Nigeria: I left over N8bn for Wike – Amaechi

Amaechi, Former Rivers state Governor

The immediate past governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has refuted claims by his successor, Nyesom Wike, that he left an empty treasury after his administration.

Mr. Amaechi was responding to claims by Opunabo Inko-Tariah, Mr. Wike’s Spokesperson, during a radio programme in Port Harcourt on Wednesday that his principal met an empty treasury when he took over government.

“A total of N7.5 billion cash were left behind as balances in the State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) account with Skye Bank, FAAC account with Zenith Bank, balances with Access Bank and funds in the State reserve fund account in First Bank,” Mr. Amaechi said in a statement by his media office, Thursday. 

“This is besides other balances in the state Government House account with Zenith Bank and other government MDA accounts, like the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP). 

“By the time you pull all these together, we are looking at readily available cash in the region of eight to ten billion naira left for the Wike administration.”

Mr. Wike, who defeated who defeated Dakuku Peterside of Mr. Amaechi’s All Progressives Con‎gress, has consistently stated that he met an empty treasury upon assumption of office.

The governor belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party.
Last June, barely one month after taking over as governor, Mr. Wike had said that only one revenue account with Sterling Bank had some funds left by Mr. Amaechi’s administration.

“I want to say on good authority that we did not meet N7 billion, as being speculated. The state’s FAAC account as at May 29 was in debit. That was the briefing I received from the Accountant-General,” Mr. Wike had said during a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the state government, Julius Berger Plc, and CCECC for the rehabilitation of 33 kilometre of roads in Port Harcourt.

In his statement on Thursday, Mr. Amaechi said that he did not only leave cash for his successor but also economic assets.

“These assets that are scattered in diverse sectors of the economy were developed or built or procured with revenue that accrued to the state during Amaechi’s tenure,” the former governor said.

“The assets belong to Rivers State, not Amaechi. Some of these assets are presently yielding revenue to the state coffers, and many can be easily and readily converted to cash, if the State so desires.”

Mr. Amaechi further stated that it was “disingenuous and fraudulent” for Mr. Wike to claim that he met an empty treasury to justify the N30 billion loans he took within his first 30 days in office.

“Rather than this puerile and silly distraction of always pointing accusing fingers at Amaechi, Wike should come out to explain to Rivers people what he took the loans for, account for and justify every kobo that has been spent from the loans.”

Premium Times 

PMB: The dangers of one-man-show

President Buhari

Perversive aura of power 

We must not grant President Muhammadu Buhari too much comfort. We cannot afford to blink or take our eyes off the ball. Not anymore; not after all the tormenting disappointments that have emanated from that Aso Rock Presidential Villa since 1999. Why should a President Olusegun Obasanjo have failed so woefully having rode into the scene with cognate experience none else in Nigeria’s history had? Yet he managed to set us back many years. Did we not think that President Goodluck Jonathan brandishing a PhD, and all that shoelessness, was indeed a breath of fresh air? But he fouled our air so much we are still choking.

The mere fact that the sheer aura and majesty of power would circumscribe both the holder and beholder is enough reason we must be even more on our guards now and not assume that the long-awaited messiah has finally arrived. It is true that comparatively, PMB is imbued with finer character and personal integrity, but there are a dozen other virtues begirding transcendental leadership and transformational governance.

It is for these reasons that we, the watchers of all the Estates of the Realm, must wear our skeptic’s cap always and set it askew at an irreverent and annoying angle. Now more than ever before, we must not be afraid not provoke and run against the grain of popular leaning. And like my brother Azu Isiekwene once said, we must not stop at ruffling feathers, we must make sure to pluck some feathers. Especially so when we are sure we are doing so in the interest of both the man in the pristine prison of the Villa and the hapless fella on the street.

The breeding a benign dictatorship 

This is why we must not fail to sound the alarm about what is clearly an incipient one-man government and the making of a leviathan; a benign dictatorship. It is not acceptable and neither is it justifiable that PMB would take almost half of a year to form a government. We simply do not have that luxury of time. He tells us he will not appoint members of his cabinet till September. We hear the Senate may not complete ratification of nominees till end of October and we know that it would take these men and women upmost of another six months to master their not so simple environment and begin to deliver any reasonable result.

Why should we hand over one full year of our lives to a man we elected to office to play around with as he wishes? There is absolutely nothing PMB is doing now that he could not have done with the full complement of his cabinet in tow. It is a dangerous fallacy for one man to imagine he could reform a deeply rotten system all alone in a few months.

In fact, the dangers and shortcomings of the President discharging executive functions in the manner he has been doing are numerous and indeed, scary. First, most of the activities so far – wholesome and positive as they may be – are at best ad-hoc and direly limited. He does not have the option of robust debate and a weighing up of numerous alternatives to arrive at the best options.

One example was the setting up of the Adams Oshiomhole-led panel to probe the management of the Excess Crude Account during the Jonathan era. It had one month to report back to the National Economic Council (NEC). But it took all of one month to find out that the panel was inadequate and indeed awkward for that assignment. It took one month to know that audit firms are better suited for the job. That was one month wasted and several opportunities lost.

Another shortcoming is that the country has remained at a standstill and will be so till a cabinet is formed. A visit to federal secretariats will prove this. It was not that diligent activity was the hallmark of the Nigerian civil servant, but ask anyone of them now and he will tell you there is nothing doing since the new dispensation. Again, it is not for fun that the weekly cabinet meeting is held: it is for setting broad policy guidelines, tracking implementation and reviewing performance and progress taking place simultaneously in all sectors. No one person can do this alone.

What really is the purpose of the current exercise of having permanent secretaries review their ministries before the President one at a time? This exercise, which is taking months to carry out, would have been better accomplished in a one week summit under a full cabinet. This way, even the ministers would benefit immensely and at the end of the day, the President would set the tone for his presidency and government in the purview of all – the appointees and civil servants. So we would have done in one week (and with better result) what we have been grappling with for months.

