FIRS Seal Jimoh ibrahim Nicon Hotel Over Unpaid Tax

An enforcement team of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, have sealed off two companies belonging to billionaire businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim. The companies; NICON Luxury Hotel and NICON Insurance were sealed off today over unpaid tax.

We gathered that the leader of the team gave the management of the companies over one hour to do the payment before executing the distraint warrant on them

Fuel Price Increase: Buhari's Government Hates Nigerian Masses -Ogun State PDP

The Ogun State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned in strong terms the increase in price of Premium Motor Spirit from N86 to N145 per litre as announced by the Federal Government on Wednesday 11th May, 2016.

In a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Mr. Malik Ibitoye, and made available to the media, the party stated that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is anti-people and undemocratic.

According to the statement, "the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has once again demonstrated its hatred for the Nigerian masses and the downtrodden people of Nigeria.


"Just a few weeks to the celebration of its first anniversary in office, the Buhari-led government officially increased pump price of Premium Motor Spirit from N86 to N145 to the chagrin of millions of Nigeria.

"It must be noted that the APC-led government has constantly displayed its arbitrariness with the brazen manner it has been churning out anti-people policies one of which is this latest onslaught on the people."

The party stressed that the fuel price increment is arbitrary, anti-people, anti-democratic, retrogressive, adding that it must be condemned by all right thinking persons regardless of party affiliation.

It was emphasized in the statement that "it is unthinkable that Buhari's government would ever thought of foisting increase in fuel pump price on Nigerians, who have been made to go through months of fuel scarcity and hyper-inflation in the last couple of months."

To this end, the Ogun State PDP said that they were not surprised "by what is being revealed daily by the government that promised to change the life of the people for the better, it only confirms what we said repeatedly before, during and after the last general elections in the country."

The party accused the Federal Government, under President Buhari, of succumbing 'so cheaply to the pressure from the oil magnates in the country.'

They added that they were beginning to doubt the ability of President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue Nigeria from the doldrum because, according to them, the president has added more insult upon injury for Nigerians in a country where there is no electricity, no job, and no security.

"Our fears are that it would not stop at that as petrol price may go beyond N200 per litre in the next  few months because we could see the marketers jubilating that they have won the battle," they said in the statement.

They said further: "We want to agree with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) that said in a statement that “the unilateral increase in prices of petroleum products today by government represents the height of insensitivity and impunity and shall be resisted by the NLC and its civil society allies.”

"It added that with “the unjustifiable electricity tariff and other economic challenges brought on by the devaluation of the naira and inflation, the least one had expected was another policy measure that would make life miserable for the ordinary Nigerian."

The party revealed that they were not surprised with what the APC-led Government has done, but that "we only pray that Nigerians would not be further pushed to the precipice as it appears that we have indeed boarded a one chance bus with this apparently insensitive government."

Petrol Price’ll Go Down In Six Months– Kachikwu

 

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said Nigerians will be amazed at what will become of the price of Premium Motor Spirit in the next six months.

The Federal Government had on Wednesday announced the removal of fuel subsidy, with a new petrol price band of N135 to N145 per litre, up from N86 and N86.50.

The development has been greeted with mixed reactions, with labour vowing to protest against it.


Kachikwu, who spoke on Thursday morning on Channels at the Sunrise Daily programme which was monitored by our correspondent, said the move was necessary in order put an end to fuel scarcity in the country.

He said the market dynamics would take hold fast “because there are a lot of Nigerians who are very active, very bullish, very talented in doing this; they just have been prevented by government intrusions.

“As it gets better and it gets to a point where we find that the market has stabilised in terms of supply, we will begin to pull back a bit in terms of determinants for pricing.”


He said by opening up the space for people to perform, to practise their trade, “you will be amazed at what will happen to your N145 price because it will go downwards

I'm Qualified To Be The Next VP – Fayose

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, says he is qualified to be the running mate of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019. The two-term governor said this during the May edition of ‘Meet Your Governor’ his monthly media chat.

Fayose, who is known to have influenced the emergence of Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman of the party, said Sheriff will continue to preside over the party till the next general election.

“Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is the PDP chairman and he is going to continue in office. If he gives me the VP slot, it is a good thing for Ekiti people even though, you cannot set out to say you want to be VP. But you people should not worry yourself about 2019 because nobody knows who will be alive in 2019 but mentioning my name for VP is good for Ekiti. I am qualified to be VP if it is the will of God. God is taking me to a higher place, how, I don’t know.”

FG Removes Subsidy, Increases Fuel Price To 145

$2.1bn Arms Deal: EFCC Arraigns Ex Chief Of Air Staff, Dikko Umar

Former Chief of Air staff，Air Vice Marshal Dikko Umar was arraigned before Justice Binta Nyako of the federal high court in Abuja on a 7 count charge. The former air chief is being investigated for his alleged involvement in the misappropriation of funds meant for arms procurement during the immediate past administration. Air Marshal Umar was Nigeria’s Chief of Air Staff between 2010 to 2012.

Recall that on January 15th President Buhari gave the anti-graft agency the green light to establish the scope of the culpability of the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh, former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar (2010 -2012) and the immediate past Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Nunayon Amosu, in alleged fraudulent arms purchases for the Air Force between 2007 and 2015.

Also lined up for investigation by the anti-graft agency are 14 other retired and serving military officers and 21 firms said to have been awarded the contracts.

The companies have been traced to associates and relatives of some of the suspects. A committee on the audit of defence equipment has confirmed that Nigeria spent about $2billion and another N29billion on NAF procurement alone during the period in question.

Garba Shehu,Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) to the President, gave the names of those to be investigated as: (1) Air Chief Marshal A.S. Badeh (Rtd) (2) Air Marshal M.D. Umar (Rtd) (3) Air Marshal A.N. Amosu (Rtd) (4) Maj-Gen. E.R. Chioba (Rtd), former Director General, Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) (5) AVM I.A. Balogun (Rtd) (6) AVM A.G. Tsakr (Rtd) (7) AVM A.G. Idowu (Rtd) (8) AVM A.M. Mamu (NAF Chief of Administration) (9) AVM O.T. Oguntoyinbo (former Director of Production, Defence Headquarters) (10) AVM T. Omenyi (MD, NAF Holdings) (11) AVM J.B. Adigun (former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting) (12) AVM R.A. Ojuawo (Air Force Tactical Air Command, Makurdi) (13) AVM J.A. Kayode-Beckley (Director, Armament Research in Air Force Research and Development Centre) (12) Air Cdre S.A. Yushau (Rtd) (13) Air Cdre A.O. Ogunjobi (14) Air Cdre G.M.D. Gwani (15) Air Cdre S.O. Makinde (16) Air Cdre A.Y. Lassa (16) Col N. Ashinze (Special Military Assistant to former NSA Sambo Dasuki) (17) Lt Col. M.S. Dasuki (Rtd).

Inside Abeokuta Hotel Where Kidnappers,Cultist Squander Their Loot

Abeokuta, is becoming unsafe for its inhabitants. Over time,kidnapping activities has been reported, this has left the government and the police helpless,as the city has become the haven for these hoodlums. Reports show that these miscreants have a den in Abeokuta, the state capital. They usually recline to a hotel, Quarry Imperial,on Quarry Road, to squander their loot, after successful operations. The recent kidnapping of Senator Iyabo Anisulowo exposed this Quarry Imperial. The intensive efforts to set free the former Minister of State for Education have just come out with fresh facts emerging on how the kidnappers were arrested. Incontrovertible facts have shown that Quarry Imperial Hotel, owned by a known ally of a former governor of ogun state, is where the unscrupulous elements severally and individually gather to plan their next operation, after which they all retire to same place to share their loot, and subsequently lavish the money made from their operations on drinks and women, at Club 52, the night club within the hotel. We hear that after the arrest of some of the master minds at the hotel, the Police have severally invited the managers of the hotel and night club in the person(s) of Eniola Adeyemi and Tolu Sorinola for questioning. We also heard that this is not the first of such unwholesome activities that happen at the place, as cultists and people of questionable characters always frequent the place to plan and unleash terror on their perceived opponents. All sorts of men of questionable characters now come to the hotel, creating room for regular fights and face-offs at the hotel’s Club 52, leaving so much to be desired by the innocent patrons. Recently, some guys, who claimed to be members of a particular vicious cult group, came around the hotel to rob unsuspecting fun seekers, leaving many to take to their heels for their dear lives. We also gathered that at the moment, the owner of the hotel, Kola Sorinola, is running helter-skelter to redeem the hotel from an imminent closure by the Ibikunle Amosun-led state government that has vowed to go after persons and facilities that aid kidnappers in the state without mercy.

PHOTOS: Awujale Celebrates 82nd Birthday

Yesterday, May the 10th,Awujale of Ijebuland Alayeluwa  Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Ogbagba Ogbatewole 11 celebrated his 82nd birthday with fanfare at his Ijebu Ode palace.
Here are some pictures from the event.

Donald Trump Exempts New London Mayor Sadiq Khan From Muslim Ban In The US

US Presidential candidate Donald Trump says that newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan who is a Muslim is exempted from his Muslim US ban if he becomes president.

Mayor Khan had earlier said that he had to go to America before November 2016 so he won't be banned in case Trump becomes President. The Billionaire business man says that the new Mayor is an exemption from his previous comments on banning Muslims entering into the US if he becomes president.
On Monday he said he was “happy” that London had elected its first Muslim Mayor and suggested that Khan would be among the exceptions to his proposal.

“There will always be exceptions,” Mr. Trump said when asked in an interview with New York Times on Monday how his proposed ban would affect London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan.

“I was happy to see that,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Khan’s election. “I think it’s a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because frankly that would be very, very good.”

Asked why, Mr. Trump said, “Because I think if he does a great job, it will really — you lead by example, always lead by example. If he does a good job and frankly if he does a great job, that would be a terrific thing.”

