Alleged N26.6m Fraud: ICPC Drags Ex-Law Reform Commission Scribe To Court

A former Secretary to the Nigeria Law Reform Commission, Mrs.
Folake Abiodun Oguneye, has been arraigned before Hon. Justice M.B.
Idris of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court 29 sitting
in Nyanya for fraud by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Mrs. Oguneye was facing prosecution for allegedly defrauding the
Federal Government of the sum of N26,637,116.00.

The commission, in a 5-count charge, had averred that Mrs.
Oguneye, while serving as the Secretary to the Nigeria Law Reform
Commission conferred a corrupt advantage upon herself by using her
office to derive various unlawful pecuniary benefits for herself to
the tune of the above sum.

ICPC, in Charge No: CR/334/19 told the court how the accused
person received the sum of N4, 100,000.00 from Kings and Khad Tours
and Travels Nigeria Limited which was part of the sum of
N10,171,100.00 paid to a company, Snugees Investment Limited, by
the Nigeria Law Reform Commission for publicity over the reform and
unification of Sale of Goods law in Nigeria.

The defendant was also accused of receiving the sum of
N96,293.05k monthly amounting to N1,155,516.6k for one year as
furniture allowance from the Law Reform Commission whereas she had
actually collected the bulk sum of N5,777,600.00 for the five-year
period of her tenure.

Mrs. Oguneye, was further charged for accepting the sums of
N15,004,000.00 from one Huthman Ademola Oluwatoyin, the Proprietor
of Mutoy Adekunle Enterprises, being part of the sum of
N15,516,225.00 for the unification of Sale of Goods law in Nigeria
and N600,000.00 as gratification from a contract she had awarded
respectively.

Her action is contrary to and punishable under sections 10 (a)
(ii) and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Act, 2000. If she is found guilty, she shall on conviction be
liable to imprisonment for five years without any option of
fine.

Oguneye pleaded not guilty to all the charges levelled against
her and her counsel, A.O. Ayodele, via a written application,
sought the reliefs of the court to grant her bail which was not
opposed by the prosecution.

The trial judge, therefore, admitted the accused person to bail
in the sum of N5,000,000.00 and a surety in like sum who must not
be lesser than a Grade Level 14 public officer within the
jurisdiction of the court and must possess evidence of a landed
property within the FCT.

The matter has been adjourned to September 19th 2019 for the
prosecution to open its case.

NAF Graduates 20 Air Provosts Trained on Advanced Crime
Investigation

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has graduated 20 Provost Personnel
trained in advanced Crime Scene Investigation (CSI). The CSI and
Train-the-Trainers’ Course graduation ceremony took place on 21
June 2019 at the 057 Provost Investigation Group (057 PIG), Ikeja.
The graduands comprised 6 officers and 14 airmen/airwomen. The
Course was aimed at developing participants’ skills in forensic
methodology; evidence recovery in fingerprints, DNA and firearms
discharge; crime scene photography and security presentation on
evidence to support crime investigation. The training took place at
the NAF Forensic Crime Laboratory which was commissioned in
September 2018 as part of efforts of the Service to effectively
employ scientific approaches in all facets of its critical
competencies, in order to enhance security and discipline in the
Service.

Speaking during the graduation ceremony, the Air Officer
Commanding Logistics Command (AOC LC), Air Vice Marshal (AVM)
Adeyinka Olabisi, expressed appreciation to the Chief of the Air
Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, for his keen interest in
enhancing the capacity of Provost personnel to more effectively
carry out their duties. He congratulated the graduands and enjoined
them to put their newly acquired skills to effective use in curbing
crime and sustaining discipline across the NAF. AVM Olabisi also
commended the resource persons from Sustainable Crime Justice
Solutions United Kingdom for sharing their knowledge with the NAF
Air Provost personnel. The ceremony featured practical
demonstration of the skills acquired by the graduands.

IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force
……………

NAF Completes in-House-Maintenance of Aircraft

The enhancement of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) airlift
capability and operational effectiveness to confront various
security challenges in the country is part of the cardinal focus of
the present NAF Leadership. Pursuant to this imperative, the NAF
has, for the first time in its history, successfully completed the
in-country Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM) of a C-130H aircraft,
NAF 917. This is taking place few days after receiving three L-39ZA
aircraft that were reactivated in-country to enhance the number of
serviceable fighter jets in its inventory. The acceptance ceremony
for NAF 917, which took place at the 631 Aircraft Maintenance Depot
(631 ACMD), Ikeja, Lagos today, 24 June 2019, also witnessed the
flag-off of the PDM of another C-130H aircraft, NAF 913. The local
reactivation of NAF 917, which was carried out by Messrs SABENA
TECHNICS of France in conjunction with NAF engineers and
technicians, involved extensive disassembly of the aircraft parts
as well as inspection, repair and overhaul of components, amongst
others. The involvement of NAF personnel in the reactivation was to
further expose them to every stage of the in-depth maintenance
process, with a view to building the NAF’s inherent maintenance
capabilities.

