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.

Lamido And Sons Granted Bail

Embattled ex-Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and his two sons have been granted bail amounting to N75 million by the Federal High Court in Abuja. Justice Gabriel Kolawole gave the ruling today amid tight security at the court premises to forestall a breakdown of law and order.

The trio are facing a 28-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegations of mismanagement of over N1.3 billion in public funds

President Buhari Sacks National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, Announces New Military Chiefs

We learnt that the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has been sacked effective immediately. This news comes amidst a major shake up in the security and military hierarchy in Nigeria. These are also the most high profile appointments in Buhari’s presidential administration.

The appointees include Major-General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin as the new Chief of Defense Staff, Major-General T.Y. Buratai as the new Chief of Army Staff, and Major-General Babagana Monguno as the new National Security Adviser.

Read full press release below:


STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPOINTS NEW SERVICE CHIEFS AND NSA

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the following appointments:

1. Major-General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin - Chief of Defence Staff;

2. Major-General T.Y. Buratai - Chief of Army Staff

3. Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas - Chief of Naval Staff

4. Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar - Chief of Air Staff

5. Air Vice Marshal Monday Riku  Morgan - Chief of Defence Intelligence

6. Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd.) - National Security Adviser

The new Chief of Defence Staff, Maj.-Gen. Olonishakin (N/6901) hails from Ekiti State. Until his appointment as Chief of Defence Staff today, he was the Head of the Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine Command in Minna, Niger State.

The new Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Buratai hails from Borno State. Until his new appointment today, he was the Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force which has its headquarters in Ndjamena. Maj-Gen. Buratai has previously served as Commander of the Nigerian Army's 2nd Brigade in Port Harcourt and Commander of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry in Jaji, Kaduna State.

The new Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibas (NN/0746) hails from Cross River State. He enlisted into the Nigerian Defence Academy as a member of the 26th Regular Course in 1979 and was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant in 1983. His previous appointments include: Naval Provost Marshal, Chief Staff Officer, Naval Training Command, Chief of Administration, Naval Headquarters, Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command and Chief of Logistics, Naval Headquarters. Until his appointment as Chief of Naval Staff, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Navy Holdings Limited.

The new Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Abubakar (NAF/1433) hails from Bauchi State. His previous appointments include: Chief of Standards and Evaluation, NAF Headquarters; Chief of Defence Communications and Air Officer Commanding, NAF Training Command. Until his new appointment today as Chief of Air Staff, he was the Chief of Administration, NAF Headquarters.

The new Service Chiefs will hold their appointments in an acting capacity until confirmed by the Senate.

President Buhari thanks the outgoing Service Chiefs and National Security Adviser for their services to the nation and wishes them well in their future endeavours.


Femi Adesina

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

Amaechi, Pastor Bakare, And Farouk Adamu On Buhari’s 18-Man Delegation To The US, Governors From Edo, Imo, Oyo Accompanying Delegation

The three-day visit is expected to discuss ways of partnering with Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram and explore ways of combating corruption in Nigeria. President Buhari will meet with President Obama on July 20th in the White House.

Five State Governors including those of Oyo State, Imo State, Edo State and two others will accompany President Muhammadu Buhari to the United States when he meets President Barack Obama in Washington, DC on July 19th, 2015.

The five Governors are separate from an 18-man delegation made up of top aides and political associates of the President. The former Governor of Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi, the former Vice Presidential candidate to Buhari Tunde Bakare, and former member of the House of Representatives Farouk Adamu will be on the Presidential delegation.

In addition to these delegates, President Buhari will bring along top civil servants, representatives from the Office of the National Security Adviser, and representatives from economic policy and foreign affairs think tanks.

The three-day visit is expected to discuss ways of partnering with Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram and explore ways of combating corruption in Nigeria. President Buhari will meet with President Obama on July 20th in the White House.

Buhari Refuses To Meet With Saraki

President Muhammadu Buhari has resisted fresh moves by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, to formally meet with him, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.

An official in the Presidency who confided in one of our correspondents on Saturday said the President and the Senate President had only met once since the latter’s emergence as the leader of the senate.

The official said all efforts by Saraki to have another meeting with the president, after the party’s National Executive Council meeting penultimate Friday, were rebuffed by Buhari.

The reliable source said the president of the Senate had at different times reached out to people to help him persuade Buhari to grant him audience.

Saraki had defied the All Progressives Congress to contest for the position of the senate president on June and emerged victorious after a controversial election that excluded a sizeable number of senators. The APC had endorsed

Senator Ahmed Lawan as its candidate for the senate presidency.

The government official who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH said, “The truth is that the President is still displeased with what transpired in the National Assembly, especially the Senate.

“Their encounter during the APC National Executive Council meeting, when they shook hands, was the first meeting between President Buhari and Saraki since he emerged as the President of the Senate.

“We are aware that Saraki has been going about begging people to assist him to plead with the President to meet with him. That was one of the reasons why he visited former President Obasanjo.

“I can tell you that the President is very pained by what happened. He felt that since he had been transparent with the party, everybody should play that way. But since Saraki took that path, the President was and he is still pained.

Let us just hope that at the end of it all, they will be able to put the matter behind them.”

Also speaking to SUNDAY PUNCH, a highly placed party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told one of our correspondents that the handshake between the President and Saraki during the recent NEC meeting of the APC “was for journalists.”

He stated, “President Buhari is still upset because of what happened. If you read in-between the line his speech during our last NEC meeting, he reminded people who joined the party after it was formed not to rubbish the sacrifices made by party leaders.

“It was not for the fun of it that the President took time to go down the memory lane to trace the genesis of the APC.

“Although the President said he was prepared to work with anybody who emerged as leader in the National Assembly, he did not envisage a scenario where Saraki would emerge as the Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu, a member of the PDP, would emerge as the deputy president of the Senate.”

Asked whether or not the President might change his mind anytime soon, the source said, “Not until the governors, who were mandated by the NEC to resolve the matter in the National Assembly, bring the matter under control.”

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, said there was no cause for alarm. During a telephone interview on Saturday, Olaniyonu said Buhari had repeatedly told

Nigerians that he believed in the independence of the parliament.

He explained that Buhari had had cause to formally communicate with on “state issues” and that they exchanged warm pleasantries at the APC NEC meeting held in Abuja.

He said, “The president of a nation can have private discussions with the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives anytime he likes.

“At the moment, President Buhari, probably wants the issue around the National Assembly leadership positions formally resolved before calling for such meetings. He has said that he would not involve himself in the affairs of the legislature and we should respect his views.”

Olaniyonu explained that Saraki and Buhari had been having regular official communication and that such would continue because the Senate would have to approve all appointments made by the President.

Asked why the President had met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, without meeting with Saraki up till now, Olaniyonu answered that he was not aware of the Buhari-Dogara meeting.

He said, “I am not aware of that meeting you talked about. If the meeting had held, the picture taken afterwards would have been published in the dailies. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t think there was anything like that. “

Also, the spokesperson for the pro-Saraki Senators of Like Minds, Dino Melaye, told one of our correspondents on Saturday that Saraki and Buhari met and had fruitful deliberation at the NEC meeting of the APC.

“The President and the Senate President met at the NEC meeting. We are all awaiting the outcome of the peace moves initiated at the meeting. For now, there is no cause for concern,” he said.

When contacted, the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina declined comments.

