₦airaland Forum

“rather than order a pointless probe of his predecessors, he will continue to do his utmost best to build on the solid foundations for national progress laid under previous PDP administrations,” adding

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has no intention of probing ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo despite their widely reported political disagreement.
Speaking this evening through his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Dr. Reuben Abati, President Jonathan dismissed reports in the media about his purported intention to probe the Obasanjo regime as “nonsensical.”
“The Presidency is constrained to state once again that there is notruth whatsoever to rehashed reports in the media today that President Goodluck Jonathan intends to order a probe of the Obasanjo Administration because of the former President’s ‘constant’ criticisms of the Federal Government.
President Jonathan remains fully focused on the urgent tasks of assuring peace, security and stability across the country to create the right conditions for rapid socio-economic development and will not be distracted from this objective by futile attempts to drivea wedge between him and other respected elders and leaders of his party,” Abati said in a statement just issued in Nigeria’s capital,Abuja.
He explained that “the President has nothing but the greatest respect for Chief Obasanjo’s very notable contributions to nationalgrowth and development over many years and far from taking offence or seeking retaliation, will always welcome objective criticism and advice from the very highly-regarded elder statesman.”
The statement explained that “President Jonathan regards his Administration as a continuation of the unbroken chain of PDP-led governments started by Chief Obasanjo in 1999 which have worked tirelessly to entrench democratic governance and achieverapid socio-economic growth in the country.”
It said that “rather than order a pointless probe of his predecessors, he will continue to do his utmost best to build on thesolid foundations for national progress laid under previous PDP administrations,” adding:
“Speculations and suggestions of an impending probe of the Obasanjo Administration by President Jonathan are therefore nonsensical and should be dismissed by all right-thinking Nigerians as the product of the fertile imagination of mischievous political jobbers.”

Sunny_bobo: Park well bro and stop crying more than the bereaved. GEJ till 2019 and David Mark 2019 to 2027

cerebral assain: aw mani men of god ve spoken bout de societal ills

The Rockville, Maryland home of former Bayelsa state governor, Diepreye Alamaieyeseigha has been forfeited to the US government following the approval by a federal judge of the Justice Department’s forfeiture order.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the forfeiture on the$700,000 Rockville, Maryland house was executed Friday after U.SDistrict Judge Roger W. Titus granted the Justice Department’s motion for default judgment against the property. The Justice Department said the house belonged to Diepreye Peter Solomon Alamieyeseigha, who was Bayelsa governor between 1999 and 2005.
According to prosecutors, Alamieyeseigha’s assets were the proceeds of corruption. Alamieyeseigha has previously denied theallegations in court filings. A lawyer for Alamieyeseigha could not be immediately reached for comment.
The forfeiture is part of a fledgling Justice Department initiative dedicated to seeking out assets in the U.S. linked to high-level foreign corruption. Last year, a federal district judge in Massachusetts granted a motion for default judgment and civil forfeiture on a $401,931 Massachusetts brokerage fund that allegedly belonged to Alamieyeseigha.
“Foreign officials who think they can use the United States as a stash-house are sorely mistaken,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said in a news release. “Through the Kleptocracy Initiative, we stand with the victims of foreign official corruption as we seek to forfeit the proceeds of corrupt leaders’ illegal activities.”
A Nigerian court sentenced Alamieyeseigha to two years in prison in 2007 for failing to declare assets in Nigeria, South Africa and the U.S. Prosecutors said he bought more than $8 million in properties with bribes he received from contractors while serving as governor. Alamieyeseigha pleaded guilty to money laundering on behalf of two companies he controlled—Solomon & Peters Ltd. and Alamieyeseigha and Santolina Investment Corp.
Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Alamieyeseigha successor in the state, granted an unconditional pardon to Alamieyeseigha in March, sparking outrage among local media and Jonathan’s political opponents. The pardon didn’t appear to effect the U.S. Justice Department’s efforts.
Alamieyeseigha has been the focus of legal scrutiny in the U.K. In 2006, the High Court of Justice in London found three of Alamieyeseigha’s properties there, as well as accounts held by Santolina, represented bribe money or were traceable to bribes Alamieyeseigha took from contractors in Nigeria. After he was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2005, police found about $1.6 million in cash in his house.
The home in Rockville, a suburb of Washington, D.C., is owned by Solomon & Peters Ltd., a shell company controlled by Alamieyeseigha, according to court papers. The Justice Department and Alamieyeseigha offered drastically different accounts of how the house came to be in his possession.
In previous court filings, Alamieyeseigha had choice words for the U.S. efforts and Nigeria’s political culture.
“I am not unaware of the monkey politics that is played in third world countries like Nigeria with the active connivance of over zealous individuals, agencies and government parastals (sic) touting themselves as global ethics compliance monitors,” he wrote in a 2011 affidavit. “The civil forfeiture action which was brought against the defendant property in a quest to score cheap points as the global watchdog should be dismissed.”
The Justice Department didn’t say where the forfeited funds wouldbe directed. According to the news release, “where possible and appropriate [the Justice Department will] return those corruption proceeds for the benefit of the people of the nations harmed by the corruption.” A Justice Department spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about whether or not the funds would be returned to Nigeria.

