CAN: CAMA 2020 is satanic and ungodly

The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has described the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 (CAMA) as “satanic”, “ungodly” and a “time-bomb waiting to explode”, saying it rejects government control of churches and worship centers.

The body also said the CAMA 2020 will “snuff life out of the church and rank the church as a secular institution under secular control.”

Newsmen report that President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Companies and Allied Matters Bill 2020 into law on August 7, 2020, after the National Assembly successfully amended the 1990 law

CAN President, Reverend Samson Ayokunle in a statement Thursday said, “The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria rejects outrightly the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 that was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari recently.

“The law, to say the least, is unacceptable, ungodly, reprehensible, and an ill-wind that blows no one any good. It is a time bomb waiting to explode.

“While we are not against the government fighting corruption wherever it may be found, yet we completely reject the idea of bringing the church, which is technically grouped among the NGOs, under control of the government.

“The Church cannot be controlled by the government because of its spiritual responsibilities and obligations.”

“How can the government sack the trustee of a church which it contributed no dime to establish?

“How can a secular and political minister be the final authority on the affairs and management of another institution which is not political?

“How can a non-Christian head of government ministry be the one to determine the running of the church? It is an invitation to trouble that the government does not have power to manage.”

Can therefore advised the federal government to “face the business of providing infrastructure for the people. Let them focus on better health provision, food, education, adequate security employment, etc.

“The government should not be a busy body in a matter that does not belong to it. The government does not have the technical expertise to run the church of God because of its spiritual nature.

“If the government is bent on imposing a law on us which the entire Church in Nigeria is against, then, they have declared war on Christianity and the agenda to destroy the Church which we have spoken against before now is coming to the open more clearly.

“If you cannot give us good amenities of life, we would not allow you to take away our liberty to worship our Maker.”

The body counseled the president to “stop the implementation of the obnoxious and ungodly law until the religious institutions are exempted from it” and “return the law to the National Assembly for immediate amendment.”

Source: Today.ng

PTF: 14 medical doctors die of virus infection in Nigeria

The Presidential Taskforce PTF on Covid-19 has blamed Nigerians for the continued non-compliance with Covid-19 safety protocols, saying it would have flattened the curve by now, but for the lackadaisical attitude of Nigerians towards containing the pandemic.

It also lamented the increasing Covid-19 case fatalities in the country, disclosing that of the 985 deaths recorded so far, 14 of them were medical doctors who contracted the virus in the line of duty.

“In coordinating this national response, I can assure you that our biggest challenge has been the attitude of some Nigerians. That is our biggest challenge. Everything to fight Covid-19 has been placed out our disposal. We arrested the 2020 budget and got it revised, all in an attempt to deal with the financial means in fighting Covid-19.

“We are not in short of any resources to fight Covid-19. We have coordinated a national response that took in everybody that matters in this country. The corporate world through CA-COVID has amassed a huge war-chest of resources.

“So, our major challenge as a Presidential Taskforce has been the attitude of some Nigerians. With our response, we would have flattened the curve. We would have dampened this ravaging virus by now if we had just complied with simple instructions and that brings me to a major thing which was aptly demonstrated yesterday when I presented a memorandum to the president for the introduction of a National Policy on Ethics and Integrity. Most of us think that as Nigerians we only have rights but there are corresponding responsibilities that you are expected to exhibit as a citizen of the country.

“This morning, Nigerians woke up to the stark reality that our confirmed cases of COVID-19 have crossed the 50,000 marks standing at 50,488 and a death toll of 985 bringing us close to the unenviable record of 1,000 fatalities. These records are not landmarks to be celebrated especially as every single death further underscores the grief and pains of families and friends, scuttled lives that could have contributed to national development and abridging God’s purpose for the lost soul. This is aptly demonstrated by the fact that 14 of these paid the supreme sacrifice as they were doctors who toiled daily to save lives”, said Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the Taskforce and Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF.

Mustapha who disclosed this during Thursday’s briefing of the Taskforce said the coronavirus continues to display unpredictable characteristics that show its relentless nature on populations that disregard common and simple protective measures.

He said it would be extremely selfish for Nigerian youths to continue to flout the safety protocols and carry on without sparing a thought for their safety and those of the vulnerable.

“Such behaviour has been amplified in the surge in some states of the United States of America. Similarly, this unpredictability is reflected in the last twenty-four hours when Plateau State witnessed the highest daily number of confirmed cases.

“In the last two days, the World Health Organisation WHO had issued warnings on Vaccine Nationalism and that young people are aiding the spread of the virus. The latter is more germane for us as Nigerians with our over 80% youthful population and should give us more cause to be on our guard. It would border on extreme selfishness for our youths to believe that since they are asymptomatic carriers they can carry on with life as they please. More so that being asymptomatic does not guarantee immunity forever. The PTF is, however, encouraged by the fact that majority of our youths are in the vanguard of this fight and still call on the few non-conforming ones to join”, he said.

