20022021 - INSECURITY Give us state police now - Govs

SATURDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 20, 2021 — 7
2023 intrigues as top govt men fight over control of EFCC
By Emmanuel
Aziken
MUTTERING over the
nomination of Abdulrasheed
Bawa as the next chairman
of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission,
EFCC was overflowing into a
melody in the political and judicial
arena at the weekend.
Allegations of illegality in the
appointment of Bawa were being
met with counter plots by
his supporters as political actors
in different camps of the Muhammadu
Buhari regime fight to
take hold of the EFCC ahead of
their 2023 plots.
Central to the allegations
against Bawa are that his nomination
violates the EFCC Act,
allegations of a filial relationship
to a senior operative of the Buhari
administration and claims of
unsettled allegations of misdeeds
against the nominee in his past
positions.
Besides the flurry of allegations
in the media space, the
Centre for Anti-Corruption and
Open Leadership (CACOL), an
aggregate of human rights, community
based, and civil society
organizations and individuals has
also petitioned the Senate on the
appointment. The body asserted
that the Senate would be violating
the EFCC Act as enacted
by it by confirming the nominee.
Besides CACOL whose petition
to Senate President Ahmad
Lawan, dated February 18, 2021,
a Lagos based lawyer, Osuagwu
Ugochukwu has also gone to
court to stop the Senate from
proceeding with the confirmation.
However, having gotten note
of the plots against Bawa, his
supporters in a wing of the Buhari
camp have set up machinery
to deflate their moves. Saturday
Vanguard has learnt of
fresh moves to overcome the
seeming statutory challenge
against Bawa’s confirmation
with a hurried promotion before
the Senate confirmation hearing.
Central to the opposition as
articulated in the EFCC Act is
the point in Section 2a (ii) of the
EFCC Establishment Act which
stipulates that a nominee for the
position of chairman of the
EFCC should be a serving or a
retired Assistant Commissioner
of Police or its equivalent.
As the CACOL petition to the
Senate alleged:
According to EFCC Establishment
Act, Section 2a (ii) the
Chairman to be appointed
should: “Be a serving or retired
member of any security or law
enforcement agency not below
the rank of Assistant Commissioner
of Police or equivalent.”
Such equivalence in the EFCC is
Grade Level 15, while Bawa is
on Grade Level 13.
However, as a way of overcoming
that statutory impediment,
Saturday Vanguard has
learnt of moves to expedite Bawa’s
promotion ahead of the
Senate confirmation hearings.
However, those challenging
the nomination are asserting that
the necessary institutions to effect
the promotion are not available.
“What we understand is that
Bawa was disciplined by the
former chairman, Magu and the
Secretary Olanipekun
Olukoyede, who sanctioned him
over the alleged deeds in Port
Harcourt. Since Magu has been
removed, and secretary has also
been removed, the acting chairman
cannot on his own promote
him,” one source privy to
the development asked.
The challenges to Bawa’s hurried
promotion Saturday Vanguard
gathered lie in the fact that
the EFCC does not have a board
making any such promotion practically
ineffectual.
“The acting chairman does not
have the powers to promote
someone else to become his
boss,” so you see the appointment
is wrong in every material
particular.”
“Even if you remove the issues
of the allegations of the missing
tankers which an investigation
was set up for, how do you
address the issue that he is a level
13 officer, and the law says
that only a Level 15 officer or
above can hold the position,”
that is the fact before us.
In its petition to the Senate
signed by its chairman, Debo
Adeniran, CACOL said:
A.The EFCC Law is an Act of
National Assembly hence Senate
must not over rule itself by
breaching a critical provision in
the appointment of EFCC
Chairman.
B. Since Mr. Ibrahim Magu
was suspended and not sacked,
we expect the Presidency to
come out with a white paper on
Justice Ayo Salami’s panel set
up in July 2020 to investigate
various allegations of wrong-doing
against Ibrahim Magu. The
panel had since submitted its report
to the President on November
20, 2020. Till date, we are
still expecting a white paper on
the recommendations of the panel.
