₦airaland Forum

THE All Progressives Congress, Lagos Chapter has criticised former President Goodluck Jonathan for rising to the defence of his embattled former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.




In a statement on Thursday, the party said Mr. Jonathan’s claims had proved beyond doubts that he knew everything about the arms purchase scandal as well as other corruption cases that happened in his regime.

“Even as we concede that Jonathan is on a desperate bid to rehabilitate himself, we wouldn’t believe that a former president should be so contemptuous of the intelligence of Nigerians as to give the kind of defence he gave to Sambo Dasuki,” the Lagos APC said in a statement by Joe Igbokwe, its publicity secretary.

“We wonder what Jonathan makes of the horrid details that are emanating from the Dasukigate issue with shocking evidences, confessions and even refunds made by those that participated in that monumental corruption.”

While addressing a gathering on youth entrepreneurship at the Oxford Union, in the United Kingdom, Mr. Jonathan said it was impossible for Mr. Dasuki, a retired army colonel, to have stolen $2.2 billion as claimed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

“They said the National Security Adviser stole $2.2 billion,” Mr. Jonathan said while responding to a question about the alleged missing arms procurement fund now referred to as Dasukigate by the Nigerian media.

“I don’t believe somebody can just steal $2.2 billion. We bought warships, we bought aircraft, we bought lots of weapons for the army and so on and so forth and you are still saying 2.2 billion, so where did we get the money to buy all those things?”

The APC said there should be a limit to defending “such hefty corruption acts”, which greatly compromised the nation’s security and led to the loss of thousands of precious Nigerian lives.


The party also cautioned Mr. Jonathan not to continue to play on the intelligence of Nigerians who, they said, is still smarting from the horrendous cases of corruption that were perpetrated under him.

“To claim that Dasuki and his partners did not steal the arms purchase fund reveals the inner beliefs of Jonathan and explains that he is intrinsically webbed to corruption,” Mr. Igbokwe said.

“Even while he is perceived as pathologically corrupt and his regime seen as the most corrupt in Nigeria’s chequered history, one would have expected Jonathan to be cautious in seeking to advance very childish and inadmissible exculpation of his subordinates for glaring acts of corruption.

“We had expected that Jonathan would have striven to water down the lowly impression held of him by Nigerians and the international community by not deciding to be so patronising to clear cases of corruption by his subordinates. But with each day, Jonathan continues to baffle by his chameleonic acts.

“By Jonathan’s cheap defence of Sambo Dasuki, we believe time has come for the security agencies to pick up Jonathan to tell the nation all that he knows of the many cases of corruption that happened under him.”

The party said it believed the former president knows more than he admits about the “unseemly corruption” that he presided over and should be brought in for questioning.

“We don’t believe any thing shields Jonathan from prosecution for corruption as we believe it is becoming indefensible for Jonathan to pretend he was innocent of the corrupt acts of his subordinates,” Mr. Igbokwe continued.

“While we condemn Jonathan’s cheeky defence of Dasuki, even in the face of monumental damning evidences, we want to state that the anti corruption war is incomplete until Jonathan is prosecuted for he continually proves, by such defence of his corrupt subordinates, that he knew everything that transpired in his corruption-ridden regime.”

THE Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on Friday lost his bid to stop his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal as the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja okayed the powers of the tribunal to try him.



The court also held that the trial of Saraki was not in any way a breach of his fundamental human rights.

Saraki had approached the court seeking to enforce his fundamental human rights as provided by Chapter IV of the 1999 constitution.

Saraki also sought to stop his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal on ground that the it lacked jurisdiction to sit over the matter.

Saraki had also asked the court to quash the charge against him before the tribunal.

Delivering judgement in the suit, the trial judge, Justice Abdul Kafarati, held that on careful perusal of Saraki’s application, it was meant to stop the on going trial at the CCT.

He further held that the CCT was competent to prosecute the applicant over assets declaration related issues.

Justice Kafarati noted that the applicant had earlier taken the same application to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, and the judgements there were against him.

He also noted that Saraki had also argued the same issue before the tribunal and same was dismissed.

Justice Kafarati held that if he decided otherwise, his judgement would be in conflict with the earlier decision of the tribunal.

On the breach of Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution, the court held that the trial had not in anyway breached the provision of the chapter and that the applicant could raise a no case submission after the prosecution had closed his trial.

THE management of Anambra Broadcasting Service, organisers of the Miss Anambra Beauty Pageant, have dissociated themselves from the alleged lurid content in circulation.



They made this made known in a statement issued on the ABS website on Thursday.

According to the release, the leaked sex tape video purportedly showing Chidinma Okeke, who was Miss Anambra 2015, engaging in lesbian sex with a female partner is an embarrassment to the esteemed brand.



