In what the leadership of the opposition People's Democratic Party has described as “an extra-judicial, top political witch-hunt policy of the APC, carefully designed to humiliate, embarrass and portray PDP leaders as common criminals and set the stage to cow and decimate opposition and perceived foes of the government," Olisa Metuh was brought to the Federal High Court, Abuja on Tuesday for the hearing of his bail application in handcuffs.
See photos of the PDP spokesman in handcuffs.
Following their very poor performance in the just ended academic session, the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State has withdrawn 460 students.
The Information Officer of the University, Mrs Lydia Legbo said that the 460 students, all in 100 level performed far below the University's acceptable minimum standard.
She told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Tuesday that the affected students had to go because the institution could not afford to violate the National Universities Commission, NUC’s guidelines on minimum standards.
She recalled that students were advised to be committed to their studies when they were offered admission into the institution.
The affected students who cut across several departments of the university have been served their letters of withdrawal since Friday.
“They were asked to withdraw because they could not meet the requirement set for students to move to the next level in the pursuit of their education by the NUC,” said Mrs Legbo.
She explained that the sacked students failed to get a GPA of 1.5 at the end of the academic session “and by virtue of the guideline, they cannot continue their programmes."
Abujacitynews learnt that their case was made worse by the cancelation of your Pass Certificate by the National Universities Commission, NUC.
Reprieve came the way of the embattled national spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh as an a High Court in Abuja granted him bail in the sum of 400 million naira.
As directed by the presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang, the accused must provide two sureties who must each sign a N200 million naira bond and own a house in Maitama, a high brow area in Abuja.
Justice Abang also said that officials of the court must verify the title documents of the properties pledged by the sureties, while the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC should confirm same.
In his ruling on Metuh's bail application, Justice Abang said that the offences for which he is standing trial are bailable.
He also noted that in the Nigerian criminal justice system, an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The judge also held that the EFCC could not establish the allegation that Metuh tore his statement.
Olisa Metuh is to remain in the custody of Kuje Prison till he perfects his bail conditions.
Metuh is standing trial on a seven-point charge bordering on criminal breach of public trust, illegal acquisition of public funds and money laundering.
He is also accused of corruptly receiving N400m from an unlawful activity of the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The Federal Ministry of Health has said that of the 212 reported cases of lassa fever from 62 local government areas spread across 17 states, 63 fatalities have been recorded.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, confirmed this in Abuja on Tuesday at an emergency National Council of Health meeting on the outbreak of the disease.
The affected states are Bauchi, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Rivers, Oyo, Ondo, Edo, Plateau, Gombe, Nasarawa, Lagos, Delta, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Zamfara and Kogi well and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Minister advised that every state should consider itself at risk of lassa fever and put in place, the necessary measures to contain the virus.
He assured that the Federal Government was already taking steps to ensure the quick elimination of the disease in Nigeria.
“With the resources available we will collectively eliminate the disease in Nigeria soon.
“We have special facilities around us and we have adequate human resource to address the challenge.
“We will strengthen the Primary Health Care Centres across the country to enhance the surveillance mechanism,’’ he said.
A convoy of the Armor-Protected Mine Resistant Vehicles recently donated to the Nigerian military by the government of the USA passed through Abuja on Tuesday morning, possibly on their way to Sambisa forest where they are expected to be deployed.
Photos show the vehicles being ferried atop articulated trucks along Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport road, Abuja.
According to the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, 55 privileged Nigerians stole 1.34 trillion naira from the public treasury from 2006 to 2013, a period spanning the three Peoples Democratic Party, PDP administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Mohammed who addressed a press conference on the matter in Abuja on Monday said that all 55 looters have been in court in the last eight years. He begged the judiciary to expedite trials in corruption cases before them.
“Unless this very important arm of government fully joins in waging this war, the pending cases of corruption will just drag on until they outlast this administration,” he said.
“The situation is dire and the time to act is now. For example, between the period 2006 and 2013, just 55 people allegedly
stole a total of N1.34 trillion in Nigeria. That’s more than a quarter of last year’s national budget! Out of the stolen funds, 15 former governors allegedly stole N146.84 billion; four former ministers allegedly stole N7 billion; 12 former public servants, both at federal and state levels, allegedly stole over N14 billion; eight people in the banking industry allegedly stole N524 billion; while 11 businessmen allegedly stole N653 billion.
“ Now, what do these figures translate to in the actual sense? In other words, what is the cost of these stolen funds for Nigerians?
"Using World Bank Rates and Costs, one third of the stolen funds could have provided 635.18 kilometres of road; built 36 ultra modern hospitals,
that is one ultra modern hospital per state; built 183 schools; educated 3,974 children from primary to tertiary level at 25.24 million per child; and built 20,062 units of two-bedroom houses.”
On the opinion being canvassed in some quarters that Buhari’s anti-corruption war has been a one-sided fight intended to decimate the opposition, Mohammed said that nothing could be further from the truth.
“This is the money that a few people, just 55 in number, allegedly stole within a period of just eight years. And instead of a national outrage, all we hear are these nonsensical statements that the government is fighting only the opposition or that the government is engaging in vendetta,” he said.
The Minister used the $2.1billion arms contracts scam as an example, saying that none of those indicted has denied partaking in the sharing of the money which should have been used to purchase weapons for the armed forces.
“Let’s take the latest issue of the $2.1 billion arms deals as an example. One thing is clear: funds meant to fight terrorism were deployed to another fight, the fight to keep then President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the PDP, in power at all cost. So far, based on what we know, no one who has been accused of partaking in the sharing of the funds has denied receiving money. All we have heard from them are ludicrous reasons why they partook in sharing of the money. One said he collected 4.5 billion Naira for spiritual purposes, another said he received N2.1 billion for publicity while yet another said he got N13 billion to pay someone else for the Maritime University land.
“Should we now fold our hands and allow these people to go away with public funds? Is anyone thinking about the innocent soldiers who lost their lives just because they did not get the necessary weapons to fight the terrorists? What about the families left behind by these soldiers who were sent to their early graves because of the misappropriation of these funds? What about those who lost their means of livelihood after the terrorists overran their towns and villages? What of the millions of Nigerians, especially women and children, who are now living in IDP camps? Is it not clear that the cruel fate that has befallen these unfortunate people is a direct result of the misuse of the funds meant to fight the terrorists? Are these not the true costs of corruption?”
THE CATEGORIES OF TREASURY LOOTERS AND WHAT THEY STOLE.
1.) 15 ex-governors stole
N146,840,800,000.00
2.) 4 former ministers stole
N7,050,000,000.00
3.) 5 ex-legislators stole
N8,350,000,000.00
4.) 7 former public servants (Federal) stole N6,906,600,000.00
5.) 5 ex-public servants (State) stole N7,275,000,000.00
6.) 8 Banking industry executives stole
N524,560,000,000.00
7.) 11 businessmen stole
N653,150,000,000.00
Grand total of theft by the 55 privileged individuals;
N1,354,132,400,000.00
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