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Atiku’s Appeal: CUPP ‘Leaks’ Names of Panel Members

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Opposition political parties under the aegis of the Coalition of United Political Parties on Tuesday released a list of five Justices of the Court of Appeal who it said had been approved to hear the petition of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against the results of the February 23 presidential election.

It claimed the list was approved by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, “with the endorsement of the Buhari APC.”

The coalition’s national spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja.

Ugochinyere listed members of the panel to include Bulkachuwa (presiding judge), Justice Abdu Aboki, Justice Peter Ige, Justice J. S. Ikyegh, and Justice S. C. Oseji.

He alleged that the list was drawn from a list of eight justices submitted to the Presidency for approval.

CUPPs said Bulkachuwa, Aboki and Ige should immediately recuse themselves from the panel because they were likely to be bias in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari whose victory Atiku was challenging.

He said while Bulkachuwa is a wife of a Senator-elect on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Aboki and Ige had already started by rejecting Atiku’s application for forensic analysis of the materials used for the presidential election.

He said, “It is based on the foregoing and the evidence in the custody of CUPPs that we immediately, categorically and unambiguously demand that Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, Justice Abdu Aboki and Justice Peter Ige recuse themselves from the probe.

“The intelligence at our disposal which formed the basis for all the views canvassed in this statement is that these three Justices have already given their commitment to the Presidency that they will rule in favour of the President at the tribunal, hence they cannot dispense justice.

“Justices Aboki and Peter Ige, in furtherance of this commitment, had already and very strangely so denied Alhaji Atiku Abubakar his application for forensic analysis of the materials used for the presidential election.”

He added, “We also demand that Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa recuses herself from the administrative duty of reconstituting the panel, but that should be done by an impartial senior justice of the court.

“This idea of the Villa approving list of Justices that will sit over any matter, particularly the one where the President is a party, is novel and tyranny taken too far. The President has annexed the judiciary and the hope of the common man is blighted. Nigerians must rise in defence of the judiciary and insist that justice must be done in this circumstance.

“Let the world and Nigerians tell Justice Bulkachuwa not to take Nigerians for fools and bring the judiciary to further ridicule with her plan to constitute a panel that has been briefed with one agenda, which is to stamp the electoral robbery perpetrated by her husband’s party, the APC.”

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Binance Executive Detained in Nigeria Escapes from Custody

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One of the two Binance executives detained in Nigeria for alleged tax evasion and other offences, Nadeem Anjarwalla, has escaped from lawful custody, according to PREMIUM TIMES report.

Our sources said Mr Anjarwalla, 38, escaped on Friday, 22 March, from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were detained after guards on duty led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in the spirit of the ongoing Ramadan fast.

The Briton, who also has Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airliner.

It remains unclear how Mr Anjarwalla got on an international flight despite his British passport, with which he entered Nigeria, remaining in the custody of the Nigerian authorities.

Authorities are also said to be working to unravel his intended destination in a bid to get him back into custody.

An Immigration official said the Binance executive fled Nigeria on a Kenyan passport. He, however, said authorities were trying to determine how he obtained the passport, given that he had no other travel document (apart from the British passport) on him when he was taken into custody.

Another source said the two officials were held at a “comfortable guest house” and allowed many rights, including the use of telephones, a privilege Mr Anjarwalla is believed to have exploited to plot an escape.

When contacted Sunday night on the escape of the Binance executive from detention, the Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, Zakari Mijinyawa, said he would enquire and revert. He has yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

Mr Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager, and Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance at the crypto exchange platform, were detained upon their arrival in Nigeria on 26 February 2024.

A criminal charge was filed against the two executives before a Magistrate Court in Abuja. On 28 February 2024, the court granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) an order to remand the duo for 14 days. The court also ordered Binance to provide the Nigerian government with the data/information of Nigerians trading on its platform.

Following Binance’s refusal to comply with the order, the court extended the remand of the officials for an additional 14 days to prevent them from tampering with evidence. The court then adjourned the case till 4 April 2024.

Also on 22 March, the Nigerian government approached the Federal High Court in Abuja and slammed another four-count charge on Binance Holdings Limited, Mr Anjarwalla and Mr Gambaryan, accusing them of offering services to subscribers on their platform while failing to register with the Federal Inland Revenue Service to pay all relevant taxes administered by the Service and in so doing, committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 8 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as Amended).