Speaking during the acceptance ceremony, the Chief of the Air
Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, stated that the
reactivation would impact on NAF efforts towards providing routine
support and combat sustainment for NAF as well as Armed Forces of
Nigeria (AFN) operations. He noted that the in-country maintenance
had not only resulted in substantial foreign exchange savings for
Nigeria but also marked the beginning of a new dawn in NAF’s
strategic plan to develop a robust capacity for in-country
maintenance and sustenance of platforms and equipment. The
successful execution of the PDM, the CAS said, had further
reinforced the NAF’s belief that, with the right attitude,
dedication and encouragement, the Service would make huge progress
and achieve success in human capacity development drive in support
of national security imperatives.

According to him, “the significance of today’s acceptance
ceremony can best be appreciated by acknowledging the critical role
of airlift in ensuring that logistics requirements of our troops
involved in various internal security operations are met within the
shortest possible time. The C-130H fleet, in particular, has been
one of the key fulcrums in providing sustainment to our troops
involved in ongoing internal security operations through airlift
and movement of troops, equipment, armament and other materiel. The
C-130H has also been critical to NAF response to emergencies or in
fulfilling Nigeria’s responsibilities to international peace
keeping operations and ensuring stability, not just in the West
African sub-region but also across the continent.” The CAS cited
examples of operations in which the C-130H played critical roles to
include ECOMOG operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone, airlift of
troops to Congo, Mali, Sudan as well as the recent success of the
ECOWAS Military Intervention Group (ECOMIG) operation in the Gambia
through airlift of troops and materiel to and from the theatre of
operation and a host of other peace keeping operations.

While appreciating the President, Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, for the priority
attention given to NAF’s efforts to maintain its platforms and
equipment as well as the support to acquire new ones, the CAS
emphasized that the in-country maintenance was to ensure the
transfer of technical know-how and experience from the technical
partners to NAF engineers and technicians. “This is in line with
our plan to build in-house capacity to ensure that we domicile the
skills and expertise required to carry out maintenance activities
in order to better support and sustain NAF air operations
especially in the face of competing needs for national resources.
This is also the main thrust of all our other aircraft maintenance,
reactivation and Life Extension Programmes as well as PDM efforts
being carried out in collaboration with other technical partners on
the Alpha Jet, L-39ZA, Mi-35P, EC-135 helicopter and C-130H (NAF
913), currently docked for PDM in this hangar. These efforts are
also in tandem with our Research and Development (R&D) drive
which has started yielding results in many areas such as local
fabrication of tools and spares, some of which were utilised in the
conduct of the recently conducted PDM”, he noted.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Air Officer Commanding
Logistics Command (AOC LC), Air Vice Marshal Adeyinka Olabisi,
expressed delight to finally witness a successfully executed
in-country PDM after previous attempts had failed. He remarked that
the acceptance of NAF 917 was a watershed in NAF’s long-term
aspiration to domesticate in-depth maintenance of the C-130H Fleet,
which was the strategic objective for the establishment of the
ACMD. He explained that during the PDM, which is a calendar
inspection conducted at 6-year intervals or after 5,000 flying
hours, 631 ACMD also witnessed the reactivation of unserviceable
hangar infrastructure and training of personnel in the use of some
special equipment, which had been lying idle in its warehouse since
the C-130H Fleet was delivered in the 1970s. Speaking further, the
AOC said the 301 Heavy Airlift Group, Ikeja made painstaking effort
to conduct comprehensive ground and in-flight acceptance checks to
certify NAF 917 safe for flight operations in accordance with
Lockheed Acceptance Checks Manual and international best
practices.

The CAS was later conducted on a tour and briefed on details of
project management process for the PDM of NAF 913 by the Pakistan
Air Force Technical Assistance Group. While in Lagos, the CAS also
commissioned some welfare projects which included a newly
constructed Crew Room at the 47 Engineering Wing of 631 ACMD as
well as a newly constructed Canteen for personnel at the 651 Base
Services Group, Ikeja, where he commended the Commanders for taking
the initiative and adding value to improve the welfare of their
personnel. He also inspected some vehicles and maintenance
equipment which were reactivated through innovative R&D efforts
at 631 ACMD. Dignitaries present at the ceremony included the
Commandant Armed Forces Resettlement Centre as well as the
representatives of the General Officer Commanding 1 Division and
Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, along with many
other senior serving and retired senior officers.

IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force