Mr. Khan, in an interview with Time magazine after his election, said
“If Donald Trump becomes the president I’ll be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith, which means I can’t engage with American mayors and swap ideas,”

Source: New York Times

Saraki Reports At CCT Today

The trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal resumes today,May,the  10th after a 10-day adjournment. Bukola is being tried for alleged false declaration of assets while he was governor of Kwara State.
Outcome of the trial loading

Falae Firm’s Account Frozen

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has frozen the bank account of a company belonging to a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, The Punch reports.

It was gathered  that the account with the United Bank for Africa titled Marecco Nigeria Limited with number 1000627022, was frozen as part of investigations into the N4bn disbursed by the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election.

It would be recalled that Falae had received N100m on behalf of his party, but said he was not aware that the money belonged to the Government and it wasn’t a personal fund but something he got on behalf of his party.

EFCC, DSS Now Buhari’s Instrument Of Political Victimization- Fayose

Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State,yesterday, lambasted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over what he described as their persistent harassment of Nigerians, saying the continued detention without trial of Mr. Warimopei Dudafa, a former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and invasion of the Abuja residence of former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode was irresponsible, barbaric and undemocratic.

Governor Fayose said it was the height of executive rascality for the EFCC to have held occupants of Fani-Kayode’s residence hostage for eight hours despite the fact that he was only invited to come to the EFCC office on Monday and there was no evidence that Fani-Kayode refused to honour their invitation.

According to the Governor’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, “EFCC under President Mohammadu Buhari is acting as if it is above the law and Nigerians,international community must remind the commission that we are in a democracy where rule of law is sacrosanct.”


The governor said actions of the EFCC have shown clearly that it is an instrument of victimization against oppositions in the country, adding the anti-graft agency should go and study how other anti-corruption agencies in other countries behave.

He said; “the EFCC must be reminded of the judgement delivered in March, this year by Justice Yusuf Haliru of the Federal High Court in Nicholas Arinse Vs EFCC & Nigerian Army where the judge held that the EFCC did not behave as if we were in a civilised society and that the anti-graft commission was behaving as if we were in a military dictatorship, where they arrest and release person at will.

“In the case of the former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Jonathan, no one is saying those suspected of corrupt practices should not be investigated and tried, but it is wrong for Warimopei Dudafa to have been kept in EFCC custody for over two weeks without trial.

“Also, it is a demonstration of barbarism for the same EFCC that invited Fani-Kayode to its office on Monday to have invaded his house yesterday, holding the occupants hostage for eight hours when there is no evidence that Fani-Kayode refused to honour EFCC invitation.

“Why the show of barbarism by the EFCC as if Nigeria is now back to 1984 when Buhari was a military dictator?”

While calling on the international community to pay attention to the abuse of rights of Nigerians and threat to democracy under President Buhari, Fayose said; “It is obvious that democracy in Nigeria is becoming unsafe in the hands of Buhari’s government.”

He said Nigerians must begin to ask the EFCC what happened to the several petitions written against APC leaders and financiers of President Buhari’s election, including former governors, adding that it was worrisome that the EFCC and the Department of State Services (DSS) have become President Buhari’s instrument of political victimization.

Vanguard

EFCC Storms Fani-Kayode’s House As Ex-Minister Says He Leaves Them To God

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have stormed the home of former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani is to answer questions on allegations that he received N840m from the Director of Finance, Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Senator Nenadi Usman.

He had already cried out yesterday saying he suspects the commission wanted to humiliate him publicly, by so doing have refused to send him an invitation to appear before them.

But today he got an invitation from them which he openly confessed he received and was ready to meet with them on Monday. But not too long ago, he came back online; his official Facebook page saying officials of the commission has surrounded his home because they want him detained so badly and couldn’t wait till Monday. He said;

“Today the EFCC invited me to come to their office on Monday. I have their letter. I agreed to be there. Now they have surrounded my house. “The letter of invitation was served this morning and it was dated 6th May. They said I should report on the 9th. “Can someone please tell me why they are at my gate? They can’t even wait because they want to detain me so badly and keep me away for the weekend. “I never refused their invitation. Why all this? I leave them to God.”

EFCC OFFICIALLY INVITES FEMI FANI KAYODE OVER CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY,FRAUD,MONEY LAUNDERING

SEE PDP'S COMMENT ON BUHARI SIGNING 2016 BUDGET INTO LAW

DO YOU AGREE WITH PDP ?

I Know EFCC’s Plan Is To Humiliate & Arrest Me Publicly- Fani Kayode

EX Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has denied the news circulating in newspapers that he has gone into hiding in other to run from officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Fani Kayode who is visibly upset about this, says he has been at his Abuja home since three weeks now and remains there. He swore he never got any physical invitation in form of letter or any other means inviting him by the commission.

He further went ahead saying those lying to the press that he has been hiding from the EFCC only wants Nigerians to justify the action of the commission in case they plan to arrest and humiliate him publicly. He therefore ‘ran’ to the public explaining what he thinks is going on in a press statement released this morning just in case anything happens.


“I have just read some absurd media reports in which have quoted their sources in the EFCC as saying that I had gone underground and that I was hiding from them. This is false. I have not been invited by the EFCC by letter and neither have they phoned me or attempted to reach me in any other way. I have been in my Abuja home for the last few weeks and I am not hiding from anyone,” he said.

“I am not a coward and this attempt to further demonise and humiliate me by the EFCC will fail. If they have any questions for me why don’t they just write to me or call me, give me a date and I will be in their office. I have made my position clear on the issue of the presidential campaign funds, I have written an essay about it in my various columns about two weeks ago and I have been waiting for the EFCC to reach me ever since then. They have invited others but they have not invited me. I do not believe that I have done anything wrong and this latest attempt to criminalise me and make me look like a fugitive from justice will fail.”

“Others that were invited to the EFCC over this same campaign funds issue were sent letters of invitation and were reached. I appear to be the exception and now these hideous lies are being fed to the newspapers to make it look as if I am in hiding or that I am running from them just to sensationalise the whole issue.

“This is also to justify what the EFCC wish to do which is to arrest me in public, humiliate me or to storm my home and lock me up indefinitely. There is no need for all that drama and if it happens that way the Nigerian people will know why. I have no fear of the EFCC, I will respond to their invitation any day and anytime they send it to me and I will help them to clarify whatever issues they wish to raise in any way that I can.

“Others were invited in a civilised way and were treated in a humane and decent manner. I really do wonder why I should be treated differently, criminalised in the newspapers in this way and not even afforded the common courtesy of a formal invitation by them. I await their letter or their call and I leave those that wish to give the impression that I am running from them to God.”

Ex Commissioner Of Police,Mohammed Sambo To Appear In Court Over N10m Fraud

 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday said it has concluded plans for the trial of a retired Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Sambo, before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja.

The EX-CP will be arraigned Thursday on a one-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and obtaining N10m by false pretense.

According to a statement issued by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, the suspect allegedly conspired with one Nuhu Bello Dabai to extort the managing director of a firm of N10million.


The statement said: “Sambo, who connived with one Nuhu Bello Dabai, had allegedly duped the complainant, Managing Director/ CEO, Ideal Sunbeam International Company Limited, Abdul Malik Bello, of the sum of N10, 000, 000.00, after claiming that he needed to defray both the survey and other preliminary expenses involved in the execution of a contract worth over N1 billion purportedly awarded him by Zamfara State Governor, Abdul Aziz Abubakar Yari.

“The accused person was subsequently arrested and granted an administrative bail by the commission on January 19, 2015.

“He, however, jumped the administrative bail granted him on April 7, 2015. After playing hide-and-seek, he was eventually re-arrested on Wednesday, May 3, 2016.”

WELCOME TO SILENT REPORTERS : We Will Poison Your Source Of Water If You Dare At...

WELCOME TO SILENT REPORTERS : We Will Poison Your Source Of Water If You Dare At...: Ayo Fayose on Tuesday, warned marauding herdsmen that have sent many Nigerians to their untimely graves in parts of the country to steer c...

We Will Poison Your Source Of Water If You Dare Attack Ekiti, Fayose Warns Herdsmen

Ayo Fayose on Tuesday, warned marauding herdsmen that have sent many Nigerians to their untimely graves in parts of the country to steer clear of his state or otherwise risk a greater danger for their cattle.

He said failure on their part to heed the warning would lead to the people of the state poisoning the source of water by the herdsmen for the cattle.

Fayose stated this on Tuesday, while speaking on the topic: “Journalism and Politics; two sides of a coin,” at the World Press Freedom Day organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council, held at the Dapo Aderogba hall, Iyaganku, Ibadan.


Fayose said the time had come for Nigerians to defend themselves in the face of unwarranted attacks and killings by suspected herdsmen across the country.

Citing the carnage carried out by them in Benue and Enugu states, the governor said Boko Haram appeared to have changed its identity to herdsmen, unleashing terror on innocent citizens of the country,

He said he had instructed his people to poison water with a particular brand of chemical used against fungal attacks in the event of any herdsmen attack in Ekiti.

“It seems Boko Haram has changed identity to herdsmen now. You as journalists must speak out, the killings are under reported. Is it about the mass burial in Kaduna State, the Agatu saga or the recent killing which happened on Monday? Ask questions,” he said.

VIDEO:Omawunmi Goes Gaga On Set, Walks Out Of Interview Over Smoking & Drinking Question

Prince Ademola Adeniji Adenle Dies In India

Former sports commissioner in Lagos State, Prince Adeniji Adenle is bereaved. The foremost politician died around 6:00am this morning in an Indian hospital according to his son. His son who broke the sad news sent out a message which read "he is dead and prayed for his soul". The message reads;

“Good morning every one, My dad Prince Ademola Adeniji-Adele this morning passed on in India, may almighty Allah grant him Aljanah fidau. Hon. Sultan Adeniji-Adele.”

