Annosue Blog: November 2015

Monday 30 November 2015

Buhari joins over 150 world leaders for Paris Climate summit (COP21)

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, is in Paris, France, where he and over 150 other world leaders are gathered with the aim of reaching a new and universal climate change agreement.

At the back of their minds as the meeting begins on Monday is the knowledge that they have already delivered an almost universal set of national responses to meet the long-term climate challenge before the conference even begins.

This would be the largest group of leaders ever to attend a UN event in a single day.

Budding Nollywood actress and make up artiste, Tosin Abeniade Badmus is reportedly dead.

Badmus, who broke into the movie industry few years back was said to have died in the early hours of Monday.

Although, it is yet to ascertain the cause of her death, viral reports say the young lady had been bedridden for some weeks prior to her death.

Details later…

Arms procurement: EFCC arrests Dasuki’s top staff

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is reported to have arrested a top staff who worked with the embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), over the arms contract scandal.

Also reported to have been arrested are 20 other staff members that worked with the ex NSA.

Some of the staff alleged to have been arrested as disclosed by an insider source include:

Report reaching us from the APC Secretariat in Abuja has it that the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has put on hold the nomination of Yahaya Bello as the governorship candidate of the party in the coming re-run in the state.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has directed the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, to investigate the conduct of the Ogun State National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal under the chairmanship of Justice Ebiowei Tobi.
This was contained in a letter dated November 19, 2015 with reference number NJC/ETD/B60/S.1/X1/955 by the CJN to the Appeal Court president

The directive followed a petition written by the senator representing Ogun East at the National Assembly, Mr. Buruji Kashamu, alleging miscarriage of justice in the case instituted against his election by Mr. Dapo Abiodun, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the March 28, 2015 National Assembly election.

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, through his Dangote Foundation, is building a N7bn state-of-the-art operating theatre and diagnostic centre at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in Kano.

The Chief Executive, Dangote Foundation, Ms Halima Dangote, said during a visit to the Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, that the project would be completed next year.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo yesterday asked the federal government to order the immediate release of the detained Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, in order to diffuse the ongoing mass protest by pro-Biafra agitators led by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
In a seven-point communique issued end of its Imeobi meeting held at the headquarters of the organisation in Enugu and signed by its President-General, Chief Gary Igariwey and Secretary-General, Dr Joe Nworgu, Ohanaeze Ndigbo said the release of Kanu would go a long way in arresting the current Biafra agitations from deteriorating.

Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has urged the federal, state and local governments to do more in the area of employment.

The former president who spoke at the 10th anniversary and 6th and 7th convocation ceremonies of Tai Solarin University of Education, TASUED, Ijagun, Ijebu Ode, warned: “If there is no job for the unemployed to feed themselves and also to contribute to the development of the country, then, we will all be sitting on gun powder.

“If university education was not for development then, it was not serving any useful purpose. It must be for development, personal, local, national and even global and that is very important.”

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which used to hold weekly since 1999, will now take place once in two weeks.
President Muhammadu Buhari has decided that meeting every Wednesday is surplus to requirement, a senior government official said. “And FEC will no longer be all about awarding contracts but a serious discussion of policy issues and appraisal of ministerial performance,” the official said.
FEC has been held just once since the appointment of ministers, with the only meeting taking place on November 11 — the day they were inaugurated.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has given its Kogi State governorship nomination form to its new candidate, Mr. Yahaya Bello, to fill.

The development may have foreclosed the consideration of any other candidate as the party’s standard bearer.

Bello filled the form, which was signed by a Commissioner of Oath. It was returned to the APC National Secretariat.

It was learnt that the form was attached to the letter of nomination, which the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, sent to INEC on Friday.

The Lagos State Government has concluded plans to arraign Pastor TB Joshua and other trustees of ‎Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) on Monday.

The defendants will appear before a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja over the collapse of a six-story building in the church on September 12, 2014, which led to the death of 116 persons.

Also to be arraigned before Justice Lawal Akapo are the engineers who constructed the collapsed building.

There was drama at the weekend in Ogbia, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s local government area in Bayelsa State, when youths from the area, carried a mock coffin decorated with the colours and a flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The youths comprising males and females took the coffin into a venue arranged for a rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the December 5 governorship election.

The Assistant Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force in charge of Zone 3 Yola, Adamawa State, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar Jinjiri, is dead.

Reports on his death indicated that the late AIG was hypertensive and fell ill in the wee hours of Saturday at his official residence in Yola.
He was immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment but gave up the ghost at the Federal Medical Centre in the city.
Confirming his death yesterday, the spokesman of the Adamawa State Police Command, Othman Abubakar, said the late AIG Jinjiri was rushed to the hospital unconscious where he was declared dead as a result of his ailment on Saturday morning.
Abubakar described the late Jinjiri as a highly committed and disciplined police officer during his life time and that arrangements had been concluded to convey his body to Rano town in Rano Local Government Area of Kano State as demanded by his family for his interment.

