Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday granted bail to the former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday arraigned the former minister for alleged N33 billion fraud.
He was arraigned on a 12-count charge of fraud and money laundering.
The EFCC alleged that Mamman conspired with staff of the ministry in charge of the accounts of the Zungeru and Mambilla Hydro Electric Power projects to divert N22 billion.
At Friday’s proceeding, the defendant was granted bail in the sum of N10 billion with two sureties in like sum.
READ ALSO: Ex-power minister, Saleh Mamman, remanded in prison for alleged N33bn fraud
The judge ordered that the sureties must be owners of landed properties valued at N750 million each within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
They are also expected to provide three-year tax clearance certificates, an affidavit of means, certified bank statements, and recent passport photographs.
Alternatively, the sureties could submit a bank guarantee or bond of N10 billion.
The judge ordered Mamman to surrender his international passport to the court’s Registrar for verification before his release from custody.
He adjourned the matter till September 25 for further hearing.
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Court grants ex-power minister, Sale Mamman, bail
Travellers suffering on East-West road, Diri tells Tinubu
Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has lamented the collapse of the East-West road, calling on President Bola Tinubu to hand over the reconstruction of the road to the Niger Delta Development Commission if the contractors engaged by the Federal government would fail in delivery.
Diri, who acknowledged the President’s approval of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project, said that though the approval was commendable, the reconstruction of the East-West Road was a priority.
“Our region is in dire need of development. Everything has been said by everybody here, and for me, there is just one thing that I would say.
“Prior to today, the journey between Yenagoa and Port Harcourt is either one and a half hours or one hour. For those of us who even come with the convoy, one hour you are in Port Harcourt, but today, I travelled four hours between Yenagoa and Port Harcourt. Our people are suffering. That road has collapsed.
“So, while we appreciate Mr. President for the coastal road, there is a need to immediately go into the East-West road. If that contractor does not have the capacity, please Mr. President, hand over that road to the Niger Delta Development Commission,” Diri said in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Friday at the 2024 Niger Delta Stakeholders Summit themed “Renewed Hope for Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta Region”.
Diri, who said he was devastated by the experience of travellers along the road, said he chose to shelve aside his planned trip by air from Yenagoa to Port Harcourt for the summit to personally witness the nightmare of users of the road.
“I was arranged to travel by air and I told myself ‘those who are traveling on that road are Rivers people, are Bayelsa people and Niger Delta people and if they are suffering, let me go and see their suffering’ and I couldn’t believe what I saw today.
“Some people have been there for one week. Some have been there for two days. That is not the Niger Delta that we want to be. That is not the Niger Delta our forefathers dreamt about. And so I appeal particularly to our own son who is here representing Mr. President to take this message to Mr. President and let them act fast on the East-West road,” Diri said.
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, represented Tinubu at the summit on Friday.
Diri, however, appreciated the President for “prioritising the Niger Delta by appointing a board on time and a management team on time.”
He called on Tinubu to ensure that there is a complementary approach to the execution of the project to ensure there is concurrent construction from both ends in Lagos and Calabar.
“We have also witnessed recently the construction of the coastal road that is going to run from Lagos to Calabar. And we want to appreciate and thank the President for that.
“However, I would like to appeal that as the construction is commencing from Lagos, let it also have a concurrent commencement from the Calabar axis of the road,” he said.
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal road project will traverse nine states along Nigeria’s coastal shoreline while linking the A1, A2, A3, and A4 highway corridors vertically crossing the western, central and eastern regions of the country, north to south.
Starting from Lagos and terminating in Cross River State, the over N15 trillion highway project will include a spur to the north-central part of the country.
ONLINE BULLYING: BBNaija’s Tacha backs Toyin Abraham, says actress is unfairly criticised
Former female housemate of the Big Brother Naija (BBN) reality TV show, Tacha Akide has drummed support for Nollywood actress Toyin Abraham who has received hard knocks from trolls for reportedly arresting an X user who defamed her, alongside his mother.
