₦airaland Forum

nativeSON12345:
Court documents filed by the US Department of Justice in Houston have revealed that Nigeria’s former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke tried to warn Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore, her business partners against lavish spending, including splashing millions of dollars on a yacht.



“If you want to hire a yacht, you lease it for two weeks or whatever. You don’t go and sink funds into it at this time when Nigerian oil and gas sector is under all kinds of watch,” she said to Aluko in a recorded conversation.



But her warning was not heeded as Aluko went on to buy Galactica Star, a luxury yacht, for $80million.



The yacht, a stupendous luxury on water, was once rented by Jay Z and his wife, Beyonce for close to a million dollars during a holiday last year. It also once hosted Beyonce’s 32nd birthday in 2013.



Both Aluko and Omokore are alleged to have paid bribes between 2011 and 2015 to Diezani who ensured that shell companies owned by the businessmen received billion-dollar contracts to sell Nigeria’s crude oil.



The oil swap contracts were a controversial barter arrangement which saw Nigeria use middlemen to sell crude oil in exchange for refined products. With local refineries under-performing, oil swap deals were used to shore up local demand for petroleum products.



Between 2010 and 2014, under Diezani’s watch, Nigeria was estimated to have channeled over 352 million barrels of oil worth a total of $35 billion into oil swap deals.



But with the contracts mostly opaque, Nigeria reportedly lost more than $900 million in crude oil swap deals between 2009 and 2012.



The deals came under severe scrutiny with former Central Bank Governor now Emir Muhammadu Sanusi describing them “not properly structured, monitored and audited.”



President Buhari cancelled the oil swap arrangement in November 2015, seven months after taking office.







The US Justice Department (DOJ) lawsuit has provided more insight into the scale of theft of Nigeria’s oil riches under Diezani Alison-Madueke’s watch.


The civil lawsuit, brought by DOJ’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, is seeking to recover $144 million in assets, including a $50 million luxury condo apartment in New York and the $80 million yacht.



Prosecutors say both assets were proceeds from bribes paid by two Nigerian businessmen for lucrative Nigerian oil contracts. The lawsuit seeks the forfeiture of both assets.



Prosecutors claim that the businessmen, Kolawole Aluko and Olajide Omokore, laundered money through the US by purchasing lavish assets.



The $50 million New York condo is at One57, located opposite Carnegie Hall in midtown Manhattan. The building currently holds the record for the most-expensive residential sale in New York following a $100.5 million apartment purchase in 2014.



Aluko’s $50 million condo is the 8th most expensive in the building, but following a loan default, his mortgage lenders are set to auction the apartment on July 19.



Aluko is also said to have purchased Galactica Star, a $80 million 65-meter yacht which hosted Beyonce’s 32nd birthday bash in 2013.



Aluko’s yacht and penthouse are not the only items under scrutiny by the DOJ.



The government also alleges that Aluko, Omokore and others funded a lavish lifestyle for Alison-Madueke.



According to the allegations, they conspired to purchase millions of dollars in real estate in and around London for Alison-Madueke and her family members, then renovated and furnished these homes with millions of dollars in furniture, artwork and other luxury items purchased at two Houston-area furniture stores at Alison-Madueke’s direction.



According to Financial Times, the two are accused of buying a total of four residential properties in and around London worth 11.45 million, and furnishing them with furniture, artwork and other luxury items.



“In one day in May 2012, Mr. Aluko was said to have wired $461,500 and $262,091 to two furniture stores in Houston from a Swiss bank account, on behalf of Mrs. Alison-Madueke, the civic complaint filed in the court claimed.



In return, the government alleges Alison-Madueke used her influence to direct a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to award Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) to two shell companies created by Aluko and Omokore: Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Ltd. and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Ltd. (the Atlantic Companies).



Under the SAAs, the Atlantic Companies were required to finance the exploration and production operations of eight on-shore oil and gas blocks. In return for financing these operations, the companies expected to receive a portion of the oil and gas produced.



However, according to the complaint, the Atlantic Companies provided only a fraction of the agreed upon financing or, in some instances, failed entirely to provide it.



The companies also failed to meet other obligations under the SAAs, including the payment of $120 million entry fee.