House Speaker Dogara Flies In Luxury Jet Estimated To Cost N66.8 million To Quote Scripture

Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, flew a private jet to Delta State for a weekend trip to commission a “King Jesus and I Ministry’s Covenant Alter of Testimony.” The private jet is estimated to cost about 1,392,650 Naira ($7K) per hour, which means Speaker Dogara’s estimated two-day trip cost about N66.8 million ($336,000).

Speaker Dogara told the media that he paid for the trip himself and did not use public money to fund his personal getaway.

Speaker Dogara, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), just began his term in the National Assembly on a campaign, which promised to fight corruption and waste in government. He was recently elected as Speaker of the House in the midst of infighting between APC factions in the National Assembly.

The Speaker did not explain how he could afford to pay his own weekend trip in a luxury jet, when he has been a National Assembly representative since 2007.

His N66.8 million trip culminated with a speech at the Ubuli-uku-based ministry that upon all politicians in Nigeria to end the political fighting and to “allow popular will to prevail” across the country. He said that he did not want to travel to Delta State but was "directed by God" to come and speak to the church members.

Money Laundering: Ex-Gov Ohakim, Gets N270m Bail

Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday, July 9, 2015 admitted former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, to bail.

Ohakim was arraigned on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering.

Moving the bail application yesterday, Ohakim’s counsel, Chris Uche, SAN, prayed the court to admit his client to bail on liberal terms, adding that the charges are bailable.

However, prosecuting counsel, Festus Keyamo, urged the court to refuse the application.

After listening to both counsels, Justice Adeniyi admitted the accused person to bail in the sum of N270m (Two Hundred and Seventy Million Naira) with one surety who must be resident in Abuja. The surety, who must have landed property within Abuja, must swear to an affidavit of means. The surety is also to deposit his/her international passport with the Deputy Registrar of the court.

The case has been adjourned to October 20, 2015.

It will be recalled that Ohakim was arrested by operatives of the EFCC on Tuesday, July 7, 2015.

The former governor is being prosecuted, among other things, for making a cash payment to the tune of $2, 290,000.00(Two Million, Two Hundred and Ninety Thousand Dollars), for the purchase of a piece of land at Plot No. 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, otherwise known as No.60, Kwame Nkurumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
9th July, 2015

Bayelsa Governor Hires World’s Most Ruthless Hackers For N100M To Hack Computers, Phones In Nigeria

The Bayelsa state government paid close to one hundred million naira to an Italian firm, Hacking Team, to hack computers and phones in Nigeria, new information emerging from the firm’s leaked internal data has shown.

Hacking Team, notorious for equipping governments with tools to hack citizens’ computers and phones, was itself hacked Sunday night and 415 gigabyte of internal data leaked to the public.

Researchers have been pouring through the leaked documents since it was first leaked Sunday night, throwing up many shocking details of the firm’s secret dealings with Bayelsa state and other repressive governments, including Sudan, Russia, and Bahrain.

Documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES show that the Bayelsa government, a small state in Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta, paid Hacking Team N98 million to carry out internet attacks, in what appears to be the most ambitious hacking project by a Nigerian state government.

The contract was signed in late 2013, Hacking Team’s internal documents, leaked after the Sunday night hack attack on the company, show.

Details of the extent of the attacks Hacking Team carried out on behalf of the state is not clear at the moment.

The contract with the Bayelsa government is classed “intelligence ” – the same class with contracts the firm unlawfully held with Russia and Sudan.

The cost of Bayelsa government’s contract with the firm is equivalent to what the Russian government recently paid the firm for maintenance of its Remote Control System. And worth more than what Turkey, Columbia and Bahrain paid to the firm.

Hacking Team, now learning how it feels to have one’s privacy breached, is notorious for developing intrusive softwares for state clients who use them to hack citizen’s computers and smartphones. Hacking Team’s twitter account was hacked and used to announce the hack.

The firm claims its intrusion softwares – Remote Control Systems – are the most invasive and ruthless, with ability to compromise most operating systems, except iOS – but including jail-broken iOS.

In one video commercial, it boasted that its software could hack offline and encrypted computers and smartphones, even if the target was outside the government’s “monitoring domain”.

Hacking Team’s Remote Control Systems are more dangerous and intrusive than the WISE technology the Nigerian government bought from Israeli company, Elbit in 2013.

While WISE depended on transmitted data such as voice calls, social media postings, and number plates, Hacking Team specialized in software that had full capabilities to hack, compromise your gadget and silently steal stored data like SMS, Whatsapp messages, call records, and photos.

Galileo, one of the company’s most evil softwares, is also able to secretly take snapshots and record conversations of its victims.

Hacking Team is loathed by digital activists and freedom of expression advocates all over the world for helping oppressive regimes abuses citizens’ right to privacy and freedom of speech.

Reporters Without Borders listed the firm on its Enemies of the Internet index due to its primary surveillance tool, Da Vinci.

Few weeks ago, co-founder David Vincenzetti joked in emails about how bad a leak would be for Hacking Team. In one of the leaked internal emails, he described the firm’s product as the “evilest” technology ever developed on earth.

The hacking software is originally designed as a country-wide attack tool.

The intentions of the Bayelsa state government in purchasing the software is unclear at this time.

As at the time the Bayelsa state government acquired the software, the state was not known to be under any external cyber aggression.

But it’s governor, Seriake Dickson, was persecuting a citizen over critical Facebook comments.

It was also in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

During the same period, PREMIUM TIMES and few other Nigerian news organisations believed to be critical of the former regime, led by Goodluck Jonathan, suffered several cyber attacks.

Mr. Jonathan is from Bayelsa state and enjoyed absolute loyalty from Mr. Dickson at the time.

Hacking Team did not sell its software directly to the Bayelsa state government. The transaction was channeled through an Israeli company, NICE, and then V&V Nigeria.

V&V, also Israeli-owned, is known to have close relationship with former Bayelsa state governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

V&V is responsible for the supply of many government hacking tools in Nigeria. PREMIUM TIMES had earlier this year exclusively reported how V&V won a N6 billion contract, back in 2010, for a N6 billion strategic GSM Tracking System for the Nigeria Police Force and expansion/upgrade of the existing system with Nigeria’s secret police, the State Security Service.

The Bayelsa Governor could initially not be reached to comment for this story.

His spokesperson, Daniel Iworiso-Markson did not answer or return calls seeking comment. He also did not respond to a text message sent to him. And so also was Dan Kikile, the state commissioner for information.

However, about an hour after this report was published, Mr. Iworiso-Markson said the allegation against his principal was “absolutely untrue”.

“That is part of a series of propaganda from those who are unable to contest ideas of development with the governor,” he said.

Ex-Jigawa Governor Lamido And Sons Remanded In Kano Prison Over N1.3 Billion Public Funds

The powerful former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and two of his sons are to remain in prison until at least September 28 for allegations of mismanagement of over N1.3 billion in State funds. The three men are standing trial at the Federal High Court in Kano for a 28-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The former governor is alleged to have awarded contracts valued at N1.3 billion to some companies owned by his children. The EFCC also seeks to charge him and his sons with money-laundering and abuse of office.

Lamido’s eldest son, Aminu, was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport for under-declaration and was subsequently convicted for a similar offense (money laundering).

The presiding judge, Justice Evelyn Anyadime, adjourned the case to September 28, when hearing on the substantive suit will begin.

