The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre),has implored  the Lagos House of Assembly to  review and amend the

Lagos State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission Law 2021’ which was recently signed into law by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu

The group said the development was necessary  in order to ensure that the llaw has   inputs of citizens and civil society.

The law establishes a new anti-corruption agency in Lagos, namely, Lagos State Public Complaints and Anticorruption Commission, which will have the exclusive rights to investigate financial crimes and corruption cases involving the finances of the Lagos State Government.

Olanrewaju Suraju, the Chairman of HEDA

commended the idea  behind the  anti-corruption agency in the state ,but regretted that the bill was passed without public hearing by the Lagos  State House of Assembly .

was eventually signed into law, that it was just a Trojan horse, an attempt to crookedly weaken the fight against corruption, rather than complement it.

Suraju  punctured Section 13(3) provides that the commission shall upon the commencement of this law take over the investigation of all anti-corruption and financial crime cases involving the finances and assets of Lagos State Government being investigated by any other agency.”

According to him,the development  was an unscrupulous attempt by the ruling elite of Lagos State to cover up serious cases of corruption in Lagos especially considering that three former governors as well as other top politicians in Lagos are undergoing various investigations or cases of corruption with the federal anti-corruption agencies, particularly the EFCC.

He  wondered how the new Lagos Commission will be able to prosecute some of the politicians when those politicians are suspected to be richer than the State and play critical roles in the electoral successes of the State’s Governor and members of the House of Assembly who will appoint the Commission’s Chairman and other board members.

He added that it is even unconstitutional by virtue of Section 4(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) for Lagos State to enact such law to empower a Commission to take over cases from the federal anti-corruption agencies when the agencies are established by an Act of the National Assembly for a purpose which ordinarily “covers the field.”

“Such taking over can only be valid based on mutual consent between the agencies in accordance with the provision of the Act establishing the Federal Agency, not in accordance with the State law,” he said.

Section 13(5) of the Lagos law states that: “The commission shall have the power to the exclusion of any other agency or body to investigate and coordinate the investigation of corruption and financial crimes cases involving the finances and assets of the state government.”

Arrogating such exclusive power to its own agency is a blunt expression of lack of shame, dignity and integrity by the Lagos State Government and the Lagos House of Assembly,”he said.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in the December 5 Lagos East Senatorial by-election , Babatunde Olalere Gbadamosi.

Justice Daniel Kallio threw out the prayers of the appellants seeking to upturn the victory of the All Progressives Congress, APC Candidate Senator Tokunbo Abiru for lacking in Merit.

He described PDP and its candidate’s appeal as unmeritorious and consequently affirming the judgment of the Justice Obiozor J of the Federal High Court Lagos.

 He held that the residency of a candidate to an election is not a qualifying or disqualifying factor.

He also maintained that Abiru did not submit false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as claimed by the PDP and its candidate.

The arguments that the Abiru had irreconcilable names canvased by Gbadamosi’s lead counsel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa ,SAN were also dismissed

 Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), counsel to Senator Abiru proved beyond reasonable doubt that the PDP and its candidate were busy wasting  the time Court by instituting case that was prima facie defective.

The Court in its Judgment agreed with the arguments of Kemi Pinheiro SAN and allowed the Cross-Appeal.

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has added its weight to the calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to relieve the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, of his appointment,saying he is dangerous to the peace of the country.

The pressure also emphasized the need for the Minister to be  thoroughly  investigated by the Department of State Service (DSS) against the backdrop of his alleged link with terrorist groups

Debo Adeniran,the  chairman of CACOL conveyed his group’s position in a letter he wrote to President Buhari, dated Monday, April, 26, 2021, and obtained by PREMIUM NEWS.

The group said that the allegations levelled against the minister was not only weighty, but an embarrassment to the administration, adding that his continued stay in government would be dangerous to the government.

It added that its concern on the matter was based on the critical assessment of the various allegations against the minister as well as the arguments of both sides of those for and against the calls for the sack.

Pantami had not denied the authenticity of the texts, audio and video clips containing utterances and statements credited to him, although he claimed that he had repented, having erred as an innocent youth,the group said.

It also said:“Mr. President, we wish to state unequivocally that the fact that Pantami has developed the level of orientation that made him uttered those grievous words and statements as stated above, cannot be wished away by mere recanting which some people in your cabinet are claiming he has done.

“Ideological issues are ingrained in the mind of those who pursue it. Even when they denounce it, they are not to be trusted because they can always go back to that conviction that led them into accepting that extremism and for somebody who has said that people should be killed and that he is happy when he sees that and who has supported terrorists in the past, we want to believe that it cannot get out of his mind so easily.”

