A prosecution witness in the trial of $9.6billion Process and Industrial Development Limited, P&ID, fraud, Umar Hussein Babangida, has revealed how the managing director of Trinity Biotech Nigeria Limited, Patrick Nash a.k.a Gerald Nash escaped being arrested.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a statement said Babangida told Justice D.O Okorowo of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that efforts made to bring Nash to trial proved abortive after he had fled Nigeria before he could be arrested.

“My team visited the office of Trinity Biotech Nigeria Limited, located on the 1st floor, Oyo State House, Ralph Shodende Street, Abuja where efforts were made to trace the Managing Director, whose name is Patrick Nash, also known as Gerald Nash, an Irish, but we were informed by the company`s directors, Ibrahim Millar and Uzor Eneli that he has long left the country”, he said.

Babangida also told the defence counsel, Michael Ajara, under cross-examination that he headed the team that investigated the matter.

The prosecution witness further said that the investigation was prompted by a petition from the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

He added that the petition was owing to a judgment against the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the tune of $9.6bn in favour of P&ID company.

“My team and I interacted with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum to aid our investigation,” Babangida said.

“We also relied on responses from the Corporate Affairs Commission, C.A.C, where requests were made on the name of the company, names and addresses of shareholders, changes and information available with them which they provided with proof of documents.

“We further got a written reply from the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, SCUML to aid the investigation.”

Babangida further stated that the team invited and interrogated the two directors of Trinity Biotech Ltd identified as Millar and Eneli whose statements were taken voluntarily.

Justice Okorowo adjourned the matter till 20 and 21 November 2023 for continuation of hearing.

Guardian

Operatives of the Joint Task Force, Operation Hadarin-Daji, have rescued six of the female students of Federal University, Gusau, Zamfara State, abducted in the early hours of today, Friday.

Force Information Officer, Operation Hadarin-Daji, Captain Ibrahim Yahaya, confirmed this to the newsmen on Friday in Gusau.

The rescue operation followed the abduction of an unspecified number of female students from their off-campus hostels at Sabon-Gida, few meters away from the university.
Yahaya said that the troops pursued the abductors who took the students, mostly females, to the forest.

He said that the troops engaged the abductors in a gun duel, supported by the air component of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), and rescued six of the students.

Yahaya further stated that several bandits were neutralised during the rescue effort which, he said, was still ongoing.

“The troops also recovered one AK-47, a magazine, four motorcycles and one communication gadget from the terrorists,” the officer said.

NAN reports that the institution’s students had, in June, protested the spate of abductions of their schoolmates residing in Sabon-Gida and Damba communities.

The two communities are opposite the main campus of the university, which is about 20km from Gusau, the state capital.

Efforts to speak with the school authorities on the incident proved abortive, as the institution’s

Vanguard

Vice-President Kashim Shettima says God ordained Bola Tinubu’s emergence as president of Nigeria. Mr Shettima admitted that though he and his principal are the two most powerful men in the country, some individuals are better than them.

“We do not occupy our positions because of our physical prowess and certainly not because of our pedigree; there are people of superior pedigree than us,” stated Mr Shettima. “It is a gift from God and a call to serve humanity for a very short span of time.”

The vice-president reiterated Mr Tinubu’s commitment to improving Nigerians’ livelihood and the country’s fortunes.

“I always believe that power is a humbling experience. We spend more of our lives outside power than in power, and, most importantly, I see it as a gift from God,” Mr Shettima added. “Asiwaju and I are occupying the prime positions in this country, not because of our intellectual acumen or political sagacity but purely by the grace of God.”

Mr Shettima stated this when he hosted the University of Ibadan Postgraduate School alumni, according to a statement by his media, Stanley Nkwocha. The delegation also included members of the 1989/1990 set of the National Youth Service Corps with whom he served in Calabar.

“And the impact we make in the lives of our people will determine our positions here and in the hereafter. So, to me, it is a humbling experience; it is an opportunity to add value to a great nation like ours,” said the vice-president. “More so, Nigeria’s anticipated demographic bulge suggests we improve the quality of governance in the bid to mitigate any looming demographic disaster.”

(NAN)