And there is the more foreboding danger of the President getting used to the current situation of ‘working’ alone and all the minnows around him falling all over themselves when he sneezes. He is in danger of creating a debilitating environment that does not allow for debate, questions and a weighing of options. If he gets used to dishing out instructions and people jumping, his cabinet would be ineffectual and he, as much as Nigeria, would be the worse for it.

Now and for as long as the President’s slow motion lasts, the budget is in abeyance, most projects are abandoned, work cycle is lost and funds are disbursed whimsically from the presidency.

APC’s slumbering new era? 

If PMB is taking things slow to dredge the rot in the system, are governors too, who have followed his example, also dislodging sludge? It is worrisome that most of the ruling APC governors have conveniently neglected to initiate governance; even second term governors.

If Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State (a first timer) could get started immediately, what is holding up Governors Akin Ambode (Lagos), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), among others? Why is it taking Governor Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) almost one year to form government? This precedent is dangerous and unacceptable. Apart from the fact that they are running government from their breast pockets, some fellow will come tomorrow and take all of two or three years to form an executive council (exco), standing on Aregbesola’s example.

One sees absolutely no benefit in a president or governor hedging to form government upon inauguration. None.

PRESSID: Let’s not throw Jonathan away with bathwater
One of the most ingenious initiatives of former President Goodluck Jonathan was setting up of the Presidential Special Scholarship Scheme for Innovation and Development (PRESSID).

The scheme, which is in its third year, selects about 100 best of Nigeria’s first class graduates for scholarship in the best universities abroad. The idea is simply to harness a critical mass of thinkers and leaders in all spheres of life for Nigeria’s future. The US has perfected this strategic initiative, reaching beyond their borders to poach the best from around the world.

The successful candidates for the third batch for the 2014/2015 academic session, who have been offered admission in universities across the world, have been left hanging since President Buhari came to power. If these young Nigerians are being denied their well-merited national scholarship, which they have already won, by the new government, they at least deserve to be informed formally so that they may move on with their lives.

America, Israel, China, etc., lead the world because they make serious effort to select and groom their very best minds. It is hoped that PMB would sustain PRESSID.

The Nation

Health: America just admitted that cannabis DOES kill cancer cells

(picture: File)

Conspiracy theorists have been saying it all along – but cannabis does apparently kill cancer cells.

That’s according to the US government, which has added a page on the use of cannabis and cannabinoids to their official cancer advice website.

The National Cancer Institute, part of America’s Department of Health, now advises that ‘cannabinoids may be useful in treating the side effects of cancer and cancer treatment’ by smoking, eating it in baked products, drinking herbal teas or even spraying it under the tongue.

The site also lists other uses including: Anti-inflammatory activity, blocking cell growth, preventing the growth of blood vessels that supply tumours, antiviral activity and relieving muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.

The information page also explains how cancer cells in mice were killed when exposed to cannabis.

Should cannabis be legalised in the UK for medical purposes?



Several scientific studies have suggested this in the past, and in April this year the US government’s National Institute on Drug Abuse revised their publications to suggest cannabis could shrink brain tumours by killing off cancer cells.

There are now two FDA approved medications for cancer patients available in the US which contain cannabinoids.

In the UK THC is in prescribed drug Sativex but is not yet considered useful on a wider basis for medical purposes.

But now America has said it, perhaps Britain may follow suit soon.

Metro UK

Journalist slain after president ‘threatened to kill’ reporters

Free Press

Gunmen shot dead a South Sudan reporter in an apparently targeted attack, colleagues said Thursday, days after President Salva Kiir publicly threatened to kill journalists who reported “against the country”. Colleagues, who gathered at the hospital in the capital Juba where Peter Moi’s body was taken on Thursday, said the reporter’s money and his telephone were reportedly not taken by the gunman after the killing.

He is seventh journalist killed this year in the war-ravaged country. “This was an intentional killing,” said Oliver Modi, chairman of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan. Moi, a reporter for the New Nation newspaper, was shot dead after leaving work in Juba on Wednesday evening, colleagues said, in the latest apparent attack on the media.

“Freedom of the press does not mean you work against the country,” Kiir told journalists Sunday as he left for peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“If anybody among them (journalists) does not know that this country has killed people, we will demonstrate it one day, one time.” There was no immediate response to the killing from the police or security forces. “Today it is Peter, tomorrow is someone else,” Modi added. “We are being taken one by one.”

‘Self-censor for survival

Five journalists working for state-run media were shot dead along with government officials in January in an ambush by unknown gunmen in Western Bahr al Ghazal state. Another journalist was killed in May in eastern Jonglei state, reportedly in cross-fire during a gun battle between rival groups.

International press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks South Sudan as the 125th worst nation out of 180. Rights groups have repeatedly warned about the security forces cracking down on journalists and suffocating debate on how to end a civil war in which tens of thousands of people have been killed.

“More and more independent voices are being silenced in South Sudan at this critical time in the country’s history, when the public desperately needs independent, impartial information,” said Tom Rhodes from the CPJ. Condemning the “senseless killing” of Moi, the CPJ said his death “will inevitably cast a pall over journalists in South Sudan, inducing them to self-censor as a means of survival.”

Earlier this month security forces shut down two newspapers and a radio station after they reportedly promoted a proposed peace agreement that the government has since dismissed as a “sellout”. South Sudan’s civil war began in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that has split the poverty-stricken country along ethnic lines.

The government of the world’s youngest nation on Monday refused to ink a power-sharing deal signed by rebels, despite the threat of sanctions and mounting international frustration at the failure to seal a peace accord. The government said it will return to the talks in Ethiopia in early September after consulting with the people, to “finalise” a peace deal.

SEE GOBE!! Bodyguard crashes his boss’ uninsured £1million sports car

Oh dear (Picture: SWNS)

A bodyguard had to explain to his boss that he crashed his £1million supercar recently… while it was uninsured.

