₦airaland Forum

But GEJ have started sharing his campaign rice in Yoruba towns, what else do yoruba want?

May thunder fire that evil man call Mbadinuju. Thank God Anambra was rescued from his evil plan

The old foolish general should start from declaring his WAEC certificate

Thank God I'm Igbo from Anambra state

theM16:
Hope u get to his age!

Of what use is his foolish old age?
The old age of methuselah has nothing to do with wisdom of Solomon

OBJ is already death in Nigerian politics and he will one day die natural death for Nigerians to have peace

Obasanjo is dying. He will soon get to the stage of confession when he tells us how much he looted.

OBJ has no shame in him. An old fool who slept with his son’s wife can do anything or say any rubbish, your time is up God has taken control of this nation all the wicked people that sold our right will be coming out one after another.

■ Unleash mayhem in communities
■ Hold Fayose responsible- Party

BY WOLE BALOGUN, ADO EKITI

Thugs suspected to be members of both the Peoples’ Demo­cratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) clashed yesterday in Gbonyin and Irepodun/Ifelodun local government areas of Ekiti state leaving blood and de struction on their trail.

APC spokesman in the state, Mr. Taiwo Olatubosun alleged it was the support ers of Governor Ayo Fayose who attacked vehicles of his party’s members, destroying the billboards and posters of its candidates for the March 28 and April 11 general elec tions.

But the state’s commis sioner of police, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu said that what was reported to his office was a case of attack by some yet-to-be identified thugs on the vehicles of some government officials, adding that the po lice have begun investiga tions on the development.

According to a statement by the APC, the thugs armed with guns and machetes stormed Igbemo-Ekiti where they disrupted APC ward meeting. A car belonging to the party’s ward chairman was damaged while several members were attacked in an orgy of violence that lasted several minutes Thursday night.

According to Olatubosun, they came back in the night unleashing worse violence, abducting four members in the process.

“They started their raids from Ijan-Ekiti where they shot sporadically in the air. Residents scampered to safety as thugs went about destroying APC candidates’ billboards and posters.

“After Ijan-Ekiti op eration, they headed for Iluomoba-Ekiti where APC ward meeting was disrupted. Billboards and posters of APC candidates, including the chairs and tables were destroyed before moving to other communities in Gbon yin to unleash violence,” Olatubosun explained.

He added that the thugs returned to Igbemo-Ekiti at night in three Hilux vans backed by policemen shoot ing and destroying the bill boards and posters of APC candidates, including those of Barrister Rotimi Odu, a member of the House of As sembly seeking re-election. They also visited Olatubosun and Odu’s homes.

“It was during their night visit that these men in mili tary uniform abducted Chief Peter Akinsola a.k.a Pitoro, the senior brother of the Ward Chairman, Mr. Olusola Bello, Mr. Olujimi Ogunade, and 22-year-old Adefemi Ojo. Investigation has re­vealed that the abducted men are illegally detained at Fay ose’s task force office along Iyin road Ado Ekiti,” Olatu bosun explained.

He listed PDP members seen working with the thugs as Folorunso, Niran, Ba siru Ajagbemokeferi, Ropo Akosile, Tosin, alias Tosco (a notorious criminal), Dada Fagbolagun and Michael Daramola, who was the Gov ernment House driver who drove the thugs to the town.

Olatubosun added that Ajayi Temisoro was match eted while a pharmaceutical shop belonging to an APC member, Olujimi Ogunade, was destroyed. A high Chief in the town, Chief Tunji Agamogo, the Onisara of Igbemo as well as one Ariyo Afao a brother to Governor Fayose were seen with the thugs encouraging them and pointing to APC members houses.

The APC spokesman called on the security agen cies to intervene to save the lives of abducted members while also urging the police to be even-handed in the current violence being un leashed on APC members by the governor’s thugs.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=104774

babyosisi:
Looks like iseyin is a land of criminals,so many crime stories from that place

Why are these yorobbers now bearing Igbo names
With one is lanre ekwueme again

That one tire me oh. Thank God the criminal confessed where he came from if not........

When did Yoruba people start bearing Ekwueme?