The group said  that due to the  sensitive nature of his ministry, Pantami could easily let out information about Nigerians  to the terrorists.

It furtherbmaintained that in the area of the security system, the ministry also could have a link with the way security communication were being organised and deployed and that Pantami could sabotage the process by facilitating access to the terrorists to jam the communication system of the military and other security agencies in the country.

“Your Excellency, we are of the opinion that Pantami is a dangerous person that ought not to be a minister of the Federal Republic if all the agencies of government that screened ministerial nominees, including the Senate and the State Security Service carried out their due diligence before he was sworn in as a minister.

“A situation whereby the Senate would ask a ministerial nominee to take a bow showed the level of mediocrity among those in government considering the fact that governance is a serious administrative endeavour guided by international best practices.

“He is indeed one of the tars sown by the enemies of the country in your cabinet when Your Excellency was asleep. His continued presence in your cabinet is like leaving a venomous snake under the bed and someone goes to sleep or leaving a spark of fire on the roof and someone goes to sleep.

“He is dangerous to the peace and security of Nigeria, he is a security risk to the nation. Even if he has denounced his extremist orientation, our mind would only be at rest if he is removed”

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has tasked the members of  Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s  Anti-Corruption Commission to intensify efforts in tracking,investigation, arraignment and effective prosecution of all corrupt officials in the employ of Lagos State.

Mr. Debo Adeniran, CACOL’s Executive Chairman,who gave the advice in Lagos,said the development was necessary to avert a situation whereby the court would be left with no other choice than to order the release of corrupt public official, for lack of proper prosecution or perpetual detention without trial.

He also advocated the need for the anti-graft  commission to be independent, autonomous, self-governing, unbiased and  detached from being  an appendage of the executive arm of the state government in the discharge of its statutory duties.

“We also believe the state government would give the commission all the needed financial, human and material support in order for the commission to succeed,”he added.

He  commended  Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration for signing the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission Bill 2021 into law.

He said the Lagos Governor did well by fulfilling  one of the promises  he made  to the people of the state during his inauguration where he stated that his administration would be accountable and responsible for the appropriation of the state’s resources.

He said the gesture  culminated in Sanwo-Olu’s  signing  a law creating the new anti-graft body, days after Lagos’ parliament approved the bill.

He added:“Against this background, we could see how the Anti-Corruption Commission would be the ‘brain box’ or engine room of the state government in the fight against corruption in the state, especially as they relate to government and public officials.

“CACOL, as an anti-corruption group, with its component organisations, would solidly lend its unalloyed support in this patriotic duty, as the entire world focus on the nation to overcome the destructive ogre of corruption within the shortest time possible.

“We at CACOL have been a frontline campaigner against corruption in Lagos State in particular and the nation in general. Our publication ‘Lagos Open parliament’ (LOP), now in its seventh series, is being used as an evaluation of the level of budget implementation with regard to infrastructural development in Lagos State from time to time.”

A 31-year-old pregnant woman,Mrs Rose Etunmisen  cried out for justice over the death of her husband who was gruesomely murdered by hoodlums at Oke-eletu community in Ijede area of Lagos recently.

Dozens of suspected hoodlums allegedly invaded the office of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Chairmanship aspirant for Ijede LCDA last Friday  vandalised the office with many gun shots that killed the victim.

Rosemary, while narrating her ordeal said she received the information about her husband’s death via telephone at about 7pm from through her friend over the weekend.

The widow who spoke with NAN in her apartment at Oke-Eletu, Ijede area of Ikorodu, said she could not see her husband’s body as the assailants were said to have thrown it away after killing him.

“At about 7.30 in the evening, my landlady called me and broke the news of my death husband to me through a friend.

” After the conversation, people started persuading me to take heart and that was when it dawn on me that my husband is no more.

“I want justice to be done, I am pregnant and about to deliver, Nigerians and Lagos State Commissioner of Police should come to my rescue.

“The CP should not allow me to suffer this injustice because my husband has gone for ever,” she said.

She said the deceased,  Ifeanyi Etunmise from Delta State, was a driver before when the work stopped he became domestic staff due to financial crisis in the family before he was gruesomely murdered by suspected hoodlums.

She said that the hoodlums invaded the office of Ijede Local Council Development Area (LCDA) chairmanship aspirant, Oluwatosin Onamade, located beside Western Cemetery, in Abule-Eko axis of Ijede in Ikorodu.

The hoodlums were reported to have also injured the aspirant’s younger brother, 38 years old Oluwafemi Onamade who is currently  under medical attention at an undisclosed hospital.

The widow appealed to well meaning Nigerians and the CP to bail her out of her predicament. She said,

“My husband was a driver who became a domestic staff to the Chairmanship aspirant due to financial constraint.

