The adjectives used to describe the re-arrest, in Court, Friday, of Omoyele Sowore, by dozens of security personnel from the Directorate of State Security, DSS, were like claps of thunder.
“Horrendous, barbaric, contempt of Court”, thundered his lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN.
“I am ashamed of being a lawyer. The Court had been desecrated”, another SAN, Olu Adegboruwa intoned.
And from a former Minister for Education and former Presidential aspirant, Oby Ezekwesili, a warning to President Muhammadu Buhari: “It is in your interest that nothing happens to Sowore”
The invasion of an Abuja Court, Friday, by operatives of the DSS where they forcefully re-arrested Sowore, took most Nigerians by surprise, and attracted strong condemnation from several quarters.
Sowore, Publisher, Sahara Reporters, a Presidential candidate in the 2019 Presidential Election, and Convener of #RevolutionNow, was in DSS detention for 125 days. He was arrested and charged with Treasonable Felony for convening a protest against the state of the nation tagged #RevolutionNow. Detained with him was Olawale Bakare.
Taken to Court, the trial Judge, Hon. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, granted both men bail in rather stringent terms. Reviewed later, they met the bail conditions, but the DSS wouldn’t release them. They gave one reason or the other, including: “The Sureties should come for them.”
Series of protests and condemnations did not change the DSS stand. Not did Justice Ojukwu’s threats.
But, on Thursday, angry, the Judge gave the DSS 24hours to obey Court orders and release them on bail . She also fined the DSS to the tune of N100,000.00, only. The same day, some elderly women from Sowore’s village in Ondo, travelled all the way to Abuja and protested, bare-breasted, asking for his release.
A few hours later, the DSS released both men, and even paid up the fine. Sowore came out from detention, smiling broadly, making a victory sign with two fingers.
Nigerians cheered.
But it was short-lived. And so was Sowore’s victory sign.
Friday morning, he had appeared in Court before Justice Ojukwu just so the Judge would confirm compliance by the DSS. She did, and adjourned the case against Sowore and Bakare to February, 2020. She even praised the DSS for obeying her order, reminding the Agency that “nobody is above the law.”
If only she knew.
Hell was soon let loose as the next case was called, and Sowore stepped out of the court.
Laying in wait for him and Bakare were over a dozen DSS personnel. They made to arrest him. A struggle ensued. He extricated himself from them, and dashed into the court for protection. They did not retreat. They also dashed into the court with him, guns in hand, allegedly cocked.
Justice Ojukwu and a number of Counsels fled to safety. But a number of lawyers and other spectators rose against what they called “a desecration of the Court, and an assault on the Judiciary.” They struggled with the DSS personnel over Sowore – inside the Court. A number of those in court, fought to prevent his arrest by the DSS. There were screams. Cameras clicked away. Sowore was wrestled to the ground.
He told Reporters that they came to kill him; that they had promised to kill him at their facility when he refused to a deal with them; that they told him he would not walk out of their facility alive.
He told Nigerians not to be afraid; He told them to stand firm; that Nigeria belonged to all of them.
But after all that, the DSS overpowered everybody. They had their way. And, Sowore and Bakare were driven to the DSS headquarters in Falana’s car. They are back to their Cell at the DSS headquarters.
Not a few Nigerians agree that the court invasion was a desecration of the Temple of Justice.
SERAP says its an abomination.
Falana, shocked, says Nigeria has never experienced anything like this before.
” This development is horrendous, bizzare and a barbaric contempt of Court never witnessed under even the most brutal of past dictators that has ever ruled Nigeria.
“Under the military regime, the so-called enemies of the government would not be arrested in the web of the court which is considered a sanctuary.
“What we witnessed today is alien to Nigeria.”
Justice Ojukwu expressed dismay, and said she fled her Court.
Nobody knows what the Judge or the DSS will do next. Or what Sowore’s fate will be.
The consensus, however, is that the scene witnessed Friday in Abuja is the shame of a nation.
The management of Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMSL) has debunked any knowledge or involvement in the physical attack of the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman, at the National Assembly.
The NPA boss petitioned the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan alleging that she was physically attacked by hoodlums at the premises of the National Assembly in Abuja on Tuesday.