“There is no day when I do not regret my weakness of character,” said a contrite British lawyer in a Houston courtroom. “I allowed myself to accept standards of behavior in a business culture which can never be justified. I accepted the system of corruption that existed in Nigeria. I turned a blind eye to what was happening, and I am guilty of the offenses charged.”

The lawyer, Jeffrey Tesler, was speaking at the end of his 2012 sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to U.S. corruption charges for his role in what became known as the Halliburton Bribery Scandal. A network of secretive banks and offshore tax havens was used to funnel $182 million in bribes to Nigerian officials in exchange for $6 billion in engineering and construction work for an international consortium of companies that included a then Halliburton subsidiary. In 2010 Nigeria indicted former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who was CEO of Halliburton before he was elected, only to later clear him when Halliburton worked out a $35 million settlement.

Leaked records from HSBC, a huge global bank based in London, reveal new details about the bank’s role as a conduit for the bribes — and new details about how Tesler operated. The files, obtained by the French newspaper Le Monde and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, show ties between Tesler and high-ranking Nigerians not previously named publicly in connection with the scandal, raising the possibility of renewed questions about Nigeria’s handling of the affair.

The Halliburton Bribery Scandal dates to 1994 when the Nigerian government launched ambitious plans to build the Bonny Island Natural Liquefied Gas Project.

Tesler was then, in his own words, “a simple lawyer” from North London. He grew from advising U.K.-based Nigerians on property deals to relishing his relationships with successive Nigerian military and civilian governments.

Tesler began planning the bribe payments in 1994 and transferred small amounts of money through Switzerland in July 1996. But by 2003, his role had escalated.

In one brazen episode in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, Tesler directed the drop-off of a travel bag stuffed with $1 million in $100 bills in the foyer of a luxury hotel where the per-night cost of a suite can exceed the nation’s average annual income of $3,000. It was one of at least 20 money transfers that Tesler made or directed. The cash was destined for Nigeria’s ruling party via the state-owned oil and gas company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), according to an official Nigerian report.

Months later, in April 2003, the governing party scored an overwhelming victory in an election marred by vote rigging, fraud and violence that killed at least 100 people.

Switzerland’s famous bank secrecy laws encouraged Tesler to use the country as base for moving bribe money. And HSBC Private Bank (Suisse), with offices near luxury hotels in Geneva and Zurich, was his preferred bank. When U.S. authorities seized 12 of Tesler’s Swiss accounts in 2013, five were with HSBC — more than any other bank.

The files obtained by Le Monde and ICIJ show that nine people, including members of the Tesler family and Nigerian nationals, held a variety of roles with accounts  at HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) between 1990 and 2003 — months before the completion of the gas plant. Nine of the 12 accounts instructed HSBC to keep all correspondence under lock and key in a bank safe.

Despite Tesler being under investigation since 2003, HSBC continued to offer advice, services and cash withdrawals to Tesler and his family, whose accounts with the bank totaled tens of millions of dollars at one point in 2006/2007. HSBC advised the family even though its individual files for Tesler and those close to him include references to “criminal cases” and “the Tesler affair.”

Tesler’s wife, Judy, is named in the files as a beneficial owner and a controlling client of two accounts, one of which was opened in 1999 and at one point in 2006 or 2007 held $35.3 million. The files do not specify her role in relation to a third account. As he did with his wife, Tesler also transferred bribe money into accounts in the names of his daughters, according to U.S. and French prosecutors. One daughter, Laura, then a twenty something  psychology student, according to the leaked files,  became a millionaire — at least on paper — through her beneficial ownership of an account under the name of a Panamanian company that held almost $4 million.

Judy Tesler and her daughters were not charged.

On Jan. 14, 2005 — 15 months after Tesler was first identified during a French corruption investigation — Judy Tesler’s agent instructed HSBC to buy and sell investments worth $380,000. This account was frozen due to ongoing criminal investigations, but HSBC staff waived the sale through. Months later, bank staff met with one of the beneficial owners in London, possibly Judy Tesler, to “review portfolios.”

In April 2005, HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) recorded a visit from “J.T.,” likely to have been Jeffrey Tesler, who collected mail and withdrew more than $10,000 in cash from yet another account.

