₦airaland Forum

sarrki:
Baba Don talk am say no free money again

We all have to sweat for the money we make now

Sai baba

Emeka Offor, one of Nigeria’s most controversial government contractors, is quite broke now.

Several sources, including employees of his various companies who have not been paid for months, told SaharaReporters that the flamboyant businessman and politician is so cash-strapped that he frequently travels between Abuja and Lagos by road. Mr. Offor used to hire private jets for his trips within and outside Nigeria. But our sources said he has since last year been unable to afford the jets, which cost $6,000 per hour. “In the last two months, Chief Offor has traveled three times by road from Abuja to Lagos,” one source disclosed. He added that the owners of a leased private jet that Mr. Offor used to travel in confiscated the aircraft because the businessman could not pay accumulated lease fees.

According to our sources, Mr. Offor still has enough personal funds to afford to make local first class flights in Nigeria, but has chosen the road option for fear that people may wonder what has become of his private jet if they see him on commercial planes.

“We do not know how things have become so hard for Sir E,” said a relative of the businessman who hails from Oraifite community in Anambra State. The relative added that Mr. Offor’s father died last February, but has yet to be buried because of the businessman’s financial crisis. “Sir E’s father’s remains have been in the mortuary in Ekwusigo Local Government Area for the past seven months because Sir E wants to give him a high profile burial which he cannot afford right now. He gets very hostile whenever we the relatives ask him when the old man’s burial will take place.”

SaharaReporters learned that Mr. Offor’s companies in Abuja have for one year been under lock and key because of the severe business challenges. Several disenchanted employees told our correspondent disclosed that Mr. Offor stopped paying their salaries shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in May 2015.

Mr. Offor, who for 16 years relished his media image as a top financier of the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), raked in huge government contracts in the power, petroleum and communications sectors. A source at the Presidency told SaharaReporters that the businessman had made several attempts to have an audience with President Buhari, without success. The source said Mr. Buhari was aware of the controversies surrounding how Mr. Offor made his fortune, adding that the president was not eager to associate with “Aso Rock contractors,” a reference to businessmen who used their ties to those in power to accumulate obscene wealth. Our source said Mr. Offor was one of the numerous contracts during the 16-year reign of the PDP who got paid for little or no work done in an era when the economy was vandalized.

Our Presidency disclosed that Emeka Offor had approached several individuals to help arrange a meeting with President Buhari. Among those Mr. Offor asked for help are President Buhari’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari; the director general of the Department of State Security, Lawan Musa Daura, who hails from the same town as Buhari; the Emir of Daura, Faruk Umar Faruk; and the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmuminu Kabir Usman.

One of Mr Offor’s associates claimed that the businessman gave several brand new cars to the emirs as public relations gifts to facilitate the meeting. An Igbo auto dealer, who supplied the cars, is accusing Emeka Offor of tricking him into releasing 12 vehicles without upfront payment.

In the 1990s, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had blacklisted Offor’s company, ANCHOFF Strongholds Ltd, in line with the recommendation by a panel led by the late Aret Adams, regarded as the most respected NNPC chief executive ever. The company was blacklisted following its shoddy performance on a controversial turnaround maintenance (TAM) contract awarded to it for the 115,000 barrels per day Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company in Delta State.

Yet, in 2014, the Goodluck Jonathan administration secretly awarded Mr. Offor’s Chrome Energy the turn around maintenance (TAM) contract for both the Old 60,000 bpd Port Harcourt Refinery and the 150,000 bpd New Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State for an undisclosed amount. The New Port Harcourt Refinery TAM contract had in 1997, during the Sani Abacha dictatorship, been given to Offor and his Romanian partners with large sums of money paid. The refinery has, however, been the worse for it, as it has since gone comatose.

The Romanian partners subsequently sued Mr. Offor for not paying them, but the judgment has yet to be executed for curious reasons.

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, in an interview published on Monday August 3, 2015 by Premium Times, lamented the controversial refinery job and other contracts in the Nigerian industry awarded to Offor’s companies. Mr. Obasanjo also x-rays the contracts in his newest book, My Watch, which was published last year.

“Work began on the two Port Harcourt refineries given to Offor's Chrome to do the turn-around maintenance only after Buhari won the presidential election,” a source in the NNPC told our correspondent. He added that Chrome “abandoned the work no sooner than it was resumed.”