Andy Danso was bringing the flash Pagani Zonda back from an MOT when he ploughed it into a fence, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

The 43-year-old told police he was swerving to avoid a ‘silver car’, however he changed his story to say he was adjusting his seat after CCTV showed no silver car on the road when the crash occurred in February.

He admitted he was too embarrassed to tell police the real reason for the crash in Wembley, north-west London.

Nice car. Shame about the fence (Picture: SWNS)

(Picture: SWNS)

Appearing at Willesden Magistrates’ Court this week, Danso said: ‘I just lifted the lever up and went to push it back.

‘It was stiff to start off with so I pushed a bit harder and my foot slipped forward on the right hand side of the accelerator and pushed it down.

‘At that point the car accelerated and the back of the car pulled to the left.’

Danso denied driving at ‘some speed’, and no evidence was presented to suggest he was breaking the speed limit.

He was, however, convicted of driving the car without due care and attention or the correct insurance to cover the damage.

Danso has reportedly managed to keep his job working for a wealthy Chinese businessman.

The CCTV which proved that driver Andy Danso had been at fault when he crashed a £1million supercar(Picture: SWNS)

District judge Denis Brennan said: ‘Finding the seat was uncomfortable, because you were too close to the steering wheel, you continued on the journey.

‘Whereas a reasonable and prudent driver would have pulled over you didn’t and as far as that there was an accident.

‘Therefore I find you guilty.’

Metro UK 

Crocodile Ate A Man's Wife In Uganda: What He Did Next Will Shock You

How I killed the crocodile that ‘ate my wife’

Four months ago, Demeteriya Nabire was killed by a crocodile when she went to the lake near her home to fetch water. The animal later came back to the area but found Nabire’s husband waiting, ready to take revenge. Demeteriya Nabire was at the water’s edge with a group of women from her village – they were gathering water from Uganda’s Lake Kyoga when the crocodile grabbed her. It dragged her away and she was never seen again.

Her husband, Mubarak Batambuze, was devastated – Nabire was pregnant when she died, and he had lost not only his wife but an unborn child as well. He felt powerless. But then last month he heard the crocodile had returned. “Somebody called me and said, ‘Mubarak, I have news for you – the crocodile that took your wife is here – we are looking at it now.’”

The 50-year-old fisherman made his way to the lake with some friends. “He was a very big monster, and we tried fighting him with stones and sticks. But there was nothing we could do,” he says.

So Batambuze went to visit the local blacksmith.“I explained to him that I was fighting a beast that had snatched and killed my wife and unborn baby. I really wanted my revenge, and asked the blacksmith to make me a spear that could kill the crocodile dead. “The Blacksmith asked me for £3.20 ($5) and made the spear for me,” he says. It was a significant amount of money for Batambuze, but he was determined to kill the animal that had snatched his future.

“The crocodile ate my wife entirely. Nothing was ever seen of her again – no clothes, no part of her body that I could identify. I just didn’t know what to do – a mother and her unborn child. It was the end of my world. I was completely lost.” Armed with his new spear – specially designed with a barb on one side – the widower went on the attack.

When he got to the water the crocodile was still there, but Batambuze’s friends took fright. “Please don’t attack this beast,” they pleaded, “it’s so huge it may eat you. The spear is not enough – it won’t finish the job.” But Batambuze insisted they stay. “I failed killing it the first time around,” he told them, “I’m not bothered if I die killing this beast. I’m going to take it on with this spear, and I will make sure that it dies.”

A Ugandan Wildlife Authority ranger, Oswald Tumanya, says the crocodile was more than four metres long and weighed about 600kg. “I had so much fear in me but what helped me to succeed was the spear,” says Batambuze. He tied a rope to the end of the weapon so that once the tip was embedded in the crocodile, he could pull it out at an angle and the barb would cut into more of the animal’s flesh.

“I put the spear into the crocodile’s side, and while my friends were helping to throw stones at the beast’s back, it tried getting its mouth up to attack me again. “It turned violent, and then there was so much fear in the place. But I was so determined, and I wasn’t afraid of dying. I just wanted it dead, so I put the spear in its side and I pulled the rope. That got the crocodile into trouble.”

It took an hour and a half for Batambuze and his friends, fighting and retreating, exchanging attacks with the enraged animal, before the crocodile was finally dead. Exhausted, they made their way back to their village. “There was so much shock. What really surprised everybody was how big the beast was. It wasn’t an ordinary crocodile. It was so big. And people called me and my friends heroes,” he says.

The dead animal was taken to Makarere University in Kampala, where it was examined by a vet, Wilfred Emneku. He says a tibia bone was found inside the crocodile’s stomach, but while he believes it’s human he can’t be sure. A crocodile expert at Charles Darwin University in Australia, Adam Britton, says he would be very surprised if any remains inside the animal’s stomach were those of Demeteriya Nabire.

“After 12 weeks… under normal conditions, it would be highly improbable for bones from the same meal to remain in the stomach,” he says. So while Batambuze’s celebrity status endures in his village, it is unlikely that he will ever have a grave to mourn at. “Within myself I’m a very depressed man because I lost a wife and an unborn child,” he explains.

“But the locals keep on saying, ‘Thank you for killing the beast, that’s where we fetch water and we’re sure it would have taken somebody else. Thank you so much, you did a great job.’” “So I’m a local hero – people keep on thanking me.”

Nigerian Army arrests two key members of Boko Haram

Col. Sani Usman, acting Director of Army Public Relations

Two key members of Boko Haram terrorist fleeing from the ongoing operations by the military have been arrested in Geidam, Yobe State, north-east Nigeria and are currently being interrogated, the Nigerian Army said on Wednesday.

Col. Sani Usman, spokesperson for the Nigerian Army who announced this in a statement also disclosed that two pick up vehicles were also seized from the fleeing insurgents.