The accused were taken to the Kano prison in a Toyota bus belonging to the Nigeria Prison Service, guarded by tight security.

Outside the court premises, hundreds of protesting youths chanted songs in solidarity with the former governor.  Some of them carried placards with inscriptions in his support.

One of the placards read, "It's political motivated. We stand with you. God will see you through."

The court appearance also attracted top members of the Peoples Democratic Party from Kano and Jigawa.

How Senate President Saraki Used Credit Card To Launder Funds Stolen From Banks And Kwara State -Police Investigators

The police investigation has it that Mr. Saraki, during his tenure as Governor of Kwara State, was the prime promoter of several shell companies, including Skyview Properties Ltd., Limkers Ltd., Dicetrade Ltd., Carlisle Properties and Investment Ltd., and the parent company known as Joy Petroleum.

Senator Saraki’s moneymaking scheme, according to the details of the Special Fraud Unit’s investigation, was to withdraw millions of naira disguised as loans from GTBank, Intercontinental Bank, Zenith Bank Plc. The funds were then moved into different accounts, sometimes under the guise that the purpose was to pay off some bank debts with other “loans.”

A part of the investigation discovered that Senator Saraki at various times withdrew 11 billion naira from the Intercontinental Bank, 160 million naira from Zenith Bank, and 204 million naira from GTBank. According to the report, “the investigation also saw evidence of a 200 million naira loan facility that was availed by Zenith Bank to Joy Petroleum Ltd.”

During an interrogation, Mr. Saraki admitted to owning all these companies with the exception of Joy Petroleum. The owner of Joy Petroleum, the senator claimed, was his former personal assistant, Mathew Obahor. He also added that Mr. Obahor administered the other companies throughout his tenure as Governor of Kwara State.

However, the investigators believed that Mr. Saraki lied to them about Obahor’s role. They found out that Mr. Obahor was “sick and in a vegetative state and could not have instructed the bank” to make financial transactions in the name of Joy Petroleum or any of other companies.

As the special investigators reviewed Bukola Saraki’s statements they found that Zenith Bank issued a loan in Saraki’s name on November 25, 2009 for N160 million.

When pressured, the bank provided two incriminating documents including “(1) an internal [bank] ledger statement of account in the name of Dr. Bukola Saraki showing a debit withdrawal of 160 million on 26/11/2009 and a credit deposit of 11,901369.98 on 26/05/2010. (2) A page of the bank’s Manager’s Cheque register showing that a draft of 160 million naira in favor of Joy Petroleum Ltd was signed for by one Uche Phillips.”

The investigation noted, “Bukola Saraki, who was purportedly granted a N160 million loan with which a draft of N160 million was made in the name of Joy Petroleum Ltd, was not a customer of Zenith Bank. He neither maintains a current nor saving account with the Zenith Bank that claimed to have granted him the loan.”

The report also added that Bukola Saraki did not apply for that loan with a “formal request as is best practice.”

The police also concluded that the “purported loan has remained unpaid and un-serviced and there is no evidence that the bank has made any demand on Dr. Bukola Saraki to repay the purported loan.”

The Special Fraud Unit extended its investigation into companies belonging to Bukola Saraki, and discovered “evidence indicative of money laundering.” The investigation found that “a series of cash lodgments were found in accounts of the companies solely belonging to Dr. Bukola Saraki within the period he was the Executive Governor of Kwara State. The investigation observes that the monies were deposited in cash by personal aides of Dr. Bukola Saraki, especially one Abdul Adama.”

The investigators found that the total sum of money laundered by Mr. Saraki was more than two billion naira. They also remarked numerous sneaky tactics that Saraki’s aides used to make secret deposits of laundered funds. According to investigators, Abdul Adama “was responsible for making the cash deposits using several fictitious names and GSM numbers of several unsuspecting members of the public.” The police used the identical handwriting on the deposit slips to trace the deposits to Mr. Adama.

The investigators also discovered that Bukola Saraki’s wife, Toyin Saraki, was listed as the second Director and shareholder of Skyview Properties Ltd, but she was unable to explain how the company generated revenue or the source of cash deposits.

The police investigators also found, according to the report, that “a series of cash lodgments was found in the personal accounts of Dr. Bukola Saraki during the period he was Executive Governor of Kwara State.” Moreover, the report concluded that the “pattern and frequencies of cash deposits into these personal accounts of Dr. Bukola Saraki, are indicative of money laundering.”

The police report also asserted: “the [stolen] funds were mostly washed overseas to fund Dr. Bukola Saraki’s American Express Card No. 374588216836009.” The investigators concluded that Mr. Saraki’s personal account “also received an inflow of about $4,560,871.27 between May 18th 2009 and May 5th 2011, mostly cash lodgments and a couple NIFT Transfers.”

The Special Fraud Unit recommended that Bukola Saraki be prosecuted for offenses related to money laundering, violation of foreign exchange laws, and breaches of the Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act.

The police investigators accused Mr. Saraki of using proceeds of corruption to purchase properties abroad. In particular, the report revealed that Senator Saraki bought several houses in the UK both in his name as well as that of his wife.

One of our sources in the Ministry of Justice stated that Nigeria’s immediate past Attorney General, Bello Adoke, obstructed the prosecution of the current Senate President. “Both the police investigators and some lawyers in the Ministry [of Justice] recommended that Governor Bukola Saraki should face prosecution. However, the AGF Adoke refused to give permission to prosecute Saraki based on the weighty evidence provided by the Special Fraud Unit,” a source in the ministry told our correspondent.

Instead of proceeding with the prosecution of Mr. Saraki, the Ministry of Justice instructed the Special Fraud Unit to focus more of their attention on the role of Zenith Bank in the shady financial transactions.

Mr. Adoke’s tenure as AGF saw the weakening of the ministry’s prosecution of political powerful as well as high-level corporate elements in Nigeria. Mr. Saraki was one of the notable beneficiaries of the Adoke era of “looking the other way instead of tackling massive cases of graft and money laundering,” said one source.

EFCC Arraigned Ohakim, Nyako and Son, Senator Abdul-Aziz Nyako

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, today,Wednesday, July 8, 2015 arraigned two former state governors, Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State and Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, before the Federal High Court, Abuja on charges bordering on corruption, abuse of office and money laundering.

Nyako and his son, Abdul-Aziz, a serving senator, were docked before Justice E. Chukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 37 count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and money laundering.

The duo were charged alongside Abubakar Aliyu and Zulkifikk Abba. They are alleged to have at various times between 2011 and 2013 used five companies – Blue Opal Nigeria limited, Serore Farms & Extension Limited, Pagoda Fortunes Limited, Towers Assets Management Limited and Crust Energy Limited to siphon over N15 billion from the Adamawa State coffers.

The arraignment comes a few days after a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja declined to restrain the EFCC from arresting Nyako to stand trial for money laundering offences. Nyako was arrested and quizzed by the anti-graft agency June 1, 2015 shortly after he returned to the country from self-exile.  He had gone on self-exile after he was declared wanted by the EFCC on February 4, 2015.

