Nigeria Police declare Saraki wanted

Special Fraud Unit of the police, SFU, yesterday, declared former Kwara State governor, Senator  Bukola Saraki, wanted following  the refusal of a court to grant his request for restraining order.
Also wanted by the SFU is his wife, Toyin, over alleged N4 billion  loan fraud.
She allegedly collected the loan from Access Bank through her firm, DALTRADE.
The SFU has a warrant for Saraki arrest from a High Court in Lagos because the  alleged offence of N21 billion loan fraud  against him was committed in Lagos. Commissioner of police Tunde Ogunshakin of the SFU confirmed the story.

Uganda Turinawe 'sexual abuse' police officer suspended

A Ugandan police officer has been suspended over the alleged sexual assault of an opposition activist, the authorities have said.

Footage shows an officer squeezing the breast of Ingrid Turinawe of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) as she was arrested last week.

"One officer has been suspended pending further investigation," Internal Affairs Minister James Baba said.

His statement did not say whether the police officer was male or female.

Ms Turinawe, who is the head of the Women's League of the FDC led by Kizza Besigye, was arrested on Friday as she tried to drive to an opposition rally just outside the capital, Kampala.

"The incident occurred during the arrest of a female who was suspected of committing a number of traffic violations and who failed to comply with the lawful instruction of a police officer," Mr Baba said.

"It is alleged that this lady suffered an assault as she resisted arrest," he added.

Ugandan television footage clearly shows that, as several officers tried to pull her out of her vehicle, another grabbed and squeezed her breast - and she is heard shouting out in pain.

The incident has sparked outrage - and on Monday a group of women stripped to their bras and marched through the centre of Kampala waving placards, including one that read "How would you feel if we squeezed your balls?"

Six protesters were arrested after they refused to put their tops back on - but they were released two hours later without charge.

Since President Yoweri Museveni's controversial re-election in 2011, opposition supporters regularly stage demonstrations - many of which have ended in violence and arrests.

Nigeria: Alleged N11bn scam: Saraki shuns police invitation

Former Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki yesterday shunned  invitation by the Police Special Fraud Unit, SFU, Milverton, Ikoyi, to answer questions bothering on an alleged N11 billion loan scam at the defunct Intercontinental Bank.
Saraki, who was billed to appear at the SFU, reportedly wrote the unit, promising to honour its invitation yesterday. But as at 6pm, he was yet to arrive to explain his alleged involvement in the loan scam.
The unit, had last week  arrested former Managing Director of defunct Intercontinental Bank, Mr Mahmoud Alabi, for allegedly writing off a N9 billion loan and granting another N9 billion loan without a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
During investigation, the unit, according to its spokes person, Mrs Ngozi Insitume, discovered that “the companies that jointly incurred this indebtedness were Joy Petroleum Limited, Skyview Properties Ltd, Dicetrade, and Limkers Nigeria Ltd. The debts originated from several loans/facilities worth billions of Naira granted the companies, which were allegedly promoted by Senator Bukola Saraki between 2004 and 2009 when he was the Governor of Kwara State.
“The billions of Naira loans/facilities were used to purchase shares of bluechip companies and choice landed property in Lagos and Abuja. Some of the landed property worth billions of naira used to secure the loans were curiously released after payment of only N2.3Billion out of the N11.97 jointly owed the bank by the companies.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Erastus Akingbola under whose management most of the loans were approved, she said, had also  made useful statement to the police, adding that . Investigation was  on to determine the propriety of releasing the title documents to these landed properties used as collaterals which would have been sold to set off part of the balance debt.
Saraki as gathered, is expected to explain why and how the loan were written off and   how choice properties in high brow areas of Lagos such as Ikoyi and Victoria Island were purchased with the contentious loan, only to end up being used  as collateral for the same loan.

