Politics
Reps Committee Issues Warrant of Arrest on CBN Governor, Others

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petiton has issued warrant of arrest on the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs Oluwatoyin Madein, and 17 others for refusing to appear before it to answer questions on their operations.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Fred Agbedi (PDP-Bayelsa) at the committee’s hearing on Tuesday.
Moving the motion, Agbedi said that the arrest warrant had become inevitable following the attitude of the invitees.
He said that the parliament worked with time and the CEOs had been invited four times, but failed to respond.
He said that the CEOs should be brought to appear before the committee by the Inspector General of Police through a warrant of arrest after due diligence by the Speaker, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas.
In his ruling, the Chairman of the committee, Rep. Micheal Irom (APC-Cross River) said that the IGP should ensure the CEOs were brought before the committee on December 14.
Earlier, the petitioner, Mr Fidelis Uzowanem, said that the petition was anchored on the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report of 2021.
He said that the report was a summary of the transactions in the oil and gas industry for 2021 which NEITI could to be challenged.
“We took up the challenge to examine the report and discovered that what NEITI put together as a report is only consolidation of fraud that has been going on in the oil and gas industry.
“It dates back to 2016 because was have been following and we put up a petition to this committee to examine what has happened.
“The 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion that has been proposed can be confidently be funded from the recoverable amount that we identified in the NEITI report.
“It is basically a concealment of illegal transactions that took place in NNPCL, they have been in sink with some oil companies where some companies that did not produce crude were paid cash core, an amount paid for crude oil production,” he said.
He added: “We also found that the cash core payment was use as a channel for laundering funds by NNPCL and we found out that NEITI was able to conceal it in its report.
“In 2021 NEITI reported that Total Exploration and Production Nigeria-Ltd was paid $168 million but examination of submission by the company shows that it received 292 million dollars.
“In other words, $124 million was laundered by NNPCL through Total because monies that have been officially paid to Total could not have been concealed if it were not meant for fraudulent purposes.
“Also for Chevron, the dollar payment NEITI puts forward in its report was N76 million but document emanating from Chevron showed that they received as much as 267 million dollars.”
“In other words, 191 million was laundered under the cover of Chevron and NEITI concealed that; also, Nigeria Agip Company received N188 milliom but none of it was reported by NEITI”.
Some of those to be arrested were the Chief Executive Officer, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), that of Ethiop Eastern Exploration and Production Company Ltd, as well as the CEO of the Western Africa Exploration and Production.
Politics
I won’t go on exile despite being told I’ll be arrested – El-Rufai

A former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has said that he has heard about his possible arrest.
A leader in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who was denied ministerial clearance by the Senate in 2023 on failure to pass security screening, has been locked in a war of words with some members of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
The spat intensified after el-Rufai criticised the APC for ‘straying from its core values’.
In a post on X on Tuesday, El-Rufai, who served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 17 July 2003 to 27 July 2007, said his adversaries intended to force him out of the country.
Responding to a post from X user, Imran Wakili on the alleged plot to arrest and detain him, El-Rufai, who disclosed that he is currently in Egypt, said he would return to the country before 20 February.
He wrote: ‘I will spend more time in Nigeria than ever before.
‘They have sent such similar messages of intimidation and threats through many of my friends, family and political associates because they want me to go on self-imposed exile.
‘I have now put all my previous academic and language-learning plans on hold. Silence is no longer golden. Inaction has never been an option.
‘The arrest, detention and torture of perceived political enemies are nothing new in human affairs. I have been arrested and detained thrice in the past for expressing my views of previous governments.
‘There is always a morning after the arrest or detention or torture, and political life continues. As for death, it is when Allah destines it, and it is ultimately the date of every human.
‘For the attention of the pathetic characters that don’t sleep well whenever I am in Nigeria, take notice that I intend to return in time for the launch of Pres IBB’s memoirs, in sha Allah, scheduled for 20th February.
‘We depend on no one but Allah. We fear no mortal but Almighty Allah. We always hope for the best but plan for the worst’.
El-Rufai has since become an ardent critic of the APC government of President Bola Tinubu government
News
Another PDP lawmaker defects to APC

Amos Gwamna Magaji, a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives, has defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Magaji, who represents the Jaba/Zango Kataf Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, attributed his decision to unresolved crises within the PDP at both the national and local levels.
Magaji, a two-term lawmaker and Chairman of the House Committee on Health Care Services, is also the Kaduna caucus leader in the House of Representatives. He serves as Deputy Chairman of the House Special Ad-hoc Committee on the Restructuring of Government Agencies and Commissions, which is reviewing the Stephen Oronsaye report. Additionally, he has been a member of several House committees, including Defense, Reformation Institutions, Rules & Business, Christian Pilgrimage, Police Affairs, FCT Area Councils, and Constitution Review.
Magaji’s defection makes him the third PDP member to cross over to the APC since the inauguration of the 10th Assembly, following Chris Nkwonta and Eriatheke Ibori-Suenu.
However, Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda objected to Magaji’s defection and called on the Speaker to declare his seat vacant. Citing Section 68(1g) of the Constitution, Chinda argued that while lawmakers are permitted to leave the platform on which they were elected, the law stipulates consequences, including the loss of their seat.
Chinda emphasized, “Members of the House are lawmakers, not lawbreakers. The lawmaker has not complied with the provisions of the law and should therefore be made to lose his seat.”
Politics
Kenneth Okonkwo resigns from Labour Party over leadership crises

Former Labour Party, LP, Presidential Campaign Council, spokesman, Kenneth Okonkwo, has officially resigned from the party.
Okonkwo said his resignation from the party will take effect from February 25, 2025.
In a statement he issued, the Nollywood veteran said LP has been impacted by ongoing internal conflicts and challenges in leadership.
He vowed to join other well-meaning Nigerians to chart a way forward for the country in the area of governance.
The statement reads: “My entrance to politics is for good governance, and I will continue to work for it to ensure that Nigeria becomes a great country of incorruptible men. This aim can no longer be realised within Labour Party as presently constituted.
“This resignation takes effect from the 25th of February, 2025, which marks the second anniversary of the presidential election of 2023, after which I will be at liberty to join other well-meaning, and like minded Nigerians in charting a great future of good governance for this great country blessed by God.”
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