http://www.lagostimes.com/2011/01/16/president-jonathans-acceptance-speech/

Eight months ago, fate beckoned on me to take on the mantle of leadership of our great country following the death of our leader, President Umaru Yar’Adua. We honour his memory by striving to sustain the dreams that we all shared with him for a vibrant Peoples Democratic Party and a prosperous peaceful nation.
Last September, I declared my interest to seek the nomination of our party to contest for the presidency of our great country. I together with vice president Namadi Sambo and with your continued support, we secured a fresh mandate to confront the many challenges that have befall our nation.
I ask for your trust so that we can continue,

I bet he can't get it up.

Has Ribadu trademarked this slogan?

http://www.lagostimes.com/2011/01/11/remi-tinubu-set-for-senate-2/

The former first lady of Lagos, Remi Tinubu is set to win the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) primaries and represent the state in the senate. Mrs Tinubu , the wife of Bola Tinubu, the former governor and powerful ACN chief recently  made known her intent to represent the Lagos Central Senatorial District.

The announcement surprised most political observers as the former first lady has no political experience. After the end of her husband's tenure in 2007, she has devoted her time to humanitarian programmes and founded the influential New Era Foundation which works on a number of community development projects.

Mrs Tinubu will slug it out with the incumbent, Alhaji Muniru Muse after the third candidate Oyinlomo Danmole, dropped out of the race. Mr Danmole is the Special Adviser to the Governor on the Central Business District.

http://www.lagostimes.com/2011/01/04/jonathan-gets-3-billion-naira-from-six-governors/

President Jonathan has received a 3 billion naira donation from the governors of Ebonyi, Katsina, Ogun, Cross River, Benue and Bauchi. The governors, all staunch supporters of the president, donated 500 million apiece. This is a big boost for Jonathan who is currently locked in a tight contest with Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice-President. All six governors are members of the president’s party and have publicly declared their support for his candidature.
Akilu Sani Indabawa, the President’s special adviser acknowledged the donation in a letter dispatched to the governors. The letter reads: “I write on behalf of His Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele
Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR, to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your mandatory financial contribution of 500 million each to the Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation.
“His Excellency is very appreciative of your support and I assure you that he will be guided at all times by his unwavering commitment to the common good of our nation and fear of God. Please accept the assurance of Mr. President’s best regard”.

“Certainly the fall of another titan. Chief Anthony Enahoro’s modus vivendi, while he peregrinated through this will-o-the-wisp of a three dimensional world, resonated with a divine halo of an iconic personage who was propelled by the PIRKEAVOTHIAN apothegm which urges man to realize “that the day is short and the work is great.” No wonder that from a very young age, he engaged in self-abnegation and mortification of the flesh in a Spartan, clinical and cerebral bid to salvage the Nigerian project even at the expense of his health infrastructure. He ceaselessly fulminated against vagabonds in power whose primus mobile had Philitinic anchorage on a depreciably mindless crave for vacuous hedonism and ingratiating political megalomania.

He must have been viscerally pained to note while he was at the departure lounge, that the ship of the Nigerian State was still nose diving and sliding into an eschewable oxbow lake and cataract and he must finally have wondered if the zoning debate currently going on is not another egregious insult by our elitist political class on the pauperized, sissified and ossified sensibilities and sensitivities of our lumpen proletariat. The only way we can honour this great man who gave his all for Nigeria is for all progressive forces to extricate themselves from the arms of Morpheus, with a view to continuously demystify, explode and pulverize the Machiavellian, Mephistophelian, primitively accumulative and rabidly sybaritic propensities of our political class, be it at the level of executive suzerainty or parliamentary Olympian aloofness. Adieu Pa Anthony Enahoro.”

Read the full text of the letter here:

