There is no basis for rent increment in relation to the stamp duty payable on tenancy and lease agreement by tenants in the country, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has insisted.

In fact, tenants, not landlords, should pay the applicable stamp duty by themselves at any commercial bank of their choice, not to any landlord.

Mr. Mohammad Mamman Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS, gave this clarification in Abuja on Tuesday as part of his ongoing national public enlightenment campaign on the Stamp Duty Act.

Nami, who spoke during a live radio programme, “The Midday Dialogue” on Nigeria Info FM Abuja, stated that since the responsibility of stamp duty payment was not that of the landlord, there was no justifiable reasons for any landlord to increase rent purportedly on account of the stamp duty which is chargeable on the instrument of the transaction, that is, the tenancy or lease agreement or receipt exchanged between the landlords and the tenant, and not the actual rent fee the landlord is collecting from tenants .

He said: “The stamp duty is charged at graduated rates. Stamp duty on rent or lease from 1 year to less than 7 years is 0.78%. If your rent is N100,000 stamp duty due on it is N780. Your stamp duty could be as low as N200 or N300 if you live in a room and parlor or in the village where rent is low. If you can afford to pay your rent between 7 to 21 years, your stamp duty is 3% on the rent. If you can afford to pay rent at once from 21 years and above the stamp duty due is 6%, which is very rare but we created room for it because some renters prefer long leases.”

“Once you’ve reached an agreement with your landlord on the amount to pay for your rent of less than 7 years, you should calculate 0.78% of the amount, go to a nearby bank and ask to pay the 0.78% into the stamp duty account. Collect the teller and tender it to your landlord to legalise your transaction with him or her.”

“It is the responsibility of the landlord before he or she issues a receipt or sign a rent or lease agreement with a tenant to make sure that the tenant presents evidence of stamp duty payment. A landlord that does not insist on evidence of stamp duty payment will bear the cost of the stamp duty if the FIRS eventually finds out. You do not pay stamp duty on your own residential accommodation if you are the owner of the property even if you live in a 10-ten storey building.”

Nami also disclosed that the Finance Act 2019 has exempted 60% of taxpayers, including Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) from paying tax as only companies which make up to N25 million turnover now pay tax or collect Value Added Tax (VAT). This has therefore relieved millions of Nigerians and SMES, including many businesses impacted by COVID-19, of their tax obligations to the government, which is a form of long-term tax palliative to them even before the pandemic,” he added.

The FIRS chairman stressed that the global economic downturn occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic has made it necessary for the three tiers of government to close tax loopholes in the country in order to fund the budget, provide needed public infrastructure and meet overhead cost like salary payment at federal, state and local government levels.

Mr. Nami enjoined Nigerians to pay their taxes as and when due.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has charged members of the State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to make the Rivers judiciary the best in the country.

Governor Wike gave the charge yesterday, in Port Harcourt, when he swore in four members of the Commission.

He urged the members to work as a team and not resort to any form of infighting.

“Do not bring in ethnic sentiments into this assignment. You have to make our State the shining light in judicial matters.

“Nobody lobbied for anyone of you to be appointed. You were all chosen on merit to work for the interest of the state.

“Your role is to stabilise the judiciary and make it vibrant because without the judiciary there will be no hope for the country.

“With the composition of the Commission with statutory and non-statutory members, the state expects the best in terms of performance”, he stated.

The governor also enjoined the Commission to fill the existing vacancies in the State High Court and Customary Court of Appeal.

He stated that the tenure of most boards and commissions had ended, stating that the Judicial Service Commission was reconstituted because of its importance.

Those sworn-in included, Barrister Chima Boms, Assa Moni Nwinia, Ibim Dokubo and Richard Ehie.

More trouble may be brewing for Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, as the Supreme Court of Nigeria has revealed that there was no record of him as a lawyer in their registry.

The apex court keeps records of all certified lawyers allowed to handle cases in any Nigerian court.

Obasa’s profile on Wikipedia and the Lagos Assembly’s website describes him as a lawyer and solicitor of the Federal Republic of Nigeria even though there is no mention of where he practiced or a case he handled.

