₦airaland Forum

Cc; Lalasticlala

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated a revenue of N486 billion in the first half of the year, Mr Joseph Attah, the Public Relations Officer of NCS, has said.


Mr Attah told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday that the amount realized is higher than N385 billion generated the same period of 2016.



Attah said that the service also recorded 3,798 seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over N7 billion from January to June.



The spokesman said that the agency made a seizure of 3,106, with a DPV of over N4 billion within the same period in 2016.



Attah attributed the increase in revenue collection and seizure to the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) zero tolerance on smuggling and the support given to officers and men to perform effectively.



“You will recall that around November 2016 to February, the CGC embarked on decisive reforms, and there was massive redeployment of officers and men.



“Also, there was the establishment of compliance team that is beefing up security at the borders, to block all non-revenue leakages.


“This is yielding result because when you block revenue leakages, when you effectively police the border, and deploy men and resources, what happens is that more smugglers are intercepted, more seizures are made.”


He said that when there was an increase in the level of compliance, it would boost the revenue collection of the service.



The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), had earlier disclosed that the Service generated N720 billion in 2016.



He made this known while defending the budget of the service before the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff on Monday in Abuja.



It was a subsidiary budget defence for Nigeria Customs Service as a revenue generating agency of government.



Ali said that the approved revenue target for 2016 was N937 billion comprising of 862 billion for the federation and N75 billion for non-federation.



He added that the service, however, collected total revenue of N720.7 billion or 77 per cent during the period.



He stressed that the revenue collected was with a negative variance of N 216.6 billion or 23 per cent when compared with the target for the year.



The comptroller-general noted that the revenue performance of N720.7 billion in 2016 had a negative variance of N13.6 billion or 1.9 per cent when compared with N734 billion collected in 2015.



”During the period under review the service also collected the sum of N177.93 billion as VAT on imports thereby bringing the total collection to N898.67 billion.



”The shortfall in the performance is due to the fact that no revenue was collected on luxury items and polished rice levy because of lack of legal backing to enforce collection of luxury items and no importation of polished rice.



”Also responsible is restriction of 41items from accessing foreign exchange at official window as well as high exchange rate of Naira against other foreign currencies increased the tax base of goods imported and reduced volume of trade.



”The scanners at the various Customs scanning sites are not functioning. This factor has adversely contributed to the services inability to carry out effective examination for selected consignments.



”Presently, only two commodities, cigarette and alcoholic beverages are under excise control and this did not help in the achievement of the N63.8 billion excise revenue target in the 2016 budget.



“The porous nature of the nation’s borders encourage smuggling activities and this constitutes some reasonable setbacks in the 2016 revenue collected,” he said.

Source NAN
Mynd44

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/nigeria-customs-generates-n486bn-in-6-months/

Lalasticlala Mynd44

Lalasticlala

Gov. Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara will be leading a seven-man delegation of Governors’ Forum on a goodwill visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in London.



President Buhari had on Sunday in London received a delegation of All Progressives Congress (APC) which comprised national leadership of the party and two of its governors—Nasir El-Rufai and Rochas Okorocha.



However, Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, told State House correspondents that a fresh team comprising Governors of Zamfara, Ebonyi, Kano, Borno, Benue, Akwa Ibom and Oyo would be visiting the President in London on Tuesday.



Shehu briefed the correspondents alongside the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina and Mr Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Office of the Vice-President).



According to him, the governors will be meeting the President on Wednesday in London.



“The delegation is being led by the governor of Zamfara, who is the chairman of the Governors’ Forum and in that delegation there will be the governors of Ebonyi, Kano, Borno, Benue, Akwa Ibom and Oyo states.



“They will leave tonight and make an early morning arrival in the UK,’’ he said.



In his contribution, Femi Adesina said the selection of members of the delegation was done by the Governors’ Forum.



He dismissed the insinuation that Gov. Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti, a renowned critic of President Buhari’s administration, was deliberately excluded from the trip.



“The selection was not done by the government. It was done by the Governors’ Forum and you can see that the delegation is headed by Gov. Yari, who is chairman of that forum.


“So, that question should then go to the forum,’’ he added.



According to Adesina, the president, who is recuperating very fast, preferred receiving delegations rather than addressing the nation through broadcast.



Adesina stated that the two ministers recently confirmed by the Senate would soon be sworn-in.



In his remarks, Laolu Akande revealed that the report on the inter-ministerial committee on the Ogoni Clean-up would be released next week.



“Next week there is going to be a follow up meeting between the Acting President and the PANDEF.



“You will recall that last November the President held a meeting with the leaders of PANDEF where issues of Niger Delta development was discussed in which the Acting President embarked on the visit to the states of the Niger Delta.



“And since then the president asked that an inter-ministerial committee be composed led by the Vice President to look at all the issues, specifically using the PANDEF demand as the take off point.



”Regarding Ogoni clean up, they are also going to give an update of what has been happening. For instance, the coordinating team that was set up for the Ogoni clean up conducted health impact assessment, they have done salt test, water test, they have hired a number of sons and daughters of Ogoni who are trained on environmental sciences as technical assistants, I think about 15 of them.



“In the next few weeks they are going to go back to Geneva where a wholistic road map on the clean up itself will be concluded with the international partners.”



The presidential aide announced that the ground breaking of the first set of the Modular Refineries would take place in August.



