Nigeria Content Online

Bank PHB ex-directors re-arraigned in court

Former Managing
Director of Bank PHB, Francis Atuche, along with a former official of
the same bank, Charles Ojo, were on Tuesday re-arraigned before a
Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, based on an amended 45-count
charge levied against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).

This was sequel to
the ruling delivered by Akinjide Ajakaiye, wherein he dismissed the
applications by the defendants, asking the court to quash the charges
levied against them on the grounds that the allegations in the charges
are incompetent, frivolous and defective.

Justice Ajakaiye also dismissed the application by Mr. Atuche asking for an order striking out his name from the charge.

Court dismisses applications

While delivering
the ruling, Justice Ajakaiye identified two issues for determination:
whether there are sufficient bases to try the defendants on the charges
preferred against them by the commission and whether the applicants
(defendants) have made out a case for the charge to be dismissed.

On the first issue,
the judge noted that the defendants based their argument on the premise
that they were indicted by way of information. Citing section 33 of the
criminal procedure act, Justice Ajakaiye noted that criminal
proceedings are conducted summarily and do not require a
proof-of-evidence.

“As against the
trial by information where there is need for proof-of-evidence, in a
summary case, the proof-of-evidence is not required so I agreed with
the prosecution that all the proof-of-evidence needed to show is
possibility and not certainty.

“Certainty comes in
after evidence has been adduced. I am satisfied that the proof of
evidence filed consists of high profile documents related to the charge
and the statement of the accused, also the statement of the witness
incriminates the accused person.”

The judge then dismissed the applications and asked that the plea of the defendants be taken.

Mr. Atuche and Mr.
Ojo, pleaded not guilty to the amended 45-count charge, which borders
on money laundering and granting of reckless loans. They were asked to
remain on their initial bail condition, while the matter was adjourned
to June 7, 2010, when their trial will begin.

History

Mr. Atuche and Mr.
Ojo are facing trial over an alleged N80 billion fraud. They are also
facing trial for their roles in granting a credit facility of N45
billion without any collateral.

The two men were on
October 28, 2009, arraigned on a 26-count charge of granting loans
without security, granting loans above approval limits, as laid down by
the regulations of the bank, acquisition of share capital without prior
approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria, and also of not taking steps
to ensure the correctness of the June, 2009, BankPHB monthly bank
returns.

They had been granted bail before the prosecution filed the amended 45-count charge against them.

Flight operations resume across local airports

Flight operations resume across local airports

Airlines in our
country on Tuesday commenced flight operations by airlifting passengers
from various airports to their respective destinations. This came after
about 24 hours of complete flight cancellations by airlines, following
the “hazardous weather conditions” experienced in the country.

Though there were
flight delays especially to northern states, as a result of the weather
situation, the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, witnessed series
of aircraft take-offs and landings.

“Passengers can now
fly based on instructions from the control tower, and this is because
the weather, though fair, has not cleared completely,” said an officer
with Aero Contractors, who asked to remain anonymous. The source
disclosed that the bad weather affected carriers in the country
negatively, stressing that during yesterday’s severe hazy weather, some
passengers demanded the refund of their fares “without considering the
airline.”

“Airlines lost
millions to that incident yesterday, but some passengers refused to
understand that it was not the fault of airlines,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the
sales of tickets by ticketing officers at the Murtala Mohammed Airport
2 (MMA2) and the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) went on as usual, and
passengers embarked on their flights with various aircrafts departing
the airports.

Onn Monday, we
reported that hundreds of passengers were stranded at different
airports in our country, following the fog that impaired visibility
across our nation’s airspace.

Earlier, the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), while reacting to the
situation, directed airlines and their flight crews to enlighten
travellers about the situation, adding that the cancellation of flights
was for the good of the passengers, as safety is the highest priority.

Harold Demuren,
director general of the aviation authority, implored pilots to carry
out intensive pre-flight briefings for weather conditions before
embarking on any flight.

