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The National Chairman of All Progressives Congress and former governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, on Friday, warned Kano Governor Abba Yusuf to concentrate on bringing good governance to his people instead of embarking on a futile attempt to drag his name through the mud.

Ganduje was reacting to the decision of the Kano State Government to file criminal charges against him over alleged bribery of $413,000 and N1.38bn respectively.

Yusuf had on assumption of office in 2023 accused the former governor of misappropriating public funds and allocating plots of land to some members of his immediate family.

In a statement issued in Kano on Thursday, the state government disclosed that it had assembled 15 witnesses to testify against Ganduje.

Joined as co-defendants, as sighted in the charge sheet dated April 3, were Ganduje’s wife Hafsat and his son, Umar.

Also listed as defendants were Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Ltd, Safari Textiles Ltd and Lesage General Enterprises.

Reacting via a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu, on Friday, Ganduje said the bribery allegation was an ‘unfortunate and sorry attempt’ to shift attention from the fact that there was nothing on ground in the state that the governor can use to justify the huge allocations he has been receiving since the inception of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The ex-governor said the development was the latest attempt by the state government to drag his name into the mud, adding that it also spoke volumes on the level of ‘crass ignorance and disregard for the rule of law’ by Kano governor.

He said, “In their desperate attempt to malign me and my family, they either forgot or probably cannot conduct themselves by the dictates of the law. They failed to take judicial notice of the recent pronouncement of the Federal High Court in Kano, which ruled that the so-called offence I am being accused of is a federal offence that can only be prosecuted by the Attorney General of the Federation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

“Rather than join issues with my traducers in Kano over the trumped-up charges levelled against me, I would implore them to redirect their energies towards easing the plights of our people in Kano” Ganduje counselled.

“They still have the opportunity to revert to my blueprint for the sustainable growth and development of Kano State. It is not yet late in the day for them to emulate my developmental strides. They can still salvage the situation as my tenure was devoid of any wrongdoing.”

Two days after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved increase of electricity tariff for customers under the Band A classification, the Federal Government has hinted that a similar measure would be extended to others.

Speaking at a briefing in Abuja on Friday, Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the recent increase in electricity tariff is a pilot in phasing out of electricity subsidy in the country.

He said the government plans to remove all subsidies in the sector to allow the thriving of investment in the power sector.

The Minister said: “This tariff review is in conformity with our policy thrust of maintaining a subsidized pricing regime in the short run or the short term with a transition plan to achieve a full cost reflective tariff for over a period of, let us say three years. I have mentioned it in a couple of media briefings that it is because of government sensitivity to the pains of our people that we will not make us migrate fully into a cost reflective tariff or to remove subsidy 100 percent in the power sector like it was done in oil and gas sector.”

“We are not ready to aggravate the sufferings any longer which is why we said it must be a journey rather than a destination and the journey starts from now on, that we should do a gradual migration from the subsidy regime to a full cost reflective regime and we must start with some customers.

“This is more like a pilot for us at the Ministry of Power and our agencies. It is like a proof of concept that those that have the infrastructure sufficient enough to deliver stable power of enjoying 20 hours of light to be the ones to get tariff add.”

The Minister added that the N225 kilowatt per hour Band A customers are charged as little in relative to the N500 they pay for alternative energy like diesel and others.

While explaining that Nigeria is experiencing a subsidy pricing regime where the government provides a large portion of the generation, transmission and distribution cost, he said the government was formerly subsidising 67 percent of the cost of electricity.

“The government would have paid N2.9tr for 2024. This is more than 10 percent of the national budget. It will be insensitive on our part to compel the government to pay such subsidy when we have other competing issues the government needs to fund under pau its of funds we have.”

The FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, has decided to end the contract of Messrs Integrated Facility Management Services Ltd to manage the International Conference Centre(ICC) in Abuja effective immediately and awarded the contract to Julius Berger Nig Plc

According to Anthony Ogunleye, the Press Director at the Minister of FCT’s office, Julius Berger Nig Plc. has been chosen to quickly renovate the center from top to bottom.

Details Later ……

The National Chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure, and his brother have been discharged from the private health facility they were rushed for treatment following Wednesday’s fire that razed his residence in Abuja.

This was disclosed to The PUNCH by the National Youth Leader of the party, Kennedy Ahanotu.

