Ibori Sues EFCC For N10BN

The former governor of Delta State, James Ibori has filed a law suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at the Federal High Court, Asaba, Delta State, asking for N10 billion in damages, for alleged “libel, unlawful harassment and twisted falsehood” by the anti-graft agency.

Ibori, in his suit, is also seeking an order restraining the EFCC from further publishing or causing to be published, any libellous publication against him.

This is just as the EFCC yesterday debunked reports that Justice I.N. Buba of the Asaba High Court had issued an order restraining the anti-graft agency from arresting Ibori.

Also yesterday, the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Okonta, along with his principal officials condemned EFCC for declaring Ibori wanted.
The EFCC had on Tuesday declared Ibori wanted for failing to honour its invitation over allegations of fraud being investigated by the agency.

In response, Ibori said he was not on the run and that the Asaba High Court had restrained the commission and its officers from arresting him pending the determination of the substantive motion on notice.

However, the EFCC in its statement yesterday said the alleged court injunction restraining it from arresting Ibori was a fraud.
The EFCC said it had made enquiries from the judge and the court to know whether such order was given and that the response it got was that “no such order was issued by either the judge or the court.”

The statement signed by Femi Babafemi, the commission’s spokesman stated further: “The court only directed the applicants to put the commission on notice while it refused to grant any interim injunction as sought.
“Besides, up till now, no one has served the EFCC any court order; if it is true that one was granted.”

The anti-graft agency urged members of the public to disregard reports on the said restraining order, “as it does not exist.”
Based on this, the EFCC asked Ibori to “come out of hiding and honour the commission’s invitation.”
But the Delta State House of Assembly speaker said EFCC’s action against Ibori “is unacceptable, against the principles of fair hearing and a gross violation of the doctrine of the rule of law.”

Okonta, at a press briefing in Asaba said: “I must confess that an institution like EFCC must comply with the rule of law. This is an obvious violation of the rule of law.
“You are all aware that Ibori was invited to appear on April 17. Today is April 16 and he has already been declared wanted. Is that fair?

“We are condemning the action of EFCC for not following due process and the rule of law.
“We are not saying EFCC should not do its job. What we are saying is for them to comply with due process.
“If you invite an individual to appear before you for an interview, you must allow the time to expire before declaring him wanted.

This obvious violation of laid dawn rules is unacceptable to us.”
Okonta also lambasted Chief Edwin Clark, an Ijaw leader, for allegedly “creating acrimony within the state.”
He added: “The action of E.K. Clark is not only unbearable but unfortunate. That at his age, he is still busy destroying a house (state) he should be helping to build.”

Meanwhile, in his statement of claim in the N10 billion suit filed on April 15 against the EFCC, Ibori averred that the EFCC on April 13, 2010, distributed offensive publications to various electronic and print media houses with wide readership and viewing audience covering Nigeria and overseas.

He also averred that the EFCC posted the offensive publication on the Internet and distributed to websites, thereby libelling him.
He claimed that on the same morning of the 13th of April, various television stations, including but not limited to Channels Television, immediately commenced repeated broadcast of the defamatory words contained in the press release issued and distributed by the defendant declaring the plaintiff a wanted person.

He argued that the broadcast was viewed by members of the public including numerous prominent citizens of Delta State, members of the plaintiff’s family and community, his political associates and by persons within and outside Nigeria.
Ibori in the statement of claim stated that he was immediately inundated with telephone calls and visits from persons who viewed the broadcast of the press release and visited to find out why the plaintiff was on the run from the defendant’s officers who were allegedly looking for him.

He averred that he was not on the run and it was false that the alleged ‘letters of invitation’ referred to in the defendant’s offensive publication were sent to the plaintiff before he was declared a wanted person.