She claimed that her attack was ochestrated by Chairman of Messrs Ocean Maritime Solutions Limited (OMSL), Captain Wells Okunbo apparently over the decision of the NPA on the Secure Anchorage issue after attending investigative hearing in the Assembly.
She said that she was only saved a bigger assault by her security agents who took her into Senator Danjuma Goje’s office where she waited for the hoodlums to leave.
Reacting to the allegation, Commodore Chuma Adogu (rtd), Geneaid Manager Business Development and Government Relations of OMSL, said the allegation was a falsehood and a figment of imagination, saying the Chairman of OMSL, Captain Wells Okunbo, a fine gentlemen who has served the nation diligently in various capacities, could not have sponsored thugs to attack the NPA boss.
Commodore Adogu (retd.) noted that on that Tuesday there was no any sign of such alleged attach or rented crowd in the premises of the National Assembly that could warrant such allegation, maintaining that OMSL Management came to the National Assembly just like other invited organizations on the day of the investigation by the Joint Committee of the Senate investigating the Secure Anchorage Area (SAA).
‘’On the day of the investigation at the National Assembly, we came like other invited organizations and we never came with any thugs or rented crowd to harass anybody talkless the Managing Director of NPA.
The security at the premises of the National Assembly was very tight as everybody was routinely checked and controlled while entering thus forestalling any rented crowd or thugs to gain entrance.
We came before the panel and presented our position in the SAA without nursing hatred against anyone.
‘’Let me make it clear to the Nigerian public that OMSL is a responsible corporate organization with a lot of Nigerians working as its employees. We are mindful of this and never can we trade it away.
I repeat, we do not have hands nor did our Chairman sponsor any group of thugs to attack Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman.
We see this as part of the attempts to discredit OMS and distract attention from the main issue which is already with the Senate’’ he submitted
“Returning to a ruling Party is one dream I have long dreamt to realize. I’ve not just come back, I am a Senator. I don’t think I will make the mistakes I made when I was governor. Ohaneze and co can do Igbo as they like, I don’t give a damn. Everyone must carry his cross.
“I am not afraid to speak the truth; I’m trained by a Hausa Fulani, I brought RUGA to the South east. I built a mosque for the Moslems when I was governor. I have business scattered in the northern part of the country. We are one Nigeria. We must support Buhari to implement RUGA across the country.
“Anytime a vote is called for any bill to be passed in favour of RUGA, I, Orji Uzor Kalu will vote in support.”
– Orji Uzor Kalu, in an interview
By Ebere Levi
The above quote is from the now convicted former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. It tells his story, his politics, his fierce defence and loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari, and his, atimes, I don’t-care attitude to the yearnings of the majority of his people. Some people call it his selfishness.
Danjuma Goje: EFCC dropped His corruption trial
Yet, blood is thicker than water. Majority of his Igbo people are shocked at his seeming downfall, his seeming call from grace to grass. They are not celebrating. They are sticking to an Igbo proverb which says: “When a corpse starts smelling, a friend thought to be closer than a relation, disappears.”
Before Thursday December 5th, Orji Uzor Kalu’s honour was intact. He was a former House of Reps member, former governor and currently Chief Whip of the Senate.
And so, as he sat calmly in the dock facing Justice Muhammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos, Kalu knew his fate lies with the Judge. And one silent prayer the former governor probably muttered as Justice Idris made to read his judgement was: “God, please preserve my honour and integrity, let this cup pass me by”
But that prayer was not answered. By the time the Judge was done with his ruling, Kalu had become a convicted criminal, and Correctional Centre bound.
Convicted on all 39 count chargers brought against him by the EFCC bordering on #76.65 billion fraud perpetuated by him while he held sway as the governor of Abia state between 1999 and 2007 and slammed with a 12 year jail term, Kalu’s 12 year battle to stave off prison has been lost.
“Please Don’t Handcuff Me”
Moments after the judgement, officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service, armed with handcuffs made a brisk movement towards the dock where Kalu sat, lost, and crestfallen with a far away look dancing on his face, and made for his wrists.
It was at that moment it dawned on the ex- governor that his social status has been severely altered by the court ruling.
Evidently agitated and alarmed at being photographed with handcuff, Kalu made a passionate plea to the handcuff wielding officials: “Please, don’t handcuff me. I will follow you.”