http://www.lagostimes.com/2011/01/04/atiku-writes-jonathan-over-2011-budget/




Dear Mr President,
OUR ECONOMY IS GOING BANKRUPT AND YOUR 2011 BUDGET WILL MAKE MATTERS WORSE
I bring you season’s greetings, and I wish you well in the New Year. I feel constrained to write you on this matter of grave national importance. This is not a matter of politics, but a matter of our national survival. I had restrained myself from writing you this letter, but the budget Bill that you recently presented for 2011 has compelled me to act; keeping quiet would be a disservice to our nation.
A number of experts have alerted Nigerians to the precarious situation of the economy, with some even calling for a debate among the presidential aspirants. Your government dismissed the patriotic warnings. I have also invited you to a debate on the economy. I have noted at least 9 newspaper editorials and numerous commentators in support of these patriotic warnings on the economy and advising you to heed the advice. A few weeks ago, the former Minister of Finance and a managing director at the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala added her voice in condemning the reckless debt accumulation by your government.
Aside from our respected national experts, international agencies have also passed a vote of no confidence on your governance and management of the economy. The international rating agency, Fitch, downgraded its rating of the Nigerian economy, and described its outlook as ‘negative’. In your usual defensive manner, your government criticised Fitch for telling the truth. The World Economic Forum in its 2010 Global competitiveness report was damning. Nigeria dropped from the 99th position in 2009 to 127th position in 2010 out of 139 countries in the world, while other African countries were improving. The World Bank’s “ease of doing business report” also raised a red card to your government on the economy. The Mo Ibrahim report on African governance showed that the quality of governance in Nigeria has deteriorated under your government. The Transparency International’s corruption perception index shows Nigeria’s corruption worsening under your watch. No wonder both our national and foreign investors are visibly expressing their disappointment with your handling of the economy and hence the capital flight. I had fits of laughter when your government argued that because the $500 million sovereign bond you are floating is over subscribed, it meant a vote of confidence. Sir, it simply means that you are offering foreigners attractive returns on the bond, and any other country’s sovereign bond with similar returns will be oversubscribed in today’s subdued international capital market.
In mid–September when the nation was first alerted about the depletion of foreign reserves, the level of reserves was $36.9 billion. Three months later. It is now about $33 billion…. still on a free fall! President Yar’adua effectively left governance in your hands since November 2009, and our foreign reserves then stood at about $43 billion. So far, you have depleted it by $10 billion. Your Government will go into the Guinness Book of Records as the one that was massively losing reserves at a time of unprecedented export boom. It is either that you have refused to take actions, or that you do not know what to do. If you are simply refusing to take actions, one can only conclude then that you deliberately want to bankrupt the economy before you leave office. But if you do not know what to do, I beg of you, in the interest of Nigeria, to ask for urgent on the economy.
Although the Economy is the whole focus of politics, we cannot and should not play politics with our economy. You seem to be playing politics with our economy by the kinds of feeble excuses you are giving in response to obvious failures.
As a background, may I remind you, sir, that oil price (Bonny light) is at its two year high (about $90 per barrel), and output of oil and condensates is at its peak in the last seven years. Yet, all economic indicators have been on the downward trend since you too over the reins of government in November 2009. Why? In Nigeria’s history, you have presided over the highest budgetary expenditure of over N4 trillion in one year, recorded the highest rate of borrowing in any one year, lost the highest level of reserves in normal times, and had the worst economic growth in the last seven years. From all indications, we are worse–off now than even during the worst global financial crisis, and unless you change course, you’ll probably end up as the worst manager of the economy in our history.
I am alarmed because the future of our country is at stake. I will draw your attention to just a few obvious signs that you have lost it, and comment on some of the laughable excuses/defences your Government is giving to Nigerians.
a. Your 2011 Budget and the future of Nigeria
I almost wept for Nigeria after reading your 2011 budget, which is your first budget as President of Nigeria. In simple terms, it signals your vision for Nigeria and how you intend to govern. For effect, you proudly announced that this is the first budget of the National Implementation Plan (NIP) for Vision 20:20:20. The rest of the world must be laughing at us. At a time of unprecedented oil boom, you have presented Nigeria with a budget of consumption for consumption; a budget of debt accumulation to imperil the future; a budget that is rich in rhetoric and pedestrian initiatives but lacking in any bold step to lay the foundation for Nigeria’s next 50 years or even 20 years.
For a summary, you proposed a total expenditure of N4.22 trillion to be financed by a revenue estimate of N2.83 trillion, leaving a total deficit (new borrowing) of N1.4 trillion. Mr. President, you plan to borrow 33% of the entire budget, or 3.62% of GDP which is higher than the 3% stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Your total debt service is N542 billion (which is higher than your total capital spending on power, roads, health and education put together). Your total recurrent expenditure (including debt service) is N3.023 trillion, meaning that with a revenue of N2.83 trillion, your government plans to borrow money to finance recurrent expenditure even if capital budget is zero. Your recurrent budget is 107% of total revenue. Put differently, your capital budget is N1 trillion whereas your deficit or planned borrowing is N1.4 trillion, meaning that even with a zero capital budget you plan to borrow about N400 billion to add to revenue to finance CONSUMPTION. Mr. President, no one needs to be an economist to appreciate that this is a disaster.
Mr. President, let me draw your attention to the simple meaning of your budget: not one kobo of our oil revenue (at a time of oil boom) is being spent on power and infrastructure. Rather, you plan to spend the entire oil revenue on consumption, and even borrow to consume. Every KOBO of capital budget is to be borrowed. If you continue to borrow at the average interest rate of 14% by the 2012 budget, your borrowing in 2011 will add another N196 billion to debt service payment (and hence by 2012 debt service might be in excess of N738 billion). At the rate you are going, by 2015, debt service payment will be in excess of N1 trillion. If oil price drops below $50, it is evident that Government will not be able to service its debt without austerity measures. Is this what you plan for this country?
Note, Mr. President that your capital budget of N1 trillion (to be borrowed) is the lowest in REAL terms in the last seven years! Compare the capital spending in the years when the exchange rate was about N120 to a dollar and inflation in the single digit to your N1 trillion with exchange at N150 and inflation at 14%. Your actual performance on capital budget implementation is about 55% for 2010. If you maintain that, or even if you reach 70% implementation in 2011, your capital spending will just be a few hundred billions in real terms.
Again, Mr. President, the fact that this is your first budget in the implementation of Vision 20:20:20 is proof that with your government, Vision 20:20:20 is just an empty slogan. A simple back–of–the envelope calculation would show that given the level of private sector and state government investment, the federal government would need to invest at least N3 trillion per annum to have a chance of reaching vision 2020. In your first year of implementation, your capital budget (borrowed) is just one third of that amount. Consider, the fact that even this N1 trillion will not be fully disbursed. If your current record is a guide, then barely 50% of the capital budget will be implemented (or 16% of what is needed for Vision 2020). Please, Mr. President, come clean with Nigerians!
I have put out a plan to restore our public finance to a path of sustainability. Our target is to spend at least 40% of current revenue on capital budget (compared to your government that spends zero on capital). Over the medium term of four years, our agenda is to constrain recurrent expenditure to be fully funded by non–oil revenue while devoting every kobo of oil revenue to capital spending on infrastructure, power, health and education. In other words, oil is a depleting, exhaustible resource, and we must use it to build capacity for the future. We should avoid borrowing but if we must borrow at all, it has to be under stringent conditions. We should borrow only for bankable capital projects whereby the projects must generate the revenues to pay back the loan.
