Nigeria Content Online

A
Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday granted bail to Bayelsa
State’s Accountant General, Francis Okokuro, the Director of Treasury
in Government House, Abbot T. Clinton, and Director of Finance, Ikobho
Anthony Howells, over their alleged complicity in stealing N2.5 billion
belonging to the state government.

Presiding judge,
Daniel Okorowo, in his ruling on the bail application, held that the
offences for which the three accused persons are standing trial are
bailable and that granting of bail is subject to the discretion of the
court.

He further said
that to deny the accused persons bail at this stage would amount to
breaching the doctrine of presumption of innocence enshrined in the
country’s 1999 constitution.

To qualify for the
bail, the accused have to deposit N100million each in bail bond;
provide one surety each who must be an assistant director in the
Federal Civil Service with ownership of a landed property in Abuja. The
accused persons and their sureties are also to deposit two passport
photographs each, as well as their international passports to the court.

He ordered the
court’s Deputy Chief Registrar to verify the Certificate of Occupancy
deposited by the sureties, while the counsel to the accused is to write
a letter introducing the sureties to the Judge.

The men were
arraigned last week on a six-count charge of criminal conversion of
N2.5 billion public funds, to which the trio pleaded not guilty. The
court remanded them in prison custody, pending a decision on their bail
requests.

Illegal acts

In charge No.
FHC/ABJ/CS/55/2010 prepared by the commission’s chief legal officer,
Sylvanus Tahir, and filed by prosecution counsel Festus Keyamo, three
of the quartet were listed as accused persons, while the State
Commissioner of Finance, Charles Sylva Osuala, was said to be on the
run.

The commission had
also secured an order of the court to keep the three people in its
custody for two weeks. The men were arrested last week in Yenagoa and
moved to Abuja.

The charge reads, in part, that “you, Francis Okokuro, Abbot T.
Clinton, Ikobho Anthony Howells, and Charles Sylva Osuala (now at
large) sometime between October 2009 and February 2010, at various
places in Nigeria, including Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the
Federal High Court, did conspire to commit a crime; to wit: conversion
of properties and resources amounting to N2billion, belonging to
Bayelsa State government and derived from an illegal act, with the aim
of concealing the illicit origin of the said amount and you thereby
committed an offence contrary to Section 17(a) of the Money Laundering
(Prohibition Act), 2004 and punishable under Section 14(1) of the same
Act.”

The presidency on
Thursday directed that an investigation be promptly carried out to
ascertain the circumstances that led to the breach of security at the
Margaret Ekpo Airport in Calabar, carried out on Wednesday by the
driver of a commercial taxi.

The senior special
adviser to the president on aviation, Shehu Usman Iyal, said all
necessary security bodies are already briefing the National Security
Adviser (NSA), Aliyu Gusau, on the matter and maximum penalty will be
meted out to anyone involved in causing the nation such an embarrassing
incident.

“Appalled by the
obvious and unfortunate security breach at the Margaret Ekpo
International |Airport yesterday, the presidency through the office of
the National Security Adviser (NSA) has directed that detailed
investigations be promptly carried out to unravel the
circumstances/factors that led to the very unusual venturing of a lone
driver onto the otherwise secured tarmac of the Calabar Airport to ram
into an Abuja bound Arik Aircraft at the Calabar Airport,” Mr. Iyal
said in a statement on Thursday.

“Requisite agencies
and airport authorities are already briefing the NSA on this very
condemnable breach at the Calabar airport. The presidency is assuring
that maximum penalty shall be meted out to concerned persons or airport
authorities if any form of dereliction of duty is established as a
causative factor in the very embarrassing Calabar airport incident.”

Mr, Iyal also said
the federal government would like to assure air travellers that the
nation’s security agencies ‘are working virtually round the clock to
keep our airports safe and secured.

“The Calabar
incident is indeed a reminder that in spite of our efforts, a lot more
needs to be done on improving security as per International Civil
Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard and recommended practices (SARPs)
in all the airports in the country,” he said.

Desperate driver

On Wednesday, a
rickety salon car, painted blue and white, the official colour pattern
of registered taxis in Calabar, ran into an aircraft belonging to Arik
Air just as the aircraft’s doors were being shut.

A man, who claimed
that he is Jesus Christ, emerged from the car after the collision and
declared that he had made the desperate move to save the aircraft from
an impending crash.

The man, who
carried a huge bible and a huge cross, had said he was trying to save
the aircraft, a Boeing 737 700, and the passengers departing Calabar
for Abuja.

