₦airaland Forum

Following the confession by former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, that he worked against the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, a member of the party’s National Executive Committee, Timothy Osadolor, has said the leadership of the PDP will address the issue very soon.

Fayose had, on Sunday while featuring on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’, declared that: “I worked against him (Atiku) hundred per cent.

“Nigeria is bigger than the PDP, the APC and even Asiwaju (Bola Tinubu) himself…I am not a man that will hide my action. I never worked for the PDP during the last election. I am not a liar and a pretender. I did not work for the PDP.”

Although, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, and his deputy, Ibrahim Abdullahi, were not available for comment, Osadolor, who doubles as the party’s Deputy National Youth Leader, described Fayose as shameless.

He said, “The confirmation by former Governor Fayose that he did anti-party activities without shame or remorse is only to convince those who did not know better.

“For those of us that know better, seeing Governor Fayose confess, like a wizard, his acts of indiscipline, sabotage and anti-party did not come as a surprise. Were he a man with a moral compass, he would toe the honourable path of resignation after this confession.

“Will the PDP be able to address him? Yes, the party will be speaking soon.”

XerXers:
Hunger in the land

zolajpower:
Na wetin be this o? I beg remove this thing , your eye nor go blind in Jesus name.

Unknown persons have allegedly carted away the recently reinstalled airfield lighting systems at the domestic runway 18/36L of Murtala Muhammad Airport.

The PUNCH gathered that the disappearance of the approach lighting systems had raised security concerns in Nigeria’s busiest airports.

According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, those who carted away the lighting systems took advantage of the closure of the runway for over three months.

The source alleged that some FAAN workers connived with outsiders to steal the airport lighting equipment.

“The criminal took advantage of the closure to commit the crime. I cannot give the actual worth of the theft, but almost all the lighting was removed. The permanent secretary came around to see for himself the huge damage done. A lot of FAAN officials have been suspended,” the source confirmed.

The PUNCH also gathered that some heads of relevant departments at FAAN have been suspended over the missing lighting equipment on the directives of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Dr Emmanuel Meribole.

The source also disclosed that investigations had since commenced to unravel those responsible for the missing safety equipment.

According to the source, the regular incursion and stealing of safety components at the airports are carried out by a syndicate, consisting of some workers of the agencies, who have access to the restricted areas and accomplices from outside.

A top official with FAAN, who did not want his name in print, said the agency’s Managing Director, Mr Kabir Yusuf, was displeased with the development.

He stated that FAAN MD had also ordered the suspension of security personnel who were in charge of guarding critical airport facilities.


Reacting to the latest development, a former Military Commandant at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (retd.), said, [b]“This is not new at MMA. I wish the FAAN management could go back to 1990 when similar things happened in the airport. I was convinced that it was an ‘insiders threats’. What did I do? I positioned soldiers on the runways and ensured that no FAAN maintenance staff went near the runways for anything without my approval; otherwise, it was shoot at first sight. It stopped completely.[/b]
Runway lightings were being stolen and my conclusion then was that runway lightings can only be useful for runways and not roads or houses.

“Those stolen were being sold to FAAN by the same workers. That is why I am not in support of the unions carrying the picketing of their employers to the airport’s security controlled areas.”

The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, FAAN, Mr Yakubu Funtua, told The PUNCH stated that investigations had been launched and that the agency would do all within its powers to avoid a reoccurrence.

He said, “FAAN is doing all it can to get to the bottom of this. You are very aware that there are many agencies within the airport, including the different ones that are supposed to be taking care of security there. So, it would be unfair to put this (the theft) on our (members of) staff and I don’t think there is any FAAN (member of) staff that wants the agency to crash.

“Note that most of our revenue comes from Lagos. So, what kind of staff will ‘kill the goose that lays the egg?’ However, we can’t say exactly who did it, but we are doing all that we can to recover what is lost. We are going to recover it because we are going to find out those people who did it and then block all those loopholes.”

For 15 years, the Lagos Airport domestic runway 18L was shut down to night operations due to the absence of airfield lighting.

Domestic airlines were forced to use runway 19 at the international airport, which consumes more aviation fuel because of the longer distance.

The equipment, which aids aircraft to take off and land at the domestic airport at night, was installed on the 2.7 kilometres long runway last November.

Ecobank has urged First Bank Holdings to reject the acquisition of 4.7 billion shares by a former Chairman of the bank, Dr Oba Otudeko.

The bank raised the alarm in a letter written by its Legal Counsel, Kunle Ogunba & Associates, in which it stated that the business magnate, through his affiliated entities, owed the bank N13.5bn.

The letter, dated July 7 and signed by the Principal Partner of the law firm, Oludare Amusan, said the bank had instituted several lawsuits against Honey Group Limited, Siloam Global Services Limited, Anchorage Leisures Limited, Honeywell flour Mills PIc and Dr Oba Otudeko at the Federal High Court, Lagos.

According to the letter made available to The PUNCH, the legal tussle between Otudeko and the bank was in view of recouping the debts owed by the highlighted business entities.

