Witchcraft, Paranormal Claims And Reasonable Journalism In Nigeria By Leo Igwe

We cannot expect to achieve a rational society without a rational media establishment that presents religious and paranormal issues in a fair and sensible manner.

Read More

Sam Allardyce faces FA probe after newspaper sting: The key quotes

The FA have asked for the "full facts" following a newspaper sting on England manager Sam Allardyce, but what did he say?

A report in The Daily Telegraph claims Allardyce told undercover reporters posing as businessmen it was possible to "get around" an FA rule, introduced in 2008, banning third parties from owning part of a player's economic rights.
The report also alleges Allardyce, who has only been in the job since July, mocked predecessor Roy Hodgson, while the 61-year-old also discusses England's Euro 2016 exit, Gary Neville, team selections and potential conflict in speaking engagements.

Read More

President Buhari Approves New Federal Appointments

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved new leadership appointments for 13 Federal Government agencies, the presidency said on Monday.

Read More

Buhari's Niger Delta Minister, Uguru Usani, Was Indicted In Cross River For Fraud

 

The recommendations of the committee and approval of the state government were published as Cross River Gazette titled, ‘Views of the Cross Rivers State Government on the Report of the Financial Impropriety/Verification Standing Committeecontract involving Usani and which was investigated by the committee is titled in the Gazette as 'The Case of Gersh Henshaw & Company.'  It involved “the contract for the valuation of vehicles, workshops/equipment of the Cross River State Water Board”, awarded by Usani as the then Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development to Gersh Henshaw & Company, Estate Surveyors, and Valuers.
Usani was said to have paid about N20,750,000 to the company for the execution of the contract. The Head of Practice of the firm, Mr. Gersh Henshaw, was said to have testified before the committee, giving the impression that the firm did the state government a favour by accepting the lump sum of N20,750,000 from the then commissioner for the execution of the job.
But the committee stated that in line with the approved scale of fees for the valuation work done, Gersh Henshaw & Company ought to have been paid only N4,426,850.
The committee recommended that the sum of N16,323,150, being the excess of the payment, be recovered from Usani.

Read More

Buhari's Niger Delta Minister, Uguru Usani, Was Indicted In Cross River For Fraud

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Uguru Usani, was indicted for fraud and abuse of office during his tenure as a commissioner in Cross River State, SaharaReporters learned on Monday.  Usani was the Commissioner for Agriculture, Water Resources, and Rural Development during the last military administration in the state, which was headed by Col. U. F Ahmed (Rtd).  It was Military Administrator Ahmed who handed over to the elected governor of the state, Mr. Donald Duke, at the beginning of the Fourth Republic on May 29, 1999

Read More

Zenith Bank Staff Breaks Wife's Legs, Abandons Daughters

John Edobor, a staff of Zenith Bank,  has been dragged before the Bode Thomas Magistrate's Court in Lagos for breaking the legs of his wife and mother of their three children, Ivie, with a metal rod.  Edobor, who has been married to Ivie for nine years, has left her handicapped and with the sole responsibility of raising their three daughters. Ivie, whose legs were repeatedly hit with the iron rod until her bones fractured. She currently faces the possibility of losing her right leg and is determined to seek justice.

Read More

Touts Take Over Lagos Airport As Security Personnel Collect N1000

\

An investigation by our correspondent revealed that security personnel, especially the Aviation Security (AVSEC), a department under the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), also connive with touts in the airport environment by collecting the sum of N1000 per shift daily from them for the touts to continue their activities without harassment.

