N47.1bn theft charge: Akingbola challenges court’s jurisdiction

Ikeja – A former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, Erastus Akingbola, has challenged the jurisdiction of an Ikeja High Court to entertain the theft charge preferred against him.

Akingbola was charged alongside an associate, Bayo Dada, for allegedly stealing N47.1 billion belonging to the bank.

The defendants are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo.

Akingbola, in two separate preliminary notices of objection filed by his counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) on Monday,

informed the court of the applications which he said ought to be taken because the matter was starting afresh.

Olanipekun argued that the issue of jurisdiction was crucial to any criminal charge and must be addressed before the plea of the defendant is taken.

He argued that the 18-count charge was an abuse of court process because a similar charge involving Akingbola and the EFCC was currently pending before the Federal High Court, Lagos.

According to him, the main witnesses listed in the proof of evidence in the Federal High Court are the same witnesses also listed in the proof of evidence before the court.

Olanipekun said the subject matter of the alleged offences relate to banking operations and operations of capital issues which fell under the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court.

Responding, the EFCC counsel, Mr Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), said the applications were premature and should be held in abeyance by the court.

Ukala argued that they offend Section 262 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State 2011 which provides for speedy dispensation of criminal matters.

In a short ruling, the judge upheld Olanipekun's argument that the applications should be heard first before any further

step is taken on the matter.

He directed that the applications should be consolidated and consequently fixed April 2 for hearing of arguments from parties

Islamic Cleric docked over alleged defilement of 12-yr-old girl

An 32-year-old Islamic cleric, Kazeem Jimoh, on Monday appeared before an Ota Magistrates' Court in Ogun, charged with the alleged defilement of a 12-year-old girl.

Jimoh, whose address was not given, is facing a one-count charge of rape.

The prosecutor, Insp. Peter Molokwu, told the court that the cleric committed the offence on March 18 at 8.00 p.m. in an uncompleted building opposite Community Primary School, Iloye in Ota.

Molokwu said that the accused lured the girl into the building and had unlawful carnal knowledge of her.

He said that police investigation revealed that the cleric had previously engaged in the act with the girl.

The prosecutor said that the offence committed contravened Section 218 of the Criminal Code Vol. 1 of the Revised Laws of Ogun, 2006.

The Magistrate, Mrs Titi Bello, admitted Jimoh to bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

She said that the sureties must be resident within the court's jurisdiction and show evidence of tax payment to the Ogun Government.

Bello said that one of the sureties must also be an owner of a developed land, while the other should be a civil servant not below Level 14 in the employment of the Ogun government.

The case was adjourned till May 23, for mention.

NNPC denies chartering of jet for exclusive use of Petroleum Minister

ABUJA – The Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has denied reports that it chartered aircraft for the personal use of the Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The Corporation in a statement by its Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, said it has not chartered any aircraft for the exclusive use of the Minister of Petroleum Resources or any particular official of the Corporation.

It also noted that contrary to the information being peddled in some quarters; Mrs. Alison-Madueke has not chartered any aircraft for her personal use or the use of her family.


NNPC however noted that in consonance with the legal instrument which establishes the Corporation as a commercial entity to engage in the oil and gas sector, the NNPC in course of discharging its statutory and commercial functions engages third parties for the provision of services outside of its core business.

The Corporation noted that this practice is common and acceptable in the local and international business environment in which it operates.

According to Dr. Ibrahim, more specifically, we would like to state as follows, that "there is nothing prohibiting NNPC from owning or chartering an aircraft. On the contrary, by the enabling legislation, NNPC is empowered to "hold, manage and alienate moveable and immovable property and enter into contracts or partnerships with any company, form or persons which in the opinion of the Corporation will facilitate the discharge of the said duties under this Act'', Please refer to Section 6 of the NNPC Act, Cap. N123, LFN 2004.

"Operations in the oil and gas sector are time sensitive and often require prompt attention, which cannot be achieved using regular scheduled flights. It is standard practice for large oil and gas Corporation such as NNPC to make use of the most efficient means of transportation to ensure the effective and efficient coverage of the vast scope of critical oil and gas assets under their purview.

"NNPC has always availed itself of the use of owned or chartered aircraft for the purpose of its business, which includes the transportation of its top functionaries.

" In this regard, it is pertinent to note that the international oil Companies operating in joint ventures with NNPC, regularly charter aircraft as dictated by the exigencies of their business. Indeed some have moved from owning their own aircraft to suing the charter opinion. Other national oil companies, such as Sonangol of Angola, have also chosen the charter option.

"The advantages of the charter option include zero capital and maintenance costs resulting in a lower financial outlay and thus an improved cash flow."

FG earned N4.8tn from taxes in 2013 -FIRS

The Federal Government earned N4.8tn from tax collections in the 2013 fiscal year.