Consequently, they said, Ms. Okeke has automatically served-out her term as Miss Anambra 2015 and handed over the crown in line with the terms and conditions of The Miss Anambra pageant to a new queen.

“We condemn in clear terms any amoral behaviour/ conduct as suggested by the alleged lurid content in circulation and do not condone such. It is on record that The Miss Anambra Beauty Pageant has been a platform to empower Anambra women and celebrate our rich culture and heritage. Winners of the pageant are bound to contracts to be of good conduct and moral behaviour and to uphold/maintain the honour in their position as queen.

“Winners of the pageant also contract to refrain from any personal relationship that could appear to hinder their ability to perform the duties of their office as queen and role model and we do not expect any less. We therefore wish to dissociate The Miss Anambra pageant from any discussions on the said allegations. We feel sufficiently perturbed by the mere reference already made to the pageant and hereby state that we are in no way connected to the controversy.

“ We apologize to the government and good people of Anambra State, our sponsors, supporters, friends and all those associated with the Miss Anambra project for the embarrassment the mere reference to the pageant in the controversy may have caused; whilst reassuring of the good intentions of the Miss Anambra pageant franchise.” it concluded.

However, the embattled ex-beauty queen has alleged a threat to her life for wanting to unravel the mystery behind her dethronement.

The ousted queen revealed that she had initially called for a press conference on Thursday to unravel the circumstances surrounding her predicament.

This is according to a post on her Facebook account, which has since been deleted.

Ms. Okeke has also disabled comments on her Facebook account.

The post read, “Good morning all. This is Chidinma Okeke, Miss Anambra 2015, considering the need to make the world know the truth about the trending scandal and what we have been going through before, then and now I decided to address a world press conference at the NUJ press centre Awka today.

“But from the moment I made public this intention I have been under siege of threats by my blackmailers. They are seriously threatening to shoot me at the press conference if I ever open my mouth to say real truth about the ugly episode.



“My life is under serious threat if they succeed in killing me today the world already know my traducers the truth is unearthed.”

Meanwhile, tongues are wagging that some power brokers in the Anambra Broadcasting Service, organizers of the pageantry are behind the ex-beauty queen’s ordeal.

Though Social Times at press time is yet to verify the authenticity of this, an online news portal, Secret Reporters, reports that Chidinma has been having an affair with one of the top management staff of the organization.

Troubled started after she refused to cooperate with the said ‘oga’, who wanted his other friends to also have a taste of her. She was said to have been threatened, and could not bear the pressure any more, hence she decided to surrender the Kia car and her crown.

Recall that the video released late last week, showed the Nigerian pageant winner in an explicit scene with another woman, who at first was not identified.

Okeke spoke out immediately after the video began spreading on social media, saying that the video was actually another person and blaming what appeared to be her appearance on trick photography.

BALA Mohammed, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

At Press time, details of Mr. Mohammed’s arrest remained sketchy, but sources confirmed he was arrested and was at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja on Monday night.


The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, could not be reached for comment late Monday.

Children go to school using wooden bridge as a passage and unfortunately the bridge collapsed which caused the pupils to loose their lives.

Keneking:
Its all for Ondo State election

EIGHTEEN new armed groups have sprung in Nigeria in the last 17 months, according to a report by a crisis-monitoring group.


The report puts Nigeria well-ahead of any other African nation, as the country with the fastest-growing number of new armed dissident groups.

In apparent reflection of a poor crisis-management mechanism, the report by the Public Security & Safety Advocacy department of Intersociety shows that in the first 15 months of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, as many as 18 disaffected groups took up arms across the country.



Painting a gloomy portrait of regional security, the report showed that as at August 2016, at least 28 African countries were embroiled in internal conflicts fuelled by a total of 220 armed opposition and insurgency groups. Of these the Democratic Republic of Cong leads the pack with 36 armed opposition groups, followed by Libya with 28. South Sudan comes next with 26 warring groups while Nigeria is fourth with 20 armed groups.

Whilst Nigeria’s ranking might not at first appear alarming, crisis monitors are already hitting the panic button considering that the country has jumped from its 13th position in May 2015 to fourth position in August 2016; a record time of just 15 months. The number, therefore, of non-state armed or resistance groups that have taken up arms against the Federal Republic of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari has risen from two on May 29, 2015 to 20 in August 2016.

The Intersociety report showed that in May 2015 the number of active armed opposition groups (AOGs) in Nigeria was two: the Boko Haram terror group and Fulani armed nomadic herdsmen. Hitherto armed groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) were disarmed, demobilized and granted amnesty in 2009 under the leadership of late Umaru Yar’Adua. There was also a splinter group of Boko Haram called Ansaru, which was later absorbed by Boko Haram under the Islamic State West Africa, ISWA.

