THE REPUBLIC NEWSPAPER

The Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and  Attorney General of the Federation,  Abubakar Malami, has lashed out at an Irish firm, Process and Industrial Development, P&ID following accusation that he was responsible for the delay that culminated in the award of  $9.6  billion penalty over the failure of a multi-million Gas Supply Processing Agreement which Nigeria entered into the company in 2010 saying the firm should count him out of its attempt at defrauding Nigeria.  Malami told our correspondent in Abuja that it was irresponsible and mischievous for anyone to blame him or the Buhari administration for a contract that had failed and a huge amount of penalty awarded against the government five years before the current administration came on board. The Minister who produced documents to back his claim, pointed out that the entire Gas Supply and Processing Agreement signed between Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum and P&ID in 2010 was deliberately skewed to f...

A  Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday adjourned till September 2, a suit seeking the final forfeiture of jewellery valued at $40 million (about N14.4 billion), recovered from a former Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke. Justice Nicholas Oweibo fixed the date to give parties time to respond to pending applications. The court, on July 5, ordered the temporary forfeiture of 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised golden iPhone recovered from Alison-Madueke’s home. According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which obtained the order, the items were suspected to be bought with illicitly acquired funds. When the matter was called yesterday, prosecuting counsel Rotimi Oyedepo informed the court that he had just been served a counter affidavit by the defense and would need time to respond. Oyedepo said, an adjournment will ensure that all responses to the application can be entertained at the same time by the court and necessary ruling ...

The immediate former Senate Deputy President, Ike Ekweremadu, today escaped being lynched by a group of hoodlums in Numberg, Germany.  This was revealed in a viral video where the Enugu Senator was seen running from the crowd of mob suspected to be members of the terrorist group, Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.  Recall that the Nnamdi Kanu, group was proscribed by the Nigerian government over its violent activities in the country especially it's frequent armed confrontations with the law enforcement agents mostly in the South-Eastern Nigeria.  The umbrella body of the Igbo, Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, has condemned the attack on Ekweremadu who it described as an illustrious son of Ndigbo by the IPOB and or its agents. Ohanaeze called on the German law enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators to justice. It described the assault on Senator Ekweremadu as a disgrace. The President General of Ohanaeze, Chief Nna Nwodo, said: “The assault on Ekweremadu by Igbos in Germa...

Justice Butcher of a British Commercial Court has ruled in favour of an Irish firm, Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) to seize 20 per cent in assets, of Nigeria’s foreign reserves, amounting to $9bn (£7.4bn).    Justice Butcher gave the ruling, Friday. The case dates back to 2010, when Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was Nigeria’s president. The Nigerian government, under Mr Jonathan, had struck a deal with the Irish firm to supply gas to a processing plant built and run by P&ID in Calabar. The agreement was for a 20-year deal. But the Nigerian government failed to keep to her own side of the agreement, prompting the firm to take the case to court. Meanwhile, in 2013, P&ID won a $6.6bn arbitration case against Nigeria.   The figure was calculated based on what the company was estimated to have earned over the course of the 20-year agreement. But in today’s ruling, the firm said the amount had risen to $9bn following interest accrued so far, reports City A.M...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has quizzed Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita over alleged N3billion contract fraud. She faced a four-day grilling during which she was in custody of the anti-graft agency beginning from August 8. Mrs Oyo-Ita has now landed in the hospital after being granted an administrative bail. She was also interrogated for alleged abuse of duty tour allowance, money laundering and stealing of government funds. Oyo-Ita has been given restricted access to visitors at the private hospital in Jabi area of Abuja where she is receiving treatment. Although the administrative bail was granted so that she could be reporting for further interrogation from her office, she has not been able to return to the anti-corruption agency’s office since she was allowed to go. About N600million has been traced to the account of one of her key aides who has been unable to give any justifiable explanation for it. The EFCC has bloc...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has traced some of the looted N2 billion for Small and Medium Enterprise Development, SMED in Kwara State to the account of the immediate past first lady of the state, Mrs Omolewa Ahmed. Mrs Ahmed who has allegedly refunded 3m naira according to the anti graft agency, has refused to report to the commission for further interrogation a development which the agency said may cause her arrest. She was said to have told the EFCC that she was indisposed but has been silent on the nature of her illness and has not presented any medical report in support of her claim. The Republic gatherrd that the commission is considering placing the former first lady on watch list an action that may prevent her from travelling abroad. Also in trouble over the slush fund is an acclaimed first class traditional ruler in the state who allegedly collected N78m out of the N2 billion. Sources close to Commission say the royal father who it noted has been running...

Facts have emerged on how former President Olusegun Obasanjo, shared $16bn dollar power contract sum purportedly meant to improve power supply in the country.  The former President Obasanjo was in power between 1999 and 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.   No fewer than 27 companies were said to have benefitted from Obasanjo's $16 billion power deal including a firm, Energo, which was paid part of the money to even before it was registered.   As at the time Obasanjo's tenure ended, the contractors had been paid only N360.7 billion - The sum of N273.65 billion was reportedly spent on Power Holding Company of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 President Buhari had  questioned why there was no light in the country inspite of the administration of Chief  Obasanjo spending $16 billion in the sector a development which alarmed stakeholders in the power sector including many Nigerians. It was reported that only N360.7 billion had been paid to the co...

