EL-RUFAI’S FAMILY PROTESTS SSS DETENTION, ALLEGES TORTURE, MEDICAL NEGLECT. (PHOTOS).

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 El-Rufai’s Family Protests SSS Detention, Alleges Torture, Medical Neglect Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has continued to face controversy over his detention, as members of his family and supporters staged a protest in Abuja on Monday over his custody by the State Security Service (SSS). The demonstrators, which included Senator Lawal Adamu and close relatives of the former governor, accused security authorities of subjecting him to psychological pressure and denying him access to medical care despite existing court directives. Speaking outside the SSS facility, El-Rufai’s second wife, Asia, said the family had been living under fear due to what she described as persistent surveillance and security intimidation connected to the case. According to her, the tension increased after El-Rufai appeared before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja, where he was granted bail before the matter was adjourned.  She alleged that despite prior arr...

DRC SENTENCES FORMER PRIME MINISTER TO 10 YEARS OF HARD LABOUR OVER CORRUPTION. (PHOTO).


 DRC sentences former prime minister to 10 years of hard labour over corruption


Former Democratic Republic of Congo's Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo was sentenced to a decade's forced labour for corruption.


Following a nearly four-year stop-start legal battle, the Congolese Constitutional Court found Matata, 60, guilty of embezzling public funds worth up to $247 million.


Matata, who campaigned against DRC's President Felix Tshisekedi in the 2023 vote before dropping out, has consistently denied the charges, describing them as politically motivated.


Besides Matata, the court's presiding judge Dieudonne Kamuleta handed down five years of forced labour to a South African businessman and Deogratias Mutombo, at the time the governor of the Central Bank of DR Congo, AFP reported.


Barred from holding office for five years


Both Matata and Mutombo were barred from holding public office for five years after the end of their forced labours, while the South African was ordered deported from the DRC after serving his time.


Matata's lawyer Laurent Onyemba told AFP that the "iniquitous" verdict was evidence that "this was a political case."


Now head of the opposition Leadership and Governance for Development (LGD) party, Matata served in the government of Joseph Kabila from 2010 until 2016, first as minister of finance and then as prime minister.


The affair came to light in November 2020, when the IGF state spending watchdog reported that $205 million had been plundered out of $285 million handed to a pilot agro-industrial scheme in Bukangalonzo, 250 kilometres (155 miles) southeast of the capital.


Matata claims allegations 'slanderous'


The IGF named Matata as the brains behind the crime, a claim which the ex-premier called "slanderous."


The case first went to trial in October 2021, which foundered after the Constitutional Court ruled it did not have authority over former prime ministers.


It was then referred in June 2022 to the Cour de Cassation, which has jurisdiction over members of parliament.


Weeks later, it referred the matter back to the Constitutional Court.


Supported Tshisekedi's rival in recent elections


In the 2023 presidential vote Matata dropped out of the race to back former provincial governor Moise Katumbi in the hopes of unseating Tshisekedi, accusing his government of preparing "massive electoral fraud."


Tshisekedi vowed to make tackling corruption a priority of his presidency, with several prominent allies of his predecessor Kabila sentenced on his watch.

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