The feisty reality TV star in a post shared on her X account on July 10, 2024, questioned why the actress has been made to bear the brunt of invective from trolls for supporting President Bola Tinubu.
Tacha wrote; “I don’t understand the constant bullying of someone for picking their candidate of choice. In the same way you have picked your choice of candidate, everybody has the right to pick their choice of candidate.
‘‘The same way you saw qualities in your candidate is the same way that other people saw them.”
READ ALSO: BBNaija’s Doyin explains why she is the most detached Nigerian
Tacha used the medium to discuss Toyin’s political beliefs and the blowback she received after she was accused of employing the services of the police to pick up a troll. She also expressed displeasure over what she saw to be unfair criticism.
“I don’t understand the constant, steady bullying based on the candidate she chose to support. Let’s not act naive… If you write a petition to the police and the person that you’ve written the petition against refuses to honour the police invitation, they will pick him up.
‘‘This has nothing to do with whether Toyin Abraham is a public figure or not, or if you’re just a regular citizen,” she explained.
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200 students trapped in collapsed school building
The Plateau Commissioner for Information and Communication, Musa Ashoms, has confirmed that about 200 students were trapped in the Jos school building that collapsed in Jos.
The Saints Academy, a secondary school in Jos, collapsed on Friday, while students were writing their third term examination.
Ashoms, who visited the scene in the company of other commissioners, including that of secondary education, said that the school had a total population of about 400.
The commissioner said that part of the school that collapsed was accommodating about 200 students.
“The collapsed building has resulted in casualties, and injured students are still being evacuated to hospitals.
“We cannot however, ascertain the exact number of casualties until the evacuation is completed
“The emergency workers are doing a lot in the rescue efforts.
“The Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has urged the medical personnel in the hospitals to ensure that they save the lives of survivors.
“They should not ask for money or anything because this is an emergency situation,” he said.
The commissioner, however, said that the incident underscored the imperative of order 003 of the state government, which was meant to enforce the implementation of the Greater Jos Master Plan, to prevent such unfortunate incidences.
According to him, the collapsed school building, which was built in a waterlogged area, clearly did not meet construction standards.
Ashoms said that the Jos Metropolitan Development Board would ensure that faulty buildings were brought down, while ongoing constructions would henceforth conform to standards.
NAN
Students, teachers feared dead as two-storey school building collapses in Jos (Video)
An unspecified number of students and teachers were feared dead when a two-storey school building collapsed at the Saints Academy in the Busa-Buji neighbourhood of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State on Friday.
Scores of people were also trapped in the rubble.
Eyewitnesses told journalists the building collapsed at 8:30 a.m. when many of the students and teachers were already in classes writing their end of term examinations.
The incident triggered an immediate response with cranes and rescue workers working diligently to liberate people trapped beneath the fallen structures.
The news of the collapsed building to a panic as anxious parents and guardians who have their wards in the school rushed to the institution to see things for themselves.
One of the parents told journalists at the site of the collapsed building that her child had earlier complained about the shaking building the previous day.
She criticized the school authorities for failing to act on the warning signs.
“A building does not just collapse without prior indicators. The school was negligent and their negligence has contributed to the tragic incident,” she lamented.
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Suspend new scheme of service, ASUP tells FG
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Auchi Polytechnic chapter, Edo State on Friday called for the suspension of the new Scheme of Service in Nigeria Polytechnics which took effect from June 7, 2024.
The lecturers said the new scheme represents is inimical to the growth and development of the polytechnic education as well as career progression of lecturers in the polytechnic system.
In his address during the meeting, the chapter chairman, Bamidele Osamudiamen, noted that the gains recorded by the sector in recent times would be eroded by the new scheme.
He also said that the new scheme of service would further reinforce the HND-BSc dichotomy, while condemning the document for promoting discriminatory practices favouring university degree holders over HND holders in the country.
He said, “The unfair career progression guide in the sector particularly as it affects the teaching and non-teaching staff cadres is a recipe for crises as such is not reflective of the remuneration accruing to the cadres.