He is also described on the Assembly’s website as graduating from the Nigerian Law School in 2007, a year after he obtained a Bachelor of Law degree from the Lagos State University.

But in a response to an enquiry on the subject matter on July 24, 2020, the Supreme Court categorically stated that Obasa’s name was not found on the numerous rolls of legal practitioners kept with it.

The letter signed by one Gertrude B. Karenton-Mordi on behalf of the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court seen on Monday, said, “This is to inform you that we have checked our records and cannot find the name: MUDASHIRU AJAYI OBASA on the numerous Roll of Legal Practitioners kept in this honourable court.

“MUDASHIRU AJAYI OBASA is at liberty to come to the honourable court with his call to bar and qualifying certificates for enrollment.”

Interestingly, this is not the first time that the 47-year-old Lagos Assembly Speaker will be linked to a scandal — the latest merely adds to a long list of alleged wrongdoing Obasa had been discovered to be involved in.

Recall that in a series of reports a few weeks back, SaharaReporters exposed how Obasa fraudulently approved millions of naira for himself through the award of contracts to companies owned by him.

Other reports also revealed how he approved N17m monthly to maintain his personal residence and guest house, and N53m from the state coffers to travel with his mistress to the United States of America.

It was also revealed that 19 lawmakers led by Obasa went for a women leadership programme and received N80m as estacode after returning from the programme.

Despite several petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by anti-corruption groups, the agency is yet to initiate the process of investigating the allegations against the Speaker and prosecute him if found culpable.

WITH less than 24 hours to the 2020 Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, national elections scheduled to take place between July 29 and 30, The ICIR examines the likely blindspots that may compromise the transparency of the elections.

On July 6, the Electoral Committee of the NBA, ECNBA, released the list of 24 candidates who were cleared to contest for national leadership positions and rejected the nominations of 19 aspirants.

Now only three candidates are in the race to take over from Paul Usoro as the 35th president of Nigeria’s umbrella association of professional lawyers.

Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, in the race includes Adesina Julius and Ajibade Babatunde who both have on their belt 38 and 31 years of legal practice respectively.

Olumide Akpata who is the younger of the other two candidates if elected would join the small league of previous NBA presidents without a SAN title.

The ECNBA is saddled with conducting free, fair and transparent elections into national leadership of the NBA. This includes verifying 39,291 eligible voters for one of the largest professional bodies in Africa with over 200,000 members.

As the 2020 contenders for President of the NBA jostle for votes from their colleagues alongside other contestants for national leadership positions, issues ranging from voter verification, missing names on the voters’ list, and an untested electronic voting portal threaten to scuttle the outcome of the elections.

Questions trail NBA’s voting portal

The electronic voting system was adopted by the NBA for electing its national leaders in July 2016, the e-voting solutions provider was Grace Infotech Limited which saw Abubakar Mahmoud defeat his rival, Joe-Kyari Gadzama.

The election was fraught with issues bordering on voters being disqualified by the online portal after changing voters’ passwords without their knowledge, voter inducement and rigging.

In February 2018, the Mahmoud’s -led NBA accepted the bid of CHAMS Plc, an integrated identity management company to conduct its 2018 NBA elections after questionable practices trailed the conduct of the 2016 NBA elections.

Paul Usoro, SAN had emerged the president of the NBA after he polled 4,509 votes to defeat his other contenders, Okafor Obi, and Ernest Ojuwkwu, who got 4, 423 and 3, 313 votes respectively.

Ojukwu contested the decision of the ECNBA at the Federal High Court in Lagos, saying the election was characterised with massive vote buying, vote capture, rigging, and a skewed process.

On July 22, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, charged two lawyers Sarah Ajibola, and John Demide, with 14 counts before the Federal High Court in Lagos State for manipulating the 2018 NBA election in favour of incumbent NBA President, Usoro.

They were accused of allegedly altering 1,004 eligible voters’ details and casting votes for Usoro by impersonating voters during the 2018 NBA elections.

