₦airaland Forum

dumodust:
what is your definition of the term 'technocrat'?
Permanent secretaries sound more like bureaucrats...

HzRF:
If Perm Secs can do perform perfectly why is Minister needed den

D power of Perm Secs is minimal
There are loads of things they can't attend to
Nd who told you Perm Secs are technocrats

ApexTitan:
I share this view point too, government can still function without ministers. Buhari can take all the time he wants.

That statement, however, of waiting till the "rot left by the previous administration is cleared up" could very well end up as a trap for Buhari. It implies that when the ministers are appointed, late August or early September if this report is to be believed, that all would have been set right by Buhari. That means that from that time going forward he and his team will be wholly responsible for any failings or shortcomings Nigeria may experience and that they cannot use GEJ or any other previous administration as an excuse.

The Presidency, through the National Salaries,
Incomes and Wages Commission, has directed
the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University,
Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, to
refund over payment of salaries running into
millions of naira.
The Registrar of the university, David Suowari,
was also directed to refund cumulatively the
sum of N130, 692.71 per month in excess of
his due salary.
The over payments were said to have been
discovered during the commission’s visit to the
institution on May 12, 2015 to carry out an
inspection of FUO’s remuneration practices vis-
a-vis the extant government’s pay policy.
The VC and the registrar were accused of
appropriating certain allowances to themselves
which were not approved by the government.
These concerns were raised in a letter from the
NSIWC to Aluko, signed for the Chairman of the
Commission by the Director of Compensation,
Chike Ogbechie.
The commission said, “The findings of the
inspection in respect of your institution
(Federal University, Otuoke) were as follow:
“The Vice-Chancellor was being paid total
emoluments of N1,970,476.76 monthly,
whereas he should not earn more than
N922,810.23 if he were paid furniture
allowance en bloc earlier, or N1,043,176.79 if
he were being paid furniture allowance.
“Much of the difference was attributed to
certain allowances which were not approved by
the government.”
In the case of the registrar, the commission
said he was being paid N130,692.71 in excess
of his due salary of N502,580.25.
The commission also said the university
disaggregated its staff salaries against the
government’s policy of pay consolidation.
The NSIWC, therefore, directed the university
to stop “the wrongful practices” and comply
with relevant rules and rates.
The commission added, “We hereby direct the
vice-chancellor and the registrar to refund the
cumulative overpayments made to them.
“You are to report to the commission in
writing, your compliance with this directive
within four weeks of this letter.”
It will be recalled that Prof. Mobolaji Aluko
became the Vice-Chancellor of the university in
February 2011.
But reacting to the commission’s position,
Aluko said in a text message to our
correspondent that there was neither
disaggregation of salaries nor overpayment of
salaries.
The vice-chancellor said, “Rather, pension and
health insurance allowances were due to three
of us, Diaspora Vice-Chancellors who are on
Sabbatical from our foreign universities, and
co-paid monthly in naira to us for payment to
those foreign universities.
“Without that concession occurring, our own
local salaries would have been wiped out
completely, and we could not have accepted
the job.”
Aluko wondered why the issue was coming up
in the fifth and final year of their tenure.
“However, the need for accountability is
welcome, and Salaries and Wages Commission
will be fully reconciled to the full facts,” the VC
stated.

chukingchuks:
Mr Holyland, iaf-hear.
shey na you be God's second in command

chukingchuks:
and you forgot to add
1. making more money from students
2. more opportunies to wack fresh hotties

