EFCC Freezes Femi Fani-Kayode’s Account

One of the bank accounts of Former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode has been frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) amid investigation into the alleged N4billion campaign cash received from ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in the build-up to the 2015 elections.
It was gathered that the funds were withdrawn from the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) and shared to 10 other directors, directorates, zonal directors and state directors of the Presidential Campaign Organization of Jonathan.
Fani-Kayode in a lenghty statement declared yesterday that he knew nothing about the withdrawal of the cash from the CBN or funding of the campaign by the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki but he admitted that campaign funds were paid into the account of a company linked with a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, from where it was shared to him and others.
He dared the EFCC to “do their worse” in the statement in Abuja entitled “The Money Transfers and the Truth about the Presidential Campaign Funds.”

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2016 Budget: Presidency sends list of ‘grey areas’ to N’Assembly

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The Presidency and the National Assembly inched towards resolving the controversies surrounding the 2016 budget on Friday following alleged “fruitful exchange of ideas” between Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.

The House of Representatives had on Wednesday resolved to “re-examine” the budget for the sake of “overriding national interest and the prevailing economic situation in the country.”

Members took the decision after a two-hour closed-door session, where they mandated Dogara to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to find a common ground on the dispute.

“The House in executive session, was briefed by the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, on the budget.

“We delegated the speaker to go ahead and engage the executive, identify the areas of concern and report back to the House.

“If the issues of concern are of national interest, we will look at them again by accommodating them in the budget”, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, had told reporters soon after the closed-door session of the House.

In the absence of Buhari, Saturday PUNCH gathered that Dogara met with Osinbajo instead.

Findings by Saturday PUNCH showed that the Presidency, in the course of the exchange of ideas, itemised the “grey areas” in the N6.06trn budget, politely requesting the National Assembly re-work them.

“What happened was that the speaker received a list of items from the VP and the understanding is that the National Assembly should retain some of the provisions in the budget the way they came from the executive.

“There were distortions, which were itemised and they are to be re-worked and retained the way they came originally from the executive”, a senior legislative official, who was privy to the development, confided in Saturday PUNCH in Abuja on Friday.

Investigations showed that, flowing from the understanding, a letter from the Presidency to formalise the understanding is expected to be read on the floor of the House on Tuesday, next week.

“The Senate too is expected to work in line with what the House will do”, the source added.

It was learnt that all the projects that generated the controversies would be returned to the Committee on Appropriation.

The committee will in turn revert to the affected Ministries, Departments and Agencies where the projects are domiciled, for the differences in the details to be sorted out through their relevant standing committees of the National Assembly.

“All of this will not alter the total budget size of N6.06tn; it is only to correct the details and resolve the differences that created the controversies in the first place,” the official added.

It was further gathered that among the lawmakers, most of the “lopsided” projects injected into the budget by the Committee on Appropriation to the exclusion of other constituencies, would be re-adjusted.

Among the projects are the N40bn inserted in the budget for projects in the geo-political zones of the leadership of the Senate and the House.

It had been programmed that principal officers in the two chambers would benefit N20bn projects apiece in their areas from the budget in line with a tradition kept since 1999.

But, owing to the protests that have trailed the inclusion of such projects this year, they will be re-ordered to free the N40bn.

Jibrin too is to forfeit projects worth N4.169bn, which he allocated to his constituency in Kano State. The projects were not in the budget proposed by the executive.

Among Jibrin’s controversial projects are rehabilitation of Gwarzo Kiru, Kwanar Maiyaki road, N180m; sum of N100m for town hall; construction of roads in Kiru/Bebeji, N150m; solar street lights, N300m; Badaf road construction, N405m; and Bebeji earth dam, N270m.

Namdas confirmed to Saturday PUNCH that he was aware that Osinbajo and Dogara met.

But, he declined to give information on the “items” submitted to Dogara, saying that “the speaker prefers to handle that aspect by himself on the floor.”

Speaking in a similar vein, the Senate said it was on the same page with the House of Representatives with respect to the 2016 budget.

It said that the decision of the House to revisit the budget did not mean the process would begin afresh.

Senate Spokesperson, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, said this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents.

