Innocent Ojefia Blog

Armed security operatives have surrounded the home of former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joy Nunieh, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.  The security operatives are said to have stormed the former NDDC MD’s residence in the early hours of Thursday. Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike reportedly moved to intervene in the stand-off and did resolve the issue. It was gathered that Joy Nunieh was due to appear before a House of Representatives Committee in Abuja today. Though the stand-off stopped Mrs. Nunieh from making the trip, she will be making a presentation via zoom. More details shortly.  

From being a very a close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari upon his election victory in 2015 to being arrested on the president’s orders in June 2016, Mohammed Umar, a retired air commodore in the Nigerian Air Force and son-in-law of the late ex petroleum minister, Rilwan Lukman, is a cat with nine lives; an evasive security chief with evidently unrivaled capacity to play the system and get around every situation.   He has become the rope used finally to tie Ibrahim Magu, the hitherto powerful chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the noose.   Umar who retired from the Air Force in 2014 to stupendous and largely unexplainable wealth, had been head of the Air Force’s Holding Company, the Air Force Properties Limited and Air Force Chief between 2010 and 2012, and had retired to own numerous expensive properties in high-end locations in Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna, and owner of private jet company, EasyJet Limited, among other possessions; this, wit...

The sacked national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole has summoned his legal team for guidance as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), under the new leadership of Mohammed Umar, swoops in on high profile politicians, including Oshiomhole, whose files were found in the home of Ibrahim Magu, the suspended EFCC chairman, last week.   According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the new EFCC boss, Umar, has commenced investigations into all the cases contained in the files that were recovered from his predecessor’s house after a search was carried out It was earlier reported that Magu was said to have been shielding some high profile politicians, from justice, with several tactics designed to delay their trial.  Coincidentally, Oshiomhole‘s arrest is coming at a time his friend and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is entangled in a N700m money laundering case preferred a...

The Governor of Delta State, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, his wife, Edith and daughter have tested negative to COVID-19. Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, made this known in a statement in Asaba on Tuesday, and said that other members of the First Family also tested negative to the virus. Ifeajika recalled that the governor and his wife tested positive to the virus on July 1 and went into isolation for necessary treatment. Their daughter had tested positive to the virus a few days earlier. ``The governor gave God all the glory and praise and expressed appreciation to all Deltans and other Nigerians who interceded for the family in prayers. ``He appealed to all residents in the state to obey all instructions and regulations targeted at combating and stemming the transmission of COVID-19 in the state,’’ he said.

President  Muhammadu Buhari  had in 2018 ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate the suspended chairman of the  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) , Ibrahim Magu.   The DSS provided a comprehensive “damning” dossier on Magu, which shocked President Buhari. The present senate-led by Ahmed Lawan had promised to give expedite action to nominees and letter from the president but Buhari had refused to re-present Magu’s name to the National Assembly. A senior presidential source noted that,  “If Magu was a man who can read the signs, he should have asked himself why the president did not re-present his name to the Senate for confirmation as EFCC chairman since the new national assembly was inaugurated.”   Magu, sensing that President Buhari may make a move against him, tried ingratiating himself to the president so as to return to Buhari’s good books.   “He came to the mosque at the presidential vi...

I had maintained a studied indifference thus far, on the present fate of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu. This had been my stance on his five-year tenure. I had hardly commented on the activities of the EFCC under Magu. There is no meat for me in running regular frets on what Magu did or did not do as the boss of EFCC, as many Nigerians do. For me, fighting corruption is not show business and no EFCC chairman can fight corruption on the erratic wavelength of Nigerians and their discordant impressions.  No anti-corruption fighter can satisfy everybody. With the expansive reach of corruption, it is a futile business expecting all Nigerians to be on the same page, supporting any anti-corruption fight, no matter how thorough. Those who are caught in the anti-corruption fight-and they are legion in Nigeria- will never ever concede that an anti-corruption fighter is doing well. They will look for stones to throw at him. This is understa...

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Delta, Mr Olisa Ifeajika has said that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa did not at any time direct members of government and civil servants to undergo the COVID-19 test. He said that contrary to reports in the social media, the governor's position since the global pandemic spread to Delta, had always been an appeal to citizens to adhere to the protocols prescribed by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to stem the spread of the virus in the state. Ifeajika, in a statement in Asaba, added that the governor had also continued to advise that anyone feeling unwell should go to any of the COVID-19 centres across for proper check and treatment, where necessary. According to him, there was no time that the governor gave any directive, either by internal memo or any press release that government officials should go for a test for any disease, including COVID-19.  The governor's spokesman also distanced his office and the government from anot...