Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has ordered the arrest and prosecution of health workers allegedly involved in the sale of hospital equipment donated to a healthcare facility in Umaisha Development Area of the state.

The governor described the alleged sale of the equipment as a serious act of misconduct and corruption, stressing that such actions showed a lack of concern for patients and the healthcare needs of residents.

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Sule gave the directive on Wednesday during the inauguration of eight commissioners, special advisers, permanent secretaries and board members at the Aliyu Akwe Doma Banquet Hall, Government House, Lafia.

He directed the Commissioner for Health, Dr Gaza Gwamna, to investigate the matter and ensure that anyone found responsible was brought to justice.

The equipment was donated by Ibrahim Abdullahi Sa’ad, member representing Umaisha/Ugya Constituency in the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, who reportedly purchased the items with his personal funds to improve conditions at the primary healthcare facility.

According to Sule, the lawmaker had provided 50 orthopaedic mattresses, more than 50 ceiling fans and about 40 standing fans after becoming concerned about the condition of patients at the facility.

“A very honourable member from Umaisha/Ugya recently bought a lot of mattresses and all kinds of fans, standing fans, ceiling fans and the rest of that because he was concerned about what his local primary healthcare was undergoing,” Sule said.

The governor said Sa’ad later returned to the facility and discovered that the donated items could not be accounted for.

“Few days back, he returned there and discovered that the officials of the hospital had actually sold those items. This is a terrible thing that will happen if you have people who do not mean well for Nasarawa State,” he said.

Sule said he was expecting a report from the Commissioner for Health by the end of the week.

“I am waiting for the honourable commissioner, and I expect that report by the end of this week,” the governor added.

The directive followed a confrontation on Monday between Sa’ad and staff of General Hospital, Umaisha, over the whereabouts of the equipment he said he donated to the facility.

In a video of the confrontation circulated on social media, the visibly angry lawmaker questioned hospital officials over the missing items.

“Doctor, you remember the last time I spoke with you about those orthopaedic mattresses? You remember what you told me? For Allah’s sake, don’t allow me to get upset,” Sa’ad was heard saying.

He also demanded answers over the missing fans.

“Where are the ceiling fans? Where are the ceiling fans? I bought more than 50 ceiling fans. The standing fans, I bought about 40. Where are they?” he asked.

The lawmaker also expressed concern over the condition of patients at the hospital and demanded to see the mattresses following reports that they were being moved between wards.

The state Ministry of Health is expected to investigate the matter, determine what happened to the donated equipment and establish responsibility for any alleged wrongdoing.

The United States has taken drastic action against the UK-based Palestine Action group, designating it as a “specially designated global terrorist” organisation and imposing sanctions on the group.

The designation was announced on Wednesday by the US, which accused Palestine Action of supporting “an act of terrorism.”

The US also designated two other organisations — Italy-based Autistici/Inventati, also known as A/I Collective, and the pro-Palestinian group Masar Badil — as terrorist organisations.

US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott described the three groups as “violent far-left terrorist groups.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would deploy its financial powers against the organisations.

“Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated,” Bessent said.

Palestine Action was established in 2020 and is currently appealing a ban imposed on it by the British government.

The UK ban has resulted in thousands of arrests, while rights organisations have criticised the move, arguing that it amounts to criminalising dissent.

According to its stated objective, Palestine Action seeks to end what it describes as “global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.”

The group gained increased international attention after Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas fighters in southern Israel.

The latest US designation comes as President Donald Trump’s administration continues its efforts to target organisations it considers part of the far-left movement.

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In April, Amnesty International criticised what it described as attempts by the leaders of the United States, Israel and Russia to impose a new “predatory” world order through crackdowns on dissent.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has offered whistleblowers between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent of recovered stolen Nigerian assets for credible information that leads to the recovery of such assets held abroad.

The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.

Olukoyede said the incentive was aimed at encouraging citizens to provide information that could assist the commission in tracing and recovering illicit Nigerian assets taken outside the country.

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“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower protection. If any of you is privy to where a Nigerian asset is stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you. Between 2.5 and 5 per cent is going to go back to you upon recovery,” he said.

The EFCC chairman also revealed that the commission had forfeited cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Federal Government within the past three years.

“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government,” Olukoyede said.

According to him, the commission’s success in recovering illicit assets has been aided by the ability of its operatives to trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence.

He added that the EFCC has “some of the best investigators around the world.”

Olukoyede explained that the commission is constitutionally empowered to seek the forfeiture of suspected proceeds of crime through the courts.

“We have something similar to what is obtainable in Australia and Canada that empowers us to apply for the forfeiture of proceeds of what is suspected to be proceeds of crime,” he said.

“You apply ex parte to the High Court upon a probable suspicion of the proceeds of crime,” Olukoyede explained.

The EFCC chairman cited several cases in which the commission had secured asset forfeitures, including cases involving a former Chairman of the Central Bank of Nigeria and former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.

Olukoyede recalled that the commission had forfeited an aircraft belonging to an individual allegedly involved in a $30 million bribery case, saying the aircraft had subsequently been added to the Presidential Air Fleet.

“This aircraft was forfeited by someone who was supposed to be a member of the monetary committee of a power project in Nigeria. We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30 million in Nigeria.

“He forfeited that about three months ago, and it has been added to the presidential air fleet at the moment,” he said.

He also disclosed that the EFCC had forfeited a property containing about 753 housing units linked to a former CBN governor.

“That property contains about 753 housing units we forfeited from an erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We have criminal charges against him [in] about three courts,” Olukoyede said.

On the former Attorney-General, Malami, the EFCC chairman said the commission traced about 57 properties allegedly linked to him and had secured the forfeiture of about 48.

“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria.

“We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48,” he said.

Olukoyede also disclosed that the commission had forfeited a private university linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health following an investigation, after which the official voluntarily surrendered the property.

The EFCC boss stressed the importance of whistleblower protection and credible intelligence in the fight against corruption and the recovery of assets allegedly taken out of Nigeria.