The deadline line for verification of eligible voters for the 2020 NBA elections is July 28, but the administrator of the online portal is yet to be unveiled by the outgoing executive of the NBA.

Speaking to The ICIR Mojib Jimoh, Associate at Banwo & Ighodalo, a legal firm based in Lagos says he doubts the integrity of the e-voting system because the technology of the system could be manipulated by any side if the portal’s administrator was biased, or compromised.

“I think the NBA is not capable of running the e-voting process for electing its official executives because for over two elections it has been the same problems of vote tampering or one issue to another,” he said.

To cast a ballot, a  potential voter is expected to input his details into the online portal for verification which involves uploading the voter’s supreme court enrollment number and an e-mail address for which a password will be sent to the voter’s email verifying the identity of the voter which determines his or her eligibility to vote.

“Two weeks ago after trying to get the verification process done for the election, I received an email a couple of days back informing me that I wasn’t verified.

“When I had attempted to get the verification two weeks ago, there was no sign there was a problem but after several weeks I was informed that I could not be verified and no reason was given. It’s a few days to the close of verification and I have to go back and start over again,” Jimoh said.

Jimoh still has no idea if he might get verified on time for the election before the close of the verification exercise.

Passwords generated by the portal for eligible voters from previous elections were changed without the consent of the voter, so the voter might have a legitimate password and be unable to vote which subjects the voting process to compromise by the administrators of the portal.

Unni Chioma Kate, Abuja-based lawyer and writer at TheNigerianLawyer, a legal Correspondence said: “The Nigerian lawyer

.believes the non-disclosure of the administrator of the online voting portal is to keep the process from external influence.

“I think that the NBA’s executives don’t want a repeat of what had happened with previous elections to occur which is why the administrator of the portal is being kept a secret.

“Though, with the election drawing closer, I think its time to disclose who is managing the e-voting process and educate voters so they might know what to expect on the election day for the sake of transparency and openness,” she said.

On duplicity of names on the voting register, Chioma says the verification process is expected to weed out names that do not have fictitious names to curtail multiple voting.

“Personally, it took me two days to get verified because after receiving the initial password generated by the online portal, I still had problems to log in despite getting a confirmation that I had been verified.

“Without a Supreme court enrollment number, there is no way the names on the voter’s register can be verified to cast their votes so the verification process is expected to handle that aspect,” she said.

Gaps in 2020 Voting Register

The NBA constitution mandates each state branch chairman to submit a list of members qualified to vote, and the compiled list from all state chapters makes up the voter’s register.

Voter eligibility is predicated upon fulfilling the condition of paying up-to-date membership dues; bar practice fees and branch dues at the various state bar chapters.

For the upcoming elections, a total of 39,321 names emerged from the 125 state branches in the country. But names that make up the final list of the voter’s register have come under scrutiny after suspicious names were identified.

Prince Adetosoye, Secretary of the Abuja NBA chapter, told The ICIR in an interview that the final voter’s list from the Abuja branch is erroneously represented in the general list.

Adetosoye revealed that the names of listed eligible voters from the Abuja chapter have been inflated and tampered with.

“In the Abuja branch, we forwarded about 2,133 names as duly registered members of the branch, who had paid their branch dues.

“More than 1,500 of those names were not included in the list of voters and yet the list was inflated, Abuja branch now has over 5000 names. We do not know where those names came from,” he said.

While speaking in an interview on the elections with ThisDay, Tawo Eja Tawo, SAN chairman of the ECNBA, explained that the adopted voter’s register for the forthcoming elections was harvested from a ‘Stamp and Seal’ list from the NBA national secretariat.

A Stamp and Seal is obtainable by lawyers from the NBA secretariat, having undergone a successful verification process conducted by various NBA state chapters.

According to Tawo, some NBA state branches had delayed submitting lists of eligible members and time constraints made it necessary to improvise.

“The rationale for the Stamp and Seal list is the assumption that to apply for a stamp, the member must have paid both the bar practising fees and branch dues.

“The stamp and seal list was obtained from the National Secretariat, bearing in mind the provisions of paragraph 2.3 (d). That was how we were able to get over 21,000 names, on the interim list,” he explained.

