News
Court Dismisses FG’s Suit To Recover N70trn Loot Stashed In 29 Accounts
Published
2 years agoon
By
Editor
The Federal High High Court sitting in Lagos has struck out the Federal Government’s suit seeking to recover and forfeit the sum of N70trillion it alleged was stashed in 29 bank accounts by some looters.
Justice Peter Lifu held that the Federal Government’s lawyers and the private lawyers which it subsequently gave a fiat, did not diligently prosecute the case.
The judge expressed shock that the Plaintiff Counsel, Mohammed Ndarani, SAN, and subsequently Femi Falana SAN “suddenly developed cold feet over this alleged public interest case”.
The Federal Government of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation/ Minister of Justice are the Plaintiffs/Applicants in the suit.
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The 19 Defendants/Respondents, are Zenith Bank Plc, Polaris Bank Plc, Citi Bank Ltd, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Standard Chartered Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Union Bank Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Plc, Heritage Bank Plc, First Bank Plc, United Bank For Africa Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Eco Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The government filed the suit through an ex-parte motion of August 5, 2021 before Justice Tijani Ringim during the court’s annual vacation.
Justice Ringim upheld the applicants’ motion and made an interim order freezing the accounts on August 6, 2021.
Upon resumption from annual recess, the case was re-assigned to Justice Lifu on September 22, 2021.
The new judge began hearing the matter on November 24, 2021, and on May 27, 2022, vacated the Ex-parte Order following the Plaintiffs/Applicants’ failure to comply with the Ex-parte Order after over nine months.
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Delivering judgment on the substantive suit, the judge criticised the Federal Government for not diligently prosecuting the suit.
Justice Lifu held that since the vacation of the interim order “It has been back and forth, with various excuses, applications for adjournment at the instance of the Plaintiffs/Applicants counsel, Mohammed Ndarani Esq. SAN.
“From all indications, the instant case has clearly lost its stance as the Plaintiffs/Applicants seem not to be interested in the matter any longer having failed consistently to be present in court since 9th December 2021.
“The Chambers of Femi Falana SAN that just filed Notice of Change of Counsel on the last adjourned date has suddenly withdrawn appearance today.
“Going through the Originating Process filed by Mohammed Ndarani Esq. SAN, which is no longer extant as the Ex-parte Order was set aside on 27th May 2022, there is nothing left again for this Court to adjudicate upon.
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“It is amazing that the Plaintiffs/Applicants Counsel from Ndarani SAN to Falana SAN have suddenly developed cold feet over this alleged public interest case which has generated so much public interest on the issue of an alleged N70trillion hidden in some accounts, allegedly belonging to some public officers.
“In the circumstances of this case therefore the application of the Learned Counsel for NNPC, M. T. Danzaki Esq.,and Access Bank Plc, I. S. Etefia Esq., succeeds.
“This case is hereby struck out for want of diligent prosecution and I make no order as to cost.”
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News
Bumper Harvest: Foundation Distributes 6,000 Fertilizers To Farmers In Bauchi
Published
14 hours agoon
August 14, 2025By
Editor
A group, Wunti Al-Khair Foundation has donated 6,000 50kg bags of fertilizer to farmers in Bauchi state in order to have a bumper harvest.
Speaking during the flag off ceremony of the distribution of the fertilizers on Thursday, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Wunti Al-Khair Foundation, said the distribution was only for the indigent farmers in the state.
He said the fertilizers would be distributed to farmers in underserved communities across the three Senatorial Districts of the state.
“We are gathered here to flag off the free distribution of fertilizers to farmers, especially the indigent farmers that don’t have the means to buy fertilizer for their farms.
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“That is the reason why the founder of this foundation bought the fertilizers and distributed them to the low income farmers in the state.
“We have gone round the nooks and crannies of the state to identify the underserved communities and those that deserve this particular gesture.
“We planned to distribute about 6,000 bags of fertilizer and due to the populous nature of the Bauchi LGA, they have the largest share but some other local governments too have hundreds of beneficiaries which we divided into Senatorial zones,” he said.
