₦airaland Forum

The Police Command in Cross River has confirmed the arrest of a 35-year-old man, Paul Nchui, for allegedly poisoning food at a restaurant in Ogoja.



ASP Irene Ugbo, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the arrest in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Calabar.

On 24 March, reports had it that there was a case of food poisoning at Oboso community in Ogoja Local Government Area which left two persons dead while 44 others were hospitalised at the Ogoja General Hospital.

The restaurant owner, Mrs Anna Erah and her husband, Mr Edward Erah, died shortly after eating the food.

It was gathered that the suspect was reportedly seen by many people at the scene of the crime

“I wish to inform you that one Mr Paul Nchui, a suspect who poisoned the food in a restaurant in Oboso community in Ogoja has been arrested.

“The suspect is in our custody, we will charge him to court as soon as we conclude our investigation,’’ Ugbo said.

The PPRO said the suspect had confessed to the crime, he however said that some victims of the food poison have been discharged after treatment.

Dr Inyang Asibong, the State Commissioner for Health, also said that symptoms displayed by the victims included vomiting, foaming in the mouth, body weakness and spitting of blood.

“We have dispatched a team of epidemiologists, doctors, community health workers and other related health staff to the affected community.

“They are to ascertain the real situation on ground and offer immediate medical assistance to all those affected by the poison,” she said.

Mr John Inaku, Director General, Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, also assured the victims of the State Government’s support.

He commended the management of the Oboso hospital for their prompt response in evacuating the victims to the Ogoja General Hospital for treatment.

The Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Professor Ibrahim Garba has confirmed that Nigerian Senator, Dino Melaye who bears Daniel Jonah Melaye as that time actually graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with third class in Geography in the year, 2000.

He said this on Monday while fielding questions from the senate committee on ethics.

“From the records, distinguished senator Dino Melaye graduated as Daniel Jonah Melaye during the 3rd semester with a 3rd class degree,” he said.

This confirmation follows allegations that the lawmaker forged his degree certificate from the school.
At Monday hearing by the Senate Committee on Public Petitions, Ethics and Privileges, the Chairman Senator Samuel Anyanwu, having put Dino Melaye on oath, explained that there was a complaint against him by a colleague, Senator Ali Ndume that he was parading a questionable degree certificate from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

While responding, Dino having tendered series of documents to support that he was a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University explained that he has also sworn affidavit as to conflicts in his names.

“Distinguished Senators, I have sworn affidavit to my name which reads, Daniel Jonah Melaye to Dino Melaye, because Jonah is actually my father’s name.”

He added: “because I have become popular with Dino over times, I have decided to bear Dino Melaye and you could see that my admission to study Masters degree bears Dino Melaye.”

Meanwhile, Senator Matthew Urhoghide noted that they could see statement of results with an affidavit and not the purported original degree from ABU.

In response, Dino said, he was yet to collect his original certificate, adding that collection of certificates is usually at any body’s convenience.

He revealed that he was ready to collect the original certificate within the week.

Sunday, 26th of March, 2017, was one of the happiest moments in the life of servant of God, founder and president of the Omega Fire Ministries worldwide, Apostle (Prof.) Johnson Suleman. It was the celebration of his birthday.

The headquarters of the OFM witnessed the convergence of a quality crowd with celebrities from various fields of endeavour rejoicing with the famous preacher.

This year’s celebration of Apostle Suleman’s birthday was a reflection of the fact that on your birthday, God really doesn’t count the candles on your cake or the money in the bank. What He appreciates is the love in your soul. With your showing love even when it is your time to be celebrated, God can count really high for you.

A multimillion house and total number of 26 posh cars were given out to different categories of members of his Ministry, as Apostle Suleman poised to rather celebrate his own people in a big way for being dedicated to the mission and supporting him over the years. Each department of the OFM was touched with the rare blessing.

The first shocker was the gift of a N16 million, 4-bedroom bungalow, fully furnished, to a female member who also got N100,000 cash. The cars given out included a Ford Jeep, Lexus Jeep, Lexus car, Acura Jeep, Infinity Jeep, Honda Pilot Jeep, Nissan Xterra Jeep, Suzuki V6 Jeep, Camry car, and other brands. Outside the car and house donations, the church members were also blessed with a cash sum of N6 million by Apostle Suleman. N2m was given to widows, N100,000 and N250,000 respectively was given each to members from all OFM departments who have been in the ministry for longer years. A physically challenged gentleman and a Dr. Elliot were blessed with N500,000 each while N1 million cash was given out to the orphanage.

Speaking before the surprise blessings were reeled out, the ‘Oracle of God’ as Apostle Suleman is fondly referred, warned; “the enemies want me to stop giving but I won’t stop. But I’ll be careful how I give.” The man of God’s statement was a veiled reference to a recent event where blackmailers made attempts to prey on him for his large heart but failed on arrival.

And, call it double victory for Apostle Suleman; the mother of a major actor in the blackmail saga, Stephanie Otobo, stormed the celebration with her eldest daughter to seek forgiveness on behalf of her erring daughter, Stephanie. The man of God who said he has forgiven her daughter, urged the daughter to return to the public with the truth, after which he prayed for their family.

Meanwhile, ahead of the three-day birthday activities which began on Friday, 24th of March, 2017, was a novelty match tagged ‘Papa’s Cup’ between the team of Northern regional OFM pastor and the South-South team.

Following the sale of Keystone Bank to Sigma Golf-Riverbank Consortium by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the new investors have finally taken possession with a view to repositioning the bank immediately.

A statement from the bank said the handover took place last Friday after the Completion Board Meeting to consummate the acquisition and pave way for the takeover was held the previous day (Thursday) with representatives of Sigma Golf-Riverbank Consortium (the Buyer), AMCON (the Seller), Board and Management of Keystone Bank as well as the advisers to the buyer (KPMG Professional Services, Boston Advisory Services, Giwa Osagie & Co., Pan-African Capital Limited) and the Seller (FBN Capital Limited, Citibank Nigeria Limited, Banwo & Ighodalo, CrosswrockLaw).

Recall that AMCON had announced on Tuesday 21st March 2017 that Sigma Golf-Riverbank Consortium had acquired Keystone Bank Limited. The Completion Meeting signified the effective hand-over of the bank to the buyer and the commencement of a transition process that will culminate in the reconstitution of the Board and Management of the bank to reflect the new ownership.

Keystone Bank, formerly Bank PHB, was taken over by AMCON in 2011 and has been managed by the AMCON-appointed board and management which stabilised the bank over the years to make it attractive as potential new investors, who emerged as preferred bidders after a very transparent and competitive bidding process.

Analysts believe that the emergence of the Sigma Golf-Riverbank Consortium will bring a new lease of life to Keystone Bank with the expected injection of fresh capital that would position the bank to play competitively in the industry and actualize its full potentials.

“In moving the bank forward as a major player in the industry, the new investors will be backed up by a pool of reputable professionals both currently within the bank and across the industry.

“Keystone Bank, therefore, assures all its stakeholders that the transition process will reposition the bank to serve its customers better, creating enhanced value for all stakeholders,” the statement added.

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday adjourned further proceedings till March 28, 2017 in a suit filed against Guaranty Trust Bank and six others by Miss Oluwatise Aderinokun, daughter of a former Managing Director of GTBank, the late Olutayo Aderinokun.
Eight-year-old Aderinokun, who sued through her mother, Mrs. Salamotu Aderinokun, alleged manipulation of her late father’s shares in GTBank. oined as co-defendants with GTBank in the suit are Datamax Registrar Limited; Kanali Investments Limited; Day Waterman Company Limited; Caribod Investment Limited; Mr. Babatunwa Aderinokun; and Investment One Financial Services Limited.
The young Aderinokun, in her suit, alleged that the defendants breached the implied contract between them and her late father, as regards the deceased’s shares in GTBank.
Aderinokun, through her lawyer, Mr. Osaro Eghobamien (SAN), is urging the court to declare as illegal the recognition of three limited liability companies – Kanali Investments Limited, Day Waterman Company Limited and Caribod Investment Limited – as being entitled to the accruing dividends on her late father’s shares in GTBank.
She wants the court to order an enquiry into the volume of her late father’s shares in GTBank, held in the names of the three companies.
She claimed that contrary to her late father’s instruction, GTBank and Datamax Registrar Limited had paid over N1bn as dividends in the names of the companies to unauthorised persons, who were masquerading as the beneficial owners of her late father’s shares in GTBank Plc.
The payments, the young Aderinokun claimed, were made to the said unauthorised persons following various Annual General Meetings held between June 14, 2011 and March 31, 2015.
She is seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining GTBank and the rest of the defendants from acknowledging/recognising the three companies as being the beneficial owners of the rights accruing to the shares held in their names in GTBank Plc.
At the resumed proceedings in the case on Friday, counsel for the 7th defendant, Miss M. I. Betty, contended that any objection raised by the 6th defendant could not be sustained, on the grounds that there was defect in the counter-affidavit filed by the 6th defendant.
In his submission, however, counsel for the 6th defendant, Mr. Olumide Aju, informed the court of his application, dated March 23, 2017, that urged the court to set aside the preliminary objection raised by the plaintiff, and allow him to cross-examine a witness, Mr. Mike Okon.
However, Eghobamien urged the court to hear his client’s application for interlocutory injunction because GTBank Plc was about to hold its Annual General Meeting, slated for April 7, 2017.
Egbobamien said his client’s contention was that since GTBank Plc’s AGM was to hold next week, it was imperative for the court not to hear defendants’ application on Friday but rather hear his client’s application for injunction.
After hearing the parties, Justice Idris adjourned till March 29, 2017, for the hearing of all applications of second, third, fourth and fifth defendants in the suit.
In his objection to the suit, the sixth defendant, Babatunde Aderinokun, alleged that the plaintiff’s mother, Salamotu, was never married to the late Aderinokun.
He identified Olufunlola Kafayat as the only woman legally recognised as Aderinokun’s wife, with whom the deceased was said to have contracted a marriage on January 7, 1983, in New York, United States of America.
Babatunwa also stated that the plaintiff’s claim that her late father held GTBank Plc’s shares through three companies namely: Kanali Investment Limited, Day Waterman Company Limited, and Caribod Investment Limited, was erroneous and inaccurate, as the three companies were validly constituted and registered under Nigerian law.
He said the deceased could not have given his GTBank Plc’s shares held in the name of the three companies to any beneficiaries as claimed by the plaintiff because it was the said companies and not the late Aderinokun, who owned GTB Plc’s shares.
He added that the will of the deceased never directed the executors and trustees of the deceased’s estates to take over or manage any company as erroneously claimed by the young Aderinokun.
He urged Justice Idris to dismiss the suit with substantial cost against the plaintiff.

