₦airaland Forum

I am from Nnewi. Cletus Ibeto is from Nnewi. Chikason is from Nnewi. Goodis is from Nnewi. Innocent is from Nnewi. I know my people can over trade and mismatch funds but we’ve never had record of stealing and not paying debt. I am doing this with my own brother from the same place who knows our welfare system where we support one another. I told Ifeanyi that I have heard so many bad things about him but your name is Ifeanyichukwu and my name is Madabuchukwu ‘man is not God’. All these people who are saying bad things about you, I want them to take back their words. Do not let me down. I thought I was talking to a human being but I didn’t know I was speaking to a beast incarnate and I am sorry to use these words. Anybody who has a soul would not do what Ifeanyi has done to me. I met this guy at the worst time of his life and gave him a lifeline. People go to church and pray for breakthrough and if you have this kind of breakthrough God has done one of the biggest things he will do in your life. If it was that exchange rate that went against him, you would not hear this story. If the vessel caught fire you would hear this story because there would be clear misfortune which people meet in business that you can relate to but this is a clear case of theft. Now he cannot tell the bank or the police where this cargo is and he cannot pay the money he owes.

Which means he didn’t bring the goods, but how did he cash the LC?
What we understood is that the manufacturer delivered the goods to the vessel owner. He connived with the vessel owner and that is why we have also gone to court against the vessel owner because the goods that were handed to the vessel owner was paid in a Capital Oil Jetty of Nigeria cheque to be discharged in a certain tank. That vessel owner has a responsibility to us based on the Bill of Laden. So the supplier really shipped the goods but Ifeanyi in connivance with the vessel owner sold the goods offshore and it never arrived at its contracted destination and that is why we have a case against the vessel owner.

Were these not early red flags that would have warned you to beware of him...?
Frankly, my emotion led me rather than my reasoning. I would say I fell for this because I felt truthfully that this guy cannot be this terrible. In fact, one of the remarks I heard somebody say is that, this is Fred Ajudua, Anajemba and Nwude put together. I felt that it was impossible for one person to have the attributes of these three people. I was optimistic that something good could come out of Ifeanyi and I decided that I would manage him and that he would be my responsibility. I would enter into partnership with him under Coscharis and Capital Oil. So they proposed a credit and usually our charter in the bank is that if a credit director has interest, the director will not be involved. Incidentally I was the chairman of the credit committee. So one day Okey called me. The board sat and turned down the loan, saying that they don’t want to deal with Ifeanyi Ubah. I said if they don’t want to deal with Ifeanyi Ubah not withstanding that I am involved, then I need additional funding in my account to fund 30,000 metric tonnes of PMS which is about $30 million. They said they could avail me the facility. So the board met under normal terms and approved the facility under Coscharis Motors Limited. The papers were prepared and I signed. I have never signed receiving any loan, but in this case, I signed. So I asked the bank’s board members why were they afraid to deal with Ifeanyi? They said because he had gone to AMCON and AMCON will close up with him and I said if that be the case what I would do is that as you open this letter of credit (LC),
I would prepare a document for Ifeanyi to sign that he has sold this consignment to me. We asked him to dedicate a tank where our product would be separated from any other product he may have. Then we would call a manager like a receiving manager from an inspection agency. So we hired an inspection agency called Vibrant Venture to make the transaction responsible. The agreement was that when the LC is opened, Ifeanyi would nominate a vessel, inform Vibrant Venture, which will go with the vessel to offshore Cotonou to load the goods and bring the goods to the dedicated tank. As Ifeanyi pays us money, the bank would release the product to him and the payment of the facility (tank) will be from the proceeds of the product. So we started and opened the first LC and all this agreement we tidied up. I told them that even though I borrowed on a negative pledge, I would want Ifeanyi Ubah to prepare a document so that he should be my guarantor since the bank didn’t want to loan him the money. I want him to now be my guarantor so that if anything goes wrong, the bank can also go after him. So he signed as my guarantor. I became the primary obligor and he is guaranteeing me. It is important I make this point that I took him primarily to the bank to help him as my kid brother. I have unlimited resources that I do not need. I am not a greedy man. I live a humble life. I have no big programme. Three of my children are American citizens but I made all of them go to school in Nigeria here. My children went to UNILAG. My first son studied Economics; my second son also studied Economics. For their post graduate degrees, the first one has gone to UK and did his MBA. It is only for post-graduate that I allow them to travel. I said primarily you are a Nigerian and to be a true Nigerian you have to be indentified in sharing in her shame and in her glory. I go to LUTH for check-up. In fact, two weeks ago, I just finished my medical check-up at LUTH. So I don’t have a big programme. I just came back two days ago and I flew in economy class my ‘boom-boom’ will not stop. I have money to send my children to anywhere in the world to study. My salary slate is over N150 million on monthly basis. So I can live such a crazy lifestyle, but my humble beginning will not allow me. My Christian background and principle will not allow me. If not that, you cannot find a parking space around me. I would drive myself. Nobody drives me when I go to America. On top of that I will still ply motor bike in Lagos tomorrow if I have need to go anywhere and I am running late. I climb on my bike and ride myself. This is normal life for me. I said to myself if the ship of a state is sinking, anybody who could rescue it and does not, history would hold that person responsible. Ifeanyi cried out to me. The bank closed up on him. I saw his assets and I was fascinated and I said this is a money making machine, you just need to give this boy a lifeline. I thought many people misunderstood this guy and all we need to do is to guide him and channel him through the right path. It is also my belief that people who trust you are people who educate you. I felt I can educate this guy, let me place trust on him. I did this principally to help but when it involved taking such huge risk on the transaction in my name, I told Ifeanyi that I would like to share from the profit so that I would not be taking all this risk for nothing. So I asked “what makes you comfortable?” He said he would like to take 60 per cent of the profit and I told the bank to draw an agreement and he signed. I asked him if he could do me a profitability analysis for this transaction. He said from one vessel, one could make between N200 to N250 million. I asked the bank to do a profitability analysis and the bank told me I should put my mind at N150 million because exchange rate could fluctuate. I admitted that it would be an additional income to whatever I am doing.

