Former media aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of bribing his wife, Aisha with a presidential appointment.
The 44 years said the appointment of Aisha into the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse is to keep her quiet after she raised an alarm that a 2 man cabal is holding her husband hostage and has taken over his government.
The bestselling author made this accusation on his twitter handle. He concluded by asking with the bribery of ‘appointment’ would work.
His tweet read;
A week after @aishambuhari raised the alarm that a 2 man cabal is holding her husband hostage and taken over his government, her husband, President @MBuhari appoints her into the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse. Will this bribery work? #RenosDarts
— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) December 10, 2018
The immediate former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Governor Wike and Nigeria Musician, Wizkid have been nominated for the 2018 edition of the Peace Achievers Awards.
Mr Kingsley Amafibe, the Project Director of Peace Ambassadors Agency, organisers of the annual awards, made this known in Abuja.
The event has been scheduled to hold in September at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
According to him, Governor Aminu Masari, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Abdul Samad Rabiu of BUA Group were among the nominees too.
Other nominees for the award included Comedian Bovi, Preye Berezi, Ini Edo, Akinaka Richard, Engr. Gesi Asamaowei and many others.
He stressed that the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike would be honoured with the ‘Award for Excellence in Peacekeeping and Development’ for his efforts at maintaining peace in Rivers State.
He noted that since the inception of Nyesom Wike as the Governor of Rivers State, peace has returned to hitherto troubled areas in Rivers State while sustained developmental strides could be seen everywhere in the state.
“Gov. Wike has proven that he is committed to Nigeria’s Peace and Unity, by leading his men to fight and curb the activities of insurgents in the State and other forms of criminality across the state.
Amafibe explained that although there are lots of patriotic men and women who have contributed meaningfully in the peacebuilding project in Nigeria, it was imperative to honour the ‘outstanding’ ones.
=====================================================
Interested in a reliable Real Estate Development & Investment Company, Aedificium is the best option!!
Contact Us Today: 08032393686
A book endorsed and with a written foreword by incarcerated former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, Boko Haram Media War: An Encounter with the Spymaster has bagged the SABRE African Award on Issue and Crisis Management.
The book authored by a crisis communicator, Yushau Abdulhameed Shuaib centred mostly on crisis communication strategies and counter narrative campaigns against Boko Haram propaganda between 2013 to 2017.
The SABRE Africa Award which is the highest honour for Public Relations practice in the continent and endorsed by African Public Relations Association (APRA) recognises the book for providing insights into the Counter-terrorism Campaign against Boko Haram through well-articulated Strategic Crisis Communication plans during the tenure of Sambo Dasuki under President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The quality of work in Africa is improving year on year,” says Paul Holmes, who served as chair of the judges. “We are seeing exceptional campaigns from across the entire region, with increasingly sophisticated use of digital channels and a more integrated approach.”
The book also dispels falsehoods and corrects erroneous impressions on the operations of security agencies in Nigeria by providing factual and accurate narratives of events and datelines.
Published by Image Merchants Promotion Limited, the publishers of PRNigeria, the book also lists some of accomplishments of previous administration on security issues, especially on the procurements of arms and ammunition and recovery of dozens of towns from Boko Haram during the tenure of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki under President Goodluck Jonathan.
The annual SABRE Awards Africa competition stands for Superior Achievement in Branding Reputation & Engagement. Other 27 winners of the year awards, from various countries in the continent, will receive their trophies during the annual Conference of African Public Relations Association (APRA) in Gaborone, Botswana on May 10, 2018
Governor Willie Obiano Receiving Former President His Excellency Goodluck Ebele Jonathan accompanied by his wife, Former first Lady, Her Excellency Dame Patience Jonathan as their Helicopter landed inside Fed Poly Oko, to attend the burial of Late Elder States Man Chief Dr Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme GCON (Ide Anambra)...
Can you see the Humility of Governor Willie Obiano as he greets The Former President!!!
Anambra Nwere Madu.
#AduiePaEkwueme
Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan says the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol will soon be increased.
Omokri on Friday in a series of tweets said the government was ashamed to publicly announce the new price to Nigerians
According to him, Buhari’s government will increase the price because they can no longer pay for subsidy which was earlier called a scam under Jonathan’s administration.
He wrote “The Buhari administration is going to increase fuel price sooner than later. Mark my words.
“The only reason for the delay is that they are ashamed to tell Nigerians that they have been paying the same subsidy they claimed was a scam under Jonathan but can no longer afford to pay.”
Recall that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu on Friday denied reports of increment in fuel price to N180.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan said Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) must do the right thing at its December convention by electing a courageous chairman that would run the party democratically.
Jonathan stated this when he received one of the party’s national chairmanship aspirants, Tunde Adeniran, in his office in Abuja.
He said that as an opposition party, PDP needed a competent, reliable, courageous and bridge-building chairman who could also correct and tell a seating president the truth.
