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$49.8 billion missing oil money: Jonathan, Sanusi, in open confrontation 10 years after

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For the first time in 10 years, former President, Goodluck Jonathan, and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had the chance to square up frontally over the $49.8 billion missing oil money for which the latter, now 16th Emir of Kano, was abruptly kicked out of office as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), about one year to the expiration of his tenure.

Sanusi, had alleged that the money belonging to then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), grew wings with which it flew out of the government coffers, because it was not remitted to the CBN, an allegation, which the government of the day felt it could not stomach and handed him a suspension from which he never returned from, until he was handed over the stool of the ancient Kano monarchy.

Against the backdrop of the details, which the monarch supplied as part of his contribution in a book compiled by Samsudeen Usman, former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, where he still maintained the allegation, Jonathan, took time not only to deny that such an amount was mission, but also debunked the contention that Sanusi was sacked, as he was only suspended to enable credible investigation, but could not be recalled before his tenure expired through the effluxion of time.

At the launching of the book, titled Public Policy and Agents Interests: Perspectives from the Emerging World, the monarch, though clearly avoided open exchange, saying the occasion did not call for a debate over the matter, still subtly maintained his own line of the narrative, jokingly referring to ex-President as “my boss that constructively sacked me.”

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His words: “My boss who sacked me. I was constructively dismissed. I continue to respect Jonathan and I don’t have grudges against anyone,” Emir said, as he delivered a short message at the event he presided over as Royal Father of the Day.

But insisting that no such amount was lost in his government, Jonathan told attendees at the event, one of whom was the 16th Emir of Kano, that an internationally-recognised audit firm engaged to probe the alleged missing amount, gave the administration a clean bill of health, Jonathan also recounted how he was confronted by then President of Germany, Angela Merkel, over the matter and that he explained that such money couldn’t have been stolen from a struggling country.

He said: ““Let me mention that I did not agree with some issues raised by one of the contributors. I need to say why I did not quite agree with him. But I don’t intend to join issues because he is our royal father. And he is here.  All that he wrote was on some of the issues, especially the one that is related to me. The one he raised was that he was sacked because he blew the whistle that the federal government lost $49.8 billion.  It’s not quite correct. It was not that he was sacked. He was suspended.

“He was not sacked. He was suspended because the Financial Reporting Council queried the expenditure of CBN. And there were serious infractions that needed to be looked at. That was the reason. But somehow, the time was short. So, before we finished, his tenure elapsed. Probably, he would have been called back. On the issue of $ 49.8 billion, till today, I am not convinced that the Federal Government lost $49.8 billion.

“And that year, our budget was $31.6 billion. So, for a country that had a budget of $31.6 billion to lose about $50 billion and salaries were paid; nobody felt anything. The researchers that wrote this book need to do further research. And more so, when our revered royal father came up with the figures – first, $49.8 billion, later $20 billion and later $12 billion – I don’t even know the correct one.

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“I was vindicated about the claim after he began to change the narrative from $49bn to $20bn and later $12bn. Price Water Coopers, PWC, which investigated the matter, revealed that no such amount was stolen. However, $1.48 billion could not be accounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, (now NNPCL) at the time.”

But the monarch who could have used his time to speak on the matter, when he was handed the chance, clearly avoided dwelling on it, saying the time was not auspicious, the occasion was only a book launch and not debate, stressing: “When I was told to make a speech, I told Shamsuddeen Usman that I will not speak about my intervention, out of respect for my boss, the President.”

“I feel most inappropriate for this to turn into a debate.  It’s not about me or the President, it’s really about Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman today and his book. I always knew my chapter will be controversial when Dr. Usman asked me to write. I said, this topic is so similar to my book.  You’re making me begin to reveal some of the things that are in my head.  In other words, when I wrote that chapter, that’s it for me.

“I’ll make a few remarks. First of all, I continue to respect my President, Jonathan.  I do not have any grudges against anyone. The most important thing for me is not about personalities. I think what comes out of my chapter, like in the book, is something that we all know. Which is that for decades, the Nigerian state has been captive to elites class that sees the state as a site.