How long have you been on the Access Bank board?
I have been on the board of Access Bank for many years and I used to own over 25 per cent of the bank before Aig (Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede) and his team came in. So, Ifeanyi asked if I could assist him in getting our bank to borrow him money. I told him that his business is not properly structured and that I cannot see systems and processes in place that will give a bank confidence to borrow him money. I also told him that the A-Z of his company lies on him. I said I run Coscharis and in the last 20 years, I haven’t signed a cheque. I said we are entrepreneurs. We could build businesses but we need to employ managers who understand and have in-depth knowledge of other things to be done. I told him it is inappropriate for his company to depend solely on him especially on decision making – that means nothing gets done unless he’s around – and I asked him, what happens if something happens to him or he could not be found?

He said thiings would be different because he could bring someone who would make sure the bank’s money is repaid as soon as the goods are sold. I said I would think about it and I said to him, ‘Ifeanyi look at me straight in my eyes and tell me if I assist you will you not let me down?’. He said if I assisted him he would not let me down. I also made him to promise me that if he gets the loan he would not embark on any capital project. After his promise I assured him that I would assist him in getting the loan. I then took Ifeanyi to Access Bank and called Aig-Imoukhuede and Herbert Nwigwe and introduced him to them as my kid brother and I pleaded with them to avail him some facility to be able to do business. Aig looked at me and asked if I knew Ifeanyi? I said I know him; he is Ifeanyi Uba of Capital Oil. Aig insisted that I did not know him. I said on my honour. Aig said I should not take any photograph with Ifeanyi, adding that if I’m taking pictures, I should not let him feature in it. Okey Nwosu said until he ends his career in banking, nothing would make him consider Ifeanyi as his client. So we left and I told Ifeanyi that there are so many uncomplimentary remarks about him. I asked him what led him to this? He admitted making some mistakes in the past and that he was a changed person. So I invited Aig to Ifeanyi’s jetty and tank farm but Aig refused to show up. I did everything to persuade him but he refused to go there. I invited Herbert; Herbert said he would not honour the invitation. They did not come and I felt if they had come to see his place, they would be more convinced and change their minds. Then Ifeanyi told me that some Yoruba competitors who have interest in the bank were among those ganging up against him.

What advice did you then give him?
I told him maybe you have mismatched your funds like taking short-term funds for a long-term project. I said if I were him, I would sell whatever assets I can, strip and pay my debts. There was no need to hold on to assets while the interest is building up. ‘Pay your debt and start all over again,’ I advised him. He said that there was one company Acadia, which was interested in buying his company for $200 million. And I said sell it. It is not easy to find people who buy other people’s business and if you really found a buyer, my candid advice was that he could sell it even if it is just N2 million it left him with. I said I had started a business once and things went down for me and I carried scales, and people laughed at me. But I told them don’t laugh at me as it was premature. Watch and see what happens in five years. And I always tell people, what happens inside you is more important than what happens to you. If the spirit in you doesn’t sink you, then you can start all over and learn from your mistakes. He said okay, but asked if I could come and see his place. I said okay I’ll think about it, later I told my wife and asked her to go with me. To be very honest, I was very fascinated by the things I saw at his facility because that was my first time there. Then he took me in a boat to show me his truck jetty and drove me all around these places and told me he was making over N1 billion on a monthly basis from the three boats that berth at his jetty, and that he was the only person that had a place where three vessels could berth. He climbed up the first floor and showed me the back of the place and told me that many of the well known big players used only one jetty but he had three jetties. Then he played tribal politics by saying that all the Yoruba people had ganged up against him to kill him because they were not happy that he, an Igbo man, could come to Lagos to own this waterfront and that was why they were ganging up against him to try to destroy his business. Then I asked him, what was really the issue? He said that actually the Managing Director of Union Bank at the time, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, used to be his consultant and that he paid her to help turn around his company. And like a doctor-patient relationship he opened up to Funke because he had to give her facts so she would be able to work. So Funke got all the facts about his company, the weaknesses and the position of the company. Then, during the banking system restructuring, Funke was now appointed to run Union Bank and the bank was already trying to extend some credit facilities to him. But Funke went and blocked it, and not only did she block it, she sent someone who he thought was also coming to restructure his credit but he turned out to be a receiver to come and take over his assets for the money he owed Union Bank. I asked how much he owed Union bank, to which he responded, N40 billion. Then I enquired to know what he had done with this money? He said he was building structures while other people where trading and there was no money he owed that he could not pay back, adding that if I looked I could see three people from NNPC and others bringing vessels here. He added that when he took this money, he did not see the bank restructuring coming. So I asked to know what exactly he wanted from me. He said he wanted to start trading and asked if I could assist him.