One of the counts reads : “That you Murtala H. Nyako, Abdulaziz Nyako, Zulkfikik Abba, Abubakar Aliyu, Blue Opal Limited, Sebore Farms & Extension Limited, Pagoda Fortunes Limited, Tower Assets Management Limited and Crust Energy Limited between January and December 2013 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did disguise the genuine origin of an aggregate sum of N6,366,280,000 (Six Billion, Three Hundred and Sixty-Six Million, Two Hundred and Eighty Thousand Naira), which sums you reasonably ought to have known to be proceeds of an unlawful act, to wit; moneys derived from the theft of Adamawa State Government’s funds.”

They pleaded not guilty when the 37 count charges were read to them.

Following their plea, counsel to EFCC, Aliyu Yusuf, asked the court for a date for commencement of trial, and to remand the accused persons in prison custody. He also notified the court that one of its witnesses was in court.

However, defence counsel, Kanu Agabi, SAN, urged the court for an adjournment in order for it to properly go through the charges, as it was served rather late by the prosecution.

Yusuf, thereafter, requested that the accused persons be remanded in prison custody. This was however, opposed by the defence counsel, who told the court that while a bail application for the accused persons had been filed, it would be proper for the accused persons to be held in EFCC custody.

Justice Chukwu thereafter adjourned to July 10, 2015 for hearing on the bail application, and ordered that the accused persons be remanded in EFCC custody.

Similarly, Justice Ademola Adeniyi of the Federal High Court Abuja has adjourned till tomorrow July 9, hearing on the bail application of former Imo state governor, Ikedi Ohakim after he pleaded not guilty to a 3-count charge of money laundering. He was however remanded in EFCC custody.

The accused, who was arrested by operatives of the EFCC on Tuesday, July 7, 2015,  is being prosecuted , among other things, for making a cash payment to the tune of $2, 290,000.00 ( about N270,000,000.00) , for the purchase of a property at Plot No. 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, otherwise known as No.60, Kwame Nkurumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

The amount is above the threshold approved for an individual going by the provisions of Section 1 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004.

He is also accused of deliberately neglecting to disclose all his assets in the declaration submitted to the Commission.

Count three of the charge reads:  “That you, Ikedi Ohakim, on or about the 26th of January, 2013 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, while under arrest for an offence under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act, 2004 knowingly failed to make a full disclosure of your assets by not declaring your ownership of the property known and described as Plot No. 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District- it is also known as No.60, Kwame Nkurumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27(3)(c) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act, 2004 and punishable under the same section”.

The accused pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

In view of his pleas, prosecution counsel, Festus Keyamo, prayed the court to remand the accused person in prison custody pending trial.
Justice Adeniyi ordered the accused to be remanded in the EFCC Custody and adjourned hearing on the bail application to Thursday, July 9, 2015.

Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
8th July, 2015

Mastermind Of Bombings In Plateau And Kaduna State Arrested

The Nigerian military reported its troops have arrested the mastermind of last Sunday’s bombing in Jos, Plateau State, and Tuesday’s suicide bomb in Zaria, Kaduna State.

In Jos, a coordinated bomb and gun attack on worshippers at Yan Taya mosque, Dillimi Street, off Bauchi Road, Jos killed 48 people, injuring several others. In Zaria, 26 were killed in a suicide attack on the secretariat building in Sabon Gari Local Government Area during a verification exercise.

The press release from Army Spokesman Colonel SK Usman said that “the arrested terrorists are currently being processed for further action and would soon face the full wrath of the law.”

The military stopped the terrorist and two of his accomplices at a checkpoint in Dadin Kowa, Gombe State where they were disguised and hiding in a trailer.

After Rejecting Jonathan, Nigerians Deserve Boko Haram Bombings – Fani-Kayode

Whatever each of us may or may not believe, one thing is clear- that Boko Haram now have powerful friends and secret allies right at the epicenter of power and those friends and allies are running the affairs of the country,” he said.
A former Minister of Aviation, and spokesperson of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said that Nigerians asked for the recent upsurge in Boko Haram attacks by refusing to renew Mr. Jonathan’s mandate, instead voting in Muhammadu Buhari as president.

Mr. Fani-Kayode said Mr. Buhari had always been sympathetic to Boko Haram.

“Anyone that honestly believed that a man who secretly shares the same vision and core principles of Boko Haram and who spent many years defending them can do anything but give them a free hand when he comes to power is living in cuckoo land,” he said in a Facebook post Tuesday.

The remark was posted first on Monday, but was deleted before being re-posted on Tuesday.

Nigeria has in the last two weeks witnessed an escalation of Boko Haram’s bloody campaign, with several suicide bomb and gun attacks targeting places of worship, communities and public places, killing hundreds of people.

The latest attack occurred early Tuesday at a local government office in Zaria, Kaduna State.

Twenty-five people were killed when a suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosive where civil servants had gathered for data verification in the Sabon Gari area of Zaria.

About 400 Nigerians are estimated to have been killed by the sect in the last five weeks.

Mr. Fani-Kayode, who recently changed his name to Femi Olukayode, in celebration of his court victory in a corruption case, said he was not surprised with the recent bombings and killings.

“I am not surprised by the resurgence of Boko Haram and their new-found barbarity, courage and zeal,” he said.

He also said the cause of the Boko Haram sect may have been aided by the removal of military checkpoints in towns and along highways.

He said the Nigerian government is also transferring Boko Haram suspects to Prisons in the eastern part of the country in order to ”spread the word” adding that no less than 182 Boko Haram suspects were released on the president’s orders just a few days ago.

“Is all this just a coincidence or is something that is dark and sinister now afoot in our country? “

“Whatever each of us may or may not believe, one thing is clear- that Boko Haram now have powerful friends and secret allies right at the epicenter of power and those friends and allies are running the affairs of the country,” he said.

Mr. Fani-Kayode said there is a much wider picture unfolding which the Nigerian people have yet to see and which they find difficult to accept, understand or comprehend.

“There is a hideous and frightful hidden agenda which is slowly manifesting before our very eyes. Though we warned them, the Nigerian people wanted ‘change’ so they must live with the consequences of their choice,” he said.

He also said one of those consequences is the new-found “audacity, courage, growing power and rising strength of Boko Haram”, while another is the “resurgence of a clearly ethnic agenda which is designed to leave no-one in doubt about who really owns Nigeria and who the slaves are”.

He said, yet another is the destruction and demystification of a national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, and his “Yoruba loyalists by his erstwhile northern allies in the APC”.

“Only a fool did not see that one coming and I am rather surprised that Tinubu’s followers are now crying foul and alleging that there is a northern conspiracy. Didn’t they know that before? Were they not warned over and over again?

“There are many other grave consequences which the Nigerian people will witness, in a most harrowing and frightful manner, in the next few months and years.

“May God deliver our people and our nation and may we learn to make the right choices,” he said.

FAAC Disowns Okonjo-Iweala; Denies Approving Withdrawal Of $2bn Excess Crude Funds

But in a stern reaction on Tuesday in Abuja, members of the FAAC, under the aegis of the Forum of Commissioners of Finance, disowned the former minister, describing her claim as “misleading and far from the fact”.

Commissioners of Finance and Accountants General of the 36 states of the federation on Tuesday distanced themselves from claims by the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that they were part of the decision to withdraw and spend $2bn from Nigeria’s excess crude oil revenue account last December.

Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, and his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir El Rufai, had, after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday last week, accused Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala of unilaterally approving the withdrawal of about $2.1 bn from the $4.1 bn left in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) last November “without authorization”.

