Category News

File photo: Innocent Chukwuma

The Chairman of Innoson Motors, Mr Innocent Chukwuma, has described the warrant for his arrest by a Federal High Court in Lagos as an abuse of court process.

According to a statement signed by Mr Chukwuma, the order is a nullity and does not have any ground in law, adding that the court lacked the necessary jurisdiction.

“Firstly, there is no prima facie case against me. The charge was based on a suspected or trumped up action as the charge on the said action has been discharged by the Court of Appeal.

“There was no notice of trial served to me in pursuant to the relevant laws which is the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.”

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He explained that necessary steps have been taken to appeal the Order of Bench Warrant and filed an application to Stay the Execution of the Order.

Mr Chukwuma had been accused of altering clearance documents to a shipping Line, which was used as collateral for the purpose of obtaining a loan of N2.4 billion from Guaranty Trust bank Plc for the purpose of clearing raw materials, PVC for the production of roof ceiling and other imported items.

The case is pending before the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Ogun State Police Commissioner (CP) Basir Makama on Tuesday evening denied receiving 1,000 AK47 rifles and four million ammunition from former Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

Makama explained that physical counting of the ammunition showed there were “one million, four hundred thousand and some fractions,” a variation from the four million ammunition Amosun had told him while he was being disarmed.

He also explained that checks into police records revealed that the said weapons were handed over to the force in 2012, insisting that he didn’t see any weapon during the disarming process.

Online news site Premium Times had reported that the former Governor returned to the Police Commissioner four million bullets, 1,000 AK47 rifles, 1,000 bulletproof vests and one armoured personnel carrier (APC) he allegedly stockpiled at the Oke Mosan Government House for an extended period of time.

According to the report, Amosun had allegedly confessed to CP Makama on the presence of the firearms and ammunition on May 28, a day before he handed over power to his successor Dapo Abiodun.

The story generated massive outcry with social media users demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of Amosun, now a Senator representing Ogun Central district at the National Assembly.

Reacting to the story, CP Makama told The Nation that he had a duty to disarm the governor at the end of his tenure which he executed.

He said: “I did not see any weapon. All he gave to the police the day he was disarmed are ammunition, ballistic helmet and body armour. I am new in the state, this is somebody who has been governor for eight years.

“I came in and one day when he was about going, he said CP, I have some materials I want to handover to you. Even if he didn’t buy them for the police or didn’t hand them over, I have a responsibility to disarm him and that was what I did.

“The ammunition was not up to four million as alleged. The former Governor said four million but when we counted, we found out it was one million, four hundred and a little fraction.

“I found out the 1,000 AK47 rifles were bought for them (police) in 2012. He had given them in 2012.

That is the record I have.”

Findings by our Correspondent revealed that was the practice by state governments who have expended resources in empowering the police.

It was gathered that an approval was granted from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to allow states expanding their resources to empower the police have standard armoury at the Government House.

By this practice, the state, it was gathered will then supervise the use of the gadgets acquired with their resources to prevent same from being moved to other parts of the country following orders from the Inspector General of Police (IG) to CPs.

“It is not like the governor was keeping these weapons and ammunition for himself. What happened is that because of the lack of capacity and equipment the police had suffered in the past, those state governors that boost the police capability were allowed to have standard armoury in their government houses.

“This was done to ensure that the state benefits from the gadgets it expended money on. The truth is that if those weapons are left under the police armoury, the IG can call at anytime to request deployment to another area and no CP will disobey that order,” said a very senior policeman who cannot be named.

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Source: PM News

Ahead of their Passing Out Parade, a group of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members (medical doctors) serving in Borno State are demanding the immediate payment of allowances which they say they’ve been owed for the past five months.

The Corps Members numbering up to 190, comprise of 2018/2019 Batch B, 2018/ 2019 Batch C and 2019/ 2020 Batch A.

They marched to the Borno State Government House on Monday to present their case to the Governor, Professor Babagana Umara.

They were, however, denied entrance and the spokesperson of the group, Dr. Azi Cornelius explained that his members had made previous efforts by writing correspondences to ask the authority to pay their monthly allowance but that never happened.

According to them, former governor Kashim Shettima had approved the payment of N100,000 to each of the medical NYSC doctors and N50,000 to other corps members in the health sector.