Last Thursday’s free-for-all fight by members of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in
the House of Representatives was a script well
planned and executed.
Saturday Sun gathered that the groundwork
that culminated in the show of shame on the
floor of the Green Chambers started some
days before, soon after the emergence of the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon.
Yakubu Dogara.
Recall that Dogara had emerged against the
decision and popular will of his party leaders,
who had insisted that Femi Gbajabiamila was
the anointed choice of the party to occupy the
number one seat.
Members of the House who were actively
involved in the underground work told
Saturday Sun that series of meetings had been
held, both at the APC secretariat and at
Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja in a bid to
compel the leadership of the House to accept
the official position of the party in the selection
of principal officers of the House.
Saturday Sun further gathered from lawmakers
privy to details of the meetings that the party
had insisted that Gbajabiamila be made the
majority leader of the House.
But Dogara who is bent on checkmating the
growing influence of Gbajabiamila is opposed
to his emergence as leader. His fears are borne
out of claims that Gbajabiamila might use his
position to undermine his office and eventually
stage his eventual removal from office.
“Since the election of the Speaker and his
deputy some weeks back, there have been
series of meetings and consultations between
party leaders and APC members of the House,”
a lawmaker from North-west familiar with the
details of the meetings told Saturday Sun.
Speaking further, he said: “The party had
insisted that certain persons should emerge as
principal officers of the House. But some of the
names the party insisted on did not go down
well with the Speaker, Dogara who insisted that
the offices should go round the geopolitical
zones.
“APC wanted Gbajabiamila as majority leader,
but that decision did not go down well. In the
opinion of the Speaker, Dogara, the South-west
had already produced the deputy speaker and
it was only fair that other regions should be
carried along.
“I have attended all the meetings of APC
lawmakers loyal to Gbajabiamila at the
Transcorp Hotel. They were scared that Dogara
was going to disregard the letter from APC
leaders on who to emerge as leader of the
House. So, they agreed among themselves that
proceedings at Thursday’s sitting will be
disrupted.
“So, it was well-planned, but the Speaker was in
the know all along. He knew they were going to
disrupt the proceedings. That is part of what
happened.”
Meanwhile, members of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) appear to be the main
beneficiaries of the chaos in the House. The
PDP lawmakers who have fully thrown their
weight behind Dogara are bent on maintaining
the status quo.
A PDP lawmaker from the South-south equally
explained to Saturday Sun that with the current
crisis rocking the APC caucus in the House, PDP
stands to gain more.
According to the PDP lawmaker, Dogara will
have to rely on the numerical strength of the
opposition members in order to secure his seat
which is currently under threats from angry
APC lawmakers and leaders of the party.

Only a few undiscerning Nigerians and foreigners would have been surprised by the dissolution,yesterday,of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by President Muhammadu Buhari.

For as long as anyone can remember,the organization has been stumbling from one corruption scandal to the other,the latest being the 2013 allegation by the immediate past Governor of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) and now the Emir of Kano,Alhaji Muhammadu Lamido Sasusi ,that the NNPC failed to remit up to $20 billion to the federation account.

The allegation was to cost him his job at the apex bank even after forensic auditors appointed by the immediate past administration said only $1.4billion should be remitted by the firm.

The NNPC was established on April 1, 1977 following the merger of the then Nigerian National Oil Corporation and the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel with sole responsibility for upstream and downstream developments.

It is also charged with regulating and supervising the oil industry on behalf of the Federal Government.

Eleven years after the birth of the NNPC it was commercialised into 11 strategic business units, covering the entire spectrum of oil industry operations: exploration and production, gas development, refining, distribution, petrochemicals, engineering, and commercial investments.

It manages the joint ventures between the federal government and such foreign multinational corporations like Royal Dutch Shell, Agip, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Texaco (now merged with Chevron).

Through collaboration with these companies, the Nigerian government conducts petroleum exploration and production.

The oil companies appropriate portions of their revenue which is nearly 60% of the revenue generated by the oil industry in this manner,to the government.

With oil as Nigeria’s largest revenue earner,cash flow from the NNPC accounts for 76% of federal government revenue and 40% of the entire country’s GDP.

But in reality,the corporation and many of its subsidiaries have failed in living up to their responsibilities.

Its refineries hardly work with the result that Nigeria relies more on imported fuel .

Thus, scarce foreign exchange is wasted on importing fuel while billions of naira is also paid as ‘subsidy’ to importers.

This mode of business has since been found to be a huge racket on the nation.

Several of such fuel importers are currently standing trial for defrauding the country and Nigerians are not likely to forget in a hurry their recent harrowing experience when the importers refused to do business.

The ‘missing’ $20billion was a major dent on the reputation of the last government even if its key actors refuse to admit it.

Nigerians are angry with the NNPC on account of its operations and alleged corruption.

Most of the misgivings concern the ‘missing’ $20billion and perveived mismanagement and abuse of the Petroleum Support Fund otherwise known as oil subsidy and lack of transparency .

They are clamouring for its removal and probe of those that managed the fund.

With the then President-elect Muhammadu Buhari vowing in April to revisit the ‘missing’ money issue,his anti-corruption reputation,and his vast knowledge of the oil and gas industry,it was to be expected that he would have more than a passing interest in the sector on his assumption of office.