Today however, the number of armed groups in Nigeria has grown in multiples.

They include the Islamic State West Africa and the Movement for Unity & Jihad in West Africa – both offshoots of ISIS and Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb; the Boko Haram; Armed nomadic herdsmen and the resurrected and re-armed Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

Others are the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force; the Niger Delta Liberation Front; Niger Delta Avengers; Biafra Avengers; Red Egbesu Water Lions; Asawana Deadly Force of the Niger Delta, the Adaka Boro Marine Commandos; the Utorogon Liberation Movement; Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force; and the Joint Revolutionary Council of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force. Yet others are the Red Scorpion; the Ultimate Warriors of the Niger Delta; the Niger Delta Red Squad; Niger Delta Vigilante; the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate; the Ijaw/Oduduwa Militant Movement (in Ogun and Lagos States) and the Agatu Warriors in Benue State.

The report also mentioned Nigeria as the third largest defence and security spender in Africa after Algeria and Angola. While Nigeria spends about $4 billion, the figure for Algeria is $10.4 billion and Angola $6 billion.



Other African countries mentioned in the report with large number of armed opposition groups (AOGs) are Sudan, 19; Mali, 17; Central African Republic, 10; Egypt, 9; Ethiopia, 8; Algeria, 4; Eritrea, 4; and Somaliland, 4. Uganda has 3 while Mauritania, Kenya, Chad and Angola have 2 each. Morocco (Western Sahara), Tunisia, Senegal, Rwanda, Congo Republic, Puntland, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Cameroon and Burundi are listed in the report as having one armed opposition group each.

lalasticlala

SEVERAL soldiers have been declared missing after Boko Haram terrorists on Monday evening attacked their location at Gashigar, a border area with Niger Republic in the northern part of Borno State.








This was revealed by the spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Sani Usman, on Tuesday.


Usman said though the troops did their best to defend the location, their efforts were in vain.


He added: “In the process, 13 soldiers sustained injuries while some are still missing in action.”


Usman said the temporary setback made the troops to withdraw from the location.


The wounded soldiers have also been evacuated and are receiving treatment, while efforts are ongoing in the search for those missing.


Usman equally said troops have mobilised to clear the Boko Haram terrorists in the general area.

9japride:
I don't see the bad perception of North changing anytime soon. A region were they let radical and fanatics to tutor their young ones on hate towards non moslems. Op u can do more to educate your people to leave primitive thinking and crude way of life. Change begins by telling urself d bitter truth, most northerner cities are just time bombs. God save us all

THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reacted to the purported detention of the wife, son of its former spokesperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation Chief Femi Fani-Kayode.

Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the National Publicity Secretary, made the stance of the party known in a statement released on Tuesday.

The press release reads; “We condemn, in its entirety, the arrest and detention of Precious Chikwendu, wife of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode – former Spokesperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) – on ) October 17, 2016 by officials of the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Ado-Ekiti. She was arrested along with her 8 month old son, Aragorn, and would have been detained but for the timely intervention of Governor Ayo Fayose.

“This action represents a new low in the Federal Government’s resolve to harass and persecute real and perceived enemies of the Buhari administration under the guise of an anti-corruption crusade.

“It is reprehensible for the government to attack members of the families of its perceived enemies, especially wives and children, for any reason whatsoever.

“In addition to freezing Chief Fani-Kayode’s accounts, the Federal Government has ordered the freezing of accounts of his wife, Precious Chikwendu, several of which were opened and operated long before their marriage.

“These accounts have been frozen for no reason other than her marriage to Chief Fani-Kayode.

“The Buhari administration cannot, and must not, be allowed to continue the violation of the constitutional rights and freedoms of the Nigerian people. This sort of tyranny must not be allowed to continue unchecked.

“We have advised the family to approach the courts and enforce their legal rights in this matter.

“May God bless Nigeria.”

“Consequently at the time that the account was frozen last friday the amount that was left in it was 95,000.

A former Minister of Aviation and spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization for the 2015 election, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has faulted the statement released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on the arrest of his wife, Precious Chikwendu, and son on Monday in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.



Fani-Kayode said on all scores, the EFCC lied in the statement endorsed by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren.

Apart from taking the points raised by the EFCC in the statement point by point, Fani-Kayode equally provided a snapshot of the balance of the Access Bank accounts run by Chikwendu.