According to him, today was the flagging off of the Bauchi South Senatorial District, adding that the extension of the gesture would commence in Bauchi North and Bauchi Central Senatorial Districts tomorrow.
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Mohammed explained that the only criteria used in selecting the beneficiaries were underserved communities and low income farmers, adding that “we know that a large number of the farmers in Bauchi state are low income farmers.
“Those are the people that we identified, verified and they are our beneficiaries and we have warned the general public about the activities of some unscrupulous elements that go round to impersonate our foundation.
“Wunti Al-Khair Foundation is not charging a kobo for every part of its activities, be it education, healthcare, economic empowerment and community development”.
Responding, one of the beneficiaries, Emmanuel Samson, described the support as a timely intervention that would greatly enhance his farming activities and appreciated the foundation for the intervention.
Another beneficiary, Salisu Maidawa, who was short of words for the gesture, said the gesture came at a time when he was in dire need of it.

Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Western Zone, has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately sack Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for allegedly not “keeping up to the fundamental mandate,” upon which the agency was established.
This was contained in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Nicholas Igarama, Comrade Ebi Joshua Olowolayemo, and Comrade Tare Magbei, Western Zone
Chairman, Secretary, and Information Officer respectively, and made available to newsmen in Warri on Thursday, August 14, 2015.
According to the IYC, the call for Ogbe’s sack becomes necessary following his incompetence and ethnic bias, adding that Ogbe has turned the agency meant for the whole Niger Delta to his Itsekiri ethnic group alone.
The IYC, while noting that efforts to meet the NCDMB Executive Secretary to discuss critical issues as they affect the region and its people have proved abortive, said it can no longer fold it arms and watch while things go from bad to worse.
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“As Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Ogbe has consistently failed to input his supposed industry track record in the advancement of the mandate upon which the agency was founded.
“He has continually had a sectional engagement with his fellow Itsekiri Kits and Kin, thereby shutting all other ethnic nationalites in the Niger Delta region out.
“Repeatedly, he avoided critical youth engagement in the region while sponsoring that of his Itsekiri ethnicity through different human capacity development initiatives, while other ethnic nationalites are left unattended.
“As Ijaw, mostly from the western flank where Engr. Ogbe also hails from, we will not sit and watch others benefit from the resources that we produce without our practical involvement to better the lives of our people as well.
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“It is on record that the leadership of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Western Zone has tried to establish communication with Engr. Ogbe, for the last ten months, but every medium of communication to get his attention has fundamentally proven to be abortive.
“As youths, we can no longer have leaders in office who have now equated themselves to demi-god and have refused to attend to most significantly youthful issues in the Niger Delta Region.
“To this end, we therefore call on President Bola Ahmed Tinibu to immediately sack Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, who has consistently displayed disregard for critical actors in the Niger Delta and has also exhibited the highest level of gross inefficiency by not keeping up to the fundamental mandate upon which NCDMB was founded,” the statement reads.
The IYC also called for the probe Ogbe as Executive Secretary after his sack.
Efforts to reach Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, NCDMB, for reaction proved abortive.
News
I’m Being Impersonated – Goodluck Jonathan Disowns Social Media Account
Published
17 hours agoon
August 14, 2025By
Editor
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday said he is being impersonated by fraudsters.
Jonathan alleged that a fraudulent Instagram handle has been impersonating him.
In a statement by his Media Aide,
Ikechukwu Eze, the former President insisted that he does not operate any Instagram handle.
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The statement is titled ‘Beware of fake Instagram account impersonating H.E. Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’.
“Our attention has been drawn to a fraudulent Instagram account operating under the handle goodluck_ebelejonathan, which is falsely impersonating former President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
“This impostor account has been deceitfully posting content, some copied from Dr. Jonathan’s Facebook page, while pretending to represent the former President.
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“We wish to emphasise that Dr. Jonathan does not operate any Instagram account.
“The media and members of the public are strongly advised to disregard, avoid sharing, or promoting any content originating from this fake profile,” the statement read.
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