• Ijaw youths caution against scrapping institution

Armed with what it called new revelations, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed a fresh 22-count charge against a Niger Delta ex-militant leader, Government Ekemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, and 12 others at the Federal High Court, Lagos.

The charges, which were filed on Friday bordered on stealing, advanced fee fraud and money laundering to the tune of N22,765,900,000. They were filed eight days after Justice Ibrahim Buba ordered the arrest of Tompolo for his failure to appear on January 14, 2016 to take his plea on a separate 40-count charge over alleged N34 billion fraud earlier filed against him and nine others by the EFCC.

Those to be arraigned together with Tompolo in the fresh charges include a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, whose four brothers – Victor, Nobert, Emmanuel and Clement – who are still at large, were said to have aided the suspects to commit the fraud. The other suspects are Kime Engozu, Josephine Otuaga, Rita Uruakpa and Pondi Kestin.

Also joined as defendants in the charges are seven companies – Mieka Dive Training Institute Ltd/GTE, Oyeinteke Global Network Ltd, Wabod Global Resources Ltd, Boloboere Properties Estate Ltd, Gokaid Marine Oil and Gas Ltd, Muhaabix Global Services Ltd and Watershed Associated Resources.

The suspects are being accused of fraudulently converting various sums running into over N22.7 billion allegedly stolen from NIMASA to their personal use between December 12, 2014 and April 10, 2015. They are also being accused of defrauding the Federal Government by making false representations, which they knew to be untrue, in order to obtain money from the government.

The offences are said to be contrary to Section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under section 1 (3)of the same Act.
The charge sheet signed by Festus Keyamo also indicates that the suspects violated various sections of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012.

Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) has appealled against scraping the Maritime University at Okerenkoko, Delta State, saying such decision would provide justification for fresh militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

In an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, the umbrella body of Ijaw youths worldwide, while condemning the excuses given by the Minister for Transport, Chibuike Amaechi, for the plan to scrap the university, posited that the institution would address the age-long marginalisation of the region, develop manpower in the maritime sector and help in diversifying the Nigerian economy.

In the letter signed by the President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) (Worldwide), Mr. Udens Eradiri, and its Secretary, Eric Omare, the youths said the reasons Amaechi gave when he briefed the Senate Committee on Marine were not only weak and mischievous but misleading and highly provocative.

The youths said: “We cannot be talking of addressing problems of militancy and other associated challenges in the Niger Delta region without giving the people education. The Maritime University, Okerenkoko is part of the post-amnesty development plan of the Niger Delta region.”

They said Amaechi’s position that the country already has similar institutions in Zaria and Oron was not tenable, adding that the one in Okerenkoko was designed to play different roles in the sector. “The institutes in Oron and Zaria are meant to train medium class manpower in the maritime sector while the Maritime University, Okerenkoko would train world class technical and managerial manpower.”