OKONJO IWEALA RESPONDS TO THE 50 QUESTIONS POSED BY THE HOUSE OF REPS COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

We are pleased to provide responses to a set of 50 questions, which were submitted, to us by the House of Representatives Finance Committee on 19th  December 2013 (NASS/7HR/CT.32/1999). We are somewhat surprised  by the content  of  many of these questions for  a number  of reasons.

First, the responses to most of these questions are already in the public domain, and have been extensively debated by the government, media, civil society organizations and the private sector. We have answered these questions or similar ones many times before various Committees of the National Assembly. Nevertheless, we are pleased to answer them again with supporting data and analyses.

Second, the questions are repetitive in several instances (for example, questions 28, 34 and 40 on the benchmark oil price), and in some cases are directly contradictory (for example, questions 5 and 9 on debt management). This makes it somewhat confusing for those trying to respond.

DEATH TOLL RISES TO 43 IN MAIDUGURI AS BOKO HARAM CONTINUES KILLING RAMPAGE

Death toll in Tuesday’s deadly bomb attack on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital by Boko Haram has risen from 30 to 43. Also, about three hours after the Maiduguri incident, gunmen suspected to be members of the  sect invaded another village in the state and killed five people.

A mortuary attendant at the Borno State Specialists Hospital, Maiduguri where the corpses were deposited, who pleaded anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the press on the incident, said he counted 43 corpses brought to the hospital’s morgue after the explosion on Tuesday.

The attendant said, “Please, do not mention my name but let me tell you that 43 mangled and burnt corpses were brought in at different times on Tuesday.” Efforts by journalists to enter the hospital’s mortuary were frustrated by security men and the management of the health institution. The hospital was heavily guided and visitors and relations of the victims were not given easy access to the mortuary. It was however observed that many injured victims were receiving treatment at various wards in the State Specialists Hospital and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

BAMANGA TUKUR (PDP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN) RESIGNS FORCEFULLY

Bamanga Tukur, the embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has resigned. 

Sources say he tendered his resignation to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja today, and the staff of the party secretariat is reportedly celebrating his departure.

Mr. Tukur’s resignation has not been made public officially according to party executives.

Tukur had insisted that he would not resign, saying that it was only the party's convention that could remove him, but he was said to have been pressured to resign by his son, Anwal. 

The insistence by PDP governors and the passing of a vote of no confidence on him by the 37 state chairmen of the party on Tuesday night are said to have made Anwal to persuade his father to quit the job.

The governors will definitely install their preferred candidate and seize control of the party machinery. This is a big blow to Jonathan's 2nd term bid.

Anwal nurses dreams of becoming governor of Adamawa, the Tukurs’ home state, and a part of Bamanga Tukur’s problems at the National Secretariat concern the undemocratic methods he has employed in Adamawa in the past couple of years to ensure Anwal becomes governor.

DEADLY ELEPHANT ATTACK IN SOUTH AFRICA LEAVES COUPLE INJURED

This is the moment an enraged bull elephant flipped over a car containing a British teacher and her fiance during an African safari.

Sarah Brooks, 30, and her fiance were filming the animal from their car as it drank at a waterhole when it turned and went for them. It flipped their vehicle and shunted it around 130ft down a track into thick bushland.

KIM JONG-UN MAY HAVE EXECUTED HIS UNCLE BECAUSE OF "PLEASURE BRIGADES OF YOUNG GIRLS"

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may have executed his uncle because of his role as a procurer of a ‘pleasure brigade’ of young girls.

Jang Song Thaek allegedly had the task of recruiting girls – some as young as 15 – for the country’s late dictator Kim Jong Il.

According to a former family sushi chef, Kenji Fujimoto, North Korea’s 31-year-old leader was disgusted by his father’s immoral antics and has now punished his uncle for abusing his position.

MEET "IBRAHIM JADRAN" THE 32-YR-OLD MILITIA LEADER HOLDING LIBYA'S OIL HOSTAGE

A 32-year-old Libyan militia leader, sitting since July on billions of dollars of oil in the eastern part of the country, was defiant in an exclusive interview Tuesday with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

“This government has allowed Libya to become one of the most corrupted five states in the world,” Ibrahim Jadran said. “The government is not able to defend itself.” Perhaps no single person better illustrates the post-war woes of Libya than Jadran.