Having said that, now to your question: four years ago, when I had my 50th birthday celebration, one guy that I can call my kid brother, because we are from the same place, and he is much younger than I am, Ifeanyi Ubah, attended. Before then, I had met him once on a flight coming from Abuja. I was in Business Class and he sat by me and introduced himself but given that he is much younger, we never really had anything to do with each other and we were not in the same kind of business like Ibeto, Gabroson, Innocent, and all of those. These are people who grew up with me and we know each other. I never really met him or had anything to do with him. I only just heard about him in passing. So, I didn’t take him seriously or call him. During my 50th birthday, he attended, but just like many other people, during my book launch, I never still met him one-on-one because I was on the high table and he just waved and left. Last year, around May, I think, I was sitting on this table (pointing at the table in his office) and my phone rang and it was him. He said he needed to see me but I said that I was busy and asked why he wanted to see me. He said he had some difficulties he would like to share with me and needed my counseling. I encouraged him to go ahead that I was listening. He said that he was indebted to Union Bank of Nigeria and they are trying to close in on him and he didn’t know what to do.

For the past 38 years he has operated quietly behind the scenes, only visible in the press when absolutely necessary and in that space of time, he has built the Coscharis brand from an upstart with little or no capital into a colossus with tentacles spread across major auto luxury brands – Range Rover, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, etc. And with a reputation that opens doors and access to mega funds both locally and internationally, Cosmas Maduka was on a roll.

According to him, it took hard work, sweat and focused determination, in the process, riding through rough times with a dogged tenacity to get to the very pinnacle of business success. Maduka appeared to have all going for him until one bright summer morning when fate chanced a meeting between him and Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, chief executive and founder of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited in an aircraft. It is not unlikely that he will curse that day forever going by what he knows now. It set the stage for the biggest mistake of his business life. As is often the case with that element called trust, one party is left bruised and bloodied while the other party has run away with the loot.

Maduka is a wounded man right now having been dealt a fatal blow by his own kinsman, he calls his ‘kid brother’, Ifeanyi Ubah. It is a business deal between them that has gone sour and a usually careful Maduka is left holding the short end of the stick.

The contrast between the two principal actors in this unfolding saga in age and lifestyle couldn’t be more stark. While Maduka, who is in his 50s lives an austere and modest lifestyle unimpressed by the grandeur of riches, Ubah, who just turned 41, is fascinated by the grandeur of wealth and lives an ostentatious lifestyle with the full trappings of money and power – private jets, luxury cars, multi-million dollar homes scattered across the big cities of the world, lavish parties, etc, are all prefixes to his name.

It is like a fairy tale, a well scripted Hollywood movie that will make Anajemba and Emmanuel Nwude’s celebrated fleecing of a Brazilian Bank, Banco Noroeste of Brazil, between 1995-1998 of $242 million look a like child’s play. Only this time, all the dramatis personae are Nigerians including the bank. It is indeed a riveting story of trust and betrayal. Shaka Momodu and Davidson Iriekpen interviewed him at his Mazza Mazza office on how the business deal was struck and how it went from promise to bust. Excerpts:

Give us the genesis of your business relationship with Ifeanyi Ubah of Capital Oil?

I am sure you know who I am and what I do for a living. I run Coscharis Group, which is a company I nurtured from ground zero. I understand what credit is all about. I know what supplier credit is all about. I built an unprecedented credit standing in this country. Worldwide all my suppliers deal with me on a negative pledge open account including Ford, BMW, Land Rover and Jaguar. I don’t pledge anything for them to ship consignments to me. I sell and pay between forty and seventy days - it is not something I picked on the streets, I worked for it. That was my life’s ambition to get to a point where I could somehow be independent. This very good credit standing that I built got to a point that the American government guaranteed my goods coming here. Everything I buy from America is on credit. No other Nigerian company had got that. That is to say the Sovereign Nation Guarantee – that the US EXIM Bank will pay my suppliers in the US. Usually they will give you this guarantee if a local bank co-signs but nobody co-signed my own. They used Coscharis as a pet child in exhibitions in South Africa and the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. I am the highest single buyer creditor with the US EXIM Bank and attained this for over 10 years. They have used Coscharis as a model on how you can grow your business using US EXIM Bank facilities.

afam4eva: If it was in communist china, both Alameseigha, James Ibori and the owner of the newspaper that published the birthday message would all have been shot in the eye.

I think we should include this in our constitution. This surly defeat the Goliath called Corruption

"That is surely a failed effort at rewriting Ijaw and Bayelsa history. The only footprints of Alamieyesigha are those traced to huge loots found in the UK, US and South Africa.

"Those are lies and it is sad that the liar is a state governor, which means he is probably doing exactly what Alamieyesigha did and landed him in jail."