The Army spokesperson also revealed that following reports about suspected movements and planned attack by Boko Haram terrorists around Damasak area, the Nigerian Air Force is conducting air surveillance and armed reconnaissance in the area.

Usman however insisted in the statement that the stories making the rounds of an alleged massacre and drowning of over a hundred civilians in Kukuwa-gari, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State, cannot be substantiated.

He added that the troops are fully committed to the fight against Boko Haram terrorists and ensuring security for law-abiding citizens in the troubled areas.

In another statement, Usman also revealed that troops of 26 Task Force Brigade in Gwoza, Borno State, on Tuesday, August 18, engaged Boko Haram terrorists fleeing Sambisa Forest following continued aerial bombardment by the Nigerian Air Force.

The fleeing terrorists in 7 pickup vans and some motorcycles mounted with assorted weapons such as Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) and Anti-Aircraft Guns, according to him, were decisively dealt with as quite a number of them were killed.

Usman also informed that troops also destroyed vehicles, weapons and motorcycles of the terrorists while they also recovered a vehicle, 1 motorcycle and 2 AK47 riffles and large quantities of 7.62mm NATO and 12.7mm ammunition.

The Army spokesman further noted that the troops have intensified their patrols and offensive actions against the terrorists in the area.

The Nation

Football: José Mourinho thrives on tension but after two years it becomes a problem

Tension is simply how the Chelsea manager operates. If it isn’t there, he has to create it and he isn't too bothered whom he may hurt in doing so

‘At Real Madrid, Mourinho picked a fight with the popular young winger Pedro León after a game at Levante in September 2010, seemingly just to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and prevent complacency setting in.’ Photograph: JMP/Rex Shutterstock

José Mourinho is a manager who thrives on conflict, someone who is never happy unless there is something to be unhappy about. Or at least to pretend to be unhappy about. “Mourinho,” as Manchester City’s chief executive, Ferran Soriano, said when explaining why Barcelona opted for Pep Guardiola in 2008, “is a winner, but in order to win he guarantees a level of tension that becomes a problem.”

Tension is simply how he operates. If it isn’t there, he has to create it and he isn’t too bothered whom he hurts in doing so. One of the problems in discussing Mourinho is that his reputation for manipulation means you have to keep stopping and asking yourself: “Or is that what he wants me to think?” No one doubts the majority of what happens in his press conferences is carefully planned, designed to have an effect.

The season is three games old (if you count the Community Shield) and already Mourinho has created three furores. First there was there was another episode of Handshakegate, which in its inexplicable longevity has become the Premier League’s version of Last of the Summer Wine.

Then there was the haranguing and suspension of Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn, in which Mourinho’s motivations remain obscure. It surely went beyond his usual deflection tactics. Perhaps he felt a sacrifice was useful to shake everyone up, to make clear no one is safe from the wrath of José. Perhaps he was just lashing out at a convenient target.

Then there was the substitution of John Terry against Manchester Citywhich, whatever tactical justifications there were for adding the pace of Kurt Zouma, had a symbolic quality – and one of which Mourinho, as keenly attuned to such things as anyone in modern football, must have been aware; after all, it’s not the first time he has done something similar.

At Real Madrid, Mourinho picked a fight with the popular young winger Pedro León after a game at Levante in September 2010, seemingly just to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and prevent complacency setting in. But the more pertinent precedent perhaps comes from the beginning of Mourinho’s career, when he had been at Porto only a month.

In September 2002, Vítor Baía was the leader of Porto. He was 32, he had won seven league titles, he had played for Barcelona and he was the national team goalkeeper. Provoked by Mourinho, he became involved in a training-ground row. To his shock, Baía found himself suspended from all club activities for a month. “That was the turning point in his career,” Baía said. “He was very young and wanted to make a statement – and he did it.

“We had a great relationship, because we had been together at Porto with Bobby Robson, then for three years in Barcelona, with him always as assistant coach, but when he arrived at Porto he wanted to show everyone who was the boss: friends off the pitch, players on it. Performance was what counted, not relationships, so I was not in the best form and was chosen as an example: I was his statement. I was not pleased at the time. Today, after many conversations with him and the assistant coaches from the time, and some players, I know it was all a plan. Everyone knew how to react to me, how to speak to me, everyone was ready. After the month of suspension José welcomed me back with a big hug and I was straight back into the first team.”

These days Mourinho has no need to make clear who’s boss, no need to demonstrate his authority but substituting Terry was perhaps similar to banning Baía in that it reinforced the message that no one is too big, no one too iconic, nobody too close to Mourinho to be safe. (Perhaps Mourinho even justified his decision to Terry by telling him he was the only one big enough to make the statement he wanted to make).

It is possible Mourinho just thought Terry was not playing very well – although he either could not or would not explain why he had replaced him rather than Gary Cahill – but after playing his Machiavellian games for so long, he can hardly complain if it is assumed there was an ulterior motive, whether that was to signal to Roman Abramovich that he really needs John Stones pour encourager les autres.

The risk is that the machinations become wearing. The level of tension of which Soriano wrote seems to become a particular problem in his third season at a club, as though players, directors and other staff can stomach his antics for two years but no more. Only twice before – in his first stint at Chelsea and then at Rea – has his reign lasted into a third year, and in both cases it ended in rancour.

Perhaps in May Mourinho will be brandishing the Champions League trophy at the San Siro stands that never really warmed to him and we will be praising his ruthlessness in taking big and controversial decisions in August – just as banning Baía began a two-year run of success that brought two league titles, a Uefa Cup and the Champions League at Porto – but at the moment this feels worryingly like the old pattern repeating.

As the irascible and brilliant Hungarian coach Bela Guttmann, a man to whom Mourinho has often been compared, once observed, “the third year is fatal”.

This video of lightning striking a plane scares us - Photo

This sinister scene is reminiscent of the first Final Destination movie – and that scares us.

Jack Perkins was filming an eerie airport thunderstorm when he captured a mega bolt of lightning strike a plane.