Nigeria: One dead in Lagos police raid

"After you people have gone and done your rituals; you'll want to come and put the blame on the police" came the cold response from the police officer.
A police raid at a residence in Amukoko, Sunday, has led to the death of a young man.

Uche Okafor, the deceased, while escaping from the four police officers, who were tipped off about some gamblers in the building, slipped and hit his head on a concrete slab.

Friends rushed the lifeless body to a nearby hospital where a doctor pronounced him dead.

The corpse has been deposited at the General Hospital in Lagos Island.

It was gathered that one of the neighbours, identified as Mr. Kingsley, blew the whistle on the gamblers, after they refused to give him his share of the 'board money' from the previous day. The the police arrived minutes later in a chartered commercial tricycle (popularly known as Keke Marwa).

"They came this morning and all the boys ran away," said a witness.

"Uche was not among the gamblers but he tried to run to avoid police arrest before he ran to his death," he added.

After the death of Mr. Okafor, who was in his 30s, youths in the area trooped to the nearby Pako Police Station to protest.

"We are not to blame for the death," a police officer told them, after they arrested two of the gamblers.

"We were not chasing him. And the ones we arrested, are they still not alive?"

"After you people have gone and done your rituals; you'll want to come and put the blame on the police."

The whistle blower and his family have absconded from their Number 5 Amai Street home.

Members of the deceased family, in Ihe, Awgu local government of Enugu State, have been contacted by telephone.

Friends described Mr. Okafor, who deals in wine in Lagos Island, as a "quiet, peace loving young man."

"He is not a gambler, he's just a fun loving and very friendly man," said a very close friend.

Nigeria: N11Billion loan scam: Saraki pleads with police for a Monday date

Detectives in Lagos said yesterday that when Mr. Saraki reports tomorrow, they hope he will explain how he secured loans to purchase choice properties in the up-scale markets of Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos, that ended up being the collaterals of the same properties.

Former governor of Kwara State and serving senator, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, failed to keep faith with a police invitation Friday at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police regarding a N11 billion Intercontinental Bank loan scandal that has trailed him for years.

Detectives at the Milverton Road headquarters of the SFU say they received a letter from Mr. Saraki pleading for extension of time till Monday before showing up, making the excuse that he needed to attend the burial ceremony of a close relation.

“We have no problems with that and we look forward to receiving him here on Monday” remarked a top SFU officer who told Premium Times that the office released a statement late yesterday to counter the claims from Mr. Saraki’s media operations that he was “surprised at the reopened investigation” of his case because he had already gone through series of investigations.

 “...We are once again surprise it is resurfacing,” his media office said, adding, “
The attempt to link this baseless petition to Senator Saraki is purely a blackmail and character assassination.”

SFU detectives yesterday waved off this argument telling Premium Times that Mr. Saraki still has important questions to answer on how his over N11 Billion loans ended up in the accounts of subsidiaries of the oil marketing company, Joy Petroleum, which was owned by one of his former aides, Mattew Obahor. now deceased.

SFU detectives said in Lagos yesterday that when Mr. Saraki reports tomorrow, they hope he will help them understand two issues relating to the loam: first, how choice properties in the up-scale markets of Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos that were purchase with the same loan ended up being the collaterals of the same properties.

Secondly, they hope he will explain how the loans, unpaid, were substantially written off and the properties relieved of their collateral status.

The current governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatai Ahmed, according to police detectives, may also be invited for questioning because, according to them, a lot of the money transfer was done under his watch as finance commissioner in the administration of Mr. Saraki.