Paragraph 2.3 (d) of the NBA constitution says “the full list of all legal practitioners qualified to vote shall be published by ECNBA in conjunction with the National Secretariat of the NBA at least twenty-eight (28) days before the date of the election.”

But discrepancies have been identified on the list which now serves as the official voter’s register.

Augusta Yaakugh, member of the Publicity Committee and Human Rights Committee of NBA Abuja chapter noted that the irregularities in the voter’s register are likely to create room for rigging and cause disenfranchisement.

“For instance, there was an accredited voter on the list called “opening balance” whereas only 543 of 2,133 eligible voters were omitted from the list published by the ECNBA and the names substituted are unknown to the branch.

“Secondly, I have concerns about the slow pace of the verification of eligible voters. The process has been extended two times to accommodate the backlog,” she said.

According to Yaakugh, aside from the list being filled with fictitious names, a lot of members have begun losing hope in the electioneering process and not much is being done to calm their agitation.

“I fear that the system is already rigged to suit the candidate of the powers that be. This has been a major concern since the e-voting process was introduced and it continues to be,” she concluded.

Petition threatens NBA election

Four lawyers namely Ade Okeaya-Inneh, SAN, Ayuli Jemide, Vice-Chairman, NBA Section on Business Law, Chidi Odinkalu, Co-Convener, Open Bar Initiative, and Barbara Omosun had written to the ECNBA chairman, Tawo calling for a postponement of the elections.

They cited issues regarding the elections that were not yet addressed which include missing names on the voter’s list, verification, voter eligibility and transparent process for voting.

As part of their suggestions, they called on the ECNBA to consider cancelling the verification exercise as a part of the eligibility requirement, citing that the process is ‘semi-manual, cumbersome and responsible for disenfranchisement of thousands of voters.’

Sola Ajao, a lawyer with a private practice in Osogbo Osun state, also shares his doubts. He told The ICIR that the shroud of secrecy around the online voting portal makes the election prone to manipulation.

“From the previous experience, there were unconfirmed reports that voters were disenfranchised for instance when some voters wanted to vote they discovered some people had voted on their behalf in the last elections.

“I could not vote during the last election because the congestion was something I could not bear though, I hope for improvement because the NBA is not immune from corruption which is why there should be no secrets with regards to the voting process if the election is going to be transparent,” he said.

Adesina Ogunlana was disqualified by the ECNBA from running as a presidential candidate at the NBA 2020 general elections.

He filed a suit at the Lagos High Court seeking an interlocutory injunction against the ECNBA to reinstate him as a presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections.

His suit might pose a setback to the commencement of the election if the court grants his request.

The ICIR reached out to Tawo, the chairman of ECNBA to ascertain the transparent features of the online voting server and the modalities put in place to ensure the portal had a foolproof security system.

Calls to his mobile phones and text messages were unanswered but a WhatsApp message also sent to him indicated he had read the message but he has not replied as at the time of filing this report.

Tawo had revealed in an interview that Tavia Technologies Limited was involved with the online portal for the elections but was not involved in the election process.

An email by The ICIR to the ICT firm to understand its involvement in the elections and when the server was put in place also was not answered at the time of filing the report.

A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal Lagos division insist that the 60-year jail term bagged by a former Supervisor at Chrisland School, Adegboyega Adenekan, at Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, Lagos was in order.

Delivering judgment in the appeal filed by Adenekan challenging his sentence, the Court on Monday said his appeal lacked merit.

Adenekan was convicted by Justice Sybil Nwaka of the Lagos State Special Offences Court on October 24, 2019, for defiling a two year old female pupil of the school.

Aggrieved by Justice Nwaka’s verdict, Adenekan through his lawyer, Mr Olatunde Adejuyigbe (SAN), asked the Appeal Court quash it.

The Court of Appeal however affirmed the 60-year jail term stressing that his appeal lacked merit.

The Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions had told the trial court that Adenekan had “unlawful sexual intercourse” with the minor in November 2016 in Lagos in contravention of Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.