Abdullahi said, “We have one single national budget in a year. If we say we are going to follow a particular provision of the constitution, then we have to do what needed to be done now.

“So there is no difference between what we are saying in the Senate and the position of the House of Representatives to revisit the issue.

“Revisiting the issue of budget means that the House of Reps is also considering incorporating supplementary budget.

“When you are revisiting something that means you are not done with it. There is only one single budget.

“We in the Senate have made it very clear that we are not opposed to that (Calabar – Lagos) project. It is a very important national project and we support it in totality.

“National Assembly is one and we are working together. There is no conflict, there is no difference.”

When contacted on the matter, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enag, said, “All I can confirm to you now is that the President is not yet back.”

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Again, Saraki loses bid to stop corruption trial

 

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday dismissed the suit filed by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to stop his trial on charges of false asset declaration before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja.

The judgement, delivered by Justice Abdulkadir Abdu-Kafarati, was one in the series of recent decisions of the CCT and other courts dismissing the numerous legal actions filed by the Senate President at various levels of court asking for an order to stop his trial.

Saraki had, through the fundamental human rights enforcement suit, asked the court to quash the charges and nullify the proceedings before the CCT on the grounds that they were initiated in violation of his rights to fair hearing.

But Justice Abdu-Kafarati held in his judgement that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit since the prayers sought by the applicant were not available under Chapter 4, which deals with fundamental human rights.

The judge also ruled that the suit constituted an abuse of court process, the Supreme Court having earlier validated the trial of the Senate President before the CCT and that Saraki, having also filed similar application before the CCT.

The judge also dismissed the contention by Saraki that the charges instituted against him were borne out of political witch-hunt.

“This allegation is a mere sentiment which has no place in our law,” the judge said.

He ruled that granting the prayers sought by the applicant would amount to the court interfering with the powers of the respondents conferred on them by the Constitution to investigate and prosecute crimes.

Justice Abdu-Kafarati added that the court lacked the power to interfere with the proceedings of the CCT, which he noted was granted the power by the Constitution to hear the type of charges preferred against the Senate President.

He ruled, “A careful examination of the reliefs sought shows that if granted, it will amount to interference with the powers of the respondents. The prayers are not captured under Chapter 4 of the Constitution.

“The court cannot interfere with the proceedings of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, which has the power to conduct by the Constitution.

“I cannot also do anything that will interfere with the activities of the respondents to prosecute and investigate crimes which the Constitution has given them the power to do.

“Since the apex court has ruled that the prosecution of the applicant before the Code of Conduct Tribunal is in order, it is not appropriate for the respondents to approach this court to seek reliefs quashing the charges.”

The respondents to the suit against whom Saraki had sought to restrain him from further prosecuting or investigating him included the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN); the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission; and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase.

Others were the Code of Conduct Bureau; the CCT; the CCT Chairman, Danladi Umar; the second member of the CCT panel, Mr. Ataedzeagu Adza; CCB Chairman, Mr. Sam Saba; and the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Diri.

Saraki had contented in the suit that the CCB failed to invite him to either admit or deny the alleged infractions in his asset declaration forms before charges were instituted against him as stipulated in the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act.

The Senate President argued that on the basis of that, the trial had fallen short of the requirements of Article 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution.

He, therefore, asked the court to nullify the charges and the proceedings of the CCT on that basis.

But the judge ruled that the argument by Saraki’s lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, was misconceived, adding that “an investigation remains what it is, an investigation.”

He said the only option open to the applicant was to wait for the prosecution to conclude its case and then raise a no-case submission.

“If the no-case submission is upheld by the tribunal, that will be the end of the case,” the judge ruled.

The judge recalled that as of the time of hearing the suit, Saraki had filed an application before the CCT asking for similar prayers as contained in the suit.

“If I go ahead to grant the reliefs, it will be in conflict with the decision of the Code of Conduct Tribunal,” the judge ruled.

The judge held, “In view of the above findings, I hold that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the suit because the reliefs are not available under Chapter 4 of the Constitution.

“The originating motion constitutes an abuse of court process. The suit is liable to be dismissed and it is accordingly dismissed.”

