DiE GUARDW i, Satu rda}~ October 15, 2011
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Every Public Official.O n EFCe Watch List. SaysWaziri Denies Being Corrupt By G"drrill IJodiog"r and Samson Eze2
'UtOM [he Chairman of [he .J.'Economic and Financia l Crimes Commission (EFCC}. Mrs. Enid;, \Vaziri has come reve lation that e~"ery public official in thecounuylson the walch li sl of the anti·graft ;,gencies. ~£vrory publiC offiCial is on thro watcfl list of an ti-corruption agencies, indudi ng ofnnai5 of t he EFCC. Don'l forget th<l.t every public omo:ial is expect· ed to adhere to the prinCiples and pran ices of accountability <'- nd problty.~ W<l.ziri said in an interview with Tl!eGuardiotJ. According tO,her, the ret:rnt arrrst of tlirre hrmer gover· nors, like a ll 01 he r engagements of the Comm ission In its a Ilti.gra ft \\·a r, was meant to funhe r the zero tolerance for corruption by 'he commis· sionJnd thegov'!mmenL The Er-cc boss said: -[t is a con· linuous thing, <l. S longas there J re pro\'en breadlesof the law. I! is not fal r toQ}' thiitalithese engagements are Indication of a renewoo fight ag;Jins{ cor· m ption,lX!c"use t here is noth· ing [Q suggest that the fight has abated In an:/ way. ~ I t l s Importan' to place the l:teCuliar cif( Uln.~cmces of an anti-grafl agency, like the Ef-Cc, in a proper penpe<tive in o rder [0 ensurr: fa imess and objectivity. Wede .. ! with issues on their strides There is no timethe EFCCison recess a nd it Is not evrry time we take politiGlII}'-'!)(pos"ti penons to court. So, we all! always wo rk·
~hfftf~~n~~~~~~~J:~~.!l('\·er On the in!\"inuations in some quarters lhat !lIe recent arrest of some e.'(-gOVf:rnors was a ploy by hertosoughl fora se<ond tenn In Om(e, Wazln said t here was 11 0 fact in the insinuation, slressing that "nti· g raft fight Is a cflntlnuum, as long as our I"W$ Me broken. She alsoden ied I he allegation that cast's against suspe£tt'd public officials all! not water· tightin mostcdS'!S. ~lhis is certainly not true. Are you say1ng lhal I'~art' appt'ar· ing in courts in order to lose our cast's? EKCilas neverlost a ny case on technical ground. The truth of the Inatter is that our dt'U"aclors are a lways quick to ilccuse us of everything, even our strengths. We ewploy the best lawyers In the I;>nd to prosecute our cases. -Do you know the numberof convJctions we have 5e<urecl so fa r7So. how have we succeeded Ihls much Jr our Glsesarenot watl"rtight,asyou have claimed! Why do you think defense counsel contino ue 10 n le frivol ous applica· tlons to nail or prolong trials if we don't haveWillertl§ht cas· es against the ao·used? On the allegation of corrupt practices againsl her by some groups, Wazln d '~nied It, chal· lenging any of h'~r accusers to come UPWllh ev;dence. ~What allegations and by wh07 You must Ilnderst<l.nd the n"ture. of th"! job that wt' are dOin$. Fightingcorru ption In Nigena as I always say is like holding the tigcrlJ}' tltet<,U,lt wi ll fight back and If you a.reno[call'ful, itwill consume)" lU.So, ['m not moved a blr by .my spurious d.1im bYimyone.~she said .