-How Alade market Developer Involved in Fraud Scandal

When an unexplainable fire outbreak gutted the popular Tejuosho market in Yaba about ten years ago, many owners of the shops therein were thrown into disarray, having lost many items and lots of cash. No sooner than the calamity died down than the contract for the reconstruction of the imposing market was awarded to a firm by the Lagos State Government. But that is as far as the story goes, as very unsavoury stories were emanating from certain sources over the property or otherwise of the new Tejuosho market project. With the intervention of security agencies especially the police, matters were processed and the alleged fraudster of the project Olaide Omotola was arrested and brought to book.
As many have forgotten the bitter story of Tejuosho, the man again has comeinto his usual element of controversy with the popular Alade market in Ikeja. For now it is just amatter of time before the bubble burst as petitions and litigations over the market have flooded the court. One thing you can never take away from Omotola is his unparalled fraudulent moves.
Like a leopard that can never changeits spots, what you will read hereafter will surely boggle your mind. Follow us.
There are now very strong allegations of massive fraud in the Tejuosho and Alade market project in Lagos. These allegations were made more potent when the Special Fraud Unit, SFU of the Lagos Police command arrested the lead consultant of the two projects, one Olaide Omotola over purported fraudulent acts. It was further pinned on Omotola .
Omotola was in police custody, and he answered questions over allegations of fraudulent and mis-appropriation acts in the course of executing the modern market projects
The petitioners claim that he has a barrage of manipulative tendencies all aimed at maximizing every single pie that he has his hands in.
Olaide Omotola was allegedly defrauding the company handling Tejuosho Redevelopment, Stomberg Engineering Company of over 2 billion naira. A petition was forwarded earlier before the arrest, to the Inspector General of police by the Managing Director and Chairman of Stomberg Engineering Company, Mr. Dolapo Atinmo alleging the fraud perpetrated by his company while acting as interim coordinator for oversight functions at the project site, for the company was later referred to the Special Fraud Unit for further investigation. At the SFU, the statement he made was that he has been out of the country with his family after the contract was awarded to his company, in order to attend to his failing health, for which he then handed the oversight function to Omotola; he also revealed that the manager, Omotola floated a personal company with his wife and 3 year-old child, Jeremiah, whose name he used in naming the company, Jeremiah Construction Company Limited and awarded millions of naira worth of contracts to his company without approval from Stomberg Engineering. He said further that while he was away, Omotola took over the construction activities at the project site by further awarding the tiling and blocks laying jobs to his company and submitted an inflated invoice of over N76 million to Stomberg for financial payment. Atinmo further alleged that Omotola forged a company resolution purportedly transferring over 4 million shares of Stormberg Engineering to himself, thereby making him a Director in the company, which he also filed same at the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.
Atinmo also alleged that Omotola went borrowing money on behalf of Stormberg Engineering. He also said one of the companies that Omotola obtained a loan from was UT Financial Services Nigeria which offered him N300 million given the project to execute which they have already sold about 70 percent of the shops to buyers who have fully paid with letters of offer confirmed and that up till then their shop allocations were not allotted.

To be continued

The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Thursday said his administration has concluded plans to begin a total revamping of the National Arts Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos, by next month in time for the 2017 Africa Movies Academic Awards, AMAA, ceremony holding in the state later in the year.
Mr. Ambode, who spoke when he played host to officials of AMAA led by its President, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe at the Lagos House, Ikeja, expressed optimism that the plan to upgrade the theatre to world class standard would serve as a viable venue for the AMAA event when completed.
“I want to also say that I am very particular about the venue of the AMAA, so we would use everything possible to make sure that the National Arts Theatre is ready. We are in a process and before the month ends, we should have something to start doing within the first week of April to getting the whole place ready,” he said.
Alluding to the fact that Lagos would turn 50 by May 27, the governor said that the hosting of the AMAA event in Lagos would add more glamour to the celebration of the state’s Golden Jubilee and showcase its hospitality to the continent and the world at large.
“This is a very historic moment for us in Lagos. In 2017 we are celebrating the existence of Lagos for 50 years. If you look at the calendar, you would wonder in what ways and manner can we celebrate Lagos?
“Without your sector, there is no Lagos. So, when we say 50 years, we are talking about 50 years of history, so somebody documents it, somebody dramatizes it, and then somebody keeps it, so that those who are yet unborn would see it, so even when we are not there, it would be displayed through your creative talents,” he said.
Governor Ambode said the recent interventions of his administration in the creative industry was in line with his belief that it represents a new opportunity for economic development and unleashing the potentials of youth, assuring that he remains fully committed to breaking the barriers weighing down the industry from thriving.
“We are in a synergy process. Government might not have put so much effort in creative arts, but that’s the new vista that we are going to. We have come to the end of white collar jobs, we are into the era of creativity and innovation and then it’s only a good government that has vision that can actually understand that we need to break down the barriers that allow people with talents to actually display where the real God given asset is.
“Yes, it’s lowly priced here, so we are just in a joint step here to say that for the very first time, we would deliberately attack the impediments that allow people not to thrive in the creative industry.”
While officially accepting the hosting rights for AMAA 2017, Mr. Ambode said the state would take advantage of the opportunity to boost its tourism mileage beyond Lagos @50.
“The whole essence is to grow the GDP of Lagos; it would bring people into Lagos, they would stay in our hotels, they would come watch the movies and then they would pay their taxes and eventually it’s a conglomerate of goods and services that would escalate our GDP,” the Governor said.
Earlier, the President of AMAA, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe commended the governor for his interest in the creative industry, saying that it has given the sector a major boost in recent time.
“It’s amazing to have a Governor who is like a family that seems to understand what our needs are. We’ve never had a Governor of Lagos State who has shown so much deep interest in Nollywood,” she said
She said the 2017 AMAA ceremony, the 13th in the series, would feature films from 72 countries with over 23,000 guests from across the African continent vying for various awards.

Five years after a whistle stop in Lagos for its eighth edition, the African Movie Academy Awards, popularly referred to as AMAA awards, will be back in the Centre of Excellence.

We exclusively gathered that the pan-Africa awards aimed at honouring and promoting excellence in the African movie industry as well as uniting the African continent through arts and culture, has received the nod of governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode to be this year’s host state.

It was gathered that the governor on Thursday held a meeting with the top executives of the AMAA Awards at the Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja with seven key members of the Lagos State Exco in attendance.

At the meeting where the deal was sealed are Mr. Steve Ayorinde, Commissioner For information,; Olufemi Odubiyi, Commissioner for Science & Technology; as well as Prof. Ademola Abass, Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor in the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment (Lagos Global).

A source disclose that the awards night will be hosted by the state government at the iconic National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos on 11 June.

The massive national monument, it was gathered, will be renovated by the state government with promise that works will commence at the theatre from early April in readiness for the most glamorous awards ceremony on the continent Africa.

The AMAA awards pre-nomination ceremony has also been scheduled to hold in Kigali, Rwanda in a date to be announced soon.
The AMAA awards, which since inception in May 2005 have been held in Bayelsa State, except for a single exception in 2008 where it was held in the nation’s capital of Abuja, had its 2015 ceremony in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and Obi Wali International Conference Centre, Port Harcourt, Rivers State hosted the last edition.

