Monthly Archives: March 2018

Biya-Buhari Criminal Accord: Orji Uzor Kalu N3.2bn Fraud Witness Flee To Cameroon

21, March 2018

Biya-Buhari Criminal Accord: Orji Uzor Kalu N3.2bn Fraud Witness Flee To Cameroon 0

Mr Akpan Udoh, an accountant in the Abia Government House, who was scheduled to testify in the alleged N3.2 billion fraud trial of the former Abia Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, has relocated to Cameroon.

The counsel to the prosecution told a Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday that Udoh is listed as a witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC had on Oct. 31, 2016 slammed a 34-count charge bordering on N3.2 billion fraud against Kalu and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ude Udeogo as well as Kalu’s company — Slok Nigeria Ltd.

Kalu and others allegedly committed the offences between August 2001 and October 2005.

The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

So far, the prosecution had called no fewer than 12 witnesses since the trial began.

At the trial of the case at the previous adjournmenr, the EFCC Prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) had called the 13th prosecution witness, Mr Tobore Ovie, who introduced himself as an operative with the EFCC.

He was led in evidence by the prosecutor who also tendered some documents through the witness.

At Tuesday’s proceedings, the witness was reminded that he was still under oath and counsel to the first accused, Mr Awa Kalu (SAN) began cross-examination.

The witness told the court that he did not know if the prosecution’s intended witness, Mr Akpan Udoh, an accountant in Abia State Government House who EFCC claimed was on the run, is still alive.

He said that he had not met Udoh before and that he did not reside with the first accused.

During re-examination, the witness said that Udoh had deliberately evaded giving evidence and that he had earlier been cooperating with the commission before they lost contact with him.

According to the witness, they were able to reach his brother who claimed that Udoh had relocated to Cameroon.

“Further efforts to get his call logs from his service provider showed that he has been hovering between Cameroon, Republic of Benin and Katsina State.”

The prosecution called its next witness, who, in his evidence-in-chief introduced himself as Mr Emojevwe Eboh, a compliance officer with a commercial bank.

He told the court that his scope of duty involves responding to requests from regulator bodies and law enforcement agencies.

The witness disclosed that the EFCC wrote a letter to the bank requesting for the account statement and opening packages of General Ventures Nigeria Ltd.

He said the required authenticated documents including the certificate of identification were made available to the commission.

The prosecution tendered the documents the witness identified and the letter the commission wrote to the bank, requesting those documents and were marked as Exhibits R six to R 60.

The witness identified the first accused and Mr Godwin Akubuike as the shareholders and directors of General Ventures Nigeria Ltd.

He further listed 40 local cheques credited into the company’s account.

Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned the case until March 28 and March 29 for cross-examination.

Orji Uzor Kalu was alleged to have utilised his company to retain in the account of a commercial bank the sum of N200 million.

The sum was said to have formed part of funds illegally derived from the coffers of the Abia State Government.

Slok Nigeria Ltd and a man, Emeka Abone, who is still at large, were also alleged to have retained in the company’s account the sum of N200 million on behalf of the first accused (Kalu).

The accused were alleged to have retained about N2.5 billion in different accounts which funds were said to belong to the Abia Government.

Cumulatively, the accused were alleged to have diverted over N3.2 billion from the state government’s treasury during Kalu’s tenure as governor.

The offences contravened the provisions of Sections 15(6), 16, and 21 of the Money Laundering (Prohibitions) Act, 2005.

The offences also violated the Money Laundering Act of 1995 (as amended) Act No.9 of 2002 and Section 477 of the Criminal Code, Law of the Federation, 1990.

 

Source: pmnewsnigeria.com


Southern Cameroons Crisis: Tunisian engineer killed by kidnappers

21, March 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Tunisian engineer killed by kidnappers 0

A Tunisian engineer has been killed by his kidnappers in southwest Cameroon, but three of his colleagues have been rescued, the government said.

The body of Khaled Tinsa was recovered on Monday during a rescue operation that freed another Tunisian engineer and two Cameroonian technicians, government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said. He did not say when Tinsa died.

The group, employed by Tunisian road construction company Soroubat, was abducted last week while building a road between the towns of Kumba and Isangele, Bakary said.

The government blamed “terrorists”, a phrase it uses for English-speaking separatists who have been waging a guerilla campaign against state security forces in the mostly French-speaking central African nation since late last year.

