The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday approached Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja for an order directing it to visit the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kano branch and inspect the sum of $9.7 billion recovered from a former Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu.

EFCC prosecutor Mohammed Abubakar made the oral application at the resumed cross-examination of Yakubu who is facing a twocount charge of money laundering.

He also said that he relied on what prosecution witness 3 said that the fresh dollars new mints are in “one hundred dollars note” and that they are contained in 30 packs.

Yakubu further told the Court that he was the deponent of an affidavit at the Supreme Court which stated that the money is in custody of CBN.

“I have not gone to Kano CBN but I relied on what you said here that it is in CBN and I don’t have reason to dispute that,” he said.

However, an attempt by prosecution counsel to tender the affidavit with the motion on notice that was filed at the Supreme Court, in respect of the money by the deponent was vehemently opposed to by the defence counsel, Raji, on the ground that it is a public document that requires certification.

Recalled that Yakubu has approached the Supreme Court with the affidavit to challenge the decision of Court of Appeal.

The appellate court refused to release the money to him after squashing four of the six count charge against him.

Justice Mohammed reserved his ruling on the admissibility of the document till November 30. On EFCC’s oral application for (locus in quo) visit to CBN Kano branch, the judge ordered the prosecution to file a formal application and serve the defendant by next week.

He also directed the defendant counsel to file his response, as he has indicated intention to vehemently oppose it.

Yakubu was arraigned on March 16, 2017 on a six-count charge of failure to make full disclosure of assets, receiving cash without going through a financial institution, which borders on money laundering and intent to avoid a lawful transaction under law, transported at various times to Kaduna, the aggregate sum of $9,772,800 and £74,000.

The EFCC said the money was recovered by its agents from a safe allegedly hidden by the defendant in a house in a community Kaduna State.

On October 17, 2018 the prosecution closed its case after calling its seventh witness, Suleiman Mohammed (an EFCC operative) who gave evidence regarding how the commission’s officials, on February 3, 2017, recovered $9,772,000 and £74,000 stashed in a huge fire proof safe in a building belonging to the defendant, located at Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna State.

At the conclusion of the prosecution’s case, the defendant made a no-case submission, which Justice Mohammed partially upheld in a ruling on May 16, 2019. The judge struck out two of the six counts contained in the charge and ordered Yakubu to enter defence in relation to the remaining four counts.

Justice Mohammed said: “I agree with the defence counsel that the prosecution has failed to prove the essential element of transportation of money on counts five and six. I accordingly discharge the defendant on counts five and six.

“Even though I am tempted to discharge the defendant on counts one to four, I am however constrained to ask the defendant to explain how he came about the monies recovered from his house.

“Fortified with my position, the defendant is hereby ordered to enter his defence in respect of counts one to four.”

Rather than enter his defence as ordered by the court, Yakubu appealed to the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

In a judgment on April 24, 2020, the Court of Appeal partially upheld Yakubu’s appeal.

A threeman panel of the appellate court held, among others, that the prosecution was unable; by the evidence it led at the trial court, to establish a prima facie case against the defendant in relation to counts five and six.

The Court of Appeal then struck out counts five and six from the charge and ordered the case be returned to the trial court for Yakubu to enter defence in respect of the remaining two counts – counts three and four.

• World’s biggest Democracy suffers setback
• Democrats support Nigeria’s WTO bid

As emergence of President-elect in the U.S. Presidential election becomes more imminent, authoritative sources close to former Vice President Joe Biden are reeling out salient issues that would form U.S. Africa Policy under his administration. Nigeria, The Guardian gathered, is at the centre of it all.
President Donald Trump of the Republican Party and Biden each claim to be leading in the bitter election.

While Trump campaign is contesting counts in key states of Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan, projections say Biden won in Wisconsin and Michigan. The two swing states (Wisconsin and Michigan) have a total of 26 electoral votes. Biden is also presumed to win in Nevada and Arizona, two other critical states to both candidates.

Biden, last night, stopped short of declaring himself winner, but said he was very confident to beat his Republican rival. Pennsylvania, with 20 electoral votes, is critical to the conclusion of the process, but Democrats say they are hopeful to win the state by a significant margin. “The United States will have a president-elect tonight, a source said.

At 66.9 per cent, Tuesday’s election voter turnout was America’s highest in 120 years, and Biden had the 70.5 million votes already, the most won by any presidential candidate ever.