He also disclosed that the Maritime University would be opened in October, as the Vice Chancellor had been asked to bring a take-off budget for the institution.



According to him, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has approved a number of courses for the university.


Mynd44


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/yari-leads-six-governors-to-visit-buhari/

atorioke:
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has ​said it is dissatisfied with membership ​of the restructuring committee ​​of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)​.



A statement signed by National Publicity Secretary​,​ Bolaji Abdullahi, revealed names of those in the nine-member committee under the chairmanship of Kaduna State Governor, Nasir ​El​-Rufai.



Others are Governor​s​ of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola​;​ Kano​ – ​Abdullahi Umar Ganduje​; Plateau ​-​ Simon Lalong​; Ogun ​- Ibikunle Amosun​;​ former Governor of Edo State, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, APC National Organising Secretary, Sen. Osita Izunaso, ​party spokesman, Abdullahi and Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi as secretary.



But Professor Ishaq Akintola,​ MURIC President,​ in a statement on Monday lamented the​”exclusiveness​”​ of the list​ was worrisome.



He said “​Where are the proponents of restructuring in the committee? They are not there.​ ​Can APC shave a man’s head in his absence?​


”Objectivity demands that at least one or two people from the South East where the call for restructuring and self-determination is loudest should be there.



​”​We can understand if PDP governors from the South East are excluded but at least a state chairman of the APC from the sub-region should have been picked.



”​MURIC demands a review of the membership of the committee before its first sitting in the interest of transparency and objectivity.



“We appeal to agitators who feel genuinely aggrieved to pursue the path of dialogue.



“The emergence of the ruling party’s restructuring committee is a strong signal that hope is on the way.



”​Finally, we affirm that although setting up the committee in the first place portrays the ruling party as a listening political body, the recent agitations which created tension in the country calls for cautious, objective and patriotic appraisal.​”​


Mynd44


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/no-igbo-in-apc-restructuring-committee/

Lalasticlala

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has ​said it is dissatisfied with membership ​of the restructuring committee ​​of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)​.



A statement signed by National Publicity Secretary​,​ Bolaji Abdullahi, revealed names of those in the nine-member committee under the chairmanship of Kaduna State Governor, Nasir ​El​-Rufai.



Others are Governor​s​ of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola​;​ Kano​ – ​Abdullahi Umar Ganduje​; Plateau ​-​ Simon Lalong​; Ogun ​- Ibikunle Amosun​;​ former Governor of Edo State, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, APC National Organising Secretary, Sen. Osita Izunaso, ​party spokesman, Abdullahi and Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi as secretary.



But Professor Ishaq Akintola,​ MURIC President,​ in a statement on Monday lamented the​”exclusiveness​”​ of the list​ was worrisome.



He said “​Where are the proponents of restructuring in the committee? They are not there.​ ​Can APC shave a man’s head in his absence?​


”Objectivity demands that at least one or two people from the South East where the call for restructuring and self-determination is loudest should be there.



​”​We can understand if PDP governors from the South East are excluded but at least a state chairman of the APC from the sub-region should have been picked.



”​MURIC demands a review of the membership of the committee before its first sitting in the interest of transparency and objectivity.



“We appeal to agitators who feel genuinely aggrieved to pursue the path of dialogue.



“The emergence of the ruling party’s restructuring committee is a strong signal that hope is on the way.



”​Finally, we affirm that although setting up the committee in the first place portrays the ruling party as a listening political body, the recent agitations which created tension in the country calls for cautious, objective and patriotic appraisal.​”​


Mynd44


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/no-igbo-in-apc-restructuring-committee/

The National Emergency Management Agency has confirmed the death of three persons in a suicide attack at the Dalori Internally Displaced Person’s camp in Maiduguri on Sunday night.



The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NEMA Northeast Zonal Information Officer, Mr Abdulkadir Ibrahim, confirmed this on Monday, adding that 15 other persons were injured in the incidence.



A competent security source told NAN that a female suicide bomber was shot by security men, when she tried to cross the perimeter fence at the camp.



“They shot her and the explosive device strapped to her body detonated, and blew the woman into pieces.”



The source added that another male suicide bomber infiltrated into the camp and detonated the explosives strapped to his body and killed four persons.



“Two persons died on the spot while two others died at the hospital,” the source said.


Source NAN


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/three-killed-as-suicide-bomber-hits-idps-camp/

atorioke:
Nine Boko Haram terrorists surrendered themselves to troops on Saturday at Buni Yari in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe, the army has said.



According to a statement issued by Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, the army spokesman inAbuja, the terrorists are: Usman Ali, 22, Ibrahim Matukur, 13 and Usman Hussaini 25.



Others are, Ali Baba, Modu Wakil, 15, Usman Mahamadu, 47 years, Goni Bukar, 50, Modu Konto and Isah Ali, 25.



Usman said that the repentant terrorists claimed to belong to the Mamman Nur faction of the Boko Haram terrorists group.



“They said that they deliberately surrendered because they had realised their folly and no longer wish to continue with the criminal terrorists and insurgents activities.



“Furthermore, they stated that they escaped from the terrorists’ hideout at Buk village in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno state,” the army spokesman quoted them as saying.



Usman also said that they claimed that there were many more Boko Haram fighters willing to surrender because of untold hardship they suffered.



“They pleaded for sympathy and forgiveness from members of the community, restating that they were misguided and deceived all these years to believing they were fighting a just cause.”



