National

By Muhammad Sabiu

Ahmed Idris, Nigeria’s Accountant-General, has reportedly been arrested on suspicion of money laundering and misappropriation of state monies.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Mr Idris was apprehended in Kano by men of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday evening and is being taken to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, for questioning.

According to sources who spoke with news reporters, the EFCC has been looking into a case of at least N80 billion in public funds being diverted through fake contracts.

According to investigators, the firms utilized to launder the monies were linked to family members and acquaintances of the accountant-general.

Mr. Idris, who was appointed by President Buhari on June 25, 2015, was said to have been avoiding honouring a series of invitations from the anti-graft agency.

The source was quoted as saying, “We kept inviting him but he kept dodging us. We were left with no choice than [sic] to keep him under watch and arrest him.”

However, the spokesperson for the EFCC did not comment on the matter as he could not be reached.

By Muhammad Sabiu

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has begun a quiet probe into the finances of the country’s 18 political parties and presidential candidates.

This came after applicants vying for various political posts in the parties paid exorbitant fees for expressions of interest and nomination papers.

As a result, in a letter, with reference number CB.3383/EFCC/HOPS/HQ/VOL.1/28, titled, ‘Investigation activities’,  the anti-corruption organization has requested that the Independent National Electoral Commission provide it with the bank accounts and other financial information of political parties.

It also demanded that the managing directors of Access Bank and Polaris Bank disclose information on the 14 accounts held by the All Progressives Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party, and another group suspected of being linked to the opposition party.

The ruling APC sold presidential forms for N100 million, while the main opposition party sold them for N40 million. In addition, APC governorship candidates paid N50 million, while those declaring for the Senate, House of Representatives, and state legislatures paid N20 million, N10 million, and N2 million, respectively, for their nomination and declaration of interest forms.

The PDP, on the other hand, sold gubernatorial forms for N21 million, Senate forms for N3.5 million, House of Representatives forms for N2.5 million, and state Houses of Assembly forms for N600,000.

While the minor parties paid lower rates for their forms, many Nigerians were outraged by the hefty nomination fees required by the two leading parties, which Transparency International described as a kind of money laundering.

Last week, on Channels Television’s Politics Today, EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa hinted that the agency will monitor campaign finances, particularly the authenticity of monies used to acquire nomination forms ahead of the 2023 general elections.

By Ibrahim Nasidi Saal

Troops of the 93 Battalion have launched a  search and rescue mission for personnel missing in action while responding to a distress call of an attack on the Tati community in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State in the early hours of Tuesday, May 10, 2022.

The troops acted swiftly after receiving a distress call that the Tati community was under attack by suspected bandits. While pursuing the bandits, troops fell into an ambush staged by the criminals. The troops fought fiercely through the ambush neutralizing four of the bandits.  Sadly, six gallant soldiers paid the supreme price during the firefight, while one person was missing in action.

However, a reinforcement team from the 6 Brigade deployed against the fleeing bandits at Ananum village in Donga Local Government Area of the state, neutralized two additional bandits and recovered one Ak 47 rifle, one pistol, one locally fabricated gun, 2 AK 47 Magazines, 19 rounds of 7.62 mm special, seven rounds of 9 mm ammunition and three motorbikes.

Troops are currently pursuing the bandits and will leave no stone unturned in the ongoing search and rescue operations for the missing personnel.

The good people of Taraba state are urged to be vigilant and report any suspicious movement to security agencies.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

The National Assembly urged the Chinese government to help Nigeria rescue the Abuja-Kaduna abducted train passengers.

Today marks exactly 45 days since the 62 passengers were attacked and abducted while in transition on March 28, 2022.

The Daily Reality reported how bandits stormed the Abuja-Kaduna train, gunned down eight people and abducted over sixty people in March. 

The Chairman Senate Committee on Land Transportation, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, expressed sadness over the failure to rescue the victims 45 days after.

Also, the people concerned have shown great sadness over the government’s failure to rescue their loved ones and threatened that the train service must not resume until those abducted have regained freedom. 

The lawmaker representing Oyo North in the National Assembly decried that the attack had created fear in the minds of Nigerians who had started embracing the railway.

He said, “The Chinese government makes money from the many rail projects that are being handled by CCECC in Nigeria, so asking them to help us is not out of place.

“Nigerians are no longer ready to listen to the number of passengers that have been carried by the trains since they were commissioned. Nigerians are not interested in what has been put in the various stations by the CCECC. What we want to hear now is the effort being put into rescuing those people in captivity.

“If a Chinese national was among those people abducted, we know that the Chinese government would have come to rescue him.

“I remember when an American was kidnapped, the Americans came and took him away from where he was held captive. We know that with the level of technology that the Chinese have, even without leaving Beijing, they can help us track where these people are, or even give us enough intelligence that would aid their rescue,” he added. 

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) will commence a two-week warning strike on Monday, May 16, 2022.

According to the ASUP president, Anderson Ezeibe, the decision was borne out of the emergency meeting of the union National Executive Council on Wednesday, May 11, 2022.

However, this is coming amidst worries over the extension of strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

ASUP decried that the federal government has refused to meet their demand, making it necessary for the union to embark on a strike.

Recall that ASUP has suspended its industrial action declared on the 10th of June, 2021, following the Memorandum of Action (MoA) which the government had signed.

The union said in a statement, “Non-release of arrears of the new minimum wage: The owed 10 months arrears for the Polytechnics is yet to be released. The composite amount covering all Federal Tertiary Institutions to the approximate figure of N19Bn currently exists as an AIE in the Accountant Generals Office.”

“We are deploying this medium to equally appeal to members of the public to prevail on the government to do the needful within the two weeks period so as to avoid an indefinite shutdown of the sector,” the statement added.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Adamu J. Garba, a tech-entrepreneur and presidential aspirant on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, has withdrawn from the presidential race.