Nevertheless, according to the allegations, the companies were permitted to lift and sell more than $1.5 billion worth of Nigerian crude oil.



The government contends the Atlantic Companies then used a series of shell companies and intermediaries to launder a portion of the total proceeds of these arrangements into and through the U.S.


Source NAN

Mynd44

http://www.eyereport.com.ng/diezani-warned-aluko-about-buying-yatch/

omohayek:
And how exactly will this magical figure get to participate at the presidential level, let alone win, given the serious financial hurdles currently in place (which suits both sides of the APC/PDP duopoly), as well as the near-total disinterest in ideas or policies displayed by the Nigerian populace?

Neither JFK nor Obama would have stood the slightest chance of winning if they'd had to rely entirely on ethnic loyalties on election day, but in both cases they got sufficient numbers of people outside their core supporters to buy into the vision they were selling (which is where Hillary fell short). The problem in Nigeria is that (with the possible exception of MKO Abiola) I have not once seen political candidates successfully transcend the usual tribal and religious voting patterns to win new voters through actual policy proposals, and nothing I see happening in Nigerian life suggests that this is about to change any time soon. The 2019 elections will be decided by the same old factors of ethnicity as before, with Buhari likely to win a second term even if he returns in a vegetative coma, simply because he represents "The North", never mind that they will have nothing concrete to show for the 4 years he's been in office. If Buhari does bow out, then it will be another Northerner taking his place, not because he's the best candidate or most logical choice of successor (in saner climes that would be Osinbajo) but because the northerners believe it's still "their turn". Where in all this insanity do you see reasons for optimism about the emergence of a transformational, visionary leader?

omohayek:
Abolishing "State of Origin" may remove the legal impediments to people from other places participating in local politics, but it won't remove the mental impediments afflicting the majority of the electorate: if people in Ondo South won't vote for someone from Akure, what are the odds they will ever consider someone from Onitsha or Kafanchan? Many of the voters in Osun's recent senatorial elections expressed resentment of Aregbesola's supposed "parachuting" of Lagos residents into local offices, even though the candidates in question actually hailed from Osun themselves, so you can imagine the hell that would break loose if people who aren't even Yoruba (let alone from Osun) were to be appointed in large numbers. I use Osun in this example, but I'm certain the situation is just as bad everywhere else in the country outside Lagos.

The converse to this distaste for non-indegenes in public life is that the possibility of migrant communities thinking their large numbers give them the clout to put forward "their son" for election could also see ethnic tensions increase, as those who consider themselves true "sons of the soil" boil over with rage at the temerity of the newcomers. That's what has been going on in Plateau state, and it's what happened in Lagos with the Ambode/Agbaje election - both the local Yorubas and the Lagos-resident Igbos came to see Agbaje as an "Igbo" candidate, which not only doomed his electoral chances, but also seriously strained Yoruba-Igbo relations in Lagos.

The long and short of it is that I think Nigerians are too firmly attached to their ethnic identities for "State of Origin" to either stand a realistic chance of abolition, or to have a net beneficial effect even if it were somehow abolished. Far more likely is that it would be interpreted in the same way as Ironsi's decree turning Nigeria into a unitary state: as an attempt by Igbos to dominate the host communities in which they reside. I'm not passing a moral judgment here, but simply stating what I think would transpire in the real world.

Vernor:
I love this write up, I have thought alot about it but I may not be able to convince you but I believe the westerners have bad plan 4 us. Let me start by saying i learnt a course while in school Sep001 & 2 . I was inform then that drugs is not too good because of the chemical used in producing it its better to sleep or rest was further informed that which is why most doctors dont use drugs was further informed that drugs will do what its required but will damage parts of the body. Since then i have been weary of drugs . To win anything in life you need God and numbers , the westerners make plan in excess of what they need they sell to us they make most money not more mention anything drugs, comsumables, on computer, phones just name it , their market is here with all d resources at our disposal we will displace them they do everything in their power to surpress any progress give us aids for our thinking to stop using our leaders to reduce budget for education, giving them and their families better treatment to forsake us. Have u taken time to think about hiv aids when they started also ebola its a plot to weaken us at all cost. On the topic of how many have u heard the effect of the so called drugs they give all manners of excuses to say it's just blood or bla bla bla if not for school fees and bad economy I for born at least 5 but school fees but for me and my family family contraceptive is not an option.