According to Usman, they urge the military authorities to make concerted efforts to reach out to other terrorists in the forest, as they are willing to surrender.



Many terrorists in recent time have been surrendering, including 700 who gave themselves up to troops in June.



In another development, Usman said that troops of 103 Battalion, also on Saturday neutralised three female suicide bombers, who tried to infiltrate their location at Kawuri, Konduga Local Government Area of Borno.



He said the bombers were spotted by a vigilant sentry while they were tried to access the military location.


Mynd44

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/nine-boko-haram-terrorists-surender-army/

Lalasticlala

Nine Boko Haram terrorists surrendered themselves to troops on Saturday at Buni Yari in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe, the army has said.



According to a statement issued by Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, the army spokesman inAbuja, the terrorists are: Usman Ali, 22, Ibrahim Matukur, 13 and Usman Hussaini 25.



Others are, Ali Baba, Modu Wakil, 15, Usman Mahamadu, 47 years, Goni Bukar, 50, Modu Konto and Isah Ali, 25.



Usman said that the repentant terrorists claimed to belong to the Mamman Nur faction of the Boko Haram terrorists group.



“They said that they deliberately surrendered because they had realised their folly and no longer wish to continue with the criminal terrorists and insurgents activities.



“Furthermore, they stated that they escaped from the terrorists’ hideout at Buk village in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno state,” the army spokesman quoted them as saying.



Usman also said that they claimed that there were many more Boko Haram fighters willing to surrender because of untold hardship they suffered.



“They pleaded for sympathy and forgiveness from members of the community, restating that they were misguided and deceived all these years to believing they were fighting a just cause.”



According to Usman, they urge the military authorities to make concerted efforts to reach out to other terrorists in the forest, as they are willing to surrender.



Many terrorists in recent time have been surrendering, including 700 who gave themselves up to troops in June.



In another development, Usman said that troops of 103 Battalion, also on Saturday neutralised three female suicide bombers, who tried to infiltrate their location at Kawuri, Konduga Local Government Area of Borno.



He said the bombers were spotted by a vigilant sentry while they were tried to access the military location.


Mynd44

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/nine-boko-haram-terrorists-surender-army/

atorioke:
The Maye of Ife Kingdom, Chief Ramon Adegoke Adedoyin, has given a good explanation on how Nigeria can separate without fighting another civil war.



Adedoyin counseled those contemplating on war to stop, that states in America separated without engaging themselves in war.



The President, Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Ile-Ife, told Vanguard that the situation is now getting out of hands and called on authorities to take quick action.



“Evil starts from somewhere, so we have to be very careful in Nigeria. Even those of us who were young during the period of Biafra, I remember clearly that they said we should dig holes and hide inside them to avoid being killed by fighter jets.



“So, this issue of war being talked about, we have to be careful. If we want to break up, it must not be by war, and according to my own formula, we can break sensibly without shedding blood or firing one single shot.


“In the USA, states operate on their own and they have one central President. The driver’s licence of the state of Delaware is different from that of the state of Illinois and they operate separately. We can also be united as a country and every state, every region can operate on its own.



“The concept came because of the people agitating for a separate country such as Biafra. But that is not even enough, you know it has always been Biafra! Biafra!!Biafra!!! But look at the North, the northern people will be the last people to agitate for separation.



“This worries me because the general belief is that they don’t have anything in the North. So, if the North could now start talking about separation,then we have problems on our hands, if we don’t take quick and wise decision,” Adedoyin said.



Source NAN


Mynd44


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/nigeria-can-separate-without-war-adedoyin/

Lalasticlala

The Maye of Ife Kingdom, Chief Ramon Adegoke Adedoyin, has given a good explanation on how Nigeria can separate without fighting another civil war.



Adedoyin counseled those contemplating on war to stop, that states in America separated without engaging themselves in war.



The President, Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Ile-Ife, told Vanguard that the situation is now getting out of hands and called on authorities to take quick action.



“Evil starts from somewhere, so we have to be very careful in Nigeria. Even those of us who were young during the period of Biafra, I remember clearly that they said we should dig holes and hide inside them to avoid being killed by fighter jets.



“So, this issue of war being talked about, we have to be careful. If we want to break up, it must not be by war, and according to my own formula, we can break sensibly without shedding blood or firing one single shot.


“In the USA, states operate on their own and they have one central President. The driver’s licence of the state of Delaware is different from that of the state of Illinois and they operate separately. We can also be united as a country and every state, every region can operate on its own.



“The concept came because of the people agitating for a separate country such as Biafra. But that is not even enough, you know it has always been Biafra! Biafra!!Biafra!!! But look at the North, the northern people will be the last people to agitate for separation.



“This worries me because the general belief is that they don’t have anything in the North. So, if the North could now start talking about separation,then we have problems on our hands, if we don’t take quick and wise decision,” Adedoyin said.



Source NAN


Mynd44


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/nigeria-can-separate-without-war-adedoyin/

Lalasticlala

The letters from the Vatican, which address each priest by name, are slowly beginning to arrive, through the Vatican embassy in Nigeria- technically called a nunciature. The new papal representative, Italian Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, arrived in Nigeria a few days ago.





Days after time ran out for the priests of Ahiara diocese, in Nigeria’s Imo state, to write and apologise for having refused to accept Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke, their bishop for the past five years, Pope Francis, through some of his closest advisers, has begun to respond to each of them.



“The pope promised he would write back, and he’s doing so,” said Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria.



