Buhari persecuting opposition, dissenting voices - Arewa Youth

A Northern socio-political group, the Arewa Youth for Progress and Development on Friday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of witch-hunting and molesting his political opponents and other dissenting voices.

Danjuma Sarki, president of the youth group lamented what he called the intimidation and harassment of my people holding contrary views to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

“We categorically and unequivocally condemn these acts in their entirety. These have apparently shown that the administration of President Buhari and the ruling party are on a vendetta mission of witch-hunt, molestation, blackmail and persecution of the opposition or any dissenting voice.

“Our organisation has viewed with great concern, the spate of unwarranted witch-hunt, bullying and harassment of political opponents under the guise of the fight against corruption by the Buhari administration, using the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Service (DSS).

"It is quite unfortunate, worrisome and sad that since the advent of the current government, its stock-in-trade has been the intimidation and harassment of members of the opposition and anyone who holds contrary opinion to that of the government or the ruling party.

“The recent invitation and subsequent detention of High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, His Excellency, Alh. Attahiru Bafarawa, former Governor of Sokoto State, Alh. Bashir Yuguda, the former Minister for Finance and others are clear cases of witch-hunt, harassment, intimidation; growing level of impunity; abuse of the rule of law and gross violation of human rights which are becoming very alarming and call for great concern by all patriotic, civil society organizations, the media and the international community.

“We categorically and unequivocally condemn these acts in their entirety, these have apparently shown that the administration of President Buhari and the ruling party are on a vendetta mission of witch-hunt, molestation, blackmail and persecution of the opposition or any dissenting voices,” he said.

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MTN Fine : Regulator In Expensive Typo

The Nigerian Telecommunications Commission, NCC has said that its letter to MTN notifying the company of a reduction in its $5.2b fine had a half a billion dollars typographical error.

The NCC said that whereas its initial letter to MTN conveyed a 35%  reduction in its $5.2b fine, the actual reduction was 25%.

Given the clarification, MTN is to pay a fine of N780b ($3.9b) as against the N674bn ($3.4b) that was wrongly indicated in the initial letter.

The Nigerian authorities had earlier imposed a fine of $5.2b on MTN for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards from their network.

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Why I shared N10b to PDP delegates - Dasuki

A tweet by Sahara Reporters on Friday quoted former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki as saying that he received a verbal instruction from former President Goodluck Jonathan to convert N10b to US dollars and share to  delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

FLASH: #ArmsPurchaseScam ex NSA Sambo Dasuki disclosed he got oral approval from GEJ to convert N10b to dollars then share to PDP delegates
— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters)
December 4, 2015

Dasuki has been under investigation over allegations of awarding 'phantom' contracts to the tune of $2b while he was National Security Adviser.

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Ex-Finance Commissioner Jailed 10 Years For Corruption

Erstwhile Commissioner for Finance and Local Government/ Chieftaincy Affairs in Adamawa State, Mr John Elias has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine.

The sentence was pronounced on Friday by Justice Bilkisu Bello Aliyu of the Federal High Court, Yola.

The judge on Friday also ordered the Corporate Affairs Commission to wind down the convict's company, Alhakim Nigeria Ltd.

Elias is also to refund the sum of N51.5 million which he stole from the state government while  in office.

Justice Aliyu said that she hoped the judgement would serve as a deterrent to public office holders who might be tempted to steal from resources meant for the common good in the future.

Reading out the sentence, the Judge said ;
“I hereby sentence the first accused, John Babani Elias to 10 years imprisonment on count 3 and another 10 years imprisonment on count 4 but the two sentences will run concurrently.

“In addition, the first convict must return/refund the sum of N51.5 million to Adamawa state local Government joint account fund from where it was stolen and diverted by him and his company .

“With regards to the second convict ALHAKIM NIGERIA LIMITED, I sentence it to pay a fine of N5 million on the offenses in count 3 and 4 it is convicted of. In addition, the company would be wound up by the Corporate Affairs Commission as provided by section 3(2) of the Miscellaneous Offenses Act and all its assets forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

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Night Fire Razes 65 Shops In Kano Market

An inferno which broke out in the furniture segment of Sabon Gari market, Kano on Thursday night destroyed about 65 shops.
According to the Director of Kano State Fire Service, Alhaji Balarabe Kabara, the fire outbreak which happened around 8:30 p.m. affected both permanent and temporary structures.

Kabara told NAN that the fire incident was caused by negligence.

“The main cause of the inferno is negligence because people are in the habit of playing with fire, especially now that it is harmattan period,” he said.

He advised the people to avoid unnecessary use of fire in order to forestall mistakes that could lead to fire disasters.

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EFCC seizes three buildings, bank accounts traced to former Director.

The EFCC has frozen three bank accounts allegedly belonging to erstwhile Finance Director in the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, Mr Shuaibu Salisu.

The anti graft agency also invoked the Interim Assets Forfeiture clause in its Establishment Act to seize three duplexes, valued at N810million in Lake View Estate in Jabi, Abuja, which were allegedly traced to Mr Salisu.

The EFCC took the actions in furtherance of its current investigation into the $2b phantom arms contracts.

According to the anti graft agency, Salisu “diverted government funds and made illegal payments to his companies from ONSA’s accounts."

THE NATION reports that Salisu used four slush companies, namely,  Famskan Exquisite Travel Tours, Starr Concrete Blocks PPTYS, Famskan Exquisite Limited and Musim Ventures to perpetrate the fraud.

THE NATION quotes a top EFCC source as saying that ;
“We have frozen three key accounts of a former Director of Finance of ONSA. By the time the figures are collated, we will tell you the actual amount. But out of N600million deposited in one of the accounts on October2, 2014, about N100million was given to one Alh. Bashir.

“All the three banks involved have been asked to put PNB on the accounts.

“As I am talking to you, we have invoked the Interim Assets Forfeiture Clause to seize three duplexes (at N270million each) at Lake View Estate, Jabi which were traced to Salisu.”

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EFCC demands evidence of N2.1b contract from Dokpesi

Following his confession that he received N2.1b from the office of the National Security Adviser for the purpose of publicity, the founding Chairman of Daar Communications Plc, Chief Raymond Dokpesi has been asked by the EFCC to produce evidence of the contract.

". . . Dokpesi admitted collecting N2.1billion for publicity. We have asked him to produce evidence of award of the contract, the terms of the contract, the schedule of execution and how the contract was related to arms purchase.

“The media owner also gave some evidence and we have to get in touch with those concerned and organisations to verify his claims," said an EFCC source.

He added that the anti-graft agency had already secured a court order to detain the media owner.

“For a while, the suspect will be with us and we will treat him well – in line with international best practices,” he said.

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