PDP rejects rerun results in Plateau South, alleges thuggery.

The Plateau state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP has rejected the results of the rerun elections into the State House of Assembly held in Plateau south constituency on Saturday.

The Chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr. Raymond Dabo declared the position of the party in a statement he issued in Jos on Sunday.

All Progressive Congress, APC's  Alice Dimlong was declared winner of the rerun election into the State House Assembly for Pankshin North constituency, just as Pharm Gideon Dashe also of the APC  won the rerun elections for Pankshin South.

However, the PDP Chairman said that the elections were marred by irregularities, hence his party's rejection of the results.

“PDP is not only rejecting the results, they should be cancelled outrightly because that result was not the true reflection of what transpired at the polls.

“Our candidate for the same election, Hon Istifanus Muansat was denied access to the polling unit, our party agents were chased out, my very self was also not allowed to come near the polling units, but APC members and agents were allowed freely to come in and manipulate the election.

“Thugs hired by APC chased me away from the polling unit. It was a display of impunity by the ruling APC government, and a flagrant show of power because the Deputy Governor who is not from the polling unit was allowed to be there but any PDP members were not allowed.

“I declare that what happened today in Pankshin south was not an election. It was impunity of the APC to have their way the way they wanted and all these happened with the support of Nigerian Police,“ he said.

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N225,000 bribe: SERAP petitions UN against NJC, NBA.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP has petitioned the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Ms Monica Pinto over the N225,000 bribery scandal involving a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Barr Ricky Tarfa and a high court judge, Justice Mohammed Yunusa.

In the petition dated February 19, 2016 and signed by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP urged Ms Pinto to prevail on the National Judicial Council, NJC to suspend the judge who allegedly received the N225, 000 bribe.

SERAP also requested Ms Pinto to prevail on the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA to ask the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC to suspend the lawyer who allegedly gave the N225, 000 bribe, pending the completion of any investigations and final determination of any trial on the matter.

In the petition, Mumuni wrote that; “SERAP is concerned that despite these serious allegations of bribery and corruption, the National Judicial Council has failed and/or refused to suspend the judge involved pending any investigation and/or trial of the judge. Similarly, the Nigerian Bar Association has failed and/or refused to ask the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee to suspend the senior lawyer involved pending the final determination of the case against him.

“SERAP is concerned that the allegations of bribery and corruption such as the alleged payment and receipt of N225, 000 threaten the very essence of the independence of the judiciary and the actors in the legal profession.

“Such allegations also severely undermine the rule of law, the public’s confidence in the judiciary, raise the cost for judicial services because litigation is driven by corruption instead of by the legal process, discourage people from resorting to the formal justice system,and ultimately victimises the most disadvantaged sectors of the population who do not have the means to play by the informal rules set by a corrupt system.

”The allegations also undermine fair competition and economic growth, as there is a clear correlation between the level of economic activity in a country and an effective judiciary combating corruption.

“SERAP believes that the NJC and the NBA are in the best position to tackle judicial corruption and corruption within the legal profession, and to ensure the application of appropriate disciplinary measures in cases of bribery and corruption such as the alleged N225,000 bribe highlighted above.

“Indeed, both the NJC and the NBA have clear responsibilities to counter and combat all manifestations of judicial corruption and corruption within the legal profession. Therefore, the continuing failure by the NJC to suspend the judge involved , and the NBA to ask the LPDC to suspend the lawyer involved will continue to allow judicial corruption to grow, undermine the efforts of all other institutions of governance, and can lead to impunity.

“SERAP notes that article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes the principle of equality of all persons before courts and tribunals and the guarantee of a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. However, the enjoyment of the right to a fair, effective and efficient administration of justice is impossible if the judiciary and the legal profession cannot act with integrity.”

In conclusion, SERAP urged Ms. Pinto to prevail on both the NJC and the NBA to:

1. Exercise their mandates to deal fairly with any suspicion or evidence of acts of corruption;

2. Take measures to strengthen the integrity of the bench and the bar, and to prevent opportunities for corruption among members of the judiciary;

3. Fully and effectively enforce the codes of conduct to promote and ensure correct, honourable and proper performance of judges and lawyers;

4. Promptly and adequately investigate any allegations of corruption in the judiciary and the legal profession, and to ensure that any sanction or investigative process against judges and lawyers does not undermine the credibility of judiciary and the legal profession or offend the right to a fair trial;

5. Place the independence of judges and lawyers at the centre of their policies aimed at preventing and combating corruption and strengthening the rule of law and human rights;

6. Contribute to strengthening safeguards for the independence of the judicial system and safeguards against judicial corruption in order to ensure the accountability of judges and lawyers;

7. Encourage judges and lawyers to discharge their functions with integrity and impartiality and preserve the dignity of their profession;

8. Recognize that the requirement of independence and impartiality of the judicial and legal professions does not exist for the benefit of the members of the profession themselves, but rather for the users of the justice system, as part of their inalienable right to a fair trial.

Source: Vanguard

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NNPC warns public against recruitment scam

The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has issued a statement distancing itself from certain letters inviting individuals for “the second process of recruitment.”

The statement issued by Mr Ohi Alegbe, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, on Sunday in Abuja said that the letter is being sent by fraudsters to unsuspecting members of the public.

Alegbe advised the public to ignore the scam letter asking recipients to pay N21,500 into a Zenith Bank account as the NNPC is not recruiting.

“Anyone who entertains such invitations or deals with peddlers of such invitations does so at his or her own risk,” he warned.

He added that anyone who is contacted with the scam letter should report to the relevant security agencies.

