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Alleged $5m Bribe: Court Okays Ganduje’s Trial

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A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Maitama, has okayed accelerated hearing of a suit seeking to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to arrest and prosecute the First Lady of Kano State, Dr. Hafsatu Abdullahi Ganduje, over alleged role she played in a $5million bribery scandal involving her husband.
The court, in a ruling by Justice Yusuf Halilu, further ordered the EFCC, the Kano State government and the All Progressives Congress, APC, who were listed as 1st to 3rd Defendants, to show cause why all assets owned by and or traceable to governor Ganduje and his wife, should not be temporarily forfeited, pending the hearing and disposal of a suit that was lodged before it by a Non Governmental Organisation. Likewise, the court ordered the APC, through its National Working Committee, to equally show cause why it should not be directed to immediately remove and substitute governor Ganduje’s name as its candidate for the 2019 general election in Kano State.
The orders followed a suit marked CV/344/18 and a motion ex-parte marked M/887/18, which was lodged by a group under the aegis of the Incorporated Trustees of Hope Development and Empowerment Foundation.
Though the plaintiff had in the motion ex-parte it filed through its lawyer, Mr. Johnmary Jideobi, prayed the court to order EFCC to temporarily seize all assets traceable to governor Ganduje and his wife, pending the determination of the suit.
However, Justice Halilu declined the request, even as he directed service of all the processes on the Defendants to enable them to appear before the court on January 31 to show cause why the orders should not be made.
Specifically, the Plaintiff had in the substantive suit, prayed the court to determine: “Whether having regard to the provision of Section 15 (5) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and upon an intimate reading and complete understanding of the decisions of the Nigerian Supreme Court in A.G.,Ondo State v.A.G.,Fed (2002) 9 NWLR (Pt.772) 222 and Fawehinmi v. I.G.P.(2002) 7 NWLR (Pt.767) 606, the 1st Defendant herein is not duty-bound to immediately commence the criminal investigation of the Governor of Kano State regarding the corrupt episode of kick-back (bribe) taking [to the tune of $5, 000,000.00] by the Governor as contained in a viral online video?
“Whether upon a calm reading of Section 15 (5) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and intimate understanding of the decision of the Nigerian Supreme Court in A.G.,Ondo State v.A.G.,Fed (2002) 9 NWLR (Pt.772) 222, it is not imperative on the 3rd Defendant to remove and substitute the name of the Governor of Kano State as its candidate for the governorship election in Kano State of Nigeria scheduled for 2019.
As well as, “Whether kick-back(bribe) taking [to the tune of $5, 000,000.00] by the Governor of Kano State as contained in a viral online video is not a grave violation of Section 15(5) of the amended 1999 Constitution, Public Procurement Act, 2011 and Code of Conduct for Public Officers in Nigeria?”.
“That the corrupt episode as contained in the said video has lowered the image of public governance and shocks the conscience of ordinary Nigerians whose situation have been worsened, overtime, by the ravaging impacts of corruption such as depicted by the video the subject-matter of the instant suit.
“That time is of the essence of this application as the more delay recorded by the 1st and 3rd Defendants in doing the needful regarding the corrupt episode the more irreparable damage it does to all what good governance stands for in Nigeria.
“It is in the interest of justice that prayers contained on the face of the Motion Ex-Parte of the Claimant herein are granted by this Honourable Court”, it added.

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FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

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The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.

Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.

He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.

“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.

He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.

“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.

 “We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.

“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.

He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.

Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.

He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.

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FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

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The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.

This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.

The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.

Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.

The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.

From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.

From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.

Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.

From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.

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KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus

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The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.

The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.

The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the  Polytechnic, recently.

Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.

He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.

This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly,  Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.

The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.

Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.

He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.

The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.

Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.

 

Chinedu Wosu

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