FOlmer Ogun Sral~ governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, and his counsel a•• he IIfC mlses "I .he 51ale Hieh Co un In Ahe"kula aher he was gran led bail by Ih~ cour' in lhe conup,ion lIial brouch. ag~insl him by rh e Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFtC) yes'~day
EFCC Raids Telecoms Finn Over Daniel's Tlial ~rom
Abo!ed. MlISari (Ahuja) and Charles Coffie-Gyamll. Ghn ga Aklnlonwa (Mrea ku,a)
l\.TO sto ne may be left
11untumed In t he move by the Economic and Financial CrimesCommission(EFCC)to Invesrlgate oll1eg;Hlons of fraud againS{ former gover· no r of Ogu n Sta'te, Gbenga Danlel"stheo1nti·graftagency yesterday raided (he office of a telecommunications finn, 21st Centu ry,lO\vards unra\'el· ling its managing director"s role in Ihe <l.lIeged looting of lhe lrrJSury. The company's chief e)(ccu· tive, Mr. Wolle Ajisebutu. who is believed to be an ,lS5ociale of the fo rme r govemor, \\IdS alleged 10 be connected to how Slml lllo n was stole n fro m the Ogun State govem · me nt's domici liary account with First City Monu ment B.l nk ( FCMR~ Tf,e EKCci.1tl1ls rhe money was found in Ajisebutu's accoullL Meolnw hile, resp ite has come the way of the e mbattled Dilniel as a n Abeokura 1·lIgh Court yesterday granted him
Ex-Gov Granted Bail
b.lil. EFCCs spo kes man, Femi SaOOfemi. confirmoo the raid on 21st Century offi ce of Ajisebulu, but declined 10 gIVe deta ils. Th e GUllrdian leamt th"l Ajisebutu is cur· rentl y In EFCC cus tody. Former ogun State Fina nct' Commissio ner, Kehlnde Sogunle and former Chief of Staff to Daniel. Yomi Majekodunml, were both recentl}' arrestoo and kept In custody at the EKC office in [ko}~ for two days before they were gr.IoIIted administrative bai l and releasoo. They are to ~lUm to EKeon Mond<l.Y. Daniel was yesterday granted bolilin the sum of N500 mil· lion by rhe Slate High Coun preSided over by Olanrenwaju Molbekoje as tfle judge. He was to provide two sureties in li ke sum with landed property within the jurisdiction of the court. The sureties were .uked to submit the title (othe proper·
lies and two passpon photographs to the coun regls trilr. Arguing Daniel's application forbail, his lead counsel, Pro[ Taiwo Oslpitan pleaded that the conditions shou ld be li ber.a l. He pleolded with O\·fabekoje not 10 ask anI' civil servant to be one 0 the sureties, explaining that ~ the civil servantsa re employttsof t he governmen t, they (civil servanls }wlll therefore be lo}<al to Iheiremployer~. The EKCcounsel, Mr. Rotimi Jilcobs (SAN) however opposed the gra nting of Daniel bai l, ilrguing that doi ng so should not be automatic, bur rather the Judge shou Id use hlsdiscretlon,con· sidering the gravity o f Dolnlel's orfence. He added that there w"s no authority binding on tilt' Judge con· cemin~ how to ellerclse such dlscret loll. Giving reasons why Daniel s hould not be granted ball, jacobs told the judge that the
former governor has a -ki11er that he could use to t hreatt'n the EKC counsel and their families, if granted bail.Thedefencelawyerurged the judge to use his discretion to either grant him (Daniel) b.lil or refuse the olpplication. Osipltol n, however, dismissed jacobs· argument, saying -the submission Is se ntimental: -The}'(Prosecutlo, \) ha ~ con· cedoo thilt Daniells entitled to ba ll but must be g rilnted "rudlclarily and judiCiously: he said. After the su bmissions of bot h counsel, lustice O\lolbekoje adjourned (o r three hou rs and 10 minutes and gave his ruUngon resumption. [[esald t he!'e was no sufficienl milte· rial before the court to Win· rant denial of bail to the accused person. I·le observed that the accused voluntarily presented him· self [0 the EFCC(or aTTest and said there WolS no cause to believe thar he will not make himself avai lable for trial. Mabekoje also dismissoo the argument that the accused could jnterfe~ with the inves· squad ~
ligation and use his al1eged killersquild to intimid<lle wit· nesses. The t rlill judge Solid the re was no ~~dence before the court that such killer squadexisl5. The judge fixed Novembt'r 17 .1nd 18 for commencement of trial. 8Ul des pite the granting of the ball, Daniel didn't ha\"e il easy to gel his freedolll from the custody of the EFCC. Though the sureties met the conditions, the court official s, olS at4.00pm, wt're insisting that they h~d to conrinn the authenUcity of the Cenl ncate of OCcupanty (C of 0) of the landed property which the su reties brought [0 back up the cond itions ofOOi!' This becolme an Impossible task ascM I servants had been on strike s ll1ce Wednesdol Y, hence the l.lnd O\linisuy was not av.1 iIilble to ;!.ttem\ to such enquiry. But 111l' Guardian laler It'ant that the issue WitS eventual!} resolved by 5.]Opm and Daniel was releJSed, afler which he sle ft for his Sagamu privale residence.
