Senate President re-arraign again over false assets declaration

The Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki was on Tuesday re-arraigned in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over false assets declaration.

Tuesday’s arraignment followed a ruling of the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal in Dec. 2017 which dismissed 15 out of the 18-counts charges preferred against him in 2015.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that the three member-panel, led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, dismissed the 15 charges but asked Saraki to answer the remaining three.

The panel ordered that the tribunal should try the Senate President again on count 4, 5 and 6.

In the count 4 of the charges, the Senate President was accused of making false asset declaration at the end of his tenure as the governor as Kwara State in 2011.

He was also accused of making false declaration on a property titled 17A McDonald Street, Ikoyi, Lagos upon assumption as a senator in 2011.

The prosecution said that Saraki declared falsely that he acquired the Ikoyi property on Sept. 6, 2006, from the proceeds of sale of rice and sugar.

In Count 5, Saraki was accused of making false asset declaration at the end of his tenure as the governor of Kwara State in 2011 and on assumption of office as a Senator in 2011.

The prosecution said that the defendant then also declared falsely when he claimed that he acquired another property at 17B McDonald, Ikoyi Lagos, on Sept. 6, 2006 from the proceeds of sale of rice and sugar.

In Count 6, the prosecution accused him of making a false declaration in his Asset Declaration Form at the end of his tenure as governor of Kwara in 2007 and on assumption of office for a second term as governor in 2007.

It said that he failed to declare his outstanding loan liabilities of N315, 054,355.92 out of the loan of N380, 000,000 obtained from Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.

Meanwhile, a defense witness, Mr Ademola Adebo, who is a Commissioner/Member of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), told the tribunal, while being cross-examined by the prosecution counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs, that he worked on some of the assets declaration forms of the Senate president.

When the witness was shown some of the assets declaration forms filled by the defendant , he was able to identify those whom he worked on.

The witness said Saraki was a tenure public officer who was required to declare his assets at the beginning and the end of his tenure.

“On the form, among assets Saraki declared, included N0.17A and 17B McDonald Street Ikoyi, Lagos, which he said were purchased from the proceeds from the sales of rice and sugar.”

The witness was also shown exhibit 4, which was the form Saraki filled upon assumption of office as governor on May 29, 2007 and made the declaration on July 11, 2007.

The witness said in the form the defendant claimed that he acquired the two properties on Sept. 6, 2006 and that they were acquired through a bank loan.

Meanwhile, all the documents were admitted as exhibits.

NAN reports that Saraki, who had earlier told the tribunal, through his counsel, Mr Paul Usoro (SAN), that he was going to present four witnesses, closed his case after the testimony of Adebo.

The presiding judge, Justice Danladi Umar, adjourned the matter till Feb. 27 for the adoption of written address by both parties.

Lassa Fever Kills Thousands

     

How to avoid Lassa Fever

— 6th February 2018

Ben Okafor. Lagos |

What it is

It has no known vaccine. Its general symptoms – headaches, weakness, fever, vomiting – are indistinguishable from Malaria; and its more terrifying signs – bleeding from the mouth, nose, other orifices and the gastrointestinal tract – are not dissimilar to the effects of Ebola.

It is hard to diagnose and even harder to treat once it is misdiagnosed as say, appendicitis, for instance, causing a delay in the early administration of its most effective antiviral medication, Ribavirin.

So what is this common yet unsettling illness that is being reported in states as far apart as Delta and Gombe, in a country where just last month alone 21 people died as a result, triggering major health crises anywhere new cases appear?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls Lassa Fever “a zoonotic disease, meaning that humans become infected from contact with infected animals.”

The host animal in the case of Lassa Fever – a disease that was first described in 1969 in Lassa, Borno state – is the common household mouse, referred to as the “multimammate rat” (or Mastomys rodent for short). As carriers, the rodents “do not become ill, but shed the virus in their urine and faeces.”

It is human contact with the urine and faeces of these carrier rats, usually via food or other household items contaminated with them, that transmits the virus from animal to human, which subsequently passes from human-to-human through contact with the bodily fluids (blood, urine, faeces, and other bodily secretions) of the infected person. The virus can even be sexually transmitted via semen for up to three months after infection.

As one of West Africa’s most common viral hemorrhagic disease, the risk of contagion is especially dire in rural areas, and urban areas with poor sanitation and crowded conditions – squalid settings where the Mastomys rat can hover, multiply and spread the infection unbeknownst to humans.

Worse? Lassa Fever is 80% asymptomatic, meaning that just 20% of those infected develop symptoms; implying that most people who have it might not even know it.