The man was promptly arrested by airport officials. There were no injuries from the incident.

From the stables of
the Alliance of Retrogressive Politicians comes the latest sequel in
this blockbuster joke of a movie. Starring the regulars: Governor of
Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, loved by residents of Lagos, despised
by others; The Lagos State House of Assembly, a group more interested
in pointing the finger and ensuring every other finger points in every
other direction but theirs; and of course the not-so-phantom group
tagged True Face of Lagos. In the first instalment, the True Face had
no face. In the second, a face suddenly emerged. In the third, the
state assembly hid behind the face, but was squashed by the arm of the
law. Now, the honourables appear to have assumed full facial features
of the True Face.

Warning:

The following scenes contain alarming doses of things not good for your sanity. Read on at your own peril.

Present Day:

March 30, 2010, the
Lagos State house of assembly was once again agog with excitement,
rumblings and a host of other activities like children whose toys,
earlier seized by an adult for their unruliness, had suddenly been
returned. You could see the faces of the honourables light up with the
presentation of the latest in petitions by the renowned group tagged
True Face of Lagos. The new petition contained many of the previous
allegations plus a few new ideas to add a twist to the tale (I mean
petition). After a brief silence, suggesting awe, the kind experienced
by “Z” after arriving in “Insectopia”, one of the bigger children spoke
up, “I don’t know what is in the mind of this True Face of Lagos but I
can see a determination in them. We are running towards election period
and our party’s determination to change Lagos is at stake. I don’t know
how Lagosians will feel about it but don’t you think we need to clean
ourselves of (the allegations)?”

I’ll tell him “what
is in the mind of” Lagosians: We would very much appreciate a
legislative arm of government that is determined to carry out their
functions of checking the executive and guarding against excessive acts
on the part of the governor, not a bunch of people more concerned with
what we think of them now that they are “running towards election
period.” That said, some might wonder how we made it to this point in
the first place. For this part of the movie, a flashback would be
necessary.

January 28, 2010:

It was another day
in the lives of citizens of the country. Many, however, wondered what
intrigue the day held as everyday in the country seemed to hold some
drama in store. They didn’t have to wait for long to find out for
splashed conspicuously in a national daily was an advertorial, alleging
mega corruption in the Lagos State government, and indicting the
executive governor and members of the house of assembly. In a swift
reaction to their ordeal, “Delta Force” style, the honourables swung
into action setting up an ad-hoc committee of six members to
investigate allegations of misappropriation levelled against the state
governor. Lest I forget, I should also mention that the group also
claimed members of the Lagos Sate House of Assembly were given the sum
of N20m each.

Without recourse to
any standard political process, the house proceeds to investigate the
governor. The actions however, seemed more like an attempt at saving
face. How successful was this investigation? What did it turn up? For
answers to these questions, we shall need to speed things up a little
and move on to the future.

March 16, 2010:

The Lagos State
House of Assembly was told to put a sock in it. A court order
restrained it from proceeding with its resolution to investigate
alleged impropriety levied against the executive and legislative arms
of government. Baffling to the presiding judge was how the House
decided to set up a committee to investigate allegations from an
unknown body. Also, he wondered – and I do as well – if the House will
expend tax payers money to set up another committee based on any other
advertorial from a faceless body.

Back to present day:

The antics of the
House of Assembly and the so-called True Face of Lagos is reminiscent
of the technical prowess of a Shuaibu Amodu – absolutely tactless. The
True Face of Lagos seems to have on another face, one very willing to
face its agenda, whatever they may be. It is very evident the last has
not been heard of this debacle. And the anticipation grows as we await
the next sequence in the series. And, just as an afterthought, I’m
wondering if there is another face beneath these faces.

The police on
Monday arraigned two men for allegedly forging Central Motor Licensing
Registry documents and impersonating an authorised motor licensing
agent.

Ndukwu Nnamdi (45)
and Essien Udoh (27) are standing trial before an Igbosere Magistrate’s
Court in Lagos on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, forgery
and stealing.

The prosecutor,
Stanley Iwok, an assistant superintendent of police, told the court
that the accused on March 7, at about noon in Apapa, Lagos, conspired
together and committed the offence.

“The accused on the
said date conspired and forged Central Motor Registry documents (Change
of Ownership) and other related ones. The accused persons also
impersonated and paraded themselves to be authorised motor licensing
agents of Apapa Motor Licensing office,” he said.