According to Mr. Demuren, Nigeria experiences regular harmattan that reduces the visibility of pilots during flight operations.

“Pilots should
carefully review the procedures for their operations whenever a
forecast shows that reduced visibility or adverse weather conditions
might exist for any portion of the flight,” he said.

“Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) will close airports to
arrivals and departures when the runway visual range is measured at
less than 800 metres, and pilots must be prepared to postpone flights
or divert to alternate airports in the circumstances.”

New partnership law unveiled in Lagos

New partnership law unveiled in Lagos

Investors got one more reason to do
business in Lagos State yesterday as the Commissioner of Justice and
Attorney General, Supo Shasore, presented the amended version of the
Partnership Law of Lagos State.

This presentation took place at a
breakfast meeting with lawyers, professionals and journalists at the
Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island.

Dignitaries in attendance included the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Ben Akabueze.

What has changed?

This new law contains the amendments
creating Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP) in business. This means,
investors that register their businesses under this law enjoy reduced
responsibility if the partnership breaks up or the venture fails.

It also means the partners are immune
to lawsuits, if an entity decides to take their company to court. The
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, assented to it in March 2009,
although work began on its formulation in 2003.

In the original model, partners could
be sued along with the company they set up, and had to pay shareholders
out of their pockets if the business winds up.

The desire to protect investors and
keep the trend in growing economies around the globe encouraged the
Lagos government to push for the law’s creation. The Registrar of
Partnerships and Director of Commercial Law, Funlola Odunlami, said,
“The newly-amended law is especially a bigger vehicle for the execution
of partnerships, who intend to engage in joint trade or business for
profit, while enjoying most of the benefits accruable to limited
liability companies.”

She said the law made it more convenient to do business.

New law

Mr. Shasore said the Partnership Law
had undergone much change in the past, and this was another level in
its evolution. The last part of the four-part law is dedicated to the
workings of the LLP.

He said the new law come about because
of the government’s “quest to do business in a seamless and convenient
way.” He also said parts of the concept were borrowed from other
countries like Singapore and the United Kingdom.

“The law doesn’t seek to incorporate
any entity,” he warned. “You must first of all have a partnership
before you can approach this law. When you file on the provisions of
the law at the registry, what you are seeking to do is not to
incorporate an LLP; what you are seeking to do is register a
partnership and give it limited liability.”

During the question and answer session, Mr. Supo assured Lagosians that the law would become universal.

He said states in the United States would soon have a unified law on Limited Liability Partnerships.

“Embrace it”

Lawyers at the event were encouraged to take advantage of the law to form larger law firms.

Speaking after the event, Mr. Akabueze said the business community would welcome the law.

“They will embrace it. It presents part of our efforts to expand the
frontiers of business relationships and grow partnerships as a
veritable alternative to structuring large businesses. Before now,
there’s been a notion that partnerships necessarily have to be small
operations. By this law, they can become very large.”

Court to rule on Ladoja’s application

Court to rule on Ladoja’s application

Justice Ramat
Mohammed of the Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos, has fixed March
30, 2010 to deliver ruling over the application by the former governor
of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja, asking the court to quash the amended
charges levied against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).

Allegations against defendants

Mr. Ladoja,
alongside Waheed Akanbi, his former aide, are in court on account of
allegations levied by the prosecution stating that the defendants
conspired to convert properties and resources derived from an illegal
act, with the aim of concealing the illicit origin of the properties
and resources. The defendants were accused of committing fraud in the
sum of N1, 932, 940, 32. 48. They were alleged to have used as conduit
pipe a company, Bistrumm Investment, to siphon the sum of N77. 8
million for the purpose of purchasing a building for him, while Mr.
Ladoja was also alleged to have fraudulently transferred a sum of
600,000 pounds to one Bimpe Ladoja, amongst other allegations.