His remains will be flown home for proper burial. May his soul rest in peace.

Femi Kuti losses Manager

The singer announced this on one of his social media pages. He wrote;

With deep sorrow and sadness ,I regret to announce the passing of my long time friend , senior brother , manager Francis Kertekian . Rip . We will miss u

We Won’t Go To Class Until Government Give Us Adequate Protection- UNICAL Lecturers

 

University of Calabar lecturers today embarked on industrial action to demand for armed security personnel to be deployed on campus, residential quarters following the kidnapping of lecturers and students at the residential quarters on Tuesday morning.

Tony Eyang, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, told Vanguard that the lecturers feel insecure with the recent kidnappings on campus owing to the porous security in and around the campus and as such would not go to classes until the government takes decisive steps to secure the university environment.

WELCOME TO SILENT REPORTERS : NLC blast Okupe for calling on states to downsize ...

WELCOME TO SILENT REPORTERS : NLC blast Okupe for calling on states to downsize ...: The leadership of the Nigeria Labor Congress NLC have blasted former media aide of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, for cal...

NLC blast Okupe for calling on states to downsize their civil servants + questions his degree as a medical doctor

The leadership of the Nigeria Labor Congress NLC have blasted former media aide of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, for calling on state governors to downsize their civil servants so they can have enough funds to pay salaries and stop the habit of seeking bailout from the Federal government. Reacting to Okupe's suggestion, the chairman of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, described his suggestion as a jaundiced argument. He questioned Okupe's degree as a medical doctor.
   
NLC REPORTS “Ordinarily, we would not have responded to Doyin Okupe when he urged governors, in a statement few days ago, to retrench civil servants as a panacea to irregular payment of salaries, because we know him. In his jaundiced argument, very much unlike one who is truly deserving of his certificate from a medical school, Okupe said, ‘virtually all state governments in the country have over-bloated civil service’.

    To underscore this point, he said between ‘2008 and 2009, Ogun State received N2 billion monthly from the federation account and paid out N1.8billion as staff salaries, wages and overhead costs’ to civil servants not more than 50,000 in a state with a population of 5,000,000.

    In his view therefore it was ‘an obvious socio-economic absurdity and incongruity where 10 per cent of the population was consuming 90 per cent of the wealth of the state. Okupe is bandying political statistics and this is neither good for his health nor the health of those with whom he seeks to ingratiate himself. We at the Nigeria Labour Congress believe in the equitable distribution of the nation’s resources.

    We will not subscribe to a situation whereby 10 per cent corner 90 per cent of the resources of the state. It is in furtherance of this that we urge Okupe to do a forensic audit of what Ogun got, what it paid to civil servants, contractors and politicians and what it used in running the Government House!”

WELCOME TO SILENT REPORTERS : FEMI OTEDOLA LOSES $400 MILLION IN 9 WEEKS

WELCOME TO SILENT REPORTERS : FEMI OTEDOLA LOSES $400 MILLION IN 9 WEEKS: Culled from forbes magazine...     Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola has lost more than $400 million of his personal fortune over the last...

FEMI OTEDOLA LOSES $400 MILLION IN 9 WEEKS

Culled from forbes magazine...

    Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola has lost more than $400 million of his personal fortune over the last 9 weeks as the stock price of Forte Oil, the Nigerian-listed energy behemoth he controls, shed off 43.5% in value within that period. In late February the share price of Forte Oil hit an all-time high of N342 per share after the Lagos-based utilities and petroleum marketing company released its impressive 2015 FY results and declared an attractive dividend of N3.45 per share.

However, as at close of trading on tuesday, its share price has dropped to N193.46 after recording consistent daily losses over the past few weeks. Otedola, who is the company’s controlling shareholder, has seen his paper net worth drop from $1.6 billion when FORBES published its annual ranking of the World’s Billionaires in March, to $1.2 billion today, according to the FORBES’ real-time billionaire scorecard.

A source at Forte Oil says that the drop in the company’s share price is not unconnected to massive sell-offs of bonus shares from some of the company’s retail investors. Last year, Forte Oil offered investors a bonus of 1 new share for every 5 ordinary shares they held. In total, Forte Oil declared roughly 216 million bonus shares for the 2014 business year. The bonus shares were only issued to investors a couple of weeks ago and they have been scrabbling to sell off their bonus shares on the market to cash in. This mass sell-off has precipitated the drop in the share price.

“This is only temporary. As you’ll see, even though investors are selling off their bonus shares, there are institutional investors who are buying up all the shares on offer as evidenced by the volume of the transactions in the last few days. When all those bonus shares are cleared up by institutional investors, you’ll see the share price rising again,” the source said.

Out of the 216 million bonus shares which have been issued, Otedola received only 170 million.

WELCOME TO SILENT REPORTERS : Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Edo State House Asse...

WELCOME TO SILENT REPORTERS : Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Edo State House Asse...: Channels TV has it that the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Victor Edoror and his deputy, Bright Osayande, have been impeached. ...

Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Edo State House Assembly impeached

Channels TV has it that the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Victor Edoror and his deputy, Bright Osayande, have been impeached. The lawmakers were unseated by their colleagues today May 3rd. Meanwhile, a woman, Elizabeth Attiv is now the acting Speaker of the House.

TIWA SAVAGE VS TEE BILLZ: WHO IS AT FAULT?

Following the teebillz and tiwa savage brouhaha..who do you think is at fault?

Bukola Saraki records unveil a pattern of lies, evasion on questions about his nationality and identity

Jonathan’s Aides, Abati, Adegbe, Obua, Others Stripped Of Passports

Two months after leaving power,  no fewer than 12 close aides of former President Goodluck Jonathan have been stripped of their official passports.

A competent source told Saturday Vanguard that the decision to withdraw the official passports of the former aides of Dr Jonathan was to prevent misuse and conflict with new aides and officials of President Muhammadu Buhari, who assumed duties on May 29, 2015.
It could not be established last night whether the affected officials were ordered by the Presidency to surrender the passports or whether they did so voluntarily.
But Saturday Vanguard learned that the affected former aides of Jonathan had already returned the passports to the Presidential Villa preparatory to being handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS.
  Abati, Adegbe, Obua, 9 others affected
Among those whose passports have been retrieved are former Special Adviser to the President on Media Reuben Abati; former Aide-de-Camp, Col. Ojogbane Adegbe and former Chief Security Officer, Gordon Obua, who is currently hospitalised over poor health arising from his recent incarceration by security agents.
Nine other key officials of the Jonathan Presidency who were also issued with official passports have also been stripped of the travel documents.
It was gathered that the former officials had been asked by the Presidency to relinquish their official passports to the Villa within a stipulated time-frame for onward return to the NIS, which issued them.
  Questions to answer
However, another source hinted that the withdrawal of the former president’s henchmen’s travel documents was to prevent some of them who have some issues to explain to the new administration from leaving the country and being given preferential treatment at their destinations.
“Don’t forget that some of these officials may be needed here to answer some questions relating to their tenure,” the source said.
  No ill-motive –NIS
However, the Nigerian Immigration Service said last night that there was no ill-motive in withdrawing the official passports of  government officials who had completed their assignments.
NIS Public Relations Officer, Mr.  Joachim Obua, explained that it was normal for officials of government to surrender their official passports at the end of their tenure.
“It is important for the position to be made clear that official passports are not the property of anyone holding it. Once you complete your assignment you have to return it to the NIS,” he explained.

I Asked Jonathan If He Could Handle Ngozi Okonjo Iweala- OBASANJO

 
Below is excerpt of the first part of the interview.
PT: Thank you sir for granting us this opportunity to talk about your book. Some people say it is selling like hot cake, I don’t know if it is true but that’s what people say. How has it been? What has been the financial reward from there?

Obasanjo: The book was not written for financial reward. If it was written for financial reward, now that…what do you call him… Kashamu had done the stupid things he did, I would have sued him‎ for damages and I would have got damages. But that’s not what the book was written for. The book was written for my experience, my understanding, my knowledge, and what you may call wisdom as a result of all these, to put it for others to be able to learn or acquire knowledge. That’s one. Two, it was also written to set the record right. One of the things that people don’t know, people that I call arm chair presidents is that they don’t know what goes in before decisions are made or what the man making decisions, what leads him to making decisions.
Take for instance the decision on privatising all refineries. I explained that what I met were refineries that were not working, refineries that were given to an amateur for repairs, for maintenance, what they call turn around maintenance to the company of Emeka Offor – Chrome Group. Where has Emeka Offor maintained refineries before? Where has he? That’s what we met. So the refineries were not working. I called Shell. I said ‘come and help us, just run the refinery.’ Shell was frank with me.
It said that ‘we make our money from upstream, downstream is more of a service. Two, your refineries are small. Port Harcourt is 60,000 barrels a day. Refineries now go 300,000 barrels a day. Three, your refineries have not been maintained well. Four, we don’t want to go into the corruption that is entailed in all these’. I said ‘ok, come and help me run it’. They refused. Now when I then saw people who agreed to take 51 percent equity in two of the refineries; they did not promise to pay, they paid 750 million, I was dancing and I said ‘look, this is God sent.’ My successor came (and) they cancelled it and paid them the money back. Those refineries today – you won’t get them because they’ve become scrap.

PT: They recently said that they are working again…

Obasanjo: Who made them work? (laughs)
PT: You mentioned Emeka Offor. There were lots of stories about the refineries you met, how you handled it. But you never recovered anything from Emeka Offor.
Obasanjo: What can you recover? A man ‎who was paid upfront. He had people. He got some police…people were there. And like they have said to you now, look, if it works for a week, that’s all you get. And Emeka Offor, after I left he became friends with every government that has come. Now he’s not only into refinery and oil and all that, he’s now also in energy.

