DSS arrests three over bribery allegation against DG

The Department of State Services said it arrested three persons over false allegation that its Director-General, Mr. Lawal Daura, took N4bn bribe to influence Supreme Court judgements.

Parading the suspects before journalists in Abuja on Friday, an operative of the service, Mr. Abdullahi Garba, also accused them of planning to blackmail and extort Daura.

He said the suspects were planning to misinform President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian public that Daura had also acquired choice properties in the Maitama and Asokoro Districts of Abuja.

The suspects, Usman Ahmed Danmallam and Nura Shehu Lawal Giwa (aka Marafan Zazzau) were arrested on February 17, 2016 at Unguwar Sarki, Kaduna State, while Hussaini Monguno (aka Colonel) was arrested in Abuja.The suspects were alleged to have claimed during telephone conversations that Daura collected N4bn from the Peoples Democratic Party Governors of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Abia and Taraba states to influence the recent judgements of the Supreme Court in their favour.

Garba said that the objective of the plan was to scare the DSS DG and put him under undue pressure in order for the group to extort money from him.

He alleged that Monguno (aka Colonel) had lied that he had served in the Nigerian Army.

He said, “The DSS wishes to draw the attention of the public to the infamous activities of some unscrupulous elements who have resorted to condemnable tactics aimed at blackmailing and extorting money from unsuspecting and innocent people.

“A method used by the group is to tell lies against their victims and also plant rumours about them in certain government circles so as to create the impression that the targets are corrupt and have breached legal procedures in the discharge of their responsibilities.

“A typical instance is the arrest of the trio of Usman Ahmed Danmallam and Nura Shehu Lawal Giwa (aka Marafan Zazzau) on February 17, 2016 at Unguwar Sarki, Kaduna North LGA of Kaduna State and Hussaini A. Monguno (aka Colonel) in Abuja. This three-man gang had perfected plans to blackmail the DGSS solely based on falsehood.

“The group claimed that the DGSS collected the sum of N4bn from the PDP Governors of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Abia and Taraba states to influence the judgements of the Supreme Court in their favour in the recently-decided electoral cases by the court.

“They were also to misinform the President and in fact, the Nigerian public that the DGSS had acquired choice properties in Maitama and Asokoro areas of Abuja.

“The overall objective was to scare the DGSS and put him under pressure just for the group to extort money from him to serve their pecuniary interest.”

Declare Adoke wanted, Sagay tells EFCC

The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to declare wanted the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN).

Sagay said this during an interview with our correspondent on Friday while reacting to Adoke’s open letter to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

The ex-minister, who claimed to be undergoing an academic programme in the Netherlands, was invited by the anti-graft agency for his alleged role in the $2bn Malabu oil deal.In the said letter, Adoke, who has refused to honour an EFCC invitation since December last year, said he would not do so because there was a plan by some of his political opponents to embarrass him in Nigeria.

Adoke, who said he had finished writing his exams, said he would not honour the EFCC invitation.

But Sagay said Adoke was testing the collective will of Nigerians by refusing to honour the EFCC invitation.

He said if Adoke was not guilty, he should return to Nigeria to clear his name rather than stay abroad issuing statements.

Sagay said, “Anyone that is invited by the EFCC is duty-bound to make himself available. It is just like the police inviting you and the moment you don’t honour the invitation, they will arrest you. So, it is a sign of respect to invite a person.

“In my view, if his hands are clean, why does he care if he will be embarrassed or not? You cannot be embarrassed if your hands are clean because whoever tries to embarrass you will be the one to be embarrassed when the truth is out.

“So, his response looks like a guilty one and he has stayed away from the country to avoid answering questions and so in my view, he has to be declared wanted, the International Police must go after him and wherever he is found, he should be extradited to Nigeria.”

Boko Haram: Army is weak, lacks adequate weapons – Reps

Contrary to denials by the Nigerian Army, soldiers engaging in counter-insurgency operations in the North-East have no adequate arms and ammunition, the House of Representatives Committee on Army has said.

The committee claimed that soldiers still rationed arms and ammunition in a bid to persecute the anti-terror war.