Counsel adopt written addresses

At the resumed
hearing, the counsel in the matter, Wole Olanipekun for Mr. Ladoja, and
Vitalis Amaotu for the commission, adopted their written address, on
the application by Mr. Ladoja.

In the application
filed on behalf of Mr. Ladoja by his counsel, Wole Olanipekun, the
applicant urged the court to dismiss the charges levied against him on
the ground that the court has no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the
counts as framed.

Mr. Olanipekun
argued that the allegations against the applicant are vague and do not
link him with the commission of any crime to warrant his arraignment
under any written law. He also contended that the proof-of-evidence
placed before the court by the prosecution has no connection with the
charge and that it does not disclosed any prima facie case against the
applicant.

Star witness is a tainted witness

Speaking on the
issue of proof-of-evidence, Mr. Olanipekun said it is wrong for the
prosecution to use the same proof-of-evidence for both the old and
amended charge. He also noted that the evidence of the star witness
(Adewale Atanda) in the old charge was given while he was an accused
person, noting that it is wrong for the prosecution to use Mr. Atanda
as a witness against Mr. Ladoja.

Previously, Mr.
Atanda was charged along with the defendants in the initial charges
preferred against the defendants. The commission had on March 25, 2009,
re-arraigned Mr. Ladoja alongside Mr. Akanbi, based on an amended
charge, as opposed to the initial charge wherein Mr. Atanda, a the
former commissioner of finance with Oyo State, was charged along with
the duo.

The counsel further
noted that Section 27(3) of the evidence act does not permit the court
to admit such evidence, from a person classified as a tainted witness.
“Adewale Atanda remains an accused person and a tainted witness in as
much as the EFCC is relying on his statement”, he said.

Mr. Olanipekun
further observed that the prosecution has failed to appreciate Section
14(1) of the money laundering act upon which his client was charged to
court. He said the section only talked about offences relating to
narcotic drugs and other substances.

He also noted that
if the amended charge has truly supplanted the original charge, then,
there is no proof of evidence before the court.

EFCC responds

In his response,
EFCC’s counsel, Vitalis Amaotu, urged the court to dismiss the
application of the applicant. He stated that a look at the applicant’s
reply to the prosecution’s submission shows that the applicant
re-argued his case.

He noted that the
offence alleged to have been committed by the 1st defendant amounted to
an offence at the time the offence was committed and that the charges
against him was brought under an existing law.

Mr. Amaotu maintained that the amended charge has supplanted the old
charge. According to him, the star witness (Mr. Atanda) is not an
accused before the court since the prosecution has withdrawn the charge
against him.

Ajilore eyes playmaker role

FC Groningen of
Holland star, Femi Ajilore believes he can fill the void in the
offensive midfield position of the Super Eagles as Nigeria hopes for an
impressive outing at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Ajilore has
endeared himself to his club’s fans after churning out eye-catching
displays playing behind the strikers. The former Midtylland of Denmark
ace has enjoyed a brilliant form of late, orchestrating his side’s
triumphs with three goals in his last two Eredivisie league games.

After netting a
brace in his side’s 3-0 win at NAC Breda the previous weekend, the
midfielder headed home the second minute winner that ensured another
three points against Roda JC Kerkrade. He was particularly unlucky not
to have made it two as he struck the woodwork with a rasping 20-yard
effort after bursting through the midfield in the only real chance of
the second period.

Delight

“I was happy to
score again and it was even more special that it gave us the win. I was
only sad not to have made it two goals because I had another chance
that hit the post, so it could have been a brace as well. All the same,
I’m happy with my performance and it’s been very good for the team”, an
elated Ajilore told NEXTSports from Holland.

Ajilore who made
his debut for the Eagles in the international friendly against Colombia
in Cali in November 2008 is confident he can continue with such
performance which he hopes could earn him a place in the country’s
squad to South Africa.

“ We have some
players who can also play the ( offensive) role in my club but the
manager believe I can do the job. To have scored some vital goals
playing from that position really makes me happy and I really feel
comfortable doing it.