PT: Something came out of your book. You said that before you were elected, that the feeling and perception was that only a northerner ‎could be elected in Nigeria. How did you feel breaking that myth, because you called it a myth in your book?

Obasanjo: It’s a myth. It’s a myth that….well, before my election we have had, since independence, three or four elections. We had election in 1959 that was conducted by the British, NPC won. We were still in the days of parliamentary. We had election in 1964 that was conducted by ourselves. It was a coalition of NPC and NCNC but the head of the government was Tafawa Balewa. We had election again in 1979, Shagari won. We had again in 1983, again Shagari won. And then we had the June 12…

PT: (Cuts in) I was thinking that (1993) was when the myth was broken.
Obasanjo: Election which result has not been declared, you cannot talk of… It doesn’t matter what you may see but until the election result is formally declared, it could be anything.

PT: So you think that period was a very momentous period in Nigeria’s history?
Obasanjo: I think it was good for Nigeria. It was one of the great strides that Nigeria made. Just as I believe that Jonathan winning election in 2011 was also a great stride for us or 2015, now that the incumbent was defeated by the opposition. These are landmarks, or if you like, reference points in our advancement in democracy.
PT: In the Volume 2 of your book, you wrote extensively about the role God used you to play in enthroning Yar’Adua and Jonathan. You also admitted later – extensive analysis – how both leaders performed poorly. There are those who believe that you owe Nigerians an apology for leading them to enthrone non-performing leaders.

Obasanjo: (Cuts in) You are absolutely wrong Now you voted for them. I didn’t just take them and put them there. And they went through a process. Don’t you know that? Do you know or don’t you know that they went through a process? Do you know or don’t you know? Answer (slaps interviewer’s thigh vigorously).

PT: I know.
Obasanjo: Okay. They went through a process. And that is the process that the constitution and the electoral system allow.
PT: In other words, are you saying that all of us are guilty?
Obasanjo: Of course. If you want to put that, everybody who voted for them is guilty.
PT: But you know people believed you. People believed you. When you speak….
Obasanjo: (Cuts in) When I speak, I am not an oracle. And I’m not infallible. But on this particular one I have said to all of you, you can get a job for a man you cannot do it for him. Even your own son if you put him in a job…. There is a good saying that if you want to know how anybody will perform, put him in position of power or put money into his hand.
PT: So maybe the thing to say is that you didn’t do enough due diligence…
Obasanjo: (Cuts in) No. You are wrong. There’s no due diligence that you can do to allow a man…. You cannot know the quality of a gift from the wrapping. You don’t know that, you will never go anywhere (slaps interviewer’s thigh). That is absolute wrong.
PT: That point has to be made…
Obasanjo: (Cuts in) But I’ve always made it. I keep on making it. In my book, I said look, Gowon sent me to the war front and because of my performance there, my popularity started to rise…

PT: (Cuts in) Because he knew you had the capacity, he checked you very well…
Obasanjo: (Cuts in) No no no. Adekunle was there before me. So he didn’t know Adekunle had the capacity? Answer me. In that same Division, Adekunle was there. And if Adekunle had remained there, there’s the possibility that Nigeria could have lost the war. So will you blame him for that?
PT: We won’t. But you know a lot of people believe that between 1999 and 2007 when you left was a time that a lot changed in Nigeria for the better. And people just keep saying that you destroyed everything that you put in place with the successors you enthroned.

Obasanjo: But take Ngozi (Okonjo-Iweala), who worked for me. And who worked competently for me. Because I know Ngozi’s weaknesses, but I know her strong points. Her strong point is technical competence. But Ngozi needs to be led and to be supervised. Now will you comment on Ngozi who worked for me as the same Ngozi who worked for Jonathan? Will you? But it’s the same person.
PT: At what point do you think she derailed if I may use that word?

Obasanjo: No.

PT: Is it at the point that you changed her – because you removed her as finance minister. Was it at that point that she began to derail?
Obasanjo: She derailed because….when Jonathan even said he wanted her, I said ‘I hope you can manage her.’ And Ngozi herself sent me a text (and) I told her times have changed.
PT: But why did you change her? She was managing the economy very well for you. Why did you now remove her suddenly?
Obasanjo: I wrote it in that my book.
PT: It didn’t come out clearly enough?
Obasanjo:It must have come out. Maybe you haven’t read the book very well. I said I’ve touched reform. I’ve touched almost everywhere except Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So one day, I was in my office and the Head of Service, Yayale (Ahmed), came in. He said ‘look, you are looking not happy, what is the matter?’ I said I am worried about two ministries and the ministers who can do the work I wanted to be done there in these two ministries are already doing good work where they are. And he said ‘talk let me see.’ I said education and foreign affairs. And he said ‘who are the ministers that you think can do the job.’ I said Oby (Ezekwesili), Ngozi, and El-Rufai. He said ‘what is Oby doing for you now?’ I said Oby is doing Solid Minerals. He said ‘Sir, in all sincerity, I know you don’t like to rank ministries, but will you say Ministry of Solid Minerals is as important as Ministry of Education.’ I said yes I don’t rank ministries, they are all important. He said, ‘Can’t you take any of these three to do education and then get somebody else to do solid minerals?’ So I took Oby there. Now in the Ministry of Finance we had got debt relief, so I could afford to take Ngozi to Foreign Affairs. That’s all. And then she had Nenadi (Usman) who was the minister of state. She’s not a buffoon. And then, which is also part of her weakness, she came to me and said, look, since it’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she will like to take International Finance along with it. I said talk to your sister with whom you are working and I don’t see anything wrong with that provided you work out a relationship. But she didn’t accord Nenadi the recognition and the consideration that was necessary. I then said the ministry of International finance should go back to Finance and that happened. She said she couldn’t act. She put in a letter of resignation. And she had done that before, and before she could come and get people to come and beg, I announced acceptance (of her resignation).

PT: She once resigned before and she took it back?

Obasanjo: Yes.

PT: Which means you were always having disagreements…
Obasanjo: No no no. I know her character.
PT: So why did she resign the first time?
Obasanjo: She just felt if she cannot have her way, with me…. If I am the one in charge, then it has to be what I see as what is the best interest of the nation.

PT: So even when she resigned, if you didn’t announce the acceptance she would have come back. So all efforts to make her come back didn’t work?

Obasanjo: No no no. Because I had announced.

PT: In 1999, IBB supported you to become president…

Obasanjo: (Cuts in) I said that.

PT: Yes, you said that. And many even said he helped fund your campaign at the time.
Obasanjo: No.

PT: You didn’t say that. You said he supported you. But in your book, you spoke of how in 2011, you chose to support Jonathan…..because you called a South West PDP meeting where Jonathan was endorsed, even when IBB had also indicated interest in running. Why did you prefer to act that way?
Obasanjo: I wrote in my book that this is the opportunity we have for a minority. And I’ve said that. I’ve explained that. I’ve said that times without number. And we have scaled that hurdle. Nobody in Nigeria today can say ‘oh, because I’m a minority I cannot get there.’

PT: So was he not angry with you that ‘look, I backed you in 1999?’
Obasanjo: That’s not…What nonsense is that? Because you backed me I must back you? It doesn’t matter who you are? And I don’t have consideration for Nigeria? It’s consideration that you backed me? No, if that is the way you think then you are short-sighted and myopic and stupid. And put that one. No Nigerian should think that way. You backed me? And if you don’t back me others will back me. So everybody who backed me that time, I must now come and say, look, when you want anything, any office…. I don’t act like that.

PT: It means that you were able to break the jinx of the problem of minority.
Obasanjo: It is necessary that we deal with that.
PT: You said something very shocking in your book – that the presidency instructed EFCC to remove a vital document in Gbenga Daniel’s file in their custody as a way of getting the former governor off their hook.
Obasanjo: No. The president knows about it but it was his chief of staff who gave the instruction.
PT: With the consent of the then president?

Obasanjo: The president knows about it.

PT: Now listen to what you wrote in page 81 of your book. “To fight corruption, the leader needs absolute transparency, no skeleton in the cupboard, clean hands, a clear mind, fear of God, and absolute honesty and integrity, submission to scrupulous investigation. Search and enquiries are also good for a leader who wants to lead by example.” Great message for any leader all over the world! This is prescriptive. Now what do you say to those who keep linking you with corruption during your own tenure, especially the unresolved Halliburton scam for which some of your aides were arrested?

Obasanjo: Look, anybody can make any allegation. Go and read the EFCC report on me. I’m the only leader who has left office who has had, I said they should carry out clinical… did you see that in the book? And if you haven’t seen that in the book then you haven’t read the book. So what else do you want? (Ndudi) Elumelu carried out a report. Did you see the report of the House and the action of the House? What more do you want? So it doesn’t matter the allegation you make, that’s entirely up to you. Halliburton, Bodunde (one of his aides) has been taken to court twice and the court has dismissed the case. What more do you want? The latest was the one Jonathan did. Just before he left, he took Bodunde back to court. He was discharged and the case dismissed the first time. The second time Jonathan took him to court and he was discharged again. So what do you want?
PT: You may not know about it, you may not have a hand in it, but it does appear, especially from reports from US investigators that some officials of your administration perhaps took bribe from Halliburton.
Obasanjo: No no no! I don’t deny that. But not me! I don’t deny their reports about Halliburton but not me. I don’t even know what Halliburton was doing here. So what’s your problem? And EFCC looked into it. You read the report of EFCC bordering on Halliburton.
PT: The only gap is that people are wondering why you didn’t take steps to bring those officials of your regime to book.