“The contentious document curiously, unjustifiably and unacceptably elongates the career progression steps of the lecturer cadre from a 7 step to a 9 step career development cadre and at the same time added an extra year for promotion to the final two levels.
“This implies that anyone on the lecturer cadre will now endure a minimum of 26 years from the base to the highest level. This is not acceptable particularly in view of the fact that this deviates from the norm in other sub-sectors and that the retirement age in the sector remains unchanged.”
Osamudiamen, warned that ASUU is prepared for industrial action if government fails to take the necessary step to revert the scheme as we are battle prepare for it.
“Starting from Monday, we will kick start the process with a protest against the new scheme while this will be followed by a strike action,” Osamudiamen noted.
The Rector of the Polytechnic, Salisu Umar, backed the lecturers against the new scheme and commended the national body of polytechnic lecturers on their stand on the issue.
The record who noted that the new scheme would kill polytechnic education in the country, urged for it to be thrown away.
Leadership tussle splits Ondo NLC
Crisis has erupted in the leadership of the Ondo State branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress as affiliate unions – Nigeria Union of Teachers and the National Union of Local Government Employees, on Thursday, rejected the election of the new chairman, Comrade Ademola Olapade.
Olopade was elected on Thursday at a special meeting of the Ondo NLC State Executive Council attended by 22 affiliate unions which was presided over by the NLC Vice Chairperson, Comrade Busola Adewumi.
The NULGE and the NUT which boycotted the Thursday meeting where Ademola was elected, declared the election null and void, insisting that a purported former chairman of the congress, Victor Amoko, remained Ondo NLC chairman as spelled out in the Congress’ constitution.
Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved unions, the Ondo NULGE President, Federick Akinrinola, said the election of Olapade was an aberration and violation of the NLC constitution, noting that the 300 affiliate unions would not recognise Olopade as its chairman.
He said, “Our demand is that the Kangaroo election is illegal. We are totally against the illegality. It is an aberration. It is not a matter of the election but the constitution. Who can hold forth in the absence of the Chairman? It is the Vice Chairman.
“The election is illegal and we will not recognise the new chairman. Other affiliates will not recognise him. The national body of NLC was not present in their kangaroo election.
“If they do not do the needful. The NUT and NULGE and other affiliates will leave the NLC. Their antics is that Amoko should go on retirement but former President Buhari approved service elongation for teachers and the Ondo State government has adopted it. We still have the NLC chairman. The NLC is a well-structured union throughout the federation. The constitution stated clearly that in the absence of the chairman, only the Vice chairman can summon SEC meeting.
“The person who summoned the meeting, that is, the Vice Chairman, NLC Women Wing. The Woman is not eligible. Since the NULGE, NUT, and other affiliates know that the meeting was not properly summoned, we decided to boycott the meeting.”
Speaking on his emergence, Olapade vowed to work towards enhanced welfare packages for workers in Ondo, commending Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s commitment to improving the welfare of state workers and pensioners since he assumed office.
He said, “I want to thank the SEC members of Ondo State Nigeria Labour Congress for giving me the privilege and power to lead the Congress. I’m very happy about it, and it is a big task. I pray that Almighty God helps me to do the needful.
“Workers should expect better outcomes in terms of improved salary, pension, promotion, and training. For that reason, I want to thank the state Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, for the wage award to the tertiary institutions. The government should not relent; they should continue the payment and review the wages of the workers of Ondo State upwards, considering the economic factors.”
The new chairman also called on the government to approve the demand of labour, for a new minimum wage for the better welfare of Nigerian workers.
S’Court’s verdict on LG autonomy, a relief for governors
Governor of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman, has said that the forum welcomed the ruling of the Supreme Court granting autonomy to local government areas.
AbdulRazaq said the verdict of the court is a relief from the burdens on the governors.
AbdulRazak accompanied by the Chairman, All Progressives Congress Governors Forum, Hope Uzodimma, and Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum, Dr Bala Mohammed, made the remark while addressing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday.
He added that compliance to the verdict is guaranteed, saying “our Attorney General has applied for the enrollment order, which we’ll study carefully.”