An associate of Mr. Offor said the businessman’s hope of generating income in the foreseeable future is the Anambra State government, which has just awarded his firm a road contract. According to this source, Governor Willie Obiano gave the contract in a bid to secure Mr. Offor’s endorsement for a second term in next year’s gubernatorial election in the state. “If it were in those days when Sir Emeka Offor was swimming in money, he would not have considered doing a state government contract,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Offor’s financial woes seem to have given his Oraifite people the courage to protest against him. The businessman likes to be addressed as “Sir,” a title he started using after becoming a knight of the Anglican Church. However, SaharaReporters learned that the Anglican Church recently deleted his name from the roll of knights of the faith, citing his polygamous status. On January 3, 2014, Mr. Offor married his third wife, Adaora Ufondu, who hails from his Oraifite hometown at a lavish ceremony where expensive musicians like Flavor and P-Square played. His second wife, Joy Offor, hails from Orodo in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State while the first, Nkiru Emoke, is from Otulu in Oru West Local Government Area, also in Imo State. Mr. Offor’s knighthood was withdrawn after some prominent Anglicans from Oraifite questioned how a church that upholds monogamous marriage would honor a man with several wives.

Several sources told our correspondent that Offor would soon face legal trouble from some of his townsmen who were arrested by the police when Mohammed D. Abubakar was the inspector general. Offor apparently asked the former police chief to detain the townsmen for months in the same cells as kidnappers, armed robbers and other hardened criminals because the men had personal disagreements with the businessman. “Chief Offor’s victims are now taking steps to sue both him and the police authorities for human rights abuses,” a lawyer told our correspondent. The men considering a lawsuit against Offor are led by Bonny Okonkwo, a South African-based businessman who was arrested in his home in Lagos in the early hours of July 17, 2013, handcuffed and bundled into the boot of a vehicle and driven all the way to Abuja where he was kept in solitary confinement until Magistrate Dahiru of the Federal Capital ordered his release on August 23, 2013, describing his persecution as dehumanizing. The police charged Okonkwo with merely writing an article insulting Offor in a village online newspaper when the case was taken to court following the insistence of Okonkwo’s lawyer, Sam Ogala, from the chambers of Femi Falana, a leading human rights activist and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

SaharaReporters learned that, despite being rebuffed so far by President Buhari, Mr. Offor has not given up on the idea of getting close to the president. One step Offor quietly took was to join the ruling APC. He has also asked his business partners, including ex-Senate President Ken Nnamani, to join the APC. Mr. Nnamani serves as chairman of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, a deal Mr. Offor acquired in a most controversial manner on November 1, 2013, during the Jonathan administration.

A member of Mr. Offor’s extended family said he and other relatives have different concerns. “All we want is for Sir E. to give a decent burial to his father, who was a father to so many. Sir E. is the head of our family because he is the eldest in the family, but he must not continue to give the world a false impression of his wealth. Everyone knows the country is in an economic mess right now. The earlier our father is buried, the better for all of us. Unless our father is buried, none of us can face our business squarely”.

EzeNri:
Am always impressed with ur analysis. U are an intelligent fellow.

Many states have no business being a state. Let just revert to regionalism, where the ethnic groups identified by language similarities form the federating units. Let the Hausa/fulanis, Kanuris, Tiv, Igala, Idoma, Yorubas, Igbos, Ijaws, Efik, Isokos, Urhrobos, Ïtsekiris, Annags, Ibibios, Ogonis, kalabaris form the federating units. To deal with the issue of majority and minority dichotomy, the total number of votes u pulled in an election does not matter, but rather the person that wins the largest number of regions. For instance, if an Igboman wins in the SE with 1billion votes and one Alhaji wins NW (Hausa/Fulani) with just 10 votes, both are counted as just one vote. The NASS will have just 1 chamber (unicameralism) where each region no matter the population will send equally number of parliamentarians while the Regional Parliaments having 2 chambers.

The regions can be divided into provinces governed by an elected Mayor.

I luv a country where majority and minority dichotomy is withered away. This country was systematically skewed to promote flawlessly that dichotomy. A dichotomy that had over the years favour an unproductive section of the country. The funniest thing is that, that section had produced the largest number of Heads of State, looted the highest amount from the treasury, boast of the largest population (largest market) yet wallows in poverty. I think it is time we implement this model or related model and separate the swimmers from the sailors. Believe me, the swimmers will learn to become sailors by force.

