Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has issued a 30-day ultimatum to the Governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele to resign from his position otherwise he would be exposed.
Emefiele had reportedly picked the nomination form on Friday from the party’s organising secretary at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja. He has come under heavy criticism.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele. Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

But on Saturday, the CBN boss denied a direct involvement stating that the form was purchased by farmers and patriots, adding that he would use his own money to buy his nomination forms when he had decided to run for the number one office.
Reacting in a statement on Sunday by OYC President-General, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, Ohanaeze said the Igbo youths can’t be deceived by Emefiele, describing the CBN governor's political affiliation as an 'absurdity taken too far'.
“Where has it ever been heard that the governor of a country’s apex bank will have anything to do with partisan politics?
“This is an absurdity taken too far. We are even seeing the futile efforts by the CBN Governor to convince gullible members of the society that the form was not purchased by him.
“We must say that his defence is dead on arrival, it’s like punching the air. What of the hundreds of branded cars that have been trending on social media? And could his so-called Father Christmas farmers and patriots have purchased APC form for him if he were not a card-carrying member of the party?” Okwu asked.
He said the only option left for the CBN boss was to resign honourably or be disgraced out of office.
“We can’t afford to continue to retain a card-carrying member of the APC as CBN Governor. We now know why the economy is facing all manner of flops for the past 7 years.
“We can’t have on the saddle a CBN Governor who is using our commonwealth to sponsor the APC and this is why we are giving Emefiele 30 days to resign or be exposed. We have information on how he has been romancing with politicians in APC. Should he fail to resign, Nigerians will hear more about him,” Okwu vowed. 

Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

Omoyele Sowore, a fair-complexioned man with a round face, was having lunch – pounded yam and okra soup – at a packed and noisy African restaurant in the Bronx, New york, that Monday afternoon when one of his three mobile telephones rang. As Mr. Sowore, a New-York-based blogger, journalist and activist, munched his meal, he spoke in low tones to the caller at the other end.

 

Mr. Sowore is the founder and chief reporter of one of sub-Saharan Africa’s most popular and feared websites. A major story was unfolding in his native Nigeria that day and the caller – a “top confidential source within the ruling establishment ” (he said at the time) had called to offer him a scoop. “Are you saying he is being flown abroad tonight? Who are those accompanying him?” Mr. Sowore asked, raising his voice a little above the din.

Then he went quiet for a while, as he listened attentively to the informant’s response, his left hand pressing the phone to his left ear and his right hand making a rhythmic journey between his plate and his mouth. The call over, after about ten minutes, a smile sprouted from the edges of Sowore’s lips.

 

He then cut short his lunch, (leaving behind a remnant of food) paid his bill and hurried to his car, a green Toyota Highlander, parked four blocks away. He flung open the trunk of the car and pulled out a backpack containing a white, internet-ready Mackintosh computer.

 

Standing by the front door of the car, his laptop placed on the driver’s seat, Mr. Sowore placed more calls to two other sources in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. He then frenetically pounded out a news report announcing to the world that the Nigerian president, Musa Yar’Adua, had fallen terribly ill and was being rushed to a Saudi hospital.

 

The report went live on SaharaReporters.com at exactly 1p.m. – a full five hours before an official statement from the presidential villa announced the trip. Mr. Sowore thus became the first to report the beginning of a journey from which Mr. Yar’Adua never returned. The president died on May 5, 2010.

 

Mr. Sowore’s distinctions are legion. In the six years he has run his site, he has become Nigeria’s version of Julian Assange, the controversial Australian internet activist. His blog, SaharaReporters.com, is also as audacious as Assange’s WikiLeaks, a secret-spilling organization that publishes sensitive and classified documents that would have been otherwise unavailable to the public.

 

In fact, Philip Shenon, a former investigative reporter for The New York Times, and author of The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, in an article for the Daily Beast, referred to SaharaReporters as Africa’s WikiLeaks. But while Assange scouts the entire world for sensitive and confidential documents, sharing them with his media partners such as The New York Times and The Guardian of London (with which e has since fallen out), and uploading them raw on his website, Mr. Sowore has made Nigeria his forte.

 

Operating from a cubicle in an expansive office he shares with another media organization in mid-Manhattan, New York, Mr. Sowore documents sordid details of corruption, misgovernance, scams, dishonesty and ineptitude by Nigerian government officials, institutions, corporations and individuals, fearlessly posting them on his website. He holds nothing back.

 

“Our mission is to do as much evidence-based reporting as possible. We want to make sure that we consistently shame and make life difficult for the thieves plundering Nigeria and holding down the country’s progress,” Mr. Sowore, who also teaches Modern African History at the City University of New York and Post Colonial African History at the School of Visual Arts, New York, said with a snort of disgust one recent Wednesday afternoon, as he worked on an article accusing Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan of profligacy.

 

Mr. Jonathan was, at the time, on a three-day visit to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly and Mr. Sowore was in possession of a four-page classified document containing the names of the 120-member delegation – which he described as obscene and wasteful – that accompanied the president from Nigeria.

 

The document clearly originated from the innermost circle of the president’s office and Mr. Sowore only stopped short of publishing it raw on his site out of concern for his sources who, he said, might be in danger.

 

Although, Mr. Sowore is based in New York, 5, 269 miles from Nigeria, he has become the nemesis of many a corrupt and inept official in his country. He has amassed a long list of trusted sources within Nigeria’s ruling establishment and its corporate world. And his website, in recent years, has become one of the most visited and trusted sources of news in the oil-rich West African nation.

 

Mr. Sowore moves around New York with a roller case containing an I-Pad, two Mackintosh laptops permanently hooked to the internet, three mobile phones, a T-Mobile line devoted to text messaging, a Verizon line for voice calls and another T-Mobile line exclusively for international calls. “I’m like a doctor. I get a lot of emergency calls, and an average of 30 calls a day from my sources in Nigeria and other parts of the world,” he said one recent Friday evening as he drove out of a parking lot in Manhattan.

 

He also has a backpack containing a canon rebel camera for still photography, a Panasonic Lumix camcorder, an extra pair of clothing and some toiletries, in case he is not able to make it back to his New Jersey home as the result of a breaking story.

 

With these simple tools, the blogger has broken a large number of major stories that have made a huge impact on his country of 150 million people, including bringing down some highly placed government officials. “The fear of SaharaReporters is the beginning of wisdom for corrupt officials in Nigeria and the joke in the country is that politicians, public office holders, security officials, corporate giants and other well placed individuals do not go to bed without checking SaharaReporters,” Bukola Oreofe, a New York-based pro-democracy activist, who has followed the site from its inception, said. “And when they wake up in the morning, they also rush to check whether SaharaReporters has published their indiscretions or exposed their hidden skeletons.”

 

From presidents to state governors, senators to ministers, and businessmen to anti-corruption operatives, Sowore’s website has exposed and disgraced more than a few public officials. He has also consistently criticized successive administrations in the country.

 

It was SaharaReporters, which consistently published the accounts of the corrupt acts of a former Nigerian Justice Minister, Mike Aondoakaa, until the Barack Obama administration could tolerate the official no more. His U.S. visa was cancelled and he and his family were barred from entering the United States.

 

For years, Sowore beamed his searchlight on James Ibori, a powerful state Governor of the oil-rich Delta State and steadily assailed the Nigerian government with embarrassing information of his alleged plunder of state resources, including allegedly stealing of $100 million from the coffers of a state he had ruled for eight years.

 

The former governor escaped to Dubai when the government moved to prosecute him, after it could no longer ignore the continuing, and disturbing reports on him. He was later arrested in Dubai and extradited to London where he is facing charges for corruption.

 

SaharaReporters forced an associate of Mr. Ibori, Emmanuel Enaboifo, out of his exalted position as finance director of a bi-national commission that oversees the oil-rich zone owned by Nigeria and Sao Tome & Principe. No sooner had the Nigerian president appointed Mr. Enaboifo to the post than Sowore unmasked him as a fugitive who fled the United States, after a U.S. District Court convicted him of bank fraud.

 

Two weeks after the publication, Mr. Enaboifo stepped down. Earlier in January 2008, the site exposed Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, a former senator and daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as a hunted fugitive wanted in the U.S. over a child custody case. Even former Nigeria’s anti-corruption chief, Farida Waziri, did not escape Mr. Sowore’s scrutiny.

 

In several articles, mostly backed by documentation, he accused her of pilfering her agency’s funds and receiving bribes from governors and ministers, in exchange for ignoring their own looting of public funds.