*Why Indians corner Nigeria’s iron ore mining company *Vaswani brothers’ Premium Steel harpooning for steel complex *Federal Government keeps mum

Indications were rife recently that despite the recent historic resolution of Nigeria’s arbitration with the Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL), former concessionaire of Ajaokuta Steel Complex (ASCN), on August 1, 2016, at the London Court, respite may still not have come the way of Nigeria’s steel sector, which development had been stunted by over 40 years of failed attempts at transforming it from an iron ore producing nation to a steel manufacturing power.
This came as a Community Rights Activist, Barr. Natasha Hadiza Akpoti, has alleged that her efforts at linking the Federal Government back to the original builder of the ASCN, TyazhPromExport (TPE) of Russia, had been rebuffed by the Ministry of Solid Minerals, even as she has noted that the purported settlement of the arbitration, which gave the concession of the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) Itakpe, to the Indian firm, implies that the reversion of ASCN to Nigeria will not guarantee successful revitalisation of the comatose steel complex.
She disclosed that when she made contact with the Russian contractors, TPE, “They expressed deep sadness at the manner in which ASCN was handled. TPE said their heart was poured into the project.
That never, in all of their works across the world, not even in India, did they build a steel city as big as the Ajaokuta complex.
“That it was sad Nigeria did not heed their warnings about the international conspiracies and Nigeria turned her back on them instead of seeing the bright future they dreamt for us. That we, by our own hands, allowed our economy to be trampled amidst negative interests by other powerful countries. “That over the past years, they had tried reaching out to the Nigerian government to allow them come back and complete the project. Nigeria, did not respond positively.
“That they would want nothing more than to work to revive Ajaokuta and help Nigeria create jobs for its people and take itself out of poverty. Nigeria, they said must wake up from its slumber and be greater than ever before for itself and for Africa.”
Akpoti further alleged in an open letter to Nigerians on December 13, 2016, titled, ‘Corrupt Practices Surrounding Ajaokuta and Itakpe’ that the country had a good chance to reclaim both ASCN and NIOMCO, Itakpe, based on unequivocal evidence but that the activities of some highly placed Nigerians made it impossible.
But the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Mineral, Olayinka Oyebode, disclose that the Kogi-born half Ukraine and half Nigeria lawyer turned activist, has vested interest and most of the media reports on her allegations have not attempted to unravel what those interests are.
Meanwhile, according to a recent announcement by the Federal Government, all the disagreements with GSHL had been resolved, averting payment of $501 million penalty by giving up the most prized asset in steel making -the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO), Itakpe, to the Indian firm.
“Ajaokuta Steel Complex has now reverted to the Federal Government, effectively freeing the entity from all contractual encumbrances that had left it uncompleted and non-functional for decades, while GSHL retains NIOMCO,” the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals said in a recent statement in Abuja. We learnt that what the development implies is that GSHL will continue to tap iron ore from Itakpe and move it to Delta Steel which was in June 2015, taken over by Premium Steel, a company set up just months before the purchase of Delta Steel. Premium Steel is owned by a powerful Indian conglomerate headed by the Vaswani brothers (owners of the controversial Stallion group). Experts say Itakpe was set up as a captive mine to ASCN.
This was even as the original plan holds that iron ore would be moved from Itakpe to ASCN which would in turn distribute to other smaller rolling mills, Delta Steel inclusive. Akpoti fears that with GSHL as the owners of Itakpe, ASCN will become a sad history as there will be no ore to feed from.
“That means Kogi State will have no steel plant of its own ever again,” she said. But competent sources at the Ministry of Solid Minerals disclose that the Federal Government is disposed to giving ASCN to Premium Steel, which will handle the iron ore produced from Itakpe for GSHL. The source, which spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the thinking of government is that since Premium Steel will, by handling the iron ore from Itakpe and the Vaswanis, who own the company, are known to have the financial muscle to shell out the huge capital needed to revitalize the steel complex, it will be wise to hand over the moribund steel complex to them.
He, however, said that those not comfortable with the idea in the ministry, are worried that the implication of such an arrangement would mean giving ASCN through the back door to the controversial GSHL, owned by Mr. Primod Mittal, a kinsman of the Vaswanis.
One thing Premium Steel and GSHL have in common is that they had not had anything to do with steel before the two companies were formed and both have no affiliation with ArcelorMittal, which is the world’s renowned steel giant. ArcelorMittal is owned by Lakshmi Mittal an Indian and a cousin to Mr. Primod Mittal. Reputed to be the second largest endowed in steel resources, Nigeria, in the late 70s, ushered in some Russian technicians and engineers to design the Ajaokuta Steel Plant and prospect more for possible exploration of the country’s iron ore deposits.
The vote was found in the reputation of the Eastern European country as being very adept in building steel plants. By 1971, the Nigerian Steel Development Authority was established by Decree No.9 to bring to reality a steel plant and by 1979, during the administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, TPE, a Russian leading engineering company, commenced construction works on the Ajaokuta steel company.

The International Conspiracy
According to a retired civil servant from the Federal Ministry of Information, lot of people talk about the international conspiracies surrounding ASCN but very few know what they actually were or are. He disclosed that in 1992, when the project was near completion and while the Russians (TPE) called on the government to work on needed infrastructure, powerful countries, namely France, America, Germany, Britain etc, including organisations like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) started reaching out to the Nigerian government to terminate the project with the Russians.
The civil servant in the Accreditation and Monitoring Unit of Public Affairs Department of the Federal Ministry of Information, told us that precisely in 1991, he was opportune to have monitored two separate documentaries on Nigeria’s Steel Complex, Ajaokuta, Kogi State and the Aluminum Smelter Company, Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, respectively.
He said: “It was in the course of performing my monitoring duties that I got the first hint that the steel complex will never be able to produce flat iron sheets due to a defect in its installation capacity.
“I was agitated at the information and wanted to know why the steel plant, which was celebrated for its unique role in blazing the trail for heavy industrial development in Nigeria, had to start with such defect the French film producer simply said, ‘has to do with the steel technology the Russian contractors in-charge of the project have installed. I think that the Russian technology is a stale one.
“Another expert, an American working at the Aluminium Smelter Company Nigeria (ALSCON), said that what happened there after was that the original technology the Russians were bringing to Nigeria was sabotaged, and the current technology proposed for Nigeria Ajaokuta steel project was swapped on the high sea for an obsolete technology which is what has been installed at Ajaokuta. Your country will not be able to produce flat steel sheet and that isn’t good enough”, the retired civil servant said.
According to him, most government officials listened to and believed these stories and the negative solutions proffered without ever considering the true intentions of the so-called experts from these powerful foreign countries. But Russia, all through, stood its ground alone against France, America and co and kept on reminding Nigeria of the need to ignore the adverse opinions.
The Ohinoyi of Ebira land, HRM Ado Ibrahim, also disclosed that he witnessed, first-hand, a plot by the IMF during a conference in New York where a team of Nigerian officials and foreign agents connived to get ASCL completely dismantled and forgotten. To them, Nigeria did not need to have a steel plant. Nigeria could as well buy steel from them if needed for its development.
Nigeria’s government was too busy focusing on ushering in the Third Republic, June 12 saga and all. No attention was given to the Russians. TPE was no longer being paid. In 1994 TPE left Nigeria.

The Debt Buy Back
Nigeria’s contract with TPE was to construct ASCN for German Deutschmarks DM5billion and such that the Nigerian steel authority gave TPE promissory notes guaranteeing payment to the company. When the Nigerian government suspended payment and TPE left, TPE sold off these instruments to recover some of the debt owed to the company.

In October 1995, a series of secret debt buy-back transactions took place whereby the debt instruments were sold at inflated prices to Liberian companies purportedly owned by the Abachas – Parnar Shipping Corporation and Mecosta Securities. This involved the withdrawal in 1996 of $2.5 billion of public funds to settle debts owed Russia for the construction of the Ajaokuta steel plant, but which, in reality, had been discounted to only $500 million.

Obasanjo, in 1999, settled the debt through OMPADEC and in 2003, concessioned the plant to SOLGAS -an American company which had nothing to do with steel, but specialises in petroleum.
For a year and a half, SOLGAS’ zero progress raised questions as to their technical capacity to operate the ASCN. To this end, Nigeria terminated its contract with SOLGAS and Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL) became the second Concessionaire in 2004.
This concession, which saw the taking over of ASCN and Itakpe, has been described as one of the biggest scams against Nigeria in history. The plant was hugely undervalued for $300 million and GSHL was to pay nothing to the government but inject its funds to revive the plant with a number of conditions some of which were:
That the Federal Government should give GSHL two oil blocks.
That GSHL be allowed to be lifting crude oil from Nigeria.
That the Sapele Power Plant be given to GSHL to operate.
Concession of Delta and Warri Ports to GSHL to operate.
The supply of Natural Gas to GSHL at ‘competitive and reasonable tariff’.
GSHL came up with this condition after it failed to sign a Gas Supply Agreement with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company. GSHL offered to pay N5.00 per cubic meter of Gas as against the market price of N30.00). It also inserted in its conditions that “Gas price should be kept reasonable and consistent”.
After all these conditions, ASCN still deteriorated as its equipment were moved to Delta Steel (which GSHL took over in 2005) while some to other private Indian-owned steel factories in Nigeria in the name of ‘borrowing’.
The Federal Government, under President Umaru Yar’Adua, realised the huge mistake Nigeria once again made and terminated the contract.
A Senator Ahmed Lawan-led ad hoc Committee, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Architect Mohammed Musa Sada also revealed that the Federal Government, under President Olusegun Obasanjo, single handedly sold ASCN to GSHL and the Indian firm consequently finally ruined the Ajaokuta complex by stripping it of all valuable equipment and machinery.

