Category: News

…..Alleged Bribery Attempt Uncovered

Following the submission of written addresses and briefs by Nasarawa State Governor Engr. Abdullahi Sule and Hon. David Ombugadu of the PDP at the Appeal Court in Abuja on Wednesday 15th November, 2023, there are incontrovertible evidences suggesting that Africa’s richestman and the benefactor of AA Sule, Aliko Dangote, has taken over the case through an orchestrated plot to sway the outcome of the Appeal Court judgment in favor of Governor AA Sule.

Investigations have revealed that Dangote and Governor Sule have engaged in behind-the-scenes efforts to influence key individuals within government circle, former heads of state, and legislators, among others, to potentially compromise the independence of the Court of Appeal.

The sudden interest of Dangote in Nasarawa’s governorship tussle could not be unconnected to safeguarding his investment of about a billion dollars in rice production and a sugar refinery in Tunga

Dangote was alleged to have bankrolled the election of AA Sule in 2019, who happened to be his former employee, for the sole purpose of furthering his business interest in the Solid Mineral-rich state. He was reported to have made huge investments in rice and sugar production in Nasarawa, and he fears that his huge investment might be at risk if David Ombugadu of the PDP emerges as the Governor of Nasarawa State.

Dangote, a shrewd businessman, is known for funding politicians across the country in return for favourable concessions that strengthens his stranglehold on Nigeria’s economy.

There is pictorial evidence to buttress the allegations that Dangote accompanied Governor Sule to visit the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu; Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, Borno Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum in Maiduguri, Senator Danjuma Goje, Senator Magatakarda Wammako, former Head of State General Gowon, among others to enlist their support against the pending judgment.

It was gathered that the selected high ranking public officials visited by the duo of Dangote and Sule, are influential figures in the states of origin of some of the panelists to determine the case at the Appeal Court – a shocking development that raised eyebrows among observers, suggesting a calculated attempt to influence the outcome of the judgment.

Additionally, there was a shocking revelation that an individual identified as Bello Hassan, allegedly linked to Governor Sule, was intercepted while attempting to bribe Appeal Court judges overseeing the Nasarawa State governorship case.

Hassan is purportedly a staff member at the Akure Division of the Court of Appeal, with a notorious reputation for fixing cases and facilitating bribes to judges, according to sources

Amidst these revelations, Nasarawa PDP stakeholders remain confident in the judiciary’s integrity, expressing optimism that the PDP mandate will be upheld. They also appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to maintain neutrality in the greater interest of democracy and nation-building as he’s shown great leadership and strength of character.

The Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors Association and the Contractors Association of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, have jointly congratulated the Dr Samuel Ogbuku-led NDDC and the newly inaugurated Board of the Commission.

It would be recalled that a substantive 18-man Board led by Chiedu Ebie was inaugurated yesterday in Abuja.

Their congratulatory message was contained in a statement issued on Friday by Chief Dressman Darlinton, National President of the Indigenous Contractors.

“We wish to felicitate and congratulate the Chairman, MD, ED’s and the entire members of the NDDC board on the occasion of their inauguration,” Darlinton wrote, adding that he has confidence that the MD and his team will deliver on their mandate and better the lot of the Niger Delta people.

Chief Darlinton equally expressed concern over the epileptic release of funds to the NDDC and called on the Federal Government and other relevant agencies to fast-track fund release to the commission to enable a hitch-free runing of the commission and payment of Contractors as well.

He reminded them that the people of the Niger Delta region are expecting so much from them, and as such, all hands must be on deck.

On his part, Engr. Tonye Sylvester, President of the NDDC Contractors, also called on the newly inaugurated Board of the NDDC especially to run an open door policy, and to sustain the harmonious relationship between the Contractors Associations and the NDDC MD.

By Ogenyi Ogenyi, Uyo

National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has said the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has recorded milestones in tackling security issues in the country but chosen to talk less.

He has also said that the present administration inherited four very challenging securities issues, each with great potential to cripple the country.

Ribadu stated this on Thursday at the ongoing 2023 Nigeria Guild of Editors conference in Uyo with the theme: “Stimulating Economic Growth, Technology: Role of the Media.”

According to him,”we have been in office for five months and few days.I thought we are going to have a closed door meeting with you people because the issue of National Security will not be too good to discuss in the public, but this government wants also to be transparent and to account for its actions before Nigerians.

“We will open up and to be honest and sincere. I will tell you a little bit of what we met and what we have done in the last five months.
By 1st June after we took over the country, we inherited four active security challenges and each one of them has potentials to undermine Nigeria and the continuous management of the country.

“We have the Boko Haram and Islamic insurgency for about 15 years now, we have the Niger Delta militants for over 30 years. we have the Banditry and Kidnapping in the areas of Northern Nigeria, North West and North Central and the IPOB problem in the south east, four massive problems, each one with potentials to get Nigeria to its knees, all of them very active.