But in a swift reaction, the former Minister had vehemently rejected the accusation, describing allegations linking her to the allegations as “false, malicious and totally without foundation”.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s reaction, conveyed through a statement by her Media Adviser, Paul Nwabuikwu, said all expenditures from the ECA “were discussed at meetings of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) attended by finance commissioners from the 36 states”.

“It is curious that in their desperation to use the esteemed National Economic Council for political and personal vendetta, the persons behind these allegations acted as if the constitutionally recognized FAAC, a potent expression of Nigeria’s fiscal federalism, does not exist,” she said.

But in a stern reaction on Tuesday in Abuja, members of the FAAC, under the aegis of the Forum of Commissioners of Finance, disowned the former minister, describing her claim as “misleading and far from the fact”.

“It has come to our notice the statement credited to the former Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Honorable Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) approved the withdrawal from Excess Crude (Foreign) Account the sum of Two Billion U.S. Dollar ($2,000,000,000.00),” the commissioners said.

“This statement is far from the fact and is misleading,” the statement said.

The FAAC meeting for November 2014 ended in confusion when the then Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda, could not explain how the balance in the ECA had dropped from $4.1 bn at the end of October to $3.1 bn.

Prior to the October FAAC meeting, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala had told reporters that the balance of the ECA stood at $4.11bn, while the country’s external reserves rose from $36.6bn in June to $39.48billion as at October 16.

Regardless, the then Chairman of the Forum of State Commissioners of Finance and former Ebonyi State Commissioner of Finance, Timothy Odaah, had denied knowledge of any decision to withdraw from the account, insisting that none of its members was aware of the withdrawal.

“No state knew how the $1 bn difference reported in the Excess Crude Account balance, between October and November, came about,” Mr. Odaah told reporters then. “The discrepancy has been noted for discussion at the next FAAC meeting. It calls to question how transparent the management of the excess crude revenues has been.”

Till the end of his tenure, Mr. Odaah, who later claimed reconciliation was ongoing with the Finance Minister, did not reveal his findings.

However, several months later, Mr. Oshiomhole stirred the controversy afresh last week with the allegation that the former minister was economical with the truth about the country’s finances.

Mr. Oshiomhole had lambasted Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala over her claims that Nigerians knew what the three tiers of government usually collect through the State Finance Commissioners who usually attend the monthly FAAC meetings.

The power to take money from the ECA, Mr. Oshiomhole argued, is vested in the NEC, an institution created by the constitution, and not State Finance Commissioners, who are not known by the constitution.

In disowning Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, the Commissioners’ Forum pointed out that the law setting up FAAC, which predates the ECA, “cannot approve withdrawal and has not done so in the past.”

If anything, the Commissioners said, records of FAAC meetings show that members have always queried the activities on the ECA, and therefore did not decide any withdrawal.

Although the Commissioners said they observed the withdrawal of $2bn from the ECA in December 2014, the then Minister of State Finance and Chairman of FAAC, Mr. Yuguda, had explained during plenary that approval came from former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The withdrawals were to help pay subsidy claims to oil marketers, who had threatened to stop importing petroleum products.

“FAAC did not and could not have approved, nor took the decision to withdraw the sum of Two Billion U.S. Dollar ($2,000,000,000.00) from the Excess Crude Account,” the Commissioners said.

Osun Workers Protest Under CESCO Leadership, APC Thugs Interrupt Their Rally

In the midst of impeachment threats against Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the All Progressives Congress (APC) of Osun State accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being the chief sponsors of a mass rally of grieved workers in Osogbo, the State capital.

Osun State labor unions declared on Monday an all-encompassing total strike in order to broadcast the demands for their six-month arrears.

Because of the health, education, and food challenges they faced without their salaries, workers agreed to boycott all activities. Doctors, university professors, and laborers flooded into Osun streets to join the protests regarding the State's asset mismanagement.

In the midst of impeachment threats against Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the All Progressives Congress (APC) of Osun State accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being the chief sponsors of a mass rally of grieved workers in Osogbo, the State capital.

Meanwhile, suspected APC thugs interrupted a Tuesday morning rally organized in support of Justice Folahanmi Oloyede, who has petitioned the State House of Assembly to investigate Governor Aregbesola for potential mismanagement of State resources.

The rally was organized by members of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEO). At the Ayetoro junction, the thugs bombarded the protesters with water in a situation that quickly escalated.

Anti-riot policemen were sent to the scene in order to prevent further violence.

A statement released Monday by the APC's Director of Media and Strategy, Kunle Ayatomi, said that the Party was aware of schemes by Iyiola Omisore, the PDP governorship candidate, to bring violence into Osun State under the cover of supporting workers to obtain their salaries.  He pointed to Omisore’s threat last month that he would “make this State ungovernable” for Aregbesola.

"We are therefore certain that the whole crisis is to criminally seek to get what the entire people of Osun had denied him through a democratic process,” Ayatomi said.

The PDP, however, responded that the mass rally was orchestrated by the workers and did not involve them, saying, "It is unfortunate that the sinking government should still be engaging in buck-passing when he should be busy looking for money to settle paid salaries and allowances of workers."

About 20 civil and faith based societies under the umbrella of CSCEO mobilized to join this Tuesday's rally for the impeachment of Governor Aregbesola.

Yero Did Not Leave N8 Billion In Kaduna- El-Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Sunday asserted that his immediate predecessor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, did not leave eight billion naira in the state’s treasury.

Nuhu Audu, who served as deputy governor during Mr. Yero’s administration, had claimed that the former governor left behind N8 billion in the state treasury when he handed over on May 29, 2015.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the state capital, Samuel Aruwan, Governor El-Rufai’s special assistant on media and publicity, said the last administration left the state in a financial deficit.

“I am here to dismiss claims by the former deputy governor of our state, Mr. Nuhu Audu Bajoga, that the last government left over N8 billion as working money in the accounts of  Kaduna State Government,” said Mr. Aruwan. He added: “The Mukhtar Ramalan Yero's government actually left the state in deficit and I will explain as follows.

“The Kaduna State Government had N228,333,371.67 in its central account on 29 May 2015. This represents the working capital that could be spent. All other items in the bank balance are committed funds, and are not available to be spent by government. These include counterpart and reserve funds clearly earmarked for specific purposes such as MDGs, SUBEB, Sure-P and state pensions, and as such cannot be termed available funds by any responsible government.

“It is pretty disingenuous to infer that a state that is in obvious dire straits has robust finances or to delude to a conclusion that N8 billion on paper is available in reality. Furthermore, the Mukhtar Ramalan Yero government that Bajoga served also incurred outstanding liabilities of N370 million by May 2015, that effectively leaves the state in deficit as the working capital of slightly over N228 million cannot cover the liability.”

Mr. Aruwan stated that, because the state “is broke, it has decided to cut costs and focus the state’s resources on priority areas. That is why it has restructured ministries and cut the number of political appointees.”

Mr. El-Rufai’s spokesman said “merchants of division who thrive in reading sectional motives to policy decisions will not deter this government from committing funds to building schools, hospitals and roads and providing security around state.”

Buhari Approves Over $2B For Unpaid Workers Salaries

In his attempt to end the lingering crisis of unpaid workers' salaries saga in the country, especially in several beleaguered states, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved a comprehensive three-pronged relief package.
These are:

* The sharing of about $2.1B in fresh allocation between the states and the federal government. The money will come from recent LNG proceeds to the federation account.

