The days where people are wanted for stealing millions are long gone as billions is now what we hear about in the news. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has declared Kennedy Izuagbe, a former director of Societe Generale Bank Nigeria Plc and managing director of Carlisle Properties and Investment Limited, wanted over a case of conspiracy and money laundering to the tune of over N3.6 billion. A statement from EFCC reads...

"Kennedy Izuagbe, a former Director of Societe Generale Bank Nigeria Plc and Managing Director of Carlisle Properties and Investment Limited, has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Izuagbe, 45, who is being investigated in a case of conspiracy and money laundering to

the tune of over N3.6 billion, has gone into hiding and all efforts to reach him have proved abortive.
He is linked to the several shady deals and gross financial misconducts that took place in the bank, in which several millions of naira were granted as loan without due diligence. The suspect, who is believed to have fled the country, is a native of Iviukhua village, near Agenebode, Etsako East local government area of Edo State. The EFCC enjoins members of the public with information on the whereabouts of Izuagbe to contact any of its offices in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Gombe and Kano, or the nearest police station.”.

It will be nice to know how many people/government officials  the EFCC have jailed for fraud related activities since its inception,Jailing culprits is what will stop others from stealing public funds not announcing them wanted and letting them go through the back door afterwards.

According to new reports, Justice Mu’azu Pindiga, chairman of the Rivers State governorship election tribunal, was removed after a group of investigators from the Department of State Security discovered that the judge had accepted a bribe of N200m from Governor Nyesom Wike, defendant in an electoral case before the tribunal.

 SR sources within the DSS said their agents confronted the judge as well as the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, with evidence of the bribe. Justice Bulkachuwa was shocked and had no choice but to sack the tribunal chairman... Justice Mohammed Ambrosa was then asked to replace the compromised Justice Pindiga, as the President of the Court of Appeal said there was no point swearing in a new judge.

 Lawyers representing clients whose petitions were before the electoral tribunal told SR that they welcomed the firing of Justice Pindiga. “Apart from the fact that he has been exposed for being corrupt, he has not demonstrated any knowledge of electoral matters,” one of the lawyers said. “I can tell you that a number of lawyers who have appeared before him have found him wanting when it comes to issues pertaining to the electoral laws of this country,” he added. Another lawyer echoed the sentiment.

“We had protested to the President of Court of Appeal to replace the judge. He was a poor judge,” he said. After learning about the replacement of Justice Pindiga, Governor Wike’s lawyers launched a feeble protest, criticizing the reconstitution of the tribunal. However, their protest was silenced when they were told that the governor’s bribe to the removed judge had been exposed.

 Governor Wike had made at least two attempts to see the Chief Justice of Nigeria to seek the CJN’s help to influence the outcome of the tribunal, but the nation’s top judge declined to meet with the governor, citing his fear of President Muhammadu Buhari. SR learned that Wike’s lawyers facilitated the collection of the N200m by the ousted tribunal chairman.
source:Olufamous blog

You all still wondering why our Naira continue to get devalued compared to other currencies? Wonder no more because if $50k (N10 Million) was offered for transport, you can guess what was offered for support during election campaigns. In a new interview with Abuja-based newspaper, THE INTERVIEW, Pastor Tunde gave account of things he received from former President Goodluck Jonathan and dared others to openly declare what they got from the former president.

Nigerian Pastor, Tunde Bakare, has disclosed details of his meetings with former President Goodluck Jonathan, and what he benefited from the former leader while he was in office. Mr. Bakare, a former running-mate of President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011, said he wrote four -point letter to Mr. Jonathan, calling his attention to the level of impunity in his administration.

 Giving details of what he benefited from the immediate past president, Mr. Bakare said, “Let everyone declare what he has received. I can tell you what I received. I took two people there one day and he invited us to dinner. I had a bad sore throat that day, so I took a pass regarding the dinner. “Another day, I took a couple there and I took a cup of tea. I told you about the $50,000 which I refused, but that was Orubebe. He sent me a cow at Christmas – which I gave the staff to kill – and a hamper through our pastor in Abuja, but I told him to keep it.” Mr. Bakare stated this in an interview with an Abuja-based magazine, THE INTERVIEW.

