₦airaland Forum

The United Kingdom Charity Commission says it has received many complaints about the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation in London concerning allegations of financial misconduct and conflicts of interest.

The UKCC’s spokesperson, Sarah Hitchings, told our correspondent in an email that the commission had also started a broad investigation into the matters because the foundation had violated its regulatory standards.

She said, “We have received complaints about this charity and issues including alleged conflicts of interest and alleged financial misconduct.

“We currently have an open case in relation to this charity and have been in contact with the trustees.

“We have recently become aware of further information about potential wrong-doing at the charity which is of regulatory concern to the commission and we are currently considering this new information. We cannot comment further while our case is live.”

Meanwhile, the commission refused to comment on any actions taken against the recently sacked London-based Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Anne Welsh, on allegations of money laundering.

“We cannot give information about a charge on the chief executive officer – this would be a question for the Police,” Hitchings added.

The Chief of Staff to former President Obasanjo, Mr. Victor Durodola, had toldSaturday PUNCHthat Welsh was relieved of her duties due to allegations of money laundering activities.

“It is true and it is sad,” he said, while commenting on the sacking of the former chief executive.

SaharaReportershad earlier obtained a video footage, which showed that Welsh was allegedly involved in plotting a $4.9m (N980m) scheme to exploit the Ebola Virus Disease tragedy in West Africa through helping a group of “Lebanese businessmen,” who wished to donate money to the Obasanjo Foundation for some works in Sierra Leone.

The footage revealed that the group demanded that it would make a donation of $2m (N400m) to the foundation if it helped it launder the balance of $2.9m, which Welsh agreed to.

“I had to go through training, through president Obasanjo, political training for one year to become discreet,” she said in the video,” adding that, “Sometimes, we get dollars from people who give money to our foundation and they say they don’t want it to be known that they donated the money, but they want to have a letter on our letterhead and a letter from Obasanjo just to say ‘Thank you’ for your kind donations to the foundation for the work to support Ebola.’ That’s it. That is what we normally do.”

Welsh had also demanded from the group an interest of 30 per cent on the $2.9m.

“At least 30 per cent; think about the hard work I’m going to put into this, you will be so grateful to me,” she said.

The video evidence had also showed that the group agreed to give her the 30 per cent, which was $90,000 (N180m), and detailed how the money would be transferred via a Nigerian bank.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has debunked the notion being peddled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will spend only one term in office if elected president, saying it is the creation of the PDP, which is seeking to play a section of the country against another.

“The APC will not abridge the right of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to spend the constitutionally-guaranteed two terms as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if elected in the March 28 poll,” the party said in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

“No conditionality whatsoever was attached to Gen. Buhari’s candidacy. He won the party’s primaries fair and square in a globally acclaimed transparent manner, and he was neither a compromise nor a consensus candidate, hence, there is no need for him to make a deal with anyone.

“We are therefore, telling Nigerians to disregard the tales by the moonlight, which some PDP elements are yarning, in their desperation to muddle the waters ahead of the forthcoming elections and create disaffection between a section of the country and another,” it said.

The APC said it had ignored the myth all along because it was being peddled by fringe elements in the PDP, but decided to put the record straight once and for all after those who were thought to be saner elements in the ruling party started parroting the same incredulous lies.

“This myth that Buhari will spend one term, after which power will return to the South-West, is along the same line as the outlandish claim that our Vice Presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has sworn to an oath to resign in favour of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu once elected.

“The question to ask is: When will the PDP stop this campaign of calumny and character assassination against our candidates and leaders? When will they stop this one-day, one-lie nonsense?

“The truth is that Gen. Buhari’s candidacy has brought out the worst in the PDP leadership and supporters, including Mr. President and his wife. Unfortunately for them, the more they campaign against our candidate, the more popular he becomes. Perhaps the PDP would have stood a better chance of winning the forthcoming polls if its state governors, in particular, have devoted as much time and energy to running their states as they have devoted to maligning Gen. Buhari,” the party said.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)

The Senate had a rowdy executive session for about two hours on Wednesday as a result of attempt by Senate President, David Mark, to convince his colleagues to give Musiliu Obanikoro an easy passage, in accordance to the tradition of the upper chamber in the screening of former senators nominated for appointment as ministers.