The Danladi Umar-led tribunal had on March 24, 2016 dismissed the application by Saraki praying for reliefs similar to the one contained in his suit.

 

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Cash crunch: Tithes, offerings drop in churches

 

Churches are experiencing the impact of the economic crisis and the attendant cash crunch with considerable drop in tithes and offerings by members, Saturday PUNCH investigation has revealed.

Beyond the drop in churches’ cash inflow, our correspondents learnt that there has been increasing demand on the church leaders by their congregation for financial support towards feeding, accommodation and children’s tuition.

 

The founder of True Vine Bible Church, Akure, Pastor Dayo Ajisafe, told Saturday PUNCH that his church had been seriously affected by the current economic situation of the country.

Ajisafe added that the attendance on Sunday services in the church had dropped from 500 to between 200 and 350 members, while an average of 90 members attend midweek services.

He blamed the development on irregular payment of salaries to workers in the state.

Ajisafe said, “We used to have as much as N350, 000 as offering on Sundays in our services and as much as N1m as tithe monthly. But now, we hardly get N150, 000 as offering and N400, 000 as tithes monthly.

“This is because most of our members are civil servants and they are being owed salaries. The little we are getting now comes from the businessmen.”

Pastor Festus Oyewunmi of Arise and Build Bible Church, Ibadan, shared similar experience.

Oyewunmi said, “The church is a component of the society. So, what is happening in the society will affect the church. Before, members would pay little, but now, they are not ready to pay anything. In fact, they are looking for ways to get something from the church.

“They want the pastor to dip his hands into his purse and pay for their transport and feeding for a whole month, especially in smaller churches in places like Ibadan.” Also, the Senior Pastor at the Worship Centre and Apostolic Church, Oregun, Lagos, Seyi Adeyemi,  described the church as part of the society, saying, “the church consists of people who engage in various economic activities and if they are being impacted by the economic situation in the country, it will affect their ability to meet their obligations in terms of tithes and offering, which are the major sources of revenue for a church that does not engage in commercial activities.”

He added, “If the income of a church reduces, its ability to assist more people will also be curtailed. Be that as it may, people are still expecting more from the church in spite of what is going on. So, most churches now provide transportation to assist members get to church.”

According to Pastor Emmanuel Oyegoke of the Gospel Faith Mission International, Ikorodu, Lagos, the message for the people at this time is to look unto God.

He said, “There is no cash flow, there is inflation, there is no fuel, no electricity and there is hike in transport fare. So, it is affecting the purse, businesses, and the health of the people. Some members of my church stay home because of the situation.

“We have told our members to turn to God at this time. You can read it on the faces of many people that they have issues they are passing through.

“The cash inflow has dropped. It is when you receive salary that you will pay tithe. The people are just living by faith. If you see anybody in church today that is still paying his tithe and offering the way he used to, you should know it is by faith.”

The General Superintendent of Holy Spirit Mission (Happy Family Chapel), Bishop Charles Ighele, described the economic situation in the country as “never been this bad.”

Ighele confirmed that members of some of the church’s branches had been adversely affected by the economy, which has in turn impacted on the religious houses.

He said, “It is a big problem with people losing their jobs and the prices of things increasing such that sachet water that used to sell for N5 is now N15 in some towns. The situation is really bad. Over the years, we have been redirecting the focus of our members towards entrepreneurship, so the situation has not really affected the headquarter, but the cash inflow of the branches of the church where we did not drive such teachings down well has been affected.

“In those branches, it has affected the cash inflow, so we have it good in some places and in some; the cash inflow has been affected. The welfare department of the church has been strengthened more to help people with feeding, and so on. So, many members have nowhere to stay; some are unable to pay their house rents, so we have such things to handle. We have people still under the effect of the economic condition and it is really tough on them. And it is not only about members of our church as other people also keep coming for help.”

In Jos, many churches have also been hard hit by the economic crisis as they now record less in tithes and offerings.

At the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Saturday PUNCH that in the last few months, collections from offerings had fallen by about 60 per cent. According to him, the situation is also putting pressure on the churches as more members seek soft loans from the church. The situation is the same at the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Jos.