Jonathan Pledges To Boost Food Production From Joke flkvmru, AbuJa
ffiESIDENT Good luck C Jonathan hJS promised 10 ensure increase 11\ food prod uctio n In lhe counlry bl' 20 million metric tons be o re 2014. Accordi ng tohimj thls wo uld be made possib e through Implementoltion of the a~r1· C\l ltural value cha ins in nce, cassava, COCO" and cotton production. Other crops In the list ane 011 palm, maize, soya bean, livestock, aq u"culture and other staple foods. l'll'sldent Jonalholn spoke <1.1 the opening ceremony or the Nationa l Agric ultural Show held In Karu, Nasarawa Stare. The preSident who was represented by the '" InlsrerofSGlte fo r AgrJcuilure .1nd Rural Devl'lopment, Alha)1 8ukar
Tijani said government ca n· Ilot afford to continue with the Imponatlon of foods and wo uld r<l.lher utilise loca l resources to ensure self suffi· dency in food production. His words: "N'geri" will Jdd 20 million menfc tons of foodstoit~
present st"tus through the establishment a nd pur· SUolnce of value ctlilins in the followtng commodities: Rice, which Mr. President has committed t hat within fourye"rs, Wl' must not Impon Into Nige ria but we should produceour own rice and Cassava, which the President hJSsaid Nigeria is the highest producer. Others are Cocoa, COlton, Oil palm, Maile and Soya Bean. He ·a lso directed expansion on e:dsting production ollil'estock and aq ua· culture. This will IX! In addi·
tion to the main sta ple crops and ol herexlsting produce t haI we have In Nigeriol.~
On inadequate capita l base for farmers, the preslclent said slngJe digit crooit wou ld be orrered to them through direct budgetin~ and N4S0 million loan willch was provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria to support the Nigerian farmers. Jonathan restated govern· ment's resolvr to embark on private polnnershlps In order tod rive the OIgricullUre sector as being practbed In other developed countries of the world,addinglhar fertili7.er prOC\lrement and distributions wou ld be exe· cutoo by farmer groups and ,rivate sectors. -Ie promised that governmenl would support farmers
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Wilh 1 million metric tons of ·ensuring Nigt'ria achieve its fertilizers from 2012. This, vision 20:2020. according to him, would be He promlsoo 10 transrorm the provided t hrough Gross agriculture secror from Its Enhancement Support subsistence level to commer· Scheme whereby farmers cial lc\l('l so that the nation can and s upplie rs of fenilizers be self sufficient In food prowould negollate under a d uction. Nation,,1FenilizerBiometric [n his rema rks, President ofAll System. Farmers Association of ~ It wo uld reach 5 million Nigeria Alhaji Adamu farmers as ag"lnst SOo.ooo (/\FAN). Abdu lahl urged the Federal fann ~ rs. nle r,rlvate sector and loca l femlize r distribu· Government to end overdetorswouldbcsl1pponedwith pendence on oil exports and vario us Incentives so thar revive lhe agricu lture sector. problem of inadequate fenil- He advised government 10 Izers will he a th1l1g o( the olssist f"nne rs, p.1rticul"rlyo n lolSt,~ the president said. the issue of private panner· Vhl1e commending the ship approach on tht' distri· Nasarawa State go\'emmelll bUlion offenilizt'rs. for providing a Abdullah I messed that prl· permanenl site for the agri· vate finns are USUollly pronto culture ex hibi tio n show, oriented olnd if not properly President jpnolthan ~ id gov- monitored, the policy ma y ernment IS conllmlted to nol realise its purpose.
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