The Senate had over the years adopted the “take a bow” treatment for nominee ex-senators. Obanikoro was a member of the upper federal legislative chamber between 2003 and 2007 on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy. His name is among the eight new ministerial nominees before the Senate for consideration.

Members of the opposition All Progressives Congress in the Senate had, last week, vowed to oppose the confirmation of Obanikoro.

Our correspondent learnt that Mark, shortly before plenary and in a bid to ensure that the tradition of the Senate was not broken, immediately ordered a closed-door executive session to iron out the differences between Obanikoro and the opposition senators before the ministerial screening.

One of the senators from the South-West geo – political zone, who preferred anonymity, told our correspondent that the executive session was rowdy while it lasted.

He said, “The Senate President pleaded with us to respect the tradition of the senate by allowing Obanikoro and two other former senators, who would be appearing before us for screening to just take a bow and leave.

“We told him such gesture would not be extended to Obanikoro because of the two petitions against him that were forwarded to the Senate leadership, which he must address in a question-and-answer session.

“The insistence of the senate president that he would not preside over a chamber where the tradition that predated him would be destroyed led to a rowdy session which lasted for over one-and-a-half hour.”

The senator explained that it took the intervention of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to resolve the issue.

According to him, Ekweremadu suggested that the screening and confirmation of Obanikoro should be postponed till a further date pending when the opposition would have a change of mind.

Another senator, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party from the North-Central, who also spoke anonymously, confirmed to our correspondent that the screening of Obanikoro had been postponed till next week due to the issues raised against him.

He said, “The opposition senators stuck to their guns that the nominee must address the allegations levelled against him but the Senate President insisted that he would never allow such things to happen.

“We however resolved to suspend the screening of Obanikoro and three others till next week Tuesday, if the opposition senators would not insist that he must be asked some questions. “

The senator further explained that the leadership of the red chamber resolved to take the former Minister of State alongside three others next week.

However, when the Senate resumed plenary, the senate president did not explain the reason for the closed-door session.

“The senate at the executive session discussed issues of national importance,” he said.

Meanwhile, four nominees- Messrs Patricia Akwashiki (Nasarawa State); Nicholas Ada (Benue State); Augustine Akobundu (Abia State); and Fidelis Nwankwo (Ebonyi State), answered questions from the senators except Akwashiki, who was a senator.

Ada, a professor of education, while responding to questions, said that lack of qualified teachers was responsible for the production of ill-equipped graduates.

He noted that students from “miracle centres” and those who cheat in examinations, and get higher grades usually constitute a great menace to the society as they would do everything to manipulate the system upon graduation.

He said, “So, what we simply do is to try as much as possible that the teachers training programme for the school system is strengthened because what the teacher fails to do, is an irreparable loss and what he does well gives credence to the entire process.

“I would suggest that we go back to the basics. In the time past, we had Grade Two Teachers Training programme; teachers were trained in specific areas. The totality of the teachers was well groomed and he came out as a very refined person.”

On his part, Akobundu, a retired colonel in the army, said the best way to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency was the introduction of the multi-nations military taskforce, made up of soldiers from Benin Republic, Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Nigeria.

“The solution is making sure that we maintain the coalition with our coalition partners to make sure that we rid our nation and their own countries the menace of Boko Haram.

“At the same time, we talk about fighting terrorism through carrot-and-stick. What is going on is the stick. And concurrently, I believe that the Federal Government through the statutory agencies are doing everything to make sure that these Nigerians who have been displaces are given sense of belonging.”

The screening of Obanikoro (Lagos); Hauwa Lawan (Jigawa); Kenneth Kobani (Rivers) and Joel Ikenya (Taraba) has been shifted to Tuesday next week.


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Pandemonium broke out in the Mosafejo, Oshodi-Isale area of Lagos State, after rival groups said to be members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, clashed on Tuesday evening and early Wednesday.

Four people were reportedly killed, while several others were injured in the fracas which was stopped after the intervention of security agencies.

PUNCH Metro gathered that no fewer than 15 commercial buses were set on fire, while 12 others were vandalised.