Chairman of the committee, Mr. Rima Shawulu, spoke on Friday in Abuja when he presented a report on the 2016 budget of the Army to the Committee on Appropriation.

The Committee on Appropriation, which is chaired by Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, has been collating reports on the 2016 budget from all standing committees of the House, preparatory to the passage of the budget in the second week of March by the National Assembly.His disclosure generated interest, as the Committee on Appropriation called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to beam its searchlight on how the Army spent its money, just like it had already started with the Air Force.

The standing committees laid their reports before the Committee on Appropriation after the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies they supervised had defended their proposals.

But Shawulu revealed that in the case of the Army, it discovered that funding for the welfare of soldiers and procurement of weapons remained inadequate.

The Army got N139bn this year, but Shawulu said that the money would not be enough because many soldiers still did not have arms and ammunition.

He said, “Soldiers are being given arms and ammunition to ration in the war front. Our soldiers have to be well-catered for so that they don’t have to fight with bare hands,” he told the committee.”

Shawulu also told the committee that the personnel allocation for the Army this year was short by N7.8bn.

He said the shortfall was in spite of the fact that the Army would recruit more personnel this year.

Shawulu said, “We have a situation where our soldiers are living in sub-human conditions with no housing accommodation. Most barracks have no perimeter fencing; the Amphibious Battalion in Calabar, for example, has no swimming pool for training purposes.”

However, members of the Committee on Appropriation expressed concern that despite the fact of getting its budget approved in tact yearly, soldiers were not provided with adequate facilities.

Jibrin said, “In all my years in the National Assembly, the Army has always had its budget approved intact.

“Perhaps, it is high time the EFCC probed how the Army spends its money.

“The anti-graft agency has just started with the Air Force and people are shouting. Maybe, the commission should probe the Army too; let us know what is happening to the money the Army gets every year.”

Meanwhile, the Committee on Appropriation closed the collation of the reports on the budget on Friday after many sub-committees made their presentations.

However, many sub-committees flouted the deadline given to them by the House Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, to submit all reports.

Jibrin announced that such committees would have to accept whatever provisions the Committee on Appropriation approved for their MDAs.

He said, “If not that the Senate delayed us for a week, we would have been done with this process before now and I expected our colleagues to take advantage of that delay by expediting action on their reports.

“But as it stands, we are likely to take that decision for them.”

Key sectoral committees, including power, works, army, navy and air force, made their presentations on Friday.

Buhari heeds Soyinka’s advice, convenes conference

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the convocation of a national economic conference aimed at rallying the country together to offer solutions to the current economic challenges facing Nigeria.

A top government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed this to a group of journalists in Abuja on Thursday.

The approval came barely a week after Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, called on the President to summon an emergency economic meeting to recommend specific solutions to the nation’s prevailing economic challenges to save the country’s economy from further drift.

This appeared to have led to spiralling inflation in the country as most products are produced abroad, putting the nation’s foreign reserves and currency under intense pressure.The nation’s currency has slumped drastically against the dollar in recent months due largely to the scarcity of the foreign currency and the tough regulations of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The price of crude oil in the international market has continued to fall since November 2014, threatening to frustrate the provisions of the nation’s N6.07tn 2016 budget.

Soyinka, who made the call when he visited the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja last Thursday, had said experts and consumers should be invited to the meeting.

“The President should call an emergency economic conference with experts to be invited – consumers, producers, labour unions, university experts, professors, etc. I think we really need an emergency economic conference, a rescue operation, bringing as many heads as possible together to plan the way forward,” Soyinka had said.

But the government source said the idea of the economic conference, which had tentatively been fixed for March 10 and 11, was first discussed at the 65th National Economic Council meeting held on January 28.

The council, presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, had all the state governors and the Central Bank Nigeria Governor, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and some ministers as members.

It has a constitutional role of advising the President on economic matters.

The source said the NEC members had in their deliberations called for a major conference, where the current economic situation of the country could be thoroughly discussed by all the states and the Federal Government.

