In preparation for the official Presidential visit to Borno state, scheduled for today, Thursday, 17th of June, 2021, the Borno State Governor Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has received all service chiefs at the government house Maiduguri.
The service chiefs were led by the chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor and the IGP of police, Usman Alkali.
The state governor, Babagana Zulum, stated this in a special broadcast to the people of the state on Wednesday.
Mr Zulum said the president would appraise the security situation and inaugurate some of the viable projects executed by the federal and state governments during the visit.
“I once again, thank you for supporting our administration. I remain grateful to everyone, for your support, well wishes, prayers and above all, for being good citizens.
“Insha’Allah; our President, Muhammadu Buhari, will be coming to Borno State on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
“The president is coming to appraise the security situation in the northeast during which he will commission some developmental projects executed by the state government.
“The president will also commission the first phase of 10,000 houses which he generously approved and funded, for the resettlement of IDPs and refugees,” he said.
The Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, says the opposition People’s Democratic Party PDP is only aggrieved about the Buhari Administration’s Twitter suspension because they can no longer share ‘fake news’.
Shehu made the comment as part of reactions to the PDP governors’ take on the operations of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the deteriorating economic and security situation in the country.
In a communique on Wednesday, he said: “And, of course, the PDP grieve over the Federal Government’s action over Twitter – for it represents the curtailment of their ability to use the platform to spread fake news and invented stories to the detriment of community and good-neighbourliness between the peoples of Nigeria,”
Addressing the NNPC saga, the Presidency spokesman argued that in bemoaning the decision by the NNPC not to make contributions to the Federation Account, the governors appear to believe NNPC can spend the same money twice: once on the petroleum subsidy – which they all support – and then on their States via the Federation Account.
NNPC is a trustee for the nation – and this means it must manage its finances with prudence and for the long-term to safeguard the financial support it bestows on our country. What the governors are asking of NNPC is to “break the bank” for their own profligate political ends”.
“Similar profligacy and contradiction are in full view with their call to the Central Bank to appreciate the value of the Naira. This would damage exports – including oil revenues on which NNPC depends – as well as damage small businesses and employment. But an appreciated currency would benefit those spending on luxuries from abroad – this, no doubt, being the leading desire of a typical PDP governor.
“When the governors claim a lack of federal institutions’ money pouring into their States’ coffers is an affront to democracy, constitutionalism, and federalism, they fail to mention the ugliest trend against the integrity of Nigeria comes by own hands with their refusal to support the Federal Government’s earnest desire to reinstate the local government as the third tier and finding a lasting solution to farmer-herder conflicts costing the nation lives and livestock.
“This initiative brings rights and support for generations of all ages to bring solutions to challenges that different communities of our country have faced but the PDP governors reject it – denying all Nigerians their constitutional right to live and work in any state of the Federation – preferring to appeal to ethnic division and hatred rather than support the first practical solution offered since independence,” the president’s spokesman stated.
A Lagos High Court sitting in the Ikeja area has sentenced former managing director of defunct Bank PHB, Francis Atuche to over 6 years in prison.
In a judgment that lasted over 10 hours, Justice Lateefat Okunnu convicted Atuche alongside a former Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Ugo Anyanwu.
The two were convicted on at least 6 of a 27-count amended charge of conspiracy to commit a felony and stealing brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
While Atuche who was found guilty on counts 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 23 of the charge would serve a 6-year term for each count, Anyanwu will serve a 4-year jail term for counts 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 22 and 24 of the amended charge.
They are to serve their jail term consecutively. This sentence is coming after a trial that lasted over 12 years.
In delivering her sentence, Justice Okunnu held that the EFCC successfully proved its case against the convicts beyond a reasonable doubt.
The judge rejected claims by the defendants suggesting that they were merely professionally negligent.
She specifically held that Atuche and Anyanwu abused their powers, ignored established rules and regulations thereby putting the bank and depositors’ funds in danger.
The court also came to the conclusion that the convicts corruptly took advantage of their positions to confer on themselves undue financial benefits without regard to the health of the bank.
“The convict stole from the bank and depositors and because of their action, taxpayers money was used to bail out the bank”.
Justice Okunnu held that she had considered the plea of the convicts, but there must be consequences for wrongdoing, adding that sentences are not just for punishment but also for deterrence.
She also ruled that the defendant should make restitution of the amount stolen from the bank. They are to pay back the sum of N25.7billion to the Federal government to replace the funds stolen from the public to bail out the bank.
