TheNewsGuru

Tag: Probe

  • Senate commences probe of NPA’s $3bn spending on dredging

    The Senate, on Wednesday, began a probe into the $3bn allegedly spent by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, on the dredging of Lagos, Bonny and Calabar water channels.

    The lawmakers mandated the Senate Committee on Marine Transport to investigate the “dredging activities, books and records” of the NPA and the three companies engaged for the job, where the authority holds 60 per cent stake.

    They are Lagos Channel Management Limited, Bonny Channel Company Limited, and the Calabar Channel Management Company Limited.

    The move followed a motion moved by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta Central) and co-sponsored by five others at the plenary on Wednesday.

    The motion was titled, ‘Senate‘s Intervention to Urgently Stop Monumental Financial Recklessness and Economic Waste by the Nigerian Port Authority Under Its Joint Ventures with Lagos Channel Management Limited, Bonny Channel Management Company Limited and Calabar Channel Management Company Limited.’

    In the motion, Omo-Agege lamented that despite being joint venture contracts, the NPA was still spending more on the dredging projects.

    He stated, “The Senate is worried that although these JVs are supposed public-private partnerships conceived to reduce financial burdens on the Federal Government, the NPA has expended over $1bn and $2bn, respectively, on LCM and BCC from 2005 to date, while significant dredging is yet to commence on the Calabar channel; notwithstanding that it is an economic gateway to the North-Central and North-East political zones of the country.”

    Omo-Agege alleged that the NPA had “failed, refused and/or neglected” to ensure the JVs’ compliance with the Marine Environment (Sea Dumping) Regulations 2012 made pursuant to the Merchant Shipping Act 2007; the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matters 1972, otherwise called the ‘London Dumping Convention,’ and the 1996 Protocol to the London Dumping Convention.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki, in his remarks, blamed the anti-corruption agencies in the country for not detecting the alleged misappropriation of funds on the contracts.

    He wondered how $3bn was spent by the NPA in 10 years without being detected by the agencies.

    “The Committee on Marine Transport should ensure that they work quickly on this. We cannot continue to put our money where it is being stolen,” Saraki said.

  • Sanusi’s probe: Kano Assembly Speaker, Kabiru Rurum resigns

    The Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, Kabiru Rurum, has resigned.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Rurum’s resignation is coming after he was alleged to have collected N100m bribe to suspend the probe of Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammad Sanusi II, an allegation he blatantly denied few weeks ago.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Sanusi was accused of mismanaging N4 billion he inherited from his predecessor, Ado Bayero.

    His resignation was confirmed in a letter read at plenary by the Deputy Speaker, Ibrahim Chidariof, on Monday.

    The Majority Leader of the Assembly, Abdullahi Atta, has been elected the new Speaker.

    Details later…

     

  • FG orders probe of NDDC personnel employment, certificates

    FG orders probe of NDDC personnel employment, certificates

    The Federal Government has ordered investigation into educational qualification of members of staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Uguru Usani gave the directive when he visited the commission on Friday in Port Harcourt.

    He expressed optimism the investigation would expose ghost workers and staff members, who gained employment in the commission with forged certificates.

    According to him, the Federal Government was committed to purge the commission of sleazy practices with focus to fast track development of the Niger Delta.

    “We have observed that there are several people working in NDDC with forged certificates, which is partly responsible for the bad image of the commission.

    “Directors of the various departments in the commission are expected to submit the nominal roll of their respective departments to the NDDC Managing Director, Nsima Ekere, within one week.

    “We will not tolerate any delay to this directive and as such, failure to submit the nominal roll on or before one week would lead to sanction.

    “Any departmental head who signed for a ghost worker would face the music,” he said.

    Usani, who was accompanied by the House Committee Chairman on the NDDC, Mr Nicholas Mutu, warned against political interference in the process.

    He said, henceforth, political interference in the running of the commission would be resisted and assured that Federal Government was committed to “governance without partisanship.”

    Mr Nsima Ekere, the Managing Director of NDDC, said the commission would partner the Ministry of Niger Delta, its supervising ministry, to complete construction of the East-West road project.

    He said the road project, which cut across six states in the Niger Delta, would cost in excess of N70 billion to complete.