According to the SGF, Nigeria’s testing infrastructure has been increased to undertake up to 15,000 tests per day, but unfortunately, Nigeria is currently testing between 3,000 to 6,000 daily due mainly to people still not subjecting themselves to testing.

The government explained that the increasing number of cases from Plateau state was due to an improvement in testing, saying a lot of people are now being tested daily in the state.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika who reiterated the decision of the federal government to commence international flights as from August 29, adding that Nigeria would implement the principle of reciprocity with countries who have barred Nigerians from flying into their countries.

He said Nigeria will treat citizens of other countries the way their home countries treat Nigerian citizens, saying those who have barred flights from Nigeria would not also be allowed into the country

Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the Federal Government is working with relevant partners to be able to access vaccines when they are eventually developed.

“Nigeria is also working with the World Health Organization to finalize enrollment with ACT Accelerator, a global mechanism tracking and sponsoring research Organizations working on covid19 vaccine development. We are also interested in the COVAX facility, a GAVI supported global initiative to procure and assure equitable access to vaccines, as soon as they are available, especially for Lower and lower middle-Income Countries (LMIC). This will prioritize Nigeria for allocation of a part of 2 billion vaccines doses that will be secured, in a special plan to protect the interests of poorer countries”.

Source: Today.ng

Teacher ‘defiles’ 15-year-old pupil in Nasarawa State

Mr Alaga Solomon Ari, a teacher with Sudan United Mission (S.U.M) Primary School, Agwatashi, Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, has been arrested for allegedly defiling a 15-year-old pupil of the school.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Ramhan Nansel confirmed the incident.

A source who pleaded anonymity said that the teacher in question is fond of defiling underaged girls in the community.

“The suspect is happily married and has children but he’s fond of defiling people’s children. This is the fourth time he did such a thing since he returned from Lagos State,” he revealed.

It was gathered that Mr Ari allegedly sent the victim to get a broom from a classroom after the school closing hour, when he followed her and unlawfully defiled her.

It was further gathered that the act was reported to the LGA Chairman Muhammad Iymoyga Oyigye who immediately informed the police and ordered for his arrest.

According to the PPRO, “On 16/08/20, at about 0745hrs, a case of rape was reported, that one Alaga Solomon had on 14-8-2020 lured and unlawfully had canal knowledge of a 15 year old girl at Agwatashi, Obi LGA of Nasarawa State”.

“Upon receipt of the information, the Police went after the suspect and arrested him”

“The Commissioner of Police, Bola Longe has directed that the case be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department in Lafia for thorough investigation,” he said.

Mr Alaga Solomon Ari, is currently in custody while investigation is being carried out to unravel the incident.

Source: Today.ng

TUC begs police IG to release the report of a rape allegation against Kogi commissioner

The Trade Union Congress (TUC), has urged the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, not to sweep under the carpet the rape case allegedly levelled against the Kogi State Commissioner for Water Resources, Hon. Abdumumini Danga.

The Kogi State Chairman of the TUC, Comrade Ranti Ojo, made the call yesterday during a peaceful protest in Lokoja that was tagged “Say no to Rape and all forms of Gender-Based Violence.”

Ojo lamented that the Nigerian Police under the leadership of Adamu has failed to tell the country the outcome of their investigation five months after the former Miss Kogi made the allegation, which drew public condemnation from far and near.

He described rape as a grievous offence, which should be condemned in its entirety no matter how highly placed the culprit might be in the society and noted that the commissioner must be punished in accordance with the law if found guilty of the alleged offence.

“We are here to lend our voices against rape in Kogi State and Nigeria in general. Collectively, we must stop rape because it is a sin against God and does not speak well of humanity.

“I’m calling on the government and institutions that are saddled with the responsibility, to implement stiffer punishment against every culprit that is involved in rape no matter how highly placed he may be.

Ojo said: “In Kogi State, it was alleged that the Commissioner for Water Resources, Hon. Abdumumini Danga raped a lady. Up till this moment, the public has been kept in the dark. Let me make this passionate appeal to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Muhammed Adamu that this case must not be swept under the carpet.

“The IG must investigate this case and tell Nigerians what the outcome is. If the commissioner is found wanting, he must face the full wrath of the law.”

Similarly, the Executive Director of Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, Mr Idris Miliki, said: “Rape and assault perpetrated by anybody is a criminal offence under the Nigeria Law and should not be accepted.

“It is condemnable irrespective of whoever is involved and wherever it takes place or is carried out under any circumstance. Research has shown clearly that women are the victims of rape while men are the perpetrators. We need to have a collaborative agenda against rape.

