fahren: Frontline Presidential aspirant of the People's Democratic Party PDP has condemned the invasion of Edwin Clarke's Abuja Residence by men of the Nigerian Police Force.
Kwankwaso who visited the elder stateman described the invasion as unlawful.
NaijaCelebNews: Davido recently appeared on the break fast club and revelaled his dad sent 50 police to arrest him at his first show. He revealed that his father was extremely angry with him leaving school to do music and during his first show, his father sent police to arrest his girlfriend, his manager and his promoter. He had to scale a fence to avoid being arrested to. They were eventually released when he went to the police station as his father had instructed him to do. Click link for full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WoH_D95fAI Cc lalasticlala fynestboi mynd44
This guy sabi lie sha..... too much of weed is bad.
metronaija4: The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Tuesday restated that the Boko Haram terrorists had been “highly degraded” and that there was no resurgence of insurgency in the North-East as being insinuated in some quarters.
Buratai, who spoke in Jaji at the graduation of 55 Special Forces from “Advance Water Markship Training”, however, said: “in warfare, one must suffer some setbacks”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the last few days, there have been media reports of terrorists’ attacks on troops in the North-East in which they claimed a number of soldiers had been killed.
The army, however, denied the attack and loss of personnel.
Buratai was in Jaji in company of the visiting South African Army Chief, Lt.-Gen. Lindile Yam.
“You are all aware of the events in the country, especially the security landscape between 2013 and mid-2015.
“I am referring to the situation in the North-East where a band of insurgents, employing terror held sway over nearly the entire region, including large part of the North-Central and Northwestern parts of the country.
“However, from middle of 2015 to date, the insurgents have suffered high degradation. They no longer hold any territory within our sovereign state,” Buratai said.
He said that this was made possible by the adoption of correct strategies, support by President Muhammadu Buhari and the goodwill of the people.
According to him, a professional army should be capable of operating under all conditions across all terrains and by day or night.
He said : “The nature of modern warfare requires that an army must develop multi capability to address all changes.’’
Buratai commended the graduating Special Forces drawn from various corps of the army for the completion of the training.
The army chief promoted all the 55 personnel that participated in the training, saying it was his reward for them, having endured the rigours of the exercise.
He said the focus on effective training in the last years also largely accounted for the successes so far recorded by the army.
“It is pertinent to state that lessons learned from our counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations have to a large extent, guided our training and operation plans,” he said.
The South African army chief, having watched a simulation attack on supposed enemy camp by the graduands, commended the Nigerian military for the relations among the three services.
Yam noted that the strategies adopted by the Nigerian military in addressing the country’s security challenges were yielding positive results.
He also praised Nigerians for their resilience and being able to adapt to situations wherever they found themselves.
'AS REQUESTED BY MY PEOPLE, I WILL RUN FOR THE SENATE AGAIN
My people, the good people of Enugu West Senatorial District, including the Enugu West Peoples Assembly, Members of the National Assembly, Council Chairmen, members of the Enugu State Executive Council, Enugu State Chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, leaders of the PDP from Enugu West, among others gave me a surprise on Sunday. They presented to me the PDP nomination form for the Senate, which they purchased for me, requesting that I return to the Senate in 2019.
Instructively, only a Few weeks ago, I reflected on my past engagements with the people of Enugu West and I was satisfied that, by the grace of God, we were able to make so many improvements in the lives of our people.
I reflected on my next move and the available options. One option is to come back to you in Enugu and run my Foundation, which will give me opportunity to mentor young men and women in leadership. The second is probably to go to a university and take a fulltime academic job and also try to mentor young people in school. And behold my people came calling.
My people, my primary employers have spoken. I have no choice than to humbly accept to run for the Senate again.
Nevertheless, I believe that the beauty of democracy is the enlargement of the political space in which everybody is free to participate, bring and exchange ideas, and disagree in order to agree.