    “The strategy will be to harness private sector collaboration to complete the road project. The portions that have totally collapsed will be addressed immediately.

    “We will involve multiple contractors, especially the Eleme-Refinery Junction road, which is a strategic link to the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

    “The East-West road is also strategic because it connects Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states,” he said.

    Ekere said the commission had deployed a technology designed to monitor project with focus to reduce incidences of abandoned projects in the area.

    He said the technology would enable the commission to monitor project sites and record progress of work in real time.

    “With this technology, contractors will longer lie to us that they are on site when the work is not going on,” he said.

  • FG probes illegal sales of fruit donated by Saudi govt to Muslims in Nigeria

    Some unscrupulous persons have released for sale the 200 tonnes of fruit donated to Nigerian Muslims by the government of Saudi Arabia.

    The fruit, date palm, which is peculiar to the Middle East, was expected to be distributed free of charge to indigent Muslims via designated mosques in the country; but it is now being sold in the open market.

    In general, eating date palms enhances male sexual performance and increases libido, experts say; and when eaten before or after a fast, it provides a powerhouse of nutrition that can greatly boost energy and prevent constipation.

    The Federal Government has, however, decided to investigate how some of the 200 tonnes of date fruits found their way into the market.

    Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadijat Abba-Ibrahim, in a statement by the ministry’s spokesperson, Dr. Clement Aduku in Abuja, apologised over the “unfortunate turn of events.”

    “This is not the spirit in which the 200 tonnes of dates were given,” she said.

    Abba-Ibrahim expressed disappointment over the issue, saying the matter was being investigated.

    She said the dates were distributed from a warehouse belonging to Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the presence of the Charge d’Affairs, Dr. Yahya Mughram.

    She explained that the Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons had drawn up the list of recipients which included IDP camps and prominent mosques.

    “It is important to note that once the dates were delivered to their final destinations, the ministry of foreign affairs ceded subsequent responsibility.

    “It is therefore disappointing to learn that some of the consignment is being sold for profit.

    “The ministry apologises unreservedly to the government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this unfortunate turn of events.

    “We assure all that the situation is being investigated to avoid a repeat in the future,” she said.

    NAN

  • Ifeanyi Ubah: Appeal Court backs N43bn probe by EFCC

    Ifeanyi Ubah: Appeal Court backs N43bn probe by EFCC

    The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, nod to continue its investigation of Capital Oil and Gas Limited and its Managing Director, Ifeanyi Ubah, for alleged complicity in a N43.29bn petroleum subsidy scheme fraud.

    EFCC and the police had levelled them allegations of obtaining subsidy payments by false pretences, stealing, money laundering and forgery with respect to the alleged fraudulent payment of N43.29bn in the transactions conducted in 2011.

    A unanimous judgment of a three-man bench prepared by Justice Emmanuel Agim and consented to by Justice Akomolafe-Wilson (bench head) and Justice Tani Yusufu, was released on Sunday.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Ifeanyi Ubah is still in the detention of the Department of State Services (DSS) for investigation into a separate case of alleged diversion of N11bn worth of Federal Government’s Premium Motor Spirit (petrol).

    In the lead judgment, Justice Agimnullified the July 25, 2013 verdict of Justice Abdukadir Abdu-Kafarati of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who had made an order of perpetual injunction restraining the EFCC, the Inspector-General of Police and the AGF, from prosecuting Ubah with respect to the subsidy fraud allegations.

    Justice Agim, also in the lead judgment of the appeal court, nullified all of Justice Abdul-Kafarati’s orders, including the one quashing the November 3, 2012 interim investigation report of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede-led Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Subsidy Payments to Petroleum Marketers.

    He held that by virtue of the Aig-Imoukhuede committee’s report, and the first two reports made by the Commissioner of Police in charge of Special Fraud Unit ‘D’ Department of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin “there was a reasonable basis for the suspicion of the first and second respondents (Ubah and Capital Oil) of committing the said offences.”

    The Court agreed with EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), that the agency “can competently reopen and continue investigation into the matter,” after the police, through Ogunsakin, had issued a third report of investigation clearing Ubah and Capital Oil contrary to the findings of the first two reports by the same police officer indicting the businessman and his company.