Observers believe that the NNPC dissolution is just a prelude to what is to come from Buhari in the industry.

It should not be a surprise if he orders an inquisition into what is generally perceived as the financial indiscretion of successive administrations in the organization.

He may not even limit the looming probe to the ‘missing’ $20billion.



Nigerians and foreigners are asking questions on other corruption related allegations against NNPC like the over $1million bribes which ABB Vetco Gray, a US company, and its UK subsidiary ABB Vetco Gray UK Ltd, claimed to have paid to officials at NNPC subsidiary NAPIMS in exchange for obtaining confidential bid information and favourable recommendations from Nigerian government agencies; the over $6.3million allegedly paid by another US company Willbros Group Inc, to officials at the NNPC and its subsidiary NAPIMS, in return for assistance in obtaining and retaining contracts for work on the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS);and the allegation by the Swiss Non-governmental advocacy organization – Erklärung von Bern - of heavy fraud surfaced, placing the NNPC under suspicion of siphoning off $6.8 billion in crude oil revenues.

The sacked board headed by the immediate Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke had as members the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Joseph Dawha, Group Executive Director, Finance & Accounts, Mr. Bernard O.N. Otti – Group Executive Director, Corporate Services, Dr. Dan Efebo , Coordinator, Legal Services/ Secretary to the Corporation, Ikechukwu Oguine and other five members : Alhaji Abdullahi Bukar , Mr. Danladi Wadzani, Prof. Olusegun Okunnu , Mr. Danladi Kifasi and Mr. Steven Oronsaye.

The NNPC was scheduled to hold its Group Executive Council meeting on Wednesday but shifted it to the following day.It never happened still.

What followed was the summon of the GMD to the Presidency yesterday to be told of the board dissolution.

1. The couple who got remarried 57 years
after divorce
The couple who got remarried 57 years after
An East Yorkshire couple aged in their 90s have
remarried – 57 years after getting divorced.
Leslie Harper, 93, and Elsie, 90, from Driffield,
first married in 1941 but separated several
years later and both went on to remarry. It was
when the pair lost their partners that Mr
Harper plucked up the courage to get back in
touch with his ex-wife, leading to them
reuniting. Mrs Harper said: “It’s much better
this time. We laugh every day. The couple, who
have one daughter, divorced in 1954. They
blame the pressures of Mr Harper serving in
the war for their marriage breakdown. They
barely saw each other until 2004. Mr Harper
said: “Something in my mind said why don’t you
go and see Elsie”. This led to them reuniting
and they remarried in Bridlington on a
Saturday. Mrs Harper said when they met again
they ‘just clicked as though we’d never been
apart.”
2. The soldier who found out his wife
cheated on him thanks to his Nintendo Wii
The soldier who found out his wife cheated on
A US soldier used the console to discover his
wife had been with another man while he was
serving in Iraq. The soldier, known only as
Tony, claims he caught his partner out by
searching the Wii’s play history on his return.
He arrived back from a year in Iraq to reports
from friends that his wife was seeing someone
else. She claimed she had only kissed this other
man once.
Tony claimed she was cheating on him with a
professional bowler. Tony had the Wii in Iraq
but mailed it back to the US when he was told
he was returning home.
Crucially, when he got back he found there was
a new ‘Mii’ – a character created on the console
by each player – on his Wii. Each Mii is usually
made to resemble the player’s features. As he
went through the characters he saw there was a
Mii that he hadn’t created.
He said the new Mii was ‘strikingly similar’ to
the man his wife was accused of cheating with.
‘I went into the Wii message board and click on
the calendar option,’ explained Tony. ‘Through
this menu I was able to identify the many
nights my wife’s Mii and this other Mii
character played Wii bowling.’
Tony has separated from his wife and filed for
divorce.
3. The husband who left his wife over forced
daily cake eating
The husband who left his wife over forced
A husband has left his wife after she forced
him to eat cake for every meal. Cheng Yu said
he was happy with the sugary treats at first but
now just mentioning the word cake made him
ill. ‘Egg cake, fruit cake, chocolate cake. I felt
like a bakery dustbin,’ he said. The 31-year-old
from Beijing has threatened to divorce Tian
Mae, 27, if she doesn’t stop baking.
4. The woman who divorced her husband
after his mother came on honeymoon
The woman who divorced her husband after
It’s normal for couples to have in-law issues,
but they generally don’t begin on the
honeymoon. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case
for an Italian woman, Marianna, whose husband
brought his mother on their post-nuptial trip to
France. The bride apparently didn’t know that
her new mother-in-law planned to vacation
with them; she simply showed up at the Rome
airport, queued for security, and boarded the
flight with the unhappy couple.
The infuriated newlywed asked her husband to
send his mom home, but the mama’s boy
refused, citing health reasons.
The 36-year-old woman spent three weeks in
France, then requested a divorce because her
husband maintained an “excessive emotional
attachment” to his mother. The couple, from
Rome, got married in a church ceremony last
month after a 12-month romance. Marianna
has since left the marital home for Naples.