Mr. Iwok added that
the accused persons also stole the sum of N8,000 from one Josephat
Ikwuneme of No. 18 Olojowon street, Badia, Lagos. He said the offences
were punishable under Sections 516 (A), 467 and 390 (9) of the Criminal
Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Magistrate,
O.I. Oguntade, granted each of the accused bail in the sum of N50,000
with two sureties each in like sum. She adjourned the case till May 5,
for further hearing.

Acting president, Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday in Abuja warned
African leaders to be diplomatic when making statements about other nations.

He said this while receiving the Liberian President, Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf who was visiting to broker peace between Nigeria and Libya over
statements by the Libyan leader, Muammar Ghaddafi that Nigeria should break up.

Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf was received at the presidential villa at
about 5pm yesterday by Mr. Jonathan and his protocol team, aides as well the
National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau and the Secretary to the government of
the Federation, Yayale Ahmed. She came with a special envoy from the Libyan
government which was led by Muhammed Sherif, Secretary General of World Islamic
Call Society based in Tripoli. Others present were Rafa Al-Madani, the
executive secretary of Forum for Arab-African Non Governmental Organisation and
three Embassy staff in Nigeria.

Speaking to journalists after the closed door meeting between
both presidents and their aides, Ima Niboro, the special adviser to the acting
president on media, said the meeting was to create a rapport between the two
countries and to mend fences.

“It is actually an initiative on her part to broker
rapprochement between Nigeria and Libya; so she came with two special envoys
from the president of Libya, President Ghadaffi and the purpose of the meeting
basically is to establish the level of rapport so that the two nations can put
behind them the recent statement that has been made and move forward. So it is
a process that has been initiated and it is continuing and, God willing, we
will see it to the end,” he said.

When asked if Nigeria is actually ready to mend fences, Mr.
Niboro said: “the acting president made it clear that all leaders should be
diplomatic in their comments about other nations, that there are certain kinds
of statement that you can make that can substantially ruffle feathers in other
nations. So he actually said that there should be an effort from all other
leaders to be a little circumspect over the affairs of other nations.”

The peace process, he said, is brokered by the president of Liberia ‘to
reinstate African unity, and to move ahead.’ “The Liberian president is worried
about the statements that the Libyan president made and their potential effect
on African unity and that is why she came and has made this commendable effort
to broker this peace,” he said.

The country director of the World Bank in Nigeria, Onno Ruhle,
said yesterday that only states that meet pre-conditions for accessing the
bank’s loan, such as a vision with clear goals of what the money is for, would
qualify for such loan.

Mr. Ruhl, who led a team from the World bank for an assessment visit
to Abia State to ascertain its qualification for a $200million loan it is
seeking, said a key objective of the visit was to find ways to accelerate the
partnership between the state government and the Bank to ensure that results
are achieved.

The country director, who also said the team has noted some
progress in the state in some of the key areas, said what the state government
was able to achieve in the past would be a factor in determining whether the
loan will be granted or not. The World Bank loan has a repayment period of
about 40 years.

Receiving the delegation at the Government House, Umuahia, the
state’s governor, Theodore Orji, said the loan it is seeking from World Bank
would be used to execute projects and programmes that would have direct bearing
on the lives of people of the state.

“The state government had done its homework to determine
specific areas that the funds will be channelled into if granted,” he said, and
assured that the loan would be used in such a manner that future generations
would benefit from it.

Qualified for loan

The governor said the visit of the World Bank team afforded them
the opportunity to see things for themselves, and decide whether to grant the
loan to the state or not.

“Our state is qualified for the loan,” Mr Orji said, adding that
the state government feels safer to partner with the World Bank than local
banks.

“Previous partnership with the World Bank, particularly in Abia
State community and social development projects, has been rewarding,” he said.

The
Federal Government is yet to implement the report of the House on the
annual manipulation of unspent budget by senior officials and no arrest
has so far been made in regard to the report, the Speaker of the House
of Representative, Dimeji Bankole, said yesterday in Ibadan at the
inauguration of the leadership of the Yoruba Academy.

He also said there
should be more stringent monitoring of other arms of government, rather
than the usual focus on the executive arms of government alone, to
ensure accountability and faithful service delivery. According to Mr.
Bankole,

“We even
discovered in one single agency, Nigerian Ports Authority, how N11
billion was remitted out of N48 billion,” he said. “I don’t know who
EFCC and ICPC are looking for. It got so bad that I have to take the
floor myself sponsoring a bill to ensure that public funds are
judiciously accounted for. Of course, at the public hearing, civil
servants came and the people condemned it.”

