Former Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Andrew Yakubu
I Got Seized N3b As Gifts During Ceremonies –Yakubu
Former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu, has restated his claim that the $9,772,800 and £74,000 recovered from where he kept them in a house in Kaduna last month were gifts he got over a period.
In an affidavit, which he filed before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, the ex-NNPC boss, however, stated that the money, which amounted to about N3b, were not gifts he got “as a public servant or while he was a public servant.”
He explained that the funds were gifts he got through goodwill, which he enjoyed during various celebrations and ceremonies he hosted in a period of five years.
But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has maintained that the money is part of proceeds of crime, adding that the ex-NNPC GMD did not declare them as part of his assets when asked to do so as far back as 2015.
Yakubu, hope you have the comprehensive list of those who gave you these foreign currency gifts, the amount and the ceremonies you convened at which they presented it to you? Hope these cheerful givers are ready to be disclosed and will accept responsibility for the gifts, especially where there may be no documentary evidence? Nigerians may also like to know what you did for them, where and when, to have attracted such mind-boggling foreign currencies as gifts. It will be good for you to know and have these facts intact.
This is because, just like the case of Dame Patience Jonathan and her alleged N15m dollar gift, which is under investigation, questions will be ask, how did Yakubu got N3b gift. Or is Yakubu saying that the cash gifts were given to him, the same way it was allegedly given to Patience Jonathan? So, it is like Patience, like Yakubu.
If Yakubu claimed that these gifts were not given to him when he was a public servant, he should be ready to disclose his income and its sources before becoming a public servant, specifically as helmsman at NNPC.
EFCC should be ready to show evidence too that the money is a part of proceeds of corruption. It is not enough for the anti-graft agency to allege without substantiation.
Buhari’s Health: Presidency Should Stop Using Phone Calls to Deceive Nigerians, Says CNPP
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has on Wednesday asked the Federal Government to stop the phone call gimmick with President Muhammadu Buhari and face governance issues that would alleviate the suffering of the masses.
The conference observed that the continued media hype of the president’s calls to different individuals was unnecessary since President Buhari has transmitted power to Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, who should not be distracted at this trying times.
CNPP in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, called on the National Assembly to openly investigate President Buhari’s health status, adding that since the president has officially handed over power to acting President Yemi Osinbajo, he should be allowed to work.
While it is obvious that nobody is stopping the acting president, Yemi Osinbajo from performing presidential duties, it is important to remind the cabal handling President Buhari’s extended medical vacation that Nigerians are not fools. However, making Nigerians to look as though they have no understanding with improbable phone calls is the height of desperation and hypocrisy.
They should be reminded that every lie has expiry date and truth cannot be suppressed for too long. President Buhari is the president of Nigeria, who was voted into office by Nigerians and not by the handful of persons, Buhari has allegedly selected to call from his overseas base.
It is a fact that President Buhari has the right and freedom to call whosoever he wants to call; such calls should remain a private call, so far they were not made to the public. It is of no use politicising it, because Nigerians are wiser now.
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege
Defection: Labour Party Asks INEC, Senate to Declare Omo-Agege’s Seat Vacant
Following the defection of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday, his former party, Labour Party (LP), has asked the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately declare his seat vacant.
The Labour Party also asked the INEC to set in motion processes to organise election within the next 60 days to fill the vacant seat as required by law.
Omo-Agege had while declaring for APC at the plenary claimed that his decision to leave the LP for the APC was supported by leaders and members of his constituents in Delta State.
He further stated that there was a division within the national leadership of LP; with Comrade Bobo Atare Adou and Alhaji Abdukadir Salam now simultaneously laying claim to the national chairmanship of the party.
However, in reacting to the defection, Labour Party’s National Public Secretary, Ebere Ifendu, said at the party national secretariat that the claim of division within the party by the senator Omo-Agege was not true.
There is nothing new in the narrative of the Labour Party leadership. After all, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership said so when the likes of Senator Joshua Dariye, Babajide Omoworare, Andy Uba, Nelson Effiong and others defected to the APC. Today, these defected senators are yet to lose their seats. Neither the leadership of the PDP, nor its caucus in the Senate has approached any court to challenge the defection. Instead, more PDP senators are making moves to defect to the APC, citing crisis in the party as reason.
So, it may not be surprising if the outburst of Labour Party leadership ends up a mere say. If the party leadership is truly serious about reclaiming Omo-Agege’s seat, it should quickly approach the court with evidence. But where will the party leadership raise fund for such litigation, considering that Omo-Agege was the major financier of the party, before the leadership crisis erupted?
Ex-Adamawa Governor Ngilari Jailed Five Years For Corruption
A Yola High Court, on Monday, sentenced a former governor of Adamawa state, Mr James Bala Ngilari, to five years in prison without the option of fine. He was found guilty of the corruption charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The case was filed in September 2016.
The court presided over by Justice Nathan Musa, acquitted the former Secretary to the State Government, Mr Andrew Welye, and Former Commissioner for Finance, Mr Sunday Lamurde, who stood trial with the former governor on same offences of 17 count charges.
Delivering judgment, Justice Musa, said that the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Ngilari violated the Public Procurement Act of the state, by awarding contract for the procurement of 25 vehicles for his commissioners at the cost of N167 million without following due process.
Not many Nigerians, including Ngilari himself would have believed that he could be sent to prison just like that. But that is the irony of life. Ngilari served only for few months considering the circumstances that brought him into office as governor of Adamawa state. Added to his background as a lawyer, not many had expected him not to be smart enough to tidy his act.
Meanwhile, because the judgment was delivered at the State High Court, Ngilari has right to appeal at appellate court and he has said he will go on appeal.
Hope Ngilari’s case will serve as a deterrent to incumbent governors and other public office holders, who carried on as if they are lords unto themselves and are above the law. They should be mindful of the fact that there must be a day of reckoning, when neither immunity nor looted fund will save them. There may be many Ngilaris out there walking free for now. It is just a case of all dogs eat shit, but anyone caught eating shit is the culprit.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2noUgjq
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