BOOK REVIEWER: PROFESSOR JOSEPH GOLWA  Skill Acquisition: A time-honoured platform for combating the menace of general insecurity, pervasive poverty, burgeoning unemployment and destabilization of the international system. Book Title: Handbook of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes (2nd Ed.) Author: Dr Benjamin Onoriode Irikefe Publisher: International Centre for Sustainable Development, Nigeria Year of Publication: 2018 Pagination: 1074   The Second Edition of the Handbook of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes was published barely a year after the publication of the 826-page First Edition on 13th April, 2017. The Second Edition was mooted due to the clamour and general interest shown by well-meaning stakeholders as to the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Refugees that have come to be associated with the insurgency in the North East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. This necessitated the inclusion of a whole Chapter (that is Ch...

The Chief of army staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai has expressed fears over possible reprisal attack by the personnel of the Nigerian Police Force over the gruesome murder it's men last week by the operatives of the Nigerian Army. This was contained in a tweet shared on facebook by the COAS who  believes policemen have become like wounded lions following the killing in Taraba of three of their best undercover operatives by soldiers attached to Takum based 93 Battalion. The Army Chief, not taking chances about a possible reprisal, has directed troops on internal security duties to be cautious in their dealings with policemen. The Republic gathered that, he also warned travelling military personnel to do so in mufti to avoid confrontations with policemen. Three police officers — Inspector Mark Ediale, Sergeants Usman Danzumi and Dahiru Musa, all members of the Intelligence Response Team of the Police, led by ASP Felix Adolije, were brutally killed by soldiers along Ibi-Jalingo Road last...

Following the medical leave granted the acclaimed leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, by a High Court sitting in Kaduna, the Kaduna state capital, he will depart Nigeria today through the Abuja International airport to India. El-Zakzaky departs with his wife, Zeenat for the Medenta Hospital, New Delhi, India for medical attention as requested by his lawyer. According to a source close to the alleged Iranian agent, the IMN leader was already in Abuja and waiting to be flown to India along with DSS personnel in a chartered aircraft. It could be recalled that a Kaduna State High court granted El-Zakzaky and his wife medical leave to undergo treatment at an Indian hospital of their choice. The court ordered that they be released to go to the hospital and return for the continuation of their trial after their discharge from the hospital. Some of the conditions included that the Nigeria's  Ministry of Foreign Affairs should confirm the appointments...

Following the killing of three officers of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Intelligence Response Team, IRT, in Taraba State by soldiers who freed a kidnap kingpin, the army captain, who allegedly gave the order for their elimination has been arrested.  However, a source hinted that the Army Captain was only invited on the suspicion of his involvement in the killing of the IRT operatives by the panel set up to investigate the incident for questioning. This is just as The Republic  gathered that the kidnap kingpin/suspect has compromised some of the soldiers stationed in the area where the police operatives were killed owing to his nature of business.  Security sources disclosed that the  captain ordered his men to shoot the bus carrying the police officers, with an instruction that no policeman must escape and that the suspect, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume, should be freed. The source said:  “Our colleagues (police operatives) also exchanged pleasantries with ...

Sequel to the killing of three operatives of the Inspector General Response Team, IRT,  the men of the Nigeria Police Force have reportedly stormed Ibbi town in Taraba State where the army - led mob action that claimed the lives of three policemen took place as seen in a video that went viral after the dastardly act.  The team according to report was led by the head of IRT, DCP, Abba Kyari, ostensibly to comb the area in the course of which it carried out mass arrest. Fifteen truck loads of policemen and soldiers led by Kyari were said to have taken away Wadume's vehicles.  Most of the residents who were identified in the video were arrested while many fled the town. Details this development were still sketchy as the time of filing this report. 

Details have emerged from the video of the murder of the police men in the kidnap / murder saga how three policemen were gruesomely murdered in the course of arresting a notorious hostage taker in Taraba State.  According to the video which went viral shortly after the controversy that trailed the killing, operatives of the Nigeria Army both uniformed and in mufti were heard in video giving directives during the dastardly act. " We will deal with you, you unlucky ones. They showed us ID cards that they were from the IG (Inspector General of Police). Till all of you die, another said, also in Hausa. As this goes on, a booming voice from the crowd of mostly soldiers, many of them not in uniforms, commended the mob and said: “Well done guys, you did well.” Lending further credence to reports that the killings were premeditated, another unidentified voice said: “Let’s set them ablaze with the vehicle,” a suggestion another, perhaps a personnel of a higher rank, responded to almost imm...

With the unveiling of the Second Edition of the book entitled “Handbook of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes”, Nigeria has joined the league of countries that have produced world class authors that have written books that have worldwide applicability. The book is capable of facilitating the lifting of several people out of the poverty worldwide and the revolutionalising conventional educational systems, globally. This book was unveiled on Wednesday, 17thJuly, 2019 at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. In 1776, a Scottish Economist and Moral Philosopher, Adam Smith published his book entitled “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, generally referred to by its shortened title “The Wealth of Nations”. His work is the foundation of the free market economy till date. In 1798, Thomas Malthus was the first Economist to propose a systematic theory of population. In his famous book entitled “Essay on the Principle of Population”, Malthus proposed the Pri...