“There is one fundamental issue I want the TUC, the NAWOJ and the FIDA to look into. What happened to the case of alleged rape by a government official in Kogi State? Where are we now on the matter? Are we going to allow the matter to die a natural death like many others? We won’t allow this.

“It is more worrisome when a government official, in the calibre of a serving commissioner, could be alleged to have been involved in such criminal activities.”

Earlier, the Chairperson of the Women Commission of the TUC, Kogi State Chapter, Mrs Margaret Bose Adeika, appealed to the federal government to enact a law that would put rapists in jail for thirty years.

Adeika observed that underage girls and ladies are no longer safe due to the high rate of rape cases in the country today.

Source: Today.ng

Ghana Demolishes Nigeria’s Diplomatic Building in their country

Adedayo Akinwale The federal government has demanded an urgent action from Ghana over the attack on the Nigerian High Commission in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. Armed men had invaded the commission in Accra to supervise the demolition of a building under construction by the high commission. The attack violates the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

Source: list.ng

Five dead in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway accident

The Ogun Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps said five persons died while one was injured on Thursday in an accident after Sagamu Interchange, on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi, the Ogun Public Relations Officer of TRACE, disclosed this in a statement made available in Ota, Ogun.

Akinbiyi said the multiple accident, which happened about 9.30 a.m., was caused by reckless driving and wrongful overtaking.

He said three vehicles comprising a Daf tanker with no registration number, a Benz truck marked FST 340 XW, and a Mazda space bus marked GGE 296 DC, were involved in the accident.

The TRACE official said five persons died while one sustained injuries in the accident.

“The corpses of victims have been deposited at Idera Hospital morgue, Sagamu, while the survivor is also receiving treatment in the same hospital,” he said.

Akinbiyi said that the three vehicles involved in the accident had been taken to Police MTD Area Command, Sagamu, Ogun.

He advised motorists to refrain from reckless driving and wrongful overtaking that could lead to unnecessary loss of lives.

Akinbiyi condoled with the family members of those that lost their lives in the multiple accident

Source: Today.ng

Senate uncovers alleged multi-billion naira fraud in NTA

The Senate said it has uncovered an alleged multi-billion naira fraud in the joint venture operations between the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and a Chinese Satellite Pay TV, StarTimes.

The allegation was made through the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning, which is currently considering the details of the 2021-2023 MTEF & FSP documents, scrutinised the spending and expenditure of the Nigerian Television Authority for 2021.

The Senate Panel was amazed to discover that the multi-billion naira deal with StarTimes was not captured anywhere in the documents submitted to it as presented by the Director-General, Mallam Mohammed Yakubu.

Trouble started for NTA after the Chairman of the Senate Panel, Solomon Olamilekan asked why NTA was blocking StarTimes from being registered with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). Responding, Yakubu denied the allegation; stressing that NTA couldn’t have blocked StarTimes as it was currently in a Joint Venture Agreement with the company.

The DG’s statement prompted further questions from the Senate Panel as they asked to know how much NTA had earned from the Joint Venture with StarTimes over the years. The Senate Panel suspicious at that point demanded to see records of what NTA generates from production, adverts and documentaries.

It also asked that NTA should return on Monday with its debt profile containing the names of its debtors, the date, and the amount incurred as well as the name of the official who authorised it for publication.  The NTA entered the Joint Venture with StarTimes in 2010 with a sharing ratio of 70-30 in favour of the Beijing based company.

Irked by NTA’s outing, the panel ordered that henceforth all revenue-generating agencies of government should remit all their earnings into the Consolidated Revenue Funds out of which their cost of the collection will be given to them. This, the panel said will shore up revenue for the government as well as block wastages in the system.

Six suspected Members of Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps was paraded over secret cult activities – CP Odumosu

Police operatives from State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos have commenced investigation to unravel how members of secret cults were recruited into the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps, LNSC by the agency’s management.

Operatives of state criminal investigation and intelligence department, SCIID,Panti,Yaba,Lagos state command, have commenced investigation on how members of secret cult were recruited into the Lagos Neighborhood Safety Corps,LNSC .

It was followed by arrest of six officers of LNSC,at intelligence unit in Ejigbo Division, who were later transferred to SCIID for interrogation over membership of a secret cult known as Aiye.

According to a sources at SCIID, Panti said that the six suspects are:Ololade Fayoda, Abass Idris, Waisu Olayinka, Ajetunmobi Seyi, Adeleke Azeez and Adeosun Michael, who are under interrogation on how they were recruited into the agency .

Through the confessional statements of the suspects may have linked some Senior officers, who were said to have known that the suspects and other engaged the agency were members of secret cults.

