Nigeria’s ex-attorney general Mohammed Adoke has returned to the country to face corruption charges over his involvement in one of the oil industry’s biggest corruption scandals.

The country anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC; confirmed his return stating that “The ex-AGF left Dubai following pressure from the EFCC.”

He was arrested by authorities in Dubai in November this year. Adoke’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome whiles confirming the arrest told Reuters that the warrant used to arrest his client was expired.

Ozekhome said his client was arrested as he went to Dubai for medical appointment, adding that a Nigerian court had nullified the warrant in October because his client was not served with the charges before the warrant was issued.

The EFCC secured warrants in April for two former ministers including Adoke and an Eni manager over the $1.3 billion sale of a Nigerian offshore oilfield by Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011.

The deal has spawned legal cases spanning several countries, involving Nigerian government officials and senior executives from ENI and Royal Dutch Shell. Shell and Eni, and their executives, have denied any wrongdoing.

Source: Reuters

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) said the Federal Government has approved that all Africans could come to Nigeria without Visa from January 2020.

The Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede, disclosed this at the inauguration of the Africa–Frontex Intelligence Community (AFIC) on Wednesday in Abuja.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that European border and Coast guard Agency also known as Frontex is an agency of European Union (EU) tasked with border control of the European Schengen Area, in coordination with border and coast guard of Schengen area member states.

“The announcement would be made soon by the President of the Federation.

”But we cannot succeed without a tool like AFIC. This tool is key if we want to implement an effective free movement across our border.

“The tool is actually coming at the right time. AFIC would help African countries especially Nigeria that want to open its border for all Africans to enter at will. And now that tool is available, it would make the work easier for us,” he said.

Babandede said that it was important to acknowledge the different forces in Nigeria curbing crime and insecurity.

“But our duty is unique and you may not see it as it is in Chad, Benin or Cameroon.

“The essence is that we are very keen and we have been working with EU for a long time. Frontex is in charge of border before they got another responsibility called coast guard which is also very keen to Africa especially checking member state of ECOWAS,” he said.

The CGI commended the EU and Frontex delegates for establishing the risk analysis centre, adding that analysis could not be done physically without analytical system.

“I was opportune to be at the Frontex headquarters, and I came with useful tools which are for border and control centre.

”This has brought about the building of border and control centre which will be inaugurated next year. So the analytical system from Frontex, border control system and even mobility would all be in one place,” he said.

Babandede assured the delegates that the service would maintain the equipments and called for more training of officers.

“We assure you of the site maintenance if we have a technical know how of maintaining this system. We have done that with IOM very well.

”All the equipments donated for e-Migrants registration are already been installed by all our trained officers,” he said.

Roman Fantini, the head of sector, Frontex, assured the immigration service of training the officers as requested to help maintain the system and usage.

Fantini said that AFIC was not a new development as it started nine years ago and had since grown to what it was today.

He commended the EU and NIS for collaborating to ensure the security of the country.

Ms Eleni Zerzelidou, EU head of delegates, appreciated the immigration service for beefing up the collaboration by taking a step further to ensure border opening for all Africans by 2020.

Zerzelidou added that the EU would continually support the service in delivering its mandate and ensuring the safety of the country.

She said that the long standing partnership with NIS resulted into border management such as NIS border management strategy, MIDAS, among others.

“But we believe Frontex would do more to compliment all we have done so far in assisting the service and the county at large,” she said.

Source: PMNEWSNigeria

Early each morning, a crowd gathers outside Ahmad Isah’s radio studio in Nigeria’s capital Abuja hoping to share their problems over the airwaves.

For those waiting — men and women, young and old — Isah’s Brekete (very big in Pidgin English) Family show offers a rare chance try to hold officials to account in a country where rampant graft and abuses of the justice system often frustrate citizens.

The lucky few who Isah picks each day get to make themselves heard on issues ranging from their struggles against the authorities to medical needs and requests for financial assistance.

The others will have to come back another time.

“My goal is to give a voice to the voiceless, facilitate arbitration, expose wrongdoings and force those in power to respect rights,” Isah told AFP.

“The inspiration is about justice, kindness, and support to humanity.”

Nicknamed the “Ordinary President”, Isah begins his live show on Human Rights radio with a call and response in pidgin, the language widely spoken in Nigeria, to get his audience fired up.

Teacher Winifred Og ah has come to try to get some redress after she says a local court wrongly auctioned off her car for failing to pay rent on her house.

“I believe that the justice you get here, you can’t get it outside,” she told AFP.

“I have been listening to the programme and was encouraged by how other people’s problems were being resolved.”

– ‘Usually unheard’ –

Rights groups in Africa’s most populous nation often complain of a culture of impunity, where the wealthy easily skew the system in their favour and officials rarely have to answer for their misdeeds.