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450 died of malnutrition in Borno IDP camps in 2015 - NEMA

According to the Borno Emergency Management Agency, no less than 450 children died of malnutrition in 28 Internally Displaced Persons’ camps in the state in 2015.

The Executive Director of the Board, Dr Sule Mele, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN in Maiduguri on Sunday that the victims were aged between one and five years.

He said that 209,577 children were screened for various illnesses, including malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and vomiting.

He added that 6,444 severe cases of malnutrition were recorded in the camps, while 25,511 had mild to moderate symptoms.

He said that the high incidence of malnutrition in the IDP camps was due to the lack of highly nutritious foods.

His words:
“Poor feeding practices, such as inadequate breastfeeding, offering the wrong foods and not ensuring that the child gets enough nutritious food also contributes to malnutrition.

“The food that is mostly served in the camps is always adults in nature which affect the health, growth and physical development of the children.

“Even if the children get enough to eat, they will become malnourished if the food they eat does not provide the proper amounts of micro-nutrients, vitamins and minerals to meet daily nutritional requirements.

“The children should at least be fed with an enriched groundnut pap, crayfish, periwinkles, millet, soya beans, moi-moi, fishes, pap, ugba and a whole lot of others.

“The effects of inadequate nutrition and malnutrition include stunting and recurrent infections or chronic diseases.

“Poor nutrition in terms of foods and feeding behaviours, especially during the first two years of life can lead to low immunity, significant illness, late development and death."

He disclosed that the state government is partnering with an NGO, Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition, CMAM to treat children with severe malnutrition in the IDP camps.

News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that Dr Mele advised the Federal Government to adopt the U.S. Special Supplemental Nutrition Programme for Women, Infants and Children for healthcare and nutrition to enable proper supplementary feeding for children in IDP camps.

NAN

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Banks refund N6.2b illegal charges

Deposit Money Banks, DMBs were made to refund N6.2 billion to customers they over charged as cost of transactions in 2015, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has said.

The CBN's Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Ibrahim Mu’azu said this in a statement he released in Abuja on Saturday.

The statement said that the CBN is primed to checkmate banks and protect customers from illegal and excessive charges.

“The Revised Guide to Bank Charges clearly specifies allowable charges for all banking services; the CBN does not in any way condone the fleecing of banking customers under any guise.

“It was in the quest to provide a strong voice to banks’ customers and moderate the arbitrary charges that the CBN in 2012 established a Consumer Protection Department.

“The CBN has investigated over 6,000 complaints relating to unauthorised bank charges brought to its notice, following which banks have been compelled to refund N6.2 billion to affected customers in 2015 alone.

“The CBN wishes to reiterate its resolve to continuously enforce the provision of the Revised Guide to Bank Charges and urges members of the public to report cases of infringement to enable it investigate and apply sanctions on any erring DMBs,” the statement said.

It advised bank customers to direct complaints of excessive bank charges to the Director, Consumer Protection Department, of the CBN.

NAN

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EFCC recovers looted N381m from Air Force chief's wife.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has disclosed the recovery of N381m from Mrs. Omolara Amosu, the wife of the immediate past Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu.

Sources close to the anti-graft agency said on Saturday that the looted fund was recovered in three installments: N180m, N101m and N100m.

The anti graft agency had only two weeks ago, seized houses in Ikoyi and Victoria Island, Lagos valued at over two billion naira and allegedly belonging to Adigun.

An EFCC detective told PUNCH correspondent that the money was traced from the account of the Nigeria Air Force to the bank accounts of a company in which Amosu’s wife is a director and signatory.

“We recovered N381m from Amosu’s wife, Omolara. Initially, we recovered N180m from her account before another N101m and then N100m. These were monies transferred from Air Force accounts.

“They (Air Force officers) sent the money to an account where their wives have interests or are signatories without doing anything,” said the source.

PUNCH reports another EFCC source as disclosing that properties were seized from the immediate past Chief of Accounts and Budgeting of the Nigeria Air Force, NAF, Air Vice Marshal J.B. Adigun.

Among Adigun's seized properties he said, is a quarry in Ogun State with equipment valued at $600,000.

Amosu, Adigun and about nine other air force personnel are under investigation for fraud related to equipment procurement.

Among the fraudulent activities is the procurement of two used Mi-24V Helicopters instead of the recommended Mi-35M series at a cost of $136.9m.

The helicopters which were alleged to be not airworthy at the time of purchase were delivered without propellers.

A brand new unit of the helicopters is said to cost about $30m.

Information emanating from the EFCC indicates that the indicted Air Force officers will be charged to court very soon.

“Amosu will be charged to court anytime from now. Recall that we obtained a holding charge from a court to hold him for a maximum of 30 days. We are rounding off our investigations and anytime from now, he will be charged to court,” said an operative of the agency.

Source: The Punch

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Benue South rerun: How David Mark beat Onjeh

Former Senate President, David Mark, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has won the rerun election of the Benue South Senatorial District held on Saturday.

Mark defeated former student union leader and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Daniel Onjeh to secure a fifth term in the Senate.

The Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, , Prof. Ishaku Eneji, declared Mark winner with 84,192 votes; ahead of Onjeh who polled a total of 71,621 votes.

Here is a breakdown of the results as announced by INEC.

Ado LGA APC – 6370 PDP – 6513
Agatu LGA APC – 3458 PDP – 7986
Apa LGA APC – 4943 PDP – 9191
Obi LGA APC – 8585 PDP – 7043
Ohimini LGA APC – 6192 PDP – 5923
Okpokwu LGA APC – 6830 PDP – 11935
Otukpo LGA APC – 12203 PDP – 18468
Oju LGA APC – 14159 PDP – 10289
Ogbadibo LGA APC – 8882 PDP – 6844

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