We would also want to know
the fate of Ibrahim Magu.
C. From inception of EFCC,
the story of the termination of
the appointment of virtually all
the former heads of the agency
seem to be the same. It looks
like the position is fast becoming
a “use and dump” position
wherein the end of the tenure has
been determined from the beginning.
It is gratifying that President
Muhammadu Buhari, at various
fora, having recognized the need
to tackle corruption head-on,
one would have expected him to
appoint a person of impeccable
character to head the anti-corruption
agency.
It is against this background
that CACOL is appealing to the
Senate to please take the pains
to dig deep into Mr. Abdulrasheed
Bawa’s record of overall
performance as well as that of
corruption allegation leveled
against him.
Meanwhile, Ugochukwu in his
own motion before the Federal
High Court, Abuja is asking the
Court to stop the Senate from
considering Bawa’s nomination
upon the claim that the nominee
as a grade 13 officer cannot be
confirmed for a position meant
for those on grade level 15.
Man stabs neighbour to death for abusing his wife
By Dayo Johnson,
Akure
DETECTIVES in Ondo
State police command
have arrested a man identified
as Naso for reportedly stabbing
his neighbour in his sleep
to death for abusing his wife.
Sources said that the suspect
entered the room of the deceased
identified as Seyi and
stabbed him to death with
knife, while he was asleep.
Vanguard gathered that the
incident occurred at Messiah
High School street in Akure,
the state capital.
The suspect who is being
quizzed by the homicide detectives
hails from the South
East while the deceased was a
native of Iju-Itaogbolu in
Akure North council area of the
state. Trouble started when the
deceased reportedly accused
the suspect of abusing his wife
in his presence.
The accusation according to
a source did not go down well
with suspect following which
they engaged themselves in a
shouting match while efforts
by neighbours to broker peace
were ignored by them.
Vanguard gathered that the
suspect still not pleased went
into his room and when it was
midnight tip toed to the deceased
room where he stabbed
him to death. The deceased,
according to the Police, bled
to death before help came from
his neighbours.
Naso was subsequently arrested
and whisked to the police
station and subsequently
transferred to the State Criminal
Investigation and Intelligence
Department (SCIID) for
discreet investigation.
The police image maker Tee
Leo lkoro could not be reached
for comment but officers in the
state police command confirmed
the incident to newsroom.
The officer advised
youths to learn how to settle
their differences instead of taking
laws into their hands.
He said that nobody has the
right to take another man’s life
under whatever circumstance.
Wike vows to resist fresh withdrawal
from excess crude account
By Egufe Yafugborhi
GOVERNOR Nyesom
Wike has vowed to resist
fresh withdrawal from the nation’s
Excess Crude Account as
the Nigeria Governors Forum
(NGF) gives go ahead to Federal
Government.
Wike, hosting the Emir of
Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero,
in Government House, Port
Harcourt, Rivers State yesterday,
wondered what happened
to the $1billion withdrawn from
Excess Crude Account in 2017,
intended to fight Boko Haram
insurgents in the North-East.
He said he would only support
further withdrawal from the
funds except Rivers State is given
its 13 percent share from the
account.
He said, “I was told governors
agreed they will take money from
Excess Crude to support military.
What of the one they took
before, the $1billion that they
gave to the military?"
Prisca Sam-Duru
igerians woke up on Wednesday,
NFebruary 17, 2021, to the shocking news
of another abduction of school children, their
teachers and relatives of some staff of the
school. This time, it was the Government
Science College, GSC, Kagara which is
located in Rafi Local Government Area, Niger
State. The attack on Tuesday on the all-boys
boarding school is the newest in the growing
incidents of attacks and mass abductions of
students and their teachers in Nigeria.
Sadly, a student was reportedly killed while
many others were injured in the process. As
usual, the assaulting news was followed by
the President's condemnation of the dastardly
act by the terrorists who were seen in a video
with their captives, armed with sophisticated
weapons. The President also issued a directive
to “the armed forces and police to ensure
immediate and safe return of all the captives.”
