EFCC to quiz Badeh, others in batches

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raised  a team to interrogate a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, and 17 others, including 11 senior military officers.

The officers, who have been mentioned in connection with the alleged $2.1 billion arms deals,  will be quizzed in batches, it was learnt at the weekend.

Some of the officers have, however, alleged that they were not allowed to appear before the Special Investigative Committee (sic) before being referred to the EFCC.

A former National  Chairman of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, has said he has not received any invitation from the anti-graft agency, contrary to reports.

The list of military officers to be grilled includes two former Chiefs of Air Staff, Air Marshals M.D. Umar and A.N. Amosu(rtd).

Others to be probed are 22 companies traced to associates and relatives of some of the suspects.

Also to be probed are: AVM A. M. Mamu (the Chief of Administration); AVM O.T.Oguntoyinbo (former Director of Production, Defence Headquarters);  AVM R.A. Ojuawo (Air Officer Tactical Air Command, Makurdi;  AVM J.B. Adigun(former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting in NAF); and AVM JA Kayode-Beckley (Director, Armament Research in Air Force Research and Development Centre); AVM T Omenyi (MD, NAF Holdings) four top officers at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Air Cdre A.O. Ogunjobi; Air Cdre G.M.D Gwani; Air Cdre S.O. Makinde; Air Cdre A.Y. Lassa and Col. N. Ashinze , who was the Special Military Assistant to the ex-National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).

 Col. Ashinze is in the EFCC’s custody.

The anti-graft agency has quizzed  Alex Badeh Jr., son of the former Chief of Defence Staff, in connection with the arms scandal.

A source said: “We are going ahead with the interrogation of some former and serving military officers as recommended. There is no going back on this.

“We have a team ready to interact with these officers and about 22 companies. But we will conduct the interrogation in batches.

“Very soon, we will invite these officers. We have a schedule of how we will conduct our findings.”
Some serving and former military chiefs have raised issues on why they were referred to the EFCC because the sic had not invited them.

A source said: “We were surprised that the EFCC has been mandated to interact with some of us when we  were never invited by the sic which made the recommendation to the Presidency.

“This is an area we want the President and Commander-In-Chief, HE Muhammadu Buhari, to look at. The sic did some preliminary work for EFCC to act upon. But we were not asked to appear.
“We are not afraid of accounting for our tenure but due process must be followed.”

Mu’azu said he had not received any invitation from the EFCC or any anti-graft agency.
An aide to Muazu, who spoke on behalf of his boss, said: “Contrary to what is being reported, Mu’azu is yet to receive any invitation from the EFCC or any agency.

“The ex-PDP National Chairman is also not aware of any allegation against him. Yet we read of N500million and some ambiguous figures on a daily basis. Some even alleged that the former governor is on the run, which is not true.  Mu’azu was a party leader and he did not go beyond his bound while leading the PDP.”

Self Promotion: Customs in massive de-ranking of officers

                             Customs CG, Hameed Ali inspecting Guard of Honour at Customs Headquarter

 CRISIS is brewing at the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, following management’s decision to clampdown on officers from the ranks of Assistant Comptroller of Customs to the lowest cadre, over their alleged indiscriminate allotment of ranks to themselves.

The development, it was gathered, has made some of the affected officers to start running helter skelter with a view to scuttling the exercise.

Some affected officers have resorted to using their godfathers to stop the management from implementing the decision.

Effort to reach the Service Spokesman, Mr. Adewale Adebayo, a Deputy Comptroller of Customs was futile as his phone rang several times without being picked up.

Confirming the development, Mr Chris Osunkwo, a Chief Superi-ntendent of Customs, told Saturday Vanguard that some officers have refused to play by rules and regulations guiding Customs promotions, transfer and deployment, adding that the indiscipline prompted the current management to embark on the de-ranking exercise.

He explained that a lot of people in the service had abused the rules and regulations of the service because they believe they have godfathers that can speak for them.

Osunkwo, who is also the Spokesman of the Tin-Can Island Customs Command, disclosed that the same directive was given during the tenure of Mr. Abdullahi Dikko but the directive was not implemented. “Even during Oga Dikko’s time as Comptroller – General, this same directive was released but nobody cared to enforce it and I don’t know why they refused to obey but now the new management is taking steps, to enforce the directive.”

Explaining further, Osunkwo said that there are three cadres in the Customs Service: Customs Assistant Cadre, Inspectorate Cadre and Superintendent Cadre.

