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We Recovered Over N13bn Diverted Funds In September 2024 – ICPC

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6 months ago

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The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has announced that over ₦13 billion in diverted public funds was recovered in September 2024 alone.

The Chairman of the ICPC, Musa Aliyu, disclosed this during the launch of the commission’s 2024-2028 strategic action plan in Abuja on Wednesday.

Aliyu, who emphasised that the anti-corruption agency has been working relentlessly to fulfil its mandate, did not disclose where exactly these funds were recovered from.

“Over the past year, the ICPC has made significant progress in discharging its mandate; for example, we recovered over ₦13 billion in diverted public funds in September 2024 alone. This is just one of the many ways we have worked tirelessly to fulfil our mandate,” Aliyu said.

The ICPC boss also disclosed that the Commission is digitalising its operations which he said will position it as a leader in leveraging technology to combat corruption.

“We are also embarking on ICT reforms that will digitalise our operations and enable more efficient investigations, case management, and internal processes.

“This transformation will position the Commission as a leader in leveraging technology to combat corruption, keeping us one step ahead of criminal activities in the digital age.”

Similarly, he said the commission is developing a specialised curriculum aimed at enhancing the enforcement capacity of its personnel.

“This initiative equips our officers with the skills and expertise needed to address the complexities of corruption cases with the highest standards of professionalism and efficiency.

“Additionally, we are decentralising the anti-corruption effort by empowering state governments through the mobilisation of State Attorneys General.

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“This approach ensures that state governments are equipped with the tools, knowledge, and resources necessary to effectively combat corruption at the local level,” he said.

Noting that prevention is better than cure, Aliyu said the ICPC has intensified efforts to identify institutional and administrative vulnerabilities through System Studies and Corruption Risk Assessments.

“We have also continued to engage with the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Units (ACTUs) in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), reinforcing our grassroots monitoring mechanisms,” he stated.

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National

JUST IN: Supreme Court sets aside judgment recognising Abure as LP’s National Chairman

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3 hours ago

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April 4, 2025

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The Supreme Court has set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognising Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP).

In a unanimous judgment on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have pronounced Abure National Chairman of the LP having earlier found that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.

It held that issue of leadership was internal affair of a party over which courts lacked jurisdiction.

The court allowed the appeal filed by Senator Ester Nenadi Usman and one other and held that it was meritorious.

It proceeded to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the Abure faction of the LP got being unmeritorious.

Details shortly…

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Hakeem Baba-Ahmed resigns as presidential political adviser

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4 hours ago

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April 4, 2025

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Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, special adviser on political matters to Vice-President Kashim Shettima, has resigned from his position, According to Daily Trust.

The newspaper quoted sources as saying that the former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) resigned two weeks ago.

President Bola Tinubu appointed Baba-Ahmed as special adviser on political matters to Shettima in September 2023.

Baba-Ahmed is the elder sibling of Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election.

Baba-Ahmed served as chief of staff to Bukola Saraki, former senate president, from 2017-2019.

CONFRONTATION WITH MATAWALLE OVER NEF

In April 2024, Bello Matawalle, minister of state for defence, described the NEF as a “political paperweight” after the group stated that the north made a mistake voting Tinubu in 2023.

In his reaction to Matawalle’s remarks, Baba-Ahmed said it would have served the Tinubu administration better if Matawalle had listed his achievements as minister — and the achievements of the other northern appointees — instead of attacking NEF.

“Scathing criticism of NEF by a junior minister of defence, Matawalle, is ill-advised. He could have done a better job for this admin if he identified contributions of especially northern ministers and other appointees like me to improving security and reducing poverty in the North,” Baba-Ahmed said.

In a riposte, the minister said any appointee must defend and promote the administration they work for.

“Dr. Baba-Ahmed’s relationship and affinity with Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) is well-known,” Matawalle said.

“The fact now is that he is an appointee of the administration as Special Adviser and it is incumbent on him to work for the success of the government he is part of, protect and defend the government against unjust and vicious attacks from those who hide under ethnic and other primordial interests to heat up the polity for myopic reasons.

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“It is pertinent to state that every appointee of President Tinubu including Dr. Baba-Ahmed owes the government a copious duty to promote, elucidate and advance the good works and commendable efforts of the government across all sectors.”

He added that northern appointees must defend the government or take their exit.

Matawalle is a native of Zamfara while Baba-Ahmed hails from Kaduna.

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INEC: We are not partisan in failed recall of Natasha

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5 hours ago

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April 4, 2025

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has denied being partisan in handling the failed recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Rotimi Oyekanmi, who was on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, explained how the Commission handled the process.

“In the case of the Kogi Central District, we received a petition and a cover letter and of course what Nigerians were saying was that we were taking sides,” Oyekanmi said on the programme.

INEC logo and Senator Natasha Akpoti (Kogi-Central PDP)
INEC logo and Senator Natasha Akpoti (Kogi-Central PDP)

“But what happened was that in the covering letter, the representatives of the petitioners did not include their address as required in our regulations and guidelines and what we just did was to ask them to supply their address, it has nothing to do with the petition.

“And of course, there is nowhere in the law where INEC is asked to reject a petition just because the cover letter did not contain the address. So, there was no hanky-panky in what we did.”

Earlier on Thursday, INEC rejected the petition to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, saying that it has not met the requirements.

The electoral commission said the petition to recall Senator Natasha did not meet constitutional requirements.

Senator Natasha was suspended for breaching Senate rules, prompting some of her constituents to initiate her recall. They claimed the move was to ensure their constituency did not lack representation following the suspension of the 45-year-old senator.

Asked whether there could be a repeat of the recall process, the INEC spokesperson said the law did not specify if the process could be repeated and how many times.

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“The law just talks about the threshold, the threshold meaning that if you want to recall, you must have, in addition to your petition, 50 per cent plus one signatures. The law did not specify how many times you can undertake that,” he said.

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