It slams into the back of the aircraft and lights up the sky for a split-second.

Pretty creepy, right? (Picture: YouTube)

Jack uploaded the footage to YouTube.

He wrote: ‘While filming the line of planes all stacked up during a ground hold in Atlanta on 8/18/15 I happened to capture this direct lightning strike on a 737.’

Corruption: Bancorp Bank in the United States Writes to Buhari, Plans to Return Amaechi’s loot.

Former Rivers state Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has written to Bancorp Bank in Minnesota in the United States that the alleged $757 million Dollars domiciled in an account in his name; was authorized by him in error; from a Rivers State Government Account with Access Bank Plc.

The Nigerian most corrupt governor according to CNN letter reveals that a similar letter was also written to a bank in Switzerland; stating that a similar authorization was made in error.

The letter stated that the said transfers to both banks were for the purchase of security Helicopters, payments to a foreign company to combat malaria in Rivers state by using helicopters to spray mosquito insecticides, and for the purchase of an official residence for Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, in America.

The letter further explains that, the payments for the security helicopters, and mosquito insecticides to fight malaria were made through other sources, after the funds had already been transferred abroad. He reminded the bank that the Rivers state law on his severance package, provides for an official residence for a former governor; of which he chose to have his residence in America.

Amaechi said that, this law was later amended to have his official residence built in Nigeria, after the funds had already been transferred to Bancorp/Minnesota Account. Mr. Amaechi said these changes were the reasons he communicated the consultants for purchase of security helicopters, his official residence in the U.S and the Insecticide companies not to access the funds; since they have been paid through other sources.

On receipt of the governor’s letter by the Bancorp Bank, the bank has written to the Federal Government of Nigeria to repatriate the said funds to Rivers State treasury. Investigations further revealed that President Buhari is not disposed to this request to repatriate the said funds without a trial of the former governor; to ascertain the governor’s alleged errors in these transactions.

” Why would it take Christiane Amanpour of CNN, to remind Amaechi of such errors of over N80 billion Naira public funds in two different countries, and why in his name ?” Queried the Presidency.

Recall that Christiane Amanpour accused the former governor of Rivers State; Mr. Rotimi Amaechi of stacking the sum of $757 million dollars (N80 billion Naira) in Bancorp Bank in Minnesota in the United State. – Hope For Nigeria.

Nigeria: Demystifying Judas: a hard look at Jonathan, Amaechi and Wike

Amaechi, Jonathan, Wike

THE term Judas can be found in many languages as a synonym for betrayer, and Judas has become the classic exemplar of the back-stabber, in art and literature.

The character ‘Judas’ plays a critical role in virtually every work of fiction and appears in most modern movies and books. In order to fully comprehend how the mind of Judas works, this writer takes a brief slide in an amateur attempt at drawing a correlation between former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and Governor Nyesom Wike, and their impact in the Niger Delta Region, and Nigeria at large.

Enter Jonathan: This former President is perhaps the luckiest politician in the history of Nigeria. From his incidental emergence as the Governor of Bayelsa State, to his ascension as Vice President, and President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is an epitome of unmerited favour, and his story is best told in a movie or best seller. But the irony of it all is that like the colloquial ‘money miss road’ cliché, Jonathan will score the highest mark as that President who did little or nothing for his motherland – Bayelsa/Niger Delta, all through his six years in the saddle of power.

From zero Federal Projects allocation to Rivers State, his refusal to implement the UNEP Report, non-completion of the second Niger Bridge, to the substandard Federal University of Otuoke, amongst many others. The only difficulty I have in expressly tagging this one a Judas, is my limited knowledge as to whether or not his wanton negligence of his people was in exchange for silver or gold.

Meet Amaechi: Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is perhaps the most intriguing character in our recent political history. From his highly competitive emergence as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, his landmark victory at the Supreme Court, and subsequent eight years reign as one of the strongest governors in Nigeria, to his two terms victorious survival as the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum during the ‘16 is greater than 19′ saga, Amaechi is nothing short of a colossus.

During his years as governor of Rivers State, Amaechi became almost restless about the condition of the masses. He embarked on numerous people oriented and capital intensive projects, many of which he completed before his exit from office. He also championed the course of Education, the UNEP Report, Treasury Single Account (TSA), Subsidy Probe, and he ferociously fought against the ceding of Rivers State Oil Wells to other States by Jonathan.

The man Nyesom Wike represents different things to different sets of people in Nigeria. The more enlightened people see him as the Minister of Education who presided over the ministry during a period when students and lecturers roamed our streets like touts for almost a year, simply because of his refusal to keep to government’s agreement with lecturers.

Governorship ambition

The politically exposed see him as a man whose governorship ambition cost him the friendship of his political master and brother – Amaechi, and according to some of his Rivers supporters, he is ‘the high tension, meaning that he has the ability to ruthlessly clinch unto any political interest, not minding the outcome.

Throughout his stay as Minister of Education, Wike was of little or no advantage to the Niger Delta Region, rather his main focus was in the entrenchment of a volatile group of young people in the political system of Rivers State, for the sole purpose of achieving his unpopular Governorship ambition. The only time that Wike mentioned the UNEP Report was when he visited Ogoni land during his campaign tour, sadly but , he made a mockery of the report when he lied that it would be implemented in two weeks. You know the rest of the story.

I have taken my time to highlight the advent and political growth, public view, and overall impact in Niger Delta and Nigeria at large, of the above mentioned characters in order to ascertain whose participation in the politics of our country has brought good tidings to us or not, and who sold us out because of politics.

Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus is a subject of many shades, and it is impossible to explore all its angle in this simple cogitation, but the point is this: there is always a conspicuous Judas in every story.

Solomon Okocha writes from Abuja, Nigeria.