Aren't u tired of the type of federation we operate.

EzeNri:
Comparative Analysis by Regions

SE= 180.6 (7.2%)
SW= 565.8 (22.6%)
SS= 868.4 (35%)
NE= 212.6 (8.5%)
NW= 270.3 (10.8%)
NC= 272.3 (10.9%)

Note: FCT was excluded

Verdict: the SE is the best in fiscal management. Their GDP can comfortably service the debt without much strain on their economy.

The SW has a large GDP capable of servicing the debt, but they should expect some strain on the economy, which if properly managed will not adversely affect their economy. With the number of professionals in the region, this will not be a problem. It would av been better if buck of those debt were expended on capital project.

The SS have succeeded in mortgaging the future of their generation. With an economy entirely dependent on the volatile oil market, and a workforce dependent on other regions (SE and SS) for skilled and semi skilled labour, and with an informal sector operated by other regions especially the SE, am afraid the debts aint sustainable. I pity for their unborn generation.

The NC, NE and NW were moderate with their debts because of their low GDP. Higher debt would have been an economic suicide for regions that had known nothing but poverty, security crisis. Inspite of their low debts, the SS possesses mch potential than the 3 regions joined together.

Kayfra, what do you think?

HtwoOw:
In that case RIP

Rest in Prison

temptnow:
Don't be surprise , Buhari is killing yorubbers thinking he is killing ijaws cos the media call them ijaw militant

Curlieweed:
Op should stop mixing his weed with magic mushrooms. Not a good combination.

Emulate me and smoke only pure weed to avoid embarrassing your ancestors with these kinds of displays.

timisco1:
I laff, is like u don't know this ijaw militants, d only ones u can kill can Neva exceed 5, i know what am saying, their god of war "egbesu" can only betray them if they contrary to its rules, i hav encountered them ones in d creek in bayelsa state.

if ur brother is an army or better still a navy officer that have encountered these guys in d creek, jus buy him a cool beer, mayb three or four, and ask him of his experience with those guys... Belief me, wen he must have finished tellin u things about them (the ijaws) u go close this thread...

experience is the best teacher, get a taste of them bfor u start making comments...

EzeNri:
Steam engine is an external combustion system. The rushing steam into the cylinder is what moves the piston.

But what am talking abt is internal combustion. Water is converted into an inflamable gas a spark plug ignites. The burning gas in a combustion chamber expands, thereby pushing down the piston. You knw steam is not combustible, it can't burn. Rather you convert it into form that can be ignited by a spark plug.

I know about steam engine. Am not talking abt the shouting, smoking giant dinosaur. Am talking abt an internal combustion system.

EzeNri:
it is a classified research, so don't expect me to be elaborate.

To drive an engine with water, we try to mimic a petrol engine. You know petrol is able to power an engine becos it is volatile, it evaporates at any temporate. This gas is then collected in a chamber where it is combusted under pressure. The expansion of the gas is what pushes the piston down, to a mechanical movement.

So to simulate this with water, then you have to convert water to gas. The question now is, is it possible to convert water into gas? Yeah. We converted water into 2 different gases. Luckily for us, one of the gas was combustible. So we combusted the two gases under great pressure, and luckily for us again, it expanded. This expansion can push down a piston to 180%. But the challenge now is, how do we get the other 180% degree? We were working on that when the programme was shut down.

Believe me, one day, engine will run on water. I'll be mch happier if we can generate electricity from it. To me, it will be easier to generate electricity from water than using it to propel an automobile. But how mch electricity in MW can it generate. That is what I don't know.

EzeNri:
Am not talking about ionic liquid. Am talking abt an entirely new process.

EzeNri:
Am not even talking about fusion and am not also talking abt the sea water hydrogen isotope. Am talking abt a different nuclear reaction.

Yeah, talking abt using water as a fuel. You are right. But am not talking abt that 'cause it aint combustible. But you can convert water to a combustible form. Then can generate thermal energy from there. You don't even need nuclear reaction to achieve this.

Bro you can generate thermal energy from water. It is a fact. Using either nuclear reaction or the process above.