Obasanjo: (Cuts in) There’s no gap. You can make any allegation. Now EFCC – you can count number of people who are taken to court. I don’t take anybody to court, Mojeed. And don’t annoy me. Now you have the system that takes them to court. I don’t take anybody to court. Because if I have to be the one to say ‘take this one to court,’ that will be witch- hunting. That’s not my job. My job is – set up the system and if anybody in that system is not performing then look for somebody to perform. So it doesn’t matter what allegation. If you read that report of EFCC, one man was hired, and he went out with all sorts of spurious allegations and EFCC took it one by one. Even Ribadu told me that when he gave that report, because he didn’t give the report to me…I said, look, carry out a critical investigation. I thought that was good. Then when he wrote his report, he gave it to Yar’Adua. And he said Yar’Adua asked him, ‘You can’t find anything at all?’ He brought Metropolitan Police here and he said whenever they are doing investigation in the past, when they get somewhere they will say ‘oh, yes, some people are interested.’ But this is the first time they had free hand to carry out investigation. So what more do you want? And what I put there is what I believe in. Has anybody working under me said to you that ‘oh, he asked me to take bribe?

Toyin Saraki Arrived Totally Unprepared-EFCC

Silent Reporters revealed how Senate President Saraki and his wife collaborated in looting funds from Kwara state using fictitious names of depositors. The couple also scammed numerous other banks by taking out dubious loans, and plundering funds belonging to Kwara State.

Silent Reporters also revealed that Mrs. Saraki helped launder her husband's ill-gotten cash through various shady banking transactions and by making deposits into their personal accounts.

An EFCC investigator told Silent Reporters  this evening that Mrs. Saraki “left knowing that there is a strong case against her.”

The investigator also disclosed that "many of the allegations against her [Mrs. Saraki] connect directly" to Mr. Saraki’s own activities.

EFCC officials told Silent Reporters on Tuesday that Mrs. Saraki arrived at their offices totally unprepared, and left shocked at how much investigators knew of her alleged crimes.

On Tuesday, an entourage of politicians and power brokers, including Senator Dino Melaye- who once headed an anti-corruption NGO- accompanied Mrs. Saraki to the EFCC offices in Abuja. Silent Reporters attempted to reach Senator Melaye to ascertain whether he accompanied Mrs. Saraki again today, but he could not be reached by phone.

A source at the EFCC told Silent Reporters that Mrs. Saraki “may be asked to return again for questioning" related to the commission's ongoing investigation into alleged theft and money laundering involving her husband and her.

The EFCC source said the anti-corruption would now explore issues that arose from Mrs. Saraki's responses to investigators' questions.

EFCC Arrests PDP Chairman

The interrogation of former aides and associates of Sullivan Chime, former governor of Enugu State by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, continued today with the grilling of Ikeje Asogwa, former managing director, Enugu State Housing Corporation and incumbent chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu State.

Asogwa arrived the headquarters of EFCC in Abuja about 10.30am on July 31. He was still being interrogated at the headquarters of the EFCC.

Sources at the anti-graft agency disclosed that Asogwa's invitation followed the discovery that he diverted Enugu state funds meant for public housing in the state.

His interrogation comes a day after Ifeoma Nwobodo, Chime's ex- Chief of Staff, was grilled for alleged money laundering and misappropriation of funds. She is still in the custody of the agency.

Toyin Saraki Causes Commotion At EFCC Office

Toyin Saraki, the wife of Nigeria’s embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki, this morning showed up at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accompanied by a horde of politicians and supporters.

Our correspondent said EFCC officials appeared overwhelmed by the huge entourage that accompanied Mrs. Saraki to their office.

Mrs. Saraki arrived some two hours late for her appointment at the commission, her ostentatious arrival causing a commotion on the premises of the anti-corruption agency.

An EFCC source told Silent Reporters that the unruly crowd brought along by the Senate President’s wife forced their way into the offices of the EFCC’s Director of Operations, accusing the anti-corruption agency of bias.

Apart from the members of Mrs. Saraki’s entourage who forced their way into the EFCC’s building, another group of her sympathizers stood outside the gates, creating a scene that seemed calculated to rattle EFCC agents.

A senior agent at the EFCC told our correspondent that the commission was not worried by Mrs. Saraki’s melodramatic ploy, adding that investigators at the agency had generated solid evidence of graft against her.

“We are going to focus on doing our work, instead of minding that she came here with a large crowd to cause tension,” the agent said.

Since receiving a summons from the EFCC last week to appear for questioning, Mrs. Saraki and her husband, Senator Saraki, have reportedly been behind a series of propaganda campaigns to portray the EFCC as an organization engaged in a witch hunt against them. A source within the agency told
  Silent Reporters that the commission was not deterred by the campaigns. “They want to claim that our invitation was engineered by Senator Bukola Saraki’s political opponents. We cannot engage in press propaganda. But once we do a thorough job, the public will see the facts of the case. And that is the best way to rubbish the propaganda,” he said.

Silent Reporters learned that Mr. Saraki is directly and indirectly implicated in a series of money laundering schemes involving his wife.

An EFCC sources said their team of investigators were ready to begin questioning Mrs. Saraki on her alleged involvement in a multibillion naira misappropriation of bank loans and laundering of funds stolen from Kwara State during the two terms her husband was governor there.

One EFCC source revealed that the agency began to investigate Mrs. Saraki based on a petition submitted to the commission by the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). However, it became public knowledge that the chapter had complained about the senator’s wife, the national leadership of the PDP has been pressuring their Kwara State chapter to withdraw their petition. The PDP even claimed that the signatures on the petition were forged.

An EFCC source told  Silent Reporters that nothing would stop their investigation at this point, since investigators at the commission had uncovered significant “information about Mrs. Saraki’s activities during her husband’s tenure as governor.”

Aftermath of Buhari's meeting with Dogara and Gbajabiamila

Yesterday,the 27th of July,2015,President Muhammadu buhari had a meeting with APC law makers at Abuja to resolve the leadership crisis rocking the lower chamber but the meeting ended in a deadlock with both factions, the Yakubu Dogara faction and Femi Gbajabiamila faction, refusing to bulge and sticking to their different positions. President Buhari however told the members to respect the party's decision. The house has been in a lingering crisis after the Dogara faction rejected APC's decision to make Femi Gbajabiamila the House Majority leader.
However,Buhari allegedly gave them six hours to resolve the issues,and the outcome is that Femi Gbajabiamila has been announced as the House of Representatives majority leader. Speaker
Yakubu Dogara announced his appointment at the resumed sitting of the house earlier today.

Buba Jibrin (Northcentral) was announced as Deputy Majority Leader, while Alhassan Doguwa (Northwest) was announced as Chief Whip and Pally Iriase (Southsouth) is Deputy Whip.

United States Attorney General, Loretta Lynch + Buhari Focus On How To Prosecute Dieziani Allison Madueke

Nigeria's president went to the Monday meeting with a delegation that included Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.

High on the agenda was to discuss American support for a vast investigation of racketeering schemes spearheaded by Ms. Alison-Madueke and several of her cohorts in the oil sector who conspired to deprive the Nigerian treasury of billions of dollars that went to private interests.

A source with authoritative information on the meeting revealed that the US Justice Department provided President Buhari with a dossier listing numerous participants in the theft of several billions of dollars. US authorities also pledged to offer further documents on condition that Nigerian prosecutors demonstrate a focused and determined effort to pursue ethical and serious prosecution.

Our source revealed that the documents submitted and promised by the US disclose how Mrs. Alison-Madueke and her cohorts used several offshore accounts to move money between Switzerland and Germany.                  

According to our source, the name of Kola Aluko featured prominently in the discussion and documents. Mr. Aluko, a player in the oil sector who was picked by Ms. Alison-Madueke as a front for some of her more egregious deals, emerged in the last five years from relative obscurity to become one of Africa’s richest people.

Mr. Aluko, who fell out with the former Petroleum Minister after he reportedly started dating former superstar model Naomi Campbell, has acquired a stunningly expensive yacht, a retinue of Rolls Royce cars, other expensive cars well as multi-million homes and apartments in such locations as London, New York, and Dubai.

Our source explained that US law enforcement agents, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), spent more than two years on the investigation that uncovered a pattern of obscene theft of billions of dollars of Nigeria’s oil revenues. An FBI field officer in Abuja reportedly played a key role in the investigation of Ms. Alison-Madueke and her self-chosen collaborators, including Mr. Aluko.

Our source disclosed that the US Justice Department officials at the meeting indicated that they would be reluctant to sustain their collaboration with Nigerian authorities unless the Buhari administration set some process in place to identify and fire corrupt judges from the Nigerian judiciary.

A confidante of Mr. Buhari has it that, after leaving the meeting with the US Attorney General, at the Blair House guest house  Buhari, vowed that he would take decisive steps to rid Nigeria of corrupt judges to ensure the success of his anti-corruption agenda.

Last week, during his US visit,  Buhari publicly accused unnamed former ministers of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration of stealing up to one million barrels of crude oil per day from the Nigerian people. In official speeches and media interviews, the Nigerian president also restated his determination to go after corrupt officials, regardless of their political affiliation.

Boko Haram Attacks Family House Of New Army Chief

Suspected Boko Haram militants burned down houses, including the family home of Nigeria’s new army chief, in Buratai, Borno State, on Tuesday.

The attack came two days after the chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai, vowed to compel the insurgents to beg for peace.
Mr. Buratai was not present at the time of the attack in the early hours, Reuters reported Tuesday quoting security sources.

Since his appointment last week, Mr. Buratai has talked tough about crushing the deadly sect responsible for nearly 20,000 deaths since 2009.

Speaking Sunday, the new Chief of Army said under his command, Boko Haram would either beg for peace or face the wrath of highly motivated and combat ready soldiers.

The Borno State-born Major General, who took over command of the nation’s army last week, said he was ready to lead soldiers to the dens and enclaves of the insurgents.