Non Payment of Workers' salary: We are not ashamed of Aregbesola - Lai Mihamed

Lai Mohammed

Against the background of the stretching arrears of salaries owed public workers in Osun State, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, APC , during an interactive session with the Editorial Board of Vanguard gave reasons why the state has found itself in dire straits asserting that the party cannot in any way be ashamed of the governor , Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, or his record of performance. Excerpts:

Osun State is probably the most cosmopolitan state in the whole of Nigeria. We are very proud of our governor, Rauf Aregbesola and we stand by him because he is one of the most proactive governors, he is one governor that has taken the reason for governance very seriously.

What happened in Osun State is as follows: Up to 2013 December, the average that was distributed between the three tiers of the federation was about N800 billion a month but as of May last year, N338 billion was what was distributed, so what you have is that most states have suffered more than 50 per cent decline in revenue accruing to them from the federation account.

Osun State is not just the most cosmopolitan, it has the highest number of cities in the whole of country, Ilesha, Oshogbo, Ikirun, Ife and many more. So, by the time this decline came, Aregbesola had embarked on a lot of pro people programmes that had to be sustained and maintained such as the one meal a day programme for school children, the O-YES programme that employed so many people and kept crime at the lowest level in the whole of the country.

He had embarked on social welfare for the very elderly, school expansion and because of the introduction of the one meal a day programme, school enrolment had exploded.

So, the fact that a state cannot pay salaries does not mean the governor has been guilty of embezzlement or misappropriation of funds, after all, there are some states that take derivation from oil that are still owing.

I will be ashamed of the governor if for instance I know for a fact that he took the money belonging to the state, misappropriated it or spent it unwisely or embezzled. So far, nobody has come out to accuse Aregbesola of misappropriation of funds or if even being insensitive to the plight of the people.

But if a man was taking about N3.6 billion a month but the last time he took I think he got about N400 million.

Abandoning of projects
When he came in, he also inherited a lot of debts for which banks were also deducting, so, there is no way that we in APC can be ashamed of him because we know what is happening.

What of Oyo State?
It is what is happening in Osun State that is happening in Oyo State also. It is either you say I am going to retrench and send people packing or I am going to abandon my projects.

If you had like Oyo been taking more than N4.2 billion and now they are taking less than N2 billion, how are you going to make up for the shortfall and these are states where internally generated revenue are almost non existence.

Well, I am happy that the Federal Government has come out now with a bailout package for all the states.

Politics: How PDP was destroyed, by BoT chair Haliru

Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed

The Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT), Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, yesterday said the violation of the zoning principle by vested interests destroyed the party.

Mohammed, in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Emeka Nwakpa, attributed the fast declining fortune of the PDP to the abrogation of the zoning principle in 2011.

The party jettisoned zoning to pave the way for the emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as presidential candidate — a development which Mohammed said severely undermined the principle of equity and justice on which the party was founded.

According to him, the PDP paid dearly for it with the loss of power at the centre in the last general election.

He added that the development created crises of confidence among key stakeholders and eroded sense of belonging among many party faithful.

Mohammed said: “When the founding fathers formed the party in 1998, they established the principle of justice and equity whereby power resided with the people, who could decide who became what at any point in time.

“But over the time, the party swerved away and breached the principle thereby disrupting its internal democracy. When in 2011 the party abandoned its zoning formula, the party dealt on itself a major blow because that action served the first notice that it had disconnected with the masses. So we must go back to the culture of zoning and rotation of offices.

“The PDP remains the only true national party in the country with its flag in all nooks and crannies whose members are assured that they can always aspire to any available position as long as zoning and rotation hold sway as a cardinal policy of the party”.

He stated that it was high time the party addressed the situation where critical decisions were being dictated by the whims of a few moneybags and “higher bidders”, to the exclusion of other members.

“We must run away from a practice that leaves the party at the mercy of moneybags who, more often than not, seek to hijack the processes of the party at the detriment of promoting genuine internal democracy through which only capable, credible and popular candidates can emerge to contest elections with assurance of victory”, he stated.

Harping on the need to respect the supremacy of the party, the BoT chair said elected and appointed office holders should not be allowed to dominate party decisions while party meetings should be restricted to party offices in the states and the national level.

“The policies and manifesto of the party should also guide the activities of public office holders who are either elected or appointed on the platform of the party in line with good governance and best practices”, Mohammed said.

On party funding, he canvassed a system that will allow members make their statutory contributions to the party as prescribed by the party’s constitution, noting that it is a major sustainable means of getting the party to meet its obligations and responsibilities.

He requested that the party give more attention to elders and founding fathers, many of whom he observed, are still in the party but are indifferent to the affairs and fortunes of the party, owing to lack of patronage.

The BoT Chairman said, “In recent years, many of our leaders, elders and founding fathers have been abandoned in spite of their abiding interest in the party.

“Some have left, some chose to remain but are either inactive, unconcerned or indifferent because nobody has bothered to look for them. This is not acceptable. If there is any time we need them for advice and counsel, it is now”.

Incidentally, it was the same Mohammed that moved the motion for the adoption of former President Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate of the party for the 2015 general election.

Moving the motion at a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at the party’s national secretariat, Mohammed said: “We have never taken a wrong decision before. We cannot change a winning formula that has been working for us since 1999.

“In PDP, we have a tradition of queuing up behind our leaders. President Jonathan has performed creditably as attested to by all the organs of the party.

“Therefore, for the good of Nigeria and for the good work that the PDP is doing for the country, I move that the NEC endorses the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s candidate in the 2015 election”.

The motion was seconded by Second Republic governor of the old Anambra state, Senator Jim Nwobodo. It was adopted with a resounding ayes by the gathering of eminent party leaders.

Nigeria: EFCC moves in as $4.5b tax scandal hits agency

...Commission grills NIPC officials

...Three ex-ministers, Customs chiefs for questioning

...How did 20 oil companies get $4.5 million tax holidays to which they are not entitled?

This is the puzzle the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is battling to resolve.