According to the Judge, they are to serve their jail terms at the Kirikiri maximum correctional facility in Lagos.
The EFCC had alleged that between November 2007 and April 2008, the accused persons stole about N25.7bn belonging to the bank.
The anti-graft agency had also claimed that of the total N25.7bn, they stole about N14.7bn by fraudulently describing it as a loan to some companies and subsequently converted the said sum to personal use.
The Commission had listed the companies as Future View Securities, Extra Oil Limited, Resolution Trust and Investment Limited, and Tradjek Nigeria Ltd.
The EFCC also alleged that another N11bn stolen by the defendants was used to purchase about 984,375,000 units of Bank PHB shares for themselves.
According to the commission, the sum used for purchasing the shares was described as a loan to some companies including, Guesstrade Services, Sentron Trading, Montrax Investico, Claremount Management Ltd., Trenton Trade, and others.
Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike said Nigeria is now on life support and needs urgent help before it’s too late.
Wike stated this on Wednesday at the inauguration of the Isaiah Odoli/Omerelu Streets in New GRA Phase 1 in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area.
He said the APC-led government has plunged the country into economic disaster. He added that Nigerians are now regretting dethroning the PDP in 2015.
Wike said: “The exchange rate has now got to N510 to a Dollar. When they took over, it was N150 to a Dollar. They said they’ll give employment. Do we have employment today? Are your children employed?”
According to Governor Wike, Nigeria is now on life support and requires prayers from well-meaning Nigerians in order to salvage the county.
“Since APC came into power, you can now see what Nigeria has turned to. Each day you wake up, you hear people are being killed. If you watch television and read the news in newspapers, you will hear so and so number are killed or kidnapped in so and so state.
“That is not what I thought all of us needed. The country is on oxygen (life support). Nobody knows what will happen next. As we are today, Nigeria is in dire need of help. Nigeria needs prayers; to our mothers and sisters, you must kneel down and pray to God to salvage this country.”
Governor Wike also stated that the APC-led federal government has not done anything in Rivers state for the people.
He described as untrue the claim by the federal government that it is jointly executing the Bonny-Bodo Roads.
“The only thing they are arguing now is that they are doing Bonny-Bodo Road. No, with due respect, that’s not correct. That road was supposed to be done by NLNG and the federal government. NLNG brought their N60billion, federal Government did not bring any Kobo.
“Now they are trying to use the tax that NLNG is supposed to pay to do the road. The tax would have been shared from the federation account and part of the money would have come to Rivers State. So, the federal government cannot say that they’re the one doing Bonny -Bodo road. All of us are jointly doing the road.”
Speaking further, Governor Wike stated that every road in the Old and New GRAs have been rehabilitated under the Urban Renewal Programme of his administration except the Orugbum Crescent in the new GRA.
The motivation, he said, is to restore the beauty, and serenity of those government reserved residential areas. According to him, henceforth, no street traders will be tolerated along those roads because their wares will be impounded.
Wike also announced that the ban on open grazing in the state will soon be given legal backing to protect Rivers people from marauding herdsmen.
He said the Anti-Open Grazing bill will be sent to the State House of Assembly.
He said: “You can’t go to the farm anymore, those who rear cattle, they’ll not allow your crops to grow. Let me say clearly, now that the House of Assembly has come back, we have to submit the bill on Anti-Open Grazing as we agreed in the Southern Governors Forum.
“So that everybody must understand it, it’s clear, without any hesitation, we must do it to protect our farms, to protect our women, to protect our youths so that nobody will go and kill them.”
However, former Senate President, Senator David Mark, who was at the evernt, said Rivers people are very lucky to have a governor who fulfills promises made and provides an infrastructure with a human touch.
When you go to bed as a Nigerian citizen or business, especially in the media space, you are more likely to wake up as a criminal in violation of a new ridiculous law than you are likely to wake up at all.
Your level of criminality is compounded if Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, believes you have insulted him or his proprietor, the ‘reformed’ General Muhammadu Buhari, as with the case of the #TwitterBan which saw a Minister implement a nonexistent law, while the legislature folded its arm — although pretending days later to be concerned.
The petty misgivings of the Buhari administration have known no bounds since its emergence in 2015, and it has repeatedly attempted to impose itself on Nigerians as a no-care-given administration, especially with its chokehold on free speech in the country.
This administration has attempted to pass laws stifling free speech more times than it has attempted to introduce or amend laws punishing corrupt public office holders, even though it was the core of its campaign.