"That is terrible indeed and criminal."

"Terrible is an understatement. What does the advert tell you about Bayelsa State?"

"The advert confirms Bayelsa as a state in the hands of thieves, criminals and crooks."

"I cannot imagine a state that was looted by a former governor who subsequently went to jail for his crimes and now the same state is congratulating the convicted criminal for looting and stealing well done! What is Nigeria turning into?"

"It is turning into a den of thieves, a space where thieves and looters are celebrated and rewarded for their looting spree. Remember that was the state where Goodluck began his unenviable career as a collector of gifts and grime."

"I learned that Goodluck's sidekick and errand boy Oronto Douglas has been keeping a room at The Hilton Hotel in Abuja for years - according to the recent edition of The Economist."

"Oronto is in the service of his master right there - doing business, meeting fronts, facilitating contracts, arranging deals, and generally grabbing envelopes and pilling up the loot."

"I can see Oronto is a very busy man indeed."

"And he's got a sidekick of his own as well - Ken Wiwa, the son of the Ogoni hero, Kenule Saro-Wiwa."

"Saro-wiwa's son is an Oronto sidekick; the young man is in with the thieves? What could he be doing with scoundrels, scammers and rascals?"

"You will have to ask him that question directly."

"I am disappointed in the young man."

"But you are not disappointed in the older men who are leading a mean, massive, and ruthless looting, and they are collecting all the honours and national titles available as bonus?"

"They represent the new national culture which has come to accept looting and scamming the nation as a new strategy and a way of life. Welcome to the new Nigeria where thieves represent the common denominator by which the new national ethos are measured."

"What more can I say? Welcome to the land where looting is a way of life and federally sanctioned culture."

"Welcome to Goodluck's Nigeria."

"Goodluck, the Commander-in-Thief!"

"He called Alamieyesigha his brother and said 'I join your numerous well-wishers to thank the good God who kept you alive despite the vicissitudes of life - the lies and ill-treatment - that came your way just because of crass and debilitating politics,' and on and on he went."

"Ibori said all that in his birthday message?"

"He did. He said much more."

"How could a thief so deceive himself like that? But who is to blame for the change in the circumstances of Alamieyesigha if not the man himself, the man who looted the treasury of Bayelsa State?"

"Ibori does not share your view; for him, it was all lies and falsehood, and the imprisonment of Alamieyesigha was 'ill-treatment.'"

"I have always said it that the thieves never accept their culpability; it is others, it is always other people except the man who stole and looted. I am sure this stupid, daft view of Ibori is shared by Alamieyesigha."

"Maybe the Metropolitan police were also playing politics when they found nearly £1million cash in Alamieyesigha's London home and £1.8 million in cash and bank accounts in the UK, or the Americans were also playing politics when they executed a forfeiture order that was granted by a federal district judge in Massachusetts in June 2012?"

"Where did Alamieyesigha get all that money from, his cocoa farm?"

"From the treasury of Bayelsa State of course, and he hid hundreds of millions of naira in the bank accounts of his children in various banks around Yenagoa."

"But it was not just Ibori who spent money and took full pages in newspapers to congratulate the ex-convict DSP Alamieyesigha."

"You mean some others people also send congratulatory messages to Alamieyesigha? Who are they? Are they also in the band of thieves?"

"Take it easy and let me take one question at a time."

"Who are the other people who congratulated Alamieyesigha?"

"The people whose money he stole and whose treasury he looted - they also congratulated him!"

"You mean the Ijaw National Union congratulated him as well?"

"I mean the Bayelsa State government on behalf of the poor and desperate people of the state took up full pages in newspapers to congratulate their former governor for his service."

"What service? That must be service to self during Alamieyesigha's loot-and-go years. But who approved such a shameful decision to congratulate a thief? A state government congratulating a convicted criminal and thief! What a shame."

"That is the wisdom of your leaders for you. I suspect the congratulatory message must be with the approval of Goodluck, their father who loot in Abuja. I know Seriki is a terrific errand boy of Goodluck, the one who came with a bag loaded with bad luck."

"Who is Seriki? Could that be the governor of Bayelsa State? Don't tell me the advert was with the blessing of the governor?"

"Henry Seriki Dickson, you are right, is the governor. He approved the advert and even put his seal of approval - his photograph - on the congratulatory adverts. He referred to Alamieyesigha variously as a leader with "unwavering commitment to the cause of the Ijaw nation," with "footprints" that "are well etched", and added something about Alamieyesigha's "commitment, untiring and selfless leadership of Ijaw people."

I just can't believe what I am seeing."

"What happened and what exactly are you seeing?"

"A thief, a convicted looter, who is in jail as we speak, has just sent a congratulatory birthday message in Nigerian newspapers to another thief, looter and ex-convict!"

"Who are these people and when did this happen, where? I hope not in our Nigeria."

"Where else will it happen? Where else are looters and thieves worshiped and given national honours if not in your rotten Nigeria? And this just happened."

"I am shocked and angry, but tell me who these rogues are. I want to know who they are."