5. The Egyptian couple who got divorce by
SMS
The Egyptian couple who got divorce by SMS
A woman from Cairo and her husband, an
Egyptian army officer away on duty, had just
hung up after quarreling on the phone. She
ignored his return call, not wanting to continue
the argument. The electronic chirrup of an
incoming message signaled his response. “I
divorce you,” her husband had written. “That
will teach you not to answer my calls.”
Reconciliation followed, only to be broken by
another quarrel, this one over the woman
asking her family to mediate the couple’s
problems. “I divorce you,” her husband wrote
in another message. “Don’t ask other people to
interfere in our business.”Another
reconciliation. Another argument. And another
declaration of divorce from herhusband, this
time face to face.
Islamic law can make the act of divorce
stunningly simple for men, even if the ensuing
financial settlements often are not. A husband
has only to declare to his wife, “Inti talaq” —
“You are divorced” — three times, and mean it,
to end their marriage.
The couple wants to reconcile, but it’s unclear
whether they’re actually divorced. Herhusband
wants her back, the woman said, but the
religious scholars she consulted tell her she is
divorced in the eyes of God and would be
returning to him out of wedlock. But if she
refuses to return, and the courts rule the text-
message declarations invalid and her marriage
intact, she risks losing her claim to her young
son.
6. The young bride who divorced her 62
older husband because SHE couldn’t keep
up with him
The young bride who divorced her 62 older
It’s not so unusual when we hear that an old,
rich man marries a beautiful woman young
enough to be his granddaughter. What is
unusual is when they divorce because she can’t
keep up with him. That’s what happened to
Kristin Georgi, a 22-year-old blonde who
married 84-year-old lumber magnate Joe
Hardy.
The lavish lifestyle could not overcome the
newlyweds’ incompatibility. Georgi said they
divorced because Hardy’s life was too fast for
her — not because of their difference in age.
The couple announced their divorce in August
2007 and was approved by a judge in April
2008. “Everyone asks, ‘Wasn’t it weird?'” Georgi
said. “It really wasn’t because he was very
young at heart. So, he was very hard for me to
keep up with … When you climb on your own
jet for the 10th time and everything in four
days — Europe was crazy — and we were in
each place for a day and a half. It was a bit too
fast-paced for me,” Georgi said.
Georgi said she left the relationship with some
money, but she believes that size of the
settlement vindicates her. Georgi said the
demands of such a lavish life took her away
from her first love, saying she chose [her son]
Matthew over marriage. ( Source)
7. The woman who filed for divorce because
her husband didn’t want to wear underwear
The woman who filed for divorce because her
A 24-year-old Romanian woman filed for
divorce on the grounds that her
husbandrefuses to wear underwear. Emese
Nagy, who lives in the small village of Lemnia,
had only married her husband Tamas for a
year. Prior to the ceremony she was unaware
of her future husband’s dislike for wearing
underwear. At first Emese said she was not
bothered by her husband’s lack of clothing but
became annoyed when women began to stare
at her husband because they knew of his
curious habit.
In front of a judge Tamas Nagy said he loved
his wife and he didn’t want a divorce. ‘But I am
not going to wear underwear at all even if she’s
going to divorce me. Underwear simply makes
me feel very uncomfortable,’ he added.
8. The wife who divorced husband for
defecating in pots
The wife who divorced husband for defecating
A Nigerian woman has demanded a divorce
from her husband who would defecate in their
cooking pots after drinking. Oluwakele
Ogundele told a court that her
husbandOluwafemi was a drunkard who
abandoned all toilet etiquette and relieved
himself on her plates and pots.
Ms Ogundele said she no longer loved her
husband and he failed to provide for the family
as well as increasing the dishes workrate. Mr
Ogundele denied the alcohol allegations but
admitted the love was lost.
9. The woman who divorced her husband
after he lost her over a bet
The woman who divorced her husband after he
A Russian man lost his wife in a game of cards
after putting her up as a stake instead of cash.
Andrei Karpov from Murmansk had run out of
money in a game of poker and offered his
opponent his wife instead of cash to stay in the
game. When he lost the game and his opponent
Sergey Brodov turned up to claim his winnings,
his wife Tatiana was so angry she decided to
divorce her husband and started a relationship
with Brodov.
She has since married Brodov, and said she
does not regret leaving her first husband. She
said: ‘It was humiliating and I was utterly
ashamed. But as soon as my ex-husbanddid
that I knew I had to leave him. ‘Sergey was a
very handsome, charming man and I am very
happy with him, even if he did “win” me in a
poker game.’
10. The man who divorced his wife because
she wanted too much sex
The man who divorced his wife because she
A desperate Turkish man living in Germany has
turned to the police for protection from his
insatiable wife’s constant demands for sex,
authorities said. The man came to his local
police station in southwestern Germany on
Tuesday saying that he had been sleeping on
the sofa for the past four years to escape the
clutches of his wife of 18 years and mother of
their two children.
“Now he has decided to get a divorce and to
move out… in the hope of finally getting some
rest, particularly as he is anxious to arrive at
work well rested,” police said in a statement.
“At the moment this is impossible because he
says his wife keeps coming into the living room
demanding that he perform his marital duties.
He asked for police help in getting some sleep
at night.”

