The Senate will today, October 20, undergo another round of ministerial screening as 19 ministerial nominees get ready to answer questions raised on the floor of the House.
Out of the first 21 nominees from ‘batch A’, 18 have been screened, leaving 16 nominees from ‘batch B’, and two from the first list yet to be quizzed.
The 18 confirmed ministers are: Udoma Udo Udoma (Akwa Ibom state), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti state), Audu Ogbeh (Benue state), Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi state), Osagie Ehanire (Edo state), Abdulrahman Dambazau (Kano state), Lai Mohammed (Kwara state), Amina J Mohammed (Gombe state), Suleiman Adamu (Jigawa state), Ibrahim Jibril (Nasarawa state), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos state), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu (Delta state), Abubakar Malami (Kebbi state), Chris Ngige (Anambra state), Aisha Jummai Alhassan (Taraba state), Solomon Dalong (Plateau state), Kemi Adeosun (Ogun state), Hadi Sirika (Katsina state).
President Muhammadu Buhari however withdrew the name of immediate past deputy governor of Niger state, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, from the list of nominees.
The former governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi tops the list of prominent names to be screened today.
Although there is still controversy over whether Amaechi would be screened by the Senate but with the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions recommending Amaechi for screening, it is believed that the exercise would be successfully held as planned.
10:25: Some of the Ministerial nominees have arrived at the National Assembly and the Senate is set to begin plenary session at 11am
10:10: A list of the ministerial nominees to be screened has been made available to Naij.com. They include: Barrister Adebayo Shittu (Oyo state), Heineken Lokpobiri (Bayelsa state), Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers state), Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe state), Abubakar Bwari Bawa (Niger state), Barrister James. E. Ocholi (Kogi state), Muhammadu Bello (Zamfara state), Zainab Shamusa Ahmed (Kaduna state).
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki’s appeal against the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Bureau has been adjourned indefinitely at the Appeal Court in Abuja.
hinwazaka: All this OP cares about is Amaechi this and Amaechi that, nothing else. He doesn't even spend time on threads discussing the president. 24/7 he is always on one Amaechi thread or the other. I understand he is your breadwinner, but please, Ngeneukwenu, apply some tact. Spend some time on some other non- Amaechi thread for a brief while. Amaechi will not fire you, if you digress a little. This is becoming weird.
Anthony Anwukah, one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet nominees, was implicated in a scandal involving fraud, racketeering, and illegal allocation of funds in Imo State, SaharaReporters has learned.
Documents obtained by this website indicate that Mr. Anwukah, a professor and former Vice-Chancellor of Imo State University (IMSU), was in fact found guilty by an Imo State High Court. According to the documents, a 2009 government White Paper concluded that Mr. Anwukah was guilty of “administrative racketeering,” which included contriving to admit more students than the capacity of IMSU and charging the students fees for file jackets and processing, the award of contracts without due process, and the use of special assistants to circumvent the bursary in order to furnish the Vice Chancellor’s residence.
The White Paper also noted that the then VC purchased a Mercedes-Benz vehicle for himself at a price of N3.8 million, claiming it was a “retirement entitlement.” In addition, the document recommended that Mr. Anwukah be immediately dismissed from his post as Vice Chancellor.
On January 29, 2013, an Imo State High Court judge upheld the validity of the White Paper, and that Governor Rochas Okorocha had a duty to implement its recommendations. The court judgment, signed by Justice Ngozi Opara, declared Mr. Okorocha’s appointment of Mr. Anwukah “into a position of authority” to be “unconstitutional, illegal, immoral, null and void and of no effect.”
Despite the ruling, the governor retained Mr. Anwukah as Secretary of State for Imo State.
In a petition dated March 2, 2013, a non-governmental organization, Every Child Educational & Advancement Foundation (ECEAF), urged then Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Benjamin Uwajimogu, to remove Mr. Anwukah from his post on account of the former VC’s criminal conduct. The petitioner disclosed that they had waited patiently to see Governor Okorocha’s administration “obey the court ruling given by a reputable Judge of Imo State High court on the 29th of January 2013 which ordered the sack of all those indicted by the IMSU whitepaper.”
Contacted by a correspondent of SaharaReporters, Mr. Anwukah claimed he had been “cleared by the court three years ago.” He referenced a letter sent to him from Imo State University, dated December 21, 2011, which stated, “I am pleased to inform you that the Imo State Government has directed that the compulsory retirement placed on you through the Government White Paper on the report of the Visitation Panel be rescinded.”
But a source in Imo State told SaharaReporters that the letter was simply engineered by Governor Okorocha, noting that the document emerged a few months after the governor won election in 2011. “The letter is not superior to a judicial ruling, and it does not infer that a court cleared Professor Anwukah of wrongdoing during his tenure as Vice Chancellor,” the source said.
Mr. Anwukah also told SaharaReporters that the accusations against him were either grossly exaggerated or false.
Mr. Anwukah did however provide SaharaReporters with court papers after the existence of the January 2013 Imo State High court order was raised by our correspondent. These court papers, made available to SaharaReporters, are dated February 19th 2013 and show that Justice Ngozi Opara decided to “set aside/annul the entire proceedings leading to the Judgment in default entered by the Honorable Court in the Suit on 29th January, 2013.”
The reason for the decision, as stated by Justice Opara was because “no one challenging the application and more importantly the respondent had notice of the pending application and either decided not to challenge it or refused so to do.” His ruling continued, “The Court cannot wait indefinitely for him while the Judgement sought to be set aside hangs like a sword of damacle [sic] on the neck of the applicants.”