Limited space will not permit me to comment on the specifics of your budget as every item makes one shudder at the shallowness of thought and vision. When I read your N50 billion initiative on employment, I concluded that truly your government has no idea of what to do. This is another one of those initiatives to provide money for the boys! Nigerians have lost count of all the myriad N50 billion initiatives (N50 billion Micro credit fund; N75 billion Textile fund; N200billion agriculture Fund; etc). In a country with more than 20% urban youth unemployment, you are devoting N50 billion (to be borrowed) for sundry ‘public works’ programme. Sir, N50 billion is just 0.16% of GDP or 1.2% of the budget… you can imagine the impact on the economy.
Please sir, stop the propaganda. Unemployment is a serious national emergency requiring serious minded response. When you spend all the revenue on consumption and borrow a paltry N50 billion for job creation, you make a mockery of the problem.
Please, Mr. President, kindly present Nigerians with a budget of hope, and not this depressing budget of doom currently before the National Assembly. We have never had it so bad, Sir!
b) Continuous depletion of foreign reserves
Mr. President, as at 30th November 2009 when you took over, our foreign reserves stood at $43 billion. As I write this, it stands at $33 billion (implying an alarming depletion by about 26 percent). No President of Nigeria has set such a negative record! When we assumed office in 1999, foreign reserves stood at about $4 billion, and by the time we left office (even with much lower oil prices and quantity) we left about $45 billion. During the global crisis, most emerging markets and oil producers temporarily lost reserves. Most of them have also recovered. At the current high oil prices and quantity, and with the global crisis largely over, experts estimate that our foreign reserves should not be less than $52 billion by now. Or, can you, Mr. President, point to other oil exporting countries that are losing foreign reserves at this time?
The excuse of your government is that the remaining reserves can still pay for more than three or six months of imports. What a pity! So, are you waiting until the level gets down to three months of imports before you do something? Mr. President, our foreign reserves by the end of 2003 was just $7 billion. Assuming that you inherited $7 billion or $10 billion as total foreign reserves: by now you would be borrowing from the IMF to finance imports at a time of unprecedented oil boom. Do you get the point, Sir? The question, Mr. President, is whether you are supposed to be losing or accumulating reserves at this time. Is this not a symptom of deeper economic mismanagement? Why are you doing this Nigeria, Mr. President?
c) Unprecedented rate of borrowing in our history!
In less than one year, Mr. President, you have accumulated about N1 trillion additional debts (domestic and external). This is the highest level of debt any President has accumulated in any given year in our history. Nigeria has never had it so bad, Mr. President. Why are you in a haste to return Nigeria to debt burden after we came out of it a few years ago?
Your laughable excuse is to refer to debt–to–GDP ratio and conclude that ‘it is still low’, and therefore that you can borrow more. Your target is to raise the ratio to 25%, compared to what you refer to as the international bench mark of 40%. Your defence really convinces me that you do not understand the nature of the economy you are superintending. Which GDP, Mr. President? By the way, why 25% why not 5% or 50%. If 25% is the ratio that makes sense, why will your government in one or two years reach that ratio, thus meaning that there will be no more room for future governments to borrow? But all these ratios do not make any economic sense. For a start, let me remind you that in 1980, the debt–to–GDP ratio was less than 20% but when oil price crashed in late 1981, Nigeria could not service its debt. Why? Does this not make you think again about your debt–to–GDP ratios?
Mr. President, the reason why reference is made to GDP in other countries is that it measures the taxable income (base) for servicing and repaying the debt. In Nigeria, your GDP includes agriculture which is largely peasant–based and non–taxable (or show us the tax revenue from agriculture). The FGN’s non–oil revenue is mostly from excise and import duties, company income tax and VAT. Agriculture accounts for 40% of GDP, and if you exclude it and relate the total debt as at end of September to non–agricultural GDP, the ratio comes to about 28% … already above your benchmark of 25%. Furthermore, oil and gas sector represents the most volatile component of the GDP and government revenue. For many years in the last 10 years, this sector has been contributing negatively to GDP growth, although oil prices have been soaring. Again, if oil price crashes to say $50 per barrel or less, you know that government would (just as in the early 1980’s) find it almost impossible to service/repay the debt without throwing the country into the worst form of austerity measures.
So, a prudent manager of the economy should be looking at the ratio of the debt to the ‘relevant GDP’ (where ‘relevant GDP’ in Nigeria’s case is non–agricultural, non–volatile (oil) GDP). If you use this ‘relevant GDP’ concept, then debt–to–GDP ratio comes to about 56% by September 2010 … far above your so- called international benchmark of 40%. All these do not include domestic debt of states and local governments which are part of public sector debt. If we add these, debt to ‘relevant GDP’ ratio would be approaching 70%.
Think about this Mr. President: already your debt service payment, approaching N600 billion per annum is bigger than your capital spending on power, works, and transport, health and education put together! Your debt service payment is already more than 50% of TOTAL non–oil revenue collected by the FGN, and almost 100% of FGN’s SHARE of the non–oil revenue. In other words, and for emphasis if oil prices crashes tomorrow, the government cannot service the debt with non–oil revenue. I am not sure that you know it, but Mr. President, you are hastily preparing Nigeria to be another Greece – that recently defaulted on its debt! More tragic is that you cannot point to tangible projects that the debt has gone into that will repay the money in the future. So, under your watch Mr. President, Nigeria is “over–borrowed” by every reasonable measure! How will our children and grand children repay the debt, Mr. President?
d) Under you, non–oil Economy has worst performance in SEVEN years!
Every time your poor management of the economy is mentioned, your Government comes out with a phony defence by quoting the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) numbers to show that the economy is ‘growing fast’, at about 7% in 2010. But this is being economical with the truth.
The truth is that under your watch in 2010, with unprecedented oil boom and highest Federal Government expenditure in Nigeria’s history, non–oil GDP growth is the worst in the last seven years. Your so–called GDP growth is just because more barrels of oil were lifted this year than in the last seven years, and so the oil sector’s growth averaged 4.4% this year compared to average of -5.08% between 2006 and 2008, or average of -1.83% between 2004 and 2009. Due to the reduction of crisis in the Niger Delta following Yar’adua amnesty programme, oil GDP growth in 2010 has averaged 4.4% (a whopping 9.48% improvement over the performance in 2006 – 2008). If the oil sector had grown at the same rate as in 2006 – 2008, your GDP growth this year would be a paltry 5.77% (again the worst in the last seven years). Mr. President, according to the same NBS, non–oil GDP grew by an average of 9.67% per annum for the period 2004 to 2009 (including the period of global crisis 2008 – 2009). In 2010, according to the same NBS, it has grown by 8.3% in the first three quarters. Underperforming by about 1.4% of GDP with unprecedented spending, excessive borrowing and squandering more than $10 billion of foreign reserves is your national record. This is consistent with the rising spate of closure of businesses around the country under your watch. Are you aware, Sir, that more than 867 companies have closed in Nigeria since you took over, with more than 240 in Lagos alone? Properly interpreted, your record is as follows: the more money you have spent, the worse the economy has become!
Please, sir, for the sake our Nigeria, I urge you to take urgent steps to re-focus our economy in the remaining 5 months of your administration. I wish you good luck as you do so. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Atiku Abubakar, GCON
Former Vice President.