"One was a thief and looter who got caught by the London Metropolitan police just a few years back, he escaped to Nigeria dressed like a woman but eventually ended up in jail after he was tried and convicted of looting Bayelsa State to the tune of nearly 20 billion naira. He is the one being congratulated and wished well on his birthday."

"Oh, I know him! His name is Diepreye Solomon Peter (DSP) Alamieyesigha. Is the guy still parading himself around the Nigerian nation as a Big Man?"

"All the thieves and looters in your Nigeria are Big Men until they cross the Atlantic and their true image is revealed and exposed."

"And who is the other looter and thief who is congratulating Alamieyesigha?"

"Who else but the recently convicted former governor of Delta State who is currently serving his sentence at the Worcestershire Long Lartin Prison, a maximum security prison outside London."

"You mean James Ibori, a convicted felon, thief and money launderer who was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a London Court after he was extradited from the United Arab Emirates is the one congratulating Alamieyesigha from his prison cell in Worcestershire? Shame has departed Nigeria for sane lands."

"Shame has no place in Nigeria. Only cash is respected and honoured in your Nigeria, which is why a man whose wife Theresa Nkoyo Ibori, his sister Christine Ibori-Ibie, his mistress Udoamaka Okoronkwo and his lawyer Bhadresh Gohil are all in jail as accomplices in his criminal case is able and bold enough to celebrate another thief and looter."

"So James Ibori who is in jail bought space in a newspaper to congratulate Alamieyesigha on his birthday?"

"Ibori bought a full page in two national newspapers, Vanguard and The nation (Friday edition) and paid over a million naira for the adverts that were in colour."

"Ibori still have some money starched and hidden away?"

"That is the way of thieves and looters and Ibori is not different, probably even worse than the field."

"But what did he say in his congratulatory message to his fellow thief and looter?"

1. Stable Electricity supply by 2013
2. EFCC has enough evidence to prosecute corrupt politicians.
3. PDP will be in power for the next 60years

FRSC just confirmed that a fully loaded BRT bus just fell into the Lagos Lagoon Few Hrs Ago.

Freiburger: But these are supposed to be basic facts.

.
But are they?

"Fellow Nigeria"

I have been wondering for quite some time now over some statements that have been forced into our belief system which eventually we have found to be a blatant lie.
could it be the condition of our country that made these statements false or its universally false.

some of those statements are:
1. Bail is free
2. Police is your friend
3. Youths are the leader of tomorrow.
More are coming

Fellow niaraladers could you be kind enough to furnish us some of those lies you have been told.

I thinks it was the government that bowed to political marketers pressure and not ribadu.
Government want NNPC to be probed and the same Govern elected Oresanya and Etti as board members of NNPC. how do we expect a genuine report.

I tire for this Government

THE last may not have been heard in the controversy tailing the just submitted report by the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force (PRSTF) headed by former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as the Presidency yesterday said that the exercise was bungled by political intrigues and personal interest.

Speaking on the report, Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, at a press conference in Abuja, lamented that President Goodluck Jonathan had become a victim of the well thought-out exercise because of political and personal interests of some individuals.

He noted that since the inauguration of the committee, there had been attempts to discredit the exercise, adding: “Since the setting up of the task force, there have been some form of politically orchestrated insinuations casting on the sincerity and integrity of government’s intention both in the setting up of the committee, process of submission of the report and government’s political will to implement its findings and recommendations.”

He said that the President deserved commendation because it was the first time an attempt was made to beam searchlight on the oil sector.

Okupe stressed: “We are being reckless. We are not helping ourselves. We are helping the country. We are not helping the citizens. We are seeking after cheap popularity that does not help in any way. When you destroy the government, destroy the country, which country can you come back and rule over?”

Expressing concern over the way and manner Nigerians had condemned the action of the Federal Government, he said: “Nigerians, without seeing the report, some people have already taken arms. The thing must be implemented 100 per cent. If you don’t implement it, we are going to strike. Over what? It was a technical committee. It is like I built a house that is beautiful and fine. But one discovers that there are leakages in the roof, water is leaking from the floor; and one brings in technical experts and says this house cost me millions and I don’t want to destroy it. What can I do to rectify it? I am not asking for the plumber who did it. What is his name? How much was he paid? It is when you rectify and restructure the building that it can become useful and habitable.

The Presidency also expressed disappointment over the leakage of the report just as he challenged Ribadu to disclose the identity of the people he alleged tried to influence the outcome of the investigation.

Blaming Ribadu for the cynicism expressed by Nigerians over the exercise, Okupe said: “We are aware that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to a certain extent, advertently or inadvertently but definitely unfortunate, has encouraged this negativism.”

He accused the committee of deviating from its mandate, adding: “One of the terms of reference of the committee mandated it to work with consultants and experts to determine and verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (taxes, royalties, etc.) due and payable to Federal Government of Nigeria. Unfortunately and most regrettably, this paramount duty of the PRSTF committee could not be accomplished as stated in paragraph of the covering letter signed by chairman Ribadu and the secretary of the committee.”

If Nigeria were a university campus, Lagos State would be Faculty of Law.

By Ibrahim Shuaibu

In a rare twist of fate, 171 female pilgrims from Nigeria who set out to fulfil a cardinal pillar of their faith in Saudi Arabia, ended up, first as detainees and then as deportees, to complete an awful trajectory in a quest to be ‘better Muslims.’