Just yesterday, I got a call from a man who introduced himself as an engineer from Achi, but lives in Jigawa. He later came with his family to tell me that he wanted to run for the Senate in Enugu West. I congratulated him and offered to help purchase his nomination form. But he told me he had already bought his form. He was quite surprised when I offered to buy form for him. But it has always been my philosophy to help nurture the opposition, for as far as I am concerned, all power belongs to God and we should never try to reduce the political space. We must allow and indeed encourage other people to participate'
dukie25: Fed Govt to give N10,000 to traders 2 weeks before Osun election
Am still in shock after I saw this on my twitter timeline today. VP Osibanjo went vote buying in Osun State yesterday. In a brazen act, Osibanjo launched "trademoni" which I believe should be bribemoni. If it's not bribe, why then did they choose Osun state with governorship election 2weeks away? Why didn't they choose Ekiti, Katsina, Abia or Adamawa?
This is not done anywhere in the world except in totalitarian states.
8Ebisco: Alleged plans by the presidency to arrest and arraign the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki barely few days after he declared his intention to contest for President in the 2019 General Elections have been uncovered.
Insiders say APC can't accept a senate president with such ambition.
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Comrade Timi Frank, revealed the details in Abuja and said the planned arraignment of Saraki on cooked-up charges is part of a renewed onslaught by the presidency and the leadership of the APC against Saraki.
Frank in a statement in Abuja said the aim of Aso Rock and the Adams Oshiomhole-led APC is to embarrass Saraki and frustrate his chances of being nominated by the PDP to run against Buhari during the party’s upcoming presidential primary election.
Frank said: “Events of the last three years has shown that the raison d’être for President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration ferocious attacks against Saraki is based on their phobia that the President of the Senate may contest for President and defeat Buhari in 2019.
“Now that their worst fears have been confirmed by the formal declaration of Saraki to contest the 2019 presidential election last week, they are once again frantically foraging for criminal charges to hang on his neck.
“I have it on good authority that the fresh plot to arraign Saraki this week is the first out of the series of strategies being perfected by Buhari and his cronies at their ongoing ‘business trip’ in China.’
“Recall that in a statement on Friday, I had alerted the nation and the international community that Buhari’s APC Governors, Senators and heads of security agencies studded entourage is not in China to boost trade between both countries but to plot the removal of Saraki and how to rig the 2019 elections in favour of the APC.
“Come to think of it, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister, Theresa May and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, all came to Nigeria with a retinue of captains of industries and highly reputed Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of thriving business organizations to prospect for trade and investment opportunities in Nigeria, but Buhari is in China with his wife, an armada of APC politicians and heads of security agencies to plot judicial and extra-judicial measures against the leaders of opposition political parties in the country and how to compromise the 2019 general elections,” Frank declared.
He added: “Recall that I have continued to cry out against the unmitigated intimidation, harassment, persecution, intolerance, vilification, arrests and kangaroo trial being unleashed against those opposed to Buhari’s re-election bid – to the exclusion of his key allies with corruption allegations against them,” he said.
The former APC chieftain however called on Nigerians and members of the international community not to be deceived by the fresh charges being concocted by the Presidency against Saraki.
He insisted that the bogus charges being drafted by the assigned security agencies are simply to frustrate Saraki’s presidential ambition the same way they have tried unsuccessfully in the last three years to emasculate his leadership of the Senate and to remove him from office as President of the Senate.
“It is a proven axiom that no democracy can survive without a vibrant and virile opposition, therefore any attempt to gag opposition political parties in the country and decimate their presidential aspirants for the 2019 elections amounts to another coup against democracy and I call on Nigerians and friends of Nigeria to remain vigilant and continue to speak-up to safeguard the nation’s hard earned democracy.
“Above all, I don’t want Nigerians to forget that Adams Oshiomhole has vowed to get Saraki out of office by hook or crook. He also threatened to end Saraki’s dominance of Kwara politics in 2019.