“Yes, the national chairman has been discharged and asked to come back tomorrow for further check-up. He is hale and hearty and looked far better than when he was rushed to the hospital yesterday,” Ahanotu told our correspondent on the phone.

A fire was said to have been recorded in Abure’s Abuja home on Wednesday.

An earlier statement issued in the wake of the fire, which started a few minutes after 1am, described the incident as an alleged assassination attempt with Abure being the prime target.

Members of the National Working Committee of LP who spoke to our reporter agreed that though his orderlies have done the needful, it is believed that Abure may have to report the incident himself to the police once he is discharged.

Before Abure was discharged from the hospital, Ahanotu told our reporter on Thursday morning that the chairman and his brother were in stable condition.

Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday reserved the judgment of convicted controversial cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, till April 9, 2024.

The judge also ordered that he should be returned to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s custody pending the judgment.

Details later…

Unknown gunmen on Thursday invaded Agojeju Odo Community in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State, killing 19 persons and setting several houses ablaze.

Confirming the incident on Friday, the Police Public Relation Officer, Kogi State Command, William Aya, said the yet-to-be-identified gunmen attacked the community on Thursday evening.

Aya disclosed that the Divisional Police Office in the local government informed him that 19 people were killed while some sustained injuries during the attack.

The Kogi Police Spokesperson said that the Commissioner of Police, CP Bethrand Onuoha has deployed more personnel to community while assuring that the perpetrators of the heinous act will be apprehended.

Meanwhile local sources said, the gunmen attacked the sleepy Agojeju Odo town where they killed the victims and destroyed farm products.

The community appealed to the Kogi State governor, Usman Ododo and security agencies to come to their aid by deploying more security personnel to the area.

Residents of the community said police in the local government council have been overwhelmed by the attackers.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has taken enforcement action against the Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (“AEDC”) for noncompliance with the Supplementary Order to the April 2024 Multi-Year Tariff Order 2024 for AEDC (the “Order”). AEDC has been fined 4200,000,000 (Two Hundred Million Naira) for failure to comply with the prescribed customer band classifications for the tariff billing.

This decision follows a detailed review and customer feedback, which revealed that AEDC had applied the new tariff to all customer bands, contrary to the Order, which was designed to ensure fair billing practices.

AEDC is therefore mandated to:

a. Reimburse all customers in Bands 8, C, D and E respectively that were billed above the allowed customer categories/tariff bands provided in the Order.

b. Reimburse through the provision of the balance of customer tokens that the affected customers would be entitled to receive of the applicable rates and all token reimbursements shall be issued to the affected customers by 11 April 2024.

c. Pay the sum of #200,000,000.00 (Two Hundred Million Naira) as a fine for the flagrant breach of the Commission’s Order.

d. File evidence of compliance with the directives in a & ¢ with the Commission by 12 April 2024.

The action by the Commission underscores its commitment to protecting consumer rights and ensuring equitable practices within Nigeria’s electricity sector.

Controversial cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, on Friday, pleaded guilty to the charges of naira abuse.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had, on Thursday, filed six counts of money laundering and abuse of naira against him.

But before the charge was read to the defendant, the EFCC’s prosecution counsel Suleiman Suleiman, prayed the court to stike out counts five and six (money laundering charges) and arraigned him on counts one to four.

Consequently, Justice Abimbola Awogboro struck out counts five and six.

Bobrisky was then arraigned on counts one to four to which he pleaded guilty.

When he was asked if he understood the charge that was read to him, he said,” Yes, I am guilty.”

Bobrisky had around 11:50am arrived at the Federal High Court in Lagos for his arraignment on money laundering and naira abuse allegation.

The EFCC had on Thursday filed six counts bordering on money laundering and abuse of the naira against Bobrisky.

The crossdresser, who had been in the EFCC detention since Wednesday night, failed to meet the administrative bail offered to him on Thursday.

Details later…

Popular Nigerian cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye aka Bobrisky, has arrived at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, for his trial.

Bobrisky was arraigned before the presiding judge, Abimbola Awogboro, by te Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations bordering on naira abuse and money laundering.

Recall that the cross-dresser was arrested on Wednesday night for allegedly spraying and stepping on naira notes.

The EFCC filed a six-count charge against the controversial crossdresser, on Thursday.

The commission also accused Bobrisky of laundering the sum of N127. 7 million through a domiciled account.

