Encomium
1. FG SUSPENDS OBONO-OBLA AS CHAIRMAN OF PUBLIC PROPERTY RECOVERY PANEL
The Federal Government has suspended the Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, from further carrying out any official operation until further notice from the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo.
Special Adviser to the Attorney-General of the Federation on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah, said in a statement on Sunday that government considered Obono-Obla’s actions of late as running contrary to the enabling Act establishing panel.
Obono-Obla who, in his capacity as a presidential assistant, works directly under the AGF, was said to have been informed of his suspension and other developments in a letter dated November 1, 2017, personally signed by Malami.
2. TWO FEARED DEAD AS POLICE, SHI’ITES CLASH
It has been reported that, members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, popularly called Shi’ites on Sunday, claimed that the police killed two of their colleagues during their Arbaeen annual trek in Kano.
The IMN members had started the trek from Kofar Mazugal in the Kano metropolis around 10am and later stopped for the afternoon prayers at Kofar, Nasarawa at the popular Lado overhead bridge.
An eyewitness said it was at Lado on Zaria road that the sect members were intercepted by policemen. The policemen allegedly fired teargas and live bullets at them.
It was learnt that many people sustained varying degrees of injury in the incident.
The President, Media Forum of IMN, Ibrahim Musa, later issued a statement where the group claimed that two Shi’ites members were killed by the police.
3. GEJ BOUGHT YOU A CAR WITHOUT ANNOUNCEMENT – OMOKRI TELLS BUHARI
Reno Omokri, ex-aide of former President Goodluck Jonathan, has criticised the government of President Muhammadu Buhari for publicising the overseas medical treatment approved for Alex Ekwueme, former vice-president.
It was recalled that Garba Shehu, a spokesman of the president, announced on Friday that Buhari had directed that the ailing former vice-president be flown abroad for medical treatment.
Omokri condemned making such help a public issue. He also accused the president of attempting to score “cheap political point”.
While saying that the overseas treatment was Ekwueme’s right, Omokri said Jonathan purchased bullet-proof cars for Buhari without announcing it.
4. NIGERIAN SOLDIER WRITES SYMPATHETIC NOTE TO BUHARI
A soldier who refused to disclose his identity has written a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari to complain about the alleged corruption in the army. The officer on the frontline of the war against insurgency wrote the letter in reaction to the army’s dismissal of the complaints of Abdulrauf Aliyu, a private of the Nigerian army.
Aliyu had complained that he was abandoned after being shot by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
But Sani Usman, spokesman of the army, denied the allegation, saying Aliyu was declared a deserter for leaving the hospital he was receiving treatment without being cleared by the authorities.
Usman said as a deserter, Aliyu should be apprehended and handed over to the nearest military unit or police station, if seen.
But the soldier who wrote the letter spoke in defence of Aliyu and also drew attention to the plight of his colleagues.
He said knowing what they signed for, soldiers “expect to die in the hands of the enemy, not in the hands of the Nigerian Army”.
5. 3 MORE GOVERNORS INDICTED FOR DIVERTING PARIS CLUB REFUND – EFCC
Three more governors are believed to have diverted the London-Paris Club refund, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) revealed. According to the report, besides, another slush account has been uncovered, while the governors are under investigation.
Some of those implicated in the mismanagement and diversion of the refund will soon face trial.
Governors have been pushing for the release of the third tranche of the refund. President Muhammadu Buhari is said to be weighing the request.
Security reports allegedly indicted some governors of gross abuse of the cash. According to a source, who gave an update on the investigation of the refund, all suspects will be brought to book.
6. COURT STOPS ARMY FROM DEMOLISHING HOMES
Residents of Mesiogo Estate at Akobo area of Ibadan, Oyo State capital, have obtained an Oyo State High Court order restraining the 2 Division from demolishing their homes or from doing anything that can threaten their peace pending the determination of the motion filed by the residents.
The division, last week, took a bulldozer and other equipment to the community. It dug ditches in front of houses and created scenes, apparently to intimidate residents. While the Army insisted that the estate is on its cantonment at Ojoo, the residents said they never encroached on Army’s land.
In a suit at the State High Court II, Justice A. L. Akintola ordered an interim injunction restraining the Army from disrupting the peace of the people. Meanwhile, the court adjourned hearing till November 8.
7. GUNMAN STORMS SMALL-TOWN TEXAS CHURCH, KILLING AT LEAST 36
A gunman with an assault rifle stormed a church in rural Texas on Sunday, killing at least 26 worshippers and wounding 20 others in a rampage of mass shootings that have plagued the United States in recent years.
The lone suspect, dressed in black tactical gear and a ballistic vest, drove up to the white-steepled First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs during Sunday morning services and started firing inside. According to reports, he kept shooting once he entered, killing or wounding victims ranging in age from 5 to 72 years old.
Among the dead was the 14-year-old daughter of Pastor Frank Pomeroy, the family revealed.
The gunman was later found dead, apparently of a gunshot wound, after he fled the scene.
The suspect’s identity was not disclosed by authorities, but law enforcement officials who asked not to be named said he was Devin Patrick Kelley, described as a white, 26-year-old man.
8. DASUKI CONFIRMS PAYMENT MANDATE TO METUH’S COMPANY
Former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki has given evidence on the ongoing trial of former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh. At the resumed trial of Metuh and his company, Destra Investments Limited, Dasuki declined answering any question that bordered on his activity as the NSA.
He also refused to acknowledge if there was a formal relationship between Office of the National Security Adviser and Metuh’s company.
The prosecution counsel requested that an attached document to e-payment mandate be shown to Dasuki, which the court did.
Reacting, Dasuki confirmed the document was an e-payment mandate, but refused to say anything less.
9. FORMER ZAMFARA GOVERNOR, YERIMA, JOINS QUEUE OF AWAITING NIGERIAN PRESIDENT
A former Governor of Zamfara State Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima has joined queue of awaiting President of the country should President Muhammadu Buhari declines to seek a re-election and if Nigerians endorse him.
He told newsmen on Sunday in Abuja that his announcement does not negate his avowed commitment to support President Buhari if he decides to re-contest the 2019 election. Yerima representing Zamfara West in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and who seconded the motion by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party for the President to run for the 2019 election, said he would not contest against him.
“I am in politics not for personal aggrandizement but for the sheer glory. I am in politics to serve. And I have not failed to do that,” Yerima said.
10. SARAKI LISTED AMONG WORLD POLITICIANS EXPOSED IN NEW OFFSHORE LEAK
Tax Justice Network, TJN, has declared that lower-income countries bear a disproportionate share of the burden from global tax abuse in which the latest revelation from ‘Paradise papers’ showed cost the world $700 billion in losses every year.
TJN, which said this in a reaction to the Paradise paper, the largest leak of data to date from the world of financial secrecy, maintained that this has direct costs in terms of everything from foregone economic growth to excess child mortality.
Nigeria’s Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has been listed as one of the Nigerians involved in the tax abuse.