As he was being led away, the convicted Senate Chief Whip managed to maintain a calm mien.He then asked the prison warders escorting: “Where are you taking us to?” And to the equally shocked news-hounds, he managed an apparent joke: “2023, here we come”.
Godswill Akpabio: He suddenly became Mr. Clean.
A12 year Battle and the Road to Golgotha
In the twilight of his governorship, an avalanche of petitions against the then youthful governor flooded the EFCC, at that time superintended by the by the fire- spitting Nuhu Ribadu. The petitioners had alleged that Kalu and his mother, Eunice Kalu, called “Mother Excellency” by Abians, ostensibly, because of her alleged firm hold on his son and influence she wielded in his government, had dipped their hands in Abia’s common till.
Shortly after leaving office on May 29, 2007, the anti- graft Agency wasted no time in charging the ex governor to court. The case was however, to linger for 12 years, ending with Kalu’s conviction by Justice Idris.
He was convicted alongside his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited and the former Abia State director of finance, Ude Udeogu.
Though Kalu became quite wealthy at the young age of 24, which means he was already rich before his election as Abia governor in 1999, the court insisted assets of his company were proceeds of the heist of Abia’s financial resources. It, therefore, means that apart from sending the former governor to jail, all the assets of his company would be forfeited to the federal government.
Question Is: How Fair Is That?
However, the forfeiture order is now raising eyebrows Many wonder why Justice Idris ceded Abia’s recovered wealth to the Federal government. “It is Abia’s money that Kalu stole and those who petitioned the EFCC did so with the hope that the money would be recovered and returned to the state. It is strange that Justice Idris has given the Federal government what does not belong to it. It is quite strange and unsettling”, Elvis Nwamadu, a public affairs analyst, lamented. That aside, Kalu had acquired a number of such assets before he became a governor. He was, financially, solid long before then. Why was he stripped of everything?, a number of people are asking.
The Charges
In an amended 39-count-charges, Senator Kalu and Udeogu were accused, by the EFCC, of conspiring and diverting over N7 billion from the coffers of the state.
In one of the counts, the EFCC said that Kalu “did procure Slok Nigeria Limited – a company solely owned by you and members of your family – to retain in its account, domiciled with the then Inland Bank Plc, Apapa branch, Lagos, an aggregate sum of N7,197,871,208.7 on your behalf.”
The EFCC insisted that the N7.1 billion “formed part of the funds illegally derived from the treasury of the Abia State Government and which was converted into several bank drafts before they were paid into the said company’s account.”
EFCC’s Lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs, said the ex-governor violated Section 17(c) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, and was liable to be punished under Section 16 of the same Act.
Obasanjo: Accused of corruption by Kalu
Jacobs told the court that the former governor violated Section 17(c) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, and was therefore, liable to be punished under Section 16 of the same Act.
Besides the N7.1bn he was said to have laundered, Senator Kalu and the other defendants were also alleged to have received a total of N460 million said to have been stolen from the Abia State Government treasury between July and December 2002.
The EFCC told the court that Senator Kalu and his co- accused breached Section 427 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap 77, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990.
And Kalu’s Political Bullet Proof Failed Him
Senator Kalu fought hard to stay off jail. He threw all into the fight.He didnt want to go to jail.He wanted the corruption charges dead, even if it is a programmeed, unnatural dead.
And so he was ready to clutch on anything that could change the narrative.He was also ready to stake everything just to ensure that he was not tarred with the sobriquet: ” A convict”.
He did stake all to achieve this. What to do? He clutched on President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC. Apparently, he felt, or was told that defecting to the party, and crying more than the breaved in the mould of vociferous support for Buhari, were the political bullet proofs he needed to be shielded from prosecution, the only antidote against the continuation of his trial.
And so, he wore Buhari and the APC like bullet proof vest, flaunting them at every juncture. In so doing, Kalu staked the political preference of his people, the South east and specifically Abia. When the Anti- APC fervour was at its peak in the zone, Kalu joined the party, dumping the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which he has consistently claimed he founded and funded.