kennyblack94:
Mawuna Remarque Koutonin
This Map, anyone could easily verify, tells it all.
Bigger population, higher density of population means development, economical growth.
Look at Africa empty continent.
The only parts of Africa growing economically are those with high density of population.
Africa population growth is the solution, not the problem.
Don't listen to European racist governments which are doing everything to kill more Africans and depopulate further the continent.
Making more baby is the solution.
Don't listen to stupid Africans either.
But careful of Africa DEpopulation NGOs financed by Europeans which are sterilizing in mass girls at schools. Share the information with your family and friends. Ask them to wash the poisonous mosquito nets before using them. Be aware!!

linked:
Improving the practice of family planning curbing rapid population growth in Nigeria requires a comprehensive approach that factor these undying problems:
1. Teenage marriage- 20 % of Nigerian women get marriage by age 15 and subsequently become sexually active. Imagine how many babies they would produce all through their reproductive years. A policy prohibiting early teenage marriage may be the way to go.

2. Lack of Education: Educated people make less babies. Why? because they know the benefits. Basic education that include sexuality education should be compulsory for all.

3. Poverty: Ironically, family planning is believed to help reduce poverty but on the flip side, how would you expect an indigent couple who are unemployed to always spend their pass time??

Although seemily different, these factors are intertwined intertwined.

kennyblack94:
From village to village, from city to city, we are spreading the message to Africans to make more babies.
We are warning them to fear Ngos and our own governments financed by Europeans to erase Africans from Earth.
We are informing them about how Afghans and Pakistanis fought those NGOS.
TALK to your family and friends about black people extermination plans carried by Europeans and their institutions.
If you are Europeans and have friends and families who go to Africa to take part in those racial war, discourage them.
The truth is Africa doesn't need Europe. There are more Europeans living in Africa and off Africa, than Africans living in Europe.
The immigrants crisis in the Mediterranean Sea is a Public relations crisis organized to justify in the eyes of European populations the eugenics, racial policies to be soon carried on.
I know, the message is spreading in our families already but we need to be more active, proactive.
Use any opportunity to inform your friends and families.
Beyond all encourage them to make more babies.
If they have planned only two, empower them to make 4 or 5.
If they have planned four, empower them to make 7.
Population growth is the solution, not the problem. Just ignore your own government propaganda. Be wary of Western financed NGOS.

omohayek:
But how do you reward your lackeys and kinsmen without bloated parastatals in which to give them jobs? How do you pay back your political henchmen without "juicy" public sector appointments where they can gorge on theft?

The problem isn't simply one of a lack of vision, but of a corrupt political elite which has no personal stake in wanting real reform. There's a reason why Buhari - aka "Mr Honest" - has done absolutely nothing to privatize or deregulate anything: because a lot of his fellow elite northerners personally stand to lose out tremendously in a more efficient and profit-driven system, under which simply being "Alhaji XYZ, cousin of ABC from Kano" will no longer suffice as credentials for running big corporations.


They don't care because they know it won't matter. As cynical as it may come across, the truth is that most Nigerians interpret everything they read or hear through the lenses of ethnic and religious sectarianism. All that matters in weighing the arguments a politician makes is where he comes from and how he worships: just look at the relentless abuse Fashola receives from ignorant people who insist Barth Nnaji was so much better, even though Nnaji recommends exactly the same energy policies as the ones Fashola is attempting to implement. No points for guessing what is really going on there ...

The recent Ondo state elections were another case of how the absurd obsession with origin can trump everything. Although a few candidates actually presented political manifestos with concrete plans, nobody paid them the slightest attention, while the eventual winner of the election never even bothered to show up for the pre-election debates, counting (rightly) on his place of origin to carry him through with the "our son" crowd of voters (which is the vast majority in most places outside Lagos).