---

Despite the current unpleasant security situation in the country, touts and touting activities have continued to take center stage across Nigerian airports especially the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

An investigation by our correspondent revealed that security personnel, especially the Aviation Security (AVSEC), a department under the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), also connive with touts in the airport environment by collecting the sum of N1000 per shift daily from them for the touts to continue their activities without harassment.
Our correspondent, who carried out the investigation at the airport for almost a week, disclosed that staff of one of the major cleaning services at the airport, Patovilki Industrial Planner Ltd, also plays an active role in touting activities at the airport.
For instance, some of the cleaning service staff engage in the sales of duly stamped yellow cards to passengers between N2000 and N3000, depending on the passenger's bargaining power, without medical examination as required while the same card is received at N1000 at a Port Health Office at the airport, after medical examination of impending travelers to some countries, which still require it.
The same staff also abandon their cleaning jobs and engage in the sales of keys, bags (Ghana Must Go bags) and other accessories at the airport, rather than store owners who rented shops from the FAAN at exorbitant rates.
The collaboration between security personnel and touts go as far as the screening points within the airport.
For instance, some of them engage in money laundering for some passengers by ensuring that their luggage stashed with foreign currencies are not checked at the screening points by security agents.
For them to do this, the touts approach the security agents ahead of their clients who now bargain with them, depending on the amount of money involved.
It was further revealed that some of the touts rent trolleys from the company in charge of trolleys at the airport at N500 each and use such to besiege air travelers inside vehicular traffic even to the car parks within the airport.
The touts charge between N500 and N1000 from such travelers for helping them to carry their luggage to the departure terminal.
A source at the airport told our correspondent that some of the touts have access to restricted areas within the airport even without a valid On-Duty-Card (ODC), which is a requirement for accessing some areas at the airport.
“It is unbelievable that some of the people you see inside the terminal don’t have anything doing at all at the airport. When those accompanying travelers are denied entry into the terminal by security operatives, touts have direct access to the terminal without being challenged. They have so much penetrated the security personnel attached to the airport to the extent that some of us who are airport workers are afraid that these people may cause mayhem for us one day," the source told our correspondent.
“In fact, through their activities, some air travelers have been robbed while others duped, and these people also pilfer checked in luggage. AVSEC look the other way round because they collect the sum of N1000 from them per shift daily. They share the largesse among themselves later.
“They also engage in money laundering for several people. They go as far as taking their luggage beyond the check-in areas. Though, they do it with the connivance of security personnel at the airport. In fact, some of them go as if they are engaging in prostitution,” the source added.
It would be recalled that about a year ago, officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested an official of FAAN, Mr. Akinyele Adetula, for trying to launder $1.4m for one Mr. Ifeanyi Urama, a bureau de change operator who also doubles as a clearing and forwarding agent.
According to the EFCC, the suspect was able to pass through the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) security checks because he was wearing his identity card and therefore did not draw any suspicion.

Read More

Ministerial Screening: Saraki’s Gamble Fails, APC Chiefs Insist On Code Of Conduct Tribunal Trial

The decision by Senate President Bukola Saraki to ignore protests by his key allies against the clearance ministerial nominees may not lead to a reprieve from his ongoing trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Read More

