelson Ukpabi confirmed the arrest and detention of the suspect, saying it was based on petitions by those she allegedly duped.

The ZPRO said, “She will be charged to court as soon as possible but investigations are ongoing”.

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Fayose blames presidency on his EFCC ordeal

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Fayose blames presidency on his EFCC ordeal

Former Ekiti governor, Ayo Fayose, has maintained his denial of all the allegations made against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

His media aide, Lere Olayinka, in a statement on Wednesday, said Fayose had insisted that he be charged to court.

“Today is his second day in EFCC custody and I can say that his spirit is high and he will remains very strong,” he said.

Olayinka, who said the EFCC must stop acting irresponsibly by subjecting Nigerians to media trial whenever they lacked concrete evidence to sustain court trial, added that “the commission has started its usual lies by claiming that it discovered houses bought by Fayose with public fund.”

He said: “Nigerians should recall that in 2016, operatives of this same EFCC attempted to seal up a guest house located at Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja, claiming that it belonged to Fayose. Whereas, the building belonged to a retired army general.”

Olayinka said since the EFCC claimed to have “overwhelming evidence” against the former governor, the most reasonable thing to do is to charge him to court and get him prosecuted with the overwhelming evidence at the commission’s disposal.

“However, since the EFCC is only being used to settle political scores, it is more comfortable with keeping Fayose in custody so as to achieve the agenda of keeping him out of circulation and embarking on its usual media trial.

“But on this Fayose’s matter, they have picked on a wrong customer and no amount of intimidation, blackmail and harassment will break his resistance to tyranny, agent of which the EFCC has become.”

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How we arrested wanted Emzor staff who distributes codeine – Police

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How we arrested wanted Emzor staff who distributes codeine – Police

A former employee of Emzor Pharmaceuticals Ltd who has been on the run was on Wednesday arrested by the police for alleged unlawful distribution of controlled substances.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Edgal Imohimi, who made the disclosure to newsmen in Lagos, said that Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries had on May 1, reported the case of an employee, allegedly distributing controlled substances in breach of the Drug Laws of Nigeria.

“It was alleged that while in the employment of Emzor, the subject had access to limited quantities of Emzolyn with Codeine for the purpose of distribution to licensed retail pharmacies under his assigned territory.

“Due to greed for money, he knowingly supplied these controlled drugs to persons who are not supposed to have access to them in contrary to the dictates of the drug laws of Nigeria.

“The suspect, who has been on the run since May, was eventually arrested by the operatives of the command attached to Area ‘D’ Headquarters, at Idi Iroko border town of Ogun, while trying to escape into Cotonou, Benin Republic.

“You will recall that the BBC did a broadcast on the activities of the subject, who was caught on camera selling restricted drugs to an undercover investigator.

“In his statement, he averred that he was only trying to meet his sales target and that the investigator was introduced to him by one Pascal as a genuine businessman without verifying the former’s identity as a Pharmacist.

“He regretted selling controlled substances to unauthorised persons,” the CP said.

He added that investigation was ongoing and that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as possible.

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