We slept together the previous day and he left in the morning, he returned at about 4pm to take his bath, cleaned up and told me he was going to the aspirant’s office and that is all, that is the last discussion we had together,”she said.

The chairmanship aspirant, alleged that the attack was sponsored by the Ijede LCDA chairman, Mr Fatiu Salisu.

He said his injured brother who was admitted at Ijede General hospital, after sustaining gunshot wounds had been transferred to another hospital after news filtered in that plans had been concluded to launch another attack on the medical facility particularly on him.

 He said, “the hoodlums attempted to kill me but in the process, they started shooting sporadically and Ifeanyi was killed by stray bullets.

My sibling was severally injured by the bullets and is currently in coma, the hoodlums carted away the sum.of N1.7m meant for a client.

” I am calling on the acting Inspector General of Police to come to my aid to unravel this mystery,” said the aspirant.

But,the council chairman, Mr Fatiu Salisu, in his reaction debunked the allegation saying, “the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Ijede, invited me to his office that day to inform me about an incident that happened at Cemetery which involved loss of life.

“I told him I was not aware and he said my name was mentioned by the aspirant, before Indict me, he must show enough evidences to substantiate his claim. Infact, I will take a legal action on the matter,” he said.

 Spokesperson, Lagos State Police Command, Chief Supretendent of Police (CSP) Muyiwa Adejobi,confirmed the death of the 54- year old deceased.

Adejobi added:”We have a case reported to the Police in Ijede and the Commissioner of Police has directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department(SCID) Panti for proper investigation.We cannot be judgemental at this stage, we need to widen the scope of our investigation to unravel the incident. We are on the case and we will get to the root of the matter”.

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has thrown its weight behind the Nigerian Senate in its bid to unravel the mystery surrounding the alleged irregular award of N3 billion contracts in four phases at the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

Mr. Debo Adeniran, CACOL’s Executive Chairman,  emphasized the need for immediate prosecution of any official(s) of the bank found culpable in awarding the alleged contracts.

He also said that if the current trend by the senate committee is intensified and sustained with the cooperation of the anti-corruption agencies, nipping  corruption in the the bud  various agencies and parastatals of government will be  achievable.

He  said the group received with joy the news that the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) headed by Senator Mathew Urhoghide, had summoned the former Managing Director of FMBN, Mallam Gimba Yau Kumo, to appear before it to explain the rationale behind the irregular award of the contracts in question.

CACOl recalled that the committee issued the summons following a query raised in a report by the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) against the FMBN.

He noted that the 2015-2018 report by the AuGF, currently under scrutiny by the senate panel, revealed that the contract was awarded in four phases and was overpaid to the tune of N3,045,391,531.97.

“Audit observed that a contract was awarded to a contractor in four phases at a total contract sum of N3,045,391,531.97,” the AuGF wrote in the query, noting however, that audit observed that the second, third and fourth phases of the contract were above the approval thresholds of the bank.

It was also observed from the examination of payment documents that the contractor was overpaid in the sum of N118,717,892.72 that resulted from irregular addition of five percent withholding tax in the bill of quantity on each of the four phases of the contract.

 “Audit further observed, from physical inspection of the site that a provision of N 80, 000,000.00 was made and paid for the implementation of ‘Unified Access and Attendance System’ but the device was not working according to specifications.

“A sum of N644,040,000.00 was also provided in the bill of quantities for offshore training and other deliverables in the third and fourth phases of the contract, but there was no evidence of execution, in contravention of Financial Regulations 70.”

He noted that in reaction to the query, Ahmed Dangiwa, current Managing Director of FMBN, had said that the contract was awarded by the previous management, adding that his leadership had made effort to correct the anomalies in the contract.

The CACOL boss stressed that not satisfied with the explanation of the current managing director of the bank, the senate committee chairman had asked the former managing director of the bank to appear before the panel to offer more explanations on the contract.

He maintained that the 1999 Constitution generally vested the legislature with the power to make laws, although this responsibility was not limited to making laws as a lot of additional responsibility, including that of oversight had also been placed upon the legislature.

Adeniran  said that oversight functions serve a variety of purposes among which are to keep the executive establishment responsible and accountable, to promote rationality and efficiency in the formulation and administration of public policy, among others.

The  Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has dragged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over ceaseless harassment and disturbance of its officers, staff and associates.

The   motion ex-parte was  filed  before Abuja Federal High Court on behalf of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji, Ms. Bernice Eriemeghe, Mr. Vincent Adawaisi and Ms. Anne Okomi, by lawyer, James Ononiwu of WhiteDove Solicitors, Lagos law firm.