Adenekan had pleaded not guilty to the charges when he was arraigned in January 2018 but, in the judgment delivered on October 24, 2019, Justice Nwaka pronounced him guilty.

The judge said with seven witnesses, including the two-year-old victim, the prosecution succeeded in proving the charges against Adenekan.

During the 2018 trial, Child X, who was then now four-years-old, was two years and 11-months at the time the alleged defilement occurred serially in 2016 at the Victoria Garden City (VGC) branch of the school.

On Thursday 22nd March 2018, Child X, the pupil allegedly defiled by Adenekan, the 47-year-old School supervisor, testified at an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence court in Lagos and confirmed that she was abused.

The trial which was slated for at 2pm did not start until 3.26pm. It ended at 5.53pm.

Before Child X’s testimony, Justice Sybil Nwaka, ordered that members of the public vacate the public gallery of the courtroom. However, she allowed journalists and lawyers to witness the testimony.

When Child X was brought into the courtroom, the judge rose from her bench to sit by a desk opposite Child X.

Justice Nwaka engaging Child X in small talk said: “I love your shoes, we are all your uncle and aunties here. Do you like the building? Do you know why you are here?”

Child X said: “I’m here to talk about the bad things Mr Adenekan did to me.”

Justice Nwaka responding said: “You know you are here to tell the truth, Jesus loves children and what do your Sunday School teachers tell you?”

Child X: “Always tell the truth.”

Before Child X took oath as a witness, Justice Nwaka repeated to her not to be afraid to tell the truth and that the people in the courtroom are all her friends.

The judge warned journalists against taking photographs, making recordings or revealing the identity of Child X.

The prosecution led by Mr Jide Boye, the Chief State Counsel led the child in evidence by asking a series of questions and getting the following responses from her.

Prosecution: “How old are you?”

Child X: “Four”

Prosecution: “How many schools have you attended?”

Child X: “Two”

Prosecution:” What are the names of the schools?”

Child X: “Chrisland, Grange School”

Prosecution pointing across the room to Adenekan: “Do you know him?”

Child X: “No”

Prosecution: “Who is Mr Adenekan?”

Child X: “When I go to class after recess, I see Mr Adenekan after recess”

Prosecution: “What did Mr Adenekan do to you?”

Child X: “He put his mouth in my wee-wee, the first time he did that, he took me out of the class. The second time, I ran. I tried to report to my teacher but my teacher did not believe me, so I reported to my mummy.

“First time he did it was inside his office which was the toilet, the second time he did it was in the hall which was outside.

“I did not like what he did, he put his hand in my wee-wee, he put his wee-wee in my wee-wee and he put his mouth in my wee-wee.”

The prosecution at this point proceeded to show Child X three photographs, one of which was Adenekan’s.

Child X identified Adenekan’s photograph.

Child X said: “This is Mr Adenekan, I remember how he used to greet me but I don’t know where he is.”

Prosecution: “How did you feel when he was doing it to you?”

Child X: “I felt I should tell my mummy, I felt pain.”

Prosecution: “When he did it, what were you wearing?”

Child X: “My Chrisland School uniform.”

Prosecution: “Can you describe how he did it to you?”

Child X: “He put his hand under my uniform, he put his hand in my wee-wee, pull my uniform down and it was really really paining me.

“When it was really really paining me, I screamed and he covered my mouth like this (demonstrated with hand over her mouth).

“I couldn’t do anything because he covered my mouth. When I was trying to remove it (his hand) he tightened my mouth.”

Prosecution: “Describe his office”

Child X: “I cannot remember.”

The defence counsel, Mr Olatunde Adejuyigbe (SAN) opposed the tendering as evidence, the three photographs shown to Child X during proceedings. According to him, the prosecution did not comply with Section 86 of the Evidence Act.

In his submission Boye told the court that in accordance with Section 84 of the Evidence Act, photographs are no longer secondary evidence but primary evidence and as a result, the photographs should be admitted as evidence.

In a short ruling Justice Nwaka said: “I cannot agree more with the prosecution. These photographs do not have a certificate. I mark them tendered but rejected.”

