Author: Chief Editor

The Senior Special Assistant to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, has said that his principal has become a target of people who have political objectives in 2023, coupled with the position he holds as the deputy to President Muhammadu Buhari. He said his boss was not thinking about any 2023 ambition but remained focus on supporting Buhari in delivering the goals of his government. Akande spoke on Monday night during an Instagram Live Chat with Dele Momodu of Ovation Magazine. He said the vice president would not be distracted by ‘false’ reports and ‘lies’…

•Panel grills top anti-graft officials again as Magu’s interrogation enters seventh day As part of ongoing investigation into the activities of suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, the federal government has directed intelligence agencies to mount surveillance on the headquarters of the anti-graft agency and its offices nationwide. THISDAY also gathered that senior investigators of the agency close to Magu, known as “Magu Boys,” are being treated as “persons of interest,” whose movements have been restricted. Some of the affected operatives are said to have appeared before the panel while others await…

•Judgment reserved as briefcase company cites desperation After a two – day virtual court hearing, a judge of the High Court of the United Kingdom, Sir Ross Cranston, has reserved judgement telling lawyers that he would take time to study their submissions and give a ruling at a later date on the request by the Nigerian government to set aside the enforcement of a $9.6 billion arbitration awarded against it in favour of Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) Limited, a briefcase company registered in British Virgin Island. However, the material question at the end of it all, according to analysts,…

The Senate on Tuesday passed the Criminal Code Amendment Act Bill, which increased the jail term prescribed for kidnappers from 10 years to life imprisonment. This was sequel to the adoption of a report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on a Bill for an Act to amend the criminal code Act Cap.C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 to among others increase punishment for the offence of kidnapping presented by the committee Chairman, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. The bill provided for a life sentence for persons found guilty of kidnapping as against the provisions…

Suspected Nigerian fraudster Ramon Abbas a.k.a Hushpuppi has failed to win bail in the US after his lawyer, Gal Pissetzky, claimed his job as an lnstagram celebrity paid for the $10,000 monthly rent on his luxury Dubai flat. According to reports Tuesday, Pissetzky had applied for Hushpuppi to leave jail with an electronic tag and live with the uncle of a woman with whom he has a child with (name undisclosed), but US prosecutors opposed the bail application. The prosecutors said he could commit crimes with just a smartphone and an internet connection, and that he posed too much of…

Tayo Oke The suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, was unceremoniously “invited” or “detained” or worse, “arrested” by another (higher) government security agency last week, on various allegations of financial crime, the main one of which is “diversion of stolen assets”. He is still under interrogation as you read. Remember, this column had taken the EFCC to task on its handling of recovered assets the previous week: (See, “EFCC’s persistent failure at criminal asset forfeiture”, The PUNCH, June 16, 2020). And, on June 18, 2020, barely two days later, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice,…

Obadiah Mailafia Corruption is the Original Sin. The political philosopher, Isaiah Berlin, described it as part of “the crooked timber of humanity”. It belongs to the class of “wicked problems”. A wicked problem, according to policy scientists, is a social problem that appears in the manner of an insoluble puzzle; in which the best solutions tend to produce, at best, perverse outcomes. It is the opposite of hard but ordinary problems that are amenable to straightforward, linear solutions. Nigeria’s anti-corruption war is a quintessentially wicked problem. Corruption is deeply ingrained in our collective psyche. No sector is spared. In such…

Eze Onyekpere The recent arrest, detention, suspension and investigation of Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by a presidential panel is a good indicator of the state of our anti-corruption struggle. The Ibrahim Magu story, starting from his appointment by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and screening by the Eighth Senate and his continued stay in office in acting capacity for five years, provides an ample canvass for drawing lessons, opportunities for changes in law, policy and practice as well as suppressing the mischief in the anti-corruption struggle while advancing key remedies.…

After UEFA’s attempt to ban Manchester City from European football was overturned by sport’s highest court on Monday, the continental governing body’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) system, under which they were charged, faces likely changes. FFP regulations aim to stop clubs running big losses through spending on players but, after 11 years, UEFA was already examining possible changes before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) backed City’s appeal against a two-year ban. UEFA accused City of “serious breaches” of its FFP rules in information submitted to the governing body between 2012 and 2016 and banned the club from European…

Chelsea Manager, Frank Lampard insists the decision to overturn Manchester City’s two-year Champions League ban will not affect his Chelsea players in their final three games of the Premier League season. The Blues are currently third in the table but face a hard-fought battle with the likes of Manchester United, Leicester and Wolves for the final top-four place. If City’s ban had been upheld, fifth place would have been good enough for Europe’s premier competition next season, but now Chelsea need fourth. Despite that, Lampard insists the situation is in his players’ hands and they are not affected by the…