    Justice Agbim noted that “the fuel subsidy fraud involved corruption and fraud on a very massive scale”; that it involved many oil companies and officials of government’s regulatory agencies “looting and stealing of trillions of naira from the Federal Government of Nigeria and threatening the security and economy of Nigeria.”

    He frowned that in spite of sabotage, Justice Abdu-Kafarati of the Federal High Court in Abuja had granted Ubah’s application for fundamental human rights “in such a manner as to prevent or frustrate investigations into the scam.”

    He held that the trial court issued injunctions in Ubah’s case to stop ongoing process and prevent even future process “without regard to the very serious nature of the crime alleged” and its “far-reaching destructive effect on the society.”

    In upholding a joint appeal by the EFCC and the Attorney General of the Federation against the Federal High Court’s judgment, Justice Agim held that the enforcement of a person’s rights must not be used or allowed to shield the person from “the due process of criminal law”.

    He held that the legal system had provided remedy for a suspect in the civil suit for relief from malicious process “if after the investigation with or without arrest and detention” or “after the trial the evidence does not establish the guilt of the suspect.”

    He ruled, “Such determination must involve a consideration of a whole range of issues to ensure that the enforcement of a person’s fundamental or other rights is not used or allowed to prevent or frustrate the initiation or continuation of the due process of criminal law against him by the competent law enforcement authorities or is not used to shield the person from the due process of criminal law or is not used to prevent or frustrate the competent law enforcement agency from exercising its constitutional or statutory powers of crime prevention, control, investigation and prosecution o is not used to defeat the legitimate public expectation of law enforcement or is used to acquire toga of defacto impunity for himself.”

    Justice Agim also held that the judgment of the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court delivered on February 18, 2013 in favour of Ubah and his company had since 2015 been set aside by the Court of Appeal, Lagos, in 2015.

    He also rejected the documents which all cleared Ubah and relied on by Ubah’s lawyers, Mr. Raphael Oluyede and Babs Akinwumi in the course of the appeal.

    He held that the documents, including the legal opinion offered by the then Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, in 2014 and a letter anchored on Adoke’s legal advice and sent by the then Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, to the Federal Ministry of Finance, were nothing but opinions which could not stop further investigation when the need arose.

    Justice Agim also held that report of the House of Representatives which investigated fuel subsidy fraud, relied on by Ubah and his company did not absolve them from “complicity in the massive fraud in the petroleum subsidy payments”.

    The appeal court added that since the House of Representatives or any chamber of the National Assembly lacked the power to conduct criminal investigation, its report “cannot be used to prevent or shield any of the petroleum marketer and supply companies from being investigated by competent investigative authority upon a criminal complaint that it fraudulently received billions of naira as imported petroleum subsidy payments when it did not import or market the petroleum in Nigeria.”

  • Emir of Kano and the aborted Tsunami – Godwin Etakibuebu

    Emir of Kano and the aborted Tsunami – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    The topic treated on this page last week was a frightening question: Pending Tsunami in Kano Emirate: Will the Emir survive it? Though I did not complete the work then, hoping to complete the analysis today, on how the sword of Damascus balanced appropriately on the Emir’s neck, relief came his way last week as some great Nigerians rescued him from the shadow of death.

    We were told that with the intervention of these Nigerians, which included the Acting President; Professor Yemi Osinbajo, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, amongst many others, what would have been a doomsday for the man was averted, as the State Governor gave instruction to the State House of Assembly to stop the probe.

    While we must thank these messiahs that fought gallantly in rescuing a veritable prey from the Lion in its den, we cannot overlook the “generosity” of the Lion that let go an already caged prey.

    The caged prey in this drama is the Emir; Mallam Muhammad Sanusi 11, while the Lion is no other person than the Governor of Kano State; Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. l salute all involved in this rescue operation fervently. However, if the truth is to be told, the war is not yet over though a battle has just been won.

    There are yet many rivers to be crossed before arriving the land of Eldorado in Kano Emirate. Let us try to “decode the coded rules of engagement” in the war going on in Kano.

    To do this successfully, we should be analysing the characters of the personae dramatis and the functionality of the invisible powers behind the façade. Knowing the personae dramatis and their characters is not as difficult as identifying the invisible individuals that are dictating the terms, places, times and instruments of the war in Kano.