MEANWHILE, an authoritative ally of Biden, yesterday, hinted that the potential U.S. government run by Democrats would drive positive Africa-specific policies with special interest on Nigeria.

According to Ambassador Johnnie Carson, who serves as Senior Advisor at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, Biden, as President, will most likely differ on the United State’s current position regarding the choice of Nigeria’s Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Trump’s administration had opposed the presentation of Okonjo-Iweala as the popular choice by WTO Troika to the General Council as popular choice. The U.S., instead, preferred her South Korean rival, Yoo Myung-hee.

Carson who disclosed this to The Guardian, at the 2020 US Presidential Election reporting Seminar virtually taking place in Hawaii, said “more attention will be paid to Africa now by Biden.” Carson explained that the Biden’s expected drive for review and revival of strong U.S.’ Africa policy would be triggered and sustained by the domestic support his campaign enjoyed from the Black and other demographic groups within the United States in the run up to the presidential election.

Carson, as a diplomat, served as principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, staff director of the House Subcommittee on Africa, national intelligence officer for Africa, and deputy chief of mission in Maputo, Mozambique and Gaborone, Botswana. He also held assignments at the U.S. embassies in Lisbon, Portugal; London, England; and Lagos, Nigeria. Ambassador Carson is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and board member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and the National Democratic Institute.

Ambassador Carson noted a number of global and transnational issues on which the United States and African countries should be working together to include public health pandemic, terrorism and helping Africa deal with its “youth bunch” as the “youngest continent in the world.”
Carson, who said that Africa-specific policy of the U.S. under President Donald Trump was negative said Trump’s decision to pull out from the Paris climate change agreement was a big blow to Africa, especially as former President Barack Obama had put in $2 billion. According to him, “Africa will be most affected (by climate change) and has the least resources to deal with it.” Carson told a group of international journalists at the virtual session of the ongoing 2020 U.S. Presidential Election Reporting Seminar organised by the East-West Center, Hawaii.

The career diplomat who served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the first administration of President Obama from 2009 to 2013, said Trump’s Immigration Policy that announced visa ban, especially for Muslim countries — four of which were African countries — specifically targeted Nigeria, Sudan, Chad and Mozambique — would be reviewed. “Nigeria was particularly under focus and Trump administration has a proposal that will exclude Nigeria and African countries from visa lottery,” he said.

Ambassador Carson specifically said that Biden would review Trump’s threat that United States would pull out of the World Health Organisation, whose head is an Ethiopian and revisit the “global policy of the U.S. against Africa.”

He explained that former vice president, Biden would toe the path of his former boss, president Obama in re-invigorating Africa partnerships in areas of power, agriculture, security and fight against terrorism. “Under Obama, we saw the Power Africa Initiative for the electrification of Africa and Green Revolution projects. We also saw the (YALI Africa) programme for youths of Africa to provide leadership skills.”

He said he believed that Africa, in encouraging its youths with economic opportunities and progress, would find willing partner in Biden Presidency
IN corroborating Carson’s position on a potentially drastic shift in U.S foreign policy, Michael Kugelman, the deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center, said Biden would be more willing to call out India on human rights violation. “We should expect criticisms more than we saw during Trump administration,” Kugelman said, arguing that Biden’s boss, Obama, openly criticised India on New Delhi issues.

Kugelman also speculated that Biden would be “more willing to call out Bangladesh on its crackdown on political opposition.”
Professor Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations said a new administration led by Biden would see a doubling-down on America-first mantra to pursue a more robust U.S.-Europe Relations. “ Many Europeans are surprised at how U.S. has not been playing its role. We will now see the United States as a member of the liberal democrats community standing shoulder to shoulder with other liberal democracies,” said Kupchan.

The relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States will be fine, but I’m not sure it’s going to matter much, Kupchan said of expected U.S.-UK relations under Biden. Kupchan is a professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government.

Former Nigeria’s President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday, unravelled reasons why he supported the candidacy of Alhaji Shehu Musa Yar’Adua over Chief Olu Falae in 1992, during the pre-election preparation for the 1993 presidential election.

Chief Obasanjo, who recalled this during the launch of the autobiography of a former Oyo State governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala’s book titled: “Amazing Grace,” said both politicians were his close aides, while he was the military head of state, adding that his preference for Yar’Adua was hinged on his belief in the Nigeria project.

He said: “In 1992, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua came to me to request me to intervene on his behalf with Chief Adedibu. It was the usual thing I would do but for Shehu.”

