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Organisation Seeks Legal Framework to Protect Whistle Blowers

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The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), a nonprofit organisation, has called for  urgent legal framework for the Federal Government’s whistleblowing policy to protect informants.

Dr Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL, made the call at a Policy Roundtable tagged “Towards a Whistleblower Protection Law in Nigeria’’ in  Abuja.

Onumah said that whistleblowers play positive roles in the prevention of and fight against corruption and the promotion of human rights in Nigeria.

“Over the years, we have uncovered and disclosed information on various corrupt and suspicious dealings linked to politically exposed persons and corrupt officials.

“This lead to wider public debates about corruption and the need for accountability, however, instead of being recognised for their work and encouraged, whistleblowers are hindered by those whose interests they threaten.

“ Some face reprisals such as dismissal, threats, physical violence or abusive legal proceedings, while others are forced into exile or even killed.

 “Regrettably, in Nigeria, whistleblowers face a lack of safe and an enabling legal environment that allows them to report wrongdoing without fear of reprisals,” he said.

According to Onumah, this lack of effective whistleblower protection regime is compounded by the existence of ineffective access to laws to enable citizens obtain information held by public institutions.

He added that the lack of effective and independent judicial institutions that could provide access to justice and effective remedies for human rights violations was also ineffective.

“Over the years, particularly since the Federal Government introduced a Whistleblowing Policy in December 2016, there have been efforts to enact a whistleblower protection law in Nigeria without success.

“Today’s event is one more attempt in this regard. So far, about ten out of 55 African countries have adopted specific laws to protect whistleblowers.

“At a time when many jurisdictions in Africa and around the world are adopting whistleblower protection laws, this intervention seeks to put the spotlight on whistleblower protection in Nigeria,’’he said

Onumah said through a nationwide survey conducted by AFRICMIL in 2021, it was observed that Nigerians were of the view that the absence of a whistleblowing law was the major hindrance to the success of whistleblowing in Nigeria.

He, therefore, said the aim of this intervention was to develop key ideas and strategies to put whistleblowing and the passage of a whistleblower protection law in Nigeria on the front burner of national conversation.

Also speaking, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya  Orji, the  Executive Secretary and National Coordinator of Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI)  affirmed NEITI’s commitment to advocating for the safety, protection, and welfare of whistleblowers.

Represented by Mr Kingsley Ochasi,Legal Officer, NEITI, Orji  that whistleblowers are real heroes of transparency  and stressed the need for the National Assembly to promptly pass the whistleblower protection bill.

He commanded AFRICMIL for its contribute towards building a more accountable and equitable Nigeria adding that NEITI was proud to have the centre as its partner.

In his contribution, Dr  Kole Shettima, the Director of MacArthur Foundation said that whistleblowing as a tool in the fight against corruption has great value, however, lack of legal protection remained the challenges and setbacks.

Shettima said that the importance of ensuring the safety and protection of individuals who engaged in whistleblowing activities was a collective concern, thus emphasising the need for a legal framework.

A representative of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission(ICPC)  Ms Nneka Chukwuma-Okere, Legal Officer, ICPC said the commission had put measures in place to make good use of whistleblowers’ information.

Chukwuma-Okere said the commission tries to keep the identities of whistleblowers secret to protect them.

“Our section 27, gives us the rights as public individuals to report and we also have anti-corruption unions which we up in various MDAs  to help with the fight against corruption.

“So today, we are looking forward to  deliberations with other sister agencies to move forward in this whistleblowing  policies.’’

Reports says that the Whistle-blower Policy is not a Law of the National Assembly.

NAN reports that tthe whistle-blowing Policy in Nigeria is an anti-corruption programme that encourages people to voluntarily disclose information about fraud, bribery, looted government funds, financial misconduct, government assets and any other form of corruption or theft to the Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Finance.

NAN reports that a former Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami,SAN,  said that within the first two months of the Whistle-blowing policy in Nigeria, the federal government recovered over 178 million dollars  that were stolen from the government.

By June 5, 2017, Federal Ministry of Finance received a total of 2,150 tips from the public, 128 tips came through the website of the ministry, 1,192 was through phone calls, 540 through SMS and 290 through email to the ministry. By July/August 2017, a total of 5000 tips was received.