In furtherance of his commitment to change the fortune of the down-trodden and less-privileged in his primary constituency, the Ogun State Commissioner and Strategy, Chief Adedayo Adeneye has donated bags, sandals, books and other educational items to pupils in schools in the Odogbolu Local Government Area of the state.
The commissioner made the donation under the umbrella of his Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Adeneye Foundation as part of activities to mark his birthday yesterday.
Adeneye, who said he is committed to the well-being and emancipation of the needy, added that his love for children, teachers, the teaching profession and the under privileged, necessitated the gesture.
Recalling his childhood and how his teachers moulded him, the commissioner said this prepared him for the challenges he later faced in life, urging teachers not to relent in their efforts at bringing up responsible and respectable leaders of tomorrow.
Reward of teachers, he noted, is no longer in heaven, expressing the hope that they will certainly be rewarded here on earth, while also calling on other well-to-do individuals, irrespective of their status and political affiliation, to remember their various alma-mater by giving back to where they were made as well as the society at large.
“When one gets to this age, which is over 50, one must be thankful to God. I thank Him for sparing my life and enabling me to see another year. I usually don’t celebrate my birthdays, but I have decided to celebrate with the less- privileged. We must not also forget the teachers, who have made sacrifices. I pray God to help me reach out to more schools,” Adeneye added.
While welcoming the commissioner to the Holy Trinity Anglican Primary School, Ibefun earlier, the Liken of Ibefun, Oba Gideon Adetoye, submitted that the gesture and show of love for the downtrodden, underprivileged and indigent pupils is worthy of commendation.
“Adeneye has demonstrated that he is a worthy son of Ibefun. I really commend his kind gesture. His father also identified with his community when he was alive. I pray God to continue to lift him higher,” Adetoye said.
The monarch, who is an old student of the school, encouraged the pupils to be studious, respectful and diligent, adding that the only way they can reciprocate the commissioner’s gesture is for them to face their studies squarely and be determined to be successful in life.
In their separate responses, Head Teachers, Alhaji Munna Oyewole of St Paul’s Anglican Primary School, Odogbolu; Mrs. Mercy Osode of Ansar-ur-deen Primary School, Ibefun and Mrs. Adeyemi Kehinde of the Holy Trinity Anglican Primary School, Aiyepe Ijebu, all appreciated the celebrant for deciding to celebrate his birthday with the less privileged and like Oliver twist, requested for more.
Other benefiting schools are Saint James’ United Primary School, Mobalufon, St. Peter’s Anglican Primary School, Imosan Ijebu and St Francis Catholic Primary School, Ibefun.

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said no court order stopped it from demolishing Otodo-Gbame and Seafront area besides Freedom Road in Lekki, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
The government said the Environment Ministry’s action was carried out in order to forestall an environmental disaster and another round of deadly skirmishes that led to the razing of the Otodo Gbame community in November 2016.
In a statement signed by the State’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the government said the action was informed by the overriding public interest to ensure that the waterfront area was free from environmentally injurious and unsanitary habitation few months after it was consumed by fire and rendered uninhabitable.
The government denied flouting any court judgment as incorrectly alleged, insisting that it owes a duty to the larger population of the State to ensure that public health and safety is maintained.
According to the statement, the Otodo Gbame community is one of the 39 claimant communities that had commenced action to enforce their fundamental rights pursuant to Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 before Onigbanjo. J of Lagos Division of the High Court of Lagos State in Suit No. LD/4232MFHR/2016..AKAKPO & 38 ORS vs. AG L/S & 3 ORS.
It added however that the trial judge did not deliver judgment on the matter but rather referred the parties to Multi Door House for mediation.
Ayorinde said; “The leave granted to enforce their rights was tantamount to an order of status quo ante bellum on the parties, which amongst other things required that the claimants do not take any action within the area after it was destroyed by fire.
“The undisputed fact is that Otodo Gbame was engulfed by fire that razed down the entire community in November 2016, which rendered the area uninhabitable’.
According to the commissioner, since the claimants had submitted the case for adjudication, it would be unacceptable for them to return to the area or to erect shanties and perpetuate unsanitary and environmentally dangerous conditions, hence, the need for the government to maintain order and public safety.
The statement maintained that the state government was mindful of the welfare of the affected citizens and had indeed expressed its concerns and willingness to explore an amicable resolution insofar that the demands of the claimants are reasonable and lawful.
It insisted that the government would neither be stampeded nor blackmailed into abdicating its constitutional responsibilities to guard against a potential health and environmental hazard in the area by condoning what amounts to a breach of environmental and urban planning laws.
The statement reminded the public that Lagos State Government had swiftly responded through its fire services and emergency rescue operations as well as the Police to assist the residents and nearby locations when the entire community was razed down in November 2016 as a result of inter-ethnic clashes there.
Ayorinde stated that the state government had no interest in the area other than to ensure that the delicate ecosystem of the waterfront remained safe, clean and secure.
He added the state government appreciated the understanding of the general public and assured its unflinching commitment to the development of Lagos State as an ideal mega-city that is sensitive to the needs of the public as well as open and continuous dialogue.

A woman, Ebere Nwachukwu has been arrested and detained by the Police in Ejigbo, Lagos over the death of her married lover who died on top of her during a sex romp in hotel.
We gathered that the incident happened Saturday night at a popular hotel located at NNPC junction in Ejigbo.
The deceased simply identified as Ken was a banker with a new generation bank.
He was said to have told his wife that he would not be able to come home that Saturday night due to workload at his office.
His wife believed him while unknowingly the husband has checked in with his lover, Ebere at the hotel for a night of illicit sexual binge.
It was said that the two were on the binge in the hotel room when suddenly Ken collapsed.
Ebere immediately contacted the hotel management who rushed the deceased to the General Hospital, Isolo where doctors certified him death and his corpse deposited at the morgue.
The lover, Ebere was then arrested and detained at Ejigbo Police division over his death.
When our correspondent visited the station, Ebere was seen detained in the cell as our reporter was not allowed to speak to her.
The DPO was also not in the office to comment on the matter.
However, Police source, who confirmed the incident, said they have commenced investigation into the matter as they await the autopsy report to know the real cause of his death.

BRIGHT EMEFIE

Indications were rife recently that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation is set to compel Integrated Logistics Services Limited (INTELS) to remit about $200 million government in its custody into the designated Treasury Single Account (TSA).

But the port concessionaire is alleging that Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) owes it about $800 million, being the amount it spent on the construction of the Phase 4B, Onne Ports. NPA denied this, saying that it owes the company about $600 million. It however insisted that the company does not have the legal right to withhold the revenue it collected from port users on behalf of the Federal Government because of the so called debt.

INTELS, the concessionaire of the Federal Ocean Terminal and Federal Lighter Terminal, Nigeria’s foremost Oil and Gas logistics port, is alleged to be operating in violation to the Federal Government directive on TSA, by withholding some of the revenues it collected for the government.

Meanwhile, we learnt that aside the AGF’s office, the alleged non-compliance to TSA by the company, has attracted the attention of the National Assembly. A development our correspondent learnt, has also created a sharp division among some top government functionaries and lawmakers, even as some of them on one hand have insisted that the company must remit all government monies, others backed the port operator, saying government have to repay the company for its expanses on the construction of the Phase 4B Onne Ports.

Sources at the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly, disclosed that lawmakers in the senate are divided into two camps. Some were alarmed to discover that such huge amounts of the Federal Government’s revenue are being withheld by the company.

The unremitted funds to NPA represent rents, lease and throughput fees in Onne and Warri ports where the company operates including revenue collected from service boat operations.

Between 2010 and 2016, the company reportedly remitted only about $300 million from the service boat collection which represents about 30 per cent of total service boats revenue it collected for NPA.

For service boat revenue collection, INTELS collected over $1 billion between 2010 and 2016.

A lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity at the weekend, queried the rationale behind a private company warehousing Federal Government’s funds and allegedly spending from it.

He said aside from being unlawful, the practise could lead to fraud as it took rigorous scrutiny to be discovered.

”They have no right keeping government monies in their accounts. If they have spent from it without due appropriation and recourse to budgetary provision, we will get them to pay for it. There will be no compromise on that” he said.

THEMOMENTNG learnt that INTELS recently increased rent for some of its third party tenants from N30 million to N100 million, a move observes believed it was in an effort to raise monies belonging to NPA. This caused some of the tenant companies to threaten a pull out from the Federal Ocean Terminal and Federal Lighter Terminal, Onne.

Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman had late last year raised the alarm over the withheld funds, saying under her watch, NPA management will not compromise on the TSA policy.

Usman also insisted that all payments from lease and other contracts to NPA agreed upon in United States Dollar terms will not be changed to Naira and must be paid into the TSA.

This medium learnt that under an amortization deal between INTELS and NPA, Phase 4 Onne Port Expansion Programme was repaid at a sum amounting to over $400 million have been fully amortized by NPA.

But the Phase 4B with a contract sum of about $2.7 billion for which INTELS has allegedly been spending NPA funds has not been fully completed and repaid for by the NPA.

Some senators observed that the volume of funds being expended on the ongoing Phase 4b was unnecessary as the facility is not urgently in need to receive ship cargoes.

Expending scarce government funds on a project that is not of utmost priority at a time funds are needed for other critical areas of national development has been viewed as economically unwise by the Office of Accountant General of the Federation and observers.