The defendants were also accused of offering taxable services to subscribers on their trading platform while failing to issue invoices to those subscribers to determine and pay their value-added taxes and, in so doing, committed an offence contrary to and punishable under S.29 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as amended).

Count Three of the charges accused the three defendants of offering services to subscribers on their Binance trading platform for the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies and the remittance and transfer of those assets while failing to deduct the necessary Value Added Taxes arising from their operations and thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 40 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Establishment Act 2007 (as amended).

The last count of the charges wants the defendants punished for allegedly aiding and abetting subscribers on their Binance trading platform to unlawfully refuse to pay taxes or neglect to pay those taxes and, in so doing, committing an offence contrary to and punishable under the provisions of S.94 of the Companies Income Tax Act (as amended).

The Nigerian government had, in the past three months, been cracking down on suspected money launderers and terrorism financiers, some of whom it alleged are using the Binance platform for criminal activities

The Nigerian government said over $21.6 billion was traded by Nigerians whose identities were concealed by Binance.

Source: Premium Times

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Mike Adenuga’s Gift of Foresight

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One major asset that has practically stood Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr apart is his ability to see the big picture ahead before most people do. His ability and readiness to take any risk —as seen in his foray into oil exploration and later, telecommunications— has made his business prowess and foresight.

He always tread where other investors are afraid to try. Before Adenuga’s foray into the telecom ecosystem, other companies who launched ahead of him claimed a per second billing system would not allow return on investment. But the billionaire debuted with it and changed the landscape. This is because Adenuga believes in the power of possibilities.

That Adenuga’s chutzpah gave birth to the audacious 9,800km-long Glo 1 submarine cable project.

Not a few would remember when in October 2010, against all odds, Adenuga singlehandedly brought the submarine cable initiative to bear in Nigeria.

At that time, it was an extremely intricate and expensive investment which broke the monopoly of the only epileptic one in existence owned by NITEL.

It was technology at its highest as it entailed laying submarine cables under the belly of the ocean from Europe to Lagos with landing stations in 14 African countries and further extending connectivity to all major countries in the world with a dedicated extension to the United States of America.

Adenuga, fondly called ‘The Bull’, boasted then that ‘things are no longer going to be the same again’ and indeed, things has never stayed the same ever since as Glo 1 roared to life.

Aside becoming the pivotal in propelling Glo to its enviable position and giving the telecoms giant a head start over competition, many other companies in the ICT, financial industry and other allied sectors rely on Glo 1 to boost their operations.

It’s pertinent to admit that in recent times, Adenuga’s daring move has encouraged few others to plunge into the same venture —including global brands such as Meta and Google— but Glo 1 remains the doyen.

His gift of foresight came to bear recently when Nigeria and some other African countries experienced massive internet outages following damage to international undersea cables supplying the country with connectivity.

The damage affected major undersea cables —owned by about four other companies— near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and led to internet downtime across West and South African countries. Many telecom companies and a number of banks which rely on those affected cables for internet services were badly affected by the outage.

However, Adenuga’s Glo 1 was not affected by the damage as data users, internet service providers and financial institutions which run on Glo 1 have continued to operate normally.

Industry analysts believe the sturdy nature and resilience of Glo 1 International Submarine Cable is the reason the damage did not affect the cable.

Source: http://opr.news/2477ef1e240323en_ng?link=1&client=news

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Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation Beams Light of Hope, Distributes Mobility Aids to PLWD

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By Eric Elezuo

The main hall of the Saint Micheal, Raphael and Gabriel Catholic Church, Satellite Town, Lagos, and the entire premises were bubbly with humanitarian activities as the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation of Nigeria took it upon itself to reach out to Nigerians living with disabilities with various forms of mobility aids, ranching from crutches, wheelchairs and walking sticks.

The Foundation, which has in the last eight years, since 2016, been saddled with the responsibility of caring for the less privileged and other indigent persons, also conducted free eye tests as well as gave out free medicated eyeglasses for the virtually impaired.