The prelate, who’s been the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Ahiara, also said that the letters “are not passing though me,” so he doesn’t know their content, and added that he probably won’t until the process of delivering the letters is over.



Speaking to Crux over the phone on Friday, Onaiyekan also said that he hopes Okpaleke, who was appointed to the southern Nigerian diocese of Ahiara by Benedict XVI in 2012, is accepted by the time the process is over.



“I hope that my brothers will recognize him,” he said. “I’m waiting and praying, hoping that this long crisis will come to an end.”



The letters from the Vatican, which address each priest by name, are slowly beginning to arrive, through the Vatican embassy in Nigeria- technically called a nunciature. The new papal representative, Italian Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, arrived in Nigeria a few days ago.


Several attempts made by Crux to reach the nunciature to confirm if the letters that have already been delivered had been brought into the country by Filipazzi went unanswered.


The situation in Ahiara is a complex one, with some members of both the priesthood and the laity refusing to accept Okpaleke, and many others supporting him. The diocese has produced many vocations to the priesthood, and locals argue that it’s time one of them is appointed as bishop.



When appointing the current bishop, who hasn’t been allowed in Ahiara for the past five years, the Vatican followed a long-standing tradition of choosing people from another city to lead any given diocese, particularly in Africa. Historically, this is done in an attempt to show that the universality of the Church overcomes tribal and ethnic differences.


On June 8, Pope Francis issued a seemingly unprecedented threat, giving the priests of the diocese a 30-day deadline: Either write to him promising “total obedience,” or face suspension. The request had already been made by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which oversees missionary territories. His request was sent in a letter dated June 24, 2014.


However, the two requests garnered different responses, fueled perhaps by the threat of suspension hanging over the priests who refused to comply.



When Francis announced that he expected them to write a letter apologising for their behaviour and promising loyalty to the pontiff, including in the matter of episcopal appointments, the priests who were rebelling originally responded saying that the request was false.



The papal text in English was originally posted June 9 on the blog of Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, president of the Nigerian bishops’ conference. Soon after, the Vatican released the text too, crushing any doubts over its authenticity.


In his strong message, Francis minced no words: “Whoever was opposed to Bishop Okpaleke taking possession of the Diocese wants to destroy the Church. This is forbidden.”


From that day on, most of the priests in the diocese complied with the pope’s request: They sent a letter to the Vatican, addressed to Francis, apologizing. However, based on conversations in recent days with some of the priests, not all of the apologies were honest, as they carried a threat.



“On the directive of the Pope that we should write him individually and personally to express our obedience and loyalty to him and ask for forgiveness for the contribution in the sorrows he has suffered because of the crisis in Ahiara Diocese, all the priests in the diocese have complied,” one of the men put it, on the condition of remaining anonymous. “He is our father, our loyalty to him cannot be compromised in any way.”



Yet, not long after, he added: “But we hope he reviews his position, and appoints a different bishop.”



Though a majority of the people in Ahiara want to see the crisis resolved peacefully, and are praying for each other in this troubled time and have accepted that it’s in their best interest to embrace what Francis asks of them, both sides – those who support Okpaleke and those who want another bishop – don’t hesitate in making ad hominem attacks.



Most of it cannot be re-printed, but one person claimed that the priests who reject the prelate have “inhaled the smoke of Satan.” On the other side, most accuse the bishop and those who support him – from Francis to the laity – of wrong doing and criminal activity.



The priests who, to this point, have received the letters from the Vatican, have refused to share their content, arguing that they are private. However, Crux has received confirmation from Nigeria that the letters address the priests by name, and at least one of them is “quite personal,” and was signed mid-July.



Signed by both the Vatican’s Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Filoni, an “apostolic blessing” is extended on behalf of Pope Francis.



The Mbaise Catholic Forum speculates that the content of each of the letters expected might vary, depending on what each priest wrote in their apology letter. Some, they write, could “receive letters suspending their priestly faculties.”



The pro-Okpaleke website, created by people based in Ahiara, has a list of 201 priests incardinated in the diocese, of whom 157 have allegedly written to Francis. The first number, however, differs from the one given in the 2017 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican book of statistics, that says there are 114 secular priests in the diocese, and 14 belonging to religious orders.



First Published: Crux

Second Published: eyereport


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/letters-from-vatican-priests-risk-suspension/

……….. by Femi Fani-Kayode




Title: PRESIDENT BUHARI, THE SONS OF SHIMMEI AND THE DETERIORATING MIND OF FEMI ADESINA



I am convinced that President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, has now finally lost his mind. In his latest essay, titled “The Sons of Shimmei”, he compared Buhari to the biblical King David, the greatest King that ever ruled Israel.



One is constrained to ask the following question: what on earth is Davidic about Buhari?



King David was a Spirit-filled believer and a heroic and courageous child of God whilst Buhari is a son of perdition and a tyrannical servant of satan.



In what can only be described as a chilling and irresponsible manner Femi also said that Buhari could have “cut off the heads” of his opponents, meaning he could have had them assasinated. Gosh. Jumping Jehoshaphat! What has happened to my old friend? Poor old Femi.



He has just made a cardinal spiritual blunder the consequences of which I have no doubt that he will deeply regret.



In this game you must never threaten your opponent with death because once invoked the Angel of Death usually returns back to sender. I shall pray for Femi because I want him to live long and prosper.