They were subjected to harrowing experience by Saudi authorities in their pursuit of performing a religious obligation to their creator.
Saudi Arabia Wednesday deported the 171 female pilgrims who had gone to the Holy Land from Katsina and Taraba States. They all landed at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano from the Medina Airport, all looking dejected and with tales of woes from an unaccomplished mission. They perfectly cut the image of disappointed pilgrims captured by Kwesi Brew in his poem, “Lest We Should Be the Last.”

The pilgrims were deported aboard Max Air aircraft, with registration number 5N MBB at about 4.58pm Wednesday.

They lamented that for three days, they were detained at the Medina airport under discomforting conditions. Their crime is that they failed to show up at the airport with their guardians (husbands or male partners) described as Muharram.

The Saudi immigration law stipulates that female pilgrims coming to Saudi Arabia who are 40 years and below must be accompanied by their husbands or guardians, failing which they will not be cleared by the immigration at the point of entry, even when they have valid entry visas.

Already, posers are being raised on why Saudi Arabia, which had hitherto granted Nigeria the concession to allow its female pilgrims travel without male escorts as long as they are accompanied by officials of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), withdrew the concession to Nigeria.
According to a source familiar with Nigeria’s preparations for the pilgrimage, “I wonder what triggered this development; the male escort requirement has never been an issue all these years.”

When THISDAY spoke to Alhaji Tasiu Umar Malumfashi, husband of three women among those deported, he merely dismissed the rule as “totally embarrassing, shocking not only to me but to the entire family”. After picking up his three wives, he left the airport in a huff.

But the Kano State Executive Secretary of the Pilgrims’ Welfare Board, Alhaji Laminu Rabiu, who also came to the airport to receive the deported pilgrims, described the action as deceitful, since the pilgrims were in Saudi Arabia for the hajj.

About 1,000 Nigerian women in all were detained in Saudi Arabia over their failure to travel with their approved male chaperons.

One of the deported pilgrims, who identified herself as Aishatu Ismail from Taraba State, told reporters that “we have seen hell because the security people in Medina detained us for three days without food and care.

“The Saudi authorities caged us in one open space without allowing us to move an inch, and we were given no food; neither were we allowed to even buy any with our money. As you can see us now, we spent three days without food at the Medina airport.”
She lamented that all through their detention, “No any official of the Federal Government or state came to our rescue. Nobody attended to us in Medina, partly because the security officials over there just caged us and did not allow anybody to come close to us, all because they say we do not have guardians in our intended hajj exercise. We were terribly humiliated by the Saudi authorities.”

However, their ordeal seems not enough to dissuade Ismail and others from performing the hajj exercise in the future.

“I also hope that if the issue is settled between the Nigerian officials and the Saudi authorities, we may likely be going back for the pilgrimage,” she said.

THISDAY gathered that out of the 171 deported pilgrims, Katsina State has 111 members who were later flown to Katsina airport from Kano Wednesday. The Taraba State contingent, numbering 60, were taken to Kano pilgrims’ camp pending the arrival of their state officials who will take them back to Taraba.

Sources at MAKIA told THISDAY that the deported 171 pilgrims had flown to Mecca through the Katsina airport, while the Taraba pilgrims departed through the Yola Airport.

THISDAY observed that most of the deported pilgrims were in tears, as they wore long faces and looked dejected while recounting the horrible experience they had in the hands of the Saudi Arabia authorities.

Tags: News, Nigeria, Featured, Boko Haram, COLLEGE, Borno

gulfer: Is there a war on or a peace keeping mission?

You can ask the British and American forces what they are doing in Afghanistan

A British servicewoman has given birth to a baby boy in Afghanistan having not realised she was pregnant.

"Mother and baby are both in a stable condition," said the Ministry of Defence, following the birth on Tuesday in Camp Bastion, Helmand province, reports the BBC.

The woman, a Royal Artillery gunner who has not been named by the MoD, only learned she was about to give birth after complaining of stomach pains.

The child was conceived before she arrived in Afghanistan in March.

In a statement, the MoD said: "It is not military policy to allow servicewomen to deploy on operations if they are pregnant. In this instance the MoD was unaware of her pregnancy."

A specialist paediatric team from Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital is to fly to Afghanistan in the next few days, the statement added, "in order to provide appropriate care for mother and baby on the flight home".

The baby was born five weeks prematurely.

BBC defence correspondent, Caroline Wyatt said it is the first time that a British soldier has given birth on the front line.

"Though up to 200 servicewomen have been sent home since 2003 from Iraq and Afghanistan when it was discovered they were pregnant," she said.

"Military rules ban pregnant servicewomen from front-line duties, though last year another female British soldier gave birth two weeks after returning from her six-month deployment to Afghanistan.

"This unusual case may well fuel further debate over whether more medical checks are needed before the armed forces deploy women to the front lines."

Tags: News, World, Featured, British Soldier, Baby, Afghanistan

what goes around come around

i have seen the movie and believe me it is a crap movie. The makers of the movie are just been mischievous.
however, this is not a licence for murder.Many people have abused God and no one has raised arms of kill innocent lives.