OYEGUN’S ONDO FRAUD: THE VIOLATION OF DEMOCRACY IN THE APC
The APC, a party born of the quest for democratic good governance, is under critical threat by those who managed to be in the party but never of it. From the party’s inception, the principles of democratic fairness and justice were to guide APC internal deliberations. Party founders realized that only by intramural fair dealing could the party remain faithful to the progressive ideals that we presented to the Nigerian electorate as our governing creed. If the party could not justly govern itself, it would find it difficult to establish and maintain just government throughout the nation.
In essence, the party was the embodiment of a democratic promise made between its members as well as a democratic vow made to the public. Evidently, some errant members believe promises and vows are mere words to be easily spoken and more easily broken.  Chairman John Oyegun has breached these good pledges in a most overt and brazen display. In doing so, Oyegun has dealt a heavy blow to the very party he professes to lead. It is an awful parent who suffocates his own child for the sake of a few naira. The party was supposed to buttress APC members elected to government at all levels. Because of Oyegun’s conduct of our affairs, the party is rapidly becoming an albatross to those it was meant to help.
Oyegun’s comportment regarding the Ondo State primacy will become the textbook definition of political treachery and malfeasance of the basest order. In early September, the state primary was held. A purported winner was named. Having faith in the ways of the party, Tinubu publicly accepted what he assumed to be a verdict honestly derived.  As a democrat, one must face the possibility of defeat and accept such as outcome with as much grace as one would embrace victory. One of the few bright spots during the conduct of the primaries was Jigawa Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar
He chaired the primary convention with decorum and impartiality.  He was unaware that a tampered list had been slipped into the process.
Indeed within hours of the announcement, news began to filter in that gravely disturbed me. Credible allegations of fraud troubled the waters. The delegate list had been materially altered by someone in a strategic position to so do. The names of over 150 valid delegates were excised to make room for an equal number of impostors. This was not a clerical error. The alteration was willfully executed that the primary would be directed toward a chosen end that bore nothing in common with the will of most state party members. A cunning few had tried to deceive the many into believing they were outnumbered.
A conspiracy to steal the Ondo primary had been uncovered. Fortunately, the grand deception afoot had been unable to cover its tracks fast enough. Truth began to cry for justice.
Several candidates filed petitions contesting the result. The party established an investigative board to review the evidence. In a two to one decision, the panel found the delegate roster had suffered tampering. The panel recommended that a new primary should be held using the valid delegate list. This recommendation was tabled before the National Working Committee (NWC).
After many hours of deliberations spanning several days, a final vote was held by the NWC. Before hand, NWC members agreed that the decision of the majority would become the stance of the party. Such is the way of democracy. The NWC voted six against five to cancel the fraudulent results and hold an honest primary. For a moment, it seemed the party would restore its integrity by giving democracy a chance. However, those who sought to scam an entire state would not let the vote of 11 people spoil their enterprise.
After the NWC vote, a noticeably agitated Chairman Oyegun proposed the NWC engage in prayer before concluding the meeting. Adhering to this chairman’s request, NWC members began to pray. Seeing that the others had taken his bait, Oyegun used the prayerful interlude to secretly excuse himself from the meeting. Contravening the NWC decision and in violation of all rules of fundamental decency, Oyegun decided to safeguard the fraud done in Ondo by perpetrating a greater fraud. Oyegun arrogated to himself the right to submit the name of Rotimi Akeredolu to INEC as the candidate of the party.
Truth has finally come to light. There exists a regressive element in the party that cares nothing for the progressive ideas upon which this party was founded. They joined the APC because it was the best ride available at the time. Now they want to guide the party into the ditch. They want to turn the party into a soulless entity incapable of doing good, just like they are.  When such a person tastes power, they shed all good restraint. They come to abuse the trust given them as if they are the owners of that trust and not its mere custodians. These people did little to build the party but now will do much to wreck it.
Such a man is Oyegun and those who conspired with him to sabotage justice and democracy in Ondo. Our party was to stand for change. Oyegun and his fellows seem to be on a different wavelength. They are the cohort of Unchanged. The APC wants to guide Nigeria into a better tomorrow. Oyegun and the cohort of unchange want to pull Nigeria back into the past where rigging and vote stealing were the old and new testaments of politics. They want the people to think that there is no alternative to their reactionary system of skewed politics and imperious government. Thus, they seek to turn the APC into a factory of the very political malpractices the people soundly rejected in the past election. To choke the APC in this manner is to kill the chance for progressive reform for the foreseeable future. Much more than the Ondo primary is at stake. Oyegun has revealed his team’s game plan: It is the destruction of progressive politics and governance on behalf of the people.