 In Bayelsa State, a cleric, Pastor Elijah Oigbochie, of the Mark of Overcomers International Church, Yenagoa, said non-payment of workers’ salaries in the state had affected the income of the church.

He said the development had also increased the burden of the church in taking care of members in need.

Oigbochie said, “If you do not get your salary, definitely, you will not be able to pay your tithe. Actually, it has in one way or the other affected the income of the church because you pay from whatever you earn.”

Some Christians also confirmed the situation.

A communications expert, Mr. Williams Ogundeji, said he sometimes stayed away from church to avoid the attendant financial obligations.

A member of a pentecostal church in Plateau State, who identified herself simply as Gloria, said apart from not being able to pay her tithe and offering, she had been having difficulty in transporting herself to church.

A Deacon in one of the parishes of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Ado-Ekiti, told one of our correspondents that “our members are still complying, but the level of payment has diminished due to the economic crisis.”

A member of the Ushering Committee in Gospel Faith Mission International in Ado-Ekiti, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “We have noticed the decline in payment from members, but we understand the situation.”

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My madam opened my legs and poured pepper in my ‘thing’– Housemaid, 8, brutalised for stealing food

 

The police in Lagos on Monday took into custody, a 40-year-old trader, Mrs. Deborah Gabriel, who brutalised her housemaid, eight-year-old Glory Ugbon, and then put pepper in the girl’s eyes and private part when the girl decided to steal a plate of rice when she was hungry.

Five months after Glory started living with the trader as her housemaid, the girl has been allegedly brutalised many times and there are so many marks all over her body.

Glory, who had been in the servitude of Deborah in Surulere, Lagos since November 2015, said her elder sister simply took her to the woman at the time during her visit to Akwa Ibom State and said she would follow her to Lagos to be her housemaid.

 “Madam said she would put me in school and my sister told me that she would treat me well. The woman is not related to us. I work at home all the time but sometimes when she is not happy with me, she beats me till I cannot walk” Glory said.

But on Sunday, April 10, the co-tenants of Deborah decided to take action to prevent the woman from killing the girl when they noticed that she had taken the torture of the girl a notch higher.

The neighbours alerted child rights activists, who promptly notified the police when the little girl would not stop screaming.

Glory, who was later brought to the Aguda Police Division, Surulere, Lagos along with Deborah, said on that particular day, she was simply eating at the backyard of their house, when her madam accused her of stealing food.

Because of that, Deborah brutalised the girl first.

“When she was tired of beating me, she forced my legs apart and rubbed some pepper that she had just ground in my eyes and my bum bum (private part),” she said.

When the pain became unbearable, neighbours raised the alarm when they learnt what the woman did to the girl.

Glory, who was sobbing as she was brought to the police station along with her madam, explained that she was very hungry when Deborah caught her eating and became furious.

Glory’s case is one of many similar incidents in which housemaids have been brutalised by their bosses.

It is unclear under what circumstances Glory was handed over to Deborah. She said she was in Primary 3 before she left her parents in their village.

The girl told our correspondent that her mother and father were in the village in Akwa Ibom State.

 “Since November that she brought me to Lagos,  she has not talked about any school for me,” Glory said.

On Monday after our correspondent spoke with the sobbing girl, she had to be taken to Mirabel Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Ikeja, Lagos for treatment because she would not stop complaining about the pepper, some of which had become lodged inside her.

When our correspondent spoke with Deborah, the woman was apologetic as she explained that “something just came over me” when she tortured the girl.

“Please, help me. I am so sorry for what I did. I know it is wrong but I just could not control my anger. I promise to take care of her and give her adequate treatment now. I am so sorry for what I did.”

When our correspondent spoke with the woman’s husband, Victor, he said that he slept too deeply that day that he did not hear as his wife brutalised the girl and put pepper in her private part.

He said, “My wife flogged the girl because she caught her eating in the backyard. I told the girl too that she should not have eaten at the back of the house. I was the one who even prepared the stew.

“I went to sleep later and when I woke up the following morning, I saw all the wounds on the girl’s body. That was when I also knew that she had put pepper in the girl’s private part.

