Court orders FG, Okonjo-Iweala to account for ‘missing N30tn’

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Goodluck Jonathan led administration to  account for N30 trillion said to have been missing or unaccounted for while they were in government. 

Justice Ibrahim Buba had given the order in a Freedom of Information suit number FHC/L/CS/196/2015 filed by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).


SERAP’s filed the suit following revelations by the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo, that at least N30 trillion “has either been stolen or unaccounted for, or grossly mismanaged over the last few years under the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s watch.” SERAP had approached the court to order the former Minister and the Federal government to provide it with information on the said N30 trillion.

Delivering judgement in the suit last week, Justice Buba said,

“Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government have no legally justifiable reason for refusing to provide SERAP with the information requested for. The Court has gone through the application and agrees that SERAP’s application has merits and the argument is not opposed. SERAP’s application is granted as prayed.”

The judgment by Buba reads in part:

“Preliminary objection by Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the federal government is misconceived, the court upholds the arguments by SERAP for the reasons stated herein.

“SERAP commenced this proceeding by way of Originating Summons dated 23 February 2015 and filed 25 February 2015. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government filed a Memorandum of Conditional Appearance, a Notice of Preliminary Objection and written address, all undated but filed on 29 September 2015.

“The preliminary objection is on the following grounds: that SERAP did not obtain the mandatory leave of the Federal High Court to issue and serve the Originating Summons and other processes outside Lagos State; that there is no mandatory endorsement on the Originating Summons that it is to be served on Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government in Abuja and outside jurisdiction of this Court.

“The only issue for determination is whether Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the federal government should be heard on their preliminary objection considering the totality of the circumstances of this case.

“He who wants equity must do equity. This suit was filed on 25 February 2015 and from the record of the court was served on Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government on 3 July, 2015. It took about 3 months for them to come up with technical response to the simple request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2011.

“Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government have therefore been caught by Order 29 of the Rules of this Court, which requires that an application shall be made within 21 days after service on the Defendants of the originating summons.

“If Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the federal government want to raise issues about service, the law does not permit of demurer. The proper route for them should have been to join issues with the originating summons and also file their objections. In the present case by SERAP, the Notice of Preliminary Objection by Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the federal government is incurably defective for not conforming to order 29 of the Rules of this Court.”

Elderly grandmother of air hostess who died on the EgyptAir crash collapses at her memorial service

The memorial service of 26-year-old air hostess Yara Hani Tawfik who died on the EgyptAir MS804 flight was held yesterday, May 21 at St. Mary and St Athanasius Church in Cairo.

The victim's elderly grandmother Anna Yara collapsed at the service and concerned friends and relatives rushed to her aid. One held the grandmother face as she was overcome with grief.


Nahla Wagih, a friend of Miss Tawfik, said: "It is so sad to see the family in this state. There are no words to describe her loss. Yara was the perfect daughter and grand-daughter. The family must be broken. I don’t know what words of comfort to say to them"

Mrs Wagih, who worked with Miss Tawfik as a flight attendant on Egypt Air, was one of hundreds of relatives, friends and colleagues who attended the memorial, to which MailOnline was invited.

A large picture of Miss Tawfik was put up in the church between cross of flowers during the 40-minute service. Afterwards, members of her family stood in a line outside the orthodox church as mourners paid their respects.

More photos...

Source: Daily Mail

Man sold everything to raise money for his wife's cancer surgery in France. They boarded EgyptAir flight MS804

EgyptAir flight MS804 with more than 66 people on board crashed during a flight from Paris to Cairo.

Among the dead was a husband and wife who sold everything to pay for life saving cancer treatment and now leave behind their three young children as orphans.


According to the Egyptian newspaper Marawy, 31-year-old Ahmed Ashery sold his family's flat and car to raise money so his wife Reham could undergo cancer surgery in France.

The couple left their young son and two daughters with his mother and spent a month in Paris, where Mrs Ashery had surgery and seemed on the path to a full recovery. They boarded Flight 804 on Wednesday night excited to be reunited with their small children but the plane never made it back to Cairo.

"Ahmed sold everything to save his wife and ease her grief," said Mohamed al-Shenawi, a family friend. "I advised him to accept the command of God and look for treatment in Egypt but he insisted on travelling. They spent a month and then they returned onboard the plane which didn't arrive and now will never arrive."
 

"He travelled to Paris with his wife, leaving his three children with his mother. They spent a month and then they retured onboard the plane which didnt arrive and now will never arrive."

Source: Telegraph/Marawy

Photos: VP Yemi Osinbajo represents Nigeria at Equitorial Guinea's Presidential inauguration

President Buhari is being represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, at the swearing-in ceremony of President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equitorial Guinea today. The country's presidential election held last month. The inauguration is holding in Malabo, the country's capital. The Vice President returns to Abuja later today.