Former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, has been granted bail in the sum of N50 million.

New Telegraph had earlier reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating Agunloye over the $6 billion Mambilla Hydropower Contract.

Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court Apo ordered Agunloye, who was charged with seven counts related to the fraudulent award of a contract and official corruption, to be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre, until the bail application was heard and ruled upon.

However, during the hearing on Thursday, the Counsel for the former minister, Adeola Adedipe, requested that the court grant bail to his client either through self-recognisance or under lenient conditions.

Adedipe argued that Agunloye is not a flight risk and that the prosecution’s concerns were based on misunderstandings and communication issues.

Adedipe further requested that the court refrain from requiring a public servant to act as surety for his client.

The experienced attorney also contended that the misconceptions and concerns surrounding bail, as well as the arguments put forth by the prosecution, have been addressed by Section 352(4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).

According to Adeola, this provision states that “once a defendant is granted bail, even if they flee, the trial will proceed, and they will be convicted if necessary.”

However, the prosecution counsel objected to the bail application.
In delivering the verdict, Justice Onwuegbuzie stated that the court leans towards granting bail to the defendant.

The defendant was granted bail of N50 million and was instructed to provide two sureties who could match the same sum.

These sureties must be individuals of good reputation and financial means, residing within the FCT. They must possess properties valued at N300 million, with a verifiable Certificate of Occupancy.
Additionally, they are required to submit copies of their identification cards and photocopies of their international passports to the court.

The defendant must surrender his passport to the court and be present for all hearings. The case has been adjourned until February 12.

Amid the ongoing corruption allegation rocking the President Bola Tinubu led government, former Bayelsa senator, Ben Murray Bruce has revealed that Nigeria has a perception challenge.

Making this revelation in a tweet via his official X account on Thursday, the former Bayelsa senator revealed that there was a problem with the way we see ourselves as Nigerians.

Naija News reports that the former lawmaker called for the need to introduce a mind changing program to counter every negative thoughts of Nigeria in the mind of Nigerians.

He further tasked the federal government to fund the National Orientation Agency to enable them steer the country in the direction it needs.

Ben Bruce said, “Nigeria has a perception challenge. How we see ourselves is an issue. How others see us is also not ideal. And to fix that, we need to change our perception of ourselves. The last time this was done effectively was under Jerry Gana’s MAMSER.

“We need that mind changing program back. We must counter every negative thought about Nigeria in the minds of Nigerians with positive, patriotic, enlightening and wholesome thinking.

“This is where the National Orientation Agency comes in. Let’s fund them and set them in the direction this country needs them to go. Because, without that, I fear we may not grow. A well funded and led NOA will create a mental shift that will lead to an economic, social and moral revival in Nigeria.”

Ahead of the 2024 African Cup Of Nations (AFCON), Super Eagles of Nigeria coach, Jose Peseiro has issued a stern warning to his players that there’s no excuse not to give 100% in the tournament.

Peseiro who issued the warning shortly after the first team training on Wednesday night in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire said AFCON is a tough competition, but the team is 100% focused on the first game against Equatorial Guinea and they cannot afford to make mistakes in the tournament.

He said, “We cannot use the weather as an excuse, we need to put our Focus on and understand that, adapt well and do our best with the weather, hot humidity, don’t care about the weather, we only want to put the focus on the first match, it’s important for us.”

“Short tournament is that difficult tournament, hard tournament, Guinea Equatorial did better than us last AFCON and it’s a good team, but you want to win, you want to put 100% focus on everybody.

“No one in the training, meals, rest, meetings, all activities, we must put all our maximum focus because we cannot make mistakes in our next match, we have done a collective game to win our first match and it’s important for us.

“The first training was frustrating due to the long trip, we did hydration training. No tactics training, no conditional training, only hydration training,” he noted.

Peseiro also shared fitness news on Terem Moffi and Kelechi Iheanacho who were called up to the squad after Bayern Leverkusen striker, Victor Boniface was ruled out of the tournament with groin injury.

He said, “Moffi likes 14 because he plays with the team and Kelechi Iheanacho, he had contact with the medical staff, the staff and all the players and there, he’s working there for recovery and we have confidence in them.”

