Headline

Emefiele Facing Gun, Ammunition Possession Charges

Published

3 months ago

July 15, 2023

The suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele is likely to face charges of illegal possession of gun and live ammunition, Channels Television reported last night.

His trial is scheduled for Lagos next week.

The Department of State Services (DSS) had said on Thursday that it had charged Emefiele to court but gave no details of the charges.

However, a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, sitting at Apo, Abuja, yesterday voided his arrest and detention.

This came 24 hours after a separate FCT High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja had ordered the DSS to charge Emefiele to court within seven days or release him.

Emefiele, according to Channels TV, will face a two count charge of possessing one single barrel shot gun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without licence, thus committing an offence contrary to Section 4 of the Firearms Cap F28 Laws of the Federation 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1) (b) (i) of the same act.

He is also accused of having in his possession 123 rounds of live ammunition (catridges) without licence.

The offences were allegedly committed at No.3B Iru Close, Ikoyi, Lagos “on or about the 15th June, 2023”

Emefiele was arrested on June 10, 2023, the day after he was suspended by President Bola Tinubu.

Spokesman of DSS, Dr. Peter Afunanya, said on Thursday that the decision to charge Emefiele was in compliance with the court order.

The service had previously sought to arraign Emefiele for offences bordering on terrorism.

In February, it said preliminary investigation revealed various acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities perpetrated by Emefiele and his involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension.

The DSS had attempted to arrest Emefiele but a Federal High Court in Maitama, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja issued an order restraining the Service from arresting him.

This ruling, delivered by Justice M.A. Hassan, also applied to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who were listed as defendants.

The Nation gathered yesterday that Emefiele is likely to be formally charged at the Federal High Court in Lagos next week.

Multiple sources said the DSS filed the charge yesterday and it now awaits the assignment of the case to a judge for hearing.

Suits at the Federal High Court are assigned by the Administrative Judge for each division of the court.

“The Admin Judge in Lagos will probably assign the case to a judge on Monday,” one of the sources said.

Again, Court voids Emefiele’s arrest, detention, orders immediate release

In voiding Emefiele’s arrest yesterday, the Apo, Abuja FCT High Court declared that his arrest, detention and interrogation violated the subsisting judgment and orders of Justice M. A. Hassan in Suit No. FCT/HC/GAR/CV/41/2022.

Justice Bello Kawu also granted Emefiele’s prayer that the Court make an order setting aside, voiding, quashing, invalidating, and nullifying any warrant of arrest obtained or procured by the respondents, especially the DSS for his arrest, detention, and/or interrogation in connection with the allegations of terrorism financing, fraudulent practices, money laundering, round tripping, threat to national security before or from any court since the date of the judgment of Justice M. A. Hassan.

In addition, the Court granted an injunction restraining the respondents, particularly the DSS, from arresting, detaining, further detaining or proceeding against, breaching, or interfering with his personal liberty and freedom of movement or taking any other steps against him in connection with any allegations of terrorism financing, fraudulent practices, money laundering, round tripping, threat to national security before or from any court since the date of the judgment of Justice M. A. Hassan.

Also granted by the presiding judge was an order of injunction directing and mandating the respondents, particularly the DSS, to forthwith release and unfetter Emefiele from any arrest, detention, custody, interrogation concerning allegations of terrorism financing, fraudulent practices, money laundering, round-tripping, the threat to national security before or from any court because of the subsisting judgment of Justice M. A. Hassan.

Emefiele had in an Originating Motion on Notice against Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Inspector General of Police, the DSS and the Central Bank of Nigeria, asked the court to set aside, quash, invalidate, and nullify his arrest and detention being illegal and a nullity given the subsisting judgment of Justice M. A. Hassan delivered on 29th December 2022.

Headline

Diphtheria: Children at risk as 7,202 cases are confirmed in Nigeria

Published

17 hours ago

September 30, 2023

Ifunaya Emeka

A staggering 7,202 cases of diphtheria, a highly contagious bacterial infection that can be fatal without treatment, were confirmed in Nigeria last week.

The outbreak has been particularly severe among children under 14, with three-quarters of cases (73.6%) in this age group.

Most cases have been recorded in Kano state, Nigeria’s second most populous state. In the past three months, there have been 453 deaths from diphtheria in Nigeria.

Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease, but low vaccination rates in Nigeria have made the outbreak possible. Only 42% of children under 15 in Nigeria are fully protected from diphtheria.

Diphtheria symptoms begin with a sore throat and fever. In severe cases, the bacteria produce a toxin that can block the airway, causing difficulty breathing and swallowing. The toxin can also spread to other body parts, causing heart kidney problems and nerve damage.

Save the Children is launching a wide-scale health response in the three most impacted states of Kano, Yobe, and Katsina. The organization is deploying expert health and supply chain staff to help overstretched clinics detect and treat diphtheria cases and to support mass vaccination campaigns.

However, Save the Children warns that a mass vaccination campaign will only be successful if the vaccine shortage is urgently addressed.

Severe shortages in Nigeria of the required vaccine and the antitoxin needed to treat the disease mean that the situation could continue to escalate, placing many children at risk of severe illness and death.

Headline

WHO releases $16m to tackle cholera, says Director-General

Published

2 days ago

September 29, 2023

Ifunaya Emeka

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released 16 million dollars from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies to tackle cholera.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said this during an online news conference.

Ghebreyesus said that the organisation was providing essential supplies, coordinating the on the ground response with partners, supporting countries to detect, prevent and treat cholera, and informing people how to protect themselves.

“To support this work, we have appealed for 160 million dollars, and we have released more than 16 million dollars from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies.

“But the real solution to cholera lies in ensuring everyone has access to safe water and sanitation, which is an internationally recognized human right,” he said.

According to him, in the previous week, WHO published new data showing that cases reported in 2022 were more than double those in 2021.

He said that the preliminary data for 2023 suggested was likely to be even worse.

“So far, 28 countries have reported cases in 2023 compared with 16 during the same period in 2022.

“The countries with the most concerning outbreaks right now are Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq and Sudan.

“Significant progress has been made in countries in Southern Africa, including Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, but these countries remain at risk as the rainy season approaches,” Ghebreyesus said.

According to him, the worst affected countries and communities are poor, without access to safe drinking water or toilets.

He said that they also face shortages of oral cholera vaccine and other supplies, as well as overstretched health workers, who are dealing with multiple disease outbreaks and other health emergencies.

On COVID-19, Ghebreyesus said that as the northern hemisphere winter approaches, the organisation continued to see concerning trends.

He said that among the relatively few countries that report them, both hospitalisations and ICU admissions have increased in the past 28 days, particularly in the Americas and Europe.

WHO boss said that meanwhile, vaccination levels among the most at-risk groups remained worryingly low.

“Two-thirds of the world’s population has received a complete primary series, but only one-third has received an additional, or “booster” dose.

“COVID-19 may no longer be the acute crisis it was two years ago, but that does not mean we can ignore it,” he said.

According to him, countries invested so much in building their systems to respond to COVID-19.

He urged countries to sustain those systems, to ensure people can be protected, tested and treated for COVID-19 and other infectious threats.

“That means sustaining systems for collaborative surveillance, community protection, safe and scalable care, access to countermeasures and coordination,” he said.