Nigeria
now browsing by tag
At least 22 ‘criminals’ killed in clash with Burundi police
At least 22 “armed criminals” and two police officers were killed in clashes between Burundi security forces and an unnamed armed group at the weekend, police said late Tuesday.
Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said an armed group appeared in the hills of western Bujumbura-Rural province last week and engaged in several clashes with police.
On Sunday police “dismantled” the group “with a toll of 22 armed criminals… and two policemen killed, and six criminals arrested.”
On Monday a local official said 13 people had been killed.
Burundi’s main opposition party, the National Freedom Council, said it saw a link with the May 20 presidential elections.
The appearance of the armed group sparked a wave of arrests of 23 of its local leaders last week, the CNL said.
“We denounce this harassment orchestrated by the government ahead of the May 2020 elections,” party spokesman Therence Manirambona said on Saturday.
The fighting broke out 30 kilometres (18 miles) east of Bujumbura, the country’s economic capital, in a rural area with few roads, communications or electricity.
CNL leader Agathon Rwasa is considered the main challenger to the ruling CNDD-FDD’s Evariste Ndayishimiye in the May election.
President Pierre Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, shocked the country by announcing he would not seek re-election after a constitutional change allowed him to do so.
His controversial election to a third term in 2015 plunged the country into crisis.
The violent aftermath of the last presidential election in 2015 made Burundi a focus of an investigation by the International Criminal Court for alleged murder, rape, torture and disappearances.
Civil unrest killed 1,200 people and drove 400,000 from their homes
(AFP)
SOURCE PUNCH NEWS
Court finds Metuh, firm guilty of first count in N400m fraud trial
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, convicted a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisah Metuh, and his firm, Destra Investments Limited, of the first of the seven counts instituted against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Ruling on the first count in his judgement, Justice Okon Abang ruled that a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, unlawfully transferred the sum of N400 million to the defendants in November 2014, The PUNCH reports.
The judge ruled that Metuh and his firm reasonably ought to have known that the sum of N400 million paid to them formed part of the proceeds of the unlawful activity of the ex-NSA because they had no form of a contractual relationship with the ONSA.
According to the judge, Dasuki transferred the money to the defendants “in breach of public trust”.
He dismissed the contention of the defence who argued that the defendants could not be convicted for the money laundering offence because Dasuki, who is currently being prosecuted, had yet to be convicted for the predicate offence of breach of trust and corruption.
The judge said, contrary to the argument, “the predicate offence and the money laundering offence are intertwined”.
“The success or failure of the predicate offence does not determine the success or failures of the money laundering offence,” the judge added.
The PUNCH reports that after finding the defendants guilty of the first count, the judge is analysing the evidence tendered in respect of the second count.
SOURCE PUNCH NEWS NIGERIA
CBN warns banks against misleading customers on domiciliary account
The Central Bank of Nigeria has cautioned Deposit Money Banks against misleading their customers on transactions carried out through domiciliary accounts in the country.
The apex bank gave the warning in a letter dated February 24, 2020, and posted on its website on Monday night.
The letter signed by the apex bank’s Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Dr. Ozoemena Nnaji was addressed to all banks.
The letter reads in part, “Following different interpretations of operations of domiciliary accounts. It has become imperative to clarify the operations of domiciliary accounts as contained in the CBN Foreign Exchange Manual Memorandum 25 provisions under reference.
“For the avoidance of doubt, all provisions of the CBN Foreign Exchange Manual has not changed and remains in effect.
“Consequently, all ordinary domiciliary account holders can utilise cash deposits not exceeding $10,000 or its equivalent by telegraphic transfers to fund eligible transactions.
“As a result, all deposits money banks are advised to desist from misguiding their customers. Please ensure strict compliance.”
The CBN had on Sunday said that it had not prohibited the acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits by Deposit Money Banks.
The Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Isaac Okorafor, had clarified the uncertainties surrounding the operations of domiciliary accounts in Nigeria.
