Channel 366 : May 2013

Friday, May 31, 2013

GTBank Emerges ‘African Bank of the Year’

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTB) yesterday announced that it was on Wednesday conferred with the 2013 ‘African Bank of the Year’ award by the African Banker magazine at an event held in Morocco.

Bill Clinton has a secret son he fathered with a hooker – and the now
27-year-ancient young man is desperate to meet his biological dad.

Adams Oshiomhole, governor of the Nigerian southern state of Edo, has denied reports linking the present political travails of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of River State to the donation of N500 million to his second term election campaign.

The governor in a press statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said the claims by an ‘unnamed PDP’ chieftain’ to the effect that Amaechi gave the money to support his Edo state counterpart during his campaign, published on Thursday 30 May by one or the national dailies, was malicious and misleading.

Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau and factional Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), on Friday led 14 state governors to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa.

Addressing State House correspondents after a closed door meeting, Jang said they were in the villa to consult with the President.

The joy of the Presidency over the success of the mid-term assessment was cut short with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, one of the speculated presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at that state’s economic submit on Wednesday.
Obasanjo who boycotted the Democracy Day activities reportedly presented Lamido as a preferred option to President Goodluck.

In what looks like the replicate of the crisis in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has also been factionalised with allegations and counter-allegations of underhand dealings between the presidency, ministry of Youth Affairs and a section of the umbrella youth organisation.

Nigeria’s Michael Emenalo has offered to resign from his role as Chelsea’s sporting director to facilitate the return of Jose Mourinho. But it is understood that Emenalo’s proposal was immediately rejected by Roman Abramovich, the owner, who views him as an important adviser and wants to keep him at Stamford Bridge, The Times reports. Emenalo who has at various times served as the club’s international scout and assistant coach is now the Technical Director.

Baba Suwe in court

A panel of Court of Appeal judges in Lagos today set aside the N25 million compensatory damages earlier awarded Lagos comedian, Babatunde Omidina " Baba Suwe " over a prolonged detention by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) last year.

First Lady Patience Jonathan yesterday denied having a hand in the suspension of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the National Working Committee.

In a statement last night , Senior Special Assistant to the First Lady on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ayo Osinlu described the allegation as “not only dubious, but also diversionary, unfair, unkind, and therefore totally unacceptable”.

IF the words of Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime are anything to go by, his successor will come from the North Senatorial District (Nsukka).

Chime told stakeholders at a Town Hall meeting in Enugu yesterday that it will be the turn of the zone to occupy the highest office in the state after the expiration of his two-term tenure in 2015.

A combined team of the Joint Task Force (JTF), involving officers of the Nigerian Army and the Directorate of State Security (DSS), yesterday, confirmed that they have smashed a cell of a foreign terrorist organization, identified as Hezbollah in Kano and arrested some of its members who are operating in the country.

Ango Abdullahi

INDICATIONS emerged, Thursday, that the north might sanction prominent politicians from the region found to be fraternising with President Goodluck Jonathan with a view to scuttling its desire of occupying the Presidency in 2015.

The decision to clip the wings of northern politicians who were yet to see the need for the country’s top political office to revert to the region, was taken at a meeting of the Northern Elders’ Forum, NEF, during one of its recent meetings in one of the states, which is under the state of emergency.

Impeachment plot: Amaechi fights back

•APC gov leads war against Abuja politicians

…Assembles legal team

•Real reasons behind Rivers gov’s travails

As his adversaries fine-tune the plot to impeach him, Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has assembled his war cabinet to give them a good fight to stall the move. Spearheading the battle against Amaechi’s impeachment is an All Progressives Congress (APC) governor. Gov. Amaechi is also set to challenge his suspension by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in court.

The faction of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) under the leadership of Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, yesterday opened its secretariat in Abuja.

The 18 governors in the group at its inaugural meeting last Saturday had resolved “to secure a befitting neutral permanent secretariat.”

The House of Representatives yesterday approved a 14-year jail sentence with no option of fine for the same sex couple even as it outlawed gay clubs and societies in Nigeria.

Considering a report of a Bill for an Act to prohibit marriage or civil union entered between persons of the same sex, solemnization of the same and for other matters related, the lawmakers placed a 10-year jail term for members of gay associations or those who engaged in gay processions.

It was jubilation in Ekiti State as the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed petitions filed by ousted Governor of the State, Mr Segun Oni against the ruling of the Court of Appeal, sitting in Ado-Ekiti that re-affirmed the election of Dr. Kayode Fayemi as earlier delivered by an Ilorin Appeal Court on October 15, 2010.

The Supreme Court had in its 7-man unanimous ruling struck out Mr Oni’s suit; laying to rest the nation’s longest election petition that spanned from 2007 to 2013.

27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, yesterday, vowed to swim or sink with Governor Rotimi Amaechi as they dismissed insinuations that some of them had succumbed to inducements to impeach the governor.