Feeling good

“ I’m feeling good
at the moment and I think some extra personal efforts after training
sessions on my physical condition and my game has really been paying
off and my coach was really impressed with my performance again on
Sunday.

“I have played in
that position for the Super Eagles, that was during the World Cup
qualifier against Mozambique and I remember some good moments.
Normally, you need to play more games to get used to it but our people
want instant result because of our passion for the game.”

Ajilore also said
he has heard positive comments about the new Eagles coach, Lars
Lagerback after discussions with a couple of his club mates who play
for Sweden.

“I don’t really know him but I spoke about him with some of my
colleagues who have played under him in the Sweden national team. We
have a couple of them playing here and they said he (Lagerback) has
been here to see them play. They told me he is a well-organised coach
and that he is tactically good. So I hope he will bring that into the
team to help the team make a good impact at the World Cup.”

Sports

Football federation set to battle Amodu

The Nigeria
Football Federation yesterday vowed to battle former coach, Shuaibu
Amodu, in court rather than call for an amicable settlement.

The coach, who was
seconded to home-based Eagles, took the federation to court to demand
for his wage and allowances. But the NFF has ruled out the possibility
of an out-of-court settlement with Amodu over the case that is now
before Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), for alleged breach of
contract.

Speaking on the
issue, the special adviser to NFF president, Tunde Aderibigbe, revealed
in an interview with brilafm.net that officials of The Glasshouse are
ready to meet Amodu in court if he fails to follow official directives.

“If he has expressed his willingness to go to court, I don’t think we can stop him. There is nothing we can do about it.

“For now, what he
told us was that he was going for leave, after which he will resume at
his new posting. He has been our employee and he’s our employee until
his contract expires. If he decides not to return, no problem. We shall
tackle it head on,” he declared.

Amodu’s demands

Amodu is demanding
a compensation of 300 million naira (about $2 million) from the NFF,
after he was side-stepped for the World Cup.

According to media
reports, Amodu is asking for 135 million naira for the remaining part
of his contract, which is to end in July.

He is also asking for another 165 million naira as bonus for qualifying Nigeria to the 2010 World Cup.

The coach also
qualified the Super Eagles to the 2002 World Cup but was eventually
axed, after a squabble with the country’s top officials allowing
Adeboye Onigbinde to lead Nigeria to the World Cup.

Amodu was
redeployed to the country’s B team, made up of players from the
domestic league after he led the Eagles to third place at the Nations
Cup in Angola in February.

Sports

‘Forget about Commonwealth Games’

It is no longer
news that athletics in Nigeria has gone downhill but one person that
cannot hide his anger at the present state of the sport he loves is the
former national champion and long jumper, Yusuf Alli.

He is even angrier
at the present board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) which
he feels should have the interest of the sport at hand and should do
all within its power to develop the sport but has failed to do so.

Forget the Games

In an interview
with NEXTSports, Alli, who won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games
in Auckland, New Zealand in 1990, says he doesn’t see Nigerian athletes
performing the same feat in this year’s edition of the event taking
place in India in October:

“I remember that
last year, February to be precise, I met with Sani Ndanusa (immediate
past Sports Minister and Chairman of the National Sports Commission and
Ekeji at the Chinese Restaurant here in the National Stadium and I said
Commonwealth Games is next year, let’s have a programme; the proposal
is still on the table, nothing came out of it. When it is two days to
the Games then we start preparing.

“I bet you we
cannot win anything; we don’t learn from our mistakes. The only person
I think will do well is Blessing Okagbare because of her own personal
talent and training but in terms of our own preparation, I don’t see us
doing well. Commonwealth Games is not something that you will just go
and do anyhow; you will only reap what you sow.”