As the administration has attempted to force its draconian laws and its puerile policies on domestic media, it has struggled unsuccessfully to hold the wings of free speech in the country through online media and the virality of Twitter.
Angry at its own failure —one would expect the administration to be used to its failure by now— to stop journalists, civic spaces, broadcasters, and online news sources from shouting down its excesses, Lai Mohammed has once again moved to impose an Orwellian legislation to clamp down on media and civic spaces once again.
This time, Lai Mohammed is not announcing a new directive through a press conference or a memo; he is now pretending to love democracy and following due process to nail the voices of Nigerians with finality.
The Bill
Lai Mohammed did not pretend to hide his grievances when he made his submission at the public hearing for the bill to amend the National Broadcasting Act organised by the House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values.
Mohammed argued that the National Assembly should amend the NBC law to grant it powers to license internet broadcast and all online media broadcast in the country.
His petty fight with Twitter for deleting his principal’s genocidal tweet came to the fore when he said: “I want to add here specifically that internet broadcasting and all online media should be included in this because we have a responsibility to monitor contents, including Twitter.”
What the Minister said in a few words is better understood in terms of the proposed amendments themselves. The amendments in its modified objectives pretends to be targeted at democracy, while also promising to ensure plurality of ownership and to facilitate a wide range of engagements.
While this would look harmless, the NBC and the Lai Mohammed Ministry of Information and Culture have not hidden their disdain for contrary opinions. On several occasions, phone calls have been made to discontinue programs that they deem unnecessary. The ridiculousness of this is seen when Cheta Nwanze, an intelligence partner at SBM Intelligence, was discussing the Asaba Massacre —a historic event during Nigeria’s three-year civil war— on Nigeria Info. A directive came in for the termination of the session and that was where the conversation ended.
Without dwelling too hard on the new objectives —‘democratic’ press censorship, evident in its wordings— the proposed amendment for the functions of the NBC removes any colouration or doubt that the Bill may hold, and runs into its target; online news media.
There is also a hidden part of the amendment:
By deliberating creating a grey area, the amendment will give NBC a big stick to wield on anything it defines as a medium of broadcasting.
After failing several times to introduce its social media bill officially known as the “Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill 2019” and the “National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches Bill, 2019,” this introduction and the intentional existence of grey areas will help the NBC to define platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and perhaps in the future —if, or when it stops pandering to the Nigerian gov’t— Koo app, as broadcasters so it can effectively control and stifle them.
If the declaration of law via a press conference was outrageous, this sneaky introduction will consolidate Lai Mohammed and NBC’s power, effectively giving NBC power and control over social media. Twitter, will therefore effectively be treated like a broadcaster that has to register under the NBC. What happens when Twitter fails to heed the childish demands of NBC?
Now, if Lai Mohammed feels disrespected by Twitter deleting a genocide threatening Tweet, he would no longer rush to hold a press conference, he would just have DSS storm the Twitter office, arrest their staff, and give them the Zakzaky treatment; detention with almost no hope of freedom.
One would wonder why mentioning Lai Mohammed’s name specifically is important in this part. The words of Akin Akingbulu, executive director of the Institute for Media and Society, on the floor of the house of representatives, highlighted another part that will have the commission receiving directives from the minister. Akingbulu pleaded that: “the power to give directives to the commission, vested in the minister of information in section six should be removed and replaced with powers which include policy formulation for the broadcasting sector.”
Lai Mohammed will become the enforcer, prosecutor, and adjudicator on matters relating to broadcast operations. Why should a Minister have that much power?
There is more monstrosity
Lai Mohammed and NBC’s god power over all broadcast medium —especially social media (hi Twitter)— also means they get to decide who gets licensed and whose license gets renewed, according to the S13 (A, B, C, D, E, F) which is being introduced with more expansion than Nigeria’s road network.
Bonus point:
Amendments in S19 A and S19 B will also effectively have NBC determine the level of influence wielded by a broadcaster. NBC can now decide, in trying to ‘eliminate unfair competition,’ the number of broadcast platforms one person can have. Raymond Dokpesi and Daar communications, with TV, Radio and online platforms, may have to forfeit some of those platforms if NBC decides it is leading to ‘unfair’ competition. Only NTA and its 1886 service are allowed to be everywhere.