Director of Department of State Services, DSS, in Kano, Mr. Bassey Etang, has said the weapons of mass destruction discovered in a bunker at a Lebanese residence in Kano, Tuesday, belong to international terrorist organisation, Hezbollah.

Russia delievrs weapons to Syria; President Assad says army 'has balance of power'

The Syrian government claims its forces have "regained the momentum"

The Syrian army has scored "major victories" against rebels and now holds "the balance of power" in the conflict, President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly told a Lebanese TV station.

Mr Assad is also quoted as saying Syria has received the first shipment of an advanced Russian air defense system.

(CNN) -- A newborn baby boy who was found alive inside a toilet pipe in Jinhua, China, has been released from hospital and taken home by his maternal grandparents, police said Thursday.

The child's mother is still being treated at the hospital, but has been cooperating with the investigation, said Xiang Jiangsong, a police official.

BENIN— A father of three, who was identified as Patrick Essien, was reported have committed suicide, yesterday, in Benin after he was allegedly sacked from the transport company where he worked.

His dangling body was found in the roof of the toilet at the residence at Imasabemwen Street, off Siluko Road.

Dr. Chudi Nwike

His Excellency, Dr. Chudi Nwike, the former governor of Anambra State who was abducted and killed by unknown gunmen, will be laid to rest at his home in Ogbunike, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, South-East Nigeria, on June 7.

As part of his celebration of the nation’s democracy, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar Wednesday tweeted a narrative that traced his entry into politics and how, over the years, he became an advocate of democracy. While paying tributes to his political mentor, the late Shehu Musa Yar'Adua (SMY), whom he said introduced him into politics, he recounted how he narrowly escaped the killer-squad of the late Gen Sani Abacha.

KEY predecessors of President Goodluck Jonathan in office, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo; and ex-dictators, retired Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, and Abdusalami Abubakar (retd.), as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday shunned the Democracy Day event of the Federal Government.

CLANDESTINE moves to impeach Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, heightened on Wednesday as eight members of the House of Assembly were said to have shifted loyalty to the camp of the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike.

Though the names of the lawmakers were not mentioned, the number of anti-Amaechi state legislators has suddenly swollen to 13 out of 32.

Obama explains lipstick on his collar

"I do not want to be in trouble with Michelle," Obama said, "so I'm calling you out."

President Barack Obama with lipstick on his collar. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

President Barack Obama had some explaining to do.

The commander in chief arrived at the East Room for an event Tuesday night honoring Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders—one of whom had shown him some love.

There to speak of their contributions, he began his remarks by discussing a very red mark on his collar left by an attendee.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi is heading for a Federal High Court today to challenge his suspension from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by its National Working Committee(NWC).

The governor has assembled a legal team, “most of who have voluntarily offered to defend democracy and the rule of law”.

Facts emerging show how the first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, allegedly influenced the suspension of Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Amaechi was suspended by the National Working Committee (NWC) this Monday on the grounds that he violated Articles 58 1(b), (c ), (h) and (m) of the PDP. But the suspension was largely seen as a direct fallout of the election of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) which Amaechi won.

KANO — SPECIAL forces drafted from the Nigerian Military, Tuesday night, raided a residential building-cum-warehouse packed with sophisticated military hardware at Bompai, a highbrow area located within the precinct of police and immigration headquarters in the troubled northern commercial city.

Apparently referring to the current high-wire politics and horse-trading ahead of 2015, former president Olusegun Obasanjo has declared that Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido has exhibited good governance abilities, and has the capacity and competence to rule Nigeria.

N3trn Pension Money in Wrong Hands

Some N2.94 trillion pension funds are at the disposal of few individuals who are not properly supervised, who have no training in the management, and who dip their hands into it as and when they feel like, according to the Senate.

The national budget is N4.9 trillion and there are pension funds up to N2.9 trillion; suggesting that there are lots of idle funds in wrong hands.

Lawmakers of the Lagos House of Assembly have deferred a decision on the tolling of the new Lekki-Ikoyi bridge opened by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, amidst fanfare today.

The 1.358km long suspension bridge cost about N29 billion, almost $184.6million. It was built by Julius Berger.

The lawmakers, except the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and Sikiru Oshinowo, all rejected the proposal which was brought to the House by the State Government on the basis that the one-kilometer bridge was built with tax-payers fund and not on a public private partnership deal.

ABUJA – AS impeachment threat dangles before the embattled Rivers State Governor Hon. Chibuike Amaechi , posters bearing his photograph and Governor Sule Lamido for the 2015 presidential election now litters some parts of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

An Oredo Magistrate’s Court, Benin, Edo State, has sentenced an employee of United Bank for Africa, Osasere Osemwengie, to five years imprisonment, without an option of fine.