http://www.lagostimes.com/2011/01/04/491/

Teslim Folarin , the leader of the PDP senate caucus, has been remanded in Agodi Prison, Ibadan after being arraigned alongside three associates on a two-count charge of conspiracy and murder at an Ibadan Magistrate Court. Mr Folarin who is locked in a bitter power struggle with the governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, is being held for the murder of Lateef Salako, a former factional leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). Mr Salako was a powerful member of the transporters’ union that wields much power in Nigerian politics. He was allied with the state governor and had also been accused of thuggery and murder when he was still alive. He was killed after violence broke out during a party congress at Ona-Ara in Oyo state.
The police had earlier detained Mr Folarin at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) after he responded to an invitation from the authorities. He reportedly tendered a statement to the Commissioner of Police, Baba Adisa Bolanta.
Folarin arrived at the court premises at around 10.45 AM in a Peugeot 406 car and was taken to the court amid heavy security. A crowd of supporters and top party bosses stormed the court in support of the senate leader.
Folarin and his three co-defendants are being represented by Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN and fourteen other lawyers. Akeredolu said the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case since it involved a murder charge. The Chief Magistrate Sakirat Baderu adjourned the case till January 14, 2011 and remanded the senate leader in prison custody pending the transfer of the case. Folarin left the court in a Toyota Hilux prison van.

Watch John Togo's interview on Sahara Reporters here:

http://saharareporters.com/video/general-john-togo-new-face-niger-delta-insurgency-speaks-saharareporters

http://www.lagostimes.com/2010/12/30/oscar-onyema-is-new-nse-chief-2/

Oscar Onyema has been selected to head the Nigeria Stock Exchange. He will succeed the interim administrator Emmanuel Ikazoboh who has been acting in a temporary capacity since Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, the former director-general, was removed by the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 4, 2010. Mr Onyema,

The billionaire tycoon Obafoluke Otudeko has resigned his chairmanship of Nigeria’s First Bank after only a year in the saddle. His resignation was forced by new central bank rules limiting the tenure of bank directors to ten years. He has been replaced by Prince Ajibola Afonja, a non-executive director. Otudeko succeeded Dr Umaru Mutallab last year.

http://www.lagostimes.com/2010/12/30/first-bank-gets-new-chairman/

Charles Soludo handpicked as PDP governorship candidate in contentious move
WRITTEN BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK    
FRIDAY, 09 OCTOBER 2009 17:18


The People's Democratic Party (PDP) has picked controversial former Central Bank governor, Charles Soludo, as the party's candidate in upcoming Anambra state gubernatorial elections scheduled for February 6, 2010.  