“We must do the right thing. We must elect a chairman that will run the party democratically.
“We need a courageous chairman that knows that imposition is destructive.
“We need a chairman who by God’s grace if we win election by 2019, when the president makes certain mistakes, he will be courageous enough to correct him.
“We need a chairman that can lead us to victory and sustain that victory,” Jonathan said.
He stressed the need to organise the party well and elect “good materials” that will lead PDP to victory in 2019, saying that PDP could win next general elections if it did the right thing.
“What we need is a person that can give proper leadership for this country, a chairman that can lead us to elect good material for the presidency.
“We need a chairman that will bring the proper change and economic growth for this country.”
He restated that PDP did well from 1999 to 2015, “even though some people came up with propaganda and lies that 16 years of the party in government was a waste.”
“The PDP administration for 16 years did well and will continue to do well but this administration has done nothing. They deployed propaganda and lies at a professional level.”
“In the power sector, we did well to revive it. A state governor attacked our government, saying that any serious government should be able to fix the power challenge within six months.
“Today, APC has been in power for how many years now? Fortunately the then governor is in the APC government as a minister.”
Goodluck Jonathan said that he led government when criticism for increasing the pump price of petroleum from N67 to N97 when global crude price was going for over 100 dollars, was high.
He said that the pump price was later reduced to N87 when the price of crude oil dropped “and they attacked us that it was supposed to be lower.
“Now the global crude oil is about 53 dollars per barrel and the pump price of petrol is N143. Those who attacked us do not say anything because they have seen it.”
Earlier, Adeniran had said that his visit was to seek Jonathan’s support and blessing, and stressed the need for PDP to get its leadership right.
He said that his ambition of becoming national chairman of the party was not just for the fun of it but to run the party the way it was suppose to be run.
Source
NAN
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has advised Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership to increase statutory delegates’ number for the party’s elections, especially state and local government primaries, in its Constitution’s review.
Jonathan gave the advice yesterday in his office in Abuja, when he received a delegation of the former Speakers of State Houses of Assembly elected on PDP platform.
He said that one of the major challenges facing the PDP was how it elected candidates and national officers of the party. He said that there would always be crisis over outcome of the party’s primary elections or conventions unless the number of statutory delegates to those elections was reviewed upward to about 70 per cent.
Jonathan said that the party must work out modality in which no one person could influence the choice or number of delegates to elections. He suggested that those who had served at certain levels, including governorship, ministerial, parliamentarian positions at all levels, should be statutory delegates.
“That is the area we have not been able to manage properly that is still creating problem for us. I believe the next constitution amendment should advocate for that area to be properly examined,” he said.
NAN
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has warned that further attack on former President Jonathan by Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra, would be met with appropriate sanctions from Ijaw youths.
The youth council through its Spokesman Daniel Dasimaka, described as uncharitable and disrespectful, Kanu’s comments on ex-President Jonathan.
The umbrella organisation of Ijaw youths said: “It is quite ironic and appalling that anyone will say ex-President Jonathan did nothing for the Southeast, when it is common knowledge in both informed and not-so-informed circles in Nigeria that the Southeast benefited even more than the Southsouth under Dr. Jonathan.
“It is on record that under the then President Jonathan, rehabilitation and expansion works were done on the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport (SMICA), Owerri, Imo State, which he granted an international airport status.
“In terms of appointment, Dr. Jonathan appointed the first female Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mrs. Rose Chinyere Uzoma (an Igbo). He also appointed the first Southeast Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika and first Southeast Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ogbonnaya Onovo, among others.
“We are calling on the true Igbo leaders to caution Nnamdi Kanu and to bridle his tongue, lest his unguarded rhetoric may strain the good relationship the Igbo and the Ijaw nation, and by extrapolation the Southsouth and Southeast geopolitical zones, have enjoyed over the years.”
Perry Brimah, a popular columnists and convener of ENDS [Every Nigerian Do Something], has declared that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan defeated Boko Haram while President Muhammadu Buhari only mopped up.
Brimah in a lengthy expose on Saturday, which he said was to reveal the real truth, revealed all that Jonathan did despite alleged obstruction by the North.
The article reads in parts below:
”For posterity it is important that we are honest in recording accounts of the day. When we are partial and political, we only do injustice to ourselves now and permanently to future generations. The history of Boko Haram is sad and painful and one we wish to soon forget, however it is important we keep accurate records to learn from it for tomorrow.
Boko Haram, real name, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, rekindled as its beta version, or Boko Haram II under Goodluck Jonathan. Like Obasanjo, Jonathan tolerated and enabled the establishment of Boko Haram in the wilderness of the northeast. He did not care and saw it as an opportunity for political slander against his perceived enemies in the north and also as a cash cow for embezzling massive defense allocations. “Let them kill themselves,” he was reported to have once said when given breaking news of terror incidents.
