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Court Discharges, Acquits Onamade of Cybercrime Allegation

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Justice Olayinka Faaji of the Federal High High Court, Lagos, on Friday discharged and acquitted Ikorodu based chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC and owner of Western Funeral Home, Ijede, Oluwatosin Onamade of cybercrime charge filed against him by the former chairman of Ijede LCDA, Fatiu Jimoh Salisu.

The court acquitted Onamade of two counts charge of cybercrime brought against him by Fatiu who had accused Onamade of accusing him of being the mastermind of the murder of Godfrey Ifeanyi, a staff of Western Funeral Home in 2021 in the build up to the local government primary elections in which Fatiu was seeking a second term in office and Onamade was a contestant.

Ifeanyi was murdered after some thugs allegedly hired by Fatiu invaded Onamade’s office and attacked his staff.

Fatiu, in the charge before the Federal High Court claimed that Onamade committed cybercrime by circulating his name on various Whatsapp groups accusing him of being responsible for the murder of Ifeanyi thereby tarnishing his inage.

He had also claim Onamade granted a media interview where he mentioned his name as the sponsor of the attack.

He further claimed the allegation prevented him from getting his party’s ticket for a second term in office as council chairman which has affected his political career.

The charge read ‘that you, Oluwatosin Onamade ‘M’, sometime in May 2021 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court did commit, an illegal act to wit; intentionally circulating a grossly offensive publication through your
Facebook/Instagram handle which you knew to be false, for the purpose of
causing insult to one Hon. Fatiu Salisu, ljede LCDA Chairman by accusing him
of the murder of late Tony Godfrey, you thereby committed an offence
punishable under section 24 of the Cyber Crimes Act, 2015.”

Count 2 of the charge also read ” that you, Oluwatosin Onamade ‘M’, sometime in May 2021 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court knowingly caused the transmission of communication through your WhatsApp to harass one Hon. Fatiu Salisu, ljede LCDA Chairman by falsely alleging that he sponsored the attack at
Western Funeral Home Limited office and murder of late Tony Godfrey, you
thereby committed an offence punishable under section 24(2)(a) of the
Cybercrimes Act, 2015.”

During trial, the prosecuton counsel, Omotayo Olatubosun, called two witnesses. The first witness, a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, Omaka Udodinma told the court that a petiton was forwarded to his team for investigation by the then Inspector General of Police, IGP, from the office of former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.

In his ruling, Justice Faaji said that the prosecution failed to prove its allegations against Onamade.

The court noted that evidence presented by the prosecution did not show Onamade made such allegations and circulated them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter(now X) as there was no evidence they were found on such social media platforms which would have supported the allegation of cybercrime.

It further noted that the alleged Whatsapp group chats did not show Onamade’s telephone number to suggest he was responsible for the circulation of the allegation.

The judge further ruled the first prosecution witness failed to conduct thorough investigations into the matter.

Justice Faaji noted that the two counts carry a punishment of 10 and 3 years imprisonment each if convicted or a fine of N7million and N25million each respectively.

The court therefore discharged and acquitted Onamade of all the charges.

The murder suspects; Olanrewaju Adebiyi a.k.a Maja, Atunrase Sodiq, Shittu Michael Olawale, Olaide Opeifa A.K.A. Ote and Jamiu Omosanya A.K.A. Orobo are presently standing trial for murder before Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja.

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Bianca Ojukwu, Six Others Take Oath of Office As Ministers

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Wife of former Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu, in company of six other appointees, were on Monday, inaugurated as new ministers by President Bola Tinubu

The inauguration of the seven new ministers took place at the State House, Abuja.

The ceremony held at the Council Chamber of the State House followed last Thursday’s confirmation of the ministers by the Senate.

The ministers are – Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Foreign Affairs), Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda (Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction), Muhammadu Dingyadi (Labour and Employment) and Idi Maiha (Livestock Development).

Others are Yusuf Ata (Housing and Urban Development), Dr. Suwaiba Ahmad (Education), and Dr. Jumoke Oduwole (Industry, Trade and Investment).

The ministers took the oath of office in two batches after the State House Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye, read out their citations.

President Tinubu on October 23 nominated the seven new ministers for confirmation by the Senate.

He also sacked five ministers and redeployed 10 others to other ministries, including the newly created ones.