* A Central Bank of Nigeria-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from between N250B to N300B. This would be a soft loan available to them to access for the purposes of paying the backlog of salaries.

*A debt relief program designed by the Debt Management Office (DMO), to help states restructure their commercial loans currently estimated at N660B and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.

This third option, by extending the commercial loans of the states, would more funds available to the state governments that would otherwise have been removed at source by the banks. The federal government will sway its financial muscle to guarantee the elongation of the loans for the benefit of the states.

Informed government sources explained over the weekend that this package, which was considered at the National Economic Council (NEC), last week, is designed specifically to bring relief to government workers, some of whom have not been paid for over 10 months.

Contacted on Monday, presidential spokesman Femi Adesina confirmed the special package for the workers, adding that the president is deeply concerned about their plight.

Speaking at the inauguration of the NEC last week, President Buhari asked the Council, which is a constitutional advisory body to him, to consider as a matter of priority how to liquidate the unpaid salaries of workers across the country, noting the untold hardship it has brought to them.

While the over $2B which is being sourced from LNG proceeds to the federation account would be shared among the states using the revenue allocation formula, the CBN will also make available the special intervention fund to states and then negotiate the terms with individual states.

The packages that has now been approved by President Buhari is expected to go into effect this week as he is said to have directed that a swift release of the funds.

At the NEC meeting, the relief measures were extensively discussed between the state governors and top officials of the federal government, including the CBN governor and the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources. Other agencies that were actively involved in the process include the DMO and officials from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

Media reports last month say no fewer than 12 of the 36 states of the federation are facing difficult times as the salaries they owe their workers are approximately N110bn. They include the debts being owed by the governments of 10 of Osun, Rivers, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, Plateau, Benue, and Bauchi states.

Informed sources said the Finance Ministry and the CBN may have pegged the amount needed to settle all the outstanding public workers’ salaries at about N250B.

There are also employees of the federal government whose salaries have are back logged; the package is expected to address those cases as well.

Experts say this presidential bailout to the workers will boost the purchasing power of a good percentage of the Nigerian consumers and thereby reflate the economy.

Melaye Accuses Tinubu Of Backing Adeyemi At Appeal Court

Melaye, an APC senator, told journalists in Abuja that Tinubu had contacted the immediate-past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), to take over the legal battle on behalf of Adeyemi.

He also said that Adeyemi, on the request of Tinubu, had forwarded details of the suit to Adoke, asking him to look for a judge in the Court of Appeal that would offer assistance.

But Tinubu, in his reaction, had asked Melaye to look elsewhere for people to blackmail.

Tinubu, who spoke through his Media Adviser, Mr. Sunday Dare, said it was nothing but a “kitchen of malicious lies.”

Dare said, “This is another lie from their kitchen of malicious lies. They are all over the social and traditional media, spewing lies and planting stories. We are not about that. Nigerians are not as gullible as they think.

“He is aligned with people who want to kill the party, and we wish him luck, but they will not succeed because the party belongs to the Nigerian people.

“This blackmail, like other ones, will not work. It cannot stick. Adoke? Who is he? Tinubu cannot recall when last he saw him or even spoke with him. Dino should look elsewhere for people to blackmail.”

Melaye had claimed that he incurred the wrath of Tinubu after refusing to back down from supporting the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, during the recently concluded election of presiding officers of the 8th Senate.

But Melaye said he had no regret over his role, leading to the emergence of Saraki as the Senate President.

He said, “I have no regret supporting Senator Saraki and my electoral victory was ordained by God and not by man. Therefore, no mortal can reverse it. In God I trust, no matter how desperate they might be.

“I am privy to an electronic mail sent to Adoke by an Abuja-based senior editor who is close to Tinubu in which he forwarded the court papers filed by Smart Adeyemi at the tribunal to Adoke.

“In the said e-mail, Adoke was told to look for a trusted justice in the Court of Appeal who would be useful for Smart Adeyemi.”

It will be recalled that the Election Petition Tribunal in Lokoja had upheld the election of Melaye who was elected on the platform of the APC.

The tribunal had dismissed the petition filed by a former chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists and former chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Adeyemi, because his lawyers filed their defense too late.

Delivering judgment in the suit, Chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice Akon Ikpeme, described the petition by Adeyemi, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, as “incurably defective.”

Newly appointed director general of the Department of State Security, Lawal Musa Daura, has demoted Marilyn Ogar, the agency’s former spokesperson

Apart from demoting Ms. Ogar, the acting DSS director general also directed the demotion of numerous other officers of the agency who were just promoted in March in what was seen as a politically motivated exercise.

Ms. Ogar was seen as a controversial official of the DSS who often made statements that were deemed partisan. Her promotion was viewed as a reward for doing dirty political jobs for former President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Promotions of officers in the DSS are usually done at the end of each year, but Ms. Ogar and 44 others were promoted last March. Even so, their promotion was not made public until May.

SaharaReporters learned that Ms. Ogar is currently on vacation, and is reportedly visiting her children resident in the US. In addition to her premature promotion, Ms. Ogar was was also offered a generous scholarship to do a PhD in the UK, according to one source at the agency.

Mr. Daura also fired Abdulrahman Mani, the chief security officer to President Muhammadu Buhari and immediately replaced him with Bashir Abubakar, an assistant director in the Bayelsa State command of the DSS.

Mr. Mani was then posted to Ebonyi State.

Real Reasons Why We Reject Zakari As Acting INEC Chair’ – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it would continue to demand the removal of the Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Amina Zakari as resolved in its 403rd National Working Committee (NWC) meeting, despite unwarranted attacks on its officials by the presidency.

The party said it is privy to the fact that “Mrs. Zakari who has a strong relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari and a very prominent APC Northwest governor is collaborating with the ruling party to post Resident Electoral Commissioners of its choice to Kogi and Bayelsa ahead of the forthcoming governorship elections in those states.”

The PDP also alerted of moves to use the period of Mrs. Zakari’s stay as head of the commission to tinker with electoral personnel and materials for the two states in favour of the APC.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Saturday said “President Buhari, in appointing Mrs. Zakari, failed to take into cognizance the moral call to detach himself from the operation of the electoral body thereby completely eroding the independence of the commission.

The party pointed out that the issue at stake is not that of Mrs. Zakari’s competence or performance in office but the fact of nepotism and her closeness to the President and some key APC leaders, which calls into question the independence of the electoral body under her.

“We want Nigerians to know that with this appointment, INEC has been stripped of its independence and can no longer command the confidence and respect of the citizens and all other critical stakeholders in the nation’s electoral process.

“We however find it astonishing, discouraging and disheartening that the spokesperson of the President will address Nigerians and lie to the entire citizenry that Mrs. Zakari never had any relationship with the President or an APC Governor in the Northwest. This is the height of deception coming from the respected office of the President of our dear country.

“We ask, is the spokesperson of the President, oblivious of the public fact that the Acting Chairman of INEC was once a staff of Afri-Project Consortium, a company well associated with the President?

“Is he by any means feigning ignorance of the fact that Mrs. Zakari also worked in the past as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Social Development and later, that of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Federal Capital Development Authority, then under a current APC governor of the Northwest?

“How much of Mrs. Zakari’s roles in the last general elections does the spokesperson of the President, who has just been appointed, know to warrant his brazen defence?