Ibori held that he had previously been investigated and arraigned for a 170-count charge, which was quashed via the ruling delivered by the Federal High Court, Asaba on 17th December 2009.
Continuing the former governor claimed that at 16.20 hours in the evening of the 13th of April, and about 8 hours after the defendant declared the plaintiff a wanted person, one Mike Anibogu, an official of the defendant delivered a letter dated 22nd March, 2010 at the plaintiff’s residence in Lagos requesting the plaintiff to come to its office in Abuja for an interview on 17th April, 2010, which is four clear days from the date on which the defendant declared that the plaintiff was a wanted person it was looking for.

He stated that the next day being the 14th of April, the offensive words published and distributed to the media by the defendant was carried as headline news by several newspapers including but not limited to Vanguard, The Punch, THISDAY and The Guardian.

“The false, malicious and reckless words published by the defendant referred directly to the plaintiff and the words in their ordinary meaning are very clear and understood to mean that the plaintiff is a fugitive from the law.

“The defendant’s publication lowered the plaintiff in the public estimation,” claimed Ibori
Ibori claimed the EFCC exposed him to public odium, ridicule, disdain, hatred and lowered his integrity in the estimation of right-thinking members of the society.

He claimed his family and social life, business and political career have been adversely affected by EFCC’s publication.
He therefore asked the court for a declaration that the EFCC publication dated 13th April, 2010 headlined: “Why We Are Looking For Ibori – EFCC” was predicated on twisted falsehood, is libelous, and defamatory of the plaintiff.
He is also asking for N10 billion as damages for the libel published by the EFCC.
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Chelsea Desperate To Avoid Arsenal Mistake

Tottenham has already ended the title challenge of one of their London rivals this week, on Saturday it looks to put a dent in the hopes of another as Chelsea visits White Hart Lane.

Carlo Ancelotti‘s side may be four points clear of Manchester United in second place, but the players know they are going to have to be on top of their game to take anything from a Spurs side who outplayed North London neighbours Arsenal on Wednesday.

Tottenham, set on its way by a wonder goal from teenager Danny Rose, won the game 2-1 to record its first Premier League victory over the Gunners since November 1999. The damaging defeat left Arsene Wenger‘s side six points off the pace and contemplating a fifth successive season without a trophy.

While it is true that the title is now Chelsea‘s to lose, this match and the other remaining away game at Liverpool will offer the toughest of tests.

Ancelotti, though, refuses to look beyond the task of taking points from Tottenham. The Chelsea manager told the club‘s official website: ”We don‘t want to look to the other teams, now the Premier League is in our hands and we have to stay calm, play game by game and we are not interested in the other teams.”
 

US: Abdulmutallab Changed Our Approach to Aviation Security

The United States has said  the botched Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound American aircraft by a Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has changed its approach to aviation security.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, who made the remarks yesterday at the National Press Club, Washington DC, said since then organisations like the  National Counterterrorism Center and the FBI have been pushing a lot of information overseas so that individuals at foreign airports could have the opportunity to have the benefit of intelligence reports on terrorists and their modes of operation.

While noting that US had been making plans for the purchase and deployment of advanced imaging technology  (body scanners) before the attack,  she added:  “A lot of what we are doing right now, quite frankly, is because of what happened on Christmas Day.

“But I think (the events of that) Christmas Day put a very stark reminder in people's minds about the fact that aviation continues to be the target of threats, and that the new kinds of threats don't necessarily involve large-scale conspiracies that take months, if not years, to prepare - but displaying individuals who are carrying, not things that are metal that can be picked up in a magnetometer, but powders or liquids or gels that could be detonated in an airplane.

“Putting those materials in harder-to-find locations, making greater use of individuals who don't fit what we think of as a terrorist profile, they may have no derogatory information about them in any intelligence file.

“For example, we are seeing the use of women and the recruitment of women for these kinds of missions, which is also a change. So it's an ever-evolving world that we deal with, and an ever-evolving threat situation.”
Napolitano revealed that because Abdulumutallab was able to scale through checks  in Nigeria and Amsterdam, before trying to detonate a bomb on the Detroit bound plane,  President Barack Obama ordered an immediate review of  what went wrong that enabled Abdulmutallab get on the plane and possibly kill not just himself but individuals from 17 other countries.

