Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Friday 29th November 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 29/11/19
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Nigeria Pays $200m Guarantee To UK Court In P&ID Case
The Nigerian Government has made a bank deposit of $200m to a court in the United Kingdom.
The payment is a requirement for the stay of asset seizure it intends to obtain to stop Process and Industrial Development from seizing $9bn worth of assets from the country.
Nigeria received permission to appeal a ruling converting the award into a judgment in the UK in September 2019.
It however needed to stop the British Virgin Island registered firm from acting on the judgment while an appeal was ongoing.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, informed Reuters that it would appeal the $200m guarantee asked for by the court before the ‘stay of execution’ could be granted.
Without giving an update on the outcome of the appeal, a spokesperson for the AGF informed the British news agency on Thursday that it had paid the requested sum.
In addition, Nigeria has also engaged more lawyers for the appeal of the award judgment.
Shaistah Akhtar, a partner with London-based law firm Mishcon de Reya., will lead the legal team alongside Mark Howard QC of Brick Court Chambers, the spokesperson revealed.
The Economic and Financial Crimes commission belatedly started investigating the sham deal for a failed gas processing contract executed by Irishmen Michael Quinn and Brandon Cahill.
It has so far made three arrests.
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Senate Of Criminals Revised Hate Speech Bill By Bayo Oluwasanmi
Bayo Oluwasanmi
Bayo Oluwasanmi
The Hate Speech Bill by the lunatics in the Senate is dead! Following the outcry of Nigerians against the bill, the senators with toxic wisdom in their brains have retreated from the bill saying “we were misunderstood by Nigerians”. To this end, the Senate loonies have been working round the clock to come up with a revised version of the Hate Speech Bill. Below is the revised version of the Hate Speech Bill summarised in bullet form:
. Death by hanging for President Muhammadu Buhari for subversion of the constitution by flouting 40 court orders and for failure to provide justice, safety and security for all Nigerians.
. Death by hanging for all the 109 senators and 360 members of House of Representatives for proposing hate speech bill, for corruption, for enriching themselves at the expense of Nigerian tax payers by their criminal jumbo salaries and allowances.
. Death by hanging for all the 36 state governors for corruption, fraud, and failure to essential services to their citizens.
. Death by hanging for all the heads of INEC, EFCC, ICPC, and other federal agencies that read like alphabetical soup for corruption.
. Death by hanging for all the federal ministers, all commissioners in all the 36 states of the federation, all chairmen and council members of all the local government councils for corruption.
. Death by hanging for the heads of the Nigeria Army, Navy, and Police for corruption.
.Death by hanging for all other enemies of our nation, who impoverished poor Nigerians.
Like I said, the above is an abbreviated version of the revised hate speech bill by Senate crooks and thieves. With this new bill, governance in Nigeria will never be the same again. This is the beginning of a new Nigeria we have been crying for almost 60 years ago.
To paraphrase the words of the great Dr Martin Luther King Jr., Free at last, Free at last, thank God Almighty, Nigerians are free at last!
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Suspension Of Petrol To Border Towns Remains -Customs
The Nigeria Customs Service has said that there was no going back on the suspension of petroleum products supplies to filling stations 20 kilometers from the border.
Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while appearing before the joint committees of the House on Petroleum, Interior and Customs.
He said that the decision was reached at a security meeting following suspicions that the Department of Petroleum Resources was shielding illegal petrol stations at the border areas, as well as aiding smuggling activities. Ali told the committee that before the order, several entreaties were made for the DPR to release the list of approved and illegal filling stations at the border areas but the agency refused.
He said that after the security meeting, the National Security Adviser had no option than to order that supplies be cut off from those stations.
He noted that since the ban, there had been great stability in the sector as subsidy had dropped by 30 per cent and consumption rate also dropped.
Ali said, “We have asked the DPR since last year to give us the list of approved and illegal petrol stations but they refused.
“The filling stations are used to smuggle fuel out of Nigeria.