“As at the time we took over, records show that we record an average of 1600 violent death on the average daily through those who undermine the state to make life very difficult for our people.

“We went to work, as at the time we took over, in the Niger Delta, the production of crude oil was at 1.1 million or 1.2 million at most, we have less than 20 cargoes a month. We worked and took crude oil production to over 1.7 million barrels and export of crude with 26/27 cargoes.

“At a point we have had a complete three weeks of no violence in the Niger Delta, the first of its kind since 1993 but we don’t talk.

“In the south east, by the time we took over, we discovered that last year alone,. we have 46 police station attacked and today we don’t have one single one. Then We have people who are not indigenes of that part of Nigeria attacked but in the last 2 months, there was no such incident, we don’t talk.

He said the complexities in managing security issues remained enormous while such issues would always be difficult to contain if they have been on ground for long.

“The tragedy of handling security is that when this crime has happened for a long time it is difficult to reverse it. If you allow insecurity to stay too long it will compromise ability and capability to handle it, it affects the security forces markets, hospitals, people’s way of life.

“It is a big tragedy to allow some parts of his country to continuously be under the control of insecurity for these numbers of years.” He explained.

Ribadu lamented that many especially in the North have had their lives and livelihood truncated as some communities in the northern parts of the country stay for more than 10 years without going to the farm or market to buy and sell and they are mostly peasant farmers and very poor people.

“Their children also never go to school again all these years. In the last one month, we have witnessed a complete two months without insecurity in many parts of the North. The same thing with the banditry when we came in, until like few days we have had about 600 people initially kidnapped freed from bandits. We did not talk.

“This is just one half way of restoring order and security in our country. Kidnapping today has replaced armed robbery and house breaking in Nigeria because people don’t carry money about anymore.

“When armed robbers catch people without money on them, they take them hostage and your people now provide the money as ransom. That is what is going on across the country and we are working hard to control and stop it. I want to tell you that the organized kind of kidnapping is coming down considerably.

“As at today, we have about just 26 of such people now in their den, 13 from university in Gusau, 5 NYSC members and few others, the era they move in and pack students in hundreds is no longer tenable under this administration.” He said.

By Joyce Remi-Babayeju

FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has urged the Chairman, Daewoo Engineering and Construction, Jung Won-ju, to invest in the tourism sector and development of the territory, by constructing a five-star hotel in the city, to compete with other luxury hotels.

Wike made the appeal when the Daewoo Chairman and the Managing Director , Daewoo E&C Nigeria, Tarwon Jung paid him a courtesy visit in his office on Thursday.

The Minister, who noted the relationship between the Republic of South Korea and Nigeria, said his interest was to ensure the development of Abuja, and to make it an attractive tourist centre, adding that it was important to concretize discussions on development.

“We are talking about FCT. One of the best things you can do is tourism. And in that case, the only star hotel we can talk about here is Transcorp Hilton. So, there is no competition, nothing. Like I said, we must discuss, and people know that something will come out of that discussion. For me as the FCT Minister, my interest is to develop Abuja, to make it more attractive as a tourist centre.”

“So, if you say that ‘okay, we want to invest in tourism, we wish to build a five-star hotel, what role can you play’? We can say look, to assure you we are ready, we are not going to give you land to sell or whatever, we will give you land.”

” What expanse of land do you need? And then we will ask you, how many years do you think you will be able to develop this five-star hotel? So, these are the things we like to do.”

The minister added that he would liaise with the Korean Ambassador, to schedule a visit to the country and the construction company, to finalize details and “fine-tune” the project for immediate action, while assuring the Chairman that there would be no impediments to the project.

“All those will be taken care of by us. Everything internal; the land, the approvals, everything, you can be sure the moment we sign the memorandum of understanding, and we agree, we will hand it over to you. Any impediment is from you, no impediment will come from us.”

“We are also going to write to you so that we can concretize. We will make sure that before the end of the year, we should be able to visit Korea, particularly Daewoo. So, we will write to the Ambassador of Korea to let him know, and then write to you as the Managing Director, so we will be able to fine-tune it. That’s the way I will be happy that there is something we can take home.”

Responding, the Chairman, Won-Ju thanked the Minister for the warm reception, adding that he would ensure that challenges between both countries are promptly addressed, to expedite actions on the partnership between Daewoo and the FCT.

“Even though there will be many challenges for doing business between you and us, somehow, we are ready to overcome every challenge, and our MD of Nigeria here, will fully support the procedure to be realized as soon as possible. We are willing to comply with your demands and your guidance, he said.
End

The Senate Thursday in Abuja, confirmed the appointment of Dr. Aminu Maida as the substantive Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Maida was confirmed by the Senate during its plenary session where it adopted a report of the Senate Committee on Communications that screened Maida on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, and former Minister of Communications, Senator Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, who submitted the report submitted the report urged the Senate to consider the request of President Bola Tinubu for the confirmation of Maida for appointment as the country’s Chief Telecom Regulator.

