FUEL SUBSIDY SCAM LATEST: FALANA OFFERS FREE LEGAL SERVICE
TO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AGAINST MULTIPLE LITIGATIONS FROM "POWERFUL
COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUALS" ACCUSED IN REPORT -
Lagos lawyer and human
rights campaigner, Mr. Femi Falana, says he is throwing himself in the
ring to defend the House of Representatives that is currently facing
threats of multiple litigation from companies and individuals indicted in the fuel subsidy investigations. The services will be free, he says.
“In view of the threat of some of the indicted companies and
individuals to sue the House over the report on the fuel subsidy fraud
our law firm has decided to defend the House pro bono publico” Mr.
Falana said late yesterday in a statement, adding that “the decision to
render our services free …was informed by the resolve of the House to
discharge its constitutional duty without fear or favour and in the
national interest.”
Mr. Falana’s statement reads in full that:
“Since the Farouk Lawn-led Committee on the mismanagement of fuel
subsidy fund submitted its report to the House of Representatives last
week an orchestrated campaign of calumny has been launched against the
leadership of the Committee and the House. It was even alleged that the
House Speaker would be impeached in a desperate bid to cover up the
monumental fraud. Some of the indicted companies have gone to the extent
of threatening to challenge the powers of the House to probe them and
pray the court to annul the report of the Farouk Lawan Committee .
“As a concerned Nigerian i submitted a memorandum to the House
Committee. In my oral testimony before the Committee i dwelt, in
extenso, on the reckless looting of the fuel subsidy fund by the cartel
of public officers and fuel importers. Before then the Federal
Government held a town hall meeting in Lagos in December 2011 at the
instance of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria where I
called for an investigation into the subsidygate. Although the Executive
ignored the call, the House of Representatives under the leadership of
of Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal took it up.
“In the wake of
the popular protests against the removal of fuel subsidy the Presidency
directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate
and prosecute the culprits. I am also collaborating with the EFCC with
respect to the investigation.
“Having read the 210- page report
of the House Committee I wish to commend the chairman and the members
for their courage, patriotism and commitment to accountability and
transparency. By rejecting the tempting offers of the cartel of fuel
importers the members of the Committee have demonstrated that there are
still some public officers who will not sacrifice the interest of the
country for personal enrichment.” Source - Premiun Times 26.04.2012
REPS
WANT OKONJO-IWEALA, AGANGA, MUHTAR PROSECUTED OVER SUBSIDY SCAM -
If
the Federal Government fully implements the recommendations of the House
Ad Hoc Committee on Subsidy Probe, the Minister of Finance, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, and her immediate predecessors, Olusegun Aganga and
Mansur Muhtar, might face prosecution for their roles in escalating
government's fuel subsidy spending between 2009 and 2011.
The House of Representatives said Wednesday in its final approval of
the subsidy report that the ministers are culpable as much as heads of
some indicted agencies in the mismanagement of the subsidy funds.
Subsidy cost soared mostly between the three years, reaching a high of
N2.58 trillion in 2011 against budgeted figure of about N250billion.
TRADITIONAL RULER BAGS 3-MONTH JAIL FOR MARRYING A WOMAN HE KNEW WAS
ALREADY MARRIED - For his inability to control his urge, a traditional
ruler in Benue State, Zaki Toryila Nyitse, has bagged a three-month
imprisonment from an upper Area High Court sitting in Buruku,
headquarters of Buruku Local Government Area of the state.
The convict is a district head of Mbalaagh, in Buruku Local Government Area, who was said to have taken another man’s wife.
The court asked him to pay a sum of N20,000, failure of which he would also be jailed for 12 months.
Delivering judgment in the case filed by one Tortiv Torkula against the
accused, the presiding acting sole judge, Mrs Kpadoo Chia, averred that
there was enough evidence to prove that Zaki Nyitse knew that the woman
he married was already married, while the union had produced four
children. Source Tribune 26.04.2012
SENATE
PRESIDENT DAVID MARK RETURNS FROM MEDICAL TRIP OUTSIDE NIGERIA - Senate
President, David Mark, returned to Abuja on Wednesday, after a two-week
medical trip abroad.
Mark, who returned to Abuja from Tel
Aviv, Israel, where he underwent a medical treatment, was received at
the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by his relations and
his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu; Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal; Ministers of
Interior, Abba Moro; Water Resources, Serah Ochekpe and Minister of
State, Trade and Investment, Dr Samuel Ortom.
Others, according
to the statement, included Senators Smart Adeyemi, Ahmed Lawan,
Suleiman Adoke, Abatemi Usman, Joshua Dariye, Tunde Ogbeha, as well as
members of House of Representatives, including Samson Okwu, Salem
Hassan, Ezekiel Adaji and Adamu Entonu, with the Israeli Ambassador to
Nigeria, Moshe Ram, among others.