    Let us start with the “rescued prey” himself; Mallam Muhammad Sanusi 11. Of course Sanusi Lamido Sanusi [SLS] was not just ordinary person that could easily be pushed aside. His giant strides in the public service made statements for themselves.

    While he publicly took the landscape of the Nigerian financial empire with such unchallenged prowess, he was not necessarily admired by all those who crossed his path but those who ignored him did so, mostly though, to their peril. He is conventionally controversial, royally loquacious, brilliantly enigmatic, fearlessly audacious, religiously scholastic and socially influential.

    To some people, the Emir is a religious fanatic. This class of people would readily point to the controversy that roped his name into the brutal beheading of an Igbo trader; Gideon Akaluka, in Kano on 15th of August 1995, an episode that pitched General Sanni Abacha’s government against him [SLS] and eight others suspected to have been involved, until a former Chairman of First Bank; Alhaji Umar Mutallab, came to his rescue.

    You may not like him, given his frankness and bluntness, with boldness of course, when addressing issues but you might be compelled to respect and admire him when it comes to presentation of facts on figures and his in-depth knowledge on most topics. Truth is that the Emir is extremely and adorably brilliant. His tenure as the Governor of CBN shall remain a positive watershed in the annals of the Nigerian financial development history.

    My limited knowledge of the man tells me that he has this “natural repulsiveness to everything anti-knowledgeable and this would always stare up a holy rebellion” in him, against authorities, and inclusive of Presidents, at any time. He was boldly up against Goodluck Jonathan about the way he ran the economy – a stand that put him in trouble of being suspended from office as Governor of CBN.

    He has not proved to be different in the present dispensation, which is why he told President Buhari recently that “if this government continues to behave the way the last government behaved, we will end up where Jonathan ended. You may not like it, but that is the truth. You have to listen”. Will the Emir learn to shut-up his month from saying what he believes, even after the interventions of these great Nigerians? I have my doubts.

    The second personality for consideration on whether the war in the Emirate has ended with the intervention of these great Nigerians or not is the Kano State Governor; Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. I doubt so much if his ambition for second tenure [2019-2023] would not be a casualty as long as Mallam Muhammad Sanusi 11 remains on the throne. My conclusion is on political exigency.

    The governor has fallen out of favour with his predecessor [Rabiu Kwankwaso] who made him governor in the first place. He has chosen to cast his loyalty on the President Buhari’s presidency so that his second tenure can be actualised.

    In the other hand, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso himself, being seen as a threat to President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure [that is if his health would allow him] need to be “caged” urgently if Ganduje would continue as governor till 2023 because a “loosed” Kwankaso in Kano State could pull more than enough influence to put Ganduje in the dustbin of political oblivion, by 2019. This feared influence of Kwankwaso is real in Kano, not necessarily because he was a past governor, but more of the fact that the Emir he made [Mallam Muhammad Sanusi 11] could influence the peoples’ votes against Ganduje.

    The third personae dramatis that could elongate the war in Kano Emirate beyond the peace created by these great Nigerians is the Buhari’s presidency and this is for the reason given above. President Buhari second tenure’s ambition [again, health willing] sees Kwankwaso as enemy and if Mallam Muhammad Sanusi is Kwankwaso’s friend, then he [the Emir] remains a terrible enemy of Abuja that must be ferociously removed with “military alacrity”.

    While we thank the peace makers for what they have been able to achieve so far, at least for now, the last of drums of war’s beating in the Kano Emirate might not yet be over. It is only time that shall speak and interpret the political scheming games of the Kano Emirate.

    Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist, wrote from Lagos.

  • Pending Tsunami in Kano Emirate: Will the Emir survive it? 1 – Godwin Etakibuebu

    Pending Tsunami in Kano Emirate: Will the Emir survive it? 1 – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    It began with the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation of the Kano Emirate Council over allegation of misappropriation of Six Billion Naira.

    While the probe continued, those that are well entrenched in Kano politics knew that the exercise was all about the highly respected Emir of Kano; Mallam Muhammad Sanusi 11 than the Emirate Council.

    This much became manifested when the Kano State House of Assembly, on May 10th 2017, set up an eight-man committee to “investigate the allegations levelled against the Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammad Sanusi 11, bordering on misconduct and alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to the Kano emirate Council”.

    The probe committee of the State House of Assembly, being superior, terminated the functions of the State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission against the Emirate automatically.

    The Chairman of the latter [Muhuyi Magaji] tactically complained about the usurpation of his agency’s function when he said that “the agency has achieved 80 per cent success into the investigation of alleged misapplication of N6 billion by the Kano Emirate Council before the House of Assembly took the matter over”.

    He added quickly that “the commission had also recorded a water-tight case against the emirate council over the allegations of financial misappropriation and we have also identified our primary suspect in the course of the investigation”.

    Take note of the language used – “our primary suspect”, and not suspects. That points to one individual being hunted.
    The enthusiasm with which Kano State government functionaries were falling on each other on this matter is an incontrovertible fact that there is “one big fish that must come into the net for full punishment”.

    The big fish couldn’t have been any one else but the Emir of Kano himself. While the probe of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission was ostensibly directed at the Emirate Council for “misapplication of N6 billion” without mentioning the Emir’s name, the State House of Assembly was specifically set up to “investigate the allegations levelled against the Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammad Sanusi 11”.

    The singular language of “our primary suspect” used by Muhuyi Magaji earlier has been narrowed to an individual, albeit the Emir.

    The Honourable Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Kabiru Alhassan Rurum, while constituting the probe panel, did not bring any allegation against the Emirate Council but instead levelled several allegations against the Emir directly. Some of the allegations are listed below for our collective evaluation and bearing in mind the seriousness of each of these allegations, it will be safe to conclude that the Emir is, most likely, on a long journey into dereliction if found guilty of any of the allegations.

    Misappropriation of funds belonging to the Kano Emirate Council.

    Spreading false rumour against the person of the State Governor; Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
    Embarrassing the Kano Emirate Council by sending his daughter to represent the Council in a recent event in Abuja, as against a responsible Council member.

    The mode dress of the Emir’s daughter at the function in Abuja caused embarrassment to the Emirate Council and the tradition of Kano people because she failed tyo wear full traditional regalia.
    Getting involved in political issues.
    Introducing religious views that are contrary to the teachings of Islam.

    Making statement against President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The Kano State House of Assembly Probe Committee, which was given only two weeks to submit its report, is most likely to return verdict of “guilty” on the Emir, all things being equal.

    How did the Emir; a very brilliant and erudite scholar in Islamic laws and tradition, a most conspicuous student of history, walked himself into such a tight and dark cul-de-sac alley without bringing to bear the historical event of his grandfather? His grandfather; Emir Muhammadu Sanusi 1, who reigned from 1953 to 1963, was probed by the Northern House of Assembly of financial impropriety in 1962, after the Emir reportedly fell out of favour with the powerful Sardauna of Sokoto; Sir Ahmadu Bello, and by 1963, his deposition as Emir of Kano had become fait accompli.

    Is the grandson trending the same path? Will he end up just like the grandfather, more so when powerful machineries of both the Federal and State governments are against him? A peep into his background might be helpful in defining and interpreting what anchorage awaits him in this stormy voyage of troubled waters he is swimming against. I met Sanusi Lamido Sanusi [SLS] in the later days of his tenure as Governor of the CBN and in the few times we met, we spoke frankly to each other, with mutual respect. Based on this, l can understand and discuss his journey into the present.

    Ugochukwu Okoraofor; then a Director with the CBN, called me by 5 am of February, Monday 3rd, 2014, begging for my presence in Abuja that same day, saying “Goddy, there is a man l want you to meet this night please”. Of course l obliged him and l left Lagos for Abuja with Arik’s last flight of that day. I did not meet the “man” until the next night [04/02/14], a little after midnight and we talked till 3am. The “man” happened to be the Governor of CBN himself in his official residence in Abuja.

    Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist, wrote from Lagos.

  • Why we suspended N6bn fraud probe of Sanusi – agency

    Chairman, Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, Mr. Muhuyi Magaji, says the agency has achieved 80 per cent success into the investigation of alleged misapplication of N6bn by the Kano Emirate Council.

    Magaji told the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja that the commission had also recorded a “water tight case against the emirate council’’ over the allegations of financial misappropriation.

