JONATHAN NOMINATES OBANIKORO, GUSAU AND OTHERS FOR MINISTERIAL POSITIONS

President Goodluck Jonathan has nominated former National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau; former Lagos Senator, Musiliu Obanikoro; and former Adamawa State governor, Boni Haruna, as ministers.

The three men were included in the list of 12 ministerial nominees sent to the Senate for confirmation.

"UPDATE ON THE TORTURE OF PEPPER SELLERS" - IG TAKES OVER INVESTIGATION AS LAGOS HANDS OVER FAMILY TO PUBLIC DEFENDER

The Lagos State Assembly handed over the family of Mr. Freeman Agomah to the Office of the Public Defender today in the latest development in the Ejigbo pepper sodomy, torture and murder case.

The Lagos State Assembly told the family they would no longer live at their residence but live far away from the area to help them overcome the trauma. Mr. Agomah and his wife were given N500,000.

CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS POST.

Mr. Agomah's wife and two daughters were tortured and sodomized by a gang of men in Ejigbo, allegedly last February.  One of the daughter's Juliana died as a result of her injuries two months later.  

OKONJO IWEALA ABUSED THE IMPORT WAIVERS - NIGERIA CUSTOMS SERVICE REPORTS

Coordinating Minister of the Economy - Okonjo Iweala

The Customs says under the waiver regime supervised by  Okonjo-Iweala, more than 65 percent of  incentives on export were for  questionable goods 

In the last three years, Nigeria lost a staggering N1.4 trillion on import waivers – not N171 billion as claimed by finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala — and lost hundreds of billions of naira more as authorities recklessly grant import/export incentives on unapproved goods from rice to fish to kolanuts, with no significant bearing on the economy, the Nigeria Customs Service has said in a new document seen by investigative journalism outfit PREMIUM TIMES.

Comparing the government’s export grant to the well-abused fuel subsidy, the Customs said more than 65 percent of beneficiaries received the grant for goods not approved by the government, which ordinarily should be limited to raw materials, machinery and spare parts. 

TUKUR - AN ANTICLIMAX TO A TURBULENT JOURNEY

 

His assumption of office was as dramatic as it was chaotic. But even at that, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur believed that his rejection at home by the governors of the North-East, was not enough to stop his dream of leading Nigeria’s largest political party.

With President Goodluck Jonathan’s support, protest by the governors against his choice was irrelevant. The governors had preferred a former Acting National Secretary of the party, Dr. Musa Babayo, who hails from Bauchi State.

The governors carried their protest against Tukur to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after Tukur had been beaten at the party’s shadow election in the North-East zone. Babayo beat Tukur by 14 votes to two. Governors Isa Yuguda, Murtala Nyako and Danbaba Suntai of Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba states respectively, led the protest.

BILLIONAIRE (OTUDEKO) SUES BILLIONAIRE(DANGOTE) OVER LAND..........DEMANDS $48M IN DAMAGES

A Federal High Court, Lagos, on Tuesday fixed February 6 to hear a suit filed by Oba Otudeko against Alhaji Aliko Dangote and the Nigerian Ports Authority over a land dispute.

Justice Okon Abang adjourned the case at the instance of the counsel to Dangote, Mrs Fola Sowemimo, to enable her to file written statement on oath.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Otudeko, Chairman of Honeywell Group, had filed the suit in 2006 at Justice Ramat Mohammed’s court. He is claiming $48m against the defendants as damages for breach of contract over a 10.8 square metres of land within the Lagos Ports Complex, known as the 5th Apapa Wharf Extension.

HOUSE OF REPS MEMBERS IN ROWDY SESSION OVER LEADERSHIP CHANGE

  

ROWDY SESSION

Many members of the house of reps must be retired thugs as they haven't quit shouting at one another at any\ opportunity. A rowdy session broke out in plenary on Tuesday, during a debate on the disruption of a peaceful rally in Rivers State where a Senator was allegedly shot.

Trouble started when the House of Representatives Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, while making his contribution referred to the Deputy Majority Leader, Leo Ogor, as the ‘Deputy Minority Leader’.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

The comment caused uproar as members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in House reacted angrily to the comment, while their colleagues in the All Progressives Congress, APC, defended their leader.

When order was eventually restored, the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal cautioned the lawmakers to use their mandates in the interest of Nigerians.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had restrained the House of Representatives and its principal officers from effecting any changes in the composition of its leadership.

The court’s order was handed down during the hearing on a case filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) against the House of Representatives and some of its members, seeking to restrain the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, other principal officers of the House and its defecting members from taking any step “to alter or change the leadership of the 1st defendant (PDP).

Credits: Channels

JUSTICE FOR BRUTALISED WOMEN (PEPPER SELLERS) IN EJIGBO LAGOS

IT was a bizarre setting. A video clip that went viral on the Internet of two women, a mother and her step daughter, being subjected to unbelievable acts of torture and brutalisation for allegedly stealing pepper at a market in Ejigbo, a suburb of Lagos, should sicken us all. Stripped naked and subjected to a ritual of sexual sadism, the victims, identified as the wife and daughter of a palm-wine tapper, were seen pleading with their tormentors for mercy that never came. One of the ladies whose breast was mangled in the process of the torture later died a miserable and shameful death.