 

Nigeria, OPEC’s sixth largest producer of crude and one of America’s top suppliers of oil, is Africa’s most populous country and the world’s most populous black nation. Although it has enormous oil resources, earning about $25 billion a year, according to the Revenue Watch Institute, it remains among the poorest countries in the world, ranking 158th out of the 182 countries rated in the United Nation’s most recent Human Development Index.

 

Corruption is rife, with a huge chunk of the country’s revenue routinely stolen by corrupt administration officials and their collaborators in the corporate world. Unemployment is skyrocketing. Basic infrastructures have broken down. And the country’s elections are perpetually flawed, its leaders often lacking legitimacy.

 

“Sowore is angry at a Nigerian nation that has huge potential for success but has remained largely underdeveloped even after its golden jubilee anniversary as a sovereign state,” Shola Oshunkeye, an editor with Nigeria’s Sun newspapers, said during a recent visit to New York. “As a result of his anger, Sowore is usually restless and applies no breaks in pushing to the public domain any information that could expose the ineptitude, insincerity, corruption and wheeling-dealing tendencies of the country’s public officials.”

 

                                                    ===========================

 

Part 2: How SaharaReporters was born

 

It was Christmas eve in 1980, and festivity was in the air in Mr. Sowore’s riverine Kiribo community in Ondo State. Then, suddenly, tragedy struck. An unruly gang of police officers invaded the community after clashing with some youths who challenged them for extorting money from market women. Mr. Sowore watched from the comfort of his mother’s shop as officers shoved, beat and handcuffed men, and raped women of the community.

 

Among those raped that day was Mr. Sowore’s cousin. Although he was barely nine at the time, that unsavoury incidence stoked the fire of activism in him. “As I grew up and realized the implication of what I witnessed, I decided to dedicate my life to the fight for human rights,” he recalls.

 

It was however in 1989 that he started off fully as an activist at the University of Lagos where he studied geography and planning, and became president of the student union. He had brushes with the university authorities while fighting for student rights, and was expelled twice and then recalled.

 

Even when he was eventually allowed to graduate, the university withheld his degree for a while on the orders of the government of the day. His one-year compulsory national service was not trouble-free either. He was dismissed from the Adamawa State Broadcasting Corporation for criticizing the controversial hanging of a foremost environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, on Kaleidoscope, a program he anchored for the station.

 

He went to work for a graphic artist named Sammy for the remainder of his service. On the day he completed his service and was about to head home, Mr. Sowore was arrested and detained for two weeks by operatives of the State Security Service, who accused him of mobilizing his colleagues against the government. He said the National Youth Service Corps, was still holding on to his discharge certificate today.

 

After his release from detention, Mr. Sowore returned to Lagos, and became involved in the titanic pro-democracy struggle to end military dictatorship in the country.

 

In 1999, shortly before flawed elections returned the country to a shaky democracy, Sowore travelled to New York to seek medical treatment, and later enrolled at Columbia University for a Masters in Public Administration

 

After his study, he took up a job with a Catholic charity in New Jersey. While there, the activism in Mr. Sowore, a feisty, quick-witted man, continued to boil, as the political and economic situation in his home country continued to erode. Soon, he began to travel around the U.S. speaking about human rights on behalf of Amnesty International, while also contributing articles to Nigerian publications.

 

Two of his articles became especially controversial at the time. One day in 2005, he interviewed Orji Kalu, a Nigerian governor who was then opposed to President Olusegun Obasanjo. In the interview, the governor described Mr. Obasanjo as corrupt and murderous. But when Nigeria’s The Guardian published the interview, Mr. Kalu, presumably wary of angering Mr. Obasanjo, denied ever speaking to Mr. Sowore.

 

It was this controversy that brought the SaharaReporters’ publisher in contact with Jonathan Elendu, then a Nigerian U.S-based blogger and owner of Elendureports.com. Elendu interviewed both parties in the dispute and established that the governor had indeed spoken with Sowore.

 

Impressed by Mr. Sowore’s dedication to country and quest for equity and justice, Mr. Elendu invited the activist to team up with him. On June 4, 2005, Sowore wrote his first article for Elendureports.com accusing Ibrahim Gambari, a respected United Nation’s diplomat and Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to the UN of being among anti-democratic elements who backed military dictators in his country to annul Nigeria’s most credible election to date. From then on, Mr. Elendu and Mr. Sowore worked together, exposing the corrupt deals and ill-gotten assets owned by Nigerian officials abroad.

 

The duo confronted Nigerians with largely incontestable documentary evidence of their leaders’ graft. Among the assets uncovered by the duo were those of ex-Governors: Lucky Igbinedion’s 3.3 million pounds London mansion; Bukola Saraki’s 4.3 million pound London palatial home; Attahiru Bafarawa’s 795,000 pounds London property; Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s $900,000 apartment in Potomac, Maryland; and Orji Kalu’s $1.7 million residence, also in Potomac, Maryland. The reporters also revealed how, Olumuyiwa, a son of then President Obasanjo bought a $520,000 New York home, in cash, shortly after he graduated from St John’s University.

 

However, things soon fell apart between the two friends. On January 4, 2006, exactly six months after they began working together, Mr. Sowore suddenly quit. Some readers of the site were heartbroken after Mr. Elendu announced Mr. Sowore’s voluntary departure from the site that day. “Naturally, having followed their work, their separation was very disturbing,” Dayo Aiyetan, a former senior associate editor with Nigeria’s TELL magazine and now a fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington said. “But I got information later that things were going terribly wrong and that a lot happened that Sowore couldn’t stomach.”

 

Neither Mr. Sowore nor Mr. Elendu are willing to divulge the specific reason for their break-up. Mr. Sowore merely said he left Mr. Elendu when he began to veer towards political consultancy. Mr. Elendu didn’t respond to email and telephone calls requesting his comments on Mr. Sowore’s claim.

 

Shortly before officially leaving Elendureports, Mr. Sowore had traveled to Nigeria in December to visit his family. As had been his practice for a long while, he flew into Ghana and then surreptitiously entered Nigeria through the Seme border, where, in a chance encounter, he met President Obasanjo’s eldest son, Gbenga.

 

The president’s son gave him a ride to Lagos in his SUV and during the trip, Mr. Sowore interviewed Gbenga on the way his father was running the country. Gbenga was brutally frank in his responses. At a point, he blasted his father’s deputy, Atiku Abubakar, describing him and another government minister, Nasir el-Rufai, as corrupt and greedy. Mr. Sowore then submitted the interview to THE NEWS, one of Nigeria’s largest weeklies, and that was the first sign that the activist had turned his back on Elendureports.

 

Expectedly, the article sparked outrage in the then Vice President’s camp and after both his father and the opposition pilloried him, Gbenga tried hard – but unsuccessfully – to deny some of the comments Mr. Sowore attributed to him.

 

After he returned to the U.S., Mr. Sowore decided to launch his own website. Thus on January 15, 2006, he bought a domain name from godaddy for, as he remembers, less than $10. A friend helped him with a website template and he paid the hosting fee of $29 for the month. After a test run, the site, named after the world’s largest hot desert north of Nigeria, was launched as “an alternative news media” at a subtle ceremony at the Empire State Building in New York on February 18, 2006.

 

In the years that he has run the blog, Sowore has troubled corrupt officials. And, for a country that has no freedom of information law and where government-run businesses are shrouded in secrecy, the blogger has contributed to holding officials accountable. Before he and his website arrived on the scene, it was far easier for some media organizations to kill important stories, after reporters and top editors had been compromised. Also, as a result of SaharaReporters’ success, several other blogs have sprouted in the country, enhancing the citizens’ right to know.

 

Mr. Sowore attributes a large chunk of his blog’s success to crowdsourcing, a practice of using citizens and communities for newsgathering. “We told people ‘look, you don’t have to be a journalist to report for us. Just send us all the information you have and we will do the filtering,” he said over a dinner of snail and palmwine one recent Friday night. The result, he said, has been amazing. “At the moment, it is as if everybody in Nigeria is reporting for us. Everyday, we receive tons of information and documents from officials and ordinary citizens who believe in our mission and trust us.”

 

The world has not failed to notice Mr. Sowore’s SaharaReporters, especially following its coverage of the 2009 Christmas day attempted bombing when Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdumuttallab, tried to blow up a plane in Detroit. The site was the first to publish Abdulmuttallab’s photograph and details of who he was.

