FG seeks Abacha $550m loot from US!

The Federal Government on Wednesday said it supported the United States’ seizure of   $550m corruption proceeds of a former Head of State, the late Gen. Sani Abacha and his associates.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, SAN, who stated this in a statement in Abuja said that the Federal Government would ensure the repatriation of the money to Nigeria.

He stated, “As the central authority for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, my office has received requests for Mutual Legal Assistance for the Central Authority of the United States and we are cooperating with the United States in line with the obligations we assumed under the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.

“The overall objective of these efforts is to ensure that Nigeria as the victim state is able to have the forfeited assets (money) repatriated to Nigeria to fund development projects for the benefit of the people in accordance with the dictates of Chapter IV of the United Nations Convention against corruption. Let me assure you that Nigeria as State Party to UNCAC will do all that is required to realise this objective.”

The US government had,  a few days ago,  formally wrote the Federal Government for assistance to serve forfeiture notice on Abacha’s son, Mohammed; and an associate of the late dictator, Atiku Bagudu.

The defendants were given up till March 25, 2014 to file an application before the US District Court for Columbia to either set aside the forfeiture order or vary it

Among others, the defendants forfeited over $550m and £95,910m in 10 accounts and six investment portfolios linked to the Abachas in France, the Britain, British Virgin Island and the United States,  under the US Kleptomaniac Asset Recovery

Adoke, in the statement,  said, “The Federal Government of Nigeria welcomes the forfeiture proceedings initiated by the United States Department of Justice against the property related to the corrupt conduct of late General Sani Abacha, the former head of state of Nigeria, and His Associates and the subsequent laundering of corruption proceeds.

“The proceedings will make it possible for the defendants to forfeit over $550million and £95,910 in 10 accounts and six investment portfolios linked to the Abachas in France, the Britain, British Virgin Islands and the United States.”

The minister said that the Federal Government applauded the American government’s move    to recover the proceeds of corruption for the benefit of the people of Nigeria.

The US government had on March 5, 2014 ordered a freeze of assets stolen by the former dictator and his accomplices.

According to a civil forfeiture complaint unsealed in the US District Court in Washington, the department wants to recover more than $550m in connection with the action.

“This is the largest civil forfeiture action to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption ever brought by the department,” said Mythili Raman, acting assistant attorney general

The US Justice Department had said the frozen assets, along with additional assets named in the complaint, represented the “proceeds of corruption” during and after the military regime of Abacha, who became Head of State through a military coup on November 17, 1993 and held that office until his death on June 8, 1998.

The complaint had alleged that Abacha; his associate,  Bagudu, and others “embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through the purchase of bonds backed by the United States using US financial institutions.”

Source: Punch

FRAUD - COVER - UP OR ACCIDENT? LAGOS CBN OFFICE ON FIRE!

Pictures below show the Lagos branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria office on fire Tuesday evening.



According to information received, the inferno started at about 5:40 pm, men of the Lagos state fire service were seen at the scene trying to put out the fire which eye witnesses believed started from the top floor of the building. 

It will be recalled that the ex. CBN governor Sanusi Lamido in an interview, told the New York Times that he believes his insistence at a meeting with bank chiefs to order a special audit of all Nigerian banks to unravel how $20 billion went missing from the country's treasury led to his eventual 

suspension,he was suspended nine days after meeting with the bank chiefs.

The Presidency in a press briefing  however debunked Sanusi's allegations saying he was not being truthful.

With the Lagos branch of the CBN fire incident, and going by the manner in which allegations of fraudulent activities in the corridors of different regimes have been covered-up in the country over the years, with no one asking questions nor providing answers; one can only but suspect that perhaps this will be the last Nigerians will be hearing about the alleged $20 billion missing funds.

Fulani kill 35 in Benue, 20 die in Borno attack!

Barely twelve days after suspected Fulani gunmen destroyed over 100 villages and killed over 30 persons in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, the insurgents again reportedly attacked Gbajimba, headquarters of the local government, killing over 35 persons.