The letter said Otudeko personally guaranteed the loan leading to the indebtedness of the prior-mentioned companies.

The letter read in part, “Whereas, the prior-mentioned entities had initially disputed their indebtedness to our client and had consequently filed an action in court to that effect, the Supreme Court on the 27th day of January, 2023 in Appeal No. SC/CV/210/2021 delivered Judgment (Certified true copy of which is herein attached) affirming the indebtedness of the above persons to our client and further commanded that they must pay all the outstanding debts that have accrued under the loan contract between the parties; the same debt personally guaranteed by Dr Oba Otudeko, which said indebted stood in the sum of N13,507,052,417.99.”

The bank, through its lawyers, alleged that instead of taking urgent steps to repay their indebtedness in line with the mandate of the supreme court, it had come to its notice that Otudeko, who had personally guaranteed to pay the said debt, had taken steps to divert his assets/funds using a company known as Barbican Capital Limited as a special purpose vehicle.

The letter read, “We state that the said Dr Oba Otudeko has via the said Barbican Capital Limited allegedly purchased 4,770, 269, 843, (Four billion, Seven hundred and seventy million, two hundred and sixty-nine thousand, eight hundred and forty-three) shares of FBN Holdings Plc.”

The letter said the bank had been informed that the said shares were purchased via 19 business entities and were currently being held by 10 different companies.

Basing its argument on the aforementioned facts, the law firm said that it was beyond doubt that the actions being taken by Otudeko were targeted as diverting his assets and that of the Honeywell Group of Companies through the said Barbican Capital Limited, in order to frustrate the enforcement of the judgment of the Supreme Court against him and the Honeywell companies, towards recovering his/their unđisputed indebtedness to Ecobank.


the letter added that, “We therefore demand that you respectfully stay/reject the approval/consent/registration/ratification {howsoever described or in whatsoever manner of the shares bought by the said Barbican Capital Limited held via the afforested entities, as proceeding with such approval/registration will be tantamount to assisting in the diversion of funds/assets meant for the payment of the debt which has been affirmed by the Supreme Court, same being a flagrant violation of the extant judgment of the Supreme and which has effectively determined the outstanding indebtedness between the Honeywell Group and our client, Ecobank Nigeria Limited,” the letter said.

The letter also demanded the details of the said transaction within the ensuing seven days, noting that as a responsible corporate entity, FBN Holdings was not expected to take an action that would encourage the violation of a supreme court ruling.

The appeal by the lender follows an earlier report by The PUNCH that Oba Otudeko’s Honeywell Group had bought the largest shares of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc in a cross deal worth N87.8bn.

The shares which Otudeko bought at N19 per unit were the largest volume of First Bank shares traded in a single day since 2012 when the stock exchange started publishing data.

The acquisition of the shares raised allegations over the validity of the trades considering that no single shareholder hitherto officially owned as many shares.

Otudeko, who was chairman of First Bank until 2019, was believed to be making a swift comeback to become the single largest shareholder of the bank.

Billionaire Femi Otedola became the bank’s single largest shareholder in 2021 after a tussle with Hassan Odukale who was also vying for control of the bank after a leadership gap emerged from Otudeko’s exit.

In response to the billionaire’s attempt to return to the bank, some shareholders of the company were said to have met on Monday to discuss the matter.

The shareholders, who were bent on preventing Otudeko from taking control of the bank, were said to be concerned about the consequences of having Otudeko back in control of the bank in any capacity, especially after being unceremoniously ousted by the central bank in 2021.

IamV4:
Nairaland moderators were busy deleting my posts yesterday & banning any account I used to post updates on that thread.

First,they banned by main account,claiming that antispam bots did that.
I used my second account,IamV2,to continue with the update,they deleted every posts I made & banned that on too.
I created another account,iamV3 to complain ,they banned that account too & deleted my post.
Mehn,it was frustrating.
Before I created this one ,and told everyone that I can no longer continue under such circumstance.
I strongly believe if I had continued with that updates using this account,they will ban it as well.
I just had to stop.
Creating different accounts every damn time is frustrating.

garfield1:
Wait till tomorrow.on several occasions,lp had no witnesses and begged for adjournment

garfield1:
How will 25% in fct help obi? Did obi say his votes were stolen or your fronting for atiku

garfield1:
They do not need to prove anything as obi already failed

IamV:
Court:
The matter is for defense.

AB Mahmoud:
It is for defense and for the 1st Respondent to open its case.
He notes that they have 3 witnesses they want to call, however, they won't be available for some domestic situation.
That is the constrained circumstances and he now asks that the matter be adjourned till tomorrow morning for continuation

Cloudflare:
Damn!

Nigerians can't wait to experience the dawn of a new beginning under HE Peter obi, the people's mandate!!!

superCleanworks:
are you really making money from this?

garriAndsugar:
Be honest with yourself bro. how you see this your song.

them suppose ban you from that studio

Drsnives:
if reverse is the case am sure she no go try am..

Funny creatures

Karlifate:
Eniola Badmus: The South Africam Version

Thugnificent:
God is great

olus01:
It can only be God 🙏🙏