 

Today, the U.S. State Department, think tanks, and experts on Africa and Nigeria pay close attention to the site. “My experience has been that it’s reporting has a very high level of accuracy,” John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and now a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, recently told The Daily Beast. Lisa Vives, executive director, Global Information Network, who shares an office with Sowore, said she admired SaharaReporters for its courageous reporting of complex stories from Nigeria.

 

Of course, the site has drawn considerable attention to Mr. Sowore, who has spoken about it at meetings and conferences in Ghana, the United States, Austria, the United Kingdom and Canada. The Ford Foundation has also rewarded SaharaReporters with a $175,000 grant over the last two years to expand its operations, while Nigerian banks and hotels are now beginning to advertise on it.

 

                                                     =====================

 

Part Three: The verbal combats of SaharaReporters

 

Mr. Sowore carries his dislike of the largely corrupt Nigerian establishment around like a portable chessboard. At times, he openly engages officials in fierce verbal combat. One day this spring, Ojo Maduekwe, then Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, visited the United States to downplay the intense political crisis in his West African nation.

 

President Yar’Adua had already been hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, without having designated his deputy as acting President, leaving Nigeria without a head of state for months. The nation was at a standstill and the international community feared that democracy might again collapse in a country, which has a long history of military coups.

 

So, Maduekwe was in town to assure U.S. officials that all was well with his country. After visiting Washington, the then minister made a stop in New York for a press conference with United Nations correspondents at UN headquarters. Maduekwe’s preliminary remarks over, it was time for the traditional question and answer session and things went on smoothly until Mr. Sowore hammered the minister with what he considered an “insulting” question.

 

“You were on the BBC yesterday and you said you have not spoken to President Yar’Adua for the 60 days he’s been gone,” Mr. Sowore said. “Yet, you are moving around the world claiming that you are representing the President and his interest whereas you haven’t had any mandate from that president in the last 60 days.

 

How can we trust that … you being somebody who had acted on behalf of every government, both legitimate and illegitimate – I know you supported Abacha very strongly – that you are not just going around doing what suits you because Nigeria has no leadership at this point? …”

 

Rage rose under the minister’s skin as Sowore spoke. The mention of Sani Abacha reminded Mr. Maduekwe of his inglorious past, when he and other sycophantic Nigerians encouraged Nigeria’s most brutal military dictator to date to hang onto power rather than return the country to constitutional governance.

 

As he adjusted his sitting position repeatedly, Mr. Maduekwe’s bloodshot eyes twinkled under his glasses, and he looked at the journalist in subdued anger. After Mr. Sowore finished, the minister adjusted his sitting position again, rested his arms on his table and thundered a response.

 

“Your question is so insulting and so abusive and so disgraceful and does not even convey an educated mind,” Mr. Maduekwe replied.

 

Mr. Sowore cuts in: That’s not the question I’m asking. I asked you a question that I expect you to answer not to insult me.”

 

“You don’t deserve an answer,” Mr. Maduekwe fired back.

 

“You have to answer me because you are the one who has called us here and then insulted us with this rigmarole,” Sowore shot back.

 

Mr. Maduekwe was stunned by the journalist’s effrontery, and at a point could take it no more. By Nigerian standards, he was a “big man” and was not used to being talked to like that. He looked around the room, sweat blooming on his forehead, and growled, “Is there anyone in charge of this place?” He apparently wanted Sowore bundled out of the room, perhaps forgetting that he was in New York where harassing journalists is unpopular.

 

“What do you mean by is anyone in charge of this place,” Mr. Sowore charged in return. “What are you trying to do? This is not Nigeria. Answer the question and forget about harassing me.”

 

There was tension in the room as Mr. Maduekwe lapsed into a prolonged silence and another journalist tried to mitigate the situation.

 

Investigative reporter Matthew Lee of the Inner City Press then paraphrased Sowore’s question. Maduekwe responded, “Go ahead and ask. I will answer it but I will not answer his (Sowore’s). He is a very miserable fellow.”

 

Mr. Sowore charged back, “Don’t insult me. Why will you say I’m miserable because I’m exercising my rights as a Nigerian to ask you a question? You’ve been doing this for too long… I think it is you that is miserable.”

 

“Come to Nigeria and help order the place. Why are you running away?” Mr. Maduekwe replied.

 

“Why not? And it’s going to be a matter of time,” Mr. Sowore responded.

 

Mr. Maduekwe looked intense but he allowed Mr. Lee to rephrase the controversial question all the same. After the minister gave what Sowore later described in an interview as an incoherent answer, the press conference ended abruptly. Mr. Sowore rushed back to his office in midtown Manhattan. About an hour later, a clip of his altercation with the minister was up on his website, where it drew 256 comments, and on YouTube where the clip was viewed 26,868 times as of 5.28pm on October 8, 2010. Many of the comments on the two platforms lauded Mr. Sowore for humiliating the minister, while some others criticized him for acting unprofessionally and disrespecting an important public figure in his country.

 

Speaking about that incident recently, Mr. Sowore accused Mr. Maduekwe of being among those holding back his country’s progress. “A lot of them are just too corrupt and dishonest for my liking,” he said. “They are causing a great deal of suffering for Nigerians and I enjoy making them uncomfortable in return. I wanted to humiliate him and I am glad I did.”

 

A few weeks after the Maduekwe altercation, Mr. Sowore again shamed another Nigerian official who was in New York for this year’s Africa Economic Forum at Columbia University. Ted Ikuru, Deputy Governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers State was on a panel at the conference speaking about the effort his state was making to provide electricity for its residents. Mr. Sowore was not invited to the event, but he rushed there nonetheless. He had reported extensively about the weighty allegations of graft and money laundering against top officials of the state, and was just too pleased for an opportunity to put Mr. Ikuru on the spot.

 

Then, the question and answer session came, and Mr. Sowore shot Mr. Ikuru an uneasy question.

 

“You talked about electricity,” he began. “But we documented how the former governor stole money meant for the provision of electricity in the last regime. So, the 250 MW you are talking about, did it come from the one in which he diverted all the funds for his failed presidential run or was this one your own. Secondly, in the beginning of your own regime, one of the governor’s aide, Nelson Wike, was found to have stashed away N3 billion.”

 

There were giggles by some aides of the deputy governor seated in the hall.

 

Mr. Sowore paused, looked in the direction of the men and said, “It is not a laughing matter.” The men immediately went quiet and he continued. “Wike was later arrested and the judiciary was bribed to let him go which we documented. But he is still working with the governor. How do you justify retaining such an individual in your government?”

 

As Mr. Sowore spoke, the chubby Ikuru eyed him disdainfully, and tapped his feet on the floor and his ballpoint pen on his table, drawing noise to the microphone. In response, the deputy governor, gesturing with his two palms, said the allegations of corruption against officials of his state were unfounded.

 

The journalist tried to push the argument further but another official on the deputy governor’s entourage intervened to ease the tension. “I have tremendous respect for SaharaReporters,” he said. “I am one of those who believe you are doing a good job but we must check our facts correctly so we don’t inform people in a way that is not right.

 

There was applause in the hall. Mr. Sowore smiled. “These guys waste public funds to come to America to lie and deceive people here. It is just necessary to help people see through their scams,” he said shortly afterwards as he walked out of the hall with a spring in his step. About two hours later, a report and video clip of the encounter appeared on SaharaReporters and YouTube.

 

Some Nigerians, especially public officials who bear the brunt of his reporting, have often accused Mr. Sowore of destroying his country’s image and of being contemptuous and disrespectful of authorities. Mr. Sowore dismisses the charges with a wave of the hand. “I am more patriotic than most of the rogues in power.

 

In spite of what they say about me, I love my country,” Mr. Sowore said one night last July at Lincoln Center, a premier entertainment venue in New York, where he had gone to watch one of Nigeria’s biggest musical exports, Femi Kuti, perform.

 

“I like to support everything that is good about Nigeria and viciously oppose everything that is bad. People at times mistake my anti-establishment stance for anti-Nigeria. That is not correct.”

 

But Mr. Sowore has, at times, failed to adhere strictly to the rules of contemporary journalism – objectivity, fairness and respect for people’s privacy and for subjects of stories. While asking questions at press conferences and other events involving Nigerian officials, he blasts functionaries, calls them names, and pointedly accuses them of mismanaging his country. He calls it journalistic activism or advocacy journalism.

 

At times, he publishes what many professionals consider offensive photographs on his site. The publication of the bullet-ridden body of slain Guardian journalist, Bayo Ohu, who was assassinated on September 21, 2009 in Lagos, riled not a few readers and professionals. “The picture is too graphic and it intruded into people’s privacy in a way that is not necessary,” James Estrin, editor of the Lens Blog, the photojournalism blog of The New York Times said, explaining that his newspaper would never run such a horrific photograph. Mr. Sowore, however, said his publication decided to publish the photograph because doing so was in line with its philosophy of “evidence-based news reporting”.

