Corruption: Probe military, banks, others, Filani tells Buhari

Former national vice president (South West) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Ishola Filani has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to extend his anti-corruption crusade beyond former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and probe past military regimes.<!--more-->



Filani, who was former chairman of Wema Bank Plc, also urged Buhari to take his anti-graft war to the civil service and the private sector, especially commercial banks.
“He (Buhari) should not continue to give the impression that only politicians are corrupt. Why should he be limiting the anti-corruption war to  one civilian regime? Why can’t he probe those military officers who were involved in corruption during military regimes?

“Are they telling us that those military officers, who ruled Nigeria for over 27 years, were saints? If they were saints, we would want to learn how they were able to do it without engaging in any form of corruption.
“If we are not assuming that they are saints, then, this corruption probe should be extended to them,” he said, in reaction to the Presidency’s allocation of N31.1 billion to fight corruption this year.
The PDP chieftain noted that there was no way anybody in government could steal public  money without connivance of people in the private sector.

“And, the private sector are made up of the multinational companies, private companies, including banks.
“If you want to fight corruption, the evil being perpetrated outside Nigeria are even more than what is going on within us here.

“More than 70 percent of the money these people stole are through multinational companies, the private sector and so on. And, these monies are lodged abroad,” he added.
Filani, a lawyer and former national publicity secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), said if the federal government wants to fight corruption, it has to touch all those areas.
Assessing the war critically, he asked rhetorically, “how many banks have been closed? How many bank chiefs have been jailed?

“How many military military officers have been probed and punished?”
According to him, if the war on corruption will succeed, “the Buhari-led administration must change its method of executing the war, because the current method of being selective would fail.
Filani said the idea of arresting somebody who stole billions of naira, releasing him on bail after paying some money will only increase corruption in the nearest future.

Such method, he pointed out, would make people steal more money with the belief that once they are caught, they would spend part of it on litigation and part on plea-bargaining and get away with the rest.

Man Hides £3.8m Worth Of Cocaine In Foot Wears

A 34-year-old motorcycle parts dealer has been arrested by anti-narcotics agents with 9.150kg of cocaine, which were concealed in the soles of foot wears being imported into the country.


The arrest of the Enugu State-born suspect, identified as Okolo Emenike, was made, weekend, during the inward screening of passengers on a Turkish airline flight from Brazil, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Commander at the Abuja Airport, Hamisu Lawan, explained that the discovery of the drugs, with an estimated value of 3.8 million pounds, which is close to half a billion Naira, was the last arrest made in year 2016.

His story 

During interrogation, Emenike, a father of one, disclosed that he was offered N1 million to smuggle the drugs into Nigeria. He explained that he was forced to leave the shores of Nigeria for Brazil in search of greener pastures, when his business was experiencing a down turn, owing to recession. 

However, on reaching Brazil, Emenike said, “things became worse for me as I could not get a job. I had no money to sustain myself while my work permit was being processed. “I was equally confronted with the fear of deportation. This made me desperate for quick wealth. 

In the process, I met my childhood friend, who offered me N1million to traffic cocaine to Nigeria. “He also paid for my ticket and gave me three bags of shoes containing the cocaine. But on arrival at the Abuja airport, the cocaine was detected and I was arrested.

 I had wanted to invest money offered to me in my business that failed due to recession.” 

 Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (retd.) who commended his men for the arrest, stated that the huge profit derived from drug trafficking had made it a top priority for drug cartels to be financially incapacitated. 

From Vanguard

Omawumi unleashes new single “Butterflies”

We love it when new music comes out at the very beginning of the year! The confidence and boldness of the artiste shines through and that’s certainly the case here as Omawumi has just released her new single “Butterflies“.
The release of the ballad is instantly accompanied with the video directed by Chris Hernandez for Bobby Boulders Films.

Breaking: A/Court sacks Jimoh Ibrahim, reinstates Jegede as Ondo PDP candidate

Appeal Court says Justice Abang’s judgment was ‘violent attitudinal disposition to rule of law’. It Sacked Jimoh and reinstated Jegede as the true candidate of PDP in Ondo for Saturday’s governorship election. Justice Saulawa, while giving his verdict, said that Jegede’s appeal was ‘most meritorious and accordingly allowed.’

The court also said that all seven issues are in favour of Jegede. Justice Saulawa however said that he can only set asside Justice Abang’s judgement and can order no more.

How I’ll stop Niger Delta militancy –Danjuma

From Jacob Edi, Abuja

Coordinator of Niger Delta Riverine Protection Program, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd) yesterday read the riot act to militants who bomb oil pipelines. The special presidential committee which was named last week, is expected to recover illegal weapons and curtail the spate of bombings and other crimes in the region.
Daily Sun spoke to Gen. Danjuma after the committee’s inauguration.
He said: “Yes, I know the job will be tough, but I am experienced and I understand the terrain so, I know I will make the President proud.”
Danjuma also said he will hold series of sensitisation across Niger Delta to engage the youths and warn them on the dangers of their action especially as it affects the nation.
“I have accepted this responsibility with every sense of humility, responsibility and patriotism. I am conscious of the fact that we cannot achieve the purpose for which this program is created without the active support of the stakeholders in the region and beyond.
When asked about his job description, Gen. Danjuma said:  “What I am supposed to do as the name implies is to stop the spate of bombings in Niger Delta, recover arms and sensitise the people particularly the youths on why they should not go into destroying their own land.
“The danger is that at the end of the day our people suffer more when these bombings occur. Our people are suffering. The answer to the problem is not bombing, but to engage the government and make sure our people benefit from the laudable programs that are being put in place for our people. Whose land is suffering? Who are the end losers? So, the new narrative is let our boys lay their arms and let government take care of the people as it should be. Confronting the government will not help our case,” he said.
On his plan of action, General Danjuma said: “In the next few days we shall be meeting with critical stakeholders in the region to unveil our detailed program of action. We are also organizing Town Hall meetings with all these critical stakeholders across all the states of the South-South region on the dangers of bombings and for them to also tell us their problems. We will tell them what the Federal Government has in store for them. Some of the South-South governors have been contacted and the response was very positive. Don’t forget that the committee will also be working with the Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs in liaison with the office of the National Security Adviser,” he said.

4 hospitalised as fire razes female hostel at Yabatech

An early morning fire on Wednesday razed the Bakassi Hall, one of the female hostels at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.

Witnesses told Daily Sun that the  fire which started at 5:10am razed the hostel top floor before extending to other parts of the building.
Spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Firefighters from the college fire service unit arrived 30 minutes after the inferno started but ran out of water midway. The students later mobilized and tried desperately to put out the fire.
Fire fighters from University of Lagos and the Lagos Fire Service arrived at 6:00am and joined the rescue efforts but the fire raged on.
A female student simply known as Onome sustained a neck injury and has been taken to a military hospital close to the college for treatment.
The fire was finally put at about 7:30am and normalcy has returned to the school.
Meanwhile, all academic activities in YABATECH have been suspended indefinitely following Wednesday’s fire outbreak in the college.
Meanwhile the management of the School said it has suspended all academic activities until further notice as result of the fire incident at the Bakassi Hostel.
A statement from the School’s spokesman, Charles Oni said “by this notice, all examinations and lectures, especially scheduled for today have been put on hold while the College attends to the exigency.
“The Management regrets the misguided and outright falsehood on the social media and calls to certain radio stations that there was no water on campus to quell the fire. The truth is that firemen needed an excavator to attend to the fire, which the College provided promptly.
“Meanwhile, the Rector, Dr. Margaret Ladipo has called on the College community to remain calm as the Management finds ways to soothe the pains inflicted by the accident.”