Obstructed By Northern Elite
Jonathan in his political desperation handed over his party to the north. It is on record that his PDP party chairman, Bamanga Tukur, a typical northern elite who President Muhammadu Buhari recently praised on his birthday, said as recorded in the Punch that, “Boko Haram is fighting for justice; Boko Haram is another name for justice.” This was a strong sentiment in the north from when Boko Haram II started in 2011 till late 2013 when Sheikh Gumi and Muslims Against Terror broke ranks and voiced loud condemnations of the group.
In June of 2013, Nation bore the headline, “Buhari faults clampdown on Boko Haram members.” Quoting the article,” He (Buhari) accused the government of killing and destroying their houses while the Niger Delta militants were given special treatment by the government. Buhari who spoke on Sunday on a Liberty Radio programme, Guest of the Week monitored in Kaduna also admitted that the road to the registration of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was rough.”
The north did not care about Boko Haram at this point and saw it simply as a tool to prove Jonathan’s ineptness. Any move he made was opposed by the north. At a point when Boko Haram had conquered 23 of 27 local governments in Borno and a ThinkTank I was a part of with a ground-shaking article published May 8th 2013, successfully pushed Jonathan to cut short his South Africa trip and immediately deploy excess battalions to the northeast and declare a State of emergency, the northern elite kicked against it. The Governors’ forum headed by Rotimi Amaechi a founder of the APC, advised him to not listen to us, with the words below as quoted from PremiumTimes of May 13th, 2013:
“We urge the Federal Government to continue to support affected states in the bid to check violence…We also call on the Federal Government to ignore the ongoing agitation for a state of emergency in some parts of the country. These requests are being made by people who do not wish our country well and who are bent on plunging the country into a deeper crisis.”
The weak Jonathan declared a half-baked State of emergency leaving the governors in situ. This was his undoing as Borno Governor Shettima will later violate WAEC order and keep a Chibok school open for exams which paved the way for Boko Haram to abduct over 270 girls in what will be Jonathan’s greatest international embarrassment and partly cost him the presidency.
The same governor admitted to Premium Times last August that he did not even raise alarm over the kidnap of the girls under his domain to the president for a full three weeks.
The United States blocked Nigeria from purchasing weapons to fight Boko Haram. One of former President Jonathan’s blunders which only he can be blamed for, is not telling Nigerians of this serious hinderance in time.
Not only did the US not sell any weapons to Jonathan, but Obama also blocked Nigeria from buying them from various countries. This while several autocratic countries with major human right violations were supplied steady ammo by the Obama admin. We recall that Hillary Clinton resisted labelling Boko Haram a terrorist organisation in spite of it being the most deadly in the world.
This is the uphill battle Goodluck Jonathan faced; waged by internal and external enemies. When Jonathan finally realized that he had set himself up and his re-election depended on defeating Boko Haram, he scrambled in a last minute “6-month war” effort to decisively crush the terrorists. Here I believe is where the controversial aspect of the history begins.
I open with a challenge for anyone to give the list of towns in the northeast liberated under Buhari as against the list of towns liberated in Jonathan’s 6-month campaign. I also would like a list of the number of terrorists the Buhari government killed or captured to compare to Jonathan’s record of thousands.
Equipment
Goodluck Jonathan first bought the weapons Nigeria had not bought since the 80s. Neither Babangida, nor Abacha, nor Abdulsalami, nor Obasanjo, nor Yar’Adua had bought any decent weapons and war machines for Nigeria over a span of 30 odd years. Against obstruction from the US, Jonathan succeeded in bringing in some serious equipment. Nigerians all watched as powerful T72 M1s from Ukraine were driven up north. Beeagle blog, a foremost military conversation website publicized these deadly acquisitions while Nigerians did not care and focused only on politics.
As history was being turned on its head, Dasuki later defended himself and attempted to correct our narrative by making public, images of the sophisticated arms the Jonathan government bought. See: Dasuki releases images of sophisticated weapons acquired under Jonathan [PHOTOS] – DailyPost, August 2015.
In the six months including when Jonathan postponed the elections till March to buy an extra month and half, Jonathan brought in these APCs, MRAPs, tanks, drones and other equipment to capacitate the Nigerian military at the war front.
It must be mentioned that Boko Haram was one of the most motivated, financed and battle hardened armies in Africa at the time. With promises of heaven, laced with hard drugs that made the heaven practically visible, Boko Haram was not only battle-hardened but potentially larger than the Nigerian military. With recruitable mercenary forces across west Africa and to the Congo, the Boko Haram army stood at a high point of as many as 40,000 soldiers.
Mercenaries
Goodluck Jonathan hired mercenaries from South Africa to wage the bloody war, the 72 Mobile Force. These hardened mercenaries did not come to Nigeria to drink tea in Maiduguri. They knew how to operate the REVA MRAPs and other sophisticated machinery and the modified F7 supersonic jets, and that is what they came and did.