Our sources said the choice of Soludo materialized after much behind-the-scenes intrigues and maneuvers carried out by PDP operatives with ties to Umaru Yar’adua and his wife, Turai Yar'adua.

The PDP congress was moved to Abuja in what a PDP official told Saharareporters was “a strategic move to avoid the impact of a court injunction granted against the party by an Anambra State high court.” Then the congress was moved from the party’s secretariat in Abuja to the Shehu Yar'adua Center when word reached Turai Yar'adua that some PDP party officials had received large sums of money from Chris Uba to make his brother-in-law the candidate of the party.


Uche Ekwunife
The PDP’s attempt to hold primaries to determine the party’s candidate was marred by widespread shooting and other forms of violence perpetrated by thugs hired by different candidates or their sponsors. Abuja-based attorney, Kayode Ajulo, an eyewitness at today’s meeting to choose a “consensus candidate” said party members “conducted themselves in an unruly manner at the Yar’adua Center.” The witness said, “the members of the self-styled largest party in Africa behaved worse than gangsters. They broke anything breakable, even shoved and assaulted three police officers.” 

Saharareporters had earlier reported that Charles Soludo had enlisted Mrs. Yar’adua’s help to secure the governorship in order to buy himself immunity from prosecution in a myriad of fraud cases dogging him. The latest controversy around the former CBN governor has to do with a bribery case involving Securency, an Australian currency manufacturer.


Soludo reportedly demanded and received bribes from the firm before steering contracts to the company to mass-produce polymer currency. A source familiar with the case also told Saharareporters that Mrs. Yar'adua was implicated in the bribe-for-polymer scandal.

But while Soludo’s candidacy excites Mrs. Yar'adua, a source in Abuja told us that a political shocker might await Turai. The source of the shocker is in the candidacy of Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, a member of the House of Representatives who trounced Mr. Emeka Etiaba in the primaries yesterday to become the candidate of PPA. Our sources said Mrs. Ekwunife might be the joker from the Chris Uba camp.

Said the source: “Since Chris Uba has failed to put in his brother-in-law, his group may work for the victory of Mrs. Ekwunife – who will then return to the fold of the ruling party the same way Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim, was brought into office under another party and then decamped to the PDP as soon as he stabilized.”

Uche Ekwunife, a former youth corps member in 2000, notoriously dated former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra. She made an incredible fortune as a front for the former governor. She was found to be in possession of N2 billion in her private account, and later resigned from Standard Trust Bank to join politics, with all her loot intact.

Source:
http://saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3916:charles-soludo-handpicked-as-pdp-governorship-candidate-in-contentious-move-&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

The usual fabricated gibberish from another attention LovePeddler.

I hereby call on the Nigerian Prison Service to release Reverend King and allow him to go and preach at the United Nations like Daddy G.O Adeboye.

All hail the Jesus of our time!!!


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=154489

Prison Service Denies Release of Rev King

From Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja, 09.15.2009


Following speculations making the round that condemned Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Reverend Emeka Ezeugo also known as Reverend King, who has been on death row for sometime over the murder of one of his church members, Ann Azuh, was released, the Nigerian Prison Service yesterday in Abuja denied any such move.
Spokesman of the service, Kayode Odeyemi, said the service was not aware of any such development. He said the condemned prisoner, who has been awaiting the hangman in Kuje Prisons, Abuja, was not released.
“I cannot confirm anything like that. The Nigerian Prison Service is not aware that Reverend King was released to anybody. I am not aware”, he said.
King was sentenced to death by a Lagos High Court over the murder of Ann Uzor King whom he set ablaze in July 22, 2006.
The trial judge had handed  King a 20-year sentence for each of the five-count charge of attempted murder while for the offence of murder carried a death sentence.
King was found guilty by the court for the murder of Ann Uzor   King, a member of his church and an attempt on the life of five others whom he set ablaze on July 22, 2006.
King had in his reaction to the verdict maintained that he was  “not afraid to die. It is a privilege and honor for me to die by hanging. I am following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ. After all, he died on the cross by hanging,” he said.
He said he was a victim of persecution, while declaring that it was nobody’s business if he treated members of his church with iron hand.
“If I beat people in my church, it is nobody’s business. The Bible says spare the rod and spoil the child,” he had said.

Does it matter how the dude celebrated his goal?

Final Standings 2009/2010 EPL Season

1. Chelsea
2. Manchester United
3. Liverpool
4. Manchester City
5. Tottenham Hotspur
6. West Ham


Hey, where's Arsenal?

9. Arsenal FC

Hell No! The state is a dangerous shit hole where every urchin is a wannabe kidnapper. Stay Away!!!!

Someone put Rita Dominic's face on a tramp. Photoshop bullshit.

I detest Barca but I'm worried about Inter's ability to defend dead ball situations. I hope The Special One can pull off a stunning upset.

Oh come on, there's no need for belligerence. Adeboye is a well-known conman who might not even have a first degree. Forget the safari suit and the gravitas. It's just a matter of time before one of these nympho RCCG choristers publicly reveals how Papa inserted his holy schvantz into her "peepee".