“If a bank has reason to believe that funds are in any way related to criminal activity, then any transfers in and out of the account should be reported,” Jimmy Gurulé, a professor at Notre Dame University and a former assistant U.S. attorney, said in an interview with ICIJ.

“Banks should not permit their clients to benefit from dirty money,” Gurulé said, adding that the fact the account was later seized by authorities “raises some red flags over why the bank concluded the account wasn’t linked to criminal activity and authorized the sale.”

In response to ICIJ’s questions, an HSBC spokesman said the bank does not comment on specific clients.

“In terms of the personalities and the amount of money involved it is probably the biggest scandal in Nigeria’s history.”

The leaked files reveal that Tesler had financial ties to two former Nigerian officials: now-retired Major General Chris Garuba, chief of staff to former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar who himself allegedly received bribes as president; and Andrew Agom, a senior government official who was killed in an attack on a motorcade. Bank staff also responded to a request from Agom’s widow to unfreeze her husband’s account, whose post was sent to Tesler’s North London law firm and which was marked as subject to criminal investigations into Tesler. The files do not indicate whether or not the account was ultimately unfrozen.

Garuba, a former governor of Northeastern Bauchi state, is now chairman of Obekpa Petroleum, a Nigerian oil company. Before his death, Agom was a board member of the People’s Democratic Party, which controlled the government when this affair unfolded.

Agom was the beneficial owner of an HSBC account linked to a Gibraltar-based company, Hemisphere Services Limited, which held a maximum amount of $797,377 at one point in 2006 or 2007. Africa Confidential magazine previously named a company named Hemisphere Services (Nigeria) as a “recipient of largesse” from Tesler after viewing documents disclosed to the magazine during a French corruption investigation. Agom’s account was opened in 1991, on the same day that an account was opened in the name of former Nigerian Air Force Chief, Abdullahi Dominic Bello. A Nigerian government investigator has previously described Swiss accounts held by Bello as a conduit for “slush funds”. The investigator did not specifically mention HSBC.

A spokesman for Bello told ICIJ that the account, which was used for business purposes and opened by Tesler when he was Bello’s lawyer, had never been used for slush funds or bribes. “At no point has Mr. Bello been charged to any court over the bribery scandal,” said the spokesman, adding that, “it must be a coincidence that Mr. Agom and [Bello’s company] opened an account the same day.”

The HSBC files identify Chris Garuba and his wife Rita as HSBC clients; their names are listed along with Tesler’s in an account named Bridlington Enterprises Limited, for which Tesler acted as an attorney. The files show that the account was opened the year before Tesler sent his first bribe payment to Switzerland, although the files do not show that Tesler transferred money into the Bridlington account, which held as much as $367,547 in 2006 or 2007.

Chris and Rita Garuba did not respond to ICIJ’s requests for comment.

Tesler was sentenced to 21 months in prison and he forfeited $149 million from his Swiss accounts to the U.S. government for serving as the go-between for bribes paid to secure contracts for KBR, the former Halliburton subsidiary, and the other consortium members, the Japanese firm JGC Corporation, Paris-based Technip, as well as Italy’s ENI S.p.A. and its Dutch subsidiary Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V. The forfeited money is still to be paid.

Between 2009 and 2011, the consortium members paid penalties totaling more than $1.5 billion for their role in the bribery scheme. Two KBR officials who had worked with Tesler, Wojciech Chodan and Albert (Jack) Stanley, KBR’s former chairman and CEO, were sentenced to one year of probation and 30 months in prison, respectively.

Cheney had been chairman and chief executive of Halliburton, the parent company of KBR, for five years — from 1995 to 2000 — before becoming U.S. vice-president in 2001.

Cheney’s lawyer has asserted repeatedly that his client was not involved. “The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated that joint venture extensively and found no suggestion of any impropriety by Dick Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton,” attorney Terrence O’Donnell wrote in a 2010 statement to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Tesler, now 66, has served his sentence and returned to England, where he told authorities he would “spend the last few years, which God may graciously grant me, to seek forgiveness.”