Also, in October 2017, former acting ohairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu said that N527,643,500; $53,222.747; GBP21,222,890 and Euro 547,730 was recovered since the policy was launched.(NAN)

POLITICS

PDP NEC Gets Under Way in Abuja

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By Johnson Eyiangho, Abuja

All is set for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 99th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting today at the party’s Presidential Campaign Office, Legacy House, located in the Maitama District, Abuja. After a marathon meeting of the various organs of the PDP at the Bauchi State Governor’s Lodge, officials of the party have converged on Legacy House for the long awaited NEC meeting, which had been postponed for several times.

Security in and around the house has been beefed up with the deployment operatives from the Police, DSS and NSCDC.
Many prominent members of the party, including its 2023 Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, were absent from the marathon meeting.
The NEC, one of the highest decision-making organs of the PDP, comprises of Party National Chairman and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC), state governors, serving and former presidents, former vice-presidents, the chairman and secretary of the Board of Trustees (BoT), principal officers of the National Assembly, state chairpersons, former governors, and founding members, among others. The NEC meeting is expected to address critical issues affecting the party, including strategies for upcoming political engagements, leading to the 2027 general elections.On Monday, barely 24 hours to the much expected NEC meeting, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) keep to its threat and sealed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Secretariat, Wuse Zone 5 for failure to ground rent, a situation the party described as temporary set back.However, reprieve came to the PDP and others who had their properties sealed as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, intervened and gave them 14 days to pay their ground rent.

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PDP Crisis: Wike Withdraws from PDP Peace Talk

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By Laide Akinboade, Abuja

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, at the weekend, said that he was pulling out of all previous agreements reached to ressolve the lingering crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), vowed to “fight on until justice is attained.