 The presiding judge, Justice A.R. Mohammed, ordered the three security agencies together with one Pretty Okafor and Biodun Eguakhide to show cause over the alleged continued disturbance and harassment of the COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji; the General Manager, Ms. Bernice Eriemeghe and two other officers of COSON, Mr. Vincent Adawaisi and Ms. Anne Okomi.

COSON, its Chairman and management staff are  seeking the court’s for a declaration that the Inspector-General of Police, Pretty Okafor, Biodun Eguakide, DSS and EFCC have been engaged in an unlawful, unconstitutional and coordinated brutal, horrendous, wicked, harassment and torture of the plaintiffs who are innocent citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Chief Tony Okoroji asked the court for general damages in the sum of Five billion Naira (N5,000,000,000) jointly and severally against the 1st to 5th Defendants in the suit and a perpetual injunction.

The COSON chairman is also seeking  general damages in the sum of One billion Naira (N1,000,000,000) against the Inspector-General of Police for defamation of character and the sum of Five billion Naira (N5,000,000,000) for the unlawful, unconstitutional and coordinated brutal, horrendous, wicked, harassment and torture of his person.

Besides,he  is seeking  general damages in the sum of two billion Naira (N2,000,000,000) against Stanbic IBTC Bank for the unlawful freezing of his two accounts domiciled in the bank.

Hon. Iduma Igariwey,a member representing Afikpo North/South Federal Constituency, Ebonyi State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Iduma Igariwey has sued Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) over poor power supply  to his constituency.

He is demanding N100m damages from the power company for the deprivations he had suffered.

The lawmaker  said he had compiled  and would tender as exhibits, all the receipts of diesel he has been buying since the blackout.

Igariwe,who disclosed this in Ukpa, Afikpo, Afikpo North local government of the state while briefing his constituents on his achievements,regretted that the suit had suffered setback because the presiding judge  was on election duty, but vowed that he would pursue the case to its logical conclusion.

He explained that he has provided electricity transformer to some communities in the constituency and implored EEDC to be alive to its responsibilities.

He described the power company as incompetent and wondered why the Federal Government had refused to revoke its license.

Igariwey said, “as I speak now, I and EEDC are in court. The case has suffered setback because the judge was on election duty in Port-Harcourt. Because at a time, I even had to sue them for N100milion for certain deprivations I have suffered from them. I want our people to know that electricity is  privatized, it was privatized in 2005. So, the issue of power in Nigeria has been privatized.

“The first people to hold responsible for power problems are the Distribution Companies(DISCO), they are the distribution agencies. In this our case, the company we must ask questions about this power of a thing is the EEDC. I took up their issue at the floor of Parliament through a petition that was written against them and they have been invited for more than ten times, I have sponsored those trips privately for them to come and explain a whole lot of things.

“It is now very clear to everybody that EEDC which was given the mandate to be supplying power to Afikpo people and entire south east are not up to their job. The commonest example is three days ago when heavy windstorm occurred. In that windstorm, many electricity poles fell down; you will see a lot of them when you are going to Mgbom, Uwnanna.

“Many poles are lying on the ground as we speak and nothing has been done by EEDC to carry them up. No responsible organization or even individual will allow its things scattered on the ground without putting them in order. That thing is a fundamental testimonial of the capacity or lack of it of the power service providers in the South-east, they are very inefficient. We blame them, we also blame the Federal Government because it is allowing them to hold the licenses”.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) says it has directed its relevant disciplinary committee to investigate the alleged case of assault by the Chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar Esq. against a security personnel.

The  body on Thursday explained that  the move followed a video making the rounds where the Chairman of the CCT  Umar, was seen, together with his security detail, allegedly assaulting a citizen at Banex Plaza, in Wuse Abuja.

“We understand that this citizen turned out to be a 22-year-old employee of Jul Reliable Guards Services Limited, posted as a security guard to the Plaza and who is now reportedly hospitalised” the NBA said.

A statement by Dr. Rapulu Nduka

Publicity Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association, disclosed that the association also “read the statement credited to the Head, Press and Public Relations of the CCT in response to the actions of Mr Umar”.

“The NBA frowns at any display of naked power by a public officer especially one who, by virtue of his high office, is expected to exhibit a high standard of conduct.

“The situation is all the more critical when it involves the head of an agency of government set up to ensure compliance, by public officers, with the code of conduct.

“Further, as a member of the legal profession, Danladi Yakubu Umar Esq. is expected, by the extant rules that regulate the conduct of legal practitioners in Nigeria, to maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and not to engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a member of the legal profession.

“Prima facie evidence available at the moment raise questions regarding whether such standards have been met.

“In view of the foregoing, the NBA shall through its relevant Committee, investigate the circumstances leading to the altercation, and depending on its findings, will ensure that appropriate action is taken to address this occurrence” statement said.