Nigeria News Forum

President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, on Wednesday sued Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State for claiming she was involved in the Halliburton scandal. Mr. Fayose had in June said Mrs. Buhari was the “Aisha Buhari” named in a U.S. court document, alleged to have been involved in bribery case involving a convicted former U.S. lawmaker, Williams Jefferson. The governor, in what appeared to be an error, referred to the Jefferson bribery as the Halliburton scandal, which is an entirely different case. Mr. Fayose however insisted he was right, despite Mrs. Buhari’s denial and threat of lawsuit. In the ex-parte motion, filed July 20, 2016, and made exclusively available to PREMIUM TIMES , Mrs. Buhari prayed the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, to grant her reliefs to issue writ of summons against Mr. Fayose and his media advisers, Idowu Adelusi and Lere Olayinka. Olukayode Adeniyi, the presiding judge, granted all reliefs sought by Mrs. Buhari, including an order of subst...

A Federal Capital Territory High Court has granted bail to Abiodun Agbele, an aide to the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose. Mr. Agbele was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on July 1 on allegations of fraud. The EFCC said Mr. Agbele received huge public funds from a former defence minister, Musiliu Obanikoro, and delivered same to Mr. Fayose. The judge, Olukayode Fadeniyi, declared that the failure of the EFCC to charge Mr. Agbele to court, since his arrest, amounted to an abuse of his fundamental rights. He ordered the commission to pay a compensation of N5 million to Mr. Agbele. The court also ruled that Mr. Agbele be admitted to bail with a bond of N50 million and a surety not below the cadre of a director in the civil service. Alternatively, Mr. Agbele is required to provide a surety who is a responsible Nigerian citizen, with landed property in any part of Abuja. “The surety shall depose an affidavit of means,” the court also r...