“The decision to suspend supply was taken to contain our own consumption.” Ali stressed that the ban although painful, had been fruitful as smugglers could not steal petrol sold for N145 to resell elsewhere at over N300 to the detriment of the country’s economy.
The Customs boss assured that the action was not to punish Nigerians, and pleaded for understanding to get things corrected in the sector.
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Court Declares Deportation Of Southern Cameroon Leader Unconstitutional
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The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday declared the arrest and deportation of Dr Egbe Ogork, one of the separatist leaders of Southern Cameroon, unlawful and unconstitutional.
The trial judge, Justice A.R Mohammed, who delivered the judgment, also awarded N5m damages in favour of the applicant against the respondents for the unlawful act.
The court held that the arrest, detention and deportation of the applicant was null and void and unconstitutional.
Ogork was arrested alongside other persons, who were subsequently rounded up and deported to Cameroon on January 26, 2018 without an order of court.
Ogork, who is also a professor of Engineering at the Bayero University Kano, filed the suit through his lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN).
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E2%80%99s-lebanese-associate Fraud: Court Remands Mompha’s Lebanese Associate
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday arraigned the duo of Kayode Philip alias Voice of the King, and Hamza Koudeih, a Lebanese, for allegedly engaging in cyber fraud and laundering $7.06m, £1m and €80,000.
Koudeih is said to be an associate of Internet celebrity, Ismaila Mustapha alias Mompha, who was on Monday arraigned for alleged N32.9bn fraud.
Philip and Koudeih, who were arraigned on 25 counts before the Federal High Court in Lagos, were also accused of attempting to retain the sums of $6m and £1m in the Bank of China.
The EFCC through its counsel, Abbas Mohammed, said they also “knowingly engaged in computer phishing and spamming, which resulted in acquiring sensitive information” from various emails.
The prosecution said they were found in possession of electronic spamming tools such as MailListFetcher.exe;Tunnelier.exe; spamassassin.exe; Fast Email Extractor.exe; and AtomicMailSender.exe.
It said Philip also had illegal possession of various credit cards issued by JP Morgan Chase; Chase Bank of the United States of America; American Express; and Wells Fargo.
Philip, according to the EFCC, also procured Dakota Entertainment Limited and Influx Computer and Hardware Limited for N11m and N19.25m respectively.
The EFCC said the funds were proceeds of fraud.
The anti-graft agency said Koudeih and Philip acted contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2015; as well as Section 27(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015.
When the charges were read to them, they both pleaded not guilty.
The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Muhammed Abbas, prayed the court to fix a date for trial and to remand the defendants in prison custody pending trial.
The defence counsels, Oluwadare Falana and Abdulamid Mohammed, told the court that they filed bail applications for their clients.
Justice Muslim Hassan adjourned until December 5 to take the bail applications.
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Facebook Announces Instagram Is Down
Instagram is experiencing technical difficulties, which is preventing some users from gaining access to the photo sharing app.The app owned by Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that it was working hard to fix things as soon as possible.
A tweet from Instagram on Thursday said, “We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing Facebook’s family of apps, including Instagram.
“We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. #InstagramDown.”
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Buhari To Depart Nigeria For Malabo On Five-day Visit
President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Abuja on Friday to participate in the 5th Gas Exporting Countries Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.Buhari has been criticised in the past for his frequent travels while critical issues in the country like security and poverty are left unattended to.Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, disclosed that apart from Buhari, the meeting would be attended by leaders of major gas-producing nations of the world.They include Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Bolivia, Iran, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, and Norway, which account for 70 per cent and 80 per cent of global gas reserves and production respectively.
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E2%80%99s-africana-project-finishes-top-three-2019-commonwealth-digital-challenge CML’S Africana Project Finishes Top Three In 2019 Commonwealth Digital Challenge
Civic Media Lab’s Africana Migration project has been announced as one of the top three projects at the 2019 Commonwealth Digital Challenge organised by the Thomson Foundation.
The Commonwealth Digital Challenge, which is in its second year, is designed for young people in commonwealth countries to create digital innovation and tools that can advance media work.