 “I did not know that she beat her so badly. I guess I slept too deeply and did not hear the girl’s screaming because of the drug I took that day. I would have intervened.”

Asked how such an underage girl was brought into their home as a housemaid, Victor said that when his wife brought the girl from Akwa Ibom, during a visit to their hometown, he challenged her because the girl was very young.

“I told her the girl was too young, but she said the girl is hardworking and that she would cope. I really blame my wife for what happened but I assure you sir that we would treat her. We would take her to the hospital for treatment and return her to her parents,” he said.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that Deborah was charged with child abuse and assault against a minor at the Surulere Magistrate’s Court, Lagos on Tuesday.

She was remanded at the Kirikiri Prison, pending the perfection of her bail.

Founder and Coordinator of the Jeshabel Touch-A-Heart Foundation, Mrs. Favour Benson, who took up the girl’s case, told Saturday PUNCH that at the moment, Glory is being given refuge in a state government home in Lagos but that effort would be made to contact her parents so that they could take custody of her.

 She said, “The girl’s case was particularly annoying because the woman did not express any remorse for the way she tortured the girl.

“With the kind of scars on the girl’s body within the six months she had been with her, it is clear she had been torturing the girl as soon as she started living with her.

“She said she tortured the girl out of frustration and she told us that the girl was always stealing food. We asked her if the girl was stealing anything else, she said no, that it was just food. If Glory was not constantly hungry, she would not steal food.”

 

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China trip yields over $6bn investments, says Buhari

 

Amid criticisms of his frequent overseas trip, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, expressed satisfaction that his just-concluded one week official trip to China had yielded over $6bn additional investments for Nigeria.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement made available to journalists.

Shehu said the President believed that the agreements concluded with the Chinese during the visit would have a huge and positive impact on key sectors of the Nigerian economy including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.

He said, “In the power sector, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 megawatts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State.

“In the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55m for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.

“A total of $1bn is to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

“For the housing sector, both companies also sealed a $250m deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storey high rise complex and a $2.5bn agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project.”

According to the presidential spokesman, other agreements announced and signed during the visit include $1bn for the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.

He added that the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at $200m for the construction of two 500MT/day floating gas facilities.

“An agreement valued at $363m for the establishment of a comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park in Kogi state was also announced at the Nigeria-China business forum.

“Other agreements undergoing negotiations include a $500m project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a $25m facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited.

“About 100 Nigerian businesses and 300 Chinese firms participated in the Nigeria-China business forum which took place a day after President Buhari began his visit to China,” Shehu added.

Buhari, in another statement, said his administration would take urgent steps to restructure Nigeria’s economy.

He said he would achieve this by encouraging new investments in mining, agriculture and manufacturing.

The President was quoted as saying this in Guangzhou, China, at a reception in his honour by the Chinese Communist Party.

Buhari was further quoted as saying that Nigeria would welcome the support of the Chinese government, foreign investors and local businesses for efforts to diversify the nation’s economy.

He noted that the diversification of the Nigerian economy was long overdue as continued reliance on crude oil exports had always made the economy vulnerable to shocks.

 ‘‘This time, we will be more deliberate. The government and businesses will be involved,” Buhari said.

In his remarks, the Secretary of the Communist Party, who is also the Governor of the Guangdong Province, Mr. Hu Chinhua, pledged that the region would support the implementation of all the bilateral agreements reached with the Chinese government during Buhari’s visit.

The President also visited the Sino-Singapore Knowledge City in Guangzhou, which showcases advancements by China in medical, science and technological inventions.

 

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2019: How PDP will choose presidential candidate, others –Metuh

 

Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party has revealed plans to adopt a more transparent process of choosing its candidates in the 2019 general elections.

Towards this end, the party said it would adopt the option A4 method to pick candidates for the Presidential, governorship and other elections.

Option A4, which was used during the regime of a former military dictator, Gen Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), is a process which allows voters queue behind candidates of their choice.

Voters on each queue are counted to the hearing of everyone present before voting starts.

National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said this in Abuja, on Friday, while receiving in audience a former National Chairman of New Patriotic Party, Ghana, Mr. Peter Manu. According to him, the new process is necessary in order to allow members take ownership of the leadership selection process.