They also claimed that they constitute over 50% of the medical work force in the state and have been discharging their duties effectively and efficiently.

However, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mustapha Alau, who declined to speak on camera said the governor has already directed the Ministry of Finance to pay the corps members.

By Rotimi Agbana

In continuation of his 20-years on the stage anniversary celebration, acclaimed Nigerian Afro-pop music legend, Innocent Idibia, a.k.a Tuface, now fondly referred to as 2Baba, has released a new video titled ’20 Years A King’, starring award-winning veteran Nollywood actor, Richard Mofe-Damijo, a.k.a RMD.

What my 20-years music journey has taught me —Tuface Idibia

2019 makes it 20-years since 2Baba scored his first hit as a member of the now-defunct Plantashun Boiz, with their debut single ‘Knock Me Off‘ in 1999. To celebrate this illustrious run in music, a series of activities, projects and events for the year including a book launch, a documentary, an album launch, merchandises, fete, fundraiser, concert and parties.

While expressing appreciation to his fans, music lovers, specific individuals who have supported him over his two decades of prominence on the Nigerian/African music scene, the ‘Amaka’ crooner proffered a solution to the problem bedevilling humanity for many years.

Immediate past Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has said that the Federal Government is taking into account, environmental and social governance by providing adequate financing for environmentally-friendly projects.

Mrs Ahmed, in an exclusive chat with Channels TV, said that since December 2017, FG has been able to issue two green bonds to fund projects relating to water, power, and environment.

“It is about being able to ensure we take into account, environmental and social governance when we are making decisions and also on the part of the government, to make sure that we raise adequate financing for environmentally-friendly projects.

“In Nigeria, we have been able to issue two green bonds in December 2017 and June 2019, which means we are aware of our responsibilities as a government; the green bonds are issued to fund projects that are in the national budget, relating to water, power as well as the environment and some projects in health.”

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The former Minister added that a lot of planning, with the right level of funding, is needed to tackle environmental issues.

“It is a reality that climate change presents a very high risk to the world globally and we are not isolated in Nigeria, we have seen clearly what climate change has done to the far North, there is a very high level of desertification and it is increasing.

“There is a huge cost to environmental issues if they are not planned for and financed and addressed adequately, it will affect the growth that we aspire to and if we don’t plan for them and get the right level of funding, it will affect the growth of the Nigerian economy.

“The green bond gives us an opportunity to be able to raise adequate financing to fund environmental-friendly projects that are already incorporated in our national budget.”

She added that the green bonds will create jobs and make small businesses and individuals partake in improving Nigeria’s environment.

“The output is that there are opportunities even in the challenge that exists in climate change. Climate-friendly projects have the potentials to create a large number of jobs; we also have an opportunity in raising green bonds to be able to crowdsource funding so that investors are not just large companies, but small businesses as well as individuals.

“I hope going forward that the Nigerian government will be able to issue green bonds to enable the average Nigerian invest small sums so that we all feel that we are contributing directly towards the improvement of our environment.”

By Rotimi Agbana

With the new season of Big Brother Naija making its highly anticipated premiere on Sunday, June 30, 2019, MultiChoice Nigeria has upped the ante with the announcement of N60million worth of prizes for the winner.

Breakdown of the prizes for the winner includes; N30million cash prize; an SUV from Innoson Motors; a trip to Dubai for two, packaged by TravelBeta; a home make-over courtesy Scanfrost; a year’s supply of Pepsi and One Africa Fest VVIP experience; a year’s supply of Indomie Noodles and Munch It; and a brand new Oppo mobile smartphone. There’s also a bonus prize of two VIP Tickets to watch a European Football final game live, courtesy BET9ja.

This season’s grand prize is an increase from the previous edition, which saw Miracle Ikechukwu Igbokwe walking away with N45m worth of prizes.

Speaking on the increased prize money, the Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. John Ugbe said; “Each edition of Big Brother Naija significantly improves on all aspects of the previous season and this year is no different. The winner of season four will walk away from the house with a N30m cash prize and a top of the range SUV among many other exciting prizes. The Big Brother Naija winner will also emerge as the most popular and marketable personality on the continent, as the show is known to launch prominent careers in arts, entertainment and other supporting industries.”