He said the Committee had screened Maida, who had earlier passed all scrutiny by the relevant security agencies in the security governance sector.

Bilbis informed the Senate that Maida possesses the requisite qualifications, professional experience, competence, and regulatory capacity to ensure accelerated development of the nation’s telecommunications sector. He urged the Senate to approve the nomination of Maida by Mr. President.

Consequently, the Senate proceeded to confirm the appointment of Dr. Aminu Maida, through a voice vote to serve a five-year term in office, subject to renewal by the President.

Earlier at his screening by the Senate Committee, Maida responded to questions related to his insights into the industry, qualifications, experience, suitability, and competence to manage the nation’s telecom regulatory sector, and was variously described by members as the round peg in a round hole.

Maida told the committee that his top priorities are to improve coverage and connectivity by bridging access gaps between rural and urban communities through increased broadband infrastructure as well as increasing the quality service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for the consumers to enable them to get value for money.

He also stated that, under his stewardship, he would ensure that the Commission’s licensees numbering over 8,000 across different segments of the sector, are made to adhere strictly to their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with their consumers in terms of service delivery.

Maida also said that he would create a more conducive environment for investment in the sector. Maida also promised to work with the dynamic team at the NCC to “re-think” how the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) would be better leveraged to bridge the extant digital divide in the country.

The new Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s telecom regulatory authority also promised to prioritise inter-agency collaboration towards achieving the current blueprint for the digital economy sector, just as he said that the ongoing review of the NCA 2003 would lead to greater innovation for improving the performance of the sector and solicited the support of the National Assembly to succeed.

Maida further emphasised his commitment towards aligning regulatory activities with the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, developed to accelerate the actualisation of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government.

Signed:

Reuben Muoka

Director, Public Affairs

By Muhammad Ibrahim,Sokoto

The special adviser state Agency for Mass Education Alh Umar Muhammad Masari has flagged off the distribution of instructional materials provided by Text Foundation to one hundred and seventy four learning centers of tits intervention across the state.

Speaking at the occasion Alh Umar Muhammad Masari urged the beneficiaries of the materials to utilize them judiciously for the benefit of the state.

The special adviser expressed gratitude to the foundation for it’s support to the state and reiterated agency continues support and cooperation for the success of it’s activities.

The distribution exercise was attended by the permanent secretary malam Abdullahi S/Danko and Directors of the agency.

PRESS RELEASE

Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF) has closely followed the events leading to the arrest and detention of Achadu Gabriel Idibia, a staff of Daybreak Newspapers stationed in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Idibia was detained over a report published on September 24th titled “Kaduna Hajj camp, a national shame, men, women sleep together in overcrowded hall – investigation.”

The report, which has video evidence and quoted sources supporting it, exposed the deteriorated and poor state of the Camp and the plight of Muslim Pilgrims at the Mando Hajj Camp, Kaduna.

Earlier, on September 26th, 2023, Mr. Idibia was arrested and detained at a facility run by Special Police Unit “Operation Yaki” over the news report – he was released on bail signed by a colleague bearing Amos Mathew of the New Nigeria Newspapers, reports revealed.

AMDF noted that the reason behind the arrest was alleged “intimidation of the Executive Secretary” of the Pilgrims Agency.

The emir of Zazzau was recently heard clearly on Voice of America Hausa Service radio condemning the handling of the last Hajj exercise by Kaduna state officials. It is also on record that the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) has listed Kaduna among states sabotaging Hajj exercise. So, the Executive Secretary should not vent his anger on Idibia.

See the following links;
https://nigerianpilot.news/2023/06/18/nahcon-slams-kaduna-fct-others-for-denying-intending-pilgrims-hajj-slots/
https://dailypost.ng/2023/06/19/commission-slams-kaduna-fct-others-for-denying-intending-pilgrims-hajj-slots/

The arrest and harassment of Gabriel Idibia is a grave violation of human rights and a deliberate attempt to gag the press.

AMDF insists that all charges against Idibia be dropped. Authorities must desist from all forms of harassment and intimidation of journalists.

We condemn every form of abuse of office and the obvious attempt to subjugate journalists by any group or individual. We believe that there can be no meaningful development without the watchful eye of the press that seeks to hold power to account and ensure that every sector and component of human development receives the needed attention by the government and its agencies.

We call on the Nigeria Police to align with journalists as the voice of the voiceless to ensure without compromise the safety of Nigerians, especially journalists without fear or favor.

(Signed)

Iliya Kure
AMDF Founder
For Press Freedom Surveillance Team
November 12, 2023