They noted that the existing cargoes coming through Onne Port are not up to 50 per cent of the port’s capacity thereby making the Phase 4B facility expansion a less urgent investment.

It was however revealed at the weekend that the company may have mounted pressure on the legislators to input the company’s debt of $700 million with NPA into the authority’s 2017 budget. This move may have increased pressure on some lawmakers who appear to favour the company’s demands.

THEMOMENTNG was told that the company obtained loans in respect of some of the contractual agreements it had with NPA of which inside sources at the ports authority told our correspondent that the loans were obtained without the authority ascertaining the conditions and interest payable on the funds which NPA is required to offset.

The company was said to have remitted only 20 per cent of the revenue it collected for service boat on behalf of NPA while 80 per cent of the collected sum have been withheld for payment of contracts awarded and 28 per cent being agency commission to INTELS for service boat collection.

NPA’s deals with INTELS includes land lease, managing agent for monitoring and collection of revenue from service boats operations in all pilotage districts, development of port infrastructure in Onne, Rivers State and Bull Nose Apapa Lagos. The company is also a concessionaire and a leading terminal operator in the maritime industry.

Orji Uzor Kalu, former Abia state governor, says he should own 90% of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by virtue of his N500 million donation to the former ruling party in 1998.

Kalu said asides being a major stakeholder in the PDP at its inception, he also funded the first presidential election of Olusegun Obasanjo with N100 million.

The ex-governor made the comments on Monday during a dinner in Washington DC, United States.

Kalu also said that the PDP government he supported put him out of business over his decision to contest the presidency in 2007 and for going against the third term agenda of Obasanjo.

“All of you know that if the PDP were a company, I ought to own 90 per cent of it because in 1998, I gave the party its first N500m. By then, I wasn’t in government,” he said.

“I also gave the presidential candidate, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, over N100m in 1998.

“How many Nigerians would have done that? Yet the same government, the same PDP, took my bank, took my airline, took my oil licence to put me out of business entirely because I proposed that I must run for president in 2007; I also opposed the 3rd term, which they are denying today.”

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) on Monday announced Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited and Riverbank Investment Resources Limited (the Sigma Golf-Riverbank consortium) as the new investors that have acquired the entire issued and fully paid up ordinary shares of Keystone Bank Limited, formerly BankPHB Plc.

This followed the receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
AMCON in a statement explained that the completion of the transaction was subject to the fulfilment of the conditions precedent as stated in the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) executed between AMCON and the Sigma Golf-Riverbank consortium.

But it did not state what the winning bid was for Keystone Bank, neither did the statement from AMCON clarify if there was a reserve bidder in the event the Sigma Golf-Riverbank consortium fails to meet the payment terms for the acquisition of Keystone Bank.
It explained that the Sigma Golf-Riverbank consortium comprises Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited and Riverbank Investment Resources, both of which are entities set up by local investors.

Further investigations revealed that one of the financiers of the consortium is the former Managing Director/CEO of Sigma Pensions Limited, Mr. Umar Hamidu Modibbo.
Modibbo and his brother, Adamu Mu’azu Modibbo, a former governorship aspirant in Adamawa State, were the founders of Sigma Pensions, a pension fund administrator (PFA), until its sale to Actis LLP, a private equity investor in emerging markets, in November 2015.

“This process started with interest shown by 18 parties cutting across local and international investors. The emergence of the Sigma Golf-Riverbank consortium resulted from a rigorous and competitive bidding process, which was coordinated for AMCON by Citibank Nigeria Limited and its affiliates and FBN Capital (Joint Financial Advisers), and Banwo & Ighodalo and Crosswrock Law (Joint Legal Advisers),” AMCON added.
AMCON in February last year invited prospective investors to express interest in the acquisition of Keystone Bank.

The corporation had in a publication explained that in furtherance of its strategic objectives, it had decided to divest of its shareholding in Keystone Bank.
Based on the audited financial statement of the bank as of June 30, 2015, Keystone Bank’s total assets stood at N317.6 billion, customer loans at N98.2 billion, customer deposits at N245 billion and total equity at N18.9 billion.

As of December 2015, Keystone Bank had four operational subsidiaries of which two are international; and a distribution network comprising 156 branches, 22 cash centres and 306 ATMs.
Keystone Bank is the last of the three banks that were purchased by AMCON through a bridging process during the banking crisis of 2009.
The other two banks formerly owned by the corporation – Mainstreet Bank and Enterprise Bank – have since been sold to core invest

The acclaimed ‘Evil Genius of Highlife Music’, Dr. Victor Abimbola Olaiya (OON) will be honoured on Sunday, 26 March at this month’s edition of the Elders Forum, jointly organized by O’jez Entertainment Group and Evergreen Musical Company Limited (EMCL).
The event, which will hold at the hangout at National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, according to statement from the organisers, will be celebrating the achievements of Olaiya in recognition of his immeasurable contributions to the growth, development and promotion of highlife music in Nigeria and across the world.
Also in line with its objective to recognise and honour individuals and organisations that have also lent their support to the sustenance of the genre of music, the organisers have also identified a virtuoso guitarist, in the person of Kaiyero Rotibi (aka Tyro) and his is billed to be honoured alongside Olaiya.
Tyro is acclaimed to be the oldest and longest serving member of the Dr. Victor Olaiya Band, having being with him since 1957.
The February edition of the Elders’ Forum treated its guests to a rich bouquet of soulful and nostalgic music from African and Nigerian artistes in the persons of Miatta Fahnbulleh of Liberia and Pa Jimi Solanke, who were actually the special guests at the event as well as Shina Bakare, Beautiful Nubia among others.
A major highlight of last month’s event was the presentation of the “Lifetime Achievement” awards to the two special guests.
The award presentation to Miatta Fanbulleh was done by the Lagos State Commissioner of Commerce, Industry and Co-operatives, Barrister Rotimi Ogunleye while the presentation to Pa Jimi Solanke was by retired Air Commodore Ademola Onitiju, a former Deputy Director, Civil-Military Relations at the Defense Headquarters.
The organisers have adequately strategised to make this month’s edition a memorable one as they have promised that all guests in attendance will be treated to richer and exciting heritage content as they take a voyage down memory lane.

No fewer than four commercial banks have remained closed in Omoku town; the headquarters of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State despite assurances of improvement of security in the area.
We gathered that only one of five commercial banks operating in Omoku are in business at the moment.
One of the banks was forced to close for business recently because its branch manager was kidnapped by gunmen.
This situation was confirmed by the Caretaker Chairman of ONELGA, Osi Olisah, who blamed the development on cult clashes that rocked the headquarter town in the past.
Speaking at a forum in ONELGA, CTC Chairman assured that security had been restored in the local government area.
He said members of the different cult groups have realized the negative implication of their actions.
“I was passing through Omoku road and I saw that only one bank that is working is over-crowded. People cannot withdraw their money. We all see the hardship our people are facing just to do a bank transaction. That is the result of crisis.
“There can be no development in any society where there is crisis. It is very unfortunate.
“We have more than one bank in this town but they have all left because our brothers are kidnapping bank officials.
“Just few weeks ago, the Branch Manager of Eco Bank was kidnapped and was later rescued but as we speak, Eco Bank has pulled out their staff from Omoku.
“The good thing is that we have gone to Lagos to meet with Executives of all the Banks that has left our town.
“Crisis does not pay. It destroys and if we don’t stop it we will continue to be at the losing end,” Olisah said.
Osi Olisah said security operatives have been given marching orders to fish out the remnants of cultists in ONELGA just as he called on youths of the area to remain committed to the peace pact.

Mike Eze-Nwalie Nwogu, popularly known as Pretty Mike, runs one of the top clubs in Lagos called Club Uno, recently renamed, Club Scandal. Early this year, Pretty Mike got involved in a huge scandal when he paraded ladies on a leash like dogs and this elicited a social media outcry on this ignominy against women. He was arrested by the Lagos State government and later got released. In this interview with EDWIN USOBOH, he reveals the reasons behind such an infamous act and the challenges of running a night club


What necessitated the change of your club’s name from Club Uno to Club Scandal?
We believe we know the market and people like something new; something different, unique and scandalous. People like to identify with something on a different platform and with the age of social media changing things; we are moving with the trend. We want to make every night an interesting one, present something different every day. When you wake up in the morning and think about what you had last night, you want to return to Club Scandal. We decided to shut down Club Uno after five to six years of being in business and we decided to rebrand to come out with something different, with new management and new swags and we came up with Scandal Night Club.

Scandal sound so strange! What is the concept behind the name?
Well the concept behind it is life; everything is scandalous these days. Nothing normal happens at night and we believe that the name speaks for itself; scandal can also be something funny, palatable, and enjoyable. So, if you want to have a scandalous night with your friends, please come to Club Scandal.

Are you saying it’s not possible for you to be in Club Scandal without having a scandal?
For us we are looking at Scandal as a good work, it’s progressive. My personal behavior has nothing to do with the name of the new club because for me, I believe I have a message. I believe the name is unique, it’s a catchy. One thing you need to know about night life business is that you need to put something in it that people will start asking questions about; what’s going on here? What’s it about? The more they ask questions, that means you have a better brand people will like to keep visiting. They will be curious to say, let’s go see what’s happening over there.

