ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Alhaji Mohammed Mani, has been endorsed as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in Niger state

Alhaji  Mani replaces  Abubakar Sulaiman, who was elected at the PDP primary last May.

Sulaiman voluntarily withdrawn from the position in the interest of the peace unity and progress of the party.

The endorsement of the former FIRS boss for the governorship contest was made by PDP stakeholders from across the state at the state party secretariat.

Addressing the stakeholders, Alhaji Mani promised to deliver the state to the PDP in next year’s election and solicited  the support of party faithful for the realisation of the objective.

The new PDP candidate had earlier contested for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress(APC) which Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago got by “ consensus.”

He was among the APC aspirants who lost in the primary election and recently defected to the PDP.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) a has commenced a three-day stocktake meeting focused on converting financial intelligence into prosecutions and asset recovery.

The ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, said this at the opening of the exercise, held in preparation for Nigeria’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 3rd Round Mutual Evaluation Exercise.

The meeting was organized in conjunction with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU)

Represented by the Commission’s Secretary, Mr Clifford Oparaodu, Aliyu said the exercise would test how effectively ICPC investigations were converting financial intelligence into prosecutions, asset recovery and stronger enforcement outcomes.

He said the stocktake provided an internal mirror to measure performance under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, POCA 2022 and POCR 2024 regulations.

According to him, the Commission had in recent years made parallel financial investigations mandatory in every corruption case to strengthen the tracing of illicit funds and recovery efforts.

While stating that previous reviews focused largely on laws and policies, he said the stocktake would drill deeper into operational performance and assess Nigeria’s enforcement effectiveness.

He listed five Immediate Outcomes as benchmarks, emphasising that the exercise focused on FATF Immediate Outcomes 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8 for institutional assessment.

He said these included risk understanding, international cooperation, financial intelligence use, effectiveness of money laundering investigations and asset recovery, adding that participants would assess operational implementation.

On corruption risks, he said participants would assess whether the ICPC and sister agencies were aligning investigations with Nigeria’s national risk profile and identified priority threats.

“We must show that our operations reflect where the real threats are, including bribery and grand corruption,” he said.

For cross-border crime, he said the team would review formal Mutual Legal Assistance channels and informal intelligence networks to assess Nigeria’s capacity for international cooperation.

The goal, according to him, was to demonstrate that Nigeria could swiftly share information, support investigations and secure convictions through effective cooperation with international partners.

“A major focus will be on financial intelligence under Immediate Outcome 6. The question before the room: are agencies not just generating reports, but actually using them to trace illicit flows and freeze assets before they disappear?”

He said enforcement would receive significant scrutiny under Immediate Outcomes 7 and 8, with Nigeria expected to demonstrate results from relevant money laundering laws and regulations.

“That means convictions, confiscations, and proper management of recovered assets,” he said, urging institutions to provide verifiable evidence of operational effectiveness during the stocktake exercise.

He urged visiting Country Experts to be blunt in their assessment, saying their feedback would help Nigeria close gaps, clean up statistics and sharpen strategies before the main evaluation.

He said the commission had aligned with the NFIU’s strategy by making parallel financial investigations mandatory in every corruption case handled by its investigators.

He added that the ICPC now leveraged the Corporate Affairs Commission Beneficial Ownership Register to expose corporate shells and strengthened systems for managing recovered assets.

He, however, warned that laws alone would not secure a good rating, stressing that effective implementation and measurable enforcement outcomes remained critical to Nigeria’s assessment.

“Technical compliance is only half the battle. What ultimately safeguards our financial system is demonstrating high operational effectiveness across these Immediate Outcomes,” he said.

He charged ICPC investigators and prosecutors to be candid and data-driven, while welcoming country experts to provide objective feedback that would help close gaps before the evaluation.

Speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of NFIU, Hajia Hafsat Bakari, said the exercise was designed to measure how effectively anti-corruption agencies converted financial intelligence into concrete enforcement outcomes.

Represented by Dr Emmanuel Sotande, an NFIU official, Bakari said the exercise was not about fault-finding but about assessing institutional preparedness ahead of Nigeria’s next FATF assessment.

“We want to be able to see how well the information and investigation lead to prosecution, seizure of assets and whether there’s a deterrent mechanism in place,” she said.

According to her, the core objective was to track the full value chain of intelligence use, from information supplied by the NFIU to enforcement outcomes.

“That includes how data supplied by the NFIU is consumed by the ICPC and other agencies, and whether it translates into convictions, asset recovery, and stronger deterrence against illicit financial flows.”

The NFIU boss emphasised that the timing was critical, noting that Nigeria was preparing for its 3rd Round Mutual Evaluation 2027 and needed institutional readiness.

“This is not a witch-hunt exercise but to ensure that we prepare for the next evaluation, which is going to be taking place next year.

“We want all institutional agencies and systems in Nigeria to be ready for the FATF assessors that will be coming from all parts of the world,” she said.

She explained that the framework for the stocktake was developed by the NFIU specifically to enable agencies to evaluate their preparedness and identify areas requiring improvement before assessment.

She said that assessors would demand detailed data and evidence, much of which the ICPC already held, making inter-agency coordination essential to Nigeria’s preparedness.

“It is in that context that the CEO of NFIU deems it fit to put the framework of the stocktake exercise in place for us to evaluate ourselves before the assessors will come,” she added.

She called for stronger collaboration, warning that the goal was to ensure Nigeria did not slip back onto the FATF grey list when the evaluation was concluded in 2027.

“The assessors will be asking for a lot of information, which I am sure the ICPC already have and it is only pertinent for us to work together,” she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

The Catholic Diocese of Warri has announced the death of Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Mario Ozele, Episcopal Vicar of the Ughelli Pastoral Region and Parish Priest of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Ughelli.

Fr. Ozele, who was aged 60, died in the early hours of Tuesday, September 15, 2026, following an illness, according to a notification issued by the Diocese.

The announcement was contained in a statement signed by the Diocesan Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Jude Nwabuokei, and addressed to all priests, religious and lay faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Warri.

The Diocese described the deceased priest as a highly revered, cherished and devoted servant of God who bore his illness with exemplary faith and courage.

“It is with profound sorrow and total submission to the will of God that I announce to you, by the directive of our Chief Shepherd, Most Rev. Anthony Ovayero Ewherido, the passing unto glory of our highly revered, cherished and devoted priest, Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Mario Ozele,” the statement read.

The notification added that Fr. Ozele was called to eternal rest after bearing his illness with “exemplary faith and courageous resignation to the will of God his Creator.”

Until his death, the late priest served as Episcopal Vicar of the Ughelli Pastoral Region and Parish Priest of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Ughelli.

His leadership and pastoral service in the Ughelli Catholic community had previously been documented by the Diocese, which identified him as the Dean of Ughelli Deanery and Parish Priest of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church.

The Diocese urged its members to remember the deceased priest, his immediate family and the Church in their prayers.

“We commend his soul to the mercy of God and implore you to keep him, the Diocese, and his immediate family in your prayers,” the statement said.

It further announced that funeral arrangements would be communicated in due course.

Fr. Ozele was ordained a Catholic priest on December 12, 1992, according to records published by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria. He had served the Diocese in various pastoral and administrative capacities, including roles in evangelisation and parish ministry.

The Catholic Diocese of Warri prayed that God would grant eternal rest to the soul of the late priest.

“May his priestly soul, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen,” the notification concluded.