He added that in approving the idea, the President himself would declare the conference open and participate fully in order to demonstrate his personal commitment to the idea.

He said the views of the private sector and non-state actors would also be sought at the conference.

The source explained that well-respected global experts were expected at the conference to aggregate the views of other governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental institutions.

The government official stated, “The NEC retreat, as is being called by the Federal Government and the states, becomes imperative amid dwindling oil prices with a direct and significant impact on the money now available for federal allocation and sharing between the FG, states and local government councils.

“For instance, the FG states and local governments shared a sum of N370.4bn a few days ago for the month of January 2016, which is a drop of more than N17bn from the N387.8bn shared the previous month of December last year.

“That could be compared for instance with what was shared in January 2014, which was N629bn and N503.6bn the previous December, both higher significantly than the present situation.

“Another concern of the FG and the states necessitating the economic conference is the drop in foreign reserves of the country, which is now already below $30bn and compelling the CBN to adopt tough forex measures, including the ban on certain items from forex funding and rationing.

“The depreciation of the value of naira has also become an attendant impact of the foreign exchange scarcity.”

He added that it was the President’s expectation that the conference would be solution-centered and also create an opportunity to rally the nation, the FG, states and private sector together for a clear and mutually beneficial economic direction.

“It is interesting that a respectable Nigerian (Soyinka) recently raised the idea of a national economic conference earlier this month, the same idea that had been decided by members of NEC at their January meeting. It shows there is indeed a wide consensus on the idea,” he said.

He explained that although government was not calling the conference an emergency one, it was clear that both federal and state governments agreed on the need to discuss frankly and develop innovative ways to take the country out of the economic challenges of the day.

The source explained that while the FG was clear on what direction it intended to drive the country economically, there was the need to rally the entire nation.

He said there was the need to call on the government and the people to tighten their belts and prepare for sacrifice.

“The President has already set the tone for frugality in spending by cutting off routine security votes among other cost-cutting measures.

“Besides, the idea of a Zero-Based Budgeting and Treasury Single Account are parts of the attempt by the Federal Government to tighten public revenues and finance,” he added.

Sunday Oliseh resigns as Super Eagles Coach

Sunday Oliseh just announced his resignation as Super Eagles Chief Coach and some Nigerians reacted to the news. Read some of their tweets below:

Herdsmen destroy farmlands, rape women, Ogun monarchs cry out

The Council of Obas in Ijebu-Igbo, in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State has raised the alarm over the alleged destruction of farmlands and the rape of women by Fulani herdsmen in the area.

The council at its inaugural meeting held at the secretariat of the Ijebu North Local Government Area in Ijebu-Igbo on Thursday said it had become imperative for the government to check the alleged nefarious activities of the herdsmen in the area before it got completely out of control.

Three of the six Obas who constitute the council, the Sopen Lukale of Oke-Sopen, Oba Mufutau Yusuf; the Kegbo of Atikori, Oba Ibitoye Solaja and the Bejeroku of Oke Agbo, Oba Olaoye Abas as well as 21 other chiefs and prominent indigenes of the town who attended the meeting condemned the actions of the herdsmen.

The monarchs also noted that the activities of the herdsmen and their cattle posed a threat to the security of the people of the area.They argued that the alleged destruction of the town’s farmlands by the herdsmen had imposed untold hardship on the people of the community who are mainly farmers.

Petroleum imports mounting pressure on naira − Mutallab

The huge amount spent on the importation of petroleum products is putting serious pressure on the Naira, the Chairman, Jaiz Bank Plc, Umaru Mutallab has said.

While speaking at the Daily Trust Board of Economists breakfast meeting held on Thursday in Abuja, Mutallab said the inability of the country’s refineries to perform effectively is a major reason for the pressure on the Naira.

He called for the development of the agriculture sector to help in the production of foods that could substitute imports.Apart from petroleum importation, he said the country spent huge amount in foreign exchange on importing food items, noting that this is causing another problem in the foreign exchange market.

In his address, the Chairman of Daily Trust Board of Economics, Prof. Ode Ojowu, said there is need to stop the dwindling value of the adding that the ban on 41 items from accessing forex is causing problems for the manufacturing sector.

