The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday tendered more evidence in the trial of retired Col. Sambo Dasuki and three others before an Abuja High Court.

Dasuki a former National Security Adviser (NSA)is charged with an amended 32-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, dishonest release and receiving various sums of money to the tune of N33.2 billion.

He was accused of misappropriation of security funds in the accounts of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), alongside a former General Manager with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-Kusa.

Others are two firms: Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited.

The EFCC arraigned the four defendants afresh on, March 25 in a case that began in 2015.

The anti-graft agency accused Dasuki, among others, of releasing the equivalent of N10 billion in foreign currencies from the NSA’s account.

The account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the 2014 presidential primary election of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Dasuki and his co-defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, marked as FCT/HC/CR/43/2015.

At the resumed hearing of the case , PW1, Adariku Michael, a detective with EFCC informed the court that the commission received intelligence report on Sept. 21, 2015 bordering on abuse of office and money laundering.

He was taken in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN.

He alleged that the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) moved huge sums of money between October, 2014 and April, 2015 to accounts of various companies.

The witness said the report was assigned to a special task force headed by ACE Halimah Kazeem.

The witness said that on receiving the report, the special task force swung into action and wrote a letter to the CBN.

He narrated how money for the ONSA account in the CBN was transferred to different individuals and companies into their different banks.

Responses from requests sent to CBN and other banks were tendered in evidence and marked as exhibits.

The defendants counsel , A A Usman for Dasuki, Solomon Umoh, SAN for Baba-Kusa and Acacia Holdings Limited and A O Ayodele for Reliance Referral Hospital Limited reserved their objections

The parties as suggested by Umoh agreed to be shown the documents before the proceedings, so that the trial can go smoothly.

Justice Charles Agbaza then adjourned the case until Nov.11 for continuation of hearing. (NAN)

The Lagos State Government has demolished more than 200 illegal shanties, and evacuated derelict vehicles sprawling around Apapa Road, Ijora, and Costain under bridges.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Mr. Sola Giwa, confirmed this in a statement on Friday.

Giwa also disclosed that during the operation, personnel of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) made a shocking discovery.

“A dummy firearm and other dangerous weapons clandestinely concealed within makeshift structures beneath the bridges.

“This is a manifestation of the state’s relentless commitment to urban regeneration, environmental rectitude, and safeguarding of public order,” he said.

He said the large-scale clearance operation was meticulously coordinated through a synergy of inter-governmental agencies.

According to him, the exercise strategically targets the reclamation and sanitisation of critical public spaces.

“These spaces have been desecrated by unlawful habitation, environmental degradation, and nefarious criminal activities.

“The alarming discovery of the dummy gun underscores the exigency of the intervention.

“It also validated the state government’s proactive stance against festering criminal hideouts in key transportation corridors,” he said.

Giwa decried the appalling condition of the affected areas.

He characterised the unlawful activities and shanty settlements as a monumental affront to public decency, environmental order, and the collective security of Lagosians.

“No responsive and responsible government will countenance such brazen lawlessness within vital infrastructural zones that sustain the state’s socio-economic engine,“ he said.

The special adviser reiterated that the exercise was designed to eradicate incessant traffic robberies.

He added that it aimed to dismantle drug peddling enclaves, and abate chronic environmental nuisances that had plagued the axis for years.

He added that the operation equally led to the removal of unauthorised garages.

“Also, evacuation of long-abandoned trucks, which had been converted into criminal dens under the Ijora Bridge,“ he said.

Giwa reaffirmed the unwavering determination of government to sustain the tempo of urban renewal and environmental enforcement across the metropolis.

He warned that any attempt by displaced miscreants or illegal occupants to return to the cleared sites would be met with swift and decisive sanctions.

He reaffirmed that Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration remains irrevocably committed to actualising a safer, cleaner, and more habitable Lagos.

“One that reflects the true spirit of a 21st-century megacity, “ Giwa said.

The multi-agency exercise featured robust participation from the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, Kick Against Indiscipline, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority and the Nigeria Police Force.

They all work in concert to restore environmental order, safety, and infrastructural integrity.

Other affected areas included Apapa Road, Ijora, and Costain under bridges inward Iponri where similar demolitions were executed.

It aims to dismantle criminal hideouts and reclaim encroached public spaces.

Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked House of Representatives member, Abubakar Gummi for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Gummi represents the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara in the House of Representatives.

Guardian reports that in a judgment delivered on Thursday, October 30, Justice Egwuatu, restrained the Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, from further recognising Gummi as a member representing Gummi/ Bukkuyum Federal Constituency. The judge also made an order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election to fill the vacancy for the constituency within 30 days from the day of the judgment.

The suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1803/2024, was filed by the PDP and its state’s Chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, as 1st and 2nd plaintiffs.

The duo, in the originating summons dated November 28 but filed on November 29, 2024, by Ibrahim Bawa, SAN, had sued Hon. Abubakar Suleiman Gummi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and INEC as the 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively.

The plaintiffs had set out four questions for determination and sought nine reliefs.

They asked whether, having regard to the provision of Section 68 (1) (9) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), it was not unconstitutional for Gummies to retain his seat as a member in the house. They said he defected from the PDP, which had sponsored him for the election to the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency, to the APC, when there was no division in the party, among other questions.

One of the reliefs sought was a declaration that it was unconstitutional for the speaker to refuse/fail to declare Gummi’s seat vacant.

Gummi, in his response through his lawyer, filed a notice of preliminary objection and a counter affidavit. The lawmaker argued that his decampment was due to the crisis within the party.

He stated, contrary to the plaintiffs’ deposition, that the lingering, unresolved internal and external crises, both at the national level and in his constituency, are the reasons for his defection from the party to the APC.

Gummi said the crisis resulted in a state in which he could no longer properly represent his constituents or ensure that they all benefited from the shared distribution of democracy’s dividends within the bounds of law, without undue interference from anyone or anything.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Egwuatu granted all the plaintiffs’ reliefs. The judge condemned the attitude of some politicians who see defection as a normal practice.

“Before I take my fingers off the keyboard, let me just add that politicians should respect the wishes of the electorates that elected them into office.

A situation where the electorates have made their choices between different political parties and their candidates based on the manifestos and marketability of such a political party, it is legally and morally wrong for such a politician to abandon the party under which platform he or she was elected into office and move to a rival party without relinquishing the mandate of his or her former party.

If a person must decamp, don’t decamp with the mandate of the electorates. Don’t transfer the votes garnered on the platform of one party to another party. A politician has no such right to transfer votes of a political party to another political party. The law must punish such moves by taking away the benefits bestowed upon the decampee politician by the electorate. And that is what Section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution has done. Political prostitution must not be rewarded. In total, I resolve all the issues in favour of the plaintiffs and against the defendants,” Justice Egwuatu said

The judge, therefore, ordered that Gummi, having defected from PDP to APC “before the expiration of the period the house was elected, automatically loses his seat as a member of the House of Representatives.”

He made an order restraining Gummi from further receiving monies as salaries, allowances or whatsoever called in his capacity as a member representing the constituency.

He also made an order directing the lawmaker to refund to the Federal Government all monies collected as salaries, allowances or whatsoever called as a member representing the constituency from Oct. 30, 2024, to the date of judgment.

“An order is made directing that the evidence of the refund of all monies collected as salaries, allowances, or howsoever called be filed in the registry of this court within 30 days of the judgment of this court,” he said.

Justice Egwuatu consequently awarded a fine of N500,000 in favour of the plaintiffs and against the defendants.