How to end fuel scarcity, marketers tell Nigerian government

The scarcity of petroleum products being witnessed in various parts of Nigeria would end if the government decentralises the distribution of the product, marketers have said.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, on Sunday urged the Nigerian Government to decentralise loading of petroleum products to make for effective loading at depots across the country.

Abacha loot spent on roads, electricity, others, Okonjo-Iweala tells World Bank

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has “received several documents from the World Bank totalling over 700 pages on information on the spending of recovered assets stolen by the late General Abacha, with some of the documents suggesting that Abacha loot was spent on roads, electricity, education, health and water.”

This information was disclosed by SERAP executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, in a statement dated November 29, 2015.

Former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, says he will support Igbo to take over power in 2019.

He made the disclosure to The Interview, a magazine published by Azu Ishiekwene, focusing on leading professionals and politicians.

IBB, also said there was no need for Biafra agitation.

“I will vote for an Igbo president in 2019, if I find one.

Business and commercial activities were temporarily put on hold at the weekend in Yenagoa, as thousands of PDP supporters within and outside the State led by the immediate past President; Dr. Goodluck Jonathan thronged the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, venue of the PDP governorship flag presentation rally.

The crowd, which political watchers described as unprecedented in the political annals of the state, further confirmed the supremacy of the PDP and its candidate, Governor Seriake Dickson over other contesting parties.

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU has declared that Nigeria will soon witness mass unemployment as the epileptic power supply hampers the operations of industries.

National President of the association, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, sounded this alarm at the SSANU 2015 National Delegate Conference holding at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, Enugu State. He revealed that many industries have started laying off workers, a move he said would have adverse
effects on the the country.

Francis Cardinal Arinze was not born a catholic. He was a convert from the African Traditional Religion predominant in the Igbo society of his time. The early contact with that dying religion may have influenced his intellectual work and doctoral thesis in Rome, “Ibo Sacrifice as an Introduction to the Catechesis of Holy Mass” This also was the basis for his much used reference work, “Sacrifice in Ibo Religion”, published in 1970.

After his baptism by the saint- to – be, Rev Father Michael Iwene Tansi, on his ninth birthday (1 November 1941), he went on to pursue his priestly vocation that culminated in his becoming the youngest Bishop in the world in August 29, 1965 at the age of 32. In addition to the quality education he acquired at All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha, one of the oldest in the country, and where he earned a philosophy degree in 1950, Arinze, born in Eziowelle in Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State, on November 1, 1932, went to Rome to study theology at the Pontifical Urban University, where he also earned a doctorate in sacred theology summa cum laude.

Seriake Dickson, incumbent governor and governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Bayelsa governorship election just rounded off his campaign for the December 5 election. In this chat with newsmen, Dickson highlighted reasons why he is sure of victory. OSA OKHOMINA was there.How have you impacted Bayelsa’s development and politics in your tenure so far?

We have changed the face of politics in this state where we have emphasized the importance of the people as the centre of all development. Take the issue of accountability. For example every month we announce what comes in in terms of revenue and how much we spend. We are empowering our people mentally and democratically to take charge of their future. I believe that this will be a standard moving forward as far as governorship and other elections in this state are concerned. I heard that my good friend has intensified his campaign. That is how it should be, not

Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has said that all States must look inward for survival as funds coming to them from the federation account can no longer support their development projects.

He said, “We must at this point tell ourselves the truth, there is no money coming from the Federation account, 34 million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil are on the sea without buyers”.

The National Assembly has silently protested the move by the federal government to include it on its list of government agencies for the execution of treasury single account (TSA).

The legislative arm of government, according to information obtained last week, said it would be counter-productive to include the national assembly on the list of government agencies expected to transfer its funds to TSA which is domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

It was learnt that the leadership of the two chambers of the national assembly had at the beginning of the month protested the move by the federal government to apply the TSA policy to the national assembly at a meeting with some government officials.

Olisa Metuh turned 50 on Saturday, November 28, 2015. Instead of declaring a society birthday party in a five star arena, Chief Metuh chose to share with the downtrodden and less privileged.

On Friday, November 27, 2015, he took his lovely wife, friends and relations to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Wassa, Abuja where he shared meals with the IDPs and handed over loads of various food items, including grains, beverages and drinks to them.

During the celebration, Chief Metuh took out time to visit various homes in the camp, where he met with families. He was deeply touched by their deplorable condition, especially the absence of basic amenities like drinking water, which prompted him to pledge to collaborate with relevant government agencies to provide potable water in the camp.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) running mate in the stalemated governorship election in Kogi State, Mr. Abiodun Faleke, is not disposed to the party’s choice of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as replacement for the late Prince Abubakar Audu.