“Now that Saraki has thrown his hat into the ring for the presidential election, the party in connivance with the presidency is out to sully his name and stop him from participating in the upcoming election."
isht689: shut the up! saraki is good as gone in political history of Nigeria.people can only be afraid of the consequences of their action taken in the past.
ClintGist: A counsel to the Department of State Services (DSS), G. O. Agbadua, has given reasons why journalist Jones Abiri, was not given a trial for the two years he spent in detention.
Abiri was arrested by DSS in 2016 and accused of being the leader of the joint revolutionary council of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force, a separatist group.
Abiri, the publisher of Weekly Source Newspaper, was arraigned for the first time after two years in July following public outcry. Abiri was granted bail in August.
Thereafter, the Bayelsa-based journalist asked the Abuja federal high court to compel the federal government to pay him N200 million as compensation for spending two years in detention.
Abiri said he was tortured by the DSS while in detention.
However, at the court on Monday, DSS lawyer explained that when a capital crime has been committed as in the alleged case of Abiri, a person can be held in detention without a trial.
“Section 30(3) of ACJA where a suspect is taken into custody and it appears to the police officer in charge of the station that the offence is of a capital nature, the arrested suspect shall be detained in custody, and the police officer may refer the matter to the attorney-general of the federation for legal advice and cause the suspect to be taken before a court having jurisdiction with respect to the offence within a reasonable time,” the counsel said.
“It is of individual right to national security and rule of law, the state itself was a result of individuals submitting their powers, their rights to the state for protection.
“Reading those provisions, we are of the view that since it’s individual right, it cannot supersede that of the national security and that bail in capital offence is not as of right.”
Apparently displeased with Agbadua’s statement, Samuel Ogala, counsel to Abiri, disagreed with the DSS lawyer. Abiri’s counsel argued that his client’s detention was illegal and there is no court order to that effect.
“What is rule of law and national security? It is the duty and responsibility of the court to say yes, this case is a capital offence or whether an applicant is entitled to bail or not,” he said. “It is not the responsibility of the state security service to sit in their office, arrest, detain and punish a person. “The issue of rule of law and national security is very clear, what I want the court to understand is that the applicant’s detention is criminal intimidation and it is punishable.” After listening to counsels, the presiding judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, adjourned the matter till September 13.
mmb: A former Kano State Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau has finally defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressive Congress (APC).
Confirming the development to Daily Trust today, his media aide, Sule Ya’u Sule said the former governor’s decision to dump PDP was concluded after a heated debates between him and his supporters.
Sule said, “I want confirm to you that Shekarau has decided to defect from PDP to APC due to the injustice meted on him and his supporters by the PDP leadership.
“My boss has met with Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in Abuja yesterday and concluded plans for our return to APC. He will meet with all the stakeholders concern in Kano and then made his decamping public.”
Sule affirmed that there is no way they could remain in PDP watching the national leadership of the party dancing to the tune of Kwankwaso at the settlement of other PDP big wings.
He said Shekarau had made wider consultation among his supporters before he finally returned to his former party.
How he gains access to the people in power still puzzles me.
You go around looking for crumbs from Politicians,and immediately the highest bidder greases your palm, you start going off on the other group.
Posterity will judge you. But why am I even surprised this man lacks any sense?this is somebody that sat for JAMB and chose to study YORUBA in IFE for 4 years.
Yoruba that you can study for free at Iyana Ipaja bus stop,and it is this your poor judgment in life, that is making you go off on the supporters of Buhari.
Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central Zone, has told The Akelicious that his recent meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, during last Salah was not aimed at achieving upper hand against Governor Nasir El-Rufai, but to assure the President of his loyalty and support. He said most governors are afraid of direct primaries because they have lost touch with the people.
The National Assembly is yet to resume after purported plans to impeach Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki. How do you see this?
First and foremost, the crisis in the National Assembly was fomented because of the leadership style of former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Oyegun. He was unable to unite the party, forge a common front and address some issues that faced the party at the early stages before they degenerated to an unbearable level.