Of course, I accept a lot of the blame in the narrative being as inaccurate as it is today. Instead of also acknowledging the triumphs these mercenaries were achieving in record time, we all focused on condemning Jonathan for allowing matters deteriorate to the point where he was paying foreigners as much as $350 a day to fight our war for us.
Chad Troops
Even if we deny what our own military did during Jonathan’s six-month war, can we deny what the “janjaweed” Chadian army did in the northeast? I do not think the inhabitants of the northeast can ever deny and discount the many times they celebrated and gave food and water to Chadian troops as they massacred and pursued Boko Haram from town to town, liberating successive towns and villages in the northeast. There is ample local Chad TV video of these conquests.
Jonathan signed an MoU with Chad’s Idriss Deby and his troops, some of the most battle hardened in Africa, came into Nigeria and competed with a revived Nigerian army liberating cities from various extents of the state. Reuters has one of the typical videos up on Youtube showing the liberation of Damask in March of 2015. It reports that 200 terrorists were killed in that battle. Vice News has “Chad’s war against Boko Haram.” AlJazeera also has its video from March 2015 in which it reports on the Chadian army liberation of many cities including Dikwa where the journalist’s chopper landed.
Cities Jonathan Liberated
Nigeria’s 7 Infantry Division with the assistance of South African 72 Mobile force troops retook Bama as reported in PremiumTimes on March 16th 2015. On 27th March foreign media reported Nigeria’s capture of Gwoza, Boko Haram’s urban headquarters.
Chief Media Consultant to the Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response, Agencies, FOSSRA, Yushau Shuaib resigned in protest in March of 2016 after the Buhari government’s Jon Ode-led panel denied the equipment acquisitions and war accomplishments of the Jonathan administration.
In a scathing reaction to the new administration, Shuaib listed major cities liberated by Jonathan’s pre-election push, he said,
“some of the towns recovered before the coming of President Buhari were Abadam, Askira, Baga, Bama, Bita, Buni Yadi, Damboa, Gamboru Ngala, Goniri, Gujba, Gulani, Gwoza, Hong, Konduga, Kukawa, Marte, Madagali, Michika, Monguno, as well as Mubi and many others.
“A clear testimony to some of the accomplishments was the official DHQ release dated March 16, 2015 with reference No: DHQ/ABJ/901/32/DDI and entitled: “Troops finally rout terrorists from Bama and last stronghold in Yobe.”
The onus is on those who deny the achievements of the Jonathan government in its last minute six-month war to provide a list of major cities liberated by the Buhari government. Can Army Chief Tukur Yusuf Buratai deny these accomplishments of the army under the command of former President Goodluck Jonathan? It will do Nigeria good and history a great favor to have a comprehensive response from CoAS Buratai.
Boko Haram was largely pushed out of Nigeria’s major towns back into Sambisa forest and remote villages and settlements. The Buhari government’s major achievement has been the liberation of a good amount of Sambisa forest, though the terrorists are still based in some parts of it. Unfortunately the terrorists have retaken the famous “Ground Zero,” according to ENDS sources.
In praise to Buhari was the discovery of a massive Boko Haram supply barge and 4000 petroleum drums, dealing the terrorists a most severe logistics blow. Again this was in July of 2015, and could be argued to have been under the momentum built by Jonathan.
So where is the evidence of Buhari’s decimation of Boko Haram, other than mopping up and opening up towns liberated by the army under the previous administration? Jonathan could not repopulate the towns due to mine fears. The Buhari government is slowly de-mining them before attempting to restore the surviving inhabitants.
The only time we heard the Buhari government announce the killing of over 200, was when they accidentally bombed an IDP camp in Rann, killing 236.
It is recollected that Jonathan secured the northeast to the extent that peaceful elections could hold. This is irrefutable evidence of the success of his campaign against the terrorist organisation before handing over.
It was based on the momentum built by Jonathan that Buhari could promise to defeat the terrorists by December of his first year in office, and announce that he had pretty much completed that with only mop up operations left. The evidence points out that it was Jonathan who had completed 80% of the strategic defeat and the Buhari government finished the rest 20% by December of 2015 and since then embarked in mop up and negotiations with the terrorists to reintegrate into civilian populations. 40,000 soldiers just don’t disappear.
A lot of what Jonathan did and Buhari has continued is under the counter negotiations with terrorists dropping their arms and silently attempting to lead normal lives. The governor of Taraba state just complained that there are too many of these ex-Boko Haram terrorists in his state now battling an uptick in violent crime.
Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State adds another feather to his cap as he wins the Times Heroes award for Good Governance.
The event held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja was organized by Daily Times Newspaper, and coincided with its ninety first anniversary, had distinguished personalities of note in attendance.
The Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano represented by his deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke was once again decorated alongside other Nigerian greats at the Times Heroes Awards 2017 held yesterday at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
This is another worthy feather on the cap of governor Obiano of Anambra State who has been adjudged as the Governor of the Year at Sun Awards 2015; 2016 Vanguard Personality of the Year Awards; 2016 New Telegraph Outstanding Performance Awards; to mention but a few in addition to emerging as the Winner of Zik's Prize for Good Governance, 2015 and the Silverbird Man of the Year 2016.
The Times Heroes Awards were instituted to honour deserving heroes who have distinguished themselves in various endeavours and whose activities have positively impacted lives, “a legacy the Times Nigeria has canvassed over the years."
Heroes decorated last night include President Muhammadu Buhari, who was honoured with Nnamdi Azikiwe Leadership Award; President Nana Akufo-Ado of Ghana with Babatunde Jose Leadership Award while the immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was honoured with Ernest Ikoli Leadership Award; amongst others.
Dedicating the award to ndi Anambra, Governor Obiano stressed that leadership is all about sincerity of purpose, which the State represents, adding that his administration has blazed the trail in education, security, agriculture, among others.
Speaking through the Deputy Governor, Dr. Nkem Okeke, the Governor called on the citizenry to play more supportive roles to his administration.
Other outstanding Governors honoured with the Good Governance Award include Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia); Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos); Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe); Bindo Jubril (Adamawa); Nyesom Wike (Rivers); and Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi).
Also honoured in the night were business icon, Mr. Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holding and UBA, who received the "Man of the Decade Award"; Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, First Bank Plc, "Woman of the Decade" while veteran Nollywood actor, Pete Edochie, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, and many others bagged the "Life Impact Awards."
Other honourees were Pinnacle Communications Limited and Nigerian Media icons such as Nduka Obaigbena, John Momoh, Linda Ikeji, and Chris Ubosi, etc.
The event which involved a lecture session with the former governor of Lagos State, Sen Bola Tinubu as the Keynote Speaker attracted people from all walks of life and marked the peak of the activities celebrating the 91 years anniversary of the Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN), the nation’s heritage newspaper.
The Publisher of Daily Times Newspaper, Mr Fidelis Anosike, expressed optimism that a new dawn has come in the company, saying that the ceremony is a reward system for those who have made impact in the Society, adding that they are resilient to reviving the Daily Times of the old.
#ObianoWinsAgain #ObianoEffect
5th of May, 2010 the Nigerian state experienced her first death of a sitting president since the return of democratic rule in 1999. Former president Umaru Musa Yaradua passed on.
The president of the people, by the people and for the people past away after a protracted battle with Acute Pericarditis at the age of 58.
Today, we remembered him. Today we remembered his bright smile. Today we remember his so many amazing efforts to be truly the peoples’ president but more importantly, his successor Jonathan Ebele Goodluck remembers him.
And in a moving eulogy to the former president on Facebook, Jonathan described the late Yar’adua as a peacemaker who would forever be remembered for bringing a lasting peace to the Niger Delta region.
He wrote,
“Seven years ago you left this world leaving behind a legacy of detribalized leadership and a soil that was fertile enough to grow trees whose shade you would never enjoy. As a peace maker, you helped bring peace to the Niger Delta and that singular act brought manifold benefits to Nigeria.
“As a democrat, you promoted due process in government and equity in public administration. Umar Musa Yar’adua, a friend and brother, a great gift to the nation and people of Nigeria. Seven years gone but never forgotten.
“May you Rest In Peace even as we hope and believe that you made al-Jannah firdaus. Miyetti Allah for the life of service you lived and may Almighty God care for the family you left behind. GEJ.”
A former president, Goodluck Jonathan, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; and anti-corruption chief, Ibrahim Magu are amongst some high-profile personalities that are expected to be questioned by a presidential panel investigating the mysteries surrounding the over N13 billion recovered from an apartment in Lagos last Wednesday.
The panel will also question the suspended Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ayodele Oke, and his predecessor, Olaniyi Oladeji.
The owner of the building where the money was found and the EFCC official who led the operation will also be questioned by the three-man panel, which was convened on Wednesday.
The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, who is also a member of the investigating committee is also expected to brief the committee on what he knows following reports that Mr. Oke briefed him on the NIA operation prior to the discovery of the money.
President Muhammadu Buhari named Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to lead the committee, with Attorney General Abubakar Malami and Mr. Monguno being the remaining two members, the presidency said in a statement.
The constitution of the panel came as the presidency announced the immediate suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and Mr. Oke for their respective roles in the grass cutting scandal and the over N13 billion recovered in Lagos respectively.
“The president also ordered a full-scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, has made a claim,” presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said Wednesday.
Mr. Adesina’s statement appears to indicate that the presidency has already accepted the NIA’s argument that the money belongs to it.
