₦airaland Forum

aieromon:
Charles Soludo, February 2015

Low Savings: Okonjo-Iweala Did Not Indict The Jonathan Administration

News Release. Abuja, April 15, 2016

Some recent media reports have distorted comments made by former Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala regarding how lack of political will negatively impacted national savings over the past few years.
Contrary to the slant given by these loud headlines, Dr Okonjo-Iweala did not indict the Jonathan administration in which she served.

Rather, she was referring to what many Nigerians already know: the strong opposition by some governors to the Jonathan government’s efforts to save in the Excess Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund sabotaged this important national priority.

The governors’ criticism of Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s many calls for the country to save for the rainy day are still fresh in the minds of Nigerians.

It will be recalled that this opposition culminated in the Governors taking the Jonathan government to the Supreme Court in furtherance of their position that the Federal Government had no right to “compel” them to save.

Several knowledgeable persons including former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi have confirmed these facts.

So the issue of Okonjo-Iweala indicting the Jonathan administration over this very public issue simply does not arise.

We urge the media to always consult for clarification whenever the need arises.

Paul C Nwabuikwu
Media Adviser to Dr Okonjo-Iweala

jameseva:
You call being a common criminal understanding the game of politics? How pathetic! This is how corruption has corrupted the nigerian youth's psych. Pride in hardwork has been so relegated so much so that some even unrelentlessly defended the deluded words of a drunkard 'stealing is not corruption'..Hian!!!!!

remsonik:
Saraki seems so desperate to be senate president. From changing CCT act to favor you to impersonating Sowore. This Nigeria!

•Vows to rescue the girls, other hostages
Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

The Nigerian military has branded the latest video by Boko Haram terrorists allegedly showing healthy-looking Chibok girls as propaganda by the terrorists to divert attention from the ongoing rescue operations.

The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar (rtd), while responding to injuries on Thursday, said that the military cannot authenticate the new video.

Abubakar said that it is the terrorists antics, which he vowed, will not derail the ongoing military operations and efforts to clear all parts of the North East of Boko Haram remnants.

He said: “In as much as we saw the menus, we cannot authentic the video. Listen, all these things are campaign. In as much as we saw the so called video, it has nothing to do with our own activities, even though we are sympathetic to the plight of our sisters and brothers with the ungodly group.

“In as much as we have seen the video, it has not nothing to do with our operations. In this era of social media, anytime can happen. It can be concocted because in this era of social mega, anytime can happen, so people should not carried away.”

The publisher of Sahara Reporters has accused Nigeria’s Senate President, Bukola Saraki, for cloning his newspaper and stealing his brand identities to create fake versions of his website.
Sahara Reporters, a U.S.-based news website, with special focus on Nigeria, said it believed the Nigerian senate president, who is facing charges of false asset declaration, is masterminding the proliferation of imitation of cloned versions of the newspaper aimed at circulating lies to the public while disguising as Sahara Reporters.

The publisher, Omoyele Sowore, said his team had so far blocked three fake websites since January 2015. He said the faking websites were blocked from Google, Web4Africa and Twitter.

“The only one left is a Facebook account,” Mr. Sowore said.
The outstanding fake account is named Sahara Reporters Rescue.

Checks by PREMIUM TIMES showed that it had assumed the branding features of the original Sahara Reporters with insignificant modifications.
Mr. Sowore said Sahara Reporter Rescue had succeeded in deceiving about 30 thousand people while circulating contents praising and defending Mr. Saraki.

Its bio is an exact copy-and-paste version of the original Sahara Reporters.

“I know Saraki is directly behind it,” Mr. Sowore said, explaining that he was only concerned the public might mistake the page for the original Sahara Reporters.

Identity theft is an emerging fraud in the Nigerian cyberspace, mainly used by politicians to clone digital identities of critical media house with the aim of using the clone to pass down propagandist inform, faking endorsement.

It is a form of cyber attack that utilizes deception, rather than the brute force of DDoS attacks.
PREMIUM TIMES was a victim of similar attacks. The latest is by individuals linked to the current governor of River State, Nyesom Wike.