1. The criminals who fell asleep at the scene
The criminals who fell asleep at the scene
Unless you’re a mattress tester, you should
never fall asleep on the job. That’s particularly
true if the job in question involves breaking
the law.
There are a surprisingly high number of
criminals are found sleeping in houses they
broke into. Actor Robert Downey Jr. made his
longtime drug addiction even more
embarrassingly public on July 16, 1996, by
accidentally falling asleep in his Malibu
neighbor’s house — in a child’s bed, no less,
and there are a few lesser known examples:
• Mark Smith snuck past a homeowner while
she was ironing, and was discovered hours later
when she saw his legs sticking out from under
her bed. When the cops arrived, they found the
criminal passed out and were unable rouse him
from his drug-induced slumber.
• Dion Davis grabbed a bag of jewelry from his
victim’s house before passing out right on the
bed with his stolen goodies beside him. He
didn’t even wake up even when the maid
discovered him or when the police arrived and
started taking pictures.
2. The felon who forgot to flush
The felon who forgot to flush
Forgetting to flush the toilet after you go
number two isn’t just bad etiquette, it’s also a
great way to leave a DNA sample behind.
Charles Williams should have learned better
manners because leaving the toilet unflushed
in a home where he stole $1,000 worth of
property was precisely what got him caught.
The sample was almost lost when the family
returned to the home and the children made
the discovery – they flushed the toilet before
police arrived. However, Williams also left used
toilet paper (where, we don’t know) and police
were able to use that to get a DNA sample.
3. The theives who were too lazy to take
their trash with them
The theives who were too lazy to take their
If you ever break into someone’s home
(probably not a good idea to begin with) and
help yourself to something to drink, you might
want to take the container with you, or at least
throw it away. Just don’t leave it behind, lest
the police are able to track you through your
DNA. Take it from 33-year-old Ryan Bohnert.
Bohnert did just that when he and another
suspect broke into into a home in southeast
Oregon and took over $10,000 worth of
jewelry, silver bars, collectable coins and
electronics.
While investigating the crime scene, police
discovered an empty orange juice carton on
the premises and matched DNA left on the
container with known suspects in the FBI
database. While one of the suspects was still
being investigated, Bohnert was already in
custody, facing charges for another break in.
Needless to say, additional charges were filed
against Bohnert and the DNA evidence will be
added to the case against him.
4. The robber who phoned in his robbery
The robber who phoned in his robbery
Takeout is a staple of the lazy person’s diet, but
you can’t apply that same concept to robbing a
bank. Albert Bailey didn’t want to sit and wait
for bank tellers to bag up the money during his
robbery, so he called the branch ahead, saying
“I want $100,000 in large bills and no dye
packs. I will be sending someone into the bank
to get the money. Don’t call the police, we are
monitoring the police scanner. Do you
understand?”
Unsurprisingly, the bank employees
immediately called 911, but before they could
lock the doors, Bailey’s 16 year-old delivery
boy arrived to pick up the cash.
He grabbed about $900 and walked to a
condominium parking lot, where Bailey was
waiting in a car. Police arrived just in time to
arrest the pair before they started to drive
away.
5. The criminal who was too lazy to log out of
Facebook
The criminal who was too lazy to log out of
Photo by Christoph Aigner (Photo Source)
Many of us neglect to log out of our social
media profiles when we’re at home and it’s
easy enough to forget to log out even when
you’re at a friend’s house. But when you’re in a
stranger’s home, you probably shouldn’t be
checking Facebook in the first place.
If you intend to lead a life of crime and can’t
break your social media habit long enough to
commit said crime, at least remember to log
out and turn off the computer so your profile
isn’t easily accessible to the victim and the
police.
Thief Nick Wigg did just this, and was caught
when the victim, James Wood, recognized him
from his Facebook profile. Wigg was even
wearing clothes he stole from Wood in his
profile picture! Believe it or not, at least three
other crimes have been solved this way, so
maybe criminals should consider not using
Facebook if they’re too forgetful to log off
while committing a crime.
6. The thieves who painted their masks on
with magic marker
The thieves who painted their masks on with
Making a disguise to hide your identity during a
crime is pretty easy. You can put pantyhose on
your head, cut a few holes in a pillowcase or
even just wear a ski mask. Even if you don’t
have anything handy, you can find something to
make a mask from at just about any
convenience store. With so many inventive
ways to hide your face, you have to be pretty
lazy to simply grab a magic marker, draw all
over your face and say “good enough.” Also,
like Matthew Allan McNelly and Joey Lee
Miller, you have to be really stupid.
The pair broke into a stranger’s apartment with
these “masks,” and were pulled over after
police were alerted. When officers spotted the
criminals and their marker-covered faces, they
not only knew they had the right men -they
also had a good laugh. “I’ve been chief here
almost 25 years, been with the department
28½ years and I’ve seen a lot of things that
make me laugh and weird things, but this was
probably the best combination of the two –
strangely weird and hilariously funny all at the
same time,” said police chief Jeff Cayler.