I knew that he was frustrated but I never knew he was a man of blood.



I never knew that he and his leader believed in murder as a tool of governance.



Yet the truth is that the Lord will see to it that they pay a terrible price for even thinking of taking the life of their detractors and political enemies both in this life and in the next.



The truth is that God alone gives and takes life and whether they like it or not He guards His own jealously. The Bible says “touch not my annointed and do my prophets no harm” . Consequently no-one is intimidated by Femi’s implicit death threat.



One thing is clear though: he ought to be mindful of the fact that whilst he and his associates are planning to take someone else’s precious life they may end up losing your own. Examples of such a course and turn of events are replete in the Holy Bible.



Femi mentioned the great Abishai who was a biblical hero in his own right and one of David’s strong men and allies. Abishai and David’s other strong men were courageous and righteous men who undertook a noble cause, who shed the blood of evil men and who fought against tyranny.



To compare members of Buhari’s cabal to David’s strong men is like comparing Queen Helen of Troy to a Bombay LovePeddler.



One is regal and queen-like in all her ways whilst the other is nothing but a cheap back-street, “short-time”, aides-infested woman of questionable character and easy virtue.



Femi has done a great disservice to Abisha by mentioning him in the same sentence as the cabal.



I say this because he was a soldier of truth and a gallant man of honor.



This is not the case with anyone in Buhari’s cabal. They are the opposite to the Abishai’s of this world. They are the darkness that seeks the darkness. They are predators who drink the blood of their innocent victims and feed on their flesh.



They prey on the weak, they destroy the young and they slay the old, the vulnerable, the defenceless and the weary.



Buhari has no Abishai’s around him. He has no Joab’s and no Prophet Samuel’s either. He only has the Absalom’s, Haman’s, Judas’, Dalila’s and Ahitophel’s of this world.



That is the tragedy and weakness of his Presidency. That plus the fact that he does not fear God and he does not respect the rights of the Nigerian people. If he did he would have resigned long ago and handed over full power to his number two, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.



Finally Femi wrote “when Buhari returns home some people will bury their heads in shame”. He is wrong.



The truth is that when Buhari returns home some people will prop him up and pretend that he is well enough to be President until he falls sick and goes back abroad again.



It is called “corspsocracy” and it is defined as “the rulership of the living by the dead”.



That is Nigeria’s biggest burden and challenge today.



Instead of telling us that his principal can kill us all Femi should consider his many failings and fluctuating health and advise him to resign honorably.



That is what a real believer and a true man of honor would counsel his erring and ailing boss to do and not try to intimidate those of us that are in opposition with blatent, vulgar and bullish threats of death and assasination.



The path of blood is a dark and unpredictable one. I advise Femi not to take it. Meanwhile I continue to wish both him and his principal well and we look forward to his eagerly anticipated return from nether nether land.


Cc; Lalasticlala Mynd44


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/buhari-is-a-son-of-perdition/

Cc; Lalasticlala Mynd44

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has directed Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maiduguri, to capture Abubakar Shekau, self-styled leader of the Boko Haram sect, “dead or alive”.



Buratai further directed the Theatre commander to do so within 40 days.



A statement issued by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, on Friday night, said that Attahiru should “employ all arsenal at the disposal of the Theatre Command to smoke out Shekau wherever he is hiding in Nigeria.”



“The general public is please requested to also assist and volunteer information that would lead to the accomplishment of this task,” Usman said.



Previous reports that the terrorists’ leader had been killed in different operations have been rebuffed as he continued to churn out audio and video clips on the activities of the sect.


Shekau, a Kanuri man, assumed leadership of Boko Haram when the founding father of sect, Mohammed Yusuf was killed in 2009.



He was also first reported killed in 2009 but reappeared as the group leader less than a year later.



The army in mid-August 2013 stated that he was fatally wounded when soldiers raided a base of Boko Haram in Sambisa forest and had died between 25 July and 3 August.



However, a video in September 2013 was released in which a man purported to be Shekau claimed he had not been killed.



The military also stated to have killed him during the 2014 Battle of Kodunga that lasted from September 12 to 14th.



Nigerian government officials had also said that the original Shekau was long dead, but impostors keep popping up to perpetuate the myth that Shekau is unbeatable. (NAN)

Source NAN

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/capture-shekau-dead-or-alive-buraitai-to-troops/

Cc; Lalasticlala

An Indian musician stunned his doctors at a hospital in Bengaluru, India as he strummed on his guitar as the doctors performed a brain surgery on him to cure his crippled fingers of a rare movement disorder.



The successful brain operation — the first in India — was conducted recently by surgeons at the Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain Hospital, in southern India, on 37-year-old Abishek Prasad who was fully awake during the surgery and gave live feedback to the doctors by playing the guitar.



Prasad, who had been suffering from “guitarist dystonia” for quite some time, has now been cured of the neurological disorder, said doctors, according to a report by Chinese news agency, Xinhua.



Musician’s dystonia is caused by the brain sending incorrect information to the muscles and is characterized by involuntary, prolonged muscle contractions, which cause affected parts of the body to be twisted into abnormal postures, according to Britain’s Dystonia Society.







In fact, Prasad, who left his job in the information technology sector to follow his passion — playing guitar — developed musician’s dystonia that affected three fingers of his left hand in 2015 and was forced to abandon his passion for some time.


“Three of the fingers of my left hand — middle, fourth and the little finger — used to get stiff and stuck while playing the guitar. I was not able to follow my passion due to this,” he told the media.