While cross-examining Child X, Adejuyigbe asked her the following questions.

Defence: “Do you like to draw?”

Child X: ” I don’t know how to draw yet but I like to draw”

Defence: “You said something really really pained you, when you got home did you tell your mummy about it?”

Child X: “Yes”

Child X responding to Adejuyigbe’s questions, recalled some of her pre-school teachers at Chrisland School.

Defence: “Did anyone tell you before that he will kill you?”

Child X: “I don’t know what that means”

Defence: “Did you see Mr Adenekan today,?”

Child X: “I only saw him in the picture.”

Defence: “Do you know there are three tables in Mr Adenekan’s office? ”

Child X: “No”

Defence: “His office is not near your class, do you remember?”

Child X: “No”

Defence: “Have you entered Mr Adenekan’s office before?”

Child X: “Only when he did the bad things to me”

Defence: “Did he take anyone else with you?”

Child X: “No”

Defence: “Did you take your mummy to any corner?”

Child X: “No when I told her what happened to me, she changed my school.”

Defence: “Does your aunty (name withheld) bath for you?”

Child X: “Sometimes her but everytime my mummy.”

Defence: “Have you seen the police before?”

Child X: “I have seen them guarding the door at the gate before I enter my school gate.”

Defence: “Is there a doctor’s office at your school? ”

Child X: “Yes”

Defence: “Do you go to the toilet alone in school? ”

Child X: “When I want to go by myself they (teachers) still follow me”

Defence: “Did anyone tell you what to say when you get here?”

Child X: “No”

Earlier during the cross-examination of Child X’s mother, the video in which Child X was portraying her alleged defilement at a clinical psychologist’s office was replayed in court by the defence.

The mother (name withheld) admitted to the defence that some parts of the sessions of Child X’s interview with the clinical psychologist were not recorded.

“At the time she started drawing the private part, I can confirm to you that I was in the corner of the room and I only asked my child questions regarding the defendant’s name,” she said.

The mother also told the court that she reported to the police that the defendant took her child to a corner in the school where he allegedly defiled her.

“I mentioned the corner to the police and it is in my statement. Like I said before, I initially wanted to cover it up.

“I mentioned it to the school authorities but I later told them to forget it that it never happened.

“I was afraid of people like you (pointing at the SAN), it is a shameful act,” she tearfully said.

In early April this year, the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) released a Request for Proposals to be submitted by the 14^th of April 2020 from experienced technology specialists in a bid to select a company to serve as IT consultant for the upcoming NBA national elections.

According to a source close to the ECNBA, various companies sent in their proposals, including a certain Inits Limited, whose Chief Technology Officer is Femi Taiwo. It would be recalled that Mr Femi Taiwo and his company hosted the server for the most recent Nigerian national elections conducted by INEC and were the butt of controversy around the now deleted INEC server that contained evidence of the results being collated electronically.

This, however, is not where the story ends. While the ECNBA was seeking proposals from the public through an open procurement system, a source close to the NBA Presidency reveals that the incumbent President of the NBA, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN informed the ECNBA that a platform had already been built for the elections by a certain Tavia Technology. We discovered that this Tavia Technology is the Technology Advisor for Access bank, a bank where Mr. Usoro, SAN sits as Director on the Board. Our source further revealed that Mr. Usoro, SAN had requested Tavia Technology to build and run a platform that would be used amongst other things, for e-voting. Tavia had however turned him down, stating that it was not in the business of conducting elections, so it only built the platform.

Our sources reveal that Mr. Usoro, SAN, in spite of the open procurement system sought to be carried out by the ECNBA, then approached Inits, the company of Mr. Femi Taiwo- on which the INEC server controversy still looms- to run and manage the platform built by Tavia Technologies. The platform in question has repeatedly been flagged since then by various IT security experts as being vulnerable to manipulation and rigging.