One of the main separatist forces operating in the area, the Ambazonian Defence Force (ADF), could not be immediately reached for comment.

REUTERS


Congo-Brazzaville: Pool rebels to be disarmed in April, $70m needed to resettle 114,000 people

21, March 2018

Congo-Brazzaville: Pool rebels to be disarmed in April, $70m needed to resettle 114,000 people 0

Negotiations between the government of the Republic of Congo and rebels in the Pool region have reached a critical agreement that will see a disarmament process take off at the beginning of April.

The Joint Ad Hoc Commission of the ceasefire and cessation of hostilities agreement in the Pool held a meeting on Tuesday in Kinkala, with the objective of defining the timelines and details of the disarmament operation which ratifies the ceasefire agreement signed at the end of December.

It was agreed that from 5 April to 5 May, 14 sites will be opened in the region to accommodate ex-combatants who wish to join the Republic. This is a necessary step to enable the people of the Pool region to return to the normal way of life.

In a message he confided to Ané Philippe Bibi, his special representative to the peace agreements, Pastor Ntumi who led the Pool rebellion, reiterated his full support for the peace agreement and pledged to respect its promises, including the release of ex-combatants.

He also pledged to dismantle ‘informal barriers’ to promote free movement of people and goods in the region.

As a result of the disputed re-election of President Denis Sassou Nguesso in April 2016, Frédéric Bintsamou’s army and fighters, alias Pastor Ntumi, clashed far from the cameras and human rights observers from mid-May 2016.

$70 million humanitarian aid needed

At last week’s launch of the 2018 Plan for Humanitarian Response and Early Recovery in the region, the Congolese government and the United Nations in Brazzaville announced that seventy million dollars was needed to provide humanitarian assistance and to stimulate recovery for 114,000 people in the Pool region.

This Plan for Humanitarian Response and Early Recovery is an update of the 2017 Plan for the Pool. It targets 64,086 displaced people (including 40,543 women and girls), 5,571 host families (25,000 people) and 25,000 people remaining in affected areas.

 

Source: Africa News


Southern Cameroons and the Abduction of Prof Leke Tambo: A Most Embarrassing Spectacle

21, March 2018

Southern Cameroons and the Abduction of Prof Leke Tambo: A Most Embarrassing Spectacle 0

Whether or not the government paid a ransom to secure his release from captivity is immaterial because the embarrassing video that went viral, of Prof. Ivo Leke Tambo, abducted by Ambazonia militants in their ongoing struggle for independence and resistance against President Biya’s Anglophone war of attrition was an unmistakable act of imbecility and a national embarrassment that is disgraceful and totally unacceptable. The macabre spectacle of a man of Prof. Leke’s stature, hooded, stripped to his boxer shorts and socks; forced to sit on the ground bare-body and taunted like a petty criminal, served no other purpose than traumatize an agonizing nation. The needless show of shame was senseless, unimaginable, unacceptable and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. All level headed Cameroonians ought to feel a sense of shame and outrage by such contrived humiliation of a man whose only crime is that he serves in a regime whose authority has all but collapsed in Anglophone regions. Not only did it shred Leke Tambo’s image and impugned his integrity; it brought opprobrium upon the office of GCE Board Registrar which he occupies, and by extrapolation, the entire nation, thereby aggravating the national shame. Viewed along other recent kidnapping incidents; this is a grievous embarrassment taking on a pattern. Of course, nobody but the president bears direct responsibility for this dangerous escalation of the Anglophone crisis.

Beyond the embarrassment to the nation is the weighty censure that the country suffers before the international community as a lawless country with dysfunctional institutions where bizarre things can happen. The public humiliation of Leke Tambo in his native Lebialem signposts the institutionalization of insecurity, and amounts to dereliction of the primary purpose of government, which is to guarantee the security and welfare of its citizens. The unacceptable spectacle of Prof. Leke in captivity approximates the insidious intolerance that has come to define Biya’s attitude towards the Anglophone crisis. The effrontery and brazen rancor with which the militants mocked and humiliated Prof. Leke was brigandage and barbarism taken too far. This is indeed sad; there has to be a better way. The public humiliation was all the more sickening because it was a remotely controlled vendetta against Biya’s anti-Anglophone war. This however should not have precluded the Ambazonia militants from taking the high road by presenting Leke Tambo in captivity without stripping him. There was no justification to be cantankerous.

