Headlines
More Troubles for Bauchi Gov-Elect as EFCC Slams six Fresh Charges
One month to his inauguration, Bauchi State Governor-elect, Senator Bala Mohammed, will be arraigned on Monday (today) by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on fresh six counts bordering on alleged failure to declare his assets and false information, The Punch has learnt.
Mohammed, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, was declared the winner of the recent Bauchi State governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party after defeating the incumbent Governor of the state, Mohammed Abubakar, of the All Progressives Congress.
According to information sent by court registrar to the EFCC Director of Legal Services and Prosecution, Chile Okoroma, obtained by The Punchon Sunday, Mohammed popularly known as Kaura, will be arraigned in Court 26 at the FCT High Court, Maitama in Abuja.
“He will be arraigned on six counts bordering on false declaration of assets and giving false information to the EFCC. There are some properties he bought which he did not disclose to the EFCC but were discovered. The details will be unveiled when the charges will be read to him. A renowned legal practitioner and the EFCC counsel, Wahab Shittu, has been assigned to prosecute Bala Mohammed, before a new judge,” a source in the commission stated.
Count five of the charges to be read to the accused reads, “That you Bala A. Mohammed on or about October 24, 2016 at the head office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja within the judicial division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory made a false statement to the detective, Ishaya Dauda, investigating officer with the Economic Governance Section of the EFCC, Abuja to wit: that you acquired house situate at No. 2599 and 2600, Cadastal Zone AO4 Asokoro District Abuja through a mortgage facility from Aso Savings & Loan Bank Plc and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 09 (2) (a) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004 and punishable under Section 39(2)(b) of the same Act.”
The accused had in a recent interview with Saturday Punch in Bauchi vowed that he would probe his predecessor, adding that his trial by the EFCC was politically-motivated.
He said, “It is completely politically-motivated but I believe in justice and that was why I went to the court of justice. Definitely! Because of the evidence that we have, he is going to be thoroughly probed because I have not been spared by the Federal Government. I have been under probe by the EFCC and because I believe in accountability and was influential in the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, I chose not to run away.
“I will stand and answer all questions. I have passed the first battle by winning my case against the Federal Government on human rights, for arbitrarily imprisoning me and then calling me names. Of course, N5m has been awarded in my favour and the next one is the other spurious charges against me. I believe in justice and equity.
“And if the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has discovered some documents which shows that over 2,000 ghost workers have been inputted into the salaries and arrears of Bauchi State in the last four years and over N400bn has come to Bauchi and we cannot see anything that has been done for N5bn, if I don’t do it (probe him), then I have abdicated my responsibility.”
The Punch
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, on Sunday paid a solidarity visit to the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, at the Sokoto Correctional Centre, Sokoto State, where he was to begin serving his life sentence.
Governor Otti, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, and published on social media, encouraged Kanu, during a meeting held behind closed doors, to remain strong, assuring that the engagements he started over two years ago, which the IPOB leader has been aware of, have been intensified in spite of what happened.
The Governor enjoined Kanu to remain calm, but strong, assuring that the issue will be resolved administratively and that he will regain his freedom.
Governor Otti expressed joy that the Sultan of Sokoto is on the same page with him on the need for Kanu’s freedom and de-escalation of tension, and informed Kanu that the Sultan of Sokoto had on a lighter note told him that Kanu is now his subject and he was going to turbane him, an information that got the IPOB Leader laughing loudly.
Responding, Mazi Kanu, who was beaming with smiles and in high spirits, thanked Governor Otti for the visit, and stated that he wasn’t surprised that the Governor quickly came visiting, because he had done the same thing in the past.
He told the Governor that he is very proud of his giant strides in Abia based on the feedbacks he gets from home about the state since he assumed office, a feat he said is replicating what Late Dee Sam Mbakwe did as Governor of Old Imo State, which has kept him permanently immortalised, and called on the Governor to continue to serve the people diligently.
The IPOB leader told Governor Otti that he is only interested in good governance and anything that could better the lot of the people, and prayed God to continue to be with the Governor and his team as they serve the people of the state.
Governor Otti was accompanied on the visit by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ikechukwu Uwanna, SAN, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, and some top Sokoto State government officials, including Commissioners and advisers.
Also present during the visit was Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu.
Cameroonian opposition figure, Anicet Ekan, on Monday, died in detention in Yaounde, the vice president of his party told AFP.
“Anicet Ekane died this morning in Yaounde, where he had been transferred after his arrest at the end of October in Douala,” Valentin Dongmo of the African Movement for the New Independence of Cameroon (Manidem) party said.
The exact circumstances of the 74-year-old’s death remain unclear.
The left-wing, nationalist politician was arrested in Douala on October 24, on the eve of the publication of presidential election results that returned 92-year-old Paula Biya to power for an eighth mandate.
Ekane was close to fellow opposition figure Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who contested Biya’s 43-year grip on power in the October 12 election.
“Anicet Ekane was arrested in Douala and then transferred to Yaounde, where he was held at the State Defence Secretariat (SED). It was there that his health began to deteriorate,” according to Dongmo.
“We repeatedly alerted the authorities, including the military court administration, requesting that Anicet Ekane be transferred to a hospital with the appropriate facilities for better care, but our requests did not receive a favourable response,” he said.
Manidem had denounced the “arbitrary” arrests aiming to “intimidate” Cameroonians.
Born in Douala in 1951, Ekane joined the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) party in 1973 — which he then quit to create Manidem in 1995.
In February 1990, he and other members of the Yondo Black group were arrested. He was condemned in a military trial before being pardoned several months later.
Ekane led Manidem for several years and ran as its presidential candidate in 2004 and 2011.
His death has triggered a groundswell of reactions on social media.
AFP
Headlines
Pastor Bakare Advises Tinubu to Apologize to Traumatized Communities, Accept Responsibility for Failure
The Lead Pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, Tunde Bakare, has urged President Bola Tinubu to publicly apologize to communities devastated by insecurity.
Bakare made the call on Sunday during his State of the Nation Address in Lagos, saying the gesture would mark a commitment to justice and national healing.
The cleric acknowledged that the president had taken initial steps to address the crisis but insisted that deeper action is required to restore confidence.
He said the government must first accept responsibility for decades of failure to protect citizens from terrorism, banditry and other violent crimes.
Bakare said the plan should include a Victims and Survivors Register, a national apology to affected communities after three months, and midterm compensation, stressing that accountability is crucial to restoring public trust and ending the cycle of violence.