During the operation, surgeons made an incision in the skull and inserted a 9 centimeters electrode to burn parts of the brain causing the disorder. As the brain has no ability to feel pain, only local anaesthesia was applied to the skin, said doctors.



“Such surgeries require the patient to be awake and perform the function that is triggering the brain to misbehave. The idea is to gauge the patient’s reaction to the surgery as this disorder is specific to a task,” neurosurgeon Sharan Srinivasan told the media.



Prasad is a very happy person now and fully satisfied that he will be able to pursue his passion of playing guitar again.



“But now it’s a great feeling for both me and the doctors. It was 100 percent result on the operation table itself. I’m very excited, finally now I can live my dream, can play my guitar again after one month of recovery,” he said.



“Now my fingers are completely listening to me, earlier my fingers were erect and changing from one chord to other was difficult,” Prasad added.



Doctors said that the surgery was the first in India.


Source NAN


Mynd44


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/musician-plays-guitar-during-brain-surgery/

Cc; Lalasticlala Mynd44

The Angolan President, Mr. José Eduardo dos Santos, has returned home after 17 days in Spain where he normally travels for medical treatment and holiday.



President dos Santos, 74, arrived in Luanda late Wednesday, accompanied by the First Lady, Ana Paula dos Santos.



They were received at the Luanda military air base by Vice-President Manuel Domingos Vicente and other top government officials.



The veteran leader has visited the European state several times since 2013,Africa Review said.



President dos Santos left Angola on July 3 for Barcelona, with his office alluding in a statement that the visit was private, without divulging details.



He spent 28 days in Spain in May without an official explanation, prompting claims of his death on both the social and traditional media.



“He is in Spain and when he gets fine he will be back home” Foreign Affairs minister Georges Chikoti told journalists in Luanda on May 29.


It was the first time a top government official confirmed that President dos Santos usually went to Spain for medical treatment.



“President dos Santos normally seeks medical treatment in Spain and this is normal for him to be there,” he said.



“It is all right but you know it happens with everyone. Sometimes you don’t fill fine but he is fine.”



President dos Santos has been in power since in 1979 and is Africa’s second longest serving president after Obiang’ Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.



The southern Africa state goes to the polls on August 23 that will see the long-serving leader retire.



The ruling party, MPLA, has nominated Defence minister João Lourenço as its flag bearer for the August presidential contest.



Opposition has been calling on the government to reveal the state of the President health amid reports that Africa’s second-longest ruler is seriously ill.



Dos Santos, who has run the oil-producing southern African nation since 1979, first left Angola at the start of May on what was officially billed as a two-week “private visit”.



His daughter, Isabel, took to Instagram to knock down “fake news”, that her father was probably dead.



“Someone has gone so low as to invent information about the death of a man in order to create confusion and turmoil in Angolan politics,” Isabel dos Santos, who is also head of state oil firm Sonangol, said.



Raul Danda, parliamentary president of the opposition UNITA party, said the lack of clarity about the health of the man who has been central to Angola’s stability since the end of a long civil war in 2002 was becoming a national security issue.



Dos Santos, a Soviet-trained oil engineer and veteran of the guerrilla war against Portuguese rule, rarely appears in public but the last time Danda saw him, he did not look well, he said.


Source NAN

Court documents filed in Houston by the US Justice Department in the assets forfeiture proceedings filed against Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and Messrs.Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore have revealed the third man in the $1.7billion swindle of Nigeria.

He is Igho Sanomi, one of Nigeria’s young billionaires, who owns the Taleveras Oil Group.

Taleveras, along with oil traders Arcadia and Glencore, were found to have paid $1.2 billion into Kola Aluko’s account in Switzerland . This money was used to fund Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke’s luxury lifestyle.



Deziani, as oil minister between 2010 and 2015, used her influence to facilitate inappropriate business opportunities for Aluko and Omokore by assigning to their companies, Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts (AEDC) Limited and Atlantic Energy Brass Development (AEBD) Limited, eight oil mining leases (OMLs).



The OMLs were assigned under Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Despite lacking the technical expertise and financial capacity to operate the OMLs, as noted in a February 2014 report of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Alison-Madueke greenlighted the process for her cronies.



What followed, said US prosecutors, was the sale by AEDC and AEBD of the oil-lifting allocations they were assigned under the Forcados and Brass SAAs to third-party oil trading companies. They made tonnes of money, by not fulfilling the obligations stated in the agreements, using some of it to bribe Mrs. Alison-Madueke.



Court papers show that Taleveras Group, one of the third-party oil trading companies, paid copious sums into Mr. Aluko’s personal accounts.


The stream of payments, prosecutors observed, began shortly after the award of the Forcados SAAs. Over a period of six months, Mr. Aluko received the sum of $15million in his personal account domiciled at LGT Bank (Schweiz) AG in Switzerland (the “LGT -090038 Account”), from which various purchases for Mrs. Alison-Madueke were funded. The money came from Taleveras Group and its affiliates, including Taleveras Trading Limited and and Taleveras Petroleum Trading BV.


On July 12, 2011, prosecutors found that the sum of $1.5million was wired from Taleveras to Mr. Aluko’s account. Two days later, the sum of $1million also arrived the account from RFB Lengard JVA in which Mr. Igho Sanomi, founder and chairman of Taleveras, owns 30 per cent stake. Another $1million arrived on July 20, 2011, from Taleveras Trading Limited. This was followed on 15 August 2011 by $1million wired by Taleveras to Mr. Aluko’s account in Switzerland as payment for a Joint Venture contract with RFB Lengard. The same day, he received $650,000 from the same source.



