₦airaland Forum

In preparation for the 2011 polls, 26 registered political parties yesterday announced their resolve to contest all elective offices in Lagos on the ticket of one political party. All candidates of the coalition known as The Coalition of Lagos State Political Parties (COLASOPP) are to campaign and contest under the name, logo and emblem of the adopted political party. Although yet to settle for any party, the main aim of the coalition is to take over the administration of Lagos in 2011.

At a press conference in the Ogba area of Lagos yesterday, the chairman of the Board of Trustee of COLASOPP, Dr. Adegbola Dominic who is also chairman of the Action Party of Nigeria (APN) said the coalition would contest all elective offices from governorship to councillorship in Lagos.

Although the group and their parties remain largely unknown, Daily Sun gathered that the strength of the group is coming from key members of the Lagos business community who are believed to be disenchanted with the new tax regime in the state. They say the new order has made it even more expensive to do business in Lagos than it ever was in the eight years before Fashola’s election.

Among those believed to be gearing up to fund the push to ensure that Fashola does not return is a billionaire industrialist who has interest in automotive business. There is also another billionaire banker who is said to also have vast interest in the telecommunication (GSM) business.
The team is believed to have galvanized key members of the orgnised private sector in the state to ensure that Fashola does not return.
To further swell their ranks, the group is also waving a seemingly irresistible carrot in the direction of the Igbo community in Lagos, as the financiers of the coalition are promising the Igbo community the deputy governor slot.

The calculation, according to Daily Sun findings, is to see how the decisive Igbo votes, thought to be in the neighbourhood of 30-40 per cent of the registered voters in Lagos can be swung to the coalition and effectively kick out Fashola.
Although Dominic did not go into detail about the bigwigs behind the coalition, he said the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), as represented by Fashola had failed Lagosians and tended to concentrate his development efforts in the areas where the elite live, while leaving out the rest 70 per cent of Lagosians who are in the rural areas.

While speaking at the press conference, Dominic described the ruling ACN in Lagos as a fluke saying: “The orchestrated achievement of Governor Raji Fashola is mere media hype. We are determined and indeed ready to shock those pretenders when by the grace of God we dislodge their pretentious administration in the 2011elections. We have the means, we have the people and we have strong reasons to take over from Fashola.”

He described the much-touted achievements of the Fashola administration as a disaster because the amount of money that came to Lagos in the past 12 years since the ACN was in charge of affairs would have transformed many nations in Africa if such huge amount ever came their way.

Dominic said: “The ACN has been in government in Lagos State for the past 12 years and the so-called achievement is in fact a disastrous performance when you consider the enormous resources at its disposal from the Federation Account and the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). It is estimated that the ACN government in Lagos State has squandered N38.4 trillion in 12 years. Many African countries cannot boast of this amount of money in 20 years.”
The Lagos ACN, Dominic said, had been spending Lagos money to sponsor failed governorship candidates in other states of the federation.

Recently, a group,” the true face of Lagos” accused Governor Raji Fashola of gross financial impropriety. One would expect the governor, an eminent professionals in such circumstances, to insist and submit himself for investigations. Instead, the governor and his friends went to court to frustrate the process.”

The coalition rolled out what it called a catalogue of failure of the ruling party in Lagos. It includes: “massive unemployment, roads in deplorable condition which are impassable during raining season, schools turning out illiterates, educational institutions regularly on strike, masses living in slums, healthcare disorderly and under funded, doctors and other paramedical staff almost permanently on strike, chaotic traffic.” It further noted that “the economy of the state has deteriorated in the past 12 years.”

Dominic pointed out that the State government has concluded plans to erect tollgates on a number of roads to enrich a few elites at the expense of the masses.
When it was pointed out to Dominic that the 26 political parties in the coalition are not known to wield any political influence in Lagos, he said: “It is not the strength of the parties that matters, the important thing is that when we come out and people listen to us, we are confident that people would vote for us.”
Chairman of the coalition, Chief John Nwuche remarked: “Watch out for us. We will surprise you. We shall not capture Lagos. That is the language of the military. But we are set to win at the 2011 elections in Lagos.”



