₦airaland Forum

iwaeda:
Things are very deplorable.

Stankovic22:
My question is why is the camera person so confident and making perfect video? I doubt if this is a drone shot because even if it is, where ever the drone operator is, some level of tension will be felt cos the sound of those guns will scare him and occasionally the video will shake... Could this be a propaganda video as always?

Facts have emerged revealing shocking details on how the Charles Soludo’s Campaign Organisation is being directly funded using funds earmarked for the Anambra Airport Project, which has been raising a lot of dust in recent times. This is according to several documents seen by our reporter which were released by a whistleblower who works in the Office of the Anambra State Accountant-General. The numerous documents showed several banking transfers from the Anambra Airport Project Account domiciled in Fidelity Bank directly into Accounts of the Soludo Campaign Organisation and in some cases close associates of Soludo who hold administrative roles in his campaign organisation.

In one of the leaked documents which had financial transactions from an account named, Anambra State Government: Airport Project housed at Fidelity Bank with the account number: *615643218*, it revealed a series of transactions that ran weekly from the 22nd August 2021 till October 6, 2021 to an account opened with the name Emeka Ezenwanne. Checks revealed that Emeka Ezenwanne is Charles Soludo’s in-law and is the Commissioner for Public Utilities as well as the Director of Finance in the Soludo Campaign Organization. Between 22nd of August and October 6, a total of *N4.17 billion*
was wired to the account.

In another very curious transaction a total sum of N1.8 billion was transferred directly to the Soludo Campaign Organization from the same Anambra State Government Airport Project account with Fidelity Bank. This transaction occurred in four tranches of N450 million on Tuesday October 12, 2021.

The last batch of transactions captured in the leaked documents is a transfer of N1.18 billion to CitiLine Logistics, a company owned by Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu, the Secretary to State Government and who doubles as the Director General of the Charles Soludo Campaign Council. It is not clear what services CitiLine Logistics rendered in the airport project.

The Anambra state government has been accused of siphoning money using the Airport project as a cash cow for funding the campaign of the APGA governorship candidate, Prof. Charles Soludo. The Anambra Airport Project has been generating unending controversy thanks to the secrecy surrounding the true cost and source of funding the project. No accurate figure has been released by the government as the cost of the project. Gov. Willie Obiano earlier this week declared that the airport is ready for commercial operations and slated October 30 for its commissioning, however it has now been confirmed that a provision of N10 billion was made in the 2022 budget for completion of the Airport.

This development lends credence to insinuation in some quarters that the N10 billion provision is to offset an anticipated loan by the Soludo campaign from Fidelity Bank for election day expenses with the expectations that if Soludo wins, the loan would be then offset by the State Government in the 2022 Fiscal year using public funds.

The Willie Obiano administration has further been accused of rushing to commission the Airport even when it is not yet completed as indicated by the additional huge budgetary allocations.

Calls to the Accountant-General’s office, SSG’s Office and the Soludo Campaign Organization for clarifications were unanswered.

Bigredmachine:
Interesting scenes...

Your daddy resemble u no be small

The protest started few minutes after some Army operatives started searching students moving in different cars along Conoil Filling Station, Ijagun, Ijebu Ode.

The Nigerian Army has debunked speculations that the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the Department of State Service (DSS) created and funded the Biafra National Guard (BNG) to enforce the sit-at-home order, in a bid to discredit the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

It claimed Kalu Odinakachi is responsible for the “mischievous submission”.

A statement signed by Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, the Director, Army Public Relations, sent to DAILY POST on Saturday read in part: “It must be abundantly clarified that this spurious allegation is unfounded and could be absolutely described as a hoax.”

It added that “the activities of IPOB/ESN have undoubtedly assumed a violent dimension.

“This unimaginable level of violence is oiled with propaganda and disinformation to whip-up sentiments and draw sympathy from unsuspecting citizens in the region.”

The Nigerian Army added that “these spineless and irresponsible actions targeted at the very people they claim they want to liberate, clearly unmask their heinous and directionless agenda for Ndigbos.”

In denying the claims that the DMI and DSS are sponsoring BNG, the Army said “realising the futility, hollowness and public rejection of their violent agitation, they resorted to twisting the narrative in the region to galvanize local support.

“Their wild allegation that BNG and UGN were an overt operation by the DMI and DSS is not only laughable but remains largely elusive and a ploy to diminish the public support the NA is savouring in the ongoing exercises.”