Out of numerous entries across the Commonwealth countries, there was an all-Nigerian final shortlist, which gives credence to the number of young, creative and tech-savvy media entrepreneurs in the country.
The three entries were the Africana Migration Project – a news agency-based model aimed at countering the myths and misinformation surrounding African migration presented by Habib Oladapo; REACT Mobile News – an innovative attempt to use social media and mobile technology to counter fake news and engage young people in consuming up-to-date, factual news presented by Olayinka Iyinolokan and the eventual winner, the Sexual Violence Reporting Platform aimed at offering a secure, online space where those affected by sexual abuse can document crimes committed against them for independent investigators.
All three finalists received mentoring sessions from successful entrepreneurs, who helped them shape their products and increase its potential for success.
The mentors were Kate Adams, Director of Operations and Special Projects for Nesta; Sarah Drinkwater, Director of Tech and Society Solutions Lab at Omidyar Networks, and Arshia Gratiot, Founder and CEO of Third Space Auto Ltd.
Nigel Baker, Chief Executive of Thomson Foundation, said, “All three finalists provide great examples of how media can be used as a force for good in society.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said, “We offer our congratulations to all of those shortlisted for the Commonwealth Digital Challenge 2019 and thanks to the judges for their time and support.”
The winner of the challenge, Patrick was motivated by his own experience of being sexually abused as a child.
His platform will create an identity-protected space for those affected by sexual violence.
According to him, the project will help end “culture of silence around the issue of sexual violence, due to the victims’ fears of being stigmatized or harmed by the abuser.”
Patrick will visit the UK in early 2020 as guest of The Elizabeth R Media Fund to receive expert advice and training to enable him to implement a reporting platform which is a secure, user-friendly and robust enough to inspire the confidence of users and the legal profession.
The other two entries were also commended by the judges and the Thomson Foundation has offered to advise both candidates to help both bring their ideas to fruition.
The Commonwealth Digital Challenge is supported by the Elizabeth R Media Fund and administered by the Thomson Foundation on behalf of Buckingham Palace.
The Challenge is open to Commonwealth-based journalists, media managers and media entrepreneurs aged 18-30.
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Fayemi, Tambuwal, Others To Speak On Nigeria’s Democracy At Oxford University
Governors of Ekiti and Sokoto states, Kayode Fayemi and Aminu Tambuwal, have been selected to speak on 20 years of democracy in Nigeria at a conference in Oxford University, United Kingdom.
The governors are expected to reflect on Nigeria’s Fourth Republic in their addresses to the international audience, which will be hosted by the African Studies Centre of the university.
Convener of the conference, Prof Wale Adebanwi, who is the Director of Oxford African Studies Centre and Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, said that the structural errors of the state and the fundamental contradictions of the society that democratic governance was expected to confront or manage have deepened.
He said, “The hopes invested in the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999 seem to be flagging as Nigeria is confronted with a myriad of political, economic and social crises.
“Yet, given her historical experiences, there is no better alternative to democratic governance in Nigeria.
“In light of this, the participants at the conference will explore the political, economic and social forces, processes, and challenges which have shaped Nigeria in the Fourth Republic.”
Renowned American scholar of democracy and author, Prof Larry Diamond, will give the keynote address at the conference where many scholars based in Nigeria, Europe and the United States will present papers.
Several others notable personalities are also expected to speak at the event.
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Buhari Resends External Borrowing Plan Thrown Out By National Assembly
President Muhammadu Buhari has re-sent the 2016-2018 external borrowing plan to the National Assembly for its consideration and approval.Recall that Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, promised to assent to whatever requests Buhari brings before the National Assembly.The financial plan was approved by the Federal Executive Council in August 2016 and sent to the 8th Assembly in September 2016.The leadership of the federal parliament led by Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara invariably rejected the request in November 2016.Buhari had asked the 8th Assembly to approve plans to borrow $30bn abroad to fund infrastructure from 2016 to 2018.Lawan, who read the fresh request sent by Buhari on Thursday during plenary, did not give details of the executive communication.
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