Makeshift stalls in the Mosafejo Motor Park were also torched, leaving traders in the park mourning their losses.

When PUNCH Metro visited the scene of the incident on Wednesday, the atmosphere was still tense as men of the Nigeria Police Force and some soldiers were observed patrolling the area.

The motor park, usually filled with vehicles, was deserted as the police armoured tanks and patrol vans took over the space.

Broken bottles, shards of glass from shattered windscreens and pebbles, said to have been deployed by some of the hoodlums during the fight, littered the road.

Bloodstains dotted the Oshodi Roundabout, where a man was said to have been shot dead and his corpse taken away by the police.

A vehicle was still burning as of 1pm when our correspondent passed the area.

Around the same time, a police van manned by police officers was observed by our correspondent taking some teenagers away.

A source told PUNCH Metro that the fight involved three groups ─ Big London boys, Railway boys and Under-bridge boys.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fight started after the police ordered that there should be a stop in hemp smoking in the motor park.

The move was said to have been supported by the Big London boys, which brought them in conflict with the Railway and Under-bridge gangs who saw them as an ally of the police.

She said, “That was the beginning of the fight. The Railway boys and the Under-bridge boys usually conspire to wage war against the Big London boys which also had Olu Omo as a leading member.

“Yesterday (Tuesday), the allied gangs struck again and killed four people. One particularly was popular here and we call him Afari. A man was shot in the eye, another in the hand and leg. Several others are in critical conditions in hospitals.”

Another witness, who did not identify herself, said one Idris was cut with machete in the buttocks, leg and hand.

“No one knows if he will survive the attack because his condition is critical,” she said.

When PUNCH Metro crossed over to the area where the Under-bridge and Railway groups had their camp, he met some of the men who alleged that the fight was sponsored by the Big London gang.

“It was around 11pm on Tuesday that they came here. They were many in the Big London group. They had the police backing them and they want to drive us away from here. They descended on our vehicles and set many of them ablaze which you can see for yourself.

“They shot and injured three of our people, who have been rushed to hospital. We don’t know why they are after us and this fight could have been bloodier, but we decided to be calm,” a man in the group, who did not identify himself, said.

Another member of the group, who equally declined identification, showed our correspondent an injury he sustained in his hand.

He said, “They shot at so many of us. This was where I was shot. Those guys were many. They shot at about 100 of us and burnt many buses.”

Some of the traders, whose stalls were burnt, appealed for government’s intervention.

Mrs. Taiwo Olajide, a mother of three and dealer in soft drinks, said she lost all her goods to the violence.

She said, “The hoodlums set fire on all the stalls in this park. They have ruined our business. This is where I feed my children and keep body and soul together.”

Another trader, Mrs. Josephine Eze, said all her provisions were burnt.

Our correspondent also observed a cross-section of traders who were seated in front of their shops, which were not affected by the fracas.

They lamented that they had not been able to operate their business since the area was cordoned off by the police.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, while confirming the incident, said one person was killed, adding that the police recovered some weapons from the hoodlums.

He said, “There was an attempt to breach the peace at Oshodi. The hoodlums, who were rival members of the NURTW, engaged in a fight of supremacy over control of parks.

“In the process, about eight vehicles were burnt and 10 vandalised. One person was killed. Five cutlasses and four expended cartridges were recovered. Normalcy has been restored as adequate security has been made to avert any further breach of the peace.”

Nwosu added that the police arrested nine suspects in connection with the crime.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Lagos State Council of the NURTW, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, has said the union will unravel the cause of incessant violent clashes in Oshodi.

He spoke on Wednesday while inaugurating a five-man committee to find out immediate and remote causes of the fracas in the area.

Agbede said the leadership of the union in the state would not fold its arms and watch some persons destroy the peace being enjoyed in the state.

He said, “We have been witnessing peace in Lagos State council of our union since my administration came in.

We have restored peace in all our parks, so we shall find out the cause of the present problems in Oshodi, with a view to finding a lasting solution to them.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/mayhem-in-lagos-%e2%80%a2four-killed-27-vehicles-destroyed-in-gang-war/