 

The SUN’s Oshunkeye also faults SaharaReporters for swallowing, in his words, “information from aggrieved sources hook, line and sinker” and speedily pushing them onto the public space without conducting necessary checks to ascertain authenticity. “This is dangerous because he may not avail himself of ample time and space to test and retest the quality of the information he is being fed, therefore making him prone to being used by manipulative sources,” Mr. Oshunkeye said. “When this happens, fairness goes to Golgotha.” Mr. Sowore shrugs off the criticism, saying his site has an “elaborate process” of verifying all information.

 

                                                                                       ===================

 

Part Four: The plots to silence SaharaReporters

 

The years since Mr. Sowore began to write about his country from New York have become particularly difficult for him. As a result of his work, the journalist has become persona non grata in his home country. He cannot visit Nigeria as regularly as he desires. Whenever it becomes absolutely necessary to visit his family, he surreptitiously enters the country through its land borders but when there, he cannot move freely for fear of arrest, attack or assassination.

 

His family fears for his safety and his widowed mother, Kehinde, a 58-year-old petty trader in Kiribo, Mr. Sowore’s native home in Ondo State, is particularly apprehensive that harm might come to her son. “At every level, people are concerned about my safety given the kind of people we write about,” Mr. Sowore said in a Skype interview one Saturday morning in October. “But I am a trained activist and have been detained by the Nigerian authorities eight times. So, I don’t listen to people’s concern anymore because I have no fear.”

 

Mr. Sowore mother’s unease about her son reached its climax in October 2008 when Jonathan Elendu, Mr. Sowore’s former partner at Elendureports was arrested at the Abuja airport by security operatives on returning to Nigeria from the United States. Mr. Elendu, who the operatives wrongly believed worked for SaharaReporters, was detained and tortured for 12 days before his eventual release. He said the agents kept pressing him for information about Mr. Sowore during his interrogation.

 

Even in New York, Mr. Sowore moves around like a hunted man, looking over his shoulder everywhere he goes. While driving, he looks into the mirror from time to time to ascertain that he is not being followed by anyone. He has also thrown a seemingly impenetrable cloak of secrecy around his family of three. Some of his close friends said they do not know where he lives and have never met his wife or his two children.

 

For this story, Mr. Sowore flatly refused to be interviewed in his New Jersey home. He also wouldn’t allow his wife to be interviewed or her identity, and that of his children, mentioned in the piece. “I have decided to keep them completely out of the picture,” he said. “Once they know the soft targets around me, these guys can strike. I receive threatening SMS and telephone calls and angry emails often. So, I have to do my best to keep my family safe.”

 

In an emailed response to Nduka Otiono, a professor at the department of English and film studies at the University of Alberta, who had inquired about SaharaReporters, Mr. Sowore reiterated that the “powerful interests” his site writes about were plotting consistently to knock him, and his staff, down. “Everyone reading or working for SaharaReporters knows that we are a target each and every day.

 

We simply don’t care enough to count how many times we get threatened with death or bodily harm,” he said. “We answer to legal threats/actions. We answer to cyber threats that come in the form of bot attacks because we must remain in operation at all times. The rest we document for history, but we don’t let them bother us.”

 

Some Nigerian officials, Mr. Sowore said, have tried to compromise him or get him to at least be less critical. Some government agencies, such as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, have offered him advertisements. He saw the gesture as a way of courting him, so he rejected it and announced on his site that SaharaReporters won’t accept advertisements from government officials and agencies.

 

Administration officials visiting New York often seek meetings with him. Some have sent emissaries. But he has remained elusive and unmoved. “As a rule, I avoid private meetings with government officials,” he explained. “I just tell them that there is no discussion we can’t have by telephone or email. Physical meetings are unnecessary.”

 

But presidency officials, apparently distressed by SaharaReporters’ hard-hitting reporting, badly want to meet Mr. Sowore. So, one day this summer, President Jonathan’s spokesman, Ima Niboro, flew into New York to meet him. After checking into the Marriot Hotel in the Brooklyn district of the city, Mr. Niboro rang Sowore to request a meeting. “He said oga (his boss the president) sent him to thank me for my support of his government – whatever that means – and that he had met with other bloggers – Jackson Ude of pointblank.com and Emmanuel Asiwe of huhuonline.com – and that I was the only one left.”

 

Mr. Sowore said he suspected the “thank you” from Mr. Jonathan to be a euphemism for bribery so he told the president’s emissary he was not available for a meeting. “But he kept pressing, saying a certain Jerry Omano would drive him to wherever I was. At that point, I made it clear I had no plan to receive any thanks from oga.” Mr. Niboro did not return calls nor reply email requesting his comment for this story.

 

SaharaReporters has also had to contend with legal challenges from those, who Mr. Sowore described as agents of the Nigerian government. In 2007, Paul Orhii, head of the National Agency for Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, sued SaharaReporters and its publisher for $25 million concerning a report that he had colluded with former Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa to collect huge fees from the government to act as an expert witness in a case involving Pfizer even when he had no expertise in the subject matter. Mr. Orhii, who was based in the U.S., was appointed NAFDAC’s DG shortly after he instituted the libel suit.

 

Also hanging around Sowore’s neck is a case against him by a U.S-based Nigerian lawyer, Emeka Ugwuonye, who sued over a series of articles alleging fraudulent sales of Nigeria embassy properties in the U.S. And there is yet another suit by Eric Abakporo, an attorney to Nigeria’s Permanent Mission to the UN, who is contesting SaharaReporter’s reports of improper contract awards by the Nigerian mission.

 

“Whatever they do, we will remain true to our mission and ideal,” Mr. Sowore said over dinner one Friday in October. “Our mission is more important than we are ourselves. We wish Nigerian leaders would understand this.”

 

His meal over, Sowore left the New York restaurant and zoomed off into the darkness. Two hours later, he posted a confidential security report naming top Nigerian administration officials and politicians in the massive diversion and sale of Nigerian army weaponry to insurgents in the country’s restive Niger Delta region.

 

“They ain’t seen anything yet,” he said later that night on the telephone.

 

THE END

 

Note: This article was written in 2010 by Musikilu Mojeed

Opinion AddThis :  Featured Image :  Original Author :  Musikilu Mojeed Disable advertisements : 

A Nigerian activist in Torino, Italy, Gladys Amadin Costantino has called out the founder and Senior Prophet of the Christ MercyLand Deliverance Ministries, Jeremiah Fufeyin of using the police to arrest and detain activists demanding the whereabouts of Testimony Ayo, the 2-year-old child who went missing in his church.
Costantino told SaharaReporters that the Prophet on Friday ordered the arrest of one Apostle Kassy Chukwu who was taken from Delta State to Abuja. 

 

According to her, the cleric made a video on March 25, 2022, assuring of the return of the baby by March 30. However, as of the time of filing this report, the missing child had yet to be reunited with his mother, Costantino said.
She queried why Prophet Jeremiah had been calling for people's arrest over defamation while the issue of the missing person was left unattended. 
She said: “It is about this Prophet Jeremiah that baby Testimony got missing in his church. 
“This man has been arresting people that came out to talk about the baby, I'm one of the activists talking about it. They even threatened to go and arrest my mother. 
“They arrested a pastor on Friday, that was with us on this struggle for Baby Testimony. They arrested Pastor Kassy from Asaba and took him to Abuja saying he made a defamation video against Jeremiah. 
“Whereas Jeremiah agreed some time ago saying he was ready to bring out the baby. He said God told him that the baby would be out in four days, and after four days, he said it was a lie, giving another excuse. 
“We are talking about a baby here. This pastor spends money every week to do damage control, he wrote some media outlets to say they were defaming him.
“It's not about defaming a man of God, we are talking about a baby that got missing in his church in 2019 and we are in 2022. 
“Any man or woman that has a child, nephew, niece, should come out and join us in this struggle. 
“Jeremiah said he would bring out the child on March 30, we are in May already.
“Jeremiah sent the police to arrest the mother of the child, but God orchestrated it that an activist was in the same plane with the cripple. 
“They might have killed this cripple by now but thanks to this video from Bisola. 
“These people are not talking about the whereabouts of the baby, Jeremiah called for the arrest of Pastor Kassy for defaming him but never mentioned the whereabouts of the baby. 
“In the court of law, all over the world, they will look for what causes the defamation of character, then it can be linked to the missing child. 
“An injustice for one is an injustice for all. Why was Kassy Chukwu arrested?
“He made a video on 25th March 2022, he said before 30th March 2022, the baby would be released, we are in May yet the baby is nowhere to be found. 
“Prophet Jeremiah is trying to silence everyone who comes out to ask about the missing child who went with the mother to Mercy City for a crusade.” 

