VIDEO: LASTMA Official Caught On Tape Collecting Bribe

An official of the Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) has been caught red-handed demanding bribe from a motorist who is suspected to have broken the Lagos traffic law deliberately to expose corrupt law enforcement agents in the state.

The motorist, driving on Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi, Lagos state, was stopped at the Golden Gate Chinese Restaurant junction, recorded an amateur video and sent it to the iWitness platform of Channels Television.

The yet-to-be identified LASTMA official accused the motorist of beating the traffic light.
As penalty, the motorist was charged the sum of N8,000 and was escorted to the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to withdraw the cash to settle the officer.

It will be recalled that a police officer, Chris Omeleze, caught on film soliciting for inducement by an unknown motorist was dismissed by the Nigerian Police Force.



Channel TV

CLO accuses three soldiers of extorting N200, 000 from Bayelsa residents

The CLO petitioned the Defence Headquarters over the actions of the soldiers.
By: Arodiegwu Eziukwuin

The Bayelsa Chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has petitioned the Defence Headquarters over alleged case of misconduct and extortion by some soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force operating in the state.

The human rights group alleged that three soldiers on escort duty in the creek had forcefully demanded and extorted N200, 000 from some indigenes of Atonyekiri community, near Nembe in Bayelsa.

The Bayelsa chairman of the organisation, Nengi James, who disclosed this in Yenagoa, said that a formal complaint has also been filed with the Unit Commander of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in Brass Island.

Mr. James, who is also the Chairman of the Oil and Gas Committee of Nembe Kingdom, said that the accused soldiers carried out the alleged crime on Tuesday at about 3 p.m.while on an escort duty for Agip.

According to him, the soldiers were escorting Agip workers who were undertaking a repair work at a crude oil leakage site close to Atonyekiri community in Brass Local Government Area of the state.
“While the Agip staff and some Nembe Oil and Gas Committee members were at the site of the oil spillage to effect the repairs, they left behind the soldiers on the gun boat provided for the escort duty.
“The three soldiers, whose names have been given to the JTF Commander of the Brass Unit disembarked and invaded the Diesel Pump station within the community with the accusation of illegal bunkering.

“They demanded for the sum of half a million naira but when the people refused, they brought out a Jerry can of fuel and sprayed it on the houses in the fishing settlement and threatened to burn down their homes,” Mr. James said.

He alleged that the diesel dealer and the indigenes of the community raised N200,000 and gave it to the soldiers. He said that following the soldiers action, the Agip officials present quickly filed a complaint with the JTF Unit commander in Brass.

“We also filed our complaint, and have decided to take it further by writing the Chief of Army Staff,” Mr. James said.

He called on the military authorities to order an investigation into the incident and ensure that the soldiers involved are made to face justice.

According to him, “if proper investigation is not done, it will further discourage communities to work with the security agents on the needed campaign against oil bunkering.

“This is a crime against humanity and the people of the Niger Delta. If not investigated, it will mean that the top brass of the Nigerian Military are involved in the rising cases of extortion and threats.”
When contacted on the development, the spokesperson of the JTF, Onyema Nwachukwu said its headquarters has not received any official complaint from the groups, nor briefing from its Unit Commander in Brass.

“But let me assure you that if such reports are received, it will investigated and those involved would be judiciously dealt with if there are found wanting,” Mr. Nwachukwu, a Lieutenant Colonel, said.

Source: Premiumtimes

1 in 5 Africans forced to pay bribes for police, health care, education

Nigerian Catholics pray and worship during morning mass April 12, 2005 in Kano, Nigeria. Kano is part of Nigeria's primarily Muslim north, but devoted Catholic minority participates in frequent Masses in local cathedrals. Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria is considered a leading contender to become pope in the aftermath of the death of Pope John Paul II. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Almost one in five Africans were forced to pay a bribe in the past year just to get basic public services, a major survey said Thursday.

In Sierra Leone — the worst affected country — almost two thirds of people said they had given money to public officials for permits, access to health care and school, according to the “Let the People Have Their Say” report by Afrobarometer. Morocco, Guinea and Kenya were close behind.
To compile the report, Afrobarometer surveyed 51,000 Africans across 34 countries.