He re-christened the operational code of the counter insurgency efforts from

“Operation Zaman Lafiya” to “Operation Zaman Lafiya Dole” – which in Hausa means ‘the quest for peace becomes a must’.

Mr. Buratai, who was in neighboring Yobe State to celebrate the Islamic eid-el-fitri festival with Nigerian troops, moved to Borno on Sunday afternoon.

“As Chief of Army Staff, I will be actively involved in this ‘Operation Zaman Lafiya Dole’ to end the madness of Boko Haram if I will have your collective maximum support and cooperation,” he said.

“Since Boko Haram terrorists have refused peace (Zaman Lafiya), we will now force them to accept peace.

“The peace that permeated Borno and transcended Lake Chad will soon return. My wish was to clear Konduga of Boko Haram vestige so that people can return home to rebuild their houses,” the army chief added.

EFCC Set To Pobe Jonathan,His Ministers + Aides

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has concluded plans to commence the probe of the former President Goodluck Jonathan with investigations into the financial transactions of his ministers and aides.

PUNCH gathered that the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, had already directed that all petitions against former public officers at the federal level should be forwarded to him to be acted upon.

We have it  that Ex ministers, special advisers, heads of parastatals and other Federal Government agencies would be invited for interrogation by the EFCC in a few weeks from now.

Our correspondents learnt that the anti-graft agency would focus on those whose establishments attracted huge allocations from the Federal Government when Jonathan was in power.

Such ministries and agencies, it was learnt, included defence, petroleum resources and power.

Three top sources in the anti-graft agency revealed to us  that Lamorde was “determined to expose any corrupt act during the administration of the GEJ.”

Our source narrated that anti-graft operatives had yet to arrest any of the former ministers, special advisers and heads of agencies who served under the Jonatham.

He said, “I am not aware of anybody who has been summoned or interrogated by the EFCC.
Those to be interrogated would be determined by the gravity of the allegations against them as contained in the petitions.

“What happened last week was that a directive was issued to move all petitions against public office holders under the Ex President to the office of the Chairman.

“The files will be studied and assigned to units to handle the investigations. It is based on the petitions that people will be summoned.

“Most likely next week, action would be taken on those petition.”

But the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwajaren, denied knowledge of such  directive when contacted.
In his words “I am not aware of the directive you are talking about. It is not to my knowledge,” the agency’s spokesman said.

Reacting to the development, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, said the party was not afraid of a probe.

According to him, the party and former President Goodluck Jonathan have nothing to hide, saying all the party is asking for is that any probe must be within the ambit of the law.

Jalo said the PDP discharged its duty of providing leadership for Nigeria for 16 years and that it did so transparently.

He said, “I am sure Nigerians still remember that it was because of PDP’s desire to deal with the scourge of corruption that our government under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo established the EFCC and the ICPC. The records are there.

“All we are asking for is that there must be fairness and justice. Whatever probe they want to carry out must have respect for the rule of law, good conscience and the fear of God.

“Such a probe must not be carried out based on vendetta or simply because somebody does not like the name or the face of somebody.”

Jalo also advised the All Progressives Congress-led administration to pay more attention to providing leadership to Nigeria “rather than dissipating energy in the pursuit of trivialities.”

Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said last week, that President Muhammadu Buhari would probe Jonathan’s government.

He had added that the present administration would recover billions of dollars, adding that “the world is too small a place for anybody to hide if you are running from justice.”

Adesina stated, “It doesn’t mean that anybody that has ill-gotten wealth will not regurgitate it. They will. Remember when PMB went to Germany for the G7 summit, he met with President Obama and Obama told him to just give us information on where the loot is hidden and we will help you recover it. The government has been working on that. So, that shows that looters will never go free.”

Operatives of the Department of State Services had invaded the houses of Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), on Friday, forcing the former NSA to a house arrest for 24 hours.

The security agency in a statement the following day accused Dasuki of felony, misuse of power and possession of destructive weapons.

It said it recovered from Dasuki’s home seven high calibre rifles , several magazines, military related gear and 12 new vehicles, including five bulletproof cars.

A top officer of the DSS revealed that Dasuki would face further interrogation this week.

Also, the ex-President’s Chief Security Officer, Gordon Obua, is being detained as part of investigations into the security spending at the Presidential Villa during his time.

A lawyer for Obua has raised the alarm about the detention of his client.

The lawyer, Onochie Onwuegbuna, said in a statement that Obua had been in detention since July 16 without being told what offence he committed.

Tony Elumelu,Jim Ovia And Wale Tinubu Run After Buhari In The US

The event was organized for the President by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and The Corporate Council on Africa.

Buhari departed from his prepared text to tell the surprised crowd he was surprised to see Mr. Ovia, and that he thought the CBN Governor had brought him along.  He also expressed surprise at the presence of Wale Tinubu, who happens to be a good friend of Buhari’s All Progressives Congress chieftain, Bola Tinubu.

The crowd, which mostly comprised of US businessmen, did not fully understand the heart of Buhari’s position which wasn’t part of his prepared speech for the evening.

Buhari earlier warned his aides not to smuggle Nigerian businessmen into his meetings throughout his US visit.

It was also learned that Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa, who was at the dinner , was only allowed to greet Buhari when it was over.

Elumelu and Ovia were formidable supporters of former President Goodluck Jonathan but since Buhari’s victory, these and many other businessmen have been looking for ways to warm themselves into the Buhari fold.

Dieziani Allison-Madueke Offers To Refund $250 Million

Nigeria's Ex Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has offered to refund the sum of $250 million dollars to the government in return for immunity from further investigation and possible prosecution. Her game plan turned out to be unsuccessful as Mr.President turned down her offers.
Our correspondent has it that the ex powerful minister has been reaching out to influential government and ruling party officials, in and outside Abuja, to prevail on President Buhari to accept her offer and let go. Dieziani  had enlisted the support of several figures close to Buhari, including Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, to intercede with  Mr. President.

Dieziani was one of the closest ministers to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and is reputed to have anchored and facilitated numerous money-laundering scandals and deals that characterized the era of the just-ended Jonathan administration. The former Petroleum Minister oversaw several oil swap deals, the disposition of oil wells handed over by Shell Petroleum to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the direct looting of funds through the NNPC. Former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was forced out of office after he revealed that the NNPC had failed to remit more than $20 billion in oil revenues with the CBN.

The former Petroleum Minister is the latest of several officials who served under Mr. Jonathan’s government that are currently negotiating “soft landing deals” with the Buhari administration. The incumbent president, who was sworn in on May 29, 2015, has vowed to probe various questionable financial actions taken by his successor or officials of his government. Mr. Buhari is reportedly determined to recover billions of dollars in stolen funds.

One source said Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s latest offer to refund at least $250 million to the government came after she learned that President Buhari’s scheduled meeting with US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, would include a discussion of ways that the US government could facilitate the investigation, arrest and prosecution of some officials of the Jonathan administration implicated in the theft of billions of dollars and a variety of frauds that resulted in the loss of significant sums of public funds in Nigeria.

Our sources revealed that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala had given the Buhari administration documents that expose a number of shady financial deals executed by the Jonathan administration.

Few days ago, we reported that former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, had appealed to Mr. Buhari to halt the ongoing probe of former President Jonathan’s administration. Even though Mr. Anyaoku has denied that he urged Mr. Buhari to stop the investigation of his predecessor’s financial dealings, our sources insisted that the ex-Commonwealth chief executive brought up the matter.

Our sources disclosed that Mr. Buhari was unimpressed by Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s offer. “Mr. President considers the $250 million as ridiculous considering the amount of money Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke is suspected to have diverted into her pocket and those of others,” said one source.

We have it that President Buhari is intent on ordering a full audit of deals and transactions done by the former Petroleum Minister and her cohorts in the various agencies that reported to her.

In addition, the new president is reportedly focused on looking further at the extensive embezzlement of security funds by appointees of the former president. Mr. Buhari has approved an investigation of how more than $3 billion in Nigeria’s defense budget was spent. Security agents who searched the homes of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, reportedly carted away some revealing documents.

Earlier today, the Department of State Security (DSS) arrested and detained Gordon Obuah, a former Chief Security Officer to President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr. Obuah is reportedly being questioned over his alleged mastermind of a multi-million dollar oil bunkering deal during the former administration.

Buhari Intercepts 113 Vessels From Lifting Nigeria's Crude Oil

Anyaoku Begs Buhari Not To Probe Jonathan

Several sources in Abuja, including aides of President Buhari, has it that Ex President Jonathan’s dispatch of  Anyaoku as an emissary to his successor.

Jonathan moved quickly to send powerful intercessors to the Presidency after the Buhari administration began to question massive last-minute withdrawals and disappearance of more than $20 billion in government funds orchestrated by Ex President Jonathan as well as his closest ministers and aides.

Our source has it that Anyaoku’s desperate mission to President Buhari revealed that the former Commonwealth Secretary urged the new president to remember that  Jonathan voluntarily decided not to contest the results of the March 28, 2015 presidential election, won by Buhari, on the understanding that he and his administration would not be subjected to a probe.

We gathered that Mr. Anyaoku spent a little more than two hours in a close-door meeting yesterday where he sought to prevail on President Buhari to halt the ongoing probe of what happened to billions of public funds during the last few months of the Jonathan government.

Before imploring  Anyaoku to plead with President Buhari, Jonathan had also asked former military head of state, Abdulsalam Abubakar, to talk to PMB and suggest a suspension of all ongoing probes.
Buhari has put in place several investigative committees to probe the illicit withdrawal and disbursement of public funds by the Jonathan administration. The presidential committees are charged with advising the administration on strategies for retrieving any public assets stolen by officials and cohorts of the Jonathan Presidency.