Scandal News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

A civic group, the Human & Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), urging the body to investigate the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele and an emergency interest group, Green Alliance.
Emefiele had reportedly picked the nomination form on Friday from the party’s organising secretary at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja.

Emefiele, under whom the apex bank had retrogressed and the national economy receded, said it was “patriots” who bought the All Progressives Congress party’s nomination forms for him, adding that he would use his own money to buy his nomination forms when he had made a decision to run for the number one office.
HEDA, in a statement, said it had petitioned the ICPC to take swift action to prevent the breach of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act by the Governor, by promptly and diligently investigating the motive and sponsors of The Green Alliance Movement and if any foul play was uncovered, such culprits should be prosecuted accordingly.
The group said the statement by the CBN governor shows that he had been involved in politics contrary to Section 9 of the CBN Act.
 
HEDA said, “As the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr. Godwin Emefiele keeps Nigerians confused regarding his 2023 Presidential bid, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has responded to a petition filed against him by the Human & Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) last month.
“Recall that so many presidential aspirants who have picked nomination forms for the 2023 general elections were either implored or pressurized to run by some emergency interest groups. One of such Presidential hopefuls is the governor of CBN, while his trumpeter is the Green Alliance Movement.
“So many believed that the Green Alliance was constituting nuisance and distracting the CBN boss from doing his job, even though he has performed below average since he assumed that lofty position.
 “Unfortunately, Section 9 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act barred the CBN governor and his deputies from engaging in Politics and other businesses, unless such person resigns, but contrary to public expectations, the governor of the apex bank refused to resign and pursue politics neither did he disassociate himself from those heralding his coming, even after series of petitions compelling him to do the honourable thing.
“The section reads thus: 'The Governor and the Deputy Governors shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the Bank and while holding office shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocation whether remunerated or not except such personal or charitable causes as may be determined by the Board and which do not conflict with or detract from their full-time duties.'
“As event unfolds, HEDA petitioned the ICPC to take swift action to prevent the breach of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act by the Governor, by promptly and diligently investigating the motive and sponsors of The Green Alliance Movement and if any foul play was uncovered, such culprits should be prosecuted accordingly.
“In a response signed by the Petition Registrar, H.S Folaranmi, on behalf of the chairman of the Commission- Bolaji Owasanoye, to HEDA, ICPC acknowledged HEDA's Petition and averred to act accordingly.
“The chairman of HEDA, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, confirmed that its petition among others must have prompted Emefiele to come up with its latest statement on his Twitter handle thus, 'This is a serious decision that requires God’s Divine intervention, in the next few days The Almighty will so direct.'"
HEDA's boss maintained that Emefiele had been involved in politics and a member of APC contrary to the law. 
"By telling Nigerians that within the week, he would let Nigerians know his stand (to run or not) after hearing from God, It then means he's been involved in politics and member of APC, contrary to the law,” Suraju asserted.
“He reminded Emefiele that failure to publicly state his position on the 2023 general election would not only be precarious to Nigeria's current fragile economy but inimical to the country’s financial integrity, saying that the current state of the economy requires all actors to stay focused on the task of repositioning Nigeria on a trajectory of prosperity.
“Going by our mandate as a leading anti-corruption organization in Nigeria, we expect every political aspirant to play by the rules, but they must remember that good governance remains the hallmark of democracy,” he added.

Politics Scandal News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

Sixty persons have been feared killed after a Russian air raid on a school in eastern Ukraine.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai said two people have been confirmed dead after Russian forces dropped a bomb on the school, and 30 civilians had been pulled from the debris, Aljazeera reports.

According to Haidai, about 90 people were sheltering in the school in the village of Bilohorivka and a fire following Saturday’s attack engulfed the building.
He wrote on Telegram, “The fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the rubble was cleared and, unfortunately, the bodies of two people were found.
“Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Sixty people were likely to have died under the rubble of buildings.”
The tension between the neighbours has been bubbling for a while. 
The protracted conflict first brewed over in 2014 after the widespread Euromaidan protest in Ukraine forced the parliament to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office. 
The removal of Yanukovych, who was regarded as pro-Russia, vexed the leadership in Moscow, and they thought the best way to strike back was to reclaim Ukraine’s region of Crimea, which used to be under Russia’s control from 1783 to 1954.
To end the bloody crisis, an agreement was hammered out in Minsk, Belarus, in February 2015. 
The resolution tagged the ‘Minsk agreement’ was monitored by United Nations, and it proposed a cease-fire with all parties signing to power down their machinery of war.
Despite a ceasefire agreement, both parties have not been at peace, and the Russia-backed rebels have claimed further swathes of land in the east of Ukraine. 
 

Military News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

House of Representatives

The House of Representatives will on Monday reconvene for an emergency plenary session to deliberate on the presidential ambition of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele and the crisis in the aviation sector, Daily Trust reports.
Emefiele had reportedly picked the nomination form on Friday from the party’s organising secretary at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja. He has come under heavy criticism.

House of Representatives

Emefiele, under whom the apex bank had retrogressed and the national economy receded, said it was “patriots” who bought the All Progressives Congress party’s nomination forms for him, adding that he would use his own money to buy his nomination forms when he had made a decision to run for the number one office.
Also, on Friday, Nigerian airline operators announced that they would suspend operations as from Monday due to the high cost of aviation fuel which has hit 700 naira per litre.
The President of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON, Abdulmunaf Sarina, disclosed this in a statement.
The statement advised the travelling public who intend to fly to make alternative arrangements to avoid being stranded at the country’s airports.
In reaction to these, the Clerk of the House, Dr Yahaya Danzariya, had in a statement announced that the House will be holding an emergency plenary session by 2 pm on Monday. 
“It is particularly intended to discuss critical issues of national importance. The House regrets any inconvenience this short notice would have caused”, the statement said.  
The House will be holding the emergency to look at the two burning issues.

Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

The Independent National Electoral Commission has excluded no fewer than 124 political groups from participating in the 2023 general elections.
According to a report by Punch, this resulted from the commission's registration exercise which was carried out in 2020. By implication, only the 18 parties survived it.

In reaction to a Freedom of Information request, the Deputy Director, SERVICOM at INEC, Olayide Okuonghae said 101 associations applied between 2019 and December 14, 2021.
His response read in part, “In reference to your letter dated December 9, 2021, the commission wishes to inform you that from 2019 to December 14, 2021, a total of 101 political associations forwarded their letters of intent to be registered as political parties.”
This was also confirmed by Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu. He, however, noted that the commission could not reveal the names of the associations because they had not been approved as political parties.
It was, however, learnt that 23 more political associations applied for registration between December 14, 2021, and March 25, 2022, totalling 124. However, none of the associations had been registered.
The report read in part, “As of March 2022, the commission had on record a total of 124 letters of intent from various political associations seeking to apply for registration as political parties. 
“The summary of the status of the associations is that 97 associations out of 116 have been advised that their proposed names, acronyms or logos were not suitable or available for registration.
“Eleven of the associations that received letters of non-suitability of their proposed names/acronyms/logos resubmitted letters of intent with amended names/acronyms/logos. Sixteen associations submitted fresh letters of intent.”
Oyekanmi said on Friday that the final decision on whether or not to register a new political party before the elections rested exclusively with the commission, a system he said he would not pre-empt.
He was quoted as saying, “The submission of an application by an association or group for registration as a political party is the starting point of an elaborate and rigorous process. It, therefore, takes time and a lot of effort from when an application is submitted to the day the certificate of registration is given.
“Section 75 of the Electoral Act, 2022 says any political association that complies with the provisions of the constitution and the Act for the purposes of registration shall be registered as a political party provided, however, that such an application for registration shall be duly submitted to the commission not later than 12 months before a general election.”
A National Commissioner in INEC, who spoke with the newspaper said only 18 political parties would partake in the elections.
He said, “Any party that registers now can never be for the 2023 elections because the timetable for the primaries is running already; the primaries must end on June 3, that’s less than a month. So, I don’t see how a party that is registered now will be able to meet up with all of these requirements.
“Don’t forget that they also have to bring the register of their members. So, if they are registered now, when are they going to do all of these?”
Asked to confirm if only 18 political parties would participate in the 2023 elections, he said, “Absolutely, that’s what is going to happen, because the timetable can no longer accommodate them (new members).”
A Resident Electoral Commissioner, who also did not want his name mentioned, said the commission would not reject any valid application for registration, but that its timetable could exclude any new party from participating in certain elections.
He said, “I don’t think INEC is in the position to turn them down. The only thing is whether or not they will be on the ballot. Maybe by the time they finish the process, it will be too late. If party primaries are over before they register as political parties, automatically they are out. Party primaries are to end on June 3, so automatically any political party that is set up after the primaries have been concluded cannot take part in the elections.”
Before the fresh applications, INEC had on February 6, 2020, deregistered 74 political parties due to their poor performance in the 2019 general elections and the re-run elections that followed.
Yakubu said in addition to the extant provision for the registration of political parties, the Fourth Alteration to Section 225(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, empowered the commission to deregister political parties.
Ninety-one political parties participated in the 2019 general elections, while an additional one, the Boot Party, was registered based on the order of a court after the polls.
“Accordingly, 74 political parties are hereby deregistered. With this development, Nigeria now has 18 registered political parties,” Yakubu had said.
He recalled that between 2011 and 2013, INEC deregistered a total of 39 political parties based on the same provision. The Supreme Court, on May 7 upheld an earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal, which okayed the deregistration of the National Unity Party and 73 others. The appeal was filed by the NUP and others.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro, the Supreme Court said the deregistration of the parties was done in line with the laws and compliance with the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act.
The judgment, delivered by a five-man panel led by Justice Mary Odili, said INEC was empowered by Section 225 (a) of the constitution to de-register any political party that failed to meet the relevant requirements. The apex court then dismissed the parties’ appeal.
However, a staff member of the commission, said INEC had the responsibility of registering political parties but that people should also consider joining existing parties.
“Studies show clearly that in any democracy where you have one to three dominant political parties, the moment the elite begin to form more political parties, you are only increasing the chances of those dominant parties, even though they may not be liked by the people,” he stated.

Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

The Kaduna State Police has arrested a young man, Husaini Galadima over a post on his Facebook page complaining about Senator Uba Sani representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District for reneging on his promise to give him a permanent job after working for him for about five years.
Husaini was allegedly arrested around 3:00 pm on Saturday in a market by armed policemen and taken to Metro Police Station at Tundu Wada.

SaharaReporters gathered that Husaini had been working for the senator since 2017 when he declared to contest for the senatorial seat with an agreement that he (Sanator Uba Sani) would give him a permanent appointment as an aide once he won the election.
He further narrated on his Facebook page in Hausa that he had been abandoned and that Sani had refused to fulfil his promise since he was elected as senator in 2019.
He added that they were five in number who worked with the senator and signed the agreement but that the lawmaker had since given the other four people something, leaving only him. 
He also alleged in the post that his life had been under threat as a result of his social media posts on the matter. He, therefore, asked Nigerians to hold the senator responsible should anything untoward happen to him.
The post read, "Four other people and I have worked so hard for Senator Uba Sani since 2017 when he declared to contest for his senatorial seat based on an agreement that he will help us with jobs if he won the election. 
"But since his victory, Uba Sani has ignored me and failed to fulfil his promise but he has settled the other four people. 
"Alhaji Muhammad Sani Kila, Hon Ach Abubakar Rabi'u Abubakar and Hon Bala Jalingo are all aware of the agreement. 
"I want the public to take note that if anything happens to me, Senator Uba Sani and his thugs should be held responsible because they are currently threatening me."
SaharaReporters learnt from a relation that Husaini was subsequently arrested by some armed policemen in a market on Saturday and had been in custody since then despite efforts by family members to get him released. 
The source said Husaini was also tortured by the police. 
"Some family members were at the police station on Saturday and will be there again this (Sunday) morning," the source said. 
Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai last Thursday at a closed-door meeting with party stakeholders endorsed Uba Sani as the consensus governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election in the state.
The spokesperson for the state police command, Mohammed Jalige said he was out of the state when contacted by SaharaReporters but added that he would find out about the matter and get back. However, he had yet to get back as of the time of filing this report.  

News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari for granting pardon to jailed former governors of Plateau and Taraba, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame respectively. 

 

The group asked the court to “declare illegal, and incompatible with the oath of office, and public interest the recent pardon" granted to the governors serving jail terms for corruption.

The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi, read in part: “The pardon power, if properly exercised, can help to protect citizens against the possible miscarriage of justice.”

 

Mr Dariye and Mr Nyame were recently pardoned alongside 157 others convicted for various offences. The two men were investigated, prosecuted and convicted for stealing N1.16 billion and N1.6 billion respectively from their state treasuries, while in office between 1999 and 2007.

 

In the suit number FHC/L/CS/825/2022 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Lagos, SERAP is asking the court to determine “whether the exercise of the power of prerogative of mercy to grant pardon to Mr Dariye and Mr Nyame is compatible with the public interest, the oath of office, and constitutional duty to combat corruption.”

 

SERAP is also asking the court for “an order setting aside the pardon granted to Mr Dariye and Mr Nyame in the public interest, and for the sake of the integrity, well-being and prosperity of Nigeria, and the country’s international obligations.”

 

In the suit, SERAP is arguing that: “If the presidential pardon is not set aside, impunity for corruption will increase, and many influential politicians will continue to escape justice for their alleged crimes.”

 

“It is in the interest of justice to set aside the pardon for Mr Dariye and Mr Nyame. Presidential pardon for grand corruption cases is incompatible with the rule of law, as it undermines equality before the law,” it said. 

 

According to SERAP, “the pardon power ought not to be exercised to shield influential politicians and politically exposed persons from justice and accountability.”

 

It, therefore, asked the court for “an order directing and mandating President Buhari and future presidents to consider the public interest, the requirements of the oath of office, and constitutional duty to combat corruption in any future exercise of the pardon power.”

 

The group added that “the presidential pardon power must be exercised in good faith, and in line with the provisions of Chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution on fundamental rights.”

 

Joined in the suit as Defendant is Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

 

 

“Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) provides that ‘The State shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.’”

 

It said, “Article 26 of the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party requires the government to ensure ‘effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions’ including criminal and non-criminal sanctions, in cases of grand corruption.

 

“Article 26 complements the more general requirement of article 30, paragraph 1, that sanctions must take into account the gravity of the corruption offences.

 

“The pardon for Mr Dariye and Mr Nyame is antithetical to the public interest, the requirements of the Nigerian Constitution, and the country’s international obligations including under the UN Convention against Corruption.”

 

“The latest Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index shows that Nigeria scored 24 out of 100 points, ranking 154 out of 180 countries surveyed, and falling back five places from the rank of 149 in 2020. This places Nigeria as the second most corrupt country in West Africa,” it added. 

 

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

Legal News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take immediate steps to avert an imminent shutdown of flight operations over the unbearable high-cost aviation fuel (JetA1) from N190 to N700 per litre.

The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, who stated this in a statement on Saturday, warned that an imminent shutdown of flight operations would have grave consequences on national life.

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had threatened to shut down flight operations in the country by Monday, May 9, 2022, due to the unbearable high cost of aviation fuel (JetA1) from N190 to N700 per litre.

The House Minority Leader explained that apart from the direct disabling of thousands of aviation related jobs and ancillary businesses, a shutdown of the sector would portend danger for critical government and public sector activities which are sustained by air travelling.

The statement partly read, “It is instructive to note that the aviation sector is no longer an exclusive preserve of the elite, but plays a central role in the movement of personnel and equipment that drive and sustain services and operations which benefit the masses in healthcare, manufacturing, education, food production, telecommunication, retailing, banking and finance, hospitality, entertainment, power, security and other key sectors.

“A shutdown of the aviation sector will therefore cripple millions of businesses as well as economic and commercial activities thereby increasing unemployment, worsen the economic hardship, put pressure on our already ailing roads and exacerbate insecurity in our country.”

The Minority Caucus called on President Buhari to wake up and note the grave import of the situation and save the aviation sector from imminent collapse by immediately addressing the fuel crisis and other challenges in the industry.

He charged the President to critically address the crisis in the petroleum industry by reviewing the counter-productive policies and curbing the alleged corruption in his administration.

Travel News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

The Trade Union Congress has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari's administration over the lingering strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), which has paralysed the country’s public universities since February 2022.

The TUC Chairman in Kogi State, Ranti Ojo, during an interview with Daily Post on Saturday, said President Buhari’s body language to the ongoing strike showed that his administration had no plan for the future of Nigerian youths.

