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Lawyer Drags Senate To Court In A Bid To Stop Confirmation Of Bawa As EFCC Boss

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3 years ago

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The new Chairman-designate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, who is expected to face Senate screening soon, is beset by a legal hurdle following a controversy surrounding his rank.

It was learnt that a lawyer, Osuagwu Ugochukwu, has filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to stop the Senate confirmation of the chairman-designate, The Punch reports.

The court document marked FHC/ABJ/CS/196/2021 was received at the Office of the Senate President on Thursday, according to an acknowledgement copy obtained by our correspondent on Friday.

It was learnt that the leadership of the Senate, the Presidency and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation were holding talks as to how to address the issue in order to avoid a repeat of the last screening exercise where the then-nominee, Ibrahim Magu, was rejected twice by the Senate.

Bawa is also believed to be a kinsman of the AGF, Abubakar Malami (SAN). Malami played a major role in the removal of Magu and reportedly recommended Bawa’s appointment to the President, Muhammadu Buhari.

The new nominee, who is a member of the pioneer Course 1 of the EFCC Cadet Officers, is a Level 13 officer. However, the EFCC Act states that in appointing a chairman of the commission, such an appointee must be at least an Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent.

The EFCC Act, however, may not have envisaged that a member of the core staff of the EFCC would become chairman and does not state what the equivalent of an Assistant Commissioner of Police would be in the EFCC cadre.

Bawa, who joined the EFCC in 2005, has been in service for 15 years and is believed to be a seasoned detective. However, there has been controversy over what the equivalent of a Level 13 officer in the EFCC would be in the police.

In the originating summons filed by Ugochukwu, it was argued that Section 2 of the EFCC Act states that the EFCC shall have a chairman who shall be the chief executive and accounting officer of the commission; be a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency “not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent, and possess not less than 15 years cognate experience.”

Ugochukwu asked the court to determine whether a Level 13 officer is the equivalent of an ACP.

The plaintiff subsequently sought two reliefs, including “a declaration that the 2nd defendant (Bawa), who is a Grade Level 13 public service officer and not an Assistant Commissioner of Police or its equivalent is not qualified to be the chairman of the EFCC” and “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the first defendant (Senate) from confirming the appointment of the second defendant (Bawa) as chairman of the EFCC.”

Meanwhile, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership has written a letter to the Senate asking the upper legislative chamber not to confirm Bawa as the EFCC chairman.

This is according to a letter titled ‘Don’t Confirm Abdulrasheed Bawa’s Appointment as EFCC Chair until He Clears His Name of Corruption Allegation; Appeal to the Nigerian Senate,’ which was signed by the Executive Director of CACOL, Debo Adeniran.

CACOL said Bawa was alleged to have diverted 224 forfeited trucks while he was the Port Harcourt zonal head of the commission and is also rumoured to be a cousin of the AGF.

The group further argued that Bawa is not up to the level of an ACP and is thus not qualified to be chairman of the EFCC.

“The EFCC law is an Act of the National Assembly, hence the Senate must not overrule itself by breaching a critical provision in the appointment of EFCC Chairman.

“It is against this background that CACOL is appealing to the Senate to please take the pains to dig deep into Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa’s record of overall performance, as well as that of corruption allegations levelled against him.

“Howbeit, if the rumour making waves in some quarters, which has also been confirmed by some sections of the media, is anything to go by, we would say Nigerians’ hope for a corruption-free society has been dashed with the nomination of Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa as the chairman of the EFCC,” the letter read.

Bawa, who was accused of diverting recovered assets, was, however, absolved of any wrongdoing by the EFCC in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, on Tuesday.

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My Wife Invited Her Friends To Our Home To Beat Me During Our Crisis — Oritsefemi

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1 day ago

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May 17, 2024

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Famous Nigerian singer, Oritsefemi has alleged that his wife, Nabila Fash, invited her friends to their home to beat him up during their marital crisis.

He said the ladies, numbering about 20, overpowered and physically assaulted him.

The ‘Double Wahala’ hitmaker disclosed this in a candid chat with media personality, Chude Jideonwo.

Oritsefemi stated that he has been unlucky with marriages, claiming that his first wife also dumped him after sponsoring her to Dubai.