Muslims should learn to be tolerant and peaceful.
Islam should be a religion of peace.
masalam.

The movie, "Innocence of Muslims," that mocks and insults the Prophet Muhammad caused demonstrators to attack a U.S. consulate in Libya, killing one American, and breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

Angry protests over the film by a U.S. producer, directed and produced by an Israeli-American real-estate developer who characterized it as a political effort to call attention to the hypocrisies of Islam. It has been promoted by Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose burning of Qurans previously sparked deadly riots around the world.

In Benghazi, Libya, several dozen gunmen from an Islamist group, Ansar al Sharia, attacked the consulate with rocket-propelled grenades to protest the film, a deputy interior minister for the Benghazi region told the Al-Jazeera network. A government brigade evacuated the consulate, after which militants set it on fire, said the minister, Wanees Sharef.

One State Department officer was killed in the attack in Benghazi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday night.

Mrs. Clinton said the State Department was working with Libyans to secure the compound and protect Americans in Libya.

To the east, in Cairo, a crowd of some 2,000 people gathered at the Embassy to protest the video. Some of them climbed the embassy walls late Tuesday, pulling down and burning an American flag.

Hours after nightfall, dozens of young men remained standing on top of the embassy walls, shouting into megaphones. One of the youths climbed up the flagpole to hoist a black banner emblazoned with the Muslim profession of faith in white letters—"There is no God but God and Muhammad is His Messenger"—a standard used by hardline Islamist groups throughout the world.

At the Cairo Embassy, Egyptian police had removed demonstrators from the grounds, the State Department said. The Egyptian foreign ministry said that the government bears full responsibility for the protection of foreign embassies on Egyptian soil.

The flashpoint appeared to be the film about the Prophet Muhammad, portions of which in recent days have been circulating on the Internet. Contravening the Islamic prohibition of portraying the prophet, clips from the film show him not only as flesh and blood—but as a homosexual son of undetermined patrimony, who rises to advocate child slavery and extramarital sex, for himself, in the name of religion.

"The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others," Mrs. Clinton said Tuesday night.

"But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind," she said in reference to the attacks.

The film's 52-year-old writer, director and producer, Sam Bacile, said that he wanted to showcase his view of Islam as a hateful religion. "Islam is a cancer," he said in a telephone interview from his home. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie."
Category:

olivertwist: The total cost of building this project in Ekiti is not enough to get a land in Lagos or Abuja not to talk of other factors.

Secondly, the fastest way to develop an area like Ekiti is to establish a world class tertiary institutions. Within few days of opening the school,you will see all sorts of businesses cropping up around the area even if it is in the jungle. Landed properties will appreciate. Within a short period of time, even people from neighbouring african countries that normally travel to Samsung engineering schools in South Korea, Japan, China, Singapore,Malaysia etc will be coming to Ekiti coz of its proximity. In no time, the state will be on the world map & I think the Ekiti state gov knows this.

have u taken your daily dose today? obviously not. because if not you will not be making the statement you are making.Engineering Academy makes ekiti a force to recon with.

Esss: Me neither..

Ekiti State....!! Everytime I think of Ekiti, I can only seem to associate it with poverty, backwardness,child prostitution and child molestation..

.

ITS OBVIOUS U DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT EKITI STATE. SINCE ITS NOT ONITSHA OR ABA ITS NOT ACCEPTABLE. SENSELESS GORILLAS. EKITI STATE IS LEAVING ALL OTHER STATES BEHIND. 10 YERAS FROM NOW GO BACK AND CHECK OUT EKITI STATE.

Goalkeeper Richard Kingson has claimed he rejected a $300,000 offer to throw a match when playing for Ghana at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Kingson, 34, told the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Nigeria that the offer had been made before his team took on Czech Republic in the competition's group stages.

He claimed the bribe was to ensure that the Czechs won 2-0 - but he had rejected it after his wife pleaded with him not to lose his dignity.

Kingson told the church's broadcast channel Emmanuel TV he had "got confused by weighing the options of getting richer by $300,000 after that match, whereas all that I would get in the event of a Ghana victory would be much less - just $3,000".

He explained: "In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, we were about to play Czech Republic. By then they were the second best in the world.

"A Ghanaian led me to some people to take a bribe and it was this woman [his wife] who delivered me and delivered Ghanaians. I was very confused and I didn't know what to do but I called her and told her. My wife said: 'Richard, I love you not because of your money, so don't get tempted by this offer to lose your dignity and credibility.'"

Goals from Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari saw Ghana beat the Czechs 2-0. They went on to qualify for the knockout phase, in which they were beaten 3-0 by Brazil.

Kingson also hit the headlines this week when he used Facebook to post messages denying that his wife was a witch.

The former Blackpool 'keeper wrote "My wife is not a witch" after she had allegedly confessed to a pastor that she had "bewitched" him, throwing his career and life into disarray.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1155048/ex-ghana-keeper-?cc=3888

A DAY after the National Economic Management Team endorsed the bid by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to introduce N5,000 note into circulation, indications are that state governors are not well disposed to the policy.