On September 12, 2011, Taleveras Trading Limited paid $1million and $1.6million four days later. On 5 October of the same year, Mr. Aluko’s account was credited with $1.5million by Taleveras Petroleum Trading BV and $500,000 six days later. The next lashing of cash arrived on 14 November 2011, when his account received $2million wired by Taleveras Group. On January 3 and 10 2012, $600,000 and $1million respectively were paid by Taleveras Petroleum Trading BV.



Prosecutors reckoned that the payments were made to Mr. Aluko in return for assigning the AEDC’s rights to Taleveras and RFB Lengard to lift oil under the corruptly acquired SAAs.



They discovered that each of the transactions was subsequently transferred into and out of correspondent bank accounts at a financial institution, which processes its U.S. dollar wire transactions through Newark, New Jersey.



According to prosecutors, AEDC entered into an agreement with the Arcadia Group and its subsidiaries, from which AEDC purportedly took loans. In return, Arcadia was repaid with assignments of AEDC’s crude oil liftings under the dodgy SAAs. The company describes itself as a “global commodity trading firm covering oil, agricultural, gas and power markets”.



“In particular, two months after the last payment from Taleveras, Arcadia Energy (Suisse) SA and Arcadia Petroleum Limited began making payments to an account held in the name of AEH at LGT Bank (Schweiz) AG ending in -108031 (the LGT -108031 Account),” said prosecutors.



On April 18, 2012, Arcadia paid $10million into the above stated account. On May 14 of the same year, it paid $1.3million and on July 23,



$2.4million. On July 24, 2012, the company paid $1.3million into the same account. Less than a month later, it paid $2.9million into the same account and followed it up with a whopping $25million September 17, 2012.



The next day, it paid $2.091million into the same account. This preceded a hefty transfer of $23.4million on January 8, 2013. A couple of days later, Arcadia paid $1.6million and on February 4, 2013, wired $2million to the account. This was followed by the payment of $1.1million, $6million and $1.7million respectively.



The stunt continued with payments to a company, Glencore, by AEBD, which sold to Glencore over 7million barrels of crude oil acquired through the Brass SAA. Glencore’s payments for these allotments, said prosecutors, were made to an account in the name of AEBD ending in 184001 at Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA and an account ending in -630350 in the name of AEBD at Standard Chartered Bank, London. They were also made into accounts in the name of AEBD ending in 677644 at Standard Chartered Bank, London; and 9941 at Stanbic IBTC, Nigeria.



Glencore, for example, paid $83.6million to AEBD on April 5, 2013; $80.5million, $79.4million on July 4, $19.8million July 17, $19.5million on July 19 and $83.4million on July 21.


Source NAN

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/igho-sanomi-named-in-1-7bn-fraud/

atorioke:
Member of Ebonyi state house of Assembly, Maria Ude Nwachi, popularly known as ‘Nwanyi Afikpo’, has said any man that bleaches does not deserve to be called a man.



Nwachi said women that bleach has nothing upstairs, shallow and have no self esteem.



“The most idiotic thing on this earth for anyone to do is to tamper with your natural color. When I see ladies who bleach, it tells me all I need to know about them. They have nothing upstairs.



“They are shallow, materialistic, worldly, vapid, self-loathing with zero confidence & zero self-esteem.



“They are also as dumb as a wall. I don’t even give a damn if they are successful materially, I see them as failures in life.


“Michael Jackson with all the money he had, attempted to be white, but ended up looking like an unfortunate white woman.


“You will surely end up looking like a monster sooner or later if you keep hating your color and tampering with it using your various despicable bleaching/ whitening creams and concoctions.



“The health implications of this stupid and embarrassing act of telling the world, God made a mighty error with their natural tone that requires self-correction, cannot be over-stated.



“So many girls that were beautiful naturally, but decided being yellow was their only hope, started rubbing rubbish bleaching cream, today look like worn-out hags that sleep with 50 men a day. Continue, idiots.



“You’re a man & you are bleaching or whitening your skin, you do not deserve to be a man. You be 100% ODE. Gerrout of my face, shameless ill,” she said.

Mynd44

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/women-that-bleach-are-failures-lawmaker/

Lalasticlala

Member of Ebonyi state house of Assembly, Maria Ude Nwachi, popularly known as ‘Nwanyi Afikpo’, has said any man that bleaches does not deserve to be called a man.



Nwachi said women that bleach has nothing upstairs, shallow and have no self esteem.



“The most idiotic thing on this earth for anyone to do is to tamper with your natural color. When I see ladies who bleach, it tells me all I need to know about them. They have nothing upstairs.



“They are shallow, materialistic, worldly, vapid, self-loathing with zero confidence & zero self-esteem.



“They are also as dumb as a wall. I don’t even give a damn if they are successful materially, I see them as failures in life.


“Michael Jackson with all the money he had, attempted to be white, but ended up looking like an unfortunate white woman.


“You will surely end up looking like a monster sooner or later if you keep hating your color and tampering with it using your various despicable bleaching/ whitening creams and concoctions.



“The health implications of this stupid and embarrassing act of telling the world, God made a mighty error with their natural tone that requires self-correction, cannot be over-stated.