Helping the EFCC are some officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

The Ministries of Petroleum Resources and Solid Minerals and the Nigerian Customs Service may also be probed for questionable tax waivers, it was learnt yesterday.

A former Special Assistant to an ex-minister has been interrogated by the anti-graft agency.

Besides, three former ministers and some officials of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) are likely to be interrogated by the anti-graft agency.

The tax holidays were given to the oil firms during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

It was gathered that about 20 local oil companies benefited from the bonanza after buying over marginal fields from some International Oil Companies (IOCs).

A source at the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment said: “The EFCC is investigating the ministry and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission [NIPC] for tax holidays to about 20 oil companies.

“We actually got a letter of invitation which was dated 28th of July, 2015 and it was received by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry.

“The EFCC letter requested for the appearance of the director (Industrial Inspectorate Division) for interaction.”

Two directors of NIPC, who were allegedly responsible for granting these tax holidays, have also been grilled by the EFCC.

A former Executive Secretary and Chief Executive of NIPC when the tax holidays were given has also been questioned, The Nation learnt.”

Another source confirmed the invitation of no fewer than six top officials of the ministry and the NIPC.

The source added: “The Special Assistant to a former Minister was invited and also quizzed over the issue and other cases involving some unrefunded monies paid in 2013 by the NIPC to the former minister.”

The former aide reportedly made “some useful statements and offered to make some refunds.”

When our correspondent sought clarification from the EFCC, a source said: “We are looking into some allegations on tax holidays involving some top officials of NIPC and the Ministry of Trade.”

But the source refused to disclose the list of those grilled and the 20 oil firms involved because “investigation is still ongoing”.

NIPC is the agency, which approves tax holidays under the Industrial Development Act for companies that are taxable under the Company Income Tax Act.

NIPC was in the news a few months ago for granting illegal waivers to oil companies taxable under the Petroleum Profit Tax Act between 2010 and 2014.

A former Executive Secretary of NIPC, Mrs Saratu Umar, was sacked at the twilight of the Jonathan administration for allegedly “refusing to grant tax holidays to some oil companies.”

Until the Tax Waivers were stopped last year, the nation lost huge revenue to the Federation Account running into billions of dollars.

On May 10, the former Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, raised the alarm that the Federal Government had lost over $20b to tax holidays fraudulently granted companies by NIPC officials.

She said: “Pioneer status (tax holidays) was granted to companies whose products do not meet the requirements of the list of industries or products specified in the schedule to the Act.

“NIPC officials granted tax holidays for a straight five-year period, contrary to the provision of Section 10 of the Act, which states that the tax relief period for a pioneer company shall commence from the production date of the company and shall continue for a period of three years in the first instance, and may be extended for a period of one year and thereafter for another one year, or for a period of two years, subject to the satisfaction of Mr. President that certain requirements, such as rate of expansion, standard of efficiency, level of development of company, among others, are met.”

The Nation

 

Nigeria: Briton uses rescue of Chibok Girls to lure women to bed

Beau Plantard now dating Loren Brodie, 19

A conman, Beau Plantard, 49, who claims to be a veteran paratrooper in Britain lied to women that was once asked to assist with the rescue of Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram in a bid to sleep with them.

Plantard who also goes by the name John Pugh, claimed he was a Special Air Service (SAS) hero who worked as Princess Diana’s bodyguard.

He would play his friends videos which apparently showed him jumping out of planes and even had a tattoo of Parachute Regiment-style wings emblazoned across his shoulder blade, with the word ‘airborne’ inked above.

But the Walter Mitty-style character, from Blockley, Gloucestershire, had actually served as a private in the Royal Artillery.

Now, one of his ex-girlfriends has also claimed he is a serial love rat, who began dating her while he was still in a relationship with his partner of 17 years.

Second World War historian Amy Jelfs, 36, who dated Plantard for around five months, said she broke up with the ex-serviceman after rumbling his charade, branding him as ‘disrespectful’ and ‘manipulative’.


Amy Jelfsfell, a victim of Beau Plantard lies

“He just told a pack of lies from day one. He has his whole village thinking he is some sort of war hero,” she told Mail Online.

“I wasn’t even impressed or particularly bothered that he was in the SAS, but he would just go on about it constantly: every day he had a new story to tell. He’d apparently been all over the world on secret missions. 

“He’s an awful man and, more than anything, it is so disrespectful to serving troops. That is why he needs to be exposed.”

Ms Jelfs met Plantard while they were both members at the Utopia gym in Evesham, Worcestershire.

Because her ex-boyfriend had served with the Army for more than 20 years, she did not find Plantard’s elaborate stories particularly impressive.

But she says he persisted in regaling her with exotic tales about his alleged time in the SAS. He even reportedly told the mother of one of her friend’s that he had been a security guard for Princess Diana.

“He was charming and manipulative,” Ms Jelfs said. ‘When he told me he was away in Nigeria, he was actually on holiday with his partner

Sam Joubert claimed he told her loads of lies

“He once declared to the whole gym that he was going for surgery to have a piece of shrapnel removed from his bottom, which wasn’t the case at all.

When Ms Jelfs started to get suspicious, she began asking some of her friends in the Army whether they had heard of Plantard. They all claimed that they had – but that he had not been in the SAS. 

“I had my suspicions and then he would just come out with more and more weird stuff. I started digging around myself and realised he wasn’t telling the truth.”
“As for his tattoo, it’s hideous and wonky. That also made me suspicious.”

Ms Jelfs was eventually contacted by Plantard’s long-term partner, who found out he had been dating another woman. She then confronted him at his home and the pair broke up.

But days later, Plantard started seeing Sam Joubert, a 40-year-old dental nurse and part-time Zumba instructor, to whom he fed the same imaginative stories.

When Ms Jelfs warned Ms Joubert about Plantard’s ways, he reported her to police for harassment.