He also said if anybody wanted to migrate from one cadre to the other, there are conditions an officer must fulfil before migrating,adding that what obtains these days is that people just ascribe ranks to themselves without following due process.

He disclosed that this was not the first time such a directive was being released, adding that some officers flout directives because they believe they have godfathers, who can speak for them.

His words: “People ab initio refused to abide by the rules and regulations that guide our appointments, promotions and deployments.

“Officers know that these things have been spelt out; it is just that a lot of them believe that they have godfathers here and there, that is why they sometimes flout some of these directives. If you are not a graduate or Higher National Diploma holder, and you join the Customs, you are not a commissioned officer yet until you do what we call lateral conversion.

“We have three cadre points of entry into the Nigeria Customs Service and they are the Customs Assistant Cadre, the Inspectorate Cadre and Superintendent cadre. If you want to migrate from one cadre to another cadre, there are conditions in the scheme of service which should qualify you to migrate and not for you to ascribe rank to yourself.

‘’If you have any added qualification to entry qualification, come forward and management will verify if you got approval to embark on your educational pursuit. If this is confirmed, you are automatically up graded to the cadre of your wish. But what obtains among some officers is that they get additional qualification most times without approval and before you know it, they are wearing ranks they are not entitled to wear. Whether these additional qualifications are fake or not, nobody cares to find out.”


In like manner, the Public Relation Officer of the Apapa Area One Command of the Customs Service, Mr. Emmanuel Ekpa told Saturday Vanguard that the Comptroller General, Col. Hameed Ali (retd) is working on a directive that officers should put on their appropriate rank.

Ekpa also confirmed the fact that officers had refused to wear their appropriate rank in the past, even when the last Comptroller-General of Customs Mr. Dikko Abdullahi tried to address the issue.

“The truth is that what has happened is not new and the Comptroller-General of Customs is not doing anything contrary to the rules and regulations of the service. What he did was that he was given directive on officers that are not putting on their appropriate rank. How do you know the appropriate rank? Bring your letter of promotion; your letter of promotion will determine what your rank is.

UK-based Ghanaian Doctor Sacked For Recommending T.B Joshua’s Prayer To Patient

A Ghanaian psychiatrist, Dr Awakame Julius of National Health Service, NHS in the North Essex Partnership Foundation Trust, United Kingdom, has been reportedly sacked after he advised a patient to get help from TB Joshua’s 24-hour church TV channel, Emmanuel TV because she might be possessed by demonic forces, UK Daily Mail reports.

Dr Julius, according to reports, recorded medical notes diagnosing the woman as having a history of ‘satanic ritual abuse’ and said her issues could not be addressed by regular treatment.

He, thereafter, told his unidentified patient to watch Emmanuel TV, adding that ‘neither psychiatry not psychology would be able to help because there were special forces at play.’

The patient claimed Julius also told her to get ‘holy water’ before ‘switching off’ during the consultation at the health centre where he was treating the ‘vulnerable’ woman as an outpatient.

When community psychiatric nurse Martin Rowe later quizzed Julius whether his patient was possessed, he said, “She may well be” and claimed she had been thrown out of her local church due to her condition.

The doctor, reports allege, faced being struck off after he was found guilty in his absence at a medical tribunal of a number of misconduct charges.

The hearing in Manchester, was told he was made aware she had a ‘Dissociative Identity’: a personality disorder, and a ‘history of previous satanic ritual abuse’ before making a record of it in his notes.

But Awakame, formerly of Ipswich, then told his patient she had been ‘initiated through satanic ritual’ and wrote down a website address for her to access, reportedly claiming that her problems ‘could only be addressed by the church’ before he wrote down the name and suggested she wrote a book about her experiences.

The TV station, the doctor added, was “specifically targeted for people who experience similar situations.”

(Source: DAILY POST)

Buhari Threatened To Sack Ministers Because Of Extradition Agreement With UAE--SR

Sources inside Nigeria’s Presidency have told SaharaReporters that fierce disagreements over treaties signed between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) nearly led to the sacking of top ministers in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. The sources disclosed that Minister of Trade and Investment, Udo Udoma, and Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, expressed serious concerns over the provisions of several of the treaties President Buhari planned on signing with the UAE. The ministers’ opposition caused serious friction within Mr. Buhari’s team, SaharaReporters learned.

