Military liberates 80,000 Northeast communities in six months

The Theater Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, the counter-insurgency war in the Northeast of Nigeria, Maj. Gen. Yushau Abubakar has declared that Boko Haram militants have been sacked in over 80,000 towns and villages by the Joint Military Task Force in the three North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

Abubakar made the disclosure on Saturday, while receiving the Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed in Bama, Borno State.

He welcomed the Minister's visit, saying that it would afford Nigerians the opportunity of firsthand information on the activities and achievements of the military in the fight against terrorism.

The Minister called on the citizens to reciprocate the efforts of the military by supplying them with reliable  and useful information that would help  bring the menace of terrorism to a conclusive end.

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18 Inmates Regain Freedom In Nasarawa State

In his bid to decongest prisons and give justice to wrongly detained inmates, the Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, Justice Suleiman Dikko has granted pardon to 18 inmates awaiting trial in federal prisons in Lafia, Keffi, and Nasarawa.

Justice Dikko disclosed this on Saturday at the Keffi Prisons as he rounded off his four-day tour of prison formations in the state.

He said that five of the inmates were released from Lafiya prison, namely, Bulus Irimiya, Dauda Emmanuel, Mohammed Isa, Likita Emmanuel, and Beegah Luhu, while Emmanuel Nyitse was released from  Nasarawa prison.

The remaining twelve inmates, Abubakar Mohammed, Abubakar Ibrahim, Auwal Abdullahi, Abdulrahman Idris, Felix Michael, Danladi Joseph, Peter Ogun, Isha’u Barau, Isreal Stephen, Amos Isaac, Hassan Yakubu, and Aliyu Musa were released from Keffi prison.

The Chief Judge urged the police, prisons and other stakeholders to help speed up the administration of justice in the state.

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Suspected Arsonists Burn INEC Office In Kogi State (Photo)

The office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Dekina Local Government Area, Kogi State was set ablaze by unknown persons in the early hours of Friday.

INEC has declared that the destruction of the building will not affect the conduct of today's supplementary election in the state.

Photo credit: NAN

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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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