He identified the agriculture and solid minerals sector as major sources of revenue for the government lamenting that currently, there are no policies to encourage the sector.

He called on the government to stimulate the economy, adding that over 10 million Nigerians are on the streets without any good source of livelihood.

In his remarks, the Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwaabo said globalisation has made trade a potent instrument stating that Nigeria needs to strengthen its trade to increase competitiveness in the international community.

He said Nigeria must diversify its manufactured goods and place emphasis on human development.

He advised the federal government to increase funding in education and raise investment in healthcare to ensure the maximum health of all Nigerians needed for economic productivity.

Terrorism: Buhari seeks OIC’s support for displaced persons

President Muhammau Buhari on Thursday appealed to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to assist Nigeria in rehabilitating Internally Displaced Persons.

He said the Federal Government would welcome support from the organisation for its ongoing efforts to rehabilitate parts of the country affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke in Mecca, Saudi Arabia during a meeting he had with the Secretary-General of the OIC, Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani.

The statement read in part, “The President told Mr. Madani that the fact-finding visit will help the OIC to determine the scope of assistance it  can offer to Nigeria for the rehabilitation and resettlement of internally displaced persons.Buhari was further quoted as urging the organisation to send a fact-finding mission to the ravaged states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa  to assess the damage done by terrorists.

“President Buhari also challenged the OIC to act urgently in support of the restoration of peace, law and order to Libya which, he said, had been breeding the terrorists causing mayhem in West and Central African countries following the fall of the Ghaddafi regime.

“President Buhari agreed with Mr. Madani that Islam has been wilfully misrepresented by terrorists.

“The President said that it is only by educating people properly about Islam that terrorists will be deprived of legitimacy and a basis for the recruitment of followers.

“He therefore urged the OIC to assist the Federal Government  in bringing true knowledge and enlightenment to all Nigerians.”

Fire razes brothel, three houses in Rivers

A popular brothel known as Akamas located in Choba, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State was among property destroyed in an evening fire outbreak on Thursday.

It was gathered that the fire razed the entire brothel, leaving some sex workers and others in the place with no place to stay.

It was also learnt that the inferno was caused by a cooking gas used in the brothel by workers.

The inferno was said to have also affected about three houses close to the brothel as a result of the late arrival of fire fighters to the scene.Some customers, who were inside the brothel with some prostitutes, were said to have rushed out of the place half naked in order to avoid being consumed by the inferno.

Choba, the area where the incident occurred is a host community to the University of Port Harcourt.

An eyewitness said that though no life was lost and no injury was recorded in the fire outbreak, property worth millions of naira were destroyed.

“The fire began at about 6pm and we believe it was caused by a cooking gas in the brothel. We also heard that the fire may have been ignited by a cooking gas,” the source said.

The raging fire, according to another source, destroyed everything in the brothel as no property was saved during the incident.

Wizkid’s Epic Reaction When He Was Asked About His New Babymama

 

HipTV presenter Alisa Emma tried to stealthily ask Wizkid about the rumours of a second baby mama after making him open up about his upcoming album but the Star Boy wasn’t here for that.

He also coyly begged off the question and simply walked away.

Billionaire daughter, Temi Otedola, on the red carpet at BRIT awards

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Tonto Dikeh shares photo of herself when she was pregnant

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Jordin Sparks shares very powerful message on instagram

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Rihanna parties with ex-bf Drake after their BRIT Award performance

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'Boko Haram has been defeated' - Army Chief, Buratai

Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Tukur Buratai, says the military has defeated Boko Haram. Buarati said this during a meeting with some Borno state elders at the military command and control centre in Maiduguri, Borno state yesterday February 24th.

According to Buratia, the fight against the insurgents is at the mop up stage. “We were given three major tasks and we have made efforts toward achieving two. 

The first task is to defeat Boko Haram and I want to tell you that as at today Boko Haram has been defeated. When I say defeat, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be hitches here and there. We have entered the mop up stage of our operation.”he said