The Nation June 15 2011

Page 1

Nigeria’s truly national newspaper

News Gunmen abduct PDP chief Olusola Oke’s mum P5 Sport Turkish club Galatasaray offers Nsofor N906m P14 Business Akingbola fails to stop sale of Intercontinental Bank P15 http://www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 6, NO. 1791 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2011

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

GTBank MD Aderinokun dies in London hospital

T •The late Aderinokun

HE Group Managing Director and cofounder of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank), Mr Olutayo Adeleye Aderinokun, is dead. He passed on at 56 in Wellington Hospital, Saint John’s Wood, North West,

By Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor

London yesterday at 5pm after a failed battle with cancer, which was said to have incapacited him for almost two months. Wellington is the largest independent private hospi-

tal in Britain. It has international reputation for outstanding care in cardiac services, neorosurgery, liver and HPB medicine, rehabilitation, gynacology, orthopadics and many others. The bank confirmed the

late Aderinokun’s death last night in a statement. Its website said: “Tayo Aderinokun passes on ... (1955 - 2011).” The statement said:” With a deep sense of loss, but with gratitude to the Almighty God, we write to notify you

of the passing on to eternal glory of our dearly beloved Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tayo Aderinokun. Mr. Aderinokun who had been on medical Leave, passed Continued on page 2

N9b contracts: Bankole begs court to stop trial Ex-Speaker says Keyamo lacks power to try him

F

ORMER House Speaker Dimeji Bankole is protesting his trial. He is asking the Federal High Court trying him for alleged inflation of contracts to quash the 16count charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). His lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo

From Kamorudeen Ogundele, Abuja

(SAN), raised six grounds upon which he asked the court to quash the charges. He said the prosecution counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, lacked the power to prosecute him because there was no Attorney-General of the Federation who could have issued him a fiat. He said: “The last AGF was

THE OBJECTIONS •No Attorney-General to issue power to prosecute •Not answerable to any acts of omission done pursuant to the provision of the Public Procurement Act 2007 •Proof of evidence never linked him with the items procured •He is not an employee of the National Assembly •Neither an accounting officer nor the procurement officer •He is doubtful of a fair trial because he had been vilified, demonised and unfairly condemned in the public domain Mohammed Adoke SAN, who vacated officially on the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council on 28th May, 2011.

“The AGF is the only officer that the Constitution empowers to issue fiat to private legal practitioner to institute or continue criminal proceed-

ings in the high court.” Bankole noted that the charges were filed on June 7th, 2011 when no AGF was in office.

Bankole said he was not answerable to any acts or omission done pursuant to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, the law he was alleged to have contravened. According to him, the office of Speaker of the House Representatives, which he occupied between 2007 and 2011, is not cognisable for criminal responsibility or liability within the scope and intendment of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. Besides, he stated that the Continued on page 2

Tinubu writes HID Awolowo F

ORMER governor of Lagos Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has written to Chief HID Awolowo, saying he has no cause to disrespect her person or disparage the Awolowo family. In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Olakunle Abimbola, Tinubu said: “I wish to assure Mama that I cannot disparage the Awo family without disparaging the legacy that all of us proudly embrace and are trying to sustain,” he wrote in his letter, dated 9 June 2011.” The statement said the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader was writing on the controversy over the article entitled, “Awo family without an Awo”, written on June 6 by Sam Omatseye, chairman of the Editorial Board of The Nation, viewed by many to be critical of the Awolowo family. Many have also claimed the article was a “sponsored” attack on the Awolowos, he said. But Tinubu, in the letter, said he found such linkage strange, since every newspaper has its own editorial policy, independent of any person’s relationship with the paper. “Anybody with knowledge of how newspapers work knows every newspaper has its editorial policy, most times independent of even the publisher,” the former governor explained. “So, how can I possibly be behind the opinion of Continued on page 2

•Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman Mrs Farida Waziri speaking at the launch of Economic Crimes Law Reforms (ECLR) at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja ... yesterday. With her are Justice Aloma Mariam Muktar, Justice of the Supreme Court and Chairman of the occasion, Dr Tahir Mamman, Director-General, Nigerian Law School and Editor–in-Chief of the ECLR. Story on page 4.

•POLITICS P11 •SPORTS P14 •MONEY P23 •LIFE P29 •E-BUSINESS P42


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The Nation June 15 2011 by The Nation - Issuu