Our reporter gathered that bobbing boasts in June when operatives from Ejigbo Division led by CSP Olabisi Okuwobi, received intelligences that some members of Eiye and Aiye cults were having meeting at Jakande Estate on how to carry out reprisal attack against themselves.

The officer stormed the place and made arrest of the leader, Adebona Godwin a.k.a Small and 13 others ,while some members escape

During interrogation, some officers of the LNSC were mentioned and they were arrested and transferred to the SCIID Panti for further investigation and have confessed their involvement.

The suspects were among the suspects paraded by the Commissioner of Police, Mr Hakeem Odumosu, during the week at the State Command, Ikeja, Lagos.
The Police boss reiterated the preparedness of the Command to fish out any criminal within the State and stated that the suspects will be charged to Court after the conclusion of the investigations.

Salami Panel: Magu Seeks Access To All Petitions Against Him

The suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu has reached to the Salami panel to grant him access to all the petitions against him.

The embattled EFCC boss noted that the only way he could get a fair hearing is when the relevant documents are made available to him.

In an August 20, 2020 letter to the commission, which is headed by Justice Isa Ayo Salami, Magu said he made the demands in line with Section 36(6) (a) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

There were indications that Magu might be directed to open his defence next week.

The letter was sent through his counsel, Mr. Wahab Shittu, who claimed that the constitution says a Nigerian accused of the criminal offence be given adequate time and facility for the preparation of his defence.

The petition: “Please refer to Section 36(6) (a) (b) CFRN 1999 which provides as follows ”Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be entitled to (a) be informed promptly in the language that he understands and in details of the nature of the offence; (b) be given adequate time and facility for the preparation of his defence.

“Based on the foregoing we request ahead of the defence of our client before this judicial commission of inquiry for the following:

Copies of all presentations/petitions against our client tendered in these proceedings

Access to all exhibits tendered in these proceedings

Access to relevant case files and documents tendered In these proceedings

Any other materials that will be relevant for purposes of the defence of our client in these proceedings

“Please note that the foregoing request has become urgent and compelling in view of paragraph 5 of the instrument establishing this judicial commission of inquiry which provides as follows

“AND I hereby direct the Judicial Commission to submit its interim reports to me from time to time, but the judicial commission shall In any case submit its final report not later than forty-five days from the date of its first public sitting or within such extended period as may be authorized by me in writing”

Magu added: “We humbly request you to note that in view of the timeline stipulated above and the need to clarify the duration of the sittings and whether the appointing authority has extended the period, it is of utmost importance that access to the requested documents is granted to our client and his counsel to ensure seamless proceedings and the guarantee of fair hearing as enshrined in the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

”In spite of the foregoing, as officers in the temple of justice, we owe it a duty to reaffirm the contents of our previous letters on the legality of these proceedings and to further draw attention to the following, in the belief that having offered our principled positions on the issues, the judicial commission of inquiry will then be entitled to determine how to proceed subsequently in its absolute discretions.

He pleaded with the commission to take notice of its powers in the Tribunals of Inquiry Act 2004, especially its right to exercise of judicial powers.

He said: “We observe that this judicial commission of inquiry is headed by His Lordship, who is a respected former President of the Court of Appeal (Retired). We also observe that contrary to earlier understanding, this is not just an administrative or investigative panel but a Judicial Commission of Inquiry entitled to exercise full judicial powers as a tribunal deriving its powers and authority from the Tribunals of Inquiry Act 2004.

”Against this background, we draw attention to Section (6) (1-5) and Part IV (interpretation citation and commencement) provisions of the constitution particularly Section 318(1) thereof providing for the exercise of judicial powers by courts and tribunals and the meaning of “judicial office and judicial officer” as stated therein

“It Is Important to note that Judicial officer is a reference to the holder of any such office while “judicial office” means “the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria or a Justice of the Supreme Court, the President or Justice of the Court of Appeal, the office of the Chief Judge or a judge of the federal high court, the office of the chief judge or judge of the high court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the office of the Chief Judge of a state and Judge of the high court of a state, a Grand Khadi or Khadi of a Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, a President or Judge of the Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, a Grand Khadi or Khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of a state, or president or a judge of the Customary Court of Appeal of a state; and a reference to a “judicial officer” is a reference to the holder of any such office.

”In view of the foregoing and the status of His Lordship as a retired judicial officer heading this judicial commission of inquiry, we draw attention to this constitutional provision so that same can be taken on board by the honourable members as reflections on the legality of these proceedings and the determination on how to further proceed in the circumstances.

”Having raised this important constitutional provision, our duty as counsel is done. Please accept our best professional regards in the expectation that all of these issues will be reflected upon and our request for materials in aid of our defence graciously granted.”