One of the committees has already discovered that Mr. Jonathan and some members of his cabinet apparently colluded in the dying days of the previous government to loot billions of dollars. The funds were looted via the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Ministry of Finance, the Nigerian Maritime Authority, the Federal Capital Territory, and several other departments. A source within the investigative committee revealed that Mr. Jonathan and his closest aides and political appointees made illegal withdrawals of funds to finance his failed bid for re-election.

Former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has stated that former President Jonathan asked her to withdraw more than $1.2 billion from the excess crude account. Even though Mrs. Okonji-Iweala continues to maintain publicly that she did nothing wrong during her tenure, a source told SaharaReporters that the former minister, who coordinated economic affairs during the former president’s tenure, has been quietly cooperative with the Buhari administration. According to the source, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has offered what amounts to a dossier of corrupt deals authorized by the former president.

In an attempt to curry favor with the new government, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala recently directed officials of her polling agency, NOI Polls, to give President Buhari a 70% approval rating among Nigerians. “The polling results were simply cooked up,” a professional pollster told SaharaReporters. Prior to the 2015 general elections, the former minister’s fake polling organization kept repeating that Mr. Jonathan approval rating was  up even as his political fortune plummeted.

SaharaReporters also learned that former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, is also actively cooperating with the Buhari administration. As earlier revealed by us, Mrs. Alison-Madueke had struck a deal with the new government to submit a document to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) exposing her collaborators at the NNPC. The former Petroleum minister, who was one of the closest cabinet members to Mr. Jonathan—and the mastermind of numerous money laundering deals on behalf of the former president—currently shuttles between the UK and Switzerland. A source close to Mrs. Alison-Madueke said the former minister was receiving treatment in the UK related to breast cancer.

After emerging from his marathon meeting with Mr. Buhari yesterday, Mr. Anyaoku claimed that he had visited to offer “advice” to the president regarding his forthcoming official trip to the US. Mr. Buhari is scheduled to start his US trip on Sunday.

A source at the Presidency told SaharaReporters that Mr. Anyaoku had misrepresented the purpose of his visit. “The elder statesman [Anyaoku] did not come to advise Mr. President about the trip to the US. The plans for the trip were already concluded a while ago, with all logistics and programming support,” the source added.

Former President Jonathan is currently in Abuja where he remains in constant touch with Abdulsalam Abubakar and other political players to prevail on President Buhari to halt the probe of his administration.

A source at the Presidency revealed that Buhari turned a deaf ear to Anyaoku. In the words of our source, the president told the former Commonwealth Secretary that the massive theft of funds by officials of the previous administration had robbed him of funds to start meeting his promises to the Nigerian people. “The president’s concern is for everybody who stole funds, including the former president, to disclose their willingness to return their loot to the Nigerian people”

Diezani Alison-Madueke has an habitual liking for adulterous affairs using the nation's wealth, a lawsuit claims.

Nigeria’s Ex Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has no reputation to protect, as the married woman has an habitual liking for adulterous affairs, a lawsuit claims.

The suit, filed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja by Moremi Publishing House Limited, publishers of Osun Defender, asserts that Alison-Madueke’s illicit affairs outside her marriage have been undertaken using the nation’s wealth upon which she sat as Minister of Petroleum.

The suit is a response to a libel suit filed by Alison-Madueke filed in june 2015

The defendants insist in their statement of defence that there is a treasure trove of documentation in the nation’s press as well as in various public investigations which include the reports of the audit firms KPMG and PriceWaterHouse Coopers on the Nigeria National Petroleum (NNPC), as well as that of the House of Representatives on the activities of Alison-Madueke.

Maintaining that they are “responsible corporate citizens of Nigeria with high ethical and professional standing” who would libel no one, the plaintiff inclusive, the defendants declared that they only publish “credible and verifiable” stories.

They cited a wide variety of published stories in different media outside of themselves which reflect a wide variety of corruption and collusion on the part of Alison-Madueke during her tenure as Minister.

Among others, the defendants asserted that under the Plaintiff’s watch as Minister for Petroleum Resources, 445,000 barrels of crude oil were stolen on a daily basis for about four years with no effort by Alison-Madueke to identify, initiate arrest or prosecute the criminals who were responsible for that huge theft and depletion of national wealth.

“The allegation of daily theft of crude oil was asserted by former President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and Minister for Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on several occasions and which facts were never contradicted nor debunked by the Plaintiff and which led to the award of bogus contracts of pipeline monitoring and protection to rag-tag security formations of ex-militants and ethnic militias by the government under which the Plaintiff served as Minister,” they said.

They also recalled the House of Representatives’ investigation of Alison-Madueke for squandering about N10 billion of tax payers’ money on charter and maintenance of a Challenger 850 aircraft for unofficial use as was widely reported in the mass media.

“The Defendants aver that, at the trial of this suit, they shall rely on opinions of average Nigerians about the Plaintiff to buttress the fact that the Plaintiff has no reputation to protect save in the coterie of her corrupt associates,” for which they underlined they will rely on various publications to prove their point.

Text of the statement of claim:

In the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory

In the Abuja Judicial Division

Holden at Abuja


                                                       Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/1712/2015

Between                       

Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke                                         …Plaintiff


And


Moremi Publishing House Ltd.                                     …1st Defendant

Kola Olabisi                                                                …2nd Defendant


Statement of Defence


Save and except as is hereinafter expressly admitted, the Defendants deny each and every allegation of facts contained in the Statement of Claim as if same were herein set out and denied seriatim.

1.  The 1st Defendant admits paragraph 1 of the Statement of Claim to the extent that the Plaintiff was at the relevant time of filing this action the Minister for Petroleum Resources of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

2.  The Defendants admit paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Statement of Claim but deny that the said publications were defamatory of the Plaintiff contrary to the allegation in paragraph 4 of the Statement of Claim as the statements made in the publications are true.

3.  Contrary to paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Statement of Claim, the Defendants say that:

3.1.   no independent investigation has been conducted by anybody, whether the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or PriceWaterhouseCoopers, that exonerated the Plaintiff contrary to the Plaintiff’s contention;

3.2.   rather, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (hereinafter referred to as PWC) in its audit report on the accounts of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a corporation under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources presided over by the Plaintiff between April 2010 and May 2015, indicates that

a.  the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) refused to open their financial statement to PWC and hence the latter could not have access to NPDC’s full accounts and records;

b.  no supporting documents were provided by the NPDC for the $0.25 billion claimed by the NPDC as Nigerian Port Authority charges;

c.   a sum totaling $10,257,161.07 could not be substantiated due to insufficient documents which ought to be provided by the NPDC;

d.  a total of $59,324,737.01 ($59.3) Million on Charter Hire Services could not be substantiated due to lack of supporting documents which ought to be provided by the NPDC;

e.  out of the $17,767,683.54 claimed as payments for manning and management fee of MT Tuma and MT Oloibiri, the sum of $6,658,588.74 could not be ascertained due to lack of supporting documents which ought to be supplied by NPDC;

f.   the total claim of $5,457,006.98 out of the total claim $46,265,215.13 could not be substantiated due to lack of supporting documents. NNPC claimed the sum of $46,265,215.13 as crude transport payments during the review period, (which fell in between the Plaintiff’s service as Minister for Petroleum Resources) which was incurred on crude oil transportation from Escravos terminals to Warri refinery jetty using marine vessels;

g.  the sum of $6,707,826.05 could not be substantiated due to lack of supporting documents. This forms part of the expenses allegedly incurred on marine throughput by the NNPC under the management of the Plaintiff;

h.  on capital expenditure, the sum of $24,179,005.48 could not be substantiated due to insufficient supporting documents which were supposed to be provided by NPDC and NNPC under the Ministry of the Plaintiff;

i.   no amount whatsoever was substantiated for the total claim on Pipeline Vandalism and Repair Cost of $11,896,654.71 and on Management Charge out Rate claim of $59,712,530.83 as no supporting documents were provided for the costs;

j.   while there were documentary evidence that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had ordered that subsidy on DPK be stopped and the Executive Secretary PPPRA to the CBN Governor confirmed that PPPRA had ceased granting subsidy on Kerosene and no appropriation was made in the nation’s budget in 2012 and 2013, NNPC, under the Ministry of the Plaintiff claimed they spent $9.9 billion on kerosene without budgetary allocation;

k.  whereas the sale of kerosene has been deregulated and average common man takes no benefit of the subsidy payments, yet the Plaintiff supervised the payment of huge sums of money for payment of subsidy on a deregulated product for more than two years in her ministry, the amounts paid has never been recovered and the Plaintiff did not finger any recipient of the funds for prosecution by the relevant agencies;

l.    in January 2015, investigators discovered that the various NNPC (55%) portion of Oil leases (OMLs) involved in the Shell Divestments related to eight OMLs were transferred to NPDC for aggregate sum of US$1.85 billion. So far, only the sum of US$100 million had been remitted in relation to these assets and the sum of US$1.75 billion remains unremitted while the Plaintiff presides over the affairs of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. In addition, the said assets were sold for less their commercial value;

m. the total amount remitted from the sale of domestic crude amounted to $14.5 billion which is just half the total amount of $28,215,731,691 claimed by NNPC to have accrued from the total revenue generated from domestic crude sales;

n.  rather than allowing the House of Representatives Committee to complete its investigation, the Plaintiff went to court and obtained an order preventing the Committee from proceeding on its investigation and the said suit is still pending till the time of filing this defence.

4.  The Defendants say that, further to and in clarification of paragraph 3 above, the NNPC is a wholly-owned outfit of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) which operates through its subsidiary, NPDC, in direct petroleum exploration and production operations and the affairs of all these bodies were superintended over by the Plaintiff as the Minister for Petroleum Resources. For paragraph 3 above, the Defendants shall rely on the PWC Audit Report as reported in an on-line tabloid, Nigeria News Headline Today on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at http://www.newsheadlines.com.ng/latest- news/2015/04/28/highlights-pwc-audit-of-nnpc-accounts/ and accessed on 6/5/15 at 8:19 pm. Notice is hereby issued to the Plaintiff to produce the original of the report of PWC which is in her possession at the trial of this suit.