If the former party leadership had addressed the crises in the states, especially in Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi, Kogi and Rivers, among others, we wouldn’t be where we are today. It is the crises in the states that became the crises in the National Assembly. And the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cashed in on the crises to woo APC chieftains, especially legislators to their side.
But this is common in politics. People take advantage, just like parties, which was what they did. The current situation in the National Assembly and the nation is one where there exists a mutual distrust between APC caucus in the National Assembly and leadership of the National Assembly. Unfortunately, APC frittered away opportunities in the last three years, simply because some people assumed they were more important than others.
In a party, it is expected that every card-carrying member should be treated with dignity and given a sense of belonging. But suddenly, they created a new formula for measuring commitment to the party, based on whether you are pro or anti-Buhari. But how can you say some senators are pro or anti-Buhari, when every Senator elected on the party’s platform is supposed to support the President? Does criticising the President mean you are anti-President? Does going to bow before the President every time make you pro-President?
We are a party, and we came to power as a result of objection and protest against the inherent criminality of misrule that characterised the country in the past. So, we are supposed to set a standard for equity, transparency and adherence to democratic values and principles. But, we failed in that direction in the sense that we became enemies of ourselves. We were hostile to one another, and trying to pull one another down.
The postponement of the resumption of the National Assembly is as a result of anticipation of crisis, of the problems that may arise as a result of the present situation. There is fear on the part of those who thought there are attempts to overthrow the National Assembly leadership illegally and install a new one. Also, there is an insistence by the ruling party that, as the majority, we are supposed to produce the leadership. And all APC members have keyed into that.
But, proper reasoning is prevailing now; that what should be done is follow democratic procedure. It should not be about cordoning off the National Assembly, with the military going there to take over. I’m so glad that Adams Oshiomhole’s coming has saved the APC. Before his coming, APC was on a death row. He brought back life into the party. And because of his intervention, I can say many of us decided to stay back.
You were able to secure a reprieve to contest Senatorial seat in 2019…
Well, my visit to Buhari was to pay homage and to fully assure him of our commitment and determination to support and stand by him at this trying period. All along, when many of us rained abuses and criticisms, many people thought we were anti-Buhari. But because I criticised Buhari does not mean I was anti-Buhari. My criticising Buhari’s policies at times, is to express my opinion as a man with an activist background, as well as give him a sense of direction. I am convinced that his leadership is progressive. We have a lot in common. I am a socialist through ideological leaning, and many of his programmes and policies are in that direction.
For instance, I am opposed to the sale of refineries and the Nigeria Liquefied and Natural Gas (NLNG). I am for the role of state in socio-economy and political transformation of the economy. I am for policies and programmes that will better the lives of the masses. I am a revolutionary, one that is committed to liberating our people from economic woes. However, while it is natural for one to express his/her opinion on issues, it shouldn’t get to the point of humiliating the President. Buhari is someone I have known not just personally, but also through my parents for a very long time. But that does not mean I shouldn’t say so, when things are going wrong.
He is also a critic. He had been criticising previous governments. He expressed his views on issues during previous governments. So, he has never told me not to speak out my mind. I believe there are only a few of us that will always stand by him, even when he is out of power. Because he is in power today, many people are rallying round him, which is natural. But you ask yourself: Where are those who rallied round Ibrahim Babangida? They are nowhere to be found today. Where are those that rallied round Abacha, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan? They have all been abandoned.
When you are in position of power, you are bound to attract so-called loyalists and sycophants, who will sing your praises and beat pleasant drums. But it is all about their personal interests and how to secure their seats in the corridors of power. Personally, I can handle my political business myself. I have never had a godfather throughout my life struggles. Activists don’t have godfathers. Rather, we are driven by our conscience, conviction and the fact that we are able to plant ourselves in the hearts of the masses. Again, we are not desperate about power or privileges. We also don’t see politics as a career. Those who consider politics a career can’t survive outside it. Activists only see politics as an opportunity to serve the masses, to make impact and uplift society.