7. The counterfeiter who was too lazy to
make more than one bill
The counterfeiter who was too lazy to make
Counterfeiting money is hard and no one wants
to have to carry around dozens of bills, so to
save some effort, Michael Fuller decided to
just counterfeit one really big bill – a one
million dollar bill to be exact.
Not surprisingly, when he tried to use it to buy
$476 worth of goods at Walmart, the cashiers
called the police while Fuller sat around waiting
for his change. He was charged with attempting
to obtain property by false pretense and
uttering a forged instrument.
8. The bank robber who was too lazy to find
a real weapon
The bank robber who was too lazy to find a
Granted, not every robber can get a hold of a
gun, but most banks are still more than willing
to hand over their money even if you pass
them a threatening note. That’s why it’s beyond
preposterous to simply grab a plunger and use
it to rob a bank like Lawrence Deptola did. Of
course, tellers are trained to always give up
their cash in order to minimize their risk
during a robbery, but Deptola’s idea to just
grab the first thing he could find led to the cops
being called pretty much immediately,
resulting in his arrest only a few minutes later.

9. The man who shot down mistletoe with a
12-gauge
The man who shot down mistletoe with a
In this particular case, the only thing criminal
was the man’s laziness. Using scissors and
climbing a tree to cut down a little mistletoe
isn’t a crime, though trying to shoot it down
with a shotgun outside of your local mall is
another matter entirely.
“I decided to go around the house to the mall.
There is a tree around there with a lot of
mistletoe. It’s not at the mall it is actually on
the fence line. I went over there with the
shotgun, took one shot, shot the mistletoe
down and put the gun back in the car and
gathered it up,” said Robinson. His efforts may
have earned him a kiss back home, but the
police rewarded him with an arrest and two
misdemeanor charges for reckless conduct and
firing a weapon on property of others.

BeeBeeOoh:
S is for SPACE..

Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High
Court, Abuja yesterday ordered the sack of
Emeka Godwin Idu, a Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) member of House of Representatives
representing Onitsha North/South Federal
Constituency of Anambra State.
The judge also ordered the cancellation of the
Certificate of Return issued him (Idu) by the
Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC).
Justice Ademola was ruling in a suit by Lynda
Chuba-Okadigbo, who challenged the decision
of the party to substitute her name after being
accepted by the party’s National Working
Committee (NWC), with that of Idu.
Chuba-Ikpeazu had filed the suit on March 18,
2015, seeking among others to set aside the
party’s decision.
The PDP, INEC, the National Working
Committee of the PDP and Idu were
defendants in the suit. But INEC did not file any
defence.
Justice Ademola held that the substitution of
Chuba-Ikpeazu was wrong because it did not
confirm with the requirement under the law.
He held that legitimate substitution could only
occur where the original candidate voluntarily
withdraw or where he/she dies.
Justice Ademola ordered the Speaker and the
Clerk of the National Assembly to swear in
Chuba-Ikpeazu as replacement for Idu
immediately.
The judge, who held that the plaintiff’s suit
succeeds, granted all the prayers sought by the
plaintiff.
He held that the substitution of her name with
that of Idu violated sections 31(2)(j) and 50 of
the PDP constitution; sections 31(1)(2) and 33
of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended); section
222(c)of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria and Article 25 (xii) of the
Electoral Guidelines for Primary Elections,
2014 of the PDP.
He dismissed the contention of Idu’s lawyer
Alex Izinyon (SAN) that the court had no
jurisdiction over the case since it was a pre-
election matter that could only be entertained
by a state High Court.
Justice Ademola granted four ancillary orders
“to meet the justice of the case and give effect
to the court’s judgment.
“The plaintiff, Honourable Lynda Chuba-
Ikpeazu, is hereby declared as the 1st
defendant’s (PDP’s) candidate for the House of
Representatives with regard to the Onitsha
North/South Federal Constituency.
“It is also declared that the plaintiff,
Honourable Lynda Chuba-Ikpeazu, is the
honourable member representing Onitsha
North/South Federal Constituency in the
Federal House of Representatives for this
session.
“The 4th defendant, Godwin Emeka Idu, is
ordered to vacate that seat in the Federal
House of Representatives whilst the certificate
of return issued to him is hereby cancelled.
“The 2nd defendant, INEC, is hereby ordered to
issue certificate of return to Honourable the
rightful member representing Onitsha North/
South in the House of Representatives.
“Finally, the Honourable Speaker of the House
of Representatives and the Clerk of the
National Assembly are ordered to swear in
Honourable Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu as member
representing Onitsha North/South Federal
Constituency in the Federal House of
Representatives forthwith,” the judge said.

BARRING unforeseen circumstances, drastic
and sweeping changes are imminent in the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), Nigerian Tribune has learnt.
Sources in the NNPC revealed that some
powerful forces close to the corridors of power
had submitted a proposal for the restructuring
of the corporation to President Muhammadu
Buhari for immediate implementation.
In the proposed arrangement, eight key
northerners, mainly from the North-West and
North-East geo-political zones, had been
penciled in for the proposed new structure,
leaving out the four other zones in the country,
Nigerian Tribune learnt.

The development is already creating ripples
within and outside the NNPC, just as sources
said some top members of the corporation, as
well as stakeholders, were unhappy with the
proposal.

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune indicated that
in the proposed new structure, key positions
such as Group Executive Directors (GED) and
other strategic ones, which include that of the
Group Managing Director (GMD) of the
Pipelines and Products Marketing Company
(PPMC), as well as the position of the Managing
Director and Group General Manager for the
Crude Oil Marketers Division (COMD), have
been zoned to the North, leaving out the oil
producing zones.

Nigerian Tribune also gathered that some
powerful forces that included a new governor
in one of the core states in the North were
believed to be leading in lobbying President
Buhari to approve the new structure.
In the proposed structure, Dr. M.K. Baru from
Bauchi, a former Group General Manager of
NAPIMS, one of the subsidiaries of the NNPC, is
believed to have been penciled in for the
position of Group Managing Director of the
corporation, while Alhaji Sa’adi Farouk, who
hails from Sokoto State in another proposed
structure, is to be made the GMD, same as Isa
Mohammed Inuwa, whose background is in
Accounting and currently the Deputy Managing
Director/Chief Executive Office of Nigeria LNG
Limited.