Eyewitness said the invaders attacked the town in the early hours of Sunday, shooting and burning houses while others stayed at the outskirts gunning down those scampering for safety.

It was gathered that over 35 persons were killed and that when the natives started running for safety, the mercenaries blocked the road, shooting at women and children.

Chairman of the local government, Mr. Frank Usa Adi, told newsmen that many casualties were recorded and that seven corpses have been moved to Makurdi while others have been taken to Abinsi.

He said more corpses have been recovered from the bush, disclosing further that the number of those rushed to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, for treatment, could not be immediately ascertained.

He also  expressed pessimism that many of those receiving treatment may not survive, calling on security agencies to protect the local government from complete destruction.

While describing the Sunday attack as serious, Adi said the suspected Fulani gunmen have encircled the entire area.

He particularly appealed to the state police command to deploy more policemen to the area, stressing that the area was almost abandoned shortly before the attack.

“I cannot be specific about the number of casualties because more bodies are being recovered. But in respect of those having wounds, they are so many at the teaching hospital here “, he stressed.

When Daily Newswatch visited the teaching hospital, doctors and nurses were busy attending to the patients who were all covered with blood.

Even as there was restriction of movement, it was gathered that many had been taken to the intensive care unit.

Personal physician to Governor Gabriel Suswam, Mr Marcelinus Ortese, was also seen assisting medical officers at the hospital in the treatment of those injured.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO),  Daniel Ezeala, said  policemen were still combing the area to see if the mercenaries remained in the bush after the attack.

He confirmed that there was an attack and that his men would  give account of the exact thing that happened at the end of the day.

According to him, records of the number of houses burnt and the number of persons killed and injured were being taken so that correct figures would be given out to the media.

In a related development, suspected Islamic militants on Sunday, also detonated a bomb in a crowded marketplace in Bama, Borno State, killing at least 20 people, witnesses said.

Nigerian security officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of the al Qaeda-linked militant group, Boko Haram, fighting to carve an Islamic state out of North East Nigeria.

Security sources said Boko Haram has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, this year in a campaign of violence growing in intensity.

“I travelled to Bama …to buy bags of beans. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang at the middle of the market. It was in the late afternoon and commercial activities were at their peak,” said Shuaibu Abdulahi, a trader at the market, who estimated the death toll to be as high as 29.

Abba Tahir, a bus driver, offloading passengers at the market, said he counted 20 bodies.

“People were helping in evacuating the corpses after the confusion had died down. Some people who were injured were taken to the General Hospital,” Tahir said.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. The military spokesman for Borno State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A military crackdown since last May has failed to quell the insurgency, which after four and a half years remains the leading security threat to Africa’s top oil producing nation.

Borno State has ordered all of its schools shut before the end of term to protect children after Islamist killed dozens of pupils in an attack last month, state officials said on Friday.

Security officials said Boko Haram had shot or burnt to death at least 29 pupils in a boarding school in North East Nigeria. A journalist, who counted bodies in the morgue after the attack, put the figure at 59.

The failure of the military to protect civilians is fueling anger in the North East, although state security officials have claimed some recent successes, including killing several militants as they tried to escape from a prison in Maiduguri this month.

source: Daily Newswatch 

Syria - Regime's barrel bombs terrorizing residential areas of Aleppo!

New satellite imagery, videos and eyewitness accounts reveal an alleged  indiscriminate nature of the government’s large-scale air campaign on opposition-held parts of Aleppo since November 2013. 



The attacks on populated areas in Aleppo and its countryside continue despite a UN Security Council resolution on February 22, 2014, demanding all parties cease “indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas, including shelling and aerial bombardment, such as the use of barrel bombs.”