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Ijaw Group Warns FG Against Withholding Rivers Allocations

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The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has warned the Federal Government of dire consequences of withholding the federal allocations meant for Rivers State amid the political tussle between Governor Siminlayi Fubara and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

The INC, which made the threat during the 10th Anniversary of the Ijaw Women Connect (IWC), Worldwide, held in Warri, Delta State, at the weekend, warned the government to resist the temptation of withholding statutory allocations to Rivers State, ostensibly in compliance with a high court judgment, or brace up for dire consequences.

Speaking at the event, the President of INC, Professor Benjamin Okaba, called on President Bola Tinubu to be careful with the handling and management of the Rivers State crisis, which, according to him, had become provocative.

Okaba noted that if the alleged persistent and discriminative assault on Governor Fubara continues unchecked, the Ijaw nation will have no option but take action against the perpetrators.

“On a day like this, where Ijaw women have gathered, we need to also make some pronouncements on the state of the nation,” Okaba said.

“Let me use this opportunity to advise the Federal government, led by Bola Tinubu, to be very conscious of handling and managing the crisis in Rivers State.

“In the light of the High Court judgment stopping or renting statutory allocations to Rivers State, INC considers that as very provocative to the Niger Delta and it is also unconstitutional.

“If the Federal Government decides to use the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to deny Rivers State and, by extension, Ijaw Nation, of their statutory allocations, they will surely get what they want from Ijaw Nation.

“We want to make it clear also to the entire world that if the persistence of the discriminatory attack, insult, and intimidation of the governor continues unchecked, there might be dire consequences.

Warning the federal government to thread softly, Okaba said:

“Alamasiegha once said, ‘If you deny the Ijaw people, even if it is 50 per cent of their God-given wealth, a day will come; a day will surely come when the Ijaws will revolt back,.”

He however, called on the Ijaw people to remain calm in the face of provocation.

“Please remain calm because, in the first place, this judgment will not stand the test of time,” Okaba added.

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What We Would Have Done Differently by Atiku Abubakar

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I’ve been inundated with inquiries of what I would have done differently if I were at the helm of affairs of our country. I am not the president, Tinubu is. The focus should be on him and not on me or any other. I believe that such inquiries distract from the critical questions of what President Bola Tinubu needs to do to save Nigerians from the excruciating pains arising from his trial-and-error economic policies. However, I understand and appreciate the challenges faced by citizens in seeking alternatives to what is not working for them. I hope Tinubu and members of his administration are humble enough to borrow one or two things from our ideas in the interest of the Nigerian people. I would now go ahead and articulate some of our ideas that would have had the potential to transform our beloved country.

IN GENERAL

We would have planned better and more robustly: My journey of reforms would have benefited from more adequate preparations; more sufficient diagnostic assessment of the country’s conditions; more consultations with key stakeholders; and better ideas for the final destination.
We would have been guided by my robust reform agenda as encapsulated in ‘My Covenant With Nigerians’, my policy document that sought to, among others, protect our fragile economy against much deeper crisis by preventing business collapse; our document had spelt out policies that were consistent and coherent.

We would have sequenced my reforms to achieve fiscal and monetary congruence. Unleashing reforms to determine an appropriate exchange rate, cost-reflective electricity tariff, and PMS price at one and the same time is certainly an overkill. Add CBN’s bullish money tightening spree. As importer of PMS and other petroleum products, removing subsidy on these products without a stable exchange rate would be counterproductive.

We would have been more strategic in our response to reform fallout. We would not over-estimate the efficacy of the reform measures or underestimate the potential costs of reforms. I would recognise that reforms could sometimes fail. I would not underestimate the numerous delivery challenges, including the weaknesses of our institutions, and would work assiduously to correct the same. I would, as a responsible leader, pause, reflect, and where necessary, review implementation.

I would have led by example. Any fiscal reform to improve liquidity and the management of our fiscal resources must first eliminate revenue leakages arising from governance, including the cost of running the government and the government procurement process. I (and members of my team) would not have lived in luxury while the citizens wallow in misery.

We would have communicated more effectively with the people, with civility, tact, and diplomacy.
Transparent communication with the public is essential to build public trust, which in turn is important to ensure that the public understands what the government is doing.
We would have consulted more with all stakeholders to learn, negotiate, adapt, and modify, among other policy goals.

We would have demonstrated more empathy. My Reforms would wear a human face.
We would have been more strategic in the design and implementation of reform fallout mitigating measures. I would not run a ‘palliative economy’ yet, we would have a robust social protection programme that will offer genuine support to the poor and vulnerable and provide immediate comfort and security to enable them to navigate the stormy seas.