The Nigerian Army assured the people of the South East that they will step up efforts to “to rid the region of criminal elements masquerading as BNG and UGM. We encourage members of the public to provide actionable information to security agencies as the Exercises progress.”

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says the fact that bandits are imposing levies on communities does not mean they have taken control.

Mohammed said this during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday while reacting to an article by The Economist magazine titled, ‘Insurgency, secessionism and banditry threaten Nigeria.’

The minister said the London-based magazine was wrong to claim that terrorists had carved caliphates for themselves in the North-East.

While answering questions from journalists on banditry in the North-West where bandits now impose levies on communities, Mohammed argued that imposing levies does not mean criminals are in charge, adding that it takes place in many parts of the country, including in the South where touts commonly referred to as ‘area boys’, impose levies.

He added, “Do you know how many places in this country where area boys collect taxes? And there is no terrorism or banditry there. I don’t want to mention names.

“In many of our cities, they carve out their own territory. So, it is not indicative of the bandits have taken over.

“No. I know many areas in Nigeria both in the South and the North where these kinds of things happen. So, it is not the same thing.”


The minister urged the Nigerian media to stop glorifying negative reports published by their foreign counterparts.

Mohammed said The Economist Intelligence Unit, which is a sister organisation of The Economist magazine, had predicted in 2019 that the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, would win the election but the prediction turned out to be false.

“President Muhammadu Buhari won re-election by over three million votes. So, The Economist and other arms of the group are not infallible,” the minister argued.

Mohammed argued that the idea of the Nigerian media regurgitating things published or reported by foreign media is antithetical to its reputation of independence and vibrancy.

“The Nigerian media does itself a great disservice by turning itself into an echo chamber of the foreign media. When The Economist reported its patently-wrong and badly-researched story, it was immediately amplified by the local media, without even interrogating its content? This is totally unconscionable!” he added.

The minister maintained that contrary to the article by The Economist, Boko Haram had been degraded. He, therefore, lambasted the newspaper for attempting to downplay the exploits of the Nigerian military.

He added, “Again, at a time that Boko Haram and ISWAP are taking on each other in a mutually-destructive lockstep, and at a time that the terrorists are surrendering in droves as a result of heavy pounding by the military, it is wrong to say that Jihadists are carving out a Caliphate in the North-East, as The Economist reported.

“In any case, why would the Nigerian media become an echo chamber for a foreign newspaper that denigrates the Nigerian military and makes light of the sacrifices of our valiant troops? Would the British or American press regurgitate a report in the Nigerian press denigrating their militaries?”

poiZon:
Wait for us, lets cum tokedar

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has narrated how he was ‘banished’ from entering Nigeria when he was in France.

The renowned playwright, narrated his ordeal on Thursday, while speaking at a news conference held at Freedom Park in Lagos with the theme: ‘Covid, Technology and Citizens banishment.’

According to the Noble laureate, he was denied his right to movement twice, describing his experience has banishment.

“Not being able to return to your own country is banishment.” Soyinka said.

“I had my vaccination, I have taken the 72-hour covid test, I was negative but there was one more, there was a new one called PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) which the Nigerian government had begun to insist on,” he said.

Soyinka said he believed it was his fault, so he went back to Paris with his luggage.

“But it happened the second time a week ago despite following all travel protocols and having the PCR,” he said.

“This time I had my PCR and of course it did not happen to me alone, there were other Nigerians who had a similar scenario, they couldn’t leave because they had already passed the immigration,” he added.

He said they were denied entry because they had not obtained a travel permit from the Nigerian government.

Soyinka stated that he was directed to make certain payments then “permission would be generated so I could travel back to my own country.”

He said despite his status in the country, he refused to contact any government authority to intervene.

Soyinka said the portal was inaccessible for him to generate the permit.

“I don’t believe that I or any Nigerian require a special treatment to enter the country, ” he averred.

“When an individual is prevented from entering one’s country due to the lapses of others, then there is a problem.”

Soyinka said he could have used his status to navigate his way through the strictures imposed by the government officials but he just wanted to experience the rigorous processes that ordinary Nigerians go through.

“This is a plea to the Ministry of Health and that of External Affairs which I believe must have participated in this.’

“The next day, about six staff of the aviation company tried to access the portal from different computers but it was not reachable,” he said.

He noted that although payment from his credit card was acknowledged, it still “did not generate this permit to enter Nigeria which has the barcode.”

The professor said at a point in a bid to gain entry into the country, he almost took a flight to Lome.