He lamented the continuous crisis rocking the nation’s educational sector, noting that the students were always at the receiving end whenever organised unions embarked on a strike action.

He recalled that the crisis between ASUU and the Federal Government could be traced far back to 2009 when the latter reneged on the agreement it had with the union leaders.

Ojo, however, warned that the Federal Government should do something urgently to avert any breakdown of law and order across the country, stressing that a repeat of the #EndSARS protest may likely reoccur as students are already running out of patience with their leaders.

“We have many students that are supposed to be in the National Youths Service Corps but now, they are roaming around the streets because of the ongoing strike. Our children are now turning themselves into something else. Immorality, robbery, insecurity and many more are now the order of day.

“The government is feeling less concerned because most of their children are not schooling in this country. With what is on the ground, the present administration has no plan for our education or the future of our youths.

“The political class has failed us because their children are not in the country as they are all abroad. Something urgent must be done to avoid any crisis in Nigeria. The education sector must be given priority.

“Look at the money they budget for our parliamentarians. Can you imagine, a political appointee bought a nomination form for N100million? Where did he get the money to do that? This is the Minister for State for Education. For me, the political class has failed us, not only in the educational sector, but in all ramifications,” he lamented.

Education News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

Sokoto State Governor and a presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, Aminu Tambuwal, has called on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to as a matter of urgency resign his position in the interest of the nation’s economy.

Tambuwal, who made the call while addressing PDP delegates in Jalingo, Taraba State, on Saturday, said the economy of the country was in shambles.

The decision of Emefiele to run for the presidency, he believed, would have an immediate effect on the economy, considering its volatility.

He said, “It is high time that President Muhammadu Buhari called Emefiele to order. If he wants to contest, he must resign.”

Wondering why Emefiele would remain in office as CBN governor while seeking for the number one position of the country, he said, “If you want to run, please run, but leave our Central Bank alone.”

Tambuwal, who added that the economy was very volatile, noted that such decision could affect the economy, while decrying the present state of the nation’s economy.

Tambuwal, while noting that successful leadership demands fairness and equity, felt sad that the country was also now more divided than before.

Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

Ekiti State Assembly deputy speaker, Hakeem Jamiu

Some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Saturday, stormed the party's secretariat in Ado Ekiti over the alleged imposition of Ekiti State Assembly deputy speaker, Hakeem Jamiu, as a candidate for the next election.

Jamiu, according to reports, is seeking a second term as a member of the House of Assembly representing Irepodun/Ifelodun State Constituency 2.

Ekiti State Assembly deputy speaker, Hakeem Jamiu PM News

However, constituents demanded that the ticket be open to other contestants rather than imposing a candidate on them.

They accused the State Working Committee, led by Paul Omotoso, of working with others in the state government to foist Jamiu on them.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, former Chairman, Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Council, Kayode Ojo, said impositions would be tantamount to flouting the entrenched rotation policy in the constituency.

“The purpose of this protest is to let our party know that it can’t afford to impose Hon Hakeem Jamiu, someone who is widely deemed to be unpopular on all of us unless we want to lose to the opposition,” said Ojo.

“Again, we have unwritten rotation policy among Igbemo, Iworoko, Are, Afao/Araromi Obo wards that we should rotate this assembly seat, and that we have been doing faithfully. We don’t know the motive behind an attempt to impose the lawmaker at all cost.

“We are also saying that why the choice of Hakeem Jamiu? What has he done to deserve a second term? Why Igbemo Ekiti again that had occupied the seat six times when other wards have not occupied it for once?

“Our party should go and gauge the mood of the people in that constituency; they don’t want Jamiu any longer. He has offended so many people. This is not hatred against anybody, but a sincere concern for our party. So, if it is going to be Igbemo at all costs, the party shouldn’t impose Jamiu. They should allow free and fair primary. That is our humble demand.”

Politics News AddThis :  Disable advertisements : 

Sultan of Sokoto

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, who is also President-General, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, has declared that the orphans of banditry and the Boko Haram insurgency are his children.

Abubakar made the declaration on Saturday, at the Eid-el-fitr lunch organised for the students of UK Jarma Academy in Sokoto State.

Sultan of Sokoto

The school, which was initiated by a Sokoto-based philanthropist, Umarun Kwabo, has 171 orphans from Borno, Yobe and Sokoto states.

They include 117 orphans from Borno, 21 from Yobe and 33 from Sokoto, being sponsored by the philanthropist to acquire their education to tertiary institutions.

According to the Sultan, the children are no longer orphans because he is their father.

“We will continue to ensure that these children are living comfortably, we are their parents and they are our children,” he said.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Abubakar also called on scholars to sustain more enlightenment on the need for the society to support orphans.

“The gesture, if properly sustained by our society, will drastically reduce the ugly situation of rampant begging across our domain,” he said.

The Sultan appreciated the sponsor of the children, and called on the Sokoto State Government and others to continue to support the initiative.

Governor Aminu Tambuwal, who was represented by his Deputy, Munir Dan’iya, reassured of his administration’s commitment in supporting orphans.

He thanked Kwabo for sustaining the initiative and appealed to other personalities to emulate the gesture.

Earlier, the school proprietor said the gesture was part of his commitment to encourage the society to support orphans across the country.

“This initiative is a message to all Nigerians. I am sure no matter how little, one can assist to reduce the burden of a single orphan within the society,” Mr Kwabo said.

Also, Mohammed Maidoki, Chairman, UK Jarma Management Board, thanked the sponsor for taking up the children’s welfare.

Maidoki said that they had since engaged in various skill acquisition programmes which included tailoring, phone repairs and knitting.

 

Tradition News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

The President of African Development Bank, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, may soon join the 2023 presidential race after some groups obtained the N100million nomination and expression forms for him under the platform of the All Progressive Congress.

The former Minister of Agriculture on Saturday reportedly received his forms from a coalition of 28 groups consisting of Youth Arise Movement, Nigerians in Diaspora One Nigeria Group, Prudent Youth Association of Nigeria, women groups, farmers, people with disabilities and other civil society groups, which raised the N100million fee to purchase the forms for the former minister.

The coalition is led by the head, One Nigeria Group, Mohammed Saleh.

The payment acknowledgement slip as seen by Punch on Saturday carried Adesina’s name as the recipient of the forms.

Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

The Nigeria Police Force has confirmed the arrest of Corporal Matthew Isaac who was seen in a viral video singing, dancing and brandishing a rifle in praise of a particular confraternity (cult).

The arrest was confirmed in a statement issued by the Acting Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi who noted that the suspect was attached to the Ebonyi State Police Command.

Adejobi, who condemned the conduct of the police officer, said it is clearly calculated to portray the NPF negatively adding that it was against the provisions of the First Schedule to Regulation 370 of the Police Regulations.

The statement reads, “The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has condemned the unruly conduct of the Police officer caught in a viral video, singing, dancing, and brandishing a rifle in praise of a particular confraternity (cult). 

"The officer has been identified as Corporal Matthew Isaac, attached to the Ebonyi State Police Command. The act of the officer in question, which is clearly calculated to portray the NPF negatively, is a discreditable conduct in line with the provisions of the First Schedule to Regulation 370 of the Police Regulations.

“His actions equally violated the provisions of the NPF Social Media Policy (SMP), penal laws, and other extant laws regulating the conduct and discipline of all Police officers.

“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has directed the Commissioner of Police in charge of Ebonyi State to detail the Command’s OC Provost to hand over the erring officer to the Force Provost Marshal for necessary disciplinary actions.

“The IGP further warned officers to ensure total compliance with the laws guiding the Force as any breach would be severely sanctioned.”

 

CRIME News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

Abdul Jibrin

The Director-General of the Tinubu Support Management Council, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has dumped the All Progressives Congress for a yet-to-be-disclosed party.

Jibrin, who took to his Twitter handle on Saturday, made the declaration as he stated that he will declare his new political party within 24 hours.

Abdul Jibrin Herald Nigeria

The former member of the House of Representatives is at the fore of campaigning for the former Lagos State Governor and presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu.

He wrote on Twitter, “I have done my best for APC. Its time to move on. I will announce my new political party within the next 24 hours insha Allah. I will make a formal statement in due course”

Meanwhile, Tinubu had just recently challenged other presidential aspirants of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, daring them to try and see who would win the party’s ticket and become the next president of Nigeria.

He said, “But for those who have decided to be an opponent, I will not dwell on that, let’s see who wins, but I want to win and I want you to work along with me and to convince more delegates.”