“So many girls that were beautiful naturally, but decided being yellow was their only hope, started rubbing rubbish bleaching cream, today look like worn-out hags that sleep with 50 men a day. Continue, idiots.



“You’re a man & you are bleaching or whitening your skin, you do not deserve to be a man. You be 100% ODE. Gerrout of my face, shameless ill,” she said.

Mynd44

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/women-that-bleach-are-failures-lawmaker/

Lalasticlala

Kogi State Government on Wednesday proscribed activities of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Kogi State University (KSU), Ayangba.

By this pronouncement, all ASUU activities in the university have been banned.

Gov. Yahaya Bello, who announced the proscription in Lokoja shortly after the weekly executive council meeting, said that the decision was with immediate effect.

He told journalists that the state government was forced to take the decision following the refusal of the lecturers to call off six months old strike.

Bello said that ASUU rebuffed all government efforts to persuade it to end the strike, including meeting over 90 per cent of the union’s demands.

The governor ordered the striking lecturers to go back to work immediately or lose their jobs.



According to Bello any lecturer who fails to resume teaching will be assumed to have resigned his or her appointment.

“The institution will declare their positions vacant and new lecturers will be employed to fill the vacancies,” he said.

Bello directed the authorities of the university to monitor the lecturers’ compliance to the directive.

The governor who is the Visitor to the university also directed the authorities to beef up security in and around the premises of the institution.

“Any lecturer willing to work should not suffer any form of harassment or intimidation,” the governor ordered.

He reiterated the commitment of the government to the development of education in the state, saying that the government could no longer tolerate the strike.

“Last week, I undertook a tour of tertiary institutions in Kogi with a view to having first-hand information about the problems of the schools.

“While others have since resumed studies, ASUU members in Kogi State University have refused to call off their strike.

“We have fulfilled over 90 per cent of their demands and have even gone a step further to pay outstanding salaries of both cleared and un-cleared staff members including those who have committed one crime or the other,” he said.

The governor said that the strike had led to increase in crime rate in Ayangba and its environs.

“We cannot afford to fold our hands and watch the future of our youths mortgaged,” he said.

Efforts by the News Agency of Nigeria to reach Dr Daniel Aina, the Acting Chairman of KSU Chapter of ASUU, for comments failed as his telephone was switched off.

Source eyereport.com.ng

Mynd44

Cc; Lalasticlala

The House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee has set up a six man panel to further investigate an alleged disbursement of N1.47 billion loan to unspecified beneficiaries by the Nigeria Directorate of Employment (NDE).



The resolution followed the consideration of a query by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation in 2011, requesting NDE to give account of how the N1.47 billion was disbursed to some Nigerians under its skill acquisition scheme, since inception.



The Sub-Committee headed by the Committee Deputy Chairman, Rep. Ibrahim Baba and which has Reps. Legor Idagbor, Lawal Shuaibu, Sunday Adepoju, Olusegun Kehinde and Daniel Kolawole as members is to investigate the loan disbursement and establish particulars of alleged beneficiaries.



The Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation had in the query expressed dissatisfaction that of the N1.4 billion disbursed, only N289.9 million was recovered so far, leaving an outstanding of N1.18 billion with the agency’s leadership unable to account for the whereabouts of the balance.



In response to a directive issued by the Public Accounts Committee on July 10, 2017, the Director-General of NDE, Mr Nasiru Mohammed furnished it with list of the beneficiaries and amount granted to each of them.



Others are copies of loan agreement and report of recoveries made from 1987 to 2010 and the copies of the audited accounts of the agency from 1997 to 2015.



He, however, told the lawmakers that the loan was disbursed by previous administrations of the agency.



However, while setting up the panel, Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, Rep. Kingsley Chinda (Rivers-PDP) urged the NDE to cooperate with the sub-committee in carrying out the task.



Chinda said: “Considering the fact that we will want to do a detailed work on the NDE query, we therefore ask the members to consider the query for NDE in 2011 paragraph 9.14 A to H”.



The aforementioned portions directly deal with misgivings and the need for explanatory notes accompanying the responses provided by the DG who said he was recently appointed to head the agency.


Source NAN


Mynd44


http://www.eyereport.com.ng/reps-probe-n1-4bn-loan-by-employment-directorate/

Cc; Lalasticlala

Loyalists of sacked national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator Buruji Kashamu (PDP-Ogun East) on Wednesday dumped the party.


They defected to the Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN) at its Oyo state secretariat in Ibadan, the state capital.


Those who defected are; the Senator’s Senatorial Liaison Assistant (SLA), Otunba Adeleke Adekoya and Ebenezer Alabi, running mate to Jimoh Ibrahim, factional PDP Ondo candidate backed by Kashamu and Sheriff.


Recall that the Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP) on Tuesday announced that it will change its name to Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN).


National Chairman of the party, Hon. Hamisu Santuraki, said the party registered in August 2010 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would also change its logo and move to its new national secretariat in Abuja.


“We are on top gear for the Anambra governorship election coming up in November 18.


“We are also working for the 2019 general election and part of our strategies was changing the party name to Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN) from the Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP). We are also changing the logo.


“This is the wish of party members to rebrand the party for greater achievements. The NEC would also discuss the state of the nation and come up with its position formally,” Santuraki said.


Source NAN

Mynd44

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/loyalists-to-sheriff-and-kashamu-joins-mpn/