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/oct/13/national-06-10-2010-004.htm

A Federal High Court, Lagos yesterday sentenced former managing director and chief executive of Oceanic Bank Plc, Mrs. Cecelia Ibru, to 18 months imprisonment. The sentence came after Ibru pleaded guilty to counts 14, 17 and 23 of the 25 amended charges brought against her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). She got six months on each of the charges, totalling 18 months. The sentence will run concurrently. However, sources said that the former bank MD had a plea bargain with the EFCC.

Count 14 of the three-count charges, which Mrs Ibru pleaded guilty to, reads: “That you, Cecilia Ibru while being the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Oceanic Bank International Plc on or about 2 August 2007, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, approved the grant of a credit facility in the sum of US$20,000,000.00 by the bank to WAVES Project Nigeria Limited, which sum was above your credit approval limit as laid down by the regulations of Oceanic Bank International Plc and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(1)(b) of the Failed Bank (Recovery of Debts ) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act Cap F2 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under Section 16(1) (a) of the same Act.”

In the judgment, Justice Dan Abutu also ordered that the former bank chief forfeits 199 assets and funds worth over N190 billion. The assets are to be managed by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
Mrs Ibru was first arraigned on a 23-count charge on August 31, 2009, and remanded in EFCC custody till September 14, 2009 when she was granted bail by the court. The charges were later amended to 25, in February 2010, bordering on criminal manipulation of bank records and depositors’ funds.
In December 2009, the EFCC obtained an interim forfeiture order on the assets of Mrs. Ibru from a Federal High Court, Lagos.

Shortly before her full trial resumed on Tuesday, October 5, Mrs. Ibru had sought to forfeit her assets, in a plea bargain arrangement.
Reacting to the judgment, chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, commended the teams that handled the investigation and prosecution of Mrs. Ibru’s case. He charged every stakeholder in the war against graft to reinforce their commitment, so that there could be greater results soon.
Waziri said: “This is an indication that we are making progress in the war against graft in the country. But we can still achieve greater results when all stakeholders reinforce their commitment to the crusade.”

Ibru was eased out by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) along with five other bank chief executives, in line with the recommendations of a CBN/NDIC special audit team that reviewed the financial status of the affected banks.
She was accused of using some companies to acquire over 64 million shares in Union Bank of Nigeria valued at 64, 218,000; 93 million shares in the United Bank for Africa for N93, 750, 000; Oceanic Bank Plc, N1, 076, 220, 421 worth of shares.
Other acquisitions include 13 million shares in Oando, for N13, 200,000 and another 388 million units of shares in other companies as well as 600 million shares in BGL Plc.

Another company linked to Ibru, Prisky Gold, was allegedly used to purchase 48.8 million shares in Access Bank Plc; 8, 140, 500 shares in Dangote Flour; 12, 480, 000 shares in Dangote Sugar Refinery; 12, 500, 000 shares in Fidelity Bank, 27, 434, 791 shares in First Bank; 25, 316, 400 shares in Japaul Oil; 10, 280,000 shares in Zenith Bank and 200,000,000 shares in Transcorp Plc.

Members of the G15 in Ogun State House of Assembly led by Honourable Tunji Egbetokun have passed a vote of no confidence on the state Governor Gbenga Daniel.

Conducting the legislative function at Oke Terelu Imobi Grammar School, At Abeokuta, Honourable Egbetokun says the decisions taken by his factional members are in the interest of the people of the state.

The sitting which had all the 15 lawmakers in attendance also insisted that House Resolution 167 barring all financial institutions from granting any loans or overdrafts to the State Government was still subsisting.