Tinubu also appealed to the forum to support his presidential ambition and also ensure the unity of the party in their various states to achieve success, starting with Osun and Ekiti elections which are close.

Tinubu added that he would address the economic and security challenges if given the opportunity.

“Many of you I know, and you have participated in governance and political activities. You have given a value to your various states. When we merged as one and took a broom as the symbol of our party; broom has a lot of meaning.

“Let me first of all address our element of constitution, I promise to look into that if elected. Our reward system as APC is very poor, and it was late before I could recognise that.

“Let me assure you, I won’t repeat that mistake if I’m elected. I know that you still have people who believe in you, in the system. In some states where we have divisions, please tell us, we have to harmonise and become one. Particularly, Oyo is divided, Osun and Ekiti elections are coming; these elections are precursors to the national election,” he added.

Politics News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called for the immediate arrest and investigation of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, over his involvement in partisan politics.

This comes after the CBN Governor picked the nomination form of the All Progressives Congress.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele. Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Emefiele reportedly picked the form on Friday from the party’s organising secretary at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja.

However, during a press conference on Friday, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said Emefiele had violated public service rules.

Ologunagba said, “Our party received intelligence that the CBN governor is being promoted by the presidency. The CBN Act 2007 section 9 says the Governor and Deputy Governor shall devote the entirety of their time to the bank and shall not engage in part-time employment whether with remuneration or not.

“The CBN is a critical organ of the state and with this development, the CBN governor can no longer continue to operate in his current capacity.

“Emefiele has become a present danger to the nation’s financial sector as his presence in the race will deter investors and diminish the confidence of foreign investors in the Nigerian economy.

“We, therefore, demand the immediate arrest and investigation of Mr Emefiele for alleged financial malfeasance and use of state resources to fund his ambition.”

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Friday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately remove Emefiele over his involvement in partisan politics.

SERAP urged Buhari to remove Emefiele stating that the latter had acted contrary to section 9 of the CBN Act which forbids CBN governors and their deputies from engaging in politics.

Politics News AddThis :  Disable advertisements : 

No fewer than 50 persons were killed on Friday afternoon when bandits attacked three villages in the Bakura Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

A former councillor told Premium Times that the gunmen attacked Sabon Garin Damri, Damri and Kalahe villages, around 2:30pm on Friday.

He was quoted as saying, “I was in the main town when the bandits entered Sabon Garin Damri. We suddenly saw people running towards us. Then we started hearing sporadic gunshots. I was miraculously saved.”

According to him, the bandits carried out coordinated attacks on the villages before a joint security team confronted them.

Another resident, Mu’azu Damri, told the newspaper that the number of casualties would have been more if the security agents didn’t confront the bandits.

“I’ll have to personally applaud them (security agents), though I believe they should have come earlier because if they came at the right time, they would have saved a lot of people. But their arrival helped because the number would have been more than that,” he said.

Damri also said the intervention of the military forced the bandits to flee leaving behind the livestock, food items, and other things they had looted from residents.

While Damri said the bandits killed 48, people, multiple sources confirmed that the casualty was 56.

“We counted 56 people,” the councillor said. “In Damri, only three people were killed; a girl and two other men but the remaining were all killed in Sabon Garin Damri and Kalahe. Some of them were not residents of the two communities. They were people who came from nearby villages to celebrate Eid El Fitr with their relatives” he said.

Another resident of Bakura Town, Usman Lauwali, also said 56 people were confirmed dead by residents of the three communities.

He said those who were wounded were receiving treatment at the General Hospital, Bakura.

A police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the newspaper that they were aware of the situation.

“We’re aware but you can wait for an official statement. I know that a strong reinforcement has been sent to Bakura and Talata Mafara axis this morning. The CP may even visit the communities later,” he said.

News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 

A dismissed staff of the Destiny Christian Academy, Igoche Ada, says a Pastor of the Dunamis International Gospel Centre has disconnected electricity and water supply to his apartment in the Lord's garden.

SaharaReporters had reported how Ada was illegally dismissed on allegations of molesting female students of the school.

He subsequently sued the Senior Pastor of the Church, Paul Enenche and his wife, Becky, who are co-owners of the school.

Ada had filed a suit at the National Industrial Court in Abuja urging the court to declare his dismissal from the school as null and void, malicious, wrongful, unconstitutional and illegal. The accused schoolteacher was arrested in September 2021 but released thereafter.

A source told SaharaReporters that in view of the matter before the NIC, he still maintained the accommodation given to him by the pastor in the Lord's garden but in a recent development, the Pastor of the church disconnected the water and electricity to his apartment.

Meanwhile, an audio recording of the meeting Ada had with Becky Enenche, and one Paul Onoja had been released.

Ada who insisted he was falsely accused defended himself stating that Onoja had connived with one Chioma to make him suffer. See Also Human Rights Police Arrest Dunamis Schoolteacher Who Sued Senior Pastor Enenche, Wife, Others For Illegal Dismissal 0 Comments 8 Months Ago

He said, “When this whole thing happened, I've maintained only one stance to clear my name, I've laboured in this place, I've worked here tirelessly, served here for seven years of my youthful life and if I'm no longer needed, they can ask me to go but to tie me to molestation and kill my name is what I won't take."

However, he was interrupted by Onoja who said: “I think you are just being defensive, the board had called the girl, spoke with her and some other persons that corroborated her claims so if you are to take it up legally, I don't think it is a battle you can win, very sincerely. Mummy has been very magnanimous about this matter.

”If you are not being defensive, you will be given a soft-landing. Work on this option, if yes, you say yes, if no, you say no."

Becky who said she wanted to resolve the matter amicably urged Ada to tender a resignation letter so he can enjoy disengagement packages.

She also warned Ada to desist from going forward with the lawsuit stating that the school has no money to pay as damages. See Also Breaking News BREAKING: After SaharaReporters' Story, Police Release Dunamis Schoolteacher Who Sued Pastor Enenche, Wife, Others For Illegal Dismissal 0 Comments 8 Months Ago

She stated, “I pushed for you to be patron, I saw you as very zealous and everything. When this whole matter came up, this is my stand and my stand is, the cameras will not lie.

“There's a camera you avoided but there was a blind spot which had a different kind of camera quite hidden which you could not avoid. We have footages but we don't want to explore that angle.

“What I want you to do is to put in a resignation letter calmly, you have served the school for seven years putting in a chunk of your youthful and productive life, you wish to move on with your life and you put in a resignation. You will be grateful if your application is considered. In that light, if you have a resignation brought in, what we'll issue to you is an approval of your resignation and then you are entitled to disengagement packages.

“If, however, you are not in agreement with this, we will give you a release letter and the release letter comes with no packages and you have no document to present in another school or workplace to say you worked here but with a resignation letter, your copy is with you, the agreement to the resignation is attached.

“If you apply in another place and they call the school to ask about you, and our recommendation, we have done it, it's not one person, two or three, over the years even in the church. That's all I wanted to talk to you about. I'm saying this because this is a period schools are recruiting, and parastatals are recruiting.

”I am just speaking on your interest so we can forge a way forward, I told Mr Paul that if you wanted to come with your lawyer come with him because I know he will be pushing you to sue, so we can pay Damages, there will be no such thing, the church will not pay any money. Destiny Academy is autonomous of Dunamis. There is no amount they will charge us that will be available.

“Just tell your lawyer that this is not a path to tread, for your peace of mind, for your children, wife and yourself so you can move on and forge ahead. I told Mr Paul to give you money for house rent. For me, the first week, when your wife met me at the staircase, I told her we will look into it.

”I was just hearing about it for the first time from her. And then I called Paul to pay you so you can move to another place. The next thing Paul was telling me you took them to the police etc. I've been so busy, Mr Paul came to me yesterday and explained to me."

However, Ada insisted that the female minister's position was one-sided saying, “I appreciate you for giving me this audience. I still think that this whole thing is one-sided. I've known Paul Onoja for a long time, we were in the University together. By being here, I've known all the shady things that he does. I know how Paul can come before you and daddy and make people look bad so that those people...

”You said I was being defensive, this whole issue is a gang-up between Chioma and Paul who have sworn to make me suffer."

Reacting, Becky said, “Do I look like someone that listens to hearsay? I don't have that time. You don't know my schedule today. What I just think is, we will sort it out.

“And, I say to people, if someone is corrupt, it's just a little matter of time. This place is not a place you will do funny deals and get away with it. If Paul is going shady things, it will come out. It will be unearthed and sorted out."

Scandal News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :