The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the National Assembly to stopfurther action or proceeding on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill which President Muhammadu Buhari rejected.

The restraining order was issued on Wednesday, by Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the High Court.

The ruling is a sequel to an oral application made in a suit filed by the Accord Party against the National Assembly, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the ruling, the court ordered the parties to maintain status quo ante bellum.

All the parties are ordered to stay every proceeding pending the determination of the motion on notice filed by the Accord party.

The Accord party had approached the court with a motion seeking an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the National Assembly from taking any further action or actions on the Bill titled Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2018, particularly, to convene to pass the said Bill into Law, by two-thirds majority of its two chambers, pending the final determination of the substantive originating summon.

Counsel to the National Assembly, Mr. Chinelo Ogbozor, had resisted attempts made by Counsel to the Accord Party, Mr. Wole Olanipekun to move his motion on notice seeking a restraining order against the National Assembly on the grounds that the application was not ripe, and pending the service of hearing notice on the AGF.

Ogbozor said they were served barely 48 hours and insisted that the matter cannot proceed.

In view of Ogbozors opposition, Olanipekun urged the court for Ogbozor to make an undertaking that the National Assembly would not take any action on the subject matter but she refused.

Though the court noted that the motion on notice was not ripe for hearing, it, however, took notice of the oral application made by Olanipekun brought in line with Section 58(5) of Constitution.

Justice Mohammed stated that the court is not granting the prayer contained on the motion paper but is making the preservative order to safeguard the integrity and sanctity of court.

Consequently, the court directed parties to maintain status quo ante bellum at least to the next adjournment.

The matter has been adjourned to March 20 for the hearing of the motion on notice filed by the plaintiff.

The Accord party is seeking among other reliefs A declaration that the legislative powers vested in the National Assembly by the Constitution do not empower or imbue it with the right, liberty or authority to pass or purport to pass any Bill into Law which attempts to interfere with or undermine the independence of the 3rd defendant, as guaranteed by the content, spirit and tenor of the Constitution.

Source: NAN

Mr. Olisa Metuh, on a wheelchair, stormed the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, asking to be granted permission to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Previous attempts to get the permission of the court to travel abroad for treatment was rebuffed.

At the resumed trial on Wednesday, the embattled former National Publicity Secretary of the People Democratic Party (PDP), informed the court through his counsel, Mr. Emeka Etiaba, that his health was fast failing.

He said his health was failing due to spinal cord compression which requires a corrective surgery at a hospital in London.

The Prosecutor, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, opposed the application on the ground that Metuh had filed similar applications in the past which was not granted.

He added that the present application seeking permission to travel abroad did not provide sufficient materials before the court to enable the court grant his request.

The trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, after listening to both counsels adjourned the case to March 15, 2018. for the continuation of trial.

Metuh is standing trial for alleged money laundering being part of the funds linked with former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd).

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Metuh and his company, Destra Investments Limited, on a seven-count charge bordering on fraud and money laundering.

The alleged offences involved the sums of N400 million which the defendants allegedly received from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014.

Source: NAN

Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers global tax evasion scandal that brought down two world leaders announced Wednesday it would shut down operations, citing negative press and what it called unwarranted action by authorities.

Reputational deterioration, the media campaign, the financial consequences and irregular actions by some Panamanian authorities have caused irreparable damage, resulting in the total ceasing of public operations at the end of this month, Mossack Fonseca said in a statement.

But it added a smaller group would continue working to address requests from authorities and other public and private groups.

Last August, co-founder Jurgen Mossack acknowledged the firm had closed most of its offices abroad after its damaged credibility caused business to flounder.

April 3, 2016 marked the beginning of the Panama Papers scandal a leak of 11.5 million files from Mossack Fonsecas digital archive that revealed how wealthy and influential figures across the world had created offshore businesses to safeguard assets.

The information was obtained by German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, who shared it with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. It was released as a searchable database, with revelations continuing to be unearthed to this day.

Icelandic prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was forced to resign after it was revealed his family had offshore accounts while former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified for life from office after being implicated in the documents.

Other figures implicated included former British premier David Cameron, football star Lionel Messi, Argentinas President Mauricio Macri, Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, to name but a few.

At least 150 investigations were opened in 79 countries to examine possible tax evasion and money laundering, according to the US-based Center for Public Integrity.

Source: NAN

US Students walked out of classrooms on Wednesday to stage the largest grassroots protest against gun violence seen in years, demanding action one month to the day after a deadly shooting rampage at a Florida high school.

The protest was staged from east to west, fromWashington to Los Angeles.

Hundreds of teenagers from Washington area schools gathered outside the White House, holding up signs reading Books Not Bullets and Protect People Not Guns before marching on the US Capitol.

We want to show Congress and politicians we are not standing by, we are not silent anymore, said 17-year-old Brenna Levitan, who was at the protest with her mother.

Parkland is going to be the last school shooting.

Students in dozens of other cities in all 50 states staged similar demonstrations and observed a moment of silence to honour the 14 students and three adult staff killed a month ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

In Washington, several hours after the protests broke up, US lawmakers took their first significant step to address school gun violence since the Parkland shooting.

The House of Representatives voted 407-10 to fund violence prevention measures at schools including boosting security, mental health screening and creating anonymous reporting systems so students can report threats.

But Congress has yet to tackle the more controversial aspects of gun control demanded in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

These include expanded background checks for gun sales, a ban on assault weapons and raising the minimum age for some firearms purchases.

Dressed in the schools maroon colors, students at Stoneman Douglas visited memorials to their slain classmates and hugged and cried.

At a high school in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, students marched to the football field and assembled in a heart formation to pay tribute to the victims.

In Los Angeles and other cities, teenagers spelled out the protest slogan #ENOUGH by lying down on the ground on sports fields.

In Washington, students were joined by Democratic members of Congress at the Capitol.

Speakers denounced the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful US gun lobby, and demanded that Congress enact tougher laws on gun ownership.

You, the young people of this country, are leading the nation, Senator Bernie Sanders told the crowd.

People are sick and tired of gun violence and the time is now for all of us, together, to stand up to the NRA.

In New York, students many of whom wore orange, the color of gun control walked out from more than 50 schools.

We want change, and Am I next? they chanted.

Press secretary for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Eric Phillips, said just over 100,000 students took part from the citys schools.

The National School Walkout was intended to last for 17 minutes, one for each victim.

But tens of thousands of students around the country decided to skip school entirely and protest instead.

At the White House, 17-year-old Farah Parmah, who goes to Thomas Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland, said President Donald Trumps controversial proposal to arm and train teachers is just a bad, bad idea.

Gun violence has taken way too many lives this year, said Parmah, who is 17.

There should be no guns in schools.

White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump shares the students concerns about school safety.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton praised the students Wednesday evening, calling them an inspiration to millions of Americans who know commonsense gun reform is long overdue.

The nationwide protest was held one month to the day after Nikolas Cruz, a troubled 19-year-old former student at Stoneman Douglas, unleashed a hail of gunfire on his one-time classmates.

Cruz, dressed in a red prison jumpsuit, appeared in court in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday and a judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

His lawyers had said he would plead guilty in exchange for guarantees that he would not face execution, but prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty.

The United States sees more than 30,000 gun-related deaths annually and Stoneman Douglas students have spearheaded a national gun control campaign, helping to force through a new law on age limits for gun purchasers in Florida.

The US public supports tougher gun laws, according to polls, but there is little backing for meaningful reforms in the Republican-controlled Congress.

Source: NAN

One of the crew members of an Emirates Airlines aircraft due to depart Ugandas Entebbe International Airport has sustained life threatening injuries after jumping off the emergency door.

The Flight EK 730 had just delivered passengers to Entebbe on Wednesday and was preparing to load others passengers for Dubai when the incident happened.

A source at the airport said that the yet-to-be-identified crew member, was immediately evacuated and taken to hospital with life threatening injuries.

The exact cause of the incident was not yet clear, but some eye witnesses cited possible suicide.

She had been seen holding what looked like a glass bottle under her chin before she made the fall.

witnesses said they had seen her in a verbal exchange with colleagues as they boarded the plane.

When contacted, Mr Vianney Luggya, the Principal Public Affairs Officer at the Civil Aviation Authority, confirmed the incident.

In a press statement, Civil Aviation Authority said the crew opened the emergency door and unfortunately fell off without explaining how.

Source: NAN

By Naomi Lagi

The President, Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria (CIFIA) Mrs Victoria Enape has said that forensic accounting was the only way to control fraud.

Speaking on Thursday during a Public Hearing organised by Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service chaired by Sen. Emmanuel Paulker.

The hearing was on four bills, namely Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria; Chartered Institute of Finance and Control in Nigeria.

Others are Chartered Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria; and the Institute of Mediators and Conciliators Bill.

According to Enape, if the bill for Chartered Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria is passed it will help Nigeria to have skilled professionals to deepen fraud prevention, detection and preserve money in government treasury for infrastructural development that is fast disappearing in our country today.

She stressed that the CIFIA was not in conflict with any other established institution or body stressing that the role of the institute was clear cut.

CIFIA should not be seen as a rival to ICAN, just as CIFIA is not seen as a rival to ANAN.

Nothing stops an accountant from becoming a member of ICAN and CIFIA or any other professional body for that matter, she said.

Enape further noted that the accounting profession had many branches with different responsibilities and professional bodies regulating their activities.

Auditing has no professional body regulating it, this gave the opportunity for financial accountants to claim autonomy, and as a matter of fact leads to their inability to control and prevent fraud, corruption and other financial crimes, she said.

She therefore posited that the CIFIA if passed would monitor the serve as a check to the financial statements prepared by accountants and also help the federal government fight fraud and other financial crimes in its agencies.

On his part, representative of the Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria, Prof. Usman Awheela commended the senate for the proposed bills.

Awheela said their members had not been allowed to practice forensic accounting since there was no backing law.

He explained that forensic accounting is the unique blend of education and experience in applying accounting, auditing skills and investigative techniques to uncover truth, form legal opinions in order to assist in litigation support.

Forensic accounting professionals provide assistance on cases which are primarily related to calculation and estimation of economic damages and related issues that includes white-collar crimes.

However, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), kicked against the proposed bills, saying their functions and responsibilities were already contained in the 1965 Act that established the Institute and would therefore amount to needless duplication of functions.

ICAN President, Mr Ismaila Zakari said that the Institute had in 2009 established seven Faculties to provide training for members in their areas of specialisation.

Zakari added that the institute also provided specialist certification courses and issue certificates to qualified members as evidence of expertise and authority to practice their specialised skills.

The Forensic accounting curriculum is carefully drawn to ensure that, to be a forensic accountant, one must necessarily be a qualified chartered accountant, be certain of technical competence and preserved professional integrity.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun said the relevance of forensic accounting globally could not be over-stressed, noting that many countries across the world, including Nigeria had suffered from fraudulent practices.

The minister, represented by Director of Home Finance in the ministry, Mrs. Olubunmi Siyanbola, chronicled federal governments efforts in detecting and preventing fraud, including Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit, Efficiency Unit and Whistle blowing programme.

She, however, emphasised the need for Senate to exercise caution such that the essence of professionalism was not destroyed in the course of creating new bodies.

Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Emmanuel Paulker said the passage of the bill on Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria would promote high ethical standards among members.

This is in a bid to stamp out cases of compromised auditing in the country, he said.

Source: NAN

Search giant Google has said it will change its financial product policy in June this year, a move that will see advertisements related to cryptocurrency effectively banned.

In a blog post published Tuesday, the firm indicated that it will change its existing financial product restriction list in June this year, blacklisting ad content "including but not limited to initial coin offerings (ICO), cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice."

"Such ads will no longer be allowed to serve," the blog reads. The restriction will apply both to Google's proprietary and affiliated advertisement platforms.

The move comes just a month after social media giant Facebook also announced that it would enforce a similar policy that bans advertisements involving bitcoin and initial coin offerings in bid to prevent cryptocurrency-related promotions that may deceive investors.

While Google has not explained in details the reasons of its ban, the new policy comes at a time when regulators in the U.S. have been increasingly scrutinizing cryptocurrency projects that tout unrealistic investment opportunities and promote themselves to investors over the internet.

The latest moves by Google and Facebook - two of world's largest internet and advertising platforms - are also in line with U.S. regulators' effort at both state and federal levels in cracking down ICOs that appear dubious in the government's view.

As reported before, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also issued multiple warnings regarding its increasing effort in monitoring initial coin offerings that the agency may deem as issuing unregistered securities.

Source: Coindesk

Metropolitan Lagos most famous dumpsite at Olusosun, Ojota has been gutted by fire, leaving residents, motorists and commuters panicky.

Thick black smoke could be seen far from the site, located near the old Lagos Toll Gate.

The unusual fire triggered a heavy traffic jam in the area, according to witnesses.

Mr Adesina Tiamiyu, the General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, that the cause of the fire outbreak was yet to be ascertained.

Tiamiyu said that what was of utmost importance was to stop the fire, so that it does not extend to the LAGBUS Terminus.

He said that the fire started around 4pm and there was no casualty.

According to him, the emergency response team, the Lagos Fire Service, the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) were at the site to curtail the fire.

NAN reports that the Lagos State Government has said that the Olusosun and other dumpsites will be closed down, as part of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI).

The government, through an Environmental Utility Firm, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions, has commenced the construction of the first engineered sanitary landfill in Epe, to ensure better waste management.

‘Cleaner Lagos’, a Twitter handle of the Ministry of Environment explained the possible cause of the fire:”It is necessary to clarify that the fire at Olusosun dumpsite wasn’t deliberately set by the Lagos state government or any individual. It broke out as a result of the pockets of unstable gases caused by indiscriminate dumping and further compounded by dry weather”.

Source: NAN

Just days after President Muhammadu Buhari's visit to Benue State, Suspected herdsmen, late last night ambushed traders in Guma LGA of Benue State, killing many of them, including market women and children.

According to DAILY POST, it was gathered that the victims were returning from the popular Yelewata Market when the attackers laid ambush on them, hacking some of them to death and inflicting injuries on several others.

Earlier, the suspected herdsmen had attacked Tse Igbe at Nyiev Council Ward in Guma Benue State, killing one Christopher Unenge, a Catholic catechist and another villager identified as Ayem Mbakuughur and many others.

Among those killed in the latest attack, was a man identified as Aondowase Uma, market women and some children.

“They killed Aondowase Uma, many other persons and even injured four people who were returning from Yelewata Market last night.

“As we speak, several persons are still missing; as at this morning, search is still ongoing,” a fleeing resident told our reporter Wednesday morning.

Source: DAILYPOST.NG

The presidency on Tuesday summoned the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for questioning over why he breached President Muhammadu Buhari’s order to relocate to Benue following the January 1 killings in the state.

President Buhari received Idris in a private audience. And Idris left about 30 minutes after without speaking to pressmen.

President Buhari had on Jan. 9 ordered the Inspector-General to move to Benue to check the reported cases of attacks on innocent citizens.

However, President Buhari who was on an official visit to Benue on Monday in continuation of his tour of troubled areas in the country was told by Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue that the Inspector-General refused to obey his directive.

Ortom, who is not a fan of Idris, alleged that Idris only spent 24 hours in Benue, and later moved to neigbouring Nasarawa state.

“The president demanded for a full report on police operations till date after which he will make further decisions”, a source told NAN.

“”There is a renewed resolve to make sure that the killings and bad security situation in Benue State abates,’’ the source further said.

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu confirmed the meeting but refused to disclose details.