“The voices of the masses in Nigeria are usually unheard because they don’t have the financial muscle or connections to be able to project their views especially when in need of justice,” said Daniel Soe tan, from the Goodwill Ambassadors of Nigeria civil society organisation.

He is a regular listener to Isa’s show and lauds it for “helping to project the voices of ordinary people” in a way that makes it difficult for officials to ignore.

“When these issues are projected, it attracts the attention of the authorities to attend to their plights,” Soe tan said.

“It is a forum that allows people to speak because if they are left with authorities alone, there can be bureaucracies and attempts to silence them.”

Human Rights radio has been on air since 2006 and while Isah did not give precise audience figures he insisted it even had listeners outside Nigeria.

In a country where confidence scams are rife, the show has a checklist of requirements people must go through before they can bring their cases for resolution.

They first need to depose to an affidavit at the High Court in Nigeria in which they swear they are telling the truth.

– ‘Nothing is working’ –

It is not easy taking on the powerful interests deeply entrenched at every level of Nigeria’s federal, regional and local governments.

But Isah insists the radio show’s combative style has had concrete results bringing officials to book.

“Some of them see us as a threat. They don’t like us. We have exposed several corruption cases that other people are afraid to go close to,” he said.

“There is injustice everywhere, government is not accountable, and there is no justice for the poor, bad roads, terrible hospitals. Nothing is working in this country.”

Over 44 percent of Nigeria’s roughly 190 million people are estimated to live in extreme poverty and that fraction is expected to grow as the population expands.

The show also looks to give financial assistance to those in need with support from the MacArthur Foundation and it own fund-raising.

One of the beneficiaries Luis Kinta said the radio had raised two million naira ($5,600, 5000 euros) to boost his shoemaking business.

“I came here without knowing anyone. The good thing is that ordinary president assists without knowing the tribe, religious and affinity of those he supports,” he said.

But the major focus for Isah remains on trying get redress for those wronged by Nigeria’s abusive officials — and the flow of hopefuls bringing cases to him shows no sign of slowing.

“The justice system is only for the rich, not for the poor, So this is why we need this kind of journalism in this country,” he said.

“I will never give up.”

Source: AFP

Global ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc on Friday launched a pilot test of a boat service in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos to attract commuters seeking to avoid the megacity’s notoriously congested roads.

The United Nations predicts that Nigeria’s population will more than double to 400 million by 2050, which would make it the third most populous country in the world after China and India.

The combination of population growth and congestion has made Nigeria, and more broadly West Africa, attractive to foreign transport companies.

Uber’s chief business officer told Reuters in June the company planned to launch the service to carry travelers in the Lagos megacity of around 20 million people that is built on a lagoon.

The waterway service, UberBOAT, is operated in partnership with local boat operator Texas Connection Ferries and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), said the ride-hailing firm.

“This initiative is aimed at providing commuters with an easy and affordable way to get in and out of the city’s business districts,” Uber said in a statement.

The pilot phase will operate on weekdays from 0700 GMT to 1600 GMT on a fixed route between two locations in the city.

Water safety

Passengers will be charged a flat fare of 500 naira ($1.39) per trip, compared with about 300 naira by minibus for a similar journey in the commercial hub of the West African country where most people live on less than $2 a day.

At a press conference on Friday, Uber officials said there would be four trips a day, carrying up to 35 people on a boat, during the two-week pilot.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos state, said the Uber boat service, and the use of waterways in general, were part of a raft of initiatives aimed at easing congestion that include a program of road repairs.

“We want ferries that carry 60 to 80 people,” he said, referring to his hopes for the future use of waterways, on Thursday at a forum with businesses.

Uber’s boat initiative follows a number of motorcycle ride-hailing firms that have targeted West Africa as an area for expansion in the last few months.

Technology giant Google also launched a new feature in July that allows Nigerians to hear travel advice in a local voice on Google Maps. Another feature allows users in Lagos to seek directions from “informal transit” services, such as private minibuses.

Source: Africa News

Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari on Saturday dismissed rumours circulating online that her husband plans to take on a second wife, cautioning against the rise of fake news in the country.

Aisha, who had been on holiday in the United Kingdom for two months, returned to the country, at a time when a video was circulating on social media, purportedly showing that she had been denied access to the presidential residence.

While she confirmed the authenticity of the video, which showed her complaining about huge deployments of security, and asking unidentified people to leave the palace, she clarified that it was an old video.

Aisha dismissed rumours that president Muhammadu Buhari intended to marry fellow politician Sadiya Farouq, who was recently appointed Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.

