CCT: Saraki risks 14 years jail, ban, if convicted

With the failure of the battle to stave off his trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false assets declaration at the Supreme Court last Friday, Senate President Bukola Saraki, on conviction risks 14 years jail term, losing his position, 10 years ban from holding public office and forfeiture of any asset related to the alleged offence.

The Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act empowers the CCT to impose any of the punishments prescribed in section 23 of the law.

Section 23 of the Act provides: “(1) Where the tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravening any of the provisions of this Act, it shall impose upon that officer any of the punishments specified under subsection (2) of this section.”

Section 23(2), however, states: “The punishment which the tribunal shall impose shall include any of the following: (a) vacation of office or any elective or nominated office as the case may be; (b) disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding 10 years; (c) seizure and forfeiture to the state of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.”

The prescribed sanctions are also provided for in paragraph 18 of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

However, to show that the prescribed sanctions may not be exhaustive, as the Act employs the word “include,” section 23(3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act provides:

 “The punishments mentioned in subsection (2) of this section shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law, where the breach of conduct is also a criminal offence under the Criminal Code or nay other enactment or law.”

Under this provision, if found guilty of breach of the Code of Conduct for public officers, Saraki may also be punished for perjury, as his assets declaration was done under oath. The Criminal Code Act prescribes imposition of 14 years jail for perjury on condition.

Section 118 of the Criminal Code Act states: “Any person who commits perjury is liable to imprisonment for 14 years. If the offender commits the offence in order to procure the conviction of another person for an offence punishable with death or with imprisonment for life he is liable to imprisonment for life.”

Japan Announces New Sanctions on North Korea

 Japan has announced Wednesday that it will impose new sanctions on North Korea to protest a rocket launch seen as a test of missile technology.

The sanctions will include expanded restrictions on travel between the two countries and a complete ban on visits by North Korean ships to Japanese ports, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference.

"Despite our repeated requests to stop nuclear tests and missile development, (North Korea) pushed ahead with the launch. It has a direct impact on Japan and we need to show our strong determination," Suga said. He said, however, that Japan will keep a door open for dialogue to resolve the still-outstanding issue of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea decades ago.

Suga said the sanctions would be approved by the Cabinet later, and would also require legislative changes in parliament.

Japan in 2014 eased some earlier sanctions on North Korea in exchange for its pledge to reinvestigate the fate of the Japanese abductees. Wednesday's measures go slightly beyond the restoration of the previously eased measures.

The ban on port entry extends to any foreign ships coming to Japan after visiting North Korea. The travel ban will also be broadened to include any foreigners with nuclear and missile expertise who visit North Korea. All money transfers, except for those below 100,000 yen ($880) for humanitarian purposes, will be banned.

North Korea launched a long-range rocket Sunday carrying what it said was an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch, which came about a month after the country's fourth nuclear test, was quickly condemned by world leaders as a potential threat to regional and global security.

The U.S. Congress is also considering more stringent sanctions on North Korea.

The Military advantage of the West is being eroded, report warns

The west is losing its advantage in weapons technology as defence spending in Asia and other regions soars, survey says.

 The west’s decades-long advantage in military technology is being eroded as defence spending in the rest of the world, notably Asia, soars, an authoritative report says.

The latest annual Military Balance by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) shows that advances in weapons-related technology once the preserve of the west – including cruise missiles, unmanned drones and electronic warfare – are becoming increasingly accessible to more and more countries.

The number of countries known to operate UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) has doubled over the past five years, and China has exported them to Iraq and Nigeria.

“Western military technological superiority, a core assumption of the past two decades, is eroding”, John Chipman, IISS director general, told a London press conference. “Slowing this emerging trend or reversing it will be a key preoccupation of western strategists in the coming decade.”

South Korea halts joint venture after North's tests

South Korea is to suspend operations at a jointly run industrial park in North Korea following the North's recent rocket launch and nuclear test.

Seoul said all operations at the complex would halt, to stop the North using its investment "to fund its nuclear and missile development".

Kaesong is the last point of co-operation between the two Koreas and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.

The US warns the North could soon have enough plutonium for nuclear weapons.

South Korea, the US, Japan and others see Sunday's rocket launch - ostensibly to put a satellite into space - as cover for a banned test of missile technology.

Tensions have risen over the past month since North Korea carried out a fourth nuclear test in early January.

"All our support and efforts... were taken advantage of by the North to develop its nuclear weapons and missile programmes," the South's Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo told reporters. 

The announcement came amid reports that the North's military chief, Ri Yong-gil, had been executed on corruption charges.

South Korea's state news agency Yonhap quoted unnamed sources saying the general, who was appointed in 2013, had been deemed guilty of corruption and pursuing personal gains.

US election 2016: Trump and Sanders win New Hampshire

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders have shaken up the US presidential race with decisive victories in the New Hampshire primary.

Billionaire Mr Trump is likely to get more than twice the number of votes of the next Republican candidate. 

Senator Bernie Sanders, who beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by a huge margin, said his victory showed people wanted "real change".

Both candidates are riding on a wave of discontent with mainstream politics.

The aim of the primary race is to choose which candidates will represent the Republican and Democratic parties in November's presidential election.

On Tuesday Ohio Governor John Kasich came second in the Republican vote, with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio all vying for third place. 

New Hampshire is the second state to choose delegates in the long nomination battle following last week's Iowa caucuses, which were won by Mr Cruz for the Republicans and Mrs Clinton for the Democrats. 

The result gives momentum to the winners ahead of the next contests in South Carolina and Nevada.

DSS arrests three over bid to rob TSA of N4.5b cash

A plot by a syndicate to steal N4.5 billion from the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) has been foiled by the Directorate of State Services (DSS).

The four-man syndicate was about to hack into the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) domiciled in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to steal the money when the plan was aborted by the under cover security outfit.

In a wide-ranging statement on its activities yesterday, DSS spokesman Tony Opuiyo, said: “The gang was led by one Sunny Okoh, a hacker who worked in collaboration with the trio of Uwem Udo Ekpo, a Chief Programme Analyst in the OAGF, Maxwell Ekene, a retired security operative and Dozie Egwu, based in Malaysia and who is now at large.

Lagos-Ibadan Expressway ready in 24 months –Fashola

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said the Federal Government is concluding plans to complete the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road, Lagos, within the next two years.

Fashola also stated that the Federal Government inherited a debt of N1tn as outstanding payments to road contractors across the country.

The minister, who spoke on Tuesday while addressing a joint session of the House of Representatives Committees on Works/Power/Housing in Abuja, added that the government’s total commitment to roads was in excess of N2tn.

He explained that the government had decided to prioritise road projects in the country by identifying major ones in the six geographical zones with a view to completing them.