The Acting Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Alh Kabir Mashi, gave the figure on Monday in Abuja during the opening ceremony of an enlargement management meeting of the service.

The retreat with theme ‘Growing non oil revenue to finance government programmes’, was aimed at reviewing the performance of the FIRS within the last one year and to present the collective plan for the current year.

He said the collection of N4.80tn was a huge improvement of N337bn or 7.56 per cent over the N4.46tn earned in 2013.

He, however, lamented that the amount generated in 2013 was below the N5.80tn target of the FIRS by 17.18 per cent.

He said while the service had performed well  in areas of tax collections within the last few years, there was the need to improve revenue collections particularly in the area of non-oil tax collections.

This, he stated, had necessitated the service to take steps in growing the non-oil tax revenue through the take off of the Capacity Enhancement Program.

This, he added, would help to deliver an additional $500m (N80bn) in non-oil revenue in the current year.

He said, “It is necessary to improve upon non-oil tax collection for a number of reasons major among which is the increasing global need to reduce the over dependence on oil revenue.

“The service had no doubt done well in the last couple of years. However, there is still a great need for improvement. FIRS surpassed its revenue target for 2013, collecting N4.805tn as against the target of N4.468tn.

“We surpassed the target by N337bn or 7.56 per cent but our performance was below the FIRS target of N5.803tn by 17.18 per cent .

“A closer review of the figures for our non-oil collection reveals the actual collection of N2.139tn which falls short of the government target of N2.188tn by about three per cent.”

Ekiti: Obasanjo ex-aide carpets Olubolade, Adeyeye, others

A former Senior Special Assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Segun Oluwadare, has chided a former Minister of Police Affairs, Mr.Caleb Olubolade, Prince Dayo Adeyeye and other Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirants for clamouring for consensus in the just concluded governorship primaries in the state.

He said such call by the aspirants was an indication that the aspirants were not loyal to the party’s national leadership.

It will be recalled that a former Governor of the state, Mr. Ayodele Fayose defeated other aspirants during Saturday’s PDP governorship primaries in the state.

Olubolade and the defeated aspirants have described the election as a sham, saying the former governor would not lead the party to victory in the June 21 election in the state.

But Oluwadare, who spoke with journalists in Abuja on Monday, said he was neither a friend nor a close associate of Fayose, but noted that the jubilation in Ado Ekiti, the state capital after Fayose was declared the winner, indicated that the right candidate had won.

He said, “Their is no doubt that Fayose was more popular than these aspirants which indicated why they stood vehemently against the drive of the National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu to return the party to path of sanity and honour through internal democracy.”

He said it was funny that at this age of modernity in politics globally, some politicians could still demand for imposition of candidate.

He said any popular politician should not in any way shy away from election, adding that those defeated during the primaries should accept the result of the election and work with Fayose.

Oluwadare said he had expected that the other aspirants would present a candidate to face Fayose at the primary but which they couldn’t because no one was ready to step down for another.

He asked, “If they had supported consensus, why are they asking for cancellation of primary they did not believe in?

“The conduct of the primary by Dr. Peter Odili -led Panel was very transparent, witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies. It was televised live on the national television for people to watch.

“Former Rivers State governor, Dr Peter Odili, is a man of integrity and highly respected by the party leadership and because he cannot support irregularity informed why the party assigned him to lead the panel.”

Oluwadare, therefore, advised Olubolade, Adeyeye and his group to put the differences behind since the primary has gone and join hands with Fayose so that he wins the June 21 election.

Sovereign wealth: Supreme Court begins hearing

The Supreme Court has at last commenced hearing in the suit filed by the 36 state governors against the Federal Government over the Excess Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund after both parties failed to settle out-of-court.

The 36 states are challenging the legality of the ECA and the decision of the Federal Government to transfer $1bn from the account to the SWF.

Despite a series of opportunities afforded the states and the Federal Government to arrive at a political resolution of the dispute since the case was filed in 2008, a panel of justices of the Supreme Court led by Justice Walter Onnoghen was on Monday informed that the settlement talks had collapsed.

The states have repeatedly expressed a willingness to have the court determine the case, blaming insincerity on the part of the Federal Government for the failure of the out-of-court settlement talks.

But on Monday, the Federal Government, which had been unwilling to argue the matter before the Supreme Court, showed a newfound resolve to engage the states by moving a motion, asking the court to direct the state governments to furnish it with particulars of their amended statement of claim to enable it amend its statement of defence.

The states, through their lead counsel, Malam Yusuf Ali, SAN, initially opposed the motion, arguing that the particulars of the amended statement are already available for the Federal Government as they are contained in the application they filed before the court.

“What they are asking for are things that are in the motion we filed,” Ali said.