Mr. Bankole, who
said his Speakership is part of the achievements of the Yoruba since the
inception of democracy, said the gap between the government and the
governed is getting wider by the day, as the governed have little to
sway in holding their leaders accountable.

“A week after I became the Speaker, the executive brought the budget
to the House. It was a budget of N1.6 trillion and in the budget
proposal, they brought an item called ‘unspent fund’ of N21billion out
of N1.6 trillion. This means that the budget must have performed to the
95%, but we all knew that the budget performance was between 30% and
35%. I was the deputy chairman of the finance committee before I became
the Speaker, so I had an idea of some of the things. After asking
questions, two weeks later, N21 billion became N450 billion. You now ask
the question, what could have happened to that money or what has been
happening to the money many years before. No arrest was made o! No
arrest was made!”

Attempts by some former Speakers of the State Houses of
Assembly, who are currently members of the House of Representatives, to include
themselves and their colleagues as beneficiaries of proposed remuneration for
former presiding officers of legislature, were yesterday rebuffed by the
members of the House.

The lawmakers also proposed that only elected former presidents
of the country, and not military heads of state who came to power via coup
de’tats, should benefit from the remuneration being proposed in a bill titled
‘A Bill for an Act to provide remuneration of former Presidents, Heads of
Federal Legislative Houses and Chief Justices of the Federation and Other
Ancillary Matters, 2010.’ The bill came up for second reading in the House.

Leading debate on the bill, House Leader, Tunde Akogun, said its
provisions were in line with the constitutional requirements and that it would
ensure that those who have served the country in those capacities are
adequately taken care of.

Among them, he said, are former Presidents of the country,
former Senate Presidents, former Speakers of the House of Representatives, and
former Chief Justices of Nigeria.

Friday Itulah (PDP, Edo), said former Speakers and deputy
speakers of the State Houses of Assembly should also benefit from the proposed
salary regime, adding “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” Mr.
Itulah, who was a speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, drew the attention of
the members to Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution as well as Item 44 of the
Second Schedule of the same document, arguing that since the National Assembly
has powers to legislate for the entire federation, the state should also
benefit from the proposed law.

A former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Stanley
Ohajuruka, who also made similar demand as Mr. Itulah, said the inclusion of
the former speakers and deputy speakers in the proposed scheme would encourage
the state legislatures “to support whatever we are doing here.” Mr. Ohajuruka,
however, warned that the law should be made in such a way that it won’t
encourage frequent impeachment of Speakers of the state legislatures by those
who want to benefit from the scheme.

Another member and former Speaker of the Benue State House of
Assembly, Emmanuel Jime, argued that the inclusion of the former state Speakers
and their deputies would minimise corruption at the state level because “public
officers would now be aware that they will get something after leaving office.”
But Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta), Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Elizabeth Ogbaga
(PDP, Ebonyi) kicked against the demands by the former Speakers. They argued
that it would not only contradict the provisions of the constitution but also
the doctrine of the separation of powers.

Wary of frequent removals

Mr. Ogor specifically noted that Section 124 of the Constitution
allows only the State Houses of Assembly to prescribe remuneration and salaries
for themselves and governors, but not exceeding the amounts determined by the
Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

Mr. Enang also recalled that the Akwa Ibom legislature has
already made law for the purpose of paying former public office holders,
stressing that the bill under consideration should be restricted to the federal
level.

Patrick Ikhariale (PDP, Edo) wanted a clause to be included in
the proposed law to ensure that only Senate Presidents and Speakers of the
House of Representatives that ended a particular tenure of a parliament would
benefit. This, according to him, would forestall a situation where presiding
officers are removed frequently by those who want to benefit from the proposed
remuneration regime.

Mr. Ikhariale recalled that in the last dispensation, four
Senate Presidents emerged from the South East geo-political zone alone, adding
that such situation would not encourage the implementation of the proposed law.

Alex Ukam (PDP, Cross River) called for the inclusion of a
clause which will make former state governors who eventually become presiding
officers of either the Senate or the House of Representatives not to receive
pension on their former positions until they leave the National Assembly.

Others who contributed to the debate include Abike Dabiri (AC,
Lagos) and Halims Agoda (PDP, Delta) both of who backed the bill.

The bill, which was read for the second time, was referred by the deputy
speaker, Usman Nafada, who presided over the session, to the Committee of the
Whole, for further legislative action.