“But by and large, governors are happy with the devolution of power in respect of local government autonomy. It relieves the burden on governors.
“Our people really don’t know how much states expend in bailing out local governments, and that’s the issue there,” he said.
AbdulRazaq said his government in Kwara State had never tampered with local government funds.
“What the local governments have to do is to manage themselves, especially with the incoming minimum wage, to manage their affairs and make sure salaries are paid, traditional rulers get their five per cent and those are the main issues,” he said.
AbdulRazaq said the forum would meet next Wednesday to look into issues of states where local government elections are yet to be conducted.
Recall the Supreme Court declared on Thursday that it is unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for local government administrations.
The seven-man panel, in the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, declared that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.
The apex court held that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government.
The court further declared that a state government has no power to appoint a caretaker committee and a local government council is only recognisable with a democratically elected government.
The court stated that it is the local government that should receive and manage funds meant for local government.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Federal Government, seeking to grant full autonomy and direct funding to all 774 local government councils in the country.
FG clears 1,330 NIS retirees 17-year severance allowance
The Federal Government has cleared the 17-year outstanding severance allowances of 1,330 officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service who retired between 2006 and 2007.
At a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr. Dasuki Arabi announced that 885 officers had been verified and paid their outstanding benefits after a verification exercise was conducted across the six geopolitical zones across the country.
The DG noted that the exercise, which began on November 27, 2023, and ended on January 20, 2024, was a culmination of efforts by the BPSR, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Federal Civil Service Commission, and Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
“We have finally resolved the outstanding severance benefits of 1,330 disengaged officers from the 2006/2007 reform programme. This achievement serves as a beacon of hope for other parastatals and MDAs facing similar challenges,” Arabi added.
Arabi equally thanked the FG for its “unwavering commitment to addressing this long-standing issue, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
He noted that 17 verified officers could not be paid due to some inconsistencies in their account details, but are being addressed by the stakeholders’ committee.
The According had reported that ten months after their recruitment, NIS officers were yet to receive their salary arrears despite being captured on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
The personnel, whose appointment letters date back to August 15, 2023, claimed they had not been paid between September 2023 and February 2024.
The National Chairman and Coordinator, National Association of Retired Immigration Officers, Mr. Ola Gbadamosi acknowledged the payment to the association’s members but noted that some beneficiaries could not be traced due to mix-ups in the biodata of the next of kin for the late officers.
“I want to thank the DG, BPSR and the office of the Accountant-General and Auditor-General of the Federation for their intervention in making the payment a success. It has been 17 years of struggle but it’s a reality today.
“Although we have not been able to fully verify some of our members, about 400 of them. We are working to ensure that everyone is fully captured,” Gbadamosi said.
He also appealed to the government to settle the disparities in the 17-year salary arrears owed to the retirees.
Sowore calls for revolution against Tinubu-led Nigerian government in August
The 2023 African Action Congress, AAC, presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has called on Nigerians to file out in declaring a revolution against President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian Government in August.
Recalling that Tinubu and former president Muhammadu Buhari once called for a revolution, Sowore said nothing would stop that of August.
Posting on X, Sowore wrote: “The REVOLUTION is now knocking on our doors! #RevolutionNow. Let everyone rise all once in August 2024!
“Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.
“They asked for a revolution and It is here now! @officialABAT once asked for a revolution, even @MBuhari once asked for a revolution and Nigerians now want a real revolution.
“Nothing Can Stop An Idea Whose Time Has Come” #RevolutionNOW.”
This is coming when Nigerians are bedevilled by insecurity and hardship occasioned by the astronomical rise in the prices of food.
While Tinubu’s government has been tackling the issue of insecurity, the Nigerian government has rolled out measures to tackle food insecurity within 150 days.
The measures announced by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari said a 150-Day Duty-Free Import Window for food commodities would be implemented by the Federal Government.
He noted that within its period the government will relax the tax and import duties on Wheat, Maize, husked Brown Rice, and beans.
Sowore calls for revolution against Tinubu-led Nigerian government in August