While the South east and the majority of its politicians (including many APC chieftains in the zone who secretly rooted for the Obi/ Atiku ticket) were feverishly drumming support for the PDP and its presidential candidate and running mate, Atiku Abubakar and Peter respectively, Kalu surfaced in Buhari’s home in Daura, Kastina, where the Emir turbaned him. Adorning the Islamic turban on his head and grinning from ear to ear, he made a splash of it.
In Daura, he pledged South east’s support for the president and the APC, and declared him the best thing that has happened to Nigeria.
Despite the much touted marginalisation of the South east in the Buhari government, especially in the security apparatus, Kalu granted an interview justifying the lopsided appointments, saying Buhari had the right to pick all of his Service Chiefs from the North.
Following his conviction, many who feel the former governor sold out in order to curry favour from the APC government have been mocking him. For example, a social media influencer, Nkechinyere Nuru Asogwa, wrote on her Facebook wall: ” What next for Orji Kalu? I thought that APC is political bullet proof”.
Another social media influencer, Queenvee Chimaobi wrote: “Orji Uzor, how market? This is what you get for selling out your people. You joined APC to cover up, the cabals behind Buhari are the real gamers”.
Magu: Kalu as a big fish
And A Presidential Aide Mocks
The unkindest mockery came from a Presidential Aide, Senator Babafemi Ojudu. No sooner was Kalu convicted than he mocked: “All those who are stealing will go the way of Kalu”. One did not expect such a reaction from a Presidential quarter, especially, as Kalu was considered to have given all to curry Presidential favours. He was considered one of them, an inner circle member, or so he claimed.
Abia APC, Shocked
Meanwhile, Abia APC Chairman, Donatus Nwankpa said he was disappointed by the judgement. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Nwakpa blamed the judiciary for Kalu’s woes.
“The party will meet to take a position on the judgment but as an individual, I am very saddened by the judgment. I am not convinced that judgment was given…considering the utterances of the judge. I’m highly convinced that something went wrong. The judgment is not fair,” he said.
Of Ethnic Colouration and Different Strokes For Different Folks
Not a few Nigerians are reading ethnic meaning to the jailing of Kalu.They alleged the former Abia state governor got the treatment Justice Idris handed down to him because he( kalu) is Igbo.
Many are wondering why the APC led federal government saw to the logical conclusion of Kalu’s case but did not sustain the corruption trial of former Gombe governor, Senator Danjuma Goje.
Critics equally draw attention to the dropping of charges against former Bayelsa state governor and now Minister of state for Petroleum, Timipre Slyva. His corruption charges were dropped and about 32 houses, already seized from him, by the EFCC, returned to him.
Asked a weeping devastated Abia Youth who was too broken to give his name: “Why kalu? Why has the EFCC not dealth with the corruption petitions against former governors Bola Tinubu( APC National Leader), Godswill Akpabio(Niger Delta Minister), Adam Oshiohmole (APC National Chairman), Chibuike Amaechi – all prominent actors in the Buhari government?”
In Goje’s case, the EFCC in June this year, dramatically withdrew the N25 billion corruption charge it had preferred against him.
Goje was, at that time, angling for the Senate Presidency against APC/ Buhari’s choice and the current occupier of that office, Senator Ahmed Lawan. It is widely believed that the withdrawal of the case was a trade-off offered Goje in exchange for burying his ambition.
Similarly, Akpabio, this magazine cannot confirm, was on the verge of being put on trial last August before he surfaced in London where Buhari was vacating, genuflecting before the President.
Days later, he returned to the country and announced his defection to the APC thus, according to sources, “sounding the death knell on his impending trial for corruption”
A social commentator, Attah Enwang, sums up in pidgin English, the alleged victimisation of Kalu because of his Igbo ethnicity: “Orji Uzor Kalu bags 12 years jail? Bcos na Igbo? Until Akpabio, Tinubu and Ganduje are convicted, Buhari is not fighting corruption”.
Kalu, Not The Only Ex-Governor, Convicted
But those reading ethnic coloration, forget that before Kalu, there were Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye.
Nyame is a former Governor of Taraba state, and Dariye, a former Governor of Plateau state. Like Kalu, Dariye had jumped ship from the PDP to the APC, and was a serving Senator. Both are in jail. And, like Kalu’s, even though their cases were started under the PDP government, they were concluded under the APC government.