The House of Representatives is set to reconstitute standing
committees which are currently without leadership. The deputy speaker, Usman
Nafada, gave the indication yesterday at the end of the plenary session of the
House, which began a three weeks recess. The House will reconvene on Tuesday,
April 20.

Of the 84 committees in the House, seven of them are presently
without chairmen. They include Information and National Orientation, Power,
Privatisation and Commercialisation, Lake Chad, Women in Parliament,
Cooperation and Integration in Africa, and Works. The committee chairmen either
resigned, died, or were removed.

For instance, Ndudi Elumelu, who chaired the Power Committee,
was removed following the allegations of bribery that trailed the celebrated
investigation into the $16 billion allegedly expended on power reform by the
administration of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. Since then, the deputy
whip, Tambuwal, has been running the committee. The elections of the former
chairmen of Works, Women in Parliament, and Lake Chad, Chuma Nzeribe, Lynda
Chuba-Ikpeazu, and Ahmed Salik respectively, into the House in 2007, were quashed
at the Court of Appeal.

Dino Melaye, who headed the Information Committee, was removed
when he unsuccessfully campaigned for the ouster of some principal officers who
allegedly mismanaged public funds; while his counterpart in Cooperation and
Integration in Africa, Independence Ogunewe, was sacked when he joined a
campaign to have the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, probed over some financial
impropriety.

The former chairman of the Privatisation and Commercialisation,
Njidda Gella, died last August.

The committees are being run by their deputies.

Wanted during break

Mr. Nafada, while closing the plenary session yesterday, asked
members of the Selection Committee of the House to be ready because they would
be called during the three weeks recess, to reconstitute the committees.

Members of the committee statutorily include all the principal
officers of the House drawn from the majority and minority parties.

“Let me inform members of the Selection Committee that their
attention may be needed during the break for the reconstitution of the
committees lying vacant. The leadership and membership of the committees may be
reconstituted during the break. So, they (members of the Selection Committee)
may be asked to come back for this purpose,” the deputy speaker announced.

Mr. Nafada also said that the electronic voting machine, which
has not been put to use since the return of democracy to the country in 1999,
would be repaired before the House reconvenes to enable the lawmakers vote on
the proposed constitution amendment.

He urged members to read copies of the report of the 44-member ad-hoc
committee, which he headed, in order “to come with useful input” into the
amendment process.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its affiliate unions,
yesterday, accused the leadership of the National Assembly of sidelining
national interest in its recent debate on constitution amendment.

At the end of a protest rally in Abuja, the NLC’s President,
Abdulwahed Omar, in a letter to the Senate President, David Mark and Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, restated the demand of labour and
other civil society organisations for genuine electoral reforms and the removal
of the incumbent Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), Maurice Iwu.

In the letter also signed by the President General, Trade union
Congress, Peter Esele, and co-chair, Labour and Civil Society Coalition, Dipo Fashina,
the NLC called for the establishment of an independent INEC, while persons
having issues with their elections should not be sworn into office until all
election petitions have been resolved.

It also made a case for the creation of a level playing field
for all political interests.

The NLC listed the issues, which it described as “the popular
aspirations of Nigerians” to include “the need to make the peoples’ vote count
by providing for an electoral arbiter in the INEC that would be truly
independent, fair, efficient and which would not do the bidding of the
President or political party in control of state power at each of the levels of
governance.”

The other issue has to do with “the need to ensure that those
who engage in massive rigging of elections do not get sworn into office until
election results had been validly challenged in the courts,” as well as “the
need to create a level playing field for all political interests, not cluttered
by big money, godfathers, gender identities, regionalism, ethnicity and other
primordial concerns.

“We strongly believe that the amendments to these key sections
will not augur well for entrenching democratic ethos and issues-based politics
in Nigeria,” it noted.

Citing the example of a public official elected on the political
platform crossing over to another party with different manifesto and
programmes, the NLC argued that in the light of recent political experience in
the country, such a movement would do “violent damage to the country’s desire
to consolidate on her democratic norms.”

Remove Iwu

It also said to continue to vest the powers to appoint the INEC
Chairman in the Presidency, despite the high level of partisanship experienced
in recent times amounts to an affront on the wishes of Nigerians.

Urging the National Assembly ensure that Mr. Iwu’s tenure is not renewed
when it comes to an end next June, as its electoral conduct brought shame on
the nation, the NLC said the “monumental costs in unprecedented re-run
elections should not be allowed a day more.”