The “indefinite wait,” it should be noted, was only 21 days from the time of the January 29th ruling and the February 19th annulment.
The controversial former VC was only removed as Secretary of State after Governor Okorocha ran for a second term.
Several members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State told SaharaReporters that they were shocked that Governor Okorocha would recommend Mr. Anwukah to President Buhari as a ministerial nominee. “Does it mean that Imo State doesn’t have men and women of moral integrity and intellectual endowment who are capable of rendering service to the country? Why is His Excellency Governor Okorocha bringing shame to the people of the state by sponsoring a man whose record is so tainted?” one of the critics of the nomination said.
Contacted by SaharaReporters, President Buhari’s senior special assistant for media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said the president “will not meddle in the affairs of the National Assembly” or its vetting process. He added, “it is the duty of the National Assembly to vet candidates for ministerial posts.”
Medicis: The angel came to him in (Hira) and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do not know how to read." (The Prophet added), "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read, and I replied, "I do not know how to read," whereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and asked me again to read, but again I replied, "I do not know how to read Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me and then released me and said,
"Read: In the Name of your Lord, Who has created; created man from a clot…." Al Alaq (96.1). Now, my question... Why would Angel Jibril demand from Muhammad to read without showing him what to read in the first place? How was Muhammad supposed to read something that did not exist because no book or literature was presented to him to read from? Sincere answers pls.
“…an angel placed a tablet by his side and said: ‘Recite’. And the Prophet on account of the fact that he was unlettered and had not learned to read and write, replied that he was unable to read. The Archangel Jibreel pressed him severely and then asked him to recite. However, he repeated the same reply. The angel again pressed him severely. This action was repeated thrice and after the third pressure he suddenly felt within himself that he could read the writing on the tablet held by the angel. He then read the following verses which are infact reckoned to be the introduction of the Book of human welfare:
“Recite in the name of your Lord who created (all things). He created man from a clot of blood! Recite, your Lord is the Most Bountiful One, Who by the pen taught man what he did not know. (Surah al-Alaq, 96 1- 5 )
Forty three year-old Lagos born Kola Aluko is a Nigerian energy business magnate with interests in African infrastructure development and aviation. Aluko’s name is well-known as a higher level hustler, ‘private-partner oil-baron’. He has even been alleged by some as the money launderer for Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke. He was said to have fled the public scene since the arrest of Madueke on October 2.
Kola Aluko is the founder of Fossil Resources, an oil trading company. He was CEO of Exoro Energy until it’s merger with Seven Energy, a leading independent oil exploration company. Aluko is now Deputy CEO and a large shareholder of Seven Energy and co-CEO of Atlantic Energy. He is also a member of the advisory board of Vistajet, a private jet charter company founded by Thomas Flohr.
However, aside from all the Diezani drama, Aluko is known as a man of affluence. With a whooping $100 millions dollars, Aluko was once ranked by Forbes Africa as one of the 40th richest Africans, as well as included in the top ten list of Successful African Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter.
The New African Magazine (November 2013 issue) included Aluko in their 100 Most Influential Africans listing and issue.
The young billionaire is said to have bought up properties in Las Vegas and other top spots all for millions of dollars. When talking about Kola Aluko’s wealth, which is up to the tune of billions of dollars, it would be very difficult not to mention how he got it all from Nigeria’s oil sector.
Aluko enjoys a porch lifestyle, betting on races, racing with expensive cars in Germany and partying.
In 2013, Kola Aluko Spent a whooping $1.5 Million (240 Million Naira) on champagne alone at Leonardo DiCaprio’s 39th birthday bash. The exclusive, no cameras allowed bash had billionaires like Vladimir Doronin, Ron Burkle, Jho Low and Vivi Nevo in attendance.
Kola Aluko also has a foundation named after him. According to him, the foundation was created to inspire, mentor and support future generations of African leaders.
In 2013, the billionaire businessman who loves race cars reportedly bought the Ferrari Pininfarina Sergio speedster said to be worth a whooping 2million pounds – that’s over N500million. Only six of the cars are being built and all six were already bought in advance by ‘special’ customers in which Kola Aluko was one of them.
* Kola Aluko’s Yacht named “Galactica Star”(1)
* Kola Aluko’s mansion in Ticino (2)
* Jamie Foxx and Kola Aluko (3)
* Kola Aluko is friends with Hollywood “A-listers” and international model, Naomi Campbell (4)
ZeezaRapture: There is this saying Yorubas in Lagos use to say:
Eni to ba ma jeko, ko le se ko ma yorun jade ninu danfo -- meaning that, A person that is destined to recieve a knock on the head shall never fail to bring out his head out from the window of Danfo(Lagos' commercial bus).
The Network for Justice, a civil society organization, has condemned the postponement of the ministerial screening by the Senate, saying the act smacks of political mischief designed to delay the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki.
The group’s Executive Director, Dr. Abdullahi Bala Gaduwama, made the remark yesterday in a statement in Kano, stressing that the postponement of the exercise was a ploy to shield Saraki from appearing at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for the continuation of his trial next week. The activist demanded the immediate resumption of the exercise and warned the Senate against joking with the future of the country.
“It is on record that the 7th Senate outrageously passed 40 bills in 40 minutes simply because it served their interest to do so and the 8th Senate is now telling us that they cannot complete the screening of 16 ministerial nominees whose names were released two weeks ago by the President,” Gaduwama stated.