The Man, His Politics, His Controversies, His Businesses
Senator Kalu projects himself as a pan-Nigerian, a detribalised Nigerian and political juggernaut. He is also a business mogul who presides over a sprawling business empire spanning oil and gas, shipping, hospitality industry, publishing, banking, haulage, aviation among others.
In his bid to live up to the billings above, the former Abia state governor has often found himself mired in controversies.
For example, as governor, he was highly critical of President Olusegun Obasanjo, often hauling insults at the then Nigerian leader who he derided as corrupt, wicked and incompetent.
He boasts that Obasanjo was penniless when he came out of prison in 1998, and that he was among those who contributed millions of Naira to make him president.
Out of office, Kalu was not down with pillorying Obasanjo. In one of the interviews he granted to a team of newspaper Editors, Kalu made some far reaching allegations against the former president.
Holding Obasanjo responsible for his woes, the ex-governor pointedly alleged that the former president had told him to his face that he would make sure he suffered in life.
He traced his differences with Obasanjo to the latter’s alleged third term ambition which he claimed he, in conjunction with some PDP governors, and in Collaboration with foreign powers, thwarted, a feat he describes as “a coup against Obasanjo”.
Kalu equally alleged that Obasanjo, indeed, in the presence of former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, pledged to be a one term president after which he would handover to him( Babangida).
In the run up to the 2003 presidential election, Kalu alleges, Obasanjo knelt down for him in his ( Kalu) bedroom and begged that he be allowed to run for second term.
However, Kalu’s critics characterise him as one who lacks decorum.
They posit that the former governor hugs the headlines by playing to the gallery. For example, they reveal that in many occasions, after abusing Obasanjo in the day, Kalu would sneak into Ota at night with his mother to prostrate before the chicken farmer and beg for forgiveness.
Described as a political prostitute by his opponents, in the last 20 years, the embattled former Abia state governor has tranversed political parties- from PDP to the Peoples Progressive Alliance, PPA (which he founded as a sitting governor at the height of his spat with Obasanjo), from PPA back to the PDP, and then from PDP back to the PPA, and yet from PPA back to the PDP and finally from the PDP to the APC.
In his quest to be accepted and seen as a detribalised Nigerian, Kalu often end up injuring the socio-political sensibilities of his Igbo kins. For example, in 2001, Kalu as governor attracted the ire of the Igbo, and attracted to himself opprobrium and odium when he, on behalf of Ndigbo, offered what he had termed an “apology” to Nigeria over the Nigerian-Biafran war, absolving his generation’s complicity in the war.
Not many Igbo forgave him for that.
The End?
Will Kalu’s imprisonment Mark the end of his political career? Not likely. And, he does not think so. He still has his eyes on 2023. At, least, he told Journalists so I’m court after his conviction. He always said he would be the first Nigerian President from the South-east. How that will materialise, only him knows.
Truth is: He still has chances to re-ignite his political career. That begins with an appeal, to a higher court against his conviction, beginning from the Appeal Court. “We shall pursue this case to the Supreme Court”, a Kalu sympathiser told this magazine.
Even then, a couple of Nigerians had come out of jail, stronger than ever. In Kalu’s category, this magazine can point out the former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori. Jailed for corruption in London, out of jail, Ibori remains the most influential politician in Delta.
After months of detention in the custody of the Department of State Security, DSS, and after a couple of disobedience to Court orders for his release on bail, Convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore, has finally been released.
His release followed a 24-hour ultimatum given to the DSS, by Hon Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, Thursday, to release him.
It also followed a protest by half-clad elderly women who stormed the Court in Abuja, Thursday, asking for his release.
The DSS had angered Justice Ojukwu by its continued refusal to obey her order, even after Sowore had met his bail conditions.
The DSS had arrested Sowore and and his co-detainee, Adebayo Bakare for convening #RevolutionNow.
They were charged with Treason, among other charges. Bakare was also released along with Sowore.
In a bid to boost Agriculture in the nation, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility has continued to impact lives of dairy farmers positively through its successful Dairy Development Programme, DDP, in rural communities.
The Dairy Company, which has the ambition to improve the standard of living of dairy farmers and their families in Nigeria, where it operates its Dairy Development Programme, has given farmers the opportunity to participate in technical and entrepreneurial trainings, thus safeguarding food security and nutrition.
The Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, Ore Famurewa, explained that “At FrieslandCampina WAMCO, we are proud of the over 7,000 farmers including female dairy farmers who have been empowered under our Dairy Development Programme, across Oyo, Ogun and Osun States respectively. We are particularly happy with the increased access they have to a better life as they are able to support themselves and send their children to school.”
“It is, however, pertinent to reiterate that FrieslandCampina WAMCO is a responsible corporate entity in Nigeria. It does not condone any form of undue commercial exploitation in any of its processes. The company is fully committed to preventing and eliminating any form of child labour in its supply chain. It continually works with stakeholders to develop and implement meaningful solutions, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
“This consistently forms part of its engagement with the pastoralist and smallholder farmers. Additional review will be done to ensure all practices remain in line with the Oyo State Child Rights Law 2006 in particular and the Laws of Nigeria in general”, Famurewa explained.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s Administration in Ondo State of overburdening the people of the State, and aggravating their poverty level.
The Media and Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the State, Zadok Akintoye, said that Arakunrin Akeredolu has failed to impact positively on the lives of the people.
Akintoye made this disclosure when the Nigeria Guild of Investigative Journalists, NGIJ, visited the PDP Secretariat on its governance Assessment tour in the State.
He added that the people of Ondo now pay taxes for everything, and the government has failed to give the people dividends of democracy.
“During Akeredolu’s campaign three years ago, he promised to provide water and basic infrastructures for the people, but years down the line, the people are yet to feel his impact, as he has abandoned projects initiated by his predecessor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, that were masses- driven.
“Accountability is the Hallmark of governance, but the Akeredolu administration has failed to be accountable to the people. Akeredolu has flamboyant propaganda project to bamboozle the people.
“Amounts spent on his projects are shrouded in secrecy, especially the Ore bridge, which is presently being constructed”, Akintoye lamented.
But discarding the claims of the PDP, Vice Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the State, Solomon Elefola Olamide, chided the PDP as an opposition which will never see anything good in the ruling party.
“Akeredolu has done brilliantly well in terms of infrastructure and has impacted positively on the lives of the people. The APC government inherited N200 billion debt, seven months unpaid salaries, and over three years of gratuities and pensions of retirees. He has paid all the salaries and also paid part of the N200 billion debt. He is not owing the workers of the State, which was a far cry from the previous administration in the State”.
In the same vein, the Public Relations Officer of the APC, Alex Kalejaiye said that as regards taxation, the government has spent the money judiciously, and it is vivid for all the people to see.
“Quality Education, good health and basic infrastructures aren’t cheap. The taxes are for the growth and development of the State”.
Another Nigerian Businessman, Ifeanyi Ubah, has Wednesday been charged to court by the federal government over allegations bordering on N135billion fraud.
In a four count charge filed in a Lagos High Court, the government Lawyer, Korede Adegoke, said that in the first instance, sometime between 2012 and 2018, Ubah made false claims “in relation to the actual values of certain assets transferred to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) under the consent Judgement delivered in Suit no. FHC/ABJ/CS/714/2012 on the first day of July 2013 in partial payment of the indebtedness of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited with a view to defeating the realization of the said Judgement debt of the said Capital Oil and gas limited”.
The judgement debt is put at N135 billion.
Government also accused Ubah of giving false information in relation to the actual value of the debt.
Ubah was also accused of frustrating the sale of his property at Banana Island to recover the money.
Efforts, however is being made to settle the case out of court.
The managing Director, Access Bank Plc. Herbert Wigwe has disclosed that the bank will continue to assist the Nigerian Police Force, NPF in its quest to provide security for bank customers.
The chief executive of the upward moving lender made this known when he commissioned an interrogation room donated to the NPF at Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The bank said the donation is part of the bank’s plan to ensure the protection of lives and property around Ikoyi and environs.
The Wigwe-led bank also complemented the well-equipped facility with a 250 KVA generator, donated to the Force to help improve officers’ working conditions and surrounding neighborhood.
Represented by the the Group Head, Enterprise Business Resources, Mac Atom, Wigwe said the bank has made a bold statement about its commitment to corporate social responsibility.
He said similar state-of the-art facilities have been donated to various police formations across the country, promising to do more as part of its responsibility to assist security agencies in making sure the country is safe.