It is even further questionable that with less than 72 hours to the NBA elections, the ECNBA had not granted a meeting with the candidates ever before, and only granted a meeting with the candidates this evening for the first time. Furthermore, at the time of publishing this item, the electorate do not know how they would vote or even how the voting will be conducted, and we all know that voter education is key in any election. The candidates also do not understand the structure, operation or modalities of voting on the platform. Even worse, the ECNBA has remained mute on the vulnerabilities of the platform that has been pointed out by various IT security experts.

This brings up many questions: What indeed is the plan of the ECNBA? Why is Mr. Usoro, SAN, very heavily involved in the election process, especially considering that the charges recently filed against two individuals that allegedly rigged the election that brought him to office bring his occupation of the position into question? Why is the ECNBA acting all cloak and dagger with elections that are meant to be transparent, free and fair? Is the ECNBA out of their depth with the 2020 NBA national elections? Can we trust the ECNBA to be fair and independent? Can we trust them to conduct free and fair elections? Is there a grand plot to rig the NBA elections? Can Mr. Usoro, SAN remove his hand from the election cooking pot? And between the ECNBA and Mr Usoro, SAN, who is truly running the elections?

These questions should bring the ECNBA to the table again, if not for anything, for the sake of ensuring free and fair elections, and ensuring that the votes of the electorate count. If lawyers are to be given any respect in society, lawyers must lead the way in an activity like this.

An oil trading firm, Samano Sa De CV, has written a letter to the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, demanding five per cent reward for exposing the diversion and theft of 48 million barrels of crude oil

At the current price of global crude oil which is $43 per barrel, the stolen oil is expected to be worth $2.06bn by today’s standard.

The alleged theft took place in 2015.

The allegations are contained in a letter signed by lawyer, Gboyega Oyewole, on behalf of the whistleblower dated July 23, 2020.

The letter is titled, “Formal Request for the Payment of five per cent Whistleblower Compensation For Information Furnished In Respect of Crude Oil Stolen from the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

In the letter, it was stated that the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, the late Chief of Staff to President Buhari, Abba Kyari; and Mr Umar Mohammed were all informed of the stolen crude and were expected to take action.

A subsequent letter written to the President by the whistleblower, was, however, prevented from getting to him.

The whistleblower said in October 2015, the stolen crude was moved from China without the knowledge of President Buhari and sold illegally by some government and NNPC officials with the proceeds not remitted to the government’s coffers.

When the whistleblower pushed for the agreed five per cent cut of the sale of the crude for exposing the theft, its officials were harassed and issued death threats.

The letter read in part, “Sequel to this policy, our client, being a reputable and credible company, promptly brought to the knowledge of the Nigerian Government, information as to criminal activity involving the NNPC and the stolen product.

“This information was given to high ranking officials of the Nigerian government to wit; Mr. Mele Kyari, the Managing Director of NNPC; Mr. Abba Kyari, the then Chief of Staff to the President; and Mr. Umar Mohammed.

“Consequently, it was agreed that an investigation into the stolen product should be made to ascertain the veracity of the information and garner more facts as to the fraudulent activities.

“It was also agreed that if the information is found credible, the perpetrators of the offence would be apprehended and that compensation due to our client for the information brought forward would be awarded.

“Further to the above stated discussions, our client through its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Jose Salaza Tinajero (its representative) wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari notifying him of the stolen products as advised by the high ranking officials.

“It was also agreed that if the information is found credible, the perpetrators of the offence would be apprehended and that compensation due to our client for the information brought forward would be awarded.

“Further to the above stated discussions, our client through its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Jose Salaza Tinajero (its representative) wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari notifying him of the stolen products as advised by the high ranking officials.

“The said letter was delivered to Mr Umar Mohammed, who to the surprise of our client, failed to deliver it to the President.”

Attached to the letter were several documents including bank transfers, names of vessels and their captains to show that the stolen products had been illegally sold by some top government officials in connivance with the NNPC. The firm also attached chats between some of the principal players.

When contacted, NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Kennie Obateru, said the oil firm was aware of the accusation but would not respond now.

“We won’t respond to it now, but at the appropriate time we will make our position known to the public,” he said.

SOURCE: PUNCH