The investigative panel was tasked to unravel the
“circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds,” Mr. Adesina said.
In a separate probe, the same committee is also to look into the allegations against Mr. Lawal in the grass cutting scandal.
THE IKOYI RECOVERY
Operatives of the EFCC, acting on a tip-off on April 12, said they found $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 hidden inside an apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi.
The funds were valued at over N13 billion based on prevailing exchange rate set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
But the development, which could have been another success in the ongoing campaign against graft, became problematic for the Buhari administration following conflicting reports about the ownership of the money.
A day after news of the recovery gripped the country, the EFCC approached the Federal High Court, FHC, to secure a forfeiture order.
Muslim Hassan, a judge at the Lagos Division of the FHC, granted the anti-graft agency’s request and gave any potential claimant until May 5, else the entire N13 billion would be permanently forfeited to the Nigerian government.
On April 14, Mr. Oke told newsmen the NIA concealed the money in the apartment for undisclosed operations the foreign intelligence office was conducting.
Our sources said Mr. Oke had approached Mr. Magu to order EFCC operatives who broke into the apartment to back down while the operation was still underway, but the EFCC boss declined his pleas.
But the security chief would not comment on the purpose of the fund, telling this newspaper: “You don’t expect me to tell you that.”
On April 15, Governor Nyesom Wike said the money belonged to Rivers State, having allegedly been plundered by his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi.
“We have facts to prove that the said money belongs to the Rivers State Government,” Mr. Wike said. “The Federal Government must return our money.”
But Mr. Amaechi, now Minister of Transport, strongly denied the allegations and threatened to sue those who publicly accused him of being the owner of the money.
The uncertainties notwithstanding, President Buhari directed that the money be returned to the CBN and ordered preliminary findings into the matter.
Source
PremiumTimesNG
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youths on Wednesday, asked the party’s national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to apologise to former President Goodluck Jonathan for walking out on the latter and other PDP leaders at the party’s stakeholders meeting in Abuja last week.
The Guardian reports that the youths, under the aegis of the Almagamated PDP Youth Leaders Nationwide, said at a press briefing in Abuja that it was an embarrassment for Sheriff to have walked out on Jonathan, who they described as the leader of the party.
Chairman of the group, Segun Aderemi, said Sheriff disrespected the party when he walked out on Jonathan and other party leaders during the meeting.
Adeyemi added that the youths in the party would not want anyone to disrespect Sheriff, as leader of the party, as such he too should not disrespect other PDP leaders.
He, however, said that as a result of his action, the youths have given Sheriff seven days counting from today to tender an unreserved apology to Jonathan and other party leaders, for embarrassing them through his conduct last Thursday.
“We witnessed what happened that day when he walked out on the former President. Would Sheriff be happy if any member of the party embarrass him the way he embarrassed Jonathan that day?
“He has to tender an unreserved apology to the former President, the BoT and other leaders of the party.
“We insist he should tender an unreserved apology. We strongly believe that he is going to do the needful,” Aderemi stated.
He said the youth of the party don’t have anything against Sheriff or the chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, adding that their interest is the immediate resolution of the PDP crisis.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has formally suspended 205 personnel of the commission for allegedly receiving part of the N23bn alleged to have been disbursed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, ahead of the 2015 general elections.
A National Commissioner and member of the Information and Voter Education Committee at INEC, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, who briefed journalists after a meeting of the leadership of the commission on Tuesday, said the commission also decided to place the 205 affected officials on half salaries in accordance with the terms and conditions of service of the commission.
Haruna said the commission had referred the cases of a former National Commissioner and five former Resident Electoral Commissioners (one late) to the Presidency and the EFCC for further action and investigation.
According to him, the decision to refer the national commissioner and the RECs to the Presidency and the EFCC was because it was not within the powers of the commission to deal with the cases involving them.
This had been reported exclusively in the newspaper's March 26, 2017, edition that the leadership of the commission had placed 202 inducted staff of the commission on suspension and half salary for allegedly receiving part of the N23bn alleged bribe.
Also, Sunday PUNCH had reported exclusively that the commission had written the Presidency over the indictment of some RECs in the 2015 electoral bribe scandal in its April 3, 2017, edition which was confirmed in the briefing on Tuesday.
Haruna said,
“The commission met today (Tuesday) to consider the report of its expanded Appointment, Promotion and Disciplinary Committee on the EFCC Interim Report on Bribery, Corruption and Money Laundering Charges during the 2015 general elections.
“You may recall that late last year, the commission received an interim report from the EFCC detailing allegations against 202 serving and retired INEC officials and staff in 16 states of the federation.
“In furtherance of its zero tolerance for corruption in the electoral process, the commission ordered a thorough investigation into the allegations to establish the culpability or otherwise of those named in the EFCC report.