Jeffrey Tesler did not respond to ICIJ’s requests for comment.

In Nigeria, anti-corruption campaigners continue to call on authorities to identify and prosecuteNigerian citizens involved in the scandal. While never publicly released, a 2010 Nigerian government document reportedly included three Nigerian presidents, a vice-president, a minister, intelligence chiefs and corporate titans in a list of bribery beneficiaries. The report did not name Garuba or Agom.

“In terms of the personalities and the amount of money involved it is probably the biggest scandal in Nigeria’s history,” Dauda Garuba, Nigeria coordinator at the Natural Resource Governance Institute, said in an interview with ICIJ. (Dauda Garuba has no connection to the Garuba family in HSBC’s files.)

“But although we’ve seen the indictment and conviction of foreign companies and their top executives in Europe and America,” Garuba said, “Nigeria’s own government has not taken action in the very country in which the corruption took place.”
http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/10/investigation-files-open-new-window-182-million-halliburton-bribery-scandal-nigeria

http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/10/investigation-files-open-new-window-182-million-halliburton-bribery-scandal-nigeria
Leaked records from HSBC, a huge global bank based in London, reveal new details about the bank’s role as a conduit for the bribes — and new details about how Tesler operated. The files, obtained by the French newspaper Le Monde and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, show ties between Tesler and high-ranking Nigerians not previously named publicly in connection with the scandal, raising the possibility of renewed questions about Nigeria’s handling of the affair.

That foolish old man should stop talking already

Another reason i must never think twice before casting my vote for GEJ. Little wonder APC made the man who destroyed Nigeria their chief navigator. OBJ is a foolish old man with less or no electoral value

Buhari in a very deep and scary poo. It's obvious Buhari want to contest an election without certificate

At least they will change it to aluminium zing

That's how they get there million vote in the north. Nigeria from the time of lugard is a fraud

The All Progressives Congress has described the “unholy” alliance between the President Goodluck Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party administration, and the Nigerian military hierarchy as the greatest threat to the nation’s democracy.

The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said this at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday.

He explained that recent events which preceded the shift of the date of the general elections from February 14 and 28 by six weeks was a pointer to this fact.

According to him, the hierarchy of the military had been compromised to serve the interest or the personal agenda of President Jonathan.

The APC chairman said it was unheard of anywhere in the world that the military hierarchy would write a joint letter to an independent electoral body in a democracy; to state that it was incapable of providing security for an election.

Odigie-Oyegun said, “The greatest threat to our democracy today is the way the ruling party has compromised the leadership of the Nigerian military to serve the personal agenda of President Jonathan. This is a dangerous game.

“A recent court judgment in Sokoto clearly ruled that the military had no role in the electoral process. What happened with this postponement is that service chiefs simply vetoed a democratic process on the directive of President Jonathan. We know what politicisation is doing to our once proud military institution.

“We are aware that the Presidency has forwarded a secret memo to all commanders of divisions and battalions of the Nigerian Army for a three-day strategy meeting in Kaduna from today (Monday) on how to use the military to intimidate voters in the APC states to rig election in favour of President Jonathan.”

The opposition party also explained that the recent revelations about the role of the military in the Ekiti State elections was a demonstrable proof of how far Jonathan government would go to compromise the military as an institution.

Odigie-Oyegun wondered if it could be that when the service chiefs said they would not have enough personnel to provide security for the elections, “what they are actually saying is that they would not have enough soldiers to intimidate voters in favour of the ruling party if the elections had proceeded as scheduled?”

The party’s national chairman noted that it was the party’s preliminary reaction to the postponement of the 2015 general elections, it noted that the decision taken by the Independent National Electoral Commission had thrown up so many questions which he said would be reviewed by the organs of the party.

He recalled that on the January 22, the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), at Chatham House, London had declared that INEC was not ready for the elections and went ahead to advise the electoral body to postpone the election.

Odigie-Oyegun pointed out that the reason Dasuki gave for his unsolicited advice was that substantial number of registered voters had not collected their Permanent Voter Cards.

He also observed that Dasuki did not say anything about security concern even though Boko Haram was an issue then as it was even now.