Like R.I mentioned on one of our Syrian war stories: ..It takes only a few years to destroy, but it will take years, even centuries to build not just properties destroyed, but lives that have been shattered.....It is high time the Assad regime and oppositions reconsider their stands, for the sake of the continuous existence of the Syrian nation.

US reinforce troops in Hunt for Ugandan Warlord Joseph Kony!

Information reaching our news desk confirms that the United States President Barack Obama has stepped up efforts to capture Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.

Kony is believed to be  the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, which is accused by the United Nations and Human Right groups of killing and mutilating innocent civilians and kidnapping thousands of children, forcing them to be soldiers and sex slaves.

It was revealed that Obama dispatched military aircraft to the central African nation to help track the brutal warlord, with several CV-22 Osprey aircraft arriving in the troubled country by the middle of the week.

According to the Washington Post, the White House began notified Congressional leaders about the plan on Sunday night.

Officials emphasized that the Ospreys 'will be used for troop transport and that the rules of engagement for U.S. forces remain the same as for about 100 Special Operations troops that Obama first sent to help find Kony in October 2011,' the paper reports.

It was gathered that U.S. military personnel will be allowed to 'provide information, advice and assistance' to an African Union military task force responsible for tracking Kony and the LRA.

U.S. forces are equally authorized to track Kony and his forces across Uganda, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Congo. 

The U.S. soldiers are however, not authorized to engage the LRA unless it is in self-defense. The number of U.S. forces who will be a part of the operation to track Kony are unlikely to exceed 300.

Importers decry undue delays of PAAR reports!

The on-going reforms in the Nigerian Customs Service recently received a pat on the back, from President Goodluck Jonathan during a tour of the Apapa Command, on the visit of the Secretary General of the World Customs Organistation (WCO), Kunio Mikuriya to the Apapa Area Command in Lagos.

In his speech, President Jonathan stated  that the reforms will ‘boost security in the country by helping to curtail the influx of illegal small arms and light weapons into the country and enhance trade in the West African sub region’.

                 

Earlier in an interview on ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Channels Television, in Dec. 2013, the Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Customs Service, Deputy Comptroller Wale Adeniyi, confirmed that  apart from check - mating illegal business transactions across borders, this step has generated great revenue for the Nation.

According to him, “In the last few years the roles of customs has gone through some changes. There have been more challenges, more functions. The dynamics of situations in the international system has changed, so much so that we now have other issues related to border security.”

“While trying to guaranty that the bad guys do not come in, we also must ensure that the good ones who are doing legitimate trade must have their processes facilitated.”

In achieving these goals, Adeniyi listed the key standards employed by the Nigerian Customs. These standards include quick service delivered in good time and simple procedures, with a mind-set of achieving quick turnover. He said.

Notwithstanding, despite the Common External Tariff Concordance linked to the Customs PAAR for easy navigation and accurate classification to ensure its feasibility, the introduction of the PAAR has been greeted with knocks.

Before now, government appointed destination inspectors at the Nigerian Ports were saddled with the responsibility of issuing the Risk Assessment Report (RAR) to vessel owners during clearance, which was issued in five working days.  This contract was terminated by the Federal Government in the last quarter of 2013 and the Nigerian Customs Services took over with the introduction and issuance of Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) to “fast-track goods clearance at the ports”.  A move reportedly taken 'in accordance with international best practice, economic competitiveness, enhancing trade, revenue collection and border security'.  

The impact of the Pre Arrival Assessment Report PAAR and FOB reforms on small and medium scale businesses is not without criticisms as some genuine entrepreneurs have expressed frustrations over challenges confronted when clearing their cargoes, due to delays in the issuance of the Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) and the increased FOB value of imports. They appealed to relevant government functionaries to intervene in their plight.