“The committee’s work was thorough and painstaking, involving the issuance of queries to the 202 officials mentioned in the report and interviewing them individually in accordance with the principle of fair hearing and in consonance with INEC Staff Conditions of Service.
“As a result of the initial findings of the committee, an additional 80 serving officials of the commission, who were not named in the EFCC report but whose names came up in the course of the investigation, were also queried and interviewed.
“The cases of one former National Commissioner, five former Resident Electoral Commissioners (one of them deceased) have been referred to the Presidency and the EFCC for further necessary action.
“Based on their level of involvement, 205 serving INEC staff will be immediately placed on interdiction, which entails suspension from duties and being placed on half salary, pending the final determination of the cases they have with the EFCC.”
Haruna added that a non-governmental organization identified as West African Network of Election Observers made up of retired INEC officials was used to bribe INEC staff to influence the outcome of the 2015 general elections.
He stated also that the committee was able to establish that INEC staff received N3,046,829,000 in 16 states of the federation to influence the outcome of the election.
“There was a clear attempt to bribe INEC staff to influence the outcome of the 2015 general elections using an NGO, West African Network of Election Observers, made up mainly of retired senior INEC officials.
“Out of over N23bn, which the EFCC report said was used to influence the elections, the committee established that N3,046,829,000 was received by INEC staff in 16 states,” he added
He stressed that a decision was taken to refer the 70 members of staff to the EFCC because of insufficient information on their involvement in the scandal.
However, he refused to mention the names of the retired national commissioner and five RECs alleged to have colluded with the NGO to pull through the bribe.
He explained that the ex-officials of the commission were deemed innocent until after their prosecution.
He restated the commitment of the commission to defending the integrity of the electoral process, stressing that it would not hesitate to take a stern action against officials “who compromise its core values of integrity, transparency and impartiality in the conduct of elections.”
He said the NGO involved in the scandal had been barred from all INEC activities.
… attacks Wike, says he’s not serious
The Independent National Electoral Commission has said preparations towards the 2019 general elections are in top gear, stressing that it would not allow itself to be distracted by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Monday, urged Nigerians to dismiss the claim by Wike that the commission was not preparing for the next general elections.
Wike had said in an interview with Sunday PUNCH that public institutions like INEC lacked the expected trust, insisting that the commission was only engrossed in a jamboree to deceive Nigerians and to spend money.
The Rivers governor had argued that INEC should use the card reader for all elections rather than use manual accreditation where the card readers failed.
“If we want to get elections right in this country, INEC must say where the card readers do not work, elections should be held the next day.
“Nigeria should provide the funds. We should not do the wrong thing because of fund. Some argue that this thing is also done in advanced countries, but they forget that those places have established institutions and there is trust also. Here, there is no institution and there is no trust.
“In 2019, let me tell you, and mark this day, INEC is not prepared for any election. What they are doing is a jamboree to make sure that they are spending money. They can’t deceive me,” Wike had said.
Reacting, however, Oyekanmi said Wike was not someone that could be taken seriously on an issue of national importance.
He said contrary to Wike’s claim, INEC was making preparations for the 2019 elections as shown by the recent validation of its Strategic Plan by stakeholders in the society.
Oyekanmi stated further that as part of the move towards 2019, the Federal Government had appointed 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners while the Senate passed the amendments to the Electoral Act.
He stressed that the commission was focused on its preparations for the conduct of the next governorship election in Anambra State and could not afford to be distracted.
He said,
“The Rivers State Governor is entitled to his opinion and I think Nigerians know him too well to take him seriously on any issue of national importance.
“But as far as INEC is concerned, our preparation for the 2019 general elections is on course. Stakeholders have just validated our Strategic Plan. The Federal Government recently appointed 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners and the Senate, thank God, has also just passed the amendments to the Electoral Act.
“We have the Anambra State governorship election to conduct later this year. Besides, the re-organisation of the commission is being carried out. So, we are on course and cannot be distracted.”
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied allegations that he received $200 million kickback from the notorious OPL 245 Malabu Oil deal. The allegation was reported by an online publication, Buzzfeed and republished by some other newspapers.
In a statement on Tuesday by his media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, the former presidnet denied the allegation saying that it is “false in its entirety,” adding that it is a “series of fake news” sponsored by those threatened by Jonathan’s “continuously rising profile in the international community."
The statement reads:
“Common sense should have shown the purveyors of the slander that the Malabu oil deal far predated the Jonathan regime and it would only make sense for him to be bribed if he had a time machine to go back in time to when the deal was struck.”
According to the statement, the report relied on hearsay evidence from a man of questionable character who provided no substance to back up his false claim.
It reads:
“The man quoted by the report said he ‘assumed’ that Dr. Jonathan would be bribed. Since when has the assumption of a crook been enough to smear the reputation of a patriot and international statesman like Dr. Goodluck Jonathan?