Mr. Buhari met earlier this week with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Al Nah Yan, the Crown Prince of the UAE, to discuss a range of financial and political issues and to sign six bilateral agreements.

 According to documents exclusively leaked to SaharaReporters, the six agreements focused on four judicial issues: extraditing criminals in the UAE to Nigeria, the transfer of incarcerated and sentenced persons, mutual legal assistance on criminal matters, and mutual assistance on civil and commercial issues. The bilateral agreement expressly states that these agreements relate to the “recovery and repatriation of stolen Nigerian assets.”

Ahead of the signing of the agreements, Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant for Media and Publicity to President Buhari, stated, “Nigeria also expects to get more support from the UAE for its war against terrorism and the recovery of Nigeria’s stolen funds.”

However, SaharaReporters has learned that the commercial and trade agreements signed between Nigeria and the UAE were considered by many on Mr. Buhari’s delegation as counter to Nigeria’s best economic interests. The most vocal dissenters, according to sources, were Mrs. Adeosun and Mr. Udoma, who counseled Mr. Buhari not to sign those agreements.

Our sources revealed that Mr. Buhari was, however, not interested in his ministers’ arguments that the economic agreements between Nigeria and the UAE were weighted against Nigeria’s interests. “Mr. President was focused on doing whatever was necessary to repatriate stolen funds and extradite criminals hiding in the UAE,” said one source. He added, “He was so concerned about that sole issue that he became incensed about the warning from some members of his team.”

At one point in the debate, Mr. Buhari declared his readiness to relieve Mrs. Adeosun and Mr. Udoma of their portfolios if they did not drop their opposition to the agreements.

One source told SaharaReporters that the two ministers realized the importance of identifying and reclaiming assets illicitly stashed away by corrupt Nigerians in the UAE, especially Dubai. However, they felt that Nigeria gave away too much in terms of its bilateral economic interests in order to achieve the president’s major goal.

Buhari cleaning the mess of Jonathan, Yar’Adua, Obasanjo – Mbadinuju

Former Anambra State Governor and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chimwoke Mbadinuju has called for support for the anti-graft campaigns of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

He told journalists in Keffi on Friday that “what the president is doing is cleaning the mess of previous administrations. It is clear that the president is not the cause of our political and economic problems but rather finding solutions of past and present problems we face.

“Former administrations brought the “cankerworm” and “caterpillar” of corruption, injustice, poor economy, cheating and looting. President Buhari has extended the loot recovery to former Yar’adua-Obasanjo era and this is extensive enough to curb graft and recover Nigeria’s stolen commonwealth.

“Corruption will die faster in Nigeria if we do away with avarice, inordinate ambition, political ostentation, greed, cheating and the likes.”

We won’t provide sureties for Metuh –Jalo

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has said that it will not provide sureties for its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh.

The party said since Metuh was being prosecuted for offences that have nothing to do with it, its embattled spokesperson should look for those who would stand as sureties for him.

Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo said  on Friday in Abuja that it would be wrong for anyone to be expecting the party to provide sureties for Metuh when the party did not benefit from the money he allegedly collected from the former National Security Adviser, Lt Col. Sabo Dasuki (retd.).

Metuh is facing charges for allegedly collecting N400m from Dasuki, an offence the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission described as money laundering.

Though Metuh said he actually collected the money, he said it was for a job he did for former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Metuh has, however, remained silent on the type of job he allegedly did for the former President.

Source: PUNCH.

Dollar scarcity hits Nigerian banks

Bank customers are now unable to withdraw dollars from their domiciliary accounts amid worsened scarcity of the currency in the financial services sector, Saturday PUNCH investigation has revealed.

With the situation, business persons and individuals are complaining that they cannot get dollars from their banks to do transactions.

Meanwhile, the naira has continued to depreciate at the parallel market amid mixed reactions to the recent foreign exchange policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria to stop selling forex to Bureau de Change operators.

Currently, the naira exchanges at about N300 at the parallel market and trades at about N200 at the official interbank window.

Investigation, however, showed that the scarcity of dollars has worsened in banks which are therefore under pressure to meet customers’ foreign exchange demand.

For instance, a Lagos based medical doctor, Clementina Silas, said she had been unable to withdraw the amount she needed from her domiciliary account for over 10 days.

Silas said she was told by officials of her bank to try several of their branches to check if they could come up with the $1,300 she wanted to withdraw from her account.

Source:  Saturday PUNCH