S19 D introduced as ‘Directions’ also makes laughable scorn at both Nigerian courts and the Legislature. NBC will now have this power:
Again, the amendment reminds us —should we dare to forget— that this is more about Lai Mohammed’s anger towards accountability and that all power to talk, to question the government, to ask questions, must belong to him (and the NBC) when it mentions that:
The pervasion of incompetence in the Buhari administration has been met with resistance wherever there is still a will to fight back and demand some accountability. Tired of being bludgeoned to death by a language it does not speak or understand, the introduction of these amendments to the NBC is a dying attempt at ensuring that Nigeria becomes a country of people with words, but who are not allowed to say them.
The line has always been straight
When the Muhammadu Buhari administration started, it went straight to work by perpetrating several human rights violations. Unlike Buhari’s military regime where you could be flogged in public for dissenting, or kidnapped and thrown into cargo for trying to avoid the regime, Buhari’s ‘democracy’ quickly realised that there is a resistance, a type which it has never experienced.
In the past, Newswire has extensively analysed several attempts by the Buhari administration to sneak in —clumsily— internet censorship. The introduction of the Social Media Bill, The Infectious Disease Act which was going to give the government power to ‘disappear’ citizens, an amendment of the NBC Code to expand control over broadcast media, the godawful CAMA Bill, and several other attempts.
Unrelenting, especially after the international attention that Twitter helped to bring to the shamelessness of the Nigerian government, it has since launched a multi-pronged attack at Twitter and other online platforms which have eluded its flailing and failing hands.
The administration has banned Twitter, directed Telecoms operators to effect the ban, refused a logical negotiation with Twitter, and finally come out to admit that its problem with Twitter was from the #EndSARS protest; a fact which it had tried to cover up by saying the ban was necessitated by the ‘disrespect’ to Buhari. Although knowing how respect-minded this administration is, it might have also been a valid standalone excuse.
The Buhari administration has other pressing, contentious allegations to deal with. Bribery and corruption are a stock-in-trade, insecurity is ravaging all of Nigeria’s six regions, Buhari’s Al-Qaeda supporting minister is still roaming free, yet its greatest concern is not to ensure the security and lives of citizens but to ensure that they take the administration’s beating, face down.
Like the Social Media Bill and all the children it has birthed, this amendment must not be allowed to stay. Its existence is reminiscent of China, not only in terms of defining what people can and are allowed to say, but it may also be the beginning of the Buhari administration refusing to leave office at the expiration of its tenure in 2023.
Gunmen suspected to be bandits have killed one person and kidnapped two Chinese individuals at a mining site at Arufu community in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State.
The incident was said to have taken place on Monday night.
Mr David Misal, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, confirmed the incident to Journalists on Wednesday.
Hes said the police were on top of the situation and have already begun a manhunt for the fleeing bandits with a full-scale investigation ongoing. He also noted that two abducted foreigners were staff of a mining company in the state.
He added that several others who sustained various degrees of injury while scampering for safety have been taken to various health facilities within the community for treatment.
The said community is a boundary town between Benue and Taraba States and has been in the news for attacks arising from mining activities in the area.
According to the Police Public Relations Officer, no contact has been established with the abductors to know what their demands are.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital has dismissed the petition filed by Mr Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the October 2020 governorship election of Ondo State against the election of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
Reading the lead judgment which lasted over two hours, Justice Theresa Ngolika Orji-Abadua, said the case filed by Jegede lacks merit.
The Federal Government is seeking power to license and regulate private broadcasting in the country using the internet and other online outlet.
Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the submission at a public hearing on a bill to amend the National Broadcasting Act organised by the House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values.
He argued that the National Assembly should amend the NBC law to grant it powers to license internet broadcast and all online media broadcast in the country.
The minister said: “I want to add here specifically that internet broadcasting and all online media should be included in this because we have a responsibility to monitor contents, including Twitter.”
But media practitioners and media based groups including the Institute for Media and Society and the International Press Centre said the inclusion of internet broadcast and online media to the category of broadcast services to be licensed will be injurious to the civic space, freedom of expression and media freedom.
Akin Akingbulu, executive director of the Institute for Media and Society, said the commission should not receive directives from the minister.
“The power to give directives to the commission, vested in the minister of information in section six should be removed and replaced with powers which include policy formulation for the broadcasting sector,” he said.
He added that the minister should be involved in the “negotiation of international agreements, notifying the commission of the policy direction of government and ensuring that the independence of the commission is protected at all times.”
In their joint submission, the International Press Centre (IPC) and the Centre for Media Law and Advocacy said the appointment of the NBC board should be subject to the confirmation of the national assembly.
“The conduct of the NBC has over time presented it as an extension of the minister of information and culture which rarely acts independently,” they said
Controller General of the Federal Fire Service, Liman Ibrahim, has implored Nigerians to act as volunteer firefighters to curb fire menace in the country.