In 2012, he was entrusted by the government to guard Libya's crucial eastern oil ports. But last July he went rogue, seizing the ports – blocking oil exports – and demanding more autonomy and shared revenues for his eastern region, which he calls by its ancient Roman name, Cyrenaica.

OPC BEGINS MANHUNT FOR SUSPECTS INVOLVED IN THE "TORTURE OF PEPPER SELLERS" IN EJIGBO, LAGOS

Members  of the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC) have begun a manhunt for the those involved in the torture and brutalisation of two women accused of stealing pepper in Ejigbo, Lagos State.

CLICK HERE & HERE TO READ PREVIOUS POST.

The manhunt was instituted on Tuesday after  the founder of the group, Dr Frederick Fasehun, ordered members of the congress to hunt for the culprits and turn them over to law enforcement agents.

25-YR-OLD MAN REMANDED IN PRISON FOR RAPING 23-YR-OLD WOMAN IN OYO STATE

An Ibadan Chief Magistrates’ Court on Monday remanded 25-year-old Adeniji Ojo in Agodi Prisons over alleged rape of a 23-year-old woman.

The Chief Magistrate, Alhaja Fatima Badrudeen, ordered that the accused should be kept behind bars pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions.

STELLA ODUAH IS ON MEDICAL LEAVE TO COOL OFF MANY SCANDALS

The Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah has taken off from Nigeria since her certificate fraud was exposed. She is believed to be in Medical leave in an undisclosed country.

Mrs. Oduah, who was also embroiled in a BMW purchase scandal prior to the certificate mess, reportedly took off from Nigeria after the report of a presidential panel indicting her for a string of corrupt practices was leaked to her. The panel reportedly went beyond its initial brief to unravel a string of corrupt acts of the minister including how she connived with commercial banks to receive kickbacks for renovation projects initiated at airports across the country.

The panel, which was set up by President Jonathan in October to look into how she squeezed the cash-strapped Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to purchase two armored BMW cars for $1.6million.  The story was also broken by SaharaReporters. 

Rather than face the consequences of her own actions, Mrs. Oduah has been telling anyone willing to listen that she merely “stepped on powerful toes” in the country.

BOKO HARAM'S SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 30 IN MAIDUGURI

Boko Haram, under the leadership of Imam Abubakar Shekau, has claimed responsibility for yesterday's suicide bombing attackat the busy Post Office Roundabout in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State on Tuesday.

A lone suicide bomber, believed to be a member of the Islamist militant sect, Boko Haram, carried out the attack which eye witnesses  said   left no fewer than 30 people dead and about 50 others injured. The attack which occurred at about seven hours after eight people  died   in an   accident  on  the Osara-Okene Express Road, Kogi State, sparked protests by youths, who  alleged that  it  was traceable to politicians.

HORROR IN CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC - CANNIBAL ON REVENGE MISSION

Horrific footage has emerged of a cannibal eating the leg of a Muslim slaughtered by a rampaging Christian mob in the Central African Republic. The victim was hauled from a bus, battered and then stabbed before being set on fire in the capital city Bangui, according to the BBC.

                                           CANNIBAL ON REVENGE MISSION

In the aftermath of the incident, one of his attackers Ouandja Magloire - who also calls himself ‘Mad Dog’ -  grabbed hold of his leg and then began to devour it. Magloire told a BBC reporter that his action was revenge for the murders of his pregnant wife, his sister-in-law and her baby.

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ASSAULTED TEENAGER WILL PRESS CHARGES AGAINST KANYE WEST

Assaulted Teenager

 Kanye West is in the news again.....Only this time instead of using his words, the controversial rapper decided his fists would make a stronger point. And (shockingly) he wasn't going after a paparazzo.

According to TMZ, West came to the defense of his baby mama Kim Kardashian after a bystander tried to help her flee the paps... only things went terribly wrong, terribly fast.

US COURT UPHOLDS LIFE SENTENCE FOR UMAR FAROUK ABDULMUTALLAB

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who tried to set off an explosive hidden in his underwear while aboard a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day in 2009, on Monday had his life sentence upheld by a federal appeals court.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by the man known as the Underwear Bomber that the sentence was cruel and unusual punishment, and that U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds in Detroit had erred by letting him represent himself at trial despite doubt about his competency.