Do you know how hydrocarbon engine works?
You put petrol into the engine. Petrol is volatile when exposed. It evaporates at any given temperature. The evaporated gas is combusted in a combustion chamber when a plug is sparked. You know when gas is combusted, it expands. So this combustion will cause the evaporated combusting gas to expand thereby causing the piston to a mechanical movement. Am aware u know all this 'cause u are a mechanical engineer. But do u know water can satisfy the same scenario pointed above?

Anything is possible bro. Don't underrate ur mind.

boman2014:
perfect!

Where are all the IPOD that say they will join the militants when the military engage them.

Oyah make una pack una kalashi go join them naa.

Abeg make una no forget to the "agitation" upload them for nairaland and youtube

Military descends on Arepo vandals hideout in Operation Awathe

ON JULY 29, 20161:02 AMIN NEWSCOMMENTS By Kingsley Omonobi, Daud Olatunji & Angela Okpe



Many people were feared dead, yesterday, as the Military commenced bombardment of Iroko creeks in Arepo area of Ogun State, suspected to be inhabited by militants. This is just as gunmen, suspected to be militants, stormed Isawo area of Ikorodu, Lagos, and abducted a man identified simply as Hyginius.

The bombardment, it was gathered, was carried out by the Military and police but it was not clear, last night, if those killed included civilians living around the creeks. Details of the operation, said to have lasted 20 minutes, was sketchy at press time. But unconfirmed report had it that several lives were lost with about 30 houses destroyed.

It was gathered that some helicopters were sighted hovering around the creeks at about 5.30p.m., followed by sporadic gunshots, which jolted the militants. Some of them were said to have hid inside the river.

Residents of Elepete area, who apparently thought it was another attack from militants, scampered for safety.

Police sources said “it was a joint operation.” It was gathered that the helicopters deployed in the operation were of the Air Force, while personnel of the three forces, comprising the Army Navy and Air Force and Police were on board the boats that combed the creeks.

A source said: “These militants are responsible for the attacks on residents at Elepete and Igbolomu areas of Ikorodu. It is an ongoing operation.”

Several were killed—Resident

A resident, Nmadu Chionye, said: “We heard the gunshots and took cover. But when we contacted the security men, they told us they were in charge. We learned several persons were killed, but none can tell the exact number.” Effort to get the reactions of the military and police failed as they kept mum. However, a senior Army officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “It is too early to speak on such sensitive exercise. You will be briefed at the appropriate time please. There is no cause to panic.”

Ogun Police Commissioner spits fire

However, new Ogun State Police Commissioner, Ahmed Illiyasu, who resumed yesterday, had given a hint of what lay ahead when he threatened a showdown with militants and other criminals in the state.

The commissioner, who spoke during the handing over ceremony by the immediate past Commissioner of Police, AIG Abdulmajid Ali, in Abeokuta, disclosed that the command had already made tactical deployment of policemen to the affected areas to flush out the militants.

He said: “These people (militants) are hoodlums and already a very detailed report had been written and studied on them. We have made tactical and covert deployment of our men to flush them out of that place. “Several operations are going to be carried out and the process has begun. We are assuring the people of their safety. “We want to raise the security we met to the next level. We want to make the state safer and more secured than ever before.”

DHQ

Reacting to the development, Defence Headquarters, Abuja, said there was no aerial bombardment of the Arepo because of the critical infrastructure which involved oil and gas pipelines playing pivotal services to the nation’s economy.

Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig-General Rabe Abubakar, who gave the clarification last night, however, said what happened was that the military and security agencies, in a joint operation codenamed Operation Awathe, under the Command of the Defence Headquarters, carried out a normal security operation to wipe out pipeline vandals and oil and gas criminals bent on sabotaging the economic assets of the nation.

He noted that there was no way the military could have bombarded the area because of the environmental damage that would also be inflicted on the area. Abubakar said: “Arepo is of critical importance to the nation and the infrastructure on ground has cost the nation huge resources to put in place.

It is true we have received complaints and petitions about the activities of vandals and criminals causing problems and destroying pipelines and siphoning crude.

“But the military did not and cannot bomb the critical economic infrastructure in place there.”

chuose:
[size=14pt]No more Oil for the North let them go back to their Groundnuts

No more Oil for the South-West, let the sophisticated people rediscover cocoa

The South-South & South-East are you ready to RUMBLEEEEEEEEE!!!! [/size]

IamJames:
Does those calling self determination disturb your garri or paycheck?