Winning Commonwealth gold

He says the needed
preparation is lacking and gives his personal experience on how he was
able to win a gold medal in New Zealand:

“I remember my
preparation for the 1990 Commonwealth Games when I was living in
Missouri, Colombia, a very cold area in the United States. I left and
came to Bauchi in Nigeria to train and I won the competition. It’s all
about training; Ijebu-Ode is scanty, there is no organised programme,
you don’t know who the coach is so how do you want to win the
Commonwealth Games? Look at Britain; do you think they are sleeping?

“They are already
planning towards London 2012 and it is some of them they will still use
for the Commonwealth and they will win it. You might have all the
talent but sometimes these things go beyond talent. The authorities may
say because I’m not part of them that is why I am talking; Track and
Field is my life; this is my house and you cannot burn it down and I’ll
be happy. They should sit up and prepare for the Olympics and forget
about the Commonwealth Games.”

Killing the Grand Prix

“When you look at
the present state of athletics in Nigeria, it is very sad; it took this
country over 20 years to get to where we got to. I know how the late
A.K Amu fought to have a Grand Prix event in Nigeria. Nigeria has lost
that Permit Meet and it is very sad because it might take us more than
10 years to restore our glory. If you’re talking about Nigeria now,
people don’t want to hear it because you can’t bring athletes from
their countries and not pay them.

“That is the result
you get when you take our sport and put it in people’s hands because
they are personal friends. The people that are there should know that
you don’t toy with other people’s lives. We are the same people that
complain that everything in Nigeria is football but athletics has been
killed so people now will go and play football.”

Minister of Super Eagles

Alli, who still
holds the national record in long jump with 8.27 metres which he set
about 21 years ago said, the sport didn’t fare any better under the
tenure of Sani Ndanusa, former Minister of Sport who was dropped last
week by the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan in a cabinet reshuffle:

“Did we have a
minister of sports before? We didn’t. He was not even minister of
football; he was minister of Super Eagles. Ndanusa came to this sport
and I thought he was going to do well but he did nothing; all Ndanusa
and Director General of the National Sports Commission, Patrick Ekeji
did was to disorganise our sports. I don’t see one thing they did. It
was during his era we had the Nigeria Olympic Commission (NOC).

“Ndanusa used to stay in the corridor of the NSC looking for money
for his federation when he was President of the Nigeria Tennis
Federation and I thought that when he came in, the first thing he would
do would be would give federations their subvention; I remember that
Ekeji said if they removed Ndanusa, he will resign. He should resign
now and let us see.”

Sports

I believe Vivian

First, the needful
disclosure. I am a Catholic and as such immunised from any accusation
of trying to run down the Catholic Church. The child sex scandal that
is ravaging the Catholic Church in Ireland, Brazil and Germany is
enervating. Let’s not assume that sexual abuse is not in the Catholic
Church in Nigeria. What I can say is that it is not largely directed at
children; but to teenage females. What irritates in the revelations in
these countries and in earlier scandals in the U.S.A is that the Church
is aware and tries to cover up by coercing the victims to sign vows of
silence. What is behind such callous effort is known as the brotherhood
morality- to sustain the integrity of the clergy or the group.

The brotherhood
morality is manifest in the disgraceful effort by the Athletics
Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to rubbish the career of Vivian
Chukwuemeka, the shot put athlete. We should be grateful to Olukayode
Thomas for the story in last Sunday’s NEXT which unravelled the
scandal. The story calls to question the integrity of the drug testing
procedure.

In this country of
mini-dictators, it is improbable that an individual could challenge an
institution and emerge victorious. If AFN was not walking from answers
to questions, the fact that there was a mix-up in the bottle number of
Vivian with that of an unnamed (or is it unknown) athlete would have
been enough proof for the AFN to call off its inquisition. How can the
athletics body say that the mix-up was not “sufficient to invalidate
the adverse analytical findings?” Did AFN test for DNA that makes it to
be sure that urine sample (in spite of the mix-up) is definitely
Vivian’s?

More so, Vivian
paid for a representative to be present at the testing in South Africa;
yet her representative was denied audience.