The institution rated most corrupt across the whole continent was the police. Alex Vines, head of the Africa Program at Chatham House, said the figures displayed a policing “crisis” in Africa. Nigeria, Kenya and Sierra Leone rated the worst for police corruption.

“If you were to take a group of young people in Africa and say, ‘Someone has burgled your house,’ the majority would not phone the police,” he said. “They would rather go to someone else they might know who could sort it out.

“Policing across much of Africa is in crisis. So you get informal police forces in place of the official ones which aren’t doing their job. Vigilante policing provides the protection that the police fail to do.”
Click here to read more.

Illegal fees collection: Niger govt suspends 5 principals

FIVE principals of some public secondary schools in Niger State  have been placed on suspension by the state government over allegation of collecting illegal fees from  the newly admitted students into their schools.

According to a press statement signed by the state’s Commissioner  for  Education, Alhaji Danladi Umar Abdulhameed, a copy of which was made available to  the Nigerian Tribune at the weekend, in Minna, the state capital, stated that  the actions of the affected principals  contravened  the Free Education Policy of the incumbent administration of Dr Muazu Babangida Aiiyu- led government in the state .

The release added that the affected schools included the Day Secondary School, Tunga, Army Day Secondary School, Minna, Day Secondary School, Madalla and Halidu Adamu Junior Secondary School , Suleja.

It stated further that the suspension took effect from Wednesday, October 23, as the affected principals were directed to hand over the administration of their schools to the vice principals administration or next in the administrative hierarchy.

Abdulhameed  has, however, warned other principals in the state to desist  from such acts and should ensure adequate compliance with the Free Education Policy  of the PDP-led administration in the state, which the release pointed out was still in force.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the state’s Ministry of  Education had recently received complaints from some concerned citizens residents in the state of some principals, who allegedly indulged in charging illegal  fees, especially from  the new students in their respective schools, which violated the generosity of the Muazu  Babangida Aliyu-led government on free education policy in the state.
The release affirmed that it had no other choice than to wield  big stick  against the affected principals with the view to forestall a recurrence of the illegal  actions of the suspects.
Source: Tribune

Ibori’s $15 million bribe to Ribadu should go to Nigeria, court rules

Delta State had demanded the money.
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday ruled that the $15 million a former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, allegedly used to bribe an anti-corruption chief be handed over to the Federal Government.

The judge, Gabriel Kolawole, berated the Delta State Government for demanding that the money be returned to the state without providing evidence that Mr. Ibori did steal the money from the state.
“With utmost sense of responsibility as a judicial officer, to view the stiff resistance mounted by the Delta state government and its official as one which border on the state’s acquiesce in the looting of its own fund or at best, as that of collaborators with its erstwhile governor on issue of $15 million allegedly offered to former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu as bribe,” Mr. Kolawole said
Mr. Kolawole ordered that the money be immediately paid to the coffers of the appropriate authority of the Federal Government of Nigeria where earnings such as this are kept in the ordinary course of official business.

He also said that the forfeited money be captured in the federal government’s 2012 – 2013 earnings to address specific needs of the Nigerian people.

“The applicant’s application to make a final forfeiture order succeeds and the said sum of $15 million dollars is hereby forfeited to the first applicant that is the federal government who shall take steps to capture in its earnings of the Federal Government of Nigeria in its 2012/2013 fiscal year and shall administer the funds to address specific needs that will be beneficial to a greater number of the citizenry,” he said.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had in July 2012 requested that the court give a final order forfeiting the $15 million Ibori bribe, which had been lying in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria for more than five years, to the Federal Government as unclaimed proceed of bribe offered to Nuhu Ribadu, then chairman of EFCC, by Mr. Ibori to enable him escape investigation by the commission.

The Delta State Government challenged the application as the state government laid claim to the said amount.

The money was deposited at the Central Bank by Mr. Ribadu who wanted to use it as evidence against Mr. Ibori, then governor, during his corruption trial after he leaves office.

The counsel to the prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs, had also told the court that it was too late for the Delta State Government to lay claim to the money because of the actions which the state government instituted against the EFCC on the ground that the governor should not be investigated.

Mr. Ibori is currently serving a jail term in the U.K. for money laundering, although he is yet to be convicted by any Nigerian court for corruption.

