As President Mohammadu Buhari’s war against corruption assumed a geometric progression, major Nigerian newspapers today, August 24, 2015, focus on the alleged diversion of N1tn by the chairman, Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC), Ibrahim Lamorde, his admonition for lawyers to join the war against graft and the imminent trouble for the Nigerian economy as oil price crashed last weekend in the international market.
Lamorde’s alleged financial mess is like the case of the hunter becoming the hunted. Punch reports that Lamorde will be probed by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions on Wednesday August 26, 2015, over an alleged diversion of over N1tn proceeds of corruption recovered by the anti-graft agency.
The EFFC chairman is being accused of diverting loots recovered from a former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and former Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun.
According to Punch, George Uboh, chief executive officer of Panic Alert Security Systems petitioned the senate committee as regards the alleged divesion.
Uboh is also expected to appear before the senate committee at meeting room 120 of the new senate building, national assembly complex, Abuja, by 10am on Wednesday.
The alleged fraud is dated back to Lamorde’s days as the Director of Operations of the EFCC (2003-2007), and as acting chairman of the commission between June 2007 and May 2008.
To strengthen the war against corruption, Buhari has also urged legal practitioners both in the bar and the bench to team up with his administration in rebuilding the system.
Buhari made this clarion call in Abuja at the 55th NBA Annual General Conference with the theme ” Lawyers And National Development’’ Guardian reports.
The president obliged them not to compromise their professional ethics and the integrity of the legal system no matter how lucrative the brief may be.
“First, we need to make our courts functional and effective again. This means that we must have lawyers who take the ethics of the profession very seriously; lawyers who will not frustrate the course of justice, even though they defend their clients with all legitimate means and resources’’ he said.
”Nigeria needs ethical lawyers who always keep the end of justice in mind and will never sacrifice the integrity of the legal system to cover the misdeeds of their clients, no matter how lucrative the brief may be,” the President said.
The Nation reports that the Chief Justice Mohammed assured the President of the support of the Judiciary in the fight against corruption and impunity. Justice Mohammed blamed lawyers for the delay in court proceedings.
He however, advocated a cordial relationship between the Bench and the Bar to sustain the on-going reforms in the judiciary and for the court to effectively dispense justice.
Meanwhile, the president had given the Nigeria Armed Forces a three-month ultimatum to wipe out Boko Haram insurgence in the country.
In response, the Chief Of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Tukur Buratai, vowed to put an end to the activities of the insurgents in a matter of days,
”In just matter of days we are ending this non-sense and all those who had been displaced from theoir homes would return and continue with their normal activities”Daily Sun reports.
Like a lion hunting for its prey, Buratai led a team of soldiers to raid some strongholds of the insurgents in Borno State. To complement the effort of the troop, Chief Of Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar also piloted a fight jet to provide aerial support.
The troops reportedly dislodged the terrorists from their strongholds along Mafa, Gambo-rou Ngala and Dikwa roads in Borno State.
Daily Sun reports that the convoy of the army chief, in company of Major-General Adeosun, the General Officer Commanding 7 Division, Maiduguri, principal officers from the army headquarters, among some journalists however, came under attack by the terrorist who laid an ambush.
Meanwhile, the oil price crash experienced in the international market at the weekend may threathen the 2015 budget and fiscal plan, Vanguard reports.
According to the medium, the international price of crude oil hit a six-year low below USD40 per barrel with West Texas Intermediate crude oil as low as USD39.89, while Brent crude declined further to USD45.10 from previous week’s level of USD48.87 per barrel.
The price as speculated may crash even further the moment Iran gets its international pardon.
If the refineries resume operations, more products are released into the already saturated market. This spells anarchy for Nigeria that produces less than its projected 2 million barrels daily there by increasing the cash crunch and liquidity flow in the economy.
If the refineries resume operations, more products are released into the already saturated market. This spells anarchy for Nigeria that produces less than its projected 2 million barrels daily there by increasing the cash crunch and liquidity flow in the economy.
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