WORLD'S 85 RICHEST HAVE AS MUCH MONEY AS 3.5BILLION POOREST PEOPLE PUT TOGETHER

BILLIONAIRES - BUFFET & BILL GATES

 The 85 richest people in the world now have as much money as the 3.5billion poorest put together. The combined wealth of people including Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the Koch Brothers has increased to £1trillion. And the top one per cent of earners are worth £67.3trillion - almost half (46 per cent) of the world's wealth, according to a report by Oxfam.

Critics claim the surge in inequality has been driven by 'power grabbing' wealthy elites who harbour close relationships with leading politicians.

"UPDATE ON THE TORTURE OF PEPPER SELLERS" - POLICE RAID OBA'S PALACE, TAKES NINE SUSPECTS INTO CUSTODY

The police have raided the palace of the traditional ruler of Ejigbo, Oba Murufu Ojoola, to arrest nine suspects in connection with the torture of two women alleged to have stolen pepper in Ejigbo market in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, in February last year. One of the victims was reported dead after the incident.

Read previous post HERE, HERE & HERE............

The market has also been shut and the traders were asked to vacate on Saturday pending the conclusion of investigation of the crime.

LAGOS ASSEMBLY BANS SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES

The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed a bill for a law to ban smoking in public places. The bill which was passed on Monday, has been sent to the executive arm of the government for the governor’s ascent.

The bill, which scaled through the third reading, prohibits anybody smoking in all public places such as libraries, museum, public toilets, schools, hospital, day care centres, public transportation and restaurants among others. The bill stipulated penalties for violating the restriction, ranging from N10,000 to N50,000 fines or imprisonment. 

A statement by the Assembly on Monday said the bill consisted of 16 sections, which explained the regulation of smoking in public places.

JEGA DROPS BOMBSHELL - DON'T EXPECT PERFECT ELECTIONS IN 2015

PROF. JEGA

The Independent National Electoral Commission has said  perfect elections  are  not possible in 2015. It, however, assured  that certain measures were being put in place  to achieve success.

The  Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, stated this   when  the new United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, visited him in Abuja on Monday. “We are not promising a perfect election in 2015 but we are confident that we will do our best,” he told Entwistle. 

But he quickly added that INEC  had  embarked on the training of its members of staff   “in collaboration with development partners’’ as one of the measures to achieve success during the polls. Other steps, according to him, are  strategic plans and reorganisation of  its  members of staff as well as “a retreat to finalise the timetable for the 2015 polls.”

JONATHAN, TUKUR AND A GOVERNMENT OF JEZEBELS - FANI KAYODE

FRMI FANI KAYODE

I must commend President Goodluck Jonathan for removing Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as National Chairman of the PDP and finally dumping him. It really is good riddance to bad rubbish because that man was a disaster to his party. PDP itself is bad enough but to have a self-conceited and vainglorious ancient dinosaur who is completely fixed in his ways, who believes that anyone and everyone below the age of 60 is still a ''young'' man or woman  and who sees the world from the prism and mindset of a 1960's Viet Nam war veteran that is still suffering from post-war traumatic syndrome was a disaster waiting to happen. This was a man that drove goodwill away from his party in the same way that shelltox drives away mosquitoes from a bedroom. As long as Tukur was in charge the continued demise of the PDP was guaranteed. He was not only a scourge to the ruling party but he was also a beautiful, eager and willing undertaker to it's long lost glory and a tremendous source of comfort and joy to those of us in the opposition APC. We shall miss him sorely and I must confess that he did a great job for us whilst he lasted. May he enjoy his forced and long-overdue retirement from public office and partisan politics and may he live long enough to see the PDP defeated and an APC President sworn in 2015.

CORRUPT EX-GOVERNOR OF BAUCHI "ADAMU MU'A'ZU" MAY BE PDP'S NEXT CHAIRMAN

Barring any last-minute change in plan, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will, at its National Executive Committee meeting on Monday (today), ratify a former governor of Bauchi state, Adamu Mu’azu, as its new national chairman, party and presidency sources have said.

The usually reliable sources said early Monday morning that Mr. Mu’azu emerged the consensus candidate for the job after a rash of meetings involving President Goodluck Jonathan, PDP governors and other influential chieftains of the party, including Vice President Namadi Sambo and President of the Senate, David Mark.

Mr. Mu’azu, who will now replace Bamanga Tukur, who was forced out of office Thursday, emerged ahead of Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, a former Minister of Commerce, Idris Waziri, former Acting National Secretary of the party, Musa Babayo, a former party spokesperson, Ahmed Rufai Alkali   and a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Ibrahim Bunu, who were all widely reported to have jostled for the position.

DISGRACED FORMER CHAIRMAN OF PDP "BAMANGA TUKUR" SET TO APPOINTED AS MINISTER OF DEFENCE

Strong indications have emerged in Abuja that ousted former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has been penciled down by President Goodluck Jonathan as the next Minister of Defence.

