News
$9.6bn Fraud: How INTERPOL Arrested Fleeing Briton, James Nolan In Italy
The International Criminal Police Organisation has arrested a Director of Process and Industrial Development Limited, James Nolan.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Nolan, an Irish national, who allegedly jumped bail in 2022 in the ongoing $9.6bn P&ID scandal in Nigeria, was arrested by the INTERPOL on January 27 in Italy, while on a visit to his wife.
A source in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission confirmed the information to NAN.
“Yes, we got the information through informant sources,” the official said.
The source said the next line of action was for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to apply to INTERPOL for Nolan’s extradition back to Nigeria to stand his trial.
NAN reports that counsel for Nolan, Paul Erokoro, SAN, in a telephone chat, said he had also heard about the report.
“There is a report that James Nolan was arrested but the EFCC is actually in the better position to confirm. They might have heard from INTERPOL. But I have not spoken to him (Nolan) and I don’t have firsthand confirmation but I have heard about the report,” he said.
According to NAN, Nolan, who also has British citizenship, was at the centre of the controversial Gas Supply Processing Agreement which was signed in 2010.
After he was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the counts preferred against him, a Federal High Court, Abuja, on November 7, 2019, granted him a N500m bail but the bail was later varied to N100 million due to his inability to meet the bail condition.
However, after he perfected his bail conditions, he failed to appear in court for trial since 2022.
A sister court, where the embattled Irish was also standing trial had, on September 28, 2022, revoked his bail.
The then presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed (now elevated to Appeal Court), in a ruling, issued a bench warrant for his arrest for jumping bail.
Mohammed ordered that Nolan should be arrested by security agencies, including INTERPOL, anywhere he was sighted within or outside Nigeria and be produced in court to stand trial.
“As far as this court is concerned, the absence of the second defendant (Nolan) in court implies he has jumped bail,” he had said.
The judge gave the order after the anti-graft agency’s lawyer, Bala Sanga, made an application to the effect. He equally granted the EFCC’s request to continue his trial in absentia.
Also a brother judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, on July 6, 2023, ordered Nolan’s surety, George Kadiri, to forfeit his N100m bail bond to the Federal Government over his inability to produce the defendant in court.
Justice Egwuatu, in a ruling after Sanga moved the motion, also ordered Kadiri, who was absent in court, to be remanded in prison custody until the payment of the N100 million.
NAN reports that Nolan is standing trial in about eight other cases for his alleged involvement in the controversial gas supply agreement with the Federal Government.
The contract became the subject of litigation following the award of a whopping sum of $9.6bn judgment debt against Nigeria.
While eight of the matters are before the FHC in Abuja, a case is before the FCT High Court, besides the London case.
Meanwhile, the matter was fixed for Thursday before Justice Donatus Okorowo of a FHC could not proceed.
While Sanga and Michael Ajara were in court, Justice Okorowo was said to have gone on official engagement.
Nolan had, on November 20, 2023, opened his defence in absentia without calling any witness.
Nolan’s counsel, Ajara, who had told Justice Okorowo that he did not intend to call any witness, said that after his evaluation of the evidence of the prosecution in the matter, he would be relying on the case of the prosecution.
The judge then fixed February 15 for the adoption of the final written addresses of the parties.
Nolan is being prosecuted in the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/272/2022 for allegations bordering on money laundering offences.
A Business and Property Court in London presided over by Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales had, in October 2023, quashed the $11bn awarded against Nigeria in a case filed by the P&ID Ltd.
News
Oyebanji appoints Justice Ogunmoye as Acting Ekiti Chief Judge
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has appointed Hon. Justice Lekan Adekanye Ogunmoye as Acting Chief Judge of the State.
This is in furtherance of the powers conferred on the Governor by Section 271 (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The appointment of Hon Justice Ogunmoye takes effect from November 5, 2024.
He replaces the former Chief Judge, Hon Justice John Oyewole Adeyeye, who passed on November 4, 2024.
Born on November 6, 1963, Hon. Justice Ogunmoye was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987, and was appointed a judge on April 1, 2010.
Governor Oyebanji wishes the new Acting Chief Judge a successful tenure.
International
US Presidential election: Trump At 266 Votes, Harris At 195: US Media
Republican former president Donald Trump closed in on a new term in the White House early Wednesday, just needing a handful of electoral votes to defeat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
US media have thus far projected that Trump has won in more than half of the 50 US states, including three key battlegrounds Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, two of which voted Democratic in the last election.
That gives him 266 electoral votes, just shy of the 270 needed to win the presidency. Fox News has already called the race in Trump’s favor.
Harris has so far captured 195 electoral votes, including big prizes California and New York — as well as the US capital Washington.
The magic number to win the presidency is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.
The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC and CBS.
TRUMP (266) –
Alabama (9)
Arkansas (6)
Florida (30)
Georgia (16)
Idaho (4)
Indiana (11)
Iowa (6)
Kansas (6)
Kentucky (8)
Louisiana (8)
Mississippi (6)
Missouri (10)
Montana (4)
Nebraska (4 – split)
North Carolina (16)
North Dakota (3)
Ohio (17)
Oklahoma (7)
Pennsylvania (19)
South Carolina (9)
South Dakota (3)
Tennessee (11)
Texas (40)
Utah (6)
West Virginia (4)
Wyoming (3)
– HARRIS (195) –
California (54)
Colorado (10)
Connecticut (7)
Delaware (3)
District of Columbia (3)
Hawaii (4)
Illinois (19)
Maryland (10)
Massachusetts (11)
Nebraska (1 – split)
New Mexico (5)
New York (28)
Oregon (8)
Rhode Island (4)
Vermont (3)
Virginia (13)
Washington (12)
(AFP)
News
APC hails arrest of Ex-Delta Gov, Okowa by EFCC
The Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has welcomed the recent arrest of former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, describing it as a step in the right direction in the fight against corruption in the country.
The APC, in a statement issued shortly after the news broke, emphasized that Okowa’s arrest signals a strong commitment by the current administration to address long-standing issues of financial mismanagement and corruption at both the state and national levels.
Okowa, who served as the Governor of Delta State from 2015 to 2023, was apprehended by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds during his tenure.
The charges reportedly relate to a series of financial dealings involving state funds and other questionable contracts awarded during his administration.
In the statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Valentine Onojeghuo Esq., and made available to newsmen in the state capital, Asaba, the Delta APC commended the Federal Government for its decisive action and urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to continue its thorough investigation into the financial activities of other past state governors and public officials.
The party emphasized that this move reflects a larger national agenda to clamp down on corruption, promote transparency, and ensure that public funds are used for the benefit of ordinary citizens rather than for personal enrichment.
“We in the APC wholeheartedly welcome the news of the arrest of the former governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who presided over one of the worst cases of financial recklessness and mismanagement on a monumental scale during his eight-year administration.
“His corrupt practices saw the diversion of humongous state funds for personal enrichment, establishing a bank, and financing his doomed presidential ambition, as well as the manipulative imposition of his puppet godson as governor against the wishes of the people of Delta State who desperately wanted change.”
The APC noted that the arrest serves as a warning to all public office holders, stressing that the era of impunity is over. “No one, regardless of their position or political affiliation, is above the law,” the statement read.
“The fight against corruption must be unwavering and thorough, and we are glad to see the administration taking bold steps in this direction.”
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