However, after losing 2-0 against Guinea in a friendly game on Monday afternoon, the team will be hoping to claim all three points in their AFCON opening match against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday afternoon by 3 pm at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpé.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Thursday described terrorists and their leaders as “dead men walking”, saying “we will stop at nothing until they are dead or surrender”.

The Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, made the declaration at the regular operational briefing on troops’ exploits across the six geo-political zones of the country.

While assuring of troops’ capacity to sustain “aggressive posturing” across the theatres of operation, the operations’ spokesperson appealed for continuous public support and cooperation, noting that the fight against insecurity had assumed a whole-of-society dimension.

Providing perspectives on ongoing operations, Gen. Buba said: “Our operations clearly indicate that we are hunting the terrorist commanders and their senior leadership. Indeed, from their topmost leadership to the lowest commanders are dead men walking and we will stop at nothing until they are dead or surrender.

“The armed forces have demonstrated commitment by our actions to winning this war. Troops will therefore continue to act with tremendous force to achieve the task ahead.

“The aim of our ongoing operations remains unchanged and clear even in the new year 2024. Our aim is to find and destroy the terrorist wherever they may be hiding in order to ensure their enduring defeat. This would deny the terrorist the ability to terrorize or hurt citizens across the country.

“Pursuant to our goal, troops have in the last one week, focussed on striking the terrorist enclaves from our air attacks. We also exerted significant military power in areas in which the terrorists were hibernating.

“Our operations resulted in 86 neutralized terrorists with 101 of them arrested. Troops also arrested 30 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 21 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Thirty-Six Million One Hundred and Fifteen Thousand Four Hundred and Seventy Naira (N736,115,470.00) only.4.

“Furthermore, troops recovered 111 assorted weapons and 1,124 assorted ammunition. The breakdown is as follows: 65 AK47 rifles, one HK G3 dun, one G3 rifle, 8 locally fabricated guns, 15 Dane guns, 2 fabricated rifles, one locally made pistol, one english pistol, one pump action gun, 2 auto pump action gun, 2 single barrel guns”.

Others are 14 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 993 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 5 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 5 rounds of 7.62mm x 39mm, 99 live cartridges, one round of 9mm ammo, one of short gun cartridge, 2 bandoliers, 2 fabricated swords, 13 magazines, 5 vehicles, 29 motorcycles, 6 bicycles, mobile phones and one GTA radio amongst other items.

He added thus: “Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 37 dugout pits, 65 boats, 71 storage tanks, 14 vehicles. Other items recovered include 108 cooking ovens, 4 pump machines, one speedboat and 60 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 1,013,530 litres of stolen crude oil, 299,169 litres of illegally refined AGO and 3,158 litres of DPK”.

Zenith Bank Plc has denied the alleged arrest of its Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the alleged fraud by the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and her predecessor, Sadiya Farouq.

The lender was reportedly named as one of the banks that their MDs/CEOs were summoned in connection with the alleged N585m fraud linked to the embattled minister, Edu, and another N37.1bn allegedly laundered under Farouq.

Jaiz Bank Plc and Providus Bank Chief Executives were allegedly roped in the scandal and invited by the anti-graft agency.

But Zenith Bank in a filing to regulators and other stakeholders denied any wrongdoing and involvement in the alleged fraud.

However, the bank did not state the extent of its relationship with the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry.

Zenith Bank said, “We have become aware of inaccurate reports circulating on social media and certain news outlets alleging that Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank Plc, was arrested and held by the EFCC on January 9, 2024, in connection with an alleged fraud at the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

“We wish to clarify that these reports are entirely false. The Group Managing Director was not arrested or detained by the EFCC or any other anti-graft agency and is currently fulfilling his duties at the bank.

“We are issuing this public statement to dispel the misinformation and ensure that the public and our stakeholders are accurately informed.”

THE WHISTLER had reported that Jaiz Bank also denied involvement in any suspicious project or deal with the ministry, saying that the project account opened by the ministry was not funded.

A statement from Jaiz Bank suggests that the Humanitarian Ministry in October 2023 selected some financial institutions as participating financial institutions for the various intervention programs of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Daniel Bwala, one of the spokesmen of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections has declared that he may defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) to support the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

Answering reporter’s question on yesterday if he was contemplating defecting to APC after a close-door meeting with President Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, Bwala said “APC is a party. President Bola Tinubu is my motivation; if supporting him will take me to APC, so be it.