Osemwengie, according to police charges, defrauded unsuspecting bank customers of millions of naira under the guise of helping them to invest in UBA.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday congratulated himself for selecting Sule Lamido to be the governor of Jigawa state insisting that his choice has paid off.Chief Obasanjo, speaking as a guest at the Jigawa State Economic Summit, said Governor Lamido has shown by his achievements in office that he was the right person to lead the state.

BEIJING (AP) — A 22-year-old woman who raised the initial alarm about a newborn trapped in a sewer pipe in China kept quiet about being his mother even as she watched the sensational two-hour rescue unfold, reports said Wednesday.

The woman, whose name was not revealed in state media reports, confessed to police a couple of days later when they asked her to undergo a medical checkup after searching her rented room and finding toys and blood-stained toilet paper, the state-run Zhejiang News website said.

LONDON (Reuters) - The family of a man suspected of hacking a British soldier to death on a London street condemned the attack as senseless on Tuesday, distancing itself from the murder which has provoked an anti-Muslim backlash.

Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old veteran Of the Afghan war, was butchered in broad daylight by two men who said they killed him in the name of Islam.

When a popular jewelry shop at Yaba market in Lagos State was burgled January and gold jewelries worth over N150million carted away, nobody thought the police would catch up with the perpetrators of the crime given the sophistication with which they carried out their operation. Traders and residents of that area were thrown into disarray. They believed the bandits may have gone far away.

Obasanjo, Yar-adua and Jonathan

Pirates Kidnap Oil Tanker Crew In Nigeria

Armed pirates attacked an oil products tanker off the coast of Nigeria and abducted an unknown number of crew, security sources said on Tuesday.

The Nigerian-flagged MT Matrix was boarded by gunmen in the early hours of Saturday about 40 nautical miles off the coast of oil-producing Bayelsa state, two security sources said, in a stretch of water often targeted by pirates.
There were 12 Pakistani and five Nigerian crew aboard the vessel when it was attacked, one of the sources said.

Reps Oppose Jonathan’s plans To Use Adamawa, Borno, Yobe’s Allocations For Emergency Rule

The House of Representatives approved a resolution, Tuesday, insisting its earlier decision holds, mandating President Goodluck Jonathan to deploy only federal funds to administer the emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.

This decision nullified part of a conference report it reached with the senate.

The new order will come into effect after a similar reversal is approved by the senate. The House has urged the senate to deliver a similar resolution.

Former minister of aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, said yesterday that the suspension of Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the victimization he has been subjected to by the Presidency since his re-election as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) have turned him to a national hero.

What could have turned to be an air mishap yesterday was avoided by the experience of the Arik pilot of Flight W 3788 conveying over 100 passengers from Lagos to Asaba in Delta State.

The flight which was supposed to take off at 8:30 am, was delayed in Lagos on account of bad weather. Though travellers had boarded the flight, after about two hours inside the plane, they were asked to go back to the departure lounge as the aircraft could not take off due to what the pilot called “terribly bad weather at Asaba.”

A nine-man gang attacked music artiste, Wasiu Alabi, aka Pasuma, in Ahmadiyya end of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway on Monday night.

The robbers snatched Pasuma’s Range Rover Sports Utility Vehicle with number plate Lagos, MUS 830AP, and dispossessed him of other valuables.

We are dealing with such hideous and second rate characters in Nigeria’s public space, belonging to the ACN and the CPC, and that other would-be disaster-prone mongrel called APC that they won’t even respect the truth. The prize for being silly in this regard must go to one Rotimi Fashakin who describes himself as the National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He is an arm-chair critic per excellence and a medieval-era ignoramus.

President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, kick-started the N162.9 billion Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project in Niger State.

Jonathan said the hydro dam project when constructed would generate 700 Mega Watts of electricity for the country.

Forces opposed to the return of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, yesterday, made fresh moves to unseat him as governor.

This came as some governors have faulted his suspension from the party, saying it was an abuse of the party’s constitution.

APC Ready For Registration By INEC - Ikimi

The All Progressive Congress (APC) is ready for registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chief Tom Ikimi, Chairman of the Merger Committee, has said.
Ikimi dropped the hint on Tuesday when he addressed journalists after the merger committee meeting in Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Tuesday, said it has gathered sufficient evidence to warrant the prosecution of wife of former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mrs. Alayingi Sylva, on allegations of corruption.

AFP – A tugboat contracted by oil giant Chevron has sunk off the coast of Nigeria, leaving 12 sailors missing, an official said on Tuesday.

“I can confirm the incident. It was on Sunday morning,” said Corrie van Kessel, a spokeswoman for Sea Trucks Group, which owns West African Ventures Limited, operator of the vessel.

“12 crew members … There is a big rescue operation in progress at the moment,” she added, specifying the 12 missing were the vessel’s entire crew.

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Friday, May 31, 2013

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