Speaking at the occasion, and tracing the eight years journey of the Foundation, the Founder/CEO, Mrs. Tarela Aghanti, who is also the United Kingdom Ambassador for the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Europe Chapter, noted that she was motivated to embark on the journey, which has translated to pure selflessness and humanitarian, upon discovery that her own son was not only born with the Osteogenesis Imperfecta, but was not properly diagnosed and treated, until she was opportune to take him abroad, where he received better treatment and attention. She noted that it was the need to extend the privilege her son had enjoyed that prompted her to ensure that the processes are replicated back home in Nigeria.

“The motivation was purely humanitarian, and with me having gone through that issue of having a child with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, and with everything that I went through personally for the fact that there was no awareness about it, and I didn’t know what my son had, and there was no proper medication that was recommended for my son. That got to the bottom of my heart. And when I eventually got an opportunity to give my son treatment, I felt there was a need to come back home and give back to humanity. And the reason I felt that need was because I had an opportunity of a lifetime that changed my life and my son’s life.

“My son became a human being again; my family was intact. For me, family is very important, so I felt that need to go back and breach the gap where people with Osteogenesis Imperfecta can be human, and have their own family; be united with their family and be brought up by their own parents.

“I’m so grateful that the Foundation is doing just that, and we are able to achieve even more, bring in OI professionals and specialists from the United States to conduct surgeries for these children,” Mrs Aghanti informed.

She added that humanitarian-giving by the Foundation has been sustained in eight years, and in 2024 at the very event, a total of 314 mobility aids including wheelchairs, crutches and walking canes, were given out to various categories of Osteogenesis Imperfecta patients.

In her remarks at the occasion, the Ambassador of the Foundation in Nigeria, Yeye Adenike Agnes Shobajo, expressed her delight at the selfless efforts of Mrs Aghanti and her team in giving to Nigerians, what otherwise they would not be able to access, describing her as a superwoman, who deserves a national award.

“If there are few individuals in this country, who deserve to be honoured on the national scale, Mrs Aghanti qualifies to be one of them. She deserves a national honour and recognition for her selfless efforts,” Yeye Shobajo said.

The OI Ambassador proceeded to honour Mrs Aghanti by presenting her with a medal honour, thanking her for her efforts as well as pleading with her not rest on her oars in affecting the society positively.

While acknowledging the accolades, Mrs Aghanti called on the government at all levels to come to their assistance in reaching out to more Nigerians as funds required for the assignment are huge.

“The challenges are huge. In the first place, we’ve not had any funding in the Nigerian space. A lot of the funds we have used are from fundraising in the UK or individuals supporting us. But from the Nigerian space, we have not had any help.

“Again, we are in dire need of medical doctors for the children, who need a level of bone juice every six months to keep them going, and it reduces fracture among the children, who are very fragile and allergic to any form of stress. The juice and surgery can correct any deformity in the child. So funding and provision of medical personnel are highly needed.

“We certainly need the government to partner and work with considering more that we are working in the grassroots. We are actually locating families of children that have been abandoned, picking them up and giving them life again,” Aghanti said.

She further advised on the need to identify the Osteogenesis Imperfecta patients on time because the only record of loss recorded in the Foundation are those of children discovered after they have been seriously battered and rendered almost lifeless, noting that early discovery makes therapy and treatment easy and rewarding.

“It is my privilege to let our policy know that Osteogenesis Imperfecta do exist, and there are a lot of Nigerian children suffering from the disease. They need assistance, and more importantly policies that will enable them live their normal lives as human beings,” Aghanti added.

A major highlight of the event was the presentation of the wheelchairs and others to citizens who desired them. Among the first of recipients was young Tishe Ajayi, who presented emotional poems before receiving his wheelchair.

Other members of the public, who have benefited from both the generosity of Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation and Mrs. Tarela Aghanti as a person, were also on hand to express their appreciations.

The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation is already eight years in the business of rendering humanitarian assistance to the special needs persons, and according to the Founder, they are not stopping any time soon.

“Our Foundation is in search of a country where the needs of people living with Osteogenesis Imperfecta are understood, respected and affected to fully meet their potential,” Aghanti concluded.

Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as Brittle Bone Disease, is a disease that causes weak bones, making it to break easily. The OI can also cause many other diseases such as weak muscles, brittle teeth and hearing loss.

Photos: Ken Ehimen

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