“Even where we concede to the worn-out argument that the President has the powers to appoint any person he deems fit as the INEC Chairman, does moral obligation not demand that in doing so he should take into cognizance the sensitivity of the position? Otherwise he can as well appoint his wife or brother as the electoral umpire on an argument of merit.

“Whilst the PDP might not be opposed to Mrs. Zakari becoming one out of the numerous national electoral commissioners to be so appointed, we completely reject her being an executive chairman who takes major decisions in an independent electoral commission while having a strong relationship with the President and a prominent APC Northwest governor.

“Indeed, never in the history of Nigeria has there been an executive chairman of the electoral body with such strong relationship with the president of the country.

“If therefore the stance and choice of words of the Presidential spokesperson, which apparently fall short of the civility of a democratic setting, reflect in any way those of President Buhari, then there is serious question on his credentials as a converted democrat.

“Conversely, we caution that presidential spokespersons in representing the President, must note that the psychology of their personal sudden flight to political limelight should not engineer a trauma of monumental deceit to our great nation”, the PDP said.

Insisting that Mrs. Zakari must be removed, the PDP said having in the last 16 years reformed the nation’s electoral system to an enviable status that is being commended by the international community, it cannot sit back and watch too early in the day, its gradual destruction by partisan interest.

The party therefore urged Nigerians, especially key stakeholders in the democratic process “to rise above sectional, religious, gender and partisan biases and put the independence of INEC, the credibility of the electoral process and the overall interest of the nation above every other consideration in their comments and views on the appointment.”

The PDP stressed that as long as the Acting Chairman remains in office, it would not recognize the electoral body as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but as the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

Signed:

Olisa Metuh

National Publicity Secretary

NASS Crisis: Buhari Insists On Party Supremacy As Tinubu Boycotts Meeting

President Muhammadu Buhari insisted on the supremacy of the party as the All Progressives Congress (APC) holds its first National Executive Committee at the party’s headquarters in Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari insisted on the supremacy.The main agenda of the  meeting is to decide on crucial issues, including the leadership crisis at the National Assembly as well as the composition of APC’s Board of Trustees.

The APC’s national leader, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, was conspicuously absent from today’s meeting. There are reports that various factions of the party are jockeying for control of its main machinery. Mr. Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, was a major financier of the party. However, a close associate of Mr. Tinubu told our correspondent that the former governor feels that the president and his coterie were working to marginalize him.

President Muhammadu Buhari chaired today’s meeting. Participants at the meeting included the APC’s national chairman, John Oyegun, controversial Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, representative Femi Gbajabiamila and all APC governors and other members of the National Executive Committee.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Buhari remarked that party supremacy was not negotiable. He reminded party members that the platform on which they were elected into office could not be discarded or regarded as irrelevant.

Mr. Buhari also appealed to all feuding factions within the party to sheath their swords in the broader interest of the party and out of respect for party supremacy.


   

Accept the superiority of the party-BUHARI

Buhari’s verbatim comments at APC NEC meeting Friday in Abuja -By Sani Tukur

The elections have come and gone, the APC has won the battle, but lost the war. This is the paradox of democracy, and we shall see how we can manage it going forward.

I have already addressed you through the chairman, through the leadership of the party, through your excellencies, the governors and through our Senators and House of Representatives members.

The APC must not disappoint its constituency, thats the nation state. We have to convince our various constituencies that we are individually worthy of the sacrifices that they have made.

They stayed awake day and night, travelling all over the country and made sure as a party,we emerged victorious. What subsequently happened is human, and as human beings we are not perfect, but let our collective actions in this party prove that we have won the elections, the battle and we will win the war.

As for me as a president, I have to clearly understand the constitution of the federal republic of nigeria, the constitution of APC, and having tried three times and successfully lost three times and successfully ending up at the Supreme Court.

I think I have tasted the bitter disappointments and the sweetness of success.

What happened to APC must be given to God almighty. The opposition party, has ruled the country for sixteen years, with all the treasuries, literally in their pockets and all the coercing forces and their command, under their command they still meekly conceded defeat. We congratulate them for that.

I clearly understand the constitution from which INEC was developed with clear terms of reference and one of its important responsibilities is to register political associations as political parties, and whoever wants to participate in elective office as a Nigerian must seek a platform.that platform is the political party, hence, the superior state of the parties. APC has been damn lucky., if I can use that. The way the opposition parties realized, agreed and accepted that the only way through which we can be in the system is for us to come together. The ACN,the ANPP, the CPC, APGA and DPP wanted to come to participate fully in the negotiation,but they have court cases at various levels, and we suspected that if we allow them to participate actively in the negotiation for merger, there being in court cam cause either delay or deny us registration.

So we persuaded our colleagues in APGA and DPP that please stay out of the negotiation, but when we eventually get the registration,they can join in block or individually.

Along the line, I assure you that nothing is done by impulse in our process to merger. There have been various committees, quite a number of you sitting here have been members of committees either leading them or being a member and we agreed. At some stage or the earlier stages,we agreed that nine people should form the interim committee, thats the national chairmen of the parties, the secretaries and the treasurers . We thought we have done a wonderful work, so we sent our application. For the first time in this sixteen or twelve years of my participating actively , I thanked INEC for what they did to us; they sent back our application and said we must have 25 to 35 people to manage your interim if you get registration, and they must come from all the geo political zones. Why I thanked INEC in particular was because if it has been bloody minded, again ladies close your ears, if they have been bloody minded, they would have kept on raging until it was almost too late for us to get the merger. So they advised us and we sat down, we got I think 35 people to manage us and they I here personally, and on behalf of you now congratulate Chief Bisi Akande, it’s a pity he is not here, he led the interim party with dexterity and integrity. I respect his patriotism. When we got the APC name through the agreement of various committees of the respective parties, we started working from polling unit upwards, eventually we ended up in the convention which gave us the leadership of the party.

After that the election started, and again it started from the bottom top. I have gone to this extent because not all of us here participated in it and for you to reflect and thank the leadership of the party at various stages for going through all this, which is not easy. But God in his infinite mercy has helped by giving us acceptance. Let us not throw this success to the wind.

Let us as members of the APC no matter our personal differences get together and use the mandate given to us by this country. This is my personal appeal to you in the name of God. Whatever your personal interest or ambition, please keep it close to your heart and in your pocket. Let APC work, let the system work and let us have a government that will earn the respect of our constituencies.

My problem is the constituencies. I thank you very much for listening to me, and I thank the leadership across the board, and I appeal to you to please continue to work together.

Please accept the superiority of the party.  I cannot confine myself to the cage or Sambisa forest and refuse to participate in NEC or BoT.so I respect, the superiority of the party.

On Eve Of Corruption Judgment, Fani-Kayode Storms Lagos Hotel With 15 Armed Policemen

Ex-Minister of Aviation and campaign spokesperson for former President Goodluck Jonathan caused panic and triggered anxiety yesterday when he arrived at the 5-star Wheatbaker Hotel in Lagos with 15 heavily armed policemen. The hotel is located at 4 Onitolo Road (former Lawrence Road) in Ikoyi, an upscale area of Lagos. 

The fierce-looking police officers were from the anti-riot unit.

Judgment will be delivered today in a long-running corruption trial in which Mr. Fani-Kayode is the defendant. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed the corruption charges against the former Jonathan aide and ex-minister at a Federal High Court in Lagos.