The former Delta governor (1999-2007), who wielded a lot of influence in Nigeria during the late Umaru Yar’Adua presidency, evaded arrest when the EFCC tried to re-arrest him to face trial in Delta State.

A judge, Mercel Awokulehin, had freed Mr. Ibori when the EFCC first filed corruption charges against him after he left office and lost his constitutionally guaranteed immunity as governor in 2007.
U.K. authorities are also seeking to make the former governor forfeit property worth tens of millions of dollars in the U.K., described as proceeds of corruption.

Source: premiumtimes

$620,000 bribe scam: Court adjourns, awaits Lawan’s appeal

An Abuja High Court on Wednesday adjourned the trial of a former Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Monitoring of the Fuel Subsidy Regime, Farouk Lawan, to await the report of an appeal filed by the lawmaker.

Lawan and his co-accused person, Boniface Emenalo, are facing trial over a seven-count criminal charge bordering on allegations that they demanded and received the sum of $620,000 as bribe from a businessman, Femi Otedola.

The accused persons had approached the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, to challenge the dismissal of an application in which they sought to quash the charges brought against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission.

Following the appeal, their counsel, Rickey Tarfa, SAN, applied for a stay of proceedings in the trial, pending the determination of the appeal.

The motion for stay of proceedings was initially dismissed on July 10, but at the resumption of hearing in the matter on Wednesday, the defence counsel again asked the court to stay action in the suit.

Prosecuting counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, opposed the request.

“The prayer asking for a stay of proceedings is not appropriate, a further adjournment may be for another three weeks, to enable us know the fate of the appeal.

“It will not be right to stay proceedings, as if that is granting the application before the Court of Appeal,” he said.

In a brief ruling, Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi adjourned the matter to enable the court receive a report on the appeal.

Source: Punch

Robbers on power bikes attack bullion van

Onlookers around Marine Bridge.
| credits: File copy

Commercial activities at Ijora Badia, in the Apapa area of Lagos State, came to a halt on Wednesday when policemen and robbers engaged in a gun duel.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the robbers, who had arrived Marine Bridge on several power bikes, dislodged a bullion van laden conveying a huge amount of money from its escort vehicle by opening fire at them.

It was said that the robbers started shooting sporadically into the air to scare motorists and residents, and attempted to escape with the bullion van. Their progress was said to have been slowed down by heavy traffic.

Our correspondent learnt that the Divisional Police Officer, Apapa, Usman Ndanbabo, and policemen from the Area B Command arrived at the scene after being alerted by the sound of gunfire. The robbers reportedly disembarked from the bullion van and engaged the police in a shootout.

Other police divisions within the area command were said to have also blocked all the escape routes and dispatched anti-robbery teams to assist the Apapa Division.

In the gun duel which lasted for several minutes, a member of the Nigerian Navy and two other civilians were said to have sustained injuries.

However, one of the robbers was reportedly shot dead while another was arrested.

It was learnt that the Navy personnel and the others, who were injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. As of press time, the condition of the injured could not be ascertained.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos Police Command, Ngozi Braide, told our correspondent on the telephone that the remaining suspects escaped with bullet wounds.

Braide said, “The DPO of Apapa Division was informed of the gunfire around Ijora Badia Bridge and dispatched a team of anti-robbery policemen. The robbers opened fire on the policemen and our men retaliated. One of the robbers was killed, another arrested, while the others escaped with bullet wounds.

“A yellow unregistered power bike, with the inscription, Apache Hipar, was recovered from the robbers as well as two Ak-47 rifles with double magazine each loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition.

“Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects but normalcy has returned to the area.”

PUNCH Metro had reported on October 9, 2013, that some gunmen, on a bike, shot and killed three policemen in a patrol van in Ijora Olopa area of the state.

Police sources told our correspondent that they were working on the theory that it was the same gang of robbers that operated on Wednesday.

 A policeman from Area ‘C’ Police Command, Surulere, Lagos, who pleaded for anonymity, identified the dead robber as one of the culprits.

 “You may recall that two weeks ago, five policemen on patrol were shot and three of them died while two survived after the robbers on a bike opened fire on their vehicle. One of the surviving policemen gave us information and from what we put together, it is highly possible that it is the same gang,” he said.

Source: Punch