Beyond the series of school children's
abduction in Nigeria; The Chibok Girls taken
from their school in Bornu State; the students
from Government Girls’ Science & Technical
College, Dapchi in Yobe State who were later
released except Leah Sharibu who is still in
captivity; the Good Shepherd Seminary in
Kaku, Kaduna State, where Seminarian
Nnadi Michael was murdered by his
abductors etc, and now, GSC Kagara, have
you seen photographs of the Kagara school
buildings? It’s a nauseating sight which
unfortunately, is a massive plaguing issue now
on the international spotlight.
Right from the haggard looking signboard
indicating the presence of GSC in the area,
one is confronted with very sorry sights of a
college in dire need of rehabilitation. Are those
dilapidated structures really serving as
classroom blocks, dormitory and
administrative buildings for GSC or slum? A
compound overrun by weeds coupled with
decaying buildings and old furniture, is
honestly not fit to be known as a school but
slum. The roofs are rotting and only fit for
habitation of lizards, snakes and other
dangerous reptiles. The missing ceiling
boards in the dormitories must be serving
the school as perfect water inlets during
GSC Kagara: School
compound or slum?
downpour. That can only make any
concerned individual ponder how safe the
students were even before the terrorists
attacked.
The dearth of security which becomes
more obvious in the manner that these
attacks are carried out, is only proof of the
additional psychological trauma these
children must have been experiencing.
Imagine having to sleep on a double-bunk
and directly facing a ramshackle ceiling,
with the thoughts that reptiles could jump
down on them while asleep. Constant
nightmares and anxiety would definitely
be hunting the children. And I wonder how
they can excel in their education under such
horrible condition.
It has taken the evil act of terrorists
operating at will in the Northern part of
the country, to expose how lowly Niger State
regards children’s education. GSC Kagara
as its signpost reveals was established since
1969 and the level of infrastructural decay
couldn’t have happened over few years ago
which only means that successive
governments never deemed it necessary to
do the needful. Everyone knows how harsh
the weather in the Northern part of Nigeria
can be, which makes one wonder how the
students managed to study under such a
neglected environment. This is just
inhuman. Even animal farms are well
taken care of to ensure the animals don’t
die how much more a learning space for
young ones.
The Kagara school is a science college as
the name implies but considering how
deplorable the structures are, it’s hard to
believe that a government that has
neglected the school to such extent will be
willing to provide up-to-date laboratory
equipment for school practical. No need
wondering if these students will be able to
compete with their counterparts in other
parts of the country, especially those in
private schools that have begun to adapt to
use of novel technological gadgets during
lessons.
It's shameful knowing that Kangara GSC is
a public school that should be covered by the
State’s budget for education. In as much as it
is true that edifice does not make quality
education, it is an indisputable fact that an
environment that is conducive for learning
goes a long way in contributing to a sound
education for children.
The Northern part of Nigeria which is
reportedly housing a greater number of
illiterates and out of school children in
Nigeria, should know too well not to treat
matters concerning education with levity. By
the way, how much will it cost Niger State to
make GSC conducive for their leaders of
tomorrow? Not much I believe. Yet there are
regular reports of huge sums of money
developing wings and flying out of
government’s treasuries all over the country.
The state governor, Abubakar Sani Bello
was said to have on Wednesday, ordered
the “closure of all boarding schools in areas
at risk from bandit attacks”. That is not
enough. How does he know which school
will be attacked next and does he have
adequate security to ensure the children’s
safety. The slum called Niger State
Government Science College unmistakably
offers a glimpse of what many other schools
look like in the state. So, while we pray for
the safe return of all those kidnapped, it is
not enough to shut down these schools only
for them to be reopened when the Governor
feels it’s safe to do so. The GSC kagara must
be given a facelift before its thrown open
again for learning. In addition to renovating
structures that are not completely
dilapidated, entirely new structures must
be erected. This applies to other schools in
same condition as GSC Kagara. It is high
time the Northern part of Nigeria made
education a priority for its own good
especially.