Does this have anything to do with the numerous scandals you have been involved in?
No! Life itself is scandal; I don’t believe you can be in night club business without scandal. To me scandal is associated with entertainment and once you’re into entertainment, you might not be able to run away from scandal. Club scandal is about having a good nightlife, socialise and come enjoy yourself.

You have been in nightclub business for about a decade now, what would you say are the challenges of running a night club?
In every business, there are always difficulties, for me I don’t see any hiccups, other people might see challenges, competition but I don’t see any of that. I believe the night life is big enough to take about 20 clubs in Ikeja alone or more. It’s all about finding your peach, finding your customers, finding people that matter to you, people that enjoy your concept and the environment. I don’t see any issue with it.

It came as a shock to many people recently when some pictures hit the Internet where you have some girls in dog chains, what was your reason for doing that?
Yea, I was shocked that Nigerians had already victimised me before hearing my side of the story. I have done it twice and let us not make it look as if it is something I have been doing all the time. The two times I have done it were weddings where I was part of the groomsmen which means that I have a personal relationship with the bride and groom. The overall reason I chose to do this was because of the mission statement behind it. It is just unfortunate how people are so quick to jump to conclusion without actually finding out what is going on. All they think is that it is an abuse or a form of slavery or perverted thoughts.
I would explain to you the mission statement behind my action. I would not call any names but I am sure we all know about an Emir that was given a 15-year-old as a wife. To me, that is putting women on a chain. We talk about traditional rulers that marry underage women; they’re putting women on a chain. We talk about boyfriends and husbands that beat their spouses and abuse them physically, emotionally and spiritually, that is putting women on a chain. I needed to get the world’s attention first to be able to pass across my mission statement. It is all about women advocacy at the end of the day. It is all about empowering the women. These women have no voice. I refer to the girls I use as super heroes and we had to do something drastic in order to be heard and get the world’s attention.

Do you think this was the best way to get attention or to get people to hear you?
I believe there are other ways I could have gone about it but there has to be a new way all the time. This is the era of social media and if I come up with a good write-up about women advocacy, nobody would pay attention to me. I would not even get up to ten ‘likes’. We are in the era of social media and if you pay close attention, something drastic has to happen to get the attention of people on social media. Most of the people that have become popular on social media did so by doing something drastic, different and unique.

It was alleged the girls were handsomely rewarded for them to be chained?
I did not pay those girls; they are a part of my team. I sat down with the team and we discussed this before I embarked on the action. When we did it at first, the level of curses we received was incredible. I was the one that suggested that the girls put on masks so that we don’t turn from the main point. If the masks were not on and their identities were revealed, you can imagine what they would have gone through by now.

With the current happenings in the country, recession and complains about bad government policies. Do you think this is the right time to rebrand?
This is what I say about knowing and studying your business. I can tell you categorically that I know my people and one thing I love about my people is in all-weather, they believe we should have fun. My elder brother have been the chairman of this company for years and also my back bone and my strength; he’s been the one that put me on this platform, he pushed me forward and carried me all the way.

So what are your new set goals?
I must confess it’s not easy to run a business in this country, so I think for now, this is enough. Government is not doing enough to help small businesses in the country. They are not doing anything, absolutely nothing, unlike other countries I have been to. You go out there, get the money, come back here to create jobs; helping government to create jobs and they are not doing anything to support you. It’s a bit difficult.

What drives you and what would you describe as your greatest job in this business?
What drives me in this business is being able to help people (customers) and see some problems get solved in my place. A lot of people have marital problems, when they come, they talk to me and we have a decent conversation with a bottle of drink. Sometimes people express themselves better when you are free with them and share a bottle together. Some have business problem, spiritual problem and they need that one location where they will have this connection; that’s my greatest joy in the business. I have a lot of people that come in and seek for my advice you will be shocked but a lot of people do that, sometimes they do better with a bottle of champagne. I like to see people happy because it makes me happy. I don’t like to see anyone sad. When I see people happy, I am excited.

A popular club owner once said that people who will eventually go to heaven might be picked from the club at night. Do you believe that?
Yes, I myself I’m an aspiring pastor, I am currently going to a Bible school. See, the word Christianity is big and I admire one of the best apostles in the Bible which is Paul. I total agree with the person who said that.

Foremost human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said that the Senate ridiculed the office of President Muhammadu Buhari, by rejecting the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu.
The Senate cited a security report from the Department of State Services (DSS) as reason for its action
“The rejection of the nomination of Mr Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) this by the senate on the basis of a security report compiled by the State Security Service is the height of official ridicule of the office of the president,” Falana said in a statement.
“It is high time the State Security Service was restrained by President Buhari from sabotaging the fight against corruption by the federal government.
“With respect to the senate the confirmation hearing hurriedly conducted today is illegal in every material particular. The participation of many senators who are either under investigation or being prosecuted by the EFCC has vitiated the entire proceedings of the senate on ground of conflict of interest.
“It is also a contravention of the rules of the senate which stipulates that matters which are sub judice shall not be discussed by the senate.”
Falana also added that Buhari could still re-nominate Magu or allow him to keep working in acting capacity.
“However, notwithstanding the rejection of the nomination of Mr. Magu by the senate the options open to president are clear and straight forward. They are as follows:
“Mr. Magu’s nomination may be re-presented to the Senate if and when the Federal Government decides to put its house in order.
“Alternatively, the president may allow Mr. Magu to remain the acting chairman of the EFCC since he was appointed in that capacity pursuant to section 171 of the constitution.
“But if the president is not satisfied with Mr. Magu’s performance he is at liberty to appoint another person whose nomination will be forwarded to the Senate in accordance with section 2 (3) of the EFCC Act, 2004.
“In the light of the foregoing, President Buhari is enjoined to ensure that the fight against corruption is not derailed by highly placed corrupt elements who have enlisted the support of fifth columnists and reactionary forces in the government.”

Nigerian Bottling Company, NBC, has debunked the claims in the media that a Lagos High Court has ruled on the safety of two its products, Fanta and Sprite.
The bottling company said that Fanta and Sprite are safe for people to drink as the products are manufactured with the best quality ingredients approved all Nigerian regulatory authorities.
The NBC said in a statement that “our attention has been drawn to media reports which contain misleading information on the safety of benzoic and ascorbic acids as ingredients in soft drinks, citing a Lagos High Court order.
“In the judgement delivered on February 15, 2017 in a suit involving Fijabi Adebo Holdings Limited & Dr. Emmanuel Fijabi Adebo v. Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC) & National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Lagos High Court dismissed all claims against NBC and held that the company had not breached its duty of care to consumers and that there was no proven case of negligence against it.
“In the same judgement, the court directed NAFDAC to mandate NBC to include a warning on its bottles of Fanta and Sprite that its contents cannot be taken with Vitamin C as same become poisonous if taken with Vitamin C. This order was premised on the fact that the products contain the preservative, benzoic acid. NBC has since appealed this order.
“Whilst we do not wish to delve into the details of the case or the merits of the court order by this medium, we find it imperative in the interest of consumers and members of the public to make the following clarifications:
“In the subject case which dates back to 2007, the UK authorities confiscated a consignment of our products shipped to that country by the plaintiff because their benzoic acid levels were not within the UK national level, although well within the levels approved by both the national regulators for Nigeria and the international levels set by CODEX, the joint intergovernmental body responsible for harmonizing food standards globally.
“The UK standards limit benzoic acid in soft drinks to a maximum of 150 mg/kg. Both Fanta and Sprite have benzoic levels of 200 mg/kg which is lower than the Nigerian regulatory limit of 250 mg/kg when combined with ascorbic acid and 300 mg/kg without ascorbic acid and also lower than the 600 mg/kg international limit set by CODEX.
“Both benzoic acid and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) are ingredients approved by international food safety regulators and used in many food and beverage products around the world.
“These two ingredients are also used in combination in some of these products within levels which may differ from one country to another as approved by the respective national food and drug regulators and in line with the range prescribed by CODEX,.
“The permissible ingredient levels set by countries for their food and beverage products are influenced by a number of factors such as climate, an example being the UK, a temperate region, requiring lower preservative levels unlike tropical countries.
“Given the fact that the benzoic and ascorbic acid levels in Fanta as well as the benzoic acid level in Sprite produced and sold by NBC in Nigeria are in compliance with the levels approved by all relevant national regulators and the international level set by CODEX, there is no truth in the report that these products would become poisonous if consumed alongside Vitamin C.
“The wrong perception emanating from the media reports that our Fanta and Sprite beverages which are fully compliant with all national and international food quality and safety standards are unsafe, simply because their levels of Benzoic acid were not within the UK standards, is not only unfounded but also undermines the entire food and beverage industry in Nigeria which is regulated by the same ingredient levels approved by NAFDAC and other regulatory bodies for the country.
“NBC hereby assures our consumers and members of the public of our unwavering commitment to product quality, safety and customer satisfaction.”