SPECIFIC MEASURES

We would have undertaken extensive reforms of the public sector institutions to maximize reform impact.
We would have placed special focus on security viz
• Commenced on day one, the reform of security institutions with improved funding, and enhanced welfare. My Policy Document had spelt out a Special Presidential Welfare Initiative for security personnel that we would implement
• Adopted alternative approaches to conflict resolution such as diplomacy, intelligence, improved border control, deploying traditional institutions, and good neighbourliness.

We would have launched an Economic Stimulus Fund (ESF), with an initial investment capacity of approximately US$10 billion to support MSMEs across all economic sectors.

How would this have been funded?
Details are in my Policy Document.

Alongside the ESF, we would have launched a uniquely designed skills-to-job programme that targets all categories of youth, including graduates, early school leavers as well as the massive numbers of uneducated youth who are currently not in education, employment, or training.

To underscore our commitment to the development of infrastructure, an Infrastructure Development Unit (IDU) directly under the President’s watch would have come into operation. The IDU will have a coordinating function and a specific mandate of working with the MDAs to fast track the implementation of the infrastructure reform agenda within the framework provided herein. The IDU will hit the ground running in putting the building blocks for our private sector driven Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF) of approximately US$25 billion.

To engender fiscal efficiency and promote accountability and transparency in public financial management, we would have committed to a review of the current fiscal support to ailing State-Owned enterprises. We would’ve also begun a process review of government procurement processes to ensure value-for-money and eliminate all leakages.

We would have initiated a review of the current utilization of all borrowed funds and ensured that they were deployed more judiciously.

SUBSIDY REMOVAL

Yes, I have always advocated for the removal of subsidy on PMS because its administration has been mildly put, opaque with so much scope for arbitrariness and corruption. Mind boggling rent profit from oil subsidy accrued to the cabals in public institutions and the private sector.
I would have prioritized the following:
First, tackling corruption. Fighting corruption should have commenced with the repositioning of the NNPCL, which is a huge beneficiary of the status quo. Its commitment to reform and capacity to implement and enforce reforms is suspect. The subsidy regime has provided an avenue for rent seeking, and the NNPCL and its guardians will be threatened by reforms.

Second, paying particular attention to Nigeria’s poor refining infrastructure. We are by far the most inefficient OPEC member country in terms of both the percentage of installed refining capacity that works and the percentage of crude refined. We would’ve commenced the privatization of all state-owned refineries and ensure that Nigeria starts to refine at least 50% of its current crude oil output. Nigeria should aspire to export 50% of that capacity to ECOWAS member states.

Third, adopt a gradualist approach in the implementation of the subsidy reforms. Subsidies would not have been removed suddenly and completely. It is instructive that when I was Vice President, we adopted a gradualist approach and had completed phases 1 and 2 of the reform before our tenure ended. The incoming administration in 2007 abandoned the reforms, unfortunately. The majority of the countries that review or rationalize subsidy payments adopt a gradualist approach by phasing price increases or shifting from universal to targeted approach (Malaysia, 2022 and Indonesia, 2022 -2023). In many EU economies, complete withdrawal often takes 5 years to effect. The gradualist approach allows for adjustments, adaptation and minimizes disruptions and vulnerability.

Fourth, implement a robust social protection programme that will support the poor in navigating the cost-of-living challenges arising largely from reform implementation. We would’ve invested the savings from subsidy withdrawal to strengthen the productive base of the economy through infrastructure maintenance and development; to improve outcomes in education and healthcare delivery; to improve rural infrastructure and support livelihood expansion in agriculture; and develop the skills and entrepreneurial capacity of our youth in order to enhance their access to better economic opportunities.

ON FOREIGN EXCHANGE REFORMS

I also made a commitment to reform the operation of the foreign exchange market. Specifically, there was a commitment to eliminate multiple exchange rate windows. The system only served to enrich opportunists, rent-seekers, middlemen, arbitrageurs, and fraudsters.
What would I have done?

A fixed exchange rate system was out of the question because it would not be in line with our philosophy of running an open, private sector friendly economy. On the other hand, given Nigeria’s underlying economic conditions, adopting a floating exchange rate system would be an overkill. We would have encouraged our Central Bank to adopt a gradualist approach to FX management. A managed-floating system would have been a preferred option.

Atiku Abubakar
Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007) and Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (2023)
Abuja
3rd November 2024.

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