The Grim Reaper is on a rampage. When will these medical geniuses find a cure for cancer?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_en_mo/us_obit_swayze;_ylt=AtztiG9M3pfs5BYWFlNo6kBH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTJoM2dhcjBjBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwOTE1L3VzX29iaXRfc3dheXplBGNwb3MDNQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3B1YmxpY2lzdHBhdA--

Hope Nadal stays injury free next season.

RIP Fedex!!!
You've been extremely lucky this year. Del P and Haas could have knocked you out of Roland Garros. Roddick lost his mojo at Wimbledon. This is the end of your era Swiss boy.

Go take care of the twins.

RIP Fedex!!!
You've been extremely lucky this year. Del P and Haas could have knocked you out of Roland Garros. Roddick lost his mojo at Wimbledon. This is the end of your era Swiss boy.

Go take care of the twins.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_en_mo/us_obit_swayze;_ylt=AtztiG9M3pfs5BYWFlNo6kBH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTJoM2dhcjBjBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwOTE1L3VzX29iaXRfc3dheXplBGNwb3MDNQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3B1YmxpY2lzdHBhdA--

LOS ANGELES – Patrick Swayze personified a particular kind of masculine grace both on and off screen, from his roles in films like "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" to the way he carried himself in his long fight with pancreatic cancer.
Swayze died from the illness on Monday in Los Angeles, his publicist said. He was 57.
"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," Annett Wolf said in a statement Monday evening. She declined to give details.
Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from an especially deadly form of cancer. He continued working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting "The Beast," an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot.
Swayze said he chose not to use painkillers while making "The Beast" because they would have taken the edge off his performance. The show drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran this year, but A&E said it reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.
When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was "considerably more optimistic" than that. Swayze acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.
"I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking," Swayze told ABC's Barbara Walters in early 2009. "Two years seems likely if you're going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I'd better get a fire under it."
And that's exactly what he did. In February, Swayze wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post titled, "I'm Battling Cancer. How About Some Help, Congress?" in which he urged senators and representatives to vote for the maximum funding for the National Institutes of Health to fight cancer as part of the economic stimulus package.
He also appeared in the September 2008 live television event "Stand Up to Cancer," where he pleaded: "I keep dreaming of a future, a future with a long and healthy life, a life not lived in the shadow of cancer, but in the light. , I dream that the word `cure' will no longer be followed by the words `is impossible.'"
Celebrities and fans inspired by Swayze's struggle poured out their condolences, including C. Thomas Howell, who costarred with Swayze in "The Outsiders," "Grandview U.S.A." and "Red Dawn."
"I have always had a special place in my heart for Patrick," he said. "While I was fortunate enough to work with him in three films, it was our passion for horses that forged a friendship between us that I treasure to this day."
Others used Twitter to express their sadness, and "Dirty Dancing" was a top trending topic Monday night, trailed by other Swayze films.
Demi Moore, who played Swayze's fiancee in "Ghost," wrote: "Patrick you are loved by so many and your light will forever shine in all of our lives." Moore's husband, Ashton Kutcher, tweeted: "RIP P Swayze" and linked to a YouTube clip of the actor poking fun at himself in a classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch, in which he played a wannabe Chippendales dancer alongside the corpulent — and frighteningly shirtless — Chris Farley.
Larry King wrote: "Patrick Swayze was a wonderful actor & a terrific guy. He put his heart in everything. He was an extraordinary fighter in his battle w Cancer." King added that he'd do a tribute to Swayze on his CNN program Tuesday night.
A three-time Golden Globe nominee, Swayze became a star with his performance as the misunderstood bad boy Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing." As the son of a choreographer who began his career in musical theater, he seemed a natural to play the role.
A coming-of-age romance starring Jennifer Grey as an idealistic young woman on vacation with her family and Swayze as the Catskills resort's sexy (and much older) dance instructor, the film made use of both his grace on his feet and his muscular physique.
It became an international phenomenon in the summer of 1987, spawning albums, an Oscar-winning hit song in "(I've Had) the Time of My Life," stage productions and a sequel, 2004's "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," in which he made a cameo.
Swayze performed and co-wrote a song on the soundtrack, the ballad "She's Like the Wind," inspired by his wife, Lisa Niemi. The film also gave him the chance to utter the now-classic line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
Swayze followed up with the 1989 action flick "Road House," in which he played a bouncer at a rowdy bar. But it was his performance in 1990's "Ghost" that showed his vulnerable, sensitive side. He starred as a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee, with great frustration and longing, through a psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg.
"Ghost" provided yet another indelible musical moment: Swayze and Moore sensually molding pottery together to the strains of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody." It also earned a best-picture nomination and a supporting-actress Oscar for Goldberg, who said she wouldn't have won if it weren't for Swayze.
"When I won my Academy Award, the only person I really thanked was Patrick," Goldberg said in March 2008 on the ABC daytime talk show "The View."
Swayze himself earned three Golden Globe nominations, for "Dirty Dancing," "Ghost" and 1995's "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," which allowed him to toy with his masculine image. The role called for him to play a drag queen on a cross-country road trip alongside Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.
His heartthrob status almost kept him from being considered for the role of Vida Boheme.
"I couldn't get seen on it because everyone viewed me as terminally heterosexually masculine-macho," he told The Associated Press then. But he transformed himself so completely that when his screen test was sent to Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin pictures produced "To Wong Foo," the director didn't recognize him.
Among his earlier films, Swayze was part of the star-studded lineup in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel "The Outsiders," alongside Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez and Diane Lane. Other '80s films included "Red Dawn," "Grandview U.S.A." and "Youngblood," once more with Lowe, as Canadian hockey teammates.
In the '90s, he made such eclectic films as "Point Break" (1991) in which he played the leader of a band of bank-robbing surfers, and the family Western "Tall Tale" (1995) in which he starred as Pecos Bill. He appeared on the cover of People magazine as its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991, but his career tapered off toward the end of the 1990s, when he went to rehab for alcohol abuse. In 2001, he appeared in the cult favorite "Donnie Darko," and in 2003 he returned to the New York stage with "Chicago"; 2006 found him in the musical "Guys and Dolls" in London.
Swayze was born in 1952 in Houston, the son of Jesse Swayze and choreographer Patsy Swayze, whose films include "Urban Cowboy."
He played football but also was drawn to dance and theater, performing with the Feld, Joffrey and Harkness Ballets and appearing on Broadway as Danny Zuko in "Grease." He turned to acting in 1978 after a series of injuries.
Within a couple years of moving to Los Angeles, he made his debut in the roller-disco movie "Skatetown, U.S.A." The eclectic cast included Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormack and Billy Barty.
Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in Africa to shine a light on "man's greed and absolute unwillingness to operate according to Mother Nature's laws," he told the AP in 2004.
Swayze was married since 1975 to Niemi, a fellow dancer who took lessons with his mother; they met when he was 19 and she was 15. A licensed pilot, Niemi would fly her husband from Los Angeles to Northern California for treatment at Stanford University Medical Center.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_en_mo/us_obit_swayze;_ylt=AtztiG9M3pfs5BYWFlNo6kBH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTJoM2dhcjBjBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwOTE1L3VzX29iaXRfc3dheXplBGNwb3MDNQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3B1YmxpY2lzdHBhdA--