In a press release on Twitter on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, Garba cited the monetisation of the political space as the reason for his withdrawal from the presidential race. He argued that the nomination form is recklessly high and amounts to the commercialisation of the political space.

“Our generation should not set an example as part of the people that supported the financialisation/commercialisation of our political space, especially the public office, considering the prohibitive cost of the nomination forms. The highest in the world.” He stated.

Garba also stated that the APC would not conduct a primary election despite the humongous amount of money for the party’s expression of interest and nomination form.

“We further discovered that even if we went ahead to obtain the form, the party has foreclosed the plan for primary election because of the presence of the request for a Letter of Voluntary Withdrawal on page 18 of the nomination form.” He wrote

Garba claimed he had raised the sum of eighty-three million from online donors. As to what will happen to the donation consequent of his withdrawal, he said donors would be refunded upon request.

According to Garba, the withdrawal from the presidential race is not the end of the journey, and his supporters, whom he thanked graciously in the press release, should patiently wait for further directives.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The families of the abducted Abuja-Kaduna train victims threatened that the train service must not resume unless all the abducted passengers are rescued.

Speaking through their spokesperson, Dr Abdulfatai Jimoh, the victims’ families said adequate security measures must be put in place to guarantee the safety of prospective passengers.

The Daily Reality reported how bandits attacked the Kaduna-Abuja train, killed eight persons, and abducted many passengers last month.

The bandits in a video threatened to kill all the victims if the federal government refused to negotiate with them.

However, reports disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the NRC to set up a situation room for the coordination of the rescue mission for the passengers.

But the families lamented that “Still, one week after this presidential directive was issued, the NRC has never contacted the relatives of the kidnapped victims nor established any situation room.

“This display of gross incompetence and insensitivity should lead to appropriate punishment,” they said.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Oby Ezekwesili, Nigeria’s former Minister of Education, has called on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to resign and stop embarrassing the country.

Mrs Ezekwesili’s remark came after reports that Mr Emefiele had acquired the All Progressives Congress presidential nomination and expression of interest form for N100 million on Friday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

“I just read your waffling neither-here-nor-there tweet reacting to news of your payment of N100M for the APC Nomination form for 2023 Presidential election,” Mrs Ezekwesili tweeted.

“Seems you did not read what the APC Spokesperson said to @Bloomberg. Resign. Stop embarrassing the country. Stop.”

Mr Emefiele, according to the former minister, has turned over the leadership of the apex bank to the president since assuming office.

She went on to say that the bank’s “ill-advised monetary actions” during the last seven years were “political.”

She added that Mr Emefiele’s CBN’s bad monetary policies after Buhari took office in 2015 were proof that the bank had turned over its independence to the president.

By Ibrahim Tukur

Communication barrier is one of the major problems holding many deaf people back. Living in an inclusive world—a world that comprises people with differences, one has to know the others better to get along together. We can only achieve that through communication. Unfortunately, however, many people have immensely misunderstood due to the communication barrier. Some see people with hearing impairment as stupid, insane, mad, etcetera.

Communication barrier has brought various challenges that not exclusively affect the personal achievement of the deaf but also their educational, spiritual and economic development.

Due to this barrier, many deaf experience loneliness, depression and isolation at home because they have no one to communicate with as most of the family members don’t know how to communicate with them. In the same vein, their parents often neglect them and find it challenging to communicate with them in their day-to-day interactions and operations. Thus, this makes many deaf children, if not all, grow up morally deficient.

In many tertiary institutions, deaf students face many academic challenges that interfere with their studies. Although all tertiary institutions are inclusive, they are not offering special services like Sign Language interpreters. Consequently, those students often sit in the class watching their lecturers lecturing verbally and their coursemates with no hearing loss drinking from their knowledge flow.

Deaf people face immense challenges when it comes to employment. Many organisations and companies find it difficult to employ deaf people due to this barrier, as good communication is one of the essential requirements in entrepreneurship. This is why many deaf people have automatically been disqualified during job interviews despite meeting all the requirements.

Again, because of this barrier, deaf people are denied from getting jobs as doctors, engineers, journalists, lecturers, lawyers, accountants, etcetera. Many deaf who have studied others fields are forced to become classroom teachers as if teaching is the only profession for the deaf.

Although the current administration has enacted a law that prohibits discrimination against people with disability, thanks to their bid for inclusion, they failed to trench the underlying causes of the discrimination. 

To nip the deaf-based discrimination in the bud, Sign Language should be introduced as a core curriculum in all schools since the communication barrier is its underlying cause.

Sign Language specialists should be employed in all schools and tertiary institutions to teach Sign Language so that everybody will learn to communicate with the deaf and get to know them better.

Teaching Sign Language in schools nationwide will improve this communication gap and end the disparagement, discrimination, and stigmatisation they experience. It will equally create a comfortable environment for the deaf folks to live in this Inclusive world.

Ibrahim Tukur is a 400 level student of Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached via inventorngw@gmail.com.

Ibrahim Nasidi Saal

Operatives of the Port Harcourt’s Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, have commenced an investigation of 13 suspected oil thieves handed over to it by the Nigerian Navy.

The suspects were handed over Wednesday, May 4, 2022, by the Nigerian Naval Ship, NNS Pathfinder, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for allegedly dealing in petroleum products without appropriate licences.

The suspects are Goodnews Wilfred, Gabriel Awadis, Monday Anja, Sylvanus Benson, Timothy Rufus, Appolos Awajis, Tombari Lede, Ebirene Ebirene, Friday Aaron, Ataije Ebirene, Ibrahiim Attah, Shuaibu Magaji and Odeon Emmanuel.