He added that it took “special permission” for him to enter his homeland.

He also berated the internal affairs and health ministries for making travelers fill a “ludicrous” questionnaire that has nothing to do with COVID-19 on the travel portal.

“What the majority of those questions have to do with COVID-19, I don’t understand. I went through some of the questions repeatedly… We do not require this kind of secret service questionnaire,” he said.

He said it was disheartening to see fellow Nigerians sleeping on couches, “trapped in limbo,” because some government officials are technologically inefficient.

Soyinka pleaded with the ministry of health and internal affairs to stop treating Nigerians as criminals and illegal immigrants.

He suggested that the Nigerian government provided an emergency line should there be technological hitches.

Sources say that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the centre, including the party’s candidate for the November 6, 2021 Anambra gubernatorial election, Senator Andy Ubah lobbied and prevailed on the Presidency to scuttle the opening of the airport saying that opening of the airport will give the ruling party in Anambra state, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and their gubernatorial candidate, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo extra advantage in the elections.

1. You must be a sadist. E.g Buhari.

2. You must not appreciate good things. E.g Andy Uba.

3. You must be a witch or a wizard. E.g use the 2 examples above

On No Account Should You Put Buhari And Integrity In The Same Sentence.

Secondly, Don't Ever, I REPEAT; DON'T EVER Fall For Buhari's Anti Corruption Fight Because You Can't Be A Friend To Corrupt People While Fighting Corruption.

Buhari Is An Accommodator Of Corrupt People.

DankemzI:
Here comes the Enabler and Defender of terrorism in Nigeria rushing to defend his brothers in arms

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has slammed London-based news magazine, The Economist, over an article it published concerning the insurgency in Nigeria.

The article titled, ‘Insurgency, Secessionism and Banditry Threaten Nigeria,’ accused the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), of ineptitude, while lambasting the Nigerian military, alleging that it sometimes sells weapons to insurgents.

Mohammed, at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, described the article by the news magazine as inaccurate while pointing out that the organisation is not infallible.

He said the claim by the news magazine that jihadists are carving out a caliphate in the North-East is wrong especially at a time when terrorists are surrendering in droves as a result of pounding by the military.

He said, “As you are very much aware, there have been various reactions to the stereotypical story on Nigeria by The Economist. So, we are not about to rehash what has been said about that publication. But before dwelling on the focus of this press briefing, let me make a quick observation.

“The Economist Group, of which The Economist magazine is an integral part, has been wrong about Nigeria before, just as it is wrong about Nigeria this time around. Recall, gentlemen, that shortly before the 2019 general elections, The Economist Intelligence Unit, also from the stable of The Economist Group, predicted that the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, will win the election. Well, The Economist was wrong. President Muhammadu Buhari won re-election by over 3 million votes. So, The Economist and other arms of the group are not infallible.

“Now, to the focus of today’s briefing. Gentlemen, the Nigerian press is reputed to be one of the most vibrant in the world. This is not a fluke. The Nigerian press has indeed earned its epaulets, and its vibrancy has been honed by years of fearlessly taking on whoever crosses its path, whether they are colonialists or military rulers. It is therefore not a surprise that the media was assigned a role by the 1999 Constitution. Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution tasks the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media to, at all times, be free to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.

“In simple English, the Nigerian press has a watchdog role assigned to it by the framers of our Constitution. Please note the catchphrase, WATCHDOG. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines ‘watchdog’ as ”a person or organisation responsible for making certain that companies obey particular standards and do not act illegally:” The Constitution never envisages or mandates the Nigerian press to be a LAPDOG, which is defined by the same dictionary as ”someone who is willing to do anything that a more important person tells them to do”. As a matter of fact, the Nigerian press cannot and must not play the role of a LAPDOG.

“The idea of the Nigerian media, especially the traditional media, regurgitating anything and everything published or reported by its foreign counterpart is totally antithetical to its reputation of independence and vibrancy. The Nigerian media does itself a great disservice by turning itself into an echo chamber of the foreign media.

“When The Economist reported its patently-wrong and badly-researched story, it was immediately amplified by the local media, without even interrogating its content? This is totally unconscionable! For example, The Economist reported that the Jihadist threat in the North-east has ‘metastasized’, and everyone knows that this is totally inaccurate. Prior to the time it was dislodged, which was before Dec. 2015 when I led a team of local and international journalists to Bama in Borno State, Boko Haram established the headquarters of its so-called Caliphate in that town (Bama), where it hoisted its flag, collected taxes as well as installed and removed Emirs at will. Today, Boko Haram has no Caliphate anywhere in Nigeria. Yet, the Nigerian press regurgitated that report by The Economist.