Many saw your stance against el Rufai as a principled one to wrest the party from dictatorial tendencies. Now, it appears you want to sacrifice all that for a ticket?
My view about him is the one I express whenever things go wrong. We both criticise each other. And when he doesn’t like what I do, he speaks out and vice versa. If I can speak out against the President, who is el Rufai? I have been speaking out, even before he became a governor. By age, he is older than me, but by politics I am older than him. He was nowhere in the 90s, when I was struggling for the emancipation of our nation from military dictatorship.
Personally, I don’t see my ticket coming from El-Rufai. Rather, I see it coming from the people that elected me into office. And I want to bring to attention the fact that he has said it clearly that in 2015, I was never his candidate, but I emerged as a Senator. So, if I could emerge a Senator without being his candidate, I will continue to do so for as long as my people continue voting for me.
What you need to understand is that he also wants to be reelected. So, we are both going to shop in the same market. If this party wants to genuinely become democratic and progressive, then it must give people chance to aspire for any position. If el Rufai has any plan or makes attempt to impose a candidate on my position, he should remember that power is temporary. He can’t be there forever.
We have seen dictators and tyrants in the history of this country, but where are they now?
I criticise him not because I don’t like him. And I believe that those who are singing his praises do not truly like him. When he is wrong, I certainly have to criticise him. We differ in ideological viewpoints. He is from the political establishment. He is from the reactionary conservative right, while I am from the left side of the political divide. So, we differ in all perspectives. I have suffered a lot of persecution in the last few years from violent attacks on my office and an attempt to frame me up with murder by him. And there is also manipulation of the party to suspend me. All other things done against me through the party were done either directly or indirectly by him. I am very confident that I am going to win the election. I also want you to know that el-Rufai and I have been in court for the past six months. He sued me in Kaduna High Court for N2bn and I have also sued him for N5bn.
What he should also understand is that there will come a time he will walk the streets of Kaduna or Nigeria without anybody recognising he was once a governor. This life is temporary, just like power.
Three of you in the Senate had issues with the governor. One is a PDP member and the other who was in APC has left the party, but you are here seemingly concerned about your ticket for 2019. Is that all the fight is worth? What you need to understand is that, when some people decided to leave APC, they said they were going back home. But for me Comrade Shehu Sani, PDP is not a home. I have never been a PDP member, though the revolt was justified. I was very involved in the revolt against the APC. We needed to do that because of the inherent injustice in the party and the persecution of members. But I stayed back, because there was a new leadership, which has promised to address some of the fundamental problems in the party. And the new leadership is diametrically different from the one before it.
I was actually getting ready to get out of the party. But suddenly, there were interventions by Balarabe Musa, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu and most importantly, Oshiomhole, with whom I had a lot of discussions. Other ideological comrades like Femi Falana also discussed at length with me. All those who left the APC were PDP members in the past. I don’t want to leave a familiar terrain for an unfamiliar one.
And if they said they were going home, it means they have their roots in that home, and I may be stranded in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the sea or end up being a stranger in the other party. More so, if I wanted to defect, it would have been to PRP, as that was my home. That was the party my parents belonged. I stayed back in APC because I believe I need to create a differentiating platform between my relationship with Buhari and the problems we had.
One thing I told those that defected was that our enemies should not dictate. I refused to allow my crisis with el Rufai determine, where I go or don’t go. Because it is not just where you are leaving, but where you are going. As far as I am concerned, el Rufai can return to PDP, because he has a home there, just like many of his cabinet members, since they have houses there. But, I don’t have a house there. I am not even a tenant in PDP.
It seems the internal arrangement in your party has been reduced to man-know-man. You were able to have a meeting with Buhari to get a ticket. What of those that are not so privileged?
