[but we must watch their feet]
Ahead of the annual Christmas party of the retired partners of KPMG who are still awaiting their gratuity and pension, suitable accommodation has been booked at the most exotic hotels in Cape Town, South Africa – no expense spared; KPMG must pay! The theme for this year’s party is “HANDS VERSUS FEET” for short.
In the local language of Cape Town, isiZulu the full meaning is:
They Say We Are In Safe Hands
But We Must Watch Their Feet.
Here are some of the documents which partners and their spouses are expected to read before joining the party which will commence with frenetic and vigorous Zulu dancing at the Cape Town airport to welcome us and provide a foretaste of South African Afrikaans hospitality. The spouses have already sent out a powerful warning – absolutely no semi-nude female dancers!
Front page headline in “The Punch” newspaper of December 3, 2016
“Lagos policeman in illegal raid lynched over death of Okada driver”
“A raid on okada riders operating around Agege area of Lagos by policemen from the Elere Police Division turned bloody on Monday, November 28, 2016 leading to the lynching of a police sergeant by irate youths.
AIT News learnt that the policeman, a Kogi State indigene popularly known as Sunday in the area, was beaten brutally and then stabbed a number of times before being left for dead at Ile-Epo Bus Stop, OkeOdo.
The raid, which motorists and okada riders around the bus stop, said was the policemen’s way of making money off them, turned awry when the policemen tried to seize the motorcycle of a yet-to-be-identified okada rider.
A raid on okada riders operating around Agege area of Lagos by policemen from the Elere Police Division turned bloody on Monday, November 28, 2016 leading to the lynching of a police sergeant by irate youths.
A resident, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that on Monday evening, the policemen arrived the area in a commercial bus and cornered the okada rider, who quickly tried to flee to avoid losing his motorcycle.
The resident said, “As he tried to turn the other way, a tipper speeding along hit him. People rushed at him but when they picked him off the floor, he was unconscious and bleeding heavily. Nobody in this area knows the okada rider.
Immediately he was hit, the policemen saw how bad it was and tried to run away. But this angered the youths. Some of them picked bottles and sticks and chased after the policemen. That officer (Sunday) was the only one they could catch up with. We got news later in the day that the okada rider did not survive.”
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the mob descended on Sergeant Sunday with sticks and broken bottles. He was brutally beaten, sustaining several stab wounds in the process.
His colleagues later came back for him after the area was deserted, it was learnt.
A policeman told our correspondent that Sergeant Sunday was rushed to a number of hospitals around Agege, which rejected him. But he was eventually taken to another hospital in Yaba, where he was pronounced dead.
However, since the incident, residents around Ile-Epo Bus Stop said policemen from the division have been arresting people in the area on a daily basis.
“Now, they come here and pick people off the street. Unfortunately, they are arresting people who know nothing about what happened. Yesterday, two of my friends were sitting in front of that shop, they just came here and said ‘Oya, enter the vehicle’. They have been in detention since then,” one resident told AIT News.
The whereabouts of the family of the deceased commercial motorcyclist could not be determined as of the time of filing this report.
Some residents of OkeOdo said if the okada rider lived in the area, they would have been able to determine who he was and find his family.
Saturday PUNCH contacted the Lagos State Police Command to determine what was being done on the case. But the spokesperson, DolapoBadmos, said findings revealed that the okada rider recognised the policeman and tried to flee on sighting him.
According to her, a police team was in the area on a routine patrol but it is unclear the reason why the okada rider tried to run away when he sighted him.
According to her, a police team was in the area on a routine patrol but it is unclear the reason why the okada rider tried to run away when he sighted him.
“The okada rider ran into an oncoming vehicle at the junction and the hoodlums seized the opportunity to attack the policeman.
“We have arrested eight of the suspects and charged them to court.”
Front page report in “Daily Sun” newspaper of November 23, 2016
Headline: “Arms deal: panel uncovers N2.175 billion fraud in
Defence ministry”
“The presidential committee investigating arms purchase to prosecute the counter-insurgency war in the North-East has been given November 30 deadline to submit its report.
There are fears that the deadline came as a shock to members. Reason: The committee has uncovered a N2.175 billion fraud in one of the agencies of the Ministry of Defence.
The money, meant for arms procurement, was allegedly diverted. Members believe the deadline, may have been engineered by powerful forces who were indicted in the alleged fraud. The committee which was set up last year, had submitted three reports. Implementation of the report had led to the prosecution of the former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Alex Badeh (retd).
Similarly, some other top officers are currently being detained for their roles in the illegal diversion of funds meant for military operations.
In its third report submitted in July this year, the committee made up of very senior retired and serving military officers, and headed by Air Vice Marshal J.O.N. Ode, indicted former Chiefs of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (retd) and Kenneth Minimah (retd), top military officers and civilians.
Sources told Daily Sun that the committee during its investigation on the Ministry of Defence had uncovered a whopping N2.175 billion fraud traced to one of the agencies under the ministry for a specific project.
However, rather than embark on the said project, the money was diverted. The committee discovered that the money meant for the project was paid in instalments to some corporate bodies and Bureaux De Change.
Daily Sun authoritatively gathered that the said money was part of the N35 billion the ministry took as loan from the Debt Management Office (DMO) to purchase equipment for troops on international peace-keeping mission with the aim of getting reimbursements from the United Nations.
The committee since its inauguration on August 31, 2015, is said to have so far submitted four interim reports to the Presidency.
Daily Sun gathered that some past defence ministers, permanent secretaries and directors of finance in the ministry have been indicted in the said missing money and recommended for probe and further investigation by the relevant government agencies to get to the root of the matter.
Trouble was said to have started for the committee when a member of the House of Representatives accused the Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Nigerian Armed Forces (CADEP) of deliberately delaying the report of its committee after over one year of its inauguration.
The committee was accused of being biased and indicted those perceived to be enemies of the present administration as culprits in the illegal purchase of arms and ammunition for the military.
On its investigation on the Nigerian Navy which Daily Sun gathered is ongoing, the committee has already sent out invitations to some past Chiefs of Naval Staff, Chiefs of Budgets and Accounts, Chiefs of Training and Operations, Chiefs of Policy and Plans, Directors of Procurement to appear before it.
Although Daily Sun could not ascertain if the committee would be able to conclude its investigation before the November 30 deadline, sources say it will be unfair to the other services where the committee spent months conducting their investigations and openly disgraced them.
To do a thorough job, it was gathered that the committee needs between two and three months.
Aside the deadline, the committee has also been barred from requesting for documents and other materials from the agencies under probe.
The deadline will definitely hamper CADEP from effectively carrying out its work, because it has always depended on the documents provided by the organisations, ministries, parastatals and agencies under probe.
There are indications that all may not be well between the committee and the Federal Government after it submitted its fourth interim report indicting persons perceived to be untouchable, about four weeks ago.
J.K. Randle