“The report also wrongly claimed that Jonathan and Etete had known each other for years, according to Shell staff, when Jonathan served as a tutor to Etete’s children while he was a minister. This claim is clearly ridiculous and nothing can be further from the truth.
“In the first place, the former President couldn’t have been a ‘tutor’ to Etete’s children without first establishing contact with the family. This is because Jonathan met Etete who served as the Petroleum Minister in Gen. Abacha’s military regime for the first time under the succeeding civilian administration, when he was already the deputy Governor of Bayelsa State. Even then, the fact remains that ex-President Jonathan has never met any of Etete’s children.
“Besides, Jonathan couldn’t have been anybody’s private tutor during that period, because he was already in the directorate cadre in Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) (now NDDC), having already left the academia, at the time Etete was a serving minister.
“This story, coming so soon after the fake news that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan refused British help in rescuing the Chibok girls (a story that the British Government debunked) and that he plans to contest the 2019 elections (another lie), proves that these fallacious stories are deliberately contrived for reasons that are yet to be publicly disclosed.
“It is instructive that this same old fable apparently intended to rubbish Jonathan’s name locally and internationally, is being recycled with more lies added to garnish the narrative, at a time the ex-President is making efforts to resolve the issues in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“Again, let us point out for clarity and for the umpteenth time that while he was in office and now that he is out of office, former President Jonathan did not open and does not own any bank account, aircraft or real estate outside Nigeria. Anyone with contrary information is challenged to publicly publish same.”
Dr. Jonathan appealed to the media to report facts rather than innuendo and gossip, reminding the media that he signed the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act into law and that “it is only fair to use it to investigate allegations in order to establish the truth”.
The statement warned that Dr. Jonathan cannot stop criminals from ‘assuming’, but that “he can and he will stop them from getting away with blatant lies.”
The Malabu deal scandal
BuzzFeed News and Italian newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, had in a joint investigation reveal that Shell’s top executives at the time signed off the deal with full knowledge that the money would go to a front company connected to a former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete.
For years, Shell has denied the deal involved any payments from Shell or ENI to Etete – who has been convicted in his absence of money laundering in France in a separate case – or to the company he allegedly controlled, Malabu Oil and Gas.
But documents obtained by BuzzFeed News and Il Sole 24 Ore reveals that: Shell executives knew the deal would benefit Malabu by more than $1 billion.
The former MI6 agents working for the oil giant said Etete would use payments from a deal to pay bribes to others.
Ednan Agaev, a former Russian ambassador and intelligence officer who worked on the deal as a representative of Malabu, told the FBI and Italian prosecutors that Etete had told him he needed to pay $400 million in bribes to senior Nigerian officials and parliamentarians.
Jeffrey Tesler, who admitted guilt as part of a deal with US prosecutors in a separate case involving handling “commissions” for Etete, voluntarily handed over a suitcase containing more than £350,000, allegedly a “gift” from Etete, to a London police station after a company connected with him received $180 million of the proceeds of the deal.
What followed, after the sudden death of Abacha was years of legal wrangling and allegations of corruption,
The deal struck by Shell, ENI, Malabu, and the Nigerian government in 2011 was supposed to see an end to the years of back-and-forth: For a total consideration of $1.3 billion, the Nigerian government awarded the block to Shell and ENI.
The final version of the structure was set up to transfer the $1.09 billion to a London bank account in the name of the government of Nigeria, which then in turn relayed the payment to entities eventually connected with Malabu – meaning that no money from Shell and ENI went directly to Malabu or Etete, even though the deal then benefited Malabu and associates greatly.
In a letter to Dutch authorities, an Italian prosecutor said he had tracked $737 million of transfers
“made in the days immediately following the transfer of the sum from the United Kingdom to the Malabu accounts in Nigeria.”
In the summer of 2010, the former MI6 agents warned Shell of the purported involvement of Goodluck Jonathan ... which they assumed meant he was looking to get a payout from OPL 245.
“Etete claims he has and has shown a letter from the President reiterating malabu’s 100pc equity/contract ‘award’,” an email from Colegate stated. “This letter clearly an attempt to deliver significant revenues to GLJ [Jonathan] as part of any transaction.”
These allegations about Goodluck Jonathan – and other alleged bribes – were repeated by Ednan Agaev, a former Russian ambassador and intelligence officer engaged in the OPL 245 negotiations with Shell, representing Malabu.
In an account of his interview given by the FBI to prosecutors,
“Agaev was asked about payment of his commission. Agaev stated that he went to Etete and told him to pay him the $65,000,000 fee. Agaev stated that Etete said, ‘I can’t pay you, I have to pay Adoke [Mohammed Bello Adoke, then Nigeria’s attorney general] $400 million and all the other people in the Senate and the National assembly.’ Agaev stated that he would think President Goodluck Jonathan got at least $200 million of this money.”
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