While many other digital businesses treat identity theft with urgency and seriousness, Facebook is notorious for being slow in checking the crime.
Facebook’s clumsy reporting process and policy make fighting clones and replicas almost impossible for victims.

The suspected pirate
The suspected pirate is Osinuga Oriola Mcleish, a blogger and member of the Kwara All Progressives Congress. Although Mr. Osinuga denies the crime, investigations by PREMIUM TIMES traced his digital footprints on the downed websites and the fake Sahara Reporters Facebook Page.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Mr. Osinuga said before hanging up during an interview.
Mr. Saraki’s new media team also denied involvement in the crime.

“Sahara Reporters is not that important for me to waste my time on,” Bankole Omishore, a new media aide to the Senate President told PREMIUM TIMES. “We no longer monitor Sahara Reporters.”
Mr. Omishore said Sahara Reporters had been critical of his boss, claiming the newspaper was hired to promote propaganda to sack Mr. Saraki.
The publisher of Sahara Reporters denies any personal grievances with the senate president, saying , “I only have beef with thieves.”

“I’ve been covering Saraki since 2005 with the same tenacity I covered (James) Ibori,” he said. “I know very well he (Saraki) has stolen a lot of money and should not be Nigeria’s number three man.”

Richnero:
Receive sense

DExplorer1:
This weed you take strong gan mehn

An Abuja High Court has ordered the federal government to allow former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), access to his lawyer during working hours to enable him defend himself in the charged brought against him by government.

Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf gave the order following the application by Dasuki’s lead counsel, Mr. Joesph Daudu (SAN), that they had no access to him.

Daudu had told the court that because they had no access to him, they could not get enough information for his defence.

Dasuki, Shuaibu Salisu, former Director of Finance, Office of the National Security Adviser, and Aminu Baba-Kusa, former NNPC Executive Director, were arraigned for the diversion of N13.6 billion meant for purchase arms.
The others were Acacia Holding Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, Mr. Adebisi Adeniyi, who held the brief for Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), informed the court that they were ready with their witnesses.

Dasuki’s counsel, Daudu, objected and applied for long adjournment because the defence had no access to Dasuki and had an application before the Court of Appeal.

He said the application before the appellate court was for stay of proceedings.

But Adeniyi opposed the application for longer adjournment and prayed the court not to grant Daudu’s application.
Adeniyi reminded the court that the Department of State Services (DSS) said it had never received any request for access from anybody.

The prosecuting counsel said there was no concrete evidence before the court on why such application should be granted.

After listening to the counsel, Baba-Yusuf ordered that Dauski should be made available to his lawyers to enable them get information from him that would aid them in his defence.
The court adjourned the case till May 3, 2016 for continuation.

*Says Buhari govt is driven by strong words, little action
*Deplores FG on economy
*Falana: We didn’t vote change for suffering
*Deplores Kachukwu on wrong-headed policies

Paul Obi in Abuja

In response to public outcry against the excruciating pain faced by Nigerians, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is to declare a one-day nationwide strike against the insistence by the federal government to go on with the electricity tariff hike, ongoing fuel scarcity and current economic hardship Nigerians are facing under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Declaring open the Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the NLC, the President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, accused the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government of failing in several fronts in its promises to the people.

The union said it will also protest against anti-labour laws about to be enacted by the Kaduna State governor, Ahmed El Rufai.

Also, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, said while speaking at the event that the teeming population of Nigerians “didn’t vote change for suffering.

“We didn’t vote change for agony; we didn’t vote change for tyranny. We fully endorse NLC resolutions for strike,” Falana said.

He lambasted the double-speak of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr Ibe Kachikwu, saying that, “today he says fuel scarcity will end in May, tomorrow, he says he’s not a magician. Somebody is supervising himself because there’s no NNPC board.”

Speaking on the flagrant abuse of court order on the charge to government to return back to old electricity tariff, Wabba explained that government cannot arbitrarily disobey such orders without opposition from labour.

“The point must be made that obedience to the rule of law by all citizens but more particularly those who publicly take the oath of office to protect and preserve the Constitution is desideratum to good governance and respect for the rule of law. In a constitutional democratic society like ours, this is meant to be a norm.”