Guests at Wheatbaker Hotel, especially expatriates, panicked at the sight of the police officers. Some of the hotel’s expatriate guests reportedly made frantic calls to their embassies as the armed policemen entered the hotel’s reception area and started acting in a manner that was deemed intimidating.

One guest, a Nigerian visiting from the US said that Mr. Fani-Kayode showed up at the hotel twice with the same contingent of policemen within a spell of 30 minutes.

We gathered that the court building in Ikoyi is a walking distance from the Wheatbaker Hotel.

The judge in the case, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, had deferred judgment in the case till July 1 because of the absence of the EFCC’s prosecutor, Festus Keyamo.

One source said that numerous lawyers and judges often visited the hotel for drinks and socialization.

Mr. Fani-Kayode’s trial hinge on two counts of money laundering and corrupt enrichment.

In an earlier ruling, Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia had dismissed eight of the indictment counts against the former Aviation Minister, permitting only two to proceed.


A lawyer who is not involved in the case has it  that Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia should have recused herself from handling the case. The lawyer alleged that the judge and Mr. Fani-Kayode were classmates at Law School.


A duty manager at the hotel, who identified himself as Victor said that the hotel management convinced Mr. Fani-Kayode to tell his armed guards to leave the reception area.

NIGERIAN MEN IN USA, KILLING THEIR IMPORTED WIVES FROM NIGERIA.

NIGERIAN MEN IN USA, KILLING THEIR IMPORTED WIVES FROM NIGERIA.

Not every man can take the disappointing and humiliation from NIgeria wives imported to America. Wives killers on rampage in the US

An Epidemic: Nigerian Men Killing Their Nurse Wives In America "Yes, I have killed the woman that messed up my life; the woman that has destroyed me. I am at Shalom West. My name is David and I am all yours.” Those were David Ochola’s words during his 911 (U.S. Emergency Number) call to authorities after shooting dead, his 28 years old wife, Priscilla Ochola, in Hennepin, Minnesota.

The 50-years old, husband was tired of being “disrespected” by his wife, a Registered Nurse (RN) whom he had brought from Nigeria and sponsored through nursing school only to have her make much more than him in salary - a situation which led to Mrs. Ochola “coming and going as she chose without regard for her husband.”

The couple had two children – four years old boy and a three year old girl. 

In Texas, Babajide Okeowo had been separated from his wife, Funke Okeowo, with whom he resided at their Dallas home. Upon the divorce, the husband lost the house to his wife, along with most of the contents therein, as is usually the tradition in the U.S. Divorces where the couple still has underage children. 

Mr. Okeowo, 48, divorced his wife because not long after she became an RN and made more money than him, she “took control” of the family finances and “controlled” her husband’s expenditure and movement. 

The husband could no longer make any meaningful contribution to his family back in Nigeria unless the wife “approved” it. He could not go out without her permission. Frustrated that his formerly malleable wife had suddenly become such a “terror” to him to the point of asking for in court and getting virtually everything for which he had worked since coming to the US thirty years prior, the husband got in his vehicle and drove a few hundred miles to Dallas to settle the scores. 

He found her in her SUV, adorned in full Nigerian attire on her way to the birthday bash organized in her honor. She had turned 46 on that day. Mr. Okeowo fired several rounds into his wife’s torso while she sat at the steering wheel, mercilessly killing her in broad daylight.

Also in Dallas (they sure need anger management classes in Dallas), Moses Egharevba, 45, did not even bother to get a gun. The husband of Grace Egharevba, 35, bludgeoned her to death with a sledge hammer while their seven year old daughter watched and screamed for peace. 

Mrs. Egharevba’s “sin” was that she became an RN and started to make more money than her husband. This led to her “financial liberation” from a supposedly tight-fisted husband who had not only brought her from Nigeria, but had also funded her nursing school education. 

Like Moses Egharevba, Christopher Ndubuisi of Garland, Texas, (these Texas people!) also did not bother to get a gun. He crept into the bedroom where his wife, Christiana, was sleeping and, with several blows of the sledge hammer, crushed her head. 

Two years before Christiana was killed, her mother, who had been visiting from Nigeria, was found dead in the bathtub under circumstances believed to be suspicious. 

Of course, Christiana was a RN whose income dwarfed that of her husband as soon as she graduated from nursing school. The husband believed that his role as a husband and head of the household had been usurped by his wife. 

Mr. Ndubuisi’s several entreaties to his wife’s family to intercede and bring Christiana back under his control had all failed. 

If the circumstances surrounding the death of Christiana’s mother were suspicious, those surrounding the death of a Tennessee woman’s mother were not. Agnes Nwodo, an RN, lived in squalor before her husband, Godfrey Nwodo, rescued her and brought her to the US. He enrolled her in nursing school right away. Upon qualifying as a RN, Mrs. Nwodo assumed “full control” of the household. She brought her mother to live with them against her husband’s wishes. Mrs. Nwodo quickly familiarized herself with US Family Laws and took full advantage of them. 

Each time the couple argued, the police forced the husband to leave the house whether he had a place to sleep or not. On many occasions, Mr. Nwodo spent days in police cells. Upon divorcing his wife, Mr. Nwodo lost to his wife, the house he had owned for almost 20 years before he married her. 

He also lost custody of their three children to her, with the court awarding him only periodic visitation rights. Even seeing the children during visitation was always a hassle as the wife would “arrive late at the neutral meeting place and leave early with impunity.” 

Mr. Nwodo endured so many embarrassing moments from his wife and her mother until he could take it no more. One day, he bought himself a shotgun and killed both his wife and her mother. 

Caleb Onwudike’s wife, Chinyere Onwudike, 36, became a RN and no longer saw the need to be controlled by her husband. Mr. Onwudike, 41, worked two jobs to send his wife to her dream school upon bringing her to the US from Nigeria. After four years, she qualified as an RN. Once she started to make more money than her husband, she began to “call the shots” at home. She “overruled” her husband on the size and cost of the house they purchased in Burtonsville, Maryland. She began to build a house solely in her name in their native Umuahia town of Abia State, Nigeria, without her husband’s input whatsoever. 

Mrs. Onwudike came and went “as she liked,” within the US and outside the US. In fact, she once travelled to Nigeria for three weeks “without her husband’s permission” to lavishly bury her father, despite her husband’s protestations that they had better things to do with the money. 

Mrs. Onwudike let her husband know that this was mostly her money and she would spend it however she wanted. Through her hard work, she had risen to a managerial position at the medical center where she worked. 

Upon her return from burying her father, her husband got one of her kitchen knives and carved her up like a Thanksgiving turkey inside their home on New Year’s Day. 

Death is death, no matter how it comes. But the goriest of these maniacal killings is probably the one that happened here in Los Angeles, California. 

Joseph Mbu, 50, was tired of his RN wife’s “serial disrespect” of him. The disrespect began as soon as she became a RN. Gloria Mbu, 40, had once told her husband he must be “smoking crack cocaine” if he thought he could tell her what to do with her money now that she made more money than him. 

Before she became a RN, Mr. Mbu had been very strict with family finances and was borderline dictatorial in his dealings with Mrs. Mbu. However, Mrs. Mbu learned the American system and would no longer allow any man to “put her down.” When Joseph Mbu could not take it anymore, he subdued his wife one day, tied her to his vehicle and dragged her on paved roads all around Los Angeles until her head split in many pieces.