You will be surprised to know that he was willing to see all those who defected. But many had already made up their mind not to see him or return to APC. So, there is nothing so special about that. I didn’t know Buhari after becoming a Senator. As a Senator representing the part of Kaduna State, where Buhari has lived for over four decades, I believe that I am his Senator. Buhari has two senators— one from Katsina State and the other from Kaduna State, because he spent more of his lifetime in Kaduna than in Katsina.
Would you have left the party, if you were not able to secure your ticket for 2019?
If I had wanted, I could have left the party. But if a party treats you with dignity and recognises your value as a person and keeps its promises, you have to believe in the party. That is what I have done. Securing a ticket was not the reason I decided to stay in APC, because I am already a Senator. And the process that can return me is in my people’s hands. What I said was that we need to have such a process that we will not put us in more trouble.
There were several attempts to undermine the party and made it a dictatorial platform. There was an attempt to extend the tenure of party executives, which Buhari resisted. And now it had worked. The fraudulent congresses organised in most of the states, where names of party executives were written in hotels and given party endorsement. That was another issue.
The communication gap between the party and elected officials, whether Senators, representatives members or others, is also another issue.There was the humiliation of party members in the last three years, which has also contributed a lot to the problem. Can you imagine that APC stakeholders met three times, after we submitted our grievances against the injustices, persecution and violent attacks against our persons? And APC was unable to issue a statement to console us or condemn the terrible acts on us. Those were the issues on ground. As long as APC remains just, credible and transparent, I will continue to be a party member. I’m not saying I will be a member of the party forever, but if it keeps to its promises and principles, I will remain a member.
What if el Rufai is adamant during your party primary?
He has been opposing since 2015. I have heard him saying in many of his fora that he is not in support of me. If he is adamant, well that is his opinion and he is entitled to it. But if he engages in anything that will break the law of the party, undermines the credibility of the process and impose a candidate or manipulates the whole process, then he has gone against the principles and spirit of the party, which is an entirely different scenario.
People like him came out of the PDP to APC, citing injustice, persecution and lack of internal democracy, as their reason. So, if such a person starts doing it here now, and is allowed to do it, it means there is no change from where he is coming from and where he is now. His being opposed to me is a different thing. But, he shouldn’t prevent people from voting for me. I believe many governors are afraid of direct primaries simply because they have lost touch with the people and they don’t have the required number to win elections.
In Kaduna central, I can tell you that I don’t need to campaign for anything, if the process is transparent during the primaries. If there are direct primaries, I am very confident that the result will be positive for me. There are two things. He doesn’t want me and he wants to replace me. But that is his opinion and not that of the people. The question you should ask him is: Should Shehu Sani be his problem, when he has a formidable opposition in the PDP that is united and ready to take power from him? I don’t think he should waste his energy fighting Shehu Sani, while he has serious opposition, poised to take over his office. Kaduna APC is still in crisis. You can see how our billboards are being damaged and thugs being used against us. You can see the hostility and inhospitable atmosphere created against us. But all that will not push me to take a reactionary path of leaving a progressive line. I believe whatever they are doing is temporary. So, with him or without him, it is God that gives power. But we have a bigger problem than Shehu Sani in Kaduna. He is fighting a war with traditional rulers, he has problems with teachers, workers, women, traders, religious leaders, house owners and those people who were undermined and treated badly.
nigeriapenbase: President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday arrived in Beijing, China for the 7th Summit of the Forum on China —Africa Cooperation.
China’s Exim bank will lend Nigeria $328 million towards improving the west African country’s telecoms infrastructure, Nigeria’s presidency said on Saturday, at the start of a six-day visit by President Muhammadu Buhari to the country.
Poor telecoms are a major challenge for businesses operating in Nigeria, which is Africa's largest oil producer, most populous country and has one of the continent's largest economies.
The agreement, the latest in a number of Chinese loan facilities to Nigeria since Buhari took office in 2015, comes as Beijing seeks to deepen its ties in Africa.
