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Arms deal: N4.6bn traced to Bafarawa’s son, EFCC witness tells court

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Hamza Abdullahi, a witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has narrated how N4.6 billion from the arms deal was traced to the son of Attahiru Bafarawa, a former governor of Sokoto.

Abdullahi appeared before Y. Halilu, the judge, at the federal capital territory (FCT) high court on Wednesday.

Bafarawa alongside Sagir, his son; Bashir Yuguda, former minister of state for finance; Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA); Dalhatu Investment Limited, a company owned by the former Sokoto governor; were arraigned by the EFCC.

The defendants are facing 25 counts of misappropriation, criminal breach of trust and receiving stolen property.

 

Their trial is connected to the alleged misappropriation of arms funds by Dasuki while he was NSA from 2012 to 2015.

On Wednesday, EFCC presented Abdullahi as the second witness in the trial-within-trial of the former Sokoto governor.

During the court proceedings, the EFCC witness said N4.633 billion was traced to the account of Dalhatu Investment Limited, where Bafarawa’s sons were directors.

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The witness added that Sagir was the sole signatory to the company’s bank account.

 

The EFCC witness told the court that he was the second-in-command of special task force, fraud investigation on arms, defence equipment procurement in the office of NSA in 2015.

He said the team investigated the activities of 78 companies that received money from the office of the NSA without justification, adding that Dalhatu Investment Limited was among the companies.

Abdullahi said Sagir was interviewed on November 25, 2015 by the investigation team and that he made his statement voluntarily.

“My Lord, I witnessed the statement dated 25/11/2015 of Sagir Attahiru Bafarawa. He was interviewed in my presence, the statement was also recorded in my presence,” the witness said.

 

“At the conclusion of the written statement, I read it to him. Thereafter, I endorsed the written statement. I equally endorsed the second statement at 4pm and it was concluded by 4:25pm, the same day. I witnessed it, my name and signature were there.

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“My Lord, there was nothing like promises made to the accused, threat or inducement. To the best of my knowledge, there was nothing like that.

“It was a very conducive environment and that was the secretariat of the special task force at the head office then.

 

“The secretariat is the conference room of the chairman, and no member of the special task force is authorized to make any promise in the course of investigation.

“When Sagir Attahiru Bafarawa honored our invitation, he came with his lawyer and he was confronted with the evidence that we have.

“Afterwards, he said he needed to consult his lawyer and later volunteered his written statement. These statements were based on the fact of the evidence we have on the company.”

After the witness’ testimony, Halilu adjourned the case to May 22, 2024.

Bafarawa served as the governor of Sokoto from 1999 to 2007.

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UPDATED: Ikeja DisCo reduces Band A electricity tariff to N206.80/kwh

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The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company says it has reduced the tariff for customers under Band A classification to N206.80 per kilowatt-hour (kwh).

 

On April 3, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A category to N225 per kwh — from N66. 

 

The commission said customers under the classification are those who receive 20 hours of electricity supply daily. 

 

Announcing the slash in a circular on Monday, Ikeja Electric said the new tariff regime will take effect from May 6, 2024.

 

“Please be informed of the downward tariff review of our Band A feeders from N225/kwh to N206.80/kwh effective 6th May 2024 with guaranteed availability of 20-24hrs supply daily,” the circular reads.

 

However, the DisCo said the tariff for bands B,C,D and E are unchanged.

 

On April 4, NERC said the approved tariff increase is expected to reduce subsidy for the 2024 fiscal year by about N1.14 trillion.

“With the newly approved tariffs, subsidies for the 2024 fiscal year are expected to reduce by about NGN1.14 trillion in furtherance of the federal government’s realignment of the subsidy regime,” NERC said.

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Musliu Oseni, vice-chairman of the commission, said the new tariff will bolster the nation’s economy.

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JUST IN: Ikeja DisCo reduces Band A electricity tariff to N206.80/kwh

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The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company says it has reduced the tariff for customers under Band A classification to N206.80 per kilowatt-hour (kwh).

 

On April 3, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A category to N225 per kwh — from N66. 

 

The commission said customers under the classification are those who receive 20 hours of electricity supply daily. 

 

Announcing the cut in a circular on Monday, Ikeja Electric said the new tariff rate will be effective from May 6, 2024.

 

Details later…

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80% of buildings in Lekki have no government approval, says commissioner

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The commissioner for physical planning and urban development in Lagos, Oluyinka Olumide, says 80 percent of buildings in the Ibeju Lekki-Epe corridor have no government approval.

The Lagos government has been facing backlash for the demolition of buildings and shanties across the state.

Tokunbo Wahab, commissioner for environment in Lagos, has repeatedly said the demolished structures were erected in contravention of the city’s masterplan, were never approved by the relevant agencies, and occluded drainage channels.

In an interview with journalists, Olumide said despite the rigorous procedures involved in securing government approval, property developers and owners are still circumventing due process.

 

“Just last Thursday and Friday, my team and I were in the Ibeju Lekki and Epe axis and you would agree that anybody passing through that corridor would see a lot of estates marked,” he said.

“We went there, and I can tell you that from what we saw, over 80 percent of them do not have approval.

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“The procedure to get approval is first to get the planning information, as to what those areas have been zoned for. In this case, what we have is agricultural land, and people now go to their families to buy agricultural land.

 

“Of course, those lands would be sold because those families do not know the use such land would be put to.

“The next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information on not knowing the area zoning, at the point of getting the fence permit, you would be able to detect what the area is zoned for. After that, the layout permits a large expanse of land.

“So, you can see all these layers. But people still go ahead to start advertising. Some have even gone to the extent of displaying the sizes they want to sell. Imagine someone in the diaspora who wants to send money without any knowledge.

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“Then, no approval is eventually gotten. Even if they pass the assignment and the survey to them, we would not grant the individual permit, because that area is not zoned for that purpose.”

 

On Sunday, Wahab said owners of recently demolished property in Maryland had been served notices since 2021.

 

“We are not just doing demolitions. The law allows us to remove encumbrances on the right of way of the drainage channels,” Wahab said.

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