“So, at what point did concern over election shift from PVC to security concern?” Odigie-Oyegun asked.

The APC also recalled that when the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, visited on January 25, he wanted a categorical commitment from President Jonathan that the elections would hold as scheduled.

The President, he noted, assured the American envoy that the elections would hold.

“Was it that his security chiefs had not briefed him on the security situation in the country and how this would affect the election timetable at the time he was making this promise?” Odigie-Oyegun wondered.

Odigie-Oyegun equally drew the attention of Nigerians as well as the international community to the fact that on February 2 at the National Peace Committee meeting in Abuja with the representatives of different political parties, the service chiefs gave assurances of their readiness for the elections.

At the occasion, the APC chief said the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh, gave assurances of the Armed Forces preparedness for the elections. Odigie-Oyegun quoted Badeh as saying “even though we are busy in the North-East, we also have capabilities across the nation.”

He added that Badeh also admitted that the role of the military was merely to support the police in providing security during elections.

The APC chief added, “At the same event, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Kenneth Minimah said, ‘We are aware of the need for security, before, during and after the elections. We will deploy across the states of the Federation in areas we discover that have capacity for violence. We are prepared to ensure we have peaceful elections.

“Also speaking at the event, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Adesola Amosun, said, ‘We have commenced the air lift of the materials needed for the elections, starting from Abuja. We will continue with the elections.’”

Oyegun argued that, “The sum total of all these is that only 12 days before the elections and despite the state of insecurity in the North-East, the entire military high command assured the nation of their readiness to provide security for the elections.

“However, only three days later on Friday, February 6, these same service chiefs wrote to INEC a letter, which by all practical purposes could be described as a blackmail, saying that they would no longer be able to provide security for the elections? What happened in those 72 hours that brought about this complete volte face?”

The party accused President Jonathan and the Director of the National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, of deliberately engaging in scare-mongering to cow Nigerians into submission by their conducts and utterances over the state of the nation’s security.

Odigie-Oyegun said the APC as a political party, “wishes to assure Nigerians and friends of Nigeria all over the world that the power of the people is greater than the people in power adding that “these too shall pass and we shall overcome.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-military-alliance-threat-to-democracy-apc/

Buhari is funny. If there is a coup he deserves it. What goes around come around


Buhari, the despot, the truncator of democracies, the usurper of our public trust, is showing his face. We knew that it was only a matter of time.

Listen to this fool of a human been speak of coup; he has remained unapologetic for his role in 1983, the impact it had on our polity and National development, and here he is AGAIN to allude to it 2015. *spits* God forbid.

This is why no sensible Nigeria will support Fulani candidacy. Buhari have not win, yet his fellow cattle rearers have started raping and killing their slaves. May her innocent soul rest in peace

Hope the money will come from his cow business

No hidden place for the wicked. Buhari pullover!

God forbid our ugly junior brother (gayna) winning this trophy.

This one is Ogbeni wonders

There is anxiety in the country as Nigerians wait for the Independent National Electoral Commission to speak on whether it will go ahead with its earlier timetable or pick new dates for the elections.

The earlier dates indicated that the Presidential and National Assembly elections are to be held on February 14 while the governorship and State House of Assembly elections are to follow two weeks later.

Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, is to address a press conference at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja today by 5pm.

The press conference will come up after he must have met with chairmen and secretaries of all registered political parties.

He would also have met with the Resident Electoral Commissioners of all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Some observers believe that the commission is being blackmailed to shift the scheduled dates in order to provide ample time for those who have initiated court cases against the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), to conclude their cases seeking to stop the ex-head of state from contesting the poll.

The cases include those questioning his qualification to the contest the presidential election, and those demanding Buhari’s prosecution on the ground that he allegedly lied under oath as well as forgery.

Details later….
http://www.punchng.com/news/uncertainty-as-jega-decides-polls-date-5pm/

Most of them will end up as touts

I wish Ihejirika were still COAS, Buhari and his BH field commanders would have be in exile today

Buhari will soon complain about multinational joint force killing his northern brothers the same way he complained when Nigeria army under the command of Ihejirika decimating boko haram