”The FCT Minister, who said he had pointed out to the Oyo State Governor.
Seyi Makinde, that he was the architect of the party’s present problems, disclosed that he told Governor Makinde that “non-adherence to agreements reached was the bane of the party, and that he was the chief culprit of this anomaly.
”This was contained in a statement titled; “PDP Crisis: My Position,” which he personally signed, the Minister insisted that resolutions reached that Senator Samuel Anyanwu remained the National Secretary of the PDP in tandem with the Supreme Court judgement, all legal matters relating to Rivers State must be withdrawn by the National Legal Adviser, the suit on the State of emergency be withdrawn forthwith and that nobody should deviate from the agreements so reached, must be respected by all the parties involved.
The statement read; “Since after the 2023 General election, the PDP has been wantonly swinging from one part of a slippery precipice to another, owing fundamentally to dishonesty and lack of trust amongst its key stakeholders. To stem this ugly trend, efforts have been made to arrest this pernicious virus of dishonesty and treachery and enthrone fidelity to agreements with a view to stabilizing the party and moving it forward.”To this end, a meeting of the G5 was held in Lagos. In that meeting, I made it clear to the Governor of Oyo State, HE. Seyi Makinde, that he was the architect of our problems, pointing out to him that non-adherence to agreements reached was the bane of the party, and that he was the chief culprit of this anomaly. At the end of the meeting, we resolved to bury the hatchet and make progress.”As a follow-up to the aforementioned meeting, there was an expanded meeting in Abuja involving HE. Seyi Makinde, HE. Umaru Fintri, HE. Bala Mohammed, HE, Bukola Saraki, and I in Saraki’s guest house. In that meeting, I made it clear that I had no personal problems with HE. Bala Mohammed, except that he hides under the facade of Chairman of PDP Governors Forum to serially renege on agreements. Tensions rose mightily in the meeting and it took all concerned to calm frayed nerves. At the end of the meeting, we came to some resolutions, including: that Senator Samuel Anyanwu remains the National Secretary of the PDP in tandem with the Supreme Court judgement, all legal matters relating to Rivers State must be withdrawn by the National Legal Adviser, the suit on the State of emergency be withdrawn forthwith, and obody should deviate from the agreements so reached.”In the light of the foregoing, they pleaded with me to attend the stakeholders’ meeting at the Bauchi Government Lodge, regardless of my many engagements. I attended the meeting and clearly reiterated my earlier concerns, and to this end and in order to resolve all other lingering and pending issues, a committee was formed, headed by HE. Bukola Saraki.”It is disheartening to note that even before the Bukola Saraki Reconciliation Committee began its work, the gentleman’s agreement we reached at Saraki’s Guest House was already being crudely violated. To my chagrin, Seyi Makinde had connived with Peter Mba of Enugu State to orchestrate the summoning of the meeting of so-called South-East leaders to recommend that if Ude Okoye was not adopted as Secretary, they would pull out of the PDP. I have since granted an interview to the effect that, that resolution of the South-East leaders can not hold.”Again, Seyi Makinde organized some people in the National Secretariat to insist that the Deputy National Secretary should act as National Secretary, in violation of the agreement earlier reached. To attempt to give credence to this farce, a letter was written by the Deputy National Secretary, calling for a meeting of the NEC of the party. Furthermore, the letter confirming the candidacy of the Governorship candidate of the party in the forthcoming Governorship elections in Anambra State, duly signed by the National Secretary, Senator Anyanwu and the acting National Chairman, was portrayed as rejected by the party through a rebuttal letter signed by the National Publicity Secretary, acting on the orders of Seyi Makinde and Peter Mba. All these actions are in complete violation of the agreements reached and would not do the party any good whatsoever. On the 24th of May 2025, in Jos, for instance, a well publicized and properly attended zonal elective congress of the PDP was aborted because the letter inviting INEC to the congress was signed by the Deputy National Secretary of the party. INEC refused to attend because the proper signatory recognized by law, that is Senator Samuel Anyanwu was not a signatory to the invitation notice. This is undeniably distasteful, provocative and annoying, to say the least.”I have painstakingly put out all these facts so that PDP members and the general public would know the truth. I have been in this party since 1998 and have worked tirelessly for the survival of this party with all my strength and it is on record that none of these persons have done anything close to what I have done to sustain this party. What is more painful is that I contributed substantially to most of these governors winning their elections, yet I have not made any personal demands on any of them and I would never do so.”Most importantly, I had thought that we could keep the trust amongst us, but since it is now obvious that they would continue to play games to the detriment of the party, as is the case in the current debacle in the North-Central zonal elections, I have now firmly decided to pull out of all agreements hitherto reached. I have decided to fight on until justice is attained.”

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2027: I have No Presidential Ambition – Yahaya Bello

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Former governor of Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello on Friday said he won’t contest against President Bola Tinubu in 2027 because he has no presidential ambition.

In a statement signed by Michael Ohiare, his Media Director, Bello expressed surprise and shock over a video post of his 2022 rally,  claiming he had started campaigning against President Tinubu for 2027.

The statement read: “While we state categorically, that our principal, Bello, has no 2027 presidential ambition, we want to also stress his unflinching commitment to the re-election of President Tinubu come 2027.

“The indices cannot lie. The President and his team have done exceedingly well for the country, despite global challenges.

On merit, he deserves the support of well meaning Nigerians.

“Nigerians should disregard the mischievous post insinuating a fresh presidential support rally as what it is – a senseless post by a confused, witless mind

“The fabricators forgot that the 2022 dates are boldly written on the banners on display. Yet, they expect reasonable people not to see this as the handiwork of detractors. ” he said.

Ohiare described the post as a “senseless post” by mischief makers, who have no other job than to fabricate falsehood and disseminate same to mislead unsuspecting Nigerians.

According to him, the fabricators have tried so hard in their “bring-him-down-at-all-costs” mission against Bello but have always failed woefully.

The director stated that it was not the first time detractors and their co-travellers would fly absolute falsehood with the aim of setting the former governor against President Tinubu.

“But this latest slant of reposting a 2022 rally afresh and insinuating that it is just happening, connotes nothing but sheer mischief.

“Nigerians should be wary of witless persons who concoct stories without thinking, just to satisfy the interests of their paymasters, ” he said

He stressed that the post was out of desperate bid to create crisis where there is none. (NAN)

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