Trackrec: Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says the country is fast becoming a destination for tourists because of the favourable policies of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
In a statement, Segun Adeyemi, media aide to the minister, quoted Mohammed as saying this when he received the organisers and contestants of Miss Polo International Beauty Pageant at his office in Abuja on Monday.
The minister said apart from ensuring the security of lives and properties, the federal government is also working to provide infrastructure such as power, roads, and rail.
“There is no doubt that Nigeria is fast becoming a destination of choice for international tourists, thanks to the country’s hospitable people, the country’s increasingly-high rating in the international community and the successes achieved by the present administration in ensuring the security of lives and property, as well as providing infrastructure such as power, roads, and rail,” the statement read.
“The administration’s visa on arrival policy is also helping in making Nigeria a destination of choice for tourists and business people in general.
“The federal government will continue to pursue those policies that are fast turning Nigeria into a destination of choice; enhancing security, building infrastructure, implementing the tourism master-plan, and strengthening the visa on arrival policy.”
He said the surprise visit by France President Emmanuel Macron to the African Shine in Lagos also indicated that Nigeria is now set to receive global tourists.
On her part, Ibife Alufohai, president of the Miss Polo International Beauty Pageant, said the pageant is not just about beauty alone but an avenue to recognise excellence in creativity.
engineerboat: The United Kingdom has informed that her position about returning looted funds is that Nigeria cannot be trusted with its money, saying that’s what underpins it poor asset return rate and it has to be addressed.
Philip Hackett, a Queen’s Counsel, said this is the reservations of the UK, when it comes to returning looted funds to Nigeria.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Institutionalising the War against Corruption – New Approaches to Assets Tracing and Recovery’, at the Annual General Conference of the NBA in Abuja on Wednesday, Hackett said the issues with accounting for the funds also contributed to the UK’s hesitation on returning looted funds.
He said: “How much money has been recovered? Practically nothing. Nigeria has recovered so little.
“The UK’s position is that Nigeria cannot be trusted with its money. That’s what underpins it (poor asset return rate), and it has to be addressed.”
The session was chaired by Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, Executive Secretary, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), and featured the presence of Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman of the EFCC, who was represented by Chile Okoroma, EFCC’s Director of Legal and Prosecution Department.
In his address, Magu lamented “poor record keeping system”, noting that it is difficult to estimate how much has been looted from the country.
He said: “It is difficult to estimate what Nigeria has lost because we have poor record keeping system.
“Lawyers have been involved in money laundering; laundering of proceeds of crime. When they were asked to register with the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SVUML) for regulation, they went to court. NBA said it could regulate itself. But how far has NBA gone in regulating itself? That is the issue.
“I think the NBA Disciplinary Committee should be up and doing. I get embarrassed when NBA descends heavily on lawyers who are not considered to be significant, but they turn a blind eye to what big-time counsels are doing.
“I think they have to do their work without looking at faces, no matter whose ox is gored. That is the only way that we can have confidence and respect for the disciplinary committee.”
FairCritic: That Senator Bukola Saraki, the Senate President has Presidential ambition is not in doubt. It is also glarring that he is behind the emergence of rAPC. Despite all his manoevrings, Saraki would probably have to wait for another 13 yerars (2031) before he could achieve his dream, if he will ever achieve it. Right now, the following factors are working against him:
1. He is from Kwara state, not from a core Northern state. 2. Despite his pretences, he is a Yoruba man from Ilorin, not a core Northerner. 3. Majority of the people are not fooled by his antics.
Mark my word, Saraki is not going to smell the position of President of Nigeria.
lackren: The National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole has recognised the Senate majority leader, Ahmed Lawan as Senate President when he takes the protocols at the APC NEC meeting on Thursday.
He stated that Senator Ahmed Lawan will act as the Senate President read more
Oshiomhole aka Gorilla wake up. This is not Edo state.
Politics / Re: Kwankwaso Reveals How PDP Is Better Than APC by osazeeblue01: 4:07pm On Sep 05, 2018