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16 States Carpet EFCC Amid Lingering N776bn Fraud Cases

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Facts have emerged on why no fewer than 16 state governments may have instituted a suit at the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the laws that established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.

The suit, marked SC/CV/178/2023, was originally filed by the Kogi State Government through its Attorney General, Muiz Abdullahi SAN. However, 15 other states joined as co-plaintiffs on Tuesday.

The states are Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Nassarawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Enugu, Benue, Anambra, Plateau, Cross River, and Niger.

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The states contended that the formation of the agencies breached constitutional provisions. They argued that the constitution required the endorsement of a majority of the states’ Houses of Assembly for the EFCC Act, but this was not done before the agency was created.

After the arguments, a seven-member panel of apex court justices, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, fixed October 22 for hearing and granted leave for consolidation of the case on Tuesday.

However, it was learnt that the suit may not be unconnected with the protracted legal battle between a former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and the anti-graft agency over allegations of financial misappropriation to the tune of N110bn. The EFCC also recently reopened N772bn money laundering cases against 13 other former governors and ministers.

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The EFCC in January 2024 reopened the cases, including that of the diverted $2.2bn that involved two former Ekiti State governors, Kayode Fayemi and Ayo Fayose; former Zamfara State Governor and current Minister, Bello Matawalle; two former Enugu State governors, Chimaroke Nnamani and Sullivan Chime; former Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamu; and former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

Others are former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili; former Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji; former Gombe State Governor, Danjuma Goje; former Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamako; former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva; and former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido.

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Speaking, the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, said the legal actions against the commission were indicative of its effectiveness in fighting corruption.

He said, “As a matter of fact, the actions are coming based on what the commission is doing. If we were not doing our work and generating the necessary action against corrupt practices, the kind of concerted hostility the commission is experiencing would not arise. I think this is an appraisal of the work the commission is doing and its effectiveness.

“Whatever they are doing, there is no way it can stand. Yes, the matter is before the court, and the court is the only institution to adjudicate on the matter.”

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But in response to enquiries made by The PUNCH, some of the states offered conflicting reasons for their involvement in the suit.

The Oyo State Commissioner of Information, Dotun Oyelade, told The PUNCH that the suit “was in line with what the state government had always imbibed in its legal system.”

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He said, “With respect to what might be the statutes of the EFCC, if legal lacunae are observed, it is not going to be business as usual, nor will it be a factor of which political party you belong to.”

But the Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the Ogun State Governor, Mr Kayode Akinmade, said, “It is not true that we filed a suit to challenge the constitutionality of the EFCC. What we filed was a suit to challenge the constitutionality of some policies of the NFIU restricting the access of state governments to their money by for example limiting how much they withdraw in cash. We did not even join Kogi’s suit. We filed our own.”

The Cross River State Commissioner for Information, Erasmus Ekpang, also told The PUNCH that the state was not involved in the case despite being on the list.

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He said, “What Cross River State joined was the previous suit instituted by the Kogi State Government against the National Financial Intelligence Unit, and it was done under the previous administration of Ben Ayade.”

According to him, the case was to challenge and determine whether the NFIU has the legal standing to investigate how local government funds are appropriated in a state.

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The Plateau State Government also denied being involved in the suit, stating it had never called for the scrapping of the EFCC.

The state Commissioner for Information, Musa Ashoms, said, “We have not taken a position on the cancellation of the EFCC as a state. It is a creation of law, and we believe the law should be allowed to take its course on any matter in the country.”

The Nasarawa State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Labaran Magaji, declined comment on the matter.

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Similarly, the Katsina State Commissioner of Information, Bala Salisu, told our correspondent that he wasn’t aware of the case.

He promised to get back to our correspondent when briefed. But as of the time of filing this report on Friday, he had yet to respond to inquiry.

Efforts to get a reaction from the Benue State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Fidelis Mynin, were unsuccessful as his phone rang out. Also, he did not respond to the text message sent to his cellphone as of the time of press.

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When The PUNCH reached out to the Sokoto State Commissioner for Information, Sambo Danchadi, he did not answer calls or respond to text messages sent to him.

When contacted, the Edo State Commissioner of Communications, Chris Nehikhare, referred The PUNCH to the state Attorney General, Oluwole Osaze Uzzi. But the AG did not pick up calls made to his lines and did not respond to messages sent to him on WhatsApp.
PUNCH

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UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

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A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

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Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

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“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

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These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

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“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

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They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

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Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

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Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

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A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

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Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

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United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

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We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

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The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

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The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

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According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

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Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

READ ALSO:Judge Throws Out Trump’s $15bn ‘Rage’ Lawsuit Against New York Times

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

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“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.

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