Nigerian politicians will only start to care about putting together proposals and going on the road to sell them when the Nigerian electorate itself starts to care about such matters.

nyben4eva:
Thanks

omohayek:
A nice idea, one I agree with completely in principle, but also one which stands no realistic chance of ever coming to pass. Without federal allocations, at least 33 out of 36 states would soon have to declare bankruptcy for lack of funds to keep operating. These "states" should never have been created to begin with, but now that they are here, how easy will it be to get all those governors, state legislators, administrative aides and civil servants to agree to the abolition of their government "jobs"? And if most of Nigeria's joke "states" have to go, that also means shrinking the NASS, especially the Senate, which is the last thing that chamber of thieves and rogues will ever go along with.

PrecisionFx:
No one knows the population of Nigeria because u can't count all the animals in a forest...


Imagine that in 1991 census Nigeria's population was pegged at 88 million n by 2011 it was estimated at over 160 million. Pls 20 years is not even up to a generation and yet the Nigerian population doubled in that period.

nyben4eva:
I'll check it out.

Kirigidi:
I was aware of what happened during the last Census [2006]. I heard how many towns and villages inflated their population counts by more than times three [x3] after bribing NPC field officers all in a bid to boost their population figures. Some communities used kernel shell to fake fingerprints. If accurate and fair census should be conducted in Nigeria today, you may be surprised that Nigeria's actual population figure is not more than 100 million people.

omohayek:
My guess is that most Nigerians don't recognize the problem because most of them have never lived under a system in which private property rights have been treated seriously, especially rights to land. That's why it seems normal to them that state governors should get to decide who to hand out certificates of occupancy to, as if they were kings in medieval Europe.

omohayek:
While I agree with Ambode that the Land Use Act needs to go, I strongly disagree with his suggested replacement. Why should the state governors, using the legislatures they control, be given even more freedom to act like mini-dictators?

What needs to replace the Land Use Act is to make clear and easy provision for individuals to acquire perpetual title to land, and to then dispose of said land as they please, whether by sale, gifting it or whatever. It should be made much harder for politicians to interfere with individual property rights except where eminent domain clearly applies, and een then individuals should be entitled to receive fair market value (as assessed by an agency independent from the government) for the land taken from them.

Of course, all of the above is what one would wish for in a sane country whose leaders are actually serious about making the citizens lives better, rather than merely searching for new opportunities to steal. As such I don't expect any governors, senators or house members to come forward in favor of individual land rights.

EmekaBlue:
my ex zambian girl also...thats how she broke my laptop and smashed my phone

kingrt2:
As strange as it my sound its almost normal for women to do that

davillian:
He should have seen those traits before he got married to her.

HungerBAD:
Bros na prayer it does not happen to you. What if she is pregnant and destroys your stuff?you will hit her?

And the hitting of women is something i am against a lot,as i have a lot of younger sisters and any man that hits any one,will have to answer to me one way or the other.

Papiikush:
You should have seen traits before marrying a rabbid dog.

MrsChima:
.It is not the end of the wotld. There are some things your wife can do that the maid can't and vice versa. Do not compare your wife to anyone because if she compare you another man's performance in bed you no fit to smile.

Just focus on the good things about your wife and if you can cook just show her how to cook better. If she is hard headed leave it alone.

Assure her that you love her and that you appreciate her good qualities.

Hmm, maybe u haven't experienced some cultures where families mostly eat outside and its no biggie If d wife can't really cook?
2)Dats cos of my condition, but I don't rally like having maids. I'd probably just 'employ' machines to do some strenbous chores. And its a no no, no maid is going cook my husbands food and especially not for me.

DuchessLily:
Go learn how to cook b4 ur hubby will come here to do a post like OP's (if u r really a female)

Taking care of ur own home is stressful chores for u but not stressful for a maid??

rheether:
The maid must leave that house..

EgusiSoup:
And start eating food without taste? I don't like eating outside.

And my wife has refused to go to a catering school. I'm not happy cos this is the woman I'll live with forever.

Mariecakes:
Send the maid away

rhames:
We are the kings of the African continent.

OAFMods:
How does it operate in the state you came from to Lagos ? Guess the LGA's over there generate it's own revenue n all the civic participation theory bla bla bla.
Remove the log in the eye of your state or shut it.