Faleke yesterday wrote a second letter to the party’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun in apparent reaction to the APC decision to pick Bello to replace Audu ahead of the supplementary election scheduled for this weekend. He insisted that he is not prepared to give up his ‘mandate’ for any reason whatsoever.

He said he is the rightful person to step into the late Audu’s shoes, and pleaded the application of the ‘doctrine of necessity’ used in the crisis that trailed the demise of President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2010.

It is not yet Ruhr for Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state during the last April general elections, Mr. Labaran Maku, has vowed to challenge the Appeal Court''s reaffirmation of his election.

Speaking to journalists in his Akwanga country home on Saturday, Maku, a former minister of information insisted that he won the election “overwhelmingly but the forces of oppression in Nasarawa State have continued to follow us even to the courts.”

Madam Beauty Siasia, the kidnapped 72-year-old mother of Nigeria’s Under 23 Coach, Samson Siasia, regained freedom yesterday after 12 days in captivity.

She was abducted on November 16, 2015.

The abductors reportedly abandoned her at about 1.30am on the popular East-West Road, the major gateway linking the South-South to other parts of the country.

29- year- old Levi Imoter was a notorious cultist for over 10 years. He engaged in the worst crimes imaginable, including armed robbery, and operated from Benue, through Bauchi to Borno. In this encounter, he recounts how he led many university undergraduates into cultism and armed robbery; his waterloo during a robbery operation in Maiduguri; life in prison and how his death sentence was reversed through divine intervention. He says he would spend the rest of his life preaching the mercy and love of God through Jesus Christ who delivered him from the jaws of death. He is the brain behind Renewed Mind Foundation International.

There was wild jubilation in parts of the Central Senatorial District of Kogi State yesterday, following the choice of Alhaji Yahaya Bello, popularly known as ‘Fair Plus’ as candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5 supplementary governorship election in the state.

Bello, who came second in the August 29, 2015 governorship primaries of the party, was picked to replace the late Prince Abubakar Audu on the APC ticket after the demise of the latter on Sunday, November 22, 2015 while collation of result of the election held the previous day was still ongoing.

I Won my Election And I Will Win Again, Convincingly – David Mark

Ex-Senate President, Senator David Mark has reacted to Saturday’s ruling of the Appeal Court which voided his election by declaring that he “won the election convincingly”.

In a statement by his media assistant, Paul Mumeh, the immediate past Senate President expressed faith that he will still win even if the election was conducted a hundred times.

A Court of Appeal, sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, has nullified the election of former senate president, David Mark.

The court faulted the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to declare Mr. Mark, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, winner of the March 28 senatorial election in Benue south.

Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State and his party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – have asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare Wada winner of the inconclusive governorship election held in the state last Saturday.

They made the request in a suit they filed before the court on Thursday, which has INEC, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants.

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of 30 new judges for the Federal High Court on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC).

This is contained in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by the NJC acting director (Information), Soji Oye.

The statement said the new judges would be sworn-in by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed on Wednesday.

The newly appointed judges are: Justices Yellin Bogoro (Bauchi), Rosemary Oghoghorie (Delta), Taiwo Obayomi Taiwo (Ogun), Ibrahim Watila (Borno), Mallong Hoommuk (Plateau) and Isa Dashen (Adamawa).

Ademola Odunade, the President of Mapo Customary Court, in Ibadan has dissolved the marriage between Nike and Segun Akingbade on account of incest between the man and his daughter.

Odunade said that in the interest of peaceful co-existence, the union between Nike and Akingbade had been terminated.

A business man, Mr Chibuzo Ogaeze has pleaded with an Ojo Customary Court in Lagos State to urgently dissolve his marriage to his wife, Chika, because she had gone mad.

Chibuzo told the court that his 26 -year-old wife ran mad following her alleged involvement in extra-marital relationship which was a taboo in his culture.

“The trouble is too much, my wife and her people know they have committed an atrocity. As I speak with you right now, my wife is wandering, stark naked, on the streets.

The Lagos State Safety Commission has shut the multi-billion multi-national shopping outlet, Shoprite located at the Ikeja Shopping Mall, Ikeja, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, for allegedly breaching safety law.

Officials of the commission were said to have stormed Shoprite on Friday afternoon and drove everyone out and sealed off the massive premises, placing a seal order at the entrance.

The seal order notice read: “Sealed, this premises has been sealed following the breach of safety law. This seal must not be broken. For further enquiries, contact the Commission.

Barely three weeks in office, President Muhammadu Buhari has shocked Ministers with poor salaries and austere allowances.

He has also imposed dos and don’ts on the ministers including travel restrictions.

Most Ministers were said to be embarrassed by the perks of office accruable to them in office.

The only leverage the Ministers will enjoy is the privilege of flying in a Business Class on trips.