“I told him today, I am committing to play my part to support your administration, and I have no apologies to anybody,” says Bwala

Bwala, an ardent critic of the APC and Tinubu government, had on January 2, 2024, said opposition political parties must form a strong coalition if they would successfully wrestle power from the governing APC in the 2027 general elections.

He lauded the President’s suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, saying, “some of his (Tinubu’s) Ministers that were allegedly reported to have committed infractions, instead of protecting them, he asked that the law should have its own course and suspended somebody without wasting time. That, to me, is impressive because it’s about the people.”

Commenting on Tuesday’s announcement of a 60 per cent slash in travel entourages for the Presidency and MDAs, Bwala said “There has been this outcry that the government is bloated. Yesterday, he introduced a policy that reduced the cost of governance and today, he told me it is just the beginning.”

According to him, the President assured him that more cost-cutting measures are underway to reduce the cost of governance.

“What have we been talking about as citizens is that if you don’t have a personal grudge against someone…if it is a policy issue.

“What I’m saying apart from today that I’m talking here is that you all need to visit my Twitter page. In the last few days, I have been expressing my surprise and appreciation to the President for the decisions he is making. So, this is not about political party. And you need to know that, like I said, I was with him before I left. And I was doggedly committed to him.” Bwala explained.

Investigators of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have questioned several civil servants over the financial scandal rocking the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Naija News reports that the EFCC is investigating the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, ex-minister Sadiya Umar-Farouq, and Halima Shehu, the suspended National Coordinator and CEO of the National Social Investment Programme, an agency under the humanitarian ministry.

Edu is being investigated for authorising the transfer of N585 million into the private account of an accountant in the ministry, Bridget Oniyelu. At the same time, Umar-Farouq, who served as a minister under former President Muhammadu Buhari, was being probed over alleged N37bn money laundering.

Halima Shehu, on the other hand, was being questioned for allegedly moving N44bn NSIP funds into some private and corporate accounts without presidential approval.

According to The PUNCH, the EFCC operatives on Wednesday questioned many senior civil servants in the humanitarian affairs ministry.

It was gathered that the ministry’s top officials gave the investigators useful information that could help them unravel the financial malfeasance in the Ministry.

An EFCC source stated, “The women came today (Wednesday), and they’re cooperating with the commission.

“Also, director-generals and other senior officials under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs have been and are still being interrogated by the EFCC. Senior officials of some banks are still answering questions too over the alleged money laundering.’’

Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on Monday suspended Betta Edu for requesting payment of N585 million naira into private accounts allegedly meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos States.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has reportedly recovered N50 billion meant for vulnerable citizens during the tenure of former Minister Sadiya Umar-Farouq from the Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Ministry.

The massive sum of money, which was about to be embezzled, was recovered by the ICPC between July and August 2023 and paid into the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to The PUNCH, the fund was blocked during attempts to transfer it into private bank accounts and recovered by the ICPC under its former Chairman, Bolaji Owasanoye.

A source disclosed that the funds were subsequently handed over to the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government.

“The funds were recovered when former President Muhammadu Buhari and Umar-Farouq were leaving office, and President Tinubu had yet to appoint a new humanitarian affairs minister.

“President Tinubu, upon the appointment of the now suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, ordered the Accountant-General of the Federation to refund the money to the ministry as part of the Infrastructure Support Fund for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.

“The refunded sum is part of the N44bn allegedly laundered in the National Social Investment Programme Agency, and the N585m Edu authorized for disbursement,” the source said.

Another source said, “During the naira scarcity between late 2022 and 2023, the ICPC under Prof Owasanoye blocked and recovered the sum of N50bn from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

“The first sum that was blocked and recovered was N32bn, but when the commission probed further, another N18bn was blocked and recovered from the ministry. The ICPC discovered that the money was meant for the vulnerable and the poor people in the country, which the ministry under the former minister, Umar-Farouq, could not distribute due to the scarcity of currency during the naira redesign period.