The governors, who said they were yet to be informed on the plan, affirmed that all that had so far happened was a mere proposal. They added that the decision of the Federal Government’s economic team was not final while the National Economic Council (NEC) would make its position known on the issue at the appropriate time.

Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, who gave an insight into the apparent stance of his colleagues on the policy yesterday in Abuja, said the move was yet to be ratified by NEC. The policy has also received a knock from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), which yesterday advised the CBN not to introduce the N5,000 denomination into the economy.

In defence of its position, ICAN said at a time when the size of government deficit is about 2.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (although within acceptable limit), the intention to spend N40 billion on the exercise appears to be both a waste of scarce public resources and a misplacement of priority.

Set against the benefits, the renowned professional group, ICAN in a statement, said the proposed expenditure, would add little or no value to wealth creation, adding that the subsisting budget deficit, financed largely with domestic borrowing at an unsustainable rate, and therefore crowding out available credits to the economy, can further be reduced by this huge expenditure of N40 billion, if redirected to the funding of infrastructural development.

Suswam, who spoke with journalists after leading a delegation of members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [(PDP) from Benue State to visit the party’s National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, expressed his rejection of the call for state police.

Suswam said the N5,000 note is economically unviable because it will make nonsense of the cash-less economy that is being implemented by the CBN.

“Economically, I do not support that. I am not an economist, I do not know what informed that but quite frankly, that means that the Nigerian naira will be devalued. I do not know how it will address the economic issues that are confronting us. If we are saying that we will present a cash-less society, and in the same vein creating N5,000 note that can make it possible for somebody to carry N10 million in his pocket, I am a bit confused about the rationale. I feel that this should have been addressed at the NEC meeting. We have never discussed it at any point in time and so, I am as confused as the man on the street,” he said.

On state police, Suswam said he had been a vocal voice in the opposition camp because it would lead to anarchy, as some state helmsmen would assume the position of a demigod.

“I am totally opposed to state police. It is a position that I took from day one. If you ask any governor, he knows that I am the only one who has been opposing state police and I have given reasons. Are we mature enough to handle state police? No. As a governor, I would like to have state police but how will I use it? People will just abuse it. I totally support what the President said. So, I am totally opposed to state police and I owe no person any apology for opposing it’’, he stated.

Addressing members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), Suswam said Benue has remained a PDP state and the results of elections since 1999 could prove that. He called on the party to give special consideration to the state during the next board appointments.

Tukur commended them for the visit and assured that the new leadership was poised to returning the party to the people.

ICAN statement signed by its President, Adedoyin Owolabi, said: “In our view, the introduction of N5,000 note will eventually alter the pricing structure of products in the market leading ultimately to the permanent disappearance of the five, 10, 20 and 50 naira notes (and even the proposed new coins) from circulation. The extinction of these smaller denominations will negatively impact the buying capacity and habits of low-income earners and the poor as goods and services will be priced above their levels. Sustained increases in prices may the unintended consequence.

“Also, we strongly advocate that the CBN should work towards strengthening the purchasing power of the naira through policy consistency. The steady slide in the value of the naira in relation to other currencies like the American dollar, British pound sterling as an import-dependent country should be a major source for concern,” he said.

The Action Congress of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter, has condemned the Peoples Democratic Party for allegedly wasting Nigeria’s resources in the past 14 years.

In a statement by the ACN State Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, in Lagos on Wednesday, the party said the PDP should be held responsible for the depletion of the country’s resources.

The ACN said, “PDP is loudly celebrating 14 years of its ruinous reign in Nigeria with mischievous pomp. But the question is: what are Nigerians celebrating the PDP for in these past 14 years?

“For a party that cares about its image, it would have been apt for the PDP to find out who and who is celebrating with it at this very stretch in Nigerian history.

“It would have found out if the last 14 years have left Nigerians better than before its unfortunate advent.”

It claimed the PDP had nothing worth celebrating aside the continuous security instability and degrading standards of living.

The party stated, “We wonder what PDP is thumping its chest about. Is it the chain of unresolved political assassinations that assumed a frightening frenzy in the last 14 years?

“Is it the poverty level that has risen to over 80 per cent in a period Nigeria harvested trillions of naira from oil proceeds?

“Is it the widespread cases of armed robbery, which the government has accepted as a way of life in PDP’s Nigeria?”

The ACN said Nigeria could be compared to war-torn Somalia due to the recent upsurge of kidnappings, robberies, suicide bombings which it claimed commenced under the tutelage of the PDP.

It said Nigerians had learnt their lessons and were ready for a change.

“We want them (PDP) to know that Nigeria has grown weary and tired of its unproductive, corrupt governance and will certainly offload the PDP in 2015,” ACN said.

via Punch

all we need is another minister without vested interest. where can we find one?
i no know o

hello moderator. why did u change my topic

Obiagu1: I really do not care much about what the law says on the issue because it's not a very good law.
Anyway, it gives Nigeria and Nigerians a feel-good moment when Nigeria is sold to foreigners in the name of making good money from everything privatized.

Your comments have really shown that you dont have enough knowledge of how business is been done internationally. for there to be credibility, the The umpire can not be part of the bid. its called ethics of business. its done same way all over the world. it is guided against insider trading.