Inuwa, who is from Kano, had worked at the
NNPC for over eight years and held various
posts that included Group General Manager,
Corporate Audit, General Manager, Budget and
Projects, General Manager Finance, NAPIMS.
With the proposed structure, qualified
contenders from other zones of the country for
the GMD position had been shut out, sources
said.

An oil expert from the South-South zone, Oscar
Oti Abuam, told the Nigerian Tribune that the
proposal did not take into cognisance the
complex nature of the Nigerian state,
particularly when considered against the
backdrop that oil is mainly from the South-
South.

“Nigerians voted for change, irrespective of
religion and or ethnic background. NNPC
remains the cash cow for sustaining the
economy and any attempt to implement such
will affect the economy terribly,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Association of Crude Workers
of Nigeria, has alleged that the new proposal
was nothing short of marginalisation.

According to it, the proposal negated President
Buhari’s campaign promises, one of which was
inclusivity in his administration.
It, therefore, called on the president to quash
the proposal.

Abuja — Contrary to denial by the Presidency
that operatives of the Department of State
Services were not ordered out of the villa,
Vanguard can authoritatively reveal that the
Aide-de-Camp, ADC, to the President has
formally informed the DSS that its personnel
would no longer provide close body protection
for the President as they are being replaced
with men of the Nigerian Army and Police
personnel “who were trained as Presidential
Bodyguards.”

It will be recalled that Vanguard reported,
yesterday, that ADC to the President, Lt. Col
Abubakar Lawal, ordered personnel of the DSS
out of the villa and replaced them with men of
the Nigerian Army.

However, Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina said:
“President Muhammadu Buhari has given no
such order. While it is true that a
reorganization of security at the Presidential
Villa which involves the realignment of
personnel from various services is underway,
the exercise does not translate to the expulsion
of DSS personnel from the premises in any
way. The changes being made are routine
adjustments which are not unexpected in any
dynamic environment from time to time.”
But in a memo sighted by Vanguard, written by
the President’s ADC, he stated that DSS
personnel have been withdrawn from close
body protection of the President and are being
replaced by members of the Nigerian Army
and the Police, adding that he was acting
“sequel to directives.”

7 areas to be taken over

The memo listed about seven areas which the
military and the police are to take over from
the DSS operatives “with immediate effect.”
Some of the areas listed in the memo which
are no-go area for men of the DSS were Admin
reception/passage; Service Chiefs gate;
residence reception, office reception among
others.

It, however, noted that “personnel of the DSS
in conjunction with other security forces are to
man other duty beats/locations within the
immediate outer perimeter of the Presidential
Villa.”

From 1999 till the recent incidenct where DSS
operatives were ordered out of the villa, it was
the service that provided close body protection
and manned sensitive positions within the villa
while soldiers and the police manned the outer
perimeter of the State House.

Already, the memo appears to have come into
effect as only a handful of DSS operatives were
seen at the outer perimeter of the Presidential
Villa as military men in mufti,yesterday, took
over all the other positions inside the
Presidential Villa.

From the Administration reception gate, where
visitors are first screened before they get into
the main villa building to the council chambers
gate, there were no officers of the Department
of State Services as only soldiers in mufti were
seen in those places.

Also, within the residence and the office of the
President, the DSS body guards who were
usually at the gate and the entrance were
absent as they were replaced by men of the
Nigerian Army who were, however, in mufti.
Some few officers of the DSS were, however,
seen under trees discussing in hushed tones as
they awaited further directives from their
superior officers.

It was learnt that senior officers of the DSS,
including the CSO to the President, were trying
to resolve the matter amicably.

donphilopus:
baddoo... You go sabi manoeuvre those stuffs sha!!! I go just kuku rest my back for that their twins!!

donphilopus:
Hahaha. . .Guy e dey sweet o. . Na then we go cum dey push unnecessarily even when we no suppose.

donphilopus:
That guy dey tap current. The man dey make me remember those days wey I dey go climb Comrade boss for school instead of say make I board bike cos of the CURRENT wey I go tap in the process of boarding.

E dey sweet those days sha!!! Kudos man!!! you tap the stuff sweet me!!

attoskoly:
I thought your campaign mantra was 'change' how come you are proud of following the footsteps of pdp? Change only for the name?