 The pastor revealed that at a point, the former president offered to give him “something”, which he refused and opted for simply a pen. “Finally, when the opportunity came and he (Jonathan) said, ‘I will like to give you something’. I [then] said ‘I like pens: so if you must give me anything, let it be a pen, so that I can show it to my people and say ‘the president gave me a pen,’” he disclosed. He said one day, after a meeting with Mr. Jonathan, a former minister in charge of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, rushed to offer him $50,000 for “transport”, an offer the pastor said he turned down.
“When we were leaving, Orubebe ran after me and offered me $50,000 for my transport. I said, ‘Haba, take your money, I am not for sale’. We said goodbye to him and the rest is history,” Mr. Bakare said. Giving details of his meeting with the former president, Mr. Bakare said, “When he (Jonathan) became president, I said to him, ‘the things we marched and protested against, you are now perpetrating them – the same impunity’”. “I gave him four points in writing. Before we left Lagos, I gave a copy to Pastor Adeboye and another to General Alani Akinrinade. I said, ‘we are going to say goodbye to this man’ because if a man cannot keep his own side of the bargain, because if you got here by the grace of God and not because of any pedigree and, within 10 years, had become the president of Nigeria.
 “God has brought you into the kingdom for such a time as this, so you cannot begin to commit the same impunity,” he said. Mr. Bakare said in another meeting with the former president, he (Jonathan) told him that he needed someone to tell him the truth. “He reached out to me later and said, ‘look, let’s put that behind us; Nigeria’s situation is critical.’” “Before I went, I called General Buhari and said ‘this man invited me, I don’t know what for.’
 When I got there, he said he needed someone who could tell him the truth always. I said, ‘if that is what you want, you have me at your side,’” he said. Mr. Bakare therefore challenged religious leaders to declare what Mr. Jonathan gave him, saying the clergy did not tell the former president the truth because they benefitted from him. “However, you see, Christian leaders benefited tremendously from his administration in terms of licences and waivers. The thing is, when you allow those in power to get you into any compromise, speaking to them will be very difficult.
“I don’t know if any of those allegations were true, but I have seen enough to begin to think that they were not able to use our overwhelming influence. If you have benefited from evil, you cannot talk about it, nor criticize it. Let everyone declare what he has received,” Mr. Bakare said in the magazine interview.

Immediately the court rose and the Deputy Chief Registrar of Federal High Court, Mr Solomon Akpedah ushered the former governor and his two sons into a waiting van for a journey to Kano central prison, Lamido exclaimed saying: “

You mean I am now a prisoner”? The Deputy Chief Registrar, however, tried to calm him down saying “No sir, you are not a prisoner”.

It seems President Buhari has gotten into gear. The EFCC seems to be working again and we hope the ongoing cases against former governors will be taken seriously. Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has rejected the resignation letter of the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sabo Dasuki. According to report, Dasuki’s resignation was rejected on the ground that he must account for funds received and spent under his tenure in the prosecution of the Boko Haram insurgency.

 Information gathered shows that the President said Dasuki’s resignation is ‘unacceptable,’ ” following intelligence reports showing the fake military hardware, consumables and large cache of money unaccounted for due to improper filing of contract papers under the office of the NSA.”

 Sources in the polity also revealed that the unaccounted funds poses a “significant financial risk and demonstrates a lack of internal control over the NSA’s office which diminished the roles and powers of the Ministry of defence and more than $50 billion in which contract files were incomplete or could not be located at all which he has to account for before leaving government”.

 The Colonel has come under increasing pressure over his leadership of the NSA’s office and how it was heavily politicized before and after the political transition process. The Presidency is also concerned about some deals coming out of the NSA’s office, especially the issue of $9.3m South African arms deal and repeated reports that Nigeria was conned into a failed Boko Haram “ceasefire” deal to the tune of almost $500m.