                             

According to the Managing Director of Cambistry Ventures Limited - Lagos, Mr. Ikechukwu Okafor whose business is one out of the many businesses currently affected by the tardiness in issuing the Pre Arrival Assessment Report. 
The long process involved in the new Customs reforms have been unfair to genuine business owners as they have to wait for months before their consignments will be attended to, a development he said is rather stalling business activities, likewise, the longer the goods are delayed, the demurrage keeps skyrocketing.  “My consignment arrived on 24th February, 2014. As at today, PAAR has not been issued. I have approached my bank to find out why and their response is that they have in arrears 3,000 PAAR yet to be issued. My Business is suffering the loss of revenue with unnecessary demurrage charges. You can verify these from any of the banks.
                             

“The other problem is the uplifting of the FOB value of the imports therefore making the importer to pay more duties. This action is of the belief by Nigeria Custom Service that most importers under- invoice their imports. The FOB value of my recent import was uplifted from $52,000 to $71,000. A 36% increase. This alone translated to increased duty of circa N700, 000. This development is certainly not favourable for genuine private business operators in the country”. He said.

Kaduna State Attack Victims Buried En-mass!

Local authority said the remains of about 150 Southern Kaduna natives were on Saturday, March 15, 2014, buried in a mass grave in Unguwant Gata, Maroa Chiefdom of Karua Local Government Area, Kaduna state, North-west Nigeria.

Eye witness account said Sankwai, Tekum and Unguwan Gata villages in Maroa Chiefdom were on Saturday invaded by Fulani gunmen, killing no fewer than 200 natives and burning the three villages, after plundering them. Southern Kaduna villages were drab over the attacks as churches across the Chiefdom held special prayers for the deceased.

Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) the umbrella body for ethnic nationalities in the southern part of Kaduna State, said the people of the area are left with no choice than to defend themselves against what has become frequent attacks and killings by Fulani gunmen.

Addressing newsmen in Kaduna, President of SOKAPU, Dr. Ephraim Goje, said the persistent attacks and massacres of the people is a clear indication that the government and the security agencies were not capable of protecting the people. He said the frequent killings and destruction of homes and properties makes it imperative for the people to defend themselves by whatever means necessary.

“The Fulanis have unofficially declared war on our people. No community has the monopoly of violence, so our people are being pushed to a level that we may take certain actions aimed at defending ourselves and our land in order to put an end to this impunity and senseless killings.” Goje said.

He added that since 2011, over 5,000 people had been displaced in the 40 attacks on communities in the southern part of Kaduna state.

“We have identified the perpetrators as Fulani herdsmen as responsible for the attacks and killings, but each time we raise this observation, the Fulani socio-cultural organisations within the state have out-rightly denied the involvement of their people, asking for proofs.”

Goje further stated that two Fulani youths in Manchok led Saturday’s attack, during which 219 people were killed, noting that the Fulani youths died in the process and their corpses were identified by the locals.

“The recent attack was led by two well known young Fulanis resident in Manchock town, who died in the process. Their dead bodies had clearly and unambiguously been identified by the natives and their corpses are now kept by the Joint Task Force, JTF, Command in Kafanchan for further forensic screening.

“This has clearly vindicated us and confirms our earlier position that the Fulanis have declared a jihad on the people of Southern Kaduna and Nigeria, evidenced by this genocide in Bondong, the murder in Katsina State, Birnin Gwari, Plateau, Zamfara, Taraba, Benue, among others.

“In some of these attacks, suspects had been arrested and handed over to security agencies for prosecution, only for the culprits to be seen working freely on the streets the next day.

“What comes to our minds now is that, truly, the Fulanis have unofficially declared war on our people. Let it be placed on record that no community has the monopoly of violence, so our people are being pushed to the wall and we may take certain steps aimed at defending ourselves and our land in order to put an end to this impunity,” Goje warned.

Goje lamented the lack of collaboration between security agencies in Kaduna and Plateau states noting that the attackers often come in from the Plateau axis to attack Atakar and Marwa Chiefdoms which borders Plateau State. Moreso, that each time the gunmen were chased by security agents from Kaduna State, they ran to Plateau state where they walk freely to celebrate their so-called victories.

Information source: Vanguard News