While announcing Tukur’s retirement and displaying the envelope containing the letter last week, President Jonathan, who is the leader of his party, revealed that he was going to reward the former chairman with a very tough appointment.

Security sources said that contrary to the belief that Tukur was asked to resign as PDP chairman because he ended up causing disaffection within the party, President Jonathan only told the former chairman to step aside to enable a wholesome resolution of perceived grievances of various camps who cited Tukur as the problem.

OJB'S FAMILY ATTENDS THANKSGIVING SERVICE AFTER HIS SUCCESSFUL KIDNEY OPERATION

OJB Jezreel attended his first official Thanksgiving Service since returning from a kidney operation in India at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Lagos on last Sunday.

The music producer was joined by his family including wives – Mabel, June and Korede along with their children, seven in total. A few celebrity friends were also in attendance – COSON boss Tony Okoroji, rapper Illbliss, singer Mr Kool, Jafextra and others.

LONDON BASED MODEL (SUNSHINE HAYE) CLAIMS DAVIDO (@IAM_DAVIDO) IS THE FATHER OF HER UNBORN TWINS

There are reports that a 23-year-old Shanielle ‘Sunshine’ Haye is five months pregnant and Davido is the person who got her pregnant. Davido has denied reports that he is expecting the set of twins even though he never denied having an affair with her.

Reports say Haye is claiming to have met with Davido and had a fling with him while the singer was on a UK tour in 2013. Going through her Instagram and Twitter accounts, Miss Haye  does imply that she is expecting a set of twins, she does NOT however mention Davido as her baby daddy.

Haye has been tweeting about her twins for five months. It’s believed she’s expecting a set of girls.

ENTRENCHED INTERESTS IN THE AVIATION SECTOR ARE BEHIND MY ORDEAL - STELLA ODUAH (@stellaoduah)

Call her a Cat with nine lives then u might not be wrong because despite several calls for her removal as Aviation minister, Stella Oduah is still in charge of the Aviation sector in Nigeria. From inflated prices of armoured vehicles to fake certificates degrees, she is a champion already.

Princess Stella Oduah spoke recently and has explained why a handful of detractors remains unrelenting in the criticisms of  her and the aviation industry.

The minister lamented in Abuja yesterday that apart  from the political side to her travails, “entrenched interests in the aviation sector which have been ripping off the sector in the past 38 years and held the sector and stifling its development” were behind orchestrated attempts to disparage her.

Oduah, who sounded defiant, made it clear that she would not abandon the transformation agenda she was vigorously pursuing in the aviation sector because of the antics of her traducers so that Nigerians could derive maximum benefits from her struggle.

RIVERS STATE IS ON FIRE AS MASKED GUNMEN OPENED FIRE ON PRO-AMAECHI RALLY

The power play between the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Jonathan and Rivers State Governor, Amaechi has since been identified as a threat to democracy and peace in the oil rich state. Unfortunately, gladiators are showing no signs of slowing down.

Just yesterday, hoodlums suspected to be militants invaded the Save Rivers Movement rally in Bori, Khana Local Government Area and unleashed terror on members of the group. The militants, who wore masks were said to have  shot sporadically mostly at  vehicles parked at the venue of the event by state government officials.

The  Secretary to the State Government, Mr. George Feyii, the Chief of Staff, Government House,  Chief Tony Okocha, and some journalists were among those that  escaped death by a whisker. Some  however sustained serious bullet injuries during the incident that occurred  barely  a week   after a similar rally was disrupted by operatives of the Rivers State Police Command in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

BBC'S GHANAIAN BROADCASTER DIES OF HEART ATTACK

Tributes have been paid to popular BBC presenter Komla Dumor who died suddenly at his home in London. The broadcaster said Mr Dumor, who presented BBC World News and Focus On Africa, had died at his home yesterday, at the age of 41.

One of Ghana's best known journalists, Mr Dumor joined the BBC in 2007 after a decade of working in broadcast journalism in his native Ghana, where he had won the Ghana Journalist of the Year award.

Mr Dumor, who was born in Accra, Ghana, in 1972 hosted Network Africa for the BBC World Service between 2007 and 2009 before joining The World Today programme.

In 2009 he became the first host of Africa Business Report on BBC World News. Earlier this year he was named one of New African's 100 most influential Africans in 2013.

I AM NOT IN A RELATIONSHIP - NIYOLA

Background

My name is Eniola Akinbo but for the purpose of my music, I am known as Niyola.  I had a well-rounded childhood and my father was a very strong influence in my life. I have nine siblings and I’m the last child. I read books, played and got into trouble like every other child. I learned to be responsible early in life and this has helped me handle good and bad times.

Journey to music

I realised I could sing when I was a child. My father took me to a Funmi Adams concert when I was eight years old. That experience opened my eyes and inspired me. As a teenager, I competed in the Amen Starlet Competition in 2000.  That was when I was introduced to the Nigerian music scene, but I did not make my professional music debut until 2005.