Moreover the sitting said that it was regarding the alleged Monday sitting of the Group of Nine legislators as not to have taken place and as such all decisions taken at the said meeting� was null and void.

Majority Leader of the House, Mr. Michael� Sewedo Fasinu who spoke with reporters said that the decision of the House to sit was based on precedents because the House had sat twice at the Cultural Centre to deliberate, even with the Governor present were it was proven that the House remain where the mace is placed.

He said �the mace is the authority of the House and when we sat at the Cultural Centre, legal luminaries had pointed out that it was right because anywhere the authority of the House is where the House is. And we have the authentic mace.

�We also decided to sit on our normal plenary days instead of the Monday which they allegedly sat and we took all those decisions and passed a vote of no confidence in Governor Daniel because he was the one behind all these things; we have traced the incident to him; he supplied the policemen who followed them and broke into the House and he has been gallivanting all over the place with Soyemi Coker, his Speaker, in tow.

�Apart from suspending the eight as earlier said, we still want to emphasize that the House resolution 167 barring all banks and financial institutions from granting loans to the state government remain in force and that those who were said to have been cleared as Commissioners and members of the State Independent Electoral Commission [SIEC] have not been cleared by the House.

�We want to emphasize and declare that we consider that there was no sitting on that Monday, because Monday was not our sitting day; we sit only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and we consider it absurd for those people to sit on Monday when we have not suspended the House Rules.

�We decided to declare the seats of Mrs. Oseni and Mr. Solaja vacant because we already have a court judgment upholding their suspension before the joined others to break into the House to and do all that they did and we decided to leave Fasiu Bakenne off the hook because he actually did not participate at the sitting; in fact only eight of them sat on that day.�

The Speaker of the suspended faction, Honourable Tunji Egbetokun when asked why they decided to sit outside the state house of Assembly said they decided to sit at the School because the state house has been locked up by the order of President Goodluck Jonathan and so it is unavailable for the prearranged sitting.

In a swift reaction, the newly sworn-in speaker Yemi Coker in a telephone interview with Channels Television says the G15 members have no right to sit since they have been suspended by the house and that the conduct of the G15 amounts to nullity.
Honourable Coker stressed that they have no right to sit and all legal and acceptable sitting of state legislators are supposed to be done at the Assembly complex.

It has also been reported that another four of the lawmakers also belonging to the Group of 11 who participated at the Monday sitting of the nine legislators that suspended Egbetokun and the others were also suspended for three months.

The former Speaker Mrs. Titi Oseni and Chief Omosanya Solaja whose earlier suspension by the House was lifted by the Group of 9 legislators were dismissed from the House and their seats declared vacant with a directive to the Independent Electoral Commission to conduct bye-elections to fill the seats.

Governor Daniel in a reaction signed by his Commissioner for Information, Mr. Sina Kawonise said �we cannot be responding to such loose talk. Are you not aware of the Supreme Court decision/judgment which states unequivocally that any sitting done outside the House of Assembly is a nullity?�

Those suspended indefinitely are Mr. Soyemi Coker [Speaker] Mr. Ayo Edwards Odugbesan [Deputy Speaker], Mr. Durotolu Bankole and Mr. Oluseyi Moses while those suspended for three months are; Mr. Musa Moroof, Sunday Kojeku, Emmanuel Adegbesan and Salmon Adeleke.

The Nigerian terror suspect, Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab facing life jail offence for trying to blow up a US Delta airliner over Detroit with 300 people on board last Christmas, on Monday, September 13, fired his lawyers.

His arraignment yesterday was just the second court hearing attended by Abdulmutallab since his Friday, January 8 arraignment.

He didn't offer a specific reason for his displeasure with the four-lawyer, publicly financed defence team, but repeatedly declaring he wanted to represent himself, suggesting he's ready to plead guilty to some charges.