“My wife [Nabila Fash] asked her friends to come and beat me up in my house. I said, ‘Look at me o; a whole me, lion na he women dey pursue.’ They were about 20. They dealt with me. I’m not lying,” he said.

Oritsefemi’s marriage to Nabila Fash hit the rocks in 2022, with Fash accusing the singer of incessant cheating.

In October 2022, Fash officially filed for divorce from Oritsefemi over infidelity and domestic violence.

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Chain Reactions In 7 Star Performance At 2024 SABRE Awards

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1 day ago

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May 17, 2024

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It was a seven-star performance for Chain Reactions Africa (CRA), one of Africa’s leading Public Relations and Integrated Communications Consultancy as it took home seven African SABRE trophies, more than any other public relations firm in Africa in the 2024 competition.

The awards which were held at the end of the annual African Public Relations Association (APRA) Conference, were presented by Provoke Media, organizers of the awards in Basam, Abidjan, Cote D’Ivore on May 16th 2024.

The work covered campaigns for the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), and its Lagos Blue Rail, 9mobile’s The Hack – Expand Your Hustle’, ‘Taming the Bull’ for the Presidency, ‘Next Era of Happiness’ for leading biscuit company, Pladis Foods Nigeria Limited.

Receiving the awards on behalf of Chain Reactions and its clients, was its Managing Director/Chief Strategist, Israel Opayemi, who noted that this is a seven-star performance by Chain Reactions Africa at the 2024 SABRE Awards.

In his comments Opayemi said “to emerge as the highest winner at the 2024 edition of the award with seven SABRE Awards is humbling as well as exciting for us at Chain Reactions Africa. We are immensely proud to be honoured on such a global platform like the SABRE awards which is the holy grail of Public Relations globally as the awards programme is dedicated to benchmarking the best PR works across the globe.”

He continued, “I am making a three-fold dedication of these multiple trophies to our clients who believe in us, my team members who do the brave works relentlessly and our dear country Nigeria. Ten years ago, we were at the SABRE Awards in Miami, Florida in the United States watching and applauding as winners took turn on stage. Ten years ago, we were asking for a seat at the table. Today, we are sitting in creative resplendence at the head of the table. Today, we are flying the Nigerian flag on the global stage. We are now a territory of reckon and relevance in the global PR space.”

It seems winning awards is just a Chain Reactions thing, chuckled Arun Sudhaman CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Provoke Media, organizers of the SABRE Awards as Opayemi rose up seven times to receive the awards. The PR consultancy also picked up four Certificates of Excellence in recognition of its work launching the Nigerian Youth Trend Report 2024 known as ‘ARAMANDA’, ‘Next Era of Happiness’, ‘Lagos Blue Rail’, ‘The Hack – Expand Your Hustle’, and ‘Taming the Bull’.

In his reaction, President and Chairman of Council of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) described the awards by Chain Reactions Africa as “a harvest of honours for Nigeria”. He thanked the Chain Reactions Africa team for their outstanding works saying, “thank you for making us proud.”

Chain Reactions Africa has over the years won several prestigious SABRE awards and has been awarded more than 15 Certificates of Excellence. At last year’s award, the company won CEO of the Year category for the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for use of public relations to tell the story of his administration’s achievements and scooped two Certificates of Excellence in the Corporate Image category for the ‘Momentum Campaign’ for Cellulant, a flagship payment solution provider; and ‘Marketing to Consumers’ category for ‘The #NaijaHighlandah Campaign’ for William Lawson’s, Scotch Whiskey brand.

The 2024 Africa SABRE Awards shortlist included more than 120 campaigns, selected from over 500 entries in this year’s competition, which recognizes Superior Achievement in Branding, Reputation and Engagement. The campaigns were evaluated by a jury of industry leaders.

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BREAKING: Court Denies Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan Bail

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1 day ago

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May 17, 2024

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Tigran Gambaryan, Binance executive, had his bail plea dismissed by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.

In his verdict, Justice Emeka Nwite stated that the bail application is denied because, after carefully reviewing the application, he concluded that, should bail be granted, the defendant will violate it.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission filed charges against Gambaryan, his business Binance Holdings Limited, and another high-ranking executive who is presently fugitive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, for money laundering and supporting terrorism.

 

More to come…

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