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VOL. 7, NO. 1946 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2011
TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH
THE BATTLE FOR BAYELSA •SEE PAGE 4
N150.00
•Sylva writes INEC •Balarabe Musa faults Jonathan •Aspirants gang up against Dickson
N37.91b loans: Lawyers abandon Bankole’s trial Case reopens in six days
Govt rejects BA’s 20% fare cut offer
From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern
•ACN hails
Operation, Abuja
F
ORMER House Speaker Dimeji Bankole and his deputy, Bayero Nafada, are shopping for new lawyers to fight their legal battle. Six days to their trial for alleged corruption, their lawyers have withdrawn from the case. Bankole and Nafada are standing trial at both the Federal High Court, Abuja Division and in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. They were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged inflation of contracts and obtaining over N37.91billion loans during their tenure. The loans were used to pay jumbo allowances to members of the sixth House of Representatives. Part of the loans was a N12billion facility obtained by the House leadership three days to the end of its tenure in May. The allowances were allegedly paid outside the approved Remuneration Package for Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the extant Revised Financial Regulations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 2009. Continued on page 4
By Kelvin Osa- Okunbor and Gbenga Adanikin
B
•GUNNING FOR N5B: Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF) founder, soccer star Kanu Nwankwo (MON) answearing reporters’ questions at the Press Conference on the KHF Cardiac Centre Fundraiser held in Abuja ... yesterday. Story on page 62.
RITISH Airways has proposed a 20 per cent cut in fares on the Lagos-London and Abuja-London routes. But the Ministry of Aviation has requested for further cuts, having considered the proposal as “insufficient”. The first class LagosLondon one-way fare is $5,408 whereas the same booking for a passenger on the Accra-London route is $2,399. A business class LagosLondon one-way fare is $3,685. On the AccraLondon route, it is $2,049. The proposed cut and the guarantee of additional flying slots to Arik Air on the Abuja-London Heathrow route are the Continued on page 4