According to the secretary, what went wrong was twofold: “One was he wasn't on the right watch lists. There was information, but because of some practices in the watch listing community, he didn't make it onto what's called the selectee list or the no-fly list - the two lists that are actually pushed abroad before someone boards a plane.

 “…And then, of course, the second thing that happened is that because he was not on a watch list, he wasn't given a secondary inspection. And of course, because he wasn't carrying something that was metallic, it didn't get picked up with standard screening equipment.”

Napolitano said US has been pushing more lists overseas, and domestically, in airports under its jurisdiction, it has displayed more types of different  equipment and mechanisms designed to give, in an unpredictable way, more layers of security, so that if the potential attacker gets through one, he  might not get through other layers.”

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Atiku, Oyedepo, Others Eulogise Oguntade At Book Launch

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith World Outreach a.k.a Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, were among dignitaries that praised the forthrightness of the retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice George Oguntade, at a book launch in Lagos on Friday.

At the presentation of the book titled ‘The Force of Justice‘, a review of leading and dissenting judgments of Justice Oguntade during his career on the Bench, Atiku described the retired Supreme Court Justice as ”a courageous jurist and a pacesetter, who never compromised honesty and integrity.”

The former vice president said, ”It is difficult to highlight honesty and integrity in an epoch when cowards are kings; it is difficult to promote courage when charlatans bestride the land in their borrowed robes.

”It is difficult to see the value of borrowed pride in a period when lying has become pastime of some people in power; it is very hard to understand why honesty can be the best policy. In an era when many people believe that justice can be bought and sold, it is perplexing that people would gather in Lagos, of all places, to celebrate a man who could not be bought.”

In his remarks, Bishop Oyedepo said the judiciary had a great role to play in moving the nation forward, adding that the future of the nation was largely dependent on the quality of the judiciary.

He expressed the hope that the coming elections will succeed and make the votes of the people count, warning however, that until that was done, there would be no hope for democracy.

Also among the dignitaries was the former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who stirred the hornets‘ nest when he said during his remark that Atiku ”initiated most cases at the Supreme Court.”

On this, Atiku said he went to the courts because Babangida disqualified him ”not once, not twice and eventually banned me from contesting election during his transition to democracy.”

While thanking everybody for attending the book launch, Justice Oguntade stressed the need to entrench rule of law in the country, saying without it, there would be no progress.

He observed that presently some influential people were getting away with so many things because of their status in the society, warning that there would be no progress until there was equality before the law.

Other dignitaries at the occasion included the former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha; Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu; Ewi of Ado, Oba Rufus Adejugbe Aladesanmi III; President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN; Solicitor-General of Lagos State, Mr Lawal Pedro, SAN, who represented Governor Babatunde Fashola; former NBA President, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN; Editor-in-Chief of the book, Mr. Dele Adesina, SAN, and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo.
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Thai Protest Leaders To Surrender To Police

Lawyers for the protesters sent letters to the Thai government saying that 24 members of the group would turn themselves in, leader Weng Tojirakarn said.

Those turning themselves in have been named on arrest warrants and were wanted by Thai police.

Three of the people surrendering to police embarrassed the Thai government earlier this week during a botched raid. The three were able to elude security forces who had them surrounded in a Bangkok hotel.

The three men were lowered from a third-floor window on a rope and fled in a waiting truck as a large group of protesters cheered.

The escape was captured by television cameras and prompted Thailand's prime minister to hand over security operations to the military.
Video: Thailand cracks down on protesters
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"The important problem now is the terrorism," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said, referring to what authorities say is a terrorist group mixing among protesters. He spoke in a televised broadcast after three days of silence amid the tumult in his country.

At least 23 people were killed in deadly police-protester clashes last weekend, the Bangkok Emergency Medical Service said. More than 850 others were wounded in the clashes, the service said.

Are you there? Share your story, images

The protesters, known as red shirts for the clothes they wear, have been demanding for weeks that the prime minister dissolve the parliamentary body and call new elections.

In addition, the group wants the prime minister to leave the country.