The first ever International Skate Soccer Fiesta played by physically challenged athletes from Nigeria and Ghana will take place at the Independence Square in Accra, Ghana on March 19.
Binatone, a household electronic appliances manufacturer as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, is sponsoring the competition, which is organised by the International Federation for Skate Soccer (IFSS).
An inaugural event of the IFSS competition had earlier taken place at La Pleasure Beach in Accra on January 15 with a team from Accra playing against another from the Ashanti region in Ghana. The match attracted a crowd of thousands and gained massive publicity on all different media.
As a follow-up to the success of that match, IFSS and Binatone have organised a game that will evoke the age-old soccer rivalry between the two West African countries. Live audiences of several thousands are expected to attend with Super Sports taking the lead for media coverage. The event has garnered support from several top International businesses that are willing to sponsor it.
The sport and the non-profit IFSS were created to bring together the physically challenged, with a core focus on Polio sufferers who have no ability to walk, who usually beg for alms. The benefit that IFSS hopes to bring to these individuals is food, shelter and help in finding a steady job.
Binatone Group Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Lalvani, said that his company got behind Skate Soccer and the IFSS as he felt it was an excellent way for the company to give back to a part of the world that has treated it so well.
“The cause is more than worthy, and the approach taken by IFSS make it a sustainable cause over the long term also. The organisation not only works to give the players (and other non-playing Polio sufferers) a proper livelihood, but by taking them off the streets, they regain their dignity,” he said.
Mr. Lalvani continued that he has joined the board of IFSS with the aim guiding it to make it a global success. After the upcoming Ghana versus Nigeria game, he disclosed that the organisation will plan an African Cup of Nations style tournament to involve the whole continent, and the greater goal remain to take this riveting sport to the Paralympic Games.

The President General of Yoruba Community Council in Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Abdulganiyu I. Oguntoyimbo, has said no Yoruba man is praying that Yemi Osinbajo succeed Muhammadu Buhari as President.
Speaking during a prayer session for Buhari who just returned from medical vacation from London in Abuja, Oguntoyimbo said nobody from the South West was interested in dragging leadership role with Buhari.
According to Oguntoyimbo, “There is no Yoruba man that is praying for Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to succeed Buhari. The relationship between the two of them is very cordial.
“As a matter of fact, Yoruba’s relationship with Buhari administration is cordial. We support him totally and if we support anybody we don’t go back.
“We are with Buhari yesterday, today, tomorrow and always. We believe that what he is doing is not just for today but for tomorrow.”
It would be recalled that before embarking on his medical vacation in London, Buhari transferred powers to Osinbajo.
Osinbajo had received a lot of commendations from Nigerians for his performance while the President was away.
Recall that before traveling to the United Kingdom on medical vacation, President Buhari transmitted power to Osinbajo to act as the acting president of Nigeria.
During the period, Osinbajo handled the affair of the country by improving on the economy.

Omega Fire Ministries has accused Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of masterminding the recent series of spurious allegations of infidelity against its General Overseer, Apostle Johnson Suleman.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, the church, through its spokesman and Communications Manager, Phrank Shaibu, stated that facts and available intelligence incontrovertibly pointed to the Kaduna Governor as the mastermind of the allegations.
According to him, El-Rufai decided to sponsor the allegations as a strategy to silence Apostle Suleiman and to take revenge for the latter’s famed audacity of standing against the persecution and killing of Christians in Southern Kaduna.
“It is clear that Mallam Nasir El-Rufai is the mastermind of these allegations. The masquerade has been unveiled and is now dancing naked in the market Square. We don’t need to look any further for the source of the smoke,” he stated.
Shaibu contended that apart from the initial suspicion by the church that the Kaduna Governor may be behind the evil plot, the latest so-called revelation by one Queen Esther, a supposed usher of the Omega Fire Ministries finally uncovered the lid as to who was sponsoring the myriad of allegations against the General Overseer.
“When Festus Keyamo in his first letter to our pastor made allusion to fulani herdsmen, we dismissed it as a coincidence. Then intelligence revealed that some persons are lodged in a hotel being trained on how to clone Apostle’s voice and crop videos.
“The first question that crossed our mind was who was paying the bills, especially the huge media blitz that has trailed the spurious allegations. We did not have to wait for long before El-Rufai exposed himself. Indeed, he could not wait for long before coming out of the closet”, he revealed.
The spokesman wondered why the said Queen Esther, who allegedly pleaded for the media not to reveal her real identity should give as condition that the Kaduna State Government must guarantee her safety if the governor had no hand in the plot.
“Why is the said Queen Esther asking for protection from the Kaduna State government. Is the government now the police or the Department of State Services (DSS)? Why did she not mention any other state? Is it not obvious that she is telling us what her sponsors are willing for Nigerians to know?” he asked.
Shaibu argued that it was more than a coincidence that these allegations are coming up no soon after the Senior Pastor had an altercation with the same Kaduna State Government over the persecution and killing of Christians in Southern Kaduna.
He therefore urged the security agencies, particularly the DSS to investigate El-Rufai’s involvement in the unfolding saga, particularly the possibility that he may be harbouring a private militia.
“Since the governor does not control the police or DSS, the likelihood is that the governor has a private militia. It is also possible that the so called fulani herdsmen on rampage in Southern Kaduna are part of his army. That is why El-Rufai was unsettled by the pastor’s stand against them,” he declared.
Meanwhile, Queen Esther, in an exclusive interview, stated that she began a sexual relationship with Suleman in 2013, before a “catastrophic break-up” a year later.
“I was an usher in his branch church, but I had a sexual relationship with him, as he lured me into it, in order to solve my spiritual problem and limitations to success in career and marriage, but after the sex he didn’t solve the problems for me, instead he started making proposal for us to marry.’’
“I dated Apostle Suleman while I was a member in his church, he was my Pastor, spiritual director, and mentor, aside being a boyfriend, from August 2013 to 2014 April, ” she said.
Esther disclosed further, that Suleman’s wife got to know about her affair with the Cleric, a reason for her decision to end the relationship.
“I told him to give me a break in the relationship, so I can stay away from his wife’s view, and also get married to a single suitor I had at that time, instead he felt I was breaking up with him and began to threaten me, that I hurt him and that I will see the consequences of hurting him,” the lady said.
“Barely seven days after that, my body changed, I began to have strange movements in my body, my womb, sharp pains in my left breast,” she continued.
“I was taken to many places by my family, and we were told that my boyfriend used me for sacrifice and wants to kill me. Suleman sent me text messages threatening that I will die, I almost died if my God didn’t rescue me. So all my attempts to get him to heal me failed. I went to his father, his father tried to talk to him, but he denied doing anything to me, till today.”
Esther, however, turned down request to produce her photograph – or her real identity – saying she wants to first seek the protection of El-Rufai, from Suleman and “his team of magicians.”
“In the wake of this current sex scandal between Miss Otobo Stephanie and Johnson Suleiman, I started having strange calls from people who speak Auchi language while making incantations on me once I pick their phone calls,” she said.
“I cannot be able to send my picture now till am (sic) sure of my protection from his followers’ attacks.
“Many ladies are victims of Johnson Suleman, but they are afraid to come out publicly, because they fear the consequences attached to their public stand against him, which is a possible spiritual attack and destruction on their life and destiny.”
A top official of the Kaduna State government, confirmed that they received a request for protection from Esther, but added that the government does not want to be involved in the matter.

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, says the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is yet to remit $15.8bn collected from Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, to the Federation account, in spite of the report submitted to the Federal Government.
The Director Legal, NEITI, Mr Peter Ogbobine, said in Abuja on Tuesday that the figure was the accumulation from 2000 to 2014.
He observed that although NEITI had presented a report to that effect to the Federal government, no action had been taken against NNPC.
“When LNG started operating, it paid a dividend to the NNPC but the corporation was claiming that it was supposed to be the owner of the shares in LNG and not the Federal Government.
“When the LNG pays the money to the NNPC, it used some of it to run its operations.
“But we are saying no; that this money, once it is paid to them by LNG, it should go straight to the Federation Account and it has been accumulating over the years.
“We always bring it to the burner anywhere we go, that this money has to be remitted to the federation account.”
The director, however, called on the Federal Government to compel NNPC to remit the amount into the federation account for the benefit of all Nigerians.
NEITI is set to establish an Open Contracting Data Standard platform for procurement of goods and services, especially in the oil and gas sector.
The initiative also ensures transparency in procurement process through the whole value chain of extractive sector, down to exploration, mining, revenue generated and how it is spent.

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has appointed Nollywood actress, Mercy Johnson-Okojie, senior special assistant (SSA) on entertainment, arts and culture.
The 32-year-old was appointed along 53 other senior special assistants to the governor into various offices in the administration.
A statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Mrs. Ayoade Folashade Arike, made available to this newspaper on Tuesday said the appointments take effect from April 1, 2017.
The rationale for the additional appointees at the state level, the statement read, is to “plug identified gaps in service delivery, fill key positions with the right people and to broaden inclusiveness in governance by bringing people from more communities on board.”
Born in Lagos to a former naval officer, Mercy represents Okehi Local Government Area in Bello’s list of SSAs.
Listed as Google’s Most Searched Nollywood Celebrity in December 2013, theWoman in Power star is married to Edo indigene, Prince Odianosen Okojie.