“The money was paid into the coffers of the government between July and August 2023. Some officials in the ministry attempted to disburse the funds into private accounts during the time the former minister was no longer active in office, and there was no new minister last year. The ICPC immediately blocked the money after discovering the suspicious and fraudulent manner in which it was to be distributed, and it was recovered.

“After President Tinubu announced the Infrastructure Support Fund for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal, the Federal Government paid the money into the coffers of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry under Betta Edu, being the ministry in charge poverty alleviation projects.”

Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s Chief of Staff, Chidi Amadi, has resigned from his position.

The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, officially confirmed Amadi’s decision in a statement issued on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, stating that the governor will soon make a public announcement of a suitable replacement for Amadi.

Naija News understands that Amadi is a known loyalist to the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who now serves as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

“The former Chief of Staff, Hon Chidi Amadi, has resigned. The governor will announce another Chief of Staff at the appropriate time.

“It is the prerogative of the governor to appoint when he wants it. He will tell us, and we will announce it, and you will also get the release to that effect,” Johnson told the PUNCH.

Amadi, who hails from Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State and is a kinsman of Wike, was unreachable when journalists made attempts to get comments from him as of the time of filing this report, Naija News understands.

Messages were reportedly sent to Amadi, including WhatsApp and text, but he did not reply to them as of Wednesday night.

With Amadi’s resignation, the number of Wike’s loyalists who have left Fubara’s administration since the political crisis between Fubara and his estranged political mentor, Wike, began, now stands at 10.

This development comes in the wake of calls for Fubara to appoint Edison Ehie, a former factional Speaker of the state House of Assembly, as Chief of Staff.

Daniel Bwala, the presidential campaign spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar during the 2023 elections, has been under fire on social media over his visit to President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.

Naija News reported that during the visit, Bwala declared his availability to work with the administration of President Tinubu, adding that he has no apologies to tender to anybody over his visit to the President.

Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain disclosed that he came at the invitation of the President.

Bwala stated that if supporting Tinubu meant joining the All Progressives Congress (APC), he was ready to join the party and dump the opposition PDP.

He said he is particularly excited about the recent policy decisions the President has taken, which, according to him, demonstrates that he is about the people and not just protecting his team.

Bwala also commended him for taking the decisions “against certain ministers who allegedly were said to have committed the infraction.”

After the visit, Bwala took to his account on the X platform to express delight at meeting the President.

He wrote: “Today I was delighted to meet @officialABAT, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, (GCFR) in the Villa to show appreciation and support for the bold decisions he is taking to deal with the crisis confronting our dear country.”

Following the development, some netizens took to the comment section of Bwala’s post on X to berate Bwala for betraying his principal and former vice president.

See some of the reactions below.

@RealAlmoner wrote: “A man without honour, a man without convictions, a man who is controlled by his stomach. Shame on you @BwalaDaniel. You couldn’t even stick to @atiku for one year after a failed bid to the presidency. Ha! Political jobber, political ashaworism, political stomach infrastructure. Shame!”

@dammygtnet wrote: “Corn dun dey your pocket. Atiku should be seen as an experienced politician but he keeps assembling funny people around him. Zero loyalty!”

@RealQueenBee__ wrote: “Political Jobbers are everywhere in Nigeria.”

@MissPeals wrote: “You speak from both sides of your mouth, Bwala; you are as unstable as the sea. No serious-minded person should ever take you seriously. Ever!”

@IamThatNaijaGuy said: “Atiku’s circle comprised individuals like Daniel Bwala and Reno O’mockery, who lacked genuine belief in his vision. Their allegiance rested solely on personal gain, leaving them scrambling for alternative opportunities as Atiku ceased funding. They are now desperately looking for new gigs. I knew PDP died the day they jettisoned their age-long tradition of zoning and allowed Peter Obi to leave the party.”

@tbaba100 wrote: “Politician has no shame.”

@Phranknigel wrote: “I really like the fact that you’re shameless, shows you’re willing to remain rich no matter what.”

@OgechukwuChime wrote: “Muslim Muslim ticket that made you left APC for PDP is no longer the issue. Politicians must align for personal interest.”

OwuruSamuel wrote: “I blame Atiku that allows himself to be the milked cow every 4 fours. In 2027, he will still recruit more hallelujah boys.”