By SaharaReporters, New York
Two days after Nigerian security officials discovered a substantial cache of weapons in a depot owned by a Lebanese businessman in Kano, other Lebanese in the town have expressed outrage and pledged to collaborate with Nigerian authorities to identify and arrest any bad elements in their community.
Two days ago, officials of the Joint Task Force had disclosed the discovery of heavy weapons in Kano and the arrest of some Lebanese suspects.
Reacting to the reports, members of the Lebanese community as well as Lebanon’s Consul General declared as false and malicious a report in a Nigerian newspaper that the chairman of the Lebanese community, Tahir Faddalah, was arrested by the JTF.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Faddalah, who owns Tahir Guest Palace,said Lebanese had been known for decades in Nigeria “as peace loving people who are never involved in any kind of crime.”
Mr. Faddalah noted that Lebanese had been living in Nigeria for upward of a century, conducting lawful businesses in a manner mutually beneficial, adding that his people had never been associated with any crimes. He said Lebanese “will never accept, assist or associate with any criminal activities by any group or individual.”
The chairman of the Lebanese community expressed preparedness to cooperate with Nigeria’s security and law enforcement agencies in their efforts to counter any acts of terrorism.
He said the community had full confidence in the capacity of Nigeria’s security agents to uncover all the culprits behind the discovered weapons.
The Lebanese acting consul in Kano, Khalil Musliman, sought to absolve any Lebanese of involvement in the weapons find. He presented a copy of the passport of one of the arrested persons. The document, issued by the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, gave a business permit number of MIA/B 24332/T/403, with the name of business listed as Amfat Nigeria Limited. The owner of the business bore the name of Abdu Hassan Taheer of Sierra Leone.
The acting consul dismissed a report in a Nigerian daily that it was Mr. Faddalah who was arrested. He described the report as a calculated attempt to tarnish Mr. Faddalah’s image, adding that the businessman was contemplating a lawsuit to retrieve his name.

omaigala: Kai! This is a real lie.

1. Why will he drink to stupor because of Amaechi's minute victory?

2. Why will he drink knowing how sensitive the AU meeting was?

Well I might be wrong though, but the above story doesn't seem to add up.

He said the areas where the presidency had fulfilled its promises included the investment in the power sector, road construction, railways, job creation through Subsidy Reinvestment Programmes (SURE-P), among others.

He said the areas where the presidency had fulfilled its promises included the investment in the power sector, road construction, railways, job creation through Subsidy Reinvestment Programmes (SURE-P), among others.
Mr. Maku said this at the SURE-P sensitisation and appraisal visit of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, in Asaba.
He said that the president had demonstrated good leadership qualities and sincerity.
He added that the policies of Mr President were geared towards developing the country by creating opportunities for investment and providing employment for the people, especially the youth.
According to him, it was during Jonathan’s tenure that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew more than that of any country in Africa.
He said the country currently received more foreign investors than any other on the continent, adding that Nigeria by 2025, had been projected to be the richest country on the continent.
The minister gave the assurance that the Federal Government was addressing the issue of power and would be inaugurating some of its power projects before the end of the year.
He also said the ongoing East-West Road project would be completed by the end of 2014.
Mr. Maku said the SURE-P programme alone had impacted on no fewer than 3,000 persons in each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He urged Nigerians to listen to the president’s score card presentation on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) on May 29, as the country marked its Democracy Day.
“The president has done so much and he deserves to be given another chance to complete what he started.
“This is the first time someone from the South-South and a minority has been given a chance to rule this country, we have to give him chance to succeed.
Mr. Maku also appealed to traditional rulers in the south- south zone to pray for the peace and security of the country, adding that security had been a major challenge facing the country in the last few years.
“In the last three years, the country has invested trillions of naira on security, this money could be used for the development of the country.’’
“So, we need to support Mr President and also pray for Nigeria,” he said.
The traditional rulers who were represented by Ovie of Uwvie Kingdom, Emmanuel Ekemojeya, appealed to the Federal Government to create more awareness of SURE-P programme for better result.
Some of the beneficiaries thanked the president and the facilitators of the programme and called for an upward review of the N10,000 stipend paid to them.

3. We hereby therefore elect His Excellency JONAH JANG of PLATEAU STATE as the new Chairman of the Forum.

Signed:

1. Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom)

2. Dankwmbo F. H. (Gombe)

3. H. S. Dickson, Esq. (Bayelsa)

4. Garba Umar (Taraba)

5. Suswam Gabriel (Benue)

6. Mr. Peter Obi (Anambra)

7. Idris I. Wada (Kogi)

8. Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo)

9. Jonah D. Jang (Plateau)

10. Muktar R. Yero (Kaduna)

11. Sullivan I. Chime (Enugu)

Sunny_bobo: Thumbs up to GEJ. This result once again shows that GEJ is the most democratic president we've had since Lord Lugard.

God bless GEJ!