He said the era when the party would organise a national convention to elect its presidential candidate was over.

Metuh said this option would be adopted by his party, as such there would be no secret voting during the primaries.

He, however said in order to have this done, the party would have to amend its constitution.

Metuh said already, a proposal to amend the party’s constitution to achieve this had been prepared and would be tabled at the next national convention which comes up on May 21. Apart from this, state chapters of the party had been served copies of the proposed amendment for their input noting that the proposal would first be tabled before the National Executive Committee before the convention.

Metuh said, “We intend to elect our presidential candidate starting from Ward level. We are going to apply Option A4 in electing our presidential candidate.

“It is not going to be restricted to presidential primaries alone, but others like governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and all, everybody would be elected from the ward level.

“People would have to queue behind the candidates of their choice. This proposed amendment had been sent to the state chapters of our party for their inputs in line with our desire to have people’s opinion.

“We are going to change our system so that our presidential candidate would be voted by all our party members in the country.

“It would be done at the ward level, we would no longer elect presidential candidate at the national convention. It would now be for every party member to vote for whoever would be our presidential candidate.

“Whoever would vie for our presidential ticket would have to tour the entire country before he can be elected. This is part of the reform we are coming up with. Basically, this would be the last convention where we would have people to be elected at the national convention. We are taking the party back to the Nigerian people.”

He said the party didn’t prepare for opposition which it suddenly found itself in 2015 after being in power for 16 years.

Metuh said the loss of power made some members of the party to defect to the APC, citing different reasons.

He said, “This is the first time we are witnessing the change of guards and we have a lot of our people defecting to the ruling party. In Ghana, you people are much more stable in terms of party politics.”

Earlier, Manu told Metuh how his party reviewed events that made it lose the election in Ghana. This, he said, made it possible for it to make reforms.

He said he was sad that the then opposition party in his country was referring to his party as being corrupt due to the way it conducted its primaries.

Manu said this was the reason why he led the reforms that changed the fortune of the party.

He said, “When we lost election, there was need to review and make amends and these amends led to some critical reforms in the party structure and organisation.

“We realised for example, that the modus operandi of how our presidential candidate was elected had a hand in why we lost the general election. There are as many as 17 presidential candidates.

“When the then president, John Kufor was given the party ticket at that time,  about 17 presidential candidates were running for votes from a mere 3,500 delegates.

“So, it was money, money, money until the day of congress. And we realised that the opposition party, which is now in government, used that against us and cast smell on us as being corrupt, that we were throwing money at the people.”

 

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ICPC seizes 61 houses from female civil servant

  

Eniola Akinkuotu

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission says it has begun arresting civil servants who live beyond their means, adding that it seized 61 houses from one female public servant.

The commission also revealed that it would soon begin publishing a list of the most corrupt Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

The Chairman of the ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, said this while addressing participants of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies at the Abuja headquarters of the agency on Friday.

Speaking on the theme, ‘The role of the ICPC in the War Against Corruption: Mandate, Strategies and Challenges’, the ICPC boss said, “We are developing scorecard like Transparency International which rates countries as to the level of corruption of countries. We have developed one for ministries departments and agencies. Hopefully, we know those who will take the first prize.”

Nta added that once the 2016 Budget is passed, the ICPC would begin monitoring how monies are being spent.

He revealed that the commission had begun prosecuting public servants that live beyond their means.

“From one of the employees of one of the organisations, we seized about 61 or 62 houses in an estate. The matter is in court so I can’t say too much but I want to say that the officer was not a man. We do prosecution but also try to seize the assets acquired (through corrupt means) so that apart from prosecution, we can strip you of the assets within and outside the country,” he said.

Nta said the ICPC is also investigating university lecturers who demand sex from female students in return for good grades.

He said even though it was the role of the police to investigate cases of sexual harassment and rape, it was also the role of the ICPC to investigate cases bordering on abuse of office.

Nta said, “We have special teams that investigate universities here. Quite a number of students that have spent more than the statutory period, like young girls who have spent eight years for a four-year programme because they refused to do what should not be done. We got involved and they have graduated and we are still looking at the possibility of prosecution.”

 

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