U.S. investigators have said Abdulmutallab told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

At a 30-minute court session Monday he told Judge Nancy Edmunds he wanted to defend himself, said Rod Hansen, press officer for the federal district court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Abdulmutallab announced his decision at the beginning of the hearing, prompting Edmunds to summon the Nigerian to the bench, Hansen said.

"She asked him a lot of questions," Hansen said. "She also asked him he had any legal training and if he understood US (law).""He really didn't answer," Hansen added.

"I prefer to represent myself, I don't feel any representation I get would represent me in a way that's in my best interest," Abdulmutallab said.

Edmunds told Abdulmutallab that he was making a mistake, as it was an "unwise" choice but accepted his decision, saying she would appoint him "standby counsel" from the public defender�s office to help him prepare his defence.

Abdulmutallab asked Edmunds during the hearing if it was possible for him to plead guilty to "some" of the charges against him, but the judge told him she was not allowed to offer any legal advice to a defendant in her court.

Just before the court hearing ended, Abdulmutallab said: "If I want to plead guilty to some counts, basically, how would that go?" Edmunds said the stand-by counsel would answer his questions.

Mr. Abdulmutallab, 24, is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as the Amsterdam-to-Detroit plane approached its destination Friday, December 25. Passengers who saw flames pounced on Abdulmutallab, subdued him and forced him to the front of the plane. Authorities say he was trying to set off explosives hidden in his underwear.

It was just the second court hearing attended by Abdulmutallab since his arraignment earlier this year. The judge had planned to set a trial date but changed course on the bench, telling the courtroom the suspect wanted to fire his lawyers.

Edmunds took several minutes to question him about the daunting task of being his own lawyer: Have you studied law? Have you ever represented yourself? Do you know the rules of evidence? Do you realize you face life in prison?

Outside the courtroom, the head of the defence team, Miriam Siefer, said Abdulmutallab has the right to represent himself "and he's exercised that right." She declined further comment. Prosecutors also declined to comment.

He faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted. The son of a prominent Nigerian banker, Abdulmutallab allegedly had explosives stitched into his underwear, which failed to detonate aboard the Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. While the explosive device appeared to have been flawed, the attack was also thwarted by passengers and crew, who tackled and restrained Abdulmutallab before he was escorted off the plane in Detroit.

The foiled bombing triggered global alarm, leading the United States to adopt stringent new screening and security measures at airports around the world. The next court hearing is adjourned to Thursday, October 14.




http://www.channelstv.com/global/news_details.php?nid=22521&cat=Local

WETIN CONCERN ME WITH EUROPEAN MATCHES , SUPER FOUR IS ON IN IJEBU ODE UP EYIMBA,

UP HEARTLAND, UP KANO PILLARS THOSE ARE MY OWN PHEW!!!!!! I KNOW NO CHELSEA OR MAN U

BE PROUD OF YA OWN !!!!!!!!!

José Mourinho is going to sue Mzee Makthub after the Kenyan witchdoctor falsely claimed that the ‘Special One’ consulted him to ask for help to triumph with Real Madrid.

Eládio Paramés, the Portuguese manager’s legal advisor, made the intentions of a lawsuit public on Monday, one day after French news agency AFP released quotes from the witchdoctor, who claimed that whilst Mourinho was in Kenya on holidays, at the beginning of the month, he had consulted him and another three witchdoctors to help him “triumph in his new job”.

The news quickly spread across several newspapers, including Portuguese ones; with Eládio Paramés saying he was disappointed that the media had not even attempted to contact either him or Mourinho to confirm the veracity of the witchdoctor’s claims. “It is one of the most stupid news stories I have read in the past years regarding José Mourinho” said the leagal advisor.

“We have carried out the legal formalities necessary to take the authors and messengers of this stupid news story to court” said Eládio Paramés, adding “Surely the witchdoctor who made the statements, putting Mourinho’s professional dignity and catholic faith in doubt, never imagined how much it will cost him.”


http://www.theportugalnews.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?id=1071-62