Counsel for the Federal Government, Austin Alegeh, SAN, informed the court that since the settlement talks had failed, he needs the details of the states’ statement of claim in order to amend his defence.

“The report we got is that the settlement talks did not have the desired result.

“Now that we have reached a point where our client (Federal Government) informed us that it looks like settlement cannot be achieved, we need to amend our statement of defence,” he said.

However, in a bid to speed up the proceedings in the case, the states decided to withdraw their initial objection to the Federal Government’s request for the particulars of their amended statement of claim.

Withdrawing the earlier objection, Ali said, “We are no longer opposed to the application (for particulars of amended statement of claim).”

Following the development, the Supreme Court, in a short ruling, directed the states to, within seven days, provide the Federal Government with the particulars of their amended statement of claim.

“The plaintiff (state governments) is to supply the further particulars as required within seven days of this order while the defendant (Federal Government) is to file an amended statement of defence within 21 days of the receipt of the further particulars,” Justice Onnoghen stated in the ruling.

The Supreme Court adjourned the suit to September 23.

The states and the Federal Government failed to reach an out-of-court settlement to the dispute after several adjournments since the case was filed in 2008.

It was gathered that the settlement talks came up in a series of meetings between the vice-president and the governors, who also make up the National Economic Council.

However, the commencement of hearing in the suit meant that the Federal Government could not agree with the terms of settlement proposed by the states.

According to the terms of settlement, the state governments wanted the Federal Government to, three months after the execution of the terms of settlement, cause an inventory of the assets of the National Integrated Power Project, as well as the Railway Modernization Deductions, which should be undertaken by a reputable Nigerian accounting firm.

The states also demanded that the Federal Government should cause all sums standing to the credit of the ECA to be transferred to the Federation Account and distributed, within 10 days from the execution of the terms of reference, among the three tiers of government.

In the same vein, the states demanded that within 30 days of the execution of the terms of settlement the Federal Government should propose a legislation, and initiate a bill to the National Assembly, that will ensure the payment of all revenue which accrues from signature bonus into the Federation Account, for payment to the three tiers of government in accordance with the provisions of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution.

Also, the states also asked the Federal Government to ascertain the exact amount standing to the credit of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, as well as dividends derived from the NLNG Limited, and cause same to be paid into the Federation Account.

The states also proposed that the two parties would negotiate with a view to arriving at an agreement on the way to treat the proceeds of the sale of government properties and commercialization of government enterprises, as well as education tax.

The states equally demanded that any funds appropriated to the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Customs Service, which remains unspent as at December 31 of any year shall be paid into the Federation Account at the end of every financial year.

The states also asked the Federal Government to prepare a bill to regulate the grant of waivers and concessions to guide and streamline the exercise.

In the same vein, according to the states, revenue from dividends of shares and interests held by the Federal Government in any company from 2004 to 2007, amounting to N573bn, should be paid to the Federation Account and distributed among the tiers of government.

In the terms of settlement, the states also demanded that the Federal Government should bear the cost of their legal fees in the suit.

We won't tolerate 'blind unionism' from lecturers -VC

THE Vice Chancellor of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Professor Barineme Fakae, has warned that the institution will not tolerate blind unionism targetted at causing confusion in the institution.

Barineme, who spoke at the university’s pre-26^th convocation briefing on Monday, explained that lecturers of the university were expected to pay allegiance to the university authorities and not a union.

Recalling how a group of 20 lecturers gave the State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, a seven-day ultimatum to remove him as the vice chancellor of the university, Fakae said the lecturers later wrote a letter of service withdrawal to the institution.

Fakae noted that the aim of the lecturers, who were leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, was to cause confusion in the system, adding that the management of the institution has employed over 130 lecturers within the past two years.

He said, “We are not saying you (union) should not ask for something, but it should not be at the expense of the university and the students. Only the foolish parasite will kill the host. This is because it needs the host to survive.

“But some persons go on blind unionism in order to throw the entire system into chaos and score cheap point. That is what we in this university disagree with. Our stance on this issue has improved the rating of RSUST nationally and internationally as we are currently No. 12 in terms of university rating in Nigeria.

 “No union in any way can run as parallel management. We employ staff and not union and the allegiance of the university employee is to his employer and not to the union. Over the years, we have noticed that unionism has become a sub-culture.

“In our own case, we came to a point where people extolled unionism higher than academic excellence. This is really sad. That is why we have decided in this university that strike will no more be an option. We are thinking very much about the students.”

On the forthcoming convocation of the university, the vice chancellor said 4,298 graduates would be awarded First Degree, adding that three students bagged First Class Honours while 305 students graduated with Second Class Upper Degree.

Fakae disclosed that the university had launched the Students Record Assessment Management Platform so as to make it easier for graduates to apply for their transcript from anywhere around the world without visiting the institution.