Her spokesperson later issued a statement saying the First Lady was happy to be aback in the country after a ‘deserved rest’.

‘‘She confirmed that she was fully rejuvenated to continue the work of improving the health and well-being of women, children and other vulnerable Nigerians,’‘ Suleiman Haruna said.

Ruling party officials also added to Buhari’s voice, warning against the negative impact of fake news.

‘‘I wholeheartedly welcome our dear First Lady back to the country. Her elegant return has put full stop to fake news which dominated our public domain,’‘ a publicity secretary of the APC Kate Ofor told local journalists.

‘‘I think we have to not only find legitimate means to curb fake news, but also come to terms that social media have no gatekeeper. Therefore, we must cultivate the culture of sieving the genuine from fake news.’‘

Buhari herself had cautioned that the courge of Fake News ‘could lead us to something unimaginable’.

The president himself has repeatedly warned against the rise of fake news and hate speech in Nigerian discourse.

Source: Africa News

The announcement was made during a press conference by female supporters of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, who accused soldiers of the Nigerian army of abducting twenty-three girls in December 2015 during the massacre in the northern Nigerian town of Zaria.

The ladies demanded for the release of the girls and asked all people of conscience and civil society organizations to make the issue of the twenty-three Muslim girls an important national and international agenda in order for the truth to prevail.

The ladies also said that seven hundred and five people are still unaccounted for following the 2015 Zaria Massacre, and their families are still waiting for answers regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones.

Hundreds of Zakzaky supporters are reported to have been killed and buried in mass graves outside the northern Nigerian city of Zaria. The whereabouts of several others remains unknown.

Zakzaky supporters have a list with the names of the twenty-three girls abducted and believed to be held by security forces.

Both the army and the police did not respond to Press TV’s request for an interview on this matter.

Zakzaky supporters also want to know when the Nigerian government is going to start the process of prosecuting the people responsible for the 2015 Zaria Massacre.

They accuse security forces of continuing with the persecution of Zakzaky supporters judging by the attacks on their religious processions.

Source: Presstv

At least 16 people, including 11 soldiers, have been killed in jihadist attacks in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, military and militia sources said Saturday.

Rival factions of Boko Haram launched the attacks on military and civilian targets between Thursday and Saturday, they said.

On Thursday, fighters from the IS-aligned Islamic State West Africa Province ambushed a military convoy near Mauro village in Benisheikh district, a military source told AFP.

“Our men on patrol fell into a terrorist ambush… which claimed 11 soldiers and wounded 16 others. Two other soldiers are still missing,”  said the officer, who asked not to be identified.

He said the troops were travelling in three vehicles.

“The terrorists made away with 11 AK-47 rifles and anti-aircraft gun mounted on the gun truck,” he said.

In another attack the same day, Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on a vehicle at Frigi village, killing one person and injuring another, militia sources said.

Jihadist fighters also killed two militiamen in Gubio, 80 kilometres from the state capital Maiduguri.

On Saturday, Boko Haram militants stormed a camp for those displaced by the conflict in the town of Banki near the border with Cameroon, killing two residents and injuring three vigilantes guarding the area, two militia sources said.Shop Related Products

The decade-long Boko Haram campaign has killed 35,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in northeast Nigeria. 

The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.

Rival factions of Boko Haram launched the attacks on military and civilian targets.

Source: Wion

The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has killed more than a dozen Nigerian people, including military forces and an aid worker, in the country’s volatile northeastern region.

The terrorists killed 14 Nigerian soldiers in attacks in the northeast state of Borno on Wednesday.

The fatalities took place when the Takfiris ambushed soldiers in the state following heavy clashes, according to a Nigerian military source speaking to Reuters.

Also on Wednesday, members of the terrorist group executed one of the six aid workers of the charity group Action against Hunger whom they had kidnapped in northeast Nigeria.

“The armed group holding captive an employee of Action against Hunger, two drivers, and three health ministry personnel, have executed a hostage,” the Paris-based organization said in a statement.

The aid workers were abducted in the restive northeastern city of Maiduguri in July.

The Nigerian army has closed the offices of the humanitarian group Action against Hunger n Maiduguri with no explanation, as tensions simmer with aid organizations in the region.

The Boko Haram terrorist group and its ISWAP splinter group — which is also affiliated with Daesh — have intensified attacks on civilian and military targets in recent months, despite the Nigerian government’s insistence that the terrorists have been defeated.

Around 27,000 people have been killed in the decade-long terrorism in Nigeria, which has spilled over into neighboring Chad, Niger, and Cameroon and has forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

The said countries have created a joint military force to stop the terrorists from further spreading their activities, but sustained efforts to eradicate the militants have failed and the military continues to suffer heavy losses.

Source: Presstv