Nigeria: Air Nigeria recovers $75,000 from ex-Executive Director

The Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police has succeeded in recovering 75,000 US Dollars of the 100,000 US Dollars illegally diverted from the company’s account by our former Executive Director (EDF), Finance, Mr. John Nnorom, who was recently sacked from his position.
We also wish to use this medium to clarify our relationship with the sacked EDF and the issues that led to his sack. It was discovered sometime in March, this year, that the EDF was using his position to short-change the company in its financial transactions.
He was specifically found to have attempted to defraud the company of $300,000 US Dollars in a particular transaction with a Bureau De Change (name withheld, where investigation revealed that he is the Director), which he personally introduced to the airline.  The company managed to prevent the theft of the entire sum, but not until after he had successfully siphoned off $100,000 US Dollars.
After his subsequent (and mandatory) sack by the Board of Directors, the company commenced the process of recovering the stolen money by lodging a case against him with the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police, at Ikoyi, Lagos. This effort led to the recovery of $75,000 US Dollars of the money, a fact that can be independently verified from the SFU.  We are also taking further lawful steps to recover the outstanding balance.
With the consequences of his actions staring him in the face, we quite understand his desperate attempts to exonerate himself by resorting to cheap blackmail and spreading false information about the airline.
While, it is not in our character to join issues with former staff of the airline, we are constrained, on this occasion, to make the necessary clarifications and to also inform all our customers, suppliers and vendors that Mr. John Nnorom no longer has a mandate to represent Air Nigeria.

Nigeria: State police not answer to nation’s insecurity said NICO boss

Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation, NICO, Dr. Barclay Ayakoroma, yesterday, insisted that state police was not the best antidote to the country’s insecurity problem.
Ayakoroma, who stated this while addressing newsmen on the forthcoming cultural conference to address insecurity in the country, however, noted that what the country needed was training, retraining, equipment and payment of good salaries.
He said: “The difference between the decentralisation and centralisation of the Police Force is the control.   Every governor is the chief security officer of his state, just as the local government chairman is the chief security officer in his area.”

Nigeria Police pensions scandal: FCSC suspends five civil servants

Federal Civil Service Commission, FCSC has approved  suspension of  the five civil servants who were recently charged to court in connection with their alleged involvement in fraudulent practices at the Police Pensions Office with effect from March 29, 2012. This was contained in a statement, yesterday, in Abuja by Tope Ajakaiye, Deputy Director Press  and Public Relations at the Office of  the  Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
Those affected civil servants include Atiku Abubakar Kigo (a Permanent Secretary), Ahmed Inuwa Wada (Director), John Yakubu Yusuf (Assistant Director), Veronica Onyegbula (Cashier) and Sani Habila Zira (ICT Officer).
It would be recalled that in their initial arraignment last month, an Abuja High Court remanded all the accused persons in prison custody for their alleged complicity in the illegal diversion of N32.8bn from the Nigeria Police Pensions funds.
The shocking revelations were made at a public hearing conducted by the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service, Establishment and State and Local Government Administration probing alleged corruption in the management of the pension funds.
It was alleged that the suspects had stolen N24 billion of the police pension fund through falsified documents. They were also alleged to have withdrawn the said amount from the Budget Office for a pension payment that required just N3.5 billion. It was also revealed that whereas N5 billion was paid to the Office of the Head of Service monthly for the payment of pensions, only N1.9 billion was actually required.
Another disclosure was that while 141,790 pensioners were registered and listed on the government’s payroll, only 70,657 were genuine pensioners.
Another scandalous revelation was that whereas the Police Pensions Office collected N5 billion monthly as claims for its pensioners,  it actually needed N500 million. Illegal withdrawals were made by staff using multiple cheques in fictitious names in excess of 30 cheques per day to withdraw cash from their bankers amounting to over N14 billion.
Items recovered
Some of the looted funds have already been  recovered. An employee of the Police Pension Office reportedly  turned in N1 billion cash while another surrendered three luxury estates which consist of about 27 blocks of deluxe flats he built in Abuja. N2 billion cash was recovered from a house belonging to a suspect, while hotels and fuel stations belonging to other suspects have been confiscated by law enforcement agencies.
There was also another  twist to the scandal  as fresh allegations were made against the leader of the Pension Reforms Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, who investigated the scam. He was accused of spending N240 million on a biometric exercise for less than 20 retirees in the Diaspora and another N220 million on the local bio-data.
The investigator was also alleged to have unilaterally opened three accounts in different banks without recourse to extant financial rules and approval from relevant authorities. One of the accounts was domiciled in the account of his younger brother with a huge monthly interest of over N100 million.
In his defence, Maina claimed that the money was spent on allowances for  foreign trips by 85 officials engaged for the exercise, including top civil servants, top police officers  and those of the  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The national embarrassment did not stop there as the chairman of the committee probing the pension sector, Senator Aloysius Etok, and his members are also busy defending themselves on an allegation that they demanded huge bribes from the same pension task team.