After extensive consultations, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday submitted the name of Yahaya Bello as the party’s new candidate for Kogi governorship supplementary poll.

Bello replaces Prince Abubakar Audu, who died last weekend after leading the poll with 41,000.

It was also learnt that the APC has retained Hon. James Abiodun Faleke as the party’s deputy governorship candidate.

Mohammed Audu, the son of the late governorship candidate, was dumped by the party because the party felt that fielding him might vitiate the entire governorship poll in the state.

It was another tragic weekend in Kano as 21 Shitte members were feared dead with others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up among the procession.

Kano State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Muhammad Musa Katsina, who confirmed the bomb blast, however declined to confirm the casualty figure.

Speaking to over the telephone, the commissioner said that the incident happened on a farmland in Dakasoye village in Garun Mallam Local Goverment Area of Kano, when members of the sect were trekking to Zaria, Kaduna State.

Musa Gowon: Son of former ruler Yakubu Gowon to return to Nigeria after 22 years in US prison

The son of former Nigerian military head of state Yakubu Gowon is due to return to Nigeria after spending 22 years in a US prison after being convicted on drug-related charges. It is believed Musa Gowon was released from the Taft Correctional Facility Bakersfield, California, after US President Barack Obama granted him pardon earlier in November.

The Igbo Mandate Congress (IMC)- which advocates for the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria - has said it was arranging a welcome ceremony. The date of Gowon's arrival has not yet been disclosed. He is currently being held at a deportation centre in the US.

National Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo, yesterday declared that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to carry the Nigerian youth along. He said that the practice of “use and dump” of the youth after each election should be stopped forth with, saying it was counter-productive.

The APC youth leader spoke yesterday in Abuja at a workshop organized for the APC youth in collaboration with the International Republican Institute (IRI), with the theme “The Role of Youths in post-election era.”

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (Union Bank) has appointed Mr. Cyril Odu as Chairman of the Board of Directors following the resignation of previous Chairman, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, who was recently appointed Minister of Budget and National Planning by President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr. Odu joined the Board of Union Bank in 2012 following a $500 million (USD) investment in the Bank from Union Global Partners Limited, a private equity consortium.

The running mate to late Abubakar Audu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi State, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to declare him governor elect.

James Faleke, in a November 26 letter to INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, insisted that under Section 187 of the 1999 Constitution, he was duly elected as deputy governor of Kogi State.

Eighteen-year-old former student of Vaatia College, Makurdi, Benue State, Master Samuel Nder, was, yesterday, honoured as the best candidate in the May/June West African Senior Certificate Examination (WASSCE) written by over 1.7 million candidates nationwide.
At a colourful ceremony in Akure, Ondo State during the 53rd annual general meeting of Nigeria National Committee (NNC) of West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nder and two other candidates were rewarded for their performance in the May/June 2014 WASSCE.

POWER generation, which hit a new record high of 4,883MW on Monday, has dropped to 4,451.05MW by the next day, Tuesday. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has attributed the drop to the disruption of tower no 62, along the Okpai-Onitsha 330kV double circuit transmission line, evacuating power from the Okpai Power Station in Delta State. It has been vandalised.

A former governor of Cross River State, Clement Ebri, has urged All Progressives Progress (APC) leaders to consider fielding one of Prince Abubakar Audu for the supplementary governorship election in Kogi State.

Audu, who was the party’s governorship

THREE months after he was appointed acting executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Com- mission (NCC), Senate, yesterday, confirmed Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta as the substantive CEO.

EKITI State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has carpeted President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim that many of those who looted public treasuries in the government of former president Goodluck Jonathan had started returning the stolen funds to the government.

Fayose said the President should rather stay at home to govern the country instead of junketing around the globe and acting like a saint before the international community.

The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has rejected the purported ban on Hijab in the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, camps.

The Director-General of the NYSC, Johnson Olawumi, on Tuesday announced a ban on the use of “long hijab” by female corps members, citing security concerns.

But MURIC, in a statement by its director, Ishaq Akintola, said the ban is unacceptable to Muslims.

“The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) rejects the purported ban. It is reckless, baseless and preposterous. No public officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should speak in such manner.

JEALOUSY: Corps Member Chokes Girlfriend Over Rival In Delta

A Batch ‘B’ corps member, Jeremiah Osewe, at the Issele-Uku Orientation Camp near Asaba, Delta State, almost choked his girlfriend to death on Monday over a rival corps member.

It was reliably gathered that the victim, Stella Omorodion, before coming to the orientation camp, had a boyfriend who was unknown to her boyfriend at the camp.

Sources said that trouble started when Stella’s former boyfriend was redeployed from Zamfara State to Delta State, and after making enquiries discovered that Stella was in the camp at Issele-Uku.

Monday 30 November 2015

Sunday 29 November 2015

Saturday 28 November 2015

Friday 27 November 2015

Thursday 26 November 2015