Was AFN not on a
fishing expedition? Vivian was accused of having failed a drugs test
and when she went for a hearing organised by AFN, she was presented
with the Orwellian charge of “aggravation of violation” (translation:
an athlete, Amaka Ogoegbulam, alleged that Vivian gave her the drugs
she took.) Yet, she was convicted over “adverse analytical findings.”
Which clinic took the test given that University of Free State Doping
Control Laboratory did not conduct the test because the number did not
match with her name?

Protecting Amaka

Is Amaka a kid they
are protecting? If Vivian gave Amaka the drugs, was she obliged to
ingest? Is she not of age to know the consequences of her action?

I am disappointed
that the defence of the doping officer, Femi Ayorinde, is that as an
assistant director, he has all the money he needs. How much does an
assistant director in the civil service earn to inoculate one against
temptations? Does Ayorinde think we are kids? How can he say that it is
not possible to manipulate samples? Yet, one happened with Vivian’s
sample which he dismisses as typographical error. Why was there no
typographical error in the samples of Amaka and the other accused,
Toyin Augustus?

And why was Toyin
not named initially as being one of the four that failed the drugs
test? Which documentation did Toyin provide to back her claim of taking
drugs for cervical cancer? What eventually led AFN to ban Toyin after
accepting her excuse which made her avoid the suspension clamped on the
other three?

I urge Mercy Nku to
speak up as she could offer clarity in the mess? The allegation that
Ayorinde apologised after Vivian accused him of switching her sample
and number with that of Uche Emedolu at the Gateway National Sports
Festival deserves investigation. And if Mercy validates the allegation,
Ayorinde should be prosecuted.

It is not
sufficient to dismiss Vivian’s allegations as that of a drowning lady.
We are in Nigeria and know that sexual harassment is rampant in this
country. People in authority now see satiation of sexual desire as one
of the perks of office.

The Police should get involved in this case as AFN president,
Solomon Ogba, is awaiting a petition. So, if Vivian does not petition,
these allegations against AFN process and its officials would be swept
under the carpet. Folks, that’s brotherhood morality at play!

Sports

Africa’s technocrats attend Nations Cup post mortem

Africa’s football governing body, the Confederation of African
Football (CAF), has held a review of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, which
ended in Angola in February.

A workshop on the tournament, which commenced at the body’s
headquarters in Egypt on Tuesday and ended yesterday, was declared open by the
CAF Deputy General Secretary, Hicham El Amrani.

In attendance at the event were some of Africa’s brightest
technical minds, including former Super Eagles coach, Adegboye Onigbinde who is
a member of CAF’s technical committee. Other technocrats at the event included
Ghana’s Ben Kouffie, equally a member of CAF’s technical committee, as well as
Hassan Shehata, the coach who led Egypt to three consecutive Nations Cup
titles, including the last edition held in Angola.

Identifying key
challenges

According to the organisers, the aim of the workshop was to
provide a technical and tactical analysis of the African flagship competition
held in Angola, to help identify key challenges in the pursuit of developing
the game on the continent.

El Amrani was quoted on the CAF website as saying that the
workshop represented a testimony of CAF’s commitment towards the development of
the game to an appreciable standard. He said the symposium gives to coaches, as
well as technical directors, a great opportunity to exchange their know-how,
whilst observing some modern trends in the game.

“For CAF, this event is of our dearest concern, as it provides a
platform for the major players who brought a significant role in the success of
the tournament to come together, exchange ideas and forge ahead. “With the
first ever World Cup on African soil few months away, we are hopeful that this
symposium will serve its purpose, especially to the continent’s coaching
license system launched in 2009,” he said.

The CAF’s Director of Development, Abdel Moneim Hussein who was also at the
event, said the workshop is significant since it provides a platform for
technical people to share and review their performance during the 27th edition
of the continent’s biggest football spectacle.

Sports

South Africa will pass the test