Ibrahim said this during the commissioning of one modern firefighting truck and two ambulances in Zaria, Kaduna State.
The deployed fire truck and ambulances were among the recently FFS acquired 20 life support ambulances and seven fire fighting trucks.
The CG said that if citizens on ground at fire scenes attended to fire before the arrival of fire firefighters, the excesses of fire menace will be curtailed.
“Nigerians should be auxiliary firefighters like in developed countries as that will help reduce the impact on us and reduce the number of fire outbreak,” he said.
According to him, “In developed countries in a situation where you have 50 firefighters, only 20 are on government payroll while the remaining 30 are volunteers.
“Before the arrival of firefighters, they are already doing something so the fire will jot spread but curtail it to its origin and control it.
“What is important in firefighting is control but many people don’t understand when we are controlling fire.
“When property C is on fire we need to protect property B and D so we lay emphasis more on the properties that are not on fire.
“Because what is on fire is already on fire so we are telling citizens to be auxiliary firefighters”.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Wednesday released the results of its mock 2021 UTME examination which was conducted on June 3.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the board’s spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin, titled “Results for mock UTME 2021 now available on JAMB website.”
The statement read, “The results are now on our website.
“A total of 160,718 candidates indicated interest to sit the examination but only 62,780 turned out for the mock exercise whose results are now released.”
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has cautioned all pilots in the country over severe thunderstorms and other hazardous weather conditions which hamper flight operations, especially during the rainy season.
According to the agency, the warning is a follow-up to the Advisory Circular addressed to all Pilots and Airline Operators and signed by the Director-General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu.
The circular signed on Wednesday by the DG of the agency is coming on the advent of the Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) released by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) for the year 2021.
NIMET has predicted early/late March as the commencement of the rainy season in the Southern states while late April/June 2021 is the commencement of the rainy season in the Central and Northern parts of Nigeria.
Consequently, the weather advisory circular is necessary to bring forth the evolving weather information associated with the commencement of the rainy season and the effects on the safety and efficiency of flight operations; and to elicit the cooperation of the following stakeholders to ensure safe air transportation at all times.
“Therefore, Pilots, Operators, and Air Traffic Controllers Pilots are directed to observe series of responsibilities enumerated below forthwith: Air Traffic Controllers may temporarily close the airspace when any of the conditions in (1) are observed or forecast by NIMET; Flight Crews/Operators and Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) to ensure adherence to published aerodrome weather minima; Pilots to exercise maximum restraint whenever adverse weather is observed or forecast by NIMET; and Pilots/Flight Crew members to obtain adequate departure, en-route and destination weather information and briefing from NIMET Aerodrome Meteorological Offices prior to flight operations,” the circular read in part.
The Authority, therefore, enjoins all passengers to exercise patience and understanding during this period of heavy downpour and observe strict compliance.
The Yaba Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State, on Wednesday, declined granting the bail application brought before it by embattled Nollywood actor, Olanrewaju Omiyinka, popularly known as Baba Ijesha.
Baba Ijesha, during his arraignment Wednesday, wore a blue t-shirt, was taken to court in a black maria vehicle of the Rapid Response Squad and he also had a book in his hands titled “how to thrive in perilous times”.
Baba Ijesha has been in police custody since April 22, 2021, when the Lagos State Police Command announced his arrest for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the care of popular comedienne, Adekola Adekanya, otherwise called Princess.
Lagos State Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, said Baba Ijesha might be sentenced to life imprisonment if found guilty in court.
“After due consideration of the facts in the case file, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions issued legal advice on the 4th of May, 2021, which is to the effect that a prima facie case has been disclosed against Mr. Olanrewaju James and recommended he be charged under the following provisions of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015,” he had said.
On May 17, 2021, Baba Ijesha was granted bail by magistrates and judicial workers on tour to decongest prisons in the state during the industrial action by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria. However, Baba Ijesha could not meet the bail conditions which include N500,000 and a level 16 civil servant as surety.
Speaking with reporters after the arraignment today, one of the counsel for the suspect, Kayode Olabinran, said he prayed the court to grant his client bail on health grounds.
He, however, said the magistrate declined granting his client bail as the case was already filed at the High Court in Lagos by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in the state.
He said, “He (Baba Ijesha) was not granted bail because the case has been filed at the High Court and that has denied the (Magistrate) Court the power to grant him bail.”
Olabinran also said the date for the hearing at the High Court was not yet known.