He said, “The bank has not prohibited the acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits by Deposit Money Banks.
“Only electronic fund transfers into domiciliary accounts can be transferred from such accounts while cash deposits into such accounts can only be withdrawn in cash also.”
Okorafor therefore urged stakeholders and other interested parties to always endeavour to seek clarification on issues and avoid speculative tendencies which were detrimental to the financial system
SOURCE PUNCH NEWS
Nigeria: Death toll from Lassa fever outbreak jumps to 70
The death toll in Nigeria from an outbreak of Lassa fever has risen to 70 as confirmed cases shot up, according to authorities.
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Nigerian agency responsible for the management of disease outbreaks, said in its week six update on Thursday that eight new deaths from Lassa fever were reported in three states.
“Four new healthcare workers were affected in Ondo, Delta and Kaduna states,” the NCDC said in the update.
It said the number of suspected cases has “increased significantly” compared with the situation in mid-January, from more than 700 to 1,708.
Confirmed cases have also shot up to 472, it said.
Lassa fever is a disease spread to humans through food or household items contaminated with rodent urine or faeces.
In 80 percent of cases, the fever is asymptomatic, but for some, the symptoms include high fever, headache, mouth ulcers, muscle aches, haemorrhaging under the skin and heart and kidney failure.
It has an incubation period of between six and 21 days and can be transmitted through contact with an infected person via bodily fluids and excretion.
Effective treatment
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the antiviral drug ribavirin appears to be an effective treatment for Lassa fever “if given early on in the course of the clinical illness”.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with about 200 million people, has five laboratories with the capability to diagnose the disease.
Lassa fever belongs to the same family as the Ebola and Marburg viruses but is much less deadly.
The disease is endemic to the West African country and its name comes from the town of Lassa in northern Nigeria where it was first identified in 1969.
It infects between 100,000 and 300,000 people in the region every year with about 5,000 deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Previously, cases of the disease have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo and Benin.
The number of cases usually climbs in January due to weather conditions during the dry season.
THE SOUTH AFRICANS SHOULD REMEMBER IN CASE THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT:
1.) Nigeria set up the National Committee Against Apartheid (NACAP) in 1960.
2.) The late Sunny Okosun composed a song called “Fire in Soweto” in 1977 to show support for the fight against apartheid
3.) From 1966, Nigeria gave material and financial support to the freedom fighters in South Africa
4.) Then Nigeria’s Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa sent letter to South Africa’s ANC militants on April 4, 1961 showing support for their cause.
5.) Nigeria provided $5 million to the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) annually.
6.) In 1976, Nigeria set up the Southern Africa Relief Fund (SAFR) for the purpose of bringing relief materials to the victims of the apartheid.
7.) The military administration of General Obasanjo contributed $3.7 million to the fund and Obasanjo personally donated $3,000 to the fund.
8.) All Nigeria’s civil servants and public officers made a 2% donation from their monthly salary to the SAFR.
9.) Nigerian students skipped their lunch to make donations, and by June 1977, the total contribution to the fund had reached $10.5 million. The donations to the SAFR were widely known in Nigeria as the “Mandela tax”
10.) Between 1973 and 1978, Nigeria contributed $39,040 to the UN Educational and Training Programme for South Africa
11.) Nigeria boycotted the 1976 Olympics and Commonwealth games in 1979 as part of our protest against apartheid in South Africa
12.) From 1960 to 1995, Nigeria spent over $61 billion to support the end of apartheid, more than any other country in the world.
13.) Nigeria refused to sell oil to South Africa in protest against the white minority rule. Nigeria lost approximately $41 billion then. $41billion dollars. Remember this by was our oil boom moment. As long as we fought apartheid, the money meant nothing.
14.) Nigeria was labbelled a frontline State in the War Against Apartheid.
AND WE ASKED, IF XENOPHOBIC ATTACKS IS THE WAY TO PAY NIGERIA BACK?
D5 Creation