“I just wanted to warn Sam that he was dangerous. She has got a little girl,” Jelfs said

The 49-year-old, who also goes by the name John Pugh, pretended he was a veteran paratrooper who had once been asked by the Government to assist with the rescue of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram

Ms Joubert told The Sun: “He lied to me from the beginning. He never mentioned he was in a relationship. He said he had been in the Paras and always used to make out as though he had a traumatic time.”

Meanwhile, Ms Jelfs contated the Walter Mitty Hunters Club, a group which exposes bogus servicemen and women.

But Plantard was already on the group’s radar after he performed at a re-enactment group of the Pathfinder Airborne Troopers, claiming he was in the SAS.

He later issued an apology on the website, claiming his actions were a result of Huntingdon’s disease and that he had been discharged from the Army after having a mental breakdown.

He wrote: ‘Let me apologise for being a k***. I walted and duly lied… The lies took over. I made a mistake and for that I am sorry.’

When asked about whether he had lied about his career, he told The Sun: ‘Yes, a long time ago.’

He is now dating student Loren Brodie, 19.

Angry Bow Wow Spits Fire After Being Caught Lying That He Bought a New House When In Fact, He Actually Rented It

Rapper, actor, and TV host, Shad Mossaka Bow Wow, posted a snapshot (pictured above) on Instagram last week that revealed he moved into a mansion in Hollywood and the realtor who sold the house to him, gave him a $1,500 bottle of Crystal as a “closing” gift on the home.

Bow Wow told his fans that the house he purchased was next door to P. Diddy and Jimmy Lovine.

Some eagle-eyed Instagram users caught wind of Bow Wow’s message and called him out for lying. They made it clear that he didn’t purchase the home but was rather leasing it for $12,000 a month.


To make matters worse, the realtor who closed the ‘lease’ on the house posted a video of the property on his Instagram page and revealed that he had just ‘rented’ the house out to a famous person for $12,000 p/m



However, despite the damning evidences against him, Bow Wow still insists he bought the house and slams the media for plugging the story.


Read his Instagram rant below…

Bow Wow & Fiancee Erica Mena

‘It is dishonourable to be killed by a woman’: Female fighters are Isis’ ‘worst nightmare’ - ISIS

Sergeant Taib said Isis militants are ‘terrified’ of fighters like her (Picture: Sun Syndication)

A female fighter says that soldiers like her are Isis militants’ ‘worst nightmare’ because it is dishonourable for them to be killed by a woman.

Sergeant Sazan Taib, 23, is a volunteer with the Kurdish peshmerga fighting the terror group in northern Iraq.

She says male troops in Isis – or ‘Daesh’ as she calls the group – believe that if they are killed by a woman in battle they will not go to paradise.

The female-only 2nd Battalion is 500 strong (Picture: Sun Syndication)

‘They run away from us,’ Sazan said.

‘They are terrified, it’s good for us.’

Her commander in the female-only 2nd Battalion, which is 500 strong, said their enemy’s beliefs are ‘a weapon for us’.

‘Daesh are worried that if they are killed by a woman on the battlefield they won’t go to paradise,’ said Colonel Nahida Ahmad Rashid, 49.

Colonel Rashid warned that women captured by Isis are not treated ‘like human beings’ (Picture: Sun Syndication)

‘It’s a weapon for us. They don’t like to be killed by us.

‘But we know we must never be captured by Daesh. They don’t treat women like human beings.’

Isis are known to keep female captives as sex slaves. Officials said this week that US aid worker Kayle Mueller was raped repeatedly by Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Metro

America Decides 2016 Campaigns

Just like us in Nigeria and around the globe for Nigeria in this 2015 General Election, Americans have started their own memes against the candidates running for American Presidency in 2016.

They've started mocking the aspirants and more especially Obama and Hillary.

When it was in Nigeria, if you had posted this then, your family will be attacked needlessly. Some simpletons would be asking if you have a father or mother at home.

This is America; Land of freedom

See photos:

Maiyegun General

Former Detective Who Claimed LAPD Involvement in Biggie Smalls Murder Dies Suddenly

In this March 8, 1997 file photo, Notorious B.I.G., whose real name is Christopher Wallace gestures shortly before he was shot to death in Los Angeles. VENUS BERNARDO-PRUDHOMME / AP file

The former LAPD detective best known for his involvement in rapper Biggie Smalls' murder case, died suddenly Wednesday of a possible heart attack, sources told NBC News.

Russell Poole was discussing a cold case murder investigation with Los Angeles Sheriff's Office homicide investigators when he was stricken at their Monterey Park offices.

Sheriff's Investigators performed CPR and Poole was rushed to a local hospital but a short time later was pronounced dead.

Poole was known as an aggressive and outspoken investigator. He first gained attention for his investigation into a March 1997 shooting involving two LAPD officers on a Universal City street that left one of them dead.

That incident took place shortly after Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a Christopher Wallace, was ambushed and fatally shot while he drove from an event at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Poole joined the investigation of the murder into the rapper, but it became fraught with controversy and finger pointing. Poole alleged that police were involved in the killing, as part of a general theory that the killing sprang from an East Coast-West Coast rap feud. That later became the basis for a cottage industry of conspiracy theories and civil lawsuit by the rapper's family against the LAPD. The suit was later dropped.

No arrests have ever been made in the murder.

Poole eventually resigned from the department in 1999 but maintained police involvement in the killing including saying it had links to Ray Perez — the LAPD officer at the center of the Rampart Corruption Scandal that plagued the department in the 90's.


Poole also wrote a book about the events, which sported the wordy title "LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal." 

AP

Ahmad al-Assir: The Fugitive Isis Leader

He was given a Nigerian visa after he allegedly done a plastic surgery that changed his face.

The Isis leader's photo that granted him the Nigerian Visa.

This is possible, even here in the UK. Just that he won't get the visa from the embassy so easy cuz they would have detect the fake passport. Maybe!


But everything Naija always comes with a price. If you are ready to pay!!

Smh!!!