“Again, at a time that Boko Haram and ISWAP are taking on each other in a mutually-destructive lockstep, and at a time that the terrorists are surrendering in droves as a result of heavy pounding by the military, it is wrong to say that Jihadists are carving out a Caliphate in the North-East, as the Economist reported. In any case, why would the Nigerian media become an echo chamber for a foreign newspaper that denigrates the Nigerian military and makes light of the sacrifices of our valiant troops? Would the British or American press regurgitate a report in the Nigerian press denigrating their militaries?

“Gentlemen, I do not believe that the Nigerian media hates this country, neither will I agree that the media does not appreciate our military. But I appeal to you to stop endorsing the denigration of our country, our military, our institutions by some unscrupulous foreign media. By regurgitating their inaccurate stories about Nigeria, you are endorsing their stand. The Nigerian media was mandated to be a watchdog, not a lapdog.”

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) has said the population of Nigeria currently is 200million, increases by five million annually.

He stressed the importance of the national health insurance scheme to Nigeria’s development, saying that “without compulsory health insurance, we simply cannot bring together the resources that are required to provide decent healthcare for 200 million people, growing by five million every year… I think the game-changer is health insurance.”

Osinbajo stated this on Tuesday while rounding up his thoughts during an interaction at the closing of the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja (NES #27) themed: “Securing Our Future, the Fierce Urgency of Now.”

On developing the health sector and government’s ongoing reforms, the vice president said, “We are at a point now with the healthcare reform committee, which I have the privilege of chairing, where we are looking at all these options. We are trying to see in what ways we can ensure that this will work.

“So, there are huge revolutionary changes that need to be made and I believe that they are entirely possible. And we are at a point where these things are accessible to us, with time we can do these things, I am certainly looking forward to some of the reforms that are possible,” he said.

Commenting the contributions of the private sector, the vice president said “the private sector in Nigeria (in terms of resilience and coping with challenges), has done very well, with what we have learned, even coping with the post-pandemic issues (business after the pandemic), the private sector has done well.”

“For example, transport went down 49 per cent, and now they are back with 77%. The construction sector went down by almost 40 per cent, and has returned to a much more modest positive,” Prof. Osinbajo explained.

The vice president said with the energy of the youth, the resilience of the private sector combined with governments implementing the right policies, Nigeria will make the desired progress despite the challenges in the economy.

Osinbajo, in a statement by his media aide, Laolu Akande, praised the strong will of the average Nigerian, adding that, “we can see that there is a will to do things, there is energy, resilience, resourcefulness. My take is that this country is one that is waiting to happen and it will happen. It will take all of our resources, and all of our effort to make it happen, and it will happen.”



He said, “We must focus on what this country offers in terms of all the resources that we have, human, natural and everything that we have – the will, the energy, the innovativeness of the Nigerian.

“This sort of country, a country with all that we have, can simply not fail, and it is only a matter of getting things right and moving a few things around, and we will be well on the way to the kind of progress that we ought to experience as a country.”

Osinbajo explained that despite the limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic among other challenges, the government was working hard to address defects in the system, and noted that recent results were indicative of recovery across different sectors of the economy.

His words, “I believe very strongly that all of the great ideas that we have, the young people waiting to unleash their energy and resourcefulness on the world, all of those are just waiting to happen.

“I believe very strongly that this country affords us the opportunity and the space to be able to achieve great things. We should keep our focus.”

He further noted that the Buhari administration was ramping up efforts in different sectors to improve development and the economy.

While urging state governments to do more, especially in the area of education, the VP stated that “we must emphasize Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM). This is an area where a curriculum is being redeveloped to accommodate that.

“It is important to note that basic education – primary and secondary education are under the control of the states. The federal government does not handle primary or secondary education. Yes, we do have some unity schools, but these things are really the business of the states.”

Citing the work being done by the National Economic Council in developing the country’s human capital, the VP said, “at the level of the NEC, which I have the privilege of chairing, one of the things that we have tried to do with the whole human capital development space, we have a whole dashboard where we are looking at performances in the states.

Pierocash:
Women ,stop dating and going out with men you don't know their means of livelihood. Stop going out with street boys, they can do anything with you just for money.