I often wonder why corrupt government officials or individuals are offered peanut bail for stealing or defrauding a large amount of money from the state or other victims.Am excited at this news because these fraudsters get to spend  a lot of time in prison before they get the money to bail themselves. Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja has granted former Imo state governor, Ikedi Ohakim bail of N270 million in a N270 million fraud case which he is standing trial for. The former governor was arraigned over a N270 million fraud he allegedly committed in 2008 while he was governor.   


While delivering his judgement, the judge ordered EFCC officials to seize the former governor's passport and other travel documents and deposit it at the office of the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court until his bail conditions are met. Justice Adeniyi however did not state where the accused will be remanded. 

Ohakim is standing trial for a three count charge of fraud which includes buying a property in Asokoro, Abuja for $2.29m and concealing the ownership of the property. He allegedly connived with Tweenex Consociates H.D. Ltd. ‎to portray him as a tenant in the property. 
One of the three count charges against him read,

“That you, Ikedi Ohakim, on or about January 26, 2013 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, while under arrest for an offence under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act, 2004 knowingly failed to make a full disclosure of your assets by not declaring your ownership of the property known and described as Plot No. 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District- it is also known as No.60, Kwame Nkurumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27(3)(c) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act, 2004 and punishable under the same section.”.

Note: Results are based on CIA World Factbook data, which estimates figures for countries and territories that do not have reliable local reporting agencies.

#20: Iran

Misery index score: 37.8%

CPI inflation: 22.5%

Unemployment: 15.3%

Source: CIA Factbook

#19: Afghanistan

Misery index score: 42.7%

CPI inflation: 7.7%

Unemployment: 35.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#18: Gaza Strip

Misery index score: 45.0%

CPI inflation: 5.0%

Unemployment: 40.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#17: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Misery index score: 47.1%

CPI inflation: 3.8%

Unemployment: 43.3%

Source: CIA Factbook

#16: Swaziland

Wikimedia Commons

Misery index score: 48.0%

CPI inflation: 8.0%

Unemployment: 40.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#15: Marshall Islands

Misery index score: 48.9%

CPI inflation: 12.9%

Unemployment: 36.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#14: Haiti

Misery index score: 49.9%

CPI inflation: 9.3%

Unemployment: 40.6%

Source: CIA Factbook

#13: Kenya

Misery index score: 51.0%

CPI inflation: 11.0%

Unemployment: 40.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#12: Senegal

Misery index score: 51.4%

CPI inflation: 3.4%

Unemployment: 48.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#11: Lesotho

Misery index score: 52.2%

CPI inflation: 7.2%

Unemployment: 45.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#10: Belarus

Misery index score: 53.4%

CPI inflation: 52.4%

Unemployment: 1.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#9: Kosovo

Misery index score: 53.6%

CPI inflation: 8.3%

Unemployment: 45.3%

Source: CIA Factbook

#8: Nepal

Misery index score: 53.8%

CPI inflation: 7.8%

Unemployment: 46.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#7: Yemen

Misery index score: 55.0%

CPI inflation: 20.0%

Unemployment: 35.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#6: Namibia

Misery index score: 56.5%

CPI inflation: 5.3%

Unemployment: 51.2%

Source: CIA Factbook

#5: Djibouti

Misery index score: 66.0%

CPI inflation: 7.0%

Unemployment: 59.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#4 Turkmenistan

Misery index score: 75.0%

CPI inflation: 15.0%

Unemployment: 60.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#3: Burkina Faso

Misery index score: 80.6%

CPI inflation: 3.6%

Unemployment: 77.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#2: Liberia

Misery index score: 95.0%

CPI inflation: 10.0%

Unemployment: 85.0%

Source: CIA Factbook

#1: Zimbabwe

Misery index score: 100.6%

CPI inflation: 5.6%

Unemployment: 95.0%

Source: CIA Factbook