By CHRISTY LEMIRE, AP Movie Writer – 4 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – Patrick Swayze personified a particular kind of masculine grace both on and off screen, from his roles in films like "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" to the way he carried himself in his long fight with pancreatic cancer.
Swayze died from the illness on Monday in Los Angeles, his publicist said. He was 57.
"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," Annett Wolf said in a statement Monday evening. She declined to give details.
Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from an especially deadly form of cancer. He continued working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting "The Beast," an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot.
Swayze said he chose not to use painkillers while making "The Beast" because they would have taken the edge off his performance. The show drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran this year, but A&E said it reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.
When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was "considerably more optimistic" than that. Swayze acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.
"I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking," Swayze told ABC's Barbara Walters in early 2009. "Two years seems likely if you're going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I'd better get a fire under it."
And that's exactly what he did. In February, Swayze wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post titled, "I'm Battling Cancer. How About Some Help, Congress?" in which he urged senators and representatives to vote for the maximum funding for the National Institutes of Health to fight cancer as part of the economic stimulus package.
He also appeared in the September 2008 live television event "Stand Up to Cancer," where he pleaded: "I keep dreaming of a future, a future with a long and healthy life, a life not lived in the shadow of cancer, but in the light. , I dream that the word `cure' will no longer be followed by the words `is impossible.'"
Celebrities and fans inspired by Swayze's struggle poured out their condolences, including C. Thomas Howell, who costarred with Swayze in "The Outsiders," "Grandview U.S.A." and "Red Dawn."
"I have always had a special place in my heart for Patrick," he said. "While I was fortunate enough to work with him in three films, it was our passion for horses that forged a friendship between us that I treasure to this day."
Others used Twitter to express their sadness, and "Dirty Dancing" was a top trending topic Monday night, trailed by other Swayze films.
Demi Moore, who played Swayze's fiancee in "Ghost," wrote: "Patrick you are loved by so many and your light will forever shine in all of our lives." Moore's husband, Ashton Kutcher, tweeted: "RIP P Swayze" and linked to a YouTube clip of the actor poking fun at himself in a classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch, in which he played a wannabe Chippendales dancer alongside the corpulent — and frighteningly shirtless — Chris Farley.
Larry King wrote: "Patrick Swayze was a wonderful actor & a terrific guy. He put his heart in everything. He was an extraordinary fighter in his battle w Cancer." King added that he'd do a tribute to Swayze on his CNN program Tuesday night.
A three-time Golden Globe nominee, Swayze became a star with his performance as the misunderstood bad boy Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing." As the son of a choreographer who began his career in musical theater, he seemed a natural to play the role.
A coming-of-age romance starring Jennifer Grey as an idealistic young woman on vacation with her family and Swayze as the Catskills resort's sexy (and much older) dance instructor, the film made use of both his grace on his feet and his muscular physique.
It became an international phenomenon in the summer of 1987, spawning albums, an Oscar-winning hit song in "(I've Had) the Time of My Life," stage productions and a sequel, 2004's "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," in which he made a cameo.
Swayze performed and co-wrote a song on the soundtrack, the ballad "She's Like the Wind," inspired by his wife, Lisa Niemi. The film also gave him the chance to utter the now-classic line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
Swayze followed up with the 1989 action flick "Road House," in which he played a bouncer at a rowdy bar. But it was his performance in 1990's "Ghost" that showed his vulnerable, sensitive side. He starred as a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee, with great frustration and longing, through a psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg.
"Ghost" provided yet another indelible musical moment: Swayze and Moore sensually molding pottery together to the strains of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody." It also earned a best-picture nomination and a supporting-actress Oscar for Goldberg, who said she wouldn't have won if it weren't for Swayze.
"When I won my Academy Award, the only person I really thanked was Patrick," Goldberg said in March 2008 on the ABC daytime talk show "The View."
Swayze himself earned three Golden Globe nominations, for "Dirty Dancing," "Ghost" and 1995's "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," which allowed him to toy with his masculine image. The role called for him to play a drag queen on a cross-country road trip alongside Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.
His heartthrob status almost kept him from being considered for the role of Vida Boheme.
"I couldn't get seen on it because everyone viewed me as terminally heterosexually masculine-macho," he told The Associated Press then. But he transformed himself so completely that when his screen test was sent to Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin pictures produced "To Wong Foo," the director didn't recognize him.
Among his earlier films, Swayze was part of the star-studded lineup in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel "The Outsiders," alongside Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez and Diane Lane. Other '80s films included "Red Dawn," "Grandview U.S.A." and "Youngblood," once more with Lowe, as Canadian hockey teammates.
In the '90s, he made such eclectic films as "Point Break" (1991) in which he played the leader of a band of bank-robbing surfers, and the family Western "Tall Tale" (1995) in which he starred as Pecos Bill. He appeared on the cover of People magazine as its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991, but his career tapered off toward the end of the 1990s, when he went to rehab for alcohol abuse. In 2001, he appeared in the cult favorite "Donnie Darko," and in 2003 he returned to the New York stage with "Chicago"; 2006 found him in the musical "Guys and Dolls" in London.
Swayze was born in 1952 in Houston, the son of Jesse Swayze and choreographer Patsy Swayze, whose films include "Urban Cowboy."
He played football but also was drawn to dance and theater, performing with the Feld, Joffrey and Harkness Ballets and appearing on Broadway as Danny Zuko in "Grease." He turned to acting in 1978 after a series of injuries.
Within a couple years of moving to Los Angeles, he made his debut in the roller-disco movie "Skatetown, U.S.A." The eclectic cast included Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormack and Billy Barty.
Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in Africa to shine a light on "man's greed and absolute unwillingness to operate according to Mother Nature's laws," he told the AP in 2004.
Swayze was married since 1975 to Niemi, a fellow dancer who took lessons with his mother; they met when he was 19 and she was 15. A licensed pilot, Niemi would fly her husband from Los Angeles to Northern California for treatment at Stanford University Medical Center.