If the 64-year-old party is dissolved, its senior leaders -- including Abhisit -- will be banned from politics for five years. The process can take up to six months.

The anti-government group comprises supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006.

CNN's Kocha Olarn contributed to this report.
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N10bn Amnesty Fund In Jeopardy

The Presidency may have ordered an audit of the finances of the Amnesty Implementation Programme, following a revelation by some members of the committee that the initial N10bn released by the Federal Government for their activities may have been frittered away.

Already, members of the various sub-committees have been trading words over how about N600m of the budget was spent.

Saturday Punch learnt authoritatively in Abuja on Thursday that there were strong fears that funds meant for effective implementation of the programme for repentant militants in the Niger Delta had been diverted.

Some members of the various sub-committees of the programme and leaders of the Niger Delta region have called for an audit of the finances.

A source said that about N600m was believed to be unaccounted for from the funds provided for effective prosecution of the post-amnesty programme. The source added that members of the committees were angry that their chairmen claimed that the huge amount was spent on some militant leaders (names withheld).

The source further added that an alarming sum of N175m was said to have been spent on lunch alone by the former managers of the amnesty programme.

Also, there were allegations that the immediate past Minister of Defence, Major. Gen. Godwin Abbe (rtd), did not carry the various sub-committee members along in the disbursement of funds for their activities.

Efforts made by our correspondent to get the total amount of money spent on the amnesty programme since President Umaru Yar‘Adua declared it for the then Niger Delta militants in July last year were unsuccessful.

The voluntary surrender of arms and ammunition by the militants to embrace the amnesty ended on October 4 last year. Although the Presidency announced an initial take off grant of N50bn for the amnesty, on July 30, 2009, the Senate approved only a budget of N10bn for the Presidential Committee on the Amnesty Programme chaired by Abbe.

The source said since the initial release of N450m for the commencement of the amnesty activities by the former National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Sarki Muktar (rtd), members were kept in the dark about further release of funds.

It was learnt that funds for their activities, which included disarmament, re-integration and rehabilitation of the militants, were released from the Central Bank to Unity Bank Plc to Skye Bank before its final destination in the United Bank for Africa Plc.

The Inter Agency Coordinating Committee, headed by Air Vice Marshal Lucky Aralile (rtd), was said to have with the UBA its account for the monthly payment of stipends to the militants in their various rehabilitation camps.

It was further gathered that members of the various committees were always worried whenever the ex-militants broke loose from their camps protesting the delay in the payment of their stipends.

The source alleged that the payment delays occurred because the funds budgeted to pay the about 10,000 repentant militants were diverted, resulting in threats and in some cases, rampage by the repentant militants.

”Well, what I know is that N50bn was approved and N10bn was released. But I don‘t know how the money was spent. The funds meant for amnesty was spent in total exclusion of our people.

”A lot of money was approved and released by the government, but the leaders of the groups and some of the military personnel were eating the money. I can tell you that the boys were not getting what was meant for them.

”That informed the decision to bring in the banks to handle the payment of the allowances for the militants,” the source said.

The source further alleged that before the resort to bank payments for the militants undergoing rehabilitation, their leaders would just present their lists to the Presidential Committee and collect the monies without necessarily giving a breakdown of what was due to the boys.

It was learnt that it was this state of confusion and lack of accountability that compelled the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to create five different committees on December 16 last year out of the Presidential Committee chaired by Abbe.

The committees included the one on Modalities for the Involvement of the Host Communities in the ownership of Petroleum Assets, Disarmament, Rehabilitation and Reintegration, Oil and Gas Asset Protection and Environmental Clean-up Remediation Committee.

By the new arrangement, the five committees were to receive their funds from the supervising committee headed by Abbe.

Contacted on Thursday on how much the Federal Government released to his committee and how much was spent, Abbe said angrily on the telephone, ”Go to the Ministry of Finance. I am no longer in government. You people have been writing without seeking my reaction. Why do you want me to speak now? Go to the Ministry of Finance.”