While four of the charges are related to alleged naira abuse, the remaining two counts involve alleged money laundering.

“In the charge sheet filed by EFCC Prosecutor, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Rotimi Oyedepo, alongside seven other lawyers, Bobrisky in the first count is alleged to have tampered with the sum of N400,000 by spraying same while dancing at a social event at the IMAX Circle Mall, Lekki, Lagos,”the anti-graft agency’s statement said.

“The offence was committed on March 24, 2024, and is contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.

“In count five, Bobrisky while trading under the name and style of Bob Express between Sept 1, 2021, and April 4, 2024, in Lagos, failed to submit to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, a declaration of the activities of the said company, (Bob Express), within which period the total sum of N127. 7m was paid into the company account domiciled with Ecobank.

“In count six, Bobrisky is also accused of failing to submit a declaration of the activities of the company within the same period when another N53m was paid into the company’s account thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 6(1)(a), and Section 19(1) (f) of the Money Laundering (Prevention And Prohibition) Act and punishable under Section 19 (2) (b) of the same Act.”

Governor Abba Yusuf’s administration has filed at least eight criminal charges against his predecessor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, chair of the ruling All Progressives Congress, for allegedly stealing N5.6 billion from Kano’s coffers and taking bribes from public works contractors totalling almost half a million dollars, according to documents obtained by Peoples Gazette.

Stripped of immunity following the expiration of his governorship tenure in May 2023, Mr Ganduje is left vulnerable to answer the corruption charges preferred against him, which already has 15 witnesses willing to testify against him at the Kano High Court.

In 2018, a video surfaced which showed Mr Ganduje flashing a broad smile as he stashed wads of American dollars in his babanriga, a long, flowing, traditional embroidered robe commonly worn by men in the northern region. The outfit is known to have deep, large pockets.

The video, posted by Daily Nigerian in 2018 but with a 2017 timestamp, went viral and sparked an uproar across the nation as it cemented claims that state governors often took large commissions from the contracts awarded to companies vying for government projects.

Mr Ganduje denied being in the video, claiming it was “cloned.”

Per the constitutional immunity he enjoyed as a sitting governor until his tenure was up last May, he could neither be investigated nor prosecuted. The federal government that handles the prosecution of corruption cases has been reluctant to bring charges because it has been under the control of Mr Ganduje’s party.

However, his successor, Mr Yusuf, a candidate of the rival New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), seems determined to bring Mr Ganduje to book as the Kano government is now exploring legal channels to prosecute the former governor and all persons listed as his conspirators including his wife Hafsat and son, Umar Abdullahi.

The three companies that allegedly benefited from the stolen funds and linked to his family members were also listed as sixth to eighth defendants in the suit dated April 3.

The Kano government, represented by a team of four lawyers led by Y.A. Adamu, was listed as the only complainant in the suit.

According to the Kano government, Mr Ganduje received $200,000 in January 2016 and another $213,000 in February 2017 in kickbacks from contractors selected for “the remodelling of Kantin Kwari textile market.”

Between September 2020 and March 2021, Mr Ganduje diverted N1.4 billion meant to purchase face masks “and other hospital equipment for the health sector” for his personal use in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Yusuf’s government alleged.

Sometime around March 2021, Mr Ganduje was accused of forcefully acquiring 501 “high density plots” from “peasant farmers” which he sold for N700 million and deposited the proceeds into the account of BDC operator Vision Steel Link Limited.

According to court documents, the APC chair arranged for the dollar equivalent of the N700 million to be paid into his son’s account.

Another charge instituted against the former governor was that he deliberately sold the Kano cotton ginnery valued at N750 million at a discounted rate of N320 million through a proxy managed by his immediate family, thereby shortchanging the state government and the people.

Further complicating the ginnery sale was that the proceeds were not remitted to the state account, as stated in the document detailing Mr Ganduje’s charges.

Witnesses, including bank employees privy to the fraudulent transactions, a forensic expert who analysed the bribery footage, and contractors who said they gave Mr Ganduje percentages of Kano contract awards, have affirmed their willingness to submit oral and written testimonies against the ex-governor in court.

The case marks the beginning of turbulent waters for Mr Ganduje, who seems to be settling into his role as APC chair after being passed over for a ministerial position due to his bribery-tainted persona.