A paladin of integrity in the corruption-prone education sector, Prof. Leke Tambo remains one of the most illustrious visionaries of the growth and development of Cameroon education. In public service, men like Prof. Leke have been tenacious in their resolve to be truly Cameroonian in all they did, and over the years, taken their callings and done just one thing: service to the fatherland. His exemplary career notwithstanding, it is a tragic irony that men like Leke Tambo have witnessed the grisly metamorphosis of Cameroon from a prosperous nation to one of unimaginable depravity; a nation where political fortune-hunters, rent seekers, sycophants and bigots have colluded to steal the people blind. In the hands of these buccaneers, the nation’s resources have been mindlessly pillaged. All the cherished values of a dignified people have been discarded. This then begs the question: is the individual dignity of men like Leke Tambo not inexorably linked to the present crisis? Yes, the accomplished educationist did his best well enough, but like other Anglophones holding high public office in the Biya regime, they have been complacent in the face of the genocide, unfolding before their own eyes.

Guilty or not; the jury is out already whether Anglophones in authority positions who have maintained a conspiracy of silence, mute indifference and cold complicity amid the campaign of terror that has claimed hundreds of Anglophone lives, are unindicted co-conspirators and should therefore be treated as such, until they muster the courage of their convictions and speak truth to power. At the risk of stating the obvious, how can men like Leke Tambo keep their dignity and integrity intact, by serving a regime that murders their own people? Quite predictably, Biya did not even make a passing condemning of the abduction as he left the country for another sojourn abroad, this time to China. By this show of insensitivity, the regime embarrassed itself and betrayed the trust of Leke Tambo and other self-seeking, insensitive Anglophone elites who parade themselves as leaders.

In a society of manifest stagnation and looming anarchy, why should Anglophones believe in a nation defined by the Leke Tambo generation that cannot truly be exonerated from the national failure? The kidnap and public humiliation of Leke Tambo symbolizes the growing disenchantment with the silence and complicity of elderly Anglophone statesmen in the on-going crisis. And so, lending a voice to the aspirations of all who crave an independent Anglophone nation; it is just right to use the abduction of Leke Tambo to re-direct attention to the road not taken, and how to get back on track with dialogue.

As the Anglophone resistance metastasizes from a low-intensity conflict to a full-blown insurgency, it is indeed a pity that many Francophones have stood on the sidelines merely watching in bewilderment as the crisis gathers momentum, forgetting that the price they’ll pay for this is civil war, in which there are only losers. To the extent that Prof Leke Tambo and others kidnapped so far are all Anglophones, what cannot be denied is that these things are happening under Biya’s watch, and he cannot pretend not to know. And as the nation holds its breadth and ponders the fate of all those now held in captivity by Ambazonia militants, Biya should spare the nation further embarrassment and agony by ensuring that all those kidnapped are immediately released and re-united with their families.

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By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai



Amnesty says Nigerian military was warned before Boko Haram abduction of Dapchi girls

21, March 2018

Amnesty says Nigerian military was warned before Boko Haram abduction of Dapchi girls 0

Nigeria’s military was on Tuesday accused of ignoring repeated warnings about the movements of Boko Haram fighters before they kidnapped 110 schoolgirls in the country’s restive northeast.

The students, the youngest of whom is aged just 10, were seized from the town of Dapchi, Yobe state, on February 19 in virtually identical circumstances to those in Chibok in 2014.

Then, more than 200 schoolgirls were taken in an attack that brought sustained world attention on the Islamist insurgency and sparked a global campaign for their release.

President Muhammadu Buhari has called the Dapchi abduction a “national disaster” and vowed to use negotiation rather than force to secure their release.

But as in Chibok nearly four years ago, human rights group Amnesty International claimed the military was warned about the arrival of the heavily-armed jihadists, yet it still failed to act.

In the hours that followed both attacks, the authorities also tried to claim the girls had not been abducted.

Amnesty’s Nigeria director Osa Ojigho said “no lessons appear to have been learned” from Chibok and called for an immediate probe into what she called “inexcusable security lapses”.

“The government’s failure in this incident must be investigated and the findings made public, and it is absolutely crucial that any investigation focuses on the root causes,” she added.

“Why were insufficient troops available? Why was it decided to withdraw troops? What measures have the government taken to protect schools in northeast Nigeria?