As party chairman, Oyegun was supposed to protect our internal processes and be an impartial arbiter, a person in whom all had confidence. Instead, he donned the garment of a confident man, duping the NWC, the party, and INEC in one fell blow. He has robbed APC members in Ondo State of the chance to pick in a fair manner who they believe is the best candidate.
As such, he has broken faith with the party and probably has broken a few laws. The consequences of what he has done are more expansive than a man of his scope can fathom. There must is a powerful and sinister arm at work to compel a man of Oyegun’s age to steal the decision of the party in a manner so crude that it would embarrass even the commonest thief.
With strong expectation, we await a response to Oyegun’s wrongdoing from those who clamored so long and loudly about Tinubu’s alleged role in the Ondo primary.
Leading into the primary, a prominent lawyer from Ondo published lengthy missives alleging that Tinubu was a malicious hand intent on rigging the primary. His letters spoke of his great love for democracy and justice. Though Oyegun has assaulted democracy in a most public and vulgar way, this lawyer’s prolific pen will remain stilled. He dares not publish a word about this travesty. His silence will be the sign for all who care to decipher its meaning.
The plan was to point the accusing finger at Tinubu. With everyone focused on Tinubu, they would have distracted all attention from the heist they had set in motion. As fate would have it, the trickery they hoped to conduct in the shadows has come to light.
Thus, Oyegun was forced to undertake his desperate fraud in broad daylight in order to salvage the wrong initiated under the lamp of darkness. Those who so actively attributed imaginary wrong to Tinubu now stand dumb and mute in the face of confirmed impropriety. They remain silent for reasons they cannot divulge. Oyegun and his ilk turn out to be gangsters adorned in the tunic of party authority.
Oyegun has engaged in the strange math where five is greater than six. This smacks of how the PDP conducted its affairs and orchestrated its own downfall. Tinubu disparaged such malpractice when it was not in his party. Tinubu surely disowns it now that it has invaded the party he helped bring to fruition.
Tinubu has consciously refused to hold any official position with the party to avoid the perception that he was trying to control all and sundry. Tinubu has even kept his peace for some time despite many things that happened within the party that were not quite right. He exercised this forbearance because the party is young.  A collective endeavor cannot avoid the mistakes and errors of organizational newness and evolution.
Yet, the wrongs Oyegun committed had nothing to do with newness or the mistakes occasioned by the path of reform. His actions are in the nature of the old wrongs that have afflicted our national politics much too long. If Oyegun wants to walk backward into the past, he has every right to it. However, he has no right to drag the party or any of us with him. Against our choosing.
The informal title of national leader of the party was given to Tinubu at the onset which he accepted it as a sign from those who wished to recognize my contributions to the party’s formation. It is an honorific title which he has been proud to wear until today. I would rather not have any title yet reside in a party that honors democracy than hold a title in a party that says it honors me but that treats justice with indecency. I find greater honor and comfort where democracy and fairness are found and respected.
Oyegun has done the irredeemable. His coup is an insult to party and to patriot, to reason and to the reform agenda of this government.  To remain silent would be to admit the defeat of the reform and progressive change many have labored to bring forth. While the forces resistant to change and reform are strong, Tinubu dare not submit to them.  Tinubu encourages all party members not to submit to them. If we acquiesce in this wrong, the one greater than this shall cascade upon us.
Oyegun’s transgressions are a warning. He is but the mercenary of forces that seek to return the nation to the old ways. If they get away with this infraction, no telling what or whom they will undermine tomorrow. Much is at stake. On the chopping block, lies the future of the political party in which the majority of voters had placed their confidence. To rescue the party, Oyegun must go. He has shown that he and democratic, fair play cannot exist in the same party at the same time. If Tinubu is to choose between John Oyegun and progress toward a better Nigeria, the choice has already been made. For those who care about the party, who care about Nigeria and its chance for a better tomorrow, now is the time to stand against this brewing evil before it grows to encompass all we have built and all we hold dear.

Read More

Ondo Primary: Crisis Hits APC As National Leader Tinubu Demands Party Chair Oyegun's Resignation

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, has demanded the removal of the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, over what he called the latter’s anti-democratic handling of the  party affairs. Tinubu made this demand in a scathing statement entitled, “Oyegun’s Ondo fraud: The violation of democracy in the APC,” released by the Tinubu Media Office on Sunday.

Read More