Kondo Game, an intriguing comedy movie, featuring Nollywood A-listers, such as Jide Kosoko, Mercy Johnson, Uche Jombo Rodriguez, Francis Odega, Mercy Aigbe, Cossy Ojiakor and Funny Bone, is set to take cinema lovers by storm.
The comic adventure movie depicts life in the police barracks, with the mischief of two notorious police officers, Austin and Vincent, putting viewers on an unending laughter. Played by Francis Odega and Funnybone, the two police officers would later be faced with controversial tasks. With a sloppy boss, Jide Kosoko to contend with, Austin and Vincent are locked in between crime busting and bursting a romantic fling with a voluptuous mistress, played by Cossy Ojiakor, who runs a beer parlour in the neighbourhood. Cossy’s exploit heightens the rib-cracking comic adventure.
Maryam Harris, the producer of the movie, said the need to create a film at par with Hollywood necessitated the huge investment and quality cast put into the production.
Kondo Game, directed by Charles Uwagbai, offers a suspense-filled storyline. It will hit cinemas soon.

A renowned environmentalist, Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi has heaped encomiums on the Lagos State government for signing the new state environmental bill into law.

Majekodunmi, who lauded Governor Ambode’s vision of ensuring that every person living in Lagos has a right to clean, safe and healthy environments, said the new law is a consolidation of what started few years ago which is aimed at putting Lagos where it ought to be and make Lagosians to live in a normal, healthy environment.

The new environmental law makes it an offence for any person or group of persons to dump any toxic waste capable of causing harm in the state while all emissions from vehicles, plants and equipment including generating plants in residential, commercial and industrial areas within the State must now meet air emission standard.

The new law further stipulates that no manufacturing of chemicals, lubricants, petroleum products, cement (except for use in construction), gases or quarry takes place in a residential premise. It posits that any manufacturers of such items will procure an insurance policy from an approved insurance company.

In the new law, every owner or occupier of a facility who uses, stores, keeps and maintains an underground storage tanks and surface storage tanks shall register such tanks with the enforcing authority while a facility monitoring and inspection exercise will be carried out on all sites with surface or underground tanks periodically to determine the integrity of the facility involved. Soil test of the immediate environment will also be carried out to validate the integrity of the soil.

The Lagos State Government said violators of the laws will face stiff penalties which include heavy fines which ranges from N250,000 to N5,000,000 and/or imprisonment.

Also, under the new law, it is an offence to engage in street trading along the major highways and streets of Lagos and sell in an unapproved market in Lagos while every owner, tenant and occupier of any shop, kiosks, space or stall in any market within the State shall on regular basis ensure the cleanliness of his or her space.

It is also mandatory for every commercial vehicle in the State to carry a litter bin for the use of passengers in order to prevent passengers from throwng waste onto the streets from commercial vehicle. The law stipulates that if a commercial driver fails to provide the litter bin, the driver will be penalized alongside the passenger or the occupier of the vehicle who commits the offence.

The new law has also empowered the Lagos State government to demolish any structures on sewage systems without approval. It also made it mandatory for anyone who wants to sink borehole or any structure connected with the supply of water to obtain permit from the office of drainage services in order to ensure compliance with standards.

The new environmental law also sets up the Lagos State Environmental Trust Fund will be independently managed by an SEC (Stock Exchange Commission) regulated Board of Trustee with the aim of promoting the development and improvement of the state’s environmental performance and sustainability. This will create a system that can attract funds from persons, organizations and authorities required to tackle environmental issues as well as fund and promote the creation of job opportunities for youths in waste management and waste recycling among others.

A campaign to free Chocolate City boss Audu Maikori has been launched in the social media.
Maikori was rearrested on Friday and taken to Kaduna by the Nigeria Police.
The 41-year-old social activist was taken into custody after he honoured an invitation by the Nigerian Police to the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja.
Maikori was first arrested on February 17, 2017 following a Facebook post on the Southern Kaduna killings which he later retracted after it turned out some of the details of the post were inaccurate.
Despite apologising and retracting the post, the Police went ahead to arrest him. He was released a day after following intense social media pressure.
Just a few days ago, Maikori collapsed at the Muson centre venue of the annual Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) conference hosted by Ebony Life TV founder Mo Abudu.
Kaduna State governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai recently stated that Maikori was granted bail and would soon be made to face trial.
Maikori, it was learnt, has been taken to Kaduna State where he is expected to be arraigned on Monday.
While the charges against him remain unclear, sources said Maikori will be charged under the Penal Code for two counts of conspiracy and inciting public disturbance respectively.
Maikori family and friends said there is no case against Maikori. “This is purely personal, political and an attempt to silence the voices of the oppressed people of Southern Kaduna,” one of them said.

Contrary to Tonto Dikeh’s claim that she was beaten by her estranged husband, Olakunle Oladunni Churchill, and had to seek refuge at the Nigerian Embassy in Ghana, a Ghanaian policeman has denied this, saying that the controversial Nigerian actress was indeed arrested for destroying Churchill’s properties worth $20,000.
Tonto Dikeh and her husband, Olakunke Oladunni Churchill have been in the news lately over their broken relationship with Tonto Dikeh portraying Churchill as a wife beater and a fornicator
But Crime Officer at Madina Divisional Police Office in Ghana, Supt. Joseph Oppong has stated, in an interview with Ghanaian Joy News, that Tonto Dikeh gave misleading information to the public in her recent interview.
In the 29-minute long interview, Oppong said that Tonto Dikeh never went to the Nigerian Embassy naked as she claimed, but in fact, was arrested as she vandalised Churchill’s properties at his Trassaco home in Accra, Ghana on June 9, 2015.
He said Churchill was the one who filed a complaint at the police station.
Oppong further stated that neighbors confirmed she came in with a bottle of vodka around 3AM, most likely drunk, as she damaged properties worth $20,000, adding that she attested to doing this in her written statement.
According to him, Tonto Dikeh nearly gunned down one of the house helps who tried to restrain her. When asked who had the gun, he confirmed that it belonged to Churchill, but she broke into his safe to get it.

An economic discourse in Lagos nearly degenerated into a face-off between the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Prof. Charles Soludo and the immediate past governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as they both bandied allegations and counter-allegations.
This was so much so that the development, which happened during the discussion session, generated grumblings among those who on Friday gathered for the Vanguard Economic Discourse.
Soludo, had while delivering the keynote speech on the topic, ‘The hard facts to rescue the Nigerian economy’, commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government for eventually coming up with a recovery programme for the economy, but noted that the policy was inconsistent with the government’s promises of job creation and other benefits that would enhance the lives of Nigerians.
He argued that though the present government inherited a fragile economy, the economic recession the nation presently found itself was avoidable; since it was induced by slow and inadequate response to the situation on ground then.
“It is true that the present government inherited a bad economy when it came into power. By May 2015, many state governments had already started borrowing money to pay salaries, the foreign reserves had been depleted, insecurity was high, corruption had become the order of the day and business confidence was dwindling by the day.
“It was obvious that a rescue plan was urgently needed at that time. But we wasted too much time re-inventing the wheel and the nation’s economy was plunged into avoidable recession, and Nigerians are paying for it today,” Soludo argued.
He further stated that even if the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, remained in power for the next six years, it cannot restore the naira to dollar exchange rate to the level it met the local currency in 2015.
His words: “Even in 2023, it would be a miracle if the current government would be able to bring back the naira, for instance, to match the dollar where it met it in 2015.
He reasoned that this is because every government had promised to move away from depending on oil for revenue but had failed to do so, hence, the current administration cannot be an exception.
The ex-CBN governor added that the APC manifesto in 2015 promised a conscious plan for post-oil economy in Nigeria, and that there was no projection for exchange rate overhaul in the party’s economic plan.
“The naira exchanged for between N226 and N270 per dollar at the parallel market, within the first and third quarter of 2015, while the official interbank rate remained at N197 to a dollar.
“These compare to an average price of about N268 which it closed on December 31, 2015 at the black market. The naira on Thursday appreciated to N455 per dollar in the parallel market as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, injected another $195 million,” he said.
But in his remarks during the panel session, where the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, defended the government, Oshiomhole accused Soludo of wrongly allocating millions of dollars to two new generation banks shortly before the naira was devalued.
He said, “I got some intelligence from my comrades who worked in the system and we found out that the CBN under Soludo had just allocated couple of millions of dollars to two banks, as they were then known, new generation banks.
“And I asked Prof (Soludo), if you were going to devalue by Friday, why did you auction dollar at a lower rate on Thursday? I accused Soludo, I said you have enriched these two young men to the tune of N8bn, courtesy of your internal abuse.
“When the regulator behaved in this manner, then the Nigerian condition is much more serious than we can appreciate it. We need to deal with issues of attitude.”
However, this did not go down well with Soludo, as he said some people tend to change the subject when they did not have an answer to his earlier comment, a response that caused boisterous laughter and clapping by the audience.
At this point, the moderator told him he was running out of his time, but this was greeted with shouts of “No” from the audience.
“This debate has only begun. Adams made the point about exchange rate and exchange allocation to two banks. I want to say for the record that Adams Oshiomhole has lied. I didn’t say he misquoted anything; he has lied,” Soludo said.
The former CBN governor said at the time, banks were bidding for forex two to three times weekly, and only the successful banks at each of the bids were allocated forex, adding that he was not even part of the bid as there was a committee for the purpose.
“Every bid produced a different exchange rate and there were different winners at every bid. We didn’t do devaluation as the case may be; we had the currency depreciating as the market determined day to day. With all due respect, I think if you (Oshiomhole) don’t know what to say, sir, just don’t get into this kind of personal allegation,” he added.