Abdulmutallab, 27, challenged the sentence despite having pleaded guilty in October 2011, one day after his trial began. He called his attempted bombing at the time a part of his "religious duty" to participate in a jihad against the United States to avenge attacks on Muslims by that country. The defendant had been trained at an al Qaeda camp in Yemen under the direction of U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

KUDOS AS JONATHAN SIGNS ANTI-GAY LAW - 14 YEARS JAIL FOR OFFENDERS

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has assented to a bill outlawing gay relationships and same-sex marriage, effectively putting the legislation to use several months after it was passed by the two arms of the National Assembly.

With the president’s signature, anyone convicted of indulging in gay relationship or entering into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union faces up to 14 years in jail. It is also a crime to have a meeting of homosexuals, or to operate or attend a gay club, society or organization. Public show of same-sex intimate affection is also outlawed. Offenders may be jailed for up to 10 years.

“A person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies or organizations, or directly or indirectly makes public show of same-sex amorous relationship in Nigeria commits an offense and is liable on conviction to a term of 10 year,” a section of the bill signed by the president on an unspecified date, states.

JONATHAN LACKS THE POWER TO REMOVE ME - BAMANGA TUKUR

The drums of battle between the President and  party chairman of PDP, Bamanga Tukur is increasing  in Tempo.

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party has boasted that President Goodluck Jonathan is not in a position  to remove him from office. He said since he was elected at a convention, he could only be removed through a properly conducted national convention.

Tukur was reacting to a rumour  that he had been directed by the President to resign. He told   journalists   in Abuja on Monday  that the rumour was  being planted by those he described as being in the opposition.

He said, “I am an elected national chairman;  I have my certificate of return  and I cannot resign. A convention brought me;  so it has to take the convention that brought me for me to resign.  “So, not even the President can ask me to resign. Remember, some members of the National Working Committee were asked to go recently because the election that brought them was flawed. So, Mr. President cannot tread that route again.”

Men of god or god of men?????? DO NOT BE FOOLED

Pastor Sign Fireman

Thursday 5:25 pm at Ketu close, Aguda, Surulere. There was a sombre mood as I passed along the  premises of Perfect Christianity Mission. It was different from the quiet peace spoken about that comes when the Holy Spirit descends on a place, but was borne out of the recent travails of the leader of the establishment.

Mr. Ofuche Ukoha better known as Dr. Sign Fireman was arrested by the Nigerian Police Force over allegations of ritual murder of 12 year old Bose Ogoja. The prime suspect in the case however is 18 year old, Ikechukwu Egbo, who told police investigators that he was sent to commit the crime by the flamboyant pastor.

#HEALTHADVICE - LARGE BREAST MAY BE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH

A mother breastfeeding her child

For the average man, voluminous breasts are a turn-on. That men drool over breasts is an open secret; and in these days of half-nude dressing styles that tend to favour the baring of the bosom, things can only get as far as people want.

Some women, too, knowing the wonders that largish breasts can do to men, go all out to put them on display. No wonder that men even lament that they are being sexually frustrated by these unguarded exposures.

But beyond the social implications of possessing killer breasts, there are health downsides that should be of concern to any woman who has ample mammary glands. Without meaning to raise the alarm, experts are warning that there are some breast sizes that you can’t possess and simply carry on as if the whole world could wait.

(PICTURES) OLAIDE & OLUSOLA FATOLU WELCOME PRETTY BABY GIRL

The family of Mr. & Mrs. Olusola Fatolu were blessed with an angel yesterday. The baby girl is such a beauty to behold.

The beautiful couple exchanged marital vows last year. Congratulations to them.

CRISTIANO RONALDO WINS THE "WORLD FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR 2013 AWARD"

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or after a stunning year that saw him net an astonishing 69 goals in 59 games.

The Real Madrid talisman's achievements saw him surpass Hugo Sanchez in his club's scoring charts and equal Portugal legend Pauleta at the top of his country's list with 47 in 109 games.

Fourteen of his goals came in the Champions League as Madrid reached the semifinals before being beaten by Borussia Dortmund -- and that total eclipsed the record of 13 achieved in the season before by the shortlisted Lionel Messi.

His 2013 goal tally has overshadowed those of his two Ballon d'Or rivals, Messi and Franck Ribery, and he is the top scorer in all of Europe's biggest leagues.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS AT THE GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE

DRAMA

Winner: 12 Years a Slave

Nominees: 12 Years a Slave; Captain Phillips; Gravity; Philomena; Rush

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MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Winner: American Hustle

Nominees: American Hustle; Her; Inside Llewyn Davis; Nebraska; The Wolf of Wall Street

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