Efforts made to get the reaction of the Chief Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme, AVM Aralile, were fruitless as his telephone rang several times without an answer.
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FG Revokes Land Allocations n Abuja

All plots improperl allocated in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory from 2007 to date have been revoked by the Federal Government, the minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed said.

The revocation, according to the minister, followed the discovery of fraudulent activities in the Abuja geography Information System and Land Department.

Mohammed said all forms of transactions, payments and transfers in respect of plots allocated within the time frame, including Development Control approvals, were suspended until further notice.

The minister said the action was taken due to the need to address the problems and abuses associated with land allocations in the FCT.

According to him, “This will enable the administration take stock of committed and uncommitted plots with a view to ensuring due process and equity as well as correct the systemic lapses.”

He blamed officials of AGIS, whom, he said, have succeeded in exploiting certain loopholes, through the Bank Draft Payment Scam, in the building system to defraud government.

Mohammed said that various file scams enabled land speculators break through the electronic system with connivance of AGIS staff to duplicate genuine allocations and obtain Certificates of Occupancy ahead of genuine applicants.

Critics have, however, suggested that the move might be a way to compensate certain cabals in government, especially as the minister refused to mention names of persons involved in various land scams.

But Mohammed said the action was not an act of vendetta against anybody.

He said, “We are doing it out of the need to provide Nigerians with the required political environment for development.

“At this stage, we can’t mention the names of AGIS staff involved. We can’t say how much of money was defrauded until we get to a certain level in the investigation.

“The land given to me as senator, if it is wrongly allocated, I will revoke it. Nobody should take this regime for granted. We are not here for cheap publicity or personal aggrandisement.”
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Goalkeepers Who Wear Red Save Twice As Many Penalties -Study

A new research reveals that strikers are
A new research reveals that strikers are A new research reveals that strikers are twice as likely to miss the net if the goalkeeper is in red.

The colour‘s primeval links with danger and dominance appear to put the striker at a disadvantage, causing him to perform worse, according to Daily Mail, quoting sports psychologists.

Dr Iain Greenlees, a reader in sports psychology, and researcher Michael Eynon at the University of Chichester looked at the performance and the expectation of success in a unique experiment.

They asked 40 university footballers to take penalties against the same goalkeepers wearing blue, green, yellow, and red strips.

Each striker took a total of 10 penalties against a goalkeeper wearing either a blue, yellow, green or red shirt.

Footballers were asked to estimate how many penalties out of 10 they would score and give a confidence rating for their estimate.

The researchers found that, although there was no difference in how many goals a striker thought he would score, the fewest number of goals were scored against a goalie in red where there was a 54 per cent success rate.

This was followed by a 69 per cent success rate against a goalie in a yellow shirt, with no difference between blue and green where success rates were 72 per cent and 75 per cent.

Altogether seven and a half penalties, on average, succeeded when the goalie was wearing a blue, yellow or green shirt. But only five went in the back of the net when the goalkeeper was in red.

This suggests the striker was only half as likely to get past a red-shirted goalie.

The findings were presented Friday at the British Psychological Society‘s annual conference in Stratford on Avon.

The psychologists believe the colour red may have an unconscious influence on the perception of failure by strikers, causing them to feel more anxious.

Greenlees said ‘We have evolved to associate red with danger dominance or anger - there is a biological basis fror this explanation.

‘Red is also a cultural signal for danger, it‘s used in traffic signals and other areas to alert to a threat.

‘At times of great stress we will pay more attention to threats in our environment, and red is more distracting which can affect the performance of the striker.‘

Greenlees said there was another possible reason - wearing a red shirt might boost the performance of the goalie because ‘he feels more dominant‘ and even change his levels of testosterone.

He said ‘These findings lend support to the idea that red clothing could give a sportsperson or team a small but meaningful advantage in a competitive encounter.

‘It also has implications for sports in which a competitor is assigned a coloured corner randomly, like boxing and martial arts in the Olympics.‘

Greenless hoped the findings might help England in some small way this summer.

‘If you are looking to leave no stone unturned then there is potential in putting red somewhere in the kit colour, in gloves or even shoes‘ he added.