Slain journalist’s family begs Police to fish out killers

The family of slain journalist with Independent Television, ITV, Benin City, Edo State, Mr Chuks Ogu, has appealed to the  state Police Command and the state government to assist in fishing out the perpetrators of the dastardly act.
Meanwhile, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has condoled with the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State Chapter and Mrs. Joy Ogu, widow of Mr. Chuka Ogu, a cameraman with ITV, Benin, who was shot dead by suspected assailants, last weekend.
In separate condolence messages to NUJ and the widow, Governor Oshiomhole said it was unfortunate that such a promising young journalist was cut down in his prime.
However, making the appeal on behalf of the family when the executive members of African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, a non-governmental organisation, paid a condolence visit to the family, elder brother of the deceased, Mr. Gashion Mba, said the family was yet to understand the motive of the killers and that justice could only be done to the deceased if security agencies were able to apprehend the killers.

Girl in detention for four years over phone theft

The case of Blessing Effiong, a 20-year-old inmate awaiting trial at the female section of Kirikiri Prisons, Lagos, perhaps typifies the injustice suffered by the poor in the Nigerian society.

The Akwa-Ibom indigene, who was interviewed by the Attorney-General of the state, Mr. Ade Ipaye, and representatives of the Office of the Public Defender, during a visit to the prisons to evaluate the number of awaiting trial persons there, narrated in detail how she had been incarcerated since the age of 16 because she could not afford the services of a lawyer.

She said, “In 2008, I bought a Starcomms phone for N10,000 in order to start a business centre. A few days later, a man called me and said the phone was stolen from him. I told the man I didn’t know it was stolen. We had an agreement that I should return the phone and he would refund my money.

 “I gave the man my address but when he got to my place, he said the phone was stolen from him along with his laptop and some other vital documents. He accused me of being a thief, called the police and had me arrested. I was charged with robbery and have been in Kirikiri since then as my trial has yet to begin.”

Effiong said she was arrested at her guardian’s house in Ebute-Meta but was transferred to the Agboju Police Division from where she was taken to an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court.

She said although she was 16 at the time of her arrest, the Investigating Police Officer claimed she was 21 so that she would be tried as an adult

“I told the IPO that I was only 16 years old and that I knew nothing about the stolen phone but the IPO wrote 21 on my statement and claimed I was lying about my age. I was arraigned as an adult,” she said.

Effiong added that even after four years, her trial had not begun as the court was said to be awaiting advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Right groups flay police invitation to Odinkalu

Civil society groups and some Nigerians have condemned the invitation to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, by the police, arguing that it  was designed to cow the commission and its leadership from carrying out its statutory duties.

Meanwhile, Odinkalu ‘s  counsel, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, in a statement, yesterday, said Odinkalu may not appear before the police, while calling for a total independence of NHRC to carry out its constitutional duties diligently.

Aturu said: “As a law-abiding patriot, Dr. Odinkalu proposes to show leadership, good example and respect to the institution and men and women of NPF by honouring the request by NPF despite the absence of justification for it.”

He said Odinkalu proposed through his encounter with the police “to offer partnership to the leadership of NPF in investigating and methodically addressing the admitted problem of extra-judicial killings in Nigeria with independent facilitation from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and looks forward to working constructively with them on this.”