“Partnerships and social investment remains a critical part of Access Bank’s sustainability drive.
In our bid to offer more than banking and create value for various government agencies, we have donated state of the art interrogation and observation rooms to select divisions of the Nigerian Police Force across the country, starting with Lagos.
We thank the NPF for all they do, especially for seeing to it that all our customers remain protected and secure,” he said.
The Assistant Inspector General in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex, Alagbon, Ikoyi, Murtala Mani, in appreciation urged other players in the business community to emulate Access Bank by assisting the police to rein in crime in the country.
For years Access bank has provided support across all the sectors as part of its corporate social responsibility.
The Managing Director, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistic Base LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi has described the logistic company as a model for new economic diversification.
“We spent the last three years perfecting this master plan and we are now rolling it out.”Dr Jadesimi said at the 19th edition of the International Economic Forum on Africa themed: “African Integration: Investing in our common future,” held at the weekend, in Madrid, Spain.
The Forum was organised by the OECD Development Centre and the African Union Commission, in collaboration with Casa Árabe, Casa África and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.
The event focused on the findings of the Africa’s Development Dynamics 2019: Achieving Productive Transformation report, which is the first economic report produced by the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the Development Centre.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jadesimi who was joined on the panel by, Arkebe Oqubay, Senior Minister and Special Adviser to the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Ethiopia), Jong-Dae Park, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in the Republic of South Africa, Felix Fernández-Shaw, Director Development and International Co-operation, EU and the moderator was María Teresa Fernández De La Vega, Chair, Women’s foundation for Africa, said LADOL has expanded the Nigerian maritime business sector.
The LADOL boss stated that the company has leverage on revenues from servicing the petroleum sector to complete the development of the remainder of the Zone as a completely sustainable ecosystem and circular economy.
She explained that this development highlights the importance of supporting real private sector indigenous companies – “because only indigenous companies will have the stamina, staying power and passion to build new businesses over ten to twenty years.
80 per cent of the 680 million new jobs the world needs will be created by SME’s and larger indigenous companies such as LADOL.”
According to her “it is imperative that development finance institutions (DFIs) and other investors in Africa directly fund private companies in Africa.
To date, the vast majority of funds have gone through intermediaries, with most of the direct funding going to multinationals operating in Africa, this has to change if we want to build a sustainable world and maximise returns to investors.”
She stated further that “LADOL is the largest 100 per cent private, 100 per cent indigenous industrial special economic zone in Nigeria.”
Over the last 18 years LADOL has attracted USD 500 million into the Zone, transforming a disused swamp into a world class integrated logistics base and the largest fabrication and integration Yard in West Africa, with the highest lifting capacity in Africa.
The company focuses on tackling high value activities, taking on projects that have never been done in Nigeria before, thereby opening up the market with a multiplier effect on job creation in the sector.
The establishment of the University of Transport in Daura may have been done without due process as it may have been found to break the extant Law that established the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technologies, NITT, Zaria, which in principle prohibits establishment of any other school of Transport.
Decree number 6 of March 14, 1986 had established the NITT, mandating it to train and research on everything that has to do with Transport in Nigeria. The School, this Magazine learnt, has neither been closed down nor has the decree establishing it been amended. This Law is now referred to as Cap 116 of the Federal laws.
“It is one of the 27 research institutions under the Federal ministry of Science and Technology. It is headed by a full-fledged Director General appointed by the federal Government. A federal government owned University of Technology will necessarily have to strip the NIIT of some of its core mandate and this will be illegal, unless the NIIT is scrapped or the Law setting it up is disbanded”, says O’seun Ogunseitan, Science editor of The nation Newspapers.
The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has laid the foundation stone for the establishment of a University of Transport in Daura, home town of President Muhammadu Buhari. This has elicited uproar since critics complain of undue concentration of high profile institutions in the small border village. For example, apart from the Transport University, there is also Federal Polytechnic, Daura and Air Force Reference Hospital, Daura.
The Transport University is to cost a whooping $50 million.
No school-or any other thing for that matter, has been established in Ikenne, the home town of Vice president Yemi Osinbajo.
Ikenne was also the home town of late chief Obafemi Awolowo.