5.  A report in The Guardian online edition on May 14 2014 confirmed that “PWC audit report confirms that $18.5 bn was diverted from NNPC account”. The Defendants shall rely on this report accessed at http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/05/pwc-audit-report-confirms-18-5bn-was-diverted-from-nnpc-account-says-sanusi on Friday 5 June 2015.

6.  The Defendants further aver that under the Plaintiff’s watch as Minister for Petroleum Resources, 445,000 barrels of crude oil were stolen on a daily basis for about four years without efforts by the Plaintiff to identify, initiate arrest or prosecute the criminals who were responsible for this huge theft and depletion of national wealth. The allegation of daily theft of crude oil was asserted by former President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and Minister for Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on several occasions and which facts were never contradicted nor debunked by the Plaintiff and which led to the award of bogus contracts of pipeline monitoring and protection to rag-tag security formations of ex-militants and ethnic militias by the government under which the Plaintiff served as Minister.

7.  The Defendants aver that, contrary to paragraphs 11 and 12 of the Statement of Claim, the statements contained in the said publications are true and the Plaintiff has no such reputation that can be damaged as the accounts of the Plaintiff’s stewardships in the Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and, later, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, are a catalogue of unscrupulous and indecent practices characterized by profligacy, self-aggrandisement, serial scandals and wanton embezzlement.

8.  The Defendants shall, in justification, rely on the House of Representatives’ investigation of the Plaintiff for squandering about 10 billion Naira of tax payers’ money on charter and maintenance of a Challenger 850 aircraft for unofficial use as reported by

i.         Newswatch Times of May 9, 2014 in a report titled “Reps Probe Diezani’s N10bn Aircraft, Jonathan Media Chat” at http://www.mynewswatchtimesng.com/reps-probe-diezanis-10bn-aircraft and accessed on 6/18/15 at 2:21 pm;

ii.       Premium Times report titled “House of Reps orders probe of Alison-Madueke for allegedly spending N10 billion on private jet” reported at http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/157135-house-reps-orders-probe-of-alison-madueke-for -allegedly-spending-n10billion-on-private-jet/ accessed on 6/18/15 at 2:26 pm;

iii.     Punch newspapers online report of March 27 2014 titled “Diezani’s jet scandal: Reps panel under pressure, uncovers third aircraft” reported at http://www.punchng.com/news/diezanis-jet-scandal-reps-panel-under-pressure-uncovers-third-aircraft/ accessed on 6/18/15 at 2:28 pm; and

iv.      Encomium Magazine online report titled “Inside Diezani Alison Madueke’s N5.1 billion Bombardier Challenger jet” reported at http://encomium.ng/inside-diezani-alison-maduekes-n5-1-billion-bombardier-challenger-jet/ accessed on 6/18/15 at 4:38 pm.

9.  The Defendants further aver that the Plaintiff has been a subject of several reports of shady deals and dirty transactions relating to sale of oil blocks belonging to the Federation. The Defendants shall rely on

a.        online reports of The Icon titled “Shady allocation of oil blocks: Alison-Madueke has a case to answer” reported at http://www/theiconng.com/shady-allocation-of-oil-blocks-alison-madueke-has-a-case-to-answer/ and accessed on 6/5/15 at 7:29 pm which transaction the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is still investigating as at present;

b.        Punch newspapers online report of 06 March 2015 titled “Petroleum minister summoned over sale of oil blocks” reported at http://www.news24.com.ng/National/News/Petroleum-minister-summoned-over-sale-of-oil-blocks-20150306.

10.     The Defendants further state that the Plaintiff, a married woman, is a personage of notorious reputation and penchant for illicit affairs which have been sustained by the nation’s oil wealth. The Defendants shall rely on the following publications to this effect:

a.        an online blog, called Amazing Stories Around the World, published on Sunday 8 December 2013 a report titled “Kola Aluko’s Romance with Diezani, Omokore Exposed” which detailed the lavish lifestyle of one Kola Aluko who, according to reports, abandoned the Plaintiff after a sizzling romantic relationship and opted for the British model, Naomi Campbell. The said report is on http://amazingstoriesaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2013/12/kola-alukos-romance-with-diezani.html and accessed on 6/5/15 at 8:49 pm;

b.        a November 24, 2013 online report titled “The Dirty Secret Between Kola Aluko and Petroleum Minister, Allison Madueke Exposed” published by abusidiqu.com which details how the relationship between the Plaintiff and the said Kola Aluko went sour the latter having escaped with billions of dollars which were profits made from illegal oil deals involving the Plaintiff. The said story is on http://abusidiqu.com/dirty-secret-kola-aluko-petroleum-minister-allison-madueke-exposed/ accessed on June 6, 2015 at 12:28 pm;

c.         a Wednesday November 13, 2013 online report published by NewsRescue titled “Diezani’s Hustler, Kola Aluko, his Super Yatch, Naomi Campbell and His $Billions Wealth Status” which details the expansive wealth of the said Kola Aluko and how same was made from the relationship with the Plaintiff. The said report is at http://newsrescue.com/diezanis-hustler-kola-aluko-super-yatch-naomi-campbell-billions-wealth-status/ accessed on 6/5/15 at 8:51 pm;

d.        a report by Sahara Reporters on August 19, 2013 titled “Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, Accused of Blowing N2 Billion on Private Jets” detailing how the Plaintiff had been wasting Nigeria’s resources in mind-boggling and satanic splendor published at http://saharareporters.com/2013/08/19/petroleum-minister-diezani-allison-madueke-accused-blowing-n2-billion-private-jets accessed on 6/5/15 at 7:17 pm;

e.        a May 26, 2015 online report published by The Icon titled “N1bn Libel Suit: Allison-Madueke and agents evading service” in which the Plaintiff was alleged to be evading service of court process in Suit No. CV/1679/15 at the FCT High Court for libel and unauthorized use of the name of one Simon Imobo-Tswan and his platform, Network of Progressive Activists as well as his GSM number to launder the Plaintiff’s image in the media via news-stories and advertorial which report was accessed at http://www.theiconng.com/n1bn-libel-suit-alison-madueke-and-agents-evading-service/.

11.     The Defendants aver that, at the trial of this suit, they shall rely on opinions of average Nigerians about the Plaintiff to buttress the fact that the Plaintiff has no reputation to protect save in the coterie of her corrupt associates and shall rely on the following publications:

a.        an article published online by Sahara Reporters on April 19, 2015 titled “Ten Reasons Why Diezani Alison-Madueke Must Go To Prison” by Churchill Okonkwo and accessed at http://secure.saharareporters.com/2015/04/19/ten-reasons-why-diezani-alison-madueke-must-go-prison-churchill-okonkwo on 6/5/15 at 7:59 pm;

b.        an article published online by Premium Times on April 28, 2015 titled “Why the Federal Government Should Prosecute Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke” by Femi Akinfolarin and accessed at http://blogs.premiumtimesng.com on 6/5/15 at 7:55 pm;

c.        the publication by Sahara Reporters of January 27, 2014 titled “Anti-Corruption Coalition Wants Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister, Alison-Madueke, Removed As Alternate President of OPEC”, a report of a petition by Civil Society Network Against Corruption which detailed a number of corrupt practices of the Plaintiff as the Minister for Transportation, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, and later, Minister for  Petroleum Resources, all between 2007 - 2015. The said publication is on http://saharareporters.com/2014/01/27/anti-corruption-coalition-wants-nigeria%E2%80%99s-petroleum-minister-alison-madueke-removed and accessed on 6/24/15 at 11.43 am;

d.        the KPMG report on the sleaze that characterized the Plaintiff’s stewardship in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources which report described NNPC as a “House of Fraud” but was brought to public attention by Premium Times of February 1, 2012 in a write-up titled “KPMG report: 20 Nigerians EFCC should interrogate” - accessed at http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/3636-kpmg-report-20-nigeriana-efcc-should-interrogate.html on 6/24/15 at 11:58 am. The Plaintiff is hereby given notice to produce the report of KPMG which was submitted to her but was covered up for a long time until unearthed by Premium Times;

e.        the editorial opinion of Punch Newspapers published online on April 1, 2014 titled “Mr President, Alison-Madueke’s cup is full” at http://www.punchng.com/editorials/mr-president-alison-madueke’s-cup-is-full and accessed on 6/24/15 at 12:54 pm.

12.     The Defendants maintain that they are responsible corporate citizens of Nigeria with high ethical and professional standing and shall not libel anybody, the Plaintiff inclusive, but only publish real, credible and verifiable stories.

13.     The Defendants shall rely on the defence of justification in this case as the Plaintiff has no reputation to protect.

14.     The Defendants shall also rely on the defence of qualified privilege at the trial of this suit as it is part of their duties to inform the public.

15.     Whereof the Defendants pray for the dismissal of the Claimant’s action with punitive and substantial costs as the said action is frivolous, vexatious and completely lacking in merit.


Dated this                 day of June, 2015                        

                                                                               __________________

ü R. A. O. Adegoke,

Dare Oketade,                                                 

 M. A. Banire & Associates,

 Defendants’ Counsel,

c/o Olujinmi & Akeredolu & Co.,

5th Floor, NICON Plaza,

Muhammadu Buhari Way,

Central Area, Abuja.

+234-802-449-6925

info@mabandassociates.com

For Service On:

The Plaintiff,

c/o her counsel,

Dr. Chike Amobi,

Chike Amobi & Co.,

Ambassador Albert I Osakwe House,

1473, Inner Block Road, Suit 203,

Central Business District,

Abuja.