“I went to the chief, meeting him one on one for the first time and he received me warmly. And I said to him, I know both Olu Falae and Shehu Yar’Adua very well as they both worked directly under me. Olu as Permanent Secretary and Shehu as my political number 2.”

“They are both very good. But if we are looking at the entire Nigeria picture, it should be Shehu before Olu; If however, it is purely Yoruba issue, it should be Olu before Shehu.

“If my information is correct that you people are considering Nigeria and not just Yorubaland, then I will recommend Shehu. That led to Chief Adedibu changing his support in favour of Shehu Yar’Adua in 1992,” Obasanjo revealed.

He, then, congratulated Otunba Alao-Akala, who attained the age of seventy years recently, for his contributions in the political circle, saying: “You have had the opportunity to serve, you have served to the best of your ability.”

“You have kept as best as you could recollect records of events as you wish to present them. It has become part of history and let others contend. And you are already a maker of history,” he added.

In his remark, Otunba Alao-Akala, said it fulfilled his desire to bookmark the landmark narratives of his life, how the tragic death of his father in a road accident in 1952 single-handedly threatened to swap his dream of getting to the cusp of his life aspirations.

“The title of the book, “Amazing Grace is not a happenstance. It is the audacity of providence to bring me out of the dungeon of a hopeless tomorrow into a fulfilment of a life that I today, celebrate seventy years on earth.”

“My very meaningful and impactful sojourn in the Nigeria Police Force is also amply documented in the book, to tell the story of how grace pushed me to the top.”

“God brought me from junctures where many who had great and greater hope of tomorrow, fell. He lifted me, without an iota of hope, to my feet and brought me to this juncture,” Alao-Akala posited.

He, however, expressed appreciation to Chief Obasanjo, who chaired the event, for forfeiting many of his schedules to be present at the occasion.

Dignitaries from all walks of life converged on the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan to celebrate the former governor.

Among the personalities present were, Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Mr Rauf Olaniyan, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, for Chief of Staff under the administration of the former governor, Dr Saka Balogun, who reviewed the book and others.

As the counting of the ballots entered the second day on Thursday, anxiety and tension have heightened in the United States as results from six states held up the emergence of the election winner.

As of Thursday night,  results from Arizona (11 votes), Nevada (6 votes), Georgia (16 votes), Pennsylvania (20 votes) Wisconsin (10 votes) and Michigan (16 votes)  were being awaited.

While Biden has scored 253 points, President Donald Trump is trailing behind with 213 points. The winner has to score 270 points in the Electoral College system to emerge president.

If Biden gets Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin in addition to Michigan, he gets his 270 votes.

Trump, however, will need Pennsylvania’s votes and win three states out of Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada or Arizona.

The Trumps campaign has attacked the integrity of the voting process with lawsuits in three key states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia where the race has not been called and votes are still being counted.

Election officials had cautioned that the winner of the presidential election might be unknown days after the election is over.

Rules in some states don’t allow election workers to begin the labour-intensive work of processing mail-in ballots until Election Day. And with a record number of voters casting their ballots by mail, the influx could delay final tallies for days.

On the allegations by the Trump campaign team, election law experts and state election officials had overwhelmingly said there had been no sign of widespread or even sporadic voter fraud.

They said counting votes just took more time than in past years because the coronavirus pandemic had changed the way people go about it.

But the Trump campaign said the lawsuits were necessary.

Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign attorney, Bob Bauer, said the suits had no merit and were meant to spread a false narrative about the electoral process.

He said it’s more about “Trump’s own effort to discredit the election.”

Trump campaign loses legal fights in Georgia, Michigan

President Donald Trump’s campaign lost court rulings in the closely-contested states of Georgia and Michigan on Thursday, even as it vowed to bring a new lawsuit challenging what it called voting irregularities in Nevada.

 In the Georgia case, the campaign alleged 53 late-arriving ballots were mixed with on-time ballots.

In Michigan, it sought to stop votes from being counted and obtain greater access to the tabulation process.

State judges tossed out both the suits on Thursday.

Judge James Bass, a superior court judge in Georgia, said there was “no evidence” that the ballots in question were invalid.

In the Michigan case, Judge Cynthia Stephens said: “I have no basis to find that there is a substantial likelihood of success on the merits.”

Trump allies alleged that there had been voting irregularities in Nevada’s populous Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment by Reuters on the Michigan and Georgia rulings.