“And what procedures are supposed to be followed in response to an attempted abduction?”

There was no immediate response from the Nigerian military when contacted by AFP.

Multiple calls

Amnesty said that between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm on February 19, at least five calls were made to tell the security services that Islamist fighters were in the Dapchi area.

Locals spotted about 50 members of the Islamic State group affiliate in a convoy of nine vehicles in Futchimiram, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Dapchi, then at Gumsa.

In Gumsa, where Boko Haram stayed until about 5:00 pm, residents phoned ahead to Dapchi to warn them. The convoy arrived at about 6:30 pm and left about 90 minutes later.

Amnesty, whose researchers spoke to about 23 people and three security officials, said the army command in Geidam had told callers they were aware of the situation and were monitoring.

Police in Dapchi promised to tell divisional commanders, while army commanders in Geidam and Damaturu were also alerted during the attack, it added.

People in Dapchi have previously said troops were withdrawn from the town earlier this year, leaving only a few police officers. The nearest military detachment was an hour away.

The Dapchi abduction has thrown into doubt repeated government and military claims that Boko Haram is on the brink of defeat, after nearly nine years of fighting and at least 20,000 deaths.

Boko Haram, which has used kidnapping as a weapon of war during the conflict, has not claimed responsibility but it is believed a faction headed by Abu Mus’ab al-Barnawi is behind it.

IS in August 2015 publicly backed Barnawi as the leader of Boko Haram, or Islamic State West Africa Province, over Abubakar Shekau, whose supporters carried out the Chibok abduction.

Analysts have attributed a financial motive to the Dapchi kidnapping given government ransom payments made to Boko Haram to secure the release of some of the captives from Chibok.

AFP


UN says Southern Cameroonians in Nigeria pass 20,000 mark

20, March 2018

UN says Southern Cameroonians in Nigeria pass 20,000 mark 0

The number of Anglophone Cameroonians seeking asylum in Nigeria has doubled since mid-January. Without urgent international support, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns that their struggle for survival will be increasingly desperate.

Anglophone Cameroonians began fleeing violence in October 2017 and continue to pour into Nigeria’s Cross River, Taraba, Benue and Akwa-Ibom states. In total, over 20,000 refugees have been registered in the area. Women and children account for four-fifths of the population.

A recent assessment by humanitarian groups shows how grim the situation has become. Ninety-five per cent of the asylum seekers have no more than three days of food. Most families are down to one meal per day. The coping strategies people are using are themselves risky, and range from borrowing money to cutting food portions or saving food only for children.

Most asylum seekers say they are having to drink water from streams, ponds and other unsafe sources, because of inadequate or dysfunctional drinking water facilities. Essential relief items, such as clothing, blankets and plastic sheeting, are available to fewer than 25 per cent of them.

Only five in every 100 Cameroonians have proper or independent shelter. The rest have little or no privacy, squatting in rooms hosting on average 10 to 15 people. Protection from the cold is lacking, increasing health concerns due to the imminent start of the rainy season.

Malaria is reportedly already on the increase. Children commonly exhibit rapid breathing and coughing. Many participants at the assessment were suffering from fear and anxiety, poor sleep and flashbacks. In all, about 20 to 30 per cent of the asylum seekers have some kind of vulnerability, such as a physical disability.

Three quarters of the Cameroonian children who recently fled to Nigeria currently cannot access school, because their families cannot afford to pay for books and uniforms. Adults are also becoming more frustrated as they struggle to make ends meet.

A political solution to the situation in Cameroon is urgently needed, so that the Cameroonians can safely and voluntarily return home. Until then, UNHCR and its partners will continue their efforts to provide assistance and support to this population as long as we are able.

Our office has worked on a contingency plan of US$18 million to help cover their needs. However, so far no funds have been received, leading to immense challenges and gaps in the response.

Earlier this month, the authorities in Nigeria allocated land to UNHCR which should allow for shelters to be established to ensure the safety, security and self-reliance of refugees. UNHCR acknowledges the authorities’ commitment to assist in moving the refugees at least 50 kilometres away from the border, in line with humanitarian principles.

We also remain concerned about reports of further arrests of Cameroonian nationals in Nigeria, including at least one asylum seeker at the beginning of March. UNHCR urges the Nigerian authorities to refrain from the forcible return of individuals who may have fled persecution in their country of origin, and to respect the principle of non-refoulement or no forced returns.

