Magu writes CJN, seeks transfer of all corruption cases from Justice Binta Nyako

The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has written to the Chief Justice of
the Federation, Walter Onnoghen, requesting that all EFCC court
cases being handled by Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court
Abuja, be reassigned to another judge in a bid to obtain fair
judgement.

EFCC prosecuting counsel, Onjefu Obe, told the court about Mr
Magu’s letter to CJN on November 21 during the trial of the quartet
of Umar Audu Bida, Truth Igogori, Ifenyinwa Nwankwesiri and
Ogechukwu Obaji. They are being prosecuted by the EFCC over their
complicity in a $1million fraud.

According to Mr Obe, the concern of the commission to reassign
all EFCC cases before Justice Nyako, borders on likely bias on part
of the trial judge, considering the fact that the EFCC was also
prosecuting her husband, Murtala Nyako, a former Adamawa State
governor for alleged fraud.

The EFCC had in 2017 arraigned the defendants before Justice
Nyako on a nine-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery and
obtaining by false pretence to the tune of $1million. They
allegedly defrauded Donald Latella of North Park LLC of the said
sum in a business deal involving the supply of about two million
barrels of Bonny Light Crude Oil.

The offence contravenes Section 8 (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud
and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under
Section 1 (3) of the same Act.

They were arraigned alongside four companies: Universal
Contractors, Lambda Energy Services Limited, Double Wonder Concept
Limited, and ICS Energy Services Limited.

They had pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.

According to Obe, he had come to court fully prepared with the
prosecution witnesses to proceed with the case. But very
unfortunately, the case (FHC/ABJ/C12/ 266/16), was not listed in
the court’s schedule for today as it is yet to be reassigned to
another court.”

Counsel for the second defendant, Solomon Agada, also lamented
that his client usually travels from Lagos to Abuja for the case.
He therefore urged the court to intervene and called for the speedy
reassignment of the case in order for the case to proceed.

Both counsel however agreed to await the reassignment of the
case and thereafter mutually agree on the next possible
adjournment.

Related

Health: FG Unveils 2018 NNHS Report
The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health has
unveiled and disseminated the 2018 National Nutrition and Health
Survey (NNHS)/SMART Survey report.

Speaking at the dissemination meeting recently in Abuja, the
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, said that the Report
being the third after the first and second in 2014 and 2015
respectively was to further demonstrate the Federal Government’s
strong commitment towards strengthening data collection and
utilization which was an essential aspect of the ‘’Saving One
Million Lives Programme for Results’ (SOML-PforR).

The Minister informed that the NNHS was to provide up-to-date
information on the situation of Health and Nutrition as well as
measure the SOML-PforR key indicators and other health related
indicators with particular focus on six key priority indicators
that required immediate action: Skilled birth Attendance,
Immunization/Pent A3, Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, Vitamin A,
PMTCT, Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets (ITNS).

Consequently, Adewole noted that available reports from recent
assessment of the states showed some improvement from the previous
assessments though there were still few challenges which he said
could be resolved through continuous liaising with the National
Programme Management Unit of the SOML-PforR.

The Minister also informed that the Health Ministry had procured
some ‘Ready-to Use Therapeutic Foods’ (RUTF) in partnership with
UNICEF for the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in six
selected States. 12,000 cartons of the RUTF were handed over to
States with the highest burden of Acute Malnutrition. The States
included: Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Edo, Osun, as well as FCT who
got 5,000 cartons. The Six States were picked from 12 States with
the highest burden of malnutrition selected from the six
geopolitical zones of the country based on their readiness to
participate in the programme.

Commending the SOML-PforR for using statistics to monitor her
programme and decision making, the Statistician General of
Federation, National Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Yemi Kale, noted
that since inception of the survey, the data quality had improved
judging by the data quality score. This, he attributed to adequate
training and use of electronic data tools, which he said eliminated
error.

Speaking on behalf of the Health sector Development Partners,
the Representative of the Country Director, World Bank, Dr.
Benjamin, described the report as a great accomplishment by the
Nigerian Government, in that, every decision based on data ensured
sustainable development in every strata of an economy. He further
advised that the Survey should be conducted annually.

The Country Representative of UNICEF, Mohammed Malinfa, said
that Nutrition was the foundation of life. He therefore appealed to
Federal Ministry of Health to release more funds for the purchase
of the RUTF and other Nutrition commodities. This would go a long
way in building a sustainable human capital which according to him
was the greatest asset of any Nation.

The report was made possible by the successful collaboration of
the Federal Ministry of Health through the ‘Saving One Million
Lives Programme for Results (SOML-PforR), National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), National Population Commission (NPopC) and
UNICEF.