    “We have also identified our primary suspect in the course of the investigation,’’ he said, but declined to name the suspect,” he said.

    However, he said that the commission suspended the probe to avoid a “crisis of concurrent investigation with the state House of Assembly and possible litigation by interested parties.”

    The chairman explained that the state legislature had taken over the case by constituting an eight-man committee to conduct a similar probe when the commission was on top of the situation.

    According to him, Section 16 of the law establishing the commission barred it from conducting further investigation into any matter pending before the state House of Assembly and the courts.

    Magaji cited the case of Rabiu Salisu and others before the Federal Court of Appeal in suit No: K/37/2016, and suit No: K/M/728/2015, involving Rabiu Ibrahim & Co financial institutions Vs the anti-graft agency to buttress the need for the suspension.

    He added that the commission had found out that “all the monies allegedly spent were not appropriated for contrary to the Kano State Emirate Council Law 2004.”

    The law required the council to prepare annual budgets and submit same for appropriation by the legislature.

    “But our findings from the Ministry of Budget and Planning confirmed that the emirate council has an annual overheads of N15m and no capital allocation even under Emir Sanusi,’’ said the chairman.

    Meanwhile, he said that the commission had written the House of Assembly on the matter and would stay further action pending the response of the legislature.

    He, therefore, urged the public to appreciate the legal and extraneous constraints of the commission in suspending investigation into the alleged financial irregularities committed by the emirate council.

  • Emir Sanusi: Kano anti-corruption agency suspends probe indefinitely

    The Kano State government anti-corruption agency has suspended investigation into the finances of the Emirate Council

    According to a report by Premium Times, the chairman of the body, Muhyi Gado, stated that the suspension was indefinite.

    Gado explained that the commission could not continue, as the House of Assembly was also conducting an investigation.

    “We are not happy with the coming in of the House of Assembly into this matter and we cannot continue doing the same thing with them; that is why we allowed them to do it themselves.

    “You see many would rather see the House interference as purely political while our own has nothing to do with that. We do things professionally according to the dictate of laws,” a source said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Kano State House of Assembly had on Wednesday set up an eight-man ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations levelled against the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Sanusi was accused of mismanaging N4 billion he inherited from his predecessor, Ado Bayero.

     

  • BBC apologises to Emir Sanusi over alleged N6b Emirate fund scam publication

    BBC apologises to Emir Sanusi over alleged N6b Emirate fund scam publication

    British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, has apologised to the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, over reports it published claiming the Emir was connected with a financial recklessness that took place with the Kano Emirate fund.

    Recall that on April 24, the corporation had published a report claiming that the Emir was under probe by the Emirate’s anti-graft commission for alleged mismanagement of Kano Emirate fund.

    The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission had opened an investigation into allegations of ‘questionable expenditures’ running into billions of naira by the council over a short period of time.

    However, in the apology letter dated April 28, 2017 and sent to Emir Sanusi, Mr. Jamie Angus, editorial director at BBC, said that an April 24 story quoting the Chairman, of Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, Muhyi Magaji, as saying that he (Sanusi) was amongst those being investigated in connection with alleged misappropriation of about N6 billion Emirate Council fund was “not correct.”

    “The recording of the interview was passed to another colleague in Abuja office, summarised in a despatch and then sent to London where the online report was written and published.

    Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Emir of Kano “It is now clear from our investigations that the reports did not accurately reflect what we were told by Mr. Magaji, who had, in fact, made clear to our reporter that you had not been invited in for questioning and indeed that it was unlikely that there would be a need to invite you for question.

    “Accordingly, the report we published suggested that you were under personal investigation was not correct and for that I offer my sincere apologies,” Mr. Angus said.

    Recall also that the Kano state Emirate Council had equally refuted the allegations that the emir spent N6 billion of the emirate’s fund since assuming office in 2014. Speaking at a press conference in Kano on Monday, a senior official in charge of finance, Bashir Wali, told newsmen that contrary to reports, Sanusi has only spent N2.9billion since he emerged Emir three years ago. Mr. Wali, who is also the Walin Kano, further explained that Emir Sanusi inherited about N1.9 billion as against the alleged N4 billion from his predecessor Alhaji Ado Bayero.