 

Source: UNHCR.Org


CAF: Issa Hayatou, Amrani trial postponed to April 16

20, March 2018

CAF: Issa Hayatou, Amrani trial postponed to April 16 0

The trial of former CAF president Issa Hayatou and former secretary-general Hicham El Amrani was on Monday postponed by Egypt’s Economic Misdemeanors Court to April 16.

The two are accused of violating local anti-monopoly rules, after they signed a contract with a French company Lagardère Sports on the management of media rights of African football.

The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) started to investigate the Lagardere deal in June 2016 prior to asserting in January 2017 that Caf had engaged in monopolistic practices that infringed local laws.

The deal gives Lagardere rights to a variety of African football competitions including the flagship Africa Cup of Nations from 2017 until 2028.

Caf stresses that the allegations accusing it of selling rights without opening them for due tender are incorrect.

Source: Africa News

 

 


French Cameroun: Ex-minister reportedly goes missing

20, March 2018

French Cameroun: Ex-minister reportedly goes missing 0

Basile Atangana Kouna, former minister of Water and Energy sacked from the government on March 2, has not been seen at his home ever since the Yaoundé regime issued an order preventing him from leaving the country.  The former baron of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate was expected at the Yaoundé Special Criminal Court yesterday, as part of an anti corruption operation launched by the regime.

Basile Atangana Kouna did not appear before the investigators and Cameroon Intelligence Report understands none of the judges at the so-called Special Criminal Court has communicated on the file. Strong rumors of his arrest in Kribi in the South region circulated recently with some insinuating that the former minister had attempted to escape to neighboring Equatorial Guinea by sea, before being arrested. The rumor was quickly denied by close aides.

There has been conflicting reports on former minister Basile Kouna in many French Cameroun newspapers. Some noted that he left French Cameroun territory a day after he was dropped from the cabinet and he is presently out of the CEMAC region en route to Canada. While others have reported that he attempted suicide.

Pretending to fight corruption and establishing the so-called Special Criminal Court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt country in the world.  This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon.  There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court.  Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. Biya has eventually perceived the anti corruption drive as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.

By Sama Ernest

 


Corruption in France: Ex-French President Sarkozy detained over Gaddafi-linked campaign cash

20, March 2018

Corruption in France: Ex-French President Sarkozy detained over Gaddafi-linked campaign cash 0

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was being held in police custody on Tuesday for questioning by magistrates looking into allegations of Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign, an official in the French judiciary said.

A lawyer for Sarkozy could not be reached immediately for comment.

France opened a judicial inquiry in 2013 into allegations that Sarkozy’s successful 2007 election bid benefited from illicit funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A former minister and close ally of Sarkozy, Brice Hortefeux, was also being questioned by police on Tuesday morning in relation to the Libya investigation, another source close to the probe said.

Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, has always denied receiving any illicit campaign funding and has dismissed the Libyan allegations as “grotesque”.

In January a French businessman suspected by investigators of funneling money from Gaddafi to finance Sarkozy’s campaign was arrested in Britain and granted bail after he appeared in a London court.

Sarkozy has already been ordered to stand trial in a separate matter concerning financing of his failed re-election campaign in 2012, when he was defeated by Francois Hollande.

REUTERS


Southern Cameroons Crisis: GCE Board Chairman freed after being held captive in Alou

20, March 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: GCE Board Chairman freed after being held captive in Alou 0

Ambazonian freedom fighters have released a senior official of the Ministry of Secondary Education recently held in protective custody. The Francophone governor of the South-West region, Okala Bilai confirmed the gesture and said Prof.  Ivo Leke Tambo, a hostage and chairman of the GCE Board, the body responsible for English-language examinations has now gained his freedom.

The top Cameroonian official was arrested by Southern Cameroons armed militants on Saturday at Alou in the Lebialem County in the Southern zone.

Biya regime claimed that the fighters had demanded a 100 million FCFA from Yaoundé. The government has not confirmed the payment of the money.  After his release, Prof Leke Tambo traveled to the French Cameroun capital city.

Cameroon Concord News understands two other senior officials, including a sub-prefect and an official of the Ministry of Social Affairs are still in the hands of the Southern Cameroons Defense Force.

By Rita Akana


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