The statement, sent in two parts and signed by Chikwendu’s Special Assistant, Chinese Okechukwu, reads: “The assertion by one Wilson Uwujaren who is supposed to be the spokesman of the EFCC that Precious Chikwendu’s Access Bank account was used to launder Jonathan campaign funds or funds from the NSA’s office and that approximately 2.4 million naira balance was found in the said account at the time of her arrest is a lie from the pit of hell. 

“The said account was opened in 2005 at Onitsha when Precious Chikwendu was about to start at the University of Calabar. 

“At that time it was not known as Access Bank but Intercontinental Bank. The account was used by her from 2005 till 2012 when it was abandoned and went dormant. 

“It was not utilised or activated again until August 2016 when small deposits of between 200,000 and 500,000 were made into it and the total amount that entered into that account over a period of 2 months was approximately 4 million naira. 

“The money was spent on looking after the family, paying staff salaries and to buy groceries. 

“Consequently at the time that the account was frozen last friday the amount that was left in it was 95,000.

“She was not notified about the freezing of the account until someone paid 200,000 into it on Saturday. 

“The money entered the account but after that it could not be accessed. 

“She decided to stop at the bank on her way out of Ado Ekiti on monday in order to know what was going on and she was then detained and offered to the police and EFCC, together with her 8 month old son Aragorn, for arrest. 

“The total amount that was in the account at the time of the arrest was 295,000 naira which is approximately 600 USD. 

“This is reflected in the screenshot above together with the relevant dates.

“How Wilson of the EFCC arrived at his figure of 2.4 million being in the account at the time of arrest is mind-boggling and absurd. 

“It is nothing but a shameless and barefaced lie and he and the organisation that he works for are nothing but pernicious liars.

“It is equally absurd to suggest that the said account had anything to do with Jonathan Campaign funds or Dasuki NSA funds given the fact that the said account was not even active or functional between 2012 right up until August 2016.

“The Presidential campaign took place in 2015 and at that time the account was dormant. 

“At the time that she abandoned and stopped using the account in 2012 Precious Chikwendu had not even met Chief Fani-Kayode.

“The lies of the EFCC on this matter are sickening and they are wicked and sadistic people. 

“Wilson’s assertions are just one example of such lies.

“The only reason that Precious Chikwendu’s bank accounts were frozen and she was subjected to such inhuman treatment is because she is married to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode who is a politician and a leading member of the opposition.

“They wanted to punish her and their 8 month old son Aragorn just to hurt and spite Chief Fani-Kayode.”

The second part reads: “Finally let me add this. It is not true that Precious Chikwendu has 17 accounts in GTB. This is another dirty EFCC lie. 

“She has one current account with a merged savings account in GTB which was opened in 2012. 

“Outside of that she has a dollar account and a pounds sterling account with the same bank which were all opened on the same day in 2012. 

“None of these accounts have any connection whatsoever with public funds or with Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and neither was any GTB BVN linked to his. Again on this issue the EFCC lied. 

“Neither is it true that the EFCC were not at the bank in Ado Ekiti to arrest her because three of their operatives were actually there manning the bank door with their identity cards pinned to their jackets. They were backed by five fully armed policemen in uniform. 

“They made it clear to Precious Chikwendu that they had been ordered to bring her to Abuja by road that same evening and that if she could not leave her son in the bank with the manager he would have to come for the ride too. 

“Had it not been for the intervention of Governor Fayose that is exactly what would have happened and only God knows what they would have been subjected to on the way.”

THE wife of Femi Fani Kayode and her child are not in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and were never detained by the Commission, Spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said Monday night.


Giving the commission’s side of the story, Uwujaren said “Contrary to the media spin about the purported arrest of mother and child, a certain Chikwendu Sonia today attempted to withdraw money from an Access Bank account that had been placed on 'Post No Debit' Category, following the discovery of illicit cash flows into the account.


“She was intercepted by the bank while the Commission was notified but because it was late, the EFCC advised that the suspect be taken to the police station for processing and  release on bail.


"They were arranging to take the suspect to the police station when Governor Ayo Fayose stormed the bank with thugs and his personal security and forcefully secured the release of the suspect, with claims that the EFCC had no power to detain anybody in his state. He also vowed to close down the branch of the bank.


According to EFCC, “The said account, which had a balance of N 2,307,712.82 was flagged following investigation into the PDP Joint Trust fund when  the Commission traced N1.1billion to the Zenith Bank account of Fani-Kayode.


“It was discovered that the account had two biometric identification numbers, one for Fani-Kayode and the other  (with BVN 2205597283)for  Sonia Chikwendu. The same BVN is linked to 2 other accounts in Diamond bank and 15 accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank” the EFCC spokesman disclosed.

cowardSeun:
Lol.... arrest and search for evidence.

Same old stuff. Buhari is a mad man