“This is a fact, and this is what has destroyed Nigeria. People get into office, and when they get into office, what they’re thinking of is how much they can make out of the state, rather than how they can use the state to serve the citizens.  If we agree on that, we have no disagreements. Why is Nigeria where it is today? I mean, you referred to the Dangote Refinery.

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“I don’t know what the details are. For a country feeding itself from imported petroleum products, instead of grabbing this opportunity, you know with open arms, we are frustrating it. Why would anyone stop us from having the capacity to produce our own refined petroleum products? Because there are vested interests who have profited from Nigeria continuing to import these products.

“They could be all marketers internationally. They could be people locally who have been profiting from these subsidy stamps. And this is the end, because every excuse disappears when you are not getting imported, and you are disembarking.”

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BREAKING: Death penalty for fake drugs! *NAFDAC to push new law at NASS

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Those peddling fake and substandard drugs in Nigeria should be ready for the hangman’s noose, if the thinking of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), becomes the new law.

Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of the body, who said on Friday that no other form of punishment is fitting enough, gave instances of where the application of such dangerous substances in form of health drugs, had led to fatalities.

Advocating that only stiff penalties would deter peddlers especially when deaths of children became involved, the NAFDAC boss, who appeared as a guest on The Morning Brief, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, said: “Somebody bought children’s medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall. 

“That raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty. Because you don’t need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine.”

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Advocating that the National Assembly and the judiciary to make the proposal a reality, adding that the agency was open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter, she added: “You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, there’s going to be a problem.

“Somebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesn’t know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000? That is part of our problem.

“There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, we’re going to have a problem.

“So, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff.  But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die. We have a lot on our plate in stemming drug peddling.

“Withe about 2,000 staff members nationwide and limited funding, NAFDAC is constrained in carrying out its activities. So, when it comes to staffing, you’re right on the point. We are short-staffed and I am hoping things will be better.”

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Give us electoral offences tribunal to take care of heist – INEC  

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Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, made a fresh push for the creation of an electoral offences tribunal, to curb the cases of attacks on the Nigerian democratic system.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman, told reporters at the commission’s first regular quarterly consultative meeting with the media that the tribunal had become important owing to the backlog of electoral offence cases.

He said: “A major obstacle to the speedy dispensation of justice in this regard is that electoral offences are not time-bound as is the case with post-election offences through the tribunals. Furthermore, they are solely prosecuted by the Magistrate and State High Courts in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences are committed,” the INEC chief told the gathering.

“No priority attention is given to such cases as the courts deal with a variety of other cases. Consequently, electoral offences are carried over from one General Election to another which may sometimes affect the diligent prosecution of the cases. It is therefore imperative to renew our call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal that have a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases.”

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Bemoaning the delay in the justice delivery system, citing the conviction of a returning officer in Akwa Ibom after six years in court, the INEC boss, said: “The recent successful prosecution of a Returning Officer in Akwa Ibom State is a case in point.

“The Commission has been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 General Election. In this particular case, it took nearly six years to achieve the successful prosecution at the trial court.

“Through our collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) cases involving 774 alleged offenders from the 2023 General Election are being prosecuted. So far, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi States while our collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara, and Gombe States. Yet, many cases are still pending.”

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Again, terrorists attack Sokoto, kidnap 10 worshippers at a mosque

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A mosque in Bushe community, Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, fell into the hands of bandits on Friday, after which 10 worshippers including the Imam were spirited away, adding to growing cases of terrorist attacks.

Channels Television reports that the gunmen invaded the mosque on Thursday while worshippers were performing their early morning Subhi prayer, quoting residents as saying that the gunmen had been molesting the people of the community for some time now, even with the presence of security agents.

Ahmed Rufai, spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, who confirmed the attack on Friday, said the police authorities were working with other security agencies to rescue the abducted victims.

A member of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, representing the Sabon Birni B state Constituency who also confirmed the attack, commended the security agencies for their timely intervention.

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