@Princekevo,

It is likely that you are dealing with a small or racist bank which has a dragnet policy towards risk management. There's a reason I highlighted those banks in the list.

BNP Paribas would not reject an LC from ETB given their long standing business relationship. The same goes for ICBC which owns 20% of Stanbic. SCB and Citibank have Nigerian subsidiaries which would not reject their own LCs.

If your bank is afraid of doing business with Nigerian banks, take your business somewhere else.

My man Del Potro has done it. He knocked the annoying Swiss master off his perch at the U.S Open. You are the man, Del Potro!!!!

Princekevo claims to stay in Macau and that banks in his neighbourhood have refused to transfer LCs to Nigeria.


Here's a list of some of the licensed banks in Macau.

Tai Fung Bank Limited - Banco Tai Fung, S.A.R.L.
Wing Hang Bank Limited - Banco Weng Hang, S.A.
Banco Delta Asia Limited - Banco Delta Ásia, S.A.R.L.
China Construction Bank (Macau) Corporation Limited - Banco de Construcao da China (Macau), S.A.
Seng Heng Bank Limited - Banco Seng Heng, S.A.
Luso International Banking Limited - Banco Luso Internacional, S.A.
Banco Comercial de Macau, S.A. - Banco Comercial de Macau, S.A.
The Macau Chinese Bank Ltd. - Banco Chinês de Macau, S.A.
Banco Espírito Santo Asia Limited - Banco Espirito Santo do Oriente, S.A.
Banco Nacional Ultramarino, S.A. - Banco Nacional Ultramarino, S.A.
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited - The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited - DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited
Bank of China Limited - Bank of China Limited
BNP Paribas - BNP Paribas
Citibank, N.A. - Citibank, N.A.
Standard Chartered Bank - Standard Chartered Bank
Guangdong Development Bank Co., Ltd. - Banco de Desenvolvimento de Cantão, S.A.
Bank SinoPac Company Limited - Banco SinoPac company Limited
Chong Hing Bank Limited - Chong Hing Bank Limited
The Bank of East Asia Limited - Banco da East Asia, Limitada[b]
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited[/b]
Hang Seng Bank Limited - Hang Seng Bank Limited
CITIC Ka Wah Bank Limited - CITIC Ka Wah Bank Limited
Banco Comercial Português, S.A. - Banco Comercial Português, S.A.
Banco BPI, S.A. - Sucursal Offshore de Macau - Banco BPI, S.A. - Sucursal Offshore de Macau
Caixa Geral de Depósitos - Subsidiária Offshore de Macau, S.A. - Caixa Geral de Depósitos - Subsidiária Offshore de Macau, S.A.


Which one of them refused to transfer your LC?